RCA RecordsChildish Gambino's smash hit "This Is America" has debuted at number one on Billboard's Hot 100, making it the rapper's first #1 on the chart.

It's also debuted at number one on Billboard's Hot R&B /Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs, marking Gambino's first #1 on both of those charts as well.

As a result, Childish knocks Drake's "Nice for What" from the top spot to number two and also effectively ends Drizzy's reign of 15 weeks at number one on the Hot 100.

As of Monday afternoon, the video for "This Is America" by Donald Glover's music alter-ego has earned a mammoth 110 million views on YouTube since its May 5 release.

Those numbers dwarf those of any of his other videos released on the platform.

"This Is America" is Childish Gambino's first release on RCA Records.

The visual for the track makes a powerful statement about race, social justice, police brutality, politics and gun violence in the U.S.

Celebrities including Jaden Smith, Janelle Monae, Common and Empire's Taraji P. Henson have praised Childish for his socially conscious visual.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.AfricaRice is a CGIAR Research Center  part of a global research partnership for a food-secure future. It is also an intergovernmental association of African member countries. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org

A propos dAfricaRice

AfricaRice est un Centre de recherche du CGIAR  un partenariat mondial de la recherche agricole pour un futur sans faim. AfricaRice est aussi une association intergouvernementale composee de pays membres africains. Pour plus dinformations, visiter : www.AfricaRice.orgFive years from Rana Plaza: EU Commission needs to fulfil its promises

Heidi Hautala :

Over one thousand dead workers, thousands of them injured - and a huge shock. "Rana Plaza" was the worst of tragedies. It has been five years. It is finally time for the EU to adopt clear rules that require European companies to respect human rights in their global operations and that ensure access to remedy for those affected - to make sure that disasters like this never happen again. Today, Bangladesh is remembering those killed while sewing clothes for American and European brands. Also today, there are an estimated two million children harvesting in cocoa supply chains, in hazardous or slave-like conditions, a supply chain that ends up on our tables. Meanwhile, in Indonesia and Colombia villagers are resisting the appropriation of their lands for the production of palm oil, the substance without which our supermarkets' shelves would be almost empty. People at the front of these struggles are facing criminalization, harassment or even murder, as happened to the late environmental activist Berta Caceres and almost 200 other environmental defenders in 2017 alone.

For victims of these abuses obtaining justice is a chain of obstacle. We can look at the legal struggles undertaken by Nigerian villagers who lost their livelihoods and even their loved ones as a result of over five decades of negligent American and European-led oil exploitation. The villagers' judicial tours across the US, the UK and The Netherlands make a textbook case of how financial, procedural and legal barriers transform the right to access justice into a pipe-dream.

"Rana Plaza" is not an isolated incident. It is only one piece of the appalling problem that EU needs to resolve with determination and coherence: a responsibility that comes with our role as the second largest economy in the world. Yet, our current response to this challenge is far from satisfactory. The European Commission's response to the international outcry over "Rana Plaza" was a series of voluntary measures to enhance sustainability in garment value chains. Last year, the Parliament reacted calling for binding due diligence obligations.

The 2016 Conflict Minerals Regulation, although weaker than what the Parliament initially demanded, requires certain companies to conduct human rights due diligence in their supply chains. Large public interest or listed companies are also required to disclose human rights and environmental risks linked to their activities and operations, as a start to increasing transparency, and accountability.

These are timid positive steps, but we can see that a comprehensive, coherent approach is still missing. Different standards apply to different sectors, and the lack of legal certainty does not benefit communities, consumers, investors, or companies.

In light of the European Commission's inaction, some European States are starting to take the initiative. The "duty of vigilance" law adopted in 2017 has placed France at the vanguard of legal reforms strengthening accountability for companies' human rights and environmental impacts and access to justice for victims. Other European countries such as Switzerland and The Netherlands are taking steps in the same direction. States like Germany have also committed to assess legislative measures as part of their National Action Plans to implement the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

With the adoption of these laws, these States are in fact taking measures to legally implement the UNGPs and, especially, its cornerstone element of Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD). HRDD has a good potential as a preventive mechanism and as a means to enhance access to justice, something that benefits companies and society as a whole.

These developments also represent the acceptance by a growing number of States that voluntary and incentive-driven measures to ensure corporate respect for human rights are insufficient. Civil society as well as the European Parliament have stressed this point on a number of occasions. The European Commission seemed to acknowledge the same when coining the "smart-mix" approach in its 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy. This lesson seems now to have faded away. The EU Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, promised for 2016, is now long overdue.

It is high time the European Commission stops dragging its feet and present a legislative proposal to ensure the corporate respect for human rights and to establish binding human rights due diligence requirements for European companies, including access to justice avenues for victims.

Such a coherent framework would help to level the playing field, so that those business enterprises that today do their best to avoid infringing human rights are not forced to compete with those that don't look beyond their short-term economic profit. For the victims of "Rana Plaza", and for all the countless victims of corporate human rights abuses, empty phrases are worthless. We need action.

(Heidi Hautala (Finland), is Vice President of the European Parliament for the Greens/EFA political group. She is a member of EP Committees on Development and International Trade).

Don`t play arrogance with the quota crisis

LESS than a week ago, we wrote on the crucial importance of issuing the gazette regarding the cancellation of quota system in line with the PM's verbal promise. Like many times before, our words went in vain. It wasn't only the gazette which was not issued, but also the situation is turning from bad to worse.

In response to the government's indifference, the quota reformers from yesterday started to boycott classes and examinations in all universities and colleges across the country for an indefinite period. Moreover, they have occupied the Shahbagh intersection for holding sit-ins. From Elephant Road to Shegunbagicha - the entire stretch of main road has practically come to a standstill. Commuters residing in the central part of the capital are facing an unimaginable dilemma. And this is all taking place because of the absence of a simple government gazette.

As the government failed to publish the gazette by the given timeframe, the protesters will observe strike sine die and boycott all academic activities at the colleges and universities countrywide.

The protesters continued their demo during rain and were chanting slogans in favour of their demand. They did not attend classes or sit for exams, but examinations were held as per schedule. The point, however, is that sufferers are not now limited among the protesters but ordinary citizens have also been added to the list.

We feel, the government must act promptly or else, anarchy and chaos might hit the overall education sector hard. It has been over a month since the PM announced abolishment of quota service in the parliament. The students are frustrated and there is a strong possibility that the stalemate may lead to a prolonged crisis. The inconclusive situation should not be allowed to continue.

We do not blame the government for its bureaucratic arrogance and feel that government does not have worry about public concern. Whatever they do is right because police can be used to ignore the people. But we suggest not to play arrogance with the quota system. The PM should be seen in charge of government and her words that the quota system has to go must.





52 Palestinians shot dead by Israeli Army

US officially opens its Jerusalem embassy amid violent protests

Palestinians run for cover from tear gas during clashes with Israeli security forces near Gaza border, May 14, 2018 Internet photo

At least 52 Palestinians have been killed and 1,800 wounded by Israeli troops in clashes on the Gaza border, Palestinian officials say.

The violence came as the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem, a controversial move that has infuriated Palestinians.

They see it as clear US backing for Israeli rule over the whole city, whose eastern part Palestinians lay claim to.

President Donald Trump told the opening ceremony via videolink the Jerusalem move had been a "long time coming".

He said: "Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine its own capital, but for many years we failed to recognise the obvious."

He also said the US remained "committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement". Palestinians hurled stones and incendiary devices while the Israeli military used snipers, as black smoke poured from burning tyres. The Hamas-run health ministry said children were among those killed on Monday. The mass demonstrations, led by Gaza's Islamist rulers, Hamas, are part of a six-week protest dubbed the "Great March of Return". Israel's army said 35,000 Palestinians were taking part in "violent riots" along the security fence and that its troops were operating "in accordance with standard procedures".

Israel says the protests are aimed at breaching the border and attacking Israeli communities nearby.

The Israeli military said it had killed three people trying to plant explosives near the security fence in Rafah.

It said aircraft had also "targeted Hamas military posts near the Jabalia area after troops were fired upon".

There have also been violent clashes between Israeli police and protesters who raised Palestinian flags outside the new embassy. Several protesters were detained.

Palestinians have held weekly protests in the run-up to their annual commemoration of what they call the Nakba or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of their people fled their homes or were displaced following the foundation of the Israeli state on 14 May 1948.

Scores of Palestinians have been killed since the protests began. Thousands more have been wounded.

Hamas, which is in a state of conflict with Israel, had said it would step up protests in the lead-up to Tuesday, the official Nakba commemoration. It says it wants to draw attention to what Palestinians insist is their right to return to ancestral homes in what became Israel.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," a science teacher in Gaza, Ali, told Reuters news agency.



Decision on Khaleda's bail today

Staff Reporter :

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court may pass order today (Tuesday) on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's bail in Zia Orphanage Trust case in which she is now serving a five-year jail term.

The case has been listed as item no 3 in today's cause list of the Appellate Division for judgement, according to the Supreme Court's website. On May 9, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain fixed May 15 to pass order on Khaleda Zia's bail after completing hearing on the two appeal petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the government against the High Court order that granted bail to her in the case.

During hearing, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshed Alam Khan and Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the apex court to scrap the bail given to Khaleda Zia.

On the other hand, Khaleda's lawyers A J Mohammad Ali, Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossian, Advocate Zainul Abedin and Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan prayed to the apex court to uphold the bail order.

Contacted, Khaleda's lawyer Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan expressed the hope that the SC will grant bail to his client considering her old age, health condition, short sentence and social status.

"We expect that she (Khaleda) will get bail from the SC. The apex court will consider the instances we have provided to this court, including her old age, illness, short period of sentence and social status that she is a former prime minister of the country for three times. She is now the chief of the largest political party," he said.

ACC's lawyer advocate Khurshid Alam Khan said he hoped that the SC will allow the ACC's appeal against the HC order that granted bail to Khaleda.

The High Court on March 12 granted her four months' bail in Zia Orphanage Trust case in which she was sentenced to five years in prison.

On March 19, the SC stayed the HC bail till May 8 following two leave-to-appeal petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government.

The Appellate Division heard the leave to appeal petitions on May 8 and 9, and fixed May 15 for passing order.

She landed in jail on February 8 after the special judge's court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to imprisonment as the court found her and five others guilty in the case.

The court also sentenced Khaleda's elder son Tarique Rahman, now the Acting Chairman of BNP, and four others to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment each, and fined them a total of Tk 2.10 crore, saying that all the six convicts have to pay the fine in equal amounts.

The ACC had filed the case with Ramna Police Station in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.

Its a smear campaign, says Major Mannan

Special Correspondent :

Chairman of Sunman Group Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan has dismissed the media report of connected lending by Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company (BIFC) Limited saying a vested quarter has launched a smear campaign to undermine credibility of the financial institution that he founded in February 1998.

He is holding 15 percent stake of the joint venture leasing and financing company that was listed with the stock market in 2006.

."The reports about the connected lending involving me and my family are false, baseless and misleading," Major Mannan, a former chairman of BIFC, told The New Nation yesterday.

He said the news report on BIFC is based on misinformation supplied by the vested quarter. "It is unfortunate that several media houses did not publish my rejoinder protesting the news items. It simply exposes the stories were false and motivated, and it has buried the real stories of the loans.

He said, the real fact is that BIFC has disbursed Tk 1,063 crore loans (lease finance) to several hundreds business firms up to December 2015. The management of the company sanctioned the loans after assessing their creditworthiness and collaterals. But the then management has failed to recover the outstanding loans due to their inefficiency and mismanagement. They, however, prepared window-dressed balance sheets to show the recovery of the loans and profits. Even they created paper loans to take financial benefit keeping the board in dark.

Businessman-cum-politician Abdul Mannan said, "I founded the non-bank financial institution with the assistance of two foreign firms, based in the USA and Hong Kong, and local entrepreneurs and companies to provide financial services to business firms and people. This financial organization has been doing businesses well for years with reputation. It granted loans to several hundred business firms following the existing law."

But problem began when a vested quarter acquired five percent share of the company from stock market. After holding the shares, they hold two posts of directors as per the directive of Bangladesh Bank.

"Their appointments did not follow the rules and regulations," he added. The quarter later established their supremacy in the board and raised various false allegations against other directors who held 95 per cent shares of the company. They are actually trying to grab the company applying various tactics and showing artificial crisis. The sponsor directors are now in fear to lose their ownership of the company due to the malpractice of the evil forces. Investment of thousands of shareholders is now at risk for their illegal activities also.

"It gives wrong signal to potential foreign investors willing to make investment here in various ventures. The Bangladeshi financial institutions will also lose their reputation in world market," he added.

Different media outlets earlier quoted a Bangladesh Bank (BB) report saying that over 40 business firms linked with Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan, his family members and relatives took Tk 518 crore loans from the BIFC using his influence.

However, loans were disbursed without credit worthiness assessment and collaterals, according to the reports.

In this regard, Abdul Mannan, General Secretary of Bikalpodhara Bangladesh, said, "My attention was drawn to the Audit report of Bangladesh Bank 2015. The surprising thing is that BB demanded explanation from the chairman for an outstanding amount of Tk 394.29 crore of 42 business firms out of several hundred. The BB report stated that these business firms and entities are linked with my family members and me.

"It is an incomplete report that shielded real facts. My family, me, and even my relatives have no link with the aforesaid companies. I like to say further that I do not know many of the companies, which borrowed from the BIFC. Besides, I realised Tk 120 crore, apart from Tk. 81 crore earlier collected that left the total unrealised loan at Tk 193 crore only.

Referring to media reports of nearly Tk 800 classified loans at the BFIC, he said, "Such loans piled up not in a day .It took many years."

Both BIFC management and BB are responsible for the situation.

He also said if the central bank had properly supervised the affairs of the company, it might not come to the present situation. "Being a regulator BB is not functioning properly, which is often inviting danger to financial institutions as well as the country banking sector," he observed. He said the worst could happen that BB gave the control of BIFC to 9 directors who are non-stakeholders. They misused over Tk 220 crore in last two years without servicing the BIFC's bank loan and depositor's liabilities. Also BB had no good reason to dismiss the stakeholder director when there was a BB observer in the board.

The non-stakeholder directors' board could have done the servicing of Tk 600 crore. BIFC total loan and deposit liability with proper use of Tk 220 crore (Tk 120 crore recovered by Major Mannan and Tk 100 crore recovered from other borrowers).

After having misused all the recovered money, the non-stakeholder board members want to grab all the shares of sponsors (both the foreign & local investors) with the fake claim of BIFC's insolvency.

Abdul Mannan, however, urged the BB authorities to take appropriate measure to prevent illegal acts in BIFC by the vested group, which is now trying to take hold of the leasing company.

He also urged the people not to respond irrationally to false media reports. When asked, BB spokesperson Debashish Chakraborty said the central bank is closely watching the activities of the financial institution. He, however, declined to make further comment in this regard.

Don`t harass BNP men till KCC polls: HC

Staff Reporter :

The High Court (HC) on Monday directed the law enforcers not to harass or arrest any BNP men in Khulna City Corporation (KCC) till the election.

In response to a writ petition, the HC bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal also issued a rule asking the government to explain in four weeks as to why the mass arrest of BNP leaders, activists and election campaigners should not be declared contrary to the directions of the Appellate Division.

BNP leader Md Shahjahan on Sunday filed the petition with the HC challenging legality of the reported mass arrests of BNP leaders, activists and election campaigners in Khulna ahead of the city polls. The law enforcers arrested BNP men causing obstruction to the election campaigning of BNP-nominated candidate Nazrul Islam Monju, the petition said. Secretaries of Election Commission and Home Ministry, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Police Commissioner of Khulna and Superintendent of Police of Khulna have been asked to implement the HC order.

Later, Barrister Moudud Ahmed, counsel for the petitioner, told reporters that the law enforcers and plainclothes men have been arresting the BNP men in Khulna violating the Appellate Division verdict. The HC asked the authorities concern not to arrest or harass the BNP men till the election, he added. He said that as per the Appellate Division directives, police could not arrest people without specific reasons and police have to show their identity card during the arrest or detention. Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Sazu told reporters that the High Court asked the law enforcers not to arrest or harass the people violating the Supreme Court verdict.Quota protesters put off prog for the day

Quota protesters put barricade at Shahbagh intersection on Monday demanding gazette notification abolishing the quota system for government jobs.

Quota protesters on Monday evening called off their protest and blockade of Shahbagh intersection for the day, demanding immediate issuance of gazette abolishing quota system in government jobs.

Convener of Sadharan Chhatra Odhikar Sangrakkhan Parisad, Hasan Al Mamun called off the demonstration at a press briefing around 7:50 pm.

The strike at educational institutes and the protest will resume from 10 am on Tuesday and will continue until the authorities meet their demand, he said.

Earlier in the morning, the quota protesters blocked the Shahbagh intersection, city's one of the busiest area halting traffic around 1:30pm, creating huge gridlock at Shahbagh and its adjoining areas. Several thousand job seekers, students of different college and universities, brought out a procession from Shahbagh intersection around 11 am as part of their scheduled programme. Meanwhile, an indefinite class and examination boycott programme at colleges and universities across the country was underway as the government failed to publish a gazette abolishing the quota system in government jobs by the timeframe given by quota protestors.BNP fears vote rigging

Supporters asked to stay at polling stations till last moment

Staff Reporter :

BNP leaders on Monday blamed a highly tense situation in Khulna city as the Mayoral polls starts there this morning. Police arrested most party workers in the past weeks and ruling party cadres are intimidating polling agents of BNP mayoral candidate to keep away from polling stations.

BNP Mayoral candidate Nazrul Islam Manzu at a press conference yesterday noon claimed Awami League Mayor candidate Talukder Abdul Khalek is preparing for election engineering with the help of local administration. HE complaints ballot papers will be staffed in the ballot box at night to deny a fair election.

BNP leaders have asked party leaders and workers to stay in the field till the last moment to foil ruling party candidate's bid to dominate election.

BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press briefing at the party central office on Monday said the Election Commission has failed to create a level playing field. The local administration is helping what he said the 'Awami goons' in creating panic so that voters cannot go to polling centers freely.

The city has now turned into a city of fear, saying general voters are feeling insecure whether they could cast their votes taking risks.

Rizvi alleged that Awami League men equipped with sharp weapons were moving in different city areas to install fair in BNP workers and supporters to keep away from voting centers.

He claimed that BNP mayoral candidate would win in KCC poll at a huge margin if voters were allowed to cast their vote unimpeded. In last Mayoral election in 2013 BNP candidate Moniruzzaman Moni won the city polls by 180,093 votes as against Awami League's candidate Talukder Abdul Khaleque who had begged 119422. The ruling party wants to win victory for him this time whom the city voters had rejected on the previous occasion, Rizvi said.

Meanwhile, BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Monday said the government is at work to resist BNP candidate's victory in Tuesday's Khulna City Corporation polls by resorting to rigging votes.

"A tense situation is prevailing there and voters are in doubt whether they'll be able to go to the polling stations in the chaotic environment." He said. Talking at a discussion in the city, he further said, "Our polling agents are facing threats. Even presiding officers are under threat to deny peaceful election. "The government together with the local administration, police and those involved in voting process are plotting to rig votes." Desnetri Mukti Parishad arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club demanding the immediate release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and Swechchhasebak Dal president Shafiul Bari Babu from jail.

Mosharraf, a BNP standing committee member, claimed that their party mayoral candidate Nazrul Islam Monju is poised to win the election at a big margin if a fair election is held. "No one will be able to resist BNP's victory if people can cast their votes."

He said police arrested party's probable agents while law enforcers asked many not to go to polling stations. "The ruling party together with the administration and police are at work to thwart BNP's victory."KCC polls today

Five for mayoral post, 148 for councillors in 31 Wards, 39 for 10 women's reserve seats

Staff Reporter :

The month-long hectic campaigns of mayoral aspirants and councillor contenders ended Sunday midnight.

The Khulna Returning, Officer Yunus Ali, and the law enforcing agencies have ensured that the election related materials such as ballot boxes and ballot papers have been sent to the respective centers by Monday.

The main contest will be held between Awami League-backed mayor candidate Talukdar Abdul Khaleque (Boat Symbol) and BNP-backed mayor aspirant Nazrul Islam Manju (Sheaf of Paddy). The other candidates are Islami Andolon-backed Mowlana Muzammel Haque, JP-backed Shafiqur Rahman Mushfiq and CPB-backed Mizanur Rahman Babu.

On August 23 in 1988, Khulna Pourasabha turned into Khulna City Corporation. Kazi Aminul Haque, a Jatiya Party leader, was selected mayor of Khulna on May 22 in 1991, while Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, a central leader of BNP, was elected mayor twice in 1994 and 2002.

Besides, there are 148 general councillor aspirants racing in 31 Wards, while 39 women are contesting against 10 female reserved seats.

According to Election Commission, Khulna office, the number of voters in KCC is 4,93,093. Of them, 2,44,107 are female voters and 2,48,986 male.

There are 289 polling centres; 1561 polling booths and 55 temporary booths. Out of 289 polling centres, 234 centres are either very important or vulnerable, says Sonali Sen, additional deputy commissioner of KMP.

The Election Commission has decided to use Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at Ward No-24 where only female voters (1,099) will cast their votes through EVM at the women's booth of Sonapota Government Primary School and at Jasim Uddin Hostel centre of Ward No. 28 where there are 1,879 voters.

Khulna Returning Officer Md. Younus Ali said that the EC of Khulna has already selected 289 presiding officers, 1561 assistant presiding officers, and 3122 polling officers.

A total of 1810 ballot boxes will be used for the KCC polls, he said.

On the other hand, a team of 24 policemen along with armed police battalion, Ansars, VDP men led by a Sub-Inspector will be deployed on Tuesday in each of the important centres while 22 police and Ansar men will be deployed in each general centers. They will also continue their duty after the poll day, said the Returning officer.

A total of 70 mobile teams and 10 striking forces will be patrolling the polling centres, a Sub-Inspector being in charge of four centres.

Over 10,000 law enforcers, including about 16 platoons BGB, 32 sector party and 10 striking force team of RAB, one mobile force in each Ward, one striking force for every three Wards and one RAB team in every two Wards, will be deployed on the day of polling.

KMP Additional Deputy Commissioner Sonali Sen said, "KMP has already deployed all police teams to supervise the election peacefully."

A control room has been opened at the KMP headquarters to work round the clock. Around seven check posts have been set up at various entrances of the city, she added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of local and foreign observers are also ready to oversee the poll process. The movement of all vehicles, including Mahendra (baby-taxi), battery run easy bikes, jeeps, pick-ups, microbuses, buses, private cars and motorcycles have been stopped from May 13 midnight to May 15 midnight, except the vehicles which are used for the election purpose, said a press release issued by KMP.

Carrying of all kinds of licensed firearms and explosive materials has also been prohibited in the city area.MP Rana sent to jail after remand

UNB, Tangail :

A court here on Monday sent Awami League MP from Tangail-3 constituency Amanur Rahman Khan Rana to jail after completion of his two-day remand in a case filed over the killing of two Jubo League leaders.

Senior Judicial Magistrate of the district's Sadar Cognisance Court Abdullah Al Masum passed the order.

Earlier on Thursday Rana was placed on a two-day remand in the case. Investigation officer of the case, Ashoke Kumar Singh, also officer-in-charge of district Detective Branch of police, said that Rana has provided some crucial information about the murders during the remand. They would take next step after scrutinizing the information. According to the case statement, Baghil union Jubo League leaders Mohammad Shamim and Mohammad Mamun went missing on July 16, 2012 in the district town. On the following day, Shamim's mother filed a general diary with Tangail Sadar Police Station. Later, police arrested several suspects over the incident when two of the arrestees-Shahadat Hossain, 16 and Hiron Mia, 27 -- revealed that both of the Jubo League leaders had been murdered under the direction of MP Rana. Rana has been in jail in another case filed over the killing of freedom fighter Faruk Ahmed on January 18, 2013.

Lawyers casting votes in Bangladesh Bar Council elections on Monday. The picture was taken from Supreme Court Bar Association Auditorium.Street demo postponed, class boycott to continue

Rayhanul Islam :

Bangladesh General Students Rights Protection Council (BGSRPC) will continue boycotting their classes and examinations until publication of the gazette notification on quota abolition.

However, the protesters said that they would not take to the street again as the Prime Minister assured them to implement her declaration very soon.

Announcing postponement decision after six hours blockade at Shahbag intersection, Joint Convener of BGSRPC Nurul Hoque Nur on Monday evening said, "We won't back to our classroom and examination centre until the gazette notification published." He, however, said that they won't take to the street again as the PM sent them a message that she would implement her announcement completely delivered at the Jatiya Sangsad.

"We will return to our classrooms and sit in exams with the declaration of gazette notification," he said.

On Monday morning, around one thousand students of Dhaka University gathered in front of the Central Library boycotting their departmental class and examination.

Then, they paraded throughout the University campus and its adjacent areas, including Central Shaheed Minar, under the banner of "Bangladesh General Students Rights Protection Council".

After marching the campus, they blocked the Shabagh intersection around 1:00pm resulting in immense sufferings of the pedestrians as vehicles movement, except ambulances, were completely stuck.

During their blockade, they chanted slogans and displayed different banners and placates calling for immediate gazette notification of quota cancelation.

The protestors said, they were forced to take to the street again as the government did not take any effective measures to implement their demands.

The students also observed protests at Jahangir Nagar University, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University and Barishal University boycotting their classes and examinations.

In Chittagong University, quota reformists have been staging a sit-in on the rail tracks, blocking CU shuttle train service since 8:00am. No train left the port city for the campus since morning.

In Rajshahi University, more than 300 students brought out a procession on the campus around 2:50pm.

On Sunday, BGSRPC warned the government to observe indefinite strike from Monday morning in all universities and colleges throughout the country as the government did not respond to students' ultimatum regarding quota abolition gazette.

Leaders of the students platform gave the ultimatum to the government to publish the notification of quota abolition by Sunday's 5:00pm after two hours long countywide demo procession at the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) of Dhaka University.

Following the countrywide students demonstration under the4 BGSRPC banner, on April 12, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the abolition of quota system in government jobs in the National Parliament.Tk 6,000 of drug peddling leads killings

Md Joynal Abedin Khan :

The nine-member assailants targeted only Jakaria among the four deceased whose throat-silt bodies have recently been found in a paddy field near Duboier Beel area in Shibganj upazila of Bogura district.

They also killed Shahabul Islam who was accompanied by Jakaria while going to take drugs at the alleged killer Rubel's house. Rubel Uddin and Khabir Uddin were also slaughtered as they witnessed the killing incident of Shahabul and Jakaria, Superintendent of Police of the district Ali Ashraf Bhuyan, told

The New Nation on Monday evening.

"One of the killers gave Tk 6,000 to Jakaria as loan, and a clash started among Jakaria and money lender. The killers also snatched the mobile phone of Jakaria, and made a plan of killing Jakaria just three days before the sensational killings on 6 May," the police official said quoting the confessions of three detained killers.

Earlier, a joint-team of law enforcing agencies conducted several long drives and arrested the killers Abul Kalam Azad, Rubel and Jeuel Sheikh on Sunday night. A local court ordered for three accused to send to jail on Monday afternoon, the SP said.

"All the deceased and killers were engaged in drug trading," the police official said.

We have visited the spot along with the detained killers. They gave the description of the sensational film-like killings, the SP said.

Jewel confessed to the police that they took a plan to kill Jakaria over the dispute of distribution of drug peddling of Tk 6000, the SP claimed.

The families also confessed to the cops that the murder might have been committed over Yaba trade.

The investigation of the murder case will be completed after more interrogation of the accused on remand, he said.

The drive to nab the six others accused to be continued, he added.

Yaba trade became a very common incident in the area, and some people involved in politics were patronizing Yaba traders, said Atmul Union Parishad Chairman Md Mozaffar Hosain. He suspected the killing of the four took place over Yaba trade.

On May 7, locals spotted the bodies in a paddy field around 9:30am and informed police. The bodies were sent to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College for autopsies, said Shahid Mahmud Khan, OC of Shibganj Police Station.Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

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Photo by Marcelo Guarini

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Tim Couttreel writes: "I had some trouble finding a photograph that 'must be in color.' In most of my photographs the color adds another dimension, but it is not essential. I guess this is because most of my photographs are more about light and composition. But this one is an exception (although for me the gravel is what makes this photograph) and the funny thing is that if you do a straight B&W conversion the 'No Parking' sign almost completely vanishes (try it!).

"This photograph is part of a series I made about signs prohibiting all sorts of (weird) things. It's a really nice photograph when printed very large. I had one made that's 175cm wide for the group exhibition we did.

"Now for the details: My name is Tim Couttreel and I live in Belgium. This photograph was taken with the Olympus E-M10 and the Olympus 25mm /1.8."

Lee Shively (AKA 'Dogman') writes: "I debated on whether or not to send this but finally decided to do so. Its not spectacular and the color is subdued. I don't even know the identity of the lady pictured but the photo means a lot to me. I hope you'll indulge me with a short story.

"For almost 18 months I've had several health issues that have limited my ability to travel or even get around much except in my general neighborhood. Of course that also means the scope of my photography was also limited. At first, it was depressing. But I eventually began to appreciate the visual treasures in the commonplace subjects around me. Without getting too deeply into the matter, this particular photo was done in the surgical waiting room at a local hospital in November 2017. I was there waiting to be called into the preparation room for another surgery, a surgery my doctor felt would finally resolve my biggest health issue. The lady pictured was apparently there with a relative or friend who was scheduled for surgery. The light caught my eye along with the lady's silhouette, red hair, and plaid shoes. Later when I printed the photo, I thought is had a 'Hopperesque' look to it. Oddly enough, I had been concentrating on B&W for some time prior to this, but this one had to be in color.

"I shot it with a Ricoh GRII, in raw, and processed it with Lightroom 6. Im located in Shreveport Louisiana.

"By the way, the surgery seems to have been a success. I've become more mobile and Im able to get out and run errands and socialize a bit. I expect to continue to improve and be able to seek new photograph subjects. 2018 is looking like a good year for me."

Stephen Cowdery writes: "My submission is Two Women.

"Shot with Pentax 110 50mm /2.8 lens, ISO 800, 1/400 sec @ /4.5 on a Pentax Q7.

"Pretty much a straight image, with some minor cropping and other corrections. The flat north light on the scene made the contrast between the women's skin and hair and the drab background work for me. I tried a B&W conversion, but I couldn't capture the 'serene' quality of the scene.

"I live in Anoka, Minnesota. Here's my website."

Marcelo Guarini writes: I spotted this small beach around 10 years ago from a plane at 30,000 feet up, while traveling to the north of Chile. I was on a business trip. As I arrived to Santiago on the way back, I found the place on Google Earth, and started to make a way to go there, no roads, no trails, nothing. On September 2007 I tried to reach the place with my brother and respective sons in two 4WD vehicles. We spent seven hours from La Serena, located around 200 km away. Today we take 2.5 hours from the same place. The place is just pristine since no one goes there. We found that the place is super windy, with gale force winds. Camping is very difficult, but it is absolutely beautiful.

"The morning I took the picture on September 2013, the wind was unusually calm and the scene very beautiful, so I tried a long exposure with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 with a Voigtlander 17.5mm /0.95 and a 15-stop SinghRay ND filter mounted on a Gitzo tripod. The image was originally intended to be a B&W photo. Every long exposure I tried before, during strong winds, were blurred, so I was very lucky this time. When I saw the image in color, I immediately thought that will be difficult to make a better B&W version, the colors were beautiful that morning. Since then, every once in a while I imagine a B&W version and sit down on the computer to work it, but I have never succeeded, so I think this is could be a candidate for 'It Must Be Color.'

"The exposure was around three minutes at /11 I think. The Voigtlander /0.95 maximum aperture is very convenient in this case since it allows me to compose and manual focus with the 15 stop ND filter screwed in front (a very grainy viewfinder image, but enough to precisely get focus)."

I just thought that in the middle of this Baker's Dozen it would be interesting to offer a "counterpoint" to the received idea that color pictures have to be of bright, vibrant, or strong primary colors. What are your thoughts?

[To be continued...]

Mike

P.S. This is cheating, but as an addendum to this group, another subtle picture:

Chester Williams, The Goodbye Kiss

Chester writes:

Hi there...

My name is Chester Williams and I live on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

The image is called "The Goodbye Kiss"....

It was taken in an old dilapidated building that had an old wonderful love story happen under its roof...now missing.

I was there with three other photographers who failed to see the image and completely dismissed me about its possible impact. I guess the love story was in my mind and my eye too....

I just love its pastel colors...which add a warm romantic feeling.

Appreciate the opportunity....

I appreciate the picture, and the sentiment, but I can't make a determination as to whether color is necessary in this picture or not. I'm going to have to leave this one entirely up to the TOP commentariat to decide about. What's your feeling?

Original contents copyright 2018 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

David Dyer-Bennet: "'The Goodbye Kiss' is very interesting. The fleshtones in (well, on) the cement (or whatever the surface is) helped me see it as a face instantly. I saw that instantly, before getting down to the title (which certainly would also predispose me to seeing the face). (They also contribute to my liking the picture for roughly the reasons the photographer gives.) Having seen it this way, doing a quick B&W conversion doesn't really tell me enough; my mind is already made up what it is, and I can't see it for the first time again. So...I report that the color seemed central in my instantly seeing the face in it, but I can't honestly express an opinion about whether the color is necessary. I'm inclined to think it's not, but that's speculation."

Rob Griffin: "I am with the other friends of TOP who are calling for a print sale of 'The Goodbye Kiss.' To me, it is an iconic photograph that I will remember in my mind's eye for the rest of my life. I would still love to own a print though. My heartfelt thanks to Chester Williams and also to you, Mike, for sharing it with us."

Bahi: "Can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this whole colour thread. Thanks for doing itI know it was a tough one to adjudicate (if that's the right word) but the results are stellar, as are so many of the comments. Fantastic! My reaction to the 'The Goodbye Kiss' was exactly the same as David Dyer-Bennet'sI saw the face and the mouths while scrolling, before even parsing the title."The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.Ithmaar Holding, a Bahrain-based financial institution, has reported a net profit of $4.81 million for the first quarter (Q1) of the year, a decrease of 16.9 percent compared to a net profit of $5.79 million for the same period in 2017.



Net profit attributable to equity holders for the period was $1.66 million, an increase of 187.8 percent compared to the $0.58 million net profit reported for the same period in 2017. Earning per share (EPS) increased to US cents 0.06 compared to 0.02 for Q1 2017.



On behalf of the Ithmaar Holding Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce that the financial results show that the unwavering focus on our core retail banking business continues to pay off, Ithmaar Holding chairman Prince Amr Al Faisal.



Our total income for the three-month period ended 31 March 2018 increased to $112.42 million, a 5.6 percent increase from the $106.49 million reported for the same period last year, mainly due to income from investments. Consequently, our operating income for the three-month period ended 31 March 2018 increased to $72.16 million, a 5.6 percent increase from the $68.34 million reported for the same period last year , he added.



Ithmaar Holding chief executive officer Ahmed Abdul Rahim, who is also the Ithmaar Bank Chief Executive Officer, said the results of both the company and the Bank were encouraging and reconfirm that efforts to turn the Group around are paying off.



Ithmaar Holdings total assets stood at $8.29 billion as at 31 March 2018, compared to $8.61 billion as at 31 December 2017, and remaining stable compared to $8.30 billion as at 31 March 2017, said Abdul Rahim.



Total owners equity stood at $233.48 million as at 31 March 2018, a 34 percent reduction compared to $355.33 million as 31 December 2017, mainly due to early adoption of the new Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) Impairment, credit losses and onerous commitments that was issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), he said.



I am pleased, also, to report that Ithmaar Banks financial results show a net profit of BD2.03 million ($5.35 million) for the three-month period ended 31 March 2018, compared to a net profit of BD3.08 million for the same period in 2017. Net profit attributable to equity holders for the three-month period ended 31 March 2018 was BD0.832 million, compared to the BD1.14 million net profit reported for the same period in 2017, said Abdul Rahim.



Although core income continued to grow during the period, operating income was lower by 9.5 percent mainly because 2017 capital gains by the Banks subsidiary in Pakistan, Faysal Bank Limited, during the previous period, he said.



Ithmaar Banks total assets stood at BD3.11 billion as at 31 March 2018, compared to BD3.24 billion as at 31 December 2017 and are stable compared to BD3.11 billion as at 31 March 2017, said Abdul Rahim.



Meanwhile, despite market conditions, the equity of unrestricted investment account holders stood at BD1.063 billion as at 31 March 2018, increasing 6.4 percent compared to BD0.999 billion as at 31 March 2017 but are stable compared to BD1.064 as at 31 December 2017. Total owners equity stood at BD101.2 million as at 31 March 2018, a 34.6 percent reduction compared to BD154.6 million as 31 December 2017, mainly due to the FAS 30 impact of previous period recognized in equity, he said.  TradeArabia News ServiceDubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has signed an agreement with Green Business Certification Inc (GCBI) to collaborate in research and development, training, and promoting green buildings.



GBCI is an independent organisation that recognises excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally, working in 160 countries.



According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the two organisations will apply the Platinum Rating for green buildings from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) of the US Green Building Council (USGBC).



GBCI will also support the Dubai Solar Show 2018 as a sponsor. Dewa organises the solar show in conjunction with the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (Wetex) from 23 to 25 October 2018.



The MoU was signed by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa, and Mahesh Ramanujam, CEO of USGBC and GBCI.



The MoU supports Dewas efforts to achieve the Demand Side Management Strategy to reduce electricity and water use by 30 per cent by 2030, and the Carbon Abatement Strategy to reduce carbon emissions by 16 per cent by 2021.



The MoU with GBCI is part of our efforts to promote cooperation with international organisations and work together to establish the foundations of environmental sustainability. This supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to provide 75 per cent of Dubais total power output from clean energy sources by 2050, and make Dubai the city with the lowest carbon footprint in the world, said Al Tayer.



Al Tayer noted that Dewa has established Etihad ESCO to help retrofit around 30,000 existing buildings in Dubai. This requires total investments of Dh30 billion ($8.17 billion) and is expected to achieve financial savings of Dh82 billion, with expected savings of Dh52 billion.



Dewas Sustainable Building in Al Quoz is the largest government building in the world to receive a Platinum Rating for green buildings from LEED. The building uses 66 per cent less energy and 48 per cent less water and features an on-site 660 kilowatt (kW) solar power plant.



Dewa is also building its new headquarters, named Al-Sheraa, which is Arabic for sail. The new building will be the tallest, largest, and smartest Zero Energy Building in the world. It will be a sustainability landmark, not just in Dubai or the UAE, but around the world.  TradeArabia News ServiceDubai Airport Free Zone Authority (Dafza) has developed in cooperation with Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) two initiatives aiming to place Dubai 10 years ahead of other leading cities under Dubai 10X drive, a media report said.



The first of them, Dubai Blink, is the worlds first B2B smart commerce platform while the second is the Free Zone Exchange  FZExchange, the worlds first stock exchange dedicated to trading shares of free zone businesses, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



Both initiatives were launched by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, chairman of the Dubai Executive Council and chairman of DFFs Board of Trustees in February 2018.



Dubai Blink and FZExchange are two among 26 Dubai 10X initiatives from 24 government entities in Dubai approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed. The 26 initiatives were chosen by a committee of experts and specialists after evaluating more than 160 ideas submitted by 36 parties in less than 365 days.



Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, director general of the Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority, said Dubai Blink and FZExchange, will contribute to opening new fields of investment, redefine the concept of investment development in the free zones and also provide an innovative model for free zone trade in the digital space, which will provide vital opportunities for companies to grow and prosper locally, regionally and globally.



The FZExchange will enable foreign investors to tap capital in the region, without the need to return to their country of origin. Dubai Blink will encourage more regional and international companies to establish their headquarters in Dubai's free zones and accelerate their trade and investment flows through digital trading.



"The global B2B business market is estimated at $ 7.7 trillion, which is larger than the B2C market, while the growth rate of digital commerce in 2020 is expected to reach 40 per cent in the Mena region. Through these innovative projects, we seek to capture a significant share of this growth, positively impacting Dubai's economic standing and enhancing the GDP of the Emirate, said Dr Al Zarooni.



"The FZExchange project aims to help investors in the free zones gain easier access to the financial and capital markets by creating a simplified regulatory environment that facilitates lower costs and speedier procedures.



Dubai Blink will be the world's first blockchain and AI enabled digital free zone platform which enables companies from around the world to connect with each other for trading purposes. The platform will further enhance user experience by providing a one-stop-shop solution that lists various services for customers.



"The challenge today is to simplify the procedures for listing and bidding for SMEs and free zone companies by creating a streamlined regulatory environment with minimal financial cost and high time efficiency, and ensuring that investors are protected from the risks surrounding financial markets within an organised and fully secure business environment. With regard to the Dubai Blink project, our role is to pave the way for potential investors by facilitating the process of establishing a business," he said.



Dafza is also exploring strategic relationships with IBM and a number of government and international organizations to ensure the success of the Dubai Blink project.



The Dubai Blink project will be implemented in four phases. In the first phase that will start in the last quarter of 2018, Dafza companies will be able to sign in. Later, companies registered in various free zones in Dubai will be able to avail of the projects services, followed by companies in other UAE free zones. Dubai Blink will eventually be available to companies registered in free zones worldwide.



"The Dubai 10X initiative has broadened our vision and encouraged our teams to innovate," he added.Dubais Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Professional Communication Corporation (Nedaa) for improving drones network service in the Emirate.



The move is part of the UAE Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy and the bilateral cooperation for providing traffic movement information in Dubai, and analysing the information generated by these planes.



Abdullah Al Madani, CEO of RTAs Technology Support Services Sector, and Mansour Juma Bu Osaiba, CEO of Nedaa, signed the MoU in RTA head office.



The MoU signed with Nedaa provides for RTA to coordinate between the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Nedaa to fulfil the needs of obtaining the required clearance from the CAA. RTA will also coordinate with Nedaa in developing as many uses as possible for pilotless planes along with the supporting network, besides identifying areas requiring service coverage, said Al Madani.



According to the MoU, Nedaa will map out time charts for carrying out tailor-made test projects, and generate analyses of traffic and 3D charts of relevance for RTA. The signing of the MoU underscores RTAs keenness to cooperate with the parties concerned in keeping abreast of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy and addressing the needs of the Smart City initiative of our government. The MoU also contributes to the achievement of our First Strategic Goal (Smart Dubai), and Seventh Strategic Goal (RTA Excellence), he added.



The signing of this MoU is part of our ongoing cooperation with government entities with the aim of providing them with the latest communication technologies that meet their diverse needs, especially with the fast-changing communication technologies, said Bu Osaiba.



Our 4G network can help drones to monitor roads & traffic movement; which will ease the business of the RTA and other parties concerned with the streamlining of traffic flow on Dubai roads. Given the relentless efforts for migrating towards a smart & integrated city, we are keen on introducing sophisticated technologies that keep pace with this development through a fast, safe and reliable communication network, added Bu Osaiba.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe Government of Dubai has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government Communication Service of the United Kingdom to exchange best practices and expertise in government communication.



Director general of the Government of Dubai Media Office Mona Al Marri signed the MoU on behalf of the Government of Dubai. The Government Communication Service of the UK was represented by Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State for the Middle East.



The signing ceremony was attended by Abdulla Al Basti, secretary general of The Executive Council of Dubai; and Ahmed Al Mahri, assistant secretary general of The Executive Council and General Secretariat Affairs Sector.



As part of the agreement, the two parties will establish platforms for cooperation and expand channels for knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices. The agreement will address several areas such as exchange of people, professional practices, ideas and campaign learning to improve the perception of public services among the general public.



The agreement will also seek to establish the components of professional communication in Dubai and UK, namely government communications, internal and external communications, digital engagement, organisation and development of talent within the communication functions.



It also seeks on improve the practice of government communication in Dubai and UK and report quarterly on the progress made, as well as facilitate information exchange under the scope of this MOU between the two parties to better understand each others best practices.



In addition to researching, writing and publishing joint guides on media practice, behavioural change and digital engagement, the MoU will also review the impact of technology and how it can be harnessed for public good through government communication.



Al Basti said that the ability to communicate effectively and convey key messages clearly are key to the success of government operations, adding that Dubai provides a distinctive model for how government communication can be managed effectively in the region, drawing from global best practices. Al Basti said the agreement comes at a time when Dubai is entering a new phase of growth in which it is seeking to enhance its leadership at a global level.



Alistair Burt MP said: I am delighted that I was able to sign, on behalf of the UK's Government Communication Service, this Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Dubai. We have rich ties with Dubai, with tens of thousands of Britons living here, and more than a million visiting each year. I am pleased that we are working together in this important area of public service.



Communication plays a key role in supporting the overall development of Dubai, which requires us to keep pace with advancements in all sectors. GDMO seeks to make key contributions to the overall development process and the realisation of strategic objectives set by the leadership. Through this MoU, we want to expand the exchange of expertise and knowledge and generate ideas that can further support Dubais objectives of building the future and enhancing peoples happiness, said Al Marri. - TradeArabia News ServiceA new entry-level Volkswagen Arteon with a 190hp engine has arrived in the Middle East.



The notably dynamic fastback model made its debut for the first time at the Geneva International Motor Show in March and will now be introduced in both Base and Elegance models to the Middle East to accompany the existing 280hp Elegance 4-Motion and R-Line models.



All new Volkswagen Arteon combines a sporty charisma, great flexibility, excellent spaciousness in a fastback design.



Modifications differ slightly between the new entry level grades Base (S), Elegance (SE) and the top of the line Elegance 4-Motion (SEL), R-Line; nevertheless, the 190hp Arteon still scores with attributes such as excellent rear legroom and luggage compartment, front-wheel drive as well as digitalised controls.



Further optional features include an Active Info Display (fully digital and programmable instruments), a head up display and a new Discover Pro Infotainment system with a 9.2-inch glass screen and gesture control.



Andrew Savvas, brand director, Volkswagen Middle East, said: The Arteon 190hp follows the recent and successful introduction of the Arteon R-Line to the region  a vehicle which has certainly turned heads.



The introduction of the Base and Elegance models with the 190hp engine has allowed us to offer our customers the full range to meet varying price points, he said.



The Volkswagen Arteon comes in four different trim lines: Base (S), Elegance (SE), Elegance 4-Motion (SEL) and R-Line with a 2.0 TSI engine starting at AED139,207 including VAT, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceEaton, the Saudi division of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Saudi Aramco recently hosted an event to bring the newest updates in safety management to Saudis technical workforce.



The event titled Challenges and Mitigation in Arc Flash and PF Capacitor Applications brought over 80 officials from some of Saudis most respected organisations, such as Saudi Aramco as well as students from engineering institutions across the kingdom.



As part of IEEEs continuing education programme, the seminar outlined crucial industry topics, such as safety management for low-voltage assemblies, Arc Flash reduction systems and power factor correction capacitors and their application in electrical systems.



There is always a need for highly qualified engineers and consultants to stay abreast of the latest trends in the power industry and the solutions and expertise that is available with companies such as Eaton. The purpose of this seminar was to enhance knowledge and interact with skilled engineers from various companies across the Kingdom, said Frank Ackland, general manager, Eaton Middle East.



Speakers included Maher Salameh, Eaton KSA sales lead; Abdelhafid El Bouhali, Eaton business development manager, Power Distribution Division; and John Voukelatos, Eaton regional sales manager, Power Systems.



The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is growing at a rapid pace and it is important for companies to stay abreast of the latest technologies that are available in the power industry. The hallmark of Eaton solutions is safety and our power management products are ideal for the mega projects that are currently in development and pipeline in the Kingdom, added Ackland.



The IEEE is the worlds largest technical professional society, and comprises more than 360,000 members who conduct and participate in its activities in 150 countries. Founded in 1884, the IEEE is a non-profit organisation, and through its members is a catalyst for technological innovation



IEEE publishes 30 per cent of the worlds literature in electrical engineering, computers and control technology, and hold more than 300 major conferences and 6,000 local meetings annually.  TradeArabia News ServiceKBR, a major engineering, procurement and construction company, said it had been awarded a major contract by Basra Oil Company (BOC) for the development of the Majnoon oil field, one of the world's biggest oilfields, located in the Iraqi city of Basra.



As per the deal, KBR will provide overall project management, multi-discipline engineering support, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services to the Iraqi company under a two plus one year extendable service contract.



On the contract win, Jay Ibrahim, the President (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific) said: "KBR has a long and rich history in Iraq and we are excited to be able to leverage our broad expertise in onshore oil and gas processing facilities across the project lifecycle as a true partner to BOC."



"This award highlights the Basra company's confidence in KBR's capabilities to deliver in multiple engineering discipline areas across a variety of projects," remarked Ibrahim.



"We look forward to transferring our knowledge and experience to local Iraqis in order to leave a lasting legacy in the country," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceFour Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay has appointed Hyung Gyu Kim as its new executive chef.



Kim joins with more than 10 years of experience working in some of the finest restaurants in the world. Most recently, he was executive chef at W Hotel Doha.



A seasoned chef, Kim learned the ropes at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu London. He then proceeded to work in the kitchens of the Corinthia Hotel and Jumeirah Hotel London.



At Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, chef Kim will be in charge of the entire culinary operation, leading a team of nearly 60 employees comprising 15 nationalities, while also overseeing an exciting lounge project, set to be unveiled this summer right in time for the beach opening.



"Chef Kim joins us at an exciting time here in Bahrain," said Richard Raab, general manager. "An extensive white sand beach project is currently underway at the Hotel, culminating in the launch of our brand new food and beverage product this summer. Kims wide culinary experience has put him in good stead for overseeing this milestone project, including developing relationships with local Bahraini artisans and putting in place a series of menus and signature dishes. We are pleased to have him on board."



In addition to the launch of the new beach and pool lounge, Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay will throughout 2018 also be unveiling changes to its in-room dining culinary offerings, along with the launch of a completely new menu and afternoon tea at its state-of the-art lobby cafe Bay View Lounge. - TradeArabia News ServiceDubai Airports, together with Dubai Police General Department of Dubai Security, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and Airports Council International (ACI) to become part of its joint initiative on Smart Security.



The Smart Security initiative aims to bring specific and measurable improvements in security effectiveness, operational efficiency and passenger experience at airport security checkpoints through better use of technology, process innovation, and the use of risk-based security concepts. The MoU will pave the way for Dubai Airports, together with airlines, control authorities, regulators and solution providers, to benefit from the knowledge and lessons gained through trials and research activities at other participating airports.



We manage the worlds busiest international airport with more than 90 million passengers passing through our facilities annually. To achieve our vision of being the best in customer experience as well as to provide the capacity to accommodate ongoing and future growth, it is imperative that we look to new technologies and processes to significantly reduce wait times and avoid queuing wherever possible. Our participation in the Smart Security initiative of IATA and ACI is a big step in that direction, said Buti Qurwash, vice president of Security at Dubai Airports.



We congratulate Dubai Airports and the Dubai Police General Department of Airport Security for their commitment to the introduction of the concept of Smart Security  a new global model for airport security  across Dubais airports. The deployment of innovative Smart Security solutions such as advanced screening equipment, lane automation and centralised image processing will not only improve passenger experience and boost the efficiency of the security process, but also ensure that the Dubais airports have a security solution that can be adapted to meet the expected growth in passenger traffic over the next 20 years, said Muhammad Ali Albakri, Iata regional vice president, Africa and The Middle East.



Patti Chau, regional director, Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific said: Airports and their stakeholders all play an important role in making passengers journeys more effective, efficient and pleasant. The Smart Security initiative brings these stakeholders together with the shared goal of transforming the security checkpoint for the benefit of the travelling public. This innovative initiative paves the way for a future vision of security and ACI commends Dubai Airports for demonstrating leadership on this significant endeavour, not only in the region, but globally as well.



Major general Ahmad Bin Thani, deputy commander-in-chief for Seaports and Airports Affairs at Dubai Police affirmed that the Smart Security programme will contribute to the improvement of passenger experience at Dubais airports. By making security checkpoints more efficient this programme will have a positive impact on the entire travel process and experience across touchpoints from the curb to the boarding gate. It will also increase cooperation between all stakeholders, helping us to achieve our common objective of a secure airport with a smooth experience, he added. - TradeArabia News Service

The TransGriot is available for speaking engagements, college lectures, panel discussions, media interviews, conferences or Trans 101 education efforts for your school, business or professional organizations.



For local Houston area, Texas or national events, you can e-mail me at transgriot@yahoo.com



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Please book as early as possible because my speaking and event calendar slots during the year rapidly fill up.Has everyone noticed that just about everyone is a one stater now? The Israeli government might still give lip service to a two state solution (and not even that often. I mean, why bother? Trump doesn't know what that stuff means and the point of their former commitment to lip service was mostly just to keep the U.S. happy). There's not much in what is left of the Oslo process for Palestinians anymore. Viable options seem to be: (1) maintaining status quo no matter how awful it is for the Palestinians, or (2) some version of a single state with different levels of rights and/or misery for the Israelis or Palestinians, depending on who is in charge of the thing.Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349Area Man Allegedly Builds 16 Pipe Bombs Because Obama

Let's head down to Arkansas.

Thanks to the invaluable J.J. McNab, who keeps track of these birds on the electric Twitter machine, we are pointed toward this gent from Arkansas who has some interestingsome might even say explosivepolitical ideas to which he'd like us to pay attention. From The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

A 47-year-old man faces numerous felony charges after authorities said they found fourteen pipe bombs in the yard of his Pulaski County home on Monday and two other bombs at his ex-girlfriend's address last week. Authorities booked James Patrick Huff into the Pulaski County jail about 12:55 p.m. Monday. He was arrested on 16 counts of criminal use of prohibited weapons and a single count of possession of firearms by certain persons.



Speaking with authorities, Huff said he had bombs buried at his home in south Pulaski County, located at 18214 Amazon Lane, according to an arrest report. The sheriff's office said authorities found 14 pipe bombs in a container buried in the yard. Lt. Cody Burk, a spokesman for the Pulaski County sheriff's office, said the bombs appeared to be homemade. "It's really rare that we come across any type of pipe bombs," he said.

I'm sure the local chamber of commerce was relieved to hear that. On the surface, it appears that Mr. Huff may have been overreacting to a bad breakup. However, domestic abuse and domestic terrorism often goes hand-in-hand, and Huff seems to be a second-generation lunatic.

A woman who identified herself as Huff's mother said she believes her deceased husband built the bombs eight to ten years ago amid fear that the U.S. would descend into martial law under President Barack Obama.



"I blame the government," she said during a 9-minute conversation in the driveway of the home she shared with her son. "That's who I blame. They come on TV with, 'Obama's going to do martial law and Obama's helping ISIS' and all this bulls**t. What's people to think? That was nationwide, forever."

She asked not to be identified by name. Huff, whom she calls by his middle name, found the bombs while cleaning out the shed shortly after her husband, also named James Huff, passed away in December 2017 at 79 years old, she said. A wooden shed could be seen on the property's back edge, with an American flag hanging beside a boarded up window that faces away from the home. Her husband kept the shed locked all the time, she said. "I asked him to destroy them," she said. "I didn't know anything else about them. I thought he did. That's all I know."

I sure hope pointing out how completely freaking crazy this is doesn't offend some heartland voters so much that they become Trump fans. Everybody says we should be careful of that.

Respond to this article on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here.Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities in Syria and military assistance from the U.S. to Kurdish formations in this country threaten peace in the Middle East, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"Israel has already inflicted more than 50 missile strikes on Syria, provoking a new war in the region. It is impossible to give a positive assessment of such steps. What is the purpose of these missile strikes? We cannot confirm the fact of strikes from the Syrian territory towards Israel, which was the pretext for missile strikes against Syria," Erdogan said during his visit to the UK.

"The United States has sent 5,000 trucks with weapons to Syria. Two thousand transport aircraft with weapons landed in Syria. Why so many weapons? The US has started an arms race in the region," Sputnik cited the president as saying.

"Of course, the actions of the U.S. disappoints Turkey, we consider dangerous any steps that threaten peace in the region. Therefore, Washington's approach to the situation in the region are unacceptable," Erdogan added.

He stressed that the joint steps taken by Turkey, Russia and Iran contribute to peace in Syria, while Ankara was not able to take similar steps with the West countries.The decision made by the Council of the European Union to sanction another five Crimean officials over the organization of Russian presidential election in Crimea takes effect on May 14, the Council said in a statement.

"The Council added five persons to the list of those subject to restrictive measures over actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the statement reads.

"The legal acts, including the names of the persons concerned, are available in the EU Official Journal of May 14," the Council said, noting that the regulation entered into force on the day of its publication.I personally guarantee your freedom of expression, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili addressed the protesters while speaking at a special briefing and called on police to increase measures for ensuring the safety of protesters at Rustaveli Avenue.

"Everyone has the freedom to express their own opinion however confrontation while expressing ones opinion is unacceptable and we will not allow this to happen," Agenda.ge cited him as saying.

The PMs briefing was followed by the mobilization of increased number of armed forces at Rustaveli Avenue to prevent any possible confrontation.

Two groups in confrontation with other another are holding protest rally on Rustaveli Avenue.

The central road is divided into two parts - one occupied by the White Noise Movement activists supporting drug policy liberalisation and criticizing the police raid of night clubs while the other group is made up of protesters headed by Georgian National Unity.

The counter protesters are trying to cross the road to reach the other demonstrators which is being prevented by the police.Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has attended today the opening of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Complex.

The country's Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev informed the head of state of the complex.

President Aliyev launched the complex and toured the area of the port, AzerTAc reported.

The president also met with staff of the port and builders.Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani denounced US President Donald Trump as "feeble-minded" over Monday's controversial move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, calling for resistance from the Palestinians and the international community.

"America has entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously," the parliament speaker said at a conference on the Palestinian situation in Tehran.

"I believe the current US president is not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions," AFP cited him as saying.

"Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today's world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price," Larijani said.

Larijani called for an "immediate reaction" from Palestinians, Islamic countries and the international community - including boycotts and official complaints to the United Nations.

The US "must not think that such actions... can remain without a response," he said.

The United States was due to open its new embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday amid widespread Palestinian anger and praise from Israelis.Jerusalem will name a city square near the new U.S. Embassy in honor of President Donald Trump, the city mayor Nir Barkat said.

"This is the way in which Jerusalem returns love to the president and residents of the United States who stand by the state of Israel," Barkat said. "President Trump decided to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people, stand on the side of historical truth and do the right thing."

An official event with American dignitaries will be held in the future to celebrate the naming, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Located at the junction of David Flusser Street and Kfar Etzion Street, the square was formally green lighted to get a new name a year ago by the naming committee of Jerusalem.

Trump decided in December to officially move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, straining relations between Israel and Palestinians, who also claim the holy city as their capital.Chief executive of the Russian Center for Strategic Research Alexei Kudrin said that he has accepted the offer made by deputies of the United Russia party fraction in the State Duma to run for the office of the head of the Chamber of Accounts.

"I appreciate the United Russia fraction for my nomination and has given consent to stand for election to the position of the head of the Chamber of Accounts," Kudrin said.

He added that the Chamber of Accounts will particularly focus on delivery of strategic tasks and May Decrees of the Russian President.

Kudrin also said that reduction of corruption in the finance sphere would be his task in case of approval in the position of the Accounts Chamber head.

"Corruption control is also assigned to the function of the Accounts Chamber. We need to improve its control, prevent it in the first instance, and create mechanisms in the financial system that arrest corruption growth. Therefore, we see our task now to significantly reduce corruption in the finance sphere," TASS cited Kudrin as saying.

Tatiana Golikova, who heads the Chamber of Accounts since 2013, was nominated to the position of the deputy prime minister in the new government.Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will present his proposals on the new governments structure to President Vladimir Putin on May 15, his Spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said.

"Under Article 112 of the Russian Constitution, which says that not later than a week after being appointed as the head of government he presents his proposals to the Russian president on the structure of federal bodies, the prime minister will suggest the structure of cabinet of ministers," she told reporters.

Speaking on if the decisions on the personnel may be announced on Tuesday, Timakova said: "No, this does not mean this."

Earlier, Acting Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that Putin could meet with Medvedev on Tuesday. Peskov told reporters that the deadline for the prime minister to present his proposals on the new cabinet "is coming."Acting Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak plans to hold negotiations with Saudi Arabias Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"We had a phone conversation, but we agreed to meet in St. Petersburg and discuss everything in detail during the forumThere is a preliminary agreement on this," Novak told reporters commenting on when he planned to meet with the Saudi Arabian minister and discuss the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

"We will monitor the situation. It has been announced that the sanctions would be restored within 180 days, but we need to look at the markets reaction, now it is early to say anything. In any case, we have all the tools which may be used to balance the market," TASS cited the minister as saying.Russia's Energy Ministry is not able to predict oil prices, the country's acting Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

Novak said that global oil prices are currently under the influence of geopolitics but "fundamentally the market is balancing out."

The Russian minister also noted that OPEC has "all the tools to balance the market" following the US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

According to him, it is too early to say what the impact of the US decision on the oil market will be. "In any case, we have all the tools that could be used to balance the market," Novak said.

"We will monitor the situation. In principle, as they said, the sanctions will resume within 180 days so we need to see how market reacts. It is too early now to say anything. Anyway, we have all the tools, which can be used to balance the market," he said.

A leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Igor Yushkov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that despite the price increase after the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the OPEC+ agreement on oil output cuts could be continued. "The sanctions on Iran provide a certain room for maneuver. If Iran falls under sanctions, it may reduce output, but in this case, other OPEC+ participants, primarily Russia and Saudi Arabia, can agree on redistributing Iran's quota and raising its output on the amount of lost Iranian volumes. That is, nothing will change within the framework of the OPEC+ agreement, thus the issue of closing the deal will be partially removed," he pointed out.

"Now everyone thinks about closing the deal, thinking like this: let's start making more money, increasing output and selling at oil price above $75 per barrel. Everyone wants to do this, but understands that as soon they say about the completion of the deal, traders will immediately begin sell futures and the price will decline. And if Russia and Saudi Arabia increase production at the expense of Iran, we will again return to $40-50 per barrel. Of course, if Iran drops out, other OPEC+ members will say about sharing its quota with each other, the price will also decline, but the reaction of the investor to be softer," Igor Yushkov said.

"If the US says that the sanctions apply to all companies in the world, it will create significant problems for Tehran, but it is unlikely that the US decides to take such a tough stance. The only thing the Americans can do is prohibiting all companies from insuring tankers loaded with Iranian oil, which means they will have to look for companies that are not present in the US market and ready to supply Iranian oil. The scheme for selling Iranian oil will become more complicated, but there will be no such a drop in production as it was in 2011-2012," the leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund predicts.

A senior analyst of 'Uralsib Capital', Alexei Kokin, in turn, noted that after the resumption of US sanctions on Iran, it may be necessary to review the terms of the OPEC+ deal. "This would be necessary to determine a new level of quotas for each participant. This November restrictive measures will be fully implemented. If Iran is unable to sell oil through its traditional sales channels, then, according to some analysts, there is a risk of leaving significant volumes from the market by the end of the year. At the same time, even if these volumes are at the level of 200-300 thousand barrels per day, they still have to be replaced in some way," the expert said.

According to him, this could force the OPEC countries and other participants of the deal to discuss the new distribution of volumes between the countries. "There are several other factors that are currently increasing oil prices: Venezuela with its chronic crisis and the drop in Angola's output. It could force Saudi Arabia, Russia, and OPEC in general to differently define production quotas. I do not think that the deal will disintegrate, because the cooperation between OPEC and not OPEC, primarily Saudi Arabia and Russia, is of a long-term nature. I believe the deal could be simply modified," Alexei Kokin summed up.OPEC is more focused on identifying the right level of oil inventory at its next meeting than the impact on supplies of new U.S. sanctions on Iran, UAE energy minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said.

"Thats not what we are concerned about now. What we are concerned about in the next (OPEC) meeting is what is the right level of inventory that we should see, and (how) can we put this group together for longer," Reuters cited him as saying.

Mazroui said there was no reason to worry about supply, adding that this was not the first time an OPEC member had been in such a situation.

"We managed to solve the supply issue but we still believe we have the buffer (in oil supplies)... We will meet in June to discuss it," he added.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Moldovan President Igor Dodon held talks in Sochi today, where they are taking part in the Supreme Eurasian Economic Councils session, the press office of the Armenian government said.

According to the press release, they highly appreciated the level of relations between their countries and stressed the necessity of further development.

Nikol Pashinyan pointed out that economic relations between the two countries are still lagging behind their political relations.

We should take appropriate steps to spur economic cooperation. In this connection, I attach great importance to the active work of the intergovernmental commission and find it necessary to hold its session as soon as possible," ARKA cited him as saying.

The PM also said that the Armenian governments decision to open the Armenian embassy in Moldova shows that "our country is ready to give a new impetus to the bilateral relations."

Dodon congratulated Pashinyan on his election and wished him success.Relations between Armenia and Russia will be more fraternal, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Adler on Sunday evening.

"All conditions have been created for us to live and work in our homeland," the Armenpress news agency cited him as saying. "Undoubtedly, the Armenian-Russian relations will be more fraternal. I am certain that our meetings will be effective. God save the Russian Federation, God save the Republic of Armenia, long live Armenian-Russian friendship!"

He also called on the two countries' businesspeople to invest in Armenia. "I call on all Armenians, businessmen in Sochi and all Russian and Armenian businessmen to come to Armenia and invest, create jobs, because this is a new Armenia where every investment will be protected," Pashinyan emphasized.

The Armenian delegation led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Sochi to take part in a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. Pashinyans first meeting with the Russian president will take place during his working visit. Other bilateral meetings are planned too.Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Armenia's new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held their first meeting in Sochi today.

"I want to wish you success as the head of the government and hope that our relations will develop as progressively as before," Putin told Nikol Pashinyan.

The Russian president noted that Russia views Armenia as its closest partner and ally in the region in terms of both economic cooperation and security issues, the Kremlin press service reported.

Putin voiced hope that "very good results" of Russian-Armenian economic cooperation will multiply. He recalled that Russia remains Armenias leading trade and economic partner, which accounts for more than 25 percents of the countrys trade turnover and Russias investments reach 35 percents of all investments in Armenias economy, adding that imports of Armenia's agricultural products are growing, namely a 38-percent growth was recorded last month.

Putin assured Pashinyan that Moscow will continue active cooperation with Yerevan on the international arena, in international organizations, including the United Nations, where Armenia and Russia have always supported each other.

Pashinyan, in turn, confirmed that Russia and Armenia are strategic partners. "We are determined to give a new impetus to these relations in political terms and trade and economic area." He also expressed hope to develop military and technical cooperation with Russia.

The new Armenian prime minister stressed: "We highly appreciate the balanced position which Russia showed during our domestic political crisis." "This was a very constructive position. I think both our government and the Armenian society in general value this."Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif have agreed to go ahead with contacts over the Iranian nuclear deal following the United States pullout, Russian Foreign Ministry said after a Lavrov-Zarif meeting this morning.

"The focus of attention was on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding the Iranian nuclear program following the United States pullout from the agreement," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The ministers agreed to maintain tight bilateral contacts on this issue."

"A number of topical international problems, including Syria, were touched upon," TASS cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.HCM CITY  Several banks are keen to establish consumer finance arms to grab a bigger share of a market that is expected to reach VN1,000 trillion (US$4.38 billion) by 2020 and grow at 29 per cent annually.

At its annual general meeting last month Orient Commercial Bank tabled a plan to set up a finance company this year.

Trinh Van Tuan, its chairman, was quoted by au tu Chung khoan (Securities Investment) newspaper as saying the banks consumer credit business is expanding rapidly and so it needs an independent company to streamline the business and improve risk management.

The lender plans to either establish a wholly-owned subsidiary with a charter capital of VN500 billion ($22 million) or acquire at least 70 per cent in an existing finance company.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) too plans to set up a financial company with a charter capital of VN500 billion.

News reports had suggested that ACB wanted to acquire the Post and Telecommunication Finance Company (PTFinance), but last February SeABank bought it for VN710 billion.

After closing deals to buy finance companies, several banks have quickly looked for foreign strategic partners.

For instance, Techcombank sold Techcombank Finance Company, which it had acquired in 2015, to Koreas Lotte Card for VN1.7 trillion.

Prudential has reached agreement to sell Prudential Viet Nam Finance Company to Shinhan Card, a subsidiary of Koreas Shinhan Financial Group, for nearly $151 million.

HDBank sold 49 per cent of its stake in HDFinance to Japans Credit Saison.

An executive at the Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) told Securities Investment newspaper that after the bank was merged with Vinaconex-Viettel Finance JSC and established SHB Finance, whose main business is consumer credit, many companies from the EU, the US and Japan have shown interest in buying stakes in it.

The executive said SHB is considering some of the offers, explaining that having a foreign strategic partner would bring international management and sales experience.

Among consumer finance companies owned by lenders and not yet sold to foreign firms is VPBanks FE Credit.

Last year FE Credit accounted for 51 per cent of the banks profit, the main reason why VPBank is in no rush to sell it to foreign companies.

Maritime Bank has also remained silent about looking for a foreign partner since acquiring Viet Nam Textile and Garment Finance Joint Stock Company in 2015.

The consumer finance market is expected to boom since consumers are now used to it and realised its convenience, experts said.

According to estimates by the National Financial Supervisory Commission, consumer lending surged 65 per cent last year, up from 50.2 per cent in 2016.

The ratio of consumer credit to total outstanding loans in the banking system was estimated at 18 per cent last year, up from 12.3 per cent in 2016.VNSHA NOI  Experts reactions to the Ministry of Finances (MoF) tax adjustment draft have been mixed, while the business community struggles to keep up with the variety of proposed tax hikes.

Most recently, the MoFs proposal to impose auxiliary property tax rate of 0.3-0.4 per cent per property value for houses worth from VN700 million (US$31,000) and up, was the subject of controversy.

Since 2017, the MoF had repeatedly proposed amendments to current tax law towards increasing the number of tax rates.

From hiking environmental protection tax on petroleum to increasing value-added tax (VAT) from 10 per cent to 12 per cent while reducing the number of goods entitled to 5 per cent VAT, or special consumption tax on soft drinks, the MoF is intent on restructuring State budget revenue via both direct and indirect taxes.

As such, it was no surprise that representatives from the business community and financial experts were skeptical of the ministrys tax plans, as evident at a quarterly conference held by the National Economics University (NEU) last week.

au Anh Tuan, Director General, Legal Department at Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said he himself was "dazzled" by these proposals due to their complexity and severity.

He said the amendments of VAT, special consumption tax, corporate income tax, personal income tax, natural resource tax and export-import tax, would involve 30 different kinds of minor taxes, and they were all rising.

Nonetheless, Tuan agreed that such increases in tax rates will result in strong revenue gain, but the MoF must take into account that enterprises are also facing other high costs such as increased minimum wage and gasoline prices.

Therefore, he argued that increasing taxes will have an immediate negative impact on business performance, as he believed on average costs are rising faster than revenue growth, and additional tax hikes would harm small and medium enterprises.

Ngo Tri Long, former head of Price and Market Research Institute under the MoF, said that since tax hikes are often a sensitive issue, there should be a detailed roadmap.

According to Long, since VAT is "regressive", meaning low-earning people have to spend a larger proportion of their income on consumption, the tax burden on essential goods will be higher for them than high income earners.

Phan uc Hieu, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), also said that the proposed VAT increase would bring immediate gains to the State budget but would ultimately be a negative due to decreased purchasing power.

Phan Huu Nghi, head of the NEUs Public Finance Department, said that increasing indirect taxes is a correct trend for Viet Nam, simply because they are easier to collect and control.

Ta Loi, head of the NEUs International Business, proposed replacing VAT with another tax on additional cost to avoid tax overlap and tax fraud, which can be set at the same level as corporate income tax on all consumable goods, and on a voluntary, independent and self-monitoring basis.

Nguyen Van Phung, Director of the Large Taxpayers Management Office under the General Department of Taxation, said that the MoFs draft law proposals were simply part of a long-term scheme for taxation restructuring, and that they were within reason.

These tax incentives are far from the tax system reform targets for 2011-2020 of 24 per cent worth of annual GDP, as at the moment it is only 18.1 per cent.

Therefore, the MOF will and must amend a number of tax laws, though they had proved to put great pressure on the public, said Phung.

According to experts, citizens average income is still lower than the worlds average, so policymakers need to set a reasonable limit, as well as emphasising not just tax hikes but also avoiding losses from tax fraud and evasion.  VNSThe Prime Ministers working group has asked the ministries of Finance and Planning and Investment to swiftly lift the foreign ownership limit of 49 per cent at enterprises where foreign investment is not restricted. Photo baodauthau.vn

HA NOI  The Prime Ministers working group has asked the ministries of Finance and Planning and Investment to swiftly lift the foreign ownership limit of 49 per cent at enterprises where foreign investment is not restricted.

The request for removing the foreign ownership restriction at certain businesses is mentioned in a PMs working group report on the implementation of the assignments given by the Government to ministries and agencies and on results of inspections last month.

From January 1 last year to April 30, the Government assigned ministries, agencies, cities and provinces more than 26,700 tasks, of which nearly 15,900 have been completed.

Particularly, ministries of Finance, Industry and Trade, and Agriculture and Rural Development have so far cut numerous business conditions.

The PMs working group said it conducted inspections at the Ministry of Finance and Viet Nam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) in April.

Accordingly, the group concluded that the Ministry of Finance has accomplished 1,340 out of nearly 1,600 assigned tasks. However, many business conditions for enterprises under its management still overlap and are unreasonable, so the ministry plans to simplify or abolish 188 of 370 conditions.

In addition, the ministry is told to impose strict sanctions on officials found to harass businesses, and direct the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs to lower tax debts to below 5 per cent of State budget revenue.

The ministry must also complete the drafting of a law amending tax regulations to support enterprises, ensure sufficient tax collections and propose new tax policy for small enterprises, especially those converted from household businesses.

Meanwhile, the inspection at VICEM found that the corporation has grown strongly, and secured a domestic market share of 35-36 per cent. It has created jobs for a huge number of workers, and contributed significantly to the countrys socio-economic development.

However, VICEM must handle its shortcomings in some investment projects, the shift to advanced technology, land and property management and cooperation with other firms to make use of by-products of the sector.  VNSAs many as 40 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises choose to use commercial arbitration in cases of disputes, rather than going to court, said Phan Trong at, Deputy Secretary General of the Viet Nam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC).  Photo nhandan.com.vn

HA NOI  As many as 40 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises choose to use commercial arbitration in cases of disputes, rather than going to court, said Phan Trong at, Deputy Secretary General of the Viet Nam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC).

Speaking at a seminar, entitled, Commercial Arbitration  Increasing Confidence in Foreign Direct Investment, held in Ha Noi late last week, at said the FDI firms chose commercial arbitration for resolving disputes because of its effectiveness, and due to its helping them save time and costs. Meanwhile, court proceedings to settle disputes failed to meet FDI requirements when many of the judgments were unfair, causing lengthy disputes and considerable expenses for enterprises.

Statistics showed that some 24 per cent of disputes were resolved at VIAC and involved FDI as one of the parties. Of these, 32 per cent were in the purchasing of goods, 24 per cent in construction and 20 per cent in leasing.

More than a half of commercial arbitration cases at VIAC are resolved in foreign languages (mainly English), he said, adding that the rate of disputes in the country has been on the rise in the last three years.

Vu Anh Duong, VIACs general secretary, said Viet Nam has been considered one of the countries with high and stable economic growth in the region and the world. One of the reasons for the significant momentum for this growth was FDI activities in Viet Nam.

Pham Manh Dung, VIACs arbitrator and a lawyer from Rajah and Tann LCT Lawyers Company Limited, said that by the end of 2017, Viet Nam had 24,700 FDI projects with total registered capital of US$318.7 billion, accounting for 25 per cent of the total investment in the country and more than half of the nations total industrial production value.

Dung noted that FDI has had a large impact on Viet Nams integration into the world economy.

This has been an important factor for the countrys infrastructure development and in completing legal systems to develop market mechanisms that are suitable with international norms, he said.

VIAC has striven to become a trusted address to resolve disputes, thus helping ensure the rights and benefits of investors seeking to invest in Viet Nam.

Commercial arbitration in Viet Nam has been increasingly developed to become a useful tool for foreign investors in the country.

Disputes in investment activities have many mechanisms for resolving conflicts, such as courts, commercial arbitration and foreign affairs. However, the courts have not been an attractive solution, while resolving disputes through foreign affair mechanisms have been used in certain cases.

Commercial arbitration and investment arbitration have been mostly preferred.

CHALLENGES

The dispute resolving mechanisms of commercial arbitration also faced challenges, said Fan Mingchao, Regional Director of Arbitration and ADR for North Asia at the International Chamber of Commerce.

He said the majority of challenges were concerning competitiveness, as the scale of disputes become larger and more complicated, resulting in prolonged time, which reduces its effectiveness.

The issues relating to security and transparency of arbitration procedures have also been a problem.

Security is a core feature of international arbitration, but transparency requirements are also increasingly high. In order to address this issue, agencies have approved and joined the transparency framework of the United Nations, he said.

The benefit has also been seen in commercial arbitration.

He said that Governments should build a transparent arbitration procedure to control the quality of arbitration decisions.

The seminar focused on discussing the necessity and efficiency of commercial arbitration methods as one of the most effective ways of resolving disputes related to FDI enterprises.

The seminar is divided into three sessions, with discussions on topics, such as: An update on the situation of commercial arbitration in Viet Nam and around the world; Commercial Arbitration - A new element worth noting to attract foreign direct investment; Commercial arbitrage as a useful tool for controlling business risks.

The event is considered to be an important forum for lawyers and leading experts to share knowledge with enterprises and help Vietnamese enterprises to better understand and more effectively use commercial arbitration methods. Commercial arbitration is an effective tool in preserving capital inflows from legal risks in business investments.

More than 100 delegates from FDI enterprises, counterpart enterprises, potential partners with FDI enterprises, many prestigious lawyers, and representatives from State management agencies attended the seminar. - VNSAn investor views share prices on electronic boards at Tan Viet Securities Company.  VNS Photo oan Tung

HA NOI  Healthy market growth during the weekend cannot conceal the fact that local stock markets are likely to remain quiet this week, amid an information-missing month in May and rising tensions throughout the globe.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained nearly 16 points, or 1.55 per cent, to close Friday at 1,044.85 points. It gained 1.7 per cent last week.

The southern market index also put an end to its previous three-day decline of 3.1 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange advanced 1.50 per cent in the last trading session of the week to finish at 122.77 points, marking it recovery after having fallen 4.4 per cent in the previous three sessions.

Also, the northern market index inched up from the previous weeks end of 122.57 points.

After having tumbled over three consecutive trading days, local stock exchanges were boosted by strong investor purchases, as stocks had fallen to more attractive price levels, especially when the VN Index fell below 1,000 points on Friday.

Alternating increases and decreases in the market were caused mainly by the underperformance of large-cap stocks, as investor confidence remained weak amid a lack of supportive information and rising tensions in the Middle East.

According to BIDV Securities Co (BSC), investors seemed to remain steady as the stock indices were moving, due to high selling from the supply side while foreign investors continued to weigh down the market through their extended net sell value.

The chances for the VN Index to reach 1,100 points and fall to the 950-970 point range are equal at the moment due to poor market sentiment, as local stocks were surrounded by negative news, BSC said in its weekly report.

On Wednesday, Iran and Israel attacked each others military bases in Syria, sending the two governments to the edge of a comprehensive war that could much worsen the current situation in Syria and spread the conflict to other Middle East countries.

Last week, the US government led by president Donald Trump, announced that they would withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran and planned sanctions on the worlds leading oil exporter.

The rising tensions in the Middle East caused an interruption to the worlds crude supply, pushing up oil futures by nearly 3 per cent to a 3 1/2-year high, benefiting local energy firms. Brent crude ended Friday at US$70.70 per barrel.

In Viet Nam, local shares also traded in the negative territory on speculation about firms involvement in illegal business activities.

Shares of securities firm VNDirect (VND) were brought down to the daily decreasing band of 7 per cent on Wednesday and Thursday, after its involvement was reported in the recently-revealed gambling case.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd (BSR) shares sunk between Tuesday and Thursday, after its chairman and chief accountant were arrested for mis-using State capital and assets of the oil refiner.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co (SHS) said that Fridays recovery might be short-lived and highly risky for bargain-hunters, as trading liquidity continued to slide while investors chose to stand by and were unwilling to take part in the market trading activities.

An average of more than 211 million shares, worth VN5.71 trillion ($254 million), were traded in each session last week. The trading figures were down 12 per cent in volume and 9.5 per cent from the previous weeks numbers.

If inflow capital does not increase in the coming week, the short-term prospects of the markets are not highly recommended, SHS said. Given the current market status, alternating ups and downs may continue with low trading liquidity and cause the VN Index to struggle between 1,000 and 1,070 points.  VNSHA NOI  Techcombank has completed the sale of 64.4 million treasury stocks, collecting more than VN8.24 trillion (US$361.5 million), the bank announced.

The shares, equivalent to 5.85 per cent of the banks capital, were sold between April 27 and May 7 at an average price of VN128,000 ($5.61) per share through transactions on the Viet Nam Securities Depository Centre (VSDC).

In the first phase (March 21 to April 19), Techcombank also offloaded 93.2 million treasury stocks, equalling 9.39 per cent of its capital, for VN8.48 trillion, or at VN91,000 per share.

After the two offerings, Techcombank has raised more than VN16.7 trillion.

In the third quarter of last year, Techcombank paid more than VN4.04 trillion to buy back nearly 172.4 million stocks (treasury stocks), equivalent to just VN23,459 per share.

The banks share value has risen by more than five times since then.

In April, Techcombank also sold 164 million shares worth VN21 trillion to foreign investors at the price of VN128,000 per share, valuing the bank at $6.5 billion.

It is expected to list itself on the HCM Stock Exchange on June under the code TCB.

VDSC announced the deadline for closing the list of shareholders registering ownership on May 11.

Founded in 1993 with charter capital of just VN20 billion, Techcombank has emerged to be Viet Nams largest private sector bank with charter capital of nearly VN11.66 trillion and total assets of VN269.4 trillion by the end of last year.

The bank posted a pre-tax profit of more than VN8 trillion in 2017 and has targeted a pre-tax profit of VN10.8 trillion this year.

Techcombanks shares are trading on the over-the-counter (OTC) market at around VN115,000 per share.  VNSHA NOI  Viet Nam has perfected the legal framework of nine recommendations issued by the European Commission (EC) to ensure responsible and sustainable fishing.

This was revealed by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong in Ha Noi on Monday.

The contents of the nine recommendations were incorporated into the Fisheries Law and passed by the National Assembly, said Cuong at a meeting with the Directorate of Fishieries (DF) to re-evaluate the results achieved by Viet Nam in overcoming the EUs illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) yellow card on Vietnamese fisheries, as well as to welcome the EU inspection team visiting Viet Nam today (May 15) to check the countrys efforts against IUU fishing.

"This is a great step that Viet Nam has done so far to confirm to the EC that it is building sustainable and responsible fisheries and raising the incomes of fishermen," said Cuong.

On October 23, 2017, the EU officially issued the yellow card against Vietnamese seafood exported to this market because of insufficient efforts to meet the EU regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU. At the same time, the EU recommended that Viet Nam make sufficient efforts for the withdrawal of the yellow card by revising its legal framework and ensure compliance with international and regional rules applicable to the conservation and management of fisheries resources.

EU wanted Viet Nam to ensure the implementation and enforcement of the revised national legislation and enhance the implementation of international rules and management measures through a full sanctioning regime and an enforcing and monitoring system.

It also required Viet Nam to address deficiencies identified in the monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) related to the requirements of international and regional regulations, as well as within the framework of the fishing certification system, in addition to strengthening the management and improvement of the registration and licensing system for fishing.

General Director of DF Nguyen Ngoc Oai said the EU inspection delegations would work with MARD, some coastal provinces and export aquatic products today. The delegation would also work with the Department of Animal Health, Department of Quality Management of agro-forestry and fisheries.

Finally, the EU team will synthesise the results achieved in Viet Nam and report to the Minister of MARD, said Oai.

To serve the EUs inspection team visiting Viet Nam, Oai said the DF had opened an IUU office, which had sufficient documents to serve the EU. In particular, the DF has also set up a fishery database system, including a system of fishing ports and fishing vessels and the fishing vessel monitoring system on the fishing grounds, which are important for the management of fishing vessels on the sea.

"The MARDs view is that the units under the ministry, when working with the EU team, will have the highest responsibility, transparency and openness. Its needed to verify what we have done for EU to check, Cuong said.

We have nothing to hide. We need to record EU what we have done and what are inadequacies needed to be overcome in the next time, he added.

In term of management, Cuong said its necessary to re-assess the facilities for sustainable development of fisheries such as ports and anchorage areas to issue recommendations to the Government.

In the next period, it is necessary to further invest in the sector to create a responsible and effective fishery. We also need to review the application of high technologies, information technology application to manage vessels and fishing grounds so as to ensure the development of modern fisheries, Cuong said.

To date, Viet Nam has made great efforts in overcoming the "yellow card" of the EU. It has directed drastically from central to local grassroots to implement more comprehensive solutions to overcome nine recommendations that the EU put forward to remove the "yellow card" as well as reaching a responsible fishery.  VNSA NANG  An excavation has unearthed a section of the foundations and walls of a trench on the southwest of the ruined ien Hai Citadel in the citys downtown district following a restoration project that began last month.

Director of a Nang Museum Huynh inh Quoc Thien said the first excavation exposed a 126m wall section on the west of the citadel, which was built by brick and mortar.

A section of foundations 14.2m long and 4.2m wide was also found next to the citadel wall on the west side. This foundation was built from laterite and pebble.

The excavation team suggested measuring the original section of the wall and foundation, and dismantling broken or damaged brick sections for restoration, Thien said.

The wall of the trench will be restored to fit the primary plan of the citadel, Thien said on Friday.

The team will have to revaluate the section of foundation on the west side of the citadel, due to a lack of original documents and drawings.

Natural beauty: An overview of the Hai Van Gate with two brick gates and some bunkers left from the war time.  VNS Photo Cong Thanh

According to the national heritage council, the ruins of the citadel may be the last monument in a Nang that symbolises the sacrifice of local people and soldiers in the fight against French-Spanish colonial forces in 1858-60.

The citadel, which was recognised as a National Special Relic, is a link to Nguyen Tri Phuong (1800-73), a famous general who commanded a Vietnamese army to fight the foreign invaders.

The city still preserves the graveyard of French-Spanish coalition soldiers who died during the 1858-60 fighting.

The citadel, which is now the site of the citys museum on Tran Phu Street, was first built as a military outpost in the twelfth year of King Gia Longs reign (1813), near the mouth of the Han River, to control access to a Nang Port and serve as an important defensive position.

It was renamed the ien Hai Citadel in 1835, the fifteenth year of King Minh Mangs reign, after it was moved inland and rebuilt on a high mount in 1823, during the fourth year of Minh Mangs reign.

The citadel still has a moat between two brick walls and a cannon collection displayed outdoors. It has a total dimension of 653m, including two layers of walls (5.64m high inner walls and 3.29m outside wall) and a trench system 21.15m wide and 3.29m deep.

A collection of 11 iron cannons cast during the Nguyen Dynasty between 1802 and 1860 and unearthed at the ien Hai Citadel between 1979 and 2008, is planned for recognition as a national treasure.

Relic: The north gate of Hai Van sits on the top of Hai Van Pass.  VNS Photo Cong Thanh

Hai Van Gate

Another excavation began on an area of 600sq.m on the Hai Van Gate on the Hai Van Pass in the border of Thua Thien-Hue Province and a Nang City in a restoration project.

The Hai Van Gate was recognised as National Historical Relic last year.

The Hai Van Gate, situated on the top of Hai Van Pass, is a complex of brick-built gates dating from the Tran Dynasty (1470), and octagonal bunkers from the French colonial period.

Its a historical relic on the most beautiful pass in central Viet Nam, and a landmark for a Nang and Thua Thien-Hue.

An excavation team will dig up the area to search for damaged items, and will preserve the current buildings (two bunkers and the concrete roof of the southern gate), as well as the brick gate and stone walls.

Looking deeper: An excavation begins on the Hai Van Gate of the Hai Van Pass between a Nang and Thua Thien-Hue.  VNS Photo Cong Thanh

The relic, which is sandwiched on the border of Lang Co Town in Thua Thien-Hue Provinces Phu Loc District and a Nangs Hoa Hiep Bac Ward in Lien Chieu District, attracts about 1,000 visitors per day who come by bike or bus from Hue and a Nang.

The relic has been left in ruins since a Nang separated from former Quang Nam-a Nang Province in 1997.

In 1470, King Tran Nhan Tong proclaimed that the Hai Van Gate was the most marvellous wonder in Viet Nam. The inscriptions on the gate arches have survived.  VNSHA NOI  Phi Thi Thuy Linh was crowned Mrs Ao Dai Viet Nam, a contest to honour the beauty of the traditional costume.

The pageant was held in Paris on May 12, drawing Vietnamese contestants aged 35 and above living in Paris as well as across the globe.

Linh showcased many long dresses designed by Ngoc Han. The designs were inspired by lotus, pottery and bamboo to honour Vietnamese traditional culture.

The contestants were tested in an interview, ramp walk in ao dai (traditional long dress) and evening gowns, photo shoot and a Q&A session for finalists.

The contest serves as a platform to promote the splendour of the Vietnamese ao dai among the international community while encouraging younger generations of Vietnamese living abroad to take interest in the history and values of the costume.

The jury included actor Hoang Dung, actress Chieu Xuan, inh Hien Anh (Mrs Vietnam World 2017 and Miss Diamond Empire 2017) and French celebrities.

Prior to this, Linh made it to the top 10 in Miss Vietnam 2010. She works as a businesswoman.  VNSDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira on Saturday witness the signing of a MoU on co-operation between the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organisations and the Alexandre de Gusmao Foundation of Brazil.  VNA/VNS Photo Lam Khanh

HA NOI  Viet Nam treasures the increasing role of Brazil in the international arena and wishes to further promote co-operation with the country, said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Minh made the statement during talks with Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira on Saturday, who is on an official visit to Viet Nam from May 12-13.

The officials agreed that the Viet Nam-Brazil relationship has developed, especially in political ties, shown through regular visits and meetings by senior leaders and officials.

Economic ties between the two countries have also grown, with two-way trade in 2017 at US$3.87 billion, up 12 times in the last decade.

For his part, Nunes affirmed Brazil considers Viet Nam an important partner in Southeast Asia.

He lauded Viet Nams increasing role in the region and the world and noted his countrys determination to expand friendship and co-operation with Viet Nam.

Minh and Nunes underlined the need for the two sides to enhance exchange of visits, especially among senior leaders; promote the effective implementation of the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Co-operation, as well as maintain regular political consultations at deputy foreign minister level.

They agreed to continue implementing signed co-operation agreement, while completing the legal framework for their bilateral co-operation in diplomacy, defence industry, trade, investment and fostering connection and direct partnership among their business communities.

The two sides also pledged to closely co-operate and support each other at international organisations and multilateral forums.

The Vietnamese official took the occasion to urge Brazil to soon recognise Viet Nams market economy.

The officials witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on co-operation between the two countries diplomatic academies, and those between the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organisations and the Alexandre de Gusmao Foundation of Brazil.  VNSHA NOI  Viet Nam strongly condemns terrorist attacks in Indonesias Surabaya City, especially those on three churches in the morning of May 13, that left a number of fatalities and injures, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang has said.

Hang made the statement on Monday while replying to reporters question about Viet Nams response to the attacks, which killed and injured several people in the second biggest city of Indonesia.

We offer our deep condolences to the Indonesian government and the bereaved, she noted, adding that Viet Nam supported the Indonesian government in fighting against terrorism and believed that the terrorists would be properly punished.

President Tran ai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc sent messages of condolences to Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh also sent message of condolences to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi the same day.

The Jakarta Post reported that simultaneous attacks on three churches across Surabaya, in the east of Java islands, on Sunday morning killed 14 people, as well as the six suicide bombers, and injured dozens.  VNSHA NOI  Thousands of containers were left at Cat Lai Port, HCM City over the last few months because owners havent visited the customs department to complete the necessary procedures, Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reported.

This situation is causing both port companies and customs agencies a headache.

Ngo Minh Thuan, deputy general director of Sai Gon Tan Cang (New Port) Corporation, told the newspaper that Cat Lai Port is in peak phase after the recent holiday season.

At present, the amount of goods being left at Cat Lai Port is around 91.3 per cent of capacity, of that the imported goods up to nearly 120 per cent.

Due to the high amount of stored goods at the port, many imported containers are being left in a queue at Cai Mep and Tan Cang  Hiep Phuoc ports, before being moved to the final destination at Cat Lai Port.

In particular, at Cat Lai Port, the amount of long-day stored goods was very large, about 8,050 TEUs (1 teus equals one 20-foot container), including: 5,234 TEUs of plastic goods and waste-paper, and another 2,816 TEUs of goods that were stored for 90 days or longer.

The amount of goods is likely to remain at the port for the foreseeable future, according to Ngo Minh Thuan.

Thuan said the increase of long-day stored containers has seriously affected operations at Cat Lai Port and the progress of cargo container delivery.

At a conference between the customs department and related enterprises on May 8, Ngo Minh Thuan proposed solutions to the HCM Citys Customs Department to solve a number of urgent issues related to handling of stored goods, including more than 5,200 scrap containers.

The Sai Gon New Port Corporation has asked that the citys Customs Department allow them to transport goods stored for a long time. Firstly, it will move 90-day stored goods; as well as plastics and scrap paper stored longer than 90 days at Cat Lai Port to Tan Cang Hiep Phuoc Port, Nhon Trach Inland Container Depot (ICD), Long Binh ICD, and others.

When the cargo owners need to carry out procedures for receiving goods, Sai Gon New Port Corporation will transport the containers back to Cat Lai Port.

The corporation asked to be allowed to seek land areas adjacent to the port area for storing long-day containers under the supervision of the customs sub-department of Sai Gon Port.

Sai Gon New Port Corporation will bear the costs of renting and securing necessary conditions under customs departments management and supervision.

The situation remains complicated and if there are no strict management measures from the ministries, and State management agencies, the volume of such containers will continue to increase in Viet Nams seaports, including Cat Lai Port, an important gate for export goods.

According to the Sai Gon New Port Corporation, since January 1, this year, due to the impact of Chinas ban on imports of scraps, the volume of plastic and paper scraps imported through Viet Nam seaports has increased dramatically.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have tightened the licensing of imports of these items into the Vietnamese territory, leading to many shipments arriving in Viet Nam not being able to complete procedures.

At present, the amount of plastic and paper scrap containers stored at Cat Lai Port number up to 1,000 TEUs. The port is facing issues with the increase of stored goods.

Recently, Sai Gon New Port Corporation has mapped out a measure to handle the situation.

Its asking the shipping companies to require importers to provide a valid permit for shipments of scraps, and to commit to a specific time of loading.

For scrap containers stored in the Cai Mep area bound for Cat Lai, the port will carry goods over only when owners provide full import documents and commit to a deadline for receive goods.

For goods left in stock more than 30 days at Cat Lai, the ports management board will transport the goods to Hiep Phuoc New Port for storage. In that case, all expenses related to transportation will be paid by the owners of the goods.-- VNSHA NOI  Hai Phong Citys Department of Transport has decided to allow the Got ferry terminal to operate for 24 hours throughout the week.

According to the decision on May 12, 2018 on the temporary traffic flow at Got ferry terminal in Cat Hai District, the ferry terminal will operate round the clock every day from May 12 to serve the increasing tourist demand during the summer vacation, director of the citys Department of Transport Vu Duy Tung confirmed to vietnamplus.vn online newspaper.

The terminal from Tan Vu Bridge across the island will ferry tourists to Cat Ba tourim island 24 hours a day, so there are no time constraints for visitors to get back to the mainland.

However, two-way trucks passing through the terminal are prohibited from 2pm to 9pm on Fridays and from 5am to 9pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Tan Vu-Lach Huyen Bridge has shortened the travel time from Hai Phong City centre to Cat Ba Island to two hours from the previous three hours.

It took 15 minutes for vehicles to go to Cat Ba Island, Cat Hai District from Got ferry terminal but the ferry-awaiting time was up to several hours because there were many vehicles as long queues.

This is good news for visitors to Cat Ba Island as well as for residents living on the island district. The route from Hai Phong to Cat Ba is now officially connected 24x7, said an official of the citys Transport Department.

Previously, the ferry terminal was closed at 17h every day, so many vehicles and visitors were stuck on the island if they didnt timely present at the terminal before 17h to come back land.

The ferry terminal remains crowded on weekends and holidays, especially summer. Such loss of time, besides causing inconvenience, affects tourism as well as socio-economic development of Cat Hai Island District.

The number of people and means of transport going to Cat Hai District and Cat Ba Island through Got ferry has increased significantly, especially in the peak times, from 1,000 to 2,000 cars; from 1,000 to 2,500 motorcycles and about 7,000 to 14,000 people, according to the citys Department of Transport.  VNSHCM CITY Doctors at the University Medical Centre in HCM City have removed an ovarian cyst weighing 50 kg, which was the largest ovarian cyst ever recorded in the country, according to the hospital.

A 39-year-old woman from An Giang Province, whose named was not disclosed for privacy reasons, was diagnosed with a non-malignant ovarian cyst by doctors at a major hospital in HCM City four years ago.

But doctors failed to perform an operation to remove the cyst as she was not eligible for anesthesia because of low blood pressure and a heart problem.

The cyst had become bigger and the pressure from the cyst had caused problems in walking, breathing and eating due to compression on her organs.

Last month, she was transferred to the University Medical Centre from a hospital in An Giang Province after an onset of severe stomach pain and difficulty breathing.

A team of doctors at various departments took part in emergency treatment and decided to carry out life-saving surgery to remove the cyst the next day.

The woman underwent a six-hour operation to remove the cyst which weighed more than 50 kg when it was taken out.

This is the biggest cyst I have ever seen, said Le Thi Kieu Dung, head of the obstetrics department, who performed the surgery.

We had to carefully pull out the cyst with a coordinated action, with specialists from the departments of cardiology, respiratory, gastrointestinal, obstetrics, and anesthesia, she said.

Doctors at the University Medical Centre in HCM City said that it was the biggest ovarian cyst ever recorded in Viet Nam.

The patient is in stable condition, and was released from the hospital on Monday. VNSWUXI, Jiangsu, China  Media from ASEAN countries and China can choose to build bridges of understanding or create walls of misinformation at a time when the multidimensional partnership between the two sides is scaling new heights.

This was said by A.K.P. Mochtan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN Secretariat, during his keynote speech in the first ASEAN-China media cooperation forum held during the weekend.

He urged the media to put ample focus on helping people from both sides realise that there are opportunities for everyone under each and every area of cooperation, be it in the field of agriculture, tourism, health, education or trade.

The forum, attended by nearly 100 journalists, officials and academia members from Southeast Asian countries and China, was organised in the year marking the 15th anniversary of the two sides strategic partnership in a market of nearly two billion people combined.

The forum, as ASEAN-China Centre Secretary-General Yang Xiuping put it, aims to create a new platform for media exchanges and cooperation under this years ASEANs theme of innovation, set by Singapore as the rotating chair.

Xiuping said the media from both sides should redouble their efforts to garner public support for the development of ASEAN-China relations, by spreading positive energy for friendly cooperation, harnessing the power of technology and creating long-term mechanism for exchanges.

Media representatives agreed that there were abundant opportunities for collaboration as ASEAN and China had been each others largest trade partners for several years.

However, the growing trends of protectionism and rampant fake news and hate speeches were posing new challenges that might undermine the relationship.

Media plays an important role in raising peoples awareness and understanding and helps to correct any misconceptions about each other, said Lu Cairong, Vice President of China International Publishing Group, the largest foreign language publisher in the China.

Han Yong Hong, from Singapores major Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, however, urged fair, clear, and unbiased reporting, and without predisposition to inform the leaders and the public, all in serving of healthy discussions on future development".

Atman Ahdiat, the manager of the International Affairs Desk from the Indonesia State-run Antara News Agency also shared the sentiment, citing hoaxes and hate speech case in Indonesias 2018 election year as potential threat to the unity of the ethnically diverse country.

The fast growth of social media at the expense of traditional media was also discussed at the forum, with media organisations from both sides agreeing on the need to re-establish their influence by applying new technologies, including Big Data, cloud technology and virtual reality, as well as harnessing the potential of social media instead of fighting against the inevitable.

At the forum, delegates suggested a mutual database as well as a sharing mechanism to utilise resources created amongst media organisations in China and ASEAN to facilitate better-quality news and stories, and support each other in terms of human resources capacity building and media convergence.

The setting up of the ASEAN-China Centre, with its Secretariat based in Chinas capital Beijing, was signed in 2009 between 10 ASEAN members and China and was officially established two years later as a one-stop information and activities centre to advance collaboration between the two sides in various areas. In 2017, another centre was opened in Manilla, the Philippines.  VNSThe Vice President of India will be visiting three Latin American countries in an effort to boost trade ties. Here are his inspiring words.





"India's sub-optimal engagement with these three countries is to a large extent due to high-level contact deficit."





This is semi-robotic in tone. Anyway, he is going to better optimize engagement by reducing the deficit. Now, which three countries will be so optimized? First, the criteria.





The vice president explained that the three Latin American countries offered significant opportunities for India given their high level of engagement with the US and the other North and South American economies through regional arrangements and free trade agreements, besides being logistic and financial hubs in the region.





In short, you choose countries not because they are important per se, but rather because they are conduits to something else. This finally means the choices make sense because otherwise they would be head scratchers: Guatemala, Panama, and Peru. These are not what you call powerhouses, but the first two offer CAFTA connection and the latter MERCOSUR. Panama itself is a financial center through which all kinds of money flows. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela welcomed his country's role as doorway.





"Panama has put its geographical position at India's disposal to become its gate to the rest of the region, as a hub for logistics and air connectivity," Varela said during a joint press conference with Naidu, Efe reported.





This is quite different from China's approach, which is to swoop in and fill the vacuum left by the United States. India is trying to leverage the remaining U.S. ties rather than fill the void. Either way, Latin American leaders are nervous about the U.S. pulling out of the region and are eager for new global partners, or for the renewal of past ones.



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(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)If you like your happy hour spots to have a certain flair and funk, add The Beehive to your list of must-sip neighborhood watering holes.

From partners Phil West, Arnold Eric Wong, and Steve Werneythe team behind the sophisticated FiDi cocktail bar The TreasuryThe Beehive is about all things fun and retro-glamorous.

Mad Men feels abound in the Floriana-designed interiors that exude mid-century modern style and over-the-top kitschy vibes. You could getting lost in the mirrored walls with glass overlay prints that glow from the sparkling Jonathan Adler Sputnik chandeliers; the quartz bar, with its red leather bumper, sets a throwback scene for ordering from 12 signature, innovative cocktailsconcocted by lead bartender Emilio Salehi and Carlos Yturriawith ingredients that might puzzle even the most discerning of San Francisco drinkers. (Look for peanut-washed Bulleit bourbon and caramelized bananas in the Hound Dog; makrut leaf and yogurt in the Ipanema Gold; and a fruity orange "Beehive Tang" in a spiked slushy.)

There are also eight beers and 11 wines by the glass. The bottom line: You won't be going home thirsty.

Once you've worked your way through the liquid delights, the menu of playful small bites, devised by chef Byron Gee (formerly of The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus) includes pigs-in-a-blanket, Swedish meatballs, a trio of deviled eggs, and savory cheese fondues.

(Photography by Sarah Chorey) A new blue and gold honeycomb sign signals the entrance to the Mission's most whimsical new bar, in the space that was once home to Range.

// The Beehive, 842 Valencia St. (MIssion), thebeehivesf.comIt's a jam-packed week of festivals and parties.



Check out a free jazz concert, Flour + Water's ninth anniversary celebration, the Great Rose and Silent Disco Festival, and more. Have a good one!

Monday, May 14: Free Concert at SF Jazz

When: 7:30pm

Where: SF Jazz Center, 201 Franklin St. (Hayes Valley), sfjazz.org

Why: Start the week off right at a free community concert at SF Jazz. Take in jazz, world music, and original compositions by musical director Adam Theis and ensemble members. // Tickets (free) are available at sfjazz.org.





Tuesday, May 15: Walking Distance Dance Festival

When: 8pm to 9pm

Where: ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. (Mission), odc.dance

Why: Head to the first night of the Walking Distance Dance Festival at ODC to be swept away by an eclectic series of performances from a Euripides-inspired Latin disco-pop variety show to free improvisers and solo acts. // Tickets ($15 per performance or $60 for four shows) are available at odc.dance/wddf.





Tuesday, May 15: Drinks + Unlimited Pizza and Snacks

When: 10pm to midnight

Where: Flour + Water, 2401 Harrison St. (Mission), flourandwater.com

Why: The restaurant is turning nine and throwing a party to celebrate. Tickets include two drinks, unlimited pizza and snacks; all proceeds will benefit the neighboring John O'Connell High School's Culinary Program. Beer and wine will be flowing and there will be live music. // Tickets ($28) are available at brownpapertickets.com.





Wednesday, May 16: Free Laughter Yoga

When: 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Where: UCSF Osher Center, 1545 Divisadero St. (Pacific Heights), osher.ucsf.edu

Why: Get in some midweek R&R with deep breathing, stretching, clapping, and laughter exercises that are great for reducing stress, stimulating immunity, enhancing endorphins, and increasing blood flow and oxygen. Giggle your way to a happier you.





Wednesday, May 16: The New Nico

When: 11:45am to 2pm; 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Where: 710 Montgomery St. (FiDi), nicosf.com

Why: After a six-month hiatus, the critically acclaimed restaurant Nico has reopened in Jackson Square. The menu combines modern French cuisine and fine dining tradition. Expect clean, seasonal, market-driven ingredients in Californian fare. There'll be a two- and three-course menu for lunch, as well as a four- and six-course option for dinner. There will also be cocktails and bar snacks such as oysters and wild mushroom waffles.





Thursday, May 17: Presidio Twilight Opening Night

When: 5pm to 9pm

Where: Main Post Lawn, 103 Montgomery St., Main Post (Presidio)

Why: Grab a blanket and snuggle up to the fire pits on the lawn for live music under the stars and delicious international eats such as lobster rolls from Cousins Maine Lobster, Neapolitan pizzas from Mozzeria, and handmade small-batch doughnuts from Johnny Doughnuts. // facebook.com





Friday, May 18: Laser Spectacular With Pink Floyd

When: 8pm

Where: Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado (Downtown Monterey)

Why: Feast your eyes on cutting edge, full-color lasers, hi-def multi screen video projections, and let your ears revel in concert quality sounds of Pink Floyd. Put on your specially designed prism glasses and lose yourself in this magical production. // Tickets ($22-$43) are available at goldenstatetheatre.showare.com.





Friday, May 18: Retro-Inspired Black Light Art Party

When: 8pm to 1am

Where: 111 Minna, 111 Minna St. (SoMa), 111minnagallery.com

Why: Relive the psychedelic black light art scene of the '60s and '70s with a modern flair at Art in a Different Light. Hosted by the de Young Museum College Night, and Nexus ArtReach, the party will have live performances, a face painting contest, raffles, and DJs J Medina and Subdivision (LA). Dumpster Dive will be popping up with vegan comfort food. The event is free but with a $10 suggested donation.





Friday, May 18-20: Maker Faire Bay Area

When: Multiple times

Where: San Mateo County Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Dr. (San Mateo), smcec.co

Why: The 13th annual flagship maker event is back with over 1,200 curated projects spanning music, art, science, health, robotics and more. Check out Prosthesis, a 14' tall, human-piloted exoskeleton or Andy Tibbets' Clock Ship Tere, a pirate ship with a steel mast that reaches 33' into the air, and spews sails of fire. // Tickets ($25-$3,000) are available at makerfaire.com.





Saturday, May 19: Laurel Maker's Market

When: 12:30pm to 4pm

Where: Communite Table, 4171 MacArthur Blvd. (Oakland), communite-table.com

Why: Meet and shop 25-30 local artisans and curators while listening to sweet tunes from their resident DJ and noshing on mouthwatering eats from Communite Table's seasonal kitchen. There will also be a free raffle every 30 minutes for a gift card that can be used at any of the booths. // laurelmakersmarket.com





Saturday, May 19-20: Nosh at the Greek Festival

When: 10am to 11pm

Where: Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave. (Oakland), ascensioncathedral.com

Why: Escape to Greece this weekend at the annual festival in the Oakland hills. Gorge on juicy, warm lamb sandwiches, Glyko pastries, shop the marketplace, and dance the night away to traditional Greek music. // oaklandgreekfestival.com





Saturday, May 19: The Great Rose & Silent Disco Festival

When: 1pm to 6pm

Where: Fort Mason, Shafter Pl. (Marina)

Why: Sip rose from around the world and indulge in tropical fare from Palm House at the city's largest outdoor silent disco music festival. There will also be lawn games like 'rose pong' on the lawn and music from DJ Lord Quinton, Guiseppi and DJ Dials. Don't miss the Dorian SF's frose. // Tickets ($20-$60) are available at eventbrite.com.





Saturday, May 19: Art and Wine Festival

When: 12pm to 5pm

Where: Jack London Square, Broadway at Embarcadero W (Oakland)

Why: The weekend calls for wine. Head to the heart of the urban wine trail in Oakland to sip on over 40 NorCal vino offerings as well as cider, craft beer, live music, artists, eats, and more. There's also a VIP reception Friday May 18th at Dyafa, the latest venture from Chef Reem Assil and Daniel Patterson. // Tickets ($45-$100) are available at eventbrite.com, facebook.com.





Saturday, May 19: Pizzapedia with Dan Bransfield

When: 3pm to 4pm

Where: Omnivore Books, 3885 Cesar Chavez St. (Noe Valley), omnivorebooks.com

Why: Come learn all about the delicious history of pizza with author and illustrator Dan Bransfield. From Neopolitan to New York styles, his new book, Pizzapedia, covers it all. Of course there will also be some pie to nosh on while you learning all about what goes into your slice.





Saturday, May 19: Hip Hop Party and Fundraiser

When: 9pm to 12am

Where: Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. (Oakland), museumca.org

Why: OMCA introduces Ziggurat Late Night, their big fundraising event with a party. Following the formal dinner and auction, the bash will begin with craft cocktails, bites, and live music from Oakland's own Hieroglyphics. Their current exhibit Respect: Hip Hop Style & Wisdom will be incorporated into the event. // Tickets ($85 with a tax-deductible contribution of $65 per ticket) are available at eventbrite.com.





Sunday, May 20: 107th Bay to Breakers

When: 8am to 12:30pm

Where: Howard St. and Main St. (Embarcadero)

Why: Ready your costumethe oldest consecutively-run annual footrace is back. Run with your best buds, or just sit back and watch over 30,000 semi-naked, people in multi-hued attire canter past. // Register ($69.99 to race) at baytobreakers.com.With so many trendy wineries on the scene in Napa Valley, it can be easy to overlook the originalsthe trailblazing winemakers that established the industry as we know it.

Napa's storied heritage dates back over a century to the late 1800s and, while Prohibition wiped out many of the early operations, a handful were left standing. Some of theseincluding Charles Krug, Beringer Vineyards and Beaulieu Vineyardhave gone on to become some of the region's most recognizable.

Enjoy wine a century in the making at these eight historic Napa Valley estates.

(Courtesy of Charles Krug)

Charles Krug

One of Napa Valley's most iconic wineries, Charles Krug was the first to host public tastings in California back in 1882. Today, the winery operates eight separate vineyards, including the original Charles Krug estate, which was first planted in 1861. Under the ownership of the Mondavi family, who purchased the winery in 1943, Charles Krug has become a household name recognized for vintages like the full-bodied, crisp-finished Cold Springs Cabernet, the 2014 release of which has aromas of spice, black currant and cardamom. Tastings are available daily ($45, reservations strongly encouraged) in the elegant, restored tasting room and can be paired with small bites from the on-site Cucina de Rosa Salumeria or pizza from the outdoor wood-burning oven (open Thursday through Monday). // 2800 Main St (St. Helena), charleskrug.com





Freemark Abbey, shortly after its construction in 1898. (Courtesy of Freemark Abbey)

Freemark Abbey

Freemark Abbey lays claim to a lot of firsts in Napa Valley: It was the first female-owned and operated winery; the first California winery to compete in the prestigious Judgement of Paris; and one of the earliest vineyards to open a "sampling room" (as tasting rooms were then called) in 1949. The historic winery, constructed with stone from nearby Glass Mountain in 1898, still hosts tastings daily ($35, reservations needed) of the winery's wide portfolio of reds and whites from vineyards in Rutherford and Spring Mountain, including the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon with its aromas of dark cherry, ripe Santa Rosa plum, and black currant. Two Birds/One Stone, a pan-Asian eatery heavily influenced by Wine Country's farm-to-table delights, is tucked inside the restored winery, serving up creative lunch and dinner fare with dishes such as ginger pork meatball banh mi and crispy Sonoma duck leg with Peking glaze. // 3022 St. Helena Hwy N. (St. Helena), freemarkabbey.com





(Courtesy of Inglenook)

Inglenook

Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum came to Rutherford in 1879 with the intent of building a winery to rival the finest European estates. Under the helm of Niebaum's grandnephew, John Daniel Jr., who inherited the property in 1939, Inglenook did win critical favor but eventually the chateau and vineyards became too costly to keep up and the property was sold. Inglenook was in a sort of limbo until 1975 when a Hollywood director stepped in to purchase more than 1,500 acres of the estate. Within a few years, Francis Ford Coppola had the winery humming again. Today, Inglenook has been restored and continues to produce sophisticated wines, some of which hail from the original vineyards planted in the 1880s, like the 2014 Rubicon, a cabernet sauvignon with a sweet, round nose and notes of dark berries, currant, spice, and vanilla. Inglenook offers tastings daily from 11am to 4pm ($45, reservations strongly recommended). // 1991 St. Helena Hwy (Rutherford), inglenook.com





(Courtesy of Beringer Vineyards)

Beringer Vineyards

Beringer has the distinction of being the longest continually operated winery in the state of California. The Beringer brothers, immigrants from Mainz, Germany, purchased 215 acres of Napa Valley land in 1875 and, in the 143 years that have followed, Beringer has racked up more accolades than most wineries can ever hope to, including earning Wine Spectator's #1 Wine of the Year for both a white and a red, the only winery every to do so. Beringer offers a variety of different tastings and tours daily including their most affordable options: the old winery tasting room ($25) and a 30-minute tour through the winery's historic tunnels ($30). Keep an eye out for their 2013 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which earned a near perfect score (97 out of 100) from Wine Advocate for its full body with notes of creme de cassis, graphite, and baking spices. // 2000 Main St (St. Helena), beringer.com





(Courtesy of Schramsberg Vineyards)

Schramsberg Vineyards

Schramsberg's history dates back to the purchase of more than 200 acres by Jacob Schram in 1862. Thanks to the work of Chinese immigrant laborers, by the end of the decade Schram's estate had 30,000 vines and Napa's first hillside caves for storing and aging wines. Despite its promising beginnings, less than a century later Schramsberg's vineyards and stately Victorian mansion were nearly unrecognizable, taken over by acres of tangled, abandoned vines. Jamie and Jack Davies purchased the decrepit property in 1965, hoping to one day produce world-class sparkling wines. Lucky for sparkling wine lovers, their perseverance paid off: Schramsberg is today churning out a huge portfolio of sparkling wines from their dry, crisp 2015 Blanc de Blancswith aromas of apple, tropical fruit, and baked breadto their elegant 2009 J. Schram Rose with its aromas of pineapple, strawberry, peach, and mango. Cave tours and tastings are available daily ($70-125/person, advanced reservations required). // 1400 Schramsberg Rd (Calistoga), schramsberg.com





(Courtesy of Chateau Montelena)

Chateau Montelena

Once called the A.L. Tubbs Winery after its founder, Alfred Tubbs, the chateau was constructed in 1888 with stone walls three to 12 feet thick to protect aging wine barrels within from extreme temperatures. Put on hold through Prohibition in the 1920s, the winery resumed operations in 1933 and was soon after rechristened Chateau Montelena, a contraction of Mount St. Helena. Today the winery is under the ownership of the Barrett family, who updated the winery's equipment and operations in the 1970s. Chateau Montelena specializes in both red and white wines but they are especially known for their unique "earthy-berry" cabernet sauvignons, such as the 2014 Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and their spicy, ripe berry zinfandels, such as the 2015 Calistoga Zinfandel. Tastings are offered daily from 9:30am to 4pm ($30, no reservation needed). // 1429 Tubbs Lane (Calistoga), montelena.com





(Courtesy of Beaulieu Vineyard)

Beaulieu Vineyard

"Beau lieu," Rutherford's "beautiful place," was so named by French immigrant Georges de Latour's wife, Fernande, when she first laid eyes on the four acres her husband purchased in 1900 to produce wines to rival those of his homeland. By providing sacramental wine to the Catholic Church, Beaulieu eked through Prohibition intact and went on to become one of the region's most recognizable wineries thanks to the assistance of Russian viticulturalist Andre Tchelistcheff, affectionately called the Maestro, who worked at the vineyards from 1938 into the 1990s. Beaulieu's portfolio is a detailed study in cabernet sauvignon, with more than a dozen different varieties including the 2014 BV Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, with its flavors of blackberry, cassis, and black plum. Daily tastings (from 10am to 4pm) start at $30 per person; reservations are recommended. // 1960 St. Helena Hwy (Rutherford), bvwines.com





(Courtesy of Nichelini Winery)

Nichelini Winery



Swiss homesteaders Anton and Caterina Nichelini arrived in Napa's Chiles Valley in 1884 and quickly began planting the grapevines and olive trees that, within a decade, would become the lifeblood of Nichelini Winery. Hand dug out of stone, the winery's original Roman wine press, as well as the seven-bedroom house built by the Nichelinis in the 19th century, are all still in use by the current owners...the Nichelinis...making it the oldest single-family owned winery in the Napa Valley.. Even their winemaker, Aimee Sunseri, is a Nichelinithe great-great-granddaughter of Anton and Caterina. Nichelini Winery produces sparkling wines, reds, and whites, including the 16 Roman Press White, a refreshing blend of muscadelle and sauvignon blanc with notes of green apple, starfruit, and citrus. Tasting at this scenic, off-the-beaten-track winery begins at $20 per person. Reservations are required on weekdays; walk-in tastings are available Friday through Sunday. // 2950 Sage Canyon Rd (St. Helena), nicheliniwinery.com

Appointment of Sam Hosack as Managing Director

Perth, May 14, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Prospect Resources Ltd ( ASX:PSC ) (Prospect, the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Sam Hosack as Managing Director from 14 July 2018. Prior to 14 July, Sam will be employed by the Company as an executive on a part time basis.Mr Hosack is a third generation Zimbabwean, residing in Western Australia. He holds a Bachelors Engineering Degree (Hons) from Essex University in UK, MBA from Ashcroft Business School (UK) and respective professional registrations. He has hands on experience in the delivery of large scale mining, power and port projects to market, as well as their operations. For the past 12 years he has been employed by First Quantum Minerals Ltd, primarily in their Projects team, where most recently he has project managed the building of a port (coal offloading and copper loading), 120km 230kV transmission line and a 300MW coal fired powerstation for the Minera Panama Project in Panama. His mining and operations experience in North and Southern Africa, Europe, Australia and Central America will be central in delivering the Arcadia Project and in building Prospect into a diversified mining business.Hugh Warner, Executive Chairman commented: "Prospect is moving from being an exploration company to a mining company and its leadership team is being expanded to include additional personnel with significant mining operations experience. Sam is one of the leading international mining figures of the next generation. He has built his experience within First Quantum, one of the great international mining companies, whose origins also began in Africa. Sam is a strong leader and team player and he is expected to be pivotal in helping the board take Prospect into the ranks of lithium producer companies."The key terms of Mr Hosack's appointment are set out in Attachment 1 (see link below).Resignation of Manana Nhlanhla, non executive directorIn line with the above leadership changes, the Company also advises that Manana Nhlanhla has resigned as a director effective today. Manana represents Armoured Fox, one of the Company's early angel investors and substantial shareholders. Armoured Fox's early investments in Prospect came at crucial times in our corporate development and provided Prospect with the financial confidence to achieve what we have to date. The Company would like to thank Manana for her service on the Board and support during her term.To view the attachment to the release, please visit:About Prospect Resources Ltd

Prospect Resources Limited (ASX:PSC) is based in Australasia with operations in Zimbabwe and is a publicly listed company. We are committed to creating value for Prospect's shareholders and the communities in which our company operates. Our vision is to build a Southern African based mining company of international scale.

European Hub Commences Government Demonstrations

Sydney, May 14, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd ( ASX:DRO ) ( OTCMKTS:DRSHF ) ("DroneShield" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the European Hub for DroneShield products, announced to the market on 5 March 2018, has commenced operations.- DroneShield Hub in Netherlands fully functional, now including jamming capability.- First government demonstrations scheduled for early June.- Significant interest across NATO government customers.The detection capabilities showcased at the European Hub include multi sensor detection incorporating radar and radio frequency direction finder sensors (RadarZeroTM and RfOneTM), complemented by jamming capabilities provided by DroneGun Tactical(TM) and DroneShield's stationary jammer product DroneCannon(TM).DroneCannon(TM) integrates the existing 2.4Ghz, 5.8Ghz and GPS jamming capabilities, and further two bands, 433Mhz and 915Mhz, matching DroneGun Tactical(TM) jamming spectrum. In response to end-user requirements, the product features an enhanced vertical coverage angle, providing complete vertical coverage of the airspace.In early June 2018, the European Hub will be holding a demonstration of DroneShield products to various government departments of NATO countries, including military, law enforcement and secret service agencies.DroneShield will be conducting several additional demonstrations in Europe over the next two months, as part of the procurement processes that it is going through with a number of governmental end-users.To view figures, please visit:About DroneShield Ltd

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing.

Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world.

Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms.

DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets.

.

Early Success in Field Mapping Program at Seymour Lake

Perth, May 14, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Diversified minerals explorer and developer Ardiden Limited ( ASX:ADV ) (or "the Company") is pleased to advise of early success as it commences a large-scale mapping and sampling program at the Company's 100%-owned, flagship Seymour Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada.HIGHLIGHTS:- 160 targets within Ardiden's recently enlarged project have been identified and will be investigated as part of a regionally extensive mapping program.- Detailed re-mapping of the North Aubry, Central Aubry and South Aubry pegmatites is in-progress and has already led to new insights that will assist the design of future drilling programs.- The Ardiden geological team promptly identifies numerous new pegmatite exposures in the new claim areas during the reconnaissance tour for the large-scale field mapping program- New spodumene bearing pegmatite exposure identified approx. 700m north-east of North Aubry deposit- Subject to exploration results, the large-scale mapping and sampling program expected to be completed by mid-June- Ardiden's geological team enhanced with the engagement of pegmatite expert Peter SpitalnyArdiden recently announced it had more than doubled the size of its Seymour Lake Lithium Project. This action was the result of an assessment to determine the exploration potential of the area to contain significant lithium mineralisation. A large number of anomalous features were identified upon detailed analysis of satellite imagery of the area. These anomalous features have visual characteristics that suggest they may be pegmatites and therefore warrant a more comprehensive investigation.It was decided that the most effective means of evaluation was the implementation of a large-scale mapping program which would cover most of the ground within the Seymour Lake project. In addition, detailed re-mapping of the North Aubry, Central Aubry, South Aubry and Pye prospects will also be completed, to assist Ardiden the design of future drilling programs.The field mapping program has already confirmed the presence of an additional spodumene bearing pegmatite, with Ardiden's geological mapping team identifying a pegmatite exposure approximately 700 metres north of the North Aubry deposit.The pegmatite exposure is approximately 4m wide and 8m long. Initial observations of the pegmatite confirm the presence of large visible spodumene crystals (refer Figure 1 in link below).Ardiden's geological team, led by pegmatite expert Peter Spitalny, will complete a detailed review and analysis of the identified existing and new spodumene bearing pegmatite exposures, including mapping, sampling and structural interpretation to obtain a better understanding of how the new pegmatite structure relates to the other known pegmatites within the Aubry and Pye pegmatite swarms.Managing Director Brad Boyle stated the continued identification of pegmatite exposures across the Seymour Lake land holding will play a significant part in increasing the overall scale and size of the project."We are extremely happy with the on-going success our geological team are having with the continued identification of a large number of highly-prospective lithium bearing pegmatites. An overall focus of the Company at the present moment is to increase the scale and size of Seymour Lake, and with the addition of Mr Spitalny, we are looking forward to completing this detailed review and identifying targets that will contribute to the strategy that we have in place."Mr Spitalny is a full-time employee of Hanree Holdings Pty Ltd and has been involved in mineral exploration for more than 25 years, with a partial geological focus on pegmatites and the minerals they contain. Mr Spitalny has been investigating pegmatites since 1990, has investigated more than 20 pegmatite fields in Western Australia resulting in discovery of several lithium pegmatites. He has also completed detailed investigations of LCT (lithium) pegmatites in South America (Brazil and Argentina), Africa (Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and in Canada.EXPLORATION UP-DATEProject-wide mapping commenced with a brief reconnaissance tour to identify the best access routes to utilise in the new claim areas, in order to investigate the target areas across the project and during this tour, multiple pegmatites adjacent to the all-weather road were seen along a 4-kilometre interval of the road (see Figure 3 in link below). This brief initial reconnaissance has confirmed that these new 160 target areas are highly-prospective and warrant further detailed study and analysis.The site conditions are now ideal and assisting the geological team to complete the detailed review and analysis of the 160 highly-prospective target locations across the project. As the snow has just melted, undergrowth has had a limited opportunity to grow, thus allowing the geological team to locate and review the many exposures recently identified in the satellite imagery. Ardiden expects that subject to exploration results, this large-scale mapping and sampling program should be completed by mid-June.The first day of detailed mapping of the North Aubry, Central Aubry and South Aubry prospects has already led to the recognition of additional potential at these more-advanced prospects. In particular, it has been observed that spodumene is more abundant than some assay results may suggest. This is because some of the spodumene occurs as extremely large crystals (see Figure 4 in link below) that are more sparsely distributed than smaller spodumene crystals. A consequence of this is that drill-holes may pass between the extremely large crystals.Ardiden considers these early results to be an extremely encouraging start to the field program and looks forward to providing further updates as they come to hand.To view figures, please visit:About Ardiden Ltd

Ardiden Limited (ASX:ADV) is an emerging international diversified exploration and development company possessing a mature multi-element asset portfolio, with a near term development pipeline, focused quality projects located in the established mining jurisdiction of Ontario, Canada.

Resource Drilling Campaign at Albury Heath Completed

Perth, May 14, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cervantes Corporation Limited ( ASX:CVS ) (the Company) wishes to advise that its inaugural drilling campaign at the Albury Heath Project has been completed.HIGHLIGHTS- Cervantes has successfully concluded its inaugural drilling campaign at Albury Heath- The drilling aimed to confirm, better define, and expand the Inferred Gold Resource- 29 Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes for 1,882m completed, two more holes than planned- Gold assaying awaitedThe Albury Heath tenement package (P51/2937, P51/2997 - 3001) is located approximately 23 kilometres South East of the mining town of Meekatharra in Western Australia (see Figure 1 in link below).The Albury Heath Mine is an historic underground operation in P51/2937. Gold mineralisation is hosted by a series of sheeted quartz vein sets, only the highest grade of which was mined previously during two phases of activity. From 1948 to 1957, 1,429 tonnes of ore was extracted at a grade of 42.2g/t gold. A second phase in 1976 extracted 410 tonnes at a recovered grade of 20g/t gold. The project was strategically acquired by the company for its near term production potential.Continental Resource Management (CRM) estimated a Maiden JORC Resource of Indicated and Inferred Resources of 390,000t at 2.15g/t Au, for a total of 27,000oz of contained gold above a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t Au (Table 1, ASX announcement 7 February 2017).CRM identified several sampling issues of in-ground voids (historic stopes) that may have an impact on their resource estimate. In addition, possible untested extensions of the mineralisation have been recognised that may lead to additional resource potential.Collar locations and geometries for completed holes are shown in Table 2 (see link below), while locations are shown in Figure 2 (see link below). The drilling programme assessed the potential gold resource upside by testing:1) Down dip potential. The mineralisation is open and shows no signs of abating at depth,2) Up dip potential. Near surface mineralisation has been inadequately sampled in past drilling. Increasing this area of the resource will bolster the economics of open pit mining, and3) Sampling of the potentially mineralised footwall to historic underground stopes. These were inadequately sampled by past drilling. That drilling indicated that the stopes have an envelope of mineralisation on the hanging wall and also, where tested, on the footwall.While the results and conclusions from this drilling are yet to be finalised, in-field observations indicate that, at a geological level, the programme's aims were met.Going ForwardDrill samples are in the process of being prepared for submission for gold assaying. Sample preparation and assaying will likely take in excess of six weeks.Cervantes will report on the results once they are to hand. Once all relevant information with regard to this drilling campaign is finalised, a JORC Table 1 will be issued.Geological logging will be incorporated into the model for Albury Heath to better understand both the controls on gold mineralisation and the potential for further expansion of the gold resource.It is planned, on the basis of assay results, to undertake initial metallurgical testing of the composited material from the mineralised zones defined by this drilling. That work will provide an analysis of gold particle sizing and liberation characteristics to enable an economic model to be constructed.In addition, re-modeling of the resource estimate may be warranted. There is no guarantee that the current drilling will either increase resource tonnages or gold grade. Any update in the modeled resource may be used to undertake pit design and pit optimisation modeling to further assess the project's economic viability.Cervantes expects to be in a stronger position to continue discussions with nearby mills regarding toll treatment of the ore from Albury Heath.To view tables and figures, please visit:About Cervantes Corporation Limited

Cervantes Corporation Limited (ASX:CVS) is an emerging gold explorer and aspiring gold miner. It has built up a portfolio of gold properties in well-known and historically producing gold districts with a strategy to apply novel exploration and development thinking. Cervantes has identified opportunities in those districts that were overlooked by previous explorers. The company is committed to maximizing shareholder value through the development of those opportunities.BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - One person with major injuries is hospitalized after a vehicle versus motorcycle incident on Highway 70 near Rock Creek Sunday afternoon.

According to Cal Fire, firefighters were at the scene at about 3:30 p.m. and flew the patient out by Enloe flight care.

No further information has been released.

At scene of a vehicle vs motorcycle accident. Hwy 70 at Rock Creek. One patient w/major injuries. Being flown out by enloe flight care.  CALFIRE Butte County (@CALFIRE_ButteCo) May 13, 2018

This is a developing story check back for updates.The national airport for Wales has reached the next exciting milestone in its journey of transformation, with over 1.5 million people now choosing to fly from Cardiff.





This news follows 12 months of continued passenger growth and also represents more than 50% passenger growth since the Airports change of ownership in 2013.



The growth is the result of new and existing airlines offering an increased choice of destinations, more seats and improved flight times with greater value for money.



May has already seen some significant developments at Cardiff Airport, including the official launch of Qatar Airways new regular service to Doha, Qatar on May 1st. This 5* airline will connect customers across Wales and the South West of England to the Middle East and create connections to more than 150 destinations worldwide including Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Asia  all on board a stunning Boeing 787 Dreamliner.



The 16th of May is also a significant milestone for one of our longest serving airlines, KLM, who will celebrate 30 years of flying customers between Wales and Amsterdam Schiphol airport, acting as a key hub for passengers flying onwards to destinations across the world. Now flying up to three times a day, the airline has recently increased its capacity with the introduction of a larger, super-efficient Embraer 175 with a capacity of 88 seats and a 100 seater Embraer 190.



Flybe, Europes largest regional airline, is also enjoying continuing success in Cardiff. With three aircraft now based at the Airport, Flybes base is now in its third summer of operation, and regularly flies customers to 17 destinations across the UK & Europe plus a further four destinations with its franchise partners. New routes recently added include the Italian city Venice.



To reflect Cardiff Airports commitment to delivering the best possible customer experience, the new-look Departure Lounge was unveiled recently which includes a new Costa Coffee, WH Smith and 51 Executive and Business Lounge, all within a bright and airy space overlooking the airfield.



Factors supporting this passenger milestone include:

10% growth year on year at the end of the 2017/18 financial year - the busiest year for eight years

Over 50% growth in passenger numbers since change of ownership in 2013

New airlines: Qatar Airways, Iberia Express and Blue Islands

New destinations: Doha, Rome, Madrid, Guernsey, Venice, Antalya

30% of our passengers are visitors to Wales

Named Best Airport (under three million passengers) by Airport Operators Association

Cardiff Airport now sustains over 2,675 direct and indirect jobs

The overall GVA impact of Cardiff Airport to the local economy is 102 million.

Successfully welcomed 21,000 fans, Juventus and Real Madrid and managed 380 additional aircraft movements over the UEFA Champions League final.

Deb Barber, CEO of Cardiff Airport, said: Hitting this important milestone  1.5 million passengers  demonstrates the contagious confidence we have been working hard to build over the last few years. On behalf of the Cardiff Airport team, I would like to thank our valued airlines and customers for making use of our facilities and supporting the business over the last twelve months.



Our existing airlines are recognising the growth by adding more choice and capacity, while new airlines have come on board, including a 5* middle-eastern carrier, Qatar Airways, which changes the face of travel for our customers across Wales and the South West.



Cardiff Airport is proud to fly the flag for Wales, with over 50 direct destinations available, including access to 11 hubs and 9 capital cities. We have invested heavily into the customer experience, having improved our facilities and infrastructure and look forward to welcoming more people over the busy summer months ahead. 2018 is shaping up to be a transformational year with double digit growth projected.Manchester Airport has secured a landmark route into the heart of Africa, underlining its pivotal role in connecting the North to the worlds most important markets.





Above: (left to right) Manchester Airport CEO Andrew Cowan and Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam.



Ethiopian Airlines today confirmed it will operate a four-times-a-week service to Addis Ababa, the East African nations capital.



The route will unlock connections to more than 58 countries across the African continent.



Ethiopian, which flies to more destinations in Africa than any other carrier, will operate a B-787 on the route with business and economy classes.



It will serve as a key trade route for Northern businesses, opening up fresh export opportunities and delivering cost and journey time savings to those already operating there.



The service will start on 1st December 2018, initially transiting via Brussels. It will leave Manchester at 19:00, arriving at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport at 06:00, providing significant onward connectivity options from the African hub. On the return it departs Addis Ababa at 00:45 and arrives in Manchester at 06:55.



Manchester Airport CEO Andrew Cowan said: The introduction of this route underlines the critical role Manchester Airport plays in connecting the people and businesses of the North to the worlds most important markets.



While we have served a number of African holiday destinations for many years, this service will provide vital connectivity to one of the continents most important hub airports.



That will unlock dozens more destinations across Africa through Ethiopian Airlines unrivalled network, meaning the North will be better connected to this part of the world than ever before.



Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam said: We are elated to start services to Manchester, our second destination in the UK next to London Heathrow which we have been serving since 1973. As the leading African carrier with the widest network in the continent, passengers from Manchester will enjoy convenient and seamless connectivity options to 58 African destinations operated with cutting-edge fleet like the B-787 and A350 which offer our passengers unparalleled comfort on-board our flights, along with our African flavoured Ethiopian hospitality.



The socioeconomic implication of the new flight is immense. With vast investment and trade potentials between Africa and the UK, the upcoming flight holds the promise of boosting trade, investment and tourism with ample business opportunities for investors and business people from both regions.



Alex Marshall, Group Marketing and Compliance Director, Clarke Energy (Liverpool) & Northern Powerhouse Export Champion, said: With our extensive operations across Africa, we are pleased to learn about this new flight to Addis Ababa from Manchester Airport, giving us extensive new route options across the continent.



The route has the potential to be a massive benefit to our business through journey time savings and the excellent onward connectivity Ethiopian Airlines will provide.



Sheona Southern, Managing Director of Marketing Manchester, said: The new route connecting Manchester with Addis Ababa is a great success for Greater Manchester and for the wider North of England. This opens up Greater Manchester to visitors, businesses investors and students from a new continent.



Greater Manchesters growth strategy has internationalisation at its heart, and Manchester has set a clear target to become a top global city by 2035. If were to achieve this aim, its vital that we continue to increase our connections with major international hubs, increasing the opportunities for global networks to choose Manchester as a place to visit, meet, invest and study in.



In this respect, this new route with Ethiopian Airlines is a huge step forward.



Ethiopia is Africas second largest country by population, with its hub airport perfectly placed to provide onward connectivity, particularly to sub-Saharan countries.



The new route is set to benefit 400,000 people in Manchester Airports extensive catchment area, who currently travel to Addis Ababa and other key cities across Africa via other means. The new service has therefore been heralded by Northern businesses and organisations, with the route saving travel time and unlocking vital economic, trade and investment opportunities.



Ethiopian Airlines was founded in 1945 and from its hub in Addis Ababa has connections to 58 cities across Africa and a further 67 international routes across Europe, Asia and the Americas.



The new route is testament to Manchester Airports position as the second hub in the UK, the global gateway for the North. It has introduced a wealth of key long-haul routes in recent years including  Beijing, Houston, San Francisco, Singapore, Muscat, Boston and Los Angeles.



The new route is testament to Manchester Airports position as the second hub in the UK, the global gateway for the North. It has introduced a wealth of key long-haul routes in recent years including  Beijing, Houston, San Francisco, Singapore, Muscat, Boston and Los Angeles.



Ethiopian is a multi-award winning airline. On 9 November 2017, SKYTRAX certified Ethiopian as Four Star Airline. SKYTRAX has also awarded Ethiopian as SKYTRAX World Airline Award for Best Airline Staff in Africa, twice and earlier in 2017 Ethiopian has received SKYTRAX World Airline Award for Best Airline in Africa. The Airline was recently awarded 'The Best Business Class in Africa and Indian Ocean' title by TripAdvisor.



Amsterdam Airport Schiphol saw its airfreight volumes fall in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of 2017.

Cargo volumes for the January to March period saw 411,539 tonnes handled, a decline of 2.1% versus same period in 2017.

A spokesperson for the Dutch cargo hub, Europes third largest by airfreight throughput, saw full freighter cargo volumes fell by 2.4%, with there being 7.4% fewer full freighter air traffic movements (ATMs) down from 4,420 lat year to 4,094 in the first quarter.

Moreover, belly cargo volumes also fell year-on-year, down by 1.6% compared with the first quarter of 2017.

The news wasnt all bad. There was continued growth in cargo traffic with China and Latin American markets.

Cargo traffic with China, the airports largest single country market, rose by 2.1% year-on-year to reach 30,735 tonnes, boosted by increased volumes on both freighter and belly cargo flights.

Trade with the Asian continent saw a 4% decrease in inbound cargo to 67,629 tonnes but a 1% increase in outbound cargo to 75,182 tonnes.

Trade with Latin American nations increased strongly, with imports up by 10% to reach 34,097 tonnes and exports up by 31% to 20,701 tonnes.

Cargo imports from the continent were boosted by increased flower imports for St Valentines Day and International Womens Day.

Similarly, African flower exports boosted outbound cargo, up by 7% to 13,243 tonnes, although inbound cargo from the continent fell by 5% to 28,818 tonnes.

European, North American and Middle Eastern cargo throughput were all slightly down year-on-year.

European inbound traffic fell by 8% to 25,936 tonnes, outbound cargo volumes were down by 2% to 28,146 tonnes.

North America inbound cargo fell by 12% to 32,142 tonnes, outbound cargo was down by 5% to 36,791 tonnes.

Middle Eastern traffic fell by 1% inbound to 21,578 tonnes and 15% outbound to 27,277 tonnes.

Although we saw an increase in ATMs and as a result increased volumes of belly cargo at Schiphol, this did not result in a commensurate increase in freight volumes and did not compensate for the reduction in full freighter ATMs, assessed Maaike van der Windt, director aviation marketing, cargo and customer experience for Schiphol.

This has had a knock-on effect in our first quarter results, but there are nonetheless underlying positive growth trends in cargo business from China and Latin America that we hope to build upon over the coming year, she added.

The airport has been hit by the transfer of some freighter aircraft services to European competitor hubs after a limit on aircraft slots at Schiphol hit full freighter operations.The China-developed AG600 large amphibious aircraft is expected to be delivered to customers by 2022, says manufacturer the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

China's AG600, the world's largest amphibious aircraft, made its maiden flight in December in Guangdong province

(Credit: Xinhua)

"After its successful maiden flight in December last year, we are planning a ferry flight from its research base in Zhuhai to Jingmen, Central China's Hubei province, in July," said chief designer Huang Lingcai.



"Then, it will prepare for its first takeoff from water, scheduled for later this year," said Huang, also chief engineer of the AVIC General Aircraft Research Institute.



Its first takeoff from water will take place at a large reservoir in Jingmen.



Designed to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft, the AG600 will be mainly used for maritime rescue, fighting forest fires and marine monitoring, according to state-owned aviation giant AVIC.



Codenamed Kunlong, the AG600 is undergoing test flights in Zhuhai, a coastal city in south China's Guangdong Province. With a range of up to 4,500 kilometers, it is designed to be capable of takeoff and landing in 2-meter waves.



"We are endeavoring to get the airworthiness certification from the civil aviation authorities by 2021, and deliver it to the customers by 2022," said Huang.Steel billet prices in the global markets showed mixed dynamics during the working week from Monday May 7 to Friday May 11.

The decision by the United States to withdraw from the international nuclear-power deal with Iran was expected to decrease the supply of the semi-finished material in the Gulf region, while CIS-region suppliers could see this as an opportunity.



The Turkish market remained quiet due to weak rebar demand in the countrys export markets, while the approaching Islamic holy month of Ramadan was expected to reduce demand in most Muslim-nation markets.



China

Billet prices in China were 3,580 yuan ($564) per tonne on May 11, down by 80 yuan per tonne week on week.



The inventory for the product in Tangshan was 480,000 tonnes on Friday, down by 40,000 tonnes from a week before, a billet trader in Tangshan said, quoting a local industry information provider.



None of the exporters in the country were offering material because buyers were not interested in Chinese billet, according to the sources.



The offer price for Q235-grade 150mm billet was calculated by Metal Bulletin at $530-535 per tonne fob, down by $5 per tonne from the previous week.



Southeast Asia

Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia continued to rise over the week due to lower supply and costlier Chinese cargoes.



Deals involving cargoes from Taiwan and Thailand were heard concluded at around $555-560 per tonne cfr to the Philippines late last week, up from the $540-555 per tonne cfr transactions a week earlier.



A small shipment of Qatar-origin billet, re-exported from Vietnam, was sold into Manila at $549 per tonne cfr.



Billet availability was limited during the week, especially given the strong Chinese and Indian domestic markets.



Offers from South Korea and Central Asia were heard in the Philippines at $555-560 per tonne cfr.



Middle East-origin billet was offered at $550-560 per tonne cfr, up by $5-15 per tonne from the preceding week.



Chinese offers reached $560-570 per tonne cfr on Friday, up by $10 per tonne from a week earlier. Chinas domestic billet prices improved during the week amid lower inventory levels.



Offers from other origins are moving up following the upward momentum in Chinas prices, an India-based trader said.



Demand in the Philippines increased slightly because some buyers needed to replenish their inventory levels, even though the June monsoon season was expected to reduce demand.



Bids at $550 per tonne cfr were heard from the Philippines, while other buyers who were not in a rush to procure indicated their interest at $540-545 per tonne cfr.



In contrast, Indonesias procuring interest remained muted for both billet and slab, partly because imports were costlier due to the depreciation of the Indonesian rupiah.



Indonesian demand was also depressed amid the countrys slow finished steel products market and the upcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts in mid-May.



Construction projects are slowing down as Ramadan approaches, and re-rollers still have plenty of rebar inventory, an Indonesia-based trader said.



Re-rollers indicated their interest for billets at $520 per tonne cfr, he added.



No bookings were reported in Indonesia, except for Iranian materials. A cargo from Iran was sold to Indonesia at $530-535 per tonne cfr.



Commonwealth of Independent States, Turkey

Prices in the CIS export billet market continued to climb last week with some customers accepting the higher prices offered by the mills.



Several billet cargoes were sold to North Africa within the range of $515-520 per tonne fob Black Sea. Market participants also reported a sale of billet from Russia at $520 per tonne fob, but the details of the deal could not immediately be confirmed.



In these conditions, CIS suppliers continued to push prices further upward. But buyers in Turkey were still quiet and showed no interest in billet or scrap purchases last week.



Turkish billet prices remained stable over the week with demand for material being very limited.



The billet mills in the CIS region tried to increase their offer prices for Turkey, in line with the uptick in Turkish imported scrap prices. But, due to poor demand for rebar, none of the customers in Turkey were willing to buy billet at a higher price.



The mills [in the CIS region] tried to raise their offers to $530 per tonne cfr but failed to sell at that price, a trading source said.



Billet offers from the CIS region therefore remained unchanged at $525-530 per tonne cfr.



Meanwhile, domestic and export billet prices in the Middle Eastern country also remained steady last week.



Middle East, North Africa

Prices for billet imports into the United Arab Emirates went down over the week due to poor demand. The market also was expected to remain slow in the coming weeks because of Ramadan, when working hours are reduced.



Iran offered billet at $515-520 per tonne cfr, but a buyer was bidding $490-495 per tonne cfr.



We are not planning to buy at more than $495 per tonne cfr. Demand is not good [because] Ramadan is coming, one buyer said.



Prices for Iranian exports of steel billet increased in the week, with new deals reported by market participants.



Market sentiment was negative because of President Donald Trumps announcement that the United States would be withdrawing from the multilateral nuclear pact with Iran, with plans to reinstate trade sanctions.



But the UAE is expected to continue buying from Iran in the same way that it was trading before sanctions, and the UAE needs Iranian billet, although other countries will probably back off.



Recent bookings for a total of more than 50,000 tonnes of Iranian billet were reported at around $500-505 per tonne fob to customers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Egypt, Southeast Asia and China.



Offers from Iranian mills came in at $495-505 per tonne fob on Wednesday May 9.



The price of imported steel billet was largely unchanged in Egypt last week. CIS-origin billet was on offer in the Middle Eastern country at $533 per tonne cfr, but no deals were heard.



But Iran sold 40,000-50,000 tonnes of billet to Egypt at $525-530 per tonne cfr.



The trading situation may change, however, because Iran is one of Egypts sources for steel billet, and market participants in Egypt believe that Trumps nuclear deal pullout could reduce the billet supply from Iran considerably.



Currently, the biggest billet supplier to Egypt is the CIS region, and sources believed that its share of the Egyptian market would probably increase.











Jessica Zong, Shanghai; Vlada Novokreshchenova, Dnepr, Ukraine; Serife Durmus, Bursa Turkey; and Fiona Lam, Singapore, contributed to this report.





Posted on: May 14, 2018 6:28 AM

Senior Anglican leaders in Africa are considering how the Church should engage more with politicians and other influential figures on the continent to help improve society. The topic was one of several discussed by Primates at a meeting of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) in Nairobi, Kenya, last week. There were several new faces at the gathering following a series of new appointments and the creation of a new province in Sudan.

The Primates also discussed theological education, climate change, gender-based violence and the conflicts in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They also agreed to organise funding so that every bishop across Africa can afford to attend the Lambeth Conference in 2020.

CAPA chair, Archbishop Albert Chama of the Church of the Province of Central Africa, said it had been a very positive meeting. There has been a lot of charity and give and take, he said, even suggestions that I never thought people would come up with.

He said the idea of giving financial support to ensure all African bishops could come to Lambeth 2020 was an example of the Church in Africa taking responsibility for itself.

The theme of the three-day meeting was Releasing our potential to realise possibilities for Africa. Archbishop Albert explained that the idea was to look at how the Church could work with centres of influence. We as a Church are influential but we want to go to these centres of influence . . . and one of those is politicians, he said. How do we engage them? We need not fear them but to open up.

We need to say no to something that is not right; we say yes when they have done a good job. But we also constantly pray for them. It is by working with centres of influence that we are going to see good governance, justice  and issues of corruption will be tackled because we will be able to say to them this cannot go on.

The Primates expressed solidarity with the people of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo which have been ravaged by conflicts. CAPA primates sent a delegation to South Sudan in 2016 and pledged to do the same to support peace efforts in DR Congo. They also discussed engaging more with regional bodies such as the East Africa Community (EAC) and the African Union (AU).

There was a lengthy discussion on theological training and its importance in the life of the Church. The Primates resolved to support and encourage more African theological discussion which was increasingly vital in the face of contemporary issues such as conflicts, technological development, migration and people trafficking.

The discussion on climate change was particularly poignant: more than 130 Kenyans have died in flooding since March and 45 were killed while the conference took place after a dam collapsed north of Nairobi. There are reports this morning (Monday) that some people are still missing. The conference prayed for the families affected by the disaster.

The Primates also heard how much of the south of the continent is still affected by an acute water shortage. The leaders committed themselves to encourage the Church to take a lead in acting against climate change through simple low-cost measures such as tree-planting.

During the week the conference also heard an address from the Archbishop of Canterbury and an update from the Chief Executive of the Lambeth Conference Company on progress towards the 2020 gathering for all Anglican Bishops in Canterbury, England.Posted on: May 14, 2018 8:14 AM

Three churches in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, were attacked yesterday (Sunday) in a co-ordinated terror attack said to have been carried out by members of a single family. At least 13 people were killed when bombs exploded at the citys Gereja Kristen Indonesia (Christian Church of Indonesian) in Jalan Diponegoro; the Church of Immaculate Santa Maria, in Gubeng District; and the Pentecostal Church on Jalan Arjunodate. Police foiled two further attacks.

On Sunday evening, two people were killed and two children injured when a bomb exploded in an apartment in Sidoarjo, East Java. Reports say that all four were members of one family, and that they were preparing a similar terror attack when their bomb exploded prematurely. This morning (Monday), four people were killed and 10 injured in another suicide bombing  this time at the Surabaya police headquarters.

These latest attacks were unusual in that they involved entire families. The first of Sundays attacks happened when two brothers, aged 16 and 18, drove motorcycles into Santa Maria Catholic Church. The boys mother was driven by their father to Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church with two daughters  aged 9 and 12  where she detonated a bomb. The father then continued to the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church, where he detonated a car bomb.

This mornings attack on the police station is said to have been carried out by a family of five who arrived at the scene on two motorbikes.

The Anglican Church in Surabaya, Christ Church, was not targeted in the attack; but its midday service was cancelled at the request of the police. The security services in Surabaya asked all churches to stop their services yesterday as they assessed the security situation. The congregation of Christ Church meets for worship at Gereja Kristen Jawa Wetan  the East Java Christian Church, which is located near the site of the Christian Church of Indonesia building that was targeted in yesterdays attack. The congregation met last night for prayer in a local hotel.

We are indeed sadden by the horrific suicide bombing of the three churches in Surabaya by a family of six, the Dean of the Gereja Anglikan Indonesia (the Anglican Church of Indonesia), the Revd Dr Timothy Chong, told ACNS. Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones in the attack.

The Gereja Anglikan Indonesia is part of the Church of the Province of South East Asia, and is a missionary deanery in the Diocese of Singapore. It is one of six missionary deaneries that the Province is seeking to develop into full dioceses, alongside Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.

The mood in the city remains sombre as people are trying to grapple with the aftermath of the attack, Dr Chong said. This attack introduced a new strategy in the terrorist attack  the use of innocent children as suicide bombers. This new dynamic would certainly change the way we do Sunday school and Childrens Ministry, not only in Surabaya, but also in Christian churches and ministries throughout the nation.

It also means that we have to put emphasis on tighter security measures in our churches and organisations.

Dr Chong asked Anglicans around the world to pray for the safety of all our Christian brothers and sisters throughout Indonesia; for Gods peace to cover this nation; Christians to stand firm in their faith; wisdom for church leaders; Christians not to retaliate against their Muslim neighbours; the perpetrators would be found out and justice meted.

He said that the attack reminded him of the words of Martin Luther in the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is our God:

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, God hath willed,

His truth to triumph through us:

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo! His doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

The regional ecumenical group the Christian Conference of Asia this morning condemned the bomb blasts. The attacks on churches in Surabaya are deliberate attempts by forces of evil in Indonesia that aim at destroying the countrys long nurtured and cherished values of religious harmony and the foundation of the long-cherished Pancasila principles, which accept religious pluralism and call for unity in diversity, CCAs General Secretary Dr Mathews George Chunakara said.

He welcomed the response by the leadership of the national ecumenical group the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, which urged its member churches and congregations to stay calm in the face of violence, saying that members of the Christian communities must leave the responsibilities of handling the situation to the government.

In his traditional Sunday Angelus prayer at the St Peters Square in the Vatican, Pope Francis prayed yesterday for the  dear people of Indonesia, saying: Together, let us call upon the God of peace, that He might bring these violent actions to an end; and that in the hearts of all, space might be found for feelings, not of hatred and violence, but of reconciliation and fraternity.

The attacks were condemned by political leaders around the world. A UN spokesman said that the organisations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, was appalled by the attacks, adding that he expresses his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a swift recovery to those injured. The spokesman added that Mr Guterres reiterates the support of the United Nations to the Government and people of Indonesia in their efforts to fight and prevent terrorism and violent extremism, including through the promotion of pluralism, moderation and tolerance.Thomas Markle should profit from Meghans wedding like the Royals do

The Daily Mirror picks up the story which first appeared in the Mail on Sunday  the one about Thomas Markle allegedly earning a few quid by posing for photos which can be sold to the Press. Thomas is, of course, Meghan Markles father, and when hes not being door-stepped by Mirror reporters, hes getting on with his own life. But his alleged staging of a set of photos with British photographers has upset the tabloids, who presumably wanted their men in the bushes to shoot pics of Thomas being a virtual recluse for less and syndicate them for more, packaging the album as The Royals DO Deserve Privacy, Has Meghan Inherited Her Dads Fat Genes? and How Did Thomas Markle Afford A Five-Star Holiday To Thailand?

The paper quotes the father-of-the-brides son, also called Thomas, who apparently said: Hell apologise sincerely to Meg. Why? The Royal Family are often caught guffing out photos of their lives and their children, including ones taken by Kate. The no-expense spared PR drive that frames Harry, Kate and Wills as a trio of caring, down-with-the-proles workaholics is not just about us loving absurdly entitled, wildlife slaughtering billionaires when theyre between private islands and ski lifts, but the Royals being able to carry on after Her Majesty waves her last and were invited to defy gut feelings and nature by looking up at Prince Charles and Camilla. Princess Diana left such a stain on The Munsters that our view is being directed over the crowns of the two people that cheated and lied to the Windsors brood mare, falling instead on her children and Kate.

The Standard updates the story by leading with news that Markles half-sister is to blame for Thomass fake pictures. The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault, says Samantha Grant  who is not invited to the wedding. No. It isnt. The bad press is over the scurry for post-wedding stories, when the Markles become old hat and we crave scandal and division over love at first sight tedium and a marriagedestined ever since Meghan tried on a Disney Princess outfit when she was five and Charles fancied the Three Degrees. Although the Standard does deliver a two-page feature on the unlikely love story of an ambitious girl from LA and  get this  the rebel prince. Oh, do the other one. The only rebel Prince in recent memory was Edward VIII, formerly a Prince of Wales, who rather than merely pratting around dressed as a recreational Nazi, wore the authentic garb and politics of the Herrenvolk; and married a woman with two living ex-husbands who referred to staff as lazy, thriving niggers; and advised Britishers to survive the war on roasted terrapin. Harrys less rebellious than a weather cock.

And, reportedly, Grant is here to help stir the pot. Shes rumoured to be penning a rift n tell called The Diary of Princess Pushys Sister. The media can be so cruel, Grant is quoted by the Daily Star. But at 15 a pop with serialisation rights, a book packs a bigger whack.

Note: The Daily Mail vowed on 8 September 1997, eight days after the death of Princess Diana:

Mail leads the way in banning paparazzi pictures. The proprietor of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Evening Standard announced last night that his papers will not in future purchase pictures taken by paparazzi Viscount Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc said: I am, and always have been, an admirer of Diana, Princess of Wales, and nagged my editors to protect her so far as they could against her powerful enemies. In view of Earl Spencers strong words and my own sense of outrage, I have instructed my editors no paparazzi pictures are to be purchased without my knowledge and consent.

Such are the facts.

Paul Sorene

Posted: 14th, May 2018 | In: Key Posts, News, Royal Family, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink(ANSA) - Rome, May 14 - Italy's supreme Cassation Court on Monday said that same-sex marriage between an Italian and a foreigner celebrated abroad can't be registered in Italy but can be "converted" into a civil union in its first such ruling.

The court upheld an appeals' court sentence in 2015 on the case, also ruling that same-sex unions can be registered in Italy even if they were celebrated abroad before civil unions between homosexual partners became legal in the country in 2016.

In its first sentence on a same-sex wedding abroad between an Italian and a foreign citizen, the court ruled against a Brazilian citizen and an Italian who got married in 2012 in Brazil and a year later in Portugal and who had requested that Milan's civil registration office recognize their marriage.

The couple had appealed the 2015 ruling calling it discriminatory and "downgrading" but the Cassation said it was based on a State's "legislative discretion".

Palestinian rage erupted Monday, the day of the official opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.



Over 50 people, including several minors, died while over 2,400 were wounded, according to reports released mid-afternoon as violent clashes were reported along the border fence with Gaza, where visibility was obscured by a cloud of smoke from burnt tires.



And while the uprising stretched to the West Bank and Israel carried out air raids on the Gaza Strip, stating it hit five Hamas targets, Palestinian hospitals were struggling to cope with emergencies. Palestinian authorities in Gaza asked for blood donations and requested medical help from Egypt.



The Arab League summoned an emergency meeting on Wednesday while the secretary general called for "urgent international intervention to stop the horrible massacre".



Meanwhile in Jerusalem the opening ceremony of the new US embassy was celebrated with first daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ambassador David Friedman. Ivanka Trump and Mnuchin unveiled an inauguration plate and US President Donald Trump said in a message that "Israel's capital is Jerusalem". "Our greatest hope is for peace", Trump also said. "The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement".



Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu said that, "we too have no better friend than America", thanking the US for keeping its promise.



The uprising is expected to continue on Tuesday, on the 70th anniversary of Israel's birth. Palestinians organize counter-celebrations to commemorate the 'Naqba', or 'catastrophe'.ISTANBUL - Turkey will be celebrating Ramadan without pistachios. During the holy month of Ramadan starting Tuesday, which is observed by fasting from sunrise to sunset, the baklava sweets made with honey and nuts traditionally eaten as part of the meal that breaks the fast will be made with hazelnuts and almonds but no pistachios, said the head of the Association of producers (Baktad), Mehmet Yildirim. The boycott, he said, is due to the fact that the price of pistachios bought directly from producers is 60 liras per kilo (some 12 euros) but doubles during the festivity.



"Such prices are neither moral nor legal", explained Yildirim.



In Turkey, the sector employs some 50,000 people among producers and sellers of baklava, whose sales peak during Ramadan. The one with pistachios, produced in large quantities in the province of Gaziantep at the border with Syria, is typical.'A great day for Israel', Trump says Message for inauguration of US embassy in Jerusalem

(ANSAmed) - Rome, May 14 - US President Donald Trump described Monday as "a great day for Israel!" as the country prepared to inaugurate the new US embassy in Jerusalem. The inauguration of the new diplomatic mission, which has been transferred from Tel Aviv after Trump decided in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and is currently located at the existing consular office pending construction of new premises, will be broadcast live by Foxnews from 9 am US time. (ANSAmed).



Italy, Jordan sign development cooperation agreement Aid and Syrian refugees assistance extended

(ANSAmed) AMMAN, MAY 14: Jordan and Italy have signed Development Cooperation Framework Agreement whereby Italy would support Jordan in carrying out development programmes and setting up a three year aid programme, officials said today.



Italy would be supporting Jordanian strategies and raising the efficiency of Italian aid as part its pledge to help Jordan carry out reform in various fields, an official statement said. In a press statement after the signing ceremony, Jordan's minister of planning Emad Fakhoury said the agreement aims primarily at enhancing joint development cooperation between the two countries, supporting Jordanian national strategies and plans, as well as raising efficiency of the Italian aid provided to the country in line with Italy's commitments a EU member state.



"The agreement launches a three-year assistance program that sets priorities, programs and sectoral projects," said the statement.



Fakhoury stressed the importance of supporting the national development plans as well as the Jordanian response plan to tackle repercussions of the Syrian crisis.



Fakhoury said Italy is one of the most important partners in the development and reform process, which has been contributing to the support of vital sectors such as water, sanitation, tourism, education and other priority sectors, the statement said. Since the start of the Syrian crisis, Italy has been providing aid to Jordan in various fields, including direct donation to refugees, support to infrastructure and capacity building projects. (ANSAmed)Rage explodes in Gaza, over 40 Palestinians killed Violence on Israel-Gaza border. New US embassy in Jerusalem

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MAY 14 - Palestinian rage erupted Monday, the day of the official opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.



Over 40 people, including several minors, died while nearly 2,000 were wounded, according to reports released mid-afternoon as violent clashes were reported along the border fence with Gaza, where visibility was obscured by a cloud of smoke from burnt tires.



And while the uprising stretched to the West Bank and Israel carried out air raids on the Gaza Strip, stating it hit five Hamas targets, Palestinian hospitals were struggling to cope with emergencies. Palestinian authorities in Gaza asked for blood donations and requested medical help from Egypt.



The Arab League summoned an emergency meeting on Wednesday while the secretary general called for "urgent international intervention to stop the horrible massacre".



Meanwhile in Jerusalem the opening ceremony of the new US embassy was celebrated with first daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ambassador David Friedman. Ivanka Trump and Mnuchin unveiled an inauguration plate and US President Donald Trump said in a message that "Israel's capital is Jerusalem". "Our greatest hope is for peace", Trump also said. "The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement".



Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu said that, "we too have no better friend than America", thanking the US for keeping its promise.



The uprising is expected to continue on Tuesday, on the 70th anniversary of Israel's birth. Palestinians organize counter-celebrations to commemorate the 'Naqba', or 'catastrophe'. (ANSAmed).



Separatist Quim Torra is the new president of Catalonia 66-65 vote. MPs sing Catalan anthem

(ANSAmed) - BARCELONA, MAY 14 - The separatist Quim Torra, 55, has been elected the 131st president of Catalonia in the second round of a vote at the Parlament of Barcelona. A candidate of the exiled former president, Carles Puigdemont, Quim Torra won with 66 votes in favor (from the two major separatist families, JxCat and Erc) and 65 against (unionists and Podemos) with four abstentions. His election ends a long phase of institutional paralysis and Madrid's commissioning of Catalonia.



After the vote was announced by the Parlament's president, Roger Torrent, the 135 lawmakers stood up and sang the national anthem "Els Segadors". Torra pronounced a few words of thank and concluded with "Visca Catalunya Llibra" (Hail free Catalonia!).



(ANSAmed).



(ANSAmed) - Belgrade, May 14 - Serbia is to establish a parliamentary commission to probe the consequences of the use of impoverished uranium in airstrikes carried out by NATO in Spring 1999 during the Kosovo war, President Aleksandar Vucic has said, denouncing an increase in the cancer rate amongst children. Inaugurating a new oncological hospital in Belgrade on Sunday, Vucic described the NATO airstrikes as an "unprecedented crime".



"I had never fully believed those theories, but talking to doctors I learned that impoverished uranium has been the cause of numerous cancers and that the disease is more common among children whose parents were born in the 1990s," Vucic is quoted by the media as saying.



The commission will be assisted in its work by the report from a similar commission established in Italy, which took part in the NATO bombings and saw 4,000 of its soldiers serving in Kosovo develop cancer and nearly 300 die from the disease.



(ANSAmed)Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.Elbit Systems of Australia has closed out the successful delivery phase of the Land 125 Phase 3C contract supplying XACTth65 thermal weapon sights to the Australian Defence Force (ADF).



Since delivery commenced in September 2016, nearly 4,800 XACTth65 thermal sights have been supplied to the Australian Army (Picture source: Elbit Systems of Australia)

Dan Webster, the Managing Director of Elbit Systems of Australia, and Malcolm McKeith, the Director of Armaments Systems Program Office at The Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG), signed the final delivery document at Melbournes historic Victoria Barracks on 22 March. The Maintenance phase of Land 125 continues until mid-2020.

Its compact size, light weight (only 450 grams) and high performance during day and night make XACTth65 a category leader. Since delivery commenced in September 2016, nearly 4,800 XACTth65 thermal sights have been supplied to the Australian Army with early indications suggesting good reliability of the systems delivered.

Noting the positive feedback from the end users of the XACTth65, Elbit Systems of Australias Land 125 Project Manager, Cathie Webb commented, Personnel who have been issued with the thermal sight have been giving us extremely positive feedback about the sights effectiveness and ease of use.

CASGs Director of Armaments Systems Program Office, Malcolm McKeith, acknowledged the strength of the relationship that the contract has fostered between his office and Elbit Systems of Australia and expressed interest in other technologies being developed by the Company.

Dan Webster, Managing Director of Elbit Systems of Australia said, The success of the contract was another important aspect of the Companys strategic partnership with the Army and the ADF more broadly. Technology is moving very quickly right across our very diverse offering, and weapon sights are no exception. The th65 thermal sight is just the beginning of the role technology will play in sighting systems, with the integration of sight data into the Battle Management System likely to be the next step.The fire-fighting tank GPM-72, manufactured by UkrOboronProm SE Lviv Armored Plant, is approved for operation by the armed forces of Ukraine. This decision was made by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine after successful completion of departmental tests.



The GPM-72 had already been used for fire suppression at the ammunition depot in the Vinnytsya region in September 2017 (Picture source: UkrOboronProm)

The GPM-72 fire-fighting tank is intended for emergency rescue operations in warehouses, arsenals, storage facilities of explosive products. It is equipped with a 20-ton fire-fighting material reservoir and can extinguish a fire distant of up to 100 meters. The vehicle benefits from a 30mm-thick armored protection against various types of ammunition and fire. A system pours water all over the cabin to reduce its temperature when operating close to a fire.

The GPM-72 had already been used for fire suppression at the ammunition depot in the Vinnytsya region in September 2017, having proved its high effectiveness. As of today, the SE Lviv Armored Plant is waiting for orders to start GPM-72 mass production.The Austrian bikemaker is developing adaptive cruise control and blind spot detection tech for its motorcycles.

In the last couple of decades, safety and rider assistance in motorcycles has seen phenomenal progress. Bike manufacturers have come up with cutting-edge technologies which has upped the safety quotient of riders without compromising on their riding experience. After integrating IMU-based safety features on its high-end bikes, KTM motorcycles is now working on sensor-based active safety features.

The Austrian brand has announced that it is working on two sensor-based active safety technologies - Adaptive Cruise Control and Blind Spot Detection. As the name suggests, the former will help the rider maintain a constant cruising speed and detect variations in speed to adjust the throttle accordingly. The system employs a radar headway sensor, digital signal processor and a longitudinal controller to that effect. In practice, when the lead vehicle slows down or if another object is detected, the sensors send a signal to the braking system to decelerate. When the road is clear, the sensors send feedback to the engine to accelerate the vehicle. It can be activated only when the motorcycle exceeds a speed of 30kmph.

Just like Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Detection system, too relies on sensors. It uses rear-facing sensors to detect and warn the rider about approaching vehicles which otherwise would be in his blind spot. The rider is warned by illuminated LED lights on the mirrors and a warning message on the instrument console.

Both of the technologies can be a major asset in rider safety, but are at least a few years away from fruition. According to KTMs vice president of R&D, Gerald Matschl, the technology is still in its infancy and will "not come next year".

However, KTM already has a working prototype ready! In a recent demonstration by Matschl himself, a 1290 Super Adventure fitted with KTMs Adaptive Cruise Control was made to follow a vehicle. Not only did the sensors help in maintaining a safe distance, they also helped the motorcycle vary its speed in accordance with the car in front without any input from the rider.

Italian bikemaker Ducati has also thrown its hat into the ring and announced that its 'radar-based technology' (click here to know more) will be introduced by 2020. While it's reassuring to see big motorcycle companies getting safety tech seen on cars to two-wheelers, the technology itself is still in its nascency. However, considering KTM's progress, it might not be too far off from seeing the light of the day.

Source: ZigWheels.comThe Rolls-Royce Cullinan looks just like we imagined it would: big, tall, and quintessentially Rolls-Royce.

The Cullinan marks an important day in the history of Rolls-Royce. The ever increasing allure for SUVs in the world seems to have caught the attention of the top brass at RR. Luxury and adventure do not necessarily go hand in hand, or do they? The priority of any SUV is to carry that go-anywhere attitude with it but, can it do all that while delivering on the comfort and opulence front at the same time? Well, Rolls-Royce says a big yes to this by claiming its first-ever SUV, the Cullinan, as Effortless Everywhere.

So, what is the RR Cullinan about?

Well, for one, it is BIG. The car is considerably bigger than even the Bentley Bentayga. And, it had to be. You see, all Rolls-Royce cars look average-sized when standing next to each other, but the moment you park any of them next to regular luxury cars, the size hits you. Imagine that, but with SUVs.

The face of the Cullinan gets the hand-polished stainless steel grille from the RR family, but here it is set slightly proud of the surrounding bodywork, up and forward. The Rolls-Royce badge and Spirit of Ecstasy too are significantly above the line of the bonnet, which in their mind is to "give them a unique vantage point."

Okay, moving on. From the side, the size of the Cullinan really shows. The SUV measures 5341mm in length, 2164mm in width, 1835mm in height, has a wheelbase of 3295mm and rides on 22-inch wheels.

Being a Rolls-Royce, it gets all the bits and bobs of being a typical one. Named after the largest diamond ever discovered, which now resides in the British Crown Jewels, the SUV too gets premium luxury. You can get your Cullinan in two rear configurations: lounge seats or individual seats. The lounge seat is a bench-like configuration with space for three passengers in the rear. The individual seat configuration gets a fixed rear centre console which holds... you guessed it, a drinks cabinet with Rolls-Royce whisky glasses and decanter, champagne flutes and refrigerator.

Inside, you have a typical RR interior. There is a thicker, smaller steering wheel for better off-road control. The entire backrest panel of the seats has been crafted from a single piece of leather and the front door armrests, front centre console lid, lower C-Pillar, rear side and centre armrests, seats and the steering all get heating functionality.

It also gets the latest generation of digital instrument clusters, first ever in an RR touchscreen centre console and a new Spirit of Ecstasy controller to physically control the systems. Theres also an Off-Road button, Hill Descent Control button and Air Suspension height adjustment controls in the centre console.

The rear seats are higher than those in the front of the car. This is called Rolls-Royces Pavilion Seating, so the passengers get a good view of the outside from the high glass area, which includes a panoramic sunroof. The occupants also get five USB ports around the cabin, whilst phones can be wirelessly charged at the front of the cabin.

Driving the RR Cullinan is a 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 which produces 571 PS of power at 5,000rpm and a massive 850Nm of torque at just 1600rpm. The power is sent to an all-new, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer system for all-terrain driving. Top speed is limited to 250kmph.

To offer the famous RR magic carpet ride even in off-road conditions, the Cullinan is built on a lighter all-aluminium architecture and has been given the latest generation self-levelling air suspension. It gets larger air struts with more air volume to cushion the blows of the toughest of terrains. RR claims that the suspension makes millions of calculations every second as it continuously varies the electronically controlled shock absorber adjustment system, reacting to body and wheel acceleration, steering inputs and camera information. On off-road conditions, the electronically controlled shock absorber adjustment system even pushes down any wheel which it detects is losing traction.

There is also an Everywhere button, which "unleashes all of Cullinans off-road capability" with just one click. The Cullinan also gets a water-wading depth of 540mm. And because the Cullinan rides high, it lowers itself by 40mm when you unlock the car, to make ingress easy.

Also, for some reason, RR has put a lot of effort to call it the first three-box car in the SUV sector, with the luggage compartment being separated via a glass. This lets the cabin stay better insulated in terms of noise -- and for some reason they want the cabin to remain cool even when the tailgate is open. Speaking of which, this is the first ever RR to feature an opening tailgate, now called The Clasp. This also mimics the time when the wealthy used to not carry their luggage with them; it would be carried for them, behind them.

The rear seats also fold down  a first for Rolls-Royce. The SUV has a luggage capacity of 560 litres, 600 with the parcel shelf removed and 1930 litres by electronically folding the rear seats and raising the boot floor to meet the seat base. This also gives it a loading length of 2245mm. RR also claims that this loading length is longer than that of a Range Rover Vogue Extended Wheelbase.

To conclude it all - Its big, its capable, its ultra luxurious and it is going to be very, very costly. A perfect new toy for the 1 per cent to cherish. Expect it to launch in India next year, with a price tag close to Rs 5 crores.

Source: ZigWheels.comThe scam, considered to be the biggest ever fraud in India's history, came to light earlier this year.

RBI is also undertaking a detailed probe into the case for necessary action.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has declined to share inspection reports for scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB), citing RTI clauses that bar disclosure of details which may impede the investigation process or prosecution of offenders among other reasons.

Replying to an RTI query, the central bank also said it does not have "specific information" on what resulted in detection of over Rs 13,000 crore scam at PNB and directed the application to the state-run bank for providing those details.

The scam, considered to be the biggest ever fraud in India's history, came to light earlier this year. PNB was allegedly defrauded by diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems.

Among other agencies and regulators, the RBI is also undertaking a detailed probe into the case for necessary action.

In response to queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the central bank clarified that the RBI does not carry out audit of banks. However, the RBI conducts inspection/risk-based supervision of banks, it added.

Giving details for the past ten years, the RBI gave dates for the annual inspection carried out at the PNB head office between 2007 and 2017, except for 2011, for which the bank said the "dates (are) not available".

When asked about the copies of inspection reports and details of objections raised by it, the RBI said the information was exempted under various clauses of the RTI Act.

"The inspection reports of banks and other related documents contain information which is exempt from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (a), (d), (j) and (h) of RTI Act, 2005," it said in reply to the RTI application filed by this correspondent.

The Section 8(1) (a) bars disclosure of information which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence.

The clause (d) bars information the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, whereas the section 8 (1) (h) exempts disclosure of information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders .

The clause (j) bars information which relates to personal information and the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual.

The RBI said that the severance of exempt parts in all inspection reports would divert the resources of the public authority in an unreasonable way.

"In view of the same it is not feasible to disclose the information sought by the applicant," the central bank said.

The RBI has transferred the application to the PNB on query seeking details of inspection reports that led to detection of the massive fraud in the bank.

"The specific information sought is not available with us. However, the RTI application is being transferred to PNB under Section 6 (3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for providing information, if any, directly to the applicant," it said.Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of deaths at 18. At least eight people were killed in Andhra Pradesh.

Several vehicles turned turtle and fell on each other on Delhi-Kanpur Highway, following heavy rainfall and dust storm in Bulandshahr on Sunday. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Dust storms and thunderstorms wreaked havoc in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and the national capital, killing at least 41 people and leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Uttar Pradesh bore the brunt of a thunderstorm and hail that left at least 18 people dead, while 12 people including four children were killed in West Bengal, nine in Andhra Pradesh, and two in Delhi, officials said.

The weather office has said thunderstorms are expected across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours, as several weather phenomena, including western disturbances, converge.

Here are the latest developments in the story:

The Met office has predicted thunderstorms accompanied by light rains for a huge swathe of northern India over the next two to three days. An orange category warning -- which means the weather can significantly impact the lives of people -- has been issued for the hilly areas in the north, the northeast and Odisha

Uttar Pradesh bore the brunt of a thunderstorm and hail that left at least 18 people dead and 27 others injured. Five people were killed in Kasganj, three in Bulandshahr and two each in Ghaziabad and Saharanpur. One person each died in Etawah, Aligarh, Kannauj, Hapur, Noida and Sambhal. Nearly 100 houses were gutted in a fire which broke out due to lightning in UP's Sambalpur

In Andhra Pradesh, nine persons were killed in lightning strikes. While seven people were killed in Srikakulam district alone, two more were killed in Kadapa, officials said. Various parts of the southern state witnessed rain, accompanied by gales

In West Bengal, at least 12 people, including four children, were killed and over 15 injured in lightning strike amid heavy rain, an official of the state disaster management department said. Five deaths were reported from Howrah district, while two deaths each from West Midnapore, North 24-Parganas and Nadia districts and one from Murshidabad district

Five people were killed in the Delhi National Capital Region, including a woman who was killed in Greater Noida after a billboard fell on her while driving a scooter, also injuring her son. Flight, rail and metro operations were largely affected

Flight operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were put on hold for more than an hour on Sunday evening. About 70 flights were diverted from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, a spokesperson said

Delhi Metro services were hampered too. Thousands of commuters were stuck on the busy Blue Line, which links Dwarka in north-west Delhi to Noida and Vaishali in Uttar Pradesh, for almost 45 minutes. The trains were then slowed down as a precaution

In Delhi, the sky turned dark grey around 4:30 pm. Gusty winds and rain lashed the national capital, causing the temperature to drop to 25.2 degrees Celsius

The Met office said the storm was a result of western disturbances over Jammu and Kashmir and cyclonic circulation over Haryana. An east-west trough from Haryana to Nagaland and easterly winds from Bay of Bengal are raising wind speed

"Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country... asked officials to provide all possible assistance to those affected," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted

Last week, the Met office predicted a huge storm across 13 states. Following the alert, schools in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana were shut and extra police forces and emergency services were put on standby. The promised storm, though, turned out to be far lower in intensity and the met office came under fire from people on social media for misleading prediction

Sunday's devastation comes over 10 days after storms hit UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400.

(With inputs from PTI)The chargesheet will help the agency in expediting the extradition process against Nirav Modi and Choksi.

New Delhi: The CBI is all set to file its chargesheet against diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.

The central probe agency, sources said, is expected to file chargesheet against the duo by the end of this month.

The chargesheet will help the agency in expediting the extradition process against Nirav Modi and Choksi.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA) had in February this year revoked the passports of Nirav Modi and Choksi, after the duo failed to furnish their replies to a notice from the MEA in the stipulated time of one week.

Besides, the CBI will soon move the Interpol for issuance of a Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in connection with the `11,384-crore fraud case. A Red Corner Notice (RCN) is issued to seek the arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action in a criminal case probe.

Once an RCN is issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action at their end, sources said.

A special court in Mumbai had issued non-bailable warrants last month on the request of another central probe agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED had also issued summonses to Modi and Choksi asking them to appear before it in Mumbai. However, both of them expressed their inability to depose citing business engagements.

Both are also accused on charges of money laundering (under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act) in alleged connivance with some employees of PNB and have been stated by probe agencies to have left India before criminal charges were pressed against them. The ED too is probing the case.Siddaramaiahs comment come in the context of conflicting projections by exit polls that the state is heading towards a hung Assembly.

Mysuru: Virtually admitting that the Congress may fall short of a majority in the Assembly polls and pulling himself out of the race for the top post, chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said it was fine if the party decides to have a dalit chief minister.

His statement has fuelled speculation that veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, or state Congress chief president Dr. G. Parameshwar could be the chief minister choice if the Congress falls short of the magic figure of 112 for the 222 Assembly seats on which voting was held on Saturday and is forced to strike a pact with the JD(S) to form a coalition government.

The chief ministers comment is also in sharp contrast to the stance taken by him during the poll campaign that he will become chief minister again.

If the high command wants to make a dalit the CM, I have no problem with that. I will ask them to go ahead. I am not against anybody. But MLAs have to give their opinion and the high command has to agree. It cant happen forcefully, if that happens, they cant run the government. I have completed five years today. There was no dissident activity, he said, announcing that this will be his last election.

The chief minister compared his tenure with former chief ministers Devraj Urs, Veerendra Patil, S. Bangarappa and Veerappa Moily and said they all had to deal with dissatisfied MLAs. But for the first time, there was no dissatisfied MLA during my tenure though one or two may have made statements against me. By and large, I was able to secure the co-operation of the high command, all ministers, MLAs and MPs. I have served people honestly. People liked my work, there was no anti-incumbency in the state, he said.

Mr Siddaramaiahs comment come in the context of conflicting projections by exit polls that the state is heading towards a hung Assembly. The exit polls have indicated that the May 15 results with throw up a fractured verdict  a situation in which the JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda could play kingmaker.

The chief ministers ties with JD(S) leaders have been anything but cordial in recent months, sealing his chances of making it to the top post if the Congress cobbles together a coalition with Mr Gowdas party.

Despite his comments favouring a dalit chief minister, Mr Siddaramaiah continues to assert that the Congress will get a clear majority and return to power winning 120 seats. On the exit polls, he remarked, They may be true to some extent but not completely true.

On several leaders in the Congress aspiring to be chief minister, he said, I dont think it is wrong or bad. In a democracy there have to be opportunities for such aspirations.

On his prospects in Badami and Chamundeswari, the two seats he is contesting from, he said, I will win in both. I will get a good majority in Badami. In Chamundeswari we may not get the expected lead but we will still win it.

G.T. Devegowda (JD-S candidate) has spent a lot of money, I dont know from where he got it. Nobody can win only with money and not unless he enjoys peoples love. The byelection in Chamundeswari in 2006 was the toughest, this one was not so tough, said Mr Siddaramaiah.

Describing the Assembly election results as a stepping stone for the coming parliamentary elections in 2019, he said, After this, there will be elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and after that we will capture power in the country.

Asked if he aspired to enter national politics, Mr Siddaramaiah said, Even if Brahma says so, I will not contest elections again. I am done with elections. Nor will I go to Delhi. In fact, I had decided this at the time of the previous elections in 2013. But after being CM for five years, I could not just run away from my responsibilities, so I contested again.

Sharing his future plans the chief minister said, I will be in active politics. I will fight for social justice, against communal forces. I will be useful for the party in the parliamentary and future assembly elections. Dr B.R. Ambedkar won only one election but had his share of followers because of his ideology. JP (Jayaprakash Narayan) did not contest the 1977 elections but under his leadership, all parties united and defeated the Congress. I will continue to serve the people. It is not necessary to contest elections to serve people.

Meanwhile, Mr Siddaramaiah rival in Chamundeswari, G.T. Devegowda, relaxed at a resort in Kodagu with his friends on Sunday.Militancy in its last phase in J&K, saus Jitendra Singh.

New Delhi: Taking recourse to the Holy Quran, minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh said militants in Kashmir should follow what the holy book preaches and shun violence during the month of Ramzan that will begin in mid-May.

The holy month of Ramzan, according to the holy Quran, is a month of fasting where every pious Muslim is supposed to observe a very pious living without harming fellow beings, without indulging in violence and without indulging in anything evil or anything that hurts fellow beings. If at all, a demand has to be made it has to me made to the terrorists that like true Muslims as the true followers of the holy Quran and its teachings they should rather shun violence, Mr Singh told this newspaper in an exclusive chat on Sunday.

Denying reports that the government is mulling an unilateral offer of Non-Initiation of Combat Operations (NICO) to the Kashmiri militants, Mr Singh, who is a BJP MP from Jammu and Kashmirs Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, said: There could be demands here and there and individual opinions emanating here or there, but these decision are taken by the Government of India, based on inputs received from the Union home ministry, external affairs ministry and the defence ministry. They have the prerogative to take decisions and it has been reiterated more than once by the home and the defence ministries that there is no such proposal in this regard.

Anybody can rise up to say anything to cater to his or her constituency but that doesnt affect the discretion and wisdom of the decision-making process of the Union government I dont know how and where this wisdom has come from.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat recently told a national daily that while he is ready to suspend military operations to avoid civilian casualties in the state what is the guarantee that the militants wont be firing at the Army and who would guarantee that policemen, political workers, etc are not attacked and killed.

On reports that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is worsening and at an unprecedented low as far as the public cooperation with the security forces battling militancy is concerned, Mr Singh said: I dont think so. On the contrary, for the first time after several decades there has been decisive action happening in Kashmir both within the borders and outside the borders. The militants are on the run and the manner in which the anti-militancy operations have been successfully conducted in the last one year or so is evidence in itself. I am sure militancy is going through its last phase.

Since the killing of Kashmir militancys poster boy and Hizb-ul-Mujaheedin leader Burhan Wanis death on July 9, 2016, the state has been on the boil even as the security forces launched a no-holds barred counter insurgency operation called All-Out. About 60 militants have been gunned down this year itself amid mounting civilian casualties even as increasing number of local youths are taking to the gun. About 300 militants are said to be active in the state.Sitharaman even wondered if this was the Congress partys Nawaz Sharif moment.

New Delhi: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday launched a scathing attack against the Congress asking party president Rahul Gandhi to come clean on the action taken by the Income Tax Department on the former finance minister P. Chidambaram for allegedly having undisclosed assets abroad.

Ms Sitharaman even wondered if this was the Congress partys Nawaz Sharif moment. The defence minister was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Courts decision to disqualify its former Prime Minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad. Hitting back with a tongue-in-cheek tweet, Mr Chidambaram said that there was a buzz that she (Ms Sitharaman) was going to be removed from the Cabinet and appointed as a lawyer at the Income Tax department.

The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if for Congress party in India, we are seeing a Nawaz Sharif moment, Ms Sitharaman told reporters here. She further added, The Congress party president, who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this. Upping the ante BJP National President Amit Shah also tweeted with the hashtag #BlackMoneyofPC on the action of the Income Tax Department against Mr Chidambaram. Mr Shah also linked this issue with the UPA government not setting up the SIT on black money. While Ms Sitharaman also said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged to fight black money held in India and abroad before the last Lok Sabha elections.

Launching a counterattack Mr. Chidambaram tweeted: The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitharaman will be removed as defence minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-Tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitharaman, he further added, The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put `15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised. Standing behind its leader, the Congress claimed that Ms Sitharaman had no moral authority to question the Congress and its leaders first she should tell the nation about the cost of Rafale jets. The Congress has been alleging a scam in procurement of the Rafale fighter jets and has asked the government to reveal the per piece price of the jets. Congress spokesman Pawan Khera said, Ms Sitharaman is not interested in her ministry, first she should tell the nation about the price of the jets and why HAL was kept out of it. Then she should speak about scams that have taken place under the BJP governments.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed chargesheets against mr Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets. The chargesheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the IT department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.The information & broadcasting ministry and Prasar Bharati are learnt to have claimed ignorance about the event, the reports claimed.

New Delhi: Noted poet Faiz Ahmed Faizs daughter Moneeza Hashmi, who is a well-known media personality in Pakistan, was reportedly not allowed to participate in a seminar held last week in the national capital, which interestingly was organised by the Union information and broadcasting ministry.

According to media reports, Ms Hashmi was listed as a speaker in the 15th Asia Media Summit, which was held in New Delhi between May 10 and 12. However, she was allegedly not allowed to participate in the event, and no official explanation was apparently given to her either, reports which appeared in a section of the media said.

The information & broadcasting ministry and Prasar Bharati are learnt to have claimed ignorance about the event, the reports claimed.

Quoting sources in Faiz Foundation Trust, media reports said that when Ms Hashmi reached the hotel where she was supposed to put up, she was told that there was no booking in her name. A shocked Ms Hashmi was later informed by the director of AIBD (Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development) that she wouldnt be allowed to speak, reports claimed.

Ms Hashmi, reports added, was supposed to speak on May 10 at the 4 pm session on Should all good stories be commercially successful? along with three other speakers.

The incident has evoked strong reactions, with Ms Hashmis son Ali Hashmi tagging the Prime Ministers Office and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, tweeting, This is your Shining India? My 72 year-old mother, daughter of Faiz, denied permission to participate in the conference after being officially invited. Shame.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan also tweeted, Shame on the Modi government for deporting daughter of Faiz Ahmed Faiz from India and stopping her from participating in the Asia media summit in Delhi. Faiz was not only an outstanding Urdu poet but also a staunch opponent of the military rule in Pakistan.Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in her hotel room in January 2014. Sunanda and Tharoor had checked in to the hotel together a day earlier.

New Delhi: Four years after Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was found dead at her suite in Leela Hotel in the national capital, the Delhi police on Monday filed a chargesheet in the case.

The chargesheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh in Patiala House Court under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Pushkars husband and Congress MP Tharoor has been named as an accused in the case. The police in its charge sheet has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as the opinion of Psychological Autopsy experts, Sunanda Pushkar case investigated by SIT of South District, has been chargesheeted under section 306/498-A IPC. The matter now is sub-judice," Delhi police spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Tharoor has termed the chargesheet as preposterous and said that he will contest it vigorously.

In his tweet, the Congress MP also said, No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police.

In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the Delhi High Court that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!, he added.

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

The court has fixed May 24 as the next date of hearing.

Pushkar was found dead in the luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014, days after she publicly accused her husband of having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

Reacting to the development, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said, "All witnesses and documents were destroyed by the UPA government and corrupt police. On the basis of current evidence, this is what could be done."

"More information will come during trial. There are allegations on Shashi Tharoor that he forced his wife to commit suicide," BJP leader added.A state Election Commission official said there are reports of six people being killed in violence during Panchayat polls.

West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: 20 people were injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Kolkata: As many as 38,529 seats across West Bengal are up for contest today as the voters exercise their franchise in the West Bengal Panchayat Election.

The polls area the last major elections in the state before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Political parties are viewing today's poll as a warm up match ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The state has witnessed several incidents of political clashes and violence over the past few weeks.

After about 34 per cent of the seats were won by the Trinamool Congress, the Supreme Court last week expressed concern that such a large percentage of seats were won by the ruling party and the top court stayed the notification of those results.

"What bothers us is 34 per cent candidates have been elected unopposed... Elections to be held in absolute fairness," the Supreme Court had said.

Here are the updates of the West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018:

05:01 pm: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a report from the West Bengal government regarding incidents of violence during Panchayat polls in the state

"There are reports of six people being killed," a state Election Commission official said. However, unconfirmed reports say that 6 to 12 people have been killed in the violence across state

04:18 pm: Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed. Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution, Biman Bose, CPI(M) on West Bengal Panchayat Elections

04:17 pm: Members of CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and other parties of the Left Front staging protest outside State Election Commission againt the incidents of violence during the West Bengal Panchayat elections

Photo: ANI | Twitter

04:08 pm: Overall 56 per cent polling recorded till 3 pm in West Bengal

03:38 pm: This is nothing but complete destruction of democracy. Election Commission is not giving time to political representative. We are organizing a protest against it, Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, CPI-M said on incidents of violence during West Bengal Panchayat election

03:09 pm: Women queue up to cast their votes at a polling booth in Cooch Behar

Photo: ANI | Twitter

02:49 pm: Congress workers hold protest outside Election Commission in Kolkata

Photo: ANI | Twitter

02:27 pm: According to reports, a Trinamool Congress worker was beaten to death in Shantipur, Nadia district while another worker of TMC was killed in South 24 Parganas. One person has died in Murshidabad and another in North 24 Parganas. However, the death toll has still not been confirmed by the police

02:25 pm: West Bengal Assembly Elections 2018: Ballot boxes looted at gunpoint by unidentified people at 44, 45 and 45K booths in Murshidabad, reports ANI

02:21 pm: Ballot box being retrieved from a pond in West Bengal's Sonadangi

02:14 pm: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: 41.51 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm

02:14 pm: Voting booth vandalised allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers in North Dinajpur's Sonadangi during West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018

Photo: ANI | Twitter

01:38 pm: Vehicles vandalised in Raniganj area of Asansol during voting for Panchayat polls in West Bengal, reports ANI

01:05 pm: "There are minor incidents taking place, no major incidents have been reported. Administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peaceful. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists," TMC's Partha Chatterjee said

12:53 pm: "Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal govt is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in WB," Union Minister Babul Supriyo said on violence during West Benagl Panchayat Election

12:40 pm: Clashes between BJP and CPI(M) workers in Durgapur, reports ANI

12:12 pm: West Bengal Panchayat Election: 26.28 per cent voter turnout till 11 am: ANI

12:10 pm: Five local journalists injured after violence, following booth capturing in Birpara, allegedly by Trinamool Congress, reports news agency ANI

Photo: ANI | Twitter

12:00 pm: A TMC worker named Arif Gazi shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district, reports ANI

11:45 am: "Highly condemnable and deplorable, it signifies that culture of political violence under TMC has engulfed entire West Bengal and it is an alarming sign for democracy," said BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on violence during West Bengal Panchayat Election

Photo: ANI | Twitter

11:43 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: At least 20 people have been injured after a crude bomb explosion in Amdanga's Sadhanpur in North 24 Parganas, news agency ANI reported

11:30 am: BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das, was slapped by West Bengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh at Cooch Behar's booth number 8/12 in presence of the Police. Rabindra Nath Ghosh said, BJP agent was trying to run away with ballot box, officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all. TMC hasn't attacked anyone.

11:22 am: Ballot papers thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between Trinamool Congress and BJP in Murshidabad. Following which voting has been stopped for now

Photo: ANI | Twitter

10:48 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: BJP supporter in Bilkanda severely injured after being attacked with a knife, allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers. He is presently undergoing treatment

10:14 am: In Uluberia, Howrah, bombs were hurled at police

10:09 am: One person has been killed in poll violence in West Bengal in Raiganj in North Dinajpur district

10:06 am: 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling in Dantan area of West Midnapore

Photo: ANI | Twitter

10:03 am: Road blocked by locals in Bhangar. They alleged Trinamool Congress workers of capturing the booth

09:51 am: An independent candidate from Nadia district has been shot dead

09:46 am: Violence reported in Bhangar, a media vehicle has been torched and a camera has also been broken. Media not allowed to enter the area, reports news agency ANI.

09:25 am: Alleged Trinamool Congeress workers barring voters from entering booth number 14/79 in Birpara

09:11 am: CPI(M) worker and his wife charred to death after their house in North 24 Parganas was torched on Sunday night, CPI (M) alleges TMC workers were behind the attack

Photo: ANI | Twitter

09:10 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: 20 people were injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar. The injured have been taken to MJN hospital for treatment. Locals say, 'We went there to vote but people belonging to TMC attacked us with sticks'

Photo: ANI | Twitter

09:09 am: According to reports, a media vehicle was attacked at Bhangar

09:08 am: Within less than two hours after the polling began, the State Election Commission has received complains of violence from at least four districts from different parts the state and has asked the police to take action, SEC officials were quoted as saying by news agency PTI

07:50 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: A voter shows inked finger in Cooch Behar. Voting will be held across the state from 7 am to 5 pm

Photo: ANI | Twitter

07:12 am: Voters queue up outside the polling booths in West Bengal to cast their vote. Outside a polling booth in Jalpaiguri's Ashighar, voters were seen standing with a umbrella. Several parts of the country on Sunday experienced severe thunderstorm and rains

Photo: ANI | Twitter

07:09 am: In the run up to West Bengal rural polls, there have been several incidents of sporadic violence across the state. A 30-year-old man was shot dead on Saturday when some gunmen opened fire on a poll rally at Bhangar, 25 km from Kolkata

Read: After pre-poll violences, court battles Bengal votes today in panchayat elections

07:05 am: West Bengal Panchayat polls 2018: Amid tight security, voting begins in West Bengal.

(With inputs from agencies)Cong MP calls it preposterous, says will contest it vigourously.

New Delhi: Four years after Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in suite number 345 of the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhis Chanakyapuri, the Delhi Police on Monday accused her husband, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, of abetting her suicide, and told a city court that his custodial interrogation was necessary as the investigation was yet to be concluded.

The police filed a nearly 3,000-page chargesheet in the court, naming Mr Tharoor as the only accused in the case and claiming there was enough evidence to proceed against him. The police also alleged that the Congress leader had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The chargesheet in the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar was filed before metropolitan magistrate Dharmendra Singh, who will consider it on May 24. The police also urged the court to summon Mr Tharoor, Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, as an accused The couples domestic servant Narayan Singh is one of the key witnesses in the case.

Terming the chargesheet as preposterous, Mr Tharoor said he intends to contest it vigorously. The Congress leader tweeted: I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous chargesheet & intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part.

He added: It does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In Oct 17, the law officer made a statement in the Delhi high court that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. Unbelievable!

Sunanda was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

Mr Tharoor has been charged under Sections 498A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. The chargesheet, which includes several annexures, said Sunanda died within three years, three months and 15 days of her marriage with Mr Tharoor. The couple had entered wedlock on August 22, 2010. The suite in which Sunandas body was found was sealed on the night of January 17, 2014 itself. The police filed an FIR against unknown persons under Section 302 of IPC (murder) on January 1, 2015. Mr Tharoor has not been arrested in the case so far as he had joined the investigation when required.

The Delhi high court had, on October 26 last year, dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamys plea for a court-monitored SIT probe into Sunandas death, terming his PIL as a textbook example of political interest litigation. Later, Dr Swamy challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court, that asked him to satisfy the court on the question of maintainability of his petition. The special investigation team had on April 20 told the Supreme Court a draft final report has been prepared after conducting thorough professional and scientific investigations in the case relating to the death of the Congress MPs wife.

The police, in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, had then said a draft final report had been sent to the prosecution department of the Delhi-NCT government for legal scrutiny and it would be filed in the trial court after being vetted.Guests will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served mini main courses made by Queens kitchen staff.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan is leading the 30-strong catering team and said, The day of the wedding has fallen very kindly for us. (Photo: AP)

According to new information, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday. Instead, the couple have plumped up for a trendy bowl food instead.

The guests, 600 of them, will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served seasonal mini main courses made by the Queens kitchen staff.

Bowl food has become a popular choice for business events because it is more sociable, allowing guests to mingle and network while eating.

However, it is a surprising choice for a royal wedding.

Harry and Meghan hope that it will make the occasion less fussy and allow them to move around the room greeting as many guests as possible.

Sources also say that guests will feast on canapes during lunchtime reception, which will last around two and a half hours and includes speeches and cutting of the cake. Each morsel has been crafted to be consumed in just two delicate bites.

The Queen is officially hosting the event and Buckingham Palace staff revealed that the menu would comprise classic dishes made from seasonal British produce, much from the monarchs own estates.

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen, which dates from the reign of the 14th century monarch Edward III.

It is believed to be the oldest working kitchen in the country, having served more than 30 monarchs.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan is leading the 30-strong catering team and said, The day of the wedding has fallen very kindly for us.

He went on to add, We know the couple wanted us to make sure we used all of the local seasonal produce as much as possible throughout their menu, and this recent good weather is really helping us to achieve that.

He added the couple have been involved in every detail.

Notably, Meghan is a keen foodie who used to run her own lifestyle website, which featured her favourite recipes and restaurants and shares a love of organic produce with her future father-in-law, Prince Charles.

A separate dinner for 200 is being held at Frogmore House by the Prince of Wales later in the evening.The 92-year-old queen gave her blessing for the marriage in accordance with the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act.

The design to the left of the text incorporates the red dragon of Wales along with the UKs floral emblems. It also includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer family Arms, the family of Harrys mother, the late Princess Diana. (Photo: AP)

London: Britains Queen Elizabeth has given her formal consent to the marriage of her grandson Harry to American actress Meghan Markle in a historic document made of vellum that is decorated with symbols representing the lives of the couple.

Reading Now know ye, the hand-written Instrument of Consent carries the Queens signature, Elizabeth R and is sealed with the Great Seal of the Realm which is attached to the foot of the document by woven cords.

Prince Harry, the sixth in line to the thrown, and Markle, best known for her role in US TV drama Suits, are due to marry next Saturday at Windsor Castle, home to kings and queens for nearly 1,000 years.

NOW KNOW YE that We have consented and do by these Presents signify Our Consent to the contracting of Matrimony between Our Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales, K.C.V.O., and Rachel Meghan Markle, it reads.

The 92-year-old queen gave her blessing for the marriage in accordance with the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, and the elaborately illuminated document incorporates references to the couple who met in 2016.

The design to the left of the text incorporates the red dragon of Wales along with the UKs floral emblems. It also includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer family Arms, the family of Harrys mother, the late Princess Diana.

Representing Markle, the design to the right of the text includes the rose, the national flower of the United States, while two golden poppies are the state flower of California, where Markle was born.

Bearing the names of Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle, the 'Instrument of Consent', which is the Queen's historic formal consent to Prince Harry's forthcoming marriage to Meghan Markle, photographed at Buckingham Palace in London, Friday May 11, 2018. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II signed, top right, the Instrument of Consent, her formal notice of approval for the wedding in elaborate calligraphic script issued under the Great Seal of the Realm. (Photo: AP)

The document, which will be given to the couple after the wedding, is drafted by the Crown Office and illuminated on vellum, a fine parchment made from the skin of a calf that is only used for important state documents.

It was made by one of a panel of scrivener artists.The rule of the West Bengal state election commission, which conducted the rural polls, was hardly visible as the situation span out of control.

A man collects ballot boxes from a pond at Memari in Burdwan, thrown by some unknown persons during the panchayat election. (Photo: PTI)

Kolkata/Berhmapore: West Bengal witnessed massive bloodbath during the one-phase panchayat elections on Monday as violent clashes between ruling and Opposition parties reportedly claimed 17 lives and left several others injured across the districts. Even the cops were not spared.

Bombs and bullets flew freely around the polling booths while streetfight became the common scene in most places puncturing the myth of security arrangements during the polling. The rule of the West Bengal state election commission, which conducted the rural polls, was hardly visible as the situation span out of control.

The Opposition parties accused the Trinamul of uncleashing the violence and adopting electoral malpractices including rigging.

Concerned over the turbulent situation in the state the ministry of home affairs have sought a report from the Mamata Banerjee government.

Worried over the violence, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi is also going to send a report to the Centre, according to sources in Raj Bhavan.

Unlike previous polls, this time violence however broke out much before the polling began. The most gruesome among the killings took place at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas.

A couple was burnt to death late on Sunday night. The victims Debu Das, a CPI(M) worker, and his wife: Usha were sleeping at home in Budhakhali village of Namkhana. At around 11.30 pm a group of armed Trinamul workers attacked and torched their home. The couple failed to escape.

Debus son Dipankar claimed that his father was facing pressure from the Trinamool to switch to the ruling party and he was also threatened with dire consequences to not get involved during the poll. At Kultali a Trinamool worker, Arif Ali Gazi was shot dead by the SUCI supporters. Arif received the bullet injuries on his left chest.

At Mandirbazar another Trinamul worker: Khokan Baidya was hacked to death. At Shantipur in Nadia a Trinamul worker: Sanjit Pramanik of Sarbanandapara was found murdered beside National Highway no 34 in the afternoon. He was in the motorbike-borne group which allegedly undertook violence near a booth at Pabna Adibasipara.

Angry villagers caught Sanjit and dragged him down from the two-wheeler. They beat him to death before throwing away the body roadside. At Bilkumari village of Nakashipara, another Trinamul worker: Bhola Dafadar (62) was killed by an independent candidates aides shot him dead when he was returning home after casting his ballot. At Tehatta a voter: Krishnagopal Sarkar (58) went to cast his vote at booth in South Jitpur village of Betai. He was injured after he was caught in a clash between the Trinamool and BJP workers. He was rushed to Tehatta Sub Division Hospital from where he was later shifted to Shaktinagar District Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

At Nandigram of East Midnapore two more CPI(M) workers: Apu Manna and Joggeshwar Ghosh were shot dead at around 1 pm. A gang of miscreants came on motorcycles to booth no 40 at Gopalpur in Khodambari and hurled bombs before opening fire on the duo. With bullet injuries the two CPI(M) workers fell to death. 15 others were injured.

At Nowda in Murshidabad, an independent candidates relative Shaheen Sheikh (25) was shot dead allegedly by the Trinamul workers at Nowda, after he tried to resist them from capturing the booth at Patikabari Basic Primary School.

At Kumarpur village in Beldanga a BJP worker: Tapan Kumar Mondal (55) was shot dead by the Trinamool workers when he was going to cast his ballot. At Amdanga in North 24 Parganas, a CPI(M) worker: Taimur Gayen died after the Trinamool workers hurled bombs on him when he was going to cast his vote alongwith others.

A Trinamul worker Ujjal Shur was killed during a clash at Habra in the same district. At Raiganj in North Dinajpur a man, Amrita Saha, who was a relative of Trinamool candidate Shipra Saha was shot dead by a gang of motorcycle-borne miscreants. At Kushmandi in South Dinajpur a BJP worker Bishu Tudu was shot dead by a group of motorcycle-borne Trinamul workers outside a booth. In the same district a Trinamul worker Mohiruddin Mondal died after some bombs he was carrying with others exploded at Tapan area. In Coocbehar another voter Dulal Bhowmik was beaten to death by the Trinamool workers. The victim was present at the booth at Gopalpur which was attacked by the ruling party workers.They got down from train near Kandivali station, were crossing tracks when Churchgate-bound local train ran over them.

The victims were in a long-distance train coming from Kankavli in coastal Sindhudurg district. (Photo: FIle/PTI)

Mumbai: Four members of a family died after being hit by a train near suburban Kandivali station on May 14 this morning, police said.

The incident took place between Borivali and Kandivali stations at around 5 am, a senior Government Railway Police (GRP) official said.

The victims were in a long-distance train coming from Kankavli in coastal Sindhudurg district. They got down from the train as it stopped near Kandivali station and were crossing the tracks when a Churchgate-bound local train ran over them, police said.

They were rushed to nearby hospital where doctors declared them dead on arrival.Steve Plain conquered Everest 117 days after he reached Antartica's highest peak Mount Vinson breaking previous summit record by nine days.

The previous record for the fastest ascent of the seven summits was set last year by Polish climber Janusz Kochanski, who did it in 126 days. (Facebook Screengrab/ Steve Plain)

Kathmandu: An Australian climber reached the top of Mount Everest Monday, becoming the fastest person to summit the highest mountain on each of the world's seven continents.

Steve Plain conquered Everest 117 days after he reached the peak of Mount Vinson -- the highest mountain in Antarctica -- breaking the previous seven-summit speed record by nine days.

"Steve reached the summit this morning with Jon Gupta and Pemba Sherpa," Iswari Paudel of Himalayan Guides Nepal, which organised logistics for Plain's Everest ascent, told AFP.

Plain's GPS tracker also showed he had stood atop the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain.

The Australian began his quest to break the record just four years after a swimming accident left him with a broken back.

He and two team-mates left the last camp before the Everest summit late Sunday to make their final ascent.

"We are now resting at camp 4, for a few hours at least. Our plan is to set off this evening aiming to reach the top early tomorrow morning. Time to get this finished off," Plain wrote in a blog update on Sunday.

The Australian climbed six of the seven summits with British climber Gupta who tweeted Monday: "Hello from the top of the world!!! We've done it!! We're on the summit of Everest!! Words simply can't begin to describe what I can see & how I am feeling -- it's very emotional!!"

The previous record for the fastest ascent of the seven summits was set last year by Polish climber Janusz Kochanski, who did it in 126 days.

There is some controversy over which mountains should make the list of the highest continental summits.

In one version Australia's Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 metres) makes the list, while the other list defines the Carstensz Pyramid -- a much harder 4,884 metre climb in Indonesia -- as the highest peak of the Australian continent.

For good measure, Plain climbed both.

As well as the 4,892-metre Vinson, the other summits are Aconcagua (6,962m) in Argentina, Tanzania's Kilimanjaro (5,895m), Elbrus (5,642m) in Russia and Denali (6,190m) in the United States.Sarah Mullally was installed as the 133rd Bishop of London at St. Paul's Cathedral on International Nurses Day.

Sarah Mullally, centre, arrives to be installed as the 133d Bishop of London during a service at St Paul's Cathedral in London, Saturday May 12, 2018. Bishop Sarah had a career in the National Health Service as a nurse, before her ordination. (Photo: AP)

London: Sarah Mullally was installed as the first female Bishop of London on Saturday, becoming the third most senior cleric in the Church of England.

Mullally was installed as the 133rd Bishop of London at St. Paul's Cathedral on International Nurses Day -- Florence Nightingale's birthday -- echoing the new bishop's former career as a nurse.

She followed the tradition of knocking three times on the cathedral's Great West Door with her pastoral staff.

She is now the state church's third most senior cleric, after the archbishops of Canterbury and York

In her sermon, she spoke of the challenges facing London, particularly escalating knife crime, and referenced historical sexual abuse within the church.

"We need to speak up for the whole of London, to work to challenge the violence and the crime that have led mothers to clean their own children's blood from our pavements," she said.

"Could there be a starker image or a more urgent wake-up call for all who love this city, who believe it can have an even better future?"

The Church of England's general synod gave final approval to a historic reform allowing female bishops in 2014 after years of bitter wrangling between factions who opposed and supported the move.

The CofE consecrated its first female bishop in January 2015.

Women have been able to be ordained as priests in England since 1992 and now make up a third of the clergy.

The CofE separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. It claims that more than 40 percent of people in England regard themselves as members.

It is the mother church of the global Anglican Communion, which has around 85 million followers in more than 165 countries.

Other Anglican churches around the world have been appointing female bishops for years. The first was appointed in the United States in 1989.Jammus independent status ended with the signing of the Instrument of Accession in favour of India on October 26-27, 1947.

Sandwiched between the Kashmir Valley and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are the Duggar lands of the valiant Dogras of Jammu region who withstood the vicissitudes and ravages of the violent sub-continental history. As a composite part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, along with the predominant Kashmir region and the moonlike haven of Ladakh, the plains of Jammu region have been in a state of perpetual neglect, a far cry from those days of glory when it was the epicentre of the princely state of J&K, in the pre-Independence days.

The Dogra-ruled Jammu was one of the four states that were given the highest 21-gun salute status in recognition of its premier protocolary status during the British Raj days. The Jamwal dynast, Raja Gulab Singh, along with his legendary Gen. Zorawar Singh established the state of Jammu that included the wazarats of Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh, Frontier illaqas and jagirs of Poonch, Bhadrawah and Chenani, and also the provinces of Jammu and the Kashmir Valley.

This Jammu-ruled state was the largest princely state with an area of 84,471 sq km. Contrary to the present situation and perceptions of the past, Jammu was a liberal, inclusive and progressive region having high socio-economic and civic infrastructure.

Jammus independent status ended with the signing of the Instrument of Accession in favour of India on October 26-27, 1947. One of the three preconditions of the Union of India for signing the accession treaty with the Dogra ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, was the installation of the virulently anti-Dogra-rule leader from the Kashmir Valley, Sheikh Abdullah, as the immediate Prime Minister. Later, the chaos, continued mishandling and the unsettled borders with its overenthusiastic neighbour, Pakistan, ensured that the wounds fester and morph into a full-fledged armed insurgency in the Kashmir Valley, driving the national attention and imagination, essentially towards the Kashmir Valley. That the Jammu division has approximately 43 per cent of the population (26 per cent of land mass) and the Kashmir Valley 55 per cent of the population (16 per cent of land mass) further ensured that the practical representation amongst the state lawmakers in a participative form of democracy further veered the focus disproportionately towards the Kashmir Valley, as opposed to a more equitably-proportionate attention towards the perennially-neglected Jammu region. In the scheme of things, the Kashmir Valley has been consistently accorded the lions share of all investments, focus and priorities, with Jammu penalised for its safe fate.

Today, with Pakistans interference and the regressive domestic politics, the societal divide within the state has spun the demographic reality of the three divisions (Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh) to assume the simplistic fractures of religious differentiation.

Even the legitimate socio-economic grouse of the Jammu region versus the Kashmir region narrative has boiled down to a predominantly religious perception, which detracts, diminishes and short-sells from the irrefutable nuts-and-bolts of the Jammus case of discrimination. The terribly tragic Kathua incident followed the consistent script of trivialisation, politicisation and communalisation, which ended up giving a wholly undeserved Jammu-versus-Valley colour to the issue, ably supported by the inelegant statements and ineptitude of some local politicians. The very relevant and unanswered questions and concerns of the Jammu citizens on the sudden arrival of the Rohingyas in their midst got unnecessarily and unintelligibly intermixed with Bakarwal community, who are of a distinct ethnicity from their co-religionists in the Kashmir Valley, and have absolutely no bearing on the Rohingyas from Myanmar! The lazy perceptions and simplifications around disparate issues juxtaposed, muddied and inadvertently shamed Jammu into portents of insensitivity around the case. Yet again, the genuineness of the Jammus multiple concerns were frittered away, failed by its own politicians. The Jammu region is a forgotten footnote in the national perspective, but it punches way above its weight in terms of national service, commitment and glory. The patriotism and martial ethos of the region feeds the bulk of Indian Armys highly-decorated regiments i.e. Jammu & Kashmir Rifles (former Princely State Forces), the Dogras and the Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry  besides populating other regiments and services. From the highest gallantry award winners like the Param Veer Chakra Capt. G.S. Salaria to Subedar Bana Singh, Jammu region is an embarrassment of riches in valour and service to the nation. Despite this, the sense of deprivation in Jammu is all psychological, material and, above all, political, which despite the PDP-BJP experiment could not table and address the Jammu perspective, in its entirety or sincerity.

The Sikri Commission (1979) had presciently noted the injustices to Jammu region by stating that there existed discrimination and favouritism in the field of development, employment and education in the context of different regions, which was giving rise to irritations and tensions among the people of state  a finding that was consistent with the earlier Gajendragadkar Commission. Symbolically, the J is missing in various state administrative services like KAS (Kashmir Administrative Services), KCS and KPS. The Kashmir-centricity feeds a sense of contempt and subjugation when Jammu region (along with Ladakh) is doled out pittance, from both the Centre and the state, which are skewed heavily towards Kashmir. The inequity manifests in the continuously sub-optimal allocation towards development of Jammus tourism, infrastructure, education facilities and overall representation in various state platforms.

However, the worst sleight for Jammu is the hurtful sense of a wronged history and narrative. Despite the unparalleled gallantry, avowedly secular and deliberately multicultural reign of the Dogra rulers, the widely believed script does extreme injustice to real history. Since Independence, Jammu has carried the national burden of surrendering its rightful share of budgets in favour of Kashmir, wilfully initially, and not so any more. Even the recent Kathua case dimmed the perception of Jammu owing to those very politicians, who, like their predecessors, have done little to address the longstanding woes of Jammu. The growing cries of anti-Jammu, are clearly not reaching New Delhi or Srinagar.Indo-Nepal relations would need careful nurturing after the foolhardy gambles of 2015.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis just-concluded May 11-12 visit to Nepal, the third to the neighbouring country since he took office four years ago, was exceptional as it came just five weeks after Nepals new Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli had visited India. This is rare, as usually visits by heads of government are spaced apart to allow for preparatory work or followups on the decisions taken.

The necessity for Mr Olis visit to India was apparent as the victory of the combined Communist front in the parliamentary election had raised serious concerns in New Delhi that pro-China political forces had gained the upper hand in Kathmandu. When Mr Oli assumed office as Prime Minister on February 15 this year, one of his first acts was to invite Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to pay an official visit, which he did. The two largest Communist parties  the CPN(ML) led by Mr Oli and the CPN (MC) led by Mr Prachanda  had not only fought the election as allies but then announced a merger. The orientation of Mr Oli as pro-China in the past was also seen in New Delhi as a bad omen for Indo-Nepal relations. Thus, it was not surprising for Mr Oli to reach out to Prime Minister Modi and allay some genuine concerns, created by the optics of Mr Olis actions and statements. For instance, as I learnt during a speaking visit to Nepal in early April, Mr Oli in his public speeches was given to rabble-rousing against India, particularly by taking potshots personally at Mr Modi.

From those depths to Prime Minister Narendra Modi singing paeans of eternal friendship last weekend and making the return visit within five weeks of the Oli India trip is quite a change. Indias foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale explained that Mr Modis visit was planned soon after Mr Olis election victory when Mr Modi rang him up to congratulate him. Mr Modi said as he landed in Janakpur, known as the birthplace of Ma Sita, that he came as a Prime Pilgrim. He announced a massive Rs 1 billion development assistance for Janakpur and a plan for linking the city to Lord Rams city of Ayodhya. According to this reasoning, it is Mr Oli who decided to drop by to perhaps allay Indian concerns after Mr Abbasis visit and India perceiving a Sino-Pakistan convergence developing in a crucial buffer state that has an open border with India. The timing does, however, raise a question that the Congress Party forcefully argued  that it was peculiar that as voting began in the crucial southern Congress redoubt of Karnataka Prime Minister Modi started his Nepal visit as a Prime Pilgrim than as Prime Minister.

Not satisfied with this initial foray into religious diplomacy, Mr Modi then headed for a second darshan to Pashupatinath and a first visit by any foreign leader to Muktinath, which is revered by Hindus and Buddhists. Although this was a shrewd way to convey to Nepal that, unlike China, India has deep cultural and religious links with the Nepalese people, the timing left some questions in India unanswered about the propriety of such heavy religious dosage on the day of a crucial state election. Moreover, the Nepalese Communists are hard-knuckled street fighters who are unlikely to forget or easily forgive the popular ire they share over what they see as Indias participation in the blockade of their border in 2015 to put pressure during their Constitution-making process. It is generally seen in Nepal as a ham-handed Indian attempt to put pressure, on behalf of the Madhesis whose links to the population in Uttar Pradesh are more intense and personal, on Constitution-making in Nepal after centuries of rule by autocrats. The Nepalese social media was astir during the entire Modi visit, churning just that angst. Nepal would have closely assessed the Modi-Xi Jinping informal summit in Wuhan and may thus still use the Chinese to balance India, but would possibly do so with discretion and perhaps without adopting provocative measures.

Prime Minister Modi has carefully unfurled a shrewd Indian counter-measure insofar as Nepal is concerned to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. India continues to be the largest trading partner of Nepal, with bilateral trade at over $5 billion. But Nepal has had serious concerns about the Trade and Commerce Treaty of 1950, which was revised in 2009. India has held out the tempting prospect of an oil products pipeline, which should give Nepal some energy security. The announcement of 900 MW Arun 3 hydropower project is another step to both make Nepal energy independent but also alleviate power shortage that have hindered investment. Traditionally, Nepal has resisted hydel-power projects as I remember the late King Birendra telling then visiting Indian President Zail Singh in 1986 that such projects consume much-treasured valley land which was needed for food security and livelihood. Bhutan, on the other hand, with a smaller population, has turned its hydel potential into a money-spinner. The CIA has estimated that Nepals hydel power potential is over 42,000 megawatts.

Essentially there is no way that China can any longer be kept out of the India-Nepal equation. Connectivity to Lhasa is inevitable. China also realises that for its investments in Nepal to be productive, the salient must connect to India. For India, with its open border with Nepal, Chinese investment in manufacturing in Nepal will have be closely watched. Perhaps the Modi-Xi summit is a preliminary way to assess what Sino-Indian relations mean for the rest of South Asia. Religious glue is useful but will be a poor defence against the Chinese economic juggernaut.

That is why Prime Minister Modi announced that a revision of the India-Nepal Trade Treaty is still under discussion. Railway and river projects for better connectivity will also take time. Indo-Nepal relations would need careful nurturing after the foolhardy gambles of 2015.Israels biggest diplomatic breakthrough happened when Egypt, once a mortal enemy and leader of the anti-Israel Arab coalition, recognised it in 1978.

The State of Israel has completed 70 years of existence. This is no small milestone because it has survived against extreme odds from the moment it was founded on May 14, 1948. For all its adversaries praying, plotting and hoping to destroy it, Israel proudly looks them in the eye today and says  you failed to erase me from the map or deprive me from my ancestral homeland.

Through perseverance and grit, Israel has established itself as a fait accompli in the last seven decades. A country that faced simultaneous attack by seven Arab armies within hours of its creation, Israel has not only stood its ground but also acquired more territory via crushing military victories in 1948 and 1967 than what was allocated to it by the United Nations partition plan.

Contrary to popular wisdom, Israel did not win these wars over combined Arab rival forces thanks to American military and diplomatic support. During its formative first 20 years, Israel did not receive large-scale US military aid and was left to its own devices to ward off multiple challenges to its national security from hostile Arab states. France, and to a lesser extent Britain, did supplement Israels fighting capabilities in the early years of the Jewish State, but these were not decisive factors in thumping Israeli wins over Arab enemies.

The concept of qualitative military edge, wherein America commits itself to aid Israel to prevail over its numerically superior foes, came into effect after the 1967 war, and not before it. The miracle of Israels survival and growth is more endogenous than resting on the US as its protector or insurer.

Born out of the cauldron of the Holocaust where six million Jewish people were mercilessly killed, Israels founding generation of leaders forged a ruthless national security state which was better organised and equipped for overt and covert warfare than any of the Arab countries clamouring for Israels extermination.

Premonition that another genocide would wipe out the remaining Jewish people and determination to avert it by any means instilled a restless warrior mentality in the Israeli State from the outset. Many of the leading figures who built independent Israels military and intelligence agencies had experienced anti-Semitism and atrocities of the worst kind during World War II. After taking charge of Israel, they cultivated a fierce younger generation of national security hawks who believed in the primacy of violently deterring existential threats rather than relying on soft diplomacy.

As a democratic country, Israel has always had a dissenting Left-liberal strain which questions the ideology of a hard state driving terror into the hearts of rivals and engaging in perpetual violence. As early as 1955, the moderate Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett wondered which of two souls would triumph in his nation  the traditional Jewish one based on spiritual sensitivity and profound love of humanity, or the militant revolutionary one capable of murdering people with a clear mind and in cold blood.

Arguably, the latter soul has been in command of the machinery of the Israeli State so that the former could flourish within Israeli society and nurture high artistic and entrepreneurial talents. Israels defence-intelligence apparatus has forever held an upper hand over its foreign ministry in the pecking order of a unique nation where war-preparedness and bracing for terrorist attacks is eternally in the air.

Israel has a polarising effect on world politics due to its propensity to use maximum and disproportionate force against antagonists. The burden of a state that does not hesitate to perpetrate even war crimes against civilians is a heavy one to carry if a country prizes its international reputation and image. But Israel has an identity driven by abnormal, blood-drenched circumstances since its origin. It has never cared about international law or public opinion as long as the United States has its back in the UN Security Council.

On occasions, when even the US tried to impose restraint on Israel, it doggedly went ahead with its own logic that if it did not vanquish terrorists then they would eliminate Jewry. For example, on the eve of the notorious Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon in 1982, the Americans tried to dissuade then Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon by citing the damage to Israels stature in the world. Mr Sharon angrily ignored the advice and thundered: When it comes to our security, we have never asked. We will never ask. When it comes to existence and security, it is our own responsibility and we will never give it to anybody to decide for us.

Hatred and fear, rather than respect, is what Israel has earned through this no-compromise approach. Yet this does not mean Israel is content with diplomatic isolation and marginalisation. From its infancy, Israel pursued the periphery doctrine devised by its first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to cement strategic alliances with non-Arab Muslim countries and divide the opposition. Turkey and pre-revolutionary Iran were the two key Muslim states which recognised Israel from the 1950s itself. In the 1960s, Arab Morocco developed close clandestine ties with Israel.

Israels biggest diplomatic breakthrough happened when Egypt, once a mortal enemy and leader of the anti-Israel Arab coalition, recognised it in 1978. In 1994, another long-time Arab opponent Jordan signed its separate peace treaty with Israel. The weakening of the pan-Arab front against Israel is now complete with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other conservative Sunni monarchies secretly entering into strategic coordination with Israel to counter Shia Iran.

The recent comment of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that both the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to their own land shows how far Israel has come from being the Zionist colonialist implant that the Arabs would never tolerate in their midst. Economic and security cooperation with rising powers like China and India has also given Israel wider leverage to push back against civil society campaigns to boycott and shame it.

Still, there is a paradox in Israels contemporary position of supreme strength. No matter how secure it is militarily and geopolitically in an objective sense, it feels subjectively ever more insecure. When the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, vows that Israel will cease to exist in 25 years, Israeli ears perk up and the Israeli security elites go on the offensive to beat back an Iran that they believe is out to annihilate their nation with nuclear weapons. The likelihood of direct war with Iran is all-pervasive in contemporary Israeli military planning and imagination.

Thus, the hardline policies and foreign interventions which define Israels fraught life never end. Even at the age of 70, Israel has not settled down and does not consider peace in its neighbourhood to be a realistic proposition. The primal angst about being liquidated as a nation if it lets up and relaxes is so ingrained by historical legacy that Israel cannot become a normal state. The survival struggle goes on.The worlds most recognisable scientist died in March aged 76 after a lifetime spent probing the origins of the universe.

Members of the public have been invited to apply for tickets to attend a celebration of Hawkings life at a memorial service in Westminster Abbey on June 15.

Stephen Hawkings family have invited time travellers to his memorial service, seeking to tackle one of the curiosities that eluded the British physicist during his extraordinary life.

The worlds most recognisable scientist died in March aged 76 after a lifetime spent probing the origins of the universe, the mysteries of black holes and the nature of time itself.

Members of the public have been invited to apply for tickets to attend a celebration of Hawkings life at a memorial service in Westminster Abbey on June 15 where his ashes will be interred alongside the graves of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

Those wishing to apply have to fill in a form and state their date of birth, which can be any day up to the end of 2038.

The option to have a date of birth in the future was spotted by London blogger ianvisits who wrote on his site: Professor Hawking once threw a party for time travellers, to see if any would turn up if he posted the invite after the party.

None did, but it seems perfect that the memorial website allows people born in the future to attend the service. Look out for time travellers at the Abbey.

Sarah Bridle, a professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, told BBC Radio that Hawking, who was confined to a wheelchair for most of his life, had remained curious about the potential for time travel, even after his party in 2009.

He was curious and he had a great sense of humour, she said. He said he combined his two favourite things, experiments and champagne to put on this party.Top US officials have meanwhile insisted they could still push forward the troubled peace process despite outrage across the Arab world.

In a five-minute video entitled 'Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims,' the Egyptian doctor who took charge of the global terror group after its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 referred to the Palestinian Authority as the 'sellers of Palestine' while urging followers to take up arms. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri on Sunday said Americas decision to shift its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem was evidence that negotiations and appeasement have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.

In a five-minute video entitled Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims, the Egyptian doctor who took charge of the global terror group after its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 referred to the Palestinian Authority as the sellers of Palestine while urging followers to take up arms.

US President Donald Trump was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade, where standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad, Zawahiri said, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

He added that Bin Laden had declared the US the first enemy of the Muslims, and swore that it will not dream of security until it is lived in reality in Palestine, and until all the armies of disbelief leave the land of Muhammad.

He argued that Islamic countries had failed to act in Muslims interests by entering into the United Nations, which recognizes Israel, and submitting to Security Council and General Assembly resolutions instead of sharia (Islamic law).

Israelis were basking in national pride and pro-American fervor Sunday as tens of thousands marched in Jerusalem, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move from Tel Aviv to the disputed city.

Palestinians readied for their own protests on Monday over the embassys inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israels founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Top US officials have meanwhile insisted they could still push forward the troubled peace process despite outrage across the Arab world.

Asked in an interview with Fox News Sunday about whether there was any life left in the peace process, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by saying the peace process is most decidedly not dead.

Were hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well, said Pompeo whose first two weeks in office have been largely consumed with arranging a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.It also criticizes the Palestinian Authority for selling out Palestine. Tensions rise in Jerusalem: 1,620 Jews yesterday visited the Esplanade of the Mosques, a record since 1967. Clashes between the Islamic WAFQ and the Israeli police after protesting Palestinian is slapped in the face.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is calling on Muslims to arm themselves against the US, just hours after the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

In a five-minute video released last night, entitled "Tel Aviv is also Muslim land", he lashed out against US President Donald Trump and states that "detente does not work", "resistance through jihad" is needed " .

In the recording, the Egyptian doctor, successor to Osama Bin Landen after his death in 2011, criticizes the Palestinian Authority, accusing its officials of having sold out Palestine". He also lashes out against the Islamic countries that have entered the United Nations  an organization guilty of recognizing Israel and not following sharia.

Meanwhile, there are growing concerns and tensions for today's inauguration ceremony, which also corresponds to the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state and the Palestinian "nakba" (catastrophe).

Yesterday, while tens of thousands of Israelis celebrated the Jerusalem Day in the streets of the Holy City (anniversary of the city's occupation in 1967), there were clashes on the Esplanade of the Mosques. With a record number since 1967, 1,620 Jews have poured into the area that for them is the "Temple Mount", and that Jewish extremists claim as their own, planning a demolition of mosques.

The Islamic authority responsible for the Islamic cult site, the WAQF clashed with Israeli police after they slapped down a young Palestinian who was shouting at Jewish activists who tried to pray, violating the Status Quo which regulates the sacred places and forbids Jews from praying on the Esplanade.by Vladimir Rozanskij

In an interview with Levyj Bereg, the prelate expressed his support for the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Most Ukrainian bishops and faithful also appear to back autocephaly. The prelate is critical of the Moscow Patriarchates subordination to Putin: "they are probably already discussing his possible coronation as czar of all the Russias".

(AsiaNews)  Support for the complete separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Moscow is not limited to politicians seeking a religious reason for the conflict with the countrys big neighbour. Some bishops associated with the Russian patriarchate also seem favourable to the Tomos of autocephaly by Constantinople, this according to Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vishnevoe.

Metropolitan Alexander, 40, has held his diocese for 10 years, and is the vicar of the metropolis of Kyiv led by Onufriy (Berezovsky), head of the Ukrainian Church loyal to Moscow. For some years he was also a member of the Permanent Council of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church (Mezhsobornoe Prisutstvie) and represents the young generation of Orthodox bishops in Ukraine.

On 10 May, in an interview with the magazine Levyj Bereg, he said in no uncertain terms that "regardless of the final decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I want to openly support the idea of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church".

When asked about differences with Onufriy, who is ostensibly against independence, Alexander noted that "my opinion is in fact not against that of the Ukrainian Church in general, nor that of its leadership, to the extent that no official position as been expressed on the matter.

He reiterated that he is not "against" anyone, but in favour of the reunification of the different parts and souls of the countrys Orthodox community so as to go beyond the "schism" that has existed since the 1990s. In doing so, the Ukrainian Church could re-establish its full status as a local Church, "sister in equal rights" within the family of Orthodox Churches in the world.

Whilst criticising the interference of Ukraines president and parliament, who are dealing with the issue in a "non-canonical" manner, for him the real question is what Ukrainian Orthodox want. Autocephaly has been in fact the common orientation since 1991, right after the end of Soviet oppression and before the break by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko), the self-appointed "patriarch" of the Autonomous Church of Kyiv.

At that time, all Ukrainian bishops (including Onufriy, then metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna) turned to Moscow, and the then new patriarch Alexy II, to demand exactly autocephaly, a request that was repeated at the synod of Kharkiv in 1992. It was Moscows refusal that led to the decision by Filarets and some bishops to break away. According to Alexander, "we have never talked about going beyond this request."

The statement by the young metropolitan seems to be an unofficial way of expressing the will of the bishops without committing Onufriy himself, whilst at the same time challenging the Moscow synod. For Alexander, the opinions expressed are "logical and constructive. The aim is not to provoke more schism, nor confuse or incite people". The responsibility for excesses and false interpretations lies with those individuals who support them.

Whilst waiting for Constantinople to rule on the matter, Alexander's proposal calls for a Synod of all the bishops of the Ukrainian Church, under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Onufriy, to hear the opinions of its members, and determine whether they coincide with what most of the clergy and faithful want, namely autocephaly.

To settle the matter, non-conflictual canonical solutions could be put on the table, bringing in "schismatic" Orthodox. This would also do justice to the initiatives of President Poroshenko, who "as head of state, must guarantee equal rights to all believers", overcoming conflicts and mutual accusations. Solving ecclesiastical divisions, says Drabinko, "is also a problem of national security".

With respect to the Moscow Patriarchate, Alexander points to its total dependence on President Putin, noting that "they are probably already discussing his possible coronation as czar of all the Russias". However, the ideology that supports him, that of the Russian world" subordinate to Moscow even outside the borders of Russia, is not acceptable to Ukrainians. Conversely, we could talk about a spiritual gathering of all Eastern Slavic Orthodox, children of the baptism of Kyiv in 988, without any political or imperial demands from "big brother" nor mutual acts of aggression.by Kamran Chaudhry

Mgr Shaw speaks out on World Day of Social Communications. "[R]rumors and sensational opinion pieces are the cause of conflicts, he said. For Muslim journalist, There is an ongoing war between news channels for ratings and breaking news.

Lahore (AsiaNews)  Yesterday was the 52nd World Day of Social Communications. For the occasion, a Symposium on Fake News and Journalism for Peace was held on Saturday at the Rabita Manzil, the office of the Social Communications Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Pakistan.

Mgr Sebastian Francis Shaw, archbishop of Lahore, took part in the event with several Muslim clerics and journalists. In his address, he said that peace journalism is a great need of our society.

Following Pope Francis, who chose The truth will set you free (Jn 8:32). Fake news and journalism for peace as the theme for this years event, the prelate said, We only need stories that are good for the community. Reports based on rumors and sensational opinion pieces are the cause of conflicts in our country. People should avoid reacting to [online] posts insulting any person or religion.

In view of this, the archbishop called on media workers to become part of the "holy mission and reject war journalism".

Hyacinth Peter, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of Major Religious Superiors Leadership Conference, also urged media to pay attention to victims. Sadly, Instead of helping the victims, cameramen are more interested in getting comments, he said.

What is more, Live coverage of terror incidents increases fear and terror in society. Many weekly and monthly publications generate revenue by hiring reporters whose only job is to blackmail people, he added.

The conference provide a venue to present to the public a short film about the February 2017 kamikaze attack in Lahore against a protest by pharmacists. Fr Qaiser Feroz, director of the Rabita Manzil, read the Pope's message on the Day translated into Urdu.

Syed Farzand Ali Shah, of Daily Islam, agrees with the pope, except for one point. Journalism is not a mission in present day Pakistan. There is an ongoing war between news channels for ratings and breaking news. Instead of educating the masses, the focus is more on business, he lamented.

In one instance, The Pakistan army started operations against the Taliban in 2009 after footage showed a 17-year-old girl being flogged by Islamic militants in the northwestern region of Swat. Later we learnt that it was a fake clip made by an NGO. We demand strict action against such groups and organisations.The widow of Liu Xiaobo has been held under house arrest since 2010, without any formal charges. Concerns about her physical and psychological health. Authorities promise her that she can emigrate, but always postpone the date and refuse to issue passport. "She is being teased by the authorities'".

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Chinese authorities have blocked five European diplomats who wanted to visit Liu Xia, widow of the late dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, one of the authors of Charter 08, a manifesto for human rights and democracy in China.

Liu Xia, 57, has been held under house arrest since 2010, since her husband was awarded the prize, although there is no formal charge against her.

Liu Xiaobo, sentenced to 11 years for "subversion against the state" because of some articles he wrote about democracy, was left to die in prison from liver cancer.

The European group tried to meet with Liu Xia last May 11, but they were stopped at the gate by the security guard. After checking their documents, he did not allow them to proceed.

The EU diplomats rushed to visit the woman following news about her deteriorating physical and psychological health.

Liao Yiwu, a dissident writer friend of the family, now in exile in Germany, published a telephone conversation with Liu Xia in which the woman says she wants to let herself die because of the refusal to allow her emigrate to Germany for treatment.

The European Union and the United States have already asked Xi Jinping several times to let the woman be freed and allowed to go abroad.

Ye Du, a writer from Guangdong, and family friend, says that Liu Xia is being "teased by the authorities". "First they told her she could leave the country after the 'two sessions' [the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Consultative Policy Conference, held in March]. Then, after the two sessions, they said she would leave towards the end of April. They are lying all the time She still does not even have a passport. "

It should be noted that in China you are not entitled to a passport. It is issued by the government at the request of the interested party and after they have listed data and their reasons for traveling abroad.The populist movement led by the radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr is in the lead. His supporters take to the streets of the capital in celebration. Party of outgoing premier al-Abadi, protagonist of the fight against ISIS comes third. Low turnout, with a figure of 44.5%. There were no serious incidents.

Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Anti-system "populist" movements and mass abstention far superior to the past (and predictions) have emerged as the winners in elections held last May 12 in Iraq. This is according to the first, partial assessment of the vote for the renewal of the 329 members of the Council of Representatives (the unicameral Parliament).

It was the first vote since the government victory against the jihadist Islamic State group (IS, ex Isis), which for over two years controlled almost half of the national territory. The first official figure is related to turnout, which stood at around 44.5%: a net decrease compared to the electoral consultations of the recent past.

The vote on 12 May took place in the majority of cases on a regular basis and no serious incidents or attacks were reported. Final results should be issued in the late evening today or early tomorrow. However, due to the complex system of allocations, it will take some time to know the names of the 329 deputies.

With the vast majority of ballots scrutinized, however, the success of the faction led by the radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr, rival [within the Shiite community] over the outgoing premier Haidar al-Abadi, appears to be increasingly clear.

His supporters have been celebrating in the streets of the Sadr City district of Baghdad, where up to three million people live. The radical Shiite leader had taken a leading role in the aftermath of the fall of former Raiz Saddam Hussein. His rise was however strongly opposed at the time by the Ayatollah al-Sistani, the most important religious figure in the country. (DS)Palestinians began protesting this morning at 11 am in the West Bank and Gaza. Police respond harshly with tear gas and stun grenades, and bullets in Gaza. For Israels Peace Now, the leadership celebrates the death of the two-state solution. The Americans "side with the Israelis, against the will of the peoples [of the world], above all the Palestinian people," says Palestinian activist Adel Misk.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  At 4.30 pm, Ivanka Trump unveiled the plaque of the new US Embassy in Jerusalems Arnona neighbourhood. At the same time, the death toll from protests in the Gaza Strip rose to 41, 37 in three hours.

Jared Kushner, adviser and son-in-law of President Trump, stressed the importance of Jerusalem as the centre and sacred place for Jews. He criticised the protests taking place outside the embassy and those over the past month and a half in the Gaza Strip. For him, the latter are part of problem, not the solution.

In a rhetorical vein, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "we have no better friends in the world, you stand for Israel and for Jerusalem. [. . .] Mr Trump, by recognising history, you made history." As this was said, those present at the ceremony rose and applauded.

Meanwhile, since 11 am, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been demonstrating against the new embassy along the borders between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as the streets of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem itself.

The police reaction was harsh, with stun grenades and tear gas. In Gaza, Israel is reported to have bombed some Hamas outposts. Along the border, it has used live ammunitions, killing scores of Palestinians. With more than 1,600 wounded. Some of the victims are underage, including a 12-year-old.

In Israel itself, civil society groups have joined the protests. For Peace Now, the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem only reinforces the extreme positions on both sides, weakening the peace process.

"Our voice is critical especially when the leadership is celebrating the killing of the two states solution, when people are so depressed and dont believe in the chances for peace we must raise our voice," said Hagit Ofran, head of Peace Nows Settlement Watch team.

Echoing Ofrans remarks, Palestinian peace activist Adel Misk says that "It is not acceptable for Israel and the United States to do what they want".

With most the international community speaking out against Trump's decision, he noted that only 56 countries agreed to participate in the inauguration ceremony.

Still, "I am surprised that some countries like Romania, who were once occupied, are taking part in such a ceremony."

What is more, the choice of the date "seems to have been done on purpose, he explained. For the ceremony, they picked the day of the anniversary of the Nakba, when we [Palestinians] demand the right of return [of refugees].

For the activist, the United States has abandoned its role as mediators. "They side with the Israelis, against the will of the peoples [of the world], above all the Palestinian people".Journalists from South Korea, United States, China, Russia and the United Kingdom will be invited to the event. The White House recognises North Koreas security needs and is open to allowing US private companies in the country. More diplomatic meetings are underway. A North Korean delegation arrived in China. This week, another high-level inter-Korean meeting will be held.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  North Korea will dismantle the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site between 23 and 25 May.

The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the announcement amid ongoing high-level diplomatic meetings ahead of the summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump on 12 June.

North Korea will invite journalists from South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and the United Kingdom to witness the dismantlement. Washington and Seoul have welcomed the announcement.

Various sources have reported that the White House asked North Korea to move parts of materials used in building nuclear weapons out of the country.

At the same time, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States will need to "provide security assurances" to North Korea.

Pompeo also said that US private-sector companies could help rebuild North Korea's energy grid and develop the country's infrastructure. He described the possibility of American agriculture being used to "support North Korea so they can eat meat and have healthy lives."

This comes after UN World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley raised the alarm on 11 May, following a four-day visit, about the countrys food situation. The WFP has reported that about 40 per cent of North Koreas population is undernourished.

Meanwhile, diplomatic activities around the inter-Korean peace talks continue. Today, a delegation of North Korean officials arrived in China to boost cooperation between the two countries, ahead of the Kim-Trump summit.

On 12 June, Kim and Trump will meet in Singapore. The summit site has not yet been officially announced. North Koreas diplomatic mission in the South-East Asian city-state did not respond to the pressing questions from journalists.

For its part, South Korea announced that another high-level inter-Korean meeting will be held this week, following decisions taken in the Panmunjom Declaration.by Mathias Hariyadi

Ahmad Faiz Zainuddin talks about his school friend, Dita Oeprianto, the man who led his family to carry out multiple bombings. Together with his family, he organised suicide attacks against three Christian churches. Before the attacks, the family prayed together with the local Islamic community. "Bullets can kill terrorists, but only a good education can erase their radical thoughts, Zainuddin writes. To my beloved Christian brothers & sisters, he offers his condolences.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - "I am sad and worried, but what happened yesterday does not surprise me. It is the harvest of the first seeds of extremism, planted decades ago," writes Ahmad Faiz Zainuddin, a high school friend of Dita Oeprianto, the head of the family responsible for the suicide attacks that struck three Christian churches in Surabaya, the capital of the province of East Java, yesterday morning.

Dita Oepriantos radicalisation began at Sman 5, the state school in Surabaya where he graduated in 1991, four years before Zainuddin. "After 25 years, what I feared in the school days has happened, the latter wrote in a message posted online.

Like any good young Muslim, Zainuddin used to meet with his peers for regular prayer meetings. However, in one seminar, he was surprised and shocked by some "brainwashing practices" exercised by older students on younger students. These were encouraged to set up a movement to establish the Islamic State of Indonesia.

"We were told a lot of money was needed to promote this idea and that stealing was morally right only for one cause: the Islamic State of Indonesia, Zainuddin writes. We were told to steal our parents' money and give them the funds. My mentor even said that he was a holy warrior, not a student."

At that time, the monthly Sabilli was very popular among students. In order to stir them, it wrote about how the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina were being massacred by the Christian Serbs. Zainuddin adds that "some of them left for the Balkans to become guerrillas."

However, because of the various radical Islamic teachings he read and studied, one of the kids worried him in a particular way. "He was my senior, the now late Dita. In the following years, he became the head of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a terrorist group linked to the Islamic state in Surabaya."

"It does not surprise me what Dita did what he did: blow himself up along with his family for the jihad. He thought this was the best way to implement a great jihad. This kind of radicalism developed very well in his mind and heart 30 years ago," Zainuddin explains.

Speaking about Dita also reminded him of another student, who refused to attend the flag-raising ceremony at school. "He thought that greeting the Indonesian flag during the ceremony was illegal and that even singing the national anthem was wrong. The government was for him 'thoghut', idolatrous, and a tyrant".

The school did not take such thoughts seriously because at the time there were no bomb attacks. However, Zainuddin goes on to write that "These extremist thoughts made headway in the minds and hearts of some students, who were not touched by the words and advice of educators".

What is more, radicalisation was not happening only in his high school, but also in "different schools of Surabaya".

Yesterday's multiple attacks makes Zainuddin "certain that extremism and radicalism, along with terrorist actions, are clear and looming".

"These acts of violence happened in our neighbourhood and they are real. What saddens me is the fact that the family bid farewell and prayed with other Muslims at a local mosque. They embraced them, before going on their way to blow themselves up at the predetermined place."

"Bullets can kill terrorists, but only a good education can erase their radical thoughts, Zainuddin concludes. Be safe. Be optimistic. Spread love and compassion.

And for my beloved Christian brothers & sisters. My deep condolence for all of you. From the bottom of my heart, I am really sorry.Australian listed world first Israeli irrigation group shines





Now in its 20th year, Agri-Tech Israel 2018 focused on agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions, providing the ideal opportunity for many companies to unveil innovative products.

One exhibiter, Roots Sustainability (Roots) showcased a world-first irrigation solution that works as Irrigation Condensation (IBC) offgrid technology.

Designed to enable the production of food crops in remote semi-arid areas with no access to grid electricity or irrigated water, Roots has successfully demonstrated its ability to sustain the full growth cycle of high protein crops using irrigation sourced only from humidity in the air and will show it to industry for the first time.

Roots showcased for the first time the hydroponic nutrient-temperature controlled greenhouse, developed in conjunction with TAP. This modular greenhouse utilises Roots patented RZTO technology and allows farmers to assemble the product themselves. Using hydroponic nutrient film techniques (NFT) where water containing dissolved nutrients is used for crop growth and re-circulated past bare plant roots, it delivers higher yields, significantly lower operating costs, more efficient production facilities and increased profitability to farmers.

Dr. Sharon Devir, Roots CEO and co-founder said, Roots is excited to participate in one of the worlds most prominent agricultural conferences. The world needs this new type of thinking to address environmental challenges brought on by ecosystem degradation and pollution, reduced access to water, more severe weather conditions and higher energy prices.

We signed distribution agreements in China with Dagan, conditional on $US19 million in sales on the basis of the agreement continuing for five years, and Australia with Adam Water Solutions Technology. And weve continued our proof of concept research on young apricot trees in Australia, mature avocado trees in Israel, basil in both countries, as well as a host of other high-value crops in Spain, she said.

Related articles

The state of Australian farming today

Hydroponics and organics expected blossom in a thriving

Rising food demand to drive Australian agricultural exportsFarmers Union launches new breakfast Iced Coffee Edge

Posted by Jack Cain on 14th May 2018





Iconic South Australian brand Farmers Union Iced Coffee has released its first true innovation in six years, the all-new Farmers Union Iced Coffee Edge liquid breakfast.

A quick brekkie to go thats made with real coffee, protein and fibre, the new product from Farmers Union Iced Coffee is available from Friday May 11.

The new option is available in both Original and Mocha flavours throughout convenience, supermarkets and independents across SA, VIC and NT.

Darryn Wallace, Marketing & Innovation Director at Lion Dairy & Drinks, said this long-awaited launch was motivated by the brands die-hard fans.

We know that one in three people are regularly tucking into brekkie on the go, but they still want their morning coffee kick, he said.

Still proudly manufactured in Salisbury, South Australia, Farmers Union Iced Coffee Edge will be hard to miss with a huge campaign launching across out of home, digital, radio, PR and sampling channels across South Australia to coincide with the launch.By Pete Minard, Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of the Inland, La Trobe University., La Trobe University

winam/flickr , CC BY-NC-ND

Marsupial lions lived on the Australian continent from about 24 million years ago up until the end of the Pleistocene era, about 30,000 years ago.

Of course they werent really lions, but an extinct species of marsupial with lengthened premolar teeth.

Ive recently published a colonial history of the scientific identification and naming of the species Thylacoleo carnifex. It reveals the power dynamics that existed within colonial science, and the important and overlooked roles played by Aboriginal knowledge and testimony.





Read more:

A new species of marsupial lion tells us about Australia's past





Unknown beast of prey

Colonial discussion of extinct predators began when New South Wales pastoralist George Rankin discovered the first herbivorous Australian megafauna fossils at the Wellington Caves in 1830. He invited local polymath and Presbyterian minister John Dunmore Lang to inspect his fossils.

Lang saw the Wellington site as akin to the UKs Kirkdale fossil caves, discovered by William Buckland in 1821. The Kirkdale caves contained fossilised hyenas and their prey. Comparing the two sites led him to speculate that the Wellington fossils were dragged into the caves by some, as yet unknown, beast of prey.

According to Lang, in the absence of local palaeontological experts, the best way to determine whether a fossil was from an extinct or still living animal was to consult local Indigenous people.





Read more:

The Dreamtime, science and narratives of Indigenous Australia





In 1842, the Wellington finds and local Aboriginal knowledge led the Queensland squatter Frederick Isaacs to search for fossil sites in his recently acquired Darling Downs sheep station. The search was sandwiched between his farming and involvement with frontier conflict.

Scientific imperialism

Once he found fossils, Isaacs established contact with the British comparative anatomist Richard Owen. During and after his life Owen gained a reputation as a controlling agent of scientific imperialism that reached out its tentacles across the globe, robbing colonists of their scientific dues.

Unaware of or uncaring about Owens dubious character, Isaacs wrote to him detailing how the fossils were usually found in washed-out dry creek beds and waterholes. He also reported discussions with local Aboriginal people (the two main groups in the area were the Giabal and Jarowair) about a tradition relative to a very large animal having at one time existed in the large creeks and rivers and how local Aboriginal people, when shown large fossil bones, attributed them to this creature.

In 1843 the pastoralist William Adeney found fragments of an animal skull at lake Colongulac in Victorias Western district. This skull was one of two specimens later used by Owen to describe Thylacoleo carnifex.

When describing the circumstances of his find to Owen, Adeney wrote how the blacks called the fossils old mens bones and some said they were the remains of the bunyip.

This speculation was part of an emerging practice of crediting Aboriginal testimony and bunyip mythology when discussing extinct predators.





Read more:

Friday essay: when did Australias human history begin?





Giant bunyip knee

In 1845, Victorian colonists discovered the knee joint of some gigantic animal at Lake Colongulac (where Adeney found the Thylacoleo cranium) and showed it to a man described by them as an intelligent black who identified it as belonging to a bunyip.

Colonists repeated this procedure several times, and a picture emerged of a still living amphibious predatory creature that looked like a cross between an alligator and a bird. It was described as twelve to fifteen feet tall, furnished with long claws and usually killing its prey by hugging it to death.

One visiting Boonwurrung man, Mumbowran, even claimed that scars on his back were from a bunyip attack. There were serious discussions within the emerging Australian scientific press about whether bunyips still existed, were extinct predators, or were completely mythological.

Owen was emboldened by these debates, as well as his inspection of both Wellington Caves fossils sent to him by the explorer Thomas Mitchell and Adeneys fossil cranium.





Read more:

New DNA study confirms ancient Aborigines were the First Australians





One man took the credit

In 1845, Owen published an article arguing that the presence of large extinct herbivores mean that some destructive species of carnivore must have existed. This prediction inspired the search for more fossil megafauna and further evidence of extinct marsupial predators.

In 1853 a fossil jaw fragment was discovered in the Darling Downs. Samuel Stutchbury, the NSW Mineralogical Surveyor, found the fossil. He speculated that it was from a marsupial predator and sent a cast to Owen.





Read more:

How a German migrant planted citizen science in Australia  and why it worked





Four years after receiving the cast Owen combined Adeney and Stuchburys fragments and created Thyalcoleo carnifex and described it as one of the fellest and most destructive of predatory beasts.

Owens classification validated his earlier prediction and helped him defend his methods from attack in both the United Kingdom and the Australian colonies. He downplayed the role of colonial contributors to his discovery and largely ignored the role of Aboriginal testimony and knowledge in creating the marsupial lion.

Pete Minard 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.

Originally published in The Conversation.I am Azeem, I came on tourist visa for 3 months. My agent asked me to apply asylum seeker visa.I applied for the same.I am on Bridging visa A.



visa name is WA and sub class is 010.



I need to know, as I applied for protection /Asylum seeker visa, if I study cookery course and do JRP(Job ready program) and accumulate 60 points can I apply for PR?



My question is, will I get Permanent Residence on basis of skill assessment criteria, even though I applied refugee visa?Gyda Sumadi and Cassiano Dos Santos honored as two of this years leading undergraduate business students nationwide

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Poets & Quants, a leading business education news outlet, has named Babson College seniors Gyda Sumadi and Cassiano Dos Santos to its list of the Best & Brightest Business Majors from the Class of 2018.

Selected among graduating seniors from the top 50 business schools in the United States, Dos Santos and Sumadi are two finance students turned professionals who are using their education in Entrepreneurial Thought & Action to create impact above and beyond their line of work.

From Poets & Quants: A generation ago, if you asked business majors what they wanted, they would have answered with the usual cliches: money, status, and freedom.  Fast forward to the Class of 2018 and such incentives have increasingly lost their luster. Instead, this generation is looking to business as a means to test their imaginations and foster social change.

Gyda Sumadi

After graduating this May, Gyda Sumadi will work at Dunkin Brands Inc. as a financial management analyst in a hybrid role focused on development, operations, and strategy.

While at Babson, Sumadi served as a: Glavin Global Fellow, traveling to Morocco to enhance her critical thinking on global and multicultural issues; a MoneyThink mentor, working in lower-income, after-school programs to foster passion for personal finance and help provide an equitable future for students; a Peer Career Ambassador, connecting other students with career-related resources and advising; a Diversity Scholar, championing multicultural and diverse learning opportunities for students on campus; and co-president of the Muslim Student Association, a role in which she provided a safe and open environment for Babson community members to learn about Islam, regardless of race, religion, or culture.

[At Babson], I have enjoyed all of the hands-on experience and the opportunity to work with diverse teams, said Sumadi. Babson funds freshmen to start their own business through the Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course, and offers students the chance to solve current business problems through classes such as Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE). Engaging in these two opportunities has put me steps ahead in the competitive business world.

Gyda Sumadi exhibits intercultural abilities and real-world skills well beyond those of a typical college student, said Lee Goldstein, associate director of counseling at Babsons Hoffman Family Undergraduate Center for Career Development. She has been an exemplary student and a valued employee at Babson College since arriving on campus her first year.

Read Gyda Sumadis full profile on Poets & Quants 

Cassiano Dos Santos

Cassiano Dos Santos will be working at Wellington Management as an investment research associate following graduation.

Babson chose Dos Santos to be a Global Scholar, joining a small, highly talented group of international students who help bring new perspectives and ideas to the Babson College community. During his four years, he also has served as a: member of Alpha Epsilon Pi; co-president of Babsons Chapter for the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA); lead tutor for Financial Accounting at the Learning Center; student intern at the Office of Human Resources; student assistant at the Stephen D. Cutler Center for Investments and Finance; and co-president of the Volleyball Club. He also interned for a variety of organizations worldwide, including Falconi Consultants in Sao Paulo, Bright Horizons in London, and Wellington Management in Boston.

I am most proud of my leading role in the Association of Latino Professionals for America, said Dos Santos. As a result of our efforts, many Babson students have been able to take advantage of the associations programming to find internships targeted at minorities. Many of these students are on track to become full-time employees at these companies.

Even more impressive to me than his incredible list of contributions and achievements is that Cassiano is one of the most authentically kind and generous students I have known, said Jamie Kendrioski, director of International Services and Multicultural Education at Babson. There is no ask or task too small for him if the end goal is supporting a fellow student or initiative of the College.

Read Cassiano Dos Santoss full profile on Poets & Quants 

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds. The top-rankedcollege for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.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.Why California Leaves Its Homeless Out in the Sun - WSJ

An unintended consequence of criminal justice reform measures that reduce penalties, such as Oklahoma's SQ 780: More crime.

"Another apparent culprit is Proposition 47, a 2014 ballot initiative that reduced jail sentences for nonviolent crimes, including shoplifting, theft of less than $950, and drug use. Police officers have reported that they no longer arrest thieves and drug users, since offenders now often get released in short order.

"People who once would have been locked up, including those with drug addictions and mental-health problems, have been left to the streets. Many steal to feed their habits. Since Proposition 47 passed, property crime has soared in many California cities even while falling nationwide. Between 2014 and 2017, larceny increased by 9% in Anaheim, 22% in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, and 44% in San Francisco.

"The Orange County government reported clearing 13,950 needles, 404 tons of trash and 5,279 pounds of hazardous waste from the Anaheim encampment. Some 700 riverbed squatters were given 30-day motel vouchers and referred to public services. When the vouchers expired at the end of March, some were able to find beds at crowded makeshift shelters, such as tents in parking lots. Others dispersed to the streets."WASHINGTON (AP)  Renewed tensions between the U.S. and Cuba aren't stopping the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from shining a spotlight on the island's rich cultural heritage during what's being billed as the largest Cuban arts festival ever held in the United States.

"Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World," which runs through May 20, showcases the work of more than 400 Cuban and Cuban-American artists across more than 50 events. The program includes the salsa band Los Van Van and other musicians, visual artists, movies, theater companies and ballerina Alicia Alonso and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

"Cuba is a cultural powerhouse, and to present such a diverse slate of Cuban and Cuban-American artists all in a two-week span is unprecedented," said Deborah F. Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center.

The festival is not without controversy.

It has come under fire from Cuban-American lawmakers, including GOP Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, as well as Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J. They wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in April urging him to consider the advisability of allowing "so many pro-Castro regime Cuban nationals" to enter the United States.

Last year, the United States withdrew more than half of its diplomats from Cuba and halted visa processing, citing mysterious "health attacks" in Havana that have harmed at least 24 Americans. Full diplomatic ties between the U.S. and the communist nation had been restored in 2015, under the Obama administration.

Curator Alicia Adams, vice president of International Programming and Dance at the Kennedy Center, pushed back at the notion that the festival has ideological overtones.

"It is important for people in this country to be exposed to, in the aggregate, the extraordinary talent that exists in Cuba," she told The Associated Press. "The Kennedy Center has a golden rule, and that is that we maintain the ultimate curatorial authority. Neither the Cuban government nor the American government dictated to us who the artists should be."

Cuban fashion designer Celia Ledon, 32, who is showing 10 pieces in the festival, said the festival is not political, but rather "an eclectic representation of what the Cuban culture is about."

Artist Roberto Diago, who lives in Havana, also is participating in the festival with two installations made of recycled materials. He said his installations convey how "people overcome (obstacles) and go beyond misery to build a reality as worthy as possible."

"Unfortunately, the political situation is tense," he said. "Politics always go their own way ... but culture and its international language create brotherhood. I think that is positive."

___

Online:

Festival: https://cms.kennedy-center.org/festivals/cuba

___

Reach Luis Alonso Lugo at http://www.twitter.com/luisalonsolugo

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Mothers Day has been with us since 1914! But I had no idea the holiday was so controversial in its history. It actually had roots as a Christian festival known as Mothering Sunday. It fell on the 4th Sunday in lent and was a special service in which the church faithful would return to their mother church.

Eventually the day became secularized and its American founder, Ann Jarvis, denounced it later because of how commercialized it became. She spent part of her life trying to get it removed from the calendar. Here is why.

Ann was from West Virginia and was dedicated to helping women know how to properly care for their children. She began Mothers Day Work Clubs as a way to unify women after the Civil War. Later, her efforts went to creating Mothers Day Friendship Day a day to help reconcile Union and Confederate soldiers.

When Ann Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter (also Ann Jarvis) wanted to honor her mom and all the sacrifices she made for her children so organized the first Mothers Day in a church in West Virginia. In addition, she helped organize an event that thousands of people attended at a retail store in Philadelphia.

But you may be surprised to learn that the daughter, Ann Jarvis, remained single and childless her entire life. Still, she fought to get Mothers Day as a national holiday to honor women. She started the Mothers Day International Association to help promote the day each year. Success came when President Woodrow Wilson signed a document to declare Mothers Day the second Sunday of May in 1914.

Anns original idea was to wear a white carnation as a badge to signify the honor of mom while visiting her and going to church. When the day became official, florists liked the idea and added flowers to the celebration. But Ann eventually became disgusted with how commercialized the holiday became and tried to get people to stop buying flowers and cards.

Her outrage translated into a campaign against the day, trying to get the name, Mothers Day removed from the American calendar, spending most of her money on law suits. At the time of her death, she denounced the holiday. Yet, here we areall these years later! Moms will get phone calls, cards, candles and yes, flowers. And even when I was growing up, churches still handed out white and red carnations depending on whether your mom was alive or deceased.

Obviously, Ann lost her battle to denounce the day. Sorry, Ann, I like the tradition and am grateful for a day to honor moms. I will spend the day at church and enjoy whatever flowers come my way!For Immediate Release, May 14, 2018 Contact: Marc Fink, (218) 464-0539, mfink@biologicaldiversity.org Endangered Species Protection Sought for Iconic Lake Sturgeon Giant Fish of Great Lakes, Mississippi River Has Suffered Staggering Declines WASHINGTON The Center for Biological Diversity today petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection for the lake sturgeon, an ancient fish species in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River drainage that has declined by roughly 99 percent over the past century or so. Lake sturgeon can live for more than 100 years and grow longer than 8 feet. Overfishing, dam construction and water pollution have driven many lake sturgeon populations toward the brink of extinction. These behemoth fish are a bellwether for the health of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, said Marc Fink, the Centers public lands legal director. The loss of our lake sturgeon has been much like the slaughter of the buffalo. We can barely imagine how abundant these great fish once were. To guarantee their long-term survival, we need to give real protection to them and their habitats. While populations have declined dramatically, the range of the lake sturgeon covers 23 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Todays petition requests a threatened listing under the Endangered Species Act for all lake sturgeon in the United States, or alternatively for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether there are distinct populations of lake sturgeon that warrant separate listing. Lake sturgeon in Minnesota, Lake Superior, the Missouri River, Ohio River, Arkansas-White River and lower Mississippi River are more endangered; sturgeon in Lake Michigan and the upper Mississippi River basin may qualify as threatened. Lake sturgeon in the central and eastern Great Lakes (Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River basin) are less imperiled. Although there are many restoration efforts currently aimed at bringing sturgeon back to rivers and tributaries where they once spawned, depleted sturgeon populations take many decades to recover, and the vast majority of spawning runs have been lost. In the late 1800s, before commercial fisheries decimated sturgeon runs, lake sturgeon were so abundant that more than 15 million inhabited the Great Lakes. They are now reduced to less than 1 percent of historic levels, with limited natural recovery of most remaining spawning populations. There are only six remaining lake sturgeon populations with more than 1,000 adult fish. Background

Lake sturgeon can live up to 100 years, grow more than 8 feet long and weigh up to 300 pounds. They have no scales but are covered by rows of bony scutes. Preferred habitats are large shallow lakes, rivers and near-shore areas, where sturgeon feed using their protruding mouths to suction up bottom-dwelling organisms such as crustaceans and insect larvae. Lake sturgeon have a low reproductive rate because they take 15 to 25 years to reach spawning age, and adults do not spawn every year. Most states within the range of the lake sturgeon provide state protection as endangered, threatened, or species of concern, prohibiting or limiting their harvest. Many states and tribal organizations are restoring lake sturgeon spawning populations through artificial propagation, reintroducing lake sturgeon to former habitats, removing some dams, and habitat enhancement projects. However, most lake sturgeon populations have not recovered from the legacy of overfishing, and many still have access to the majority of former spawning and rearing habitats blocked by dams. They continue to face a multitude of threats, including proposed construction of additional dams and hydroelectric facilities, excessive water diversions, water pollution, river dredging and channelization, and ecosystem disruption from invasive species and climate change.Media Advisory, May 14, 2018



Contact: Kristen Monsell, Center for Biological Diversity, (914) 806-3467, kmonsell@biologicaldiversity.org

Sharon Broberg, 350SB, (805) 455-2558, slbroberg@gmail.com Offshore Drilling Opponents Rally at Southern California Town Hall on Platform, Wells Deserted by Venoco GOLETA, Calif. Opponents of offshore oil drilling will hold a rally before todays town hall meeting on the status of Platform Holly and other offshore drilling infrastructure deserted by Venoco, LLC as it filed for bankruptcy protection. The California State Lands Commission meeting will be preceded by a rally by 350 Santa Barbara, and co-sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and Food and Water Watch. Platform Holly and the Elwood Onshore Processing Facility were idled following the 2015 failure of an onshore pipeline near Refugio State Beach. That massive oil spill fouled local beaches and killed hundreds of marine mammals and birds. The company responsible for the spill, Plains All American Pipeline, is currently seeking permits from Santa Barbara County and state agencies to rebuild the pipeline. The commission meeting will update community members about efforts to plug and abandon oil and gas wells at Platform Holly and Pier 421, which Venoco also owned, and begin the decommissioning process for these facilities. Commission staff will also provide an update on Venocos bankruptcy proceedings and the Ellwood Onshore Processing Facility. The California Legislature is now considering a $108 million expenditure to secure Platform Holly and another nearby offshore oil platform also abandoned by its owner, Rincon Island LLC, as it sought bankruptcy protection. What: Rally for a clean energy future before the California State Lands Commission meeting on Platform Holly, Piers 421, and Elwood Onshore Processing Facility Decommissioning Update. When: Monday, May 14. Rally at 5:30 p.m., town hall meeting 6-8 p.m. Where: Goleta City Hall, 130 Cremona Street #B, Goleta. Who: The rally is supported by 350 Santa Barbara, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch and concerned Santa Barbara County residents. Why:

"Today's Venoco hearing highlights how oil companies take the profits from our coast and public lands and leave us with the toxic mess, said Sharon Broberg of 350SB. When we taxpayers have to dig deep for money for cleanup, that means we have less to spend on things like parks, schools and healthcare. It just shows, it's time to move to renewable energy." Californians are sick of oil spills and irresponsible fossil fuel companies. We want the aging oil platforms and pipelines off our coast shut down for good, said Kristen Monsell, ocean program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Rebuilding the Plains All American pipeline so oil companies can suck even more oil out of our ocean would threaten wildlife and coastal communities for generations to come. Californians want clean energy and climate action, not more dirty and dangerous drilling.The future direction of purpose-driven communications in Africa and how purpose-driven communications can drive sustainable growth and sustainable development, was under the microscope at the recent Holmes Report In2 Innovation Summit in Johannesburg, in a panel discussion with Brian Tjugum, the UK-based managing director for Weber Shandwick's EMEA Social impact practice.

Brian Tjugum, managing director, Weber Shandwick EMEA Social Impact practice.

Purpose-driven strategy

Challenges ahead

Sometimes the leadership of a company, including the board members, dont want to take risks. They may have pet projects or the company may have a charitable foundation, but executive leadership need to be convinced to support purpose-driven branding.

Another obstacle is a concern about putting themselves out there too much, by making commitments that they cannot achieve. We advise that bold audacious goals are meant to inspire and challenge a company, but do not have to be met or exceeded like a monthly sales target.

There is a trend in CEO activism, so even cautious businesses realise that they need to take a stand on an issue. We are seeing a trend of people boycotting companies that do bad things, making purchase decisions on company values. They are also looking at the CEO  they want to see the CEO taking a stand.

Driven by cultural movements with greater citizen activism shaping social agendas; millennials and the youth are questioning societal norms, challenging the status quo. That wont stop, no matter who is in office, conservative or progressive, in South African and in other countries young people are demanding transparency, there are anti-corruption efforts I have a lot of faith in our young people.

Africas youth bulge can become a youth dividend, rather than a youth risk, if governments get it right and if business can support initiatives to engage the unemployed, Tjugum says. I am an optimist We saw this in China in the 70s and Asia, where they turned their youth bulge into the Asian tiger.

Tjugum told Bizcommunity.Africa in an interview following on his presentation, that brand purpose should be at the top of all brand and communications strategy.The context of the conversation took place in how fake news is leaving consumers uncertain about how they digest content, and with economic growth at a low, globally, how do private and public sectors ensure that their sustainability programmes are adding value to their organisations and broader communities in which they operate?He also spoke on the current evolution of the traditional drivers of purpose and the role of the communications function in shaping our world  in the context of Africa and the more Afro-optimist, Africa Rising, narrative currently influencing the global conversation on Africa.Tjugum, who has worked across Europe and the United States, as well as 15 developing countries, providing communications counsel in creating lasting social change around the world, said we have to talk about doing business for sustainability development and for business growth.Purpose-driven communications is the who and the what of the organisation. We are helping our clients to deliver a purpose statement that leads with those values that underscores their ethics and the how and why.Tjugum quotes eBay CEO, Devin Wenigs question to brands on fulfilling purpose: What hole would be left in the universe, what would be missed, if we were not doing what we are doing?That, reiterates Tjugum, forces us to put brand purpose at the top of all strategy, communications architecture and brand strategy.Putting it at the top and explaining the why. Why do we exist? Why also taps into an emotional reception in your audiences. We also need to be engaging our audiences more emotively  both stakeholders and consumers.The drivers of a purpose-based brand and communications strategy come from consumers, shareholders and employees.Nearly nine in 10 consumers believe purpose should be as important as profit. It is the same in South Africa. Consumers are likely to buy from brands that are caring for people and the planet and giving back to consumers.Then, nearly eight in 10 young employees under 30, are choosing a place to work where the values are in line with their own. It is an incredible statistic. Young people want to work towards a good cause and make a contribution to the environment, work for a cause, towards a social purpose.There is as much as a 30% increase in productivity in organisations where this happens, Tjugum states.From the investor side, companies need to deliver societal impact. Proof is in the fact that of all global assets being managed, a quarter of total wealth assets fall into socially responsible investing (SRI): $23 trillion in assets.That means that investors are increasingly looking for that shareholder return, which is essential, but not the only thing. Companies see the value their purpose is now to uplift people and improve their lives, not just their customers, but he lives of all people.Tjugum said companies were now also adopting the United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).That kind of focus really helps. We have moved beyond corporates just writing cheques. They are still contributing to worthy non-profits, but they need to look bigger. The SDGs are a wonderful benchmark and these SDGs differed from the millennial goals by bringing the private sector in, as that is where the money lies.There are obviously still challenges to adopting a purpose-driven brand approach, explains Tjugum:Communications is helping shape the world, he believes. We believe that purpose and purpose-shaped business strategies are there to shape and change the world. Through storytelling we are creating tangible impact as through storytelling we inspire and engage others.YPO is the premier leadership organisation for chief executives in the world. With over 25,000 members in over 130 countries across all industries and businesses, it is a global network that creates powerful connections to foster business and personal growth. Reserved for the highest performers, these chief executives must be leaders of businesses with over R150m in revenue and be individuals of high caliber.

When tasked with helping to increase the YPO membership on the African continent five-fold within the next three years, Duke devised their Lead As One campaign - an exclusive, targeted campaign that speaks to those visionary business leaders who will ultimately foster the YPO objectives in Africa.We believe that joining YPO is about harnessing the knowledge, influence and trust of the worlds most influential and innovative business leaders to inspire business, personal, family and community impact. Our goal is to connect successful, far-sighted business leaders to help facilitate good business across Africa, says Duke Executive Creative Director, Mike Beukes.In order to connect with this difficult-to-reach group of individuals, part of the campaign leverages the network of existing YPO members to share a unique and intriguing gift with prospective members. The gift drives them into a simple digital experience (designed and developed by Platinum Seed), which gives the prospect an opportunity to understand YPO Africas vision for Africa, as well as an indication as to what they stand to gain from membership to the organisation.The YPO vision is delivered through a video, which creates a unique perspective of the YPO future for Africa, all told visually through a world created through the YPO triangle logo. With animation and visual effects created by Motif VFX, the story talks to the potential in Africa and the opportunity for a prospective new member to be part of that visionary process.The campaign also includes a rigorously targeted LinkedIn campaign (developed in partnership with the platform itself) which blends content with grooming and targeted communications.YPO is such an influential organisation with such selective membership criteria that our campaign had to be very discerning in both its medium and delivery. We are talking to the very top business leaders on the continent  we had to find a way in which to engage that grabbed their attention and, most importantly, provided them with a story of potential they couldnt ignore, ends Beukes.Adds YPO Africa Regional Chair Craig Kiggen, The value of connection with peer leaders continues to drive YPOs diverse membership. At our core is one simple, extraordinary idea and mission: Better Leaders through Lifelong Learning and Idea Exchange. Dukes campaign demonstrates a thorough understanding of this powerful network and its potential throughout Africa. The initiative has already been well received amongst our members and we are confident that we are going to see impressive results.Rohan Reddy has been appointed as Head of Creative at FCB Connect with responsibility for curating the creative product of the group's affiliate agencies on the continent, particularly for clients and brands with a global footprint or a presence in markets across Africa.

Rohan Reddy

Highly respected as both a leader and a creative, Reddy has 25 years experience at agencies in several different African countries including The Hardy Boys, DDB, MetropolitanRepublic, Ogilvy Johannesburg and The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg, Roots255 in Tanzania and MetropolitanRepublic in Uganda and Rwanda.During this period, he worked on brands like MTN, Jockey, Carmel, Total, Bayer SA, Chalkham Hill Press, DStv South Africa, DStv Africa, SABMiller, Glaxosmithkline, Sun International Resorts & Casinos, Highveld Stereo 94.7, Nedbank, Emperor's Palace Casino, KIA Motors, Jack Daniels, Airbnb, Bidvest, Prudential Investment Managers and Heineken.As a freelancer, Reddy contributed to Vodacom, KIA, Windhoek Lager, VISA, Nedbank, FNB, MORE Safaris, and Dimension Data campaigns.Reddys list of industry achievements includes wins at The Loerie Awards Festival, The Eagles, Creative Circle and FNB SAMA Awards (South African Music Award), as well as entries in The Best of South African Advertising & Design 1994  2000.He was also invited by the South African Design Society to submit designs for the new South African Coat of Arms and for several years was the South African consultant to the Benetton COLORS magazine.Were very excited to have Rohan on our team, particularly given his vast experience in several African countries, said FCB Africa Executive Business Director, Cobus van Zyl.This includes having been responsible for overseeing MTNs creative in the 21 countries that the telecoms operator was doing business in outside of South Africa during the late 2000s as well as work on blue chip brands in the banking and alcoholic beverages markets on the continent. This augurs well for FCB Africas clients intent on growing their presence in Africa, said van Zyl.FCB Africa's digital agency, Hellocomputer, has partnered with Umuzi to establish a creative programmer learnership so it can address the chronic shortage of programmers and drive transformation.

 Andor Bujdoso via 123RF.com

Dire shortage of programmers

Gateway to take part in the job economy of the future

Holistic learnership framework

Based on the premise that the closer the training environment matches that of future employers, the more likely its learners are to succeed and excel, Umuzi offers free one-year Learnerships that produce entry-level but high-calibre creative professionals.Hellocomputer managing director, Joey Khuvutlu and head of technology, Nick Bester, worked with Dibwe Kalangu and Niklas Peters of Umuzi to define the syllabus to prepare programmers for the creative industry.With technology driving innovation in all sectors, and increasingly so in the advertising and marketing sector, theres a dire shortage of programmers, despite barriers to entry being low and two out of three developers/programmers being self-taught, said Khuvutlu.This space has historically been white male orientated, which provides Hellocomputer with an ideal opportunity to make a difference in a way that goes beyond ticking boxes on a scorecard.Programming is, in a nutshell, a gateway for the previously disadvantaged to take part in the job economy of the future. The Umuzi model is ideal because learners get paid a monthly stipend, qualify with a National Certificate accredited by MICT Seta, and gain work experience at leading and established top employers. The learners are exposed to real-life work situations and environments while having the freedom to discover their creative identity and upskilling in critical thinking and technical skills.In addition to helping Umuzi create a highly-relevant Learnership syllabus, Hellocomputer kickstarted the programme with R250,000 in 2017 to fund the inaugural learnerships of the new programme. The programme has quickly grown to 30 young people on learnerships, supported by several employers.The product team is the cross-functional unit of production in todays leading tech and creative companies. Weve repositioned our learnership offering to prepare young people with the skills every product team needs: Coding, UX Design, UX Research, Product Management, and our newest learnership, Data Science. Essential to our model is that young people learn these skills on-the-job, in an integrated, product-oriented environment, shares Umuzis managing director, Gilbert Pooley.Hellocomputer has committed to fund more learnerships in the coming years and to rally more digital agencies to do the same.Hellocomputer works hard on transformation across all its departments and at all levels of management and leadership  the recent appointment of four women into senior positions in both Johannesburg and Cape Town offices is a testament to this. We do have a strong point of view on focusing our transformation investments and initiatives in programming and other technology disciplines.Umuzis holistic learnership framework is such a good fit on so many levels. Not only does it take into consideration the socio-economic realities faced by black youth, recruitment is done via social media with a focus on youth who have had to pause their tertiary education due to financial reasons.Im so excited to see how far this can take us, Khuvutlu said.At only 21 years of age, Thandazani Nofingxana - a fashion and textile designer and one of the 2018 Design Indaba Top 40 Emerging Creatives - has already established a strong design aesthetic that draws from his culture and experience as a young African man.

Thandazani Nofingxana

What story do you want your fashion designs to tell?

What was the inspiration behind your collections RICH IS BLACK and vice versa?

What does it mean to you to be African?

How has growing up in Mthatha influenced your designs?

What have been some of your career highlights?

If you had to describe your design aesthetic in one word what would it be?

What still needs to happen when it comes to the support of African fashion designers?

What advice would you give to other African fashion designers?

What are you currently working on and whats next?

We chat with him about the inspiration for his latest collections as well as what it means to be an African designer.My fashion and textile designs aim to tell authentic African stories and everything that surrounds the diaspora of the African content. My current range is inspired by mixed ethnic people living in South Africa and trying to tell their stories as authentically as possible.Colourism would be the word that pops up the most every time I talk about RICH IS BLACK & vice versa. For the longest time Ive been so insecure about the colour of my skin, I am dark in complexion and growing up in the township I would get picked on by the other kids and that has grown into this big insecurity.This is a very personal project to me as I realised I had to turn my frustrations and anxieties into art, and as an Afrocentric type of designer I needed a way of communicating and that was through my textile prints. The project then expanded and I started going all over campus and asking people about their insecurities and this really created a meaningful design process as I felt I was telling these stories correctly because my prints have their insecurities incorporated into them.Being African to me means culture, it is the only thing we have left and as an African artist I need to create art that creates culture, if I am not making art about my people then what am I doing?Mthatha is very small town but with many rural areas around which really influenced the way I approach my prints. The colours of cattle kraals, huts and the greenery in the veld, amakhukho, Xhosa beads, etc. almost all the cultural elements of AmaXhosa really inspired my design aesthetic.-Winning the Collective Fashion Show for Mohair South Africa 2017-Being in the top three presentations at Laduma x Chivas Business Talks 2017-Making the Top 40 Emerging Creatives Class of 2018 at Design Indaba 2018KULTURE.People are aware of what is happening but I think there still needs to be a bit of convincing, people buy brands that they trust and in order for us to get support I think quality should be our number one priority and people might just start buying what we make because we are affordable and relatable.Storytelling is key, the world is looking and the only thing we need to do is tell our authentic story, dont be afraid to talk about your anxieties and depression. Engage on what makes you a better human being and by doing that you will get closer to your dreams by just telling your side of the story.I have an exhibition coming up in August in Port Elizabeth, dates are still be confirmed. And an exciting collaboration with amazing fashion designer and role model Thabo Makhetha (also still unconfirmed as when we are releasing works).The deadline for submissions to the Loeries Africa Middle East has been extended by two weeks to 31 May.

The Loeries rewards the best work in the brand communication industry across our region, said Loeries CEO Andrew Human. All work that engages consumers is eligible and anyone involved in marketing, advertising and communication can submit their work.While the extension offers more time to submit entries, a 10% late fee will be applied to all entries received after the original deadline of 15 May.This year the Loeries is including points for Finalists in its Official Rankings for the first time. In the past, the Loeries only awarded points for Bronze awards and above. Ten Finalist points will be equivalent to one Bronze award, and Finalist points will be capped to a maximum of 30 Finalists  equivalent to 3 Bronze awards. This allows for better recognition of small agencies and ranking across the countries in our region.Once again there is a strong focus on the development of young talent, with the Facebook Challenge for students in its second year and Brand South Africa supporting the Young Creatives Award for the first time in 2018.The Loeries are Africa and the Middle Easts premier award that recognises, rewards, inspires and fosters creative excellence in the advertising and brand communication industry, and represent a benchmark for quality. The new ranking system is a significant opportunity for smaller agencies and countries to improve their overall creative output and gain a place on the rankings ladder.Creative Week takes place in Durban from 16-19 August and includes MasterClasses, the DStv Seminar of Creativity, Student Portfolio Day, Brand South Africa VIP Brunch, awards ceremonies and many networking functions. All details can be found on loeries.com The Loeries has been rewarding creativity for 40 years. As Africa and the Middle Easts premier award that recognises, rewards, inspires and fosters creative excellence in the advertising and brand communication industry, winning a Loerie is the highest accolade for creativity and innovation across our region. The Loeries, a proudly not-for-profit company, promotes and supports creativity by helping marketers, agencies and consumers appreciate the value of fresh thinking, innovative ideas and outstanding execution.Culminating in the biggest creative gathering in the region, Loeries Creative Week brings together the best innovative minds from our industry for a festival that offers networking, creative inspiration and the recognition of great work.The creative economy across Africa and the Middle East is world-class and has great potential to offer employment to our talented youth, and the Loeries places a significant emphasis on education and development.DStv Media Sales, Gearhouse GroupAB InBev, Accenture, Brand SA, Facebook, Gagasi FM, Google, JCDecaux, SANBS, Unilever South Africa, WoolworthsAAA School of Advertising, Antalis South Africa, Aon South Africa, Association of Practitioners in Advertising Kenya, Backsberg, BEE Online, Chivas, First Source, Fresh RSVP Guest Logistics, Funk Productions, Gallo Images, Grid Worldwide, Hetzner, Multiprint Litho, Lingo Communications, Newsclip, Paygate, Rocketseed, Scan Display, Shift Social Development, South African Airways, Tsogo Sun, Vega School, VQI Communications NigeriaBetween 10and5, Bizcommunity.com, Brand Communicator Nigeria, Book of Swag, Campaign Middle East, Design Times, Film & Event Media, Goliath and Goliath, iDidTht.com, Leading Architecture and Design, MarkLives, Marketing Edge Nigeria, Marketing Africa Kenya, Media Update, The RedzoneAlessandra Alonso, founder of Women in Travel

How do you feel the Women in Africa Forum and the group mentoring sessions went?

What were the key take away points from these discussions?

What are your thoughts on WTMA as a whole?

What are the main challenges that African women face in the travel industry?

What are some of the success stories you have witnessed since setting up Women in Travel?

How does the South African travel market differ to the overseas market?

What have been some of your career highlights?

How have you seen the travel industry shift since your involvement in it?

What are your top tips for aspiring businesswomen in the travel industry field?

Alonso set up consultancy Shine and co-founded the Shine Awards for Womens Achievement in travel, tourism, and hospitality and is generally considered an all around trailblazer when it comes to championing women in the travel and tourism industries. We got in touch post-conference to chat WTMA, gender diversity, and the rise of African women entrepreneurs.The event has received some extraordinarily positive feedback both in terms of the debate and the mentoring. When women come together theres always a sparkle of magic.I guess for me the key take away is the need to engage and collaborate with each other. Women are looking for opportunities to learn, grow, improve and their creativity is ignited by discussions and exchanges such as the ones we had in CT. We do not do enough of this, we must create more opportunities and this is what Women in Travel CIC is here to do.A great event overall and an opportunity for me to get to know many women, many businesses and indeed a whole sector in one go. A very special opportunity. To this point, I must thank WTM Africa and V&A Waterfront for making it possible.Women in Africa are really at the heart of society and sustainability. In Africa as in many other places, most obstacles are linked to personal challenges (lack of confidence; doubting oneself) and also practical things such as access to funding for entrepreneurs; reconciling work and personal life; having to deal with stereotypes and biases.Well, where do I start? I have been lucky enough to meet some amazing women who have started businesses and succeeded against all odds; who have managed to climb up the career ladder in very difficult circumstances; who have defied culture and status quo to make it happen. Most of all, the women I meet every day are passionate, energetic and driven by huge purpose, as well as profit.For me, Africa is still a relatively untapped market so the opportunities are enormous because it offers so much. Also, the number of women who run their own businesses is much higher than for example in the UK and this means that they can greatly influence the way business is conducted and also the consumers: bearing in mind 80% of all (leisure) decisions are made by women worldwide.I have had some amazing experiences in my life, during my time at the World Travel & Tourism Council; KPMG; and as my own boss for the last 15 or so years. Bumping into Mr Mandela in the corridors of WEF Davos must come in near the top.When it comes to gender and diversity, the subject was totally ignored when I started my first advisory business in 2004 focusing on this topic. I was considered some kind of loony by most, men and women included! It took a while but finally, gender has made it to the top of business agendas and I am delighted to see greater awareness and more action on the part of the industry. Women are still underrepresented at the top though, there are far too few female entrepreneurs across the board and too many economically inactive women whose talent could be engaged in the sector instead, so our job is far from done!Be yourself; build knowledge and a good support network; dont be scared to ask for what you need and go for it!Focus was back on the film industry last week, with Roman Polanski negating the importance of the #MeToo movement, branding it 'mass hysteria', and one of SA's directors called out on sexual misconduct allegations. Pledge to stand with Sisters Working in Film and TV (Swift)'s #ThatsNotOK.

Screengrab from the #ThatsNotOK PSA.

#MeToo: Et tu, brute?

the first high-profile case to emerge in South African media in the wake of the global #MeToo movement.

Disgraced filmmaker Roman Polanski says the #MeToo movement is 'total hypocrisy'https://t.co/XXbrBrDkSC  TIME (@TIME) May 9, 2018

Everyone is trying to sign up to #MeToo chiefly out of fear and compared it to North Koreas public mourning for its leaders that is so intensive that 'you cant stop laughing.' He did not explain further.

Say #ThatsNotOK

Read more

Piers Morgan commented sarcastically at the time of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaux 'joke taken out of context' comments about #Peoplekind a few weeks ago, by saying: Mankind ended last night.Morgan may be right.Though the Trudeaux incident was hardly hardcore, theres been a flood of incidents worldwide that have left females wondering about the male mindset. Its closer to home than ever before, as Variety now reports that South African film and TV director Khalo Matabane has allegedly been accused of sexual misconduct by at least half a dozen women.Its been dubbed:But it doesnt stop there. The global ramifications keep coming. In an article he opened with: Sometimes, real life is beyond parody, Morgan wrote in the Daily Mail that he thought the below had been tweeted by a satirical site like, if not misquoted, or misleadingly paraphrased. It wasnt.reveals that Polanski made the comment toPolska, in an interview [published last week and] given just days before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stripped him of his nearly 50-year membership, citing a case in 1977 in which he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor.Its fitting thatreported this, asmade the #MeToo silence breakers its Person of the Year for 2017.In the interview, Polanski said:#MeToo is hardly hysteria. Instead, its about standing up and saying "that's not OK" - whether this is happening to you or someone you know.Last years study conducted by industry body Sisters Working in Film and Television (Swift) revealed that up to two-thirds of women working in the South African film and TV industries claim to have reported some form of sexual harassment in the workplace.Swift started a gender department to offer pro bono legal advice to women reporting sexual abuse and also launched the #ThatsNotOK campaign at the time, together with a series of short video public service announcements portraying real-life incidents from the poll.Seems its time to reshare the PSA created with Actor Spaces:Its time for the #TimesUp movement to extend to all reaches of the industry. We need to all take a stand and say #ThatsNotOK.Thotbox is a media sales company that specialises in community radio airtime sales by integrating all regional radio stations to form a national grid.This job expired on 30 May 2018.This job expired on 28 May 2018.Meeting Space to Hire in Cape Town CBD

Can be used for: Meetings, hearings, workshops, discussions, training, workspace, events, presentations, demonstrations, brainstorming, strategic planning, Cape Town-based space, etc.

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Half day: R765 - four hoursHOLLAND >> For the third time in as many months the Northampton Township Board of Supervisors on Wednesday cancelled a meeting on land development plans for a Super Wawa in Holland. The latest cancellation happened just hours before the meeting was scheduled to be held at the township building. A message posted on the townships website announced the cancellation: At the...Dear Reader,

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Digital EditorJust a few hours after the Delhi police on Monday accused Shashi Tharoor of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, the senior Congress leader took to Twitter to inform that he has decided to stay off the microblogging site for a while.

Tharoor, who is known for his inimitable wit and grammar eloquence, tweeted that he will "stay off Twitter for a while as one encounters too much epicaricacy!" Epicaricacy, as described by Tharoor means, deriving pleasures from the misfortune of others. Tharoor also said that he is trying to focus on his work ...As of March 2017, there were 1.57 billion bank accounts in the country. And, around 80 per cent of the adult population had deposits worth a combined Rs 107.3 trillion. And, received Rs 79.1 trillion in credit from commercial banks.

(RBI) data shows, however, that the ratio of credit to deposits has improved since 2014 in only 12 states. Also, that gets the lions share of credit. While the south continues to show the least inter-state disparity in terms of credit and deposits.

In 2011, the share of account holders in the population was 35 per cent. It increased to 53 per cent in 2014, just before Narendra Modi took over as prime minister. Deposits pan-India in 2014 totalled Rs 80 trillion, rising 34 per cent to Rs 107.3 trillion at end-March 2017.

Credit in 2014 totalled Rs 62.8 trillion, rising 26 per cent to Rs 79.2 trillion as of end-March 2017.

The credit to deposit (C:D) ratio declined in four of the six regions, barring states in the west and in the northeast.

Additionally, the two charts here show the value of credit (distribution) and deposits across six regions between 1999 and 2017 at commercial banks.

North

In terms of deposits, Delhi stands out in the region with Rs 11 trillion, followed by Punjab at Rs 3.3 trillion and Rajasthan at Rs 3.1 trillion. The capital got Rs 9.6 trillion in credit from banks in 2017; Punjab got Rs 2.2 trillion and Rajasthan Rs 2.1 trillion.

Northeast

Assam dominates the northeast with deposits of Rs 1.2 trillion. The northeast has had the smallest deposit base as a region for decades. On a comparative basis, states here have more deposits than the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar, Puduchery and Daman & Diu.

Credit flows are low. The four states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland got a total fo Rs 28.5 billion in credit from commercial banks in 2017. Assam got Rs 488 billion. The C:D ratio rose between 2014 and 2017 in Arunachal, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. It declined in Meghalaya, Tripura and

East

West Bengal contributed around Rs 6.8 trillion in deposits to the commercial banking system in 2017, followed by Bihar at Rs 2.9 trillion and Odisha at Rs 2.45 trilllion. In terms of credit, West Bengal received Rs 3.4 trillion; Bihar and Odisha got a little over Rs 900 billion each.

Sikkim stands out in the region with Rs 19 billlion in credit received and Rs 70 billlion in deposits made.

Central

Over the years, the gap between eastern and central states has narrowed. This year, the central states contributed Rs 14.3 trillion in deposits, compared to Rs 14.1 trillion in deposits contributed by states in the east. Deposits within banks in Uttar Pradesh had grown to Rs 8.9 trillion, followed by Madhya Pradesh with Rs 3.1 trillion. Credit disbursed to UP was Rs 3.5 trillion, with Rs 1.9 trillion to MP.

West

Maharashtra, home to the country's financial capital, made Rs 21.9 trillion in deposits and received Rs 23.3 trillion in credit. Gujarat received Rs 4.2 trillion in credit and made Rs 6 trillion in deposits during 2017.

South

Tamil Nadu got Rs 7 trillion in credit followed by Karnataka with Rs 5.2 trillion in credit. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana received Rs 2.5 trillion and Rs 3.9 trillion in credit, respectively.





There are large differences between the amount of credit received by states within a region and in the total value of bank deposits. Karnataka contributed Rs 7.8 trillion in deposits, followed by Rs 6.6 trillion in deposits made by Tamil Nadu and Rs 4 trillion by both Telangana and Kerala. Compared to the other five regions of the country, southern states exhibit the least disparity in terms of credit received and deposits made.With the Karnataka polls over, oil marketing companies have opted for a price rise in petrol and diesel after a gap of 19 days. The price of petrol was increased 17 paise per litre and that of diesel by 21 paise per litre in Delhi on Monday. Petrol price was seen at Rs 74.80 per litre, the highest since September 2013, and diesel was seen at Rs 66.14 per litre.

The prices were kept on freeze starting from April 24, on the back of the Karnataka polls. The prices of petrol zoomed by 17 paise per litre in Mumbai, 18 paise per litre in Kolkata and 18 paise per litre in Chennai. On ...Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri today said America's decision to shift its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem was evidence that negotiations and "appeasement" have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.

In a five-minute video entitled "Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims," the Egyptian doctor who took charge of the global group after its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 referred to the Palestinian Authority as the "sellers of Palestine" while urging followers to take up arms.

US President Donald "was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade, where standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad," Zawahiri said, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

He added that Bin Laden had declared the US "the first enemy of the Muslims, and swore that it will not dream of until it is lived in reality in Palestine, and until all the armies of disbelief leave the land of Muhammad."



He argued that Islamic countries had failed to act in Muslims' interests by entering into the United Nations, which recognises Israel, and submitting to Council and General Assembly resolutions instead of sharia (Islamic law).

Israelis were basking in national pride and pro-American fervour today as tens of thousands marched in Jerusalem, a day ahead of the controversial move from Tel Aviv to the disputed city.

A day before the inauguration of United States' embassy in Jerusalem, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday expressed his gratitude to US President Donald for recognising the city as country's capital.

Taking to Twitter, the PM said President is "making history".

"President Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful for his bold decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the embassy there tomorrow!" he tweeted.

To inaugurate the embassy, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan is leading a 250-member strong delegation, which also includes Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Palestinians readied for their own protests over the embassy's inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe", commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

The event is also held to protest over US relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which US President recognised as the capital of last December.

The national commission of the protests in Gaza called for the largest-ever mass rallies, dubbed "the day of passage," in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel.

Top US officials have meanwhile insisted they could still push forward the troubled peace process despite outrage across the Arab world.

Asked in an interview with Fox News Sunday about whether there was any life left in the peace process, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by saying "the peace process is most decidedly not dead." "We're hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well," said Pompeo whose first two weeks in office have been largely consumed with arranging a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The US on Monday opened its embassy in amid violent clashes along the Strip's border hours ahead of the controversial move, leaving 37 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds more wounded, the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

The Health Ministry said 37 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire amid mass protests on the border against the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to

The dead included a 14-year-old, according to the ministry.





Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority government accused of committing a "terrible massacre" after Israeli fire killed 37 Palestinians in protests and clashes.

Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud demanded in a statement "an immediate intervention to stop the terrible massacre in committed by the forces of the Israeli occupation against our heroic people."

Thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians were approaching the fence and trying to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

Crowds built throughout the day in the Palestinian enclave less than 100 kilometres away from and sealed off from by a blockade.

Israel's military said "approximately 10,000 violent rioters are currently assembled in a number of locations along the Gaza Strip border and thousands more are gathered by the tents approximately half a kilometre away from the security fence."

It said soldiers "are responding with riot dispersal means and fire, and are operating according to standard operating procedures." The inauguration that follows US President Donald Trump's deeply controversial December 6 recognition of the disputed city as Israel's capital also comes at a time of heightened regional tensions.

It follows Trump's announcement last week that the United States is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and Israeli strikes two days later on dozens of Iranian targets in Syria.

Those strikes came after rocket fire toward Israeli forces in the occupied Golan Heights that blamed on Iran.

The Trump administration has vowed to restart the moribund Middle East peace process but the embassy move has inflamed tensions.

On Sunday, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a message saying America's decision was evidence that "appeasement" has failed Palestinians and urged Muslims to carry out jihad against the United States, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

Monday's inauguration ceremony at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) will include around 800 guests -- though not Trump himself -- at what until now had been a US consulate building in Jerusalem.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will lead the Washington delegation that includes Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called Trump's decision "historic", welcomed them at a reception on Sunday.

"Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years," he said.

"It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time." Sullivan called the embassy "a long overdue recognition of reality." Saeb Erekat, Liberation Organisation secretary-general, called it a "hostile act against law".

Around 1,000 police officers were being positioned around the embassy for the inauguration.

Israel's army said it was almost doubling the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied

It also dropped leaflets warning Gazans to stay away from the fence, including one with a photo of the Champs-Elysees boulevard in Paris and the caption: "Gaza 2025? The choice is in your hands." Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a message to Gazans "we will protect our civilians with all our means and not enable the fence to be crossed." Israelis began celebrating on Sunday, as tens of thousands of marched in Jerusalem, some holding American flags, to mark Jerusalem Day.

The annual event is an Israeli celebration of the "reunification" of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the community.

Beyond the disputed nature of Jerusalem, the date of the embassy move is also key.

May 14 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

The following day, Palestinians mark the "Nakba", or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are planned on both days.

There have already been weeks of protests and clashes along the Gaza border, with 70 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire there since March 30.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.



Trump calls Jerusalem embassy move 'a great day for Israel'

US President Donald Trump on Monday hailed the scheduled opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as "a great day for Israel."

Trump made no reference to the violence in an early morning tweet, instead inviting Twitter followers to watch live coverage of the embassy opening on Fox News channels, which was to begin at 1300 GMT.

"Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted.

Arabs, Muslims condemn US Embassy move

The Arab League and the top Sunni Muslim religious authority have criticized the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem.

The Cairo-based Arab League called on the international community to oppose what it considers an "unjust decision" and the ongoing "Israeli occupation" of the city.

It called the move a "blatant attack on the feelings of Arabs and Muslims," and a "grave violation of the rules of international law" that would destabilize the region.

The Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, have called for an urgent meeting at the Arab League on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Egypt's Al-Azhar religious institution called on the international community to use "all peaceful means" to "dismiss positions of countries that sided with the Zionist entity," referring to Israel.

Trump calls Jerusalem embassy move 'a great day for Israel'

US President Donald Trump on Monday hailed the scheduled opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as "a great day for Israel."

Trump made no reference to the violence in an early morning tweet, instead inviting Twitter followers to watch live coverage of the embassy opening on Fox News channels, which was to begin at 1300 GMT.

"Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted.Prime Minister will visit on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President in Sochi, the government said on Monday.

Modi will travel to at Putin's invitation.

An External Affairs Ministry release said the visit will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on matters in a broad and long-term perspective in order to further strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership.

"Both leaders will discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," the release said.

It said that the informal summit was in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and at the highest level.

Putin had won a fourth term in office in March.The US today opened its embassy in under a controversial move by Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 52 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue.

"Today, we officially opened the embassy in Congratulations. It's been a long time coming," Trump said in a pre-recorded video at the opening here.

" is a sovereign nation, with the right like any other sovereign nation, to designate its capital," he said.

The American leader said the US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between and Palestinians.

He said that his country supports status quo at the Temple Mount, a flashpoint of that houses the Western Wall (holiest site for the Jews) and the al-Aqsa mosque - known as Haram al-Sharif.

"This city and entire nation is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people," Trump emphasised.

Later, the US tweeted, "Big day for Congratulations!"



The inauguration ceremony started with the singing of the American anthem and the presentation of colours by US Marines.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman noted that Washington, which became the first country to recognise the State of Israel, has now taken "a step awaited, voted upon, and litigated and prayed for for all these years".

"Again the leads the way," in relocating the embassy, he said.

The move is the result of the "vision, the courage, and the moral clarity" of President Trump, to whom we own an "enormous and eternal debt of gratitude," the US envoy stressed.

"We have shown the world once again that the US can be trusted," said Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the President and Trump's son-in-law.

He also hailed Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the nuclear deal, saying the President announced his intention to exit the "dangerous, flawed and one-sided deal."



Speaking at the opening ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Trump for keeping his promise. "Thank you, President Trump, for having the courage to keep your promise," he said.

"Thank you, President Trump for making the alliance between Israel and the stronger than ever," he said.

"You can only build peace on truth. And the truth is that Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he asserted.

A high-level American delegation that includes Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Kushner, senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for Negotiations Jason Greenblatt attended the embassy opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, Palestinians, who protested massively along the border clashed with Israeli forces, leading to the death of at least 52 of them.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 52 people have been killed and more than 2,400 people suffered injuries.

Of the 52 killed today, at least six were below the age of 18, including one female. And, of more than 2,400 wounded, at least 200 were below the age of 18 and 11 were journalists.

The Palestinian protestors burned tyres and threw stones at the soldiers, trying to approach the fence.

The Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and headquartered in the town of Ramallah accused Israel of committing a "terrible massacre" as the death toll soared.

Seeking intervention, Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud said that it was an urgent requirement given "the terrible massacre in committed by the forces of the Israeli occupation against our heroic people".

The death toll made it the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a statement accusing Hamas, which controls Gaza, of "leading a terrorist operation" and inciting protesters who had amassed by the border fence with Israel to conduct what Israel described as terror attacks.

The IDF estimated that around 35,000 people -- who it describes as "violent rioters" -- had assembled in 12 different locations along the border fence between Gaza and Israel and thousands more were gathered in a tent city about a kilometer from the border.

The military said the protesters threw Molotov cocktails, burned tyres, and stones at Israeli soldiers positioned along the fence.

The State Department noted that the opening of the new embassy will take place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of the State of Israel, the day of its founding and a day that Palestinians refer to as "the Catastrophe," as hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

The Embassy move is contentious for Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital, and for many in the Arab world, as it is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam. The city is also home to deeply holy sites for Jews and Christians.

The issue has been so thorny that negotiators had left the question of Jerusalem to the final stages of any peace deal.Violence marred the West Bengal panchayat elections on Monday as at least 12 people were killed.

Talking to reporters, West Bengal Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha said, "Twelve people have died in panchayat poll violence. Identity of six more is yet to be ascertained."

He added that three police personnel were also injured in the violence.

Earlier, the Left Parties staged protest outside the State Election Commission against the incidents of violence, during ongoing panchayat elections in the state.

Members of Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M], Revolutionary Socialist Party and other parties of the Left Front took part in the protest.

Talking to media, CPI-M leader Biman Bose said, "Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed. Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution."

The much-awaited West Bengal panchayat polls began at 7 a.m. on Monday. A voter turnout of 72.5 percent was recorded at the end of the polling at 5 p.m.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders were among the four killed in a road accident in Bihar's Araria district.

According to police, they were returning from the wedding of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's eldest son, Tej Pratap Yadav.

The police said their car was going to Kishanganj from Patna when the driver lost the control and broke through the road divider and collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction in Simraha police station area on Sunday morning.

The deceased have been identified as Ikramul Haq Baghi, the party activist and son of former state minister Islamuddin; RJD Kishanganj district president Intekhab Alam; Dighalganj block president Pappu; and driver Sahil.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Marking the fifth death anniversary of a PoK leader, activists held a protest rally against Pakistan's security establishment, outside the Pakistani embassy in London on Sunday.

Activists of United Kashmir People's National Party and Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP) demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of Sardar Arif Shahid, who was shot dead outside his residence in 2013.

"We want a judicial enquiry in the matter and we demand immediate arrest of the killers of Arif Shahid," Sajjad Raza, Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (UK) leader said.

While Kashmiri writer and activist Shabir Choudhry said, "Shahid only spoke about peace. If Pakistan had no involvement in this, why have the culprits not been arrested till now? They (Pakistan's security establishment) do not want anyone to go against them but I want to tell them we will not tolerate these troublemakers."

May 13 is observed as the martyrdom day of Shahid, who many believe was eliminated by Pakistan's infamous Inter-state Services Intelligence (ISI) in Rawalpindi in 2013.

Shahid, 62, was the chairman of the All Parties National Alliance (APNA). He was a vocal critic of Pakistan's nefarious activities in Jammu and Kashmir and a supporter of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's freedom.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Additional Director General (ADG) (Law and Order) of Maharashtra Bipin Bihari on Monday assured that action will be taken against those responsible for the clashes in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

"We are investigating thoroughly and trying best to maintain peace. Action will be taken against those responsible," Bihari told media.

He informed that 52 people were detained in connection with the case and after inquiry, around eight people were allowed to go.

Till now, 25 people have been arrested in connection with the clash.

Two people died and over 40 people were injured, including police personnel, when the clashes broke out between two groups of two communities in multiple areas of the city on May 11 night, following the removal of a water connection to a place of worship in Moti Karanja area.

About 50 shops were also gutted in the clashes, as hundreds of youths took to the streets to pelt stones when the water connection issue took a communal colour.

On May 12, section 144 of the CrPc was imposed and Police were deployed in the city. Internet services were also blocked in the area.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A delegation of Australian government on Monday met with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at state secretariat here.

Andhra Pradesh and Australia had signed a letter of intent on water conservation. Abiding to that agreement, the Australian delegation gave a presentation on the cooperation they would extend for water conservation in Andhra Pradesh. They narrated through a presentation how the drought condition in Southern Australia in 2006-2010 was countered. The delegation explained how integrated water conservation will be taken up in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, representatives of Australian company Keller Asia Pacific Ltd also met with Chandrababu Naidu. Keller Asia Pacific is an engineering giant in underground engineering and technological works. The company is providing services in grouting, earth retention, instrumentation and monitoring works in Polavaram project and Amaravati capital construction. They explained the progress of the works and quality of their services to the Chief Minister.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Baloch nationalist leader Dr. Allah Nazar, who is fighting against Pakistan's illegal occupation of Balochistan, has appeared in a new video committing to continue his struggle for Baloch rights.

The video is recorded at an unknown place in Balochistani. He said, "Our national struggle will continue within the framework of International laws and it will reach its logical conclusion in the form of a free Balochistan."

"The state of Pakistan has adopted several strategies and intrigues to counter our struggle; hence, the Baloch nation through forming better plans has repulsed all these maneuvers, and this is the prime reason despite the atrocities committed by Pakistan yet the Baloch's national struggle is thriving for the last two decades," said Dr. Allah Nazar, who is also the founder of Baloch Students' Organisation - Azad.

He added, "The occupying state of Pakistan is countering the movement in many ways like using the renegades, traitors, spies, Islamic terrorist proxies under the garb of religion and several other elements that are lined up against Baloch national struggle."

"However pro freedom organizations have chalked out a well thought-out strategy and acting on it," he remarked.

Baloch leader made it clear, "there is no room left for traitors and spies in the Baloch movement."

He further added, "Informers and spies function like the eyes and ears for the enemy. Therefore, regardless of what sect, class or nation they belong to, and how much powerful they are, will be held accountable for their crimes," He further added, "No one should remain in the fool's paradise that they can benefit from their false promises and hypocritical politics and would get a cleat chit of their crimes that are committed against the nation; those whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent Baloch people would never be spared. The Baloch movement and Baloch history would tackle them with an iron fist. They should just wait for their ultimate end. It may take two years or a decade but will be held accountable before the nation."

Dr.Allah Nazar Baloch said, "This is a decisive war, and freedom is our destiny."

He added, "due to the countless sacrifices of people our struggle moves on in the right direction, and no one can stop Baloch nation from freedom. Pakistani parliamentary parties, several Sardars, those who are the production of Sandamn's System are involved in spying against Baloch nation, but they will be treated with severe repercussions."

He added, "Thousands of Baloch have sacrificed for the cause of Baloch nation and thousands are struggling and millions of people are attached with the struggle.For example: only in seven districts of Balochistan Pakistan has deployed 0.15 million regular army, excluding the Frontier Corps (FC), Levies and police.It shows our strength that we have engaged 0.15 million army only here in the south."

Dr. Allah Nazar said we have strong faith in our nationand compelled the enemy to send more troops here and it becomeseasier for us to target them more; with the help of our people we will get them out of our land."

Dr. Allah Nazar said our struggle is an indigenous one. This is a war against China and other foreign countries and their investors. Baloch is a living nation. If China is hoping to establish a naval base to crush us, it must realize what they themselves have gone through when Japan invaded China. What tactics it used to counter the Japanese aggression? We are living in the twenty first century and we will come with harsher stratagem against China as well. Today Pakistan is in a state of utter confusion that how its army is being targeted.

There is no place for China, Pakistan, its parliamentarians and traitors in Balochistan. He said, a few bootlickers for some personal gains are involved in shedding Baloch blood. The parliamentarians are in the forefront for cashing out the Baloch blood and they are the real culprits. Baloch nation has already decided their fate; sooner or later, they will meet their logical conclusion.

The Baloch leader was optimistic, "Balochistan will become a free country on the map of the and we would prove its position as a free nation."

He appealed the Baloch nation and particularly Baloch diaspora that they must contribute financially in the Baloch national struggle and strengthen themselves. Furthermore, they should play a vital and active role in the international diplomacy for Baloch nation struggle.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Supreme Court judge justice L. Nageswara Rao on Sunday inaugurated the " Launch of 2018- Year of Enlightenment" project in a public function under the auspices of Brahma Kumaris Organisation at Delhi's Talkatora Stadium.

Addressing the gathering at the launch, Justice Rao said that the Brahma Kumaris' year-long project of enlightenment would prove to be a milestone in guiding mankind to find true peace and happiness in today's time of tension, stress and discontentment.

Accrediting the Brahma Kumaris for spreading the message of love, peace and universal brotherhood all over the world, Justice Rao moved on to discussing how the Bhagavad Gita enunciated the path to enlightenment through chapters on Gyan Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga, much before the European age of enlightenment and renaissance.

"In similar vein, the Raj-yoga meditation being taught by the Brahma Kumaris is a path of mediation to self-awareness, inner peace, power and balance in life. It leads to enlightenment which enables us to deal with challenging situations and arrive at solutions," he said.

The event featured a video message by the head of Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, who said that "Gita is the mother of true wisdom which when implemented can lead to happier life."

Through the practice of pure and satvick lifestyle and selfless service as expounded in Gita, self enlightenment can be attained, he said.

B.K. Brijmohan, Chief Spokesperson of Brahma Kumaris said that true purpose of this year's project on enlightenment is to take mankind from ignorance to wisdom, vices to virtues and from sorrow to happiness. He also

He also highlighted that true meaning of enlightenment is experiencing of soul consciousness, its innate qualities of peace, purity, love, and contentment.

"When we realize true nature and qualities of soul, we all can lead ourselves on the path of enlightenment," he added.

Brahma Kumari Asha, Chairperson, Administrators Wing of Brahma Kumaris said that the root cause of today's problems, is our identity crisis.

"As we are observing 2018 as Year of Enlightenment, we need to reflect on and reconnect with our inner selves. By this, we can restore harmony with our own self, with others and, with the society and this would prove to be the foundation of building a harmonious and sustainable society," he added.

Later in the day, the afternoon session on "Truth as Revealed by God of Gita" was addressed by senior teachers of Brahma Kumaris, B. K. Usha from Mount Abu and B.K. Chakradhari, Director of Rajyoga Centers in Russia.

The Session was followed by guided mass meditation for the gathering.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China applauded North Korea on Monday for its decision to dismantle the nuclear test site.

As reported by the Xinhua news agency, China hailed the dismantling of North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Lu Kang said in a press conference, "The measures taken by the DPRK demonstrate its goodwill for advancing denuclearization of the peninsula and building mutual trust with related parties."

He pointed out that denuclearization will also help to settle the political turmoil in the Korean peninsula and said that North Korea's decision must be "welcomed, encouraged, and supported by the international community."

North Korea has scheduled the dismantling of the nuclear site between May 23 and 25.

The country also confirmed that international journalists, including the ones from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, Britain, and South Korea would be invited to carry out "on-the-spot coverage in order to show in a transparent manner" how the use of the nuclear site is being discontinued, with a dismantlement "ceremony" likely scheduled for as early as May 23, which is dependent on weather conditions.

China along with the United States, Japan, and South Korea had called for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Later on June 12, US president Donald Trump is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore to discuss denuclearisation among other issues.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The dust storm that hit North India on Sunday has caused a massive damage to mango harvest in various parts of the region, leaving farmers in a hapless condition.

Farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow recalled the loss incurred by them for the storm and said, "We've suffered a huge loss as 40% of mangoes are damaged, it can be only used to make pickle. All farmers & planters are left in the lurch. Mangoes are the only source of income for us."

Mangoes that were ready for harvesting were damaged in the rains and hailstorm.

"Spots were left on the mangoes due to the hailstorm. These mangoes would be now sold at Rs 1 or 2. It could only be used for making pickles. These mangoes are completely useless now," another farmer said.

Farmers said that their entire year was dependent on this harvest, and now that the mango harvest was damaged, there was no way in which the loss could be redeemed. They said, "Had the storm hit even after 10 days, we would not have suffered such a huge loss. The entire year we work the hard and a natural calamity destroys everything in one night."

"We cannot sleep at night during storms, and when we reach the fields after the storm, it makes us cry, we had previously also suffered due to the storm, but this time the damage was massive. It's a very unfortunate situation, we cannot say what we are going through right now," another farmer said.

"The storm will continue for the next 48 to 72 hours," said Charan Singh, Scientist, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

As per IMD, several parts of Delhi including other cities like Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Bhiwadi, Sohna, Palwal, Jhajjar, Manesar, Gurugram, Ballabhgarh, Faridabad, Aurangabad, Aligarh, Sonipat, Bagpat, Noida, Greater Noida, Meerut, Ghaziabad will witness the same change in weather today.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As the violent protests in Gaza Strip unfolded, countries such as France, United Kingdom and Egypt have condemned Israel's continued suppression on Palestinian demonstrators.

Emily Thornberry, the Labour Party's Shadow Foreign Secretary condemned Israel's "brutal and lethal actions" on the Gaza border.

"We condemn unreservedly the Israeli government for their brutal, lethal and utterly unjustified actions on the Gaza border, and our thoughts are with all those Palestinians in Gaza whose loved ones have been killed or injured as a result," CNN quoted Thornberry as saying.

"These actions are made all the worse because they come not as the result of a disproportionate over-reaction to one day's protests, but as the culmination of six weeks of an apparently systemic and deliberate policy of killing and maiming unarmed protestors and bystanders who pose no threat to the forces at the Gaza border, many of them shot in the back, many of them shot hundreds of metres from the border, and many of them children," he added.

Palestinian authorities also condemned the Gaza protests and has called for an "immediate and urgent international intervention" to stop the "horrific massacre committed by the Israeli soldiers."

In a statement, government spokesman Youssef Mahmoud called upon "Arab, Muslim and friendly governments to exert their utmost effort to intervene to stop the bloodshed and to standby the Palestinian leadership in the face of the aggression of the Israeli occupation."

Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) also condemned "the targeting of unarmed Palestinian civilians by the Israeli occupation forces."

"Egypt fully rejects the use of force against peaceful marches demanding fair and legitimate rights and warns of the negative consequences of such a serious escalation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This statement stresses Egypt's full support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, first and foremost the right to establish their independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem," the MOFA said in a statement.

France's foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, urged Israeli authorities to show restraint in its use of force against Palestinian protesters.

"France calls on all actors to show responsibility to prevent a new escalation," Le Drian said in a statement. "France again calls on the Israeli authorities to exercise discernment and restraint in the use of force that must be strictly proportionate," he said.

Le Drian said the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem "violated international law and in particular United Nations Security Council resolutions."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, said Israel should stop firing on the protesters.

In a tweet, he wrote, "Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims" - #Zeid."

"Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims" - #Zeid. pic.twitter.com/hBb7825Sp8  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) May 14, 2018

So far, 52 Palestinian demonstrators have died in the violent clashes with Israeli soldiers at the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. This is the biggest number of fatalities suffered in one day since the latest round of demonstrations began in March.

Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state.

Amidst this, the United States on Monday officially opened its brand new embassy in Jerusalem's Arnona area. In a series of tweets, the US President Donald Trump called it an "a great day for Israel" and a "big day for Israel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)All India Majlis-e-Ittehad Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA from Malakpet, Ahmed Balala along with party workers attacked a man at Hyderabad's Chaderghat Police Station, who is accused of attempting to rape a six-year-old girl.

The accused has been identified as Syed Ismail, 35, who is also the victim's neighbour.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Sultan Bazar Division told ANI, "Ismail went to his neighbour's house on May 12, lured the girl to his house and tried to assault her. She raised an alarm and escaped from his place and informed her family. The victim has been sent to city's Bharosa centre for medical treatment."

"The accused was said to be in a drunken state when the incident took place," ACP said.

According to reports, Balala has asked the police to take strict action in regarding the case.

The accused has been booked on the charges of attempt to rape and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act and sent to judicial remand.

A case has been registered in this matter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court will on May 16 hear the matter of three students, who are witnesses in the Kathua gangrape and murder case, seeking protection from police torture.

The apex court on May 7 transferred the Kathua gangrape and murder case to Pathankot Court and also ruled that the matter does not warrant a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry.

As per the top court, day-to-day hearings would take place in the matter along with in-camera proceedings, under the Pathankot district judge, with no scope for adjournment.

The Jammu and Kashmir government told the apex court that they were ready for fair trial in the case involving the alleged rape and murder of a minor in Kathua in January.

Gopal Subramanian, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, appearing for the state of Jammu, told the apex court that the state was only concerned with the investigation and a fair trial. However, the state government opposed the transfer of the case to any other state.

Meanwhile, the top court allowed the Jammu and Kashmir government to appoint a public prosecutor in the Pathankot Court and directed them to provide security to the victim's family, their lawyer and witnesses.

The eight-year-old girl, belonging to a nomadic Muslim tribe, was abducted, drugged, gang-raped, tortured and killed in January.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Shiv Sena party on Monday accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah for being silent over the Mahadayi (also known as Mhadei) river water sharing issue.

Reportedly, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are currently fighting for Mhadei River's water.

These three states are embroidled in the inter-state Water Disputes Tribunal, which involves the construction of Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the river.

It is through this dam that Karnataka plans to divert water from the Mhadei basin to the nearby basin in to Malaprabha river.

The state of Goa calls this an unacceptable move, as it is considered the state's lifeline.

Accusing Amit Shah, Shiva Sena's spokesperson, Rakhi Prabhudesai Naik said, "Shah made no reference to Mhadei issue during his speech today. Right from the time when Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar agreed to share water with Karnataka to the time when Shah assured people water within six months, if they are elected to power, Sena has been following up the issue every day."

She further said that Amit Shah's silence on this whole issue is an indication that he is guilty of it.

"Shah in his speech made just a vague reference to the mining crisis, which is currently plaguing the state's economy. Just two sentences that he would find the solution through court is what he had to say about the issue, which is concerning livelihood of around three lakh people in the state," she said.

The Shiv Sena's criticism comes at a time when Amit Shah, while addressing a review meeting to oversee the preparations for the 'Booth Karyakarta Sammelan' in Goa, talked about a majority government being formed by BJP after the results of the Karnataka state assembly elections are out on May 15.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 55-year-old man was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants outside his residence in New Delhi's Kabool Nagar area on Sunday.

The man, identified as Rakesh Jain, was first murdered by the two miscreants who then looted cash of about Rs. 3 lakh and ran away with his scooty.

The entire incident was caught on CCTV.

A probe is underway and further details are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind in which he has condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'threat' to the Indian Congress (INC) during a speech in Hubli, Karnataka.

Singh said Prime Minister Modi was "using his powers and privileges as Prime Minister to settle personal and political scores" during the Karnataka elections.

On May 6, Prime Minister Modi in a public rally in Hubli said: "Congress ke neta kan khol karke sun lijiye, agar seemao ko paar karoge, to ye Modi hai, lene ke dene pad jayenge (Congress leaders listen to me while having your ears wide open. If you cross limits, I am Modi, you will have to pay consequences.)"

Dr Singh said Prime Minister Modi's words were "menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of peace".

"We would like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats," Singh added.

Throughout the letter, Singh asked the President to "caution" Prime Minister Modi against using "unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language" against anyone.

Apart from Singh, the letter was signed by Leaders of Opposition of both houses of Parliament and senior Congress leaders like P. Chidambaram, Ashok Gehlot, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Motilal Vora, Kamal Nath and Ahmed Patel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 41 Palestinians were killed in massive protests at the Gaza Strip, just a few minutes before the new United States Embassy is opened officially in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The health ministry further said that over 500 others suffered injuries as the Israeli army dropped leaflets over Gaza, warning the protesters to not go near the border fence which separates Gaza Strip from Israel, CNN reported.

More than 50 people have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers since the latest wave of protests began in March, according to a CNN count based on the Palestinian Ministry of Health figures.

According to Palestinian protesters, they have asserted that they want to return to their ancestors' homes in Israel when they were displaced during the war between Israel and Palestine in 1948.

However, Israel claims that the demonstrations are orchestrated by the Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza Strip.

Amidst this, the new US embassy in Jerusalem is scheduled to be open officially at 9 a.m US Eastern Time (4 pm Israel local time)

The US State Department said that the opening of the embassy takes place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of Israel, which the Palestinians calls it as "the catastrophe."

United States President Donald Trump is not a part of the high-level delegation to attend the opening of the new US embassy.

The delegation would be led by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. It will also include President Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who also serve as senior advisers to the US President.

The delegation will also consist of President Trump's Middle East ambassador Jason Greenblatt, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman respectively.

Reportedly, Kushner has been given the task of restoring peace talks between Israel and Palestine, which came to a standstill following President Trump's controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December last year.

The decision stalled the US-led peace process, causing outrage in the Arab with Palestinian leaders rejecting Washington D.C's involvement in brokering a resolution to the age-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The State of Palestine seeks all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza territories for an independent state.

Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has opposed the import of Sugar from Pakistan for sale and distribution in the state.

MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande on Monday told ANI that the party strongly objects buying Sugar from the neighbouring country and have even written letter Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) warning them to stop the import.

"There was no need to buy sugar from a country like Pakistan. We have written letters to Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and warned them to not buy any sugar that comes from Pakistan or else we would have to deal with them in our own way," Deshpande said.

As per MNS, the move will work in favour of the domestic sugarcane cultivators and would increase their profit percentage.

India imports around 30,000 quintal sugar from Pakistan as there sugar is Rs 1 cheaper than the Indian sugar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States on Monday officially opened its brand new embassy in Jerusalem's Arnona area, amid the violent clashes in Gaza, which claimed over 40 lives.

US President Donald Trump, who did not attend the opening of the new embassy, recorded a video message congratulating its opening.

"Today, Jerusalem is the seat of Israel's government. It is the home of the Israeli legislature and the Israeli supreme court and Israel's prime minister and president. Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital, yet for many years, we failed to acknowledge the obvious, the plain reality that Israel's capital is Jerusalem. As I said in December, our greatest hope is for peace. This was long coming," Trump was quoted by CNN as saying.

In a series of tweets, the US President called it an "a great day for Israel" and a "big day for Israel."

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin formally began the ceremony by unveiling a US seal, officially marking the shifting of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The moment was watched by Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.

In his opening remarks, Kushner called for achieving unity and peace.

"We believe, it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give so that all people can live in peace safe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams. Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together."

He also praised Trump's decision of withdrawing the "dangerous" Iran nuclear deal by saying, "Last week, President Trump acknowledged another truth and kept another promise. He announced his intention to exit the dangerous, flawed and one-sided Iran deal."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his support on Twitter hours ahead of the opening ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, Netanyahu hailed the alliance between Washington D.C. and Jerusalem as "stronger than ever."

"What a glorious day, remember this moment. This is history. President Trump by recognizing history, you have made history. All of us are deeply moved, all of us are deeply grateful," Netanyahu stressed.

Right after the opening of the ceremony, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, that the US was committed to ensuring peace and stability between Israel and Palestine. He, however, did not utter a word on the ongoing violent protests in Gaza.

On a related, the death toll in the protests went up from 41 to 52, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. This is the biggest number of fatalities suffered in one day since the latest round of demonstrations began in March.

The health ministry further said that over 500 others suffered injuries as the Israeli army dropped leaflets over Gaza, warning the protesters to not go near the border fence which separates Gaza Strip from Israel.

According to Palestinian protesters, they have asserted that they want to return to their ancestors' homes in Israel when they were displaced during the war between Israel and Palestine in 1948. However, Israel claims that the demonstrations are orchestrated by the Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza Strip.

Following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on December 6 last year, it stalled the US-led peace process, causing outrage in the Arab with Palestinian leaders rejecting Washington D.C's involvement in brokering a resolution to the age-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The State of Palestine seeks all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza territories for an independent state.

Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) met on Monday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to discuss "misleading media statement" attributed to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's on the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Following a backlash in international and local media, Pakistan Army Spokesperson Major Asif Ghafoor had announced that the NSC meeting had been called to clarify the Pakistan's stance on the statement, Geo News reported.

Top military leaders, the acting foreign minister, chiefs of the navy and air force and other top civil officials of the government attended the meeting at the Abbasi's house.

Sharif in an interview given to the Dawn newspaper had said on Saturday, "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?"

It is being seen as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attack in 2008.

On May 13, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) had issued a clarification stating that Nawaz's remarks were "grossly misinterpreted by Indian media".

Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed to Mumbai in November 2008 from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks that killed 166 people and injured over 300. Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafeez Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The case is now in its 10th year, but Pakistan is yet to punish any of the suspects.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Leading beauty retailer, Nykaa, on Monday closed its series D investment round of Rs. 165 crores. This round includes both primary investment and secondary exit of some early stage investors.

Importantly many of the early stage investors including Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Corporate Service P Ltd, Family Offices of Harsh Mariwala and Dalip Pathak, private equity veteran has reinvested in this round amongst others.

The funding will help to fund the growth capital as well as expand the retail footprint.

For the financial year 2017-18, Nykaa reported a net revenue of Rs. 570 crores as compared to Rs. 214 crores for FY 2016-17.

Nykaa is continuing to see strong year on year growth and is expected to be profitable in FY '19.

Since its launch in 2012, Nykaa has been committed to offering its customers the best of beauty from India as well as the world.

The retailer now offers over 850 brands and 100,000 products.

By bringing brands like M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Smashbox Cosmetics online, it was the first to make luxury beauty available to its customers and today the luxury vertical accounts for 15 percent of total revenue.

Nykaa was also the first to introduce cult beauty brands like Huda Beauty, Wet n Wild and NYX Cosmetics to the Indian market.

Keeping a pulse on global beauty trends Nykaa leads the Korean Beauty conversation with launch of brands like The Face Shop, It's Skin and Innisfree, as well as an exclusive collection of Indian-inspired Dear Packer sheet masks.

Since 2015, Nykaa has taken an omni-channel approach to beauty retail, opening stores across the country.

Nykaa currently has 17 stores in India in two formats - Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa On Trend.

The On Trend stores offer a unique curatorial experience featuring bestselling products chosen from over 100 beauty brands, while the Luxe format focuses on the complete offering from the prestigious beauty brands.

Nykaa recently opened its flagship Nykaa Luxe store at DLF Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, featuring over 50 luxury brands across 2500 sqft of beautifully styled space.

It aims to open 55 stores by March 2019.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said all oil producing countries are taking India very seriously.

Addressing a press conference here, the Union Minister said, "India imports oil from Gulf Cooperation Council area its requirements. We have engagement with Kuwait and Qatar. In fact, we have good and sound relationship with all of them. All the oil producing nations are taking India very seriously because India is a huge consumer market in the "

Talking about India's expectation about crude oil price, Pradhan said, "Price should be sensitive, responsible, and reasonable."

Replying another question, Pradhan said on a lighter note, "The oil is so oily that nobody can predict the price of oil."

He added that it is a pure demand driven issue and "cannot be decided at a press conference that what should be the ideal price".

The Union Minister said India does not have energy accessibility issue at all.

"India is supplying oil products to Nepal and Sri Lanka. In India, we are supplying energy to every nook and corner of the country. Now, energy accessibility is not at all an issue in India," Pradhan said.

When asked why petroleum products are cheaper in India's neighbouring countries, Pradhan said, "In certain neighbouring countries energy is available for few. They have their own subsidised mechanism. India consciously took the route of the international price mechanism and put some taxes. If we go by the market principle we have to link it to the market. We cannot give subsidy. We cannot subsidise products for few as it is not beneficial for all."

"Even countries like Saudi Arab and UAE have started withdrawing subsidy on this kind of product. So, this is not a fair argument that is why some of our neighbours have low price as they are supplying to few and we are supplying it to all," Pradhan added.

Talking about his meeting with UAE Minister for Human Resources and Emiratisation Nasser Al Hamli, Pradhan said it was very fruitful in which detailed discussions were held on three areas.

"Firstly, it has been decided that every year the number of persons coming to this part of world, particularly UAE, must come skilled and trained. We have finalised certain job roles that are required here. We will be jointly finalizing the assessing bodies also and we will impart that level of training in India to people coming to UAE. There will be two benefits: the productivity of UAE will increase and the Indian skilled manpower will lead a decent livelihood," Pradhan said.

"The second area is that India is a knowledge base society and the UAE wants to be a part of our knowledge-based system. Thirdly, more than three million people are working in UAE and we agreed to re-skill and up-skill them according to the need of the time," Pradhan added.

The UAE Minister for Human Resources and Emiratisation on Sunday said 'Indians are valuable to UAE economy.'

"We are very happy to host our Indian guests here. Indians are very hard working and they are very valuable for our economy. We are also happy that they are supporting their families back home in India," Hamli told ANI in Dubai.

Commenting on the Indian workforce in UAE, the minister expressed happiness over how "very hardworking" Indians, "who are valuable to the (UAE) economy," support their families back at home whilst working on the UAE soil.

Pradhan is on a three-day visit to the UAE, which commenced on May 12, to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Beijing [China], May 14 (ANI): China's constitution - specifically article 36 that includes the words "no state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion" - promises religious freedom.

However, these are empty pledges as President Xi Jinping and his communist stooges crack down on believers at home, despite five faiths being officially recognized in China - Chinese Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and Taoism.

ChinaAid Association, a non-profit Christian human rights advocacy organization based in the USA, issues an annual reporton the level of persecution in China, and its latest edition lists a frightening litany of persecution, including harassment, intimidation, threats, confiscation of property, arrests, incarceration and physical violence.

Last year, ChinaAid recorded 1,265 individual cases of persecution, a figure up 66% compared to a year earlier. In addition, those affected by persecution totaled 223,200 church members and more than 1,900 church leaders, which was a level 3.5 times higher than in 2016. Of these people, more than 3,700 were detained in 2017.

ChinaAid, which acknowledges it only has partial data,calculated that known persecution cases multiplied by 30 in the period 2013-17 after Xi came to power. During the same period, the number of people abused for their faith exploded 40 times.

Speaking to ANI, Brynne Lawrence, English editor at ChinaAid, warned, "Christian freedom in China is rapidly deteriorating.President Xi Jinping has emphasized 'Sinicizing' Christianity throughout his rule, or forcing it to align with communist party ideals and ideology. They are trying to accomplish this by imposing increased restrictions on churches, and many Christians are arrested for arbitrary crimes."

Lawrence noted that persecution of Christianity experienced a "severe uptick" once Xi took power in 2013. This is not worrisome to just Christians, for it indicates that Beijing'swillingness to target and attack any religion or ethnic group within China.

Indeed, the number of Christians imprisoned in China pales in comparison to the persecution being waged against Muslim Uighurs, particularly in the restive province of Xinjiang in northwest China. Thousands of Muslims are being held in detention centers and re-education camps. The exact number is impossible to verify, but estimates range from half a million to a million. Human Rights Watch claims 800,000 Muslims are currently incarcerated.

ANI will examine the persecution of Muslims in an upcoming article, while this present piece exposes the persecution the Chinese government is performing against the Christian church.

Certainly, the enforcement of religious regulations is becoming far stricter. For example, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which is the government-sanctioned Protestant church in China,is being forced to install facial recognition cameras inside their premises. This process began with a mass campaign in Zhejiang Province but it is spreading.

Lawrence described this as a "frightening" development. The government, which can arbitrarily detain anyone it wishes, is thus able to identify anyone attending a church, and clearly such cameras are a deterrent for both seekers and regular worshipers. The ChinaAid representative said this type of facial recognition technology could be easily used to target individuals. "If you just wanted to monitor to make sure that nothing illegal was going on, you'd just put a regular camera there," she told ANI.

ChinaAid explained, "Currently, the church is dealing with increased regulations, embodied in the revised Religious Affairs Regulations, including demands that all unregistered house churches register and become Three-Self Churches. This will force them to receive censorship from the Chinese government. Previous versions of the regulations allowed enough room for interpretation for house churches to flourish in the margins."

For a long time, China had laws forbidding people less than 18 years of age from attending a church. This is now being more strictly enforced too, with some churches having "no children allowed" signs posted outside.

These restrictions are being imposed at schools as well. "Teachers are being told not to teach any religion or anything like that. They're really trying to control the ideology the children are being fed, which is pretty huge as these are the formative years. I think the Chinese government knows that and is trying to take advantage of it," Lawrence noted.

Indeed, this is the heart of the issue of this surge in religious persecution. Lawrence described it as an "ideological battle".

Xi and the Communist Party of China (CPC) want to unify the Chinese populace under socialist ideology, so any other belief system that competes for hearts and minds must be considered a threat. Therefore, every effort is being made to prevent further the infiltration of religious thinking, and to roll back the advances that religion has already made in China.

ChinaAid commented, "China is terrified of the church. They view Christianity as a Western religion that foreign powers are using to infiltrate the country. Their suspicions are unfounded."

Xi continuously praises the tenets of socialism, routinely harking back to the glorious days of Mao, and recently he was particularly vocal in praising Karl Marx on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Of course, he believes his own philosophical contributions - will they one day be known as Xiism? - should be championed too, for he successfully ensuredthat they become enshrined in the country's constitution. It is perhaps ironic that Xi has so fully embraced the "Western" philosophy of a German named Marx, yet he derides every other kind of foreign influence.

Alas, Xi is likely fighting a losing battle, as all Marxist-inspired revolutions (such as Mao's Great Leap Forward or Pol Pot's murderous rampage) have failed dismally. Today there are only four self-declared Marxist-Leninist states left in the - China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam.

It is questionable how many of the 90 million or so card-carrying CPC faithful actually wholeheartedly embrace the tenets of socialism. Despite Xi's anti-graft campaign, corruption, nepotism and greed remain endemic in Chinese society, and one would wonder what Marx would think of the fact that China today has more billionaires than does the USA.

Wang Huning, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and the top ideologue in the CPC, said last week that Xi thoughtis the "Marxism of modern China". Yet is Xi a true believer in Marxism and socialism, or is he keener on simply promoting his own thought and establishing his legacy for future posterity?

A lot of support could be given to the assertion that Xi considers himself the savior of the Chinese nation. This would also explain his disdain of any competing ideology that would undermine his and the party's legitimacy. Xi has demonstrated a desire to cling on to power at all costs, which means resistinguniversally recognized values like freedom and democracy. One-party authoritarian rule cannot allow any competitor for the people's loyalty.

Despite hardening persecution in China, is the CPC fighting a losing battle? Christianity continues to grow "very rapidly", according to ChinaAid, in China. Indeed, the officially atheist country is tipped to become the most Christian country in the by 2030 in terms of total converts. Ironically, already there are estimated to be more Christians than there are CPC members, which is naturally worrying to the party.

Returning to the topic of persecution, Lawrence noted that, while the Three-Self Church is experiencing more persecution than in the past, underground house churches remain a particular focus of pressure. For example, local officials are being encouraged to investigate house churches, and to force them to register or merge with the Three-Self Church. Of course, the aim is to bring them under greater surveillance.

Lawrence explained, "The Chinese government doesn't like the house church because it's not necessarily subject to censorship. So they do encourage house churches to join the Three-Self churches so they can censor their sermons and use cameras and all that."

Whereas in the past Mao tried to eliminate the church by destroying it, Xi is instead trying to subvert the church and subjugate it to the party. For example, China released its white paper "China's Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief" on 28 March, where it decreed that faiths must "adapt themselves to the socialist society".

Within two days of that document being issued, Bibles started disappearing from websites in China to close a loophole thatallowed them to be purchased online. The authorities havealways controlled the sale of the Bible, with the sacred book only allowed to be printed by the government-owned Amity Press and distributed by the Three-Self Church.

There are also efforts to introduce a new Bible translation, one with a "Sinicized" text. The "Sinicization" of Christianity entails bending the faith to the will and ideology of the CPC. This will obviously result in a desecrated Bible, because atheism and Christianity can never be bedfellows.

ChinaAid's 2017 annual report stated, "Many signs we observed about China in 2017 indicate that a new socialist reform campaign targeting religion is building momentum, just as it was before China's Cultural Revolution, and the delusion of trying again to eradicate religion has occupied the minds of the dictators! The new Religious Affairs Regulations show a substantial regression in the Chinese government'sadministrative policies regarding the management of religious affairs. The CCP's policies and principles for the management of religious affairs are returning to that in Mao's era. Differentfrom Mao's era, in which the goal was to "eradicate religion" organizationally, or even corporeally, through "socialist reform," the current Sinicization in order to bring religion in line with the CCP's ideology aims to eradicate the mind and soul of religion."

Furthermore, the State Administration for Religious Affairs has published the 'Outline of the Five-Year Working Plan for Promoting the Sinicization of Christianity in our Country (2018-2022)'. It says, for example: "To drive forwards the process on the Sinicization of Christianity, the following principles must be observed: Embrace and support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Be guided by the core values of socialism and endorse the system, ways, theories and culture of our country's development."

It also says that "actively guiding religions in adapting to the socialist society means guiding religious believers to be subordinate to and serve the overall interests of the nation and the Chinese people".

The shadowy United Front Work Department has taken over responsibility for ethnic and religious affairs in China, which will ensure even tighter party control over what people believe. So, on the one hand Beijing continues to trumpet religious freedom, but on the other it is tightening control at every step.

Of course, such plans to desecrate the scriptures and subjugate the Christian faith could yet cause a massive backfire, as it will surely alienate many of the faithful.

Apart from a few advocates, international leaders and non-government organizations have been rather muted on abuses of religious freedom in China. While Xi struts on the international stage and advocates China as being a respectable leader, his government is ruthlessly repressing religious groups and ethnic minorities at home. This is the kind of system that China wants the world to accept and affirm. Instead, there needs to be a far stronger united voice highlighting the brutal nature of the CPC.

ChinaAid commented, "China really likes to maintain a good international image, so spreading word of these abuses and pressuring the government to free citizens/stop abuses has been extremely effective. As such, we encourage people in the free world to share these stories with each other, their representativesand Chinese ambassadors. Likewise, we urge politicians to pressure their Chinese contacts on the country's human rights and religious freedom abuses."

The ChinaAid report gloomily concluded about the prospects for human rights and religious freedoms in China, "It is predictable that the CCP's suppression and persecution of Christianity and Christians will continue to intensify, and with the progression of Sinicization impends a new socialist reform and a new wave of anti-religious and human rights disasters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)American rapper Pitbull has dropped out of his concert scheduled for the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, due to certain issues with his voice.

The event 'Cannes Party and Concert' was to be held in the honour of actor John Travolta receiving the first Cinema Icon Award from Variety.

A spokesperson from the organisers confirmed the news to Page Six of a lookout for another musical talent who will be available for the much-awaited gala night, scheduled for Tuesday.

The rep said, "Pitbull is having issues with his voice. We are working on a replacement/this situation at the moment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a trip to Russia next Monday, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend an informal summit.

As per a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on May 21 for an informal Summit with President Putin in the city of Sochi.

"This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our special and privileged strategic partnership. Both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," the MEA statement read.

The informal summit in Sochi between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels.

Last month, Prime Minister Modi attended a two-day informal summit along with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan city.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In connection with the multi-crore scam detected by the Punjab Bank (PNB) earlier this year, three companies and 22 individuals have been named in the charge sheet filed under Section 120B, read with Sections 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, according to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources.

The names include Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi, three companies - Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamond and seven employees of these companies Hemant Bhat, Vipul Ambani, Arjun Patil, Kavita Mankikar, Miten Pandya, Manish Bosamiya, and Subhash Parab.

Chartered accountant Sanjay Kumar Rambhia has also been named.

Section 120B, 409, 420 and 13 (2) of PC Act against Nirav Modi, Nishal Modi, M/S Diamond Rus, M/S Solar Exports, and M/S Stellar Diamond has been registered.

12 bank officials - then MD and CEO, Usha Ananthasubraminam, ED K.V. Bhramhaji Rao, ED Sanjeev Sharan, GM Nehal Ahad and GM Rajesh Jindal, then Brady House branch deputy manager, Gokulnath Shetty, single window operator Manoj Kharat, chief manager Bechhu Tiwari, manager Yashwant Joshi, officer Praful Sawant, internal chief auditors Mohinder Sharma and Bishnubrat Mishra in connection with letters of undertaking worth Rs. 6,498.20 crore issued in favour of companies between 2011 and 2017, have been named as well.

The charge sheet states that Rs. 6498.20 crores amount of Letters Of Undertaking (LoUs) were issued for these firms between 2011 to 2017.

For dishonestly issuing LoUs without cash margin, and without making entries in the Core Banking Solution (CBS) system of system investigation revealed that fraud perpetrated using swift platform, proceeds of buyer's credit.

Further, funds were siphoned off to purported overseas supplier firms, set up by Nirav Modi and associates.

Meanwhile, the bankers didn't implement circulars and caution notices issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regarding safeguarding swift operations, misrepresented information to RBI.

The reconciliation of swift messages and CBS was not done despite repeated questionnaires and notices of RBI.

Gokulnath Shetty continued to be posted at the same branch for seven years and continued issuing LoUs.

CBI for this chargesheet has searched 42 premises, arrested 15 people, have examined more than 80 witnesses and has collected voluminous documentary and digital evidence in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A massive protest rally was held against Pakistan and its secret services agencies on Sunday at Khaigala city (near Rawalakot) of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to mark the fifth death anniversary of Sardar Arif Shahid.

Khaigala is the hometown of Arif Shahid, chairman of the All Parties National Alliance (APNA), who was killed on May 14, 2013, at his residence in Rawalpindi by some unidentified gunmen.

Demonstrations and events were held across PoK and parts of Europe on the same day.

In Rawalakot city, a large number of people gathered to pay obedience to Kashmiri leader who was allegedly killed by Pakistan's Inter-services Intelligence (ISI). Shahid was critical of Pakistan for its illegal occupation of the territory and other human rights abuses.

In Bagh, PoK, activists of United Kashmir People's National Party held a protest to demand the arrest of Arif Shahid's killers. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for illegally occupying their territory.

The Jammu Kashmir National Independence Alliance (JKNIA) also organised a protest outside Pakistani consulate in Bradford and raised slogans against Pakistan for denying justice to Arif Shahid.

They shouted slogans such as 'Who killed Arif Shahid? ISI... ISI...' and 'Pakistani forces... out... out...'

In London, the Jammu Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP) organised a protest outside Pakistan High Commission to demand immediate arrest of killers of Arif Shahid.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Marking the fifth death anniversary of Kashmiri Nationalist leader Sardar Arif Shahid, activists held protest rallies at Khaigala city (near Rawalakot) of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and outside the Pakistani embassy in London.

These massive protest rallies were held against Pakistan and its secret services agencies on Sunday.

Khaigala is the hometown of Arif Shahid, chairman of the All Parties National Alliance (APNA), who was killed on May 14, 2013, at his residence in Rawalpindi by some unidentified gunmen.

In Rawalakot city, a large number of people gathered to pay obedience to Kashmiri leader. Shahid was critical of Pakistan for its illegal occupation of the territory and other human rights abuses.

In Bagh, PoK, activists of United Kashmir People's National Party held a protest to demand the arrest of Arif Shahid's killers. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for illegally occupying their territory.

The Jammu Kashmir National Independence Alliance (JKNIA) also organised a protest outside Pakistani consulate in Bradford and raised slogans against Pakistan for denying justice to Arif Shahid.

They shouted slogans such as 'Who killed Arif Shahid? ISI... ISI...' and 'Pakistani forces... out... out...'

Activists of United Kashmir People's National Party and Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP) demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of Sardar Arif Shahid, who was shot dead outside his residence in 2013.

"We want a judicial enquiry in the matter and we demand immediate arrest of the killers of Arif Shahid," Sajjad Raza, Jammu and Kashmir National Awami Party (UK) leader said.

While Kashmiri writer and activist Shabir Choudhry said, "Shahid only spoke about peace. If Pakistan had no involvement in this, why have the culprits not been arrested till now? They (Pakistan's security establishment) do not want anyone to go against them but I want to tell them we will not tolerate these troublemakers."

Shahid, 62, was the chairman of the All Parties National Alliance (APNA). He was a vocal critic of Pakistan's nefarious activities in Jammu and Kashmir and a supporter of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's freedom.

May 13 is observed as the martyrdom day of Shahid, who many believe was eliminated by Pakistan's infamous Inter-state Services Intelligence (ISI) as he questioned Pakistan's occupation of part of Kashmir, in Rawalpindi in 2013.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid the controversy surrounding the Muslim University, Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu wants the varsity to be renamed after Raja Mahendra Pratap, also known as 'Jat King.'

"The picture of the one who broke the nation into pieces hangs inside Muslim University's campus, but there is no picture of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh. I demand that the AMU must be renamed as Raja Mahendra Pratap Vishwavidyalaya," he said while addressing a gathering here on Sunday.

Earlier this month, a number of groups protested against the portrait of Pakistan's founder being hung at the AMU student union's office.

The matter grabbed headlines first after Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) MP Satish Gautam questioned the portrait's presence in the office.

Soon after, AMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Tariq Mansoor dubbed the Jinnah portrait controversy as a 'non-issue' and underscored that latter's portrait is also present at the and the Sabarmati Ashram in

Talking to ANI, AMU vice-chancellor Professor Tariq Mansoor said, "Jinnah's portrait has been here since 1938. Jinnah's portrait is at many places including Bombay HC and Sabarmati Ashram and Nehru Museum too. No one was worried about the portraits until now; I think it is a non-issue."

Professor Mansoor also asserted that the agitation by students in the university had no connection with the Jinnah portrait row.

"Students' agitation had no relation to Jinnah portrait row, they were protesting against people who came to AMU to disturb the peace on May 2. Spoken to for a judicial inquiry into the incident," he said while reacting to the ruckus due to which the event of former vice-president was cancelled.

(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.)South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday welcomed the planned shutting down of Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea, calling it as an "initial step of achieving denuclearisation".

In a statement, Moon was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying, "I highly evaluate and welcome North Korea's decision to transparently open the shutdown of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site to the international community following its release of American captives."

Further explaining the move, he added, "First, it will have a special meaning as it will be an initial step in the complete denuclearization of North Korea. Second, it could be viewed positively in that North Korea is showing a great commitment to the success of the North-U.S. summit. Third, I wish to highly evaluate the move in that North Korea is sincerely taking steps to implement each and every promise Chairman Kim made to me at the South-North Korea summit."

On Saturday, North Korea announced that it will commence dismantling its nuclear test site later this month in a bid to uphold its previous pledge to discontinue nuclear tests. A ceremony for the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site reportedly has been scheduled between May 23-25.

Pyongyang also confirmed that international journalists, including the ones from the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), would be invited to carry out "on-the-spot coverage in order to show in a transparent manner" how the use of the nuclear site is being discontinued.

According to several media reports, South Korean officials in April said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had stated that he "would carry out the closing of the nuclear test site in May."

On April 20, the North Korean leader said that his nation already had "completed its mission" to test its weapons capability and added that it had no further need for the site.

The announcement came after US President Donald Trump announced that he will hold a meet with Kim in Singapore on June 12.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has issued a statement dismissing all claims with regard to former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's remarks on 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, stating it has been 'grossly misinterpreted' by the Indian media.

The statement shared by Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, on Twitter read, "PML-N would like to set the record straight on the interview of PML-N Quaid carried yesterday by DAWN. At the outset, statement of the Quaid has been grossly misinterpreted by the Indian media."

"The PML-N as the country's premier popular national political party and its Quaid need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistan's national security," it further read, criticising opposition leaders, who have been questioning his loyalty towards Pakistan.

On May 11, Sharif in an exclusive interview to a Pakistan daily, The Dawn, had said that terrorists sent by Pakistan were responsible for the 26/11 attacks.

"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Nawaz noted in the interview in a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

Pakistan has so far not completed trial in the 26/11 case.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks in different parts of the city, killing about 166 people and injuring over 600 others.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) was believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks. Its mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, has been roaming freely in Pakistan.

India has, time and again, protested against Islamabad for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for allegedly plotting the 2008 attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi on Monday convicted 18 of the 35 people accused of organising a secret camp of the banned Islamic Students Federation of India (SIMI) in Kerala's Wagamon.

The rest of the accused facing trial were acquitted.

Meanwhile, the court will also pronounce the quantum of punishment tomorrow.

Out of the total 38 accused, 35 have faced trial in the case.

Mehaboob Malik, one of the accused, was shot dead while trying to escape from a jail in Bhopal while one is absconding and another is in police custody.

A case was registered on the basis of a complaint that a secret training camp was organised allegedly by the SIMI at Thangalpara, Wagamon in the state during December 2007.

The agency later alleged that the SIMI cadres were involved in physical and arms training, firing practices, motor bike racing and rope climbing practices in the camp.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Welcoming the charge sheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar death case, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday commended the Delhi Police for doing their best with the available evidence.

Swamy accused the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government and the former officials in the Delhi Police of destroying the evidence and witnesses

"All witnesses and documents were destroyed by the UPA government and corrupt police officers. The new management in Delhi Police has conducted the investigation in a fair manner," Swamy told ANI.

In the charge sheet filed before a Delhi court today, the Delhi Police named Sunanda's husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as accused, under sections 306 (Abetment of suicide) and 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"On the basis of current evidence this is what could be done. I welcome this decision and this is a step forward. More information will come during trial," Swamy remarked.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police Spokesperson Deependra Pathak told media, "On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during the investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, Sunanda Pushkar case investigated by SIT of South District, has been charge-sheeted under section 306 and 498A of the IPC. The matter now is sub-judice."

The next date of hearing in the case is May 24.

Sunanda was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a suite of a five-star hotel in Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.

On July 6, 2017, Swamy filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court seeking a court-monitored inquiry into the mysterious death of Sunanda.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day before the inauguration of United States' embassy in Jerusalem, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday expressed his gratitude to US President Donald Trump for recognising the city as country's capital.

Taking to Twitter, the Israel PM said President Trump is "making history".

"President Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful for his bold decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the embassy there tomorrow!" he tweeted.

To inaugurate the embassy, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan is leading a 250-member strong delegation, which also includes Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Reportedly, Kushner has been given the task of restoring peace talks between Israel and Palestine, which came to a standstill following President Trump's controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December last year.

The decision has stalled the US-led peace process and had caused outrage in the Arab with Palestinian leaders rejecting Washington D.C's involvement in brokering a resolution to the age-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The State of Palestine seeks all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza territories for an independent state.

Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States diplomat Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall left for his country on Monday, a day after Pakistani authorities prevented him from leaving Pakistan.

Hall was involved in a fatal car accident in Daman-e-Koh, north of Islamabad as he, on April 7, jumped a red light and rammed into a motorcycle killing one Pakistani civilian, as reported by the Geo news.

Following the incident, the Pakistani authorities forced the U.S. Air Force C130 to land at Pakistan's Nur Khan air base and leave without diplomat Hall.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officer on duty stopped the diplomat at the airbase and seized his passport and then resorted to seeking directions from his higher authorities.

Colonel Hall returned to the embassy later.

He was reportedly sloshed while driving the white Land Cruiser involved in the accident.

An Islamabad court has ruled that Hall's diplomatic immunity does not protect him in the case.

On the other hand, the US government had refused to exempt Joseph from the diplomatic immunity, said sources.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following United States' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, White House national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday said there is a possibility of secondary sanctions being imposed on the European companies doing business with Iran.

He, however, believes that some European countries will eventually support the United States despite comments from some leaders expressing regret over Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal.

"I think the Europeans will see that's in their interest ultimately to go along with this," Bolton told CNN.

Bolton, however, did not rule out sanctions for European companies doing business with Iran.

"It's possible," he said. "It depends on the conduct of other governments."

Bolton also repeated the administration's objection to the sunset provisions in the Iran deal, which President Donald Trump had called "totally unacceptable", reported CNN.

"I think you have to start first with the fundamental deficiencies of the deal itself," Bolton said. "It would not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Quite the contrary, it provided cover for Iran to continue its efforts. And if it continued, it would have given Iran extraordinary economic benefits without any guarantees of Iranian performance."

On May 9, President Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal which limited the country's uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

Calling the accord as an "embarrassment" that was "defective at its core", he also warned of severe consequences if Iran resumes its nuclear programme.

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.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday called incidents of violence during West Bengal Panchayat Election a complete destruction of democracy.

"This is nothing but complete destruction of democracy. The Election Commission is not giving time to political representative. We are organizing a protest against it," he said while addressing a press conference here.

Earlier in the day, members of CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and other parties of the Left Front and Congress party staged a protest outside State Election Commission in Kolkata against the incidents of violence during the Panchayat Election.

The voting for the panchayat polls which started at 7 in the morning is still underway. It will end at 5 pm.

Though the polling began amid tight security, it saw huge-scale clashes between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers, resulting in the death of one.

Voting is taking place for 621 zilla parishads, over six thousand panchayat samitis, and nearly 31 thousand gram panchayats.

The counting of votes will take place on May 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A voter turnout of 41.51 percent has been recorded in West Bengal panchayat polls till 1 p.m. on Monday.

As polls get underway, a number of incidents of violence have been reported in various parts of the state.

An All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was shot dead earlier today in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district in poll-related violence, even as voting continues in the state.

Meanwhile, five local journalists were injured during violence after booth capturing in West Bengal's Birpara town, allegedly by TMC workers.

Ballot papers were thrown in a pond after a fresh clash that broke out between TMC and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in West Bengal's Murshidabad town, following which voting had been temporarily suspended.

Clashes were also reported between BJP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) workers in Durgapur, in addition to clashes in Cooch Behar.

Earlier, a TMC worker, Anarul Mita, suffered bullet injuries in an attack in Cooch Behar's Dinhata on late Sunday night, after which he was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.

On a related note, the voting, which began at 7 a.m. on Monday morning, will continue till 5 p.m. in 621 Zilla Parishads, 6157 panchayat samitis, and 31,827 gram panchayats.

The counting will take place on May 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ballot boxes were looted at gunpoint on Monday by unidentified people at polling booths in West Bengal's Murshidabad where Panchayat Election is underway.

The ongoing Panchayat Election saw huge-scale clashes between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers, resulting in the death of one.

Clashes also broke out between TMC and Congress supporters in Murshidabad.

"BJP agent was trying to run away with the ballot box, while officers caught hold of him but people said to let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all," State Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh told ANI, who was caught on camera slapping a BJP supporter.

"TMC hasn't attacked anyone," Ghosh added.

A voting booth was also vandalised allegedly by TMC workers in North Dinajpur's Sonadangi during the panchayat polls.

Earlier, some ballot papers were also thrown in a pond after a clash between TMC and BJP workers in Murshidabad. A ballot box was also retrieved from a pond in Sonadangi.

The clashes between the two parties also led to vandalism of vehicles in Raniganj area of Asansol during the time of voting.

Earlier in the day, a TMC worker namely Arif Gazi was shot dead in Kultali area of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district in poll-related violence even as voting continues in the state.

On a related note, the voting, which began at 7 a.m. on Monday morning, will continue till 5 p.m. in 621 Zilla Parishads, 6157 panchayat samitis, and 31,827 gram panchayats.

The counting will take place on May 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was shot dead on Monday in Kultali area of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district in poll-related violence even as voting continues in the state.

The TMC worker has been identified as Arif Gazi.

Meanwhile, five local journalists have also been injured during violence after booth capturing in West Bengal's Birpara town, allegedly by TMC workers.

Earlier in the day, ballot papers were thrown in a pond after a fresh clash that broke out between TMC and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in West Bengal's Murshidabad town following which the voting had been stopped for now.

"BJP agent was trying to run away with the ballot box, while officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all," State Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh told ANI, who was caught on camera slapping a BJP supporter.

"TMC hasn't attacked anyone," Ghosh added.

A person who was injured with a knife allegedly by TMC workers, earlier today is a BJP candidate from Bilkanda. The injured has been identified as Raju Biswas and is currently undergoing treatment at Panihati State General Hospital.

"Highly condemnable and deplorable, it signifies that culture of political violence under TMC has engulfed entire West Bengal. It is an alarming sign for democracy," BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi told ANI.

Clashes were also reported between BJP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) workers in Durgapur.

As many as 20 people were injured in fresh clashes which broke out between two groups here in Cooch Behar in connection with the same issue earlier today.

As per a local, a number of individuals had gone to cast their vote at a polling station here, when they were attacked with sticks by a group of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers. Subsequently, the injured were admitted to MJN Hospital for treatment.

BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das was slapped by Ghosh at Cooch Behar's booth no. 8/12 in the presence of police.

As panchayat polls get underway, many incidents of violence have been reported from different pockets of the state.

On the other hand, a TMC worker, Anarul Mita, suffered bullet injuries in an attack in Cooch Behar's Dinhata on late Sunday night, after which he was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.

The victim has alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers are behind the attack.

On a related note, the voting, which began at 7 a.m. on Monday morning, will continue till 5 p.m. in 621 Zilla Parishads, 6157 panchayat samitis, and 31,827 gram panchayats.

The counting will take place on May 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) chief ministerial candidate for Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa on Monday took a jibe at incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, questioning as to why didn't he say about giving up Chief Minister seat for a Dalit 10 or 15 days before the assembly elections.

"Why didn't he (Siddaramiah) say the same thing (about giving up CM seat for a Dalit) 10 or 15 days before," Yeddyurappa asked.

"He knows that he is going to lose the battle. We are going to form the government, we will go to Delhi to meet PM tomorrow," he added.

Yesterday, Siddaramaiah had said that he was willing to vacate his chief ministerial post for a Dalit.

"I am ready to sacrifice Chief Minister's post for a Dalit," he was quoted as saying by a TV channel.

Ruling Congress, BJP, and Janata Dal (Secular) mainly fought high-profile Karnataka elections, voting for which took place on May 12.

Out of 225-Karnataka Assembly segments, 222 went to the polls. Elections in Bengaluru's constituencies - Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar - were postponed.

A party or an alliance needs 113-seats to form the government.

The votes will be counted on Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Early stage Venture Capital Fund, YourNest has further strengthened its vision of being a 'Nurture Capital' focused fund for startups in India by launching the coveted Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program.

The YourNest EIR program will aim to support proven entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas to build successful ventures of the future. This initiative further strengthens the commitment that YourNest has made to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. The time-bound program will nurture, mentor and provide potential entrepreneurs with access to a wealth of experience, insights and network from the entrepreneurs in residence that they can leverage.

Speaking on the development, Sunil Goyal, Managing Director and Fund Manager, YourNest Venture Capital said, "As part of our 'Nurture Capital' vision, we continue to pursue our commitment to back the best in the Indian startup ecosystem. I am delighted to launch our EIR program, which further reaffirms our commitment to recognize and support entrepreneurs who are in early stages of working on a new idea. Additionally, our EIRs will have the opportunity to provide strategic and operational mentoring to existing portfolio companies. The goal will, however, remain to develop a fundable concept that we can seed and help grow progressively."

A startup idea needs an eco-system that preserves and promotes entrepreneurship in addition to early-stage funding. India has not been able to spawn as many entrepreneurs as it can, because of the lack of such support/mentoring systems. They need nurturing, emotional support and mentoring. According to a recent survey of entrepreneurs conducted by conducted by a reputed organization, 45% of respondents considered acquiring senior management talent as a harder challenge than attracting investors. With the EIR program, YourNest Venture Capital intends to overcome this impediment for its portfolio and achieve its vision of being a true 'Nurture Capital'.

To further provide the portfolio companies a holistic 360-degree marketing and brand strategy support, Mohit Hira, an advertising and marketing professional as well as a co-founder, has been inducted into the leadership team at YourNest Venture Capital.

Nidhi Agarwal joined YourNest in part-time capacity as their first EIR to support their portfolio from her experience as an Entrepreneur of four years with her fashion-tech venture KAARYAH. She comes with ~20 years experience across Marketing Strategy, Incubation and Finance.

YourNest Venture Capital has been acknowledged as the Youngest VC Fund featured in top 10 Ranking byreturns by the prestigious Preqin Ranking. The EIR Program and strengthening of the leadership will allow YourNest Venture Capital to further build on its core strength of handholding and supporting portfolio companies across cycles.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The stock is quoting at Rs 404.8, up 1.38% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is down 16.58% in last one year as compared to a 14.28% gain in NIFTY and a 16.62% gain in the Nifty Energy index.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd rose for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 404.8, up 1.38% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.11% on the day, quoting at 10794.5. The Sensex is at 35499.71, down 0.1%. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has dropped around 0.83% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is a constituent, has dropped around 2.92% in last one month and is currently quoting at 14048.35, down 0.08% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 26.79 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 61.59 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 405.35, up 1.29% on the day. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is down 16.58% in last one year as compared to a 14.28% gain in NIFTY and a 16.62% gain in the Nifty Energy index.

The PE of the stock is 12.22 based on TTM earnings ending December 17.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dena Bank fell 7.05% to Rs 17.15 at 9:50 IST on BSE after the central bank initiated prompt corrective action against the public sector lender.

The announcement after market hours on Friday, 11 May 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 52.88 points, or 0.15% to 35,588.67.

On the BSE, 2.16 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 1.28 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 18.30 so far during the day. The stock had hit a low of Rs 16.15 so far during the day, which is also 52-week low for the counter. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 41.45 on 12 May 2017.

The Reserve Bank has initiated prompt corrective action against public sector lender Dena Bank in view of high non-performing loans, restricting the bank from giving fresh credit and new hiring.

Dena Bank reported net loss of Rs 1225.42 crore in Q4 March 2018 as against net loss of Rs 575.26 crore in Q4 March 2017. Total income declined 8.48% to Rs 2390.68 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. The result was announced at the fag end of the trading session on Friday, 11 May 2018.

The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 16361.44 crore as on 31 March 2018 as against Rs 14168.78 crore as on 31 December 2017 and Rs 12618.73 crore as on 31 March 2017.

The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 22.04% as on 31 March 2018 as against 19.56% as on 31 December 2017 and 16.27% as on 31 March 2017.

The ratio of net NPAs to net advances stood at 11.95% as on 31 March 2018 as against 11.52% as on 31 December 2017 and 10.66% as on 31 March 2017.

Provisions and contingencies surged 104.86% to Rs 1991.30 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017.

Dena Bank is a public sector bank. The Government of India held 80.74% stake in the bank as on 31 March 2018.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Furthering the Digital India-initiatives of Govt. of India, Principal Controller of Defence Accounts(Pensions), Allahabad has started issuance of electronic-Pension Payment Orders (e-PPOs) to the pensioners along with their Pension Disbursement Agencies viz., Banks, Defence Pension Disbursement Offices, Post Offices, etc. What began in the first phase, for all Commissioned Officers and JCOs/ORs of Armed Forces from the month of October 2017, has now been extended to all defence pensioners including defence civilians.

Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), Allahabad is the sole agency under Ministry of Defence which sanctions Pensions for the Defence Services viz., Army, Coast Guard, Defence Research and Development Organization, General Reserve Engineer Force, Border Roads Organization, Military Engineering Services and other Defence organisations including Defence Account Department and Defence Civilians.

The shift from manual system to e-PPO system is expected to minimize delays in pension disbursement and further revision as and when needed.

This initiative also eliminates the occurrence of human errors in data entry at multiple levels.

The next big step in this direction would be digitizing pension documents received from 46 record offices and more than 2900 Heads of Offices. This initiative by PCDA (P) will facilitate better implementation of OROP.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The reversal of the applicable 7.5% import duty on solar modules can reduce the quoted solar tariffs by 10-12 paisa/unit to INR2.60-2.62/unit in upcoming auctions, at least for strong counterparties such as NTPC Limited (IND AAA/Stable) and Solar Energy Corporation of India, estimates India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). Ind-Ra sees this as a favourable development for solar developers and could be a shot in the arm for the 8-10GW of solar power plants likely to be commissioned in FY19.

The recent round of auctions conducted by NTPC for 750MW of solar power have seen winning tariffs in the range of INR2.72-2.73/unit, around 11.5% higher than the lowest tariff of INR2.44/unit discovered in Bhadla solar park auction conducted in May 2017 by Solar Energy Corporation of India. Incidentally, Gujarat cancelled about 500MW of solar auctions in April 2018 anticipating higher tariffs.

The increase in tariffs was because of the import duty and the proposed 70% safeguard duty on imported solar modules (please refer market wire on Safeguard Duty on Solar Panels to Increase Equity Requirement; Impacts Ongoing Projects); the latter was later withdrawn.

Besides this, the ban on letter of comfort/letter of undertakings by the Reserve Bank of India has reduced the arbitrage in the cost of debt (between short-term trade instruments and rupee term loan) which solar power developers used to enjoy during the project implementation stage. However, the industry will closely monitor safeguard duty applicability to quote tariffs.

The 7.5% import duty was levied by customs department on classifying solar modules 'electric motors and generators'. This would delay project execution, as module containers were stuck at major ports.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Inter departmental parleys are intensifying between department of commerce and revenue for early release of pending Rs 14,000 crores of export refunds relating to GST as the government has already disposed off GST refunds amounting to Rs.20,000 crores by April 2018, according to the Additional Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Mr. N K Srivastava.

Mr. Srivastava also disclosed that the focus of the government is also shifting towards creation of sector specific export promotion to enable India further rise its exports.

To this effect, a Committee has been constituted within the department of commerce to examine the potential of sectoral exports that have been until now stayed put unattended to, added Mr. Srivastava pointing out that concentration of India's exports proceeds till now remained largely on services particularly relating to ITs.

Elaborating on dispensation of pending exports related refunds though Mr.

Srivastava pointed out that the disbursal would happen sooner than anticipated but blamed the exporting community also stating that their filing of GST refund cases have been in correct and proper manner.

On account of this that the exports refunds have also been delayed but with the inter-departmental consultations progressing faster between department of commerce and revenue, pending exports refunds to an extent of Rs.14,000 crore are likely to be facilitated quickly.

Vice President, PHD Chamber, Mr. D K Aggarwal highlighted the grievances being faced by exporters relating to their refunds and asked the government to take up the issue with faster and accelerated pace.

According to him, Indian exports in the last couple of years have not been proceeding with required pace and speed including volumes and exports have shrunk only to an extent of 12% of GDP which is a matter of concern for India in particular and trade in general.

Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. Bimal Jain drew a comparison between pre-GST and post-GST exports and pointed out that in the current regime must ensure ease of business with simplification for exports of goods and services with timely refund of GST so as to ensure no working capital gets blocked in the hands of exporters.

Co-Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. N K Gupta demanded that India needs to examine the possibilities of high value export items such as defence and the like because India's current exports are largely dominated by IT and ITEs which could have a certain limit in future.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that the State will be declared as open defecation free (ODF) by Gandhi Jayanti this year. This will mean that the State will become ODF one year before the national timeline of October 2nd, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Chief Minister also spoke about how the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) has become a jan andolan - a people's movement - in the State. He went on to emphasize the role of people's participation in making a sanitation movement like this successful, and said that he looked forward to the continued support of the people of the State in achieving as well as sustaining ODF status in the State.

The Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Sushri Uma Bharti shared that the national sanitation coverage has risen to over 83%, a more than double increase from the baseline coverage of 39% at the time of the launch of the Mission in October,2014.

She underlined that Swachh Bharat is ultimately a movement for the people, by the people and of the people and that is what has made it a true jan andolan.

She shared that over 3.7 lakh villages, 383 districts and 17 States/UTs of the country have already been declared ODF, and stressed upon the need to also start focusing on ODF-plus activities as well. To this end, the GOBAR-dhan scheme was also launched in Madhya Pradesh at the event.

Announced in the Union budget this year, the scheme aims at positively impacting village cleanliness and generating wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste. The first among such projects in Madhya Pradesh will be implemented in Kodsa village in Narsingpur District and Chiruli village in Gwalior District.

Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Parameswaran Iyer lauded the role played by Swachhagrahis, the foot soldiers of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) in the progress made across the country. He called upon them to keep behavior change at the focal point of their activities at the grassroots and sustain their efforts even after the State is declared ODF.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Film Facilitation Office is in the process of establishing a dedicated web portal that will disseminate information on filming locations and the facilities available in India for production/post production. Accordingly, the portal will help potential production companies looking to shoot in India to obtain permissions, explore potential benefits (tangible and non-tangible) and obtain an overview of various locations in India that could benefit the storyline of the film under consideration.

Application - The portal will facilitate the acceptance of application for shooting feature films / TV & Web Reality shows and series and / or TV & Web shows and series in India, along with online payments and issuing permissions. Foreign Audio Visual Agencies intending to shoot documentary films / AV commercials in India would link to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Web portal.

Locations - The portal would also provide information on locations and link to all State portals. It would capture detailed information pertaining to a particular location, resources or facilities available in a standardized format that would include basic location description, map, best time to shoot, connectivity, photographs, digital walk tour, permissions required, previous movies shot etc.

Enlisting of Information - The portal would provide information on all Co-production treaties, shooting guidelines of various Central and State agencies, permission process, link to all trade associations.

Resources and Facilities Directory - The portal would have a holistic database of the resources available in the Indian film industry including DOP, cast, crew, casting agents, line producers, service / facility providers as well as producers.

This would not only help build reliability for the Indian producers who shoot abroad but also enhance their profile internationally, thus leading to greater international tie-ups and engagements. It will also link all trade associations like Producers Guild, FFI, CII, FICCI, etc.

Co-production of Films: Financial incentives will be provided to film makers for production of films under Audio Visual Co-production treaties other countries. Support for funding will be taken from the dedicated corpus funds. Policy guidelines for optimum and effective use of funds are being prepared.

These are main activities to be undertaken by the Films Wing of the Ministry of I&B, Gov. of India, as a Champion Sector (Audio-Visual Services).

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured on Monday in violence during the West Bengal panchayat polls, where around 73 per cent of the electorate had cast their votes at the end of balloting hours at 5 p.m.

The State Election Commission said the polling percentage was 73 at the end of voting hours, though the numbers would go up since 4.5 lakh voters were still queued up across the state.

"We have, so far, received telephonic complaints of six deaths. We are awaiting written confirmation from authorities on the death toll," State Election Commission Secretary Nilanjan Shandilya told IANS.

A youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter a polling premises in Nadia district while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district's Kultali, police said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed one of their activists was killed in bomb attacks in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga.

Three deaths were reported from Murshidabad while two were killed in East Midnapore's Nandigram. Two persons lost their lives in Nadia and North Dinajpur districts.

"Three youths were beaten up by locals in Nadia district's Shantipur area on Monday morning. Police rescued and got them admitted to a local hospital. One of them, Sanjit Pramanik, succumbed to his injuries," Nadia district Superintendent of Police Santosh Pandey told IANS.

"Trinamool Congress worker Arif Ali Gazi was shot in the chest while coming out of a polling booth. He died in a hospital," an officer from Kultali police station said.

Though CPI-M's North 24 Parganas leaders claimed their party activist died in Amdanga after he was attacked with crude bombs, there was no police confirmation.

"We have heard of the incident but it is not confirmed yet. We are going to the spot," an officer from Amdanga police station said.

Police sources said two people were shot in East Midnapore district's Nandigram, famous for its historic land movement against the erstwhile Left Front government. The CPI-M claimed the two dead were party activists.

At least seven persons sustained bullet injuries in Murshidabad's Naoda area, leading to the death of one of them. The remaining were admitted in the district hospital.

Earlier, polling to elect 38,616 representatives in the three tiers of Panchayati Raj institutions -- panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads -- started at 7 a.m.

As the day progressed, reports of clashes, booth capturing, vandalising of ballot boxes and rigging were received from pockets of South and North 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, Nadia, West Midnapore and Cooch Behar districts.

In several places, gun-toting goons attacked policemen on duty at polling premises, leaving at least two police officers severely injured.

In South 24 Parganas' Bhangar, the 'Jomi, Jibika, Bastutantra O Poribesh Raksha Committee' (Committee for protecting land, livelihood, ecology and environment), which is spearheading an anti-power grid movement in the area, accused armed miscreants of the Trinamool Congress of kidnapping their Panchayat Samiti candidate Sariful Mullick and terrorising voters.

The committee alleged that their candidate Entazul Khan was severely injured in an attack by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants and was taken to Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital.

In north Bengal's Cooch Behar, Minister Rabindranath Ghosh was accused of slapping a Bharatiya Janata Party polling agent and forcing him out of the polling premises, following which the SEC sought a report from the district administration.

The Minister, however, denied all allegations and accused the BJP agent of trying to run away with the ballot box.

Violence also took place in East Midnapore district's Panskura and West Midnapore district's Keshpur where gun-toting miscreants gathered outside the polling stations and beat up voters.

Several attempts to rig the election process were also reported across the state as miscreants poured water into ballot boxes or set them on fire.

Initially, voting for the rural bodies was to be held on May 1, 3 and 5 but as the nomination process started in April, it was rescheduled to May 14 by the SEC following a Calcutta High Court order to extend the nomination deadline and announce a fresh polling date.

Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of the rural local bodies, 20,076 seats, or 34.2 per cent, have been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.

These include 16,814 of the total 48,650 gram panchayats seats, 3,059 of the 9,217 panchayat samiti seats and 203 of the 825 zila parishad seats.

The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in these seats.

--IANS

mgr/tsb/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ten Myanmar nationals were arrested in border town Moreh on Monday for trying to enter India on fake travel papers, police said.

The ten, five men and as many women, were arrested by police commandos who said two persons who prepared travel documents for them have also been taken into custody.

All the arrested have been handed over to the police in Moreh.

Security measures have been beefed up for the visit of Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff and Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, who is on a four-day visit to some northeast states from Monday.

Recently, police at Moreh arrested some Rohingyas, one Chinese and some Myanmarese people while they were entering India through Moreh.

Meanwhile, Admiral Lanba arrived here in an IAF helicopter on Sunday. He inspected the Integrated check post at Moreh on Monday.

Admiral Lanba is scheduled to visit Mizoram and Tripura after Manipur where he will also meet the governors and senior officials.

--IANS

il/him/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Moroccan authorities have arrested four suspected Islamic State (IS) militants who had been plotting attacks in the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

The suspects, aged between 20 and 26, had been active in the northwestern cities of Casablanca and Kenitra and the northeastern cities of Fez and Driouch. One of them is a former prisoner charged with terrorism, the ministry said in a statement.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were supporting and disseminating IS propaganda. Some of the suspects made contact with IS fighters to learn how to make bombs, it said.

Electronic devices, military uniforms and books advocating extremist ideas have been seized during the arrest operations.

Spanish and Moroccan security services earlier this month collaborated to dismantle a terror cell affiliated with the IS and operating in both countries, leading to the arrest of five people, according to a MAP news agency report.

Of the five arrested, three were active in Morocco's Fnideq city while two others were operating in Spain's Bilbao.

Since 2015, Moroccan security services have busted over 50 terrorist cells, more than 40 of which were linked to the IS, according to Interior Ministry statistics.

--IANS

soni/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 43 Palestinians were killed and 2,200 were injured on Monday as Israeli troops fired on demonstrators along the Gaza-Israel boundary protesting the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials said, making it the deadliest day of violence since the 2014 Gaza war.

In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces said 40,000 Palestinians were taking part in "violent riots" in 13 locations along the Gaza Strip security fence as the US opened its embassy, with an American delegation including President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, daughter Ivanka Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attending the ceremony.

There were violent clashes between Israeli police and angry protesters who raised Palestinian flags outside the new embassy. Several protesters were detained, the BBC reported.

Despite the bloodshed, Trump hailed the move in a video message. He told the dedication ceremony that it had been a "long time coming", adding: "Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine its own capital but for many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious."

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, among those killed was a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old. Two hundred minors were wounded while 30 injured protesters were in critical condition.

It said 918 protesters were wounded by live ammunition and shots were fired at journalists and medical personnel, with one paramedic killed and two injured.

Palestinians hurled stones and incendiary devices while the Israeli military used snipers as black smoke poured from burning tyres. Israel said the protests were aimed at breaching the border and attacking Israeli communities nearby.

The Israeli military said it killed three people trying to plant explosives near the security fence in Rafah. Aircraft and tanks had also targeted military positions belonging to Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian authority called for an "immediate and urgent international intervention" to stop the "horrific massacre committed by the Israeli Occupational forces against our heroic people," government spokesman Youssef Mahmoud said in a statement.

The demonstrations and general strikes had been planned to protest against the US embassy's relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which many consider contravenes international consensus to not recognize the city as Israel's capital until its status is established during negotiations.

Palestinians see East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in 1980, as the capital of their future state.

The timing of the move has also been slammed, as it is being held a day ahead of Nakba Day ("Day of the Catastrophe"), which this year marks the 70th anniversary of Israel's creation and subsequent displacement of some 700,000 Palestinian refugees.

--IANS

soni/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least nine women were killed in a stampede during a gathering to collect iftar handout in Bangladesh's Chattagram district on Monday.

Nearly 20,000 people gathered at the Kaderia Moinul Ulum Dakhil Madrassa to receive the iftar materials. The stampede took place as too many people pushed against each other to get the first delivery of the food items, Xinhua news agency reported citing police officials.

At least 40 people, mostly women and children, were injured in the incident.

"Usually handouts are only given to residents of this village. But this year people from nearby villages also came, inflating the crowd. Police as well as over 100 of our own security staff were present. A medical team was also on standby but we have still had a disaster," said Meherul Karim, the head of KSRM steel factory, which organised the iftar handout.

The families of each of the dead will receive Taka 300,000 in compensation, he said, adding that the company will also bear the cost of any medical treatment for the injured. Jobs will also be arranged for the families of the dead.

The district administration has launched a probe into the incident.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As Delhi Police on Monday charged Congress leader Shashi Tharoor with abetting his wife Sunanda Pushkar's suicide in 2014, AIIMS forensic department head Sudhir Gupta, who headed the medical board conducting the autopsy, said the filing of chargesheet was delayed by four years during which a lot of evidence was destroyed.

Speaking to IANS, Gupta said: "From the beginning I had said the death was due to poisioning. We said it was due to alphrax poisoning...and could also be mixed poisoning and there were injuries on the body.

"So, it is not a natural death and not even accidental. FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US) also confirmed the same thing. So, the only option left was either suicide or homicide, which was to be investigated by the police."

He said he had been saying "from the first day" that it could be either suicide or homicide.

Pushkar, 52, wife of senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in a south Delhi hotel room on January 17, 2014.

Blaming the Police for shoddy investigation, Gupta said: "A lot of evidence has been destroyed, even Delhi Police destroyed evidence. So they had to do something on the basis of the evidence they had.

"It is not a one-man show in Delhi Police. It's a many-man show."

He said police took four years to file the chargesheet and delayed a lot.

"I have been saying from the beginning that it has been a shoddy investigation. It does not take so much of time. You call that shoddy. Isn't it?" he said.

The Delhi Police had earlier registered a case of murder in the death of Pushkar after the medical report said her death was unnatural and was caused by poisoning.

Asked how police changed the case from murder to suicide, Gupta said: "You should ask the police about it. Earlier, they did not accept my report, but ultimately they had to include my report in the chargesheet. The chargesheet they filed is based on my report.

He said even the FBI had endorsed the AIIMS report of poisoning as the cause of death.

He said Tharoor being charged at least proved that there was some "criminality" in the case.

"They are charging him for abetment of suicide. At least, he has been charged for criminality. In the beginning they (police) were saying it was a natural death."

Gupta said the police had to prove it in the court now. "It is their duty. It is open in the court. The police can be criticised there (for the investigation). It's not my role to investigate."

The AIIMS report had stated that "the cause of death was poisoning and the viscera was positive for ethyl alcohol, caffeine, acetaminophen and cotinine".

The AIIMS medical board in its second opinion in 2014 had listed poisonous substances such as thallium, polonium-210, nerium oleander, snake bites, photolabile poisons and heroin, which were said to be either undetectable or difficult to detect at Indian laboratories.

Pushkar's viscera samples were sent to the FBI lab in Washington DC, United States, to determine the poison that may have killed her. The FBI had endorsed the AIIMS report stating poisoning as the cause of Pushkar's death.

Gupta had earlier alleged that he was asked by then AIIMS Director M.C. Mishra to prepare a post-mortem examination report of Pushkar, stating her death was "natural". Mishra had filed an affidavit with the Delhi High Court to remove Gupta from his post.

--IANS

sid/sar/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hours after a retaining wall of a busy flyover collapsed in Punjab's industrial city of Ludhiana, authorities in the city's civic body on Monday blamed it on rodents.

The retaining wall of Gill Road flyover in Ludhiana, around 110 km from here, collapsed on Sunday night.

There were no casualties even though traffic was moving on the flyover.

Traffic movement was stopped on the flyover on Monday resulting in traffic jams on roads near it.

Officials of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation on Monday said that the the wall collapsed as some rats excavated the sand.

Corporation's Superintending Engineer Dharam Singh told the media that rats were the reason behind the wall collapse.

Official sources said that an inquiry was being marked into the incident.

Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who visited the spot on Monday, told reporters that rats alone could not be blamed for the wall collapse.

--IANS

js/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Arjun Kapoor, who will be seen in an item number titled "Chumme mein chavanprash" along with his cousin Harshvardhan Kapoor in "Bhavesh Joshi", says doing energetic songs gives him a high as he believes in entertaining people through "commercial stuff".

"It's a big high for me as an actor to do such super energetic songs. I believe in entertaining people through commercial stuff. I feel nice when they enjoy a song or film and feel it is full paisa vasool (worth every penny) for them," Arjun said in a statement.

"Chumme Mein Chavanprash" is a promotional music video for Harshvardhan's film.

On the concept of the song, Arjun said: "It's 'Fight Club' meets 'Blade Runner' meets 'Madmax' meets 'Chikni Chameli'. It's just insane. It's a proper male item song after years and I hate using the word 'item' but this truly is an item. The set-up is the item."

This will be the first time Arjun and Harshvardhan would be seen sharing screen space together.

On working with his cousin, he said: "It was an amazing experience being on set with Harsh. I truly enjoyed watching him play Bhavesh in front of me. He had to be in his character -- he has to stay honest and stay good. But I on the other hand, was able to be myself and have lots of fun.

"I got to be a goofy older brother entertaining him, showing him how I function and he showed me how he works."

Arjun, 32, said that it was nice to have a camaraderie on a film set and to be able to take their relationship forward.

"I felt very proud watching him in person on camera. He is very sure of his craft," Arjun added.

Presented by Eros International and Phantom, "Bhavesh Joshi" is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and is slated to release on May 25.

--IANS

dc/rb/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NCP activists led by a party MLA ransacked here on Monday a warehouse that stored sugar imported from Pakistan, an issue that also elicited strong reaction from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and a dig at the Centre from the Congress.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers led by senior leader and legislator Jitendra Awhad staged protests against a businessmen who had stockpiled sugar from Pakistan in a warehouse in Diaghar in Thane. They also damaged some sacks and threw sugar on the floor.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also strongly opposed the decision to import sugar from Pakistan for sale in India, with its activists going around to warn traders against selling it in the market.

"We have asked them to be prepared for retaliation in 'MNS-style' if they continue to sell Pakistani sugar to customers," said MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande.

Congress state President Ashok Chavan said that while the Modi government had promised to bring fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, "it ended up bringing Pakistani sugar".

"The Shiv Sena does not tolerate Pakistani artistes and players, but Pakistani sugar is fine with them. Despite there being a record production in India, the government has imported huge quantity of sugar from Pakistan, which will severely hit the Indian sugar industry," Chavan told mediapersons.

He said that against government estimates of 250 metric tonnes of sugar production, the output has been 320 metric tonnes while sugar from previous season lies unsold in godowns, resulting in a crash in prices from around Rs 42 per kg last year to Rs 25 per kg this year.

"Sugar production is expected to increase even next year. So, the government should formulate a proper sugar policy and encourage exports, create a buffer stock of five million tonnes, provide for interest payments, storage, insurance and maintenance costs, etc," Chavan said.

However, he said, the government imported Pakistani sugar which costs Re 1 less per kg than rates prevailing in India, which will result in further drop in sugar production, hitting growers and factories alike.

"The BJP and Shiv Sena regularly oppose Pakistana. Now, they are going to distribute Pakistani sugar in Indian homes," Leader of Opposition in Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said.

Former Minister Harshavardhan Patil said that by this decision, the Modi government has shown more concern about Pakistani farmers than Indian farmers who are reeling under agrarian crises.

"The government has imported 20,000 tonnes of sugar from Pakistan. This is a conspiracy to crash sugar prices in the country. There should be a high-level inquiry," Patil said.

Maharashtra Marketing Minister Subhash Deshmukh said that the state is examining as to how cane growers can be helped in the current situation.

"Recently, the central government announced a subsidy of Rs 55 per quintal on sugar, which is ultimately benefiting farmers. We will explore other ways to address the genuine issues faced by sugarcane farmers and the sugar industry," Deshmukh said.

--IANS

qn/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Robbers claiming to be Uttar Pradesh Police personnel attacked two Buddhist monks and injured them early on Monday at a library Farrukhabad district, police said.

Six gun-wielding robbers, who were yet to be identified, barged into the Buddha Vihar library in Sankisa area and attacked the monks before decamping with five mobile phones, one bike and Rs 40,000 in cash.

Monk Bhatte Chaitsik said, on being asked the robbers told them they were from the Uttar Pradesh Police. Later, they thrashed the monks and robbed them off their belongings, police said.

The monks managed to reach the roof somehow and dialled UP 100 service with the help of a neighbour. A First Information Report has been registered.

Farrukhabad Superintendent of Police Mrigank Singh told IANS that the monks were injured and added that the police were trying to crack the case at the earliest.

Sankisa is a major tourist and spiritual draw for Buddhists who come here from across the world, round the year.

--IANS

md/him/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the wake of violence during the panchayat elections in West Bengal on Monday that left at least 10 dead, the Central government has sought a report from the state government, an official said.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured by 7 p.m on Monday in the violence during the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions' elections in West Bengal.

"Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the West Bengal government in view of the violence during panchayat elections," a senior Home Ministry official said.

The State Election Commission (SEC) said the polling percentage was 73 at the end of voting, though the numbers would go up since 4.5 lakh voters were still queued up across the state.

A youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter polling premises in Nadia district, while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district's Kultali, the police said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed that one of their activists was killed in a bomb attack in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga.

Three deaths were reported from Murshidabad, while two were killed in East Midnapore's Nandigram. Two persons lost their lives in Nadia and North Dinajpur districts.

However, Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha said that the death toll and violence was "far lesser than in the past".

More than 60,000 armed personnel from West Bengal and neighbouring states were deployed for the panchayat polls. As many as 80,000 civic volunteers were also deployed to guard the polling centres.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Monday demanded the arrest of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's nephew for allegedly assaulting senior citizens protesting outside the venue where BJP President Amit Shah was addressing party's booth workers on Sunday evening.

A statement issued by Goa Congress spokesperson Avinash Tavares on Monday said that the Chief Minister's nephew Akhil allegedly assaulted senior citizens from Goa Suraksha Manch, a regional political party mentored by former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar and created a law and order situation on a public road.

"We also demand immediate arrest of Akhil for assaulting senior citizens and creating law and order situation near the venue. Any other activist indulging in similar activity would have been sent behind bars immediately by Goa Police," the Congress said.

On Sunday, soon after the meeting, Akhil Parrikar had filed a complaint at the Agacain police station accusing members of the Manch of trying to defame and malign Parrikar's and his family's image.

In the complaint, Akhil also alleged that the Manch's members heckled him and his mother.

"The entire exercise was aimed solely towards defaming and maligning image of honourable Chief Minister of Goa, his family as well as Bharatiya Janata Party. This was systematically executed to disrupt the peaceful conduct of booth workers conclave and creating enmity," Parrikar had said.

According to Hrudaynath Shirodkar, an office bearer of the manch who was also present when the fracas happened outside an indoor stadium near Panaji, a counter complaint has also been filed against Akhil Parrikar at the same police station, accusing the latter of alleged assault and abuse.

The Manch's members were protesting Amit Shah's statement during an election rally in Karnataka, where he had promised to divert water from the disputed Mhadei river to the Southern state within six months.

--IANS

maya/sku/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Monday approved the merger of Bharti Airtel with the Indian unit of Norwegian telecom major Telenor India, a notice said here.

The notification said DoT has transferred all licences and liabilities of Telenor India to Bharti Airtel.

The notification said: "The present merger is taken on record without prejudice to the rights, contentions, remedies and steps which may be taken by the Department, in pursuance of any subsequent orders of any orders, judgements and decisions of Hon'ble Courts/Tribunals in related matters" pending in the Bombay High Court, TDSAT and Supreme Court."

The DoT's notification came after the Supreme Court last week quashed DoT's effort to make Bharti Airtel furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 1,499 crore as a pre-condition to approving the Telenor India acquisition.

Bharti Airtel had received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE, National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) and Competition Commission of India for the proposed merger with Telenor (India) in June last year.

Airtel had announced on February 23, 2017 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Telenor South Asia Investments. As part of the scheme, Airtel will acquire Telenor India's running operations in seven circles - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Assam.

"These circles represent a high population concentration and therefore offer a high potential for growth. The proposed acquisition will include transfer of all of Telenor India's assets and customers, further augmenting Airtel's overall customer base and network," the telecom major said in a statement earlier.

"It will also enable Airtel to further bolster its strong spectrum footprint in these seven circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band," it added.

During the acquisition announcement the deal was estimated to be in the range of Rs 1,800 crore-Rs 2,000 crore by industry sources.

--IANS

ag/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Monday approved the merger of Bharti Airtel with the Indian unit of Norwegian telecom major Telenor India, a notice said here. Airtel said it will be a seamless transition.

The notification said DoT has transferred all licences and liabilities of Telenor India to Bharti Airtel.

Airtel in a statement said: "All the customers (Telenor) will be transitioned seamlessly to the Airtel network and will continue to enjoy uninterrupted services with the same SIM, same number, and same plan/pack benefits."

The DoT notification said: "The present merger is taken on record without prejudice to the rights, contentions, remedies and steps which may be taken by the Department, in pursuance of any subsequent orders of any orders, judgements and decisions of Hon'ble Courts/Tribunals in related matters" pending in the Bombay High Court, TDSAT and Supreme Court."

With the completion of this transaction, Airtel's total mobile customer base in India now stands at over 330 million.

The DoT's notification came after the Supreme Court last week quashed DoT's effort to make Bharti Airtel furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 1,499 crore as a pre-condition to approving the Telenor India acquisition.

Bharti Airtel had received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE, National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) and Competition Commission of India for the proposed merger with Telenor (India) in June last year.

Airtel had announced on February 23, 2017 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Telenor South Asia Investments. As part of the scheme, Airtel will acquire Telenor India's running operations in seven circles - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Assam.

"These circles represent a high population concentration and therefore offer a high potential for growth. The proposed acquisition will include transfer of all of Telenor India's assets and customers, further augmenting Airtel's overall customer base and network," the telecom major said in a statement earlier.

With this merger Airtel will now add 5 MHz to 7.2 MHz of Telenor's spectrum (1800 band) in each of the seven circles. The addition of this fresh spectrum (total of 43.4 MHz) will enable Airtel to further expand network capacity across these market, the statement said.

"The acquisition consolidates our market leadership, further strengthens our network portfolio in key markets and will add to shareholder value. We would like to thank all the concerned authorities and stakeholders for granting approvals to this transaction," said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

During the acquisition announcement the deal was estimated to be in the range of Rs 1,800 crore-Rs 2,000 crore by industry sources.

--IANS

ag/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four BJP-ruled north Indian states and one Union Territory signed a pact here on Monday with the National Health Mission to implement government of India's Ayushman Bharat scheme that aims to provide free treatment to the poor.

However, Congress-ruled Punjab refused to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU), saying the state had "some issues that needs to be resolved first before the scheme launch".

"We have some reservations. The Punjab government is running some health insurance schemes. We are yet to study the convergence of existing schemes with this one. We also have issues about 60:40 ratio of funding by the Centre," Punjab Health Minister Brahm Mohindra said.

"We are not averse to the new scheme. It is a matter of time. Let them address our objections first," he said, adding "I have spoken to the Union Health Minister. He has invited me to Delhi to discuss the issues".

The states and the Union Territory that signed the memorandum are Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Speaking on the occasion, Nadda said the government's health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat, would promote wellness centres for preventive and curative care, benefiting over 10 crore families living below the poverty line in the country.

Universal health check-up would be ensured for the people before they attain the age of 30. 1.50 lakh health sub centres in the country would be converted into wellness centres for early detection of diseases, he added.

Treatment of all major ailments has been covered in the scheme.

Appreciating the move by the five states, he said the MoU would go a long way in providing health cover to the masses.

State Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said, Ayushman Bharat was the biggest health insurance scheme in the world and had the potential to bring revolution in the health sector.

Union Secretary for Health and Family Welfare Preeti Sudan said the role of the scheme would be consultative and the major role would be of the state governments, adding that the Central government would provide all possible help to the states for its implementation.

--IANS

vg/mag/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Police on Monday busted a gang of highway truck-jackers and arrested a truck driver and his three accomplices for looting copper worth Rs 70 lakh along with the truck carrying it in the national capital, an officer said.

The police said the accused -- truck driver Ram Raj, 33, Ajay, 35, Vishal, 25, and one Manoj -- were involved in dozens of similar cases of looting trucks on various highways in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

"The police team arrested the accused on Monday from a godown in Haryana's Sonipat and recovered a truck-load of precious copper valued at Rs 70 lakh, which they were trying to sell to their contacts," Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar said.

The incident occurred on Saturday, after which main accused Ram Raj informed the owner of truck that the vehicle along with goods was looted by some highway truck-jackers at Kirti Nagar. He was also manhandled, he said.

"The owner, proprietor of a logistics company from Rajasthan, later filed a police complaint in Kirti Nagar police station. During investigation, the police noticed discrepancies in Ram Raj's statements. The medical opinion about his head injuries also suggested that he had concocted a story," the officer said.

"After sustained interrogation, Ram Raj broke down and confessed his crime. He told interrogators that he along with his accomplices planned the robbery of his employer's truck," he added.

On the clue provided by Ram Raj, the police also arrested his accomplices from Haryana.

--IANS

sp/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry has allowed field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) variety of mustard, which are expected to be held this winter.

GEAC Chairperson A.K. Mehta confirmed the development to the IANS on Monday, adding however that it does not mean an approval for commercial release of the hybrid mustard.

"This is not the first time that we have allowed field trials of the GM mustard. It has happened before as well. This does not mean that the GM mustard has been approved. This is only about field trials," Mehta said.

Geneticist Deepak Pental, who has developed the mustard variety Dhara Hybrid-11 (DMH-11), called the development "good decision", which he said will help the country in ensuring "increased and guaranteed yield".

Coalition for a GM-Free India has, however, opposed the GEAC's decision calling it "extremely inadequate".

As per the minutes of the GEAC 134th meeting held on March 21 this year, it took decision that "applicant may be advised to undertake field demonstration on GM mustard in an area of 5 acre at 2-3 different locations with a view to generate additional data on honeybees and other pollinators and honey, and on soil microbial diversity".

Pental told IANS that field trials will start in the winter and decision about choosing trial sites will be taken once he gets a formal letter from the ministry.

"It is sense of relief. We want farmers to be victorious and want country's agriculture to do better. That is the basic idea behind the research funded with public money. There is no private investment," he said.

He said the GM technology will last long and it will make farmers able to produce more yield.

"It is technology to last very long for the country because it has been invested to produce righteously. So once we give it to public sector system and private companies, they will come up with better and better hybrids," he said.

Kavitha Kuruganti, Co-Convenor of Coalition for a GM-Free India, wrote a letter to GEAC Chairperson Mehta, stated: "This decision of GEAC is an extremely inadequate one, in relation to the decision that the government was supposed to take..."

The letter further said: "In fact, the Government and GEAC have committed to the nation that there would be a review, and now GEAC is obligated to begin by first stating what its scientific review plan is..."

Pental said he does not have "any desire to seek royalty right now" for the GM hybrid he developed.

He further said he would not be surprised if the anti-GM activists oppose the GEAC decision and challenge it in a court of law.

--IANS

spk-kd/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ghana is looking at India as its "partner" for the industrial development in the African country and is expecting the bilateral-trade between the two countries to cross US $4 billion by this year, an envoy said here on Monday.

"Bilateral trade between Indian and Ghana was between US $3-4 billion dollar in the past year and it is expected to cross US $4 billion this year," said Michael A.N.N. Oquaye Jnr., the High Commissioner of Ghana in India.

"We are not just working with India but we are looking to partner India in terms of achieving out one-district-one-factory programme," he said on the sidelines of an interactive session organised at MCCI here.

The African country is also seeking more financial assistance from India so that companies from India get more support for participating in its one-district-one-factory programme, the envoy said.

"China has put up a fund and people (Chinese companies) are tapping this fund to set up their base. Indian are coming in but at a smaller rate than the Chinese. We want India to come in a big way," the diplomat said.

According to industries, gold accounts for a majority of India's imports from Ghana.

Asked whether there was a dip in imports of gold from India after the unearthing of multi-dollar scam in the Punjab National Bank, he said: "Most of our gold is traded by Dubai and Indians buy from there. We do not have any problems and do not have any dip (in our gold exports)."

The African country intends to imports skills from India to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT). There are many Indian institutes to develop resources in Ghana and many Ghanians are coming to India to be trained in ICT, he said.

"We are going to cretate industrial parks in Ghana and the first we are going to create in collaboration with India is a pharma park," he said.

--IANS

bdc/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)People with gout, a painful inflammatory arthritis, may not actually have an increased risk of fracture as earlier believed, show results of a new study.

The findings, published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), contrast with those of previous studies, which found higher risk of fracture in people with gout.

Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, caused by the build-up of urate crystals in a joint.

It can result in severe pain and swelling in joints, most often the base of the big toe but also in other joints.

To better understand the links between gout and fracture risk, the researchers from Keele University conducted a study in Britain using a large primary care database.

It included 31,781 patients with gout who were matched to 122,961 controls and followed them for between 6.8 and 13.6 years until the first diagnosis of a fracture.

The rate of fracture was similar in people with and without gout, the findings showed.

In addition, medication to lower urate levels in people with gout did not appear to benefit or adversely affect the long-term risk of fractures.

"Our use of a nationally representative cohort should enable our study findings to be generalisable not only to the UK but also to other countries with similar health care systems," said Zoe Paskins from Keele University.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A family of six, who carried out three church bombings in Indonesia killing 13 persons, had returned from Syria, police said.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attacks that took place on Sunday, the BBC reported.

A mother and two daughters blew themselves up at a church, while the father and two sons targeted two others in Indonesia's second city, Surabaya.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said they belonged to an IS-inspired network, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

The police said the family were among hundreds of Indonesians, who had returned from Syria, where IS has been fighting government forces, the BBC reported.

No details were given about the family's alleged involvement in that conflict.

The bombings are the deadliest in Indonesia in more than a decade, and also left more than 40 people injured.

Visiting the scene of one of the attacks, President Joko Widodo described them as "barbaric", adding that he had ordered police to "look into and break up networks of perpetrators".

The police identified the father as Dita Oepriarto, saying he was the head of a JAD cell in the area. He reportedly dropped off his wife, Puji Kuswati, and their two daughters -- aged nine and 12 -- at Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church, where they blew themselves up.

He then drove off, launching his own bomb-laden car into the grounds of Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church, the police said.

The sons -- aged 16 and 18 -- rode motorcycles into Santa Maria Catholic Church, and detonated explosives they were carrying. It was their attack that came first, at around 7.30 a.m. The other two attacks followed five minutes apart, the police said.

Later on Sunday, another bomb exploded at an apartment complex in Surabaya, killing three persons. East Java's police chief, Mahfud Arifin, said that those killed were the perpetrators, not victims.

It is not yet known if this bombing was connected to the other attacks.

Officials reportedly foiled attacks against other churches, too. Also on Sunday, police said they killed four suspected members of JAD in Cianjur, in West Java province, and arrested two others.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Karishma Tanna says she felt overwhelmed when she was approached by Balaji Telefilms to play a shape-shifting snake in the third part of the popular supernatural show "Naagin".

Producer Ekta Kapoor announced the news of the actress joining the cast of "Naagin 3" on social media in April.

"When Balaji approached me, it was very overwhelming because I am working with them after a long time. I started my career with them. So, when I got a call from Balaji, it was like a dream come true. It was like working with my family again," the "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" actress told IANS.

She was also looking for a show with good content.

"As an actor, to play the same role again and again...it gets a little stagnant. We have to have something interesting in a character to act. As far as films are concerned, you do it for three-four months and then you are out of the character.

"In shows, you are going on (playing the same character) for at least one year. When I got 'Naagin', I thought that it was a good show with good TRPs and good fan following so, I thought I should be doing this. Hence, I took it up," said Karishma.

This will be her second time as a "naagin".

"I had done a cameo in 'Naagarjuna - Ek Yoddha'. But that is absolutely different from this," she said.

On her character in the upcoming Colors show, she said: "I will play an 'Ichchadhari Naagin' who is a shape-shifter. She has come for revenge. I have hardly had any scenes with the other 'naagin' Anita (Hassanandani) but as far as other people are concerned, they are very nice."

"It's very important for actors to be compatible because you are working with them for 12 hours," she added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday said the outcome of the Karnataka Assembly polls would be a turning point in national

Talking to reporters in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ramdev said that whoever wins the Karnataka polls, results of which will be announced on Tuesday, will make the next government in 2019.

He, however, said he is confident that the BJP will form the next government in the southern state.

The Yoga guru also slammed former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, saying the recent allegations of him having ill-gotten money were appearing true.

"His black deeds are slowly coming out," he said and added that sins have the habit of coming out.

Ramdev, however, expressed his displeasure at the state of river Ganga and said that more needs to be done.

Referring to the issue of Mohammad Ali Jinnah's portrait in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), he said a person who divided the nation cannot be an ideal in India.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Kartik Aaryan has been roped in as brand ambassador of fairness cream Emami Fair And Handsome.

Kartik will endorse their range of men's products, read a statement to IANS.

Mohan Goenka, Director, Emami Ltd, said: "We are happy to be associated with one of the most promising and upcoming stars in Bollywood Kartik Aaryan.

"We are confident this association will enable the brand to strengthen its relationship with the young audience. Kartik will be the face of Fair and Handsome Laser 12."

The actor is basking in the appreciation coming his way for "Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Electric car maker Tesla's key safety representative Matthew Schwall has quit the company to join rival Waymo owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, the media reported.

Schwall, "who was the company's main technical contact with US safety investigators, has left for rival Waymo LLC, according to people familiar the decision", The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

This comes at a time when the car maker is grappling with multiple crash investigations, including a "Model X" crash that put it at odds with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) over its disclosures.

Schwall, who had been the director of field performance engineering at Tesla, exited the company amid the NTSB probe into multiple crashes involving the electric vehicles, the report added.

Schwall's exit reportedly coincides with the company's announcement that Doug Field -- Tesla's engineering chief -- was taking a leave.

Despite the timing, Schwall's exit is not believed to be tied to Autopilot issues the electric car maker is reportedly facing, according to Engadget.

The key executive's departure could, however, complicate the situation and Tesla may now have to reestablish some of its links with safety officials.

"It is also a symbolic blow for a company that prides itself on being a self-driving pioneer," the report added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a relief of sorts, Congress candidate Vishwajeet P. Kadam was declared elected unopposed in the bypoll to the Maharashtra Assembly from Palus-Kadegaon in Sangli, after eight candidates withdrew from the fray, officials said here on Monday.

Among those who withdrew from the May 28 bypoll -- necessitated by the death of incumbent and senior Congressman Patangrao Kadam on March 9 -- included the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Sangram S. Deshmukh.

Earlier, in an embarrassment to its ally BJP, the Shiv Sena had announced its unconditional support to Vishwajeet Kadam's candidature as a mark of respect to his deceased father.

The Sena expressed its "active support" to the Congress nominee and lauded his father's contribution to in the field of education, and social and cooperation sectors, besides mocking the BJP for not announcing its support to Vishwajeet and ensure his unopposed election.

However, ignoring the Sena critique, the BJP attempted a behind-the-scenes bargain -- it would withdraw its candidate from Palus-Kadegaon in return for Congress support in the crucial Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll and other elections, but the Congress rejected it.

Later, as all other opposition parties also stood in support of Vishwajeet, the BJP came under pressure to review its stand and finally backed off from the contest, paving the way for his unopposed election.

The announcement was made officially by BJP Minister Chandrakant Patil in Sangli, shortly before the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended this evening.

Besides BJP's Deshmukh, seven other Independent candidates in the fray also stepped aside in favour of Vishwajeet. His late father had represented this seat four times in the past.

An engineer, Vishwajeet Kadam, 38, also holds a doctorate (PhD) in Management and completed Management and Leadership in Education from Harvad University, USA.

Besides running the Pune-based "Bharatiya Vidhapeeth", a leading group of educational institutions in Maharashtra, he served as the Maharashtra Youth Congress President for some years and contested unsuccessfully to the Lok Sabha from Pune in 2014.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Manoj Bajpayee bagged the Best Actor Award at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) for his work in "Gali Guleiyan" ("In the Shadows").

Acknowledging the praise and good wishes coming to him, Manoj posted on Twitter: "'Gali Guleiyan' gets an honour at New York Indian Film Festival. Congratulations to the team of and the captain Dipesh Jain (director)."

Jain said in a statement: "We are elated to hear about Manoj sir's award at NYIFF. It is an acknowledgement of his stellar performance in the film. We consider ourselves very blessed to have worked with an actor like him who embraces his character so seamlessly and makes it his own. Heartiest congratulations to him once again."

"Gali Guleiyan" is a Hindi psychological drama about a man trapped within the walls and alleys of Old Delhi and his own mind. He attempts to break free to find a human connection.

The film has on board an ensemble cast including Ranvir Shorey, Neeraj Kabi and Shahana Goswami along with debutant child actor Om Singh.

Produced by Shuchi Jain of Exstant Motion Pictures, "Gali Guleiyan" will soon release worldwide. It has already travelled to over 15 international film festivals.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dust storm, hail and lightning have claimed as many as 53 lives in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi, said Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday.

As per the MHA report, 39 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh on the intervening night of May 13-14 due to lightening and thunderstorm while in Andhra Pradesh nine lives were lost.

In West Bengal seven people and in Delhi one person lost their lives.

The total number of injured were 65 -- in Uttar Pradesh 53, in West Bengal one person and in Delhi eleven people," the statement said.

Condoling the deaths, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday urged the party workers to provide all possible assistance to the bereaved families.

"My condolences to the families of those killed in the severe storms and lightning strikes across India, yesterday (Sunday). Many have also been injured.

"I urge Congress Party workers to provide all possible assistance to the families of those killed and injured," he said in a tweet.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated new Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad over telephone, an official said.

"Prime Minister Modi conveyed his good wishes for the progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Malaysia," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

"He stated that the close and mutually beneficial India-Malaysia ties are based on the strong foundation of shared values, interests and vibrant people-to-people relations," it stated.

"The Prime Minister said that he looked forward to working with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to further strengthen India-Malaysia strategic partnership."

Last week, Mahathir, who governed for more than two decades became, at the age of 92, became the world's oldest elected leader.

He came out of retirement and defected to the opposition to take on and beat former protege Najib Razak. His historic win ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which had been in power since independence in 1957.

Malaysia is an important member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc with which India has been increasing its engagements under New Delhi's Act East Policy.

The country is also home to around 2.7 million people of Indian origin.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, the government said on Monday.

Modi will be travelling to Russia at Putin's invitation.

This comes after the informal summit between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China last month.

An External Affairs Ministry release on Monday said Modi's visit to Russia will be an important occasion for him and Putin to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective in order to further strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership.

"Both leaders will discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," the release said.

It said that the informal summit was in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest level.

The Sochi meeting comes in the wake of Washington pulling out of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US).

Putin is also expected to visit India later this year for the annual bilateral summit.

Russia and Japan are the only two countries with which India holds annual bilateral summits.

Putin won a fourth term in office in March this year.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with President Vladimir Putin in the summer beach resort of Sochi amid US sanctions against Moscow that might impact Russian military supplies to India, particularly an estimated Rs 40,000-crore deal to buy the sophisticated, long-range S-400 air defence system..

Modi will be travelling to Russia at Putin's invitation, the government said on Friday.

The Prime Minister's previously unannounced visit comes after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited Moscow last week to discuss a way out of the US sanctions on Russian firms.

The sanctions against Russian oligarchs and companies, including Rosoboronexport, the state-owned Russian weapons trading company, has raised concerns in India about a possible impact on India's military buys from Moscow.

Rosoboronexport has long-standing significant contracts and business ties with India and other countries.

At the heart of the current India-Russia military ties is a multi-billion dollar deal for five S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems -- billed as a game changer by the Indian military for its ability to counter ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft like those China is developing.

The two countries signed an agreement in principle for the S-400 deal in 2016.

The sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act mandates similar action against those who conduct transactions with the banned Russian oligarchs and defence firms.

The sanctions aimed to punish Moscow for its meddling in Ukraine, Syria, the 2016 Presidential elections and, most recently, Russia's alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former intelligence officer in the United Kingdom.

India's deep military and strategic ties with Russia date back to the beginning of the Cold War even as New Delhi led a movement of "non-aligned" countries that declared their tilt with neither Washington nor Moscow. However, India always leaned toward the USSR.

India still buys over 60 per cent of its defence equipment from Russia. At present, the Indian armed forces are 70 per cent equipped with Soviet or Russian weapons.

Besides, the US decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and its ramifications on India-Russia have also caused new worries in New Delhi.

An External Affairs Ministry release said Modi's visit to Russia will be an important occasion for him and Putin to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective in order to further strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership.

"Both leaders will discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," the statement said.

It said the informal summit was in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest level.

The Sochi meeting comes in the wake of Washington pulling out of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US).

Putin is also expected to visit India later this year for the annual bilateral summit.

Russia and Japan are the only two countries with which India holds annual bilateral summits.

Modi's visit to Russia also comes just after Putin won a fourth term in office in March this year after remaining in power for almost two decades. Modi and Putin last met in Russia last year.

Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a similar informal summit in China last month.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepali Army Chief Rajendra Chhetri will be paying a three-day official visit to Pakistan from Tuesday, officials said.

General Chhetri will visit the country at the invitation of Pakistan's Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Zubair Mahmood Hayat. He will meet the top leadership in Pakistan followed by bilateral talks with General Hayat, an Army spokesman was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The Nepali Army expressed the hope "that such type of visit of the top military leadership will contribute to further strengthening bilateral ties between the two armies and the two countries".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Palestinians are preparing on Sunday for escalating popular protests on Monday in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Palestinian protests on Monday will coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, one day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe", reports Xinhua.

The event is also held to protest over US relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which US President Donald Trump recognised as the capital of Israel last December.

The national commission of the protests in Gaza called for the largest-ever mass rallies, dubbed "the day of passage," in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel.

On Sunday afternoon, traffic across Gaza stopped for five minutes to announce the start of the largest activities in the six-week marches, which began on March 30 and are scheduled to end on May 15.

"Monday will be a historic day in the popular marches," the national commission was quoted as saying.

It also called on people in the Gaza Strip to organise a Palestinian march of one million participants to defy Israel's 12-year blockade imposed on the coastal enclave.

The commission stressed the popular and peaceful essence of the marches, and the Palestinians "will not retreat from achieving their goals of return and defying the siege."

It called on the Gaza residents to be committed to the announced measures including closing public institutions, universities as well as other daily services, and heading to the border in eastern Gaza.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Finance Ministry on Monday started the process of removing Allahabad Bank CEO and MD Usha Ananthasubramanian from her post after the CBI filed a chargesheet detailing her alleged role in the over Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of PNB from August 2015 to May 2017, was quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February in connection with the case. On Monday, CBI filed the chargesheet in the case mentioning her role.

A Finance Ministry official told IANS that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had asked the government representative in the Allahabad Bank to come up with a proposal before the board to strip Ananthasubramanian of her powers.

He said that the board would take the final call on the proposal.

The official added that similar action was also intiated against two Executive Directors of the PNB.

"DFS has started action for removing and dismissing the accused officials. The departmental inquiry will continue against them separately," he said.

Earlier, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Ananthasubramanian and 21 others, including 11 bank officials, over the PNB fraud case allegedly perpetrated by diamantire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The agency has also named PNB Executive Directors K.V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and General Manager (International Operations) Nehal Ahad in its chargesheet filed before a special CBI court here.

So far, 19 people have been arrested in the case while Modi and Choksi are on the run.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Finance Ministry on Monday began the process to remove Allahabad Bank CEO and MD Usha Ananthasubramanian from the post after the CBI filed a chargesheet on her alleged role in the over Rs 13,000-crore PNB scam earlier in the day.

Ananthasubramanian, who was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) from August 2015 to May 2017, was quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February.

A Ministry official told IANS that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had asked the government representative in the Allahabad Bank to come up with a proposal before the board to strip Ananthasubramanian of her powers.

He said that the board would discuss the matter on Tuesday.

"... till now, no formal communication has been received by the bank on the matter. In the meantime, the bank has convened a meeting of its Board of Directors on May 15 to discuss the matter," the lender said in a regulatory filing.

The official added that similar action was also intiated against two Executive Directors of the PNB.

"The DFS has started action for removing and dismissing the accused officials. The departmental inquiry will continue against them separately," he said.

The CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet against Ananthasubramanian and 21 others, including 11 bank officials, over the PNB fraud case allegedly perpetrated by diamantire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The agency also named PNB Executive Directors K.V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and General Manager (International Operations) Nehal Ahad in its chargesheet filed in a special CBI court here.

So far, 19 people have been arrested in the case while Modi and Choksi are on the run.

--IANS

bdc/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet against Allahabad Bank MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian and 21 others, including 11 bank officials, in the over Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case in which diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi were allegedly involved.

Ananthasubramanian, who was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the case, was the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PNB between August 2015 before her appointment in the Allahabad Bank in May 2017.

The agency also named PNB Executive Directors K.V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and General Managers Nehal Ahad (who dealt in international operations) and Rajesh Jindal in its chargesheet filed in a special CBI court here.

CBI officials said the chargesheet names Nirav Modi and his brother Nishal in connection with the issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) totalling Rs 6,498.20 crore during 2011-17.

They said that a separate chargesheet in the second case involving Choksi will be filed later.

The officials said Nirav Modi and Nishal were beneficiaries of the fraud, authorised signatories, and in the know of the whole scam.

The CBI had filed three FIRs between January and March to probe the PNB fraud. Most of the accused are common to these cases.

The chargesheet filed on Monday is based on CBI's FIR registered on January 31 against Nirav Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal, and uncle Choksi, among others. The second and third FIRs focus on Choksi, Gitanjali Gems and others.

So far, 15 persons have been arrested while Modi and Choksi fled the country in January.

Modi's group companies -- Diamonds R US, Stellar Diamonds, and Solar Exports -- are also named in the chargesheet as borrowers.

Seven employees of Modi's group of companies -- Hemant Bhat, an authorised signatory; Vipul Ambani, President (Finance) of Firestar International; Miten Pandya, then Finance Manager of Firestar; Manish Bosamiya, former AGM of Firestar; Subhash Parab, key Executive (currently absconding); and Arjun Patil and Kavita Mankikar -- were also named in the chargesheet.

Chartered Accountant Sanjay Kumar Rambhia is also named in the chargesheet, which also mentions then PNB employees Gokul Nath Shetty (Deputy Manager), who was the first to be arrested, Manoj Kharat (Single Window Operator), Bechu B. Tiwari (Chief Manager), Yashwant Joshi (Manager), Praful Sawant (Officer) and Internal Chief Auditors Mohinder Kumar Sharma and Bishnubrata Mishra.

The chargesheet says that Nirav Modi, Nishal, and other public and private persons conspired for the issuance of fraudulent LoUs in favour of the three firms (named in the chargesheet) without any sanctioned limit, cash margin and making entries in the Core Banking Solution (CBS) system.

Investigators found that the funds were siphoned off to purported overseas supplier firms that was a set-up by Nirav Modi and his firms.

"Senior officials of the PNB did not implement Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circulars on the matter and misrepresented the facts. Reconciliation of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Inter-Bank Financial Telecommunication) messaging system CBS was not done despite repeated caution notices of the RBI," a CBI official said.

CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said that the CBI has searched 42 premises, arrested 15 persons and questioned 80 witnesses in the case.

A similar fraud was detected in 2016, in which funds under the garb of LoUs were transferred in favour of a Hong-Kong-based company, purportedly issued by the Chandigarh branch of a nationalised bank to overseas branches of two other nationalised banks, including PNB. Ananthasubramanian was the CEO of the PNB at that point in time, said the CBI.

"Ananthasubramanian and her team was in the knowledge of the crime. She along with other bank officials has been named in the chargesheet as they could not give satisfactory replies in regard to the case during questioning by the agency," the CBI added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a reshuffle of portfolios effected on Monday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani was moved out of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Rajyavardhan Rathore, who had been a Minister of State in the Ministry since November 2014, was given its independent charge.

Rathore is also Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Similarly, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has been given temporary charge of the Finance and Corporate Affairs ministries until Arun Jaitley recovers from his illness. Jaitley had undergone kidney transplant surgery at AIIMS in Delhi earlier in the day.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan Communique issued late evening, S.S. Ahluwalia has been assigned the portfolio of Minister of State, Electronics and Information Technology in place of Alphons Kannanthanam.

Ahluwalia has been relieved of the charge of Minister of State, Drinking Water and Sanitation.

It is the fifth reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers effected by Modi and came days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government when it is planning a major media outreach.

Irani had earlier been shifted out of the Human Resource Development Ministry and appointed Textiles Minister. She was appointed Information and Broadcasting Minister in July last year after Venkaiah Naidu stepped down to contest the vice presidential election.

Irani's tenure at the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had seen some controversies.

Modi had given directions to withdraw the ministry's order in April that threatened to take away the accreditation of journalists involved in producing "fake news".

The order, which was withdrawn within hours, had warned that journalists would be denied access to the government even on mere accusation of spreading fake news and could lose their accreditation for a limited period or permanently.

The ministry's move to form a committee with representatives from various ministries to draft regulations for digital media companies had faced opposition from journalists.

The ministry also saw tussle with Prasar Bharati -- which runs Doordarshan and All India Radio -- over its moves to appoint an Indian Administrative Service officer to its board and fill two key editorial posts with journalists on high salaries.

The 65th National Film Awards ceremony was also marked by controversy with several awardees protesting against the whittling down of the number of those to be honoured by the President to 11.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan had also reportedly conveyed its unhappiness to the Prime Minister's Office over the way office of President was dragged into the controversy over award ceremony.

Some media associations had also expressed their reservations over the way the ministry had reconstituted two journalist-related bodies under its purview.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)State-run Allahabad Bank on Monday said that the Reserve Bank of India has advised certain addition actions against the lender in view of its capital adequacy and leverage ratio position, after the apex bank had imposed prompt corrective action (PCA) on it.

Incidentally, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) asked the government representative in the Allahabad Bank to come up with a proposal before the board to strip powers of its MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian after the CBI earlier in the day filed a chargesheet in the over Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of PNB from August 2015 to May 2017, was quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February in the PNB fraud.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, the lender said: "...the Reserve Bank of India, having regard to the Bank's CRAR and Leverage Ratio position, has advised certain additional actions."

The apex bank asked the lender to restrict expansion of risk weighted assets, reduce exposure to un-rated and high-risk advances, restrict creation of non-banking assets, restrict accessing/renewing wholesale/costly deposits/certificate of deposits.

The lender posted a net loss of Rs 3,509.63 crore in the quarter ended March 31 due to increase in provisioning for non-performing assets and reduction in total income.

It also reported that its gross non-performing assets went up to Rs 26,562.79 crore as on March 31, up by 28 per cent from Rs 20,687.83 crore a year ago.

Gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances stood at 15.96 per cent at the end of March quarter compared with 13.09 per cent in same period last year.

Its net NPAs were Rs 12,229.13 crore at the end of this quarter under review, as against Rs 13,433.51 crore as on March 31, 2017.

The Reserve Bank of India had imposed prompt corrective action (PCA) on the lender in January due to high NPAs and negative return on assets (RoA) for two consecutive years.

The city-headquartered bank said that the PCA framework was initiated consequent to the onsite inspection under risk-based supervision model (of RBI) carried out for the year ended March 31, 2017.

The lender, however, recently said its provision coverage ratio (PCR)improved to 62.91 per cent in FY 2017-18, up from 50.11 per cent in FY 2016-17.

Its return on assets became negative at (-) 5.77 per cent at the end of March quarter as against 0.19 per cent a year ago.

--IANS

bdc/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tapping renewable energy is a major economic opportunity for developing economies like India. There is a master plan to clean up cities and this would lead to more jobs. But we need to invest, says German environmental and energy consultant Peter Heck, who believes the corporate world is taking money out of the carbon-related business.

It is all about how to use resources with the highest most efficiency. This is also referring to money.

"India needs a plan for all states and all villages with technical proposals and investment demands. And suddenly the whole 'problem' turns into a huge 'develop India' venture," Heck, who is the Managing Director with the Institute for Applied Material Flow Management in Trier University of Applied Sciences, told IANS in an interview.

"Look at all the biomass you are throwing into landfills. Millions of litres of oil polluting the This could be energy and fertilizer.

"If you do the numbers on a large scale, you will see (the solution). The problem is the complexity of opportunities, i.e., fertilizer, energy, protection, local jobs plus climate protection. All this has to be calculated together."

Heck was in this spa resort, located in the Nahe Valley just 40 km from Rhineland-Palatinate's capital of Mainz, for interacting with visiting journalists from across the globe.

People in Germany's small towns and rural areas, through energy cooperatives, are turning to renewable energy and this is a new business model for sustainable growth to limit manmade climate change along with strengthening regional purchasing power.

For Heck, who was energy consultant for the city of Dormagen and the municipality of Wallerfangen, renewables are not only a major economic opportunity but a big chance to decentralise development and local added value, if properly done.

"The use of solar-powered water pumps in India could save millions of rupees for the provincial governments, which could use this money for education or more investment in renewable energy," he maintained.

On some of India's most polluted cities in the world, the energy consultant said shifting investment towards renewables will help the economy.

"Well I could easily provide your government with a master plan for cleaning up your cities. This plan would lead to more jobs, less expenses and clean But we need to invest. Examples from China (in the initial stages) exist."

Targets should be more ambitious in order to push the country's technical and scientific brains, he said.

Aim for 100 per cent and make a proper time schedule. That's what Germany did and so far, all parties have stuck to 2050 as the final date for goodbye to fossil fuels.

"In Germany, we have government programmes helping companies to reflect on their consumption and their opportunities in the market with the help of efficiency and renewable energy. (Investment advisory) DEG is offering RECs (resource efficiency checks) for companies as a customer service," Heck said.

On high emissions in China, he said: "China will consequently improve because of industrial policy strategies. They got the numbers and the opportunities and will do it. Unfortunately, they will also continue to sell coal to Africa and Asia together with old technology."

"But in China, despite the nightmare situation, we have seen a change. We work for companies in Beijing and they really face serious pressure from the government to reduce consumption and carbon emissions."

"India has low industrial development. You have the unique chance to avoid all the mistakes and misallocations of capital by opting for a shortcut in energy supply. It would greatly help to fight poverty and push India technically and scientifically," he said.

Companies are aware and are investing directly for own supply or in divestment, i.e., taking money out of carbon-related business, an optimistic Heck said, adding: "The fossil ones will be the losers."

The 2018 National Electricity Plan sets India on a similarly ambitious trajectory of a staggering 275 gigawatts of renewables by 2027.

(Vishal Gulati was in Germany for a media study tour of the Clean Energy Wire or CLEW. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Disappointed by the "misuse" of huge funds, meant for the protection of the and the benefit of people, for other purposes like municipal works by the states, the Supreme Court on Monday said the whole purpose of creating the fund is lost.

"The funds are for purposes. How can you (Meghalaya) spend the amount for some other purpose? This is clear, absolute misutilisation of money. It's not fair at all," a bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur said after Meghalaya said it had kept the funds in a bank and spent a portion on construction of roads and footpaths.

Observing that many states had diverted the funds to other purposes, the bench even said the "Central government should stop giving the money as state governments are misusing it", and sought assistance of Additional Solicitor General (Centre's lawyer) A.N.S. Nadkarni on the appropriate and proper utilisation of funds in all the states.

Earlier, the apex court had reprimanded the Odisha government after it was told that the environment fund was being used for construction of roads, renovation of bus stands and science laboratories in colleges.

After the top court's order around 10 to 12 funds were created for environmental matters and amount lying in them was nearly Rs 75,000 crore.

During the hearing, Meghalaya Chief Secretary Yeshi Tsering was present before the bench pursuant to its earlier order, and said that money has been kept in a bank and some portion was spent on excursion and study tours and studies outside the state, construction of footpaths, community halls, school buildings, public sanitation, roads, water supply projects, etc.

The bench expressed displeasure that environment funds were being spent by states on projects which were part of their governance.

"There are certain things which you as a state obliged to do. How can you take money from the environment fund? Construction of road is your job as a state. How can you do this? Tomorrow you will start paying salary to the staff from the fund, saying it's for the environment purpose. This is clear misutilisation of money. Whole purpose (of environment fund) is lost," the bench told the Chief Secretary of Meghalaya.

The apex court noted that not only Meghalaya but other states too were diverting or misusing the environment fund, and sought Nadkarni's assistance on appropriate and proper utilisation of funds.

"Prima facie it appears to us that the funds are being used for the purposes other than what was intended by this court. We would like to have the assistance of Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni with regard to appropriate and proper utilisation of funds not only by the state of Meghalaya but by all other states," said the bench.

It posted the matter relating to the environmental protection for further hearing on July 19.

Earlier, the bench had asked the Centre how huge amounts to the tune of around Rs 75,000 crore, lying in the form of various funds created on the apex court's orders for protection of the environment, was being utilised.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on the likely auction of 618 acres of reality major Unitech's lands located in Agra, Varanasi and Tamil Nadu to realise the money to be paid to the home buyers seeking refund of their investment.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud reserved the order after more than hour and half-long hearing where it was suggested that a retired judge of Delhi High Court be nominated to oversee the auction, which court indicated to be completed in two months.

The court was told that e-auction was the easiest way to put the assets to sale. This was said in response to a query by the court about the easiest way of auctioning the assets.

In response to another query by the court on the time that would be taken in auctioning the lands, the court was told that it may not happen soon as bids have to called and finalised.

The reality major has 99 acres of land in Agra, 130 acres in Varanasi and about 400 acres of land in Tamil Nadu. Of the 99 acres, only 88 acres of Agra holding of the Unitech can be put to auction.

The Supreme Court had on April 9 ordered that a public notice inviting objections to the sale of assets of real estate major be issued for auctioning them, in order to pay back home buyers seeking refund of their money.

The issuance of public notice in requisite number of local and national newspapers which have wide circulation was aimed at ensuring that properties are unencumbered before they are put to sale.

Meanwhile, the court on Monday ordered for the disbursal of Rs 40 crore to the home buyers seeking refund of their money on pro-rata basis.

Unitech's Managing Director Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay were arrested in April last year after investors, who did not get flats in the company projects as promised, filed complaints of cheating against them.

They were sent in judicial custody after the trial court refused to extend the three- month interim bail granted to them in April.

The Delhi High Court too refused to extend the interim bail that ended on August 10 last year.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Monday sought Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry's response to the scheme formulated by the Central government for the implementation of 2007 Cauvery Water Tribunal award which was marginally modified and reaffirmed by the top court in February 2018.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud sought the response from the beneficiary states as Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said there were two areas where the Centre wanted the court's intervention.

Venugopal also said there was some dispute among the four states, and under the scheme there would be some authority and its nomenclature -- whether it would be a Board, Authority or an entity -- had not been decided.

At the outset of the hearing, the court recorded the presence of Water Resources Secretary U.P. Singh as he was directed in the last hearing to be personally present in the court.

The court directed the next hearing on Wednesday when in the light of the states' response it will examine the scheme.

Despite prodding by the apex court, the centre delayed its response till after Assembly elections in Karnataka.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Security forces on Monday launched search operations in areas close to India's international border with Pakistan in Kathua and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir after the BSF reported suspicious movements.

Following the searches, residents of villages situated close to the border have restricted their outdoor movement. No arrest had been made till the filing of the report.

A senior Border Security Force officer said troopers noticed suspicious movement of four to five persons on the Indian side of the border on Sunday evening.

"Searches were conducted in areas close to the international border in Samba and Kathua districts," the officer said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statement on the 2008 Mumbai attack was "misquoted" by the Indian media and the "people in Pakistan should not become party to the propaganda", Pakistan's Premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Monday after a high-level meeting with the civilian and military leadership.

Addressing a press conference after meeting the National Security Committee (NSC) and Sharif, Abbasi said that the former Premier's statement did not aim to hold Pakistan responsible for the 26/11 attacks, Pakistani media reported.

"The Indian media is giving the issue a different hue, and we should not be a part of it... They manipulated his (Sharif's) statement to create an issue... Indian propaganda cannot undermine our achievements," Abbasi said after the NSC meeting, in which Sharif's statement was dismissed as "incorrect and misleading".

However, Abbasi said that the NSC did not condemn Sharif, but incorrect reporting of the interview.

"Nawaz Sharif said that he neither said any such thing, nor can it be said on the basis of assumptions that planning for the Mumbai attacks was done in Pakistan," said Abbasi, who met the former Prime Minister shortly after the NSC meeting.

"There was no talk (by Nawaz) of the Mumbai attacks being planned in Pakistan. Sharif said that Pakistan has not permitted its soil to be used for terrorism," the Prime Minister said.

Sharif was slammed after last week's Dawn interview in which he had stated that "militant organisations were active in Pakistan and "such terror strikes (26/11) could have been prevented".

"Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" he had asked in the interview, referring to the Mumbai attack-related trial proceedings stalled in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

Defending his remarks, Sharif on Monday said that "he will continue to speak the truth come what may".

"What did I say that was wrong in the interview?" he asked. His statement was in contrast to the response by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), whose president Shahbaz Sharif earlier said that his brother's comments "were "grossly misinterpreted".

At least 166 Indians and foreigners were killed in the 2008 bloodbath blamed on 10 Pakistani terrorists. One of them, Ajmal Kasab, was caught and hanged.

Abbasi also denied that Pakistan was responsible for the delay in the Mumbai attacks case trial. He reiterated his support for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader and said: "Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and I stand behind our Quaid (leader)."

Earlier in the day, a press statement issued after the NSC meeting said: "The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities."

It was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt. Gen. Naveed Mukhtar.

Defence Minister and acting Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir was also a part of the meeting along with other top civil officials.

"The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions," the NSC said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The top civil-military leadership in Pakistan on Monday dismissed ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statement on the 2008 Mumbai attacks as "incorrect and misleading".

The National Security Committee (NSC), which reviewed the statement, was chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt. Gen. Naveed Mukhtar.

Defence Minister and acting Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir was also a part of the meeting along with other top civil officials.

However, before the meeting, Sharif defended his remarks saying that "he will continue to speak the truth come what may", Dawn online reported.

"What did I say that was wrong in the interview?" he asked. His statement was in contrast to the response by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), whose president Shahbaz Sharif earlier said that his brother's comments "were "grossly misinterpreted".

The NSC conducted a detailed review of the statement made by Sharif during an interview last week to Dawn newspaper in which he admitted that "militant organisations were active in Pakistan" and "such terror strikes (26/11) could have been prevented".

The meeting unanimously termed remarks (by Sharif) incorrect and misleading," said a statement issued after the 22nd NSC meeting at the Prime Minister's House.

At least 166 Indians and foreigners were killed in the 2008 bloodbath blamed on 10 Pakistani terrorists. One of them, Ajmal Kasab, was caught and hanged.

"Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Sharif had asked in the interview, referring to the Mumbai attacks-related trial proceedings stalled in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

The statement by the Prime Minister Office added: "The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities."

It also stated that India denied Pakistani investigators access to Kasab. It said that "Kasab's hurried hanging by India impeded the investigation of the case", adding that "India repeatedly denied assistance in the probe while there was complete cooperation from Pakistan".

Sharif was slammed for his remarks with opposition parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) calling him a "security threat".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two bike-borne militants blew themselves up at an Indonesian police headquarters in Surabaya city on Monday, police said. However they did not divulge the number of fatalities.

The attack took place at the entrance of the Surabaya Police headquarters on Jl. Sikatan at 8.50 a.m., the Jakarta Post reported.

It came just a few hours after a bomb prematurely went off in Sidoarjo, East Java, late on Sunday and a series of bomb attacks earlier in the day on three churches in the second largest city in the country killing over a dozen people.

East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed the attack on the police headquarters, the Jakarta Post said. However, he did not give any information on the fatalities or damages in the attack.

Citing CCTV footage from the scene, Mangera said a man and a woman on the bike stopped at the security checkpoint.

"That's where the explosion happened," he added. "Two people were riding (on the motorcycle) and a woman was sitting at the back."

Mangera said four police officers and six civilians were injured in the attack.

CCTV footage circulating of the attack showed that the source of the explosion came from a motorcycle. Eyewitnesses further added that a child was sitting alsong with the couple, the Jakarta Post reported.

The video footage displayed one car and two motor cycles entering the gate as police personnel were conducting checking. Suddenly, explosion occurred on one of the motor cycles. Human body parts were seen falling on the ground, Xinhua news agency reported.

This follows three Surabaya churches bombed during Sunday services by a family of six, including two young daughters. The Islamic State (IS) terror group claimed responsibility.

The family had returned from Syria, police said. National police chief Tito Karnavian said they belonged to an IS-inspired network, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

The bombings at the three churches were Indonesia's deadliest since the Bali attack in 2002, when 202 people -- mostly foreigners -- were killed in the attack on a tourist nightlife district.

The Muslim-majority country appeared to be grappling with homegrown militancy and rising intolerance towards religious minorities, the Jakarta Post reported.

A further three people were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex in the same city, the second biggest, just hours after the church bombings, police said.

The East Java Police have found a connection between the church bombings and Sidoarjo bombing. "Similar types of explosives were used," Mangera said.

Both the Surabaya church bombings and Sidoarjo bomb explosion involved family members, he added.

Separately in Jedong village of Sukodono, an anti-terror squad was involved in a firing exchange with militants, and one person was shot and six bombs were seized. The police arrested two men and one woman, based on a photo display, Xinhua reported.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sanitation pioneer and founder of Sulabh International Dr Bindeshwar Pathak has been selected for Japan's most prestigious Nikkel Asia Prize, a statement said on Monday.

Pathak has been considered for the prize under "Culture and Community" section. The prize will be awarded on June 13 in Tokyo.

In an announcement made on Monday morning in Tokyo by the Nikkei Asia Prize Secretariat, he has been described as an Indian social reformer tackling two of his country's biggest challenges -- poor hygiene and discrimination, said a statement from Sulabh International.

Pathak founded an NGO in 1970 that has built Sulabh flush composting toilets throughout India, contributing to better sanitation, safety for rural women and freedom from the manual labor of removing human waste.

--IANS

bns-kd/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As a thunderstorm hit areas in Punjab and Haryana overnight, the maximum temperatures in the northern region dipped on Monday, giving relief to people from the hot

Maximum temperatures hovered between 32 and 39 degrees Celsius at most places in both states.

Chandigarh and its surrounding areas and some parts of Haryana and Punjab were hit by a thunderstorm on Sunday evening, followed by light rain.

The maximum temperature in Chandigarh on Monday was 32.8 degrees.

Hisar in Haryana recorded a high of 39.4 degrees while Bhiwani had 38.7 degrees.

Amritsar in Punjab recorded 35.4 degrees, while Patiala and Ludhiana recorded 33.1 and 34.8 degrees respectively.

Heat wave conditions prevailed in most parts of Haryana and Punjab on Saturday, with the mercury shooting up to 45 degrees in Hisar.

The day temperatures at most places in both states were in the 40-45 degrees Celsius range.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Police on Monday filed a chargesheet in a court in Sunanda Pushkar's suicide case, accusing her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor with abetment to suicide, a charge he dubbed "preposterous" and his party called "baseless".

The chargesheet was filed in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh here. It mentions that the body of Pushkar bore "scuffle marks" when it was found in a luxury hotel room in New Delhi on January 17, 2014.

"These (marks) seem to have been caused due to scuffle between Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor and her husband Shashi Tharoor as per the statement of their personal attendant Narain Singh. However, this fact is being examined further."

Tharoor has been charged under Sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code that deal with abetment to suicide and subjecting a woman to cruelty by her husband or his relative respectively, which entail a jail term that may extend up to 10 years.

Delhi Police Chief Spokesperson Deependra Pathak said the chargesheet was filed in the case on the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as the opinion of experts regarding Pushkar's death, which was investigated by a Special Investigation Team of South District police.

The Congress, however, said that there "could be no more falsehood about this charge except that a conspiratorial BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were seeking revenge against Tharoor by using the Delhi Police which, he said, was a willing tool to subserve BJP's political agenda".

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said that all witnesses and documents in the case were destroyed during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule by the "corrupt" police.

"Under Section 301 CrPC and also via JK International judgment of SC, I am entitled to assist the prosecutor in the Sunanda unnatural death case," he tweeted.

He said he will appear in court on the next date of hearing on May 24.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala told the media here that top BJP leaders had "conspired against Tharoor" and accused him of murdering his wife while the chargesheet filed by Delhi Police on Monday was for abetment of suicide.

Surjewala dubbed these charges "baseless" and a conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who "hounded, prosecuted and maligned" Tharoor.

He said that the BJP continued to leak unfounded evidence so that a media trial going on for a year-and-a-half against Tharoor could continue.

The Congress leader questioned the police investigation, saying how could it be called a suicide too when there were no suicide note or witnesses.

"We will not be cowed down, we will not bow. We have full faith in the justice system," he added.

The chargesheet says that the brothers and son of Pushkar made "no allegations against anyone".

Pushkar, 51, was found dead in her suite at Leela Hotel in south Delhi, days after she alleged that her husband was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

There was no evidence of Pushkar's murder but she may have been driven to suicide as she had not been eating or even leaving her room days before her death, according to the chargesheet.

Tharoor took to Twitter in his defence, saying he had taken note of the filing of this "preposterous chargesheet". He said he intended to "contest it vigorously".

"No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever commit suicide, let alone abetment on my part."

He said if that was the conclusion arrived at after four plus years of investigation it "does not speak well of the methods or motivations of Delhi Police".

In October 2017, Tharoor said, a law officer made a statement in the Delhi High Court that they have not found anything against anyone "and now in six months they say that I have abetted a suicide".

"Unbelievable!"

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over 31 million people of Indian birth or descent are part of the Indian diaspora spread around the world. Of them, 3.1 million, or 10 per cent, are Indian-Americans living in the US. The Indian-American diaspora has proven to be a vital resource contributing to the economic, political and social development of India.

Devesh Kapur highlighted the importance of the Indian diaspora in his classic 2010 book, "Diaspora, Democracy and Development: The Domestic Impact of International Migration from India". Kapur's analysis focused primarily on the period from the late 1960s until the end of the 20th century.

Indian-American influence, impact, and contributions were significant then and have grown even more so as we move forward into the 21st century. Part of the reason for this is that the Indian-American population on average stands head and shoulders economically and educationally above those in other Asian American subgroups and the US population in general.

A Pew Research study released in 2013 disclosed that the median annual household income for Indian Americans was $88,000 compared to $66,000 for all Asians and $49,800 for the US population. The study also revealed that 38 per cent of Indian-Americans held advanced degrees compared to 30 per cent for all Asian Americans and 10 per cent for the entire population.

Indian-Americans excel as high tech entrepreneurs. A study by Vivek Wadwha for the period from 2006 to 2012 showed that overall immigrant entrepreneurship "stagnated" compared to the period from 1995 to 2005. But start-ups by Indian immigrants increased seven per cent over the prior period and a full 33.2 per cent of all start-up companies were founded by Indian Americans.

It's not just that Indian Americans are doing well. They are also inclined to stay connected with India through investments, philanthropy and personal involvement. The Indian Diaspora can bring broad economic benefits to India. They can make substantial contributions in the areas of Innovation and entrepreneurship; health care; education; and skills development. They can help in creating jobs and in creating new companies across India. They can create a platform by sharing best practices and technology with small and medium enterprises and helping them to access financing.

In its 2014 paper, "The Indian Diaspora in the United States", the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reports that "The Indian diaspora community is noted for being very well organised and having a deep and multifaceted engagement with the homeland. Many consider giving back an obligation and a welcome responsibility."

I am one of those who feel that responsibility. Through the foundation my wife Debbie and I have established, we have underwritten the building of a new management complex, Frank and Debbie Islam Management Complex, which was opened last year at my alma mater Aligarh Muslim University. We have also pledged to provide considerable financial support to develop a technical training school for women in India so that they can be empowered through higher education.

Indian-Americans who want to share their success philanthropically with those in India can do so easily because of American-based groups such as AIF, Pratham U.S.A. and Ekal which provide a structured and organised approach for giving across a wide range of areas. Thanks to the work of these organisations and others, a number of high-impact initiatives have been launched in India in fields such as education, poverty alleviation and job training.

Indian-Americans can reach out to have an impact in India through a wide variety of organisations. As the MPI notes in its study: "The Indian diaspora has established countless highly organised, well-funded, and professionally managed groups. These organisations address a broad range of issues and take on many different forms, including philanthropic projects to improve health and education in India, advocacy organisations, business and professional networks, media outlets, and societies for the promotion of Indian culture, language and religion."

The Narendra Modi administration recognised the pivotal importance of the US-India relationship and that is why it established a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue during President Obama's Republic Day visit to India in 2015. After Donald Trump became President, it scheduled an India-U.S. two-plus-two dialogue.

That dialogue was to revolve around India External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It was tentatively scheduled to take place on April 18-19 but was postponed due to Tillerson's firing by President Trump.

Now that Mike Pompeo has been confirmed as the new Secretary of State it appears that the two-plus-two dialogue will be set up for some time in May or June. This meeting is important to the future of India-US relations. But it is also important to note that two-plus-two only adds up to four.

India has grand ambitions and the success of its Make in India National Manufacturing Policy depends on the US being one of its key partners. This requires much more than ambition. It demands multiplication and exponential assistance in order to achieve its India's lofty goals.

Indian-Americans have been a vital resource in the growth and development of India to date and they have the wherewithal to be even more so. Because of their accomplishments in the US and understanding of India they are uniquely positioned to help India address pressing issues and priorities in order to achieve its full potential.

India needs to reach out to Indian-Americans and their organisations and make them central to its growth and development process. They will make the difference by being the vital resource and ally that India needs to convert dialogue and talk into action and results.

(Frank F. Islam is an entrepreneur, civic and thought leader based in Washington, D.C. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at ffislam@verizon.net <mailto:ffislam@verizon.net>)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered an "irreparable and irreversible reputational damage" in the last four years, says Congress leader and former foreign diplomat Shashi Tharoor.

In the state capital to attend an event of the Indian Professional Congress -- an outfit of the grand old party aimed at reaching out to professionals, the two-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram said a momentum was building against the Narendra Modi government and in 2019, the general elections results were sure to go against it.

On a warm Sunday afternoon, as Tharoor spoke to IANS -- before the chargesheet in Sunanda Pushkar death case was filed on Monday, he claimed the Karnataka Assembly polls were going the Congress way.

But not attaching much importance to Karnataka, which he said was just a "way station", the 62-year-old Congress leader said that elections in Gujarat, where Congress inched "astonishingly close" to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in many constituencies, showed that the tide was now turning against the saffron camp.

The former Union Minister, who currently is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, also pointed out how defeats of the BJP in party strongholds like Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh recently had rendered a body blow to the party's dream to return to power in 2019.

"What the BJP government and Prime Minister Modi has done in the past four years in power?" he asked, slamming them on the twin issues of Goods and Service Tax (GST) and demonetisation.

"GST was a good idea, which implemented in haste and in bad taste, has affected the whole tax system," he said while pointing out how even the best global economists had come down heavily on the GST, even calling it the most complex tax system.

"Only the ones eating out of their hands think otherwise," said the erudite Congress Lok Sabha member, who is knowing for his quaint words and subtle expressions.

Sweating profusely due to the sweltering heat and humidity, when the diplomat-turned-politician was asked if this sweat was symbolic of the challenging task the Congress was facing to make a comeback in the state, Tharoor gave a big smile and ducked the question.

"Well there are ifs and buts here and there, but with growing resentment against the BJP-led government at the Centre and the Congress being the biggest opposition party, we are set to be the natural beneficiaries," he said confidently.

On Monday, the Delhi Police filed charges against Tharoor in the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, naming him as one of the accused. The charges were filed in the court of metropolitan magistrate under Indian Penal Code sections related to cruelty against a woman and abetment to suicide. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room in New Delhi on January 17, 2014.

In his interview he charged the Modi dispensation of rechristening the names of many schemes and welfare programmes of the Congress-led UPA governments and rolling them out as their own.

Asked to comment on whether Congress President Rahul Gandhi when pitted against Prime Minister Modi had a certain disadvantage, Tharoor was quick in his defense of the Gandhi scion, saying: "India has a parliamentary system and not a presidential one, which though has its own merits, does not fit in the Indian context."

The Congress had its own brand of politics, while the BJP pursued the of one man, he said.

Asked whether it was not the "one family" brand of that prevailed in the Congress, he rebutted, saying that Rahul Gandhi, soon after his ascendancy. had made it clear that in Congress, every worker and leader mattered.

Coming to his favorite topic of international relations and foreign policy, the dapper Congress leader surprisingly had a back-handed pat for Modi.

"I must compliment the Prime Minister for his tireless efforts, boundless energy and personal time that he has put in the foreign policy and traveling, but sadly things have not moved beyond this."

Sadly, he said, the foreign policy was being treated in an "episodical manner" by the NDA government, something which had given mistrust and a sense of insecurity in and around the immediate neighbourhood.

Asked how the transition from the United Nations to the hurly burly of in India had been when he was fielded as a Congress candidate in Kerala in 2009 and his face lighted up with a smile: "Initially it was pretty tough and I had very many stab wounds in the back and front... But that kind of has stabilized now," he said.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

--IANS

md/nir/hs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Even as Tamil Nadu government said that it would first study the Cauvery Draft Water Management Scheme submitted by the Centre in the Supreme Court on Monday, major state parties voiced opposition to the scheme.

Speaking to reporters in Madurai, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said that the state government would first study the draft scheme and then decide on the next course of action.

The Minister for Law, Courts and Prisons C.Ve. Shanmugam told reporters that the state will submit its views on the scheme to the apex court on May 16.

On the other hand, major Tamil Nadu opposition parties voiced serious concern.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss said the draft scheme does not involve the power to implement the award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal.

Ramadoss said the proposed body is "powerless and cannot implement the Tribunal's award".

Wondering who would implement the tribunal's award, the PMK leader said that dams built across the Cauvery in Karnataka will be under the control of that state, in which case that state's government will not abide by the decisions of the proposed body.

He said that the Centre's proposal brings back the water dispute to the starting point all over again.

Ramadoss demanded that the Tamil Nadu government oppose the Centre's proposal on the Cauvery water sharing body.

DMK leader M.K. Stalin urged the Tamil Nadu government to call for an all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the setting up of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and arming it with legal power.

Stalin said that representatives of farmer associations should also be a party to the meeting.

The DMK leader raised concerns over when the Centre would fully implement the scheme, adding that it was Tamil Nadu government's responsibility to stress that it would not accept anything other than the CMB.

Stalin said the AIADMK government should call the meeting and stress its stand in the apex court on Wednesday, when it, along with other three southern states, has been called to submit response on the scheme.

--IANS

vj/tsb/hs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday amid bloodshed along the Gaza border that left 41 Palestinians dead by Israeli military gunfire.

An American delegation including President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, daughter Ivanka Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attended the ceremony.

Trump addressed the ceremony via a pre-recorded video, saying that the Jerusalem move had been a "long time coming".

"Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine its own capital, but for many years we failed to recognise the obvious."

He also said the US remained "committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement".

The death toll at the Gaza Strip's fence with Israel was the largest in a single day since the Israeli Army fought a conflict with Hamas in 2014.

Among those killed were a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, according to Gaza's Health Ministry of health, who said scores more were injured.

--IANS

soni/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the US will provide security assurance to North Korea's top leader Kim Jong Un, if the country could achieve denuclearisation.

In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo said, "We will have to provide security assurances to be sure," referring to the US commitment to Pyongyang's regime security.

"This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years. No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible that the Americans would actually do this," he explained.

Pompeo also said on Friday that the US and South Korea are ready to help North Korea to achieve prosperity if it takes "bold" action in denuclearisation, reports Xinhua.

"Now, the task is for President Trump and he to meet to validate the process by which this would go forward, to set up those markers so that we can negotiate this outcome," he said.

Speaking of Pyongyang's earlier statement to dismantle its nuclear site, Pompeo said it is "good news" and "one step along the way."

Pompeo said that "there's still a great deal of details to be worked on" in this regard.

"In the coming weeks, we will continue to work on that so we can be in a good spot on June 12th in Singapore for President Trump," he said.

"I think Chairman Kim understands that. I think he appreciates the fact that this is going to have to be different and big and special, and something that has never been undertaken before."

--IANS

sku/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A wanted gunrunner and his close aide have been arrested from Madhya Pradesh, police said on Monday.

Arms manufacturer Bachan Singh, 37, hailing from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, carried a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for his arrest.

His accomplice Noor Mohammad, 35, who hails from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, was also arrested during a police operation in the jungles of Sendhwa and Balwadi in Madhya Pradesh. As many as 20 pistols along with 10 magazines were seized from them.

The arms consignment was procured by Mohammad from Singh about a week back.

Bachan Singh was wanted in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for his involvements in firearm supplies to criminal gangs.

"He was manufacturing illegal firearms in remote areas of Madhya Pradesh," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajesh Deo told the media here.

These firearms were supplied to gangsters/criminals in the National Capital Region, including Delhi, the official said.

The officer said more than 10 arrests were made by police in different states in the racket.

--IANS

mg/tsb

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In view of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif's remark that militants from Pakistan sneaked into India to attack Mumbai in 2008, the Congress on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if his government would take action to ensure that Pakistan is declared a "terrorist state".

It also asked the Prime Minister if he would show the courage to ensure that the trail of 26/11 is either held under the guidance of international agencies or they are handed over to India.

"This is something that then UPA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government had categorically stated before the entire world community which led to definite sanctions against Pakistan," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

"Modi, who goes uninvited to have 'dawats' at the house of same Nawaz Sharif, needs to answer, that in light of this categorical admission by former Pakistani Prime Minister... Will this government take action to ensure that Pakistan is declared a terrorist state among the world community, leading to consequent civil, military and economic sanctions on Pakistan," he added.

Surjewala further said: "Our second question to Modi is, will you show the courage of conviction and the 56" chest to ensure that the trial of 26/11 perpetrators, who are neither being adequately tried nor punished in Pakistan, is either held under the guidance of international agencies or they are handed over alternatively to India?"

Militants from Pakistan sneaked into India to attack Mumbai in 2008 and massacred 166 Indians and foreigners, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in an interview published on Saturday.

--IANS

sid/nir

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A witness on Monday testified in a Gandhinagar sessions court in the rape case trial against self-styled godman Asaram, his son and others.

"As the trial court proceedings are held in-camera, we cannot disclose anything about it as per the law. The court proceedings will continue on Tuesday," counsel R.C. Kodekar said.

Asaram and his son Narayan Sai are accused of rape by two sisters from Surat in Gujarat.

While the elder sister accused Asaram of sexual assault several times at his Motera ashram in Ahmedabad between 1997 and 2006, her younger sister levelled similar charges against Sai.

Asaram is lodged in a Jodhpur jail after his conviction for a minor's rape in Rajasthan.

Till date, nearly 30 witnesses have got their statements recorded in court while a few others still remain to do so. The court proceedings are held in-camera due to security considerations vis-a-vis the witnesses.

Even as Asaram and his son are in jail, six witnesses have been attacked and two of them killed, allegedly by the godman's followers.

Charges against Asaram in the rape case, which was transferred from Surat to Gandhinagar, were framed in March 2016. The Gujarat Police had included the names of Asaram's wife Lakshmi and daughter Bharti in the chargesheet.

Four other women were named for helping him in the alleged crime.

On April 25, a Special Court in Jodhpur convicted Asaram for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013 and sentenced him to life term till his natural death.

--IANS

amc/tsb/hs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reached Moscow on Monday as part of a series of international diplomatic meetings aimed at saving the Iran nuclear deal following the withdrawal of the US.

Zarif will be discussing the agreement with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, CNN reported.

Before Russia, Zarif was in Beijing where he stressed the importance of keeping the pacts, which were signed in 2015 with the aim of both halting Tehran's nuclear ambitions and stimulating the country's economy.

Zarif met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi who reiterated Beijing's support for the deal. "China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned and continue to work to maintain the deal," Wang said on Sunday, adding the agreement was "hard-earned".

According to Russia's TASS news agency, Lavrov and Zarif will discuss the "possibility of preserving the Iran nuclear deal" as Moscow previously stated its strong support for the agreement.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that the country would be withdrawing from the accord, which was signed under former President Barack Obama, saying it was "defective at its core".

Trump also said he planned to reintroduce the highest level of economic sanctions on Iran.

But other countries around the world, including Germany, France, and the UK, have said they would like to keep the original deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in place.

--IANS

and/soni/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The on Sunday targeted former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and his family's "undeclared assets in foreign countries," after which the hit back by saying that the had no moral right to ask questions and should instead give answers on various issues.

The opposition party termed the Income Tax (I-T) Department "another caged bird" that does the government's bidding.

Addressing a press conference here, and senior leader drew parallels between Chidambaram's case and that of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who has been barred from holding public office for life by that country's Supreme Court for not disclosing assets abroad.

Terming it as the "Nawaz Sharif moment of the Congress," she said: "In this (Chidambaram's) case, the parallels are hard to miss. Therefore, I am wondering if the President - who himself is also out on bail in a financial matter - will comment and tell people if he is going to investigate one of his senior leaders (Chidambaram) for not disclosing assets held abroad."

Her comment came after the Income Tax department informed a special court in Chennai that Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi didn't disclose their foreign assets and investments while filing their income tax returns.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, too, attacked Chidambaram and the leadership.

In a tweet, Shah said that under the law dealing in black money, four charge sheets had been filed against Chidambaram and his family for "possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries".

"The Income Tax Department estimates illegal assets held by UPA's then Finance Minister to be to the tune of $3 billion! This explains why despite the Supreme Court's orders, Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram dragged their feet on the formation of SIT. How could they indict their own selves?" Shah tweeted.

He said that the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to track and curb black money was one of the first decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government.

Chidambaram hit out at both Sitharaman and Shah. The former Finance Minister taunted that the "buzz in Delhi" was that Sitharaman was soon going to be appointed a lawyer for the Income Tax department.

"The buzz in Delhi is that Sitharaman will be removed as and appointed the lawyer of the Income Tax Department. Welcome to the bar, Sitharaman," tweeted Chidambaram, a senior lawyer himself.

Taking a jibe at Shah, Chidambaram said that the President of "the richest political party in India was dreaming of billions of dollars".

"Bring the money back (from foreign undeclared bank accounts) and put Rs 1.5 million in the account of every Indian, as promised," Chidambaram said in another tweet.

The Congress, too, lashed out at the BJP and Sitharaman, saying the country's was mostly busy defending her partymen, whenever the opposition questions them, and that the country's defence was "not her priority", nor was she "interested in even talking about Army's welfare or providing resources to it".

"Why are the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister silent on Rs 58,000 crore Rafale scam? In 2018-19, you gave only 1.58 per cent of Gross Domestic Product to defence, the lowest allocation since 1962. The Army has told a parliamentary panel that it has only 8 per cent state-of-the-art equipment whereas 68 per cent is vintage.

"The Army has said that it has no resources to build roads along the China border. The Defence Minister should tell us first what has she done in this regard?" Congress Spokesman Pawan Khera said.

"They (BJP) are not willing to speak on Piyush Goyal and Jai Shah. No word from them on Chhattisgarh PDS scam or Rajasthan mining scam. No explanations on Karnataka mining scam and Vyapam. Do they (BJP) have any moral right to even ask before they answer these questions?" Khera said.

On I-T Department's charge sheets against the Chidambarams, Khera said: "The BJP government has got a big cage that has many different kinds of birds. The I-T Department is yet another caged bird."

An anguished Supreme Court in 2013 had called the Central Bureau of Investigation a "caged parrot".

Khera said that Chidambaram's Chartered Accountant has already termed the allegations "baseless" and clarified his client's position and said that the "complaint by the I-T Department will be opposed in accordance with law".

"The Defence Minister only comes out to defend her party and colleagues. The country's defence is not her priority," Khera said as he raised question over Security Adviser Ajit Doval's son Shaurya Doval running a firm in partnership with a PakistaniA Delhi court today issued directions for conducting a lie detector test on Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on May 30 in connection with two 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases after he gave his consent for the same.

Metropolitan Magistrate Santosh Kumar Singh directed the Director of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Lodhi Road, to conduct a polygraph test on Kumar, who was earlier granted anticipatory bail in the cases, and disposed of the application of the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the Supreme Court.

"The court has examined the accused regarding voluntariness only with respect of giving consent for conducting lie-detector test (polygraph test) . The accused submits he wishes to give his consent voluntarily.

"Copy of this order be supplied to the investigating officer, counsel for accused and to Director CFSL, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road with the direction to conduct lie detector test on accused Sajjan Kumar on May 30. Application stands disposed of, " the magistrate said.

The court, in its order, recorded the submission of the defence counsel, Anil Kumar Sharma, who said that Kumar was ready to undergo a lie-detector test as sought by the SIT.

The two cases filed against Kumar fall under the jurisdictions of the Janakpuri and Vikaspuri police stations in West Delhi.

The Janakpuri case pertains to the killing of two Sikhs, Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh, on November 1, 1984.

The Vikaspuri police station case is related to the burning of Gurcharan Singh on November 2, 1984.

Gurcharan, who remained bed-ridden for 29 years, had died three years ago.

In these two cases, the Delhi High Court had in February upheld a trial court order granting anticipatory bail to Kumar and had disallowed the plea by the SIT, probing the riots cases, saying that according to records, he was available throughout the investigation.

The Congress leader was granted anticipatory bail by the trial court on December 21, 2016 in the two cases of killing of three Sikhs during the riots which had occurred after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

In January this year, the Supreme Court had appointed former Delhi High Court judge S N Dhingra as chairman of its Special Investigation Team to further investigate 186 riot cases which were closed by the earlier SIT.

The government SIT was set up on February 12, 2015, following a recommendation by the Home Ministry-appointed Justice (retd) G P Mathur committee to reinvestigate 'serious cases' filed in Delhi relating to riots that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two people were today arrested from the Mumbai metropolitan region for the killing of a senior lawyer in Jamnagar last month, police said.

Senior lawyer, Kirit Joshi, was stabbed to death by two motorcycle-borne assailants near Town hall area of Jamnagar on the night of April 28.

"We have arrested Simon Devinadan (42), a resident of Vasai-East and his accomplice, Ajay Mehta (38), a resident of Andheri-West for the crime. They had taken a contract to kill Joshi from Jayesh Ranparia, who fled to Dubai a week before the incident," said Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, J K Bhatt.

He said that Ranparia had hired the two accused to kill Joshi since the latter was appearing as advocate in four to five cases of land grabbing lodged against Ranparia.

"Jayesh Ranparia has at least 27 cases against his name. He is known for grabbing land by forging documents. To settle any dispute, he used to take huge sums of money from actual land owners. He was arrested last year for making a fake passport. Even the DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) had raided his premises in the past" said Bhatt.

"Since Joshi was the complainants' advocate in four to five land related cases against Ranparia, the latter had a grudge against Joshi and decided to kill him," said Bhatt.

The senior officer informed that Ranparia had flown to Dubai on a fake passport a week after finalising the deal with Devinadan and Mehta for Rs 50 lakh, out of which, Rs 80,000 had already been paid.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two undertrials, both brothers, have gone missing from the Ludhiana Central Jail since last evening, following which Punjab minister for jails Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa ordered an inquiry into the matter.

They have been identified as Jasbir Singh and Harvinder Singh of Amloh in Fatehgarh Sahib district, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, Surinder Lamba said today.

The two were facing trial in separate criminal cases of theft and under the NDPS Act.

The officer said that during a routine head-count in the jail at 8 pm on Sunday evening, the officials found the two prisoners missing.

The jail authorities immediately informed the police.

Investigations are in progress, Lamba said.

Taking serious note of the incident, Punjab Jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa ordered a probe into it and directed the IG (Jail) to submit a report in two days.

In a statement in Chandigarh today, Randhawa said fleeing of the prisoners from the jail is a very serious matter and warned of strict action against anyone found responsible for it.

The minister said that after the he has directed the IG(Jail), DIG Ludhiana Range as well as the Commissioner to visit the spot and take stock of the situation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): Three persons were today arrested in connection with the killing of a local CPI(M) leader at nearby Palloor on May 7, police said.

The three are Nijesh P K, Jerin Suresh and Sarath P K. Two others are absconding, they said.

All of them were produced before a local court and remanded to judicial custody, police said.

Nijesh was the first to be arrested and based on his confession, the other two were nabbed, a press release quoting Apoorva Gupta, Senior Superintendent of Police (Law and Order), Puducherry, said.

The hunt is on for two more absconding accused, who would be arrested soon, she said.

She said a special investigation team had questioned witnesses and locals. Their efforts revealed the real motive behind the killing of Kannipoyil Babu, a local CPI(M) leader and former councillor, was long standing enmity between the accused and the deceased, she said.

The team finally located the trio, who were on the run across Kannur and Kozhikode districts, she said.

The accused -- O P Rejeesh and Kareekunnummal Suni, who are absconding, conspired with the others, hatched a plot to kill Babu and carried it out on on May 7.

The CPI(M) had alleged that BJP was behind the attack.

Shortly after Babu's killing, in an apparent retaliatory attack, Shemaj, an autorickshaw driver, was pulled out of his vehicle and hacked to death by a six-member gang at New Mahe near Kannur.

Mahe,a former French colony,is located between Thalassery in politically volatile Kannur district and Vadakara in Kozhikode district. New Mahe comes under Kannur district.

Both CPI(M) and BJP had observed a hartal in Kannur district and Mahe on May 8,protesting against the killings.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had visited Babu's house on Saturday night and spent some time with the bereaved family members.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three people were injured in clashes in Jammu and Kashmir's Bishnah area when cattle owned by the Gujjar community went into the fields of the Dogra community, police said today.

The clashes erupted yesterday when members of the Dogra community objected to animals of the Gujjar community entering their fields and allegedly destroying the crops, police said.

Irked when asked to take away their animals, the Gujjars allegedly attacked the Dogras, they added.

The Dogras later demonstrated, demanding that the attackers be arrested.

Police managed to pacify the protestors. However, tension remains high and heavy security has been deployed, a police official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 23-year-old man and his three cousins were killed today after they were knocked down by a local train near suburban Kandivli station, police said.

The incident occurred between Borivli and Kandivli stations on the Western line at around 5 AM, a senior Government Railway Police (GRP) official said.

The deceased are identified as Sagar Chavan (23), a resident of Poisar in Kandivli, and his three cousins--Sai Prasad Chavan (17), Manoj Chavan (17), and Dattaprasad Chavan (20).

The official said all the four arrived at Dadar station in central Mumbai early this morning in an out-station train from their native town Kankavli in Sindhudurg district, and boarded a Borivli-bound local train.

However, they decided to get down on tracks after the train stopped near Kandivli railway station, as Sagar's residence is located in the western suburb, he said.

"As they were crossing the tracks, they were hit by a Churchgate-bound local train," he said.

They were rushed to nearby hospital by police personnel, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

A case of accidental death was registered by Borivli GRP, the official said, adding that further investigation is underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four people were killed and several others injured in violence during the single phase panchayat elections in West Bengal, which recorded over 41 per cent polling till 1 pm, officials said.

The four were killed in separate incidents of violence in North 24 Parganas, Nadia, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad districts.

"There are reports of three people being killed in North 24 Parganas, Nadia and South 24 Parganas districts," a senior official of the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

Baharampore Sub-Divisional Officer Dibyanarayan Chatterjee said one person was shot dead near a booth at Sujapur village in Murshidabad district's Beldanga police station area.

The victim was a worker of the BJP, a party leader from Murshidabad district, Subhas Mondal, claimed.

"We have also received a report that four people were injured and another person was killed at Tapan in South Dinajpur district. But the police are yet to confirm the death," the SEC official said.

He said 41.5 per cent polling was recorded till 1 pm.

A CPI(M) supporter was killed and another was injured when bombs were hurled outside a polling station in the Amdanga area of North 24 Parganas district, the official said.

At Kultali in South 24 Parganas district, one person was killed when a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, the SEC official said.

In Nadia's Shantipur area, one person was killed and two others were injured in clashes, he said.

In Coochbehar district, North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh allegedly slapped a person outside a polling booth.

The SEC said it has received a complaint in this regard and asked authorities to take action.

Televisions channels showed the minister purportedly slapping the person. However, Ghosh claimed he did not do it.

In the Dinhata area of Coochbehar district, at least 15 people, including voters, were injured after clashes broke out between two groups outside a polling station, police sources said. The voters later lodged a police complaint.

Fifteen people were injured in a clash between two groups outside a booth in the Nandigram area of East Midnapore district. One person was hit on the head with a chopper while another lost a finger, police said.

In Contai in the same district, Independent candidate and four others were injured when chilli powder was thrown at them at a booth, they said.

In North Dinajpur district, three crude bombs were found near a polling booth at Galaisura, around three km from district headquarter Raiganj, police said.

Of the three bombs, two were found on railway tracks, affecting movement of trains, RPF sources said, adding that the bomb squad has been informed.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were seen intimidating voters outside some of the booths.

Television footage from Basanti block of South 24 Parganas district showed masked gunmen roaming outside polling stations.

In the Bhangar area of the same district, police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse a mob following clashes there, the SEC official said, adding that the police were asked to submit a report regarding the incident.

In Keshpur area of West Midnapore district, police resorted to lathi-charge and chased people who were allegedly trying to intimidate voters.

After a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the opposition parties, the three-tier panchayat polls is being held in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four members of a family died after being hit by a train near suburban Kandivali station this morning, police said.

The incident took place between Borivali and Kandivali stations at around 5 am, a senior Government Railway Police (GRP) official said.

The victims were in a long-distance train coming from Kankavli in coastal Sindhudurg district.

They got down from the train as it stopped near Kandivali station and were crossing the tracks when a Churchgate-bound local train ran over them, police said.

They were rushed to nearby hospital where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttarakhand agreed today to implement the ambitious national health protection mission, which aims to provide an annual coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family.

The four states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh inked MoUs with the Union Health Ministry for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda presided over the MoU signing ceremony at a regional workshop for northern states here.

Stating that the scheme will be a big game changer in the healthcare sector, he said, "We are witnessing history as the first MoU of Ayushman Bharat is being signed here."



Nadda said that the initiatives undertaken by the government would eventually become the largest healthcare programme of the world because of India's large population.

"Through our programmes and initiatives, we are ensuring that healthcare is accessible, affordable and equitable, he said.

The centrally-sponsored scheme, which will provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually and benefit more than 10 crore families belonging to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society, is likely to be launched in August.

The scheme will target poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational categories of urban workers' families -- 8.03 crore in rural and 2.33 crore in urban areas, as per the latest Socio Economic and Caste Census data, and will cover around 50 crore people.

It will be cashless and paperless access to services up to Rs 5 lakh per year will be available for the beneficiary families at the point of service in both public and private empanelled hospitals across India, said.

He further said that the beneficiaries under the scheme can avail of services anywhere in India and it is expected to bring a visible relief to the target families by mitigating the financial risk arising out of catastrophic health episodes.

Through these MoUs, the states formally committed to implement the programme. The MoU clearly outlines roles of central and state governments/UT administrations for the implementation of the scheme. Similar regional workshops are also planned in due course of time across India to sign MoU with other states.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 40-year-old woman was critically injured after being attacked by a bear in Dwarikhal block of Pauri district today.

Maya Devi was attacked by the bear when she had gone to the forest to collect fodder for her livestock, a doctor at government base hospital in Kotdwarsaid.

The incident took place at around 9 am, he said. When other women accompanying Maya raised an alarm the animal ran away, said the doctor named Mahendra Singh.

The bear gouged out her right eye and inflicted injuries on her head, hand and face, he said.

Forest range officer, Lansdowne Dinesh Chandra Ghildiyal rushed to the hospital after learning about the incident and offered an advance of Rs 15,000 for her treatment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Six people were injured when police used batons and water cannons to disperse a group of teachers who were protesting against the non-payment of their salaries at the Maulana Azad road here, an official said today.

The teachers, engaged under centrally-sponsored scheme Sarva Shikshya Abhiyaan (SSA), had assembled at Pratap Park on the Maulana Azad road here to protest against the non-payment of their wages for more than six months, he said.

The police asked the protesters to disperse but the teachers refused, prompting the sleuths to use force, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Around 70 persons have been detained in connection with riots in Aurangabad in central Maharashtra, Milind Bharambe, Inspector General of Police, Aurangabad range told PTI.

An official said that the situation in the city had come back to normal and there was no report of any untoward incident in the past two days.

Police officials said that eight cases had been registered in which hundreds of people had been booked for offences like damaging public property, rioting and arson.

The official said that internet services would be activated by tomorrow morning if the present calm continued.

"Action against those who indulged in violence has begun and we are identifying them through eye-witness accounts, CCTV footage and video recordings," he said.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code had been revoked in the city but CrPC section 37/13 continued, the official said.

Two persons died and around fifty others, including a dozen policemen, were injured as clashes broke out between two communities in Aurangabad city in central Maharashtra late evening on May 11.

Several shops and scores of vehicles were torched during the riots.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Israeli "massacres" along the Gaza border after Israeli forces killed 52 Palestinians during clashes and protests Monday coinciding with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Abbas, who declared three days of mourning, also said "the US is no longer a mediator in the Middle East," and the new embassy was tantamount to "a new American settler outpost" in Jerusalem.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, vowed protests would continue. "We say clearly today to all the world that the peaceful march of our people lured the enemy into shedding more blood," senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said.

He added that Hamas's armed wing and other militant groups "will not prolong their silence over the crimes of the occupation." The clashes, which also left hundreds of Palestinians wounded, erupted before a White House delegation and Israeli officials opened the embassy at an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem and continued throughout the day.

It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Marathi actress Prarthana Behere was today injured in a road accident near Lonavala town on Pune-Mumbai expressway, police said.

The incident occurred when Behere (25) was travelling to Kolhapur, located around 239 kms away from here, for promotion of a Marathi film along with co-actor Aniket Vishwasrao and her hair stylist.

"The driver of the car in which Behere and others were travelling in lost his control over the vehicle while trying to avoid hitting a tempo parked at roadside. However, he rammed into the same tempo," a district police officer said.

In the mishap, one of Behere's hands got fractured, he said, adding that she also sustained injuries to one of her legs.

"Vishwarao and other occupants of the car escaped unhurt," he said.

The 'Pavitra Rishta' actress was rushed to a private hospital by her colleagues for treatment. Her condition is stated to be stable, the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court that it has set up separate disaster management authorities for districts of Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban.

The move came after the government was reprimanded by the HC for acting contrary to the provisions of the Disaster Management Act (DMA).

The high court had last month warned of initiating contempt proceedings against the additional chief secretary if the government failed to set up separate disaster authorities for Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban.

The court had directed the government to do so in January. However, the government had set up a common disaster management authority for both the districts.

The bench hearing the matter had last month noted the government had committed wilful breach of the court orders.

The government earlier this month filed an affidavit in the HC, stating separate authorities have been constituted for Mumbai and Mumbai suburban.

The affidavit added that as per the court orders and as mandated under the Act, the government has framed disaster management rules which are being vetted by the law and judiciary department.

The government has also updated its State Disaster Management Plan, it said.

"The plan has been updated as per the guidelines of the Natural Disaster Management Authority. A separate drought plan has also been prepared," the affidavit said.

The affidavit was submitted in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Sanjay Lakhe Patil, president of NGO Marathwada Anushesh Nirmulan Aani Vikas Manch, on the issue of drought faced by farmers in parts of Maharashtra every year due to deficient rainfall.

The PIL sought direction to the government to implement the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and disclose measures taken for drought mitigation.

The DMA, a central legislation, provides for effective management for disasters, both natural and man-made, and lays down guidelines to provide relief to persons affected by calamities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Once bitten, twice shy! The Congress is taking no chances in Karnataka and has sent in its top guns to avoid a repeat of the Goa and Manipur fiascos in the past, where it failed to form government despite emerging as the largest party.

The party has sent senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot to the southern state where results of the assembly polls would be out tomorrow.

The Congress has, however, been 'bitten' thrice, as it failed to retain power in Meghalaya recently, despite emerging as the largest party and the leadership rushing Kamal Nath and Ahmed Patel to the state to build on the advantage.

Sources said Azad and Gehlot have reached Bangalore and have met chief minister Siddharamaiah and other party leaders.

They are also likely to meet JD-S leaders, including H D Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy, in case it fails to get a majority of its own.

The sources say that the Congress is in touch with the JD-S leadership too and have met Kumaraswamy before he left for abroad after the polling ended.

Kumaraswamy, who is currently in Singapore, will return tonight.

The two senior leaders, the sources said, have been sent by the party leadership to ensure that no stone is left unturned for formation of the next Congress government in Karnataka.

AICC general secretary incharge of Karnataka K C Venugopal is also present in the state along with party secretaries incharge of the state.

The Congress expressed confidence that the party will get a majority on its own and would repeat its government there.

Asked about the party's prospects in Karnataka, Congress communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala said it will get over 130 seats in the state as the people of Karnataka have rejected the of corruption and mafia.

"The people have rejected the of corruption and criminalisation and will not allow the Yeddy-Reddy gang to come to power," he told reporters, while referring to the Yeddyurappa and Reddy brothers of Bellary.

He claimed that the Congress will come to power again and form its government led by Siddharamaiah as it has taken the state to greater heights by initiating all-round development and creating jobs.

Asked about Siddharamaiah offering the chief minister's post to a Dalit, he said the sentiment behind his statement was different and asked whether prime minister Narendra Modi would also offer the PM's post to a Dalit.

"Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi show the courage to hand over the PMship to a Dalit? They will never say so and this can be stated only by the Congress leader who keeps the party above his own self," he said, while thanking Siddharamaiah for offering his chair to a Dalit leader.

On whether the Congress rules out the possibility of an alignment with the JD(S), Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said, "It is a hypothetical question that will be rejected at 5 O'clock tomorrow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two medical students of the premier AIIMS Bhopal, who embarked on a foot march on May 3 to protest against the institute functioning without a director since 2015, have covered 300 kilometres and have reached Shivpuri district in the state, they told PTI today.

Sant Guru Prasad, former president of the AIIMS Students Union, Bhopal and fellow medical student Chandan Aryan plan to walk all the way till New Delhi to force the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to appoint a full-time director as well as fill up other vacancies.

Prasad told PTI that he and Aryan plan to reach Delhi by the end of this month or the first week of June.

"AIIMS Bhopal does not have a permanent director since 2015. In order to draw the attention of the authorities, we have decided to walk all that way to Delhi. We started this march on May 3." Prasad told PTI over phone from Dinara in Shivpuri district.

He alleged that the absence of a full-time director was hampering the progress of the institute as those appointed on a temporary basis avoided taking decisions due to the fear of stoking a controversy.

Prasad, a resident of Nalanda in Bihar, said that, besides the director, the institute had 135 faculty members against a sanctioned strength of 305.

"Out of a total strength of 700 senior residents, just 130 are working at AIIMS Bhopal. Only 403 out of 960 beds are operational, which comes to around 40 per cent," he claimed.

The acting director of the institute, Dr Nitin M Nagarkar, however, denied the charges levelled by Prasad and said that a section of students who had supplementaries in some subjects were behind the protest.

A supplementary exam is a form of further assessment offered to students who have not satisfied the passing criteria set by the educational institution for a particular course.

He said that these students wanted the administration to "pass them" in these subjects.

Prasad called Nagarkar's accusations as "totally untrue".

Nagarkar further said that the institute was shaping up well.

"No department is without faculty. Infrastructure has been created as per the requirement and number of beds too have increased," he said.

He said that the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet would take a decision on appointing a full-time director.

Parth Deshmukh, an intern at the institute, said that a majority of the students were supportive of the march and, besides organising candlelight protests, they had also met Bhopal Lok Sabha MP Alok Sanjar.

Sanjar said that he had taken up the matter with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda.

AIIMS Bhopal is one of the seven apex healthcare institutes established by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY).

These institutions are being established by an Act of Parliament on the lines of the original All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and LNJP Hospital in the national capital are providing service to patients far beyond their capacity, a private body tasked to evaluate healthcare quality in the three hospitals told the Delhi High Court today.

The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), a body under the Quality Council of India (QCI), told a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar there are much more patients than doctors as sanctioned posts are not filled up in time.

The NABH, which was tasked by the high court to carry out the assessment, also said that by the time the government goes ahead with recruitment or decides to sanction more posts, the number of patients increases even further.

These were the prima facie findings that the organisation communicated to the bench while seeking two more weeks to give a final "holistic" report.

NABH sought more time to file its report, as Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital was yet to reply to certain queries raised by it regarding the functioning of the hospital.

It said that All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital have replied to its queries.

Taking note of the submissions, the bench directed the three hospitals to facilitate NABH and to promptly respond to its queries.

The court also said there is need for more doctors, hospitals and medical facilities in the national capital.

It asked the Centre why it was not considering setting up more hospitals in the national capital as there are only six central government-run hospitals in Delhi for its 11 districts.

The Centre, however, said that health was the responsibility of the state government which should set up more hospitals.

The court had ordered evaluation of healthcare quality at the three hospitals as it was of the view that the Centre was "not placing" the correct picture before it regarding the same.

The bench had observed that insufficiency of medical staff was one of the major causes of discontent among patients and their attendants.

NABH is a constituent board of QCI and was set up to establish and operate an accreditation programme for health care organizations.

QCI, set up as a public private partnership, is an independent body that works towards assuring quality standards across all spheres of economic and social activities.

The bench had earlier decided to look into the aspects of healthcare quality and working conditions of medical professionals in hospitals in Delhi while hearing a PIL initiated by it after perusing a report on the rise in violent attacks on doctors.

The court, through the plea, has been issuing periodic directions for ensuring safety and security of doctors and other medical staff.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), a body of all major Indian airlines, today moved the Delhi High Court seeking modification of its direction to aviation regulator DGCA not to permit changes in the stipulated flight and duty time limitations (FDTL) of pilots, including the number of landings and take-offs.

The FIA, which represents private carriers Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir and state-run Air India, mentioned its plea before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, saying the variations in FDTL were sometimes necessary, as in the latest instance of diversion of around 70 flights from Delhi to other airports due to the dust-storm yesterday.

Following the high court's April 18 direction to the DGCA, the FIA said the regulator had set aside all variations it had permitted earlier in the number of landings and take-offs a pilot could conduct in a day.

There were delays caused by diversions and rise in the number of landings and take-offs as standby pilots are not available at airports where the airplanes were diverted.

Air India, in its plea, referred to an incident of May 9 when its Delhi-Chicago flight was diverted to Milwaukee (US) due to bad weather in Chicago. The flight could not take off for seven hours as, due to withdrawal of the variations, only one landing was permitted for the crew that day.

It said the flight duration from Milwaukee to Chicago was 19 minutes for which the passengers had to wait seven hours till standby crew could be brought in.

The bench, however, said,"Life is more important than airlines' profit. Let 140 flights be diverted. It is high time the country is sensitive to this. We have to ensure lives are not endangered."



The court asked the airlines to file their applications, saying these would be listed in due course.

The FIA, represented by senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, sought a hearing from the court saying they had been affected by the April 18 order, which was passed without hearing them. A similar but separate plea has been moved by Air India also.

Both FIA and AI in their applications have said that pursuant to the April 18 order, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a letter on May 2 withdrawing all variations it had approved earlier and also directed the airlines to file a revised FDTL scheme in accordance with the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) of 2011.

The applications have been moved in the main petition filed by Kerala-based lawyer Yashwanth Shenoy raising the issue of pilot and air crew fatigue and how it can be dangerous to safety of a flight and its passengers. The court while issuing the April 18 order had disposed of the petition.

The bench had passed the order ruling that the DGCA had no authority under the Aviation Act and Rules to permit the variations or deviation. The court had also asked the DGCA to amend the existing civil aviation requirements in accordance with the rules within a period of one year.

The airlines in their applications have said that DGCA in a "knee-jerk reaction" had issued the May 2 letter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The family of Akali leader Dyal Singh Kolianwali deposited three cheques worth Rs 95.70 lakh for the payment of the outstanding loan taken from the cooperative agricultural development banks, an official said today.

The cheques were deposited after a notice was issued by the cooperative department, asking the family to clear outstanding payment by May 23, failing which their arrest warrants would be issued.

The official spokesman of cooperative department said the family of the Akali leader has deposited three cheques worth Rs 95.70 lakh.

He said after the initiation of the process against big time defaulters of the co-operative banks, the defaulters have so far deposited Rs 5 crore with the department.

Kolianwali's family deposited three cheques worth Rs 95,70,000, the spokesman said.

Out of these, a cheque worth Rs 30 lakh was deposited in today's date whereas the other two were post dated cheques to be encashed in December 2018 and June 2019, he said.

They had not deposited any installment during the past 10 years, he claimed.

Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had suspended the manager of the Agricultural Development Bank in Malout for not issuing the notice to Kolianwali and had instructed the assistant registrar of Malout to send the notice.

Randhawa said that the commendation certificates would be given to the deputy registrars and the assistant registrars for acting against the defaulters.

The spokesman said that before this, the family of former MLA Jagdish Raj Sahni had deposited Rs 20.90 lakh.

Randhawa had earlier said his department would act against big farmers who defaulted in repayment of loans taken from cooperative banks. These farmers have outstanding loan amount of Rs 276 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Allahabad Bank will hold its board meeting tomorrow after the Finance Ministry's direction to take away all the powers of its MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian, who has been chargesheeted by the CBI in the USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank scam.

Ananthasubramanian was the MD and CEO of the Punjab National Bank from 2015 to 2017 and was questioned recently by the CBI in connection with the scam, which was mainly perpetrated allegedly by diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

In a stock exchange filing today, Allahabad Bank said it has convened a meeting of the Board of Directors on May 15 to discuss the matter, adding that it has not received any "formal communication" from the ministry.

Earlier at a media briefing, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said the government has initiated action for removal of Allahabad Bank CEO and also two executive directors of the Punjab National Bank following the CBI's first chargesheet in in the scam.

Kumar also said the Allahabad Bank board has been asked to divest Ananthasubramanian of all powers and initiate further action.

The government holds a little over 65 per cent stake in Allahabad Bank and close to 62 per cent in the Punjab National Bank.

The CBI today filed its first chargesheet in the Punjab National Bank scam, the country's largest financial fraud so far.

The chargesheet detailed the alleged role of Ananthasubramanian in the scam.

Nirav Modi and his associates used fake letter of undertaking (LoUs) to defraud Punjab National Bank of around USD 2 billion (nearly Rs 13,000 crore) in connivance with bank officials by exploiting the loophole of non-integration of SWIFT with the CBS (Core Banking Solution).

"This was the duty of the senior management to minimise the risk in the system. We issued notices and sought explantation 10 days back from top officials of these banks," he said.

Around 10 days ago, Kumar said the ministry had asked explanations from the two executive directors at the Punjab National Bank and from Ananthasubramanian.

"This was essentially because of the fact that SWIFT and CBS integration was to take place based on the circular issued by RBI in 2016," Kumar said at the media briefing after the CBI filed the chargesheet.

SWIFT is a platform that integrates the entire financial messaging requirements



of banks and corporates for inter-country transactions.

In a separate stock exchange filing, Allahabad Bank said the Reserve Bank has imposed restrictions on its lending to risky assets and raising high-cost deposits in view of deteriorating financial health.

The directive has come within days of the RBI imposing similar restrictions on another state-run lender Dena Bank, which is under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) of the central bank.

With regard to the bank's CRAR and leverage ratio position, the RBI has advised certain additional actions, the filing said.

Earlier in the day, the Punjab National Bank board convened an emergency meeting on the insistence from the government's nominee director.

"The (Punjab National Bank) board has decided to divest (two) Executive Directors of the functional and financial responsibilities and have also requested the government to replace them," Kumar said, adding the government is committed to taking strict action against erring officials.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against actress-turned-Congress leader Divya Spandana for allegedly making "politically motivated" and "frivolous" allegations against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra through her Twitter acount.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench comprising CJI Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, but the bench said the plea would come up for hearing in due course.

The petition, filed by retired army officer Anil Kabotra, has claimed that Spandana was an active member of the Congress and was aware of the impeachment motion against the CJI, which was moved by a group of opposition parties led by the Congress.

"The (alleged) contemnor (Spandana) in furtherance of her service to the Indian National Congress, used social media to disparage the Chief Justice of India and also the highest court of India, whereby, putting in jeopardy the administration of justice and faith in judiciary," the plea, filed through advocate R D Upadhyay, said.

The plea claimed that Spandana had made the comments through her Twitter account on April 23 after Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had rejected the impeachment motion, filed by several Rajya Sabha members, against the CJI.

It alleged that "the contemnor used the word 'fixed benches' to make an inference that the Chief Justice allocates cases arbitrarily with ulterior motive and it effects public trust and confidence on the Supreme Court of India".

The plea claimed that by making such comments, Spandana had not only "disrespected" the CJI but also the institution, as comments like "fixed benches" or giving details of cases was not merely affecting the dignity and honour of the CJI but also questioning the administrative side of the apex court.

It alleged that her comments fall within the ambit of the definition of criminal contempt under the provision of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman had on April 23 rejected the notice, given by 64 MPs of seven opposition parties led by the Congress, for impeachment of the CJI on five grounds of alleged misbehaviour. This was the first time that an impeachment notice was filed against a sitting CJI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Leaders of the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) held a meeting with senior district officials today over the ongoing two-week-long protests on the campus.

AMU sources confirmed that the leaders of the AMUSU met senior district officials in a bid to end the logjam on the campus.

The students are reported to have reiterated their demands pertaining to action against those who had barged into the campus on May 2, seeking removal of a portrait of Pakistan founder M A Jinnah that had been adorning a wall of the union office for decades.

They also demanded action against those policemen who were responsible for the lathicharge on protesting AMU students the same evening.

Meanwhile, AMU Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor visited the site of the dharna and urged the protesting leaders to call off their agitation to help



restore normalcy on campus as admission tests and annual examinations are underway.

Prof. Mansoor said that if the health of any student deteriorated during the relay hunger strike, it would have a very adverse impact on the process of normalcy on the campus.

"I have assured the protesting students that the university fully supports their genuine demands and it is in their own interest now to call off the agitation on the campus," he told PTI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The provisions of the Domestic



Violence Act, 2005, are aimed at protecting the rights of women effectively and do not exclude Muslim women from its purview, the Bombay High Court has ruled.

"The enactment of the Domestic Violence Act in no way intends to restrict its application to any particular category of women, but it intends to protect any aggrieved woman who is a victim of domestic violence," Justice Bharati Dangre said.

The HC was hearing a petition filed by a city-based Muslim man challenging a family court's order directing him to pay maintenance to his wife and children under the Domestic Violence Act.

The petitioner claimed that they are from the Alvi Bohra community and hence both the parties are governed by Muslim Personal Law and their personal relationship is governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act.

The high court, however, in its order, passed earlier this month, refused to accept this contention.

"The definition and connotation of Domestic Violence under the enactment does not indicate any intention, either expressed or implied, to exclude Muslim women," the judge said.

The HC observed that the scheme of the enactment does not restrict the applicability of the provisions of the Act to a particular category of women, nevertheless to a woman belonging to a particular religion.

It dismissed the man's petition and said the parties being governed by the Muslim Personal Law is not an impediment in the wife invoking the jurisdiction of the court under the Domestic Violence Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 32-year-old man, arrested by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad on May 11, had plans to carry out terror attacks in Mumbai, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh with the help of his group members, a senior ATS official said here today.

ATS officials are interrogating Faizal Hassan Mirza, who was arrested here on Friday in a joint operation with the Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) and the Mumbai Police, ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni told reporters.

Mirza left the country a few months ago on the pretext of getting a job, as per the instructions of his "handler" and his distant kin Farooq Devadiwala, who stays in Sharjah, another official said.

Devadiwala is a wanted accused in terror activities in Mumbai and has underworld links, he said.

According to sources, Devadiwala is also connected with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's trusted aide Chhota Shakil and was recruiting men from Mumbai and other cities to carry out terror activities.

He was instrumental in recruiting Mirza for terror activities and suicide bombings and had arranged air tickets for the latter from Mumbai to Sharjah, the official said.

From Sharjah, Devadiwala took Mirza to Dubai and arranged a flight for Nairobi, which had a transit halt in Pakistan, he said.

When his flight landed at the Karachi airport, Mirza was asked to deplane and with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, was taken to a terror training camp and trained by the handlers and a religious preacher, the official claimed.

After returning to Mumbai, Mirza was awaiting orders from the handlers to carry out attacks in Mumbai, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, he said.

They had planned these attacks in crowded places, targeting public utilities and also VIPs of these cities, the official added.

"The ATS has registered an offence under section 16, 18, 18A, 18B, 20 of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Mirza and six others, who include trainers, facilitators, handlers and a preacher, Kulkarni said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Assam government has offered to sell dated securities of Rs 500 crore for a 10-year tenure by auction.

The auction will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its Mumbai Office on May 15 and the date of submission for application is also the same, an official release said today.

Competitive bids may be submitted between 10.30 am and 12 pm on the day of the auction electronically on the RBI Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) System.

Non-Competitive Bids may be submitted only electronically on the day of auction.

The result of the auction will be displayed on the RBI website on the day of auction and the payment by successful bidders will be made the next day, the release added.

The rate of interest, which is the cut-off yield determined at the auction, will be the coupon rate per cent per annum on the stock sold at the auction.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Lt Governor Anil Baijal today termed Arvind Kejriwal's dharna a "protest without basis" and alleged that the chief minister was "more comfortable" with making baseless allegations against him.

He said that the protest was based on "unwarranted apprehensions" about the stalling of the CCTV project.

Over the alleged refusal to meet Kejriwal, his ministers and MLAs, Baijal said he agreed to meet the chief minister, his council of ministers and an MP, but "he preferred to sit on dharna and avoided constructive deliberations".

In a statement, Baijal said that no proposal was sent to him for installing CCTV cameras, and still the chief minister led the protest and "misled the public" on the issue.

Kejriwal and his colleagues sat on the 'dharna' after the police officials deployed at L-G Anil Baijal's office told the chief minister that he and his ministers can meet Baijal, but the AAP legislators will not be allowed to go with them.

Shortly after, Kejriwal, his ministers, legislators and AAP supporters sat on a 'dharna' barely 100 metres from Baijal's office in protest.

"Despite seeking time to meet the Lt Governor on the issue of installation of CCTV Cameras in Delhi, the CM and his council of ministers along with MLAs and one MP Sushil Gupta preferred to sit on dharna near Raj Niwas rather than meeting the L-G to articulate and resolve the issues for which they marched to the Raj Niwas," L-G office said in a statement.

The 'dharna' was held despite the fact that the L-G offered to meet the chief minister, his ministers and the MPs and had already clarified in yesterday's letter that no instructions had been given to stall or stop the award of work for installation of CCTV cameras by the elected government.

The chief minister was more comfortable with "making allegations against the LG without basis", the statement read.

"The chief minister conveniently ignored the actual fact that his own cabinet has not even as yet considered the departmental proposal for CCTVs," it read.

It is only after the cabinet's approval that such proposals are sent to the L-G and in this case, no such approval has been accorded by the cabinet and sent to the L-G for his consideration, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Asserting that the BJP will break the "myth" that it cannot return to power at the centre, its president Amit Shah said today that the party will emerge stronger in the 2019 polls compared to the last general election.

At a meeting of party's national office-bearers, state presidents and other key leaders from states, Shah set the tone for the next parliamentary election and described the proposed alliance of opposition parties against the BJP as a matter of happiness, saying it underlined his party's strength.

Party spokespersons Sudhanshu Trivedi and Shahnawaz Hussain briefed reporters on Shah's speech, which Hussain described as the sounding of bugle for the Lok Sabha polls, a day ahead announcement of the crucial Karnataka assembly election results.

Shah said his party had already belied those who said its massive win in the 2014 poll was a "fluke" by winning 11 state assembly elections and now had over 1800 MLAs and over 11 crore members. He also expressed confidence that the BJP will wrest Karnataka from the Congress.

Amid claims by opposition parties that the BJP may find the going tough in 2019 if they unite, he said an atmosphere is created before every poll to downplay his party's chances and some people then look for all kinds of reasons to belittle its victory.

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and organisational strength of the BJP had also played a key role in its successes, he said, adding that the Congress' fall was a result of its arrogance of power and neglect of its organisation, which was destroyed over the years.

With the Modi government set to complete its fourth year this month, Shah said it had served the poor, and party workers can take pride in its performance as they strive to reatin power in 2019.

Claiming that the BJP has not formed government merely to be in power but to change the country, he said it will build an India so strong that the rest of the world will look at it in a manner it beholds the United States, according to Hussain.

"It was said about the BJP that it may form government once but does not return to power. We have to break this myth. When we will win the election in 2019, then we will prove that we know how to form, run and return to government," he said.

Shah might have on his mind the fate of the first BJP-led NDA government which had lost in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll despite being seen as favourites to return to power before the election.

Political pundits have been watching his party's rise with curiosity, the elite section of society with surprise while its rivals are intrigued, he said, adding that BJP workers are full of self-pride but their satisfaction should not give way to complacency.

"The BJP president has in a way sounded the bugle for the 2019 election. We will win the Karnataka polls tomorrow and have to prepare from today for the 2019 poll," Hussain said.

The party would not be satisfied till it forms governments in states like Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

In the meeting, Shah also took stock of the organisational work and various targets the party had set for its state units and MPs and MLAs.

He also voiced his anguish at the loss of lives due to adverse weather in different parts of country and asked the party's local units to assist the people in need.

Trivedi said Shah also took feedback from leaders about various programmes the party had organised during its recent 'gram swaraj' campaign and also sought suggestions from them on celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Modi government.

The party also condemned the violence during panchayat polls in West Bengal and hit out at the Trinamool Congress government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)British MPs today offered support to representatives of Indian diaspora groups campaigning for action against perpetrators behind the desecration of the Indian flag and attack on a journalist during anti-India protests in London last month.

Veteran Indian-origin MP Virendra Sharma, chair of the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), organised a meeting in a committee room of the House of Commons today to evaluate the next steps following representations from Indian community groups.

He was joined by fellow Labour party MP Seema Malhotra and Conservative party MP Bob Blackman.

"We are very concerned by this incident, which involved damage to property and a violation of freedom of speech involving an Indian journalist. It is important that community groups take the lead on this and pursue this issue," said Sharma.

"It is vital that all the physical evidence available is gathered together and lodged with the police in the form of a criminal complaint, said Blackman, who also plans to initiate a cross-party Early Day Motion (EDM) in the Commons to draw attention to the issue in Parliament.

Earlier today, a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Theresa May was handed over to Blackman outside 10 Downing Street by Indian Supreme Court advocate, E V Venugopal, who has offered his legal support to UK-based Indian diaspora groups.

"These demonstrators were raising slogans calling for the creation of 'Khalistan' and Kashmiri separatism. It is clear these purveyors of hatred will never limit their actions to non-violent protest. Their ideology invariably culminates in violence against the innocent," the letter notes.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said the Indian government was "deeply anguished" by the incident of the Indian flag being torn down from a flagpole at Parliament Square in London on April 18 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

"We received an allegation of assault on 19 April relating to an incident in Parliament Square on 18 April. No arrests. Enquiries continue, a Metropolitan Police statement said.

However, Venugopal believes there are sufficient grounds for the police to take suo moto action against the protesters for criminal conspiracy.

The Prime Minister of India was in the country and this action amounts to waging war against a nation, he said, adding that his group will consider approaching the International Criminal Court to take cognisance of the agents of violent and radical ideologies that threaten the peace of nations and all of us."



An online petition on change.org launched by the Friends of India Society International (FISI) UK demanding action against the culprits who tore down Indian flag under the eyes of British police has attracted nearly 22,000 of the 25,000 target signatures. They now plan to build further momentum behind the petition to raise 100,000 signatures for the issue to be considered for a debate in the UK Parliament.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had expressed the UK government's "disappointment" over the incident with the Indian High Commission in London. The Indian diaspora groups dismiss the expressions of disappointment and say they want "action" against those involved.

The perpetrators, caught on camera with the Indian national flag, had been brought together under the banner of the so-called "Minorities Against Modi" group, led by Pakistani-origin peer Lord Ahmed.

A senior broadcast journalist from an Indian television channel covering the protests during the Modi visit last month, who was caught up in the incident, has had her police complaint with the Met Police registered as a hate crime.

British MPs have called upon the Indian diaspora groups to unite over the issue and present all the documentary evidence to the police to push the investigation forward.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Some farmers were detained and a few others walked out of a consultation meeting for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail project here today, with a top district official stating that it went off successfully.

Collector Dhaval Patel said that some persons were detained from the venue as the administration feared that they might raise slogans and create law and order issues.

"Some persons were detained due to a concern over law and order. However, the meeting went on successfully as we tried to address issues raised by the farmers," Patel said.

He added that around 400 farmers attended the public hearing which was organised at city's Gandhi Smruti Bhavan.

Darshan Naik, a Congress member of the Surat district panchayat, claimed that he was detained by the police, and said that several farmers walked out after coming to know of the detention.

"There was a large number of police personnel deployed at the meeting who were frisking every farmer entering the venue hall. I went in with a set of demands but was stopped by the police and detained," said Naik.

"When farmers who had gone in for the meeting came to know about this, they walked out and the meeting was not held again. We demand its rescheduling," he said.

As per the process, such consultation meetings have to be held before the actual process of acquiring land can start.

The project was launched last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and it is expected to be ready for commissioning by 2022.

The high-speed train will run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai and will halt in 12 stations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, Allahabad Bank MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian were among 22 people charge-sheeted by the CBI today in connection with the country's largest financial scam worth over USD 2 billion in Punjab National Bank (PNB), agency sources said.

The charge sheet, filed in a special court in Mumbai, detailed the alleged role of Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of PNB from 2015 to 2017 and was questioned recently by the CBI in connection with the case, the sources said.

The agency has also named PNB executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad, and Nirav Modi's brother Nishal Modi in its charge sheet.

The CBI said the fraudulent Letter of Undertakings (LoUs) issued to Nirav Modi were for Rs 6,498.20 crore, the sources said.

The charge sheet, however, did not name Nirav Modi's wife Ami and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, they said.

The agency has detailed the roles of Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modi's company, they said.

The charge sheet primarily deals with the first FIR registered in the case relating to the fraudulent issuance over Rs 6,498.20 crore worth of LoUs to Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

The agency has not given in detail the role of Mehul Choksi in the present charge sheet. It is likely to come up when the CBI files supplementary charge sheets in the case related to the probe into his Gitanjali Group.

The CBI has registered three separate FIRs in connection with the alleged fraud of USD 2 billion in the public sector bank by the companies of Nirav Modi and Choksi.

Both Norav Modi and Choksi had left the country before PNB filed the complaint with the CBI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The fight between the AAP government and the Lt Governor over installing CCTV cameras in Delhi intensified today as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his cabinet ministers and MLAs sat on a 'dharna' for over three hours near the L-G office, asking him "not to stall" the project under "pressure from the BJP".

Kejriwal and his colleagues sat on 'dharna' after the police officials deployed at L-G Anil Baijal's office told the chief minister that he and his ministers can meet Baijal, but the AAP legislators will not be allowed to go with them.

Shortly after, Kejriwal, his ministers, legislators and AAP supporters sat on a 'dharna' barely 100 metres from Baijal's office in protest.

"The L-G does not want to meet MLAs. He only wants to meet me and cabinet ministers. The L-G will have to meet the MLAs. I will meet him along with the ministers and the MLAs," Kejriwal said.

The protesters chanted Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan "Raghupati Raghav, Raja Ram" and prayed for "good sense" to prevail on the L-G.

"Cowards bring police forward, but those who are brave believe in dialogue. The L-G's refusal to meet the MLAs is an insult to the people of Delhi," Kejriwal said.

The dharna began around 3:30 pm and ended at 6:40 pm with Kejriwal vowing to reach out to people to tell them that the "BJP and the L-G are disrupting the installation of CCTV cameras in the city".

"Our MLAs will hold meetings in their localities and tell people that the BJP and the L-G are hampering installation of CCTV cameras and elicit their views on it. The standard operating procedure for installing CCTV cameras will be decided by the people, and not by a shahenshah (L-G)," he said at the end of over three hour long sit in.

The protest near Baijal's office disrupted the movement of vehicles in the area. A large number of police personnel were deployed at the scene of the protest.

Before sitting of the protest, the AAP leaders had taken out a march from Kejriwal's official residence in Civil Lines area to Baijal's office to urge the L-G for "not stalling" the project under "pressure from the BJP".

Kejriwal, his ministerial colleagues including his deputy Manish Sisodia and PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, and AAP MLAs, began their march at 3 pm under heavy police security cover.

During the two-kilometre march, they raised slogans against the L-G and the BJP.

Before the protest, Kejriwal attacked the BJP, alleging it does not want CCTV cameras installed in Delhi and hence was stalling the project through the L-G's office.

In its 2015 manifesto election, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised to install at least 10 lakh CCTV cameras in the city for the security of women.

"The committee set up by the L-G is very dangerous. The committee has been set up to stall CCTV project," Kejriwal told reporters.

The AAP dispensation has been opposing the LG-appointed committee constituted for preparing common framework for installation and monitoring of CCTV cameras.

Yesterday, Baijal wrote to Kejriwal, saying it was "unfortunate" that the public and media were being "misled" on the issue "repeatedly and deliberately".

Hours after Baijal's letter, Kejriwal wrote back to the lt governor, seeking to know why he was "politicising" the issue of women safety.

Kejriwal alleged that Baijal had set up the committee "arbitrarily", bypassing the elected government and sought to know why he was "violating" the Constitution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said today that the Centre was watching the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as a "mute spectator" and that the BJP was not ready to listen to reason on Kashmir.

"The BJP government at the Centre instead of helping us get out of this vortex of violence is watching as a mute spectator. They seem to have given up on the state and have so far failed in bringing in a workable, practical and sensible way-out," Abdullah said at a meeting of the National Conference provincial committee here.

The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar said the BJP leadership was dogmatic in their approach towards Kashmir.

"When it comes to Kashmir, the present leadership of the BJP is so dogmatic in their approach that they are not ready to listen to reason, he said.

Blaming the state government as well as the Centre for the rapidly deteriorating situation, Abdullah said deaths, communal polarisation, chaos and anarchy have engulfed all the three regions of the state.

"Under the present PDP-BJP government, the people of the state are being pitted against one another along regional and religious lines. This is being done with a design to seek specific political dividends by the ruling regime," he alleged.

Expressing concern over the deteriorating law and order scenario in the state, the former chief minister said that frequent killings had led to a situation where the youths were being pushed into an area of confrontation and that they would subsequently become the victims of this conflict.

"Being the head of the state and of the unified headquarters, Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti has failed completely to put a stop to civilian casualties. It is time for both PDP and BJP to do some introspection and listen to voices from the ground and do some course correction which I am afraid to say is too late, he added.

Abdullah reiterated the party's resolve to ensure all the three regions of the state are united, to protect the state's special status and to defeat forces inimical to peace, dignity and prosperity of the state.

Asking party leaders to empower youths and make them part of decision making process, he said, We have to prioritise our outreach to the youth of the state and make all efforts to empower them in every possible way. Their outlook towards things is different but not divisive. We need to encourage that and provide them with all our assistance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Centre today proposed to the Supreme Court the setting up of a nine-member authority at Bengaluru to ensure smooth water distribution among the four southern riparian states to tackle the Cauvery water sharing dispute.

The draft scheme, submitted by the Centre before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra following the apex court's February 16 judgement, contained slew of suggestions of the Union Water Resources Ministry.

The Union ministry suggested maintenance of accounts of domestic and industrial water consumption by four states -- Karnataka, Tamil Madu, Kerala and Puducherry.

The nine-member authority, yet to be named, shall consist of a chairman, who is a senior engineer or secretary or additional secretary in the Centre, two full-time members --- a chief engineer from Central Water Engineering Services (CWES) cadre and a commissioner from Ministry of Agriculture, two part-time members-- joint secretaries from Ministries of Water and Agriculture, and four representatives from water resources department of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, to be nominated by respective states.

"The authority shall take care of storage, apportionment, regulation and control of Cauvery waters; It shall supervise the operation of reservoirs and regulation of water releases with assistance from Regulation Committee. Regulated release by Karnataka at the inter-state contact point located on common border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu," the draft Cauvery Management scheme said.

"The authority will on June 1 every year determine the total residual storage in the specified reservoirs as it is not possible to know season-wise river flows. It will be assumed that the inflows will be according to 50 per cent dependable year (yield 740 TMC). The share of each state shall be determined on the basis of the flow so assumed, together with the available carry-over storage in reservoirs," the scheme said.

It said the proposed authority shall implement the Supreme Court's February 16 order, by which it had raised the water share of Karnataka and reduced the share of Tamil Nadu.

It suggested that the authority will ensure that the states would construct proper hydraulic structures at all important sites in the basin with provision of appropriate regulation mechanism.

"If any delay or shortfall is caused in release of water on account of default of any state, the authority shall take appropriate action to make good the deficiency by subsequently deducting indented releases of that state. The authority will advice to adopt efficient technology for water conservation and preservation," the scheme said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Police today said that the charge sheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case that accuses her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of abetting her suicide was finalised on the basis of "medico-legal and forensic evidence".

Tharoor is the only person who has been arrayed as an accused in the case. The police, in its charge sheet which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice," said a Delhi Police spokesperson.

Psychological autopsy is a reconstructive mental state evaluation to understand an individual's mental state at and around the time of death for the purpose of identifying the cause of death.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The charge sheet, which includes several annexures, said that Pushkar died within three years, three months and 15 days of her marriage with Tharoor, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

The couple had entered into wedlock on August 22, 2010.

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of the South Delhi hotel on January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation.

An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unidentified persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala Congress today described as "politically motivated" the Delhi Police chargesheet against party leader Shashi Tharoor accusing him of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, while the BJP demanded the MP's resignation.

Tharoor is the only person named as an accused in the case. The police in its chargesheet, which runs into 3,000 pages, has alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room in Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.

Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala said "using power, an attempt is being made by BJP to suppress and insult Congress leaders."



Chennithala said "wrong" reports have been given to the media on several occasions in connection with the case to "insult" Tharoor.

"Now, a case for abetting the suicide of his wife has been (filed) against Tharoor," he said in a statement here.

"There has been political interference in the case as Tharoor had severally criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar on various occasions," Kerala PCC president M M Hassan said.

"It is only the fascists who act in this manner to take on their political rivals... The move is only to cut short the political career of the MP, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha," he said.

However, BJP leader M T Ramesh demanded that Tharoor immediately resign as an MP. Congress president Rahul Gandhi should be prepared to seek his resignation, he told reporters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China has approved a USD 1 billion loan to revive a long-delayed expressway in central Sri Lanka, the island's government said today.

Construction of the first phase of the road linking the capital Colombo with the hill resort of Kandy had been delayed for more than two years due to a lack of foreign funding, according to local media reports.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office said he met the Chinese ambassador today, who told him Beijing had decided to approve the loan that will be provided through the Export-Import Bank of China.

China has emerged as the largest single lender to Sri Lanka in recent years, securing contracts to build roads, railways and ports under the former government of Mahinda Rajapakse.

After Wickremesinghe came to power in January 2015, many projects were suspended pending investigations into corruption allegations, but construction work has recently restarted following renegotiations.

Last August, China took over a loss-making deep-sea port in the island's south on a 99-year lease under a USD 1.1 billion deal.

Colombo is a key hub for Indian cargo, and Beijing has been accused of seeking to develop facilities around the Indian Ocean to counter the rise of its rival and secure its own economic interests.

Under Sri Lanka's former regime, China began a controversial $1.4 billion land reclamation project next to Colombo's harbour.

There are plans to build a new city centre on the land, with Chinese firms set to invest another billion to construct three 60-storey buildings.

The project was formally launched after a visit to Colombo by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014 but work was suspended by the new administration.

It resumed after the state-owned China Communications Construction Company entered into a fresh agreement with the new regime in August 2016.

The 269-hectare (665-acre) reclamation is due to be completed next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China has brought up the issue of its telecom equipment giant ZTE at various levels with the US, and President Donald Trump has asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to look into it, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, the White House said today.

"This is part of a very complex relationship between the US and China that involves economic issues, national security issues and the like. It's an issue of high concern for China that's been raised with the US government and with our administration at various levels," White House Deputy Press Secretary told reporters at a conference.

Shah was responding to questions on a tweet by Trump in which he had said that he was working with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to give China's telecom giant ZTE a way to get back into business.

"The matter has been brought up at a number of levels, you know, as part of bilateral talks on a number of issues," he said.

Shah, however, refrained it from linking the ZTE issue with the upcoming trade meetings between the US and Chinese officials.

"It's part of again the US relationship with China, which is complex. It has economic factors, it has national security factors. This is just one of many factors, and again the President is asking the Secretary of Commerce to look into the matter consistent with laws and regulation," he said.

The White House strongly refuted allegations that Trump was giving any kind of "concession" to the Chinese companies.

Responding to a question on "how does the President Trump's statement that too many Chinese jobs are at risk square with his campaign promise that China is stealing American jobs?"



Shah replied, "I don't think this has frankly any bearing on the President's campaign promises...The President has overseen an economy in which we have the lowest unemployment rate since 2000. It's at 3.9 per cent, over two million jobs have been created since this President took office,"



"With respect to trade with China, he's been tough. Let's put this into context. I mean this President has taken China to task for its unfair trade practices through this Section 301 investigation. He's introduced and proposed or rather up to USD 150 billion of tariffs on China for intellectual property theft, dumping in a range of you know inimical Chinese economic action. So he's been tough and he's confronted them, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Chinese plane with 128 people on board was forced to divert to another airport for an emergency landing today after a cockpit window broke, injuring a co-pilot and a crew member, officials said.

The Flight 3U8633, operated by Sichuan Airlines, was en route from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. It was forced to divert to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), part of the cockpit window broke as the Airbus A319 flew over Chengdu, the report said.

Other media reports said part of the cockpit window fell out in mid-flight.

The crew enacted emergency code 7700 and landed in Chengdu. All passengers are safe, although the co-pilot sustained injuries on the face and waist, and another crew member was slightly hurt during the emergency landing, according to the CAAC.

Sichuan Airlines confirmed the diversion, and said that an investigation is under way. The plane landed in Chengdu at 7:46 am today.

There were 119 passengers and nine crew members on board, according to the airline, which has arranged another flight to take the passengers to Lhasa.

Video footage shot by passengers showed baggage falling from overhead lockers during the emergency landing and oxygen masks dropping for use.

An unnamed woman passenger told the Beijing Youth Daily the accident happened about one hour after the plane took off.

Some passengers cried out and others vomited and felt dizziness, she was quoted as saying.

"(We) don't know what happened to the pilot. We owe him for saving everybody and were worried about him," she said.

An aviation blogger said online that the pilot would have had to land the Airbus A319 in difficult conditions, with low temperatures in the cockpit, strong winds and some equipment not functioning properly, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Last month, an Air India flight from Amristar to New Delhi with over 240 passengers experienced turbulence leaving at least three people with minor injuries and causing a window panel inside the aircraft to break away.

In a separate incident in the US same month, a mother was killed after a jet engine of Southwest airlines exploded during a flight. A few weeks later, a cracked window prompted another emergency landing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A state-run Chinese bank has launched the country's first India-dedicated publicly offered investment fund, saying the Indian market offers the best opportunity for Chinese investors due to the prospects of double-digit growth.

The fund, named the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Credit Suisse India Market Fund, will "invest in exchange-traded funds listed on more than 20 exchanges in Europe and the US that are based on the Indian market".

It is China's first publicly offered fund for investing in India, state-run Global Times reported.

The fund will invest in the future of the Indian economy and track the distribution of the industrial structure across the Indian market, the report quoted a fund manager as saying.

The move, regarded as significant by observers to boost investments in India comes just about a fortnight after the first ever informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan.

The bank while launching the fund has given an upbeat picture of India's economic growth path.

"As the most important emerging market overseas, the Indian stock market's long-term trend must be positive. For Chinese investors, the current moment offers the best opportunity to get started in Indian stocks," the Global Times said in its report on the launch of the India fund by ICBC.

"The certainty of India's growth is very clear. But considering the continuous acceleration of urbanisation and the expansion of the middle class, India's future value will be large," it said



If estimated by purchasing power parity, India's GDP is already close to seven per cent of the world. The situation is similar to China when it started to rise a decade ago, it said.

"Now, investing in the Indian market means an investor can enjoy double-digit economic growth," it said.

The Indian stock market underwent a correction in the first quarter, which means it offers a good opportunity for opening positions, it said.

The bank listed sectors for investments specifically, in terms of the major industries weighted distribution of the index.

The financial industry will account for the highest proportion, followed by information technology, alternative consumption, energy, essential consumption, raw materials, medicine, healthcare and other industries, it said.

For large investors, adding a low-relevant asset to the allocation tool can effectively improve the effective frontier of the investor's asset allocation, and help the investor to better spread risks and obtain a more stable income.

"Through our research, we found that at the same risk level, after joining the Indian market, the expected return of the portfolio can be increased," it said.

In terms of small and medium-sized investors, the threshold for global asset allocation and overseas investment markets is high, which makes it difficult for them to set foot in this field.

Under the current institutional framework, this is a rare opportunity to invest overseas, it said.

Recent research indicates that the Indian market has gradually become one of the best-performing markets in the world due to ongoing reforms, macroeconomic improvement and enhanced profitability, it said.

"Take March as an example. Due to trade friction between China and the US, foreign capital showed mostly net outflows from other Asian stock markets. However, India's capital inflows reached USD 2.1 billion, which was in sharp contrast to other markets in the region," it said.

"This shows that foreign investors recognise India's economic strength," it said.

"Meanwhile, India is not affected by the trade friction between China and the US, and it has become a safe haven for funds. Chinese investors should pay close attention to the Indian stock market and seize new opportunities," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today demanded a probe into the construction of a house adjacent to an army establishment by a senior BJP leader in Jammu and Kashmir, accused the Narendra Modi government of compromising on national security and asked if the prime minister who sought votes in the name of armed forces would act against party leaders.

Congress communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala asked whether the prime minister would hold a probe into the "illegal activities" of BJP leaders who had carried out unauthorised construction next to the army ammunition depot in Nagrota along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which threatened national security.

Speaker Nirmal Singh landed in a controversy after the army objected to the construction of his house.

In a letter addressed to Nirmal Singh on March 19, Commander of Army's 16 Corps Lt General Saranjeet Singh objected to the construction of the house and said, "It has implications on the security of a major ammunition storage facility as well as the safety of personnel living in close vicinity of the ammunition depot."



Congress leader Surjewala accused state BJP and RSS leaders including Speaker Nirmal Singh, deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta and others of buying illegal land near the ammunition depot, thereby endangering security paraphernalia around the sensitive area.

"Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who does not hesitate to seek votes in the name of the Army, take action against his leaders including Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister and the Assembly Speaker? Will he hold a probe into this entire affair...BJP leaders are insulting our armed forces in J&K," he told reporters in Delhi.

"Is this Modi's '56 Inch Chest Policy' whereby BJP leaders are encouraged to illegally construct and attack the Indian Army? The simple question is - Will the Modi Government wake up from its deep slumber and act against their own?" he said.

The land in question was bought in 2000 by the Himgiri Infrastructure Development Private Limited, whose shareholders included present J&K Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and BJP MP Jugal Kishore besides Nirmal Singh, who resigned as the deputy chief minister on April 30 ahead of a major reshuffle in the state cabinet.

Surjewala said Himgiri Infrastructure Development has also defaulted on a whopping Rs 29.31-crore loan of J&K Bank.

"This is a clear case of gross impropriety, illegality and flouting of rules and regulations, resulting in imperiling the security apparatus. This comes at a time when Pakistan has virtually accepted its role in 26/11 attacks.

"Instead of accepting their unlawful actions, the pseudo nationalist BJP leader had the audacity to attack the Indian Army by calling them 'politically motivated' and saying that 'Army is harassing people'," he alleged.

The Congress leader accused the BJP of being a "habitual offender when it comes to insulting our Armed forces" and alleged that Union Minister V K Singh, prime minister Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat have "insulted" the Army earlier.

He said in the past four years, 362 jawans have lost their lives and 213 civilians killed in terror attacks in J&K as most of the attacks have taken place on Army/Air Force/BSF bases.

"Why did Modi Government not learn any lessons after Uri, Pathankot, Nagrota, Sunjwan?



"Post the Sunjwan Army camp attack, where six security officers were martyred, there were reports that the attack was a result of illegal constructions, very close to the camp. Why did the J&K Government and the Centre allow such a construction?" he also asked.

He said Lt. General Saranjeet Singh requested Nirmal Singh to reconsider construction of residential accommodation in close proximity of the ammunition depot being a "potential safety hazard".

"But, in brazen display of arrogance, Nirmal Singh dismissed the serious concerns raised by the Corp Commander and accused the army of being 'politically motivated' and also went a step further charging the brave Indian army of 'harassing the local residents'," he said.

In a statement, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said, "An inquiry by an independent agency should be ordered into the entire land deal including the huge advancing of loans by a bank to the high profile company.

In the light of facts which have come to light, an immediate and appropriate action should be taken against the arrogant and irresponsible leaders of the party, Sharma said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress and the NCP today hit out at the Union government, claiming that its policy of allowing the import of sugar from neighbouring Pakistan was leading to a crash in its prices in the domestic market.

The two parties questioned the Centre over the need for such imports when sugar production in the country was in "excess".

National Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said that there was bound to be "some reaction" if sugar was imported from Pakistan.

He said that several states had seen excess production of sugarcane and have been demanding that sugar be exported.

"There is bound to be some reaction if sugar has been imported from Pakistan. I can understand that liberalisation in import-export policies means that a lot of these things are not in the control of the government. However the Indian government has the right to impose duty and discourage sugar imports," the former Union Agriculture Minister said.

"Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have had excess production of sugarcane and hence sugar production has gone up in the country. Farmers from these states are demanding that sugar be exported," he added.

Speaking to reporters, former state Cooperation Minister and senior Congress leader Harshvardhan Patil said, "A Delhi-based company called Sakuma Exports Limited has exported chocolates to Pakistan and imported some 20 lakh tonnes of sugar from Pakistan. Why is this being done at the cost of our farmers?"



Patil claimed that the import policy of the Centre would affect domestic sugarcane producers to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore.

"The losses for sugarcane cultivators in Maharashtra itself would be around Rs 3,000 crore. With low prices domestically, how will sugar mills pay farmers from whom they have procured sugarcane," Patil asked.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan asked the Union government for an explanation and alleged that these imports had resulted in sugar prices per tonne falling from Rs 36,000 to Rs 24,000.

He ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that while the latter claimed that he would get fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan, all his government was managing to do was bring in sugar from the neighbouring country.

Sources from the sugar industry said that importing it was economically unviable at the moment as international prices were at USD 315 per tonne, and with 100 per cent duty, it would cost USD 630 per tonne.

"And if we include transport charges, the price of sugar will be over Rs 40 per kilogram as ex-mill price is currently ruling at Rs 26-27 per kilogram," industry sources said.

They added that sugar production was estimated to cross 30-35 million tonne, an all-time high, in the current 2017-18 marketing year (October-September) as against 25 million tonnes in the previous year.

The annual domestic demand, they informed, is estimated at about 25 million tonnes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today attacked the Modi government for hiking fuel prices, with party president Rahul Gandhi alleging that befooling people is the key principle of "Modinomics".

"Karnataka finishes voting, FUEL prices rise to a 4 year high! The Key Principle of Modinomics: fool as many people as you can, as often as you can," Gandhi wrote on Twitter, using the hashtag "PeTrolled".

Congress's communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala alleged that the government was befooling the public as it did not raise fuel prices only due to elections in Karnataka.

"Post deception of people of Karnataka and the country by not raising Petrol-Diesel prices for 19 continuous days to garner votes; First salvo of Petrol/Diesel enhancement is fired! How many more to be fired to fleece the pockets of ordinary people?" he asked on Twitter.

He said that people had now understood the Modi's government's game.

After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, petrol price was today hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Oil PSUs, who had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rear Admiral Daisuke Kajimoto of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF), presently Commander of the Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151), visited the western naval command headquarters today and called on the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice Admiral Girish Luthra.

CTF 151 is a multi-national task force operating in the Gulf of Aden, Somali basin, and southern Red Sea. Principal mission of CTF 151 is to deter piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Aden and off the East coast of Somalia.

The Indian Navy is actively involved in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and has been maintaining a ship in the Gulf since 2008.

RAdm Kajimoto was also briefed on the operational role of the Western Naval Command.

He also visited INS Kochi, an indigenously-built guided missile destroyer of the Indian Navy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Department of Telecom today approved merger of Telenor India with Bharti Airtel -- a move that will make the subscriber base of Sunil Mittal-led firm almost twice the size of new entrant Reliance Jio.

"We welcome all Telenor customers to the Airtel family and look forward to delighting them with best-in-class products. The acquisition consolidates our market leadership, further strengthens our network portfolio in key markets and will add to shareholder value," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia, Gopal Vittal said in a statement.

The mobile subscriber base of resultant entity will reach around 334 million and Jio, which commenced operation in September 2016, had around 177 million subscribers, according to data released by telecom regulator Trai for the month of February 2018.

The telecom major said all existing customers of Telenor India will now become a part of its mobile network and will be transitioned seamlessly.

The subscribers will "continue to enjoy uninterrupted services with the Same SIM, Same Number, and Same Plan or Pack benefits", Airtel said.

Both the companies had entered in to agreement for the deal in February 2017.

The approval has come within a week of Supreme Court order that quashed DoT petition seeking security deposit of around Rs 1,700 crore and directed it to approve the merger. The guarantee included Rs 1,499 crore for one-time spectrum charge for the radiowaves allocated to Airtel without auction, and over Rs 200 crore for spectrum payment which Telenor has to make.

DoT has asked Airtel to reduce its market share based on adjusted gross revenue (money earned from telecom services) in Bihar service area to the limit of 50 per cent, within one year from the date merger of two companies is approved.

The merger will bolster Airtel's spectrum footprint in these seven circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. Telenor India runs operations in seven circles-- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.

"I welcome today's closing of the transaction. We are pleased with our agreement with Airtel and finding a long term solution to our India business has been a priority for us. I would like to thank the Telenor India team for their relentless and unwavering efforts over the years," Telenor Group CEO Sigve Brekke said.

Telenor announced its entry into India in 2008. However, due to intensive competition in the sector and high cost of mobile airwaves, the Norwegian firm decided to exit from India.

According to the agreement between the two companies, Airtel will absorb all employees of Telenor India that are estimated to be below 1,400.

"Airtel has already on boarded 700 employees from Telenor. The plan for the remaining employees will be communicated in due course," Airtel spokesperson said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After the Centre submitted the draft Cauvery management scheme in the Supreme Court today, the Tamil Nadu government expressed hope that the court will give a favourable verdict on May 16 on the inter-state river dispute.

The opposition DMK reiterated its demand for setting up of an empowered Cauvery Management Board (CMB) to implement the court order on the river-water sharing between the stakeholders - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.

In Salem, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami pointed out that the Centre submitted the draft Cauvery management scheme following a directive from the top court.

"I hope there will be a good verdict on May 16," he told reporters, apparently referring to the Supreme Court saying today that it would consider and approve the scheme that day.

He said Tamil Nadu's demand was that the CMB and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee should be set up, and recalled the AIADMK's legal struggle on this issue.

Palaniswami's deputy O Panneerselvam said former chief ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa had struggled to secure Tamil Nadu's interests on the complex issue.

"Much like they took forward so many struggles to ensure the livelihood rights (of Tamil Nadu on Cauvery), this (AIADMK) government will also do the same," he told reporters in Madurai.

Earlier today, the Centre submitted to the apex court the draft Cauvery management scheme, to ensure smooth distribution of water between the states concerned, with the dispute having turned a key point of contention between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for years.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, took on record the draft scheme submitted by the Union water resource secretary and said it would peruse it.

"We need to examine whether the said scheme is in consonance with our judgement," the bench said, adding it would consider and approve the scheme on May 16.

The top court on May 8 had summoned the secretary to appear before it today with the draft scheme and warned the Centre it was in "sheer contempt" of the February 16 verdict by not framing the Cauvery management scheme on river water sharing between the four southern riparian states till now.

Meanwhile, opposition leader and DMK working president M K Stalin said "expectations have gone up" in the state when the Centre would fully implement the draft management scheme.

Reiterating his party's stand on constitution of the CMB, he urged the ruling AIADMK to convene a meeting of all political parties and farmers' unions tomorrow to discuss the matter.

"People of Tamil Nadu and farmers in the (Cauvery) delta region expect the setting up of an empowered CMB and safeguard the state's rights," he said in a statement and urged the state government to put forth effective arguments on May 16 to win its case.

Tamil Nadu should insist that the Centre set up the CMB, he added.

MDMK founder Vaiko said the "question mark that remains is" whether any new panel would be an empowered one.

MNM president and actor Kamal Haasan again claimed that was being played on the Cauvery issue and called for unity among farmers and people of the state on the matter.

He also proposed to have a possible meeting with the next Karnataka chief minister on the issue and hoped for some solution since the head of that state "may be from any party, but he is also human."



The apex court on February 16 asked the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement on the decades-old Cauvery dispute.

It had modified the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) award of 2007 and made it clear that it would not extend time for this on any grounds.

The top court had then raised the 270 tmcft share of Cauvery water for Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share, while compensating it by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin, saying the issue of drinking water has to be placed on a "higher pedestal".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the AAP government today assured the High Court here that no contract for standard floor buses would be awarded till May 23, in the backdrop of objections that they were not disabled-friendly.

The assurance was given as a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar appeared inclined to stay the entire tender floated on March 15 for procurement of 1,000 standard floor buses (SFBs).

The court was of the view that exclusion of disabled persons from accessing public transport was "glaring on the face of it" as the SFBs were not easily accessible by handicapped persons and the elderly.

Taking note of the views of the bench, the DTC and the Delhi government assured it that the contract under the tender, which was opened on May 10, would not be awarded till the next date of hearing on May 23.

The court said that DTC and the government would be bound by the statement.

The order came on a fresh PIL moved by Nipun Malhotra seeking setting aside of the March 15 tender.

Advocate Jai Dehadrai, appearing for Malhotra, said the tender was in violation of earlier orders of the court as well as undertakings given by DTC to not go ahead with procurement of SFBs.

The lawyer said that the DTC and the government were going ahead with the procurement despite agreeing that low floor buses (LFBs) were more safer and efficient than SFBs.

DTC on the other hand, in an affidavit, has said only the older SFBs were unsafe and inefficient in comparison to the LFBs and the new ones it was going to procure would be as proper as the LFBs.

However, the new SFBs would not be able to cater to people on wheelchairs, the transport corporation has admitted in its affidavit.

Meanwhile, advocate Aman Panwar, appearing for Congress leader Ajay Maken, told the court that the proposed procurement was also in violation of a Ministry of Urban Development specification that public transport buses in Delhi need to have automatic transmission.

Malhotra, in his fresh PIL, has contended that by issuing the tender to procure 1,000 SFBs, DTC and the Delhi government have "completely failed to take into account the issues which would be faced by the disabled and elderly population, when it comes to basic access to public transport".

"It is stated there is no rationale for the sustained procurement of non-disabled friendly high buses, which are fundamentally inaccessible for the disabled population and, in extension, children and the elderly population," the petition said.

Malhotra, who suffers from a locomotor disability, has in an earlier petition challenged the Delhi government's decision of last year to procure 2,000 SFBs at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Widespread violence during the panchayat polls in West Bengal today left at least eight people dead and 43 injured, as 73 per cent of the electorate turned out to cast their vote.

Notwithstanding the elaborate security arrangements in which 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and other states were deployed, violence broke out in North and South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts.

Polling booths were mainly targeted during the violence after clashes broke out between Trinamool Congress supporters and opposition party workers. Crude bombs were also hurled near several polling stations.

Despite the violence, State Election Commission (SEC) sources said 73 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm, the closing hour, but many more voters were still in the queue.

Opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing a reign of terror and destroying democracy.

"First they didn't allow people to file nominations. Second after filing nominations, TMC started threatening the candidates to withdraw. The people who didn't withdraw were attacked. This is nothing but a complete destruction of democratic process," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

CPI leader D Raja said it was a farce of an election and the Mamata Banerjee government should have taken steps to save democracy in West Bengal.

However, the TMC downplayed the violence, saying it was far less compared to the previous rule of the Left.

"To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead. Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times. Yes, few dozen incidents. Say, 40 out of 58,000 booths. What's %age? (sic)", TMC leader Derek O'Brien said on Twitter.

The state police and the SEC gave a break-up of the incidents of violence and about the people who died today.

In East Midnapore, two persons were killed in Nandigram block-2, when bike-borne miscreants threw bombs on voters waiting in queue outside a booth, SP S N Kumar said.

In another incident in Nandigram, 15 people were injured in a clash outside a booth. One person was hit on the head with a knife while another lost his finger, police said.

In the district's Contai area, chilli powder was thrown at an Independent candidate and four others, police said.

A State Election Commission (SEC) official said that a man was shot dead near a polling booth in Sujapur village in Murshidabad. Local BJP unit leader Subhas Modal claimed the victim was a party worker.

In South Dinajpur, a man was killed and four others were injured after a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, he said.

One person was killed in clashes between two groups outside a polling booth in Nakashipara area in Nadia district, while another death was reported from Shantipur area, he said.

The SEC official said bombs were hurled outside a polling station in Amdanga area of North 24 Paragans in which a man, said to be a CPI(M) supporter, died and another injured.

At Kultali in South 24 Parganas, one person was killed when a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, he said.

In Cooch Behar district, North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh allegedly slapped a person outside a polling booth, the official said, adding that the SEC has received a complaint and asked authorities to take action.

Television channels showed Ghosh slapping the person. He, however, claimed that he did not do it.

In Dinhata area of the district, at least 15 people, including voters, were injured after clashes broke out between two rival groups outside a polling station, police said.

In North Dinajpur, three crude bombs were found near a polling booth at Galaisura, police said. Of the three bombs, two were found on railway tracks, RPF sources said.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were seen threatening voters outside some of the booths. Television footage from Basanti block of South 24 Parganas showed masked gunmen outside polling stations.

In Bhangar, which was rocked by pre-poll violence and saw the arrest of a TMC leader, police resorted to batoncharge and fired teargas shells to disperse people following clashes, the SEC official said.

In Keshpur area in West Midnapore, police resorted to lathicharge and chased people allegedly threatening voters.

In Malda, the office-in-charge of Ratua police station Debabrata Chakraborty was injured in stone-pelting when he went to remove a blockade on a state highway, S P Arnab Ghosh said. Chakraborty has been admitted to a hospital, he said.

The panchayat poll is being held after a protracted legal battle in the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the opposition parties.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh alleged that the "TMC has turned the polls into a farce".

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said democracy "has been murdered by TMC in Bengal".

The TMC has termed the allegations baseless and concocted. Its secretary general Partha Chatterjee said: "There have been one or two isolated incidents. The administration has taken steps in all the cases. We have seen elections during the Left Front rule when we used to witness bloodbath and death."



CPI(M) workers led by senior party leaders Biman Bose and Surya Kanta Mishra staged a sit-in outside the SEC office in the city. Congress workers too staged a protest rally outside the SEC office.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today accused Israel of "state terror" and "genocide" after Israeli forces killed at least 55 Palestinians on the Gaza border.

In one of his most vehement broadsides ever against the Jewish state, Erdogan also announced three days of national mourning over the deaths, as well as a giant protest in Istanbul on Friday.

Thousands had earlier marched through central Istanbul to denounce the bloodshed as the US moved its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in defiance of widespread outrage in the Islamic world.

"Israel is wreaking state terror. Israel is a terror state," Erdogan told Turkish students in London in a speech broadcast by state television.

"What Israel has done is a genocide. I condemn this humanitarian drama, the genocide, from whichever side it comes, Israel or America," he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters in Ankara that Turkey was recalling its ambassadors to the United States and Israel "for consultations".

Bozdag also said Turkey was calling an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday, but did not give details over its format.

Violent clashes erupted along Gaza's border as the US opened its Israel embassy in Jerusalem in a ceremony attended by a White House delegation and Israeli officials. Erdogan and other Turkish officials have repeatedly condemned the US decision to move the embassy, warning it risked inflaming tensions.

The Turkish president announced he was calling a "giant meeting" on Friday to protest Israel's actions at the vast Yenikapi area in Istanbul, which has capacity for more than a million people.

Erdogan regards himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause and last year held a summit of Islamic countries to denounce US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

However Turkey also maintains full trade and diplomatic links with the Jewish state after a 2016 reconciliation deal ended a dispute over the deadly storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos.

Ankara earlier on Monday accused the US of sharing responsibility with Israel over the deaths in Gaza.

"The United States, unfortunately, took its place without complaint alongside the Israeli government in this massacre of civilians and became a party to this crime against humanity," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A seven-day exhibition was today inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister's Manish Sisodia, where one can find "huge assortments of everything" from Indian civilization coins to currencies of 100 countries, stamps, and many other historical artifacts on display.

According to the Royal Numismatic Society which is organising the exhibition, the week-long exhibition invites such numismatic enthusiasts to the event to take a dive into the history of India and many other countries while adding fascinating rarities to their existing numismatic collection.

On this occasion, Sisodia said that numismatic is a "direct source" to learn history.

Exhibition is being held at the All India Fine Arts & Craft Society (AIFACS) here, and will conclude on May 20.

"The attendees will be able to witness a chronological display of Delhi from 4-6 BC to 1947 encapsulating the evolution of the capital through mindboggling works of art," the society said in a statement.

It stated that the exhibition will also feature classical numismatic gallery along with coins, notes and stamps of Republic of India and many other nations.

"Other major attractions of the exhibition include sale of marvellous paintings of high historical and aesthetic significance by renowned artists and display of numismatic exhibits featuring Sachin Tendulkar's century dates, sporadic collections of copper state coins, misprinted coins, and notes and more," it stated.

Besides antique collectables and numismatics, there will be free educational programmes for history enthusiasts, like-minded hobbyists and students can look forward to, it stated.

"These events include a workshop by Prof Gautam Jantkal, lectures and seminars on historical currencies and coins by leading numismatists and researchers," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister Harsh Vardhan today reviewed the preparations for World Day and said he is expecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the global celebrations.

The United Nations has entrusted India with the responsibility of hosting World Day on June 5 with focus on finding alternative to plastic in different parts of the globe.

The theme for this year's event is 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.

"Reviewed preparations for #WorldEnvironmentDay2018. Expecting @narendramodi to inaugurate global celebrations with participation of several countries and @UNEnvironment. The yearlong programme's main theme is #BeatPlasticPollution. @moefcc," Vardhan tweeted.

He said a week-long exhibition involving central ministries, state governments and other agencies have been planned.

"#WorldEnvironmentDday2018-A week-long exhibition involving Central Ministries/State Govts/UN Agencies, @ficci_india, Industry and Environmental Agencies planned. There will be simultaneous programmes all across India to make it a people's movement. @moefcc, @UNEnvironment, he said in another tweet.

UN Environment chief Erik Solheim was recently in India to sign a letter of intent on India hosting World Environment Day. Solheim and Union Environment Secretary C K Mishra signed the letter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)There is a positive obligation on the state to facilitate autonomy and choice of a person, failing which in certain measure amounts to violation of the fundamental right of the individual concerned, Supreme Court Judge A K Sikri said today.

He made the remarks at the launch of a book, 'Dignity in the legal and political philosophy of Ronald Dworkin' here.

The book has been edited by senior Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate Salman Khurshid, lawyer Lokendra Malik and Surrey University professor Veronica Rodriguez-Blanco.

Dworkin was an American philosopher, jurist and scholar of United States Constitutional law. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 81.

The book launch event was also attended by Supreme Court advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sidharth Luthra, while former Union minister P Chidambaram was seated among the audience.

"There is a positive obligation now on the state when we talk of the autonomy of a person, choice of a person, which gives him right to grow in the manner in which he wants, then it becomes the duty of the state to facilitate that.

"And therefore, if the state fails in that duty in certain measure, even in that context, it is violating the fundamental right of that person," Justice Sikri said.

He also cited several cases in which rights were conferred upon women, prisoners, disabled persons and transgenders by the apex court with an element of human dignity.

Congress leader Singhvi said, "He (Dworkin) spent a lifetime elucidating the vital necessity of imparting an unerodeable reassurance by each nation to its minorities. That is the true takeaway from Dworkin's dignity thesis. Dworkin's lessons therefore both within and without India are timeless."



The book has as contributors international experts like Allen W. Wood, Alexander Brown, Barbara Baum Levenbook, David Richards, Erin Daly, George Pavlakos and Khurshid among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Moneeza Hashmi, the daughter of famous Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was not allowed to attend a media summit here as her visa, issued in February, was not meant for the event last week, official sources claimed today.

Seventy-two-year-old Hashmi had said in Lahore yesterday that Indian authorities denied her entry into the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi even though she was invited to the meet as a speaker.

"She was issued a multiple entry visa earlier this year for participation at an event in February. It was not for last week's event. That is why she could not attend it," said a source.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry was among the hosts of the summit which took place between May 10 and 12.

Hashmi left India for Lahore yesterday after she was barred from attending the summit, where representatives from nearly 40 countries delved on issues related to the media sector.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following are PTI's expected and



top stories from the eastern region at 4.30 pm.

IN THE PIPELINE



* STORIES RELATED TO WEST BENGAL PANCHAYAT POLL* STORIES RELATED TO LALU PRASAD'S RETURN TO RANCHIAFTER END OF PAROLETOP STORIES ON THE WIRE:CAL 4 WB-3LD PANCHAYAT POLLViolence mar WB panchayat polls, 6 killedKolkata: Widespread violence marred the panchayat polls in West Bengal today, leaving at least six people dead and 43 injured, with 41 per cent polling reported till 1 pm.

CES 2 WB-COUPLE-FIRE



Couple burnt to death



Canning: A couple were burnt to death at their home in South 24 Parganas district early today, hours before panchayat polls were to being in West Bengal, police said.

CES 3 OD-MAOIST-ENCOUNTER



Another Maoist killed in Odisha encounter, toll rises to 7



Phulbani: A Maoist was gunned down today in a fresh encounter with security forces in Sudukumpa reserve forest of Odisha's Kandhamal district, taking the toll to number of naxals killed in separate operations in the state since yesterday to seven.

CES 4 BH-THUNDERSTORM



Thunderstorm claims four lives in Bihar



Patna: At least four persons were killed and several others injured early today when thunderstorm lashed parts of the state, uprooting trees, electric poles and billboards.

CCM 1 BIZ-NINL



NINL records highest ever pig iron production



Bhubaneswar: Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) has recorded its highest ever single-day pig iron output since its inception with production of 2,772 ton of pig iron on May 12.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following are the top foreign stories at 2030 hours:



FGN45 ISRAEL-US-3RDLD EMBASSY



Jerusalem: The US opens its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shoot dead at least 41 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014. (By Harinder Mishra)FGN35 CHINA-INDIA-2NDLD FUNDBeijing: The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a top state-run Chinese bank launches China's first India-dedicated publicly offered investment fund, urging the Chinese to invest heavily stating that the Indian economy is entering the "golden age of economic take-off". (By K J M Varma)FGN33 PAK-PM-SHARIFIslamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says that former premier Nawaz Sharif clarified to him that his statement about the Mumbai terror attack was "misreported". (By Sajjad Hussain)FGN42 BANGLA-IFTAR-STAMPEDEDhaka: At least 10 women killed and several others injured in a stampede and heatstroke as thousands of people gathered to collect Iftar essentials at a village in Bangladesh's Chattogram district.

FGN29 LANKA-INDIA-RAWAT



Colombo: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat pays tribute to Indian Peace Keeping Force personnel who died during the Sri Lankan civil war.

FGN28 PAK-SHARIF-PETITION



Lahore: A petition is filed in a Pakistani court to register a treason case against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif for his controversial remarks questioning the policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai in 2008.

FGN22 PAK-MUMBAI-LD SHARIF



Islamabad: Pakistan's top civil and military leadership today condemned the "fallacious" statement by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif about the Mumbai terror attack and termed it as "incorrect and misleading". By Sajjad Hussain



FGN14 PAK-NSC-MUMBAI



Islamabad: Pakistan's top civil-military body today rejected as incorrect and misleading remarks by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif who criticised the country's handling of militant groups responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ghana is seeking more financial assistance from India to promote 'one district one factory' programme in the African country, a diplomat said here today.

"China is very active in Ghana and offering financial support in a big way. They have offered USD 10 million support fund and another USD 400 million for trade support. India is also supporting but it is not big. China has a lot of interest in one district one factory programme," High Commissioner of Ghana in India, Michael A N N Oquaye Jnr said here today.

"We are trying to have a dialogue with India for greater support for Indian companies in this programme acknowledging India's support for the country," he said at an interactive session at the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry here today.

Ghana is planning to have at least one factory in more than 100 districts to support processing local produce besides creating local jobs and stabilising the domestic currency.

The Ghanaian Cedi has been plunging owing to the country's soaring deficits.

One of the chamber member pointed out the difficulty of financing business in Ghana even after obtaining the requisite approvals.

Oquaye Jnr said the programme will be reviewed in the next two years, depending on its progress.

He also said there was no impact of Nirav Modi scam on gold trade with India.

Gold comprises a majority of Ghana's total export to India.

Ghana is also creating a few industrial parks of which one being the pharma park to promote pharmaceuticals manufacturing in the country and expects a lot of interest from Indian companies.

Indian companies are active in Ghana and are involved in over 600 projects. The total foreign direct investment from India was estimated at USD 998 million between September 1994 and September 2014, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over two kg gold worth Rs 66.7 lakh have been seized at the airport here in the last two days.

Customs department officials today intercepted four passengers, who arrived from Gulf countries, and seized 1,432 grams of gold worth Rs 44.70 lakh that was in their checked-in baggage, a customs release said today.

In the other case, officials recovered 'four rectangular shaped items' wrapped with black adhesive tape which were lying unattended near the conveyor belt, yesterday.

Investigations revealed that 12 gold cut bits of 24 karat purity, weighing 700 grams and worth Rs 22 lakh, were concealed in them, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government today said it has initiated action for removal of Allahabad Bank CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian and two executive directors of Punjab National Bank following the CBI's first chargesheet in the USD 2 billion fraud at PNB detailing their role.

The PNB board today divested its two executive directors, K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, of all financial and executive powers, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said.

Similar action is likely to be taken by the board of Allahabad Bank against its CEO and MD Ananthasubramanian, who was the managing director of PNB till May 5 last year.

The secretary said the Allahabad Bank board has also been asked to divest Ananthasubramanian of all powers and initiate further action.

Kumar said there is a set process for removal and dismissal of directors from the board of banks and that has been initiated.

Sources said the Allahabad Bank board is likely to meet in a day or two.

The government holds a little over 62 per cent stake in PNB and close to 65 per cent in Allahabad Bank.

Earlier in the day, the PNB board convened an emergency meeting on the insistence from the government's nominee director.

"The (PNB) board has decided to divest EDs of the functional and financial responsibilities and have also requested the government to replace them," Kumar said, adding the government is committed to taking strict action against erring officials.

The CBI today filed its first chargesheet in the country's largest financial scam worth over USD 2 billion at PNB allegedly committed by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi.

The chargesheet detailed the alleged role of PNB's former chief Ananthasubramanian in the scam. Ananthasubramanian was the MD and CEO of PNB from 2015 to 2017 and was questioned recently by the CBI in connection with the case.

"Today agencies have filed the chargesheet. Around 10 days ago we had asked explanations from the two executive directors at the PNB and the current MD and CEO in Allahabad Bank. This was essentially because of the fact that SWIFT and CBS integration was to take place based on the circular issued by RBI in 2016," Kumar said.

Jeweller Nirav Modi used fake letter of undertaking (LoUs) to defraud PNB of over Rs 13,000 crore in connivance with bank officials by exploiting the loophole of non-integration of SWIFT with the Core Banking System.

"This was the duty of the senior management to minimise the risk in the system. We issued notices and sought explantation 10 days back from top officials of these banks," he said.

Kumar said there is a set process for the removal and dismissal of directors from the board of a bank.

"One notice was issued 10 days back. Section 8 of Banking Regulation Act define how do you remove the director. We have initiated action for that (removal) also. So this is a clear message that we have to be responsible for what we do. We will only take action when we have substantive proof and not on hearsay," he said.

The government, he said, has taken a strict action which reflects its resolve to ensure the highest corporate governance in state-owned banks.

The department will not spare anyone involved in corruption and lapses, irrespective of his or her position and will take speedy action against them while honest officers have nothing to fear about, he said, adding the government would solidly stand behind honest officers.

When asked about action against two MDs named in the FIR related to loans given to Aircel by IDBI Bank, he said, "I would like to make it clear that you cannot take action only on hearsay. They are responsible person and its only a few who are into this kind of thing otherwise by and large bankers have contributed to the economic growth of the country."



The problem is generally in the large corporate side, while branches across the country by and large are corruption free, he said.

Last month, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Syndicate Bank MD and CEO Melwyn Rego, who was Deputy Managing Director of IDBI, along with several others in the Rs 600 crore IDBI loan default case.

The CBI has also booked former IDBI CMD Kishor Kharat, at present MD and CEO of Indian Bank, in the loan fraud case.

Expressing faith in the banking system, Kumar said banks have a strong, robust tradition and they follow highest standard of corporate governance barring few stray cases.

"The moment I have definitive information either from the regulation side, supervision side or investigation side, the government will not hesitate in taking action to protect people's trust in the banking system," he said.

Citing various steps taken in the last few years to cleanse banking system, Kumar said the process for appointment of director have been changed since 2015 giving importance to merit and integrity.

Besides, the government has initiated whole lot of reform including improvement in asset quality, shoring up capital etc.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Makkal Needhi Maiam President and actor Kamal Haasan today met DMK leader MK Stalin and invited him for a meeting on the Cauvery dispute on May 19.

MNM sources said Haasan met Stalin at the DMK headquarters here and invited his party to attend the meeting.

MNM was organising a meeting of various parties and farmers ' bodies on May 19 here to discuss the Cauvery issue, sources added.

Earlier, the Centre had submitted its draft Cauvery management scheme before a bench of the Supreme Court in Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US today blamed Hamas for the latest violence in Gaza where more than 50 people died in Israeli firing amid demonstrations against the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

"We are aware of the reports of continued violence in Gaza today. The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters.

And as the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, Israel has the "right to defend itself", Shah said in response to a question at the daily White House conference.

"We believe that you know Hamas is responsible for these tragic deaths, that their rather cynical exploitation of the situation, it is what's leading to these deaths and we want them to stop," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Madras High Court has issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a plea by an NGO seeking to forbear special officers, appointed to administer local bodies in absence of elected councils, from implementing any scheme or passing any resolution.

A bench comprising justices V Parthiban and P D Audikesavulu issued the notice on a plea by Change India, an NGO, and posted the matter for hearing immediately after summer vacation of the court which ends on June 3.

Change India, represented by its Director A Narayanan, referred to an an English daily's recent report that with no elected council, the special officer's council of the Chennai Corporation had passed the civic body's annual budget behind closed doors for the second successive year.

The petitioner has already challenged the constitutional validity of extension of tenure of special officers through another PIL which is pending adjudication.

The present petition stated that according to Articles 243 G and 243 W of the Constitution (related to powers of Panchayats and Municipalities), the power to deal with matters and subjects mentioned under these vest only with the local bodies.

These powers cannot be appropriated and exercised by special officers who are not even authorities contemplated under the provisions of the Constitution or recognised therein, the petitioner submitted, and contended that such appropriation was illegal and unconstitutional.

It further submitted that similar "illegal" budgeting exercise is being carried out by other municipal corporations in the state by municipal commissioners and other officers under the garb of special officers.

Election to local bodies, initially scheduled for October 2016 have not been held so far owing to various reasons, including litigations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Alleging widespread violence and deaths during the West Bengal panchayat polls today, a lawyer showed videos to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and prayed for summoning the State Election Commissioner (SEC) and the state home secretary to ensure a peaceful election.

A division bench of Chief Justice J Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee, before which the lawyer presented his mobile phone for the judges to view video clippings of the alleged violence, however, refused to summon the SEC or the home secretary.

The lawyer claimed to have recorded the video clippings from television channels.

Refusing to entertain the verbal plea, the court told lawyer Suprodip Roy to file a petition if he wished to, incorporating the details of his claims.

Roy claimed before the bench in the afternoon that there was violence during the polls since morning, leading to the death of six persons, and prayed that the SEC and the home secretary be summoned immediately to ensure a peaceful election in the last few hours of polling.

He claimed that the violence was being perpetrated, despite the high court's directions to the SEC and the state government to take steps to ensure a peaceful election.

The bench had, on Friday, said the SEC and state officials would be personally held liable and that they would have to pay compensation if the loss of life and property in today's panchayat polls was higher than that in the 2013 election.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court today sought the response of the Centre on a plea alleging that Jet Airways cleared two of its pilots to fly despite the aviation regulator, DGCA, suspending their licence for allowing unauthorised entry into the cockpit of a flight operated by them.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the DGCA, and Jet Airways seeking their stand by tomorrow on the allegation that the airline contravened orders of the aviation regulator.

A journalist, Rajneesh Kapur, made the claim in his application and alleged that one of the pilots had also undertaken a flight even though his licence had been suspended.

The plea, filed through advocate Nikhil Borwankar, also questioned the appointment of the VP (Operations), alleging that his nomination to the post had not been confirmed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

It also alleged that the Senior Vice President of Operations, a foreign national, was appointed to the post without any security clearance and it was he who had nominated the Vice President of Operations.

The application was filed in Kapur's main petition in which he alleged that Jet Airways was flouting national and international flight safety regulations by allowing unauthorised persons to travel overseas by "masquerading" as crew on a "general declaration".

The petition claimed that the general declaration, which is a declaration of the passengers, air crew and cargo, being ferried in an international flight by the flight operator, allowed people "to avoid obtaining a visa and pass undetected into foreign territory".

In support of his allegation, the petitioner cited the January 2018 incident of a Jet Airways cabin crew member being arrested by the Department of Revenue Intelligence for being in possession of contraband foreign currency worth over Rs three crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top management institute IIM-Ahmedabad today launched the Bharat Inclusion Initiative, which aims to invest about USD 25 million in startups working in the areas of financial inclusion, livelihood, education and health over the next three to four years.

Launched by the institute's centre for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship (CIIE), the initiative aims to channelise approximately USD 25 million over the next 3-4 years towards backing game-changing startups leveraging the ongoing digital transformation in India, it said in a release.

With seed support from Tata Trusts, CIIE has received an initial commitment of USD 12.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and Omidyar Network, according to the release.

This includes a USD 5 million commitment for providing support to startups through a series of acceleration programs, focused research, training workshops and piloting partnerships.

In addition, CIIE will also invest in seed and pre-series-A startups through a dedicated Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund - which announced its initial closing at USD 7.5 million and is expected to make a final close at USD 15 million by July, it said.

"The Bharat Inclusion Initiative aims to provide a continuum of solutions to inclusion focused tech entrepreneurs across the pre-incubation, seed and scale-up stage and help them jump to the next orbit,"said Neharika Vohra, chairperson, CIIE Initiatives.

To enhance the learning of the entire ecosystem, all research, insights, knowledge and publications created under the programme will be openly disseminated, according to the release.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)needs to grow at about 10 per cent annually for the next three decades to be able to meet the ever-rising demands of its growing population, said on Monday.

This order of growth however will not be achieved if the 'business-as-usual' approach to the use of scarce resources continues, he cautioned.

He said that for reducing dependence on fossil fuels in transportation, a analysis suggests that the way forward is the use of bio-fuels.

"We are giving a big push to electric vehicles in a bid to conserve exhaustible natural resources and bring about resource efficiency, Kant said at FICCI's Circular Economy Symposium-2018 here.

He also underlined the need to embed the principles of circular economy in India's school education system.

A circular economy, in contrast to the 'make-use-dispose' model of the linear economy, focuses on use of resources for longest possible time as also recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of their life cycle.

Noting that the government needs to enable regulatory framework for circular economy, he said: "We should incentivise use of renewable material for construction sector."



Kant also stressed that the government needs to push the limits of the circular economy and make it a mass movement.

According to FICCI- study, which was released on Monday by Kant, by adopting circular business model, could reap a reward of between 382 to 697 billion by 2030.

The report pointed out that the circular economy through its innovative business model, offers a unique opportunity to decouple growth from resource requirements.

According to the report, five factors will be critical to accelerate circular models in -- greater awareness, disruptive technologies, enabling policy landscape, innovative funding models and collaborations and partnerships.Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said manufacturing of defence equipment cannot be done with borrowed technology and indigenisation has to be on top of the agenda for India, which is one of the largest importers of arms in the world.

"India being the largest procurer of defence equipment, the emphasis on indigenisation has to be reiterated. This is exactly what has happened from 2014," she said, referring to the government's Make in India initiative.

"Manufacturing of defence equipment by keeping indigenisation as its top consideration has to be on top of the agenda. Manufacturing cannot be done with borrowed technology. We really got to have the drive for innovation," Sitharaman said, addressing Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists at an event here.

S Christopher, Chairman of the DRDO, said the organisation has now got an engine for Ghatak, an unmanned combat air vehicle, and is working to have DRDO sensors and weapons on the warships that are exported.

This month also marks the 20th anniversary of the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests.

Lauding the DRDO scientists for conducting the Pokhran tests successfully, Sitharaman said they were carried out under "global watch" and restricted conditions, yet the world did not get a hint about the tests.

"There was a sense of commitment when we achieved it in such a quiet fashion," she said.

Following the Pokhran tests, the West, led by the US, had imposed sanctions on India.

Several DRDO scientists were also awarded on the occasion. Niti Aayog member and former scientific advisor to defence minister V K Saraswat was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Centre's interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir is currently discussing with all stakeholders the "sensitive" issues relating to the challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution, which empowers Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define its 'permanent residents' and bestow special rights and privileges on them, the Centre told the Supreme Court today.

Attorney General (AG) K K Venugopal told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that an interlocutor, appointed by the Centre to hold talks with all stakeholders to resolve the Kashmir issue, was discussing these issues and it was an "ongoing process".

Dineshwar Sharma, former director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), was appointed the Centre's interlocutor for J and K on October 23 last year.

Article 35A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of J and K and denies property rights to a woman who marries a person from outside the state. The provision, which leads such women from the state to forfeit their right over property, also applies to their heirs.

The top court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging Article 35A in addition to the main writ petition filed by a group called 'We The Citizens'. Several interlocutory petitions have been filed in support of Article 35A by various individuals and civil society groups seeking continuance of the special status to J and K.

"This (discussion) is an ongoing process. It is a sensitive issue," Venugopal told the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.

"Your lordships have seen what is happening in Kashmir. The interlocutor is in the process of discussing it," the AG told the bench, which posted the matter for hearing on August 6.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the J and K Government, along with its standing counsel Shoeb Alam, referred to two judgements by the constitution bench of the apex court and said the issues raised in the pleas challenging Article 35A were covered by these verdicts.

Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, also representing the state, said that since 1927, the position in this regard was clear and it cannot be decided like this.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for one of the petitioners, said it was strange that in J and K, a person who had migrated to Pakistan before 1947, could come and settle down under law but those who were residing there for generations cannot get a government job.

He said students were debarred from getting admission in government medical college there even after qualifying the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), only on the ground that he or she was not a permanent resident of the state.

Another counsel appearing for the petitioners said it was a "human issue" as around five lakh people had migrated out of the state, were residing in places like Delhi and cannot go back to the valley.

A petitioner's counsel also referred to Article 14 (equality before law) and Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution and said those who have migrated from the valley have the right to return.

However, Dwivedi told the court that since the issue required interpretation of the constitutional provision, no interim order should be passed in the matter.

The state government, while defending Article 35 A, had cited two verdicts by the constitution bench of the Supreme Court in 1961 and 1969 which had upheld the powers of the President under Article 370(1)(d) of the Constitution to pass constitutional orders.

The Article was incorporated in the Constitution in 1954 by an order of President Rajendra Prasad on the advice of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet. It empowers the state legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on the grounds of violation of the Right to Equality of people from other states or any other right under the Constitution.

The apex court had on August 14 last year said a constitution bench may examine whether Article 35A was gender-biased and violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The court while hearing a plea earlier by Dr Charu Wali Khanna, a Kashmir resident, had indicated that if the Article violated basic structure of the Constitution or was ultra vires, the issue may be dealt with by a five-judge bench. It had tagged the plea challenging Article 35A with a similar petition that is pending for hearing by a three-judge bench.

The state government had earlier said that the issue has already been "prima facie settled" by a full bench of the High Court in its verdict in 2002.

In the case, the high court had, by a majority view, held that a daughter of a permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir marrying a non-permanent resident will not lose the status of a permanent resident.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran's foreign minister today released a letter he sent to the UN secretary general accusing the US of "a complete disregard for international law" over its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 agreement constitutes "a complete disregard for international law and the United Nations Charter", Mohammad Javad Zarif said in the letter.

His actions "undermine the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes, endanger multilateralism and its institutions, indicate a regress to the failed and disastrous era of unilateralism, and encourage intransigence and illegality," he added.

The letter was written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on May 10, two days after Trump made the historic move to pull out of the agreement and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

It was only published today on the website of the Iranian foreign ministry.

Zarif is on a diplomatic tour of China, Russia and Europe, the other backers of the agreement who strongly opposed Trump's decision and hope to salvage the deal.

Unlike Iran, "which has scrupulously fulfilled its undertakings... the United States has consistently failed -- since 'implementation day', and particularly after the assumption of office by President Trump -- to abide by its commitments," Zarif wrote in the letter.

He said Trump's withdrawal also meant multiple cases of "significant non-performance" with the nuclear deal, and "clear non-compliance" with resolution 2231 of the UN Security Council, which endorsed the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two Iraqi anti-establishment alliances appeared set to create an upset today as partial results showed them leading in a parliamentary election, ahead of the incumbent prime minister's bloc.

According to partial official results obtained by AFP, the Marching Towards Reform alliance of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and communists was ahead in six of Iraq's 18 provinces and second in four others.

The Conquest Alliance, made up of ex-fighters from mainly Iran-backed paramilitary units that battled the Islamic State group, was ahead in four provinces and second in eight others.

The Victory Alliance of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has been backed by the international community, looked to have won in only one province.

I f the surprise results are confirmed then it would throw open the race for Iraq's new premier, following the first elections after the defeat of IS.

The complex electoral arithmetic of the Iraqi system means that the final makeup of the parliament is still far from decided.

Several senior political figures had previously told AFP that preliminary results put Abadi in the lead, on course to scoop 60 of the 329 parliament seats up for grabs. Abadi -- who came to power as IS swept across Iraq in 2014 -- is a consensus figure who has balanced off the United States and Iran.

The other leading challengers have often taken a stronger stance against the United States.

Whatever the outcome, there looks set to be lengthy horse-trading between the main political forces before any government can be formed.

The ballot Saturday was hit by record abstentions, with only 44.5 percent of eligible voters heading to the polls in the lowest turnout since the 2003 US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid heightened security, the preparations to inaugurate US embassy in Jerusalem have been marked with euphoria among Israeli Jews who view it as a "historical" development but has sparked anger among Palestinians who see it as a "provocative step" that jeopardises chances of peace in the region.

US President Donald Trump's decision in December to move America's embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv triggered a joyous reaction in Israel. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital.

"This is a momentous time. President (Donald) Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful and our people will be eternally grateful for his bold decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the embassy there", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

Netanyahu welcomed a high-level US delegation along with representatives of some 32 countries all over the world prior to the official inauguration today evening.

"President Trump's decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem affirms a great and simple truth: Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past three thousand years. It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time," Netanyahu stressed.

With the anticipated move of Guatemalan and Paraguyan embassy to Jerusalem in the coming days, the Israeli Prime Minister urged other countries to follow the lead taken by United States of America.

"Now, you know how you recognize real leadership? It's when others follow, and others are following in President Trump's footsteps," he added.

"I call on all countries to join the US in moving their embassies to Jerusalem. Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it's the right thing to do. And move your embassies to Jerusalemlisten to this: Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it advances peace, and that's because you can't base peace on a foundation of lies," the Israeli leader emphasised.

Though very few European countries have shown inclination towards shifting their embassy to Jerusalem, representatives of four of them - Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria and Romania- participated at the foreign ministry event.

Among Asian nations, representatives of Myanmar, Thailand and the Phillipines accepted and attended the function, Ha'aretz newspaper reported.

The US delegation that has arrived for the inauguration includes, the US President's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka, Deputy Secretary John Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trump's Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt.

Banners hailing "President Turmp is a friend of Zion", "Trump make Israel Great" and "God Bless President Trump" are splashed all over Jerusalem as Israelis celebrated not only the moving of the US embassy to the city but also Jerusalem Day yesterday.

As tensions escalate at the Gaza border where a major procession led by ruling Hamas is expected later today, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling Fatah party has urged Palestinians in the West Bank to take part in widespread protests against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The protests are part of Nakba Day, a national day of Palestinian mourning marking the "catastrophe" of Israel's founding, commemorated every year on May 15, but this year brought forward a day due to the embassy opening.

Though it was unclear how many Palestinians would take part in the protests, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were bracing for violence in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza border.

The army announced on Saturday that it had deployed an extra brigade to the West Bank, as well as two extra brigades at the Gaza border.

The planned protests in Jerusalem will coincide with a planned mass rally in Gaza where Israel is preparing for the possibility of over 100,000 people rallying and rioting along the border and attempting to breach it and enter Israel.

IDF has warned Gazans to stay away from such protests dropping fliers trying to convince Palestinians that it is counterproductive to their interests and they should not act at "Hamas' puppets".

Security in Jerusalem has been bolstered for the official opening of the US embassy in the capital.

A police official told the Ynet site Saturday that thousands of uniformed police and Border Police officers will be deployed throughout Jerusalem starting Sunday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A clear divide between home buyers of realty firm Jaypee Infratech has surfaced over the takeover bid made by the erstwhile promoters of the bankruptcy-hit firm.

While two associations of home buyers wanted Manoj Gaur-led promoter group to take over the company and complete the unfinished housing units, nine different associations today came on a single platform to oppose any such move.

Neither side, however, wanted the liquidation of Jaypee Infratech.

Last week, Jaypee Infratech's lenders rejected the Rs 7,350 crore bid of Lakshwadeep, a joint venture between Sudhir Valia-led Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company and Mumbai-based Dosti Realty, to acquire the company and complete all housing projects.

The Jaypee promoter submitted a bid of over Rs 10,000 crore to revive Jaypee Infratech.

Two associations -- Developers Township Property Owners Welfare Society and Aman Welfare Association -- said that Jaypee group flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) should be given "a second chance" if it is willing to honour all previous obligations.

"COC (committee of creditors) has already rejected the Suraksha's Bid after due deliberation. JAL has been allowed to make a bid by the Supreme Court of India, which is much higher than the Suraksha. Why JAL should not be given a second chance if it is willing to honour its all previous obligations?," Developers Township Property Owners Welfare Society President Arvind Jain said in a statement.

However, the representatives of nine associations, claiming over 2,400 buyers members, said that Jaypee promoter should not be allowed to takeover Jaypee Infratech and rather a credible bidder should acquire the company to complete stuck housing projects in Noida.

"We do not have faith in Jaypee group and it should not be allowed to develop our projects," said Aaditya Gutgutia, a lead volunteer of nine associations.

"We do not want liquidation of Jaypee Infratech. A credible bidder should acquire the company and complete all the pending flats," said Gutgutia, who represented Jaypee Kensington Boulevard Apartment Welfare Association.

Alleging that Jaypee group have diverted home buyers fund to other businesses, these nine associations demanded that Jaypee promoters should not be allowed to regain control of Jaypee Infratech.

Last year, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium, seeking resolution for Jaypee Infratech under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The tribunal had appointed Anuj Jain as Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to mange the companys business.

Later, Jain invited bids from investors interested in acquiring Jaypee Infratech and completing the stuck real estate projects in Noida and Greater Noida.

Consequently, Lakshadweep emerged as a front runner to acquire Jaypee Infratech.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Naresh Goyal-promoted private carrier Jet Airways will launch services under the Centre's regional connectivity scheme, Udan, from June, with the first flight to be operated on the Lucknow-Allahabad-Patna sector.

The city-headquartered full-service airline, in which gulf carrier Etihad Airways holds 24 per cent stake, had bagged four routes in the second round of the bidding in January, in which a total of 325 routes were awarded to various firms, including helicopter services providers.

Starting from June 14, Jet Airways will fly services three times a week on the Lucknow-Allahabad-Patna sector with an ATR aircraft, the airline said in a release.

To begin with, Jet Airways will launch operations on three out of the four routes awarded, and will subsequently launch Lucknow-Bareilly-Delhi-Bareilly-Lucknow, it added.

"The launch of these new (Udan) flights mainly onboard ATR aircraft, will allow Jet Airways to embark on a journey to ensure that unserved regions and underserved airports are maximised to their full potential," said Gaurang Shetty, whole time director, Jet Airways.

Commencing from June 15, Jet Airways will fly three times a week between New Delhi and Nashik with a Boeing 737, while the operations on the Nagpur-Allahabad-Indore sector will commence from June 16, the airline said.

In the first around of bidding last year, 128 routes connecting 70 airports were awarded to five airlines - Alliance Air, SpiceJet, TruJet, Air Odisha and Air Deccan.

In the second round, letters of award have been given to 90 proposals for 325 routes to operators like Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo, Alliance Air and Pawan Hans, among others.

Out of these, 129 routes are in a newly created category of 'priority areas', that include Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand, North East, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands.

With at least half of the seats in Udan flights offered at subsidised fares, the participating carriers will be provided a certain amount of viability gap funding (VGF) - an amount shared between the Centre and the states concerned.

To fund the scheme, the civil aviation ministry is collecting a levy of Rs 5,000 per departure from airlines operating in major domestic routes, including Mumbai and Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gujarat MLA JigneshMevanitoday held dialogues with Dalit families about the violence in Rajasthan during Bharat Bandh on April 2.

He claimed that many Dalits were brutally beaten up by police during the bandh.

"The government needs to create infrastructure and job opportunities for youths. Dalits are facing atrocities but nobody is ready to hear their grievances," Mevani told reporters here.

"A man was killed in police firing in Alwar on April 2 and I also met his family members," said the Independent legislator from Vadgam constituency in Gujarat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress nominee Vishwajeet Kadam's election from Palus Kadegaon Assembly seat in the bypoll scheduled for May 28 became a formality today after all the other candidates in the fray withdrew their nominations.

Vijay Deshmukh, subdivisional officer, Sangli district, who is also the Returning Officer for the bypoll, confirmed the development.

"All the candidates, including BJPs Sangramsinh Deshmukh, today withdrew their nominations. Now the Congress' Vishwajeet Kadam is the only candidate in the fray," he said.

The official added that an announcement of Kadam being elected from the constituency would be taken after consulting authorities.

"It is just a technical matter now," he said.

The winner of the bypoll will hold the office for just over a year, as the term of the current Assembly ends in October 2019.

The bypoll, scheduled on May 28, was necessitated because of the death of sitting Congress MLA and former minister Patangrao Kadam.

The BJP had earlier finalised the candidature of Sangramsinh Deshmukh, president of Sangli Zilla Parishad and deputy chairman of Sangli District Cooperative Bank, for the bypoll.

On the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers today, state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters at Kadepur taluka in Sangli that the BJP will not contest the bypoll.

The Shiv Sena had last week announced its support for the Congress nominee.

The Congress' Kadam had unsuccessfully contested from the Pune Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 elections.

He inherits a strong legacy from his father in the form of control over a Sangli-based cooperative sugar mill, several dairies, educational institutes and cooperative societies in the western Maharashtra district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)From being a random city cab driver to becoming Deadpool's "friend", Dopinder has come a long way and Indian-origin actor Karan Soni, who essays the role in the franchise, says he is happy with the growth of his character in "Deadpool 2".

It was his heart-to-heart conversation with Ryan Reynolds' Merc With the Mouth in the first film that struck a chord with not only the audiences, but also the makers, who decided to give him a significant screen time in the sequel.

"The sequel takes place two years after the first film. My character, Dopinder, has now been fully hired by Deadpool as his getaway driver. He is working 100 per cent for Deadpool... I get to do a lot of different things in this film.

"The second one is more about Dopinder working with Deadpool and being like 'I am ready for more stuff'. He is more into work and career stuff than love. But it's really fun. The storyline where it goes, everyone will be surprised. I even get a catchphrase," Karan told PTI in a telephonic interview from Los Angeles.

The 29-year-old actor says, while Deadpool is unsure if Dopinder is ready to risk his life as the anti-hero fights Cable (Josh Brolin) in the upcoming film, Karan says his character is on the quest to prove that he is "ready for more".

"Dopinder wants to help Deadpool fight... To become a superhero. But Deadpool right away says 'You're gonna die' and 'There's no way you gonna do it'. So, Dopinder has to prove to him that he is ready to take on more responsibility," he adds.

Even though the makers had signed Karan for four films, the actor was doubtful whether his character would feature in the sequel.

Much to his surprise, Reynolds informed him about his return soon after the success of the 2016 movie.

"When I signed up, it was for four movies because the writers and Ryan always had a plan that the character should be in more than one movie.

"When the first movie came out and did exceptionally well, they decided to make a sequel right away. I got an email from Ryan two years ago, saying 'You're going to be in sequel.' So I was really excited, but I didn't know what my story was and what I'll be doing in it. I had a feeling that I might be doing the same thing but then I read the script. I was really surprised because he gave me like all the cool stuff to do," Karan says.

The actor, however, was a "little intimidated" about his character getting a meatier chunk in the film.

"I honestly was like 'oh, I hope I can pull this off'. But it was really fun and it was nice of Ryan to put me in the film a lot more. I personally loved working with him as well as with new cast members Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz," he adds.

Dopinder's introduction scene in the first film became a big hit with Indian audiences, courtesy screen legend Raj Kapoor's classic song "Mera Joota Hai Japani" playing the background.

Karan, however, is clueless if any of the popular Hindi tracks will be included in "Deadpool 2".

"I have not seen the film. I am going to see it for the first time on May 14 in New York at the premiere. So I don't know. When we filmed all that stuff, they never played the songs. We had to pretend the songs were playing in the background. They put the songs later.

"There is a whole bit in the opening where I am listening to music. So I pretended to listen to music in that scene," he says.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior BJP leader Lal Singh said today that there was a "conspiracy" to defame the people of Jammu over the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, and reiterated the demand for a CBI probe into it.

Singh, who resigned from the Jammu and Kashmir council of ministers after courting controversy by attending a rally in support of the accused in the case, questioned the state government and "Kashmir-centric people" about their objection to a CBI probe.

"I want to ask those against CBI probe whether they think CBI is a Pakistan agency," he said.

"Shame on those who dubbed Dogras of Jammu as pro-rapists. They will be exposed. The perception created by national media and some Kashmir-centric people that Dogras are pro-rapists was a conspiracy against Jammu and its Dogras to defame and weaken them," Singh told reporters here.

Singh, who has organised over 30 rallies in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur, and Reasi district since he resigned as minister last month, said, "We will force the government to conduct a CBI probe. CBI probe will restore the respect of Dogras and provide justice to the victim girl."



"We want CBI probe and will not stop till CBI probe is ordered," he said.

The girl, belonging to a nomadic community, was abducted, gang-raped and murdered in January this year. The case triggered a nationwide outrage.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today expressed grief over the death of eminent Indian Theoretical Physicist E C George Sudarshan.

According to reports, Sudarshan (86) passed away at Texas.

Dr Sudarshan had made important contributions to the field of theoretical science, Vijayan said in a tweet.

In a condolence message, Vijayan said Sudarshan was a prominent scientist who played a major role in laying the foundation in the field of 'open Quantum system.'



Despite making immense contributions in the field of science, a Nobel prize eluded him.

Sudarshan's death was a great loss to the state and the scientific community, the chief minister said.

"Kerala pays its respect to the memory of the scientist," Vijayan said.

Ennackel Chandy George Sudarshan, who hailed from Kottayam, has been credited with numerous contributions to the field of Theoretical Physics.

Sudarshan's first cousin, E C Joseph, who lives in Kottayam, when contacted, said they were informed today about his demise.

According to information received from the US, Sudarshan's body has been shifted to the 'burial house' and the date of the funeral would be decided later, Joseph said.

Sudarshan leaves his wife and two children.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RJD president Lalu Prasad returned to Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi this evening after the completion of the three-day parole granted to him by prison authorities to attend the wedding of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.

The execution of a six-week provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court last week would depend when the order reaches the special CBI court conducting the trial.

Prasad reported back to the jail authorities on the end of the parole, RJD general secretary and Prasad's aide Bhola Yadav told PTI.

Prasad returned to Ranchi from Patna by an evening flight and went straight to the jail, Yadav, who accompanied him, said.

Jail sources said Prasad was sent to a prison ward.

The jail authorities had granted the three-day parole to the RJD chief on May 10 to attend Tej Pratap Yadav's wedding in Patna on May 12. Travel time was not included in the duration of parole and hence Prasad returned to the prison this evening, whereas his parole ended yesterday itself.

Tej Pratap Yadav's marriage with Aishwarya Rai, daughter of RJD legislator Chandrika Rai, happened on Saturday on the sprawling campus of Bihar Veterinary College in Patna.

Bihar Governor Satyapal Malik, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Union minister Ramvilas Paswan, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Abhishek Manu Singhvi and disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha attended the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the process for execution of a provisional bail granted to Prasad by the Jharkhand High Court on Friday would start in the Special CBI court, which is conducting the trial, once the order reaches there.

"We are waiting for the HC order to reach the trial court to do the formalities for execution of six-week provisional bail," Prasad's lawyer Prabhat Kumar told PTI.

"We checked for the order but got the information that it has not reached the trial court till this evening. We are hopeful that it reaches tomorrow," Kumar said.

He said they needed to fill the bail bond and deposit two sureties of Rs 50,000 to get the release order from the trial court on the basis of the hicgh court judgment.

Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh had granted a six-week provisional bail to former Bihar chief minister Prasad on medical ground on May 11 after hearing all the three fodder scam cases in which he is convicted.

The bail in the three cases - Chaibasa, Dumka and Deoghar treasuries - would be effective from the day he is released from jail.

Prasad, 69, suffers from diabetes, blood pressure, kidney problems and other ailments.

Bhola Yadav said Prasad would likely return to Patna after completing the formalities for the provisional bail.

From there, he would go to Delhi, Mumbai and some other places on the advice of doctors for specialised treatment.

The RJD supremo has been in jail since December 23, after being convicted in the Deoghar treasury case for three-and-a-half years before being convicted in the Chaibasa treasury case (five years) and the Dumka treasury case (14 years).

The over Rs 900 crore fodder scam cases are related to illegal withdrawal of money from government treasury by the animal husbandry department in undivided Bihar in the 1990s, when Prasad was the chief minister.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi government today told the high court the Lieutenant Governor had approved the extension of benefits of semi-open and open prisons to women convicts who were earlier denied such facilities.

A bench of Acting Chief justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar took the submission on record and disposed of a PIL which had sought the quashing of guidelines that excluded female prisoners from semi-open and open prisons.

The AAP government told the court LG Anil Baijal had approved the amendment to the existing guidelines on this.

The amendment will take place with immediate effect, it said.

The petition was filed by advocate Sunil Gupta, former legal adviser of Tihar Jail, seeking the setting up of a special semi-open and an open prison for women in Delhi Prisons in a time-bound manner.

A semi-open or open prison allows convicts to work outside the premises of a jail, earn a livelihood and return to the jail in the evening.

The concept, being adopted by jail authorities across the country, was brought in to assimilate convicts with society and instill confidence in them to help them lead normal lives outside the jail.

The plea had said the guidelines in selection criteria denied the facility to women prisoners without any rationale or justification.

The plea had alleged the guidelines violated the fundamental right to equality of women prisoners in Delhi jails.

The petitioner had earlier told the court that only Yerwada Jail in Maharashtra and a prison in Rajasthan extended the benefit of semi-open or open prisons to women prisoners.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Hailakandi district administration in Assam today ordered a magisterial probe into the alleged circumcision of a standard two boy inside a toilet of a junior school during school hours.

The school Sishu Mangal Vidyapith is situated in Katlicherra education block here and the incident, which was reported in a section of the media, had allegedly taken place on May 7, according to a government release.

Ordering the inquiry, Hailakandi Deputy Commissioner Adil Khan asked the Katlicherra executive magistrate James Aind to conduct a thorough inquiry into the matter and submit a report at the earliest, the release said.

The media report said that the boy who belongs to the majority community was forcibly circumcised in the school toilet, it said.

Police swung into action and registered a case under Sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 506 (criminal intimidation), 294 (indulging in obscene act in any public place) 34(criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention) of IPC and sections of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

Superintendent of Police Mohneesh Mishra, however, said there was no circumcision as per the medical report of the boy and the statements by him and his mother were found to be contradictory.

"The boy is alright and will be fine in a day or two," he said adding investigation is on to find out what had actually and the school is being interrogated.

Joint Director, Health Services Avijit Basu said the medical report of S K Roy Civil Hospital, where the boy was admitted before being referred to Silchar Medical College Hospital for further treatment, said there is no evidence of circumcision using any sharp objects and only inflamed and swelling of the soft tissues in the structure of the private part was diagnosed.

(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 the Maharashtra government would celebrate the Foundation Day of the northern state here in January next year.

The move comes after Maharashtra's Foundation day, which falls on May 1, was celebrated over a period of two days at Lucknow's Raj Bhavan.

Speaking at a cultural function here, Naik said that from January 24 next year, the Maharashtra government would be celebrating the Foundation Day of UP officially.

"I have spoken to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (about this)," Naik said today.

The northern state's Foundation Day is celebrated on January 24, as it was on this day, in 1950, that the United Provinces was renamed as Uttar Pradesh.

"Two days before the Constitution of India was accepted, the Government of India issued a notification on January 24, 1950 by which United Provinces was renamed Uttar Pradesh, in the process preserving UP as the acronym. Therefore this date (January 24) was chosen," Naik said.

Naik was speaking at a function organised by an NGO, Abhiyan, which, incidentally, has been celebrating UP's Foundation Day here, albeit unofficially, for the past 29 years.

Naik informed that UP was not celebrating its own Foundation Day for all these years and his suggestion to former chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to organise them was also in vain.

"I had mooted the proposal, to celebrate January 24 as UP Divas, to former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav but he did nothing due to political compulsions. But when the Yogi government (Yogi Adityanath) came, I proposed it and he (Yogi) was quick to accept it," Naik, a former MP from North Mumbai, said.

Speaking on another issue, Naik said that it was necessary to use Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar's full name in government records, as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, since people were "unaware" of his "correct initials".

He said, "Due to inadequate information, people in UP were unaware about the correct initials of Babasaheb. I showed them the specimen of the signature, made by Babasaheb himself, as a member of the drafting committee."



Naik said that the Yogi Adityanath government accepted it and made necessary changes, adding that the issue was, however, not taken well owing to "certain reasons".

The UP government, by an official order on March 28 this year, had decided to introduce 'Ramji' as the middle name of the Father of the Constitution in all official records and correspondence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Railway Police personnel today seized a kg of brown sugar from a man travelling on the New Delhi bound Anand Vihar Express, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, patrolling Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel seized the contraband from an air-conditioned compartment of the train and arrested the person carrying it, GRP DSP Rijaul Islam Mandal said.

The arrested is a Delhi resident and his interrogation is going on at the Rangia Railway police station.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In yet another twist in the ongoing race for Fortis, Manipal-TPG combine today revised their offer for the cash-strapped healthcare chain with a proposal to invest in the company at Rs 180 per share, thereby increasing valuation of the company to Rs 9,403 crore.

Having lost out to the Munjal-Burmans combine last week, Manipal-TPG which was the first to make a binding offer, also asked the board of Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) to reconsider its decision of recommending the same to the shareholders of the company.

In a regulatory filing, FHL said it has received revised offer from Manipal and TPG with a proposal to invest in the company, while making public a letter sent by Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd (MHEPL) to the Fortis board.

"For purposes of the merger, a value of Rs 9,403 crore shall be attributed to FHL and a value of Rs 6,070 crore shall be attributed to MHEPL as had been originally determined by the independent valuers of for the purpose of the transaction," MHEPL said in its letter presenting the revised offer.

It further said, "The preferential allotment shall be undertaken at a price of Rs 180 per share."



MHEPL claimed that its modified new offer "is significantly better than any other offer/bid FHL has received to date, including the Hero-Burman offer".

Four days after FHL board decided to go with the Rs 1,800 crore offer from Munjal-Burmans combined, Manipal said the winning bid did not address the host of issues which are plaguing the cash-strapped healthcare major.

"...unlike our offer, the Hero and Burman offer only partially solves the short-term liquidity concerns of FHL and fails to deliver any long-term benefits to FHL or solve the larger issues facing FHL," Manipal said.

The issues include FHL's payment obligations for the acquisition of the relevant Indian entities from RHT and the exit required to be provided by FHL to the private equity investors in SRL, it added.

Stating that Manipal-TPG have been following the developments of the past few days after the announcement by FHL and as reported in media there has been negative reaction of FHL shareholders to the decision of the FHL board to accept the Hero and Burman offer, the letter said.

"In light of this procuring the approval of 75 per cent of FHL shareholders for the Hero-Burman offer is likely to be very challenging for the FHL board," Manipal said, adding its modified new offer is binding in its entirety and is valid till May 29.

Comments from Munjal-Burmans combine could not be immediately obtained.

Asking the board of FHL refer their "modified offer" to the company's shareholders, MHEPL said, "We request the Fortis board to reconsider its decision to refer the Hero and Burman offer to the shareholders."



Earlier on May 6, Manipal Health Enterprises had revised yet again its offer for Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL), raising the value to Rs 8,358 crore. It offered subscribe preferential allotment for Rs 2,100 crore translating its proposed investment at Rs 160 per equity share.

The consortium had initially valued the hospital business of the healthcare chain at Rs 5,003 crore in its offer on March 27.

As many as five suitors were in the race for Fortis but after the company's board decided to evaluate only binding offers, Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad, Munjal-Burmans, Manipal-TPG and KKR-backed Radiant Life Care put in their bids.

The fifth bidder, Fosun Health Holdings, an arm of Fosun International, which made a non-binding proposal to invest a total of USD 350 million (over Rs 2,295 crore) at a price up to Rs 156 per share, had not revised its offer.

The Munjals and Burmans were chosen by the Fortis board on May 10 for their revised offer which proposed to increase their investment to Rs 1,800 crore, without any due diligence, from a previously revised offer of Rs 1,500 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explore the possibility of granting a piece of land to relocate an illegal mosque situated inside the Allahabad High Court complex.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud asked the counsel for Uttar Pradesh government to obtain instructions on the relocation of the mosque to "solve the problem".

The court was hearing the Waqf Board's plea challenging the November 8, 2017, order of the Allahabad High Court which gave it three months to move the mosque out of the premises.

Additional Advocate General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, said that the administration would try to find out an alternative piece of land for relocation and if that cannot be done, it will apprise the court of the reasons on July 3, the next date of hearing.

On April 2, the Allahabad High Court had told the apex court that it does not have an alternative plot of land for relocating a mosque situated on the premises and the state government may consider shifting it to another land.

The top court had then sought the view of the Uttar Pradesh government and asked the Sunni Central Waqf Board to serve the copy on the counsel for the state government.

The Allahabad High Court had said that as far as high court is concerned, there is no alternative land for relocating the mosque.

It had said there is already shortage of space for parking of advocates' vehicles and there is no alternative land where the mosque can be shifted.

Waqf Board had contended that the structure had been there for several decades and it can't be just asked to move out.

It has moved the apex court against the high court verdict by which it had directed removal of the mosque situated in the high court premises.

The apex court had earlier directed the parties to arrive at a consensus on where the mosque should be relocated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Braving scorching heat, around 200 farmers from Indore today embarked on a protest march to Bhopal demanding better remuneration for farm produce and a complete loan waiver.

The farmers are expected to reach the state capital on May 21 after covering a distance of 200 km on foot under "Kisan Adhikar Padyatra", Kisan Sena secretary, MP, Jagdish Ravaliya told reporters here.

He said farmers would hand over a memorandum to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal.

"Prominent among the demands of the farmers are: better remunerative prices for their produce and a loan waiver," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Municipal employees in Haryana today decided to extend their ongoing strike till May 17 over various demands including, regularisation of nearly 20,000 contractual staff and equal pay for equal work.

The decision to extend the strike was taken after a meeting between the workers' representatives and the state government officials.

"The meeting was held in Delhi and from the government's side Principal Secretary of Urban Local Bodies Department Anand Mohan Sharan and other officials listened to our demands.

"After the meeting, Sharan told us that he will convey whatever transpired between the two sides to Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain," said Subhash Lamba, general secretary of Sarv Karamchari Sangh, an umbrella body representing various employees unions in the state.

"He also told us that the chief minister will take a final call on once he returns from his foreign tour tomorrow," he said.

Nearly 30,000 employees that includes a large number of Safai Karamcharis, drawn from over 80 municipal corporations, municipal committees and councils had gone on strike on Wednesday, Lamba said.

Initially, they had gone on a three-day strike, but it was twice extended.

Garbage has started to pile up at different places due to the strike.

However, Lamba said that they were ensuring that regular water supply is maintained while those working in the Fire Department were also attending to all the emergency calls.

"We do not want to put common public to inconvenience. We know that garbage has started to pile up at different places. But now the ball is in the government's court," he said.

Lamba said main demands of the striking employees are regularisation of nearly 20,000 contractual employees and equal pay for equal work.

"We are also demanding a hike in minimum pay of sanitation workers from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month," he said, adding other demands pertain to employees working in the Fire Department.

Accusing the BJP government in the state of failing to keep the promises made to the employees in its poll manifesto, Lamba said, "Most of our demands are what the BJP promised to in their manifesto,"



Yesterday, Haryana minister Kavita Jain had asked the sanitation workers to end their strike and resume their work.

"Most of their demands have already been met by the state government," she had said in Sonipat.

She had said that the demand of regularisation of contractual staff of municipality in urban areas of the state "is unjustified as the court has put a stay on regularisation of employees under various policies since 2016".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)State-owned National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) today said it has set a 15 per cent higher target of Rs 9,350 crore revenues from operations in the current fiscal.

The CPSE has inked an MoU with the Ministry of Mines in this regard, which also includes a capex plan of Rs 1,100 crore for the current fiscal.

"Aluminium major and Navratna CPSE NALCO has signed MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Ministry of Mines, setting highest ever target of Rs 9,350 crore revenue from operations for FY2018-19 which is 15 per cent higher than last year," NALCO said in a statement.

Under the MoU, the company has also set a capex target of Rs 1,100 crore for the year 2018-19, it said.

"The MoU has also set a target of 2.1 million tonnes for production of Alumina with 100 per cent capacity utilisation and an optimum Aluminium production target of 4.15 lakh tonnes.

"It also sets a target of reduction in net carbon consumption as part of improvement in production efficiency, apart from giving thrust to commercialisation of new R&D products," the company said.

The MoU was signed by Anil Gopishankar Mukim, Secretary, Ministry of Mines and NALCO CMD Tapan Kumar Chand in New Delhi today.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An exchange of fire took place between Naxals and security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district today after the ultras disrupted train movement on the Dantewada-Kirandul railway line, police said.

No casualty or injury was reported from either side.

However, Naxals torched a JCB machine and a truck engaged in laying arailwaytrackbefore fleeing the spot, a police official said.

Last night, the rebels blocked the movement of a goods train on the Dantewada-Kirandul route by placing a tree on the tracks between Kamaloor and Bhansi stations, around 450 kms from the state capital, Additional Superintendent of Police Gorakhnath Baghel told PTI.

Acting on the information, a combine squad of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and local police was sent to the spot for the rescue operation this morning, he said.

While the security men were heading towards the spot, the ultras, who had laid an ambush near Pandevar forest area, triggered an IED (improvised explosive device) blast and opened indiscriminate firing on the police personnel.

The patrolling team retaliated quickly forcing Naxals to escape, he said.

However, before fleeing the spot, the Naxals burnt a JCB machine and a trailer truck parked near Pandevar.

The machine and the truck were engaged in track- laying work as a part ofthe track-doublingproject on the Visakhapatnam-Kirandul (Dantewada) rail route, he said.

During a search, two live IEDs were recovered from the spot, he said.

The search operation was underway in the region and further details are awaited, he said.

According to a railway official, an overhead electric wire broke after a tree, chopped by Naxals to block the train traffic, fell on it between Kamaloor and Bhansi.

Efforts were underway to repair the overhead wire, he said, adding that the movement of trains on the route was expected to resume by this evening.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal Army Chief General Rajendra Chhetri today embarked on a three-day visit to Pakistan to strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries.

General Chhetri is visiting Pakistan on the invitation of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat.

The army, in a statement, said such high-level visits of army leaders will help foster the bilateral relations and mutual benefit and harmonious relations between the two countries.

Pakistan and Nepal had agreed to enhance cooperation in the key areas of economy, culture and defence during Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi visit to Kathmandu in March.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A new National Investigation Agency team will visit Agartala tomorrow to comprehensively interrogate the 24 Bangladeshi youths arrested last week for travelling on invalid documents, a police official said today.

The NIA team would question the youths to find if they are in any way linked to any terror outfits, the official said.

Previously, a two-member NIA team from Guwahati, headed by SP Vivekananda Das, interrogated the youths on Friday and left on Sunday, the official said.

The new NIA team would work with the police and other investigation agencies from various states, the official said.

The youths were arrested on Thursday after they were found to have used fake Aadhaar cards. "During interrogation, we have found that the cards were morphed at a shop in Deoband area of Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Interrogation reports suggest that the arrested youths might be linked with people from other states. It is also suspected that the mastermind of the racket could be based in Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal, the official said.

An inter-state investigation has to be started to track the mastermind.

State investigating agencies were also grilling them.

Acting on a tip-off, the mobile task force - a section of the Tripura police that deals with illegal immigration and related cases - raided Agartala railway station on Thursday and arrested the 24 Bangladeshis, who reached here on the weekly Tripura Sundari Express that originates from Anand Vihar Terminal in Delhi.

The official said that 12 out of the 24 youths have submitted passports during interrogation, which have Indian immigration stamps from Petrapole-Benapole border in West Bengal.

Investigating agencies are examining whether the passports are valid, the officer said.

Some of the arrested youth earlier admitted during interrogation that they illegally crossed the Indo-Bangla border near Benapole in Bangladesh.

They claimed they paid money to some individuals to cross the border into India. Three expired passports were also recovered from their possession, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Green Tribunal today directed East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and other authorities to file their reply on a plea seeking cancellation of approval granted by the DDA to allot land at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran areas to set up landfill sites.

A bench headed by Acting Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim, which had also issued notice to the Ministry of and Forests, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Central Pollution Control Board, directed the corporation and others to file their response before July 21.

The green panel also said that the Supreme Court had stayed the proceedings related to the landfill sites at Ghazipur and Bhalswa and it can proceed with the matter related to Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed Ghonda MLA Shri Dutt Sharma and others seeking a direction to restrain the DDA from allotting an area of 130 acres at Sonia Vihar and a 50-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran to the EDMC for handling and processing waste.

The petition had said that if the project is started by the EDMC for landfill sites at the two areas, it will adversely affect the ecosystem and the overall ecology since there are several densely populated colonies nearby.

It had said the approval given on the recommendation of the Central Pollution Control Board and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute was based on wrong information and that it violated the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The petition sought a direction to the DDA to cancel the allotment of land in question falling within the active floodplain of the Yamuna.

It had also asked for a direction to the authorities to conduct a cumulative impact study to record the status of ecology and in the two areas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A North Korean delegation arrived in Beijing today, Japanese media said, as the two allies step up diplomatic contacts ahead of a landmark meeting between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.

Japanese broadcaster NHK showed images of officials leaving the VIP area of the Chinese capital's airport.

The broadcaster said later the group had arrived at the Diaoyutai government guest house although the identity of the visitors was not immediately known.

The report comes a week after Kim made his second trip to China in less than two months to again meet with President Xi Jinping.

Kim's latest visit was to the northeastern port city of Dalian, as the two countries seek to mend frayed ties with a diplomatic thaw in the region gathering pace.

Relations fell to a new low in the past year as Beijing, angered by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, backed a series of United Nations sanctions against its Cold War-era ally.

But Beijing is keen to avoid being sidelined in the wake of Kim's historic summit last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and ahead of his upcoming meeting with Trump in Singapore on June 12.

Experts say Kim also needs to maintain good relations with his country's main patron to back him up as the Trump summit looms.

Kim, who picked Beijing to make his maiden official trip abroad in March, has also invited Xi to visit North Korea.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Researchers have developed a new website that provides graphic evidence of how humans are rapidly changing the planet.

Time.org enables users to view the entire world, or focus in on just a corner of it, to visualise the effects of air pollution, trade, deforestation, economic inequality and other powerful forces, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the US said.

"EarthTime is a means to tell stories," said Illah Nourbakhsh, a CMU professor whose lab has spent over a decade developing EarthTime's technology.

"The impact of humanity can be seen globally and in individual communities - and at every scale in between," said Nourbakhsh.

"You really can't understand climate change, migration or major social and political trends without examining their connections across time, across space and between each other. EarthTime enables you to do that," added Nourbakhsh.

Since 2015, EarthTime has been a staple at the World Economic Forum's annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, and Dalian, China, helping businesses and policymakers to better explore and explain some of the most pressing and contentious issues of the day.

Now, the website is available to everyone, said researchers, and the goal is to empower all people to make informed decisions about the lives they live and how they impact the planet.

The platform draws on the World Economic Forum's network of experts and more than 300 free, open-source geospatial data sets, researchers said.

Sources include the World Bank, the UN Refugee Agency, NASA, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the World Wildlife Fund, to name a few.

Visitors to the site can use its global maps and images from space to explore a wide variety of phenomena on their own and create their own stories, researchers said.

They can also take advantage of some of the site's existing stories on deforestation, glaciers, coral bleaching, renewables, city growth, urban fragility, sea level rise, fires at night, and surface water gains and losses, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi University administration is making all efforts to avoid any technical glitches during the online registration process for admission to various courses in its affiliated colleges, beginning tomorrow.

Last year, technical glitches in the online portal surfaced right from day one of the admission process. The website's server went down and many aspirants failed to access the portal.

"We have opened all tabs and ensuring zero technical glitches," Officer on Special Duty (Admission) Ashutosh Bharadwaj said.

While the registration for undergraduate programmes will commence tomorrow from 6 pm onwards, postgraduate programmes and postgraduate diploma in cyber security and law registrations will begin on May 18. Registration for Ph.D and M.Phil programmes will begin on May 20.

Meanwhile, Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) president Rocky Tuseed said the union would set up a centre on North Campus to help aspirants in the registration process.

Admissions to Ph.D, M.Phil, postgraduate and undergraduate courses for 2018-19 academic session, and registration process for all categories and quotas will be online.

Last month, the varsity had announced that it would add new features to its online form for 2018-19 admissions which included providing a single portal for applications for both merit-based and entrance-based entry into undergraduate courses.

The varsity will hold 'Open Day' sessions between May 21 and May 29 (except Sunday) at Conference Centre near Gate number 4 on North Campus.

"Open Days will have two sessions - 10 am to 11.30 am and 12 pm to 1.30 pm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan today expressed concerns at the shifting of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite calls by the international community to comply with UN resolutions on a two-state solution.

Foreign Office in statement said that the government and people of Pakistan stood firmly with the Palestinians.

"Pakistan has noted with grave concern that despite calls by the international community to comply with UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on the two-state solution, US is moving its Embassy to the Holy City of Jerusalem," it said.

The shifting of embassy "represents a violation of international law and several UN Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 476 and 478," it added



Pakistan also renewed its call for establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders, and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

The US today opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 52 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's top civil-military body today rejected as incorrect and misleading remarks by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif who criticised the country's handling of militant groups responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

A meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), presided over by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, was held to discuss the situation arising out of the recent by Sharif about the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Sharif in an interview publicly acknowledged that militant organisations are active in Pakistan and questioned the policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai.

The former premier, 68, also said that Pakistan has isolated itself.

The NSC meeting reviewed the recent statement in the context of Mumbai attacks and unanimously termed the remarks as incorrect and misleading, said a statement issued after the meeting.

The NSC said it was unfortunate and regrettable that concrete evidence and facts were ignored in the statement.

"The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities. The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions," Dawn newspaper quoted the statement as saying.

According to the statement, it was recalled during the meeting that the delay in conclusion of Mumbai attack case was caused by India, not Pakistan.

"Besides many other refusals during the investigation, the denial of access to the principal accused, Ajmal Qasab, and his extraordinarily hurried execution became the core impediment in the finalisation of the trial," it said.

Pakistan continues to await cooperation from India regarding the arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and the Samjhota Express attack, the statement said.

Following the meeting, Prime Minister Abbasi met Sharif.

The NSC meeting was attended by Defence and Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, National Security Adviser (NSA) Retired Lt General Nasser Khan Janjua, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat, the director generals of Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence, and the three services chiefs.

In an exclusive interview to Dawn published on Saturday, Sharif had said: "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?"



He was referring to the Mumbai attacks-related trial proceedings which have stalled in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's top civil and military leadership today



condemned the "fallacious" statement by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif about the Mumbai terror attack and termed it as "incorrect and misleading".

Sharif, for the first time, questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai as he publicly acknowledged in an interview that militant groups are active in the country.

His comments stirred a controversy, prompting the National Security Committee (NSC) - Pakistan's top civil-military body - to call a high-level meeting.

"The meeting reviewed the recent statement in the context of Mumbai attacks...and unanimously termed this statement as incorrect and misleading," said a statement issued after the NSC meeting held at Prime Minister's House.

"The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities. The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions," it said.

The statement said that it was recalled during the meeting that the delay in conclusion of the Mumbai attack case was caused by India, not Pakistan.

"Besides many other refusals during the investigation, the denial of access to the principal accused, Ajmal Kasab, and his extraordinarily hurried execution became the core impediment in the finalisation of the trial," it did.

Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught. Kasab was executed after a court found him guilty and handed down deathsentence.

After the NSC meeting, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi met Sharif and conveyed to him the concerns of the military leadership over his remarks regarding the Mumbai attacks, the DawnNewsTV reported citing its sources.

During the meeting that lasted nearly 30 minutes, Sharif reiterated his stance and questioned if anyone could explain what was wrong with his comments. He wondered why a brouhaha was being created over his remarks when similar admissions have been made in the past by others, sources said.

Pakistan continues to await cooperation from India regarding the arrest of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and the Samjhauta Express attack, the statement said.

"The National Security Committee resolved that Pakistan shall continue to play its due role in fighting the war against terrorism at all fronts," it added.

Earlier today, Sharif dispelled the notion that the comments were falsely attributed to him, saying that he will speak the truth come what may.

"Former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Rehman Malik and former National Security Adviser Major-General (retd) Mehmood Durrani had already confirmed (what I said)," he added.

He also called out those local media outlets that had criticised his words.

"I am being called a traitor on the media - they [the media] are being made to call me a traitor."



"Are those who tore apart the country and the Constitution patriots? Are those who pulled out judges from their offices patriots?""Will speak the truth no matter what the consequences are," he said.

When a reporter pointed to Sharif's acknowledgment of the presence of "non-state actors" in the country, his daughter Maryam, who was accompanying him, replied: "So then who was Zarb-i-Azb [military operation] conducted against?"



Operation Zarb-e-Azb was a joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various militant group in 2014.

According to Dawn newspaper, differences within the ruling party surfaced following the issuance of contradictory statements by the Sharif brothers on the issue.

Sharif's response today on the controversy is contradictory to the stance taken by his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, whose president Shehbaz Sharif said yesterday that the party "rejects all claims made in the report, be they direct or indirect".

Presided over by Prime Minister Abbasi, the NSC meeting was attended by Defence and Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, National Security Adviser Retired Lt General Nasser Khan Janjua, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat, the director generals of Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence, and the three services chiefs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's top civil and military leadership today



condemned ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's "fallacious" statement that non-state actors had crossed the border to carry out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, indicating widening rift between the top PML-N leader and the powerful military.

Sharif, the three-time prime minister who was forced to quit after the Supreme Court disqualified him in the Panama Papers scandal July last, in an interview last week questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the non-state actors to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai as he publicly acknowledged that militant groups are active in the country.

His comments triggered a controversy, prompting the National Security Committee (NSC) - Pakistan's top civil-military body - to call a high-level meeting.

"The meeting reviewed the recent statement in the context of Mumbai attacks...and unanimously termed this statement as incorrect and misleading," said a statement issued after the NSC meeting held at Prime Minister's House.

"The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities. The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions," it said.

The statement said that it was recalled during the meeting that the delay in conclusion of the Mumbai attack case was caused by India, not Pakistan.

"Besides many other refusals during the investigation, the denial of access to the principal accused, Ajmal Kasab, and his extraordinarily hurried execution became the core impediment in the finalisation of the trial," it did.

Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed 166 people and wounded dozens in Mumbai in November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and executed after a court found him guilty.

The statement said Pakistan continues to await cooperation from India regarding the arrest of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and the Samjhauta Express attack.

Presided over by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the meeting was attended by top Cabinet ministers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat, the three services chiefs, the director generals of Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Abbasi met Sharif and conveyed to him the concerns of the military leadership over his remarks regarding the Mumbai attacks.

During the meeting, Sharif reiterated his stance and questioned if anyone could explain what was wrong with his comments. He wondered why a brouhaha was being created over his remarks when similar admissions have been made in the past by others, the DawnNewsTV reported citing its sources.

Later, Abbasi expressed full support for Sharif and said the former prime minister did not say what was reported in the media about the Mumbai attack.

"A few sentences (from the interview) were blown out of proportion and context. I have clarified those (statements)," Abbasi asserted while talking to senior journalists.

Stating that the NSC dismissed those words which were misreported, he said the meeting did not condemn Sharif but incorrect reporting of his interview.

"Indian media is giving the issue a different hue, and we should not be a part of it," Abbasi said.

He also said that there was no tension between the civil and military leadership. He said misunderstandings are removed in the light of the facts.

Abbasi said no one forced him to talk to the media and it was his own decision to give the explanatory statement.

Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Buner area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa province Sharif demanded a national commission to determine who was a traitor.

"If my statement doesn't sit well with someone, and if I am actually a traitor then let us have a national commission. Let us start the process of accountability and those who call me traitor should also be held accountable. Pakistan's 220 million people should witness (the trial) and the guilty should be publicly hanged," a defiant Sharif said, unfazed by the barrage of criticism over his remarks.

He said those imposes martial were patriotic and those who worked day and night for development of the country were traitors, in a direct reference to the powerful military generals.

The powerful army, which enjoys considerable influence over policy decisions in Pakistan, has ruled the country for much of its life since it gained independence 70 years ago.

Sharif's statement was defended by Punjab Law Minister and a vocal party leader, Rana Sanaullah, who asserted Sharif said nothing new in his interview.

What Sharif said is already there in the investigation by Federal Investigation Agency, he said.

Earlier today, Sharif dispelled the notion that the comments were falsely attributed to him, saying that he will speak the truth come what may.

"Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Rehman Malik and former National Security Adviser Maj-Gen (retd) Mehmood Durrani had already confirmed (what I said)," he added.

When a reporter pointed to Sharif's acknowledgment of the presence of "non-state actors" in the country, his daughter Maryam, who was accompanying him, replied: "So then who was Zarb-i-Azb [military operation] conducted against?"



Operation Zarb-e-Azb was a military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various militant groups in 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Palestinian Authority government accused Israel of committing a "terrible massacre" after Israeli fire killed 28 Palestinians in protests and clashes along the Gaza Strip border ahead of the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud demanded in a statement "an immediate international intervention to stop the terrible massacre in Gaza committed by the forces of the Israeli occupation against our heroic people."



Israel says it is only firing when necessary to stop attacks, damage to the fence and infiltration attempts.

The PA government is based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The voting for the single-phase panchayat polls began today across West Bengal amid tight security, an official said.

"The polling started at 7 in the morning," the official said.

Polling will end at 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17.

It is the last major polls in the state before the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

With 40 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats located in the districts, political parties are viewing today's event as a warm up match ahead of 2019 general elections.

After a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the State Election Commission, the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition parties, the three-tier panchayat polls in West Bengal is being held.

The run-up to the panchayat polls was marked by intense campaigning. The ruling Trinamool Congress was engaged in a bitter war of words with the opposition Congress, Left Front and BJP over the violence that erupted during the filing of nominations for the polls.

The opposition had accused the ruling TMC of letting loose a reign of terror during the nomination process. The TMC rubbished the allegations and had said the opposition do not have a mass base and are trying to evade the polls.

The filing of nominations, which was held from April 2 to April 9 and then again on an extended date on April 23, was marked by violence and clashes between the ruling TMC and opposition parties that led to several deaths.

Although top leaders of all parties campaigned for the polls, TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refrained from it.

Banerjee appealed to the people to vote in favour of development ushered in by her government.

According to the State Election Commission (SEC) sources, today's elections are being held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats.

Around 1,500 security personnel from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh are in the state to reinforce security for the polls.

They are aiding around 46,000 personnel of the state police and 12,000 of the Kolkata Police.

The state government is using close to 2,000 security personnel from the departments of excise, prison and forests in manning the booths, an SEC official said.

According to West Bengal SEC sources, of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested.

In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested, the SEC said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today shared the concern of his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar over "wasteful" flow of river waters into Pakistan, but sought "careful assessment" of the matter.

He also called for similar efforts to prevent wastage of Yamuna river waters too.

Singh ruled out the need for separate interaction between Punjab and Haryana or for engaging the Bhakra and Beas Management Board (BBMB) to undertake feasibility studies on the proposed second Ravi-Beas link since the matter was under consideration of a high-powered panel set up by the Centre for implementation of National Projects.

Replying to Khattar's letter of May 7 on utilisation of Ravi water flowing into Pakistan, he said, "We would surely like to check all wasteful flow of river waters and secure every drop of it for our farmers, but these have to be carefully assessed."



"In Punjab, we are of the considered opinion to fully secure and utilise the waters of the Ravi as also of other two rivers -- Sutlej and Beas -- for our farmers, without letting it go waste in any manner," Singh said while calling for concerted efforts for utilisation of all other river waters going waste.

Acknowledging the need for preventing wasteful flow of river water, the Punjab chief minister said the state was indeed facing unprecedented water crisis, with its water needs for agriculture having been assessed at 52 MAF, of which river water contribution is hardly 27 MAF.

This was causing the farmers to depend on underground water, which has depleted alarmingly, he wrote.

Singh, however, pointed out that utilisable discharge of waters of river Ravi had been determined at Madhopur rim station and the discharge flowing in tributaries (Ujh, Bein, Basantar, Jallala and Tarnah) which join Ravi downstream Madhopur headworks, was flashy, uncertain and unreliable.

A storage dam on Ujh rivulet has been planned by the Jammu and Kashmir government in their territory up-stream of an existing barrage on the said rivulet, he said.

Noting that the wastage of discharge pertained mainly to supply of water from Ujh, the Punjab chief minister suggested that it might, therefore, "be appropriate to examine availability of discharge post-construction of Ujh dam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia today said the mood of people in Madhya Pradesh, going to polls later this year, is in favour of dislodging the BJP government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

"Lawlessness is prevailing in Madhya Pradesh. After touring the state, I feel that people are fed up with the BJP government and have made up their mind to change it in the elections, due in November," the state Congress campaign committee chairman told reporters here.

Gujarat Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, who visited Guna today, suggested the party project Scindia as its chief ministerial face.

When asked to comment on Thakor's proposal, Scindia said, "I am an activist of the party. I do not run after a position. I try my best to shoulder the responsibility assigned to me".

The Guna MP had addressed a string of election meetings in various districts in the last three days.

The Congress has been out of power in the state since 2003.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Please give me leave or else my wife will leave me," wrote a young Lucknow Police constable who has not seen his wife for the last four months.

Constable Dharmendra Singh, in his 30s, in his application to the Additional Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, wrote that his wife would leave him if he was not granted leave for at least ten days.

"It has been four months now that I have not met my wife as I did not get leave. If I am not given leave, my wife might leave me. She wants me to visit home for at least 10 days," Singh, posted at Lucknow police lines, said in the letter.

He further said, "My wife has told me that I need not come home if I did get 10 days' leave."



The constable has been granted the leave as sought by him, a senior police official told PTI here.

Interesting leave applications by the police officials have been in the trend in the state. Last month, a newly married constable in Agra had written to his bosses, saying he could not concentrate on his work as he had to resume duties immediately after marriage.

In his leave application, constable Manoj posted in Shahganj in Agra had written, "I am newly married. I keep remembering my wife and not able to concentrate on my work. My reaching home is very necessary".

After receiving the letter, the constable was granted eight days leave.

"A constable is entitled for 30 days casual leave in a year. The system of providing them weekly offs are also there and is implemented by the district police chiefs at their level, but due to work pressure, not all get it," a senior police official said.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has initiated a lot of measures to boost the morale of constables and they are being rewarded by the DGP himself and being given due recognition for their good work during their duty, which they perform under adverse situations, he said.

In a major respite for the stressed out policemen in the state, the UP government has allowed one-day off to policemen who perform duty for 10 consecutive days.

The decision to this effect was taken in 2016 by the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as long duty hours without offs were causing stress among police personnel and they could not perform family, social and personal duties, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called up newly-elected prime minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad to congratulate him on assuming office.

Modi said that he looked forward to working with him to further strengthen India-Malaysia strategic partnership.

An official statement said Modi told Mahathir that the close and mutually beneficial India-Malaysia ties are based on a strong foundation of shared values, interests and vibrant people-to-people relations.

Mahathir, 92, was last week sworn in as the seventh prime minister of Malaysia.

He has become the world's oldest elected leader.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Leaders of various political parties in Nepal today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country was successful but underlined the need to implement the past agreements.

Speaking at an interaction programme in the capital, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic) chief Pashupati Shamsher Rana said the visit created an opportunity to harmonise the bilateral relations as some sorts of misunderstandings had surfaced between the two countries.

Secretary of ruling CPN (UML), Bhim Acharya said the Prime Minister's visit was important and its success depends on the implementation of the past agreements.

Nepali Congress leader Narayan Khadka said the visit seemed successful but the crucial issues such as the border problem were not meaningfully addressed.

He argued that the visit would be limited to ritual if such issues were not addressed.

Rastriya Janata Party leader Laxman Lal Karna said the visit was largely successful towards strengthening the bilateral relations.

Modi wrapped up his two-day visit to Nepal on May 11 during which he held talks with Nepal Premier K P Sharma Oli and other top leaders and discussed the issues of mutual interest.

Modi said India supports a "united, prosperous and strong" Nepal as he strongly backed Oli's vision to transform the land-locked Himalayan nation into a land- and water-linked country.

Briefing Nepal's Parliament yesterday, Oli said the visit has elevated bilateral ties to new heights.

The two countries agreed to expedite implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepal's Constitution Day in September, Oli had said, adding that multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held.

The two countries have also agreed to form a taskforce of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways, he said.

The ties between India and Nepal had strained after the adoption of a new Constitution by Nepal in 2015 that divided Nepal into seven provincial units and marginalised Madhesis, who are largely of Indian-origin and inhabitants of the Terai.

The move had triggered a six-month-long agitation, from September 2015 to February 2016, during Oli's first tenure in which more than 50 people were killed.

The agitation had also crippled the land-locked country's economy as supplies from India were blocked.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, Allahabad Bank MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian and 20 others have been charge-sheeted by the CBI in connection with issuance of fraudulent guarantees of Rs 6,498.20 crore to Modi's company by the PNB.

The fraudulent guarantees enabled Nirav Modi to secure loans from overseas banks which he allegedly siphoned off.

The scam pertains to issuance of fraudulent Letters of Undertakings of more than USD 2 billion to companies of Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi by the Punjab National Bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai during 2011-17, officials said.

The agency will file supplementary charge sheets for the remaining amount in which it will detail the role of other accused such as Mehul Choksi, his companies, and Nirav Modi's wife Ami Modi, they said.

The officials said supplementary charge sheets will have information from foreign governments, shell companies, foreign banks, and detail the role of officials posted in foreign branches of Indian banks which issued credits to Modi's firms on the basis of PNB LoUs etc.

In its charge sheet filed before a special court in Mumbai, the agency alleged that PNB officials dishonestly and fraudulently issued LoUs to overseas banks for obtaining buyer's credit in favour of three accused firms -- Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds -- without any sanction limit or cash margin, they said.

An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant.

The investigations revealed that messages for fraudulent LoUs were sent to overseas banks by misusing international messaging system for banking called SWIFT platform and without making their subsequent entries in the PNB's internal banking software, thus bypassing scrutiny in the bank, they said.

The agency alleged that the proceeds of buyer's credit availed from overseas banks on the basis of LoUs of the PNB were dishonestly and fraudulently diverted to pay off the oustanding liabilities of the three accused firms, directly and indirectly controlled by Nirav Modi.

Funds were siphoned off to purported overseas supplier firms that were set up and controlled by Nirav Modi through his associates, it alleged.

It is alleged that senior officials of the PNB, including the then CEO and MD Usha Ananthasubramanian, did not implement the circulars and caution notices issued by the Reserve Bank of India regarding safeguarding swift operation and misrepresented the factual position to the RBI.

Reconciliation of CBS and SWIFT messages was not done despite repeated RBI circulars caution notices and questionnaires, it alleged.

Gokulnath Shetty, the then Deputy Manager at Brady House branch of the PNB, continued in the same seat for seven years and issued fraudulent LoUs with "impunity", the CBI alleged.

The agency also made it clear that the naming of Ananthasubramanian in the charge sheet does not mean that her predecessors have been given clean chit as the investigation is going on, they said.

The agency has charge-sheeted billionaire Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal, seven employees of his companies including Chief Financial Officer Vipul Ambani and three companies Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

Chartered Accountant Subhash Kumar Rambia has also been charged with not mentioning loans of Rs 1,700 crore taken by each of the three accused companies in their books, it alleged.

Then MD and CEO Ananthasubramanian, Executive Directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and General Manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad are among the 12 officials of the PNB who have been named in the charge sheet.

Gokulnath Shetty, the then Deputy Manager of the PNB, who allegedly issued the LoUs, has also been charge sheeted.

The CBI filed the charge sheet for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The agency has said bank officials have been charged under anti-corruption laws because their acts led to loss to exchequer, corresponding gains to Modi and his companies and "criminal breach of trust" to the public.

The probe into the alleged bribe paid to employees of the PNB to issue such guarantees is underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A man being tried under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act today tried to kill himself on the premises of the sessions court here in Gujarat alleging that his petition seeking transfer of the case to another judge was not being taken up, police said.

The accused Daniel Gawai tried to set himself on fire with kerosene he was carrying with him on the premises of the court, a police official said.

However, he was overpowered by police personnel before he could set himself on fire, he said.

"Gawai had threatened on Saturday that he would kill himself outside the court today," he said.

His case is being heard by POCSO judge P C Raval.

He had threatened to take the extreme step in a letter marked to chief justices of the Gujarat high court and the supreme court as well as President.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over four years after Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel suite here, the Delhi Police today charged the senior Congress leader with abetting her suicide, claiming there was enough evidence to proceed against him.

Tharoor, 62, dismissed as "preposterous" the nearly 3,000-page charge sheet filed before a city court and asserted he intends to contest it "vigorously" while the Congress stood by the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram and a former international civil servant, alleging it is a "conspiracy" by the Modi government to defame him.

In a blow to Tharoor, the suave Congress leader is the only person to be arrayed as an accused in the case in which the police have concluded that it was a case of suicide and not murder. An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

The police has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC). While section 498 A entails maximum punishment of 3 years in prison, the section 306 attracts a maximum jail term of 10 years.

Pushkar's death had created a sensation as it came shortly after a bitter spat between the couple over the twitter, over his alleged affair with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. Pushkar, 51,was found dead in a suite in Hotel Leela, a luxury hotel in Chankayapuri, on the night of January 17, 2014.

The charge sheet in the mysterious death of Pushkar was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh, who will consider it on May 24. The agency while asking the court to take cognisance of the charge sheet said there was enough evidence to proceed against Tharoor. It urged the court to summon Tharoor as an accused.

The couple's domestic servant Narayan Singh is one of the key witnesses in the case.

The charge sheet that includes several annexures noted that Pushkar died within four years of her marriage. The couple had entered into wedlock on August 22, 2010. It was the third marriage for both Tharoor and Pushkar,



According to prosecution sources, the charge sheet has mentioned that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty.

After all the possible and material evidence collected and verified, it was felt that his custodial interrogation would not be required in the case at this stage, the charge sheet, which contains several medical reports, said.

Tharoor has not been arrested in the case as he had joined the investigation when required.

The Delhi Police said the charge sheet was finalised on the basis of "medico-legal and forensic evidence".

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice," said a Delhi Police spokesperson.

Psychological autopsy is a reconstructive mental state evaluation to understand an individual's mental state at and around the time of death for the purpose of identifying the cause of death.

Tharoor took to twitter to respond to the charge sheet.

"I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part," he tweeted.

"It does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the Delhi High Court that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!," Tharoor added.

AICC spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the charge sheet was a conspiracy to defame and malign Tharoor.

"We won't cow down or bow down," he said, alleging, "This is a conspiracy to defame Shashi Tharoor and malign him and the Modi government is using Delhi police."



"We reject the charges totally... Where is the charge coming from?....It is coming from the BJP headquarters..it is coming from the factory of lies."The Congress in Kerala described as 'politically motivated' the charge sheet while a state BJP leader demanded the MP's resignation.

Opposition leader in the Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala said "using power, an attempt is being made by BJP to suppress and insult congress leaders."



On several occasions, "wrong" reports have been given to the media with regard to the case to "insult" Tharoor, the Congress leader said in a statement.

BJP leader M T Ramesh demanded that Tharoor immediately resign as an MP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States is offering assurances to North Korea's Kim Jong Un as it seeks to put in motion the potential for a sweeping nuclear deal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US will need to "provide security assurances" to Kim if they're able to forge an agreement. Pompeo met with Kim last week in North Korea, helping set the stage for President Donald Trump's historic summit with Kim in Singapore on June 12.

Trump wants North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way.

Pompeo was asked on "Fox Sunday" if the U.S. was essentially telling Kim he could stay in power if he met the U.S. demands.

Said Pompeo: "We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Ram Nath Kovind left for Mumbai today after wrapping up a two-day tour of Rajasthan.

In his first visit as the president to the state, Kovind launched Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Antyoday Swarojgar Yojna, Sundar Singh Bhandar EBC (economically backward class) Swarojgaar Yojna and a scheme for waiver of business loan for SC/ST/OBC/differently abled at a programme here yesterday.

Kovind was served Rajasthani cuisine at dinner last night and a special cultural performance was held at Raj Bhawan, an official said.

The president offered prayers at the Brahma temple and the dargah of Sufi Saint Hazarat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer today.

During his visit to the dargah, he received the Bhagawad Gita from the Deewan of the shrine, Zainul Abedin Ali Khan.

Khan said that service to the nation should be given the first and foremost priority and the holy book of Gita says that one should perform Karma and not desire for the results.

"The gift was aimed at giving a message of harmony to the followers of all the religions in the country from the Ajmer dargah," Nasiruddin Chisti, the elder son of Khan, said.

At a function here yesterday, Kovind highlighted his connection and bonding with the state saying he has travelled extensively in various districts of the state over the years and feels a great connection with its rich art, culture, tradition and people.

The president left for Mumbai in an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane in the evening today.

Governor Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and other ministers and senior officers were present during the president's departure from the Sanganer airport, a senior police official said.

The president will grace the inauguration of the 4th Global Exhibition on Services and launch of the 12 Champion Services initiative in Mumbai tomorrow.

On the same day, he will visit the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and an exhibition on Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) technologies. He will also inaugurate DAE facilities in Trombay, an eastern suburb in Mumbai.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to expel senior leader and former union minister P Chidambaram from the party, alleging that he and his family have stashed money abroad.

"Chidambaram did not give the Enforcement Directorate information about 15 bank accounts in foreign countries where the former finance minister and his family stashed away over three billion dollars. Will Rahul Gandhi throw him out of the party?" Rawat told reporters here yesterday.

Rawat, a BJP leader, claimed that during the erstwhile UPA dispensation, the Supreme Court had issued an order to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) on black money stashed aboard, but the then government did not set it up to shield the corrupt.

Drawing a comparison between UPA and the current NDA dispensation at the Centre, he said the Narendra Modi government constituted the SIT at the very first meeting of its cabinet.

"If the Congress has even an iota of morality left in it, Rahul Gandhi should expel Chidambaram from the party, " the chief minister said.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US.

The former finance minister's family members had said the Income Tax Department charge sheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their I-T returns.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rain accompanied by gusty winds and hailstrom today lashed parts of Odisha including the state capital Bhubaneswar.

While Chandbali in Bhadrak district recorded 58.8 mm rainfall, Paradip in the coast received 27.2 mm rainfall. Heavy downpour has also been reported from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore, Puri, Baripada, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Sundergarh, Hirakud, Daringbadi and Dhenkanal, IMD sources said.

Rainfall, along with lightning in several districts, brought much-needed respite from the scorching heat. Trees and electricity poles were uprooted at several places, while farmers alleged crop loss due to the rain.

Unofficial reports from Kendrapara, Subarnapur and Bargarh districts claimed three persons died from the rains.

"We cannot confirm the deaths. The concerned district authorities will confirm the deaths," Deputy Special Relief Commissioner Pravat Mohapatra told PTI.

At least two Bhubaneswar-bound flights were today diverted to Kolkata due to heavy rain and inclement conditions.

An Indigo flight which left Bengaluru at 9.55 am and arrived in Bhubaneswar at 12.40 pm, was diverted to Kolkata as the authorities of the air traffic control at the Biju Patnaik International Airport did not allow the flight to land due to strong wind accompanied by rain.

Similarly, the Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar Air Asia flight, which left Hyderabad at 11.15 am and arrived in Bhubaneswar at 1 pm had to leave for Kolkata due to bad

In Puri, chariot construction work was affected for about two hours as rain lashed the temple town this afternoon.

The Regional Centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued thunderstorm warning for as many as 17 districts of Odisha.

The latest Doppler radar and satellite imageries indicate that thunderstorm accompanied by hail and gusty surface wind speed reaching 50 to 60 kmph is likely to occur in these districts, an IMD bulletin stated.

The IMD also forecast heavy to very heavy rain at one or two places in coastal Odisha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Reserve Bank has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Gujarat-based Mehsana Urban Co-operative Bank for violating its guidelines by granting advances to directors and their relatives.

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Mehsana Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Mehsana (Gujarat), the RBI said in a notification.

The apex bank said the penalty has been imposed for violation of the directives to Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) relating to grant of advances to directors and their relatives, Know Your Customer(KYC)/Anti Money Laundering(AML) norms, group exposure norms, etc.

The regulator said it had issued a show-cause notice to the bank, in response to which the bank submitted a written reply.

"After considering the facts of the case and the bank's reply in the matter and the oral submissions made in the personal hearing, the Reserve Bank of India came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of penalty," it said.

The bank has 17 directors on board, two of whom are female members, as per information on the company website.

Mehsana Urban Co-Op Bank started with a one branch with a share capital of Rs 15 lakh in 1983 and reached a paid up capital of Rs 87.07 crore as on March 31, 2014, as per the website.

The bank said it received scheduled bank status by RBI in 2000 and has 53 branches as of now spread across Gujarat and Maharashtra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Central Advisory Council (CAC), set up by the government for effective implementation of the real estate law in the country, in its first meeting today expressed concern over some states diluting key provisions of the legislation, a senior official said.

It also expressed concerns over some of the states not yet notifying their real estate rules and not setting up permanent real estate regulatory authority, the official of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs ministry said.

The official said only 27 states have notified their rules under the Real Estate Regulation (and Development) Act, 2016 amid reports of some of the states diluting provisions of the law in favour of builders.

However, all Union Territories (UTs) have notified the rules.

As many as 10 states have established their permanent regulatory authority, while 19 states have set up interim authority, the official said.

At the meeting, it was also decided that the ministry will write to the states, asking them to upload the comprehensive list of projects under RERA on their website, the official said.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, "There will be 3 regional consultations & follow ups. Let me make it clear, RERA has been enacted to clean the mess accumulated in the unregulated construction sector for decades. This is also an important requirement for builders who play by the rules."



A member of the council explained that India will be divided into three zones where the CAC will hold meetings with various stakeholders in the states that comes under the zone to pursuade them to implement the real estate rules in letter and spirit.

It was also decided to establish a national portal where links to websites of all states and Union Territories on RERA will be provided.

"I can say with certainty that when the history of real estate is written, it will clearly be demarcated in terms of a Pre RERA & Post RERA phase. Interests of homebuyers is central to this Act which will rein in the unscrupulous builders & bring decorum to this key sector," Puri said in another tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A retaining wall of a flyover here collapsed last night, following which traffic movement was stopped in the area, officials said.

There was no report of anybody getting hurt in the incident, they said today.

Vehicular traffic over the Gill Chowk flyover, passing through an industrial area, has been stopped by police, officials said.

Traffic has been diverted through another route, they said.

Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials visited the spot to inspect the wall in order to determine the cause of the collapse.

The flyover was constructed two years ago.

Ludhiana Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) Dharmpal said no case has been registered yet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two persons, including an employee of a private sector bank, were today arrested with demonetised currency notes with a face value of Rs 1.69 crore, police said.

Acting on a tip off, officials of the Rajkot Special Operation Group(SOG) nabbed two persons outside the central bus depot this afternoon with demonetised currency notes having a face value of over Rs 1.69 crore, said Rajkot Police Commissioner, Anupam Singh Gehlot.

"While searching through their bag, the SOG team found demonetised currency notes of Rs 1,69,27,500, including 7,185 notes of Rs 1000 and remaining of Rs 500 denomination," Gehlot told media persons here today.

He identified the two persons who have been arrested as Kamal Bhatt, a resident of Junagadh and his friend, Rajkot-resident Ashok Chhaya.

Primary investigation by the police has revealed that the duo were planning to exchange these notes with valid ones through a commission agent.

"We have learnt that Bhatt is working as a clerk in a private sector bank in Junagadh while Chhaya is a carpenter. The duo were in search of a commission agent to exchange these notes, for which, they were planning to go to a metro city," Gehlot said, adding that further investigations was on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sahapedia, an open online resource on art and culture, is marking International Museum Day by holding a host of programmes including museum walks, workshops and baithaks (talks) across 15 cities.

The week-long event kicked off with guided tours of National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum in Delhi and Sanskar Kendra in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Organised in partnership with the Delhi Police, the walk in the national capital was customised for children who were taken on a tour of the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum that houses a vast collection of tribal and rural crafts as well as textiles and jewellery.

"In Ahmedabad the participants visited the iconic Sanskar Kendra, marking the start of a week of walks and workshops led by a host of researchers and subject experts in these cities," the organisers said in a statement.

Aimed at "raising awareness around museums and identifying them as significant spaces for cultural exchange and enrichment", the event will encourage people to understand their histories and traditions through antiquities, artefacts and knowledge protected and conserved by museums.

"Additionally, this year's theme Hyper-connected museums: New approaches, new publics is aligned with Sahapedia's Museum of India project's vision of engaging with museum professionals and the audience through varied mediums available, both online and offline," Vaibhav Chauhan, Secretary, Sahapedia, said.

Apart from Delhi and Ahmedabad, the event will hold programmes in Mumbai, Srinagar, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Shillong, Baroda, Amritsar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kochi, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Chandigarh.

The events also include specially crafted walks for underprivileged children in partnership with CRY in Bengaluru and Magic Bus in Mumbai.

A special blindfold tactile art workshop titled Anubhuti' will be organised in Delhi on May 18 in partnership with Access for ALL.

In Chandigarh a museum walk and a storytelling session will be held at the International Doll Museum on May 19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)- The Japanese city of Sapporo is reconsidering plans to host the 2026 Winter Olympics in favour of an improved bid for the 2030 Games, officials said on Monday.

Sapporo, which staged the Winter Olympics in 1972, appears to have decided that waiting an extra four years for bullet train and road projects to be completed would give it a better chance of winning hosting rights.

"Sapporo's urban development is unlikely to be fully ready by 2026," Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto told a joint conference with Japanese Olympic chief Tsunekazu Takeda.

"By 2030 they will be ready to a degree, so we are currently discussing whether to go forward with our bid for the 2026 Games along with the possibility of looking instead at 2030." Akimoto insisted Sapporo had not yet decided to pull the plug on plans for 2026, but the northern city may also be conscious of the fact it would be Asia's third successive Winter Olympics and fourth overall.

The 2018 Winter Olympics were held in Pyeongchang earlier this year, the 2020 Summer Games will be in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

"We have heard (from Sapporo officials) that the city would have a better-prepared environment in 2030," said Takeda.

"It is essential for an Olympic host city to have that development and 'shinkansen' (bullet train) links. It will be a powerful factor in an Olympic bid." Sapporo is one of seven cities that have expressed interest in 2026, and faces competition from Calgary, Stockholm, Graz in Austria, the Swiss city of Sion, Erzurum in Turkey and a joint Italian bid from Cortina d'Ampezzo, Milan and Turin.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to select the winner in September 2019.

Sapporo, located on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, could also face a strong challenge for 2030 if it opts to delay by four years, with former Olympic host cities Lillehammer (1994) and Salt Lake City (2002) suggesting they were prepared to bid.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Saudi Arabia condemned Israeli gunfire today that killed at least 52 Palestinians and wounded hundreds of others, without mentioning the inauguration of the controversial US embassy in Jerusalem.

"Saudi Arabia strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces' gunfire against unarmed Palestinian civilians which has left dozens of dead and wounded," a Saudi foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The spokesperson, quoted by the kingdom's official SPA press agency, called on the international community to "take responsibility and put an end to the violence against the Palestinians", noting Riyadh's support for the "rights of the Palestinian people". The spokesperson did not mention the opening of the controversial US embassy in Jerusalem, which also took place on today.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but their ties have improved recently as the two close ranks with the US against their shared enemy -- Iran. The transfer of the embassy from Tel Aviv to the divided holy city, enacted by US President Donald Trump, was condemned by the Arab summit held in Saudi Arabia on April 17.

Israeli troops opened fire on Monday as thousands of Palestinians demonstrated along Gaza's border with the Jewish state, protesting the inauguration the US embassy and calling for Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to homes that are now in Israel. In Qatar, foreign ministry spokeswoman Lulwah al-Khater strongly condemned "the massacre" of Palestinians.

Cited by Qatar's official QNA agency, Khater called on the international community to take action and stop "the savage killings".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today granted bail to a contractor in a corruption case, which also involves Yadav Singh, a former top officer of Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna Expressway Authority.

The top court said the accused had allegedly caused a loss of Rs 18.64 crore, but Rs 18.38 crore has been secured by Noida Authority and the Enforcement Directorate.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said the remaining amount of Rs 26 lakh shall be deposited by the contractor, Pankaj Jain, an aide of former Chief Engineer Yadav Singh to the Noida authorities.

The apex court, which considered that Jain was 60 per cent permanently disabled, blamed him for trying to avoid the process of law after the matter was taken cognisance of and summons were issued.

It, however, considered that during the investigation from July 30, 2015, to March 15, 2016, he had cooperated with the investigation and the chargesheet was filed.

The apex court said, "the petitioner, during the period of trial, shall not enter NOIDA except on the dates of trial before the Special Court. Moreover, he shall not enter Ghaziabad for a period of six months initially". It also asked him to deposit his passport with the trial court.

Jain was partner in a Ghaziabad-based JSP Constructions company, which is also an accused in the graft case involving laying of underground cable on Master Plan-1 Road and other public works.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet against 14 persons in the case and the court had taken cognizance of it on March 29, 2016.

The chargesheet had claimed that the allotment of work was allegedly pre-decided, tender formalities wilfully violated, and the project estimate highly inflated for undue gains to the contractor.

The investigators had alleged that the process caused a loss of nearly Rs 19 crore to the government exchequer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today reserved its order on a plea filed against a CBI probe ordered by the Madras High Court into the multi-crore rupees gutkha scam in which a minister and top state police officers and officials are alleged to be involved.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud was hearing a petition filed by accused E Sivakumar, challenging the April 26 order of the high court.

The plea said the high court passed the order when the investigation relating to the allegations of violation of the ban on gutkha and other tobacco products by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Commission (DVAC) had commenced and was at an advanced stage.

The high court had ordered the CBI probe following a petition filed by DMK legislator J Anbazhagan.

The case relates to an Income Tax Department raid in the offices, residences and godowns of a gutkha manufacturer in Tamil Nadu in 2016. A diary seized then allegedly listed bribe payments made to various officials.

The Tamil Nadu government has banned the manufacture and storage of gutkha -- a tobacco product. However, the product was reportedly available in the market with the alleged connivance of the police officers and others.

The petition has contended that the probe transfer order was given without hearing any of the accused persons and without looking into the status of the investigation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today set up a three-member panel headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice S N Dhingra for "expeditious" auction of real estate major Unitech Ltd's unencumbered immovable properties of over 600 acres to refund the money to hassled home buyers.

Considering the plight of home buyers who are "waiting with concern to get their money refunded", a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra gave the liberty to Justice Dhingra to nominate a Chartered Accountant and a valuer for speedy auction of over 600 acres of unencumbered land of the firm.

"We constitute a Committee headed by Justice S N Dhingra, former Judge of the High Court of Delhi. Justice Dhingra would be at liberty to nominate a Chartered Accountant and a valuer accredited with the Delhi High Court or this Court.

"Justice S N Dhingra shall formulate suitable terms and conditions for auction of the above properties on as-is-where is basis, to be notified in the newspapers," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

Unitech Ltd has recently given a list of its unencumbered land properties located at Agra, Varanasi, Bangalore and near Chennai.

The bench also asked lawyer Pawanshree Agarwal, who is assisting the court as the amicus curiae, and Abhinav Agrawal, the counsel for the real estate firm, to assist the Justice Dhingra panel in the auctioning of over 600 acre of land of the Unitech Ltd.

"The purpose of nominating of two counsel is that the Committee can function smoothly. We request Justice Dhingra to proceed with the auction as expeditiously as possible, as the home buyers are waiting with concern to get their money refunded. The auction shall be subject to confirmation by this Court. The expenditure incurred by the Committee, including the fees, shall be met from the accrued interest....," the bench said.

The bench also took note of the fact that some home buyers wanted to take possession of their flats.

Referring to its earlier order, the bench said the home buyers can be handed over the possession of their homes on "as is where is basis".

The bench considered the submission of amicus curiae Agarwal that Rs 40 crore has been deposited with the apex court registry by one Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure Limited (PULIL), which has taken up certain projects in joint venture with Unitech.

However, the bench did not agree to the opposition of PULIL that it had only 40 per cent stakes in the joint venture projects with Unitech Ltd and hence the home buyers cannot be given the entire compensation from the money deposited by it.

"It may be stated here that the Amicus Curiae as per the order of this Court has created a portal in respect of the aforesaid categories.

"We do not intend to make any distinction amongst the said categories and, accordingly, it is directed that amount be disbursed to the home buyers whose names find place in the portal created by the amicus curiae concerning the five projects and there has been no cavil over the same by the Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure Limited.

"The list of the names shall be submitted by Pawanshree Agarwal to the Registry and the amount shall be disbursed on pro rata basis...," the bench said.

The home buyers of five projects in Gurgaon in Haryana -- The Close (South), South City II Floors, Escape, Fresco, and Harmony -- would be refunded from the Rs 40 crore deposited by PULIL, the court ordered and posted the matter for further hearing on July 5.

Earlier, the apex court had ask all directors of Unitech Ltd and its subsidiaries to furnish details of their personal assets and warned them that if Rs 100 crore was not deposited by May 11, their assets would be auctioned.

It had also said that the unencumbered properties of the real estate firm would be auctioned to realise the dues of the hassled home buyers.

It had asked the real estate firm, which has already given the list of unencumbered properties, to also provide details of their encumbered assets with specific information about the "extent of loans or encumbrances".

The apex court had on April 9 taken note of the list of all the unencumbered assets of Unitech Ltd and ordered that a public notice be issued inviting objections for auctioning them to realise the dues of the hassled home buyers.

Sanjay Chandra, the MD of the firm, is seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 last year had rejected the plea in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home-buyers of Unitech projects' -- 'Wild Flower Country' and 'Anthea Project' -- situated in Gurgaon in Haryana.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three college friends of a key accused in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl today moved the Supreme Court alleging torture by the Jammu and Kashmir police and seeking protection from a central agency.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea of these students, who hail from the Jammu region of the state, on May 16.

Lawyer Ravi Sharma, representing students Sahil Sharma, Sachin Sharma and Neeraj Sharma, sought urgent hearing on the plea alleging that they and their families were being coerced by the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir police.

The Jammu-based students, who are pursuing B.Sc in Agriculture at a college in Muzzafar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, are classmates of Vishal Jangotra, a key accused in the case, the plea said.

The lawyer said the students were "coerced to make statements contrary to the facts that Vishal Jangotra was with them at Muzzafarnagar from January 7 to February 10. During that period, he along with petitioners attended examinations and practical papers."



"Petitioners were subjected to the physical and mental torture from March 19 to March 31 by Respondents (state police officers)," the plea said.

The lawyer alleged that the students were constrained to move the apex court seeking security as they faced "imminent threat to their lives at the hand of the Crime Branch."



Besides seeking security by a central agency, the students alleged that despite recording their statements, they were being served with police notice to re-appear for re-recording of their statements.

"Permit the petitioners to be accompanied at all times by two lawyers as and when they are summoned" by the state police, the plea said, adding that the probe in the case be handed over to an "independent agency".

The plea has sought a direction to restrain the Crime Branch officials from "harming" and "harassing" the students and their families. It also seeks Rs 50 lakh each as compensation to the three students for the "physical and mental agony and loss of study and future prospects".

Earlier, the apex court had transferred the trial in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl from Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot in Punjab, but had refrained from handing over the probe to CBI saying there was no need as the investigation has been conducted and the charge sheet filed.

The apex court, which ordered day-to-day "in-camera" trial in the case, had said there was a need to shift the trial outside the state as "fear and fair trial" were contradictory and "cannot be allowed to co-exist."



The victim, belonging to a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village close to Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The state police has filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today agreed to list for hearing a plea seeking registration of a criminal complaint against some lawyers for moving impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra.

A bench comprising the CJI and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of lawyer M L Sharma that his PIL be listed for urgent hearing during the week.

Sharma, in his PIL, has made Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and lawyers -- Prashant Bhushan, Kamini Jaiswal, Kapil Sibal, KTS Tulsi and A M Singhvi -- as party to the his PIL.

He has sought issuance of a direction to the apex court Registrar to file a criminal complaint under section 340 ( which deals with filing of perjury cases) of Code of Criminal Procedure and under sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) of the IPC to prosecute the the lawyers and other signatories of the impeachment notice against sitting CJI Dipak Misra "for hatching concocted criminal conspiracy knowingly and deliberately with malice... fraudulent intention to defame the CJI and the Supreme court of India for their vested political interest".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy today credited RSS idealogue Shyama Prasad Mukherjee with the formation of West Bengal at the time of partition in 1947, saying "he practically snatched the state out of the jaws of (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah".

He also said that it was a "misimpression" that the Bengalis are revolutionaries and Left-oriented since time immemorial.

Roy, at the launch of his book "The Life and Times of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, "I personally think that the greatest achievement of Dr Mukherjee was the creation of West Bengal. He practically snatched the state out of the jaws of Jinnah."



While Mukherjee always stood by "constitutionalism", he took a different route when required, the governor said.

He said that Dr Mukherjee took to the streets and created public opinion in favour of partition, and a newspaper survey revealed that 97 per cent of the Hindus were in its favour.

"It had nothing to do with the 1905 partition... This partition was done for the sake of the Hindus. That was one time he left the constitutional path," he said.

Roy said it's a "misimpression" that the Bengalis had been revolutionaries and Left-oriented people "for a very long time or practically since time immemorial. It's nothing like that".

He said there were roughly 24 crore Bengali-speaking people in the world, of which around 7 crore were Hindus and 17 crore Muslims.

"These 17 crore Muslims have never been revolutionaries. They have never taken the law in their hands. The participated in a bloody freedom struggle in 1971... prompted by entirely different nationalistic compulsions and not by leftism," he said.

He said that before 1930, there was no leftism in Bengal and since then the cultural scene there has been "totally permeated with leftists with practically no competition". It gave rise to the impression that Bengal was always a Left- leaning state.

Roy said that just before the 1930s, people like C R Das, Aurobindo Ghose who later came be to known as Sri Aurobindo and the revolutionaries of Agni-yuga were "not leftists".

"They used to swear in the name of the Gita and Goddess Kali... as we got closer to the Independence, we find fewer and fewer politicians from Bengal in the all-India scene... People like Jyotindra Mohan Sengupta, his wife Nellie Sengupta, C R Das they were nowhere near leftism," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two more prosecution witnesses in the cases of encounters of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati today turned hostile before a special CBI court here, taking the number of such witnesses to 57.

The two witnesses, Jagdish Prajapati and Girish Patel, deposed before the special judge S J Sharma.

Jagdish Prajapati, who used to work as a phone operator at a government guest house in Ahmedabad, had told the CBI that he had handed over the guest register, pertaining to the period between November 13, 2006 to December 16, 2006, to the investigating agency.

He had stated that Himmat Singh, Abdul Rehman, Yudhveer Kartar, Dalpati Singh, Tej Singh and Budhnarayan, all Rajasthan police officials, had stayed at the guest house on November 28, 2006, and entry of their stay was mentioned in the register.

However in court today, Jagdish admitted he had handed over the register to the investigating agency but denied giving any statement about its content.

He said he started working at the guest house only in 2012 and wasn't aware of the content of the register.

Following this, he was declared hostile.

Another witness, Girish Patel, was working in the criminal department of the City Civil and Sessions Court, Bhadra, Ahmedabad, when Tulsiram and Mohammad Azam were brought, under police custody, to attend court on November 28, 2006.

He had told CBI that both Tulsiram and Azam were brought in the criminal department of the court.

As per Patel's statement, Tulsiram had told him that he had a strong apprehension that he would be killed either at the hands of Gujarat or Rajasthan police.

Tulsiram's lawyer, who had accompanied him, requested Patel to take Tulsiram and produce him before the judge so that he could make his submission.

Accordingly, Patel took both Tulsiram and Azam to the principal judge, Bhadra, where Tulsiram deposed about his apprehension orally.

The jugde directed him to give a submission of his apprehension in writing, but he didn't give it.

However, Patel told court today that he took Tulsiram Prajapati to the judge, but he was not aware of the development inside the court.

He was then declared hostile by the prosecution.

The Mumbai court has examined over 82 prosecution witnesses so far, of which 57 have turned hostile.

Sohrabuddin, a suspected gangster with terror links, and his wife were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat Police in November 2005, while Prajapati, his aide, was killed in another alleged fake encounter by the Gujarat and Rajasthan police in December 2006.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who is on a day's trip to Vietnam, today met several top officials of the Vietnam government and discussed economic and other bilateral issues to boost agriculture, trade and commerce in Assam.

Sonowal held separate discussions with Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Government of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Chairman of Vietnam's External Relations Commission Hoang Binh Quan and Vice-Chairman of Central Economic Commission Cao Duc Phat at Hanoi, an official release said here.

Sonowal was accompanied by Assam's Agriculture Minister Atul Bora and 13 MLAs during the meetings.

The chief minister-led "exposure tour" has been undertaken to get a first hand exposure of the farm practice of Vietnam and to take inputs for revitalizing the agriculture sector of the state, the release added.

The meeting with Vietnam's Deputy Agriculture Minister Ha Cong Tuan was regarding utilizing modern technology and expertise of Vietnam farmers and how it could help Assam farmers double their income.

The Chief Minister appreciated the advancements made by Vietnam in the field of paddy cultivation and requested the Deputy Minister of Agriculture to extend his country's support in improving the agriculture production in Assam.

Sonowal, during his discussions with the Vice-Chairman of Central Economic Commission Cao Duc Phat, requested him to take steps for setting up a Consulate Office of Vietnam in Guwahati and organizing cultural and youth exchange programmes.

During his meeting with the Chairman of External Relations Commission Hoang Binh Quan, Sonowal mentioned about the thrust given to the north eastern region of India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through Act East Policy and the infrastructural advancements made in recent years.

He also emphasised on strengthening connectivity between Hanoi and Guwahati to promote tourism and trade.

Quan hailed Sonowal's leadership in deepening the bilateral relations between Vietnam and Assam and also lauded his initiative of leading the delegation to Vietnam which would go a long way to further mutual benefits, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kings XI Punjab wilted under pressure as a spirited Royal Challengers Bangalore bundled them out for paltry 88 in a must-win Indian Premier League match here today.

Sent into bat, Kings XI innings never got going as they lost wickets like pack of cards from the onset to be bowled out in 15.1 overs.

Backed by some good fielding, Umesh Yadav (3/23) came up with an impressive bowling effort up front to destabilise the Kings XI innings.

Besides, Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal (1/6), Colin de Grandhomme (1/8), Moeen Ali (1/13) and Mohammed Siraj (1/17) picked up a wicket each.

Aaron Finch top-scored for Kings XI with a 23-ball 26 while KL Rahul made 21 up the order.

RCB bowlers were very well complemented by some good outfield catching and three runs outs.

Kings XI witnessed a terrible start to their innings after being sent into bat as they lost four wickets with the scoreboard reading just 50 in 6.5 overs.

Rahul gave Kings XI a brisk start with a 15-ball 21 in the company of Chris Gayle (18) before Yadav struck twin blows in the fifth over, dismissing both the openers.

While Rahul pulled one straight to de Grandhomme a deep square leg, Gayle departed in similar fashion caught by Siraj off another short delivery three balls later.

To make matters worse for Kings XI, Karun Nair edged a delivery straight to RCB skipper Virat Kohli at the lone slip in the next over.

Wickets kept on tumbling for Kings XI as Marcus Stoinis and Mayank Agarwal too perished when their team needed them the most.

While Stoinis was cleaned up by Chahal, Agarwal got a faint edge to a de Grandhomme delivery in the leg side and Parthiv Patel did the rest behind the stumps.

From there on, Kings XI never really recovered and were eventually bundled out for the second lowest total of this years IPL, courtesy some brilliant work at the field by RCB fielders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has appreciated the services of the state-run carrier Air India and hailed its cabin crew for being "extremely courteous and efficient" during his trips in March to New Delhi and Japan on a state visit.

The President's appreciation was conveyed to Air India's country manager for Sri Lanka in Colombo Alice Joe Paul in a letter on May 11 by chief of protocol for secretary(foreign affairs) M R Hassen.

"The President has instructed me to convey his sincere appreciation and thanks to you and your able and efficient staff in Colombo as well as general manager of Air India, New Delhi and his staff for the excellent courtesies and assistance extended to Maithripala Sirisena and the delegation. It was the President's first time to travel with Air India and it was fantastic," Hassen said in his letter.

"The Air India flight cabin crew was extremely courteous and efficient and kept our delegation comfortable during the flight to New Delhi and Narita, Japan," he added.

The President flew to Delhi on March 10 in AI 282 and from Delhi to Narita on March 11 in AI 306.

The appreciation from a head of state comes at a time when the ailing disinvestment-bound airline is seeking to improve its passenger-friendly image.

To check passenger-related complaints, senior officials of the airline are carrying out visits to the airports to assess the problems faced by passengers and correct anomalies.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A high alert was sounded here after movement of suspected militants was detected along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, a senior police officer said today.

The development comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state on May 19.

According to the officials, the security forces will continue to conduct 'cordon and search operation' for the next three to four days.

"BSF troops saw a movement of (five) suspicious persons little away from the border fence. Based on that, a high alert was sounded and searches are being conducted," Kathua Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sridhar Patel told PTI.

All the troops have been alerted and the search operation will go on for the next three to four days, he said, adding additional check points have been setup and highway has been monitored.

The Army is conducting aerial surveillance through helicopters and so far nothing has been found, the officer said.

The security installations along the highways in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts have been put on alert.

The fencing is intact and there is no breach in the border fencing, the SSP said.

Movement of suspected militants carrying bags was detected in Kathua district's Tarnah Allah area, which is close to the I-B, the officer said.

They are believed to be part of the group that has infiltrated from Pakistan into this side in Tarnah Allah between the Londi and Bobbiyan Border Out Posts (BoPs), according to reports.

IGP Jammu S D Singh Jamwal said that an alert has been sounded in the area since 12 am after suspicious movement.

According to a senior BSF official, suspicious movement of at least four to five people, suspected to be terrorists, was noticed along a stream between Londi and Bobbiyan in Tarnah Allah area of Hira Nagar sector shortly after midnight last night.

We are not sure whether they have managed to cross over to this side or returned back. They were noticed by the alert personnel and immediately a search operation was launched, the BSF officer said.

The officials said security installations along the Jammu-Pathankot highway especially in Kathua and Samba have been put on high alert while check posts have also been set up at various places as a precautionary measure.

The local residents have also been alerted and asked to report any suspicious movement to the nearest security installation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Telangana BJP president K Laxman today met the party's national president Amit Shah in Delhi today and discussed preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections in the state.

Legislative Assembly polls in Telangana would be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Laxman submitted a report to Shah on the programmes, especially the 'Dalit Adalats', organised by the state unit, BJP sources said.

Shah appreciated the efforts, particularly the Dalit outreach programmes in rural areas, they said.

Laxman discussed strengthening the party in the state and the party's national leadership would draw up a strategy for the BJP to come to power in Telangana as the crucial Karnataka elections got over now, thesources said.

BJP's Lok Sabha 'cluster incharges' party general secretary Ram Madhav, Bihar Health minister Mangal Pandey and Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar-- would tour the state as part of efforts to strengthen the party from polling booth level to the Lok Sabha constituency level, they said.

BJP would organise special programmes on the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing four years in office on May 26.

Laxman also met Railway minister Piyush Goyal and submitted a memorandum urging him to take steps for completion of pending railway project works in the state, a BJP release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Palestinians followed through with their vow to protest massively along the Gaza border today with tens of thousands demonstrating and 37 killed by Israeli fire as clashes erupted over the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The death toll made it the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war.

The 37, including a 14-year-old, were shot dead by Israeli forces as clashes broke out at five points along the Gaza border hours before the opening of the embassy.

More than 900 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, the health ministry in Gaza said, with the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate saying eight journalists were among them.

The Israeli army said that more than 35,000 people were involved in the protests and clashes.

It accused Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of leading a "terrorist operation under the cover of masses of people".

The Palestinian Authority government based in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, accused Israel of carrying out a "terrible massacre".

Palestinians threw stones, rolled burning tyres towards the border and tried to approach the fence to damage it and potentially break through, with Israeli snipers firing from the other side.

Bilal Fasayfes, 31, was getting on a free bus to the border with his wife and two children in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

"If half the people die we won't care," he said. "We will keep going so the other half can live with dignity."



Israeli warplanes also struck a Hamas base close to the border, the army said, saying forces had come under fire.

The army also said it killed three Palestinians seeking to plant an explosive device. Hamas leaders had backed attempts to break through the border fence during the protest.

The protests were against the transfer of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

Demonstrators are also calling for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation to be allowed to return to their homes now inside Israel.

Palestinians have been infuriated by US President Donald Trump's December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital as they consider the eastern part of the city their capital.

More than 91 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests and clashes began along the Gaza border on March 30.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence In Khan Yunis, groups of masked young men, some carrying wooden bats, walked between shops forcing them to close to respect a general strike.

Muataz al-Najjar, 18, who was wounded four times in the last seven weeks, once from a bullet and the others from gas cannisters, said he hoped to break through the fence.

"We will return and the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv will be prevented." East of Gaza City, Umm Saab Habib, 60, said she was taking part "to tell Trump to remove the embassy from Jerusalem and we are returning to Jerusalem".

At Shifa Hospital, where doctors say they are running low on crucial supplies and being forced to discharge patients early to make space for the next wave, a large tent was erected in front of the emergency room.

Faris Abu Hajaras, 50, said his family was from Jaffa, now within Israel, but he had never been there. He is a builder but said Israel's blockade of Gaza meant there was no work.

"We will stay peaceful with our hands like this," he said, lifting them to the sky. "But death comes from God.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three senior Congress MLAs resigned from Punjab Vidhan Sabha committees today upset at being "ignored" in the state Cabinet expansion which took place last month.

Former minister Rakesh Pandey, MLA from Ludhiana (North), Randeep Singh Nabha, legislator from Amloh, and Amrik Singh Dhillon, MLA from Samrala, tendered their resignations from the panels as a mark of protest.

They submitted their resignations to Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh.

Pandey and Nabha were nominated as chairman and member of Committee on public undertakings respectively while Dhillon was appointed the chairman of the library committee on May 7.

We have tendered our resignations from the Vidhan Sabha committee to the Speaker here today, said six-time MLA Pandey.

"My seniority has been ignored when the cabinet expansion took place. I am a six-time MLA and have worked for the party," he said.

Pandey, a former printing and stationery minister, described his resignation as a mark of protest over the denial of a ministerial berth.

Dhillon, a four-time MLA, shared similar views.

"What will we do with the chairmanship (of Vidhan Sabha Committee)," he asked terming the denial of a ministerial berth as "injustice" to senior legislators.

Dhillon accused the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of not following what he had said. "The CM promised to consider seniority in giving ministerial berths. But one-time and two time MLAs have been chosen over us," he said.

We will continue to work as MLAs for the welfare of people, said Dhillon.

Nabha, a four-time MLA , said he was "hurt" over seniority being overlooked.

Protesting MLAs said they will reach out to the party high command to convey their concerns.

Last month's cabinet expansion had caused heartburn among several Congress MLAs.

Surjit Singh Dhiman MLA from Amargarh in Sangrur district, Nathu Ram, legislator from Balluana in Fazilka and MLA Sangat Singh Gilzian MLA from Urmur seat in Hoshiarpur had resigned from their party positions claiming Dalit and Backward classes had been ignored in the cabinet expansion.

The resentment within Punjab Congress unit over the cabinet expansion had even reached Delhi last month when Dalit leader and MLA Raj Kumar Verka expressed "anguish" over not giving representation to the Scheduled Caste community in the cabinet.

Nine Cabinet ministers of the Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab government had taken oath last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least four persons were killed and several others injured early today when thunderstorm lashed parts of the state, uprooting trees, electric poles and billboards.

According to the weather department, winds blowing at the speed of 60km per hour, accompanied by lightning and showers, swept across the state between 1am and 2am.

The State Disaster Management Department could not ascertain the number of people who sustained injuries in the storm, but pegged the toll at four.

Two casualties were reported from Saran district and one each from Patna and Darbhanga, the Principal Secretary of State Disaster Management Department, Pratyay Amrit, told PTI.

Amrit, who also holds the charge for power department, said electricity supply was disrupted in various parts of the state, especially in north Bihar, as the storm uprooted hundreds of trees, resulting in snapping of cables and collapse of poles.

"We have, however, restored power supply in all affected areas later in the day," he said.

Bihar Governor Satya Pal Mallik and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar issued separate statements expressing their grief over the loss of life and property and wished early recovery for the injured.

The CM also issued instructions for "expeditious payment of ex-gratia to the next of the kin of the deceased", an official release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami arrived tonight to offer prayers at the Lord Venkateswara shrine, near here.

After an overnight stay on the hills, Palaniswami, along with members of his family, would take part in the auspicious ritual 'Ashtadala Paada Padmaradhana' conducted to the main deity in the sanctum sanctorum, temple sources said.

Palaniswami had visited the shrine on October 3 last year, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Counselling for under-graduate courses in agriculture and science and technology offered by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) will go online from this academic year.

Of the 3,422 seats, being offered by TNAU, its 14 constituent colleges and 26 affiliated privates colleges across the State, 65 per cent will be filled through state quota, TNAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr K Ramasamy told reporters here today.

The rest of the seats would be filled by colleges from the list of students who apply online on the TNAU portal, he added.

The university had been receiving application online for the past four years, he said adding from this year counselling would go online.

This would be beneficial for students, as they would not need to come here from various parts of the state to participate in the counselling process, the vice-chancellor added.

The online application process will begin from May 18 and go on till June 17 and verification of documents for special reservation will be held from June 18 to 20.

Rank list will be published on June 22 and counselling for special reservation will be held on July 7, he said adding counselling will be in two phases, Ramasamy said.

The first phase of counselling will be held from July 9 to 13 and the second from July 23 to 27, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): The Idol Wing police today arrested two persons in connection with the alleged conspiracy to replace the main idol at the famous hill shrine of Lord Muruga here.

Former assistant commissioner of Sri Dhandayuthapaniswamy temple Pugazhendi and jewel assessor Devendiaran were arrested in connection with the alleged Panchaloka Murugan idol scam for which 200 kg of gold was collected as donation, police said.

The two were held after their involvement in the scandal came to light during interrogation.

A team of professors from the Metallurgy department of IIT-Madras inspected the idol of Lord Muruga at the temple, some 120km from Madurai, for the second day today along with the other idols in the shrine's treasury.

The scam was reported in 2004 when the idol to replace the 'Navapashana' idol (made of a mixture of nine rare herbs) of Lord Muruga was made after collecting gold from devotees.

It was claimed that 200 kg of gold was collected but only a small quantity was used, leading to complaints from various quarters.

Earlier, sculptor M Muthiah Sthapathi and former Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department Joint Commissioner K K Raja were arrested in connection with the idol scam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two undertrials, both brothers, have gone missing from Ludhiana Central Jail since last evening, police said.

They have been identified as Jasbir Singh and Harvinder Singh of Amloh in Fatehgarh Sahib district, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, Surinder Lamba said today.

The two were facing trial in separate criminal cases of theft and under the NDPS Act.

The officer said that during a routine head-count in the jail at 8 pm on Sunday evening, the officials found the two prisoners missing.

The jail authorities immediately informed the police.

Investigations are in progress, Lamba said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)France and Britain today said they were "determined" to save the Iranian nuclear deal, despite the United States pulling out last week.

Speaking during a visit to London, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also condemned as "intolerable" comments by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after a knife-attack in Paris on Saturday.

Kadyrov had said that France bore "full responsibility" for the attack, which French police said was carried out by Chechnya-born French national Khamzan Azimov. "We do not need lessons from a dictator who does not respect the... rule of law in his own country, and who also knows very well that there are thousands of Chechens fighting on the side of" Islamic State, Le Drian told AFP.

The attacker went on a stabbing spree in a busy district of central Paris on Saturday evening before police shot him dead, killing one person and seriously wounding four more. Following talks with British counterpart Boris Johnson, Le Drian also spoke about the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group (China, the US, France, Britain, Russia and Germany).

The agreement lifted international sanctions in exchange for Tehran promising to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors. "Our position is one of determination and unity, of will to keep this agreement alive," Le Drian said.

"The US leaving an international agreement does not mean that the international agreement is null and void," said the French politician, on the eve of a Brussels meeting between the Iranian, French, British and German foreign ministers.

"We remain in the agreement and we want to keep it alive, as long as Iran respects it", he added, describing the agreement as "win-win". "Our position is... united with the German position," continued the minister. British counterpart Johnson said the "UK and France are determined to conserve the essence of the Iran nuclear deal.

"Tomorrow in Brussels, we are going to have a conversation about what we can do to help UK firms and help European firms have confidence that they can still do business. "I'm not going to pretend to you now that it will be easy but we are determined to do that," he added, saying it was "vital that we continue to engage with the US".

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif on Monday in Moscow said he wanted "assurances" from the deal's signatories that they would continue to abide by its terms, especially on sanctions relief for Tehran.

He was in Moscow on Monday following talks in Beijing over the weekend.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Unfavourable wind direction delayed the Pokhran nuclear tests by over six hours on May 11, 1998, a senior Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist said today.

The decision to defer the tests for a few hours was taken considering the winds might carry the radiation to inhabited lands or Pakistan.

"The original plan was to detonate all the three devices at 9 am but unfavourable wind direction delayed the whole event.

"And according to the protocols of international conventions, the wind direction should not be towards other countries or inhabited areas. All waited for almost six hours for the wind direction to change," said Manjit Singh, who was part of the team that conducted the tests, at a DRDO event.

The scientist recalled how the team did not want to wait in the control room of the tests anticipating that it would collapse due to the tremors caused by the explosion.

After the Pokhran tests, India had declared it had crossed the nuclear threshhold.

Singh joined the DRDO's Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) as a junior scientist in December 1984.

He was given an award in 1998 by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Singh took charge as Director, TBRL, on July 29, 2011.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The toll in a dust storm that hit parts of Uttar Pradesh has risen to 39, officials said today.

Six people were killed in Kasganj, the worst affected district in the state, an Uttar Pradesh government official said.

"Thirty-nine people were killed and 50 others were injured in the dust storm that hit various parts of Uttar Pradesh on May 13-14," the official said.

Five people each were killed in Bareilly and Barabanki districts and three deaths each were reported from Bulandshahr and Lakhimpur Khiri districts.

Besides, two deaths each were reported from Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Pratapgarh districts, and one each from Muzaffarnagar, Etawah, Kannauj, Sambhal, Aligarh, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Badaun, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Mathura and Shamli districts.

Of the 50 injured people, 13 are from Sambhal. Five people were injured in Auraiya and as many as seven people in Rampur.

Officials said 117 houses were damaged and 13 animals died in the storm.

Nearly 80 houses were damaged in Lakhimpur Khiri, while 31 houses were damaged in Sambhal district.

On May 9, several parts of the state were hit by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured. Five people died in Etawah district, three each in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra, two in Firozabad and one each in Hathras and Kanpur Dehat.

Thunderstorms and lightning on May 2-3 had killed 134 people and injured over 400 in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Telangana, Utttarakhand and Punjab. UP was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US-backed fighters were advancing today against Islamic State group jihadists hiding out in a small sliver of desert in eastern Syria, the force and a monitor said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, has been bearing down on the small IS-held zone along the Euphrates River since May 1.

Today, SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel told AFP the forces were securing the village of Baghuz, captured after overnight clashes and the first to be seized since the operation began.

"It is now being cleared of anything left behind by Daesh, including mines, and we are looking for any IS members hiding in tunnels or other locations," Gabriel said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

"We will set up defensive positions so that we can completely surround Daesh along the Euphrates River," he said. Baghuz lies on the river's eastern bank, a few hundred metres from the Iraqi border.

Gabriel said the operation was carried out in coordination with Iraqi government forces and the US-led coalition.

The SDF has already driven IS out of large parts of northern and eastern Syria, including the onetime jihadist capital of Raqa, with help from the coalition's air strikes, weapons and special forces advisors.

At the beginning of May, the SDF announced it would pursue IS in its final desert holdout in east Syria between the Euphrates and the Iraqi border.

It has already cleared around 64 square kilometres since then, the coalition said on social media. The coalition published images of General Joseph Votel, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, shaking hands with SDF commanders.

"Coalition and US Generals meet our SDF partners to gain a better understanding of the fight against Daesh in the Middle Euphrates River Valley," it wrote.

After several months of relatively few air strikes in Syria, it ramped up its bombing raids at the beginning of this month to back the SDF's ground operations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, confirmed the SDF had captured Baghuz after fierce clashes overnight.

It said 18 IS fighters were also killed in coalition strikes and fighting in Al-Bahra, a village further north along the river. The monitor said IS still controlled three main villages in the area: Hajjin, Sousa, and Al-Shaafa.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US has lost its role as mediator in the Middle East by moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in London today.

"With its latest step, America has chosen to be a part of the problem, not a solution, and lost its mediator role in the Middle East peace process," Erdogan told the Chatham House international affairs think tank.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was "very, very unfortunate," he said, warning it would "increase tensions and ignite an even greater fire between communities".

His remarks came as violent clashes erupted along Gaza's border ahead of the controversial embassy opening, leaving 37 Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded in the conflict's bloodiest day in years.

Erdogan urged the international community to "take swift action to put an end to Israel's increasing aggression," denouncing the embassy move as violating international law and UN resolutions.

Jerusalem is one of the most thorny issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming it as their capital.

Most of the international community does not formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and almost all embassies are located in Tel Aviv.

"The establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is the only way for lasting peace and stability," the Turkish leader said.

By the time the ceremony to inaugurate the embassy began, the clashes had been raging for more than five hours.

Erdogan was also deeply critical of US President Donald Trump's decision this month to withdraw Washington from the Iran nuclear deal.

"The nuclear deal is a significant development which should be preserved," Erdogan said, adding that political dialogue with Iran was "beneficial" to the international community.

Turning to Turkey's decades-long efforts to join the European Union, Erdogan said it remained a strategic goal for Ankara but he condemned the "politicisation" of the process.

Erdogan began a three-day visit to Britain on Sunday, with London rolling out the red carpet as it seeks to bolster future trade ties after leaving the European Union next year.

He will meet Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday -- an audience that has proved relatively uncontroversial compared to the prospect of her meeting Trump.

As he spoke, a group of Kurdish activists protested outside, with further demonstrations expected near Downing Street on Tuesday by media rights group, Reporters Without Borders.

Erdogan's visit comes just weeks before Turkey holds early parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24.

Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey's political scene for the past 15 years, is seeking to reinforce his authority as Turkey moves to a new presidential system of government with expanded powers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US today opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump that has infuriated the Palestinians, who clashed with Israeli soldiers who shot dead at least 37 of them in Gaza, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

Trump announced the decision to move the embassy in December, when he formally recognised the city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the senstitive issue.

Trump, in an early morning tweet, hailed the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as "a great day for Israel."



Trump made no reference to the violence in an early morning tweet but said, "A great day for Israel!"



A high-level American delegation that includes Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt are attending the embassy opening ceremony.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also present.

The Embassy move is contentious for Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital, and for many in the Arab world, as it is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam. The city is also home to deeply holy sites for Jews and Christians.

The issue has been so thorny that international negotiators had left the question of Jerusalem to the final stages of any peace deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US today opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump, amid a bloodbath right on the border with Gaza where Israeli soldiers shot dead at least 41 Palestinians in clashes, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue.

"Today, we officially opened the United States embassy in Jerusalem. Congratulations. It's been a long time coming," President Trump said in a pre-recorded video at the US embassy opening here.

"Israel is a sovereign nation, with the right like any other sovereign nation, to designate its capital," he said.

The American leader said the US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians.

He said that his country supports status quo at the Temple Mount, a flashpoint of Israel-Palestinian conflict that houses the Western Wall (holiest site for the Jews) and the al-Aqsa mosque - known as Haram al-Sharif.

"This city and entire nation is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people," Trump emphasised.

Later, the US President tweeted, "Big day for Israel. Congratulations!"



The inauguration ceremony started with the singing of the American anthem and the presentation of colours by US Marines.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman noted that Washington, which became the first country to recognise the State of Israel, has now taken "a step awaited, voted upon, and litigated and prayed for for all these years".

"Again the United States leads the way," in relocating the embassy, he said.

The move is the result of the "vision, the courage, and the moral clarity" of President Trump, to whom we own an "enormous and eternal debt of gratitude," the US envoy stressed.

"We have shown the world once again that the US can be trusted," said Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the President and Trump's son-in-law.

He also hailed Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal, saying the President announced his intention to exit the "dangerous, flawed and one-sided Iran deal."



Speaking at the opening ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Trump for keeping his promise. "Thank you, President Trump, for having the courage to keep your promise," he said.

"Thank you, President Trump for making the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever," he said.

"You can only build peace on truth. And the truth is that Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he asserted.

A high-level American delegation that includes Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Kushner, senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt attended the embassy opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, Palestinians, who protested massively along the Gaza border clashed with Israeli forces, leading to the death of at least 41 of them.

Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that of the 41 killed today, at least six were below the age of 18, including one female. And, of the nearly 2,000 wounded, at least 200 were below the age of 18 and 11 were journalists.

The Palestinian protestors burned tyres and threw stones at the soldiers, trying to approach the fence.

The Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and headquartered in the West Bank town of Ramallah accused Israel of committing a "terrible massacre" as the death toll soared.

Seeking international intervention, Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud said that it was an urgent requirement given "the terrible massacre in Gaza committed by the forces of the Israeli occupation against our heroic people".

The death toll made it the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a statement accusing Hamas, which controls Gaza, of "leading a terrorist operation" and inciting protesters who had amassed by the border fence with Israel to conduct what Israel described as terror attacks.

The IDF estimated that around 35,000 people -- who it describes as "violent rioters" -- had assembled in 12 different locations along the border fence between Gaza and Israel and thousands more were gathered in a tent city about a kilometer from the border.

The military said the protesters threw Molotov cocktails, burned tyres, and stones at Israeli soldiers positioned along the fence.

The State Department noted that the opening of the new embassy will take place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of the State of Israel, the day of its founding and a day that Palestinians refer to as "the Catastrophe," as hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

The Embassy move is contentious for Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital, and for many in the Arab world, as it is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam. The city is also home to deeply holy sites for Jews and Christians.

The issue has been so thorny that international negotiators had left the question of Jerusalem to the final stages of any peace deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States continues to remain the top international destination for Indian students who make up for 17 per cent of all international students there, according to the US India Foundation (USIEF).

"United States remains the top international destination for Indian students, hosting over 186,000, twice as many as a decade ago. Indians make up 17 per cent of all international students in the US today," a statement by the USIEF said.

Ambassador Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State, visited the USIEF over the weekend to underline the importance the US government places on promoting educational exchanges between the world's two largest democracies.

The meeting came at the start of Ambassador Galt's week-long visit to India and Bhutan," the statement added.

Galt also met with Fulbright Program students, including Americans studying in India as well as Indian alumni of US colleges and universities. The Indian graduates shared their experiences studying abroad and discussed how they benefitted from the US

"EducationUSA advisers reported to the Ambassador that, contrary to some reports, the appetite for studying in the US remains high among Indian students.

"Prospective applicants report that they are most attracted by high-quality of education, the international value placed on US degrees, the opportunity to form a lifelong connection with the country," the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Veteran journalist from Chhattisgarh, Govind Lal Vora, died at a hospital in New Delhi, his family today said.

He was 86 and is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.

Vora was the younger brother of Congress Rajya Sabha MP and AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and uncle of Congress MLA from Durg constituency Arun Vora.

Family members said that Vora died last nightat Fortis hospital in New Delhi where he was admitted recently after suffering from pneumonia and breathing-related problems.

His final rites was performed here at Marwadi crematorium this evening, they said.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal, AICC general secretary and Chhattisgarh-in-charge PL Punia, state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel, senior BJP and Congress leaders, journalists and officials were present there.

Vora had a long association with journalism of about six decades and was the proprietor-editor of the Hindi daily "Amrit Sandesh" for the last 34 years.

Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon and Chief Minister Raman Singh today expressed grief at Voras death.

In his condolence message, Tandon said that Vora had made an invaluable contribution to journalism.

His demise is an irreparable loss to journalism in the state, the Governor said.

Chief Minister Singh said that, in Vora's death, a golden era in Chhattisgarh journalism had come to an end.

Vora was a simple man and was one of the finest and brightest journalists in the entire state, CM added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Violence was reported from various parts of West Bengal, as the polling for the single phase panchayat elections is underway today.

Within less than two hours after the polling began, the State Election Commission has received complains of violence from at least four districts from different parts the state and has asked the police to take action, SEC officials said.

The SEC is conducting the panchayat election.

Violence broke out in North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Coochbehar and South 24 Parganas districts.

In North 24 Parganas, the BJP accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of letting loose a reign of terror in several parts of the district, especially in Amdanga area.

A few people were injured when clashes broke out between two groups, SEC sources said.

Senior minister Jyotipriyo Mullick denied the involvement of the TMC in the incident and accused BJP of terrorising the voters.

In Dinhata area of Coochbehar district in North Bengal, a few voters were injured after clashes broke out between two groups outside a polling station, the sources said. The voters later on lodged a police complaint.

Violence was reported in Burdwan districts too. The opposition CPI(M) and BJP had accused the TMC of terrorising voters and hurling bombs outside polling stations. The TMC has termed the allegations as baseless.

After a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the Sec, the TMC and the opposition parties, the three-tier panchayat polls in is being held in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Opposition parties in West Bengal slammed the State Election Commission for "failing" to conduct the rural polls in a free and fair manner and accused the ruling TMC of letting loose a reign of terror which lead to the killing of at least 12 people during the polling today.

The Trinamool Congress has termed the allegations "baseless and concocted".

Union Minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo tweeted, "It is for the world to see how TMC lets WB's Maa Maati Manush suffer in utter chaos. Bengal gets wounded and sheds blood every time TMC goons brutally attack the state's democracy and peace. Dreadful visuals of the Panchayat Polls prove just that."



State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, who along with a party delegation met Governor K N Tripathi, claimed that more than 20 people have died in violence in the rural polls.

"Democracy has ceased to exist in West Bengal. The situation is such that the state is inching towards President's Rule. We will inform the central government about the ground reality in the state," he said.

The Left Front which held a three-hour demonstration outside the SEC office here protesting the violence, said the election body had failed to provide security to the people.

Widespread violence during the panchayat polls in West Bengal today left at least 12 people dead and 43 injured, as 73 per cent of the electorate turned out to cast their vote.

"This kind of violence is unprecedented. The SEC is just a puppet in the hands of the TMC-led state government. State Election commissioner A K Singh even refused to meet us," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said.

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, "Democracy has been murdered by TMC in West Bengal."



However, the ruling TMC dismissed the allegations as "baseless and concocted", and said the polls have been peaceful except for a few isolated incidents.

"There have been one or two isolated incidents. The administration has taken steps in all the cases. We have seen elections during the Left Front rule when we used to witness bloodbath and death." TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.

He lauded the SEC and the state administration for conducting a peaceful polling and accused the BJP and the CPI(M) of trying to foment trouble in various parts of the state during the polling process.

"Every death is unfortunate. But If you go by statistics, the number of deaths this time is much less than that last few (panchayat) elections," Chatterjee said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Wheat procurement has risen by 16 per cent to 31.87 million tonnes so far in this marketing year and is all set to cross the government's target of 32 MT, according to official data.

State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies had procured 27.57 MT in the same period of the 2017-18 marketing year (April-March).

Total wheat procurement stood at 30.82 MT in 2017-18 and government had fixed higher target in view of record output.

"There is increase in wheat purchase because more procurement centres were set up this year. As a result, more and more farmers are approaching the centres to sell their produce," a senior FCI official told PTI.

As many as 18,326 centres have been established for wheat procurement this year, as against 17,304 centres last year, he said, adding that wheat procurement will surpass the target.

As per the data, wheat buying in Punjab has increased to 12.48 MT so far in the 2018-19, from 11.55 MT in the year-ago period.

Similarly, wheat buying in Haryana has gone up to 8.71 MT from 7.36 MT, while in Uttar Pradesh it has increased to 3.03 MT from 1.6 MT in the said period.

Wheat purchase in Madhya Pradesh has increased marginally to 6.24 MT so far this year as against 6.01 MT in the same period last year.

According to the FCI official, the procurement operation in Haryana is almost complete and it will get over in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh by month-end. In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the procurement will take place till June 15, he added.

Although wheat marketing year runs from April-March, the bulk of procurement is done in first three months. FCI and state agencies undertake purchase at the minimum support price.

As per the second estimate, wheat output is likely to decline by 1.42 per cent to 97.11 million tonnes in the 2017-18 crop year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Widespread violence during the panchayat polls in West Bengal today left at least 12 people dead and 43 injured, as 73 per cent of the electorate turned up to cast their vote.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma told reporters that there were reports of 12 deaths but only six of them have been confirmed to be poll-related. "We are looking into the cause of six other deaths," he said.

Notwithstanding the elaborate security arrangements in which 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and other states were deployed, violence broke out in North and South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts as the polling progressed.

State Election Commission (SEC) sources said 73 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm, but many more voters were still in queue.

Polling booths were mainly targeted during the violence, following which clashes broke out between the ruling Trinamool Congress supporters and opposition party workers in several areas. Crude bombs were hurled near several polling stations.

However, DGP Surajit Kar Purakayastha said the number of deaths this time was less compared to the previous panchayat election, when 25 people died. He said three policemen were injured and 70 people were arrested in connection with the violence.

ADG Sharma said TMC activist Arif Ali Gazi died in poll-related violence in South 24 Parganas. Two other TMC workers died in Nadia, he said.

He said two CPI(M) workers died in Nandigram in East Midnapore district, while a Jharkhand Disom Party worker died in Kushmundi of South Dinajpur.

Opposition parties have accused the TMC of "unleashing a reign of terror and destroying democracy".

"First they didn't allow people to file nominations. Second after filing nominations, TMC started threatening the candidates to withdraw. The people who didn't withdraw were attacked. This is nothing but a complete destruction of democratic process," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

CPI leader D Raja said: "It was a farce of an election and the Mamata Banerjee government should have taken steps to save democracy in West Bengal."



TMC downplayed the violence, saying it was far less compared to the Left Front rule.

"To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead. Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times. Yes, few dozen incidents. Say, 40 out of 58,000 booths. What's %age? (sic)", TMC leader Derek O'Brien said on Twitter.

Earlier today, the state police and the SEC gave a break-up of the incidents of violence and about the people who died.

In East Midnapore, two persons were killed in Nandigram block-2 when bike-borne miscreants threw bombs on voters waiting in queue outside a booth, SP S N Kumar said.

In another incident in Nandigram, 15 people were injured in a clash outside a booth. One person was hit on the head with a knife while another lost his finger, police said.

An SEC official said that a man was shot dead near a polling booth in Sujapur village in Murshidabad. Local BJP unit leader Subhas Modal claimed the victim was a party worker.

In South Dinajpur, a man was killed and four others were injured after a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, he said.

One person was killed in clashes between two groups outside a polling booth in Nakashipara area in Nadia district, while another death was reported from Shantipur area, he said.

The SEC official said bombs were hurled outside a polling station in Amdanga area of North 24 Paragans in which a man, said to be a CPI(M) supporter, died and another injured.

At Kultali in South 24 Parganas, one person was killed when a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, he said.

In Cooch Behar district, North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh allegedly slapped a person outside a polling booth, the official said, adding that the SEC has received a complaint and asked authorities to take action.

Television channels showed Ghosh slapping the person. He, however, claimed that he did not do it.

In Dinhata area of the district, at least 15 people, including voters, were injured after clashes broke out between two rival groups outside a polling station, police said.

In North Dinajpur, three crude bombs were found near a polling booth at Galaisura, police said. Of the three bombs, two were found on railway tracks, RPF sources said.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were seen threatening voters outside some of the booths. Television footage from Basanti block of South 24 Parganas showed masked gunmen outside polling stations.

In Bhangar, which was rocked by pre-poll violence and saw the arrest of a TMC leader, police resorted to batoncharge and fired teargas shells to disperse people following clashes, the SEC official said.

In Keshpur area in West Midnapore, police resorted to lathicharge and chased people allegedly threatening voters.

In Malda, the office-in-charge of Ratua police station Debabrata Chakraborty was injured in stone pelting when he went to remove a blockade on a state highway, S P Arnab Ghosh said. Chakraborty has been admitted to a hospital, he said.

The panchayat poll is being held after a protracted legal battle in the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the opposition parties.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after Uttar Pradesh BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey asked leaders of allies to exercise "restraint" in their language, SBSP leader and senior minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said today that he would continue to raise his voice for the welfare of backward classes and Dalits while being in the government.

"We will continue to fight for the rights of Dalits and backward classes while being in the government...we will continue to tell the government about it," Rajbhar, who heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), told PTI.

He, however, stressed that there would not be any parting of ways with the BJP.

"It just shows the lack of understanding of the person who is giving such a statement...who has stopped him from taking action," Rajbhar said when asked to comment on Pandey's advice to NDA constituents to practise "restraint" in their language.

"We request the minister to fulfil his duties and practise restraint in his language...the right decision will be taken at the right time," Pandey had said when asked to comment on Rajbhar's continued outbursts against the Yogi Adityanath government.

"Is it a crime to fight for the backward classes and most backward classes who have been deprived of their rights under different schemes...even if it is so I will continue to do it," he reiterated.

"It is the aim of our party to ensure good education to the children of the poor," he said.

Rajbhar had met BJP chief Amit Shah before the Rajya Sabha election and had extended support to the ruling party nominees only after that.

Asked if the issues raised by him had been resolved, he said it could be said only when a solution to them had been found.

To a question on what would be his future course of action, he ruled out any parting of ways with the BJP. "We will be with the BJP till 2024..it is like a fight among brothers," he stressed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Odisha Director General of Police RP Sharma today said anti-Naxal operation will be further intensified in the state.

Elated over the success of the personnel of Odisha Police who eliminated at least seven Left Wing Extremists in Bolangir and Kandhamal districts in the past two days, Sharma said the state would keep the momentum and try to flush out the rebels creating trouble in certain pockets of Odisha.

All the seven Maoists were killed based on intelligence inputs and the state police chief said that going forward, the police will focus more on intelligence based anti-Maoist operations.

He said the state will also coordinate more closely with other states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Maoists continue to pose big challange to the police in Malkangiri, Koraput, Kandhamal Nuapada and Bolangir districts and special operations would be launched in certain areas with specific plans, Sharma said.

He said the Odisha Police has already prepared another special plan for the cut-off area in Malkangiri district which was considered as a den of rebels.

On the recent oprations, the DGP said both were meticulously planned as no casualties were reported from security forces side.

The recovery of several arms including AK-47, Insas, and SLR rifle indicated that the opposition is heavily armed, sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if his government would take action to ensure that Pakistan was declared a "terrorist state" by the international community, following former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif's admission on the 26/11 terror attacks.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who goes uninvited to have 'daawat' at the house of the same Nawaz Sharif, needs to answer today that in light of this categorical admission by the former Pakistani prime minister, will this government take action to ensure that Pakistan is declared a terrorist state by the world community," Congress's communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala told reporters here.

He added that this would lead to imposition of sanctions -- both civil, military and economic -- on Pakistan.

Surjewala said Sharif, whose party PML(N) continued to rule Pakistan, had made a glaring and shocking admission that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack was guided, perpetrated and conspired in Pakistan and had the active protection of both State and non-State actors.

He added that this was categorically stated before the world community by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA government, which had led to sanctions against Pakistan.

"Will Prime Minister Modi show the courage of conviction and the 56-inch chest to ensure that action is taken against the perpetrators of 26/11, who are neither being adequately tried nor punished in Pakistan?" Surjewala asked.

The Congress leader said the trial of the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack should either be held under the guidance of international agencies or they should be handed over to India, so that they faced the trial here like Ajmal Kasab, one of the 26/11 attackers who was captured alive by the police and executed after a court found him guilty.

"The perpetrators of these attacks, who are flourishing in Pakistan, instead of being tried and punished, can also be similarly punished by the Indian laws," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the poster boy of Mumbai's independent cinema, is in Cannes this year with Nandita Das' Un certain regard entry "Manto", the actor's sixth film in the world's premier film festival in a span of seven years.

No Bollywood actor has ever had as many films across various sections of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, two films featuring Siddiqui in pivotal roles Ashim Ahluwalia's "Miss Lovely" (Un Certain Regard) and Anurag Kashyap's "Gangs of Wasseypur" 1 & 2 (Directors Fortnight) played on the Croisette.

The following year, Nawazuddin went one better, appearing in three of the films in the official selection Amit Kumar's "Monsoon Shootout" (Out of Competition), "Bombay Talkies" (Special Screening), a portmanteau film directed by Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap, and Ritesh Batra's "The Lunchbox" (Critics Week).

"Manto", a biopic about a prolific Urdu short story writer who chronicled the horrors of Partition in stark, scalding ways, is the first film in which Siddiqui plays a real-life icon.

"In essaying this role, I had to be totally honest not as an actor but as a human being," the actor said in an interview following the premiere of "Manto" here on Sunday.

Right from the outset, Nawazuddin said, Nandita and he had decided that "everything about the portrayal of Manto would have to be totally truthful." He added: "Of course, I had do internalize the man completely, then achieve the physical similarities and get the dialogue delivery right, but this performance had to go beyond the actor's craft."



"I loved the process. It was absolutely fascinating," Nawazuddin said. "I was worried initially whether I would be able to achieve what I needed to. So I threw myself unconditonally into the role during the three months that we shot the film. My job ended there. Now it is for the audience to respond. That is not in my control."



Ironically, Bollywood's big-screen "Manto" will be seen next impersonating the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, a figure on the opposite end the ideological spectrum. "I will play Thackeray with the same honesty with which I have sought to play Manto," said Nawazuddin.

"There is a lot that an actor can do with the character of Thackeray," says Nawazuddin. "He was an artist, a cartoonist, who gave up his calling to lead the Marathi manoos like no personality has ever had in any state."



The Thackeray movie, scheduled for release in early 2019, is produced by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Byron KayeSYDNEY (Reuters) - Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management made a $3.3 billion approach for Australian hospital group Healthscope, trumping a local buyout proposal and sending shares of the target up to a two-year high on Monday.The approach, disclosed by Healthscope in a statement, sets the scene for a takeover battle for the No. 2 Australian private hospital operator which has seen its shares slide due to high debt and a shift back to public health services after a scandal in the private sector.New Australian private equity player BGH Capital, led by former ...By Nigam Prusty, Promit Mukherjee and Rajendra JadhavNEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday charged the former head of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and 10 other officials at the state-run lender in the country's largest-ever bank fraud case, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The CBI accused former PNB boss Usha Ananthasubramanian, currently the chief executive of Allahabad Bank, in the first batch of formal charges to be filed in the case, the two CBI sources said.It also named PNB executive directors K.V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv ...By Arjun Panchadar(Reuters) - NXP Semiconductors NV's shares jumped as much as 11.7 percent on Monday after a report that China has resumed review of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc's proposed $44 billion buyout of the Dutch semiconductor company.China's commerce ministry has been asked to speed up the review of the deal and Qualcomm's proposed remedies to protect local companies, Bloomberg reported https://bloom.bg/2KWlf2q, citing people familiar with the matter.The report said local firms are concerned that the deal would extend Qualcomm's patent licensing business into areas such as mobile ...JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Tel Aviv and Singapore stock exchanges have partnered up to allow technology and healthcare companies to list and raise money on both markets simultaneously.The focus will be on Israeli technology and biomed companies seeking to penetrate Asian markets, the bourses said in a joint statement.This will include helping companies during the pre-listing stage, facilitating the listing process, and providing issuers with post-listing support by leveraging the exchanges' network and platforms.The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has been tapping into new markets, as well as making ...(Reuters) - Tesla Inc's main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators, Matthew Schwall, has left the electric carmaker for Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit Waymo, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar the decision. Schwall, the director of field performance engineering at Tesla, exited the company as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been investigating multiple crashes involving the electric vehicles, the newspaper reported.The former Tesla executive began at Waymo last Monday, where he joined the company's safety team led by former ...Since February 2018, Russian authorities have arrested several dozen top government officials on charges of large-scale financial fraud. Following a wave of elite arrests, the entire Dagestani government was dissolved on February 5. On the eve of the March presidential elections in Russia, the newly appointed head of the North Caucasus republic Vladimir Vasilyev, a native of Tatarstan, launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign. The purge enabled the Kremlin to remove unreliable clans from power, enabling President Putin to ensure that the number of votes secured in Dagestan was among the highest in the North Caucasus.

BACKGROUND: Systemic corruption, Islamist insurgency and high levels of organized crime have continuously affected the Autonomous Republic of Dagestan in Russias restive North Caucasus region over the past twenty years. Clan disputes, ethnic rivalries and the symbiosis of business with the mafia have been a daily reality under successive Moscow-appointed local governors. The appointment of a non-local ethnic Russian, Vasilyev, as Head of the republic in October 2017 changed the long-established tradition of power sharing among local clans. Described as Moscows man, Vasilyev launched a large-scale anti-corruption campaign earlier this year.

The Kremlin claims that the ongoing campaign is part of its nationwide effort to tackle corruption. However, the current activities are unprecedented for either of Russias regions. The wave of top-level arrests started with the detention of Makhachkala mayor Musa Musayev on January 24. Officials from the Prosecutor Generals Office, the Ministry of Interior and FSB (Federal Investigative Bureau) arrived in Dagestan on January 30, overseeing the arrest of chief architect Magomedrasul Gitinov on February 3. Three days later, authorities detained Prime Minister Abdusamad Hamidov and both of his deputies, as well as the former minister of Education and Science on charges of financial fraud and embezzlement of over 100 million rubles. They were also accused of stealing up to 386 million rubles as part of the relocation of residents from emergency housing, during which the arrested officials artificially increased the cost of accommodation in order to receive more cash from the federal budget.

The investigative group of the Prosecutor Generals Office found evidence of embezzlement of 143 million rubles through illegal sales of land and government property, and recorded numerous cases of illegal sales of government-owned real estate, unregistered by state officials. On February 7, personnel transferred from other regions of the Russian Federation replaced local road police officers. The official explanation for this move was an ongoing counter-terrorist operation across the republic, and routine staff rotation. The next day, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexandr Bastrykin, arrived in Makhachkala.

The investigation went well beyond corruption cases and embezzlement. The investigative group soon found evidence of large-scale environmental mismanagement, discovering over 440 illegal dumping sites in the republic, and the release of over 200,000 tons of polluted water into the Caspian Sea every year. Following the arrest of the acting PM and the dissolution of government, Tatarstans former Minister of Economy Artyom Zdunov was appointed Prime Minister. Social media activists collected thousands of signatures opposing the appointment, while protesters organized a street demonstration in Makhachkala. The protesters demanded the appointment of a local Dagestani official as Prime Minister.

As reported by the Ministry of Interior, the clean-up was decided soon after the meeting between Vasilyev and President Putin on December 4 in Moscow. According to Kommersant, the ongoing operation is a continuation of the 2015 trials against three regional officials, including the Head of Buynaks region, found guilty of embezzling 14.6 million rubles allocated from the republican budget for the construction of a kindergarten. Authorities later convicted the detained individuals of participation in a large embezzlement scheme, which eventually led the investigation towards Hamidov and his associates.

IMPLICATIONS: Dagestani mass media assume that the motive for targeting Hamidov is his belonging to the so-called Mekeginsky clan, which they describe as being primarily of Dargin ethnicity. Its name originates from Mekegi village, the birthplace of Hamidov and other prominent clan members. The clan controlled three major cities in Dagestan: the capital Makhachkala, Kaspiysk and Izberbash. Musayev, the arrested former mayor of Makhachkala, is also a known member of the Mekeginsky clan. Although the powerful clan remained formally loyal to the federal center, it has syphoned millions of rubles from the federal budget and patronized most of the republics business elites and criminal structures. Abdulatipov (of Avar ethnicity) relied on the Mekeginsky clan to balance the two major ethnic groups in the republic: Avars and Dargins.

Above all, suspicions exist that Hamidov has funded the terrorist organization known the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS). His nephew Murtuza Hamidov travelled to Iraq in 2016 to join ISIS. Murtuza later changed his mind and asked his uncle to pay ISIS approximately US$ 3 million in order to return to Dagestan. Upon his return, Murtuza was employed by the federal Ministry on North Caucasus Affairs. The former Head of Dagestan, who resigned from his position in October 2017, criticized the recent arrests in the republic, terming them a show off on the eve of the presidential elections.

Three months after Vasilyevs appointment, the reshuffles continue. On April 2, six deputy ministers were relieved of their responsibilities following the newly adopted decree on decreasing the number of high-ranking positions in the administration. In late March, Vasilyev shifted his tactic of hiring professionals from outside the republic and appointed three well-known experienced local politicians to head the ministries of Production (Sayhidpasha Umakhanov), Transportation and Energy (Shirukhan Gadjimuradov), and Construction (Malik Bagliyev). However, analysts have criticized these appointments, citing the newly appointed ministers lack of experience in the work of their respective ministries. Moreover, all three local ministers have less than impeccable reputations and are familiar to Dagestanis as political dinosaurs.

Vasilyevs tactics  initially welcomed by the Dagestani public  are becoming increasingly unpopular. As reported by Dagestans branch of Echo Moskvy, Vasilyevs efforts to appoint outsiders to high-ranking positions has resulted in a deep-seated indignation among Dagestans elites, who underscore that solving the republics various problems is only possible in collaboration with clans and community leaders. Local observers based at the Dignity political discussion club also noted that the local officials Vasilyev has dismissed only occasionally took part in corrupt practices, whereas many officials with a long history of bribery remain on their jobs. Vasilyevs unwillingness to consult and cooperate with community leaders, elders, mullahs and imams has exacerbated the discontent with the new government. While no prominent community leader has yet spoken out against the Head of the republic, many express their indignation in the local press or social media.

CONCLUSION: Among the North Caucasian republics, Dagestan has been the most difficult for Moscow to control. Not only the flourishing Islamist insurgency  with links to top Dagestani officials  but also high levels of organized crime, rampant embezzlement of federal funds and limited accountability to the Kremlin have been highly discomforting for Moscow. Although the Kremlin has obviously long been aware of the activities of Mekeginsky clan, it scheduled the purge to coincide with the start of the electoral campaign for the March 18 presidential elections. The expectation was that a successful anti-corruption crusade in the most volatile part of the Russian Federation would boost support for the incumbent president in the elections. Prior to the events in Dagestan, Putin could boast few achievements on the anti-corruption front, which opposition politician Alexey Navalny has highlighted as a key component of his campaign strategy.

In the March presidential elections, 90.7 percent of the votes cast in Dagestan supported President Putin  one of the highest results in the North Caucasus  suggesting that the Kremlins strategy has been effective. The weakness of the Russian economy, a slow recovery from the 2015-16 drop in oil prices, and ongoing Western sanctions no longer allow Moscow to turn a blind eye on the unruly Dagestani clans. While the Kremlin has no other options but to continue pumping federal subsidies into the North Caucasian republics, it seeks loyalty and accountability in return for the funding. Since all currently existing Dagestani clans are to various degrees associated with organized crime, corruption and militant Islam, Moscow has few options but to bring in officials from outside the region. Dismantling the clan system has long been an insurmountable challenge for Moscow. Its success will determine the effectiveness of Moscows rule over the largest and potentially most unstable republic of the North Caucasus.

AUTHORS BIO:

AUTHOR'S BIO: Huseyn Aliyev is a LKAS Research Fellow at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow. He specializes in armed conflicts, non-state armed groups, and informal practices. Huseyn is the author of When informal institutions change. Institutional reforms and informal practices in the former Soviet Union (University of Michigan Press, 2017). Huseyns most recent publications appeared in Third World Quarterly (2017), Terrorism and Political Violence (2017), Security Dialogue (2016), and International Security (2015).

Image source: By: By Peter Fitzgerald via Wikimedia Commons, accessed on 5.14. 2018CAMEROUN :: Cameroon: Four traffickers arrested in the Penka Michel and Nkong-Ni forestry and wildlife control posts.

Four people were arrested in the Santchou in the West Region for trafficking in pangolin scales, turtle shells, ivory and other elephant parts.

It took the combined efforts of the Santchou wildlife reserve, the Penka Michel and Nkong-Ni forestry and wildlife control posts in the Menoua Division and Gendarmerie research brigade in Dschang to mount a successful operation that saw the four who were just about to get business moving arrested.

The four who had been charged with illegal possession and commercialization of parts of protected wildlife species and the killing of these species are still behind bars. They had each arrived the scene on motorbikes and one of them, the lady, brought the ivory as they went in business negotiations. The products they were about to be trafficked were found in bags which were visibly placed in front of them. The operation was carried out with the technical assistance of a wildlife law enforcement support body, LAGA.

According to some members of the operation team who requested to speak on condition of anonymity, they each had a specific wildlife product. They had contacts right up to Douala where investigations into their illegal activity first started and the group was very professional in their dealings, according to the sources. One of them was always on the alert and when gendarmes and wildlife officials closed in on them, he starting running, attempting to escape but was immediately stopped in his tracks. He had been under investigations by the conservator of the Santchou wildlife sanctuary and knew he could be arrested anytime.

Prior investigations had found out that the products were hidden in their respective homes and a house search that followed immediately their arrest drew some crowd and the four were immediately taken to Dschang where the prosecurail process continued with the writing of the complaint reports.The first hearing of the case took place on May 11, 2018 at the Dschang Court of First Instance.

The operation was carried out close to the Santchou reserve and it is alleged that some of the wildlife may have been obtained from the reserve that has been stripped of almost all of its wildlife. The reserve that was once blossoming with elephants, buffaloes and many other wildlife species is just a shadow of what it used to be because the animals have been killed by poachers to supply the illegal market. This has emptied the reserve and the problem has been compounded by the activities of the neighbouring population who have encroached into the reserve. Farmland and houses have been erected in the protected area, jeopardizing the chances of its revival, although over the years, government has been saying it could be revived.Peter Henry Barlerin Archives

The US Ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Barlerin, has condemned calls by some Anglophone Activists for all Francophones living in the two English speaking regions to leave before the end of May. He however said only a small minority of Cameroonians abroad are doing so.

The US Ambassador was speaking at the Military Airbase in Yaounde recently while offering two planes from his government to Cameroon with the aim of fighting against Boko Haram.

During the his speech delivered in French at the start, he suddenly switched to English, hammering on the Anglophone crisis, With respect to tensions in Anglophone Regions, we have consistently called for an end to violence and urged all sides to initiate a broad-based dialogue, without pre-conditions. We Americans hold very close to our hearts the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech, he said.

Peter Barlerin said freedom of speech should not give room to hate speech which some Cameroonians are advocating, But we condemn hate speech and calls to violence such as that emanating from a very tiny minority of Cameroonian-born individuals living in the United States.

The fact is, whether they agree with the government here or not, and many of them do not, the vast majority of the Cameroonian Diaspora living in the United States  Anglophone or Francophone  are peaceful. They are incredibly constructive and proud members of society. And we value  I personally value  their contributions, he told the crowd.

His statement has not been diluted by the tiny minority he referred to. Many activists have also condemned his views, concluding that the US is an accomplice to the killing of Anglophones by military.

The calls were made by the Communication Secretary of Ambazonia interim government, Chris Anu and a Journalist based in the US, Eric Tataw. While the latter laid emphasis on the trial of Mancho Bibixy and six others, the former spoke on behalf of the government insisting that it was a firm dedcision taken.| BY Ricki Green |

Dentsu Aegis Network launched its annual volunteer initiative, One Day for Change, for the fifth consecutive year on Friday 11th May, with staff volunteering their time to support more than 40 different charity organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Last year, 6,646 Dentsu Aegis Network staff across APAC participated in One Day for Change giving over 33,000 hours of their time to local communities.

Says Simon Ryan, CEO ANZ of Dentsu Aegis Network: Im very proud of what we have achieved with One Day for Change this year, and beyond this, the time and energy that many of our people donate to the community on an ongoing basis. With upwards of 1,900 staff in Australia and New Zealand, we can collectively have a huge and positive impact by joining forces for good.

Staff at Dentsu Aegis Network in Australia and New Zealand have partnered with more than 40 charity organisations this year supporting a variety of causes, including Melbourne City Mission, The Big Issue, Foodbank, Youngcare, Indigenous Digital Excellence Council, The Smith Family St Kilda Mums, Fareshare, TWO Good and many more.

In Sydney, Carat, Amplifi and AMNET joined forces to fundraise for the Sydney Childrens Hospital with a Great Bake Off. Nationally, Posterscope took to the streets to raise money for the Starlight Foundation. In WA, all DAN staff spent the day at St Vincents, building beds and making up emergency packs for children displaced by domestic violence and homelessness.

In New Zealand, Dentsu Aegis Network will support long term partner the Graham Dingle Foundation, hosting a day of workshops for students in need. This follows Dentsu Aegis Network NZ CEO Rob Harvey being dropped 192m from Aucklands Sky Tower for the annual Drop Your Boss campaign last week.

Dentsu Aegis Network staff across ANZ have and will take part in many more initiatives as part of One Day For Change.| BY Ricki Green |

Prospective university students have been inspired to be All Kinds of Clever thanks to a La Trobe University activation, conceived, designed and built by the SDWM and AIRBAG teams, that enables them to pay with their own clever.

Launched at the VCE Careers Expo a week ago, Use your clever introduced three custom designed and built Clever Machines, each stocked with great prizes. All students had to do to receive them was show how clever they are.

The clever machines only accept clever, not cash, and through a series of bespoke games designed to test and measure different skills and attributes, players were able to win various prizes.

From emotional intelligence to teamwork, each unique game highlighted different kinds of clever valued by industry and future employers, that students will develop and use when they study at La Trobe. These types of skills develop well rounded graduates and are what sets La Trobe apart.

In addition to the clever prizes, players were rewarded with an insight into their strengths and aptitudes, with their clever scores shared in a follow up email.

The hands-on experience was created with the objective of demonstrating the kinds of clever important for University graduates that La Trobe develops.

Says Matt Boyd, director of market development, La Trobe University: This activation was a fun way of engaging with students and introducing them to the kinds of clever they will need in the workforce once they graduate University, in addition to their degree, and how La Trobe is teaching these skills to all students, ensuring they are ready for their careers.

The activation proved incredibly successful, with thousands of students taking part and enjoying the clever games.

SDWM creative Eddie Coghlan describes the experience as a tangible demonstration of La

Trobes All Kinds of Clever brand positioning.

Says Coghlan: Our challenge was to create an activation that didnt just promote All Kinds of Clever, but was clever in itself. And in an environment where students are bombarded with gimmicks and giveaways, creating an educational and intriguing experience really set the brand apart.

Says Steve Nicholson, creative technologist, AIRBAG: Weve loved creating this technology in a way that surprises and delights. La Trobe set us the ambitious task of not only engaging high school students at the expo, but also communicating an important brand message, whilst generating a new sales lead every 60 seconds. Its immensely satisfying to feel that we did all three.

Client: La Trobe University

Senior Director, Marketing Operations: Tim Skellern

Director, Market Development: Matt Boyd

Campaign Manager: Kendall White

Campaign Co-ordinator: Angela Lee

Production Company: AIRBAG

Managing Partner: Adrian Bosich

Executive Producer: Martin Box

Creative Technologist: Steven Nicholson

Producers: Johanna Rayner, Nick Venn

Developers: Brad Hammond, Stephen Burns

Creative Agency: SDWM

Art Director: Eddie Coghlan

Creative Director: James Orr

Creative Director: Elle Bullen

Design Director: Jake Turnbull| BY Ricki Green |

Leading comparison service comparethemarket.com.au launched its latest TVC nationwide to announce its dream Safari holiday competition via VCCP London.

The TVC  Safari  sees the meerkats back in their ancestral home selflessly test-driving the amazing Safari trip that is up for grabs for one lucky winner.

Narrowly avoiding an elephant trampling their picnic, an inquisitive lion hungry for its lunch, and getting lost in the desert plains, the loveable meerkats are back on our screens bringing their characteristic humour and fun.

Says Jenny Williams, CMO, comparethemarket.com.au: We are incredibly proud to launch our Safari campaign and are certain that the assets weve created will be loved throughout Australia. Having the three meerkats interacting with wild animals back in their ancestral homeland is a guaranteed way to delight and engage people.

Weve launched an exciting competition that showcases the breadth of comparethemarket.com.au, highlighting that consumers can save across a wide range of their household costs by using our services. We are a one-stop-shop for Australians looking to compare and save across insurances, utilities, fuel, hotels and personal finance products.

To be in with a chance of winning the dream Safari competition, simply complete a quote with comparethemarket.com.au on any product between 14 May and 30 June 2018. To increase your chances of winning the grand prize, then you should obtain quotes on any product type available through comparethemarket.com.au e.g. car insurance, energy, credit cards etc.

In addition to the dream Safari prize, there are 10 all-expenses-paid Sunshine Coast holidays up for grabs where the lucky winners will enjoy some one-on-one time with the local meerkats.

Client: Compare the Market

Agency: VCCP London

Production: Passion Pictures

CMO: Jennifer Williams

Brand & Campaign Manager: Hannah Rowe

Creative Director: Matt Lloyd

Account Director: Simon Mills-Houlihan

Copy Writer: Jade Sturman| BY Kim Shaw |

Last week in New York at The One Show McCann Australia chief creative officer Pat Baron officially joined The One Club for Creativitys International Board of Directors, the first time an Australian has been invited. At the airport on the way home Baron emailed CB a few notes on his experience.

There were many highlights and Australia performed well again, congratulations to everyone back home. Best of Show was McCann New Yorks Fearless Girl.

The highlight of the Creative Week, which included the Young Ones Education Festival and the Creative Summit, was the exclusive Executive Creative Summit. This was open to a limited number of top-level leaders (founders, CCOs and managing partners) such as Jerry Graf, Founder, Chief creative Officer, Barton F Graf; Glenn Cole, Vice Chairman, Chief Creative Officer, 72andSunny, Los Angeles; Margaret Johnson, Partner and CCO Goodby, Silverstein, & Partners; Nick Law, CCO of Publicis Groupe and President of Publicis Communications; Jose Molla, founder and Chief Creative Officer, The Community, Miami; and Nancy Vonk, Co-founder/Partner, Swim, Toronto to name just a few.

The One Club for Creativitys Executive Creative Summit brought together top-level leaders from around the globe to discuss the issues that affect their businesses, far beyond the scope of creativity, providing a rare opportunity to discuss in a confidential setting the future direction of the industry. We were from a mix of independent agencies to networks worldwide, including members of The One Club for Creativity Board of Directors.

There was no live streaming, no recordings, no press, no pitches, no tweets, snaps, grams or posts. Just an intimate and honest closed-door conversation amongst some of the most successful creative professionals in the industry.| BY Lynchy |

On Friday Facebook reinstated NGO Bahay Tuluyans video, Disgusting Stories, after taking it down earlier this week for (allegedly) violating community standards. The social media giants move was hailed as a declaration of support for the fight against child abuse.

Created for Global Sexual Abuse Awareness Month, the video was produced in partnership with TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno and Sociologist Dr. Elspeth McInness of University of South Australia to reflect the silent trauma that sexually abused children have to endure.

During the four days that the video was unavailable, international and local publications compared the videos ban with the very point that Bahay Tuluyan had sought to address. Before Facebooks landmark final decision, the call for reinstatement had already reached 141 million people from 16 countries.

Bahay Tuluyans mission to respond to abuse and exploitation of Filipino children continues. The organization encourages everyone to report suspected abuse to the proper authorities, and help put a stop to these crimes through donations or volunteering, which funds their programs and services aimed to prevent and respond to child abuse and and exploitation, and rescue the victims.| BY Lynchy |

Jaiyyanul Huq is the Executive Creative Director at Grey Group Vietnam and he explains that you have to do the old, to do the new.

Its that time of the year again. That time, where I have to put my thoughts into pages. Primarily, because its useless if they just stay as thoughts. Last time I wrote something  it was about how creatives were starting to care more about impacting the world around them  in a more meaningful way  by being closer to impacting the society that they belonged to  giving their ideas a cultural continuity that they know it deserved. A lot has changed since that article. For me and for the world around me. Some great and some well thats for a different day.

The biggest change for me was that I made a life changing shift. Both geographically and professionally. Last October, I had the pleasure of coming into a country that most people associate with Rambo, Hueys and Napalm. If you still havent guessed it, you need to re-calibrate your pop culture compass. Becoming a WTO member in 2007, Vietnam has seen an unprecedented growth in its economy. And with all that growth, came a million other opportunities for the population that seems like the most entrepreneurial I have ever come across. Its a different world out here.

My move to Vietnam has brought me deeper into my realizations of one simple fact  creativity is destined to triumph. Be it in the millions of entrepreneurs that give life to the streets of Ho Chi Minh city or in the billion other digital agencies that spring up around the world. In a world where people are becoming less emotional and more rational every day, creativity is the only thing that will re-connect, people with their emotions, brands with their consumers, and digital agencies with the reason to exist (and no, Facebook likes arent enough).

Grudges? No, not really. I dont hold any. Not against them or to the trend of being cool by association with them. I actually did want to become part of one when it was a fad. But like a thousand others around the globe, I realized that you dont have a radio agency, or a TV agency. Why should there be a digital agency? Isnt it just another medium?

Are creative agencies doing enough with the medium? Well, some are. In the Vietnam context of things, maybe not. Like in Bangladesh, here in Vietnam as well  Digital agencies are still like a zit on the advertising agency face  its there. Its not a part of your body, it seems ugly. Every advertising agency is thinking about it, but not talking about it. And most importantly, its a sign that great things are going to happen to you. Why? Because, it creates an inherent pressure to become your creative best. It pushes you over the creative tipping point to think of things that you never thought about. Ever!

Like the beautiful Cannes Prix winning print ads for Burger King. That makes more sense in the social-media age  even as a meme maybe. As Fran Luckin, CCO for Grey Africa, puts it in the Adweek article (Why Burger Kings Burning Stores Are the Perfect Print Ads for the Social Media Age, June 2019)  she briefed her jury members asking  What is that piece of work that evokes everything that is great about classic print, images that leap off the page, the distilling of a complicated message into one powerful moment  and yet has also clearly been created within our modern, hyperconnected age?| BY Lynchy |

The Singapore Media Awards (SMA), now in its fourteen year, has appointed Wavemaker to conceptualize, design and implement this years awards campaign, which theme is Be the Extraordinary (refer to Appendix below for highlights of this years SMA creatives).

The key message is for everyone to be extraordinary in their pursuit for success, pushing boundaries and lifting the reputation of the media industry in Singapore.

Being extraordinary is a choice; it does not matter if youre struggling financially, whether youre male or female, whether youre young or old. Its about taking full responsibility for your life and controlling the things that you can change. Taking that action to do the things others would not.

As a leading media, content and technology agency, Wavemaker is excited to support one of Singapores largest media events. The teams have truly enjoyed working on producing the creative assets for this signature event, and are looking forward to having an extraordinary night ahead, said Zachary Lim, Deputy Managing Director of Wavemaker Singapore.Notice for the Postmedia Network

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.Photo: Contributed

Gmail just got an extreme makeover, and theres more to come.

New look

Does your Gmail look a little different today?

The new version is rolling out to everyone eventually. It looks cleaner and bolder and includes some useful features. G-Suite users will see these changes first, but you can get the new design and some of the features now if you want to.

Open Gmail

Click on the Gear icon to expand Settings

Click on Try the new Gmail

The page will reload, and youll have the new Gmail.

If you hate the new Gmail:

Open Gmail

Click on the Gear icon to expand Settings

Click on Go back to Classic Gmail

New features that are available now

The Compose button is enormous and colourful. (If you only see a colourful plus sign, expand that column by clicking on the three bars at the top of the screen. You can toggle that column to hide or reveal your folders.)

Smart Reply, until now only available in the Gmail mobile app, made its way into the new version.

Gmail uses machine learning to determine how you might want to reply to a message and presents you with three choices. Or, you can ignore those choices. Wouldnt it be great if real life were like that?

Theres a Right Sidebar with links to Google Keep, Google Tasks, and Google Calendar. Ive been using the Calendar link to view my schedule, and completely by accident discovered that dragging an email into the Calendar pane schedules an event!

Now you can Snooze an email. Hover over the subject line of an email and look to the right.

Youll notice several icons over there, which means now you can deal with an email right there instead of having to select it and move to the top of the screen to get rid of it or archive it.

Theres a new Snooze icon there now, so if you want to get the email out of your In box but not lose track of it, Snooze it for an hour or a day, or a custom amount of time. Make it come back into your In box Someday.

Attachments can now be opened without first having to open an email. Be a little cautious with this! Its a very bad idea to open attachments without thinking.



New features that dont seem to be here yet

Even though I clicked on the Try button and got the new layout, not all the features showed up for me. According to Google, heres whats coming:

Use Confidential Mode to send self-destructing emails. That is, you can set an expiration date/time for the email to vanish. Youll also be able to restrict forwarding and printing an email message you send. (Surely there are ways around this? Like a screenshot?)

On mobile devices, Gmail will give us easier ways to Unsubscribe to lists and more granular control over Notifications, but I havent seen that yet, either.



Whats not to like?

I like the new Gmail, especially Snooze. And Im looking forward to getting the features I dont have yet. But I was disappointed that there wasnt any obvious way to switch between Gmail and Contacts in the same browser tab like you can in the old Gmail.

But, although not terribly obvious, the integration is even better. Click on Compose to open a new message, and then click on the To, bcc, or cc field.

Wow. You get a pop-up with all your contacts. Use the Search box there to find someone, sort by group, or make a new group. Awesome.

Have you tried then new Gmail? What do you think?Photo: RDOS EOC

UPDATE: 9:30 May 14

The Town of Princeton issued its own additional evacuation alerts inside town boundaries at 10:30 p.m. last night.

Over 450 properties are now on alert, in areas along waterways.

For a full list of properties, click here.

ORIGINAL: 7:40 p.m. May 13

The Regional District of South Okanagan-Similkameen has issued hundreds more evacuation alerts in trouble spots throughout the south in preparation for increased water flow due to high temperatures.

On Sunday evening, the RDOS updated their evacuation alert list to include many more properties in electoral areas H, B and G, as well as the Village of Keremeos.

Roughly 500 properties in the Similkameen River floodplain in Keremeos are now on alert.

In Area H, Princeton Rural, 112 properties are now on alert. Area B, Cawston, has 375 on alert, and Area G, Rural Keremeos/Hedley, has roughly 330.

A full list of properties on alert can be found here.Chelsea Powrie

Water levels have stabilized in Grand Forks for now, but the heat this weekend could bring a whole lot of snow melt rushing into town.

B.C.'s public safety minister, Mike Farnworth, visited the area and toured some of the hardest-hit sites Saturday and Sunday. Communications officer for the Regional DIstrict of Kootenay-Boundary said it was a welcome show of support as they brace for a second wave of flooding this week.

"We're gonna see the effects of [the heat] likely late Tuesday, early Wednesday," Frances Maika said.

The flooding in Grand Forks has completely overwhelmed many properties. As of Sunday evening, almost 1,500 properties were under evacuation orders and a further 167 on alert. Wendy Stewart is one of those under order to leave, and she's sorry to say the situation isn't new to her, having flooded last year as well.

"It's definitely worse than last year," Stewart said, adding that floodwaters from Kettle River last year burst the berm on her property last year. "We took all of our savings, all of the money from insurance claims last year, and put it back into the property, we rebuilt the berm."

As fate would have it, it wasn't enough.

"But water came so high this year, it was like Niagara Falls coming over the berm," Stewart said. She said many of her friends and neighbours are dealing with the same stresses, and knows several people whose homes have been, as she said, "completely destroyed."

Maika pointed out that the water levels this year have already surpassed a historically significant flood in 1948 by around 60 centimetres so far.

"No one's seen anything like this," Maika said. "It's the major event in anyone's living memory."

Maika said now the focus is on shoring up infrastructure while they have a break from the rising water, in preparation for what could be a very wet week. The RDKB is working in close conjunction with Grand Forks on repairs and mitigation strategies.Facebook Mitch Laframboise Sr.

Castanet reader Mitch Laframboise Sr. sent us this video he posted to his social media page, which shows the extent of the flooding in Osoyoos.

The video shows a pair of kayakers making their way through the campground at Haynes Point Provincial Park which is now mostly underwater and paddling towards the Osoyoos off leash dog park.

Half submerged signs and picnic tables can be seen in the area. The pair paddled through Haynes Park which in past years would be a much sought after camping ground for the upcoming May long weekend.

Residents and emergency crews are bracing for another surge of floodwaters, after surveying damage in some of the worst-hit parts of British Columbia during a reprieve over the weekend.

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary said about 3,000 residents remain under an evacuation order due to the ongoing threat of a second flood, with high forecast temperatures expected to melt snow at higher elevations.

Rivers are expected to rise by mid-week, reaching levels close to those experienced Thursday, the district said.

-with files from CP

Facebook Mitch Laframboise Sr.Flooding in much of the Southern Interior continues.

While some communities received a reprieve from the advancing waters over the weekend, experts are warning that a second wave could be on its way early this week.

In Grand Forks, one of the communities hardest hit by flooding, more than 1,600 homes, or more than 3,000 people, remain on either an evacuation order or alert.

Premier John Horgan calls the flooding a once-in-a-century event and vowed the province will support flood victims for the long-term.

In the short term, neighbours are helping neighbours, communities are trying to rally around its members and search and rescue teams are banding together to offer support.

Over the weekend, Vernon Search and Rescue Helicopter Winch Team were called to the Grand Forks area to help.

Jeremy Vandekerkhove runs Vernon Search and Rescue Helicopter Winch Rescue team.

The team was tasked to search three areas to see if there was anyone in immediate distress or in need of immediate intervention.

They also identified other areas with people in need of a swift water team boat rescue.

"Basically hundreds of homes underwater," Vandekerkhove says of the scope and scale of devastation. "There's a lot of people who have lost their homes out of this."

From the helicopter, Vandekerkhove and his team were able to view the devastation.

"It went on for kilometres," he says.

"Fast-moving water is rushing through yards; entire neighbourhoods are underwater.

Streets are flooded, and people are standing on their decks, the only dry ground available."

They saw homes pushed off their foundations, tractor-trailers tipped over and livestock stranded on small islands surrounded by rising water.



"We may be asked to go back down there again," says Vandekerkhove. "The nice thing is we have a very capable crew and an amazing aircraft that can take us there really quickly. So, if something happens, we can be back there very fast."

While VSAR helicopter winch team provides a valuable service in situations like the one unfolding in Grand Forks, Vandekerkhove says they played a minor role over the weekend and the credit should go to the crews on the ground.

"We played a really small part in this. The major people who are doing the work are all the firefighters, the local SAR groups, local citizens packing sandbags, Red Cross, Emergency Management BC and anybody else I missed. They are the ones doing most of the work in Grand Forks."

with files from Canadian PressPhoto: The Canadian Press

A man who caused a furor when he attended an event during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's state visit to India this year has been charged with uttering threats in Surrey.

Marvin Stern, a lawyer for Jaspal Atwal, says the charge of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm was laid against his client following an alleged argument on April 23.

Bail was granted and Stern says Atwal is scheduled to return to provincial court in Surrey on May 24 to set a date for a trial.

Stern says the complainant in the case is a broadcaster at a Punjabi radio station.

Stern says his client will plead not guilty and will "vehemently deny these events."

Atwal was convicted of trying to kill an Indian cabinet minister in 1986.

He told a news conference in March that he was one of many who got "caught up" in the Sikh separatism movement almost 40 years ago, but has since renounced terrorism.

Atwal was photographed with the prime minister's wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at an event in Mumbai during the state visit in February.

His invitation to a second event was rescinded after news of his presence broke.Photo: Contributed

The Transportation Safety Board has determined inadequate safety training contributed to the injury of a track worker at a rail yard in Delta.

The board says a Toronto Terminals Railway locomotive engineer and a conductor were shoving 66 empty transport containers onto a track at the Roberts Bank Yard in December 2016 when the lead container struck an employee.

It says in a release that an investigation found the conductor was driving a vehicle beside the first container while providing instructions to the engineer, who was at the opposite end of the moving containers.

At the same time, two workers employed by a track maintenance contractor were clearing snow from a switch on the track as the containers were approaching.

The board says the conductor saw the workers and activated a beacon on top to alert them to the oncoming containers and when that didn't get their attention he sounded a horn, which also didn't work.

It says the conductor instructed the locomotive engineer to stop the moving containers but that didn't happen before the leading container struck and seriously injured one of the track workers.

The board says the conductor's instructions to the locomotive engineer was not made in time to allow the containers to be stopped.

"The attentional focus required to monitor the (container's) progress while driving the vehicle, combined with the expectation that the track workers would clear the track likely contributed to the late call to stop the movement," the release says.

The investigation revealed that a lack of safety training meant neither of the track workers was monitoring the work site for oncoming trains as required.

"In addition, as the use of safety watch and the associated processes were not specifically audited, the inadequate application of this form of track worker protection was not apparent."

The board says BCR Properties Ltd., owner of the Roberts Bank Yard, has incorporated a number of protection measures into its safety management system and followed up with the contractor to ensure its employees receive appropriate training.Photo: Contributed

A 31-year-old Cranbrook man is in custody after an alleged bank robbery.

Revelstoke RCMP say the man walked into a financial institution on First Street West in Revelstoke and demanded cash.

He was given an undisclosed amount of money, and left the bank, hopping into a blue Pontiac four-door sedan.

Police released images of the incident, and say the CCTV photo was instrumental in identifying the man and leading to an arrest.

On April 24, Cranbrook officers arrested the man.

Crown has approved the charge of robbery.

He's scheduled to be in Salmon Arm Provincial Court May 22.Photo: The Canadian Press The Site C Dam location is seen along the Peace River in Fort St. John.

The federal government is not going to argue against halting construction of the controversial Site C hydroelectric dam in B.C. while a court sorts out if the project violates constitutionally protected treaty rights.

Ottawa's move comes as a surprise to lawyer Tim Thielmann, who is representing the West Moberly First Nations in the court action against the $10-billion dam, which will flood some of its traditional territory.

The case was filed in January after the new NDP provincial government backed off a campaign promise to reconsider it and said cancelling the dam now that construction had started was going to be too costly to electricity consumers.

A Department of Justice statement filed last week in B.C. court does not concede that treaty rights are being infringed, but Thielmann says he thinks by not opposing the request to halt construction Canada is saying that it is OK with the project being halted until the rights question can be answered by the court.

In 2012, before she was elected as a B.C. Liberal MP, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said she felt Site C "ran roughshod" over Indigenous rights, but she has not commented publicly since the Departments of Fisheries and Transportation began issuing permits for construction in 2016.

Wilson-Raybould does, however, direct the Justice Department, which thus far has not responded to questions asking for an explanation of the decision not to oppose the injunction.

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.The Ocoee River is open for business. Federal, state, and local officials joined Ocoee River outfitters to hold a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Monday to kick off the whitewater rafting season and celebrate the historic renewal of a management agreement signed in 2017 by the State of Tennessee, Tennessee Valley Authority and USDA Forest Service.

We look forward to providing safety and security on the river and to working with local outfitters to maintain the Ocoee Rivers status as a world-class recreational opportunity, said Tennessee State Parks Deputy Commissioner Brock Hill. Tennessee State Park Manager Angelo Giansante and his staff at Hiwassee/Ocoee Scenic River State Park are uniquely qualified to not only provide safety on the river but offer high-quality interpretive programming to our visitors to help them understand the park and the region.

Under the agreement, the State of Tennessee will be responsible for a commercial-use permitting program and oversight of commercial rafting activities on the Ocoee River, both administered by Tennessee State Parks. The states responsibilities will include all general operational and maintenance activities necessary to facilitate commercial whitewater operations. The state will also be responsible for emergency first response, law enforcement, traffic management, and other tasks.

The Ocoee is one of the greatest whitewater experiences in the United States, said Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Kevin Triplett. The challenges of the water combined with the beauty of Southeast Tennessee truly is one of our states great assets.

In early 2017, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Ocoee River Recreation and Economic Development Fund Act, creating a fund and governing Board to support the contract agreement. Commercial outfitters pay a 10 percent licensing fee into the fund annually to reimburse the State for annual costs of its oversight and management through the term of the agreement. To support economic development in the region, the State is providing funds to offset TVAs lost power generation from providing the recreational releases over the 15-year period.

TVA will provide water releases from Ocoee Dam No. 2 and No. 3 for a term of 15 years on the middle and upper sections of the Ocoee River beginning in 2019. TVA will also grant a recreation easement to the State across three tracts of land (approximately 27.2 acres in total).

TVA is proud of the positive impact that the Ocoee River has on the economic prosperity of the region, said David Bowling, TVA vice president, land and river management. This historic partnership helps ensure that the Ocoee remains one of the most successful whitewater destinations in the nation.

The Forest Service will continue to make two tracts (approximately 3.7 acres in total) available to the state to improve recreational river access. In compliance with law the Forest Service will allow TDEC to permit and administer all commercial rafting activities that originate on designated National Forest System Land (Cherokee National Forest).

Cherokee National Forest Supervisor JaSal Morris said, We are pleased to be a part of this agreement. It will strengthen and deepen our connections with the public through outdoor experiences. This agreement exemplifies the spirit and intent of interagency cooperation that will help be an economic catalyst for the Ocoee region long into the future.Voice of the People Audio Article Native son Tom Smiths history of East Chesterton (Chesterton Tribune 9-30-21 Commentary) was interesting and a poignant tribute to his five-generations back ancestors, the Morgans, who traveled from West Virginia and Ohio to settle here in 1833  to raise a family, to farm and...

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...A: My very first job  this is so funny  the moment I turned 16, my mom walked me into McDonald's. She asked for the manager and she said to him: "She needs a job." I think the manager was so impressed with my mom's tenacity to ensure that I had a job the moment that I could. He was like, "Fill out the application, you're basically hired."Animals seen growling, biting, attempting to bite, jumping on or lunging at people without being corrected or controlled will be considered pets subject to the appropriate rules and fees, American said. The airline won't charge a passenger retroactively if a support animal misbehaves, but it will step in if the passenger and animal haven't finished their trip, airline spokesman Ross Feinstein said.In the meantime, however, California and 17 other states have gone to court in an attempt to force the Trump administration to reconsider rolling back the 2022-25 standards, which would require the U.S. fleet of cars and light trucks to meet an average of about 40miles per gallon (or 54.5 mpg unadjusted for credits) by the end of that period. The standards were initially put into place after negotiations between the Obama administration, auto companies and California, but called for a "mid-term review" to determine whether the rules were still appropriate.The owners of the renamed spot parted ways with MingHin Cuisine on May 1, to run their own dim sum and Cantonese food restaurant, said Carrie Zheng, a manager at the restaurant. The restaurant was previously under contract with MingHin, but the owner and the chef are still the same, and will focus on house-made dim sum.The 38-year-old took to Instagram on Sunday to announce the birth of his daughter with partner Meagan Camper. He wrote he's grateful Marvel Jane Wentz is here and she's "ready to takeover the world."Aldean has done several interviews about Route 91, and he's open and contemplative a few hours before his latest tour is about to begin, but he clearly prefers to discuss just about anything else. When the subject changes to his beginnings at a VFW hall in Macon, his tone and cadence noticeably become more relieved. He also, not surprisingly, has a lot to say about his latest album, "Rearview Town," released last month; he spends the first few minutes talking about the Gibson acoustic guitar he plays on the cover."She has threatened to impose her and NAI's will on the company at the expense of all of the company's stockholders," CBS said in its lawsuit. "She has undermined management. It has been publicly reported that she will replace directors who will not do her bidding. She has sought to combine CBS and Viacom regardless of the strategic and economic merits of the transaction and to the exclusion of considering any other potential transaction."But without an exemption from Congress , any child of the couple who is in line for the British throne wouldrun afoul of the foreign emoluments clause: Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says that "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." So even if a future daughter broke with the royal tradition of steering clear of politics, she would need to renounce the throne - or get special permission from Congress to maintain her claim. It's hard to imagine a candidate winning an election without first having pledged exclusive allegiance to the United States.Moving has been associated with adverse outcomes on the young, too, according to findings published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The study tracked more than 1.4 million Danes from age 15 to their early 40s. Researchers had a record of all the residents' moves from birth to age 14. A 14-year-old who moved even once had double the risk of abusing drugs or developing certain mental disorders by midlife compared with those who did not move at all; those risks increased with multiple moves.Mike Mendoza will line up on Columbus Drive with 35,000 other runners for the start of the Chicago Marathon. If all goes to plan, the former Marine will cross the finish line then head straight to OHare, hop on a flight to Boston and race 26.2 more miles the next morning.Students, parents and teachers from Christopher Columbus High School took to social media to say that a wild tiger at last Friday's prom was animal abuse. The Miami Herald reports that footage shows the tiger pacing inside a small enclosure as bright lights flashed around him.Teachers across the country have been told, year after year, to do more with less, swallow the lousy wages and cuts to services and per-student spending. What choice did they have? How would it look to walk out on their students? In the last couple months, teachers have done just that, striking in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado and Arizona.River Antoine started producing rum around 1785. Though it's not the oldest distillery in the Caribbean, it's notable because the crew still makes rum in much the way it was done centuries ago, with a water-powered wheel to crush the local, organic sugar cane. Visitors can see those traditional methods in action, including cooking, fermenting, and distilling in old pot stills, on guided tours and tastings. River Antoine's best known rum, the "slightly overproof" bottle (at 150 proof, a cheeky understatement), is so popular locally that there's not enough to export. Not that they could-at almost twice the strength of a typical rum, it's considered a combustible fluid and isn't allowed on airplanes. Made from sugar cane syrup, it's potent but surprisingly smooth, given its alcoholic wallop. River Antoine Estate, St. PatrickTheir hurt is no different from that of anyone who is treated unfairly simply because of who they are. The premise that marriage should be only for those who meet a certain sexual criterion that is out of their control has no merit."Most relevant measures of police activity did not change abruptly enough to explain the surge in gun violence. Overall arrests declined in 2016, driven by narcotics arrests, but arrests for violent crimes, including homicides and shootings, barely changed. One policing measure that declined was the chance of arrest for homicides and shootings (the 'clearance rate'), which was a result of arrests for these crimes not keeping pace with the increase in gun violence. Another policing measure that declined was the number of investigatory street stops. However, for this to explain why shootings increased in Chicago would also require an explanation for why the previous dramatic decline in street stops in New York City did not lead to more gun violence there."Purposely set up in one of the busiest pedestrian spots in the Loop, the short-term exhibit "Chicago Gun Share Program," resembles a Divvy bike-share docking station and invites visitors to consider how easy it is for people get their hands on weapons, said Norm Bilow, of the Chicago-based advertising agency Escape Pod. The agency, along with the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence, created the exhibit that went up last week and will remain in the Loop until Wednesday.The parents also complained to the alderman that they tried to report the attack through 911 calls but got no "investigatory response." A police report was finally filed last week.Jeremiah Adams, 24, was reported missing on May 7 when he didn't show up for work. Days earlier, had had gone for a hike in Olympic National Forest, a vast wilderness with deep canyons, high mountain ridges and 250 miles of trails. Adams, who was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in nearby Bremerton, Wash., apparently was hiking a primitive trail when he fell over the edge, according to an Associated Press report.At Gompers Park Lagoon on the citys Northwest Side, as an example, Cooper said there are three stand-alone water fountains that dot a paved, circular path thats about a quarter-mile long. Currently, one of those three fountains falls in the group of 500 that do not have a problem with lead in the water. As of this weekend, it was being flushed; the two other fountains were turned off  and by Monday, had been removed."I think if you kill a police officer, I think, and you're found guilty, I think that's absolutely an appropriate remedy for something like that," said Chicago police First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio, the second in command at CPD. "Look, we get murders all the time and every murder is important. But there's something particularly heinous about killing a policeman or shooting at a policeman, the people who are out there to protect all of us, basically."Springfield-area Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez said she is trying to get her arms around the developing issue that is particularly important to the community where Lincoln lived and is buried. She said she is working on the possibility of getting state funding to help address the foundation's financial crunch and reaching out to see if she can help the group raise private money."Not equipping officers with alternatives to the use of lethal force  first of all, not providing them with the training, but secondly not giving them the tools  was sheer negligence," Vallas said, noting officers now have use of Tasers though they are still being trained to use them.Hawaii County Civil Defense issued an emergency cellphone alert after the fissure was discovered early Sunday morning. The agency said one "unidentified structure" was destroyed by the new vent, bringing the total number of homes and other buildings lost to lava to nearly 40.Abadi has clearly supported the presence of U.S. troops. The Pentagon has seen a continuing role for U.S. forces in preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress last month that he would support a residual force if the Iraqi government agreed to the presence. At the same hearing, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. military learned its lesson by departing Iraq too hastily in late 2011 and allowing the Islamic State to grow."A threat to a federal employee's personal security is extremely serious, but so is using security as pretext for special treatment on the public dime," Whitehouse and Carper said in a statement Monday. "This letter raises troubling questions about whether Administrator Pruitt told the truth during his testimony before the House. Now more than ever, Mr. Pruitt should come clean about his spending of taxpayer dollars on all manner of extravagances, and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle should demand he do so."I may free up a square footage on my personal bookshelves in the coming months, but I am not kicking anyone out of the canon. I do not expect people to frame modernist poetry without citing the work of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, who demonstrably trafficked in anti-Semitic rhetoric. I am not arguing that every passing mention of an artist has to have an asterisk that leads to footnotes of their bad behavior. I'm just asking that we reckon with this reality: To put someone on a syllabus is to privilege them with our attention. We're saying, This is worth your time. Unless we actively complicate the conversation, our students will perceive that as a form of admiration.When you find yourself wounded in enemy territory, as I did after my Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq, you develop an elevated understanding of the threat of torture by those who may capture and hold you prisoner. How you are treated is affected by how brutally your own nation treats individuals in its custody, which is why it's so important that the United States leads in recognizing that torture is illegal under our own federal law and the law of armed conflict that our nation and countless other countries agreed decades ago to follow.To be respectful and genuine, I make it a point to arrive early and talk with family members and anyone who might have known the deceased. I tell them my name and where I work. I tell them I'm sorry for their loss and then listen if they want to talk. Treating people with empathy and hope helps them understand why I'm there.What happened to Tim should never have happened. It was planned and orchestrated alcohol-infused chaos, which had been going on for years without adequate oversight. I have come to learn that I am a member of an unenviable club of parents who have lost children to fraternity hazing. Sadly, our club has far more members than I would have ever imagined, and even more disheartening is that our membership grew after Tim's death. I suspect that there are more members than we even know about. The public only hears when someone dies from one of these situations, but over the last 15 months I have learned of countless situations where trusting students are severely hurt or have near-death experiences from hazing or are sexually assaulted and no one outside the "brotherhood" ever knows.Obviously, the frustration doesn't apply to actual service animals. Several years ago a Quad Cities mother sued the local school district for refusing to allow her daughter's service dog to attend classes with her. The daughter had epilepsy and the dog was trained to alert adults of the girl's onset of a seizure  which makes the fakery about comfort animals all the more offensive. It's nothing more than an extension of our self-indulgent culture and our fear of offending. Marx, in her article, wondered why no one told her to get lost with her 15-pound turtle on a leash or her turkey on the bus or her alpaca in a convenience store.From Rockford to Danville to Springfield to Granite City, pension pressures know no boundaries. The south suburban city of Harvey, a few miles south of Calumet Park along Interstate 57, became the first municipality to have money owed it by the state garnished by the Illinois comptroller under a 2016 law that allowed the withholding. The action was to protect the city's woefully underfunded pension system.1) My culture and my Catholic upbringing are incompatible with the idea that mothers and their children seeking asylum should be separated from each other once they enter the country. In fact, I don't believe the United States should be separating any families, even those who cross the border illegally. I think we can find ways to enforce immigration laws and make the border more secure without losing the decency that defines America. But that thinking is at odds with the current leadership of this country and with the opinion of a small but super-shouty minority of the population. And I'm afraid these pre-Trump ideals are so ingrained in me that they cannot be fear-mongered or brainwashed out. I'm not a good fit.That smart little boy was told by one of the meaner nuns that chemistry, which he loved, was too much for his little brain, and he'd be better off driving a bus. Because he was the eldest, he was expected to help his mother with the younger siblings, learning from her how to make soup and how to diaper babies so they didn't get rashes, everything that formidable woman knew. When his father was home he learned to shine shoes, fix all manner of things, and be a good daddy.Sure, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry might have kept their wedding invite list to about 600, but there are many ways to watch the nuptials on May 19. Televised coverage will start in the wee hours (as early as 3 a.m. with the wedding starting at 6 a.m.), so you can tune into the ceremonies (held at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle) from the comfort of your couch and pajamas or catch one of the watch parties in the city."As with any series of frequent, intense storms, we remain vigilant for localized flooding caused by a large amount of rain in a short time that overwhelms the capacity of the storm sewer systems. When intense storms are forecast, we inspect areas of past problems to make sure that the inlets are not covered in debris," Hughes said."He was talking about the idea of trying to (preach) again." Citlau said. "Somehow we just began to dream about  What if we do it together? What would that look like? What if together we could reach more people, do more excellent service and really empower Lawrence to live into his dream?"This is the fourth recent request for a solar farm in Will County. Earlier this year, county officials approved plans for a solar farm on a 48-acre parcel on Goodenow Road in Crete Township. After receiving approval from the county, developers have to have an agreement to sell the power to Com Ed, and apply for a state incentive through the Future Energy Jobs Act, which was created to spur solar power production.Denzel A. Murphy, 27, of Chicago was charged with theft of mislaid property May 2. Police responded to a report of two stolen cellphones in the 900 block of Waukegan Road. The victims said the phones and other items were in bags in an open space. After viewing surveillance cameras and doing further investigation police were able to identify Murphy as the suspect. He was released on bond and is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court May 23.Of the tickets issued in 2017, 800 were for speeding and 518 for cellphone use while driving, according to the report. Other reasons include 261 citations for driving with an expired registration, 229 for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and 155 for operating an uninsured motor vehicle, according to the report."One of the reasons we do not have a unified language, and, I believe in my heart, a unified country, is because the second and third generations are not learning the language. They don't have to," she said at the meeting. "What is tearing my community apart ... is the fact that there are so many different languages I cannot interact with my neighbors anymore.""What we'll be doing, which is different than some of the other microbreweries in the area, is we'll always have beer that appeals to the mass market," he said. "We're actually differentiating ourselves by going back to the basics and classic styles. Being by the bike path, people want a refreshing light beer at the end of a jog or walk with the dog and we want to make sure we're supporting that group of clientele."According to police, both officers exited their vehicles and approached the stopped car, telling the driver to turn off his engine, which he did not do. When the second officer tried to open the vehicle's door, the driver allegedly pulled it shut, declaring that he would not go to jail again, authorities say.The move represented the next step in the merger of the parishes, which had been announced earlier this year. The archdiocese previously announced that St. Cyprian's school would be closing at the end of the current school year. Part of the Renew My Church program seeks to examine whether Catholic schools in the area are seen as viable entities based on revenue and enrollment. This review would determine whether they would remain open, merge with others or close.I adore talent, he said. It is joyful to give back some of what Ive learned over the years from some extraordinary people. The talents of the students from the Music Institute of Chicago are extraordinary. When you search the depth of someones talent and find more talent, whoosh! That I find exhilarating."We have decorations that go along with the theme such as World War II and Rosie the Riveter posters," she said. "It's just a good time to get together with friends and the community and have fun.""All three years, he has applied or re-applied as a mentor, his personal statement stood out to me because of self-reflection; knowing who he is and who he wants to be," Gruettner said."He never has this mindset of 'I have to do this' but 'I want to do this,' " Heppeler said. "That's an energy that's just incredible, that I believe will take him far in life.""Obviously air quality is really important, but my biggest concern with this, if built, is that it will be able to skirt federal and state requirements and we will have more flooding," Bush said in her Grayslake office Monday.As part of the scheme, Cribari resold fraudulently obtained personal utility trailers for cash to purchasers who were not aware of his scheme. Cribari also sold fraudulently obtained store credit at a discount for cash to an individual purchaser who was not aware of his scheme, according to the statement.By the way, no one asked to see a proof-of-insurance card, which one reader gripes about every year when he renews his plates at the Waukegan facility. He notes Illinois law requires drivers to have vehicle insurance, although that is one of the three things  license, registration and insurance card  police ask for when a driver is pulled over. Or so I am told.I recently received my real estate tax bill for 2019. Im now paying close to $2,000 more than what I paid in 2017. Senior citizens simply cannot afford these ridiculous increases every year. You currently have one or two persons living in these homes. When we leave, you will have two to three families in the same house with multiple children overcrowding our already crowded schools. See how much tax you will collect then. I cannot wait for the next election, and hopefully we will clean house in City Hall from the mayor on down and get someone who knows how to manage money better than what we are doing now.Variances are granted on a case-by-case basis and allow property owners an exception to regulations. Different zoning types have different requirements for open land, and the Village Board can currently grant a variance for up to 20 percent over the limit if trustees believe the owner has a good reason. The proposed ordinance would only allow property owners to be given a variance 15 percent above the limit."Those exposures early on in life have allowed me to understand that we should embrace a community of diversity. I believe that no matter where our ancestry originates we must have a common goal of not only maintaining safe neighborhoods, but most importantly, striving to live harmoniously together," Parrott said in the nearly 400-word letter.The village of Lincolnwood could have a new look for its website and communications in the coming months, as the mayor and staff look to embark on a rebranding campaign that could be unveiled in January 2019.As the man was running north, the release states he pulled out a gun and pointed it toward the officer. The officer then shot multiple times at the man, police said. The motorcyclist continued running into the woods.The man fled the area and a semi-automatic handgun was later found in the woods, police said.Delgado-Gonzalez was asleep on the couch in the living room at the time of the shooting, court records state. When Glover's mother and her boyfriend came to see what was going on, Delgado-Gonzalez "woke up and asked what happened," court records state.The day before the hit-and-run, Mikulich was at the scene where two people drowned at Wells Street Beach in Gary, he said. He was "unfit" for patrol but went to work at the air show as his superiors asked him to do anyway, he said."Preliminary investigation has suggested no foul play is involved," River Forest Police Chief James O'Shea said. "He was last seen Saturday morning at his residence in River Forest, and his car was found several hours later, unoccupied, on the Chicago Skyway bridge.""Our kids are able to get some of the special ed kids to do things here that they've never done, like getting into the pool, or going into the deep end," Hutchens said. "They see these kids all the time, and this allows them to get a special relationship with them."4-year-old Pueblo boy identified as victim in fatal house fire

A 4-year-old boy was killed in a house fire on Oct. 5 in the University Park neighborhood. Several other family members suffered severe injuries.Foreign investors are racing to expand their presence in China's securities trading market, with three overseas brokers applying to increase ownership stakes or set up holding firms in the country in less than two weeks.

J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited has applied to set up a majority ownership securities firm in China. It plans to hold 51 percent of the new firm's stakes and has submitted application materials to China's top securities watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

J.P. Morgan is the second foreign investor planning to set up a holding firm in China after the CSRC rolled out guidelines in late April allowing foreign investors to set up securities trading firms with holding status.

Japan's largest securities trader Nomura had applied to establish a joint-venture firm in China, holding 51 percent of the new firm's stakes. International investment bank UBS earlier this month decided to raise its stakes in the joint-venture China-based UBS Securities Co. to 51 percent.

"China is a key market for UBS," the bank said in a statement, adding that the further opening-up of China's financial sector brought great opportunities.

More foreign investors are expected to follow suit. Several overseas financial institutions have shown interest in expanding their presence in China, the CSRC said.

The CSRC ruled in 2002 that foreign investor stakes in joint-venture securities firms should not exceed one-third, and then extended the upper limit to 49 percent in 2012. China announced last year that the upper limit would be eased to 51 percent, and phased out in three years.

Data from the Securities Association of China showed that China now has about 131 securities traders, about 11 of which are joint ventures.

"The loosening of ownership regulations on foreign investors might deal some impact on the domestic brokerage market, but increased market competition will help improve overall market performance and service quality in the long run," said Lv Suiqi, a financial professor with Peking University.

Foreign brokers are believed to have richer experience in businesses like investment banking, asset management and wealth management.

Analysts point out that easing ownership control is just one initial step, and foreign investors still have a long way to go to make money in the growing securities trading market.

Tian Liang, an analyst with CITIC Securities, said the Chinese securities market had different conditions and would take time to mature, while more opening-up in business licenses and capital management needed to be gradually introduced to offer foreign investors a bigger stage.

The CSRC said it would gradually allow joint-venture brokers to expand businesses.

"As part of the country's broader opening-up push, China will encourage foreign investors to enter its trust, financial leasing, auto finance, money brokerage and consumer finance sectors, a move that will take effect before the end of this year," China's central bank governor Yi Gang said at the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in early April.Libya's General Authority for Communications and Information on Sunday said that Chinese companies are strategic partners to develop the telecommunications sector in Libya.

The comments came during a workshop organized by the Authority in the capital Tripoli, titled "Postal Addressing: Necessity or Accessory."

The one-day workshop discussed a project to facilitate electronic connectivity and services.

"The Chinese companies are strategic partners for the development of the telecommunications sector in Libya," Adel Ehmedat, director of the Organization Department of the Authority, told Xinhua.

"They provide a great addition and service to the Libyan telecommunications sector, in terms of development of networks of telephone, mobile and fixed-line billing systems, as well as technical support of training and provision of spare parts for communication stations," Ehmedat said.

"We are talking about China's telecoms companies Huawei and ZTE. They have provided their services in the most difficult circumstances and have been with us most of the time. We are very grateful and look forward to further cooperation with the two companies," Ehmedat added.

Most foreign companies left Libya due to security deterioration following the overthrow of former leader Gaddafi's regime in 2011, when most development projects of electricity, water and housing were suspended.

Despite such problems, Chinese telecommunication companies remained in Libya and continued to operate despite the obstacles they face, making them the only foreign companies operating in the country in time of political division and economic decline.

The state-owned Libya Telecom and Technology Company (LTT) launched earlier this year the first phase of the 4G high-speed Internet service, implemented by the Chinese Huawei.

The first phase of the project was launched in six Libyan cities, including Tripoli and Benghazi.

The Libyan official spoke highly of the importance of the fiber optic project by the Chinese companies and seeking study chances for resuming the rest of the project.

"Libya has a fiber optic network of more than 12 thousand km. The first phase was completed in 2012, but then stopped. Now, the project is being studied with Chinese companies and we seek resuming and completing the remaining stages of the project," He added.

Ehmedat confirmed that future development of telecom sector with Chinese companies has promising and important opportunities.



A newly-married couple who celebrated their big day at a hotel in Nanshan scenic spot in China's southwest Chongqing municipality on May 1 fled without paying their 13,000 yuan (US$2,051) bill.

According to the hotel's owner, who is surnamed Xu, the bride and groom, respectively surnamed Wang and Li, put down a deposit of 500 yuan (US$79) on April 18 when booking eight standard rooms for the accommodation of their relatives and 12 tables for the banquet.

Xu said that the guests checked in on the afternoon of April 30 and checked out on the morning of May 2, incurring costs of more than 13,000 yuan.

Closed-circuit TV footage showed that the newlyweds and the parents of the bride left the hotel in the early morning of May 2.

Xu said the groom told the hotel staff that he would be back to pick up his father and pay the bill after driving his parents-in-law home.

However, the groom never came back, and his father sneaked out of the hotel around 9 a.m.

Xu said that it was the first time in two decades working in the hospitality industry that he had seen all the members of a wedding reception walk out in this manner.

He called the police on May 3.

The police made contact with the newlyweds, who promised to settle the bill in several days in a text message. However, they broke the promise and couldn't be got in touch with by phone anymore.Located 30 kilometers northwest of Yinchuan, China West Film Studio boasts to be the best place for shooting the outdoor scenes of Western China and Ancient China theme movies. Many smash Chinese movies march toward the world from here, including 'Red Sorghum' and 'Big Words of Western Tour'. [China.org.cn]



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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) holds talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing on Sunday.

Wang said China attaches importance to the traditional friendship with Iran, as well as the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

China regards Iran as an important partner in the Belt and Road construction, Wang said, noting that China is willing to work with Iran to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries to promote various cooperation.

Wang said China firmly safeguard multilateralism and international agreements.

The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was hard-earned and the deal helped to safeguard the international system of non-proliferation and maintain the peace and stability in the Middle East, Wang said.

As an important party, China made a lot of work in the process of reaching and implementing the JCPOA, Wang said.

"China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned, and continue to work to maintain the deal," Wang said.

Zarif said Iran attaches great importance to traditional friendly ties with China and is willing to have cooperation with China in infrastructure and connectivity within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Iranian foreign minister spoke highly of China's stance on maintaining the JCPOA and stressed Iran is willing to keep communication and cooperation with the parties who still support the deal.

Zarif said it is the responsibility and obligation of all parties to ensure that the JCPOA should be implemented in a sustainable, comprehensive and effective way, and Iran is willing to make its own efforts.

Both sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern. Flash

Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Tan Jian said Sunday that China does not lecture Africa on how it should develop, but believes that African nations could find suitable paths on their own.

"China is very confident about its own development model, but we are not trying to sell it abroad," Tan said. "However, if our foreign friends are interested, we are willing to share our experience."

The diplomat said it is not surprising that some African countries hope to draw inspiration from China's success in transforming itself from an economic weakling to the world's second largest economy.

By delving into China's case, African countries may find China's promotion of investment, industrialization and infrastructure construction inspiring to their own development, he said.

However, Tan said there is no one-size-fits-all development model, and that "it's our hope that every country can find the development path that suits its own conditions."

"China's economic miracles are not achieved by just following others' advice," he added.

Guided by this thinking, Tan said, China maintains an equality-based dialogue with African nations. "We will not try to be teachers. We're having an equal dialogue in which we offer our views to those who are interested."

The ambassador made the remarks when reviewing China's cooperation with Ethiopia and other African nations. He said prospects are bright for China-Ethiopia collaboration in various fields.

Chinese firms and funds have supported a number of Ethiopian development projects including the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, the Gibe III hydro power plant and the construction of Ethiopia's industrial parks, said to be inspired by China's success in the same field.

China's top legislator Li Zhanshu paid an official visit to Ethiopia from Wednesday to Saturday. Tan said Li's visit after Abiy Ahmed took over as Ethiopia's new prime minister demonstrated China's strong support to the Horn of African nation. Flash

After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp.





The train with 41 containers which left Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed on Saturday in Antwerp. The direct railway link between China and Belgium is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.





By opening up a new and quick route into China, the initiative offers plenty of new opportunities for the development of the Sino-Belgian trade relations.





Luc Arnouts, Director International Networks, Antwerp Port Authority, said at the welcoming ceremony that "This direct train link puts our port on the BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative) map and will further strengthen our ties with China. We have long been working on this project, which represents an important milestone in our trade relations with China."





In his speech, Guo Jianjun, economic counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, pointed out that given the ongoing escalation of trade friction threats in major global economies, it is even more necessary for all parties to strengthen cooperation.





"As Europe's second largest port, Antwerp has a very important position in Sino-Belgian trade," said Guo.





"The arrival of the first China-Europe freight train sent from Tangshan to Antwerp today is historic and will have a profound and positive impact on China-Belgium cooperation", Guo concluded.





The train has travelled through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany to reach its final destination, Antwerp. It is the first ever direct train service from China to Antwerp.



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People gather at a bombing site in Surabaya, capital of Indonesia's East Java Province, May 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

The death toll from the suicide explosions in three churches in Surabaya, the provincial capital of East Java on Friday has risen to 13, including one child, with scores of others injured, according to a police officer.

Police have discovered three bombs which did not explode in two of the three churches where the bombers blew up themselves during congregations on Sunday morning, provincial police spokesman Senior Commissioner Frans Barung said.

"We have found several bombs which did not explode. But now all of them have been detonated by police," he was quoted by local media as saying.

One of the suicide bombers is a woman who came into the church along with two children. She blew herself up after embracing a security guard at the compound of Gereja Kristen Indonesia on Diponegoro street, according to eyewitness Antonious.

The other perpetrator used a car bomb in the action in Pantekosta church on Arjuna Street, during which two blasts were heard from the car, leaving five other cars and 30 motorcycles ablaze, another eyewitness Wahyudi said.

In Sata Maria church, two bombers suddenly entered the church and blew themselves up, hitting policemen and security guards, eyewitness Yudi said.

President Joko Widodo and National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian will visit the scene, according to the police spokesman.

Indonesian largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulemas and the Asian Muslim Action Network and Wahid Foundation expressed strong condemnation on the brutality against the innocent followers, including children, of the congregation in the three churches.

"We strongly condemned all terrorist acts whatever their motive and backgrounds," the Nahdlatul Ulemas said in a statement.

Sympathy on the victims of the attacks and their relatives was also delivered by the foundation.

All the victims have been rushed to hospital in the city, according to the police spokesman.

The first deadly blast took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area at 07:15 a.m. local time, followed by others with interval time of about five minutes.

The perpetrators, disguising themselves as followers of the morning sermons being performed in the churches, exploded the bombs which they were carrying, hitting scores of followers, according to the police.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation.

The Islamic State group has through its media arm Amaq claimed responsibility for the attacks. Flash

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday outlined the United States' plans to help the development of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) if the country agrees to complete denuclearization.

Pompeo said on Friday that the United States and South Korea are ready to help the DPRK achieve prosperity if it takes "bold" action in denuclearization.

In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Pompeo elaborated on the plan, which deals with economic and security issues.

"What Chairman Kim (Jong Un) will get from America is our finest -- our entrepreneurs, our risk-takers, our capital providers," he said.

The DPRK "is desperately in need of energy support, electricity for their people. They are -- they're in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, the finest from the Midwest that I come from. We can deliver that."

Excluding the possibility of U.S. economic aid to Pyongyang, the top diplomat said "American know-how, knowledge, entrepreneurs, and risk-takers" will work alongside the DPRK people "to create a robust economy for their people."

He admitted that the aforementioned measures that allow U.S. companies to invest directly in the DPRK are sanctions relief. "If we get denuclearization, of course, there will be sanctions relief."

Also on Sunday, Pompeo told Fox News in a separate interview, "Now, the task is for President (Donald) Trump and he (Kim) to meet to validate the process by which this would go forward, to set up those markers so that we can negotiate this outcome."

On Fox, Pompeo also said the topic of "security assurances" to Pyongyang would surely be put on the table.

He said that the objectives include that the U.S. president would convince the DPRK leadership to the point "where America was no longer held at risk" by the DPRK.

The specifics of the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization process have been a major cause for U.S.-DPRK conflict.

John Bolton, the U.S. national security advisor, demanded earlier that the DPRK ship out all its nuke programs and weapons to the United States to dismantle before the U.S. side grants any concessions. However, Pyongyang insisted on "phased and synchronous measures" in its denuclearization, requiring reciprocal actions by the United States, such as sanctions relief, in exchange.

Pompeo said that there are still "a great deal of details to be worked on" in this regard.

When asked by Fox about his meetings with Kim, Pompeo said their conversations were "professional."

Pompeo said Kim knows what he is trying to achieve for his people. "He is able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it," he said.

Pompeo said the U.S. and DPRK teams would work together to "put our two leaders in a position where it's just possible we might pull off a historic undertaking."

During the inter-Korea summit on April 27 in Panmunjom, Kim promised to dismantle the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in the northeastern DPRK in a transparent manner and show the dismantlement to the world.

On Saturday, the DPRK announced it would hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site on May 23-25, taking a step forward towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump is scheduled to meet the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.By Brenda Goh, Reuters | May 14, 2018

A Sichuan Airlines flight made an emergency landing in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu on Monday after a windshield on the right side of the jet's cockpit broke off, China's aviation authority said.

No passengers were injured in the incident but the pilot sitting in the right seat, who is usually the first officer, suffered scratches and a waist sprain, the Civil Aviation Administration of China's (CAAC) Southwest Regional Administration said on its website.

A cabin crew member was also injured in the descent, it added, without providing details on what had caused the windshield to break off.

The flight, Sichuan Airlines 3U8633, left the central Chinese municipality of Chongqing on Monday morning and was bound for the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the authority said.

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft was an Airbus A319. A spokeswoman for Airbus said that the planemaker would provide all necessary support upon request by the CAAC and Sichuan Airlines.

Sichuan Airlines said on its official Weibo account that the flight had experienced a "mechanical failure" without providing further details. It said it had switched the flight's passengers to another aircraft to carry on their journey to Lhasa.

Pictures published by government-run Chengdu Economic Daily showed the plane missing one of its cockpit windows and damage to its cockpit controls. Chinese social media users praised the pilots for landing the flight safely without incurring any passenger injuries.

Sichuan Airlines, a regional airline headquartered in Chengdu, operates mostly domestic flights but also flies internationally to countries such as Japan, Canada and the Czech Republic.

Incidents involving cracked windshields do happen on a regular basis due to occurrences such as bird or lightning strikes but ones involving entire windshields coming off are rare.

In 1990, one of the pilots on British Airways Flight 5390 was blown partially out of the cabin window after its windshield blew out at 23,000 feet. He survived the incident, which occurred on a BAC-111 jet.

An engine on a Southwest 737 in April ripped apart in flight and shattered a cabin window, killing a female passenger in the first U.S. airline passenger fatality since 2009. On May 3, another Southwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing after a cabin window pane cracked in flight.By Rejoice Xu, China Aviation Daily | May 14, 2018

Recently, several companies have been exposed listing Taiwan as a country on their official websites. Marriot Hotel was the first to be revealed and then the same problems were found on the booking websites of some airlines, like Delta Airlines.

Chinese authority has written to several American airlines to correct the mistakes on their websites, requiring that they should not list Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as countries, which was ridiculously blamed by the White House, who asserted to object the restrictions made by China. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that the foreign enterprises in China should respect Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Several airlines have rectified the mistake in time. For instance, Asiana Airlines relisted Taiwan into the column of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, while before the airline listed Taibei and Hong Kong into the column of Southeast Asia, according to one of the South Korean biggest newspaper offices, The Chosun Llbo on May 7, and some companies are discussing the methods to change the mark.

Despite the support from Korean and Australian airlines, Spokesman from the White House showed disagreements on this issue and strongly objected to rectify the situation by asserting the reasonable requirement from Chinese government as political oppression.

Even the public opinion in America is against the White House: "China has a right to do that as those provinces belong to China. We should respect the rule of laws from another country", quoted from the Internet.

Media shared the same opinion with the public. Editorial from China Daily showed on May 7, in terms of the irresponsible accuse of China from the U.S. party:"The U.S. should listen to the respond from Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No matter what they said, it won't change the fact that there is only one China in the world and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao are inseparable parts of Chinese territory."

Voice from American Cable News Network (CNN) went as:" China pays extraordinary attention to the description of Taiwan on the official website of international airlines. It seems Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory and takes a tough stance against the different voices. Besides Australian Qantas Airways, American Airlines and American United Airlines have also received the letter from Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). China is the most important market for all the airlines worldwide. International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted that China would surpass America in 2020 to be the world top aviation market and Beijing is using its growing impact on economy to obtain support in the sensitive issues from international corporations."

Spokesperson from Beijing expressed, to the groundless accusation on the righteous demand of Chinese department, "The American statement will not change the fact that there is only one China in the world and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao are inseparable parts of Chinese territory. China will stick to the one-China principle on foreign affairs. Meanwhile, it is necessary to point out that the foreign enterprises in China should respect Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect Chinese law and respect the national feelings of Chinese people."China Aviation Daily | May 14, 2018

"Connect differently" is the motto for the joint presence of the Budapest, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg airports at this year's Air Cargo China trade fair, being held as part of Transport Logistic in Shanghai from 16th to 18th May 2018. These three "sister airports", all holdings of AviAlliance, are presenting their common features and the characteristics of their logistics sites and infrastructure at the fair as alternatives to the classic cargo hubs. The joint trade fair presence is at booth No. 521 in Hall N1.

The joint presentation of the three airports is built on positive and successful cooperation in the past few years. The aim of the joint presence is to present the benefits of the three non-hub airports to the specialist public as a bundled package. The Budapest, Dusseldorf and Hamburg airports cooperated for the first time in 2017 with a joint booth at Air Cargo Europe in Munich, Germany.

As an alternative to classic cargo hubs, the three airports complement one another, each bringing its own specialisations to the table. Goods flows can thus be concentrated in terms of handling, facilitating streamlined processes. This saves time when goods are being handled without using hubs. There are also possibilities for bundling the flow of goods within the three airports (triangular trade flows). The three airports benefit from state-of-the-art infrastructure to cover all expectations and requirements in the area of cargo/airfreight.

Cargo experts explain the benefits of the three airfreight sites

"Air cargo does not have to be processed at major hubs. Non-hub airports also have benefits to offer," says Alexander Muller, Head of Cargo at Hamburg Airport. "With efficient operational processes, a direct connection to the apron, and a multi-user concept, our Hamburg Airport Cargo Center, which opened in 2016, is ideally suited to provide efficient, tailored logistics solutions. In total, the HACC has capacity for around 150,000 tonnes of freight per year -- more than double the volume handled in 2017. In cooperation with Dusseldorf and Budapest airports, our position is optimal. I look forward to many shared conversations at the trade fair in Shanghai."

"The cargo flow always finds its best and most efficient way. Budapest Airport believes, we can be this 'best' distribution point in Central and Eastern Europe, and together with our sister airports DUS and HAM, we can offer new attractive combined solutions for cargo operators," says Rene Droese, Director Property and Cargo Budapest Airport. "The air cargo relevant industrial output is booming in our region, including export and import cargo for the automotive, electronics, and pharmaceutical industries and the very important e-commerce market. Our cargo traffic increased by 39% in two years at BUD, our plan is to attract more freighter and belly cargo routes to our airport, and to hand over the brand new Cargo City in 2019 to provide an ideal environment for further cargo growth."

"As the third largest airport in Germany," says Gerton Hulsman, Managing Director of Dusseldorf Airport Cargo GmbH, "we offer our customers 365 days per year, 24/7 tailor-made logistic solutions. Due to Dusseldorf's geographic location in one of the strongest economic regions in Europe we have 18 million inhabitants as well as numerous pharmaceutical companies within a radius of 100 kilometres. Therefore, it was clear that Dusseldorf Airport Cargo GmbH officially became Germany's first CEIV (Center of Excellence for Independent Validators) certified company in order to guarantee a flawless cool chain for pharmaceutical products. Together with Budapest and Hamburg Airport we are looking forward to expand our networks, to arrange new cooperations and to present our CEIV certificate at the Air Cargo China in Shanghai."

Contributed by Budapest Airport



ABC/Randy HolmesMetallica wrapped up a European tour over the weekend, and they'll be back again next year.

In a tour wrap-up news post, the metal legends have revealed they plan to tour Europe again in 2019. The stadium trek is set to begin in May and run through August. Details of the tour will officially be announced in September.

Now that they're done with the 2018 European tour, Metallica will be off the road until September, when they launch a U.S. tour in Madison, Wisconsin on September 2. That trek will last all the way into March 2019.

Metallica will be touring in continued support of their new album, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.ADDIS ABABA - Yusuf Abera still remembers his trips on Ethiopia's old railway during its last years in active service. They were hardly pleasant journeys, as trains were slow, noisy and often disrupted by mechanical glitches.

"It often broke down in the middle of a trip, and we had to wait for hours until it was repaired," said the 47-year-old.

It was only in 2018 when Abera switched back to trains, this time thanks to the opening of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, or Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Rail, the first transnational electrified railway in Africa.ANKARA - Turkey is set to receive its first F-35 aircraft, the world's most advanced fighter jet, despite an initiative launched by United States senators to block the delivery amid faltering relations between the countries.

Defense sources close to the project said that the first F-35 will be delivered to the Turkish Air Force on June 21 in the US, where a ceremony will take place.

"This plane will be deployed at Eglin air base in Florida for a year, where Turkish pilots will get training," said Ozgur Eksi, a senior analyst with the Istanbul-based C4 defense magazine.

Further batches are expected to be delivered gradually until 2022.

The F-35 is being developed and built by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin for the US, Britain, Australia, Italy, Norway, Turkey, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada in a project worth about $400 billion, making it the world's most expensive weapons program.

A total of 3,000 F-35 jets are to go into service around the world in coming years.

Two Turkish Air Force pilots will receive special training in the US, Anadolu Agency reported citing defense sources.

After the training is completed and another warplane is delivered, the F-35s are scheduled to be brought to Turkey in September 2019. The trained pilots will fly the two jets accompanied by a refueling plane.

However, a number of US congressmen have urged the White House to suspend the procurement because of Turkey's decision to buy Russian S-400 advanced air defense systems.

"If they take such a step at a moment when we are trying to mend our bilateral ties, they will definitely get a response from Turkey," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told private broadcaster CNN Turk in an interview last week.

The dispute further strains ties between the allies, which have soured dramatically over rival stances on the war in Syria and Washington's refusal to extradite cleric Fethullah Gulen to Turkey over his alleged role of masterminding the failed coup in 2016.

Experts believe that blocking delivery of the F-35s will eventually cause the collapse of the whole project because important parts of the aircraft such as the central fuselage are manufactured in Turkey.

"The US will shoot itself in the foot, it would definitely harm the entire project," said Ozgur Eksi.

Observers have argued that if the US administration imposes military sanctions on Turkey, it would enhance the country's already extensive cooperation with Russia and push Ankara toward Moscow's sphere of influence.

Xinhua

(China Daily 05/14/2018 page11)ss ss ss

The Shandong provincial publicity department recently launched a short promo video intercut with scenes of the province's picturesque and magnificent landscape, economic prosperity, social development, technological progress and great quality of life to welcome the upcoming SCO Qingdao summit.

The 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in June in Shandong's scenic littoral city, Qingdao.

The organization's guiding philosophy is crystallized in the "Shanghai Spirit", which advocates mutual trust, mutual benefits, equality, respect for cultural diversity and common development.

Shandong is the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius and is the provenance of Confucianism. Located at the intersection of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the eastern end of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Shandong shoulders an important mission in cultural and economic communication and exchange.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formWe attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.Posted Monday, May 14, 2018 10:16 am

In Lewis County, 52 Percent of the Forestland Base Is Working Forests, Creating Jobs That Pour Money Back Into the Local Economy

For 14 decades, since the 1880s, timber has been a driver of the economy in Lewis County. That economic engine continues to power Lewis County today.

The coming of the railroad and the dredging of the Chehalis River in the 1880s made possible the exploitation of the countys major resource  timber.

Workers and equipment were brought in and logs and finished lumber were shipped downriver to Grays Harbor and by rail to the east. The introduction in the 1880s of the geared locomotive for steep grades and the donkey engine to move logs meant that previously inaccessible stands of immense trees fell to the crosscut saw. Steam-powered mills featured circular saws, gang edgers, and power log turners and drivers. Lumbering became big business.

Yes, the roots of forestry run deep in Lewis County, and the industry remains a vital part of the economy today. The forest products we produce today  paper, wood, building materials and packaging, even Christmas tree farms  are renewable, recyclable, biodegradable and sustainable.

These natural products play an important role in fighting climate change since they capture carbon and store it in wood for the life of the product. But these products are more than just green. Forest products and the jobs they create are an integral part of life in our county.

Thriving Forests Benefit Everyone

A healthy forest can form the heart of a vibrant community, which is why maintaining this vital resource for future generations is crucial to Lewis County communities. During planting season three seedlings are planted on average for every tree harvested for wood, paper or other forest products. This ensures that the evergreen forest will continue to provide jobs and economic benefits in Lewis County for generations to come. Forestry products continue to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.

Many sustainable forests in Washington are privately owned, and more than 2.1 million acres of state-forest trust lands are managed to produce non-tax revenue for essential public institutions. The land is managed by the Department of Natural Resources and the largest beneficiary of this revenue is K-12 public schools across the state

A Healthy Forest Means a Healthy Economy

Products made in Lewis County from sustainable, working forests are used across the world. Timber products such as packaging materials, lumber and paper underpin the modern economy. These products produced through sustainable processes are renewable and biodegradable.

In Lewis County, 52 percent of the forestland base, or 708,870 acres, are working forests that create jobs, pay taxes and pour money back into the local economy. Directly or indirectly, forest products have created nearly 6,000 jobs in Lewis County that paid more than $303 million in 2016. Those jobs paid $17 million in taxes directly back into the local economy.

Sustainable Forests Mean Sustainable Jobs

Forest jobs in Lewis County directly employed 2,444 people in 2016, a figure that rises to 5,708 when including indirect jobs. Since there are approximately 44,000 working age adults in Lewis County, that means more than one in seven working-age people have a job thanks to forestry. Modern sustainable forestry is a huge win-win on both the environmental front and employment rates.

These working forests produce a continuous supply of trees for the many wood, paper and pulp-based products we use daily. Approximately 70 percent of the timber harvest in Washington comes from these working forests, which sustain a manufacturing industry that employs over 100,000 workers statewide and generates $5.2 billion in wages annually.

Washingtons forests are an essential part of both Lewis County and the states history, culture, economy and environment, covering 23 million acres across Washington. For more information about how these forests contribute to Lewis County and the state as a whole, visit MoreThanAForest.org.Asociatia Obsteasca DEMOS anunta concurs pentru angajarea unui expert/grup de experti/a unei companii care sa presteze servicii pentru lansarea afacerii socialeCLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Canadian man sentenced to prison Monday told a federal judge that he flew to the Cleveland area to have sex with a 17-year-old with confidence that it was legal because he looked up Ohio's age of consent online.

Joseph Haggerty, en route to Ohio in August with a duffel bag filled with condoms, pacifiers and a stuffed tiger, thought his plans were legal because the age of consent in Ohio is 16 years old. However, federal law prohibits coercing someone under 18 years old to pose for sexually explicit photos.

He apparently did not know about that law.

Haggerty, 50, of St. Stephen in New Brunswick, pleaded guilty in December to sexual exploitation of a child. U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. sentenced him to 15 years, two months in federal prison but not before decrying what he called "horrible, reprehensible conduct and behavior."

Oliver nevertheless went below the sentence that Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan urged him to impose.

Federal prosecutors said Haggerty connected with the Cleveland-area teenager on the social media app Kik in December 2016 and started chatting with her on Skype.

As they chatted, Haggerty became very controlling and forbade the teen from speaking to other males. From May 2017 until his arrest, the pair spoke virtually every night, and Haggerty ordered the teen to strip and pose in explicit ways for him, authorities say.

Agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found out about Haggerty after the mother of a 13 year old in Kyle, Texas told police of similar acts. They tracked him as he flew from Canada to Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport in August.

They watched as Haggerty took a taxi from the airport at Linden Park in Rocky River and met with the teen here. They intervened and arrested him.

Haggerty called the girl's cellphone after his arrest, while she was still with authorities, from a phone in the Rocky River Police Department booking cell. He told the girl that the police were lying to her and that, "I'm in jail right now with my future in jeopardy because I love you," according to court filings.

Local authorities reached out to the Canadian Mounted Police and found 175 sexually explicit photos of the Ohio victim, a lifelike child sex doll and contact information for other possible victims, court filings state.

Jeff Hastings, Haggerty's attorney, said his client faces similar charges in Canada for the same crimes.

Haggerty was despondent through much of Monday's hearing.

"I never meant to hurt her," Haggerty said. "I'm not a criminal, I just made a mistake and I'm very sorry."

Sullivan, however, said Haggerty was sad "because he did incomplete research that's going to cost him many years in prison."

The mother of the Cleveland-area victim told the judge that her daughter is "still trying to take back her life." She implored the judge to protect the public from Haggerty.

"We desire to save others from the horror that Joseph Haggerty has perpetrated," the mother said.

Prosecutors asked Oliver to sentence Haggerty to up to 24 years, but Oliver went below the sentence recommended by both probation officers and prosecutors.

While he noted that the crimes were very serious, he said it was far from the worst case he's seen. The judge said such a long sentence would deter others, whether it was for 15 years or for 20 years.

Oliver also said Haggerty has lived a law-abiding life other than this case and that recidivism rates for older people are generally much lower.

Sullivan said after the hearing that he was not sure whether he would appeal Haggerty's sentence.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Monday's crime and courts comments section.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Consider the studio of Cleveland-based artist and musician Matthew Gallagher something of a laboratory. Inside the cavernous space where light floods in through soaring windows, you'll find people gathering for concerts and film screenings. Other days, artists are busy at work creating across mediums. At the aptly dubbed "Research & Development" (R&D) in the Heller Building at 2212 Superior Ave., it's all in the name of experimentation.

Math, science and forces of nature have always been prevalent in Gallagher's art and process. A solo show of his latest collection of work, also titled "Research & Development," opens with a reception 5-9 p.m., Friday, May 18, and HEDGE Gallery within 78th Street Studios at 1300 West 78th St., Cleveland. It spans his recent creations in ink, iron, polycarbonate, encaustic and paint. A DJ set by the owner of Bent Crayon record shop will accompany the opening.

Gallagher, a 2013 Oberlin College studio art graduate, sometimes uses the word "research" to describe his generative art, which is work created with a non-human system that can range from computers to chemistry. Maybe it's letting chemicals work their natural magic on one of his drawings. Or programming samplers and sequencers to create music on their own.

"The work influences the science as opposed to the science influencing the work," Gallagher says. "I might be interested in magnetism, so I'm going to design this experiment that's hopefully going to be visually beautiful and hopefully it will reveal something that you wouldn't get from doing calculations. I still think there's mystery surrounding even the most basic principles. A lot of times profound discoveries come from the simplest things and just playing around with materials and the environment."

Gallagher's work is so often creating the framework for something bigger than himself. And maybe that's why R&D has grown into something beyond a place for his personal projects. The studio is now hosting residencies, allowing local and international artists to stay and use the space and tools, which include everything from recording equipment to woodworking tools.

For young artists, which Gallagher wants to target, those tools can be inaccessible by barriers like cost and space. R&D gives them that chance to get started. Musician Jack Curran has created music at R&D, sound and performance artist Kyrie Gentilcore worked with audio, video, installation and movement while Pittsburgh generative synthesis technician Morgan Visnesky will hold the next residency.

"It's really hard for outsider/experimental artists to get residency opportunities," Gallagher says. "Sometimes residencies aren't built for that style when it comes to applying - it can be difficult and intimidating, and certain places want certain things. I think we can provide a space for artists to get things done that wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity."

Where art meets science

Born in Massachusetts, Gallagher moved to Ohio in 2009 to attend Oberlin College, where he was the recipient of the 2013 AICUO Excellence in Visual Arts Grand Award. But the path that led him there wasn't so straight-forward. Originally interested in Oberlin's acclaimed electronic music program, he eventually shifted to a focus in studio art when encouraged to pursue the study as an outlet for his creativity. "It immediately clicked," he says.

There, he found mentors in husband-and-wife artists John Pearson and Audra Skuodas.

"They're these old-school minimalists with an unbelievable history in the arts," he says. "They were totally running with all those '70s minimalists. Being a part of that art historical lineage has been really amazing."

It was an intense program, and for someone who hadn't planned to study art, Pearson and Skuodas helped him strike a balance of routine and freedom.

"I started to think of making art as this sort of discipline; a muscle that needs to be worked out," Gallagher recalls. "The more you do it, the easier it gets to train yourself to make things. But John also had this great quote - 'You can't make art. Art is what happens in the pursuit of a visual idea.'

"He would repeat that over and over. That kind of refocuses everything to follow the idea - don't try too hard. Don't force it. For artists in general, and especially young artists, it's easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself to make a masterpiece. John was just saying the masterpiece will come if you chase the ideas and see where they lead you."

It was a mindset that stayed with Gallagher as he eventually married his art with his fascination for the likes of physics and biology, which many of his friends at Oberlin were also majoring in at the time.

Today, his art reflects those observations and, as Gallagher says, research. Gallagher's work tests our ability to draw from and manipulate science, while always recognizing that we play by its rules.

He's attracted to encaustics because he sees them as a magnification tool. When intensively layered, the peaks and valleys of a surface can mimic coral and landscapes. The repetitive forms and patterns are reminiscent of cell division that creates life.

Gallagher says a big part of his work is about "giving up control and letting nature complete the piece." He might draw a grid in ink, then lay the drawing in isopropyl alcohol. When he comes back the next day, the drawing's entirely warped and changed and you can see the fluid travel through the paper. (Video below)

"I'm always trying to get the work to make itself," Gallagher says. "I've found early on, when I intervened too much in the process, I wasn't as happy with the result. I really wanted to find a way to generate stuff based on formulas. I think the unifying factor in the work is I don't preference one medium, I preference a work flow."

Creating soundscapes

Performing under the Machine Listener moniker, Gallagher's 2016 release, "Endless Coil," traversed into glittering, ethereal places with layers of sound. His 2017 album, "Sonar," created environments coaxed from field recordings captured on a ZOOM H4N Pro with minimal post-production.

The two releases couldn't have sounded like they came from more different places, cementing Gallagher as a sonic shape-shifter. Still, both shared his ability to create otherworldly atmospheres, at times abrasive and other times beautiful.

Sometimes his approach is more controlled. Often he plays the guide as the music makes itself. Using an Elektron Octatrack, a popular sampler and sequencer, and FM synthesizers, he sets up instruments to compose through generative formulas - in other words, the programming of mathematical equations. When he goes out for the evening, he'll leave them on with a recorder to create on their own.

"When you just set it up, there's enough random stuff happening that you're naturally going to see these musical gestures and change over time that resemble composition," he says. "It's sort of like trying to mimic the thought processes behind composition but reproduce it mathematically."

Despite being the master behind the programming, it doesn't stop him from being surprised at the outcomes. And as his process evolves, so too does his approach to performing live.

"Some of the synthesis framework I've been setting up, it's kind of been scaring me lately with the sounds they're making," Gallagher says. "It's something I haven't really heard before. There's so much random number generation going on, there will be really big changes in the music and composition without me being there. I facilitate that by setting it up, but I've been blown away by what these instruments are doing in my absence. When I play live, it's almost like I'm a DJ for my equipment. Instead of records, I'm DJing different formulas."

Gallagher's future is opening those doors through experiments - whether testing limits or finding discoveries in the everyday.

"I'm always searching for new forces and properties to conduct exposes on," Gallagher says. "I think it's starting to get to the point where I really want to collaborate with a physicist. I think bouncing ideas off someone with that type of expertise would be really great. I haven't messed too much with electricity. That's like a whole other universe. I think collaborating is the next step in expanding on these bodies of work."CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After nearly two years of serving up grilled cheese donuts in Strongsville, Tom+Chee has closed.

The fast-casual joint at 13359 Pearl Rd. abruptly shuttered its doors over the weekend.

"Effective immediately, we have moved our operation to our Broadview Hts location (4101 E. Royalton Rd.) We apologize for the short notice but good news, this location is straight down Royalton Rd (Rt. 82) less than 10 miles from Strongsville," the franchise wrote on its Facebook page.

When the restaurant opened in September 2016, it was the first Cleveland-area post for the grilled cheese chain made famous by "Shark Tank." Back in 2013, the Cincinnati-based company's owners pitched the concept on the ABC reality show, coming away with an investment from real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran.

The Strongsville location, however, faced plenty of competition in a city in the midst of a fast-casual boom with Pita Pit, Pizza Fire, Hot Head Burritos, CoreLife Eatery, and others all opening around the same time.

"We felt it was most effective for our business to consolidate and work from our Broadview Hts. location at this time," the franchise owners wrote in a direct message to cleveland.com. "We are able to accommodate majority of the Southwest area of Cleveland working out of this location. We thank the Strongsville community for their support!"

The restaurant is known for its design-your-own grilled cheese sandwiches, melts and tomato soup. But it's their sinful grilled cheese donuts that put Tom+Chee on the culinary map.

"Dessert sandwiches is the best way to characterize them," franchise owner Brad Bucci told cleveland.com when the restaurant opened in 2016. "We take a glazed donut, cut it in half, throw it on the flat top and there's different combinations, different dessert sandwiches that we make." The S'more donut, for example, is made with graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow mascarpone.

opened in September 2017 and is located at 4101 East Royalton Road, about six miles from the Strongsville location.INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Menacing, Rockside Road: Police arrested a man at 4:26 a.m. April 23 after receiving a call from a Lyft driver that the man made threats of violence toward her.

According to the driver, the man had fallen asleep in the back of the car when the driver got a flat tire and pulled over. The fare woke up and began yelling and making racial slurs toward the driver. She locked the man out of the car and called police.

The suspect was found at a Denny's restaurant across the street, where he had been kicked out and later detained by a manager after making threats to customers.

Attempted suicide, Interstate 480: Police responded to a call April 22 that a woman had texted a suicidal threat to family members. The woman's car was located on the Interstate 480 bridge and the woman was seen climbing a fence on the bridge wall. An officer grabbed the woman and pulled her to safety and she was taken to a nearby hospital.

Drunken driver, Brecksville Road/Selig Boulevard: A driver was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while impaired at 12:21 a.m. April 22 after witnesses saw the car "continuously bouncing off curbs." The driver refused to get out of the car during the stop and had to be removed by officers. She was arrested after also refusing field sobriety and breath tests.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two men were sent to the hospital Sunday night after being shot just minutes apart in the Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood.

According to police, a man in his 50s was taken to University Hospitals when he was shot in the leg at a Sunoco gas station at about 10:41 p.m. on the corner of Shaker Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

At 10:45 p.m., a second male in his 20s was shot twice in the chest on the 2700 block of MLK Jr. Drive, which is less than a quarter-mile northwest of the location of the first shooting.

The second male also was taken to University Hospitals.

Police did not say if it's believed the shootings are connected. The conditions of the victims were not released.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County prosecutors have served another subpoena on the administration of County Executive Armond Budish, this time reaching into the Department of Development.

The subpoena, received Monday by the county, seeks email communications involving Ted Carter, chief economic development and business officer, and Julie Gresko, a former temporary employee for the county who worked as an administrative assistant to Carter. Gresko left her county job in November of 2016.

Specifically, investigators want to see emails that Carter and Gresko sent to or received from email addresses at "THEPOTOMACCOALITON@GMAIL.COM, RONLESTER711@AOL.COM AND MHDCHI@YAHOO.COM.," according to the subpoena. They also have requested emails associated with the mailboxes of Carter and Gresko that contain "POTOMAC" or "POTOMAC COALITION" as keywords.

The subpoena offers no additional information about The Potomac Coalition, Ron Lester or MHDCHI.

The email address ronLester711@aol.com is listed on the website for a market research company called Lester & Associates that lists an address in Upper Marlboro, Md.

A man answering the phone at Lester & Associates identified himself as Ron Lester. He said he did not know why he would be associated with a subpoena involving Ted Carter.

"I know him from New Jersey," Lester said, "I did not know he was in Cleveland."

Lester said the Potomac Coalition is a nonprofit organization that grew out of the Bill Clinton's 1992 election campaign for president. He said the coalition invites political speakers to its meetings.

Lester said he hasn't participated with the Potomac Coalition, which includes Carter as a member, for many years.

In March, members of the Cuyahoga County Council expressed frustration with some of Budish's top administrators, including Carter, who was hired in January of 2016 at $190,000 a year. Carter began working on issues related to delinquent loans made by the county, but council members grew concerned after Carter was unable to answer questions about the status of more than 200 delinquent loans.

Previously, Carter had been executive director of the Office of Economic Development for Jacksonville, Fla., and before that executive managing director for CBRE Group Inc. of Washington, D.C.

It's not clear from the subpoena why investigators are interested in the emails of Carter and Gresko. Cleveland.com is attempting to reach Carter and Gresko for comment.

Monday's subpoena is the eleventh served on the county by corruption investigators in the Prosecutor's Office. The county acknowledged receiving its first subpoena three months ago in response to a records request from cleveland.com

Also under scrutiny is Scot Rourke, director of the IT Department, who came to work for the county around the same time as Carter. Rourke has been named in prior subpoenas along with Emily McNeeley, who is general counsel for the IT Department and its director of special initiatives.

Prosecutors have sought email communications involving Rourke and McNeeley, as well as information about their access to certain county contracts. Among the companies doing business with the county that have been named in subpoenas are Vox Mobile, a company that Rourke helped start, and Hyland Software, which employs McNeeley's spouse.

The county uses Hyland software to manage its contracting database and recently canceled a contract with Vox Mobile to conduct mobile phone audits.

Rourke and McNeeley are on unpaid leave pending the investigation.

This story was updated at 4:00 p.m. with comments from Ron Lester.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Peoples Bank executive vice president Cindy Crotty is the newest University of Akron trustee.

She'll fill a vacancy that's been open for almost a year, replacing Jennifer Blickle.

Crotty will serve on the board of trustees until 2026. The University of Akron has nine voting members with a variety of responsibilities -- including selecting the university's president. President Matthew Wilson announced he'll step down at the end of July to rejoin UA's School of Law.

Trustees are appointed by Gov. John Kasich with the advice and consent of the state Senate. They do not receive a salary.

"Given her long-standing commitment to community service and her strong financial background, as well as her extensive leadership experience, she will be an excellent addition to our Board," board chairman Roland Bauer said in a press release.

Crotty, a Cleveland Heights resident, is a regional president for the Northeast Ohio market for Peoples Bank, working at its Beachwood office. She spent 14 years working at Citibank and then 20 years at KeyBank, holding senior vice president and executive vice president positions.

She graduated from the University of Georgia and received a Executive Experience Certificate from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management.

Crotty also serves on boards for Hathaway Brown, the Gathering Place, the United Church of Christ Cornerstone Fund, which provides loans for UCC branches, and Beech Brook, a behavioral health agency.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An inmate at the Summit County Jail died as a result of cardiac arrest last year after a fight with deputies inside the jail, officials said Monday.

Anthony Jones

Anthony Jones, 36, died Sept. 2, 2017, at a hospital following a fight with deputies the day before. The Summit County Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy on Jones in February and determined the manner of death to be "undetermined: Cardiac arrest during active restraint while in custody," the Summit County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

The Stark County Prosecutor's Office investigated the death of Jones and cleared jail officials of any criminal wrongdoing in Jones' death.

Investigators said Jones had a history of medical and mental-health issues and suffered from substance abuse. He was hospitalized in Akron General Hospital in 2016 after a series of medical scares.

Jones and two Summit County sheriff's deputies got into a fight inside the jail Friday morning. The deputies suffered minor injuries but Jones was rendered unconscious, authorities have said.

Relatives of Jones told cleveland.com days following his death that officials should be held accountable, and they were frustrated because they didn't know what happened to the father of two.

"I'm feeling very lost right now. I'm feeling bewildered," Jones' fiancee, Brittany Houston said. "I don't have any idea how I'm supposed to feel normal again."

To comment on this post, please visit our crime and courts comments section.NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- Just as school districts nationwide are implementing 21st century learning techniques into curriculum, the same mindset applies to teaching drug awareness and prevention.

Currently, the North Olmsted City School District is working with Rocky River-based Drug Awareness and Prevention Inc. to implement the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) program "Brain Power," which provides age-appropriate materials for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

In an effort to spread awareness of its goals and the current program, the school district held its "Let's Talk to Our Kids about Drugs" presentation May 7 in the North Olmsted High School gym.

"The North Olmsted City School District is committed to educating our youth to prevent substance abuse and to promote the benefits of living a healthy and a drug-free life," Associate Superintendent Anne Pyros said.

"We'll continue to work with our students, parents and greater community to implement future programs."

Drug Awareness and Prevention Inc. Executive Director Nancy E. Pommerening said the idea behind "Brain Power" is to empower and equip students for all situations.

"When we talk about prevention for kids, we basically are looking at risk factors and protective factors," Pommerening said. "One of the greatest protective factors we have for children are parents.

"I like to call parents the anti-drug. The more that we can engage parents in interacting with their children on this topic, the more we get parents and kids talking about this subject. Also, the more we can influence those kids to make smart decisions about future use," she said.

At the recent presentation -- which was Drug Awareness and Prevention Inc.'s first visit to the school district -- Pommerening said parents were given booklets to help them talk to their children about drugs.

"Oftentimes, we as adults and prevention folks go out there and say to parents they need to talk to their kids about drugs, but then we don't give them any information or ways to approach children about this topic," Pommerening said.

"So the purpose of the evening was to give them some information about the trends that are occurring out there and to talk about what would be age-appropriate topics for kids," she said.

Pyros said the district received a positive response from the more than 50 parents who attended the program.

"Parents were pleased to learn how to have constructive conversations with their children about drugs, and that conversations can and should begin at a very young age," Pyros said.

"Educating students beginning in kindergarten on the harmful effects of drugs will assist in preventing drug abuse in the future. Beginning this month in kindergarten, students will be engaged in learning the science behind how drug abuse effects the brain and body," she said.

Pommerening said she's worked with a lot of school districts over the years, but North Olmsted City Schools' approach is unique.

"I've never seen such support from the administration as I see in this district, which is really amazing to me," Pommerening said. "This school system has just been doing a wonderful job of doing their best to protect kids and give them those things they need to make wise decisions when that decision point hits."COLUMBUS, Ohio - The decision of whether to halt a portion of Ohio's nascent medical marijuana program - which the state argues will delay cannabis from getting to sick patients - is now in Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye's hands.

Monday morning, at the end of a two-day hearing, Frye said his decision would come possibly later this week.

The case Frye heard involved Ohio Releaf LLC, which applied for one of 12 large-scale provisional grow licenses. The Ohio Department of Commerce rejected its application in November and Ohio Releaf asked for an administrative hearing to appeal the department's decision. A hearing hasn't occurred, and the company sued the agency, saying it was purposely delaying appeals hearings - which would prevent it from making its case before the department gives certificates of operation to the 12 winning companies.

The 12 winners have opportunities to expand under state rules, which could make it difficult for new companies to get into the medical marijuana cultivation business, Ohio Releaf attorneys argued on Friday and Monday.

Ohio Releaf wants Frye to put the 12 large-scale licenses on hold until appeals hearings happen. The state has put the hearings on hold because an error was revealed in scoring. The commerce department hired Ernst and Young to review its scoring, and agency officials said hearings will resume once the review is done.

State attorney Heather Stutz argued that by putting the 12 large-scale cultivator licenses on hold, the medical marijuana program will come to a standstill. The 12 small-scale cultivators, who will not be affected by the case, cannot produce enough to meet state estimates of patient demand.

Cincinnati patient advocate Nicole Scholten, whose daughter has drug-resistant epilepsy and experiences upwards of 300 seizures a day, testified Friday she doesn't want Frye to put the 12 licenses on hold.

"A solution that does not put patients as a priority is unacceptable," she said. "No to a halt -- or a pause."

Ohio Releaf attorney Jeff Lipps argued that even if the 12 licenses are not halted, marijuana won't be ready by Sept. 8, when the program is supposed to be fully operational. And the department hasn't granted dispensary licenses yet.

New jobs up in air

Buckeye Relief, which won a large-scale provisional license, has a 60,000 square-foot building under construction, CEO Scott Halloran testified Monday morning.

It has spent $10 million and will spend another $2.5 million to $5 million to become operational by the end of July, he said.

If Buckeye Relief's license is put on hold, 50 to 75 construction workers - most who are represented by labor unions - will be sent home. The company would have to spend $50,000 to $75,000 a month to secure the building and pause its operations, Halloran said.

Buckeye has 12 employees and by the end of the year could have as many as 65. If its license is suspended, Halloran said he will try hard to keep people on staff. But he can't guarantee it.

"We had a number of people relocated from across the country," he said.

Ohio Releaf's attorneys, however, have said their investment and potential employment is also at stake until it can get an appeal. Ohio Releaf CEO Randall Smith testified Friday that he's invested a half million dollars in his rejected application.

Even when hearings resume, Ohio Releaf's may not occur for about 11 months, as it is the 57th on the list.

'Fatal flaws'

Stutz, the state's attorney, said Friday that even if Releaf gets an appeal, there were three fatal flaws in its application so glaring that a new score won't be high enough to put it in the running for a license.

On Monday, commerce department official Mark Nye testified the company scored poorly in the quality assurance, security and financial plan categories.

Throughout the hearing, Lipps argued that the people who scored the applications were looking for a level of detail that was never communicated to Ohio Releaf.

Two-thirds of applicants were disqualified, which is higher than other states, which usually disqualify around 2.5 percent to 5 percent of applicants, Smith testified Friday.

The judge asked Justin Hunt, former COO of the medical marijuana program who is transitioning to another state job, why that was.

"Was there any feedback given by the scoring team?" Frye asked.

Hunt replied that under Ohio rules, applications that didn't reach a minimum score were immediately disqualified. Maybe in other states low scores were kept in the running for licenses, Hunt said.

Hunt said that the Ohio Department of Taxation reviewed applications before the commerce department announced the winners, and found issues with eight of the 12 winning companies.

"That's a staggering number," Frye said.

Nevertheless, the commerce department awarded licenses to the companies.

Attorney Brian Laliberte, representing Buckeye Relief, noted that with an owner with a small stake in the comapny had a tax compliance issue. But it was resolved by the time the state awarded the license, he said.

If Ohio Releaf can soon get an appeal hearing, a hearing examiner can only make a recommendation. Then it would be up to the department to potentially offer Releaf a remedy, commerce official Mark Hamlin testified Friday.

That could potentially mean granting a 13th provisional license, he said.

Lipps then asked whether an additional license would create a problem in which all appealing companies could be given licenses on later consideration. Hamlin said such a scenario was highly unlikely.

Destroyed department notes

Lipps, Releaf's attorney, uncovered that at least one application scorer - commerce department official Mark Nye -- tossed his notes after the department announced the winner.

"So you had notes that were generated during the course of the evaluation process," Lipps said. "Is that fair?"

"I did, yes," Nye said.

Then the judge began questioning Nye.

"Were you encouraged to get rid of them?" Frye asked.

"I'm not sure I'd say I was encouraged to get rid of them, no," he replied.

The judge then asked, "Well, were you aware there was the possibility that any unsuccessful applicant would appeal in a 119 administrative hearing?" Frye asked

"I was aware of that," Nye said.

Frye asked Nye if he was aware that he could be called to testify in an appeals hearing, and Nye said he was.

"How were you going to testify from memory about 109 unsuccessful applicants if you didn't keep your notes?" Frye asked.

"I wouldn't testify from memory," Nye said, saying he would look at score sheets and other application documents.

"But that could vary from reality as time passed," Frye said. "And as you had to testify on as many as 109 hearings, you might not remember (details about some companies' scores in different sections of the application.) Isn't that true?"PARMA, Ohio -- Authorities have identified a 1-year-old boy who died shortly after his father turned himself in Saturday at a Parma police station.

Nicholas L. Shorter, of Euclid, died Saturday after paramedics took him to University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said.

The medical examiner called his death a suspected homicide, but has not released details of what killed the child. Investigators have not released any additional details.

The boy's father was arrested Saturday but has not been charged with a crime, Parma police said in a news release.

The 41-year-old had lacerations on his arms when he walked in to the Parma Police Department late Saturday and said he wanted to "turn himself in for a crime," police said.

Officers found Nicholas unresponsive in the trunk of the man's car, in the parking lot outside the police department. Paramedics took him to the hospital, where he was treated before he died, the medical examiner's office said.

The father was also taken to the hospital for treatment. He remained there Sunday under armed guard, police said.

To comment on this story, visit Monday's crime and courts comments page.PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio -- With Memorial Day just around the corner, Parma Heights Historical Society members are busy honoring veterans buried at the Parma Heights Cemetery.

"The cemetery dates back to the 1800s," said Historical Society President Barb Pacino, a 1954 Parma Senior High School graduate. "We're making cement blocks with a gold plaque that says 'Veteran.' We already have about 12 done and hope to get all 65 or 70 veteran graves completed by September."

Veterans dating back to the Revolutionary War are buried at Parma Heights Cemetery. The dozen or so members of the Historical Society are reviewing and researching cemetery records, which Pacino said weren't kept up to date.

"It's just something we felt would be nice for the community," Pacino said. "When funding became available through some donations, we talked about adding the markers. Our future plans through donations would be to fix a lot of the gravestones that have sunk at an angle."

Historical Society member Robert Stilwell said each veteran marker costs roughly $10 and includes a three-inch-by-five-inch weather-durable display.

"The majority of the labor has been done by Aldo Melagrano, secretary of the Historical Society and past president and treasurer," Stillwell said. "He's been a longstanding member since 2008, when the group was reactivated after being idle for seven years."

As a lifelong resident of Parma Heights, Pacino is dedicated to her hometown. Her father, Robert Turner, was the first full-time firefighter employed by the city. In fact, she's soon going to donate an axe presented to him at retirement to the Historical Society.

"Right now we're looking for new members to join the Parma Heights Historical Society," Pacino said.

For more information, call 440-885-9767.Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

Market Scenario:

Head-up displays are display units that allow users to view from their own focus angle. These display units project information onto the front glass of the vehicle/aircraft and fit it permanently into the drivers field of vision. As these displays are fit into the drivers field of vision, there are very low chances of occurrence of accidents due to increased safety with all attention towards the traffic.

The driving factors for Head-Up Display Market include advancement of technology in military and aviation sector. The increase in growth of passenger traffic has led to increase in demand of head-up displays in civil aviation sector. The increasing demand for headup displays in order to improve the consumer experience in vehicle/aircraft to ensure safety is also one of the major driving factor for growth of head-up displays in the market. The advantage of using these displays is that it saves time for people who spend their time looking around the car for their cell phones or any other work. One of the major drawback of using head-up displays is that the light efficiency is low due to complex structure of optical system provided in head-up displays

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The head-up display market is segmented on the basis of type, component and application. The type segment consists of fixed-mounted and helmet-mounted head-up displays. The component segment consists of combiner, video-generator and projector unit. The application segment consists of automotive industry, military and civil aviation sector. By type segment, fixed-mounted head-up displays are the displays where the driver looks through the image displayed which is mounted on the glass of aircraft/vehicle. These displays are mostly used in aircraft and motor vehicles. The size and weight of this type of display system is more than any other head-up display type.

The Head-Up Display Market is expected to grow at USD ~11 Billion by 2022, at ~24% of CAGR between 2016 and 2022.

Key Players:

Penny AB (Sweden)

Hudway (U.S.)

Robert Bosch GMBH (Germany)

Yazaki Corporation (Japan)

Denso Corporation (Japan)

Esterline Technologies Corporation (U.S.)

Micro Vision Inc. (U.S.)

Saab Automobile AB (Sweden)

Visteon Corporation (U.S.)

Honeywell Aerospace (U.S.)

BAE Systems Inc. (U.K.)

Continental AG (Germany)

Nippon Seiki Co. Ltd (Japan)

Segments:

Head-up display market is segmented on the basis of type, component and application.

Head-Up Display Market by Type:

Fixed-mounted

Helmet-mounted

Head-Up Display Market by Component:

Combiner

Video-generator

Projector unit

Head-Up Display Market by Application:

Automotive industry Luxury/Premium cars Sports cars Mid-segment cars

Military and civil aviation sector

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Regional Analysis:

The regional analysis of head-up display market is being studied for region such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. North America is estimated to acquire largest market share in this market because of increasing awareness about the safety systems to be installed in automobile and aircraft systems. Europe is expected to be second largest region due to the increasing demand of luxury or premium cars and SUVs equipped with head-up display systems.

Intended Audience

Automobile manufacturers

Aircraft manufacturers

Head-Up display manufacturers

Original equipment manufacturers

End-users

Industry investors

Study Objectives of Head-Up Display Market:

To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the head-up display market.

To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth.

To analyze the head-up display market based porters five force analysis etc.

To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW).

To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective.

To provide country level analysis of the market for segment on the basis of type, component and application.

To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market.

To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the head-up display market.

Table of Contents

1 Market Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Scope of Study

1.2.1 Research Objective

1.2.2 Assumptions

1.2.3 Limitations

1.3 Market Structure

2 Research Methodology

2.1 Research Network Solution

2.2 Primary Research

2.3 Secondary Research

2.4 Forecast Model

2.4.1 Market Data Collection, Analysis & Forecast

2.4.2 Market Size Estimation

3 Market Dynamics

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Market Drivers

3.3 Market Challenges

3.4 Market Opportunities

3.5 Market Restraints

Continues...

List of Tables

Table 1 Head-Up Display Market, By Type

Table 2 Head-Up Display Market, By Component

Table 3 Head-Up Display Market, By Application

Table 4 Head-Up Display Market, By Regions

Table 5 North America Head-Up Display Market, By Type

Continues...

List of Figures

Figure 1 Research Type

Figure 2 Head-Up Display Market: By Type (%)

Figure 3 Head-Up Display Market: By Component (%)

Figure 4 Head-Up Display Market: By Application (%)

Figure 5 Head-Up Display Market: By Region (%)

Continues...

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Mail: sales@marketresearchfuture.comSANTA MONICA, California, May 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A powerful emotional work of cinematic art a Paz De La Huerta a writes, directs, produces and plays the lead in this haunting and searing exploration of downfall and redemption. In a modern retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Red Shoes," a young woman summons the will to rise above the seemingly overwhelming adversities imposed upon her. The scene filming of this full length motion picture is 90% completed. Assembled gradually over 12 years with the majority of the filming in 2011 and 2015. In a modern retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's harsh 19th century fairy tale "The Red Shoes" (https://fairytalez.com/the-red-shoes/) De La Huerta pushes the edges of the envelope of cinematic art. The result is an absorbing intense emotional experience for the film's viewers that provides a powerful and immediate impact. Filmed in a sweeping poetic visual vernacular a the film recognizes the parallels of Anderson's unsettling storytelling in a setting that shifts between the harshly realistic and mystical, between imagined and felt. In the original fairy tale, a young girl comes to live with an ailing old woman who starts the tale in motion by taking the girl to get new shoes for communion. In an act of pride and disobedience, the girl manages to get a pair of beautiful red shoes a when only white shoes should be worn to church.A At church the shoes seem to be forcing her to dance and at first are difficult to remove.A A Some time later, she decides to abandon her evening's duty attending to the old woman, and to instead attend a ball in the red shoes. This time they force her to dance but cannot be removed. The shoes force her to dance for days, drawing her through the woods where she is scraped and cut a being caught in this torment as the old woman dies unattended. In desperation and facing death herself, she asks an executioner to cut off her feet to allow her to escape the spell. Only then, - on wooden feet and with crutches a can she return to the church to seek redemption for her sins. The story is the basis for aA 1948 Oscar winning filmA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(1948_film)A ) and the source forA aA recent ballet (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-red-shoes-becomes-a-ballet) In De La Huerta's retelling, however, the story takes an even darker turn. As a price for cutting off her feet, the butcher demands to take her virginity and she is unable to resist his assault. Exploring coercion, examining the balance of suffering when a woman faces a horrible demand from a man who has the power of control over her fate, De La Huerta finds a path to create this mesmerizing exploration of human anguish and survival.A The film is more than 90% complete as to filming. One final scene remains to be filmed a a birth - possiblyA the product of her encounter with the demonic butcher. Editing and final production remain to be completed as well.A De La Huerta a through her production company Paz De La Huerta Inc, and in conjunction with Victoria, Texas filmmaker and ProducerA Anthony Pedone, seeks to raise $500,000 to complete the film and seek arrangements for distribution.A The crowdfunding is via the Indiegogo platform: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/paz-de-la-huerta-s-valley-of-tears-film-project-drama Expenses are for the large number of performers in the final scenes, for costumes, travel to film in France where the costumes and wardrobe are to be made, special effects and other elements of production. The funds will also cover editing, sound production as well as expenses of seeking further development including an effort to show the film at Cannes and Sundance. The company plans a crowdfunding effort to reach the planned budget, although equity investing may be considered as well. Sincerely, Paz De La HuertaA A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

Aaron Filler, Esq.





Producer a DirectorA A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

Tensor Law PC





President & CEO: Paz De La Huerta, Inc.

V.P.aPaz De La Huerta, Inc A A A A A Video -A https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690597/VALLEY_OF_TEARS_TRAILER_1.mp4A

Photo -A https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690596/Wings2.jpgA

Photo -A https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690601/Paz_De_La_Huerta___movie.jpgOh look, its David Miliband coming to our rescue. Today, at the Tilda rice mill in Essex, the former Labour foreign secretary is to launch a campaign to stop what he calls hard Brexit.

This marks Milibands return to the British political scene, after he stomped off when his younger brother Ed beat him to the Labour leadership in 2010. Since then he has been in New York as the President of the aid charity the International Rescue Committee: he clearly thinks we in the UK now need his help.

He will be joined in this venture by the former leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Nick Clegg and the Conservative MP (sacked as education secretary by Theresa May) Nicky Morgan.

This marks Milibands return to the British political scene, after he stomped off when his younger brother Ed beat him to the Labour leadership in 2010. Pictured: David Miliband speaks at the Concordia Annual Summit at Grand Hyatt, New York

These three declare that when it comes to putting our country before our political parties, in the debate about Brexit we are unequivocally united. How nauseatingly self-admiring is this claim of putting our country before our parties  as if those who support Brexit do not.

Disloyal

Indeed, when it came to the referendum of 2016, it was the leaders of the Leave campaign who put their careers within their parties at greatest risk. David Cameron made it clear to Michael Gove  when his then colleague said he would campaign for Brexit  that this was unforgivably disloyal, both to him personally and to the interests of the Conservatives.

Less morally robust Eurosceptic Conservative ministers sided with the Remain campaign purely on grounds of loyalty to their party boss (and in the belief that they would be on the winning side and rewarded by David Cameron).

On the Labour side, too, Gisela Stuart  who co-headed the Leave campaign  was subjected to vile abuse in the corridors of the House of Commons by fellow Labour MPs who regarded her as a traitor to the party (which, at least in parliamentary terms, was overwhelmingly pro-Remain).

It then came as a huge shock to them just how many of their constituents disagreed with them: the most adamantly pro-Brexit constituencies were in the Labour heartlands. Few more so than South Shields, David Milibands old seat. That corner of the nation split by 62 per cent to 38 per cent in favour of Brexit.

So when Miliband grandly instructs MPs to set aside party loyalties and place their constituents at the forefront of their minds, I wonder if he has ever considered what his former constituents might think about that.

Nick Clegg and Nicky Morgan should also be reminded that, on a constituency basis, twice as many seats voted Leave as did Remain

Tactless

In fact  since Clegg and Morgan also signed their names to this  its worth reminding them, too, that, on a constituency basis, twice as many seats voted Leave as did Remain. What these three think  but try not to say too tactlessly  is that their Leave-voting constituents didnt know what they were doing.

This is why Miliband, Clegg and Morgan go on about what they always call hard Brexit; as if this is not the same as the Brexit for which the people voted.

In fact the word hard is just being used as a synonym for bad: and bad  as linguistic philosophers have long pointed out  is the word we use to mean something we dont like. And these three sure dont like Brexit.

They say that they will urge MPs to reject completely the siren calls to sever the UKs deep economic ties with the EU. What on earth are they talking about? Theresa May has called for a deep and special partnership with the EU and it is almost certain that we will end up in a comprehensive free trade deal with not a single tariff between us and them.

Confused

Judging by the previews, the Miliband/Clegg/Morgan manifesto in no way makes clear what they actually want (as an alternative to so-called hard Brexit). Remain in a customs union with the EU? Or still members of the Single Market? Or both? We are not given a clue.

Still, the official opposition is scarcely less confused or confusing. Last week, Jeremy Corbyn rejected the idea of remaining in the European Economic Area (which is what Miliband/Clegg/Morgan want but dont say) on the grounds that to remain in the Single Market while not an EU member means the UK would be left as rule-takers not rule-makers.

Yet Corbyns position is that the UK should remain part of a customs union with the EU. That means we would be obliged to mimic all the EUs tariff arrangements with the wider world, but with zero say in them and no ability to negotiate our own trade deals. If that isnt being left as rule-takers not rule makers, I dont know what is.

Corbyn will be deeply irritated by Milibands return to these shores, since the former foreign secretary is seen by bereft Blairites as the great hope for a new centre party, now that Labour is in the grip of the hard Left.

But I am sure he could not be as irritated as voters who have not the slightest desire for the head of International Rescue to save them from Brexit.

One bet the gambling lobby must lose

It is long past time for the Government to have announced the result of its review into the addictive and pernicious high-street electronic roulette known as fixed-odds betting terminals.

The Culture, Media And Sport Secretary Matt Hancock had finally overridden the Treasurys objections (it had been worried about the loss of tax revenues from a decline in such gambling) and was planning to declare that the maximum stake should be reduced from 100 to 2.

But a last-ditch objection from the Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has intervened, holding things up. It is a mystery why Ms McVey should wish to continue the vast losses endured above all by those on the benefits her department pays out.

She happens to be a close friend of fellow Conservative MP Philip Davies, who was a bookmaker before entering parliament, and who still has cosy links with the gaming industry: such a connection ought to alarm rather than impress the PM, when she finally decides this matter.

Matt Hancock had finally overridden the Treasurys objections and was planning to declare the maximum stake should be reduced from 100 to 2

Doubtless McVey has continued to advance the claim of the High Street bookmakers  whose lobbying influence was described to me as fearsome by a Conservative MP battling them at Cabinet level  that such a reduction would automatically put 40,000 jobs and 8,000 shops at risk.

Yes, it would almost certainly reduce jobs in that industry  and (which is the reason for the lobbying) would definitely reduce the profitability of firms such as William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral.

But if less money were spent on their immiserating machines of impoverishment, it would not just disappear into the ether: it would be spent on other goods and services. Perhaps  who knows?  even on food and clothing for the children whose lives have been blighted by their parents gambling habits.

And thats the cost which the Treasury has perhaps factored into its calculations: it may lose immediate tax revenues if the gambling industry is hit, but this form of addiction is increasingly the cause of health problems and family break-up  both of which add considerably to the Exchequers burden.

If the vicars daughter, Theresa May, doesnt appreciate this, she is not the woman her admirers portray.A woman who tried to recreate the vacation pictures of some of Instagram's biggest influencers, has revealed being Insta-famous is much harder than it looks.

Writing for Cosmopolitan, Ashley Mateo, 32, traveled to the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, about two hours outside of Belize City to construct her artfully posed shots.

And while she shared that she loves photography and loves to travel, the experiment gave her 'a whole new appreciation for how these social-media stars live  and work, because make no mistake, Instagram influencing is a job'.

Copy cat: Travel writer Ashley Mateo has written about her attempt to recreate the vacation pictures of some of Instagram's biggest influencers

Inspiration: As Ashley was staying at the same hotel influencer Lindsey Calla had visited, she used Lindsey's pool shot (pictured) as her first example

Harder than it looks: Ashley's attempt at Lindsey's shot took two days as she had to abandon her first shoot because the lighting wasn't right

As wellness influencer Lindsey Calla had stayed at the same resort as Ashley last year, she decided to try and copy a shot the influencer had taken in the hotel's pool.

'I figured this would be the easiest photo to recreate. All I needed to do was float in the pool and have someone snap a pic, right? Nope.'

Enlisting the help of her friend Ben, he stood on a balcony to try and take pictures of Ashley attempting to float in the pool.

'I thought we nailed it but was crushed when I saw the shots  they were way too dark,' she wrote. 'Where were the sparkles on the surface of the water? Why did I look so stiff? Why was this so hard?'

The pair then waited until the next day to try and nab more sunlight at noon and after 'a lot of attempts', Ashley finally got the shot she wanted 'in which I didn't look like a floating mannequin'.

However, the shot still wasn't Insgtagram-worthy at that point, and she spent another hour editing the lighting in her room before posing it to her account.

Next up, Ashley decided to pose as Instagram star Hike Up You Skirt and headed to Cahal Beach, one of the most photographed Mayan sites in Belize.

'I had seen a photo of it on freelance photographer and outdoor enthusiast Hike Up Your Skirt's Instagram feed, and I knew I wanted to recreate the moody, mysterious vibe she captured while exploring the complex's ancient temples and palaces,' she detailed.

And although she shared that it was 'the easiest' to take as all she had to do was hold her position on some steps, it took two people to 'art direct' the scenario, and her calves hurt from repeatedly moving left to right on the crumbling ruin.

However, the final result still wasn't perfect as Ashley shared that the lighting was off so she spent an hour on YouTube later that day trying to figure out how to use Lightroom so she could make the colors in the photo more saturated and make it less blown-out from the sun.

'It came out OK,' Ashley concluded.

However, her last attempt proved to be her most ambitious as Ashley tried to copy another shot by Lindsey Calla, this time featuring an iguana perched on her head.

As her hotel is home to the Green Iguana Conservation Project, Ashley was able to access a real-life lizard with ease.

Casual: For her next shot, Ashley decided to try and recreate a shot originally taken by influencer Hike Up Your Skirt at some Mayan ruins near Cahal Beach

Trying her best: Although Ashley found this shot the easiest of the three, she said her legs started cramping as she had to hold her position on the crumbling steps

Animal instinct: Ashley picked this shot by Lindsey Calla, featuring an iguana perched on her head

Fame: Ashley's attempt with an iguana named Kim K didn't go off without a hitch and this picture took over 100 shots to get right

Take away: And at the end of her experiment, Ashley concluded that it had made her hyper-aware of how 'different' she is from people who are paid to take photos of themselves

However, the photoshoot didn't not go off without a hitch and she shared that she took about 100 shots to try and get the perfect one.

'The iguana's name was Kim K, which felt appropriate, because she certainly knew how to pose. It was my fault for not giving her the right platform,' she explained.

'I'm not a model; I like most of my pictures taken from far away, with more of a focus on what I'm doing rather than on me. I guess it came out fine. There aren't any shadows on my face, and the iguana contrasts nicely with my hat.

'But looking at the photo makes me a little cringe-y, mostly because of how close-up it is. I was totally self-conscious taking it and I'm still self-conscious about it being on my feed,' she added.

And at the end of her experiment, Ashley concluded that it had made her hyper-aware of how 'different' she is from people who are paid to take photos of themselves.

'Taking and and posting photos to Instagram is hard work. Not only do you have to look the part, you need to have an eye for photography, really know how to use a camera, and have the editing skills to make your pictures pop.'

She also revealed that she had spent more time 'stressing' about whether she had taken the perfect shot than she did relaxing and enjoying her beautiful surroundings, and she only started to enjoy herself when she got her shots.

'So perhaps the real challenge isn't snapping the perfect 'gram  maybe it's about learning how not to experience a place through my phone and actually stay in the moment.'A dry mouth, a splitting headache and the urge to vomit are just some of the symptoms of a hangover which result in people trying to find a miracle cure.

If you're in need of a quick fix, then medical nutritionist Dr Sarah Brewer has ranked the best hangover foods from around the world.

Dr Brewer rated the cures by nutritional value and assessed the likelihood of them relieving your dry fuzzy mouth and banging headache.

Australians will be happy to know that their favourite dish, Vegemite on toast, has taken the number one spot.

A dry mouth, a splitting headache and the urge to vomit are just some of the symptoms of a hangover which results in people trying to find a miracle cure

'Australia's Vegemite on toast is top of our list for best hangover cures proving that the simpler, the better,' she said.

'Vegemite is full of salt and B vitamins - things that need replenishing as they are used up quickly when the body processes alcohol.'

It's no surprise that the trusty favourite took one spot as it contains the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin and niacin and is also a source of folate.

Just a 5 gram serve of the spread provides a quarter of your recommended daily intake, or about 17 per cent if you're pregnant.

Australians will be happy to know that their favourite dish, Vegemite on toast, has taken the number one spot

The international food that took out second place is a bowl of cassoulet from France

You'll also get a good dose of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and selenium, which are known to help keep the skin and eyes healthy.

Dr Sarah Brewer has ranked the best foods

The vitamins also improve cell health, boost the digestive system and keep your nerves in check.

Dr Brewer recommends spreading it on seeded bread with some grilled cheese on top, as the cheese helps increase your intake of protein and calcium.

The international food that took out second place is a bowl of cassoulet from France.

''J'ai la gueule de bois', which translates to 'I've got a wooden mouth' is how the French exclaim their sorry state the next day,' Dr Brewer said.

'What's their saving grace then for a dry mouth? Their labour of love, the cassoulet, of course.'

'Alcohol is a diuretic which flushes water and electrolytes from the body. By replenishing these you rehydrate quicker,' Dr Brewer said

HEALTH BENEFITS OF VEGEMITE - Researchers out of Victoria University found people who eat yeast-based spreads  such as Vegemite  have lower levels of stress and anxiety, compared to those who don't. - York University psychologists found that eating Marmite could help boost brain activity and help fight dementia. The same could go for Vegemite thanks to the similar ingredients. Advertisement

The dish is a rich, slow-cooked casserole that contains meat, pork skin and white beans.

'The cassoulet is full of protein, which is digested to release amino acids, replenishing stocks used up by the liver in metabolising and detoxifying alcohol,' she said.

'Alcohol is a diuretic which flushes water and electrolytes from the body. By replenishing these you rehydrate quicker.'

Third spot goes to the favourite dish of Canada, which is poutine, a meal made up of chips, cheese curd and gravy.

Third place was Canada's poutine, which contains chips, cheese curd and gravy and fourth spot went to churros and chocolate sauce, the Spanish remedy

THE WORLD'S TOP HANGOVER CURES 1. Australia's Vegemite and grilled cheese 2. The French hearty cassoulet 3. Canada's poutine: chips, cheese curd and gravy 4. Churros and chocolate sauce: the Spanish remedy 5. Turkey's protein-filled tripe soup 6. America's cocktail of egg and Tabasco: The Prairie Oyster 7. Germany's Katerfruhstuck: raw pickled herring and gherkins 8. Japanese umeboshi: salty pickled plums and green tea 9. Argentina's fernet 10. Sicily's dried bull penis Source: Dealchecker Advertisement

'Why does it make the cut? Well, excess alcohol causes our glucose levels to dip during the night and morning as the liver is too busy metabolising alcohol,' Dr Brewer said.

'Luckily the potatoes provide plenty of comforting carbohydrates as a quick source of energy.

'Cheese curds provide protein and electrolytes, while the gravy provides fluid, electrolytes, and some vitamin B.'

Chocolate lovers would be happy to know that fourth place goes to churros and chocolate from Spain.

'You'll be glad to hear that we recommend serving your churros with plenty of dark chocolate sauce, and this is very likely to bring you back to normality,' she said.

'A good source carbohydrate. Dark chocolate sauce is full of antioxidant polyphenols, helping protect the liver and mop up harmful chemicals released during the metabolism of alcohol.'Rhys Greedy, like many hardworking paramedics, was at work on Sunday while the rest of the nation was celebrating Mother's Day.

But instead of complaining about his shift pattern, the 30-year-old from Queensland's Ambulance Service was taking photos with a lovable border collie puppy that was at the station that day.

'Dogs at work, life doesn't get any better,' he captioned a photo of himself and the dog - innocently sharing it to Facebook.

Rhys Greedy, like many hardworking paramedics, was at work on Sunday while the rest of the nation was celebrating Mother's Day (pictured with 12-week-old Benji)

Within minutes the photo went viral - with 8,000 likes and counting - and hundreds of women were commenting below with a number of saucy lines like 'oops I think I just broke my arm' and 'I'll need resuscitating after this'.

Rhys, who uploaded the picture just over 10 hours ago, was extremely surprised by the attention.

But Rhys, who uploaded the picture just over 10 hours ago, was extremely surprised by the attention (pictured at the Queensland Ambulance Service station)

'I was a little bit shocked to wake up this morning and see the reaction. Last time I put a photo up in that Cool Dog group it received about 40 likes,' he told FEMAIL

'I was a little bit shocked to wake up this morning and see the reaction. Last time I put a photo up in that Cool Dog group it received about 40 likes,' he told FEMAIL.

The 12-week-old border collie named Benji belongs to one of his co-workers and was brought down to the station before work began.

'I didn't get a chance to read all the comments under the photo but there were some amusing ones in there,' he continued.

'I think a colleague commenting on it saying there would be an increased number of phone calls from people thinking a puppy was going to arrive in an ambulance made me laugh the most.'

The 12-week-old border collie named Benji belongs to one of his co-workers and was brought down to the station before work began

Rhys describes himself as a 'very outdoorsy person' who enjoys 'the beach, mountains or anything that involves some spontaneous adventure out in nature'

Rhys describes himself as a 'very outdoorsy person' who enjoys 'the beach, mountains or anything that involves some spontaneous adventure out in nature'.

He regularly posts photos of trails he has walked and hardcore gym sessions, even trying out some intricate yoga moves in his spare time.

'The past four years I've played a part in organising and running some fundraising campaigns, coinciding with heading overseas and taking part in a trek or mountain climb.

'The past four years I've played a part in organising and running some fundraising campaigns, coinciding with heading overseas and taking part in a trek or mountain climb,' he said

But despite his busy personal schedule, Rhys spends much of his time working as a paramedic, a job he has been doing for 18 months now

'Up until this point, it's been about $60,000 raised for local charities and hospitals, with trips to Nepal (twice), the French alps, Mount Kilimanjaro in Arica and Ecuador.

'My next one is an attempt to run the Kokoda trail in Papua New Guinea in four weeks time, again raising money for the cardiac ward up at the new Sunshine Coast hospital.'

But despite his busy personal schedule, Rhys spends much of his time working as a paramedic, a job he has been doing for 18 months now.

'I absolutely love it. With a military background I was keen to stay in a job which is vastly different every day, keeps you on your toes, and an amazing opportunity to be able to help complete strangers,' he said

And while many of his newfound fans might be interested to know whether Rhy is single, sadly, the answer is no (Rhys pictured left)

'Not single, although only fairly recent. I'm very happy,' he explained

'I absolutely love it. With a military background I was keen to stay in a job which is vastly different every day, keeps you on your toes, and an amazing opportunity to be able to help complete strangers.

'For me it's the most fulfilling career there is.'

And while many of his newfound fans might be interested to know whether Rhy is single, the answer is no.

'Not single, although only fairly recent. I'm very happy,' he explained.Runways across the globe have been criticised in recent years for the inclusion of very thin models - with some suggesting it doesn't give a well rounded scope of the average female customer.

But there were no complaints at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week this morning, with a bevy of curvaceous women gracing the stage in a selection of old world and cheeky styles.

'It was so refreshing to see some bums on the runway,' model Nikki Phillips commented to The Daily Telegraph after viewing each collection.

But there were no complaints at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week this morning, with a bevy of curvaceous women gracing the stage in a selection of old world and cheeky styles (Bree Warren pictured)

Pam Pam swim, Camp Cove, Fella and Duskii swim chose to send Amazonian figures, shorter women, those with cellulite and those without down the catwalk (Bree Warren pictured)

Pam Pam swim, Camp Cove, Fella and Duskii swim chose to send Amazonian figures, shorter women, those with cellulite and those without down the catwalk.

Model Bree Warren, who was one of many to star in this morning's fashionable array, is very excited about the changing industry.

While as a teenager in Australia Bree struggled to catch the break in modelling she so desired, it wasn't until she went on holiday to New York that her fortunes changed.

Working it! A selection of different swimsuits were shown at this morning's fashion event

Hips and curves were in: 'It was so refreshing to see some bums on the runway,' model Nikki Phillips commented to The Daily Telegraph after viewing each collection

'I was scouted a few times as a teenager but I never did much with it because I just wasn't the right size,' she told FEMAIL.

'I think even then it was pretty clear that I was never going to have that super-tiny model frame. I had hips and a booty even in high school.

'While I was at university, I went on a mid-semester holiday to New York with my sister,' she continued.

The models were glowing as they pounced down the catwalk in a variety of styles

Shake it! Girls were flaunting their bootys as they strutted in the latest wears (pictured)

Bree Warren's day on a plate BREAKFAST: Either eggs, avocado on toast or bulletproof coffee - coffee with butter and MCT oil. LUNCH: Protein, vegetables and carbs - perhaps either sushi or a chicken grain bowl. DINNER: Pasta or stirfry with plenty of vegetables in it. Bree is particularly fond of broccoli, zucchini and spinach. MANTRA: Not too much sugar, fresh produce where possible and lots of cooking from home. Everything in moderation. Advertisement

While there, she signed a 'plus-size contract with a major industry'.

'Models are being booked because they're amazing, not because of the measurements on their card,' she said.

Another of the show's models, Ellie Gonsalves, told The Daily Telegraph she hadn't always been a campaign's first choice.

'I was turned down by a lot of places because I wasn't a typical runway girl,' the 27-year-old, who walked in the MBWFA showcase Fella, said.

'But there's not one way you should look like, and I think the industry is starting to see that.'

That isn't to say that naturally thin women can't be featured on the runway as well, with Australian model Genevieve Barker speaking out about 'skinny shaming' in 2015.

At the time a black-and-white beach photo of Genevieve was posted on photographer Brydie Mack's Instagram page, and was met with a flood of harsh comments slamming her frame and suggesting she was too thin.

Another of the show's models, Ellie Gonsalves (pictured), told The Daily Telegraph she hadn't always been a campaign's first choice

Hello hot stuff! The girls were all kinds of shapes and sizes, a refreshing difference to the usual one 'type' or look

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Genevieve said there seems to be a double standard as to what is socially acceptable criticism of women's bodies.

'I see articles all the time condemning "fat shamers" and how appalling it is that a woman should ever call another woman "too big",' Barker said.

'However it is seen as empowering, and speaking out for "real women" if people comment "too thin" "eat something" "gaunt" "disgusting" about thin women. I am thin, I AM a real woman!'

Swimwear styles have changed over the years, with more variety walking down the runway than ever before (previous years pictured)

And with agents booking a larger variety of models, it's only benefiting the consumers hoping to wear these suits on Bondi Beach come summertime

Swimwear styles have changed over the years, with more variety walking down the runway than ever before.

And with agents booking a larger variety of models, it's only benefiting the consumers hoping to wear these suits on Bondi Beach come summertime.

The high-waisted bikini style of bottom was a huge hit this season, with more 'covered up' styles weaved into the sea of Brazillian cuts.Using charcoal to whiten your teeth is the fad that just won't go away thanks to the fact that it promises to provide a movie star smile.

Some of the world's most influential stars swear by using the product but there are now claims that it could cause cancer.

Websites selling charcoal powder state that it is an ideal way to remove toxins, whiten your teeth and stop bad breath, but an Auckland cosmetic dentist, Dr Clarence Tam, doesn't believe these claims.

Using charcoal to whiten your teeth is the fad that just won't go away thanks to the fact that it promises to provide a movie star smile

'The risks outweigh the benefits in my opinion,' she told the New Zealand Herald.

Activated charcoal is an oxidised black powder often made from coconut shell particles that many believe removes external stains from your teeth without the toxic chemical ingredients used in commercial tooth whitening.

Some critics of activated charcoal say if burnt food is bad to eat, then how can charcoal be any better for you.

The United States Centre for Disease Control has warned it was highly likely that inhaling large amounts of activated carbon powder could cause cancer.

Some critics of activated charcoal say if burnt food is bad to eat, then how can charcoal be any better for you

If people are still wanting to spend their hard earned cash on activated charcoal, it might be best to purchase ones that are already mixed for you

Dr Tam said research had shown activated carbon powder was as carcinogenic as cigarette smoke.

She explained that it is easy for people to inhale these powders when mixing it into a paste, which you want to avoid.

If people are still wanting to spend their hard earned cash on activated charcoal, it might be best to purchase ones that are already mixed for you.

Dr Tam told the publication that she wouldn't recommend using this kind of product to her patients as she believes it is abrasive and could damage the enamel.Sweden's Prince Carl-Philip and Princess Sofia have made their family Instagram account public - offering fans a glimpse at a rarely seen side of the royals.

The couple, who are parents to Prince Alexander, two, and Prince Gabriel, who is eight months old, have been filling the feed with photographs since last year, but have only now chosen to share the contents with the public.

The candid snaps capture the Prince and Princess exchanging a smile during a board meeting for their foundation, a group shot taken on a family outing on Valentine's Day, and the Princess' own snap of her eldest boy, Alexander, gently tickling his new baby brother on the nose.

Happy couple: Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden have made their Instagram account public

Their feed features sweet family snaps of the couple with their two boys, Prince Alexander, two, and Prince Gabriel, eight months

Sofia and Carl-Philip made the account public on Sunday, sharing a picture of themselves with a message welcoming their followers.

'As you can see, we have already posted photos for some time to give you an insight into our work, the missions we are carrying out and, above all, the issues we are burning for.'

They signed off with: 'Hope you want to follow us!'

One photograph shows a pile of cards and a pen, apparently sent out to mark the birth of Prince Gabriel in August 2017.

The caption reads: 'This morning's chore!'

As well as glimpses at their family life away from the public eye, the photos offer an alternative insight into their roles as working royals.

In one shot, the couple can be seen exchanging a tender smile as they sit around a table at a board meeting for their royal foundation.

Brotherly love: Princess Sofia captured this heartwarming moment between her two boys

Princess Sofia shared this snap of a pile of hand-written cards, likely to mark the arrival of Prince Gabriel, who was born on August 31 last year

In a welcome note to followers, the couple said they wanted to offer an insight into their work and the issues they are 'burning for'

The glamorous couple pause for a snap behind the scenes at the 2017 Nobel Prize banquet

Carl-Philip and Sofia smile for the camera on National Day in Sweden in this snap on their Instagram feed

Princess Sofia and her husband exchange a smile during a board meeting for their foundation

The down to earth royal family were recently seen in public celebrating King Carl-Gustaf XVI's birthday.

Prince Carl-Philip, 39, and his 33-year-old wife joined Crown Princess Victoria, her husband Prince Daniel, and their children Oscar and Estelle on the balcony of Stockholm's Royal Palace to take in a parade staged for his 72nd birthday.

The royal couple taking in all the action at Cape Town Stadium, supporting the Swedish side

Princess Sofia, seen on the arm of her husband Prince Carl-Philip and brother in law, Prince Daniel, describes herself as being escorted by 'two stylish men' in this Instagram snap

The couple are seen with Queen Silvia, the mother of Prince Carl-Philip, at a symposium on dyslexia

Princess Sofia and Prince Carl-Philip are seen readying themselves for a TV interview at the dyslexia symposium

The Instagram feed offers a rarely seen side of royal life for the Swedish couple

Comparisons have been drawn between Princess Sofia and another glamorous royal-to-be, Meghan Markle, who will marry Prince Harry at Windsor Castle on Saturday.

Neither woman had any royal connections before falling in love with their respective princes - and both left showbiz behind for the comparatively sedate life of a working royal.

Now a mother-of-two, Sofia is a former reality star and glamour model who put her colourful past behind her to focus on her family and royal duties.

Meanwhile, Meghan quit her starring role in hit drama Suits to become a full-time member of 'the Firm'.The Standard London hotel is home to several hip drinking and dining spots, with Double Standard being one of the most sceney. I settled into a corner table in the buzzy restaurant, which like the rest of the hotel, has a sultry sixties vibe mixed with a dash of California swagger and futuristic cool. Mo, our super friendly waiter for the evening, came over and set us up with a couple of expertly poured vodka martinis to start. Despite it being packed out, the service was swift and efficient. The food menu at features a mouth-watering mix of hearty American-inspired nibbles and we opted for a mixed feast of Padron peppers, fried chicken bites, moules frites and a generously portioned superfood salad topped with avocado. Seduced by the convivial atmosphere we ordered a couple more drinks and settled into our moreish selection of morsels. Post-dinner, be sure to make a booking for a couple more drinks on the rooftop bar. It serves up some of the best views in London...A 20-year-old rising star has beaten competition from the likes of The Crown's Claire Foy to scoop the prestigious Best Actress award at last night's BAFTA TV awards.

Molly Windsor from Nottingham triumphed for her role in Three Girls, a harrowing drama about the Rochdale child sex abuse scandal.

Just a year ago, she was supplementing her acting career with a part-time job as a waitress after completing her A-levels.

But now she's tipped to take Hollywood by storm after she beat Claire Foy, Line of Duty's Thandie Newton and Little Boy Blue's Sinead Keenan to the coveted prize.

And it seems as if the taste for showbiz runs in the family as her brother Josh is a drummer in the rock band Fahran alongside Molly's boyfriend Jake Graham, which is managed by their mother, Beth.

Despite her tender years, the actress is no stranger to hard-hitting material after launching her acting career at 11, starring as an abused child in Samantha Morton's The Unloved in 2009.

She was chosen for the role after being spotted in her drama group at the Nottingham Actors Studio and forged close bond with Morton, who she described as 'incredible' in an interview with The Guardian.

Molly Windsor, 20, from Nottingham triumphed at last night's TV Awards for her role in Three Girls, a harrowing drama about the Rochdale child sex abuse scandal

The rising star appeared alongside Maxine Peake as Holly, a 15-year-old being groomed by a gang of older men

'I missed it so much when we stopped filming,' she said. 'Because I was only 11, I was mothered into my role. People were very patient and kind.'

Her next part was Oranges and Sunshine with Emily Watson, another hard-hitting drama about British orphans and children from broken homes being plucked from their homes and forcibly relocated to Australia and Canada.

She balanced her acting roles with her studies and completed her A-levels before turning her attention to making it her a full-time career.

In Three Girls she played 15-year-old Holly whose friends Amber and Ruby introduce her to older British Pakistani men who groom, sexually abuse and traffic them.

Molly's next role is in The Runaways, a film about three bereaved children and their family donkeys

Molly at the BAFTA TV awards with her boyfriend Jake Graham, who is in the rock band Fahran with her brother Josh

In her speech last night, Molly paid tribute to the courage of the real-life victims of the Rochdale sex abuse scandal

The actress met the woman who her character was based on and has spoken passionately about the important of telling the victims' stories.

In her acceptance speech last night, she paid tribute to the women whose real-life stories featured in the drama.

She said: 'Three Girls was born out of the courage of the real Three Girls, and the real Holly, Amber and Ruby that told their story over and over and over, and then they told it to us again.

'And I just want to say thank you to everyone for recognising how selfless that is and how brave that is.

Molly starred alongside Liv Hill and Ria Zmitrowicz in the hard-hitting drama Three Girls

The youngster, pictured with her boyfriend, has raised money for victims of abused and exploitation after being inspired by her role in Three Girls

Last year, the actress raised more than 2,000 for Safe and Sound, and organisation that works with children and young people at risk of and affected by exploitation, sexual violence and abuse.

And she's previously admitted to feeling 'angry' about the way the victims were ignored by authority figures and the police when they spoke out about being abused.

'Three Girls is more then a TV drama because it is telling that truth. We should not have had to tell this story, this should not be true, but it is,' she told The Tab.

While admitting she felt 'overwhelmed' by the material, she said it made her passionate about telling the victims' stories.

Molly Windsor attending the Burberry BAFTA Breakthrough Brits 2017 in October 2017

'Three Girls has made me determined to stand by them and fight for change,' she said.

Molly attended last night's awards with her boyfriend Jake Graham, who is a guitarist in the rock brand Fahran alongside Molly's brother Josh, who is the drummer.

She occasionally shares snaps with her boyfriend and friends on Instagram, but seems to prefer keeping a low profile and making her beloved Labrador Drummer the star of the show.

Her next role is in The Runaways, a film about three bereaved children and their family donkeys.Meghan Markle's former co-star has dished the dirt on kissing the 'beautiful' actress while filming for a TV pilot ten years ago.

Keith Robinson, who played her on-screen husband in little-known US police drama The Apostles, shared bedroom scenes with the 'beautiful' bride-to-be and called Harry a 'lucky man'.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Monday, the American actor and musician revealed: 'She's a beautiful girl so it wasn't hard to get into her playing my wife.

'She was very accommodating, which is what you want when you're in intimate quarters, in the bedroom, doing what TV husbands and wives do.'

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On-screen husband: Keith Robinson was 'married' to Meghan for a month while filming the pilot episode, which was not picked up for a full series by 21st Century Fox

Addressing the groom-to-be, Keith said: 'It's not hard to kiss a beautiful woman, so I'm glad they cast a beautiful woman to play my wife. It was nice, obviously. You're a very lucky man, Harry, wise choice!'

Speaking about their on-screen chemistry, Robinson added: 'Sometimes you don't jive with every actor actress you work with, but with her it was very seamless.

'She was very into it, very giving. It wasn't a hard sell for me at all. We had some pretty intense scenes. I think we did a pretty good job.'

Keith was 'married' to Meghan for a month while filming the pilot episode, which was not picked up for a full series by 21st Century Fox.

'It's not hard to kiss a beautiful woman, so I'm glad they cast a beautiful woman to play my wife. It was nice, obviously. You're a very lucky man, Harry, wise choice!'

Keith described Meghan as 'all about the work' and 'not a diva'.

'I remember them showing me who they had in mind, different prospects to play opposite me  then finally one day they told me 'we think we've found the perfect person' and I agreed once I met her.

'She was very laid back  we were excited to be working as actors  it was a good vibe.'

Dishing the dirt: Anna Foster was speaking to actor Keith Robinson on BBC Radio 5 live on Monday morning when the actor and musician made the revelations

Meghan in 2012, the year she landed her starring role in Suits. Speaking about their on-screen chemistry, Robinson added: 'Sometimes you don't jive with every actor actress you work with, but with her it was very seamless'

Meghan went on to land her breakthrough role in the legal comedy Suits: 'I'm happy for her, for all her success. My close friends are in love with that show so I'm not surprised.'

Keith said he didn't know Meghan was dating Harry until he saw it on TV: 'I said, is that Meghan, the same Meghan? That's amazing, quite an upgrade! It was pretty fantastic, I think it's awesome.

'I'm so happy for her. No-one in their wildest dreams thinks they're going to be part of the royal family.

'I think she's going to fit right in and bring a new energy and vibe to the whole experience. It ushers in a new culture that's a little more dialled in and locked in, to the royal family.'

Anna Foster was speaking to actor Keith Robinson on BBC Radio 5 live on Monday 14 May 2018Advertisement

The document signed by the Queen giving her consent for Prince Harry to marry Meghan Markle was unveiled on Saturday night.

And eagle-eyed people took to social media soon after spotting one notable difference on the document compared to the Instrument of Consent for Kate Middleton and Prince William nuptials.

The document states: 'Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle.'

However, the Duchess of Cambridge was described as 'our trusty and well-beloved' Catherine in 2011 - but Meghan, who will tie the knot with Harry at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday, wasn't.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told FEMAIL the term is only used for UK citizens, and was therefore not used for the American Suits actress.

On Saturday the document signed by the Queen giving her consent for Meghan Markle to marry Prince Harry was unveiled- however she was not referred to as 'trusty and well-beloved', as Kate Middleton was in her 2011 notice, but simply by her full name

'Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle', the notice states

A spokesperson added: 'Our understanding is that "trusty and well-beloved" is customarily used for citizens of the UK and Commonwealth Realms, this is why she was not referred to by this term.'

The Queen signed the Instrument of Consent in March  an elaborate notice of approval, transcribed in calligraphy, and issued under the Great Seal of the Realm.

The document states: 'Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle.'

The wording differs from the instrument signed to give consent to the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 when Kate was described as 'our trusty and well-beloved' Catherine.

In 2011 Kate Middleton was referred to as our trusty and well-beloved Kate' in the consent notice from the Queen

'Now know ye that We have consented and do by these Presents signify Our Consent to the contracting of Matrimony between Our Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales K.G. and Our Trusty and Well-beloved Catherine Elizabeth Middleton', the Queen's letter to William and Kate stated in 2011

According to reports the Queen is likely to share a more personal letter once the duo are married.

Etiquette expert William Hanson told Femail: 'It's not a snub towards Mehgan Markle and people shouldn't read into this. It's simply the fact that she isn't British. If her citizenship application had been accepted already then I'm sure that phrase would have been included.

'It's just an ancient form of protocol which to some it can look archaic but it is following precedent. I don't think Meghan is going to be crying into her cornflakes about this- I'm sure she has much bigger things to think about at this time'.

Harry took Meghan to meet the Queen for afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace in October last year to introduce her to the woman he wanted to wed.

Meghan previously spoke about her warm relationship with the Queen, when speaking alongside Harry during their engagement interview.

'It's incredible,' she said at the time. 'To be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me.

'When I met her I had such a deep understanding and incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. She's an incredible woman'.

Harry added of Meghan at the time: 'The Corgis took to you straightaway. For the last 33 years being barked at, this one walks in, absolutely nothing. Just wagging tails!'

The Act was a radical shake-up of the rules of royal succession, removing male bias. Labour peer Lord Dubs once branded the law 'the Dangerous Dogs Act of its day', saying it was 'passed in haste owing to George III's chagrin that his relatives were getting married without consulting him'

Britain got a glimpse Saturday at Queen Elizabeth II's elaborate formal consent for her grandson Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle, a week ahead of the wedding ceremony.

Although the monarch was unlikely to have withheld her blessing, she would only have said 'no' on the advice of the Prime Minister, whom she will have informed.

The Instrument of Consent, intricately hand-written on vellum and illuminated with decorations, sets out the monarch's approval for the union, which is required in law.

Harry is sixth in line to the throne and the first six need the sovereign's permission to marry, otherwise they and their descendants are disqualified from inheriting the crown.

Buckingham Palace released pictures of the document, which Queen Elizabeth signed in March. In her Elizabeth R signature at the top, the the R stands for regina, the Latin for queen.

The instrument is written using the 'royal we', or majestic plural.

IKCVO refers to Harry's status as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch.

The wording differs from the instrument signed to give consent to the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 when Kate was described as 'our trusty and well-beloved' Catherine

'To all whom these Presents shall come, Greeting!' The elaborate notice of approval, transcribed in calligraphy, was issued under the Great Seal of the Realm

The document, which will be presented to the couple after the wedding, is flanked with artwork representing the bride and groom.

To the left, the design incorporates a red dragon, the heraldic symbol of Wales , along with the UK's floral emblems: the rose of England, Scotland's thistle and the Irish shamrock.

It also features Harry's label, which includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer arms of his mother Diana, princess of Wales' family.

The design on the right, for Markle, includes a rose -- the national flower of the United States -- flanked by two golden poppies: the state flower of California, where the former actress was born.

It also bears the Welsh leek, Harry's label and olive branches adopted from the Great Seal of the United States.

The document depicts Harry's coronet and the Commonwealth flag.

Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Commonwealth and last month made Harry her youth ambassador to the 53-country organisation.

The instrument is sealed with the Great Seal of the Realm, used to symbolise the sovereign's approval of important state documents.

Meghan previously spoke about her warm relationship with the Queen, when speaking alongside Harry during their engagement interview (Seen at Sandringham at Christmas)

Law to protect dynasty

The Royal Marriages Act 1772 required descendants of king George II to seek the sovereign's consent before they wed, otherwise their marriages were deemed invalid.

The law was repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, under which only the first six in line to inherit the throne need the monarch's permission.

The first five are currently Prince Charles, the monarch's eldest son; his eldest son Prince William; his eldest son Prince George; then William's other children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Harry, Charles's second son, was fifth at the time of his engagement in November. His nephew Louis was born on April 23.

Harry is the first to receive consent under the new law.Ivanka Trump wore a modest outfit to the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, which she and Jared Kushner attended amid deadly protests.

The first daughter, 36, smiled as she and her husband Jared, 37, sat next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara for the dedication ceremony.

They are part of the US delegation, along with US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman. President Donald Trump isn't happening and instead commenting on the event via Twitter on Monday morning.

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Event: Ivanka Trump wore a modest outfit to the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, which she and Jared Kushner attended amid deadly protests

Duo: The first daughter, 36, smiled as she and her husband Jared, 37, arrived to the dedication ceremony

Look: Ivanka (pictured next to US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin) wore an off-white blazer with long sleeves, paired with a white top underneath

Talks: She smiled as she addressed the crowd before unveiling the new US embassy's seal

Light: Her outfit also included a flowy knee-length dress, while Jared went for a dark suit paired with a white shirt and red tie

Ivanka arrived along with Jared wearing a $1,890 off-white Ralph Lauren blazer with long sleeves, paired with a white top underneath.

Her outfit also included a $2,490 flowy knee-length dress, also from Ralph Lauren, and a pair of pointy taupe pumps, along with a pair of pearl earrings. She wore her long hair down in a neat blowout and kept the rest of her accessories to a minimum.

Ivanka's outfit was in keeping with basic modesty requirements of Orthodox Judaism, though she opted not cover her head, as did many of the men in attendance.

The first daughter and senior White House adviser, whose husband is in charge of brokering peace between Israel and Palestine, seemed in high spirits during the dedication ceremony on Monday.

She flashed a bright smile as she addressed the audience, standing up next to Secretary Mnuchin to unveil the seal of the new embassy.

Also on Monday, Ivanka shared two photos of herself and Jared sharing a meal with GOP Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Dean Heller, and Lindsey Graham.

'Great to see our distinguished senators in Jerusalem!' she wrote on top of a photo uploaded to her Instagram Story.

Smiles: The first daughter and senior White House adviser, whose husband is in charge of brokering peace between Israel and Palestine, seemed in high spirits during the ceremony

Simple: Ivanka wore her long hair down in a neat blowout and kept accessories to a minimum

Guests: Jared and Ivanka sat next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Message: While Ivanka and Jared witnessed the opening, President Trump took to Twitter to offer his congratulations to Israel

Looking on: Ivanka got up along with the rest of the crowd to clap during the ceremony

Group: Also on Monday, Ivanka shared two photos of herself and Jared sharing a meal with GOP Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Dean Heller, and Lindsey Graham

Post: 'Great to see our distinguished senators in Jerusalem!' she wrote on top of a photo uploaded to her Instagram Story

While Ivanka and Jared witnessed the opening, President Trump took to Twitter to offer his congratulations to Israel, even as deadly clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Gaza border.

The relocation of America's diplomatic post from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians and fueled protests there that resulted in an estimated 43 Palestinian deaths.

Israeli snipers have killed scores of Palestinians and wounded hundreds more as 35,000 protesters rallied against the US embassy opening in Jerusalem.

A 14-year-old was among 43 shot dead along the Gaza border on what is already the deadliest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war between the Jewish state and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.

At least 1,300 more have been injured with about 450 of them by live bullets, according to Gaza officials as the Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' and Amnesty International called the bloodshed an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.

Trump tossed aside decades of precedent when he recognized the city as Israel's capital in Decembera decision that sparked global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis.

Russia said today it feared the embassy opening would increase tension in the Middle East while Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan warned the US it had forfeited its role as a mediator in the region and was now 'part of the problem rather than the solution'.

On Monday, Trump made no reference to the violence on his Twitter feed, instead urging people to tune in to watch the televised ceremony. He wrote: 'Big day for Israel. Congratulations!'

The president gave a video address that aired at the opening of the new embassy. He announced late last year that he would fulfill his campaign promise to move the diplomatic post.

Trump said that the US had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years, adding that 'today, we follow through on this recognition'.

He added that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.'

All smiles: The first daughter seemed delighted to unveil the new seal of the embassy

Message: A plaque at the embassy makes mention of President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and US ambassador David Friedman

Attending: Sara Netanyahu (left), the Israeli prime minister's wife, sat next to Jared and Ivanka

The president said he remained committed to 'facilitating a lasting peace agreement', stressing stressed a close bond with Israel. He also said he was 'extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors'.

His son-in-law Jared said the opening showed the US could be trusted and that 'when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it'.

Ivanka and Jared landed in Israel on Sunday morning ahead of the embassy opening, and were seen embracing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu shortly after their arrival.

The first daughter posted several photos of her and Jared before and after they arrived to Israel. She also shared a boomerang video of her waving at at camera after they landed.

'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' she wrote on one of the photos.

Israel launched celebrations on Sunday for the US Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem, a move whose break with world consensus was underscored by the absence of most envoys to the country from a reception hosted by Netanyahu.

The opening of the new embassy follows Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a decision he said fulfilled decades of policy pledges in Washington and formalized realities on the ground.

Monday marks the biggest showdown in recent weeks between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

Arrival: On Sunday, Ivanka and Jared landed in Israel ahead of the US embassy opening

Welcome: The first daughter and her husband were greeted by US ambassador to Israel David Friedman after they landed on Sunday

Team: The White House advisers attended the inauguration along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (third from left in black) and Treasury Mnuchin (center)

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered at the border, setting fire to tires and sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air to deter Israeli snipers at several spots, while the Israeli military said the protests were being used as cover for attacks and assaults on the border fence.

In the West Bank, several thousand people gathered in the centre of Ramallah, while hundreds marched to the Qalandiya crossing on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where protesters threw stones at Israeli troops.

The protest in Gaza is part of a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday. The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

It is the culmination of a campaign, led by the Islamic militants Hamas and fueled by despair among Gaza's two million people, to break the blockade of the border territory by Israel and Egypt. Since weekly border marches began in late March, 60 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,300 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible on Monday, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking through the barrier at any cost.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional 'layers' of security in and around neighbouring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there had already been several 'significant attempts' to break through the fence.

'Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them,' he said.

With Israel and Hamas digging in, there is growing concern about large numbers of casualties.

Outing: Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation ahead of the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. She posted this photo of herself and Jared on her Instagram story

Speech: 'Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years,' Netanyahu said as Jared and Ivanka watched from the audience

Sharing: Ivanka posted several photos of her and Jared before and after they arrived to Israel. She also shared a Boomerang video of her waving at at camera after they landed

Couple: Ivanka and Jared are seen smiling and clapping during Sunday's reception

Blowout: The first daughter wore her hair in a wavy 'do during the reception on Sunday

The date of the inauguration is deeply symbolic to both Israelis and Palestinians. The US said it chose the day to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their 'nakba', or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's independence.

A majority of Gaza's two million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the 'Great March of Return'.

Leaflets dropped over Gaza by army jets warned that those approaching the border 'jeopardize' their lives. The warning said the army is 'prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians'.

Protests: The Israeli army threw tear gas during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Gaza-Israeli border on Monday

Demonstrations: A Palestinian demonstrator is pictured throwing a stone during a protest against the embassy move to Jerusalem

Conflict: Palestinians are seen running for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City on Monday

Clashes: A wounded Palestinian female demonstrator is evacuated during a protest at Qalandya checkpoint near the West Bank City of Ramallah

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the city's eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, blasted the Trump administration, saying the US president had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance, and that his administration is 'based on lies'.

Erekat said the US administration has 'become part of the problem, not part of the solution'.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, praised Mr Trump's 'bold decision' in upending decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

On Sunday, he told the jubilant crowd at the reception in Jerusalem that it's 'the right thing to do'.ITV's new murder mystery drama Innocent has seen viewers scramble to play detective, naming three suspects in the first episode.

The story centers around David Collins (Lee Ingleby), who had spent seven years in prison for the murder of his wife Tara but was suddenly released when it was revealed there was insufficient evidence to prove him guilty.

Upon his release he vowed that he would find the person who really killed his wife and regain custody of his children, who had been living with their maternal aunt and uncle.

It emerged that Tara and her sister Alice (Hermione Norris) had a physical fight on the night she died, and Alice's husband Rob (Adrian Rawlins) was having an affair with Tara before her murder.

This left some viewers convinced Alice and Rob were behind Tara's murder, while others named the brother Phil as the number one suspect.

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Tara's sister Alice and her husband Rob are viewers' prime suspects in ITV's new murder mystery drama Innocent

David's brother Phil has also seen the finger pointed at him with viewers questioning his motives

Meanwhile other viewers were quick to point the finger at David's brother Phil (Daniel Ryan) who has sacrificed his own life and career to prove his siblings innocence.

However, his motives were questioned by viewers with his apparent goodwill arousing suspicion.

The series will play out across four nights this week as David will attempt to find the person responsible for Tara's murder.

David and Tara's children had gone to live with Alice and Rob when he went to prison, and they were terrified that he would harm them after he was released.

The couple also received the proceeds of Davids estate when he went to prison allowing for a more comfortable lifestyle again arousing suspicion among viewers.

Alice said she would 'try to kill' her brother-in-law if he tried to come near the family.

In the final moments of the episode David broke into the couple's home to confront his friend Tom about the affair with Tara.

He said: 'I just wanted to see you mate and I wanted to ask you, were you just f***ing my wife or did you kill her too?'

David Collins has been acquitted of his wife's murder after serving seven years of a life sentence

However, despite the final scenes suggesting otherwise the episode, viewers were still convinced that Alice and Rob were behind Tara's murder taking to Twitter to share their theories.

One tweeted: 'It was her sister and her husband. They set it up to take custody of the kids'.

Another posted: 'The sister and the husband deffo had something to do with the murder to get custody of the children'.

A third added: 'The sister is really dodgy. Reckon she was part of the plot to frame David so she could have the kids to herself.'

A fourth named the brother as a suspect, writing: 'Either the uncle of the kids or David's brother did the crime and tried to frame David for it'.

He vowed to find the person who really killed Tara and bring them to justify, while also regaining custody of his children

Elsewhere in the drama a waitress at a restaurant had seen Alice grab Tara by the throat on the night she died, despite Alice saying she hadn't seen her that day.

David also claimed she'd lied to the police about him hitting his wife, and it was something that even Tara's own parents didn't know about.

The couple had been desperate to have children and lived in a cramped one bedroom house when Tara died and they were given custody of her two young children.

As soon as David left the court he announced to the press that he would be bringing Tara's murder to justice.

He blamed the justice system and police forensic teams for convicting him, but it was clear from the beginning that he had another suspect in mind.

As the episode ended on a cliffhanger, viewers took to Twitter to say they were convinced that sister Alice and her husband Rob were behind Tara's murder

David said: 'Seven years ago I was sent to prison for something that I did not do, for a terrible crime that I did not commit. Overnight I lost my wife, I lost my liberty and most importantly I lost my kids.

'Why? Because of the forensic science services' criminal negligence and because of a police investigation that bends every shred of evidence to fit a theory that was clearly wrong.

'More important than that, much worse, was ordinary people lied, they lied for their own ends and if they're watching this now then I want them to know that I will expose them. I will expose them for what they have put me through.

'So I'm thinking the uncle... this could change many times': Others named the brother Phil and even her uncle

Plot twist: In the final moments of the episode David broke into the couple's home to confront his friend Tom about the affair with Tara

'I've had seven years of my life stolen and now I want justice. I want my wife's real killer found, I want those that lied brought to book and I want my children back.'

David's children hadn't been to see him once in the years he spent in prison, and only answered one of his letters telling him to leave them alone.

Their daughter Rosie broke down in tears to her aunt out of fear that her own father would kill her, while her brother Jack was a little more reserved.

It appeared that he was doing his own digging into the case, but viewers will have to wait and see if he finds anything out about his aunt and uncle.It may be another five days until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot in Windsor but it looks as though the couple's first guests are arriving.

Jacinda Barrett, who had a recurring role on Suits from 2012 until 2013, and also is married to Meghan's former co-star Gabriel Macht, has touched down in London.

The 45-year-old actress confirmed her arrival with a heart-warming snap, which she posted to Instagram on Sunday.

Meghan Markle's Suits co-star Jacinda Barrett has been spotted in London just five days before the royal wedding. Pictured: Jacinda and her son Luca outside Buckingham Palace yesterday

Ahead of her trip she shared a snap of her posing in an Emilia Wickstead gown on Instagram

Captioning the image she suggested that she was attending an important occasion in the UK

Many followers agreed that the two pictures were a strong indicator that she will be in attendance on Saturday

In the picture the actress can be seen receiving a kiss from her four-year-old son Luca outside Buckingham Palace.

Captioning the picture she wrote: 'Kissing in front of the Queen.' She then added the hashtag #buckinghampalace, before dedicating the sweet snap to her own mother in light of Mother's Day (US).

Jacinda is believed to be travelling with husband Gabriel Macht, who starred opposite Meghan in Suits for all seven seasons that she appeared in the show.

The 46-year-old actor played the role of Harvey Specter, while his wife Jacinda had a recurring role as Zoe Lawford from 2012 until 2013.

The couple share two children together: daughter Satine Anais Geraldine, 10, and three-year-old son Luca.

And just a day earlier the actress had further hinted that she was set to attend an important occasion during her time in Europe.

The Australian-born actress captioned the photo of her posing in a floor-length dress: 'Getting ready to fly to Europe, got places to go and people to see, but still deciding what to wear. Getting a little love from @emiliawickstead on this one. #london #cannes #paris'.

Emilia Wickstead would make an appropriate choice for Meghan's nuptials with the designer popular with the Duchess of Cambridge.

She is thought to be travelling with husband Gabriel Macht (right) who plays Harvey Specter and starred opposite Meghan (left) during her time on Suits

Colleagues: Jacinda, pictured with her husband on the set of Suits, had a recurring role on the show for one year, from 2012 until 2013

Friends: It is though that Meghan and Gabriel became close on the set of Suits. The former actress is believed to have invited several of her old co-stars to the ceremony

Many of Jacinda's 100,000 strong following agreed that the two pictures were a strong indicator that she will be in attendance on Saturday.

One wrote: 'Omg!!! Preparing for the wedding' while another added: 'Happy mother's day!! Have fun at the royal wedding.'

Several other members of Meghan's legal drama Suits are expected to attend the wedding with a source close to the show said, adding: They are thrilled. Everyone is planning their outfits but were all sworn to secrecy.

Jacinda's arrival in London comes just as Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Snr., confirmed that he would not be attending his daughter's wedding in the wake of the scandal surrounding his staged paparazzi photos.

The 73-year-old had been set to walk his daughter down the aisle on Saturday, but told TMZ on Monday that he will no longer be travelling to London, after The Mail on Sunday revealed that he had worked with photographers to stage images for money.

Thomas said that he did not want to embarrass the royal family or his daughter on her big day.

He also revealed that he suffered a heart attack just six days ago.

Absent: On Monday, Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Snr., revealed that he would not attend the wedding, after it was reported that he had been paid to stage paparazzi pictures

This comes as reports suggest that Prince Harry's cousin, Lady Ameila Windsor (pictured) has been left off the guest list

Another surprising absentee is Prince Harry's cousin, Lady Ameila Windsor who is also reported to have been left off the guest list.

According to The Sun, the 22-year-old and her older sister Marina, 25 will not be attending the ceremony at Windsor Castle.

A friend told the newspaper: 'They were a little surprised not to be invited as they were looking forward to going.

'Amelia is creating quite a name for herself with her modelling and Instagram posts.

'Perhaps Harry just wanted to keep the family invited to a small number or maybe he didn't want anyone upstaging the bride.'

The wedding guest list has caused a considerable stir in the US after members of Meghan's family came forward to claim they were not invited.

Michael, the brother of Meghan's father Tom, said he felt particularly upset as he had helped his niece get her first job. His other brother Fred, a bishop, has also been left off the guest list, as has Joseph Johnson, Meghan's uncle on her mother's side.

None of Meghan's half-siblings, aunts or cousins has been invited either, emphasising the growing family divide.King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia have welcomed the Colombian president and first lady to Spain.

The quartet posed for photographs outside Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on Monday, where the Spanish royals were set to host their Colombian guests for lunch.

President Juan Manuel Santos and his wife, Maria Clemencia Rodriguez, are on a two-day official visit to the country.

King Felipe VI (second from right) and Queen Letizia (seen right), welcomed the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (second from left) and his wife Maria Clemencia Rodriguez (far left) to Madrid on Monday

Queen Letizia opted for classic style in a fitted white skirt suit with a narrow black belt and black heels

Working royals often stick to tried and tested style rules when it comes to their many public appearances, and the same can certainly be said of Queen Letizia, who reached for a classic skirt suit for Monday's engagement.

It's a familiar silhouette for the Queen, who often opts for slim-fitting pencil skirts, neat jackets cinched in at the waist, and vertiginous heels.

She was spring-like in white today, with touches of black in a narrow belt and co-ordinating courts.

Colombia's first lady wore loose trousers with a matching tunic-style top with a tie belt.

She added a splash of colour with a pink handbag and some over-sized gold earrings.

Power couple: The Spanish royals were set to host their Colombian guests for lunch at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid

President Juan Manuel Santos (second from left) and his wife (left) are on a state visit to Spain

The Spanish Queen frequently opts for slim-fitting skirt suits for formal engagements

King Felipe VI was dapped in a blue suit and mint-green tie as he accompanied his wife down the steps of the palace

Last week the Queen attended the World Day of Red Cross and Red Crescent in another skirt suit - this time by Hugo Boss.

It appears to be a favourite of the royal's, she has worn the plum tweed ensemble on several public occasions in the past.Three girls who were all affected by the 2017 Manchester bombing have spoken for the first time about the lasting psychological damage each have endured as the first anniversary approaches.

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on May 22nd, killing 22 people, including seven children, and injuring more than 100 others.

Louise, 20, the sister of Martyn Hett, 29, who tragically lost his life in the attack, has put her whole life on hold as she deals with the grief of losing her brother.

Amelia, who recently turned 18, was just six feet away from the blast, nearly losing her finger and suffering a severe cut to her leg as well as shrapnel embedded in her face.

It was her first concert without her mother, who has been riddled with anxiety ever since.

Erin, 11, was left traumatised after she witnessed the immediate aftermath, scarred by what she saw she has struggled to come to terms with why she couldn't do anything to stop the attack.

All three reflected on their experiences for the first time over the course of nine months for a BBC Three documentary, Manchester Bomb: Our Story.

Louise Murray lost her brother Martyn Hett (in the photo frame), in the Manchester attack on May 22nd 2017

LOUISE MURRAY, 20

Martyn Hett, 29, from Poynton, Cheshire, had attended the concert with his friends to celebrate his impending trip to America where he would be travelling for two months.

Louise explained in the documentary that she had no idea her older brother had been at the concert, only when news filtered in from his friends did she realise he was missing.

Within ten minutes of arriving to the Etihad Stadium in Manchester where relatives of missing persons were gathered, Louise said she found out the terrible news alongside several other families.

Louise explained that she had put her life on hold since Martyn's death needing the support of her family and opting not to go to university

Her mother had made special teddy bears out of Martyn's shirts to remember him by and Louise admits it's something to talk to when she is missing her brother

'That sound was the most traumatic sound, 13 families wailing and screaming, they were so heartbroken that they had lost people they love and we were all doing it, and that was within ten minutes of us getting there.'

Unable to leave her family behind in the months following the attack, Louise decided to drop out of university in a bid to cope with her grief.

'It kind of feels like youre a bit of a failure. I was supposed to be going to Leeds to study fashion design, Id sorted out my accommodation, my loan and signed the contract but then I just decided not to.

Martyn Hett, a victim of the Ariana Grande concert terror attack at the Manchester Arena

'I just dont think Id be good at making friends right now, it just doesnt sound fun anymore, making new friends.

'I dont think I could go out and enjoy myself.

'I didnt want to be known as the girl who lost her brother in that terrorist attack.'

Louise admitted that she's found grieving 'exhausting and quite suffocat[ing]' but has found solace in the special teddy bears her family made out of her brother's old shirts.

AMELIA, 18

For Amelia it was the first concert she had been to without her mother Tina.

She was stood six feet away from the bomber and was physically injured in the attack when nuts and bolts struck her and three of her fingers were left severely damaged, now her mother struggles to let her out of her sight, terrified of losing her.

Celebrating her 18th birthday seven months after the attack, Amelia explains that before she would have likely gone out with her friends in her home town of Wigan, but a low-key party is preferred by her mother.

The Ariana Grande concert was the first Amelia had attended without her mother, they are both dealing with anxiety

Amelia was six feet away from the bomb when it exploded, she was hit with nuts and bolts from the detonation and seriously injured her finger

I dont think Id be that scared of another terror attack happening, because the worst thing that happened has happened without sounding cringey its kind of made me realise that life is short.

'I want to get out and do stuff, but my mum is finding it harder to cope with things, shes always thinking about could it happen again,' Amelia explained.

The teenager was forced to drop out of college, where she was studying her A-Levels, because of the regular trips to the hospital.

The majority of the 14,000 fans at Ariane Grande's Manchester concert were young girls

Now she has counselling after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has been placed on anti-anxiety medication Propranolol.

Her face is marked from where the shrapnel hit her face and has not gained full strength in her hands where her fingers were injured.

'I suppose as time starts going on and everybody is getting on with their lives, its kind of left me like, What am I doing? Am I moving on? So what is next?"' she asks.

ERIN, 11

In an attempt to escape the scene of devastation Erin and her mother Annette, had to run with her older sister Caitlin, 14, right through the site where the bomb exploded.

She witnessed the aftermath and had been unable to speak about what she saw for months after; battling with flashbacks and scared to leave the house.

'It is just awful what comes into my head never comes out. Just your experience in everything, what you saw you cant really see anything else,' Erin said in the documentary.

Sometimes it just comes out of nowhere, it just pops up. Sometimes it goes from absolutely nothing down to the bottom of my feet and then it teleports up.'

The youngster who is filmed in dance practise said that she divided her life into 'before Ariana and after Ariana' - the tickets for the concert were a Christmas present from her mother.

Erin witnessed the aftermath and had been unable to speak about what she saw for months after

What happened on the night of the Manchester attack? Twenty-two people were killed and over a 100 injured when a bomb went off in the foyer of the Manchester Arena on May 22 last year. Suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his home-made device at 10.31pm as 14,000 people streamed out at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. Officers from British Transport Police were on scene one minute later and declared a major incident by 10.39pm. However, a recent report found that a mix-up between police and the fire and rescue service meant the valuable assistance of fire crews was delayed by two hours and six minutes after the bombing. Two weeks after the attack, Ariana Grande organised a One Love Manchester benefit concert to support the victims of the bombing. Advertisement

I just want to be normal, I would like to be like everyone else.

'Now I look back on how I was then and how I am now, its a bit like why has it affected me so much? Sometimes it feels like why am I upset, because I got out alive and I just should feel lucky and not feel this way.'

Her counsellor compared Erin's experience similar to going into a warzone, something which her mother and sister wished she'd never seen.

Erin confesses that she feels she could have done something about the terrorist if she'd have seen the bag in the first place.

I could have noticed the bag was big and I probably could have got security to check that guys bag because it was big and suspicious, rather than having fun in there when people were in the foyer injured.'

But when her counsellor pointed out that the end result would have probably still happened, she realises she was glad she was having a good time in the concert.

As the documentary progresses, Erin appears to deal with her experience by opening up: 'It was just saying a couple of words and look how happy I am, Its quite life changing, I know thats a bit dramatic.

'I am free, back to normal. Well, not back to normal fully, but theres still that scar, but that scar wont be as red anymore. Itll be like you cant really see it that much.'

Manchester Bomb: Our Story is available to watch on BBC iPlayer nowAdvertisement

There has been much speculation as to which members of Meghan's family will be attending her nuptials to Prince Harry in Windsor ion Saturday.

And while her father has confirmed he will not attend it looks as though her nephews Tyler and Thomas Dooley along with their mother, Meghan's sister-in-law, Tracy Dooley seem determined to take part in the big day.

Despite previously revealing they hadn't received an invite to the royal wedding the trio were seen making their way to the arrivals gate at the London airport on Monday.

Meghan's sister-in-law Tracy Dooley was pictured arriving at Heathrow airport on Monday

She was joined by her sons and Meghan's nephews Tyler (pictured) and Thomas Dooley

Armed with no less than 13 suitcases the family, including Tyler's girlfriend Sandra Bazan (left) made their way out of the international airport having flown in from their home in Oregon

A cheerful Tracy could even be seen flashing a peace sign to photographers as she made her way from security

The family have been enlisted as 'special correspondents' for Good Morning Britain and are expected to report from Windsor, though are thought not to be attending the ceremony.

Armed with no less than 13 suitcases the family cut a casual figure as they made their way out of the international airport having flown in from their home in Oregon.

A cheerful Tracy could even be seen flashing a peace sign to photographers as she made her way from security.

And it's clear that the family couldn't be happier about making the trip across the pond; shortly after arriving in London, Tyler began posting image from London on his Facebook page, sharing snaps of a few landmarks, as well as an image showing the interior of his hotel room.

The family is thought to be staying at the H10 hotel in Waterloo, where rooms are available from 180 per night. The hotel is located just a short distance from Waterloo station, and is an hour's driving distance from St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, where Meghan and Harry are due to tie the knot.

Along with the images - which also showed the outside of another nearby landmark, the Imperial War Museum, seemingly captured from the back of a car - Tyler also shared an update about his travels with his Facebook friends, writing: 'Just touched down in London!!! Man what a journey so far. Were safe and sound!'

The images were met with a warm response from Tyler's Facebook friends, with many urging him to 'have a blast', while others reminded Meghan's nephew to 'take pics'.

The family are expected to make an appearance on Good Morning Britain this week

'What a journey so far!' Shortly after arriving in London, Tyler began sharing images of the trip on his Facebook page

Sightseeing: He posted two pictures of local landmarks, including the Imperial War Museum (left), and some red brick houses

Making memories: Tyler's mother Tracy also posted a few images to her Facebook page, including a snap of the London Eye (left) and Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament (right)

Family time: Before leaving for the UK, Tyler shared an image of himself and his mother Tracy in honor of Mother's Day, which took place on May 13 in the US

Others, however, weren't quite so clued into the reason for the family's journey to London, with one person questioning, 'There for the wedding or other biz [sic]?'

They have of course previously appeared on the ITV show, when they claimed to have been snubbed from the wedding list.

In March Tracy and Tyler appeared via live video link from Oregon, and admitted that while they were still hopeful that invitations might be en route, it was looking extremely unlikely.

Tyler said on the show: Weve not got anything yet. At this point, who knows? This all goes back to Meghan, its her day and her happiness.

Tracy - who was married to Meghan's half brother Thomas Markle Jr, is mother to Tyler and his brother Thomas, who Meghan used to babysit for as a child - added: I dont think we are getting invitations, but that is fine, we are so proud of her.

She said that while she herself hadn't seen the royal bride-to-be in some 20 years, the family still has a close relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, who she said was 'sure' to give Meghan away when she marries Prince Harry at Windsor Castle on May 19.

It was announced that Tracey and Tyler will be flying over to the UK to be a part of Good Morning Britain's coverage of the Royal wedding.

Absent: On Monday, Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Snr., revealed that he would not attend the wedding, after it was reported that he had been paid to stage paparazzi pictures

The family's arrival in London comes just as Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Snr., confirmed that he would not be attending his daughter's wedding in the wake of the scandal surrounding his staged paparazzi photos.

The 73-year-old had been set to walk his daughter down the aisle on Saturday, but told TMZ on Monday that he will no longer be travelling to London, after The Mail on Sunday revealed that he had worked with photographers to stage images for money.

Thomas said that he did not want to embarrass the royal family or his daughter on her big day.

He also revealed that he suffered a heart attack just six days ago.

The Dooleys aren't the first Americans to hit UK soil ahead of the wedding with some of Meghan's friends spotted in London.

Jacinda Barrett, who had a recurring role on Suits from 2012 until 2013, and also is married to Meghan's former co-star Gabriel Macht, has touched down in London.

The 45-year-old actress confirmed her arrival with a heart-warming snap, which she posted to Instagram on Sunday.

Meghan Markle's Suits co-star Jacinda Barrett has been spotted in London just five days before the royal wedding. Pictured: Jacinda and her son Luca outside Buckingham Palace yesterday

This comes as reports suggest that Prince Harry's cousin, Lady Ameila Windsor (pictured) has been left off the guest list

In the picture the actress can be seen receiving a kiss from her four-year-old son Luca outside Buckingham Palace.

Captioning the picture she wrote: 'Kissing in front of the Queen.' She then added the hashtag #buckinghampalace, before dedicating the sweet snap to her own mother in light of Mother's Day (US).

Jacinda is believed to be travelling with husband Gabriel Macht, who starred opposite Meghan in Suits for all seven seasons that she appeared in the show.

A surprising absentee is Prince Harry's cousin, Lady Ameila Windsor who is also reported to have been left off the guest list.

According to The Sun, the 22-year-old and her older sister Marina, 25 will not be attending the ceremony at Windsor Castle.

A friend told the newspaper: 'They were a little surprised not to be invited as they were looking forward to going.

'Amelia is creating quite a name for herself with her modelling and Instagram posts.

'Perhaps Harry just wanted to keep the family invited to a small number or maybe he didn't want anyone upstaging the bride.'The Duchess of Cornwall touched down in London following a five day tour of Greece just a few hours ago and she has already set out on her next engagement.

Joined by Prince Charles, Camilla, 70, arrived in Kensington Palace via helicopter on Monday afternoon ahead of the royal wedding and has since been pictured arriving at the NHS Heroes Awards.

Stepping from her car onto the red carpet at the London Hilton Park Lane the royal looked her glamorous best despite her windswept landing earlier today.

The Duchess of Cornwall cut a glamorous figure as she arrived for the NHS Heroes Awards on Monday evening

Camilla opted for a pale blue swing dress complete with embroidery in contrasting blues and cream piping detail.

She chose for nude accessories in the form of a low court shoe and a matching clutch accompanied by her beloved four-strand pearl choker.

She was welcomed to the event by presenter and life-long friend Paul O'Grady who could be seen giving her a kiss on the cheek on the red carpet.

Camilla opted for a pale blue swing dress complete with embroidery in contrasting blues and cream piping detail

She was welcomed by her old friend Paul O'Grady who planted a kiss on her cheek on her arrival

Just a few hours earlier Duchess of Cornwall had arrived at Kensington Palace via helicopter with Prince Charles ahead of the royal wedding

The event coincides with the 70th anniversary of the NHS and will recognise the heroism of both professionals and members of the public.

One of the sexual health workers who helped lift the lid on the Rochdale grooming scandal is among those receiving an award.

Sara Rowbotham, 50, is to get a special recognition honour for years of working with vulnerable children. Her evidence helped lead to the conviction of nine child abusers.

Camilla is expected to present an award later this evening according to event organisers

Despite her bumpy journey earlier today the royal appeared to be in good spirits at tonight's event

The Duchess of Cornwall is expected to present a special award according to organisers and Prince William is also expected to be in attendance.

Celebrities such as Sir Tom Jones, Jamie Oliver and Dame Shirley Bassey are among those also expected to grace the event, which will be hosted by Paul O'Grady.

Winners include Dr Martin Griffiths, who will receive the "hero doctor" award for his work in A&E as a leading trauma surgeon.

As she made her way into the venue Camilla was greeted by a myriad of stars including Dame Shirley Bassey who looked delighted to make her acquaintance

She could be seen shaking hands with Michael Sheen another celebrity guest this evening

He saved the life of the first person stabbed by marauding knifemen during the London Bridge terror attack, having coincidentally saved the victim's father's life in a heart operation several years earlier, according to organisers.

A young survivor of the Manchester Arena bombing is to receive the "young fundraising hero" award for helping to raise 40,000 for the Royal Manchester Children's hospital, where she was treated for devastating injuries.

Freya Lewis, 15, was leaving the Ariana Grande concert when a suicide bomber detonated his device. Her friend Nell Jones was among the 22 killed.

The NHS Heroes Awards, organised by ITV and the Mirror, will take place at London's Hilton on Park Lane on Monday.

It will be broadcast on ITV at 8.30pm on May 21.A mother who was wrongfully convicted of murdering her newborn son and freed after 20 years had a tearful reunion with her daughter after being kept apart from her for two decades.

Michelle Murphy, 40, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was just 17 years old when she was convicted for murdering her three-month-old son, who was found with his throat slit. She received a life sentence and remained behind bars for 20 years before being freed after a judge overturned her conviction citing unreliable evidence.

Her daughter Lindsey was two years old when her mother was arrested. The toddler was adopted, meaning Michelle didn't see her daughter for two decadesand grew up thinking her mother had committed the crime.

Scroll down for video

Emotional: Michelle Murphy, 40, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was reunited with her daughter Lindsey after being wrongly convicted of murdering her baby son and spending 20 years in prison

Reunion: Her daughter Lindsey was two years old when her mother was arrested. The toddler was adopted, meaning Michelle didn't see her daughter for two decades

Overwhelmed: When she saw Lindsey, Michelle burst into tears, exclaiming 'Oh my God!' and burying her face in a tissue before asking Lindsey if she could hug her

Footage from the incredibly emotional moment, which was broadcast on The Doctors on Monday, shows Michelle walking towards a room where Lindsey awaits her.

When she saw Lindsey, Michelle burst into tears, exclaiming 'Oh my God!' and burying her face in a tissue.

Sobbing, Michelle asked: 'Can I hug you?' and, upon pulling her daughter into a loving embrace, told her: 'You're so beautiful.'

Both women shed tears as Michelle continued: 'I love you. I have always loved you. And I didn't do that. I would give my life for you guys.'

Lindsey and Michelle took a moment to recover from the overwhelming reunion, then went onto the set to explain how Michelle's conviction and time behind bars has impacted them.

The mother was imprisoned in 1994 and exonerated in 2014 after DNA testing helped prove her innocence.

On The Doctors, she was accompanied by Jason Flom, the host of the Wrongful Conviction podcast, which centers around cases in which people were incorrectly found guilty of crimes.

While Jason insisted there was no chance Michelle had killed Lindsey's brother, and despite the judge's decision to overturn Michelle's conviction, Lindsey still has nightmares that her mother did in fact kill her baby brother, after believing she had for so many years.

When Dr. Travis Lane Stork told Lindsey: 'Until recently, you actually believed that you saw your mother kill your brother', Lindsey replied tearfully: 'I still do, I'm sorry.'

'It's okay,' Michelle replied, before Lindsey explained: 'Because I see it in my sleep. I see it in my sleep when I go to bed at night. I wake up from it. It keeps me up. I know she went through some horrible things too.

'And everybody, especially my mom, they told me that whether or not, what happenedshe paid for it. And she deserves a second chance.'

Jason pointed out that Michelle conviction has been overturned for good, since she cannot ever be retried.

Message: Both women shed tears as Michelle continued: 'I love you. I have always loved you. And I didn't do that. I would give my life for you guys'

Wrongful: Michelle (pictured in an archive shot) was just 17 years old when she was convicted for murdering her three-month-old son

Family: At the time, Michelle (pictured in an archive photo) had a two-year-old daughter and a newborn son

Back when police first apprehended her, Michelle said she had accidentally killed her baby, but the confession was later found to be false.

The prosecution impliedwronglythat blood found at the scene matched her blood type, according to the Innocence Project.

'It's something I have to work at, and I have to keep on trying until something works,' Lindsey said of her beliefs towards her mother.

Sentence: Michelle (pictured in a mugshot) was imprisoned in 1994

Michelle said she is 'so grateful' that Lindsey decided to come and meet her on the show.

'I thank you so much for giving me this chance to see you,' Michelle told her.

Lindsey then told Michelle that her adoptive family gave her all the letters Michelle wrote her, as well as a crocheted heart she made for her.

'I need to get through this,' Lindsey said. 'I have a daughter of my own and I need to get through this and I need to be able to just be normal for once instead of it bothering me every day.'

Both Michelle and Lindsey are now suffering from post-traumatic stress injury stemming from the ordeal.

'I have PTSD and it affects me,' Lindsey, whose daughter is three years old, said. 'I have anxiety attacks and I relive it all the time in my nightmares and I don't want my daughter to have to see me like that.'

Asked what she would like Michelle to know about her life over the past two decades, Lindsey said: 'It's been really hard. I mean, you didn't protect us. I went in a new family not knowing what love really is, not knowing what Christmas is, Easter, nothing.

'I still remember my first Christmas, my first real Christmas where I was happy. I mean, people showed me they cared about me. I felt like I could finally trust somebody.'

Struggles: Lindsey still has nightmares that her mother did in fact kill her baby brother, after believing she had for so many years

Conversation: When Dr. Travis Lane Stork told Lindsey: 'Until recently, you actually believed that you saw your mother kill your brother', Lindsey replied tearfully: 'I still do, I'm sorry'

Recovering: Discussing her efforts to move on, Michelle said: 'It's a second-by-second struggle. I still struggle just to keep going and moving forward'

Lindsey still finds it hard to trust people nowadays.

'I still don't trust a lot of people,' she said. 'I don't get close to people really, not truly close to them, besides my family.'

Michelle shared a message with her daughter too, telling her: 'I know I failed as a mom and I didn't do a great job but I loved you guys and I would have given my life and I would still trade my life so he could be alive right now.

'Every morning I wake up, my first thought is: "It should be him waking up." I failed as a mom.'

Discussing her efforts to move on, Michelle told Travis: 'It's a second-by-second struggle. I still struggle just to keep going and moving forward. Everything is so new to me. Driving a car, just having a place of my own... I'm over 40 years old and I'm just learning life.'

Michelle knows that some people might still believe that she committed the crime she has now been exonerated from.

'I can be me and that's all I can do, me. And people are going to make their own conclusions out of whatever they want,' she said.

On the show, Michelle recounted the night her baby son was killed.

'It was summertime and it was pretty hot. We would all sleep downstairs because the AC upstairs did not work any longer,' she said.

'I don't remember exactly what time it was that I woke up. The sun wasn't up yet and the light was on in my living room and my front door was open and my head hurt severely.

'I looked to check on my kids and my son was gone. I went to go through the kitchen to go out the back door to get help and he was laying on the kitchen floor in a puddle of blood.

'I remember going to the police station and I was put into a small room. There was an officer that would come in and just yell at me that if I would just admit that I did it, they'd get me help and I would go home.

'I kept telling them, "I didn't do this, there's no way I would ever hurt my kids." This happened for I think eight hours. If I ever wanted to see my daughter, I needed to just say I did this and I could go home and I could see my little girl.

'And in time, I was just like, "You know what? I just want out of this room and I just wanted to see my little girl." I wanted to make sure she was OK.'

Trust issues: Lindsey still finds it hard to trust people nowadays. 'I still don't trust a lot of people,' she said. 'I don't get close to people really, not truly close to them, besides my family'

Coping: Both Michelle and Lindsey (pictured with the show's hosts and guest Jason Flom) are now suffering from post-traumatic stress injury stemming from the ordeal

Time: Michelle explained she 'just wanted to make sure' Lindsey was OK after all these years

Ultimately, the mother said she was 'browbeaten and guided into making a confession in order to see [her] daughter'.

It took her 16 years to find a lawyer willing to work to free her, and another four years for her to be released.

A stain of blood found between the living room and the kitchen was later traced to an unknown male. It is one of two types of blood found at the scene, with the other one being Michelle's son's blood.

Michelle finds that forgiving the system that wronged her remains a work in progress.

'Some days it's easier than than others. I choose to forgive because it wouldn't do me any good to hold onto that unforgiveness,' she said. 'Even though I do struggle with anger at times.'

Michelle is now thinking about her future and what she hopes to accomplish.

'I want to be a part of my daughter's life. And I want to go back into prisons and speak out. I want to renew their hope and their faith and maybe give them a little bit of strength to keep going and fighting that fight,' she said.

The mother explained that she 'just wanted to make sure' Lindsey was OK after all these years.

'I'm grateful that a good family took good care of her, loved her and protected her, brought her up, but it's hard because I can only imagine the turmoil that she goes through, believing one thing about me, believing that I'm a monster for so long and then all of a sudden the truth is revealed that I wasn't this monster ever,' she said.

'And the turmoil that she goes through, struggling with "Do I believe this?" And I know she's a new mom and I can only imagine, and it hurts my heart because I can't be there for her and help her through this.

'I know I can never be her mom per se, but I want to be a part of her life.'

Under boob and side butt and nipples, oh my! Just about anything goes on the red carpet these days!

But when stars like Olivia Munn and Alessandra Ambrosio want to wear something revealing without revealing it all, they turn to seamless underwear.

Plain underpinnings tastefully keep everything concealed and emphasize the fact that they are wearing something see-through.

Sara Sampaio attended the Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 show during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival looking tres chic

With the popularity of sheer body-hugging dresses, designers have become very creative and nude underwear has been in high demand.

Kerry O'Brien launched Commando in 2003.

The lingerie brand combines luxury fabrics and flawless fits to create styles that are the perfect foundations to a woman's wardrobe.

Since the launch, Commando has been the go-to for stylists, fashion designers and celebrities for lingerie, hosiery and shapewear.

The 26-year-old Portuguese model wore a sheer Roberto Cavalli beaded gown, complete with white Casadei heels. A pair of nude underwear by Victoria's Secret kept her look demure

Sara Sampaio attended the Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 show during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival looking tres chic.

The 26-year-old Portuguese model wore a sheer Roberto Cavalli beaded gown with a built in corset body suit. To keep the look PG, the beauty donned Victorias Secret underwear beneath.

Ocean's 8 actress Olivia Munn attended the 2018 Met Gala looking ravishing in a gold H&M Conscious Collection dress with a Michael Schmidt headpiece.

The 37-year-old donned a pair of Commando Tiny Thongs ($22) underneath.

Midas touch: Ocean's 8 actress Olivia Munn attended the 2018 Met Gala looking ravishing in a gold H&M Conscious Collection dress with a Michael Schmidt headpiece. The 37-year-old donned a pair of Commando Tiny Thongs ($22)

Katharine Mcphee and Mackenzie Davis both hit the 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination' Costume Institute Gala showing off their underthings.

Paying tribute to the theme, Katharine wore a pale blue Georges Chakra Spring 2017 Couture A-line gown, while the 'Tully' actress wore a bespoke Chanel dress.

They both layered their looks with Commando's Classic Control Brief ($48).

Katharine Mcphee and Mackenzie Davis both hit the 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination' Costume Institute Gala showing off their underthings. They both layered their looks with Commando's Classic Control Brief ($48)

For the 'Heavenly Bodies' Met Gala, Cara Delevingne wore a fishnet dress, made up of sheer paneling that resembled a confession box. Under the peek-a-boo number she wore the Commando Classic Bikini ($28)

For the 'Heavenly Bodies' Met Gala, Cara Delevingne wore a fishnet dress, made up of sheer paneling that resembled a confession box.

The model-turned-actress accessorized her black look with a Noudar white diamond two-finger ring and hand bracelet.

Under the peek-a-boo number she wore the Commando Classic Bikini ($28).

At the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Alessandra Ambrosio showed off her model physique in an embellished Ralph & Russo Couture naked dress.

She styled the very sexy number with Lorraine Schwartz jewels and Giuseppe Zanotti sandals. For full coverage, a pair of skin-toned undies finished her look.

At the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Alessandra Ambrosio showed off her model physique in an embellished Ralph & Russo Couture naked dress

She styled the very sexy look with Lorraine Schwartz jewels and Giuseppe Zanotti sandals. She covered up with a pair of skin-toned undies.

Shop styles wore by celebs:

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Left: Classic Control Brief by Commando, $48; wearcommando.com. Right: Classic Solid Bikini by Commando, $28; wearcommando.com

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When: Wednesday, May 23rd  Monday, May 28th

What: $20 off every $100 spent on WearCommando.comA husband's last words as he fought for his life after developing sepsis referenced how the disease killed his wife nearly a decade earlier.

Days after coming down with what she thought was just flu, grandmother-of-four Jackie Dowdeswell, 64, from Swindon, Wiltshire, passed away from the blood infection nearly 10 years ago.

Nine years later, the same disease killed her widowed husband Brian Dowdeswell, 75, in October 2017.

Moments before he died, Mr Dowdeswell, who met his wife at just 11 years old and married her at 20, said: 'I want to get better but I'm not going to. This killed my wife and I feel like I am dying'.

The couple's daughters Donna Clements, 45, and Sheila Goacher, 54, are speaking out to raise awareness of sepsis, which they believe is more common than health professionals make out.

Ms Clements, who runs her own embroidery company, said: 'One disease has robbed my family of so much. My family has been decimated by sepsis.'

Jackie Dowdeswell (right) died from sepsis nearly a decade ago, with her husband Brian (left) passing away from the same 'rare' condition nine years after losing his wife

The couple, who married aged 20 after meeting at just 11 years old, were 'inseparable'

Their daughters Donna Clements (left) and Sheila Goacher (right) are speaking out to raise awareness of sepsis, which they believe is more common than health professionals make out

WHAT IS SEPSIS? Sepsis occurs when the body reacts to an infection by attacking its own organs and tissues. Some 44,000 people die from sepsis every year in the UK. Worldwide, someone dies from the condition every 3.5 seconds. Sepsis has similar symptoms to flu, gastroenteritis and a chest infection. These include: S lurred speech or confusion

lurred speech or confusion E xtreme shivering or muscle pain

xtreme shivering or muscle pain P assing no urine in a day

assing no urine in a day S evere breathlessness

evere breathlessness I t feels like you are dying

t feels like you are dying S kin mottled or discoloured Symptoms in children are: Fast breathing

Fits or convulsions

Mottled, bluish or pale skin

Rashes that do not fade when pressed

Lethargy

Feeling abnormally cold Under fives may be vomiting repeatedly, not feeding or not urinating for 12 hours. Anyone can develop sepsis but it is most common in people who have recently had surgery, have a urinary catheter or have stayed in hospital for a long time. Other at-risk people include those with weak immune systems, chemotherapy patients, pregnant women, the elderly and the very young. Treatment varies depending on the site of the infection but involves antibiotics, IV fluids and oxygen, if necessary. Source: UK Sepsis Trust and NHS Choices Advertisement

'They both said they felt like they were going to die'

Speaking of sepsis, Ms Clements said: 'You always hear of it referred to as rare but I don't believe it is.

'The coroner said it was a rare disease; the NHS website calls it rare. But it can't be true - I lost both my mum and my dad to it.

'What is scary is both my mum and dad both said the same thing while they were ill - they both said they felt like they were going to die.

'I have heard this from many people who have lost loved ones to sepsis - its seems to be so horrible that a lot of people say that.

She said: 'It is so scary that in the nine years since sepsis killed my mum we have not come anywhere and my dad can still die from it in the same awful way.

'To think that I could go through it again, losing another parents, even though he was diagnosed with sepsis and we, as a family, know what it is, is terrifying.'

Before they passed away, both Mr and Mrs Dowdeswell said they felt like they were dying

Their daughters cannot believe no treatment advances were made in nine years

Mr Dowdeswell never seemed to fully get over losing his wife before he died nine years later

Both died within days of feeling unwell

The family had just returned home from a holiday to Lapland in late 2008 when Ms Dowdeswell began to feel unwell.

After dismissing her symptoms as a cold or flu, it later emerged she had caught a bacterial infection in her throat that entered her bloodstream.

Ms Clements said: 'Unfortunately these were a vital few hours [in which she had brushed it off].

'Soon it was too late and it had gone into her bloodstream. She died very quickly.'

Nine years later, Mr Dowdeswell went to hospital to remove a brain tumour on Wednesday September 13 and was discharged on the Friday.

By the following Thursday, he began to feel unwell and was rushed back to hospital. He passed away on October 11.

Ms Dowdeswell dismissed her symptoms as a simple cold and did not seek medical help

She caught the deadly illness from a bacterial throat infection that entered her bloodstream

Mr Dowdeswell became ill days after being treated for a brain tumour in hospital

He told doctors sepsis had killed his wife and he was expecting to die from it too

'It felt like history repeating itself'

Speaking of her father's diagnosis, mother-of-two Ms Goacher, a compliance manager, said: 'When they said it was sepsis I felt like the bottom had fallen out of my world. "Please not again" I kept thinking to myself.

'It felt like history repeating itself. It was awful.

'Sepsis is just horrendous as you feel like you don't know what's going on.

'My dad did not usually show much emotion but we could tell he was scared once they said it was sepsis.

'He just shut off and went quiet, which is what he would do when he was scared or upset. He did the same [when] my mum was ill with it too. It was painful to see him like that.'

Their daughters feel their family has been 'decimated' by sepsis, which is poorly understood

Losing both their parents to the disease has made them paranoid they too will be affected

'It kills more than a lot of cancers'

Ms Goacher said: 'Sepsis is in my mind all the time now. Whenever I even feel a bit under the weather, straight away I begin to worry "is this sepsis?" It's always my first worry.

'It's like paranoia sets in. I am like this whenever I hear anyone is ill now and probably always will be. But that is not surprising when it has killed both my mum and dad.

'We deserved to have more time with him. I honestly can't believe we have come this far in the nine years since my mum died and yet sepsis has still taken him.'

Ms Clements added: 'I'm very passionate about it. Anyone who comes through my door ends up leaving with a leaflet about sepsis in their hand.

'If I can save someone then I would have done my job. I want people to be more aware. It's like meningitis but people don't speak about it the same.

'It's often not put on death certificates. People will put it down as a heart problem or something. It's like people don't want to talk about it.

'A big factor in why it kills so many is people putting off going to the doctor. They don't realise it's sepsis.

She said: 'Even if they go to hospital, people are sent home all the time with it being misdiagnosed.

'It's a massive killer and kills more than a lot of cancers and it's not really out there, or talked about.

'If you speak to 10 people about sepsis, you are lucky if one of those people knows what it is.'

The women feel they owe it to their parents to raise awareness of sepsis' dangers

Whenever either Ms Clements or Ms Goacher feel under the weather, they think it is sepsis

'Just ask: Could it be sepsis?'

Dr Ron Daniels BEM, Chief Executive of the UK Sepsis Trust and global sepsis expert, said: 'Stories like Jackie's and Brian's remind us of the devastating human cost of sepsis.

'Every day in the UK, individuals and families have their lives torn apart by the condition, but better awareness could save thousands of lives each year.

'Earlier recognition and treatment of sepsis can also mean hugely improved outcomes for those affected.

'We need clinicians and members of the public all over the country to "Just Ask: Could it be sepsis"?'Nineteen people are thought to have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) latest Ebola outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Thirty-nine suspected, probable or confirmed cases have occurred between April 4 and May 13, the WHO statement adds.

This comes days after the first confirmed death in the DRC, which previously had 17 suspected fatalities.

Peter Salama, head of emergency response at the WHO, said last week: 'We are very concerned, and we are planning for all scenarios, including the worst-case scenario.'

The outbreak, which was confirmed by the DRC's health minister last Tuesday, is the country's ninth epidemic since the virus was identified in 1976.

Scientists fear it may be a 'public-health emergency' after an Ebola pandemic killed at least 11,000 when it decimated West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

All nine countries that neighbour DRC have been put of high alert over the possible spread of Ebola and international aid teams have flown in to help.

Nineteen people are thought to have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak (pictured, Red Cross workers carrying a corpse during the pandemic of 2014-16)

Three health professionals have died

The WHO statement adds a further 393 people who have been in contact with Ebola sufferers are being followed up, however, information on the outbreak is still limited.

The Congo Health Ministry said last Tuesday: 'Our country is facing another epidemic of the Ebola virus, which constitutes an international public health emergency.'

Three of the confirmed or suspected sufferers are healthcare workers, of which one has died.

Health Minister Oly Ilunga said: 'One of the defining features of this epidemic is the fact that three health professionals have been affected.

'This situation worries us and requires an immediate and energetic response.'

What is being done to prevent more cases?

The affected region of Bikoro is very remote and difficult for emergency teams to reach.

Mr Salama said: 'Access is extremely difficult... It is basically 15 hours by motorbike from the closest town.'

In addition, to the health team that is already there, the WHO is preparing to send up to 40 specialists in the next week or so.

Mr Salama also stated the UN health organisation hopes to have a mobile lab up and running on site this weekend.

The WHO and World Food Programme are also working to set up an 'air-bridge' to help bring in supplies, however, only helicopters can be used until an airfield is cleared to allow larger planes to land, Mr Salama added.

The health body has released 738,000 ($1m) from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to support response activities for the next three months.

Where could the outbreak spread to?

The WHO is thought to be particularly concerned about the spread of Ebola to Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province, which has around one million residents and is just a few hours away from Bikoro.

Mr Salama said: 'If we see a town of that size infected with Ebola, then we are going to have a major urban outbreak.'

Nigeria's immigration service has increased screening tests at airports and other entry points as a precautionary measure.

Similar measures helped the region contain the virus during the West African epidemic that began in 2013.

Officials in Guinea and Gambia both said they have heightened screening measures along their borders.

Thirty-nine suspected, probable or confirmed cases have occurred between April 4 and May 13 (a health worker is pictured spraying a colleague with disinfectant during a training session for Congolese health workers to deal with Ebola four years ago)

How bad have previous outbreaks been?

DRC escaped the brutal Ebola pandemic, which was finally declared over in January 2016, but was struck by a smaller outbreak last year.

Four DRC residents died from the virus in 2017. The outbreak lasted just 42 days and international aid teams were praised for their prompt responses.

Health experts credit an awareness of the disease among the DRC population and local medical staff's experience treating for past successes containing its spread.

The country's vast, remote geography also gives it an advantage, as outbreaks are often localised and relatively easy to isolate.

Bikoro, however, lies not far from the banks of the Congo River, which is considered to be an essential waterway for transport and commerce.

Further downstream, the river flows past Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Republic. The two cities have a combined population of more than 12 million people.

Neighbouring countries alerted

Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi and the Republic of Congo - which border the DRC - have all been alerted.

While Kenya, which does not border the country, has issued warnings over the possible spread of Ebola.

Thermal guns to detect anyone with a fever have been put in place along its border with Uganda and at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Concerned health officials in Nigeria, which also does not border the DRC, have put similar measures in place to keep its population safe.

Mass vaccination will not curb epidemics

This comes after research released earlier this month suggested mass vaccinations will not stop Ebola outbreaks.

Professor Martin Michaelis and colleagues examined the prospects of a major Ebola campaign to dole out jabs to at-risk patients by looking at 35 old studies.

Writing in the Frontiers in Immunology, they revealed that controlling an outbreak of the virus depends entirely on surveillance and the isolation of cases.

At least 80 per cent of the population would have to receive the vaccine to establish herd immunity, as the average infected patient passes it onto four other people.

Yet, Professor Michaelis pointed to a trial during the Ebola pandemic, which showed less than half of patients were given a experimental jab.

Currently, there are no vaccines to protect patients against Ebola and scientists are unsure if any of the ones under investigation will work in the long term.

Doling out vaccines to populations would also be 'costly and impractical', Professor Michaelis claimed, due to many people at risk living in remote, rural areas.Erika Zak has spent the last four years battling advanced colon cancer and only a liver transplant will save the young mother's life.

Surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible left her with a fist-sized hole in her liver - but Erika's insurance provider denied her coverage for the transplant.

The insurer called the surgery an 'unproven' treatment - despite a letter from Erika's doctors insisting that it was not only a valid course of action, but the only shot she would have at survival.

For the past five months, Erika, 38, has fought back the denials, watching her body fall apart as her liver failed, she told CNN.

Finally, her third and most scathing letter to UnitedHealthcare has changed the company's mind: Erika found out last week she will get a new liver and a chance at seeing her daughter grow up.

Scott Powers (left) and his wife Erika Zac (right) have been fighting to get her a liver transplant to save Erika's life from the cancer she's been battling since their daughter, Loie was born

Erika has had only a few healthy months with her daughter, Loie.

Shortly after Loie was born four years ago, Erika was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colon cancer.

Erika was only 34, fighting cancer for the second time in her life and suddenly unsure if she would even live to see her daughter's first birthday.

Tumors were surgically removed from her colon, and she began chemo treatments.

But disaster struck during microwave ablation surgery that targeted the cancer that had spread to Erika's liver.

The procedure is supposed to use heat to precisely attack the tumors but something went wrong and a hole was cut into Erika's already-damaged liver. Her bile ducts were ruined, too.

Now, due to the damage to her liver, she has developed dilated blood vessels that frequently bleed. In the last year, she has been in and our of the hospital with 19 stays.

Every sign of bleeding or fever is cause for panic in the Zak household.

Her doctors worry constantly that any infection will kill Erika.

Erika is beautiful, but you can see that she is sick. Her green eyes are ringed with yellow - jaundice, a common symptom of liver failure.

Bile drains into ostomy bags outside Erika's scarred abdomen. Most of her liver is already dead, and she has lost 20lbs in the last 12 months.

In a last ditch attempt to stop Erika's cancer last year, she was given an experimental immunotherapy, which worked wonders for her.

Every three weeks, Erika travels to the hospital her her home in Portland, Oregon for the treatment.

She can survive the cancer, but her liver is only going to get worse.

All 100 physicians that have treated Erika have echoed the same thing: They don't know when, but without a new liver, she will die.

For the first time in four years, Erika will have a fighting chance, if she can get the new liver.

She and her husband, Scott Powers, met with a Cleveland Clinic transplant team for evaluations in December and January.

Erika has been in the hospital 19 times in the last year due to complications of a surgery to remove tumors from her live that the 38-year-old mother had in 2014

At the beginning of February, she was given the go-ahead from the doctors. They put her on the waiting list for a liver.

The family's elation didn't last long. Their health insurance company declined to cover the transplant.

UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest insurance company, claimed that a liver transplant was not a 'promising' treatment for her condition.

HOW THE MICROWAVE ABLATION SURGERY THAT LEFT A HOLE IN ERIKA'S LIVER CAN GO WRONG Mircrowave ablation is a relatively new form of minimally invasive surgery. It uses microwaves energy to destroy tumors by exposing them very high heat that is precisely targeted. Surgeons insert a port into the patient near the site of the cancer, guiding the probe to the tumor Ablation is faster, more precise and requires less recovery time than traditional surgery. But if the ultrasound guidance used to help doctors target a tumor is off, if can easily blast other parts of an organ with heat, potentially destroying them. Advertisement

Despite her doctors' claims otherwise, the insurer said that her liver failure was due to toxicity from chemotherapy, suggesting that a transplant would not save her.

Erika was devastated. Feeling as though she had no hope for survival, she started researching Oregon's Death with Dignity program.

She wrote a sweet, gentle letter to say good bye to her daughter. But then she penned a very different one to the CEO of UnitedHealth.

The insurer was unmoved, denying her again.

Patients are typically on transplant wait lists for between 12 and 36 months and only 7,000 of the 20,000 Americans on that list are expected to get new livers this year.

Time was running out for Erika to fight, and the insurance company had already delayed her progress by two months.

In early April, Erika wrote yet another letter to UnitedHealtcare, this one even more scathing than the last.

She railed that their treatment of her case was 'shockingly incompetent,' and pleaded for her life.

Erika told CNN that she wrote to the company: 'Given that my life hangs in the balance based on this review.

'It is unconscionable that it has not been undertaken with the level of competence and professionalism anyone would expect of UHC.'

Erika was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer just three months after Loie was born. Immunotherapy is keeping the cancer at bay, but without a new liver she will not survive

As she waited, for something to happen, Erika got sicker, developing a high and persistent fever.

Twice the insurance company set deadlines for when they would finish reevaluating her case. UnitedHealthcare missed both of them.

Dr Andrew Cameron, head of transplant surgery at Johns Hopkins University told CNN that it is 'exceedingly rare' for insurance companies to decline to cover a liver transplant.

But Erika's doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr Federico Aucejo, is one of a very few surgeons who is trying to perform transplants on patients like Erica, who have difficult-to-treat metastasized tumors on their livers from colon cancer.

Outcomes for these kinds of procedures have historically been poor. During the 1980s and 1990s, less than 20 percent of these high risk liver transplant patients survived for more than five years after the operation.

But Dr Aucejo hopes to change that with a new approach.

When UnitedHealthcare finally called Scott the news was the same as ever: They were still refusing to cover the operation.

'Honestly, you know that is messed up,' Scott told CNN he said to the representative that called him.

'I don't know who you've got to go to, but I would go to someone now and have someone call us, because this is so messed up,' he said.

Even the representative admitted to Scott that he was surprised by the denial, and did not entirely understand it.

Erika sat by while her husband was on the phone, trying to gather herself. Finally, she grabbed the phone from Scott.

'Hey!' she yelled into the phone.

Scott and Erika recently celebrated Loie's fourth birthday, but Erika worried it would be the last she would spend with her little girl

'This is Erika, and you've never heard from me before. You don't know what we're going through. Because I'm dying,' she told CNN.

The representative told them Erika and Scott they could send still more information about her case - a familiar line.

In the course of their fight with the insurance company, the couple found out no one had ever even called Erika's oncologist in Oregon.

There was little reason to think they would listen now.

Yet, the following week, on May 7, Scott got another call from the insurer. UnitedHealthcare had changed its mind, inexplicably, and was agreeing to cover Erika's transplant.

They quickly spread the word to Erika's family, friends and doctors, and started packing.

Erika, Scott and Loie are moving to Cleveland, so that as soon as there is a liver for her, there won't be another moment of delay for Erika.

Liver failure is ranked with a MELD score between six and 40. The closer to 40 a patient is, the more desperately in need of a liver they are and the higher priority they are given on the transplant list.

Erika's score is around 22. She may still have months of waiting, but she could also take a turn for the worse and quickly deteriorate.

Celebrating what she thought would be her last Mother's Day this weekend, Erika found herself crying, surrounded by her little girl and husband.

'I can't imagine not being here. It's not because I keep the family together or anything. It's just the love I have for them,' she told CNN.

Loie asked her mother why she was crying and Erika replied, simply: 'I'm crying because I love you.'

If Dr Aucejo's surgery is a success, Erika could have many more Mother's Days with her family.

Because her case is 'new territory,' Dr Aucejo hopes that it will help to provide an example to insurance companies that patients like Erika can be saved and should get their best shot at survival as soon as possible.

'No one should have to fight and work that hard, especially when I have all these doctors saying it will save my life,' Erika told CNN.Lily Bailey was only five and sitting in her class at infants school when a terrible thought struck her.

My teacher was handing out letters for everyone to take home and I thought it would be full of all the dreadful things Id done, says Lily, now 24, a model and author from Wimbledon, South-West London.

I didnt want my parents to see it, so I sneaked the letter home and put it in the bin. Several days later, I went into school and everyone but me was in fancy dress.

The teacher said: Didnt you get the letter? Id convinced myself the letter had listed all the things Id done wrong at school, which was all in my head.

Control: Lily Bailey was only five years-old when she first had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Its a poignant and sadly typical anecdote of how Lilys obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) manifested itself.

As a young child she would repeatedly tuck her hair behind her ears, check plugs, taps, and under the bed. She would compulsively apologise for things she thought shed done wrong.

I was constantly sure that something bad was going to happen, she says.

Around 750,000 people in the UK are estimated to have OCD, with around one in 50 experiencing it at some point in their lives. The World Health Organisation ranks it in the top ten of the most disabling of all illnesses in terms of the loss of income and diminished quality of life.

Often stereotyped as a condition where people feel the compulsion to wash their hands repeatedly or have items in a certain order, the reality is far more complex.

Many of those with OCD display no observable traits of the illness. Instead, they experience recurring, obsessive thoughts, or repeat words or find that phrases pop into their mind that can lead them to feel anxious or depressed.

Key to a diagnosis of OCD is having intrusive or obsessional thoughts which are unproductive or debilitating for more than one hour a day, says Graham Price, a psychologist based in London.

The exact causes are unknown, but in some cases its thought it may be genetic, while stressful life events are thought to bring it on in about one in three cases.

Some experts believe that those with OCD may have an imbalance of the brain-chemical serotonin; others believe it may have an environmental cause.

Making progress: Lily underwent weekly cognitive behaviour therapy sessions (CBT), a talking therapy, on and off for four years

Its generally accepted that we can inherit a greater susceptibility to developing certain mind-based issues, says Graham Price. But this doesnt mean we will develop any of those issues. They still need a trigger or cause. With OCD, the trigger can be something quite minor.

Lily remains unsure about the exact causes of her own illness. In my family, two aunts, two cousins and my father, sister and grandfather all had significant traits although wed not named it OCD before I was diagnosed, she says. But she also wonders if her family life may have played a part.

My parents had a pretty bad relationship, she says. They divorced when I was 13. But many children grow up in that kind of environment and never develop OCD so it cant be the only factor.

As a child, her symptoms were physical. I might tuck my hair behind my ears a few times to comfort myself. If my mum and dad were arguing in the car, I tapped my feet a certain number of times so I would feel calmer.

At home, I would worry that my little sister, five years younger than me, would die in her sleep. I would keep getting up and checking that her heart was beating and count her heartbeat in sets of three. Id say the phrase, best sister ever over and over again in my head because I thought if I did shed be protected. It was exhausting.

Yet no one picked up on her behaviour. As she approached her teenage years and went to a boarding school in Kent, Lilys symptoms became more internalised. I was sharing a dorm with a group of girls so I stopped the physical compulsions because people stared, she says. Instead what took over was what she calls a relentless stream of mind babble.

The intrusive thoughts just hit you out of nowhere and they can be explicit or obscene, she says. I might be walking down the street and pass someone who I dont know but Ill suddenly think: I want you to die! 

Lily was finally diagnosed aged 16 while still at boarding school. I just wanted it to stop, she says. I wanted my head to be quiet. I got myself sent home from school and I stayed in bed for a week.

When I returned to school I was sent to the school GP, who was pretty sure I had OCD and referred me to a psychiatrist, who diagnosed it straight away.

Lily underwent weekly cognitive behaviour therapy sessions (CBT), a talking therapy, on and off for four years.

The form of CBT that has most evidence for improving OCD is something called graded exposure and self-imposed response prevention  facing up to the things you fear without performing the compulsions, says Dr Lynne Drummond, a consultant psychiatrist at South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust.

Over time, exposing yourself to the thoughts you fear so much makes them much less scary Lily Bailey

So if a patient has a germ contamination fear, wed work together on a series of small steps, the first of which might be touching a public handrail, then touching other parts of their body with it.

For Lily, it helped. Over time, exposing yourself to the thoughts you fear so much makes them much less scary, she says. She was also prescribed antidepressants and later antipsychotic drugs. We know that around 60 per cent of people with OCD will improve with a specific antidepressant drug called serotonin reuptake inhibitors, says Dr Drummond.

If this does not work, another type can be tried. And if that still does not help, then it is worth adding a dopamine blocker  the term I prefer because antipsychotic is not a fair description of the doses we use in OCD. Around 30 per cent of people who try this will improve.

Lilys illness began to get better within a few weeks of starting medication. Although the side-effects of the antipsychotics made me very foggy-headed, she says.

Yet despite treatment, at 19, while at university in Ireland, Lily attempted suicide. I was away from home, drinking a lot and went through a really dark patch, she says.

I went into a secure hospital in Ireland for a few days and returned to the UK and was an inpatient in two psychiatric hospitals for a month. It was a really bad time.

But she was able to bounce back and found her modelling career, which began in her early 20s, helpful. Lily says: In the past Id struggled with letting anyone come near me or touch me. Modelling involves having people constantly dressing you and touching up your make-up, so it was often mentally hard, but also exactly the kind of thing that keeps you well.

Lily, who has written a book Because We Are Bad, about her experience and is now taking part in a TV documentary about mental illness, is still on anti-depressants but has come off antipsychotic medication.

I used to be quite academic but I feel my brain is not the same after taking all these drugs and that really upsets me, she says.

I may never completely recover, but I am happy that I now know how to manage it day by day.

Me & My Mental Health is on Channel 5 at 10pm on Thursday.

Dr Lynne Drummonds new book, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: All You Want To Know About OCD For People Living with OCD, Carers And Clinicians, is out in July (Cambridge University Press).The investor who predicted the 2008 financial crisis has urged traders to bet against Deutsche Bank

The investor who predicted the 2008 financial crisis has urged traders to bet against Deutsche Bank.

Steve Eisman - who realised the US property market was headed for collapse and inspired the film The Big Short - said the struggling German lender faces huge difficulties turning a profit.

Eisman, who works at the New York investment firm Neuberger Berman, warned that Deutsche will need to axe vast numbers of staff and will probably have to raise more money from investors next year.

He added: Deutsche Bank is a problem bank.A surge in urban fishing has boosted profits at Angling Direct.

The bait and tackle retailer hailed the growing popularity of so-called drop-shot fishing, in which customers take the minimum amount of gear to easily reached sites in cities.

The increasing number of enthusiasts joining the sport has helped Angling Direct post a 28per cent rise in profits to 941,000 for the year to January 31.

A surge in urban fishing has boosted profits at Angling Direct

Chief executive Darren Bailey said: Drop-shot fishing is good for urban people.

Youre more mobile, you walk around with just a rod and a net.

Bailey said the sport was popular abroad at first, but is now increasingly taking root in the UK.

Drop-shot anglers typically fish in canals and rivers for perch, pike and chub.

The costs are lower than for more traditional carp fishing, although catching carp still accounts for around 65per cent of Angling Directs sales.

Revenues rose 44per cent to 30.2million in the year.

It opened three stores and bought three more from rivals, taking the total to 21.

It is set to open three outlets this year, and plans to add five more every year.A 3billion bidding war has broken out for IWG, sending its shares soaring nearly 23per cent.

The office rental business, founded by Mark Dixon, has received cash offers from Starwood Capital and TDR Capital, while Lone Star Europe has expressed an interest.

An earlier takeover attempt by Canadian private equity firms Onex Corp and Brookfield Asset Management collapsed in February.

A 3billion bidding war has broken out for the office rental business IWG, sending its shares soaring nearly 23per cent

They were reportedly offering 300p per share but analysts expect talks with the new bidders could result in an offer of 350p  which would value IWG at 3.2billion in total.

Andrew Shepherd-Barron, an analyst at Peel Hunt, said they see IWGs going private as likely. Yesterday shares rose 22.8per cent, or 57.5p, to 309.5p.

Burgers to billionaire Mark Dixon founded IWG, then called Regus, in 1989. The father-of-five had the idea after noticing the lack of office space for travelling business executives meeting at tables next to him in a Brussels cafe. Essex-born Dixon, who lives in Monaco, started Dial-a-Snack, which delivered sandwiches, after he left school. But the business failed and he went travelling before returning to Essex to buy a burger van. He set up The Bread Roll Company to solve supply issues and sold it for 800,000 in 1988. He relocated to Brussels, where he started Regus.

The company, formerly called Regus, has offices in more than 3,000 locations in 110 countries and its brands include Regus, Open Office and Signature. It was founded in 1989 by Dixon.

If IWG sold for upwards of 3billion, the father-of-five would nearly double his wealth.

He owns 25.4per cent of the shares  meaning he would net about 800million  and is estimated to be worth 975million.

There is speculation about whether Dixon would leave the company completely if it were sold.

He was reportedly in favour of a deal with the Canadians but this was said to have been blocked by other directors.

IWG is fighting a rear-guard action against newer competitors such as We Work, which is backed by Japanese technology giant SoftBank.

The firm also recently warned on profits, saying it expected to report 165million for 2018.

Starwood, TDR and Lone Star have until June 8 to make a firm offer or walk away.A 20-year-old man survived falling from a fourth-story balcony inside the famous Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.

Police say the unnamed man either jumped or fell from the balcony around 9.30pm on Saturday.

The pyramid-shaped hotel and casino is situated on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.

Tumble: The 20-year-old man fell from the fourth-story balcony inside the Luxor hotel, but fortunately some of the hotel's decorations broke his fall and he only suffered minor injuries

The man fell from the fourth floor balcony, but fortunately some of the hotel's decorations broke his fall.

The man suffered only minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that alcohol played a role in the incident.

Neither the man's name nor his nationality has been released by police.Advertisement

The 22-year-old son of a former South Sudanese military general allegedly paid for a $1.5million mansion using five unexplained installments from African companies to a luxury car business in his name.

Nguoth Oth Mai in June 2014 purchased the seven-figure home in Narre Warren, in Melbourne's south-east, despite being on welfare, living in a housing commission, and having a father with a salary of $57,000.

The mansion is now being targeted by police, who hope to seize the home following civil action launched under the Proceeds of Crime Act, ABC reported.

Nguoth Oth Mai allegedly paid for a $1.5million mansion (pictured) in Narre Warren, in Melbourne's south-east, using five installments from African companies to a luxury car business in his name

Nguoth Oth Mai in June 2014 purchased the seven-figure home (pictured) despite being on welfare, living in a housing commission, and having a father with a salary of $57,000, according to an affidavit

Police claim Nguoth Oth Mai - who is the son of former chief of staff to Sudan's People's Liberation Army, James Hoth Mai (pictured, left) - acquired the home with money transferred from companies in Uganda and Kenya, according to court documents

Police claim Nguoth Oth Mai - who is the son of former chief of staff to Sudan's People's Liberation Army, James Hoth Mai - allegedly acquired the home with money transferred from companies in Uganda and Kenya into Australian business accounts, according to court documents seen by the publication.

According to an affidavit filed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the National Australia Bank (NAB) business accounts were registered to former luxury car business Sportscars Dealers, which Nguoth Oth Mai was director and majority stakeholder of.

According to the AFP, the payments were then received by Sportscars Dealers, which police claim didn't trade any vehicles until it was deregistered in September 2016.

Money in the NAB accounts was also used to purchase an Audi for Nguoth Oth Mai's younger sister, police allege.

Members of the Hoth Mai family are accused by police of failing to declare income since 2009, while Nguoth Oth Mai is also accused of failing to declare the purchase of his $1.5million Melbourne home.

The mansion (pictured) is being targeted by police, who hope to seize the home following civil action launched under the Proceeds of Crime Act

Police claim the luxury car business was established to allow members of the family to continue receiving welfare payments, which would have been cancelled if Centrelink was aware of the wealth.

United Nations money laundering adviser John Chevis said the first red flag should have been a $155,171 deposit paid to real estate agents from a Ugandan development company.

He added that NAB 'should possibly have noticed' the funds being transferred without any 'apparent commercial reason'.

'Having identified these transactions as unusual, the banks should then have sought further information on the source of the funds and then, assuming they identified the source as illegitimate, rejected the transactions,' Mr Chevis said.

NAB told the publication in a statement that it conducts checks and due diligence on all its customers.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted NAB for comment.

Police allege payments were made to Australian business accounts registered to former luxury car business Sportscars Dealers, which Nguoth Oth Mai was director and majority stakeholder of. Pictured: The Narre Warren mansion

The AFP hopes to seize the mansion once the case returns in July.

The estate, officially bought by the general's son in 2014, boasts an infinity pool, sauna and five-car garage.

According to an affidavit filed by the AFP, it suspects James Hoth Mai, whose salary was around $57,000, helped his son buy the mansion with the proceeds of corruption.

Their Criminal Assets Confiscation Task force started a probe in 2016 and in February began proceedings at the High Court.

The Sentry report titled War Crimes Shouldn't Pay: Stopping The Looting And Destruction In South Sudan contains a page on General Hoth among other figures it accuses of corruption.

It says: 'Even as a senior official in the SPLA, his salary was never more than about AUD$58,000 per year.

Members of the Hoth Mai family are accused by police of failing to declare income since 2009, while Nguoth Oth Mai is also accused of failing to declare the purchase of his $1.5million Melbourne home (pictured)

'However, Gen. Hoth Mai's retirement home appears to indicate that his tenure in the SPLA was far more lucrative than his salary would suggest.

'In June 2014, the Hoth Mai family purchased a home in a beautiful suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the name of Gen. Hoth Mai's son for AUD$1,500,000.

'Notably, Nguoth Oth Mai - Gen. Hoth Mai's 23-year-old son who purchased the house - was studying in China until mid-December 2013, just six months prior to the transaction.

'The residence is situated on a one-acre lot backing up to a forested area bordering nearby Lysterfield Lake, a popular destination for sailing, canoeing, and mountain biking.

'The home is described by the realty company that sold it as "perfecting the balance between serenity and glamour."

'The home boasts four bedrooms, a top-of-the-line kitchen, a two-tiered home theater, a sauna, and an infinity pool.'

It adds: 'When The Sentry visited the home in August 2016, a BMW 316i used by one of Hoth Mai's daughters was parked in front of the house.'

In court in February, JR Mailey, Investigations Director at The Sentry, explained why the group was suspicious of the purchase, reported the Herald Sun.

He said: 'First, the cost of the home far surpassed what one could reasonable afford on the salary of a general of Hoth Mai's rank.

'Second, the Hoth Mai family had purchased the home shortly after having resided in subsidised housing, a major sudden change in the family's lifestyle.

'Finally, the home was purchased in the name of Hoth Mai's son, who had only recently graduated from college.

'We considered this a possible attempt to obfuscate the General's connection to the purchase. Taken as a whole, the circumstances of the transaction, we found, merit more scrutiny from relevant law enforcement and regulatory authorities.'

An AFP spokeswoman said: 'The investigation, which included assistance from the ACIC, focused on the acquisition of assets in Australia by the family members of an individual who is believed to have held senior positions including chief of staff in the Sudan People's Liberation Army between May 2009 and April 2014.'

The legal proceedings are a civil matter under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The alleged offences are breach of directors' duties, causing a loss to the Commonwealth and obtaining a gain from the Commonwealth. No criminal charges have be laid.Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman has followed in President Obama's footsteps to give an inspiring graduation speech at Howard University.

Speaking at Saturday's commencement ceremony, the actor urged the 2018 graduate to 'press on with pride and press on with purpose' as they leave the historically black university to tackle future endeavors.

Boseman, who received a Bachelor in Fine Arts in 2000, attributed parts of his success to the Washington DC university saying 'anything can happen here', while offering personal examples of hardships throughout his career.

'Many of you will leave Howard and enter systems and institutions that have a history of discrimination and marginalization,' he said. 'You can use your education to improve the world that you are entering.'

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Chadwick Boseman delivered the graduation speech at Howard University telling the students to 'press on with pride and press on with purpose'

The Black Panther star graduated from the Washington DC University in 2002

Howard University is often known as the 'Mecca' of black education, as it is one of the top historically black colleges (HBCU) in the country.

The university faced a rough year of unrest as students protested over a financial aid scandal, tuition increases and campus housing while petitioning for the school's president to resign.

In April, students took over the administration building in a demonstration lasting eight days.

Boseman said he himself took part in protests while a student at Howard and praised both the students and administration for their efforts.

'Everything that you fought for was not for yourself, it was for those who came after you,' he said.

'Take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes,' he said. 'Then you will not regret it.'

Boseman shared an anecdote about his first television role on a soap opera.

His character was a black man with an absent father and drug-addicted mother.

'I found myself conflicted,' he said. 'The role seemed to be wrapped up in assumptions about us as black folk  hardly any positivity.'

After he voiced his concerns to the producers, he was fired.

'What do you do when the principles and standards that were instilled in you here at Howard close the doors in front of you? Sometimes you need to get knocked down before you can really figure out what your fight is' he said.

Boseman was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from his alma mater

He told the graduates that many will enter into 'systems and institutions that have a history of discrimination' but they can 'improve the world that you are entering'

The actor told the graduates to 'invest in the importance of this moment and cherish it. Don't just swallow the moment whole without digesting what is happening here.'

He told the students to find their purpose, adding: 'It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill.'

Humbled, he said: 'It's overwhelming to be recognized amongst this year's other honorees. I can think of no better place to be right now after the Black Panther and 'Avenger' campaigns.'

Boseman was awarded an honorary doctorate degree, Doctor of Humane Letters.

He follows in the footstop of former president Barack Obama who has spoken at Howard three times.

More than 2,000 degrees, including nearly one hundred PhD, were awarded this year at Howard.

More African Americans are reportedly receiving PhDs on the campus than any other university nationwide.

'The light of new realization shines on you today,' Boseman said. 'Howard's legacy is not wrapped up in the money you will make, but the challenges you choose to confront.'

Boseman ended his speech with his famous 'Wakanda salute', saying 'Howard forever.'A sheriff's deputy responding to a call at a California car wash has been shot and wounded.

Sheriff's officials say the unidentified deputy was hospitalized but is in good condition and expected to survive following the shooting Sunday morning in Sonoma.

A 19-year-old car wash worker has been arrested and has not yet been identified.

The Jolly Washer Car Wash manager called the police to report the employee acting strangely and refusing to go home.

A gunshot hole is pictured through the back window of a pickup truck at a California car wash

One officer was injured after a Jolly Washer Car Wash employee opened fire Sunday

Two deputies were responding to the scene when the suspect opened fire, striking one of the officers around 11am.

'The deputies go outside to make contact with him, they see the suspect kinda hunkered down behind one of the cars, acting strange,' Lt Bret Sackett said.

'He then steps out from behind the car, exposing himself, lifts up his shirt, and removes a handgun from his waistband and fires at the deputy.'

One of the deputies was hit by a bullet containing multiple pellets, according to the sheriff's office.

The pellets struck the deputy in multiple places across his body.

At least one of the deputies fired back at the suspect, but he hid behind the truck to avoid being hit.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, at least one of the deputies returned fire but did not hit the employee.

The sheriff's office said that the suspect's gun appeared to jam and he threw it down.

Deputies then arrested the teen.

The suspect's 9mm semi-automatic handgun, which was loaded with multiple rounds, has been recovered from the scene.

Officials are still investigating and have not identified a motive.Thick fog (pictured out of plane window) has grounded flights at Melbourne airport

Thick fog and poor weather conditions have grounded flights in and out of Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport on Monday morning leaving travellers stranded and facing hours-long waits.

The heavy fog has hit domestic flights the hardest with Virgin, Qantas, Tiger and Rex forced to cancel over a dozen flights due to low visibility and safety concerns.

Australia's busiest domestic air transit route between Sydney and Melbourne has been most affected, a Melbourne Airport spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

Thick fog and poor weather conditions have grounded flights in and out of Melbourne's Tullamarine airport on Monday morning leaving travellers stranded and facing long waits

Melbourne city was barely visible Monday morning due to a blanket of heavy fog which shrouded most of the skyline (pictured) causing very low visibility

'It's as thick as pea soup out there this morning,' Vic Roads described the weather this morning (pictured over the city skyline)

'With no wind to disperse it [the fog] we will need to rely on the weak autumn sunshine to burn it off,' the Bureau of Meteorology said

'It's as thick as pea soup out there this morning,' Vic Roads said.

As a result of the early morning delays, the airport expects there will be a backlog throughout the day.

At least seven Virgin flights have been cancelled and 14 flights delayed, a Virgin Airlines spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

'With no wind to disperse it [the fog] we will need to rely on the weak autumn sunshine to burn it off,' the Bureau of Meteorology said.

'Whatever kind of fog it is theyre not letting any flights leave Sydney for Melbourne. Been sitting here for hours,' one frustrated passenger wrote on Twitter.

A picture of the heavy fog in Melbourne's CBD

The heavy fog (pictured over the city skyline) has hit domestic flights the hardest with Virgin, Qantas, Tiger and Rex forced to cancel over a dozen flights this morning due to low visibility and safety concerns

As a result of the of early morning delays, the airport expects there will be continued delays throughout the day

'I'm stuck in Melbourne Airport. Raced here. And now stuck here for hours,' another person said.

A Melbourne Airport spokeswoman said the weather had also affected Sydney airport.

She encouraged people travelling to or from Melbourne to check their airline's flight status page for the most up-to-date information.

At least seven Virgin flights have been cancelled and 14 flights delayed (the fog pictured in the early hours of Monday morning)Lady Amelia Windsor walks the runway during Milan Fashion Week. Harry's cousin is the queen of fashion but she has not been invited to the royal wedding

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry may have overlooked one of the Prince's own cousins, it has emerged, as reports suggest Lady Amelia Windsor has not been invited to the royal wedding.

The young model is among the hottest names in fashion right now but the glam Royal did not make the final cut for the nuptials in Windsor on Saturday, May 19, it is claimed.

According to The Sun, the 22-year-old and her older sister Marina, 25 will not be attending the ceremony at Windsor Castle.

A friend told the newspaper: 'They were a little surprised not to be invited as they were looking forward to going.

'Amelia is creating quite a name for herself with her modelling and Instagram posts.

'Perhaps Harry just wanted to keep the family invited to a small number or maybe he didn't want anyone upstaging the bride.'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry in St Georges Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle on Saturday, May 19

Lady Amelia is 37th in line to the throne and was dubbed 'most beautiful royal' after appearing on the front of Tatler magazine in 2016.

The wedding guest list has caused a considerable stir in the US after members of Suits actress Meghan's family came forward to claim they were not invited.

Michael, the brother of Meghan's father Tom, said he felt particularly upset as he had helped his niece get her first job. His other brother Fred, a bishop, has also been left off the guest list, as has Joseph Johnson, Meghan's uncle on her mother's side.

None of Meghan's half-siblings, aunts or cousins has been invited either, emphasising the growing family divide.

Lady Amelia Windsor has been snubbed from the royal wedding guest list according to reports in The Sun newspaper

Top politicians, even those who are friends with Harry, failed to make the cut.

Barack Obama and wife Michelle, Donald Trump and Theresa May will all be absent from proceedings.

About 600 guests will attend the ceremony at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Hundreds more have been invited to the grounds of the castle to enjoy the festivities.

Those who will be invited into the grounds include charity patrons, leaders and founders of social enterprises, reflecting Harry and Meghan's shared interest in humanitarian work.

Philip Gillespie from Ballymena who lost his right leg in an IED incident in Afghanistan will attend, as will Amelia Thompson, 12, from Sheffield who witnessed the Manchester Arena bombing.

Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Princess Anne  will also be there.A string of horrific great white shark attacks along the Californian coast has sparked debate about whether to deploy controversial Australian technology to protect humans.

Personal trainer Maria Korcsmaros experienced the terror of a 2.8-metre shark wrapping its jaws around her torso and almost ripping off her tricep as she completed the first round of an ironman swim training session at Corona del Mar in 2016.

'It just came out of nowhere and then it was gone in a flash,' she told Fairfax Media about the juvenile great white shark attack.

A string of horrific great white shark attacks along the Californian coast (Newport Beach pictured) has sparked debate about whether to deploy Australian technology to save lives

Personal trainer Maria Korcsmaros experienced the terror of a 2.8-metre ocean predator wrapping its jaws around her torso and almost ripping off her tricep in 2016

'My body was literally being held together by my wetsuit.

'But I got lucky, there was a lifeguard boat close by and they got to me within 20 seconds and saved my life.'

Her ordeal was just one of 48 non-fatal shark attacks in California during the past decade alone, during a period which included two shark-related deaths.

California's Newport Beach authorities had been scheduled to trial Australian-designed 'Clever Buoys' at Corona del Mar. The buoys send out SMS alerts when sharks are detected near beaches. However a lack of political will has delayed progress.

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, an avid surfer, and Newport Beach mayor Kevin Muldoon last year announced a trial of the Australian technology. However, politicians did not support spending $US1million ($A1.3million) on installing six of the devices.

It now appears only crowd-funding will see anything happen.

California's Newport Beach authorities had been scheduled to trial Australian-designed 'Clever Buoys' which send out SMS alerts when sharks are detected

As California grapples with a spate of shark attacks (great white pictured), Queensland has had only one fatal shark attack since drumlines were installed at popular beaches in 1962

As the American west coast state grapples with a spate of shark attacks, Queensland has had only one fatal shark attack since drumlines were installed at popular beaches in 1962.

In the Sunshine State, both major parties support the installation of poison baits and shark nets at 85 beaches, including along the Gold Coast.

New South Wales has had a more mixed record, with shark nets installed off the coast of 51 beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle, covering Sydney.

However, following a string of fatal shark attacks in the state's far north, the state government trialled shark nets at five beaches near Ballina and Evans Head.

Following a string of fatal shark attacks in the far north of NSW, the state government trialed shark nets at five beaches near Ballina and Evans Head (3.2-metre great white in net pictured)

Despite the fatal shark attacks in Ballina, state Greens MP Tamara Smith is a vocal opponent of shark nets being trialed at her local beaches, arguing they killed marine life (great white caught in net pictured)

In 2015, a 41-year-old surfer from Japan, Tadashi Nakahara, died after a shark inflicted serious injuries to his leg at Shelly Beach, near Ballina.

Only months earlier in 2014 Paul Wilcox, 50, was bitten and killed as he swam at nearby Clarkes Beach.

Despite the fatal shark attacks in Ballina, the state's Greens member of parliament, Tamara Smith is a vocal opponent of shark nets being trialled at her local beaches, arguing they killed marine life.

In Queensland, both major parties support the installation of poison baits at 85 beaches, including along the Gold Coast (hammerhead shark caught on the Gold Coast pictured)

'The data from the North Coast Shark Net Trial is yet more evidence that the shark netting program in NSW does little to keep people safe in the water but takes a terrible toll on local marine life,' she said in a statement earlier this month.

'We all want to ensure people are as safe as possible when enjoying the beach and ocean while minimising the toll on marine life.

'Shark nets don't help achieve that balance.'

The Greens MP argued drones and surf lifesavers using binoculars was a more effective way to spot sharks in the water.Pictured: Twiglet the Jack Russell

Dogs are an increasingly common sight on university campuses around exam time, with petting and cuddling sessions aimed at helping students de-stress ahead of final exams.

But Twiglet the Jack Russell, who was brought in to help Cambridge University students, became so distressed by the experience that she refused to go for walks with the undergraduates.

Students at Sidney Sussex College were able to sign up online to walk the canine companion in hourly slots.

The scheme had been introduced by the colleges mental health adviser in order to help students with revision anxiety.

But it became so popular that on one occasional Twiglet was booked for eight consecutive hours in a single day.

College students were emailed by pastoral staff earlier this month informing them that study-break dog-walking sessions would no longer be taking place after the terrier had a surprisingly nervous reaction to being taken for walks by strangers'.

Twiglet, who began working at the College at the start of this term, refused to move when prompted by students who were walking her last Wednesday, according to the Cambridge Student.

Students at Sidney Sussex College (pictured) were able to sign up online to walk the canine companion in hourly slots

The email said this [was] very unlike her, leading to college staff cancelling future sessions, so as to avoid any unnecessary distress'.

It also reportedly stated that the vacancy will not be reopened until next year.

Animal petting sessions have become a popular source of stress relief with British universities.

Warwick University academics carried out a study earlier this year that looked into dog therapy sessions.

They discovered that the dogs were very tired at the end of each session because they behaved like they were working during each visit.

Essex University opened a petting zoo last year with tortoises, meerkats and rabbits.A police officer has reportedly shot himself in the leg while trying to put a handgun in his holster while on duty.

The officer, from Springwood Police Station in Queensland, is believed to have been inside the police station when the gun went off on Monday.

An ambulance spokesperson told The Courier Mail that emergency workers were called to the station on the Pacific Highway at 7.18am.

A Queensland police officer is recovering in hospital and an investigation is underway after he accidentally shot himself while on duty at the Springwood Police station (pictured)

Paramedics rushed the injured officer to the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

The spokesperson said the officer's condition wasn't serious and he was transported in a stable condition.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident.Billionaire Steve Wynn's Picasso piece up for auction has been damaged

Although he is famous for collecting art, billionaire Steve Wynn may have a new reputation for accidentally damaging it.

The American businessman, 76, who made his fortune in casinos and hotels, planned to auction off a $70million Picasso piece entitled Le Marin on Tuesday in New York.

However his plan was derailed after the auction company Christie's withdrew the piece from bidding as it was damaged on Friday.

Although the nature of damage was not revealed, it wouldn't be the first time the billionaire ruined a million-dollar art piece.

Wynn famously tarnished another Picasso painting titled Le Reve back in 2006, when he accidentally put his elbow through it, according to Bloomberg.

The business man suffers from a disease that affects his peripheral vision, which could have led to the blunder where he hit the painting with his right elbow while showing it to friends in his Las Vegas office.

Wynn was set to auction off Picasso's Le Marin, left, on Tuesday before it was damaged. In 2006, he damaged Picasso's Le Reve, right, which was hung in his Las Vegas office

Despite leaving a silver dollar sized hole in Le Reve it was restored, bringing down its value from $139million to $85million. The painting pictured in November 1997 at Christie's auction

The $139million painting was left with a hole the size of a silver dollar.

La Reve was restored, bringing down its value to $85million.

Despite losing value, it was purchased by billionaire Steve Cohen in 2013 for a whopping $155million.

Le Merin, a self-portrait that was painted in 1943 and measures four by two and a half feet, will be restored.

The Picasso piece was just one of three that Wynn consigned to Christie's for sale this week.

All three art pieces came to a total value of $135million, according to Christie's.

The auction company said its consignment contracts 'have insurance provisions to cover damage and other contingencies' as reported by Bloomberg.

The art fanatic seems to be a fan of Picasso, pictured in front of another one of the artist's pieces in Las Vegas

His art antics aside, Wynn resigned from his post as chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts in light of sexual assault allegations against him in February.

The Wall Street Journal reported on January 26 that a number of women said Wynn harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5million settlement.

'In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself the focus of an avalanche of negative publicity,' Wynn, 76, said in a written statement following his resignation.

'As I have reflected upon the environment this has created - one in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts - I have reached the conclusion I cannot continue to be effective in my current roles,' he continued.

He also resigned from his position as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee in January.

He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.A man who has been jailed for possessing child pornography of the most serious 'depraved and heinous' nature said he has been publicly humiliated and called a 'paedophile'.

Declan Martin Macallister, who was born in Ireland but lives in Cairns, Far North Queensland, was caught with multiple child exploitation videos including footage of sex acts between adults and children, and images of five-year-old girls in sexual poses.

Since being charged, Macallister told a Cairns court that he had been humiliated while in public, called a 'paedophile' and was worried about being targeted while in jail, the Cairns Post reported.

Declan Martin Macallister was jailed for possessing child pornography of the most serious 'depraved and heinous' nature said he has been publicly humiliated on the streets of Cairns (pictured) and called a 'paedophile'

Macallister pleaded guilty to nine offences committed between 2013 and 2016.

These offences included using a carriage service to cause child pornography material to be transmitted to self, using a carriage service to solicit child pornography material and possessing child exploitation material.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Dunkerton said there was a strong need for deference in the case and described the images and videos as 'depraved and heinous material', the Cairns Post reported.

The Cairns District Court (pictured) was told Macallister also had numerous images of girls as young as five years old in sexualised poses, the Cairns Post reported

Macallister's defence barrister Josh Trevino said his client was remorseful and had been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and suffered from sexual deviancy.

The stress disorder was the result of a number of incidents including unknowingly being hired to courier a bomb while working in London, the court was told.

Macallister was sentenced to 20 months in jail and will be released on a $1,000 two-year good behaviour bond.

He was also placed on a two-year probation order.The suspicious death of a man who was found outside a Centrelink in rural Victoria is being investigated by police.

His body was discovered by a local resident on the footpath of Maude Street in Shepparton, 200km north of Melbourne, about 7.20am Monday.

A team of forensics were dispatched to the scene from Melbourne, and the homicide squad has been notified.

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The suspicious death of a man who was found on Monday outside a Centrelink in Shepparton, 200km north of Melbourne, is being investigated by police (scene pictured)

A Victoria Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the death is being treated as suspicious, and detectives are investigating.

The spokesperson said: 'The man was found deceased on a footpath on Maude Street at about 7.20am

'The cause of death is yet to be determined and detectives will await the result of a post mortem examination.

Local media reports suggest the man had been outside the Centrelink for some time, Shepparton News reported.

His body was discovered by a local resident outside the Centrelink (pictured) about 7.20am Monday

Investigators have reviewed security camera footage from the Centrelink, which remained closed throughout Monday morning.

Police are also hopeful footage from CCTV cameras in the town's city centre will shed light on the circumstances surrounding the man's death.

A total of 19 cameras were installed in Shepparton's city centre in 2014 as part of a campaign to provide a safer community.

Images from outside the Centrelink on Monday morning showed police cordoning off Maude Street, between Ashenden and Sobraon Streets, as they established a crime scene.

Both the road and the Centrelink branch weren't re-opened until about midday.A heartbroken Jehovah's Witness whose family was killed in the Margaret River massacre has spoken of his children going to a 'new system' after their tragic deaths.

The bodies of Aaron Cockman's four autistic children - Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and eight-year-old Kadyn Cockman - were found at the family farm in Osmington, rural Western Australia, on Friday.

The youngsters, as well as Mr Cockman's estranged partner Katrina, 35, and her 58-year-old mother Cynda, are believed to have been shot dead by the children's grandfather, Peter Miles, 61.

'All my family has stayed strong. We were all sitting around last night and it was not all tears and crying... it was all laughing and happy and joking around,' Mr Cockman said, according to The West.

Aaron Cockman, a Jehovah's Witness whose family was killed in the Margaret River massacre, spoke of his children going to a 'new system' after their tragic deaths

Peter Miles (second from left in suit and blue tie) is suspected of shooting dead his wife, Cynda, (back right), his daughter Katrina Miles (left in red dress) and her four autistic children aged from 8 to 13 (pictured) before shooting himself

'I had nearly tears in my eyes from laughing so much. I've got an awesome, powerful, strong family. They get their strength from Jehovah, and so do I. You might think that is a load of c*** but a lot of my strength is from him, too.

'It might sound weird, but the kids went to sleep and now they are nothing. But to them they are already in a new system. We're just lagging a bit behind here, they are already there. By the time we get there it will all be the same, it is like a time-period difference.'

When asked by reporters about initial rumours that he may have been involved in the shooting tragedy, Mr Cockman said 'bring it on'.

Mr Cockman, the father of four children killed by their grandfather near Margaret River in WA's south on Friday, addresses the media on Sunday

The bodies of Peter Miles, 61, his 58-year-old wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children were found at the Miles' Osmington property in Western Australia on Friday

'I think it is funny. I lost four kids. It is not like I don't care anymore but bring it on, let's have a party. You guys say what you want to ask, I don't care any more, I've lost everything,' he said.

'I've got my family but my family they are fine and they have always been fine. I don't want to lose them but I have lost everything in my life. So, you want to ask dumb questions I'm going to answer, you want to ask really good questions I will answer.'

An emotional Mr Cockman revealed the last time he saw his four children alive was when he took them to see The Avengers in the nearby town of Busselton two weeks ago.

'Rylan was sitting down for two and a half hours, [so] we had to go to the park so he could get up and walk around for a bit,' he said.

Three generations were found shot dead at the rural farm in Osmington, 15km east of Margaret River in Western Australia, including Katrina Miles and her four children (pictured together)

'Kat has got disabled [parking] so she can park very close all the time and doesn't have to walk too far.

'Rylan and Kat walk off while two kids are on the little roundabout swing in Busselton, that's the last time I saw them, we had a good time, a great time.'

Mr Cockman described in chilling detail what police had told him about how the tragedy unfolded.

He said Peter had lost a son who took his own life years ago, and couldn't bear the thought of losing the other, Neil, who is gravely ill with a kidney illness.

Peter's wife, Cynda Miles (left and right), was an active member of local community group Transition Margaret River which seeks a happier and more sustainable future and ran her own business

'Peter didn't snap. He's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time,' Mr Cockman claimed

'[Peter] went across and shot the kids and Kat first and came back and shot Cynda in the living room. Cynda probably got up, heard the gunshots, she was in the living room. He's come back, shot her.

'He's sent a triple-0 call, made a two-minute call or something which in that call he would have been saying, I'm guessing, about not being able to handle it if something happened to Neil.

'He's gone out to the porch, made the call and shot himself. I don't know how he has done it so well. None of the kids were up out of their beds.'

He said the apparent murder-suicide was 'totally' Peter's decision and speculated about the pressure that had mounted on him in the lead-up to the tragedy.

Mr Cockman's estranged partner Katrina (pictured left and right) was shot dead on Friday

Mr Miles was found with a bullet wound as he lay slumped in a deck chair on the veranda. Forensic teams are pictured at the scene

'Peter didn't snap. He's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time,' he said.

'There's no way possible he can lose another son. He's just gone ''right... I can't live anymore so this is it for me. But I need to take out everyone with me because that will fix the whole problem'',' Mr Cockman said.

'And he's fixed the whole problem.'

Mr Cockman said his parent-in-laws were not the 'people you want to get on the wrong side of', and that before being cut off from his children, he and Mr Miles were best friends.

The grisly murder-suicide at a remote farm house (pictured) in Western Australia shocked the nation as one of the worst shootings in the nation's last two decades

Police are believed to remain at the chilling scene where children were among seven people found dead

The pair worked together side-by-side at a farm school where they would butcher sheep carcasses.

'We'd go to the high school farm and cut up sheep together... [Peter] was an awesome man, before all this blew up. I haven't talked to them since they cut me off from my kids,' Mr Cockman said.

'I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. But I don't want anyone to feel angry. Anger will destroy you. I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this.'

The grisly murder-suicide at the property, 15km from Margaret River, shocked the nation and has become Australia's worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

Peter and Cynda bought the farm in 2014 and planned to live a sustainable life with their daughter and grandchildren.

Police were met with horrific scenes when they arrived at the 30 acre farm (pictured) with two houses on Friday morning

This image shows the kitchen of the remote farm where a mass-murder suicide was discovered early Friday morning

Nearby residents said they heard gunfire around 4am but dismissed the sound as coming from kangaroo shooters.

A neighbour who lives across the road from the property told Fairfax he hadn't heard anything unusual.

'There was nothing much I could tell [police],' said the semi-retired farmer, adding he didn't know the residents very well.

'I'd seen who I assume was the father out in a paddock one day, on a tractor. But I didn't have the opportunity to say hello.'

Julia Meldrum, deputy president of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, told Daily Mail Australia the district was in deep shock.

'It's devastating,' the distressed mother-of-two said. 'It's just shock and devastating for the community.

Julia Meldrum, deputy president of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, told Daily Mail Australia the district was in deep shock after the horrific discovery on the remote property (pictured)

Osmington community consists of dirt roads similar to the dusty track at the sustainable farm (pictured) where seven bodies were found

'I actually feel like vomiting. The shire has a population of 14,000 people but each town is very close knit.

Jan Walsh told Australian Associated Press they lived in a very 'caring town'.

'There's retired people who live down here, there's ex-farmers,' she said. 'It's just a wonderful place to live and everyone's so friendly.

'You wave to everyone coming down Osmington Road and you don't even know them.

'In Margaret River there's a lot of children and a lot of young families. It'll be devastating for the community. It's touched many people, people I'm sure will know one another.

'The shire will be doing whatever we can to provide support and whatever else we can do in addition... I've got young children as well. It's just devastating.'

Flowers are left next to a police roadblock where police are investigating the death of seven people in suspected murder-suicide

Flowers and a note marked 'Katrina and family' lay at the site where seven bodies were tragically found

Shire president Pamela Townshend said the town would struggle to come to grips with the horror.

'It's an isolated rural area. There's no centre of town. Everyone comes into town to do their shopping,' she said.

'There's a lot of giving each other vegetables, cooking each other meals, looking after each other when they're ill - very connected in deep ways.'

Osmington, about 260km south of Perth, is a 10-minute drive east of the Margaret River township.

The tiny community, which ABS data shows has about 135 residents, mostly consists of farmland properties and vineyards.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.Christie Brinkley was spotted having a cozy dinner with Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti in the Hamptons.

The American model, 64, was dining with her friends at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, New York when Avenatti, 47, pulled up a chair towards the end of the meal on Saturday night.

Even after her friends left the restaurant, Brinkley stayed behind to share some laughs with the porn star's lawyer, according to TMZ.

Fine dining! Christie Brinkley was spotted having a cozy dinner with Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti in the Hamptons on Saturday evening

The two were spotted engaged in conversation and sharing laughs at the restaurant

Although it is unclear what the two chatted about, they seemed to have a good time as Brinkley was seen giggling at the dinner table.

Brinkley is known to be a longtime resident of the Hamptons.

Avenatti told DailyMail.com that the two are friends.

'Christie and I are friends. She is super smart and has great energy,' he said.

Brinkley made headlines after she claimed President Donald Trump hit on her while he was married to Ivana Trump.

In February, speaking to Porter Magazine, Brinkley said she was dating Billy Joel when Trump, who she described as 'smarmy', came onto her.

Avenatti told DailyMail.com that the two are friends, adding that Christie 'is super smart and has great energy'

Avenatti pictured above on The View with his famous client porn star Stormy Daniels, left

She said after he heard she was headed to Aspen, he offered her a ride on his private jet, which she politely declined.

'My phone rings and this guy goes, "Hey, Christie, its the Donald." I say, "Hi, Billy," because I was dating Billy [Joel] at the time. But the voice goes, "No, no. Its the Donald!  I hear youre leaving for Aspen tomorrow. I am too. Id like to give you a ride on my private jet,"' she said to Porter.

'Im done being discreet. Ive had dinner with him. Ive always found him smarmy, as in, "Watch out, part the waves, the rich people are coming, everything is gold, solid 24-carat gold, the best, the greatest, nobody else has more gold on anything in their house than me. Did you bring a brush? Lets gold-leaf it!"' she added.A firm of lawyers have filed 450 new claims of alleged wrongdoing by British soldiers in Iraq in a new venture aimed to cash in millions from the taxpayer.

Leigh Day has lodged 250 cases to the High Court and insisted that they are given extra information from the Ministry of Defence on 200 more.

The new claims follow a win for Leigh Day on a test case regarding the treatment of four Iraqis who claimed they had been wrongly detained.

A firm of lawyers have filed 450 new claims of alleged wrongdoing by British soldiers in Iraq in a new venture aimed to cash in millions from the taxpayer

It was ruled by Mr Justice Leggatt that they were entitled to Human Rights Act compensation, with one getting 30,000.

Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, said: Here we go again  its ridiculous. Id like to see the detail in the allegations and to know who's making them.

This kind of undermining  essentially for commercial gain  is really debilitating for our Armed Forces.

After the first ruling lawyers warned it could open the floodgates for as many as 600 unresolved cases.

A firm of lawyers have filed 450 new claims of alleged wrongdoing by British soldiers in Iraq in a new venture aimed to cash in millions from the taxpayer

Within weeks Leigh Day contacted numerous clients for paperwork that could strengthen claims.

In February, Iraqi whistle-blower Basim Al-Sadoon said he had helped create hundreds of fake abuse claims against British soldiers in order to get payouts.

The latest claims are the final salvo in a legal war that has run for years following a deadline for new cases being set at a meeting between the Ministry of Defence and the High Court, a source said.

We are in the final throes of this nightmare, the source told the Sun.

Its still a sizeable caseload that could come with a hefty price tag. But when these are done, its over.

The MoD said: While valid claims should be compensated, false or exaggerated allegations make it harder for justice to be served.Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader Moqtada al-Sadr was once wanted by the US

A radical cleric who led militia into bloody battles with coalition forces in Iraq is on course to win the country's election.

Firebrand Iraqi Moqtada al-Sadr formed the Mahdi Army in 2003 which was responsible for bloodshed on the streets of Basra and the shooting down of coalition planes.

Four British airmen were killed in Basra in May 2006 when a helicopter was shot down. The Shia militia announced it would kill any British troops it saw.

Al-Sadrs forces offered rewards for the capture and killing of British soldiers and he was implicated in multiple kidnappings.

The militia also hunted US troops in Najaf, just south of Baghdad. At least 70 US deaths are attributed to his forces in Najaf alone.

Now, he has reinvented himself and has formed a political coalition with communists.

It is a surprise comeback for the powerful nationalist Shi'ite cleric who had been sidelined by Iran-backed rivals.

The Marching Towards Reform alliance was ahead in six of Iraq's 18 provinces and second in four others, early results show.

The alliance is beating Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has been backed by the international community. The Prime Minister is ahead in just one province, AFP figures showed.

Sadr will not become prime minister as he did not run in the election but his apparent victory puts him in a position to pick someone for the job. Winning the largest number of seats does not automatically guarantee that, however. The other winning blocs would have to agree on the nomination.

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, seen in the posters, celebrate after the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections are announced, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad

Sadr, once the voice of the opposition to the war in Iraq, faces competition from another alliance.

Shi'ite militia leader Hadi al-Amiri's Conquest Alliance, which is backed by Tehran, was in second place, according to the count of more than 95 percent of the votes cast in 10 of Iraq's 18 provinces.

The preliminary results are a setback for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who, despite entering the election as the apparent frontrunner, appeared to be running third.

Abadi - who came to power as IS swept across Iraq in 2014 - is a consensus figure who has balanced off the United States and Iran.

Sadr's apparent victory does not mean his bloc could necessarily form the next government as whoever wins the most seats must negotiate a coalition government, expected to be formed within 90 days of the official results.

Security and commission sources had earlier said Abadi was leading the election, which was held on Saturday and is the first since the defeat of Islamic State in the country.

Turnout was 44.52 percent with 92 percent of votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said - that was significantly lower than in previous elections. Full results are due to be officially announced later on Monday.

Sadr and Amiri both came in first in four of the 10 provinces where votes were counted, but the cleric's bloc won significantly more votes in the capital, Baghdad, which has the highest number of seats.

The commission did not announce how many seats each bloc had gained and said it would do so after announcing the results from the remaining provinces.Aaron Kibaja, manager at Highbury Hospital's dementia ward in Nottingham

A male nurse set off a hospital alarm so he could watch a colleague's breasts bounce around as she ran down the corridor, a disciplinary tribunal heard.

Aaron Kibaja, manager at Highbury Hospital's dementia ward in Nottingham, behaved inappropriately towards four women between 2012 and 2016, it is claimed.

The father-of-four is accused of groping two of the women and making lewd comments - including referring to a colleague's breasts as 'twins'.

In 2012 he mimicked his panicked colleague's bouncing breasts with his hands as she dashed down a hallway, the Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal heard.

He is said to have sounded the emergency alarm at the hospital seconds earlier knowing there was no emergency.

In 2015 he allegedly made a lewd comment to a nurse during a meeting about her returning to work following a wrist injury.

He said her partner must be upset 'because she couldn't give him a hand job', adding 'you can still do lollipop' making a hand and mouth gesture, it is claimed.

Kibaja allegedly told her she was 'sexy' and 'pretty', asked her 'Can I touch your bum?' and said he missed her in a phone call while breathing heavily down the line.

He also told her 'I could give it to you from behind' and frequently asked her if she would 'do' his 'lollipop' while gesturing towards his private parts, it is claimed.

Three women allege Kibaja dropped pens and keys on the floor and asked them to pick them up. He allegedly winked at them and said 'Go on, you want to'.

During a 2015 supervision meeting he allegedly dropped his keys then thrusted his hips and nodded his head, saying: 'Go on'.

He faces a series of allegations of lewd and sexual conduct by women at his workplace between 2012 and 2016

He is also accused of blocking doorways so women would have to brush past him and groping at least two females as they tried to get through.

One woman said he told her she had 'a fine rump' and that she was going to 'get it wheelbarrow', as well as nicknaming her breasts 'twins' and calling her 'farty arse'.

Kibaja denies all the allegations against him and told the Nursing and Midwifery Council it was a 'shock' when he was informed about them.

I never said any of those things,' he told the hearing.

Asked about the alleged fine rump comment, he explained that he was talking about eating steak on a night out.

I never said that to her - that she has a fine rump,' he said.

I can only recall a conversation as a team and I believe it was in the mess office where they were planning a night out as a team.

I had never been on any night out with staff. The conversation was around what individuals like to eat and drink and I recall me saying I drink Jack Daniels and Amaretto and the fact that my wife was a vegan, but when I go out I will have a steak.

The Nursing and Midwife Council in London where Kibaja is attending his disciplinary tribunal

Kibaja added: From the time the allegations was said about me it has never been the same, not only for myself - I am a father with four kids. I so love my wife - I married her in 2015.

That was in February and the allegations came around the time I lost my dad in December.

From the beginning I am telling the truth and only the truth and that is what I will still say now.

The misconduct hearing was adjourned until May 30 for the panel to rule on the case.Iran's supreme leader has trolled President Trump by sharing a photo of himself reading the tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was pictured flipping through the pages of a Persian-language edition of Michael Wolff's controversial book on Friday, just days after Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal.

The President has publicly denounced the book, calling the author 'mentally deranged' for writing that the White House is largely dysfunctional.

It appears Khamenei made the gesture to mock President Trump for his decision to pull out of the deal - one that sparked outrage in Iran as politicians set fire to the American flag.

Light reading: Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was pictured reading the tell-all book Fire and Fury

The image was posted just days after Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal

The caption reads: 'Today, the revolutionary leader is browsing a book about the president of the United States'

The image was taken by a court photographer at this year's Tehran International Book Fair, according to BBC News.

The caption reads: 'Today, the revolutionary leader is browsing a book about the president of the United States.'

Khamenei shared his outrage over Trump's decision last week.

He said: 'The body of this man, Trump, will turn to ashes and become the food of the worms and ants, while the Islamic Republic continues to stand.'

This came after the president claimed the deal was 'rotten and decaying'.

He added that the pact was a 'horrible one-sided deal that should never ever have been made.'

President Trump denounced the controversial book, saying it was 'full of lies'

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was released in January and branded a 'bombshell'.

Before it was even on the shelves, Trump's team attempted to ban the book from being published.

It detailed issues with his marriage to Melania and claimed that Trump pursued the wives of his friends.

It also called into question the president's mental health.

Before its release, Trump tweeted that he never authorized Wolff's access into the White House.

He went on to describe the book as 'phony' and 'full of lies.'

'I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist. Look at this guy's past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!' he tweeted.

However once it was published, the book became a bestseller in America as readers were enthralled with the sensational look inside the White House.

The rights to the book were sold to 32 countries, according to publisher Henry Holt & Co.

The US's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal sparked outrage in Iran as politicians set fire to the American flagJared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have apparently received a blessing in Jerusalem from a rabbi who once compared black people to monkeys.

The blessing was given on Sunday by Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.

Yosef was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this year for making the crude remarks.

White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly received a blessing from a rabbi who previously compared black people to monkeys

Jared and Ivanka also received a blessing from Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzchok Yosef (photo by Shloimy Cohen) pic.twitter.com/PEvyE9pTM7  Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) May 13, 2018

During a sermon in March, the rabbi discussed how to properly say a blessing The Forward reports.

Yosef used the Hebrew word 'kushi,' which although it was used in the Bible is now considered a derogatory term for black people.

'You can't make the blessing on every 'kushi' you see  in America you see one every five minutes, so you make it only on a person with a white father and mother,' he said, according to the Times of Israel. 'How do would you know? Let's say you know! So they had a monkey as a son, a son like this, so you say the blessing on him.'

The blessing was given by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

The Anti-Defamation League said that the remarks were 'utterly unacceptable', but Yosef's office defended the remarks by stating he was 'merely citing the Talmud', which is a set of Jewish laws which states that the same blessing is recited upon seeing an elephant, a monkey or an ape.

It's not the first time that Yosef has attracted criticism for his comments with a history of questionable remarks.

In the past few years he implied that secular women behave like animals because of their immodest dress and claimed 2016 that according to Jewish law, non-Jews were forbidden from living in Israel.

Kushner and Trump, who both act as senior advisers to President Trump, are in Israel as part of the American delegation celebrating the moving of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared

Senior adviser Jared Kushner was presented with a menorah for as a memento of his visit

Images of President Trump flashed across the screen at the event for the Friends Of Zion group

They landed in Israel Sunday morning ahead of the US Embassy opening in the capital.

The White House advisers will attend the embassy inauguration ceremony scheduled for Monday along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

President Donald Trump will not be in attendance.

Both Ivanka and Jared were seen embracing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu shortly after their arrival.

Ivanka posted several photos of her and Jared after touching down sharing a video of her waving at at camera after they landed.

Jared Kushner stood among other members of the U.S. delegation as they were welcomed

Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation. She posted this photo on Instagram

'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' she wrote.

Israel launched celebrations on Sunday for the US Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem, a move whose break with world consensus was underscored by the absence of most envoys to the country from a reception hosted by Netanyahu.

Monday's slated opening of the new embassy follows Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a decision he said fulfilled decades of policy pledges in Washington and formalized realities on the ground.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's foundingAdvertisement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the use of force on the Gaza border after Israeli snipers killed scores of Palestinians and wounded thousands more.

More than 35,000 protesters rallied against the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem on Monday as tear gas and sniper fire rained down.

'Every country has the obligation to defend its borders,' Netanyahu said on Twitter.

'The Hamas terror organisation declares its intention to destroy Israel and send thousands to break through the border fence in order to achieve this aim. We will continue to act firmly in order to defend our sovereignty and our citizens.'

It comes after a 14-year-old was among 55 shot dead along the Gaza border on what is already the deadliest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war between the Jewish state and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.

At least 2,400 more have been injured with hundreds of them by live bullets, according to Gaza officials as the Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' and Amnesty International called the bloodshed an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.

This afternoon a White House delegation - including Ivanka Trump and her husband - gathered for an inauguration ceremony for the opening of the new embassy alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The US President tossed aside decades of precedent when he recognised the city as Israel's capital in December - a decision that sparked global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis.

Russia said today it feared the embassy opening would increase tension in the Middle East while Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan warned the US it had forfeited its role as a mediator in the region and was now 'part of the problem rather than the solution'.

As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy has been a 'long time coming' and that the U.S. had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years. He added that 'today, we follow through on this recognition' and that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.'

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The festivities in Jerusalem were a stark contrast to the bloodshed on the Gaza border (right) where dozens of protesters were killed by Israeli snipers. Ivanka Trump (left) is pictured unveiling engraved stonework carrying her father's name on the wall at the embassy today

Flashpoint: Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered for protests against the US embassy opening today and dozens were killed amid clashes with Israeli troops. Crowds are seen sprinting away from tear gas during a clash with Israeli security forces east of Jabalia near the Gaza border

Israeli leaders and a US delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump (pictured) and Jared Kushner, have attended the opening of the embassy, relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial decision

The Israeli Prime Minister tweeted a photo of him taking a selfie with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner as bloodshed played out in Gaza

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka (right) and husband Jared Kushner (left) joined Benjamin Netanyahu for the opening of the embassy this afternoon

White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump (right) speaks alongside US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during the opening ceremony

A child who has been affected by tear gas is rushed to medics at the border fence with Israel as mass demonstrations continue along the Gaza border today

A protester screams in agony as he is picked up by fellow Palestinians during deadly clashes along the Gaza border today. The death toll continued to climb this morning as anger mounted over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel today

An elderly Palestinian man falls to the ground amid reports he had been shot by Israeli troops during a deadly protest at the Gaza Strip's border

A Palestinian protester holds a rope during clashes after protests near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip

Huge crowds of protesters hid behind clouds of smoke from burning tyres but at times were forced to run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops

A Palestinian throws a rock in response to Israel's intervention during a protest to mark 70th anniversary of Nakba, also known as Day of the Catastrophe in 1948 and against the decision to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

A wounded Palestinian woman is evacuated by men wearing gas masks and high-viz jackets as protests turned violent today

Palestinian protesters carry the wounded during clashes near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip

Israel's armed forces had warned anyone approaching the fence would be risking their lives. By early this afternoon 37 protesters had been killed and the death toll has now risen further

A medic tries to hold an injured man's mouth open as they take him away from the clashes in a stretcher

A wounded female Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated on a stretcher by emergency workers at Qalandya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah

A woman appears to be giving protesters medical assistance as she tends to them while they sit on the ground during clashes along the border with Israel

Protesters used a horse and cart as they carried wounded Palestinians away from the conflict this afternoon as it emerged at least 37 had been killed and hundreds more injured

Palestinians carry an injured protestors to safety as one man kneels on the ground holding his head as violence erupted on the Gaza strip today

A severely injured man is carried. Israel's armed forces had warned anyone approaching the fence would be risking their lives

American and Israeli delegations have begun a festive ceremony to mark the opening of the new U.S. Embassy (pictured) in Jerusalem. U.S. Ambassador David Friedman welcomed the crowd. 'Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem Israel,' he said to warm applause.

Israeli soldiers walk amidst smoke from a fire in a wheat field near the Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, along the border with the Gaza Strip today

A wounded Palestinian women is carried from the border fence with Israel as mass demonstrations continue following the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

A group of Palestinian men carry their injured friend to an ambulance by stretcher during clashes with Israeli soldiers

Trump also said his 'greatest hope' is for peace and that he 'remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement'. His son-in-law Jared Kushner said the opening showed the US could be trusted and that 'when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it'.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the international community must bring those responsible to justice, in a post on Twitter.

'Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now,' Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein wrote in a message carried on the UN human rights Twitter account.

'The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims.'

'Today also demonstrates American leadership. By moving our embassy to Jerusalem, we have shown the world once again that the United States can be trusted,' he said.

'We stand with our friends and our allies, and above all else, we've shown that the United States of America will do what's right,' he said.

Netanyahu made a reference to the conflict on the Gaza border as he said in his speech that 'our brave soldiers are protecting the borders of Israel as we speak, we salute them all'.

Israel's prime minister said Jerusalem will always be the 'eternal, undivided' capital of Israel.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the new American Embassy in Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu called it a 'glorious' day.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for showing the 'courage' to keep a key campaign promise and said relations with the U.S. have never been stronger. He said Mideast peace must be founded on what he says is the 'truth' recognized by the U.S.

'The truth is that Jerusalem has been and always will be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state,' he said.

Ivanka Trump took to the microphone as the embassy was officially opened today. As the festivities took place, deadly clashes were taking place along the Gaza border

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara were among those attending the opening ceremony today

Ivanka Trump's husband Jared Kushner was among the speakers as the embassy was officially opened this afternoon

Jared Kushner embraces both his wife, Ivanka (left) and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu (right) during the opening ceremony today

A ceremony to inaugurate the US embassy in Jerusalem has started with Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump (centre), both top aides to President Donald Trump, attending. The event took place as Palestinian officials claimed 37 protesters had been killed in a 'massacre' along the Gaza border

As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy in has been a 'long time coming'. His daughter Ivanka as pictured walking ahead of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the ceremony today

Ivanka Trump smiles as she poses for photographs next to engraved stonework carrying the name of her father, US President Donald Trump

Ivanka shared two photos of herself and Jared sharing a meal with GOP Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Dean Heller, and Lindsey Graham

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) has said Jerusalem will always be the 'eternal, undivided' capital of Israe

'We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors': President Trump celebrates the opening of U.S. embassy in Jerusalem from afar Donald Trump said it was 'a great day for Israel' on Monday as the U.S. embassy was officially declared open in Jerusalem. 'We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors,' Trump said in a video address. It has been a 'long time coming', he added. Trump said that the U.S. had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years, adding that 'today, we follow through on this recognition.' Trump added that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.' The embassy move has enraged the Palestinians. Trump said he remained committed to 'facilitating a lasting peace agreement.' Trump said the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem had been a 'long time coming' as he spoke in a pre-recorded video message Trump stressed a close bond with Israel. He also said he was 'extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors.' Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence were there to see the realization of their campaign promise that they would relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Pence is headlining a celebratory event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, instead. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both White House advisers, were part of a delegation of senior officials that included Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that made the trip. Ivanka Trump, in an official welcome, after her father's video address, told attendees: 'On behalf of the 45th President on [sic] the United States of America, we welcome you officially and for the first time to the Embassy of the United States here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Thank you.' Jared Kushner delivered a rare speech at the embassy opening, highlighting Trump's decision last week to leave the Iran nuclear agreement and the pledge he fulfilled in moving the embassy Acknowledging his wife, Kushner said, 'Ivanka, thank you for all the great work you do to help so many people in our country and throughout the world - including me, so I love you' Kushner delivered a rare speech at the embassy opening, as well, highlighting Trump's decision last week to leave the Iran nuclear agreement and the pledge he fulfilled in moving the embassy. 'While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy, once in office this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it,' Kushner said. Acknowledging his wife, Kushner said, 'Ivanka, thank you for all the great work you do to help so many people in our country and throughout the world - including me, so I love you.' The U.S. delegation arrived Sunday evening in Jerusalem to mass protests over the U.S. foreign policy shift. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not make the trip, either, but said Sunday in an interview that aired on Fox News that 'the American people in that region are secure' and 'we are comfortable we've taken action that reduces that risk.' Upon the arrival of the U.S. delegation on Sunday, the president's daughter and son-in-law, both Jewish, received a blessing from Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. 'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' Ivanka wrote in a tweet after landing. The embassy opening coincides with the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. Advertisement

The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital and have strongly objected to Trump's move.

As the ceremony took place this afternoon, the Israeli army revealed that warplanes had struck a Hamas facility in Gaza during bloody protests.

The military said it carried out five airstrikes after militants exchanged fire on three separate occasions with soldiers.

Brigadier General Ronen Manelis turn out by Monday afternoon was about 40,000. He said the army viewed that number as a 'failure for Hamas.'

He said the army noticed there were more women at the front of the protest than in past rallies and accused Hamas of paying people to protest.

This morning, the Israeli military said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to place an explosive device by the border fence in Gaza during mass protests.

The shooting in the southern Gaza town of Rafah came as the army said an Israeli aircraft had bombed a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip after Israeli troops came under fire. No Israeli casualties were reported.

Amnesty International called the violence today an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.

'We are witnessing an abhorrent violation of international law and human rights in Gaza.... This must end immediately,' the London-based human rights group said on Twitter.

'This is a violation of international standards, in some instances committing what appear to be wilful killings constituting war crimes,' Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther said in a separate statement.

'As violence continues to spiral out of control, the Israeli authorities must immediately rein in the military to prevent the further loss of life and serious injuries.'

Amnesty made the statement 'responding to reports that dozens of Palestinians have been killed' in the protests over the US embassy move.

At one point the Israeli armed forces used drones to drop tear gas canisters in a bid to disperse the crowds of tens of tousands

The drone could be seen releasing gas canisters during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

Palestinians were forced to run for safety as the gas canisters containing tear gas were fired from drones overhead today

Witnesses said Israeli drones had also dropped incendiary materials earlier in the day, setting ablaze tyres that had been collected for use in a planned Gaza border protest.

Drones unleashed canisters full of tear gas in the hope of dispersing the huge crowds today. The clashes have left scores dead

The drone tactic was deployed as festivities were taking place for the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem today

According to local reports, Israel employed specialist drone racers to drop tear gas

'The rising toll of deaths and injuries today only serves to highlight the urgent need for an arms embargo,' Luther added.

'While some protestors may have engaged in some form of violence, this still does not justify the use of live ammunition.'

The European Union's foreign policy chief is calling on Israel to respect the 'principle of proportionality in the use of force'.

Federica Mogherini said that all should act 'with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life' and added that 'Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest.'

At the same time, she insisted that Hamas must make sure demonstrators in Gaza are peaceful and 'must not exploit them for other means.'

The ceremony to inaugurate the United States' controversial embassy got underway this afternoon with the US national anthem.

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman then spoke and President Donald Trump was given a standing ovation when he mentioned him. Friedman referred to the embassy's location as 'Jerusalem, Israel' drawing wild applause.

The dramatic scenes today came after al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri last night called for followers to carry out jihad against America.

In a new message, he said America's decision was evidence that negotiations and 'appeasement' have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.

Trump 'was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade, where standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad,' Zawahiri said, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

Violence: This was the scene as a man used a sling to hurl rocks towards Israeli forces along the Gaza border today

In the line of fire: Israeli soldiers are pictured lying in position looking out over the Gaza border

The Israeli army responded by throwing tear gas towards protesters, sending huge crowds scattering this afternoon

Taking cover: Palestinians throw themselves to the ground as tear gas is hurled towards them during fierce clashes today

The celebrations in Jerusalem were a stark contrast to the bloodshed along the Gaza border where tens of thousands of Palestinians protested

A Palestinian woman tries to fly a kite during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza Strip

The US moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem today after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis. Israeli snipers killed a Palestinian man as protests got underway this morning. Pictured: A protester running past burning tyres

US President Donald Trump made the decision, which tossed aside decades of precedent, in December as he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinians burned tyres this morning ahead of mass protests at the Gaza border today

A Palestinian demonstrator lies on the ground as smoke billows from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City this morning

It follows Trump's announcement last week that the United States is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and Israeli strikes two days later on dozens of Iranian targets in Syria.

Those strikes came after rocket fire toward Israeli forces in the occupied Golan Heights that Israel blamed on Iran.

The Trump administration has vowed to restart the moribund Middle East peace process but the embassy move has inflamed feelings across the globe.

Today US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered assurances of Washington's commitment to Middle East peace.

'We remain committed to advancing a lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians,' he said.

In his statement, however, Pompeo ignored the spiraling violence today and instead expressed pride in the embassy opening.

Medics were seen carrying Palestinian protesters away from the scene on stretchers as violence escalated this morning

Dozens have been injured - some of them seriously - by Israeli gun fire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry after the army warned that anyone attempting to approach the security fence would be risking their lives

Protests intensified on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, as loudspeakers on Gaza mosques urged Palestinians to join a 'Great March of Return'. Black smoke from tyres burned by demonstrators rose into the air at the border

Thousands gathered in five spots along the border in protest at the embassy move, while sporadic clashes also erupted with Israeli soldiers

Thousands of Gaza residents headed toward the border with Israel on Monday, drawing Israeli fire in a potentially bloody showdown as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem

Protesters set tires on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air at several spots along the border, while the Israeli military said protesters assaulted the border fence

The protest in Gaza was to be the biggest yet in a weekslong campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted 'what an amazing day! Thank you @POTUS Trump' ahead of the opening

Monday's inauguration ceremony at 4pm included some 800 guests - though Trump himself did not attend - at what until now had been a US consulate building in Jerusalem.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan led the Washington delegation that included Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Ivanka Trump earlier thanked Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli Prime Minister's hospitality at a welcome reception.

She posted on Twitter: 'Thank you Prime Minister @netanyahu & Mrs. Netanyahu for the warm welcome to Israel. I am honored to join you & the US Delegation in commemorating the dedication of our new @usembassyjlm & celebrating the friendship between our two countries.'

Mnuchin this morning posted a photo of himself on Twitter with a plaque dedicating a square outside the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Palestinian men carry an injured protester during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

A wounded Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip

Violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border hours ahead of the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, leaving several Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds more wounded

Crowds built throughout the day in the Palestinian enclave less than 60 miles away from Jerusalem and sealed off from Israel by a blockade

Israel's military said 'approximately 10,000 violent rioters are currently assembled in a number of locations along the Gaza Strip border and thousands more are gathered by the tents approximately half a kilometre away from the security fence'

Around 1,000 police officers were being positioned around the embassy for the inauguration. Israel's army said it was almost doubling the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank

A masked protester holds his hand in the air as he stands in front of burning tyres near the Gaza-Israel border in Khan Yunis

By midafternoon, at least 18 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed while over 500 were wounded by Israeli fire, Palestinian health officials said

Anger: Protesters torch tyres and wave Palestinian flags amid violent clashes along the Gaza border this morning

The date of the inauguration is deeply symbolic to both Israelis and Palestinians. The US said it chose the day to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment

He wrote: 'Honored to receive plaque dedicating US Square in honor of @realDonaldTrump #USEmbassyJerusalem.'

Later, he said it was a U.S. 'national security priority' to relocate the Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Netanyahu - who has repeatedly called Trump's decision 'historic' - said: 'Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years,' he said.

'It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time.'

Sullivan called the embassy 'a long overdue recognition of reality.'

As tensions mounted today, the Arab League said it will hold emergency talks on Wednesday to discuss Washington's 'illegal' decision.

Security has been tightened around Jerusalem ahead of the embassy opening this afternoon. Pictured: A road leading to the embassy

Israel has said it will prevent a border breach at any cost. A growing casualty toll Monday was bound to revive international criticism of open-fire rules under which soldiers are permitted to shoot anyone approaching the border fence

Protesters have used the thick smoke as cover against Israeli snipers perched on high sand berms on the other side of the border. The army accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to plan or carry out attacks

Rescue: An Palestinian is carried from the flashpoint as it emerged that several protesters have been killed by live Israeli fire

Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional 'layers' of security in and around neighbouring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there had already been several 'significant attempts' to break through the fence

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during protests near the Gaza border this morning

The meeting will focus on 'ways of countering the illegal decision by the United States to move the embassy to Jerusalem', the organisation's deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Saeed Abu Ali, said.

He told reporters the permanent representatives of members of the Cairo-based Arab League would meet 'at the request of the state of Palestine'.

Police and the Israeli military had planned major security deployments today.

Around 1,000 police officers were positioned around the embassy and surrounding neighbourhoods for the inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, pictured here in a handout by the SITE monitoring group in 2013, has urged the Muslim world to carry out jihad over the United States' decision to move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

Early this morning, witnesses said Israeli drones dropped incendiary materials, setting ablaze tires that had been collected for use in a planned Gaza border protest.

Israelis began celebrating on Sunday, as tens of thousands of marched in Jerusalem, some holding American flags, to mark Jerusalem Day.

The annual event is an Israeli celebration of the 'reunification' of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Beyond the disputed nature of Jerusalem, the date of the embassy move is also key. May 14 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

The following day, Palestinians mark the 'Nakba', or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are planned on both days.

Gaza residents streamed to the border area Monday for what is intended to be the largest protest yet against a decade-old blockade of the territory. Israel's military says it will stop a possible border breach at all costs, warning protesters that they are endangering their lives

Israeli troops firing from across a border fence have shot and wounded two Palestinians as a protest near the Gaza border gets underway

Near Gaza City, hundreds gathered about 150 yards from the fence. A reporter witnessed two people being shot in the legs

Israel's army warned Gaza residents they will be risking their lives if they approach the border with leaflets dropped by jets warning its forces will 'act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians'. A Palestinian is pictured throwing some of the leaflets in the air

WHY THE US MOVED ITS EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM The United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The opening ceremony was timed to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary. The initiative was driven by President Donald Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works, and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of America's closest ally had 'taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.' The US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The initiative was driven by Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, celebrated Trump's decision, but the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a 'slap in the face' and said Washington could no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel. Initially, a small interim embassy will operate from the building in southern Jerusalem that now houses US consular operations, while a secure site is found to move the rest of the embassy operations from Tel Aviv. WHY DID TRUMP RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL, AND ANNOUNCE THE EMBASSY WILL BE MOVED THERE? There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a signature promise of his 2016 election campaign. The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, many of whom support political recognition of Israel's claim to the city. Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but to which other presidents since then - Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama - consistently signed waivers. WHY DOES JERUSALEM PLAY SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT? Religion, politics and history. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders. It is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Israel's government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city even has different names. Jews call it Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds, which means 'The Holy'. But the citys significance goes further. At the heart of the Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains of them above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews. Within yards of the wall, and overlooking it, are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also an important pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe that Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected. WHAT IS THE CITY'S MODERN HISTORY AND STATUS? In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a 'corpus separatum' to be administered by the United Nations. That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it. In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the 'complete and united' city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. DOES ANY OTHER COUNTRY HAVE AN EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM? In March Guatemala's president, Jimmy Morales, said that his country will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the US move. Netanyahu said in April that 'at least half a dozen' countries were now 'seriously discussing' following the US lead, but he did not identify them. In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote. WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN NEXT? HAS JERUSALEM BEEN A FLASHPOINT BEFORE? Since Trump's announcement there have been Palestinian protests and wider political tensions. Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned the move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest due to culminate on May 15, the day after the US Embassy move and when Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost with Israel's creation. Although the clashes have not been on the scale of the Palestinian intifadas of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion. In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque. He failed but caused damage, and prompted fury across the Arab world. In 2000, the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. A Palestinian protest escalated into the second intifada. Deadly confrontations also took place in July after Israel installed metal detectors at the complex's entrance after Arab-Israeli gunmen killed two Israeli policemen there. Source: Reuters Advertisement

Team: The White House advisers attended the inauguration along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (third from left in black) and Treasury Mnuchin (center)

A US delegation in Jerusalem includes Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides. She posted a picture of the couple on Twitter with Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara as she thanked the Israeli Prime Minister for his hospitality at a welcome reception

White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly received a blessing from a rabbi who previously compared black people to monkeys

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared

Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation. She posted this photo on Instagram

Trump 'feeble minded' over embassy move, says Iran Iran has denounced President Donald Trump as 'feeble-minded' over Monday's controversial move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, calling for resistance from the Palestinians and the international community. 'America has entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously,' said parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a key establishment figure, at a conference on the Palestinian situation in Tehran. 'I believe the current US president is not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions,' he added. The United States was due to open its new embassy in Jerusalem -- known as Al-Quds in Iran -- later on Monday amid widespread Palestinian anger and praise from Israelis. 'Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today's world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price,' Larijani said. Iran is a key backer of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, and opposition to Israel has been a central tenet of its regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Larijani called for an 'immediate reaction' from Palestinians, Islamic countries and the international community -- including boycotts and official complaints to the United Nations. The US 'must not think that such actions... can remain without a response,' he said Advertisement

There have already been weeks of protests and clashes along the Gaza border, with 54 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire there since March 30.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.

He has argued that it helps make peace possible by taking Jerusalem 'off the table', but many have pointed out he has not announced any concessions in return from Israel.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said the US was 'hard at work' on the peace process, which he declared was 'most decidedly not dead'.

Trump's initial decision led to a series of protests in various Middle Eastern and Muslim countries.

Meanwhile, Britain has no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and still disagrees with the U.S. decision to do so, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday.

'The PM said in December when the announcement was first made that we disagree with the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement.

The British embassy to Israel is based in Tel Aviv and we have no plans to move it,' the spokesman told reporters.

He was speaking on a day when the United States was due to open its embassy in Jerusalem, an event that has led to Palestinian protests.

Israeli gunfire killed two Palestinians and wounded at least 35 other protesters along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - part of a Washington delegation - this morning posted a photo of himself on Twitter with a plaque dedicating a square outside the new US embassy in Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump made the decision, which tossed aside decades of precedent, in December as he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capitalThe investigation has found that the rape of a toddler in Tennant Creek was not an isolated case within the family and has uncovered a plethora of blunders and failings by the state's child-protection agency.

Before the rape of a two-year-old girl in the Northern Territory town in February this year, her older sister was taken from the house by a known sex offender while a parent was absent and in jail.

Hours later, she was found and taken to Alice Springs Hospital on suspicion of sexual assault, The Australian reported.

Another sibling was suspected of forming a relationship with an older man who allegedly sexually exploited the girl, child protection authorities and police were told.

The investigation into how a toddler in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory (pictured) was raped has uncovered a plethora of blunders and failings by the state's child-protection agency

A series of child abuse and domestic violence incidents in the Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek (pictured) has been uncovered in recent months

In fact, police were aware of 35 separate domestic violence incidents involving the children's parents and no attempt was made to protect the older sibling as the relationship was understood to be 'cultural', the publication has said.

Teachers raised an alarm with authorities over concerns that the girl was passed around between carers, seemed perpetually hungry and thin, and did not have clean clothes.

A series of child abuse and domestic violence incidents in the Northern Territory town have prompted concerns into the response of child protection services and police who have been accused of failing in their duty of care.

The horrific February rape resulted in the two-year-old being rushed to Alice Springs hospital with a bloodied nappy. She underwent surgery for significant vaginal injuries, required a blood transfusion and tested positive for gonorrhoea.

The horrific February rape resulted in the two-year-old being rushed to Alice Springs hospital (pictured) with a bloodied nappy. She underwent surgery for significant vaginal injuries, required a blood transfusion and tested positive for gonorrhoea

The incidents in Tennant Creek (pictured) have prompted concerns into the response of child protection services and police who have been accused of failing in their duty of care

Although the children have since been removed from their parents' care, an internal review into Territory Families - the government body to keep children safe - found the case had been closed 'prematurely' and had not been 'meaningfully addressed'.

On the same day of the toddler's horrific rape, local police were called to attend 58 incidents in the town between 3pm and 6am on Friday, according to the ABC.

The recent Children's Commissioner's review has exposed years and even decades of neglect and violence in the family that went under reported or unaddressed.

The recent Children's Commissioner's review has exposed years and even decades of neglect and violence in the family that went under reported or unaddressed

On the same day of the toddler's horrific rape, local police were called to attend 58 incidents in the town between 3pm and 6am on Friday, according to the ABC

Children's Commissioner Colleen Gwynne analysed every notification to Territory Families about the family between March 27, 2002 and the toddler's assault on February 16, 2018.

In total, there were 52 'all possible harm' reports to Territory Families, and 36 child-protection reports made since the toddler's birth, The Australian reported.

'This was not the only violence C1 had been exposed to and experienced in her young life,' Commissioner Gwynne said.

The review found a spate of violence where the toddler had been either a victim or witness - including incidents from just 11 weeks of age and 16 child protection reports in relation to her siblings before she was even born.

Abusive, violent and dangerous incidents continued and led to nine child protection investigations and eight convictions of one parent for aggravated assault.

The neglected siblings often sought shelter in relatives' houses, were sometimes undernourished and often covered in sores.

'This was not the only violence C1 had been exposed to and experienced in her young life,' Commissioner Gwynne (pictured) said

Abusive, violent and dangerous incidents continued and led to nine child protection investigations and eight convictions of one parent for aggravated assault (Pictured: Tennant Creek Police Station)

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the Northern Territory's child protection was in crisis and had 'serious failures'.

He said the commissioner's investigation was heavily redacted in parliament this week and 'looks like arse-covering of the highest order'.

Mr Scullion said Chief Minister Michael Gunner needed to 'stand up and take responsibility for these serious failures' and demanded a copy of the full report, 'without redactions, to see what Michael Gunner is hiding.'

'A disturbing aspect to the case is the details of the horrors suffered by C1 and her siblings when a department fails so fundamentally, even down to record-keeping so hopelessly incorrect or incomplete that it fails to keep track of at-risk children,' he said.

He said that because of the repeated failings, the children had been left in the hands of neglectful and dangerous parents.

In a written response to the commissioner's investigation, Territory Families denied the horrific rape 'was foreseeable' and that any risk 'could have been managed or mitigated'.

Instead, the response described the toddler's rape as 'a tragic and unforeseeable incident'.An innocent game of hide and seek between family members turned serious over the weekend after a young girl was injured and rushed to hospital.

The girl fell and injured her upper body while playing in the South Burnett region of rural Queensland on Sunday, the Sunshine Cost Daily reported.

The Sunshine Coast RACQ LifeFlight helicopter airlifted the girl to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, where she underwent treatment.

She arrived at the hospital in a stable condition.Thousands of troubled children are being drugged with powerful anti-psychotic medication to keep them calm at school, according to a leading body of psychiatrists.

Children and teens from disadvantaged families are more likely to be prescribed anti-psychotic medication, a new study of 10,000 children shows.

The analysis found that boys from lower income families with an unemployed single were the most likely to be at risk of over prescription, The Courier Mail reported.

Troubled children and teens are being drugged with anti-psychotic medications psychiatrist warn

Between 2013-14, 16,000 teenagers and children under 18 years of age were written 100,000 prescriptions from doctors for the powerful medication.

The analysis showed that Queensland was the state where children were most likely to be medicated, with prescription rates above the national average.

The state had the highest rate with 2.5 scripts per 100 children compared with the national average of two.

Researcher Amy Kaim from the University of Adelaide analysed the data collected from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and then cross-matched it with information from Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

'The risk factors were being a child or teen in a family that was dealing with stressful life events and financial difficulties,' she said.

'Other risk factors include parenting practices in the family and whether parents themselves were in psychological distress.'

The analysis shows that they're being prescribed for problems that could be treated with counselling

Antipsychotic medications are typically used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar symptoms and severe behavioural problems associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Psychiatrists are now accusing doctors of over-prescribing the medication to troubled kids and teenagers dealing with problems at home.

Children who are in need of attention and counselling are simply being drugged instead, Dr Paul Robertson who chairs The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, has warned.

He said new data 'clearly suggests there's overuse of these medications' and that 'doctors should be really careful using these medications'.

Psychiatrists are accusing doctors of over prescribing the powerful medication to kids

He also said that kids displaying bad behaviours could often benefit from family counselling, parenting classes and extra help at school.

Ms Kaim said the analysis highlighted the need to look at social factors that could be influencing a teenagers mental health before prescribing them medication.

The study will be presented at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Annual Congress in Auckland this week.

Dr Tony Bartone, the Vice President of the Australian Medical Association said that the decision to medicate a child was never taken lightly by health professionals.

The decision to implement medication is never taken lightly and is done by fully considering the patients history and situation and often with the input of other allied health providers. It is never taken lightly.

It is a very complex area and we have to take to responsibility for the long term benefit of the patientAt least seven people died after an Indonesian police station was targeted in another Islamist bomb attack the day after 13 Christians were killed in suicide bombings aimed at churches.

Another suicide bombing ripped through Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, shortly before noon on Monday, prompting a warning for thousands of Australians holidaying in Indonesia to 'exercise a high degree of caution' and consider leaving.

Closed-circuit TV footage showed four men, linked to a pro-ISIS extremist group, riding on two motorcycles towards police officers who stopped them at the gate.

It was the latest suspected Islamic terrorist attack to coincide with the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

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At least seven people were killed outside Surabaya police station on Monday in an attack (pictured) that came the day after thirteen were killed in suicide bombings

This is the family who committed the church suicide bombings on Sunday

CCTV captured the moment the bomb detonated outside the station about 11.50am Monday

After a brief pause, the bomb detonated, with a giant explosion sending several people hurtling to the ground in a shower of debris.

The blast in the Javanese city killed at least seven people with the death toll still to be determined.

Police said four officers and six civilians were injured and suspected it was carried out by Islamist extremists linked to Jemaah Ansurat Daulah, which was formed in 2015 by ISIS sympathisers.

'Clearly it's a suicide bombing,' East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told a media briefing on Monday which the ABC attended.

'We can't be open [about] all details yet because we are still identifying victims at the scene and the crime scene is being handled.'

The 3,224 Australians now holidaying in Indonesia, mainly in Bali, have been warned of a heightened risk of terrorist attacks after a spate of suicide bombings ripped through Christian churches and police headquarters in Surabaya.

The East Javanese city, Indonesia's biggest metropolis outside Jakarta, was reeling after a car bomb exploded at a police headquarters on Monday, after a family of six blew themselves up on Sunday, killing 13 and wounding 40 Christians attending services at three churches.

The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins on Tuesday, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's travel advisory urged people to 'pay close attention to your personal security at all times'.

'Exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia, including in Bali, Surabaya and Jakarta, because of the high threat of terrorist attack,' it said on its Smart Traveller website on Monday.

'Australians are reminded of the heightened risk of further attacks in the lead-up to and during Ramadan (mid-May to mid-June 2018).'

The explosion killed at least seven people, although the full extent of casualties remains unclear. (Officers pictured standing guard at police headquarters in Surabaya)

More than one million Australians travel to Indonesia every year, mainly to the popular resort island of Bali, where Australians were killed in terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2005.

An estimated 10,000 Australians live in Bali alone all-year round.

Indonesia is also the second most popular overseas holiday destination for Australians, after New Zealand, with more than 1.2 million Australians visiting its northern neighbour in 2016.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull condemned the attacks as an act of 'barbarity' and expressed his condolences to Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

'Our heart goes out to all of the victims of those attacks and the people of Indonesia know that they have our utmost solidarity in the battle against terrorism,' he told reporters in Sydney on Monday.

'It almost beggar's belief; the brutality, the barbarity, the inhumanity, the blasphemy of these terrorists.'

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured centre) condemned the attacks as an act of 'barbarity' and expressed his condolences to Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said it was an act of evil.

'This threat is not going away and Australia stands absolutely united with a very, very crucial friend in Indonesia to make sure we can work with the president and ... the Indonesian government to keep their people safe,' Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

'Evil has prevailed in recent hours.'

A day earlier, suicide bombers from the same family killed at least 13 people and wounded 41 in attacks on Christians attending Sunday morning services at three churches.

All six family members were killed in the attacks and at least 41 people were injured, in acts that Indonesia's president condemned as 'barbaric'.

A day earlier, suicide bombers from the same family killed at least 13 people and wounded 41 in attacks on Christians attending Sunday morning services at three churches

All six family members were killed in the attacks and at least 41 people were injured. Pictured: Officers load a body bag into an ambulance at the site of an attack

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and nine for her attack.

Mr Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently, the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

The extremist group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (centre left) visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as 'cowardly actions' that were 'very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity'

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Pictured: Officers remove wreckages of burnt out motorcycles

Mr Widodo with officials at the scene of a suicide attack outside the Central Pantekosta church in Surabaya

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters.

That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the city's Pantekosta Church.

Three unexploded homemade bombs - two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church - were detonated by a bomb squad.

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as 'cowardly actions' that were 'very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity'.

A fourth attack occurred on Sunday evening outside the gates of nearby Taman Police station in Sidoarjo, East Java.

A police spokesperson confirmed a bomb was detonated, although there have been no reports of casualties since the blast.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd said the terrorist attacks were a 'sobering reminder' of the new danger posed by Islamic State fighters returning from Syria and Iraq.

'Significant threat to Australians and westerners in SEA (South East Asia) region,' he tweeted.

Three unexploded homemade bombs - two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church - were detonated by a bomb squad. Pictured: Anti-terror policemen stand guard following one of the attacksFox News host Sean Hannity and President Donald Trump speak on the phone nearly every night after Hannity's show, according to a new report.

Hannity, 56, is among a select group cleared by the White House switchboard to be patched through to the President, and calls around 10pm most weeknights, according to a lengthy profile of Hannity in New York Magazine, which he declined to be interviewed for.

'Generally, the feeling is that Sean is the leader of the outside kitchen cabinet,' one White House official told the outlet.

Common topics of conversation are said to include sports, the 'witch hunt' against Trump and who is up or down in the cable news ratings - along with a healthy peppering of profanity.

Sean Hannity, 56, (left) is among the select group cleared by the White House switchboard to be patched through to the President, and calls around 10pm most weeknights

Hannity (right) has been among Trump's fiercest since the early days of the campaign

Political commentator Hannity has been among Trump's most visible supporters since the early days of the campaign.

His hour-long show, which airs at 9pm Monday through Thursday, tends to focus on battering the Trump administration's enemies: Robert Mueller's probe, the 'Deep State' and most of all the 'mainstream media'.

Trump and Hannity's close ties are well known. Still, the political class was thrown for a loop last month when it emerged in court that Hannity is one of a handful of clients of Michael Cohen, the Trump attorney who paid off porn star Stormy Daniels.

Hannity, even while venting outrage at the FBI for raiding Cohen's office a week earlier, had never mentioned the connection on air.

After the revelation, he dismissed the relationship as minor, with Cohen perhaps offering some real estate advice.

Hannity and Michael Cohen (right) are seen in an undated photo. Last month it emerged that Hannity is one of a handful of clients of the Trump attorney, who paid off Stormy Daniels

Fox News said it stood by Hannity after the revelation, and the opinionator wasn't penalized the way a straight news reporter would be for failing to disclose the relationship.

Still, the Cohen incident revealed the peculiar relationship between Trump and Hannity, who has been duking it out with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow for the top ratings in prime time cable news.

Their nightly conversations almost serve as a form of therapy for Trump, allowing him 'to decompress' at the end of a long day, a source who knows both men told NY Mag.

For Trump, Hannity 'fills the political void' left by Steve Bannon, one source said in the profile.

Bannon concurred. 'Sean Hannity understands the basic issues of economic nationalism and 'America First' foreign policy at a deeper level than the august staff of Jonathan Chait and the f**kin' clowns at New York Magazine,' he said.Former NYPD officer Gilberto Valle, better known as 'the Cannibal Cop' has given up his attempt to share custody of his six-year-old daughter along with his ex-wife Kathleen Mangan.

Valle last saw his child when she was just 11 months old and had wanted to re-establish a relationship with the child, known as Josephine.

'She has no idea who I am. I don't know what she looks like,' Valle, 34, told the Daily News.

'I've been completely cleared but that doesn't mean my life is back to normal. This is going to stick with me for the rest of my life.'

'Cannibal Cop' Gilberto Valle has given up his custody battle over his daughter. Ex-wife Kathleen Mangan (right) had grown suspicious of his late-night computer sessions

His ex now lives thousands of miles away from New York in Reno, Nevada.

The custody battle has been a bitter one and Mangan has tried to severe Valle's parental rights completely.

Valle has pulled out of the battle for now after a judge ordered he pay his ex-wife's attorney's fees which are now topping out at more than $50,000.

In 2012 Valle was fired from his job at the NYPD. He was jailed in 2012 for kidnapping conspiracy his wife Kathleen Mangan

Valle had argued that it was in his kids best interest to have her father in her life, but her mother feared: 'He might murder my daughter.'

'I totally understood that and her reaction and being afraid of me,' Valle said.

'I was hoping we could co-exist for the sake of our daughter...it just was never going to happen.'

After his acquittal he filed papers in Nevada seeking visitation with his daughter.

'Gil and his counsel apparently believe that because Gil has not been convicted of a crime, he is innocent of any wrongdoing and deserves a relationship with his child.'

But it now appears that Valle may now have to wait until his daughter is older and she decides of her own free will to contact him.

'It would be a lot better if she had a relationship with me for five or six years before she starts looking stuff up,' he said to the Daily News.

Mangan wanted to shelter their daughter from the Cannibal Cop scandal.

His wife told the FBI that he was planning to kill and eat more than 100 women

'Josephine is a young girl, who will someday become a woman. Gilberto's 'fantasies' and involvement in these chat rooms puts Josephine at risk and given his affinity to fantasize about women close to him, there is a risk that Josephine may someday become a victim,' Mangan said in court papers.

'We have great concern that Ms. Mangan will be forced into a co-parenting relationship with a man who will continue to traumatize her through his very public persona as the Cannibal Cop,' Mangan's attorney Lauren Berkich wrote in court papers. She argued Valle publicly indulges in his fringe fetish, disqualifying him as a dad.

'This court's main concern is what is in the child's best interest. That necessitates this court considering the impact on Josephine learning that her father is the 'Cannibal Cop,' or the impact on Josephine learning that her father fantasized about killing and cannibalizing her mother, or the continuing impact on Josephine of being exposed to media and publicity because Gil has apparently chosen to make this his livelihood,' Berkich wrote.

The couple have a child together who is now six years old and he wanted visitation rights

Valle, who was an NYPD cop when he created the account 'Girlmeat Hunter' on a fetish website in 2009, recalled how he used the website for his fetish.

'I had this thing that I was living with this fetish for cannibalism, for bondage, just basically domination. And there are websites that cater to that kind of stuff,' he told DailyMail TV in an interview earlier this year.

Valle was jailed in 2012 for kidnapping conspiracy after his then wife told the authorities that he was planning to kill and eat more than 100 women, including herself.

'It's disturbing stuff. It's something that would shock and disturb people for sure. It's graphic imagery,' Valle admitted.

Mangan had grown suspicious of his late-night computer sessions, Valle recalled and installed spyware on their PC, leading her to the horrific discovery.

'What she found was not an affair. She found my chats with other people about cannibalism and bondage and I was using photos of women and things like that.' Valle said.

Valle hopes that he may be able to resume a relationship with his daughters before she is old enough to search online for what he did

Valle said his wife was 'very upset and crying' when she found the chats and despite him telling her that 'it's not real'.

Mangan, who was mentioned in Valle's cannibal fetish chats, fled their home in Queens with Josephine after viewing the online forums he frequented.

Valle was convicted a year later and faced up to life in prison. While locked up, Mangan, 32, served Valle with divorce papers and he gave her full custody of their child while he focused on the criminal case.

After 21 months in jail he was released after a judge overturned the guilty verdict, ruling that the former cop was only indulging his sexual fantasies in a cannibalism chat room.

These days, Valle works in construction, but said he doubts he has a future in the business. He has written a book about his experiences but says it was just an effort to make a living given his limited opportunities.

'I'm trying to make lemonade of out lemons. This isn't going to leave me,' he said.Ezra Cohen-Watnick, an aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had previously held the position of senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council

A Trump administration official tried to secretly monitor the communications of his colleagues because he believed they were disloyal to the president and were the source of leaks, it has been reported.

Ezra Cohen-Watnick, an aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had previously held the position of senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council.

In early 2017, Cohen-Watnick tried to devise technical solutions to collect and analyze phone and other communications data of White House colleagues in order to track conversations with reporters, The Daily Beast reported on Sunday.

The news site quoted former NSC employees familiar with Cohen-Watnicks behavior at the time.

It was believed that Cohen-Watnick, who was brought to the NSC by then-national security adviser Michael Flynn, wanted to expose insider threats presumably from individuals who were holdovers from the Obama administration.

There is no information confirming whether Cohen-Watnick succeeded in monitoring colleagues phone records.

This seemed designed to intimidate rather than protect national security, said a former NSC official who is familiar with the effort.

It was believed that Cohen-Watnick, who was brought to the NSC by then-national security adviser Michael Flynn (above), wanted to expose insider threats presumably from individuals who were holdovers from the Obama administration

Cohen-Watnick is reported to have leaked intelligence reports to Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman who heads the House intelligence committee.

Nunes is believed to have used those reports in an effort to back up President Trumps claim that his aides were put under surveillance by the Obama administration.

No evidence has surfaced to support this allegation.

Cohen-Watnicks lawyer, Mark Zaid, denied his client played a role in the Nunes fiasco.

Zaid said that Cohen-Watnick was involved in implementing an Obama-era insider threat detection program that was ordered after the Edward Snowden revelations about the National Security Agencys domestic spying.

Cohen-Watnick was said to have been eager to identify 'internal threats' from the administration who were leaking information that put the president in a bad light. President Trump is seen above in the White House on Friday

Ezra worked along with numerous others within the NSC and IC [intelligence community] to facilitate implementation of the Obama Executive Order on insider threats that was issued in the wake of Edward Snowdens illegal theft and disclosures, Zaid told The Daily Beast.

At no time was Ezra undertaking any activities to use the program, which remained under development when he left the NSC, to in any manner unintended by the Obama administration.

Any unfavorable insinuations to the contrary are coming from cowardly anonymous individuals who have a personal ax to grind.

After Flynn was fired and replaced by HR McMaster, Cohen-Watnick stayed on until August 2017.

There were reports that McMaster fired Cohen-Watnick, but Zaid says he resigned in order to take up a position with software giant Oracle.

Recently, Cohen-Watnick returned to the administration, this time as a counterintelligence and counterterrorism advisor to Sessions.

The Trump administration has been dominated by talk of plugging leaks, particularly after embarrassing revelations about how one White House staffer joked that cancer-stricken Senator John McCain would soon die.

It is suspected that Cohen-Watnick's real function at the Department of Justice is to serve as a political commissar tasked with making sure Sessions toes the pro-Trump line. Sessions is seen above in Washington, DC on Sunday

The discussion over leaks has reportedly motivated former administration officials to speak out about Cohen-Watnick.

It is suspected that his real function at the Department of Justice is to serve as a political commissar tasked with making sure Sessions toes the pro-Trump line.

The former officials said they are concerned that Cohen-Watnick made no distinction between leaks of classified information and leaks of information that put the administration in a bad light but were altogether legal.

Cohen-Watnicks former colleagues said that attempts to root out disloyal bureaucrats by monitoring their phone calls are very difficult given the strict privacy laws in place protecting government employees.

Even if Cohen-Watnick wanted to, the NSC does not have the legal right to authorize or perform communications intercepts.

Former officials say Cohen-Watnick may have been under the mistaken impression that he could use government powers to bring people into line.

They said Cohen-Watnick was more likely trying to intimidate officials who were critical of Trump policies.

Its hard to believe this had any chance of coming to fruition, in terms of authorities and actually obtaining and storing data, said a former Trump NSC staffer.

This seemed more of a knee-jerk retaliation driven by frustration than any serious effort to address a real threat.The 51-year-old man from Iowa and his who shot him have been pictured in touching photos and the pair appear to be the best of friends.

Richard Remme, of Fort Dodge, was encouraging his dog Balew, a cross between a pit bull and a Labrador, to jump on his lap as he lay on his sofa on Wednesday.

That's when the dog apparently flicked the safety catch off the 9mm pistol he was carrying in his belt and shot his owner in the leg.

Richard Remme, 51, says he was shot by his dog Balew while horsing around

The pit bull/Labrador mix apparently flicked the safety catch off of Remme's pistol he was carrying in his belt

'I was lying on the couch, and we were horsing around, me and the dog. And I was tossing him off my lap, and he was jumping back on my lap,' Remme told The Messenger newspaper after being discharged from hospital.

'Apparently he bumped the safety one time, and when he bounded back over one of his toes went right down into the trigger guard,' the injured dog owner said.

'It has a trigger safety as well as a thumb safety, and he managed to hit both of them, and it discharged and went into my leg, did no major damage to anything.'

Remme called 911 and told the emergency dispatcher: 'My dog shot me.'

'I've never heard of that,' the city police chief Roger Porter said.

'I've heard of guns dropping and going off on the floor, and horsing around and guns going off. I can't say I've heard a dog story before.'

Cory Husske, his assistant, later issued a statement saying that a police investigation 'could neither prove nor disprove the man's statement of events,' adding that no charges were therefore planned.

Police and the UnityPoint Health Trinity Regional Medical Center ambulance were called to the home at about 10.50 am.

The dog owner was taken to the hospital and released hours later.

'Only in America can you get shot by your dog,' weighed in Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an organization pushing for stricter gun controls in the United States.

The incident proved rather too much for Balew, described by Remme as a 'big wuss' who laid down and cried after the firearm went off.

'He thought he was in trouble for doing something wrong,' he said.

Remme's daughter has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.A white man was refused service and kicked out of a California cafe after he threw an angry Islamophic tirade at a young woman wearing a niqab.

The victim of the tirade filmed the moment she was verbally attacked by the white man who said 'I don't want to be killed by you' at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe.

The video of the Friday incident has gone viral online with 884,000 views.

A white man was refused service at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe in California after he berated a Muslim girl standing next to him in line saying 'I don't like your religion'

The incident took place on Friday where the girl wearing a niqab, a head scarf that covers her face, pictured left, talked back to the man making Islamophobic comments towards her

The nearly two-minute clip begins with the white man standing at the counter of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf talking to the woman wearing a niqab, a religious head scarf that covers the entire face save for the eyes.

'Is this Halloween or something?' he says.

The woman films the man and responds saying: 'Why would you say that? What's wrong with me?'

'Do you know I'm a Muslim? What's your problem with that?' she adds.

'I don't like that because I don't like your religion. It says to kill me and I don't want to be killed by you. How's that?' he responds.

'Are you scared of me? Have you read the Koran?' she cuts him off, adding he needs to understand the context of such statements.

She then asks if he's a Christian and says 'let's talk about your Bible'.

But the man isn't having any of it and raises his hand to her face repeating 'that's all'.

'I don't have any kind of conversation with idiots,' he adds.

'You are committing hate speech!' she yells at him as he turns his back.

A store worker then approaches the two from behind the counter, asking them to separate.

In the background a loud man yells: 'Get out of here. Get out of here! F****** racist. Get the f*** out!'

Later the, left, is asked to leave the cafe and is refused service by the supervisor, right

After the man was asked to leave and angrily obliged, the woman with the niqab gave the supervisor a heartfelt thank you and filmed herself smiling in relief

The white man in the video looks around to see who the aggressor is and cusses him out.

The video then cuts to show the supervisor on duty asking the man to leave.

The man asks who she is and where the manager is.

The Muslim girl behind the camera asks: 'Why are you not serving him?'

As she speaks, the white man walks out the door.

'Because he's disrupting a public place and being very racist,' the supervisor responds.

'Thank you,' the Muslim woman replies before the video cuts off.

The Muslim girl and the white man in the video have not been identified.

The video, posted by journalist CJ Werleman, has sparked fury and praise on social media, many commending the supervisor for kicking out the racist customer.

'Big round of applause to the victim, to the person defending her from the background and to @TheCoffeeBean Hatred must not be the norm, it must not be the way, we cannot let it win. #Peace #NoMoreHate #StopTheHate #HateSpeechIsNotFreeSpeech,' one Twitter user wrote.

'Hear background voice - I suspect it was an American guy who was shouting at him. I admire those people regardless of their faith,' another wrote.

The video was posted on Twitter by journalist CJ Werleman where it has gone viral

The video sparked fury and praise for the supervisor who kicked the racist man out of the cafe

One user said 'Big round of applause to the victim, to the person defending her from the background and to @TheCoffeeBean'

Another added: 'Thank you to the stranger who yelled at the racist pig and to the supervisor'

One user praised the unseen man in the background to viciously cussed out the anti-Muslim man

'Thank you to the stranger who yelled at the racist pig and to the supervisor at Coffee Bean who did the right thing. Hey, Starbucks - you could learn from this,' one Twitter wrote - referring to the Starbucks incident where two black men were asked to leave the cafe and were arrested when they refused.

'I'm so happy two people spoke up and one was the manager who refused to serve the racist. That's heartening. Perhaps not accepting all this poor treatment as the norm is what will turn the tide,' one Twitter user said.

'All applaud to the brave and sweet supervisor of @thecoffeebean cafe who timely stood against this racist and hate mongrer,' another added.

'Salute to the staff of this @TheCoffeeBean cafe in California for standing up to anti-Muslim bigotry,' CJ Werleman, who uploaded the video, added.

The coffee chain has released a statement to DailyMail.com.

'The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is fully committed to ensuring the wellness and safety of its customers, team members and business. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to discrimination of any kind, and have the right to refuse service to any person who makes customers or team members feel endangered in any way'.

The shocking display of racism and Islamophobia follows a series of other racist incidents sweeping the country.

In April two black men made headlines after they were kicked out of a Starbucks after they did not purchase anything and refused to leave.

Also in April in Canada four Afghan men were berated by a white Canadian woman as they were eating at a Denny's and speaking in their native tongue.

Several racial incident have also taken place at Waffle House restaurants around the US over the past couple of months.The United States is pressuring North Korea to ship its nuclear weapons overseas before sanctions are lifted.

North Korea meanwhile said over the weekend that all of the tunnels at the country's northeastern nuclear test site will be destroyed by explosion in less than two weeks, ahead of Kim Jong-un's summit with Donald Trump.

Observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed, the North said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised it as 'one step along the way.'

The US has told North Korea that is must start shipping nuclear weapons, fissile material and some of its long-range missiles out of the country within a couple of months

Washington's demand was delivered to North Korea ahead of the summit meeting in Singapore between Kim and Trump. The U.S. says sanctions will remain in place until the North complies

John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, described the types of steps that North Korea would need to take as part of a denuclearization process, including the potential involvement of a processing center in Tennessee.

'The implementation of the decision means getting rid of all the nuclear weapons, dismantling them, taking them to Oak Ridge, Tennessee,' Bolton said in an interview with ABC's This Week. 'It means getting rid of the uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing capabilities,' adding the process would also need to address North Korea's ballistic missiles.

'I don't think anybody believes you're going to sign the complete ending of the nuclear program in one day. But we are also very much interested in operationalizing the commitment as quickly as possible,' Bolton said.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a nuclear research and storage facility that already holds key components from Libya's nuclear weapons programme.

There are some reports that suggest the North Korean regime is resisting requests that it destroy all its nuclear weapons data and send an estimated 10,000 nuclear scientists abroad

Bolton said in an interview with CNN's State of the Union that North Korea should not 'look for economic aid from us. I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way South Korea does.'

'The prospect for North Korea is unbelievably strong if they'll commit to denuclearization. That's what the president is going to say,' he said.

Washington's demand for the removal of North Korea's nuclear weapons was set as part of preparatory talks before the Singapore summit. The has US stated that sanctions will remain in place until the North complies.

It's not know what Pyongyang's reaction has been althoug there have been reports that the regime is resisting requests that it destroy all its nuclear weapons data and send an estimated 10,000 nuclear scientists abroad according to the Daily Telegraph.

One particular worry is that if North Korea does not destroy its knowledge on nuclear weaponry, it could carry out research in secret and resume a nuclear weapons programme at short notice enabling the country to sell the data to other nations or terrorist groups.

Pompeo said private-sector Americans could help rebuild North Korea's energy grid and develop the country's infrastructure. He described the possibility of American agriculture being used to 'support North Korea so they can eat meat and have healthy lives.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pictured, said North Korea could reap financial rewards if Kim Jong-un was willing to fully dismantle his nuclear weapons programme

South Korea has said Kim has shown an interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons in return for economic benefits. But it remains unclear if Kim would ever fully relinquish the weapons he probably views as his only guarantee of survival.

The United States is also offering 'security assurances' to North Korea if they're able to forge an agreement.

Pompeo met with Kim last week in North Korea, helping set the stage for Trump's historic meeting with Kim in Singapore on June 12.

Trump has set an ambitious goal for North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way. In return, the U.S. is willing to help the impoverished nation strengthen its economy.

Pompeo was asked on Fox News Sunday whether the U.S. was in effect telling Kim he could stay in power if he met the U.S. demands. Pompeo said: 'We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure.'

Failing to destroy the accumulated knowledge would permit the North to carry out further research in secret and resume a nuclear weapons programme at short notice

The top U.S. diplomat did not elaborate, but his comment could refer to the type of assurances North Korea has sought in the past.

A statement issued during international negotiations with North Korea in 2005 over its nuclear weapons development said the 'United States affirmed that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade (North Korea) with nuclear or conventional weapons.'

The North has said it needs nuclear weapons to counter what it believes is a U.S. effort to strangle its economy and overthrow the Kim government.

'Make no mistake about it, America's interest here is preventing the risk that North Korea will launch a nuclear weapon into L.A. or Denver or to the very place we're sitting here this morning,' Pompeo said from Washington. 'That's our objective, that's the end state the president has laid out and that's the mission that he sent me on this past week, to put us on the trajectory to go achieve that.'

Pressed in a separate interview on whether the U.S. would seek regime change, Pompeo said 'only time will tell how these negotiations will proceed.'A man who killed his mother before dumping her body in the bush has been sentenced to 11 years in prison but he could walk free in just one year.

Daniel Heazlewood pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his mother Linda Sidon, 46, and interfering with her corpse when he faced the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.

The 31-year-old was sentenced to eight years prison for manslaughter. He also pleaded guilty to drug offences and was sentenced to a total of 11 years behind bars.

However, due to time served, Heazlewood will be eligible for parole in July 2019.

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Daniel Heazlewood pleaded guilty over the death of his mother, Linda Sidon (pictured) and was sentenced to 11 years by the Brisbane Supreme Court

Heazlewood was arrested in Brisbane in 2015 over the 2009 disappearance of his 46-year-old mother.

That same year, Heazlewood allegedly told a housemate that his mother was a bogan, c*** and whore,' the Daily Telegraph reported.

Ms Sidon's older sister Pauline Sidon described her sister as 'beautiful' and 'charismatic' when she fronted court on Monday.

'Her future had a chance to be bright  she was robbed of future happiness, how someone can live with that lie for six years is beyond my comprehension,' she said in a victim impact statement.

She said her parents sadly passed away before they could find out what happened to their beloved daughter.

'To know their daughter had been (killed) by their grandson would have broken their hearts and souls,' she said.

Heazlewood (pictured) was sentenced to eight years jail for the 2009 manslaughter of his mother Linda Sidon but will be eligible for parole in July 2019

Ms Sidon - a New Zealand-born part-time cleaner who had a history of anxiety, anorexia and depression - had originally been thought to have committed suicide.

But new leads increased police focus on her disappearance. A five-day search for her body in the Gold Coast hinterland in 2015 came up fruitless.

Heazlewood even assisted police in the search shortly after his arrest.

However, at the time police said the search was hindered by the amount of time Ms Sidon had been missing.

Ms Sidon's body has never been found.

Heazlewood (pictured) was arrested in Brisbane in 2015 over the 2009 disappearance his mother

A five-day search for Ms Sidon's body in the Gold Coast hinterland in 2015 came up fruitless and her body is yet to be found

Heazlewood is said to have frequently visited Gold Coast nightclubs including Sin City, Shooters Howl and the Rendezvous Members Lounge.

He reportedly wrote a series of posts on Facebook in 2012, saying women deserve to be blown up with live grenades.

'A lot of girls deserve a warm gift... such as a live grenade,' he wrote, according to The Gold Coast Bulletin.

'What do 80,000 battered wives have in common? They just don't know when to shut the f***up,' he wrote in another post.A gun safety campaigner has claimed Australia's gun laws are 'slipping away' in the wake of the Margaret River shooting.

The tragedy has sparked a debate about the gun laws in what is the country's worst shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996.

Cynda Miles, 58, daughter Katrina Miles, 38, and her four autistic children Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8 were all found dead on Friday.

A gun safety campaigner has claimed Australia's gun laws are 'slipping away' in the wake of the Margaret River shooting. Katrina Miles, 38 and her four autistic children Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8 (pictured) were all found dead on Friday

The tragedy has sparked a debate about the gun laws in what is the country's worst shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996

Peter Miles, the grandfather of the children, is suspected of allegedly killing the six family members before turning the gun on himself.

Gun Control Australia chairman Sam Lee told Daily Mail Australia that she had never been more concerned about the state of the country's gun laws.

'The first massacre in 22 years, gun numbers at 3.2million, an ever increasing powerful gun lobby and our gun laws eroding,' she said.

'We need to stop talking about how good our gun laws are and start talking about how they are slipping away'.

Gun Control Australia chairman Sam Lee (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia that she had never been more concerned about the state of the country's gun laws

Sporting Shooters Association hit back at Ms Lee's saying it's almost always an illegal gun used by an unlicensed person so it doesn't matter what laws are made

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson defended the gun laws, saying 'Australia has the toughest gun laws in the world' in an interview with Sunrise.

'(They are) definitely not being watered down,' she said.

'We have the toughest gun laws in the world and every person in Australia that has a gun, they must have a license.

'If someone wants to go to murder someone, they will either get in a car or a truck and they will drive down the street. If they want to wield a knife (they can), which was evident in Paris.'

Sporting Shooters Association hit back at Ms Lee's claims and said the laws must protect public and recreational shooters.

'I'd say to Gun Control Australia...they need to stop dancing on peoples graves before their bloods cold,' Chief Executive Officer Tim Bannister told Daily Mail Australia.

'Police should concentrate on the illegal use of firearms.

'Almost always its an illegal gun used by an unlicensed person so it doesn't matter what laws are made.'

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson defended the gun laws, saying 'Australia has the toughest gun laws in the world'.



A Southern Baptist pastor who once called Mormonism a cult, said Jews were going to hell, and that Catholicism was the genius of Satan has been picked by the Trump administration to lead the prayer for the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who is himself a Mormon, is leading the chorus of criticism against 'religious bigot' Robert Jeffress, who will speak in front of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner on Monday.

In a tweet Sunday night, the former Massachusetts governor who is now running for a Senate seat from Utah criticized Jeffress for his remarks about Jews, Mormons and Islam.

Romney said, Robert Jeffress says you can't be saved by being a Jew, and Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell. He's said the same about Islam.

Robert Jeffress (above) is a Dallas-based Southern Baptist pastor who once called Mormonism a cult, said Jews were going to hell, and that Catholicism was the genius of Satan. He was picked by the Trump administration to lead the prayer for the new US embassy in Jerusalem

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney (seen above at last week's Met Gala in New York), who is himself a Mormon, is leading the chorus of criticism against Robert Jeffress, whom the Senate candidate from Utah is referring to as a religious bigot

In a tweet Sunday night, the former Massachusetts governor criticized Jeffress for his remarks about Jews, Mormons and Islam

Jeffress responded in a tweet of his own by defending his view that salvation is through faith in Christ alone

The liberal group Media Matters reports on its website that Jeffress made the remarks cited by Romney in a 2011 speech at the conservative Values Voter Summit.

Jeffress responded in a tweet of his own by defending his view that salvation is through faith in Christ alone.

Historic Christianity has taught for 2,000 years that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. The fact that I, along with tens of millions of evangelical Christians around the world, continue to espouse that belief, is neither bigoted nor newsworthy, Jeffress said in the tweet.

The role of Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, a Southern Baptist megachurch, underlines the significance of the Jerusalem event as an appeal to Christian conservatives, part of President Donald Trump's base of supporters.

The outrage over Jeffress comes amidst a backlash against the Trump adminstration's embrace of an Israeli cleric who also made racist remarks about black people.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump received a blessing in Jerusalem on Sunday from Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who once compared black people to monkeys.

Yosef was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this year for making the crude remarks.

White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly received a blessing from a rabbi who previously compared black people to monkeys

A US delegation in Jerusalem includes Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides. She posted a picture of the couple on Twitter with Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara as she thanked the Israeli Prime Minister for his hospitality at a welcome reception

Jared and Ivanka also received a blessing from Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzchok Yosef (photo by Shloimy Cohen) pic.twitter.com/PEvyE9pTM7  Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) May 13, 2018

During a sermon in March, the rabbi discussed how to properly say a blessing The Forward reports.

Yosef used the Hebrew word 'kushi,' which although it was used in the Bible is now considered a derogatory term for black people.

'You can't make the blessing on every 'kushi' you see  in America you see one every five minutes, so you make it only on a person with a white father and mother,' he said, according to the Times of Israel. 'How do would you know? Let's say you know! So they had a monkey as a son, a son like this, so you say the blessing on him.'

The blessing was given by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

The Anti-Defamation League said that the remarks were 'utterly unacceptable', but Yosef's office defended the remarks by stating he was 'merely citing the Talmud', which is a set of Jewish laws which states that the same blessing is recited upon seeing an elephant, a monkey or an ape.

It's not the first time that Yosef has attracted criticism for his comments with a history of questionable remarks.

In the past few years he implied that secular women behave like animals because of their immodest dress and claimed 2016 that according to Jewish law, non-Jews were forbidden from living in Israel.

Kushner and Trump, who both act as senior advisers to President Trump, are in Israel as part of the American delegation celebrating the moving of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared

Senior adviser Jared Kushner was presented with a menorah for as a memento of his visit

Images of President Trump flashed across the screen at the event for the Friends Of Zion group

They landed in Israel Sunday morning ahead of the US Embassy opening in the capital.

The White House advisers will attend the embassy inauguration ceremony scheduled for Monday along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

President Trump will not be in attendance.

Both Ivanka and Jared were seen embracing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu shortly after their arrival.

Ivanka posted several photos of her and Jared after touching down sharing a video of her waving at at camera after they landed.

Jared Kushner stood among other members of the U.S. delegation as they were welcomed

Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation. She posted this photo on Instagram

'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' she wrote.

Israel launched celebrations on Sunday for the US Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem, a move whose break with world consensus was underscored by the absence of most envoys to the country from a reception hosted by Netanyahu.

Monday's slated opening of the new embassy follows Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a decision he said fulfilled decades of policy pledges in Washington and formalized realities on the ground.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's foundingMore than 1,000 jobs with six-figure salaries have been made available in one outback Australian town.

Entry level positions where no qualifications are necessary are up for grabs in the gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie.

The only catch is that many of the jobs are not for fly in, fly out workers - only those who are prepared to live in the small Western Australian town.

Pictured: The outback town where workers make more than $90,000 a year

Many of the jobs are for skilled and unskilled mine workers - but there are others advertised to support the mining industry such as in hotels and restaurants.

The highest salaries in all of Australia are in the Kalgoorlie gold fields. According to job search site Seek, the average wage last year was $99,236.

Jessica Biddle of the Kalgoorlieboulder Chambers of Commerce said that most businesses will train on the job, and even the inexperienced workers will be paid generously.

'Even entry level jobs you can actually earn a very good wage. Average $100,000 a year.'

'We need people to come back to Kalgoorlie. We've had a lot of people leave, and now we need people to come back and reside in Kalgoorlie, so they can benefit from the lifestyle from living here,' said Ms Biddle.

Workers in the Aussie mining town (pictured) have the highest salaries in the nation

Australia's best paid workers are those in the mining industry, making on average $139,303 per year, compared to the average Australian income of $78,832.

Despite the town being renowned for its social problems, Ms Biddle insists that it's a great place to live.

'There're over 250 community and sporting groups registered in Kalgoorlie, there is something literally for everyone in Kalgoorlie.'An argument over which trolley had the right of way in IKEA sparked a shopper brawl that left a woman in hospital.

Police and ambulance were called to the furniture chain in Germany after the woman suffered a head injury following the scuffle on Saturday.

The fight broke out between three customers at the shop in Eching, near Munich, as they tried to maneuver their shopping carts through the aisles.

A fight broke out between three customers at the shop in Eching, near Munich, on Saturday (file photo)

A 49-year-old woman and an 18-year-old woman shouted and shoved each other after they couldn't agree who had the right of way, according to Muncher Merkur.

It is thought the teenager's father then pushed the older woman, who fell into a metal shelf and cut her head open.

Ambulance crew took her to a local hospital for treatment.

Local police are investigating the incident and said both parties were to blame for the row.Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken another swipe at Facebook's handling of user data during a speech to Duke University students.

Delivering the commencement address at the North Carolina college, Cook did not mention Facebook by name but appeared to obliquely reference the social media firm's privacy scandal.

In March, it was revealed that data firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested information belonging to nearly 90 million Facebook users - prompting global outrage and forcing CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologize.

Cook, however, emphasized at Duke that Apple did things differently, explaining: 'We reject the excuse that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy.'

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Cook emphasized at Duke that Apple did things differently, explaining: 'We reject the excuse that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy'

He added: 'So we choose a different path, collecting as little of your data as possible, being thoughtful and respectful when it's in our care because we know it belongs to you.'

Cook has previously said that because Apple profits from selling its products rather than user information, his company is safe from privacy scandals like the one dogging Facebook.

When asked what he would do if he were in Zuckerberg's shoes, Cook replied: 'I wouldn't be in this situation.'

He added: 'The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer  if our customer was our product. We've elected not to do that.'

But Zuckerberg hit back, saying: 'You know, I find that argument, that if you're not paying that somehow we can't care about you, to be extremely glib. And not at all aligned with the truth.'

Cook told the Duke students they could be the solution to the epidemic of data abuse in American society.

In March, it was revealed that data firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested information belonging to nearly 90 million Facebook users - forcing CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologize

He told them: 'We are not powerless in the face of these problems

'You are not powerless to fix them. No generation has ever had more power than yours.

'And no generation has a chance to change things faster than yours can.'

He went on to praise Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for instilling the firm with his philosophy.

'In every way, at every turn, the question we ask ourselves is not, "What can we do?",' he said, 'but, "What should we do".'

He added: 'Because Steve taught us that's how change happens and from him I learned to never be content with the way that things are.'

But Apple has previously been criticized itself, particularly for its relationship with the authoritarian communist regime in the People's Republic of China.

The firm announced in February it was planning to move iCloud accounts registered in China to state-run servers.

In 2014, meanwhile, hackers were able to access private photographs belonging to celebrities before posting them online.A British tourist and mother-of-two has described the terrifying moment she thought her life was about to end when the plane she was on had its tail sliced off in a collision with another aircraft.

Kaarina Barron, 55, from Woodley, Berkshire, and her friend Clare Chambers were seated near the back of the plane when they heard an almighty bang.

The shocking crash 'sounded like a bomb had gone off' and took place yesterday at Attaturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

It saw a Turkish Airline plane have its tail sliced off by an Asiana Airline plane, sending passengers on-board flying.

Ms Barron, who is a business development manager for Qwerty LTD, a printing company in Theale, Berks said: Wed just pulled into the parking bay. We hadnt even been stationary for a minute and the engines were still going when there was this huge noise.

'It sounded like a bomb going off and the whole plane seemed to tilt over.

The tail of the Turkish Airline plane was sliced off (pictured) in the collision with another aircraft

The Turkish Airlines plane was parked up and had been stationary for around a minute when it was hit

I thought it was going to turn over. It leant to one side and then it sort of righted itself. All kinds of things were going through my mind at that point. I thought the plane had blown up.

It was really scary. For a moment I really thought this is it, this is the end of my life.

The crash occurred when an Asiana A330 sliced off the tail of a Turkish Airlines A321 on Sunday afternoon at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, in Turkey.

Upon impact, passengers on board were sent flying, with one saying that everybody was 'falling about all over the place'

The Turkish plane suffered extensive damage to its vertical stabiliser.

There were a lot of people standing in the aisle, despite the seatbelt sign still being on. They all went flying. Everybody was falling about all over the place. It was totally surreal, said Ms Barron.

I looked out of the window and saw another plane had stopped right behind us. Then I saw the damage to its wing and I said oh my God, weve been hit by another plane.

Mother-of-two Kaarina Barron, a Brit tourist on board, said that she thought a bomb had gone off

She said the Aviation Fire and Rescue team were soon at the scene of the crash, dousing the rear of the plane with water.

According to Ms Barron the flight was full but nobody was hurt.

There were also children aboard the flight.

It could have been a lot worse. Were feeling very lucky, she said.

Officials and workers can be seen surrounding the damaged Turkish Airlines plane in the aftermath of the crash

The other plane was on its way to Seoul. Obviously everybody had to get off and that flight was cancelled.

It is believed the passengers on the Asiana flight were then put on a different plane to complete their journey.

Ms Barron and her friend were making their way back to the UK following a girls holiday in northern Cyprus.

Despite the horrific impact, it is thought that nobody was injured in the collision between the two planes

They had just landed in Istanbul, after flying from Ercan International Airport, and were due to change flights to make their way to London.

It was certainly an exhilarating end to our holiday. We went and ordered gin and tonics inside the airport to recover after that, said Ms Barron.

A spokeswoman for Turkish Airlines said: Turkish Airlines confirms that the Airbus A330 type aircraft of the South Korean airline, Asiana Airlines, hit the tail of Turkish Airlines' Airbus A321 while it was taxiing on Istanbul Ataturk International Airport in yesterday.

Video footage shows the moment the Asiana Airlines Airbus slice off the tail of the Turkish Airlines plane

There were no passengers and crew injured due to the incident, it just caused physical damage on both aircrafts.

Asiana Airlines has had two fatal accidents in the last 20 years, the last being in 2013, when three people died.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines, which has a higher volume of passengers, has experienced four fatal accidents within the same time frame.An Australian model who was left looking 'like The Joker' after being mauled by a savage dog has admitted she thought about taking her own life before she recovered and returned to the catwalk.

Suzel Mackintosh, from Perth, sustained horrific injuries when a Staffordshire-pit bull crossbreed attacked her in Pemberton, Western Australia on New Year's Eve.

The 23-year-old went to get something from her car but when she opened the boot the dog launched itself at her and slashed her face.

Suzel Mackintosh (left before and right after), 23, sustained horrific injuries when she was attacked by a Staffordshire-pit bull crossbreed

'It just went for me - I fell back and I could feel my nose hanging off,' Miss Mackintosh told the Daily Star Sunday.

The model spent a week in hospital where she contemplated 'not being around anymore' because she thought her modelling career was shattered.

After extensive plastic surgery, she returned to London to pursue her modelling dream - but she still finds it difficult to lift her upper lip due to muscle damage.

Miss Mackintosh said she and friends had played with the dog during the day and then put it in the car when night fell.

Ms Mackintosh said she and friends had played with the animal during the day and then placed it in a vehicle when night fell

Ms Mackintosh had been visiting friends in south-west Australia when the dog attacked her after the group went camping in the remote Pemberton area

Despite doctors' best efforts, the 23-year-old still finds it difficult to lift her upper lift due to muscle damage

She said: 'I went to get something from the car and it jumped on my face. I did nothing to provoke it.'

Miss Mackintosh, who lives and works in London, thought her horrific injuries had dashed her dream of becoming a model.

Ms Mackintosh decided to return to Britain and pursue her modelling dreams.

She went on to take part in a video with online comic Jack Jones, which has more than 2million views.

Despite her determination online trolls still taunted her for her looks.

But Ms Mackintosh, of London but originally from Perth in Australia, decided to return to Britain and pursue her modelling dreams.

Ms Mackintosh (pictured before the attack) has never received an apology from the dog owner, which she says 'hurts more than the injuries'

But Ms Mackintosh, who had been in a troubled relationship from the age of 17 for two years, chose to ignore the hateful comments and now plans to be a spokesman for victims of domestic abuse.

She added: 'I want other women to know that no matter what, you should still do the things you want to do.'

Ms Mackintosh has never received an apology from the dog owner, which she says 'hurts more than the injuries'.

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street today) has been meeting groups of backbenchers to try to win them over to her vision of future ties to the EU

Theresa May has invited every Tory MP for private talks on Brexit as she scrambles to find a way through the bitter Cabinet standoff.

The Prime Minister has been meeting groups of backbenchers today to try to win them over to her vision of future ties to the EU.

She is understood to be stressing the complexity of the challenge the government faces in negotiating a package with Brussels.

The charm offensive comes with the Cabinet row still raging over the shape of customs arrangements.

Jeremy Hunt delivered an extraordinary rebuke to Boris Johnson today for publicly criticising the premier's customers partnership - suggesting he should 'belt up' and focus on working with colleagues on a compromise.

He accused Mr Johnson of handing Brussels a negotiating advantage by revealing divisions.

Meanwhile, Mrs May's former deputy has predicted she will lose the bitter battle with Brexiteer ministers.

Damian Green said he believed the 'Maximum Facilitation' blueprint favoured by Eurosceptics would emerge victorious over the PM's customs partnership idea.

The intervention by Mr Green - one of Mrs May's oldest friends in politics - could mark the start of a retreat.

The premier is facing the threat of a potentially catastrophic revolt by ministers if she tries to force the customs partnership concept through.

But whips also fear she has no chance of getting a 'Max Fac' proposal through the Commons - where around a dozen Tory Remainer rebels are threatening to side with Labour.

There are growing signs of EU alarm about the impasse. German foreign minister Michael Roth complained this morning that there is 'no clear attitude and no clear position from the British side'.

Boris Johnson (pictured meeting the French foreign minister in London today) launched an extraordinary public attack on Theresa May's post-Brexit trade plans last week

Jeremy Hunt (pictured in London today) accused Mr Johnson of handing Brussels a negotiating advantage by revealing Cabinet divisions. On the BBC's Andrew Marr show yesterday, Michael Gove said there were 'significant questions' about the customs partnership plan

Arriving for a meeting in Brussels, he said: 'Time is passing. We must now make substantial progress, and that is yet to come.'

Environment Secretary Michael Gove used an interview yesterday to warn that the idea was 'flawed' - suggesting it would mean the UK acting as the 'tax collector' and regulatory enforcement agency for the EU.

Mr Johnson launched a public attack on the partnership proposal last week after a 'War Cabinet' discussion ended in deadlock - branding it 'crazy' and warning it would be a betrayal of the referendum vote.

There were claims over the weekend that half the full Cabinet roster could also be opposed to the proposal - which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of Brussels and then offer businesses rebates.

But Mr Hunt said this morning that Mr Johnson was wrong to speak publicly.

'I do think that it is important that we have these debates in private. Not just because of collective responsibility, which is what democracy depends on, but also because this is a negotiation. On the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, they will exploit that,' Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Asked if his message to Mr Johnson was to 'belt up', Mr Hunt said: 'You could say that. I'd say he is a marvellous Foreign Secretary but let's work as a team.'

Mr Green, an ardent Remainer who was forced to resign from government last year after misleading statements about porn found on his computer a decade ago, said he believed the 'Max Fac' option for customs would win the day.

And significantly he said there should be no 'ideological' objection from Europhile Tories to the idea.

'I think the most likely end point will be what's called 'maximum facilitation' - some variant of that,' Mr Green told Radio 4's Westminster Hour.

'I personally am not yet convinced that you could have that in place by the end of 2020, by the end of the implementation period.

'And therefore you might need to bolt on to that another period - a sort of transition period into that - so we know not only that it works but that it works from day one.

'That's really important, and I think that's more important than any if you like ideological posturing that seems to be going on over this.'

Damian Green said he believed the 'Maximum Facilitation' blueprint would emerge victorious (file picture)

Mr Johnson responded to Mrs May's latest comments about Brexit on Twitter yesterday

In a message posted on her Facebook page yesterday, Mrs May said: 'You can trust me to deliver. I will not let you down.'

Mrs May stressed the UK would stay aligned with Brussels on some issues as there had to be 'compromises' after withdrawal.

'The path I am setting out is the path to deliver the Brexit people voted for.

'Of course, the details are incredibly complex, and, as in any negotiation, there will have to be compromises.

'But, if we stick to the task we will seize this once in a generation opportunity to build a stronger, fairer Britain.'

Mrs May sought to soothe Brexiteer concerns by insisting 'our laws will be made in Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, with those laws tried by British judges'.

Echoing the Leave referendum's pledge that cutting ties with the EU will mean more money for the NHS, the PM said: 'Brexit means there will be billions of pounds that we used to send to Brussels which we will now be able to spend on domestic priorities, including our National Health Service.'

Mr Johnson responded on Twitter: 'PM @theresa_may is absolutely right to say once again that Brexit must see us take back control of our borders, laws, and money - so more can go to the NHS - with our own international trade policy and free trade deals.'

Mr Gove said: 'It's my view that the new customs partnership has flaws and they need to be tested.'

He added: 'Across Government, across Cabinet, there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect.

'And with the new customs partnership, Boris pointed out that because it's novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time.'

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer branded Cabinet divisions over proposals for a customs arrangement 'farcical'.

But he refused to say how Labour would reconcile the party's stated position of leaving the single market with the ensuring a soft border - or how Britain could stay in an EU customs union without giving up its ability to strike trade deals elsewhere.

The PM has split ministers into working groups as part of the efforts to thrash out a deal, after her favoured blueprint of a 'customs partnership' ran into furious opposition from Euroseptics.

Brexit Secretary David Davis is to work with Business Secretary Greg Clark and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradleyon the 'maximum facilitation' proposal  which focuses on using technology to streamline customs checks.

Another group, involving Environment Secretary Michael Gove, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Mrs May's deputy, David Lidington, has been asked to see if it is possible to revive the customs partnership idea in a way that would not threaten Britain's ability to develop an independent trade policy.

There have been fears among Brexiteers that Mrs May might try to bypass the War Cabinet - which is due to meet again this week - in a bid to push through her blueprint.

But it appears she could struggle to win support from the full Cabinet.

The Sunday Telegraph said at least 12 members of the 28-strong full Cabinet opposed a customs partnership. Some sources believe the figure could be as high as 15.

What are the options on the table for a customs deal with the EU?

With time ticking away on the Brexit negotiations, the Cabinet is still at daggers drawn on the shape for future trade relations with the EU.

The government has set out two potential options for a customs system after the UK leaves the bloc.

But despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's Brexit 'War Cabinet' ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do.

Meanwhile, Brussels has dismissed both the ideas - and warned that negotiations could stall altogether unless there is progress by a key summit next month.

Despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's 'War Cabinet' (pictured in February) ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do

OPTION 1 - CUSTOMS PARTNERSHIP

Under the so-called 'hybrid model', the UK would collect EU import tariffs on behalf of Brussels.

Britain would be responsible for tracking the origin and final destination of goods coming into the country from outside the EU. The government would also have to ensure all products meet the bloc's standards.

Firms selling directly into the UK market would pay the tariff levels set by Brussels - but would then get a rebate if Britain's tariffs are lower.

Supporters of the hybrid plan in Cabinet - including Theresa May, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark - say keeping duties aligned up front would avoid the need for physical customs borders between the UK and EU.

As a result it could solve the thorny issue over creating a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Mrs May has been advised by the chief whip that the hybrid option could be the only way of securing a majority in parliament for a Brexit deal.

But Brexiteers regard the proposal as unworkable and cumbersome - and they were joined by Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamson in criticising it at a tense 'War Cabinet' meeting last week.

There are fears the experimental system will either collapse and cause chaos, or prevent the UK from being able to negotiate free trade deals around the world after Brexit.

Mrs May has instructed official to go away and revise the ideas. Eurosceptics are braced for her to bring back the plan with only 'cosmetic' changes, and try to 'peel off' Mr Javid and Mr Williamson from the core group of Brexiteers.

They are also ready for Mrs May to attempt to bypass the 'War Cabinet' altogether and put the issue before the whole Cabinet - where she has more allies.

OPTION 2 - MAXIMUM FACILITATION

Boris Johnson (left) and Liam Fox have been pushing for the 'Max Fac' customs option

The 'Max Fac' option accepts that there will be greater friction at Britain's borders with the EU.

But it would aim to minimise the issues using technology and mutual recognition.

Goods could be electronically tracked and pre-cleared by tax authorities on each side.

Shipping firms could also be given 'trusted trader' status so they can move goods freely, and only pay tariffs when they are delivered to the destination country.

Companies would also be trusted to ensure they were meeting the relevant UK and EU standards on products.

Senior ministers such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox believe this is the only workable option.

But Remain minded Tories such as Mr Clark insist it will harm trade and cost jobs in the UK.

They also warn that it will require more physical infrastructure on the Irish border - potentially breaching the Good Friday Agreement. It is far from clear whether the government would be able to force anything through parliament that implied a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The EU has dismissed the idea that 'Max Fac' could prevent checks on the Irish border as 'magical thinking'.Iran has branded President Trump 'feeble-minded' ahead of the opening of America's new embassy in Jerusalem.

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a key establishment figure, told a conference in Tehran that Trump is 'not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions'.

The United States is due to open its new embassy in Jerusalem - known as Al-Quds in Iran - later on Monday amid widespread Palestinian anger and praise from Israelis.

Ali Larijani, a prominent Iranian politician, has branded Donald Trump 'feeble-minded' for the decision move the US embassy to Jerusalem

The new embassy is due to open on Monday amid widespread protests by Palestinians and violence at the border with Israel

'America has entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously,' Larijani said.

'Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today's world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price,' Larijani said.

Iran is a key backer of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, and opposition to Israel has been a central tenet of its regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Larijani called for an 'immediate reaction' from Palestinians, Islamic countries and the international community -- including boycotts and official complaints to the United Nations.

The US 'must not think that such actions... can remain without a response,' he said.

Palestinians in Gaza have been protesting the embassy move for weeks, culminating in widespread action on Monday with a pledge to cross the Israeli border en-masse.

Palestinians in Gaza have been protesting the move at the Israeli border, prompting violent clashes which have seen dozens killed and hundreds wounded

Palestinians have been firing slingshots and burning tyres while Israel has replied with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition

Activists have thrown stones and burned tyres, while also flying incendiary kites over the border fence to burn nearby farmers' fields.

Israeli security forces have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition, leaving dozens dead and hundreds wounded.

Iran's rebuke also comes after Trump announced he would be withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions.

Trump made scrapping the deal, one of the last big foreign policy moves made by the Obama administration, a key part of his presidential campaign.

The President stuck to his promise despite lobbying efforts by key allies including French President Emmanuel Macron.David Miliband was today branded a 'wrecker who doesn't live in the UK' after he waded into British politics to calls for the UK to stay in the EU single market after Brexit.

The former Labour frontbencher, who lives in New York, returned to the frontline of British politics after five years away to call for Brexit policy to be overhauled.

He said Jeremy Corbyn risks being a 'midwife for a hard Brexit' as he made his outspoken intervention.

Speaking today, he said he is 'baffled' by the Labour leader's refusal to campaign to make the country sign up to become a member of the European Economic Area.

He joined arch Remainers Tory rebel Nicky Morgan and ex Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to mount a publicity blitz to soften Brexit.

But Kate Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall in London and a leading Brexiteer, tore into Mr Miliband over the intervention.

David Miliband (pictured right, today in Rainham, Essex) joined ex- Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and rebel Tory MP Nicky Morgan to demand close ties with the EU

The trio of Remainers will claim the Government's proposals for Brexit would 'diminish Britain's standing in the world'

She told Mail Online: 'He is out of touch with Labour leave areas and is unlikely to influence a single Leaver.

'He said nothing new and is just another one of the class of wreckers of the referendum result. Only difference he doesnt even live in the UK at the moment.

Mr Miliband held a joint press conference with Sir Nick and Mrs Morgan at a rice factory in Essex which rice producers say is under threat because of Brexit.

It is his first major intervention in British politics since he quit being an MP in 2013 after he lost the Labour leadership contest to his younger brother Ed in 2010 in a bruising campaign.

Meanwhile, at a separate even SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she remains determined to try to stay in the single market.

This would keep the UK in the single market, meaning the country may have to accept free movement rules post Brexit.

David Miliband mocked for tweeting that rice pudding is a good reason to stay in the EU The ex Labour frontbencher tweeted an image of a pout of Tilda rice pudding that he had polished off after a speech pushing for a soft Brexit David Miliband was today mocked for tweeting a picture of a pot of rice pudding and saying that it was a good reason to stay in the EU's customs union and single market. The ex Labour frontbencher tweeted an image of a pout of Tilda rice pudding that he had polished off after a speech pushing for a soft Brexit. He added the message: 'Delicious @tildarice rice pudding, finished to the last morsel. A great argument for the Customs Union and Single Market!' But critics were quick to point out that Tilda rice is grown in the Commonwealth - not the EU. While others mocked the ex MP - suggesting that a 'nice risotto' might be a better argument for staying in the EU.' While another Twitter user pointed out that Mr Miliband had cc-ed the wrong Tilda Rice into his tweet. Advertisement

Mr Miliband said: 'I am absolutely baffled why the Labour leadership is so worried about supporting the EEA I fear the position makes Jeremy Corbyn the midwife of a hard Brexit'

But critics accused the trip of trying to 'cheat' the British people out of Brexit.

Ex Brexit minister David Jones said: 'Being in the single market and the customs union means being under the jurisdiction of the European Court.

'This would be denying Brexit and attempting to cheat the British people out of what they voted for in June of 2016,'

And he also pointed out the ex Labour frontbencher moved out of the UK to New York several years ago to take up a lucrative roe as the head of a charity.

Mr Jones said: 'David Miliband is entitled to his personal opinion but he is no longer an elected representative.'

The Labour former foreign secretary also warned the UK was being 'held to ransom' by demands for a 'hard Brexit', putting security and economic prosperity at risk.

The trio of Remainers claimed the Government's proposals for Brexit would 'diminish Britain's standing in the world'. Mr Miliband, who now lives in New York, said: 'The truth is that sometimes distance lends perspective.'

He said he could see the risk 'a great tragedy would unfold of a shrunken Britain retreating into itself' at a time of 'particular global peril'.

They urged MPs and peers to seize control of Brexit from ministers and force a softer approach.

Sir Nick, the ex deputy PM, said: 'It is a subject of complete bafflement that under the guise and the wholly misleading language of free trade and Global Britain, actually Brexiteers now want to lead us to the rocks of protectionism.'

David Miliband said he is 'baffled' that Jeremy Corbyn (pictured on Saturday at a rally in London) is not arguing for the UK to become a member of the European Economic Area post Brexit

He added: 'One should never underestimate the narcissism of debate amongst Brexiteers. They think that the only negotiation that counts is the one between them.

'They don't seem to realise that the real negotiation should be between the UK and the 27 other member states.'

David Miliband left politics and the UK after losing leadership election with brother David Miliband left British politics - and the UK - after losing the Labour leadership to his younger brother Ed. David had been Tony Blair's head of policy at No10 and rapidly rose through the ministerial ranks after being elected an MP - rising to Foreign Secretary under Gordon Brown. As the older and more senior of the Miliband brothers, he was seen as the natural Labour leader in waiting when Mr Brown resigned. But Ed sent shock waves through Westminster by deciding to throw his hat in the ring and run against his older brother in 2010. While the pair publicly tried to put a brave face on the family rift, behind the scenes relations were tense. The younger of the Milibands was elected Labour leader in 2010. And three years later, in 2013, David Miliband quit as an MP and moved to New York to become the head of the International Rescue Committee charity. Advertisement

Mr Morgan indicated that she is getting ready to rebel against her leadership again and back a Lords amendment aimed at leaving open the option of remaining in the EEA.

She said: 'It is becoming clearer that Parliament will have to step up to the plate on this one because ministers have such differing and irreconcilable views.'

She added: 'If we are not going to get this deep and comprehensive free trade agreement the Prime Minister has talked about, and David Davis has talked about, then the EEA has to be a sensible way to move forward.

'The Lords was right to put it back on the agenda, I certainly will be looking at it.'

She added it was 'something I would be likely to support'.

Meanwhile, at a separate even SNP leader Ms Sturgeon said she remains determined to try to stay in the single market.

She told business leaders at News UK's Scotland Means Business event in London: 'I deeply regret the UK's decision to leave the EU and I believe the absurdity - and I believe that is the appropriate word - of the ongoing UK cabinet discussions and disputes over the post-Brexit customs arrangements strengthens one of the basic arguments that the Scottish Government together with many businesses has been making.

'That argument is that in our view the approach if the UK is determined to leave the EU is to remain within the single market and within a customs union.

'It is ... the obvious democratic compromise in a UK where 48% of voters and indeed two out of the four nations in the UK chose to remain in the EU. It is also the least damaging solution economically.'

Remainer hopes of keeping the UK in the single market were boosted today with Norway's PM Erna Solberg backing the idea.

Dispelling previous signs that Oslo did not want Britain to join its European Economic Area group, she told the Financial Times: 'We will cope very well if the Brits come in.

'It will give bargaining power on our side too. And it would ease Norway's access to the UK.'

Europhile politicians are gearing up for a last-ditch effort to water down Brexit with as the government struggles to hammer out a position on future trade arrangements.

Theresa May appears to be on the verge of defeat in Cabinet over her favoured plan for a 'customs partnership' with the EU.

But there are fears that the alternative 'Maximum Facilitation' concept will not be enough to protect business and prevent a hard Irish border.

Theresa May (pictured at church in her Maidenhead constituency yesterday with husband Philip) is facing the threat of a major escalation in the Tory civil war if she tries to force through plans for a customs partnership with the EU

The Commons will vote later this year on whether the UK should stay in a customs union with the bloc, with a dozen Tory rebels threatening to overturn Mrs May's wafer-thin majority.

A clash on single market membership is also on the cards, with Jeremy Corbyn facing pressure for scores of Labour MPs to shift his party's policy.

Mr Miliband had earlier warned that a hard Brexit which takes Britain out of the EU single market and customs union risks harming living standards in Britain.

He told the BBC's Today programme: 'The single market isn't just about the trade in goods and services, it's also about environmental regulation, it's also about employee rights, it's about a fundamental social and economic bargain and so you're right to say that this is an issue for MPs and leaders of all parties because the stakes could not be higher.'

Mr Miliband quit as an MP after losing the Labour leadership to his brother Ed in 2010.

He lives in the US where he is the 450,000-a-year head of the International Rescue Committee, an aid charity.Wildlife officers have uncovered an international smuggling ring of criminals stealing plants in California to send home to Asia where they are sold as valuable decorations.

Fish and wildlife officers were initially tipped off by a concerned women standing in line at a post office in a small town in northern California.

She was shipping dozens of boxes to China, and the caller suspected they were filled with abalone, a highly-prized shellfish listed as an endangered species.

But the responding officers soon realised the smugglers had been stripping the bluffs along the northern California coastline of Dudleya succulent plants, then shipping them to countries in Asia where they are used for decoration.

The Dudleya plant (above) is said to be highly prized in China because of its resemblance to the lotus flower

'The poachers literally fly into the US just to get these plants so they can ship them to Korea, China or Japan,' said Captain Patrick Foy, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 'They are ripping them out of the ground and selling them between $40 and $50 dollars a piece.'

The plant, which grows in bud-like circles and resembles an artichoke, is called Dudleya farinosa and is native to the rugged coastlines of Oregon and northern California.

Foy said several suspects from Asia have been arrested in recent months in connection with the heists, including two Koreans and one Chinese national who were nabbed on April 4.

The trio had entered the country as tourists and were detained as they were about to ship 1,334 of the plants overseas. An additional 1,000 Dudleya were later found in their hotel room.

Two unidentified men stand beside a load of Dudleya succulent plants, allegedly stolen by international poachers from remote cliffside locations along the northern California coast

The three men -- Tae Hun Kim, 52, and Tae Hyun Kim, 46, both of North Korea, and Liu Fengxia, 37, of China -- are scheduled to appear in a California court on May 16, charged with several felony and misdemeanor counts. If convicted, they face up to nine years in prison and steep fines.

At least two other similar cases are pending.

Foy said he believes poachers in the last year have quietly been slipping into the country, targeting remote areas along the coast and digging up 'thousands and thousands' of Dudleya before stuffing them into boxes with crumpled up newspaper and putting them in the mail.

'They go in at night or during the day... and seem to favor locations that are not well traveled -- places where you can park your car and walk half a mile and not be seen by a lot of people,' he added.

'These are people who are taking every plant that they can find and they are shipping them by the hundreds of boxes at a time.'

Authorities said they fear the plant, also known as 'bluff lettuce,' could end up on the endangered species list if the poaching continues and are warning of the detrimental effect on the environment.

'They are ripping the plants out of their habitats and they are trampling other plants while they are doing it,' said botanist Stephen McCabe, emeritus director of research at the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum.

'It's just disgusting that they are going into the wild and stripping whole cliffs.'

The Dudleya, which can continue to grow for years once potted, is said to be highly prized in China because of its resemblance to the lotus flower.

Foy said that while he understands the attraction, he was baffled as to why collectors were not simply buying similar-looking plants.

'Why these ones are so much extra special, frankly I have no idea,' he said. 'There are perfectly other nice succulent plants out there that can be purchased for five dollars at a nursery.'Advertisement

A massive 1,000ft-long new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano yesterday, hurling bursts of rock and magma into the air with an ear-piercing screech, as residents wait for a possible 'explosive eruption' at its summit.

Just hours later, another fissure opened - the 18th since May 3 - while scientists report that seismic activity remain 'elevated' at Kilauea's 4,000-feet-high summit.

Dozens of homes have been destroyed and more than 2,000 people forced to evacuate, but for many Hawaiians, the rivers of lava are a fact of life living at the mercy of the unstoppable Fire Goddess - Pele.

A massive new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes within a zone where authorities had just ordered an evacuation

The fissure, a vivid gouge of magma with steam and smoke pouring out both ends, was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3

This handout photo shows an aerial view of slow ava-flow emerging from a new fissure just over a half mile northeast of the end of Hinalo Street on Monday mornig

Pele is the goddess of fire and volcanoes and is the creator of the Islands of Hawaii in the local mythology. She is one of the most revered deities, often referred to as 'Madame Pele' or 'Tutu Pele' as a sign of respect.

'It's the idea of Pele herself giving us new land,' says Kalei Nu'uhiwa, a researcher at the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation - an indigenous Hawaiian culture organisation, told Star Advertiser.

'That's her function and sometimes it's not done in a nice form. Sometimes it's destructive and it destroys things. In the end, we benefit from it all.'

However, for some who have been forced to see their homes destroyed by Tutu Pele's rivers of lava, it may be tough to see the benefits.

Closer to the summit, in the evacuated Leilani Estates neighborhood of about 1,500 people, explosions could be heard in the distance as steam rose from cracks in the roads.

'It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound lava bombs 100 feet into the air,' said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the 17th fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.

Destruction of Pele: Volcanic gases rise from the ground in the Leilani Estates subdivision during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano

Crack in the earth: Scientists report that seismic activity remain 'elevated' at Kilauea's 4,000-feet-high summit, while thousands are made to leave their homes

Senior Airman John Linzmeier, of the Hawaii National Guard, observes a lava flow in the Leilani Estates subdivision

As seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 1,000 feet long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 4,000-foot-high volcano with a lake of lava at its summit

'It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound lava bombs 100 feet into the air,' said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order

Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, described 'spatter that is flying tens of meters into the air'

Civil Defense officials on Sunday ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter

Nearby vacation rentals were directed to cease operations to conserve water and enable emergency operations to concentrate on year-round residents

Residents of Hale Kamahina Loop Road have been ordered to evacuate the area. Smoke and steam rise from a lava flow in the Leilani Estates

Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, described 'spatter that is flying tens of meters into the air.'

The lava flow was 'sluggish,' she said. 'The situation down there remains dynamic and as we've been saying for days now the outbreaks can continue to occur both uprift and downrift of the existing fissure system, or the existing fissures could be reactivated,' Neal said in a video message from the summit of the volcano.

Civil Defense officials on Sunday ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter.

Nearby vacation rentals were directed to cease operations to conserve water and enable emergency operations to concentrate on year-round residents.

A pair of structures sat about 100 yards beneath the new fissure on the hillside.

One structure was destroyed, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, citing a spokeswoman for Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim, making it the 37th structure lost since May 3.

'We are keeping track of lava bombs. One went through the lanai (porch) roof of a neighbor's house,' Clawson said.

Neighbors sometimes douse the projectiles with water, Clawson said, adding that about eight to 10 people in the neighborhood have stayed in their homes.

Meanwhile, other fissures continued to billow smoke over homes in Pahoa, on the western point of the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian islands.

Three new fissures spewing magma have opened on Hawaii's Big Island, piling lava as high as a four-story building as the US Geological Survey warned that more outbreaks were likely

A crack in pasture land on Kilauea's east flank was the 16th recorded since the volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted eight days ago

The new fissure (pictured) opened up on Saturday about a mile east of the existing vent system that has devastated the island's Leilani Estates neighborhood, close to several homes on the edge of the field

Another fissure, the 17th since the lava flows began May 3, opened about 6pm local time, venting gases the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. Early Sunday morning, an 18th fissure was reported near Hale Kamahina Loop Road along Highway 132

This map depicts 16 of the 18 fissures that have opened up on Hawaii's Big Island so far

Three new fissures spewing magma opened Saturday on Hawaii's Big Island, piling lava as high as a four-story building as the US Geological Survey (USGS) warned that more outbreaks were likely.

A crack in pasture land on Kilauea's east flank was the 16th recorded since the volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted eight days ago.

Within hours of opening, the fissure had piled reddish-black lava about 40 feet high and at least 150 feet in length. Chunks of magma were being spewed 100 feet in the air.

Another fissure, the 17th since the lava flows began May 3, opened about 6pm local time, after which the 18th fissure was reported Sunday morning, on Hale Kamahina Loop Road along Highway 132.

Residents of Hale Kamahina Loop Road have been ordered to evacuate the area.

Video released on Saturday by the USGS shows footage of the Pu'u 'O'o crater in the eastern rift zone of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, after the crater's floor collapsed on April 30.

The floor collapsed after magma drained to the east along the east rift zone, the US Geological Survey said. The organization estimated the deepest part of the crater was 1,150 feet below the crater rim.

The collapse of the Puu Oo crater floor triggered an increase in earthquake activity and deformation along a large section of the rift zone.

Video released on Saturday by the US Geological Survey shows footage of the Pu'u 'O'o crater in the eastern rift zone of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, after the crater's floor collapsed on April 30

The floor collapsed after magma drained to the east along the east rift zone, the US Geological Survey said

The USGS estimated the deepest part of the crater was 1,150 feet below the crater rim

As the area affected by Kilauea's eruption widens, Hawaii residents are racing to buy respirators to cope with the ash and toxic gases spewing from the volcano.

David Baxter, 54, an employee of Pahoa Auto Parts, said the shop was selling out of respirators as soon as they get in and had sold about 3,000 so far. The shop was all out on Saturday.

'We pretty much bought up every (respirator) in the state, and we are selling them at cost - actually, a slight loss,' said Baxter. 'We need to breathe.'

Even as the volcano continued to erupt, Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences, a charter middle and high school in Pahoa, will resume classes on Monday after being shut for a week.

A teacher at the school, Tiffany Edwards Hunts, who lives in the Big Island's Vacationland neighborhood, said she, her husband and two children - ages 10 and six- were readying to evacuate their home.

'My husband has been doing a good job of protecting them, but it is scary for kids,' she said.

Some pets have been left behind as many residents have fled their homes, and the Hawaii Island Humane Society said it had rescued 16 dogs, three rabbits, four tortoises and four cats.

Almost all had been picked up by their owners, and 1,400 livestock and 32 horses had also been taken from the volcano zone, it said in a statement.

Following the eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, experts on the West Coast of America have warned of potential volcanic eruptions involving the 13 volcanoes forming the Pacific's 'Ring of Fire.' Pictured above, a resident talks on his phone Saturday as a lava fissure erupts in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano

Kilauea is threatening to blow its top in the coming days or weeks, after a week of sputtering lava and forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate. Above a resident is seen near the lava Saturday

A lava fissure erupts in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island, on Saturday

The US Geological Survey said a recent lowering of the lava lake at the volcano's Halemaumau crater has raised the potential for explosive eruptions

Geologists warned on Friday that a steam-driven eruption from the summit's Halemaumau crater could spew ash plumes 20,000 feet high and spread ash and debris up to 12 miles.

Kilauea's vents have been oozing relatively cool, sluggish magma left over from a similar event in 1955.

Fresher magma could now emerge behind it and the volcano is threatening to start a series of explosive eruptions, scientists have said.

Following the eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, experts on the West Coast of America warned residents of potential volcanic eruptions involving the 13 volcanoes forming the Pacific's Ring of Fire.

The West Coast is home to an 800-mile chain of 13 volcanoes, include Mount St. Helens, whose spectacular 1980 eruption in the Pacific Northwest killed dozens of people and sent volcanic ash across the country, and Mount Rainier, which towers above the Seattle metro area.

The concern over West Coast volcanic activity comes as residents in Hawaii brace themselves for a possible torrent of lava flow in the wake of Kilauea's May 3 eruption.

Kilauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, is threatening to blow its top in the coming days or weeks, after a week of sputtering lava and forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate, while destroying two dozen homes and threatening a geothermal plant.

The Pacific Ring of Fire forms a horseshoe-shaped belt bridging volcanoes in South America, North America, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand

Volcanic activity continues, as the 16th fissure erupts in a field roughly a half-mile east of the Puna Geothermal Venture facility, Hawaii on Saturday

Experts fear the volcano could hurl ash and boulders the size of refrigerators miles into the air.

'If it goes up, it will come down,' said Charles Mandeville, volcano hazards coordinator for the USGS. 'You don't want to be underneath anything that weighs 10 tons when it's coming out at 120mph.'

The last dangerous brew of magma and water in 1924, sent rocks the size of automobiles flying from the volcano.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist-in-charge Tina Neal told Reuters that the issue on Hawaii is that underground magma could burst to the surface in large, fast-moving waves of lava.

The lava flow could also bring with it higher levels of toxic gases, as well as vog  volcanic smog  than those currently being experienced on the Big Island.

Lava is currently flowing from 16 fissures on Big Island, covering more than 117 acres of land.

'What will take a turn for the worse in terms of hazard is if hotter, fresher magma makes it to the surface, and that could be what is coming,' Neal said in a conference call on Friday.

'Once a new batch of hotter, gassier magma makes it to the surface we might see larger, higher eruption rates.'

Lava erupts from a fissure east of the Leilani Estates subdivision during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii Saturday

A total of 17 fissures have opened up due to Kilauea's eruption on May 3

On the West Coast, 'There's lots of anxiety out there,' said Liz Westby, geologist at the US Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, in the shadow of Mount St. Helens.

'They see destruction, and people get nervous.'

President Donald Trump issued a presidential disaster declaration for Hawaii's Big Island Friday.

Hawaii Governor David Ige said on Friday that the declaration means federal assistance will be available as the state covers costs associated with damaged roads, public parks, schools and water pipes.

The funds, approved one day after Ige requested them, will also cover costs for geologists and security personnel at roadblocks.

As many as 50 utility poles have been damaged by the lava, and hundreds have been without power since the eruptions started.

The estimated cost to protect residents over the next 30 days is expected to exceed $2.9million, according to the governor's office.

Lava flows from Kilauea volcano have destroyed 36 structures, including 27 homes, as the state continues to suffer from declining tourism despite assurances that most of its islands remain safe.

On Friday, Hawaii County Civil Defense warned residents of lower Puna to prepare to evacuate on short notice, in the event of possible gas emissions and volcanic eruption.

Geologists said conditions are prime for a major eruption within hours or days.

Kilauea's lava lake is on track to recede to groundwater levels at any time over the weekend, triggering 'violent steam-driven blasts', according to the US Geological Survey.

The lava flow creeps across the well-groomed yard of this home on Luana Street as seen from an overflight

With lava already having oozed out on Big Island streets, experts now fear the volcano could hurl ash and boulders the size of refrigerators miles into the air

A home destroyed in the recent lava flow is seen in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii, on Friday

Center lane lines are partially visible along the lava-covered road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii

Last week, as Kilauea's magma shifted underground, a magnitude-6.9 earthquake rocked the Big Island.

Since the quake, there have been frequent aftershocks. More than a dozen fissures oozing lava have opened in the ground.

And now, scientists are warning that an explosive eruption may occur at the summit crater within weeks.

Tina Neal, the scientist-in-charge of the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, said geologists don't expect the summit eruption to be life-threatening so long as people stay out of the national park.

Volcano and other nearby communities may be showered by pea-sized fragments or dusted with nontoxic ash but they aren't expected to get hit by large boulders, she said.

There are also further potential risks where lava has been erupting 25 miles east of the crater in Leilani Estates. Scientists said the molten rock there could start moving faster if fresher, hotter magma emerges from the ground.

Neal said a chemical analysis of the lava that's erupted since last week indicated it's from magma that had been stored in the ground since a 1955 eruption. It's been sluggish and somewhat cooler as a result, she said.

But Kilauea could release hotter, faster-moving and more voluminous lava because magma has moving into the area from further up the volcano, she said.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed on Friday due to the risk of an explosive eruption. The lodge, which has 12 rooms and 4 cottages, has had a handful of cancellations since the volcano erupted.Blue Planet II fans have voiced their outrage after the hit BBC show lost out at the Baftas to a documentary about an American artist.

The Best Specialist Factual gong went to the BBC2 film Basquiat - Rage To Riches, much to the disappointment of Sir David Attenborough devotees.

Just over 380,000 watched the Basquiat documentary, compared to the 14million viewers who tuned in for the first episode of Blue Planet on BBC1.

Viewers aired their grievances on social media, with some accusing the Bafta judges of 'robbing' Blue Planet, a documentary on marine life around the world.

Blue Planet II fans have voiced their outrage after the show lost out at the Baftas to a documentary about an American artist (David Attenborough is pictured in Blue Planet II)

The Best Specialist Factual gong went to the BBC2 film Basquiat - Rage To Riches (pictured), much to the disappointment of Sir David Attenborough devotees

Viewers aired their grievances on social media, with some accusing the Bafta judges of 'robbing' Blue Planet, a documentary on marine life around the world

One fan wrote: 'Rest assured I am on the internet within minutes of Blue Planet II not winning Specialist Factual, registering my disgust throughout the world.'

Another added: 'WTF? Blue Planet II, a documentary which has literally changed almost everyone's lives loses to a documentary about Basquiat watched by no one?

'I think I'm done with the Bafta awards for the night.'

Blue Planet's blushes were saved after it was named the winner of the Must See Moment award, for the scene where a pilot whale grieves for its dead offspring.

Elsewhere on the night, up-and-coming actress Molly Windsor beat Hollywood heavyweights Claire Foy and Thandie Newton for the leading actress prize .

Just over 380,000 watched the Basquiat documentary, compared to the 14million viewers who tuned in for the first episode of Blue Planet on BBC1

Windsor, 20, triumphed for her role Three Girls, a drama about the Rochdale child sex abuse scandal, which also won the best mini-series prize at the ceremony.

Foy's co-star Vanessa Kirby triumphed in the supporting actress category for her portrayal of Princess Margaret, giving streaming service Netflix its first TV Bafta.

BBC Three comedy This Country picked up two gongs at the ceremony, with star Daisy May Cooper landing the female performance in a comedy programme prize.

ITV2 dating show Love Island scored a Bafta in the reality and constructed factual category.A mother has been charged with inciting an assault by allegedly sending her jealous ex-boyfriend an explicit sexual photograph of herself with her new man - leading to a confrontation that ended in murder.

Former law student Sarah Bramley, 29, is alleged to have sent a picture of herself performing a sex act on her new beau Michael Lawson, 34, to her former partner David Saunders, 33.

The picture 'tipped Saunders over the edge' and he crossed town to lie in wait for Mr Lawson, stabbing him to death in the street in Darlington, County Durham, last July.

Saunders was jailed for life - with a minimum term of 22 and a half years - at Teesside Crown Court last year.

Now Bramley is facing trial on incitement-related charges, after a judge ruled the explicit photo she sent to Saunders had 'a very important bearing' on his actions.

Former law student Sarah Bramley, 29, is alleged to have sent a picture of herself performing a sex act on her new beau Michael Lawson, 34, to her former partner David Saunders, 33. Pictured: Bramley and Lawson

Bramley is facing trial on incitement related charges, after a judge ruled the explicit photo she sent to Saunders had 'a very important bearing' on his actions. She was arrested by officers from Darlington CID earlier this year

Bramley was arrested by officers from Darlington CID earlier this year.

Soon after Lawson's murder she moved to Australia and was not present at Saunders' trial.

She was arrested after re-entering the UK and will now appear at Teesside Crown Court on the unusual charge of inciting an assault.

She appeared before Newton Aycliffe magistrates court on Thursday but did not enter a plea to two charges of assisting the commission of an offence.

Saunders (pictured) was jailed for life - with a minimum terms of 22 and a half years - at Teesside Crown Court last year

The first count alleges that 'between June 29 and July 2, she sent David Saunders a photograph of her with another male, advised him of the whereabouts of that other male and invited David Saunders over to assault said other male, which was capable of encouraging or assisting an indictable-only offence . . . believing that one or more of these offences would be committed'.

The second charge  covering the same dates  is similar, but says the photograph was 'capable of encouraging or assisting the commission of one or more of a number of offences of murder believing that one or more of those offences would be committed and that your act would encourage or assist the commission of one or more of them.'

Saunders started a relationship with Miss Bramley in November 2016 but they split up more than once and eventually separated in April.

The killer blamed the break-up on her relationship with Mr Lawson and after he vandalised his rival's car he was officially warned by the police to keep away.

As he sentenced car dealer Saunders in December last year, Judge Ashurst said Miss Bramley's action in sending Saunders a picture of herself performing oral sex on Mr Lawson 'tipped him over the edge.'

Soon after Lawson's murder she moved to Australia and was not present at Saunders' trial. She was arrested after re-entering the UK and will now appear herself at Teesside Crown Court on the unusual charge of inciting an assault

She appeared before Newton Aycliffe magistrates court on Thursday but did not enter a plea to two charges of assisting the commission of an offence. Pictured: Bramley and Lawson

What does inciting an assault mean and can it lead to prison? Miss Bramley was charged with inciting an assault, which is considered an inchoate crime under the Serious Crime Act 2007. Inchoate crimes include attempt to commit the crime, conspiracy to commit the crime, and solicitation to commit the crime. The charge is used when the accused has not actually carried out the offence but has taken steps to commit it, or encouraged others to carry it out. It must be proven that the defendant intended or believed the person incited would carry out the offence. Being convicted of the charge could lead to jail, depending on the severity. The defendant could receive the same maximum penalty as the substantive offence - except for murder where the mandatory life sentence is not imposed. Miss Bramley's ex-boyfriend David Saunders was jailed for life for the murder - with a minimum term of 22 and a half years - at Teesside Crown Court last year. Source: CPS Advertisement

Judge Ashurst rejected Saunders' defence that he did not intend to kill Michael and that he did not carry the kitchen knife to the scene that he used to deliver a single fatal blow to the heart in the early hours of July 1 in Geneva Road, Darlington.

Judge Ashurst said Saunders, who had drunk six cans of lager and snorted four lines of cocaine, was 'spoiling for a fight'.

He sent another message to Ms Bramley, saying: 'I'm coming over, I'm going to knock f*** out of him. Watch.'

During the hearing the court heard that after performing the sex act on Mr Lawson and sending the photograph of it to Saunders, Miss Bramley then slapped her lover and ordered him to leave the house.

She is alleged to have texted Saunders saying: 'I have just smashed the lad clean in the face because he wouldn't go home. What have I got myself involved with?'

And prosecutors will claim that she added: 'He is outside the house, feel free to smack the c***.'

Saunders admitted murder but sought to lower the minimum term he must serve by claiming he did not carry the knife to the scene and did not intend to kill Michael.

But following a two day trial of issue without a jury, Judge Ashurst found against him.

After the hearing garage worker Mr Lawson's mother Anne Satterthwaite said: 'The outcome of today ultimately changes nothing for our family. Nothing will bring Michael back or take away the pain of his loss.

'His son will always be missing his daddy.

'However we needed justice for him and though today the murderer has been brought to justice the instigator has not.

'The trial has only confirmed what we knew - Michael was an innocent victim.'A man who bashed his girlfriend and her mother to death in an ice-fuelled rampage says his 26-year jail term is 'manifestly excessive'.

On Monday, double murderer Bo Olsson requested the Court of Criminal Appeal overturn his prison term because he confessed to the crime and helped lead police to the women's bodies.

He said he had been denied the legislated 40 per cent sentencing discount which he believes he deserves, Adelaide Now reported.

A double murderer believes his 26-year jail sentence is 'manifestly excessive'

Prosecutor Lucy Boord argued that he had already received a 25.7 per cent sentencing discount and it would be at the judge's discretion to grant more.

'There are some crimes that are so inherently serious that an offender cannot get the maximum discount, and this is one of them,' she said.

'We're talking about two murders, not one, and the murders of two vulnerable women in terrible circumstances.'

Olsson killed his partner Sherril Pountney, 63, and her mother Patricia Phillips, 84 last May while high on ice in their Millicent home.

Bo Olsson (pictured) requested the Court of Criminal Appeal overturn his prison term

He bashed in Ms Pountney's skull with an iron bar, and strangled Ms Phillips.

The 54-year-old's lawyer said Olsson had handed himself in promptly before taking officers to his victims.

'The sentencing judge veered from the straight path by giving a discount of approximately 25 per cent.'

The court heard other examples where the discount had been applied but ultimately the Justice Hinton agreed that 26 years was not a 'manifestly excessive sentence'.

Olsson's appeal was refused.Theresa May made a fresh appeal last night for Iran to release a British mother jailed over spying claims.

The Prime Minister raised the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual UK nationals in a phone call with counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

She said the prisoners should be freed 'on humanitarian grounds'.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual citizen, is serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of spying charges.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, pictured with daughter Gabriella, was jailed for five years in 2016, accused of seeking to overthrow the Iranian regime

She denies the allegations and maintains she was inIran to introduce her young daughter Gabriella to her parents when she was arrested at Tehran Airport on April 3, 2016.

Downing Street said Mrs May had 'raised the issue of consular cases relating to dual nationals currently held on charges in Iran' during her call with Mr Rouhani.

She called for further progress to be made so individuals could be released on humanitarian grounds'.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of around 30 dual British national held by authorities in the country.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tried to secure the release of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe in December but his efforts appeared to have been rebuffed.

He made the diplomatic push after blundering by suggesting she had been in Iran as a journalist - raising concerns that her sentence could be doubled.

No10 said Mrs May had also discussed the future of the Iran nuclear pact, after Donald Trump withdrew US support last week.

Theresa May (pictured at church in her Maidenhead constituency yesterday with husband Philip) has raised Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case with the Iranian authorities

Mrs May made the appeal in a phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani last night

The Prime Minister told Mr Rouhani that the UK and European partners remained 'firmly committed to ensuring the Iran nuclear deal is upheld'.

'She said it is in both the UK and Iran's national security interests to maintain the deal and welcomed President Rouhani's public commitment to abide by its terms, adding that it is essential that Iran continues to meet its obligations,' a No10 spokesman said.

Mrs May urged Iran to cease military operations against Israeli forces - after tensions between the arch-enemies flared up in the wake of the US shock to the 2015 nuclear deal.

The leaders agreed to keep in touch ahead of a meeting in Brussels tomorrow with German and French foreign ministers, at which the Iran deal will be discussed.Police say a man was stabbed to death inside a college dorm Sunday night at Sonoma State University.

Another 'student-aged' man has been arrested.

Officials at the Rohnert Park, California school wouldn't say if the victim or the suspect were enrolled at the university. Sonoma State is about 45 miles north of San Francisco.

Campus police were called to the Alicante building in the Sauvignon Village residential community Sunday evening and found the man's remains just after 6pm.

After a search of the surrounding area, the suspect was taken into custody.

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A man was found stabbed to death in this residence on the Sonoma State University campus Sunday evening. Another man was taken into custody

A cellphone and water bottle were marked out as evidence on Sunday

Both the university and police declined to identify either the victim or suspect or provide any detailed information about the incident, including whether the two knew each other before or not.

'Both individuals are college-aged males,' Sonoma State University interim Police Chief David Dougherty said Sunday night. 'We do not know at this moment if they are students at Sonoma State.'

However, student residents who spoke to NBC Bay Area said they believe both the victim and suspect are students.

Student Kyle Stickels, 19, said he heard screaming Sunday night and came out of his apartment, where he came face to face with the man he believes was the killer.

Neither the victim or the suspect have been identified. School officials would not say whether either were students at the school

The Sauvignon Village community is described on the university's website as a housing option for first-time freshmen at the 9,400-student university

Student Kyle Stickels, 19 (pictured), said he heard screaming Sunday night and came out of his apartment, where he came face to face with the man he believes was the killer

'We heard some screaming and I ran outside to see what was going on, because it was obvious; no joking around, screaming.

'I looked around and there was a guy. He started walking down the stairs. And I looked at him and he came around and then I saw the right side of him. And his arm was all bloody and he was carrying a knife. And I just kind of stared at him. And he looked at me and he said, "I was attacked." And at that point, me and my friends started telling everyone to get inside,' the freshman told KPIX.

While Stickels said the man was bloody, he didn't appear injured himself.

'It wasnt his injuries. It wasnt his blood. He was moving fine,' Stickels said.

The Sauvignon Village community is described on the university's website as a housing option for first-time freshmen at the 9,400-student university.

The complex of two-story stucco buildings contains four-bedroom apartment units with shared living spaces and kitchens.

Sunday night, up to three dozen students at the apartment complex were told that they would not be able to go back to their rooms while the investigation took place. The school put them up in hotels, and offered them food from the school cafeteria. The school is also providing counseling services.

A university spokesman says there is no further risk to students and finals will begin Monday as scheduled.

The murder was the first in the school's 57-year history.Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (pictured) had thrown her hat in the ring to run in the safe Labour seat of Lewisham East after Heidi Alexander stood down to work for the London Mayor

A would-be Labour MP has withdrawn from the race to run in a by-election days after she was reportedly exposed for comparing the Palestine conflict to the Holocaust.

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, had thrown her hat in the ring to run in the safe Labour seat of Lewisham East after Heidi Alexander stood down to work for the London Mayor.

But she faced a storm of criticism after reports emerged she compared the plight of the Palestinians with that of the Jews in the 1930s - on Holocaust Memorial day last year.

According to the Guido Fawkes website, she wrote on Facebook: 'Today is the day when we remember all those affected by the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur  Im adding Palestinian to the list.'

Last night Ms Opoku-Gyimah announced she is pulling out of the selection race due to an 'unexpected family situation'.

She said this has 'forced me to reflect long and hard on whether to put myself forward for consideration to be selected as the next Labour party candidate in the Lewisham East by-election.'

She added: 'It has not been an easy or happy decision for me to not put myself forward so I askf or privacy at this time.

'I would like to thank all those who have supported my candidacy.

'I have been deeply moved and inspired by the messages and displays of support I have received over the past week.'

Ms Opoku-Gyimah, also known as Lady Phyll, is a founder of UK Black Pride and sits on the TUC's race relations committee.

Heidi Alexander (pictured with Sadiq Khan and Val Shawcross earlier this month) announced earlier this month that she is standing down as Lewisham East MP

Ms Alexander announced earlier this month that she is quitting Parliament to work for London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The MP has clashed repeatedly with Mr Corbyn and joined a walk out on his shadow cabinet in 2016. She has since been a leader in opposing Brexit from the Labour backbench.

Ms Alexander's resignation has been rumoured for weeks. She is the third MP to quit the Commons for a new job under Mr Corbyn's leadership, following Jamie Reed and Tristram Hunt.

A string of other MPs stood down at the 2017 General Election in frustration at Mr Corbyn's leadership.

In her new post she will be deputy mayor for transport at City Hall, replacing the Val Shawcross in Mr Khan's team. She is legally barred from being both MP and a deputy mayor at City Hall.A construction worker who is suffering from a brain tumour is running out of cash after being denied benefits when he returned from two years of travelling.

Curt Rimmington's family have now launched a fundraising appeal for the once 'fit and active' 25-year-old who has a grade three tumour.

He has been left unable to work when he was struck down with the illness in September 2017, and is rapidly running out of money.

Mr Rimmington, from Colchester, Essex, worked as a vehicle technician from an apprenticeship at the age of 16 until he left the country to go travelling around the world in 2014.

Mr Rimmington went travelling for two years and worked with bricklayers and in demolition in Sydney, Australia, along with time working on a banana farm in Queensland.

While travelling Curt worked with bricklayers and in demolition in Sydney, Australia, along with time working on a banana farm in Queensland.

Two years later, he returned home to Colchester, Essex, and began working in construction and fencing.

Then, in September 2017, he suffered a seizure in his sleep that would later lead towards the discovery of a brain tumour during an MRI scan in hospital.

Younger brother Jack said: 'Curt is not entitled to benefits because he was travelling outside of the country for two years even though he had paid national insurance from the age of 16 until he went travelling.

'He is living with his partner and she is having to provide for both of them and Curt does not receive any support or benefits.

'The donations that we receive will go towards their general living costs and also additional treatment.

'I can't thank those that have donated or shared our fundraising page enough.

'I have been overwhelmed with the amount of support that has been received.'

Mr Rimmington was initially told that that the tumour was not believed to be cancerous, although several seizures followed in the months after the operation and Mr Rimmington was then required to undergo open brain surgery in February of this year.

Doctors attempted to remove as much of the tumour as possible, but found that the tumour was intertwined with parts of the brain and it limited how much of the tumour could be removed.

Tests were done on the samples taken from the brain and it was found to be a grade three tumour, and is called an Anaplastic Astrocytoma.

How are brain tumours graded? Brain tumours are graded 1-4 according to their behaviour, such as the speed at which they are growing, and how likely they are to spread into other areas of the brain. The higher the number, the more serious the tumour is. Grade 1 and 2 brain tumours are non-cancerous (benign) tumours that tend to grow quite slowly. Grade 3 and 4 brain tumours are cancerous (malignant) tumours that grow more quickly and are more difficult to treat. Brain tumours are also called primary (which start in the brain) and secondary (which spread to the brain). The main treatments are surgery to remove the tumour, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or radio surgery. Source: NHS and the Brain Tumour Charity Advertisement

Just three weeks after the initial operation, Mr Rimmington soon returned to hospital for a second operation that involved his head being opened up again to remove a build up of fluid on his brain.

These operations caused much more frequent seizures, including 40 within a four-day period, which also caused him to lose control of his left arm for around a fortnight.

Even walking into a room with bright lights on would be enough to give Mr Rimmington major headaches.

He has since recovered from the operation, with the amount of seizures decreasing and he has also gained full control of his body again.

He is now due to start a six-week course of radiotherapy later this month, before six to twelve months of intense chemotherapy afterwards.

After months of worrying for Curt's health, the family have now set up a Go Fund Me page to help Curt and his girlfriend's living expenses as he is unable to work due to illness and doesn't qualify for benefits.

The fundraiser had already smashed the family's initial target of 4,000, with 4,573 raised by 133 people in just 11 days.

A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said: 'We're absolutely committed to ensuring people get the support they are entitled to. If someone disagrees with a benefits decision they can appeal.

'We would encourage Mr Rimmington or his family to contact their local jobcentre for more information on the support services we offer.'Advertisement

The weekend may have been a bit of a damp squib, but get ready for the sun to return.

Parts of Britain are set to sizzle in another mini-heatwave  while royal wedding guests will be relieved to hear 'pleasant' weather is forecast for the big day in Windsor.

Today will get up to 73F (23C), while tomorrow will bring highs of 77F (25F) in Hampshire and Sussex - and the Met Office is also predicting warm conditions for the rest of the week, with the exception of western Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Hundreds of people gathered at Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow today as temperatures went up again across the country

The week started with clear and sunny weather on Chesil Beach on the Isle of Portland in Dorset this morning

The sun shines over beach huts in the cliffs of Portland above Chesil Cove in Dorset today

People relax on the grass in front of Bath's Royal Crescent, where sunny weather persist across parts of the South West today

Tourists enjoy the warm weather while punting in Cambridge today as temperatures start to rise again

A striking meadow of wildflowers come into bloom on the Northumberland coastline near Bamburgh Castle this morning

A beautiful morning looking over Ferne House in Wiltshire today, ahead of a week that will see temperatures rise again

The spire of St John The Baptist Church pierces the dawn sky in Alnmouth on the Northumberland coast this morning

It comes after a washout weekend across most of the UK, when temperatures struggled to make 64F (18C)  a week after they hit a record 84F (29C).

There was also good news for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with forecasters claiming the 'weather gods will be smiling' on them as they walk down the aisle at St George's Chapel in Windsor on Saturday.

They are predicting it will stay mild and sunny for much of the day, which will doubtless be welcomed by the tens of thousands expected to descend on the town.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said yesterday: 'It's going to be quite a bit warmer than usual [today], with a repeat performance on Tuesday and possible highs of 77F (25C) in Hampshire.

'High pressure across the UK will produce 'home grown heat' that will warm up large parts of the country.

'It looks like it will turn warmer from the weekend of the royal wedding onwards. Warm air is expected to come up from the near continent, with warmer-than-average conditions likely for the UK as a whole.'

High pressure will be mainly in charge this week, bringing plenty of dry and warm weather, but a weak cold front will turn things fresher by mid-week pic.twitter.com/R95vMXceLB  Met Office (@metoffice) May 13, 2018 Good Morning, Mia here today for twitter enquires. Today will be dry with warm sunshine for many. Along some North Sea coasts however we could see low cloud with some fog and drizzle. This could move further inland later, with low cloud also over the far west. pic.twitter.com/OH7fYv3ISl  Met Office (@metoffice) May 14, 2018

These Met Office graphics show warmer temperatures sweeping in tomorrow (left), and the weather outlook for today (right)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured together on April 23 in London) will tie the knot at Windsor Castle this Saturday

The British weather has in the past marred major royal events. In June 2012, the Queen and Prince Philip were left shivering in pouring rain as they sailed down the Thames in a flotilla marking the monarch's Diamond Jubilee.

But Mr Burkill said: 'Saturday looks pleasant for the wedding, with dry and bright conditions most likely.' He added: 'The week ahead will see a lot of fine weather, and that is likely to continue for the royal wedding.

'Early indications are for Saturday in Windsor to be dry and bright with highs around 18C (64F), a touch above the 17C average.

'This Tuesday could see 25C (77F) in the South, before highs return to normal on Wednesday and then edge upwards again on Saturday.'

A Met Office forecaster added: 'A dry and warm theme is likely to continue into the weekend for much of England and Wales, and through the following week the South and East, though some rain is possible.

'The last few days of May could well stay dry and relatively warm in the South and East, with the potential for some very warm spells.'A Shar Pei who was dumped when she could no longer produce puppies is enjoying a second lease of life with her new owner in Britain.

Lena was used as a 'breeding machine' by her owners in Hungary, who was left to starve when she could no longer produce a litter.

By this point the poorly pet was malnourished and suffering from a number of infections.

She was taken to a kill shelter and faced a heartbreaking end to her life until the Shar Pei Rescue Scotland stepped in to help.

Lena was used as a 'breeding machine' by her owners in Hungary, who was left to starve when she could no longer produce a litter

After being dumped the poorly pet was malnourished and suffering from a number of infections

Kind-hearted members raised enough money to pull her from the shelter and into foster home.

The small charity then arranged her paperwork and she travelled 1,500 miles to Glasgow, Scotland, to begin her new life with Gina McCallum.

Lena, now around six-years-old, is almost completely unrecognisable from when she arrived in the UK 16 months ago.

She has put on weight, got over her skin issues and undergone entropion operation on her eyes so she can see properly for the first time in years.

Gina, who runs the SPRS, said: 'Lena is a beautiful dog and it is amazing how loving she is considering her appalling background.

'We were sent details and photos of her in a kill shelter in Hungary and we had to help.

Lena was taken to a kill shelter and faced a heartbreaking end to her life until the Shar Pei Rescue Scotland stepped in to help

Lena, now around six-years-old, is almost completely unrecognisable from when she arrived in the UK 16 months ago

'The poor girl had been used for litter after litter and once she couldn't produce any more puppies that was enough for them.

'She was malnourished, covered in ticks and was suffering from mange, an ear infection and needed entropion treatment on her eyes.

'These kill shelters are horrible. It's where unwanted, poorly dogs which are dumped or discovered on the street go off to die and we do our best to save them.

'Our members helped raise enough money to pull her from the shelter and place her with a foster in Hungary where she could get some rest and treatment while we arranged her safe transport to the UK.

'I've had her for 16 months now and she is a wonderful dog.'

Lena has now put on weight, got over her skin issues and undergone entropion operation on her eyes so she can see properly for the first time in years

The Shar Pei Rescue Scotland helps dog in the most desperate of situations - animals which have suffered in the UK and abroad.

They are currently in the process of saving another ill-treated female Shar Pei which is currently languishing in a Serbia kill shelter.

The rescue has named her Iona and it is thought she is about four-years-old and, like Lena, she was used as a breeding machine.

They only have until Friday to raise the initial 500 to save Iona.

Around six per cent of the puppies which are discovered by authorities sadly die and many arrive in the UK just a few weeks old, when they still need their mother.

The puppies are then sold to unsuspecting Brits who, in many cases, are left heartbroken when they find their badly bred dogs suffer multiple health issues .

The Shar Pei Rescue Scotland helps dog such as Lena (pictured) who are in the most desperate of situations - animals which have suffered in the UK and abroadJamie Witcombe, from Essex, wearing his adorable scientist outfit

A seven-year-old boy with autism was given a VIP tour of a university's science department after his classmates mocked his 'geeky' scientist outfit.

Jamie Witcombe, from Harlow in Essex, had dressed up for his school's dream job day, wearing green trousers, a shirt and a laminated ID badge. He even carried a magnifying glass.

But he came home 'deflated' after being teased by other pupils who thought his non-traditional outfit looked silly.

His mother Nicola was upset that her son might be discouraged from pursuing a career in science and posted a heartfelt message about the incident on social media.

She described how Jamie had asked her: 'Scientists wear their own clothes don't they mummy?!' and picked out his own outfit.

'He insisted he wanted a fancy "swishy" ID card so I found a Pinterest one and made it up with a swishy clip, even laminated it!' she wrote.

'He was very happy this morning. Poor little man was so deflated tonight'.

Her message was seen by a member of staff at the University of Sheffield who was 'incensed' that he had been mocked by his classmates.

A magical day of science was then arranged for Jamie at the campus to show the youngster that he shouldn't be disheartened by mean comments.

During the exciting trip he was introduced to robotics, used virtual reality to explore the human body and studied zebrafish.

Jamie said after the fun-filled day: 'Thank you for making my day and making me feel special.'

Jamie being shown around the labs at the University of Sheffield during a magical day of science on the campus

And his mother Nicola was also delighted that he had been given such a warm reception at the university.

'We were blown away by the effort that people had gone to for our little man,' she said.

'To have people take the time out from their incredibly important work to show our son what they do and to make it accessible for him was fantastic and humbling.'

Jamie in his costume (left) and the heartfelt post that his mother Nicola posted online (right) after he was teased at his school in Essex. 'Can he get a little love here?' she implored readers

She added: 'The day really showed us Jamie's ability to learn and participate in a different light and made us hopeful for his future.

'I firmly believe that if he wants it, being a scientist is within his reach.'

The university intervened after staff member Dr Lynsey Grieveson read Nicola's post online.

'I was incensed that a child had been left to feel that their idea was stupid,' she said.

Jamie enjoying his day at the University of Sheffield. A staff member was 'incensed' by his mother's social media post

'I can empathise as my own child is on the autistic spectrum and there are many additional hurdles these children face on a daily basis.

'What really annoyed me is that I was afraid the bullies had won and Jamie would no longer feel his passion for science was valid or that he could achieve in this sphere.'

She added: 'Everyone put such a huge amount of effort into making their part of the day great for Jamie and it certainly was.'

The University of Sheffield's Outreach and Widening Participation team aims to inspire budding scientists and provide a more practical approach to the subject.A man armed with guns and ammunition entered Australia's Border Force office in Melbourne in what is described as a terrifying security breach.

The 46-year-old entered the building on La Trobe Street, Docklands, about 1pm on Monday, police told Daily Mail Australia.

It is believed he damaged the bottom floor of the building before police were called.

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A man armed with guns (pictured) and ammunition entered Australia's Border Force office in Melbourne in

The 46-year-old (pictured) entered the building on La Trobe Street, Docklands, about 1pm on Monday

Police responded to reports of a trespasser who refused to leave.

The man was arrested about 1.30pm without incident, police said.

His belongings were searched and police found drug paraphernalia, two firearms and ammunition, and an Australian passport.

Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.Two wealthy Nigerians who battered a fellow student with a shisha pipe in an argument over who had the richest father have been spared jail.

Elvis Ilonze, 20, who has had his Mercedes car covered in fur, attacked his childhood friend Prince Nnaji in the flat they shared in Brighton, East Sussex.

Mr Nnaji tried to escape from the flat but Ilonze, along with his friend Daniel Oluyemi chased after him and beat him with a wine bottle on April 7 last year at about 10pm.

Elvis Ilonze (left), 20, attacked his childhood friend Prince Nnaji. Mr Nnaji tried to escape the flat but Ilonze, along with his friend Daniel Oluyemi (right), 24, chased after him

While inside the flat Louanna Rayawa, Mr Nnaji's girlfriend, tried to stop the attack, but was pushed to the ground by Elvis Ilonze.

The pair also assaulted law student Chiedozie Dibiagwu, 23, who was sitting on a chair nearby and witnessed Mr Nnaji being assaulted.

Nnaji and Ilonze had known each other from Nigeria, but when Nnaji dared to suggest that he had the richer father Ilonze decided to 'teach him a lesson'.

Ilonze and Oluyemi, 24, both pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning grevious bodily harm and were spared jail at the Old Bailey.

'Privileged' Ilonze came to the UK to study a four-year Masters of Engineering degree at the University of Sussex, and is one year away from completing his course.

His barrister Tom Hoskins said that Ilonze faces deportation back to Nigeria if he were given a sentence of more than one year in custody.

Oluyemi, who is training to become an accountant at the same university, is expecting a child in September or October.

His barrister, Johnathan Page, said that the right place for him is at home, preparing for the 'momentous occasion', not in prison.

Mr Nnaji tried to escape from the flat on this road (pictured) in Brighton, East Sussex

Judge Christine Laing QC spared the 'cosseted' pair jail, suspending a one-year custodial sentence for 18 months to give them 'one last chance'.

The judge said: 'Unlike many of the people who pass through the courts you both come from, effectively, backgrounds of privilege.

'It couldn't be more childish, effectively an insult on somebody's parents - who's got the richer dad - that started this fight.

'You both appear to be incredibly immature, perhaps as a result of being cosseted in your upbringing.'

The judge added that the pair of them, though immature, have 'much to contribute to society'.

Both Ilonze, who wore a blue suit, and Oluyemi, wearing a grey suit and glasses, thanked the judge for sparing them jail before leaving the Old Bailey dock.

Ilonze, of Hendon, and Oluyemi, of Colindale, North London, admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

They were each given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.A former Californian fugitive who fled to Australia to become a well respected 'model citizen' in his Far North Queensland community has been jailed in the U.S.

Patton Eidson, 74, also known as Peyton, will serve three years behind bars for his involvement in a major marijuana smuggling operation using an ocean-going freighter to smuggle 18,000kg loads of the drug from Thailand into the US in the 1980s.

Eidson fled to Australia with his wife Sonja and daughter Maya on fake passports in 1986 after he was released on bail in California.

They settled in Julatten in the Atherton Tablelands north of Cairns, where he and his wife ran a successful health spa retreat and became highly respected pillars of the community.

Far North Queensland health spa operator Patton Eidson led a major marijuana smuggling operation from Thailand to the US in the 1980s. He was jailed in the US last week

US officials tracked Eidson down in 2011 and Australian police sent him back to the US in 2017.

He pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute marijuana and aggravated identity theft.

Eidson appeared in a San Francisco court on Friday in a wheelchair and coughed frequently during the hearing.

Lawyer Erick Guzman Eidson suffered from a lung disease and required an oxygen tank.

Eidson apologised for what he had done and said he escaped the US to avoid tearing up his family.

Patton Eidson, pictured with wife Sonja (who died in 2016) were well respected pillars of the community in Far North Queensland

His daughter Maya was in court to support her father and wiped away tears as he spoke.

'It is not the same world as 1985 and I am not the same person I was in 1985,' he told the court.

Prosecutors called for Eidson to receive an eight-year sentence while his lawyer called for a two-year sentence.

Since the sentence was announced, there has been an outpouring of support for Eidson in the North Queensland community where he and his family called home for more than 30 years.

His wife Sonja died from cancer in 2016 and is buried on the family's property at Julatten.

'He may have been a criminal in the USA but in Julatten he was a lovable family oriented and loved the community he lived in very sad for his family,' one woman posted on the ABC Facebook page.

Another added: 'A wonderful man who did so much for the community in a Julatten. Beautiful family. Food memories.'

Federal MP Warren Entsch told the Cairns Post that Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's offer to fast-track Eidson's readmittance to Australia would still stands when he's released from prison.

He described Eidson 'an absolute model citizen' and looks forward to sharing a bottle of wine with him when he returns home.

'He is a thoroughly decent bloke,' Mr Entsch told the publication.

'We all have a past, and he is now paying a penalty for it.'

Federal MP Warren Entsch (pictured) described Patton Eidson 'an absolute model citizen'

Fellow federal MPs George Christensen and Bob Katter also previously expressed their support.

Mr Katter described the Eidsons as 'a very contributing family' in a lengthy post in on his Facebook page in 2017.

'Patton and his late wife Sonja opened up their home and pioneered the wellness industry in Far North Queensland, creating jobs for people in an area that desperately needed jobs,' Mr Katter wrote.

'Patton's daughter Maya, has one of the best restaurants in Mackay, where we're desperately short of jobs and good high class restaurants for our tourists and our locals. If you're using government resources to terrorise a well-loved, popular, respectable citizen you'd say it's a waste of resources.'Advertisement

Meghan Markle's half-sister said today her father 'staged' paparazzi photos on her say-so and insists it was all for the benefit of the royal family - not to rake in cash before the wedding.

Samantha Markle has claimed it was her idea for Thomas Markle to be photographed in a series of royal wedding shoots where he lives in Mexico - including surfing the net for pictures of the couple and apparently being measured for a suit.

But she claims that it was all to paint him - and Harry and Meghan - in a 'positive' light before, as was planned, he walked his daughter down the aisle at St George's Chapel. As it emerged yesterday, that will now not happen.

The Mail on Sunday revealed that the pictures, taken with his co-operation, will have netted up to 100,000, but Samantha insists it wasn't done for money.

She said: 'I'm entirely the culprit. I said to him to show the world "I'm getting in shape and getting healthy" so I suggested it to benefit him and the royal family'.

When asked if her father had been paid she said: 'It was not money-motivated', adding: 'I have no idea [if he was paid] but if he was it would have been a pittance. They don't pay that much.'

Samantha also revealed she last spoke to Meghan in 2015 but was struggling to understand why she and other relatives were not invited.

She told ITV's Loose Women: 'I'm not taking it personally. We wish her well', adding her disability would have have made it hard to fly to London so she will watch on TV instead.

Ms Markle also revealed she did not see Meghan marry her first husband Trevor Engelson in 2011 and said: 'No, it was an unspoken thing. For a beach wedding in Jamaica, a wheelchair would have been in the way so I didn't make a big deal'.

Samantha Markle has claimed it was her idea for Thomas Markle to be photographed in a series of royal wedding shoots to show him and the royal family in a positive light

Prince Harry and Miss Markle are likely to be embarrassed by the revelations that Mr Markle secretly posed for pictures showing him being measured for a suit

Samantha Markle said it was her idea for Thomas Markle to be photographed in a series of royal wedding shoots where he lives in Mexico.

Thomas Markle appears to have agreed to pose up for a photographer in a deal that coul dhave netted him up to $100,000, including this one in an internet cafe looking at photos of Harry and his daughter

Photographer Jeff Rayner, camera slung over his shoulder, arrives at the Omega internet cafe at 9.50am on March 27 with Thomas Markle, it emerged on Sunday

How Meghan's estranged half-siblings are continually causing her embarrassment Samantha, speaking from Florida, insists that the staging of photographs was her idea Meghan Markle's half-siblings appear intent on embarrassing their sister ahead of her big day. Samantha Markle, who is estranged from her Suits star sibling, claimed today that she had 'no hard feelings' after not being invited to the wedding on Saturday. She even suggested her wheelchair meant that she had not been considered for Meghan's two wedding, although it was 'unspoken', she said. But she has also previously called for Prince Harry to man up and accused the Queens grandson of rank hypocrisy in offering shout outs about humanitarianism while allowing Meg to ignore the Markles. Someone must point out that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes, the 53-year-old raged. Her estranged half-brother Thomas Markle Jr branded her a phoney Diana and wrote an open letter to Harry saying it's not 'too late' for him to call off the wedding. Meghan enjoys a good relationship with both her parents despite them separating as a child. The actress, 36, has previously called herself a 'daddy's girl' and spoken warmly about her father Thomas, but they have had some ups and down. Aged 18, Meghan was seen on video admitting they had fallen out. The video was taken driving around Los Angeles and shows Meghan saying: 'We're about four minutes from my dad's house. But we aren't going to go there because my dad and I aren't on the best of terms.' Meghan Markle has been publicly supportive of her father, although he has yet to meet Prince Harry. But sources claim Meghan's father has already struck up a close friendship with Prince Harry and has spoken to him regularly to discuss the couple's wedding. Harry is also believed to have called Thomas at his home in Mexico to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. Meghan's mother Doria, 61, has met Harry - at last year's Invictus Games in Toronto, when he said his future mother-in-law was an 'amazing' woman. Mr Markle is friendly with his ex-wife Doria and issued a joint statement telling of their happiness at Meghan's engagement. Advertisement

Discussing their last conversation three years ago Samantha said: 'I was concerned about my father and so I called her in Canada'.

Meghan calls her by the nickname 'Babe' and Samantha said today: 'Her last words to me were "nice to talk to you Babe, let's keep in touch".'

Their father will still give his daughter away on Saturday  despite the paparazzi revelations.

Samantha tweeted the official Kensington Palace Twitter account and said: 'The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault. The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family. We had no idea he would be taken advantage of. It was not for money'.

Last night Kensington Palace was silent about claims that Meghan Markles father had secretly collaborated to stage a series of faked photographs in the run-up to the royal wedding.

The palace refused to comment on the allegations, but it is understood there is no change to plans for Mr Markle to walk the bride down the aisle of St Georges Chapel on Saturday.

Both Prince Harry and Miss Markle however, are likely to be embarrassed by the revelations that Mr Markle secretly posed for pictures showing him being measured for his wedding suit and browsing articles about his daughter and the Queens grandson in an internet cafe.

Yesterday The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Markle, 73, an award-winning former Hollywood lighting director who now lives a reclusive life in Mexico, had worked with US-based photographer, Jeff Rayner, to set up the lucrative photo deal.

It is not known whether Mr Markle was paid for his involvement.

The disclosure came after warnings to the media from Kensington Palace about alleged harassment by photographers of both Miss Markles parents.

Privately there was some concern last night over Mr Markles ability to cope with the pressure of this weeks royal wedding.

It is understood that he has long struggled to handle the immense global interest in his daughters romance.

And he is said to be feeling significant stress about this weeks events, which will see him travel to the UK, take tea with the Queen and meet up with Meghans mother, his ex-wife Doria Ragland.

Thomas Markle Junior, who shares the same father as the former actress, hit out at his sibling for failing to invite himself and other relatives to next months royal wedding, claiming she had turned her back on them in her quest for fame.

Thomas Markle Junior, 51, is 15 years older than his famous half-sister and lives in Grants Pass, Oregon.

He is the product of his fathers first marriage to Roslyn Markle, who was married to him for seven years before he met Meghans mother, Doria Ragland.

When news of her romance with the fifth in line to the throne broke in autumn 2016, Markle Junior was fiercely protective of his half-sister, whom he hasnt seen since 2011, in the face of vitriolic attacks from their sibling Samantha.

Samantha branded Miss Markle as the real princess pushy [a reference to the nickname given to the sometimes imperious Princess Michael of Kent, who is married to the Queens cousin].

She also accused her of failing to support their father who had been forced to file for bankruptcy after years as a successful Hollywood lighting director.

Markle Junior claims - somewhat ironically, many might think, give the litany of family feuds - that his sisters relationship with Harry has left an irrevocable rift between many of her relatives.

Samantha Markle, pictured with her famous half-sister in 2008, has said it's her fault their father agreed to appear in staged photos on the eve of the royal wedding

Thomas Markle's son (left), Thomas Jr (right), has said his father plans to apologise to Meghan Markle for the stunt that has left him and his family 'deeply embarrassed'

More damagingly, he has also accused Miss Markle, 36, of portraying a false image of herself and trying to reinvent herself as the new Princess Diana.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: Meg likes to portray herself as a humanitarian, a peoples person and a charitable person but she is none of those things to her family.

She is giving the greatest performance of her life. She is acting phoney. Once she got into Hollywood she turned into a different person. Shes clearly forgotten her roots and her family.

Theres a whole different side to her that has started to surface and its ugly to see.

Ive read that Meg wants to be like Diana. Diana was worshipped by everyone in the world. She was loved for the right reasons.

Thats what Meg wants to happen, but I dont think its going to happen. Shes not genuine like Diana. Markle Junior, a father-of-two who was last year arrested after a domestic incident with his fiancee, which saw him accused of drunkenly pulling a gun on her, has not spoken to Miss Markle for seven years but says he still would have expected an invitation to her wedding.

He seizes on the fact that 600 guests have been invited to attend the wedding at St Georges Chapel in May 19, and a further 2,500 member of the public to watch proceedings from the Windsor Castle grounds.

Shes forgotten her flesh and blood, he told the newspaper.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry on Saturday, May 19, in Windsor

Harry and Meghan will stay at separate 1,500-a-night hotels before the wedding with the bride-to-be at former stately home linked to the Profumo affair and Prince in a 5-star owned by the Sultan of Brunei

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will spend the night before their wedding at separate luxury hotels close to Windsor Castle in rooms costing up to 1,500-a-night, it was revealed today.

Prince Harry will stay at the luxurious Coworth Park in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on Friday, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei's Dorchester hotel group.

The venue is a 15 minute drive from St George's Chapel and Prince William will also stay the night to support his brother, Kensington Palace has said, but is not known if Kate and their three children will also be there.

The duke and prince play regularly on Coworth Park's world class polo grounds, which are managed by Guards Polo Club, and last year Meghan watched her then boyfriend play on the pitch.

Meghan will stay at Cliveden House Hotel, on the National Trust's Cliveden Estate, with her mother Doria, where rooms including the aptly named Prince of Wales suite can cost 1,500-a-night.

Cliveden famously hosted the 1961 summer party where John Profumo would meet Christine Keeler and launch the affair that almost destroyed Harold Macmillan's Tory government.

Its gardens still has the same outdoor pool where Christine was sunbathing when the Secretary of State for War first saw her - and it is still known as 'The Profumo Pool'.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry on May 19 in Windsor but will stay apart on the night before

Prince Harry will stay at the Dorchester Collection's Coworth Park in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on Friday, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei

Meghan will stay at Cliveden House Hotel, on the National Trust's Cliveden Estate, with her mother Doria. It was owned by Lord Astor and his family until it was bought by investors in 2012

She will then make the 25 minute journey to Windsor.

The Cliveden House website describes how the hotel has hosted 'powerful personalities, debaucherous parties and scandalous affairs' for more than 350 years.

It was built in 1666 by the 2nd Duke of Buckingham as a gift to his mistress.

The privately owned Grade 1 listed stately home is surrounded by 376 acres of National Trust grounds

Coworth Park in Ascot describes itself as the 'scenic route to five-star bliss,' so it would appear Harry could be having a sedate night before his wedding.

The hotel's website adds: 'Coworth Park offers idyllic relaxation in many guises, from a rural detox to an indulgent, romantic escape.

'Here you'll find an experience to refresh every sense within our welcoming oasis of calm.'

The accommodation once featured in the popular TV talent show X Factor, and William and Harry are likely to know the hotel well as the royal brothers play on its polo grounds every year.

Judge Cheryl Cole, who was joined by Will.i.am from Black Eye Peas, was filmed at the 70-bed hotel when selecting the females to go through to the live finals in 2010.

The duke and prince play regularly on Coworth Park's world class polo grounds, which are managed by Guards Polo Club, and last year Meghan watched her then boyfriend play on the pitch.

Meghan will stay at Cliveden House Hotel, on the National Trust's Cliveden Estate, with her mother Doria

Cliveden proudly describes how the hotel has hosted 'powerful personalities, debaucherous parties and scandalous affairs' for more than 350 years

Its grand grounds includes the outdoor pool where Profumo met Keeler and started a brief affair that cost him his reputation and career

Cliveden House hotel in Taplow, Berkshire, can cost 445-a-night for a Club Room like this one but suites cost 1,500

Prince William will also stay the night to support his brother, Kensington Palace has said. It is not known if his wife and children will stay over at the hotel they often play polo at with friends

As Harry's love affair with Meghan emerged the prince was seen kissing her between parked cars surrounding a polo pitch

Coworth Park in Sunningdale, Berkshire, is owned by the Sultan of Brunei and is considered one the world's most luxurious hotels

Harry and his brother will enjoy sumptuously furnished bedrooms like this on the night before walking down the aisle

The Conservatory at Restaurant Coworth Park could be used by Harry, family and friends to host a private dinner on Friday

Coworth Park in Ascot describes itself as the 'scenic route to five-star bliss,' so it would appear Harry could be having a sedate night before his wedding, perhaps in its 'Barn' dining room

Today it emerged the couple will will attend a garden party marking the Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration - just days after their wedding - delaying their honeymoon.

Harry and Ms Markle will join Charles and Camilla at the event on Tuesday May 22 at Buckingham Palace.

Clarence House said: 'The event will celebrate The Prince of Wales' Patronages and Military affiliations as well as others involved in charities supported by The Prince.'

A number of cadets and emergency services personnel who were first responders after the bombing at the Manchester Arena on May 22 2017 will also attend the garden party.

It will be Harry and Ms Markle's first official engagement as a married couple.

The couple spent their final weekend together before the big day at a hideaway cottage in the Cotswolds.

The pair hunkered down at the four-bedroom lodge, which is nestled in a wooded areas of the north Oxfordshire countryside.

Refurbishments have been made to make the leased-out love nest fit for purpose, with motion alarms and cameras set up in the surrounding area.

It is believed that Meghan, 36, is a particular fan of the secret retreat and the picturesque views the couple can see from the kitchen's large window.

A source told The Sun: 'The run-up to the wedding has been quite stressful for them and they just wanted to get away and relax before the big day.

'They like to escape to the country for the weekend and the cottage is just perfect for them.

'It's very private, has a vast open-plan kitchen and dining area for Meghan to cook in and lots of large windows for the stunning views.'

Standing room only! Meghan and Harrys wedding feast will NOT be a seated affair as its revealed trendy bowl food will be served as guests mingle

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday  but have plumped for trendy bowl food instead.

Their 600 guests will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served seasonal mini main courses, made by the Queens kitchen staff and presented to them by liveried waiters and waitresses.

Bowl food has become a popular choice for business events because it is more sociable, allowing guests to mingle and network while eating.

However, it is a somewhat more surprising choice for a royal wedding.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday  but have plumped for trendy bowl food instead

The Royal Kitchen at Windsor Castle has begun preparations for the wedding banquet

Pictured the Royal Palaces Head chef Mark Flanagan (right) and the Royal Palaces Pastry chef Selwyn Stoby (left)

Still, Harry and Meghan hope that it will make the occasion less fussy and allow them to move around the room greeting as many guests as possible.

Guests will also feast on canapes during the lunchtime reception, which will last around two and a half hours and includes speeches and cutting of the cake. Each morsel has been crafted to be consumed in just two delicate bites.

The Queen is officially hosting the event and Buckingham Palace staff revealed that the menu would comprise classic dishes made from seasonal British produce, much from the monarchs own estates.

Harry and his bride-to-be have tasted and selected their wedding reception menu.

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen, which dates from the reign of the 14th century monarch Edward III.

It is believed to be the oldest working kitchen in the country, having served more than 30 monarchs.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan is leading the 30-strong catering team and said: The day of the wedding has fallen very kindly for us.

All the British vegetables are just coming into season... and thats been a point of focus for us.

'We know the couple wanted us to make sure we used all of the local seasonal produce as much as possible throughout their menu, and this recent good weather is really helping us to achieve that.

He added the couple have been involved in every detail.

Meghan is a keen foodie who used to run her own lifestyle website, which featured her favourite recipes and restaurants. She also shares a love of organic produce with her future father-in-law, Prince Charles.

Mr Flanagan would not discuss the dishes in detail but produce such as asparagus, peas and tomatoes are in season, providing a wealth of options for the chef, who has worked with some of the worlds best, including Michel and Albert Roux.

He added: Theres no experimentation on Saturday whatsoever, tried and tested and predominantly classics. Over the next few days staff will start washing and peeling vegetables, so they can save time for presentation, Mr Flanagan said.

A separate dinner for 200 is being held at Frogmore House by the Prince of Wales later in the evening.Ken Livingstone today threatened to sue Labour if they expel him for saying Hitler supported Zionism.

The former London mayor insisted his remarks were 'historical fact' and the only people who should be kicked out of the party were those who had 'smeared' him.

The defiant stance came after Baroness Chakrabarti said Mr Livingstone had brought shame upon the party and 'aggravated' the situation by repeating offensive views.

Mr Livingstone is currently suspended from Labour, and risked fuelling the spat earlier this month by insisting that Zionists 'collaborated' with Hitler

Shadow attorney general Lady Chakrabarti said no 'rational' person could conclude that Mr Livingstone still belonged in Labour after the row - which has been running for two years.

The former MP was originally let off with a suspension, but disciplinary action resumed after he made further comments on the subject.

Appearing on TalkRadio this morning, Mr Livingstone claimed Lady Chakarabarti might be condemning him because she mistakenly thought he had said 'Hitler was a Zionist' rather than 'Hitler supported Zionism'.

He told presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer: 'Basically I have been retired for the best part of the last six years.

What are the anti-Semitic incidents in Labour that have reached a crisis under Corbyn's watch? Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural in 2012, questioning why the offensive art should be removed

He was a member of a Facebook group which was awash with anti-Semitic rhetoric, and he has described anti-Semitic groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as 'our friends'

The Labour leader stood by when a speaker disrupted the launch of his party's anti-Semitism policy by accusing a Jewish MP of colluding with the press

Labour has still failed to expel former London mayor Ken Livingstone, two years after he claimed Hitler supported Zionism. He has still not apologised

Delegates at last year's Labour conference complained of a 'witch hunt' against anti-Semitism and heard from a speaker who said it was legitimate to question the Holocaust

The problem is so rife in the party the Jewish Labour Movement has had to hold training sessions for party members on how not to be anti-Semitic

Labour members and councillors have shared disgusting messages and images on Facebook describing Jewish people of controlling world capitalism and being to blame for the policies of the Israeli government

The party is failing to deal with a huge backlog of complaints and has failed to expel people even though they have committed offences such as referring to Jewish people as Yids

Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has dismissed anti-Semitism claims as 'mood music' spread by Blairites.

Labour's new general secretary Jennie Formby was accused of recruiting a party member suspended for saying Hitler was a Zionist god. Advertisement

'And the reason, well one reason I wasn't expelled, I made it absolutely clear, if I am expelled I go to court and you haven't got a chance of winning a court case in which you expel someone for stating historical fact but you don't expel those Labour MPs who then lie and say I said Hitler was a Zionist.'

Lady Chakrabarti said yesterday that Mr Livingstone had repeated opinions that had caused the 'deepest hurt and upset and embarrassment to the party'.

'I don't believe that Ken Livingstone can any longer be in the Labour Party,' she told the BBC's Sunday Politics.

'We can't run away from the fact that he has repeated really, really incendiary remarks.

'To compare somebody who was trying to escape Nazis with Nazis themselves, and to do so again, and again, and again and again, even when you know that this has caused the deepest hurt and upset and embarrassment to the party, is completely unacceptable in my view.'

The shadow attorney general, who produced a report into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party which some Jewish groups branded a whitewash, added: 'I find it very difficult, very difficult now to see how any rational decision maker could allow Mr Livingstone to stay in our party.

'He has brought it repeatedly into disrepute. He has brought shame upon it, and his own legacy.

'And we need to apologise to Jewish members, supporters and voters for the insult, the incendiary remarks equating people trying to escape Nazis with Nazis themselves.'

For many years Mr Livingstone was a close friend and ally of fellow left-winger Jeremy Corbyn - although relations have been strained since the Hitler row.

Tory MP Andrew Percy said: 'Ken Livingstone continues to tour the airwaves repeating disgusting anti-Semitic slurs and yet the Labour party do nothing.

'Two years on from his suspension, it's frankly a disgrace that the Labour party leadership haven't had the backbone to expel Ken Livingstone. The truth is the Labour party just does not take anti-Semitic racism seriously enough.'

Speaking on Sky News earlier this month, Mr Livingstone admitted that the row over his remarks could have been 'damaging' to Labour - but only because of 'smears' that he had stated Hitler 'was a Zionist'.

He insisted it was a historical fact that there was a 'deal done' between the Nazis and Zionists in the 1930s.

Hitler had wanted to eject Jews from Germany, and Zionists wanted to set up a state in Palestine, he said.

'They collaborated,' Mr Livingstone said. 'They didn't like each other but they collaborated to do that.'

Asked whether his insistence on linking Hitler to Jewish nationalists had contributed to Labour's failure to gain in places like Barnet, Mr Livingstone said: 'If anybody believes I said Hitler was a Zionist, yes.

'That has been very damaging.'This is the incredible moment a grey nurse shark creeps up and devours its prey just metres from the shores of a popular Australian beach.

The footage was captured by photographer Daniel Kirkman at Something Visual and was taken at Main Beach in Forster, NSW on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Kirkman told Daily Mail Australia that the unlucky fish which was eaten up by the shark was a remora.

'The remora got separated from the Nurse Shark after it had charged through the school of mullet,' he said.

To actually capture a shark in hunting mode and be successful at it in ankle deep water was mind blowing. I couldve reached out and touched it.

Remora are the little fish that travel under sharks, whales and sting rays.

They are known as 'cleaners' because they usually attach themselves to larger marine animals for protection and feeds on materials dropped by the host.

Mr Kirkman said: 'The hilarious part about that is the fact that instead of feasting on the school of mullet it had been harassing, it chose to turn on the fish that keeps its hygiene up to scratch.'

'The hilarious part about that is the fact that instead of feasting on the school of mullet it had been harassing, it chose to turn on the fish that keeps its hygiene up to scratch,' Photographer Daniel Kirkman told Daily Mail Australia

What are remora? Remora are the little fish that travel under a host fish like sharks, whales and sting rays Remoras are also called suckerfish

They attach to the body, in the mouth or gill cavity

Remoras rarely swim freely on their own

They are mainly found in warmer waters in Australia

It's because they use their sucking disk to attach themselves to marine hosts such as sharks, stingrays, whales and dolphins Source: Fishes of Australia Advertisement

The photographer said he stood and watched the shark for more than 20 minutes before he noticed the remora swimming on it's own.

'I walked down to the shoreline to try and capture the remora on camera as you rarely see them from land like you do with sharks. Little did I know it would end up as lunch at my toes.'

Mr Kirkman said it's rare to find a shark in hunting mode so close to the beach's shoreline.

'To actually capture a shark in hunting mode and be successful at it in ankle deep water was mind blowing. I couldve reached out and touched it.'

When he's not out taking photographs, Mr Kirkman spends a lot of time in the water as a surfer and diver.

While sharks are on his mind when he's out in the surf, he said he still has a lot of admiration for the animals.

'Ive always loved sharks. I just love documenting them with the underwater camera in their natural environment doing what they do.

'Im a surfer and diver and it does play on my mind a bit but thats an issue I need to come to terms with as I definitely believe theyve got a real purpose in being treated with admiration and respect.'

This is the incredible moment a grey nurse shark (pictured) creeps up and devours a remora just metres from the shores of a popular Australian beachA convicted paedophile worked with vulnerable children for almost two years while awaiting trial for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy.

David Walker, 64, was convicted of abusing two boys aged nine and 11 in 1981 but was still allowed to work at a community centre in Adelaide.

In 2015, he was arrested for assaulting another boy and was granted bail as long as he didn't go near anyone under 18.

Walker was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after Judge Paul Muscat ruled in the SA District Court (pictured) he was likely to offend again

But he lied to his bosses about the bail conditions, claiming his trail was for offending against an adult, and continued to work at the centre.

He looked after several young teenagers and children in that time - even taking a 13-year-old boy out for lunch.

He was only sacked when arrested for breaching bail in July last year.

Hetty Johnstone, founder of child advocate group Bravehearts, called for a change to the system which assumes sex offenders tell employers the truth about their past.

'Why on earth would you trust a sex offender?' Ms Johnstone told The Advertiser.

'Why would you expect them to them to be doing the right thing?

'These are people who are compulsive, they cannot help themselves. It's about as obvious as the nose on your face that these people are dangerous.'

Walker was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after Judge Paul Muscat ruled he was likely to offend again.The mother of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has spoken of the alleged drug baron's humble beginnings in a mud shack in a mountain village in the 1960s.

Consuelo Loera, 88, now lives in a sprawling compound surrounded by armed guards, courtesy of her son, but reveals the family struggled when Guzman was young.

Mrs Loera describes her now-incarcerated son as a hard worker from an early age, telling TIME he 'always fought for a better life, even as a small boy.'

Different views: Consuelo Loera, 88, describes her son - alleged Mexican cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman - as a hard working boy who had to sell oranges to help feed the family

As Guzman faces anything but a 'better life' ahead of his trial in September, Mrs Loera speaks of his childhood growing up with ten siblings in a small hut with neither running water nor electricity.

She says: 'They were difficult times. We longed for something better.'

As a young boy, Guzman had to help put food on the table by started selling oranges to local villagers and farmers.

But by the age of 15, he had moved on from oranges to growing his own opium poppies, and within a few decades he is said to have reached the top of the infamous Sinaloa drugs cartel.

Guzman is accused of running a massive cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine trafficking operation, fueling a decade-long drug war in Mexico in which more than 100,000 people have died.

'Drugs baron': El Chapo is accused of heading up the infamous Mexican Sinaloa drugs cartel, a criminal empire accused of drugs trafficking which fuelled a deadly drugs war

But despite his alleged direct and indirect links to thousands of deaths, to his mother, his relatives and many others in the Sierra Madre mountain villages, Guzman is a hero.

'He is a leader, a hero for many people here, because he started from below, very poor, a peasant, and he helps people,' Baldomar Caceres, a former teacher from a village near the one where Guzman grew up, tells TIME.

'He builds roads where there is only dirt. He pays for the hospital treatment of the sick.'

The 61-year-old has been held in solitary confinement in a Manhattan jail since his extradition from Mexico in January 2017.

He had previously been charged in New York for a dozen murders in Mexico from 2000 to 2008.

Those charges were dropped to smooth the path for Guzman's extradition from Mexico, which occurred on the final day of the Obama administration.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. The trial is set to begin in September.Dangerous asbestos has been dumped in a business car park for the third time in a fortnight.

Thirty staff at Coleman Group called triple zero when they discovered a pile of dangerous material at 8am in Sydney's West.

Fire crews attended the scene to keep hazardous materials out of the air and ensure workers and nearby residents were protected.

A truck with no number plates was caught on security cameras entering the business at 7.45pm on Sunday night.

Scroll down for video

Dangerous asbestos (pictured) has been dumped in a business car park for the third time in a fortnight

If caught, the culprit would need to pay fines of up to $250,000, but for now onus is on the signage company target to pay.

Coleman Group chief executive Rod Peter told Nine News he was quoted $17,000 to pay for the asbestos dumped a week ago, and expects this damage bill to be higher.

'I don't know how they (the culprit) sleeps at night,' he said.

Thirty staff called triple zero when they discovered the pile of dangerous material at Coleman Group in Strathfield in Sydney's west

Drew Wilson from NSW Fire and Rescue told 7 News he suspected someone had dumped the rubbish to avoid paying for disposal.

'I can only assume its because of location - there's hardly any houses around, so the businesses would be closed over the weekend and the night time,' he said.

'So it would be an attractive place for someone to do something like that.'

Drew Wilson from NSW Fire and Rescue told 7 News he suspected someone had dumped the rubbish to avoid paying for disposal

Nearby resident Renuka Siva described the situation as 'very scary' in an interview with Nine News.

'My son has severe allergies and he's anaphylaxic,' she said.

'Obviously I need to be careful with this asbestos and things like this.'Pizza lovers were left cheesed off after queuing for up to an hour at a festival which promised unlimited slices of their favourite food.

Organised of the much-vaunted 16-a-head event in the upmarket Notting Hill area of London claimed there would be a 'pizza for every palate' at the Porchester Hall on Saturday.

But the festival descended into farce when the event's main oven blew up, meaning the hundreds of foodies who had paid to get in went hungry.

Foodies were left furious after a 16-a-head pizza festival which promised unlimited slices ran out of food, leading to long queues

Organised of the much-vaunted 16-a-head event in the upmarket Notting Hill area of London claimed there would be a 'pizza for every palate' at the Porchester Hall on Saturday

Angry attendees compared the long queues to the Soviet Union, while others complained at being repeatedly offered the same vegetarian pizza.

Pictures of the event posted online showed long lines of angry customers, empty trays where pizza should have been and unappetising clumps of dough and cheese.

Alex White wrote: 'This Notting Hill "unlimited" pizza festival is a disaster. Been here one hour, queued for 50 mins, managed to get 1 slice of pizza so far. Joke.'

Ralph Ankele added: 'Just returned from a disappointing Notting Hill Pizza Festival organized by @bellmontelife. Where was the promised "unlimited pizza"? Had to wait close to 1 hour to get 1 tiny slice.'

This picture from the twitter feed of Tim Swabey shows the an all-you-can-eat pizza festival with no pizza

Those attending the event were left furious after long waits and little food

Lee Cooke tweeted: 'Notting Hill Pizza Festival has been the worst pizza festival ever... avoid at all costs unless you enjoy bad school disco's and queuing over half an hour for a slice of pizza... unlimited? I think not. All I see is empty metal trays!'

And Lorenzo Giuntini posted: 'Waited 40mins for a tiny slice of pizza served on a napkin. All cheese got stuck onto the paper and I tasted just the dough.

'Really bad organisation. 3 times got offered the same vegetarian one so left the event with just one slice of pizza. I should not have definitely come'.

The event's organisers, Bellmonte Life, said it apologised to those who went to the event and was offering refunds.

But a spokesman partly blamed those with 'overzealous appetites' for the problems.

The event promised 'a pizza for every palate'. Organisers blamed people over-eating for the problems

The event was held in Notting Hill's Porchester Hall, which has hosted a number of top artists

The spokesman said: 'It was expected to be a festival experience featuring Italian beer, Prosecco, wine, cocktails, live music, entertainment and of course unlimited pizza.

'We had flown in professional pizzaiolos from Italy who prepared pizzas from raw ingredients to guarantee an authentic Italian experience.

'Due to circumstances beyond our control, the main pizza oven broke down right at the beginning of the event.

'Despite the best efforts of our team preparing the pizzas in the smaller ovens, the flow of pizzas was slower than intended. In contrast to claims that there were not enough pizzas, this was not the case.

'Our team was hard at work to ensure that everyone was able to sample pizzas. However, it was unfortunate that the queues grew due to some overzealous appetites, preventing others to be able to enjoy the food.

'As soon as it became clear that the pizzas were not reaching everyone, we dispatched 2,000 worth of complimentary glasses of champagne, prosecco and wine to the festival goers for the inconvenience.'Authorities say police in Maryland shot and killed an armed suspect at a fast-food restaurant.

The Prince George's County Police Department said that the unnamed man was killed while officers were responding to an alarm at a Checkers restaurant in Clinton, Maryland, early Monday morning.

Police said that the suspect, described only as being in his 20s, was seen inside the restaurant at the safe at about 3.40am and a drive-thru window was observed.

Police responding to an alarm at a Maryland Checkers shot and killed a man who was allegedly seen inside the restaurant near the safe

The officer-involved shooting took place at around 3.40am on Monday. The suspect apparently refused to surrender and was shot once when he attempted to escape

Officers then formed a perimeter around the restaurant.

When police told the man inside the Checkers to surrender, he exited through a side door with a weapon in hand, at which point one officer discharged his weapon at the suspect.

The suspect was struck once, police said.

Officers provided immediate assistance to the victim, but he died at a hospital, according to WJLA.

A gun, screwdriver and a spent bullet casing from the suspect's weapon were said to have been found near the site where the suspect died. Authorities were unclear as to when exactly the shooting victim fired his gun, however.

Police said this gun, belonging to the shooting victim, was recovered near his body

Authorities believe that the Checkers shooting victim was previously involved in a burglary at a nearby Popeyes and are examining surveillance video

Police said the shooting was captured by the dashcam on the scene's supervising officer's police cruiser, as well as by the surveillance cameras of businesses next to the Checkers, WTOP reported.

Authorities said that they are currently reviewing the footage and intend to release the dashcam video at a later date.

No officers were injured during the shooting.

Authorities believe that the shooting victim might have been involved in a burglary at a Popeyes restaurant near the Checkers, NBC Washington reported.

Investigators are still examining the Popeyes robbery surveillance footage.

The name of the victim will be released once his relatives are notified.Brenda Ackerman, 71, of Worcester, traced her family tree back to the 12th century

A grandmother who claims to be the Queen's 11th cousin once removed is facing being deported back to South Africa after she was refused a visa to live in Britain.

Brenda Ackerman, 71, traced her family tree back to the 12th century which revealed her to be a distant relative of King John, James I and Robert the Bruce.

Mrs Ackerman, who lives with her daughter Candice Gordon, 45, in Worcester, was born in South Africa but fled in 2006 with her husband Brian after suffering a string of burglaries.

They moved to Dubai to be with their daughter, before finally settling in the UK in 2013 following the death of Mrs Ackerman's husband Brian.

Last February, Mrs Ackerman applied for a long-term visa but it was turned down, despite her suffering from a pulmonary embolism and being in failing health.

Her daughter has been granted permission to remain in the UK but the widow has been told she will be deported unless she returns to South Africa voluntarily.

Mrs Ackerman said: 'My descendants were British. In the refusal notice they (the Home Office) said I should go back to South Africa because I know the culture there, and speak the language.

'But I know the culture and speak the language better in Britain than I do in South Africa. The thought of being all alone in South Africa, it is unthinkable.

Mrs Ackerman lives with her daughter Candice Gordon (pictured together), 45, in Worcester

'Every time I hear a car outside, or see a police car I think they are coming for me.'

Her daughter Candice said: 'My mum has had two knee replacements and is often unsteady on her feet and has had a few falls which obviously concerns us.

'She certainly would not be a burden to the British public, we have shown to the Home Office that we can care for her.

What are the eligibility requirements for 'leave to remain' in Britain? Permanent residence in Britain is known as 'indefinite leave to remain'. One of the requirements for applicants is that they have been a resident of Britain for at least five years before the date of their application. They may not have spent more than 900 days outside the UK in the last five years, nor 180 days in the last year. Tier 2 visa holders must earn at least 35,000 per year at the time of their application to meet the requirements. Those who have held leave to remain status for at least one year can then apply for British citizenship, but must not have spent more than 90 days outside of the UK for the five years before their application. Advertisement

'Mum's father fought for King and Crown in the First World War - does that hold no value or worth? It was humiliating for her to wait in line amongst people convicted of crimes to sign a bail release.

'Her home is where her family is, and we are here. To us the Home Office has shown that mum is nothing more than a disposable commodity.'

According to online genealogists Geni.com, Mrs Ackerman is the Queen's 11th cousin once removed  whileone of her ancestors was William Cavendish, the 4th Duke of Devonshire, and nominal Prime Minister in 1756.

Before she retired, Mrs Ackerman worked at a vet's practice in Brakpan, near Johannesburg. Her late husband worked as an engineer before he died in 2012 aged 70.

The couple's only child, Ms Gordon, was forced to give up her job running a coffee shop in Worcester, to care full time for her ailing mother.

The mother-of-two said: 'The Home Office rejected my mother's application due to the immigration guidelines - I've read them and I don't see how she doesn't meet them.

'The Home Office believe she would be a drain on the taxpayer. But we have shown them evidence that we have enough money to look after her ourselves.

Distant relations? Mrs Ackerman claims to be the Queen's 11th cousin once removed

'Their response to that was that we could then afford to take care of her from South Africa. She isn't a financial burden on anyone.

'My husband and my children are UK citizens, whereas I'm on a leave to remain visa which is soon to be revised. We applied for a dependant visa for my mother but they said she wasn't applicable for it.

'When the first application was rejected in 2014, she was then sent a letter of bail and ordered to report to a local police station to sign a bail release form.

The family have written to Home Secretary Sajid Javid appealing for his help

'My worry has been that whenever she has to sign this bail form they have the power to detain and deport her. Every time she goes to sign it, she always says goodbye to us thinking she might not come back - it's mentally horrible.

'My parents moved from South Africa to live with us in Dubai because of repeated burglaries - they left with zero possessions.

'I had no option, I didn't want them to go back - I'm an only child so if something happened to them I would never know.

'They lived with for eight years in Dubai but in 2012 my father died suddenly due to an abdominal aneurysm. We moved back to the UK after my husband was made redundant in 2013 - we've been her for five years so my mother has been living with us for a total of 13 years.

'She has nothing to go back to in South Africa, we have no family there except one cousin who we've never really talked to.

'All the stress and mental side of it has caused us further issues, my children have grown up with their grandmother threated to be ripped away from them.

'The last application we put it was in April this year and we had submitted new evidence such as our mental health and my mother's health.

'She now suffers from depression and had a pulmonary embolism and two knee replacements, which she now falls over quite often - so if she had a horrible fall and I wasn't around who would help her.

Every time I hear a car outside, or see a police car I think they are coming for me Brenda Ackerman

'The response we got back from the Home Office was that we didn't put anything new in this application - which is far from the truth.

'We are not asking for any recourse or handouts from the Government - we don't expect anything from anyone, we just want fairness for my mother.

'It so sad, a family unit isn't just one generation of a family - I want my kids to grow up with their grandmother.

'My mother is a strong person and hides her emotion, but it has taken a toll on her, I've noticed her crying at night. She sometimes looks lost and vacant because she doesn't know if going - she has an empty future.

'I studied genealogy for over 20 years, it's a hobby for me - I wanted my children to know where they came from. That is when I found out my mother is Queen Elizabeth's 11th cousin once removed.

'I was shocked to see how relatively close the relation is. It makes it even more upsetting at how badly my mum has been treated.'

The family have written to Home Secretary Sajid Javid appealing for his help, and immigration barrister Jan Doerfel has launched a judicial review.

He said: 'The decision shows once again that it is not the computer who says no or that there is an oversight when it comes to decisions on individual cases but that the whole decision making is geared towards refusal, irrespective of the consequences.'

Home Office rules state that if a person arrives in the UK with leave as a visitor, they are required to leave the UK and re-apply for entry clearance from abroad.

The spokesman said: 'While in the UK as a visitor, Mrs Ackerman applied for leave to remain on the basis of her family, private life.

'This application was refused as it did not meet the requirements of the immigration rules, a decision which was backed up by an independent immigration judge.'Passengers will soon have to go through CT X-Ray scanners (pictured) for domestic flights as well as international ones

Domestic flight passengers will soon have to go through full-body scanners in a $300million security beef up to stop terrorists armed with 'gels and noxious gases'.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said new measures will include updating scanners and providing extra police officers at airports.

Mr Dutton said that passengers will soon have to go through CT X-Ray scanners for domestic flights as well as international ones - raising the prospect of longer travel times.

'That will happen because we're worried about gels, we're worried about noxious gases, we're worried about all sorts of things which potentially don't get picked up,' he told 3aw.

Asked if every passenger will go through the scanners, he said: 'Once the technology is updated, yes that will be the case.'

Mr Dutton said the new X-Ray scanners will have a greater capacity to pick up devices such as ceramic knives that may be used to harm people on flights.

He claimed that the technology will help 'move people quicker through the airport' but radio host Tom Elliot remained sceptical, sharing his experience of long queues while waiting to go through the scanners in the US.

Peter Dutton (pictured) has revealed a $300million package to improve airport security will focus on stopping terrorists taking 'gels and noxious gases' on planes

Mr Dutton said the new X-Ray scanners will have a greater capacity to pick up devices such as ceramic knives that may be used to harm people on flights

The beef-up comes after police last year caught four would-be terrorists in Sydney before they planned to blow up a plane with an improvised bomb.

The Australian federal police commissioner, Andrew Colvin, said at the time: 'Terrorists are becoming very ingenious about ways to defeat our security mechanisms.

'Australia has some of the best, if not the best airport security arrangements in the world and we're confident those measures are effective, and would have been effective, in this circumstance.'A Sydney Uber driver has been charged with indecent assault after allegedly following a young passenger into her home late at night and attacking her.

Police say the 21-year-old woman hired the ride sharing car with a male friend just before 1am on Sunday at a fast food restaurant in Kingsford.

After her companion was dropped off, the 27-year-old driver allegedly made inappropriate comments to her.

A Sydney Uber driver has been charged with indecent assault after allegedly following a young passenger into her home late at night and attacking her

It's alleged he then reached over and indecently assaulted her as they arrived at her Hillsdale home before following her into her unit complex and touching her again.

Police say the woman was able to escape uninjured and raise the alarm.

The man was arrested at a home in North Sydney about 10am on Monday and charged with with two counts of committing an act of indecency and two of common assault.

He was granted bail to appear at Manly Local Court on Thursday May 31.Ecuador's foreign minister has hinted that Julian Assange's time in the country's London embassy could be coming to a close.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa said that Ecuador and the United Kingdom both want the situation to be 'resolved' and are working together to form a 'definite agreement'.

Espinosa made the remark as she updated reporters on Assange's condition last week, saying he is still inside the embassy without access to the internet after it was cut off in March.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa, foreign minister of Ecuador, has said she is working with the UK and a 'team of lawyers' to 'resolve' Julian Assange's stay in the London embassy

In remarks quoted by Spanish news agency Agencia EFE, she said Ecuador was in 'constant communication' with the United Kingdom and a 'team of lawyers'.

'We are looking for an exit, but that exit has to be framed within the international law of human rights,' she said.

The Wikileaks founder has been holed up in the Knightsbridge embassy since 2012 following attempt to extradite him to Sweden amid rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assange, who helped leak of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables that year, denied the claims and said they were politically motivated.

Swedish prosecutors have since dropped their investigation into allegations against Assange, but he fears he will be extradited to the United States if he leaves.

Assange took up residence in the Kensington embassy in 2012 by claiming political asylum amid allegations he sexually assaulted and raped women in Sweden

He also believes that there is a sealed indictment ordering his arrest.

London's Metropolitan Police, who spent millions guarding the embassy during Assange's stay, say he is still wanted on a charge of failing to surrender to a court.

A United Nations panel concluded in 2016 that Mr Assange was under arbitrary detention.

While Ecuador was initially happy to grant Assange political asylum, the government has since said his stay is 'untenable'.

Last year, the 46-year-old Australian also angered Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno by tweeting support for Catalan separatists.Meghan McCain has had enough of insults lobbed at her statesman father, who is recovering from brain cancer surgery.

The daughter of Sen. John McCain clobbered Kumail Nanjiani on Monday after the comic actor lumped the ailing senator in with Republican politicians whom Hollywood scriptwriters often depict as insensitive and bigoted.

The McCain family is hoping for a public apology from White House communications aide Kelly Sadler, who said last Thursday that Sen. McCain's opposition to President Donald Trump's pick to lead the CIA is irrelevant because 'he's dying anyway.'

'The View' co-host Meghan McCain (right) defended her statesman father Sen. John McCain (left) Monday on Twitter

Actor-comedian Kumail Nanjian had suggested the ailing senator was slow to defend racial minorities, something Meghan McCain blasted with contrary video evidence

Nanjiani was reacting to calls for an apology from a White House aide who said the senator's anti-Trump positions were irrelevant because 'he's dying anyway'

After Nanjiani suggested John McCain was slow to defend racial minorities, the ailing senator's daughter blasted back with contrary video evidence

'What was said about McCain was vile,' Nanjiani tweeted, 'but I wish the McCains [sic] had been as offended and vocal when vile stuff was said about other people/races/nationalities. Perhaps we wouldnt be in this moment right now.'

Kelly Sadler, White House Director of Surrogates and Coalitions, drew widespread scorn for her remark about Sen. McCain but her neither lost her job nor publicly apologized

Meghan, a co-host on 'The View,' fired back with an October 2008 video clip showing her father arguing with a woman at a town hall event who criticized his then-rival Barack Obama for being 'an Arab.'

'You mean like he did here?' Ms. McCain asked Nanjiani, pointing to the video.

'I could give you literally thousands of examples of my father speaking up against bigotry of all kinds but this video sums it up pretty concisely.'

'You know nothing about my family or my father Kumail, nothing,' she vented.

Forty-year-old Nanjain, a stand-up comic and co-star of HBO's 'Silicon Valley, is Pakistani-American.

The video clip, shot in Lakeview, Minnesota a month before Obama's landmark victory, begins with an unidentified woman taking a microphone to declare: 'I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not, he's a  he's an Arab.'

'No ma'am,' the senator shoots back. 'He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreement with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about. He's not.'

McCain's audience applauds him.

Sen. McCain is a Vietnam War veteran who spent years undergoing torture at the hands of the North Vietamese

Meghan has become one of her father's most public and pointed defenders at a time when the senator is facing his political swan-song and many fear he will soon pass away

After dozens of Twitter users peppered him with videos of the exchange, Nanjiani insisted: 'This is one example. Years ago.'

Others reminded him of the senator's stern pushback when then-candidate Trump attacked Latino federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, saying he couldn't be counted on to rule fairly because of his Mexican heritage.

''Judge Curiel is what the American Dream is all about  we should celebrate the fact that our nation produces people like him, not attack them,' McCain wrote at the time.

CNN commentator Ana Navarro, typically a brusque rhetorical barker, rallied to McCain's side hours later.

'@SenJohnMcCains youngest daughter, adopted by him & Cindy, is from Bangladesh,' Navarro tweeted. 'His daughter-in-law is African-American. 1 of his best friends, Ever Alvarez, 1 of longest held POWs, was Mexican-American.'

'He doesnt judge ppl by skin color & has vocally confronted racial bigotry.'

The Arizona senator defended a Mexican-American judge in 2016 after then-candidate Donald Trump said he couldn't necessarily issue impartial rulings because of his heritage

The perpetually angry CNN commentator Ana Navarro dialed back her intensity to support the McCain family as tolerant and inclusive

The Trump administration has declined to apologize to Sen. McCain for Sadler's slight, which was promptly leaked by one of her colleagues.

But White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Friday that the aide still has her job.

An administration official told DailyMail.com on Sunday that it's unlikely the White House will try to rebuild the bridge Trump burned when he began his campaign by claiming McCain wasn't a legitimate war hero because 'he got captured' in North Vietnam.

The official said that if Sadler apologizes, 'the president will be under siege with demands for his own apology  and that's just not going to happen.'Two teenagers have suffered 'serious injuries' after they were stabbed outside a Cambridge University college.

Police have arrested two 15-year-old boys over the knife attacks on the 13 and 16-year-old male victims.

Both were taken to hospital after the attack yesterday opposite Christ's College before later being discharged.

The two 15-year-old are still in police custody today after being arrested on suspicion of assault causing grievous bodily harm.

The two 15-year-old are still in police custody today after being arrested on suspicion of assault causing grievous bodily harm following that attack in Cambridge city centre

Christ's College, founded in 1437, counts Charles Darwin and Rowan Williams amongst its alumni

A view of the scene of the stabbing near Cambridge University's Christ's College, in the city centre

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said that the police were called around 7.40pm 'with reports of violence' on a street opposite Christ's College.

A cordon remains in place at the scene while investigations continue.

The Labour MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, described the stabbings as 'shocking'.

He told the BBC: 'It is not something that is common in Cambridge and I hope that it remains that way.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said that the police were called around 7.40pm 'with reports of violence' on a street opposite Christ's College

Police have arrested two 15-year-old boys over the knife attacks on the 13 and 16-year-old male victims on Sidney Street (pictured) opposite Christ's College

'The growing trends in knife and violent crime is a real concern for communities across the country.'

Christ's College, founded in 1437, counts Charles Darwin and Rowan Williams amongst its alumni.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101.This is the moment members of public run for their lives when a building collapses at the wrong direction during demolition works in south-west China.

Footage shows an eight-storey building mistakenly topples onto pedestrian streets and hits a digger nearby.

It's said the building was planned to fall on the other side. There were no casualties reported in regard of the incident.

A few members of public stood close at a site to see a building being demolished in China

The incident took place in Nanning of Guangxi Autonomous Region on May 11, according to Star Channel.

As onlookers gathered behind a warning tape near the building to witness the demolition, the plan went wrong as the building collapsed towards the pedestrians.

Mobile phone footage captured a few onlookers running as the high-rise building tumbled and buried in a mist of dust and sand.

There were no details of the construction company disclosed yet as police started investigating into details.

No workers or onlookers were injured in the incident.Meghan Markle is related to a Victorian-era murderer suspected of being Jack the Ripper, according to claims aired in a new documentary.

Markle is said to be distant relative of Dr H.H. Holmes, a man dubbed 'America's first serial killer', who some suspect may have carried out the Whitechapel murders.

The claims are made by another of H.H. Holmes' descendants, US lawyer Jeff Mudgett, who has led investigations into the killer.

Meghan Markle is a distant relative of Dr H.H. Holmes, an American serial killer some believe could be Whitechapel murderer Jack the Ripper

Holmes killed his victims at his 'murder trap' hotel in Englewood near Chicago. He admitted to killing 27 people, though some suspect he was to blame for 200 deaths.

Mr Mudgett, who is Holmes' great, great, great grandson, says handwriting analysis and details from the investigation into the Ripper suggest Holmes carried out the infamous murders during a trip to London.

Ancestral studies carried out by Mr Mudgett now suggest Meghan Markle is also related to the serial killer.

Mr Mudgett told the Channel 4 documentary Meet The Markles: 'We did a study with the FBI and CIA and Scotland Yard regarding handwriting analysis.

'It turns out [Holmes] was Jack the Ripper. This means Meghan is related to Jack the Ripper.'

He said of the Markle link: 'I don't think the Queen knows. I am not proud he is my ancestor. Meghan won't be either.'

The claim was made by US lawyer Jeff Mudgett, who has spent years investigating his family's history and possible links to the Ripper killings

Those who believe Holmes could be the Ripper point out the similarities between him and sketches of suspects from the time

Meet The Markles, which will be aired 10pm tomorrow, sees presenter Amelia Dimoldenberg track down a number of Meghan's relatives.

According to Channel 4, she meets the man who was Meghan's first kiss, goes to a cannabis trade fair with Meghan's nephew and eats alligator nuggets in Florida with another relative.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: 'The show is humorous and warm in tone and all of the people Amelia meets give their own opinion about their connection to Meghan.'Safaa Boular, 18, is accused of plotting to launch ISIS-inspired terror attacks in Britain

A teenage girl accused of plotting to launch ISIS-inspired terror attacks at London landmarks fantasised about killing Barack Obama in online chats with her jihadi fiance, a court heard today.

Safaa Boular, 18, was arrested as she planned a suicide attack on the British Museum using guns and grenades after being trained online by Naweed Hussain, a British Pakistani who joined Islamic State in Syria in June 2015, it is claimed.

Hussain sent her images of a personalised Kalashnikov assault rifle he dubbed 'our klash', bragging it was '1 of a kind', along with two grenades and a handgun.

When her ploy to travel to Syria and marry Hussain - with whom she bonded over a mutual love of TV game show Deal Or No Deal - was thwarted last April, she urged her older sister, Rizlaine, 22, to 'carry the torch forward' in her place, it is alleged.

Rizlaine and her mother, Mina Dich, 43, went on a reconnaissance trip scouting major landmarks around Westminster, the Old Bailey heard.

The pair purchased a packet of knives and a rucksack on April 26 in preparation for an attack near the Palace of Westminster codenamed the 'Mad Hatter's Tea Party', it is claimed.

Today, jurors were taken through downloads from one of the phones seized from Boular when she returned to the UK from a holiday in Morocco in August 2016.

Hussain sent images of a personalised Kalashnikov assault rifle (pictured) along with two grenades and a handgun

Boular was arrested as she allegedly planned an attack on the British Museum in London (file)

Anti-terror police were able to see that the teenager installed chat applications like WhatsApp and the encrypted Telegram along with anti-spy applications to guard against surveillance.

Images uncovered on the device included a child wearing a headband bearing the IS logo wearing a suicide vest and holding a gun, a black glove with the same logo making the terror group's upward-pointing salute and others depicting the beheadings of men clad in orange jumpsuits synonymous with the organisation.

On 16 August, Boular and Hussain talked about getting married, having twins and the money he was sending to her sister Rizlaine in order to bankroll her travel to Syria.

'U wil b getting a lot of money insha'Allah*..' he pledged, adding: 'U sister is jus receiving envelope afta envelope.'

Safaa Boular (left), Rizlaine Boular (top) are pictured with their mother Mina Dich (right)

Whilst discussing her living in a safe house when she arrived, Hussain warned her 'belts are a must', referring to wearing a suicide belt to use if threatened by non-believers.

'Don't eva b hesitant 2 pull da pin ok,' he instructed. 'Ur honour is worth more than any kaafirs life.'

Boular then asked if 'the pin make me go' followed by an image of an explosion.

Hussain replied 'yes straight away' before counting down from five and laughing.

'When ur teaching me how to use it in sha Allah Don't actually pull the pin k,' the teenager joked back.

Reassuring her that it would be 'very easy', Hussain told her they would 'depart 2 world holdin hands' and take others with them in a terror attack.

The teenager asked 'is it us' versus an image of former US president Mr Obama, prompting Hussain to call him a 'filthy kalb', or dog.

Safaa Boular (left) is pictured above in a court sketch at the Old Bailey in London on May 10

Referring to the former President, he asked her: 'How will y kill him. If u had da choice.'

Boular claimed she would 'shake my hand with Mr president' accompanied by two images of explosions.

They went on to talk about the possibility of dying together as martyrs for their joint cause. Boular told Hussain she wanted to reach paradise through death 'so bad'.

The jihadi promised the pair would 'go forth one day' or she would 'fulfil her role' as a martyr and a wife who would 'raise lions'.

Hussain dubbed the Kalashnikov 'our klash', bragging it was '1 of a kind'

Jurors heard the couple bonded over their mutual love of TV gameshows including Deal Or No Deal and The Chase.

During a Telegram conversation two days later, on 18 August, their discussions included what were doing, what they were eating and even setting Rizlaine up with a husband.

In one exchange, the topic turned to the classic Channel 4 gameshow, prompting Hussain to declare it was 'a sik game'.

He told Boular his 'mum's rule' in the house was 'Deal Or No Deal followed by The Chase' and laughed.

'My mum loves The Chase,' replied Boular, in reference to Dich, who has admitted assisting her sister Rizlaine in preparing for a knife attack around the Palace of Westminster.

'I remember I used to watch some celebrity couples show. I can't remember the name. Then straight after we'd watch Family Fortunes.'

In other messages, Hussain sent a heart emoji to tell her he loved her, told his 'princess' Boular she was 'shexy' and sent smiley face emojis with love heart eyes.

The teenager told him 'I love you too', jurors heard.

Hussain also sent an image of him and an executed 'spy' who had been 'stabbed in da heart'. Boular later joked: 'U Daesh Are psychos.'

Boular, of Lambeth, South London, denies two counts of engaging in preparation for terrorist acts.

Her sister Rizlaine, of Clerkenwell, Central London, has already admitted planning an attack in Westminster, allegedly involving knives and with the help and support of their mother, Dich. The trial continues.Theresa May was accused of rolling out the red carpet for Turkeys controversial president last night, as she prepared for trade talks in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister will hold talks with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Number 10 today (Tue), amid criticism that she is playing host to a tyrant.

President Erdogan, who is accused of stifling dissent in Turkey is also expected to meet the Queen during a lavish three-day visit which got underway yesterday.

Downing Street last night insisted that Mrs May would not shy away from confronting Mr Erdogan over human rights abuses by his increasingly authoritarian regime.

Prime Minister Theresa May steps out at Number 10 to greet the President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela

Prince Charles met with the Turkish President, whose visit has been marred with protests by Kurdish supporters and human rights campaigners

But critics questioned why he had been granted the honour of an audience with the Queen during the middle of an election campaign in which he is seeking to tighten his grip on power.

According to Amnesty International, more than 50,000 people remain in pre-trial detention following a failed coup in 2016, with a similar number released on bail. Those detained include more than 100 journalists and nine Kurdish MPs.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable accused ministers of rolling out the red carpet for a man with a disregard for human rights, who is responsible for alarming repression and violence.

He added: The government must stand with the Turkish people and use this visit to speak out against Erdogans unacceptable disregard for liberal democratic values.

Former Labour minister David Lammy said the prospect of todays visit made him feel sick to my stomach.

He added: He is a dictator and tyrant who locks up journalists, has installed a regime of brutal repression and torture and is butchering the Kurds.

Protesters railed against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan today as he continued his visit to the UK with a speech at Chatham House

Mr Erdogan delivered a speech at Chatham House today (pictured) and is due to hold talks with Theresa May tomorrow

Downing Street said Turkey was a valued partner. As well as being a Nato ally, Turkey is seen as a vital partner in the fight against Islamist terrorism and illegal immigration into Europe.

Ministers also believe Brexit provides an opportunity to deepen trade links with Turkey. Trade between Turkey and Britain is worth about 11.8 billion and has been rising since 2010.

But the PMs official spokesman said Mrs May would urge President Erdogan to improve Turkeys human rights record when the two leaders hold talks today.

Our close relationship with Turkey allows us to have frank discussions, he said. You can expect the Prime Minister to raise human rights during talks.

Pro-Erdogan demonstrators were on the streets as well today facing off against critics of the Turkish government

We want Turkey to uphold its international obligations including respect for freedom of expression and political freedoms.

Tomorrow is also an opportunity for the UK and Turkey to build on our close co-operation on counter-terrorism, immigration, regional stability, trade and other vital areas.

The Erdogan regime remains grateful to the UK for its show of support in the immediate wake of the failed 2016 coup.

Speaking ahead of todays talks, President Erdogan described the UK as a strategic ally and said he was keen to deepen links after Brexit.

He said: The co-operation we have with the UK is well beyond any mechanism that we established with other partners.

The UK is a strategic ally that we find valuable and reliable. We are ready to co-operate more with the UK post-Brexit in every field.

There was a heavy police presence for Mr Erdogan's speech at the Chatham House think-tank in London todayNorth Korea will never completely give up its nuclear weapons, a top defector has said ahead of Kim Jong Un's summit with Donald Trump next month.

Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in 2016, said the Korean leader will never commit to 'a sincere and complete disarmament'.

'In the end, North Korea will remain a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state,' Thae told the South's Newsis news agency.

Thae Yong-ho (pictured) fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in 2016

He believes North Korea will remain a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state

The defector made his remarks while promoting his new memoir, which went on sale today

His remarks come ahead of an unprecedented summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12 where North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes are expected to dominate the agenda.

North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation at a summit last month.

Pyongyang announced at the weekend it will destroy its only known nuclear test site next week.

But it has not made public what concessions it is offering.

The US has told North Korea that is must start shipping nuclear weapons, fissile material and some of its long-range missiles out of the country within a couple of months

There are some reports that suggest the North Korean regime is resisting requests that it destroy all its nuclear weapons data and send an estimated 10,000 nuclear scientists abroad

Washington is seeking the 'complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation' of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Pyongyang has said it does not need nuclear weapons if the security of its regime is guaranteed.

But Thae, one of the highest ranking officials to have defected in recent years, said: 'North Korea will argue that the process of nuclear disarmament will lead to the collapse of North Korea and oppose CVID.'

'The North wanted to ensure Kim's absolute power and its model of hereditary succession', he added.

Washington's demand was delivered to North Korea ahead of the summit meeting in Singapore between Kim and Trump. The US says sanctions will remain in place until the North complies

'It would oppose intrusive inspections as they would be viewed as a process of breaking down Kim Jong Un's absolute power in front of the eyes of ordinary North Koreans and elites.'

At a party meeting last month when Kim promised no more nuclear or missile tests, he called its arsenal 'a powerful treasured sword for defending peace'.

'Giving it up soon after Kim Jong Un himself labelled it the 'treasured sword for defending peace' and a firm guarantee for the future? It can never happen,' Thae said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) said North Korea could reap financial rewards if Kim Jong-un was willing to fully dismantle his nuclear weapons programme

In his memoir that went on sale on Monday, Thae added: 'More people should realise that North Korea is desperately clinging to its nuclear programme more than anything.'

Tensions in Korea had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others.

Trump last year threatened the North with 'fire and fury'.

But since the Winter Olympics in the South, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting.

Failing to destroy the accumulated knowledge would permit the North to carry out further research in secret and resume a nuclear weapons programme at short notice

North Korea's sudden change in attitude was probably driven by the mounting international sanctions imposed over its weapons programmes that had begun to take a toll on the livelihoods of ordinary citizens, Thae said.

As of last year the UN Security Council sanctions included measures on sectors such as coal, fish, textiles and overseas workers.

'North Korea did not foresee the destructive power of these sanctions,' said Thae.

'These sanctions are threatening the livelihoods of millions of North Koreans at the root.'

But Pyongyang had a long history of making overtures that ultimately came to nothing, he warned.Donald Trump rededicated the United States' to its alliance with Israel on Monday as the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem officially opened.

Trump in a video address said that the U.S. will 'always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace' while honoring the nation and the city it claims as its capital as a 'testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people.'

'We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors,' Trump said in a video address. 'May there be peace.'

Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence were there see the realization of their campaign promise that they would relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Pence is headlining a celebratory event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, instead.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both White House advisers, were part of a delegation of senior officials that included Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that made the trip.

WELCOME: Ivanka Trump officially declares the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem open for business on Monday with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin at her side

Ivanka Trump, in an official welcome told attendees: 'On behalf of the 45th President on [sic] the United States of America, we welcome you officially and for the first time to the Embassy of the United States here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Thank you'

Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy

Jared Kushner in rare public remarks thanked his wife for her hard work. He also said, 'The U S is ready to support a peace agreement in every way that we can'

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump , both White House advisers, were part of a delegation of senior officials attending the embassy opening

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that made the trip to Israel for the opening but neither the president nor the vice president did

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem

(L-R) Sara Netanyahu, her husband Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, White House senior advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Chairman and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation Sheldon Adelson, and other guests attend the opening ceremony at the US consulate that will act as the new US embassy in the Jewish neighborhood of Arnona

Ivanka Trump, in an official welcome, after her father's video address, told attendees: 'On behalf of the 45th President on [sic] the United States of America, we welcome you officially and for the first time to the Embassy of the United States here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Thank you.'

She joined Mnuchin in unveiling the embassy seal and plaque commemorating her father's involvement in the occasion.



Kushner delivered a rare speech at the embassy opening, as well, in some of his most lengthy public remarks since joining his father-in-law's administration.

Acknowledging his wife in his remarks, he said, 'Ivanka, thank you for all the great work you do to help so many people in our country and throughout the world -- including me, so I love you.'

'I am so proud to be here today in Jerusalem, the eternal heart of the Jewish people, and I am especially honored to be here today as a representative of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,' he said.

Highlighting Trump's decision last week to leave the Iran nuclear agreement and the pledge he fulfilled in moving the embassy, Kushner said, 'While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy, once in office this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.'

'The United States is prepared to support a peace agreement in every way that we can,' he told the audience. 'We believe that it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give.'

Kushner said the U.S. 'recognizes the sensitivity' around Jerusalem, home to three religions, including Islam.

'While the challenges to peace are numerous, I have personally seen that the determination of the leaders throughout the region and throughout the world remains steadfast,' Trump's chief peace negotiator said.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, gave a nod to the White House official in a speech afterward, saying to the crowd, 'I want to especially welcome Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Your presence here today is a testament to the importance of this occasion.'

'President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history,' he said, in forceful remarks. 'Today, the embassy of the most powerful nation on earth, our greatest ally, the United States of America, today its embassy opened here.'

Netanyahu firmly declared: 'We are in Jerusalem, and we are here to stay.'

'Thank you, President Trump, for having the courage to keep your promises.'

President Trump said earlier on Monday that it would be 'a great day for Israel' as the U.S. embassy prepared to open in Jerusalem.

'The United States remains fully committed to precipitating a lasting peace agreement,' he said in a video address.

He steered clear of the controversy over the relocation of the embassy, while noting, 'We continue to support the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, including at the Temple Mount.'

Embassy staff prepare the stage ahead of the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ivanka Trump embrace at a reception welcoming the US delegation

A US delegation in Jerusalem includes Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides. She posted a picture of the couple on Twitter with Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara as she thanked the Israeli Prime Minister for his hospitality at a welcome reception

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - part of a Washington delegation - posted a photo of himself on Twitter with a plaque dedicating a square outside the new US embassy in Jerusalem

The U.S. delegation had arrived Sunday evening in Jerusalem to mass protests over the foreign policy shift.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in clashes and hundreds have been injured in the demonstrations that have drawn an estimated 35,000 people.

The Palestinians consider East Jerusalem the capital of their territory and the nation state they would like the international community to recognize.

Upon the arrival of the U.S. delegation on Sunday, the president's daughter and son-in-law, both Jewish, received a blessing from Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.

'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' Ivanka wrote in a tweet after landing.

The embassy opening coincides with the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

Trump in December announced that he would follow through on the pledge to move the embassy that U.S. presidential candidates have repeatedly made and then reneged on.

The Republican president said he would 'move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem' in keeping with a decades-old U.S. mandating the relocation.

Presidents have typically signed a waiver every six months to skirt the requirement. Trump signed it his first year in office.

After a process that was expected to take up to four years, the U.S. said it would outfit a consulate in Jerusalem as an embassy while a new one is constructed.

The US is set to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem later today after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis. Israeli snipers killed a Palestinian man as protests got underway this morning. Pictured: A protester running past burning tyres

A protester screams in agony as he is picked up by fellow Palestinians during deadly clashes along the Gaza border today. The death toll continued to climb this morning as anger mounted over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem

Flashpoint: Thousands of Palestinians have gathered for protests against the US embassy opening today. Crowds are seen sprinting away from tear gas during a clash with Israeli security forces east of Jabalia near the Gaza border

The announcement and the opening of the temporary embassy sparked chaos in Jerusalem, which the Israelis and Palestinians both claim as a holy site.

Still, the Trump administration says it is still charging ahead with a plan to bring peace to the region. A U.S. official told the Washington Free Beacon in advance of the embassy opening that the White House intends to unveil the deal that Trump's son-in-law has taken a lead role in putting together in the coming months.

'We've been working hard and want to give the plan the best chance for success,' a senior official told the publication. 'We want to get a lasting deal that is livable for both parties.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was not on the trip and has been the point person for the Trump's upcoming summit with North Korea, said the Middle East peace process is 'is most decidedly not dead,' in spite of the unrest that boiled over on Sunday.

'Were hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well,' he said.

Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton said the administration believes the embassy move will enhance the peace process because it's a recognition of reality.

'I think it will make it easier. It's a recognition of reality. If you're not prepared to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that's where the American embassy should be, then you're operating on a completely different wavelength,' Bolton said.

Kushner likewise said in his speech on Monday at the embassy: 'When there is peace in this region, we will look back upon this day and remember that the journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth.'

'I believe peace is within reach, if we dare to believe that the future can be different from the past, that we are not condemned to relieve history, and that the way things were is not how they must forever be,' he said. 'It will not be an easy road, and it will be filled with difficult moments and tough decisions, but if we dream big and we lead with courage, we can change the trajectory for millions from hopeless to boundless.'

J Street, a liberal advocacy group pursuing Middle East peace, said the Trump administration had hurt the prospects of a deal with the embassy relocation in a scathing Monday statement called it a 'victory for the far-right agenda of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu  but not for the long-term interests of Israelis, Palestinians or the United States.'

'This move has only undermined the prospects for peace, exacerbated tensions and undercut US standing as an effective mediator,' J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said. 'This isn't policy - it's pandering to a narrow political base.'

The largest Jewish lobbying organization in the U.S., AIPAC, which has supported the move, noted that it was approved by Congress 1995 in a sweeping vote. It prodded other countries to follow the United States' lead.

'America was the first nation to recognize the independence of the Jewish state, and it is particularly appropriate that our country is once again taking the initiative to strengthen our relationship with Israel and its standing in the world. We urge other nations to follow the Unites States' lead and also locate their embassies in Israels capital,' it said.Cincinnati's mayor says the city failed in its response to two 911 calls from a 16-year-old boy who was crushed to death in the back of his SUV.

Mayor John Cranley apologized at a meeting Monday about Kyle Plush's death by saying the city should and must do better in the future.

He made the frank admission as police revealed the findings of their investigation into how the response on April 10 was handled and detailed some of the technical issues they encountered on the day of his tragic death.

At the end of the presentation, Plush's father, Ron Plush, got emotional as he questioned why 911 operators didn't note Kyle's banging and gasping for air on the phone.

He then demanded an investigation into decisions made by police, including why officers didn't initially get out of their vehicles while they searched the parking lot.

Officials said emergency dispatchers also ran into issues communicating with Plush.

They said he used Siri to call 911, but the phone was in his pocket and too far away for them to hear or follow up to their questions about his exact location.

Ron Plush (left) addressed the Cincinnati City Council on Monday, about his son Kyle's (right) death last month and the police response to the boy's 911 calls. He broke down in tears as he demanded an investigation into the response

Ron Plush, left, sits with members of his family at the Monday city council meeting. The father also questioned why responding officers didnt get out of their cruiser, and how exact the GPS coordinates were that 911 dispatchers obtained during the calls.

Surveillance footage from the parking lot also shows people getting into cars in the spaces next to Plush's gray SUV - but could not hear him desperately banging on the trunk.

A patrol car is also seen driving just a few feet away from the Honda Odyssey while Plush was trapped.

The father also questioned why responding officers didnt get out of their cruiser, and how exact the GPS coordinates were that 911 dispatchers obtained during the calls.

Plush promised to help the city improve its 911 system but also said he would be asking difficult questions.

He said: 'I will reiterate that I am 100 per cent committed to helping fix the issues and I'm not here to criticize.

'At the same time...we will continue to be asking the difficult and somewhat uncomfortable questions so we can get down to the truth and fix the issues.

Sixteen-year-old Kyle was found dead in the back seat of his Honda Odyssey on April 10. He died after being compressed by a collapsing back bench in the car. He tried called 911 twice before suffocating

Cincinnati Police reveled surveillance footage captured during the response, including the moment a patrol car drove right past Plush's SUV

The above diagram explains how Plush became crushed in the back of his Honda van

'I see a day when Cincinnatti is known for having a world-class emergency communications center...I do believe we can get there.

'Kyle will give us the strength and guidance to get the job done,' he said.

Mayor Cranley told Plush he would receive written responses to every question and called the police report on the case incomplete.

The teen's father found his body April 10 inside the 2004 Honda Odyssey in a parking lot near his school nearly six hours after Kyle's first 911 call.

A coroner says he died of asphyxiation from his chest being compressed.

A patrol car is seen on the left of the parking lot looking for Plush's SUV, which is out of shot to the north

During the meeting on Monday, Chief Isaac gave a detailed timeline of Plush's two calls to 911 and the police response.

In one, that was released after his death, the teen sounds desperate.

'This is not a joke,' he told Smith. 'I'm almost dead.'

'I probably don't have much time left, so tell my mom I love her if I die,' he added during the call.

Police revealed that the 911 dispatching system may have malfunctioned moments before he called.

Amber Smith was the call taker who allegedly flubbed the desperate call from Kyle as he was being crushed to death in his minivan.

Kyle, pictured with his parents Ron and Jill and his sister, died after getting trapped in his minivan. He told an 911 operator to tell his mother that he loved her

Cincinatti Mayor John Cranley hugs a member of Kyle Plush's family during a council meeting on April 17

But Fraternal Order of Police President Daniel Hils told Fox 19 the computer system may have been down while Plush was making his desperate calls to 911.

Smith said she tried to document the call when it came in but her computer screen had frozen, preventing her from entering information immediately, a preliminary review found.

Isaac also presented the results of an internal investigation before the City Councils law and safety committee. This report included the fact that the city's computer assisted-dispatching system experienced difficulties throughout the call.

Isaac said officers were also looking for a woman, since Plush's voice sounded like an older woman's because of how far he was from the speaker.

The investigation found that the two 911 dispatchers who answered the calls acted as they were trained, while the two cops who were sent to the scene failed in that they turned off their body cameras three minutes after arriving at the scene of the school parking lot. The investigation found that they acted appropriately in all other matters concerning the call based on the 'limited' information they were given,

An earlier scheduled presentation was blocked when Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters subpoenaed police records for his own review of the Plush case.

The red arrow indicates a cop looking into a white van during the search for the teenager when he called 911

A young Kyle is seen with his family on vacation

An aerial view of Seven Hills School, where Plush said he was trapped, shows (top ted arrow) where Push was trapped (top ted arrow) and where cops searched (bottom red line). Police say the confusion over the search area stemmed from his muffled 911 callA black Yale graduate student who was interrogated after a white student called police when she fell asleep in a common area said she filmed the encounter with authorities for her own safety.

Lolade Siyonbola, 34, made headlines last week after she posted footage of her encounter with university police in a stairwell on the New Haven campus.

The white woman, identified as Sarah Braasch, called police after finding that Siyonbola had fallen asleep in a common area of their campus residence while she was writing a paper.

Siyonbola posted two videos on Facebook showing her being questioned by police for nearly 20 minutes after being reported by Braasch.

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Lolade Siyonbola, 34, made headlines last week after she posted footage of her encounter with Yale police after a white student told authorities she had fallen asleep in a common room

'I posted the video just for my safety,' Siyonbola told Good Morning America.

Siyonbola added that she always said she would film any encounter with police following the death of Sandra Bland - a black woman who died in custody in 2015.

In the videos, police made Siyonbola hand over her student identification to prove she lived there despite her opening her dorm room in front of them.

The footage prompted outrage on social media with many accusing Yale of racial bias.

Siyonbola, who is a graduate student in African studies, said Braasch had a history of placing similar calls on black students.

'It had already been like a stressful week, you know, ahead of this,' Siyonbola told GMA.

'I had barely been sleeping, so to sort of be on the couch and for the lights to come on, I was like, 'Who is interrupting my nap?' after all and to see that it was Sarah, of all people, because she had called the police on my friend before. I was just like, 'You've got to be kidding me.'

Lolade Siyonbola (left) had the police called on her by a white student, Sarah Braasch (right) a Philosophy PhD student, after she found her napping in a common area of their shared dorm

Siyonbola posted two videos on Facebook showing her being questioned by police for nearly 20 minutes after being reported by Braasch

In the videos, police made Siyonbola hand over her student identification to prove she lived there despite her opening her dorm room in front of them

Her friend Reneson Jean-Louis, who had police called on him by Braasch in March, said the white student had accused him of being an intruder when she encountered him in a stairwell.

Siyonbola said the white student should be held accountable and described her actions as 'mind-boggling'.

'Someone who uses the police in the way that Sarah uses it should be held accountable,' Siyonbola said.

'Whether that's expulsion (or) some other form of disciplinary action, there needs to be some punitive measures for people who act out of racially motivated bias.'

In the video, the police officers insisted that their attempts to verify Siyonbola's student status was 'protocol'.

Police told her the encounter had been prolonged because her name was not spelled correctly in a database of student information.

Siyonbola had accused the officers of harassing her.

'I deserve to be here,' she said in the video.

Siyonbola, who is a graduate student in African studies, said Braasch (pictured above) had a history of placing similar calls on black students

'I paid tuition like everybody else. I am not going to justify my existence here. It's not even a conversation.'

Siyonbola repeatedly told police that Braasch that suffered from mental illness and that she was known to call the police and complain.

'I think you probably need to commit her to an institution,' she said. 'That's the only use you have to be here.'

Yale president Peter Salovey addressed the incident on Thursday, saying the university was committed to equity and inclusion.

'Earlier this week, an incident took place in the Hall of Graduate Studies: one student reported another student - a student of color who resides in HGS and thus had every right to be there - to the Yale Police,' he said.

'During the encounter both students' IDs were checked by police officers, and the caller was admonished for summoning the police when the other student was absolutely entitled to be in the space.

'Racism is an unqualified evil in our society. Universities are not utopias, and people of color experience racism on our campus as they do elsewhere in our country. This fact angers and disappoints me. We must neither condone nor excuse racism, prejudice, or discrimination at Yale.'A Michigan man's home security camera captured an image that he believes shows an angel hovering over his pickup truck.

Glen Thorman, who is the fire chief for East Jordan, said two photos were emailed to him on Wednesday by his security system.

'I said "That's an angel!" And I was just blown away,' Thorman told WPBN.

The first photo shows a blurry image directly over his truck. A second image shows the blurry object moving away.

Glen Thorman, who is the fire chief for East Jordan, believes a photo that was mailed to him on Wednesday by his security system shows an angel hovering over his truck (pictured)

A second image (pictured) shows the blurry object moving away

Thorman (pictured) immediately sent the photos to his pastor at Jordan Rivers Church, Deneille Moes, who then posted the images on Facebook

Thorman immediately sent the photos to his pastor at Jordan Rivers Church, Deneille Moes, who then posted the images on Facebook.

'It's an angel. I guess there is no question who is watching over their residence while they sleep, and yes, they pray that The Angels of the Lord will surround them and their property,' Moes wrote.

According to Moes, the photos hadn't been altered in any way and were taken by a motion-activated camera.

'The second photo, the security camera also shot because the angel was moving away,' Moes wrote.

But the photo has left some people skeptical, with a couple of Facebook users saying they believe it's just a moth.

'It's probably a moth close to the camera. out of focus and wings moving to fast to for a camera that does 7.5 frames per second,' one Facebook user wrote.

'I said "That's an angel!" And I was just blown away,' Thorman said. He's pictured with his wife

Moes said she told Thorman that 'it's an angel'. She said she was just as surprised to see the 'angel' in the photo as Thorman was. Moes is pictured with her husband

According to Moes' Facebook post (pictured), the photos hadn't been altered in any way and were taken by a motion-activated camera

Another wrote: 'Not a good job of photoshopping.'

Joe Clark, who owns Glass House Photography, said he believes an insect could have set off the motion sensors.

'It is definitely moth-shaped in the first photo,' Clark told WPBN.

'You can kind of clearly see what looks, or could be interpreted as, wings and a head, but at the same time since it's not clearly in focus and since it is what it is, there may be room for interpretation.'

Other locals said they believe the object in the image is definitely an angel.

'Someone wants you to know that they are watching over you! This is proof,' one user wrote.

Another user told the family that an 'angel [is] looking down on you'.Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci is looking to sell his Hamptons love nest just nine months after he purchased it.

The short-lived White House communications director bought the brand new, 8,300-sq-ft home for him and his wife Deidre Ball last year for a cool $8.2million.

The house is expected to go on the market shortly with a $9million price tag, nearly $1million more than what Scaramucci paid for it.

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Former White House communications director Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci is selling the Hamptons love nest he bought to share with wife Deidre Ball for $9million

Scaramucci bought the eight-bedroom home on Long Island nine months ago for $8.2million

The home by celebrity developer Joe Farrell was brand new when Scaramucci bought it

The eight-bedroom abode at 30 Lawrence Court is hidden away in the ritzy Long Island neighborhood of Water Mill, bordering a wildlife reserve near the home of actor Alan Alda.

It was designed by celebrity developer Joe Farrell who has worked on the homes of clients including Madonna, Kelsey Grammer, Rudy Giuliani and Woody Johnson.

Scaramucci paid the home's full asking price of $7.49million and tacked on several expensive add-ons including a pool house, in-home theater and other upgrades Farrell told the New York Post.

The 54-year-old financier famously served as Trump's communications chief for just 10 days

The home at 30 Lawrence Court is hidden away in Long Island's ritzy neighborhood Water Mill

Scaramucci paid the home's full asking price, $7.49m and tacked on several pricey add-ons

Scaramucci bought the East End home to share with Ball shortly after the two reconciled late last year.

Ball had filed for divorce in early July  after the 54-year-old financier announced he was going to work for President Donald Trump.

His stint as communications director only lasted 10 days, and during that time Scaramucci managed to miss the birth of the couple's second son James in late July because he accompanied Trump to a Boy Scouts jamboree in West Virginia.

He reportedly sent Ball a text saying: 'Congratulations. I'll pray for our child,' and then failed to visit the baby.

The Mooch's exit from the White House came just days later after he launched an obscenity-laden tirade against White House staffers Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon during an interview with The New Yorker.

His gaffe-ridden 10-day tenure as communications chief was the shortest in American history.

Ball filed for divorce last July, shortly after Scaramucci revealed he'd be joining Trump's team

The Mooch exited the White House days after he had launched an obscenity-laden tirade against White House staffers Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon in a New Yorker interview

Months later in November Ball removed the divorce filing and the couple told friends they were trying to work things out.

Scaramucci, whose net worth is estimated at $85million, is reportedly about to be awarded a hefty settlement following the collapse of his deal to sell his SkyBridge Capital hedge fund to Chinas HNA Group in April.

He plans on using the extra cash to upgrade to an oceanfront property in nearby Bridgehampton, sources told the Post.Unelected peers today launched a fresh assault on press freedom by defying MPs to pass an amendment demanding a Leveson 2 Inquiry.

The House of Commons voted last week not to launch another expensive inquiry into the press.

But unelected peers defied the vote and passed an amendment to the Data Protection Bill demanding an inquiry.

They passed the amendment by 252 votes to 213 - ignoring an earlier plea by Theresa May for the unelected chamber to heed the decision of MPs and abandon their bid to thwart the decision.

The move sets the stage for a fresh showdown in the House of Commons as the PM tries to rally her MPs to vote down the amendment.

Peers were accused of trying to exact 'revenge' on the press by passing the vote.

Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned any attempt by the Lords to overturn the vote could plunge the UK into a constitutional crisis.

He told Mail Online: 'It is a clear breach of the constitutional convention that the Lords does not oppose manifesto commitments.'

Unelected peers (pictured) are trying to reverse the decision by tabling an amendment to the Data Protection Bill demanding a Leveson 2 inquiry

The amendment, tabled by the crossbench peer Baroness Hollins (pictured in the Lords today) was passed - setting the stage for a fresh Commons showdown

Speaking during the debate, journalist and ex Downing Street policy adviser Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice, spoke out against the move.

She said yet another public inquiry would reopen the door to 'people who are very keen indeed to impose enormous costs on the major newspaper groups' to pay 'malicious damages' for groundless claims, she said.

Tory Lord Black of Brentwood, deputy chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, also spoke out strongly against the move, insisting there had been wholesale change in press regulation since Leveson reported.

Lord Black said all publishers were under 'huge and sustained commercial pressure,' adding: 'It is a struggle for survival on a day-to-day basis which will be made all the more complicated by having to wind the clock back 10 to 15 years to rake over a world which no longer exists.'

Earlier, the PM had urged the House of Lords not to pass the amendment.

Mrs May's official spokesman said: 'Almost 50 million of public money has already been spent on investigating phone-hacking.

'Establishing a further public inquiry requiring great time and expense is not a proportionate solution to allegations that have already been the subject of extensive police investigations or ongoing investigations by the Information Commissioner's Office.

'The Government's position that there should be no Leveson 2 inquiry was set out clearly in the manifesto. We would urge peers to respect the vote of the elected House of Commons last week and reject this amendment.'

The spokesman slammed peers for tabling a string of changes demanding Brexit is watered down, as well as calling for a Leveson 2.

And he warned that House of Lords is a 'revising chamber' and should not overstep its role by overturning MPs' decisions.

He said: 'We were very disappointed with some of the amendments passed in relation to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.

'Similarly, we believe that the elected House of Commons spoke on Leveson 2 last week.

Theresa May (heading to church in Maidenhead with her husband Philip yesterday) has urged peers to respect the will of MPs and not to vote for a Leveson 2 inquiry

'The House of Lords is a revising chamber. It has a role to play, but I think I've made our view clear in relation to Leveson and similarly I've made our position clear in relation to a number of those EU (Withdrawal) Bill amendments.'

The crossbench peer Baroness Hollins tabled the amendment demanding another inquiry in how the press operates.

It will now return to the Commons where anti-press Labour MPs will try to pass it.

The vast majority of Labour MPs back another inquiry, with Ed Miliband promising 'battle goes on' to secure one in the aftermath of the defeat last week.

But defenders of press freedom have warned that holding another inquiry would be expensive and unfair as journalists accused of wrongdoing have already been hauled through the courts, and overwhelmingly acquitted.Two men and an infertile woman allegedly slaughtered a vulnerable mother living in their backyard bungalow so they could take custody of her four children.

Former lovers Christine Lyons, 47, and 45-year-old Ronald Lyons, who are not related, faced a Supreme Court of Victoria trial on Monday accused of conspiring to murder Samantha Kelly in January 2016.

Prosecutors alleged the Lyons and her current lover Peter Arthur were motivated to murder so Christine, who 'desperately wanted children', could become mother to the dead woman's offspring.

Former lovers Christine Lyons (centre), 47, and Ronald Lyons (left), 45, who are not related, faced a Supreme Court of Victoria trial on Monday. They allegedly conspired with Peter Arthur (right) to commit murder

Former lovers Christine Lyons, 47, and Ronald Lyons, 45, who are not related, faced a Supreme Court of Victoria trial on Monday after allegedly agreeing to murder Samantha Kelly (pictured)

Ms Kelly, who had attended special needs schools as a child and still received support as an adult, and was 'financially and emotionally vulnerable', had four children aged 11 months to six years.

The 39-year-old was living in a bungalow at the back of the Bendigo house in which the Lyons and Arthur co-habited along with Ronald's three children.

The court was told there was no dispute that 46-year-old Arthur had delivered six to seven fatal blows to Ms Kelly's head with a hammer on the night of January 22 or the early hours of January 23, 2016.

But the Crown alleges the Lyons, who have each been charged with attempted murder and murder, and Arthur were in agreement that Ms Kelly should go 'on a permanent holiday'.

The court was told on January 20, Christine Lyons went to a GP and obtained a prescription for the sedative Temazepam.

When Ms Kelly still was not dead the next day after drinking a cocktail of drugs, Arthur (pictured) went to the bungalow and murdered her, the court was told

It is then claimed she planned to kill Ms Kelly by overdose, feeding her a 'cocktail' of sedatives, beta-blockers, anti-nausea tablets, analgesics and antihistamines.

Christine and Ronald Lyons put the pills into a drink and gave it to Ms Kelly, who felt groggy but did not die, crown prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the jury.

They then gave her more tablets, telling her the medicine was to make her feel better, but in truth it was to give her an overdose, Ms Dalziel said.

When Ms Kelly still was not dead the next day, Arthur went to the bungalow and murdered her, the court was told.

It is alleged Ronald Lyons bought two shovels from Bunnings and accompanied Arthur on a trip to bury their victim.

The Crown says the trio told police Ms Kelly had left in the middle of the night with a man, had abandoned her children, and had wanted to 'sign over' two of her children to Christine.

Christine Lyons (pictured) had a powerful desire to have a family, to have children of her own, and the two men... wanted to give her what she desperately wanted, the prosecutor said

This image shows police tape around the crime scene in Bendigo in February 2016

'Christine Lyons had a powerful desire to have a family, to have children of her own, and the two men... wanted to give her what she desperately wanted,' Ms Dalziel said.

'Both men were devoted to her and they knew she desperately wanted children.

'They were all part of an agreement or understanding under which they understood Samantha Kelly would be killed.'

But the Lyons' defence barristers, Peter Kilduff and Jarrod Williams, said Arthur acted alone and the Lyons were not 'complicit', nor were they part of an agreement to murder Mr Kelly.

The trial continues.Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was today urged to 'stop blaming everyone else for the fuel shortages' after he claimed petrol supply levels were 'close to normal range' despite South East England still being in a crisis. Nearly one third of petrol stations in the region are still dry or short on supply - with a Petrol Retailers Association survey finding 12 per cent in the South East have run out of fuel, and 17 per cent have one grade of diesel or petrol. Under 75 per cent of petrol stations have both diesel and petrol in London and the South East, as opposed to 90 per cent in other areas - with the figures in contrast to Mr Shapps's claims that the issue is almost entirely over. Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: 'Grant Shapps must take his head out of sand, stop blaming everyone else for the fuel shortages and concede the most populated part of the UK is still a wasteland for fuel supplies. The reason is almost entirely down to his scaremongering actions over the last two weeks. It could have been avoided.' Pictured: Motorists put fuel into their cars at a Tesco petrol station in South East London today (left), which had some pumps out of fuel (centre), and a man fills a jerry can at a Shell station nearby (right).David Miliband was today mocked on Twitter after saying Britain should stay in the EU single market and customs union so it can continue to eat rice pudding.

The ex Labour frontbencher returned to the political foray after five years away to call for Brexit to be watered down.

He joined arch Remainers Nick Clegg and Nicky Morgan to make his plea at a Tilda rice factory in Essex - and later tweeted a picture of an empty pot of rice pudding he had eaten.

He added the message: 'Delicious @tildarice rice pudding, finished to the last morsel. A great argument for the customs union and single market!'

Tilda have warned that the trade of the rice factory is under risk as a result of Brexit - but Mr Miliband was quickly pilloried online for making the odd remark.

The ex Labour frontbencher returned to the political foray after five years away to call for Brexit to be watered down

David Miliband (pictured, today in Essex, right) joined arch Remainers Nick Clegg and Nicky Morgan to make his plea at a Tilda rice factory in Essex - and later tweeted a picture of an empty pot of rice pudding he had eaten

Tim Johnson wrote on Twitter: 'Come on Ed. I'm a remainer and even I know India is not in the EU.'

Ali Diack pointed out that rice is not often grown in the EU. writing: 'Straight from the Commonwealth.'

And another joked that if he was gong to regale Twitter with the joys of rice he should have opted for a 'nice risotto'.

John Lewish wrote: 'You've lost the plot. Headlines tomorrow: Miliband says we should stay in the EU because of rice pudding, shock.'

Even remainers poked fun at the former MP's remarks, with Phil Vernon writing: 'I think there are slightly better arguments than a lot of rice puddings.'

Speaking today, he said he is 'baffled' by the Labour leader's refusal to campaign to make the country sign up to become a member of the European Economic Area.

The trio of Remainers claimed the Government's proposals for Brexit would 'diminish Britain's standing in the world'.

Twitter users poked fun at David Miliband's tweet - pointing out Tilda rice is not grown in the eU

Another twitter user mocked the tweet by suggesting risotto is a more beguiling argument

Another Twitter user pointed out that the rise is grown not in the Brussels club but i the Commonwealth

Another critic said the ex Labour MP failed to realise how silly the tweet looked

Another said the EU debate is more complicated than just rice pudding

danny Ryan pointed out that the former MP had included the wrong Tilda account in hi tweet

Another said that David Miliband forfeited his right to intervene in the debate when he stopped being an MP

Mr Miliband, who now lives in New York, said: 'The truth is that sometimes distance lends perspective.'

He said he could see the risk 'a great tragedy would unfold of a shrunken Britain retreating into itself' at a time of 'particular global peril'.

They urged MPs and peers to seize control of Brexit from ministers and force a softer approach.

Another Twitter user, Danny Ryan, pointed out that Mr Miliband had cced the wrong Twitter account into his tweet - wrongly believing it to belong to Tilda rice.

Mr Miliband had travelled to the rice factory as he launched a fresh blitz to try to force ministers to water down Brexit.

The former Labour frontbencher said Jeremy Corbyn risks being a 'midwife for a hard Brexit' as he made his outspoken intervention.Barack Obama (above in Feb. 2018) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009

Theodore Roosevelt (1906)

The United States of America was among the first to infuse the ideal of peace into practical politics. Peace and arbitration treaties have now been concluded between the United States and the governments of several countries. But what has especially directed the attention of the friends of peace and of the whole civilized world to the United States is President Roosevelt's happy role in bringing to an end the bloody war recently waged between two of the world's great powers, Japan and Russia.

On behalf of the Norwegian Parliament, I now present to you, Mr. Ambassador, the Peace Prize along with its insignia, and I add the request that you convey to the President the greetings of the Norwegian people and their gratitude for all that he has done in the cause of peace. I would also add the wish that this eminent and highly gifted man may be blessed with the opportunity of continuing his work to strengthen the ideal of peace and to secure the peace of the world.

Woodrow Wilson (1919, presented in 1920)

As the name of President Wilson comes to the fore on this occasion as the recipient of the Peace Prize, I know that the award is accompanied by the thanks of the people of Norway, because in his celebrated Fourteen Points

the President of the United States has succeeded in bringing a design for a fundamental law of humanity into present-day international politics. The basic concept of justice on which it is founded will never die, but will steadily grow in strength, keeping the name of President Wilson fresh in the minds of future generations.

Jimmy Carter (2002)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy Carter, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.

During his presidency (1977-1981), Carter's mediation was a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, in itself a great enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. At a time when the cold war between East and West was still predominant, he placed renewed emphasis on the place of human rights in international politics.

Through his Carter Center, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2002, Carter has since his presidency undertaken very extensive and persevering conflict resolution on several continents. He has shown outstanding commitment to human rights, and has served as an observer at countless elections all over the world. He has worked hard on many fronts to fight tropical diseases and to bring about growth and progress in developing countries. Carter has thus been active in several of the problem areas that have figured prominently in the over one hundred years of Peace Prize history.

In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development.

Barack Obama (2009)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.'

Al Gore (2007)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

Indications of changes in the earth's future climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds. Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.

Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent.

Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.

By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the worlds future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond mans control.'Police in Italy have issued arrest warrants for five hotel workers who allegedly drugged and gang-raped a British tourist.

The woman, aged 50 and from Kent, claims she was attacked on the last day of her holiday at a well-known hotel in the town of Sorrento in October 2016.

Police allege that the woman was assaulted by at least a dozen men who took turns attacking her and filmed themselves in the act.

Arrest warrants have been issued for five hotel workers after they allegedly drugged and gang-raped a British tourist in the Italian city of Sorrento in October 2016 (file image)

Arrest warrants were issued after the discovery of a group chat called 'bad habits' where some of the men allegedly shared images of the attack.

Officers named the five men as Antonino Miniero, Gennaro Davide Gargiulo, Fabio De Virgilio, Raffaele Regio and Francesco D'Antonio.

While local media reported that the men have been arrested, other reports suggested that police were still seeking the suspects.

The woman's ordeal began when she went to the bar of her hotel with her daughter, and the pair were given drinks by two men working there, Reppublica reports.

Investigators say the drinks were laced with date-rape drugs and that after finishing the drink, the older woman was taken to the pool where she was assaulted.

The barmen then handed her off to a third worker who took her back to the staff quarters where at least a dozen men were waiting for her, some of them partially undressed, it is claimed.

Two barmen at a well-known hotel in the town are accused of giving the woman a drink laced with drugs before taking her to the staff quarters, where she was attacked by a dozen men

Once there, the men allegedly took it in turns to attack the woman while filming and photographing the ordeal.

The woman subsequently travelled back to England where she filed a police report.

DNA samples were taken and blood tests confirmed that the woman had been given drugs around the time the alleged attack took place.

Police were led to the suspects using a photograph of the bartenders taken by the woman and a crown tattoo which she remembered seeing on one of their necks.

The discovery of the group chat led to the identification of more suspects, it is reported, though it was not possible to identify all of those involved.

All of those named in the arrest warrants are either staff or former staff at the hotel.

Sorrento is a popular tourist destination in the south of Italy for its views of the Bay of Naples and access to the Amalfi Coast and island of Capri.Last week, I felt rather sorry for Meghan Markles father Thomas.

Hed been photographed in an internet cafe peering at photos of his daughter and Prince Harry, then being measured up for his wedding day suit.

This followed other recent paparazzi pictures of him in Starbucks, looking at British castles, and working out on a dirt track with a resistance band.

Last week I felt rather sorry for Meghan Markles father Thomas. Hed been photographed in an internet cafe peering at photos of his daughter and Prince Harry, then being measured up for his wedding day suit, prompting outrage from the likes of the Guardian

Notwithstanding my lengthy career as a journalist, on a human level it was hard not to feel a pang of compassion for a man who had sought a life of reclusive solitude but now finds himself at the centre of the biggest celebrity news story in the world.

The reality is that Thomas Markles life, like that of many others close to Meghan, changed irrevocably too when she decided to marry her Prince.

The Guardian newspaper was outraged the photos had been published at all.

Guys, its private! raged one of the papers senior writers Zoe Williams. Nobody wants their thought processes played out in real time, with photographs.

Williams said this was the perfect illustration of actor Hugh Grants complaint about the tabloid press prying into the private lives of ordinary people. She fumed: These publications are missing the chip that asks: How would I like it, if someone did this to me?

Hmm.

It turns out Mr Markle did to himself!

But who arranged the invasion? Mr Markle himself! Photographer Jeff Rayner, camera slung over his shoulder, arrives at the Omega internet cafe at on March 27 with Thomas Markle

... to produce this lucrative shot which was flogged to the world's unsuspecting media. Now he's pulled out of the wedding

Yesterdays Mail on Sunday newspaper revealed he has been colluding with British paparazzo Jeff Rayner who sold them for a hefty six-figure sum from selling the carefully staged pictures around the world.

Today, Thomas Markle admitted he was paid to do the pictures, telling TMZ he took the money to recast his image.

He also sensationally revealed he will no longer be attending the wedding on Saturday, and claimed to have had a heart attack six days ago but checked himself out of hospital.

Prince Harry will be absolutely furious at this bombshell revelation.

Hes a young man who can barely hide his contempt for the media, still harbouring deep-rooted resentment of the part the paparazzi played in the death of his mother Princess Diana.

Prince Harry will be absolutely furious at this bombshell revelation. Harry and Prince William both believe their mother would still be alive if not for paparazzi and perhaps theyre right. But Harry and Meghans wedding is a massive PR bonanza for the royal family, and theyve been milking it like ravenous dairy farmers

Harry and Prince William both believe she would still be alive if she hadnt been hounded and pursued everywhere she went by packs of photographers.

And perhaps theyre right.

But they remain heirs to the throne of the British monarchy and as such, their lives are of huge global public interest.

Harry and Meghans wedding is a massive PR bonanza for the royal family, and theyve been milking it like ravenous dairy farmers.

Every week has brought new titbits of information to keep the global press pot boiling, including the recent revelation that Thomas Markle would walk his daughter down the aisle.

It doesnt take a genius to know this news would instantly lead to a massive increase in media interest in Mr Markle.

After all, in five days time he was due to become the most famous father-of-the-bride on the planet.

Yet behind the scenes, there have been frantic efforts to stop the media from reporting on him.

Several weeks ago, Kensington Palace issued a stern warning to British media outlets demanding Mr Markle be left alone.

An official letter, written by Harrys personal communications secretary Jason Knauf, described how Mr Markle had been followed and harassed by photographers and journalists. The letter, obviously dictated by the Prince, urged newspapers not to publish any photos of Mr Markle.

Last week, Mr Markles own representatives also wrote to editors and to British newspaper watchdog the Independent Press Standards Organisation claiming Mr Markle was suffering as a result of press intrusion and insisting he didnt want to take part in photo calls or interviews.

Yet it now transpires that Mr Markle has been invading his own privacy and allowing the paparazzi to sell staged photos of him to the worlds media.

Some of the detail of how these photos were staged was comically embarrassing.

In one image, a young tailor is seen helping Mr Markle measure up for his suit. But he wasnt a tailor at all; he was a 17-year-old student recruited from a nearby shop to pretend to be one.

Mr Markle had even brought the measuring tape.

So Im afraid the harsh truth is that Thomas Markle has revealed himself to be both shockingly naive and shockingly greedy.

This development will especially hurt Meghan because so many of her other family members have already behaved like the worst kind of vile, dysfunctional, money-grabbing misfits in the run up to her marriage.

Her estranged half-brother Thomas Jr. even recently published a handwritten letter he sent to Prince Harry urging him to ditch his sister.

As more time passes, this repulsive twerp wrote, it became very clear that this is the biggest mistake in royal wedding history. Meghan Markle is obviously not the right woman for you.

He called her a jaded, shallow, conceited woman that will make a joke of you and the royal family.

Thomas Jr., who hasnt seen or spoken to Meghan for seven years, has a history of violent alcohol and substance abuse.

Her siblings already sold her out. Her estranged brother Thomas Jr, pictured, penned an open letter urging Prince Harry to dump his sister

In 2012, he held a gun to a womans head during a drunken argument.

Last year, he again brandished a gun in a second drunken brawl with another woman, his fiancee Darlene Blount.

And on New Years Eve 2017, he was thrown in jail for two days after yet another drunken brawl with Ms Blount.

Despite all this, hes still desperate to attend the wedding.

It doesnt seem to have crossed his douchebag mind that the main reason he wont be attending is because UK border control almost certainly wouldnt let him into the country.

Then theres Meghans ghastly half-sister Samantha Grant, who recently changed her name back to Markle specifically to cash in on the wedding.

Her relentless global press tour has culminated in her writing a book, The Diary of Princess Pushys Sister.

Twice-divorced, wheelchair bound Samantha, who hasnt seen Meghan for 10 years, told the Mirror newspaper her sister was shallow, narcissistic and addicted to social climbing.

But that didnt stop her begging: Id be lying to say I wouldnt be hurt if I didnt get an invite but thats really up to her.

Sorry, WHAT?

Then theres Meghans ghastly aforementioned half-sister Samantha Grant, who recently changed her name back to Markle specifically to cash in on the wedding. She wrote a book, The Diary of Princess Pushys Sister. She called Meghan shallow, narcissistic and addicted to social climbing. Then she's begged for a wedding invite!

If someone trashed the woman I was going to marry, theyd have less chance of getting an invite than Kim Jong Un.

Samanthas own daughter Noelle said her mother was abusive and a liar and defended Meghan: She is very sweet, very genuine, nothing like my mother.

Thats been my experience of Meghan too, and I feel incredibly sorry for her that her family are betraying her so badly.

But cynical, commercially-driven rantings by estranged half-siblings are one thing.

Its quite another to discover your own father has let you down so spectacularly badly right before the wedding.

In an Instagram post on Fathers Day in 2016, Meghan gushed over him:

Happy Fathers Day, daddy. Im still your buckaroo, and to this day your hugs are still the very best in the whole wide world. Thanks for my work ethic, my love of Busby Berkeley films and club sandwiches, for teaching me the importance of handwritten thank you notes, and for giving me that signature Markle nose. I love you. Xo Bean.

Its shame he didnt teach himself the importance of discretion and loyalty.

By taking the paparazzi shilling, and now missing the wedding, Thomas Markle broke his future son-in-laws trust, and his little girls heart.This shocking footage shows two little girls giggling and pulling faces as they ride on top of a huge python.

The clip, filmed in Indonesia, has been viewed nearly three million times since it was published on Facebook last Monday.

The little girls look overjoyed as they ride the reptile, a reticulated python, one of the world's longest and heaviest snakes.

The reticulated python is non-venomous but has been known to kill humans, with the serpent being able to open its jaws wide enough to swallow a person.

The one-minute clip was filmed on a mobile phone but it is unknown who the phone belongs to.

The footage begins by showing a little girl with pigtails confidently sitting on the python.

Two young girls could be seen excitedly riding a huge python without an adult or parent in sight

Behind her, another girl in a yellow-sleeved dress can be seen crouching on the snake as she smiles for the camera.

The grinning children can be seen climbing on top of the serpent, changing positions every now and then with excitement.

The child in the yellow-sleeved dress laughs and then stands up to move higher up on the snake.

One girl eventually got bored and left but the other seemed delighted as she smiled and giggled at the camera

However, she appears to grow bored and leaves a few moments later.

The girl with pigtails giggles and continues to ride the enormous snake.

Unsurprisingly, people took to social media to criticise the parents of the children.

They were believed to be riding a reticulated python  one of the world's longest and heaviest snakes

Seasaen Tha commented 'The snake is a wild animal! If one day, those children end up in the snake's stomach, the parents can only blame themselves  not the snake.'

Nittaya Somphong 'This is scary. The snake is an animal and those kids that play with it are his food. Be careful! This opinion is coming from a mother.'

Whilst Jack Changii said that this was 'very dangerous, kids don't understand and parents should take care'.Advertisement

Armed police stormed Heathrow Airport to rescue actors playing the parts of hostages as they trained for a potential terror attack on British soil.

Anti-terror officers carried out a live drill on the outskirts of London as they prepared for a similar attack to that carried out in Brussels Airport in 2016.

Police in full tactical gear swarmed the abandoned terminal's train station as they trained alongside paramedics and firefighters as part of an operation codenamed Raptor, which stretched over two days.

Police in full tactical gear swarmed the abandoned terminal's train station as they trained alongside paramedics in the abandoned building

Officers were seen running from the police helicopter as they stormed the terminal as part of a training exercise which simulated a terror attack

First responders from London Ambulance Service took part in the exercise, treating volunteers who wore special effects make-up as they lay in stretchers

More than 1,200 people were drafted in to make the exercise as authentic as possible, with actors wearing special effects make-up to simulate injuries.

The Metropolitan Police described the exercise as 'live play training' but stated it was planned and said it was not in response to any specific threats or intelligence.

Saturday saw a simulated terror attack on the building, as officers were tasked with rescuing hostages. Yesterday, paramedics and forensic teams were trained on how to identify victims and their injuries.

Similar exercises were held at Heathrow last June and July, when the capital's terror threat level was listed as 'severe'. The current threat level being rated as 'severe' means that government believes an attack is 'highly likely'.

Sniffer dogs made their way into the building as police trained for a terror attack at the abandoned Heathrow terminal over the weekend

Superintendent Dawn Morris, who lead the exercise, said: 'Given that the threat level remains at severe, I hope that this kind of joint exercise reassures the public that if the worst were to happen, then we are ready and fully prepared to respond and keep people safe.'

Airport staff were also drafted in for the exercise after four were held in the abandoned terminal last year. Decommissioned terminals are used due to them giving the chance to test out responses in a believable setting.

Volunteers from London Ambulance Service as well as the Metropolitan Police donned special effects make-up in order that first responders could learn how to react in a crisis

A police helicopter lands at Heathrow as part of exercise Raptor, in which more than 1,200 people were deployed for a training exercise

Volunteers lie on stretchers as medical workers carry out simulated treatment as part of a two-day exercise held in Heathrow's abandoned terminal

The exercise worked to test functions across the Metropolitan Police such as firearms response, command and control and intelligence. The force and London Ambulance Service combined to provide 500 volunteers who wore special effects make-up.

Other multi-agency role-playing exercises carried out in recent years include Exercise Anchor in March last year, which was a response to an attack on the river Thames.

Another, Exercise Treblerope, saw police and other services deployed across London for three days to various locations including Canary Wharf and the Royal Mint.

The current threat level being rated as 'severe' means that government believes an attack is 'highly likely'.A monster great white shark is feared to be prowling the British coastline after two dead dolphins were found washed up on a beach.

The half-eaten corpses were discovered at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk over the weekend, the latest in a number of mysterious attacks in recent years.

The discovery has raised fears a man-eater could be lurking near beaches set to be packed with holidaymakers this summer.

The half-eaten corpses were discovered at a beach near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk that will be packed with holidaymakers in the summer

The discovery follows a string of mysterious attacks in recent years and raised fears the man-eater (pictured) could be lurking in British waters

The first dolphin was found dead on Saturday morning on Great Yarmouths Pleasure Beach, while the second was discovered yesterday afternoon.

Gorleston coastguards had received reports on Friday that a pod of dolphins was spotted off the Great Yarmouth coast.

Now two dolphins, suspected to be from that pod, have been found dead.

A chilling pattern has emerged of late: In February last year a half-eaten 4ft-long seal was found nearby - with massive teeth marks gouged in its flesh.

In May 2016, a 5ft long half-eaten porpoise was found on a beach at Happisburg, Norfolk, just 20 miles up the coast.

And in 2011 three porpoises with huge bite marks in their flesh were washed up on Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach.

Local resident Stephen McHugh, 24, said 'It's pretty frightening - it can't be a coincidence that something out there keeps attacking and eating seals, dolphins and porpoises.

'If it is a Great White, let's hope it doesn't come into the warmer shallow water close to the shore when people are on the beaches in the summer.

'Great Whites can live for decades so it could have been out there for years, and if it's found a mate, they could be starting a family. It doesn't bear thinking about.

'There are plenty of seals, porpoises, dolphins and even small whales in the North Sea for them to survive on.'

Concerns were raised over the possibility of a Great White prowling British waters after the ripped up body of a seal (pictured) was found on a Great Yarmouth beach in February last year

Last year the half-eaten 4ft-long seal was found near to the site of this weekend's discovery, which had massive teeth marks gouged in the seal's flesh

The half-eaten seal in February 2017 was found by a young couple out for a romantic walk along Great Yarmouth beach.

Lauren Gillies, 25, and her partner Matty Burgess, 29, were strolling arm-in-arm just after lunch when they spotted what they initially thought was a baby seal in need of rescuing.

Lauren, from Great Yarmouth, said at the time 'Initially my reaction was 'Oh my God a baby seal I need to help it back in the sea'.

'And then as I got closer I realised it was chewed in half and it freaked me out.

'We were stunned, honestly we just couldn't make out what had eaten it. It was totally baffling and gruesome.

'We do often go beach walking but we've never come across this before.'

The mouth of a porpoise (pictured) washed up in May 2016 appeared to have been ripped by teeth, prompting fears that it could have been the work of a shark

The first dolphin was found dead on Saturday morning on Yarmouth's Pleasure beach, while the second was discovered yesterday afternoon

It was an almost exact repeat of the discovery in May 2016 of a 5ft long dead porpoise washed ashore at Happisburg, with tell-tale chunks of flesh torn from round its mouth.

At first terrified beachcombers even thought it was a shark and panic-stricken messages were posted on social media.

The mutilated corpse was quickly identified as a harmless harbour porpoise, but fears quickly grew that it had been attacked by a hungry Great White lurking in shallow water along the coast.

Local residents said the ripped flesh round its mouth came from it fighting desperately to fend off a huge predator.

When, in 2011, the two porpoises washed up on Winterton beach, near Great Yarmouth, they had similar bite marks in their flesh.

Local couple Linzi Smith, 29, and fiance Steve Hunt, 36, found one of those chewed-up porpoises and marine experts said at the time that the savage bite marks meant it almost certainly had been attacked and killed by a huge shark or killer whale.

Linzi and Steve made their gruesome find just days after another walker, Hollie Moran, 24, found another 5ft porpoise with chunks taken out of its head and tail on the beach two miles away at Horsey.

At the time Dr Ken Collins of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton said they had 'undoubtedly' suffered shark bites.

He added 'It could be a Great White. The sea around the UK is habitable for big sharks.'

But Norfolk naturalist Percy Trett said at the time he believed it might be a killer whale.

'Killer whales do occur off the Scottish coast and occasionally come down the North Sea. They will attack porpoises and seals' he warned.Advertisement

A so-called lava chaser has ignored evacuation orders to film car-sized 'lava bombs' being flung hundreds of feet in the air during the continuing volcanic eruptions in Hawaii.

Despite continued earthquake activity at the Kilauea Volcano, professional photographer Demian Barrios, armed with an iPhone, ignored strict evacuation orders to don a helmet and gas mask to live stream lava bombs.

When two new fissures opened on Hawaiis Big Island over the weekend, forcing more residents to evacuate, Mr Barrios, who describes himself as a lava junkie, went in search of the red hot molten rock.

Describing himself as a lava chaser, he told viewers that since a 17th large fissure opened up on Sunday morning, there have been massive lava bombs about half the size of a VW Beetle, while others are the size of a wheelbarrow. He even witnessed one land on the roof of a neighbours house.

Despite continued earthquake activity at the Kilauea Volcano, professional photographer Demian Barrios, armed with an iPhone, ignored strict evacuation orders to don a helmet and gas mask to live stream lava bombs

While he walked along a track, between fields, his camera panned down to a big crack opening in the road in front of him, literally within minutes. Weve got lava bombs that are dropping in the road

When Hawaii-based photographer Demian Barrios tried flipping the lump of lava over, he yelped and said, this ones still hot

The roof of a house that he had been standing near earlier was hit by a lava bomb, which shattered part of the frame.

We are in ground zero; the roads are shut down, we are in a very crazy place. You can see those lava bombs right now. Although my heart goes out to those who are losing their homes and being displaced, I have to say this is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. Ive been dreaming about volcanoes ever since I was a kid, he said.

While he walked along a track, between fields, his camera panned down to a big crack opening up in the thoroughfare in front of him, literally within minutes. Weve got lava bombs that are dropping in the road.

When he tried flipping it over, he yelped and said, this ones still hot.

Those listening to the photographers video will no doubt note it is like hearing a battle zone, as projectiles can be heard flying through the air, and smoke can be seen drifting from burning grass, where the lava bombs have landed.

A lava bomb (red) can be seen striking a field yards from where the photographer was taking shelter, at a neighbour's property

Smoke can also been seen from a previous lava projectile which flew from a new fissure during eruptions in Hawaii

One of the more startling shots is when Mr Barrios starts walking across a lava bomb-strewn grass, with the lawn punctured by cooling black blobs of lava.

What is a 'lava bomb' Lava is molten rock (magma) which has erupted onto the ground surface. A lava bomb is a chunk of rock  more than 65mm wide  spewed from a volcano. These large chunks can kill people, particularly as they can land hundreds of metres from any vent/fissure. In New Zealand, an eruption from Mount Ngauruhoe ejected lava bombs that were over 15 meters in size. Advertisement

Given the strength of his obsession, which started when he was a little boy, it is no surprise when the photographer confesses to camera it brings me to tears seeing the amount of power we are seeing here. You can hear it.

Taking shelter on the deck of a neighbours property, with molten rock constantly  and suddenly  shooting out in front of him, he said to camera, I want to reach out to all those who have lost homes and all the people who have been displaced.

But, within seconds he is interrupted by a sudden loud eruption, and a blob of hot lava hits the ground, yards away, at such velocity that red, hot pieces of it can be seen flying into the air.

The sky lights up as flashes of lava shoot up, and there is a constant roar from the eruptions from the fissure.

Later, he wrote on Instagram, A lava bomb you say? Yes, a red-hot piece of lava ejected out the fissure vent, travelling hundreds of feet, cooling as the air whips past it.

He explains that the bombs look bright red, then quickly cool and turn black. When they land theyre still red hot inside and continue to smoke for several minutes.

Mr Barrios took photos of some lying about 600 feet from the fissure, which had been thrown from a height of at least 200 feet.

One wit who had seen his video said they are great, as long as they dont land on your head while another commented that they looked like Hawaiian cow pies.

The US Geological Survey said a recent lowering of the lava lake at the volcano's Halemaumau crater has raised the potential for explosive eruptions

Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, described 'spatter that is flying tens of meters into the air'

Three new fissures spewing magma have opened on Hawaii's Big Island, piling lava as high as a four-story building as the US Geological Survey warned that more outbreaks were likely

A Hawaiian Volcano Observatory status report, issued today, said that an eruption of lave has continued from the northeast end of the active fissure system. A volcanic fissure is a vent through which lava erupts.

The report adds: As of late today, activity was dominated by lava fountaining, explosion of spatter bombs hundreds of feet into the air and several advancing lava flow lobes moving generally northeast from fissure 17 at the northeast end of the new fissure system. Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated.

It also warned that communities downslope of the fissures could be at risk from lava inundation. Activity can change rapidly.

As for the Kilauea Volcano Summit, there has been a robust plume of steam and volcanic gas, occasionally mixed with ash. More explosive activity generating larger ash clouds remains possible and can occur with no warning.

Another fissure, the 17th since the lava flows began May 3, opened about 6pm local time, venting gases the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. Early Sunday morning, an 18th fissure was reported near Hale Kamahina Loop Road along Highway 132

This map depicts 16 of the 18 fissures that have opened up on Hawaii's Big Island so far

A massive new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes within a zone where authorities had just ordered an evacuation

This handout photo shows an aerial view of slow lava-flow emerging from a new fissure just over a half mile northeast of the end of Hinalo Street on Monday morning

A massive 1,000ft-long new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano yesterday, hurling bursts of rock and magma into the air with an ear-piercing screech, as residents wait for a possible 'explosive eruption' at its summit.

Just hours later, another fissure opened - the 18th since May 3 - while scientists report that seismic activity remain 'elevated' at Kilauea's 4,000-feet-high summit.

Dozens of homes have been destroyed and more than 2,000 people forced to evacuate, but for many Hawaiians, the rivers of lava are a fact of life living at the mercy of the unstoppable Fire Goddess - Pele.

Closer to the summit, in the evacuated Leilani Estates neighborhood of about 1,500 people, explosions could be heard in the distance as steam rose from cracks in the roads.

'It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound lava bombs 100 feet into the air,' said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the 17th fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.

A crack in pasture land on Kilauea's east flank was the 16th recorded since the volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted eight days ago

Kilauea is threatening to blow its top in the coming days or weeks, after a week of sputtering lava and forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate. Above a resident is seen near the lava on Saturday

The new fissure (pictured) opened up on Saturday about a mile east of the existing vent system that has devastated the island's Leilani Estates neighborhood, close to several homes on the edge of the field

Three new fissures spewing magma opened Saturday on Hawaii's Big Island, piling lava as high as a four-story building as the US Geological Survey (USGS) warned that more outbreaks were likely.

A crack in pasture land on Kilauea's east flank was the 16th recorded since the volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted eight days ago.

Within hours of opening, the fissure had piled reddish-black lava about 40 feet high and at least 150 feet in length. Chunks of magma were being spewed 100 feet in the air.

Another fissure, the 17th since the lava flows began May 3, opened about 6pm local time, after which the 18th fissure was reported Sunday morning, on Hale Kamahina Loop Road along Highway 132.

Residents of Hale Kamahina Loop Road have been ordered to evacuate the area.

Video released on Saturday by the USGS shows footage of the Pu'u 'O'o crater in the eastern rift zone of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, after the crater's floor collapsed on April 30.

The floor collapsed after magma drained to the east along the east rift zone, the US Geological Survey said. The organization estimated the deepest part of the crater was 1,150 feet below the crater rim.

The collapse of the Puu Oo crater floor triggered an increase in earthquake activity and deformation along a large section of the rift zone.A father in Spain has been accused of raping his 15-year-old daughter and two of her friends after claiming he needed to rid them of evil spirits.

It is alleged that the man, known as Javier G D, repeatedly raped the victims at his home in Baix Llobregat, near Barcelona, while his wife let the abuse go on under their roof.

Javier claimed to be in the 'Order of Odin' which which required him to rape the girls or else their family members would be cursed with misfortune, the BBC reports.

The Spanish father is accused of raping his daughter and her two friends to 'rid them of evil spirits' (file photo)

Prosecutors will argue that he should get a 45-year prison sentence when he goes on trial in Barcelona on Thursday.

They also think his wife should get nine years in jail as an accomplice.

She was allegedly in the house during the rapes and even asked the girls 'how it had been'.

Javier claimed to be in the 'Order of Odin' which which required him to rape the girls or else their family members would be cursed with misfortune, the BBC reports.

The case comes after a court acquitted five men of rape charges for an attack on a young woman during a bull-running festival in Pamplona.

All five were jailed for nine years on a lesser charge of sexual abuse.

The verdict triggered public anger and an outpouring of personal stories of male abuse on social media.The White House anticipates a Democratic House will vote to impeach President Trump  but that his opponents won't be able to muster the 67 Senate votes needed to throw him out of office.

Trump advisors in and outside the White House have begun speculating about scenarios months before voters even go to the polls for November elections that will be critical to what comes next for the Trump presidency.

If Democrats do take control of the chamber  which would fit traditional off-year patterns even as their edge in generic polls has narrowed in recent weeks  a far greater level of oversight and scrutiny is a certainty.

The White House is anticipating the House could vote to impeach President Trump if Democrats take control

Impeachment also could follow, even as House leaders urge caution in speaking about it.

'If we lose the House, it's a given that they'll try to get a vote to impeach,' an outside Trump advisor told the Washington Examiner.

White House advisors expect impeachment to prevail in the House, according to the report.

Although a Democratic House could use its majority to vote to impeach Trump, essentially charging him with a high crime or misdemeanor, his fate would be determined by the Senate, where essentially a trial would occur.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi warned fellow lawmakers against their push for impeachment now, saying it could hurt the party's chances of taking over.

'On the political side I think it's a gift to the Republicans,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said of impeachment talk

'I don't think we should be talking about impeachment. I've been very clear right from the start,' Pelosi told reporters last month.

'On the political side I think it's a gift to the Republicans,' she said. 'We want to talk about what they're doing to undermine working families in our country and what we are doing to increase their payrolls and lower their costs.'

Even if the House impeaches Trump, the Constitution sets a high two-thirds bar in the Senate. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., attend a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center

'No one serious that I know is worried about the Senate convicting,' a Trump advisor in New York told the paper.

A two-thirds majority of 67 votes would be required, making impeachment a tall order even if Democrats seize a narrow majority and get backed by the half dozen or so Republicans who have been willing to break with Trump on occasional issues.

The scenarios are ''being discussed' said a Trump insider.

The key unknown factor is what special counsel Robert Mueller will put in his report at the conclusion of the Russia probe, which hits its one-year anniversary this week.

Any particularly damming assertions of obstruction of justice might not expose Trump to criminal prosecution while in office, but still could reshape the political environment.

DIDN'T WORK: Pres. Bill Clinton (C) speaking in White House Rose Garden, apologizing for behavior which led to House vote to impeach him, vowing to stay in office to the last hour,

The vote of 55-45 that acquitted President Clinton of perjury on the first article of impeachment is shown on official Senate TV, following the roll call vote February 12

House GOP leaders and rank-and-file members have shown great reluctance to criticize Trump, concluding their fates were tied together. That could change if Trump suddenly becomes a liability.

As of now, GOP lawmakers consider him a potent force who can help raise funds and campaign in their districts. In last week's Senate primary in West Virginia, Trump's intervention on Twitter may have helped Don Blankenship, who served a year in jail for mining violations, from winning.Army Special Forces veteran Tim Kennedy claims to have waterboarded himself in an attempt to prove 'it's not torture'.

The UFC fighter released a video which showed him lying on a table, without any restraints, in a sunny backyard, with a cloth over his face.

He was accompanied by friends, one of whom filmed the stunt on his cellphone, while the other held a hose, from a height, and poured water over Kennedy's face.

Army Special Forces veteran Tim Kennedy claims to have waterboarded himself in an attempt to prove 'it's not torture'

'We did this yesterday for almost 45 minutes,' Kennedy claimed in the Facebook post accompanying the clip. The 'waterboarding' itself actually lasted for 30 minutes - with plenty of breaks so the veteran could cheerily address the camera.

'It was a baptism in freedom. It's not torture!!!! Hell we had elk tacos and wine afterwards. Wake up people. #waterboarding.'

Kennedy, a Green Beret, released the clip to show support for Gina Haspel, Donald Trump's pick to lead the CIA. Haspel, who ran a secret prison in Thailand and worked at other CIA blacksites, has come under fire for her use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on inmates. She has pledged not to use such interrogation techniques in the future.

The UFC fighter released a ten second video which showed him lying on a table, without any restraints, in his sunny backyard, with a cloth over his face

He is accompanied by friends, one of whom films the stunt on his cellphone, while the other holds a hose, from a height, and pours water over Kennedy's face

However, many have criticized Kennedy's attempts to trivialize waterboarding, pointing out that being 'waterboarded' by your buddies in a safe, controlled environment - where you are unrestrained and free to stop the experiment or pull of the cloth at any time - cannot compare to the severe psychological - and often physical - trauma imposed on inmates subjected to the real thing by trained operatives.

'Wrong. That's not how it's done. You're just holding your breath,' counter-terrorism expert Malcolm Nance responded to Kennedy's video on Twitter.

'As a former SERE instructor & #Waterboarding qual'd resistance team member I can tell you it's about aggression, intent, tiedown, pour technique, rate of flow & other factors. It's a Nazis/Commie torture. Deal w/it,' he continued.

'They're confusing torture with the ice bucket challenge,' Sean Ketchem PhD added.

Others compared the stunt to 'a day at White Water' or 'a sip and slide.'

Another tweeted that the stunt was irrelevant as it proved nothing about what suspects suffer in a real waterboarding situation.

'Waterboarding yourself under safe conditions to make an extraneous point,' they wrote.

Others pointed out that waterboarding was rarely used in isolation on terror suspects, or in some cases innocent men later cleared of terror charges.

'Cool, now keep him awake for 72 hours, force a hydration tube up his a** and bury him alive, don't forget to drop some insects in there. Try reading the rest of the report,' Dell Cameron tweeted at Kennedy.

Senate reports state that some suspects were forced into tiny boxes for hours, deprived of sleep for days, fed by rectal rehydration, left in stress positions and even had a mock burial - to name just a few of the brutal techniques used after 9/11.

Kennedy posted the video after the backlash over Haspel, who was chosen to lead the CIA. She faced a fierce grilling on her use of torture in her Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week.

'The reason we are doing this ... is for us to have a conversation. Right now, an amazing hero has been appointed to be director of the CIA and because of that, some of the things she has done are being attacked,' said Kennedy.

Kennedy, a Green Beret, released the clip to show support for Gina Haspel (pictured) Donald Trump's pick to lead the CIA

Kennedy, 38, who joined the 7th Special Forces Group in 2007, served on Operational Detachments Alpha and was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom multiple times.

The married father-of-two, who is a friend of InfoWars' Alex Jones, also competed as an Ultimate Fighting Champion while in the Army, retiring from the sport last year.

Kennedy wrote on Twitter last week that 'waterboarding is not torture.'

'If I can change one person's mind about what torture is and what I would do to protect American freedom, I will do this for years,' Kennedy said in the video.

However, not everyone was unhappy with the video. Some praised Kennedy for his willingness to undergo a version of waterboarding, while another tweeted: "i like when the waterboarding debate comes up bc whenever it does conservatives always start waterboarding themselves to prove a point.'Alan Dershowitz isn't an official member of President Trump's legal team, but the Harvard Law professor did score an invite to the historic opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem Monday.

Dershowitz, who has been among Trump's staunchest defenders of the Russia probe on Cable news, could be seen in the audience for the event, which was attended by Ivanka Trump, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and other notables.

He was seated next to former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Dershowitz tweeted last month about his thoughts on 'why our desire to 'get Trump' risks the death of civil liberties,' and complained in an op-ed following the FBI raid on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen that 'witnesses are owned lock, stock and barrel by the prosecution' and can be pressured to 'flip.'

WELL-PLACED: Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who has been a vigorous defender of Donald Trump in the Russia probe, traveled to Jerusalem for the opening of the new U.S. embassy. He was seated near Ivanka Trump

Another leading lawyer, Abbe Lowell, was also spotted at the event. He could be seen standing and clapping at the start of the ceremony marking the controversial move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv.

Lowell represented Kushner as he navigated congressional Russia probes and faced issues with his failure to disclose dozens of foreign contacts on government forms.

He is considered one of the top criminal defense lawyers in Washington. He didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Israel.

Jay Sekulow, who is one of President Trump's outside lawyers contending with the Russia probe, also made the trek to the Holy Land. He posted about the trip on the web site for his American Center for Law and Justice.

Dershowitz stood and clapped alongside former Sen. Joe Lieberman at the opening ceremony. Jared Kushner's lawyer Abbe Lowell can be seen standing and clapping to their right

Dershowitz exchanged brief words with Kushner after the event

Businessman Sheldon Adelson arrives ahead of the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. At least thirty-seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire Monday as tens of thousands protested and clashes erupted along the Gaza border against the US transfer of its embassy to Jerusalem, after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent

I BROUGHT MY LAWYER: White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. 'I am so proud to be here in Jerusalem,' Kushner told dignitaries in a televised ceremony

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow

His presence brought to three the number of top Trump-connected lawyers on hand for the event. The president himself sent a video message and dispatched Vice President Mike Pence.

'Today the U.S. embassy officially moves to Jerusalem  a victory decades in the making,' Sekulow wrote.

'I am in Jerusalem for the historic occasion. I can tell you that the United States recognition of the reality that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel will go down as historically very significant.'

Sekulow argued a landmark case for Jews for Jesus and affiliates with the group and is a self-described Messianic Jew.

He can be seen on YouTube where playing drums as the Jay Sekulow Band plays a song called Hope of Jerusalem.The foundation that supports the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is selling a black dress once owned by movie star Marilyn Monroe to raise funds to repay a loan used to buy artifacts relating to the 16th president.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation is putting nine items up for auction in Las Vegas June 23, including photos of the 1950s movie icon. Julien's Auctions says Marilyn's black wool dress could sell for $40,000 to $60,000 - or even more.

'Getting (Monroe) items is becoming more and more difficult,' Darren Julien, whose company is handling the bidding, said. 'The supplys less and less, but demands more and more because you have people in Asia and Russia and all over the world that are collecting pop culture - especially Marilyn Monroe.'

The Lincoln Presidential Library is auctioning off this dress that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe in order to settle a $10million debt. The three-quarter-length, long-sleeved dress with a scooped neck is the centerpiece of nine items is the star item on sale

The auctioneer estimates Marilyn's is worth $40,000 to $60,000, but could sell for much more.

The Springfield, Illinois library's foundation borrowed $23million in 2007 to buy several Lincoln items. They have whittled the debt down to $10million, but are having troubles coming up with the extra money

Just two years ago, the dress Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy on his birthday sold for $4.8million at the auction.

This dress is not iconic like that one, but has been authenticated and therefore expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars.

The foundation owes about $10million on a 2007 loan it used to buy items purportedly belonging to Lincoln, including a stovepipe hat, bloodstained gloves Lincoln wore from the night he was killed and an 1824 book.

The Monroe dress was obtained during this purchase, from the private collection of Louise Taper.

The library obtained a stovepipe hat that once belonged to the president in the 2007 purchase

They also obtained the bloodied gloves Lincoln was wearing the night he was shot

The foundation paid $25million and borrowed $23million. The note is due in October 2019.

The library is run by the state government, which also houses the items. But the foundation is funded privately and run separately.

The foundation has previously petitioned the governor and state lawmakers for more funding, but have been unsuccessful so far.A video captured a violent fight inside a Wisconsin resort on Saturday.

The wild brawl was started by two families at the Mt Olympus resort in the Wisconsin Dells, according to witness Joey Ney.

Ney started recording a video of the fight soon after it broke out.

The footage shows at least 15 people yelling, throwing punches and tossing plastic chairs inside a large dining room at the $50-per-night mountain lodge.

A brawl broke out between two families at Mt Olympus Resort in Wisconsin on Saturday. A video shows guests yelling, throwing punches and tossing plastic chairs inside a dining room

It's unclear what caused the violent altercation that escalated quickly as more people joined in

Ney said that while the altercation was initially between two families, it quickly escalated as other guests joined in.

In the video two men can be seen engaged in hand-to-hand combat next to another duo who'd chosen brown plastic camping chairs as their weapons of choice.

An emergency bell rings in the background.

One of the men lifts a chair over his head and hurls it at a man in a yellow shirt, who manages to dodge the hit.

The man in yellow then picks up the chair and swiftly turns around to slam it down on another man who drops to the ground.

Above one man can be seen lifting a plastic camping chair above his head before slamming it down. Behind him another man appears to be preparing to toss a large trash can

Several other people can be seen trying to intervene and stop the fight, but with little success.

One attempted mediator even gets pulled to the ground by a woman in the middle of the fray.

Around 15 seconds into the video a resort employee walks in front of the camera ordering bystanders to back away from the brawl.

Behind the employee the man in the yellow shirt can be seen kicking a man on the ground.

Halfway through the minute-long video the footage cuts to another angle and it appears that the brawl is over, until another punch is thrown and mayhem breaks out once again.

Several people attempted to intervene and stop the fight but with limited success. Above one attempted mediator lies on the ground after being knocked over

A man without a shirt picks up a trash can and chucks it at another man before lunging at him.

Ney can be heard saying 'Holy sh*t!' from behind the camera before the recording cuts off.

Lake Delton police have yet to release a statement about the incident, and it is unclear what caused it.

Ney's video was posted to Storyful on Sunday.Immigrants coming to Australia on a regional-sponsored visa would be forced to stay in the country under a new policy being considered by the Federal Government.

Sydney's population increased by more than 100,000 people in 2017 and more than 80 per cent were from overseas.

The Home Affairs Department is looking into how they can 'bind people to a regional area,' First Assistant Secretary David Wilden told the Daily Telegraph.

Immigrants coming to Australia on a regional-sponsored visa would be forced to stay in the country under a policy being considered by the Federal Government

'One of the complaints we often get from sponsors is that migrants come as permanent residents and are not actually bound under law to stay in a regional area,' he said.

The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme 187 visa allows skilled workers to apply for permanent residency with the sponsorship of an Australian employer.

Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge told the Daily Telegraph he has been discussing the issue with his Coalition colleagues during recent regional visits.

The Home Affairs Department is looking into how they can 'bind people to a regional area

'Many migrants are sponsored for permanent residence on the basis of an intent to live and work in regional Australia but don't stay long in the region once they have their permanent visa,' he said.

'This has been a key issue for discussion during my recent visits to regional areas over recent weeks.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Department of Home Affairs for comment.Whitsun is coming up soon.

Also commonly referred to as Pentecost, Whitsun is one of the holiest days in Christianity and dates back to Biblical times.

Heres all you need to know about when Whitsun is, what Pentecost is and when the remaining bank holidays are in the United Kingdom.

Whitsun 2018, also known as Pentecost, will soon be celebrated on May 20 by Christians

When is Whitsun 2018?

Whitsun will soon be held on Sunday, May 20, 2018.

Whit Monday will follow the next day on Monday, May 21, 2018.

That day was formerly a bank holiday in the UK, though it was ultimately replaced with the last Monday in May as a permanent date starting in 1967.

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost is a holiday in Christianity thats celebrated 50 days after Easter is held.

Often referred to as Whitsun in the UK and Ireland, the day is widely seen as the birth date of the Christian church by Catholics. For Christians, it marks the arrival of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, as they believe it appeared to the followers of Jesus Christ and his apostles exactly 50 days after Easter.

The event is a joyous occasion, with many ministers often wearing robes with red embroidery to symbolize the flames in which Christ descended to Earth on.

The origins of the holiday state that the Holy Spirit first appeared during the Shavout, the Jewish harvest festival. The Holy Spirits appearance caused the apostles to suddenly speak in foreign tongues and was accompanied by a strong, sudden wind.

In Eastern Christianity, Pentecost also refers to the entire 50 days of Passover including the holiday itself. Eastern churches will celebrate the holiday starting on May 27.

Let me know if you have any intentions you'd like us to pray for during our novena to Mary, Queen of Apostles. It also excites me that this novena and the novena for Pentecost always overlap!! Watch out, graces are coming!! #ComeHolySpirit  pic.twitter.com/7NmnsrdDxJ  Sister Andrew Marie (@SrAndrewFSP) May 10, 2018

When are the 2018 bank holidays?

The remaining bank holidays for 2018 are as follows, although Northern Ireland and Scotland could vary:A British holidaymaker has been killed by a hit-and-run drink driver in the Algarve holiday resort of Albufeira.

The unnamed tourist is believed to have been with his son when he was hit on a zebra crossing by a McDonald's just after midnight on Monday.

He was rushed to a nearby health centre but died of his injuries shortly after arrival.

A 54-year-old British tourist died in the early hours of Monday after being hit by an alleged drink driver while using a zebra crossing in Albufeira, Portugal

A 25-year-old French man has been arrested over the crash after witnesses gave police his number plate and a description

A 25-year-old Frenchman has been arrested on suspicion of causing the deadly crash after being tracked down by police who were given the number plate of the car and a description by witnesses.

Images broadcast on Portuguese TV showed him handcuffed on the floor next to a Skoda with a badly damaged bonnet and windscreen. It is believed the vehicle is a hire car.

State prosecutors said he had failed a breath test before being taken into custody.

They confirmed in a statement the British man was 54 years old, although local reports initially described him as being in his sixties and said he was accompanied by his 22-year-old son when he was knocked over.

The hit-and-run, which happened on a main road running through Albufeira called Avenida dos Descobrimentos, occurred less than 24 hours after an 81-year-old Portuguese woman was run over and killed near the same spot.

The British man's autopsy was due to be carried out on Monday afternoon at Portimao's Institute of Forensic Medicine.

A spokesman for local prosecutors said of the hit-and-run that caused his death: 'The incident occurred at ten minutes past midnight.

'The victim is a 54-year-old British man. The driver of the vehicle, a French national, left the scene without stopping to help him.

The man is believed to have been knocked down in front of his 22-year-old son outside this McDonald's shortly after midnight on Monday

'He was subsequently intercepted by the GNR police. He failed a breath test and was arrested.'

The manslaughter suspect, who is said to have told traffic cops he was unaware he had hit anyone, is expected to appear before a judge in a closed court hearing in the next few hours.

Judicial authorities are set to decide whether to remand him in custody or release him on bail pending an ongoing criminal probe.

On Sunday a 73-year-old British holidaymaker was killed by a train as she walked across a level crossing by Meia Praia beach close to Lagos further west along the Algarve.

She was with a friend who was offered trauma counselling after the tragedy.

The unnamed woman tourist died instantly after being hit around 10.30am.

An investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.A student who was sexually abused by his teacher has opened up saying he felt 'let down' by members of the school community who knew about the grooming.

The male victim said he wore a tight swimming costume to school everyday to protect himself from his former teacher.

Shane Andrew Matthews, 31, has pleaded guilty to 33 counts of child sexual abuse at Wattle Grove Public School from 2011 and 2015, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Shane Andrew Matthews, 33, taught at Wattle Grove Public school. The former teacher groomed 15 students - who were aged between 10 and 12 years old

'You are supposed to be safe at school and I was let down,' a victim told Campbelltown District Court on Monday.

He added: 'I felt scared and frustrated, I didnt know what to do and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to stop it.'

The former teacher groomed 15 students - who were aged between 10 and 12 years old.

Matthews has pleaded guilty to 33 counts of child sexual abuse at Wattle Grove Public School from 2011 and 2015.

Matthews admitted to sexually abusing and grooming young students on 'Superhero' days  where he dressed up as 'Captain Obvious'

Most of the abuse took place in a classroom during lessons and private tutorials.

He groomed the students by using fake money and prizes on 'Superhero' days  where he dressed up as 'Captain Obvious'.

The victims are now trying to come to terms and deal with the abuse years on.

One of the student's presented a victim impact statement to the court.

It read: 'Mr Matthews destroyed that innocence in me and I dont know how to get that back.'

Another victim wrote: 'I felt scared because I had this dark secret within me ... I didnt think people would believe me.'

Matthews has pleaded guilty to 33 offences including persistent sexual abuse of a child and procuring a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activity.

He will be sentenced in the NSW District Court at a later date.Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are reportedly the subjects of a new, non-flattering book being written by journalist Vicky Ward.

The writer has reached out to multiple people in the couple's inner circle but no one will give up any dirt on them, sources told Page Six.

Among the people Ward has contacted for her new book are Kushner's father Charles, as well as his brother Josh and his girlfriend Karlie Kloss.

None of them are believed to be cooperating with Ward.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner (pictured above in Jerusalem on Monday) are reportedly the subjects of a new, non-flattering book being written by journalist Vicky Ward

Ward, who worked for Vanity Fair and is now editor-at-large of Huff Post, has not commented on the details about her book deal.

She once interviewed Donald Trump for her last book The Liar's Ball, published in 2014, which detailed the sale of New York's billion dollar GM Building.

Ward has previously been critical of both the First Daughter and her husband in the wake of them taking up roles as presidential advisers to Trump.

She once said that Ivanka had no influence in the White House and her main objective was to sell her clothing line.

'What is she doing policy-wise? Nothing. But what she is doing is wearing clothes. She's in a business that sells clothes, shoes. That's what she does,' Ward said in an interview last year with Democracy Now.

Vicky Ward, who has two books to her name, contacted Kushner's father Charles, as well as his brother Josh and his girlfriend Karlie Kloss but they would not cooperate with her

'They're very good at public relations, Jared and Ivanka. They've just hired a Hollywood public relations person. I know from personal experience, having reported on them, having reported on Jared, all the leaks... you know, every time you see a person close to Jared, that is Jared talking.'

Ward also said during that interview that she was spending half her time in Washington DC looking at the 'commercialization of the White House' and what she described has 'horrifying kleptocracy'.

'The White House is turning into the Kushner piggy bank and the Trump piggy bank. It's outrageous,' Ward said.

Another book, written by Vanity Fair reporter Emily Jane Fox, is slated to be published next month.

The book explores the lives of President Trump's five children, as well as his son-in-law Kushner.President Donald Trump defended his decision this afternoon to revisit penalties for Chinese company ZTE for flouting U.S. sanctions on trade with Iran, saying the telecom maker is a big buyer for U.S. suppliers.

'ZTE, the large Chinese phone company, buys a big percentage of individual parts from U.S. companies. This is also reflective of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi,' Trump said on Monday.

Trump, known for his fiery rhetoric against Chinese trade practices he says hurt U.S. jobs, faced backlash from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers after he pledged to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help ZTE, saying too many jobs in China had been lost.

President Donald Trump defended his decision this afternoon to revisit penalties for Chinese company ZTE for flouting U.S. sanctions on trade with Iran, saying the telecom maker is a big buyer for U.S. suppliers

Trump, known for his fiery rhetoric against Chinese trade practices he says hurt U.S. jobs, faced backlash from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers after he pledged to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help ZTE, saying too many jobs in China had been lost

ZTE said on May 6, 2018 it applied to the U.S. Commerce Department to suspend a seven-year ban on doing business with U.S. technology exporters

Shares of ZTE suppliers rose after Trump's pledges to help ZTE. Acacia Communications Inc, an optical component maker, jumped nearly 9 percent

The company shut its main operations after the Commerce Department banned U.S. companies from selling components to ZTE for seven years after it violated the terms of a settlement deal for illegally shipping goods made with U.S. parts to Iran and North Korea.

ZTE paid more than $2.3 billion to 211 U.S. exporters in 2017, a senior ZTE official said on Friday. U.S. companies are estimated to provide 25 percent to 30 percent of components used in ZTE's smartphones, network gear and other products.

The U.S. Commerce Department is exploring options besides a supplier ban to punish ZTE , China's second-largest telecom maker, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

'ZTE did do some inappropriate things ... the question is are there alternative remedies to the ones we had originally put forward and that's the area we will be exploring very, very promptly,' Ross told journalists at the National Press Club in Washington.

On Monday ZTE declined comment, and Ross did not provide details about options under consideration.

Trump in a Sunday tweet, said, 'President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast.

'Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!'

He said in a follow up message, 'China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!'

Trump's olive branch comes as his top trade and economic officials prepare to meet this week in Washington with Chinese Vice Premier Liu for talks on trade concerns ranging from intellectual property protections to farm goods to steel capacity

Shares of ZTE suppliers rose after Trump's pledge. Acacia Communications Inc, an optical component maker, jumped nearly 9 percent.

Washington export control lawyer Doug Jacobson, who represents ZTE suppliers, said Trump's tweet 'gives ZTE light at the end of the tunnel.'

Since the ZTE ban went into effect last month, U.S. suppliers have sought guidance from the Commerce Department about inventory.

The companies would like to withdraw the inventory so they can sell the components elsewhere. But in a possible indication the government is considering easing the ban, suppliers are being told to wait a week or so before taking further action, a source familiar with the situation said.

Trump's olive branch comes as his top trade and economic officials prepare to meet this week in Washington with Chinese Vice Premier Liu for talks on trade concerns ranging from intellectual property protections to farm goods to steel capacity.

The president has threatened $150 billion in tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, and China has threatened to retaliate against U.S. exports, including soybeans and aircraft.

Ross said 'the gap remains wide' on how to address the trade imbalance between the two nations.

Sources briefed on the matter said Beijing demanded the ZTE issue be resolved as a prerequisite for broader trade talks.

The Wall Street Journal reported Beijing would back away from threats to slap tariffs on U.S. farm goods in exchange for easing the ban on selling components to ZTE, citing people in both countries briefed on the emerging deal.

Two sources, who declined to be identified, told Reuters on Sunday China was willing in principle to import more U.S. agriculture products in return for Washington smoothing out penalties against ZTE.

A U.S. official briefed on the matter said a possible deal involving ZTE and U.S. agriculture products could include Chinese concessions to allow completion of Qualcomm Inc's $44 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors, which has been delayed by a lengthy antitrust review by Chinese regulators.

U.S. intelligence officials on Sunday evening and Monday said they were caught off guard by Trumps reversal and remained concerned about security threats they said the Chinese company poses to the United States and its allies.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, three officials said the Chinese government, which has close ties to ZTE, could use its mobile phones and other technology to spy on U.S. citizens, companies and government activities.

The U.S. Commerce Department is exploring options besides a supplier ban to punish ZTE , China's second-largest telecom maker, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday

By handing the decision to the Commerce Department, Trump appeared to prioritize commercial issues over security concerns, and cut national security officials out of the process, they said.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House's intelligence panel, also warned Trump Sunday, 'Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat. You should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs.'

And Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the upper chamber's intel committee, moved Monday to keep the federal government or its subsidiaries or contractors from purchasing communications equipment from ZTE.

GOP leader in the Senate John Cornyn and reliable Trump ally Tom Cotton co-signed a previous version of the legislation.

Under questioning from Cotton about ZTE and another company, Huawei, in February, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau is 'deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that does not share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks.

'That provides the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure. It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information, and it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage,' he said.

'So, at a 100,000 foot level, at least in this setting, those are the kind of things that worry us.'

Rubio, Cornyn and Cotton's legislation would prevent the U.S. government from buying or leasing equipment Huawei, the largest Chinese telecom maker, as well as ZTE.

'I hope this isn't the beginning of backing down to China,' Rubio said on Twitter after Trump's latest announcement. 'We are crazy to allow them to operate in U.S. without tighter restrictions.'

The White House said Trump wanted Ross to look at the issue 'consistent with applicable laws and regulations' after Chinese officials raised the matter in various talks.

'He's been tough,'Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said. 'I mean this President has taken China to task for its unfair trade practices through this Section 301 investigation.'

Shah rested his case on the $150 billion of tariffs on China for intellectual property and trade violations that Trump has threatened.

'So he's been tough and he's confronted them,' Shah argued. 'But on this issue specifically, he's asked the Secretary of Commerce to take a look at it.

The president's spokesman told reporters, 'This is part of a very complex relationship between the United States and China that involves economic issues, national security issues, and the like.

'It's an issue of high concern for China that's been raised with the U.S. -- with the U.S. government and with our administration at various levels,' he acknowledged.



An argument over a serving of peach cobbler led to a truck stop shooting in Mississippi.

Stanley Woodson was arrested and charged with attempted murder after he allegedly shot a man in the back during a fight with a server at Joe Joe's Travel Center truck stop in Red Banks, Mississippi, on May 9.

Witnesses said that Woodson was unhappy about the number of peaches that were doled out in his serving of peach cobbler and was arguing with the woman who had given him the food.

Logan Novascone, 23, said he was shot in the back after telling a man, angry about his peach cobbler, to stop cursing at an employee at a Mississippi truck stop

Woodson was said to be angry about the lack of peaches given to him in his peach cobbler

Bystander Logan Novascone, 23, of Byhalia, Mississippi, a regular patron of the truck stop, told WREG that he was at the truck stop buying his usual Coke at the time of the argument.

Woodson 'started cursing her out, so I put my Coke on the counter. I was like, "Dude, you aren't going to talk to them like that,"' Novascone said, adding that he stood up for the truck stop employee, not expecting the situation to get any more heated than an argument.

On Facebook, Novascone wrote that Woodson didn't say anything back to him in response, so Novascone exited the truck stop and headed for his car.

Woodson apparently followed him outside, though.

Stanley Woodson (left) was arrested after allegedly shooting Novascone in the back

The incident occurred at Joe Joe's Travel Center in Red Banks, Mississippi, on May 9

The day after the incident, Novascone wrote about what happened on his Facebook page

Novascone said that Woodson went to his own car, which he'd parked at a gas pump, opened the trunk and pulled out a gun, then started shooting at Novascone.

'Pow, pow! He reached over the car and shot again,' Novascone recalled. 'The only thing I could think of was that Dumpster.'

He said that, all told, Woodson fired seven shots at him as he dove for cover, one of which hit him in the back.

'I thought, really, I was dead. I was done,' Novascone said.

'I don't know what's wrong with this world,' Novascone wrote on Facebook the day after he was shot. 'All I do know is the dear Lord was looking out for me that day it wasn't my time.'

Although Novascone said he would '100 per cent' stand up for the store employee again, despite the risk of getting shot, he told WREG, 'Put up the guns. Let's go with these hands if you want to go.'MPs today tore into ministers for the failures surrounding the Grenfell Tower disaster as it emerged two thirds of those left homeless have still not been give new homes a year after the tragedy.

Labour politicians said Theresa May had 'failed' to ensure the public inquiry into the inferno represented the communities torn apart by it.

And 11 months after the blaze tore through the tower block, most of those displaced by it are still living in hotel rooms and temporary accommodation, MPs heard.

Meanwhile, local housing associations in the borough of Kensington where the fire happened, and other nearby boroughs are still selling off their homes.

The revelations were made in a packed debate into Grenfell Tower and the public inquiry into it in Parliament's Westminster hall today.

MP (pictured standing for a 72 second silence to remember the Grenfell victims in parliament today) tore into ministers for failing to do enough in the wake of Grenfell as they insisted lessons must be learnt from the tragedy

Labour MP David Lammy (pictured in today's debate in Parliament) who lost his friend Khadija Saye, 24, said most of those left homeless are still living in temporary accommodation and hotel rooms

Labour MP David Lammy, who lost his friend Khadija Saye, 24, in the fire, said: 'From the start the Prime Minister has failed to recognise who this inquiry is actually for.

'Today nearly one year on from the Grenfell fire disaster, and despite all the promises that have been made, 72 Grenfell households are still living in hotel rooms, a further 64 are still in temporary accommodation, and only a third have been housed.'

He said the public inquiry must gain the trust of the community who lost their family, friends and homes in the inferno - Britain's worst post war fire.

Mr Lammy said: 'The inquiry...is for everyone who is grieving and carrying around the loss like a scar burning in their soul.....its for the people still living in hotel rooms 11 months on.

'The people have been badly let down...of course there is deep mistrust. Of course they have no faith in the Government or the establishment.'

labour MP Emma Dent Coad, pictured, with red hair, centre) joined other MPs in bowing their heads for the silence ahead of the debate

Some 72 people were killed as a result of the fire (pictured) - Britain's worst post war blaze

Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster north, said she had been left 'shocked' the London Housing associations 'are still auctioning properties on the open market in areas like Kensington and Hammersmith...when there is a possibility some of those properties could be used to meet the needs.'

The emotional debate started with a 72-second silence in memory of all those killed as a result of the fire.

And Tory MP opened it by reading out the names of the 72 people killed.

Emma Dent Coad, the local Labour MP in Kensington, said the epopele of Grenfell have bene let down time and again by ministers.

She said: 'On 15 June 2017 the day after the fire, while the tower was still smoldering the then communities secretary said funding would be available to families...and guaranteed that every local family would be re-homed in the local area - a guarantee not delivered.'

Ms Dent-Coad said the local housing team are 'on their knees' and desperately need the Government to step in to hep them.

The debate was called after over 100,000 people signed a petition calling for the public inquiry to be broadened to reflect the diversity of the community.

Members of the community were in Westminster Hall to watch the debate as others staged a protest in parliament Square outside.Peter Dalglish, 60, who was arrested last month at his home in Nepal has been charged with raping children after he was allegedly found with two young boys, 12 and 14

A prominent Canadian aid worker who was arrested last month at his home in Nepal has been charged with sexually abusing children.

Peter Dalglish was arrested at his home with two Nepalese boys aged 12 and 14 when police performed a raid on his idyllic mountainside home in Nagarkot, near Kathmandu on April 8, according to Central Investigation Bureau chief Pushkar Karki.

Karki said Dalglish was charged with raping the two boys and faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities said Dalglish, 60, lured children from poor families with promises of education, jobs and trips, and then sexually abused them.

Investigators followed Dalglish for weeks after they received information about alleged abuses, Karki said.

He said officials plan to expand their investigation because they have found evidence linked to cases of child abuse more than 12 years ago, but he would not elaborate.

According to The Globe and Mail, the father of one of the boys found inside Dalglish's home said both children gave police graphic explanations of the man's alleged sexual contact with them.

Dalglish, who received the Order of Canada in 2016, denied the allegations to through his lawyer, Rahul Chapagain, who said Dalglish will plead not guilty.

Chapagain said the photographs found in Dalglish's home of children, some who were naked, were similar to those an ordinary tourist would take of children living in poverty.

Dalglish was charged with raping the two boys on Monday and faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted

Dalglish was arrested after he was found with the two Nepalese boys when police performed a raid on his idyllic mountainside home (pictured) in Nagarkot, near Kathmandu on April 8, according to Central Investigation Bureau chief Pushkar Karki

Dalglish himself, speaking from behind bars, told the paper he had a clean criminal record, and had simply been targeted because of his close work with young children.

'If you do the work that I do, with kids, you leave yourself open to criticism. And suspicion,' he said last month.

Dalglish has held various posts, some senior, with UN agencies in Nepal, Kabul, Afghanistan and Liberia.

He has also been appointed Senior Urban Advisor to the World Health Organization to help coordinate global efforts to stop the spread of Ebola.

In his most recent posting in 2015, he was the UNs country representative in Kabul.

Detectives claim the lawyer-turned-charity boss has been abusing children in Nepal for 15 years, after a young man in his mid-20s made historical allegations against him.

Officers said they were tipped off by workers from another charity three months ago, but also received intelligence from a foreign law enforcement agency more recently, and were following Dalglish prior to the arrest.

Initial investigations revealed that he had been targeting children from poor financial backgrounds and sexually abusing them, Karki said.

Karki told The Mail on Sunday that Dalglish believed his status would make him invulnerable, adding: Those things made it easy for him to prey on those kids. And then they would be silenced, because he has got so much influence.

Nepal lacks clear laws on crimes related to pedophilia. A new set of regulations dealing with sexual offenses against children will take effect in August.

Dalglish, who worked at the UN for 30 years, has denied the allegations against him. Dalglish, whose net worth has been estimated at nearly $7million USD, has met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Princess Anne through his humanitarian work

Officials said six foreigners have been arrested in Nepal in the past two years on allegations of sexually abusing underage children.

Dalglish's case is being heard by a court in Kavre, a town near Kathmandu.

Staff at various UN agencies have urgently been investigating Dalglishs past activities.

The married father-of-one founded global charity Street Kids International (SKI), which is now part of London-based Save the Children.

He said he was inspired to help youngsters by the 1984 Ethiopian famine, which gave rise to Band Aid and Live Aid, and in his autobiography he writes of meeting Bob Geldof the following year at a camp in Sudan.

He recalled watching refugee children cluster around Geldof and observed: I have always believed that many kids come with a built-in radar that tells them which adults they can trust and which they should fear.

Dalglish, whose net worth has been estimated at nearly $7million USD, has met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Princess Anne through his humanitarian work.

About 15 years ago, he founded the Himalayan Community Foundation, providing healthcare and education to remote communities in Nepal.

Dalglishs UN career spans more than 30 years, and at various times he has held senior posts in the World Food Programme (WFP), Unicef, WHO, and UN-Habitat, the organizations home-building program.

Dalglish himself, speaking from behind bars, said he had a clean criminal record, and had simply been targeted because of his close work with young children

WFP said it was checking its records for the mid-1980s but had not yet found Dalglishs name  a spokesman added that he could have been a local appointment.

UN-Habitat revealed that Dalglish worked for it between 2010 and 2015, but there have not been any reports or allegations on any misconduct during his tenure.

WHO said it was shocked at the allegations but added that no complaints had been made against him.

Save the Children said Dalglish had never worked for the charity, adding: Save the Children acquired one of SKIs programs and some of its assets in 2015.

Unicef said they were reviewing their records. Sir Bob Geldof declined to comment.

Officials said he also helped families who lost their homes during a devastating Nepal earthquake in 2015 that killed 9,000 people and damaged nearly a million houses.Although few know of it, Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle while the couple was in the middle of cooking a roast chicken for dinner. So perhaps its only appropriate that KFC is getting in on the act.

In celebration of the upcoming Royal Wedding, the American fast food chain has designed lavish and regal commemorative chicken buckets for the occasion. Only 50 of the unique buckets will be available at the franchises Windsor location on Dedworth Road.

According to Mashable, a KFC spokesperson said in a statement: When we discovered Prince Harry proposed over a roast chicken, we simply had to show our support for the big occasion.

50 special commemorative Royal Wedding buckets will be available in Windsor, England

The commemorative buckets, officially known as Royal Wedding Buckets, contains American and British flags alongside a classic regal crest with a unique twist to it.

'Featuring resplendent gold flourishes, the bucket is embellished with a classic regal crest, proudly adorned with both British and American flags,' according to KFC.

The buckets will be priced at 10.49 for the cardboard version, but 50 more, made from bone china, are also going to be sold via the app.

When is the Royal Wedding?

The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be held on Sunday, May 19, 2018.

Where is the Royal Wedding?

The wedding will be held at St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. The reception will be held at the nearby Frogmore House and reportedly feature no alcohol limit and a private concert by Grime artist Stormzy.A family caught up in the Manchester bomb attack are furious after being told they are not entitled to compensation - as they weren't close enough to the bomb blast.

Leisa Cohen, 52, was in the Manchester Arena last May when Salman Abedi detonated explosives, killing 22.

Mrs Cohen husband Brian and daughter Shannon, 17 escaped serious injury but Shannon still suffers flash backs to this day.

Leisa also injured her knee in the incident, but the family have now being told they are not entitled to compensation.

Families are consoled by emergency services after the Manchester Arena terror attack in May 2017. Some people have been told that they will not be compensated from an official fund

A man embraces a woman and a teenager as he collects them from the Park Inn Hotel where they were given refuge after the Manchester Arena terror attack in which 22 died

The We Love Manchester Emergency Fund said that the family were not eligible for money as they were not in the foyer when the bomb went off.

Fans had flocked to watch pop star Ariana Grande sing at the Manchester Arena

Leisa, of Shebbear, Devon, said: 'There's no way we're saying that the bereaved and those with life-changing injuries shouldn't have the bulk of the fund but it seems unfair that there's a two-tier situation of those who were in the foyer and those who weren't.

'We've suffered flashbacks and anxiety attacks and I am constantly worrying about my daughter.

'We've had no help from the fund, no help from the NHS, no support and there are a lot of us who feel let down.'

Shannon, who was 16-years-old at the time, took her GCSE English language exam just a fortnight following the ordeal.

Leisa said at the time: 'We bought the Ariana Grande tickets as a Christmas present. We all got ready and the girls looked lovely.

'Ariana finished the encore and the lights came up. We started to head out. We got to the doors and as we stepped out there was a very loud, very subdued thud and boom.

'It wasn't what you would expect a bomb going off to sound like. You become aware in a split second that something wasn't right.

'It went completely silent for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes. Then someone shouted 'it's a bomb' and that is when the screaming started.

'For me, there was nothing worse than seeing the fear on the girls' faces.'

Vicky Rosin, chief operating officer of the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, said: 'From the very beginning the trustees felt that those inside the foyer who witnessed truly awful and terrible things - that they can never un-see - should be made a priority for the money.

Emergency services on the scene in May 2017 after 22 people, some young children, were killed as they left an Ariana Grande concert

'This includes families who lost loved ones, those who suffered life-changing injuries and families whose loved ones were in hospital for more than a week.

'We felt those who had generously donated the money would agree that was the best course of action.

'There had to be some kind of distinction between those who were in the foyer and those who were outside of it.

'We could not give a cash gift to all 14,000 people who were in the Arena that night and so we had to prioritise.

'Help is being made available to anyone who needs it through a variety of channels.'Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich has an estimated wealth of 8.3billion

Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich is in a High Court dispute involving Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin.

The litigation in London centres on an agreement between companies with shares in a Russian firm which is a major nickel producer.

Companies in which Mr Abramovich and Mr Potanin have interests have been sued by aluminium producer Rusal, in which Mr Deripaska plays a senior management role. A judge is analysing issues at a trial in London.

Mr Justice Phillips has been told that company bosses are in disagreement over the provisions of a Norilsk Nickel shareholders's agreement.

He has been told that Mr Deripaska and Mr Potanin will give evidence. Lawyers have told him that Mr Abramovich has 'elected not to give evidence'.

Mr Abramovich, who has an estimated wealth of 8.3billion, made his fortune in oil and aluminium following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Mr Abramovich is involved in a High Court dispute involving Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska (left) and Vladimir Potanin (right)

He has since embraced a glamorous lifestyle, with vast private yachts, art deals and his ownership of Chelsea, which he bought in 2003.

Mr Deripaska, who has an estimated wealth of 4.6billion and is said to be a close ally of Mr Putin, raised an estimated 1billion by floating his energy firm EN+ last year.

But MI6 raised concerns over the flotation on the London Stock Exchange by the 49-year-old father-of-two who has links to military hardware production.

Mr Potanin, worth 11.7billion, is one of Moscow's most prominent tycoons and became known in the Britain press for his former marriage to Natalia Potanina.

The couple divorced in 2014 after a 31-year marriage, and she was denied 2.9billion claim by a Russian court because she made it too late.The son of 'Britain's most notorious prisoner' Charles Bronson has claimed serial killer Dennis Nilsen sent him a remarkable final letter before he died.

George Bamby-Salvador claimed he was in regular correspondence with Nilsen after the murderer found out Salvador was related to Bronson.

In his final letter before his death in prison on Saturday aged 72, Nilsen allegedly sent Bamby-Salvador a long verse poem and a series of musings on his time spent in the West Country.

In the letter Nilsen is said to have written about his links to the West Country, in particular the time he spent in the army on Dartmoor and a friendship he made with a Paignton man.

British serial killer Dennis Nilsen (right) leaves the Highgate Court in north London after being heard by the investigating judge

Dennis Nilsen giving a candid TV interview back in 1993 after several years spent in prison

Photographer George Bamby said he discovered that 'Britain's most violent criminal' was his father earlier this year

The note is signed in what appears to be 'Den' Nilsen's signature and also contains a poem, nostalgic memories of the area, seagulls, the decline of the fishing industry, and even Brexit.

Nilsen says in the letter: 'As a boy soldier in the early 1960s I spent three Summer Camps at Fort Tregantal in Cornwall and also completed 'exercises' in Devon [usually on Dartmoor where I often route-marched past the prison, but didn't go in].

'Later, in 1968-69 I was posted, with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, to Plymouth at Seaton Barracks in Crownhill, after I had returned from Aden in South Yemen where a rebellion had just ended with its independence.'

He goes on to reminisce about serving as a boy soldier with 'a couple of West Country lads' and 'one comrade having been from Paignton itself.

'I grew fond of the ambiance of the West Country character in all my 11 years in the army.'

The letter then makes light-hearted remarks about seagulls 'bombing' tourists and helpful advice to 'city folk' to hold on to their pasties.

When asked if he felt disappointed upon finding out his father's identity, Mr Bamby said he in fact felt 'very proud'. Pictured: Charles Bronson on his way to a parole hearing at the Old Bailey in 2004

The photographer also claimed Bronson raised more than 500,000 for homeless charities last year and believes he should be released. Bronson is pictured left in 2005 and right in 1997

He even leaves room at the end for a cryptic reference to Brexit - his views on the issue appearing to favour withdrawal and a Francis Drake inspired response.

There is little in the letter to link its mild mannered tone to the exploits of the notorious killer who murdered at least 15 men between 1978 and 1983.

Nilsen's grisly exploits included luring victims to his flat, strangling or drowning them, and finally keeping the bodies for extended periods of time before dissecting them.

He was serving a life term in prison when he died on Saturday.

George, a photographer from Paignton, Devon, claims the letter is '100 per cent genuine.'

He says it came about because of a TV appearance he made in January claiming to be the son of Charles Bronson Salvador - another notorious prisoner once dubbed the most dangerous man in Britain.

George says Nilsen contacted him out of the blue after hearing the news and over the several months the pair exchanged about eight letters.

The final one is dated February 28, 2018.

Bamby claimed he found out Bronson was his biological father after DNA tests were carried out on his moustache hairs

George says the letter is extremely rare because Nilsen was not known to share his thoughts freely with many people.

It is now on public display at the George's Real Crime Museum in Torquay.

He said: 'At the end of the day he was a murderer, necrophile and complete lunatic and there is no hiding from that but with my interest in crime to be able to communicate directly with probably the most infamous serial killer was a fascinating experience.

'When he sent a letter I replied because I just wanted to find out a little bit more about him. He mentions his links to Plymouth and I wanted to know who his friend was in Paignton.'

George says Nilsen reveals more about his crimes in other letters.

'He tried to portray to me that what he did was just that - something he did - and he didn't mean anything by it. It was really peculiar and he is almost blase about it. It was like me or you just explaining about going out to the cinema or down the pub.'

George says the letter gave little indication Nilsen was dying. He says he did mention a stomach complaint and not being able to write for a while but nothing to indicate it was terminal.

The Real Crime Museum was opened in Torquay about three months ago and is located at Torquay harbour.Oliver Baden-Powell, 41 (pictured), allegedly roundhouse kicked the boy in South Kensington, London

A former pupil at Harrow left a seven-year-old boy screaming in agony after he floored him with a roundhouse kick in an unprovoked street attack, a court heard.

Oliver Baden-Powell, 41, allegedly attacked the child in South Kensington as he made his way with his father to the Natural History Museum on May 12.

Westminster magistrates' court heard that there was a 'loud thud' as the boy hit the pavement.

Baden-Powell ran away from the scene and was chased by two horrified members of the public.

Prosecutor Sian Morgan said the boy - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - was with his dad when he was attacked just outside the four-star Radisson Blu Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel just after 11.30am.

'The boy's father describes seeing the man taking two or three steps before using a roundhouse kick using his left foot,' said Ms Morgan.

'A member of the public heard the body hit the floor and the child screaming before two members of the public gave chase.'

The accused, who is not a direct descendant of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, then allegedly called a police officer a 'p*ki' after he was taken into custody.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court wearing grey, prison-issue clothing charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and racially aggravated harassment.

He represented himself and sat with his arms crossed throughout the hearing. He did not enter pleas to the two charges he faces.

The former Harrow schoolboy (pictured) allegedly called a police officer a 'p*ki' after he was taken into custody

Magistrates remanded him in custody ahead of a plea, trial and preparation hearing at Isleworth crown court on June 11.

Baden-Powell, of no fixed address, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and racially aggravated harassment.

His profile on Facebook states he is a former pupil of Harrow School, and later went on to study at the London School of Economics.This is the horrifying moment a teenager was found covered in blood with a knife embedded in her cheek.

The unnamed 19-year-old shop assistant had finished work last Tuesday night and was walking to her when a robber confronted her.

The man allegedly grabbed the girl's handbag but she resisted. He grappled with her before plunging the kitchen knife into her face and fleeing with her valuables in Bukit Tengah, Malaysia at around 9.30pm.

Footage from the scene shows her calmly sitting on a wall with the weapon sticking out just below her right eye while passers-by come to her aid.

Police said the girl was still conscious and was rushed to Bukit Mertajam hospital where she was recovering after the attack.

The girl could be seen with blood covering the front of her white shirt and the knife sticking out of her cheek

In a gruesome video taken at the scene the woman can be seen sitting on the pavement recovering from her wounds

A source from the scene told local media that the woman had walked down a 'dark alley' when she was confronted.

The said: 'The victim was struggling with the man who had stolen her valuables. The man stabbed the victim's face with a knife then ran away with it still stuck there.

'He escaped and the woman was covered in blood. She was helped by members of the public.'

Seberang Perai Central District Police Chief Assistant Commissioner, Mr Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid, confirmed the case and said they were searching for a 'well-built man' who had tried to steal the victim's handbag.

He said: 'The victim, who is from Chai Leng Park in Perai, sustained injuries to her abdomen and neck. Her right cheek was also badly injured after the robber stabbed her with a knife.'

He said the victim is receiving emergency treatment at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital where officers were waiting to take her statement.

He added: 'A check at the scene showed that although the car park is located behind a commercial centre, there are street lights at the scene.

'We are collecting the CCTV recordings near the scene to track down the suspect. We are also looking for eyewitness to assist us in the investigation.'

The footage also shows emergency services and horrified onlookers flooding the scene as they scramble to help the teenagerEverything's bigger in Texas, including the list of things you're not allowed to have on your license plate.

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles released a list of the 2,243 proposed personalized license plates that were rejected in 2017.

As it turns out, you can say a lot of offensive things with only seven characters.

Proposals in the reject pile ranges from strong political messages including CNN SUX, DPORTME and NOBAMA to far less nuanced phrases such as YOURMOM, IPASGAS and FARTS.

The Texas DMV released a list of the 2,243 proposed personalized license plates that were rejected in 2017. Above is an example of one of the less clever proposals that got the ax

In most states the law prohibits license plates deemed inappropriate or offensive. A request to have GOTWEED on a license plate, sample above, was denied because weed is illegal in Texas

Many of the plates Texas rejected in 2017 contained potentially offensive political messages

In most states including Texas there are vague laws prohibiting license plates that are inappropriate or offensive.

The Texas DMV's extensive list of rejected vanity plates, obtained by the Fort Worth Star Telegram, gives an idea of how broad those restrictions actually are.

Spokeswoman Wendy Cook told the Star Telegram that the decision is made by a group of DMV employees.

When a plate request is submitted, a team analyzes the proposed message to determine whether it meets the department's guidelines and to make sure the plate doesn't already exist, Cook said.

Many of the plates that got the ax last year contained crude sex or bathroom humor including DATBUTT, ILSPNKU, PORNSTR, SEXDRIV and IPASGAS.

Others such as GOTWEED were rejected because they violate the Texas Administrative Code by referencing 'illegal activities or substances or implied threats of harm'.

Messages that either contained or resembled expletives were likely to be denied by the DMV

Several plates were rejected because they expressed crude bathroom humor such as IPASGAS

Ones that either contain or closely resemble expletives were also blocked, including BTCH PLS, DAAAYUM, HELL NAW and H3LL YEA.

And of course the list contained many messages with political references such as NOBAMA, NOTRUMP and N2TRUMP.

More advanced political statements included CNN SUX, DPORTME, ENSLAVE and NSTYWM, a highly condensed version of 'nasty woman'.

NOBAMA, NO2TRUMP and NOTRUMP, sample above, were all blocked from being issued

Even with just seven characters, Texas residents were able to craft a slew of clever messages

Several plates were turned down because they could be seen as a misrepresentation of law enforcement, including US AGENT, PRESDNT, TEXDPS, THEMAYR, DA MAYOR and GUVNOR.

A small subset of the list consists of messages that are already taken: SWMPASS, TRUCKU2, RDNECK, FAT ALBR, UGOT8UP and YO*MAMMA.

Cook noted that there is a small glimmer of hope for people whose requests don't go through thanks to an appeals process, which typically takes around three months.Keeven Robinson, 22, died Thursday during a struggle with police in Gretna, Louisiana

The death of a 22-year-old black man who died during a struggle with white deputies has been ruled a homicide after an autopsy revealed he was suffocated.

Keeven Robinson, 22, died on Thursday in Gretna, Louisiana, following a struggle with four deputies who'd been tracking him as part of a drug investigation.

On Monday a coroner revealed that a preliminary autopsy indicated the cause of death was asphyxiation, and there was evidence of traumatic neck injuries.

Those injuries could indicate excessive force was used during his arrest.

Robinson's grieving family is calling for an investigation by an agency other than the local police department.

Local law enforcement said Robinson had been the target of an undercover drug investigation and was suspected of dealing narcotics.

The 22-year-old was at a gas station in the New Orleans suburb on Thursday when he reportedly noticed narcotics agents approaching him.

As he was trying to drive away Robinson crashed into two vehicles before abandoning his car and taking off on foot.

Kiwanda Robinson, center, mother of Keeven Robinson, is comforted during a solidarity march for Keeven in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Monday, May 14, 2018

Kiwanda Robinson is seen left. Her son died of asphyxiation after a struggle with white deputies a week ago. There was evidence of pressure on his neck, the coroner in the New Orleans suburb said Monday

Beverly Martin, godmother of Keeven Robinson, cries during a solidarity march for Robinson

Kiwanda Robinson, center, mother of Keeven Robinson, walks during a solidarity march for Keeven in Jefferson Parish

Madysen Johnson, right touches her sister Morgan Johnson, both family friends of Keeven Robinson, during the march

Organizer John Henderson speaks at the start of a solidarity march for Keeven Robinson in Jefferson Parish on Monday

People in attendance to the Monday march are seen holding up signs in honor of the late Keeven Robinson

Four deputies caught up with him in the backyard of a nearby home, resulting in a physical struggle.

During the struggle Robinson stopped breathing.

Detectives and paramedics performed CPR and took him to the hospital but he could not be revived.

Robinson, left, had reportedly been the target of an undercover drug investigation and was suspected of dealing narcotics, according to police. He is pictured with brother Demone, right

Robinson's family has called for the investigation into the 22-year-old's death to be handled by an agency other than the local police. He is pictured with his brother Demone, left

Robinson's death has been classified as a homicide and is currently under investigation

At the time of the arrest Robinson was unarmed, but a gun was found in his vehicle.

He also had heroin in his possession, reports say.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto confirmed that all four deputies involved in Robinson's arrest were white, but refused to identify them by name.

He said they have each been read their rights and are cooperating in an investigation that involves Lopinto's office, state police and the FBI.

'I understand that this investigation will be under a microscope,' Lopinto said.

He said it was too early to conclude whether a choke hold was used during the struggle, adding that Robinson's history of asthma may have played a role in his death.

'There's no doubt [the deputies] used force,' Lopinto said. 'It's whether the force was excessive.'

At a news conference on Monday Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said Robinson's death had been classified as a homicide based on the preliminary autopsy results, which revealed neck injuries 'consistent with compressional asphyxia'.

He said complete results, including toxicology reports, will take weeks.

Robinson's mother Kiwanda, pictured above with her son, attended the news conference along with several dozen family members on Monday

Robinson's mother, Kiwanda Robinson, and several dozen family members attended Monday's news conference when the autopsy results were made public.

'Today is just as hard as Thursday for this family,' the family's attorney Hester Hilliard told NOLA.com.

'They're grieving, and today, they had to find out that Keeven lost his life at the hands of another, and that's very, very hard for them.'

Hilliard added that his clients would feel 'more comfortable' if Jefferson Parish police weren't involved in the investigation.

Also in attendance at the news conference was Gaylor Spiller of the local NAACP chapter.

She said the organization was supporting Robinson's family and keeping an eye on the case, mindful of numerous deaths of black people at the hands of law enforcement officers.

She praised Lopinto and Cvitanovich for being open about the autopsy results and the investigation.

'We're her to support all sides,' Spiller said. 'I just want the truth.'Dozens of people have been killed or suffered life-changing brain damage from carbon monoxide poisoning after failing to shut off the keyless ignition on their cars.

A new report, by the New York Times, has highlighted the dangers of keyless ignition vehicles.

It found that, since 2006, at least 28 people have died and 45 were injured after they mistakenly left the engine running in the garage, allowing their home to fill with the deadly gas.

The elderly, many of whom has been driving for decades and are used to the loud rumble of an engine, were particularly at risk of forgetting to switch off the engines on their new, quieter cars.

Dozens of people have been killed or suffered life-changing brain damage from carbon monoxide poisoning after failing to shut off the keyless ignition on their cars (stock image)

Keyless ignition technology allows drivers to start their cars with the press of a button and enter the vehicle with an electronic fob which can remain in their purse or pocket.

It has been available since the 2000s and today, more than half of the 17 million new vehicles sold annually in the United States use keyless technology.

But with its introduction, has followed a number of associated deaths and injuries.

The Society of Automotive Engineers has been calling for safety regulations such as warning signals when the car engine is left on, but the key fob is removed, or a timed engine cut out when the fob is removed for more than 30 minutes.

Yet, while some manufacturers have been quick to adapt and introduce the measures, others have been reluctant.

Toyota vehicles, which includes Lexus, was involved in around half the keyless carbon monoxide related deaths.

They include the death of 70-year-old Florida woman, Jeanette Colter, who had failed to notice that she had left her Toyota Avalon running after she parked in the garage.

Both she, and her husband David, 89, died after their home filled with carbon monoxide in 2006.

A new report has highlighted the dangers of keyless ignition vehicles - which allows drivers to start their cars with the press of a button and enter the vehicle with an electronic fob (pictured a driver starts at Toyota Prius Hybrid)

The automaker insists its keyless ignition cars 'meets or exceeds all relevant federal safety standards.'

Toyota does have a set of safety features for its keyless vehicles, which includes three alarms outside the car, and one inside, to alert drivers getting out while the motor is still running.

But, according to a wrongful death lawsuit, when Toyota engineers recommended additional warning signals such as flashing lights or a unique tone, they were rejected.

Michael and Jamie Sobik were at their home in Miramar Beach, Florida, on October 8, 2015, when Michael suddenly smelled car fumes. Jamie Sobik had parked her Lexus in their garage and left the engine on overnight, flooding it with carbon monoxide.

Michael said he realized what had happened but was confused and had slowed motor skills thanks to the lack of oxygen.

Report found that, since 2006, at least 28 people have died and 45 were injured after they mistakenly left the engine running in the garage, allowing their home to fill with the deadly gas (pictured is a monoxide gas alarm)

He was able to save himself and his wife, who woke up 'gasping' for air.

'Next thing you know he's dragging me onto the grass,' she said.

When fire officials arrived, they found levels of carbon monoxide were 80 times the safe level for humans.

Another couple, Timothy Maddock and Chasity Glisson, were discovered unconscious on their bathroom floor in Florida in 2010 after Glisson also left her Lexus running overnight.

Glisson died as a result of the carbon monoxide exposure, while Maddock survived with a brain injury.

The issue has become so great in Palm Beach County that the district chief for the Fire Rescue Department began handing out carbon monoxide detectors and signs to display in garages, which read: 'Carbon Monoxide Kills. Is Your Car Off?'

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had proposed new regulations, but the auto industry opposed them.

So far, no safety regulations concerning keyless ignition have been introduced.

The dangers of carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide is a poisonous, odorless gas produced when fuels such as gas, oil, coal and wood don't burn fully. Symptoms to be aware of include breathlessness, headaches, nausea, dizziness, collapse and the loss of consciousness. The side-effects of exposure to low levels of carbon monoxide are not always obvious can be similar to those of food poisoning and flu. But higher doses can be fatal as the gas attaches to haemoglobin, preventing red blood cells from carrying oxygen around the body. If exposure continues, the heart will stop pumping blood to the brain, which can be fatal. Advertisement

However, some manufacturers, such as Ford have been more proactive about introducing safety measures and in 2013, introduced a safety feature that automatically turns off the engine, after 30 minutes, if the key fob is not in the vehicle.

Yet, many of its older vehicles do not include the safety feature.

General Motors retroactively installed the same cut off feature on its vehicles during a 2015 recall, a G.M. report to the safety agency states.

An investigation by the administration into seven automakers five years ago, to discover what safety features were used for keyless ignition vehicles, was 'quickly and inconclusively wound down,' the Times reported.

'Once NHTSA has finished its review and determined the best path forward, NHTSA will take appropriate action,' the agency said in March.

A 2015 class action lawsuit claimed that there had been 13 carbon monoxide-related deaths linked to keyless ignition cars.

It was dismissed in September 2016.Advertisement

Donald Trump rededicated the United States' to its alliance with Israel on Monday as the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem officially opened.

Trump in a video address said that the U.S. will 'always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace' while honoring the nation and the city it claims as its capital as a 'testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people.'

'We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors,' Trump said in a video address. 'May there be peace.'

In a tweet shortly after he said, 'Big day for Israel. Congratulations!'

Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence were there see the realization of their campaign promise that they would relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Pence is headlining a celebratory event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, instead.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both White House advisers, were part of a delegation of senior officials that included Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that made the trip.

The U.S. delegation had arrived Sunday evening in Jerusalem to mass protests over the foreign policy shift.

Israeli snipers have killed scores of Palestinians and wounded thousands more as 35,000 protesters rallied against the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem overseen by Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka.

A 14-year-old was among 52 shot dead along the Gaza border on what is already the deadliest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war between the Jewish state and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.

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The festivities in Jerusalem were a stark contrast to the bloodshed on the Gaza border (right) where dozens of protesters were killed by Israeli snipers. Ivanka Trump (left) is pictured unveiling engraved stonework carrying her father's name on the wall at the embassy today

Flashpoint: Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered for protests against the US embassy opening today and dozens were killed amid clashes with Israeli troops. Crowds are seen sprinting away from tear gas during a clash with Israeli security forces east of Jabalia near the Gaza border

Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump (pictured) and Jared Kushner, have attended the opening of the embassy, relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial decision

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka (right) and husband Jared Kushner (left) joined Benjamin Netanyahu for the opening of the embassy this afternoon

White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump (right) speaks alongside US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during the opening ceremony

A child who has been affected by tear gas is rushed to medics at the border fence with Israel as mass demonstrations continue along the Gaza border today

A protester screams in agony as he is picked up by fellow Palestinians during deadly clashes along the Gaza border today. The death toll continued to climb this morning as anger mounted over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel today

An elderly Palestinian man falls to the ground amid reports he had been shot by Israeli troops during a deadly protest at the Gaza Strip's border

Huge crowds of protesters hid behind clouds of smoke from burning tyres but at times were forced to run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops

A Palestinian throws a rock in response to Israel's intervention during a protest to mark 70th anniversary of Nakba, also known as Day of the Catastrophe in 1948 and against the decision to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

At least 2,400 more have been injured with hundreds of them by live bullets, according to Gaza officials as the Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' and Amnesty International called the bloodshed an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.

Trump President tossed aside decades of precedent when he recognized the city as Israel's capital in December - a decision that sparked global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis.

Russia said today it feared the embassy opening would increase tension in the Middle East while Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan warned the US it had forfeited its role as a mediator in the region and was now 'part of the problem rather than the solution'.

As deadly clashes continued, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy has been a 'long time coming' and that the U.S. had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years. He added that 'today, we follow through on this recognition' and that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.'

Trump also said his 'greatest hope' is for peace and that he 'remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement'. His on-in-law Jared Kushner said the opening showed the US could be trusted and that 'when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it'.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the international community must bring those responsible to justice, in a post on Twitter.

'Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now,' Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein wrote in a message carried on the UN human rights Twitter account.

'The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims.'

A wounded Palestinian woman is evacuated by men wearing gas masks and high-viz jackets as protests turned violent today

Palestinian protesters carry the wounded during clashes near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip

Israel's armed forces had warned anyone approaching the fence would be risking their lives. By early this afternoon 37 protesters had been killed and the death toll has now risen further

A medic tries to hold an injured man's mouth open as they take him away from the clashes in a stretcher

A wounded female Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated on a stretcher by emergency workers at Qalandya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah

A woman appears to be giving protesters medical assistance as she tends to them while they sit on the ground during clashes along the border with Israel

Protesters used a horse and cart as they carried wounded Palestinians away from the conflict this afternoon as it emerged at least 37 had been killed and hundreds more injured

Inside the event, the president's daughter delivered an official welcome telling attendees after her father's video address: 'On behalf of the 45th President on [sic] the United States of America, we welcome you officially and for the first time to the Embassy of the United States here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Thank you.'

She joined Mnuchin in unveiling the embassy seal and plaque commemorating her father's involvement in the occasion.

Her husband, Jared, delivered a rare speech at the embassy opening, as well, in some of his most lengthy public remarks since joining his father-in-law's administration.

Acknowledging his wife in his remarks, he said, 'Ivanka, thank you for all the great work you do to help so many people in our country and throughout the world -- including me, so I love you.'

'I am so proud to be here today in Jerusalem, the eternal heart of the Jewish people, and I am especially honored to be here today as a representative of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,' he said.

Highlighting Trump's decision last week to leave the Iran nuclear agreement and the pledge he fulfilled in moving the embassy, Kushner said, 'While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy, once in office this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.'

'The United States is prepared to support a peace agreement in every way that we can,' he told the audience. 'We believe that it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give.'

Kushner said the U.S. 'recognizes the sensitivity' around Jerusalem, home to three religions, including Islam.

'While the challenges to peace are numerous, I have personally seen that the determination of the leaders throughout the region and throughout the world remains steadfast,' Trump's chief peace negotiator said.

At the White House, Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah blamed Hamas for the violence in Israel on Monday. He said he did not believe that the violence would undermine the United States' positioning on a peace agreement.

'The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response,' he asserted.

Shah demanded that Hamas stop its 'cynical exploitation of the situation' that has lead to the deaths.

The president's spokesman said that embassy opening is 'about following through on what the President promised and believes.

'I think we've for decades you know walked on eggshells, pretending that Jerusalem isn't the capital of Israel when it obviously is. And this is just a recognition of reality.'

Shah said the 'peace plan will be brought forward at the appropriate time, and it can be evaluated on its merits.

'We don't think it impact the peace plan,' he said of the deaths in Gaza.

Palestinians carry an injured protestors to safety as one man kneels on the ground holding his head as violence erupted on the Gaza strip today

A severely injured man is carried. Israel's armed forces had warned anyone approaching the fence would be risking their lives

American and Israeli delegations have begun a festive ceremony to mark the opening of the new U.S. Embassy (pictured) in Jerusalem. U.S. Ambassador David Friedman welcomed the crowd. 'Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem Israel,' he said to warm applause.

Israeli soldiers walk amidst smoke from a fire in a wheat field near the Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, along the border with the Gaza Strip today

A wounded Palestinian women is carried from the border fence with Israel as mass demonstrations continue following the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

A group of Palestinian men carry their injured friend to an ambulance by stretcher during clashes with Israeli soldiers

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, gave a nod to the White House official in a speech afterward, saying to the crowd, 'I want to especially welcome Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Your presence here today is a testament to the importance of this occasion.'

'President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history,' he said, in forceful remarks. 'Today, the embassy of the most powerful nation on earth, our greatest ally, the United States of America, today its embassy opened here.'

Netanyahu firmly declared: 'We are in Jerusalem, and we are here to stay.'

'Thank you, President Trump, for having the courage to keep your promises.'

Netanyahu made a reference to the conflict on the Gaza border as he said in his speech that 'our brave soldiers are protecting the borders of Israel as we speak, we salute them all.'

Israel's prime minister said Jerusalem will always be the 'eternal, undivided' capital of Israel' and called the anniversary of the nation's founding a 'glorious' day.

'The truth is that Jerusalem has been and always will be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state,' he said.

President Trump said earlier on Monday that it would be 'a great day for Israel' as the U.S. embassy prepared to open in Jerusalem.

'The United States remains fully committed to precipitating a lasting peace agreement,' he said in a video address.

He steered clear of the controversy over the relocation of the embassy, while noting, 'We continue to support the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, including at the Temple Mount.'

'Today also demonstrates American leadership. By moving our embassy to Jerusalem, we have shown the world once again that the United States can be trusted,' he said.

'We stand with our friends and our allies, and above all else, we've shown that the United States of America will do what's right,' he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara were among those attending the opening ceremony today

Ivanka Trump's husband Jared Kushner was among the speakers as the embassy was officially opened this afternoon

Jared Kushner embraces both his wife, Ivanka (left) and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu (right) during the opening ceremony today

A ceremony to inaugurate the US embassy in Jerusalem has started with Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump (centre), both top aides to President Donald Trump, attending. The event took place as Palestinian officials claimed 37 protesters had been killed in a 'massacre' along the Gaza border

As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy in has been a 'long time coming'. His daughter Ivanka as pictured walking ahead of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the ceremony today

Ivanka Trump smiles as she poses for photographs next to engraved stonework carrying the name of her father, US President Donald Trump

Ivanka shared two photos of herself and Jared sharing a meal with GOP Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Dean Heller, and Lindsey Graham

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) has said Jerusalem will always be the 'eternal, undivided' capital of Israe

The embassy opening coincides with the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

Trump in December announced that he would follow through on the pledge to move the embassy that U.S. presidential candidates have repeatedly made and then reneged on.

The Republican president said he would 'move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem' in keeping with a decades-old U.S. mandating the relocation.

Presidents have typically signed a waiver every six months to skirt the requirement. Trump signed it his first year in office.

After a process that was expected to take up to four years, the U.S. said it would outfit a consulate in Jerusalem as an embassy while a new one is constructed.

'We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors': President Trump celebrates the opening of U.S. embassy in Jerusalem from afar Donald Trump said it was 'a great day for Israel' on Monday as the U.S. embassy was officially declared open in Jerusalem. 'We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors,' Trump said in a video address. It has been a 'long time coming', he added. Trump said that the U.S. had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years, adding that 'today, we follow through on this recognition.' Trump added that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.' The embassy move has enraged the Palestinians. Trump said he remained committed to 'facilitating a lasting peace agreement.' Trump said the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem had been a 'long time coming' as he spoke in a pre-recorded video message Trump stressed a close bond with Israel. He also said he was 'extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors.' Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence were there to see the realization of their campaign promise that they would relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Pence is headlining a celebratory event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, instead. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both White House advisers, were part of a delegation of senior officials that included Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that made the trip. Ivanka Trump, in an official welcome, after her father's video address, told attendees: 'On behalf of the 45th President on [sic] the United States of America, we welcome you officially and for the first time to the Embassy of the United States here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Thank you.' Jared Kushner delivered a rare speech at the embassy opening, highlighting Trump's decision last week to leave the Iran nuclear agreement and the pledge he fulfilled in moving the embassy Acknowledging his wife, Kushner said, 'Ivanka, thank you for all the great work you do to help so many people in our country and throughout the world - including me, so I love you' Kushner delivered a rare speech at the embassy opening, as well, highlighting Trump's decision last week to leave the Iran nuclear agreement and the pledge he fulfilled in moving the embassy. 'While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy, once in office this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it,' Kushner said. Acknowledging his wife, Kushner said, 'Ivanka, thank you for all the great work you do to help so many people in our country and throughout the world - including me, so I love you.' The U.S. delegation arrived Sunday evening in Jerusalem to mass protests over the U.S. foreign policy shift. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not make the trip, either, but said Sunday in an interview that aired on Fox News that 'the American people in that region are secure' and 'we are comfortable we've taken action that reduces that risk.' Upon the arrival of the U.S. delegation on Sunday, the president's daughter and son-in-law, both Jewish, received a blessing from Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. 'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' Ivanka wrote in a tweet after landing. The embassy opening coincides with the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. Advertisement

The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital and have strongly objected to Trump's move.

As the ceremony took place this afternoon, the Israeli army revealed that warplanes had struck a Hamas facility in Gaza during bloody protests.

The military said it carried out five airstrikes after militants exchanged fire on three separate occasions with soldiers.

Brigadier General Ronen Manelis turn out by Monday afternoon was about 40,000. He said the army viewed that number as a 'failure for Hamas.'

He said the army noticed there were more women at the front of the protest than in past rallies and accused Hamas of paying people to protest.

This morning, the Israeli military said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to place an explosive device by the border fence in Gaza during mass protests.

The shooting in the southern Gaza town of Rafah came as the army said an Israeli aircraft had bombed a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip after Israeli troops came under fire. No Israeli casualties were reported.

Amnesty International called the violence today an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.

'We are witnessing an abhorrent violation of international law and human rights in Gaza.... This must end immediately,' the London-based human rights group said on Twitter.

'This is a violation of international standards, in some instances committing what appear to be wilful killings constituting war crimes,' Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther said in a separate statement.

'As violence continues to spiral out of control, the Israeli authorities must immediately rein in the military to prevent the further loss of life and serious injuries.'

Amnesty made the statement 'responding to reports that dozens of Palestinians have been killed' in the protests over the US embassy move.

At one point the Israeli armed forces used drones to drop tear gas canisters in a bid to disperse the crowds of tens of tousands

The drone could be seen releasing gas canisters during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

Palestinians were forced to run for safety as the gas canisters containing tear gas were fired from drones overhead today

Witnesses said Israeli drones had also dropped incendiary materials earlier in the day, setting ablaze tyres that had been collected for use in a planned Gaza border protest.

Drones unleashed canisters full of tear gas in the hope of dispersing the huge crowds today. The clashes have left scores dead

The drone tactic was deployed as festivities were taking place for the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem today

According to local reports, Israel employed specialist drone racers to drop tear gas

'The rising toll of deaths and injuries today only serves to highlight the urgent need for an arms embargo,' Luther added.

'While some protestors may have engaged in some form of violence, this still does not justify the use of live ammunition.'

The European Union's foreign policy chief is calling on Israel to respect the 'principle of proportionality in the use of force'.

Federica Mogherini said that all should act 'with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life' and added that 'Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest.'

At the same time, she insisted that Hamas must make sure demonstrators in Gaza are peaceful and 'must not exploit them for other means.'

The dramatic scenes today came after al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri last night called for followers to carry out jihad against America.

In a new message, he said America's decision was evidence that negotiations and 'appeasement' have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.

Trump 'was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade, where standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad,' Zawahiri said, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

Violence: This was the scene as a man used a sling to hurl rocks towards Israeli forces along the Gaza border today

In the line of fire: Israeli soldiers are pictured lying in position looking out over the Gaza border

The Israeli army responded by throwing tear gas towards protesters, sending huge crowds scattering this afternoon

Taking cover: Palestinians throw themselves to the ground as tear gas is hurled towards them during fierce clashes today

The celebrations in Jerusalem were a stark contrast to the bloodshed along the Gaza border where tens of thousands of Palestinians protested

A Palestinian woman tries to fly a kite during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza Strip

The US moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem today after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis. Israeli snipers killed a Palestinian man as protests got underway this morning. Pictured: A protester running past burning tyres

US President Donald Trump made the decision, which tossed aside decades of precedent, in December as he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinians burned tyres this morning ahead of mass protests at the Gaza border today

A Palestinian demonstrator lies on the ground as smoke billows from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City this morning

The announcement and the opening of the embassy sparked new chaos in Jerusalem, which the Israelis and Palestinians both claim as a holy site.

Still, the Trump administration says it is still charging ahead with a plan to bring peace to the region. A U.S. official told the Washington Free Beacon in advance of the embassy opening that the White House intends to unveil the deal that Trump's son-in-law has taken a lead role in putting together in the coming months.

'We've been working hard and want to give the plan the best chance for success,' a senior official told the publication. 'We want to get a lasting deal that is livable for both parties.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was not on the trip and has been the point person for the Trump's upcoming summit with North Korea, said the Middle East peace process is 'is most decidedly not dead,' in spite of the unrest that boiled over on Sunday.

'Were hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well,' he said.

Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton said the administration believes the embassy move will enhance the peace process because it's a recognition of reality.

'I think it will make it easier. It's a recognition of reality. If you're not prepared to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that's where the American embassy should be, then you're operating on a completely different wavelength,' Bolton said.

Kushner likewise said in his speech on Monday at the embassy: 'When there is peace in this region, we will look back upon this day and remember that the journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth.'

'I believe peace is within reach, if we dare to believe that the future can be different from the past, that we are not condemned to relieve history, and that the way things were is not how they must forever be,' he said. 'It will not be an easy road, and it will be filled with difficult moments and tough decisions, but if we dream big and we lead with courage, we can change the trajectory for millions from hopeless to boundless.'

Medics were seen carrying Palestinian protesters away from the scene on stretchers as violence escalated this morning

Dozens have been injured - some of them seriously - by Israeli gun fire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry after the army warned that anyone attempting to approach the security fence would be risking their lives

Protests intensified on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, as loudspeakers on Gaza mosques urged Palestinians to join a 'Great March of Return'. Black smoke from tyres burned by demonstrators rose into the air at the border

Thousands gathered in five spots along the border in protest at the embassy move, while sporadic clashes also erupted with Israeli soldiers

Thousands of Gaza residents headed toward the border with Israel on Monday, drawing Israeli fire in a potentially bloody showdown as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem

Protesters set tires on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air at several spots along the border, while the Israeli military said protesters assaulted the border fence

The protest in Gaza was to be the biggest yet in a weekslong campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted 'what an amazing day! Thank you @POTUS Trump' ahead of the opening

J Street, a liberal advocacy group pursuing Middle East peace, said the Trump administration had hurt the prospects of a deal with the embassy relocation in a scathing Monday statement called it a 'victory for the far-right agenda of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu  but not for the long-term interests of Israelis, Palestinians or the United States.'

'This move has only undermined the prospects for peace, exacerbated tensions and undercut US standing as an effective mediator,' J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said. 'This isn't policy - it's pandering to a narrow political base.'

The largest Jewish lobbying organization in the U.S., AIPAC, which has supported the move, noted that it was approved by Congress 1995 in a sweeping vote. It prodded other countries to follow the United States' lead.

'America was the first nation to recognize the independence of the Jewish state, and it is particularly appropriate that our country is once again taking the initiative to strengthen our relationship with Israel and its standing in the world. We urge other nations to follow the Unites States' lead and also locate their embassies in Israels capital,' it said.

Palestinian men carry an injured protester during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

A wounded Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip

Violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border hours ahead of the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, leaving several Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds more wounded

Crowds built throughout the day in the Palestinian enclave less than 60 miles away from Jerusalem and sealed off from Israel by a blockade

Israel's military said 'approximately 10,000 violent rioters are currently assembled in a number of locations along the Gaza Strip border and thousands more are gathered by the tents approximately half a kilometre away from the security fence'

Around 1,000 police officers were being positioned around the embassy for the inauguration. Israel's army said it was almost doubling the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank

A masked protester holds his hand in the air as he stands in front of burning tyres near the Gaza-Israel border in Khan Yunis

By midafternoon, at least 18 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed while over 500 were wounded by Israeli fire, Palestinian health officials said

Anger: Protesters torch tyres and wave Palestinian flags amid violent clashes along the Gaza border this morning

The date of the inauguration is deeply symbolic to both Israelis and Palestinians. The US said it chose the day to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment

Security has been tightened around Jerusalem ahead of the embassy opening this afternoon. Pictured: A road leading to the embassy

As tensions mounted today, the Arab League said it will hold emergency talks on Wednesday to discuss Washington's 'illegal' decision.

The meeting will focus on 'ways of countering the illegal decision by the United States to move the embassy to Jerusalem', the organisation's deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Saeed Abu Ali, said.

He told reporters the permanent representatives of members of the Cairo-based Arab League would meet 'at the request of the state of Palestine'.

Police and the Israeli military had planned major security deployments today.

Around 1,000 police officers were positioned around the embassy and surrounding neighbourhoods for the inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

Early this morning, witnesses said Israeli drones dropped incendiary materials, setting ablaze tires that had been collected for use in a planned Gaza border protest.

Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional 'layers' of security in and around neighbouring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there had already been several 'significant attempts' to break through the fence

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during protests near the Gaza border this morning

Israelis began celebrating on Sunday, as tens of thousands of marched in Jerusalem, some holding American flags, to mark Jerusalem Day.

The annual event is an Israeli celebration of the 'reunification' of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Beyond the disputed nature of Jerusalem, the date of the embassy move is also key. May 14 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

The following day, Palestinians mark the 'Nakba', or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are planned on both days.

Gaza residents streamed to the border area Monday for what is intended to be the largest protest yet against a decade-old blockade of the territory. Israel's military says it will stop a possible border breach at all costs, warning protesters that they are endangering their lives

Israeli troops firing from across a border fence have shot and wounded two Palestinians as a protest near the Gaza border gets underway

Near Gaza City, hundreds gathered about 150 yards from the fence. A reporter witnessed two people being shot in the legs

Israel's army warned Gaza residents they will be risking their lives if they approach the border with leaflets dropped by jets warning its forces will 'act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians'. A Palestinian is pictured throwing some of the leaflets in the air

WHY THE US MOVED ITS EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM The United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The opening ceremony was timed to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary. The initiative was driven by President Donald Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works, and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of America's closest ally had 'taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.' The US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The initiative was driven by Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, celebrated Trump's decision, but the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a 'slap in the face' and said Washington could no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel. Initially, a small interim embassy will operate from the building in southern Jerusalem that now houses US consular operations, while a secure site is found to move the rest of the embassy operations from Tel Aviv. WHY DID TRUMP RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL, AND ANNOUNCE THE EMBASSY WILL BE MOVED THERE? There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a signature promise of his 2016 election campaign. The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, many of whom support political recognition of Israel's claim to the city. Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but to which other presidents since then - Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama - consistently signed waivers. WHY DOES JERUSALEM PLAY SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT? Religion, politics and history. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders. It is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Israel's government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city even has different names. Jews call it Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds, which means 'The Holy'. But the citys significance goes further. At the heart of the Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains of them above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews. Within yards of the wall, and overlooking it, are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also an important pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe that Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected. WHAT IS THE CITY'S MODERN HISTORY AND STATUS? In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a 'corpus separatum' to be administered by the United Nations. That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it. In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the 'complete and united' city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. DOES ANY OTHER COUNTRY HAVE AN EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM? In March Guatemala's president, Jimmy Morales, said that his country will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the US move. Netanyahu said in April that 'at least half a dozen' countries were now 'seriously discussing' following the US lead, but he did not identify them. In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote. WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN NEXT? HAS JERUSALEM BEEN A FLASHPOINT BEFORE? Since Trump's announcement there have been Palestinian protests and wider political tensions. Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned the move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest due to culminate on May 15, the day after the US Embassy move and when Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost with Israel's creation. Although the clashes have not been on the scale of the Palestinian intifadas of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion. In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque. He failed but caused damage, and prompted fury across the Arab world. In 2000, the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. A Palestinian protest escalated into the second intifada. Deadly confrontations also took place in July after Israel installed metal detectors at the complex's entrance after Arab-Israeli gunmen killed two Israeli policemen there. Source: Reuters Advertisement

Team: The White House advisers attended the inauguration along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (third from left in black) and Treasury Mnuchin (center)

A US delegation in Jerusalem includes Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides. She posted a picture of the couple on Twitter with Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara as she thanked the Israeli Prime Minister for his hospitality at a welcome reception

White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly received a blessing from a rabbi who previously compared black people to monkeys

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared

Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation. She posted this photo on Instagram

Trump 'feeble minded' over embassy move, says Iran Iran has denounced President Donald Trump as 'feeble-minded' over Monday's controversial move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, calling for resistance from the Palestinians and the international community. 'America has entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously,' said parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a key establishment figure, at a conference on the Palestinian situation in Tehran. 'I believe the current US president is not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions,' he added. The United States was due to open its new embassy in Jerusalem -- known as Al-Quds in Iran -- later on Monday amid widespread Palestinian anger and praise from Israelis. 'Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today's world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price,' Larijani said. Iran is a key backer of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, and opposition to Israel has been a central tenet of its regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Larijani called for an 'immediate reaction' from Palestinians, Islamic countries and the international community -- including boycotts and official complaints to the United Nations. The US 'must not think that such actions... can remain without a response,' he said Advertisement

There have already been weeks of protests and clashes along the Gaza border, with 54 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire there since March 30.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.

He has argued that it helps make peace possible by taking Jerusalem 'off the table', but many have pointed out he has not announced any concessions in return from Israel.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said the US was 'hard at work' on the peace process, which he declared was 'most decidedly not dead'.

Trump's initial decision led to a series of protests in various Middle Eastern and Muslim countries.

Meanwhile, Britain has no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and still disagrees with the U.S. decision to do so, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday.

'The PM said in December when the announcement was first made that we disagree with the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement.

The British embassy to Israel is based in Tel Aviv and we have no plans to move it,' the spokesman told reporters.

He was speaking on a day when the United States was due to open its embassy in Jerusalem, an event that has led to Palestinian protests.

Israeli gunfire killed two Palestinians and wounded at least 35 other protesters along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - part of a Washington delegation - this morning posted a photo of himself on Twitter with a plaque dedicating a square outside the new US embassy in Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump made the decision, which tossed aside decades of precedent, in December as he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capitalFormer Donald Trump campaign chair Cory Lewandowski is joining a PAC that boosts Vice President Mike Pence as he travels the country to help congressional Republicans.

'Proud to be joining the Great America PAC. @RealDonaldTrump and @MikePenceVP continue to fulfill the Camapign Promises they made to Make America Great Again!' Lewandowski wrote  talking up both men in a tweet with a notable misspelling.

'The Rep's will expand majorities in the Senate and hold the House to keep America moving forward,' Lewandowski added.

The position, first reported by Fox News, will put Lewandowski at Pence's side as he tries to keep the House and Senate in Republican hands.

Former Trump campaign chair Corey Lewandowski will be joining Vice President Mike Pence's effort to keep Congress in the GOP's hands by working for his Great America PAC

Lewandowski has been working for America First Policies nonprofit. He is taking the job with Trump's blessing, according to the report.

Lewandowski had reportedly been under consideration to step in as White House chief of staff if Trump decides to push out John Kelly.

Pence's PAC has handed out more than $450,000 to GOP lawmakers this election cycle.

The move follows a New York Times report about Pence making moves to intervene in congressional races and otherwise establish his own base of influence even as White House political advisors are distracted by other issues.

By hiring someone so close to Trump, Pence is signaling that his political efforts using the PAC are not about boosting his own prospects. Pence regularly goes out of his way to lavish praise on Trump, and even the name of the PAC, Great America Committee, is taken from Trump's campaign slogan.

His existing role with the nonprofit placed limitations on activities that could be viewed as coordination with Trump's reelection.

DISAPPOINTED: Former Trump advisor Sam Nunberg, who has feuded with Lewandowski for years, blasted the move

The hiring allows Pence to demonstrate that his political organ is not out to boost him at the expense of Trump

BACK IN: Former Trump Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on during a rally at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan on April 28, 2018

WILL TRAVEL, DON'T HAVE SPELL-CHECK: Lewandowski announced his move in a tweet that misspelled 'Campaign'

Pence plans to use the PAC to keep Congress in Republican hands. Democrats are considered to have a strong shot at retaking the House, which would open up new opportunities for investigations of the Trump administration or could even move forward impeachment efforts.

Former Trump advisor Sam Nunberg ripped news of the hire. He wrote on Twitter he was 'very disappointed' that Pence 'would announce that he hired the psychopath Lewandowski on the same day the US Israeli Embassy is opening in Jerusalem. Sad!'

Nunberg and Lewandowski have a feud that goes back years.

The PAC has made no official announcement.

Trump fired Lewandowski after he helmed upstart campaign through the primaries. Although the campaign was facing disorganization and some staff turmoil, the decision brought on Paul Manafort as campaign chair. Manafort has since been indicted on unrelated bribery and fraud charges.York University PhD student, Zabia Afzal (pictured), has been missing since Thursday

Fears have continued to rise over a missing PhD student who disappeared after hailing an Uber near her office in Canada last week.

Zabia Afzal, 30, had just had breakfast with her brother Zubair Afzal before heading to work at her family's real estate business Thursday morning.

Her brother said nothing seemed out of the ordinary during their family time before his sister left their home.

'I didn't pick up anything from that conversation, absolutely nothing,' Zubair told The Star. 'No hints, nothing whatsoever.'

Zabia Afzal then traveled about five minutes to her office, where she spoke with co-workers, before leaving without telling anyone where she was going.

When family members were unable to get in contact with Afzal throughout the day on Thursday, they contacted York Regional Police.

Authorities were able to track her phone to the Ashbridges area in Toronto, which is about 26 miles from her job.

According to a missing flier, she was traced to the area around 10.40am.

Her phone was found in Ashbridges along with her other possessions, Zubair said.

Afzal, 30, had just had breakfast with her brother Zubair Afzal before heading to work at her family's real estate business Thursday morning. She traveled about five minutes to her office, where she spoke with co-workers, before leaving without telling anyone where she was going

Authorities were able to track her phone to the Ashbridges area in Toronto, which is about 26 miles from her job. Her phone was found in the Ashbridges along with her other possessions, Zubair said. Afzal is a beloved activist in her community

Zubair told The Star that he believes she traveled in an Uber from her office around 9.30am.

Worried family members and friends have created social media accounts and the hashtag '#FindZabia' in attempt to reach anyone who may have seen her in the Ashbridges area.

Toronto police are also involved in the search. Since Thursday, a marine unit and a helicopter have been deployed to aid the searchers on the ground.

The FindZabia Twitter page has shared dozens of photos of community members and volunteers wearing FindZabia shirts as they canvass areas near where she was last seen.

'Building on the thorough canvassing of downtown Friday and Saturday, today we had three major search events at Thorncliffe Park, Center Island, and Scarborough Bluffs, as well as campaigns in High Park and other areas of Toronto and North York,' a tweet from the account read on Sunday.

The volunteers also plastered missing person fliers throughout the areas they searched.

Worried family members and friends have created social media accounts and the hashtag '#FindZabia' in attempt to reach anyone who may have seen her in the Ashbridges area. Dozens of people (pictured) have volunteered to help find Afzal within the last four days

The FindZabia Twitter page has shared photos of community members and volunteers wearing FindZabia shirts as they canvass areas near where she was last seen

The volunteers also plastered missing person fliers throughout the areas they searched

According to her brother, Afzal is a beloved community activist who 'has had a great impact on people's lives'.

'Zabia is an inspiring activist with a gift of bringing people together to fight against injustices,' a post from the Find Zabia Facebook page read.

Another post revealed that Afzal is working on research into the healthcare system.

'Zabia is a brilliant PhD student uncovering the injustices of the healthcare system,' it read.

Afzal was last seen wearing black pants, a black or navy hooded sweatshirt and a green floral shirt.

Family and friends are asking anyone with information or to report any sightings to call York Regional Police 1-866-876-5423 ex. 7441.The New York nanny who brutally murdered two young children in her care in 2012 has been sentenced to life in jail without the possibility of parole after the victim's parents made an emotional plea to the judge.

Yoselyn Ortega, 56, showed little emotion as she was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Lucia, six, and Leo, two, five years ago.

The children's parents, Kevin and Marina Krim were at a Manhattan court on Monday for the sentencing.

'Judge Carro, I request in your sentencing decision please follow the law, as you always have, and heed the unanimous decision of the jury, the good people of New York and the family of Lulu and Leo, and make sure she can never leave prison alive,' Kevin asked.

Yoselyn Ortega, 56, showed little emotion as she was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Lucia, six, and Leo, two, five years ago

The only time Ortega showed any emotion was when she said she should get mercy because she was finally 'sorry'

The children's parents, Kevin and Marina Krim (pictured leaving court) were at a Manhattan court on Monday for the sentencing

Six-year-old Lucia and two-year-old Leo were stabbed multiple times by the nanny in October 25, 2012

'The defendant knows nothing of regret or remorse. She should no nothing of hope.

'The defendant is evil. It is right she should live, rot and die in a concrete cage.

'Like an ugly dark shadow of Leo and Lulu's light. It is right she should know, she has gone from hated by the world, to forgotten by the world.'

The only time Ortega, who claimed she was not guilty by reason of insanity, did show any emotion was when she cried earlier in the hearing, telling the court she was finally 'sorry.'

'I ask for a good deal of goodness. To God. To Marina. To Kevin,' Ortega said through an interpreter.

But the judge did not accept her last minute apology, noting to the court that she had refused to apologize over the last five years, calling the case 'pure evil.'

Prosecutors had also argued that Ortega knew exactly what she was doing on the day of the double murder and had been putting her affairs in order before she attempted to kill herself.

A jury rejected the claims she was suffering from delusions, hearing voices and seeing demons in her trial last month.

On Monday, the children's dad Kevin, a digital content executive at the television network CNBC, had wiped away tears as he shared heartbreaking memories of his son and daughter - and the devastation the family felt after their lives were cut short.

His face then changed as he described the fury he felt towards the defendant who had shattered his family, and forced them to undergo further pain with the trial.

'Judge Gregory Carro, this defendant rejected two plea bargains. Marina and I were against these offers, as you know, but we also knew she would refuse them being the malignant narcissist she is, she would never accept responsibly.

'We also knew she wanted to put Marina and the rest of us through the pain of this trial which has been awful.'

He described the defense as 'disorderly, callous.... utterly dishonest and brutally cruel.'

His wife Marina said that the nanny had tried to destroy her family, and spoke out against the Ortega's family members who had recommended her to the family.

She added that their daughter Nessie, who was just three years old when Leo and Lucia, also known as Lulu, were killed.

'Each time she makes a wish, it's always for Lulu and Leo to come back to us. Nessie knows that wish will never come true,' said the mom, fighting to maintain her composure.

She added that the couple's other two son Felix and Linus, born after the murders, would never get the chance to meet their older siblings.

Kevin became emotional at the Manhattan court on Monday for the sentencing of their former nanny, Yoselyn Ortega

Kevin's face changed as he described the fury he felt towards the defendant who had shattered his family, and forced them to undergo further pain with the trial

Kevin Krim watches on as Ortega received her sentence of life in prison

'But I see Lulu and Leo living within all three of the kids every day,' she added.

'It is so unfair that they are gone, unfair to us, unfair to the world,' added Kevin.

'We miss them so, so much. We miss picking Leo up out of his crib, with a happy 'Mama' or 'Dada' from him and always a big hug.

'We miss holding their hands as we walked down the sidewalk.

'We miss attempting to argue them out of a Mr. Softee cone, and losing most of the time.

'We miss hearing them call out my name and run to hug me when I got home from work.'

The family also spoke about 'Lulu & Leo's Law', legislation that would make lying about childcare experience a crime.

Marina said it was not just Ortega at fault, but her family for recommending her and lying about her experience

A deeply emotional Marina also spoke in court, saying that she was sad the couple's other two son Felix and Linus, born after the murders, would never get the chance to meet their older siblings

She also spoke about 'Lulu & Leo's Law', legislation that would make lying about childcare experience a crime

'My family and I, we create and built. The defendant and her family, they destroy and ruin,' Marina said. 'The defendant set out to destroy what Kevin and I had created and built  and inspired, happy, thriving family. But she failed.'

Alternate juror Chloe Beck said, according to the New York Post: 'When I close my eyes, when I blink, I see those children.'

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. released a statement welcoming the sentence.

'Five years ago Yoselyn Ortega stole Leo and Lulu Krim from their parents, their siblings, and our Manhattan community. Leo and Lulu will never live the lives that laid ahead of them, and now their remorseless killer will live the rest of her life in prison,' he said.

'Like millions of New Yorkers and generations of working parents before them, Marina and Kevin conducted interviews, required references, and hired a caretaker who earned their trust and looked after their children without incident for more than two years.

Marina and Kevin Krim leave Manhattan criminal court after sentencing of Ortega on Monday afternoon

Marina had said that the nanny had tried to destroy her family, and spoke out against the Ortega's family members who had recommended her to the family

'Yoselyn Ortega violated that trust in the most horrific way imaginable, bringing an extraordinarily violent end to two young and precious lives, and an unspeakable, enduring loss to the entire Krim family.

'I would like to express my admiration for Marina and Kevin, whose courage cannot be overstated. In the wake of this inconceivable tragedy, they have turned their pain into purpose, carrying on the legacy of their two children through their determination to help others.

'They have my steadfast support as they work to improve the safety and integrity of the childcare process for all New Yorkers, and to bring their powerful Choose Creativity curriculum to more communities.'

Ortega was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder last month.

Ortega worked for the family in their Upper West Side home and had been left alone with Lucia, whose family called her Lulu, and Leo on October 25, 2012, while their mother went to collect their other sister from a swimming lesson.

Marina returned home to find both her children lying dead in the bathtub covered in stab wounds. Ortega had tried to kill herself by stabbing herself in the neck but she survived.

Since the murders, Marina and Kevin have had two more sons. They have also launched the Choose Creativity program in memory of their late son and daughter.

Ortega's lawyers argued diminished responsibility and said she was mentally unstable.

Part of her defense was testimony from her family which included their comments that she was unwell.

Ortega used a kitchen knife to stab the children multiple times then stab herself in the neck

The Krims say they are equally responsible for their children's deaths because they not only concealed her mental health problems but lied when she was applying for the job by posing as fake references.

They are now campaigning to make it illegal for anyone to lie in a job application for a position in childcare.

'We were deceived and betrayed by the defendant's family, who remain wholly unaccountable for their role in the murders of our children,' Kevin said last month after the verdict.

Juror David Curtis fought back tear as he explained the verdict which took them two days to reach.

'There were raised voice and a lot of tears but I think we all feel good that we addressed all of the issues and fairly weighed everything that was presented to us,' Curtis said.President Donald Trump has finally spoken with the Tennessee man who wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman at a Waffle House more than three weeks ago.

A White House spokesman confirmed that Trump spoke with James Shaw Jr, 29, on Monday.

Shaw and a friend were dining at a Waffle House in Nashville on April 22 when a gunman wearing nothing but a jacket opened fire outside the restaurant with an AR-15 before storming inside.

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President Donald Trump has finally spoken with James Shaw Jr, 29, the man who wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman at a Tennessee Waffle House over three weeks ago

Shaw and a friend were dining at a Waffle House in Nashville on April 22 when a gunman wearing nothing but a jacket opened fire at the restaurant with an AR-15

Shaw has been hailed as a hero for wrestling the rifle away from the shooter and tossing it over the counter.

Four people were killed and Shaw and three others were injured.

White House spokesman Raj Shah confirmed that President Trump had spoken with Shaw on Monday, but had no other details to disclose.

Also on Monday the president's wife Melania reportedly underwent surgery for a kidney condition, and Trump is hoping to make time to visit her soon.

Trump waves outside the White House on Monday as it was confirmed he'd spoken with Shaw

Shaw said he had only entered the restaurant just two minutes ahead of the suspect, 29-year-old Travis Reinking, after going there to eat when he left a nearby nightclub.

He was grazed by one of the bullets and suffered injuries to his hand after grabbing the barrel of the gun.

When he heard the gunshots, Shaw said he initially thought they were stacks of plates that had fallen over. Shaw said it was then that he saw restaurant workers scatter and a body near the front door as the gunman burst through the entrance.

'He shot through that door; I'm pretty sure he grazed my arm. At that time I made up my mind... that he was going to have to work to kill me,' he said.

'When the gun jammed or whatever happened, I hit him with the swivel door.'

The gun then jammed up and Shaw said he managed to get one hand on the gun and grab it. He then threw it over the countertop and took the shooter with him out the entrance.

Shaw said the shooter then ran away, and police arrested him the following day.

Reinking faces charges of criminal homicide and attempted criminal homicide.Israeli drones rained tear gas on Palestinian protesters today, sending groups running for safety in a day that saw dozens killed and at least 2,400 injured.

Early this morning Israeli military dropped leaflets and fired tear gas into Gaza - warning Palestinians to stay away from the border.

However protesters were undeterred and gathered for the penultimate day of the six-week-long demonstration.

Drone dropped gas canisters during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

Huge crowds of protesters hid behind clouds of smoke spewing from burning tyres before being forced to run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops

Today's violence was sparked by inauguration ceremony for the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner appeared alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At the same time more than 35,000 protesters rallied by the Gaza border as tear gas and sniper fire rained down.

The Gaza Health Ministry said about 1,200 suffered injuries from weapons other than live fire today. Many of those would have been hospitalized by Israeli tear gas.

As fighting intensified in Gaza, tear gas was fired past protesters and into the tented encampments that have sprung up along the border, witnesses reported.

Drones carrying canisters of the substance hovered over head before dropping their loads in an attempt for force the amassed protesters to disperse.

Flashpoint: Crowds are seen sprinting away from tear gas during clashes with Israeli security forces east of Jabalia near the Gaza border

Drone tactics were deployed in an attempt to disperse Palestinians protesting the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem today

At a flash point east of Jabalia near the Gaza border crowds of Palestinians were seen sprinting away from oncoming Israeli security forces as tear gas rained down from above.

Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by the potent irritant.

Some wore gas masks while most donned balaclavas, breathing through scarves in an attempt to beat the gas.

At least 2,400 were injured by live bullets and other ballistics today, according to Gaza officials.

Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' and Amnesty International called the bloodshed an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.



Tens of thousands protested and clashes erupted along the Gaza border against the US transfer of its embassy to Jerusalem, after months of global outcry,

Taking cover: Palestinians throw themselves to the ground as tear gas is hurled towards them during fierce clashes todayFour former Connecticut high school students who admitted to serving classmates cupcakes concocted with bodily fluids have been charged.

Two males and two females, who are currently unidentified, were slapped Monday with charges including fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree breach of peace for their connection in the incident last June at Gilbert School in Winchester.

The students baked about two dozen of the questionable treats that were handed out to seniors before classes began.

Police in Winchester said the individuals involved turned themselves in after their arrest warrants were issued.

This photo shows one of the cupcakes said to be tainted with bodily fluids and served to students last June at Gilbert School in Winchester

One photo released to local WFSB shows one of the cupcakes, which appears to be vanilla, with yellow frosting and the number 17 written on top in orange gel.

The tainted cupcakes were apparently marked with a dash in the middle of the number seven, while the others were not.

While police said the cupcakes were not thought to be toxic and no one fell ill, some students cried over the sick joke.

'We all thought it was just a nice gesture... I feel violated,' former student Lena Teixeira told the news station.

'I almost feel like they took something away from me and I don't know what I did for them to have done that.'

Lena Teixeira said the questionable cupcakes were passed around her high school, and she ate one

'We all thought it was just a nice gesture... I feel violated,' former student Teixeira said

The teen said the cupcakes were made for the class of 2017, hence the 17 written on top.

Police did not disclose the nature of the bodily fluids found in the cupcakes. One had been sent to a lab for testing.

'We don't understand why they had to do something like this,' Teixeira added. 'There were two weeks until graduation.'

Principal at the private school, Alan Strauss, released a statement after that said: 'Our students safety is our highest priority.

'If these allegations are found to be true, we condemn this behavior, and will take any and all appropriate actions to protect our students.'

The incident happened at this upscale private school. Principal Alan Strauss said: 'Our students safety is our highest priority' afterwardPresident Donald Trump complains constantly to friends and White House aides about the FBI raids that targeted his former personal attorney Michael Cohen last month.

The gripes come at a rate of up to '20 times a day,' according to one Trump insider who spoke with The Washington Post and said the president's closest confidants know it's best if they listen in silence.

Trump is consistently frustrated with how television commentators are framing his alleged role in the Russian government's interference with the election that vaulted him to power.

Just one legal expert on his team, Rudy Giuliani, appears to be on his offense-not-defense wavelength. Alack of better 'TV lawyers' has the commander-in-chief constantly vexed.

President Donald Trump is venting to his closest confidants as much as 20 times a day about how his own Justice Department has treated Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer

The FBI raided Cohen's home, office and hotel room in early April

Trump has consistently complained that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's wide-ranging investigation is a 'witch hunt' driven by Democrats trying to undermine his legitimacy as president.

Giuliani has emerged as part consigliere and part rhetorical machine-gunner.

But without a full complement of surrogates making his case on cable news programs, the president has been left to make many of the arguments himself  on his Twitter feed.

Amid reports that AT&T paid Cohen a six-figure fee to cultivate access with his longtime boss, for instance, Trump is claiming his lack of action on the company's behalf is proof that he can't be bought.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has emerged as the most aggressive of the president's attorneys  a quality Trump wants to see much more of

In the absence of more offense from his legal team, Trump has taken his arguments to Twitter, including one Friday claiming he never gave AT&T its money's worth when they paid Cohen for access to the Oval Office

'Why doesnt the Fake News Media state that the Trump Administration's Anti-Trust Division has been, and is, opposed to the AT&T purchase of Time Warner in a currently ongoing Trial. Such a disgrace in reporting!' he tweeted on Friday.

Giuliani said at about the same time that the president had 'had no knowledge' about payments Cohen received from corporations.

'Whatever lobbying was done didnt reach the president,' Giuliani said, noting that the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner did not go through.

'He did drain the swamp ... The president denied the merger. They didnt get the result they wanted.'A five-year-old Indiana girl is recovering after having her foot amputated following a lawnmower accident in her grandparents' yard.

Italia McAllister, five, of Elkhart, Indiana, was playing in her grandparents' yard with her three-year-old brother on the evening of May 8 when the accident occurred, according to Italia's father, Cody McAllister.

Cody told the IndyStar that the two children had been chasing around a male relative, who was driving a riding lawnmower.

Italia McAllister, five, is recovering after having her left foot amputated. Doctors were unable to save it following an accident in which her foot was run over by a riding lawnmower

At one point, the relative drove the lawnmower into a corner of the yard, then stopped and reversed the machine, without realizing that Italia and her brother were right behind him.

The trash barrels on the back of the mower apparently knocked Italia to the ground, which was when the lawn mower caught her left foot.

Cody, who had been sitting on the deck at the time, said the horrible moment sounded 'like a rock getting caught in a lawnmower.'

The sound was what tipped him off that something unusual had happened, since he said there weren't any rocks in the yard.

Italia is said to be in good spirits, despite her tragic accident, and has kept her sense of humor

Italia's father, Cody, said that he is sharing his daughter's story to help raise awareness of how easily lawnmower accidents like this can happen to people

Italia's parents described her as enjoying dancing, cheerleading and gymnastics

'I just happened to look and she was laying on the ground,' Cody said. 'I knew it was bad.'

Cody credits his father with saving Italia's life, since his father, a former EMT, was able to stop the bleeding and put Italia's foot in a splint.

Italia was airlifted to the hospital, but doctors sadly weren't able to save her foot.

Cody said that Italia has already started physical therapy and that she will have additional surgeries in the future. Italia will use a walker for the first few months of her recovery, before exploring a prosthetic foot.

'Honestly, she's my hero,' Cody said. 'I would never be able to do what she's doing right now.'

Italia began physical therapy less than a week after the accident occurred. Her parents said that she has already begun to use her walker and only requires minimal help so she doesn't fall

Italia  described as a keen cheerleader, dancer and gymnast  is said to be doing well, keeping up with her kindergarten schoolwork and painting, among other activities, while in the hospital.

Despite her tragic injury, she has kept her sense of humor and is able to make visitors laugh, her father said.

Her parents said that she has already started using her walker to get around and only requires a little bit of help so she doesn't fall down.

Cody said that he is sharing Italia's story as a way to raise awareness that this sort of accident can easily happen.

'Nobody ever thinks to look behind them on a lawnmower,' Cody said.

Italia's relatives have set up a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise money to help pay for her hospital bills and eventual prosthetic.

'We know Italia is a fighter and will get through any obstacles that will come her way,' a relative wrote on the GoFundMe page.

So far, the family has raised more than $12,400 of their $30,000 goal.

Italia is the second of three children.Piers Morgan has challenged grime star Giggs to a TV debate after the musician blasted him for his claims on gang crime in London.

The Good Morning Britain presenter was attacked on social media after he told his millions of viewers the only people worrying about stop and search laws are those who have something to hide - and that 'black youths' who dress a certain way are fairly stopped.

His opinion caused outrage on social media as young black people said they should not be targeted by police weekly because of the way they dress.

Grime star Giggs, real name Nathaniel Thomson, waded in saying youths are 'terrorised' by police using section 60 powers.

Piers asked: 'If 90% of the knife crime in this capital city right now is being conducted by young black gang members, what is wrong with stopping and searching young black youths who look like they might be in a gang?'

GMB presenter (pictured with Susanna Reid) challenged grime artist Giggs to a debate on TV

Giggs said his son is the kind of young boy 'terrorised' by police despite doing nothing wrong

Giggs labelled Piers a 'pussyole' and said if he cannot speak about when young black people achieve success he should not highlight them every time there is a problem.

He wrote on Instagram: 'You don't give a f*** about young black youths or wether (sic) they kill each other or not you prat.

'You never see c**** like Piers Morgan celebrating 'young black youths that look like they are in gangs' when we are successful, or break records, or win awards, and so on. But as soon as there is something negative happening and some controversy for you to talk about, you wanna talk about us, or say what you think should be happening. What the f*** do u know about looking like 'your in a gang' (sic).'

The Peckham born star who has had two albums in the top three in the UK charts said his son wears tracksuits and can 'look like he's in a gang too' but is a good kid.

'Should he be terrorised by police as well?' Giggs asked.

'Have you yourself ever experienced the traumas or violations, and a lot of the time ABUSE OF POWER of 'being stopped and search because you look like...'.

'F***** mug.

'Don't act like you care about us you punk, go and discuss Madonna or Caitlyn Jenner, and stop PRETENDING to give a f*** about the streets u p****.'

Grime artist Giggs refused to debate Piers Morgan despite calling him out on Twitter

Piers refused to leave the issue and posted a picture of the Instagram post by Giggs on Twitter, before asking for a TV debate.

He wrote: 'I've read this, @officialgiggs. Come on @GMB & debate it with me. The current spate of knife attacks in London is largely being perpetrated by young black gang members. So why should police not be able to stop & search suspected young black gang members for knives?'

But Giggs refused, asking: 'Do I look like a c***?'

Others backed the grime star and called Piers 'vile' while accusing him of 'antagonising Black people with clickbait'.

However, many stuck up for the TV presenter and called on Giggs to speak up.

Steve Blower wrote: 'Wow must have taken ages to put that response together. Stop the abuse and if you believe you have a genuine answer to the current problem then get on there and show how to be the bigger man and help save lives.'Several major companies rejected Donald Trump's personal attorney's services after he pitched himself to them as a consultant.

Uber and Ford Motor Company were not interested in buying what he was selling, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

'I have the best relationship with the president on the outside, and you need to hire me,' he reportedly told them.

He said of whoever was advising them currently, that the organizations 'should fire them all' and bring him on, instead.

Several major companies rejected Donald Trump's personal attorney's services after he pitched himself to them as a consultant

His ownership of New York taxi medallions was a deal-breaker for the ride-sharing service Uber, the Journal reported. So, Cohen reminded the company that he was still 'the president's lawyer' after leaving the Trump Organization.

A source told the Journal that the statement 'bemused' the company.

The Journal also reported that Cohen's' 'precarious' financial situation, as described by a friend, may have pushed him to make the pitches in order to maintain his family's upscale lifestyle.

Cohen said in a statement to the Journal that information being spread about him was not true.

'These falsehoods and gross inaccuracies are only being written in the hopes of maligning me for sensationalistic purposes. The truth will prevail and will ultimately be proven in court and not by pundits,' he said.

The White House has also distanced itself from the pay-for-play allegations and charges that the president's friends are profiting off the presidency.

Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that Trump 'makes up his own mind about policy matters and everything else in between,' regardless of what he's being lobbied to do by his confidantes.

'He's not influenced by the kinds of things that you're referencing,' Shah told DailyMail.com just before it was revealed that AT&T hired Cohen to provide advice on its proposed merge with Time Warner.

The White House has also distanced itself from the pay-for-play allegations and charges that the president's friends are profiting off the presidency. Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters that Trump 'makes up his own mind about policy matters and everything else in between,' regardless of what he's being lobbied to do by his confidantes

President Donald Trump is pictured with Michael Cohen. Cohen raked in upward of $2 million from companies that included AT&T and Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis

Leaked documents outlining Cohen's consulting fees for 'advice' and 'insight' into the administration infuriated critics of the former businessman who promised he'd 'Drain the Swamp' if elected last week.

Cohen, for instance, raked in upward of $2 million from companies that included AT&T and Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis.

The Washington Post on Thursday evening revealed that AT&T explicitly hired Cohen to assist with the $85 billion merger with Time Warner. The deal had to be approved by federal antitrust regulators in the Trump administration before it could move forward.

Prior to the disclosure, the Post claimed in a report that Cohen pitched himself as a Trump whisperer to potential clients, showing off pictures of himself and the commander in chief and bragging about their relationship.

'Im crushing it,' he told friends, according to the Post.

The White House refused to comment directly on allegations that Cohen was selling access to the presidency when asked about the consulting fees on Thursday. Shah directed questions about Cohen to the attorney and the presidents outside counsel.

He noted, however, that Trump has signed some of the most sweeping rules when it comes to ending the revolving door around lobbying.

Theres been a multi-year ban on lobbying and restrictions on what former employees and executive branch officials can do, he said. There was an executive order signed in his first weeks in office, as well as a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign governments. We think that those are stringent and something we are very proud of.

The Washington Post on Thursday evening revealed that AT&T explicitly hired Cohen to assist with the $85billion merger with Time Warner. The deal had to be approved by federal antitrust regulators in the Trump administration before it could move forward. Trump and Cohen pictured above

Cohen is not the only person to Trump who has been accused of profiting off the presidency.

In a report on the matter Wednesday evening, Politico noted that Trumps former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is not registered as a lobbyist, either, yet he represents clients that are interested in having a minds eye into the unconventional president.

Lewandowski pointed out in an email to the news outlet that Jim Messina, a former Obama White House official, took on similar clients after he left the government.

Obama had promised his administration would be the most transparent in history and that aides to him wouldnt be allowed to lobby after they left the administration.

Trump in his first week in office followed on Obamas rules, introducing a five-year ban on lobbying ban for anyone who worked in his administration. That ban only applies to the agency that the officials worked, in however.

And none of the rules that Trump put in place affect campaign aides and confidantes of the presidents who did not serve government.

Former Trump Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on during a rally at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan on April 28, 2018. Lewandowski, is not registered as a lobbyist, either, yet he represents clients that are interested in having a minds eye into the unconventional president

President Trump has been accused of exacerbating the problem, calling up friends to survey them about major decisions.

The last time Trump is known to have spoken to Cohen was shortly after the feds raided his attorneys dwellings in early April. Rudy Giuliani said over the weekend that Cohen was no longer Trumps attorney but it was only because it would at this point be a conflict of interest.

Giuliani likewise said on Wednesday afternoon that Cohen's latest woes  the leak of his financial documents  had nothing to do with Trump.

'Theres not involvement of the president in any of that,' he said. 'We cant be responsible for what Michael Cohen is doing.'

A former politician himself, Giuliani said he wouldn't appreciate finding out that his attorney had been accepting large sums of money in exchange for access to his office, but he said, 'I wouldnt be investigated for it.'

He declined to comment on Trump's feelings about Cohens consulting in an interview with Bloomberg.

Giuliani (pictured) said on Wednesday afternoon that Cohen's latest woes  the leak of his financial documents  had nothing to do with Trump. He is pictured on May 5

He's not influenced by the kinds of things that you're referencing,' Shah told DailyMail.com just before it was revealed that AT&T hired Trump's longtime fixer Michael Cohen to provide advice on its proposed merge with Time Warner. Trump speaks in Indiana Thursday, above

The companies that hired Cohen for his advice ultimately dropped their contracts with the New York attorney, Politico reported, when they realized that Cohen couldn't deliver.

AT&T, for instance, had a run-in with the Justice Department as it tried to merge with Time Warner, regardless of the up to $600,000 consulting fee it paid Cohen.

Pharmaceutical company Novartis also said it didn't get the goods it expected from the Trump crony.

After paying him $100,000 a month to Cohen for advice on how to deal with Trump, spokeswoman Sofina Mirza-Reid said the company severed ties with the consultant.

She said in a statement that the company determined Cohen 'would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated related to US healthcare policy matters and the decision was taken not to engage further.

'As the contract unfortunately could only be terminated for cause, payments continued to be made until the contract expired by its own terms in February 2018.'

'Essential Consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration.'

Trump met with the incoming CEO of the Swiss drug company  Vas Narasimhan  during his trip to Davos, Switzerland in January.

AT&T explicitly hired Cohen to assist with the $85billion merger with Time Warner. The deal had to be approved by federal antitrust regulators in the Trump administration before it could move forward

AT&T had a run-in with the Justice Department as it tried to merge with Time Warner, regardless of the up to $600,000 consulting fee it paid Cohen.

AT&T said in a Wednesday statement that Cohen was one of several consultants it hired 'to help us understand how the President and his administration might approach a wide range of policy issues important to the company, including regulatory reform at the FCC, corporate tax reform and antitrust enforcement.'

The company says that Cohen did not do any lobbying on their behalf.

Both former clients of Cohen said this week that they had been approached by special counsel Robert Mueller after attorney Michael Avenatti alleged that Columbus Nova may have funded a $130,000 payoff to his top client.

Avenatti represents Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006. He suggested the company that's linked to a Russia oligarch may have reimbursed Cohen for the payment he made to Daniels just before the 2016 election to buy her silence.

Cohen says he took out a home equity loan to fund the payoff. Giuliani revealed last week that Trump reimbursed him for more than $450,000 in expenses, including the non-disclosure agreement with Daniels, beginning last year.

Avenatti suggested without evidence that Columbus Nova may have actually been funding Trump's hush-money slush fund.

Renova Group Board Chairman and Skolkovo Foundation President Viktor Vekselberg (L). Columbus Nova issued a statement explaining that the payments it made to Cohen had nothing to with oligarch Vekselberg, who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department

Columbus Nova issued a statement explaining that the payments it made to Cohen had nothing to with oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.

'After the inauguration, the firm hired Michael Cohen as a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures,' it said. 'Reports today that Viktor Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen are false.'

The company said, 'The claim that Viktor Vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for Columbus Nova's engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue.

'Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else other than Columbus Nova's owners, were involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement.'

Korea Aerospace Industries also paid Cohen $150,000, although its spokesperson told The Washington Post that the company that is competing for a contract with the U.S. government did not enlist Trump's attorney because of his connection to the president.

The company says it paid Cohen 'to inform reorganization of our internal accounting system.'

Trump met with the incoming CEO of the Swiss drug company  Vas Narasimhan  during his trip to Davos, Switzerland in January

Avenatti told Politico that Cohen should face 'serious consequence' for his actions, regardless of the circumstances, if he was lobbying the president without disclosing it.

'If Michael Cohen, the personal attorney to the president, was selling access to the highest office in the land, without complying with the appropriate rules and regulations, serious consequences should result,' Avenatti said.

Giuliani argued Wednesday that payments Trump's former attorney received from clients looking for insight into his administration have nothing to do with the president.

'The president is not involved in any respect. Its a dead issue as far as Im concerned,' Giuliani told Bloomberg.A radical new scheme to help the homeless will cost taxpayers as much as 100,000 for every rough sleeper on the streets.

The Housing First project, designed to give street sleepers a roof and help to kick drugs and drink, comes with a price tag high enough to buy a home for every rough sleeper it might help.

The scheme was launched by ministers as part of 1.2 billion spending on 'breaking the homelessness cycle' and three areas have been picked for trial projects that will offer 'intensive support' in the hope of rebuilding the lives of street people.

A radical new scheme to help the homeless will cost taxpayers as much as 100,000 for every rough sleeper on the streets (stock image)

However the 25.3 million to be handed over to run the trials will help only a comparative handful of rough sleepers. In Greater Manchester the programme will be funded with 8 million from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Latest figures on rough sleepers produced by the Ministry show that last autumn Greater Manchester councils said they had a total of 268 rough sleepers - a street population that means Housing First will cost taxpayers just under 30,000 for each one.

In the West Midlands, a second scheme will cost 9.6 million in a region that recorded 295 rough sleepers last autumn. The budget amounts to over 32,500 for each street sleeper.

The third trial is go ahead on Merseyside, with a budget of 7.7 million. But the six councils of the Liverpool City Region covered by the project found last autumn they had 69 rough sleepers - a total that means Housing First will cost taxpayers 111,594 for every street sleeper in the region.

In Liverpool the money to be spent on each rough sleeper would buy a three-bedroom terraced house. In Birmingham and Manchester 30,000 would buy an entry-level studio or one-bedroom flat.

The high-cost programme was compared by critics to the Troubled Families Scheme, which was promoted by former Prime Minister David Cameron as a highly successful way of getting anti-social families away from crime and into jobs. By the time that it was exposed as a failure, in 2016, the Troubled Families Scheme had cost 1 billion and achieved no measurable results.

Like Housing First, the Troubled Families Scheme involved intensive help to persuade people to change for the better. Anti-social households were supposed to receive assistance in sending children to school, cleaning house, preparing meals and getting work.

Like Housing First, the Troubled Families Scheme was developed from a small experiment into a major Government programme - Troubled Families was based on social work projects in Dundee in Scotland in the 1990s, while Housing First is based on a model from Finland.

Academic and author Patricia Morgan, an early critic of the Troubled Families Scheme, said: 'People have been pushing wonder programmes like this for decades. It used to be criminals whose lives would be transformed.

'But in practice you cannot do that to people. There are people who do not want to be helped. People have their own agendas. The wonder programmes never work.

'This is another utopian solution which is going to waste a lot of money and then be kicked into the long grass when it fails - as was the Troubled Families Scheme.'

Housing Secretary James Brokenshire said: 'The evidence shows Housing First has an incredible rate of success in providing rough sleepers with the support they need to get off the streets and to rebuild their lives.

In the West Midlands, a second scheme will cost 9.6 million in a region that recorded 295 rough sleepers last autumn (stock image)

'I believe these pilots will have a positive impact in their areas and I look forward to hearing about their successes over the coming months.'

A Ministry spokesman said that 'Housing First is a tried and tested approach to tackling long-term rough sleeping that puts the emphasis on finding individuals a secure and affordable home to live in, while providing them with expert support to rebuild their lives.

'In Europe, Housing First projects have been successful at ending homelessness for at least eight out of 10 people in the scheme. This is compared to hostel-based accommodation which has resulted in between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of users with complex needs leaving, or ejected, before their homelessness is resolved.'

Rough sleeping statistics published by the Ministry say that local counts and estimates carried out over single nights during October and November last year produced a total 4,751 rough sleepers in England. This was up by 617 on the 2016 total of 4,134.

However the Ministry said that counting or estimating street sleepers was 'inherently difficult' and the figures were 'subject to some limitations.'The leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Monday a missile attack from Syria into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week marked a new phase in the Syrian war.

In a televised speech Nasrallah said the rocket attack showed Syria and its allies are ready to go to 'the greatest extent' to defend Syria from Israel.

He did not say who had carried out the attack.

Nasrallah said 55 missiles were launched from Syrian territory in the attack. Israel had said 20 missiles were shot down by its Iron Dome defence system in the attack on Thursday.

The leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speaking in 2015

Hassan Nasrallah claimed the recent strikes on the Golan Heights mean the Syrian war has entered a 'new phase'

Trading blows: Iranian forces reportedly fired 20 rockets on the Golan Heights, to which Israel responded with dozens of strikes on Iranian positions in Syria

Israel has said the attack was carried out by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which set up Hezbollah in 1982.

Shi'ite Hezbollah is fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Last week, the Israeli military said it attacked nearly all of Iran's military installations in neighbouring Syria in response to the barrage.

Israel said the targets the strikes, its largest in Syria since the 1973 war, included weapons storage, logistics sites and intelligence centres used by elite Iranian forces in Syria.

It also said it destroyed several Syrian air defence systems after coming under heavy fire and that none of its warplanes were hit.

Iranian media described the attacks as 'unprecedented', but there was no official Iranian comment on Israel's claims.

Firing back: This photo supplied by Syrian state media allegedly shows Israeli missiles hittin air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus, SyriaA South Carolina family was shocked awake by a 7ft alligator banging and hissing on their front porch Monday morning.

Louise Monteith thought it was the family's three dogs and three cats making the commotion around 4:45am.

However when her husband Charles peeked behind the curtains, he was floored to find the beast, who was missing a leg, outside the window.

The Monteith family of South Carolina woke up to an alligator banging on their front porch Monday morning around 4:45am

The family was shocked to find the 7ft reptile, who was missing a front leg, on their porch and Gator Getters was dispatched to remove the animal from the North Charleston home

The alligator put up a fight as it dragged by a snare pole, pictured trying to roll out of grasp

'He came running back upstairs cursing up a storm, and that's what I woke up to. I thought someone had stolen all the cars,' Louise said to the Charlotte Observer.

The family was trapped inside their North Charleston home as the gator appeared stuck on the front porch.

Monteith said it was a close call for the family as her three children would've left the house for school, if it were not for her husband's investigation.

Louise Monteith and her husband Charles, pictured, were shocked to find the gator on their porch

'We're really lucky it happened when it did. Two hours later and my daughter would have walked out that door ... and probably would have stepped on it,' Louise added.

After calling for help, the Gator Getters were dispatched to the family's home to retrieve the creature that broke through a section of the porch railings.

Louise filmed the moment the alligator catchers safely removed the beast from the porch by using a snare pole.

The agitated gator, who was missing a front leg, fought back, viciously writhing around the porch as the animal catcher tried to pull it away.

The gator then rolled over and over again, trying to escape the grasp of the snare.

The man then tapes shut the mouth of the alligator to prevent it from biting him, but afterwards the alligator waves his head menacingly, as if threatening a bite.

He ties the gator down and carries him into the trunk of the car.

The gator rolled over and over again trying to escape the snare but to no avail

Gator Getters said the animal likely came from one of the many ponds in the area, in seek of a mate as mating season has just begun for the reptiles

The animal catcher is pictured taping the gator's mouth shut and tying the creature down

The Charlotte Observer reported that the gator was confused and was killed after it was captured.

Ron Russell, the owner of Gator Getters, estimates that the reptile weighted about 100 pounds.

Posting the video on YouTube, Louise said: 'Woke up to clanging and banging on our front porch at 4:45 this morning. This bad boy was NOT happy'.

The family says they jokingly blame their 16-year-old son Pat, who swam in a nearby lake and left his wet swim trunks and underwear on the porch, which could have potentially lured the alligator.

Afterwards the gator was carried into the back of the vehicle, however it was killed afterwards

Gator Getters described the creature as 'confused' and 'ticked off' likely because it took a wrong turn and didn't find a mate

The gator likely came from one of the many ponds throughout the area, and it was likely seeking a mate as mating season has just begun.

'Typically the males move around. They're trying to move around a lot right now,' Russell said.

He said if they end up in the wrong place 'they get trapped, and they get confused, then they get ticked off'.

'There are tons of alligators that move around at night that we never see. Unless they get penned up or caught up, they generally move through our neighborhoods without anybody knowing,' he added.A schoolgirl has been killed in a horror Mother's Day crash that left her brother fighting for life and her mum and four sisters hospitalised.

Sophie-Lea Marlow, 15, died instantly when the family car rolled on Germein Gorge Road at Bangor, near Port Pirie, 220km north of Adelaide.

The teenager's mother Karlee, 35, was behind the wheel at about 11am on Sunday when she swerved onto gravel and over-corrected.

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A schoolgirl (pictured, left) has been killed in a horror Mother's Day crash that left her brother fighting for life and her mum and four sisters hospitalised

Sophie-Lea Marlow (pictured, bottom left, with her family), 15, died instantly when the family car rolled on Germein Gorge Road at Bangor, 250km north of Adelaide

The accident left Sophie-Lea's brother Levi, 7, on life support with a back broken in two places, and Karlee and her four other daughters in hospital, Yahoo7 reported.

Matthew Marlow said his family was on the way to the beach when tragedy struck, and he received a phone call telling him his eldest daughter had been killed.

'She's a bright young girl, had a future in front of her, I just can't believe it's happened,' Mr Marlow said.

The grieving father said his wife blames herself for the crash, although all six children were wearing seatbelts and airbags did not activate.

The teenager's mother Karlee, 35, was behind the wheel at about 11am on Sunday when she swerved onto gravel and over-corrected (pictured is the scene of the crash)

'She just feels guilty, blaming herself. I don't blame her. That's why they call it an accident. Accidents happen, they just happened to the wrong people,' he said.

The death of Sophie-Lea, a student at Orroroo Area School, has shocked the local community, and a GoFundMe page has been started to raise funds for the family.

School Principal Matt Dignan said the school would find a way to pay tribute to Sophie-Lea, who had a positive impact.

'She was a talented and enthusiastic musician and a positive, cheerful presence in our school,' Mr Dignan told The Advertiser.

Matthew Marlow (pictured) said his family was on the way to the beach when tragedy struck, and he received a phone call telling him his eldest daughter had been killed

Sophie-Lea was also remembered by Commercial Hotel owner Duncan Anderson where she worked as a server, and by Orroroo IGA owner Ahmad Ramadan.

'She was brilliant, very good, very polite... We were really proud to have her work here ... she liked to have a little laugh,' Mr Anderson said.

Mr Ramadan said Sophie-Lea was a regular customer, and would come to to buy energy drinks.

'Losing anyone in a small community you feel upset, especially in a tragic accident,' he said.

Major Crash Officers from South Australia police attended the scene to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash, and the road was closed for several hours.Lois Riess has pleaded not guilty in the killings of her husband and a Florida woman

'Losing Streak Lois' has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges in the killings of her husband and a Florida woman before leading authorities on a cross-country manhunt.

Lois Riess, 56, entered the plea Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida, after being suspected of shooting dead both her husband David Riess, 54, and 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson to assume her identity.

The Minnesota woman was caught in South Padre Island, Texas, in April as she was believed to be fleeing to Mexico.

The woman who got the nickname 'Losing Streak' because of her gambling and casino habit was turned in by a Texas restaurant manager who recognized her from surveillance video.

Riess was in a Texas court last month, signing a waiver of extradition, allowing authorities to transport her to Florida and Minnesota to face her multiple charges

Riess had been on the run ever since her husband David Riess (right), 54, was found shot dead at their Minnesota home on March 23. Her second alleged victim, Pamela Hutchinson (left), 59, was found dead at her condo in Fort Meyers Beach, Florida, on April 9

Riess' husband was found dead at the couple's Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, home on March 23.

Officials said Riess transferred nearly $10,000 from her husband's business account and forged his signature on three checks to herself, totaling $11,000, after his death.

After allegedly killing her husband, Riess headed to Diamond Joe's Casino in Iowa, but was gone by the time authorities arrived.

She then traveled to Florida, where she was seen on surveillance video talking with her alleged second victim, Hutchinson, who bore a resemblance to Riess.

'Ms Hutchinson's purse was found to be in disarray and all cash, credit cards and identification appeared to be removed,' Lee County Undersheriff Carmine Marceno said.

Authorities believe Riess, who allegedly used the same gun in both shootings, may have targeted Hutchinson to assume her identity because they look similar.

She has been charged with homicide, grand theft of motor vehicle, larceny, and fraud impersonation.

In Minnesota, Riess has been charged with one count of larceny and second-degree murder charges are pending.

Authorities had been searching for her for weeks.

She was detained by law enforcement officials, including two deputies from the US Marshals Service.

The Dirty Al's manager George Higginbotham said he recognized Riess when she flipped her long, white hair back from her face as she walked into the seafood restaurant at about 7pm on April 19.

Authorities believe Riess, who allegedly used the same gun in both shootings, may have targeted Hutchinson to assume her identity because they look similar. Surveillance footage shows Riess chatting up Hutchingson in a Florida bar on April 5

Riess (seen above in a Florida jail) appeared in court via closed circuit television for a bond hearing on Sunday in Lee County, Florida

'I thought, "I know this lady,"' Higginbotham told the Star Tribune.

'She had a smile on her face like a vacationer, not really worried that people were looking for her. She flipped her hair and that is what made it kick in.'

Higginbotham said he recognized the hair flip because he had her do the same move in a released surveillance video in which Riess had flipped her hair back as she talked to a woman at a Fort Meyers Beach bar on April 5, days before allegedly killing her.

Higginbotham said that Riess looked at the menu and then decided not to eat at the restaurant, walking out just minutes after she entered.

He said that during those two to three minutes she was inside the restaurant, he considered tackling her, but decided not to in case she had a gun or he'd mistakenly identified Riess.

When Riess left, Higginbotham said he called police to report sighting her, while another restaurant employee followed her, watching her get into a white car and driving off.

About 20 minutes later, US Marshals arrested Riess at another restaurant near Dirty Al's, based on Higginbotham's tip.

Inside Riess' South Padre Island hotel room, authorities found two pistols  a .22 caliber and a 9-millimeter.A married couple who were charged with luring their daughter's teen friends for sex have been cleared of all charges, after exculpatory evidence emerged indicating the claims against them were concocted.

Anuj and Leslie Chopra, both 43, had their charges dropped on Friday in Hudsonville, Michigan after their attorney said the alleged victim and witnesses had been pressured into repeating false statements.

The couple were the victims of a 'mob mentality' that took over after their home was searched in an unrelated matter and police found nothing, attorney Damian Nunzio said in a statement to the Grand Rapids Press.

In that case, suspicion had fallen on the Chopras for distributing a nude photo of a female Hudsonville High School student. But an October 2016 police search of their electronic devices found no evidence that they were behind the nude photo, Nunzio said.

Anuj and Leslie Chopra, both 43, had their charges dropped on Friday in Hudsonville, Michigan after their attorney said the alleged victim and witnesses had lied under pressure from cops

After the search cleared the couple, according to Nunzio, three 17-year-old male students befriended the couple's daughter. One would later accuse her parents of propositioning him.

'Unbeknownst to the Chopras, the alleged victim was a good friend with the female student whose nude photographs were leaked in the summer of 2016,' said Nunzio.

In an apparent revenge scheme over the nude photo, the teens spread rumors that Anju Chopra had offered $1,000 to video them having sex. They also accused Leslie Chopra of sending a selfie in lingerie over Snapchat to proposition sex.

Police became aware of the allegations when a concerned parent informed a sheriff's deputy about the claims the teens were making.

When a sheriff's deputy assigned to the high school brought the teens in for an interview, Nunzio claims that the deputy pressured them into repeating their false claims on threat of jail if they recanted.

'One of the witnesses said that if he did not say bad things about the Chopras - he would get in trouble and go to jail,' said Nunzio.

The couple's defense attorney said that texts indicate an Ottowa County Sheriff's deputy assigned to Hudsonville High School (pictured) pressured the teen witnesses

'The alleged victim revealed that he was merely joking around with the Chopras and that he, too, was threatened with jail if he did not cooperate with police. The alleged victim said that he told authorities what they wanted to hear,' the defense lawyer continued.

The Ottowa County Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.

Based on the teen's statements, Anju Chopra was charged in February 2017 with human trafficking, while his wife was charged with distributing sexually explicit materials to minors and using a computer to commit a crime.

According to Nunzio, one of the teens sent a text message to the couple shortly after meeting with police, stating: 'none of that happened you guys have been so nice to us and I don't know why they are trying to do this to you.'

Nunzio said he discovered the text messages, and asked police and prosecutors to examine them before trial, which led to charges being dropped.

In a statement, Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz said that 'further investigation uncovered significant exculpatory evidence that resulted in a dismissal.'

Anuj Chopra, an Indian citizen and green card holder, was considered to be a flight risk by the Ottawa County Prosecutors Office, and remained jailed for nearly 11 months last year before posting a $250,000 bond and surrendering his passport.Thomas Markle (pictured with Meghan) has apparently pulled out of Saturday's wedding

There will be nothing but sympathy for Thomas Markle today. Certainly that will be the main emotion as the shock of his reported decision to pull out of the royal wedding and not give his daughter away at Windsor on Saturday is absorbed.

Ever since Meghan's relationship with Prince Harry first emerged to near universal delight, her father has conducted himself with a quiet dignity; unfamiliar with the relentless spotlight of publicity, he has been content to largely remain in the background.

Other members of his family  his son and daughter by his first marriage for example  have seized the opportunity to speak of their younger half-sibling, often thoughtlessly and sometimes with cruelty.

Tom Markle did none of these things. But then, as the finishing line at St George's Chapel where he was due to walk Meghan up the aisle was visible, he chose to enter into a reckless arrangement that appears to have had shattering consequences.

At the weekend, it was reported that he had staged paparazzi photographs in exchange for money  though that was not his principal motive. He had, naively it must be said, hoped that choreographed pictures might rebalance the image the world had of him as some sort of bumbling semi-recluse.

Instead the outcome has been one of humiliation for him.

So it must have been with an unbearably heavy heart that he made his sudden and totally unexpected announcement. He is reported to have said that he cannot embarrass the Royal Family or his beloved daughter on her wedding day and that the solution is to stay away.

But his decision to do so will strike a chord with people everywhere. Weddings are so often fraught affairs, even royal ones.

Thomas is seen on surveillance video entering an internet cafe with photographer Jeff Rayner to set up staged photos

Days before she married Prince Charles, Lady Diana Spencer wanted to back out  only to be told by her sisters that it was too late because her face was already on the souvenir tea towels.

Even so, Mr Markle's absence will cast an unfortunate and inevitably regrettable pall over this weekend's ceremony. Some will doubtless say that this sad outcome is of his own making.

But that would gratuitously misunderstand the intentions of a basically honourable man.

In fact, as tragic as it is for Meghan to be robbed of the reassuring presence of her father on Saturday, the overriding feeling is sorrow for the man himself.

For here is a man who suddenly found himself thrust into an alien world. An award-winning former Hollywood lighting director, but out of his depth when it came to handling publicity.

Thomas, 73, said money was not a motivating factor and had instead hoped to recast his image in the wake of previously unflattering paparazzi pictures (Meghan and Prince Harry last month)

He is not the first person to be seduced into a cosy arrangement with unscrupulous photographers. It is a well-practised gimmick among celebrities to have apparently spontaneous pictures taken in which they have conspired  and then shared the proceeds of the deception.

Quite why Mr Markle decided to enter into such an arrangement is impossible to know.

On TV yesterday his elder daughter Samantha  when not lamenting her own absence from the wedding (she hasn't been invited)  was suggesting that she had put her father up to it, to paint him in a positive light.

A noble enough sentiment, but in reality a doomed exercise that has left her father looking foolish, hurt and no longer participating on Saturday.

But that brings us to another vexed question. Who on earth is going to give Meghan away?

From the moment Prince Harry acknowledged that he was in a relationship with Tom Markle's beautiful daughter, the world has tuned in.

Her mixed-race background, her struggle to make it as an actress and her championing of the kind of causes Harry's late mother pioneered all caught our attention.

Mr Markle said that he did not want to embarrass his daughter or the royal family (Meghan and her father circa 2000)

And with that, the focus inevitably fell on her family. A broken home and the striving of her parents to give her the best chance in life were compelling aspects of her story.

Maybe Mr Markle, living 'off grid' in a run-down neighbourhood of a Mexican border town, felt he could manage expectations by living low.

The demeaning contribution of his son Thomas Jr cannot have helped. In a letter to Prince Harry just a few weeks ago, he described his sister as a 'jaded, shallow, conceited woman' who would make a 'joke of the Royal Family.'

Yet with breath-taking nonchalance he followed that up a couple of days ago by writing that it was 'not too late' for him and other family members to receive an invitation to the wedding. Sitting in his small flat on the outskirts of Tijuana, Tom Markle senior cannot have failed to have taken this all on board.

Thomas Markle admitted to staging paparazzi photos (pictured) with an agency for money

Tomorrow night he should have been settling into a room at Windsor Castle. A valet would have unpacked his bag, laundered his clothes and drawn his bath. He would have taken tea with the Queen and met his daughter's future father-in-law Prince Charles.

Instead, on the day he would have had the eyes of the world on him walking as proud as can be to give his daughter's hand in marriage in the majesty of St George's Chapel, he will be 5,000 miles away.

Unless he has a change of heart. Nothing would please Harry, the Royal Family or Meghan more than for him to be there. The world would like it too.About a dozen Google employees have resigned in protest over the tech giants involvement with a project in which it is helping the Pentagon develop artificial intelligence for military drones.

Codenamed Project Maven, the new technology being developed by Google will analyze aerial surveillance video to look for patterns that can help operators.

It comes as military bosses say the thousands of military and civilian intelligence analysts are 'overwhelmed' by the amount of video being recorded over the battlefield by drones with high resolution cameras.

A number of Google employees had expressed dissatisfaction with the company's involvement due to the ethical concerns related to helping the Pentagon with its controversial drone program.

Specifically, Google workers feel that human beings - and not algorithms - should be responsible for conducting military-related operations.

They also believe that Google should have no ties to the military whatsoever.

News of the resignations was reported on Monday by Gizmodo.

About a dozen Google employees have resigned in protest over the tech giants involvement with a project in which it is helping the Pentagon develop artificial intelligence for military drones

The web site also reported that among the many employees who are still at the company there is anger over what they perceive is management's being less attentive to their concerns.

In years past, Google executives have reportedly encouraged their work force to be up front in voicing their opinions about potentially controversial business decisions.

'Over the last couple of months, Ive been less and less impressed with the response and the way peoples concerns are being treated and listened to,' one employee who resigned said.

Aside from the resignations, some 4,000 Google employees circulated an internal petition expressing their opposition to the company's involvement in Project Maven.

The petition demands that the company cut all ties to Project Maven and pledge to avoid any future contracts with the Pentagon or other militaries.

But Google management appears to be unmoved by employee opposition.

The Mountain View, California-based is intent on submitting a bid for a massive cloud contract with the Department of Defense.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) is a plan that would have Silicon Valley provide basic cloud computing services to the military, according to Gizmodo.

Codenamed Project Maven, the new technology being developed by Google will analyze aerial surveillance video to look for patterns that can help operators. A U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator drone carrying a Hellfire missile lands at a secret base in the Persian Gulf in January 2016

The multi-billion dollar contract is being sought by the largest tech firms in what is becoming a fierce competition between the likes of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and Rean Cloud LLC, according to Tech Crunch.

Google has responded to employee opposition by claiming that its work on Project Maven is non-combat in nature.

The company also claims that it is merely providing the Pentagon with open source software - meaning that the military could still use the technology even if it didn't pay Google.

But the resigning employees say that Google should be a company devoted solely to advance technology in the civilian realm.

'Its not like Google is this little machine-learning startup thats trying to find clients in different industries,' a resigning employee said.

'It just seems like it makes sense for Google and Googles reputation to stay out of that.'

The resigning employee also said that Google promised to look into ethical concerns only after it officially entered into its contract with the Pentagon.

Those concerns, the employee said, 'should have been addressed before we entered this contract.'

Tech workers across a number of Silicon Valley companies are opposed to their firms entering into partnerships with the Department of Defense.

A group that calls itself the Tech Workers Coalition comprising of employees from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM circulated an online petition demanding that Silicon Valley companies shun contracts with the Pentagon.

It comes as military bosses say the thousands of military and civilian intelligence analysts are 'overwhelmed' by the amount of video being recorded over the battlefield by drones with high resolution cameras. Footage above shows images captured by a drone in 2007

'We are tech industry employees concerned about the lack of accountability, accuracy, and safety in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in offensive capabilities of the U.S. Military,' the petition read.

'Many of us signing this petition are faced with ethical decisions in the design and development of technology on a daily basis.

'We cannot ignore the moral responsibility of our work.

'We believe that tech companies should not be in the business of war, and that we as tech workers must adopt binding ethical standards for the use of AI that will let us build the world we believe in.

'Google should break its contract with the Department of Defense (DoD).

'We invite all supporters to join us in amplifying our demand for private tech companies to stay out of the business of war.'

Another petition signed by over 250 academics from the fields of artificial intelligence, ethics, and computer science expresses support for the Google employees while also calling for a comprehensive ban on autonomous weapons systems and 'killer robots.'

'If ethical action on the part of tech companies requires consideration of who might benefit from a technology and who might be harmed, then we can say with certainty that no topic deserves more sober reflection - no technology has higher stakes - than algorithms meant to target and kill at a distance and without public accountability,' the letter states.

'Google has moved into military work without subjecting itself to public debate or deliberation, either domestically or internationally.

'While Google regularly decides the future of technology without democratic public engagement, its entry into military technologies casts the problems of private control of information infrastructure into high relief.'

Google declined to comment on the resignations, though it did release a statement in April which read: 'An important part of our culture is having employees who are actively engaged in the work that we do.

'We know that there are many open questions involved in the use of new technologies, so these conversations - with employees and outside experts - are hugely important and beneficial.

'The technology is used to flag images for human review and is intended to save lives and save people from having to do highly tedious work.

'Any military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns.

'Were actively engaged across the company in a comprehensive discussion of this important topic and also with outside experts, as we continue to develop our policies around the development and use of our machine learning technologies.'Giants. Titans of our politics. David Miliband, Sir Nicholas Clegg and Nicky Morgan MP summoned us to a warehouse on the Essex marshes to hear them make (as they modestly styled it) a major cross-party intervention on Brexit.

This was the Miliband who emigrated after being beaten to the Labour leadership in 2010 by his goofy brother. Sir Nick led the Lib Dems to electoral slaughter in 2015. Mrs Morgan became an MP only in 2010 and was a Cabinet minister for about five minutes.

Please dont call them idiotic obsessives. Here were far-seeing helms-people steering the battered barque of Britain toward Continental waters.

And they had a message: Their friends in the ruling class should make sure we stay in the European project.

David Miliband, Sir Nicholas Clegg and Nicky Morgan MP summoned us to a warehouse on the Essex marshes to hear them make (as they modestly styled it) a major cross-party intervention on Brexit

If I am being unusually complimentary about these magnificoes, these polyphemes, its cos I know my place. Towards the end of yesterday mornings bizarre gathering at the Tilda Rice mill in Rainham, Europhile campaigner Gina Miller rose to her chic heels  woman-of-the-people Gina had arrived in a chauffeured Merc  and said it was time journalists were more deferential. The Press has to respect the rights of MPs and peers, she declared.

There is vilification [of politicians] in too many media outlets.

She wanted a declaration from Parliament that there should be less criticism of the political class. Mrs Morgan said she would give the matter serious thought.

Quite right! When unelected boobies such as Clegg and Mr Club-Class Miliband (who is on about half a million a year from a charity called International Rescue) propose that the electorate should be ignored, we inky urchins of Grub Street should praise them. We should be grateful they are giving us their time!

The warehouse was decorated with the Tilda slogan  genuine goodness.

he warehouse was decorated with the Tilda slogan  genuine goodness

That was how our trio envisaged their intervention: It was an act of public-spirited concern. Nothing to do with the fact that Theresa May sacked Mrs Morgan from Cabinet. Nothing to do with Mr Miliband keeping options open for a return to Westminster. Or Sir Nick trying to impress chums in Brussels (we learned that he recently met several prime ministers and European officials).

Mr Miliband, who said he is back on speakers with his brother, encouraged Labour MPs to rebel against Jeremy Corbyn, whom he called the midwife to a hard Brexit. He denied he was thinking of joining a new party. His appearance yesterday was not the beginning, middle or end of anything. He just wanted to use his expertise to lobby for us to stay in the single market and the Brussels customs union.

Mr Miliband, who said he is back on speakers with his brother, encouraged Labour MPs to rebel against Jeremy Corbyn

Re: that expertise, I wanted to ask what he had known, when foreign secretary, of MI6s involvement in the Libyan regimes torture of critics of Colonel Gaddafi. My raised hand was ignored.

Mrs Morgan was outraged that, owing to her opposition to Brexit, she had been monstered by members of the public and by newspapers. She praised Tilda rice for being brave enough to criticise Brexit  very few companies possessed such courage, she claimed. Eh? Remainers are always citing such companies.

Channel 5s Andy Bell asked Mr Miliband why anyone should listen to him as he came swooping back into Britain after eight years abroad. Mr Miliband, in gesture and speech strikingly like Tony Blair, said: I trust the British people to make up their own minds. We did, mate. And it was for out.

Politicians often accuse their opponents of their own shortcomings. Mrs Morgan accused Brexiteers of tyranny and a distortion. She also worried about the psyche of the nation (ie we were going mad). Sir Nick said Eurosceptics were treating Brexit as a parlour game played out at Westminster.

After an hour of this guff, Channel 4s Michael Crick spoke for us all when he stood and asked: What IS the point of this event? With that the meeting evaporated and we all headed back to town.A woman has been charged with inciting a fatal assault on her lover by sending an explicit photograph to her jealous former boyfriend.

David Saunders was allegedly tipped over the edge by Sarah Bramley, 29, sending him a picture of her performing a sex act on 34-year-old Michael Lawson.

A judge said the picture wound up 33-year-old Saunders so much that he took a taxi to Miss Bramleys house and launched the deadly assault on his love rival.

Father-of-one Mr Lawson was stabbed through the heart with a kitchen knife as he walked home.

Former law student Sarah Bramley, 29, is alleged to have sent a picture of herself performing a sex act on her new beau Michael Lawson, 34, to her former partner David Saunders, 33. Pictured: Bramley and Lawson

Saunders (pictured) was jailed for life - with a minimum terms of 22 and a half years - at Teesside Crown Court last year

Saunders later admitted murder and was jailed for a minimum of 22-and-a-half years at Teesside Crown Court last December, with the judge saying that he had been provoked by his ex-girlfriends messages.

Judge Stephen Ashurst ruled Miss Bramleys actions had a very important bearing on what Saunders did, but she was not involved in the case as she had moved to Australia soon after the killing in July last year.

The mother, who had studied law at university, returned to Britain last month and was arrested by police.

Miss Bramley has now appeared before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court in County Durham on two charges of assisting the commissioning of an offence. The first count alleges that between June 29 and July 2, she sent David Saunders a photograph of her with another male, advised him of the whereabouts of that other male and invited David Saunders over to assault said other male, which was capable of encouraging or assisting an indictable-only offence believing that one or more of these offences would be committed.

She appeared before Newton Aycliffe magistrates court on Thursday but did not enter a plea to two charges of assisting the commission of an offence

She appeared before Newton Aycliffe magistrates court on Thursday but did not enter a plea to two charges of assisting the commission of an offence

Soon after Lawson's murder she moved to Australia and was not present at Saunders' trial. She was arrested after re-entering the UK and will now appear herself at Teesside Crown Court on the unusual charge of inciting an assault

The second charge is almost identical, but says the photograph was capable of encouraging or assisting a number of offences and uses the word murder. No pleas have been entered and she is due to appear at Teesside Crown Court shortly.

Career criminal Saunders began an on-off relationship with Miss Bramley in November 2016, before they separated for good in April last year. The killer had blamed the break-up on her relationship with Mr Lawson and, after he had vandalised his rivals car, he was warned by police to keep away.

But Saunders went on to smash a paving block through Mr Lawsons window.

The hearing in December was told Miss Bramley, of Darlington, had taunted Saunders about his sexual performance in the run-up to the killing. She allegedly told him: I never had a proper orgasm in three months with you, I faked the lot. He has just given me the best orgasm of my life.

The day before the murder Miss Bramley allegedly told Saunders she had sex with Mr Lawson  starting a series of offensive messages between them. She is said to have goaded him further by saying her new man was bigger and stronger than him.

Bramley is facing trial on incitement related charges, after a judge ruled the explicit photo she sent to Saunders had 'a very important bearing' on his actions. She was arrested by officers from Darlington CID earlier this year

But after performing the sex act on Mr Lawson and sending the photograph to Saunders, she then slapped her lover and ordered him to leave the house. The court heard she texted Saunders saying: I have just smashed the lad clean in the face because he wouldnt go home. What have I got myself involved with?

She went on to add: He is outside the house, feel free to smack the c***.

Saunders is said to have threatened Mr Lawson in the argument and he also sent a female friend, who was at Miss Bramleys home, an intimate photo of her.

Commenting on the sex act photograph that allegedly incited the attack, the judge told Saunders at his sentencing hearing: I am absolutely sure that image was sent by her to wind you up.

She no doubt succeeded, for in a few minutes you arranged for a taxi to drive you over to the other side of Darlington, to Sarah Bramleys house. He added: Jealousy was very much at the heart of your behaviour.

The court heard Saunders was spoiling for a fight after drinking six cans of lager and snorting cocaine.

Mr Lawson, who was described by his family as an innocent victim, died within an hour of the attack.Advertisement

A Palestinian baby died as a result of inhaling tear gas during clashes along the Israel-Gaza border, the health ministry in the enclave announced Tuesday.

Eight-month-old Leila al-Ghandour was exposed to the gas east of Gaza City during major protests on Monday, in which the health ministry said 58 Palestinians were killed, most of them by sniper fire.

It was not immediately clear how close to the border fence Ghandour and her family were.

At least five protests sites have been established since demonstrations began on March 30, most of them with both frontline areas and places for families further back.

Monday's protests were against the opening of the controversial US embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, which had angered Palestinians who see the eastern part of the city as their capital.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied near the border fence, with smaller numbers seeking to breach it.

Israeli forces on the border used tear gas and sniper fire on the crowds.

Hospitals were said to be at breaking point, running out of blood stocks and their mortuaries filling up with the dead. The hospital smells like blood, there is blood everywhere, said Maram Humaid, a journalist reporting from the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza. The wounded are lying on the floor  there are no more beds to accommodate them. Ambulances have not stopped arriving.

Scroll down for video

The festivities in Jerusalem were a stark contrast to the bloodshed on the Gaza border (right) where dozens of protesters were killed by Israeli snipers. Ivanka Trump (left) is pictured unveiling engraved stonework carrying her father's name on the wall at the embassy today

Palestinians protesters carry a wounder protester during clashes after protests near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip. More than 2,000 people have been hurt

Palestinians burn tires to create a smoke column meant to reduce visibility for Israeli forces at the border fence separating Israel and Gaza

Medical units carry away a wounded Palestinian shot by Israeli forces during a protest. Thousands of people have been injured as armed soldiers fired on crowds

Palestinians were marking the Nakba Day, or the day of the disaster, when Israeli snipers opened fire on them, killing 58

Flashpoint: Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered for protests against the US embassy opening today and dozens were killed amid clashes with Israeli troops. Crowds are seen sprinting away from tear gas during a clash with Israeli security forces east of Jabalia near the Gaza border

Israeli leaders and a US delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump (pictured) and Jared Kushner, have attended the opening of the embassy, relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial decision

The Israeli Prime Minister tweeted a photo of him taking a selfie with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner as bloodshed played out in Gaza

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka (right) and husband Jared Kushner (left) joined Benjamin Netanyahu for the opening of the embassy this afternoon

White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump (right) speaks alongside US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during the opening ceremony

A child who has been affected by tear gas is rushed to medics at the border fence with Israel as mass demonstrations continue along the Gaza border today

A protester screams in agony as he is picked up by fellow Palestinians during deadly clashes along the Gaza border today. The death toll continued to climb this morning as anger mounted over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel today

An elderly Palestinian man falls to the ground amid reports he had been shot by Israeli troops during a deadly protest at the Gaza Strip's border

A Palestinian protester holds a rope during clashes after protests near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip

Huge crowds of protesters hid behind clouds of smoke from burning tyres but at times were forced to run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops

A Palestinian throws a rock in response to Israel's intervention during a protest to mark 70th anniversary of Nakba, also known as Day of the Catastrophe in 1948 and against the decision to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

A wounded Palestinian woman is evacuated by men wearing gas masks and high-viz jackets as protests turned violent today

A protester is shot by Israeli forces, feet away from the photographer and Palestinians immediate rush to his aid as they scream for medical units to retrieve him

Protesters fling projectiles at the border fence separating Israel and Gaza after they were fired upon by snipers through the fence

Palestinian protesters carry the wounded during clashes near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza Strip

Israel's armed forces had warned anyone approaching the fence would be risking their lives. By early this afternoon 37 protesters had been killed and the death toll has now risen further

A medic tries to hold an injured man's mouth open as they take him away from the clashes in a stretcher

A wounded female Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated on a stretcher by emergency workers at Qalandya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah

A woman appears to be giving protesters medical assistance as she tends to them while they sit on the ground during clashes along the border with Israel

Protesters used a horse and cart as they carried wounded Palestinians away from the conflict this afternoon as it emerged at least 37 had been killed and hundreds more injured

Palestinians carry an injured protestors to safety as one man kneels on the ground holding his head as violence erupted on the Gaza strip today

A severely injured man is carried. Israel's armed forces had warned anyone approaching the fence would be risking their lives

American and Israeli delegations have begun a festive ceremony to mark the opening of the new U.S. Embassy (pictured) in Jerusalem. U.S. Ambassador David Friedman welcomed the crowd. 'Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem Israel,' he said to warm applause.

Israeli soldiers walk amidst smoke from a fire in a wheat field near the Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, along the border with the Gaza Strip today

A wounded Palestinian women is carried from the border fence with Israel as mass demonstrations continue following the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

A group of Palestinian men carry their injured friend to an ambulance by stretcher during clashes with Israeli soldiers

A girl was among at least eight children killed, the youngest 14. More than 200 of the wounded were under 18, according to the Palestinian authorities. The chaotic scenes in Gaza were in stark contrast to the glamorous photographs of Miss Trump at the opening of the embassy.

President Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Israel on its great day and invited Americans to watch the ceremony live on TV.

The protests were planned to coincide with the switch of the embassy from Tel Aviv. Palestinians, who lay claim to the eastern part of the city as their capital, see the move as US backing for Israeli rule over the whole of the city.

Held in the run-up to the 70th birthday of Israel  the demonstrations also called for the right of return for Palestinians displaced in 1948.

Gaza health officials last night said 918 people had been shot with live ammunition and hundreds more struck by rubber-coated steel pellets or left suffering from tear gas. At least 39 people are said to be in a critical condition. No casualties have been reported on the Israeli side.

Ivanka Trump took to the microphone as the embassy was officially opened today. As the festivities took place, deadly clashes were taking place along the Gaza border

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara were among those attending the opening ceremony today

Ivanka Trump's husband Jared Kushner was among the speakers as the embassy was officially opened this afternoon

Jared Kushner embraces both his wife, Ivanka (left) and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu (right) during the opening ceremony today

A ceremony to inaugurate the US embassy in Jerusalem has started with Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump (centre), both top aides to President Donald Trump, attending. The event took place as Palestinian officials claimed 37 protesters had been killed in a 'massacre' along the Gaza border

As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy in has been a 'long time coming'. His daughter Ivanka as pictured walking ahead of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the ceremony today

Ivanka Trump smiles as she poses for photographs next to engraved stonework carrying the name of her father, US President Donald Trump

Ivanka shared two photos of herself and Jared sharing a meal with GOP Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Dean Heller, and Lindsey Graham

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) has said Jerusalem will always be the 'eternal, undivided' capital of Israe

Footage showed Israeli drones dropping lung-burning tear gas canisters into the crowds. The Palestinians are said to have used kites to carry Molotov bombs over the border. These were knocked out of the sky by more Israeli drones.

The heavy death toll has made it the deadliest day in Gaza since a cross-border war in 2014. Theresa May joined world leaders in calling for restraint.

The Palestinian government accused the Israelis of a terrible massacre and Amnesty International described the abhorrent acts as war crimes and a shameless violation of international laws.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back on Twitter, saying: Every country has the obligation to defend its borders.

The Hamas terror organisation declares its intention to destroy Israel and send thousands to break through the border fence in order to achieve this. We will continue to act firmly in order to defend our sovereignty and our citizens.

The Israeli army used drones to drop leaflets warning that anyone approaching the border would be risking their life.

At one point the Israeli armed forces used drones to drop tear gas canisters in a bid to disperse the crowds of tens of tousands

The drone could be seen releasing gas canisters during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

Palestinians were forced to run for safety as the gas canisters containing tear gas were fired from drones overhead today

Witnesses said Israeli drones had also dropped incendiary materials earlier in the day, setting ablaze tyres that had been collected for use in a planned Gaza border protest.

Drones unleashed canisters full of tear gas in the hope of dispersing the huge crowds today. The clashes have left scores dead

The drone tactic was deployed as festivities were taking place for the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem today

According to local reports, Israel employed specialist drone racers to drop tear gas

Protesters hurling stones used the cover of thick plumes of smoke from burning tyres to avoid sniper fire.

The number of people showing up to participate is unprecedented in comparison to the past seven weeks of protest, Mr Humaid said.

Israels army said 40,000 Palestinians were taking part in violent riots along the security fence and that its troops were operating in accordance with standard procedures.

Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said his forces had carried out five airstrikes on training camps of the Islamic group Hamas after militants exchanged fire with soldiers.

Amnesty International called on the Israeli authorities to stop the violence immediately and said that already strained medical services were at breaking point.

Violence: This was the scene as a man used a sling to hurl rocks towards Israeli forces along the Gaza border today

In the line of fire: Israeli soldiers are pictured lying in position looking out over the Gaza border

The Israeli army responded by throwing tear gas towards protesters, sending huge crowds scattering this afternoon

Taking cover: Palestinians throw themselves to the ground as tear gas is hurled towards them during fierce clashes today

The celebrations in Jerusalem were a stark contrast to the bloodshed along the Gaza border where tens of thousands of Palestinians protested

A Palestinian woman tries to fly a kite during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza Strip

The US moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem today after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis. Israeli snipers killed a Palestinian man as protests got underway this morning. Pictured: A protester running past burning tyres

US President Donald Trump made the decision, which tossed aside decades of precedent, in December as he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinians burned tyres this morning ahead of mass protests at the Gaza border today

A Palestinian demonstrator lies on the ground as smoke billows from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City this morning

Philip Luther, the groups research and advocacy director said: This is another horrific example of the Israeli military using excessive force and live ammunition in a totally deplorable way.

This is a violation of international standards, in some instances committing what appear to be wilful killings constituting war crimes.

Todays footage from Gaza is extremely troubling, and as violence continues to spiral out of control, the Israeli authorities must immediately rein in the military to prevent the further loss of life.

Amnesty added on Twitter: We are witnessing an abhorrent violation of international law and human rights. This horror must end now.

Medics were seen carrying Palestinian protesters away from the scene on stretchers as violence escalated this morning

Dozens have been injured - some of them seriously - by Israeli gun fire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry after the army warned that anyone attempting to approach the security fence would be risking their lives

Protests intensified on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, as loudspeakers on Gaza mosques urged Palestinians to join a 'Great March of Return'. Black smoke from tyres burned by demonstrators rose into the air at the border

Thousands gathered in five spots along the border in protest at the embassy move, while sporadic clashes also erupted with Israeli soldiers

Thousands of Gaza residents headed toward the border with Israel on Monday, drawing Israeli fire in a potentially bloody showdown as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem

Protesters set tires on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air at several spots along the border, while the Israeli military said protesters assaulted the border fence

The protest in Gaza was to be the biggest yet in a weekslong campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted 'what an amazing day! Thank you @POTUS Trump' ahead of the opening

Palestinian men carry an injured protester during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip, east of Jabalia

A wounded Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip

Violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border hours ahead of the controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, leaving several Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds more wounded

Crowds built throughout the day in the Palestinian enclave less than 60 miles away from Jerusalem and sealed off from Israel by a blockade

Israel's military said 'approximately 10,000 violent rioters are currently assembled in a number of locations along the Gaza Strip border and thousands more are gathered by the tents approximately half a kilometre away from the security fence'

Around 1,000 police officers were being positioned around the embassy for the inauguration. Israel's army said it was almost doubling the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank

A masked protester holds his hand in the air as he stands in front of burning tyres near the Gaza-Israel border in Khan Yunis

By midafternoon, at least 18 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed while over 500 were wounded by Israeli fire, Palestinian health officials said

Anger: Protesters torch tyres and wave Palestinian flags amid violent clashes along the Gaza border this morning

The date of the inauguration is deeply symbolic to both Israelis and Palestinians. The US said it chose the day to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment

Security has been tightened around Jerusalem ahead of the embassy opening this afternoon. Pictured: A road leading to the embassy

Israel has said it will prevent a border breach at any cost. A growing casualty toll Monday was bound to revive international criticism of open-fire rules under which soldiers are permitted to shoot anyone approaching the border fence

Protesters have used the thick smoke as cover against Israeli snipers perched on high sand berms on the other side of the border. The army accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to plan or carry out attacks

Rescue: An Palestinian is carried from the flashpoint as it emerged that several protesters have been killed by live Israeli fire

Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional 'layers' of security in and around neighbouring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there had already been several 'significant attempts' to break through the fence

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during protests near the Gaza border this morning

Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged the Muslim world to carry out jihad over the US decision to move its Israel embassy

The PLO has announced a general strike in Palestinian territories today to mourn the martyrdom in Gaza.

The European Unions foreign policy chief called on Israel to respect the principle of proportionality in the use of force.

Federica Mogherini said that all should act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life and added that Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The Palestinian National Authority considers East Jerusalem to be its territory illegally occupied by Israel since the Six Day War in 1967.

The United Nations Security Council also considers East Jerusalem an occupied Palestinian territory.

Some world leaders believe the decision to move the embassy ends Washingtons role as an honest broker.

Gaza residents streamed to the border area Monday for what is intended to be the largest protest yet against a decade-old blockade of the territory. Israel's military says it will stop a possible border breach at all costs, warning protesters that they are endangering their lives

Israeli troops firing from across a border fence have shot and wounded two Palestinians as a protest near the Gaza border gets underway

Near Gaza City, hundreds gathered about 150 yards from the fence. A reporter witnessed two people being shot in the legs

Israel's army warned Gaza residents they will be risking their lives if they approach the border with leaflets dropped by jets warning its forces will 'act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians'. A Palestinian is pictured throwing some of the leaflets in the air

WHY THE US MOVED ITS EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM The United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The opening ceremony was timed to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary. The initiative was driven by President Donald Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works, and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of America's closest ally had 'taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.' The US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The initiative was driven by Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, celebrated Trump's decision, but the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a 'slap in the face' and said Washington could no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel. Initially, a small interim embassy will operate from the building in southern Jerusalem that now houses US consular operations, while a secure site is found to move the rest of the embassy operations from Tel Aviv. WHY DID TRUMP RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL, AND ANNOUNCE THE EMBASSY WILL BE MOVED THERE? There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a signature promise of his 2016 election campaign. The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, many of whom support political recognition of Israel's claim to the city. Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but to which other presidents since then - Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama - consistently signed waivers. WHY DOES JERUSALEM PLAY SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT? Religion, politics and history. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders. It is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Israel's government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city even has different names. Jews call it Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds, which means 'The Holy'. But the citys significance goes further. At the heart of the Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains of them above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews. Within yards of the wall, and overlooking it, are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also an important pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe that Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected. WHAT IS THE CITY'S MODERN HISTORY AND STATUS? In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a 'corpus separatum' to be administered by the United Nations. That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it. In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the 'complete and united' city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. DOES ANY OTHER COUNTRY HAVE AN EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM? In March Guatemala's president, Jimmy Morales, said that his country will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the US move. Netanyahu said in April that 'at least half a dozen' countries were now 'seriously discussing' following the US lead, but he did not identify them. In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote. WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN NEXT? HAS JERUSALEM BEEN A FLASHPOINT BEFORE? Since Trump's announcement there have been Palestinian protests and wider political tensions. Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned the move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest due to culminate on May 15, the day after the US Embassy move and when Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost with Israel's creation. Although the clashes have not been on the scale of the Palestinian intifadas of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion. In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque. He failed but caused damage, and prompted fury across the Arab world. In 2000, the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. A Palestinian protest escalated into the second intifada. Deadly confrontations also took place in July after Israel installed metal detectors at the complex's entrance after Arab-Israeli gunmen killed two Israeli policemen there. Source: Reuters Advertisement

Team: The White House advisers attended the inauguration along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (third from left in black) and Treasury Mnuchin (center)

A US delegation in Jerusalem includes Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides. She posted a picture of the couple on Twitter with Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara as she thanked the Israeli Prime Minister for his hospitality at a welcome reception

White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly received a blessing from a rabbi who previously compared black people to monkeys

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared

Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation. She posted this photo on Instagram

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - part of a Washington delegation - this morning posted a photo of himself on Twitter with a plaque dedicating a square outside the new US embassy in Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump made the decision, which tossed aside decades of precedent, in December as he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capitalThe shocking images of slaughter at the Gaza border are a public relations disaster for Israel. At the very moment the Jewish state is marking the 70th anniversary of its foundation, its government finds itself the target of global outrage.

An occasion for national pride is now badly tarnished by media coverage of its soldiers apparently shooting teenagers and civilian protesters.

History has always offered fuel for such controversy in this combustible region, filled with the legacies of territorial disputes and religious clashes. Israels birthday was always likely to provoke some sort of turmoil.

For the creation of the state of Israel is a source of profound grievance to many Palestinians, who believe that their people were driven off their own land and displaced into Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza strip.

Palestinians medical carry a wounded protester during clashes after protests near the border with Israel in the east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip

Palestinians carry the body of Mahmoud Abu Teima who was killed when Israeli snipers shot at crowds on the border of Gaza

In this narrative of despair, they feel they were robbed of their livelihoods and their nationhood through the event known as the Nakba or the Catastrophe whose anniversary falls today.

Tensions were always bound to be high at this period, particularly as Palestinian demonstrators  some of them crudely armed  gathered on the border with Israel to demand the right of return to the home of their forebears.

But what has really ignited the powder keg is the decision by the White House to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the divided city of Jerusalem, which the state of Israel regards as its capital.

It is a step that has inflamed discord with the Palestinians, who lay claim to the eastern party of the city and whose Muslim faith has a number of sacred sites within its walls, as of course do Jews.

It was the fear of inflaming tensions that prevented a succession of US presidents, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, from implementing a pledge to shift the American embassy to Jerusalem.

But Donald Trump, never a man to follow political precedent, has ignored such doubts.

He adopted his stance partly because he has always been a big admirer of Israel, and is deeply suspicious of Muslim fundamentalism in the region, as he demonstrated in his decision last week to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, a policy that was eagerly welcomed by the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed dozens of Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border on Monday. A Palestinian woman is checked by medics

According to media reports, at least 55 Palestinians were killed and more than 2000 were wounded during clashes in Gaza-Israeli border during clashes against the US embassy move to Jerusalem

A teenager cries as he learns that his brother was killed today during protests at the border fence with Israel

Trump also has close personal ties to Israel, for his daughter Ivanka is married to Jared Kushner, whose family has donated money to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

For the Palestinians, all this is highly provocative, making a mockery of US talk about the need for a peaceful solution to the long-standing conflict. But this mood of anger is also sedulously cultivated by Hamas, the ruthless terror organisation which runs Gaza and relies on the culture of victimhood to maintain its iron grip on power.

That is why it has always been more interested in fomenting bitterness at Israel than in improving living standards in the Gaza strip. And why the fact that so many martyrs have died  or been sacrificed  suits its cause.

Endlessly exploiting the climate of indignation, Hamas continually preaches the apocalyptic gospel of the armed struggle and martyrdom.

The interests of Hamas are served by turning a youthful, seething, radicalised populations anger towards Israel.

That is the opposite of what Israel wants on its border with Gaza. Many British people, viewing the heart-rending reports of bloodshed, will understandably feel that the Israeli authorities grossly over-reacted to the demonstrations.

Thousands of Palestinian protesters were shot at on the Gaza border. Hospitals were full at the end of the day on Monday

But there are two crucial considerations to bear in mind about the Israeli response. First of all, one of the central themes of the radical Palestinian movement is to reclaim former homelands that are now Israeli territory. It is a drive called The Great March of Return.

But, by its very nature, this would threaten the very existence of the state of Israel. Therefore the security forces feel that, however savage the consequences, they cannot allow thousands of protesters in a human wave to cross the border and squat in Israel.

Second, although most of the demonstrators are unarmed, some definitely were. Hamass cynical eagerness to exploit the discontent means that there are bound to be hardened terrorists in the crowd, carrying knives, guns, petrol bombs or even rocket launchers.

The entire experience of Israeli history over the last 70 years is filled with attacks from its enemies. Almost every flashpoint becomes another challenge to the states right to exist. That is why the Israeli forces have to be so vigilant.

It could be that the hard line tactics actually work in deterring further border demonstrations. But the tough response could have the opposite effect, emboldening Hamas and fuelling radical fury as well as sympathy for the Palestinians from abroad.

Certainly, there is little doubt that the region will descend into furtherA 62-year-old man was arrested after mowing down motorcyclists at a busy intersection in south-west China on Sunday.

Three people suffered minor injuries in the accident and were taken to hospital. Three other vehicles were also damaged in the accident, according to Chengdu Traffic Police.

Shocking video footage shows an SUV brazenly going in circles at Chengdu city's Renmin East Road intersection, which is crowded with vehicles and pedestrians during rush hours.

The driver accelerated and ploughed into cyclists and motorcyclists waiting at a red light

Several traffic policemen were seen chasing the white Mitsubishi around but could not stop it.

A civilian was seen yanking open the car door briefly and attempting to stop the SUV, but it continued to charge into oncoming traffic.

Suddenly, the driver accelerated and ploughed into cyclists and motorcyclists waiting at a red light.

After the SUV came to a halt, a man appearing to be a civilian opened the driver's door and attempted to drag him out.

Traffic policemen were seen chasing the white Mitsubishi around but could not stop it. It then suddenly accelerated and charged into a crowd of motorcyclists waiting at a red light

After the SUV came to a halt, a man appearing to be a civilian opened the driver's door and attempted to drag him out. Several people rushed to help and started beating the driver up

Several people rushed to help and the group started beating the driver up, repeatedly punching and kicking him.

The police eventually broke up the angry mob while restraining the man with handcuffs.

In an updated Weibo post on Monday, the police said they had arrested a 62-year-old man, identified by his surname Yao, from Suining in Sichuan province.

The police added that the accident occurred at about 6:20pm on Sunday and the authorities are investigating.

The police eventually broke up the angry mob while restraining the man with handcuffs

The police said they have arrested a 62-year-old man, identified by his surname Yao

'The man's behaviour severely jeopardises the safety of the public. He will be charged with offences against public safety,' the police added.

The three people injured are identified to be a policeman, a traffic police negotiator and one of the civilians that attempted to stop Yao during the attack.

They remain in hospital in stable condition, the police said.

'We would like to thank citizens for their efforts and contributions to Chengdu city,' the police added.A woman miraculously remained unhurt after a lorry transporting gravel overturned and buried her car in Hunan province in central China.

The accident happened at an intersection on Dongzhu Highway in Changsha city on May 6, according to Hunan Television.

Shocking dashcam footage of the accident shows the lorry charging a red light while the black sedan was making a u-turn at the intersection.

The female driver was trapped in the sedan and was buried up to her neck in gravel

The lorry could not stop in time and swerved onto the shoulder of the highway.

It then lost control and rolled over, crushing the small car and sending gravel flying all over the place.

The sedan was completely buried in dirt and rocks, but the sturdy frame of the vehicle protected its owner.

The female driver was buried up to her neck in rubble while trapped in the car.

The female driver became trapped in her car after a lorry transporting gravel rolled over on her

Luckily, the sturdy frame of the car protected its owner from any serious injuries

Amazingly, she appeared to be largely unhurt and remained perfectly calm.

A nearby resident who helped alert emergency services said the woman was conscious when she called out to her after the accident.

'She told me that her legs were stuck and she couldn't move,' the woman told Hunan Television.

Luckily, there were no passengers in the vehicle with her.

Footage shows the lorry charging a red light while the sedan was making a u-turn

The lorry could not stop in time and swerved onto the shoulder of the highway

The overturned lorry crushed the small car and sent rubble flying all over the place

Firefighters on scene were seen discussing how to extract the woman without causing any more damage.

After 30 minutes, the driver was rescued and taken to hospital.

Footage of the accident's aftermath shows the highway's dividers seriously damaged. Road signs and traffic lights are seen collapsed at the intersection.Be prepared during take-off and landing:

Take off and landing are the two most likely times for a plane to get into trouble, specifically, the three minutes after take-off and the eight minutes before landing.

There are several things that you can do during this time to make sure that you are best prepared for trouble.

The simplest of these are staying sober and awake! Often people like to celebrate a holiday with a few drinks at the airport bar before boarding, but this will not help if you need to be alert in an emergency, the same applies to sneaking in a nap as soon as you get into your seat.

Passengers should always try to stay awake during take-off and landing (picture posed by a model)

Once in your seat, avoid the temptation to remove your shoes - if the plane suddenly gets into trouble, it will be very difficult to put them back on before evacuation.

Shoes can be removed once the plane has finished take-off and should be put on before landing starts.

Women should also avoid high heels when flying.

Read the safety card and listen to the cabin crew demonstration:

No matter how many times you have flown before, it is advisable to listen to the safety demonstrations - in case of an emergency, what you think you remember can easily be forgotten in the heat of the moment and speed is of the essence.

Just to highlight the importance of speed during an emergency, airfarewatchdog recently revealed that passengers have just 15 seconds to put on an air mask before the brain starts to be affected by lack of oxygen.

The site said in an article: 'You might only have 15 or 20 seconds in the event of a cabin decompression, during which all oxygen would be sucked out of the plane, before youd experience confusion and a euphoric stoned state, at which point you might forget everything you heard during the safety demo.

'In 30 to 45 seconds you'd probably pass out. So its important to act quickly.'

The website also revealed that passengers can even forget how to remove their seat belt when panicked and tend to try and release it in the same way that they would in a car.

Look for the emergency doors:

In case of an emergency landing there is likely to be no light on in the plane and it may also be filled with smoke is there is a fire.

For this reason, it is always a good idea to check where the emergency doors are in advance.

It is always important to locate your nearest emergency door when on a plane

According to aviation safety expert Professor Ed Galea from the University of Greenwich, it is also a good idea to count the number of seat rows from your seat to the nearest exit.

He told the BBC: 'I count the seat rows from my seating position to the exit.

'So in the event of smoke or if emergency lighting fails and it's very dark, I know the number of seat rows and I can feel my way to an exit. By counting the seat backs I'll know when I've reached the exit row.'

Without you even knowing it, your eyes are being accustomed in case of smoke and bad lighting during take-off and landing when the lights are dimmed by cabin crew.

If you are lucky enough to be sitting next to the emergency exit, make sure that you are strong enough to open and throw the door if something happens - according to airfarewatchdog, on a Boeing 737 the emergency door weighs 40lbs.

Time is of the essence:

In a real emergency, there is extremely little time for passengers to make a safe escape - 90 to 120 seconds to be precise.

In the instance of a fire, there may be even less time as the smoke will choke passengers - it only takes three lungfuls of toxic fumes for a person to become unconscious.

According to The Telegraph, during the 'golden period' of 90 seconds, passengers should: 'Move fast. Listen to flight attendants, get to an exit fast, check quickly that it is viable, inside and out, then get out and move as far from the plane as fast as possible.'

Leave your bags behind:

Because time is of the essence, the last thing passengers should do in an emergency is waste time by rooting around in the overhead cabins for their personal possessions - not only will you block the alleyway for others but you are risking your own life.

On top of this, it is inadvisable to take any bags with you while using the emergency inflatable slides.

According to Patrick Smith from the blog AskThePilot: 'Those slides are extremely steep. They are not designed for convenience; they are designed to empty a plane of its occupants as rapidly as possible.

'Youll be coming down from two stories high in the case of a 777, at a very rapid clip, with others doing the same in front of you and right behind you.Advertisement

The world's largest amphibious aircraft will be delivered to customers within the next four years, according to the plane's Chinese manufacturers.

The AG600 boasts a wingspan of 127 feet (39 metres) - roughly the length of a blue whale - and is designed to carry out marine rescues and battle forest fires.

Developed by China amid rising tensions with territories across the South China Sea, the aircraft is on track to reach buyers by 2022, with a number of Chinese government departments among 17 reported customers.

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The world's largest amphibious aircraft will be delivered to customers by 2022, according to the plane's manufacturers. The AG600 boasts a wingspan of 127 feet (39 metres) - roughly the length of a blue whale. Pictured is the aircraft during its first test flight in December

'We are endeavouring to get the airworthiness certification from the civil aviation authorities by 2021, and deliver it to the customers by 2022,' Huang Lingcai, the plane's chief designer at state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), said Sunday according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

China developed the AG600 amid a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea that has rattled nerves in the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.

It made its maiden flight in China in December. Mr Lingcai also said the aircraft would make more flights this year, including its first takeoff from water.

AVIC has spent about eight years developing the aircraft, which is roughly the size of a Boeing 737.

Powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, and can scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for firefighting trips, according to state media.

It has a range of up to 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometres) and is designed to be able to take off and land in six-foot (two-metre) waves.

The enormous amphibious aircraft (pictured) has been developed by China as part of a drive to modernise its military amid rising tensions in the South China Sea

WHAT IS CHINA'S AG600 AMPHIBIOUS AIRCRAFT? China's AG600 is the world's largest amphibious aircraft with a wingspan stretching 127 feet (39 metres) - roughly the length of a blue whale. The plane is designed to carry out marine rescues and battle forest fires and has been developed by China amid rising tensions with territories in the South China Sea. Powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, and can scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for firefighting trips, according to state media. China's AG600 (pictured) is the world's largest amphibious aircraft with a wingspan stretching 127 feet (39 metres) - roughly the length of a blue whale It has a range of up to 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometres) and is designed to be able to take off and land in six-foot (two-metre) waves. Following its maiden test flight in December, state media said that the aircraft had received 17 orders so far from Chinese government departments and Chinese companies. While it is around the size of a Boeing 737, the AG600 is considerably smaller than billionaire Howard Hughes' flying boat, better known as the Spruce Goose, which had a wingspan of 97 metres and a length of 67 metres but only made one brief flight, in 1947. Advertisement

Following its maiden test flight in December, state media said that the aircraft had received 17 orders so far from Chinese government departments and Chinese companies.

The plane took off December 27 from the southern city of Zhuhai and landed after roughly an hour-long flight.

The design has been heralded as a landmark for Chinese aviation engineering with 98 per cent of all the plane's components built within China.

China developed the AG600 amid a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea that has rattled nerves in the Asia-Pacific region and the United States

While the AG600 is large, it is not the biggest aircraft ever built, coming in considerably smaller than billionaire Howard Hughes' flying boat, better known as the Spruce Goose, which had a wingspan of 320 feet (97 metres) and a length of 220 feet (67 metres) but only made one brief flight, in 1947.

The AG600's flight capabilities put all of China's island-building projects in the South China Sea well within range.

'Its 4,500-km operational range and ability to land and take off from water makes it well-suited for deployment over China's artificial islands,' James Char, a military analyst at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said in a statement last year.

The aircraft can fly to the southernmost edge of China's territorial claims - the James Shoal - in just four hours from the southern city of Sanya, state-owned Global Times reported.

The aircraft made its maiden flight in China in December. Mr Lingcai also said the aircraft would make more flights this year, including its first takeoff from water

The shoal is also claimed by Taiwan and Malaysia, and is currently administered by Malaysia.

The collection of submerged rocks lies roughly 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Malaysia's coastline and about 1,120 miles (1,800 kilometres) from the Chinese mainland.

'The plane's capacity and manoeuvrability makes it ideal for transporting materiel to those maritime features that are too structurally fragile to support runways,' Char said.

AVIC has spent about eight years developing the aircraft, which is roughly the size of a Boeing 737. Powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, and can scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for firefighting trips, according to state media

Beijing's build up in the South China Sea, through which some 3.7 trillion ($5 trillion) in annual trade passes, is hotly contested by other nations.

The Philippines for many years was one of the region's strongest opponents of Chinese expansionism, and brought a complaint to a United Nations-backed tribunal.

The panel ruled last year that China's territorial claims in the sea were without legal basis, but the Philippines has backed away from the dispute under its new president Rodrigo Duterte.The UK could dominate the truffle growing industry within 30 years, according to a Scottish scientist.

A new genetic modification technique is being developed which could halve the time it takes to grow the truffles from six to three years.

This technique, combined with the UK's increasingly warmer climate, could see Britain become the truffle growing hotspot of the world, one expert claims.

Black truffles thrive in the hot and humid climate and the market has been dominated by Mediterranean farmers from Italy, Spain and France.

With the turbulent European weather changing rapidly, the UK's rising temperatures could see it overtake France as the primary producer for the valuable black truffles.

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The UK could dominate the truffle growing industry within 30 years, according to a Scottish scientist. A new genetic modification technique is being developed which could half the time it takes for the truffles to become fully grown (stock image)

Dr Paul Thomas from the University of Stirling in Scotland is experimenting with epigenetics to modify the genetic code of the truffles.

Epigenetics is the study of the biological mechanisms that switch genes on and off.

Dr Thomas believes using this technique could help double the growth rate of British truffles.

Growing this delicacy has become increasingly difficult in mainland Europe and exports from the Mediterranean have dropped off with production set to decline further over the next 30 to 40 years.

Areas typically famed fore their truffle-growing - such as northern Spain, southern France and northern Italy - are increasingly becoming too hot and arid to grow the prized delicacy.

This shortage has caused prices to dramatically increase, doubling in price for customers to a hefty 900 ($1,200) per kilogram (2.2 pounds).

'That drying is a long-term trend in Europe so the future looks pretty good for British truffles,' Dr Thomas told The Telegraph.

Dr Thomas, a climate modelling expert and truffle cultivation connoisseur, believes UK farmers should be preparing to exploit the opportunity.

HOW DO YOU GROW TRUFFLES? Historically, truffles were simply 'found' and could not be grown. They were often tracked down by Truffle pigs that had an excellent nose for the fungus. In the 19th century, many of the attempts at cultivating the truffle failed miserably. French gourmet Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once called truffles 'the diamond of the kitchen'. In 1825, he said: 'The most learned men have sought to ascertain the secret [to growing truffles], and fancied they discovered the seed. 'Their promises, however, were vain, and no planting was ever followed by a harvest.' The truffle fungus requires a host, often the roots of a tree in order to grow properly. Truffles are produced by inoculating the seeds of trees with the fungus. This fragile process occurs in a greenhouse and can take some time, the trees are then planted and as the plant grows, so do the roots and, as a result, so do the truffles. The tubers can then be harvested when they are fully developed. Advertisement

'We need to be planning now if we are going to shift truffle producing regions [north]. In all the climate models, it looks pretty bleak for a lot of areas of Europe', he said.

Currently, the UK only produces one ton of truffles a year, a measly amount when compared with the 50 to 80 tons that France plucks from the soil annually.

Truffles are produced by inoculating the seeds of trees with the fungus.

The trees are then planted and as the plant grows, so do the roots and, as a result, so do the truffles.

The industry is expected to be worth 4.5 billion ($6.1 billion) in the next decade or two.

Epigenetics are used to slash the time it takes for truffles to reach full maturation from six to three years. This technique, combined with the UK's increasingly warmer climate, could see the UK overtake the Mediterranean as the truffle hotspot of the world (stock image)

EPIGENETICS: THE SCIENCE OF ALTERING EXPRESSIONS OF CERTAIN GENES Epigenetics is a field of molecular science which involves altering the expression of certain genes. It is defined as: 'The study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.' Instead of changing the genes present in a living thing, it changes which of its genes are 'turned on'. Although it is the genetic code which forms the foundations for every living organism, it is the combination of activated genes which defines it. This gene expression can be complex or simple and can control a wide range of features. As some features and behaviours are controlled by single genes, these can be easily altered by turning this gene off, for example. Some genes inhibit growth and limit cell proliferation, by deactivating these genes things can be grown which do not have the same natural limitations as before. Advertisement

Although the UK is in prime position to take advantage of the environmental upheaval in the truffle industry, Dr Thomas believes it will require significant government backing.

Dr Thomas said: 'We have the space to do it and we plant a lot of trees already [which could be treated with the fungus].

'A hundred years ago, there was a knowledge and awareness of truffles. We had full-time truffle hunters.'

Although our ancestors had the know-how to grow the truffles, 'that awareness and knowledge died out', said Dr Thomas.

'We don't have it in our psyche as a national product. We need to change that and get support from the Forestry Commission and higher up to scale it up', he said.

He said that growing truffles in Britain would be like 'bringing back a native crop'.Chantal Akerman has been celebrated in the Google Doodle for May 14, 2018 on the 43rd anniversary of the release of the feminist filmmakers seminal work, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

The Belgian director became famous for her avant-garde and eclectic oeuvre, and remained a highly influential artist right up until her death in 2015.

Akermans exploration of the female experience, captured predominantly through intimate portraits of womens seemingly quotidian lives, has seen her become one of the most important feminist filmmakers of the 20th century.

The Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman has been celebrated in the Google Doodle for May 14

Who was Chantal Akerman?

Chantal Akerman was born on June 6, 1950 in Brussels, Belgium to parents who were both Auschwitz survivors.

Akermans relationship with her mother and the spectre of Holocaust featured heavily on the directors works such as News from Home and Tell Me and American Stories.

Akerman decided to become a filmmaker on one night in 1965, having been inspired by Jean-Luc Godards Pierrot le fou. Three years later, Akerman made her first filmSaute ma ville, raising money by selling diamond shares on the Antwerp stock exchange.

By 1974, Akerman had already begun to establish herself as a popular film director with features such as Hotel Monterey, Hanging out in Yonkers and Je, Tu, Il, Elle.

In 1975, at the age of 25, Akerman made her most well-known work, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

At nearly a four-hour run time, the film is a real-time study in minimalism and avant-garde cinema, presenting an unwavering, intimate portrait of a single mother as she goes about her regimented daily routine.

43 years ago today, JEANNE DIELMAN had its world premiere at Directors' Fortnight. Here's the synopsis Chantal Akerman provided to the festival. #Cannes2018 pic.twitter.com/YHzytzYc6C  Tim Grierson (@TimGrierson) May 14, 2018

As well as crafting fiction films, Akerman made documentaries including the film about Israel, La-bas (Over there), and created video and art installations.

Akerman committed suicide in 2015 at the age of 65, several months after releasing a documentary film, No Home Movie, which focused on conversations Akerman had with her mother, who died shortly after filming.

The Goodle Doodle about Akerman notes: Her works brought viewers into the most intimate moments of womens lives, highlighting the beauty and tension women experience in the most routine chores of life.

What is a Google Doodle?

Google Doodles are the tech giants way of commemorating culturally significant events around the world.

An illustration or animated doodle related to an event are incorporated into the Google logo on the search engines homepage.

The first Google Doodle marked Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, trip to the 1998 Burning Man Festival and featured a stick-man standing behind the second o in the Google logo.

After users responded positively to the frequent logo changes, the project expanded to include a team of illustrators, graphic designers, animators and artists to work on the Google Doodles.

The logos are hyperlinked to a page that provides more information about the cultural event celebrated.

The Google Doodle celebrating Chantal Akerman says of the feminist filmmaker: Akermans works have been recognized in exhibits around the world, including the Museum for Contemporary Art in Antwerp, Belgium; MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Centre George Pompidou, in Paris.

'Through her movies and the conversations they began, her influence on cinema and feminism live on.

Recent Google Doodles have celebrated the renowned Indian classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, the Prince of Mathematics Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss and the Olympic gold medallist Fanny Blankers-Koen.Thousands of Europeans who have had microchips embedded into their hands are at risk of their personal data being 'used against them'.

More than 3,000 Swedes have microchip implants that let them pay for shopping, enter buildings and book train tickets.

But a scientist has warned the conveniences gained from the procedure by so-called 'body-hackers' do not outweigh the risks to their private data.

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Swedish nationals are part of a study that embeds microchips under the skin on the back of a person's hand. SJ Rail, a Swedish rail operator, uses the chips to allow customers to pay for tickets (pictured). It has won over 130 users to its microchip reservation service in a year

Ben Libberton, a microbiologist at the MAX IV Laboratory in the Swedish city of Lund which provides X-rays for research, told AFP: 'At the moment, the data collected and shared by implants is small, but it's likely that this will increase.

'The more data is stored in a single place as could happen with a chip, the more risk it could be used against us.

'If a chip can one day detect a medical problem, who finds out and when?'

He added that the chip implants could cause 'infections or reactions of the immune system'.

The electronic tags are around the size of a grain of rice and are implanted via a syringe into the back of the hand.

Several companies in Sweden already offer the service to their employees - often for free - to help them quickly enter the building or pay for cafeteria food.

The implants were first used in 2015 - initially confidentially - before they were later rolled out widely with participants now totalling more than 3,000.

While concerns have been raised over potential personal data violations, many Swedes are favouring convenience over their privacy.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ulrika Celsing had a microchip injected into her hand that allows her to enter her workplace without needing her security card.

She said she is not concerned over the potential hacking of the data stored in the chip.

'I don't think our current technology is enough to get chip hacked,' she told AFP.

'But I may think about this again in the future. I could always take it out then.'

HOW DO MICROCHIPS IMPLANTED UNDER HUMAN SKIN WORK? Several Swedish firms are implanting their employees with microchips under their skin which can be used to replace keys, credit cards and train tickets. The small implants use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, the same as in contactless credit cards or mobile payments. When activated by a reader a few centimetres (inches) away, a small amount of data flows between the two devices via electromagnetic waves. The implants are 'passive,' meaning they contain information that other devices can read, but cannot read information themselves. Near Field Communication (NFC) as contactless bank cards, and London's oyster cards, suggesting it could be used further afield one day. Advertisement

To enter her workplace, the media agency Mindshare, Ms Celsing simply waves her hand on a small box and types in a code before the doors open.

'It was fun to try something new and to see what one could use it for to make life easier in the future,' she said.

Mircrochip implants are not new in Sweden, and thousands already have them, using the devices to swipe in and out of the office, and even pay for food.

Swedish citizens have long accepted the sharing of their personal details.

RFID implants (pictured) use Near Field Communication technology, the same as in contactless credit cards or mobile payments. About the same size as a grain of rice, the futuristic small chips hold a huge amount of personal data

The country has a track record for sharing of personal information, which may have helped ease the microchip's acceptance.

Personal details in the Scandinavian state are registered by the social security system, with other administrative bodies.

It is possible for people to find out each others' salaries through a quick phone call to the tax authority.

Mr Libberton said: 'In Sweden, people are very comfortable with technology and I would say there is less resistance to new technology here than in most other places.'

Sweden's SJ national railway company has won over some 130 users to its microchip reservation service in a year.

WHY DID A SWEDISH FIRM INJECT ITS EMPLOYEES WITH MICROCHIPS? Swedish firm Epicenter hit the headlines in April for offering RFID implants to its employees. The Startup offers workers microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards, to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand. The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted. But, experts say the ethical dilemmas will become bigger the more sophisticated the microchips become. Self-described 'body hacker' Jowan Osterlund from Biohax Sweden, holds a small microchip implant, similar to those implanted into workers at the Epicenter digital innovation business centre during a party at the co-working space in central Stockholm The technology in itself is not new. Such chips are used as virtual collar plates for pets. Companies use them to track deliveries, but it's never been used to tag employees on a broad scale before. Epicenter and a handful of other companies are the first to make chip implants broadly available. And as with most new technologies, it raises security and privacy issues. While biologically safe, the data generated by the chips can show how often an employee comes to work or what they buy. Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, a person cannot easily separate themselves from the chip. Advertisement

Commuters with a microchip in their hand are able to have their ticket loaded directly onto the device. The train conductor can then read the chip with a smartphone to confirm the passenger has paid for their journey.

While the scheme is currently only available in Sweden, the country's travel system uses the same Near Field Communication (NFC) as contactless bank cards, and London's oyster cards, suggesting it could be used further afield one day.

The futuristic project has not been without its hiccups, and has also generated concerns over passenger privacy.

When it was launched in June, one flaw in the system meant that rail staff would sometimes be shown a passenger's LinkedIn profile instead of their ticket information.An explosion in Ice Age art around 30,000 years ago was driven by autism, a new paper has claimed.

Researchers say the ability to focus on detail, a common trait among people with autism, allowed realism to flourish.

They say it drove the extremely accurate depictions of bears, bison, horses and lions decorate the walls of Ice Age archaeological sites such as Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave in southern France.

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A replica of prehistoric rock paintings of woolly rhinoceros and aurochs, found in the Chauvet Cave. York researchers say the ability to focus on detail, a common trait among people with autism, allowed realism to flourish in the era

THE PREHISTORIC PAINTINGS OF THE CHAUVET-PONT D'ARC The prehistoric paintings of the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave are the earliest in the world, revealing a snapshot life recorded by our ancient ancestors. Now experts have come up with a timeline for the remarkable site in the Ardeche, southern France, to reveal when it was occupied, and deserted, by humans and ancient beasts. They said people first lived in the cave between 37,000 and 33,500 years ago, a period when ferocious cave bears also frequented the site - and both species were driven away by rock falls. Advertisement

'Detail focus is what determines whether you can draw realistically; you need it in order to be a talented realistic artist,' said Lead author of the paper, Dr Penny Spikins from the Department of Archaeology at the University of York.

'This trait is found very commonly in people with autism and rarely occurs in people without it.

'We looked at the evidence from studies attempting to identify a link between artistic talent and drug use, and found that drugs can only serve to dis-inhibit individuals with a pre-existing ability.

'The idea that people with a high degree of detail focus, many of which may have had autism, set a trend for extreme realism in ice age art is a more convincing explanation.'

Archaeologists have been unsure why outr ice age ancestors suddenly began creating realistic art comapred to the simplistic drawings seen before.

Some even argue that psychotropic drugs were behind the detailed illustrations.

The popular idea that drugs might make people better at art led to a number of ethically-dubious studies in the 60s where participants were given art materials and LSD.

The authors of the new study discount that theory, arguing instead that individuals with 'detail focus', a trait linked to autism, kicked off an artistic movement that led to the proliferation of realistic cave drawings across Europe.

The researchers say their study adds to a growing body of evidence that people with autistic traits played an important role in human evolution.

'Individuals with this trait - both those who would be diagnosed with autism in the modern day and those that wouldn't - likely played an important part in human evolution and survival as we colonised Europe,' Dr Spikins added

'As well as contributing to early culture, people with the attention to detail needed to paint realistic art would also have had the focus to create complex tools from materials such as bone, rock and wood.

'These skills became increasingly important in enabling us to adapt to the harsh environments we encountered in Europe.'Google is helping Muslims navigate the holy month of Ramadan in a number of unique ways.

The California-based tech titan has unveiled new applications and products related to Ramadan intended to help practitioners of the Islamic faith during the most sacred month of the calendar.

The company has recently rolled out an interactive calligraphy application called Qalam to help create 3-D Ramadan messages and cards as well as an augmented reality tool called the Qibla Finder to help Muslims find Meccas direction for prayer.

Millions of Muslims will observe Ramadan from May 15 until June 14, 2018 around the world

According to Najeeb Jarrar, Googles head of brand and consumer marketing at its Middle Eastern offices: During Ramadan theres a spike in the information required for prayer times, card making, how to give to charity and how and when to fast.

Jarrar also stressed the importance of delivering timely, accurate results in Arabic, especially related to topics such as travel, health and food.

Food has emerged as an especially popular topic in recent years, with many users searching for recipes for Suhoor and Iftar, the predawn and post-sunset meals consumed by Muslims during fasting. Notably, food topic searches tend to vary by country and by year.

In Egypt, the most popular trending dish in 2015 was shakshouka, a meal made of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions and poached eggs. The following year, the top dishes searched for were knafa with mangoes and pastrami with egg sandwiches.

In Saudi Arabia, the most searched for foods were Nutella and Qatayef with cheese in both 2016 and 2017.

In the United Arab Emirates, food recipes for cheese filo pastry rolls and cheese with zaatar manaeesh were the top trending searches for 2015. Just a year later, the top search was actually for spinach fatayer.

Due to the differing searches between disparate countries and regions, Google tailored its search results differently for each one.

Google has done far more than just tailor search results for specific countries for Ramadan. The company has also helped Muslims send Ramadan greetings and find Meccas direction for prayer.

The companys Qibla Finder has made great strides over the years and has helped to point Muslims in the direction of Mecca for praying.

Additionally, its new Qalam application has made it simple and accessible to create and share Ramadan greeting cards with friends and family members. The company worked extensively with calligraphists, including Soraya Syed, one of Pakistans first female calligraphers, and artists from around the world to craft over 35 artworks which seamlessly blend art, calligraphy and virtual reality.

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the holiest month of the year in Islam. Muslims observe the sacred month to commemorate that Allah gave the initial chapters of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad in 610 AD, according to Islamic beliefs.

Ramadan is observed during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, a lunar calendar based on moon cycles. Observances start the day after the crescent moon has been visibly sighted, marking the start of a new month.

During the holy month, Muslims abstain from pleasures and also fast and pray frequently. Fasting takes place from sunrise until sunset while Muslims also refrain from smoking, sexual relations, cursing and fighting, save for self-defense. Families often gather for celebratory dinners during this time too.

When is Ramadan 2018?

Ramadan 2018 will be observed from Tuesday, May 15 until Thursday, June 14.Triggering appetite for a spot of travel, the world's most booked food tours have been revealed by TripAdvisor.

The travel site has revealed which cuisine-inspired trip gets customers clicking the most, with a pizza-packed sunset romp around Rome coming in first place.

The 76.20 tour promises to take travellers 'beyond tourist menus on an authentic food-and-walking tour' of the city, with 20 Roman specialties sampled en route.

Triggering appetite for a spot of travel, the world's most booked food tours have been revealed by TripAdvisor. The travel site has revealed which cuisine-inspired trip gets customers clicking the most, with a sunset romp around Rome coming in first place.

A cooking class and lunch at a Tuscan farmhouse in Florence came in at second place.

For 87.90, those booked on to the tour get to pick ingredients from a market and cook traditional Italian dishes from scratch.

In at third place was a 75 food tour in Paris, exploring the 'culinary delights' of the Montmartre district.

Travellers are told to expect a mouth-watering spread of cheese, chocolate, bread and sausage topped off with a 'delicious crepe' and glass of wine.

In at third place was a 75 food tour in Paris, exploring the 'culinary delights' of the Montmartre district

A cooking class and lunch at a Tuscan farmhouse in Florence came in at second place. For 87.90, those booked on to the tour get to pick ingredients from a market and cook traditional Italian dishes

A three-hour paella and tapas cooking class in Barcelona for 28.70 was found to be the fourth most-booked food tour, followed by a 41.31 walking gastronomy tour in New Orleans.

Taking a bite of the Big Apple, a 93.90 tour of Brooklyn's iconic dishes came in fifth place.

Heading back to Italy, a 71.70 food-and-wine walking tour of Venice scored the sixth spot, followed by a 67.30 wine and tapas tour in Madrid and a 81.90 Japanese restaurant crawl in Tokyo.

A three-hour paella and tapas cooking class in Barcelona for 28.70 was found to be the fourth most-booked food tour

TripAdvisor's foodie destinations to watch For the foodie well-versed in the flavours of New York City and Rome, TripAdvisor has identified ten destinations to watch. With food tour bookings on the rise, the bustling restaurant scenes of destinations like Miami, Cabo San Lucas, and Sydney, are said to be spilling over into the food tour world... Quebec City, Canada Savannah, USA Sydney, Australia Queenstown, Australia San Juan, Puerto Rico Miami Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Vienna Brisbane, Australia Charleston Advertisement

Rounding out the top ten was a 36.60 guided jaunt around Bangkoks Bang Rak district, with up to 15 shops, eateries, food stalls, and markets visited to sample dishes such as som tam (green papaya salad) and larb (minced meat salad).

Along with identifying the top ten food cities in the world, TripAdvisor also pinpointed foodie destinations to watch.

While Canadas Quebec City topped the list, Australian cities were found to be the ones making waves with three destinations - Sydney, Queenstown, and Brisbane - ranking in the top ten.

Commenting on the findings, TripAdvisor spokesperson Hayley Coleman said: 'Travellers are always searching for new ways to experience the local culture.

'With food experiences, travellers can indulge in the sights, smells, and flavours of a destination and walk away with the inside scoop on a citys best eats or new local recipes to try at home.'

The most booked food experiences were based on booking volumes via the travel site.'Are you ready for 50 shades of green?, asked Chriselda, our Nature Interpreter, as we took our places in the aerial tram. Soon we were soaring silently through the rainforest. The only sounds were the calls of birds and the river dashing through the ravine as we sailed by to a lofty peak with views to the sea.

Chriselda pointed out striking and strange plants, from massive buttress roots to the giant ferns, strangler figs choking their host trees and hanks of hanging vines.

We passed hummingbirds, hovering inches from our camera lenses. This was Castries Waterworks Reserve, St Lucias gift to the Queens Commonwealth Canopy in 2016.

Divine destination: Views over Castries Waterworks Reserve, St Lucias gift to the Queens Commonwealth Canopy in 2016

For more than a decade though, from the mid-1970s, the natural forest reserve established to protect the capitals water supplies had an anti-establishment reputation as the home of a community of Rastafarians. They renamed it Zimbabwe, built villages of huts with banana-leaf thatch, kept goats, grew vegetables and tended their cannabis plantations.

My cruise aboard Viking Sea had started in Puerto Rico and would hop through the long arc of islands, the Lesser Antilles, sweeping down to Barbados.

After two flights to get to the ship from the UK, and an overnight stay on board in San Juan, the capital, there was a day for us to acclimatise on the sun deck and take a walking tour of the Old Town.

I discovered that the streets, lined with colourful houses, were cobbled with dark blue bricks, shipped over from Liverpool in the 19th Century. We stood outside Barrachina restaurant, where, it is claimed, the Pina Colada cocktail was invented in 1963.

The next day we sailed into church-filled Frederiksted on St Croix in the US Virgin Islands. We could tell from our guide that the popularity of the musical Hamilton about 18th Century American politician Alexander Hamilton, who lived on the island, was a matter of great pride. St Croixs chequered history under the rule of Spain, France, Britain, the Knights of Malta and Denmark until it was sold to the US in 1916 made my head spin.

Colonial grandeur: La Fortaleza, the governor's residence in San Juan, Puerto Rico

To cool off after climbing to the ramparts of the faded red fort, I went for a swim in the Caribbean from the town beach, a few minutes from our docking place.

Returning from a hot and sunny excursion, it was a delight to step back on board and into The Living Room, our Norwegian family-owned ships cool, two-deck-high atrium. Similar to the lobby of a Scandinavian boutique hotel, its a nice mixture of airiness and hygge, The Living Room has wool throws over the backs of modern furniture and interesting artefacts on shelves between glossy art books.

Its quiet corners for reading and drinking coffee by day, and musical performances in the cocktail hour, made it one of my favourite spots on the ship.

Wandering around the vessel on the first afternoon I found no casino as youd expect on a cruise ship, but a museum on the legacy of the Vikings. I was fascinated to discover that the logo for Bluetooth wireless technology is a bind rune  an amalgamation of the two initials in the Old Norse alphabet of the 10th Century Danish king Harald Bluetooth.

In addition to a big choice of excursions that can be booked for an extra charge, there is always at least one included in the fare at every port (such as the walking tours I enjoyed in San Juan and on St Croix). Wine and beer is complimentary with lunch and dinner.

On St Kitts I took a train ride in an open-sided carriage around the coast past abandoned sugar mills and cane fields and through villages while a trio sang spirituals in harmony and glasses of rum punch were handed around.

Back on board it was time for lunch, and rather than going for the international buffet in the large World Cafe, I went to intimate Mamsens in a corner of the Explorers lounge for smorrebrod, open sandwiches piled with shrimps, egg mayonnaise or cold meats followed by apple cake or a waffle topped with Brunost (sweet brown cheese) and berries, all popular Norwegian dishes.

The contrast between life on board cool, calm, Nordic-look Viking Sea and the vibrant colours, sounds and sun on the Caribbean islands we visited is a winning holiday combination.Every filmmaker has their own unique way of doing things, but nobody does things quite like Quentin Tarantino does.

The acclaimed film director, the creative mind behind hit movies like Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained and many others, is known to do things his own way unapologetically.

The filmmaker has certainly been busy the past few years and is now gearing up for his latest project, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, set to star Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, the actress brutally murdered by followers of cult leader Charles Manson.

But just who exactly is Quentin Tarantino? Heres all you need to know about who he is, his age, net worth, how he makes his money, relationship status and movies.

Quentin Tarantino has directed acclaimed films such as Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained

Who is Quentin Tarantino?

Quentin Tarantino is a film director producer and writer best-known for popular movies like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, the Kill Bill series, Inglorious Basterds and others.

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 27, 1963.

After relocating to Southern California with his family in his youth, Tarantino expressed interest in filmmaking and started a career as an independent filmmaker in the late 1980s. After penning the script for the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers, he used the profits to make his critically acclaimed feature film debut Reservoir Dogs.

In 1994, he directed Pulp Fiction starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman to huge critical and commercial success, establishing him as one of Hollywoods most sought-after directors.

After directing the 1997 film Jackie Brown, he released his two part Kill Bill film franchise in 2003 and 2004, again to great critical and commercial success. Not long afterwards, he followed up with other acclaimed movies like 2009s Inglorious Basterds, 2012s Django Unchained and 2015s The Hateful Eight.

Over the course of his career, Tarantino has earned many award wins and nominations for prestigious accolades, including for the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards and others.

How old is Quentin Tarantino?

Quentin Tarantino is 55-years-old.

He was born on March 27, 1963.

What is Quentin Tarantinos net worth?

Quentin Tarantinos net worth is about $100 million (73.8m), according to Celebrity Net Worth,

How does Quentin Tarantino make his money?

Tarantino draws his impressive net worth from his successful film-making career.

After his feature film directorial debut with 1992s Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino went on to direct successful films like the cult classic Pulp Fiction, the Kill Bill film series, Death Proof, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight and others.

In addition to work as a director, Tarantino has also worked as a producer on movies like the Hostel film franchise, Hell Ride and The Protector among others.

Ultra Panavision #thehatefuleight A post shared by Quentin Tarantino (@tarantinoxx) on Nov 30, 2015 at 10:21am PST

Who is Quentin Tarantinos wife?

Tarantino is not currently married, though has been engaged to Daniela Pick since the summer of 2017.

Quentin Tarantino movies

Tarantinos films are notable for their ensemble casts, nonlinear plots, excessive violence, pop culture references and extended dialogue scenes between characters.

Starting as an independent filmmaker, he made his feature film debut with 1992s Reservoir Dogs, which proved to be a critical smash and key development in the rise of independent film. His next movie Pulp Fiction also proved to be a major critical and commercial success and helped to quickly turn Tarantino into a household name.

His Kill Bill series, released in two parts in 2003 and 2004, also saw critical and commercial success, as did later efforts such as such as 2009s Inglorious Basterds, 2012s Django Unchained and 2015s The Hateful Eight.

Hes also slated to be involved the upcoming movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starring Margot Robbie in the near future.At the top of their game, stand-out musicians Peking Duk are entrancing audiences around Australia.

And on Friday night, the Sydney showcase was taken to another level, when a loved-up fan dropped to his knee propose to his girlfriend on-stage, sending concert-goers wild.



The lucky beau will forever remember the night after proposing to his partner in front of ecstatic revellers during the band's performance at Horden Pavilion.

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Loved-up: On Friday night the Sydney showcase was taken to another level, when a fan dropped to his knee propose to his girlfriend on-stage

With help from KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O, Luke was granted permission to ask for girlfriend Emma's hand in marriage mid-show after she had been told prior that they had won a backstage meet and greet with Peking Duk's Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles.

The couple were led side of stage while the main act and their band took a break from the beats to help Luke with his big moment.

After he was handed the microphone from Adam who asked if he had anything to say, Luke looked overjoyed as he popped the question.

An enthusiastic Emma replied 'I will marry you!'

Perfect proposal: The lucky fans will forever remember the night after dropping to his knee in front of ecstatic revellers

Surprise: Emma had been told prior that they had won a backstage meet and greet with Adam and Reuben

She said yes! Luke looked overjoyed as he popped the question, to which Emma replied 'I will marry you'

On tour: The duo behind Peking Duk are entrancing audiences around Australia

With a phenomenally executed, high-energy set, Adam and Reuben are proving their ability to not only deliver extraordinary records but a remarkable live show as well.

The Canberra natives appeared to be loving every minute of their electrifying and finely curated performance, with fans finding it hard to contain their delight across dates played so far.

Their signature electro sounds are being brought to life during their nation-wide tour this month, which has already dazzled crowds in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, and will take on Adelaide and Perth this week.

Previously, the focused DJ duo told Daily Mail Australia that reaching super-stardom wasn't without moments of doubt but the key to their success was persevering with passion and heart.

Gifted: Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles are proving their ability to deliver a remarkable live show as well as extraordinary records

Dedicated: Their signature electro sounds are being brought to life during their nation-wide tour

Seamless: Peking Duk already dazzled crowds in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, and will take on Adelaide and Perth this week

'There was a time where we thought, ''Oh, it's gonna suck if this song isn't as popular as the last'' but now I think it's about the less you try to cater to other people, the better it will work out for you,' Adam reflected.

'As long as you make music you love it will work out alright.'

The release of their brand new music Fire and Distant Arizona, packaged in one cinematic display Reprisal, marks the continuance of their ongoing dedication to perfecting their craft and refining their creative talents.

With the 2017 ARIA Award for Song Of The Year under their belt and their most recent single Wasted now ARIA Gold accredited with over 10 million streams already worldwide, the lads show no signs of slowing as they embrace the path to international acclaim.

As their evolving success continues, in September Adam and Reuben will embark on their debut Europe tour with dates included in Ireland, London, Germany and France.

Explosive: Jets of co2 billowed toward the audience as the pair took the stage by stormShe's made a number of glamorous statements while at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

And Kristen Stewart continued to dazzle onlookers as she joined fellow screen queens Salma Hayek and Cate Blanchett at the star-studded Kering Dinner honouring director Patty Jenkins on Sunday.

The Indie darling, 28, looked a wonder in white as she graced the red carpet in a decadent strapless gown that hugged her slender frame.

Cannes Film Festival 2018: Kristen Stewart, 28, dazzled in white as she joined Salma Hayek and Cate Blanchett at star-studded Kering Dinner on Sunday

The stunning beaded gown perfectly complemented Kristen's alabaster complexion as she added height to her statuesque frame in stylish white stilettos.

Proudly displaying her trademark androgynous style, the Twilight actress slicked back her dark tresses and accessorised with a single thumb ring.

Kristen continued her ethereal look with sleek white eye makeup and a blush pink lip as her vibrant red manicure shone next to the brilliant white of her gown.

Fashion statement: The Indie darling, 28, looked a wonder in white as she graced the red carpet in a decadent strapless gown that hugged her slender frame

A-List heavyweights: Cate Blanchett (L) and Salma Hayek (R) continued to make statements both on and off the Cannes red carpets

Wonder in white: The stunning beaded gown perfectly complemented Kristen's alabaster complexion as she added height to her statuesque frame in stylish white stilettos

Ethereal style: Proudly displaying her trademark androgynous style, the Twilight actress slicked back her dark tresses and accessorised with a single thumb ring

The Snow White And The Huntsman skipped the Met Gala this year as she tread boards at the A-list Cannes film festival in the French Riviera.

Usually on the red carpet to promote her own movies, the Twilight star is now using her experience as part of the festival's jury to decide the feature film winner this year.

Meanwhile, Cannes Jury President Cate Blanchett was unmissable in her eclectic gold and blue ripple-effect gown with endless reams of shimmering embellishments.

Eye-catching: Cannes Jury President Cate Blanchett was unmissable in her eclectic gold and blue ripple-effect gown with endless reams of shimmering embellishments

Sultry: Cate threw her signature smoldering pout towards the camera with her cropped blonde tresses behind her ears

Ultra glamorous: The Australian actress, 48, looked sensational in the eye-catching garb while stepping out at the showbiz bash in killer black heels

The Australian actress, 48, looked sensational in the eye-catching garb while stepping out at the showbiz bash in killer black heels.

Letting her sartorial choice do all the legwork without glitzy jewels, Cate threw her signature smoldering pout towards the camera with her cropped blonde tresses behind her ears.

Cate complemented her cobalt blue embellishments to perfection with her shimmering make-up palette as she walked the red carpet alongside Salma Hayek, who proudly stood beside her just the day before at the Cannes Women's March.

The historic moment was led by Cate and involved 82 artists and filmmakers stood at the famed Cannes steps to represent the number of female directors who have been selected to compete at the film festival.

Stunning: Salma once again turned heads for her red carpet appearance at the swanky dinner, slipping into a stunning sky blue lace gown with a ruffled train that cascaded to the floor

Cute couple: . The Mexican actress, 51, positively glowed beside her businessman husband Francois-Henri Pinault, 55, as she flaunted her envy-inducing figure in the elegant ensemble

All that glitters: Salma polished off the look with a diamond chain necklace and shimmering earrings while her raven tresses were swept up into a chic ballerina bun

Reunited: . The Desperados star accentuated her natural beauty with a dramatic make-up palette as she soaked up the atmosphere alongside fellow actor Benicio Del Toro

In contrast to their 82, 1,866 films directed by men have been picked for the prestigious festival lineup.

'Women are not a minority in the world, yet the current state of the industry says otherwise,' Blanchett said. 'We stand together on these steps today as a symbol of our determination to change and progress.'

Organizers said the event was orchestrated by the Time's Up movement and the French movement known as 5020x2020 to show 'how hard it is still to climb the social and professional ladder' for women.

Honouree: Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins couldn't be missed in a vibrant red dress with a sophisticated cape billowing down to the floor

Indie darling: Chloe Sevigny graced the red carpet with a soft pink bow attached to her white gown, while glitzy costume jewelry amplified the glamour

Turning heads: Chloe made sure all eyes were on her as she posed up a storm in her quirky design ahead of the showbiz soiree

Sophisticated: Director Ava DuVernay caught all the attention in her indigo tulle gown

It brought an array of film industry professionals to the Cannes red carpet, including actresses Salma Hayek and Jane Fonda, 'Wonder Woman' filmmaker Patty Jenkins and French director Agnes Varda, a recipient of an honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Salma once again turned heads for her red carpet appearance at the swanky dinner, slipping into a stunning sky blue lace gown with a ruffled train that cascaded to the floor.

The Mexican actress, 51, positively glowed beside her businessman husband Francois-Henri Pinault, 55, as she flaunted her envy-inducing figure in the elegant ensemble.

Perfect in pink: German-American Diane Kruger looked oh-so-pretty in a baby pink mini dress with sky high silver heels

Floral favourite: Polish Anja Rubik was the epitome of spring in her ultra flora mini dress - with a plunging neckline and thigh-skimming hem putting her enviable figure on full display

Red carpet ready: French actress Lea Seydoux (L) looked sharp in her metallic mini dress, while Isabelle Huppert (R) flaunted her black lingerie in a see-through blouse

Salma polished off the look with a diamond chain necklace and shimmering earrings while her raven tresses were swept up into a chic ballerina bun.

The Desperados star accentuated her natural beauty with a dramatic make-up palette as she soaked up the atmosphere alongside fellow actors Chloe Sevigny and Benicio Del Toro.

Prior to the star-studded soiree, Salma spoke openly to Variety about the Me Too movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and she called the changes that have started to take place an 'important step' for gender equality.

Dapper style: Spanish star Benicio del Toro looked ever so handsome in his all-black tux with a sharp white shirt underneath

Red carpet return: Former teen heartthrob Matt Dillon proved his A-List prowess in a midnight blue suit and soft blue dress shirt

Ladies in black: Guess girl Laetitia Casta (L) walked the carpet with a perilously high thigh slit in her decadent black gown, while timeless beauty Catherine Deneuve (R) injected some vintage glamour with her faux-fur lined bardot gown

All that sparkles: French-Italian actress Chiara Mastroianni looked wonderful in her firework-inspired dress with delicate sequins covering the outfit

Speaking to Variety's Ramin Setoodeh at the Kering photocall, she said: 'Personally, as a woman that has been part of this community and has had to go through the struggles that all women have had to go through, it's an important step to see this happen.'

But Salma still felt that there is more that can be done to tackle gender inequality, as she said of the protest: 'It looked like we were a lot, but we were such a small number.'

The actress has been a staunch advocate for the #Metoo and Time's up movement after speaking out about her experiences with disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein last year, alleging that he had put pressure on her to have sex with him.

Not Mads about it: Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelson cosied up to wife Hanne Jacobsen

French beauty Virginie Ledoyen (L) looked in great spirits in her glamorous black semi-sheer dress, while Aymeline Valade (R) exposed her lithe pins in her avant garde gown

Showbiz pair: Denis Villeneuve and Tanya Lapointe complemented each other perfectly in their own sharply tailored suits

Ravishing in red: Director Rebecca Zlotowski (L) couldn't be missed in her Asian-inspired floral blouse and shimmering red trousers

Time's Up: A group of 82 women climbed the steps of the Palais des Festivals at the Cannes Film Festival in an unprecedented red carpet protest

And of the scandal, and particularly Weinstein's reaction to her and Lupita N'yongo's statements against him, she said: 'He only responded to two women, two women of colour. It was a strategy by the lawyers, because we are the easiest to get discredited.

'It is a well-known fact, if you are a woman of colour, people believe what you say less. So he went attacking the two women of colour, in hopes that if he could discredit us, he could then maybe discredit the rest.'

The shadow of Harvey Weinstein is also looming over this year's Cannes. For two decades, Weinstein had been an omnipresent figure at the festival, where several of his alleged sex crimes took place.

This year, Cannes has established a hotline for sexual harassment victims at the festival.

Commanding attention: The screen star slipped into an all-black ensemble, which featured a long-line blazer and matching trousers

Taking to the stage: Shortly after her red carpet appearance, Cate presented at the HFPA bash at the film festival

Beaming: During the event, Cate was spotted putting on an animated display with activist and Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, as the pair raised their arms in delight

Shortly after her red carpet appearance, Cate presented at the HFPA bash at the film festival.

The screen star slipped into an all-black ensemble, which featured a long-line blazer and matching trousers.

During the event, Cate was spotted putting on an animated display with activist and Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, as the pair raised their arms in delight.

Sharp: John Travolta also took to the stage at the bash, cutting a dapper figure in a sharp black jacket and round collar jumper

Industry pals: The Killing Season star took a cosy snap with fellow actor Michael Madsen

Loved-up: John proved to be in good comapny as he was joined by his wife Kelly Preston

Ground-breaking: Kailash attended the event with fellow activist Meher Tatna (left) and wife Sumedha Satyarthi (right)She is a mom-of-three.

And on Sunday, Kim Kardashian felt 'like the luckiest mom in the world' as she celebrated Mother's day in Los Angeles with her 'babies.'

The 37-year-old reality star marked the day with a photo.

'You dont even understand how many lollipop bribes this pic cost me...but it was so worth it. Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there,' she captioned the image.

May 13: Kim Kardashian felt 'like the luckiest mom in the world' as she celebrated Mother's day in Los Angeles with her 'babies' on Sunday

Husband Kanye West has a history of extravagant gift giving, but Kim's Mother's Day present has yet to be revealed.

A Twitter follower recalled her gifts from years past that included a flower wall and a surprise orchestra performance.

'These were all so special,' the Kardashian responded. 'This year was crazy special though.'

What will it be? Husband Kanye West has a history of extravagant gift giving, but Kim's Mother's Day present has yet to be revealed

Hint, hint: Kim teased her followers with a tweet on Sunday that referenced her present

Going strong: Kim and Kanye have been married since 2014 (Photo taken 2015)

Ahead of Mother's Day, the KKW Beauty founder took to her app to answer questions about her role as a mom.

The stunner revealed that the 'most rewarding part' of motherhood is when her 'kids tell me they love me.'

At the same time, the Keeping Up With the Kardashian star confessed that the most difficult part of being a parent is 'when they all need you at the same time and are cryingit can be overwhelming.'

Party of five: Kim shares North, four, Saint, two, and Chicago, three months, with West

Kim, who shares North, four, Saint, two, and Chicago, three months, with West, 40, said that having her children has 'changed my soul.'

'You learn so much from being a parent and you care more about the world you are raising your kids in.'

The Calabasas native gave a social media shout-out to her mom, Kris Jenner, on Sunday.

'Happy Mothers Day to the best mom in the entire world! Youve taught us all how to live life to the fullest and work hard for what you want,' she said.

'Youve always taught us that family above everything! Thank you for being the best grandma to my kids! I love you.'

OG: The Calabasas native gave a social media shoutout to her mom, Kris Jenner, on SundayMarried At First Sight stars Sarah Roza and Ryan Gallagher were noticeably absent from Nasser Sultan's wild 51st birthday bash at the Crown Casino in Melbourne last week.

And now the outspoken groom has exposed his bitter feud with the former MAFS alum.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Monday, the 51-year-old reality TV star revealed both Sarah, 39, and Ryan, 29, were absent from his birthday party because 'one's fake' and the other 'one's a clown.'

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'They're not my friends, one's fake and the other's a clown!' Married At First Sight's bitter FEUDS are exposed as Nasser Sultan reveals why Sarah Roza and Ryan Gallagher were absent from his wild 51st birthday party

'(It's) very very clear THEY ARE NOT MY FRIENDS, one's fake and one's a clown,' Nasser ranted.

The aspiring beauty blogger clarified his statement, saying: 'Sarah is fake and pretty boy (Ryan) is a clown.'

Earlier this week, the 51-year-old former rock n' roll roadie hinted at an ongoing feud to Woman's Day Magazine.

'I only wanted to celebrate with my real mates,' Nasser confessed to the publication.

Daily Mail Australia reached out to both Sarah and Ryan for comment.

This isn't the first time Nasser and Ryan have engaged in a public war of words.

Ongoing feud: Earlier this year, Ryan claimed he was 'not surprised' by rumours Nasser was gay. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Nasser countered Ryan's comments and said: 'Look, my sexuality is no-one's business. I will come out with my sexuality in my own time'

Earlier this year, Ryan claimed he was 'not surprised' by rumours Nasser was gay.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Nasser countered Ryan's comments and said: 'Look, my sexuality is no-one's business. I will come out with my sexuality in my own time'.

Ryan also accused Nasser of setting up staged paparazzi photos - a claim which Nasser furiously denied.

'If Ryan thinks we're making money from photos... I thought we were great mates, I'm very disappointed,' Nasser told Daily Mail Australia.

'To bag me on national radio to other bogans saying, "He's setting up pap shots" - go f**k yourself, mate.'

'Go f**k yourself, mate': Ryan also accused Nasser of setting up staged paparazzi photos - a claim which Nasser furiously denied

Nasser's recent comments come after he celebrated his 51st birthday in the Victoria capital with a select number of MAFS cast members.

The pint-sized personal trainer seemed to be in great spirits as he enthusiastically sucked his former MAFS co-star Carly Bowyer's finger - who later mounted her boyfriend Troy Delmege in an amorous way.

Carly and Nasser showed off their close bond during the raucous night, with the pair puckering up for a mock-kiss on the lips as they snapped selfies.

It has been around a month since Nasser was last pictured with his friend Eyob Geist, a 20-year-old male fashion student.

Images of the men's boozy lunch went viral in April, after an onlooker told NW magazine they appeared to be 'more than friends'.It's certainly a long flight from Sydney to London, and it looks like Sam Armytage and Edwina Bartholomew had a rough one.

The Sunrise presenters touched down at Heathrow Airport on Saturday looking rather tired and cranky.

Sam and Edwina, who are in England to cover Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, appeared rather lost as they strolled through arrivals.

Rough flight? Sunrise stars Samantha Armytage (pictured) and Edwina Bartholomew had faces of fury as they touched down in London to cover the Royal wedding on Saturday

Exhausted? The Sunrise stars touched down at Heathrow Airport on the weekend looking rather tired and cranky. Pictured: Edwina Bartholomew

Both women were overloaded with multiple suitcases and appeared to be without help or minders.

A frazzled Sam wore her hair away from her face in a mini ponytail and went makeup-free following her long haul flight.

Wrapping up against the cold English weather, the 41-year-old wore a grey, woolen coat with prominent gold buttons.

Ever the sensible traveller, she completed her look with a comfortable black jumper, tights and sneakers.

Sam appeared to have maxed out the luggage weight limit with her two rather heavy-looking suitcases.

Some help please! Sam and Edwina, who are in England to cover Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, appeared rather lost as they strolled through arrivals

Packed and loaded: Both women were overloaded with multiple suitcases and appeared to be without help or minders

Cranky? A frazzled Sam wore her hair away from her face in a mini ponytail and went makeup-free following her long haul flight

She didn't have quite as much luggage as Edwina, who pushed her belongings through the airport on a trolley.

The newlywed 34-year-old looked surprisingly fresh despite her long journey, going makeup-free and with her hair pulled back into a retro-inspired updo.

Just like Sam, Edwina bundled up in a black leather coat which featured suede detailing on the lapels.

She's prepared! Sam appeared to have maxed out the luggage weight limit with her two rather heavy-looking suitcases

Fresh off the flight: Sam and the Sunrise team are staying at the same London hotel as their rivals at Channel Nine's Today show

Nice and warm! Wrapping up against the cold English weather, the 41-year-old wore a grey, woolen coat with prominent gold buttons

One reason for the pair's stony faces may be that they had just learned they would be staying in the same hotel in St Pancras, London as their Today show rivals.

Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner will be 'neighbours' of the Sunrise cast, and will no doubt be bumping into one another in the lobby and elevators.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Georgie had 'awkwardly greeted' the Channel Seven breakfast news crew upon running into them.

Whoops! One reason for the pair's stony faces may be that they had just learned they would be staying in the same hotel in St Pancras, London as their rivals including Nova's Fitzy and Wippa

Travel buddies? Sam, Edwina, Karl Stefanovic, Mark Beretta, Natalie Barr and Nova's Fitzy and Wippa were were all forced to travel from Sydney to London on the same flight

To make matters even more awkward, Australian TV and radio personalities - including Sam, Edwina, Karl, Mark Beretta, Natalie Barr and Nova 96.9's Fitzy and Wippa - were all forced to travel from Sydney to London on the same flight. They were seated in business class for most of the trip.

Meanwhile, Today co-host Georgie took an earlier flight and was in London before the rest of the media pack.

The morning show teams will be competing to keep Australians up-to-date with the latest Royal wedding news.

The Today show has already upped the ante, broadcasting from famous British landmarks like the Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.Bert Newton, 79, and wife Patti, 73, are reportedly more worried than ever about their son Matthew after his future father-in-law Eric Schneiderman was accused of sexual violence against his former girlfriends.

A source close to the Newtons allegedly told New Idea on Monday that they were worried for the troubled 41-year-old actor as Schneiderman - the former New York State Attorney General - faces damning accusations.

'This is obviously Bert and Patti's worst nightmare come true,' the magazine's source supposedly claimed.

'It's Bert and Patti's worst nightmare': Matthew Newton's parents are 'more worried than ever' as the troubled actor's future father-in-law is accused of being sexually violent to women

Matthew, who lives with fiancee Catherine Schneiderman in New York's Upper West Side, has had his own fair share of scandal in the past after being arrested for the alleged physical assault of his former partner Brooke Satchwell in 2006.

Matthew pleaded guilty to 'common assault' after prosecutors withdrew three more serious charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and stalking and intimidating Brooke.

In 2010, Matthew's then-girlfriend Rachael Taylor filed an AVO against him, alleging physical, verbal and emotional abuse, and he entered Sydneys Northside West Clinic for treatment.

Concern: 'This is obviously Bert and Patti's worst nightmare come true,' a source supposedly told New Idea on Monday. Pictured: Matthew Newton in September 2017

He was also arrested twice in Miami, Florida in 2012 - the first for trespassing and resisting officers, while a second incident saw him charged with battery and resisting arrest after he attacked a hotel receptionist.

Following the charges, Matt, who suffers from bipolar disorder, checked into the Betty Ford Centre in California for 90 days of alcohol and drug treatment.

New Idea's 'source' claimed that Bert and Patti were hoping that Matthew's new life in America 'would be scandal-free'.

'It has sent a shiver down Bert and Patti's spines': Eric Schneiderman, the father of Matthew's fiancee Catherine, was accused of sexual violence against his former girlfriends last week

The 'insider' added: 'They were really encouraged by the fact (Catherine's) dad was such an upstanding man and had such an important high profile job.

'But reading these allegations against Eric has sent a shiver down Bert and Patti's spines.'

In a damning expose last week, The New Yorker reported that four former girlfriends of Eric Schneiderman had accused him of hitting, choking and threatening them.

Concerned parents: New Idea's 'source' claimed that Bert and Patti were hoping that Matthew's new life in America 'would be scandal-free'

The 63-year-old responded to the allegations by admitting he 'engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity' but denied claims he ever assaulted another person or had 'non-consensual sex'.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas to investigate the claims.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office also announced it had opened a formal investigation.

Shock claims: In a damning expose last week, The New Yorker reported that four former girlfriends of Eric Schneiderman (right) had accused him of hitting, choking and threatening them. Pictured with daughter Catherine Schneiderman in May 2014

Matthew and Catherine became engaged in 2016 and there have since been rumours of a split.

However, just last month, the pair were seen looking affectionate despite the speculation.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Patti Newton for comment.Hunky Michael Turnbull was spotted getting cozy with Married At First Sight bride Sarah Roza last month.

But it turns out the eyebrow-raising snaps, which saw the pair share a kiss, were reportedly staged for the cameras.

On Monday, Woman's Day magazine reported a 'friend' of the hunky 37-year-old came clean to his girlfriend Tash Candyce, after it appeared to prompt a fight.

'He insisted it was just a publicity stunt': Michael Turnbull reportedly told flame Tash Candyce snaps which surfaced of him and Sarah Roza were only for the cameras

'Tash was devastated when photos of Michael and and Sarah Roza came out, but he insisted it was just a publicity stunt,' the friend reportedly said.

The revelation however, might not have been enough for leggy brunette Tash, with Michael later admitting to the magazine things didn't work out for the pair.

'[Me and Tash] were sort of seeing each other, but we're not anyone,' he revealed.

Getting cosy! The Bachelor in Paradise star looked to be getting very cosy when they were snapped outside Vogue Dental in Melbourne

Last month, the sassy beauty therapist and Michael set tongues wagging when they were spotted at Vogue Dental after an appointment.

The pair, who were unknown to each other previously, appeared to be getting along famously, with Michael walking beauty therapist to her car.

Sarah, who was paired with Telv Williams on Married At First Sight, seemed to enjoy his company being all smiles in the snaps.

Not happy! The snaps proceeded a tense encounter with rumoured flame Tash Candyce, with Michael admitting to Woman's Day the pair were 'seeing each other'

Earlier this month, Michael and busty Tash were spotted in what appeared to be a heated row in Chapel Street in Melbourne.

In the candid shots, Michael seemed exasperated while trying to give an explanation to a Gucci-clad Tash.

Hot date! The encounter between ripped Michael and Sarah set tongues-wagging, with speculation of a possible romance between the two reality stars

Michael and Tash were first linked in mid-April after Tash shared a cosy photo of herself with the former Bachelorette star.

They were pictured sitting next to each other in front of a gourmet lunch spread complete with bottles of Moet & Chandon.

She wrote in the caption: 'Enjoyed this amazing platter with this one'.She the actress known for her phenomenal red carpet looks.

And Anna Friel did not disappoint as she arrived at the BAFTAs in London wearing a stunning moss green dress.

The 41-year-old dazzled in the strapless gown, which showed off her tiny waist as it swept the floor.

Making us green with envy: Anna Friel did not disappoint as she arrived at the BAFTAs in London wearing a stunning moss green gown

The Rochdale-born beauty wore her chocolate tresses in loose tousled waves, flowing past her shoulders in a relaxed style.

Keeping makeup simple, Anna wore a red lip to add a pop of colour and held a tan clutch bag in one manicured hand.

Whilst Marcella's second series came to an end recently, fans of Anna will see her back on screens soon in ITV's upcoming drama, Butterfly.

Beauty: The 41-year-old dazzled in the strapless dress, which showed off her tiny waist as it swept the floor

Relaxed: The Rochdale-born beauty wore her chocolate tresses in loose tousled waves, flowing past her shoulders in a relaxed style

Natural beauty: Keeping makeup simple, Anna wore a red lip to add a pop of colour and held a tan clutch bag in one manicured hand

The show, which is set to air later this year, follows the story of Max - who expresses his desire to live permanently as a girl, after years of dressing up at home.

The series focuses on his mother Vicky, played by Friel, and the battle she endures trying to work out how best to 'support and protect' her child through the decision - while struggling with her broken relationship with Max's father, Stephen.

It's said Butterfly will cover the early stages of Max's choice to live as a girl and his family's attempts to deal with it, instead of focusing on the aftermath of his transition.

Talent: Whilst Marcella's second series came to an end recently, fans of Anna will see her back on screens soon in ITV's upcoming drama, Butterfly

New project: The show, which is set to air later this year, follows the story of Max - who expresses his desire to live permanently as a girl, after years of dressing up at home

ITV's head of drama Polly Hill said earlier this year: 'Butterfly is a beautiful story about a young boy on the cusp of puberty who doesn't feel comfortable in his own body.

'It's a heartwarming and emotional script that focuses upon gender identity and one boy's search to be recognised for who he really is.'

The project marks just one of many for Anna, who is currently starring in hit political drama The Girlfriend Experience.

Topical programme: The series focuses on his mother Vicky, played by Friel, and the battle she endures trying to work out how best to 'support and protect' her child through the decision

Star: The actress looked completely comfortable as she posed for photographs in her gorgeous outfitHeston Blumenthal, 51, has reportedly tied the knot with his girlfriend Stephanie Gouveia.

Just weeks after claims of relationship strife, the duo - who welcomed their first child this year - are believed to have wed in a secret ceremony on luxury island Soneva Fushi in the Maldives.

According to The Sun, Heston begged resort staff to 'Marry us now!' before they laid on a colourful banquet and a local official to conduct the service.

'He's going through a rough time': Heston Blumenthal's romance with his much younger girlfriend and mother of his fourth child Stephanie Gouveia is reportedly on the rocks

A representative confirmed to the newspaper: 'Heston and Stephanie are delighted to announce theyve got married.

'They were spending some quality time together and decided to seize the moment.'

The exclusive resort is loved by fellow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, as well as megastars Madonna, Guy Ritchie and Liv Tyler.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Heston for further comment.

His romantic wedding comes just weeks after the newspaper claimed that Heston and Stephanie were 'on the rocks'.

Private island: TV chef Heston is understood to have chosen luxury resort - loved by celebrities including Madonna and Gordon Ramsay - for his secret wedding

Romantic setting: Dinners are held on the sea front, set amongst a wild jungle of foliage

Rough patch: Heston and Stephanie were understood to be going through a rough time just a month ago

They were understood to be going through a 'rough time' not long after it emerged that the French estate agent Stephanie had welcomed their newborn - Blumenthal's fourth child.

It was claimed that the celebrity favourite was determined to work through their issues.

The star, 51, hasn't been involved in any TV or restaurant projects for a while.

Back in February, The Daily Mail's Richard Eden revealed the owner of Michelin-starred Fat Duck in Bray had become the father of a baby with Stephanie.

Adding to the brood: Back in February, The Daily Mail's Richard Eden disclosed that Blumenthal has become the father of a baby with Stephanie

Blumenthals spokesman told Eden: I can confirm Heston and Stephanie have had a child at the end of last year, but we wont be giving any further information.

The child was born just a few months after his divorce absolute was granted from his wife of 28 years Zanna, 52 - mother to their kids Jack, 25, Jessie, 22 and Joy, 20.

Heston and Zanna split in 2011 after meeting as teenagers when he was a credit controller and she was a nurse. They married in 1989.

After the couple split seven years ago as Blumenthal went through a self-confessed crisis and began to question everything in his life.

During their marriage, he had an affair with American cookery writer Suzanne Pirret, who has said her favourite things are food and sex.

Estranged: The child was born just a few months after his divorce from Zanna, 52, with whom he has three children

Over: They split up in 2011 as Blumenthal went through a self-confessed crisis and began to question in about his life

Meanwhile, in January Heston's sister Alexis, 49, was given a suspended jail term for punching their 77-year-old mother Cecelia in the face and slamming her head against a car door.

During one incident, she grabbed her by the hair and punched her a number of times, before pushing her at the top of a flight of stairs at her mother's house in nearby Watlington.

Her elderly mother was forced to cling on to the banister to stop her from falling all the way down.

District Judge Tim Pattinson said she had issues with alcohol and an emotionally unstable personality disorder.

In a witness statement, Celia said her daughter had carried out a campaign of 'verbal and violent abuse'.

Family drama: Meanwhile, in January Heston's sister Alexis, 49, was given a suspended jail term for punching their mother in the face and slamming her head against a car door

Blumenthal was arrested in October when she failed to appear in court, and released on bail provided she attended her hearing on December 11.

She faced two charges of assault by beating in connection with the alleged incidents, which were claimed to have taken place on October and September 9.

As part of her sentence she was ordered to carry out 20 days of rehabilitation activity and pay costs of 500 plus a 115 victim surcharge.

She was also banned from going to her mother's home in Watlington.He claims his ex and former reality co-star is denying him visitation rights to their eight children.

But Jon Gosselin of Jon And Kate Plus 8 Fame appeared to be enjoying some quality time with son Colin and daughter Hannah on Sunday.

The DJ and ex husband of Kate Gosselin, 41, looked like a proud papa as he held his son's shoulders in a photo captioned: 'Glad I could celebrate my son Collins 14th birthday with him and his sister!'

Birthday boy! Jon Gosselin enjoyed some quality time with son Colin (above) and daughter Hannah on Sunday in celebration of the sextuplet's 14th birthday, sharing a rare photo of his boy on Instagram

Of course it wouldn't be a party with out some cake and pizza, as well as the company of fellow sextuplet Hannah, all seen in the photo.

Collin made the most of his time with family, as the young one is currently enrolled in a program away from home for children with special needs, according to People.

Jon and ex-wife Kate Gosselin share eight offspring. In addition to 17-year-old twins Mady and Cara, they parent sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Leah and Joel.

On Thursday the DJ and daughter Hannah spent some one-on-one time together, meeting up for a lovely father/daughter breakfast in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Party on! Of course it wouldn't be a party with out some cake and pizza, as well as the company of fellow sextuplet Hannah, all seen in the photo

Doting dad: On Thursday, Jon Gosselin shared a happy snap to Instagram with his smiling daughter Hannah on her 14th birthday

The reality TV star grins happily in the sweet pic with Hannah, one of the sextuplets he shares with his ex wife of ten years.

The sweet father-daughter snap is captioned 'Happy Birthday Hannah!!! 14 already. Bday breakfast with my daughter before the bus stop!!!'

He also posted a throwback snap of the rest of six birthday kids, in a post captioned 'Happy 14th Birthday to Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Joel, Aaden and Collin!!! I cant believe its been this long!!! Whew that when fast!!! Daddy loves you all very much!!!'

Previously the couple's twin daughters revealed they aren't on speaking terms with their father, telling People in 2016: 'He doesn't even know us, how can he dare to talk about us?'

Acrimonious split: The 41-year-old Jon & Kate Plus 8 star has in the past claimed his ex-wife Kate has denied him his visitation rights to his children

Eight is enough: The DJ and Kate Gosselin share eight offspring. In addition to 17-year-old twins Mady and Cara, they parent sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Leah and Joel

The young ladies said that though Jon acts like he's being deprived of his girls, he knows why they aren't on speaking terms.

'He should maybe spend some time thinking about why we don't want to see him, and maybe realize that if he ever does want a relationship with us, talking about us on TV is not the way to make that happen,' Maddy explained.

'He doesnt even know us,' Mady continued. 'How can he dare to talk about us?'

Previously the couple's twin daughters revealed they aren't on speaking terms with their father, telling People in 2016: 'He doesn't even know us'. Kate seen with her kids here in 2015

Though Jon  who has been promoting his DJing career lately  isn't in touch with his girls, he did dedicate an Instagram post to the young women on the occasion of their 17th birthdays last October 8.

'Happy 17th Birthday Mady and Cara!!! Love you, Dad' read the post, which showed the twins at about seven or eight-years-old.

Jon did celebrate his own 41st birthday with one of his kids, teaming up with daughter Hannah for the big day.

Kate will return to TV with the TLC docu-series, Kate Plus Date, which will be coming to the network this fall.House Rules contestant Michelle and her boyfriend Anthony are parents to two children: Bella, eight and Aaliyah, seven.

But fans will be surprised to learn that the 27-year-old has a rather unconventional living arrangement with her partner.

Michelle told TV Week on Monday that she and her two daughters 'can't live' with Anthony, and so they reside with her mother Kim, 59, instead.

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The secret to a happy relationship? House Rules star Michelle, 27, has revealed why she REFUSES to live with her partner and the father of her two children, Anthony

Michelle told the publication that she and Anthony are still 'together', but they are unable to cohabitate.

'We just can't live together,' Michelle said.

She explained that her family's living arrangement was the result of the couple's different attitudes to parenting.

'He doesn't deal with them as well as I do': Michelle explained that her family's living arrangement was the result of the couple's different attitudes to parenting

'He (Anthony) doesn't deal with them as well as I do,' Michelle said. 'So we get into arguments, and it's just one mess.'

However, Michelle insisted that Anthony is still 'involved' in Bella and Aaliyah's upbringing.

Michelle told TV Week she plans to live with her mother in Tweed Heads, NSW after filming has wrapped on House Rules.

Family portrait: Michelle told TV Week on Monday that she plans to live with her mother in Tweed Heads, NSW after filming has wrapped on House Rules

Michelle's confession comes after the mother-daughter duo experienced a disastrous result during Sunday night's room reveal.

They ended up at the bottom of the scoreboard with 14 points, alongside Leigh and Kristie, and Mel and Dave.

On the other end of the spectrum, Toad and Mandy nabbed the top spot, followed by Chiara and David, and Josh and Brandon.She's gearing up to celebrate her daughter India's first birthday next month.

And former Made In Chelsea star Binky Felstead took a well deserved night off from mum duty as she dressed to impress for the BAFTA TV Awards red carpet at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday.

The reality star, 27, slipped her incredible figure in chain mail-inspired strapless bodice and teased her endless pins in the silky skirt.

Stunning: Binky Felstead, 27, teased her endless pins in a silky silver dress with daring thigh slit as she walked the red carpet at the BAFTA TV Awards in London on Sunday

The cascading silver outfit boasted a dangerously high thigh slit which Binky took full advantage of, stopping in a number of flirty poses for the flashing cameras.

The TV personality elongated her leggy frame in a pair of chic silver strappy heels as her decadent train billowed around her.

Binky's trademark tousled locks featured a glamorous curl while she let her eye-catching ensemble do all the talking without the need for any glitzy accessories.

Silver fox: The cascading silver outfit boasted a dangerously high thigh slit which Binky took full advantage of, stopping in a number of flirty poses for the flashing cameras

Smiles: Binky's trademark tousled locks featured a glamorous curl

The new mum let her natural glow shine through with only a dusting of mascara and a nude lip for her red carpet moment.

Binky showcased her stunning figure, having recently confirmed she's back to her pre-baby weight, 10 months after welcoming adorable daughter India into the world last June.

The TV queen was sure to flaunt the results of her grueling gym sessions during a bikini shoot in Portugal last week when she gave a sneak peek at her new swimwear line as she posed up a storm in videos posted to her Instagram stories.

Binky recently admitted she had been hard at work over the past ten months to shift her baby weight.

Smiles: The TV personality elongated her leggy frame in a pair of chic silver strappy heels as her decadent train billowed around her

Writing on Instagram, she said: 'As you know Ive been working on getting my pre baby bod back for a while... Ive finally started seeing some results!!'

Binky also spoke in a Q&A with Reebok about her fitness goals in January, where she revealed that working out will help her to become 'an even better mum'

She explained: 'I know that working out doesnt just benefit me physically, but it also has a huge mental impact.'

'This year I am more motivated than ever to get into the gym as I know it will only help me in becoming an even better mum to India.

Scene stealing: The new mum let her natural glow shine through with only a dusting of mascara and a nude lip for her red carpet moment

'Training plays an important role in both my mental and physical well being, so no matter how busy I get I always try to do some form of exercise, even if its only 20 minutes at home while India is napping!'

The TV favourite and her former co-star boyfriend JP had an on-off relationship during their time on Made In Chelsea, and weren't officially an item when Binky found out she was pregnant.

After reuniting while the reality star was expecting, they have since moved in together to raise their daughter as a couple.

Bounced back: Binky showcased her stunning figure, having recently confirmed she's back to her pre-baby weight, 10 months after welcoming adorable daughter India last JuneShe's a mother of three.

So busy mom Jessica Alba was sure to make the most of her Mother's Day Sunday, sharing a series of sweet snapshots with baby boy Hayes, four-months, eldest child Honor, nine, and middle daughter Haven, six.

The actress/entrepreneurs also used the holiday to help mothers in need, donating 1.5 million diapers from her brand The Honest Company through the non-profit Baby2Baby.

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Great Day! Jessica Alba celebrated Mother's Day by spending some quality time with her three little ones Honor, nine, Haven, six, and Hayes, four-month, and also donating 1.5million diapers to mothers in need through her brand The Honest Company and charitable partner Baby2Baby

'#mothersday brunch w my 3 babies -heart is full! #momof3,' The Dark Angel actress captioned a darling family portrait, which showed her holding her cherubic son in her lap with her finely dressed daughters posed behind mom.

There were plenty more shots of little Hayes, who was clad in a baby blue onesie with a cable knit pattern.

'Just because.... he's so sweeet, that little face,' wrote the doting mom atop a picture of her chubby-cheeked child.

'My angels' the Fantastic Four star captioned another Instagram of daughters Honor and Haven holding their new sibling.

Boy in blue! The Dark Angela actress shared plenty of shots of little Hayes, who was clad in a baby blue onesie with a cable knit pattern

Look that that guy! 'Just because.... he's so sweeet, that little face,' wrote the doting mom atop a picture of her chubby-cheeked child

Heaven sent! 'My angels' she captioned another Instagram of daughters Honor and Haven holding their new sibling

Father and son! 'My boys,' she captioned another showing hubby Cash Warren and Hayes

'My boys,' she captioned another showing hubby Cash Warren and Hayes.

It looks like the Sin City actress also got to spend time with her in-laws, enjoying the 'Best brunch' with Cash's mom Susie and sister Koa Jones.

But Jessica's day didn't end there.

The philanthropically inclined actress announced that she and her household goods brand The Honest Company were donating 1.5million diapers to women in need.

'Best brunch!' It looks like the Sin City actress also got to spend time with her in-laws, enjoying a meal with Cash's mom Susie and sister Koa Jones

Special! 'Woke up w these munchkins!' Alba captioned a pic of daughter Honor and Hayes

Giving back! The philanthropically inclined actress announced that she and her household goods brand The Honest Company were donating 1.5million diapers to women in need

Alba told People: 'At The Honest Company, we're devoted to empowering people to live happy, healthy lives.'

'A mother should never have to choose between feeding her children and buying diapers. Baby2Baby helps new mothers so they don't have to make that impossible decision, and we can't think of a better charitable partner for The Honest Company.'

'Baby2Baby is grateful for The Honest Company's dedication to drive change in the community  together we will help a lot of families around the United States,' said Baby2Baby co-presidents Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein.

Additionally, The Honest Company committed to continued donations of 'bundles filled with diapers and other hygiene items for more than 600 families' and ongoing support to the LA-based non-profit.Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has confirmed that the gangster drama will come to a close after the seventh season.

But fans of the BBC Two drama shouldn't be too disheartened, as there could also be a Peaky Blinders film in the works.

Speaking to Digital Spy after the BAFTA TV Awards in London on Sunday, Steven revealed how he envisioned the story ending and his thoughts on a potential follow-up movie.

Peaky Blinders to end after season seven: Creator Steven Knight CONFIRMED when the series will finish and hinted at a potential film after the BAFTA TV Awards in London on Sunday

The show's boss told the publication: 'My ambition is to make it a story of a family between two wars, so always I've wanted to end it with the first air raid siren in Birmingham in 1939.

'It'll take three more series [to reach that point].' Steven confirmed.

But the series finale may not be the last viewers will see of Tommy Shelby and his crime family, as Steven is open to the idea of bringing the crime exploits to the big screen before the show ends.

Making plans: Speaking to Digital Spy after winning Best Drama at the BAFTA TV Awards, Steven revealed how he envisioned the story ending and his thoughts on a potential film

Steven continued: 'We're getting approached to do all kinds of things  the ballet, the musical... and the movie would be great.'

'I wouldn't want to do it at the very end, but maybe in between two of the series.'

At the TV extravaganza, Peaky Blinders cause quite an upset after beating out Netflix's The Crown and Line of Duty to take home Best Drama.

Accepting the award, Steven paid mention to the show's stars Cillian Murphy and Helen McCrory, saying: 'I wish the people who created such iconic TV, soon maybe they will be here as well because they deserve to be.'

Winners: At the TV extravaganza, Peaky Blinders cause quite an upset after beating out Netflix's The Crown and Line of Duty to take home Best Drama

Meanwhile, new details about the upcoming series of gangster drama have been released, with director Anthony Bryne inking a deal to helm the fifth series, which was widely rumoured to be its last at the time.

The In Darkness filmmaker will take over the role from season 4's David Caffrey as the story of the Shelby clan comes to a conclusion, Deadline reported.

The fifth season will air on BBC Two in 2019 and is set to be released on Netflix.

Peaky Blinders - which also starred Tom Hardy and Adrian Brody - has been directed by a different director each series - including Otto Bathurst, Tom Harper, Colm McCarthy.

Starring role: Accepting the Best Drama award, Steven paid mention to the show's stars Cillian Murphy (pictured) and Helen McCrory, saying: 'I wish the people who created such iconic TV, soon maybe they will be here as well because they deserve to be'

Powerful: The latest season, which ended in December, finished with Cillian's character, Tommy Shelby, being elected as Labour MP for Birmingham

There was an 18 month gap between series three and four airing  so fans could be waiting as late as Spring 2019 for the next series to air.

After Tommy was elected as the Labour MP for Birmingham at the end of series four, the Shelby clan will be more powerful than ever  and it seems even Arthur will have political connections.

Actor Paul Anderson - who portrays the eldest Shelby sibling Arthur - recently told the Metro of his alter-ego: 'Well all have more cover, well have more opportunity, and more protection. And by protection I mean by society and the police and so on.

'Well be able to get away with things under the guise of, "were politicians, were respectable" But well be able to manipulate things more. Arthur will be even more Arthur. So it will be a lot of fun.'She announced her split with boyfriend Sean Thomsen on Monday, before sensationally revealing she hopes to reconcile with her 'cheating' ex Dean Wells.

And Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel showed Dean what he's been missing for the past five months, flaunting her curves during a trip to Cottesloe Beach, Perth.

In sizzling photos taken on Thursday, the 35-year-old single mother displayed her incredible figure in a low cut floral swimsuit.

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Trying to get Dean's attention? Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel, 35, flaunted her ample cleavage in a low cut swimsuit 'after dumping boyfriend Sean Thomsen to reunite with her ex'

Tracey looked every inch the glamazon as she strolled along the picturesque beach in her colourful one-piece.

The self-help author's plunging swimwear offered a generous glimpse of her busty cleavage, peachy derriere and gym-honed legs.

During her beach trip, the brunette was spotted talking on her phone - perhaps planning a reunion with her 'bad boy' ex Dean, 40.

Turning her back on Sean? The single mother's plunging swimwear offered a generous glimpse of her peachy derriere and gym-honed legs as she strolled down Cottesloe Beach last week

Planning a rendezvous? During her beach trip, the 35-year-old self-help author was spotted talking on her phone - perhaps discussing a reunion with her bad boy 'ex-husband' Dean Wells

Later on, she relaxed on the sand for a spot of sunbathing, narrowly avoiding a wardrobe malfunction as she loosened her swimsuit straps.

Tracey's solo beach trip came just days before she confirmed her split with boyfriend Sean Thomsen after just five months of dating.

Tracey told New Idea on Monday that Sean was unable to provide her with the 'stability and security' she needs because he is a FIFO (fly-in-fly-out) worker.

Hello, boys! Later on, Tracey relaxed on the sand for a spot of sunbathing, narrowly avoiding a wardrobe malfunction as she loosened her swimsuit straps

'I dumped him at the airport, it was brutal': Tracey confirmed her split with Sean Thomsen in an interview with New Idea on Monday, admitting she wants to get back with 'cheating' ex Dean

Tracey also sensationally revealed that she is considering getting back together with her 'cheating' ex Dean Wells, admitting she can't stop thinking about him.

She described her split with Sean as 'brutal', telling the magazine she waited until she picked him up from the airport after a week working offshore to break the news.

Tracey also revealed that - after her split with Sean - she couldn't stop thinking about Dean, who infamously plotted an 'affair' with fellow MAFS contestant Davina Rankin.

Don't do it! Tracey sensationally revealed to New Idea that she is now considering getting back together with Dean (left) and confessed she can't stop thinking about him

'I hear what he's up to - it's hard not to (think about him),' she said. 'I'm sure he'll be happy to hear about this breakup. I reckon he will call me.'

Speaking of a possible reconciliation, she added: 'Dean will always have a soft spot in my heart and who knows? The way me and Dean ended things, you never say never.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tracey Jewel and Dean Wells for comment.They are married to Hollywood A-listers Chris Hemsworth and Matt Damon.

But Elsa Pataky and Luciana Barroso left their husbands at home on Sunday when they stepped out for a glamorous dinner in Sydney.

The BFFs looked delighted to be in each other's company as they joined several gal pals at Woolloomooloo restaurant Manta.

Girls' night! Elsa Pataky and Luciana Barroso stepped out for dinner in Sydney on Sunday without their Hollywood husbands Chris Hemsworth and Matt Damon

Elsa, 41, certainly wasn't goring incognito, wearing an eye-catching silver jacket.

The Spanish-born actress paired her jacket with a thigh-length floral dress that highlighted her toned legs.

Elsa finished off her evening look with a pair of strappy black heels and accessorised with gold pendant earrings.

Stunner: Elsa, 41, certainly wasn't goring incognito, wearing an eye-catching silver jacket

She styled her blonde hair in a side fringe and her makeup was flawlessly applied.

Meanwhile, Luciana was a vision in black, wearing a stylish, flared pantsuit underneath a leather jacket.

The 42-year-old added a pair of classic heels and made a fashion statement with a pair of silver drop earrings.

Fine dining: The BFFs were joined several gal pals at Woolloomooloo restaurant Manta

It follows months of rumours that Luciana and Matt, 47, were planning to relocate to Australia to live closer to their friends, the Hemsworths.

However, Luciana told The Daily Telegraph over the weekend: 'We love coming to visit the country but there are no plans to live here long term.'

She added: 'I love the people in Australia 'Everyone I have met has been so warm and welcoming. It just makes it so easy to fall in love with this country.'As a Victoria's Secret model, she's never been afraid of putting it all out there.

And Candice Swanepoel wasn't shy about sharing her body in an intimate throwback photo of her breastfeeding Sunday, shared in honor of Mother's Day.

In the photo from back in 2017, the South African stunner  who is currently expecting baby number two  held baby son Anaca while he fed from his model mom in the photo simply captioned: 'Mamas day.'

Oh baby! Candice Swanepoel posted a tender throwback Instagram in honor of Mother's Day on Sunday, sharing a photo of now-18-month-old son Anaca breastfeeding as an infant

It was wild to think that the photo was taken over a year ago. Little Anaca is now a full 18-months old and has a younger brother on the way.

Later Candice used Instagram to share a lengthy mediation on motherhood.

'Motherhood isnt always easy but its the most rewarding, powerful thing Ive ever experienced, so many different emotions each and every day,' she began.

'The unconditional love i feel for my son gives me a strength I never knew I had. Its a patient and gentle strength that only comes with the enormous responsibility of bringing another soul into the world.

Time flies! It was wild to think that the photo was taken over a year ago. Little Anaca is now a full 18-months old and has a younger brother on the way, as seen in the joyful photo above

Life-changing: Later Candice used Instagram to share a lengthy mediation on motherhood, writing: 'Motherhood isnt always easy but its the most rewarding, powerful thing Ive ever experienced'

'Sending love to all the mamas out there, we are all just winging it and doing the best we can do. There is no formula to being a good mom. Just love with all your being,' she concluded.

Candice's reflections on motherhood come as she's and partner of 13-years Hermann Nicoli are happily expanding their family.

The couple announced that they were expecting their second little one at the end of 2017, just weeks after the statuesque beauty walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai, China.

Candice revealed in an interview with People that her first son, Anaca, is a breeze.

Bigger family! Candice's reflections on motherhood come as she's and partner of 13-years Hermann Nicoli (above in May 2017) are happily expanding their family, announcing that baby number two was on the way late last year

'He's been so sweet and been so good. Everybody is like, "You're so blessed with a good baby,"' Candice said, but she fears that her second child might be a little different.

'I feel like the next one will be a terror just to remind me,' she joked.

The soon-to-be mother-of-two has also been public about her 'natural, no drugs' birthing process.

'I don't wanna put anyone off of having kids,' she said. 'I think society has made women afraid of giving [birth naturally], but it's totally doable if you prepare yourself in the right way.'She often slips her slender figure into an array of envy-inducing designer frocks.

But Rebecca Judd opted for something a little more casual during the Perth leg of her book tour last week.

The mother-of-four showed off her very trim pins in a pair of tight skinny leg jeans while promoting her new tome, titled The Baby Bible.

Mind the gap! Rebecca Judd shows off her VERY slender pins in tight spray on jeans during her book tour

The brunette beauty teamed her trousers with a star print tank, her favourite $1300 pastel pink Valentino Rockstud stilettos and diamond jewels.

Bec was animated as she chatted with fans and signed books at Karrinyup Shopping Centre.

The AFL WAG's new pregnancy book details the less-than-glamorous side of carrying a child and offers helpful tips to mothers-to-be.

Keeping it simple: She teamed the jeans with a star printed tank and her favourite Valentino Rockstud stilettos

Last week Bec spoke about how she struggled to adjust to life after welcoming four children in the space of five years with husband Chris Judd.

'Yes, it's been a huge adjustment. I have never really been that maternal... I'm not the sort of person who needs to hold the baby all the time,' she confessed.

Despite her prior reservations, she is now the proud mother of son Oscar, six, four-year-old daughter Billie and twin sons, Tom and Darcy, one.

When quizzed by the publication about her favourite motherhood duty, Rebecca explained that she simply adores picking her two eldest children from school.

'Billie runs to me every single time yelling, 'Mummy!' She's so energetic, she bowls me over every time,' she mused.She's a busy and famous mother of three.

And on Sunday Reese Witherspoon was treated to a special Mother's Day outing by her husband Jim Toth and her three children.

The pretty blonde star, 42, looked lovely in a colorful sleeveless floral frock as she headed to the upscale Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica, California.

All smiles: Reese Witherspoon looked lovely in a pretty floral frock a she headed to a special Mother's Day brunch with her family in Santa Monica, California

The actress went bare-legged in white sandals and she wore a pair of large red-framed sunglasses.

Reese couldn't stop smiling as she walked into the eatery carrying a large white leather tote and a white jacket.

She was joined by talent agent Toth, whom she wed in 2011, and her kids - Ava, 18, and Deacon, 14, whom she shares with her ex Ryan Phillippe - and Tennesee, five, whom she shares with Toth.

Family outing: The Hollywood star, 42, was accompanied by her talent agent husband Jim Toth and her three children

Casual: Toth, who wed Reese in 2011, wore a pair of bright pink slip-on shoes paired with dark green pants rolled up at the bottom and a black v-neck sweater over an untucked white shirt

Doting dad: He held on tightly to his and Reese's five-year-old son Tennessee who was dressed in a blue suit with a white polo shirt and white sneakers

Her pride and joy: Also in the group were the actress's children Ava, 18, and Deacon, 14, whose father is the Big Little Lies star's ex-husband Ryan Phillippe

Ava, like her mom, wore a pretty floral frock and white sandal heels along with sunglasses.

Her bobbed blonde hair was styled with an off-center parting and she sported several large chunky gold bracelets.

Deacon opted for a buttoned up pale blue shirt with a beige tailored jacket.

He stepped out in dark blue jeans and gray and white sneakers.

Reese's mini me: Ava, like her mom, wore a pretty floral frock and white sandal heels along with sunglasses. Her bobbed blonde hair was styled with an off-center parting

Lovely look: Ava accessorized with several chunky gold bracelets and reflective sunglasses and carried a white shoulder purse

Suave: Deacon opted for a buttoned up pale blue shirt with a beige tailored jacket. He stepped out in dark blue jeans and gray and white sneakers.

Tennessee was dressed in a dark blue suit with a white polo shirt and a black belt around the waist.

He wore white sneakers and held on tight to his dad's hand.

Toth stood out in a pair of bright pink slip-on shoes paired with dark green pants rolled up at the bottom and a black v-neck sweater over an untucked white shirt.

High spirits: The family seemed to be having a good time, with Toth and Ava sharing a laugh

Celebration: They had brunch at the upscale Ivy at the Shore restaurant

Reese posted a shot to her Instagram showing herself with her kids holding pink balloons that spelled out the word 'mom'.

She wrote in the caption: 'Celebrating all the mothers around the world! You are ALL my heroes...'

'You have the hardest job on earth- to care for, nurture and give love to the next generation! Its my greatest joy being a mom to these 3 wonderful kids and so I share this day with you ALL!'Anna Heinrich has friends in high places.

The Bachelor star was seen being chummy with Matt Damon's wife Luciana Barroso as they sat front row at the Jet swimwear show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

The pair giggled and literally rubbed shoulders as they posed for photos together before taking in the parade.

Chums! Anna Heinrich was seen being chummy with Matt Damon's wife Luciana Barroso as they sat front row at the Jet swimwear show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week

Chums: The pair giggled and literally rubbed shoulders as they posed for photos together before taking in the parade

Dressed to the nines, Luciana, 42, wore an off the shoulder coral toned maxi dress that showed off her glowing skin by Spell & The Gypsy Collective.

The former bartender added a pair of beige espadrilles, tried at the ankles, for a beachy feel.

Wearing minimal makeup, the boho beauty wore her hair pulled back with a few loose strands around her face and accessorised with dangling white earrings.

Anna went for a super glam look, wearing fitted leather pants and a v-neck wrap top that showed off her figure.

She paired the ensemble with black and white pointed heels and a small black clutch, and accessorised with gold earrings.

Red hot: Dressed to the nines, Luciana, 42, wore an off the shoulder coral toned maxi dress that showed off her glowing skin

Boho: The former bartender added a pair of beige espadrilles, tried at the ankles

Relaxed: Wearing minimal makeup, the boho beauty wore her hair pulled back

Casual chic: Luciana accessorised with dangling white earrings, rings and a gold necklace

She had her blonde hair in soft waves and tasteful makeup consisting of a mauve lip, pink eye shadow and a flush of blush.

The pair were joined by a host of other celebs at the event, including Jasmine Yarbrough, Michael Klim and Nikki Phillips.

Luciana, often nicknamed Lucy, and Matt, 47, married in 2005 and have two daughters, Isabella, 12, Gia 10, and Stella, eight.

Night out: They were joined by a host of other celebs, including Jasmine Yarbrough

Leggy! Nikki Phillips, a New Zealand model and television host, showed off her pins at the show

Swim fans: Michael Klim came along with his girlfriend, fashion designer Desiree Deravi

The family are big fans of Australia and their frequent visits ignited rumours that they're considering a permanent move down under, but Luciana has denied them.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she said: 'We love coming to visit the country but there are no plans to live here long term.'

The Bourne Identity star and his wife, who purchased a luxury penthouse in Brooklyn, New York, after selling their waterfront mansion in Miami, are frequent visitors to NSW town of Byron Bay, last holidaying there in April.They've been dating since 2015.

And on Sunday, Jude Law and girlfriend Phillipa Coan looked smitten as they grabbed groceries at a local market in Los Angeles.

The 45-year-old actor was casually clad in a white t-shirt and slacks as he carried a bag of ice to his baby blue vintage Mustang.

Sunday funday: Jude Law and girlfriend Phillipa Coan looked smitten as they grabbed groceries at a local market in Los Angeles

Going strong: The pair have been dating since 2015

While Law and Coan are often spotted in public, the couple have managed to keep their relationship extremely private over the years.

'Shes mine and no one elses. Im very, very happy,' The Holiday star told Modern Luxury.

'Our relationship is a very private thing, and I think part of the fact it works so well is exactly because of that.'

Close to the vest: While Law and Coan are often spotted in public, the couple have managed to keep their relationship extremely private over the years

Vintage: The two drove off in a baby blue Mustang

Jude is a doting father to five children from three former relationships.

The London native shares three children, sons 21-year-old Rafferty and 15-year-old Rudy as well as 17-year-old daughter Iris, with his ex-wife Sadie Frost.

He co-parents his fourth child Sophia, eight, with American model Samantha Burke whom he enjoyed a brief romance with.

And shares two-year-old daughter Ada with former flame Catherine Harding.She's been a style chameleon sitting on the American Idol panel.

And Katy Perry proved once again she can command attention in any ensemble as she was spotted arriving to set in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The 33-year-old pop sensation showed off her enviable figure in a revealing dress that left little to the imagination.

Style icon: Katy Perry proved once again she can command attention in any ensemble as she was spotted arriving to set in Los Angeles on Sunday

Daring to impress, the Teenage Dream songstress showcased her toned tummy as the couture boasted an open midriff.

Her flawless skin tone was thrust on center stage as her shoulders were exposed in the strapless number.

Reminiscent of the legendary Cher, Katy rocked a long straight raven wig that had her tresses hanging low on her back.

Her mother sported a black leather jacket as her father looked casual chic in a satin bomber jacket.

Pop star: The 33-year-old pop sensation showed off her enviable figure in a revealing dress that left little to the imagination

Flawless: Her flawless skin tone was thrust on center stage as her shoulders were exposed in the strapless number

Ryan Seacrest - host of American Idol - was also spotted heading into the studio.

Katy's fellow judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan followed closely behind.

Meanwhile, Katy took everyone's breath away at last week's Met Gala.

Hair story: Reminiscent of the legendary Cher, Katy rocked a long straight raven wig that had her tresses hanging low on her back

Makeup story: Katy's cosmetic choices were on point as she rocked a bright purple lip

She commanded attention in the celestial wings and a short gold dress by Versace.

The American Idol judge almost didn't make it to the affair celebrating the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination exhibit, nearly missing the festivities after her classic car stalled en route to the soiree, according to TMZ.

Apparently the starlet's vintage Rolls Royce stalled out about a block away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tummy: Daring to impress, the Teenage Dream songstress showcased her toned tummy as the couture boasted an open midriff

Little help: Katy received a little help from her hair stylist

Video of the incident shows Katy's driver trying to get the car started several times before getting the ignition to catch.

While waiting, Perry stood up in the backseat of the car as a stylish did some last minute primping with a handy lint-roller.

After a few nervous moments, however, the car got started again, according to people who witnessed the incident firsthand.

Mother's Day surprise: Her mother sported a black leather jacket

Proud papa: Her father looked casual chic in a satin bomber jacket

Top host: Ryan Seacrest - host of American Idol - was also spotted heading into the studio

Legend: Lionel Richie rocked a silver jacket for his appearancePete Wentz and girlfriend Meagan Camper welcomed a baby girl on Sunday.

The 38-year-old rocker announced the arrival of his daughter via Instagram with an adorable snapshot of the family at the hospital.

'So excited to introduce Marvel Jane Wentz. Feeling so grateful that shes here annnnd shes already ready to takeover the world,' he captioned the picture.

Mother's Day surprise! Pete Wentz and girlfriend Meagan Camper welcomed daughter Marvel Jane on Sunday

'happy Mothers Day @meagancamper and all the moms out there. We love you,' the Fall Out Boy star added.

The photograph showed Pete in a black hoodie as he's laying on their three-year-old son Saint next to Meagan who is holding Marvel Jane.

Nine-year-old son Bronx Mowgli - whom Pete shares with his ex Ashley Simpson - cozied up to Meagan and Marvel Jane as well.

Pete and the 5ft10 model, who have been together for seven years, celebrated a baby shower in Los Angeles earlier in March.

Happy news: Fall Out Boy rocker Pete shared an image of his sons Bronx and Saint on Instagram on New Year's Day to announce that he and his partner have a baby girl on the way

On New Year's Day, he revealed that the clan was expanding by one, writing on social media, 'Were kicking the year off with news of the best gift yet: coming to our family in 2018... love Pete, Meagan, Bronx and Saint.'

Pete recently told Rolling Stone that he was looking forward to playing at Stay Amped, a Washington, D.C. fundraising concert with proceeds going to organizations behind gun control.

He said that the messages sent by students who survived the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School - such as Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and Cameron Kasky - has been 'really powerful.

'This is not a think tank or a lobby group - these are kids who have gone through what we are talking about,' he said. 'It's powerful. Instead of the nation moving on this time, the kids are saying no. That's something I want to be the soundtrack to.'

He added, 'I believe that kids should feel safe going to school. It's pretty much simple as that. In the realm of problems, this feels like one that has a solution.'Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's eagerly anticipated love story biopic 'A Royal Romance' aired in the U.S. on Sunday.

And many viewers were quick to take to Twitter to share their opinions of the Lifetime movie, which was screened less than a week ahead of the Royal Wedding, and one day before it premieres in the UK on Monday.

Social media users seemed to take issue with the cheesy production, a CGI lion seemingly representing Princess Diana, and the portrayal of Prince William and Kate Middleton's relationship.

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Big reveal: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's love story biopic A Royal Romance aired on Lifetime Sunday

'I'm actually embarrassed for them': One Lifetime movie fan was not impressed by the film and took to Twitter to criticize it

One Twitter user wrote: 'I am all about a good @lifetimetv movie, but this #ARoyalRomance movie about #PrinceHarry and #MeghanMarkle is soooo over the top. Im actually embarrassed for them. So bad. #RoyalWedding.'

Prince Harry is played by Murray Fraser while Meghan is played by Parisa Fitz-Henley.

At the very beginning of the movie, there were scenes spliced together including Princess Diana with Harry, her funeral, and the sons out on a safari with Prince Charles.

At one point Harry walks toward a lion and then saves its life when his father attempts to shoot it.

Interesting: At the very beginning of the movie, there were scenes intertwined together including Princess Diana with Harry, her funeral, and the sons out on a safari with Prince Charles

Touching moment: Diana (Bonnie Soper) had a cute moment with her son at the very beginning of the film

Trial by fire: A young Harry is shown on safari as he interacted with a lion who reminded him of his late mother

'Was a bad CGI-ed lion really the most important part?' Obviously the lion was supposed to symbolize his late mother which some viewers took umbrage with

Obviously the lion was supposed to symbolize his late mother which some viewers took umbrage with.

One wrote: 'Was a bad cgi-ed lion really the most important part about this story that lifetime had to blow half the budget on it #ARoyalRomance.'

Another commented: 'Ohhhh, okaaaay. So the lion at the beginning was Princess Diana in animal-spirit form. And Charles almost shot it, which seems about right. #ARoyalRomance.'

Others took issue with the portrayal of William and Kate's relationship, played by Burgess Abernethy and Laura Mitchell, respectively.

What a second date! The two were shown arriving at Botswana to sleep under the stars upon their second meeting

Uh oh: Some users were upset about the portrayal of William and Kate's relationship as they are played by Burgess Abernethy and Laura Mitchell, respectively

Ouch: Another user was not happy about the actor they chose to use this time around comparing him to the one from 2011 Lifetime film William & Catherine: A Royal Romance

One user said: 'Why are they making Kate and Will seem so cold? Did the creators have some hate towards them? Kate is wonderful and there is no need to put her down in order to put Meghan on a pedestal. #ARoyalRomance.'

Another took issue with the way that Kate was portrayed as robotic and that her marriage seemed strained.

They said: 'Is anyone else completely bothered that they are doing William and Kate like that? Theyre making Kate seem awful and robotic and making it seem like they have a strained marriage. #ARoyalRomance.'

Big moment: The film showed the moment Prince Harry got down on one knee to propose at their cottage just months ago

Another tweeter was not happy about the actor they chose to use this time around comparing him to the one from 2011 Lifetime film William & Catherine: A Royal Romance.

They said: 'Lmaoooo Lifetime did Prince William SO dirty this time... #ARoyalRomance'

One Twitter user joked about how his wife was forcing him into watching the biopic.

Taken hostage: One Twitter user joked that his wife was forcing him to watch the film

He said: 'So my wife is making me watch this. Its a hostage situation in here. @lifetimetv #ARoyalRomance'

Others did enjoy the feature despite the cheesiness as one Twitter user loved a scene from their second date in which Meghan talked about the difficulties in growing up half-black in America.

Lesley Hauler wrote: 'Favorite part so far: Prince Harry just compared the difficulties of growing up mixed race in America with being a redhead in England #ARoyalRomance'

Meeting 'granny': Toward the end of the flick, Harry brings Meghan to meet his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II

Trailblazer: In their meeting, the Queen asks Meghan if she is an actor in The Crown before bringing up Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from the 1700s who is claimed to have African heritage

Ecstatic: Several microbloggers were excited about the mention of the former Queen Of Great Britain and Ireland from her marriage to King George III

Ouch: A Twitter user joked that the actual Queen Elizabeth II would have a heart attack from her portrayal an the portrayal of her family in the film

Toward the end of the flick, Harry brings Meghan to meet his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.

In their meeting, the Queen asks Meghan if she is an actor in The Crown before bringing up Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from the 1700s who is claimed to have African heritage.

Many viewers took to the microblogging site to celebrate the mention of the former Queen Of Great Britain and Ireland from her marriage to King George III.

One wrote: 'Queen Charlotte !!! THEYRE BRINGING UP THR REAL AFRICAN HERITAGE OF THE ROYAL MONARCHY! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #ARoyalRomance.'

A big fan: Others did enjoy the feature despite the cheesiness as one Twitter user loved a scene from their second date in which Meghan talked about the difficulties in growing up half-black in America

Setting the stage: Reina Valentine seemed to enjoy the film as she wrote about the points she was a fan of

Announced back in January 2018, just under two months after Harry and Meghan announced their engagement, the film explored how the couples relationship blossomed from a first date in 2016 to a November 2017 engagement.

Fitz-Henley has called Meghan Markle 'a natural role model', adding: 'It was a privilege to play her.'

While Murray is relatively new to on-screen roles his co-star Parisa is best known for her role as Reva Connors in Jessica Jones back in 2015.

A Royal Romance will air in the UK on Lifetime on Monday, 14 May at 9pm. Lifetime is on channel 164 on Sky and 208 on Virgin.She has been a film actress for more than half a century.

And Candice Bergen exuded star wattage even when enjoying a casual stroll down Madison Avenue in Manhattan on Mother's Day.

The platinum blonde 72-year-old popped on tortoiseshell glasses, going nautical chic in a blue and navy print blouse with folded-up cuffs.

Stepping out: Candice Bergen exuded star wattage even when enjoying a casual stroll down Madison Avenue in Manhattan on Mother's Day

She complemented her top with a pair of navy slacks, slipping into white and navy flats and clasping a gleaming watch round her right hand.

The Murphy Brown icon, who was once represented by the famously sharp-tongued agent Sue Mengers, has a new movie in the offing.

Candice co-stars with Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Mary Steenburgen in Book Club, in which all their characters start reading Fifty Shades Of Grey.

Richard Dreyfuss, Don Johnson, Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson and Alicia Silverstone feature in the film, which opens in U.S. movie theaters this Friday.

Hello, gorgeous: The platinum blonde 72-year-old popped on tortoiseshell glasses, going nautical chic in a blue and navy print blouse with folded-up cuffs

Murphy Brown is being resuscitated by CBS for a 13-episode 11th season, and Candice - the daughter of a model and a puppeteer - is due to return.

Candice, who went on a 1965 date with Donald Trump when she was at the University Of Pennsylvania and he was about to attend, is on husband number two.

Her first husband, French filmmaker Louis Malle, fathered her 32-year-old daughter Chloe and was married to Candice from 1980 until his death in 1995.

Quartet: Candice (second from right) co-stars with (from left) Mary Steenburgen, in Book Club; they are pictured at the Los Angeles premiere this month

Candice, who told People her date with Donald was 'really a dud,' did end up with a New York real estate developer - Marshall Rose, her husband since 2000.

Ever a fan of kitsch, Donald picked her up for their date in 'a three piece burgundy suit, and burgundy patent leather boots, and a burgundy limousine,' she recalled.

'Ive started to mistrust my memory because it was such a brilliant description and I thought: "He cant have been wearing that," and yet, he could.'She's one of the Real Housewives Of New Jersey.

So Melissa Gorga celebrated son Joey's First Communion in fine style Saturday, following up the Catholic religious ceremony with a party at Rails Steakhouse in Towaco, New Jersey.

The reality persona, 39, wowed in a pink and white patterned frock while celebrating their youngest's rite of passage with husband Joe and their other two children.

Proud of you! Melissa Gorga of Real Housewives Of New Jersey celebrated son Joey's First Communion by hosting a lavish party at a New Jersey steakhouse on Saturday

Melissa's dress hugged her curves while dipping low to let a silver crucifix dangle between her breasts.

Besides the HSN jewelry designer her husband Joe looked handsome in a stylish purple jacket with paisley tie as he put his hand on her waist while hovering over their son Joey proudly.

Also in the family portrait was daughter Antonia, 12, and middle child Gino, 10.

Fellow Housewife and sister-in-law Teresa Giudice was there with daughter Audriana, nine, who looked cute in a pink dress with a tiny Louis Vuitton bag.

Fancy seeing you here! The HSN jewelry designer was joined by sister-in-law and fellow Housewife Teresa Giudice at the affair

Welcome to the neighborhood: RHONJ newcomer Margaret Josephs was also there, dancing away in a tailored navy cocktail dress

Still smitten! Melissa and husband Joe shared a sweet smooch on the dance floor

The convict looked lovely in a formfitting dress with clingy black top teamed with tight blue paisley on bottom.

Teresa and Melissa let their hair down on the dance floor, doing a bit of shimmying and shaking as the music thumped.

Teresa put her all into, even dipping her body low to do a bit of a twerk.

The convict looked lovely in a formfitting dress with clingy black top teamed with tight blue paisley on bottom while at the party with daughter, who carried a tiny Louis Vuitton

VIP! Joey was thrilled for his special day which was celebrated with a party at Rails Steakhouse in Towaco, New Jersey

Dancing queen! Teresa and Melissa let their hair down on the dance floor, doing a bit of shimmying and shaking as the music thumped

RHONJ newcomer Margaret Josephs was also there, dancing away in a tailored navy cocktail dress.

Miss Gorga shared an Instagram in honor of the occasion.

The family portrait was captioned: 'My baby boy made his Communion yesterday God bless you Joey! We love you more than you know!'The Married At First Sight alumni enjoyed a lovely night out with handsome New Zealand Instagram star Samuel Levi earlier this month.

And on Monday, Nasser Sultan happily cosied up to the Kiwi-based socialite for photos as they attended Sydney Fashion Week.

The stylish duo were dressed to impress as Nasser, 51, wrapped his arm around his fashionable friend with a toothy grin.

Dressed to impress! MAFS star Nasser Sultan cosies up to handsome New Zealand social media celebrity Samuel Levi as the stylish duo attend Sydney Fashion Week together

Nasser, dressed in jeans and a blue zip-up jacket, pointed to Samuel while showcasing his high-spirited smile.

The former MAFS groom accessorised his look with navy blue sneakers and a pair of designer shades.

As the pair posed within a cafe, Samuel gripped a coffee in one hand, and both men's MBFF lanyards were visible.

Cool and casual: Nasser was dressed in jeans and a blue zip-up jacket, which he paired with blue sneakers and stylish shades

This guy! Nasser, 51, wrapped his arm around his fashionable friend, as he pointed to pal Samuel while showcasing his high-spirited smile

Samuel, who boasts more than 40,000 followers on social media, showed off his statuesque frame in white rolled-up shorts and unique boots with cut-outs.

He also left a few buttons on his striped, collared shirt undone to reveal his muscular chest.

When contacted by Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, Sam revealed that he met Nasser through a mutual friend.

'That's about as far as I would like to comment,' he added.

Front row access! Footage uploaded to Instagram Stories on Monday appeared to show the pair using their official lanyards to sit in the prestigious front row

Fashion forward! Samuel, who boasts more than 40,000 followers on social media, showed off his statuesque frame in white rolled-up shorts and unique boots with cut-outs

It has been about three weeks since Nasser was last pictured with his friend Eyob Geist, a 20-year-old male fashion student.

Images of the men's boozy lunch went viral in April, after an onlooker told NW magazine they appeared to be 'more than friends'.

In February, Nasser responded to gay rumours, after radio presenter Kyle Sandilands asked about his sexuality on the The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

'I am 110 per cent not gay,' he said.James Packer appeared in good spirits last week as he arrived in Cabo, Mexico with his reported girlfriend Kylie Lim, after recently checking himself out of a private psychiatric clinic in Boston.

The 50-year-old looked tanned as he arrived in the Mexican resort city, wearing a simple blue T-shirt and black shorts.

Shielding his eyes with dark sunglasses, the billionaire casino mogul carried a black leather attache case.

PICTURED: James Packer appears in good spirits in Mexico with 'girlfriend' Kylie Lim as he checks himself out of elite $35,000-a-week psychiatric hospital following mental breakdown

The 50-year-old looked tanned as he arrived in the Mexican resort city, wearing a simple blue T-shirt and black shorts

Kylie was close by James' side and also appeared ready for some relaxation in the sun.

She wore a pair of figure-hugging blue jeans and a sleeveless white blouse while her golden locks wafted effortlessly in the breeze.

Shielding his eyes with dark sunglasses, the billionaire casino mogul carried a black leather attache case

Kylie was close by James' side and also appeared ready for some relaxation in the sun

James spent about five weeks at the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Boston, after checking himself in with unspecified mental health issues in March.

At a cool $35,000-a-week, the exclusive 11-bedroom facility is regarded as one of America's top psychiatric hospitals, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The son of late media mogul Kerry Packer was photographed inside the facility alongside his concerned mother, Ros Packer.

James was first linked to New York socialite Kylie in December last year, soon after which the pair were spotted on holiday in Aspen

Cabo chic: The brunette beauty wore a pair of figure-hugging blue jeans and a sleeveless white blouse while her golden locks wafted effortlessly in the breeze

The Daily Telegraph reported that James had joined a group of friends upon his arrival in Mexico

The Daily Telegraph reported that James had joined a group of friends upon his arrival in Mexico.

The group of seven shared an early evening meal at the businessman's beachfront villa.

Among them was Kylie, who is reported to be James' current girlfriend, and her sister, Shelby.

Also in the group was James' close friend Ben Tilley and former rugby player Damien Chapman.

James was first linked to New York socialite Kylie in December last year, soon after which the pair were spotted on holiday in Aspen.Heather Locklear has had a tough few months, checking into rehab after being arrested for attacking police officers responding to a domestic violence call back in February.

But things appeared to be looking up for the Spin City actress, who got to spend Mother's Day with semi-estranged daughter Ava, according to an insider who spoke to TMZ.

The knockout blonde , 56, indulged in a mother-daughter spa day at mom's house, where they also watched 20-year-old actress Ava's new movie Mommy Be Mine.

Healing their relationship: Heather Locklear got to spend Mother's Day with daughter Ava Sambora, together in 2013 above. It was the duo's first time hanging out since Locklear's release from rehab following her arrest relating to a domestic violence call back in February

Ava also shared a series of vintage photos of her and mom on Instagram in honor of Mother's Day.

The day marked the first time the pair hung out since Heather checked out of rehab and only the second time they've spent together since March.

Ava tried to distance herself from her mom after Heather was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic battery for allegedly assaulting fiance Chris Heisser at her California home in February.

Following the incident the Loyola Marymount University undergrad, who is Locklear's daughter with Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, jetted away to Hawaii to be with her rocker father.

Throwback! Ava also shared a series of vintage photos of her and mom on Instagram in honor of Mother's Day

Making amends: Sunday marked the first time the pair hung out since Heather checked out of rehab and only the second time they've spent together since March

Family tension: Ava, who is Heather's child with ex Richie Sambora (above in 2005), tried to distance herself from her mom after Heather was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic battery and was said to have jetted away to Hawaii to be with her rocker dad

A source reported that the This Is 40 actress was 'concerned and sad' about her mom, but it looks like they've been able to mend fences since.

Heather and fiance Chris Heisser were seen out together last weekend, according to a Radar.com witness who said the actress 'seemed really happy, and neither one of them was drinking.

Last month, Locklear plead not guilty to charges she attacked deputies who answered a domestic violence call at her Southern California home.

Mug shot: Last month, Locklear plead not guilty to charges she attacked deputies who answered a domestic violence call at her Southern California home after having reportedly 'kicked, pushed, and shouted' at deputies answering the call

Authorities say Locklear kicked, pushed and shouted at deputies who were answering a report that she'd been violent with her boyfriend on February 26.

The Melrose Place actress's attorney entered the plea to four misdemeanor counts of battery on an officer in Ventura County Superior Court back on April 12.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled June 7. Neither side had any comment after the arraignment.She's the songstress who held Australia's hopes of musical glory at the recent Eurovision Song Contest in Monaco.

And Jessica Mauboy has been slammed by a British Eurovision historian who dubbed her performance 'terrible'.

News.com.au reported that RN Breakfast's John Kennedy O'Connor revealed on Monday that Jess' performance had left a bad taste in his mouth.

Harsh: Jessica Mauboy has been slammed by a British Eurovision historian who described her performance in the iconic song contest as 'terrible' on Monday

Going further, the author, who penned the tome The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, likened Jess to a character in the women in fictional prison drama Wentworth.

'She was terrible,' John said. 'I'm sorry, I thought, actually, she'd escaped from Wentworth and been let on stage.'

The critic didn't stop there, describing Jess' performance as dreadful and adding that The Sapphires actress was a cut-rate Beyonce in comments that are sure to get the nation riled up.

Bad wrap: News.com.au reported that RN Breakfast's John Kennedy O'Connor revealed on Monday that Jess' performance had left a bad taste in his mouth

'It was dreadful,' he added. 'She was describing herself in the media as Australia's Beyonce. Clearly she's never seen Beyonce.'

The churlish commentator also suggested that Australia had no place in the competition and that the novelty had worn off.

'There was enormous delight and welcoming when you came in as this once-off special guest,' he said. 'I think your welcome has now been rescinded and I dont say that with any glee.'

Taking a swipe: 'She was terrible,' John said. 'I'm sorry, I thought, actually, she'd escaped from Wentworth and been let on stage'

Australia has been competing Eurovision since 2015 with Guy Sebastian, Dami Im and Isaiah Firebrace previously trying their luck.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Jess Mauboy's management for comment.

The 28-year-old had her hopes dashed at the hotly contested competition as Israel's Netta Barzilai took out the win for 2018.

Jessica belted out her track We Got Love, an experience she called a 'dream come true' but ultimately came 20th overall.She's the socialite girlfriend of shock jock Kyle Sandilands who isn't known for being demure on social media.

And Imogen Anthony lived up to that standard on Monday when she left little to the imagination in a racy Instagram post.

Posing seductively as she reclined against a wall, the 27-year-old beauty flaunted her lithe frame in a barely-there black bra with diamante embellishments and a matching G-string.

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Barely there: Imogen Anthony lived up her sultry social media standard on Monday when she left little to the imagination in a racy instagram post.

Imogen's choice of undergarment did little to hide her pert derriere, while her well sculpted legs were on full display.

With her golden locks framing her face, Imogen also wore a deep red shade for her lip and a dark eyeliner for added drama.

Her legion of fans were quick with the fawning, throwing out such gushing epithets as 'smoking hot,' and 'I just fell in love.'

Flaunt it: Imogen's choice of undergarment did little to hide her pert derriere, while her well sculpted legs were on full display.

On Saturday, Imogen donned a very raunchy neon dress for dinner with mum Felicity Anthony.

The model took to Instagram to share a snap of the unique outfit, posing for a mirror selfie captioned 'ready mum.'

Imogen was wearing a pink cowboy hat to complement her bright green, figure-hugging dress.

'Ready mum!' Kyle Sandilands girlfriend Imogen Anthony wore VERY raunchy neon dress to dinner with her mother Felicity

The short-and-tight number featured cut-out mesh panelling in the back and a ruffled hemline.

She strategically kept her face out of the image by ensuring it was covered by her phone.

Some fans were complimentary of the outfit choice, while others tried to get their heads around an odd optical illusion caused by the mirror.

Like mother, like daughter! The model took to Instagram to share a snap of the unique outfit, posing for a mirror selfie captioned 'ready mum' (pictured with her mother, Felicity)

The positioning of Imogen's camera phone interacted with the room's multiple mirrors to make it look like the model had a 'third leg' jutting from her navel.

'NICE! I have a third leg too,' one male fan commented.

Added another: 'I am jealous of your 3rd leg!!! Seksi.'

'Imagine Kris Jenner crossed with Edwina from Abfab': Imogen's mother appears infrequently on her Instagram account, although has previously received a lengthy shout-out

Imogen's mother appears infrequently on her Instagram account.

Back in 2014 however, Felicity was honoured with a lengthy shout-out.

'If people ask me what my mother is like, I say something along the lines of "besides being the first person by my side whenever I need someone or being the best mother in the entire world, just imagine Kris Jenner crossed with Edina from AbFab" -That's my mother,' she joked in a caption.

'She's gonna hate me for saying that #loveyou'.Lorraine Kelly has launched a furious tirade against the 'beyond bad' Eurovision song contest's winner's track.

The TV host, 58, laid into the 'rubbish' track performed by Israel's Netta Barzilai on Saturday night, and said the UK may as well quit the annual competition because 'we're hated' in Europe.

Speaking on Monday morning's Lorraine, she said her 'jaw was on the floor' because the track was that bad and she thought that there were 'much better songs'.

Not impressed: Lorraine Kelly launched a furious rant against the Eurovision winner's song, performed by Netta Barzilai, on Monday morning, claiming it was 'rubbish' and 'beyond bad'

Lorraine claimed the UK is 'hated' and that next time when we are asked to enter we should just say 'nah you're alright!'.

Israel pipped bookies' favourite Cyprus to take this year's Eurovision crown after a protester grabbed the microphone of the UK's SuRie mid-performance during an action-packed night in Lisbon, Portugal.

The song, which the artist said was about women's empowerment and represented the #MeToo movement, proved a hit with both the public and jury and saw her narrowly secure victory over Eleni Foureira's performance of Fuego.

She managed to secure the win with 529 points, compared to runner-up Cyprus on 436 points.

Not the best: The TV host, 58, went on to say that her 'jaw was on the floor' because the track was that bad and she thought that there were 'much better songs' in the competition

Winner! Israel pipped bookies' favourite Cyprus to take this year's Eurovision crown after a protester grabbed the microphone of the UK's SuRie mid-performance

Austria's Cesar Sampson, who was winning the jury vote, finished third with 342 points for his performance of Nobody But You.

Speaking after her win, Barzilai said: 'I am so happy. Thank you so much. Thank you for supporting diversity.'

The next Eurovision is expected to be held in Israel following the country's fourth win in the competition's 63 year history.

Barzilai's win was just one of a number of dramatic moments during the course of the evening.

Drama! The UK's SuRie was dramatically interrupted in the middle of her performance of Storm when a stage invader snatched her microphone - to the disbelief of Graham Norton

The UK's SuRie was dramatically interrupted in the middle of her performance of Storm when a stage invader snatched her microphone - to the disbelief of BBC One commentator Graham Norton.

Britain came 24th out of 26 nations, with a total score of just 48 - much lower than the 111 points Lucie Jones won last year.

BBC One commentator Graham Norton, who appeared stunned after the stage invasion, said: 'That is a terrific result for Israel. I'm afraid SuRie, for all her braveness and professionalism came 24th.

'She really is a national heroine after tonight - it was extraordinary. I don't know how she coped in those horrible circumstances.

Tears of joy: The song, which the artist said was about women's empowerment and represented the #MeToo movement, proved a hit with both the public and jury

'A lot of people will be watching her performance and cheering her on because she did a terrific job for the UK, and it's shame that wasn't reflected.'

The stage invader is believed to be rapper and activist Dr A.C, who shouted down the microphone: 'For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom.'

SuRie was left clapping along for around 20 seconds before she was given another microphone and courageously carried on with her performance.

Despite being given the chance to perform again, SuRie turned it down, saying she had 'no reason' to take to the stage again.

BBC Eurovision tweeted: 'Folks, this is the latest on the SuRie situation. SuRie was offered the option to perform again by the EBU.

'SuRie and her team are extremely proud of her performance and have together decided that there is absolutely no reason to perform the song again".'She announced her engagement to Andrew Brady last month following a three-month romance.

And now Caroline Flack has claimed that the couple's connection was 'instant' as she gushed about her engagement to the Celebrity Big Brother star.

While the Love Island host, 38, discussed her relationship on the red carpet at the 2018 TV BAFTAs on Sunday evening, she added 'when you know, you know'.

'I'm in love': Caroline Flack has claimed that the her connection with Andrew Brady was 'instant' as she gushed about her engagement to the Celebrity Big Brother star

Caroline, who was presented with the gong for best reality show at the ceremony which took place in London's Royal Festival Hall, waxed lyrical about her vintage ring.

The TV presenter uttered her surprise that someone wanted to marry her, adding 'who would have thought it?' before adding that she was 'in love'.

This comes after's ex Rachael Rhodes publicly spoke about her heartache in a blog post after it was revealed the CBB star popped the question to Caroline.

According to The Sun, the DJ threw more shade at the Apprentice star as she allegedly branded her ex 'fame hungry' in a furious tirade in the light of the proposal.

The DJ is also said to have told her friends that she was left 'heartbroken' after the hunk reportedly dumped her via text without an explanation.

Heartbroken: Radio DJ Rachael Rhodes wrote a blog post about her heartbreak, in which she spoke candidly about their romance, claiming that she was dumped without any explanation

A source close to Rachael told the publication she had said: 'He filled my head with bulls**t and it looks like he's doing the same with Caroline. How can you go from discussing marriage and babies with one woman to get engaged to another in just three months?

'He broke my heart and I bet Caroline's friends and family are all terrified it's going to go pear-shaped for them as well.

'Only Caroline will truly know how she feels about Andrew and what stuff he is saying to her, but if I was her I'd be very concerned about the relationship and how true his intentions are. If the price of fame is a diamond ring, Andrew will happily pay that.'

MailOnline has approached Andrew Brady and Rachael Rhodes' representatives for further comment.

All that glitters: Caroline was quick to flaunt her dazzling engagement ring on Sunday night, as she hit the red carpet at the 2018 BAFTA TV Awards

The latest update in the Andrew and Caroline saga follows Rachael's own public say on her heartbreak in which she spoke candidly about her romance with Andrew.

She claimed she didn't even receive any explanation when she was dumped by the Celebrity Big Brother star.

It's believed Andrew moved straight from his relationship with Rachael to Caroline, with a friend of the DJ's tweeting: 'Just seen @itsandrewbrady is engaged to Caroline Flack Im sure you were with my mate 3 months ago telling her you were gonna marry her? Eeeeeee!! #famew***e'.

Rachael - who has starred on Ibiza Weekender - went on to claim in her blog that she was 'ghosted' by the CBB star, who moved on to pop the question to Caroline.

She wrote: 'My last breakup was the first one I couldnt hide my pain for. I couldnt put on a brave face anymore, Id been strong for too long. I knew it was over before it was over. I was ghosted again. It was all too familiar.

'The last time Id seen him he described our wedding to me, told me how many kids we were having and what colour their hair would be, he told my Mum what ring he wanted to get me and again, like magic  POOF. I broke.'

Whilst Andrew began dating Caroline in February, he was believed to still be seeing Rachael in January - during which time his profile was raised as he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.

Think pink: Caroline turned heads at the star-studded event in her pastel pink tulle gown, embroidered with black flowers across the bodice

Whilst Andrew didn't mention that he had a girlfriend during his time on the show, the story came to light when a former Big Brother housemate spilled the beans.

After Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace tweeted asking whether Andrew was gay, Mark Byron replied: 'Nooo babe he's my best friend @RachRhodes_ boyfriend! X'

MailOnline previously contacted Andrew's representatives for comment.

However Caroline was quick to flaunt her dazzling engagement ring as the worked the red carpet at the annual event.

Flattering: Pulling into a feminine one-shoulder and sheer sleeve, the dress then cinched in at her waist before expanding out into a bold fairytale-inspired skirt

She could not contain her beaming smile as she posed for cameras in her pink tulle gown, and the rock firmly on her fourth finger.

Love Island won an award in the Reality & Constructed Factual category at the BAFTA proceedings.

Pulling into a feminine one-shoulder and sheer sleeve, the dress then cinched in at her waist before expanding out into a bold fairytale-inspired skirt.

Enhancing the magical look with Grecian touches, she accessorised with a chunky silver arm cuff and swept her hair into a loose chignon - leaving a few curls loose to frame her face.

Stunning: Enhancing the magical look with Grecian touches, she accessorised with a chunky silver arm cuff and swept her hair into a loose chignon

While her dress made a statement on the carpet however, it was her glittering ring from new beau Andrew, 27, that caught the most attention.

The pair started dating in February, and became engaged only three months later while on holiday in Greece.

The news came as a surprise to fans, as the couple had dramatically split and reconciled only one month before - amid claims Andrew had been unfaithful, and was using her for fame.

Work it: Caroline fiercely posed for cameras outside the star-studded event

However, while she admits the proposal was out of the blue, Caroline recently gushed that she knew her romance with CBB star Andrew was serious from the very beginning.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday's YOU Magazine, she said: 'I had no idea he was planning on asking me to marry him! But I knew things felt different in the lead-up.

'From the very first date with Andrew I felt as though Id known him for years. Ive never had that feeling before.'

Put a ring on it: The pair started dating in February, and became engaged only three months later while on holiday in GreeceHe's one of the hottest male models of the minute, so it's little wonder that Jordan Barrett cut a handsome figure on the red carpet.

Looking sharp in his monochrome look, the 22-year-old donned a pair of ankle-grazing cropped black trousers and a long-sleeved T-shirt which he teamed with a tailored white suit jacket and some leather loafers.

Jordan wore his blonde locks swept over to one side as he posed for snaps with American actress Michelle Rodriguez at the Fashion For Relief Gala on Sunday night.

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Suave: Jordan Barrett cut a sharp figure on the red carpet ahead of the Fashion For Relief Gala during the 71st Cannes Film Festival

The 39-year-old showed off her toned physique in a shimmering silver-pink metallic Grecian-inspired gown, while she wore her dark tresses down in tousled waves.

The genetically blessed duo were in great spirits as they laughed and joked on the red carpet.

Fashion For Relief is a charity founded by supermodel Naomi Campbell back in 2005.

This year the gala is raising money for Save The Children and the Time's Up movement.

Famous friends: The 22-year-old male model cosied up to American actress Michelle Rodriguez

Did she say something funny? The genetically blessed duo were in great spirits as they laughed and joked on the red carpet

Michelle, who was attending the Cannes Film Festival for her sixteenth time, shared a number of snaps from inside the event.

Taking to Instagram, the former Lost star said: 'Bonjour Cannes!!! Today at Naomi's @fashion4relief @iamnaomicampbell love your big heart Omi :)

'Glad I got to join tonight and walk your show for a good cause.'

Edgy: Jordan hit the runway in a Fashion For Relief emblazoned t-shirt and leather shorts

Jordan - who was scouted while shoplifting matches as a teen - enjoyed an outfit change before hitting the runway in a Fashion For Relief emblazoned t-shirt and edgy leather shorts featuring large rivet holes and a thick silver chain.

Meanwhile Kirk Blake, the modelling scout who first spotted the catwalk star, recently issued some harsh words for fashion's resident 'bad boy'.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph back in March, the What Model Management agent said Jordan needs to dial down his rebellious behaviour.

Kirk said: 'He needs to rein it in. I just know that he can be so much better.'

The Byron Bay-born star - who is the son of convicted drug dealer Adrian Barrett - has been previously known to swear and make rude gestures to the media.

Kirk continued: 'He is unstoppable at the moment but I still think he has to make the correct decisions.

'Why are we celebrating someone who gives the media the finger?'They've been enjoying a sun-soaked break away in Noosa this week.

And Keira Maguire and Jarrod Woodgate, both 31, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their holiday as they were spotted in a trendy restaurant acting like 'such tourists.'

The reality TV couple looked thoroughly loved-up as they posed for a photo in Sum Yung Guys on Sunday, where they held up their cocktails and modelled a pair of quirky straw hats.

Date night: Bachelor in Paradise's Keira Maguire and Jarrod Woodgate looked smitten as they enjoyed a dinner date in Noosa on Sunday

Both dressed in casual chic ensembles, and Keira put on a particularly busty display as she showed off her ample assets in a low-cut black tank top which she paired with damaged jeans.

Her blonde tresses were set in waves, and parted down the middle so that it framed her petite face perfectly.

The beauty highlighted her naturally pretty features by putting on a slick of light pink lipstick, and she wore dark mascara to make her blue eyes pop.

Break: The reality star couple have been enjoying a sun-soaked break away in Noosa this week

Jarrod looked dapper in his blue shirt, and even the flared straw hat that he was wearing wasn't going to make him any less handsome.

Both stars looked well-rested as they enjoyed their holiday, and Jarrod showed off his affection for Keira with his 76.9k Instagram followers when he posted a picture of her during their dinner, and wrote: 'My girl is so cute.'

According to a report in Women's Day on Monday, the pair are currently 'hoping for their own reality show' after their success on Bachelor in Paradise.

Smitten: Jarrod showed off his affection for Keira with his 76.9k Instagram followers when he posted a picture of her during their dinner and wrote: 'My girl is so cute'

Their own venture: According to a report in Woman's Day on Monday, the pair are currently 'hoping for their own reality show' after their success on Bachelor in Paradise

The source reportedly told the weekly publication that if their own show doesn't get the green light, then they're more than happy to do things on their own.

'Otherwise they're going to look into their own YouTube channel,' a source said.

The lovebirds have hinted they'd be keen for another stint on the telly as their fans are begging them to do just that.

Keira told Who magazine: 'Probably every second message is like "I miss you on our TV; we really want you to have your own show. We're obsessed with you guys!"

'I think people are really invested and it would just make sense for us to do something like that.'She cryptically hinted at a reunion when she shared a snap hiding a mystery man following his prison release earlier this month.

But Lauren's Goodger's on-off flame Joey Morrisson has reportedly turned to the dating app Bumble in the hope to find love, raising questions over the status of their romance.

The convicted criminal, 31, opted for a series of moody black and white shots of him pouting at the camera and showing off his numerous inkings for his profile.

Single? Lauren's Goodger's on-off flame Joey Morrisson has reportedly turned to the dating app Bumble in the hope to find love

Joey lists his profession as 'Business Development Manager', with Lauren having previously boasted about his jewellery business plan on Instagram last year.

He kept his 'About Me' section simple, just writing his location 'London'.

Meanwhile, Lauren took to Instagram on Monday to slam claims her rumoured boyfriend was on the dating app.

Moving on? The revelation comes after Lauren Goodger sparked rumours she had reunited with her jailbird beau when she posted a snap hiding the identity of a mystery man

Looking for love: The 31-year-old convicted criminal opted for a series of moody black and white shots of him pouting at the camera and showing off his numerous inkings

Career driven: Joey lists his profession as 'Business Development Manager', with Lauren having previously boasted about his business plan on Instagram last year

Hitting back: Meanwhile, Lauren took to Instagram on Monday to slam claims her rumoured boyfriend was on the dating app

She typed: 'Joey is not on any dating apps these fakes were set up a long time ago and there is also one on Tinder! Thanks for the info but we already knew thanks to the kind people who showed me.'

Morrisson was convicted of a string of offences back in 2010, including possession of a firearm, kidnapping, blackmail and actual bodily harm.

He was sentenced to 16 years at HMP Highpoint South prison.

His sister Charlotte first shared news of his release, posting a snap of her shopping with her brother in Milton Keynes.

The Instagram post was captioned: 'Words can't explain the feeling of my brother home after 9 years... love you always my joey'.

Prison release: Morrison was convicted of a string of offences back in 2010, including possession of a firearm, kidnapping, blackmail and actual bodily harm

Reunited: His sister Charlotte first shared news of his release, sharing a snap of her shopping with her brother in Milton Keynes

Lauren enjoyed a short-lived romance with Morrisson and called it quits after 15 months together in September 2017.

However she has since confessed they are in touch.

The Essex resident appeared on Loose Women in September to set things straight regarding her crumbled dalliance with her ex-boyfriend Joey.

Romance: Earlier this month, Lauren hid the identity of a mystery man in the snap with a sun emoticon, prompting speculation she had already met up with the convicted criminal

'He was meant to come out, last year, in November and things were great,' she explained to the panel, 'But where things got set back, it put strain on us. I couldn't wait no more. It was too much pressure.'

However, in November, Lauren hinted at spending time with the family as she told Closer: 'We're still mates. There's no bad blood. I'm still mates with Joey and his family and I see them all the time.'

Last month, the TOWIE star was seen with personalised number plates adorned with her incarcerated lover's name while she focused her Now Magazine column on her widely-discussed romance too.

Putting to bed rumours in their romance, Lauren seemed keen to set the record straight as she awaited his release from his lengthy prison spell.

In the column, she wrote: 'Joey and I are still in touch, which I have never denied. For now, he is focused on coming out and after such a long time I was to protect him so I'm not discussing him or our situation. People have to respect that.

'The number plate thing seems like a big deal but it's not. They were ordered ages ago and not being used so I decided to put them on my new car to save him from being fined for not using them and - let's be honest - it's a wicked plate!'She was the star of the last series of The Mummy Diaries and so it's no surprise that Nelly Faiers stole the show when she went out with her mother Billie on Sunday.

The bubbly three-year-old attended the Cartoonito Club launch with her mother and her baby brother Arthur, one.

They joined the likes of Tamara Ecclestone and Imogen Thomas and their little ones as they painted the town red, blue, green, yellow and purple at the party.

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Now that looks like a lot of fun: Billie Faiers took daughter Nelly and son Arthur to the Cartoonito launch party in London on Sunday

Cute: Afterwards, Billie shared a hilarious video of daughter Nelly excitedly dancing when they got to China Tang restaurant, in her little Gucci trainers - she posted it on Instagram

The immersive pop up event, crafted by the preschool TV channel Cartoonito, transformed the West End's Gallery Different into the world's first living colouring book.

Children were granted permission to unleash their creativity with colouring pens and bring the black and white drawing room to life with splashes of colour.

Billie, 28, said: 'Nellys been colouring everywhere. She actually drew on my walls at home before, but this is perfect and she can draw where she likes!

She's in Vogue: Billie tucked her T-shirt into a pair of blue jeans, cinching in her waist with a chic Gucci belt

Now it's allowed: She and daughter Nelly took it in turns to colour in the wall, with Billie saying her daughter had recently been caught doing this at home

Billie shared this snap on Instagram, writing: 'So much fun with my little lady at the Launch event for the Cartoonito Club, online hub. They created the worlds first living colouring in book and been colouring in all the characters like Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder'

'When were at home she is so into her arts and crafts at, she does so much sticking and colouring in - its always activities with her.

'It is very different having a girl and boy. Arthur is so active, Nellys at age now where she can sit and enjoy doing stuff like arts and crafts and colouring in.

She added: 'Being a working mum is amazing, sometimes it has challenges and your children are always your number one priority.

Animated: Billie also shared a picture of her daughter living her best life on Instagram stories

Sunday funday: Nelly fell asleep in the car after her fun day out, having had a unicorn painted onto her arm

'The thing I find trickiest is child care, my mum helps me out because every week is different. I have to be on the ball and prepared for every week.

'My advice to other mums is to be organised! I know it sounds obvious but I prepare Arthurs dinners on a Monday for a few days ahead if Im working. Also don't be too hard on yourself. Everyones doing a good job, so praise yourself sometimes.'

Later on, Billie shared an Instagram boomerang of her daughter dancing at China Tang restaurant, where they went for dinner after the event.

Billie captioned the clip with the words: 'When you arrive ... and you cannot wait for China Tang.'She is typically chic and well-put together both on and off the red carpet.

But Katie Holmes appeared to be slightly windswept as she struggled to keep hold of her navy floppy hat during a Mother's Day afternoon out with her mini-me daughter, Suri Cruise, 12, on Sunday.

The actress, 39, kept a raised arm on top of her head and another across her jacket as she strolled along with Suri by her side.

Hold onto your hat! Katie Holmes appeared to be windswept as she struggled to keep hold of her navy floppy hat during a Mother's Day outing with her daughter, Suri Cruise, 12, on Sunday

Despite battling against the gusty weather, the screen star still managed to put on a sophisticated display in a cream trench coat.

The actress wore her jacket over a knee-length denim dress, which gave a glimpse of her toned calves.

The mother-of-one opted for comfort with a pair of pale ballet pumps and accessorised her outfit with a pair of large square shades.

Katie wore a three-tone bag on her arm, which featured sections of brown crocodile print as well as beige and white leather.

Still stylish: The actress, 39, kept a raised arm on top of her head as she put on a sophisticated display in a cream trench coat

Her lookalike daughter also appeared to be feeling the chill as she pulled down the arms of the crochet cardigan she was wearing.

The youngster wore a lime green jumper, and a blue circle print skirt, also teamed with a bare of ballet pumps.

The Batman Begins actress began dating Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise in 2005, and seven weeks into the relationship, they were engaged.

Their wedding was held at the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano, Italy, in November 2006, and seven months their daughter, Suri, was born.

High-profile: The mother-of-one has attended numerous high-profile red carpet events of late, including the Tribeca Film Festival last month (pictured)

In 2012, Katie filed for a divorce that was finalised only 10 days later, retaining primary custody of Suri, although Tom was granted visiting rights.

Ron Miscavige, father of Scientology leader David Miscavige, told MailOnline in 2016 that Katie's misgivings about Scientology - including the effect it could have on Suri - contributed to her decision to leave Tom.

Katie and actor Jamie Foxx only publicly became an item late last year, though there had been speculation they were a couple since 2013.

There was a swirl of rumours that Katie's divorce agreement prohibited her from publicly dating anyone for five years after the split with Tom.She decided to fight through a nasty cold and brave the BAFTA TV Awards red carpet on Sunday night.

But Georgia Toffolo proved to be feeling better at the after-party later on, as she was spotted spending time with Emmerdale actor Danny Miller.

The reality star, 23, looked close with the 27-year-old at the Mondrian Hotel bar - and even borrowed his jacket while she waited for a taxi.

Love is in the air? Georgia Toffolo proved to be in better good at the after-party on Sunday, as she was spotted spending time with Emmerdale actor Danny Miller

Cosy: The reality star, 23, looked close with the 27-year-old at the Mondrian Hotel bar - and even borrowed his jacket while she waited for a taxi

The pair set tongues wagging as they laughed and joked together in the hotel lobby after the bash.

While she had a glass of champagne in hand, Toff appeared deep in animated conversation with the actor as they left the party alongside the other guests.

Proving to be a gentleman, Danny was even seen lending the MIC star his jacket to keep her warm while she waited for her ride home.

Getting on well: The pair set tongues wagging as they left the after-party at the Mondrian Hotel

Catching up: The pair were seen laughing and joking together in the hotel lobby

Immersed: Toff appeared deep in animated conversation with the actor

Feeling good: Danny flashed a wide smile after his lengthy evening at the BAFTAs

Having made it til the late hour of 4:30am, Toff then headed home to nurse her cold in bed - giving Danny a warm hug goodbye as she left the bar.

MailOnline has contacted both Georgia and Danny's representatives for comment.

Toff is currently single, following her split from James Middleton and romantic links to George Lineker and Made In Chelsea star James Taylor.

Wrapping up: Proving to be a gentleman, Danny was even seen lending the MIC star his jacket

Comfortable: She draped the blazer over her shoulders as she made her way out of the hotel

Grateful: However she soon returned it as her taxi approached

Relaxed: They continued to chat outside as they left with the party's other guests at the late hour of 4:30am

Farewell: She then gave Danny a warm hug goodbye as she headed home

Pucker up: He also planted a kiss on her cheek as they parted ways

Carrying on: He appeared to call her back as she said goodbye

Speaking to The Sun last month, the blonde confessed she finds romance hard in the public eye, as she worries people will have a pre-conception of her before they have even met.

She explained: 'I worry now that before going on a date that I've already been pre-judged before they've even met me,'

'I'm very fortunate with what I've got in the diary at the moment, but there are massive drawbacks. When I walk down the street people shout from their cars and their vans.

Helping hand: Danny was later seen helping Toff locate her car

Close: The pair continued to chat with fellow guests as they prepared to head home

Trooper: Toff looked happy to be heading home, having attended the awards with a nasty cold

'So at the moment I'm still single and very happy and not looking for anyone at the moment. But a bit of Sunday night company wouldn't go amiss, but I've got my grandparents down the road so its fine.'

Meanwhile Danny split from his on-off girlfriend Kirsty-Leigh Porter in 2016, after his affair with co-star Isabel Hodgins, who was also in a relationship at the time.

Sources claimed at the time that Kirsty, who plays Lee Lomax on the Channel 4 soap, discovered message exchanges between Danny and Isabel - leading to the discovery of the alleged tryst.

Independent woman: Toff is currently single, and recently revealed she finds love hard in the public eye, as most people have judged her before they even meet

News of the affair came shortly after it was claimed Danny left Kirsty 'devastated' when he reportedly had a drunken tryst with a prostitute.

Kirsty and Danny split three times between 2011 and the eventual end of their relationship five years later.

Meanwhile Toff appeared to still enjoy her evening at the BAFTAs, despite suffering a horrible cold.

Sharing snaps of her stunning pink gown on Instagram ahead of the ceremony, the blonde playfully posed with a medicine bottle for fans, and joked: 'Day nurse I thank you'.He is one of the most good-looking actors in Hollywood who has carved his place in the spotlight thanks to his incredible acting talent and hilarious jokes.

But Ryan Reynolds, 41, showed off his vulnerable side when he discussed his battle with anxiety during a television appearance on Lorraine on Monday.

Despite seeming to have it all  a high-flying Hollywood career, married to Blake Lively, beautiful children and good looks  Ryan confessed he is affected by anxiety.

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'You think I have it all': Ryan Reynolds documented his anxiety battle during Deadpool filming despite appearing to have 'everything'

Tackling the subject matter, he explained: 'It destigmatises it when you talk about it.

'You look at people who are maybe in a profession that looks glamorous and amazing and you think they have everything but it doesn't discriminate it affects everyone.'

Ryan and Blake, who have been married since 2012, have become 'couple goals' for their playful antics and merciless teasing on social media.

Speaking about their social media fun, he said: 'That's what social media is for me, there's enough news and enough of bombardment of darkness coming our way, it's fun to just have a little fun.'

Starring role: He is one of the most good-looking actors in Hollywood who has carved his place in the spotlight thanks to his incredible acting talent and hilarious jokes (in Deadpool)

Despair: Despite seeming to have it all  a high-flying Hollywood career, married to Blake Lively, beautiful children and good looks  Ryan confessed he is affected by anxiety

Ryan, who recently discussed their kids one-year-old Ines and three-year-old James visiting him on set, confirmed there will be a third film in the Deadpool franchise.

Confirming the third film, Ryan told Lorraine: 'Yes, we have the suit.'

Joined by co-stars Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz, Ryan discussed his experience filming the sequel which is out on the big screen imminently.

Grabbing attention: Tackling the subject matter, he explained: 'It destigmatises it when you talk about it'

Honesty: 'You look at people who are maybe in a profession that looks glamorous and amazing and you think they have everything but it doesn't discriminate it affects everyone'

The latest movie will follow the trials and tribulations of his superhero character and his squad who must fight a cybernetic soldier.

Deadpool initially began production in 2004 but it was put on hold until 2014 when the film footage was leaked and fans had an enthusiastic response to it.

He went onto add: 'Its pretty limitless. Its the role I feel most privileged to have in my entire career. I feel I like was sort of born for it. I love Deadpool.

'The hardest thing on set is keeping a straight face, but thats what the mask is for. There are takes in the movie where I know Im cracking up laughing under the mask but Im doing it silently, but Im supposed to be listening to something serious. Its in there. If you watch you can kind of feel it.

Talking: Joined by co-stars Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz, Ryan discussed his experience filming the sequel which is out on the big screen imminently

Revealed: The latest movie will follow the trials and tribulations of his superhero character and his squad who must fight a cybernetic soldier

'Its the miracle of the mask. With the first movie, I put it on and I thought were done, were dead, this is never going to work.

'I took a camera for two days, I played with stuff, I learned  not unlike a silent film, or Marcel Marceau - you just have to be bigger. You just have to go bigger and push through the mask and somehow it works.'

Ryan is keen for his Hollywood pal Hugh Jackman to return as Wolverine in the franchise. He said: 'I badger Hugh Jackman weekly to put the claws back on.'

Storytelling: Deadpool initially began production in 2004 but it was put on hold until 2014 when the film footage was leaked and fans had an enthusiastic response to it

Discussion: He went onto add: 'Its pretty limitless. Its the role I feel most privileged to have in my entire career. I feel I like was sort of born for it. I love Deadpool'She has been riding on a high in recent weeks after being lauded by fans for her 'down-to-earth' nature on her hit ITVBe series First Time Mum.

But Ferne McCann raised eyebrows after she was spotted parking in a disabled bay after pulling up to a hotel for a Herbalife event in Kent on Sunday.

The reality star, 27, who was joined by her six-month-old daughter Sunday and pal Carl Cunard, parked her white Range Rover in the reserved bay which was clearly marked with a disabled sign and borders painted around.

Blunder: Ferne McCann was spotted parking in a disabled bay as she pulled up to a hotel for a Herbalife event in Kent on Sunday

Ferne, who has proudly showcased the results of her incredible post-baby body on Instagram, proved her natural sense of style in the bold blue flares - which cinched in at her slim waist, before skimming her long legs to the floor.

She kept things simple with a black vest on top, and tied her look together with summery heeled sandals.

Styling her hair into loose waves and sporting a typically bronzed make-up look, the First Time Mum starlet displayed her radiant complexion as she pushed little Sunday along in a pushchair.

MailOnline has contacted Ferne's representatives for comment.

Under fire:The reality star parked her white Range Rover in the reserved bay which was clearly marked with a disabled sign and borders painted around

Doting mum: The 27-year-old was joined by her six-month-old daughter Sunday and pal Carl Cunard

Ferne proved her natural sense of style in the bold blue flares - which cinched in at her slim waist, before skimming her long legs to the floor

Mistake: The reality star was spotted getting out of the 50,000 car, seemingly unaware she had parked in a disabled spot

Despite her parking offence, Ferne looked in good spirits as she continued with her working duties, after visiting her ex Arthur Collins in prison last week.

The reality star was spotted cradling her daughter Sunday as she left HMP Full Sutton in York on Friday - despite vowing to never see her ex again.

She had previously visited Collins at Belmarsh Prison, South-East London when Sunday was two weeks old, and told him he would never see either of them again.

The This Morning star reportedly said: 'You have ruined our lives. This is what you have done. And this is what you are missing out on.'

Bronzed beauty: Styling her hair into loose waves, the First Time Mum starlet displayed her radiant complexion as she pushed little Sunday along in a pushchair

Sweet: The blonde beauty proved she was a hands-on mum as she set up the pushchair for Sunday

Stylish: Ferne kept things simple with a black vest on top, and tied her look together with summery heeled sandals

Ferne insisted she was 'done' with confronting Arthur and she explained she felt very 'strongly' about the 'innocent people' injured in the attack.

However since the visit, it has been claimed her jailbird ex-boyfriend took legal action to get access to the daughter he shares with the reality star.

Arthur is currently serving a 20 year sentence following a vicious acid attack at an East London nightclub in April of last year.

Success: She has been riding on a high in recent weeks after being lauded by fans for her 'down-to-earth' nature on her hit ITVBe series First Time Mum

Prepared: The former TOWIE star was laden with bags no doubt filled with things to keep Sunday amused

Busy: Despite her parking offence, Ferne looked in good spirits as she continued with her working duties, after visiting her ex Arthur Collins in prison last week

Meanwhile, Ferne has been by applauded for her reality show First Time Mum, which gives an insight into her life as a single parent.

She was praised by fans on how she dealt with the demands of being a new mother and her 'down-to-earth' nature.

One fan wrote: '@fernemccann #FirstTimeMum your a great mum baby Sunday is so lucky to have lovely mummy like u & your so real not fake or stuck up its not easy being a mum let alone a single parent so even harder having to play both roles u should be proud of yourself.'

Lauded: Ferne has been by praised for her 'down-to-earth' nature on her reality show First Time Mum, which gives an insight into her life as a single parentShe attended the BAFTAs on Sunday night without her beloved husband by her side as he had work commitments.

And Michelle Keegan looked as though she was pining for her man at the end of the night when she was glued to her phone at the afterparty, held at London's Mondrian hotel.

The 30-year-old looked incredible in her yellow gown, having attended the event at London's Royal Festival Hall earlier in the evening.

Waiting for a call? Michelle Keegan appeared to be pining for her husband Mark Wright when she attended the BAFTAS afterparty at London's Mondrian hotel on Sunday night

Having a laugh: She caught up with a male pal on the night, where she gave him a friendly high-five

So much so that Mark shared a loving picture of his wife on Instagram stories, writing the words: 'Wow' and 'savage' over the top of it.

Michelle was surrounded by a couple of pals as she went to leave the venue, but her phone was the only thing on her mind.

Just before that, she bumped into a male companion and they shared a friendly embrace as well as a high-five.

Sweet: Michelle was rather engrossed on her phone on the night - Mark was elsewhere working so was unable to make the bash

Fancy seeing you here: Michelle seemed thrilled to bump into her pal

Friendly: Michelle held onto his hand and used her other hand to hold her phone and bag

The star looked absolutely stunning in her gown, wearing her brunette locks up in an elegant chignon.

Mark and Michelle both jetted back to the UK on Friday and on Saturday night, he went on his brother's stag do at Faces nightclub in Essex.

They had been in LA, where Mark co-presents the Extra show, alongside Mario Lopez.

Not seen him for a while? Michelle and the handsome chap had plenty to talk about

Lovely moment: Michelle put her hand to her chest as they conversed further

Wow thing: Michelle looked absolutely stunning on the night in her yellow gown

Meanwhile, The Sun recently reported that Mark has renewed his presenting contract on US show Extra, with producers allegedly doubling his money.

Much of Michelle and Mark's three year marriage has been spent long distance, yet the duo have always strenuously insisted that it has no detriment on their love.

The news of Mark's signing means the couple will spend more time apart as Michelle has previously insisted she will never move to the States.

Ill: Mark has been busy with work this week but also told his followers he has been feeling a little under the weather

Caring: However, he did show his support by commenting on Instagram how much he loved his wife's look

An insider said: 'Mark has gone down a storm with viewers and proved really popular. Producers have been really impressed with his enthusiasm and work ethic.

'They think he's really motivated and driven so have offered to double his pay packet.'

Earlier this month, Michelle spoke to Cosmopolitan magazine about their situation, revealing: 'We're more patient with each other, laid-back, and don't sweat the small stuff.

'I think because we're really happy in our careers it helps with the relationship as well.'

Handsome chap: Michelle's bearded pal was decked out in an all-black ensemble

See you later, then: After their chat, Michelle and her pal had a final goodbye hugHe's best known for playing the eternally romantic Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother.

But Josh Radnor has decided to take his a career in a new direction - by enjoying a foray into folk music.

The 43-year-old American is teaming up with Aussie artist Ben Lee, 39, to form a new double act titled Radnor & Lee.

I'm with the band: How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor revealed his 'ridiculous' new career move during appearance on The Project

The acoustic twosome spoke about their new band during Monday night's episode of The Project.

Josh said: 'There is a part of me that thinks: "Who starts a band in their forties? This is ridiculous."

'Youre supposed to do that when you are a teenager and do it in your garage and p**s off your parents.'

The comedy star revealed that he first met Ben 13 years ago, when How I Met Your Mother producers reached out to the hitmaker to see if they could use his tunes for the sitcom.

Iconic character: Josh played Ted Mosby in popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother

Josh explained: 'I was a fan of Ben Lee, I had his songs on my iPod.

'We just stayed friends, we were friends for about a decade before we started writing songs together.'

And last year the Liberal Arts thespian decided to get stuck in by learning the guitar so that the pair could both play during performances.

Folk duo: Ben Lee teamed up with Josh to form a new double act after the pair met some 13 years ago

'We were co-writing everything, but we decided to be a two-guitar band about a year ago and I am playing obsessively,' Josh said.

'Im learning how to play guitar by playing in front of audiences. If you freak yourself out enough you learn pretty quickly.'

Radnor & Lee released their debut album last November - and they've already played a sold-out tour in Brazil where they have a big following.

'Who starts a band in their forties?': Josh admitted that he sometimes thinks his foray into folk music is 'ridiculous'

'For me there is something so great about learning guitar at this age, because it makes me feel like you can do anything at any time - you just have to do it,' Josh added.

Ben and Josh are working hard on their second album and a mini-documentary about their band will be released soon.

However, Josh is still acting and can be seen portraying teacher Lou Mazzuchelli in NBC's drama Rise.

Meanwhile, the musical partners are setting off on their first Australian tour this month, with dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane this week before they jet off for a performance Stateside in June.Grey's Anatomy star Kevin McKidd and his wife Arielle Goldrath welcomed a baby boy on Sunday.

The happy news comes just two months after the pair surprised fans with the news that they had married, and were expecting a child together.

McKidd announced the birth with a picture of his newborn son, cradled in his mother's arms.

New arrival: Grey's Anatomy star Kevin McKidd and his wife Arielle Goldrath welcomed son Aiden on

'On this beautiful Mothers Day evening... Welcome little Aiden to our family and to the world! Arielle, youre the most amazing mother and I love you both so much!'

The 44-year-old tagged the post: '#happymothersday #forever #weeAiden #Arielle #newlife.'

Baby Aiden is a first child for Arielle, but joins McKidd's two children from his first marriage to Jane Parker, teens Iona and Joseph.

The doc: McKidd is best know for his work as Dr. Owen Hunt on ABC's long running medical drama Grey's Anatomy

McKidd is best known for his work as Dr. Owen Hunt on ABC's long running medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

The actor finalized his divorce from his ex of 17 years in December.

As part of the split he agreed to $22,440 in monthly child support, along with $65,096 a month in spousal support, plus 20 percent of any income he receives in excess of $3 million a year, according to reports at the time.

The Rome star also agreed to fund the children's private school and summer camp.

Fatherhood: Kevin and his children Iona and Jo are pictured in 2016

McKidd and his ex-wife have joint legal custody over their children. But at the time of the split it was agreed that rather than the teens going from home to home, they would stay put at their Malibu home, as their parents rotated in and out.

It is not known if Aiden's birth will change this schedule, called a 'nesting arrangement'.

When the children turn 18, McKidd will no longer have to pay child support, but will up his spousal support payments to Jane by $12,147 a month for four years.On Monday night's episode of MasterChef, fan favourite Metter Chin became the second contestant booted from the competition.

The 54-year-old project manager from Sydney was sent packing after serving undercooked tarte Tatin to guest judge, Maggie Beer.

Viewers were left devastated by Metter's elimination, with many taking to social media to express their sadness.

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'Put your apples out for Metter': On Monday, 54-year-old Metter Chin was eliminated from MasterChef, prompting emotional tweets from viewers

How about them apples? Metter was booted after the judges complained that the apples were in the dish were 'undercooked and crunchy'

During the night's episode, Metter was forced to face off in the kitchen against fellow contestants Michelle and Samira, working to recreate Maggie's apple and rosemary tarte Tatin.

The fan favourite was eliminated after the judges complained that the apples were in the dish were 'undercooked and crunchy and the pastry was raw'.

'Put your apples out for Metter', one viewer wrote on Twitter, injecting some humour into the somber situation.

Emotional departure: Many mourned the the smiley-faced star, with a devastated viewer writing: 'Metter was such a nice guy, I wish he would stay'

He'll be missed: Metter was the second contestant to be sent home

Others mourned the the smiley-faced star, with a devastated viewer writing: 'Metter was such a nice guy, I wish he would stay.'

Another posted: 'I already miss Metter. He's got the best smile'.

The Malaysian-born contestant had to compete in the pressure test after failing to impress the judges with an unusual dish he served up on Sunday night's edition of the show.

Bottom three: Metter had to compete in the pressure test after failing to impress the judges with an unusual dish he served up on Sunday night's edition of the show

The food fanatic plated up a unique meal that teamed prawn and crab cake with 'Italian-looking meatballs'.

However, judges Matt, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan savaged: 'Nothing makes sense, nothing goes together, none of the flavours are clean'.

After Metter's elimination, 22 contestants remain in the competition.They recently enjoyed a romantic getaway to Dubai.

But Danielle Lloyd and her fiance Michael O'Neil stepped back to the humdrum of family life as they headed to the tip in Birmingham on Sunday.

The 34-year-old cut a low-key figure, opting to forego a bra as she slipped into a grey Celine t-shirt for the outing.

Clear-out: Danielle Lloyd and her fiance Michael O'Neil stepped back into reality as they headed to the tip in Birmingham on Sunday

Danielle, who gave birth to her son Ronnie eight months ago, showed off her incredible figure and tiny stomach in the tight fitting t-shirt.

She paired the look with skinny black ripped jeans and opted for comfort on her feet with furry sliders.

Tying her long brunette tresses back in a loose ponytail, the former Celebrity Big Brother star assisted her muscly beau as they lifted bin bags of rubbish out of her car.

Perky display: The 34-year-old cut a low-key figure, opting to forego a bra as she slipped into a grey designer Celine t-shirt for the outing

Michael co-ordinated his look with the former glamour model, opting for a simple grey t-shirt, indigo jeans and white trainers.

Earlier in the day, the loved-up couple had taken the whole family for a fun day out at the Cartoonito Club launch in London.

Danielle looked every inch the doting mum as she entertained her children Archie, seven, Harry, six, George, three, and baby Ronnie, eight months at the colour drawing event.

Svelte physique: Danielle, who gave birth to her son Ronnie eight months ago, showed off her incredible figure and tiny stomach in the tight fitting t-shirt and skinny jeans

Fun for all: Earlier in the day, the loved-up couple had taken the whole family for a fun day out at the Cartoonito Club launch in London

Dream in green: The glamorous TV personality looked stunning in a semi-sheer emerald top and trousers, paired with an acid wash denim jacket

The glamorous TV personality looked stunning in a semi-sheer emerald top and trousers, paired with an acid wash denim jacket.

Little Ronnie is her first child with Michael, and was born in September of last year. The mother raises sons Archie, aged seven, Harry, aged six, and George, aged three, with her ex-husband Jamie O'Hara.

Danielle and Jamie were married for two years from 2012 but they decided to go their separate ways for good in 2014.

Family outing: The brunette beauty also treated her four sons Archie, seven, Harry, six, George, three, and baby Ronnie, eight months to a trip to Peppa Pig World

Sweet: The reality star couldn't resist taking a snap of her youngest son Ronnie with Peppa Pig while her other son pulled a funny face behind her

She has put her heartache well and truly behind her as she moved on with her hunky love Michael and the pair plan to tie the knot soon.

According to The Sun, the couple have been secretly planning a beach wedding in the Caribbean, but have 'kept the whole thing quiet' from fans, to ensure their special day is an 'intimate' affair.

A source said: 'Danielle and Michael have kept things massively low-key but they've been thinking about getting the wedding sorted since baby Ronnie arrived in September and now their plans are coming together.'She is expecting her first child with her husband Daniel Craig at 48.

And Rachel Weisz proved pregnancy suited her down to the ground as she enjoyed a walk with son Henry, 11, in New York City on Sunday while celebrating Mother's Day.

The actress, 48, covered up her blossoming baby bump, in her chic mac as she joined her casually clad son.

Blooming lovely! Rachel Weisz covered up her pregnancy bump in a chic coat as her sweet son Henry carried a rose bouquet in New York City on Sunday

Daniel's wife wore her locks in a bun when she stepped out in skintight jeans and striped brogues, with white sunglasses and a square handbag added to her look.

Henry showed off his generous side when he splashed out on a bouquet of pretty pink roses as a blooming lovely gift for his mother.

The expectant mother and son didn't leave each other's side as they enjoyed their quality time together.

Henry is Rachel's son from her failed romance with Hollywood director Darren Aronofsky, who she dated for nine years between 2001 and 2010.

Gifting! Henry showed off his generous side when he splashed out on a bouquet of pretty pink roses as a blooming lovely gift for his mother

The actress mended her heartache with Daniel later in 2010 and she went onto marry the 007 star in New York City in June 2011.

Daniel has a 25-year-old daughter Ella from his first marriage to actress Fiona Loudon.

The couple, who do not know the sex of the baby, were excited to share the news that Rachel will welcome their first child together into the world.

Must be love: The actress mended her heartache with Daniel later in 2010 and she went onto marry the 007 star in New York City in June 2011 (pictured in April 2018, New York)

Rachel told the Radio Times: 'I'll be showing soon. Daniel and I are so happy. We're going to have a little human. We can't wait to meet him or her. It's all such a mystery.'

The Disobedience star previously talked about her 'very private' romance with her actor husband as the pair strive to keep their love out of the limelight.

Of their relationship, she said: 'It's very personal, it's very private. I don't think mine's particularly exceptional apart from that we're both in the public eye.

'But I never thought I would get married. It was not an ambition of mine. It was the opposite.'She is showcasing her sensational sense of style on the Cannes red carpet.

And Diane Kruger proved she looked just as glamorous in day-to-day life as she went about her day in the French Riviera on Monday.

The actress, 41, looked splendid in her pastel pink coat, which she wore over her demure lace dress to keep the chill at bay.

She's a vision: Diane Kruger looked lovely in a soft pink coat and charming sunglasses as she stepped out in Cannes on Monday

For a picture-perfect look, Diane added charming pink sunglasses as well as a gorgeous white handbag.

The movie star teased a glimpse at her astonishing stems when she elevated her height in impressive silver platform heels, with straps adorned with sparkling gems.

Diane framed her face with her crimped golden locks which strayed from her ponytail and she wore natural touches of make-up.

Sophisticated chic: The 41-year-old actress looked splendid in her pastel pink coat, which she wore over her demure lace dress to keep the chill at bay

She was flying solo without her man Norman Reedus, having gone red carpet official in January with The Walking Dead actor at the Golden Globes.

The actress is a regular on the showbiz circuit as she jetted to Cannes following her appearance at New York's annual Met Gala and an appearance in Berlin.

On Sunday, Diane reflected on her experiences at the Cannes Film Festival last year when she was promoting In The Fade on the red carpet.

How to accessorise: For a picture-perfect look, Diane added charming pink sunglasses as well as a gorgeous white handbag

She penned on social media: 'I cant believe its been a year that I walked up these famous steps for In the Fade and received so much love and support .

'Im excited to give out the Chopard Trophy for Best Newcomers tomorrow, they launched my career right here at the Cannes Film Festival who I owe so much.' (sic)

Last year, the In The Fade star claimed the coveted Best Actress award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her part in the movie.

The film has enjoyed enormous critical success over recent months, having won a Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Stunning star: Diane framed her face with her crimped golden locks which strayed from her ponytail and she wore natural touches of make-upKanye West is in hot water yet again.

The rapper's brand, Yeezy, is being investigated after an employee was injured on the job, according to TMZ. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is conducting the inquiry.

Per the outlet, the company may be facing as much as $129,000 (94, 952) per violation, should any be found, after an employee was injured in March 2018.

Kanye West's Yeezy brand is in trouble with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after an Adidas employee was injured on the job

A 3D printer reportedly fell on the foot of an Adidas employee whose identity hasn't yet been revealed.

OSHA intends to investigate to find out whether the employee was hurt as a result of workplace violations. The victim in question was airlifted to the hospital, according to TMZ.

The severity of his injuries remains a mystery, but it's been rumored that his foot may have been amputated. The anonymous Adidas/Yeezy employee hasn't been able to return to work.

He has sought the counsel of a lawyer.

This isn't the only controversy surrounding the Yeezy brand as of late. On May 4, 2018, Kanye, 40, revealed that he fired a recently hired designer for plagiarizing designs.

He made the reveal on Twitter after sharing a photo of a sketch several Twitter users recognized as the work of Nike designer Tony Spackman.

'Today I learned that a newly hired designer on the Yeezy team presented work that was not their own,' he wrote. 'This person has immediately been let go from the Yeezy brand.'

Kanye continued: 'In a moment of inspiration, energy and excitement I had posted this sketch and would like to acknowledge the true creator of this amazing work, Tony Spackman.'

were starting a Yeezy architecture arm called Yeezy home. Were looking for architects and industrial designers who want to make the world better  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 6, 2018

Neither the investigation, nor the stolen sketch controversy appear to be interfering much with the creation of new products. In the days and weeks since, Kanye has tweeted several upcoming sneakers, new colorways and more.

Yeezy 700

Kanye West shared a new Yeezy 700 V2 colorway on Twitter on May 10, 2018. The sneaker features fabrics in a series of earthy tones including greys, blues and beiges.

The photo has been retweeted more than 10,000 times. Kanye hasn't revealed a release date for the show at this time.

approved 700 V2 color way Q4  pic.twitter.com/IWAzItCnEK  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 10, 2018

Kanye shared another photo of a beige or off-white colorway a few days prior.

He wrote: 'I love the 700 V2s.'

I love the 700 V2s pic.twitter.com/tVCUz4GZpL  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 5, 2018

Sesame Yeezy

Although they're not one of the pairs of shoes Kanye West previewed during any of his recent Twitter tirades, the Yeezy 350 V2 sesame colorway is getting a lot of buzz as of late.

The sneaker, which will run shoppers $200 (147.17) on release day, is rumored to be dropping in August according to HighSnobiety.

Seemingly official photos of the shoes leaked via Yeezy Mafia, a widely trusted source of Yeezy information.

Kanye has neither confirmed or denied that the sneaker is being released by the Yeezy brand.

Yeezy heels Cinderella

Kanye West isn't the only member of his famous family that's been sharing glimpses at the Yeezy collection. On Sunday, Kim Kardashian shared a photo of her foot in a clear heel, made by her husband's company.

'Yeezy Heels #Cinderella,' she captioned the photo.

The Instagram snapshot got fans talking and left them eager to get their feet in a pair of clear Yeezy heels.

Yeezy Heels #Cinderella A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on May 12, 2018 at 7:41pm PDT

Kanye provided fans with another look at clear heels he appears to be producing on Twitter. The shoes appeared in the background of a photo of a pair of boots, seemingly modeled by the rapper's wife.

The boots are black and feature an elastic band that holds them up over the wearer's calf.

track pant boots  pic.twitter.com/oXl71gn3L9  KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 20, 2018

The clear heels are sandals with clear bands to slip your foot through. The heel is a thin, flat piece of plastic.

The entire shoe is made of a plastic material.

Yeezy x 2XU

Recently, Kanye West unveiled a collaboration with 2XU. The line included neoprene leggings and neoprene bike shorts.

The joint effort launched in Sydney, Australia, on May 5, 2018, but wasn't quite the success Kanye was hoping for. The event was shut down after about 45 minutes due to a lack of customers coming in to the store.

Fans were expected to flock to Oxford Street to purchase the $550 ($450.12 USD, 305.46) leggings and $500 ($377.46 USD, 277.59) shorts, but that wasn't the case.

 BACKGRID A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 23, 2018 at 2:30pm PDT

A representative for the company told Fairfax Media that lack of customers had nothing to do with the shut down. Instead, they blamed it on 'a change of direction'.

'There's been a change of direction from head office and unfortunately the event has been cancelled,' the brand spokesperson said.

Although it's been reported that fans didn't turn up to buy the leggings or bike shorts, they are listed as being sold out on 2XU's website.She's known for taking over any runway.

And Romee Strijd made waves during a flirty bikini photo shoot on the beach in Malibu on Sunday morning.

The 22-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel showed off her killer curves wearing various skimpy swimsuits for a retro-inspired series shot across Zuma Beach.

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Strike a pose! Romee Strijd made waves during a flirty bikini photo shoot on the beach in Malibu on Sunday morning

The blonde beauty stood atop a concrete barrier and showed off her pert posterior wearing small white bikini bottoms paired with a tie-dyed crop top.

Her supremely long legs were covered with a pair of retro-inspired, thigh-grazing white socks with thick blue stripes above her knees.

She traded the socks for a pair of old-school roller skates as she sat atop a classic, baby blue Volkswagen Beetle.

Gorgeous: The 22-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel showed off her killer curves wearing various skimpy swimsuits for a retro-inspired series shot across Zuma Beach

Perched: She traded the socks for a pair of old-school roller skates as she sat atop a classic, baby blue Volkswagen Beetle

Taking a moment to herself, Strijd kicked up her long legs and laid back on the top of the car as she stared up at the sky.

Changing into another outfit, the Dutch model walked around set wearing a high-cut, vibrant pink one-piece.

She was later seen showing a bit of her ample assets while sporting a strappy white suit and denim shorts.

Hanging out: Taking a moment to herself, Strijd kicked up her long legs and laid back on the top of the car as she stared up at the sky

Cute: She was later seen showing a bit of her ample assets while sporting a strappy white suit and denim shorts

Her boyfriend of eight years, Laurens van Leeuwen, was also spotted on set, keeping the supermodel warm between shoots.

Romee made her VS debut in 2014 and received her wings in 2015, joining the likes of Alessandra Ambrosio and Candice Swanepoel.

The model recently spoke to Elle Magazine about her grueling fitness regimen, and how she keeps her figure in top shape.

'I would say I workout four to five times a week,' she said. 'On my day off, I like to do it in the morning and take my shower and get ready for the day.

'When Im working, I mostly go straight after work, before dinner.'

Beach comber: She hopped onto the back of a motorbike wearing a red-and-white check top with matching bottoms

Finish line: Romee showed off her athletic prowess wearing a yellow-and-black checkered print as she held on to the handle bars closely

She added the Victoria Secret Angels clan try to work out together, with Jasmine Tookes being the most 'hardcore' due to her being able to lift 'a lot of weights'.

Even though she was just a teen when she first got into modelling, she quickly started walking in shows for Alexander McQueen, Badgley Mischka, Phillip Lim, Prada and Vera Wang.

Romee has since appeared in campaigns for Carolina Herrera, Alexander McQueen, Donna Karan, Stradivarius, Giuseppe Zanotti, H&M and Marchesa.She oozed glamour during an appearance at the Fashion For Relief event in Cannes.

And Michelle Rodriguez took time to chill out following the high-profile occasion, by taking a dip in her hotel swimming pool, in the South of France on Monday.

The Fast & Furious star, 39, put on an eye-popping display in a skimpy monochrome bikini as she joked around by the poolside.

Relaxing: Michelle Rodriguez larked around in a skimpy triangle-shaped bikini after taking a dip in her hotel swimming pool at Eden Roc in the South of France on Monday

Sensational: The Fast & Furious star, 39, put on an eye-popping display in a skimpy monochrome bikini as she joked around by the poolside

Michelle donned a swimming cap and goggles as she slid into the azure pool for a quick swim, accompanied by a pal.

Hopping out of the luxury pool, which was encased by a stone cliff slide, Michelle wrapped a white towel around her waist, letting the rest of her body drip dry.

The star's hair was slicked back in a wet bun, which she later released to cascade down her back as she stood chatting to a friend.

Basking! Hopping out of the luxury pool, which was encased by a stone cliff slide, Michelle wrapped a white towel around her waist, letting the rest of her body drip dry

Michelle displayed a glimpse of her pert posterior while basking in the sun.

Her appearance at the festival marks the 16th time she has attended the event in her 39 years.

On Sunday she showed off her toned physique in a shimmering silver-pink metallic Grecian-inspired gown, while she wore her dark tresses down in tousled waves.

Peachy: Michelle, who was staying at the Eden Rock hotel in Antibes, made sure to display her pert portiere as she showcased her sensation figure while basking in the sun

Quick dip: Michelle donned a swimming cap and goggles as she slid into the azure pool for a quick swim, accompanied by a pal

Just keep swimming: Michelle cooled off from the heat in a bright blue swimming pool with a friend

She walked the red carpet with her friend, model Jordan Barrett, and the genetically blessed duo were in great spirits as they laughed and joked on the red carpet.

Fashion For Relief is a charity founded by supermodel Naomi Campbell back in 2005 and this year the gala is raising money for Save The Children and the Time's Up movement.

After their swim Michelle was spotted on her hotel balcony cutting a glamorous figure in a sexy black ensemble.

Keeping your head dry? Michelle pulled off a white swimming cap and goggles following her swim

Chatting away! The star's hair was slicked back in a wet bun, which she later released to cascade down her back as she stood chatting to a friend

Towel clad: Following the swim Michelle and her pals strolled back up the steps to their hotel

The Texan native exuded sex appeal in a form-fitting black lace dress which enhanced her assets.

She drew further attention to the tulle gown by wearing her locks off her face ensuring all eyes were on her dramatic frock.

Michelle seemed in high spirits as she waved from the balcony.

Hello! After their swim Michelle was spotted on her hotel balcony cutting a very glamorous look in all-black ensemble and glitzy diamonds

Ready to go: Michelle seemed in high spirits as she larked around on the balcony

Friendly: She drew further attention to the tulle gown by wearing her locks off her face ensuring all eyes were on her dramatic frock

Michelle put on a friendly display as she waved away to those below, as she stood taking pictures with two friends.

She added to her dramatic look with dark smokey eyes which complemented her gown.

The former flame of Cara Delevingne finished her ensemble with a statement piece of diamond jewellery which she wore around her neck.

Sending kisses: She added to her dramatic look with dark smokey eyes which complemented her dramatic gown which had a corset design

Eye-popping: The Texan native exuded sex appeal in a form-fitting black lace dress which enhanced her assetsJordan Barrett was seen taking a dip with Kendall Jenner at the lavish Cap-Eden-Roc Hotel in Cannes on Friday.

And the Australian model was back at the same location on Monday, stripping off for another swim in the sunshine.

The 22-year-old 'bad boy' flaunted his toned torso after emerging from the water to stroll along the deck.

Wet and wild! 'Bad boy' model Jordan Barrett (pictured) stripped off for another swim in Cannes... just days after taking a dip with Kendall Jenner

Following his swim, Jordan tied a white towel around his waist, and slicked his wet locks back from his face.

Perhaps hoping to protect his famous visage from the harsh rays of the sun, the in-demand model then placed a towel over his head, before continuing to stroll along the water's edge.

He was later seen bundling up his clothes before making a move back indoors.

How supermodels swim! Jordan tied a white towel around his waist, and slicked his wet locks back from his face

Model physique! The 22-year-old 'bad boy' flaunted his toned torso after emerging from the water to stroll along the deck

While Jordan was joined by Kendall for the swimming session on Friday, this time he appeared to be accompanied by an anonymous brunette.

The mystery woman was seen hovering close by with a towel wrapped around her torso.

Jordan was on the French Riviera for festivities surrounding the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

Who's the lucky lady? While Jordan was joined by Kendall for the swimming session on Friday, this time he appeared to be accompanied by an anonymous brunette

Does he have a type? The mystery woman was seen hovering close by with a towel wrapped around her torso

He has to protect that famous face! Perhaps hoping to protect his famous visage from the harsh rays of the sun, the in-demand model placed a towel over his head

On Sunday night, Jordan attended the Fashion For Relief Gala in Cannes, where he cosied up with Michelle Rodriguez on the red carpet.

The Byron Bay-born hunk then put his modelling chops on display by taking to the catwalk during the event.

Fashion For Relief is a charity founded by supermodel Naomi Campbell back in 2005, with the gala this year raising money for Save The Children and the Time's Up movement.Margot Kidder passed away at her home in Livingston, Montana at the age of 69 on Sunday, which was Mother's Day.

The brunette beauty from Canada was best known for playing Lois Lane in four Superman movies with Christopher Reeve in the Seventies and Eighties. She also was the star of the massive 1979 horror film The Amityville Horror with James Brolin and Rod Steiger.

It is not known yet what Kidder - who once dated directors Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg - died from, according to TMZ. Police were called to her home by an unidentified person and when officials arrived, she was 'unconscious and not breathing.'

The icon had been ill; when she called into Detroit's The Drew And Mike Show on May 9, she said she had been 'in bed with the flu.'

Her death is under investigation but foul play is not suspected.

Gone too soon: Margot Kidder, who starred in four Superman films, has died at age 69; here she is seen in 1980 with Christopher Reeve in Superman II

The first one: Kidder and Reeve in the first Superman film which came out in 1978

When starring in the Superman movies, Margot was considered a pinup and often landed magazine covers, earning her a large fan base.

But all was not easy for her and for her Superman. Reeve died in 2004 after being paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair due to a horse riding accident in 1995.

Margot battled bipolar disorder for years and was very open about it. Her illness got so intense she was homeless for a while in 1996 after a breakdown that led her to disappear for four days.

She was found in a backyard by a homeowner and was taken by the Los Angeles Police Department to Olive View Medical Center in a manic state. Kidder was later placed in psychiatric care.

At work: In a photo op for 1978's Superman, Kidder could be seen sitting on her desk

She played the part of a pinup for the Superman films

Years later Margot said she had not had a manic episode for a long time because she had been cured by orthomolecular medicine. The movie icon went on to become an advocate for mental health awareness.

She also thrived as an actress after she got better.

In 2001, she played the abusive mother of a serial killer on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Kidder appeared on Broadway in The Vagina Monologues in December 2002, and toured with the show for two years.

In 2004, Kidder briefly returned to the Superman franchise in two episodes of the television series Smallville, as Bridgette Crosby opposite her Superman co-star, Reeve.

And in 2015 Kidder won an Emmy award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming for her performance in RL Stine's The Haunting Hour.

Looking great three years ago: The brunette at WonderCon Anaheim 2015

She loved her fans: The former stage star often went to fan conventions to sign autographs

Her last project was the film The Neighborhood with Danny Aiello, which came out earlier this year.

Kidder got her start in Hollywood with the 1968 film The Best Damn Fiddler From Calabogie To Kalada.

The next year she was cast opposite Beau Bridges in Gaily, Gaily, but it did little for her profile.

First big film: In 1975 she got a break when she worked with Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper

Then the star popped up in TV shows such as Wojeck, Adventures in Rainbow Country, McQueen, and Nichols.

She struggled for years in film in LA and on stage in New York City until Brian De Palma cast her in the 1973 film Sisters in which she played conjoined twins. The two had a brief romance on the movie.

Next came the Black Christmas, The Gravy Train and A Quiet Day in Belfast, all of which came out in 1974.

Scary but successful: In 1979 she worked with James Brolin in The Amityville Horror

A movie and a romance: In 1981 she worked with Richard Pryor on Some Kind Of Hero. They also dated

The next year she worked with Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper then with Peter Fonda in 92 In The Shade, making her a strong leading lady.

In 1976 she took time off to welcome her daughter, Maggie - now 41-years-old - her first husband, American novelist Thomas McGuane.

Two years later she was cast as Lois Lane in Superman, which was a smash success. Three sequels followed.

It was love: Her first husband was American novelist Thomas McGuane; seen in 1983

With her daughter Maggie in 1990

Between Superman films she made 1979's blockbuster The Amityville Horror, 1981's Heartaches, 1981's Some Kind Of Hero, 1983's Trenchcoat, 1984's The Glitter Dome, and 1985's Little Treasure.

She appeared in stage versions of Bus Stop and Pygmalion as well.

The beauty was married and divorced three times.

Her first husband was McGuane. Next came actor John Heard. They wed in 1979 but split six days later. She was married to French film director Philippe de Broca from 1983 to 1984.

The star also dated former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, directors Brian De Palma, writer/director Tom Mankiewicz and Steven Spielberg, as well as stand-up comedian Richard Pryor.She chose a very sexy outfit to jet out of Los Angeles on Sunday.

Kate Beckinsale flaunted her black bra and tummy in a sheer black blouse with white spots showcased her slender figure.

The 44-year-old English actress teamed it with a black, round-necked jacket that she left to gape open and black skinny pants cinched at the hips by a white belt.

Going dotty: Kate Beckinsale flaunted her black bra and tummy in a sheer black blouse with white spots when she turned up at LAX ready to jet out on Sunday

She completed her ensemble with black boots and a white handbag that she slung over one shoulder.

Kate, star of the Underworld franchise, kept her sunglasses on as she strolled through the terminal.

The beautiful brunette styled her tresses in a high pony tail that cascaded over her shoulder.

There was no indication of where Kate was going but she and her ex-partner Michael Sheen, 49, share daughter Lily Mo Sheen, 19, and since she is at NYU, the actress could have been on her way for a belated Mother's Day visit.

Secy chic: The 44-year-old English actress teamed her see-through blouse with a black jacket that she left to gape open and black skinny pants cinched at the hips by a white belt

Kate has been largely single since her director husband of 11 years, director Ken Wiseman, left her in November 2015 and filed for divorce in October 2016.

He has since moved on with much younger actress CJ Franc, 26, while Kate has occasionally been seen with aspiring actor Matt Rife, 22.

Meanwhile, the actress has a busy career.

Flying start: The star of the Underworld franchise completed her ensemble with black boots and a white handbag that she slung over one shoulder

In February she traveled to South Africa to film Widow, an eight-part series for Amazon and U.K. web ITV.

Kate plays Georgia Wells, a woman who returns to the African Congo and her old life when she sees her husband, who was presumed dead, on the news.

On Friday she posted a throwback snap from the shoot of her cuddling a baby goat.

Kate also has drama Farming in pre-production, based on director-writer and star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's life in Nigeria.From Holocaust to Hope

continued

That changed when a former student told Butter that she and her husband wanted to write a young adult novel based on Butter's experiences. Kris Holloway and John Bidwell ended up dropping their own project to collaborate on Butter's newly published memoir, Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope.



The research and writing took five years; since Holloway and Bidwell live in Massachusetts, they communicated on Skype. Butter owed her survival to a friend of the family, later killed himself, who delayed the family's transport to a death camp. Then, because they'd been able to obtain South American passports before their arrest, the Nazis agreed to exchange them for German families interned in the U.S. Though Butter's mother and brother also made it out, her father, starved and beaten, died en route to the exchange site in Switzerland.



"It hasn't been an easy journey ... to portray the worst that human beings can do to each other," Holloway says. But "loving Irene so much, I really felt I could channel her voice." Butter reads from Shores Beyond Shores at the Ann Arbor District Library on May 8 (see Events).



They're still reeling in the success of their latest blockbuster, A Quiet Place.

And with lots to toast to, Emily Blunt was seen in high spirits on Sunday as she spent time with her husband John Krasinski, 38, and children, Hazel, four, and Violet, one.

Currently enjoying a Hawaiian family vacation, the 35-year-old was spotted celebrating Mother's Day with a some shopping and dining before taking her eldest daughter horse riding.

Family: Emily Blunt was spotted on Sunday celebrating Mother's Day with husband John Krasinski and their two kids Hazel, four, and Violet, two, in Hawaii

Emily kept a low profile in khaki trousers and a grey top with printed arrows.

Ready for a day in the outdoors, she wore bright trainers and carried around a backpack.

The Devil Wears Prada veteran appeared to be makeup free and had her blonde locks tied back into a bun.

Fun-filled day: The family were spotted enjoying some shopping and dining before taking eldest Hazel horse riding

John also dressed down for Mother's Day.

Wearing a black t-shirt and grey shorts, he completed his look with a cap and shades.

While The Girl On The Train actress guided Hazel along the path, John was seen carrying Violet.

Don't fall! At one point, Hazel was spotted sitting on top of a horse while mom Emily walked alongside her - ensuring there were no falls

Stylish: The adorable child was dressed head-to-toe in pink and sported a white helmet for added protection

And it seemed to be a fun-filled day for all.

At one point, Hazel was spotted sitting on top of a horse while mom Emily walked alongside her - ensuring there were no falls.

The adorable child was dressed head-to-toe in pink and sported a white helmet for added protection.

Casual attire: Emily kept a low profile in khaki trousers and a grey top with printed arrows

And with so much activity going on, the family of four were also pictured enjoying a breather around an outdoor picnic table.

Emily and John began dating in 2008 before getting engaged in August the following year.

The pair married in an intimate ceremony in Lake Como, Italy in July 2010 before welcoming Hazel into the world in 2014.She's expecting her second son with fiance Hermann Nicoli.

And Candice Swanepoel showed off her rapidly blooming baby bump in a sundress patterned, appropriately, with flowers when she was spotted out in Vitoria, EspIrito Santo in Brazil on Monday.

The 29-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel teamed her pretty frock with flip-flops and wound her blonde tresses into an updo as she left her car.

Enjoying time away: Candice Swanepoel showed off her rapidly blooming baby bump when she was spotted out in Vitoria, EspIrito Santo, Brazil on Monday

The radiant supermodel, who appeared to be make-up free, clutched her cellphone in one hand as she strolled.

Candice hails from South Africa but Herman, 35, is Brazilian and the pair spend a lot of time there, where they have a home.

Later she was spotted out in a baggy, white jump suit with the sleeves and legs rolled up.

Getting bigger: The 29-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel wore a sundress patterned with flowers that draped beautifully over her burgeoning belly

Changing it up: Later the supermodel was seen out in a white, short-sleeved jumpsuit

Having fun with her son: The smiling mom bent over a small tricycle that likely belonged to her 19-month-old lad Anaca

The smiling mom bent over a small tricycle that likely belonged to her 19-month-old son Anaca.

She, Nicoli and their little boy were spotted out enjoying the beach and playing in the ocean on Easter Sunday.

Candice and Nicoli have been together since meeting in Paris when she was just 17. The longtime couple announced their engagement in 2015.

Water babies: She, fiance Hermann Nicoli and their Anaca were spotted out having fun in the ocean on April 1, Easter Sunday

So cute: The blue-eyed beauty shared this throwback snap of herself and Anaca on Monday

Meanwhile, Candice opened the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in November, which was held in Beijing, China.

She sat out the 2016 show because she was expecting Anaca.

The question is, will she have to miss the 2018 show because of his little brother.

Doting mom: Candice added this adorable snap to her Instagram storiesHe admitted to spending 2,000 on a non-surgical facelift to maintain his smooth complexion.

And Simon Cowell looked fresh and raring to go as he stepped out with girlfriend Lauren Silverman for a rare public appearance at the NBC Upfront Presentations in New York on Monday.

The 58-year-old music mogul rocked his signature white button shirt with numerous buttons left undone as he hopped out of a car with the socialite beauty.

Working hard: Simon Cowell, 58, and girlfriend Lauren Silverman, 40, made a rare public appearance together at the NBC Upfronts in New York on Monday

Simon paired his casual ensemble in his trademark blue flared jeans and polished tan dress shoes.

The Britain's Got Talent judge shielded his eyes with black aviators and kept his salt and pepper locks loosely tousled.

Girlfriend Lauren was positively giddy as she joined Simon, flashing a huge smile as she followed her beau into the venue.

The stunner nailed office chic for the day in a crisp white blouse and cropped gingham slacks.

Sharp look: Simon paired his casual ensemble in a pair of trademark blue flared jeans and polished tan dress shoes

Stepping out in killer black patent stilettos, the American beauty cinched in her tiny waist with a black leather belt, which perfectly complemented her sophisticated handbag.

Lauren's glossy chocolate mane was styled with glamorous curls, while wide-rimmed black shades amplified her ultra smart look.

In 2013, it was revealed the television honcho had been in a relationship with his then-best friend Andrew Silverman's wife Lauren, after pictures emerged of them kissing on a yacht.

Smitten: Girlfriend Lauren was positively giddy as she joined Simon, flashing a huge smile as she followed her beau into the venue

The pair then welcomed their son - a half-sibling for Lauren's eldest son Adam, 11, from her previous marriage - in February 2014, and named him after Simon's late father, who died in 1999.

Simon and Lauren's day together comes after the X Factor boss told The Sun On Sunday that he had splashed out 2,000 on a non-surgical facelift in a bid to maintain his incredibly smooth visage.

The TV personality is said to have visited cosmetic surgeon Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh, known as the 'Picasso of dermatology', for a Silhouette Soft Lift, which promises to create a more 'youthful' appearance.

Stylish pair: The Britain's Got Talent judge shielded his eyes with black aviators and kept his salt and pepper locks loosely tousled

Simon revealed: 'There's lots of things you can do now, you don't just have to stuff your face with filler and Botox.

'It hurts like hell but it gets rid of sun damage and unplugs all the c**p. For me now, it's all about having clean skin, if you have clean skin, you look better.'

The method (also known as a 'one stitch face lift') uses an absorable thread with cones to lift the facial skin and encourage collagen production. The unwanted excess skin is pulled back by the underlying muscle.

American beauty: The stunner nailed office chic for the day and rocked a crisp white blouse and cropped gingham slacks

The threads are 'stitched' on to the neck, brow or mid-face and promise to create a fresher, more youthful appearance.

Last month, the legendary judge said his health became a top priority after a nasty fall last year which left him both hospital-bound and unable to attend The X Factor live shows.

In November, Simon had been going to get a cup of milk to help him sleep when he fell - leading him to be stretchered out of his home in a neck brace.

Wrinkle-free: Simon has reportedly splashed out 2,000 on a non-surgical facelift in a bid to maintain his incredibly smooth visage (pictured earlier this week)

It was believed Simon was at home alone, as his girlfriend Lauren had been over in the US.

The Syco owner was then forced to pull out of two X Factor live shows, with Alesha Dixon taking his place on the panel.

He said on ITV's Lorraine: 'I'm alright. In a weird way it was a wake up call because it wasn't the end of the world. It was a bit embarrassing...

Loved up: In 2013, it was revealed the television honcho had been in a relationship with his then-best friend Andrew Silverman's wife Lauren, after pictures emerged of them kissing

'I will never hear a bad word about the NHS. It's like having an MOT, they do every possible test. I was probably overtired, to be honest.

'I feel much better this year, I'm not having so many meetings or late night calls, it's a bit more of a balance.'

Simon, however, admitted that he won't be quitting smoking after he was spotted last month puffing away between filming AGT.Her husband Kanye West has been at the center of much scrutiny as of late.

And it looks like Khloe Kardashian has given sister Kim someone to help her keep her mind off of it.

The 37-year-old mother-of-three took to her Instagram Story to show off the Mother's Day gifts she had received from her siblings.

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Wow factor: Kim Kardashian received a Mother's Day present of a vibrator on top of penis-shaped candies from sister Khloe as she showed it off on her Instagram Story on Monday

Dynamic duo: Kim and Khloe pictured together at the NBC Upfronts in New York City back in May 2017

Perhaps the most eyebrow raising of all was a vibrator with penis shaped candies inside of a Prada bag from her 33-year-old sister.

The designer bag was no gag gift as the nylon Prada bag retails at a whopping $1,420.

Kim could be heard in the quick clip saying: 'Okay I am a little late but I just opened Khloes Mothers Day present. I thought it was this really cute little Prada bag, butthank you KoKo.'

Generous: The designer bag was no gag gift as the nylon Prada bag retails at a whopping $1,420

Sense of humor: There was also a hilarious hand-written note from Khloe which read: 'sometimes moms just have to take things into their own hands'

The wife of Kanye West then opens up the bag to reveal the black sex toy sitting on a bed of colorful penis-shaped candies.

There was also a hilarious hand-written note from Khloe which read: 'sometimes moms just have to take things into their own hands.'

Kim is mother to three with hubby Kanye including five-year-old daughter North, two-year-old son Saint, and four-month-old daughter Chicago.

Meanwhile, Khloe spent her first Mother's Day as a parent with her daughter True in Cleveland as she shared several posts of the month-old baby girl.

Awwdorable: Meanwhile, Khloe spent her first Mother's Day as a parent with her daughter True in Cleveland as she shared several posts of the month-old baby girl

It is also a drama-filled time in the new mother's life as the father to her child, Tristan Thompson, was shown to be cheating on her in footage published by DailyMail.com last month.

She was alone with daughter True while Tristan was in Boston playing in game one of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Though he was playing a very important game, Khloe did take time to show off flower arrangements she seemingly received from the 27-year-old professional basketballer.

On the road again: She was alone with daughter True while Tristan Thompson was in Boston playing in game one of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals

Cute: Though he was playing a very important game, Khloe did take time to show off flower arrangements she seemingly received from the 27-year-old professional basketballer

Beautiful: There was also a gorgeous arrangement with 'MOMMY' spelled out in pink roses

As many wondered why Khloe was spending her first Mother's Day as a parent alone, a People report from Monday claims that it was an active choice.

An insider for the publication said: 'Khloe is determined to show that she is happy in Cleveland.

'Shes very stubborn when it comes to her life. Her family still disagrees with her decision to stay with Tristan, but they are trying to be supportive. They wanted Khloe back in L.A. for Mothers Day, but shes doing her own thing.'

Khloe also 'wants to show everyone that she is making the right decision' according to the weekly's source.

Just us: Of her decision to stay at Tristan's home (the couple are pictured together in February) a source for People magazine said: 'Khloe is determined to show that she is happy in Cleveland'

Giving mood: Khloe took to Instagram Story to share other gifts she received for Mother's Day

Pretty in pink: She also received a custom pink fur coat with 'True' emblazoned on the back from designer Jennifer Le

'She doesn't care what anyone thinks,' said the insider. 'She actually seems very happy. She doesnt really talk about Tristan, she just wants to talk about True. She loves being a mom!'

The intimate gift comes just weeks after plenty of public scrutiny aimed at Kim's 40-year-old rapper husband Kanye West.

Earlier this month he came under fire for his controversial comments on slavery during an appearance on TMZ Live.

Before that he went on epic Twitter tirades with one including a selfie of himself wearing a Make America Great Again hat in support of US President Donald Trump.

He is currently in Jackson Hole, Wyoming finishing up five albums which are set to be released every week from May 25 to June 22.A victim of the Manchester bombing has recalled the harrowing moment she felt her face burning like acid as she was thrown back by the explosion.

Amelia Tomlinson was just six feet away from terrorist Salman Abedi when he triggered the device that left 22 people dead.

The 18-year-old was leaving the Ariana Grande concert with a friend when she paused to call her mother  and was immediately overcome by the heat of the blast.

My ears went under water and I saw quite a bright light coming towards me  it was heat which I thought was like acid at first because it felt like my face was burning, said Miss Tomlinson, from Wigan.

Amelia Tomlinson was just six feet away from terrorist Salman Abedi when he triggered the device that left 22 people dead

More than 500 people were injured when Abedi blew himself up moments after American star Miss Grande left the stage

I remember going up into the air and then hitting the floor. I saw people with blood on their faces, like a lot of blood, and like half their face missing and their hair was very burned.

And I saw people with no legs and no arms and when I stood up I felt like I had something in my ear like a bit of an ear or something... I knew we had to run.

Miss Tomlinson was attending the pop concert at Manchester Arena on May 22 last year with her friend Lucy Jarvis. It was her first concert without her parents.

More than 500 people were injured when Abedi blew himself up moments after American star Miss Grande left the stage. He detonated the device in the arena foyer, just as fans  many of them teenage girls  were making their way to Manchesters Victoria railway station.

Miss Tomlinson  who was interviewed for tonights BBC documentary Manchester Bomb: Our Story  added: It hit my face, like little tiny like nuts and bolts and stuff and thats when I saw my finger was hanging off, like all my three fingers. I pressed inside the finger and felt the bone because I couldnt feel it, like because of the adrenaline I couldnt feel it.

And I was like Why does it not hurt if I can see the bones in my finger? I was obsessed with my finger  I was like if I have no middle finger to pick up stuff with, what will I pick up stuff with, do you know what I mean?

I found out that all my hair was burned at the front and I had a black eye and I had lots of shrapnel wounds on my face.

Her mother, Tina Tomlinson, said she collapsed when she couldnt find her daughter. She said: This guy from the arena said I cant let you in, I cant let you in, theres dead bodies inside. And as soon as he said that me and my mum just fell, we just fell to the floor as I really thought Amelia was one of the dead bodies.

When we managed to find her it just did not look like Amelia. Shed bought a new little pink top that was completely red, it was just red with blood.

She was saying Ive got people on me, Ive got people on me mum, get them off, get them off.

Speaking about the aftermath of the attack, Miss Tomlinson said: I woke up, I opened my eyes. I remember the ceiling was falling, not falling down but it was like bits of like ashes coming from the ceiling... there was a mist that was forming round the floor.

And I looked round and everyone else was like lying on the floor... no one else got up with us.

Her mother, Tina Tomlinson, said she collapsed when she couldnt find her daughter

Miss Tomlinson was attending the pop concert at Manchester Arena on May 22 last year with her friend Lucy Jarvis. It was her first concert without her parents

Manchester Police and other emergency services were seen near the Manchester Arena helping victims

The teenager was rushed to hospital where she had surgery to save her fingers and on her leg. She was left in a wheelchair for six weeks after the attack. Her friend Miss Jarvis needed 14 hours of life-saving surgery. Miss Tomlinson, who was only 17 at the time of the atrocity, is now on anxiety medication and dropped out of college to have counselling.

The shrapnel scarring on her face has also left her feeling she has to wear make-up. When I used to put moisturiser on... it would be raised and its just like little grains of metals.

It went so deep into my skin it took like months for it to stop coming out. Its probably the first thing I see when I look into the mirror, she said.

Her mother, who spent an hour-and-a-half searching for her daughter after the attack, now doesnt like to let her daughter out of the house. Because as a mum, when you think your childs dead... its hard to let them go anywhere where you cant physically see them, she said. Abedi had reportedly learnt how to construct his bomb via YouTube videos. The 22-year-old killer was close friends with a group of extremists.

Last year his friend Mohammed Abdallah was convicted of terrorism charges for travelling to Syria in 2014 to join Islamic State.

The documentary Manchester Bomb: Our Story is on BBC 1 tonight at 10.45pm.She went on Married At First Sight 'looking for love', but Tracey Jewel is doing everything she possibly can to stay in the spotlight.

The Perth-based single mother is extending her 15 minutes of fame with the help of Australia's most famous celebrity agent, Max Markson.

She signed with the smooth-talking talent supremo sometime earlier this year, following in the footsteps of his previous high-profile clients.

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Max-imum publicity! Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel has signed with agent Max Markson - who previously represented Lara Bingle, Candice Warner and the Chk-Chk-boom Chick

Max, who has been described as a 'black-belt master of the art of spin', represented headline-grabbers Lara Bingle and Candice Warner (nee Falzon) in the late 2000s.

He was there to guide Lara, then known as the model in the 'So where the bloody hell are you?' tourism ads, through her scandalous early years in the limelight.

And he was Candice's manager at the time of her now-infamous 2007 'toilet tryst' with rugby union star Sonny Bill Williams.

Making dollar! She went on Married At First Sight 'looking for love', but newly-single Tracey is doing everything she possibly can to stay in the spotlight. Pictured with her ex, Sean Thomsen

He is also notorious for cashing in on the short-lived fame of viral internet celebrities, including notorious party boy Corey Worthington.

Corey parlayed his chaotic house party and unforgettable A Current Affair interview, in which he refused to take off his yellow sunglasses, into reality TV fame.

The former wild child, from Narre Warren, appeared on Big Brother Australia in 2008.

Famous clients: Max, who has been described as a 'black-belt master of the art of spin', represented headline-grabbers Lara Bingle (R) and Candice Warner (L) in the late 2000s

Remember him? Talent supremo Max is also notorious for cashing in on the short-lived fame of viral internet celebrities, including notorious party boy Corey Worthington

Another one-time client of Max's is Clare Werbeloff, better known as 'the Chk-Chk-boom Chick'.

Clare's supposed 'eyewitness account' of a shooting in Kings Cross in 2009 made her an overnight phenomenon and she was soon snapped up by Max.

Various media appearances followed, and she has the unique distinction of appearing on the cover of the last ever edition of lads' mag Ralph.

Whether or not Tracey, 35, reaches these same giddy heights remains to be seen.Katie Holmes loves the conservative look - think blazers, crew-neck sweaters and loafers.

But on Monday the Dawson's Creek vet gave that style a break as she went boho chic in New York City.

The girlfriend of Jamie Foxx wore a floral-print Zimmermann dress that fell off one of her shoulders.

A Coachella look: Katie Holmes on Monday went boho chic in New York City

No lingerie, no problem: The girlfriend of Jamie Foxx wore a floral-print Zimmermann dress that fell off one of her shoulders and carried a TODS SS18 Soft Sella Bag

The Batman Begins star added a black hat and a chic brown, beige and white purse which is the TODS SS18 Soft Sella Bag. White shoes with Velcro closures looked fashion forward.

Large sunglasses gave her a Hollywood movie star vibe.

The Gift star also took to Instagram to point out she was happy it's spring and thrilled to be modeling Zimmermann.

This sighting comes after she made a sweet Instagram post for her mother.

Portrait at home: The Gift star also took to Instagram to point out she was happy it's and thrilled to be modeling Zimmermann

While sharing a photo of the two of them, Katie wrote the caption, '#fbf #mom #mothersdayweekend I love you mom! Thank you for everything you are and everything you do.  #grace #kindness #love.'

Even though the First Daughter actress lives in Manhattan and her mom calls Ohio home, they have stayed very close.

On Mother's Day afternoon she was out with her mini-me daughter, Suri Cruise, 12.

With her mini me: Katie and Suri side by side in Manhattan in late April

The actress kept a raised arm on top of her head and another across her jacket as she strolled along with Suri by her side.

Her lookalike daughter also appeared to be feeling the chill as she pulled down the arms of the crochet cardigan she was wearing.

The Ice Storm actress began dating Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise in 2005, and seven weeks into the relationship, they were engaged.

Previous marriage: The Batman Begins actress began dating Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise in 2005, and seven weeks into the relationship, they were engaged (pictured in 2006)

Their wedding was held at the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano, Italy, in November 2006, and seven months their daughter, Suri, was born.

In 2012, Katie filed for a divorce that was finalised only 10 days later, retaining primary custody of Suri, although Tom was granted visiting rights.

Ron Miscavige, father of Scientology leader David Miscavige, told MailOnline in 2016 that Katie's misgivings about Scientology - including the effect it could have on Suri - contributed to her decision to leave Tom.

Katie and actor Foxx only publicly became an item late last year, though there had been speculation they were a couple since 2013.

There was a swirl of rumours that Katie's divorce agreement prohibited her from publicly dating anyone for five years after the split with Tom.Karl Stefanovic arrived in London on Sunday ahead of the Today show's coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding.

The Channel Nine star, 43, looked slightly worse for wear after the long flight as he made his way through arrivals at Heathrow Airport.

Dressed in a crumpled jacket paired with jeans and a T-shirt, the usually upbeat TV host failed to crack a smile while wheeling his own luggage to a waiting vehicle.

Feeling jet-lagged? Karl Stefanovic looked a little worse for wear in a crumpled jacket and jeans after flying first class to London ahead of the Today show's Royal wedding coverage

Despite flying first class, Karl appeared tired and jet-lagged while wearing his favourite brown boots and a $2,300 Louis Vuitton bag slung over his shoulder.

He arrived a day after rival breakfast TV hosts, Sunrise's Samantha Armytage and Edwina Bartholomew, were pictured looking cranky at the London airport.

One reason for the pair's stony faces may have been that they had just learned they would be staying in the same hotel in St Pancras as the Today show crew.

Worse for wear: Dressed in a crumpled jacket paired with jeans and a T-shirt, the usually upbeat TV host failed to crack a smile while wheeling his own luggage to a waiting vehicle

Exhausted? Despite flying first class, Karl appeared tired and jet-lagged while wearing his favourite brown boots and a $2,300 Louis Vuitton bag slung over his shoulder

Awkward! It was reported on Monday that the Today show presenters will be staying in the same hotel in St Pancras, London as their Sunrise rivals

Rivals: The morning show teams will be competing to keep Australians up-to-date with the latest royal wedding news. Pictured: Sunrise's Samantha Armytage and Edwina Bartholomew

Karl and his co-host Georgie Gardner are reportedly 'neighbours' of the Sunrise talent, and will no doubt be bumping into one another in the lobby and elevators.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Georgie had already 'awkwardly greeted' the Channel Seven breakfast news team upon running into them.

It was also claimed that Australian TV and radio personalities - including Sam, Edwina, Karl, Mark Beretta, Natalie Barr and Nova 96.9's Fitzy and Wippa - were all forced to travel from Sydney to London on the same flight.

Hey, neighbours! Karl and his Today co-host Georgie Gardner are reportedly 'neighbours' of the Sunrise talent, and will no doubt be bumping into one another in the lobby and elevators

And he's off! Karl was whisked away shortly after arriving at Heathrow Airport

Georgie took an earlier flight and was in London before the rest of the media pack.

The morning show teams will be competing to keep Australians up-to-date with the latest Royal wedding news.

The Royal wedding reportedly comes months ahead of Karl's own nuptials with Mara & Mine founder Jasmine Yarbrough, 34.

Woman's Day claimed on Monday that Karl and Jasmine will marry in November.Liv is pretending to be asleep while Digby makes her breakfast in bed, shirtless. This is the definition of Boyfriend Goals, and Liv asserts this by using this phrase, which is surely only ever okay to use in a jaunty hashtag. Actually, not even then.

She then tells him that the way to make things work between them is for her to go out, without him, and get horribly, blindly drunk. He says, through teeth that are so gritted that bits are flaking off, that he really wants her to do this. This is a bitter, gritted lie.

Finally, that French girl from, like, 20 years ago has been allowed out again to pick up Jamies romantic storyline. Theres clearly already issues here, as they are 10 years apart in age. Francis reminds them of this within 14 seconds of meeting her.

Wheeled around: Sophie is laid up in bed because shes stubbed her toe on a coffee table after someone popped her champagne cork

Uh oh: Sam decides to ask James what hes playing at and James deflects the question by telling him that Habbs scored his performance between the sheets at a solid 2.5 out of 12

She is called Ell, and doesnt spell it with an e at the end, like a real rebel. Turns out the reason she likes Jamie is because he dresses like Bieber. Isnt that what were all looking for in a life partner?

Sophie is laid up in bed because shes stubbed her toe on a coffee table after someone popped her champagne cork. Because shes Sophie, she has rented a hotel suite where she can convalesce. Shes got a four poster bed, a silk dressing gown, champagne, people whose faces we cant see tending to her finger and toenails. But this simply wont do. So she texts Miles.

Whats Miles? asks Mark Francis, probably imagining its a service like Deliveroo or Laundrapp, but for the lame.

Injured: Sophie is laid up in bed because shes stubbed her toe on a coffee table after someone popped her champagne cork. Because shes Sophie, she has rented a hotel suite where she can convalesce

Man of the hour: Shes got a four poster bed, a silk dressing gown, champagne, people whose faces we cant see tending to her finger and toenails. But this simply wont do. So she texts Miles

James is gobsmacked that Habbs and Sam have been dating. Hes even more guffawed that theyve made the beast with two backs. He demands to know the details so he can scoff at the thought of this freshly-formed union. Now, we like James  but this is a tad rich given that he has spent the majority of this season with his nose stuck in a hardback copy of the Federal Aviation Administrations Complete Guide to Aeronautical Knowledge.

Digby is still upset about the voice note that Mytton sent Liv, coaxing her to dump him for a life of drinking too much and being sick on your shoes. He goes to punch at things with Ryan in an attempt to expel his fury, while Liv whacks on a slutty top to hit the town with two people she used to sleep with. Harry, of course, takes the opportunity to request that she judge Sam and Myttons sexual prowess in front of everyone else, which will of course end in tears.

Sam is already feeling delicate because Habbs has told him that James thinks they dont work as a couple. Sam tries to move on from this by telling her she smiles with her eyes. Somewhere out there, Tyra Banks is spinning in her grave (even though she isnt dead). Its called SMIZE Sam. SMIZE.

Shocked: James is gobsmacked that Habbs and Sam have been dating. Hes even more guffawed that theyve made the beast with two backs

Upset: Digby is still upset about the voice note that Mytton sent Liv, coaxing her to dump him for a life of drinking too much and being sick on your shoes

Sam decides to ask James what hes playing at and James deflects the question by telling him that Habbs scored his performance between the sheets at a solid 2.5 out of 12.

Francis pet bees are grouping together and trying to lift Jamies bee keeping hood off, to kill him. This is all in the name of a storyline where Jamie is insecure about his aging skin and so Francis is trying to get him to smother himself with royal jelly like Cleopatra did (the woman, not the girl band).

Rather than nip to boots, it seems the secret to an ageless complexion is to extract it directly from the bottoms of angry bees and risk dying of melittin toxin biogenic shock.

Miles has brought Sophie some flowers, bless him. But no, no, no, Sophie just needs someone to wheel her around because Mark Francis bones are too brittle.

Upset: Sam is already feeling delicate because Habbs has told him that James thinks they dont work as a couple

Flowers: Miles has brought Sophie some flowers, bless him. But no, no, no, Sophie just needs someone to wheel her around because Mark Francis bones are too brittle

Meanwhile, Habbs and Melissa have put on their smallest tops to run through the park complaining about how unfit they are, making all the girls watching at home hate themselves for not being outside deadlifting old tyres and doing lateral thrusts.

Habbs explains that Sam left without saying goodbye last night and so decides to ring James while Melissa stands there freezing to death in her minuscule crop top and gifted Reeboks.

James happens to have bumped into Sophie and Miles on the streets. Sophie is adamant they get to the butchers so she can buy a cows heart, but she and Miles are distracted by Habbs ringing James to yell at him for telling Sam she finds him to be an unfulfilling lover.

Jamies having a full on identity crisis and making secret phone calls to Turkish hair transplantists, whilst still dressed in bee keeping regalia. Sam interrupts him to consult him on whether one should be good in bed or not.

Stepping out: Habbs and Melissa have put on their smallest tops to run through the park complaining about how unfit they are, making all the girls watching at home hate themselves for not being outside deadlifting old tyres and doing lateral thrusts

Chit chat: Habbs explains that Sam left without saying goodbye last night and so decides to ring James while Melissa stands there freezing to death in her minuscule crop top and gifted Reeboks

Oh no: James happens to have bumped into Sophie and Miles on the streets. Sophie is adamant they get to the butchers so she can buy a cows heart, but she and Miles are distracted by Habbs ringing James to yell at him for telling Sam she finds him to be an unfulfilling lover

Having sex with a girl for the first time is being like thrown into the cockpit of a plane when its crashing by yourself and you have to figure out all the buttons and land it, Jamie tells him. This explains why James is getting a pilots license.

Livs mother Katie has a living room with a massive painted portrait of herself in it. The dad, Kevin, cannot STICK Digby. Liv goes round to see them. Kevin says to his tearful child: Youre both different, it doesnt work, hes boring!

Get out while you still can, he adds, pulling the rip cord on the parachute of Liv and Digbys future happiness.

A knock at the stately door. Its Digby.

Heart-to-heart: Having sex with a girl for the first time is being like thrown into the cockpit of a plane when its crashing by yourself and you have to figure out all the buttons and land it, Jamie tells him. This explains why James is getting a pilots license

Parenting advice: Livs mother Katie has a living room with a massive painted portrait of herself in it. The dad, Kevin, cannot STICK Digby

'Boring': Liv goes round to see them. Kevin says to his tearful child: Youre both different, it doesnt work, hes boring!

Hey Diggers! Katie says, as if the entire family havent been holding an emergency summit about how to rid their lives of him. Liv whisks him upstairs to her heavily-beamed childhood bedroom. Her breathlessness is back as they discuss their relationship status for the 44th time that week.

I want to get a rise out of you! Liv breathes. Youve certainly got a rise out of me! Digby retorts, darkly.

This seems like it would be the point he would throw her onto her teenage bed and make love to her, while Katie and Kevin snack on brie downstairs in the scullery.

But actually, no, they break up.

Frank: Liv whisks him upstairs to her heavily-beamed childhood bedroom. Her breathlessness is back as they discuss their relationship status for the 44th time that weekNot all victims of the #MeToo movement and Time's Up initiative are female as This Is Us star Justin Hartley has experienced his share of sexual harassment.

While the 41-year-old SAG Award winner recently dined at a Chicago restaurant, a female fan looking 'old enough to be drinking a lot' forced herself on him.

'She ran over and started kissing me,' the Illinois native recalled to GoodHousekeeping.com last week.

Objectified: Not all victims of the #MeToo movement and Time's Up initiative are female as This Is Us star Justin Hartley has experienced his share of sexual harassment (pictured Monday)

'I said, "You do not walk up to people that you do not know and put your mouth on their face. If I did that to you, I would be in prison.

'Please do not do that. And not that I'm trying to teach you life lessons, but I feel like this is a really good one for you. Don't do that to anybody ever again."'

Justin - who wed Chrishell Stause in October - thought he and the intoxicated woman had smoothed things over but she soon returned to his table demanding a selfie.

'I said, "I'm good!"' Hartley - who has a 13-year-old daughter Bella Justice with ex-wife Lindsay Korman - said.

'She started kissing me': While the 41-year-old SAG Award winner recently dined at a Chicago restaurant, a female fan looking 'old enough to be drinking a lot' forced herself on him

The Illinois native recalled to GoodHousekeeping.com: 'I said, "You do not walk up to people that you do not know and put your mouth on their face. If I did that to you, I would be in prison"' (pictured with his onscreen sister Chrissy Metz)

'I'm not taking photos with you after you sexually harassed me': Justin - who wed Chrishell Stause (L) in October - thought he and the intoxicated woman had smoothed things over but she soon returned to his table demanding a selfie (pictured March 26)

'You've got to be kidding me!' Hartley - who has a 13-year-old daughter Bella (L) with ex-wife Lindsay Korman - was then called something 'more foul than jerk' (pictured Thursday)

'I'm usually really good with photos but I'm, like, "I'm not taking photos with you after you sexually harassed me. I'm good without a photo."'

At that, the woman called the A Bad Moms Christmas actor something 'more foul than jerk' and he exclaimed: 'You've got to be kidding me!'

The Daytime Emmy nominee returns as rehabbed actor Kevin Pearson on the 18-episode third season of the critically-lauded, time-hopping hit show which premieres in September on NBC.Maria Hamilton discusses her bond with fellow mothers who lost sons at the hands of authorities and plans for a mothers march on Washington D.C. Hamiltons youngest son, Dontre, was shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer on April 30, 2014. Credit: Michael Sears

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During one of the many vigils and rallies for Dontre Hamilton, his mother, Maria Hamilton, finally met someone who knew how she felt.

Debra Jenkins, whose son Larry was shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer, introduced herself.

"It's an aching type of feeling that you feel when you have that type of loss," Hamilton said in an interview.

Dontre Hamilton, her youngest son, was shot by a police officer during a confrontation last April in Red Arrow Park.

The officer, Christopher Manney, was fired from the Milwaukee Police Department for actions leading up to the shooting, but not for the use of force. Last week the city's Fire and Police Commission upheld his termination. Manney was not criminally charged.

Hamilton soon met others who had felt same ache: Sonya Moore, whose son Derek Williams died gasping for air in the back of a Milwaukee police squad car; Alicia Johnson, whose son Brandon died at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex; and Craig Stingley, whose teenage son Corey died after being held by customers at a West Allis convenience store.

Hamilton says she felt moved to do something for them and founded Mothers for Justice United. On Monday, the 11-month anniversary of Dontre's death, she will formally announce a mothers march on Washington, D.C., on May 9  Mother's Day weekend.

"My vision was to take all these moms to the Justice Department to see if they'll reopen up their cases," Hamilton said.

Her other goals include requiring a special prosecutor to investigate all deaths in police custody, police brutality and vigilante justice. She also hopes to have the federal government determine which outside agency will investigate a death in police custody and create a specialized unit to monitor police agencies that have custody deaths and focus on police agencies that have had "repeated" cases of police custody deaths.

It took time for her to get to this point.

"In the months leading up to where we are now, it was difficult," said Maria's oldest son, Dameion Perkins.

"My mom, she lashed out because she was hurt. She felt like she was alone even when me and my brother tried to console her. She didn't want that. She wanted her baby back," he said.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the Hamilton family  Maria, Dameion and Nate  started to gather at Red Arrow Park to call for justice in the case, and they noticed they weren't alone. Nate took an active role in forming the Coalition for Justice.

Maria said she realized other mothers in similar situations didn't have the support of loved ones as she did with Dameion and Nate and she saw their struggles, both mental and physical.

"I don't judge any of my moms, those are my sisters now," she said. "We all have our own set of issues."

She opened communication with them, encouraging them to find a passion and pursue it to help them cope with their loss and grief. She hosted a tea party last fall for the moms and forged a network of support.

Dameion acknowledges there's been some backlash to their activism as his family appears in television, magazine and newspaper coverage.

"What people have to realize is this isn't something we celebrate," he said. "This is something that we have to do because my brother ... can only speak through us."

His mother, he said, has transformed in the last year.

"From where I saw her months before to where I see her now, it's like she just put a cape on and took flight," he said. "We're dealing with a lady that lost a son and what she wants is for what was wrong to be right."She confessed to having a 'soft spot' for ex Dean Wells after announcing her split from boyfriend-of-five-months Sean Thomsen on Monday.

And Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel has now reunited with the 'bad boy' groom - much to the delight of her fans.

The single mother, 35, shared a short clip of herself with Dean to Instagram on Tuesday, sending social media into a meltdown.

Scroll down for video

'All the best to the future': Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel has reunited with her cheating ex Dean Wells after declaring her 'love' for him following her breakup with Sean Thomsen

In Tracey's video, which was an edited clip to promote the Coin Master app, she shares a flirtatious exchange with Dean.

One of Tracey's followers wrote: 'You two had chemistry from the beginning and you look stunning together. All the best to the future.'

Other fan comments included: 'Hope you and Dean get back together', 'Get back together already' and 'Please get back with Dean!'

'You two had chemistry from the beginning': The single mother, 35, shared a short clip of herself with Dean to Instagram on Tuesday, sending social media into a meltdown

Tracey captioned the post, without tagging Dean: 'In the last couple of weeks, I've been working on a campaign for Coin Master app with friends. It was a lot of fun. Sometimes you have no choice but to keep your mind busy.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tracey Jewel and Dean Wells for comment.

Tracey told New Idea on Monday that she broke off their relationship with Sean Thomsen after just five months of dating.

She also revealed that, since the split, she had been unable to stop thinking about her former TV husband Dean.

'I'm sure he'll be happy to hear about this breakup. I reckon he will call me,' she said.

Back with the ex! Tracey told New Idea on Monday that she broke off their relationship with Sean Thomsen after just five months of dating and is now hoping to reunite with Dean

What's going on? Tracey is still following both Sean and Dean on social media, but neither of them are following her back

Strangely, Tracey is still following both Sean and Dean on social media. Neither of them are following her back.

The brunette sent her 'love' to the Visionz rapper on Instagram on Sunday, after Dean shared a sweet tribute to his late mother.

Dean wrote: 'Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mums out there! We should cherish and spoil our mums while we have the chance! Miss you Col.'

Proof they're back together? Tracey sent her 'love' to Dean on Instagram on Sunday, after he shared a sweet tribute to his late mother.

The post was met with a flurry of support from fans - including Tracey, who was quick to respond with the telling comment: 'Sending love.'

Tracey's comment had one fan excitedly speculating that a romantic reunion could be on the cards.

They wrote: 'Hey bro! Tracey wants your a** back. Get in that car! That woman is looking finer than ever!'

When approached for comment, Tracey's agent Max Markson said that his client would be addressing personal matters on her upcoming book tour.The federal government will be under pressure to make a move on live sheep exports when former cabinet minister Sussan Ley introduces a bill to have the controversial practice stopped.

Ms Ley's private member's bill to phase out the practice will be introduced to parliament next Monday.

She's already got the support of backbench colleagues Sarah Henderson and Jason Wood, both of whom have country electorates.

WA Liberal Ian Goodenough has also raised concerns.

Labor's policy is to phase out the live trade, but leader Bill Shorten won't say whether his party would back Ms Ley's bill.

He said on Friday the viability of an industry that relies upon cruelty must be questioned but any transition away must look after farmers, and "constructive" talks were underway with Ms Ley about her proposal.

The Greens and independent senator Derryn Hinch are drafting a bill of their own calling for live sheep exports to be wound down.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud is expecting the findings of a review into the northern hemisphere summer trade later this week.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tried to talk Ms Ley out of introducing her bill, while former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has pointed to the damaging 2011 suspension of live cattle exports by the then Labor government as a reason to oppose the ban.Victoria is banning a type of fishing net which has proved deadly for the state's struggling native platypus population.

The 'opera house'-style nets, so-named because their shape resembles the iconic Sydney landmark, are used to snare yabbies, but will be completely banned across Victoria's network of public and private waterways from mid-2019, Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford announced on Monday.

"Opera house nets have been placing our platypus population at risk and so its time for us to embrace different fishing gear that will catch just as many yabbies without impacting our precious wildlife," Ms Pulford said.A husband-and-wife philanthropic couple has donated $30 million to the University of Melbourne to provide scholarships for the next 40 years.

Paul Little and Jane Hansen, who built a fortune through real estate and developed the Hansen Little Foundation, gifted the university the money on Monday to build a student residence and establish a scholarship program in their names.

Twenty students will be selected for the Hansen scholarship annually from 2020, and will receive free accommodation, financial and career support throughout their time at university.Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says Australia stands united with Indonesia after attacks on three churches in the country's second-largest city.

A family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians at Sunday mass congregations in Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40.

"This threat is not going away and Australia stands absolutely united with a very, very crucial friend in Indonesia to make sure we can work with the President and all of the people responsible in the leadership in the Indonesian government to keep their people safe," Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra on Monday.Thousands of people's personal information may have been compromised after Family Planning NSW's online databases were hacked.

In an email to clients, the organisation - which provides advice on contraception, pregnancy and sexual health - said its website was hit by a cyber attack on Anzac Day.

It's believed the databases contained information of clients who had contacted Family Planning NSW to make an appointment, or leave feedback through its website, in the past two-and-a-half years.

"Since the attack we have had no evidence that this information has been used by the cyber attackers," the email, signed off by chair Sue Carrick and chief executive Ann Brassil, said.

"All web database information has been secure since this time and more sensitive medical records held internally were never under threat."

The organisation said the situation has been "contained", but its website will remain offline until a security review and internal testing are completed.

Clients were told Family Planning NSW was one of several agencies targeted by cyber criminals who requested a bitcoin ransom on April 25.

"We are conducting a thorough review of our information security to ensure all clients can continue to trust us for their reproductive and sexual health services."

The not-for-profit has five clinics in NSW, with more than 28,000 people visiting every year.Finance Minister Matthias Cormann has backed the Liberal Party's decision not to contest the Perth and Fremantle by-elections, saying it would be a waste of money.

State director Sam Calabrese issued a statement on Saturday saying the party would focus on contesting the state by-election for the seat of Darling Range, but would field candidates for Perth and Fremantle in the "real" federal election next year.

"Whether you have a lot of money or lesser resources, it is never a good idea to waste money - you always ought to concentrate and prioritise your resources into those contests where you're most likely to be successful," Mr Cormann said in Perth on Monday.A bill requiring gift cards to remain valid for at least three years will be introduced to the South Australian parliament this week, deputy premier Vickie Chapman says.

In the lead-up to the March state election, the Liberal Party promised it would introduce the measure to parliament within its first 100 days in government.

Ms Chapman says the law is a key priority for the state government, which wants to protect consumers by guaranteeing they have at least three years to redeem their gift cards.James Maloney and Nathan Cleary will be reunited in Penrith's halves against Wests Tigers on Thursday night without a full training session under their belt, after Maloney's partner went into labour.

Cleary was due to return to Penrith NRL training from a knee injury for the first time on Monday night, however Maloney will be absent from the session to be by his partner's side.

With Wednesday's light captain's run the only other session this week, it means the two will go into Thursday's game without having played or trained properly next to each other since Cleary was injured on March 23.Malcolm Turnbull says he's sorry a female assistant minister was dumped from her own seat, but he won't intervene to save her.

Jane Prentice on Saturday lost to her former staff member, Brisbane City councillor Julian Simmonds, as the Liberal National Party's candidate for the Brisbane seat of Ryan.

As the latest polls showed Mr Turnbull has jumped well ahead of Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister, he said it was up to local Liberal Party members to choose their representatives.

"We're very sorry to see Jane's been defeated in the preselection, but this is the consequence of having a grassroots political party," Mr Turnbull told reporters on Monday.

Queensland MP Warren Entsch said Ms Prentice's dumping was "a bloody disgrace" and he was profoundly disappointed by it.

"She doesn't deserve it and I think it sends a very, very bad message with regards to women in politics in Queensland," he said.

Fellow Queenslander, Michelle Landry, said she was "totally appalled" at Ms Prentice's dumping.

"We've hardly got any federal females in Queensland in the government and one has been pushed aside by a young male," she told the ABC.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who provided a written reference supporting Ms Prentice, said the party was a democracy.

"There were over 350 people at the preselection, many of them women," he told reporters.

"They looked at the merits of the individual candidates and they made a decision."

The Newspoll released on Monday gave Mr Turnbull his best preferred prime minister result since the 2016 election.

His approval was up eight percentage points to 46 per cent, against Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten on 32 per cent.

But despite splashing out on personal tax cuts, the coalition still trails Labor 49-51 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, the poll published in The Australian shows.

A separate Ipsos poll published by Fairfax Media puts the coalition in an even worse position against Labor at 46-54 per cent, which is a decline from 48 per cent in April.

But Mr Turnbull did increase his Ipsos lead as the preferred prime minister to 52 per cent, against 32 per cent for Mr Shorten.

And asked if they thought they would be better off under the new budget, 38 per cent of the 1200 voters polled by Ipsos believed they would.

The polls follow Labor and coalition income tax cut promises during budget week and a citizenship crisis that forced four Labor MPs to resign from parliament.Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on May 13 held a telephone conversation with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, the PMs office informed.

May 14, 2018, 10:21 Armenian PM holds phone talk with Iranian President

STEPANAKERT, MAY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS:The Iranian President congratulated Pashinyan on being elected Prime Minister of Armenia and wished success on his responsible position.

The two officials discussed a number of issues relating to the Armenian-Iranian friendly relations, cooperation, as well as the international and regional agenda.

They also exchanged views on the recent developments over the Iran nuclear deal. In this context the Armenian PM and the Iranian President expressed hope that the current situation will be solved through negotiations.

During the telephone conversation PM Pashinyan and President Rouhani reached an agreement to agree upon the programs of upcoming meetings.The NSW government has appointed a drought coordinator to help farmers and communities as conditions worsen across the state.

Grazier and businesswoman Pip Job will fill the newly-created position, Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced in Dubbo on Monday.

"This new role is about making sure that government, farmers and communities are working together as best as they can while they get through this difficult period," she said in a statement.

More than a third of NSW is either in drought or approaching drought, Ms Berejiklian said.

Ms Job will be the government's "eyes and ears" on the ground to provide communities with critical information, identify emerging risks and help coordinate the government's drought response.

However the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party criticised the government for doing too little too late.

"The premier went to Dubbo with news of drought relief, and despite the state being awash with cash, she's delivered nothing," Shooters MP Robert Brown said in a statement.

"Farmers wanted cash, but all they got today is a well-paid public service appointment."

The government last month announced it would provide farmers with low interest loans of up to $20,000 to transport stock, fodder and water for drought-affected properties.

The Shooters say the loans are taking too long to be processed and was only providing enough money for a few weeks of cattle feed.A Gold Coast man who confessed to the manslaughter of his mother nine years after she disappeared has been jailed for at least four years and nine months.

Daniel Paul Heazlewood was initially charged with murder over the June 2009 death of his mother Linda Sidon but last week pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of manslaughter at Brisbane Supreme Court.

On Monday, he was sentenced to a maximum eight years behind bars for her manslaughter and a total of 11 years and six months for that and other charges, including five drug offences.

After being arrested in 2015, Heazlewood helped police search for his mother's body in Gold Coast bushland, but it has never been found.

Police said at the time the two-day search was hampered by the length of time since her disappearance.

Ms Sidon, a New Zealand-born part-time cleaner who had a history of anxiety, anorexia and depression, was initially thought to have taken her own life.

Her father reported her missing almost 18 months after she was last seen in June 2009.

In 2015, police were given information that heightened their suspicion she had been murdered and Heazlewood was later charged, aged 28 at the time.

With time served in custody, Heazlewood will first be eligible for parole in July 2019.

Ms Sidon's sister Pauline said their parents died before learning of her fate.

"To know their daughter had been murdered by their grandson would have broken their hearts and souls," she told reporters outside court.The new Border Force boss says he will "relentlessly" pursue officers who let their integrity standards drop.

Michael Outram was sworn in as ABF commissioner on Monday, replacing Roman Quaedvlieg, who was sacked after improperly helping his partner get a job.

The new commissioner outlined his plan to improve operations, with a stronger intelligence focus.

"We will also continue to relentlessly seek to identify and appropriately deal with any person in our organisation whose standard of integrity or behaviour falls beneath that required of an ABF officer," Mr Outram told ABF staff on Monday.

The new commissioner, who arrived in Australia in 2002 after a career with the Metropolitan Police in London, said the agency would tackle illegal tobacco, human trafficking and slavery in product supply chains.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the ABF had a bright future under Mr Outram.

"There have been difficulties over the course of the last 12 months and we acknowledge all of that but Mike Outram has demonstrated the leadership required in an acting capacity over the last year," Mr Dutton told reporters.

Mr Quaedvlieg was suspended on full pay for 10 months over the allegations he helped his partner get a job at Sydney Airport.

He was also found to have made a "false statement" to Mr Dutton about his personal relationships and failed to disclose a significant change in his personal life.

Last week, Mr Quaedvlieg said Mr Outram was an "excellent choice" as his replacement.

"I support his appointment unconditionally and I am confident, and also comforted, that the Australian borders will continue to be well secured with him at the helm," he told AAP.

"I'm sure that he will continue the professionalisation of the ABF under his leadership."Jeff Horn says Terence Crawford's mind games will only work against him in their world title fight in Las Vegas next month.

Just what gloves will be worn in their welterweight clash on June 9 is still unknown after Crawford denied he would used the controversial horse hair variety this week.

That claim comes two weeks after manufacturer Everlast advised the Horn camp the thinner MX variety would be the glove of choice at the MGM Grand Casino.

Horn had been training in them despite his camp's reluctance to use them on the day, skinning his knuckles on the bag to show just how little protection they offer.

But the 30-year-old said he would be prepared for anything and the latest swerve from Crawford's camp had little impact on his preparations.

"In writing, an email they (said they) weren't even planning on using those gloves in the first place," he said on Monday.

"I don't know where that came from then; they're just playing games and I'm just rolling with the punches.

"I always knew coming in they were going to throw curve balls at me left, right and centre and I'm ready with whatever they throw - not much fazes me."

Both fighters can choose which gloves they wear, but Horn has indicated he would wear the less familiar horse hair variety if Crawford does to negate what he perceived to be an advantage.

Horn's trainer Glenn Rushton said there was no chance of "being tricked", given the assigned gloves have to be confirmed at weigh in.

But he would at least like enough time to prepare Horn's specially-branded gloves for the fight.

"All we're saying is what gloves are you wearing ... it's not a difficult question, just tell us and we'll do the same," he said.

Horn admitted Crawford would provide a different challenge to Manny Pacquiao, who the Brisbane product sensationally beat last year to earn the title.

But he still wants to make an early statement.

"I've got to show that I'm the champion in there," he said.Hillary Clinton has credited South Korean and Chinese leadership for paving the way to a historic meeting between North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

The former US secretary of state spoke to packed audiences in Sydney and Melbourne last week, sharing the stage with former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard.

Mrs Clinton has hosed down calls for Mr Trump to be given a Nobel Peace prize if the June 12 meeting in Singapore is successful in ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons.

"We've been down this road with the North before, where they've made promises and then within a year or more it's determined that they have broken those promises," she told ABC 7.30 in an interview that will air on Monday night.

"Look, if there is a positive outcome that can be verified... not a one-off announcement at a summit, I will join in the applause."

She says China and South Korean diplomatic efforts had been a game changer.

"I think the change in leadership in South Korea is significant," she said.

"The new president (Moon Jae-in) came in with a very public view that he wanted to see if there could be a rapprochement -- the dream of the South has always been reunification."

The Chinese had also been active, she said, pointing to the two meetings between Mr Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the lead-up to the Singapore talks.

In the wake of claims of Russian meddling in the US election and the debate in Australia about Chinese influence, Mrs Clinton reiterated warnings about taking the threat of foreign interference seriously.

"I don't care what side of the political aisle you might be on, in either Australia or the United States. We have an interest in making sure that decisions that are made by our governments are not the result of some kind of influence peddling by a foreign power," she said.Deb Frecklington says her low profile among Queenslanders is to blame for her poor polling in comparison with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The Liberal National Party leader has struggled to gain traction among voters, five months after taking over the opposition's top job on the back of a state election loss, a Galaxy Poll has found.

Ms Palaszczuk is now ahead of Ms Frecklington by 20 percentage points, with 47 per cent of those polled preferring the Labor leader in the premier's role.Australians will have three months to opt out of a "My Health Record" if they don't want one.

The healthcare records will be created for every Australian in November, allowing better treatment and reduced duplication of medical tests.

But Consumers Health Forum chief executive Leanne Wells said while the benefits were compelling, the privacy safeguards must be strong.

"Consumer trust and confidence in My Health Record is essential for its success," Ms Wells said on Monday.

The records allow important health information - including allergies, medical conditions, treatments, medicines, and test reports - to be securely shared between clinicians and their patients.

It also enables people to manage their children's health, and upload key documents like advanced care directives.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the system has strong safeguards in place to protect the health data.

"It is also subject to some of the strongest legislation in the world to prevent unauthorised use," Mr Hunt said.

"Australians can cancel their My Health Record at any time after the end of the opt out period - or create one, if they opted out."

More than five million Australians already have a My Health Record, which provides a summary of their key health information.

The online opt-out period begins on July 16 and runs until October 15.

A month after that, every Australian who has not opted out will have a record created for them.

Mr Hunt said the plan has unanimous support from Australia's peak health bodies, including the Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon.

"The current system of medical records means that we may have incomplete information on a patient - especially if the patient has recently seen another specialist or has been discharged from a hospital," Dr Gannon said.

"Less time chasing up paperwork means more time can be spent treating our patients."The federal government and scientists are hopeful of breakthroughs in disease detection and agriculture from a new national plan.

The government announced $2 billion over 10 years in last week's budget for a Research Infrastructure Investment Plan to provide state-of-the-art research facilities and create jobs.

The plan, released on Tuesday, is in response to a 2016 infrastructure road map developed by Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel.

"The benefits include new diagnostics for early disease detection, micro-sensors used in advanced agriculture and new metal alloys for construction and machinery," Dr Finkel said.

The government's plan adopts Dr Finkel's recommendation to focus on nine research areas, including digital data and e-research platforms, advanced fabrication and manufacturing, and biosecurity.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the funding would ensure scientists and researchers have the tools to support their work.

"Australia's prosperity depends on the work being done in these research labs today and into the future," he said.

The investment plan includes consolidating the national research collection's animal and plant specimens under one roof and upgrading sequencing and mass spectrometry equipment for medical research, agribusiness and conservation.

Research ship RV Investigator will be funded for an extra 120 days at sea, a total of 300 days.Twelve per cent of NSW's electricity demand could be supplied by solar and wind farms in northwest NSW by 2030, a new report has found.

The report, by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, developed two different renewable energy scenarios to provide an alternative energy solution to Santos's proposed coal seam gas project in Narrabri.

Commissioned by anti-coal group Lock the Gate, the report's first scenario examined turning Narrabri into an energy powerhouse with 38 square kilometres of land dedicated to solar and 120 square kilometres for wind farms.

They'd potentially generate 3800 megawatts of solar power and 600 megawatts of wind power by 2030.

The land needed for this "ambitious scenario", while extensive, is only 17 per cent of the area of the proposed Santos gas field, according to the Tuesday's report.

The energy generated could - with additional power transmission capacity - supply 12 per cent of NSW's electricity demand by 2030, report author Dr Sven Teske told AAP.

Under the second, more conservative scenario, 41 square kilometres of land would be used in Narrabri for solar and wind farms.

This alternative proposal could generate 622 megawatts of solar and 175 megawatts of wind power by 2030, making up 2.1 per cent of NSW's electricity supply.

"The advantage with solar and wind is that you won't run out of wind while gas will be depleted after some years," Dr Teske said.

The report suggests the renewable energy proposals would create more jobs than Santos's coal seam gas scheme.

The more ambitious scenario - costing $6.5 billion - would create up to 3600 jobs during the construction phase with more than 2500 ongoing operation and maintenance jobs for local workers.

The smaller project - estimated to cost $1 billion - would create 500 construction jobs and between 200 and 500 operation and maintenance jobs by 2030.

Dr Teske argues solar and wind farms are also cheaper than other non-renewable energies to develop - with solar costing about 70 per cent less than gas.

Santos expects its 950-square kilometre gas field will create about 1300 jobs during the initial construction phase and 200 ongoing jobs.

The oil and gas giant says the project has the potential to supply up to 200 terajoules of natural gas per day - which could meet up to half of NSW's natural gas demand.

The Narrabri gas project, which involves 850 new gas wells developed progressively over 20 years, is being assessed by the NSW Department of Planning.Protesters will stage a mock oil spill outside an oil industry conference in Adelaide in opposition to planned drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

Local government leaders, traditional owners, fishing and tourism operators and conservationists will deliver their message outside the annual conference of the Australian Petroleum and Production and Exploration Association.

Tuesday's stunt will be directed at Norwegian energy company and offshore operator Statoil, which plans to go ahead with drilling in the Bight by October 2019.

Later on Tuesday, Kangaroo Island Mayor Peter Clements will attend the Statoil AGM in Norway to personally deliver the message opposing the company's plans to its directors and shareholders.

Mr Clements will also read a letter from Kokatha elder Sue Haseldine, telling the company they do not have consent to explore.

"More than half a dozen councils have voted to oppose oil drilling," he said.

"Their opposition is just the beginning - hundreds of thousands of people will not rest until the threat of oil drilling in the Bight has been seen off once and for all."

The APPEA conference and exhibition is being held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from May 14-17.

Speakers will include SA Premier Steven Marshall and federal Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan.Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with President of Moldova Igor Dodon on the sidelines of the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Sochi, Russia, the Armenian government said.

May 14, 2018, 12:32 PM Pashinyan, President Dodon discuss Armenian-Moldovan mutual partnership

STEPANAKERT, MAY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS:The officials highly appreciated the Armenian-Moldovan relations level and attached importance to conducting consistent works aimed at developing them.

PM Pashinyan said its necessary to give new impetus to the bilateral economic mutual cooperation and stated that it is not in accordance with the level of political relations. We need to take respective steps to boost the economic cooperation. In this sense, I attach importance to the active work of the bilateral inter-governmental commission and the upcoming session, PM Pashinyan said, adding that the Armenian governments decision to open Embassy in Moldova proves that Armenia is ready to give new impetus to the bilateral ties.

In his turn President Igor Dodon congratulated Pashinyan on his election as Armenias PM and wished success during his tenure. He said the mutual cooperation between the two countries is dynamically developing and expressed hope that the mutually beneficial ties will continue strengthening and expanding.

Both officials also discussed the Armenian-Moldovan cooperation agenda at bilateral and multilateral formats. They highlighted the need to expand the legal framework, to increase the number of agreements and contracts signed as of now.More than a million Australian students will sit for NAPLAN tests on Tuesday, with one in five swapping pencils for computers for the first time.

NAPLAN tests the reading, writing and maths abilities of children in Years Three, Five, Seven and Nine, providing valuable information to improve education across the country.

The move to an online system is planned to take three years.

It's natural students will feel anxious about the tests, but Robert Randall from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority says there's no need to.

"Children should be reminded that it's not a big deal, that it's a short assessment taken only four times during their schooling," he said.

Education unions say the online rollout should be abandoned because many schools don't have the capacity or resources to cope or prepare students.

But Education Minister Simon Birmingham says going online is a "groundbreaking event" in terms of making NAPLAN better for students and more useful for teachers.

The federal government is considering terms of reference for a possible review of NAPLAN.Last week's federal budget may not have put the Turnbull government in an election-winning position but two opinion polls did find more voters believing they will be better off than not under its personal income tax plan.

Consumer confidence - a pointer to future retail spending - had risen for four straight weeks heading into the budget anticipating Treasurer Scott Morrison would deliver his promised tax cuts.

However, whether a $10 a week tax reduction for average wage earners will be enough to retain the positive mood will be gauged when the weekly ANZ- Roy Morgan consumer confidence index is released on Tuesday.

The monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index is due on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank will also release the minutes of its May 1 board meeting on Tuesday and where the cash rate was left at 1.5 per cent for another month.

There is unlikely to be too much new in the minutes given the central bank has issued its quarterly monetary policy statement and governor Philip Lowe has delivered a major speech since the board meeting.

However, Treasury secretary John Fraser, a member of the board, traditionally previews the outline of the budget for the meeting in the context of what it might mean for monetary policy in the future.The use of children in deadly suicide blasts in Indonesia is terrorism at a whole new horrifying level, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop believes.

The minister said there is a heightened risk of further terror attacks during Ramadan, after a family of six blew themselves up on Sunday, killing 13 and wounding 40 Christians.

"What was particularly horrific about the attacks over the weekend was the use of children in the terrorist organisation. We have not seen that in Indonesian attacks before and this takes it to a whole new horrifying level," Ms Bishop told the Seven Network on Tuesday.People with arthritis are significantly more likely to suffer depression, anxiety and have panic attacks, according to new research.

The latest analysis of the Medibank Better Health Index1 - an annual survey of more than 50,000 Australians - shows 22.3 per cent of people with arthritis had diagnosed depression, compared with 16.3 per cent of the general population.

The prevalence of diagnosed anxiety was also higher among those with arthritis, at 21.7 per cent, compared with 19.2 per cent.

People with rheumatoid arthritis were the most likely to have depression, and those with osteoarthritis were most likely to experience anxiety.

Panic attacks affected 7.3 per cent of of people with arthritis compared with 5.8 per cent of the general population, while sufferers were twice as likely to struggle with sleeping issues.

Medibank Chief Medical Officer Dr Linda Swan says, arthritis is a physical disease, but greater awareness about the impact it has on a person's mental health is needed.

"These findings confirm how essential it is that people with arthritis take measures to not only manage the physical symptoms of the condition, but also their mental health as well, and seek support from their arthritis specialist, GP or other health professional if required," Dr Swan said.

Many people with arthritis live with chronic pain and a loss of mobility, while it also impacts their social lives, she said.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he still wants to work with the Europeans on a new Iran deal

The United States' top diplomat said Sunday Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behavior" as President Donald Trump called his withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal key to containing Tehran.

But while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

The development came as Iran's foreign minister said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the pact, while speaking in Beijing at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing it.

Trump's announcement last Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay among its other signatories -- China, Russia, France, the Britain and Germany.

But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was keen to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners.

Pompeo, who is barely a fortnight into his new job, told Fox News Sunday that he had been tasked by the president "to work to strike a deal that achieves the outcomes that protect America."

"That's what we are going to do and I will be hard at it with the Europeans in the next several days," said the top US diplomat.

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well.

The administration says the lifting of sanctions as part of the nuclear pact had allowed Iran to build up its military.

Trump weighed in later Sunday, saying his decision would limit Iran's regional ambitions.

"Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place," he tweeting. "They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!"

With Pompeo seemingly assuming the "good cop" role on behalf of the Trump administration, it was left to newly appointed US national security advisor John Bolton to remind Europe its firms could be punished if they didn't adhere to American measures.

"It's possible," Bolton said on CNN when asked about the prospect of sanctions. "It depends on the conduct of other governments."

"The consequences of American sanctions go way beyond goods shipped by American companies because of our technology licenses to many other countries and businesses around the world. As those sanctions kick in, it will have an even broader effect as well," he said.

"I think the Europeans will see that it's in their interest, ultimately, to come along with us."

- Zarif embarks on tour -

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi

While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a recent visit to Washington.

Macron and Trump spoke by phone on Saturday, with the US president urging "the need for a comprehensive deal that addresses all aspects of Iran's destabilizing activities in the Middle East," according to a White House readout of the call.

German leader Angela Merkel also told Trump on a visit to Washington late last month that the nuclear deal was insufficient in itself to curb Iran's ambitions in the region.

Although most analysts believe the US withdrawal has effectively scuppered the agreement, Iran's foreign minister talked up the prospects of its survival on Sunday while visiting China, another of the signatories.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

- Iran hardliners fight back -

Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels. Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian pro-regime fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.

Iranian hardliners -- who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West -- are already mobilizing against the efforts to save the nuclear deal.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West.

"We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars news agency.

"The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions."

burs-ia/mdlBritain's Prince Harry with his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle as she shows off her engagement ring in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London

As Meghan Markle's gown undergoes final adjustments for her wedding to Prince Harry, her gaffe-prone American family has been sending royal courtiers into a spin by airing its dirty laundry in public.

The bride-to-be remains close with divorced parents Tom Markle and Doria Ragland but other relatives have been barred from the May 19 nuptials amid unwelcome stories of bust-ups, heavy drinking -- and even an arrest.

Markle, who grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, will be walked up the aisle by Tom, 73, an Emmy-winning Hollywood lighting director of Dutch-Irish descent who is enjoying retired life in Mexico.

Around the turn of the century, the future royal was filmed as an aspiring teen actress by childhood friend Ninaki Priddy discussing her relationship with her father as they drove across LA.

"We aren't going to go there," she says on the video -- posted to YouTube last year -- as they near Tom's Los Angeles home, before adding: "We aren't on the best of terms."

There has been a detente in the intervening years, however, with Markle publicly expressing her love for her father in an Instagram message in 2016 and declaring, "Your hugs are still the very best in the whole wide world."

Markle's introduction to Hollywood came thanks to her father, who would bring her daily to the set of ABC's "General Hospital" and Fox sit-com "Married... with Children."

- 'Blurred line' -

Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland watch the closing ceremonies for the Invictus Games in September 2017

"There I was, behind the scenes of a glossy soap opera and a TV sitcom, surrounded by famous actors and their glam teams, multi-million dollar budgets, and crew lunches that always included filet mignon," Meghan wrote on her now-defunct blog, The Tig.

Tom reportedly put Markle through Hollywood's most exclusive schools and the private Northwestern University in Illinois after winning $750,000 in the state lottery in 1990.

He met Harry in Toronto in mid-2016 and took to the prince immediately, describing him on a video obtained by British tabloid The Sun as "a gentleman."

Markle's mother, a 61-year-old African American yoga instructor and clinical therapist, met Tom while working as an assistant make-up artist at "General Hospital."

The Ohio native has been through her own financial woes, according to the Daily Mail, which reported that she filed for bankruptcy in 2002 with assets of just $10,400 and credit card debts of $58,000.

"While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that," Markle wrote in a 2015 essay for Elle magazine about being biracial.

She and Prince Harry revealed in an interview with BBC they'd spent much time with Ragland ahead of their engagement. "Her mum's amazing!" enthused Harry, who is sixth in line to the British throne.

There was speculation that Markle's father would be left off the guest list after the American star barred estranged half-siblings Tom Jr and Samantha, Tom Snr's children from a previous marriage.

Tom Jr, 51, who lives in Oregon, was arrested in January on suspicion of holding a gun to his girlfriend's head while drunk, although the charges were dropped and the couple got engaged.

- 'Princess Pushy' -

Tourists with a cardboard cutout of Britain's Prince Harry and his US fiancee Meghan Markle in Windsor, west of London

The twice-divorced father-of-two says he and Meghan haven't been close since she moved from LA to Toronto in 2011 to start work on legal drama "Suits."

Relations are unlikely to have improved since Tom Jr sent Prince Harry a letter to call off the "fake fairytale wedding," arguing that his half-sister was "obviously not the right woman" for the royal.

"As more time passes to your royal wedding, it became very clear that this is the biggest mistake in royal wedding history," he said in the April 26 missive, which he shared with In Touch magazine.

He professed to be bored with Markle -- "like a below C average Hollywood actress" -- playing the part of princess and accused her of draining their father's money until he went bankrupt in 2016.

Samantha, 53 -- who lives in Florida and recently changed her surname from Grant to Markle -- is said to have angered the Markle clan with the announcement that she was planning a tell-all book called "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister."

Other members of the extended family include Thomas Jr's sons, Tyler, 27, and Thomas Markle III, who has berated his "crazy" father and aunt for their public feuding.

There is another half-nephew and an uncle, Tom Snr's older brother Frederick, who runs a Florida chapel that reportedly has little or no congregation.Hillary Clinton warned Australia and other democracies Monday to be on guard against growing interference in domestic politics by China and Russia

Hillary Clinton warned Australia and other democracies Monday to be on guard against growing interference in their domestic politics by China and Russia.

The former US secretary of state, beaten by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election marred by allegations of meddling by Moscow, said it was a concern for all political parties.

"I think Australians need to be for Australians, Americans need to be for Americans," she told broadcaster ABC while on a speaking tour of the country.

"And whether it's Russia in a secret way interfering with our election and producing more than 3,500 ads to try to confuse our electorate, to try to damage me, or the Chinese looking to try to influence policy, we should say no.

Clinton added: "I don't care what side of the political aisle you might be on, in either Australia or the United States.

"We have an interest in making sure that decisions that are made by our governments are not the result of some kind of influence peddling by a foreign power."

Australia has seen tensions with China rise recently over allegations of Beijing interference in domestic politics and using donations to gain access.

The claims infuriated China, which has attacked local media stories about infiltration as hysteria and paranoia.

Canberra and other regional capitals have also become increasingly alarmed at China's push into the Pacific, which could upset the strategic balance in the region.

Clinton said despite deepening trade relations with China, democracies could not ignore foreign interference.

"Australia has a lot of interests with China, certainly your economy is intertwined with China," she said.

"But I do think that Australia, along with other liberal democracies around the world, have got to take the threat of foreign interference seriously."

Australia is undergoing wide-ranging reforms to espionage and foreign interference legislation, having singled out China as a focus of concern.

The decision followed an inquiry ordered by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year after reports that Australia's spy agency had warned politicians about taking donations from two billionaires with links to China.

An Australian senator quit parliament in December over his relationship with a wealthy political donor associated with the Chinese Communist Party.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met last month in Moscow. The two men are expected to meet again Monday to discuss how to salvage the Iran nuclear accord after Washington pulled out

Iran's foreign minister was in Moscow on Monday as Russia tries to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive in the wake of Washington's pull-out, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe.

Iranian state television Irib broadcasted images of Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow, saying he had arrived in Russia at 4am (01:00 GMT) on Monday and was due to meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the pair would meet Monday morning.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the 2015 accord scrabble to save it.

After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over US President's Donald Trump's decision.

Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he added.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he said.

On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour".

But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

- Russia key regional player -

Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Zarif will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, according to Iran's foreign ministry.

Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

While Tehran was shunned by the international community in the 1990s, Moscow agreed to resume the construction of the Bushehr Iranian nuclear plant that Germany had abandoned.

Russia and Iran also sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.

Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.Under the terms of the merger with Xerox, Fujifilm would have held 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox while current shareholders would have received a special cash dividend of $2.5 billion

US photocopier and printer maker Xerox on Sunday announced it was terminating a merger with Fujifilm and appointing a new chief executive after entering into a settlement with activist shareholders who had contested the takeover.

In a statement on its website, Xerox cited "material deviations" in the audited financials of an existing joint venture known as Fuji Xerox that is controlled by Fujifilm.

The move follows a lawsuit by powerful shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who together owned more than 15 percent of the group and had vigorously opposed the merger, which had been announced in January.

Xerox added that Jeff Jacobson had resigned from his role as the company's CEO, along with five board members who were replaced by five new members.

The new board will be chaired by Keith Cozza, who is the current CEO of Icahn Enterprises, while its new CEO is set to be John Visentin.

The board will immediately convene to "evaluate all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value."

"Over the past several weeks, the Xerox Board has repeatedly requested that Fujifilm immediately enter into negotiations on improved terms for a proposed transaction," the firm said.

"Despite our insistence, Fujifilm provided no assurance that it will do so within an acceptable timeframe.

"The Xerox Board believes that the transaction cannot reasonably be expected to be completed under these circumstances, particularly given the court's injunction of the transaction and the lack of shareholder support for the transaction on current terms, as well as the unresolved accounting issues at Fuji Xerox."

- Latest victory for Icahn -

The conflict was the latest involving a big company and a high-profile shareholder activist, in this case Icahn, a battle-tested billionaire who has aggressively challenged companies since the 1980s.

Icahn and Deason had in late April won a temporary injunction against the merger after a New York judge agreed the deal prioritized the interests of the Xerox CEO over that of the company's shareholders.

In early May, Xerox announced Jacobson would be stepping down before reversing its decision two days later.

Reacting the news, Icahn said: "We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm.

"With that behind us and new shareholder-focused leadership in place, today marks a new beginning for Xerox."

New CEO Visentin has previously worked as a "consultant" to Icahn Capital connection with Xerox.

Under the terms of a merger with Xerox, Fujifilm would have held 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox while current shareholders would have received a special cash dividend of $2.5 billion.

Deason and Icahn were also unhappy about a secret 2001 deal between Xerox and Fujifilm contained a clause that prevented the Xerox board from seeking another buyer, effectively shortchanging the company's shareholders.

In the wake of the announcement of Xerox's takeover in January, Fujifilm announced a cost savings plan envisaging thousands of job cuts at Fuji Xerox.

Fuji Xerox was also weakened last year by the discovery of accounting irregularities dating back to 2010.

The deal announced Sunday is a victory for so-called activist shareholders, among whom Carl Icahn is considered one of the "fathers."

It comes after activist fund Elliott won weeks-long power struggle with Vivendi over Telecom Italia by wresting control of the company's board in early May.An investigation is underway in the 3rd garrison military investigative committee to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting of a sergeant.

May 14, 2018, 14:20 Armenia investigates attempted murder of sergeant by Azerbaijan

STEPANAKERT, MAY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS:Sergeant Shamkhal Petrosyan, a conscripted serviceman, was wounded by gunfire.

The incident happened around 22:35, May 13, when the sergeant was on-duty in an undisclosed military outpost when he was hit by Azerbaijani gunfire. The round went through the abdomen of the soldier. Petrosyan was hospitalized and underwent surgery. Doctors say the sergeant is in a serious condition.

The military investigative committee launched the criminal case on attempted murder on motives of national, racial or religious hatred or religious fanaticism.The latest attack came just a day after a wave of suicide bombings on churches killed at least 14

Two militants on a motorcycle blew themselves up at a police headquarters in Indonesia's second city Surabaya on Monday, wounding at least 10 people including officers, authorities said, a day after a deadly wave of suicide bombings hit churches.

Citing CCTV footage from the scene, East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said a man and a woman on the bike stopped at the security checkpoint.

"That's where the explosion happened," he added.

"Two people were riding (on the motorcycle) and a woman was sitting at the back."

The authorities said the wounded included six civilians and four police.

Ambulances and the bomb squad descended on the chaotic scene with the CCTV images showed the mangled wreckage of a motorbike at the security gate at the headquarters in the heart of the city.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility after the latest suicide bombing.

"This is a cowardly act, undignified and inhumane," Indonesian President Joko Widodo told reporters in Jakarta.

"There will be no compromise in taking action on the ground to stop terrorism."

The lethal explosion comes just a day after a family of six including two young daughters staged suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya during Sunday services.

At least 14 civilians have died as a result of that attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, and the toll could climb with more than 40 injured in hospital.

- Multiple bombings -

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people -- mostly foreign tourists -- in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

Sunday's church bombings was Indonesia's deadliest attack in years. The attackers -- a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 -- were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, police have said.

Authorities said they believed some of the family members had recently returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law.

A candlelight vigil was held in the city of Medan to support the victims of the church bombings

A further three people in another family were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Surabaya, just hours later, police said.

The mother and one child died from the explosion while police said they shot dead the father who was carrying a bomb detonator.

Two other children were injured in the blast and were taken to hospital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the apartment bomb.

In the church attacks, the mother, identified as Puji Kuswati, and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, police have said.

The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church while his sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church, where they detonated explosives they were carrying, according to authorities.

JAD, led by jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, has been linked to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.

That was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

Police on Sunday said four suspected JAD members were killed in a shootout during raids linked to a deadly prison riot this week.

Five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. IS claimed responsibility.

Karnavian said Sunday's church attacks may have been revenge for the arrest of some of JAD's leaders and for the prison crisis which eventually saw the surrender of the radical inmates.North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation of the peninsula at a summit last month

North Korea will never completely give up its nuclear weapons, a top defector said ahead of leader Kim Jong Un's landmark summit with US President Donald Trump next month.

The current whirlwind of diplomacy and negotiations will not end with "a sincere and complete disarmament" but with "a reduced North Korean nuclear threat", said Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016.

"In the end, North Korea will remain 'a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state'," Thae told the South's Newsis news agency.

His remarks come ahead of an unprecedented summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12 where North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes are expected to dominate the agenda.

North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation of the peninsula at a summit last month, and Pyongyang announced at the weekend it will destroy its only known nuclear test site next week.

But it has not made public what concessions it is offering.

The memoir of Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016, hit the shelves Monday

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation (CVID)" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Pyongyang has said it does not need nuclear weapons if the security of its regime is guaranteed.

But Thae, one of the highest ranking officials to have defected in recent years, said: "North Korea will argue that the process of nuclear disarmament will lead to the collapse of North Korea and oppose CVID."

The North wanted to ensure Kim's "absolute power" and its model of hereditary succession, he added, and would oppose intrusive inspections as they "would be viewed as a process of breaking down Kim Jong Un's absolute power in front of the eyes of ordinary North Koreans and elites".

At a party meeting last month when Kim proclaimed the development of the North's nuclear force complete and promised no more nuclear or missile tests, he called its arsenal "a powerful treasured sword for defending peace".

"Giving it up soon after Kim Jong Un himself labelled it the 'treasured sword for defending peace' and a firm guarantee for the future? It can never happen," Thae said.

- 'Peace gestures' -

In his memoir that hit shelves Monday, Thae added: "More people should realise that North Korea is desperately clinging to its nuclear programme more than anything."

Thae Yong-ho said the current whirlwind of diplomacy will not end with "a sincere and complete disarmament" but with "a reduced North Korean nuclear threat"

Tensions on and around the peninsula had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others.

Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Winter Olympics in the South, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting.

Kim has also twice visited China after not paying his respects to President Xi Jinping in the six years since he inherited power from his father, and met the South's President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.

North Korea's sudden change in attitude was probably driven by the mounting international sanctions imposed over its weapons programmes that had begun to take a toll on the livelihoods of ordinary citizens, Thae said.

As of last year the UN Security Council sanctions included measures on sectors such as coal, fish, textiles and overseas workers.

"North Korea did not foresee the destructive power of these sanctions," Thae told the interview. "These sanctions are threatening the livelihoods of millions of North Koreans at the root."

But Pyongyang had a long history of making overtures that ultimately came to nothing, he warned.

"North Korea's diplomacy has always been a repeat of hardline and appeasement," Thae said.

"It is North Korea's diplomatic tactic to push the situation to extreme confrontation and suddenly send peace gestures."The latest visit by a North Korean delegation comes after Kim Jong Un made two trips over the border to see Xi Jinping

A North Korean delegation arrived in Beijing on Monday, Japanese media said, as the two allies step up diplomatic contacts ahead of a landmark meeting between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.

Japanese broadcaster NHK showed images of officials leaving the VIP area of the Chinese capital's airport.

The broadcaster said later the group had arrived at the Diaoyutai government guest house although the identity of the visitors was not immediately known.

The report comes a week after Kim made his second trip to China in less than two months to again meet with President Xi Jinping.

Kim's latest visit was to the northeastern port city of Dalian, as the two countries seek to mend frayed ties with a diplomatic thaw in the region gathering pace.

Relations fell to a new low in the past year as Beijing, angered by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, backed a series of United Nations sanctions against its Cold War-era ally.

But Beijing is keen to avoid being sidelined in the wake of Kim's historic summit last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and ahead of his upcoming meeting with Trump in Singapore on June 12.

Experts say Kim also needs to maintain good relations with his country's main patron to back him up as the Trump summit looms.

Kim, who picked Beijing to make his maiden official trip abroad in March, has also invited Xi to visit North Korea.A Syrian army tank advances through a street in al-Hajar al-Aswad as they push against the Islamic State (IS) group in the area on the southern outskirts of Damascus

Russian chief negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev on Monday upbraided the United States for not sending a delegation to observe the latest round of Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan.

Negotiators from Iran, Russia and Turkey gathered in the Kazakh capital Astana on Monday hoping to make progress on a political settlement in Syria as tensions fan out across the region.

Briefing journalists after the first day of the talks spearheaded by Moscow, Lavrentyev criticised Washington's decision not to send observers after its delegations came to eight previous rounds of negotiations in Astana.

"This time round the Americans, unfortunately, have decided not to support our international efforts," Lavrentyev said.

"We regret this and believe the path to political settlement can only be found at the negotiating table, not in efforts and scenarios worked out behind the back of the Syrian government and the international community," he said, without elaborating.

The two-day talks are the first time the three foreign powers most deeply involved in Syria's seven-year war have met together since Iran and Israel became embroiled in a spat over reported cross-border military strikes last week.

It is also the first meeting of the three sides since US President Donald Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this month in a move further complicating the regional picture.

A Syrian rebel delegation was expected to arrive late on Monday ahead of Tuesday's plenary session, according to Kazakhstan's foreign ministry.

The United Nations envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura was also present at the talks.

- Iran-Russia 'excellent cooperation' -

The multi-sided conflict that has killed more than 350,000 people took a new turn last week after Israel and Iran became embroiled in a dispute over reported cross-border strikes.

Israel claims it struck dozens of Iranian targets inside Syria on Thursday in response to a salvo of rockets fired by Iranian forces into the occupied Golan Heights.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow on Monday.

Zarif said he was "seeking assurances" from the backers of the country's nuclear deal after the United States pulled out earlier this month triggering broad international condemnation and fresh fears for the region.

After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement" in comments reported by the Iranian ISNA news agency.

Iran's top diplomat had already visited Beijing and was later heading to Brussels as part of Tehran's bid to salvage the deal.

Since negotiations on Syria in Astana began at the beginning of last year, they have mostly focused on attempts to keep Syrian regime forces and their rebel opponents at arm's length.

But any limited achievements in reducing government-rebel hostilities were put into reverse gear in February when regime forces allied with Moscow and Tehran began a devastating assault on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that was under rebel control at the time.

On Friday, Syrian state media and The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor both said that the last rebel groups had exited towns close to the capital.

Their departure means that militants from the Islamic State group fighting on the outskirts of Damascus are now the main challenge to government control over the capital and its surrounding area.Israeli security forces stand guard outside the US consulate in Jerusalem, which will host Washington's new US embassy, on May 13, 2018

Washington's contentious new embassy in Jerusalem is high-profile, but it's no gleaming new building changing the ancient city's skyline.

Instead, Ambassador David Friedman will set up shop in existing consular offices in the leafy middle-class Arnona neighbourhood on the city's southern edge for the near to mid-term.

Eventually, a purpose-designed embassy will be planned and built, according to the US State Department.

"Initially, the interim embassy in Arnona will contain office space for the ambassador and a small staff," a US official told AFP, declining to give further details.

"The ambassador will continue to divide his time between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the initial phases of the embassy move, as this is a multi-year process."

So far around $400,000 has been spent on upgrades to the building, a US embassy spokeswoman said.

US President Donald Trump will not attend the inaugural event, but Washington will be represented by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, senior White House aide Jared Kushner.

A worker puts up a road sign indicating the way to the new US embassy in Jerusalem on May 7, 2018

The foreign diplomatic corps has not been invited as the event is considered a bilateral one, the embassy spokeswoman said.

Trump's unilateral decision delighted Israelis and enraged Palestinians, who want to make the eastern, mainly Palestinian, part of the city the capital of their future state and say that Trump's decision ignores their demands.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat says the city will name a small roundabout adjacent to the embassy as "Trump Square".

"Naming this square in honour of the president is our way of showing our love and respect for the president and the American people," he said in a statement.

The question of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat has called for diplomats, "civil society organisations, and religious authorities to boycott the inauguration."

"Those who attend the ceremony will be sending an ominous message, a message that they encourage flagrant violations of international law and (of) the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people," he said.

The building, which opened to the public in 2010, houses consular operations including American citizen and visa services.

Those functions "will continue at the Arnona facility without interruption, as part of the embassy," the US official said.

The modern, sleekly designed building is about a mile from the east Jerusalem Palestinian neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber, home to several perpetrators of militant attacks -- including one in 2015 that killed two Israelis and a US-Israeli dual national.

Security at the US facility has been visibly beefed up of late, with security guards permanently on guard on the street outside and several Israeli border police jeeps parked nearby.

Last week, street signs in the neighbourhood were switched to read "US Embassy" in Hebrew, Arabic and English, replacing signs saying "US Consulate."

On social media, the US embassy updated its Twitter handle to @usembassyjlm.New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford are expecting their first child in June

New Zealand's pregnant Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday revealed her government's plans for running the country after she gives birth and takes six weeks maternity leave.

Ardern, 37, said she will continue working as close as possible to her due date of June 17 and then hand over power to her deputy Winston Peters.

As acting prime minister Peters will look after the day-to-day running of government, although Ardern said she will be consulted on significant issues.

"I'll still be receiving cabinet papers so I imagine it will be dialogue both ways," she told reporters.

"I may from time to time call the acting prime minister and he may at times chose to call me."

Ardern, whose centre-left government won office late last year, will be the first New Zealand leader to give birth while in office, and only the second in the world.

New Zealand's deputy premier, seated here next to PM Jacinda Ardern, will be acting leader during her maternity leave

Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had her second child while in office in 1990 but resumed work almost immediately.

Asked how it felt to be the world's first elected leader to take maternity leave, Ardern responded: "Ask me after I give birth."

She said the power-sharing arrangement with Peters was the same as that currently used when she is out of the country on official duties, "only slightly longer".

"Broadly speaking, the deputy prime minister will exercise the function and powers of the prime minister in consultation with me if appropriate," she said.

On the campaign trail, Ardern had pushed back against questions about whether she intended to start a family, saying pregnancy should not affect a woman's career opportunities.

After the announcement that she was expecting a child, she said it would not impact her ability to do her job, telling reporters: "I'm pregnant, not incapacitated."The compound of the United States consulate in Jerusalem, which will host the new US embassy, is pictured on May 11, 2018

When the United States opens its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday it will be the most high-profile diplomatic inauguration in the holy city, but not the first nor the last.

Several countries, mainly African and Latin American, have previously had their ambassadors based in Jerusalem and some are expected to return.

After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Ivory Coast, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Kenya severed relations with Israel in protest and closed the doors of their embassies in Jerusalem.

They later renewed relations but moved their missions to Tel Aviv.

In 1980 Israel enacted a law declaring Jerusalem, including the mainly Palestinian eastern zone, its "complete and united" capital.

The United Nations Security Council branded the move illegal and adopted a resolution calling on "those states that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions".

The Netherlands, Haiti and several Latin American countries complied.

Costa Rica and El Salvador returned to Jerusalem in 1984, but left again in 2006.

In the wake of Trump's announcement on December 6, some at least are heading back -- and Israel is hoping for more.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has said his country's embassy will move to Jerusalem on May 16, and Paraguay's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it would follow suit.

The Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement that Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes would attend the opening ceremony, which would take place "by the end of the month".

- Eastern Europeans weigh move -

A woman holds a banner in Jerusalem on May 13, 2018, as Israeli nationalist settlers celebrate the Jerusalem Day in the Old City

Romania's government, supported by the speaker of its parliament, has adopted a draft proposal to move its embassy, which would make it the first European Union member to do so.

But Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who has frequently clashed with the government, opposes the move in the absence of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, and has called for Prime Minister Viorica Dancila's resignation.

On a visit to Jerusalem last month, Dancila acknowledged that at this stage she did not have "support of all parties as we would wish" to carry out the embassy move.

Czech President Milos Zeman has said he too would like to see his country's embassy transferred to Jerusalem.

He did not reveal any firm plan, however, and the government has only announced the reopening of its honorary consulate in Jerusalem and the establishment of a Czech cultural centre in the city.

On the other side of coin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas his country would not move its Tel Aviv embassy to Jerusalem, official Palestinian media reported.

The EU is sticking firmly to the international community's decades-long position that sovereignty in Jerusalem can only be decided by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Shortly after the Trump announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Brussels for talks with EU foreign ministers.

"I believe that all or most of the European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem," he told them, earning a chilly response from the bloc's foreign policy head Federica Mogherini.

"He can keep his expectations for others, because from the European Union member states' side this move will not come," she said.A Palestinian holds his national flag as black smoke billowing from burning tyres during mass protests and clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on May 14, 2018

Palestinians followed through with their vow to protest massively along the Gaza border Monday with tens of thousands demonstrating and 37 killed by Israeli fire as clashes erupted over the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The death toll made it the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war.

The 37, including a 14-year-old, were shot dead by Israeli forces as clashes broke out at five points along the Gaza border hours before the opening of the embassy.

More than 900 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, the health ministry in Gaza said, with the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate saying eight journalists were among them.

The Israeli army said that more than 35,000 people were involved in the protests and clashes.

It accused Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of leading a "terrorist operation under the cover of masses of people".

The Palestinian Authority government based in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, accused Israel of carrying out a "terrible massacre".

Palestinians threw stones, rolled burning tyres towards the border and tried to approach the fence to damage it and potentially break through, with Israeli snipers firing from the other side.

Bilal Fasayfes, 31, was getting on a free bus to the border with his wife and two children in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces near the Gaza Strip border on May 14, 2018

"If half the people die we won't care," he said.

"We will keep going so the other half can live with dignity."

- 'Remove the embassy' -

Israeli warplanes also struck a Hamas base close to the border, the army said, saying forces had come under fire.

The army also said it killed three Palestinians seeking to plant an explosive device.

An Israeli drone drops tear gas canisters on Palestinian protesters during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on May 14, 2018

Hamas leaders had backed attempts to break through the border fence during the protest.

The protests were against the transfer of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

Demonstrators are also calling for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation to be allowed to return to their homes now inside Israel.

The embassy was to be inaugurated at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).

Palestinians have been infuriated by US President Donald Trump's December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital as they consider the eastern part of the city their capital.

More than 91 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests and clashes began along the Gaza border on March 30.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence

Palestinians walk past closed shops in Gaza City on May 14, 2018 during a general strike against the US embassy move to Jerusalem

In Khan Yunis, groups of masked young men, some carrying wooden bats, walked between shops forcing them to close to respect a general strike.

Muataz al-Najjar, 18, who was wounded four times in the last seven weeks, once from a bullet and the others from gas cannisters, said he hoped to break through the fence.

"We will return and the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv will be prevented."

East of Gaza City, Umm Saab Habib, 60, said she was taking part "to tell Trump to remove the embassy from Jerusalem and we are returning to Jerusalem".

At Shifa Hospital, where doctors say they are running low on crucial supplies and being forced to discharge patients early to make space for the next wave, a large tent was erected in front of the emergency room.

Faris Abu Hajaras, 50, said his family was from Jaffa, now within Israel, but he had never been there. He is a builder but said Israel's blockade of Gaza meant there was no work.

"We will stay peaceful with our hands like this," he said, lifting them to the sky. "But death comes from God."Sharif has sparked a firestorm with a newspaper interview

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has sparked a firestorm at home and in India after suggesting Pakistani militants were behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks, with the National Security Council slamming his remarks on Monday.

The former premier approached what is seen as a red line in the country by touching on criticism of Pakistan's armed forces, especially their alleged use of proxies in India, in the interview with Dawn newspaper published over the weekend.

"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Sharif told Pakistan's leading English daily, referring to stalled court cases against several suspects.

The Mumbai attacks left 166 people dead and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

The carnage played out on live television around the world as commandos battled the heavily armed gunmen, who over three days detonated explosives and gunned down civilians across the port city.

Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba stands accused of masterminding the attacks. India has long said there is evidence that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved but Islamabad denies the charge.

Sharif's interview ignited controversy on both sides of the border, with Pakistani politicians deriding his remarks as unpatriotic while Indian media portrayed the interview as an admission of Pakistan's role in the attacks.

Following its publication, Pakistan's powerful army announced the meeting of the National Security Council -- which consists of top military brass and key cabinet ministers -- to discuss Sharif's comments.

"The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions," said the council.

Hours after the council's meeting, Sharif doubled down on his position, saying Pakistan was being isolated internationally due to its reputation.

"I am being labelled as a traitor because I care for Pakistan. I said Pakistan is being internationally isolated and I said so because I felt it," Sharif told thousands of supporters at a rally in the northwestern disrict of Buner.

Since being ousted by the Supreme Court last July, Sharif and his supporters have repeatedly suggested they are the victims of a conspiracy driven by the military and the courts to damage their party.

Pakistan has long been accused of playing a "double game" by supporting militant groups for its own strategic ends, particularly in India-controlled Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Sharif's comments have put more pressure on the powerful military, which is also grappling with a growing grassroots movement out of the tribal region on the border with Afghanistan. Its leaders accuse the armed forces of supporting the Afghan Taliban.Ammunition is left on a bed inside an army-linked militia post in Muse a day after the clashes

Two Chinese nationals were among 19 people killed in northern Myanmar on Saturday when ethnic rebels attacked security force posts and a casino in an area bordering China, the foreign ministry said.

Several rockets and stray bullets fell on Chinese territory, it added, and more than 300 refugees have fled to China after the deadliest flare-up in the area in recent years.

"China is highly concerned about the armed conflicts that took place in northern Myanmar on May 12," ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular press briefing Monday.

"According to what we have learned, as of now, the conflict has caused the death of two Chinese nationals in Myanmar, and three rockets and some stray bullets have fallen into Chinese territory."

China has also offered temporary shelter to "more than 300 Myanmar border residents who entered China to flee the violence", Lu said, giving no details of how the Chinese were killed.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army, one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north, said it launched the operation on Saturday.

"China demands that the parties to the conflict stop the fire immediately, take all measures to prevent further escalation of the situation... and prevent incidents that sabotage the peace and stability in the China-Myanmar border region," Lu said.

Saturday's attack was launched outside the town of Muse in Shan state, which is situated at a crossing and major trading post between Myanmar and China's Yunnan province.

Clashes in the border region in early 2017 sent more than 20,000 Myanmar refugees scrambling across the border into Yunnan, raising tensions between the neighbours.

Rights activists say clashes in northern Myanmar have intensified since January as the international community focuses on the unfolding Rohingya crisis in the west of the country, where the Myanmar army stands accused of an ethnic cleansing campaign.Newly opened Youth Public Research Center social organization started operating in Artsakh on Monday.

May 14, 2018, 15:53 Youth Public Research Center social organization starts operating in Artsakh

STEPANAKERT, MAY 14, ARTSAKHPRESS:Head of the Youth Public Research Center social organization, Hovik Avanesov told about the aforementioned during the meeting with youths and reporters at Stepanakert Mesrop Mashtots University held on Monday.

He told ArtsakhPress that they came up with the idea of founding the organization back in 2016. After working on the organization's statute and strategy of its activity, Youth Public Research Center social organization was registered by the State Register of Legal Entities of the Artsakh Ministry of Justice as a legal structure on January 10, 2018.

''Our aim is to contribute to the national ideology, involve the youth of Artsakh, Armenia and Diaspora to carry out a range of cultural, scientific and sport projects. In cooperation with the organizations of Artsakh, Armenia and Diaspora, we will start the implementation of the projects from bordering communities,'' Hovik Avanesov said, adding that the organization has some 21 members.

He also informed that specialists in various spheres form both Armenia and Artsakh are included in the organization. They mainly deal with regional issues, investigate international situations and make various analyses.Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader Moqtada al-Sadr (C-L) outside a polling station in the central city of Najaf on May 12, 2018

Iraqi political firebrands, nationalist cleric Moqtada Sadr and pro-Iranian Hadi al-Ameri, are two former militia chieftains pitching themselves as outsiders ready to fight graft and boost services.

Both look set to play key roles in determining the next leader of their war-scarred nation after their rival political alliances appeared to surge at national polls.

Sadr, 44, comes from a long line of Shiite holy men, and is well known to Washington after his fighters battled US troops in Iraq following the 2003 invasion.

Sidelined for years since his Mahdi Army militia was officially dismantled, he has reinvented himself as an anti-corruption crusader -- linking up in an unlikely union with Iraq's communists.

Ameri, 63, heads the rival Conquest Alliance made up of former members of the mainly Shiite paramilitary units he led in the fight against the Islamic State group.

How the two men shape up as kingmakers is yet to be seen -- with bitter foes the US and Iran sparring for influence as international tensions spiral.

Sadr, viewed as a populist and nationalist, has hit out at both Washington and Tehran -- with his jubilant supporters chanting "Iran out" in videos circulated online.

In an eye-catching move the black-robed cleric visited Iran's fierce rival, Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, last year in a bid to bolster ties with Riyadh as it looks to get more involved in Iraq.

- 'Didn't happen by chance' -

Hadi al-Ameri speaks during a campaign rally in the Iraqi city of Basra on April 21, 2018

Running counter is former transport minister Ameri, who at one stage fought for Iran against Iraq's ex-dictator Saddam Hussein in a war in the 1980s.

A self-described friend of key Iranian commanders, he has long enjoyed support from Tehran for his Badr organisation.

The Badr became the best trained fighting force in the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Units) that emerged to fight IS alongside Iraq's regular troops.

While he has lambasted Washington in the past, it remains to be seen how strongly Ameri could push for US forces who helped topple IS to now get out of Iraq.

US firepower ended up aiding his fighters and the battlefield entente might have softened his stance.

The victory over the jihadists -- announced five months ago -- came at a bloody price for the Hashed.

But it gave Ameri the prestige and platform to make a pitch to take the helm in the country.

Since their weapons fell silent after the defeat of IS, the group's resources have been turned to more constructive ends -- mending infrastructure and offering basic services.

After 15 violence-wracked years of chaos since the fall of Saddam both Sadr and Ameri have benefited from widespread discontent at an Iraqi elite seen as mired in graft and sectarianism.

While both are veterans well-known to Iraqis, their promise of change appeared to resonate with the 44.5 percent of voters who bothered to head to the polls.

"This didn't happen by chance, this came for the sake of proving the rejection of the policy of corruption and the corrupt," Jabra al-Tai, a candidate for Sadr's Marching towards Reform, told AFP.Journalists gather around a branch of the luxury jewellery store Nirav Modi in Mumbai in February

Indian investigators filed the first charges Monday in a huge fraud case involving billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and the state-run Punjab National Bank, officials and reports said.

A spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) confirmed to AFP that a charge sheet had been filed in a Mumbai court over the alleged $1.8 billion scam, which has shaken India's corporate world.

Charges were laid against Modi and several senior bank officials over the alleged fraud, according to officials cited by the Press Trust of India (PTI).

The news agency said those charged included Punjab National Bank's former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, who is now CEO of Allahabad Bank.

The CBI is investigating allegations that Modi and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, a diamond merchant, defrauded Punjab National Bank, India's second-largest state-run bank, of 2.8 billion rupees ($43.8 million).

This figure is said to be just a part of the total losses.

The Punjab National Bank (PNB) said in February that Modi and Choksi had defrauded it by raising credit with international branches of other Indian banks, using illegal guarantees provided by rogue PNB employees.

The federal investigation agency has arrested 19 people for enabling the defrauding of the bank with forged documents. Modi and Choksi are still on the run and believed to be abroad.

Modi, the third generation of his family to go into the diamond trade, is worth $1.73 billion according to Forbes, placing him 85th on India's rich list.

The 47-year-old's high-end eponymous Nirav Modi brand has stores in several of the world's major cities.

India's government is trying to reduce the crippling debts of the country's embattled state banks, including the Punjab National Bank.

It recently announced a $32-billion recapitalisation plan to help them clean up their books ahead of the general election in 2019.China's aviation industry has been hit with its second emergency landing in a month

A plane carrying 128 people made an emergency landing in southwest China on Monday after a cockpit window broke at 32,000 feet, sucking the co-pilot partly out of the aircraft, authorities and the pilot said.

The Airbus A319 of Sichuan Airlines was bound for Lhasa in Tibet from the southwestern city of Chongqing when the drama began. The flight was diverted to Chengdu in Sichuan province.

"The windshield burst suddenly and a loud noise was heard, and when I looked to the side, I saw that the co-pilot was already halfway out of the window. Luckily his seatbelt was tied," pilot Liu Chuanjian told the Chengdu Business Daily.

"Everything was flying about in the cockpit, a lot of equipment was working badly and the noise was so loud that you could not hear the radio anymore."

The plane was vibrating strongly and it was impossible to read the instruments, said Liu, who was hailed as a hero on social media.

Despite these difficulties and the intense cold, the pilot managed to slow the aircraft from its original speed of about 800-900 kph and land in about 20 minutes.

It was unclear how badly the co-pilot, who suffered facial and waist injuries, had been hurt. A female flight attendant was slightly injured during the landing.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement that part of the cockpit window broke as the plane was flying over Chengdu.

The cause of the incident was under investigation, it said.

Images posted on the official People's Daily newspaper online appear to show a cockpit window completely missing.

A video shows oxygen masks deployed, and flight attendants walking up and down the aisle to give passengers instructions on how to disembark.

It was the second emergency landing in China in less than a month.

On April 15 an Air China flight was diverted after a man briefly took hostage a crew member he was threatening with a fountain pen.US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018

The ceremony to inaugurate the United States' controversial embassy in Jerusalem began on Monday after deadly clashes along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel earlier in the day.

The ceremony moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem began with the US national anthem.

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman then spoke and President Donald Trump was given a standing ovation when he mentioned him.

Friedman referred to the embassy's location as "Jerusalem, Israel" drawing wild applause.

Earlier in the day, violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border, leaving 37 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds wounded in the conflict's bloodiest day in years.

Tens of thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan led the Washington delegation at the inauguration that also included Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Some 800 guests were attending the ceremony.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.A Bangladesh Border Guard lays out small bags of the drug "yaba" recovered from a bus in April

Bangladesh has arrested 1,700 suspected drug traffickers in a major sweep as authorities try to curb a booming trade in methamphetamine along the country's borders.

Police urged drug dealers to surrender their drug stashes -- most notably of "yaba", a popular street pill made up of caffeine and methamphetamine -- or face the full force of the law.

Of those arrested in a little over a week, more than 1,400 had already been charged with drug trafficking by local courts.

"I advise the retailers, dealers and smugglers to abandon their remaining stocks near our camps. That would be good for them," said Benazir Ahmed, director general of the Rapid Action Battalion police unit which mainly carried out the raids.

"This is a menace and we hope we'll overcome it together."

Bangladesh has been struggling to control a huge surge in yaba crossing its southeastern border from Myanmar, where the cheap pills are manufactured by the hundreds of millions.

Officials say the bulk of the drugs entering Bangladesh last year were brought by Rohingya refugees fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar.

The drugs were being stashed on fishing boats bringing the persecuted civilians into Bangladesh. Some refugees were being used as mules, officials say.

Authorities last year seized a record 40 million yaba pills but said an estimated 250-300 million others managed to enter the market.

This year nine million yaba tablets were seized in less than three months as the refugee influx reached its peak. Nearly two million pills were discovered in a single haul.

A director at the narcotics control department predicted that $600 million worth of yaba could be sold on Bangladesh's streets this year.

Authorities want to elevate yaba to a Class A banned substance, meaning traffickers would face the death penalty instead of life behind bars.US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claps as Ivanka Trump unveils a plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018

The United States officially opened its deeply controversial Jerusalem embassy on Monday in a ceremony that included a video address by President Donald Trump.

Trump told the ceremony that the United States remained committed to reaching a lasting Middle East peace though the move of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has provoked outrage.

A plaque and seal was unveiled at the ceremony officially opening the embassy.

Earlier in the day, violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border, leaving 37 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds wounded in the conflict's bloodiest day in years.

Tens of thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman also spoke at the ceremony in Jerusalem and Trump was given a standing ovation when he mentioned him.

Friedman referred to the embassy's location as "Jerusalem, Israel" drawing wild applause.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan led the Washington delegation at the inauguration that also included Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Some 800 guests were attending the ceremony.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.Indian police deploy after deadly clashes during local elections in West Bengal state

Twelve people were killed Monday in clashes between rival political groups vying for village council seats in eastern India, police said.

Ballot boxes were set ablaze and gunshots fired in West Bengal state, which has a history of fractious politics and polling violence.

Anuj Sharma, a senior state police officer, said violence began almost as soon as voting got underway in the "panchayat" elections, the most local tier of governance in India.

"Crude bombs were found near several polling booths in the districts," Sharma said.

Twelve people were killed, he said, while five local journalists were injured trying to cover the melee.

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party blamed West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress Party for the deadly clashes.

The Trinamool party, led by firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, sought to play down the violence.

"Every death is a tragedy," Derek O'Brien, a Trinamool leader, wrote on Twitter.

"Yes, few dozen incidents. Say, 40 out of 58000 booths. What's (the) percentage?"

More than 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and neighbouring states were deployed to oversee security for the polls.Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was praised for leading the fight against jihadists but appears to have failed to convince voters he is serious about stamping out corruption

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi won plaudits for overseeing the war to defeat the Islamic State group -- but his failure to beat corruption appears to have cost him at the polls.

Many were dubious when the little-heralded Shiite politician came to power in 2014 as the jihadists' rampage across the country placed Iraq's very existence in doubt.

As Baghdad clawed back territory in a bloody campaign -- rebuilding its shattered forces -- his stock began rising both at home and abroad.

In the run-up to elections Saturday, the stocky 66-year-old was seen as the frontrunner to claim a new four-year term.

But with the results coming in, it seems voters punished him for his failures on another front -- failing to live up to a vow to tackle Iraq's endemic graft.

"If he had kept his promise then he would have got a second mandate with the support of all the people," shopkeeper Amer al-Ameri told AFP in Baghdad.

"He missed a golden opportunity."

- 'I will, I will' -

Widely nicknamed "I will, I will" by a populace long tired with the empty pledges of out-of-touch rulers, Abadi could never shake his reliance on Iraq's old political elite.

"He was not brave enough to tackle the symbols of corruption, despite the major popular support," said journalist Kazem Ajrich.

Abadi fashioned his own Victory Alliance coalition for the parliamentary poll but drew heavily from the ranks of his establishment Dawa party, which has dominated Iraq.

"He chose to surround himself with Dawa people," said political analyst Hisham al-Hashimi.

Infighting between Abadi and his predecessor as premier Nuri al-Maliki -- who heads Dawa -- seriously dented the reputation of what has been the preeminent force in Iraqi politics.

Despite railing against Maliki -- widely reviled for losing ground to IS and stirring sectarianism -- Abadi failed to really distance himself.

"The list of candidates Abadi put forward was full of people who have been in power for 15 years and were accused of having done nothing during that time," said Hashimi.

Instead of choosing Abadi's list voters apparently either opted to stay home -- with turnout at a record low of 44.5 percent -- or opt for candidates who portrayed themselves as anti-establishment.

Tackling graft was one of the key demands in one of the most corrupt country's in the world.

Whoever becomes Iraq's next prime minister will face a giant rebuilding job after jihadists were beaten back at heavy cost

But it was under Abadi -- who has an engineering degree from Britain's Manchester University -- that an amnesty was passed allowing tainted officials to escape jail.

- Economic toll -

Seen as a compromise figure, Abadi has balanced off key players the United States and Iran and was widely favoured by the international community.

He invited a US-led coalition to help roll back the jihadists and kept up good ties with Tehran.

The complex arithmetic and Byzantine machination of the Iraqi political system mean that he could still emerge again as a consensus pick for PM -- albeit seriously weakened.

Abadi's record on the economy failed to convince Iraqis as the country embarks on the mammoth task of rebuilding after the war against IS.

"His decision to reduce the salaries of civil servants despite a rise in oil prices and privatise the electricity sector known for corruption played into this," said commentator Mahmoud al-Dawud.Officials from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange inked the deal to acquire 25 percent of the Dhaka Stock Exchange's 1.8 billion shares

Bangladesh's main stock exchange signed an agreement Monday selling a quarter of the bourse to a Chinese consortium, an official said, formally rejecting a rival bid from regional ally India.

Officials from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange inked the deal to acquire 25 percent of the Dhaka Stock Exchange's (DSE) 1.8 billion shares, the bourse's spokesman Shafiqur Rahman told AFP.

"The finance minister was the chief guest at the signing ceremony," he said.

The Chinese consortium offered 21 taka ($0.25) per share, around $122 million, during the tender process and pledged additional technical support worth nearly $37 million.

The National Stock Exchange of India made a lower offer of 15 taka per share.

Local media reported that the Mumbai-based NSE tried to pressure the Dhaka bourse into accepting its bid.

Speculation mounted after Bangladesh's securities regulator asked the bourse to reconsider its decision to approve the Chinese offer over that of its powerful neighbour India.

The intervention by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission earned a sharp rebuke from corruption watchdog Transparency International.

The DSE approved the Chinese offer for a second time in February. The securities regulator eventually accepted the proposal.

DSE Chairman Abul Hashem said the Chinese bid was selected after "rigorous scrutiny".

"Our focus was a long-term strategic relationship for a sustainable development of our capital market. After a rigorous scrutiny, we selected the Consortium of Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange," he said.by Fady Noun

After 10 years, Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, Eastern Orthodox representatives meet on the theme "United in mission and vision". The warning from the patriarchs: "In the East, either we are united or we will cease to exist. A century ago, Christians represented 25% of the population of the Middle East, now they are no more than 4%. Need to avoid fear. Collaborate with non-violent Muslims to build a modern state based on citizenship and inclusion.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - The greatest service that can be given to the Arabs is to understand and help them understand themselves. Today the destiny of a whole civilization is at stake: a civilization that seeks, that tries to adapt to a 21st century that invades it from every part, from a political, economic, but above all cultural, point of view, and that it must accept in selective way protecting its precious faith in God, which constitutes its identity, faced with a West that has built its contemporary features on human rationality, the non-relevance of God in public affairs, namely "the death of God".

With the defeat of the caliphate in the aftermath of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Arab Islam also lost the historical basis of its eschatological hope. Its attempt to regain it is natural. But this multifaceted search will remain unfinished until a critical approach of the historical basis of this hope is developed, consolidated and approved by a sufficiently large part of the Umma [the Islamic community]. Several Arab-Islamic foundations and institutions are moving in this direction, such as the Azhar, the King Abdallah center for intercultural and religious dialogue, the foundation of Arab thought, etc.

Being a valid and acceptable interlocutor of Islam in the Middle East means facing Islam in its two dimensions, material and spiritual. It is necessary for the Arab Muslim to perceive the empathy that the Church leaders have for them and their civilization. It is not enough to bring them Christ in a cardboard box labeled Caritas containing rice and sugar. What gives the Christian merit for a Muslim is what challenges the noblest part, the highest level: this thirst for abandonment to God who lives within us, in front of whom great seekers of God have bowed like Louis Massignon, Charles de Foucauld, Jacques Berque or Youakim Moubarak.

These are some of the considerations raised by the Middle East Council of Churches (CEMO), gathered on the theme "United in mission and vision", after the opening of the annual assembly, quite unusual, last May 8, at the convent Notre-Dame du Puits, in Bqennaya. Unusual because it is held at the end of a painful absence of about ten years, which the CEMO is attempting to courageously overcome, in search of a new impetus.

Speaking at the beginning, CEMO secretary general Souraya Bechealany, and member of the Catholic family of the Council, which includes four other churches (Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox), reminds those present of an injunction from the assembly of the patriarchs of the East in the early 1990s: " In the East, either we are united or we will cease to exist ". In an echo of the intuition of Fr. Jean Corbon on the Church of the Arabs, Bechealany reminds the members of the assembly of the primordial importance of ecumenism and unity for a full and complete effectiveness of interreligious dialogue and Christian witnesss.

The emptying of the East of its Christians

The presentation was followed by three exhibitions by George Sabra, president of the Near East School of Theology (evangelical), by Fr. Gaby Hachem, professor at the Usek faculty of theology and editor of the "Proche-Oriente chretien" magazine, and former Minister of Culture, Tarek Mitri, director of the ISUB Institute Issam Fares [American University of Beirut], all on the theme "Reflections on the current situation of Christians in the Middle East". The three interventions attempt to trace, each in their own field, the ecclesial, socio-political and geopolitical frontiers within which a significant action of the CEMO should take place.

George Sabra, in his presentation, shows that of the prophetic injunction quoted by Bechealany at the beginning, especially the second part - "or we will cease to be" - seems to have come true: Iraq has lost three-quarters of its Christian population; Syria is on track to do the same, and economic conditions will do the rest. "Is there still room for Christians in the Middle East?" Asks the theologian in one of those rhetorical questions that already contains the answer. This is a pertinent question, because in a century the Christians who represented 25% of the population of the Middle East are now no more than 4%.

In his speech, Sabra recalls the twilight warning of Jean-Pierre Valognes's work: Vie et Mort des Chretiens d'Orient (Life and Death of Eastern Christians). Monsignor Georges Saliba, Syro-Orthodox bishop of Beirut iwas present - with other Maronite and Orthodox bishops - to confirm this indirectly. Msgr. Saliba actually believes that the Christians of the East, including those in Lebanon, have one or two decades at most before they will lose the critical mass that would allow them to weigh on political decisions.

But not intimidated at all by these predictions, the Prof. Sabra concluded his presentation by stating that the Christian mission does not rest on the figures, but on the real witness that the Churches can offer.

The principle of synodality

In a strong and passionate prayer, Fr. Hachem spoke of the hope he has invested in CEMO, an incarnation of the principle of synodality, an ecclesial and ecumenical sanctuary of dialogue with Islam in this part of the world. This professor of ecclesiology deplores "the superficiality and unconsciousness" that - in a transitory way - have prevented believers in recent years to listen to "what the Spirit says to the Churches" and to respond to it; and that slowly transformed it into an NGO ... what it is not, and should not be.

The CEMO must equip itself with an "united vision", insists Fr. Hachem, who risked going a step to far: "This goes much further than the date of the common Easter ...". Of course, of course, but why have the religious leaders of our time not granted the people of God in the East the common date of Easter, which they have been asking for decades? Would not this be the most basic ecumenical decision, waiting for the great theological agreements on primacy, which feed so many human susceptibilities?

Mitri: resist fear

In his exposition, Tarek Mitri, beyond the indispensable development of the historical context on the "democratic transition" missed by the Arab Spring, invited the Churches to sobriety of vision, indispensable for adapting their discourses and their actions to the different situations that they cross.

Next to the Muslim Brotherhood, theses in their thirst for power, next to the Salafi quietism hypnotized by a moral of religious violence anchored in the 7th century of the Christian era, there is  according to Mitri - the immense mass of Muslims aware that violence emerged from Islamist matrix does not represent them; the immense community of believers that a long familiarity with Christianity has opened up to the peaceful acceptance of the other in their difference.

The former minister therefore invited the Churches of the CEMO to take account of these differences, resisting the temptation of amalgam and continuing to play the role of transmitter of culture and civilization that has been theirs since the beginning of Islam; putting the future of the Arab world in the hands of the Muslims themselves, entrusting them to their ability to build a modern state based on citizenship and inclusion.

Mitri also asks Christians to resist the reflection of the fear that affects some leading to their acceptance of dictatorial regimes as the only alternative to Islamism. If disappointment is sometimes encountered, disappointment - he explains in practice - is why we cannot [calculate] the economics of the time necessary for the transformation of mentalities and education, while the tendency to crumble and regression, or to closure within a religious identity, seems to prosper.

On the afternoon of May 10, members of the executive committee and CEMO partners' assembly, who came from a number of Western countries (Germany, Canada, United States, Denmark, Great Britain, Finland and Cyprus) were received by the Head of State, President Michel Aoun (see photo).US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US President's daughter Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018

Reactions to the opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday reflected the city's ethnic and religious divide, with Israelis jubilant and Palestinians seemingly resigned.

About a mile from the embassy building, the Palestinian neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber was peaceful although it has seen violent confrontations between its inhabitants and Israeli security forces in the past.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv "is not going to affect the lives of residents, but it will have a political impact because it will strengthen Israel and incite intolerance," neighbourhood leader Hussein Iwesiat told AFP.

"The (Israeli) occupation will be encouraged to become more violent," he said.

For Palestinians, the order given by President Donald Trump to break with decades of US policy, recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the embassy there is deeply provocative.

In east Jerusalem's walled Old City all was quiet on Monday and shops were open as usual, but there was frustration beneath the calm surface.

"I feel insulted as an Arab, humiliated by everything that happens," shopworker Ali Jaber, 53, said.

"But what can we do?"

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (C-L) claps as US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump unveils an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018

Sitting amid the colourful clothes in her shop in an Old City bazaar, 32-year-old Nihad Abu Sneineh said she does not believe that demonstrations are the answer.

"If there is ever mass protest the Israeli police will not be handing out gifts," she said.

"They will beat the demonstrators and put them in prison," she added. "They even put children in prison."

Working in a shop across the alley, Hamed, 25, said that Israeli joy over the move could actually reflect anxiety.

"When a house does not belong to you, you feel obliged to tell everyone that it's really yours," he said.

- Embassy 'strengthens security' -

Just beyond the Old City walls in the commercial downtown of west Jerusalem, Israeli and US flags flutter in the breeze.

Elisa Rake, a 31-year-old mother of two and a Parisian immigrant to Israel who has lived in the divided holy city for 12 years, has mixed feelings about Trump's decision.

"It's a special day, but I would have preferred the embassy to be moved by a guy who is not a homophobic racist," she said.

But she does not fear violent protest as a consequence.

"The presence of this embassy in Jerusalem can only strengthen security," she said.

Israeli police detain a demonstrator outside the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018

Nearby, people sit in the sunshine at cafe terraces or stroll between the shops.

"I am sceptical about the future but American support for Israel is important," said Yaakov Cohen, who immigrated to Israel from the United States 25 years ago.

"If words have meaning then actions have even more, so maybe it's a historic day," he said.

Avraham Binyamin has been selling the kippa skullcaps worn by observant Jews for 37 years.

His merchandise, directed in part at Jewish tourists, includes items bearing the slogan "Trump, Make America Great Again" and portraits of the US president.

"Some worship him, others hate him," said Binyamin, 57.

"Nobody's indifferent, the same goes for his decision," he added.

A neighbouring cold-drink seller looks up from the book of psalms he is reading and points heavenward.

"It is not Trump who decides," he says. "It is only God".As members of President Donald Trump's administration celebrated the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem, deadly unrest raged on Gaza's border with Israel

The White House on Monday declined to criticize Israel's handling of deadly unrest on the Gaza border, instead putting the blame "squarely on Hamas" as senior administration officials attended the opening of the controversial US embassy in Jerusalem.

At least 52 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in clashes prompted in part by fury over Trump's sensitive relocation of the diplomatic mission, whose inauguration went ahead despite the violence.

Though US President Donald Trump did not go to Israel himself, sending his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner as part of a somewhat low-key delegation, he was clearly happy about the fulfillment of his campaign pledge to recognize Jerusalem as its capital.

The Republican president announced the embassy move on December 6, which immediately drew a chorus of international disapproval -- and violent protests.

"Big day for Israel. Congratulations!" Trump said via Twitter.

"We celebrate history in the making," said Vice President Mike Pence. "America stands with Israel!"

But their tweets made no mention of the deadly reality on the ground, and for hours, official Washington remained silent about the bloodshed.

Eventually, in an afternoon press briefing, the White House addressed the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years -- and blamed the fatalities on the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas.

"The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas," White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters.

"Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," he said, adding that "Israel has the right to defend itself."

- 'Proud to celebrate' -

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest of issues in any final status negotiations to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The deadly unrest has sparked an international outcry, and calls by Western nations such as Britain for Israel to use restraint.

The White House was focused elsewhere. In a statement, it stressed how "quickly and efficiently" Trump's vision to relocate the embassy was realized, after several of his predecessors had sided with diplomatic tradition and left the embassy in Tel Aviv.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US is still committed to a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians as the new US embassy opens in Jerusalem, sparking deadly protests in Gaza

Many in the American political class, including top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, applauded Trump's move, widely interpreted as a gesture to his electoral base including evangelicals.

The tone contrasted with images of the bloody Gaza protests occurring less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Jerusalem embassy inauguration ceremony.

In a statement issued after the death toll had exceeded 40, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made no mention of the violence, preferring instead to announce he was "proud to celebrate the opening" of the embassy.

- 'Kushner Plan' -

Kushner, speaking in Jerusalem, addressed the unrest, saying "those provoking violence are part of the problem, and not part of the solution."

US officials have reaffirmed their support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, even saying Trump's embassy decision would help advance resolution of the conflict.

"We remain committed to advancing a lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians," Pompeo said.

US embassy in Jerusalem

Trump, who addressed the embassy opening via video message, had pledged to jumpstart a moribund peace process.

He entrusted the delicate mission to Kushner, his senior aide, who began negotiations with the two sides and was, according to several sources, set to unveil in early 2018 a peace plan that was being drafted in secret.

But the December 6 announcement on Jerusalem essentially froze the negotiations.

Furious Palestinian leaders are now refusing to speak to the American side.

And the "Kushner Plan" has never been presented, leading foreign diplomats to doubt its very existence.

The White House insisted it would release its peace plan in due time, and stressed it would not be derailed by Monday's deaths, which Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned as Israeli "massacres."

"I don't think it hurts the peace plan," Shah said of the violence. "The peace plan will be introduced at the appropriate time."A lawsuit alleges that controlling CBS shareholder Shari Redstone is seeking to force a merger with media rival Viacom on unfavorable terms for CBS

US media giant CBS filed suit Monday, alleging that majority shareholder Shari Redstone is seeking to "force" a merger with rival Viacom on unfavorable terms.

The lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court claims "breaches of fiduciary duty" by Shari Redstone and National Amusements, the holding company created by her father, 94-year-old Sumner Redstone.

CBS is seeking a temporary restraining order "to protect the status quo and to prevent imminent and irreparable harm" from merging CBS and Viacom, two media groups which were split a decade ago by Sumner Redstone.

The lawsuit alleges that Shari Redstone is seeking "to force through a merger of CBS and Viacom on terms that are contrary to the best interests of the public stockholders -- without allowing them any voice on the transaction."

This effort "would subvert the board-approved Special Committee process," evaluating a tie-up of the two firms.

CBS said in February it had established a committee to consider reuniting the two companies, combining CBS with Viacom's networks which include Nickelodeon, MTV, BET and Comedy Central.

The companies previously explored a combination in 2016, but later abandoned the effort.

Shari Redstone, acting on behalf of her father, effectively controls both firms through National Amusements through special voting shares.

CBS has called a special board meeting for Thursday that will consider issuing a dividend that would dilute the voting power of the holding company from 79 percent to 17 percent.

The dividend "would enable the company to operate as an independent, non-controlled company and more fully evaluate strategic alternatives," a CBS statement said.

The lawsuit said Shari Redstone could force a merger by replacing CBS board members.

"If Ms. Redstone can replace Board members or modify the Companys governance documents in the next three days, it is uncertain that the board will be able to protect all stockholders by considering at the next Board meeting whether to take action in response to her threats and breaches of fiduciary duty," the suit alleges.Pablo Picasso's Le Marin has been withdrawn from a Christie's auction of impressionist and modern art after it was "accidentally damaged," the auction house says

A Picasso self-portrait estimated to be worth $70 million and due to go under the hammer in New York on Tuesday, has been "accidentally damaged" and withdrawn from auction, Christie's said.

The 1943 masterpiece called "The Marin" or "The Sailor" had been a highlight of Christie's marquee impressionist and modern evening art sale. According to US media, it belongs to former casino magnate Steve Wynn.

Christie's said the damage happened on Friday "during the final stages of preparation."

"After consultation with the consignor today, the painting has been withdrawn from Christie's May 15 sale to allow the restoration process to begin," it added.

The auction house gave no further details on the incident or the extent of the damage.

In the marketing blitz to accompany the sale, Christie's spoke glowingly of the significance of the work and its importance on the market.

"This is a very, very special Picasso that I've been trying to get forever basically," Loic Gouzer, co-chairman for postwar and contemporary art at Christie's, had told AFP.

Neither would it be Wynn's first Picasso to come a cropper.

In 2006, the billionaire accidentally poked an elbow through Picasso's 1932 "Le Reve," while showing it off to guests in Las Vegas. The painting was refurbished and later reportedly sold for $155 million.

In January, Wynn was hit by accusations from dozens of people in The Wall Street Journal alleging decades of sexual misconduct.

The businessman, who is a political ally of President Donald Trump, denied the allegations and accused his ex-wife Elaine of instigating the accusations as part of a "terrible and nasty lawsuit" seeking a revised divorce settlement.

Last Tuesday, Christie's sold Pablo Picasso's 1905 "Fillette a la corbeille fleurie" ("Young Girl With a Flower Basket") for $115 million, making it the Spanish master's second most expensive work ever sold at auction.It is not uncommon to see women on motorcycles in Pakistan -- but usually they are perched in the dangerous side saddle position behind a male driver

Perched proudly on their brand new pink motorcycles, the recruits take to the road, the latest batch of women to demolish boundaries set for them by men in Pakistan.

It is not uncommon to see women on motorcycles in Pakistan -- but usually they are sat in the dangerous side-saddle position behind a male driver and, often, several other passengers.

A woman straddling a bike to drive it herself is another thing entirely, an image that is still taboo in many parts of the deeply conservative Muslim country, where gender discrimination is routine.

But as part of a wave of women's empowerment movements, the government of Punjab province is running "Women on Wheels", a campaign that has trained scores of women to ride motorbikes in the last two years while raising awareness of gender-based violence and street harassment.

A woman straddling a bike to drive it herself is an image that is still taboo in many parts of deeply conservative Pakistan

The importance of the issue is underscored by recent studies showing that some 75 percent of Pakistani women do not participate in the labour market, mainly due to a lack of transport.

"The aim is to basically empower women for their mobility because economic independence and economic empowerment depends on mobility," Salman Sufi, director general of the Punjab strategic reforms unit, said.

"So we are giving 3,000 bikes, we have trained over 3,500 girls in all of Punjab and this is going to go on until we reach a target of around 10,000 plus."

On Sunday the latest batch of dozens of new riders set out to challenge perceptions in Lahore.

On Sunday the latest batch of dozens of new riders set out to challenge perceptions in Lahore

"We're becoming... independent," rider Nageena Waseem said, adding that their new skills will allow them to do "everything which we want. Otherwise we were dependent on another person."

Activist Nighat Dad said the women were "reclaiming these spaces", adding that it was a "big big win for women today".

"Today is a good day for us," agreed another rider, Tallat Shaheen. "The purpose (is) to bring these girls together... (so) that they be independent and can feel confident and can go and work alongside men."Mukulu has been in detention since 2015 and is accused of crimes against humanity

The Ugandan leader of a shadowy rebel group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo appeared in court Monday on charges of mass murder and crimes against humanity.

Jamil Mukulu, leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), has been in detention since he was arrested in Tanzania in April 2015 and extradited to Uganda later that year.

The ADF is a Ugandan Muslim rebel group whose basic motives and ideology remain unclear but regional governments have alleged links to international jihadist movements.

The start of the pre-trial hearing marks the first time Mukulu has appeared in court since he was charged in July 2015.

In the court precinct Mukulu protested his innocence and blamed the Ugandan government for a series of murders of prominent Muslims that authorities have pinned on the ADF.

"I'm not a murderer. They want to kill us," Mukulu shouted to journalists.

He appeared alongside 34 handcuffed and shackled co-accused who all alleged via their lawyers that they had been tortured while in detention.

The hearing marks the start of a convoluted judicial process at the Ugandan High Court's International Crimes Division - which was specially set up a decade ago to try crimes allegedly committed by the Lords Resistance Army, another rebel group.

The ADF started out in 1989 with the aim of overthrowing Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who was seen as hostile to Muslims. It absorbed other rebel factions in its ranks and started carrying out attacks in 1995.

Forced westwards by the Ugandan army, the group relocated most of its activities to the DRC, finding a lucrative niche in its lawless, resource-rich east.

Its rollcall of crimes includes mass killings and maiming using machetes, the use of child soldiers and rape, according to the UN.

While regional governments and the UN have blamed the ADF for a number of attacks on civilian and military targets, independent researchers say the group is often used as a cover by armed actors with an ulterior motive, including Congolese soldiers.

Kristof Titeca, an academic at the University of Antwerp who specialises in the ADF, is one of several who argue that the group is not responsible for all the violence blamed on them.

"The violence and attacks attributed to the ADF in the DRC have always been part of a very murky situation, in which a variety of armed actors attribute and cover up their actions as 'ADF' actions," he told AFP.A man rides his scooter past a poster of Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr in his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City named after the cleric's assassinated father

In the impoverished stronghold of Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr in Baghdad supporters of the Shiite populist were Monday hopeful for improvements as results put him on top in parliament elections.

Partial vote tallies showed Sadr and his Marching Towards Reform coalition with his allies the communists leading after Saturday's vote -- making him a key powerbroker in deciding the next government.

Across the sprawling Sadr City district -- named after Moqtada's father, assassinated spiritual leader Mohamed Sadeq Sadr -- streets are rutted after years of neglect and litter spills out of dustbins.

"Today we finally have hope," unemployed father-of-three Ghassan Matar told AFP. "People are tired, they have had enough."

Looking around at the lamentable state of the neighbourhood he insisted that residents just wanted the basics.

"Here we are poor and we ask for nothing more than public services. We have never had a full day of electricity."

While the surge by Sadr's alliance has blindsided many, this apolitical man in his forties said it hadn't taken him as surprise.

Protests have been held across Iraq by Shiite parties and communists since mid-2015, calling for an end to the corruption that has stymied Iraq for the 15 years since the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Sadr tapped into the public wrath to fuel a political comeback following years on the sidelines after his militia battled Washington's troops following the invasion.

"We have to fight (corruption) for our good and the good of Iraq," Matar said. "The protests bore fruit."

- 'We beat them 5-0' -

A road in Sadr City, an impoverished neighbourhood of Baghdad where residents lament the lack of electricity and water

Shiite bastion Sadr City provided lots of fighters for the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Units) that helped Iraqi forces inflict defeat on the Islamic State group.

Now people were celebrating another win after the performance of the Marching Towards Reform alliance at the polls.

"We beat them 5-0," shouted a young man as he rode by on an rickshaw.

In the same street, Salah Jamal, 24, was cleaning the pavement in front of the clothing store where he works.

He was adamant that Sadr should now make sure that his coalition assumes the head of a new government -- by no means a certainty given the mind spinning machinations of Iraqi politics.

"If we want to change things then the prime minister needs to come from Marching Towards Reform," he said.

"We have tried all the others," Jamal insisted. "But we have had no results."

Nearby his friend Hussein Hamel, 23, said that people were banking on things to get better.

"Everything is in ruins here," he said. "We want someone who can reconstruct our neighbourhood, we want electricity, water, cleaning, to finish with these years of collapse."

As soon as the first election results were mentioned in this vast district people began flicking victory signs with their fingers.

But not everyone was getting carried away after so many false dawns for a country still mired in troubles.

"If Marching Towards Reform does not respond to our demands we will also go protest against them, just as we protested against corruption" said day labourer Haydar Jolani, 23.Coffins containing the remains of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by jihadists on the beach in Sirte in 2015 are loaded onto a plane in Misrata on May 14, 2018, before being sent to Cairo

The remains of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians executed by the Islamic State group in 2015 near the Libyan city of Sirte, the jihadists' former bastion in the country, arrived home on Monday, an official at Cairo airport said.

Egypt's Coptic Church head Pope Tawadros II was at the airport to receive the remains, which were flown from Misrata on a Libyan Afriqiyah Airways cargo plane.

The bodies of the 20 Egyptian men and one dark-skinned man whom a medical examiner believes to be from sub-Saharan Africa were found in October near Sirte.

The doctor, Othman al-Zentani, said identifying the bodies was "not an easy task", as they had decomposed and the heads had been separated from the torsos.

DNA samples sent by families of the victims were vital to the identification process, Zentani said.

On February 15, 2015, IS broadcast a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians abducted in January that year in western Libya.

After the executions, tens of thousands of Egyptians working in Libya's construction, service, agriculture and handicraft sectors fled the country.

Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

A UN-backed unity government based in the capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west, and military strongman Khalifa Haftar controls much of the east.

IS jihadists remain active in central and southern Libya despite being forced out of their northern bastion Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown, December 2016.Palestinian mourners gather around the body of a man who was killed during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border on May 14, 2018, during his funeral at a mosque in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip

Israeli fire claimed the lives of eight children under the age of 16 on Monday during violent clashes on the Israel-Gaza border over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian envoy to the UN.

"We condemn in the strongest terms these atrocities by the Israeli occupying forces, using this massive fire power against civilians who have the right to demonstrate peacefully -- and they have been demonstrating peacefully," said Ambassador Riyad Mansour.

The diplomat gave a toll of 45 Palestinian dead and more than 2,000 injured. The Gazan health ministry reported shortly afterwards that the number killed had risen to 52.

Mansour said Palestinians demand an immediate stop to the violence and, pointing to Israel, said "we want those responsible to be brought to justice."

The diplomat added that his colleague at the UN in Geneva was urging the UN Human Rights Council to hold an emergency meeting to launch an independent investigation into the clashes.

Mansour said the "massacre" was occurring as the US "illegally and unilateraly and in a provocative way is opening its embassy."

"It is very tragic that they are celebrating an illegal action while Israel is killing and injuring thousands of Palestinians civilians."

Monday's bloodshed make it the deadliest day of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war.In an unprecedented move last month, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, asked judges to rule whether she can investigate deportations as a crime against humanity

War crimes judges will hold closed-door talks next month to discuss whether to allow the launch of a probe into the forced exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

Only chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will appear before the three judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) hearing on June 20, presiding judge Peter Kovacs said in his Friday order, seen by AFP on Monday.

Some 700,000 people from the stateless Muslim minority have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh since August to escape a bloody military crackdown.

The violence has left a trail of torched villages in its wake, amid allegations of murder and rape at the hands of troops and vigilantes.

In an unprecedented move last month, Bensouda asked judges at the world's only permanent war crimes court to rule whether she can investigate the deportations as a crime against humanity.

It is a legally complicated request, as Myanmar is not a signatory and member of the Rome Statute which underpins the ICC.

Bangladesh is, however, and Bensouda argued that should give her office jurisdiction to investigate the Rohingya's plight.

She likened deportation to "a cross-border shooting", arguing the crime "is not completed until the bullet (fired in one state) strikes and kills the victim (standing in another state)".

"The chamber convenes a status conference on 20 June 2018, to be held in closed session, only in the presence of the prosecutor," Kovacs ordered.

He accompanied the order with a confidential annex which he said contained issues which Bensouda must address at the June hearing.

Set up in 2002 in The Hague, the ICC acts to prosecute the worst abuses including genocide in places where national tribunals are unwilling or unable to act.

The Myanmar army in the mainly Buddhist nation has denied any allegations, saying its campaign has been a legitimate response to Rohingya militant attacks last year that killed about a dozen border guard police.

The Southeast Asian nation has voiced "serious concern" over the move at the ICC.

"Nowhere in the ICC Charter does it say that the court has jurisdiction over states which have not accepted that jurisdiction," Myanmar said in a statement.

The special court examining Bensouda's request has also asked Bangladesh to submit any written observations it may have on the case by June 11.by Mathias Hariyadi

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - At least eight people were killed and 38 wounded in a series of explosions that took place around 7 am this morning in three different churches in Surabaya, the capital of the East Java province. Wisnu Sakti Buana, deputy mayor of the city, said the police arrested one of the bombers, who was about to attack the fourth target, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.



A suicide attack hit the Catholic church of St. Mary Immaculate in the district of Ngagel (photo). The bomb exploded at the entrance of the parish before the 7.30 mass, while faithful were entering the church. In an initial death toll, a parishioner, a policeman and the bomber died; at least 13 people were injured.



A few minutes later, another explosion occurred at the Diponegoro building of the Christian Church of Indonesia (Gki), also in the centre of Surabaya, where two people died. Within a few minutes, another bomb exploded at the Pentecostal church of Jalan Arjuna, causing the death of one person.



At present the government has not issued any official statement, but East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera has told local media that "the identification of victims is underway." Chief Inspector of the East Java Police, Machfud Arifin, said that according to preliminary investigations the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers who used motorcycles or cars separately. Analysts fear that other churches in the country could be attacked in the coming hours.

In Indonesia, the most populous Islamic country in the world, Christians represent about 10% of the population. Protestants are 17 million, 7 million Catholics (3% of Indonesians). They are often targets of extremists and terrorists' threats. On Christmas Eve 2000, bomb attacks on 11 churches scattered across the country killing 13 people and wounded 100. On July 22, 2001, in the parish of St. Anna in Duren Sawit (East Jakarta), a bomb caused five dead and injured a dozen.



Today's attacks follow a revolt in the detention centre at the headquarters of the National Police Mobile Brigade (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok regency (West Java). During the riots started by a group of prisoners linked to the Islamic State (IS), five police officers and one inmate lost their lives. Yesterday, near that building, security forces arrested two young women, accused of trying to stab a policeman with a pair of scissors.Guatemala, whose President Jimmy Morales is seen here alongside Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley in February 2018, is one of two countries that have mirrored the US embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, enraging Palestinians, has left several Latin American countries pondering whether to follow suit.

To date, two nations have done so: Guatemala and Paraguay, both looking to strengthen ties with Washington even at the risk of alienating the 128 countries that backed a UN resolution condemning its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

And experts believe more countries in the region could yet follow.

Monday's ceremony to inaugurate the US embassy was marred by violent clashes along the Gaza border that left 52 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and thousands wounded, in the conflict's bloodiest day in years.

Guatemala will inaugurate its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday -- with its President Jimmy Morales attending -- hot on the heels of the US, while the government in Asuncion said Paraguay's embassy would switch to Jerusalem at the end of this month.

Honduras, which voted with the US and Israel on the December 21 UN resolution, is yet to decide on relocating from Tel Aviv, despite parliamentary approval for the move.

Significantly, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela, is to attend Wednesday's opening of the new Guatemalan embassy as Morales' guest.

- 'Servile' Morales -

Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces near the Gaza-Israel border on May 14, 2018

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Marcio Palacios, a political scientist at Guatemala's San Carlos University, described Morales' decision as "servile" and said it was in part governed by his evangelical religious beliefs.

The president "does not distinguish between what he represents and what he believes in," Palacios said.

Evangelicals want to see the Jews rebuild their temple in Jerusalem, which according to their beliefs would facilitate the Second Coming of Christ.

"It's a servile action by the president, who has his hands tied to the policy of the United States," said Palacios.

Morales' decision is also seen by some as a gesture to elicit US support at a time when he stands accused by Guatemalan prosecutors of accepting illegal campaign contributions.

Former Guatemalan foreign minister Gabriel Orellana said Morales' decision has the effect of banishing his country "to the fringes of the United Nations".

"Guatemala is sacrificing its place in a multicultural world for a bilateral relationship. That doesn't bring great benefits to the country and puts it at a disadvantage vis-a-vis other countries of the Arab world," he said.

He also warned that beyond possible trade repercussions on Guatemala's important cardamom exports, the embassy move raises the possibility the country could become a target for terrorism.

"Until now, we have fortunately been spared by such events, but the world has become so polarized that we cannot with any certainty say nothing like this will happen in Guatemala as a result of this situation."

Guatemala and Paraguay "are following the United States' agenda," because they are relatively small and poor, said Patricio Navia, of the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL).

"The weaker these countries are, the more they are under pressure," he said.

Navia too said he feared countries that followed the US cue could pay a price.

"Not only Guatemala, but these countries that supported this decision will be targeted in the future. We hope that we're wrong."

- Will other countries follow? -

Both Israel and the Palestinians have lobbied hard for support in the region.

"We hope that some countries of the American continent will not transfer their embassy to Jerusalem because this is contrary to international law," Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas said last Monday during a visit to Caracas, flanked by Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

Abbas was on a tour of Venezuela, Chile and Cuba.

Most Latin American countries condemned the idea of moving the US embassy when Trump first broached it in 2017, and insisted they would keep their own missions in Tel Aviv.

But countries with fragile economies are likely to be further tested.

Last September, Benjamin Netanyahu made the first visit by an Israeli premier to Latin America, dangling lucrative trade contracts along with a delegation of 30 business leaders.

Gaspard Estrada, head of the Observatory on Latin America at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, said Israel was "taking advantage of a swing to the right in the region" to court its leaders.

Navia said he wouldn't be surprised "if other Central American countries follow suit, but it seems to me that it is more difficult for the bigger and more powerful countries in the region to do so."(From L) French director Nicolas Champeaux, South African anti-apartheid campaigner and former political prisoner Andrew Mlangeni and French co-director and screenwriter Gilles Porte present at Cannes "The State Against Mandela", a documentary about the historical Rivonia trial in the 1960s

Half a century after the historic trial at which Nelson Mandela escaped the gallows, one of his fellow former prisoners walked the Cannes red carpet Monday for the premiere of a documentary about those with him in the dock.

Andrew Mlangeni is one of the last surviving defendants of the 1963-1964 Rivonia trial of Mandela and nine others who faced the death sentence on charges of plotting guerrilla warfare and acts of sabotage against South Africa's apartheid regime.

"I knew that one day I would come out of prison... But I never thought in my life I would ever come to France, never mind appearing in a film which is seen by the entire world," the 92-year-old, who spent 27 years behind bars, told AFP.

Mandela's impassioned three-hour address to the court, during which he declared that a democratic South Africa was an ideal "for which I am prepared to die" was the most significant of his career.

It conferred a demi-god status on him that overshadowed the sacrifices of his co-accused.

"The State Against Mandela and the Others", a French-funded documentary based on the recently released audio recordings of the proceedings, attempts to redress the balance by putting his comrades centre stage.

"Mandela was not expressing his view alone, he was expressing the view of all the accused. We were almost certain that we were going to hang. But we were prepared. We were prepared for anything," Mlangeni said.

The film uses animation, interviews and archival footage to show how the defendants turned a trial aimed at dealing a knockout blow to the anti-apartheid movement into an indictment of white supremacist rule.

"We decided we had to conduct this not as a criminal trial but a political trial," says Ahmed Kathrada, one of three former prisoners -- one black (Mlangeni), one white (Denis Goldberg) and one of Asian origin (Kathrada) -- interviewed for the feature.

Kathrada, who died last year, is one of the heroes of the documentary by journalist Nicolas Champeaux and filmmaker Gilles Porte.

Born into a family of Indian Muslim immigrants, he refused, like his comrades, to appeal his sabotage conviction to avoid the indignity of being seen to beg for clemency.

- 'It's life!' -

Animated charcoal drawings are used to recreate clashes between the preening prosecutor, depicted as a vulture in flapping black robes, and the accused, who refused to be bowed.

Powerful testimony from the likes of Mlangeni, who watched his parents work for whites "for peanuts", and Mandela's mentor Walter Sisulu, who complained of constant harassment of his family by the police, moved the world -- and the judge.

At the end of the eight-month trial, the men were spared the noose. Mandela and seven others were sentenced instead to life in prison, a verdict they greeted with relief.

"It's life! And life is wonderful!" Goldberg recalls shouting across the courtroom to his mother.

But Mandela's ex-wife Winnie was already steeling herself for the long road ahead.

"That's when my 'Amandla' (Power) started," she says in one of her last interviews before her death last month, uttering the rallying cry of the anti-apartheid movement with a clenched-fist salute.

- Poetry in animation -

For Champeaux, a former correspondent in South Africa who gained access to the 256 hours of digitised recordings, the trial had all the makings of an epic tale that needed to be shared.

"There's the bad guy, the traitor, the love story, the suspense, the inscrutable judge, the families trembling in the gallery," he told AFP.

But it is also a reminder, he said, "that when you are wedded to a cause, those close to you suffer."

Coming ahead of the centenary of Mandela's birth, the film aims above all to remind the world that South Africa's tortured path to democracy was achieved by teamwork.

It is a reminder, says Porte, "that all great things that happen in this world are achieved collectively."White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House on May 14, 2018

The White House blamed Hamas for violent protests in Gaza that saw 52 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces Monday, saying the Jewish state has the right to defend itself.

"The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas," White House spokesman Raj Shah said, refusing to call on Israel to show restraint.

The latest in a series of violent protests near the de facto border between Israel and Gaza intensified earlier, as Palestinians voiced outrage at the opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem.

"Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," Shah said, adding: "Israel has the right to defend itself."

The embassy opening is deeply polarizing, part of Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem -- a city claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians -- as the Israeli capital.

Previous US administrations have refrained from such a move, fearing it would prejudice final status negotiations and inflame tensions.

Palestinians have said the Trump administration can no longer broker peace.

But Shah insisted the latest violence would not impact the administration's much-touted and thinly fleshed out peace plan for the region.

"The peace plan will be brought forward at the appropriate time, it can be evaluated on its merits," he said.

"The actions today -- both the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem and these tragedies in southern Israel -- we don't think it will impact the peace plan."The US Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a Louisiana man whose lawyer told a jury he was guilty of a triple murder despite his claims of innocence

The US Supreme Court ordered a new trial on Monday for a Louisiana man whose lawyer told a jury he had committed a triple murder despite his claims of innocence.

In a 6-3 ruling, the top US court said the lawyer in the case should have abided by the wishes of accused murderer Robert McCoy.

McCoy, now 44, was convicted in 2011 of shooting to death the mother, stepfather, and son of his estranged wife, Yolanda, in May 2008 in their Bossier City, Louisiana, home.

Despite a preponderance of evidence and a dubious alibi, McCoy insisted that he was innocent of the murders.

During his trial, McCoy's lawyer, Larry English, ignored his client's objections and told the jury McCoy had killed the three victims.

During the penalty phase, English once again conceded McCoy's guilt, but urged mercy in light of his "mental and emotional issues."

The strategy backfired and McCoy was sentenced to death.

The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the conviction but the Supreme Court disagreed.

"Larry English was placed in a difficult position; he had an unruly client and faced a strong government case," the court said.

"He reasonably thought the objective of his representation should be avoidance of the death penalty.

"But McCoy insistently maintained: 'I did not murder my family.'

"Once he communicated that to court and counsel, strenuously objecting to English's proposed strategy, a concession of guilt should have been off the table," the court said.

A new trial was ordered.Palestinian mourners gather around the body of a man who was killed during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border on May 14, 2018, during his funeral at a mosque in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip

South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel on Monday after at least 52 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during protests over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem.

"Given the indiscriminate and grave manner of the latest Israeli attack, the South African government has taken a decision to recall Ambassador Sisa Ngombane with immediate effect until further notice," South Africa's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The victims were taking part in a peaceful protest against the provocative inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem," it said, condemning "violent aggression carried out by Israeli armed forces".

"This latest attack has resulted in scores of other Palestinian citizens reported injured, and the wanton destruction of property," it added.

The violence erupted over the formal opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

More than 2,400 Palestinians were wounded and the dead included eight children under the age of 16, according to the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations.

It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.A January 2016 police mugshot of Edward Archer, who was sentenced Monday to 48.5 to 97 years in porison for the attempted murder of a police officer

A man who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group when he shot a Philadelphia police officer in 2016 was sentenced Monday to a minimum 48 and a half years in prison.

Edward Archer, 33, ambushed Jesse Hartnett on January 7, 2016 while the police officer was patrolling in his car. Archer fired a dozen times with a pistol, hitting Hartnett three times and breaking bones in his arm.

The attack stoked worries at the time of a surge in "lone wolf" terror attacks by extremists inspired, but not directed, by the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda.

Archer was caught on video wearing a long white robe and firing as he ran up to the police cruiser and pushed the gun through the car window, continuing to shoot, before finally running away.

Hartnett, despite his wounds, managed to get out of the car and fire back, hitting Archer in the buttocks.

Archer later told police he was inspired by Islamic State.

But while he was found to have traveled to Saudi Arabia and Egypt years earlier, officials did not connect him directly to any jihadist group, and he was not charged with any terror-related offense.

Archer was found guilty of attempted murder on February 1 after a two-week trial.

He was given the maximum sentence -- a range of 48 and a half to 97 years in prison.

Hartnett, who still struggles with his wounds after 11 operations, said he was "absolutely glad" about the sentence, according to ABC television.

"I obviously would want the maximum penalty and he did receive the maximum penalty. I wish he had more," he said.

"As long as he doesn't get out of jail, I'll be happy."US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Washington still hopes to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners following the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reached out to European signatories of the Iran nuclear deal to seek their continued cooperation in countering Tehran's "malign behavior" following the US withdrawal from the landmark accord.

In talks with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, Pompeo "highlighted the good work that we have done over the past several months to address our common threats and said that he is hopeful we can continue strong cooperation moving forward," the State Department said.

President Donald Trump's announcement on Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay by its other signatories -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

During recent conversations with Britain's Boris Johnson, France's Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany's Heiko Maas, Pompeo stressed that they "share strong interests in preventing Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon and in countering the Iranian regime's destabilizing activities in the region," according to a statement.

America's top diplomat said Sunday that Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behavior," and was working hard to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners.

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well," he said.

While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a visit to Washington last month.

But even as Pompeo talked up coordination with America's allies, Trump's new National Security Advisor John Bolton reminded Europe over the weekend that its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Islamic republic.US First Lady Melania Trump will spend the rest of the week in hospital after surgery for a "benign" kidney condition

US First Lady Melania Trump had surgery Monday for what aides called a "benign" kidney condition, and will remain in hospital for the rest of the week.

The Slovenia-born wife of Donald Trump underwent an embolization procedure, said her communications director Stephanie Grisham.

"The procedure was successful and there were no complications," Grisham said.

But the 48-year-old former model is expected to stay in hospital "for the duration of the week."

"The first lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere," the spokeswoman added.

Hours after the procedure, President Donald Trump departed the White House for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where the first lady is being held just north of Washington.

The hospital facility has treated many presidents and first families.

Jeffrey Leef, associate professor of radiology at the University of Chicago, told AFP that embolization is most frequently used to isolate a tumor.

The procedure "introduces a small catheter into the arterial system of the body" with the aim of obstructing the blood vessel, Leef said.

According to Elizabeth Kavaler, a urologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, the first lady may have a common, benign tumor of the kidney called an angiomyolipoma, or AML.

"They are more common in women. They can grow but they are not cancerous," Kavaler said.

Leef said that "one of the ways it can manifest itself is with a little bit of blood in the urine, or maybe pain."

He added that it is common to stay overnight after the procedure.

"The most common side effect is pain," Leef said.

"Often, you need temporarily a type of pain control that can only be provided within a hospital."It was the deadliest day in the conflict since a 2014 war between Israel and the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas

At Gaza's Shifa Hospital, people search desperately for loved ones. Some already know they are dead and grimly work their way through bodies.

Others have received no news so scour the wards, before descending to the morgue.

There a young man cries "Why are you leaving me alone?" as the body of his older brother lies on a stretcher.

But his mourning is cut short by the voice of a mortuary attendant calling to a colleague to move the corpse.

"Put him in the fridge quickly, another one has arrived," he said.

The dead man was one of at least 55 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border Monday as mass protests broke out against the controversial US embassy move.

It was the deadliest day in the conflict since a 2014 war between Israel and the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas.

In Shifa the situation is critical.

Even before the days carnage, medical centres were running desperately low on vital medicines after seven weeks of bloody protests that have left 109 Palestinians killed. No Israelis have died.

The Gaza Ministry of Health called for citizens to donate blood as supplies were running low.

-Break the fence-

Palestinian mourners carry the body of man who was killed during clashes with Israeli forces

Israel accuses Hamas of being behind the protests and says it is merely defending its territory.

Whether the bloodshed achieved the protesters goals is unclear.

The stated aim - to break the fence and enter Israel - wasnt achieved.

Palestinians were calling to be allowed to return to the homes their families fled from in 1948.

Using clouds of smoke from burning tyres to mask their approach, they hurled stones and some fire bombs toward the border.

Positioned on sand berms, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas first and then live rounds at the Gazans.

For hours groups of young Palestinian men tried without success to prise apart part of a barbed wire fence on their side of the border, which bars the way to a more robust barrier closer to Israeli troops.

Despite the numbers falling around them, the protesters kept approaching the fence.

"We will continue to try to breach the border," said 20 year old Rabia al-Khawaja.

The wider goals of the protest, to focus attention on the suffering of the two million residents of Gaza and the Palestinian rejection of the embassy move, were achieved.

South Africa recalled its ambassador from Israel in protest, while Kuwait requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council for Tuesday and condemned the bloodshed.

-Back tomorrow-

The relative of a Palestinian killed during the protest mourns during his funeral

Inside Shifa Hospital, such is the shortage of beds that Mohammed Mekdad is being treated in a makeshift tent outside the emergency room.

He was shot in both legs and they are wrapped in a light gauze that barely stems the bleeding.

Passed a mobile phone, he sobs to his family: "I am in Shifa, come quickly."

On the side of the tent a woman and her daughter stand with tears filling their eyes.

"They told me my son was injured in the leg. I didn't find him here, he may have been killed and they didnt tell me," the mother said.

As the afternoon wore on, ambulances brought more wounded to the tent, with doctors admitting they were sending people home for lack of space.

As sunset approached, loudspeakers called on people to withdraw from the border zone amid rumours of plans for Israeli shelling and soon the protests drew to an end.

"We retreated in the evening after seeing planes and tanks (preparing to) bombard us," Khawaja said.

Looking at the border after the bloodiest day in the conflict in years, Umm Jameel said one of her sons had been injured in the leg.

Would she come back tomorrow?

"Of course," she said.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and US President Donald Trump discussed ongoing negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump discussed Monday ongoing negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, with the White House highlighting the "importance" of reaching a quick conclusion.

While Trudeau's office mentioned the "progress" made, and the "possibility of bringing the negotiations to a prompt conclusion," the US side was more direct.

"President Trump underscored the importance of quickly concluding an agreement," the White House said in a statement.

The pair also discussed the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada, Trudeau's office said.

Canada, Mexico and the US are renegotiating their 24-year-old free trade pact -- a process triggered last year by Trump, who called the deal a "disaster" that has destroyed US jobs.

He has repeatedly threatened to leave the pact if a satisfactory deal is not reached.

If the agreement is not finalized by Friday, he will have to decide whether to keep the current agreement until talks can resume next year, or try to submit a partial deal to Congress.

The NAFTA revision is vital for another reason: the exemptions for Canada and Mexico from steep US tariffs on steel imports expire June 1.

Unless officials agree on terms covering steel and aluminum, the tariffs would take effect.But this view has been queried by two men with close knowledge of the Oil and Gas Act under which mining licences are granted, lawyer Sam Koim and commentator Phil Fitzpatrick, who has worked as a social mapper in PNG.

Clearly it's the lack of distribution, not the lack of payment, that is the cause of [community discontent], he said.

He said the company pays royalties to the government which is supposed to make the correct payments to landowners.

Mr Lee said community discontent and violence around project was not Oil Searchs fault but a result of the Papua New Guinea government's failure to distribute royalties.

NOOSA - At Oil Search's general meeting in Port Moresby on Friday, chairman Rick Lee strongly defended the company's compliance with its accountabilities on the $19 billion PNG LNG project.

Its the non-delegable statutory duty of the licensee to conduct the landowner identification and social mapping, which the government can use to distribute benefits, said Koim on Twitter, pithily adding, licensees failed!

Fitzpatrick went into more detail, commenting that, under the Oil and Gas Act, it is the responsibility of the licensee to conduct social mapping studies before mining development begins.

Under Section 47 of the Act it makes it clear that the licensee is responsible for supplying the government with the details of the landholders entitled to royalties, he said.

In the case of the LNG project, the licensee rushed ahead with the development before the social mapping was done.

Among other things, this did not comply with the Act.

Now it expects the PNG government to be handing out royalties without knowing who the right landholders are.

Further, the licensee is saying it is the responsibility of the government to identify the right landholders.

Exxon Mobil is riding roughshod over the PNG government, Fitzpatrick said.

The government should be telling them to go back and do the social mapping properly.

I don't often side with the PNG government but in this instance they've got right on their side.

But Dr Peter Dwyer of the University of Melbourne disagrees.

In a comment to PNG Attitude he notes that "Section 47 of the PNG Oil and Gas Act states that the licensee of a petroleum prospecting licence is responsible for providing a full scale social mapping and landowner identification report of the customary landowners in the licence area.

"It does not state that the licensee is responsible for supplying the government with a determination of the identity of the landholders entitled to royalties," Dwyer observes.

"It is the PNG government and not the licensee that is responsible for identifying landowner beneficiaries. And so it should be.

"Ongoing failures to identify legitimate beneficiaries are, in part, due to inadequate government processes and, in part, due to ongoing legal challenges among the landowner claimants themselves.

"On several counts the petroleum companies associated with the PNG LNG project need to improve their performance but it is not helpful to blame them for matters where responsibility lies elsewhere."

Indeed in 2012, the Department of Petroleum told the Post-Courier newspaper that it was the Somare government that breached Section 47 of the Oil and Gas Act, which stipulates that a full-scale social mapping and landowner identification study must be done by the licensee prior to granting of a petroleum development licence.

A petroleum licence can be granted only after Sections 47 and 48 of the Oil and Gas Act are fully and satisfactorily met.

But whatever the wheeling and dealing in 2012, it does seem that  somehow - the law was averted and the required action was not undertaken.

The whole saga is just another example of how the giant beats up on small nations, former kiap Arthur Williams said. There are all sorts of schemes and perks that big oil companies like Exxon can use, but why did the PNG government have to bow down to the company?

And why did our elected leaders and their cohorts of elites bend over backwards to rush through the LNG project, illegally we are told because of no proper clan vetting or land ownership completed before project approval?

There are many questions that hang over this matter: a previous government that may have offered excemptions that were not compliant with the law and resource companies that perhaps went along with the non-compliance.

And now there is civil disturbance, violence and death exacerbated, if not caused, by the failure to pay legitimate landowners, whose names may now be lost in the murk of claim and counterclaim.

The outcome is a tragic situation in and around PNGs southern highlands: community brutality which is not only unresolved but, in the absence of substantive action to fix it, looks like it will get worse.Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist preacher in Dallas, Texas, pictured in 2017, has been a staunch Trump supporter since the billionaire businessman's 2016 campaign

A Christian minister who has disparaged Jews, Muslims and gays faced criticism as US President Donald Trump's administration invited him to lead a prayer Monday at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist preacher in Dallas, Texas, has been a staunch Trump supporter since the billionaire businessman's 2016 campaign.

But his past comments, in which he has said Jews will suffer for eternity in hell, were being seen as a rather extraordinary position for someone offering such a public prayer in the Jewish state.

The 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, expressed his opposition to Jeffress addressing the embassy ceremony.

"Robert Jeffress says 'you can't be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.' He's said the same about Islam," Romney, who is currently a candidate for US Senate, said late Sunday on Twitter.

"Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem."

Jeffress responded with a tweet of his own, saying "historic Christianity has taught for 2,000 years that salvation is through faith in Christ alone," and that such a position, embraced by millions of evangelical Christians, "is neither bigoted nor newsworthy."

The White House on Monday sought to distance itself from the pastor, with spokesman Raj Shah saying he did not know who invited Jeffress to give an embassy blessing.

Asked directly about Jeffress's past statements, Shah said "I haven't seen those remarks, but obviously those aren't remarks that the president agrees with."

Jeffress campaigned with Trump in 2016 and his influence was key to Trump winning an overwhelming majority of the evangelical vote. Last October the president called Jeffress a "wonderful man."

Several offending Jeffress comments -- including his declaration that homosexuality is a "perversion" -- come from a 2010 interview to a religious broadcaster.

On Monday Jeffress steered clear of such language, but he offered full-throated praise of Trump.

"We thank you every day that you have given us a president who boldly stands on the right side of history, but more importantly stands on the right side of you, O God, when it comes to Israel."

Jeffress was not the only controversial figure to address the embassy event.

Another pastor who offered prayers was John Hagee, a mega-church leader who once said Adolf Hitler was sent by God to hasten the desire of Jews to return to Israel.NEW YORK (AP) - The World Health Organization is calling on all nations to rid foods of artificial trans fats in the next five years.

The United Nations agency has in the past pushed to exterminate infectious diseases, but now it's aiming to erase a hazard linked to chronic illness.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was expected to issue the call to action at a news conference in Geneva on Monday.

HOLD FOR RELEASE ON MONDAY, MAY 14, 2018, AT 12:01 A.M. EDT; THIS STORY MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST OR POSTED ONLINE BEFORE MONDAY, MAY 14, 2018, AT 12:01 A.M. EDT - FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 file photo, a Milky-Way candy bar is deep-fried in oil free of trans fats at a food booth at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. Indiana was the first state to require the switch at its state fair. On Monday, May 14, 2018, the head of the World Health Organization called on all nations to eliminate artificial trans fats from foods in the next five years. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Officials think it can be done in five years because the work is well underway in many countries. Denmark did it 15 years ago, and since then the United States and more than 40 other higher-income countries have been working on getting the heart-clogging additives out of their food supplies.

The WHO is pushing middle- and lower-income countries to pick up the fight, said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO's Department of Nutrition for Health and Development.

Artificial trans fats are unhealthy substances that are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it solid, like in the creation of margarine or shortening. Health experts say they can be replaced with canola oil or other products.

There are also naturally occurring trans fats in some meats and dairy products. The WHO recommends that no more than 1 percent of a person's calories come from trans fats.

"Trans fats are a harmful compound that can be removed easily without major cost and without any impact on the quality of the foods," Branca said.

Countries will likely have to use regulation or legislation to get food makers to make the switch, experts said.

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who worked with WHO officials on the call to action, called its move unprecedented.

"The world is now setting its sights on today's leading killers - particularly heart disease, which kills more people than any other cause in almost every country," said Frieden, who is president of a New-York-based philanthropy-funded project called Resolve to Save Lives.

The first trans fatty food to hit the U.S. market was Crisco shortening, which went on sale in 1911. Trans fatty foods became increasingly popular beginning in the 1950s, partly because experts at the time thought they were healthier than cooking with butter or lard.

Food makers liked artificial trans fats because they prolong product shelf life and enhance flavor. They used them in such fare as doughnuts, cookies and deep-fried foods.

But studies gradually revealed that trans fats wreck cholesterol levels in the blood and drive up the risk of heart disease. Health advocates say trans fats are the most harmful fat in the food supply, and say they play a big role in more than 500,000 deaths around the world each year.

In the U.S., New York City in 2006 banned restaurants from serving food with trans fats. The same year the FDA required manufacturers to list trans fat content information on food labels.

Many manufacturers cut back, and studies showed trans fat levels in the blood of middle-aged U.S. adults fell by nearly 60 percent by the end of the decade.

In 2015, the FDA took steps to finish the job of eliminating trans fats, calling for manufacturers to stop selling trans fatty foods by June 18, 2018 - a deadline that arrives next month. FDA officials have not said how much progress has been made or how they will enforce their rule against food makers that don't comply.

"The removal of trans fats from the food supply as an additive counts as one of the major public health victories of the last decade," said Laura MacCleery, policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday:

1. WHO LEADS IN IRAQ NATIONAL ELECTION

Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's alliance is the early front-runner, with official results in from just over half the country.

Gases rise from lava fissure 17 after it erupted early Sunday, May 13 2018 near Pahoa, Hawaii.The new fissure emitting steam and lava spatter spurred Hawaii officials to call for more evacuations on Sunday as residents braced for an expected eruption from the Kilauea volcano. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

2. WHY ISRAEL BOOSTS FORCES ALONG GAZA BORDER, WEST BANK

Palestinians led by the Hamas group plan large border protests as the U.S. officially moves its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

3. INCREASED VOLCANIC ACTIVITY SPURS MORE EVACUATIONS

New fissures emit steam and lava from Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island, where geologists warn of a major eruption.

4. SUICIDE CHURCH BOMBINGS KILL 7 IN INDONESIA

Members of the same family carry out the attacks, for which the Islamic State militant group claims responsibility.

5. TRUMP VOWS TO HELP CHINESE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CO.

In a surprise announcement, the president says too many Chinese jobs are at stake as the Commerce Dept. punishes ZTE Corp. for violating sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

6. WHERE KNIFE ATTACK RAISES SPECTER OF MORE TERRORISM

The violence leaves one person dead and four injured in the center of Paris - two months after a gunman killed three in southern France.

7. WHAT'S RONAN FARROW'S LATEST PROJECT

The Pulitzer-winning reporter who helped expose sex misconduct accusations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is writing a book titled "Catch and Kill," about efforts to silence women who level harassment charges.

8. ICONIC WWII BOMBER GETS FULL RESTORATION

'Memphis Belle' goes back on display at the U.S. Air Force museum in Ohio after some 55,000 hours of repairs.

9. 'AVENGERS' STILL REIGNS AT BOX OFFICE

The superhero blockbuster rakes in over $1.6 billion total worldwide - fifth highest grossing film of all time.

10. CELTICS BREEZE PAST CAVS IN GAME 1

Boston's Marcus Morris keeps LeBron James off balance in a lopsided 108-83 Eastern Conference opener win.

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2012, file photo, Casey Simmons checks the engine cowl work at the Memphis Belle restoration at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The iconic World War II bomber Memphis Belle is being rolled out at an Ohio museum after a full restoration that has been more than a dozen years in the making. The rehabbed B-17 is being unveiled Thursday, May 17, 2018, at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton. (Ty Greenlees/Dayton Daily News via AP)TAICHUNG, Taiwan (AP) - Standing on his company's sprawling campus in central Taiwan, Lin Nan-juh says he's able to make any plane his island's government calls for.

"We can do whatever's asked," says Lin, president of Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., or AIDC, a leader in the defense industry serving the isolated self-governing island that China claims as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary.

It's a bold statement with potentially major significance for Taiwan's democratic survival as it seeks to build up its domestic defense industry in the face of China's warnings and the reluctance of foreign arms suppliers to provide it with the planes, ships, submarines and other hardware it needs to defend its 23 million people.

In this May 11, 2018 photo released by Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, a Taiwanese Air Force Indigenous Defense Force (IDF) fighter aircraft, right, flies near a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) TU-154 aircraft that reportedly flew over the Luzon Strait south of Taiwan during an exercise. Taiwan is seeking to build-up its domestic defense industry in the face of China's threats and the reluctance of foreign arms suppliers to provide it with planes, ships, submarines and other hardware to defend its 23 million people. (Ministry of National Defense via AP)

While the U.S. - which is legally bound to respond to threats to Taiwan - continues to be its main arms supplier, Taiwan is increasingly looking to replace those politically fraught, touch-and-go deals with domestic production that is reliable as well as technologically advanced.

Taiwan's indigenous systems are "both a source of national pride and a product of necessity," said David An, senior research fellow with the Washington-based policy incubator Global Taiwan Institute. "As it's commonly said, necessity is the mother of invention."

The self-reliance policy has been strongly promoted by Taiwan's pro-independence president, Tsai Ing-wen, whose government has been shunned by Beijing since shortly after she took office more than two years ago. Defense is included in Tsai's economic program targeting eight industries for innovation and job creation, with the government helping match its defense needs with the abilities of Taiwanese companies.

China's recent actions have underscored the risk for Taiwan.

Beijing has been upping pressure on the island by cutting its already tenuous diplomatic links and has sent military planes and an aircraft carrier close to the island multiple times. China now has the world's second-largest defense budget behind the U.S., significantly boosting its ability to blockade, attack and possibly invade Taiwan.

Taiwan's domestic arms industry got started in the 1970s, more than two decades after Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces fled to the former Japanese colony after Mao Zedong's Communists seized power on the mainland in 1949.

Adaption and development of foreign technology gave companies such as AIDC much of what they needed to grow and help keep the peace with the mainland, said Mei Fu-shing, director of the Taiwan Security Analysis Center, a research and consulting practice based in New York.

"Indigenously developed and produced weapons have contributed materially to deterrence in the Taiwan Strait over the past three or four decades," Mei said.

Taiwan's capabilities have improved of late in both quality and technical sophistication, Mei said, pointing to the production of air-to-air missiles as an example. "Taiwan's defense industry obviously has progressed," making it less reliant on foreign sources, he said.

Along with protest actions from Beijing - including the suspension of exchanges with the U.S. military after a $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan was announced in 2010 - U.S. sales are constrained by concerns about the leaking of sensitive advanced technology across the 160-kilometer (100-mile) -wide Taiwan Strait to China.

Despite that, such sales continue, with the Trump administration notifying Congress last year of its intent to approve seven proposed deals for technical support, anti-radiation missiles, torpedoes and other technology valued at around $1.42 billion.

And last month, the administration agreed to allow U.S. firms with the technology to build much-needed diesel-electric submarines. Taiwan's navy today operates just two aging subs bought from the Netherlands in the 1980s.

Analysts say sales of technology are less likely to prompt a strong response from China than those of complete systems such as planes or submarines.

Along with fighter jets and other aircraft, Taiwanese contractors already make anti-ship, surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles, as well as missile boats and Clouded Leopard armored vehicles. Taiwan has long been known worldwide for its civilian high-tech industry and about 200 small and mid-sized companies work in defense.

AIDC and the National Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology are among the larger contractors. The aerospace firm reported sales income of $235 million and a net profit in the third quarter of 2017, the most recent made public online.

More than 3,000 people work on new aircraft designs at AIDC's tree-lined campus, complete with a restaurant and a swimming pool. One of its planes marks a front entrance.

Despite the advances, Taiwan will never be able to quit buying advanced weapons from other countries, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi. Propulsion systems and engines for ships and aircraft are a particular need, and Taiwan sometimes finds that imports cost less than local production.

Yet such sales carry the risk of being used as bargaining chips to gain concessions from Beijing, particularly on trade. Ultimately, officials in Washington might help Taiwan's military again only if they see its capability decline, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan.

"Taiwan worries that there might be a time that we can't buy the weapon system that we want, so we better build up our indigenous defense industry capability," Huang said.

In this May 11, 2018 photo released by Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, a Taiwanese Air Force fighter aircraft, left, flies near a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) H6-K bomber that reportedly flew over the Luzon Strait south of Taiwan during an exercise. Taiwan is seeking to build-up its domestic defense industry in the face of China's threats and the reluctance of foreign arms suppliers to provide it with planes, ships, submarines and other hardware to defend its 23 million people. (Ministry of National Defense via AP)

In this April 25, 2018 photo, Lin Nan-juh, the president of Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), speaks during a media event in Taichung, Taiwan. Standing on his company's sprawling campus in central Taiwan, Lin said he's able to make any plane his island's threatened government calls for. Taiwan is seeking to build-up its domestic defense industry in the face of China's threats and the reluctance of foreign arms suppliers to provide it with planes, ships, submarines and other hardware to defend its 23 million people. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

In this April 25, 2018 photo, the logo of the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) is seen in Taichung, Taiwan. Taiwan is seeking to build-up its domestic defense industry in the face of China's threats and the reluctance of foreign arms suppliers to provide it with planes, ships, submarines and other hardware to defend its 23 million people. AIDC is a leader in the defense industry serving the isolated self-governing island that China claims as its own territory and threatens to take back by force. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

In this April 25, 2018 photo, the logo of the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) is seen on the side of a bus in Taichung, Taiwan. Taiwan is seeking to build-up its domestic defense industry in the face of China's threats and the reluctance of foreign arms suppliers to provide it with planes, ships, submarines and other hardware to defend its 23 million people. AIDC is a leader in the defense industry serving the isolated self-governing island that China claims as its own territory and threatens to take back by force. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)WILLEMSTAD, Curacao (AP) - A court on the Dutch island of Curacao has authorized the local subsidiary of U.S. oil giant ConocoPhillips to seize $636 million worth of assets held on the island by Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA.

The move comes as Houston-based Conoco seeks to recover $2 billion in a decade-old dispute over the expropriation of its Venezuelan oil projects by the OPEC nation's socialist government, which is struggling with an economic crunch that has caused widespread shortages of food and medicine.

Curacao Economy Minister Steve Martina said at a news conference Sunday that Conoco already had taken control of some oil products at the Isla Curazao refinery, though he did not specify how much.

A warning sign stands at the entrance of the PDVSA/BOPEC Brasil Terminal in Rincon Bonaire on the Caribbean Netherlands island of Bonaire, Monday, May 7, 2018, where Venezuela refines and stores its heavy crude. U.S. oil giant ConocoPhillips is pressing for control of Venezuela's key offshore operations in the Caribbean, seeking to recoup $2 billion from a decade-old dispute with the nation struggling to feed its people, a source confirmed Monday. (AP Photo/Stephan Kogelman)

The Curacao court's ruling of May 4 is a blow to Venezuela, which uses refineries on Curacao and elsewhere in the Netherlands Antilles to store a significant portion of the oil it exports to its three main foreign markets - China, the U.S. and India.

According to the ruling reviewed Sunday by The Associated Press, the company can seize all oil products stored at the Isla Curazao and the Di Korsou refineries on Curacao. The court also said Conoco can take over any crude oil shipments en route from Venezuela to the island that are within 19 kilometers (12 miles) of the Curacao coast.

Venezuela holds the world's largest underground oil reserves but production has declined under nearly two decades of socialist leadership, casting the once-wealthy nation deep into political and economic crisis.

An arbitration panel under the International Chamber of Commerce in late April found that Venezuela under the leadership of then-President Hugo Chavez in 2007 illegally expropriated joint venture operations with ConocoPhillips.

The firm turned to a local court to collect the award, but the petition spelling out its demands has not been made public. The $2 billion award represents the equivalent of more than 20 percent of the cash-strapped Venezuela's foreign currency reserves.KIRKERSVILLE, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio village that lost its police chief in a nursing home shooting that left four people dead a year ago has unveiled a monument to serve as a tribute.

Police held a memorial on Saturday for Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario. The memorial included the unveiling of a bench honoring the police chief, who had only been on the job for a month.

DiSario, nurse Marlina Medrano and nurse's aide Cindy Krantz were killed in the May 2017 attack by suspected shooter Thomas Hartless.

Officials say Medrano had received civil protection orders against Hartless in connection with domestic violence charges. Hartless killed himself after the attack.

Kirkersville is a village of some 500 residents, about 25 miles (39 kilometers) east of Columbus.NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City nanny who killed two small children in her care is facing life in prison.

Yoselyn Ortega (YOH'-sih-lihn ohr-TAY'-guh) is set to be sentenced Monday following her conviction of murder last month in the 2012 deaths of Lucia and Leo Krim.

The nanny's lawyer had argued that Ortega was mentally ill and couldn't be held responsible for the children's deaths.

FILE - In this March 1, 2018 file image from video, Yoselyn Ortega, a trusted nanny to a well-to-do family, listens to court proceedings during the first day of her trial,in New York. Ortega is set to be sentenced on Monday, May 14, 2018, following her conviction of murder last month in the 2012 deaths of Lucia and Leo Krim. (WYNY-TV/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Lucia was 6. Leo was 2.

Prosecutors say Ortega knew what she was doing and understood "every stab, every slash" as she slaughtered the children.

The children's mother found them in a bathroom. The parents' testimony made jurors weep during the emotional trial.DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani security officials say militants have ambushed an army vehicle on patrol in a northwestern tribal region, killing seven soldiers before fleeing back to neighboring Afghanistan.

The two officials say the attack took place Sunday in North Waziristan.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Hours after the attack, Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, issued a statement claiming responsibility.

While Pakistan's military has cleared over 90 percent of the North and South Waziristan tribal regions from insurgents, violence has continued there.

The army has been constructing a series of fences along the border with Afghanistan to check the movement of militants.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - In a jarring contrast, Israeli forces shot and killed 57 Palestinians and injured more than 2,700 during mass protests Monday along the Gaza border, while just a few miles away Israel and the U.S. held a festive inauguration ceremony for the new American Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

In addition, a baby died from tear gas inhalation, the Gaza Health Ministry said, bringing the overall death toll to 58.

It was by far the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a devastating 2014 war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, and further dimmed the already bleak prospects for President Donald Trump's hoped-for peace plan.

A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Throughout the day, Gaza protesters set tires ablaze, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. The Israeli military, which has come under international criticism for using excessive force against unarmed protesters, said Hamas tried to carry out bombing and shooting attacks under the cover of the protests and released video of protesters ripping away parts of the barbed-wire border fence.

Monday's protests culminated more than a month of weekly demonstrations aimed at breaking a crippling Israeli-Egyptian border blockade. But the U.S. Embassy move, bitterly opposed by the Palestinians, added further fuel.

There was barely any mention of the Gaza violence at Monday's lavish inauguration ceremony for the new embassy, an upgraded consular building located just 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials joined an American delegation of Trump administration officials and Republican and evangelical Christian supporters.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser, headlined the U.S. delegation with his wife and fellow White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and four Republican senators. Republican super-donor Sheldon Adelson was also present, and evangelical pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee delivered blessings.

"A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted earlier Monday.

In a videotaped address, Trump said the embassy move, a key campaign promise, recognizes the "plain reality" that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. Yet he added the United States "remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

But Monday's steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move in the Arab world raised new doubts about Trump's ambitions to broker what he called the "deal of the century." More than a year after taking office, Trump's Mideast team has yet to produce a long-promised peace plan.

Trump says recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital acknowledges the reality that Israel's government is located there as well as the ancient Jewish connection to the city. He insists the decision has no impact on future negotiations on the city's final borders.

But to both Israel and the Palestinians, the American gesture is widely seen as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their longstanding conflict.

"What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is history," Netanyahu told the inauguration ceremony.

"You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he added.

The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as their capital, have cut off ties with the Trump administration and say the U.S. is unfit to serve as a mediator. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, furious over the embassy ceremony, said he "will not accept" any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration.

The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were "massacres" carried out by Israeli troops in Gaza, and officials said the Palestinians would file a war crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court over settlement construction.

At least 58 Palestinians were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It said the toll included 57 killed by gunfire and a baby who was overcome by tear gas inhalation.

Six of those killed by gunshots were minors, the ministry said. In addition, 1,360 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including 130 who were in serious or critical condition.

Egypt, an important Israeli ally, condemned the killings of Palestinian protesters, while the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, decried the "shocking killing of dozens."

Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to the United States over the U.S. Embassy move, saying it "disregarded the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people" and would "not serve peace, security and stability in the region." It also recalled its ambassador to Israel following what it called a "massacre" of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

South Africa, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, also recalled its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Israel to respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force" and show restraint, while also urging Hamas to ensure any protests remain peaceful. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a similar appeal.

At the U.S. Embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said.

Israel says the blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities. But it has decimated Gaza's economy, sending unemployment skyrocketing to over 40 percent and leaving the territory with just a few hours of electricity a day.

The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000 at Monday's protest, saying it fell short of what Hamas had hoped for. But officials described what they called "unprecedented violence" unseen in previous weeks.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said hundreds of protesters carried out "concerted, coordinated" attacks on the border fence.

Although the crowd did not manage to break through, he said they caused "significant damage." The army released video showing demonstrators setting a cargo crossing on fire and appearing to climb on the fence as they lobbed flaming objects into the Israeli side.

Conricus also said Hamas militants disguised as protesters tried to infiltrate, and there were at least three instances of armed Hamas gunmen trying to carry out attacks. Israeli aircraft and tanks struck seven Hamas positions.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a cease-fire since the 2014 war - their third in a decade.

Since the protests began on March 30, 100 Palestinians have been killed, most of them protesters. Israel said it killed three militants trying to plant a bomb along the fence, and Palestinian security officials said several Hamas militants were also killed by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests would continue "until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved."

Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Monday's events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

But Tuesday also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. A day of mourning and mass funerals was planned Tuesday.

A majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the "Great March of Return" to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an upgraded, existing U.S. consulate building, until a decision is made on a permanent location. Even the current location is sensitive, located partially in an area designated "no-man's land" in a 1949 armistice agreement. The U.N. considers that land to be occupied territory, though the U.S. says in practice the area has been in continuous Israeli use since 1949.

___

Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Ilan Ben Zion in Mefalsim, Israel, Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at https://apnews.com/tag/Israeli-PalestinianConflict

In this photo combination, Palestinians protest near the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip, left, and on the same day dignitaries, from left, Sara Netanyahu, her husband Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, and U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, applaud at the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, 2018. Netanyahu praised the inauguration of the embassy as a "great day for peace," as dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza amidst ongoing clashes. (AP Photo)

In this photo combination, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, 2018, left, and on the same day, Palestinians in Gaza City carry the body of Mousab Abu Leila, who was killed during a protest at the border of Israel and Gaza. Netanyahu praised the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem as a "great day for peace," as dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza amidst ongoing clashes. (AP Photo)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Presentation of colors by U.S Marines and singing of the U.S national anthem during the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian women wave national flags and chant slogans near the Israeli border fence, east of Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded youth during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, right, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attend the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, left, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, right, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attend the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Sheldon Adelson attends the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman, right, looks at the inauguration plaque during the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 2nd left, his wife Sara Netanyahu, left, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, 3rd left, U.S. President's daughter Ivanka Trump, center, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, attend the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

U.S. President's daughter Ivanka Trump and Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, arrive for the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Israelis hold American and Israeli flags with the new U.S. embassy in the background in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on screen as he delivers his speech during the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, right, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - The 7,000-tonne Russian training ship Perekop with 200 cadet sailors on board arrives in Port Moresby tomorrow for a three-day visit, the first time a Russian warship has visited Papua New Guinea.

And in Darwin, the Royal Australian Air Force base has been placed on a short period of increased readiness just in case.

Perekop is armed with anti-submarine rockets and anti-aircraft guns and is on a two-month training mission from its home port of Kronshtadt in northern Europe, where it is part of the Baltic Fleet.

Dr Euan Graham of the Lowy Institute told Primrose Riordan of The Australian newspaper that the diplomatic motivation behind the visit was unclear, considering the vessel had strayed from usual Russian naval routes.JERUSALEM (AP) - The Latest on the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and Palestinian protests (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

The world's largest body of Muslim-majority nations says it "strongly rejects and condemns" the White House's "deplorable action" to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation said it considers the U.S. move an "illegal decision" and "an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people." The organization said the move Monday also represents "an affront to international peace and security."

The OIC said the U.S. administration has "expressed utter disdain and disrespect to Palestinian legitimate rights and international law" and shown disregard toward the sentiments of Muslims, who value Jerusalem as home to one of Islam's holiest sites, the al-Aqsa mosque complex.

The statement comes as at least 41 Palestinians, including five minors, were killed by Israeli forces Monday. More than 770 Palestinians were wounded in protests in the Gaza Strip

___

5:45 p.m.

A top Turkish official has condemned Israel for deadly clashes along the Israeli-Gaza border, while the foreign ministry blasted the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem.

Taking to Twitter, the spokesman to the Turkish president called Monday's clashes that killed at least 41 Palestinians "another dark spot, another crime added to Israel's wall of shame."

Ibrahim Kalin criticized the international community for its silence "in the face of this systematic barbarism." He tweeted: "Palestine is not alone. Jerusalem is not alone."

The Turkish foreign ministry condemned in a statement the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, saying it violated international law and damaged the peace process. It also slammed Israel: "We curse the massacre carried out by Israeli security forces encouraged by this step on the Palestinians participating in peaceful demonstrations."

The foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, called Israel's actions "state terror."

___

5:40 p.m.

Egypt has condemned the killing of dozens of Palestinian protesters by Israeli fire near the Gaza boarder.

Monday's statement by Foreign Ministry condemned what it said "the use of force against peaceful marches."

It has also warned of the "negative repercussion of such serious escalation in the Palestinian occupied territories."

The statement did not mention today's relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire amid mass protests near the Gaza border has reached 41, making it the deadliest day since a 2014 war with Israel.

The violence made it the deadliest day in Gaza since the devastating cross-border war between the territory's Hamas rulers and Israel four years ago.

___

5:30 p.m.

The European Union's foreign policy chief is calling on Israel to respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force," after Israeli soldiers shot and killed at least 41 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border.

Federica Mogherini said Monday that all should act "with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life" and added that "Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest."

At the same time, she insisted that Hamas must make sure demonstrators in Gaza are peaceful and "must not exploit them for other means."

___

5:25 p.m.

The pan-Arab satellite news network Al-Jazeera says one of its reporters has been wounded while covering demonstrations in Gaza.

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera reported Monday afternoon that journalist Wael Dhadouh was "injured by live ammunition from Israeli forces."

It did not elaborate in a tweet announcing Dhadouh's injury.

___

5:20 p.m.

Israel's prime minister says Jerusalem will always be the "eternal, undivided" capital of Israel.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the new American Embassy in Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "glorious" day.

Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump for showing the "courage" to keep a key campaign promise and says relations with the U.S. have never been stronger.

He says Mideast peace must be founded on what he says is the "truth" recognized by the U.S.

"The truth is that Jerusalem has been and always will be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he said.

The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital and have strongly objected to Trump's move.

___

5:15 p.m.

Israel's military says it has carried out five airstrikes in Gaza after militants exchanged fire with soldiers.

Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said the military struck training camps of the militant Islamic group Hamas that rules Gaza and has been leading protests along the border with Israel.

He said troops exchanged fire with militants on 3 separate occasions.

Manelis said turn out by Monday afternoon was about 40,000. He said the army views that number as a "failure for Hamas."

He said the army noticed there were more women at the front of the protest than in past rallies and accused Hamas of paying people to protest.

At least 41 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire Monday making it the bloodiest day there since a 2014 war with Israel

___

5:10 p.m.

Jared Kushner says Palestinians participating in Gaza border protests are "part of the problem and not part of the solution."

Kushner, President Donald Trump's son in law and chief Mideast adviser, expressed hope for forging Mideast peace as he addressed the opening ceremony for the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.

As he spoke, deadly protests continued along Gaza's border with Israel. With over 40 dead, it was the deadliest round of cross-border violence since a 2014 war and left Kushner's peace efforts in tatters.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said.

He says the "journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth."

___

5 p.m.

Hundreds of Arab citizens of Israel, including five members of parliament, are staging a protest near the site of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

The protest coincided with the inauguration of the embassy Monday afternoon, attended by a high-powered delegation from the Trump administration.

Dozens of police blocked the street near the compound, preventing the protesters from getting closer.

The demonstrators raised Palestinian flags and held signs reading "No to moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem."

The embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December. The decision infuriated Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

In Gaza, at least 41 Palestinian were killed by Israeli fire Monday in a mass protest against the embassy move.

___

4:50 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. remains "fully committed" to pursuing a Mideast peace deal as it opens its controversial new embassy in Jerusalem.

In a videotaped message to the opening ceremony Monday, Trump said the new embassy has "been a long time coming." Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv was one of Trump's key campaign promise that was welcomed by Israel.

But the move has infuriated the Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as their capital and have said that the move disqualifies the U.S. as a Mideast peace mediator.

Trump said his "greatest hope" is for peace. He said the United States "remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

___

4:30 p.m.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri calls the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem a "provocative" act that closes the doors for any attempts to reach peace between the Israel and Palestinians.

Hariri in a series of tweets Monday said he regrets "this decision that is igniting the anger of millions of Arabs, Muslims and Christians." He said Lebanon denounces the "provocative" decision that is deepening the conflict and allowing the "Israelis to spill more blood of innocent Palestinians and increases the intensity of extremism that threatens the world community."

The embassy move comes on day marking Israel's creation 70 years ago, a day Arabs call the "nakba" or catastrophe, in reference to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel. Lebanon was one of the Arab countries to receive many of the Palestinian refugees. Today, there are more than 170,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.

___

4:25 p.m.

Iran's foreign minister is calling today's opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem "a day of great shame."

Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday wrote on Twitter: "Israeli regime massacres countless Palestinians in cold blood as they protest in the world's largest open air prison. Meanwhile, Trump celebrates move of U.S. illegal embassy and his Arab collaborators move to divert attention."

Zarif likely was referring to Gulf Arab countries, which so far haven't commented on Israeli fire killing at least 37 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border as officials marked the opening of the embassy.

Zarif wrote the tweet as he's traveling abroad to try to keep other world powers in the Iran nuclear deal following Trump's decision last week to pull America from the 2015 accord.

___

4:20 p.m.

American and Israeli delegations have begun a festive ceremony to mark the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

U.S. Ambassador David Friedman welcomed the crowd. "Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem Israel," he said to warm applause.

Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, both top aides to President Donald Trump, are leading a high-powered American delegation that also includes the treasury secretary and four Republican senators.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also in the audience.

The ceremony was taking place as Palestinians are holding a mass protest on the Gaza border with Israel. Some 37 people were killed on Monday, in the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a 2014 war.

___

4:15 p.m.

The head of the United Nations says he is worried about the news coming from Gaza, "with the high number of people killed."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his concerns Monday in Vienna, as clashes were taking place along the Israeli-Palestinian border and senior aides to U.S. President Donald Trump were in Jerusalem celebrating the opening of the new U.S. embassy there.

Guterres said, "I'm particularly worried about the news coming from Gaza with the high number of people killed."

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

The Gaza Health Ministry announced Monday afternoon that the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire had risen to 37.

___

4 p.m.

Pastor Robert Jeffress says "it's sad" that former presidential candidate Mitt Romney lashed out at him ahead of the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Jeffress said "I think it's sad that Mitt feels the need to lash out in anger on such a historic day but it's not going to overshadow what is happening here."

Speaking to The Associated Press before he was set to deliver the blessing at the opening ceremony Monday, Jeffress said things attributed to him have been taken out of context.

Mitt Romney had previously denounced Jeffress as a "religious bigot."

Jeffress, leader of a Dallas-area Baptist church and a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, has drawn criticism for calling Islam and Mormonism "a heresy from the pit of hell" and saying Jews "can't be saved."

___

3:45 p.m.

Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, senior aides to President Donald Trump are in Jerusalem celebrating the opening of the new U.S. embassy there.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

As the Gaza Health Ministry announced that the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire had risen to 37, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News that Monday was an "incredible, momentous day" and said it was "great honor" to lead the dedication ceremony on Trump's behalf.

Mnuchin also said "it's not coincidental" that the opening of the new embassy coincided with Trump's announcement that he planned to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

Mnuchin has repeatedly said of Jerusalem: "This is the capital of Israel."

___

3:40 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire amid mass protests near the Gaza border has reached 37, making it the deadliest day since a 2014 war with Israel.

The ministry says at least 448 Palestinians were shot and wounded Monday, while hundreds more suffered other types of injuries, including from tear gas.

The violence made it the deadliest day in Gaza since the devastating cross-border war between the territory's Hamas rulers and Israel four years ago, and clouded the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

The deaths brought to 79 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers firing from across the border fence since mass border protests began in late March. More than 2,200 Gaza residents have been wounded in that time by Israeli fire.

___

3:15 p.m.

Several dozen Palestinian stone-throwers are clashing with Israeli troops on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Witnesses say that in one area, north of Jerusalem, soldiers are firing live bullets, tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets. A second clash was reported between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Earlier Monday, several thousand gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest the inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem later that day.

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital and view the Trump administration's recognition of the city as Israel's capital as a show of pro-Israel bias.

Palestinians are also marking the 70th anniversary of the "nakba," or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled in the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.

___

3:10 p.m.

European foreign ministers say the U.S. decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem is unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Monday that the move "is inflaming already a very tense situation, and the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians."

His Dutch counterpart, Stef Blok, said "we don't consider it a wise decision to move the embassy."

Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the U.S. move.

The U.S. is to formally inaugurate the embassy later Monday.

___

3:05 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza border has reached 25.

This makes Monday the deadliest day in Gaza since the devastating cross-border war between the territory's Hamas rulers and Israel in 2014.

The deaths brought to 67 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers firing from across the border fence since mass border protests began in late March. More than 2,000 Gaza residents have been wounded in that time by Israeli fire.

The Hamas-led marches, fueled by growing despair in Gaza, are aimed at breaking a decade-long blockade of the territory by Israel and Egypt.

Monday's march also protests the inauguration of a U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem later in the day.

___

3 p.m.

A senior figure in Gaza's ruling Hamas group says mass border protests against Israel will continue until Palestinians have achieved their rights.

Ismail Radwan spoke as thousands rallied near the border fence Monday in the largest protest since his Islamic militant group launched a campaign in late March to break the decade-old blockade of the territory.

By mid-day Monday, 18 Palestinians had been killed and close to 500 wounded by Israeli soldiers firing from across the border fence. Israel has said it will block a possible breach of the border at any cost.

Despite the rising death toll, Hamas was doubling down. Radwan says "we will continue on this path until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved."

Since March, 60 Palestinians have been killed in the unrest along the border.

___

2:45 p.m.

The Israeli military says troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to place an explosive device by the border fence in Gaza during mass protests.

The shooting in the southern Gaza town of Rafah came as thousands of Palestinians protested at the border against the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and against a decade-long blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza by Israel and Egypt.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 18 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.

In a separate incident, the army says an Israeli aircraft bombed a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip after Israeli troops came under fire. No Israeli casualties were reported.

The Israeli military says over 35,000 protesters are taking part in demonstrations at 12 points along the Gaza border.

___

2:40 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinian protesters killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza border has risen to 18.

Monday's deaths bring to 60 the number of protesters killed since mass border protests against a decade-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory began in late March.

The rising death toll is bound to overshadow the festive inauguration of a U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem later Monday. Palestinians say the embassy opening is a show of blatant pro-Israel bias by the Trump administration.

Monday's bloodshed will likely revive international criticism of open-fire rules that allow soldiers to use lethal force against unarmed protesters.

Israel says it has the right to defend its border and that it will block a border breach at any cost.

___

2:30 p.m.

The Arab League and the top Sunni Muslim religious authority have criticized the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem.

The Cairo-based Arab League called on the international community to oppose what it considers an "unjust decision" and the ongoing "Israeli occupation" of the city.

It called the move a "blatant attack on the feelings of Arabs and Muslims," and a "grave violation of the rules of international law" that would destabilize the region.

The Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, have called for an urgent meeting at the Arab League on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Egypt's Al-Azhar religious institution called on the international community to use "all peaceful means" to "dismiss positions of countries that sided with the Zionist entity," referring to Israel.

The U.S. is to formally inaugurate the embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday. The Palestinians are holding mass protests along the Gaza border to condemn the move, and to try to break a decade-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory by Israel and Egypt.

___

2:20 p.m.

A top Russian diplomat has criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S Embassy to Jerusalem, saying it will further fuel tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. Embassy is due to officially relocate to Jerusalem on Monday, after Trump recognized it as the capital of Israel in December.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Monday described the relocation of the embassy as "short-sighted."

Bogdanov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency that the decision "runs against the stance of most of the international community." He blamed the U.S. for "a sharp escalation around Gaza" and said the relocation of the U.S. embassy "could spark large-scale confrontations between Palestinians and the Israelis and cause a rising number of casualties."

___

2:05 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinian protesters killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza border has risen to 16.

Monday's deaths bring to 58 the number of protesters killed since mass border protests against a decade-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory began in late March.

Israel has said it will prevent a border breach at any cost. A growing casualty toll Monday was bound to revive international criticism of open-fire rules under which soldiers are permitted to shoot anyone approaching the border fence.

Rights groups have said such rules are unlawful. Israel says it has the right to defend its border.

___

1:40 p.m.

Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group says the U.S. decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a unilateral step "that Palestinians will not accept and therefore it is worthless."

The group's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, made his comments in a speech in Beirut on Monday marking the 70th anniversary of what Arabs refer to as the "nakba" or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war around Israel's creation.

Kassem added that "God willing, the nakba that happened 70 years ago will be a motive for change and liberation."

The U.S. is to formally inaugurate the embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday. The Palestinians are holding mass protests along the Gaza border to condemn the move, and to try to break a decade-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory by Israel and Egypt.

___

1:30 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinian protesters killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza border has risen to seven.

Monday's deaths bring to 49 the number of Palestinians killed during mass border marches that began in late March and are aimed at breaking a decade-old blockade of the territory.

The ministry says 500 people were wounded Monday, including at least 69 by live fire.

Israel has said it would prevent a potential breach of the Gaza border at all costs. It has drawn international criticism for what rights groups say are unlawful open-fire rules. Israel says it has the right to defend its border.

Monday's protests also targeted the opening of the U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem later in the day.

___

12:45 p.m.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz says President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital will go down in history as a moment akin to President Harry Truman recognizing Israel when it was established in 1948.

Trump's former Republican presidential rival says Monday that it was "the right decision" and had already inspired Guatemala, Paraguay and perhaps others to follow suit. Cruz is in Israel as part of a congressional delegation for the embassy's dedication in Jerusalem.

Previous U.S. presidents of both parties, as well as nearly every other country, refrained from opening embassies in Jerusalem, arguing that the city's final status should first be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Trump has been lauded by Israelis and condemned by Palestinians for moving the embassy to the contested city. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

___

12:30 p.m.

Gaza's Health Ministry says one Palestinian has been killed and 69 have been wounded by Israeli army fire in mass protests on the Gaza-Israel border.

The ministry said Monday that nine of the wounded are in serious condition. It says the man who was killed was 21 years old and was shot near the southeastern town of Khan Younis. It says several dozen other protesters were overcome by tear gas.

Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, and the territory's Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible. Israel has warned it would block such a breach at any cost.

___

12:20 p.m.

The Israeli military says it has set up several layers of security around the Gaza border in case of a massive breach by Palestinian protesters.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus says forces have been "massively reinforced" along the front lines of the border. But he says additional layers of forces have been stationed inside Israeli communities, and between communities, to defend Israeli civilians in case of a breach.

Conricus said Monday that "even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them."

The Hamas organizers of the Palestinian protests have signaled that thousands of people may try to break through the fence.

___

12:15 p.m.

Israel's justice minister is calling President Donald Trump the "Churchill of the 21st Century" for relocating the American embassy to Jerusalem.

Ayelet Shaked says Monday that with his move Trump has "reversed Chamberlain's policy of capitulation" and shown the world that "the landowner has returned."

Previous U.S. presidents of both parties, as well as nearly every other country, refrained from opening embassies in Jerusalem, arguing that the city's final status should first be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Shaked appeared to be comparing that policy to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis prior to World War II, suggesting Trump was like his successor, Winston Churchill, who led the war effort.

Shaked, from the pro-settler Jewish Home party, bashed Europe for not learning from history. She says it "closed its eyes to the strengthening of the Nazis, today it is choosing to close its eyes to the strengthening of Iran."

Trump has been lauded by Israelis and condemned by Palestinians for moving the embassy to the contested city. The Palestinians seek its eastern sector as their future capital and say the move removes the U.S. as an impartial arbiter.

___

11:15 a.m.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says it's a U.S. "national security priority" to relocate the Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mnuchin was speaking Monday at an event in Jerusalem ahead of the opening ceremony for the new U.S. Embassy.

Trump's decision in December to go forward with a campaign promise to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians. Previous presidents had signed a waiver postponing the move, citing national security.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians seek the city's eastern half as capital of a future state and say the move shows the U.S. is not an impartial peace negotiator.

___

11 a.m.

Israeli troops firing from across a border fence have shot and wounded two Palestinians as a protest near the Gaza border gets underway.

Gaza residents streamed to the border area Monday for what is intended to be the largest protest yet against a decade-old blockade of the territory. Israel's military says it will stop a possible border breach at all costs, warning protesters that they are endangering their lives.

Near Gaza City, hundreds gathered about 150 meters (yards) from the fence. A reporter witnessed two people being shot in the legs.

Protester Mohammed Hamami, 40, says the march is a "message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land." Most Gaza residents are descendants of refugees from the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.

___

10:50 a.m.

Turkey's president has once again condemned the U.S. decision to move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.

In a statement published late Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the U.S. disregarded "rights and justice," ignoring the international community. The new embassy is to be officially inaugurated on Monday.

Erdogan says the move serves to "reward" the Israeli government despite it undermining efforts to resolve the decades-long conflict, while it "punished" Palestinians. Erdogan says: "History and humanity will never forgive the injustices done to our Palestinian brothers."

Erdogan has been vehemently critical of the U.S. decision and hosted an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in December to condemn the move.

The Turkish president called on Israel to act "responsibly and with moderation" during possible protests on Monday to ensure no one's killed.

___

10:40 a.m.

Two prominent newspapers in the United Arab Emirates are criticizing America's decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The English-language, government-aligned Gulf News called Monday "a sad day" in a front-page headline over a cartoon by the slain Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali of a crying Palestinian woman behind barbed wire. Al-Ali, a critic of both Israeli and Arab governments, was fatally shot in London in 1987.

In an editorial, the Dubai-based Gulf News said: "This is a day when the United States and the administration of President Donald Trump should hang its head in shame." It called Trump's decision "a purely political move to appease his friends on the Manhattan party circuit" and said "Jerusalem's status is non-negotiable."

The Gulf News regularly datelines news reports as being from "Occupied Jerusalem."

In The National, an English-language, government-aligned newspaper in Abu Dhabi, editor-in-chief Mina al-Oraibi wrote: "Rather than ignoring history and historic rights, courage and immediate intervention is needed to save the heart of the Arab world.'"

___

10:30 a.m.

The speaker of Iran's parliament is reportedly warning that moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will inflame tensions in the Middle East.

Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency on Monday quoted Ali Larijani as saying: "Definitely their measures on moving their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Iran's nuclear issue will not go unchallenged. These sorts of actions will increase tension in the region and the world."

Larijani urged Muslim countries to take more serious measures in response to President Donald Trump's "wrong and unwise decision" to move the embassy to Jerusalem. The city's future status is one of the most divisive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Larijani's comments come nearly a week after Trump pulled America out of the nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers in 2015.

___

10:20 a.m.

Witnesses say Israeli drones have dropped incendiary materials, setting ablaze tires that had been collected for use in a planned Gaza border protest.

They say the drones set tires ablaze in two locations early Monday, releasing large clouds of black smoke.

In weekly protests since March, Gaza activists have been using the thick smoke from burning tires as a cover against Israeli snipers on the other side of the fence.

On Monday, the largest turnout yet is expected in a campaign, led by Gaza's Hamas rulers, to break the decade-old blockade of the territory.

Mosques called on people to head for the border. A general strike was observed, with shops and markets closed. Buses deployed outside mosques to pick up protesters.

Israel's military says it will stop any border breach.

___

9:50 a.m.

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has denounced the choice of a "religious bigot" to deliver the blessing at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Pastor Robert Jeffress, leader of a Dallas-area Baptist church and a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, is slated to deliver a blessing on Monday at the opening of the relocated embassy.

Jeffress has drawn criticism for calling Islam and Mormonism "a heresy from the pit of hell" and saying Jews "can't be saved."

Romney writes on Twitter that "Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem."

___

9:15 a.m.

A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his decision to open a U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem, saying the American administration is "based on lies."

Saeb Erekat told the Voice of Palestine radio Monday that Trump violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance. Erekat says Washington "is no longer a partner."

In December, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, infuriating Palestinians who seek the Israeli-annexed eastern sector as a capital. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem opens Monday.

Erekat says the Trump administration has "become part of the problem." He suggested Trump's Mideast team is unqualified, saying "the world needs real leaders, and those (White House officials) are real estate dealers, not leaders."

___

9:05 a.m.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary has expressed concern that the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel could escalate tensions in the Middle East.

Yoshihide Suga said Monday that "Japan is concerned that the move could make peace process in the Middle East even more difficult or escalate tension in all of the Middle East." He says Japan will watch the development with great interest.

Suga stopped short of criticizing the U.S., and said that Japan takes note of Washington's pledge that the issue of Jerusalem's status should be resolved between the concerned parties.

He stressed that Japan's position is that the disputes and Jerusalem's status should be resolved via negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Suga added that Japan hopes to contribute in its own way to the region's peace by promoting trust and dialogue between the two parties through various projects.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem has been welcomed by Israel but condemned by the Palestinians, who want their capital to be in east Jerusalem and view the decision as a blatantly one-sided move on one of the thorniest disputes in the conflict.

___

9 a.m.

President Donald Trump's Mideast peace negotiator says moving the American embassy to Jerusalem is a "necessary condition" to a lasting peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

American officials are in Jerusalem for Monday's relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city, a move the Israeli government has embraced but the Palestinians have condemned.

Jason Greenblatt writes on Twitter that "the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal."

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. They view the relocation as a blatant, one-sided move that invalidates America's role as an impartial peace broker.

___

8:30 a.m.

Israel has warned Gaza residents they will be risking their lives if they approach the border during a planned mass protest.

The army says in the leaflets dropped by jets Monday that it will "act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians."

Gaza's ruling Hamas says it expects tens of thousands to join Monday's march, suggesting a possible border breach. The march is part of a campaign to break Gaza's decade-old border blockade. It's also a protest against the inauguration Monday of a U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

Since March, 42 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded by Israeli army fire.

With Israel and Hamas digging in, there has been concern about large numbers of casualties Monday.

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters chant slogans as they burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A boy waves a Palestinian flag while walking through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani rescuers have recovered two more bodies of students who fell into a river when an old wooden bridge collapsed in Kashmir, bringing the death toll to seven.

Dozens of students were taking photos from the hanging bridge when it collapsed Sunday. Authorities rescued 14 students, but say seven more are still missing and feared dead.

The students from a medical college in eastern Punjab province were visiting the picnic point of Kundal Shahi, some 75 kilometers (50 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pakistani rescue workers search for bodies at the site of bridge collapse in Kundal Shahi, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani controlled Kashmir, Sunday May 13, 2018. An old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir collapsed as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths. (AP Photo/M.D. Mughal)

Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India, both of which claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.TOKYO (AP) - A volcano in southern Japan seen in a James Bond film erupted Monday, shooting grey smoke and ash thousands of meters (feet) into the sky.

The Meteorological Agency said the Shinmoedake volcano had its second major eruption since it exploded in March for the first time since 2011. It had a less-powerful eruption in April.

There was no damage from Monday's eruption.

A column of volcanic smoke rises from the Shinmoedake volcano in Yusui town, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Monday, May 14, 2018. The volcano seen in a James Bond film has erupted, shooting up grey smoke and ash thousands of meters (feet) into the sky. (Tatsuya Suga/Kyodo News via AP)

The volcano was seen in the 1967 James Bond film "You Only Live Twice."

Another nearby volcano, Io, erupted recently for the first time in 250 years.

Entry to the 1,421-kilometer (4,660-foot) -high Shinmoedake has been restricted since the March eruption.

Japan, which sits on the seismically volatile Pacific "Ring of Fire," has 110 active volcanoes.Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. DEADLY VIOLENCE AHEAD OF US EMBASSY EVENT

Several Palestinians are killed by Israeli fire, and scores wounded, as thousands march toward the Gaza border while Israel prepares for the inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

2. WHAT DOESN'T APPEAR TO FIT WITH 'AMERICA FIRST'

Trump says he will help the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE get "back into business" after the U.S. government cut off access to its American suppliers.

3. WHAT POLICE ARE SAYING ABOUT INDONESIA BOMBINGS

Families with young children were involved in deadly attacks on a police headquarters and coordinated suicide bombings on three city churches.

4. WHO LEADS IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS

The coalition of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr takes an early lead in the country's national elections.

5. FRANCE QUESTIONS PARENTS, FRIEND OF PARIS STABBING SUSPECT

Counterterrorism investigators want to know if Khamzat Azimov, 20, a French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya, had help or co-conspirators.

6. MARIJUANA GROWERS DIVERSIFY WITH HEMP AMID CBD BOOM

A glut of pot and low prices for it in Oregon prompt some growers to switch to hemp to cash in on soaring interest in the cannabidiol extract from it that is a health craze, AP learns.

7. EVEN BIGGER SEX ABUSE SCANDAL RANKLES CHILEANS

The Marist Brothers congregation reveals that at least 14 minors were abused from the 1970s until 2008 by a brother who worked at two of the order's schools.

8. NOISY HAWAIIAN VOLCANO LAVA FISSURE PROMPTS MORE EVACUATIONS

A new fissure in Hawaii's Puna District sends gases and lava exploding into the air, spurring officials to call for more evacuations near Kilauea volcano's summit.

9. SNOOPY MAY BE JOINING SONY

The Japanese electronics giant's music unit is buying a stake in Peanuts Holdings, the company behind Snoopy and Charlie Brown.

10. TRIAL ON TAP IN NFL TEAM'S MEMORABILIA LAWSUIT

A lawsuit accuses the New York Giants and QB Eli Manning of knowingly selling bogus "game-worn" equipment to unsuspecting collectors.

Police officers carry a body bag containing one of the victims of Sunday's explosions upon arrival at a hospital in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, May 14, 2018. The flurry of attacks in the country's second largest city have raised concerns that previously beaten down militant networks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)CARNESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Authorities say one person is dead in a shooting involving a sheriff's deputy in northeast Georgia.

It was one of several shootings involving Georgia law enforcement officers over the weekend.

Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas says the shooting happened Sunday night in Carnesville. Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in an email that one person is dead and three others were wounded.

Authorities did not immediately explain how the deputy was involved. Miles said preliminary findings would be released Monday.

In Clayton County, officials say an off-duty police officer fatally shot a man who had been firing shots toward another person near a restaurant Sunday.

Miles also said two Sandy Springs police officers shot and wounded a 22-year-old man after he rammed two police vehicles Friday night.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

U.S. officials say several dozen additional Marines are being deployed to beef up security at embassies in Israel, Jordan and Turkey amid outbreaks of violence since the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops following a protest against the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday, May 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

The officials say the increases are temporary and will involve roughly a dozen more Marines in each location. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.

It was not clear how many Marines would be at the new embassy in Jerusalem and how many would remain at the Tel Aviv facility, which is still operating.

Capt. Ryan E. Alvis, Marine Corps spokeswoman, says a number of troops from the Marine Security Guard Security Augmentation Unit were requested as a result of current events. She did not provide numbers or location details.

-Lolita C. Baldor

__

9:45 a.m.

President Donald Trump says the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem has been a "long time coming."

Trump gave a video address that aired at the opening of the new embassy Monday. He announced late last year that he would fulfill his campaign promise to move the embassy.

Trump said that the U.S. had "failed to acknowledge the obvious" for many years, adding that "today, we follow through on this recognition."

Trump added that the new embassy was opening "many, many years ahead of schedule."

The embassy move has enraged the Palestinians. Trump said he remained committed to "facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

Trump stressed a close bond with Israel. He also said he was "extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors."

___

9:40 a.m.

President Donald Trump is offering his congratulations to Israel on Twitter.

Several of his top aides and political supporters are on hand in Jerusalem, where Trump is opening a new U.S. embassy. The relocation of America's diplomatic post from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians and fueled protests there that resulted in an estimated 37 Palestinian deaths.

Trump made no reference to the violence on his Twitter feed, instead urging people to tune in to watch the televised ceremony. He wrote: "Big day for Israel. Congratulations!"

___

9:30 a.m.

Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters are celebrating the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled.

Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (mih-NOO'-shin), were leading the ceremonies. Also on hand were Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

In a Fox News interview that made no reference to the climbing death toll, Mnuchin said Trump is "taking action" and "making difficult decisions" and "not just kicking the can down the road."

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians. Israeli fire has killed at least 37 Palestinians during protests along the Gaza border.WASHINGTON (AP) - A Wyoming man who was 16 when he fatally shot another teenager in the head at point-blank range will be resentenced for the killing after the Supreme Court declined to step in to the case.

The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take the case of Phillip Sam, who killed 19-year-old Tyler Burns in a Cheyenne park in 2014. Sam was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years, plus three consecutive sentences of at least nine years each.

Wyoming's highest court overturned the sentence in 2017. The court said Sam was effectively sentenced to life without parole even though a court concluded he didn't deserve to be in prison for the rest of his life.AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Groups of Maine citizens want the state to strengthen its law cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The state's current emissions standards are set by a 2003 law. The citizens' proposal calls for an 8 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions annually that by 2035 would reduce Maine's emissions to approximately 75 to 85 percent below 2003 levels.

Maine will hold a public hearing Tuesday in Augusta. Advocacy groups Our Children's Trust, Citizens Climate Lobby and 350 Maine said they collected hundreds of signatures from Mainers who support the proposal.

Citizens and advocacy groups in states like Oregon and Alaska have recently argued that the U.S. government is failing to protect them from climate change.BERLIN (AP) - The International Monetary Fund is calling on Germany to use the "still sizable fiscal space" in Europe's biggest economy to increase public investment.

The German economy expanded last year by 2.2 percent, the strongest showing in six years. A similar performance is expected this year, and the government said last week that solid growth and low unemployment should boost its tax take over the coming years.

However, a regular IMF report issued Monday said "further policy action is needed to more decisively boost domestic investment, which would also support external rebalancing." It urged investments in areas such as childcare, transport and digital infrastructure.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during her visit to a meeting of German Bundeswehr (Army) in Berlin, Germany, Monday, May 14,2018. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

It said the positive economic situation "provides an opportunity for the new government to take more forceful policy actions," though welcoming measures agreed by the new administration.Democratic congressional candidate Dana Balter will kick off a central New York listening tour with a town hall meeting in Auburn this week.

The town hall meeting will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at the Phoenix Building, 2 South St., Auburn. The event is open to the public.

Balter, D-Syracuse, has participated in other public forums and town hall meetings since becoming a candidate for Congress in September. She is vying for the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District. The incumbent is U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican.

"For the last seven months, I've been meeting with voters to hear about the issues that matter to them," Balter said in a statement. "Congressman Katko won't hold open forums to meet the voters he represents, but I will. This week in Auburn, I look forward to hearing directly from the people he's ignored."

Katko, R-Camillus, pledged to hold town hall meetings when he first campaigned for Congress in 2014. He has held issue-specific forums during his first and second terms in office, including listening sessions last year in Oswego and Wayne counties on the opioid crisis and agriculture. He also participated in a televised town hall meeting in May 2017.MILWAUKEE (AP) - Former Army Capt. Ernest L. Medina, a key figure in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, has died in Wisconsin. He was 81.

Medina was an Army captain on March 16, 1968, when American troops under his command killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. He was acquitted in a court-martial over the massacre.

Medina died May 8, according to an obituary written by his family. No cause of death was given. He was being buried Monday.

FILE - In this Dec. 4, 1969, file photo, U.S. Army Capt. Ernest Medina, a key figure in the 1968 My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, speaks at a news conference at the Pentagon. Medina died on May 8, 2018, according to an obituary written by his family. He was 81. (AP Photo/File)

Medina was captain of Charlie Company whose mission was to attack a crack Vietcong unit. The intelligence soldiers received was inaccurate and they encountered no resistance in the village of My Lai and a neighboring community. Charlie Company killed 504 villagers in just three to four hours, most of them women, children and elderly men.

It wasn't until more than a year later that news of the massacre became public.

Medina was accused of responsibility in the deaths of at least 182 civilians. Medina, whose platoon took up a position in reserve outside the village, said during his trial that he was not with the soldiers when the massacre happened and that he didn't know about it until it was over. Medina acknowledged killing one woman, but said he believed she was about to attack him.

Lt. William L. Calley Jr., who led the first platoon into My Lai, was the only one convicted of the 25 men originally charged in the massacre.

In a 1988 interview with The Associated Press, Medina looked back on My Lai as a "horrendous thing" that never should have happened.

"I have regrets for it, but I have no guilt over it because I didn't cause it," he said. "That's not what the military, particularly the United States Army, is trained for. But then again, maybe the war should have never happened. I think if everybody were to look at it in hindsight, I'm sure a lot of the politicians and generals would think of it otherwise. Maybe it was a war that we should have probably never gotten involved in as deeply as we did without the will to win it."

Medina earned a Silver Star for bravery for actions he took saving the lives of fellow soldiers during a battle shortly before My Lai. Although Medina was acquitted of murder and manslaughter for the My Lai killings, his 16-year Army career was ruined and he resigned his commission. He moved with his wife and three children to Marinette, Wisconsin, in 1971. He worked as a salesman for a helicopter manufacturer for a while, and later went into real estate.

Medina was born in Springer, New Mexico, to Simon and Pauline Medina. Medina's mother died shortly after his birth and his grandparents raised him in Montrose, Colorado, according to his family's obituary.

Medina lied about his age to join the Colorado National Guard at 16, his family said. In 1956, he enlisted in the Army after briefly considering joining the seminary. Then, while stationed in Heilbronn, Germany, he met the woman he would eventually marry, Baerbel Dechandt.

"He quickly fell in love and declined an offer to take an exam to go to West Point Military Academy so that he could marry his soul mate," his obituary reads.

Ernie, as his family called him in the obituary, "craved time with family, friends, and working in the community."

"He also enjoyed having an occasional cigar, a good home-brew, trying to fill his endless garage with assorted 'collectibles,' and dreaming of restoring an antique Ford Model T and a 1960s VW Bug," his obituary reads.

According to the obituary, Medina is survived by his wife, daughter Ingrid Medina, sons Greg and Cecil Medina, eight grandchildren and his cousin, Ercelica Salomoni.

___

Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski contributed from Minneapolis.BERLIN (AP) - A former regional leader of the Alternative for Germany party has been convicted of incitement to hatred over online posts targeting Muslims.

German news agency dpa reports that a court in the northeastern city of Rostock gave lawmaker Holger Arppe a fine of 9,000 euros ($10,740). Arppe denied having written that Britain should be turned into a "quarantine island" for Muslims living in Europe.

The court ruled Monday that Arppe had posted the comments in 2010 using a pseudonym, rejecting his appeal against a lower court ruling.

Arppe is a member of the regional assembly in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state. He left Alternative for Germany last year, saying he wanted to avert damage from the party following the leak of unrelated online chats advocating violence against political enemies and children.FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - A Minnesota woman accused of killing her husband and a Florida woman before leading authorities on a cross-country manhunt has entered a not guilty plea to a second-degree murder charge.

News outlets report 56-year-old Lois Riess entered the plea Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida.

Court documents say 54-year-old David Riess was found dead at the couple's Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, home on March 23. Authorities say Lois Riess came to Fort Myers and soon met 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson.

Investigators believe Riess killed Hutchinson to assume her identity. Riess was captured in South Padre Island, Texas, and returned to Florida to face charges. Charges in Minnesota are also pending.

The public defender's office in Lee County is representing Riess.

___

This story corrects the spelling of the name Riess throughout.ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Latest on investigations into Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (all times local):

7:50 p.m.

Missouri lawmakers say they're still moving forward with an investigation of Gov. Eric Greitens after a St. Louis prosecutor dropped a felony charge against him.

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2018, file photo, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens listens to a question during an interview in his office at the Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo., where discussed having an extramarital affair before taking office. Jury selection is taking longer than expected in the criminal trial of Greitens. Opening arguments had been expected to begin Monday, May 14. Instead, attorneys who began screening prospective jurors last week are to continuing doing so Monday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Republican House and Senate leaders in joint statements Monday said lawmakers' work is separate from the dropped felony invasion-of-privacy charge against the Republican governor.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office said it dismissed the charge Monday because Judge Rex Burlison granted a request by Greitens' attorney to call the prosecutor as a witness. Prosecutors say they hope to refile the case.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo said in a statement they're still waiting for a recommendation from a special House committee on whether to impeach Greitens.

The House leaders say the dropped case now means Greitens can testify before the House committee, which he so far has not done.

___

6 p.m.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is calling the decision to drop a criminal charge against him "a great victory that has been a longtime coming."

The St. Louis circuit attorney's office abruptly dropped an invasion-of-privacy charge Monday against Greitens after the third day of jury selection for his trial.

Prosecutors cited a decision by the judge to allow Greitens' attorneys to call Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner as a witness. Greitens' attorneys have accused a private attorney hired by Gardner of committing perjury.

Greitens appeared outside the courthouse afterward and made a brief statement denouncing the "false charges" and apologizing "for the pain" that his actions cause.

Prosecutors said they will make a decision later on whether to seek a special prosecutor or appoint someone to continue pursuing the case.

___

5:15 p.m.

Prosecutors have dropped an invasion-of-privacy charge against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens but say they hope to refile the case.

The surprise move came at the end of a third day of jury selection for the Republican governor's trial.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office said it dismissed the charge because Judge Rex Burlison granted a request by Greitens' attorney to call the prosecutor as a witness.

Greitens' attorneys have criticized Gardner's handling of the case, particularly her hiring of private investigator William Tisaby, who Greitens' lawyers have accused of perjury.

Greitens was accused of taking and transmitting a nonconsensual photo of an at least partially nude woman with whom he had an affair in 2015.

A Gardner spokeswoman says a decision will be made later on how to proceed.

___

5 p.m.

Prosecutors have dropped an invasion-of-privacy charge against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, but say they plan to re-file the case with a special prosecutor.

Assistant St. Louis Circuit Attorney Ronald Sullivan made the surprise announcement Monday in court after the third day of jury selection in Greitens' trial.

Sullivan cited the fact that Greitens' defense attorneys planned to call the St. Louis circuit attorney, whose handling of the case has been under constant criticism by Greitens attorneys.

Greitens' defense team has particularly focused on the prosecutor's hiring of a private investigator, William Tisaby, whom Greitens' lawyers have accused of perjury.

The Republican governor was accused of taking and transmitting a nonconsensual photo of an at least partially nude woman with whom he had an affair in 2015.

___

3 p.m.

Jury selection has been moving slowly and methodically in the criminal trial of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

More than half of the prospective jurors are being dismissed, either because of time constraints or potential biases. The selection process now is expected to go into Tuesday.

Legal experts say it's not usual for jury selection to move slowly in high-profile cases. Jurors aren't required to know nothing about the allegations against Greitens. But his attorneys have been trying to exclude those who may have difficulty setting aside their opinions.

Greitens is charged with felony invasion of privacy for allegedly taking and transmitting a photo of an at least partially nude woman without her consent in 2015.

The Republican governor has acknowledged having an affair but denied criminal wrongdoing.

___

1:49 p.m.

An attorney for Gov. Eric Greitens' campaign has turned over more than 14,000 documents to a House investigatory committee but is objecting to a subpoena issued to a separate secretive group that has supported Greitens' agenda.

Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Monday that she doesn't believe the committee called A New Missouri falls within the scope of the House investigation.

House investigatory committee chairman Jay Barnes said it's considering its options for how to enforce the subpoena.

The House investigation could eventually lead to impeachment proceedings against Greitens but is separate from his criminal trial underway this week in St. Louis on an invasion-of-privacy charge.

The House panel issued subpoenas after Hanaway complained it hadn't sought the campaign's input before releasing a report May 2 about Greitens' political use of a charity donor list.

___

1:19 p.m.

A special House committee investigating Gov. Eric Greitens says it has received some but not all of the documents it requested from the governor's political committees.

Committee Chairman Jay Barnes said Monday that the House had issued subpoenas for documents and testimony from Greitens' campaign committee, former campaign manager Austin Chambers and a secretive committee called "A New Missouri" that has supported Greitens' agenda.

Barnes said a Greitens attorney supplied a "substantial number" of documents but also objected to providing "other large categories of documents."

The House investigation is separate from Greitens' criminal trial on invasion of privacy.

The House panel issued subpoenas after a Greitens' campaign attorney complained the panel hadn't sought its input before releasing a report about Greitens' political use of a charity donor list.

___

10:15 a.m.

A lawyer for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says prosecutors have stopped looking for the photo in connection with his felony invasion of privacy trial, a contention a prosecutor did not dispute in court.

The charge against Greitens stems from his allegedly taking and transmitting a photo of a partially nude woman during a sexual encounter in 2015. Prosecutors have acknowledged that they did not have the photo but left open the possibility that they would obtain it.

Defense lawyer Jim Martin said Monday that the circuit attorney's office told Greitens' team Friday that they had obtained information from the cloud but did not have a photo. Martin said prosecutors said they had stopped pursuing a photo.

Judge Rex Burlison asked prosecutor Ronald Sullivan if he had a response to the defense's contention, and he said he did not.

Jury selection continues Monday.

_____

1 a.m.

Jury selection is taking longer than expected in the criminal trial of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

Opening arguments had been expected to begin Monday. Instead, attorneys who began screening 160 prospective jurors last week are to continuing doing so Monday. And that process is now expected to last into Tuesday.

Greitens is charged with felony invasion of privacy for allegedly taking and transmitting a photo of a woman in a compromising position without her permission in March 2015.The Republican governor has denied any criminal wrongdoing but has acknowledged having an extramarital affair with the woman. He hasn't directly answered questions about whether he took the photo.

The affair ended more than a year before Greitens won election in November 2016.BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) - Libya's prosecutors say they have handed over the bodies of 20 Coptic Christian workers, who were beheaded on a beach in the coastal city of Sirte by Islamic State militants, to their families in Egypt.

They say Monday that the bodies have been flown to Egypt from Misrata, Libya's third largest city.

Libyan authorities recovered the bodies of the Egyptians along with a Coptic Christian from Ghana in October.

In February 2015, Egyptians were shocked by a grisly video of the beheadings. Cairo staged punitive airstrikes against militant targets in Libya.

Sirte had been a stronghold of IS militants before they fled the city inland in 2016.

Libya has descended into chaos since a popular 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) - The Muslim family that carried out suicide attacks on three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city, killing a dozen people as well as its two young daughters, lived comfortably in an upper-middle class suburb and was on friendly terms with a Christian neighbor.

The coordinated bombings on Sunday, followed on Monday by a suicide attack by another family on police headquarters in Surabaya, have horrified Indonesians who typically see their Muslim-majority country as diverse and tolerant.

Neighbors said there were no signs members of the family were planning the acts of violence that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo condemned as "barbaric" and "beyond humanity." They had lived in the leafy Wonorejo Asri residential community since 2010 and had a good income from the father's business selling herbal medicines, the neighbors said.

A Muslim woman weeps during the wake for Sri Pudji Astutik, one of the victims of Sunday's church attacks, at a funeral home in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, May 14, 2018. The flurry of bombings raised concerns that previously beaten-down militant networks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria. Experts have warned for several years that when those fighters return, they could pose a significant threat. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

According to police, on Sunday morning the two sons, aged 16 and 18, rode a motorcycle into a church courtyard and detonated their explosives. Puji Kuswati, the mother, attacked worshippers at another church with her daughters, aged 8 and 12, who police said were all wearing suicide vests. The father, Dita Oepriarto, detonated a car bomb outside a third church. Police initially gave his name as Dita Futrianto but corrected that based on his national identity card. All six died.

Raith Yunanto, who lives two houses from the family, said they were always welcoming to her, a minority Christian. She said she went shopping with Kuswati at the local market and they often exchanged different types of food and fruit.

"There was nothing strange about the family, they were like other devout Muslim families," she said. "Their attitude and manner of dress were just like common Muslim people."

"It's difficult for us to accept how they can commit such a barbaric act against Christians," Yunanto said. "The couple visited me when I gave birth and when my children were sick."

She said she last saw members of the family when the daughters were riding bicycles with other children in front of her house on Saturday afternoon, the day before the bombings.

The eldest son, she said, was seen coming home from school activities wearing a colourful batik shirt that's symbolic of diversity in Indonesia, a country of more than 260 million with dozens of ethnic groups and languages.

Dendri Oemiarti, Oepriarto's younger sister, was wracked with grief when she spoke to The Associated Press on Monday and said her elderly parents were in a state of shock.

"What he has done has hurt us so deeply," she said as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"What thoughts have influenced him? I do not understand. I do not know what changed my good brother to be so sadistic."

Oemiarti said she was very angry when she first heard about the church attacks and that children had been used to carry them out.

"I fainted when my sister, Dina, told me that the attack was done by our own brother," she said.

The last time she met her brother and his family was during Ramadan in 2017. She said their lives were busy and they only met about once a year and didn't talk about religion.

Police initially said the family went to Syria to join the Islamic State group but later retracted that statement.

Oepriarto, they said, was the leader of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian network of extremist groups that is affiliated with IS.

According to police, Oepriarto was friends with the family that carried out Monday's police headquarters bombing and a third family, three members of which died when homemade bombs exploded in their apartment on Sunday night.

The family's nextdoor neighbor, Abi Akbar, said Oepriarto and his sons, Yusuf and Firman, like nearly all Muslim men in the neighborhood, usually attended dawn prayers at an unremarkable local mosque.

But Akbar, 23, also said he had heard older men in the community comment that Oepriarto wasn't a mainstream Indonesian Muslim and objected to secular rituals such as raising the national flag or singing the Indonesian national anthem.

In retrospect, Akbar said, one thing was different at dawn prayers on Sunday. Instead of customarily kissing their father's hand after prayers, the boys and father hugged for a long time.

"They hugged like they were going to be separated," Akbar said. "But at that time we were not suspicious of anything because they are a family that is well known and normal."

Just a few hours later Oepriarto and his family and 12 other people were dead. More than 40 were injured.

Kenzi Tapy Gani, a 21-year-old university student who lived near the family, described Oepriatro as a "friendly and nice guy."

"We really didn't see it coming," he said.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect new police information that youngest daughter's age was 8 not 9.

Family members pray during the wake for Marta Djumani, one of the victims of Sunday's church attacks, at a funeral home in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, May 14, 2018. The flurry of bombings raised concerns that previously beaten-down militant networks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria. Experts have warned for several years that when those fighters return, they could pose a significant threat. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Nicaragua says it welcomes a visit by the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Roman Catholic bishops announced Monday that a dialogue with the government will start this week.

The Nicaraguan Council of Bishops said talks between civic groups and the administration of President Daniel Ortega will start Wednesday morning, following weeks of anti-government protests in which an estimated 65 people have been killed.

OAS General Secretary Luis Almagro published Nicaragua's acceptance letter in his Twitter account Monday.

A woman stands behind signs in memory of youths killed overnight during clashes between anti-government protesters with police and government supporters, outside the Selesiano school in the Monimbo neighborhood of Masaya, Nicaragua, Sunday, May 13, 2018. According to Nicaragua's Human Rights Protection Association, two people died and at least 100 were injured during the violence overnight. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga)

The Nicaraguan bishops had demanded an international observation mission as a condition for dialogue, amid a crackdown on protesters by police and supporters of Ortega's government. The government initially had rejected an offer by the OAS's human rights observers.

The rights commission said in a statement Monday that during its visit it plans to meet with government, civil society and other representatives. It did not say when the visit would occur.

Cardenal Leopoldo Brenes said that while the conditions were not the best for starting the dialogue Ortega had offered, the country had to find some way out of the crisis.

Brenes expressed hope the talks could lead to increased democracy in a country tightly dominated by Ortega. He also called for an end to the violence and looting.

Demonstrators in the town of Sebaco, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Managua, said Monday that several people were injured when police attacked a roadblock there.

The nonprofit Permanent Commission on Human Rights now estimates 65 people have been killed and 500 injured since the protests broke out in April.

On Saturday, Nicaragua's military called for a halt to violence.

The protests forced Ortega to withdraw cuts to social security payments, and demonstrators are now demanding justice for the dead and greater democracy.WALES, Maine (AP) - A state trooper responding to a domestic-violence call fatally shot a man after an hours-long standoff, authorities said Monday.

Police negotiators and tactical-team members responded to a home in Wales on Sunday night regarding domestic violence in which 54-year-old William Derick fired a gunshot at a woman, state Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said. Trooper James MacDonald shot and killed Derick in an armed confrontation, he said.

The woman was unhurt and was not publicly identified by police.

Police tried to make contact with Derick for several hours, McCausland said. At about 3:30 a.m. Monday, Derick was shot by MacDonald, a member of the tactical team, McCausland said. No police officers were injured.

Derick lived in a mobile home in Wales, just east of Sabattus Pond. Wales, a town of about 1,600 residents, is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Portland, the state's largest city. The shooting took place at Derick's trailer.

The trailer is located on property owned by Derick's mother, who lived across the street, neighbors said. Police cars lined the road outside the home on Monday.

Neighbor Karen Johnson, who lives two doors down, said there was a large police presence on her street Sunday night and police could be heard trying to communicate with a loudspeaker. She said she eventually went to sleep and awoke to the news of the fatal shooting.

"It's really sad. This is a quiet little town. It's really a big thing for something like this to happen," said Johnson, who's lived in her home for 42 years.

The Maine attorney general's office is investigating the shooting, which is standard procedure for a shooting involving a state trooper.

MacDonald, a seven-year member of the Maine State Troopers, has been placed on administrative leave with pay during the review of the shooting, which also is standard procedure, McCausland said.BERLIN (AP) - Police say a 23-year-old German man is being investigated for letting two attack dogs loose on a Syrian man in a park in the eastern town of Magdeburg.

The suspect is alleged to have racially abused the 29-year-old Syrian, who was in the park with his family on Sunday afternoon. When the victim tried to protect his family, the assailant put him in a headlock while the dogs attacked the Syrian.

In a statement Monday, police said they have identified the suspect and seized his dogs. The victim is being treated in hospital for bite wounds.

Racist attacks in Germany have increased since the arrival in 2015 of hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's foreign minister says close cooperation with Egypt on security issues will help restore a direct air link to Egypt's Red Sea resorts.

Sergey Lavrov, speaking after Monday's talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, said that joint work on enhancing security had helped Egypt and Russia resume direct flights between Moscow and Cairo last month. The flights were suspended after a 2015 bombing that brought down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula.

Lavrov said the current level of security cooperation provides a "good foundation for future restoration of Russian flights to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reacts during his and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry joint news conference following the talks in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 14, 2018. Russian and Egyptian officials agreed Monday to expand industrial and military cooperation between the two countries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The suspension of flights has decimated Egypt's tourism industry as the country relies heavily on the influx of Russian tourists.

The ministers also discussed further expansion of industrial and military ties between Russia and Egypt.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, shakes hands with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry after their joint news conference following the talks in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 14, 2018. Russian and Egyptian officials agreed Monday to expand industrial and military cooperation between the two countries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)"It has been a great thing for our business overall," Tracy said of the tax law.

Katko was one of four New York Republicans who voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. His vote received mixed reviews from constituents. Supporters believe it will boost the economy and help central New York businesses. But critics say it will largely the benefit the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.

Prior to Katko's event, a group aligned with Democrats and progressives in the Syracuse area released a new television ad panning Katko's vote for the tax plan. The ad, which was paid for by Speak Out Central New York, features a central New York couple who say that most of the benefits will go to the top 1 percent of income earners.

When asked about criticisms of the tax measure at Monday's press conference, Katko asked the employees if they are rich. None of them raised their hand. He then asked if they have benefited from the overhaul. All of them raised their hands.

"The tax reform is working just like we thought it would," he said.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 4OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Billionaire Warren Buffett is preparing to auction off another private lunch to raise money for a homeless charity in San Francisco.

Over the past 18 years, Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and CEO has raised more than $26 million for the Glide Foundation through the annual auctions.

Last year's winner got a relative bargain by paying $2,679,001 for the lunch. The record price for the auction is $3,456,789 that winners paid in 2016 and 2012.

This year's eBay auction starts May 27 and runs through 9:30 p.m. Central on June 1.

Buffett became involved with the Glide Foundation after his first wife, Susie, volunteered at the charity. She died in 2004, but the connection between Buffett and the group endured.

The winner can invite up to seven friends to join the lunch.ROHNERT PARK, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a fatal stabbing at a university dorm in Northern California (all times local):

10:40 a.m.

Police in Northern California say a man stabbed to death in a college dorm and his attacker were not students at Sonoma State University.

Petaluma police Lt. Tim Lyons said Monday the two were acquaintances and were visiting friends on campus.

Lyons says the victim was a 26-year-old man from Sonoma County. His name was not released pending notification of his family.

He says police arrested 19-year-old Tyler Bratton of Santa Rosa in the killing Sunday.

The stabbing at the Sauvignon Village happened as students prepared for finals week.

The dorm is described on the university's website as a housing option for freshmen at the 9,400-student university.

University officials say in a statement counselors are available to those students affected and that arrangements will be made if they can't take their final exams or submit their final assignments.

They say finals will proceed as scheduled.

___

2:09 a.m.

Police say a man was stabbed to death inside a college dorm Sunday night in Northern California. Another man has been arrested.

The Press Democrat reports that Sonoma State University officials wouldn't say if the victim or the suspect was enrolled at the university. Sonoma State is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of San Francisco.

Campus police were called to Sauvignon Village residential community Sunday evening and found the man's remains.

Both the university and police declined to identify either the victim or suspect or provide any detailed information about the incident.

The Sauvignon Village community is described on the university's website as a housing option for freshmen at the 9,400-student university.

A university spokesman says there is no further risk to students and finals will begin Monday as scheduled.SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The foundation that supports the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, is selling a black dress once owned by movie star Marilyn Monroe to raise funds to repay a loan used to buy artifacts relating to the 16th president and keep the presidential relics available for public viewing.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation is putting nine items up for auction in Las Vegas June 23, including photos of the 1950s movie icon by photographer Arnold Newman, The Chicago Tribune reported . The wool dress could sell for more than $60,000, according to Julien's Auctions.

"Getting (Monroe) items is becoming more and more difficult," said Darren Julien, president and CEO of the auction house. "The supply's less and less, but demand's more and more because you have people in Asia and Russia and all over the world that are collecting pop culture - especially Marilyn Monroe."

Foundation officials hope proceeds from the auction will allow the foundation to avoid selling presidential memorabilia.

The foundation owes about $10 million on a 2007 loan it used to buy items purportedly belonging to Lincoln, including a stovepipe hat, bloodstained gloves he wore the night he was assassinated and an 1824 book with his handwriting.

The foundation paid $25 million and borrowed $23 million. The foundation raised private money to cut down on the debt, but the note is due in October 2019.

"Our need is great," said Carla Knorowski, the foundation's chief executive officer.

The Monroe items were sent to the auction house in November, she said.

Foundation officials have been in talks with Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's office about securing state money but haven't received any financial commitments, the foundation said in a news release last week.

A Rauner spokeswoman said officials are reviewing the foundation's business plan.SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Eight years after Illinois abolished the death penalty, the state's Republican governor on Monday proposed reinstating the punishment for mass killers and people who gun down police officers.

Gov. Bruce Rauner tied the death penalty plan to gun restrictions favored by Democrats who control the Legislature - inserting it into legislation that lengthens the waiting period for taking possession of rifles or shotguns from 24 hours to 72 hours, and adding other limits on firearms possession.

"I don't believe that this is anything other than very good policy, widely supported by the people of Illinois," Rauner said of the death penalty proposal while at the Illinois State Police forensic laboratory in Chicago. "These individuals who commit mass murder, individuals who choose to murder a law enforcement officer, they deserve to have their life taken."

FILE - In this May 8, 2018 photo, Gov. Bruce Rauner, center, addresses reporters outside his state Capitol office in Springfield, Ill. Rauner, a Republican, wants to reinstate the death penalty in the state. He added the provision Monday, May 14, into gun legislation favored by Democrats. The bill now goes back to the Democratic-controlled Legislature for approval. (AP Photo by John O'Connor File)

The last execution to be carried out in Illinois was in 1999, before Republican Gov. George Ryan issued a moratorium and later emptied death row, believing the system too fraught with mistakes to be tenable. Illinois had executed 12 people in the decades since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, but 13 people had been freed because of questions about their guilt. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn officially abolished the death penalty in 2011.

Rauner, an unpopular first-term governor facing a tough road to re-election in November, used his amendatory veto authority to add capital punishment and other provisions to the gun bill, including a ban on bump stocks, the rifle-firing speed accessory used in a mass shooting in Las Vegas last year. He also proposed giving the courts the authority to take guns from people deemed dangerous.

Democrats pushed back. Senate President John Cullerton of Chicago said in a statement that "the death penalty should never be used as a political tool to advance one's agenda."

"Doing so is in large part why we had so many problems and overturned convictions," Cullerton said.

Democrats have introduced several proposals to curb gun violence - in response not only to mass shootings elsewhere in the U.S. but also because of the Feb. 13 fatal shooting in downtown Chicago of police Commander Paul Bauer.

The bill now goes back to the House. For Rauner's plan to become law, the Legislature must approve his changes. If lawmakers do not act, the whole package will expire without becoming law. The Legislature could also vote to override Rauner's changes and enact the original waiting-period language.

Steve Brown, spokesman for House Democrats, said the first task will be to determine whether Rauner exceeded his authority. The Illinois Constitution says the governor may send a bill back "with specific recommendations for change," and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan has repeatedly taken a narrow view of that power.

Rep. Jonathan Carroll, a Northbrook Democrat and House sponsor of the original measure, would not comment Monday, saying he needed time to examine Rauner's action.

Rauner's proposal would allow a jury to impose the death penalty only in cases where someone is found guilty "beyond all doubt" - a higher standard than the constitutionally guaranteed "reasonable doubt" requirement for most criminal cases. He told reporters that would eliminate cause for concern, noting that "so many times, the person is caught in the act" or "there are multiple witnesses, and they're fleeing the act."

But Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Illinois is rife with examples of recanted eyewitness testimony and confessions beaten out of suspects by police. Dunham, whose organization is officially neutral on the death penalty but often criticizes its application, said a "beyond all doubt" standard would still be open to interpretation.

"Illinois' death penalty history showed how arbitrary and unreliable the death sentence was and how susceptible it was to official misconduct," Dunham said. "Any suggestion that it should be brought back without a full public discussion and full public hearings is incredibly reckless."

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The bill is HB1468 .

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Contact Political Writer John O'Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/john%20o'connorNEW YORK (AP) - Music fans looking for a piece of history are going to get a chance to own guitars, outfits and other memorabilia from the likes of Prince, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and others.

Julien's Auctions is hosting two days of auctions focused on musical artists at the Hard Rock Cafe New York and online.

A public preview of the items opened on Monday. The auction days are Friday and Saturday.

The first auction day is dedicated to Prince, the musical legend who died in April 2016. The items include a guitar the artist had commissioned, as well as a number of outfits he wore at different performances, and handwritten lyrics.

The second day's items include guitars played by Bob Dylan and George Harrison, as well as costumes and jewelry.GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Three Guatemalan indigenous leaders have been killed in separate incidents over the past week.

The Altiplano Farmworker Committee said Monday the most recent victim was Mateo Chaman Paau, a leader of that organization.

The group's statement said that Chaman Paau was killed Sunday night in the township of Coban, north of the capital. It said he had received threats related to his work.

Another member of the organization, Jose Can Xol, was killed Thursday in the Alta Verapaz area. The group said gunmen had come to the community to intimidate residents.

A day earlier, Luis Marroquin, a leader of the Farmworker Development Committee was killed in a bookstore in the Jalapa department.

Marroquin's group accused President Jimmy Morales of stirring a violent response against them. Morales had blamed one of the group's protests for the death of a boy. Morales' spokesman Heinz Heimann denied Morales had sparked attacks on the group.

Both groups have historically fought mining and hydroelectric projects that threaten their areas. They also fight for land rights and have accused powerful forces of pushing indigenous farmers off their lands.

Vitoria Tauli, who is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People, expressed concern last week about the vulnerability of Guatemala's indigenous.

Julia Barrera, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said all three cases were under investigation.Former Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold has accepted a lucrative position lobbying for a port in his ex-Texas district - mere weeks after resigning in disgrace amid fallout from using public funds to settle a past sexual harassment complaint.

The Calhoun Port Authority announced Monday that Farenthold would promote its interests in Washington and assist 'in resolving funding issues.'

'Blake has always been a strong supporter of the Calhoun Port Authority and is familiar with the issues facing the port,' it said in a statement.

Port Director Charles R. Hausmann said Farenthold's annual salary will be $160,000.

Former Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold has accepted a lucrative position lobbying for a port in his ex-Texas district - mere weeks after resigning in disgrace amid fallout from using public funds to settle a past sexual harassment complaint

The port is located in the Gulf Coast community of Point Comfort, an area hit by Hurricane Harvey last summer.

A former Farenthold congressional staffer didn't return messages seeking comment Monday, but the ex-congressman himself told radio station KKTX that he'd taken a job about a 90-minute drive from his home in Corpus Christi.

Farenthold abruptly quit Congress on April 6, as the House Ethics Committee investigated his using $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle an ex-staffer's 2014 sexual harassment claim.

The ex-Texas lawmaker at first denied wrongdoing when he settled a lawsuit in which a former communications aide accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation. He eventually pledged to reimburse the money - but still hasn't.

The ethics committee's chairman and ranking member later revealed that the panel had been scheduled to vote on the matter but instead was ending its work because Farenthold resigned.

Still, Reps. Susan Brooks, an Indiana Republican, and Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat, had pointed words for Farenthold, who was first elected in 2010.

'We note Representative Farenthold publicly promised to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for $84,000 in funds paid to settle the lawsuit brought against him,' Brooks and Deutch said in a statement April 12. 'We encourage him in the strongest possible terms to uphold that promise.'

The ex-Texas lawmaker at first denied wrongdoing when he settled a lawsuit in which a former communications aide accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation. He eventually pledged to reimburse the money - but still hasn't

Farenthold, seen here at the White House in December, abruptly quit Congress on April 6, as the House Ethics Committee investigated his using $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle an ex-staffer's 2014 sexual harassment claim

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a June 30 special election to fill the remainder of Farenthold's term, which expires early next year. Abbott urged Farenthold to put $84,000 toward the cost of that election, even though it wouldn't be enough to fully pay for it.

Farenthold flatly refused.

'Since I didn't call it and don't think it's necessary, I shouldn't be asked to pay for it,' he wrote in a May 2 letter to the governor.

Nine candidates have filed for the seat in which runoffs will take place inside the major parties next Tuesday on May 22. If no candidate wins the vacant seat outright on June 30, a general election runoff will be held in September, reports the Caller Times.The police headquarters in Indonesias second largest city was attacked on Monday by suspected militants who detonated explosives from a motorcycle.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the bombing was carried out by members of one family. He said one of the family members  a girl of about eight who was with two of the four attackers  was thrown by the blast and survived.

CCTV footage shows a car and two motorcycles approaching a security checkpoint at the police complex in Surabaya followed by an explosion from one of the motorbikes with at least two people aboard.

Four officers and six civilians were wounded in the attack, authorities said.

Officers block the road outside a local police headquarters following an attack in Surabaya, Indonesia (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

It came a day after at least eight people were killed in suicide bombings at three churches in the city by members of one family.

Police say the family that carried out Sundays suicide bombings had returned to Indonesia from Syria and included girls aged nine and 12. All six members of the family died.

Separately on Sunday, three members of another family were killed when homemade bombs exploded at an apartment in Sidoarjo, a town bordering Surabaya, police said.

Indonesias president condemned Sundays attacks as barbaric.

IS claimed responsibility for the church attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It did not mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers.

Officers set up a police line outside the local police headquarters following an attack in Surabaya (Achmad Ibrahim/AP)

Indonesias deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali, killing 202 people in one night, mostly foreigners. But the fact that children were involved in Sundays attacks in Surabaya shocked and angered the country.

Jemaah Islamiyah, the network responsible for the Bali attacks, was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesias counter-terrorism police with US and Australian support.

A new threat has emerged in recent years, inspired by IS attacks abroad.

Experts on militant networks have warned for several years that the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who travelled to Syria to join IS posed a threat if they returned home.Uber has snapped up an Amazon UK director as its new northern Europe chief, just weeks ahead of an appeal hearing over its cancelled London licence.

The ride-hailing app has announced the appointment of Jamie Heywood as the new regional general manager for its Northern and Eastern Europe operations, which looks after Ubers business in a dozen countries including the UK.

Mr Heywood will join the company next month, having most recently served as the director of Amazons electronics division in the UK, covering both the retail and marketplace businesses.

He previously spent time in the telecoms industry, working as managing director of Virgin Mobile in the UK between 2011 and 2014, and helping launch the companys business in India as well as Oranges Thailand division.

He also spent three years as chief executive of Virgin Mobile in China.

Uber is appealing over a decision to cancel its London licence (PA)

Commenting on Mr Heywoods appointment, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, vice president and regional general manager of Uber in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, said: His wide range of international experience in both regulated industries and scaling fast-growing businesses will be invaluable for the next phase of Ubers development.

Jamies leadership will also be crucial as we implement major changes across Europe including more safety features, improvements for drivers and a new approach to partnering with cities.

Mr Heywood replaces Jo Bertram, who resigned from her post in August last year, according to a filing at Companies House, three weeks before the surprise decision by Transport for London (TfL) not to renew Ubers private hire licence in London.

The company denied that the move was driven by Ubers licensing issues.

But Ms Bertram  who was in the role for four years  said in October: Given some of our current challenges, Im also convinced that now is the right time to have a change of face, and to hand over to someone who will be here for the long haul and take us into the next phase.

The announcement regarding her replacement comes just weeks before the company is set to have its appeal heard over its right to operate in London.

TfL decided not to renew Ubers licence last September on the grounds that it was not fit and proper to operate in the capital.

It raised a number of issues, including Ubers approach to reporting serious criminal offences, how drivers medical certificates are obtained, how criminal record checks are carried out, and its use of technology which allegedly helps it to evade law enforcement officials.

Uber launched its appeal in mid-October and the case will be heard at Westminster Magistrates Court at the end of June.

The company has also added new faces to its UK board in recent months, appointing former Bank of England adviser Laurel Powers-Freeling as its first UK chair.

Susan Hooper  a former managing director of British Gas Residential Services  and Roger Parry  chairman of data analytics and market research firm YouGov  joined the board as non-executive directors earlier this year.

The Uber app  which enables users to book cars using their smartphones and is available in more than 40 towns and cities across the UK  is used by some 3.5 million passengers in London, where around 40,000 drivers are registered.Several Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more were injured after Israeli troops opened fire on protesters gathered along the border with Israel in a confrontation that threatens to cast a shadow over the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered at the border, setting fire to tyres and sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air to deter Israeli snipers at several spots, while the Israeli military said the protests were being used as cover for attacks and assaults on the border fence.

At least eighteen Palestinians were killed and more than 500 others were wounded by Israeli gunfire, according to Palestinian health officials.

In the West Bank, several thousand people gathered in the centre of Ramallah, while hundreds marched to the Qalandiya crossing on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where protesters threw stones at Israeli troops.

Monday marks the biggest showdown in recent weeks between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

The protest in Gaza is part of a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday. The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

It is the culmination of a campaign, led by the Islamic militants Hamas and fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the blockade of the border territory by Israel and Egypt. Since weekly border marches began in late March, 60 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,300 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible on Monday, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking through the barrier at any cost.

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the border (AP)

Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional layers of security in and around neighbouring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there had already been several significant attempts to break through the fence.

Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them, he said.

With Israel and Hamas digging in, there is growing concern about large numbers of casualties.

The date of the inauguration is deeply symbolic to both Israelis and Palestinians. The US said it chose the day to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels independence.

Israelis wave national flags outside the Old Citys Damascus Gate (AP)

A majority of Gazas two million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the Great March of Return.

Leaflets dropped over Gaza by army jets warned that those approaching the border jeopardise their lives. The warning said the army is prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians.

In Jerusalem, top officials in US president Donald Trumps administration attended events linked to the inauguration of the embassy.

US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said that it was a US national security priority to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mr Trumps decision to go forward with a campaign promise to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians. Previous US presidents had signed a waiver postponing the move, citing national security.

Israel is marking the 51st anniversary of its capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war (AP)

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, blasted the Trump administration, saying the US president had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance, and that his administration is based on lies.

Mr Erekat said the US administration has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr Trumps bold decision in upending decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital. Its the right thing to do, a smiling Mr Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd at a reception in Jerusalem late on Sunday.

Mondays opening will be attended by Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers. Mr Kushner leads the Trump Middle East team.One of the more common gripes about WWE concerns its treatment of wins and losses.

They don't matter, critics say. Kevin Owens can cleanly beat John Cena, for instance, but Owens still flounders in the mid-card and Cena still gets title shots on command.

Well, two matches this week reaffirmed that wins and losses in Vince McMahon's ring do matter  if not directly to him and his company, then by way of its fans.

Roman Reigns' victory over Samoa Joe Sunday at Backlash and Daniel Bryan's loss to Rusev Tuesday on Smackdown were each met with as much internet outrage as any WWE match result in awhile.

Fans were mad Reigns won because of how tone-deaf it all felt. Joe had been generating fan support with entertainingly vicious promos about Reigns being a failure because of his losses to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and the Greatest Royal Rumble. So Joe had the Newark crowd in his corner  those who didn't leave the arena because they didn't care to see Reigns face him, anyway. Besides, Joe would move on to Smackdown after the match, so a win over the company's top full-time wrestler would have made him an even bigger deal on the blue brand.A would-be teenage terrorist fantasised about killing US President Barack Obama with her Islamic State fiance, a court has heard.

Safaa Boular was 17 when she and her older sister allegedly plotted an attack on London in coded conversations about an Alice In Wonderland-themed Mad Hatters tea party.

She allegedly settled on a grenade and gun ambush at the British Museum after IS fighter Naweed Hussain was killed in Syria before she could join him.

Last April, she passed the baton to her older sister, Rizlaine, 21, after she was charged with planning to travel to IS territory for terrorism, the Old Bailey was told.

Rizlaine Boular (Met Police/PA)

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC has told jurors that Boular chatted with Hussain on social media for three months before they declared their love for each other.

The barrister has claimed she to wanted to marry Hussain and then don a suicide belt together.

On August 16 2016, the pair exchanged pictures of a Kalashnikov rifle, grenades and a handgun during communications, jurors heard.

Hussain, who was in his 30s, bragged about our klash, saying it was one of a kind.

Court artist sketch of Safaa Boular (left) appearing at the Old Bailey, where she denies two charges of preparing acts of terrorism (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Boular sent him a picture of Mr Obama in reply and asked So what, is it us Vs

Hussain replied Yeah and allegedly called the American politician a filthy kalb (Arabic for dog).

Asked how she would kill him if u had da choice, Boular sent an image of an explosion and said shake my hand with Mr President, the court heard.

She allegedly told him she wanted to achieve paradise in death so bad.

Hussain said they would both go forth one day or she would fulfil her role as a fighter and wife and raise lions.

Mina Dich (Met Police/PA)

Rizlaine Boular, of Clerkenwell, central London, has already admitted planning an attack with the help and support of their mother, Mina Dich, 43, the jury was told.

But Safaa Boular, now 18, who lived at home with her mother in Vauxhall, south-west London, has denied two counts of preparing acts of terrorism.

Her lawyer, Joel Bennathan QC, has told jurors that she was just a child when Hussain groomed her, and her family had encouraged and celebrated it.A would-be teenage terrorist declared her love for an Islamic State fighter after bonding over TV game show Deal Or No Deal, a court has heard.

Safaa Boular also allegedly fantasised about killing former US president Barack Obama during their blood-thirsty courtship, jurors were told.

She allegedly settled on a grenade and gun ambush at the British Museum after her fiance Naweed Hussain was killed in Syria before she could join him.

Last April, she passed the baton to her older sister Rizlaine, 21, after she was charged with planning to travel to IS territory for terrorism, the Old Bailey was told.

Boular was 17 when she and her older sister allegedly plotted an attack on London in coded conversations about an Alice In Wonderland-themed Mad Hatters tea party.

Rizlaine Boular (Met Police/PA)

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC has told jurors that Boular chatted with Hussain on social media for three months before they declared their love for each other.

The barrister has claimed she to wanted to marry Hussain and then don a suicide belt so they could be martyrs together.

But Boulars lawyer, Joel Bennathan QC, has told jurors that she was just a child when Hussain, who was twice her age, groomed her.

On August 18 2016, the couple shared their enthusiasm for British television game shows before exchanging expressions of love, jurors heard.

Hussain said Deal Or No Deal was a sik game (sic).

He told her that mums rule in da house where Deal Or No Deal would be on, followed by The Chase.

Boular, who said she stayed in a lot, agreed her mum loved The Chase too and she would watch a celebrity couples show and then Family Fortunes.

Safaa Boular, left, appears at the Old Bailey, where she denies two charges of preparing acts of terrorism (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Hussain sent her a heart emoji and Boular replied: I love you too.

The IS fighter, who was in his 30s, called her his princess and shexy (sic) in light-hearted banter, littered with LOLs.

Boular responded by saying: Oh my gosh.

Two days earlier, they had fantasised about killing Mr Obama, jurors heard.

After exchanging pictures of a Kalashnikov rifle, grenades and a handgun, Hussain bragged about our klash, saying it was one of a kind.

Boular sent him a picture of Mr Obama in reply and asked: So what, is it us Vs

Hussain replied Yeah and allegedly called the American politician a filthy kalb (Arabic for dog).

Asked how she would kill him if u had da choice, Boular sent an image of an explosion and said shake my hand with Mr President, the court heard.

Mina Dich (Met Police/PA)

She allegedly told him she wanted to achieve paradise in death so bad.

Hussain said they would both go forth one day or she would fulfil her role as a fighter and wife and raise lions.

Rizlaine Boular, of Clerkenwell, central London, has already admitted planning a knife attack on London and mother Mina Dich, 43, has pleaded guilty to assisting her, the jury was told.

But Safaa Boular, now 18, who lived at home with her mother in Vauxhall, south-west London, has denied two counts of preparing acts of terrorism.

Safaa Boular was arrested on suspicion of planning a Syria trip on August 21, 2016.

In police interview, she explained how Hussain, a British Pakistani from Coventry, had approached her on Instagram.

She knew him as Nav and understood he was in Raqqa.

She connected with IS supporters on Instagram through a woman in Aleppo she met on Twitter called Isa Al-Amriki, meaning mother of American, the court heard.

Boulars interest was sparked by the Paris terror attacks because she was curious to find out why people do the things they do, she said.

She said Hussain had raised 3,000 to help her and Rizlaine travel to Syria.

She told police she wanted to migrate as everyone dies sometime, and she might as well die with honour.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli border which left at least 37 Palestinians dead and hundreds more wounded, US president Donald Trumps top advisers and supporters have celebrated the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled.

In a video address aired at the opening, Mr Trump said the new embassy had been a long time coming.

Mr Trump said that the US had failed to acknowledge the obvious for many years, adding: Today, we follow through on this recognition.

The presidents daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with US treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, led the US delegation with a single message: Only Donald Trump had the courage to act on what America has wanted for a long time.

In a speech, Mr Kushner is expected to say: While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital. Protests roiled along the Gaza border, resulting in at least 37 Palestinians being killed and an estimated 500 more injured after Israeli forces opened fire.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Trump added in his video address that the new embassy was opening many, many years ahead of schedule.

He added that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and said he was extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbours.

In a Fox News interview that made no reference to the climbing death toll, Mr Mnuchin repeatedly referenced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said Mr Trump should be praised for taking action to keep Americans and people in the Middle East safe.

The president is making difficult decisions because they are what he believes are the right long term decisions and not just kicking the can down the road, Mr Mnuchin said.

The US treasury secretary also said its not coincidental that the embassy move coincided with Mr Trumps announcement that he planned to abandon the Iran nuclear deal.

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the border (AP)

Also on hand were Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The embassy celebration was widely considered a snub by the Palestinians. Roughly 800 guests were expected to attend.

US officials said last week that Mr Trumps delegation was not planning on meeting Palestinian officials during their visit. The Trump administration in recent months has also slashed US aid to the Palestinians and programmes that support them.

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops (AP)

Mr Trumps policy is a sharp departure from past US administrations, which have tried to position America as a neutral party ready to broker a peace deal.

Of all the things President Trump could have done, doing this (embassy move) is the strongest signal he could send to the Israeli people, Mr Graham said.Israeli soldiers have shot and killed at least 41 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border, overshadowing the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

In a show of anger fuelled by the embassy move, protesters set tyres ablaze and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border.

The Israeli military said its troops had come under fire, and accused protesters of trying to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.

The steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move by the Arab world has raised new doubts about US president Donald Trumps ambitions to broker what he once said would be the Middle East deal of the century.

By mid-afternoon, at least 41 Palestinians  including five minors  were killed, the Gaza health ministry said. At least 772 other protesters were wounded, including 86 who were in a serious or critical condition.

At the same time, just 45 miles away in Jerusalem, the opening ceremony of the embassy got under way, with Mr Trump saying in a video address that the move had been a long time coming.

(PA Graphics)

US ambassador David Friedman welcomed the crowd as he declared the new embassy open.

Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, both senior aides to the president, led a high-powered American delegation that also included the treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and four Republican senators.

41 people now killed in #Gaza and almost 2000 injured, over 900 with live ammunition. A shameless violation of international law, in some instances constituting war crimes. The Israeli authorities show no signs they intend to rein in excessive force. #ArmsEmbrago needed.  Amnesty International (@amnesty) May 14, 2018

In Gaza, the Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in a campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000, saying this fell short of what Hamas had hoped for.

The march was also directed at the inauguration of the embassy.

Mr Trump added in his video address that the new embassy was opening many, many years ahead of schedule, adding that the US had failed to acknowledge the obvious for many years.

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops (AP)

He said that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and that he was extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbours.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  a key Trump campaign promise  infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

The clash is the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a ceasefire since the 2014 cross-border war  their third in a decade.

The protests mark the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Since weekly border marches began in late March, 83 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by Israeli army fire. Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead on Monday.

Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner arrive for the opening ceremony (AP)

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests against Israel will continue until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved.

Most of the casualties were in the southern Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Rafah. Israeli forces were firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowds, and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard. Sirens were constantly wailing as the wounded were carried to nearby ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic, both to Israel and the Palestinians.

A Palestinian woman walks past burning tyres near the Israeli border fence, east of Khan Younis (AP)

The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment. But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from present-day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Mr Trumps decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to mediate peace talks.

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the border (AP)

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital and view the Trump administrations change in policy as a blatant show of pro-Israel bias. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly praised Mr Trumps decision to upend decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital.

European foreign ministers have said the embassy move is unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions in the region. Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the US move.Boris Johnson will meet French and German counterparts to discuss measures to protect European countries working in Iran against the danger of US sanctions after Donald Trumps withdrawal from the international nuclear deal.

After talks with French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian in London, the Foreign Secretary said Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Paris on the need to preserve the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The plan removed sanctions on Iran in return for Tehran giving up its military nuclear programme.

The Foreign Secretary meets French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian for talks (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

The pair will be joined by German foreign minister Heiko Maas and European Union high representative Federica Mogherini for Tuesdays talks in Brussels, where they are also expected to meet Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The meeting comes amid fears that European companies may face reprisals from the US for breaching American sanctions by continuing to operate in Iran.

Speaking alongside Mr le Drian, Mr Johnson said: The UK and France are determined to conserve the essence of the Iran nuclear deal.

It is a trade-off and a sensible trade-off and it is the only really workable way we can see to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon.

The advantages from the Iranians point of view is that they should have some benefits from economic participation and economic engagement with us in the west.

Tomorrow in Brussels, we are going to have a conversation about what we can do to help UK firms and help European firms have confidence that they can still do business.

Im not going to pretend to you now that it will be easy but we are determined to do that and  as far as we possibly can  to protect our businesses from the effects of American primary and secondary sanctions.

Mr Johnson said that there remained a few months before the impact of American sanctions would be felt, adding that this gave a margin to work on our response.

The Foreign Secretary stressed: That doesnt mean we are in any sense not going to be working with the Americans.

It is vital that we continue to engage with the US and continue to interrogate our friends in Washington about how they see the nuclear deal developing.

They have decided to pull out, we dont think that is necessarily the right thing to do, given that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA, so we want to hear a little bit more from Washington about their proposals.

Mr le Drian described the preservation of the JCPOA as the only way to fight against the risk of proliferation.

He said Iran was respecting the terms of the agreement, so we are going to stick to this agreement.

We want to be sure that companies are protected from the American sanctions and Iran benefits from the dividends, he said.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Theresa May used a telephone call with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to restate Britains commitment to upholding the Iran nuclear deal, but condemned Tehrans missile attacks against Israeli forces in the Golan Heights.Israeli soldiers have shot and killed at least 52 Palestinians and left another 1,200 injured during mass protests along the Gaza border, health officials said.

It was the deadliest day in the region since a devastating 2014 cross-border war, and cast a shadow over the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

In a show of anger fuelled by the embassy move, Palestinian protesters set tyres ablaze and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. Later, Israeli forces opened fire from tanks, sending protesters fleeing for cover.

The military said its troops came under fire in some areas, and claimed protesters had been attempting to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.

The UN human rights chief said on Twitter that Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now, and demanded respect for human life.

Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims  #Zeid. pic.twitter.com/hBb7825Sp8  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) May 14, 2018

Zeid Raad al-Hussein decried the shocking killing of dozens and the injury of hundreds by Israeli forces in the Palestinian areas. Mr Zeid, a Jordanian prince who is leaving his post in August after a single term, said the international community needs to ensure justice for the victims.

He added on the UN human rights offices Twitter feed that perpetrators of outrageous human rights violations must be held to account.

US president Donald Trump said in a video message played at the new US embassy inauguration  which took place just 45 miles from the bloodshed on the Gaza border  that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

(PA Graphics)

A great day for Israel! Mr Trump tweeted earlier.

However, Mondays steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move by the Arab world raised new doubts about Mr Trumps ambitions to broker what he once said would be the Middle East deal of the century.

By late afternoon, at least 52 Palestinians, including five minors, were killed, the Gaza health ministry said. A total of 1,204 were wounded by Israeli gunfire.

The ministry says this total includes 116 people who were in serious or critical condition.

Medics carry an injured Palestinian during a protest near Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip (AP)

At the embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Mr Trumps son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser Jared Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

He said: As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Mr Kushner and Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka led a high-powered American delegation that also included the treasury secretary and four Republican senators.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an existing US consulate, until a decision has been made on a permanent location.

In Gaza, the Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in a campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000, saying this fell short of what Hamas had hoped for.

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops (AP)

The march was also directed at the inauguration of the embassy.

Mr Trump added in his video address that the new embassy was opening many, many years ahead of schedule, adding that the US had failed to acknowledge the obvious for many years.

He said that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and that he was extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbours.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  a key Trump campaign promise  infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

The clash is the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a ceasefire since the 2014 cross-border war  their third in a decade.

The protests mark the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Since weekly border marches began in late March, 94 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by Israeli army fire. Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead on Monday.

Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner arrive for the opening ceremony (AP)

The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic, both to Israel and the Palestinians.

The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment. But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from present-day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Mr Trumps decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

A Palestinian woman walks past burning tyres near the Israeli border fence, east of Khan Younis (AP)

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to mediate peace talks.

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital and view the Trump administrations change in policy as a blatant show of pro-Israel bias. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly praised Mr Trumps decision to upend decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital.

European foreign ministers have said the embassy move is unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions in the region. Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the US move.Ireland and the EUs negotiating team are of one mind on insisting there can be no Brexit withdrawal treaty without a deal on the border, the Irish deputy premier has said.

Simon Coveney called again for legal certainty on maintaining a free-flowing frontier between north and south after meeting with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.

His comments came as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused Brexiteers who claim a soft border can be maintained by using technology alone of serving up fantastical non-starters.

Last December, the UK and EU agreed the need for a backstop option that would ensure no return of a hard border  through an alignment of regulations across the island  even if a wider Brexit trade deal failed to materialise.

Positive meeting with @MichelBarnier again today. We r united in seeking substantial progress by June with UK on Irish Border Backstop text. There can be no EU/UK Withdrawal Treaty without a Backstop, as has been agreed in March by both UK + EU. pic.twitter.com/qso6x6BuXK  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) May 14, 2018

The UK rejected a subsequent attempt by the EU to translate that agreement into legally operable text in a proposed withdrawal treaty. A political stand-off has ensued over the vexed issue.

After talks with Mr Barnier, Tanaiste Mr Coveney again stressed the need for the backstop to be resolved ahead of Junes crunch European Council summit.

Michel Barnier has made it very clear, and I agree with him, that there will be no withdrawal treaty if there isnt a backstop dealing with the Irish border in that treaty, he said.

The Irish government is hopeful a comprehensive resolution could lie in the concept of shared customs territory.

Mr Coveney has suggested Theresa Mays vision of a partnership  where the UK collects tariffs on behalf of Brussels  could provide the basis for negotiating a solution.

(PA Graphics)

However, the UK cabinet is at odds on the issue. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has branded the Prime Ministers idea crazy and he and other detractors of the partnership concept instead contend that new technology and trusted trader schemes can provide for smooth cross-border trading.

Mr Coveney said: Nobody is saying everything has to be resolved by the end of June but we certainly need to see a solution on the Irish border backstop issue taking shape by the end of June.

There is no flexibility on two things  one, there has to be backstop in the withdrawal agreement.

If there isnt a backstop there wont be a withdrawal agreement.

And, secondly, that backstop has to deal comprehensively with the border issue.

In other words, it has to follow through on the commitment that has been made (in Decembers joint text) on there being no infrastructure or no related checks or controls on the island of Ireland.

Back in Belfast, Sinn Fein President Ms McDonald accused Brexiteers in the UK government of playing games and stalling for time.

Almost two years after the #Brexit vote we need no more stalling, no more play acting and no name calling. We need to hear solutions to Brexit from British Gov. @MaryLouMcDonald pic.twitter.com/ooUdqt9FN3  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) May 14, 2018

She insisted a firm resolution to the border problem had to be struck by June.

I think June now needs to be understood by all parties to this negotiation, but by the British Government in particular, as a red letter occasion and an occasion on which we need answers, she said.

Mrs McDonald also accused the Democratic Unionists of betraying the people of Ireland, north and south.

Her remarks came after DUP MP Sammy Wilson branded Mr Coveney belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing for advocating the EU/UK shared customs territory concept.

On Sunday Mr Wilson claimed the Irish government was attempting to undermine Northern Irelands position within the UK.

The DUP have failed the people, they are on the wrong side of the Brexit argument, they have betrayed people, they have betrayed peoples best economic and social interests, said Ms McDonald.

And the bluster and the huffing and puffing, the very infantile name calling that we have heard again, is simply deployed by them as cover for their own political failures.

Elsewhere on Monday, the Ulster Unionists branded the Irish governments stance as ridiculous.

We have heard the Irish Government spend the last number of months lecturing on what wont work as a resolution to the post-Brexit border issue, but have heard little from them in terms of constructive proposals, said UUP Assembly member Steve Aiken.

The reality is that if they are serious about protecting the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic from the sharpest edges of Brexit, rather than just narrow minded pre-electioneering, then they must engage with the UK on the issue.

To continue simply rejecting proposals out of hand is ridiculous.

DUP MEP Diane Dodds criticised Ms McDonalds remarks.

We take our direction and mandate from those who elected us to office, not from the Sinn Fein leadership, she said.

By refusing to take up their seats in the House of Commons Sinn Fein representatives would rather address the empty corridors of Stormont than represent their constituents at Westminster and make their case directly.

Ultimately it is this that amounts to a reckless and cavalier approach to the concerns of people living across Northern Ireland, including those in border communities.A 71-year-old grandmother and distant relative to the Queen and King John is facing deportation after her immigration bid was knocked back.

Brenda Ackerman is a South African national, but has not lived there since 2006 and followed her daughters family to the UK five years ago.

But despite two applications to remain, her latest bid was refused with the Home Office writing to her on April 26 stating she must now go back.

The former veterinary surgery clerk has also never claimed benefits in the UK, since arriving in 2013, and has paid an annual 1,000 advance to cover any NHS charges  despite having health insurance.

Her father Clifford Brown, who died in 2012, fought against Nazi Germany as part of the Allies South African contingent.

Family records also show she is the Queens 11th cousin, once removed, and also shares common ancestry with George VI, Robert the Bruce and King John.

Her ancestors originally emigrated from the UK in 1820.

But despite her immediate  and distant  family ties to the UK, the Home Office has said her application as a family dependent was refused as it did not meet the requirements of immigration rules.

Brenda Ackerman, with her daughter Candice Gordon, wants to be able to remain in the UK, at her Worcestershire home. (Richard Vernalls/PA)

Mrs Ackerman has been living with her daughter Candice Gordon in Worcestershire, who has now launched a fresh legal bid to keep the family together.

Mrs Gordon  who is married to a British national, and successfully got residency in 2014  said her mother was no burden to the British state.

The businesswoman said: As a South African, we would never have anything given to us.

The welfare system doesnt exist there  so we dont expect it, and thats how we have always lived our lives.

Its the type of people we are.

Theres never been a case of expecting anything from anyone, and we dont ask for anything for mum.

I would be mortified if anyone felt theyd have to support my mother and me  its ingrained in us.

The pensioner said: Even when we go to the cinema, we dont even pay for a pensioners ticket.

Mrs Ackerman and her late husband moved from South Africa to join Mrs Gordon and her family in Dubai in 2006, where they then lived and worked.

There, Mrs Gordon said they lived as a family unit, but when her British husband lost his finance job they decided to bring forward a long-held plan to settle in England.

That started their lengthy immigration process which has witnessed two unsuccessful applications and an immigration tribunal hearing.

The family have also submitted health assessments for infirm Mrs Ackerman and the impact the potential break-up has had on her oldest granddaughters mental health as evidence to the Home Office, to no avail.

Mrs Gordon, 45, described the system as a Catch 22.

She said: You have to prove youre a family unit, but if you dont fit the financial criteria, they say shell be a financial drain so she cant stay.

We confidently showed them (the Home Office) that we do satisfy the financial criteria and the response was we noted that, and so you can afford to take care of her  in South Africa.

So its Catch 22  either way, we lose.

Mrs Gordon added: In one letter we received, it effectively said that if we were so keen to look after her, maybe we should move to South Africa.

She said her elderly mother was sent an immigration bail notice following her first failed application, that left her feeling under house arrest as it stated she could be deported at any time.

The refusal letter itself also erroneously stated there was nothing to prevent you (Mrs Ackerman) exercising your right to a family and private life in Nigeria.

Pointing to the inaccuracy, Mrs Gordon said: The Home Office arent even really considering the case properly, theyre just sending out generic letters.

Immigration rules mean that in a typical case the person applying to stay, would first need to leave the UK, to re-apply for entry.

However, they can apply on the basis of family or private life, but must show there would be very significant obstacles returning to their home country.

Mrs Ackermans family have said that she is unable to walk far without an aid, and has no immediate relatives in South Africa to look after her.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has been offered an open invitation to come round and discuss Mrs Ackermans case face to face (PA)

The family are now applying for a judicial review and are raising a petition.

Mrs Gordon has also tabled an open invitation to new Home Secretary Sajid Javid, whose Bromsgrove constituency sits in the county, to come to her home in Lower Broadheath for tea.

She said: He was so concerned and upset about Windrush, being a second generation migrant.

He lost his father, as I have.

I am facing the situation he feared he might, but my family faces a very real threat of being split-up.

A Home Office spokesman said: While in the UK as a visitor, Ms Ackerman applied for leave to remain on the basis of her family/private life.

This application was refused as it did not meet the requirements of the immigration rules, a decision which was backed up by an independent immigration judge.MPs held a 72-second silence for the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy at the beginning of a debate on the fires inquiry.

The tribute came before MPs debated a petition which called on the Government to appoint additional panel members to the inquiry.

We begin the debate with 72 seconds silence of remembrance for the 72 that lost their lives. #Justice4Grenfell  Justice4Grenfell (@officialJ4G) May 14, 2018

Tory MP Paul Scully, who opened the Westminster Hall debate, also read the names of all 72 victims who perished in the tragedy.

MPs stand in memory of Grenfell Tower victims (Parliament TV)

The Sutton and Cheam MP said: This needs to be a people-led process at every stage and the reason being this is real peoples lives that are being affected now, but also real peoples lives that have been lost.

Mr Scully went on to welcome the announcement by Prime Minister Theresa May last week that two new panel members would be appointed, but added: Grenfell United feel more may be required to ensure that the panel has the diversity of experience beyond the two.

He went on to point to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry as an excellent example of how members should be chosen.

He said: Its important that the Government is open and understanding and responsive at every stage of this process, because its these three qualities that the community believe have been lacking, certainly in the period leading up to the fire.

He added: One resident last week described what had happened as a tragedy in three acts, he described it as being ignored in the refurbishment process of the tower, the fire itself and the sense of abandonment at certain times following the fire.The EU is pressing for substantive progress from Britain on the future of the Irish border in time for a crunch European Council summit just six weeks away.

Chief negotiator Michel Barnier told ministers from the remaining 27 member states that little progress had been made on the issues of Ireland and governance since the Council last met in March.

The comments came amid continuing uncertainty over the Governments preferred option for customs arrangements on the Irish border after Brexit, with a meeting of Theresa Mays war cabinet thought unlikely to unite behind a solution when they meet on Tuesday.

Members of two ministerial working groups spent Monday discussing possible tweaks to the customs partnership and maximum facilitation plans which have divided Mrs Mays Cabinet, while the Prime Minister herself briefed Tory MPs on details of the two options.

Bulgarian deputy prime minister Ekaterina Zaharieva issued a call for progress in Brexit talks (European Commission Audiovisual Services)

Boris Johnson  a backer of the max fac option, using technology to minimise customs delays  sought to play down reports of a rift with the Prime Minister after he branded the customs partnership crazy.

The Foreign Secretary batted away suggestions that he should consider resigning, insisting that he regarded the PMs vision of a Britain outside the customs union as the way forward.

What we need to do is, as she said, come out of the customs union in such a way as to enable us to have frictionless trade with no hard border in Northern Ireland and to do unhindered, unimpeded free-trade deals with the rest of the world, said Mr Johnson.

We think that is possible, she thinks that is possible, so that is the way forward.

But the UK Governments hopes of settling on a scheme acceptable to Brussels were dealt a blow when Bulgaria  the current holder of the European Councils six-month presidency  said that neither option would avoid the need for a hard border.

Speaking after Mr Barniers address to the General Affairs Council, Bulgarian deputy prime minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said: What the UK proposed doesnt mean there is no hard border. Their proposals mean hard borders, unfortunately.

Downing Street has repeatedly declined to set a timetable for reaching agreement on the border issue, insisting that the withdrawal agreement does not need to be finalised until October.

But Ms Zaharieva said: In June, we need to see substantive progress on Ireland, on governance and all remaining separation issues.

Her comment was echoed by French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian following talks with Mr Johnson in London.

The time has come to decide and I think it is essential that at the meeting in June there should be important progress, said Mr le Drian.

Now we have to go to definitive decisions, and the responsibility for those is with the British side.

Michel Barnier said `little progress had been made on the issues of Ireland and governance (European Commission Audiovisual Service)

German foreign minister Michael Roth said: We are concerned that there is no clear attitude and no clear position from the British side.

Time is passing. We must now make substantial progress.

Asked about the progress that had been made, Michel Barnier said: I would say little, not very little.

There were two rounds of negotiations before the key rendezvous of the June European Council summit, he said.

Mr Barnier added: The clock is ticking and we have to conclude and to finalise this agreement  before October or November, because we have to keep the time for the ratification by the European Parliament, the European Council and the British side.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Mr Johnson he was in danger of undermining Britains negotiating position with his open criticism of the Governments proposals.

On the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, they will exploit that, Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

If we are going to have these lively debates, we should have them in private.

Asked if his message to Mr Johnson was to belt up, Mr Hunt said: You could say that. Id say he is a marvellous Foreign Secretary but lets work as a team.

The Scottish National Partys leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford said Mrs May was held hostage by her own ministers and lacked the leadership to override her Hard Brexit wing.

Theresa May is showing an absence of any kind of leadership, while her Government is divided and squabbling like cats in a sack in public, said Mr Blackford.

It beggars belief that there is still no coherent plan for one of the single most important elements of her chaotic, damaging Brexit.

Prominent eurosceptic Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg praised the PMs straight bat approach.

Mr Rees-Mogg told LBC Radio that Mrs May was the Geoffrey Boycott of negotiations, saying: She is playing a straight bat, she isnt giving a great deal away.

But I think this steady, stable approach is the right one to be taking and is in the national interest.Frankie's name will appear on the windshield of Johnson's car, which will feature a patriotic design chosen by Phillips. The special car will be unveiled to the public at the Sennett Lowe's at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 17. The car will be in the parking lot until 12:30 p.m. All are welcome to stop by the store to see the car, which Phillips said will feature a design with stars.

"The reason why I picked (the design) is because they say when your loved ones die and you look up in the heavens that the stars are their little holes from heaven looking down on you," Phillips said.

Phillips said many of Frankie's family members and friends from the Army are planning to come see the car, either in Auburn or at the race.

"I'm shocked at the number of people who are really thrilled about having Frankie on the car," she said.

Phillips, along with her partner Greg, daughter Danielle and future son-in-law, will make the trip down to North Carolina to watch the race and meet Johnson, who will wear Frankie's military dog tags during the race. Frankie's wife, Christine, and 9-year-old daughter Sophia are not able to make it to the race, Phillips said. May is a "really difficult time" for the family, Phillips said, so they are looking forward to "something happy and positive for once, in the month of May."Former world number one Novak Djokovic got back to winning ways with a 6-1 6-3 win over Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round of the Italian Open in Rome.

Djokovic, a four-time winner of the event, has slumped to number 18 in the world rankings after last weeks defeat to Kyle Edmund in Madrid, as he continues to struggle after his return from an elbow injury.

Novak Djokovic has reached at least the quarter-finals of the @InteBNLdItalia in each of his 11 appearances, lifting the  four times. The  ousted Alexandr Dolgopolov on Monday in less than an hour. 



Read More  https://t.co/dUI7Jn2fKH pic.twitter.com/jOHEs0019k  ATP Tour (@atptour) May 14, 2018

But the 30-year-old showed signs of recovery in the way he dominated against Dolgopolov, breaking four times and only facing one break point on his own serve as he wrapped up the match in just 56 minutes.

Djokovic told atptour.com: The last three or four weeks have been better on the practice courts and in matches.

Novak Djokovic brushed aside Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ettore Ferrari/AP)

Todays match encourages me to move forward and hopefully I can get a few more matches in Rome than I have in the last couple of months.

Edmund, who is now just one place behind Djokovic in the world rankings, survived a minor scare to defeat Tunisias Malek Jaziri 6-3 3-6 6-3.

Kyle Edmund maintained his strong recent form in Rome (Paul White/AP)

Ninth seed David Goffin, who also fell to Edmund in Madrid, returned to form by sweeping aside Argentinas Leonardo Mayer 6-1 6-2, while 10th seed Pablo Carreno Busta beat Jared Donaldson 6-4 3-6 6-0.

Local wild cards Marco Cecchinato and Matteo Berrettini both claimed popular victories while other winners included Kei Nishikori, Robin Haase and Fabio Fognini, who dumped out Gael Monfils 6-3 6-1.The planning of a wedding can be an emotional time and Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys is not the first royal one to run into difficulties as the big day approaches.

With the couple preparing to wed in Windsor this weekend, Ms Markles father Thomas Markle is reported to not be attending the wedding nor walking his daughter down the aisle.

When Harrys father the Prince of Wales married Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, in 2005, the wedding day went smoothly in the end.

The Prince of Wales and his bride the Duchess of Cornwall leave St Georges Chapel in Windsor after their blessing (PA)

But the arrangements and technicalities of the wedding created a number of problems.

Charles and Camilla initially planned to wed at Windsor Castle, but were forced to switch venues to the Guildhall around the corner after it emerged that licensing the castle would have allowed members of the public to marry there as well.

The couples ceremony had to be slotted in ahead of three other brides and grooms getting married at the same venue.

Charles and Camilla with Prince Harry and Prince William after their civil ceremony (Phil Wilkinson/TSPL/PA)

Then the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh chose not to attend their sons civil marriage service.

The Queen, conscious of her role as supreme governor of the Church of England, was not present at the non-religious 20-minute service where the couple, both previously divorced, were married.

But she did join the newlyweds afterwards for their televised blessing in the 15th-century St Georges Chapel in the grounds of nearby Windsor Castle, where Harry and Ms Markle are due to wed on Saturday.

Charles and Camilla with the Queen on the West Steps of St Georges Chapel (Odd Andersen/PA)

Charles and Camillas ceremony was even dramatically postponed the week before because it clashed with Pope John Paul IIs funeral, which the prince had to attend.

The wedding date was moved from April 8 to April 9, with royal souvenirs commemorating the occasion having to be remade at the last minute.

Two official china tankards celebrating Charles and Camillas marriage featuring the date April 8 - which was later changed (Royal Collection/PA)

Camilla, who became an HRH and a duchess, wore a Robinson Valentine oyster silk basket-weave outfit for her civil wedding and a porcelain blue silk coat by the same designers and a gold sweeping feathered Philip Treacy head-dress for the blessing.

The Queen gave a warm, witty speech at the evening reception in the castles State Apartments and, in a nod to the Grand National which ran that day, welcomed Charles and Camilla to the winners enclosure.

They have overcome Bechers Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles, she said. They have come through and Im very proud and wish them well.

My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.By Zandi Shabalala

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Aluminium fell to its lowest in a week on Friday and ended the week in negative territory as the market corrected after a recent price surge on U.S. sanctions against the world's second-largest producer and its major shareholder.

Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal Exchange slipped 2 percent to $2,288 a tonne, its lowest since May 3. The price in the light metal rallied to a seven-year high last month.

Washington last month announced sanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and several companies in which he is a large shareholder, including Rusal.

"It's a continued correction from the multi-month high we have seen in April," said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann, adding the aluminium price reaction to U.S. sanctions had been exaggerated.

"The news will dictate the price. However, over the next few weeks or month I would definitely say the correction would continue."

U.S. SANCTIONS: Glencore and United Company Rusal have asked the London Metal Exchange to temporarily lift its suspension on Rusal's aluminium after an extension of the deadline for companies to wind down contracts with the Russian firm under U.S. sanctions, sources said.

RUSAL: Russian aluminium giant Rusal on Friday warned of expected harm to its business from U.S. sanctions, sending its share price lower despite the company reporting a 20 percent jump in first-quarter core profit.

STOCKS: On-warrant stocks in aluminium - those not earmarked for delivery - fell by 3,250 tonnes to 860,700 tonnes. They have shed 18 percent since April 16 to the lowest levels since early February, while headline stocks are down 11 percent.

CHINA LENDING: Chinese banks extended 1.18 trillion yuan ($186.4 billion) in net new yuan loans in April, up slightly from March and higher than expected, as policymakers look to support the economy in the face of fresh risks from U.S. trade threats.

Signs of more lending in China, the world's top consumer of metals, should generally support prices.

EGA: Emirates Global Aluminium's stock market listing is likely to slip to 2019 because of turmoil in global aluminium markets after the U.S. sanctions on Rusal, three sources familiar with the deal said.

JAPAN SUPPLY: Japanese copper miners JX Nippon Mining & Metals and Sumitomo Metal Mining plan to increase output from their mines in Chile this year but face challenges in bringing them to full capacity and meeting profit targets.

INDONESIA: Indonesia's ministry of energy and mineral resources has issued a decree requiring special mining permit holders producing for at least five years to divest 51 percent to Indonesian entities by 2019.

PRICES: Copper ended 0.3 percent lower at $6,940 a tonne, lead finished 1.7 percent down at $2,345, tin added 0.8 percent to $21,000, zinc was flat at$3,085 and nickel rose 1.3 percent to $14,055.

(Additional reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)By Ingrid Melander and Emmanuel Jarry

PARIS, May 12 (Reuters) - An assailant shouting "Allahu akbar" killed a passer-by in a knife attack that also wounded four others in the heart of Paris late on Saturday before he was shot dead by police, French authorities said.

The country has been on high alert amid a series of attacks, commissioned or inspired by the Islamic State militant group, that has killed more than 240 people since 2015.

France "will not yield an inch to the enemies of freedom," President Emmanuel Macron said after the attack, praising officers for "neutralizing the terrorist."

The first call to police was placed at 8:47 p.m. local time (1847 GMT), officers were on the scene within five minutes, and the attacker was "neutralized" within nine minutes of that first call, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told reporters.

Police union representative Rocco Contento told Reuters that the assailant, after attacking bystanders with a knife, rushed at police shouting "I will kill you, I will kill you!"

He was then shot by the officers.

The attack took place in the heart of the French capital in a district popular with tourists for its many restaurants and cafes, landmark retail stores, and the Paris opera.

Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the police's anti-terrorism unit would launch an investigation, given the aggressor's "mode of operation." The identity of the attacker man was not yet known, officials said early on Sunday.

A picture seen by Reuters, which a source said showed the attacker, showed a bare-chested and bearded young man dressed in black trousers.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility via its Amaq news agency, but provided no proof for its claim.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called it an "odious" attack.

Witnesses described for French media how they saw the assailant running towards police officers who shot him.

"We were told to get into a bar quickly. I was curious and went outside again. Outside, I saw a person on the ground about 200 metres from me. The police, fire brigade and ambulance arrived," one female witness told LCI television. "I could not see anything else after that."

Authorities did not immediately reveal the identity of the victim.

TV footage showed forensic police at the scene. (Additional reporting by Julie Carriat, Bate Felix and Brian Love; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Daniel Wallis)SOFIA, May 14 (Reuters) - The se are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will meet EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc to discuss the proposed changes for mobility in the European Union, which will seriously hit Bulgarian transport companies. (Standart, Monitor, Duma, 24 Chasa)

-- The Bulgarian government is considering to restart the building of 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant Belene, mainly due to expressed interest by China's CNNC, but it the country may also look to Russia as a potential investor as it plans to open a tender for the project. (Sega, Duma, 24 Chasa)By Sijia Jiang

HONG KONG, May 14 (Reuters) - Employees of ZTE Corp , the Chinese telecom equipment maker, are cheering a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump that suggested a resolution is in sight for a devastating ban on sales to the Chinese company.

In an unexpected reversal of a hardline U.S. stance on the issue, Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together to give ZTE "a way to get back into business, fast", citing the loss of many jobs in China.

ZTE was last month hit by a move by Washington to forbid U.S. firms supplying the Chinese company with components and technology after it was found to have violated U.S. export restrictions by illegally shipping goods to Iran. It has since said that it has suspended its main business operations.

Trump's tweet was reposted widely by ZTE employees on social media with comments expressing relief, taking it as a sign of a an impending settlement.

"Wow! Breaking good news!" a ZTE manager wrote on her WeChat account, pointing to Trump's remark that the U.S. "Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done".

"Almost there," wrote another ZTE employee.

According to a source close to the company, ZTE management welcomed the latest development and planned to negotiate with the U.S. side for a resolution under the guidance of the Chinese government.

The news boosted telecom and semiconductor related stocks in China, which were among the best performing on Monday.

Zhong Fu Tong Group, a communication network maintenance service provider and ZTE supplier, rose by the daily limit of 10 percent.

ZTE employees contacted by Reuters all expressed surprise and optimism at the turn of events, although some also voiced concern that it was still unclear how long it would take to lift the ban and at what cost.

"In any case, there are probably going to be layoffs, if the company has to pay another big fine," said one employee, who declined to be named. He added that meetings were being held to discuss resumption of production.

In response to a Reuters request for comment, ZTE's press department said it was preparing a statement.

Edison Lee, an analyst with Jefferies, expressed caution about the news in a investors' note, saying that "it does not mean the tech-focused trade conflict between China and the US is over".

Lee said Trump appeared to have made the move as a goodwill gesture at China's request in order for trade talks to continue and because he expected concessions from China. (Reporting by Sijia Jiang; Editing by Philip McClellan)Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi

Being a lawyer is not a privilege to disobey the prevailing law. If there is a forum or a bench I will appear before it and give evidence. There are nearly 15 000 lawyers and only a very few are corrupt. Im raising my voice to restore the nobility attached to the legal profession. If I am penalized I will be happy. We have filed cases against six Supreme Court judges. How can speaking the truth be considered as contempt? If we fail to maintain the rule of law, the society will collapse, are the utterances by outspoken Attorney-at-Law Sugandhika Fernando.



Young legal practitioner Ms. Fernando stirred controversy recently, when a video of her speaking about misconduct and corruption within the judiciary and law enforcement authorities at the National Library Auditorium, went viral on social media. The observations she made, which include her first hand experiences, create a bleak picture of our justice system. While some have hailed her for her bravery of speaking against such injustice within institutions mandated to deliver justice, she has also been subjected to criticism. In an interview with Daily mirror the Sugandhika Fernando, who claimed she was not politically motivated, stressed she would continue her fight against corruption even if she is removed from her profession.



Excerpts:



Q What are the main issues that you have identified in the justice system?



The main issue is related to the judiciary. Parliamentarians influence the judiciary. The hands of judges are bound from delivering a justifiable order or judgement because of influences made by politicians. There are some critical issues when it comes to the judicial staff- the Mudliyars, Arachchis and other staff members. There isnt an adequate number of staff members to handle court related matters. For example, there is a lack of staff to bind case books. A case record has to be bound as a file. Lawyers file the action, but the case records havent been bound. There is also a lack of stenographers, clerks, peons and arachchis. How can we maintain a proper judicial system without a proper office? As a country we must find a solution for this. In a society where the judicial system and rule of law are maintained the country will be in order.



People have realized this, but nobody has raised a voice against it. So we- Mr.Nagananda Kodithuwakku and myself- will raise our voices against such corruption.



Q What facilitates corruption and misconduct to perpetuate within the judiciary and law enforcement authorities?

People prefer doing things easily. For example, if I want to file a case before a court, I should go to the Registrar. There are several steps in the procedure to be followed. I have to wait to get a case no. I have to waste a lot of time there. But if I give Rs.1000 with the file, everything will be easy. Corruption starts there, from the bottom. Whether corruption exists at the bottom or at the high level, corruption is corruption. It is fraud whether the amount involved is Rs. 1 or Rs. 1 billion. We have to raise our voice against corruption.



Some staff members ask for yogurt, peanuts and tea to perform their duties. Its their duty to perform their office work. They receive salaries from the Government. So why do they have to ask for yogurt and other things from clients or other people who have come there? I am against this.



Judges, the judicial staff and lawyers should work together. We have to help each other. Im not saying that we should obtain special favours from the staff or the bench. But there should be mutual understanding. Every person has dignity. A lawyer should not raise his voice against a lower staff member, because he or she is a lawyer. Lawyers dont have that kind of right. Lawyers are citizens too. They arent people with super powers. People think that if lawyers do something wrong they wont be charged. I am a citizen and I am an attorney-at-law by profession. Judges and parliamentarians are also under the law.

Attorney-at-Law Sugandhika Fernando, speaking about misconduct and corruption within the judiciary and law enforcement authorities at the National Library Auditorium



Q Arent there adequate laws to prevent corruption within the judiciary?

There are many laws. But who can make complaints? If there are corruption allegations, for instance, against a judge, who will make the complaint? Who will make complaints against lawyers? People should have guts to make complaints against anybody, be it the President, the Prime Minister or a Parliamentarian. There are laws, Supreme Court rules and customs. But who will make the complaint? There should be a complaint to take action.



Q What kind of action did you take against the misconduct of officials you revealed in your speech?



Under the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act, No. 4 of 2015 a magistrate doesnt have the jurisdiction to grant bail except under special circumstances by the Court of Appeal. In one instance, at the Marawila Court, bail had been granted by the magistrate when there were no special circumstances. To make a complaint I had to obtain the case records. I made many motions requesting for a copy of the case records. But the Registrar told me that the case records were in the judges chamber. How can we make a complaint then?



After I made the speech they gave us a copy of the case records. The aggrieved party will take the necessary and appropriate action against the judge.



Regarding the Mudaliyas issue which Ive mentioned in my speech, I made a complaint to the District Judge, with copies to the Additional District Judge, the Judicial Service Commission(JSC), the Bar Association of Sri Lanka(BASL), and the Chilaw District Bar Association. There was a proper inquiry conducted by the DJ. A stenographer, a registrar, and the relevant Mudaliyar were present.



Finally the judge asked the Mudaliyar to worship and apologize to me. I didnt want him to worship me because he is older to me and because he is a male. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison he said that he could forgive, but not forget. Similarly I told the Mudaliyar that his conduct shouldnt be repeated. Mudaliyars shouldnt act in such a manner. I took oaths in 2010. I made this complaint after two or three months of taking oaths.



The BASL has given me 14 days to furnish my evidence regarding the drunken judge, the Marawila Judge, and the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate. There are several cases in which judges have acted in an unjustifiable manner. I have documentary evidence. I am an eyewitness. I faced the injustice. So I will submit an affidavit. If there is a forum or a bench I will appear before it and provide evidence.



Q Youve spoken about junior female lawyers being sexually harassed and sexual favours being asked from female clients and even female lawyers. Could you explain more as to your experiences and observations regarding this?



My experience is related to the Chilaw and Marawila Bars. Thats where I worked. You know about Justice Lenin Rathnayakes conduct. That was about sexual harassment and lawyers helped the judge. These issues are not just limited to the Marawila and Chilaw courts.



I know personally that some lady lawyers have illicit affairs with police officers in order to obtain cases. Its okay if the relationship is for love and affection. Police officers are transferred. So when the same lady lawyer allegedly has relationships with different police officers who are appointed successively to that police station, it indicates a problem. Women dont reveal that a particular lawyer asked them to come to a particular hotel to sleep with them because it affects their character. But this is the bitter truth. After my speech many have phoned me and told me the issues theyve faced. I now have a series of cases against lawyers and police officers.



Q Youve been accused of making generalized statements. To clarify is the entire judiciary and are all law enforcement authorities corrupt, or is it just a few?



Its a very few who are corrupt. My colleagues have misunderstood what Ive said. They have made a web with police officers, jailers, prison officers and other relevant authorities. Due to the presence of these corrupt lawyers the entire profession has received a bad name.



I am now being criticized for humiliating the legal profession. What I want to do is to put a stop to such corruption and protect our dignity as attorneys-at-law. Lawyers should understand why Ive raised my voice. The practice of law is a noble profession. But can we call it a noble profession when such corrupt, shameful things take place? Im raising my voice to restore the nobility attached to this profession and not to go against my fellow lawyers. There is a notion among people that lawyers are rogues and thugs etc. This is because of a few individuals. BASL should take necessary and appropriate action against such lawyers. Its then that the professional dignity of the rest is guaranteed.



Q How important is it to issue a receipt for money paid to lawyers as some lawyers have said that its impractical to issue receipts for every case as there are many cases that a lawyer has to handle?



If there are a lot of cases they should maintain a system to issue receipts. In vegetable shops or small groceries the mudalali or the shopkeeper issues a bill. Even doctors give us a receipt detailing the cost of medicines, the channelling fee etc. Why cant we (lawyers) do this? It is our duty to issue a receipt. People have the right to ask for a receipt.



Q What are your observations on what causes laws delay?



The delays in the application of the Law is a very crucial issue. To conclude a case involving an assault charge it takes 11 years. If the bench wants to call for a medico-legal report from the doctors or the Attorney Generals statements it takes a longtime. When witnesses are summoned and if there are no witnesses, witnesses are summoned once again. If there are no witnesses on the following day, they are summoned again. It should not be so. People need justice soon. There have been instances when people have died before the judgment was delivered.



Q How do you plan to change the prevailing system?

On one hand we are raising our voices and on the other hand we are filing action against judicial corruption before the Supreme Court and other relevant authorities. We have filed cases against six Supreme Court judges. This is how we can fight and find a solution.



Q Arent you afraid of being penalized?

No. If I am penalized I will be happy about that. History will testify that there once was a woman who fought and lost her cloak. I will not be disturbed by this. It is true that I will not be able to appear in court as an attorney-at-law. But do you think I will stop this fight? No, I wont. I will fight as an activist, as a citizen. I can file action as a citizen. If my license is cancelled my struggle will become stronger.



Q You spoke about filing action against judges in court. We find Ranjan Ramanayake facing a contempt of court case for criticizing the judiciary. One wonders whether the public has the right to criticize the judiciary. Your comments?



They have the right to criticize the system. Its freedom of expression. How can speaking the truth be considered as contempt? The truth I have spoken is already known by the masses. If judicial proceedings are subjected to outrageous and reckless comments that can be contempt of court. I am not affiliated to any political party. Ramanayake said in his statement that its not all lawyers, but a few who are corrupt. This is true. My view is that this case is wrong.



Q Recently there were news reports that you were charged with for speeding on the Expressway. Could you tell us what happened?



On the 15th of March there was a case before the Supreme Court against P.B.Jayasundara. I was coming from Chilaw and I was late. The speed was 114kmph. I received a ticket and the police took my driving license. As a lawyer who stands for justice I accepted my wrongdoing. The police has a right to take my driving license. But I lost my ticket and couldnt pay the fine at the post office.



If I had paid Rs. 1000 at the post office there would have been no issue. But I had misplaced the ticket. So when I realized that the time had lapsed I lodged a motion at the Magistrates Court.



I went to the accuseds box and pleaded guilty. Lawyers asked me why I didnt tell the police officer that I am a lawyer, when he asked for my license. It is irrelevant that I am a lawyer and that I had a case involving P.B.Jayasundara at the Supreme Court. I had committed an offense and I accepted that. The law is the same to everyone in this country.The high cost of securing employment abroad is a barrier to cross-border labour mobility for low-skilled workers in developing countries. The migration cost is distributed among many stakeholders in the migration value chain.



This Policy Insight highlights the main findings of the study Cost of Low-Skilled Migration to Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Malaysia: Value Chain Analysis  Sri Lanka.



The study utilises the value chain framework to map the migration process and cost for low-skilled workers from Sri Lanka to Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Malaysia with a view towards identifying the leverage points in the chain for policy intervention to reduce the migration costs. These three corridors are selected due to their unique importance in the Sri Lanka migration scenario.



Saudi Arabia is the leading destination for low-skilled migrant workers from Sri Lanka and the recruitment to Saudi Arabia from Sri Lanka is governed by private-to-private arrangements between the recruitment agents in the two countries.



In comparison, South Korea is a leading non-Middle Eastern destination of Sri Lankan workers, where the entire recruitment process is carried out by the governments, involving the bilateral agreements and bypassing the private recruiters.



The choice of Malaysia is based on the growing opportunities in that country for Sri Lankan workers and the evolving recruitment networks in the corridor.



For Saudi Arabia, the scope of the study is limited to the female domestic workers because they account for nearly half of Sri Lankan workers heading for Saudi Arabia. For Malaysia and South Korea, the study focuses on the low-skilled workers in the manufacturing sector, given the significance of these occupations for Sri Lankan migrant workers in these countries.



The study adopts a qualitative methodology and collected data through key informant interviews and focus group discussions in Sri Lanka.



Findings Saudi Arabia value chain

By mapping the value chain to Saudi Arabia, the study identifies employers, recruitment agents in Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), sub-agents and migrants as the key players, while the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Embassy in Saudi Arabia, financial institutions, medical centres, Grama Sevaka officers, District Officers and migrants families are other players. (See Chart 1)



The analysis of the value chain finds that migration to Saudi Arabia is a private-to-private recruitment arrangement and the total cost of approximately US $ 4,750 (Rs.500,000) is financed by the employer in Saudi Arabia and the migrants do not bear any upfront cost.



This cost consists of incentives to migrants family, commissions to agents and sub-agents, administrative and regulatory fees to the SLBFE and cost of fulfilling the documentary requirements/amassing credentials.



When lump sum payments to the migrants family and sub-agent are excluded, the subtotal is US $ 902 (Rs.129,882), out of which 47 percent goes as payments to the SLBFE. The contract period of a housemaid in Saudi Arabia is generally two years and they receive a monthly salary of about US $ 243 (SAR 1,000).



In the Saudi Arabia value chain, when involved, the most powerful player is the sub-agent, who is an informal entity operating at grass root level to mediate between the licensed agent and the prospective migrant in Sri Lanka. The sub-agent also assists the potential migrant to navigate the migration process.



The bargaining power of sub-agents allows them to shop around different agencies and demand higher commissions for his services, while they are also criticised for engaging in malpractices leading to exploitative and abusive situations of migrants.



South Korea value chain

Under the Employment Permit System (EPS), the government-to-government labour migration arrangement between Sri Lanka and South Korea is a relatively streamlined process with fewer key players, namely, HRD (a public recruitment agency within the Employment and Labour Ministry, which supports foreign workforce employment under the EPS system), the SLBFE and migrants. (See Chart 2)



The other players include the immigration authorities in the two countries, Korean Embassy in Sri Lanka, financial institutions, medical centres, language training instructors, Criminal Investigation Division, lawyers and migrants family.



The more streamlined process contributes to keep the recruitment costs low at approximately US $ 1,389 (Rs.200,000). Here the entire recruitment and migration cost is borne by the migrant and 63 percent is paid out to the SLBFE.



However, due to the involvement of the Korean language training requirements, the wait time to migrate to South Korea is longer than that of Saudi Arabia, while a work contract to South Korea is three years and the monthly salary ranges between US $ 694-868 (Rs.100,000-125,000).



Malaysia value chain

The value chain for the recruitment of low-skilled manufacturing workers to Malaysia consists of the key players such as employers, recruitment agents in Sri Lanka, Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) - Home Affairs Ministry in Malaysia, SLBFE and migrants.



The recruitment agents in Sri Lanka play a significant mediation role between the employees and employers and have close links with the final employers in Malaysia.



The other players in the value chain include immigration authorities in the two countries, the Malaysian Embassy in Sri Lanka and medical centres in Sri Lanka. Unlike in the case of the Saudi Arabia value chain, the involvement of sub-agents in Sri Lanka and recruitment agents in Malaysia is not extensive in the recruitment process. (See Chart 3)



The migrants cost of securing employment in Malaysia is approximately US $ 1,041 (Rs.150,000). Moreover, due to the agents significant involvement in the recruitment process and its related preparatory work, here the agent bears an additional cost of nearly US $ 3,472 (Rs.500,000) for ground work in preparation for recruitment.



Given that these costs are applicable to recruiting a batch of migrant workers, the per migrant cost declines when large numbers of migrants are recruited through the given agent.



The contract period for a low-skilled worker to Malaysia is generally three years and the monthly wage is in the range of US $ 206- 275 (RM 900-RM1,200). (See Table)



Policy recommendations

To lower the migration cost, the study suggests the following:

Converting upfront incentive into a higher monthly salary and benefits package

Reducing opportunity cost to migrate

Amalgamating functions of sub-agent with agent and streamlining migration process

Opening up more competition for medical testing

Re-evaluating need for family background report

Staggering of training programmes

Imposing maximum chargeable amount for Korean language training

Reducing administrative inefficiencies

Better aligning of local and foreign training programmes

Introducing Malaysia-specific pre-departure training

Providing migrant a breakdown of entire cost

Setting up of a separate division within the SLBFE focusing on recruitment to Malaysia

Need for national survey on labour migration from Sri Lanka

(This Policy Insight is based on findings from a study on Cost of Low-Skilled Migration to Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Malaysia: Value Chain Analysis  Sri Lanka by Bilesha Weeraratne, Janaka Wijayasiri and Suwendrani Jayaratne. Contact bilesha@ips.lk or janaka@ips.lk for more information)At least 41 Palestinians have been reported killed by Israeli troops in clashes on the Gaza border ahead of the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Gaza's Health Ministry said that at least 772 Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli fire on May 14.

The Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, has led mass protests over the past six weeks aimed at breaking a decade-old Israeli blockade of the territory. A total of 83 people are reported to have been killed since the start of the protests.

A majority of the territory's 2 million inhabitants are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been dubbed the "Great March of Return" to homes in what is now the state of Israel.

The mass protests were also directed at the transfer of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14.

Top U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, are attending the event.

In a recorded message at the ceremony, President Trump said he remained "fully committed" to pursuing peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Our greatest hope is for peace," he said.

Trump announced earlier this year that the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem, causing joy in Israel and creating an outcry from Palestinians, U.S. allies, and many other countries worldwide.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for "having the courage" to keep his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, which he called the "eternal, undivided capital of Israel."

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit blasted as "shameful" the countries that are celebrating the opening of the U.S. Embassy in the divided city.

Iran's foreign minister called the move "a day of great shame."

Trump announced earlier this year that the United States was recognizing divided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of U.S. policy.

The decision has caused joy in Israel and created an outcry from Palestinians, U.S. allies, and many other countries worldwide.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and declared the entire city as its capital, a move not recognized by the international community. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)In response to concerns raised by some professional associations last week concerning the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA), the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry in a detailed response said the movement of natural persons from Singapore has not been opened except for intra-corporate transferees in senior management and business visitors linked to investments.



The top professional bodies representing engineers, architects, town planners and quantity surveyors and other related professions last week charged that the government has rushed into SLSFTA without having proper legal frameworks in place to ensure job security of local professionals and the possible entry of under-qualified overseas professionals.



There is no liberalization whatsoever of independent movement of natural persons (not linked to investment).Business visitors will be permitted for a period of not more than 30 days for purposes such as market scoping, business agreements and so on, the statement issued by the ministry said. It also said the ministry has been holding regular consultation with professional bodies and trade chambers with regard to SLSFTA and kept the informed of the status of the negotiations and possible commitments that were to be undertaken on regular basis.

The Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade wishes to refer to the recent news items where it has been stated that the recently signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore was entered into without proper consultation process.



Recent news items have deemed that this will have an adverse impact on government revenue, and would result in influx of professionals and workers entering the country.



This Ministry wishes to state that it is the policy of the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate FTAs with selected countries, as part of its new trade policy.

The aim of this policy is to achieve a diversification of exports and export markets; to create linkages to global production and value chains; integrate Sri Lanka to the global economy; and by virtue of the nexus between trade and investment, attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country.



The government has adopted a policy of engaging in a dialogue and consultation with all stakeholders in pursuing this goal. The ministry has been holding regular consultations with trade chambers, trade associations and professional bodies. Stakeholders have also been kept informed of the status of the negotiations and possible commitments that were to be undertaken on regular basis.



This Ministry has also had specific consultations with stakeholders in construction related services, computer related services, tourism sector, maritime sector and others.



Trade in Services



Certain professional associations have expressed their concerns about the influx of professionals and other workers into the country. The movement of natural persons from Singapore has not been opened except for intra-corporate transferees in senior management and business visitors linked to investments. There is no liberalisation whatsoever of independent movement of natural persons (not linked to investment).Business visitors will be permitted for a period of not more than 30 days for purposes such as market scoping, business agreements and so on.



Cooperate transferees (transferees from a branch of a company with an investment in Sri Lanka) are also limited to managers, executives and specialists who are clearly defined in the relevant schedules of the agreement. Their period of entry is also limited initially up to two years or over the period of contract, whichever is the less with an extension not exceeding a total of five years.



No movement of persons either Singapore citizens or permanent residence have been opened in professional services. The concerns that engineering and architectural services have been opened is also incorrect. This Ministry wishes to state that the only commitment is for cross border services (via the internet - and not relating to movement of people) and that too limited only to pre-design advisory and consultative services and does not include the practice of architectural or engineering profession. This is only through use of internet and other means and not through investment, commercial presence, of movement of professionals to the country. Providing these type of services are already possible through the existing regulation and legislative framework. Thus, establishing a company for providing these advisory services in the country or movement of natural person to provide such services have not permitted under this agreement. It should be emphasised that Sri Lanka has not undertaken any liberalisation exceeding the prevailing investment regime.



The new regulations under the Immigration Act in order to strengthen the regulatory framework have almost been finalised and will be submitted to the Cabinet shortly. When they come into force, they will address the concerns raised by the professional associations as well as other stakeholders. The regulations will stipulate procedures to be followed when employing foreign nationals, categories of employment, employer and employee obligations, the roles to be played by the professional bodies on recognition of qualifications and more.



It has also been stated that this agreement would lead to millions of non-citizens of Singapore arriving into Sri Lanka including PR holders and citizens of India, Bangladesh and other countries. It should be mentioned that the entire permanent resident population of Singapore is only 527,000 in 2017. Second, the SLSFTA does not permit any permanent resident to work in Sri Lanka. The only permitted entrants are those who qualify as corporate transferees, i.e. persons employed by a Singaporean company with investments in Sri Lanka. Third, such persons would have to be employed in that company for at least 12 months. Furthermore, only the most skilled and highest tiered personnel are eligible - this is clearly defined in the schedules. Fifth, if a person has a dominant and effective nationality in a third country, such persons would be excluded. Therefore, a Singapore company cannot hire and send a citizen of another country to work in Sri Lanka.



To say so is inaccurate and misleading. Given the above facts, the permanent residence holders arriving in Sri Lanka is extremely limited and entry will be tied to a corresponding investment in Sri Lanka, thereby benefitting the country as a whole.



Trade in Goods



There has also been reference to the tariff liberalisation programme (TLP) of the agreement.



Whilst it is true that Sri Lanka undertook to liberalise 80 percent of its tariff lines when Singapore has already liberalised 99 percent of its tariff lines, it is misleading to even claim that it amounts to a unilateral concession. The SLSFTA, like most other present-day FTAs, incorporates several sectoral chapters that include trade, services, investment, economic cooperation and others. Hence, the benefits cannot be weighed in compartments. Concessions granted under one chapter result in a quid pro quo in others. The prime objective of the SLSFTA is to attract FDIs from Singapore into Sri Lanka in the manufacturing and services sectors and to link to global production and value chains. In this regard a high-powered Singaporean business delegation visited Sri Lanka in this week to explore investment possibilities and establish business contact with the business community. In any event, it should also be noted that in FTAs signed by Singapore with its other trading partners,the level of liberalisation invariably exceeds 90 percent of the tariff lines. Sri Lanka, in comparison, has been able to limit it to 80 percent, thereby keeping 20 percent of tariff lines in the Negative List to accommodate domestic sensitivities and revenue concerns.



It should be mentioned that the TLP has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. Sri Lankas tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12 years to 15 years. Although the TLP requires Sri Lanka to liberalise 50 percent of Tariff Lines immediately when the agreement comes into force, 50 percent of these tariff lines are already duty free and CESS free on a MFN basis. Consequently, it will not have any immediate impact either on revenue or domestic industries. Thereafter:



n15 percent of tariff lines will be eliminated from the first to the sixth year in equal installments;



n14.3 percent of tariff lines will be eliminated from the seventh to the twelfth year in equal installments; and,



n0.7 percent will be eliminated from the 11th to the 15th year.



Accordingly, (a) tariff reduction and elimination will be a gradual process, and (b) most of the semi sensitive tariff lines are included in either the seventh to the twelfth year period or the eleventh to the fifteenth year period.



It has also been mentioned that tariff liberalisation will result in a substantial loss of revenue to the government. Obviously, this has been factored into our negotiation. There will be little or no impact from the immediate list since those lines are already duty free and CESS free on a MFN basis. Moreover, import data on products imported from Singapore will show that out of total imports of US $ 1293 million in 2017, US $ 750 million were petroleum and related products (in fact amounting to 60 percent of imports from Singapore) and US $ 228 million were gold. Since tariffs on petroleum products, tobacco, spirits and alcohol are an important revenue source to the government these items have been retained in the list of products that will not be subject to liberalisation,thereby protecting revenue. The bulk of the remaining imports in the TLP are mostly inputs or intermediate goods needed for local industry and which will increase their competitiveness and benefit consumers in Sri Lanka. This Ministry would like to add that the TLP was finalised in consultation and with the agreement of Ministry of Finance.



Furthermore, the rules of origin criteria in the agreement stipulate that product imported from Singapore will not qualify for tariff concessions unless 35 percent value addition over change of tariff heading take place in Singapore. The rules of origin in the agreement will therefore not allow goods simply be exported through Singapore, since minimum value addition or processing has to necessarily take place in Singapore.



This Ministry will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with the trade chambers and professional bodies, even in the future, as we negotiate in the other agreement.A Cayuga County man has been charged with forcible touching after security cameras caught him grabbing a female employee at a local gas station, the Auburn Police Department said.

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According to Auburn Police Captain James Moore, police issued an arrest warrant Monday for 41-year-old Michael Scharick.

On May 8, Moore said, police received a complaint from an employee at the Speedway convenience store on North Street. At the time, the 29-year-old woman said she was working at the Auburn store when a male customer stepped behind the counter and grabbed her buttocks.

Moore said the incident was captured by security cameras, which helped officers identify the man as Scharick. He has been charged with forcible touching, a class A misdemeanor.

Staff writer Megan Blarr can be reached at (315) 282-2282 or megan.blarr@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @CitizenBlarr.

Love 14 Funny 53 Wow 9 Sad 4 Angry 61

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.The Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday on a seven-day long official visit at the invitation of Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake.

Lieutenant General Senanayake together with President of the Army Seva Vanitha Unit (ASVU) Mrs Chandrika Senanayake were welcomed the visiting Indias Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat and his spouse, Mrs Madhulika Rawat at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

Army said Major General Prithi Singh, Brigadier Mukesh Aggarwal and Major Anshul Ahlawat of the Indian Army were among the deligation.

Major General Anura Sudasinghe, Senior Liaison Officer and Captain Ashok Rao, Defence Adviser at Indian High Commission and senior military Officers were also at the airport to receive the Indian Chief of the Army Staff.

During his stay in Sri Lanka, the visiting Army Chief is scheduled to call on the President, Prime Minister, State Minister of Defence, Defence Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff, Tri-forces Commanders and a few others.

Moreover, he will attend wreath-laying ceremonies at the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) cenotaph at Battaramulla. In addition, he is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka Military Academy at Diyatalawa, Trincomalee and Galle during his stay in the country.(DS)

Pix by Army MediaA 54-year-old man was killed after a firearm of a Policeman misfired during a raid on a gambling den in Kaluwala, Uragasmanhandiya last night, the Police said.

They said a gang of gamblers had allegedly attacked the Police team that raided the place with swords and clubs and obstructed duty.

The firearm misfired when the men attempted to snatch it away from the officer, the Police said.

The deceased was identified as Hewa Hakuru Jayawardane of Samagipura, Karandeniya.

Video by Anuradha PriyadarshanaMastercard and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) are offeringexciting opportunities for Indian travellers to avail the convenience of cashless payments and attractive discounts on dining,shopping and staying in Sri Lanka. This is part of their ongoing strategic efforts to jointly promote Sri Lanka as a preferred destination in key markets.

Travellers with Mastercard debit and credit cardsissued in India will be able to enjoy excitingoffers including discounts on holiday packages and air tickets to Sri Lanka booked through partnering travel websites as well as savings of up to 25 percent at select partner hotels, restaurants, and retail stores.Jetwing Hotels, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts,AMAN Hotels, Loon Tao Restaurant and Mlesna Tea are some of the hotels that have been partnered with for this campaign.

Supported by a pan-India marketing drive by Mastercard, this collaboration has been set to drum up greater interest in Sri Lanka amongst Indian travellers.

John Amaratunga, Minister of Tourism Development, Sri Lanka,described the move by Mastercard as a welcome development. He said, I congratulate Mastercard for pioneering this initiative with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau to promoteSri Lanka as the preferred destination for the discerning Indian travellers. Be it for leisure, shopping or business, the incentives on offers coupled with the cashless convenience factor would definitely help card users discover more of Sri Lanka. With tourist arrival numbers from India on the rise, this promotion will help consolidate and sustain this growth into the future. Therefore, the Mastercard promotion is a welcome development that will further establish Sri Lanka as Indias favouritetravel destination.

Commenting on this partnership, Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Managing Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau said,We believe that this new partnership with Mastercard will encourage cross border tourism between India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is rich in culture and heritage and an attractive destination for both leisure and business travellers. Easy connectivity with short haul flights from India and favourable currency exchange rate will serve as the perfect package for the travellers.

Vikas Varma, Senior Vice President, Account Management, Mastercard said, Mastercard is delighted to partner with Sri Lanka Tourism Board to boost cashless tourism and further enhance the Sri Lanka experience. Tourism is a major contributor to Sri Lankas economy and given Indias close proximity to Sri Lanka, Mastercards market intelligence on the Indian travellers spending patterns and strong partnerships with various stakeholders, Sri Lanka can fully harness the potential of cashless payments.

R. B. Santosh Kumar, Country Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Mastercard said, Mastercard has beenworking closely with all stakeholders across the public and private sectors in Sri Lanka for more than three decades. Their local insights together with our suite of world-class electronic payment solutions and global expertisehas helped Mastercarddeliver greater value to Sri Lankan businesses and consumers. The current campaign that Mastercard is running in partnership with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau, one of its longstanding partners, is yet another way Mastercard continues leveraging the transformative power of digital payments to do so.

This announcement comes on the heels of recent positive growth of Sri Lankas tourism industry. As per a report published by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in 2018, international tourism arrivals in Sri Lanka hit a record of 2.1 million in 2017 with a growth rate of 3.20% over 20161. India is the largest source of tourism for Sri Lanka contributing to 18% of the total tourists visiting the country. This year, Sri Lanka is expecting 440,000 arrivals from India, according to an estimate by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau2.Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera today appointed four Chairmen to state media institutions with immediate effect.

Accordingly, award-winning film directress Mrs. Enokaa Sathyangani was appointed as the Chairperson of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC).

Finance and Mass Media Additional Secretary Mrs. Thilaka Jayasundara has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Independent Television Network (ITN) while, Mr. Siddeek Mohamed Farook was appointed as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) and Mrs Uma Rajamanthri as the Chairperson of the SELACINE Television Institute.Oman Air, the national carrier of the sultanate of Oman, commences its new daily flight from Muscat to the Turkish capital of Istanbul as of June 1, 2018. This is one ofmany strategic moves in the airlines ambitious and dynamic programme of fleet and network expansion.

The airline is offering very attractive fares that start from RO 99 for Economy class, which received a big response from travelers. The Airlines Holidaysdivision has also come up with exciting holiday packages offering tickets, hotel stay, airport transfers and excursions at a very competitive rate. Omanis travelling to Istanbul are eligible for visa on arrival.

The new route comes ahead of other new routes - to Casablancaand Moscow - set to launch in July and October of this year respectively. The Istanbul service will be operated by a Boeing 737-800 and will depart daily from Muscat to Istanbul Ataturk International Airport. With a flight time of 5 hours and 25 minutes, Flight WY163 will depart Muscat daily at 20.00, arriving in Istanbul at 00.25. The return flight WY164 will depart Istanbul daily at 01.25, arriving in Muscat International Airports new, award-winning passenger terminal at 07.25.

The new route between Oman and Turkey will strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries, enhance the trading and tourism prospects, and enable Oman Airs guests to explore one of the worlds most thriving cities. Intertwining both ancient and modern cultures, Istanbul is right at the heart of Turkeys economic, historical and cultural heritage. Istanbul is a diverse and vibrant city with much to offer Oman Air guests travelling to this beautiful destination.

The opening of the new passenger terminal in Muscathas offered Oman Air guests a thoroughly enhanced service and the new terminal building has already won the 2018 World Travel Awards Middle Easts leading new tourism development project for this year. Oman Air is proud to be operating up to 200 flights per day from the new state-of-the-art passenger terminal. The airline also flies to 9 destinations in the GCC states, 11 in India, and 7 in Europe, apart from its Indian Sub-Continent, Far East and MENA destinations, providing guests with more choice and easy connections across its network.

Oman Air is currently undergoing an exciting fleet and network expansion programme, which will see the airline operate up to 66 aircraft to around 60 destinations by 2022. The airline continues to be recognised for its award winning on board experience; winning a raft of industry awards to add to its growing collection.REUTERS: The Sri Lankan rupee hit a record low of 158 per dollar yesterday in thin trade after the Central Bank chief said the currency will depreciate gradually while exporters stayed away from the market expecting further weakness.



The rupee ended at 157.95/158.10 per dollar, compared with Fridays close of 157.85/158.10. The rupee will depreciate gradually as dollar outflows surpass inflows, Central Bank Chief Indrajit Coomaraswamy said on Friday. The market was dull. There was no unusual importer dollar demand, but exporters are staying away from the market, a currency dealer said.

We did not see any intervention either from the central bank or state banks today. I think importers got panicked since April 23 and over-bought dollars. So exporters had been waiting for the currency to bit the bottom.



The currency has declined 0.22 percent so far this month after a 1.5 percent fall in April. It has slipped 2.9 percent for this year.



Coomaraswamy on Friday also said the Central Bank was studying carefully if there was extra pressure on the currency than was expected and also the behaviour of market participants.



The Central Bank said on April 26 it would intervene to support the rupee when necessary and that there was no reason for the rupee to be under pressure given the countrys record US $ 10 billion foreign currency reserves.



Dealers said they expect the rupee to gradually weaken and face higher volatility this year due to debt repayments by the government. But Central Bank Senior Deputy Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe on Thursday said debt repayments by the government will not have an impact on the currency as they are managed with borrowed money externally.



Foreign investors sold government securities worth a net Rs.4.05 billion in the week ended May 9, bringing the outflow so far this year to Rs.9.8 billion, the Central Bank data showed.THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF TRAVEL SKETCHES ON THE SOUTH OF SRI LANKA

Photos by Uditha Devapriya

In Beruwala and Aluthgama there is hardly anything by way of cultural sites to spot out and write on

That is why Karandeniya is closer at heart to Ambalangoda than most other places in Ambalangoda

ON the E01 theres nothing to look forward to: No people to look at and talk with, no photographs to take and savour

Fusion of newness and oldness can be spotted out even in the road leading to the Karandeniya Raja Maha Viharaya

From Piliyandala (where I live) to Matara, there is about 130 kilometres, the fastest route to take being the Southern Expressway (which will take you about two hours, or even less).



But the Expressway has its limits: it hasnt been built beyond Matara, not properly anyway, and in those two hours, the only sights youre exposed to on either side are newly refurbished homes, impersonal hills, and banal buildings.



Theres nothing to look forward to: No people to look at and talk with, no photographs to take and savour. Nothing beats the exhilaration of a ride through Galle Road.

When you pass the Kalutara Bodhiya, and then cross the much celebrated Benthara Paalama, remembering that famous saying about not trusting anyone who resides beyond it, you feel as though youre entering a different world. Thats because the South is exactly that: a different world.



In Beruwala and Aluthgama there is hardly anything by way of cultural sites to spot out and write on, but you are overwhelmed by the architectural diversity, including that most Muslim of all architectural motifs, the trellis. (Tilak Samarawickrema, when I talked with him about the presence of the trellis in many of Lester James Periess movies, including Gamperaliya and Golu Hadawatha, contended that it was alien to Sinhala culture.)



It is when you go beyond Benthota that the tourist sites crop up: one by one, hotels and restaurants fill up both sides of the road until you reach a point where you cant escape them.



Because of Benthota, perhaps, Induruwa, Ahungalle, and Balapitiya too are covered with resorts and spas, eateries, and whatnot, until you reach Ambalangoda, which is where the people, the sights, the sounds, and the flavours take on a distinctly Southern character. It is in Ambalangoda, I feel, that the South becomes the South.



The new has cohabited with the old in Ambalangoda. Especially away from Galle Road, towards Karandeniya, where the roads become more constricted the further you drive inward, you feel that the people you talk with to ask for directions have accepted the inevitability of the new without foregoing on the old.



Even in the way they speak, with their regard for emphasis and their drawn-out dialect, they are SPECIFIC. But those who associate Ambalangoda with the mask (and Ambalangoda still houses a veritable design culture) often forget that masks are hardly endemic to Sri Lanka and that the cultural roots of these places go deeper and are to be found more in the temples and the people who reside near them. It has been said of the people of Karandeniya, especially, that they are not afraid of talking straight if they feel they have to. But even with this, they are not afraid of encountering the new.



The fact is that the people of Karandeniya, who are more characteristic, I think, of Ambalangoda than city dwellers, produce one of the largest percentages of migrant workers from any region in the country. It is a statistic that has been forgotten, but that statistic has been all but completely acknowledged through the years.

That is why Karandeniya is closer at heart to Ambalangoda than most other places in Ambalangoda.



This fusion of newness and oldness can be spotted out even in the road leading to the Karandeniya Raja Maha Viharaya. Recently refurbished, the temple is graced by a long road that goes uphill and is flanked on both sides by a long stretch of one of the most Sri Lankan of all universally consumed exports, cinnamon trees.

The Galagoda Shailatharama Viharaya, as its referred to in travel books, houses the largest reclining Buddhist statue in South Asia. While my mother tells me that she counted 109 one foot tiles from one corner to the other, in reality, it runs up to 115 feet or 35 metres, not much until you consider the fact that the reclining statue at the Gal Viharaya in Polonnaruwa is about 45 feet or 15 metres. The temple, reflecting the Ambalangoda which exists outside Karandeniya, is both old and new.

Now more than 800 years old, it is a little older than, say, the Thotagamuwa Raja Maha Viharaya in Telwatte, Galle, and it traces its origins to the Dambadeniya Period, though the statue looks like it is made of cement.



The person responsible for much of the temple would have been the then Chief Minister of the King, Devapathiraja, who was responsible also for many of the temples which exist along the coastal belt of the South and after whom a school was named in Rathgama (the school my grandfather attended).



Incidentally, the road leading to the temple hadnt been there before; what had existed were 208 arduous steps, which had proved to be too much of a hardship for the people in the area. The road had been a brainchild of a former Chief Incumbent, the Venerable Somananda Thera, while the chamber had been refurbished under his stewardship as well.



(Though the record of its being the largest such in South Asia has been confirmed by local scholars, there is another reclining statue which boasts of being the largest such in the low country, which includes Ambalangoda, and that is to be found in the Indrasararamaya, near the Sabaragamuwa region, around 30 kilometres from Colombo in Aruggoda.)



Around the statue are various other excerpts and snapshots from the life, not only of the Gautama Buddha but also the other Buddhas, who have been carefully marked and labelled in a long tableau on the other side of the shrine room. In one corner of the outer chamber of the room you come across Elara and his soldiers, and on the other, you come across Dutugemunu; its like they are about to meet each other, for their final encounter, and the Buddhas in-between are onlookers, overtly confirming a fusion of Sinhalese culture and Buddhist legends and iconography which is so often to be found in a Sri Lankan temple, though not quite so graphically.

And if these statues appear to be new, and not in need of being refurbished, that has a lot to do with the fact that about a century ago, a well-off villager in Karandeniya named Lyonis oversaw the renovation of them all.



There are obviously more stories which the ardent traveller can associate with the temple at Karandeniya, but for reasons Ive touched on before, they tend to be missed. In that sense, we have to be grateful to Somananda Thera, who was dispatched to the Viharaya in 2000.



Someone told me that it was a recently built temple, but thats because Somananda Thera transformed it over the years into a modern place of worship, renovating those parts most susceptible to decay, while also compromising on the archaic-ness of the budu medura. (At one point, the builders, misunderstanding the Theras instructions, covered the floor in cement.)



The newness of the structure is in one sense the newness of Karandeniya and its residents. Moreover, before Somananda Theras arrival, the entire place had reeked of bat droppings and, worse, wanton neglect.



The Archaeological Department, owing to certain understandable reasons, had not checked into preserving it properly. Thanks to the Theras efforts, however, it flourished, and its historical importance, particularly its association with the Dambadeniya Period (The reign of the Parakramabahu the Second) and Devapathiraja, began to merit more than a cursory mention.



It is from 2004 and 2005, right after the tsunami, that interest in it seems to have soared. Today, travel writers and even bloggers have written on the Shailatharama Viharaya when they visit Ambalangoda, once they are done with the masks and the puppets.



With hardly any habitation around the temple, Karandeniya nevertheless seems to have graduated from being in the outskirts of Ambalangoda to a veritable all-but-in-name tourist spot.



And though theres nothing much by way of accommodations outside the city, as travel bloggers have made it clear, there are enough and more residents around these outskirts who are more than willing to take in tourists and visitors for a reasonable fee.



The people of Ambalangoda, rather like the people of the South and also of much of Sri Lanka in general, are friendly, but they are also straight talkers, and I witnessed this kind of straight talking while chatting with common everyday folk in the area.



On route to Matara, the quintessential cultural hub of the South after Galle, I was taken aback by the vocal distinctness which still exists in this region; although we have been assailed and continue to be assailed by modernity, we still speak in the dialect of the region we hail from, even if we hide that dialect when were in another region and especially when were in Colombo. In that sense the most characteristic characteristic of the resident of Ambalangoda is his dialect; he tends to drag what hes saying, preferring to speak slowly, almost lazily, even when hes loud or when the situation calls for quickness of speech.



As for the masks and puppets and the artefacts of cultural commercialisation, well, they deserve to be written on too, even though they have been written on by others. But I leave that for a later essay. For now, my travelogue in Ambalangoda ends in Karandeniya.Oops....! We couldn't find that...

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The state budget, adopted on-time at the end of March, was one key step. The senate turned back more than $1 billion in onerous tax-and-fee increases proposed by the governor and rejected additional spending hikes pushed by New York City Democrats who run the state assembly.

Now the senate has taken action on a number of bills that will make a real difference in everyones bottom line. The sweeping package of legislation focuses on property taxes, energy costs, unfunded mandates, and other expenses that are driving up the cost of living in New York State.Shanghai (Gasgoo)- At the midnight of May 5, a 21-year beautiful stewardess was raped and murdered by a driver of Didi car-hailing App on her way to the urban area from Zhengzhou Airport in Henan Province.

Afterwards, Didi issued a statement, saying the platform should bear an unshakable responsibility for the sad accident. Didi also formed a special team to participate in the investigation of this case. Moreover, the platform also offered a reward of up to RMB one million for people who can provide tips and clues of the suspect's whereabouts.

According to local report, a 27-year male, confirmed as the rapist and murderer of the stewardess, was found dead. It is reported that he abandoned his car after the murder and jumped into a nearby river.

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Although real-name registration is needed in the platform, drivers can also register an account with another person's car, as long as the car owner agrees. Didi also confessed that their original night safety mechanism was defective so that the night mode face recognition mechanism was not triggered before the driver took the order.



Many critical articles were also released after the accident. Most of the views blamed Didi and attributed the responsibility to Didi platform due to their deficiency of safety mechanism. The Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China (MOT) also released articles on the safety of car-hailing services. MOT defines that car-hailing companies, as transportation service provider, should take the responsibility of passengers' safety as well as corresponding social responsibilities. Besides, MOT also criticized that some car-hailing platforms consider little about passengers' feeling and experience but more about investors' ideas.This item is available in full to subscribers.

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The products promote healing for bruised skin while providing pain relief, working to reduce discomfort and discoloration, swelling and redness that can occur after treatments. The tinted arnica product can conceal bruising in highly visible areas while providing soothing relief.

Dr. Nisha Bunke Dawn Nicoli

Both products include a blend of nine all-natural ingredients including extracts from pineapple, sunflower oil, grapeseed, arnica, butchers broom, and coconut that work with sensitive skin and support recovery after surgery.

As a physician interested in holistic health, it is important for me to address post-surgery care as an important part of preparing for surgery, Bunke said. These products were in high demand from my patients who wanted a soothing remedy and quick healing after surgical vein procedures.

Previously only sold at La Jolla Vein Care, RECOVA products are now available for sale to the public.

Bunke has owned her private practice for nine years, specializing in minimally-invasive procedures to treat leg vein problems. A vein specialist, Bunke actually co-edited the textbook on the subject: The Vein Book. The book, published by Oxford University Press, has become a resource on the condition and treatment of varicose veins, spider veins and thread veins.

Bunke was interested in the medical field at an early age and, by 17, she was a volunteer firefighter and first responder. In college, she became an EMT.

She is currently appointed as a volunteer clinical instructor of surgery at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and a member of the Scripps Ximed Medical Group and VA Medical Center. For the past five years, Dr. Bunke has also managed the vein clinics at the VA Medical Center, providing vein care for veterans.

Many people experience vein problems Bunke said it is most common in women and can happen at any stage of life. For some, varicose and spider veins are simply a cosmetic issue. For others, they may cause symptoms such as swelling and heaviness of the legs and in some cases may be a sign of an underlying medical issue such as venous insufficiency or venous reflux disease.

Bunkes practice offers a variety of treatment options depending on the type of veins, extent of disease and other factors.

I was inspired by my patients, Bunke of the motivation to create RECOVA. Over the years at the end of treatments, patients would ask what they could do to help reduce bruising or discomfort.

She started the process to create her own healing cream in 2010, receiving feedback along the way and pursuing it more aggressively in 2012.

Scientifically she knew what the best natural ingredients would be to help with vein-related disorders and worked with a pharmacist to create the ideal cream to optimize healing. She included ingredients such as witch hazel help clear redness in the skin, the natural anti-inflammatory butchers broom, grape seed oil packed with vitamin E and horse chestnut, a natural remedy to improve poor blood circulation.

It offers immediate relief, Bunke said of the cooling effect of the cream that also reduces discomfort from itching. It feels great once applied and feedback weve received is that it helps accelerate the resolution of bruising.

What Bunke discovered is that the RECOVA creams can be used to relieve a much broader variety of minor outpatient and cosmetic surgical procedures, as well as bruising in general. She introduced the product to local medical spas and plastic surgery offices as its benefits extend to patients that have had procedures such as Botox injections, fillers, sclerotherapy and laser treatments.

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Its very exciting especially since Ive worked on it for so many years, Bunke said. Its great to be able to provide a solution.Save my User ID and Password

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PORTLAND (AP)  Portland would upgrade more than 16,000 sidewalk ramps at a cost of about $113 million over 12 years if city officials agree to a proposed settlement.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the city council will consider next week settling a class-action legal dispute with mobility-disabled residents by promising to change how the city builds and maintains sidewalks.





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Reformasi UMNO  Compelling Reasons Why UMNO Must Be Resuscitated

M. Bakri Musa

www.bakrimusa.com





First of Two Parts





UMNO was severely mauled in the recent GE-14 election. The wounds it suffered could prove fatal. However, with some skillful interventions and an abundance of patience, the party could recover and be rehabilitated to emerge stronger, wiser, and more effective. That would serve not only its members but also other Malaysians and the nation.





There is also a third possibility. The party could be permanently scarred, crippled, and forever be the laughing stock of the world. UMNO would then be like its current members, forever demanding its due from others as a matter of privilege based on its claim of having brought independence to the country. It would mock its slogan of UMNO being Malay and Malay, UMNO, perverting it into the very antithesis of its noble original intent.





Such a fate would be far worse that if the party were to just fold.





The future of UMNO is not divinely ordained. Its fate depends less on prayers, more on the collective actions and wisdom of its leaders and members. Thus far the signs are not hopeful or encouraging, despite its president Najib taking responsibility and resigning.





The defeat notwithstanding, the fact remains that UMNO as an individual party still has the largest number of seats in Parliament. Yet its members behave as if they are in a fast sinking ship, bailing out not wanting to be the last sucked in under the waves.





Bangsa, Agama, Negara!(Race, Faith, Country) is no empty slogan. UMNO was the first force that woke Malays up and made us emerge from our slumber of insularity. Before UMNO, Malays thought themselves only as subjects of the local chieftains and sultans. Malays still have that residuum of feudalism. There are many compelling reasons to be aggressive in resuscitating and thus saving UMNO. For Malays and the nation, the party is iconic. Its motto(Race, Faith, Country) is no empty slogan. UMNO was the first force that woke Malays up and made us emerge from our slumber of insularity. Before UMNO, Malays thought themselves only as subjects of the local chieftains and sultans. Malays still have that residuum of feudalism.





On a more sentimental level, UMNO is the rare if not only Malay entity that has proven that it could survive beyond a few years of its showy opening ceremonies. Most Malay entities have the lifespan of fireflies. Peruse the records at the Registrar of Companies and Societies. They are filled with volumes of titles of Malay organizations that now exist only in those stacks. Many have fanciful names and noble objectives. The only thing they lack is durability.





Not UMNO. Many Malays trace their UMNO membership through generations.





For Malaysians, there is another and also sentimental reason to save the party and restore it to its original vigor. Its the party that spearheaded and then successfully negotiated for the peaceful independence of the country. That ought to count for something. Many others too had the same aspiration and tried, peacefully and otherwise. However the central and key point remains: It was UMNO and its brother parties in the old Alliance that ultimately succeeded. In the final analysis, that is what counts, not the what-might-have-been or I too had tried.





A more practical reason to save UMNO is that Malaysia  indeed any democratic system worth its name  needs a strong viable opposition, one capable of taking over the government at any time. I do not see any other party outside the winning coalition that had survived the shellacking of GE-14 let alone be ready to govern. MCA and MIC are just about dead; likewise Gerakan. PAS is too busy reciting the Koran and hadith. Those other parties in Sabah and Sarawak have not bothered to think of spreading their influence in the peninsula even when they are not squabbling with each other.





ndAnniversary held a few days following the debacle of the GE-14. It looked less like a birthday celebration, more a funeral. There were no inspiring speeches from the leaders to rally and inspire the troops after the humiliation they had just endured. Instead they resorted to a collective reciting of Surah Yaseen, the traditional last rites and funeral ritual for Muslims. Thus far the current UMNO leaders have not yet proven themselves or shown any indication that they are up to the difficult task of resuscitating the party. That is unfortunate and sad. Consider the partys 72Anniversary held a few days following the debacle of the GE-14. It looked less like a birthday celebration, more a funeral. There were no inspiring speeches from the leaders to rally and inspire the troops after the humiliation they had just endured. Instead they resorted to a collective reciting of Surah Yaseen, the traditional last rites and funeral ritual for Muslims.





I am not sure that the symbolism escaped the participants. It could well be that they were all aware of the straits they were in and that the occasion was not celebratory but the dispensing of the last rites, if not the actual burial of the party!





Allhis enablers in the party should also follow suit. That would include the partys deputy and vice presidents, the heads of all three wings (Youth, Women, and Princess), as well as all members of its governing and policy-making Supreme Council. They all contributed and were responsible for the partys debacle. Najib was not smart or charismatic enough to get things done his way without their explicit approval. It is not enough for party president Najib Razak to resign, though that was a necessary first step.his enablers in the party should also follow suit. That would include the partys deputy and vice presidents, the heads of all three wings (Youth, Women, and Princess), as well as all members of its governing and policy-making Supreme Council. Theycontributed and were responsible for the partys debacle. Najib was not smart or charismatic enough to get things done his way without their explicit approval.





While they all should resign right away with Najib, they must however stay in their posts until the new team takes over. Meaning, Najib and those others have a responsibility to call for the partys General Assembly right away and then ensure a smooth transition. It would be irresponsible for Najib or any other leader to just walk away.





As I see things developing now, the same old, tired characters of Zahid, Hishamuddin, and Khairy, especially the last, all angling for the top leadership. They have not yet even acknowledged their responsibilities for the debacle. They should have the grace to withdraw from consideration for the new leadership. They too should take the blame and then get out along with their president. Grace and class however, are exactly the very qualities so glaringly lacking among top UMNO leaders.



Europe  past, present and future

Speech by Sabine Lautenschlager, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, Meeting with students at Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, 14 May 2018

Its always nice to visit universities. They are special places, meant for the free exchange of ideas  places where bold thinking is encouraged and the orthodoxy challenged.

So today Im going to step back from the technical aspects of my day-to-day work. Im going to take some time to reflect instead on the big picture. I will first talk about some of the EUs historical milestones. After that, I will tell you a bit about my work. And once Ive finished my brief remarks, I look forward to answering your questions  and to asking you some of my own!

Looking back to look forward

As students of economics, many of you will, Im sure, have read articles and books about the future of European Economic and Monetary Union. Some of you may even have read about the new system for banking supervision and resolution  the banking union. I hope you have enjoyed learning about these topics.

But I also think its important for students to look beyond technical policy debates. From time to time, its good practice to go back to the fundamental questions. Things like: what has the European Union achieved in the past 60 years? And what would we like it to achieve in the next 60? We insiders would also benefit from this kind of reflection. In the humdrum of meetings, papers, non-papers and briefings, I feel that we do not take enough time to reflect on the achievements of the past. Nor, perhaps, do we think enough about the strategic, long-term perspective. So today I hope that, together, we can do just that.

Let us start by travelling back in time. Lets try to put ourselves in the shoes of a European citizen in 1945. Whether we imagine this person living in Paris, Berlin, Rome or Copenhagen, we know they are living in a country scarred by war.

Now, if this person were able to see what the future would hold from 1945 to 2018, they would find it in many ways almost miraculous. For one thing, anyone over the age of 27 in 1945 had lived through two world wars. So, they would be happy to discover their countries would see more than seventy consecutive years of peace. I believe the European Union has played a large role in ensuring such long-lasting peace. It seems that Robert Schuman was right to predict that the European Coal and Steel Community would make war both unthinkable and materially impossible.

And peace on the European continent has also meant the spread of democracy. When the Treaty of Rome was signed, only 12 of the current EU Member States were democracies. Today all 28 of them are.

And with democracy came freedom. With the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU enshrined all personal, civic, political, economic and social rights within one document. The Charter also established the right to data protection, guarantees on bioethics and transparent administration. I am sure you recognise how topical these issues are today. And I hope you appreciate the unprecedented protections that EU citizens enjoy.

Peace, democracy and freedom in turn brought prosperity. Of course, we still face challenges on this front. Some EU countries today face difficult economic conditions, largely a legacy of the Great Recession. Employment levels still vary significantly across the Union. And high levels of inequality exist within countries too. OECD data show that in many European countries, a small minority owns a disproportionately large share of the wealth. Income inequality is also higher than it was a generation ago.

But let us not forget the shared economic benefits of the Union. The average GDP per capita of EU countries has almost doubled in the past 20 years alone.

And our future prosperity is also a function of todays education, research and innovation. Some of the best universities in the world are located in the EU. Over the past 30 years, around 9 million people have benefited from the Erasmus programme. The EU also supports research across the Union. Horizon 2020 is the largest multinational research programme in existence, providing around 77 billion in funding over seven years.

All of these historic steps have been achieved in the spirit of unity in diversity. But there is no denying the fact that such unity is hard to manage. Resolving the challenges ahead will involve negotiations between all Member States. And each of them has slightly different priorities and views. Moving forward will take time and effort.

But if we want this effort to be meaningful, we must reflect on the long-term goals. As far as I am concerned, one goal should be to strengthen Economic and Monetary Union. To do so, we must be willing to accept meaningful changes to the institutional framework. As I have said in the past, a good starting point would be to assign powers to a European finance minister. In keeping with the spirit of the Maastricht Treaty, the finance minister could coordinate national economic policies in a different way. He or she could ensure that national fiscal policy is conducted with a view to contributing to the achievement of the EUs objectives.

The trouble for politicians is that voters may feel that granting greater scope at the EU level means taking away from national interests. But then there are the 70 years of peace; theres free movement across nearly an entire continent; and theres the worlds second largest economy. All this shows us that what we sometimes feel may be taking away our national sovereignty is in fact adding meaningful value to our lives.

And this is why we should take more time to reflect on the achievements of the past. Whats more, politicians are not the only ones with a role to play. European unity starts with each individual; it starts with you. You can each reflect on how you could promote Europe as citizens, as students and as future leaders.

The EUs crisis response and the banking union

Dear students, having asked you to reflect on your role within the Union, it is only fair to tell you about how I do my part. A large portion of my professional life since 2012 has been devoted to the creation of the European banking union.

To understand how the banking union came about, we have to go back to the financial crisis. In the EU, it began as a crisis of the banking system and turned quickly from a financial crisis into the Great Recession. And many of the troubled banks held large amounts of their own governments debt. This, together with the fact that some countries were already highly indebted, created a vicious circle. And so the sovereign debt crisis emerged.

In June 2012, European leaders announced their intention to create a European banking union. But you may ask: why would a Union change things? Well, for a number of reasons.

First, if we want to foster a healthy European banking market that can also serve the real economy in a downturn, we should make sure banks are all subject to the same rules. And to the same unbiased, intrusive supervision and resolution practices. In 2009, the EU had already started working on common rules for the banking sector. These became what is known as the single rulebook  a single framework for financial institutions in all 28 EU countries.

But writing the rules was not enough. So, the second step was to build European banking supervision. And so the Single Supervisory Mechanism, or SSM for short, was created. It is made up of the ECB and the national supervisors of the 19 euro area countries. The ECB directly supervises the largest banks in the euro area. Smaller banks are still supervised at the national level, but in close cooperation with the ECB.

Our job is to contribute to a healthy and resilient banking system. We make sure each bank respects the rules it is subject to and is supervised according to the same approach. This creates a level-playing field for all banks across the euro area and avoids supervisory arbitrage and national bias.

The next step was to create a European system to deal with bank failures: the Single Resolution Mechanism. This step represented a larger paradigm shift. Banks should no longer be rescued using taxpayers money. Those who have reaped the benefits, that is the investors and creditors, should pay first if things go wrong. This helps to keep incentives healthy.

But lets go back to the institutional architecture. The Single Resolution Board, or SRB for short, is at the centre of the Single Resolution Mechanism. The SSM and the SRB cooperate closely when a bank is in trouble. The decision to declare that a bank is failing or likely to fail is made by us as supervisors. At that point, when a bank fails, the SRB takes over. It decides whether a bank should be resolved at the European level, or wound up under national legislation.

The details of this process are complex, and Im happy to tell you more if you are interested. But the bottom line is simple. The mechanism aims to minimise both the impact of bank failures on financial stability and their cost to taxpayers.

But resolution is not the final piece of the puzzle. Nor is it the final pillar of the banking union. It was envisaged that the banking union would be supported by three pillars. European banking supervision and resolution are the first two.

The third pillar is a European deposit insurance scheme. It is still in the making, but its importance is clear. For there to be a true banking union, depositors in all countries need to have the same level of confidence in their banks. This is especially important as the banking union currently has the same member countries as the euro area. And in a monetary union, people must be certain that their money is equally safe, wherever it is. A euro must be a euro, no matter whether it is deposited in a German bank, an Irish bank or a Spanish bank.

Conclusion: lets talk

Dear students, I have talked for quite a long time now. I have talked about some of the EUs historic achievements over the past 60 years. And I have talked about what has been achieved in the last six years, with the banking union.

But as I said earlier, universities are places to exchange ideas. So now I would like to hear your thoughts. For one thing, I would like to know whether you ever feel something important is missing from the policy debates about the Union. Is there a Danish perspective you wish was more central at the EU level? Or a European perspective you think is missing from the Danish policy debate?

Thank you for your attention!European banking union - the place to be?

Speech by Sabine Lautenschlager, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, Biannual high-level networking seminar on economic and financial issues organised by Danmarks Nationalbank, Copenhagen, 14 May 2018

Getting to Denmark has become a catchphrase among those who study how societies and economies develop. And indeed, for many countries around the world, Denmark is the place to be  or rather the place to become. After all, Denmark stands for a stable democracy, sound institutions and a strong economy.

And thats not all. Denmark also stands for happiness. The United Nations world happiness index shows that, on top of all this, Denmark is also home to a very happy people. This has not gone unnoticed; indeed, there are many who strive to follow your example. Your idea of hygge has become a huge trend in countries as close by as Germany and as far away as the United States.

So on many counts, Denmark is the place to be. And I for one am very happy to be here today. But Im not here to talk about Denmark. I am here to talk about Europe, or rather the European banking union. In my remarks, I will argue that the banking union is also the place to be.

Its beginnings, though, were not exactly hyggelig. In 2012, things were not going well in the euro area. Banks were ailing, some governments were struggling to obtain the funding they needed, markets were in turmoil, and there were fears that the euro area might eventually break apart.

Well, it didnt break apart. In fact, the crisis triggered a chain of reforms, and these reforms have made the euro area more stable. One of the boldest steps was taken at the peak of the crisis. On 28 June 2012, EU leaders decided to move towards a European banking union.

And move they did. Two years, four months and six days later, they had turned their political pledge into reality. On a rainy day in November 2014, banking supervision was taken to the European level. Another year later, the same was done for bank resolution. And there is an ongoing debate about whether and how all this should be supplemented with a European deposit insurance scheme. In my view, it should be, and I am certain that, at some point, it will be.

From the start, the banking union has covered the entire euro area. But its boundaries are not set in stone. The banking union is not an exclusive club; it is not limited to those countries that share the euro as their common currency. In fact, any EU country can join the banking union through an arrangement known as close cooperation. I know that many in Denmark are very much aware of this. But, as I said, Im not here to talk about Denmark. I am here to talk about the banking union.

The place to be

So whats the point of the banking union? Why did policymakers feel the need to take banking supervision and resolution from the national to the European level? What benefits does it offer to its members? Well, the easy answer is that it allows us to gather some of the high-hanging fruits  fruits that are out of reach from the national level.

Let me give you an example. In politics they say: he who knows only one country knows no country. The same can be said about banks. The more banks a supervisor covers, the more they can learn about each of them and, thus, about all of them. They can compare, and they can benchmark.

And European banking supervision does cover a lot of banks, many more than any national supervisor. Instead of covering just one global systemically important bank, for instance, we cover eight of them. This helps us to understand much better how these gigantic banks work, what standards and best practices they apply for different business lines and where special risks might be hidden. We do this, for example, by comparing how they set up their risk management and their governance to deal with cross-border issues. The same applies to banks with unusual business models such as specialised lenders. All in all, our broader comparative reach helps us to know and assess all the banks better and thus supervise them better.

And we also benefit from our broader view when we analyse horizontal issues. A lack of profitability is one of these issues. Here, we can pool insights from a large sample of banks, and this improves our analysis. And its the same with other issues, such as governance, cyber risks and the use of internal models. These models in particular are notoriously difficult to supervise, so a broad yet in-depth knowledge of industry standards and practices comes in handy.

But its not just that we benefit from a broader view. We also benefit from a broader set of views. Supervisors from across Europe work together day in day out, pooling their knowledge and their different experiences. And at the end of the day, it is the ECBs Supervisory Board and its Governing Council that take decisions. In other words, each decision reflects the views and opinions of 26 national supervisors from 19 countries. There is less room for national bias and less room for supervisory capture.

Finally, we benefit from economies of scale when it comes to employing specialists for certain topics. If you supervise just a handful of banks, it might not be efficient to have specialists for each and every topic. But if you supervise the 118 largest banks in the euro area, it does become efficient. This is another huge advantage of European banking supervision.

In short, supervising banks at the European level takes us a long way towards making banks safer and sounder. And in my view, it takes us further than purely national supervision. But I would like to clarify one thing that is often misunderstood. The best supervisors in the world cannot guarantee the success of each and every bank. Banks compete in a market. Some will do well and thrive; others will do less well and fail. They will make way for better business models, for stronger banks.

What I want to say is this: sometimes banks just have to fail. And when that happens, the European resolution mechanism kicks in, the second pillar of the banking union. It ensures that banks can fail in an orderly manner.

And here too, the European approach has many benefits. Let me mention just two of them.

First, over time, the European resolution mechanism will gain much more experience than national mechanisms. Why is that? Well, for the simple reason that it covers a much larger pool of banks and so, statistically speaking, will have to deal with a larger number of banks exiting the market.

Second, there is the Single Resolution Fund, which can step in under certain conditions to carry some of the costs of bank failures in order to support financial stability. Since it is a European fund, it has much more firepower than any national fund. And that firepower would be even greater if a common backstop for the Single Resolution Fund were to be set up. In my view, that should be done as soon as possible.

To summarise, European banking supervision allows us to take a broader view, which gives us deeper insights and improves our analysis. At the same time, there are more views around the table, which helps to counter biases, including national ones, and leads to better decisions. Banking supervision improves. And if a bank should fail, European resolution helps to deal with this in a way that preserves financial stability and saves taxpayers money.

So, the banking union stands for more stability. It might thus enhance the trust markets have in banks, which in turn might lower funding costs.

But there is more to it than that. The banking union also stands for consistency. We have harmonised many of the tools that we supervisors use, most notably our main tool, the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process. So when we supervise banks, we apply the same high standards across the entire euro area. And when systemic banks need to be resolved, this too is done in a consistent manner.

In other words, the banking union helps to level the playing field for banks in the euro area in terms of supervisory practices and approaches. When banks operate across borders, they do not need to adapt to 19 totally different forms of supervision, for instance. At the same time, they can engage in fair competition. They need not fear that their competitors have an edge just because supervisors in another country are more relaxed. And they can be sure that their business partners are as well supervised as they themselves are.

So, the playing field has become more even, which is essential if we are to achieve a truly European banking market. And that is our vision: a banking market that seamlessly covers the entire banking union; a market in which banks can offer their services to customers from all over Europe; a market in which they can compete on even ground. The benefits of such an integrated market are well known: it is more efficient, it is more innovative, and it is better able to support growth. This is true for the entire union as well as each country.

Are we there yet?

As I said, this is the vision. But are we there yet? No, not quite, but we are getting closer. The banking union has brought its members closer together; it has lowered some of the barriers that were standing in the way of a potentially seamless market. But it has not entirely removed them.

While supervision has been harmonised, the regulatory framework in Europe remains somewhat fragmented. And this applies not just to minor details but also to big things. It runs counter to the idea of a single market and fosters regulatory arbitrage; and it violates the principle of same business, same risks, same rules. Every day we supervisors struggle to maintain the equal treatment of banks that have to comply with different rules even though these differences are not justified by national specificities with regard to risks.

That said, where we do have scope to act, we have made use of it. We have, for instance, agreed to exercise options and discretions contained in European law in a harmonised manner. This was a huge step, but more could be done. That, however, is up to the legislators. And there are indeed a few areas where further harmonisation would help the single market to progress: the fit and proper assessments of banks board members, the liquidation of banks, large exposures and the supervision of branches of non-EU banks.

Now, dont get me wrong: what has been achieved so far is truly remarkable. No large reform project has ever been perfect from the start, so it is only natural that more remains to be done. And it is worth putting our achievements into perspective. A lot has been done in a short time.

The banking union is a project that is unprecedented in scope and scale. Just look at its first pillar, European banking supervision. It involves 26 authorities from 19 countries plus the ECB. This sometimes prompts questions about how efficient it can really be. Did we, in the end, just build a huge and overly complex bureaucratic machine?

Well, Im not giving away any secrets if I tell you that it is kind of complex. And to countries that are thinking about joining the banking union through close cooperation agreements, it might look even more complicated.

In order to take a decision, we have to follow a finely balanced procedure. One of the reasons is that two bodies are involved which have to interact in a careful manner. The first one is the ECBs Supervisory Board, which brings together the ECB and all the national supervisors. The second body is the ECBs Governing Council; it brings together all the national central banks and acts as the ultimate decision-making body.

While both bodies play a role when it comes to taking decisions, they are, at the same time, subject to what is known as the separation principle. This principle was put in place to deal with potential conflicts of interest between monetary policy and banking supervision. It does so by ensuring that these two functions of the ECB remain independent from each other. You can imagine that this results in a complex set-up.

In very broad terms, first the banking supervisory arm of the ECB prepares draft decisions, then the Supervisory Board approves and submits these draft decisions to the Governing Council. If the Governing Council does not object to a draft decision, the decision is adopted. But even if the Governing Council does object, it cannot change the decision, but has to send it back to the Supervisory Board, which can either change the decision or call upon a mediation panel to resolve the difference of opinion.

I can see that countries which join the banking union from outside the euro area might have some concerns. While they would have their seat on the Supervisory Board, they would not have a seat in the Governing Council. So, would they lose control over decisions that might directly affect their banks? Well, that would certainly not be in the spirit of the banking union. There are thus safeguards to avoid just that.

Let me give you an example. If the Supervisory Board drafts a decision which affects a member from outside the euro area, and if that member disagrees with the decision, it can formally state its objection. Thus, the Governing Council is made aware that there are diverging views and has to take them fully into account.

Now, what if the Governing Council objects to a draft decision, and the affected country does not agree with the objection? In such a case it could, for instance, call upon the mediation panel to resolve the issue.

What I want to say is this: if a country from outside the euro area were to join the banking union, its voice would be heard at all stages of the decision-making process. And the other thing to note is this: so far, not a single draft decision made by the Supervisory Board has been challenged by the Governing Council.

But I admit that the decision-making process is complex. This, however, does not limit our ability to take decisions. In 2017 alone, we took a total of 2,308 decisions. On average, that amounts to more than six decisions a day, weekends included. So if something needs doing, it gets done.

Ladies and gentlemen, the banking union is the place to be. There is a lot to be gained from going there. And if those who come bring along a stable and resilient banking sector as well as a tradition of strong banking supervision, the gains will be mutual.

But lets be honest. As any economist will tell you, theres no such thing as a free lunch. Surely all this must come at a price? Well, in my view, the price of being a part of the banking union is low compared with the benefits it offers.

Is it a free lunch?

If you are part of the banking union, you need to share. You need to share control over banking supervision and resolution. That is the price to be paid. Now, I understand that it is often seen as vital to have total control over sensitive policy areas. And I understand that there is a feeling that if you want something done well, you must do it yourself.

But is that really true? I dont think so. If we work together, we are still in control and we can still do things well. The history of the EU is a case in point. When European countries signed the Treaty of Rome 61 years ago, they chose to work together instead of working alone. Today more than ever, this choice is also a reaction to a changing world. Some of the current changes are beyond any single governments control, and are better managed with the help of strong allies and good friends.

The world of banking is no exception. Our financial systems have grown closer together and have become much more complex than they used to be. Large banking groups now cover many Member States. We have all benefited from this. But if we want this trend towards integration to continue, we must make sure it does not come at the cost of greater instability and more crises. We need rules that apply across borders just as banks operate across borders. And we need supervisors who have the power to see and act across borders. In short: we need to cooperate.

And when I say cooperate, thats what I mean. I know that some may think we have created a system in which the ECB and the Single Resolution Board hold all the power. I think otherwise. The banking union is very much a joint project.

Just look at banking supervision. We at the ECB cannot act alone. Instead, we work closely together with the national supervisors. We also rely on their national expertise, and we rely on their experience. After all, they know a lot about the local circumstances, such as specific covered bond frameworks. Without them, European banking supervision would not work. In my view, working together, and placing our trust in each other, is a small price to pay for a safe and sound banking sector.

And in the end, sharing control does not mean losing control  it may even mean the opposite. As members of the banking union, countries might actually gain control and influence. Together, they may be able to shape policies and rules which have an impact beyond the banking union itself. And they can also contribute to discussions at the global level, such as those of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

So, within the banking union, we share control over banking supervision. But the quest for a stable financial system does not stop there. It is crucial for financial stability that each bank is as safe and sound as it can be. But this alone is not enough. The health of each bank is not sufficient to ensure the health of the system. Things are a bit more complicated than that. When it comes to financial stability, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

If we want to limit risks in the whole system, we must do more than just monitor each part in isolation. We must cooperate. Microprudential policy, which addresses risks in individual banks, interacts with macroprudential policy, which aims to address risks in the whole system.

In both micro- and macroprudential policy, the national and European levels must work in tandem. And in the banking union, they do. While it is the national authorities that take decisions in the first place, it is the ECB that assesses these decisions.

And if it sees a need to take stronger measures, it can do so; it can top up, as we say. For this to happen, the ECBs Governing Council would act on a proposal from the Supervisory Board. So, the Supervisory Board is again strongly involved. In addition, the Supervisory Board and the Governing Council meet regularly to discuss macroprudential issues. Again, everything is done to avoid a situation where a Member State disagrees with a decision taken by the Governing Council.

Now, in order to work together, we must apply common standards and approaches. As I have already said, I see such harmonisation as a major benefit of the banking union. It helps to level the playing field, and it ensures strong and consistent supervision.

But I know that some see this from a different angle. They feel that harmonisation is more of a threat than a benefit. They fear that it will lead to a uniform banking sector, which leaves no room for diversity  either for banks, or in terms of supervision and regulation.

Well, we do aim to achieve a level playing field. But we do not seek to flatten the landscape. We do take into account country-specific circumstances that warrant specific supervisory treatment.

And this is the case not only when we act as macroprudential overseers, but also when we act as microprudential supervisors, in particular when we assess the business models of banks. Here, we are even bound by law to have full regard to the different types, business models and sizes of credit institutions.[1] We understand the value of diversity, and for good reason.

Imagine that all banks had the same uniform business model. What would that do to innovation? What would happen to progress? And, equally importantly, what would it mean for financial stability? If all banks had the same business model they would all be exposed to similar risks. If that model was faulty, or were to be hit by an external shock, all banks would suffer.

So, as any risk manager will tell you: diversification pays off. For that reason, we value diversity and account for it. We follow the principle of same risks, same rules, same supervision  which also means that different risks have to be treated differently  and we take a proportionate approach to supervising banks.

So, the banking union is not at all about centralising power or doing away with diversity. The banking union is a joint project, and it follows the motto of the EU: united in diversity, or forenet i mangfoldighed as you would say in Danish.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to end by coming back to the concept of hygge.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, hygge describes a quality of cosiness. Its about feeling warm, comfortable and safe.

Isnt Europe also a bit hyggelig, then? Isnt it also about being together? Isnt it also about feeling comfortable and safe? From my point of view, there is much that speaks for a closer European Union.

And the banking union is all about helping Europe to grow closer together. It helps to make the single market more single; it contributes to safer and sounder banks by making them more resilient; and it helps to foster financial stability by enabling banks to fail in an orderly manner. It takes things such as banking supervision and resolution from the national to the European level. And in doing so, it offers many benefits that would not be available if we kept everything at the national level alone.

Now, I am sure that each and every one of you is fully familiar with the complexities of todays financial system. Each of you has a lot of insights and experience. But still, on occasions such as this, surrounded by leaders from the public and private sector, I feel I must stress the importance of cooperation. For all our insights and experience need to be shared.

You are all familiar with the challenges we face. But alone, none of you, none of us, would be able to find the perfect solution for regulating and supervising the financial system. No single person, no single institution and no single country has the perfect solution. We can and must learn from each other. And we can and must work together.

The banking union now allows us to do so  effectively and efficiently.

Thank you for your attention.Dozens of Palestinians killed as US opens Jerusalem embassy

At least 43 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops and 1700 others have been wounded as demonstrators gathered at the Gaza border ahead of the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Israeli violence came ahead of the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. Israeli forces killed at least 43 Palestinians and wounded 1700 others by live bullets along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said. Children were among those killed.

The Israeli army said that more than 35,000 people were involved in the protests and clashes.

Palestines Health Ministry on Monday issued an urgent appeal for medical supplies due to severe shortages caused by mounting casualties among Palestinian demonstrators currently arrayed along the Gaza Strips border with Israel.

In a brief statement, the ministry said that Gazas hospitals and health clinics were now desperately attempting to treat hundreds of people injured by cross-border Israeli army gunfire.

Top US officials, including President Donald Trump's daughter and her husband attended Monday's event.World countries boycott US event in Jerusalem

Many countries have reportedly declined to attend the US embassy opening ceremony in the occupied Jerusalem. Its reported that 56 out of 86 foreign envoys gave negative answers to the invitation.

After President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as "the capital of Israel", US is due to officially move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem today.

Most of Jerusalems streets are already covered with signs with such sayings as "Zionist Trump." Signs marking the new US Jerusalem Embassy were placed by Nir Barkat, the Israeli mayor of the city.

Israel makes an appearance was boycotted by many world countries. Only 30 out of 86 foreign envoys serving in Israel had accepted Tel Avivs invitation to the Sunday reception. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had invited the entire foreign diplomatic corps to the event.

The EU mission in Israel tweeted on Friday that the bloc would respect the international consensus on Jerusalem... including on the location of their diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved Israeli Arabs and Palestinians from East Jerusalem will protest the embassy move as well.Cherishing Possibilities: Mustang senior highly anticipating final season Jo (JoHannah) McKibben has a plan for post-graduate life.Right now, though, she is taking one day at a time as slow as the minutes and seconds that pass by allow her to which included the annual 

Area city and school board elections to be held on Nov. 2 The names of the candidates for the upcoming city and school board election on Tuesday, Nov. 2 have been announced. In Mapleton, Brent Streck will be the ballot for mayor as he seeks a second-term. Comparing Canadian and American Right (Part Two) By Mark Wegierski

In regard to immigration, Canada has received about a quarter-million immigrants a year  about 75% of them from non-European sources -- since 1988. The mass, dissimilar immigration began in the mid-1960s, but the total immigration since that time had been about 100,000 persons a year. Indeed, it had reached a mere 54,000 in Pierre Elliott Trudeaus last year in office (1983-1984). It was Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who had raised it precipitously, where it has basically remained ever since. The population of Canada is now past 35 million. Unlike the U.S., where there is some degree of criticism of mass, dissimilar immigration permitted, this is virtually a closed issue in Canada. Related to policies of mass, dissimilar immigration are policies of multiculturalism. Canada has been a pioneer in the area of multiculturalism  the city of Toronto today is probably the most diverse city in the world, with probably close to 200 groups represented. All levels of government (federal, provincial, and municipal) are required to support the cultural endeavours of ethnic groups, at least to some extent. Ethnic groups also claim absolute cultural self-determination, rejecting the earlier assimilation model. Multiculturalism today may really be called multiracialism, as it is visible minorities (a term officially used in Canada), rather than white ethnics such as Ukrainian-, Italian-, Portuguese-, and Polish-Canadians, who are overwhelmingly the focus of government, media, and corporate concern. Related to multiculturalism is employment equity (the Canadian term for affirmative action), which operates on behalf of the following designated groups  women, visible minorities, aboriginal peoples, and persons with disabilities  in all levels of government, as well as in much of the private sector. In one major pay-equity settlement, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (a quasi-judicial tribunal) ordered the Federal Government to pay about $3.5 billion (Canadian) to women working or formerly working for the Federal Government. (By contrast, the entire budget for the Canadian military in the year 2000 was about $10 billion.) The Aboriginal peoples of Canada (traditionally called Indians, Metis, and Inuit) are now hoping to wrest vast resources and territories from other Canadians, based on re-negotiation of earlier treaties and claims of compensation for past abuse. In Canadas Far North, a semi-sovereign entity called Nunavut has been created, and has been receiving about $500 million (Canadian) in every year of its existence, to cover its budget deficit. In attempting to explain how the money going to Aboriginal peoples has apparently not yet benefited the average Aboriginal person, some critics have suggested that a small coterie of Aboriginal leaders and activists  while living extravagant lifestyles themselves  often does not pass on many of the benefits to their own group. In August 2002, there was an attempt to further entrench employment equity in the Federal Civil Service  twenty percent of all new hires were to be visible minorities, and senior managers were to receive performance bonuses depending on how many visible minorities they hired. Although there were a few scattered voices of protest, this is fact seemed like a continuation of policies that had been in place for at least thirty years. The Harper government had about four years ago promised some kind review of employment equity policies, but this did not go anywhere. As far as disabled persons, they have probably been included under employment equity to give the policy an increased aura of kindness and compassion. It could be argued that there is not all that much being done for most disabled persons today, apart from giving them disability support payments and some subsidies for housing and assistive devices, which are not excessively generous. However, the inclusion of disabled persons as a designated group inclines this rather heterogeneous category of people (and their care-givers) to support the current-day equity regime, and increases still further the social stigma of publicly challenging employment equity. Canada is also permeated by the bilingualism (French and English) policy. This means that Canada is an officially bilingual state, and that most positions (and especially senior positions) in the Federal Civil Service require knowledge of both French and English. The effect of this has been to increase the chances of French-Canadians and members of Canadas liberal English-speaking elites (more of whom tend to be bilingual) to obtain civil service positions. It has tended to discriminate against ordinary, English-speaking Canadians. New Brunswick, an Atlantic Maritime province with a French-speaking population of about 35%, is fully officially bilingual, and Ontario, with a French-speaking population of about 5%, has been urged to move to full official bilingualism. However, the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, where one of seven inhabitants doesnt have French as a first language, embraces unilingualism in its government and official policy: French only. Government (typically white-collar) jobs at the federal, provincial, or municipal levels are often considered to be relatively easy to do, with comparatively large benefits (relative to private sector compensations), so policies such as employment equity tend to exclude increasing numbers of persons (especially white males) from remunerative employment. And it now sometimes happens that persons are typically hired only if they bridge two or three designated categories. The government sector is also clearly permeated by varying degrees of political correctness, so a person with more conservative or traditionalist views is unlikely to be hired, and, even if hired, they may sometimes end up in a rather miserable situation, with constant stress and little chance for advancement. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. HomeThe ethanol gravy train rolls on By Paul Driessen

Like most people Ive spoken with, I have no innate, inflexible antipathy to ethanol in gasoline. What upsets me are the deceptive claims used to justify adding mostly corn-based ethanol to this indispensable fuel; the way seriously harmful unintended consequences are brushed aside; and the insidious crony corporatist system the ethanol program has spawned between producers and members of Congress. What angers me are the legislative and regulatory mandates that force us to buy gasoline that is 10% ethanol  even though it gets lower mileage than 100% gasoline, brings none of the proclaimed benefits (environmental or otherwise), drives up food prices, and damages small engines. In fact, in most areas, its almost impossible to find E-zero gasoline, and that problem will get worse as mandates increase. My past articles lambasting ethanol (here, here, here and here) addressed these issues, and said ethanol epitomizes federal programs that taxpayers and voters never seem able to terminate, no matter how wasteful or harmful they become. Thats primarily because its beneficiaries are well funded, motivated, politically connected and determined to keep their gravy train rolling down the tracks  while opponents and victims have far less funding, focus, motivation and ability to reach the decision-making powers. Ethanol got started because of assertions that even now are still trotted out, despite having outlived their time in the real-world sun. First, we were told, ethanol would be a bulwark against oil imports from unfriendly nations, especially as the USA depleted its rapidly dwindling petroleum reserves. Of course, the fracking (horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) revolution has given America and the world at least a century of new reserves, and the US now exports more oil and refined products than it imports. Second, renewable fuels would help prevent dangerous manmade climate change. However, with the 2015-16 El Nino temperature spike now gone, average global temperatures are continuing the 20-year no-increase trend that completely contradicts alarmist predictions and models. Harvey was the first major hurricane in a record twelve years to make US landfall. And overall, the evidence-based scientific case for dangerous manmade climate change has become weaker with every passing year. Moreover, the claim that ethanol and other biofuels dont emit as much allegedly climate-impacting (but certainly plant-fertilizing) carbon dioxide as gasoline has also been put out to pasture. In reality, over their full life cycle (from planting and harvesting crops, to converting them to fuel, to transporting them by truck, to blending and burning them), biofuels emit at least as much CO2 as their petroleum counterparts. Ironically, the state that grows the most corn and produces the most ethanol  the state whose Republican senators had a fit when EPA proposed to reduce its 2018 non-ethanol biodiesel requirement by a measly 315 million gallons, out of 19.3 billion gallons in total renewable fuels  buys less ethanol-laced gasoline than do average consumers in the rest of the USA. That state is Iowa. In fact, Iowans bought more ethanol-free gasoline in 2016 than what EPA projects the entire United States will be able to buy in just a few more years, as the E10 mandates ratchet higher and higher. And so this past week, after months of battles, debates and negotiations, President Trump hosted a White House meeting with legislators The purpose was to address and compromise on at least some of the thorny issues that had put Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst and other politicians at loggerheads, as they sought to reform some aspects of the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) system while protecting their constituents. In an effort to expand the reform agenda, by making legislators and citizens better informed in advance of the meeting, 18 diverse organizations wrote a joint letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, underscoring why they believe broad and significant RFS reform is essential. Signatories included major national meat and poultry producers and processors, restaurants, marine manufacturers, small engine owners, consumer and taxpayer organizations, and conservation and environmental groups. They were especially worried about the prospect that the Congress and Administration might allow year-round sales of 15% (E15) ethanol blends in gasoline, but they raised other pressing concerns as well. * As large shares of domestic corn and soy crops are now diverted from food use to fuel production, poultry, beef, pork and fish producers (and consumers) face volatile and increasing prices for animal feed. * Ethanol wreaks havoc on the engines and fuel systems of boats, motorcycles and lawn equipment, as well as many automobiles, which are not capable or allowed to run on E15. Repair and replacement costs are a major issue for marine and small engine owners (as I personally discovered when I owned a boat). * Consumers and taxpayers must pay increasing costs as biofuel mandates increase under the RFS. * Millions of acres of native prairie and other ecosystems have been turned into large-scale agricultural developments, because the RFS encourages farmers to plow land, instead of preserving habitats. This endangers ecosystems and species, exacerbates agricultural run-off and degrades water quality. * Biofuel demand promotes conversion of natural habitats to palm oil and other plantations overseas, as well as domestically. Their life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions rival or exceed those of oil and gas. * Expanding markets for corn ethanol by increasing E15 sales ignores and exacerbates these problems  while benefiting a small subset of the US economy but negatively impacting far more sectors, including the general public and the industries and interests represented by signatories to the Pruitt letter. Following the meeting, several signatories expanded on these concerns  and noted that the compromise did increase E15 sales, while reducing the RFS impact on small refineries that were being forced to buy paper biofuel certificates because they werent making enough gasoline to need mandated real biofuel. Requiring every American to buy ethanol gasoline isnt good enough for biofuel companies anymore, the National Council of Chain Restaurants remarked. Now they want a waiver from federal clean air laws so they can sell high blends of ethanol, which pollutes the air in warm weather months, year round. Arbitrarily waiving the E15 [ozone emissions] restriction and permitting year-round E15 sales, without comprehensive reform of the RFS, merely boosts ethanol sales and justifies future government-imposed increases to the ethanol mandate, the National Taxpayers Union noted. These hidden taxes, damage to small engines, and lower gas mileage are a direct hit on family budgets, especially for poor families. The new year-round E15 policy will cause serious chaos for recreational boaters, the National Marine Manufacturers Association stated. Over 60% of consumers falsely assume any gasoline sold at retail gas stations must be safe for their equipment. It is essential that EPA launch a public awareness campaign, improved labeling standards, and new safeguards at the pump that protect American consumers. Granting a Clean Air Act waiver for the corn ethanol industry  would mean doubling down on a policy that has already been a disaster for the environment, the National Wildlife Federation said. Congress needs to  reform the ethanol mandate before it does more damage. US farmers are in a severe crisis and millions of people around the world are forced to go without food, ActionAid USA pointed out. We need policies that guarantee everyone enough food to eat, fair prices for farmers, and protect our environment. Biofuels dont do that. In fact, they make the situation far worse. Unfortunately, a deal was struck. The noisiest and best-connected warring factions got what they wanted. These other pressing concerns were ignored, as the can once again got kicked down the road. Refiners will now save hundreds of millions of dollars a year, by not having to buy ethanol that they dont need to blend into the smaller quantities of gasoline they are refining. Corn farmers and ethanol producers will rake in hundreds of millions more a year. All that is good for those industries, their workers and investors, and the politicians who get their campaign contributions. But what about the rest of America? The Congress, White House and EPA need to address our environmental and pocketbook concerns, too. When will the next negotiating session be held? Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and author of books and articles on energy and environmental policy. HomeThe left and its angry brand of comedy By Michael R. Shannon

What do Chipotle and the White House Correspondents Dinner have in Common? Easy. After the meal, everyones a little queasy. Except for Kathy Griffin. Shes furious. The White House Correspondents Dinner proved conclusively one picture is still worth a thousand words. The photo of Griffin holding a decapitated Trump head torpedoed her career. For months her reputation was in such bad shape that when Griffin appeared in the news it was like a sighting of Sasquatch or Harvey Weinstein. And irony of ironies, Kathy was at the correspondents dinner! She sat through Michelle Wolfs crude and vulgar 2,400word routine that savaged President Trump, the Trump family and his administration. Griffin defended Wolf in the face of widespread backlash, but Im guessing when she got home, Kathys Trump head was in for a very rough time. It was the injustice of it all. After only one photo Griffin cant book a lunchtime public appearance at Costco giving away pot stickers, while Michelle Wolf will enjoy an audience bump when her Netflix series begins later in May. If Kathy had waited until after the Correspondents Dinner to unveil her decapitated Trump on a #Resistancefilled world, she could have had a cohosting gig with Joy Reid on MSLSD. But Griffin was too early. And, as any good comedian will tell you, timing is everything in comedy. Dinner organizers and Opposition Media attendees are still having trouble digesting Wolfs routine. Even employees of media outlets regularly slowroasted by Trump were taken aback by the sheer unfunny savagery of Wolfs rant. Its fortunate the oneyear term of the WHCA president concludes shortly after the dinner, otherwise there might have been calls for resignations or an Adam Schiff investigation. When the dinner controversy popped up on Drudge, I assumed the unprofessional vulgarityfest must have been part of an open mic portion of the program, and Wolf was the first exhibitionist to reach the podium. Instead, Wolf was recruited and paid to perform. Outgoing WHCA president Margaret Talev didnt go so far as to apologize for the Wolf pack assault but she did her best to spin the disaster and shift the blame. She told CNN, Comedy is meant to be provocative. My interest overwhelmingly was in unifying the country, and I understand that we may have fallen a little bit short on that goal. Unless her idea of unification only extends from Antifa to the Deep State. Talev also assured America that she didnt see or otherwise examine Wolfs monologue prior to the event, as if ignorance was absolution. Thats not a dogatemyhomework excuse. Its a dogdidmyhomework excuse. You could tell Talev was perplexed that anyone would hold her responsible for Wolfs performance. This is probably due to leftists unfamiliarity with how capitalism functions. The person who signs the check, bears the responsibility  unless he has really good lawyers. Talev, a Bloomberg News reporter, simply employed the industrystandard OpMedia research practices when she booked Wolf. Verification was confined to discovering if Wolf hated Trump. With that established, its a given that what would come out of her mouth was sure to be enjoyed by the audience. And what a potty mouth it was! I read the complete transcript of the speech to save my readers the trouble. What struck me was buried under the steaming pile of invective was a very funny speech that would have been perfectly acceptable to a nationwide audience. Cutting the vulgar, unfunny and insulting portions would have reduced the length by 1,000 words. The edited version was sharp, creative and parts were slightly risque. Wolfs membership in the Resistance would have remained unchallenged and association honchos would not have been fielding high, hard ones, Unfortunately, as far as the left is concerned, today there is no room for peaceful coexistence with Trump and/or conservatives. This is why for Michelle Wolf poking fun wasnt enough. She had to poke out some eyes. The WHCD program held no surprises for the Trump administration. They know the OpMedia hates them. The dinner simply revealed the truth to the rest of America. The Morning Consult did a nationwide survey in early April a few weeks before the dinner. One of the questions asked if the respondents considered the national news to be liberal, conservative or centrist/nonpartisan. 36 percent of the predinner sample either had no opinion or thought the media was centrist/nonpartisan. Meg Kinnard, of the virulently antiTrump Associated Press, had an epiphany after the dinner. She tweeted, If the #WHCD dinner did anything tonight, it made the chasm between journalists and those who don't trust us, even wider. Exactly. It revealed the ugly truth to the confused 36 percent who formerly gave the news media the benefit of the doubt. Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!). HomeWill Rosie ODonnell serve time like Dinesh DSouza? By Rachel Alexander

Left-wing activist and comedian Rosie ODonnell has been caught contributing more than the legal limit to five Democratic political candidates. She used four variations of her name and five different New York addresses to make the contributions. This may show intent to disguise them. Federal Election Commission rules limit contributions to federal candidates to $2,700 per election. Donors can max that out in a primary race, then max it out again during a general election for the same candidate. ODonnell contributed more than $2,700 each to five candidates during the primary race. The offense is punishable by large fines from the FEC. The FEC can also choose to let a donor move an excess donation from a primary race into the general election or refund it. It doesnt have to impose the full amount of the fines, and it certainly does not have to criminally prosecute the individual. ODonnells contributions are similar to what conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh DSouza did during the 2012 election cycle. He asked two friends and their spouses to contribute $10,000 each to a congressional campaign, then he reimbursed them. Prosecutors chose to bring charges against him, and he ended up pleading guilty to the felony of making illegal contributions in the names of others. He was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house, five years probation and a $30,000 fine. But prosecutors didnt need to bring charges against him. Especially not felony charges. Left-leaning Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said at the time, I cant help but think that [Mr. DSouzas] politics have something to do with it . It smacks of selective prosecution. Dershowitz told Newsmax, "This is clearly a case of selective prosecution for one of the most common things done during elections, which is to get people to raise money for you. If they went after everyone who did this, there would be no room in jails for murderers." Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova observed that the prosecution was unusual considering it involved a single donation made by an individual with no criminal record. David Mason, a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, told Newsmax that the prosecution had to show beyond a reasonable doubt that DSouza broke the law knowingly and willfully. Campaign finance law is complex, and the average person who is not an attorney or working on campaigns might not have known this was against the law. DSouza said he was unaware it was a campaign violation. I am a former county elections attorney, who worked on several campaigns, and I wasnt even aware it was against the law until DSouzas prosecution. Four Republican senators wrote to then-FBI Director James Comey and accused the Obama administration of using the DOJ to take down a prominent critic. The Washington Times notes that in contrast, Obamas 2008 presidential campaign failed to disclose millions of dollars in contributions and missed deadlines for refunding millions in excess contributions. Yet it was merely fined $375,000 and no one was prosecuted for felonies. ODonnell claims she did not know she had exceeded campaign finance limits. Then why did she use four different versions of her name and five different residential addresses? The FEC penalties for contributing over the allowed limit and contributing in anothers name are quite similar  they are both fines. If DSouzas situation was escalated to criminal prosecution, then how is ODonnells situation any different, if not worse? DSouza tweeted about ODonnell, Five times more egregious than my case. Now lets see if Lady Justice is truly blind. ODonnell will likely get away with the five improper contributions. Unlike ODonnell, the legal system was stacked against DSouza. DSouza was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, a former staff member to Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and an Obama appointee. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman, a Clinton appointee, sentenced DSouza. Fortunately, Trump has replaced many of the Obama-era U.S. Attorneys. He fired Bharara. But Berman is still on the bench. The left dominates the legal system and has wrongly used it against many prominent conservatives. If ODonnell is not prosecuted, it will scream injustice regarding what happened to DSouza.



Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. Home"This blog aims to look at more of the microeconomic ideas that can be used toward environmental ends. Bringing to bear a large quantity of external sources and articles, this blog presents a clear vision of what economic environmentalism can be."Warfare has changed its face. Over the years, Russian military academies have come up with new ways to counter Western approach on how to gain a competitive edge in conflict. New doctrines of engagement are emerging and tactics have altered. Despite of some of these conflicts happening on land, most of them take place at sea, where there are no clear borders. Because of this lack of governance, patchy surveillance and poor security tapestry, actions between naval forces that, on land, would be acts of aggression triggering large scale political and military ramifications, are much more common at sea.

Nevertheless, this new approach to warfare is not dictated by NATO, but by its adversaries. The Alliance simply neglects sea as a domain of competition as it has set its priorities elsewhere. The United States and United Kingdom are trying to push forward some changes, mainly through a technological offset, a wave of innovation, and greater precision. All of these cost money though and NATOs political leaders each have their own ideas on how they should pursue this new maritime strategy.

The Northern Group thinks that they should prioritize conventional naval forces capable of deterring and countering Russian submarine and capital ship deployments. Many vulnerabilities, such as the connections to North America (both above and under the Atlantic Ocean) and the internal seas within Europe have allowed Russians to rival NATOs superiority at sea. This led to the establishment of a new Atlantic Command for NATO. Yet, not all members see each other eye to eye on the issue that Russia poses an imminent threat. Some countries on the Mediterranean coastline (specifically Italy, Greece and NATO partner Malta) struggle with more pressing issues, such as migration. This ultimately leads to the maritime strategy being incoherent.

Looking at Russias defense budget, we can see that it is quite small compared to NATOs, which gives the Alliance an advantage on paper, but the Russian Armed Forces are having significantly more success on the battlefield than NATO. It could be argued that this gives Russia a greater political influence and leverage as well from North Africa to the Middle East. Having said that, Russia is currently in the process of rebuilding its naval forces. Its military equipment is evenly matched with that of NATO, but they are more aggressive and ambitious. NATOs plan of delivering the 100 additional warships (54 major combatants) and submarines (24 new conventional and nuclear hulls) before 2020 will be challenging, but it is a coherent force design that will continue to challenge its naval power for at least the next two decades.

There are three notable aspects of Russian naval force development. First is the continued development of the Russian submarine program, combining autonomous systems with traditional manned platforms. Second is the evolution of Russian missile technology, covering land attack, naval strike, cruise and short-range ballistic systems capable of overwhelming or defeating Western defenses. The third one is that the Russian forces are not simply investing in new capabilities and technology. Instead they seek out opportunities in combining technologies with high political will, an ability to act unpredictably and to outsmart NATO.

Russia acting outside Western rules of engagement (legally, ethically and morally) constitutes a distinct challenge for political and military commanders in NATO. By exercising hybrid, grey zone or threshold approaches to activities short of conflict, Russia has seized the initiative on land, and continues with this strategy on sea. As a response, NATO has increased its focus on the maritime domain. NATOs Defense Ministers agreed last November to reinforce its maritime posture, but these actions alone are not enough, nor do they address the Alliance presumption that more information equals success.

All in all, it would require something much more to match the highly complex strategy that Russia has used. A change of tactics or an alteration of the command structure might be good starting points. In the end, there is no one area in which Russia is outperforming NATO but the formers approach in combining technology, ways of fighting, platforms, weapons, sensors alongside an aggressive political will to act will make Russia a challenging adversary in the foreseeable future.

Will the Alliance Discover Navies Again?  Analysis by Peter Roberts  NATO Review Magazine.

(The Analysis can be downloaded here)leeharry said: We have a second home and travel between UK and France quite a few times throughout the year.

Wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation and if so do you use travel insurance or use any other form of insurance to cover for any unexpected medical or travel incidents. We ho have EHIC. Click to expand...

Hi Lee, Quite a lot depends on your actual circumstances. I assume you are resident in the UK and have a second home in France? We were in that situation for about 10 years before finally moving definitively to France around 4 and a bit years ago.I agree with Crabtree that other insurance is essential, in addition to the EHIC. We took out an annual, multitrip insurance policy. But shop around! We changed the insurers 3 or 4 times over the 10 years because the quotes changedevery year.What we found was that the "pre-existing conditions" clauses seemed to have quite an effect: some companies didn't seem to bother too much, some just clammed up completely and wouldn't even offer a quote (and this was just for relatively minor conditions). Also, unless you intend to travel outside the EU, try to find a policy that only covers the EU: that usually reduces the cost. A joint policy for both of you isbetter value than two individual policies, but check that because if there is a wide difference in ages or health status that might not be the case.If you already have insurance (domestic or vehicle) it might be worth seeing if you can argue (on the phone) for a better quote as an existing customer. We found over the years that the quotes initially offered either online or on the phone were often a bit flexible if you can make a good case. Certainly once you have been with one company for a year or two, ring up at renewal time and threaten to take the business elsewhere unless they reduce the cost.Let's hope you never have to make use of such a policy, but if you do, make sure you are scrupulous about following the advice they give you. We had a row with one insurer because we just turned up at a clinic for treatment without asking the insurer beforehand; we should have gone to a different place for help. Apparently insurers often have agreements with some clinics for better deals (and direct billing, see below) so they advise you to go there (it reduces their costs). But also they can advise about the clinics or hospitals that are easiest to use (shorter waiting times, multilingual staff, etc etc). In fact, once we understood the system we were very glad of the extra help the insurers could offer over the phone. Obviously in a real emergency you just do whatever is needed and sort out the consequences later.Final point, the EHIC card doesmean that youneed to pay upfront for the treatment you get. It doesn't work like the "Carte Vitale" which automatically pays the doctor for the first 70% (or whatever) of the costs. It's very likely that after showing the doctor your EHIC, youhave to pay upfront for the treatment, then claim back a fraction of the cost from the NHS and the rest from your travel insurance. The French doctor will not claim directly from the NHS: that's your responsibility. It's worth checking the small print of your travel insurance to see how the insurer handles this. It might be the case thatthe insurer and the clinic have a 'deal', then the clinic will recharge the insurer and not charge you (the insurer will then ask for your EHIC details to get their share back from the NHS). Another good reason for asking the insurer where to go for treatment.Another final point:if you have house insurance for your property in France check to see if any health/travel is included. I really don't know how this would work for non-residents, but our house policy is astonishingly broad and covers us, essentially for health insurance worldwide (as long as we are more than 30km away from home). What is not included though, is cover for the actual travel (ferry/airline tickets, etc).That was a long post, sorry. Hope it helps.Capital grants up to 200k available for new and operating visitor attractions



Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin today launched the Failte Ireland New Horizons on the Wild Atlantic Way 2018 Grants Scheme to develop and improve visitor experiences along the Skellig Coast, Co. Kerry in the Ring of Kerry Hotel.



Visitor experiences are key to unlocking growth, particularly in less visited areas. Failte Ireland has been working with key stakeholders and tourism businesses along the Wild Atlantic Way in Kerry to create a long term development plan that identifies the stand-out features locally, providing tourism businesses with a framework to present experiences and stories in a way that tourists can easily understand.



Last year, the plan for the Skellig Coast was completed and now the New Horizons on the Wild Atlantic Way 2018 Grants Scheme will provide capital grants up to 200k to fund projects along the Skellig Coast that will support the implementation of this plan, targeting both new and operating visitor attractions.



Speaking at the launch today, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin said;



The Wild Atlantic Way has been very successful so far but we need to continue to harness its potential and focus on trying to grow and build on that success year on year with new projects and initiatives. Failte Irelands long term development plans give local tourism businesses tangible actions to engage tourists, encouraging visitors to stay longer and spend more in the destination, which in turn provides more jobs and revenue for local communities. Im delighted to launch the Failte Ireland New Horizons on the Wild Atlantic Way 2018 Grants Scheme which will give tourism businesses along the Skellig Coast the funding they need to turn the great ideas in their plan into a reality.



Failte Irelands Head of the Wild Atlantic Way, Miriam Kennedy, said:



We are delighted to announce the New Horizons on the Wild Atlantic Way 2018 Grants Scheme for the Skellig Coast which will assist new and operating visitor attractions to develop the stand-out experiences identified in the long term development plan for the region. This funding will help local tourism businesses to exploit the areas recent movie fame and, crucially, drive visitor numbers to lesser known areas and attractions.



Failte Irelands vision for the Wild Atlantic Way is to deliver sustainable growth to all areas of the West Coast which will deliver real benefits for local communities and businesses. Failte Ireland has also developed a long term development plan for the Connemara Coast and Aran Islands and is currently working with local stakeholders on plans in four other areas along the Wild Atlantic Way; the Burren, Co. Clare, Three Heads (Ballydehob to Kenmare), Co. Cork and Co. Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry and Malin Head, Co. Donegal, which are expected to be completed by the end of 2018.



Failte Ireland is now accepting applications from tourism businesses in the Skellig Coast area who wish to apply for funding as part of the New Horizons on the Wild Atlantic Way 2018 Grants Scheme. Two workshops will be held along the Skellig Coast on the 21st May for those who wish to apply, details below.



To find out more about the application process and whether your business is eligible to apply for funding, please see: http://www.failteireland.ie/NewHorizonsGrantsScheme.aspx

Jump to topWHERE to next for sheep producers affected by proposed live export industry changes was the theme of a grower group forum at Darkan recently.

Compass Agricultural Alliance (CAA) hosted the meeting which drew 100 attendees and provided an opportunity to discuss current industry issues in a positive space.

CAA president and local producer Tim Harrington said there was a gap in the conversation surrounding the live export industry which was being played out in the media.

A lot of people are talking about our industry, but the people who are being left out of the conversation are the people most affected by it  the farmers, Mr Harrington said.

We want to focus on looking forward to the positive things we can do, which was why we provided the speakers with talking points to drive the discussion towards productivity, rather than towards venting frustration.

Mr Harrington said he was concerned about preaching to the converted.

It doesnt help us as farmers to just be having the conversation with ourselves, he said.

This forum was a good way for producers to feel like they had a chance to have their say, ask questions and hear from the people who are working on their behalf, but whats the next step?

Communicating to the wider public what we do, why we do it and show that were not barbarians has to be a priority.

Representatives from WAFarmers, Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development as well as State and Federal politicians provided updates from their perspective and answered questions.

Icon Agricultures Andrew Ritchie gave a snapshot of benchmarking data collected from CAA members, demonstrating the potential impact a live export ban would have on producers in the room.

Mr Ritchie said CAA members ran 335,000 ewes which was more than five per cent of the States ewe base, so collectively they had a right to be heard in this context.

He said the group collectively produced about 2.5 million kilograms of wool per year and last year sold about 250,000 sheep, of which each business on average sold 4600 head.

But what I wanted to show you was that in terms of profitable businesses, the top 25pc of my client base on average over the past five years have cropped between 40-60pc of their farm, he said.

So if this enterprise was to be impacted, youd be impacting the whole farm business.

The top 25pc of producers will feel it even more because, compared to the average, they produce 13pc more lambs per hectare, 15pc more wool/ha, they have a higher lambing percentage, they have less losses and they sell their sheep at a higher value.

So the people who stand to lose the most are the best farmers.

A shadow over the day of positive discussion was news of Federal Labors plan to phase out live sheep exports over 10 years if it won government at the next election.

Federal Liberal Party senator Slade Brockman said the news from Canberra was disappointing.

But Im not going to turn this into a bashing of my political opponents because one thing I think is important for the industry to do is to make sure they keep up the connections on the other side of politics, Mr Brockman said.

Its vitally important that Labor doesnt see it in their interest to run away from agriculture and take a contrary position to the well-being of agriculture in Australia.

Mr Brockman said Labor was being pushed from the left in a lot of its inner-city seats by the Greens.

The Greens obviously have quite a radical agenda in this area and its very important for the agriculture industry to make sure it continues to have strong voices to the Labor Party both in Canberra and at a State level, he said.

So where next? Weve got to leverage the positives, weve got to find a way to communicate to that audience that does have a positive view of you (farmers) and your industry and explain why this is an important part of it.

The Nationals WA leader Mia Davies was keen to hear feedback that she could relay to her State and Federal colleagues.

Your presence here today is powerful, Ms Davies said, echoing sentiments from Mr Brockman who said such a strong turn out of local producers at the forum demonstrated animal welfare was always foremost in the minds of farmers.

Its wonderful to see so many people passionate about their industry and wanting to get involved in making positive change, Mr Brockman said.

Ms Davies said until producers told her otherwise, the live export industry was here to stay.

So all of the messaging that I take to my Federal colleagues and when Im speaking to the media is this something that we cant afford to lose, she said.

When we say that, it helps to be able to turn around and have the rest of the team standing behind us.

Because I can tell you that when were having those debates and its only us standing up the front, it diminishes the power of our words in the media, because people expect us to be out there picking a fight with the opposition or making those public statements.

So my first message to the group is we need to make sure we speak with one voice and that you have a very clear message to give to the decision-makers.

Ms Davies said communication was the key.

We are not people who are generally overt in the way we engage with the media and we probably dont want to engage in conflict.

But I have to say its probably a time to step out of the comfort zone for the entire industry.

I think absolutely and most definitely industry needs to have a plan about how they can demonstrate theyre not the greedy farmer.

The point was raised earlier in the forum that farmers in the group were expressing concerns about how their image was been portrayed in mainstream media.

I think thats a valid point to make, Ms Davies said.

No one is sitting in this room and wanting to be portrayed as a heartless or unfeeling individual.

This is a business and you are all managers of business and the welfare of those animals comes first  that is a no-brainer to everyone sitting in this room.

But its not to the majority of the population.

Part of the communication to the broader public has to be that this is more than just farmers as individuals because its about communities and our way of life.

Nationals WA agriculture spokesman Colin de Grussa also gave a presentation.

Lets make sure that the good things were doing are being heard so the Animals Australia story isnt the only side of the story we hear, Mr de Grussa said.

He has a farming background and offers a unique perspective on the issue, having done a Nuffield Scholarship a few years ago where he studied how farmers communicate with the consumer and politicians to get better policy outcomes for their industry.

There are examples around the world of how countries such as Germany and England have set up a one-stop-shop that is the central point for everyone to contact for information on agriculture so everyone gets the same message, Mr de Grussa said.

It requires everyone to put their hand in their pocket, it requires industry groups to come together and fund it and get behind it but it can be done and I think the time for that in Australia absolutely has to be now  we cant wait.

We absolutely must stand up and be counted because this industry is too valuable to just throw our hands in the air.THE establishment of a compensation scheme for WA growers who suffer financially from contamination caused by genetically modified (GM) grain would create a solution to a problem that does not exist.

That was the resounding message conveyed to a public inquiry last week, as key agricultural stakeholders including WAFarmers, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA (PGA), CropLife Australia, the Grain Industry Association of WA (GIWA) and Monsanto fronted the standing committee on environment and public affairs for the fourth day of hearings.

The inquiry into mechanisms for compensation for economic loss to farmers in WA caused by contamination of GM material was triggered by Greens MLC Diane Evers, who tabled a petition in parliament last year, prompted by the high-profile Marsh versus Baxter legal case.

Kojonup farmer Steve Marsh lost his organic certification after GM canola from Michael Baxters neighbouring farm was found on the Marsh property in 2010.

Mr Marsh took Mr Baxter to court seeking more than $80,000 in compensation, but the case was dismissed in the Supreme Court after a six-year battle.

CropLife Australia chief executive officer Matthew Cossey said a compensation mechanism was unnecessary and common law adequately dealt with such problems arising from GM technology.

Mr Cossey said there was no evidence of pure economic loss caused by the unintentional presence of an approved GM organism in more than 20 years of GM farming in Australia.

The undeniable success of co-existence between both the organic farming sector and farmers who choose to grow GM crops in WA is why a compensation scheme is entirely unwarranted and unnecessary, Mr Cossey said.

Any form of compensation scheme could only be considered to be a solution looking for a problem that just simply doesnt exist.

If introduced, such a compensation mechanism would simply pose a real and serious impost to WAs entire farming sector, it would also cause unnecessary farmer conflict and would unjustifiably undermine long-established and well-operated legal principles.

Mr Cossey warned the hearing that any steps towards compensation mechanisms for non-GM farmers would lead to similar claims being pursued by those who suffer financially at the hands of organic farmers.

He said it could be argued non-organic farmers were put at risk by their organic neighbours who were unable to chemically treat their crops against weeds and disease.

The establishment of a compensation scheme for the unintended presence of low levels of genetically modified organisms sets WA sort of on a path of setting what are costly and unnecessary compensation schemes for any number of safe approved products, Mr Cossey said.

Those most at risk of a policy direction like this would ironically be the organic growers themselves, who would face a hike in duty to prevent pests, weeds and resistance that they cannot control through organic methods from crossing into their neighbouring farmers properties.

Because non-organic farmers would have immediate cause to seek a similar compensation scheme, I think from government if you step one up in this place and then you start expanding it into every peril, every threat that exists.

The PGA and WAFarmers representatives said many growers used GM and non-GM canola in their cropping programs and were yet to encounter any problems with contamination.

PGA grain committee member John Snooke is one of those to use the technology alongside his non-GM crops and said the existing system worked perfectly well.

Mr Snooke said referring to GM canola as a contaminant was inappropriate and damaged the industrys reputation.

GM canola is not a contaminant, it is an approved food, Mr Snooke said.

Its used by end consumers all around the world, so we are very concerned when that word contamination is used and it is insulting our end users.

Its not a contaminant, when plant material crosses over in farming systems  which it does because we operate in nature  its just an unintended accidental incursion.

Mr Snooke said there was no scientific evidence to suggest GM material was harmful and Australias hesitancy to adopt the technology had set the States agricultural industry behind major competitors.

In WA the stalling of our adoption cost us 10 years  10 years when we had no productivity gains in canola, Mr Snooke said.

Since GM canola was allowed and approved in WA by the previous Liberal and National government, we have had advantages because were seeing productivity gains in canola and were seeing a vibrant research and breeding industry happen because of the allowance of GM canola, its been a fantastic crop for WA.

This sentiment was reiterated by GIWA chief executive officer Larissa Taylor, who said further regulation would set Australian grain growers back further against competitors.

With rising grain production in the Black Sea and Argentina, Ms Taylor said it was vital that Australian growers werent hamstrung by unnecessary compensation measures.

GIWA does not support the introduction of any compensation mechanism for farmers whove suffered loss from genetically modified material and we think that to do so would introduce a regulatory burden and inefficiency into our globally competitive grain supply chain, Ms Taylor said.

If the WA government penalises our globally successful canola industry by introducing a regulated compensation mechanism for a problem which we dont believe exists, I humbly suggest that well be giving a free kick wrapped up in red tape to Konstantin from Kiev and Valentino from Buenos Aires.

With seeding in full swing across the State, Ms Taylor said the importance of GM was highlighted as growers used the technology to adapt to seasonal conditions.

She said GM canola had become an important part of many cropping programs and helped address multiple challenges facing the WA agricultural landscape.

They have another tool in their tool box to address root disease, foliar disease, weed management and herbicide rotation, Ms Taylor said.

Growers have started seeding, dry seeding, waiting for the rain, and they need that technological flexibility to work out which way theyll go.

The presentations last Thursday followed three previous hearings as part of the inquiry, with FOODwatch, Australian Certified Organic Pty Ltd, Gene Ethics and the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia among others to give evidence.

A levy-based protection fund from the sale of GM seed was among recommendations put forward in previous hearings, along with mandating WAs GM management guidelines.

The inquiry is on-going, with no date set for the committee to present its findings.The States farmers have raised their concerns about the future of the live export trade to the National Farmers Federation (NFF), as the industrys peak lobby group kicked off its tour of the country to discuss its plans to boost Australian farmgate value to $100 billion.

The NFF attended roundtables at York, Katanning and Perth last week, as part of its national Talking 2030 roadshow, to discuss with growers ways in which Australia can increase farmgate output by 70 per cent over the next 12 years.

The WA meetings were the first of 14 events to be held across the country and as Australias largest export State, the prospect of a valuable and sustainable live sheep trade was a hot topic.

NFF chief executive Tony Mahar said farmers at the meetings acknowledged the industry had to step up, but had great concerns about possible short or long-term live export bans.

They want some surety over what changes are going to be made because I think across the board, farmers saw that footage and that incident as completely unacceptable, Mr Mahar said.

They want change, they want their trade to continue but they know that it cant continue in its current state.

When asked whether he thought live trade would continue to be a valuable market for Australia in 2030, Mr Mahar said several factors would have an influence.

It will depend on the market developments, obviously theres a market for it at the moment, he said.

It depends on what we can do as industry to put pressure on parts of the supply chain that have got direct control over this to actually make it sustainable.

At the moment were totally supportive of it, but we think things need to change and industry needs to get control.

Mr Mahar said there were several other challenges ahead for WA farmers, with telecommunications, salinity and transport costs identified as issues holding back the States agricultural growth.

He said finding and retaining labour was a major point of discussion and the industry needed to work harder to sell agriculture as an attractive career pathway.

We need to work collaboratively as an industry to make sure we communicate the great things that agriculture has got to offer, Mr Mahar said.

We also talked about some of the new jobs in agriculture, its not just sitting on a tractor or picking fruit, theres lots of innovation in agriculture that will attract not only young people but new entrants into the industry, so theres a feeling that we need to do more work on that.

Konnongorring farmer Tiffany Davey was among those to attend the York workshop.

Ms Davey said the importance of adjusting to a changing climate was highlighted at the event, as well as issues surrounding sustainable agriculture.

In our discussion, we recognised that we want to continue to grow, but we also want to be sustainable and that is a number one priority for us, Ms Davey said.

The Talking 2030 roadshow will continue this week, with roundtable events planned in Tasmania tomorrow.

Mr Mahar said talking to people in the farm sector to understand the key issues was a critical step in shaping a strong plan for the coming decade.

Achieving that sort of growth requires innovative thinking and a clear national roadmap, Mr Mahar said.

Talking 2030 is all about testing new ideas with the farming community and agreeing on practical steps our industry can take over the coming decade to maximise our potential.

We had good support and good energy in WA about having that discussion and what we, as the NFF, can do with our partners and members to drive the future.The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.Amber Stevens West is pregnant.

Amber Stevens West announces her pregnancy (c) Instagram

The 31-year-old actress took to Instagram over the weekend to announce that she and her husband Andrew J West are expecting their first child together.

Alongside a collage of pictures - which featured Amber's blossoming baby bump, she wrote: "The best is yet to come! #comingthisfall (sic)"

And it looks like the '22 Jump Street' star has really started to embrace her pregnancy curves as she later took to her Instagram Story to show off her expanding waistline.

She said: "My new look ... So... This is new."

The brunette beauty started dating Andrew after they met while co-starring in 'Greek' - in which she played Ashleigh Howard alongside his Fisher - in 2009.

They then tied the knot in December 2014 in front of friends and family at the Carondelet House, an Italian villa-style venue, in Los Angeles, California.

And, although the couple are relatively coy about their relationship, Amber couldn't resist gushing about her beau on his 30th birthday back in 2014.

She wrote: "After 6 years I still wanna kiss you in dark corners," she wrote on his 30th birthday. "Happy Birthday @andrewjwest #lifepartner. (sic)"Drake and Migos have announced a joint tour.

Drake and Migos tour

The 'God's Plan' rapper and the trap trio - Offset, Quavo and Takeoff - will embark on a North American run, entitled 'Aubrey & The Three Amigos Live', which kicks off on July 26 in Salt Lake City and concludes in Atlanta on November 17.

The tour is in support of Drake's forthcoming album, thought to be called 'Scorpion'.

The 31-year-old star announced the shows on Twitter, writing alongside the dates: "Aubrey & The Three Amigos.

Pre-sale starts tomorrow and on sale Friday

http://www.drakeofficial.com/tour-dates.html (sic)"

Drake - whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham - is set to release his fifth studio LP in June.

The rapper took to his social media accounts last month to tease the artwork for his forthcoming record, which follows 2016's 'Views'.

Alongside a photograph of himself rocking a bomber jacket with the album title and date on it, he captioned the post on Instagram: JUNE 2018 (sic)"

Little else is known about the record, but it comes after the hip-hop star released the EP 'Scary Hours' and single 'Nice for What'.

The 'Hotline Bling' hitmaker started work on the record last summer.

After 'Views', Drake released the mixtape 'More Life' in March 2017.

The compilation of songs broke streaming records on both Apple Music and Spotify.

Within the first 24 hours of being released, the project garnered a whopping 89.9 million streams globally on Apple Music - handing him a new world record for streams in a 24-hour period.

And, on Spotify, the first full day of release for 'More Life' saw it rake in the best first-day streams for any album on the service.

The full tour dates for the 'Aubrey & The Three Amigos Live' tour can be found at drakeofficial.comHeston Blumenthal has got married.

Heston Blumenthal

The 51-year-old chef tied the knot with Stephanie Gouveia - the mother of his youngest child - in a spontaneous ceremony shortly after proposing to her while on holiday at the luxury island of Soneva Fushi in the Maldives.

According to The Sun newspaper, staff at their hotel organised the ceremony and a Maldivian banquet after Heston asked for their help.

The couple exchanged vows in a non-religious ceremony on a beach at sunset.

A source said: "They are really happy. They had an intimate ceremony on the beach at sunset.

"They just had a few guests, who were at the resort, and their baby."

A spokesperson for the chef confirmed he and Stephanie, who is around 20 years his junior, had decided to "seize the moment" and got married.

The representative said: "Heston and Stephanie are delighted to announce they've got married.

"They were spending some quality time together and decided to seize the moment."

It was revealed in February that the couple had welcomed a child into the world together late last year, but no details about the tot, including their name or gender, have been revealed.

His spokesperson said at the time: "I can confirm Heston and Stephanie have had a child at the end of last year, but we won't be giving any further information."

The culinary expert already has three children with ex-wife Zanna;

Zack, 25, Jessie, 22, and Joy, 20.

Heston split from Zanna in 2011 and their divorce was finalised last year.

Prior to finding love with Stephanie, he was in a five-year relationship with American cookery book author Suzanne Pirret.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryClinical Ink, a Winston-Salem, NC-based provider of eSource and next-generation ePRO/eCOA solutions for clinical development, received a private equity investment from NovaQuest Capital Management, L.L.C.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed. NovaQuest has acquired a majority of the outstanding shares of the company from existing investors. RTI International, a research institute, provided strategic co-investment in support of Clinical Ink while, in a related transaction, Silicon Valley Bank also provided a flexible credit facility.

The company intends to use the proceeds to pursue growth opportunities and accelerate investment in new products and operational capabilities.

Founded in 2007 and led by Ed Seguine, CEO, Clinical Ink provides the SureSource platform which directly captures eSource, ePRO, and eCOA data and documents and facilitates risk-based monitoring. The company maintains offices in Winston-Salem, NC and Philadelphia, PA.

FinSMEs

14/05/2018Higher Ed Partners South Africa, a Johannesburg, South Africa-based online education company, secured an undisclosed funding.

One Thousand & One Voices made the investment.

The company will use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach.

Founded by Best Associates and Randy Best, Chairman, Higher Ed Partners South Africa (HEPSA) is an online education company and an integrated provider of online program management services to tertiary educational institutions in South Africa. The company assists universities in converting their on-campus degree programs into an online format, recruits qualified students for those programs, and supports enrolled students through graduation.

FinSMEs

14/05/2018Implandata Ophthalmic Products GmbH, a Hannover, Germany-based ophthalmic medical device company, held the first mid-single digit million Euro closing of its Series C funding round.

Backers included Heidelberg Engineering GmbH/Germany, Occident Group AG/Switzerland and NKB GmbH/Germany, KfW, HTGF, Peppermint Charite Beteiligungsfonds and several private investors and ophthalmologists.

The company intends to complete the Series C-round by raising an upper end single digit million Euro amount by the fall of 2018.

Led by Max Ostermeier, CEO, Implandata is an ISO 13485 certified medical device company, which has developed the CE marked EYEMATE system for continuous monitoring of IOP. The EYEMATE system includes a surgically implantable micro-sensor (to be implanted in conjunction with cataract, glaucoma or corneal surgery, eventually also in a stand-alone procedure) for direct measurement of eye pressure. A patient hand-held device for sensor implant powering and data read-out is communicating real-time via internet with eye care specialists (and the patient as well).

The company is expanding its product portfolio with different sensor implant versions, allowing to address the various needs of glaucoma patients.

FinSMEs

14/05/2018IronChain Capital, a San Francisco, CA-based digital asset investment firm, raised $2.5m in funding.

The round was led by Matrix Partners in partnership with Montage Ventures and Draft Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to build out its platform and suite of offerings.

Led by Jonathan Benassaya, CEO and Founder, and co-founders Steven Baum (former President/COO of multi-billion dollar hedge funds Ivory Capital and JMB Capital), Michael Yeh (Goldman Sachs, Blackrock/BGI, Charles Schwab) and Dr. Anton Muehlemann (Wikifolio, Blockchain at Berkeley), IronChain Capital is a digital asset investment firm that is focused on providing both retail and institutional investors with access to cryptocurrencies. The firm offers a diverse suite of services, including brokerage accounts, investment products, portfolio management and trading solutions.

In conjunction with the funding, the company has also launched two innovative mutual fund-like cryptocurrency index funds: IronChain MiX10 and IronChain MiX10 Institutional. Both funds will track the MiX10 Index, a market cap weighted index that tracks up to the 10 largest cryptocurrencies.

FinSMEs

14/05/2018Qventus, a Mountain View, CA-based operations management solution for health systems, secured $30M in Series B funding.

The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as well as existing investors Mayfield Fund and Norwest Venture Partners. In conjunction with the financing, Stephen Kraus, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, will join the board.

The company, which has now raised over $43M in total funding, intends to use the capital for the continued rapid expansion of their AI-based platform.

Led by CEO and Co-Founder Mudit Garg, Qventus offers an AI-based software platform that allows hospital teams to make operational decisions in real-time, with positive impacts on financial performance and patient experience. The company addresses operational challenges across the hospital including emergency departments, perioperative areas, patient safety, inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy.

In just under three years, the software has enabled more than 3.8M patient encounters to date and has been deployed at notable health systems across North America, including NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Emory Healthcare and the Mercy health system.

FinSMEs

14/05/2018Makor Group makes its mark on the cryptocurrency market with the launch of Enigma Securities, a specialized broker-dealer giving institutional clients access to the cryptocurrency market.

Makors aim is to provide clients with a transparent, liquid and compliant environment in which to trade cryptocurrency. Makor has leveraged relationships with major global banks to provide a custodian solution for institutions who want to trade cryptocurrencies. Through Enigma, institutional clients will be able to sell and settle in crypto as well as in US dollars.

The launch of Enigma is a natural next step for the Makor Group which has been a cutting-edge, independent brokerage and research firm since 2011. Michael Halimi, Makor Groups CEO, explains, Crypto is a new asset class and an opportunity that our clients want to leverage, but there are few actionable solutions available in the market. We are excited to be the first independent broker to provide such services to our clients. Halimis goal is to make Enigma Securities, and the Makor Group, a leading global broker dealer and a premier global provider of cryptocurrency market access.

Enigma Securities will provide liquidity for the main cryptocurrencies in US dollars. Enigma is also building an innovative research product to help Institutional clients manage their market exposure to crypto assets and ICOs.

Makor Group (www.makor-capital.com)

The Makor Group (Makor) is an international brokerage firm established in March 2011 by Michael Halimi and Avi Bouhadana, two ex-senior managers at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe. Makor is authorized and regulated by the FCA and Makors core business is to provide financial Securities research and execution to institutional investors across a spectrum of products including Cash Equities, Fixed Income securities, Derivatives and FX.

With offices in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Geneva, Gibraltar, Tel Aviv and Singapore, and over 120 group employees, Makor offers its clients 24-hour global trading providing a single point of contact for more than 90 execution venues in cash equities only.

Makor provides its clients with original and innovative trading ideas specializing in risk arbitrage, special situations, relative value and event-driven opportunities for clients and regularly ranks in the Top 3 of the Thomson Reuters EXTEL risk-arb research surveys.

Makor acts only as an agent and is therefore not susceptible to the various conflicts in the industry. Makor takes no proprietary positions and as such acts wholly and exclusively for the benefit of the client. Makors understanding of local markets and extensive client relationships built over 30 years industry experience, allows us to tap into local institutional portfolios in order to maximize liquidity for clients.

Besides the client relationships Makor has strong relationships with global custodians and prime brokers. These international custodians, which provide essential services across all asset classes, are the oil that keeps the trading engine running smoothly. Prime brokerage services including custody and trade settlement are as important to the clients as the execution itself and in some cases even more important. Settlement of trading activity needs to be timely and problem free..     -2           ,       ...OnePlus 6 all set to go official in a couple of days. Now the official images of the smartphone has surfaced on Amazon Germany that reveals Midnight Black and Mirror Black versions along with the price. This clearly shows the notch, small bezel below the display, metal frame and a glass back for the Mirror Black version and the Midnight Black is said to come with smooth matte finish. Amazon listing also reveals OIS and water-resistant body, but it is not clear if it will be just nano coating like the Moto phones of it will have IP certification.

The company already said that the glass back has five printed layers of Nanotech Coating that gives the back of the device a stronger impression of depth. We have already seen white version of the smartphone in live images so there will likely be three color variants of the phone, in addition to the Avengers Edition that is said to feature Kevlar back. We already know the specifications of the phone from TENAA listing.

OnePlus 6 rumored specifications

6.28-inch (2280  1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 aspect ratio AMOLED display

Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU

6GB RAM with 64GB storage, 8GB RAM with 128GB / 256GB storage

Android 8.1 (Oreo) with OxygenOS 5.1

Dual SIM (nano + nano)

16MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture, 1/2.6 Sony IMX519 sensor, 1.22m pixel size, OIS, secondary 20MP camera with f/1.7 aperture

16MP front-facing camera

Fingerprint sensor

Water resistant body

3.5mm audio jack

Dimensions: 155.775.357.75mm; Weight: 177g

4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C

3300mAh battery with Dash Charge (5V  4A)

According to Amazon listing, the Midnight Black 64GB version will be priced at 519 (US$ 620 / Rs. 41,775 approx.) and the 128GB Mirror Black version will cost 569 (US$ 680/ Rs. 45,800 approx.), compared to starting price of 499 for the 5T. Europe pricing is also higher, so it will be cheaper in India and U.S. No details about pricing for the 256GB version yet.

Source 1, 2 (Taken Down) | Via 1, 2Reliance Jio has accused Airtel Apple watch service over breaching security and violating license norms. It has asked telecom ministry to take severe action and levy penalties against rival Bharti Airel. It alleges Airtel for using a network of nodes based abroad to offer its services on the latest Apple watch.

In a letter to the department of telecommunications (DoT) submitted on May 11th, Jio alleged Airtel saying that the company has not set up eSIM provisioning node in India and the node being used to provide Apple Watch Series 3 is currently located outside India in gross violation to the license terms. The maximum penalty for a breach of license conditions is Rs 50 crore per circle and India currently has over 22 telecom circles.

Airtel declined to comment on the accusation saying that it is another frivolous complaint by a desperate operator.

In a statement, Airtel said:

This is yet another frivolous complaint by a desperate operator, whose sole aim appears to have a monopoly over everything that they do. Bharti Airtel is a law abiding and responsible operator. The DoT was duly notified prior to the launch of Apple watch including product features, network architecture and lawful interception and we have also requested them to carry out a demonstration of the same. All information relating to customers, network nodes etc. is hosted in a fully secure manner by Airtel India along with provision for lawful interception. We will be happy to share more details with the DoT as and when required.

Airtel officials have clarified that there is no CDR (call detail record) or KYC (know your customer), or any private information, outside the country and lawful interception is within India. But the only information available outside India is the eSIM inventory, which then again is a practice followed by almost all global operators.

The Apple Watch 3 series can offer a service through which customers can remain connected, make calls, and receive texts and more, even when their iPhone is not nearby.

SourceCoolpad has announced that its unit has filed lawsuits against three group firms of Xiaomi for several patent Infringements. The companys subsidiary, Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co. Limited has filed a lawsuit against Xiaomi Telecom Technology Co, Xiaomi Technology Co, and Xiaomi Factory Co, in a court in Jiangsu province for using its patents without authorization.

Yulong demands that Xiaomi companies should immediately stop the sale and production of some of the smartphone models, including the Xiaomi Mi 6, Mi Max 2, Mi Note 3, Mi 5X, Redmi Note 4X and Mi MIX 2. Going back in time, Yulong had filed a similar legal case against Xiaomi in a Shenzhen court in January 2018 as well.

The patents involved in this lawsuit include systematic interactions or UI type patents. They all involve basic communication, display and interactive functions of mobile phones, and are difficult to circumvented or replaced. Furthermore, the company is also alleging that Xiaomi has violated its patented multi-SIM card design and other technology related to user interface. It is now demanding that Xiaomi compensate it for losses due to the alleged infringement.

Regarding this, Coolpad Group CEO, Jiang Chao said:

If cumulative achievements of thousands of R&D engineers working from day to night for 25 years, are arbitrarily plagiarized and not pursued, we should reflect on our tolerance and this will ultimately harm innovation in the entire nation and the future generations.

Syed Tajuddin, CEO, Coolpad India, said:Kult has launched Impulse, the companys first smartphone this year. It has a 5.99-inch HD+ 18:9 TruView 2.5D curved glass display display, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6739 SoC, runs on Android 7.1 (Nougat), has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 13-megapixel front-facing camera that also has an LED flash for capturing better selfies even in low lighting conditions and also has face unlock.

It has dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots, has a fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 4000mAh battery that promises up to 12 days of standby time on LTE and up to 60 hours of music playback. The company says the phone has VoLTE support for Airtel, Jio, Vodafone and Idea.

Kult Impulse specifications

5.99-inch (1440 x 720 pixels) HD+ 2.5D curved glass IPS display

1.5GHz Quad-Core MediaTek MT6739 64-bit processor with PowerVR Rogue GE8100 GPU

3GB RAM, 32GB Internal memory, expandable memory up to 64GB with micro SD

Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) OS

Dual SIM

13MP Camera with LED flash

13MP front-facing camera with dual LED flash

Fingerprint sensor

3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio

Dimensions: 164.8 x 76.7 x 8.65 mm

4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS

4000mAh battery

The Kult Impulse comes in Black and Blue colors, is priced at Rs. 8,999 and will be available across the country starting tomorrow, May 15, 2018. It also comes with Rs.2,200 cash back offer for Jio customers. Wonder why one would choose this instead of Redmi 5 for the same price or Redmi Note 5 by spending more.

Commenting on the launch, Nitesh Gupta, Director, New Product Development, Kult, said:

Kult Impulse is designed, keeping in mind, the inspirers attitude. The beautiful built, powerful features and affordability together really pack a punch. At Kult, our focus has been to offer the best possible technology, innovation and an immersive experience to the users. We aim to build on the positive market response to further consolidate our position and establish ourselves as one of the top smartphone brands in the country. We will continue to bring interesting and innovative products at value-for-money, something that millennials demand. Further, we aspire to provide best quality service to our customers through our widespread network of 750+ service centers across India. Our distinctive products, right pricing along with our service providing strength is working in our favour.Airtel today announced that it has completed the acquisition Telenor India, after a year of entering into an agreement to acquire Telenor Indias running operations in seven circles  Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam, and transfer of all of Telenor Indias assets including spectrum, licenses and operations, including its employees and customer base of 44 million as well as outstanding spectrum payments and other operational contracts, including tower lease.

Airtel will add 43.4 MHz spectrum (5 MHz to 7.2 MHz in each of the seven circles) to its portfolio that will further bolster its network capacity and enhance customer experience. With the completion of this transaction, Airtels total mobile customer base in India now stands at over 330 million.

All existing customers of Telenor India will now become a part of Airtel. All the customers will be transitioned seamlessly to the Airtel network and will continue to enjoy uninterrupted services with the Same SIM, Same Number, and Same Plan/Pack benefits, said Airtel.

Airtel also said that it plans to step up investments and aggressively expand its high speed data network across the country over the coming year as part of Project Leap, its network transformation program.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia) said:

We welcome all Telenor customers to the Airtel family and look forward to delighting them with best-in-class products. The acquisition consolidates our market leadership, further strengthens our network portfolio in key markets and will add to shareholder value. We would like to thank all the concerned authorities and stakeholders for granting approvals to this transaction.

Sigve Brekke, Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Group, said:

I welcome todays closing of the transaction. We are pleased with our agreement with Airtel and finding a long term solution to our India business has been a priority for us. I would like to thank the Telenor India team for their relentless and unwavering efforts over the years. To our customers, I would like to thank you for your loyalty and trust in our services.This week in industry news Firmenich is tapping into the demand for health-conscious taste solutions in the Chinese market, while CP Kelco extended its distribution... Read MoreThis blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.Indycar is counting on the god of thunder to help it make some noise at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Memorial Day weekend, when Thor waves the green flag at the Indy 500.

(Just dont bring any rain, please.)

Chris Hemsworth, who plays the hammer-wielding Asgardian in the Avengers film franchise, has been named honorary starter for the 102nd running of the so-called "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

Hemsworth is a brand ambassador for Indycar sponsor Tag Heuer, and the Avengers films are produced by Disney, which owns ABC, the network broadcasting the race, so theres plenty of synergy to go around.

It wont be Hemsworths first connection to racing, either. The Australian actor portrayed British Formula One racing legend James Hunt in the 2013 Ron Howard-directed film Rush. Unfortunately, Hunt didnt hold Indy racing in very high regard, once calling it club racing compared to Formula One.

Howards latest film, the Disney-produced Solo: A Star Wars Story, also happens to be opening the weekend of the race, which is surely just a bizarre coincidence.

ARE YOU FOLLOWING FOX NEWS AUTOS ON TWITTER?Fans tuned in Sunday to watch the Lifetime movie Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance depict the prince and soon-to-be duchess whirlwind romance  but not everyone was loving the over-the-top storyline.

The original TV movie depicted from the moment Harry, played by Murray Fraser, and Markle, played by Parisa Fitz-Henley, met on a blind date to their November engagement and planning the wedding.

The highly anticipated movie touched on all things royal, including bringing back Princess Dianas spirit in the form of a lion.

I am all about a good @lifetimetv movie, but this #ARoyalRomance movie about #PrinceHarry and #MeghanMarkle is soooo over the top. Im actually embarrassed for them. So bad. #RoyalWedding, someone tweeted.

The bizarre scene began when Prince Charles brought young Prince William and Harry to Africa after Dianas funeral in 1997. The trip, a true event, was meant for the brothers to escape the media spotlight to let them grieve. Movie producers seemed to insist on putting Diana in the movie by showcasing her spirit in a lion that Harry saves when his father attempts to shoot it. The lion also appears during Harry and Markle's Botswana date.

Movie's over. I still have so many questions about Princess Diana turning into a lion but at least I'm left with something to think about. Thanks @lifetimetv #ARoyalRomance, one person wrote.

Another woman said, So he's the lion king now? The lion is princess Diana? @lifetime y'all going deep here... #ARoyalRomance

Was a bad cgi-ed lion really the most important part about this story that lifetime had to blow half the budget on it #ARoyalRomance, someone said.

One user wrote, A lion ?????? Officially done watching. Too cheesy. Too fake.

But that wasnt all everyone was mad about. The movie included Prince William and Kate Middleton, who are royal members the public have swooned over for years before Markle was introduced to the family. Several people noted they were bothered by Middletons portrayal in the TV movie and questioned if it was necessary to villainize the Duchess of Cambridge.

Is anyone else completely bothered that they are doing William and Kate like that? Theyre making Kate seem awful and robotic and making it seem like they have a strained marriage. #ARoyalRomance, one person said.

So instead of putting the blackamoor brooch on Princess Michael in the movie, they put it on some made up character for Harry to tear apart yet have no problem portraying Kate as a shrew with thinly veiled racist jabs about Meghan... #ARoyalRomance #HarryandMeghan, another person wrote.

A woman questioned, Why are they making Kate and Will seem so cold? Did the creators have some hate towards them? Kate is wonderful and there is no need to put her down in order to put Meghan on a pedestal. #ARoyalRomance

Several viewers even said the movie suggested William and Kate were having marital issues, based on the character depicting the couples relationship.

Despite the criticism, fans also praised the movie for the portrayal of Markle and including Harry slamming the media for focusing on his then-girlfriends mixed race.

The actress playing Meghan Markle is spot on. She even sounds just like her. And we know that because weve heard Meghan before. Bravo. #ARoyalRomance, a viewer tweeted.

"Glass ceilings not glass slippers" is one of many lines that I hope the writers wrote and then heartily applauded themselves. #ARoyalRomance, a woman said referencing a previous Markle interview.

Another person joked, Meghan Markle: Royal ball buster #ARoyalRomance

Favorite part so far: Prince Harry just compared the difficulties of growing up mixed race in America with being a redhead in England #ARoyalRomance, a woman tweeted.Ms. Marvel could be coming your way.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke to the BBC about the Muslim-American character -- as well as the upcoming movie Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel is shooting right now with Brie Larson, he shared of the superhero flick, which is due to come out in March 2019.

Feige continued, But Ms. Marvel, which is another character in the comic books, the Muslim hero who is inspired by Captain Marvel, is definitely sort of in the works."

We have plans for that once weve introduced Captain Marvel to the world," he added.

Several characters have used the moniker Ms. Marvel -- including New Jersey teen Kamala Khan.

"Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan first appeared in Captain Marvel #14 and then got her own solo series, dubbed Ms. Marvel, which debuted in February 2014," IGN reports.

'SUPERMAN' STAR MARGOT KIDDER DEAD AT 69Prince Harry has snubbed his cousin Lady Amelia Windsor  dubbed the worlds hottest royal  by not inviting her to his wedding.

Top fashion model Amelia, 22, is 37th in line to the throne and walks the runway for Dolce and Gabbana.

But the Edinburgh student and her older sister Marina, 25, have failed to bag an invitation to the wedding of the year.

A friend said: They were a little surprised not to be invited as they were looking forward to going.

Amelia is creating quite a name for herself with her modelling and Instagram posts.

Perhaps Harry just wanted to keep the family invited to a small number or maybe he didnt want anyone upstaging the bride.

Lady Amelia and Lady Marina are William and Harrys third cousins  granddaughters of the Duke of Kent who is the Queens cousin.

She was relatively unknown before she appeared on the front cover of Tatler magazine in 2016, who called her the most beautiful royal.

She is signed to Storm modelling agency, who also discovered Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.

She is studying French and Italian at Edinburgh University  clearly brains as well as beauty.

This article originally appeared in the Sun.Kensington Palace refused to comment to Fox News on a bombshell report that Meghan Markles father is not walking the Suits actress down the aisle at her May 19 wedding to Britains Prince Harry, after he suffered a heart attack a few days ago and after admitting he participated in staged paparazzi photos.

Markles estranged half-sister Samantha Grant also did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment.

Kensington Palace did release a statement on Monday announcing Markle and Harry are requesting "understanding and respect" for her father. It did not confirm TMZ's report that Thomas had decided not to attend the wedding on Saturday in Windsor, England.

"This is a deeply personal moment for Ms. Markle in the days before her wedding," read the statement. "She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr. Markle in this difficult situation."

TMZ reported Monday the patriarch suffered from a heart attack six days ago, but checked himself out of the hospital to attend the royal wedding.

However, the celebrity gossip site claimed he ultimately chose not to attend to avoid embarrassing the royal family or his daughter.

Thomas Markle told the celebrity gossip site he meant no harm to Markle or the royal family when he allowed a photo agency to snap photos of himself getting ready for the wedding. He also claimed the deal wasnt made for financial gain.

Instead, Thomas insisted hes been ambushed by paparazzi who have photographed him as a disheveled recluse. Thomas was allegedly upset he was photographed buying beer, implying he was an alcoholic. Instead, TMZ claimed he was buying beer for the guards at his residence.

Thomas also claimed that when a paparazzi agency approached him, he figured the opportunity would help recast his image in a more positive light. However, he admitted the photos made him appear stupid and hammy, and has since deeply regretted participating in the photo op.

Grant took the blame for the staged paparazzi shots of her father.

Grant revealed on Twitter Monday she came up with the idea to have their father photographed in Mexico, where he lives.

"The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault," Grant tweeted Monday morning. "The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family."

She added, "We had no idea he would be taken advantage of. It was not for money."

Markle has a complicated relationship with her father but announced via Kensington Palace on May 4 that he would walk her down the aisle on her big day.

According to the Daily Mail, Markle's father received $135,000 for the photos, which included him getting fit for a suit for the wedding.

But Grant, who last spoke to her famous sister in 2014, insisted her father didn't call the paparazzi for money.

"I'm entirely the culprit. I said to him to show the world 'I'm getting in shape and getting healthy' so I suggested it,'" she admitted on Britain's "Loose Women."

Grant, who was not invited to Markle's first wedding to Trevor Engelson in 2011, was also not sent an invite to her sister's royal nuptials.

The news comes less than two weeks after Markle's half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. shared a handwritten letter to In Touch slamming her for not getting an invite to the wedding. He warned the 33-year-old royal that "it's not too late" to stop the wedding.

The 51-year-old insisted the 36-year-old American actress is a jaded, shallow, conceited woman that will make a joke of you and the royal family heritage.

Thomas went on to claim that their father is still struggling financially after he allegedly went into debt to support Markles dreams of becoming a sought-after actress. He also claimed the patriarch wasnt invited to the wedding  which is not true.

"What kind of person starts out by using her own father until hes bankrupt, then forgets about him in Mexico leaving him broke, over mostly all her debts," he claimed. "And when its time to pay him back she forgets her own father like she never knew him.

Then, on Friday, Thomas Jr. shared another handwritten letter to In Touch revealing hes had a change of heart.

Meg I know that Im not perfect, nor is anyone else in our family, as Im sure you have read by now, he wrote. But good, bad, or perfect, were the only family that you have. It does hurt my feelings not getting invited to your wedding, along with the rest of the family.

But its not too late to send me an invite along with your entire family, he added. "We should all be there to show our love and support on your wedding day because thats what families do. Not to mention, how long its been since we all seen and have gotten together, that would be very nice.

Thomas admitted he and his famous sibling have become distant, along with the rest of our family members over the years.

However, he insisted family should always come first, no matter the circumstances.

Meg, I am very proud of you, he claimed. I truly want you to have a great wedding day and [a] long future with Prince Harry. Im sorry for venting my frustrations about [how] he should call it off, but I was disappointed and confused about not getting invited. I really only wish you the best.

I remember a loving, caring, amazing girl who had a great family growing up and I know youre still that person inside. So whatever you decide is OK with me, maybe Ill see you there, with all of us. It can still be a royal wedding family reunion.

Thomas concluded, Once again, congrats to you and Prince Harry. Im very proud of you and wish you the best.

Back in January, Grant told Fox News her brother had been speaking to the media without the familys consent.

My brother is out there acting like hes the spokesman of the family, she said. He is estranged from my dad because he sold my dad out to photographers from my uncles house and tried to get my fragile uncle to talk.

"He gave up my dads whereabouts. In other words, all those rumors out there started by my brother. He claimed he would walk Meg down the aisle. Thats more malarkey than I could even imagine to articulate.

Grant added she and her family are new to the spotlight and it can be difficult to cope with the worldwide interest in their personal lives.

As much as I love and respect Meg, shes got security and a publicist and can be protected from all that, she said. She and Harry can tell the media to stop. The rest of the family doesnt have that luxury. I love her, [but] she may not want me saying anything.

I refuse to be a victim of the media. Im not going to let them disparage me, embarrass me personally and professionally and not defend myself I can only hope she would respect and understand that In fact, if I were Meg, I would probably put something out there so that there was some sort of protective mechanism in place where the family couldnt be tortured as much.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Meghan Markle's estranged half-sister is taking the blame for a series of "staged" paparazzi shot of their father ahead of the royal wedding.

Samantha Grant, who shares a father, Thomas Markle, with the future wife of Prince Harry, said on Twitter she came up with the idea to have their father photographed where he lives in Mexico in order to paint him in a positive light.

"The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault," Grant tweeted Monday morning. "The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family."

She added, "We had no idea he would be taken advantage of. It was not for money."

The "Suits" actress has a complicated relationship with her father but announced via Kensington Palace on May 4 that he would walk her down the aisle on her big day.

According to the Daily Mail, Markle's father received $135,000 for the photos which included him getting fit for a suit for the wedding.

But Grant, who last spoke to her famous sister in 2014, insisted her father didn't call the paparazzi for money.

"I'm entirely the culprit. I said to him to show the world 'I'm getting in shape and getting healthy' so I suggested it,'" she admitted on Britain's "Loose Women."

Grant, who was not invited to Markle's first wedding to Trevor Engelson in 2011, was also not sent an invite to her sister's nuptials on May 19.

The news comes less than two weeks after Markle's half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. shared a handwritten letter to In Touch slamming her for not getting an invite to the wedding. He warned the 33-year-old royal that "it's not too late" to stop the wedding.

The 51-year-old insisted the 36-year-old American actress is a jaded, shallow, conceited woman that will make a joke of you and the royal family heritage.

Thomas went on to claim that their father is still struggling financially after he allegedly went into debt to support Markles dreams of becoming a sought-after actress. He also claimed the patriarch wasnt invited to the wedding -- which is not true.

"What kind of person starts out by using her own father until hes bankrupt, then forgets about him in Mexico leaving him broke, over mostly all her debts," he claimed. "And when its time to pay him back she forgets her own father like she never knew him.

Back in January, Grant told Fox News her brother has been speaking to the media without the familys consent.

My brother is out there acting like hes the spokesman of the family, she said. He is estranged from my dad because he sold my dad out to photographers from my uncles house and tried to get my fragile uncle to talk.Comcast honchos want to replace embattled NBC News Chairman Andy Lack by the end of the year after a series of public relations debacles have tarnished the news divisions once-sterling reputation, Fox News has learned.

A well-placed insider with firsthand knowledge of the conversations told Fox News that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke arent happy with the way Lack, 70, has handled all the negative attention the company has received in recent months and have decided to make a change. However, the situation will take a while to play out, as Comcast executives are reluctant to rock the boat amid high-stakes negotiations to acquire additional assets.

Top level executives are discussing numerous scenarios, according to the insider. A quiet search for new executives to eventually replace Lack, who has been clinging to power amid a series of scandals, embarrassments and ratings disasters, is in its early stages, the insider said.

No one thinks hell last the year, a TV news executive with ties to NBC said of Lack.

The Comcast insider says secret talks at the executive level revolve around Roberts and Burkes desire to replace Lack with at least two people in an effort to restore credibility to the news division. A new chairman would report directly to Burke and oversee CNBC, in addition to NBC News and MSNBC.

Lack currently does not oversee CNBC and is known for his tense relations with longtime CNBC boss Mark Hoffman, a dynamic which has been blamed for dysfunction and waste. Another person would be brought in to manage day-to-day operations for all NBCUniversal news properties and report to the new chairman. In that scenario, it is likely that Lacks deputy, Noah Oppenheim, whos been criticized as disengaged, would also be shown the door.

Hoffman is well-liked by Burke and could end up with a promotion when all is said and done, according to the insider.

The tipping point for Roberts and Burke appears to be the negative public reaction to the internal report released last week that declared NBC News management was completely oblivious to former Today star Matt Lauers sexual misconduct.

The Lauer review was headed by NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, as opposed to a white-shoe law firm, despite numerous calls for an outside investigation  which has of late been de rigueur for other news organizations dealing with sex harassment. The results of the NBC review were mocked by media watchdogs and NBC employees alike, while former NBC News star Ann Curry declared she did not participate despite expressing publicly to the Washington Post that she had complained to senior NBC News executives about Lauers behavior.

Shortly before the review was released, Curry spoke on the record to the Washington Post, saying shed complained to two NBC executives about Lauers behavior.

I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women, Curry told the Post.

But Curry was only mentioned in a footnote to the report, whose findings claimed that Lauers co-workers had no knowledge of any affairs he had, consensual or otherwise, with colleagues in the workplace. That contention was dismissed as risible by NBC insiders. Furthermore, while the report claimed that investigators spoke to numerous former Today staff, Fox News has been told by a number of senior Today staff who worked there in the last five years that they were not contacted.

In addition to the Lauer scandal, Lacks NBC News has embarrassed Comcast by sitting on two explosive sex harassment stories: Ronan Farrows investigation of Harvey Weinstein this past fall, and the Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump a year and a half ago. Both stories were given to other premier news organizations after NBC didn't broadcast them, and Farrows, which ultimately appeared in the New Yorker, won the coveted Pulitzer Prize. Similarly, the 2017 Pulitzer was awarded to the Washington Posts David Fahrenthold after he broke the Access Hollywood story as part of his investigative digging into Trump. Fahrenthold was later given a paid consultancy with NBC News.

Farrow has said he will finally tell his side of the story in an upcoming book called, Catch and Kill, which is sure to create a whole new batch of negative headlines for the Peacock Network. While NBC has claimed that Farrows reporting, as presented to them, was not up to snuff, Farrow has repeatedly hinted that something else was behind Lacks decision not to run his story.

Doubting my ability is not what happened at NBC, Farrow recently tweeted.

Furthermore, Oppenheims role in the Access Hollywood debacle has been the object of negative attention within Comcast, sources tell Fox News, as he is close friends with Fahrenthold from prestigious Harvard University. NBC has denied that Oppenheim leaked the tape to Fahrenthold -- who with Oppenheim is also tied from Harvard to investor Marc Mezvinsky, the son-in-law of Hillary Clinton. Oppenheim and Mezvinsky were groomsmen in each others' weddings and continue to revolve in the same privileged social circles.

Lack has been widely criticized for staying quiet on the assortment of scandals, much like he has stayed stone silent when it comes to MSNBC star Joy Reids largely discredited claim that hackers planted homophobic slurs on her pre-fame blog. The Reid scandal has been another public relations mess for the network. NBC News has also been accused of shaming women who came forward with sexual harassment allegations regarding iconic anchor Tom Brokaw.

On Sunday, Lacks leadership at NBC was subjected to a devastatingly harsh column in the Washington Post by former New York Times ombudsman Margaret Sullivan.

Something is wrong at NBC, and by the traditional standard that the person at the top sets the tone and bears ultimate responsibility, its hard to absolve NBC Chairman Andy Lack, Sullivan wrote. The networks credibility is on the line.

Furthermore, The Daily Beast this weekend gave a detailed account of how NBC dodged Currys public statements about Lauer prior to releasing its report  only making a perfunctory call to her from an NBC lawyer. The Beast report said results of NBCs internal investigation into how its former biggest star repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct in the office has left many critics doubting that the network really did its homework.

The Comcast insider also said that Lack, who is either oblivious to what is occurring over his head or trying to make a last-ditch splash, has been having intense conversations to bring former Today star Katie Couric back to NBC News in some capacity.

Katie hasnt bashed Lauer or Brokaw to show Lack shes a team player, the insider said.

That would be Groundhog Day for Lack, whos been criticized for an archaic view of stardom in the news business. Lack is blamed for the hire of former Fox News star Megyn Kelly, for $23 million a year, and Kelly has been blamed for dragging down the ratings of the Today show 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. hours.

There is absolutely no truth to it, an NBCUniversal spokesperson told Fox News when asked if Roberts and Burke have decided to eventually part ways with Lack.

When asked for comment on Couric, an NBC spokesperson provided the following statement: Not a single story youve written about the internal workings of NBC News has been accurate, and neither is this one."

Couric could not be reached for comment.With Ray Bradbury's novel about a society where books are outlawed coming alive in HBO's new film "Fahrenheit 451," attention has returned to one of the most difficult books to come by in the United States.

Stephen King is one of Americas most prolific authors  countless of his stories and books can be found in almost any retailer in the country. However, theres one novel he has decided to let fall out of publication due to the real-life crimes it purportedly spawned.

The average King fan may not be familiar with the 1977 book Rage. Originally published under his pen name, Richard Bachman, King wrote the novel in 1966 while he was still in high school.

In it, a young man named Charlie Decker is called into the principals office of his high school after assaulting a teacher. He goes on an expletive-filled tirade for reasons he doesnt understand, prompting his expulsion. Decker then goes to his locker to retrieve a semi-automatic pistol, burns the remaining contents and kills two other faculty members before taking his algebra class hostage.

What ensues is a standoff in which the students who had begun as hostages become unwitting accomplices as a sort of Stockholm Syndrome sets in and they begin to identify more with their captor than wuth those trying to end the conflict.

King let the book fall out of publication in 1998 after real-life tragedies allegedly inspired by Rage and made him feel morally obligated to write it. The book existed for a time in a 1985 collection of novels called The Bachman Books, which also included The Long Walk, Roadwork and The Running Man. Eventually, prints of The Bachman Books dwindled from four stories to three as the author allowed Rage to die a quiet death in the publishing world.

Today, curious readers can still get their hands on a copy, but they have to be willing to pay between $500 - $700 on Amazon to do so.

As Business Insider notes, the novel was number two on BookFinders 2013 list of out-of-print books that are still in high demand. To this day, the novel is still considered one of the most controversial books in the U.S.

Why then did King, the mind behind twisted and horrific stories like Misery, It and Pet Cemetery, decide to let this book fall out of print? The answer can be traced back to Dec. 1, 1997, at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky. Fourteen-year-old Michael Carneal brought three guns to school and opened fire on a group of students standing in a prayer circle. Three were killed and five were injured, with one unable to walk again. According to a local report, Carneal then dropped his weapon and surrendered to the school principal.

Police would later discover a copy of Rage in Carneals locker. It was the fourth school gun violence incident in which the authorities found the gunman had been exposed to, and possibly influenced by, the now out-of-print King novel.

In 1996, 14-year-old Barry Dale Loukaitis killed his algebra teacher and two students before being disarmed by a faculty member he tried to take hostage at Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Wash. He allegedly claimed that he was inspired by Rage and modeled his life after Charlie Decker.

In 1989, 17-year-old Dustin Pierce took a classroom of 11 students hostage at gunpoint in Jackson County High School in McKee, Kentucky while reportedly trying to recreate the plot of Rage. After a nine-hour standoff, he surrendered to police.

In 1987, Jeffrey Lyne Cox held 60 classmates at gunpoint at San Gabriel High School in California before being disarmed by some of the students. He was known to have read Rage multiple times The Los Angeles Times reported.

Shortly after the 1998 incident, King is said to have called his publisher to demand the book be taken out of print. The publisher reportedly agreed.

King did not immediately respond to Fox News request to discuss the book. However, shortly after the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, King published a 25-page nonfiction essay titled Guns in which he explained his reasoning for pulling the novel.

It took more than one slim novel to cause (the shooters) to do what they did. These were unhappy boys with deep psychological problems, boys who were bullied at school and bruised at home by parental neglect or outright abuse, he wrote in Guns, (via USA Today). My book did not break (them) or turn them into killers; they found something in my book that spoke to them because they were already broken. Yet I did see Rage as a possible accelerant which is why I pulled it from sale. You dont leave a can of gasoline where a boy with firebug tendencies can lay hands on it.

The author, now 70 years old, went on to explain that he felt no legal pressure to pull the book, only a moral obligation that he extended to his fellow gun owners.

I was protected under the First Amendment, and the law couldn't demand it. I pulled it because in my judgment it might be hurting people, and that made it the responsible thing to do, he wrote. Assault weapons will remain readily available to crazy people until the powerful pro-gun forces in this country decide to do a similar turnaround. They must accept responsibility, recognizing that responsibility is not the same as culpability."

Today, Rage is only available to those with deep pockets and an even deeper curiosity  something King continues to support. Despite a library of stories based on fictitious murder and macabre plots, King is willing to let Rage, which happens to be one of his earliest works, rest in peace for fear that it will cause real-life murder and violence if made available again.The basic origin story of Coca-Cola is fairly common knowledge by this point: It was invented as a patent medicine by an Atlanta pharmacist named John Pemberton, and once contained actual cocaine.

But most peoples knowledge stops there; most dont know, for example, that Pemberton died less than two years after inventing the drink, and shortly before his death, sick and in debt, he sold the rights to the formula to a businessman named Asa Candler. It was Candler who founded the Coca-Cola Company and turned the drink into the phenomenon it is today due to aggressive and trailblazing marketing and advertising tactics, and it made him incredibly wealthy.

Coca-Cola has had a lot of ups and downs over the years (punctuated by ongoing cola wars between it and Pepsi), and as each generation comes of age, the company always seems to find a creative way to market Coke to them; from Its the Real Thing for the boomers to Share a Coke for millennials, the Coke folks keep the product fresh and relevant, without changing its core formula (because we all know how that went last time).

So lets raise a glass of that sweet, brown, fizzy soft drink, and learn all about the long, strange trip Cokes been on.

1. It was created as an alternative to morphine

After being wounded in the Civil War, former Confederate Colonel John Pemberton developed an addiction to morphine. He set out in search of an opium-free substitute, and the end result, which he developed at his drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, served as the prototype for Coca-Colas recipe; he called it a brain tonic and intellectual beverage.

2. It was derived from two key ingredients

The name Coca-Cola is derived from two primary ingredients: the coca leaf and the kola nut. Extract of the coca leaf was essentially cocaine, and the kola nut provided caffeine.

3. It was originally alcoholic

Pembertons original Coca-Cola formula, registered in 1885, added a third intoxicant to the party: alcohol. Coca-Cola was originally developed as a coca wine, which was first created in France in the 1860s; the leading brand, Vin Mariani, was a mixture of cocaine and wine, and counted Queen Victoria, Thomas Edison, and Ulysses S. Grant among its fans.

4. It originally contained 9 milligrams of cocaine per glass

The wine was removed from the formula after Atlanta passed prohibition legislation in 1886, leaving just the coca and kola. In Pembertons original recipe, he called for 5 ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, making it a serious intoxicant. Before the cocaine was phased out beginning in 1903, it was estimated that each glass of Coke contained about 9 milligrams of cocaine; by comparison, the average line of cocaine equals about 50 milligrams. So drinking a glass of cocaine-laced Coke wouldnt have necessarily turned you into Rick James, but youd have certainly felt a little pep in your step.

5. It still contains coca leaf extract

In 1988, the New York Times discovered that Coca-Cola still contained non-narcotic coca leaf extract produced by the Stepan Company, the nations only legal commercial importer of coca leaves. ''Ingredients from the coca leaf are used, but there is no cocaine in it and it is all tightly overseen by regulatory authorities,'' a Coca-Cola spokesperson confirmed to the paper. No word on whether it still contains kola nuts, but we wouldnt be too surprised!

6. The formula is locked in a vault

Just like Colonel Sanders 11 herbs and spices, the exact formula for modern Coca-Cola is locked away in a vault; you can visit it at Atlantas World of Coca-Cola. Only two employees know the exact formula, and theyre not allowed to travel together.

7. Several old recipes are available

Just because the formula is locked in a vault doesnt mean that alternate recipes arent floating around out there; one was written down by John Pemberton himself shortly before his sudden death in 1888. All of those existing unofficial recipes share a common thread, however: they reveal that Coca-Colas primary flavoring comes from orange, cinnamon, lemon, coriander, nutmeg, neroli (bitter orange blossom), and possibly lime and vanilla. Try to pick out those flavors the next time you have a Coke!

8. It stayed the same price from 1886 to 1959

From the time it was first released up through the Atomic Age, the price of a glass of Coke stayed constant, at five cents a pop. When you think about everything the country went through during those years, its a pretty amazing feat!

9. The logo was modeled after formal handwriting

If you were around in the late 1880s and saw Cokes logo for the first time, you would have immediately recognized it: Called Spencerian script, it was the primary form of formal handwriting (for invitations, business correspondence, formal letters, etc.) of the era, before the typewriter came along, and was taught to most children. It was in common use from around 1850 to 1925, and can also be found in the Ford Motor Companys logo.

10. The bottle was modeled after the cocoa pod

In 1915, employees of Indianas Root Glass Company were tasked with creating an instantly recognizable bottle for Coca-Cola. They wanted to base it on the shape of either the coca leaf or kola nut, but because they didnt know what they looked like, and couldnt find any photos or illustrations of them at the local library, they instead went with the cocoa pod for inspiration. This bottle shape, called the contour bottle, became standard in 1920.

Read more little known facts about Coca-Cola in The Daily Meal.The former manager of a California Chipotle Mexican Grill who was accused of stealing more than $600 was awarded nearly $8 million for wrongful termination Thursday.

Jeanette Ortiz was accused in 2015 of stealing $626 in cash from a safe at the Fresno restaurant. Ortizs bosses claimed the theft was caught on camera, but she was never shown the video because her bosses told her the evidence had been destroyed.

Ortiz filed a wrongful termination suit after she was let go. A California jury ordered the restaurant to pay Ortiz $7.97 million in damages, according to the Fresno Bee.

The jury ruled Ortiz was a victim of a scheme to defame her for filing a workers compensation claim for a job-related wrist injury caused by carpal tunnel syndrome, the newspaper reported.

The jury deliberated for about four hours before a verdict was reached. Jurors awarded Ortiz $6 million for emotional distress and $1.97 million for loss of wages, according to the Bee.

A Chipotle spokeswoman declined to comment on the panels decision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A woman was arrested Friday night after verbally and physically assaulting staff during a drunken tantrum at a KFC restaurant in Australia.

The unidentified woman was recorded by another customer, Andrew Moschakis, at the Adelaide KFC around 9:30 pm Friday.

BURGER KING MANAGER FILMED SCREAMING AT CUSTOMER FOR TAKING TOO LONG TO ORDER

Moschakis said the woman was trying to pay for her order via bank transfer because she did not have cash or card on hand, news.com.au reported.

Then she got very aggravated and started screaming and yelling, he said to news.com.au.

In the recording the woman is seen picking up EFTPOS machines and whipping them at KFC employees and at the menu monitors -- one of which she hits -- all while screaming curse words and insults.

"That almost got you," the woman says after one of the EFTPOS machines seemingly comes close to a staff member.

After the video stops, Moschakis told news.com.au that the woman grabbed a 24-pack of 7Up cans that were on the counter and threw those as well.

Then two guys came, they said they were from the store across the road, they both pinned her down until four to five police on horses came and put her in cuffs, he told the news outlet. There was no calming her down. She was psychotic.

According to Newshub, KFC employees fled to the kitchen and placed the call to police.

When police arrived and arrested the young woman, she allegedly spat at the officers, the Daily Mail reported.

The woman was reportedly charged with disorderly conduct, property damage, two counts of assault and two aggravated counts of assaulting police.

No one was injured during the womans drunken rampage.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Later, the woman took to social media to apologize, Newshub reported.

"Alcohol is a drug and its [sic] time for me to make a change and go back to the gentle girl that was once me," she shared on her Facebook page, according to the publication. Life hasnt [sic] been an easy one and we all make mistakes nows [sic] my opportunity to turn it around and make the best life and best me I can.A restaurant in California is making waves for its firm stance on children: Those crying or making loud noises are not allowed in the dining room.

Old Fishermans Grotto in Monterey has been in business since 1950 and is known for its quiet dining atmosphere, owner Chris Shake says. However, to ensure that the fine-dining establishment stays that way, the Grotto posted a sign outside the restaurant.

The sign reads, No strollers, no high chairs, no booster chairs. Children crying or making loud noises are a distraction to other diners, and as such are not allowed in the dining room.

FAMILY HORRIFIED BY POLITE NOTICE RESTAURANT STAFF HANDS OUT

Though Shake points out the policy  and the sign  have been in place for years, it has recently been gaining attention because of a posting on social media.

"Whoa. Ive never seen this before. Im canceling my reservation at the restaurant after seeing this picture on Yelp  and I will not even have my toddler, Angela Espinoza wrote in a Facebook group for Bay Area moms, Fox 11 reported.

On Yelp, the restaurant has pulled mixed reviews, with some criticizing the move as discriminatory" and others praising the restaurant for its strong stance.

No kids sign I saw is the sole reason this should be 0 [stars]. I don't care if the owners do charity and give to the community. People seem to think charity gives them an excuse to do whatever they want  it's quite two faced to be discriminatory while pretending you're actually a bedrock of the community. Wish I had noticed this sign earlier bc I never would have spent $ here, one reviewer wrote on Yelp.

At one point, another waitress told us people were complaining about our kids and could they be quiet. I've never been told to hush my kids before. When I made a comment to the waitress she told me there was a sign outside with rules for children... They are apparently not joking. She was not just unapologetic but incredibly rude about the whole incident," another customer wrote.

Many, however, are in favor of the bold policy.

I support your child-free/no screaming kids policy! The irony of these self-centered parents complaining is that THEY are the reason this exists in the first place. EVERYONE is tired of having their meal ruined by a screaming kid and apathetic, inconsiderate, indignant parents who refuse to do anything about it, one wrote on Yelp.

Another Yelp user wrote, No strollers, no boosters, no high chairs. This is what got me to go into this restaurant! Just the thought that I would be able to have a peaceful meal with no kids yelling, sometimes it's needed. In all seriousness people need to not get so hurt by this. There was (sic) definitely kids inside the restaurant when we dined in."

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Shake, who is unapologetic about the rules for children, told Fox 11 it actually helps his business and points out that its not anti-children.

"We have many families who dine with us with their children who are well-behaved and understand our policy with respect to other diners. What we have found on those who write negative reviews about our policy are those who have not dined here but become offended by the sign and our policy," he said.

Shake also said the sign is not discriminatory to anyone and consulted with an attorney when drafting it to ensure the language was appropriate.First lady Melania Trump is recovering from an embolization procedure that she underwent Monday to treat a benign kidney condition, the White House announced  just minutes after word of former Sen. Harry Reid's operation to treat his pancreatic cancer spread.

Mrs. Trump, 48, likely will remain under observation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for the duration of the week, communications director Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

The news of Mrs. Trump's hospitalization came as a shock, as many Americans were unaware she had a kidney condition. The day before, she was wishing everyone a "Happy Mother's Day" on Twitter.

"Oh wow, I had no idea she had health issues," one Twitter user commented.

"Something doesn't add up. They are keeping her all week? Women go home hours after a hysterectomy and giving birth. Praying it's nothing more serious and just precautionary," another added.

Here's what you need to know, as the first lady continues recovering at Walter Reed this week.

What is an 'embolization procedure'?

Embolization procedures are performed to cut off blood supply to a tumor, aneurysm or abnormal growth, typically growing in the kidney or liver, to shrink the foreign mass.

"In this procedure, an interventional radiologist uses imaging guidance to insert a catheter into a primary artery and advance it to blood vessel leading to a tumor or other area where the bloody supply needs to be blocked," Cancer Treatment Centers of America explains in a post on its website.

Since the surgery is non-invasive, recovery time tends to be quick. Patients are usually monitored for about 2 hours after the procedure. If vital signs are strong and patients can walk down a long hall with a nurse successfully, then they're generally discharged that same day, according to Northwestern Medicine.

"Kidney embolization procedures are generally well tolerated," John Friedewald, M.D., medical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, told Women's Health on Monday, adding that it causes only minor side effects such as fever, pain or bleeding at the injection spot.

What is a benign kidney condition?

When an abnormal mass is "benign," that means it's non-cancerous and contained, meaning it won't spread to the rest of the body. It's unclear whether Mrs. Trump had a benign tumor (angiomyolipoma), cyst or other unusual growth  but, as the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) points out, a "simple kidney cyst" is the most common benign kidney condition.

"A simple cyst is a round or oval fluid-filled sac. One or more cysts can develop in a kidney," the CCS explains, adding that it's most common in adults 50 years or older.

It's actually pretty hard to identify a kidney condition, experts say.

"Most kidney masses... are discovered incidentally - meaning that they are found by chance during radiologic studies obtained for an unrelated medical condition," the Mayo Clinic says.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

With North Korea dominating the headlines out of Asia, not enough attention is being paid to major developments dealing with the South China Sea  the major cause of tensions in the larger Indo-Pacific region before North Korea started testing its long-range missiles and nuclear explosives.

China recently placed advanced anti-ship missiles and air-defense batteries on islands it has built in the South China Sea  yes, China has built its own islands from almost nothing, using some of the worlds most advanced dredging technology.

The Chinese are moving quickly to dominate this critical body of water and do what no nation has done since the age of sailing ships: successfully claim water as territory.

The stakes could not be any higher. Just a cursory look at any map of Asia and one quickly realizes that whoever dominates the South China Sea dominates East Asia  largely negating Washingtons own role in the region.

Nations like Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and others are dependent on the South China Seas vital sea routes  which carry one-third of global shipping  to power their economies and deliver vital fish, finished food products and oil supplies to their populations.

There are also potentially trillions of dollars of oil, natural gas and mineral deposits beneath the South China Sea, waiting like buried treasure to be brought to the surface.

All of this explains Chinas brazen attempt  using expansive claims in maps, passports, military exercises, the subsidizing of massive fishing fleets and a powerful non-naval maritime militia  to dominate the South China Sea, which must be considered the beating heart of Asia.

In fact, Beijings new islands and their militarization are part of a slick strategy to dominate this near sea and all of the waters around China  turning them into what some are calling a no-man's land for U.S. naval vessels and aircraft.

Known to Western analysts as anti-access/area-denial, or A2/AD, Beijing has leveraged the combined strength of its ultra-quiet submarines, over 80,000 sea mines (the worlds largest inventory), air-defense platforms, undersea tracking systems and cruise missiles.

China is sending a clear message to the U.S. and other nations traveling through the South China Sea: come too close to the Chinese coast, Chinese-claimed territory, or even Taiwan with military assets and you could pay a big price.

And that is just Step One of Chinas plan. In fact, Beijing has acquired even more advanced military assets that  if deployed in the South China Sea  would be very difficult to stop in a regional conflict, unless America and its allies were willing to pay a heavy price.

The first of these advanced military assets is what has been called a carrier-killer missile, or the DF-21D, a mobile missile that terrifies U.S. naval planners. When launched, the missile is guided using advanced radar, satellites and possibly even a drone.

Various reports indicate this missile has a maneuverable warhead that is potentially capable of defeating missile-defense systems. The missile slams down on its target at 10 times the speed of sound or faster. Even more frightening, the missile can attack naval vessels 900 miles away, ensuring China can launch an attack on a U.S. aircraft carrier long before the carriers short-range fighter jets can strike.

Additional advanced military assets China possesses include newly acquired S-400 air-defense batteries and the long-range Su-35 fighter jet  both recently purchased from Russia. Placing these in the South China Sea would allow China to patrol and defend large sections of this area from above the waves, giving Beijing a massive home-field advantage that would be tough to overcome.

While China only has limited quantities of these advanced Russian arms now, it has an amazing track record of reverse engineering almost any technology it has bought from Moscow. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before these weapons platforms will be placed all over the South China Sea and the Chinese coastline.

So far, besides promising catch phrases and grandiose policy plans that could be hard to operationalize, the Trump administrations strategy to deal with the South China Sea challenge seems to be nearly the same as the Obama administrations.

This involves taking U.S. naval vessels and sailing them close to the islands China has built, all in an effort to prove we do not recognize any of its expansive claims. These are called freedom of navigation operations.

Unfortunately for Washington, while such actions show some sort of response, they do nothing to slow Chinas assault on the status quo. As U.S. ships simply sail around the South China Sea, Beijing presses ahead with installing more military hardware. Chinas islands and equipment are permanent, while Americas naval deployments are temporary and brief.

Now is the time for the Trump administration to begin to formulate a comprehensive strategy to push back against Chinas claims. Washington should partner with South China Sea nations to formulate a means to counter China, short of military conflict.

Back in 2016, I offered a multi-part strategy that Washington could use to slow or even halt Beijings actions. One part of that strategy is something I have named shamefare. The U.S. and other nations could use this to fully expose Chinas methods of coercion.

The goal of shamefare would be straightforward: to put China on the defensive and shame it in the media by using extensive documentation to show how China is taking over the South China Sea.

America and other nations could use social media and traditional media to distribute videos and photos of the areas the Chinese are slowly dominating. This stands a chance, when combined with other methods, to make Beijing pay a heavy and near constant price.

Considering the Trump administrations clear focus on all things Asia  trade, North Korea and even a new interest in Taiwan  at the moment, Washington cannot allow China to simply dominate and effectively turn the South China Sea into a Chinese lake that extends its territory.

If that happens, Washingtons credibility throughout Asia would be undermined dramatically, to the point where nations around the region seek accommodation with China, allowing Beijing to slowly but surely dominate all of Asia  and see the U.S. pushed out.

We simply cannot allow that to happen.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Trump announced on Friday a set of measurespart of a comprehensive plan called American Patients Firstdesigned to address drug pricing and the pharmaceutical industry more broadly.

This speech follows up on a major campaign promise by Trump to lower the prices of prescription drugsa goal shared even by Democratic candidates including Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

President Trump in his speech made bold claims about the magnitude of this proposal, saying, We are launching the most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people.

Indeed, it is important and encouraging that President Trump is finally taking action on this issue, and many of his proposals will provide substantial benefits to everyone.

In Trumps announcement speech, he focused on the mismatch of drug prices in the United States and abroad, pointing out that customers in other countries pay much less for certain medication than American patients.

The vital core of Medicare Part D relies on its noninterference clause, allowing health care providers to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers, keeping Washington out of pharmacies and maintaining affordable drug prices for patients and must be protected even as the program grows and changes.

But he also highlighted certain elements of domestic health care policy that could be improved. In particular, two of the most important ideas Trump has produced are changes to Medicare Part D.

One of these suggestions is to require that plans under Medicare Part D share savings from drug rebates with patients directly. As it stands, Medicare Part D entails significant discounts from pharmaceutical companies, but it is rare that these discounts end up back in the pockets of patients.

While these specific changes may be beneficial, it is vital to preserve the core of Medicare Part D in general.

Around 70 percent of Medicare enrollees have a supplemental plan like Part D and the vast majority are happy with it: according to Medicare Todays Senior Satisfaction Survey, 88 percent of seniors are satisfied with their Part D plans.

As former Congressman Joe Pitts, R-Penn., explained in a 2014 hearing, the success of Medicare Part D is reliant on free market competition as it allows private health care companies to compete to provide the best plans and products to consumers. It is essential to continue to foster competition, and moving more drugs to coverage under Part D would allow this to happen and would further encourage enrollees to choose plans that work for them.

While lawmakers continue to shape health care policy, it is important to both change what doesnt work and keep what does. Accordingly, Trump and Congress must be sure to preserve the elements of Medicare Part D that have made it successful.

In particular, Part D relies on its noninterference clause, allowing health care providers to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers free from the influence of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This is the vital core of the program, keeping Washington out of pharmacies and maintaining affordable drug prices for patients, and must be protected even as the program grows and changes.

It is positive that the president is following through on his promises to re-examine and redefine parts of the health care system. But as he and his team do this, they must not lose sight of already successful programs like Medicare Part D and should seek to strengthen and expand these programs to benefit even more Americans.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

With apologies to an old bread commercial, you dont have to be Jewish to marvel at what is happening in Israel. And to be nervous.

The ancient land is bracing for both historic celebrations and escalating Arab violence. Throw in the possibility there will be more Iranian rocket attacks and the week ahead is shaping up as an extreme metaphor for the good, the bad and the ugly of Israels modern existence.

Monday brings the belated fulfillment of an old promise  that the United States would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Trumps decision makes good on his campaign pledge, and shames prior presidents who made the same pledge but went wobbly when they got to the White House.

Trumps recognition that Jerusalem is Israels capital confirmed a reality widely understood by both Arabs and Jews but that foreign governments denied out of fear that acknowledging the truth would spark Palestinian violence. As if the bomb makers and knife wielders needed an excuse.

To continue reading Michael Goodwin on The New York Post click here.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

On May 14, 1948, just after a provisional government proclaimed the new State of Israel, President Truman said: This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.

In that moment, the United States made history as the first nation to recognize the legitimacy of the new Jewish state. And now, 70 years later, the U.S. is making history again as our great nation will legitimize the State of Israel, our ally and friend, by moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israels eternal capital.

American evangelicals are responding: Its about time.

Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is a promise that was made to the American people and Israel in 1995, when Congress voted almost unanimously to locate our embassy in the capital of the Jewish state, just as we do in every other nation in the world.

Monday  the 70th anniversary of U.S. recognition of Israel  will be an historic moment. We are thankful to President Trump for making good on a promise that his predecessors chose to ignore. I am honored to represent Concerned Women for America supporters as I attend this historic event.

While the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is a game-changer on the world stage, it is uniquely important to American Christians.

Although imperfect, like any nation, Israel is a representation in the Middle East of the ideals and principles that we hold dear as Christians. It is much more than a political performance; it is about giving Israel the respect it deserves as a nation that is dedicated to democratic ideals.

The United States is making history with this embassy move. Once again, we hope to see others around the world do the right thing and follow our lead.

Israel stands for human rights. Israel cares for the least of these. Israel is inclusive. Every Israeli is supported and represented, regardless of whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Christian, male or female, young or old.

Women have been an integral part of the modern State of Israel since its beginning. Golda Meir, the original Iron Lady, served as minister of labor and foreign minister before becoming Israels prime minister in 1969. She was Israels fourth prime minister and the third female prime minister in the world, and she led Israel during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Israel has always prioritized diversity within the Knesset, its 120-member unicameral parliament. Women and minorities  including Arabs and Druze  have been represented in the Knesset since its inception. Today 33 members of the Knesset are women and 18 members are Arabs.

The Israeli people have proven their dedication to upholding justice and always working towards improvement.

After the fall of the Soviet Union Israel became a destination country for trafficked women, and prostitution became a prominent issue. Because of this, in 2001 Israel was ranked as a Tier 3 country for human trafficking on the U.S. State Departments Trafficking in Persons Report  the worst possible ranking.

The Israeli government took definitive action against sex traffickers, working to protect women and children and bring criminals to justice. For six years in a row, Israel has been ranked a Tier 1 nation in its efforts to combat human trafficking, signaling its success in fighting this grave injustice.

Although it receives little recognition on the global stage, Israel continues to go above and beyond in its service to the world. Last summer, Israel unveiled Operation Good Neighbor, the secret operation it had been conducting in Syria to keep starvation away from thousands of Syrians while also providing free medical care. The Good Neighbor is an appropriate name for Israel.

Since its beginning as a small nation in the midst of the Middle East, Israel has been committed to wide-reaching humanitarian relief and global development. Despite animosity from much of the world, it continues to always be a helping hand, often providing the first responders to natural disasters  whether they be earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, or Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

In 2016 the United Nations World Health Organization recognized the Israeli Armys field hospital as number one in the world. The U.N. has been known for having a negative attitude towards Israel, but it could not ignore the humanitarian efforts of Israel. The nations army field hospital is regularly sent abroad to provide aid at natural disaster sites.

The United States is making history with this embassy move. Once again, we hope to see others around the world do the right thing and follow our lead.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

In 1995, I had the privilege of working in the U.S. Senate on the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act (JERA) with a bipartisan group of colleagues, including Senate Majority Leader, Bob Dole of Kansas and Senator Pat Moynihan of New York.

Our bill found that Each sovereign nation, under international law and custom, may designate its own capital, and Since 1950, the City of Jerusalem has been the capital of the State of Israel. In fact, at the time, Israel  a fellow democracy and one of our closest allies in the world  was the only place in the world where we did not locate our embassy in the city designated by the host country as its capital.

Our legislation aimed to eliminate that inequity by mandating that Jerusalem should be recognized (by the U.S.) as the capital of the State of Israel and the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem. There was broad bipartisan support for the JERA in the Congress, but not in the administration. Part of the reason for that opposition was the traditional struggle for influence over foreign policy between Congress and the president. But more was about the particular historical moment.

Two years earlier in September 1993, the so-called Declaration of Principles of Interim Self-Government (also known as the Oslo Accords) was signed at the White House by Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat. It laid out a timetable for the resolution of final status issues including Jerusalem. Hopes were high then for a permanent two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. People who argued against the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act said that it would diminish or extinguish those hopes by determining the status of Jerusalem.

We supporters of JERA said that was clearly not true, that our legislation would not affect the implementation of the Oslo Accords at all but simply treat Israel like every other country in the world and respect its right to designate its own capital. In fact, the United States already owned a piece of land in West Jerusalem on which we intended to eventually build our embassy, and that piece of land had been part of Israel since its re-establishment in 1948. Unless one thought that a two-state solution would involve Israel ceding sovereignty over land in Jerusalem that had been Israeli since 1948, which no one did, there was no way the Jerusalem Embassy Act would affect final status negotiations pursuant to the Oslo Accords. In fact, we argued in Congress, that moving our embassy to Jerusalem could ease the way to a two-state solution by giving Israel the confidence that the peace process, which we supported, would not result in Israels right to its historic capital being diminished.

There is a larger lesson to be learned from this story. America remains the strongest nation in the world and should never hesitate to make important foreign policy decisions that we believe are consistent with our national values and interests.

Nevertheless, the Clinton administration said that a premature focus on Jerusalem could undermine negotiations and complicate the chances for peace, so President Clinton would veto the legislation.

To avoid that veto, a compromise was agreed upon that was practical and lead to enactment but was not based on reality or principle. A new section was added to our legislation which enabled the president and his successors to suspend the law from becoming effective every six months if he determined that such suspension was necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States.

That amended legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 93-5 and the House, 374-37. President Clinton still refused to sign the law but let it go into effect without his signature ten days later, as is provided by law. At the time, the president said the act could hinder the peace process. I will not let that happen and will use the legislations waiver authority to avoid damage to the peace process.

That is exactly what President Clinton and his successors, Presidents Bush and Obama, did repeatedly over the next 22 years, until December 6, 2017 when President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and ordered that the American Embassy be relocated to that capital. On February 23 of this year, President Trump announced that our Embassy would open in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, to coincide with the 70th Anniversary of Israels Declaration of Independence.

In the Arab world, concerns have been expressed but the focus of the Arab world is, like Israel, on the great threat from Iran. It is true that hopes for the peace process are much lower today than they were in 1995, even though the Trump administration correctly continues to work for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In sum, when President Trump finally implemented the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 1995, the sky  as far as we know  did not fall, as so many had long predicted.

There is a larger lesson to be learned from this story. America remains the strongest nation in the world and should never hesitate to make important foreign policy decisions that we believe are consistent with our national values and interests, because of predictions by others of the worst possible reaction to those decisions. Otherwise, we are likely to diminish our national strength and compromise our national values and interests.

That lesson is worth remembering in a number of other foreign policy decisions President Trump has made or will soon make, including pulling the U.S. out of the Iran Nuclear Agreement and negotiating with North Korea.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

I was grateful for the White House invitation to witness the historic opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Truth be told, I believe that every Jew in attendance was thinking of a father, a grandmother, a sibling wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust or any of the millions of Jews, who over two millennia were scattered to the four winds of exileand on whose shoulders we stand today. For it was they, from Baghdad to Moscow, from New Delhi to New York, from Warsaw to Waukegan who down through the centuries--against all odds-- dared to dream that someday, somehow, their offspring would return home to Zion, to Jerusalem.

From abandonment to validation

For over 1,900 years Jews in exile lived with the bitter bile of abandonment, bereft of rights, subject to the whims of rulers, demonized by religious authorities and derided by neighbors for being different.

The ultimate abandonment came with the Nazi Holocaust in the 1940s with the destruction of European Jewry. In fact, it was the Wests abandonment of Jews in the 1930s that sealed their fate long before the Nazis mass-murdered 6 million of our peopleone third of world Jewry.

Validation

So how was possible that less than three years after Auschwitz, that the Jewish nation was (re)born?

It was in large measure because of one man who bucked the advice of diplomats and pundits to support a Jewish state President Harry S. Truman.

Watching the video in Jerusalem of President Donald Trumps speech from the White House, I kept thinking about the similar challenges both presidents faced when it came to U.S. policy in The Holy Land.

Truman, who never expected to be the vice president in 1944, let alone could have imagined that he would soon be president of the United States, had zero experience in foreign policy.

Once he became president he would rely heavily on Secretary of State George Marshall, a World War II hero who would go on to win the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for The Marshall Plan that rebuilt a Europe shattered by war.

Marshall was bitterly opposed to a Jewish state. He was more concerned about having an uninterrupted supply of Arab oil than a people devastated by war and was convinced that the Jews couldn't withstand an Arab military onslaught.

Marshalls opposition was buttressed by virtually the entire State Department. At one point Marshall even threatened Truman that he would oppose the presidents reelection.

No matter, Give em Hell Harry -- with a push from his Jewish buddy and partner Eddie Jacobsondecided to override the experts and actively support the Jewish peoples quest for freedom.

On November 29, 1947, he instructed the U.S. to vote for statehood at the United Nations. A few months later, Truman decided that the U.S. would be the first nation to recognize the State of Israel, just 11 minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared the Jewish State.

Through his actions Truman not only changed history, he validated a people who had been left for dead.

Today the Jewish state is alive-- a vibrant democracy and a font of ingenuity and creativity. But it is a nation still under siegethreatened by over 100,000 Hezbollah and Hamas missiles, terror tunnels and Iranian nuclear-tinged saber rattling.

Israel also faces a relentless asymmetrical war of demonization and delegitimization. From U.N. resolutions to church groups to academic assaults to global boycotts to social media campaigns, Zionists are denounced as racists and Israelis as Nazis, latter-day colonialists, interlopers and even fake Jews.

Enter Donald Trump. With the stroke of a pen, he validated 3,500 years of Jewish history by opening the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, debunking the global smear campaign against the Jewish State.

His decision will also have an impact on Christian-Jewish relations. My grandparents fled Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century primarily because of theologically-fueled hatred from Christian churches and clergy.

They would have been shocked to see the hundreds of Christian Zionists who sat shoulder to shoulder with American and Israeli Jews at the embassy opening on Monday. And they would have been amazed to learn it was American Christians, led by a few million Evangelicals, who consistently reminded President Trump about candidate Trumps promise to do right by Israel.

Unlike his predecessors who never lived up to their campaign promises -- Trump just did. His place in history and in the annals of the people of Israel are secured forever.Former Vice President Dick Cheney shared in a new interview his support for Gina Haspel, President Trump's choice to run the CIA, and said the "enhanced interrogation" techniques the agency used were not torture.

Speaking to Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo in an interview that aired Sunday, Cheney said the techniques, such as waterboarding, helped aid in the capture of Usama bin Laden in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

9/11 ALLEGED MASTERMIND COMES OUT AGAINST HASPEL'S NOMINATION AS NEXT CIA CHIEF

Critics point to a United Nations convention, signed by the U.S., which defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted."

"Waterboarding was applied actually to only three individuals  one of those was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11," the former vice president said on "Sunday Morning Futures," noting that a classified report called Mohammed a "preeminent source" of information on Al Qaeda.

"He's the guy who got waterboarded more than anybody else," he said. "I think what we did helped ultimately produce the intelligence we needed to be able to get bin Laden."

Cheney, who said he's "not one of those people that calls it torture," added: "I supported it wholeheartedly, I still do to this day."

Under questioning Wednesday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Haspel said she would not permit the CIA to restart the harsh interrogation program it previously ran, adding that she didn't "believe that torture works."

Cheney, for his part, said that if it were his choice, he "would not discontinue those programs. I'd have them active and ready to go, and I'd go back and study them and learn."

Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Israel's government prepared enthusiastically Sunday for the formal opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with a gala party at its Foreign Ministry that included President Trump's daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and other American VIPs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told revelers that Trump's December declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital was "the right thing to do."

Netanyahu said, "Thank you, President Trump, for your bold decision. Thank you for making the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever."

The prime minister said Trump's decision recognized a 3,000-year Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the "truth" that Jerusalem would be Israel's capital under any future peace deal.

"It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time," he said.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump sat in the front row near Netanyahu during the ceremony but did not speak. Netanyahu called their presence a "national and international statement" that "touches our hearts."

Although Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has been perceived by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israel's side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow the U.S. lead. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

In a reflection of the deep sensitivities, dozens of countries  including Britain, France and Germany  skipped Sunday night's celebration.

Meanwhile, Israel said it had bolster its forces on the border with the Gaza Strip ahead of mass protests expected to draw tens of thousands of people. The mobilization includes combat battalions, special units, intelligence forces and snipers. Israeli warplanes also dropped leaflets in Gaza, urging residents to stay far from the fence.

"You deserve a better government. You deserve a better future," the leaflets said. "Do not approach the security fence nor participate in the Hamas display that is putting you in risk."

Israel has accused Hamas of using the unrest to carry out attacks. Marchers have thrown stones and burned tires at the fence and flown flaming kites over it to try to set Israeli fields on fire.

On Friday, a Palestinian crowd attacked the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza, disrupting shipments of cooking fuel, gasoline and building materials, and causing millions of dollars in damage. Israeli officials said it could take weeks or months to repair the crossing.

"Unfortunately, the crossing is closed today and will remain closed until the foreseeable future due to severe damage caused by Palestinian rioters," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman. "It is still unclear how long it will take to fix and replace the necessary parts."

A high-ranking delegation of Gaza's Hamas rulers headed Sunday to Egypt, amid diplomatic efforts aimed at containing the mass rally. But one of the Hamas participants, Khalil al-Hayya, said there were no breakthroughs and the march would go on as planned Monday.

The army said it also was reinforcing its troops in the West Bank with several combat battalions and intelligence units in case of possible unrest there as well.

Sunday marked what Israel calls "Jerusalem Day," the 51st anniversary of the annexation of east Jerusalem  home to the city's most sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites  during the 1967 Six-Day War.

In an annual ritual, tens of thousands of Israelis marched through Jerusalem's Old City to mark the day. Many sang, danced and waved Israeli flags.

Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet that there would be a "series of decisions" to build up Jerusalem, including its contested eastern sector. Shortly after, the government approved construction of a $57 million cable car system that will link west Jerusalem to the Old City.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump tweeted Sunday night, Changes to our thought process on terror must be made, following the latest attack linked to the Islamic State in France after less than two months of calm.

At some point countries will have to open their eyes & see what is really going on. This kind of sickness & hatred is not compatible with a loving, peaceful, & successful country! Trump wrote.

A 20-year-old Frenchman born in Chechnya rampaged through a festive Paris neighborhood Saturday evening slashing passers-by with a knife, investigators said. The man, identified as Khamzat Azimov, killed one person and wounded four others in a festive area near Paris old opera house. Police shot him to death as he charged them, witnesses said.

ISIS quickly claimed responsibility for the Saturday night attack via its Amaq news agency, saying Azimov was a soldier of the terror group.

In a video before the attacks, as Fox News reported, Azimov apparently called on ISIS supporters living in the West to immigrate to the groups so-called caliphate, or else carry out attacks locally.

They have closed the doors of immigration in our faces, so lets strike them in the center of their homes, the man said in French, adding, We are on the truth ... despite the alliance of all these unbelievers against us, they will not fulfill their goal.

Trump often has made the case that Europe ought to respond more to terrorism like the U.S. does.

In early May to the National Rifle Association, Trump claimed that gun-toting Parisians could have thwarted Islamic State attackers at Paris Bataclan concert hall.

Trump sparked controversy as some in France took offense at his "trigger-firing" hand gesture imitating the Bataclan attackers. Multiple extremists with explosive belts and assault weapons killed 130 people in the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan, Paris cafes and the national stadium.

Laying out his case for dropping the Iran nuclear deal, Trump contended, "If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the worlds leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the worlds most dangerous weapons."

Along those lines, Trump is set to host NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House Thursday to discuss NATOs role in the international fight against terrorism.

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron professed a sunny, best-friends relationship, telling Trump that together the U.S. and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran, and act together on behalf of the planet.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would lend a hand in the Paris investigation.

The French authorities with all the intelligence help the United States can provide will do our best to unpack this in the coming hours, Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday.

In a statement released Sunday evening, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders added: Acts like this only strengthen the resolve of the global coalition to defeat ISIS and drive it out of existence.

Fox News' Chris Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Maryland Democrat running for Congress decried the lack of female doctors in the House and promised to tackle widespread "mansplaining" on healthcare if elected.

Nadia Hashimi, a pediatrician and author, is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination to replace Rep. John Delaney, D-Md. Delaney is leaving his seat to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

In her first official 30-second ad announcing her campaign for Maryland's 6th District, Hashimi says Congress has "too many multimillionaires and politicians mansplaining health care."

Is there a female doctor in the house? the ad's narrator asks. The camera cuts to what is apparently her home. There is in this house. The ad then shows a picture of U.S. Capitol, with the narrator saying there are "zero female doctors in this house.

Hashimi said, if elected, she will protect Planned Parenthood, combat opioid addiction, ban assault weapons and fight for affordable healthcare and prescription drugs.

According to The Washington Post, Hashimi disclosed that she earned over $350,000 last year and has over $1 million in investments. Her husband, a neurosurgeon, earned over $680,000 last year.

She claimed her bid for U.S. Congress is different because she's not aligned with Big Pharma.

What were getting at are the kinds of people who are making decisions around health care who have corporate interests, which I dont have, she told the paper.

Hashimi will have to fight off seven other Democrats running for the seat. The winner of the June Democratic primary will then face one of the Republican candidates, which include Lisa Lloyd, a nurse practitioner. The seat is considered to be deep-blue as Rep. Delaney won the reelection in 2016 by a 16-point margin.First lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure Monday to treat a benign kidney condition, the White House announced.

Mrs. Trump was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will likely be in the hospital for the rest of the week, according to the first ladys communications director.

This morning, First Lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. The procedure was successful and there were no complications, the communications director, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement Monday. Mrs. Trump is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will likely remain there for the duration of the week. The First Lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere.

Grisham told Fox News that the first lady is doing well. Doing well. She did not say whether the procedure was previously scheduled, but Vice President Mike Pence said Monday night that the procedure was "long-planned."



As Pence opened a speech in Washington marking 70 years of Israeli independence, he told the audience that the procedure was not an emergency and that he was pleased to report that it was a "success and Melania is already on the mend."

President Trump visited the first lady at the hospital Monday afternoon. Before departing the White House, Trump tweeted that his wife was in "good spirits."

"Thank you to all of the well-wishers!" Trump added.

A White House official told Fox News that the president spoke with his wife before the procedure, and spoke with her doctor afterwards. Trump declined to speak with reporters when he arrived at the hospital.

The White House made the announcement less than an hour after former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's family said the lawmaker underwent cancer surgery earlier Monday. Doctors removed a tumor from his pancreas and the prognosis for his recovery is good, according to his family.

MELANIA'S KIDNEY CONDITION, 'EMBOLIZATION PROCEDURE' EXPLAINED

Last week, the first lady, whos 48, unveiled the Be Best campaign, which addresses the well-being of children, social media and opioid abuse.

We can and should be best at educating our children about the importance of a healthy and balanced life, the first lady said during a speech in the Rose Garden last week.

Last month, she took the lead in planning the first state dinner of the Trump administration, welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, to celebrate nearly 250 years of U.S.-French relations.

Fox News' Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is currently being treated for pancreatic cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The former Democratic senator from Nevada underwent surgery Monday to remove a tumor from his pancreas, Reid's family confirmed in a statement.

His doctors caught the problem early during a routine screening and his surgeons are confident that the surgery was a success and that the prognosis for his recovery is good," the statement adds.

Reid's family said he'll undergo chemoptherapy as part of his treatment. His surgery was successful and Reid was "in good spirits" and "resting" with his family afterward.

"He is grateful to his highly skilled team of doctors and to all who have sent and continue to send their love and support," his family adds.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he spoke with Reid's family after the operation.

"Spoken to family and it seems @SenatorReid's operation went well. We are all praying for dear Harrys speedy recovery," he tweeted Monday afternoon.

Reid retired from the Senate at the end of 2016 after a 30-year career in politics. He announced that he would not seek re-election in March 2015  months after undergoing two rounds of eye surgery following a calamitous, New Years Day exercise accident at his Nevada home.

The accident happened when an elastic exercise band broke, striking Reid in the face and causing him to fall, his spokesman Adam Jentleson said. Reid struck some equipment as he fell, breaking multiple bones near his right eye and breaking several ribs.

A former marathon runner, Reid dislocated a shoulder and suffered a contusion above his left eye when he slipped and fell after an early morning run in the rain back in May 2011. In October 2012, he suffered rib and hip contusions in a chain-reaction car crash.

Nevada's longest-serving senator helped propel the passage of President Barack Obama's signature health care law, blocked the development of a nuclear waste dump in Nevada and built a well-organized Democratic machine in the state.

The 78-year-old currently serves alongside former Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, as co-chair of the MGM Resorts International Public Policy Institute.

Some of Reid's colleagues took to Twitter Monday to share their support for the congressional veteran.

"From one cantankerous senator to another, sending my prayers & best wishes to @SenatorReid as he recovers from a successful surgery," Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, tweeted.

"Harry Reid is as tough as nails. When he fights, he fights with everything hes got. Im confident his battle with cancer is no different. My thoughts are with him and his family and Im hoping for his full recovery," Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote.

"My thoughts are with @SenatorReid and his family. I'm praying for successful treatment and a speedy recovery," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Mass., echoed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Green Beret and former UFC fighter Tim Kennedy waterboarded himself on Saturday to help prove that the controversial interrogation technique is not torture amid debate on Capitol Hill about President Trumps pick to lead the CIA.

GRAPHIC VIDEO WARNING

Kennedy said in the 41-minute video that he hoped to show that nominee Gina Haspel has been wrongly criticized for her role in "enhanced interrogation techniques" at a CIA black site.

He called Haspel an "amazing hero" who is being unfairly attacked.

More than 100 former U.S. ambassadors who served both Republican and Democratic presidents sent the Senate a letter last week opposing Haspel, saying that despite her credentials, confirming her would give authoritarian leaders around the world the license to say U.S. behavior is no different from ours.

Kennedy said that waterboarding is not torture and just an uncomfortable experience.

"If I can change one persons mind about what torture is and what I would do to protect American freedom, I will do this for years."

He later shared an excerpt from the livestream on Facebook, showing him being heavily doused in water.

"We did this yesterday for almost 45 minutes. The average pour was anywhere from 10 to 60. They wouldnt tell me when they were going to put the towel on. They would just smash it on my face and start pouring. You cant hold your breath while they do it because the water runs down your sinuses," Kennedy wrote. "The water run through your eyes, down your nose and pools at the back of your throat. It was a baptism in freedom. Its not torture! Hell we had elk tacos and wine afterwards. Wake up people.

Haspel last week said she would not permit the spy agency to restart the kind of harsh detention and interrogation program it ran at black sites after Sept. 11. It was one of the darkest chapters of the CIAs history and tainted Americas image worldwide.

Senators asked how she would respond if Trump  who has said he supports harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding and a hell of a lot worse  ordered her to do something she found morally objectionable.

I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal, said Haspel, a 33-year veteran of the agency. I would absolutely not permit it.

The Associated Press contributed to this reportGov. Bruce Rauner proposed Monday reestablishing the death penalty in Illinois for certain violent criminals.

Under Rauners proposal, people who are found guilty beyond any doubt of killing multiple people or a police officer could be sentenced to death. During a news conference, the Republican governor said people who kill a police officer deserve to give up their life, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

This would apply to individuals who are at least 18 years old, the governor's office said.

There must be a burden of proof where a person is guilty beyond all doubt, Rauner said. Guilty beyond any doubt for killing a police officer or committing a mass murder. We then will impose the death penalty in Illinois.

In a tweet, Rauner, a Republican, said reinstating the death penalty shows we have no tolerance for such atrocities in our state.

So many times the person is caught in the act. Or so many times there are multiple witnesses and theyre fleeing the act and theres no question of who did it, Rauner said of people who kill police, according to the Sun-Times. And you know whats really tragic? Many times the perpetrators are proud of what they did. And there are plenty of cases where theres no doubt who is guilty and they deserve to give up their life when they take the life of a police officer.

The death penalty was abolished in Illinois in 2011 by then-Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat. The move came after former Republican Gov. George Ryan established a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000.

Rauners proposal was part of his amendatory veto to a gun control bill, which also included a 72-hour waiting period on all firearm purchases, according to a Rauner Facebook post. The governor also sought to add a ban on bump stocks to the bill, he said on social media.

Rauner faces Democrat J.B. Pritzker in what is sure to be a contentious and expensive gubernatorial election this fall.A candidate in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's First Congressional District was spotted driving a Mercedes E Class BlueTEC luxury sedan to a recent campaign event despite telling a local paper he doesn't "drive fancy cars."

Scott Wallace, who inherited a large sum of money after his grandfather's company was bought for billions of dollars by Dupont in the 1990s, attended a campaign event at the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Bristol, Pa., on March 10. He left the event in the Mercedes, according to a source who attended the event. The 2014 Mercedes E Class BlueTEC, which appears to be registered in Wallace's wife's name, originally retailed for between $50,000 and $60,000.

The trip in the Mercedes came a few weeks before the Philadelphia Inquirer published an interview with Wallace where he attempted to downplay his personal wealth. The paper estimated Wallace to be worth between $127 million and $309 million, potentially making him the third-richest congressman were he to win his election, based on an analysis of financial records. Wallace argued in response that he was only worth about $100 million and that he doesn't own or use a number of luxury items.

"I do have substantial assets," Wallace told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I do not have a jet. I do not have a yacht. I do not drive fancy cars. I drive a Chevy. I grew up in Doylestown. I waited tables. I pumped gas."

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.Two senior House Republicans are accusing the Justice Department of being behind anonymous attacks in the press targeting a House Intelligence Committee GOP staffer who helped author the committees well-publicized memo alleging surveillance abuse by the FBI and DOJ during the 2016 election.

The same House staffer is also a driving force behind the latest Russia records standoff.

"I would have a lot more respect for DOJ or House committee Democrats if they would take out their frustrations on members of Congress, and leave staffers alone, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News on Monday. The members make the final decision and are responsible for them, not staffers."

"Attacking staffers, planting false stories, and endangering national security by leaking sensitive information to the press, including information about intelligence sources -- this is what the DOJ is doing, and this why trust in the DOJ is rapidly eroding in Congress, said California Rep. Devin Nunes, the GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

In response to the GOP committee chairmen, Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores said, As Deputy Attorney General [Rod] Rosenstein has said repeatedly, we don't put a lot of stock in anonymous sources over here and we are committed to continuing to work with Chairmen Gowdy and Nunes to accommodate their requests.

Nunes and Gowdy were reacting to a weekend New York Times report that cited anonymous sources in detailing growing tension between the parties, amid a contentious request for records involving an individual and intelligence reporting that may have been used for the Russia case, as well as in obtaining surveillance warrants.

Citing a former federal law enforcement official, The New York Times reported that Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia probe, felt "misled" by Nunes' staff over House Intelligence Committee investigator Kash Patel's travel to London last year.

SECRET FBI SOURCE'S ROLE BECOMES DOSSIER-LEVEL FOCUS OF GOP RUSSIA PROBE

The newspaper, citing the same official, reported Rosenstein wanted to know if Patel was attempting to interview former British spy Christopher Steele, the author behind the salacious anti-Trump dossier.

But the House Intelligence Committee says the staffer was already in London on committee business.

The story that Kash flew to London to meet with Christopher Steele is false, no matter how many times its reported, House Intelligence Committee staff director Damon Nelson said.

Nelson said he asked Patel and another staffer to try to make contact with Steeles lawyer as part of an effort to obtain an address to send Steele an invitation to testify to the committee.

Anonymous DOJ officials who imply to reporters that Kash has ever been dishonest about this are spreading an outright falsehood, Nelson said. If the anonymous DOJ officials want the truth, they can talk to me.

In its story, The New York Times also reported that top officials at the Justice Department are worried these congressional Republicans are simply mining government secrets for information they can weaponize against those investigating the president, like Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

In a statement to Fox News, Nunes backed up Patel as an "absolutely crucial committee investigator whos always two steps ahead of the DOJ.

In fact we suspect his effectiveness is exactly why the DOJ are launching anonymous attacks on him in the press," Nunes said.

Gowdy said he interacts with Patel often.

"Attacking staffers, planting false stories, and endangering national security by leaking sensitive information to the press, including information about intelligence sources - this is what the DOJ is doing."  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

I benefit from him giving me the other side of the argument, Gowdy said. He is a great career prosecutor and defense attorney. It is sad when you pick on staffers who are doing the right thing for their member or committee."

The New York Times story also reported that House Speaker Paul Ryan encouraged Gowdy go with Nunes to help keep the meeting civil at the Justice Department last Thursday to go over the committees records request.

But a source close to Ryan pushed back against that reporting, saying Gowdy was always going to the meeting.

The original plan as widely reported was for Chairmen Nunes and Gowdy to go down to DOJ on Thursday afternoon, the source said. The speaker didnt have anything to do with setting that meeting up or choosing its attendees.

Asked for comment, a New York Times spokeswoman said, "We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting."

Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.St. Louis prosecutors announced Monday that they have dropped a felony invasion-of-privacy charge against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, but added that they planned to re-file the case.

The announcement came on the third day of jury selection after the judge in the case granted a request by Greitens' attorneys to call St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner as a witness.

Greitens' representatives have accused Gardner of misconduct in the case, focusing on the hiring of a private investigator, William Tisaby, whom Greitens' lawyers have accused of perjury.

Gardner spokeswoman Susan Ryan called the decision by Judge Rex Burlison "unprecedented" and said it put the circuit attorney in an "impossible position." She added that Gardner would decide whether to pursue the case with a special prosecutor or appoint one of her assistants to try the matter in her place.

"A defendant who wishes to call a prosecutor as a witness must demonstrate a compelling and legitimate reason to do so," Ryan said. "Governor Greitens has produced no compelling reason to include the Circuit Attorney as a witness for any purpose. The defense team knows that the tactic of endorsing the Circuit Attorney as a witness is part of their ongoing effort to distract people from the defendants actions ..."

Speaking outside the St. Louis courthouse, Greitens said the prosecution's move was "a great victory" that "has been a long time coming."

The governor apologized for what he called "the pain that this process and my actions have caused my family, my friends, and the people of Missouri."

Greitens, a married Republican, is accused of taking an unauthorized photo of a woman he was having an extramarital affair with while she was partially nude during a sexual encounter in 2015, one year before he was elected.

In addition to the invasion of privacy charge, Greitens has been charged with felony computer data tampering over his alleged use of a donor list from the veterans charity he founded, The Mission Continues, to raise money for his campaign without permission. A trial date in that case has not been set.

On Friday, Missouri legislators are scheduled to begin a special session during which the state House of Representatives is expected to vote on impeaching Greitens. If the House votes to impeach Greitens, the Senate would appoint a panel of seven judges to conduct a trial on whether to remove him from office. No Missouri governor has ever been forced out of office.

Greitens has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has refused to resign.

"This experience has been humbling, and I have emerged from it a changed man," he said Monday, adding, "We have a great mission before us, and at this time, I've asked people of good will to come together so that all of us can continue to do good together."

Greitens was originally indicted on the invasion of privacy charge in February, a month after he admitted to an affair with his St. Louis hairdresser.

Last month, a special House committee released a report in which the woman -- identified only as K.S. -- told lawmakers that Greitens had restrained, slapped, shoved, threatened and belittled her during a series of sexual encounters in 2015 that at times left her crying and afraid.

The woman has also testified that in March 2015, Greitens bound her hands to exercise equipment the basement of his St. Louis home, blindfolded her and removed her clothes before she saw a flash and heard what sounded like the click of a cellphone camera. She has said Greitens threatened to disseminate the photo if she spoke of their encounter but later told her he had deleted it.

Om May 2, the same committee released a report on Greitens alleged misuse of the charity donor list. The report included testimony from a former Greitens aide indicating the campaign also falsely identified the source of the donor list in a settlement with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Fox News' Matt Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Pennsylvania state Rep. Rick Saccone, who lost in a bitter matchup against Democrat Conor Lamb for a congressional seat earlier this year, is desperately fighting for a chance at redemption.

Saccone, who lost the 18th district seat after a contested race, is running for the 14th district, a district that was redrawn after a court order. His district now heavily favors Republicans and political experts believe Saccone has a strong chance at winning the high-stakes race on Tuesday.

[The 14th district is] a much stronger district for a person like me with conservative values because I represent the values of this district, and its much more conservative than the 18th was, Saccone told Fox News in his car as his wife drove him to a campaigning event.

Lamb is running unopposed in his race and will face Republican Keith Rothfus in Novembers general election.

Tuesday will be the first election in the state after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court redrew the states congressional map. The court altered the map after ruling the district lines unconstitutionally favored Republicans. Democrats are hoping to pick up congressional seats after the ruling.

But experts believe the redrawn 14th district is one that could flip to favor Republicans.

"Its more Republican than it was during the special election, University of Pittsburgh Political Science Professor Kristin Kanthak told Fox News. Its not clear how much more Republican and we wont really know until after the election."

Saccone, whose campaign was backed by President Trump in a district that heavily favored the president, is not the only Republican looking for a second chance. His opponent, State Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Jefferson Hills, Penn., lost the primary to Saccone during a special election earlier this year. Reschenthaler is convinced he can beat Saccone this time around.

"We cannot allow ourselves to nominate another candidate who has proven to have lost a safe Republican seat, Reschenthaler said of Saccone.

Besides, he told Fox News, last time Saccone didnt actually beat him because the nomination was decided by the countys Republican Party, which he said was not an accurate representation of the electorate. Now that he gets to compete for actual votes, he said, its going to be different.

"We are running in the public eye, Reschenthaler said. "This isn't something thats going to be done behind closed doors with party insiders.

Reschenthaler said his goal is not only to beat Saccone, but to save the party from a Democrat threat, he said.

"Were seeing a blue wave coming, and the Democrats are now emboldened after the loss of the special election that we had here, Reschentaler said on his way to meet up with veterans recently. "Their fundraising is just running on all eight cylinders."

But Kanthak, the professor, said the Republican candidates could be hurt by a bruising primary. Saccone and Reschenthaler have attacked each other and spent thousands of dollars on opposition research.

We would expect Democrats to spend some money on finding out dirt about these candidates but now they dont have to spend that money, she said.

The Democratic primary race is also competitive. Its a four-way race among four political newcomers  Bibiana Boerio, a former auto executive, Tom Prigg, a neuroscience researcher, Adam Sedlock, a psychologist and Robert Solomon, a doctor. None of them has held political office.

Experts say the Republican primary has more at stake since the winner will likely clinch the congressional seat during the general election.

And that has made for a heated Republican primary.

"The president himself said Saccone is a weak candidate. Reschenthaler said." Those are the words of the president.

Saccone fired back, telling Fox News his opponent was citing a liberal news outlet with flimsy anonymous sources.

Saccone said hes stayed above the fray.

"I havent done any negative ads, Saccone told Fox News. "But my opponent has continuously ran these false negative ads against me. I think its going to backfire on him. I think people are tired of that because thats what they tell me.

Saccone believes if he wins, he can easily win over Reschenthaler supporters after Tuesdays primary.

Im confident that will unite the party after the primary, Saccone said, and will make it all the way across the finish line.A Russian firm accused by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of funding a conspiracy to meddle in the 2016 presidential election claimed Monday that the government hasn't shown that it intentionally broke the law.

In a court filing, attorney Eric Dubelier claimed that the case against Concord Management and Consulting LLC "has absolutely nothing to do with any links or coordination between any candidate and the Russian Government."

"The reason is obvious, and is political," Dubelier wrote. "To justify his own existence the Special Counsel has to indict a Russian  any Russian."

The company is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman who was placed on a U.S. sanctions list earlier this year and who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In February, Concord was indicted on a single count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors say the company provided millions of dollars in funding to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian social media troll farm that investigators say sowed discord in the U.S. political system from 2014 through 2017.

Dubelier entered a not guilty plea on Concord's behalf in federal court in Washington last week. In Monday's filing, the attorney claimed that the indictment does not allege that the company intended to break the law, even though the specific federal campaign and foreign agent registration laws at issue require the government to show willfulness.

Attorneys for Concord want the judge to review the instructions prosecutors gave to the grand jury that issued the indictment, which Dubelier called "facially invalid," to "determine whether or not they include information that would support a motion to dismiss" the case.



The company is one of 16 defendants -- three companies and 13 individuals -- accused by Mueller of participating in a covert social media campaign aimed in part at helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton and the first to appear in court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.At least 37 Palestinians were killed Monday and more than 900 wounded as protests at the Gaza border with Israel turned deadly ahead of the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem, Palestinian health officials said.

The bloodiest day in weeks of demonstrations could become even more chaotic as Israel vows to hold back thousands of protesters and prevent the possibility they could breach the border at any cost. Over 35,000 protesters at 12 locations have amassed along the Gaza security fence.

The violent clashes threaten to overshadow a historic moment for the U.S. and Israel, as the U.S. Embassy is officially moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The relocation of the embassy had been a key campaign promise of President Trump, and he sent a high-level delegation including his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to mark the occasion.

"A great day for Israel," Trump tweeted early Monday.

But infuriated Palestinian protesters gathered in huge numbers to condemn the move, drawing Israeli fire at the Gaza border. Protesters set fire to tires, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air along several spots.

Monday marked the biggest showdown between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

Earlier Monday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Trump administrations decision to relocate the Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a national security priority for the U.S.

Mnuchin came to Jerusalem ahead of the opening ceremony for the new U.S. Embassy as part of a 250-member delegation, including Ivanka Trump and Kushner, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt

Mnuchin will unveil the plaque officially recognizing the embassy in Jerusalem, according to the Times of Israel.

I'm thrilled to be here on behalf of the president. It's a big day - moving the embassy here. Seventy years in the making. We're thrilled to be here representing the president to do this, Mnuchin said.

Israel prepared enthusiastically Sunday for the formal embassy opening with a gala party at its Foreign Ministry that included Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and other U.S. officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told revelers that Trump's December declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital was "the right thing to do."

"Thank you, President Trump, for your bold decision. Thank you for making the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever, he said.

The prime minister said Trump's decision recognized a 3,000-year Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the "truth" that Jerusalem would be Israel's capital under any future peace deal.

Meanwhile, Israel bolstered its border security as thousands of Gaza residents headed toward the Israeli border. Since weekly border marches began in late March, dozens of Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a possible border breach in the days leading up to the embassy celebration, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking the border.

Palestinian officials have criticized the Trump administration for its decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the U.S., declaring it unfit to be the sole mediator for potential peace between Israel and Palestine.

The Trump administration had brushed off Palestinian criticism, saying that the embassy move could be a first step for brokering a peace agreement.

Fox News Samuel Chamberlain and the Associated Press contributed to this report.As President Trumps approval numbers slope upwards, Democrats appear to be losing confidence in the idea they can win back control of Congress just by riding the wave of anti-Trump sentiment.

Last week, the presidents approval in the Real Clear Politics polling average reached its highest point in 14 months, with 44 percent approving of his job performance and 52 percent dissapproving. That eight point gap is the smallest since March 2017, three months after Trump won the presidential election.

It is definitely moving in our direction, and I think we defy history in these midterms, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the recruitment chairman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Monday on Fox News The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino.

Historically, the party of the incumbent president loses seats in midterm elections. Republicans hold a slim 51-49 advantage in the Senate. Democrats need to win 24 seats to flip the House.

But Democrats admit it's no given they will win back a majority, admitting the political landscape has shifted.

I think anyone who was proclaiming victory a couple of months ago was premature, Michigan Rep. Daniel Kildee of Michigan, who is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leadership team, told the Washington Post. I think the presidents standing obviously has some impact.

CLICK FOR COMPLETE FOX NEWS MIDTERMS COVERAGE

Fox News most recent polling shows Trump with a 44 percent approval rating, with 53 percent disapproving. Thats an improvement from October, for example, when 38 percent of those approved, and 57 percent disapproved.

In some toss-up Senate races, Trump is quite popular, something Democrats openly acknowledge. In West Virginias recent Republican Senate primary, the top three candidates battled each other by arguing they were more committed to enacting the presidents agenda than the others.

Speaking to the Washington Post, incumbent West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin expressed hope that Trump wont stump much for Republican nominee Patrick Morrisey: The more he can stay out of West Virginia and direct his energies elsewhere would be helpful.

Trumps numbers have improved, as the economy has been thriving and the president has been boasting of the tax reform bill he signed into law late last year. Trump has also seen success abroad, as significant gains have been made in decimating ISIS and the president prepares for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on denuclearization.

Still, the president remains hampered with Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe looking into Russias attempted interference in the 2016 election. Some Democrats have pushed for trying to impeach Trump, should their party win back control of the House in November.

During a rally last week after Indiana wrapped up a divisive Republican Senate primary, the president praised a lengthy ticket of House and Senate candidates by name and predicted Democrats would dismantle his agenda if they regained control of Congress.

"You have to work every day between now and November to elect more Republicans so that we can continue to make America great again," Trump said, referencing his 2016 campaign slogan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The Trump administration officially opened the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, in a historic move cheered by Israelis but met with mass protests from Palestinians that turned deadly in the lead-up to the ceremony.

Clashes at the border had left dozens of Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded by the time the ceremony ended. But Israel's prime minister praised the Israeli security forces for protecting the Gaza-Israel border, as U.S. officials held out hope that the prospect of peace is still in reach.

In a video address moments before his daughter Ivanka unveiled the embassy plaque with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, President Trump touted the embassy opening as a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people.

In moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city -- a relocation long debated in Washington -- Trump said America was simply recognizing reality.

"For many years, we have failed to acknowledge the obvious, plain reality that the [Israeli] capital is Jerusalem. At my direction, the United States finally and officially recognized Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel," Trump said.

The relocation fulfills a key campaign promise of the president and makes good on Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital just months ago. To mark the occasion, the Trump administration sent a huge delegation including Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Mnuchin, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan.

The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of peace, Trump said in his video address. We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors. May there be peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed how deeply grateful he and the Israeli people are to the U.S.

President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history, Netanyahu said Monday, reminiscing on his childhood, when he was forbidden to run too close to Jerusalem. My mother said you cant go any farther, that was near the border. There was sniper fire. That was thenthis is now. Today the embassy of the most powerful nation on earth, our greatest ally, the United States of America, today the United States Embassy opened here. What a difference.

Netanyahu added that it was a great day for Israel," for the U.S.-Israel alliance and for peace.

"We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay," Netanyahu said.

But Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, vehemently oppose the relocation. Weekslong protests flared to new levels of violence in the hours before the ceremony at spots along the Gaza-Israeli border.

Netanyahu referenced the clashes during his remarks, praising the brave soldiers protecting the borders.

But the violence threatened to overshadow the jubilant ceremonies in Jerusalem. At least 52 Palestinians were killed and 900 wounded, Palestinian health officials said, as Israeli security forces fired on a surge of protesters at the border, vowing to prevent a breach. It marked the deadliest day since the Hamas-led border protests began in March.

Earlier Monday, Mnuchin said the Trump administrations decision to relocate the Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a national security priority for the U.S.

Kushner, also a senior White House adviser, said that the sitting president has "delivered" where previous presidents "backed down."

We believe, it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give  so that all people can live in peace  safe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams, he said.

He added: Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together.

Israel prepared enthusiastically Sunday for the formal embassy opening with a gala party at its Foreign Ministry that included Ivanka Trump, Kushner and other U.S. officials.

Netanyahu told revelers that Trump's December declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital was "the right thing to do."

The prime minister said Trump's decision recognized a 3,000-year Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the "truth" that Jerusalem would be Israel's capital under any future peace deal.

Meanwhile, Israel bolstered its border security as thousands of Gaza residents amassed at the Israeli border. Since weekly border marches began in late March, dozens of Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a possible border breach in the days leading up to the embassy celebration, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking the border at any cost.

Palestinian officials have criticized the Trump administration for its decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the U.S., declaring it unfit to be the sole mediator for potential peace between Israel and Palestine.

The Trump administration had brushed off Palestinian criticism, saying that the embassy move could be a first step for brokering a peace agreement.

Fox News Ryan Gaydos, Samuel Chamberlain and the Associated Press contributed to this report.House Republicans suffered a catastrophic defeat Friday afternoon as the massive farm bill failed to pass.

All House Democrats opposed the bill in a 213-198 defeat. A few dozen Republicans also voted against it.

From food stamps to conservation issues, the farm bill is a huge piece of legislation that needs to be updated by Congress about every 5 years. It influences everything about agriculture production -- from how food is grown to how its distributed, including on an international level.

The farm bills massive size and undertaking gives way to various critiques from those who think its too costly or doesn't do quite enough. President Trump had threatened to veto the legislation if it didn't include tight enough work requirements for people on food stamps, sources told Fox News.

Read on for a brief overview of what's in the bill and why its so important.

What is the farm bill?

A complicated omnibus package, the farm bill, at its core, regulates agriculture production in the U.S. In particular, it tackles how produce is grown, what it costs and how American agriculture exists in the international food arena, Dr. Marion Nestle, a well-known New York University food nutritionist, told Fox News.

The goals of the farm bill have changed over time, from having more of a focus on a safety net for farmers to including protection from hunger, said Margot Pollans, a Pace University law professor and member of the Farm Bill Enterprise.

What's in it?

The nearly 700-page bill covers a myriad of agriculture-related regulations and programs, including conservation issues, commodity subsidies and crop insurance.

Among some items included in the massive bill are: a $100 million feral swine control pilot program, $450 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to identify animal disease outbreaks, incentives for beginning farmers, resources to combat the nations opioid epidemic and $50 million to assist disadvantaged farmers and military veterans in agriculture, according to a fact sheet.

Ferd Hoefner, senior strategic advisor for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, says programs that promote fresh products into the food system should not be overlooked -- even if, he said, lawmakers do.

If you put more emphasis on things that relate to organic produce or new farmers or renewable energy on farms, then there might be more public support for a bill that otherwise, in broad strokes, the general public thinks of as having big subsidies for big farms, Hoefner told Fox News.

Arent food stamps in this bill?

The farm bill includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under the nutrition component of the massive legislation.

Its the SNAP portion of the bill that dominates the conversation, Nestle said, even though the legislation covers so much more.

The House bill, as it stands now, would tighten already existing work requirements for the SNAP program. It would require all work capable adults between the ages of 18 and 59 to work or participate in work training programs for at least 20 hours per week, meaning a greater number of people would have to work or enroll in work training to receive food assistance.

Seniors, disabled people, those caring for children under the age of 6 and pregnant women would be exempt from these requirements, according to a committee fact sheet.

Democrats have objected to the inclusion of new requirements for SNAP in the House bill, saying it could throw as many as two million people off the program. Those opposed also say the bill does not provide enough funding for job training and would create bulky bureaucracies to keep up with extensive rule keeping.

It makes no sense to put the farmers and rural communities who rely on the farm bills safety net programs at risk in pursuit of partisan ideology on SNAP, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said in an April statement, adding that the bill attempts to change SNAP from a feeding program to a work program.

Pollans told Fox News the inclusion of the SNAP program in the farm bill is an exciting opportunity to bridge the urban and rural divide. However, she called the additional work requirements added to the House bill a threat to working families, especially for those who have less formal employment or an hourly schedule by bosses they dont have any control over.

I think the requirements are coming from a real misunderstanding of how SNAP benefits are used and families who are using them, she said.

How much does it cost?

For the 2014 farm bill, which is currently in place, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) originally predicted the total cost of mandatory programs -- which typically operate as entitlements -- would be $489 billion. About 99 percent of the predicted mandatory program outlays were taken by four out of 12 titles, according to the CBO: conservation, crop insurance, farm commodity support and nutrition.

SNAP is included under the nutrition umbrella, which makes up about 80 percent of the total mandatory funding.

So what are the problems with bill?

Because its so large, there are a wide array of complaints from economic and agriculture-focused think tanks and policymakers.

What theres no sign of -- and there hasnt been for a while -- people who are involved in agriculture policy sitting down and thinking what kind of an agriculture policy we need in a situation where were dealing with climate change, Nestle said. If youre doing rational agriculture policy, you want to have enough food to feed the people, farmers to be able to make a living, and an agriculture system that will promote public health and do the least possible harm to the environment.

Caroline Kitchens, a policy analyst at the conservative R Street Institute who has a focus on agriculture issues, called the legislation a bloated bill and even more wasteful and full of cronyism than previous iterations, in a blog post.

If youre doing rational agriculture policy, you want to have enough food to feed the people, farmers to be able to make a living, and an agriculture system that will promote public health and do the least possible harm to the environment.  Dr. Marion Nestle

We have limited funds, and when were facing a big deficit, we should make sure that were spending money on people who really need it, Kitchens told Fox News, criticizing the increases in commodity subsidies for farms.

If were going to have work requirements for recipients of welfare, we should have requirements for farmers, too. If youre not working on the farm, its ridiculous to get handouts, she said.

If this is a House bill, what is the Senate doing?

While the Senate version of this bill has not yet been released, Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told the Wall Street Journal it would not be as far-reaching as the House legislation.

A committee aide has told Fox News that the Senate version would not contain revolutionary reforms to programs, but added its premature to say just what will be included.

What has Trump said about it?

Trump has warned senior lawmakers that he will veto the bill if it doesnt include tighter work requirements for people who have food stamps, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News.

In April, Trump highlighted what he called a great statistic showing the number of people on food stamps has fallen since January 2017.

The American people are finally back to work! he tweeted.

Fox News Chard Pergram, Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The White House said Monday that terrorist group Hamas bears responsibility for the clashes at the Israel-Gaza border that left more than 50 Palestinians dead and at least 2,000 injured, amid the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

The Trump administration unveiled the new embassy Monday, following a decision by President Trump last year to move the outpost from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize the holy city as the capital of Israel. The move was cheered by Israelis, but spurred mass protests from Palestinians that turned deadly when Israeli security forces opened fire.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said Monday, though, that Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, is responsible for the protests and called it a gruesome propaganda attempt.

US OPENS EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM, RECOGNIZING CITY AS 'TRUE CAPITAL' OF ISRAEL

The responsibility for these tragic deaths rest squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking, and as the secretary of state said, Israel has a right to defend itself, Shah told reporters at the White House press briefing Monday. We believe Hamas as an organization has engaged in cynical operations.

At least 52 Palestinians were killed in the lead-up to the embassys opening on Monday, marking the deadliest day since the Hamas-led border protests began in March. More than 35,000 protesters amassed at a dozen locations along the security fence at the Gaza border. The death toll reached the highest since a 2014 cross-border standoff between the militant group and Israel.

DOZENS OF PALESTINIANS DEAD IN BORDER CLASHES WITH ISRAEL AS EMBASSY OPENS IN JERUSALEM

Israel bolstered its border security as thousands of Gaza residents amassed at the Israeli border. Since weekly border marches began in late March, dozens of Palestinian protests have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a possible border breach in the days leading up to the embassy celebration, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking the border at any cost.

When questioned whether Israeli military defense, killing dozens of Palestinians, would threaten peace agreements, Shah underscored the administration's belief that the clashes were spurred by Hamas.

Palestinian officials have criticized the Trump administration for its decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the U.S., declaring it unfit to be the sole mediator for potential peace between Israel and Palestine.

The Trump administration had brushed off Palestinian criticism, saying that the embassy could be a first step for brokering a peace agreement.

Fox News Judson Berger, Greg Norman, Ryan Gaydos, Samuel Chamberlain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The new U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem on Monday -- a move that earned much praise from Ambassador David Friedman.

Ahead of the opening, Friedman said the embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which President Trump has now recognized as Israels capital, creates a platform and an opportunity to promote a peace process based on realities, not fantasies, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.

Were sure it will create greater stability in the long run, he said.

Read on for three things to know about the ambassador.

He was the first bilateral ambassador to be confirmed in the Trump administration

Nominated by Trump in January 2017, Friedman was sworn in as ambassador to Israel on March 29, 2017, according to his biography.

His confirmation made him the first of Trumps foreign emissaries to make it through the process, according to his biography.

During his confirmation hearing, Friedman apologized for inflammatory language he used in the past, particularly when discussing people with varying viewpoints on Israel. He said he deserved the criticism he had gotten regarding comments, in particular, about former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and liberal Jewish advocacy groups.

WHY TRUMP'S PROMISE TO MOVE US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM IS SO CONTROVERSIAL

The Orthodox Jewish lawyer had called J Street, a liberal advocacy group, worse than kapos, referring to a Jewish prisoner who helped Nazis supervise other inmates in concentration camps.

Ahead of his confirmation, five former ambassadors to Israel -- including those who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents -- criticized the choice of Friedman for the post, saying he has extreme, radical positions and does not support a two-state solution.

Friedman represented Trump in bankruptcy cases

During the presidential campaign, Friedman advised Trump on Israel-related issues. Prior to that, he represented Trump in bankruptcy proceedings regarding his Atlantic City casinos, the Chicago Tribune reported.

When he nominated Friedman, Trump called the attorney a longtime friend and trusted adviser.

AT LEAST 37 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN CLASHES AHEAD OF NEW EMBASSY OPENING

Friedman was a founding partner of New York-based law firm Benson, Torres & Friedman. His biography said he frequently represented high-profile cases and has published articles and lectured on novel and complex areas of law.

He received degrees from Columbia University and the New York University School of Law.

He said he would live in Jerusalem before Trump moved the embassy

Even before the U.S. Embassy officially moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Friedman planned to live and work from Jerusalem, according to Haaretz.

Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein told the Israeli newspaper Friedman already had an apartment in Jerusalem.

Friedman and his wife have five children and seven grandchildren.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The new U.S. embassy in Israel is set to officially open in Jerusalem on Monday as President Trump has formally recognized the holy city as the countrys capital.

The opening comes after a day of celebratory festivities in Israel juxtaposed with mass protests along the border of Israel that left at least 52 Palestinians dead and more than 1,000 injured Monday. It was the bloodiest day of weeks of demonstrations that has cast a cloud over the embassy opening.

The Trump administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital was heralded by many pro-Israel activists but decried by Palestinians and Americas Arab allies.

Ahead of the opening, Trump tweeted its a great day for Israel."

Read on to find out why the decision is so contentious  and why it wasnt accomplished before.

Finding the capital

The international community  and until 2017, the U.S.  largely does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as it is claimed by both Palestinians and Israelis. Like other countries, the U.S. kept its embassy in Tel Aviv, approximately an hour away.

The U.S. moving its embassy could cause significant harm to the U.S. credibility as a mediator for peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, said Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs for J Street, a left-leaning pro-Israel advocacy organization.

Williams added that the move could undermine confidence from Palestinians and Arab countries that the U.S. would remain an impartial negotiator in efforts to create peace in the Middle East.

Even seemingly minor changes of Jerusalems status quo  either in fact or in law  have historically had the impact of sparking violence, Williams said.

Support for Jerusalem

Millions of evangelical eyes were on Trump, waiting to see if he would keep his campaign promise to move the embassy, longtime Pastor John Hagee told Fox News ahead of the president's official announcement.

"I can assure you that 60 million evangelicals are watching this promise closely because if President Trump moves the embassy into Jerusalem, he will historically step into immortality," Hagee said. "He will be remembered for thousands of years for his act of courage to treat Israel like we already treat other nations."

"If he does not, he will be remembered as just another president who made a promise he failed to keep which would generate massive disappointment in that strong evangelical base that went to vote for him against Hillary Clinton," he added.

"Trump will be remembered for thousands of years for his act of courage to treat Israel like we already treat other nations."  Pastor John Hagee

Hagee is the founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church, a megachurch in San Antonio, Texas. He founded the nonprofit Christians United for Israel in 2006, as well.

A March 2016 Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans didnt express an opinion when asked if the U.S. embassy should move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But of those who did have an opinion, Americans were split with 24 percent supporting a move and 20 percent disagreeing with relocation.

Congressional authority

Trump isnt the only president to declare his intentions to move the U.S. embassy; both former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also pledged to move the embassy  only to abandon the idea once in the White House.

Congress approved in 1995 the funding and relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem by 1999. But the law included a stipulation, allowing for presidents to sign continuous waivers to stall the relocation. Every president since had used the waiver in an effort to avoid conflict with the peace negotiations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A giant hairy sea creature washed up in the Phillipines over the weekend, causing locals to flock to the San Antonio beach to snap pictures of the mysterious "blob" that many dubbed a "globster."

The carcass of the animal, which measured about 20 feet long, according to The Sun, was spotted on Friday. A video of the massive greyish white creature was posted to YouTube the next day, showing two men with ropes working together to pull the monster out of the water.

Many residents considered the arrival of such an unusual creature to be a bad omen.

It has been told that when creatures from the deepest parts of the ocean start appearing, something bad will happen," Vincent Dela Pena Badillo told The Sun on Sunday.

''An earthquake is heading for Oriental Mindoro. The big globster is a sign of something bad coming. Please pray for us," another resident, Tam Maling, added.

Fishery Law Enforcement Officer Vox Krusada told the British newspaper that samples of the sea creature would be collected for further analysis. However, based on the size and shape of the creature, and what marine experts have observed so far, Krusada said officials can confirm it's the body of a whale.

''But the exact species is still unknown," Krusada added. "The tissue samples are now sent to our lab for DNA analysis."

This isn't the first time a "globster" has popped up on land.

In February 2017, a similar-looking creature also washed ashore in the Phillipines  just off the Dinagat Islands.

Similarly, the animal was 20 feet long, weighed around 4,000 pounds and had "long, shaggy white hair," according to a National Geographic report at the time.

"The remains were initially believed to belong to a manatee or a dugong, but a team from the municipal office of Cagdianao says the remains came from a whale that had been dead for two weeks," National Geographic wrote, explaining that it was in the late stages of decomposition.

The rotting corpse of a 50-foot-long dead sea creature, surrounded by a pool of blood, was found in Indonesia in May 2017.

Alexander Werth, a whale biologist at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, later confirmed to Global News that it was a Baleen whale.

"You dont want to be close to these things, not because its a scary, spooky creature, but [because] it would just be releasing some pretty foul, noxious gases, Werth warned.

The same goes for this recent finding, Krusada said.

"It smells awful. it smells like something from another planet," he told The Sun, adding that local government officials would bury the body. ''I really experienced the full power of its smell because I'm the one who took the tissue samples. I almost puked. I felt better after taking a bath but the stench still lingers in my nose.''NASA and the Cassini team have given us another gorgeous blast from Saturn's past.

The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn from the summer of 2004 until Sept. 15, 2017, when the low-on-fuel probe performed an intentional death dive into the ringed planet's cloud tops.

NASA has continued to release Cassini photos after the spacecraft's demise, and the latest offering, published on Monday (May 7), is a doozy. The view, taken on March 13, 2006, shows Saturn's arcing limb, its razor-thin rings (seen edge on) and three of Saturn's many moons. [In Photos: Cassini's Epic Saturn Mission Ends with Awesomeness]

The satellite Tethys is below the rings, Mimas is above them and tiny Janus appears to sit right on top of the ring plane in the photo, which Cassini took at a distance of 1.7 million miles (2.7 million kilometers) from Saturn.

"'Above' and 'below' the rings is mostly a matter of perspective here. All three moons and the rings orbit Saturn in roughly the same plane," NASA officials wrote in an image description. "The night side of Mimas is gently illuminated by 'Saturnshine,' sunlight reflected from the planets cloud tops."

Tethys is the largest of the three moons in the photo, with a diameter of 662 miles (1,066 km). It has a crater, called Odysseus, thats about as large as Mimas, which is 246 miles (396 km) across. Janus is considerably smaller, with a diameter of about 112 miles (180 km).

Mimas, by the way, is often called the Death Star moon, because one of its big craters gives the icy, battered satellite a striking resemblance to the superweapon in the "Star Wars" films.

The $3.2 billion Cassini-Huygens mission  a collaboration involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency  launched in October 1997 and arrived in orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004.

Huygens was a European lander that rode piggyback with Cassini and eventually touched down on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, in January 2005. This was the first soft landing ever achieved on a body in the outer solar system.

Originally published on Space.com.The case for a giant plume of water vapor wafting from Jupiter's potentially life-supporting moon Europa just got a lot stronger.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted tantalizing signs of such a plume multiple times over the past half decade, but those measurements were near the limits of the powerful instrument's sensitivity. Now, researchers report in a new study that NASA's Galileo Jupiter probe, which orbited the planet from 1995 to 2003, also detected a likely Europa plume, during a close flyby of the icy moon in 1997.

The newly analyzed Galileo data provides "compelling independent evidence that there seems to be a plume on Europa," said study lead author Xianzhe Jia, an associate professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. [Possible Water Plumes on Europa: The Discovery in Images]

This is exciting news for astrobiologists: If the plume is indeed real, it could offer a way for a spacecraft to sample Europa's buried ocean of liquid water without even touching down on the moon. And NASA is working on a mission that could do just that.

Hints of a plume

At 1,900 miles (3,100 kilometers) wide, Europa is slightly smaller than Earth's moon. But scientists think the Jovian satellite harbors a huge amount of liquid water  perhaps twice as much water as Earth does, in fact  in a deep global ocean sloshing beneath the object's ice shell.

This ocean appears to be in contact with Europa's rocky core, making possible a variety of interesting and complex chemical reactions. So, many astrobiologists regard Europa as one of the solar system's best bets to host alien life, along with the icy Saturn moon Enceladus, which also features a subsurface ocean.

Near Enceladus' south pole, more than 100 individual geysers continuously blast water ice, organic molecules and other material far out into space  so far that this plume stuff forms Saturn's E ring. Researchers think the geyser material is coming from Enceladus' ocean, so flying through the moon's plume provides a possible way to search for signs of life on Enceladus without even touching down. (NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini probe flew through Enceladus' plume multiple times, but the spacecraft wasn't equipped with life-detection gear. Nobody knew about Enceladus' geysers until Cassini spotted them in 2005.)

Recently, evidence has been building that Europa may have a plume as well. In late 2012, Hubble spotted signs of such a feature near the moon's south pole. Further Hubble observations in 2014 and 2016 identified candidate plumes close to Europa's equator  in both cases, in the middle of a 200-mile-wide (320 km) Europan "hotspot" discovered by the Galileo probe.

As suggestive as these results were, they didn't represent a definitive Europa plume discovery, researchers said at the time. That's because project team members couldn't conclusively rule out other possible explanations, such as instrument artifacts. [6 Most Likely Places for Alien Life in the Solar System]

A new look at old data

The newly analyzed Galileo data could help solidify evidence for the plume's existence.

During its time at Jupiter, Galileo performed 11 flybys of Europa. Jia and his team took an in-depth look at information the probe gathered during the closest of these encounters  a 1997 flyby that brought Galileo within 128 miles (206 km) of the moon's frigid, fractured surface.

The researchers found that, during this flyby, Galileo detected a significant change in Europa's magnetic field, as well as a brief but big increase in the density of plasma, or ionized gas. Both of these observations provide strong evidence of a plume, Jia said. And these lines of evidence are independent of those gathered by Hubble. For example, in the 2014 and 2016 candidate detections, the possible plumes blocked some ultraviolet light emitted by Jupiter.

Intriguingly, Jia and his colleagues also determined that the 1997 candidate plume emanated from the same general hotspot (or thermal anomaly) as the 2014 and 2016 phenomena.

Why did it take more than two decades to tease this result out of the Galileo data set? For starters, Jia said, the Galileo mission team wasn't specifically looking for plumes.

In addition, "to make sense of the observations, we had to really go for sophisticated numerical modeling" techniques, he told Space.com. "And I don't think those were available back 20 years ago."

Flying through the plume?

The new study, which was published online today (May 14) in the journal Nature Astronomy, is undoubtedly of great interest to NASA. The agency is developing a $2 billion Jupiter-orbiting mission called Europa Clipper, which is scheduled to launch in the early to mid-2020s.

If all goes according to plan, Clipper will make 40 to 45 flybys of Europa over the course of its mission, studying the moon's ice shell and subsurface ocean in an attempt to better understand Europa's potential to host life as we know it. Europa Clipper will also scout out locations for a future lander mission, which Congress has directed the space agency to develop as well.

NASA officials have also said they'd like Clipper to dive through Europa's putative plumes, if possible, to potentially grab fresh samples of the moon's ocean (if plume material is indeed coming directly from that ocean).

The evidence gathered to date suggests that the processes producing Europa's plumes  if they do indeed exist  may not be continuous like the geysers of Enceladus but instead intermittent. Ephemeral plumes could make it tough to plan sample-snagging flybys.

But the new results offer some optimism in this regard, Jia said. After all, scientists have now spotted possible plume activity in the same area of Europa multiple times over a 19-year span.

"The general region of the thermal anomaly might have long-lived plume activity," Jia said.

Such activity may be caused by different individual jets or geysers turning on and off over time, he added. If NASA (and the rest of us who care about the search for alien life) get lucky, those jets may be on when the Europa Clipper reaches its destination and starts its science work.

Originally published on Space.com.

NASA will include a small, autonomous helicopter in the agency's upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission, officials announced today (May 11).

The craft will undergo a 30-day test campaign once it reaches the Red Planet to demonstrate the viability of travel above the Martian surface with a heavier-than-air craft.

"NASA has a proud history of firsts," NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said in a statement. "The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling. The Mars Helicopter holds much promise for our future science, discovery and exploration missions to Mars." [Red Planet Express: 10 Ways Robots Move on Mars]

The Mars Helicopter's development began in 2013 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. It's just under 4 lbs. (1.8 kilograms), and its body is about the size of a softball, NASA officials said in the statement. It will carry solar cells to charge up in the light of the sun and a heating mechanism to endure cold nights on the Red Planet.

The helicopter's twin blades will whirl at about 10 times the rate of a helicopter's blades on Earth  at 3,000 rpm  to stay aloft in Mars' thin atmosphere.

"The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet [12,000 meters]," MiMi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at JPL, said in the statement. "The atmosphere of Mars is only one percent that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it's already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet [30,000 m] up.

"To make it fly at that low atmospheric density, we had to scrutinize everything, make it as light as possible while being as strong and as powerful as it can possibly be," she added.

Mars 2020 is slated to launch in July of that year on United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and the mission should arrive at Mars in February 2021. The six-wheeled rover will hunt for signs of habitable environments as well as sites that may have once hosted microbial life, examining the Red Planet with 23 cameras, a microphone and a drill to collect samples.

The helicopter will ride to Mars attached to the rover's belly pan, officials said. Once the rover reaches the planet's surface, it will place the helicopter on the ground and move to a safe distance to relay commands; controllers on Earth will direct it to take its first autonomous flight.

"We don't have a pilot, and Earth will be several light-minutes away, so there is no way to joystick this mission in real time," Aung said. "Instead, we have an autonomous capability that will be able to receive and interpret commands from the ground, and then fly the mission on its own."

The helicopter will attempt up to five flights, going farther and operating for longer each time  up to a few hundred meters and 90 seconds, officials said. It will also climb to 10 feet (3 m) and hover for about 30 seconds.

The Mars Helicopter is considered a high-risk, high-reward project, according to NASA: If the helicopter fails, it won't affect the rest of the Mars 2020 rover's mission, but if it succeeds, the agency will have a powerful new tool to survey the planet and access currently unreachable locations.

"Exploring the Red Planet with NASA's Mars Helicopter exemplifies a successful marriage of science and technology innovation and is a unique opportunity to advance Mars exploration for the future," Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in the statement. "After the Wright Brothers proved 117 years ago that powered, sustained, and controlled flight was possible here on Earth, another group of American pioneers may prove the same can be done on another world.

"The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers," he added. "We already have great views of Mars from the surface as well as from orbit. With the added dimension of a bird's-eye view from a 'marscopter,' we can only imagine what future missions will achieve."

Original article on Space.com.About a dozen Google employees are resigning in protest over the tech giants involvement in Project Maven, a controversial military program that uses artificial intelligence, Gizmodo reports.

Project Maven, which harnesses AI to improve drone targeting, has been a source of concern for a number of Google employees. Last month, over 3,100 Google workers signed a letter addressed to the companys CEO, Sundar Pichai, asking him to pull the tech giant out of the project.

Announced last year, Project Maven is designed to swiftly pull important data from vast quantities of imagery.

GOOGLE EMPLOYEES PLEAD WITH CEO TO DROP OUT OF PENTAGON AI PROJECT

The resigning employees concerns range from ethical worries about the use of AI in drone warfare to qualms about Googles political decisions and a potential erosion of user trust, according to Gizmodo.

The tech news website cites an internal Google document containing written accounts from many of the employees detailing their decisions to leave. Multiple sources have reportedly shared the documents contents with Gizmodo.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm is said to be using machine learning to help the Department of Defense classify images captured by drones.

GOOGLE HITS HARD ON PRIVACY, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT I/O 2018

Google, however, should not be in the business of war, according to the letter to Pichai that was signed by thousands of disgruntled employees. Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology, the letter said, according to the New York Times.

The Google workers also noted the company's well-known former motto, "Dont be evil," warning that Project Maven will irreparably damage Googles brand and its ability to compete for talent.

The New York Times reported last month that the letter was circulating within Google.

GOOGLE WANTS YOU TO PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE (NO, REALLY)

The Department of Defense has said that its workforce is overwhelmed by incoming data, particularly video imagery.

Although we have taken tentative steps to explore the potential of artificial intelligence, big data and deep learning, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work wrote in an April 2017 memo discussing Project Maven, I remain convinced that we need to do much more and move much faster across DoD to take advantage of recent and future advances in these critical areas.

Google has not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from Fox News.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersThe U.S. Navy is planning to finalize weapons integration on its new USS Ford carrier and explode bombs in various sea conditions near the ship to prepare for major combat on the open seas, service officials said.

Service weapons testers will detonate a wide range of bombs, to include a variety of underwater sea mines to assess the carriers ability to withstand enemy attacks Shock Trials, as they are called, are typically one of the final stages in the Navy process designed to bring warships from .development to operational deployment.

The USS Gerald R. Ford will conduct further trails and testing, culminating in full-ship shock trials. The ship will then work up for deployment in parallel with its initial operational testing and evaluation, William Couch, an official with Naval Sea Systems Command, told Warrior Maven.

Testing how the carrier can hold up to massive nearby explosions will follow whats called a Post Shakedown Availability involving a final integration of various combat systems.

The Post Shakedown Availability is planned for 12 months, with the critical path being Advanced Weapons Elevator construction and Advanced Arresting Gear water twister upgrades, Couch added.

The Navys decision to have shock trials for its first Ford-Class carrier, scheduled for deployment in 2022, seems to be of particular relevance in todays modern threat environment. In a manner far more threatening than most previously known threats to Navy aircraft carriers, potential adversaries have in recent years been designing and testing weapons specifically engineered to destroy US carriers.

One such threat is the Chinese built DF-21D carrier killer anti-ship missile. This weapon, now actively being developed and tested by the Chinese military, can reportedly hit moving carriers at ranges up to 900 nautical miles.

Accordingly, unlike the last 15 years of major US military counterinsurgency operations where carriers operated largely uncontested, potential future conflict will likely require much more advanced carrier defenses, service developers have explained.

A 2007 Department of Defense-directed Shock Trials analysis by the non-profit MITRE corporation explains that many of the expected or most probable threats to warships come from non-contact explosions where a high-pressure wave is launched toward the ship.

MITREs report, interestingly, also identifies the inspiration for Shock Trials as one originating from World War II.

During World War II, it was discovered that although such near miss explosions do not cause serious hull or superstructure damage, the shock and vibrations associated with the blast nonetheless incapacitate the ship, by knocking out critical components and systems, the MITRE assessment, called Navy Ship Underwater Shock Prediction and Testing Capability Study states.

The MITRE analysis further specifies that, following a nearby explosion, the bulkhead of a ship can oscillate, causing the ship to move upward.

Strong localized deformations are seen in the deck modes, which different parts of the decks moving at different frequencies from each other, MITRE writes.

The existence and timing of USS Ford Shock Trials has been the focus of much consideration. Given that post Shock Trial evaluations and damage assessments can result in a need to make modifications to the ship, some Navy developers wanted to save Shock Trials for the second Ford-class carrier, the USS Kennedy. The rationale, according to multiple reports, was to ensure the anticipated USS Ford deployment time frame was not delayed.

However, a directive from Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shannahan, following input from the Senate Armed Services Committee, ensured that shock trials will occur on schedule for the USS Ford.

Data analysis following shock trials has, over the years, shown that even small ship component failures can have large consequences.

A component shock-qualification procedure which ensures the survivability of 99% of the critical components still is not good enough to ensure a ships continued operational capability in the aftermath of a nearby underwater explosion, MITRE writes.

Also, given that the USS Ford is introducing a range of as-of-yet unprecedented carrier-technologies, testing the impact of nearby attacks on the ship may be of greater significance than previous shock trials conducted for other ships.

For instance, Ford-class carriers are built with a larger flight deck able to increase the sortie-generation rate by 33-percent, an electromagnetic catapult to replace the current steam system and much greater levels of automation or computer controls throughout the ship. The ship is also engineered to accommodate new sensors, software, weapons and combat systems as they emerge, Navy officials have said.

The USS Ford is built with four 26-megawatt generators, bringing a total of 104 megawatts to the ship. This helps support the ship's developing systems such as its Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, and provides power for future systems such as lasers and rail-guns, many Navy senior leaders have explained.

In addition, stealth fighter jets, carrier-launched drones, V-22 Ospreys, submarine-detecting helicopters, laser weapons and electronic jamming are all deemed indispensable to the Navys now unfolding future vision of carrier-based air power, senior service leaders said.

Several years ago, the Navy announced that the V-22 Osprey will be taking on the Carrier On-Board Delivery mission wherein it will carry forces and equipment on and off carriers while at sea.

However, despite the emergence of weapons such as DF-21D, senior Navy leaders and some analysts have questioned the ability of the weapon like this to actually hit and destroy carriers on the move at 30-knots from 1,000 miles away.

Targeting, guidance on the move, fire control, ISR and other assets are necessary for these kinds of weapons to function as advertised. GPS, inertial measurement units, advanced sensors and dual-mode seekers are part of a handful of fast-developing technologies able to address some of these challenges, yet it does not seem clear that long-range anti-ship missiles such as the DF-21D will actually be able to destroy carriers on the move at the described distances.

Furthermore, the Navy is rapidly advancing ship-based defensive weapons, electronic warfare applications, lasers and technologies able to identify and destroy approaching anti-ship cruise missile from ranges beyond the horizon. One such example of this includes the now-deployed Naval Integrated Fire Control  Counter Air system, or NIFC-CA. This technology, which travels in carrier-strike groups, combines ship-based radar and fire control systems with an aerial sensor and dual-mode SM-6 missile to track and destroy approaching threats from beyond-the-horizon.

The Navy is also developing a new carrier-launched tanker, called the MQ-25A Stingray, to extend the combat range of key carrier air-wing assets such as F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35C Joint Strike Fighters. The range or combat radius of carrier-based fighter jets, therefore, is fundamental to this equation. If an F-35C or F/A-18 can, for instance, only travel roughly 500 or 600 miles to attack an inland enemy target such as air-defenses, installations and infrastructure  how can it effectively project power if threats force it to operate 1,000-miles off shore?

Therein lies the challenge and the requisite need for a drone tanker able to refuel these carrier-launched aircraft mid-flight, giving them endurance sufficient to attack from longer distances.

As for a maiden deployment of the USS Ford slated for 2022, Navy officials tell Warrior Maven the ship will likely be sent to wherever it may most be in need, such as the Middle East or Pacific.

This story originally appeared at Warrior Maven.This is a rush transcript from "Justice with Judge Jeanine," May 12, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JEANINE PIRRO, HOST: Hello and welcome to a very special "Justice" from Israel. I am Jeanine Pirro. Thanks so much for being with us tonight and thanks to all of you for once again making "Justice" number one last Saturday night.

Tonight, I join you from Jerusalem where history will be made in less than 48 hours when the new US Embassy opens, but it is also a volatile time of unprecedented clashes between Israel and Iran.

We have a stellar guest lineup here in Jerusalem, US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressman Ron DeSantis, Pastor John Hagee and many others to here to discuss the new embassy, the latest conflict here on the ground and of course, President Trump's bold foreign policy move over the last week. But first, my opening statement.

We do join you tonight during a truly historic moment in Israel's history, one that is cause for great celebration. This week, not only has President Donald Trump chosen to withdraw from the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal, but we are here on the eve of the momentous opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem, a move that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A move greatly appreciated by the people of Israel as evidenced on street corners everywhere we went.

President Trump's pullout from the Iran deal, although suspected became a virtual certainty when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proved through Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad that Iran had been lying to the world when it was continuing uranium enrichment and nuclear development.

Iranian documents uncovered by that same intel agency are proof positive that Iran lied. Gee, what a shock.

On the day of the withdrawal from the Iran deal, bomb shelters opened up in the Golan Heights and the Israeli army was on high alert as Israel braced for imminent attack. As we proceeded from Haifa to the Golan Heights, there were no sirens, school buses and taxis continued to run, but that night in Tiberius, we heard the unequivocal sound of rockets and at breakfast, we found out that indeed, there was an Iranian rocket offensive towards Israel from inside Syria.

Israel responded with strategic precision, targeting munitions, storage warehouses, logistics, headquarters and intel systems of Iran within its proxy Syria. Israel does what Israel needs to do.

And today, Iranians are marching against the United States, protesting President Trump's decision to withdraw from their nuclear deal. Maybe they ought to consider protesting that the $150 billion Obama gave them in cash was not used to benefit them, but instead it was used to support both its nuclear development, as well as its military budget, which has grown by almost 40%.

Now, Obama's Iran deal, make no mistake, destroyed 70 years of bipartisan US foreign policy in the Middle East. His delusional deal abandoned Israel and Egypt, the largest Arab country and alienated the Sunni Muslims, the moderate Arab states guaranteeing that they would face a nuclear Iran.

Iran, of course, a leading state-sponsor of terror, exports dangerous missiles and supports terrorist proxies and militias like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Taliban. The idea that it seeks a successful nuclear energy program is absurd to even anyone with half a brain.

And as Obama turned his back on the slaughter of Christians, and ignored his own red line in the Syria sand, he allowed Russia, through this vacuum to become a dominant regional player in the Middle East.

Donald Trump's withdrawal from that deal was the United States standing shoulder to shoulder with our ally, Israel against the rest of the world. It sent a huge signal to Iran and Shia Muslims that we stood with the more moderate Sunnis, and although Great Britain and France had joined the United States earlier in taking out Syrian weapons facility, they chose to stand with Iran against Israel and the United States.

But Trump has reassured the world that his word is worth more than any former US presidents like Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Barack Obama, who all promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but didn't deliver.

His word is worth more than any treaty, and stronger than any UN resolution. He promised, and he delivered.

Trump not only sent a message to Iran, but to Russia as well that the US back as a dominant regional player after the Obama years. He recognizes a reality that everyone else in the West willingly blinds themselves to and that is that Jerusalem is the one and only capital of Israel.

By Trump putting this in for (inaudible) and what has been history for the last 3000 years, and that is that Jerusalem has been the capital of one people's country or one kingdom, that people is the Jews, and that country is and was Israel.

The empires that tried to destroy Israel and its capital, Jerusalem are long gone. Yet the Jews still speak the same language and practice the same religion, which is the foundation of our Judeo-Christian nation.

Donald Trump sent Iranians who are the descendants of Persia a message to reflect on their own history, and that it was the King of Persia, who thousand years before Mohammad was born that said Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people's country.

There will be no Ottoman empires or Shia nations that will destroy Jerusalem any longer. Donald Trump recognize history. He, like King Cyrus before him fulfilled the biblical prophecy of the gods worshiped by Jews, Christians and yes, Muslims, that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state, and that the Jewish people finally deserve a righteous, free, and sovereign Israel. That's my open.

Tell me what you think on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram #judgejeanine.

Joining me now with reaction to my opening statement and of course to the historic embassy opening here in Jerusalem is US Ambassador to Israel, Ambassador David Friedman. All right, Ambassador, is there anything I said in my open that was not correct or that you didn't agree with?

DAVID FRIEDMAN, US AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Judge Jeanine, you hit the nail on the head. I am in violent agreement with everything that you said. In particular, I appreciate your connecting the decision on Iran with the President's decision to move the embassy.

Because in both cases, they are really driven by a similar approach to foreign policy by the President and to commitment to the truth, the facts rather than hopeless fantasies, to courage and to again placing the United States in the central role in the world with regard to foreign policy especially with regard to malign activity that threatens the entire world.

PIRRO: Well, then tell me, why is it that other US presidents, from Clinton to Bush to Obama, why did they say they were going to do it and then not do it?

FRIEDMAN: I think they harbored again this fantasy that somehow the line activity would somehow end with a handshake and some extension of friendship. Obama's view was that we will welcome Iran back into the community of nations and will somehow reform and we saw how they reformed. They reformed all the way through Yemen, they now control part of that. They have reformed in Iraq, and in Syria and Lebanon and they're are now, the primary risk to the stability of the entire Middle East region.

PIRRO: And some say that the decision though by the US is something that will work against the peace process. Why do they say that?

FRIEDMAN: There is no basis to think it will work against the peace process, what the president did was - he said to the Palestinians, "You do not have a veto on a historical fact. You don't have a veto on depriving our country from keeping a promise," which by the way, it's not just the Presidents promise, he kept it, but this is a law since 1995 that was overwhelmingly passed by both Houses of Congress.

He said, "This is an American interest and we're going to do it and we're not going to be held hostage by a rogue regime telling us what we can and can't do." And that's an important message in the peace process. People need to understand they cannot play these cards that have no basis in fact or reality.

PIRRO: What do you expect to see on Monday when the embassy opens?

FRIEDMAN: We're going to see a beautiful ceremony. I'm so excited about it. We are going to have an inspirational moving ceremony. I spoke to the president this morning, he was so excited about it. He'll be there on video, but we'll have great soaring rhetoric from some great speakers. The prime minister of Israel will speak, Jared Kushner will speak, the president of Israel will speak, and you're going to see, I think America really at its best in showing its great friendship to Israel.

PIRRO: And you know, as you were speaking, they were showing on screen all of the signs that are going up in Jerusalem and saying that this is the US embassy in English, Arabic and Hebrew. And to so many people, and I'll talk about this later in Street Justice, it has created a great deal of pride for the Israelis.

FRIEDMAN: Yes, the state of Israel is in love with President Trump. They have such admiration and gratitude towards him and to the entire United States and it's wonderful to see.

PIRRO: And how do you think - one last question, how do you think that the Palestinians are going to react to this?

FRIEDMAN: The Palestinians are not reacting well, but, they will change. They will change over time because they will understand that the United States continues to extend its hand in piece and people need to focus on what's important - quality-of-life, more infrastructure, more security, more education, better hospitals.

The United States is there to help the Palestinians and I think we'll reach that point. There had been bumps in the road for 50 years, no one has managed to solve this rubik's cube in 50 years, I think we are going to make progress.

PIRRO: And that's our David Friedman, it is a delight to be here in Israel with you and I will be there at the opening of the embassy, thrilled as well.

FRIEDMAN: Well, we of course, we welcome you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

PIRRO: All right, and up next, I talk to two former ambassadors about the increasing turmoil here in the Middle East. What it means for Israel and what it means for the US. Plus, a can't-miss interview with Senator Lindsey Graham who is leading the Congressional delegation for the embassy opening. Stay with us.

Later, by the way, I head to the streets of Jerusalem to talk to the locals about the historic embassy move, how they feel about President Trump. More on "Justice" in a moment.

(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)

PIRRO: How do you feel about the embassy opening in Jerusalem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very excited.

PIRRO: And that do you think of the president actually doing it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's a man of his word and we're very proud of him and we're very proud of this moment in history.

(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After the promises of many administrations and presidents, then they never did it. They campaigned, they promised, they never did it. Next week, we will finally open the American embassy in Jerusalem.

(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)

PIRRO: Promises made and promises kept. That is what President Trump does and we will be here to witness the embassy opening on Monday.

My next guest has spent years in the trenches of global diplomacy, fighting for Israel from Tel Aviv, Israel's foreign ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman joins me now. Good evening, Ambassador.

DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAEL'S FOREIGN AMBASSADOR TO THE UN: Good evening, Judge. It's good to be with you, although you are in Jerusalem and I am in Tel Aviv, but we will make up for it tomorrow.

PIRRO: I'm sure we'll see each other at the opening of the embassy, Ambassador. You know, as I read in the introduction to you, there has been a lot of years of global diplomacy that's preceded this time. What you think brings us to the point in time where we can actually get this done?

GILLERMAN: Well, I think what President Trump has delivered is not just keeping a promise, which is quite unusual, but delivering leadership. We live in a world where there is very little leadership. There's very little leadership in Europe or elsewhere, and President Trump has delivered that leadership over and over again.

He has done it by deciding to move the embassy to Jerusalem, by pulling out of the horrible, cynical deal with Iran, by next month's meeting the leader of North Korea - when you look at all of these achievements in a very relatively short period of time, I think he is not just keeping promises, but making history.

PIRRO: Well, let me ask you this, you were Israel's ambassador to the United Nation. Now, the United Nations will not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The question that I have right now is, is the United Nations even relevant anymore?

GILLERMAN: I think the United Nations is relevant only because it is the Parliament of the world and the only place when 193 countries gather and discuss the fate of the world, but as far as actually making a difference, I don't think the United Nations is making a difference, and as far as Israel is concerned, the United Nations is unfortunately a citadel of hypocrisy, and not just double standards, but triple standards.

It is the standard for democracies, and standards for totalitarianism, and a special standard for Israel to which it devotes a lot of time in a very, very hostile way, and therefore, I think it cannot be an honest broker, and far as the world is concerned especially in our region, it is probably also very irrelevant at the moment.

PIRRO: Well, you know, when you say that, when you say it is the citadel of hypocrisy, you know, there is a part of me that believes in that regard it should be irrelevant, but we fund - the United States funds almost a quarter of the United Nations' budget. Should we be doing that?

GILLERMAN: I think you should because I do believe that there is a place and there is a necessity for a Parliament of the nations, and the United Nations at the moment may not be doing the right thing, but I think that there are ways of changing it, and when I was there, I found it as a very important ground for multilateral and bilateral talks with the countries that don't recognize Israel and are even perceived as hostile to Israel.

There is a huge discrepancy between what the ambassadors of those countries tell you in private and what they say in public, but I think we can make inroads. We have had a lot of achievements at the UN, and I believe that you know, the United States should give it a chance, but at the same time, lead the world in the direction it sees fit as it is doing at the moment.

PIRRO: All right, Ambassador Gillerman, thanks so much for joining us on this historic weekend in Israel.

And joining me now here in Israel is the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, and former Ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon. Good evening, Ambassador.

DANNY AYALON, FORMER DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Good evening, great to have you here.

PIRRO: Third one in a row.

AYALON: Yes, great to have you hear in our capital, Jerusalem.

PIRRO: Yes, and it is great to be here. It's such a historic time. You know, your experience in the foreign ministry, and over the time that you were working, I mean, you saw the hypocrisy that Ambassador Gillerman talked about, but even more than that, the history that precedes not just the president withdrawing from the Iran deal, but more significantly, the identification and recognition by the United States that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

AYALON: I think this is momentous. I think this is a watershed. I think this is historic resolution and historic decision that will change the course of history. I think it was very courageous. He is the first President after so many who have promised and really did not make good on their promises.

And I think this is also a beacon for the rest of the world, the decent countries in the world will follow suit and we know that already some are coming in.

PIRRO: You know, I said in my opening statement that with the Obama administration, there was a vacuum created, and that Russia was able to establish itself as a regional player in the Middle East.

Now, with our withdrawal, we reestablish ourselves, I believe as a dominant player in the Middle East, and yet, Iran through its proxy Syria took on itself as a result of this historic shelling of Israel, can we expect more of this?

AYALON: We may. I can tell you, analyzing Iran and their conduct for the last three or four decades, you know, since the Ayatollahs took over, they are not confronting head on. They use proxies, so they will fight until the last Hezbollah man, until the last Syria man, until the last Hamas and Islamic Jihad men.

When they start confronting us directly, you see the results. They're getting beaten and beaten hard.

So, I believe that at this point, they are not much to the idea in terms of intelligence, in terms of our capabilities from air and other ways, and they would use more proxies, but I think, the way to handle Iran is isolation.

And I think more and more of them getting isolated in the region. You know, all the Sunni countries are against them because they know Iran is converting them.

PIRRO: Yes, you know, history - you have to learn from history. I mean, look at the '67 war. The '67 war, the Israelis did not start it and yet they, you know, they started to control and then take over. They have annexed the land that they have taken as part of Israel. Now, they should learn from that I would say.

AYALON: I would hope so, and especially you know, with Iran, Iran has no business in Syria. The only reason they are there is because they want to create a territorial bridge from Iran all the way to the Mediterranean. They already are in Iraq, you know, they took over Iraq with the Shiite regime. They have Lebanon and the Hezbollah, in between - the link in between is Syria. That's why they are there in order to attack us. We are not going to let it happen. We are going to just - to let them come in and threaten our population.

So, this is why - and we did not provoke it. They were stupid enough to provoke it with a drone and with other shelling and this is the result right now.

PIRRO: All right, Ambassador Ayalon, thank you so much for being with us.

AYALON: My pleasure.

PIRRO: And coming up, everyone, Congressman Ron DeSantis joins me here in Jerusalem to talk about the new embassy opening, plus Israel and faith, I sit down with the Founder and Chairman of Christians United for Israel.

Plus, Senator Lindsey Graham, next.

ROBERT GRAY, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I am Robert Gray.

ISIS now claiming responsibility for the Paris stabbing attack, saying the suspect was one of its soldiers. French authorities are opening a terrorism investigation into the incident. Police say the suspect stabbed several people in Central Paris, killing one and injuring at least four others.

Officer then shot and killed the attacker. A French prosecutor says, witnesses report the suspected shouted "Allahu Akhbar," god is great in Arabic.

President Trump now declaring a major disaster in Hawaii after that volcanic explosion sending lava and dangerous gases spewing into neighborhoods. The declaration allows Federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in areas affected.

The volcano erupted more than one week ago, 2, 000 people have been evacuated.

I am Robert Gray, now back to "Justice with Judge Jeanine."

PIRRO: Such a historic week with the US embassy poise to open in Jerusalem, and President Trump confirming his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un for June 12 in Singapore.

Here with reaction to the summit and the US embassy set to open here in Jerusalem is Senator Lindsey Graham who is leading the Congressional delegation. Senator, thanks for being here. I'm not going to ask you what a great thing this is because I know that you are a big supporter of the creation of the embassy in Jerusalem. My question to you is what signal does this send to Iran and after that, Russia, after that, North Korea?

LINDSEY OLIN GRAHAM, US SENATOR, SOUTH CAROLINA, REPUBLICAN: When it comes to the United States and Israel, we are rejecting the Obama model of tepid support. This mean, you've got Israel's back. If you've got a problem with Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, take it up with God. He did this.

So, what President Trump did by saying Jerusalem is the capital of the one and only Jewish state, he's telling Iran, "We have Israel's back." He's telling North Korea that, "I'm going to be different than every other president before me. When I say I am going to do something, I mean it. I said I was going to move the capital - the embassy to Jerusalem, I am going to do it. I said I was going to withdraw from the Iranian deal because it sucked and he did, and rocket man, I want you to be successful, but if you we don't have an agreement, you keep threatening our country, then you're going to be next."

PIRRO: Well, that pretty much sums it up. Let me ask you this, you know, I was saying that Obama created the vacuum. When he just literally withdrew from the Middle East and you know...

GRAHAM: He picked sides. He picked Iran's side.

PIRRO: He picked Iran's side.

GRAHAM: He didn't withdraw.

PIRRO: He did the Iran deal, the whole thing.

GRAHAM: Which is awful.

PIRRO: He allowed Russia to become a regional player. Russia, right now is now being confronted with the United States reestablishing itself as...

(CROSSTALK)

GRAHAM: It's all about Syria, so Obama had our side on the ropes and let them go, had Iraq in the good place, withdrew all of our troops, ISIS emerged, Hezbollah and Iran came to help Assad and Russia came in to help Assad and Syria, now Israel is getting threats from Syria because Iran is all over Syria, but the big threat is in Lebanon.

There's a 160,000 rockets in the hands of Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran in South Lebanon...

PIRRO: A hundred and sixty thousand?

GRAHAM: And they are becoming precision.

PIRRO: Where did they get them from?

GRAHAM: They got them from Iran.

PIRRO: Where did Iran get them?

GRAHAM: They're making them. They took the $150 billion we gave them and sanction...

PIRRO: They didn't give it young Iranians to get jobs?

(CROSSTALK)

GRAHAM: Here is a general rule in life, if a guy has threatened to cut your throat, don't buy him a knife. Obama bought the Ayatollah knife for everybody in this region.

PIRRO: Why?

GRAHAM: Well, because he believed that if you just treat them nice, they'll be nice. And Donald Trump sees the evil that exists in Iran. If they will shoot their kids down, what do you think they'll do to ours? They write "Death to Israel" on the side of their rockets. They took the money, rebuilt their military. They humiliated our sailors captured on the high seas, everything Obama thought about Iran has been wrong. It is crazy to stay in this field.

Fifteen years from now, they can enrich and reprocess without limitation. Every Arab in this region is going to assume Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon, so they're going to get one (inaudible)...

(CROSSTALK)

GRAHAM: Unless somebody does something, and that's called Donald Trump.

PIRRO: Okay, let me ask you something, last night, I was at a dinner, and there is a leader - a big Christian leader who I think donated to the Christian embassy in Israel, and he talked about the fact that the United States is definitely, you know, says what it means and means what it says. But what's wrong with the United States that all of these people are violating the laws of the United States and nobody's being prosecuted?

Basically saying the Democrats are doing whatever they want - you Americans, what's wrong with you Republicans?

GRAHAM: All I can say is if the shoe were on the other foot, that if they were investigating Trump and the FBI agent in charge liked Trump and hated Clinton, it be on the front page of every newspaper in the country.

If they got a dossier on Clinton using a foreign agent that was unverified to get a warrant against an American citizen to favor Trump, it would be front-page news. What DOJ did is corrupt.

PIRRO: So, what are we going to do?

GRAHAM: Well, we're going to have hearings and eventually go after them.

PIRRO: But you can indict.

GRAHAM: We need a special prosecutor and Jeff Sessions should appoint one. The guy from Utah is looking at it, but if there was ever a case where the Department of Justice should not investigate itself, it's here. We need a special prosecutor to look at DOJ...

PIRRO: Would you consider impeaching Rosenstein?

GRAHAM: I am not going to impeach him, I am just going to urge him to go ahead and do what the law requires.

PIRRO: And then, we just wait it out? What we do then?

GRAHAM: Well, you've got a guy from Utah who is a US Attorney who is looking at the Clinton e-mail investigation, which was a joke, looking how the dossier was misused in the FISA court, so he's a good guy.

PIRRO: All right, all right. Senator Lindsey Graham. Thanks so much.

GRAHAM: God bless your viewers.

PIRRO: And we'll see you Monday at the opening of the embassy. Congressman Ron DeSantis joins me next. And I sit down with Pastor Hagee to talk about Israel and faith. Back in a moment.

Welcome back to "Justice" from Israel. There was no way to look at this beautiful country and not reflect on one's faith. My next guest will be delivering the benediction at the embassy Jerusalem on Monday.

He is also the Founder and Chairman of Christians United for Israel, Pastor John Hagee joins me now. Good evening, Pastor.

JOHN HAGEE, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, CHRISTIANS UNITED FOR ISRAEL: Good evening, Judge, it's a pleasure to see you.

PIRRO: Pleasure to see you in Jerusalem as well. All right, Pastor, you are the head of a 4.1 million members, which is the largest pro-Israel grassroots organization in the world. You are a Christian pastor, how did this get started?

HAGEE: It started in 1981 when I had a night doing a ritual in San Antonio. The purpose was to give an expression to the Jewish Christianity for their contributions to Christianity and to America.

It met with a lot of resistance from the Christians and suspicion from the Jewish people. Why was I doing this? Because the Jewish people are not accustomed to Christians doing acts of kindness for them.

That event began to take off across America because of our national television program, and then in 2006, when Ahmadinejad started talking about destroying Israel and death to the Jews and so forth, I said, "Israel needs a grassroots organization in the United States of America and a lobbying group in Washington, hooking those forces up together so that any time an issue comes to Washington that's detrimental to Israel and the Jewish people, we can stand up and speak up with united force."

PIRRO: And you did, in fact, you, I understand sent or had 137,000 e-mails sent to the White House on moving the embassy. You also did a fly-in with 400 members from your organization to Washington, DC from - is it every state?

HAGEE: Every state in the United States plus additional major cities that have concentrations of...

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Why was it so important that Jerusalem - to you, as a head of a Christian organization be the center of Israel?

HAGEE: One, the capital of Jerusalem I thought and believed, and still believe recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would accentuate the peace process, because every time the president would call participants in the Middle East to come to the peace table, they would object because they did not feel like they were given appropriate portion of the city of Jerusalem.

And as soon as Jerusalem was taken off the table, as a matter of debate when our president had the courage enough to make that declaration, the world didn't end. Armageddon didn't start like people thought it would. The sun rose in the east and set in the west and everything was beautiful. It still is beautiful and...

PIRRO: And we are here.

HAGEE: Now, we are getting ready to dedicate the embassy bang-bang, right behind each other and it's a breathtaking sequence no one could have dreamed would happen and it wouldn't have happened had not Donald Trump been the president of the United States.

PIRRO: All right, Pastor John Hagee, you are as enthusiastic as all of us here in Jerusalem tonight. Thanks so much for being with us.

HAGEE: My pleasure.

PIRRO: All right, the Trump administration standing with Israel in the recent outbreak of violence here with Iran, but the president is still hopeful, a fair deal may be possible.

(VIDEO CLIP STARTS)

TRUMP: We are putting the harshest, strongest, most stringent sanctions on Iran. I hope to be able to make a deal with them, a good deal, a fair deal, a good deal for them, better for them, better for them. But we cannot allow them to have nuclear weapons. We must be able to go to a site and check that site. We have to be able to go into their military bases to see whether or not they are cheating.

(VIDEO CLIP ENDS)

PIRRO: Joining me now, Congressman Ron DeSantis who has been instrumental in the embassy's move to Jerusalem. Congressman, good evening. Welcome to the Fox Jerusalem bureau. We usually have you in New York, but it's good to have you here.

RONALD DION DESANTIS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, FLORIDA, REPUBLICAN: Well, it's great to be here. Thank you for making the trip. This is wonderful.

PIRRO: Yes, are you kidding. It's my fourth trip to Israel. I love Israel, but listen, most important, I mean, the move to Jerusalem by the president, a move that none of the other presidents had the courage to make, why do you think they didn't do it?

DESANTIS: Because it's a tough decision to make.

PIRRO: Why is it so tough?

DESANTIS: Because the whole bureaucracy tells you, you can't do it, the sky is going to fall, the media says don't do it, and that's what's presidents see and so, the question is, can you see beyond the typical chatter and do what's right?

Harry Truman did that when he recognized Israel 70 years ago and Donald Trump did that by fulfilling his promise and I think it was the right thing to do obviously for our relationship with Israel. It is a fact that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. It is indivisible.

But, I think by him doing that, that makes a difference in Tehran, in North Korea, in Russia and all of these places because you see a president leading with purpose. You see a president who is willing to make the tough decisions and buck the established conventional wisdom.

PIRRO: All right, so let's talk about June 12, Singapore, President Trump and Kim Jong-un. He looks at this, what is he thinking?

DESANTIS: Which one?

PIRRO: Kim Jong-un - the President...

DESANTIS: I think that - well, but I think that Kim Jong-un has been rattled by Donald Trump. He had it good with Obama. I mean, Obama just let him do whatever the heck he wanted to do and to this President's credit, he said, I am going to take this problem on, and he brought unprecedented pressure to bear on Kim Jong-un and we've seen that now with some of the fruits of that with the hostages being released. We didn't have to pay a ransom or anything like that.

PIRRO: It's unbelievable. You know, when I look at the Democrats who don't have the decency to give the President credit for that, and yet when Otto Warmbier came back, I mean, it was during the Trump administration. But during the Obama administration, he wasn't brought back, he was tortured.

DESANTIS: There wasn't really any efforts being made and so, Kim Jong-un realizes he's got a significant adversary, somebody who will actually do what he says as president. So, that's changed the calculation. I think the big question is, how much - I mean, does Kim Jong-un now think that because he's been trying to further their nuclear ambitions that that actually makes his grip on power less secure because Trump is going to put pressure on him, some of the other countries are going to put pressure on him?

Maybe - could he just cut a deal to keep himself in power? I'm not sure he's at that point yet. But boy, two years ago, there would've been no chance you would have had any type of concessions out of North Korea, and this president has a good chance, and I think this president knows - he knows a bad deal and he will walk away if there's a bad deal. He's not going to just grant concessions like Obama did.

PIRRO: And he predicted that he would walk away. But you know, I have said, and you know, I am joking because look at Kim Jong-un, you think the guy had a lobotomy. I mean, he went from "I am going to kill you in Guam and Chicago and all over," and all of a sudden, he's like wearing western garb - there he is you know, he looks like he wants to be on the cover of "Vanity Fair," and you never know with our press, he may be.

But you know, it brought out - is it the economic sanctions or the fear that Donald Trump is going to him into his what? I think Collin Powell said was a parking lot.

DESANTIS: I think both. And I think that one of the things Mike Pompeo has said is, "Look, we are willing to help you guys out economically, if you are willing to abandon your nuclear ambitions and denuclearize the peninsula," and that would be a trade that I think would great because you get rid of the nuclear problem by providing some economic help, maybe they actually evolve away from kind of the Maoist system and Leninist system that they have had for so long.

So, that may actually give the people of North Korea some hope that they could get some things done for their best, because this whole regime for decades has all been about the ruling elite and keeping them in power all the gains are given to a select few.

PIRRO: Yes, and you know, we have seen those few who were able to get away from North Korea, you know, who were able to get out of the country. Anyway, I will see you Monday at the opening of the embassy, and you know, to all of those - and especially to you who worked so hard to get this move, we all say, thank you.

DESANTIS: Oh, no. This is a huge, historic event.

PIRRO: It is. Indeed it is. Congressman Ron DeSantis. And coming up, you been waiting for it and it's next, Street Justice in Jerusalem. You do not want to miss this one.

Welcome back to "Justice." You know, I couldn't come all the way to Israel and not talk with the wonderful people here. So, I hit the streets to ask about the new embassy and Donald Trump. Take a look at Street Justice in Jerusalem.

(VIDEO TAPE STARTS)

PIRRO: So, here I am in Jerusalem, on Mamilla Street doing Street Justice trying to find out what Israelis think of the American embassy finally opening in Jerusalem.

How do you feel about the embassy opening in Jerusalem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very excited.

PIRRO: And what do you think of the president actually doing it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's a man of his word and we're very proud of him and we're very proud of this moment in history.

PIRRO: Do you think it is going to cause more danger in Jerusalem? Is this you know, teeing it up for some kind of terrorism?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel safer in Israel with the Israelis protecting us than anywhere in the world.

PIRRO: What do you think about the American embassy opening in Jerusalem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't need someone to tell me that Israel is my capital - I am sorry, Jerusalem is my capital. I know that Jerusalem is my capital, and will stay my capital. If Trump likes and wants to move the embassy to Jerusalem, he's welcome, why not.

PIRRO: So what do you think of the embassy opening up in Jerusalem?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a great thing for us and congratulations (inaudible)...

PIRRO: So, there you have it, from Golda's Restaurant in Jerusalem.

Here we are, historic week. The embassy is going to open. How do you feel about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is more joy in my heart now than there has been in the last 20 years. Like we went for this...

PIRRO: And Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he's the one said he was going to do it and he did it. I don't agree with everything he does, but he said he was going to do it, and he did it.

PIRRO: Would you say he is a man of his word?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. He is a man of his word, right? He said he was going to do it, he did it. Are you famous?

PIRRO: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh okay.

PIRRO: I am infamous. What do you think of President Trump moving the embassy when everyone said that they were but they never did?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump? Is true man. He knows what he is doing.

PIRRO: What do you think of the fact that the American embassy is now going to be in Jerusalem?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's the most incredible moment ever. God bless President Trump and Judge Jeanine.

PIRRO: How do you feel about the American embassy being opened up here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's great. I couldn't believe that Trump is holding on to his word. Every other president was just talking about it, but no one did it. (Inaudible).

PIRRO: I am?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not. Your hair is much less (inaudible)...

PIRRO: Yes, thank you.

(VIDEO TAPE ENDS)

PIRRO: We will be right back.

Finally, tonight don't forget to friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and on Instagram @judgejeanine. I'd love to read your comments and you are never have to miss "Justice" if you can't watch, just set your DVR.

Plus, get ready. My new book, "Liars, Leakers and Liberals: The Case against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy," comes out in June. Buy your book now by pre- ordering on Amazon in Barnes & Noble.

Thanks for watching our special show from Jerusalem. I am Jeanine Pirro advocating for truth, justice and the American way. Greg Gutfeld is coming up next. I'll see you next Saturday when I am back in New York City.

END

Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.An Asiana Airlines Airbus A330 crashed into a smaller passenger plane that was parked on the runway at Turkeys Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Sunday, cutting off its tail.

In a video of the incident, the Airbus is seen taxing across the tarmac when its wing crashes into the tail of a parked Turkish Airlines A321 jet.

PLANE ENDS UP NOSE-FIRST IN TENNESSEE RIVER AFTER PILOT OVERSHOOTS RUNWAY

The Korea Times reported that the Asiana plane was taxiing on the runway before colliding with the A321, which resulted in a fire on the Turkish jet that forced fire crews to rush to the scene. The Asiana planes wingtip was also seriously damaged in the crash, the news site reported.

The Korean carrier was preparing to take off for Incheon, South Korea, before the accident forced the airliner to cancel the flight.

That flight was rescheduled for Monday and the passengers were reportedly offered hotel accommodations.

The outlet confirmed none of the 222 passengers on board were injured.

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Turkish authorities are reportedly investigating the incident.

"If the ministry finds the collision is Asiana's fault, the airline will face an administrative measure," an official for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Turkey said to The Korea Times.

Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.A Korean War veteran struggling to get by can now breathe a sigh of relief after a group of around 100 volunteers in the Phoenix area spent a day helping renovate his home.

Jordan Dancer, 83, told Fox 10 about the financial struggles that weighed on his life.

WORLD WAR II VETERAN, 96, RECEIVES COLLEGE DEGREE MORE THAN 60 YEARS AFTER HIS LAST CLASS, REPORT SAYS

"I had so much stress in my life because I just didn't know what to do," Dancer said, adding that "sometimes, I hated for the mail to arrive because it was just bills."

His home and yard was spruced up by Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit that gives free repairs to affordable homes for those in need. The organization's director of construction operations, Jeremiah Churchill, said volunteers painted Dancer's home and weeded his yard.

"He wants a light yellow and cobalt blue, so it's definitely going to make it a little more lively," Churchill told Fox 10 of Dancer's house.

Dancer told the news station he couldn't afford to use his air conditioner -- "If I could double my income, I would still be below the poverty level" -- so he uses evaporative coolers, which the volunteer group fixed.

NATION'S OLDEST WWII VETERAN, RICHARD OVERTON, TURNS 112: 'HE'S A CRACKERJACK'

Dancer told Fox 10 he feels blessed by the volunteer work. "I'm just, I'm really thankful and there are lots and lots of good people."A 5-year-old Colorado girl is expected to survive after she was attacked over the weekend by a bear, which was later killed by officers as it approached a trap, officials said Monday.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a news release the girl went outside around 2:30 a.m. after hearing noises she mistook for her dog in the yard in East Orchard Mesa, above the Colorado River corridor in Grand Junction.

The girl's mom then heard screaming and went outside to find a large black bear dragging her daughter. She told CPW officers the bear dropped the girl after she began screaming at the animal.

She came out, she yelled at the animal, CPW spokesman Mike Porras told FOX31 Denver. She screamed at it and by doing so she probably saved her little girls life.

The girl was then rushed to St. Marys Medical Center in Grand Junction, where she underwent a surgery lasting an hour and 45 minutes and required more than 70 stitches.

Fortunately she had no life-threatening injuries, pediatric surgeon Dr. Charles Breaux of St. Marys Medical Center told FOX31. No injuries to her brain or chest organs or abdominal organs and no fractures.

COLORADO GIRL INJURED IN BEAR ATTACK OUTSIDE HOME, OFFICIALS SAY

Breaux told FOX31 the bear bit the girl multiple times on her backside, and doctors will monitor the girl to ensure she doesn't have rabies.

Wildlife officers placed three traps in the area and observed the bear walking up to a residence a half-mile away from the attack, CPW said in a news release. Officers killed the bear before it entered the trap.

Based on the description of the bear and its behavior, wildlife officers are confident the dead animal is the same one involved in the attack on the girl, according to CPW.

"The necropsy, along with DNA results will provide the confirmation, but we are confident we have the right bear," Area Wildlife Manager Kirk Oldham. "However, we will leave all three traps in place for the time being out of an abundance of caution."

Officers from the CPW will still continue to search the area for any additional bears.

While bear attacks on humans are rare, Porras told FOX31 there is growing concern as more people move to Colorado and push further into bear country.

Fox News' Katherine Lam contributed to this report.The former New York City police officer infamously dubbed the Cannibal Cop is giving up a custody battle for his daughter due to mounting legal fees and after comments from his ex-wife that there is a risk that Josephine may someday become a victim.

Gilberto Valle, who was acquitted and released from prison in 2014 after being convicted two years earlier on charges he planned to kidnap and eat women, told the New York Daily News his now 6-year-old daughter has no idea who I am.

Kathleen Mangan, Valle's former wife, wants to keep it that way.

"Josephine is a young girl, who will someday become a woman, Mangan was quoted as saying in court papers. Gilberto's 'fantasies' and involvement in these chat rooms puts Josephine at risk and given his affinity to fantasize about women close to him, there is a risk that Josephine may someday become a victim.

Valle gave Mangan full custody of their daughter while he was ensnared in the cannibalism fantasy case. Following his exoneration, he filed court papers in Nevada -- where Mangan now lives -- seeking visitation with his daughter. But Valle decided to drop the case last month after a judge told him he must pay his ex-wifes attorney fees, the Daily News reported late Sunday. Valle admitted to spending $50,000 so far on the legal battle, and said he couldnt afford any more.

"I've been completely cleared but that doesn't mean my life is back to normal, Valle said. This is going to stick with me for the rest of my life."

He added: "I argued it's in the child's best interest to have a father. Kathleen argued, 'He might murder my daughter.' I don't think she really thinks that."

The newspaper said Mangan and her lawyer are not responding to requests for comment.

"We have great concern that Ms. Mangan will be forced into a co-parenting relationship with a man who will continue to traumatize her through his very public persona as the 'Cannibal Cop,'" her attorney had previously written in court papers.

Valle, who now reportedly works in construction, recently published his first book, A Gathering of Evil. The book's Amazon description says the story follows two young New York women as they are targeted by a group of wealthy and violent sadists who crave to kidnap a young woman and brutally end her life."Students and parents were outraged after a caged tiger and other animals made an appearance at a jungle-themed Florida high school prom Friday.

Christopher Columbus High School, a private Catholic school in Miami, held its prom at a hotel near Miami International Airport, where a caged tiger was wheeled out onto the dance floor, according to WSVN-TV.

Amid fire dancers and loud music, the tiger was seen pacing back and forth in its cage and appeared nervous. Students could be seen filming the festivities on their cellphones.

Marie-Christine Castellanos, whose brother attended the prom, was shocked when she learned details about the event.

This is an event to have fun and amusement, but is torturing an animal really considered amusement? she told WSVN-TV. You guys paid to see this happen to an innocent animal who had nowhere to run, who was completely afraid.

Castellanos' mother, Maria, also expressed dismay with the event.

I was appalled. We are animal advocates in this house, she said.

"You guys paid to see this happen to an innocent animal who had nowhere to run, who was completely afraid.  Marie-Christine Castellanos

PETA slammed the high school for the display, saying animals do not need to be in a party situation.

Despite the criticism, the schools marketing director defended the decision to bring in the animals, saying in a statement to WSVN-TV the animals were brought in by professionals and school officials were assured they were properly cared for.

The event included jungle themed decorations and several animals were displayed in a very controlled situation, including a lemur, two macaws, an African fennec fox and a tiger, the statement read.

All of the creatures were "provided by facilities that are licensed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission," the statement added. The school said the hotel also approved the animals role in the performance.

The tiger, which was displayed for a few minutes in a cage, was never harmed or in danger, was not forced to perform, was always accompanied by his handlers, and for the great majority of the time was laying down in a relaxed state facing away from the audience, officials said.A freed death row inmate-turned-motivational speaker is back behind bars in Hawaii less than a year after he departed prison -- and now facing accusations of sex trafficking.

Isaiah McCoy was arrested in January and charged with seven counts of sex trafficking when a grand jury returned a sealed indictment against him. McCoy is accused of actively pimping since December 2017 and allegedly threatened and coerced women into prostitution, the Associated Press reported, citing police documents.

McCoy, who has a hearing Tuesday to try and dismiss the case, moved to Hawaii after he was released from a Delaware prison in January 2017 and by September was working as a hotel security guard. He started to date a woman who worked as stripper and prostitute. He said he could relate to her and she wasnt judgmental about his time served.

McCoy said he and the woman had a falling out and she went to a local shelter that helps trafficking victims and that she lied about being afraid of him in exchange for help getting out of Hawaii. He said the other alleged victims did the same.

All of these females were prostitutes before I met them, McCoy said. Why would I have to force someone to do what theyre already doing?

McCoy was arrested a day after his Army soldier wife, Tawana Roberts, and another woman were arrested attempting to meet with an undercover officer who pretended to have a foot fetish. Roberts also was charged with seven counts of sex trafficking.

McCoy was found not guilty of murder in a 2017 retrial and had been giving speeches on wrongful convictions before his winter arrest. He had been billed as a powerful speaker who appeals to youths.

But facing another prison term, McCoy is shooting down prosecutors assertions that he is dangerous as conclusory and baseless.

McCoy will represent himself at his trial, with help of a court-appointed lawyer if needed. Daniel Moody, one of his brothers, said McCoys family is confident he will successfully fight the charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Various news media outlets are seeking to unseal details related to DeAngelos arrest and search warrants prosecutors obtained in April, arguing the documents will provide important details about how investigators identified the former police officer and what evidence theyve gathered from him.

Prosecutors have searched DeAngelos home, just outside of Sacramento, and recently obtained warrants to search his cellphone and computer. They just turned over information about what evidence they already have gathered to DeAngelos public defender, Diane Howard.

Howard argued the records shouldnt be released because it could taint jurors and witnesses in the case, and said in a motion that arrest warrants include evidence and details about rapes that DeAngelo is accused of committing, which wouldnt be permissible at trial.

The parties will be back in court May 29 to argue over what should be made public. Prosecutors dont object to unsealing the records.

GOLDEN STATE KILLER CAUGHT USING RELATIVES DNA FROM GENEALOGY WEBSITES, PROSECUTORS SAY

DeAngelo, who was arrested last month and remains in Sacramento County Jail, appeared inside the barred-in area of the courtroom during the brief hearing on Monday. He has not entered a plea.

District attorneys from Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Orange and Ventura counties met last week to discuss where DeAngelo may be tried and who will prosecute. But they made no decision and plan to meet again in late June.

Fox News Amy Lieu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A missing Navy sailor was found dead Saturday, about a week after he vanished on a hike in Washington state, authorities said.

The remains of Jeremiah Adams, 24, who was stationed on USS Nimitz, was located by a group of hikers on the Gray Wolf Trail in Sequim, Q13FOX reported. Authorities said the body was found at the bottom of a ravine.

Adams was reported missing after he left for a day hike on May 4, at Olympic National Forest. His friends got worried when the sailor didnt show up for another hike the next day.

Adams car was located by fellow sailors two days later near the hiking trail. Rescuers searched the area for days looking for Adams.

His family believes Adams fell during the hike.

An autopsy will determine the official cause of death. Authorities do not suspect foul play.As Hawaiis Kilaueau volcano spews hot steam and oozes bright orange lava on the Big Island, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) can see the volcanic activity while floating in zero gravity.

NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel, an ISS crew member, snapped a stunning photo of ash and smoke billowing out of the Halema'uma'u crater, also called the volcanos overlook. Feustel took the image while orbiting about 250 miles above the volcano.

It is easy to see the activity on Hawaiis #Kilauea Volcano from @Space_Station. We hope those in the vicinity of the eruption can stay out of harms way, Feustel tweeted Sunday night.

No tourists or residents have been able to reach the overlook because Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been closed until further notice.

HAWAII VOLCANO SPURS NEW EVACUATIONS ON BIG ISLAND AFTER NEW LAVA FISSURES REPORTED

The astronauts image is just one of many from the eruptions that began more than a week ago. Hawaii officials announced Monday an 18th fissure has opened up, prompting thousands of residents living near the volcano to evacuate. At least 37 structures, including 27 homes, have been destroyed since the volcanic activity began.

Officials on Monday said scientists are still closely monitoring the volcano and warned residents that they could be ordered to evacuate at a moments notice. Residents have said they fear getting cut off when, not if, Highways 132 and 137  one of the only ways in and out of lower Puna  get shut down.

Im in the shelter because if the highway gets cut off, Im stuck on my property, resident Shannon Malina told Fox News.

Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report.The dispatchers at a 911 center never heard an Ohio teenager -- who was eventually crushed inside his SUV -- say he was "going to die in here" because the line was interrupted by an automated 911 greeting, according to an internal investigation released Monday.

The grim detail was just one of several technical and personnel issues that contributed to the botched emergency response to locate 16-year-old Kyle Plush, who Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said the city "failed."

"We failed to get the outcome we wanted in this emergency response," Cranley said. "In all cases we can do better, we should do better, we must do better."

The results of the investigation were presented by Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac, who said both 911 call takers followed policies and procedures when Plush called twice for help, but the two police officers who responded to the school, Edsel Osborne and Brian Brazile, shouldn't have shut off their body cameras.

Isaac presented a timeline of the events the day Plush died, which showed that officers who responded to Seven Hills School spent 14 minutes driving around parking lots near the school, but did not get out of their vehicles. The officers at the time believed they were looking for an elderly woman locked in her vehicle and could cover more ground in their vehicles than if they were on foot, "a higher vantage point," and look from both sides of the vehicle.

The police chief later said the officers reacted reasonable and "met department standards" because of the information relayed to them at the time by 911 dispatchers. The officers also used their phones to try to contact Plush, but the call went to voicemail.

Dispatchers at the 911 center had trouble hearing Plush because the 16-year-old was using "Siri" on his iPhone to call 911, which was in his pocket, according to Issac. Plushs voice in his first 911 call was overridden by 911s automatic greeting, so dispatchers never heard his initial words that he was "going to die in here."

FAMILY OF OHIO TEEN CRUSHED BY MINIVAN SEAT STORMS OUT OF MEETING, SAYS COUNCILMAN 'CROSSED THE LINE'

Isaac said that dispatchers don't hear anything said by callers until after that initial message.

When a dispatcher was eventually able to speak, Plush could not respond to questions because the phone was in his pants pocket, according to the police chief.

Isaac added that the 911 system "did not fail," but the computer-aided dispatch system did have connectivity problems the day Plush died, which "likely caused performance problems."

Kyle Plush's father attended the meeting and, although he said he had many unanswered questions, he stressed that he is committed to helping fix issues with the city's 911 communication center, according to FOX19.

"I see a time one day where other cities coast to coast will come to our city to learn better 911 practices," he said.

Plush found the body of his son on April 10 inside the 2004 Honda Odyssey in a parking lot near his school -- nearly six hours after Kyle's first 911 call. A coroner said that Kyle Plush died of asphyxiation from his chest being compressed.

BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE SHOWS POLICE NEVER GOT OUT OF CRUISER TO CHECK FOR OHIO TEEN CRUSHED BY MINIVAN SEAT

The boy's aunt, also attending Monday's meeting, noted that Kyle Plush's voicemail included his name, and was not a generic message.

If authorities knew the name "Kyle" and that the call was from someone near a school, they had enough to do a proper search minutes after the call was received, said Jodi Schwind.

Cranley said Kyle's father's remarks were "courageous" and "appropriate."

The mayor added the investigation report into Kyle's death seems "incomplete," and called on city and police officials to address the elder Plush's questions in writing.

"The questions you asked will help us get to the bottom and to a place where we can prevent this in the future," he added.

The investigation also noted that 911 dispatchers "often have difficulty understanding the call" which can have "garbed" quality. A recorded replay is always better, the report noted. The internal investigation recommends that there should be an evaluation of current headsets used by 911 operators and dispatchers.

The sheriff's office, which also dispatched a deputy that day, and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, are also conducting investigations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Ten children believed to be violently abused and living in "horrible" conditions were removed from a home in Fairfield, California, and their parents were arrested, police announced Monday.

Garbage, rotten food, and animal and human feces were found strewn throughout the house, Lt. Greg Hurlbut said at a news conference Monday.

He added that the children described in interviews various incidents of "intentional abuse." They suffered puncture wounds, burns and bruises consistent with getting shot with a pellet or BB gun, according to the department.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW

The children's removal was sparked after a 12-year-old child was reported missing in the area on March 31, the Fairfield Police Department said in a news release. The child ultimately was found and returned home.

While at the home, police said they conducted a health and safety search and discovered nine other children  ranging in age from four months to 11 years old  "living in squalor and unsafe conditions."

The 10 children were removed from the home on March 31.

The mother, identified by police as Ina Rogers, 30, was arrested and charged with child neglect. She was released after posting $10,000 bail on April 9.

She told reporters outside her home on Monday that she felt she was being judged for having so many children, and for choosing to home-school them.

"There's no broken bones, there is no major scars, nothing," Rogers said. "My kids get bumped and bruised and scratched because they're kids but that's it."

Rogers, who gave reporters a tour of her four-bedroom home, noted all of the children slept in one room because they wanted to do so, and claimed the house was messy the day her kids were removed because she was looking for her missing 12-year-old son.

Both Rogers and her husband, 29-year-old Jonathan Allen, came from broken homes, the mother said, adding that the couple wanted a large family.

The mother added she was surprised Allen was facing felony torture and abuse charges because he was not the disciplinarian of the family.

An arrest warrant was issued for Allen and he was arrested Friday and booked on nine counts of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse. He was arraigned Monday and is being held at the Solano County Jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

Sharon Henry, Chief Deputy of the Solano County District Attorney's Office, said the children told investigators the abuse dated back to 2014.

Allen's mother, Peggy Allen, told The Associated Press she's estranged from her son, but that the situation is "embarrassing," because she didn't raise him this way and cited her family's Christian faith. She also said she had spoken to Allen about the importance of keeping his home clean.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.next Image 1 of 2

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Nicaragua's military is urging an end to violence that has accompanied anti-government protests, while expressing solidarity with families of those killed during the unrest in recent weeks.

Demonstrations continued Sunday and have spread to at least eight departments of the Central American nation. Clashes between protesters and police and government paramilitaries have resulted in at least 60 deaths, according to rights activists. Two deaths were reported Saturday.

The military issued a statement late Saturday urging people "to stop the violence." It said dialogue "is the only route" that can avoid irreversible effects on the country.

The demonstrations began in April as protests against a since-canceled move to cut social security benefits and increase payroll taxes but have expanded into calls for President Daniel Ortega to step down.Catalonia's lawmakers are meeting to end more than six months of leadership vacuum by voting in a fervent separatist as the new chief of the restive region, setting the scene for a new confrontation with Spain.

Quim Torra, the former leader of a pro-independence civil society group, has vowed to continue working toward an independent Catalan republic.

He is regarded as a close ally of his predecessor in Catalonia's top job, ousted president Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition to Spain from Germany.

Torra failed to achieve an absolute majority in a first parliamentary vote on Saturday but he's expected to be elected on Monday by simple majority after an anti-capitalist separatist party announced it would abstain.

Central authorities have been ruling Catalonia directly from Madrid since an attempt to declare unilateral independence from Spain in late October.At least three of the 52 Palestinians reportedly killed Monday in clashes ahead of the Jerusalem opening of the U.S. Embassy to Israel were armed terrorists caught trying to plant a bomb near the Gaza border fence, Israel's military said.

More than 35,000 protesters amassed at a dozen locations along the security fence, with many engaging in skirmishes that pushed the death toll Monday to the highest in Gaza since a 2014 cross-border standoff between the militant group Hamas and the Jewish state, according to the Associated Press.

Gaza health officials told the news agency that 52 people so far have been killed in Mondays violence, and at least 1,200 have been wounded.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv, a key campaign promise of President Trump, has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

An IDF patrol foiled a bomb-laying attack by a cell of three armed terrorists near Rafah, close to the border, the Israeli military said Monday. This is a particularly violent protest point. The troops responded with fire at the terrorists. The terrorists were killed.

Israel also said its aircraft targeted a Hamas post in Jabaliya after troops in the area came under fire. None of the Israeli soldiers were hurt. Later in the day, Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) said a fighter jet struck five Hamas military training facilities in northern Gaza.

Rioters are hurling pipe bombs and firebombs at IDF troops, burning tires, throwing stones and burning objects, with the intention of setting fires in Israel and hurting IDF troops, a member of the Israeli army was quoted by The Times of Israel as saying.

Footage posted online by the IDF purportedly showed Palestinians pressed up against the border fence throwing over objects that were on fire.

The demonstrations Monday -- dubbed the "Great March of Return" by Palestinian media -- are reported to be part of a campaign led by Hamas to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Since weekly border marches began in late March, dozens of Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,300 wounded in clashes.

Israels security service, Shin Bet, claimed Monday that Hamas is encouraging Palestinian civilians to flood the border, with their own gunmen waiting in the wings to break through if a fence is breached.

Shin Bet said it received that information during interrogations of members who already have been captured after crossing the security fence in recent weeks, The Times of Israel reported.

There is a prohibition for Hamas operatives to approach the border, from a fear that they will be killed or captured by IDF troops, unless the security fence falls and then they must enter, armed, into Israel under the cover of the masses and carry out terror attacks, the agency said. From the information we have, it appears Hamas is encouraging and sending protesters to the border fence in order to carry out violent acts and damage security infrastructure.

Shin Bet also claimed that Iran is providing funding to Hamas for these border flare-ups, but did not elaborate.

A senior figure in the group, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., said Monday that the border protests will continue until Palestinians have won back their rights.

"We will continue on this path until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved, Ismail Radwan said, according to the Associated Press.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army had set up additional "layers" of security in and around communities near the border to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there already had been several "significant attempts" to break through the fence.

"Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them," he said.

In the West Bank, several thousand people gathered in the center of Ramallah, while hundreds marched to the Qalandiya crossing on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where protesters threw stones at Israeli troops.

The U.S. said it chose today's date for the embassy opening to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's independence.

Most of the casualties Monday were in the southern Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Rafah. Israeli forces were firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowds, and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard. Sirens were constantly wailing as the wounded were evacuated on stretchers to nearby ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

In one of the border areas east of Gaza City, Mohammed Hamami, a 40-year-old civil servant, joined a crowd of hundreds of protesters, along with his mother and five children.

"Today we are here to send a message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land," he told the Associated Press.

Clouds of black smoke from burning tires was also seen rising into the air. Earlier Monday, Israeli drones dropping incendiary material had pre-emptively set ablaze some of the tires collected in advance by activists.

Protesters have used the thick smoke as cover against Israeli snipers perched on high sand berms on the other side of the border. The army accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to plan or carry out attacks.

Leaflets dropped over Gaza by army jets warned that those approaching the border "jeopardize" their lives. The warning said the army is "prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians."

Kuwait on Monday called for an emergency U.N Security Council meeting Tuesday to discuss the violence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Authorities in Indonesia on Monday said that a familyincluding children carried out a suicide attack on a police headquarters in the country's second-largest city, a day after members of another family launched coordinated suicide bombings on three city churches that killed at least eight people.

A girl about eight years old was with two of the attackers on a motorcycle and survived being thrown by the blast at Surabaya's police headquarters, Tito Karnavian, the national police chief, said.

The attack killed four perpetrators. Six civilians and four officers were wounded. The attacks have been aimed at the countrys Christian minority. The attack on the police station occurred just hours after police said the other family carried out the church bombings, which included girls aged nine and 12. In one of the attack, the children wore bombs around their waists, he said.

The attacks have raised concerns that previously beaten down militant networks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria.

Experts have warned for several years that when those fighter return, they could pose a significant threat.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the church bombings in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. Karnavian, however, said earlier police comments that the family had spent time in Syria were incorrect.

He said the church bombers and the police headquarters attackers were friends, as were another family whose homemade bombs exploded in their apartment Sunday night.

The use of children in the attacks has been particularly horrifying to people. Indonesia's president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo condemned them as "barbaric" and vowed that authorities would root out and "destroy" Islamic militant networks.

Security camera footage of the attack on Surabaya's police headquarters showed at least one explosion after the four attackers rode two motorcycles up to a security checkpoint. The motorcycles, which moved closely together, pulled up alongside a car and four officers manning opposite sides of the checkpoint.

The killing of five police officers is seen by these terror cells as an invitation for them to do the same, Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst from Malikussaleh University, told The Wall Street Journal.

Two men, apparently civilians, were walking into the area just meters from the motorcycles at the moment of the explosion, which a split second later was followed by a second possible blast.

Indonesia's deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali, killing 202 people in one night, mostly foreigners. Jemaah Islamiyah, the Al-Qaeda affiliated network responsible for the Bali attacks, was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesia's counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support.

Karnavian has said the father of the family that carried out the church bombings was head of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with IS that has been implicated in attacks in Indonesia in the past year. All six members of the family were killed.

The ISIS statement claiming the attacks didn't mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers. The group also claimed responsibility for a hostage-taking ordeal last week by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers were killed.

Separately on Sunday, three members of another family were killed when homemade bombs exploded at an apartment in Sidoarjo, a town bordering Surabaya, police said.

The church attacks occurred within minutes of each other, according to Surabaya police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera.

Karnavian said the father drove a bomb-laden car into the city's Pentecostal church. The mother, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, he said. Based on their remains, Karnavian said the mother and daughters were all wearing explosives around their waists.

The sons aged 16 and 18 rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Church and detonated their explosives there.

The Associated Press contibuted to this reportA former regional leader of the Alternative for Germany party has been convicted of incitement to hatred over online posts targeting Muslims.

German news agency dpa reports that a court in the northeastern city of Rostock gave lawmaker Holger Arppe a fine of 9,000 euros ($10,740). Arppe denied having written that Britain should be turned into a "quarantine island" for Muslims living in Europe.

The court ruled Monday that Arppe had posted the comments in 2010 using a pseudonym, rejecting his appeal against a lower court ruling.

Arppe is a member of the regional assembly in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state. He left Alternative for Germany last year, saying he wanted to avert damage from the party following the leak of unrelated online chats advocating violence against political enemies and children.A grandfather suspected of shooting and killing six members of his family, including four of his grandchildren, before turning the gun on himself may have carried out Australias worst mass shooting in more than two decades because he was dealing with emotional turmoil that he was trying to fix, a family member said.

Peter Miles, 61, is accused of killing his wife Cynda, 58, his daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Ayre, 10, and Kayden, 8, on Friday at Forever Dreaming Farm, where they lived in the village of Osmington in Western Australia state. Miles was found dead on the property, believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Why he did it, what he did, you can only ever surmise," State Premier Mark McGowan told Perth Radio 6PR. "As far as I'm aware, there was no evidence that he had any sort of mental health issues that could have resulted in the firearms being removed from him.

Authorities have released few details about the tragedy. On Sunday, Aaron Cockman, the father of the four children killed and the estranged husband of Katrina Miles, opened up on what he believed may have led his former father-in-law to commit the mass shooting. Cockman said Miles was struggling with the suicide of a son and news that another son had serious kidney disease, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Peter has been just trying to hold it together for a long time, Cockman told reporters. "I thought, 'there's no way possible he could lose another son, he'll kill himself. But I thought, 'no, he won't do that either because he's so close to my kids that he would not leave the kids upset for the rest of their lives about it.

Cockman said he believed Miles was trying to fix the pain he was feeling. He added that he believed Miles thought [the murders] through and didnt simply just snap when he shot and killed the family.

He's just gone: 'Right, I can't kill myself, I can't live anymore, so this is it for me, but I need to take out everyone with me because that will fix the whole problem, he said.

Cockman said police told him Miles shot the children and Katrina while they were sleeping in a converted shed. The 61-year-old then killed his wife in the homes living room.

Miles called police after the deadly shooting, then killed himself before cops arrived, according to Cockman.

A coroner is investigating the shooting.

Fridays tragedy was Australias worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The captain of doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 selected a route that would effectively render the plane invisible on radar in order to commit suicide, experts said Sunday.

The suspicion that MH370 Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was attempting suicide was agreed upon, aviation experts said in a panel discussion on 9 News Australia.

"He was killing himself; unfortunately, he was killing everybody else on board, and he did it deliberately," Larry Vance, a former senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said.

Shah somehow managed to cut all communication systems and then dip in and out of Malaysian and Thai airspace and eventually went over his own hometown, Penang, Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy said.

It did the job because we know, as a fact, that the military did not come and intercept the aircraft, Hardy said, adding that he believed someone was in control of the plane until the end.

The experts argued that Shah flew the plane another 115 miles than originally thought, with Vance pointing to the piece of evidence that was recovered on a French island off Africa. Officials had previously said that the theory of the plane nosediving into the water was the likely ending scenario for the airliner.

"The front of it would be pressed in and hollow. The water would invade inside and it would just explode from the inside. So this piece would not even exist, he said.

Most of the wreckage from the airliner has never been found and bodies have never been recovered.

The flight disappeared March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing with 239 people on board. No transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes in the air. Officials believe the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

In a similar incident, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the coast of Massachusetts in October 1999 on its way to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York from Cairo. Audio captured by the co-pilot heard pilot Gameel Al-Batouti say 11 times in Arabic, I rely on God.

Two years later, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that Al-Batouti had been suicidal and purposely crashed the plane while the first pilot was out of the cockpit. Egyptian Civil Aviation Agency adamantly denied the NTSBs findings, saying that their report was flawed and biased, according to Politico.

The doomed Germanwings Flight 9525, which crashed into the French Alps in 2015, was also determined to be a suicide-by-pilot. Officials determined co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies, descended the airliner into the mountains on purpose.

The plane was heading to Dusseldorf Airport in Germany from Spain.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.An armed, off-duty Brazilian military police officer was hailed as a hero Sunday after surveillance footage showed how she foiled a robbery on a family near a school.

Katia da Silva Sastre, 42, was standing near a group of women and children outside a Sao Paulo private school when the gunman, identified as 21-year-old Elivelton Neves Moreira, attempted to rob them at gunpoint. The women were celebrating a Mothers Day event.

Little did the gunman know, Sastre was carrying a pistol of her own and shot Moreira three times in the chest, according to the Daily Mail. The footage showed Moreia falling backward onto the street and kicking the gun out of his reach.

Moreia later died in the hospital, according to The Sun.

Sastre was attending the event with her daughter when the gunman approached.

I didn't know if he was going to shoot the kids or the mothers or the security guard at the school door, she said. I just thought about defending the moms, the children, my own life and my daughter's.

Sao Paulo Governor Marcio Franca visited Sastre at her police station and honored her for the act of bravery.

I went earlier to the 4th BAEP in the east of Sao Paulo to honor a very special mother: Corporal Katia Sastre. Her courage and precision saved mothers and children, yesterday at the door of a school, Franca wrote on Twitter.

Sastre is the mother of two girls and has worked on the police force for 20 years.

She pushed the children out of the way and approached the thief. She shoots, the boy shoots, the boy tries to shoot at her leg, Brazilian public security secretary Maggie Alves said. She immobilizes the boy and calls the [emergency services]. It was a perfect procedure from a technical point of view.Polands interior minister has apologized after Polish police entered an academic conference devoted to Karl Marx to check if anyone was propagating totalitarianism or engaging in anti-national activity.

Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski apologized Monday for the incident Friday at a University of Szczecin conference center in Pobierowo, in western Poland.

A conference organizer, Tymoteusz Kochan, said three police officers acting on prosecutors orders questioned organizers and photographed scholarly publications. Prosecutors confirmed that they ordered the police check.

Kochan, a doctoral candidate in philosophy, said the incident left participants shaken. He said he believed it was an attempt by Polands right-wing authorities to intimidate them.

Marx was a 19th-century socialist whose views guided the development of communist theory.

Polands current government is staunchly anti-communist.Police say a 23-year-old German man is being investigated for letting two attack dogs loose on a Syrian man in a park in the eastern town of Magdeburg.

The suspect is alleged to have racially abused the 29-year-old Syrian, who was in the park with his family on Sunday afternoon. When the victim tried to protect his family, the assailant put him in a headlock while the dogs attacked the Syrian.

In a statement Monday, police said they have identified the suspect and seized his dogs. The victim is being treated in hospital for bite wounds.

Racist attacks in Germany have increased since the arrival in 2015 of hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.next Image 1 of 2

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Investors looking to buy Venezuela's new cryptocurrency may want to head to a little-known Moscow bank whose biggest shareholders are President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government and two state-controlled Russian companies under U.S. sanctions.

Evrofinance Mosnarbank has emerged as the only international financial institution so far willing to defy a U.S. campaign to derail the world's first state-backed digital currency.

Early would-be investors who registered with Venezuela's government and downloaded the petro's wallet software were invited to buy the cryptocurrency by wiring a minimum of 1,000 euros to a Venezuelan government account at Evrofinance.

The bank's place in the rollout of the petro is further evidence of Russia's role in the creation of a cryptocurrency that Maduro hopes will allow Venezuela to circumvent U.S. sanctions.The Turkish government has recalled its ambassadors to the U.S. and Israel for "consultations," officials told Fox News Monday.

The recalls were confirmed hours after the U.S. opened its new embassy in Jerusalem amid deadly rioting in Gaza and amid criticism by the Ankara government.

The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Fox News. A spokesperson for Israel's Foreign Ministry said it had not received any official notice from Turkey.

Earlier Monday, Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it "strongly condemn[s]" the embassy move, saying it violates "international law and all relevant [United Nations] resolutions.

"We emphasize that sucha step which disregards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people will not serve peace, security and stability in the region," the statement added. "Neither regional nor global peace and stability will be viable unless the Palestinian question is settled through a lasting and just solution and unfair treatments towards Palestinian people cease."

The Turkish government also called for three days of mourning for Palestinians killed in violence on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip and accused Israeli forces of carrying out "state terror."

Gaza's health ministry said that at least 52 Palestinians had been killed and more than 2,000 Palestinians had been injured.

Two U.S. defense officials told Fox News Monday that "dozens" of additional Marines will temporarily be deployed to beef up security at Washington's embassies in Israel, Jordan and Turkey. The officials said that other Marine response teams are positioned offshore on board the USS Iwo Jima.

Fox News' Nick Kalman, Rich Edson, Thomas Ferraro, Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.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.Farm leaders have agreed a list of principles they want the government to put at the centre of post-Brexit agriculture policy.

Representatives from 15 UK farming organisations met on Friday (11 May) in Belfast for discussions on how policy should be agreed among devolved nations.

In a statement, the organisations called on the four UK governments to respect and maintain the current devolution settlement of policy and regulation to the constituent parts of the country.

See also: Foliar fertiliser could benefit farmers in post-Brexit world

A guiding principle should be that no single country determines or curtails UK policy in the rest of the UK, it said.

The UK governments should take every step to retain and protect single market access for food, agricultural commodities, live animals and plant and plant products throughout the UK, they added.

In developing distinct agricultural policies to replace the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farm ministers across the UK should ensure potential differences in application of agricultural policy do not adversely affect trade within the UK.

Common frameworks

Ministers should maintain common frameworks across a broad range of policy, including biotechnology, organic farming, animal health  including the movement of animals and control of disease  maximum residues, minimum standards on specific commodities, food labelling, plant protection products and plant variety rights.

But the organisations said neither England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales should be allowed to develop rules or policy that threatens to curtail access for other parts of the UK to international markets.

The leaders welcomed the UK governments commitment to provide the same cash total in funds for farm support as is currently paid out under the CAP (Roughly 3bn/year).

But in the longer term, with the development of a new domestic agricultural policy, at least the same level of money in agriculture should be ring-fenced, they insisted.

The meeting of the UK Farming Roundtable was chaired by NFU president Minette Batters.Weather in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg area : After the storm and rain it will be warm in the region

Bonn/region After the storm and rain on Sunday in NRW it will become much more pleasant on Monday. The temperatures will also rise in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg region. However, it could become more unpleasant again mid-week.

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After heavy rainfall and squalls on Sunday, the weather will become much warmer again in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district on Monday. Temperatures will climb during the afternoon reaching up to 28 degrees in Bonn and 27 degrees in the Rhine-Sieg district by the evening. However, it will remain partly cloudy. There could also be isolated showers.

On Tuesday, it will stay warm with temperatures of up to 25 degrees in Bonn and the region. The morning will be sunny but from midday it will become increasingly cloudy and further isolated showers are possible again towards the evening and overnight on Tuesday. In the middle of the week there will again be rain and gusty winds with temperatures of up to 20 degrees.

Rain and squalls caused weather chaos in North Rhine-Westphalia at the weekend. The German Weather Service had previously announced heavy torrential rain with rainfall of 20 to 40 litres per square metre. The focal point was the north eastern half of North Rhine-Westphalia. In some regions in North Rhine-Westphalia, cellars, underpasses and streets were flooded. However, there had been no large scale emergencies reported by early on Sunday evening. Bonn was spared the severe weather, however. The fire brigade was only called out to a few small incidents because of the weather conditions said the fire brigade in response to a request.

The rainfall caused a serious accident in the Siebengebirge. A three person family from Belgium aquaplaned and skidded in their estate car on the A3 motorway near Konigswinter. The fire brigade had to free a pregnant woman from the car involved in the accident. Sovener Strae in Hennef was closed on Sunday evening. Several large trees were in danger of falling onto the carriageway there.

The weather on Sunday also disrupted the flight schedule at Cologne-Bonn regional airport. There were irregularities in the flight schedule because of poor weather conditions said the airport. They said eleven aircraft had to be diverted to surrounding airports and seven departures and three arrivals were cancelled completely. There were also delays to other departures and arrivals.Discussion about major project : Opinions differ about the cable car for Bonn

BONN Three years ago, local politicians commissioned a feasibility study for a cable car on the Venusberg. Residents in Dottendorf and Kessenich are divided about the project.

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Opinions are divided about one of the largest planned traffic projects in the city of Bonn: at the centre of the debate is the construction of an urban cable car. It is to run from the site of the University Hospital on Venusberg, over the Stadtwald (City Forest), make a bend to the right at Hindenburgplatz in Dottendorf into Urstadtstrae, and go over the Erich-Kastner School to the UN-Campus Deutsche Bahn stop, thus connecting the work centre in the former government quarter. An extension over the Rhine with a connection to the future S-Bahn stop at Ramersdorf (S13) is also conceivable. The big question is: is this idea a seemingly exotic dream costing millions or an appropriate way to ease city traffic?

Local politicians in Bonn decided three years ago to have the appropriateness of such a cable car tested by means of a feasibility study. The urban cable car would be part of the local public transport network and anyone with a valid local transport ticket could use it without additional payment.

Cable cars do not usually run through populated streets but rather in the Alps. In the mountains, few are affected; in a city many are. And it is here that opinions differ as to whether a cable car through the Venusberg, Dottendorf, and Gronau districts over to Beuel can help solve Bonns traffic problems and at what price.

Nine associations are calling for the North Route

On the one hand is the action group Bonn bleibt seilbahnfrei (Bonn stays cable car free), whose programme is clear from its name. On the other side are nine traffic and environment associations. The Bonn/Rhine-Sieg Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports the cable car as does the director of the University Hospital, Wolfgang Holzgreve. And large companies like Telekom are signalling their interest. Stadtwerke Bonn could be considered as a possible operator.

The experts on the feasibility study came to the conclusion in May last year that a public cable car would be technically possible and would result in an easing of traffic on the Venusberg. They said the best effect, including economically, would be achieved by the North Route as a connection between the University Hospitals and the new UN-Campus Deutsche Bahn stop with an option to extend over the Rhine. The total route length would be 4.3 kilometres with five stations. Gundolf Reichert, an opponent of the cable car and a resident of Hindenburgplatz, the location for one of the planned stations, calls this project: Complete nonsense. Karl-Heinz Rochlitz, who lives in neighbouring Kessenich and is working on the issue for the Traffic Club Bonn/Rhine-Sieg (VCD) calls it: An opportunity.

Citizens groups doubt benefit of a cable car

Reichert has many arguments against the cable car. He considers the figures for transport and costs in the feasibility study to be questionable. Referring to measurements by the action group on Robert-Koch-Strae, he doubts there is a serious traffic problem there. The traffic flow could be improved through the construction of roundabouts in front of the Marien Hospital, on Gudenauer Weg and Rottgener Strae.

Local residents are resisting such modifications as they fear they could attract further car traffic. The Venusberg has a parking problem, say Reichert. He fears that this parking problem would shift to the Dottendorf and Kessenich districts, criticises the savings in the remaining local transport network associated with a cable car and warns against incursions into the land conservation areas in Venusberg and the Rheinaue. After all, 24 masts are needed to hold the cables.

Cable car offers an elegant alternative to roads

Rochlitz, on the other hand, sees a cable car as a mode of transport that can offer a really elegant alternative to the road, without the need for asphalt and tar. Although trees would have to be cleared for the masts, the effect on the forest would be manageable, especially in comparison to road construction.

The VCD member also sees some relief for Bonn main station as commuters from Cologne or Koblenz could use the UN-Campus stop. There should be no additional parking spaces. Both sides agree on that. Above all, however, the VCD expert considers it too early to finally decide about the cable car project.

No sound analysis

One must add at this point that while experts have examined the fundamental feasibility, a sound analysis of whether such a cable car would be economically viable still has to be carried out. Like local trams and buses, it would not be possible to operate it without public subsidies.

The citys planning department told the GA that the city wants to award the contract for this investigation this summer. They are not expecting an answer before summer 2019. If this report is negative, then the cable car project for the Venusberg will be shelved. Without proof of economic benefit, the state of NRW will not approve funding of up to 90 per cent for the construction.

If the analysis is positive, the politicians will have to make a planning decision. According to manufacturers, the construction of a cable car would be possible within about a year.A lot of people might argue that going to university can be a waste of time, and entering into a pool of debt for the sake of an education isn't this greatest idea.

Well, apparently this guy might've hacked it? (We say this very loosely).

22 year-old London student, Harry Dry, has spent his student loan on the most unconventional career bid we've ever heard of.

Harry had an idea to use his government money for something more 'useful' in trying to get a job. He spent his student loan on billboards asking Kanye West to hire him.Can anyone explain what it is that Facebook is accused of? Articles like this are ridiculous, not once does it say what they are "targeting children" with ...

3 days ago Hamas: We Are Leading the Great Return March | Main | AFP Captions Call Jerusalem Parade Participants Settlers 

May 13, 2018

CNN Arabic Calls Western Wall 'Al Buraq'

May 16 Update: CAMERA Arabic Prompts CNN Arabic Correction on 'Al Buraq' Wall

Jack Ma visits the Western Wall May 2018 (Photo from Western Wall Heritage Foundation)

Early this month, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma visited the Western Wall, donning a kippah and honoring the holy Jewish site, a remnant of the Jewish Temple compound. On what basis, then, did CNN Arabic refer to the site using its Muslim name, "Al Buraq wall"?

As CAMERA Arabic earlier noted, a CNN Arabic story seems to violate CNN practice by referring to the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites, by a Muslim name, "Al Buraq Wall." The May 2 article ("Founder of the 'Ali Baba' group to visit Israel and meet Netanyahu"), says of Ma's visit to the Jewish holy site: "Activists on social networking photographed Ma, standing by the Wall of Al-Buraq in Jerusalem during his visit to Israel."

Use of an Islamic name in context of a visit intended to honor the site's special status in Judaism is clearly inappropriate and misleading. Furthermore, not only does CNN in English not use the term "Al-Buraq" wall to refer to the Western Wall, but CAMERA Arabic has confirmed that CNN Arabic has not used this misleading term in the past.

CAMERA has contacted CNN to request modification of the terminology. Stay tuned for an update.

Posted by TS at May 13, 2018 07:43 AM

It is not just using the Aarabic name For Muslims, it is the name Buraq Wall, so called becouse it is where the Prophet Muhammed, allegedly tied the Buraq, the riding animal upon which he rode during the Night of Ascension (Miraj).

It is either ignorance or disrespect. We call it Hutzpa

Posted by: Tamar at May 14, 2018 04:50 PM

Guidelines for posting

This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material.

Post a commentclarajancita at 14-05-2018 11:46 AM (3 years ago) (f)

An estranged husband named Gideon Simwanza has accused another man of successfully snatching his wife from him. According to his Facebook post, Mr Simwanza claims the District Education Standard Officer (DESO) Mr Victor Simufwi  finally succeeded in snatching his wife from him, whom he said he has been with since 1998 or for 20 years.

An estranged husband named Gideon Simwanza has accused another man of successfully snatching his wife from him. According to his Facebook post, Mr Simwanza claims the District Education Standard Officer (DESO) Mr Victor Simufwi  finally succeeded in snatching his wife from him, whom he said he has been with since 1998 or for 20 years.

But according to Mr Simwanzas relative, the man (Mr Simwanza) who hails from Mkushi, Central Province in Zambia  has been allegedly abusing his wife for more than 13 years now by going out with many women, beating her and even chasing her from their house.



The unnamed relative was quoted saying; But according to Mr Simwanzas relative, the man (Mr Simwanza) who hails from Mkushi, Central Province in Zambia  has been allegedly abusing his wife for more than 13 years now by going out with many women, beating her and even chasing her from their house.The unnamed relative was quoted saying; Quote Yes, I can confirm that Madam Idah Nankamba my mlam is no longer with this man. He is my relative but I can disclose to you that he has been abusing his wife for more than 13 years now to the extent that in 2009/2010 they went on separation and she even got a transfer from Mkushi to Nakonde at Ntindi Basic School just to runaway from her abusive husband. In short, what I am telling you is that Mr Simwanza has been abusing his wife to the extent of wanting to kill her. So we are glad as a family to the man that his first wife has finally divorced him, said a family source who pleaded not to be named for fear of being beaten by Mr Simwanza.



The accuser, Mr. Simwanza took too Facebook to share the below post. He wrote;



Victor Simufwi DESO MKUSHI thank you very much for successfully snatching away from me my lovely wife of 20 years in marriage this year, Idah Nankamba, the reward for both of you is surely soon coming your way in Jesus Christ name. said a family source who pleaded not to be named for fear of being beaten by Mr Simwanza.The accuser, Mr. Simwanza took too Facebook to share the below post. He wrote;Victor Simufwi DESO MKUSHI thank you very much for successfully snatching away from me my lovely wife of 20 years in marriage this year, Idah Nankamba, the reward for both of you is surely soon coming your way in Jesus Christ name.

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 14-05-2018 11:46 AM (3 years ago) | HeroActress, Mercy Johnson Looks So Stunning In Ankara For Sierra Leone Presidential Inauguration

clarajancita at 14-05-2018 12:09 PM (3 years ago) (f)

Mercy Johnson Okojie and her husband were special guests at the recently held presidential inauguration in the Republic of Sierra Leone. The Nollywood beauty was styled in a custom made Jane Michael Ekanem Ankara dress for the occasion. More photos.

Mercy Johnson Okojie and her husband were special guests at the recently held presidential inauguration in the Republic of Sierra Leone. The Nollywood beauty was styled in a custom made Jane Michael Ekanem Ankara dress for the occasion. More photos.

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 14-05-2018 12:09 PM (3 years ago) | Hero

fineboy77 at 14-05-2018 12:15 PM (3 years ago)

(m) She always keeps it classy What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 14-05-2018 12:15 PM (3 years ago) | Hero She always keeps it classy Reply

ruthie at 14-05-2018 12:19 PM (3 years ago)

(f) NOT BAD...BUT THERE'S ALWAYS SOME THING OFF Posted: at 14-05-2018 12:19 PM (3 years ago) | Hero NOT BAD...BUT THERE'S ALWAYS SOME THING OFF Reply

horizontal at 14-05-2018 02:31 PM (3 years ago)

(f) GOOD GAL ALWAYS ON POINT Posted: at 14-05-2018 02:31 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac GOOD GAL ALWAYS ON POINT Reply

nature7888 at 14-05-2018 02:52 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Good Posted: at 14-05-2018 02:52 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac Good Reply

james987 at 14-05-2018 04:32 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Quote from: ruthie on 14-05-2018 12:19 PM NOT BAD...BUT THERE'S ALWAYS SOME THING OFF

She forgot her necklace and bracelets at home. Posted: at 14-05-2018 04:32 PM (3 years ago) | Hero She forgot her necklace and bracelets at home. Reply

Emeka82john at 14-05-2018 05:21 PM (3 years ago)

(m) she no dey carry last Posted: at 14-05-2018 05:21 PM (3 years ago) | Newbie she no dey carry last Reply

gogoman at 14-05-2018 05:35 PM (3 years ago)

(m) OK Posted: at 14-05-2018 05:35 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero OK Reply

ruthie at 14-05-2018 07:15 PM (3 years ago)

(f) I SEE YOU ARE A FASHION EXPERT.

Quote from: james987 on 14-05-2018 04:32 PM She forgot her necklace and bracelets at home.

Posted: at 14-05-2018 07:15 PM (3 years ago) | Hero I SEE YOU ARE A FASHION EXPERT. Reply

kacylee at 14-05-2018 07:36 PM (3 years ago)

(f) vvery fine woman// no bleaching or toning I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 14-05-2018 07:36 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero vvery fine woman// no bleaching or toning ReplyEnglish French German

European grant amounting to 13.9 million, of which 5.7 million for Global Bioenergies

Industry consortium led by Global Bioenergies and bringing together Sekab, Graanul Invest, Neste Engineering Solutions, Repsol, Peab Asfalt, SkyNRG, Ajinomoto Eurolysine, IPSB, TechnipFMC and Linz University

Aim at converting softwood residues into isobutene derivatives for use

in gasoline and jetfuel

Evry (France), 14 May 2018 - Global Bioenergies today announces the start of a

3-year project to demonstrate a new value chain combining its Isobutene process with technologies developed by Sekab and Neste Engineering Solutions, two of Europe's leading technology developers. The aim is to convert currently poorly valorised softwood residues into second generation renewable isobutene for subsequent conversion into gasoline and jetfuel. A 13.9m grant agreement was signed with INEA on behalf of the European commission.

Biomass is frequently considered as an alternative feedstock to fossil oil in order to address the issues of climate change and resources depletion, and also to strengthen energy independence of European nations. However, such substitution is far from trivial and innovative processes are needed to efficiently convert residual biomass into drop-in fuels and chemicals.

The present project, gathering renowned industrialists from various fields, sets the foundations of a first-of-a-kind biorefinery converting residual wood to high performances drop-in renewable gasoline and jetfuel. With an estimated forestry residues potential of about 145 million tons per year, the European Union has the potential to support the deployment of hundreds of such biorefineries.

Peep Pitk, Head of R&D at Graanul Invest declares: "We are thrilled by the opportunity to be part of industrial consortia which focus on softwood residue streams valorisation in novel value chains and end-use markets. We believe it to be important to kick-start the biomaterials market with high sustainability standards, as it will add strong value to the softwood residues on long term basis."

The 11 project partners coming from 8 EU-member States have signed an agreement with the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) which manages the Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy societal challenge of the Horizon 2020 program. INEA's mission is to support the Commission, project promoters and stakeholders by providing expertise and high quality of program management.

The project was selected under the name REWOFUEL (N792104), in the frame of the European HORIZON 2020 program for research and innovation, following a very selective and competitive process led by independent experts.

The objective is to demonstrate the new value chain at cubic meter scale by combining the technologies and know-how of participants as follows:

Residual softwood supply and processing by Graanul Invest AS (Estonia)

Softwood conversion to hydrolysates by Sekab, using its CelluAPP  technology (Sweden),

Hydrolysates fermentation to bio-isobutene by Global Bioenergies (France and Germany),

Bio-isobutene conversion to fuel components by Neste Engineering Solutions (Finland),

Preliminary engineering of a wood-to-isobutene plant and overall integration with a fuel conversion unit by TechnipFMC and IPSB (France),

Evaluation of Gasoline applications by Repsol (Spain)

Evaluation of Jetfuel application by SkyNRG (Netherlands)

Valorisation of the lignin side stream by Peab Asfalt (Sweden)

Valorisation of proteins from the dried killed residual biomass by Ajinomoto Eurolysine (France), and

Assessment of the sustainability and environmental benefits by the Energy Institute at the University of Linz (Austria).

Jonas Markusson, Innovation Manager of SEKAB declares: "The REWOFUEL project has great potential to become an alternative value chain to existing biofuels and to create new uses of European residual forestry resources. All parts of the process - the extraction of sugars from wood, the conversion to bio-isobutene, lignin-based chemicals and the production of gasoline and jefuel - are well developed and are all cutting edge."

Marita Niemela, CTO at Neste Engineering Solutions, declares: "We are very excited in tailoring our next generation NExETHERS and NExOCTANE technologies to wood-derived bio-isobutene in order to demonstrate the production of sustainable 100 % renewable fuel components. We regard this project as a great opportunity for showing how a genuinely synergistic European partnership can bring to the market drop-in high performance fuel components derived from forestry residue materials."

Adriana Orejas, Director of Technology Downstream at Repsol declares: "We promote advanced biofuel research projects that use raw-materials coming from non-food sources which have a high technological content and reduce carbon intensity. At Repsol, we are resolutely committed to sustainability. It is essential to generate value today and in the future to society and, therefore, to our Company."

The program covers a total budget of 19.7 million. Non-refundable grants totalling 13.9 million will be provided by the European Union, with the remainder being contributed by the participants. Global Bioenergies will be the coordinator of the project, and receive funding amounting to 5.7 million. Additionally REWOFUEL will be supported by numerous industrialists including Air France and Safran.

Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies concludes: "While we make progress on our first commercial project based on sugar beet-derived sugars, this new grant from the H2020 program further supports our strategy to diversify the feedstocks usable in our Isobutene process, and thus opens the door to the deployment of our technology in many new geographies."

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 792104

About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES

Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The Company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the performance of its process, operates an industrial pilot, has started operations at its demo plant in Germany, and is preparing its first full-scale plant through a joint venture with Cristal Union, named

IBN-One. Global Bioenergies is listed on Alternext, Euronext Paris (FR0011052257 - ALGBE).

Should you like to be kept informed, subscribe to our news feed on

www.global-bioenergies.com

Follow us on Twitter: @GlobalBioenergi

ContactWaukesha, WI (53187)

Today

A shower is possible early. Some clouds. Low 57F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. Some clouds. Low 57F. Winds light and variable."Sober living homes," or "recovery residences" as they are also known, are group homes that bring together multiple unrelated individuals who are in drug recovery and pursuing sobriety. What could possibly be harmful about such places of healing, hope and support? Nothing, in the case of the many responsible residence owners who mean to help the homes' inhabitants.However, there are also unscrupulous actors running sober living homes who profit off the misery of their occupants. Landlords exploit individuals with substance-use disorders for money or sex, and even encourage relapse over recovery. There is rampant abuse of the system, including patient brokering, devious marketing practices, kickbacks from treatment providers and insurance fraud. And neighborhood residents complain about noise, traffic problems, and public alcohol and drug use, particularly where sober living homes are in close proximity to each other.Across the country, there is a growing proliferation of sober living homes, with thousands in operation in hundreds of communities. Our own communities -- Palm Beach County, Fla., and Orange County, Calif. - certainly have their share. We see not only the benefits of these facilities but also the problems that flow from a lack of regulation and oversight - a shortcoming that local governments have little power to rectify.No treatment is provided in sober living homes. Instead, those seeking sobriety usually attend outpatient rehab at a nearby facility. It is no accident that the surge of these homes is occurring against the backdrop of an opioid-abuse epidemic that claims more than a hundred lives nationwide each day.Unfortunately, local governance is almost nonexistent due to a federal regulatory architecture that usurps community authority. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that states, cities and homeowner associations provide "reasonable accommodations" to individuals with disabilities, including recovering addicts. Provisions of the ADA and the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) are intended to ensure that those seeking sobriety can do so as a protected class as long as they are in the process of recovery.But the problems with sober living homes aren't happening in the halls of Congress. They're happening on the streets and in the neighborhoods of our communities. Better regulation is needed, and solutions are available at the federal, state and local levels of government.At the federal level, a starting point is the Recovery Home Certification Act of 2018. Sponsored by two House members from California, Republican Steve Knight and Democrat Anna Eshoo, it would establish quality standards for sober living homes. In addition, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) need to issue a new joint clarification under the ADA and FHA to allow local governments to enact reasonable guidelines for the health, safety and welfare of sober living residents. A DOJ/HUD clarification in 2016 provided little effective guidance, leading only to increased confusion.Action is also needed at the state level. In Florida, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office empaneled a grand jury to dig deep into the problem and look at possible legislative and administrative fixes. Out of this came the need to significantly strengthen the existing anti-patient-brokering and anti-kickback laws already on Florida's books. State legislators in California and around the country should follow suit.And local governments have their roles. Continuing to enact creative regulatory approaches to provide much-needed supervision is a must. Prescott, Ariz., and Delray Beach and Boynton Beach in Florida are the leaders in enacting local ordinances that provide regulatory oversight to sober living homes while not breaching the ADA or FHA.The solutions will not be easy or rapid, yet even now we are building a national coalition of communities to create reform to provide residents, rather than facilities, with the protections intended under the ADA and FHA. As the opioid epidemic continues to permeate into our communities, a nationwide collaboration is critical to addressing these challenges.Governments around the nation are working to design the best vaccine policies that keep both their employees and their residents safe. Although the latest data shows a variety of polarizing perspectives, there are clear emerging best practices that leading governments are following to put trust first: creating policies that are flexible and provide a range of options, and being in tune with the needs and sentiments of their employees so that they are able to be dynamic and accommodate the rapidly changing situation.A proposed equal rights amendment to the Delaware Constitution was defeated in the state Senate on Wednesday even though several lawmakers who voted against the bill said they support the legislation.A last-minute procedural ploy by Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington, means the bill could be called up for a re-vote before the end of the legislative session on June 30.But the 119 vote dealt a serious setback to women's rights in the state, supporters of the measure said. As a constitutional amendment, the legislation needed two-thirds of the Senate or 14 yes votes to pass.The defeat marked at least the fourth time an ERA bill failed to win passage in the last three decades.Power of #MeToo

You Have to Be Bold

In March, former Minnesota state Rep. Tony Cornish made a surprise visit to the state Capitol, where he attended committee hearings and talked to former colleagues.His presence was enough to put at least a few women on edge. Sarah Walker, a lobbyist, said she heeded texted warnings to avoid certain areas of the building. State Rep. Erin Maye Quade said she made a point of staying in her committee room. When Cornish ended up walking in the room, she said, for a split second she thought he was there to kill her.Cornish, a Republican, resigned in November after Walker and Maye Quade, a Democrat, accused him of sexual harassment. Walker said he repeatedly propositioned her for sex and Maye Quade said he often made inappropriate comments  allegations that Cornish has denied. He did not return a phone call for comment.But that day in March, some of his former colleagues greeted him with smiles and laughter, Maye Quade recalled. The visit sent a potentially corrosive message to women in the Statehouse, Walker said  a message that nothing had changed.Seven months after the #MeToo movement began, state lawmakers across the country are still grappling with how to root out what many say is a longstanding misogynist culture in statehouses. After dozens of sexual harassment accusations against sitting male state lawmakers, at least 16 legislators in a dozen states have resigned or been expelled, according to a Stateline tally.In many states, accused lawmakers were knocked from leadership posts, or voluntarily relinquished them, while remaining in office. Others apologized and kept their positions, or maintain their innocence.As many legislative sessions end, many of the substantial policy changes that state lawmakers were hoping for  such as creating a private and safe method for victims to come forward and a nonpartisan way for bad behavior to be punished  remain elusive.Many female state lawmakers, as well as consultants working to help legislatures prevent harassment, say there is still a long way to go before women feel entirely safe reporting harassment, and before men who engage in harassment or assault are held accountable.In Minnesota, Walker said, the message hasnt gotten through. I dont think its easy to change culture overnight.State lawmakers this year have mostly focused on low-hanging fruit, said Andrea Johnson, senior counsel for state policy at the National Womens Law Center. At least 11 legislative chambers have updated their harassment policies. At least three of those policies now explain that everyone who works in, or visits, the statehouse is protected from harassment.In at least a dozen states, legislatures have begun hosting more in-depth or frequent anti-harassment trainings. And at least three states  Delaware, Illinois and Virginia  enacted laws to make this training mandatory.The work will continue, Johnson said, and the momentum is not slowing. At least a third of states are studying what changes should be made.We recognize how much our laws and culture need to change, Johnson said. Thats not something you can accomplish in one legislative session by any means.Many legislatures have realized that while their policies are strong, the overall environment needs to change, said Jon Griffin, a program principal at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Griffin and Johnson have visited legislatures across the country this year to provide advice on how to prevent harassment.Griffin repeated a line he heard in California: Cultures eat policies for breakfast  meaning that culture influences behavior more than rules and regulations.One thing, at least, has changed: Some more senior female state lawmakers say they no longer hesitate to speak out when they see what they perceive to be harassment.In Kentucky, state Rep. Kelly Flood, a Democrat, said she had her own evolution on this when in January former House Speaker Jeff Hoover, a Republican who resigned from the speakership but retained his seat after being accused of harassment, was speaking on the House floor. Suddenly, Hoover called out a younger female staffer in a way that Flood perceived to be hostile  an attempt to intimidate the staffer.Last year, she said, she may have pulled Hoover aside in private after to talk to him about it. This year, though, she spoke out on the House floor.It was not acceptable, to me, to have that happen, she said at the time to fellow representatives. I have never seen that happen on this floor. And I intend for it not to happen again in my presence.Women feel as if they have a community behind them now, Johnson said. Thats the power of this #MeToo movement, is so many people are sharing their stories, and so you know you have people behind you and you will be believed.This newfound boldness has the potential to backfire. In one state, a lawmaker who publicly accused another lawmaker told Stateline she feels she is being retaliated against. The House Speaker has told other lawmakers not to work with her, or even talk to her, she said. She asked not to be named because she feared it would hurt her chances of getting a bill that she cares about through the legislature this session.In New Jersey, political receptions and parties  where harassment may be more likely to occur but where lawmakers have additional opportunities to work together  have been canceled or switched to coffees, said Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.Johnson said canceling events is not the right approach. Its not about a social event, Johnson said. Its not about sex. Its about power and power imbalances. We need to be calling that out, and talking about what women face.In many states, though, female lawmakers say they feel supported by their male colleagues.In Colorado, three male lawmakers who were accused of sexual harassment have faced repercussions. In January, the House expelled state Rep. Steve Lebsock, a Democrat who changed his party to Republican shortly before he was expelled; in April, state Rep. Paul Rosenthal, a Democrat, lost his re-election bid; and this month, state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, a Republican, was stripped of several committee positions. They denied the accusations against them.State Rep. Faith Winter, a Democrat who recently accused Lebsock of making lewd remarks to her in 2016, said many of her male colleagues have told her recently that they didnt know women were facing such harassment, but now that they do, they have her full support. That is a big step forward, she said.It feels like night and day from where we started to where we are, Winter said.It helps, Winter said, that the Colorado House speaker and majority leader are women. Under their leadership, the House voted to expel Lebsock three days after a report from an outside investigator deemed the allegations against him to be credible.Meanwhile, more women are bidding for states highest office this year. A record number of women  43 so far  have filed to run for governor in the 36 gubernatorial races, according to Rutgers data.The campaigns are different, too. In the past, women often would try to downplay their gender, Sinzdak said, or try to prove they were as strong as men. Now, she said, women are leaning into gender as a positive as part of their campaign messaging.In Minnesota, where Cornish and Democratic state Sen. Dan Schoen resigned in November after sexual harassment allegations, one sign that not much has changed, Walker said, is that new cases of alleged harassment continue to crop up. A few weeks ago, a woman who works as an advocate at the Statehouse accused state Rep. Rod Hamilton, a Republican, of touching her without her consent last month in his apartment. Hamilton denied the accusations, and said the touching was friendly, not sexual.Its a little disturbing to me that, with whats going on around the country, any member can do this type of action, Walker said.Just days before the accusations were made public, the Minnesota House changed its harassment policies to cover third parties, such as members of the public, lobbyists and journalists who interact with lawmakers.The National Womens Law Center recommends the inclusion of third parties in harassment policies. It also advises legislatures to publicly disclose harassment claims, while protecting the confidentiality of victims. The Maryland Legislature in December decided to begin tracking claims and reporting them annually. The center also recommends creating a process in which an outside entity, not elected officials, investigates claims and recommends punishment. Illinois and Iowa recently made this change.In Kentucky, Flood proposed a bill that would have defined harassment more clearly, authorized the Legislative Ethics Commission to set up a tip line for complaints, and investigate and resolve complaints. The state has seen a few waves of harassment accusations, first in 2013 against former state Rep. John Arnold, a Democrat, and other staff of the Legislative Research Commission, and this year with accusations against Hoover and three other Republican members of the House.When her proposal failed to move in the Senate, Flood said, she didnt go to the mat throwing a stink about it. Instead, she said, she wants to work on getting the best language and solutions, and pass something next year.You have to be bold, up front, in the moment, and still take a patient mood, she said. We can get serious work done if we dont hurry.Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Lupe Valdez and Andrew White pounded each other over immigration and abortion Friday.In their only head-to-head debate before the May 22 primary runoff, and with early voting starting Monday, White and Valdez wasted no time before jabbing each other's weak spots.Valdez, the former Dallas County sheriff, has been under fire for being too accommodating of federal immigration authorities. White jumped in, criticizing her jail management record as subpar when it came to handling people who were in the country illegally.He lavished praise on Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez in Austin, who is also a Democrat, saying, "She did not work with ICE the way that Sheriff Valdez worked with ICE."Valdez, though, insisted that she treated undocumented immigrants well, despite pressures to avoid losing federal grants for the county."I did not work with ICE," she said. "I did what I had to do, and that was an imperfect choice. What I did do ... is make sure that the people who were brought in received humane services."Valdez quickly counterpunched on abortion, an issue on which she said White has shown insensitivity."Andrew, you've implied that women that have an abortion do not respect life," she said. "You owe an apology to these women."White fired back, "I have not implied that."White, who is an elder in a conservative Presbyterian church in Houston, has said that he personally opposes abortion but that as governor would veto bills to further restrict it."My personal opinions are my personal opinions," he said. "As governor, I trust women to make their own health care decisions."Valdez played down any damage that her own strong support for abortion rights might do to her prospects of attracting fellow Hispanics' support. An internet ad and website launched by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott's re-election campaign had raised that likelihood earlier this week."I don't think a wedge will come between a person who's trying to represent the average, everyday Texan," she said. "We will be able to get that message out to all the Hispanics."Valdez, the first Hispanic lesbian elected sheriff in Texas, also bristled when White bragged about winning the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.Valdez shot back: "I did get the largest LGBT organization in Texas. Texas Equality endorsed me."If Valdez becomes the Democratic nominee, Abbott and the Republicans are almost sure to remind voters of some of her debate remarks."Abortion is health care," she said at one point.Also, though she ruled out a state income tax, she seemed open to ending the exemption of grocery purchases from the state's 6.25-cent sales tax."We have to re-examine and decide which ones we need to get rid of," she said of sales tax exemptions.Asked how to reduce the numbers of African-Americans and Hispanics who are in prison, Valdez replied, "We have to invest in those areas so that the automatic thing is not to turn to crime."She said the first thing she would do is put minorities in management positions."The community does not trust law enforcement that does not look like them," she said.White said decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana is key to reducing mass incarceration.Bail bond laws need to be changed, he added, as they impose hardships on the poor.White hit Abbott for recently deploying the National Guard to the Texas-Mexico border. He said it was showboating.In discussing his top priority as governor, White spoke of education."If I have to activate the National Guard to teach kids how to read, I'll do it," he said.He also criticized Abbott for calling a special legislative session for a bathroom bill but not after Hurricane Harvey. "It's disgusting," White said, "and I'll never forgive him for it."The Democratic rivals agreed that President Donald Trump's proposals to have some teachers carry guns are wrongheaded. Both also denounced a lack of affordable housing in Texas' biggest cities, as poor neighborhoods are gentrified.White and Valdez also both said Texas needs universal prekindergarten, though neither supports higher taxes.White, a businessman and son of the late Gov. Mark White, said he has offered a plan for stopping erosion of local property tax receipts -- by stopping downward revisions of commercial property appraisals.That would help pay for some of his education plans, he said, though the move wouldn't directly enable the Legislature to spend more money.Debate moderator Gromer Jeffers Jr., political writer for The Dallas Morning News, asked Valdez whether she could successfully debate Abbott if she's the Democratic nominee.Abbott has been in statewide office since 1995. And Jeffers noted that the state's major newspapers have endorsed White, citing concerns about Valdez's grasp of state issues."It's not that I'm not as sharp" as White, Valdez responded. "The problem may be that I don't talk newspaper language. I talk people language."Speaking with reporters afterward, though, White said Valdez "didn't offer any new ideas." He also urged people to review Valdez's Facebook Live appearance before the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's editorial board earlier this week."It's a 30-minute spectacle," said White, who also appeared before the board.White said he could raise more money than Valdez to compete with Abbott, though neither Democratic hopeful would tell reporters how much they have raised and spent since the March 6 primary.As for what happens after their runoff, each promised to back the other in the fall.The one-hour debate, sponsored by a "grassroots coalition" of Democratic groups, was held before more than 200 people at St. James Episcopal Church in East Austin. It was aired on the cable TV provider Spectrum in Austin and San Antonio. Austin's KXAN-TV carried a livestream, which was shared on many news outlets' websites.In the March primary, Valdez led a field of nine candidates. Of slightly more than 1 million votes cast, she garnered nearly 439,000. White finished second, with about 280,000 votes.In his GOP primary against two little-known rivals, Abbott commanded 1.4 million votes, or 90 percent of those cast.The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point was among the victims of a computer hacker who was arrested in California on Thursday.According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Billy Ribeiro Anderson 41, of Torrance, Cal., used special computer skills and knowledge to hack important U.S. military and government Web sites and more than 11,000 other Web sites around the world. The New York City Comptroller's Office also was among the victims.He is accused of obtaining unauthorized access to the Web sites and defacing them. The U.S. Attorney's Office said in its release that Web site defacement can interrupt an organization's operation and damage its credibility.Anderson, also known as Anderson Albuquerque and AlfabetoVirtual, was arrested at his home on Thursday morning.Anderson was charged with two counts of computer fraud for causing damage to a protected computer, for which the maximum sentence if convicted is 10 years in prison for each count, and one count of computer fraud for unauthorized access to a U.S. government computer, for which the maximum sentence if convicted is one year in prison.Anderson is being held pending an appearance in federal court in Los Angeles.Its a scenario that plays out over and over in cities across the country: A small business in a hip neighborhood closes, the storefront is left empty for months -- maybe years -- and then eventually gets replaced by a national chain.Whether its gentrifying Brooklyn Greenwich Village in Manhattan or Miami Beach , the coffee shops, boutiques and eateries that drew many residents to those areas are struggling to stay.But why?The notion of greedy landlords hiking up rents makes an easy scapegoat for policymakers and residents. But the real picture is much more complicated, with an insistence on long-term leases and major disruptions in retail shopping habits all playing a role in the vacancies, according to commercial real estate analysts.Still, cities are turning to vacant property taxes to nudge property owners of both retail and residential spaces to lease, develop or sell their properties before a short-term vacancy turns into what some cities see as blight.Cities opting for this solution are seeing varying degrees of success.The idea that if you tax the development, you will force the landlord into renting is complicated, says Joan Youngman, a senior fellow with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. In a hot market, the landlord might wait for a high-end renter. If the market is soft, the vacant land tax might force the landowner to allow it to fall into disrepair. Oakland, Calif., and most recently New York City have all considered levying vacancy taxes on landowners to force them to develop, lease or sell their empty properties. The moves follow similar taxes levied in Washington, D.C., and one aimed at addressing the residential housing crisis in Vancouver, Canada.The Washington, D.C., model raises the normal commercial property tax rate from between $1.65 and $1.85 for $100 in assessed value to $5 per $100 when the property is vacant. Property considered blighted is taxed at $10 per $100 of assessed value.In 2016, Washington, D.C., collected $9.4 million in vacancy taxes. Still the effectiveness of the tax remains unclear, according to a 2017 report from Pew Charitable Trusts . When asked, the city could not say how many properties were leased, improved or sold as a result of the tax, according to the Pew report.It also appears that some owners of vacant property have tried to skirt the law by filing for exemptions, or asking for building permits and then never making improvements. The District's city council eventually tightened the loophole through a bill that regulates how long a property owner can keep filing for exemptions.Vancouver's vacant house tax went into effect in 2017, despite hard data suggesting the vacancy rate for housing in the city had remained steady for more than a decade. Early indications suggest homeowners might not be declaring their homes empty Youngman calls the use of special taxes on vacant property a blunt instrument in spurring development. Real estate markets are contextual, she says. Washington, D.C., San Francisco and New York have been hot markets.The empty storefronts in those cities are less often the result of landlords looking to jack up rents and more often those property owners seeking long-term leases, Youngman says.Levying a tax might drive a landlord to fill a vacancy, but the new tenant may not be the type that made neighborhoods like Greenwich Village, the Mission District in San Francisco or Columbia Heights in Washington, D.C., attractive in the first place.Youngman points to the common complaint leveled by residents who point to national chains displacing local retailers in neighborhoods.Theyll say the neighborhood used to be so interesting and now it's so boring. I am not sure a tax can do anything about that, she says.In smaller cities like Hartford, Conn., which has much of its land locked up by tax-exempt landowners, policymakers dont have nearly as much leverage as their big city counterparts in using vacant property fees to drive down vacancies and spur better use of land.Hartford flirted with the idea of vacant property tax to spur development. The city has seen a steady migration of employers large and small to surrounding suburbs where property taxes are lower. What has been left are large lots that are filled by the least expensive use of commercial land -- parking lots."We see a sea of parking lots in a lot of parts of the city," Councilman Julio Concepcion told the. "When you're trying to go from point A to point B and all there is is dimly lit surface parking, the perception of the city is that it's unsafe. So we're just trying to fill those gaps in with development -- with housing or retail or whatever the market bears, and trying to make Hartford a more walkable, friendly city."Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin balked at signing the bill, and the effort fizzled out in 2017.Ultimately, the decline in local retail may be more a reflection of changing shopping habits than the relationship between retailers and commercial property owners. As more people shop online, commercial real estate markets will remain in flux.We are going through such a massive change in retail. The question," Youngman says, "is are we in a phase of trying to readjust to a new steady state in real estate?"Governor's Program

The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.Daniel Ammann , President, General Motors Company

, President, General Motors Company Josh Davis , Chief Information Security Officer, Toyota Motor North America

, Chief Information Security Officer, Toyota Motor North America John Felker , Director, National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), Department of Homeland Security

, Director, National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), Department of Homeland Security Paul Abbate , Associate Deputy Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

, Associate Deputy Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation The Honorable Gary Peters, U.S. Senator from Michigan

As the first Trump administration Summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI) wrapped-up at the White House on Thursday of this week, the media coverage of the event focused on the huge opportunities that new AI technology advances can provide for everyday life in America."The Trump administration will ensure our great nation remains the global leader in AI," the president's technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, said to a gathering of corporate leaders Thursday.Participation in the AI Summit included top tech companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft Wired magazine reported that the Trump administration is playing catch-up on artificial intelligence, but now sees the tremendous opportunities: At a meeting that mingled industry, academia, and government, the Trump White House framed AI as a path to continued economic dominance over other nations.Charles Isbell, a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, says he didnt hear much new in Kratsios opening speech, or closing remarks from Jared Kushner that ended the day. But he came away impressed by the broad mix of different industries present.One sector-specific area that was addressed in the helpful summary report of the White House AI Summit was technology in transportation. Michael Kratsios said:As artificial intelligence transforms everything from agriculture to manufacturing to transportation  the potential for AI remains breathtaking. But we cannot be passive. To realize the full potential of AI for the American people, it will require the combined efforts of industry, academia, and government. American computers opened information in ways inconceivable to the rest of human history. Today, with so many of the mysteries of quantum computing, autonomous systems, and machine learning yet to be discovered, we can take hold of the future and make it our own. No doubt, AI is the front-and-center topic in the global conversation surrounding policy, research and development of new technology. Thousands of books, articles and presentations lay out what is at stake regarding AI and machine learning for society  both good results and possible peril if things go wrong.Cybersecurity concerns are one essential area which must be addressed in tech advancement.No area captures the publics attention regarding the balance between tech innovation and cybersecurity more than autonomous vehicles. The overall security within a car or truck is vitally important to consumers as more and more features within automobiles are changing fast. Indeed, some experts predict that cars will bring the front line of technology innovation over the next decade.Passenger safety is paramount, and global auto companies are working hard to maintain the public trust during this huge transition to autonomous vehicles over the next two decades.It is with this AI and autonomous vehicle backdrop that the 2nd Billington Global Automotive Cybersecurity Summit comes to Detroit on Aug. 3. The new auto cybersummit theme for 2018 is: The cybersummit event website lays out the top industry leaders that are already committed to speak at the summit. In addition to Thomas K. Billington, chairman and founder of Billington CyberSecurity, which runs cybersummits around the world, the speakers include:And while this list is already impressive, the number of top speakers will grow further to include many more top auto sector leaders. This summit will become a must attend event for anyone who is serious about automotive cybersecurity issues and important dialog regarding security with the wider transportation sector  including public policy actions.The first automotive cybersecurity summit in July 2016 in Detroit was very impressive, to say the least. There were numerous sessions and topics that received immense coverage by all the top news media organizations. Here is the opening keynote that was presented by Mary Barra, chairman & CEO of General Motors (GM):More than most other cybersecurity events I have attended over the years, the 2016 event taught newer concepts and perspectives on technology and security. I learned a tremendous amount about automotive cybersecurity at the first auto cybersummit event, and so did many other industry experts that I trust. It was not just a group of security and technology leaders getting together to listen to good speakers, but offered intriguing new topics with cutting-edge implications for society.For example, here are two quotes from attendees to think about, The Billington Automotive CyberSecurity Summit was truly the most useful cyberevent I have ever attended, said Kristin Judge, director of Special Projects for the National Cyber Security Alliance.The Billington events are preeminent in bringing together thought leaders to openly discuss (often controversial) cybersecurity topics that other conferences tend to avoid. Founder Tom Billington has a knack for finding both the right issues and the right people to make his conferences a first-class event, said Robert Bigman, president of 2BSecure (Former CISO of the CIA, for 15 years).One specific topic that I learned more about two years ago was bug bounties . I became much more aware about the auto sector was working with ethical hackers to find and remediate vulnerabilities, and also how this topic is (and will) impact global governments. In fact, I wrote this blog on why governments should implement bug bounty programs . Here is the C-SPAN session which covered that topic from 2016.I urge readers to consider attending this Global Automotive Cybersecurity Summit in Detroit on Aug. 3, 2018 at the Cobo Center. I am sure that you will benefit in many professional ways  especially if you are in any way associated with the transportation industry. I expect to see some industry announcements, cyber-research outcomes and much more.If you are a top leader in the cybersecurity, automotive or government transportation sectors, and you are interested in speaking on a panel or getting involved in other ways, you should visit the website and get in touch with the Billington team immediately.Watch this space for a blog following the event on significant outcomes covering what I learned about autonomous vehicle cybersecurity efforts and other car security topics.(TNS)  For years now, the debate about job growth in America has sounded one note: More is better, and hugely more is hugely better.But lately, a few communities have sounded discordant notes. The latest is Mountain View, the home of Google and several other big and rapidly growing tech companies. The citys mayor, Lenny Siegel, is proposing to place whats known as the Google tax on Novembers city ballot.I call it the perils of prosperity, Siegel told me. Were blessed with too many good jobs for the housing and transportation we have. As Mountain Views biggest employer, Google brings about 20,000 employees into the city every working day. But its not the only contributor to an influx that swells the citys population, nominally about 80,000, to about 125,000 in the daytime  Microsoft, LinkedIn and Intuit are also major employers. About 2,000 to 3,000 Google employees live in Mountain View, Siegel estimates.That has strained the housing and transportation infrastructure of this city in the heart of Silicon Valley to the breaking point. The rents on new apartments run about $5,000 a month. Three-bedroom single-family homes of 1,500 square feet list for nearly $2 million.The city has built a modest number of affordable housing units, but not nearly enough, and it suffers from what Siegel calls the missing middle: teachers, plumbers, surgical technicians who make too much money to qualify for affordable housing, but not enough to live here. Some 300 inhabited vehicles are parked on Mountain Views streets, says Siegel, a veteran environmental advocate who joined the City Council in 2015 and is serving a one-year rotating term as mayor.Siegels goal is to raise about $10 million a year by charging all but the smallest employers a tax based on full-time employees. Medium-sized companies, say between 50 and 3,000 employees, would pay the head tax on a progressive scale. Google (or Alphabet, which is the holding company for Google and a number of other enterprises) would end up paying about half the total. The money would be used to support bonds for housing and transit improvements, including an automated tram, or guideway, between Mountain Views downtown transit hub and the tech employment district hugging the shore of San Francisco Bay.Siegel says Google has been a good corporate citizen for Mountain View. The company contributes to a free community shuttle that serves the central city, for example. Google hasnt expressed a public opinion on the measure; the company didnt respond to a request for comment.Other Silicon Valley communities have considered initiatives like Mountain Views, but none has enacted anything like it. Siegel says that if Mountain View can pass its head tax, neighboring cities may fall into line.The proposal indeed may signal a sea change in how what urbanist Richard Florida calls superstar cities address the inescapable costs of runaway growth. These include gentrification, mounting inequality and acute housing unaffordability, he says. If we had a functioning federal government, it would help out with the social safety net. But mayors and city councils recognize that the federal government has gotten out of the business of helping. So they point the finger at big companies, and particularly big tech companies, because theyre the biggest companies in the world and the most highly valued.Some of those big companies, however, are pushing back. The best example comes from Seattle, where the City Council is debating whether to impose an employment head tax to address homelessness and transportation problems. The City Council could vote as soon as Monday on a plan to tax employers with at least $20 million in annual sales within the city. The tax would amount to 26 cents per employee hour, up to $500 per worker per year, with the goal of raising up to $75 million.Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Thursday countered with her own plan about half the size, capping the tax at $250 per worker and raising $40 million a year. That could set up a battle with the council, where a majority of members favor the original proposal, but not enough to overcome a mayoral veto.About 585 businesses would be subject to the tax, the city estimates. But its prime target is Amazon, which with about 40,000 local workers is the largest private employer within the city limits. Amazon responded earlier this month with an announcement that it was putting a major skyscraper project in the city on hold and reconsidering plans to expand into a second building. The premises were to accommodate up to 8,000 more Amazon employees.Around the same time, Andrew Jassy, a top Amazon executive, called the tax proposal super dangerous for cities to implement. What company is going to want to start  or move to or grow in  a city that penalizes them for hiring full-time employees? Jassy said on CNBC.Amazon may have aimed to send a signal to the cities participating in a competition to host the companys second headquarters, which is expected to employ 50,000 workers. Thats a boon to employment statistics, but certain to drive up rents and home prices and strain even the best-developed local transit systems. But Amazon has made plain that it expects state and local tax breaks to be offered as a come-on.Its hard to see how $500 a head would influence Amazons investment decisions, says Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, which tracks state and local subsidies awarded to corporations. But it makes a lot of sense as a hardball signal to bidders for HQ2, Amazons proposed second corporate headquarters.The regional technology industry also has launched an opposition campaign, based partially on questioning whether money for Seattles existing initiatives to fight homelessness and for other services has been spent wisely enough to warrant dunning tech companies for more.The city invests $75 million a year to house the homeless, says Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association. But nobody in city government can point to successful outcomes as a result of the spending. Weve got more potholes, not less. Weve got more homeless, not less. We dont have schools improved, we dont have roads improved.Yet theres hardly room for argument that rapid growth has strained Seattles infrastructure and, for many residents, its standard of living. Rents and home prices are rising by 10 to 15 percent per year, and the average round-trip commute exceeds 54 minutes, higher than the national average and sixth highest in the nation  even ahead of Los Angeles.Whether a head tax is the best option to raise money has been questioned in Seattle and elsewhere, in part because it comes out of total business revenue rather than as a share of profits. That makes it particularly burdensome during recessions. Chicago, for example, phased out its employee head tax in 2011, during a protracted economic slump. The levy had been in existence since 1973.Still, interest in tying municipal revenues to employers impact on infrastructure is rising, if only out of a sense that they havent been paying their fair share. I think were going to see more and more of this, says urbanist Florida, not only about corporate headquarters, but around universities and medical centers, where areas are getting more gentrified. Local government cant raise money out of thin air, so who are they going to turn to? The residents are tapped out and who seems flush other than these big giant companies?He says that todays big corporations, which increasingly are technology firms rather than heavy manufacturers, would be well advised to go along with the trend rather than fighting it like Amazon. Maybe the message will get through that building the economy is not just about creating jobs for the one-third of us who can do knowledge work, but that if we want to rebuild our cities the right way, its in all our interests to make our cities more inclusive and more equitable.He sees the resistance of tech giants to contribute more to their communities as a sign of immaturity, also reflected in the tendency of firms such as Uber and Airbnb to run roughshod over local regulations. Maybe they just believe this libertarian mythology that somehow theyre the be-all and end-all and dont owe anyone anything, he says. But I think its going to come back to haunt them. Amazon has a great brand, but it could begin to erode in the sense of Amazon being seen as a decent company. These youthful tech companies do not realize how important local affairs and local relationships are.Youd wish these companies would grow up quicker, Florida says. But now it seems like theyre doing not only their communities great damage, but themselves.(TNS) - Kilaueas continued eruptions  possibly a long windup to a major explosion at the summit  forced more evacuations Sunday as yet another fissure opened and spattered lava along the volcanos eastern flank .The Hawaii County Civil Defense sent out the evacuation alert for residents west of Highway 132 on the Hale Kamahina Loop Road after the fissure appeared. They were asked to head to shelters, like the roughly 2,000 residents from the Leilani Estates neighborhood who began evacuating last week.The latest fissure was several hundred yards long and spatter reached as high as tens of feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which reported lava creeping away from the vent.Early reports indicated this was the 18th fissure to open up, but another fissure previously reported over the weekend was smaller and didnt emit lava  so scientists downgraded it and kept the total at 17 fissures.The biggest fear is that the summit will explode and blast huge boulders into the air. Officials are also wary of heavy ash and hazardous sulfur oxide emissions from vents that continue to steam in Leilani Estates.Describing the situation as fluid, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Scientist in Charge Tina Neal said: We have yet to see any evidence of explosive interaction of groundwater and hot rocks. Thats what were concerned about and we continue to watch for and wait.Explosions could be heard sporadically from Leilani Estates and nearby areas Sunday. Scientists said they come from the fissures.Rochelle Berryman, who lives in the neighborhood and was allowed to drive through it, described the last 10 days as nerve-racking and said they reminded her of the tornado warnings she experienced while living in Oklahoma.Hawaii National Guard units were blocking off more roads and only allowing local traffic to enter restricted areas. The Hawaii Civil Defense Agency said vacation rentals in Lower Puna were being asked to stop operating.A donation center in Pahoa was still operating Sunday morning as evacuees picked up canned goods, water, rice and clothes. It was uncertain when they might be able to return to their homes. Hawaii National Guard Maj. Jeff Hickman said there are 300 people in shelters, while others have moved in with family or friends.Since the earthquakes and eruptions began May 3, three dozen structures have been destroyed. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been arriving to assist displaced residents. President Donald Trump declared Hawaii a disaster area Friday.Pahoa, which has taken in the bulk of the evacuees, was relatively quiet Sunday as intermittent rain and overcast skies disguised smoke from the volcano.Sacred Heart Catholic Church was filled for an early Sunday morning Mass as the Rev. Ernest Juarez Jr. urged parishoners to open up their doors to evacuees in need of help. The church also was soliciting volunteer help to assist with the disaster.2018 Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.There was this report from earlier today, Homeland Security Secretary Was Close to Resigning After Trump Berated Her. I'm not surprised by the behavior of the president and how it impacts the people he leads. He was not happy with the rise in illegal crossings at the border. His behavior reminds me of a Lt. Gen. Bobby Fair (if I remember right). When he became the commanding general of the Second Armored Division sometime around 1974-75, he was reported to have yelled and screamed at his subordinate commanders about the number of AWOL reports (soldiers absent without leave).Guess what, the AWOL rate (reported) went down, maintenance and vehicle readiness went up! I think people were playing with the numbers to avoid the wrath of the boss. I personally was out looking for AWOL soldiers in the community so we would not have to report them as AWOL. I went to one house and dug the offender off of the living room floor where he was camped out with a girlfriend. By Fair's efforts, his command numbers were turned around and he was promoted to corps commander and given a third star. I ended up in Germany (for six months  Brigade 75) and he was the corps commander there, Fifth V Corps (?).Anyway, he tried the same tactic with his divisional commanders, two-star generals. They would have none of it. His behavior got back to the Department of the Army and one day he was quickly and quietly removed from his command. That is leadership being effective and countering behaviors that are "unbecoming an officer and a gentleman."Yelling is not an impeachable offense, but I do believe that character matters.Added: Don't weep for cabinet official Trump berated(TNS) - School districts across the region are looking to increase police presence in their buildings as a response to the latest round of school safety concerns.At least nine local districts have included funding in their proposed budgets to establish new school resource-officer positions or another position that would be filled by a police officer. School district budgets go up for public approval Tuesday.Districts are working with local police agencies to find ways to split the cost of new officers or shift existing officers to a more established position in the schools. The logistics of the positions, as well as the final cost-sharing agreements, were still under negotiation between districts and police agencies as of Thursday.But come Tuesday, voters in Gloversville, North Colonie, Stillwater, Mechanicville, Fort Plain, Fonda-Fultonville, Mayfield, Schuylerville and South Glens Falls school districts will be asked to approve funding to ramp up the police presence in those districts.A school resource officer has four main roles: law enforcer, informal counselor, emergency manager and educator, according to a summary of the Fonda-Fultonville budget proposal.Districts started seriously eyeing a move toward school resource officers as safety discussions took to the fore in the aftermath of a February school shooting in Florida. Police agencies started increasing patrols and visits to local schools, as school officials considered other safety improvements, including an increase in surveillance cameras and changes to visitor procedures.The statewide sheriffs association also pushed for state funding to employ a school resource officer in every school in the state, but no such funding has materialized from lawmakers. Proponents of expanding school resource officers argue an officer dedicated to a specific school or district can better build relationships with students and staff and be positioned on the front lines in case of a school emergency. But others argue armed officers in schools risk criminalizing what should be treated as student behavior and creating a sense of students under surveillance.The proposed Gloversville school district budget includes $150,000 for three new school resource officers, under a budget line for school resource and truancy officers.Lt. Brad Schaffer, spokesman for the Gloversville Police Department, said the police agency was prepared to reassign and retrain one officer to serve as a school resource officer. He said additional positions were still under discussion; the Gloversville police chief and schools superintendent were scheduled to meet on the matter Thursday afternoon, Schaffer said.Some districts hadnt planned on expanding positions but decided to move forward with the school resource officers.While we werent looking to really move the budget at all this year, myself and the board felt it was the right way to go to ensure we have not just a police presence in the school but programming and the kind of relationship-building you get with a person assigned to the school full time, said Stillwater Superintendent Patricia Morris.Stillwater allocated up to $90,000 for the officer position. Morris said while Saratoga County sheriff deputies have increased patrols and visits to the district in recent months, it would be even better if a specific officer were dedicated to serving the district. That consistency would strengthen the relationship between the officer and the schools, as well as give the officer an intimate knowledge of the schools safety plans.They are here frequently in the hallway and thats good for students to see they are here to help and not to be a hindrance, Morris said of the increased police presence. Having that presence, that is a deterrent but thats one piece of it, the bigger piece is having that known presence and relationship building.Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo on Wednesday said he was in discussions with five school districts in the county about facilitating school resource officers by the start of next year. But he said he wouldnt provide more details until plans had been formalized.In Fort Plain, Superintendent David Ziskin said the district is working with local police agencies to develop what he called a school safety officer position. The school safety officer would be stationed in the district and would monitor entrances and exits but wouldnt play the educational role traditional in the resource officer model. He said the district has allocated $22,000 in the proposed budget for the position.Thats been a great asset already with bringing a sense of reassurance to people in the building, Ziskin said of recent increases in visits from local officers, which would be continued under the proposed budget. Having the eyes and ears rotating throughout our campuses have already had an impact on how we drill for safety; its improved our practice and improved the safety in our schools.North Colonie has $40,000 earmarked in its budget proposal for a school resource officer; South Colonie schools were one of the few districts in the region to maintain a resource officer after state funds dried up about a decade ago. In budget materials, the district said the officer position would work with students in law-related classes as well as in safety and alcohol and drug prevention programs.The North Colonie school resource officer would ultimately be a service-oriented position, Superintendent Joseph Corr is quoted as saying in the districts annual budget newsletter. A [resource officer] is not a cure-all, but its a step in the right direction.Schuylerville, Mechanicville, Mayfield and South Glens Falls school district have all also indicated in budget materials their proposals fund a school resource officer.In Schenectady, some students and community activists have put the school board on notice that school resource officers would not be welcomed with open arms at Schenectady High School.We do want tighter security, but we want to reiterate that we do not want armed security officers in our schools  ever, high school senior Shayla Kerr told the school board during its March 14 school board meeting.Schenectady Superintendent Larry Spring last week said he has had recent discussions with Police Chief Eric Clifford about how to refine the relationship between city police and the school district.Spring said the two leaders are focusing on creating more consistency around which officers would include visits to schools as part of their regular routines. They are also discussing how to develop a system for what those school visits would consist of, establishing a checklist of sorts that would include things like visiting with school leadership and checking on the security of exits and entrances.He said they are not considering stationing officers in the schools.Policing the hallways is probably not something either of us are looking for, but we do want the police to have a really good familiarity with the inner workings of both our buildings and processes, Spring said.Schenectady Police Sgt. Matt Dearing, returning a request for comment from Clifford, said no formal plan was in place and characterized the meeting between Spring and Clifford as "preliminary discussions."Dearing said the police department is also looking to strengthen communication with the district as well as relationships with students. He defended the school resource officer model, arguing "our view of a school resource officer is an officer there to help students... to be a familiar face that students can talk to."2018 The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y.Visit The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y. at www.dailygazette.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.(TNS)  The gnarled roots of centenarian trees push through concrete sidewalks throughout the neighborhoods of Freehold Borough in Monmouth County, N.J. The municipality once helped pay the costs of fixing the walkways, but scrapped the program a decade ago to save money.Last fall, the sidewalk repair program got new life in an unusual way: Borough officials set $200,000 aside in their capital budget and asked their 12,000 residents how to spend it.For a week in September, they let residents as young as 14 cast ballots online or by paper at the municipal building and community events. In the end, 346 people  on par with off-year election turnout  chose a new pedestrian bridge, more downtown lighting, and the sidewalk repair plan.The exercise was the first statewide in a growing practice called participatory budgeting, in which local governments not only ask but depend on their citizens to decide how best to spend their tax dollars, usually discretionary capital funds.We really believe in it as a way to get people more involved and engaged in their town, said Freehold Borough Councilman Ron Griffiths. As Ive said to the council, were not the only people with good ideas.In recent decades, participatory budgeting has taken off, used in more than 1,500 communities worldwide to allocate spending of hundreds of millions of dollars. New Yorkers have used participatory budgeting to fund playground and park improvements, technology upgrades at schools, and real-time arrival information at bus stops. In Chicago, residents voted to plant hundreds of trees, install benches at bus stops, resurface streets, and install artificial turf fields. And y oung people in Boston voted to use a $1 million annual allotment to create a Get Hired truck to help them apply for jobs and to install digital billboards at libraries so homeless students can find services.Skeptics of the process question how drastically different it is than what governments already do  offering opportunities for input at public meetings or through online contact with officials  and whether municipal employees can fit more work into their schedules.But proponents say it can be part of the solution to the pervasive problem of low turnout in elections and public meetings that too often draw the same small cadre of interested or available residents, while empowering disillusioned residents and making budgets more equitable. City leaders learn residents priorities, which can inform policy decisions. Residents see tangible change and better understand how government works.The system also can better reach marginalized communities, such as people of color and the homeless, because volunteers seek them out and bring the voting to them. It includes residents who cannot otherwise vote, such as teenagers, men and women with criminal records, and those immigrants who are usually ineligible.In New Jersey, officials in other municipalities have said they may follow Freeholds lead. No Pennsylvania towns have yet signed on to the practice.While Philadelphia hasnt adopted participatory budgeting, it is taking similar steps. Last year, officials surveyed 7,000 residents online, in print, and by phone and found that street conditions were a top priority. So this years budget proposal  to be voted on in the next few weeks  includes more money for repaving roads.Budget Director Anna Adams said the budget office has been considering how it can better solicit public input and hopes to unveil a new outreach program later this year.She said the city offers a lot of budget information online, but we havent really given people the opportunity to weigh in.If Philadelphia someday decides to use participatory budgeting, it would be one component of a larger engagement process that would include teaching residents about the trade-offs officials face when creating a budget, Adams said.Say the city gave residents $2 million for projects, she said. Without context about what else that $2 million could have been spent on, its less meaningful, she said.The heads of two groups that represent municipalities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania say that communities already offer opportunities for less formal input in the budget at public meetings and advisory committees, but that people dont come.Rick Schuettler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Municipal League, said he doesnt see participatory budgeting happening on any kind of widespread basis.People elect people; they expect them to do the job, he said.In communities that choose participatory budgeting, officials solicit hundreds or thousands of project ideas, work with residents to develop feasible proposals, and allow them to vote on their favorite projects over several days or weeks.When it came time for their first vote last September, residents in Freehold Borough passed up spending proposals such as free Wi-Fi downtown, an off-leash dog park, and concrete chess tables, instead opting for things they clearly thought they needed more than they wanted, Griffiths said.Officials are working now to spread the word and bolster turnout. Residents will vote in September on whichever ideas they come up with in the coming months.Chicago was the first to formalize participatory budgeting in the United States in 2009, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Participatory Budgeting Project, which gives outreach materials and technical assistance to communities.Often, when people think about beginning new programs, they think about looking for new resources, said Thea Crum, director of the Neighborhoods Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicagos Great Cities Institute, a partner of Participatory Budgeting Chicago . One of the great things about PB is it really is just shifting how decisions are made about the same pot of money.Officials in each community decide how much money to allocate and which residents can participate in determining how it is spent. Bostons program is restricted to 12- to 25-year-olds as part of an initiative to engage more young people in governance and create lifelong voters.Leaders in municipalities across the country say the same, crediting participatory budgeting with pulling more people into local government and community service.Liza Meiris believes it. The social studies teacher at First Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School in Frankford tried participatory budgeting this year with 7th- to 12th-grade students.Meiris had won a $100,000, five-year grant from the National Constitution Center for a civics program and told students to choose what to do with $2,500. They campaigned for their ideas and Meiris saw their eyes light up at the voting stations in their school and the I Voted stickers.Students chose to fund a music studio  choosing it off a ballot that also included proposals to improve the restrooms, establish hallway stations to fill water bottles, and update gym equipment.They were actually surprisingly on point with what the school needed, Meiris said. She plans to continue the program.Every school should do this. Every community should do this. Every city, she added. I would talk to them for an hour about why they should do this and why this is the future.Exploring possibilities

Working out the details

Risks and benefits

(TNS)  Fountain, Manitou Springs and El Paso County have invested tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in studies to explore how they might help expand residents' access to affordable high-speed internet.Behind the effort is the desire to improve the quality of life in rural areas where internet connections often lag at dial-up speeds, making streaming videos, online gaming, and even checking emails difficult, much less trying to run a business.County commissioners in March approved a nearly $150,000 contract with professional engineering and technical consulting firm HR Green, Inc., for its broadband strategic plan.The study will take into account what private internet providers such as CenturyLink Inc. and Comcast Corp. offer in the county, from fiber-optic broadband to wireless, and planned expansions of those networks. The study will also identify opportunities for regional collaboration as well as options for how broadband initiatives might be structured and funded.Manitou Springs and Fountain have also hired HR Green.Locally, governments are taking up the issue at an opportune time - this summer, the Colorado Department of Transportation is planning to dig a trench along U.S. 24 from Colorado Springs to Woodland Park to lay fiber-optic cable, said CDOT spokeswoman Michelle Peulen.The agency has budgeted about $3 million for the new transmission lines, which CDOT will use for its own needs, such as traffic cameras and electronic signage, she said.Towns along Ute Pass will likely have the chance to drop in their own lines in CDOT's trench for a fraction of the normal cost of laying cable.What will result from the studies remains unknown, but other Colorado cities offer success stories. Centennial has opted to develop a roughly $5 million fiber-optic "backbone" that private providers can connect to.In Longmont, the city developed a business plan and built out existing network infrastructure after voters approved $45.3 million in bonds in 2013, according to the Colorado Municipal League. Last year, Longmont became the first city in Colorado to provide "citywide symmetrical gigabit internet service, without data caps," according to the city utility provider's website.More than 100 cities, towns and counties have voted to opt out of a 2005 law that bars local governments from entering the broadband market. Each of those exclusions opens the door to examine options - from building a broadband system from scratch and becoming a provider to investing in some infrastructure and forging a partnership with internet companies, said Kevin Bommer, deputy director of the Municipal League."It's pretty cool when it works out," Bommer said. "It takes time, though, and there's really no magic bullet for determining what the best way to do it is."Several area governments, including Green Mountain Falls, Victor, Woodland Park, Cripple Creek, and Teller and El Paso Counties, chose to opt out of the law in the November 2016 election. Colorado Springs followed in spring 2017, and Manitou Springs last fall. Fountain plans to ask its voters in November.Private internet service providers have protested the exclusions, saying that the law was meant to prevent local governments from becoming competitors of for-profit companies.County spokesman Dave Rose said it's unlikely that the county will get into the broadband business, but officials want to know more about how the government might work with private companies to improve internet speeds for residents.The county has fielded complaints about subpar connections from residents in Black Forest and Ute Pass, Rose said. At the Teller County courthouse in Cripple Creek, attorneys and staff often have trouble transferring documents electronically to El Paso County's courthouse in Colorado Springs because the internet service is so poor, he said.Some parts of the county are served by private providers' fiber-optic cable networks, but in more rural areas, it's cost-prohibitive because the investment would serve a relatively small number of customers, said HR Green Vice President David Zelenok.What local governments can do is identify opportunities to build out networks early on, Zelenok said. For example, laying conduit - the plastic piping that holds underground fiber-optic cables - during other construction projects is about 20 times cheaper than it normally costs to install the cable, he said.HG Green began working with the Manitou Springs Urban Renewal Authority last year for a variety of broadband-related reasons, including negotiating with internet companies and providing engineering support in the installation of conduit during the reconstruction of Manitou Avenue.As of April 11, approximately 1,000 feet of conduit had been installed during the multimillion dollar revamp of the stretch of road between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, and officials had plans to lay 2,000 feet more, according to a memo that was presented to the Manitou Springs City Council last month. The cost of the conduit was pegged at about $15,000, according to the memo.Manitou Springs Mayor Ken Jaray said Colorado Springs Utilities is abandoning a 30-inch water main that runs through Manitou Springs and could also serve as a conduit for fiber-optic cables.The city is finalizing another $22,000 contract with HR Green to make a plan, according to Manitou Springs' interim city manager."Having high-speed internet available to our businesses, residents and visitors is the wave of the future," Jaray said. "It just allows us to connect people a lot faster and a lot better, and allows people to connect with the outside world better."The city of Woodland Park has budgeted $40,000 this year to develop a similar vision for broadband services. City Councilman Val Carr said that the city will likely contract with a private company to develop the strategic plan.Fountain paid HR Green $23,000 for the first phase of a conceptual study that was presented to the Fountain City Council in February, said the city's utilities director, Curtis Mitchell.Fountain Mayor Gabriel Ortega said city staff is in the process of drafting ballot language to opt out of the 2005 state law. If the measure passes in November, he said the city will consider all of its options, including becoming a utility provider.While other local governments in the Pikes Peak region are moving forward with broadband planning, Colorado Springs isn't likely to follow suit any time soon.City spokeswoman Kim Melchor said in an email that Colorado Springs' executive branch "does not support the high financial costs" of providing broadband to residents, which other cities have attempted to do with mixed results. She added that "there is extensive private sector broadband availability" within the city.In addition to the potential benefit of faster, more affordable internet for citizens, cities that invest in a fiber-optic network also better position themselves to support emerging technologies, such as 5G wireless networks, Zelenok said. Better internet access can also drive economic growth and job creation, he said.But there are risks. Cities may spend too much and not be able to recoup their costs, or they might not be able to find an operator to use what they've built, he said.Pete Kirchhof, executive vice president of the Colorado Telecommunications Association, said in a statement that citizens should be weary of the pitfalls of government involvement in the internet business."Governments should not be able to use taxpayer dollars to overbuild existing networks and then compete against private companies for customers," said Kirchhof, whose organization represents broadband providers in many of the state's rural areas. "And taxpayers should be wary of ways in which government can use tax dollars and utility revenue to prop up public broadband networks."Mark Soltes, CenturyLink's vice president of public affairs for Colorado, said in a statement that "public-private partnerships" between governments and internet companies are a solution that's better for all players."These creative solutions can bring the technologies communities need and the expertise to run a network, as well as the ability to plan for future upgrades in a dynamic environment where technology changes rapidly, while limiting the financial risk to citizens," he said.A new law may offer financial support for such partnerships. The bill, which Gov. John Hickenlooper signed last month, will take money from a fund that long has subsidized rural telephone service and invest in broadband construction. Legislative analysts estimate more than $115 million will go to broadband grants for providers between 2019 and 2023.Public-Sector Data Transparency

Data Innovation in the Golden State

With all of its various agencies, entities, and departments, the average government has access to a truly impressive amount of data on its own performance. Such a massive amount of data holds significant potential for driving innovation in the public sector.To unlock this potential, governments are increasingly embracing open data policies to better analyze and utilize their data. California is on the leading edge of the open data frontier and is leveraging data transparency to drive innovation at a local and statewide level.Data transparency drives government innovation by fostering greater collaboration between government departments and between the public sector and its private-sector allies. By opening up their data, governments and their partners can analyze previously siloed data sets to improve services, streamline processes and optimize internal resources. As California Assemblymember Brian Maienschein put it , Open data is  critically important to increasing transparency and making operations more effective and accountable to the public.Before exploring how California is pioneering data-driven innovation in government, lets take a brief look at the history of data transparency in the public sector.Public-sector utilization of data transparency and analytics is evolving at a rapid pace on the state, local and federal levels to catalyze innovation and create a more citizen-centric way of operating.The movement for increased data transparency in government is still in its early stages. In 2013, the White House issued the very first Open Data Policy , designed to make many forms of government data open and readable to those outside specific agencies and departments. At the same time, an initiative called Project Open Data was launched as a toolkit to help governments increase the transparency of their existing data. Policies and initiatives like the Open Data Policy were designed not just to facilitate collaboration, but also to meet accountability demands from the public in areas like financial disclosures Fast-forward to 2018, and Project Open Data is still fostering greater transparency, as are new entities and policy initiatives like the Data Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA). This years second annual State of the Union of Open Data report (conducted by Grant Thornton) surveyed a variety of leaders in both government and IT, finding that most rated the state of open data in 2018 as strong. Nearly 82 percent said that data standardization has improved their fields in recent years, and 79 percent said they expect advancements in transparency to continue in 2018 and beyond.Another example came this year with the introduction of the bipartisan Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act in the House of Representatives. The purpose of the bill is to leverage open data to streamline the federal grant reporting process by replacing outdated processes and paperwork.As the nation as a whole increasingly embraces data transparency as an innovation catalyst, California continues to pave the way by pioneering new use cases for data transparency in government.Californias embrace of data transparency has manifested itself in a variety of ways in recent years. Just two years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed the states first Chief Data Officer , Zachary Townsend, to serve as the primary steward of the data portal for the states public data. Since then, a host of online data portals hosted by cities, state agencies and private-sector partners have brought data transparency in California to a whole new level.Take, for example, the city of Los Angeles Web analytics dashboard , which publishes real-time data on traffic and usage patterns for the citys various websites, pages and portals. Before we partnered with them to create this dashboard, Los Angeles city officials had no analytics or insight into how or at what volume their digital services were being utilized. They can now adjust and optimize specific digital services around insights gleaned from these analytics dashboards.For example, by analyzing website usage by device type, Los Angeles officials can learn that 38.9 percent of their traffic comes from mobile or tablet users, and they can confidently allocate resources to making city websites and digital tools mobile-responsive. Or they can see that more than 75 percent of their traffic comes from Chrome and Safari, indicating that all online services and forms need to be compatible with these browsers.Several open data projects are also driving innovation at the statewide level. The California Open Data Portal , for example, was built to improve collaboration, expand transparency and lead to innovation and increased effectiveness of government services. The portal is being used to develop applications that help Californias Department of General Services track the sustainability of state-purchased supplies and to evaluate the sustainability of Californias vehicle fleet. OpenJustice is another promising open data project. Spearheaded by Californias Department of Justice, this platform transparently publishes criminal justice data  such as arrests, deaths in custody, hate crimes and citizens complaints  so that law enforcement agencies and policymakers can work together to improve the criminal justice system at every level.The push toward open data will lead to more innovation, collaboration and transparency in the public sector. Previously unimagined services like a community peer-to-peer tool-sharing app or a crowdfunding platform to improve public parks might become realities as governments find newer and better ways to share and analyze existing data.Though were only just beginning to realize the potential of data-driven innovation in the public sector, California has already positioned itself as an example for other governments to emulate.(TNS)  You never know whos watching. And in New Jerseys biggest city, that might be a problem.Newark has installed dozens of surveillance cameras around the city and is giving the public access to the live footage, asking people to call in anonymous tips based on what they see. Its like a town watch program, except online and accessible to anyone with a computer and internet connection.The mission is to help reduce crime and help get our residents involved in engaging the police, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said in an interview.By dramatically increasing the number of virtual eyes and ears on the physical streets, Baraka said, the program will allow residents to help monitor their homes and neighborhoods, involving the public in keeping the city safe. As in other urban areas in New Jersey and across the country, crime in Newark fluctuates by year but is often concentrated in specific neighborhoods. The surveillance programs aim is twofold: stopping or solving crimes while serving as a deterrent and helping to lower Newarks crime rate, which is among the highest in the state.The 62 cameras were installed in recent months and went live April 26. The next day, 662 people logged into the site, the mayors office said. The first 60 days are a test phase, Baraka said, with the ultimate goal of installing about 300 cameras across the city.The project, which will cost about $1 million this year, is funded largely by state and federal grants. The city believes that is money well spent and Baraka said hes hopeful that the program will accomplish its goals and improve the quality of life in Newark.But the program has drawn criticism from civil liberties advocates, who cite privacy concerns and worry about the collection of data on peoples movements and interactions with others.We are engaging in a mass surveillance scheme that the people, not the police, do policing work, said Amol Sinha, the head of the New Jersey chapter of the ACLU. Its going to create a concern where every move of every neighbor is going to be able to be tracked by anybody who wants to watch. So if I am leaving my home every day at 9 a.m., people are going to know my patterns. People are going to know when my home is empty, people are going to know when Im on vacation.Many of the cameras are stationary and cover intersections. A few automatically pan back and forth across an area. Some show storefronts and residents homes.Its maybe good intentions, but it certainly seems like there are some unintended consequences of having this sort of a scheme in place, Sinha said. And while the cameras are set up in public places, he said, the concern is there is a fundamental difference between me being able to go outside and stand on a street corner and see whats going on and the police recording every single move 24/7 and broadcasting it live on camera for everybody to access. I think the scale of it is whats incredibly concerning.An even broader concern, criminal justice and law experts said, is what happens when a noble ambition meets the messy realities of policing. Even when the program works exactly as it should  well-meaning people watching for suspicious behavior and calling it in  racial biases could come into play.We know people of color are stopped and frisked at higher rates, stopped and ticketed at higher rates... This opens them up to the potential for more criminalization of everyday life, which is these small, lifestyle-type crimes that in some ways can escalate, said Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, a criminal justice professor at Temple University. How much do you in some ways harass a community, surveil a community, put them under constant lock and key so theyre treated like outlaws in their own community? How much do you do that and keep the legitimacy of the police force?Van Cleve and others pointed to a number of high-profile incidents in which police were called to investigate reports of suspicious activity by people of color.Henry Louis Gates Jr., the prominent Harvard University professor, was trying to force open the door to his own house when a neighbor called police about a potential burglary , leading to his arrest. Darren Martin, a former White House staffer, was moving into a new home in New York when he was stopped and questioned by police after a neighbor called to report a potential burglary. Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun when Cleveland police received a call reporting a guy with a gun and shot him within seconds of their arrival , killing him.Jerry Ratcliffe, a criminal justice professor at Temple University, said he worries that such incidents will only increase when police encourage the public to watch surveillance footage and call in behavior they see as suspicious, without training or police experience.Im seeing  and I think a number of people are seeing  an increasing number of situations where people of color are having police arrive because members of the public see something they think is criminal, but its just people standing on a street corner, he said. Newarks program requires easy registration , no more than a minute or two, using Twitter, Facebook, Google, or an email address. Baraka said the program is intended for people who live in the city, though there are no geographic limits for users to access the site.Once logged in, users are presented with a map showing the placement of 62 cameras around the city and a list of them on the left-hand side. Select a camera and a small window appears. The video can be made larger or full-screen.Surveillance cameras are widely used by police in many cities, both to solve crimes and as a deterrent. The cameras currently available to the public in Newark are all located at sites that previously had surveillance cameras accessible only to police.Whats new in Newark is the ability to make the cameras available to the public in real time. (A handful of other cities have considered doing so, but ultimately decided against it.) Newark calls the program Citizen Virtual Patrol and touts it as a virtual version of a neighborhood watch or town watch program. is unclear , and participation isnt universal . And when citizens feel empowered to take the law into their own hands, experts said, the consequences can be devastating.George Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch coordinator when he spotted Trayvon Martin, followed him, and shot him to death in Florida.Now imagine Zimmerman watching from his computer for anything he deems suspicious, said Adnan A. Zulfiqar , a law professor at Rutgers-Camden.He sees this young black male walking with his hoodie in the neighborhood  and hes like, Im going to head out there and check it out and Ill keep an eye on him until the police get there. You can have that type of scenario, Zulfiqar said. Or George Zimmerman is monitoring Newark and he calls up his buddy Jim and he says, Hey, Ive been watching Newark, theres some suspicious guy on X or Y block, why dont you go out there, make sure youre strapped, and make sure that guy doesnt go anywhere until the police get there.I mean, youre just creating volatile situations, he said. Youre essentially enabling an army of George Zimmermans.Baraka, the mayor, scoffed at such criticism. Residents support the program , he said, and are more concerned about crime that goes unsolved than about the potential for racial bias in policing.What Im worried about is murder and violence and crime that happens to black and brown people in our communities, he said, adding that his concerns about police violence and racial profiling are best addressed through training and community policing. Were going to continue to do those things, but Im not going to take tools from the police department simply because we fear people will use it in a racist manner.Baraka did not deny that policing can have racial overtones. In 2014, a Justice Department investigation found that police officers in Newark had engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional stops, searches, arrests and the use of excessive force. This, federal authorities said, disproportionately affected minorities. Two years later, the city pledged a series of reforms, including improved officer training, that are still being monitored by the federal government.Police officers will play an important role in the new surveillance program, Baraka said. When someone calls in a tip based on the camera footage, a police staffer will review the footage before passing the information along, he said, providing a trained set of eyes.Dorothy E. Roberts, a law professor and sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania whose work often explores issues of race, said there are legitimate public safety reasons for asking for residents help  but also legitimate concerns.Whenever you hear about, Well, this is required for safety, look at whose rights are being violated in order to protect whose rights, she said. Surveillance is not the way to make communities safer. The way to make communities safer is to provide the resources and support that communities need to flourish.(TNS)  As the threat of another attempted cyberattack hovers ominously over Florida's 2018 election, voting officials in the state are livid at U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for claiming they are "overconfident" and not taking the possibility seriously enough."That's just not the case," said Clay County Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless. "We are all deeply concerned about the threat and are taking steps to limit the exposure. I thought that his comments were very inaccurate."Rubio made his remarks in mid-April at a Florida Association of Counties meeting in Washington."I don't think they fully understand the nature of the threat," Rubio said.On Friday, Rubio again sounded the alarm, albeit this time without mentioning Florida specifically.Taken aback by Rubio's initial criticism, Chambless and a second supervisor, Dana Southerland of Taylor County, separately tried to speak to the senator. Both told the Times/Herald they got no response from his office."I'm standing by," Chambless said in a tone of sarcasm, as if waiting for a phone call from Washington. "I know it's coming."Said Southerland, president of the state association of election supervisors: "I'm not really sure where he's getting his information." She said such criticism "erodes the voters' confidence in the election."UPDATE: On Friday, Rubio issued a statement that said, "Florida's electoral importance will always make us a prime target. I encourage our competent election officials in Florida to continue to take this threat seriously, and I look forward to discussing this issue further with them."Rubio's office said he will set up meetings with the county officials and that Southerland was contacted Thursday.A third supervisor, Pasco's Brian Corley, also said Rubio's initial remarks were inaccurate.Corley said he and his colleagues are "hyper-vigilant" about cyberthreats and are continuously updating their contingency plans."It is my hope that in the future, the senator or his staff would confer with (supervisors) on our actual efforts to address election cybersecurity in lieu of inaccurate assumptions," Corley said.Corley also said Florida's optical scan voting system, which relies on paper ballots, creates a permanent record of every vote and is more reliable than the touch screen terminals used in 23 states.Florida switched from touch screens to optical scan ballots in 2008.As Rubio's tweet noted, the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday produced a six-page summary of initial findings and recommendations in response to efforts by Russian "actors" to attack America's election system in as many as 21 states in 2016.The report called for software updates in voter registration systems; creation of paper backups of voter registration databases; voter education programs to ensure that voters verify their registration status before every election; and intensive security audits of state and local voter rolls by "an outside entity."Florida was not specifically cited in the report.Two county supervisors, Chambless and David Stafford of Escambia County, are the only Florida representatives on a national 27-member panel that is working with the federal government to shore up election systems against cyberthreats.The panel is known as a GCC, shorthand for Government Coordinating Council. Chambless said Homeland Security is serious about working closely with state and local elections administrators to prevent problems.The clash with Rubio comes in advance of the election supervisors' annual summer conference scheduled the week of May 21 in Fort Lauderdale.The conference agenda includes a three-hour forum on Wednesday, May 23, on the subject of cybersecurity resilience, with a speaker from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which last year added election systems to the nation's critical infrastructure.He's Matthew Masterson , who was recently appointed senior cybersecurity adviser at DHS after he was passed over for another term on the federal Elections Assistance Commission.A panel on Thursday is entitled "Cybersecurity and crisis communication  Are you ready?" Russian hackers tried to penetrate the voting systems in at least five Florida counties days before the 2016 election, according to a report by the National Security Agency that was leaked last year.Gov. Rick Scott has announced plans to hire five cybersecurity experts at the Division of Elections and the new budget Scott signed last month has money for counties to buy devices that will help them detect potential threats to their systems.The threat of future disruption "is no longer a matter of if, but when," Chambless said.He noted that a cyberattack on a voting system in Knox County, Tenn., last Tuesday shut down the elections web site for about an hour, according to news reports, but did not affect the integrity of the election.Bug Bounties

Red Flags

Hackers arent always sneaky, black-hat cybercriminals out to steal information and wreak havoc. Sometimes, theyre the good guys  ethical hackers who uncover security flaws to help prevent the bad guys from winning.That community of white-hat hackers is exploding, from tech-savvy high school students who discover bugs on websites to large companies that help businesses and government uncover vulnerabilities within their computer networks.Some states have for several years turned to white-hat companies to see if theyre able to penetrate their systems. Now a handful are also considering edgier bug bounty programs that use networks of hackers and reward those who find hidden security flaws.The cyberthreat is only growing. States are looking at ways to do things creatively, said Jeffrey McLeod, director of the National Governors Associations homeland security division. The goal is to find vulnerabilities before something happens.Some of those vulnerabilities are discovered by those on the outside. Nearly half of state information technology officials reported in 2016 that they sometimes used third parties to try to penetrate their systems ; one third said they did so at least once a year, according to a study by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP.There are reasons more arent using the service: Some states might not have the money, or might be nervous about allowing white-hat companies to try to breach their networks.But states that have been doing it say its a valuable exercise.Its peeling back the onion. Were challenging the company to do what any competent hacker would do to try to break into our systems, said Elayne Starkey, Delawares chief security officer, whose office hires white-hat companies to do penetration testing regularly at a cost of $10,000 to $25,000.They have simulated threats. They have set up phishing scenarios and sent fake emails to employees. One time, they even had a tester put on a uniform and pretend to be a delivery man to see how far he could get inside the data center, Starkey said.The results of these tests allow us to tighten up our defenses and close gaps before the real bad guys find them. How far the fake delivery guy got, she wouldnt say.Missouri also hires white-hat companies. One conducted exercises this year in which hackers pretended to be black hats trying to get into the network any way they could, without the knowledge of state employees. The idea was to test staffers readiness and how they would respond to well-armed bad guys. The state paid about $90,000 for the tests, which lasted several weeks.This gives you a good idea how well your organization can respond to a sophisticated adversary, said Missouris chief information security officer, Michael Roling.Hackers and cybercriminals have become increasingly sophisticated and are constantly scanning state computer networks looking for vulnerabilities. In recent years, they have stepped up attacks on those networks , which contain personal information such as the Social Security, bank account and credit card numbers of millions of people and businesses.In Missouri, Roling said the states firewall each day blocks 95 million unwanted attempts to get into the computer network. That compares with about 100 million to 120 million legitimate connections a day. So far, the state hasnt had a major data breach, but Roling knows that could change at any moment.Thats why he is interested in trying a more nontraditional method of connecting to white-hat hackers: bug bounties. His office is in discussions with multiple bug bounty services to figure out how the procurement process would work; then it will examine the legal implications.With bug bounties, ethical hackers are given rewards, usually money, for finding and reporting undiscovered bugs, which are errors, flaws or faults within computer networks and data systems. Reporting a bug can earn bounty hunters from several hundred to tens of thousands of dollars.Its crowdsourcing hacking, said Dan Lohrmann, chief security officer for Security Mentor, a security training firm based in Monterey, California, that works with states. Youve got a global audience out there. There are people doing this full time, sitting in Norway next to a snow drift, making a living off of it.Some cybercriminals send phishing emails to try to gain access to state networks. Some use hacking tools to crack passwords to try to get administrative privileges, or launch denial-of-service attacks Big tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft have been using bug bounties for several years. The U.S. Department of Defense has used them too, launching Hack the Pentagon and later Hack the Army and Hack the Air Force. The federal programs awarded bounty hunters more than $300,000 in total for discovering vulnerabilities.While some companies contact bug bounty hunters directly, others, including the federal government, go through broker-type businesses such as HackerOne and Bugcrowd, both based in San Francisco. They act as middlemen who turn to a network of hackers they say have been vetted. The companies manage the program, triage the hackers submissions and try to ensure that clients get only verified, well-documented reports. They pay hackers a bounty on behalf of their clients.Bug bounties may be popular in the private sector, but theyre a somewhat controversial concept for states, said McLeod of the national governors group.Youre inviting folks to come and hack your system. That raises red flags for folks, he said. Obviously, optics matter. If they find some big gaps in the system, it doesnt look good for the state.Nonetheless, Delaware hopes to start a bug bounty program later this year, said security chief Starkey. If it does, it apparently would become the first state to do so.To start, the state is creating a disclosure policy and plans to add a link to every Delaware.gov webpage allowing people to click on a button and report a vulnerability. It will set up ground rules for ethical hackers who spot software bugs on public websites and apps but dont know how to report them.The policy will make it clear the state is committed to following up promptly, Starkey said, which is important because hackers can get frustrated if they point out a problem and no one gets back to them. It also will include warnings about what hackers are not allowed to do, such as misuse data or shut down a website. Hackers who report legitimate vulnerabilities may be awarded a certificate of recognition.Once those changes are completed this summer, Starkey said her office will seek approval to hire a bug bounty company. Initially, it would pay management expenses, not bounties, and only offer hackers public recognition. Hiring one of these companies is not the Wild West, she said. Hackers have to be registered and vetted. We know who they are. Theres a lot more structure to it than meets the eye.Doug Robinson, executive director of the state chief information officers group, said states that want to start such programs need to perform lots of due diligence.You need to have a pretty tight contract that deals with potential liability or injury to the state if they turn out not to be white hats, he said. Sometimes these hackers were black hats before. Id be concerned about that.Some cyberexperts caution that states may not be able to deal with all the problems that bug bounty hunters may uncover.You have to have people who can fix the bugs that are found, said Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security, a cybersecurity consulting firm based in Kirkland, Washington.Moussouris, a former white-hat hacker who started Microsofts first bug bounty program and was involved in creating Hack the Pentagon, said states already may be too busy struggling to deal with vulnerabilities they already know about to take on those they dont.But state cyberofficials interested in bug bounties say theyd rather be proactive and do everything they can to prepare for the inevitable.The bad actors are coming after you either way, Roling said. So if we can get the white hats on our side, thats a good thing.On Friday, 10 a.m., May 19, history will be rewound back to 1918 in recognition of a young Pascagoula cavalry man who gave his life in service of his country during WWI.

A Nov. 15 headline in the "Pascagoula Democrat-Star" simply read in all caps: DIES IN FRANCE. That obit described Elmer Joseph Grant as "a most promising young man."

That was just the beginning of the story of the young soldier who was eager to volunteer and serve in the military. He enlisted in the First Mississippi Cavalry organized in Jackson County and later his troop merged with Headquarters Co. 114th Ammunition Train, 39th Division.

Pascagoula's Cpl. Joseph Grant, US. Army, died a casualty of World War I.

A story in the "Gulfport Daily Herald" also on Nov. 15 gave more details under the headline: PASCAGOULA HERO DIES IN FRANCE FROM PNEUMONIA.

It read:

"Corporal Elmer Grant Enlisted Early in War as Calvary-Man. Mr. and Mrs. John Grant received yesterday the news of the death in France of their son, Corporal Elmer Grant on the 21st of October, of pneumonia.

"Corporal Grant was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Grant, and was a member of two of Pascagoula's old and most prominent families, Grant and Krebs, his mother being a grand-daughter of the late Mr. Hillary Krebs, one of the pioneer settlers of Pascagoula. He was a most promising young man.

"On the entrance of the United States into the European war, Corporal Grant and his brother, Sergeant John Grant, volunteered and joined the First Mississippi Cavalry, then organized in Jackson county with headquarters at Pascagoula. Later the troop was sent to Camp Beauregard for training and was merged into the 114th ammunition train, and from there was sent to France.

Corporal Grant was a cousin of W.J. Grant of this city, where he was well known. He had been serving the United States in France for some times and information regarding his death was conveyed to this country through a letter received by relatives as Mr. Grant, together with his brother trained for soldier's life at Jackson and Camp Beauregard and they both made many friends with the Biloxians on the same train."

Family members say he was the first WWI fatality from Pascagoula. Only 19 years old, he left behind his parents, John Oliver Grant (1866-1948) and Lucretia Krebs Grant (1871-1957) and siblings: Delphine Marie Grant Lear (1896-1977), John Oliver Grant (1897-1993), Beulah Irene Grant Senior (1901-1962), Florence Grant Sparkman (1902-1991), Hubert Grant (1904-1991) and Cora Bell Grant McGrath (1907-1998).

New marker honors World War I Pascagoula soldier, namesake of VFW Post 3373.

That was nearly a century ago but will be noted in the present at Greenwood Cemetery in Pascagoula on May 19, 10 a.m., when Elmer Joseph Grant, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3373 located in Pascagoula will honor its namesake. A new marker will be dedicated in the section of the cemetery near the corner of St. Peter Avenue and Buena Vista Street.

Friday's short ceremony will feature VFW and other officials. Speakers will be Post Commander Dave Pettys and Post Auxiliary President Malissia Hearndon. The VFW State Color Guard will present the U.S. flag.

It is documented Grant was buried at Greenwood Cemetery but somewhere around 2009 it was noted his marker had gone missing, probably due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

A photo of Grant hangs in the post 3373, headquarters. Junior Vice Commander of the Post Brad Lewis became curious about Grant's background. He searched the cemetery and could not find a headstone. A headstone was there in 2004 when Julius Redmond, who keeps records of where veterans are buried throughout Jackson County, did a walkthrough.

Redmond aided in the search for information and using divining rods believes the grave is located next to Grant's parents. Post officials filed for medical and military information through the National Archives. Redmond applied for a lost headstone through the Veterans Administration. It arrived and has been placed on what is believed to be Grant's grave.NASA has signed a second space act agreement with Uber Technologies, Inc. (earlier post), further to explore concepts and technologies related to urban air mobility (UAM) to ensure a safe and efficient system for future air transportation in populated areas.

NASA defines UAM as a safe and efficient system for air passenger and cargo transportation within an urban area, inclusive of small package delivery and other urban Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) services, which supports a mix of onboard/ground-piloted and increasingly autonomous operations.





Artists conception of an on-demand air-mobility future in which different aircraftvertical takeoff, traditional takeoff, crewed, uncrewedsafely perform a variety of daily missions in rural to urban environments. Credits: NASA/Advanced Concepts Laboratory

Under this agreement, Uber will share its plans for implementing an urban aviation rideshare network. NASA will use the latest in airspace management computer modeling and simulation to assess the impacts of small aircraftfrom delivery drones to passenger aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilityin crowded environments.

This is NASAs first such agreement specifically focused on modeling and simulation for UAM operations.

At its research facility at the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport, NASA will use the data supplied by Uber to simulate a small passenger-carrying aircraft as it flies through DFW airspace during peak scheduled air traffic. Analysis of these simulations will identify safety issues as these new aircraft take to the air in an already crowded air traffic control system.

The new space act agreement broadening Ubers partnership with NASA is exciting, because it allows us to combine Ubers massive-scale engineering expertise with NASAs decades of subject matter experience across multiple domains that are key to enabling urban air mobility, starting with airspace systems. Jeff Holden, Ubers chief product officer

As small aircraft enter the marketplace, NASA wants to ensure they do so safely, with acceptable levels of noise, and without burdening the current national air traffic control system. To this end, the agency is leveraging ongoing aeronautics research in areas including:

Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) traffic management at low altitude;

UAS integration in the National Airspace System;

All-electric, general aviation class aircraft development;

Vertical take-off and landing aircraft; system-wide safety; and more.

NASA has been working with other agencies, industry and organizations to test technologies that can help drones navigate safely beyond visual-line-of-sight.

These activities will generate the data necessary to support the creation of industry standards, Federal Aviation Administration rules and procedures, and other related regulations. NASA will make the research available to the broader UAM community.OmniTRAX, Inc., one of the largest privately held transportation service companies in North America and an affiliate of The Broe Group, on behalf of its managed and affiliated railroads, is the first short line company to join the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA).

BiTA was founded to engage thought leaders within the transportation and technology industries who have a shared vision of leveraging blockchain technology within the supply chain to develop a standards framework, educate the market and encourage widespread adoption.

It is critical for the short line and regional railroad sector of the transportation industry to have a seat at the table when supply chain technology standards that can enhance performance are discussed. Hubert Gassner, Chief Financial Officer at OmniTRAX

The Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), founded in August 2017, is a forum for promotion, education and encouragement to develop and adopt blockchain applications in the trucking, transportation, and logistics industry.

BiTAs goal is for members to participate, discuss, create and adopt industry standard uses of blockchain applications and to provide clarity and direction for the development of blockchain technology in the trucking industry in a manner that will create efficiency, transparency and foster trust.

OmniTRAXs core capabilities range from providing management services to railroad and port services and to intermodal and industrial switching operations.TUPELO, Miss. - The BancorpSouth Conference Center played host to an evening of dining, laughs, tears and fellowship as five distinguished members from around the state were honored for being "trailblazers" in their respective fields on Saturday.

For Moss Point native Sharon Caples McDougle, Saturday's ceremony was a culmination of telling her story and allowing herself to be praised for her endeavors.

"I truly thought everyone knew my story," she said. "I'm sure excited and humbled. It's been a whirlwind. I wasn't hidden, people just didn't know, and I still can't believe that. I could just kick myself for not saying anything sooner - I just figured everyone knew."

McDougle was awarded the Dr. Cindy Ayers "Legacy" award, along with the Calvin "Buck" Buchanan "First" Award. While she is most famous for being the first African American Space Shuttle Crew Escape suit tech in NASA history, McDougle was sure to let everyone in attendance know that she suited up more astronauts than Dr. Mae Jemison.

She was assigned to her first mission, STS-37 within her first year, along with countless others.

Moss Point native Toni Seawright showed up to support her friend Sharon Caples McDougle as she was honored on Saturday. Seawright was honored at last year's ceremony. (Tyler Carter/tcarter@al.com)

In 1994, McDougle was promoted to the position of Crew Chief making her the first female and first African American Crew Chief in CEE where she was responsible for leading a team of technicians to suit up astronaut crews and ensuring the astronaut crews were provided with outstanding support during suited training, launch, and landing events.

In 1998, United Space Alliance (USA) absorbed the Boeing Aerospace contract and McDougle continued her position as Crew Chief employed by the USA. She traveled to Kennedy Space Center quite often where she worked in support of many space shuttle launches.

As Crew Chief, McDougle had the honor of leading the first and only all-female suit tech crew supporting mission STS-78.

Thus far, she has been featured on Great Day Houston, KHOU11, and various newspapers in the Houston area. While she said she wished she had told her story sooner, McDougle hopes to inspire not only African American boys and girls, but people in general.

She also wants people who do not have a college degree such as herself to know that they can still be successful in life.

"I think people are inspired by my story and things that I went through to get here," she said. "Losing my parents at an early age - I recognized the teachers, educators in attendance tonight because without them, I wouldn't be here today. A lot of people are amazed that I do not have a college degree. Not trying to put down having one, but I want people to know you can be successful without one -- I am living proof."In the midst of celebrating LGBTQ Pride the U.S. Supreme Court rained on our virtual parade by ruling in favor of the Catholic Social Serv...Heads up, hot-sauce collectors.

To mark the anniversary of their companys founding in 1868, the good folks at McIlhenny Co.  the makers of Tabasco  have unveiled a new Diamond Reserve hot sauce thats (supposedly) made from a selection of the finest tabasco peppers on Avery Island, chosen for their superior color, texture and robustness. The peppers are also aged, some for up to fifteen years, and the whole thing is dosed with sparkling-wine vinegar. In other words, its fancy. Its also really expensive, retailing for $35, or about ten times more than standard Tabasco.

But is it any good? Tabasco graciously sent a couple bottles to Grub HQ so our panel of tasters could give it a shot  heres what everyone thought.

It tastes fancy.

The first thing everyone on our tasting panel noticed was a distinct barrel flavor  which was unexpected, but not unappreciated. The problem is that the hot sauce calls too much attention to itself. Its trying to be the main attraction, said one taster, when all hot sauce should really do is make the food its on taste better. It was still, some thought, an improvement on Tabascos traditional red sauce: At least it doesnt taste like rancid vinegar.

The heat lingers.

A few dashes was all it took to notice the effects of this hot sauce, and itd be easy to overdo it. Like traditional Tabasco, the heat is more of a slow tingle than an initial blast, and the effects of the Diamond Reserve sauce were surprisingly long-lasting, and potent.

Photo: Jed Egan

Its good on some things, but not so good on others.

If the purpose of most condiments is to enhance the flavor of the things you put them on, then the Diamond Reserve really misses the mark when it comes to fried chicken. It completely overwhelmed the subtle but soul-affirming taste of the fried chicken. However, as one of our tasters pointed out, it went really well with the red rice and beans we ordered, cutting through the heaviness of the side dish in a rather nice way. So, maybe put this stuff on food thats on the creamier (and not crispy) side. Maybe.

Its too expensive.

Of course, $35 is way too much to pay for everyday hot sauce. (A jar of Crystal is, like, $4.) So the sauces  unique  flavor profile is a benefit, since you wouldnt break this out for every meal of the day. And, as one taster mentioned, the handsome black-and-gold bottle would make a solid addition to any hot-sauce collection. If you can convince someone to pick it up as a gift, youre all set.Dont eat them, the FDAs commissioner warns. Photo: Adam Gault/Getty Images

The CDC says tainted eggs have added a dozen new cases to a monthlong nationwide salmonella outbreak. This brings the total so far to 35 sick people, 11 of whom have been hospitalized, since Indiana-based Rose Acre Farms first announced, on April 13, that it was recalling 207 million eggs. At the time, the producer added that the move was done in an abundance of caution after discovering some sort of contamination at its facility in Hyde County, North Carolina, but this is nevertheless the countrys largest egg recall in nearly a decade.

Knowing whether to toss out your eggs is unfortunately far less simple than checking the fridge for a box labeled Rose Acre Farms. The potentially tainted eggs were distributed between January 11 and April 12 in at least nine states  Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The FDA says that they were sold under Walmart, Publix, and Food Lions store brands, plus a variety of brand names (Coburn Farms, Country Daybreak, Glenview, Nelms, Sunshine Farms, Sunups), and also turned up in a few restaurant chains like Waffle House. When the agencys health inspectors did a site visit in March, they reportedly found over a dozen rodents crawling around, and also saw employees handle dirty equipment and touch their bodies without washing their hands afterward.

Despite the pastoral name, Rose Acre Farms has facilities in seven states and is Americas second-largest egg producer, after its rival Cal-Maine Foods. The egg business is so interconnected that in mid-April, Cal-Maine was forced to issue its own recall for 280,800 eggs because theyd been purchased from Rose Acre Farms and re-packaged as Cal-Maines.

In a statement to the Washington Post, Rose Acre said that its not only corrected deficiencies at the farm but also taken steps to ensure the farm meets or exceeds the standards of the FDA and USDA. Thats good, because this is the second time that Rose Acre has been tied to a huge salmonella outbreak. The last one was in 1990, 28 years ago, that sickened 450 people  and thats two more salmonella outbreaks than your average egg producer has had.

The FDA has of course posted the full list of recalled products and warns that, if it turns out you still have one of the possibly unsafe cartons, you should chuck them in the trash or return them for a refund.U.S. Secretary Betsy DeVoss team is mulling a significant reorganization of the office of elementary and secondary education or OESE, the main K-12 arm of the U.S. Department of Education.

The effort would be part of the Trump administrations overall push to streamline government. The department signaled earlier this year that it would merge the OESE , which oversees programs like Title I grants to help districts serve disadvantaged students, with the office for innovation, which deals with charters, programs for private schools, and more.

As part of that merger, the department is considering a reshuffling of OESE itself. The revamp would be aimed at grouping together employees with similar skills, as opposed to having separate offices focused on particular programs, said Elizabeth Hill, a department spokeswoman. The possible overhaul of the office was first reported by Politico.



Its about working more collaboratively to break down silos, and look at programs more holistically, Hill said in an interview with Education Week. The idea is to give officials a better sense of how programs are playing out on the ground, she added.

That could mean consolidating and reconfiguring the eight smaller offices within the broader OESE, according to a draft plan explaining the changes. Those are: the offices of academic improvement, early learning, Impact Aid, Indian education, migrant education, safe and healthy students, school support and rural programs, and the office of state support.

Instead, the draft reorganization plan calls for grouping together employees with similar job functions into three broader offices, each overseen by a different deputy assistant secretary.

One team would deal with administration, including data management, strategic planning and budgeting, and human resources.

Another would work on grants management, including planning, competition, monitoring and compliance, and technical assistance.

And a third would be in charge of both an effective practices team and a team aimed at building relationships with state officials and grantees. The effective practices team would oversee programs aimed at choice, high-quality schools, improving student achievement, safe and healthy students, and the use of data and evidence collection. It would also include the office of migrant education and the office of Indian education, both of which are mandated by law.

Hill said there would be experts in place on each program, as there are currently. The plan isnt expected to result in staff cuts.

The proposal, which was put together by Jason Botel, the deputy assistant secretary, and others, is in its early stages and could change, Hill said. She also said it was part of phase one of a broader effort to revamp the agency.

Separately, David Esquith, the former head of the office of safe and healthy students, an office that would be affected by the proposed changes, was reassigned. He chose to retire rather than take on a new assignment, a source confirmed. Esquith is a former Peace Corps volunteer, special education teacher, lobbyist for the Association for Retarded Citizens, and congressional aide.

Paul Kesner, an education program specialist, will now be heading up that office. Before coming to the US Department of Education, Kesner worked in the higher education community, taught middle school, and served as a principal. Esquiths retirement was first reported by Politico.

There have been similar leadership changes at other offices within the department under the Trump administration. For instance, Kathleen Styles, the former chief privacy officer, was reassigned in early April. Angela Arrington became the departments interim chief privacy officer my colleague, Ben Herold, reported.

The broader effort to overhaul the department already has its critics in the field. For instance, 18 groups, including the American Federation of Teachers, Californians Together, League of United Latin American Citizens, Migration Policy Institute, National Association for Bilingual Education, TESOL International Association, and UnidosUS, wrote to DeVos earlier this month , asking her not to merge the office of English-language acquisition into the broader OESE, a possibility floated earlier this year.

Photo: Swikar Patel for Education Week

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .



Haiti - Diaspora : Draft law on Haitian nationality, deferred vote





Following the tabling of a draft law on Haitian nationality in August 2016 by the deputy of Petion-ville Jerry Tardieu (VERITE) engaged in the fight for the integration of the Diaspora into the active political life of Haiti, the Lower House Committee "Justice, Public Security and Human Rights" presented last week his report on "the Haitian nationality law proposal" which deals with the inclusive integration of the Haitian diaspora, the naturalization, renunciation and recovery of Haitian nationality.



Jacob Latortue, the Secretary-Rapporteur of the Commission said "Due to the new developments, its conformity with the constitutional text and its comprehensiveness, the Commission recognizes the importance of this proposed law and asks that it be adopted by the Assembly of deputies."



This bill provides that a Haitian who acquires another nationality by naturalization retains Haitian nationality but can not assert his foreign nationality in Haiti while remaining subject to all rights, duties related to his Haitian nationality.



With regard to the loss of nationality, this bill provides that a person of Haitian nationality, residing abroad, who acquires a foreign nationality, loses his Haitian nationality only if he formally resigns to the Ministry of Justice if he resides in Haiti, or in the Haitian Consulate to which his domicile belongs, if he resides abroad insofar as this renunciation does not render the applicant stateless and satisfies the required conditions.



Moreover, the bill provides for the possibility of recovering Haitian nationality after having lost it in accordance with a procedure laid before the public prosecutor's office of the Court of First Instance of his domicile and after analyzing a set of required documents. In case of refusal, the bill provides a legal recourse for the applicant.



However, the Assembly's analysis of this very important law and certain interventions by the opposition did not allow the Assembly to be concluded by a vote and forced Jean Marie Forestal, the President of the Commission, to ask the Bureau for more time for the Commission be able to better analyze this bill and respond to objections.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22775-haiti-politic-constitutional-amendment-the-diaspora-wants-representatives-in-parliament.html



PI/ HaitiLibre

















London's largest Aussie wine selection set to touch down in Soho

By Jo Gilbert

Scarlett Green

4 Noel Street, Soho, London, W1F 8GB

daisygreenfood.com

For a taste of Down Under, look no further than Scarlett Green, Sohos newest bar and restaurant, which is set to boast the largest trove of Aussie wines in the capital.

The launch is the latest from Australian restaurant group Daisy Green and will continue the groups focus on Australian food, culture, art and design when it opens its doors later this month.

Antipodean-inspired food and cocktails form the crux of the menu, with group favourites Giant Chicken Parmigiana and the award-winning Banana Bread Sandwich making a return under the guidance of ex-Coya general manager Francesco Sica.

Visitors will also be able to sample the extensive wine list by the glass, with 24 behind the bar, starting at 6.







President Donald Trump has tapped Scott Stump, who runs Vivayic, Inc., a learning solutions company in Lincoln, Neb., as assistant secretary for career, technical, and adult education at the U.S. Department of Education.

Stump has previously served as the assistant provost for career and technical education with the Colorado Community College System. And in 2014, he was president of the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education consortium, now known as Advance CTE.

Stump is not the first person to get the nod for this position. The White House originally selected Tim Kelly, a Michigan state lawmaker, for the gig. But Kellys nomination was yanked after it surfaced that he was the author of a personal blog that made offensive statements about Muslims, Head Start parents, and federal efforts to recruit women into the sciences.

Such sentiments were not reflective of [Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos] values, an administration official said at the time.

It may be awhile before Stump is confirmed. Trump has been slow to select nominees for key posts at the department . And the Senate has been slow to confirm his picks.

For instance, Mick Zais, who was tapped back in early October, as deputy secretary, still needs Senate sign-off. So does Jim Blew, who was chosen in late September to serve as the assistant secretary of planning, evaluation, and policy analysis; Frank Brogan, who got the nod in December for assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education; and Ken Marcus, who was selected in October as assistant secretary for civil rights.

Photo: Swikar Patel for Education Week

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .A new middle school genetics and genealogy curriculum will be featured in the National Science Foundations STEM for All Video Showcase from May 14 to 21. The showcase will share up to 200 online videos spotlighting federally funded projects that aim to transform the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and math.

The genetics and genealogy curriculum was inspired by the PBS series Finding Your Roots , where celebrities like former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and actress Angela Bassett discover their ancestral histories. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., the shows host, and Nina Jablonski, a professor of anthropology at Penn State University, dreamed up the curriculum, inviting historians, artists, biologists, geneticists, anthropologists, genealogists and educators to weigh in. Their goal is to engage students in science using a more personal approach.

No child will be left behind if we have children trace their family tree, said Gates in a video about the curriculum. Why? Because whats your favorite subject? Your favorite subject is yourself.

The curriculum provides step-by-step directions for DNA extraction and analysis of test results that students can obtain from 23andme.com for a cost of $79.20. By the end, students will describe who they are genetically, genealogically, and intentionally.

Genetic testing services like 23andme.com have become popular among people looking for long-lost relatives or who want to trace their exact lineage. Recently, concerns have come up about privacy and the ethics of using online genealogy websites following news that police detectives used a public ancestry database to track down the Golden State Killer decades after the trail had gone cold. (The genetic service 23andme.com lets users choose to have their DNA sample stored or discarded , but there are some places where that information might remain.)

Test runs of the curriculum were held last summer for children ages 10 to 13 during two-week camps at Penn State, the University of South Carolina, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The kids sought to answer the questions: Who are my ancestors and where do they come from?

Were asking curious kids to ask questions about their own origin, about their own place in their familys genealogy, and their own place in human evolution, Jablonski said. Basically, where do they fit in the universe of humanity?

At the camps, students began by making predictions about their ancestry. Then they explored their genealogy one generation at a time, following a paper trail of their lineage online, in libraries, and through in-person interviews. And when the paper trail ended, genetics carried the investigation into the distant past, even a thousand generations back.

On one day, the students opened the results of their individual DNA tests at the same time (the tests were completed before they arrived at the camp). One boy covered his mouth and let out an Oh! A girl who predicted she would be 20 percent European found out that she had 55.7 percent European blood. Another girl exclaimed Cool! at the news that she was 0.2 percent Korean.

Jablonski said the kids were so excited to learn about their unique genetic information that they were glued to the material.

The abstractions of American history, the endless names and dates and timelines, all of a sudden they have a face and a texture and the face somehow resembles you, Gates said in the video about the curriculum. History becomes a mirror and you can see yourself in it. Thats hard to beat.

You can watch 13 young people at the genetics and genealogy camp at Penn State discover their ancestry in the web series Finding Your Roots: Seedlings here .

Photo: Students in the Finding Your Roots Genetics & Genealogy Camp extract and examine their own DNA before seeing their individual DNA ancestry test results. (WPSU Penn State)(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a registered municipal advisor and its owner with defrauding a south Texas school district in connection with multiple municipal bond offerings.

The SECs order instituting proceedings found that in connection with three municipal bond offerings between January 2013 and December 2014, Mario Hinojosa and his wholly-owned municipal advisor, Barcelona Strategies LLC, misrepresented their municipal advisory experience and failed to disclose conflicts of interests to their client, a local school district in South Texas. While working as a paralegal, Hinojosa set up Barcelona, registered it as an SEC municipal advisor, drafted a marketing brochure about the firm, and circulated the brochure to the school district and other municipalities. The brochure created the misleading impression that Hinojosa and Barcelona had served as a municipal advisor on numerous municipal bond issuances and failed to disclose that Hinojosa had a financial interest in the school districts offerings. By virtue of their misrepresentations and omissions, Barcelona and Hinojosa improperly earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in municipal advisory fees.

Municipal advisors owe a fiduciary duty to their municipal clients, who rely on advisors to make important financial decisions, said Shamoil T. Shipchandler, Director of the SECs Fort Worth Regional Office. Undisclosed conflicts of interest can lead to significant investment losses, and prevent municipal entities from making informed decisions in their selection of municipal advisors. As described in todays order, Barcelona fell well short of its obligations to this school district client.

The SECs order found that Hinojosa and Barcelona engaged in fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative acts and breached their fiduciary duties to municipal clients. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Barcelona and Hinojosa consented to a cease-and-desist order and are jointly and severally liable for paying $362,606 in disgorgement and $19,514 in prejudgment interest. Barcelona was also assessed a civil penalty of $160,000 while Hinojosa was assessed a civil penalty of $20,000. Finally, Hinojosa was barred from association with various regulated entities, including municipal advisors.(Reuters) The founder and two former members of New York investment firm Premium Point Investments LP on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges that they inflated the value of assets held by the firms hedge funds by more than $200 million.

Premium Point founder Anilesh Ahuja, 49, former partner Amin Majidi, 52, and former trader Jeremy Shor, 46, pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan federal court.

To read this article:FOUR Henley Rowing Club junior girls represented Great Britain in the Munich Regatta last weekend.

On Saturday Lottie Orr and Georgie Robinson Ranger raced in the double sculls winning their heat but finished fourth in the final with a difficult crosswind playing havoc with the lane draw.

On Sunday Orr and Robinson Ranger joined up with Rhiannon Morgan of Gloucester RC, and Natasha Strudwick of Marlow RC, in the quad where they finished third in their heat with the first two progressing to the final.

Henleys Mary Wright and Issy Jonsson competed in the coxless four on Saturday with Celia Mathews from Lady Eleanor Holles School and Olivia Caesar from Monkton Coombe School where they finished second in their heat before going on to finish fifth in the final.

In Sundays racing the quad recorded the fastest time across the two heats to take the gold medal in the junior girls coxless fours. The boat was then split into pairs and Jonsson and Wright recorded the fourth fastest time across the two heats.By guest blogger Alex Harwin

The percentage of U.S. K-12 students who are physically punished in schools continues to drop, but nearly 100,000 children were still spanked or paddled in school in 2015-16, and black students are still disproportionately on the receiving end of the practice.

The overall number of students receiving physical discipline represents an 8 percent decline from 2013-14 when under 110,000 students were spanked or paddled. Theres been no real change in the number of schools using physical disciplineabout 4,000, mostly in the rural Southbut the practice seems to be turning up in new states. Twenty-three states identified cases of corporal punishment in 2015-16, up from 21 in 2013-14Minnesota and Wisconsin had schools that used this discipline in the latest collection, even though it is illegal in both states.

Those results are based on an Education Week review of federal civil rights data recently released by the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis of data from the 2015-16 school year updates an earlier Education Week analysis of 2013-14 corporal punishment data . The previous analysis showed that at 4,000 mostly rural schools, the punishment rates for black students were nearly double those for their white peers. With the release of the new 2015-16 civil rights data set, the Education Week Research Center revisited some of the discoveries from the initial report and update them, as well as see if there have been any significant changes year to year.

Using your zip code or a school name, weve built a tool to help you look up your local schools and learn more about incidents of corporal punishment in your area.

The number of students receiving physical discipline in school dropped from 1 out of every 125 students in 2000 to 1 out of every 500 students in 2015-16.

That steady long-term decline seems to be losing steam, however. From 2013-14 to 2015-16, the number of students without disabilities receiving corporal punishment dropped by 11 percent, compared to drops of between 17 percent to 36 percent every other year. (The 8 percent decline cited above includes students in special education.)

And in more than 40 percent of schools that used physical punishment, at least some students were paddled or spanked more than once.

Still A Worrying Pattern in Who Gets Punished

When we did our first look at corporal punishment data, based on 2013-14 data, the punishment rates for black students were nearly double those for their white peers.

In the latest analysis, black students are still more likely to be paddled than their white classmates. Black students still make up 22 percent of overall enrollment in schools using corporal punishment, but they receive 38 percent of the physical punishments meted out in those schools. White students meanwhile made up nearly 60 percent of total enrollment in the schools that use corporal punishment, but those students were only involved in less than half of incidents of physical punishment.

Most States Not Using Corporal Punishment

As in years past, schools in the majority of states dont use corporal punishment. Mississippi had most episodes of physical punishment of K-12 students, followed by Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

For the first time, the federal data collection also released separate data on schools that physically punished preschoolers. As Education Week highlighted last week, the majority of incidents of corporal punishment of 3- to 5-year-olds occurred in Oklahoma and Texas .

Additionally, there were a handful of anomalous documented cases of corporal punishment in states where the practice is banned, including California, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin.

You can look at how corporal punishment affected one student, below:

Related:

Want more research news? Get the latest studies and join the conversation.By guest blogger Sasha Jones

Statistically speaking, its no secret that students of color often have less access to high-level academic courses than do their peers in majority-white schools. But the full extent of some of those disparities is vividly sketched out in a new report by the Journey for Justice Alliance.

The report, released this week to mark the 64th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, compares course offerings in high schools serving a majority of black or brown students with the curricular choices in schools enrolling majority-white students within the same district or in nearby suburbs. The analysis found that in each of the 12 school pairings, the majority-white schools offered more academic and cultural enrichment opportunities.

Dont rationalize, dont explain it away, dont make excuses for inequity, Journey for Justice Alliance Director Jitu Brown said. Dont make excuses for one child having opportunity, and another child being denied that opportunity.

In one comparison, at Manual High School in Denver, a school where students of color account for 96 percent of enrollment, students were offered seven AP courses, Spanish as a foreign language, and five arts classes. At nearby Cherry Creek High School, a majority-white school in Greenwood Village, students were offered 27 AP courses; five foreign languages, including Chinese, Latin, and German; and over 20 arts classes.

Of those arts classes, many involved expensive equipment and studios, such as ceramics, jewelry/metal working, and video production.

The study also found that while most schools included in the study offer some sort of visual art and music classes, 92 percent of the affluent schools included also offer drama or theater, while only 53 percent of under-resourced schools do the same.

In Newark, we suffer from kids committing suicide. We dont have social and emotional support for our students. We dont have resources in our classrooms, said Yolanda Johnson, a founder of Parents Educating Parents, Inc. and a parent in Newark, N.J., We deserve classes where we can compete on an international level. We deserve the resources like our peers have. As parents, we deserve a seat at the table.

While the report, Failing Brown v. Board, focuses on selected pairs of schools, newly updated data released in recent weeks shows that such inequities go far beyond the schools profiled in the Justice Alliance report.

The data from the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights showed that while black students made up 16 percent of high school enrollment in 2015-16, they accounted for only 12 percent of physics enrollment and 8 percent of calculus enrollment. Similarly, Latino students made up 24 percent of high school enrollment, but 19 percent of students in advanced mathematics. The civil rights data collection includes 50.6 million students in 99 percent of public K-12 schools.

Similarly, separate research from the National Center for Education Statistics found that 65 percent of wealthy students have access to theater instruction compared to 41 percent of impoverished students. The 2008-2009 statistics show that visual arts instruction is offered by 96 percent of schools with low poverty levels, compared to 80 percent of high poverty schools.

This is about institutional racism, National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia said. The way you fund those schools, what you give those schools, the expectations you have for those students. The only way to fight institutional racism is with intentional justice.

As part of their #WeChoose Campaign, Journey for Justice has conducted 34 town hall meetings nationwide. In partnership with other educational advocacy organizations, Journey for Justice plans to continue holding meetings, working with legislators on the state and local level, and conduct a follow-up study examining 30 more cities, disparities that may exist, and how student discipline is administered.

Photo above: Journey for Justice Alliance National Director Jitu Brown, center, and National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, left, promote findings from the new report in Washington on Monday.

Photo by Sasha Jones.The public has until just before midnight ET May 14 to submit comments on whether the U.S. Department of Education should delay, by at least two years, a rule that states would have to apply when evaluating their school districts for racial bias in special education and enrollment.

Without Education Department action, the rule, which was approved in 2016 during the last months of the Obama administration, will go into effect for the 2018-19 school year.

Some background: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires states to monitor whether districts are identifying minority students for special education out of proportion to their peers. States must also monitor to see if minority students are disproportionately subjected to expulsion or suspension, or placed in restrictive classroom settings.

Districts found to have problems must set aside 15 percent of their federal special education dollars to spend on remedies.

Until creation of this new rule, it was up to states to determine what met the threshold of what the law calls significant disproportionality. And only a tiny fraction of districts have ever been identified as having problems severe enough to merit use of the 15 percent set-aside. (About 3 percent of districts were identified in the 2015-16 school year .)

The new rule requires states to use a standardized approach in measuring significant disproportionality. The result will likely be that more districts would be identified with problems requiring remedies.

Under the leadership of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the Education Department says it wants to put the rule on hold. But the department must seek public comment before making a decision.

More than 200 comments have been submitted. My very rough count suggests that the majority of commenters (more than 80 percent) are against any delay of the rule. They want it to move forward as planned.

Opponents of a Delay Cite Fairness and Potential Confusion

Heres a few examples of those commenters opposing a delay:

 From Tony Evers, the Wisconsin state schools chief:



After reviewing the current status of our implementation efforts, we do not feel a delay is necessary or in the best interest of students with special needs. We have held numerous meetings with stakeholders over the last year to address implementation and are prepared to move forward with the rules currently in effect. By proposing this delay, the USDE is causing confusion in the field over how disproportionality will be identified. It is sending the wrong message about the value of identifying and addressing the problems we find. It is taking us backwards instead of forwards on an important civil rights issue ingrained in IDEA.

 From the Council of State Adminstrators of Special Education:

With its members' unique responsibility for carrying out federal special education regulations, CASE has weighed carefully the arguments for and against delayed implementation. We strongly support addressing the issue of significant disproportionality, with special education eligibility as one factor. However, we also recognize this is a much larger systemic education issue that cannot be resolved solely through these regulations. That said, we are aware several states have made significant progress toward implementing these rules, with the original deadline close at hand. We do not want states that have followed the timetable to be penalized, while those that did not plan for the deadline are allowed greater flexibility than those that did. In addition, we believe delay may cause greater confusion in the field and continued wide variability in practice, exactly what these regulations are designed to avoid.

Supporters of Delay Concerned About Unintended Consequences

Some comments in support of a delay:

 From Gloria Roach, the director of special education for the 9,500-student Channelview district in suburban Houston:

Please consider delay of implementation of regulations regarding significant disproportionality. As a special education director, I am concerned that any regulation that addresses over-representation of historically under-served ethnic groups will result in a nationwide reduction in the number of minority students who are identified and served under special education. In Texas the [U.S. Department of Education] found that the efforts of local school districts to comply with the 8.5 percent identification target led to issues regarding the evaluation and level of service to students with disabilities. While the intent of the regulation regarding disproportionality is different, the results may be similar and unfortunate.

 From the Council of the Great City Schools:

The Council reemphasizes our concern with the critical and longstanding national problem of overidentification of students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds for special education services and for disciplinary action. The Council has undertaken a variety of initiatives among member districts to address these ongoing issues. But, the depth and breadth of this nationwide problem does not justify an inadequate and ambiguous regulatory response from the U.S. Department of Education as promulgated in late December 2016.

Weighing concerns

Several commenters who supported a delay also referred to research that states that underidentification of minorities in special education is the real problem, not overidentification . Others said that the departments actions amounted to an illegal quota on how many students of a certain race could be disciplined.

Whether the rule is put on hold or not, however, states will still be required to monitor their districts for significant disproportionality. Districts found to have problems will still have to set aside a portion of their special education dollars to address them. Thats written into the law; the new rule changes the process of monitoring, but not the requirement that it be done.

The decision will not likely come down to whether one side or another is in the majority. The department has said in its request for comment that it is responding to concerns that states are the entities best able to evaluate issues of racial bias. And it has concerns that a standard rule may run counter to the foundation of special education, which is that each child should receive the services he or she needs.

A two-year delay, the department says, will give it a chance to weigh all of these issues and come up with a better plan.Can teacher-preparation programs be ranked by effectiveness? Not if the rankings are based on student test scores, according to a new analysis .

Rankings of teacher-prep programs, when they are based on the test scores of the graduates students, are so prone to error that they may as well have been assigned at random. Thats what researchers discovered when they reviewed the evaluations of teacher-prep programs in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Washington state, and New York City.

Where a program falls in a given years rankings, and whether it moves up or down from one year to the next, is typically more a matter of luck than of quality, write the researchers Paul T. von Hippel and Laura Bellows. Hippel is an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and Bellows is a doctoral student in public policy at Duke University.



The differences between programs in each of the six states, according to their analysis, were too small to matter. So students with teachers from a good (as opposed to an average) teacher-prep program might see a boost in their test scores of 1 percentile point or less. This was true even for programs in Louisiana and New York City, where earlier reports had claimed considerable differences. It was those reports that sparked the recent drive to hold teacher-prep programs accountable for the quality of their graduates, Hippel and Bellows say.

Their analysis did turn up some exceptions. Up to two programs per state graduate teachers whose impact on student test scores is significantly better than average. Teach For America and UTeach are examples, yet the researchers point out that their effects are moderate in size and limited to math and science. Further, the results were gleaned not from state report cards but from evaluations focused specifically on Teach for America and UTeach programs.

You may remember that in October 2016 the U.S. Department of Education released rules requiring states to rate teacher-preparation programs every year using several criteria, such as their graduates impact on student test scores. President Donald Trump signed a bill scrapping the rules the following year.

In spite of Trumps bill, states still have policies that require teacher-prep report cards. As Hippel and Bellows report, Louisiana has been rating its programs for more than a decade. In 2010, 11 states and the District of Columbia won funding through Race to the Top to develop report cards. And some 21 states and the District of Columbia share data connecting teachers student outcomes to their prep programs.

So how should states rate the quality of their teacher-prep programs? The researchers say states should avoid relying on reports by principals or supervisors doing teacher observations, as these reports are often biased. Teachers own ratings of their prep programs would also likely prove biased, though they might be useful to the programs themselves.

Hippel and Bellows instead suggest that states track how successful teacher-prep programs are at keeping their graduates in the profession, especially at high-needs schools. This can be done by checking program rosters against employment records.

If a large percentage of a programs graduates are not becoming teachers, or not persisting as teachers, that is clearly a concern, the authors write. Likewise, if a large percentage of graduates are persisting, especially at high-need schools, that is a sign of success.

See also:Posted Monday, May 14, 2018 3:45 am

Its mucho, magnifico May, and Newsbees flying high about his theme for this month, One World Many Stories.

As you Page On youll learn about children from different countries, their cultures and customs, and realize we share heartfelt commonalities that draw us close, despite our far-flung roots.

  

Imagine being Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose Pura Candela and having to write your name on school papers. Thats tedious and time consuming for the captivating child in Alma, and How She Got Her Name, by Juana Martinez-Neal.

One day, Alma complains to her dad that her name is too long, and it doesnt fit, so he turns to the family photograph album to show his daughter how her name came about. Almas dad introduces her to each of the relatives she has been named after, starting with her grandmother, Sofia, who her father said loved books, poetry, jasmine, flowers, and, of course, me.

With the pronouncement of Almas namesakes, each with endearing qualities, Alma begins to realize how many of the same traits she shares with her long-ago loved ones. This book will touch you with its sweet story and adorably rendered illustrations that spell love on each page.

  

Crack open Islandborn by Junot Diaz, and youll hear steel drums as bright, color-splashed illustrations by Leo Espinosa spill forth, as if from a paintbox. This richly told story is about Lola, a girl who attends a city school full of multicultural children  their families from locales with jungles, pyramids and deserts. The students know a lot about their countries of origin  but not Lola. She only knows her family is from an island, one they left prior to her birth.

That complicates an assignment her teacher gives the class: draw a picture of where their families were originally from. Lola is stymied. She has no idea about hers, so her teacher suggests she interview family members and friends.

Getting information is easy, Lola discovers because her neighborhood is a hotbed full of island folks who can fill her in on life back where the palm trees sway and dolphins play in warm coastal waters.

Lolas assignment not only provides her with information, it also makes her realize how much she has to be proud of  what a rich heritage she has because Lola is the daughter of heroes.

  

Youll meet an admirable character of great courage in The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani. Her name is Nisha, a 12-year-old twin living in India with her brother, father, grandmother and beloved cook.

Nisha, a quiet child, misses the mother shes never known, one who died before Nisha and her twin, Amil, ever got the chance to know her. Despite their loss, the children have a relatively good life until 1947 when Britain grants India its freedom, and the nation splits into two nations, India and Pakistan.

Soon violence erupts and Nishas family must flee from what is now Pakistan, with hundreds of thousands of others because of violence caused by religious differences between Hindus and Muslims, people who once lived together peacefully.

In letters to her mother, Nisha relates her personal story in a book loosely based on the authors familys experiences as refugees who were forced to relocate, just like Nisha. The Night Diary will increase the readers understanding of a tumultuous time in Indias history using the voice of a girl with grit and great heart.

Reprinted with permission, Missourian Publishing Company.  2018.After corporate ranching came to Texas.

In the spring of 1883, a group of cowboys walked off the job in Oldham County, in northwest Texas by the New Mexico line. The strike came about because Gilded Age business practices were moving West, overturning the traditional close relationship between ranch owner and ranch hand. By the 1880s, ranching had become a large and lucrative business, attracting investors from the East and from Europe. Absentee owners operated through hired managers, visiting their holdings infrequently, if at all. They knew little about the cowboy and cared even less.

The typical cowboy was accustomed to working pretty much on his own terms for a ranch owner or manager with whom he was in more or less daily contact. If the cowboy had ambitions of starting his own spread, he might take part of his pay in calves, brand mavericks and run his own cattle and horses with those of the ranch. With corporate ranching, however, he became merely an employee, almost a servant in the view of outside investors. He was forbidden to keep his own brand and this, by extension, ended the practice of mavericking. Likewise, he was not allowed to run his own horses or cattle on the ranch. Although beef prices were on the rise, the cowboys did not share in the prosperity.

Wages for cowboys were generally frozen in place, from $30 to $40 a month for an ordinary hand, $45 for a top hand and up to $125 a month for a wagon boss. The work week often exceeded 100 hours. Fences now contained the herds, eliminating the need for full-time crews. Most employment became seasonal, with extra hands hired during peak work periods and discharged during slack times.

The new style of ranching was formalized in Texas in 1881, by the establishment of the Panhandle Cattlemens Association, an organization that included only the owners and managers. The fact that the cowboys were not represented only widened the gulf between them and their employers. Faced with a united front in management, the cowboys also began to solidify. The traditional loyalty between hand and rancher was ruptured.

Perhaps the most highhandedor at least the most visibleof the big ranchers was W.M.D. Lee of Leavenworth, Kan., who had bought out small owners, forced them off the land and reportedly burned their improvements. Together with Lucien Scott, he controlled the 80,000-acre Lee-Scott Cattle Company, popularly known as the LS. Lee believed the best way to maximize profits was to drive yearlings and 2-year-old cattle from Texas to Montana Territory, where they would fatten up for shipment to Midwestern markets. Accordingly, he decided to organize a spring drive to free range on the Yellowstone River of Montana.

The first inkling of trouble came in the Oldham County sheriffs election in 1882. The cowboys banded together to support Jim East against Cape Willingham. Both men had good records in handling local badmen, and Willingham had no particular ties with the big ranchers. Nevertheless, the cowboys believed that East, who had once worked as a hand, would be more sympathetic to their plight. East scored a narrow victory, and the area cowboys began to see hope in solidarity.

Throughout the winter of 1882-83, the situation simmered. Then, on March 10, 1883, agents from the ranches met at Tascosa, 35 miles from LS headquarters and the only town of any consequence, and agreed to implement Lees plan of a drive to Montana Territory. Two crews, from La Junta, New Mexico Territory, and Adobe Walls, Texas, would move mixed herds to Cheyenne Creek on the LS range, which would be the starting point of what promised to be a grueling drive north in May.

The ranchers had reckoned without the hands, and particularly without the wagon bosses, who ran mobile outfits or wagons that followed drift cattle and herded them back to the home ranges. Tom Harris was wagon boss for the LS, J.W. Watty Peacock for the LIT and Roy Griffin for the LX. Faced with a long drive to Montana Territory, they gathered together their crews and drew up an ultimatum, signed by the three wagon bosses and 21 cowboys of the Canadian River, and sent to all the ranch managers. It demanded a minimum wage of $50 per month for hands and good cooks, and $75 a month for anyone running an outfit. The managers were given until March 31 to comply.

Of the group, Harris had the most to lose. The LS already paid him $100 a month, $25 more than the ultimatum demanded for wagon bosses. Virtually all the 24 men who signed the ultimatum had permanent rather than seasonal positions with the ranches.

Nevertheless, they formed a loose association with Harris as chairman, and established a small strike fund. In Tascosa, the merchants offered to assist any cowboy who ran short of money. Then, the strikers set about trying to convince other area cowboys to join the cause. Ultimately, five ranchesthe LS, LX, LIT, T-Ancho and LE were affected.

Informed of the strike, Lee rushed down from Kansas and found there was no unified response from the ranches. He urged the others to accede to the wage demands and get the hands back to work in time for the upcoming roundup. Once the roundup was over, Lee contended, the strikers could be singled out and fired, and replaced with hands hired at the old rate.

The next morning, Lee tried to negotiate with Harris. When he held firm, Lee fired him, along with every other LS hand involved in the strike. The LIT offered a lower rate than demanded, and when the hands refused, they also were fired. The management of the LE and T-Anchor summarily discharged all cowboys involved in the strike. With time on their hands and money in their pockets, they drifted into Tascosa, where the businessmen were willing to help them pass their time and spend their moneyat least until their funds and credit were exhausted.

Within two months, it became obvious the strike was failing. The striking cowboys had spe

nt all their money in Tascosa, and found their erstwhile friends in town less than sympathetic. At first, most of the ranchers were accommodating; even the intractable TAnchor gave in and offered new hands $50 a month. Once the roundup was finished, however, wages were cut to prestrike levels. The Panhandle Cattlemens Association then complied a list of troublesome cowboys, who were discharged and blacklisted.

The strike failed in part because the ranchers presented a more or less united front, whereas the individualism of the cowboys prevented them from doing likewise. Many of the hands remained loyal to their employers, and the practice of firing the strikers was enough to intimidate others. Fencing had created a surplus of unemployed cowboys, and once the roundup was finished, the ranchers could easily afford to discharge any who had given them trouble. Indeed the LS imported virtually an entire new work force from outside Texas, and promoted key loyal employees to the position of wagon boss.

Corporate ranching was here to stay. The power of the ranchers was established to such a degree that in 1888, the consortium-owned XIT could implement a set of General Rules that governed virtually every aspect of a cowboys work and life. The Gilded Age had arrived in the West.

Originally published in the June 2008 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.Could not establish database connection.

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The administrator has been notified and will resolve the problem ASAP.In 1968 one of the U.S. Navys nuclear submarines went missing in the Atlantic. Now, 50 years later, the full story of its disappearance can finally be told.

RADIOMEN 2ND CLASS MIKE HANNON WALKED TO WORK WITH A PALPABLE SENSE OF UNEASE on the morning of May 23, 1968. As a communications specialist at Submarine Force Atlantic Headquarters, he was responsible for processing dozens of messages each day from submarines at sea, ranging from routine announcements to top-secret operational dispatches. But hours earlier, when his eight-hour shift had ended at midnight, Hannon feared that one of the submarines on his watch might be in troubleor worse.

The Norfolk-based USS Scorpion, one of the Atlantic Fleets 19 nuclear attack submarines, had been scheduled to transmit a four-word Check Reportencrypted to prevent the Soviets from intercepting itthat meant, in essence, Situation normal, proceeding as planned. In this instance, the Skipjack-class submarine was returning to Norfolk after a three-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. Its standing orders called for a burst transmission every 24 hours that, when decrypted, read: Check 24. Submarine Scorpion. But the previous day no message had come clattering out of the secure teletypewriter that Hannon used. As he prepared to leave for the night, Hannon had briefed Radioman 2nd Class Ken Larbes, the petty officer coming on duty, about the overdue message. He then tapped on his supervisors office door and asked whether any late word had come in from the Scorpion. Warrant Officer John A. Walker Jr. silently shook his head no. Was this the first hint of an emergency, Hannon wondered, or merely a delayed transmission caused by mechanical problems or stormy weather conditions?

Assigned to the message center at Submarine Force Atlantic (COMSUBLANT) headquarters in Norfolk, Hannon and a handful of other young sailors were responsible for processing all incoming and outgoing messages for submarines then operating with the Atlantic Fleet. They worked in a large room full of top-secret encryption machines that took clear-text messages, scrambled them into impenetrable gibberish, and then dispatched the blocks of seemingly random text in Morse code via high-frequency radio to submarines at sea. The radiomen reversed the process for incoming messages, taking encrypted transmissions from the submarines and breaking them back into clear text by using the same encryption gear. All messages, incoming or outgoing, were routed through my desk, Hannon recalled years later. Nothing came in or went out that didnt go through that desk.

During the five-minute walk from his barracks to the COMSUBLANT message center that Thursday, May 23, Hannon was unsure what he would find. As usual, he thought about the abrupt change in atmosphere he and his coworkers encountered each time they went on duty. Walking up to the unassuming brick building, they would show their ID cards to the armed marine guards, then step up to the door at the ground-floor entrance to punch in the code to release the cipher lock. Inside, they would take the stairway up to the second-floor message center. Manned around-the-clock seven days a week, Hannons workspace was the solitary link between the three-star admiral commanding the Submarine Force Atlantic and the scores of nuclear- and diesel-electric-powered submarines that, on any given day, were engaged in operations ranging from routine training to top-secret reconnaissance missions at the edge ofand often insideSoviet territorial waters.

Six to eight junior officers and radiomen typically tended various encryption machines under the supervision of a warrant officer ensconced in an office separated from the main work area by glass windows. On one wall, a large board tracked the current operational status of each of the 104 submarines assigned to Submarine Force Atlantic.

Despite the hushed ambiance, the message center was the nerve center of the U.S. Navys submarine operations during the Cold War. These regular radiomen were privy to a lot of highly classified information that passed through their hands, Harold Meeker, who was second in command at the message center, recalled. They were all cleared for top secret. Yet some messages were so sensitive that not even Hannon or his coworkers were allowed to process them. In one corner of the room stood a pair of encryption machines with a thick curtain that could be pulled for total privacy. Only three menMeeker; Lieutenant John Rogers, the director of the message center; or his boss, Commander Charles H. Garrison Jr.were authorized to process the orders to, say, an attack submarine shadowing a Soviet missile submarine or conducting surveillance on a Soviet naval exercise.

As he approached the marine guards, Hannon was still replaying in his head what he had told Ken Larbes the night before. She was on a 24-hour Check Report, Hannon recalled, but both petty officers thought there must be an innocuous reason for the silence. It was no big deal because boats were always late for any number of legitimate reasons ranging from equipment malfunctions to the radioman just forgot,  Hannon said. Still, the two radiomen were aware of a top-secret situation involving the Scorpion that suggested potential danger. The submarine had originally been scheduled to sail straight home from the Mediterranean to Norfolk, but on Friday, May 17, it had been ordered more than 1,000 miles southwest, down toward the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. A group of Soviet navy warships, including at least one nuclear submarine, were operating in the area, and the U.S. Navy wanted to check them out.

At the gate that Thursday morning, Hannon flashed his ID to the marine on duty, punched in the cipher lock code, opened the security door, and bounded up the stairs. Opening the door to the message center, he froze in his tracks. Instead of the normal half-dozen radiomen quietly at work, a large group of senior officersincluding several admirals and a Marine Corps generalhad taken over the workspace and were talking among themselves in hushed voices. Hannon had never seen any of them before.

Hannon instantly knew that something was seriously wrong. And when he looked past the high-ranking interlopers and saw the expression on his friends face, Hannon knew that something terrible had happened to the Scorpion.

Years later Larbes would describe how his overnight watch in the message center had begun at midnight in relative calm but had steadily become intense as more and more senior officers arrived on the scene. I had never seen a captain or an admiral come into that place in the two and one-half years I worked there, he told me in an interview for this story. Now we had captains and admirals running around wanting more information [about the Scorpion]. It was so crazythey suspended all of the saluting and all that.

Within minutes of his arrival that morning, Hannon overheard conversations among the high-ranking strangers that made it clear that the Scorpion had disappeared and that its crew of 99 officers and enlisted men were dead. Hannon, Larbes, and the rest of the radiomen didnt realize at the time that they were witnessing the beginning of one of the greatest cover-ups in U.S. naval history: the burial of the truth of what had happened to the Scorpion.

THE U.S. NAVYS SUPPRESSION OF THE FACTS SURROUNDING THE LOSS OF the Scorpion began in earnest five days after it disappeared, when the submarine failed to arrive in port as scheduled. The official narrativeas told in navy reports, news releases, and the transcript of a formal Court of Inquiryis straightforward. A routine homecoming from sea suddenly escalated into a major crisis as the seven-year-old submarine inexplicably failed to appear at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 27. The story of the missing submarine soon made the front pages of newspapers across the country.

According to the official account, the incident began unfolding in the morning hours of May 27. Officials at Submarine Squadron 6 in Norfolk were expecting the Scorpion to surface off the Virginia Capes in late morning and establish ship-to-shore radio contact before entering port. The squadron staff had already arranged for a harbor tug to stand by and had mustered a working party of line handlers to tie the submarine to the pier on its arrival. Despite a fierce noreaster that was lashing southeastern Virginia that morning, several dozen family members were huddled under umbrellas at the foot of Pier 22 with banners and balloons to welcome their men home from sea. Officials had announced the arrival time three days earlier. Theresa Bishop, the wife of Torpedoman Chief Walter W. Bishop, the Scorpions Chief of the Boat, waited out of the rain with several friends in a car in the parking lot at the foot of the pier. She had left their three children at a friends house because of the storm. Nearby was Barbara Foli, the wife of Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Vernon Foli. This had been the first overseas deployment for the young family. Barbara was so eager for a reunion with her husband and their infant daughter, Holli, that she had come out despite the storm. It was a very cold, very dreary morning, she recalled years later. The wind was sucking the umbrellas away.

At the Submarine Squadron 6 office aboard the submarine tender USS Orion, no one yet suspected anything was wrong. Captain James C. Bellah, commander of the support vessel, was acting squadron commander while its skipper, Captain Jared E. Clarke III, was out of town on personal leave. In late morning, Bellah stopped by the squadron office to ask if the Scorpion had broken radio silence. We havent heard anything from them, a sailor replied. Bellah left to return to his own office elsewhere on the Orion. Years later, he would describe how the mood shifted from no concern to stark worry in a matter of several hours. Up until 11 a.m., we werent that concerned, he said. We didnt know there was a problem; we got no indication there was a problem with that submarine at all.

But when the 1 p.m. arrival time came and went without a sign of the Scorpion, senior officials across the sprawling naval complex started to grow worried. Informal alerts began going out to various unit headquarters. At the Atlantic Fleets Anti-Submarine Warfare Force Command, the telephone rang at 2:15 p.m., and the duty officer received jolting news: Submarine Force Atlantic headquarters was requesting that the aviation command immediately launch long-range patrol aircraft from Norfolk and Bermuda to search for any sign of the Scorpion along its expected course in the western Atlantic. An hour later Submarine Force Atlantic headquarters formally declared Event SUBMISS (submarine missing) and, further, ordered all units in port [to] prepare to get underway on one hours notice.

By nightfall, most of the waiting families had gone home, still unaware of the emergency. Theyd been told only that the submarine had not yet broken radio silence to signal its approach to port and that bad weather was the most likely reason. None of them knew that the Atlantic Fleet was scrambling to sea to hunt for the submarine.

Then, shortly after 6 p.m., WTAR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Norfolk, citing anonymous navy sources, reported that the Scorpion was missing.

WHILE THE SUBMARINE WAS NEARING THE END OF ITS MEDITERRANEAN DEPLOYMENT, Sonar Technician 1st Class Bill Elrod, a crewman on the Scorpion since 1964, had received devastating news: his wife, Julianne, had gone into labor on May 16, but the baby had died at birth. Commander Francis A. Slattery had diverted Scorpion to the harbor at Rota, Spain, where Elrod and another crewman transferred to a tug and proceeded ashore to fly back to Norfolk. On Monday, May 27, Elrod had reported aboard the Orion and volunteered to help with his submarines pending arrival. In the late afternoon, with no word as to its status, Elrod returned home to their apartment in Norfolk, where Julianne was waiting for him. At 6 p.m. Elrod turned on the TV to the local news and heard the bulletin about the Scorpion. It was over, he later recalled saying to himself. They never, never announced anything like that. When they announced it on television, I knew the boat was gone.

Several miles away, Theresa Bishop was preparing dinner for her three children when her eight-year-old son walked into the kitchen and said, Theres something on TV about the Scorpion missing. I went totally numb, Theresa later recalled. Nobody said anything. We just sat around waiting for the telephone to ring. Friends and neighbors began arriving at the Bishop home for the first of many long nights of watching and waiting. At one point later in the evening, Theresa Bishop stepped out to listen to the storm that still raged overhead but then heard something else. From the naval station piers five miles away came a muted chorus of sirens, foghorns, and klaxon alarms as several dozen Atlantic Fleet ships began putting to sea to search for her husbands missing submarine.

Unlike many of his fellow radiomen at the Atlantic Submarine Force message center, Hannon had actually served aboard a submarine, earning his prize Dolphins insignia in the one-of-a-kind nuclear sub USS Triton before his assignment ashore. Because of their familiarity with submarine operations and customs, Hannon and his boss, Warrant Officer John Walker, another submariner, were given the responsibility of handling a number of communications activities related to the submarines disappearance, particularly the massive search effort. I encoded and decoded messages sent to higher command and to several ships and subs in approximate proximity to Scorpions last known position, Hannon later recalled. However, there were [also] messages sent up the ladder seeking guidance on how to handle the event relative to the press. From that vantage point, Hannon watched in growing dismay and anger as the navy buried the truth of what had happened to the Scorpion. He was particularly upset to learn that on Friday, May 24, COMSUBLANT officialsknowing full well the Scorpion was already lost with all handshad announced that it would be arriving at 1 p.m. the following Monday, and worse, had said nothing three days later to dissuade several dozen family members from standing vigil for hours in the raging noreaster.

By Tuesday morning, May 28, the story of the missing submarine led the front pages of newspapers all over the country. The previous evening, in an impromptu news conference at the Pentagon, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Thomas H. Moorer had offered a slender reed of hope to the families of the crew. The weather is very, very bad out there, Moorer told reporters. But the weather may abate, the ship may well have been held back [by the storm], and she could proceed into port.

This was another lie. Moorer, too, knew that the Scorpion had in fact sunk five days earlier, on May 22less than eight hours before the panicked group of senior officers began cramming into the COMSUBLANT message center. For the next week, dozens of Atlantic Fleet ships and patrol aircraft scoured the open ocean. After several days, the search effort shrank to five destroyers, five submarines, and a fleet oiler proceeding in two groups down the Scorpions course track from its last known location southwest of the Azores toward Norfolk. The two groups, positioned 12 hours apart for maximum surveillance, steamed in a line abreast measuring 48 miles wide as their lookouts peered intently through binoculars and their radar operators stared at their scopes for any sign of the missing submarine. They found nothing.

HANNONS NEXT SHOCK CAME TWO WEEKS AFTER THAT LATE EVENING when he had told Ken Larbes about the submarines missed Check Report. Picking up the Virginian-Pilot newspaper on the morning of Thursday, June 6, Hannon read that the three-star admiral commanding the Submarine Force Atlantic had, the day before, testified under oath as the leading witness before a formal Court of Inquiry into the Scorpions disappearance. The admirals account flatly contradicted what Hannon and his fellow radiomen had seen and heard. Rather than describing the overdue Check Report and the crowd of senior naval officers who had clogged the message center the next morning, Vice Admiral Arnold F. Schades sworn statement made no mention of any of the events in the five days before May 27. As Schade described it, the emergency had not begun until that rain-swept Monday afternoon when the Scorpion failed to arrive back in Norfolk on schedule.

No members of the Court of Inquiry challenged the three-star admirals testimony. Schade, 56, was a revered figure in the Submarine Servicea combat veteran of 11 submarine patrols against the Japanese in World War II and the recipient of a Navy Cross for extraordinary courage in combat. He was the perfect lead witness before the seven-member panel. It was Schade who had selected the Scorpion for the Mediterranean as a last-minute replacement for the USS Seawolf, the navys second-oldest nuclear submarine, which had suffered serious damage in an underwater grounding off the coast of Maine on January 30, 1968. His intelligence section provided Commander Slattery with vital information to carry out the Scorpions various missions. Schades operations staff controlled the submarines every movement before and after its three-month deployment with the Sixth Fleet, including the last-minute assignment to spy on Soviet warships off the Canary Islands. If anyone could unlock the mystery of the Scorpions disappearance, it was Arnie Schade.

After offering a lengthy review of the search for the Scorpion and a summary of its Mediterranean deployment, Schade revealed that COMSUBLANT had dispatched unspecified exercise instructions to Slattery once the submarine had entered the Atlantic, including a directive to report its position on or about Tuesday, May 21. The final message received from Scorpion dated 2354Z (7:54 p.m. EDT) on May 21, Schade said, gave her position at 0001Z [8:01 p.m.] and reported that she would arrive in Norfolk [at] 271700Z [1 p.m. on Monday, May 27]. After further discussion about the search conducted in the shallow waters off the Virginia coast, Schade took questions from Captain Nathan Cole Jr., counsel for the court:

Q. Now, I believe you did state that it would be normal, you would not expect to hear from Scorpion after she filed her posit[ion] report and got underway returning home until she got here. Is that correct, sir?

A. That is correct.

Q. Is this normal, Admiral?

A. It is quite common practice. As you know, our Polaris [missile] submarines go out for 60-day patrols and never broadcast except in most extraordinary circumstances. And frequently our submarines are sent out on exercises which eliminate any requirement for reporting. It is only normal to expect Check Reports and continuous communications both ways when submarines are operating in the local areas when the exercise ground rules so provide.

And so it went for the next four weeks as the Court of Inquiry took testimony from 75 witnesses and examined hundreds of pages of exhibits relating to the Scorpions deployment, maintenance history, and other areas. Not a single witness revealed what the COMSUBLANT message center staff had known all along: that the Scorpion emergency had begun in the late evening of Wednesday, May 22.

On July 26, 1968, the court submitted its classified report and adjourned. But in late October came the stunning news that the wreckage of the submarine had been found. The Scorpions shattered hull had been photographed by a camera mounted on an unmanned sled tethered to a three-mile-long cable towed by the research ship USNS Mizar, which for weeks had been searching a 12-square-mile area southwest of the Azores where officials calculated the wreckage lay on the seabed two miles down. The courts panel reconvened on November 5 and spent several weeks examining hundreds of images of the wreck. It then went into executive session to write an addendum to its report. Even so, when the navy finally released an unclassified summary of the courts findings on January 31, 1969, the conclusion was disappointingly vague: The certain cause of the loss of Scorpion cannot be ascertained from any evidence now available.

ONE OF THE GREAT IRONIES OF THE LONG SAGA OF THE USS Scorpion is that the man most instrumental in revealing the truth about the lost nuclear attack submarine was the official who tried the hardest to keep the full story secretVice Admiral Schade. Fifteen years after the Scorpion went missing, Schade agreed to provide his recollections of the incident in a telephone interview from his home in Florida, a conversation whose revelations would fatally impeach, albeit perhaps unintentionally, the official account of the submarines disappearance. On April 27, 1983, the admiral cleared his throat and began to describe the Scorpions departure from the Mediterranean just after midnight on Friday, May 17, 1968.

When they were coming out [of the Mediterranean], we normally diverted them into the Polaris base at Rota, Spain, for a couple of days for a [torpedo] load-out and [to obtain] a couple of things they might need before leaving the area. And [Scorpion] reported that their condition was so good that they didnt even need to stop. Schade then confirmed a finding of the Court of Inquiry that a Soviet naval exercise that included at least one nuclear submarine was underway southwest of the Canary Islands. We had general information of a [Soviet] task force operating over in that general area. So we advised [Scorpion] to slow down, take a look, see what they could find out. As far as we know they never made contact, they never reported on that.

Then Schade unwittingly dropped his first bombshell.

They were due to report in to us shortly thereafter, Schade went on, referring to the three-day period cited by the courtMay 19 through May 21in which the Scorpions surveillance of the Soviet warships was to have taken place. It was at that time we got a little suspicious, because they did not report, they did not check in, and then when we got to the time limit of their check-in they were first reported as overdue.

Schade had inadvertently contradicted his own sworn testimony to the Court of Inquiry 15 years earlier. Now, for the first time, Schade was admitting that the Scorpion indeed had been on the Check Report system, and thus was required to transmit the encrypted messageCheck 24. Submarine Scorpioneach day.

Asked to amplify, Schade noted that Slattery had transmitted a position report whose heading read 212354Z May 68, or 2354 GMT (7:54 p.m. EDT) on May 21. As far as we were concerned all was clear, and she should have kept coming. And then, within about 24 hours after that, she should have given us a rather long, windy, resume of her operations.And when they did not respond, almost immediately thats when we first became suspicious, thats when we followed up with other messages, and really, it was just a matter of hours that we became somewhat concerned.

Schade was explaining that instead of first sounding the alarm on May 27 after the Scorpion failed to arrive as scheduled, his command knew something was wrong with the submarine within hours of its actual sinkinga full four days earlier than officials had ever admitted. And then he dropped his second bombshell.

Schade recalled that he had been out at sea when word came that the Scorpion had failed to send its Check Report. It looked like we needed to do something in the way of a search operation, [and so] I got Admiral Holmes [Ephraim P. Holmes, the commander of the Atlantic Fleet] on the radio and said, Would you place the facilities of CINCLANTFLT [the Atlantic Fleet] at my disposal for the next day or two until we can organize a search operation? In fact, he placed them all at our disposal, and this was quite an amazing set of operational circumstances, because we controlled the entire resources of the Atlantic Fleet from a submarine at sea. Working through CINCLANTFLT headquarters and their communications, we organized a search from both ends [of the Scorpions presumed course] both by air and surface ships and other submarines.

Surprised by this totally unexpected disclosurea secret search for the Scorpion mounted at least four days before the navy was supposed to have known anything was amissI asked Schade once again to clarify, and he did.

All I know is that long before she was actually due in Norfolk, we had organized a search effort, Schade said. We had two squadrons of destroyers, a lot of long-range antisubmarine search planes operating out of the Azores, Norfolk, and other areas, and we had several ships that were in the Atlantic that were in transit between the Med[iterranean] and the U.S. Some [were] diverted and some of them were just told to come over to the track which we presupposed the Scorpion would be on. They searched up and down that [corridor]. This went on for quite some time, until it was quite obvious that she was long overdue arriving in Norfolk.

Schades disclosures about the Scorpion set in motion a research effort that would occupy me, on and off, for the next 24 years. During that time the U.S. Navy declassified mostbut not allof the official Scorpion archive. And after his arrest in 1985, John Walker, who had been the supervisor on duty at the COMSUBLANT message center the night the Scorpion disappeared, pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviets and selling top-secret materials that enabled them to break encrypted submarine communications. Nevertheless, to this day U.S. Navy officials insist that Commander Slattery and his 98 crewmen perished as the result of some unknown malfunction, not from any sinister event.

More than four decades after the disappearance of the USS Scorpion, Mike Hannon and Ken Larbes decided to break their silence. In 2010, after reading my book on the disappearance of the Scorpion, Hannon contacted me and revealed the final secret of the submarine that he and Ken Larbes had discovered in the tense hours of May 2223, 1968: The senior officers crowding into the COMSUBLANT message center arrived already knowing that the Scorpion was lostand why. Larbes, in an interview in 2018, confirmed Hannons account.

There were officers openly discussing the fact that they believed the Scorpion had been sunk, Hannon told me. He also said he overheard that the Scorpions sinking had been tracked by the navys top-secret Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), a network of underwater acoustic sensors used to monitor and track both submarines and surface vessels. The SOSUS hydrophones in the Atlantic did hear the explosion, Hannon said. And, he added, a Soviet submarine was tracked leaving the area at a high rate of speed.

What Hannon, Larbes, and the other radiomen learned that fateful Thursday in May 1968and in the weeks that followedis stark confirmation that the navys expressed shock and surprise over the missing submarine was a sham. At the heart of the Submarine Force Atlantic, key officials knew practically from the moment of its loss that the Scorpion went down during a confrontation with a Soviet submarine. Their immediate response was to bury the truth as deep as the remains of the Scorpion itself. MHQ

ED OFFLEY is the author of Scorpion DownSunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the USS Scorpion (Basic Books, 2007).

This article appears in the Summer 2018 issue (Vol. 30, No. 4) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: The Final Secret of the USS ScorpionSince 1987s rollicking Get Rhythm, Ry Cooder has veered from interesting collaborations with Ali Farka Toure (Talking Timbuktu) and Manuel Galban (Mambo Sinuendo), not to mention the world-conquering Buena Vista Social Club, to more challenging political albums (from Chavez Ravine to Election Special).

Rejoice then for The Prodigal Son, a collection of spirituals and choice originals, combining the feeling of Jesus Is On The Mainline (Paradise And Lunch), the glorious slide on his reading of Dark End Of The Street (Boomers Story), and the yearning in I Cant Win (Bop Till You Drop).

Everybody Ought To Treat A Stranger Right and Nobodys Fault But Mine see Cooder return to Blind Willie Johnson  the slide motif borrowed from Johnson's Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground formed the basis of the celebrated Paris, Texas soundtrack. Johnson contracted malarial fever, but no hospital would take this broke, blind, black man, so he died, badly, in 1945. Twenty-two years later, Carl Sagan included the song on the gold record launched with the Voyager probe, as a representation of the human experience. Know a better story about the power of music? I doubt it.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.As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!

OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK

The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.140518 PX TO START OPERATING INTO BUKA AIRPORT TOMORROW

New Dawn FM News

Good news for the travelling public who want to travel on Air Niuginis Jet Aircrafts.

AIR NIUGINI will start operating into Buka after more than a month since the damage to the airports PAPI lights.

The National Airport Corporation which looks after all Airports in PNG earlier banned all Turbo Jets from using the airport due to the PAPI lights problem and only allowed Turbo Props to keep on using the airport.

After the NAC organized for the calibration of the PAPI lights last Saturday Air Niugini which uses Jets and other similar aircrafts can also start operating into Buka.

Meanwhile, many Air Niugini clients made losses as Air Niugini airlifts many cargoes into Buka and are relieved that the big bird will start operating again.

This include Newspaper sellers who also stopped selling newspapers because of the problem.



Ends





Why Crowdfunding Cant Be Relied On For All Music Releases

While crowdfunding can be a great way to both market and promote your new music in advance of its release, as well as actually fund it, making it your one and only means of putting out new material every time can be a bad move.

_____________________________

Guest post by Patrick McGuire of the ReverbNation Blog

Crowdfunding is an excellent way to promote new music and to help fund it at the same time. Platforms designed to reach friends, family and fans make it easy for artists to reach out to their community and ask for their help in turning a musical vision into a reality. But while crowdfunding has no doubt now helped countless musicians create and release music, its a bad idea to rely on it every time you decide to put out new music. Here are a couple of reasons why:

Using crowdfunding to fund and promote music over and over again limits creativity

In 2018s unpredictable music industry, creativity not only in songwriting but also in the way musicians present themselves and promote their music is paramount. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with using crowdfunding to promote an album or two, but after a couple times, it might make some artists lazy when it comes to thinking of ways to creatively and effectively promote new music. Rather than turning to the crowdfunding model of promotion time after time, artists should do the hard work of finding more creative and innovative ways of getting the world to notice their music.

Relying on the same group of people to fund your music over a long period isnt sustainable

An unspoken narrative surrounding most creative crowdfunding campaigns is that of a community rallying around a creative effort in the hopes that it will one day be successful not only artistically but also financially. The problem with going back to the same group of people to repeatedly fund your music is that everyone from your grandma to the fans of your music only have a limited amount of money and interest to give. If you truly want to make music that the world knows and cares about, youll have to do everything you can to engage new listeners. And while crowdfunding is a proven way to fund albums, its not very good at connecting artists with new audiences.

Looking for your next gig? Search ReverbNation Opportunities today.

Friend and family fatigue

Theres also the major issue of friend and family fatigue to consider. Most people are thrilled to chip in a few bucks to help the musician in their life put out some music, but if its a yearly occurrence, there will come a day when your immediate circle wont be down with contributing to your music. This is often the case even if youre surrounded by wonderful people who really believe in your music.

The difficult truth is that eventually your music needs to find some sort of an audience in order to become sustainable. This, of course, does not mean that your band has to get signed to a massive label and sell tons of music in order to survive, but it does mean that youll need to engage a community of listeners comprised of people who arent your friends and family to support what you do if you plan on making music over the long-term.

Patrick McGuire is a musician, writer, and educator currently residing in the great city of Philadelphia. He creates music under the name Straight White Teeth, and has a great affinity for dogs and putting his hands in his pockets.

Share on:The library's distinctive two-story tower has issues.

North Adams Library's Tower Needs Help



Trustees Nichole Gordan and Rich Remsberg rouring the tower last fall. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The most distinctive feature of the library, its tower, is becoming its weak spot.

A leak in the tower, also called the belvedere, is causing structural damage and endangering the rooms below it.

"The belvedere is in danger," Library Director Mindy Hackner bluntly told the library trustees last week.

A recent energy audit conducted by Tighe & Bond raised some red flags. Hackner said the belvedere has been a concern of hers for a long time and that it is not weather tight.

"They were pretty insistent that something needs to be done," Hackner said. "I know I went up there and teetered on this little scaffolding and threw a piece of insulation up at the window where the wood has rotted. The glass has actually fallen down and pigeons, bats and everybody and their brother were up there."

She said Tighe & Bond recommended insulating the entire belvedere but did not go as far to provide a cost estimate.

She is also worried that if the belvedere continues to deteriorate, it will damage rooms below it.

This sparked a sense of urgency and Trustee Rich Remsberg asked if the city was aware.

"That really worries me, and I would like to see that stabilized and restored," Remsberg said. "It seems like a legitimate city responsibility ... they can at least do something, so we don't have pigeons up there."

Hackner said the city does know of the issues in the belvedere and is working with the library to firstly clean it out.

"We have gotten as far as getting the surplus doors taken care of," she said. "Once we get it cleaned out we will call the City Yard, so they can take it all out ... I think we have taken a baby step."

She added that the city itself is short-staffed and spread thin.

"They know about it, they know about the glass and where the leak is coming in," she said. "We run into a limitation with the building department with so few people ... and there are only three maintenance guys in the city right now  I think they are just overwhelmed and have a big list."

Hackner has noted in the past that a complete restoration of the two-story tower would likely cost upwards of $1.5 million.

"This is huge, and this is where we are running into trouble," she said. "This is a huge undertaking."

Hackner said the Green Communities state grant, which funded the energy audit, likely wouldn't cover the belvedere but it was suggested to her to look into a Massachusetts Preservation Grant.

In other business, the trustees heard from Tara Jacobs and Mark Parris from the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, who said they plan to hold a cleanup day at the library June 23.

"We are going to solicit community volunteers to help do some outside clean up," Jacobs said. "There are a whole bunch of things we want to do."

She said the project is part of an NBCC volunteer training program, however, their team plans to continue its support after the project is over and focus on raising funds to help restore the belvedere.

"We are all library lovers and we love the belvedere," she said. "We recognize the library has needs and we want to focus on the library."

Jacobs, a member of the School Committee, had approached the trustees last year about doing fundraising to renovate the tower and find a way to open to the public. One concept has been to use it as an observatory, in line with some of the legacy funds left by the late state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi for astronomy programming.

One plan is to sell T-shirts with sponsors listed on the back; proceeds would go toward the tower.

Jacobs added the event would also be a good opportunity to showcase the library, the trustees and the Friends of the Library.MassDOT Sets Public Meetings on Capital Investment Plan

BOSTON  The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will hold a series of public meetings throughout the commonwealth to solicit public input on its draft multibillion dollar MassDOT and MBTA Capital Investment Plan Update for fiscal years 2019-2023.

This program covers long-term highway, aeronautics, rail, and transit investments.

The meetings will begin on Tuesday, May 15, in Boston and continue for two weeks. The draft CIP includes all MassDOT highway and municipal projects, regional airports, rail, and transit, including MBTA and Regional Transit Authorities as well as the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

MassDOT will hold two meetings in Western Massachusetts at Springfield and Pittsfield:

Thursday, May 17, 6:30 p.m.

Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, 60 Congress St., Springfield

Tuesday, May 22, 5:30 p.m.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, 1 Fenn St., Suite 201, Pittsfield140518AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER VISITS BOUGAINVILLE

New Dawn FM News



The Australian High Commissioner to PNG , His Excellency BRUCE DAVIES arrived in Buka for a week-long visit to Bougainville.

The team will overnight in Buka tonight before travelling to mainland Bougainville to visit Projects funded by the Australian Government in Mabiri, Arawa, Panguna and Buin.

This is the second time for the High Commissioner to visit Bougainville since his appointment.

He was met on arrival by the ABG Vice President RAYMOND MASONO this afternoon.

The team will meet with the ABG President Chief DR.JOHN MOMIS in Buin this Wednesday.



Ends

Caption of MR DAVIES Welcomed by the Protocol Officer Philip Kiha and Deputy Chief Secretary



ABC News(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) -- The Yale student at the center of a conversation about racial profiling on campus said she felt the need to post video of her recent interaction with university police because she feared for her safety.



"I posted the video just for my safety," Lolade Siyonbola told ABC News' "Good Morning America."



"I have always said to myself since Sandra Bland was killed. I said to myself if I ever have an encounter with police I'll film myself," she added, referring to a 28-year-old black woman who mysteriously died while in police custody in 2015.



Siyonbola, who is black, shared video she shot of police interrogating her after a white classmate called authorities because she fell asleep in their dormitory's common area.



The video showed police questioning Siyonbola, a 34-year-old graduate student in African studies, for nearly 20 minutes, demanding that she proved her enrollment even though she had already unlocked her dorm room in front of them.



Video of the encounter drew thousands of Facebook reactions and comments within hours of Siyonbolas original post on May 8, with many users accusing the Ivy League school of racial bias, while others were quick to connect the incident to a string of similar ones involving black people who were wrongfully reported.



Siyonbola said she had fallen asleep while working on a paper in a common room of her dorm when a female student, who she identified only by her first name, Sarah, told her that she could not sleep there.



Siyonbola said she told police the student had called police on other black students in the past.



"It had already been like a stressful week, you know, ahead of this," Siyonbola told "GMA." 'I had barely been sleeping, so to sort of be on the couch and for the lights to come on, I was like, 'Who is interrupting my nap?' after all and to see that it was Sarah, of all people, because she had called the police on my friend before. I was just like, 'You've got to be kidding me.'



"I just went with God and said, 'Whatever's meant to be will be,' but it's just mind-boggling that you know somebody could behave like this," she added.



Siyonbola said she was aware of at least one other incident where the same student had called the police on a black student and Reneson Jean-Louis, another black graduate student at Yale, told New Haven, Connecticut, ABC affiliate WTNH that the same woman called police on him about a month ago.



Both students said their situations were examples of racial bias within the universitys police system.



Someone who uses the police in the way that Sarah uses it should be held accountable, Siyonbola said. Whether that's expulsion [or] some other form of disciplinary action, there needs to be some punitive measures for people who act out of racially motivated bias.



If there are punitive measures I think someone like Sarah will think twice about calling the police, she added.



She said she hopes her experience will remind Yale of the work it needs to do surrounding diversity and inclusivity.



The university could become a more inclusive place by simply recruiting more black students faculty, she said.



There is a very small number of black faculty at Yale, Siyonbola said. And I think that that would go a long way to improving the inclusivity of the climate at Yale.



Yale president Peter Salovey reiterated the universitys commitment to continuing the work of inclusion while addressing the situation last Thursday.



Racism is an unqualified evil in our society. Universities are not utopias, and people of color experience racism on our campus as they do elsewhere in our country. This fact angers and disappoints me, Salovey said. We must neither condone nor excuse racism, prejudice, or discrimination at Yale.



Personally, recent events have led me to reflect in new ways on the ordinary daily actions each of us can take to show empathy, to see and understand what others are experiencing, and to combat hate and exclusion. I hope that you will do the same, he added.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.140518CHURCH NEUTRAL ON REFERENDUM ISSUE

New Dawn FM News

Bishop of Bougainville Diocese, His Lordship Bernard Unabali has said that the Catholic Churchs stand on the 2019 Referendum would be neutral.

Bishop Bernard was speaking to members of the Our Lady of Assumption Parish Congregation at Hahela on Sunday.

He said it was crucial for a peaceful post referendum transition period.

Well not tell you to vote for independence or vote for autonomy. Well only support whatever the outcome is  independence or autonomy. He told the congregation.

Bishop Bernard also said, as the Bishop - he will not let his church involve in politics as it was the work of the government.

There should be a clear line of demarcation between the church and the government. The church should keep a fair distance from politics and only engage in the spiritual aspects.

He also highlighted similar events in the world where due to the Roman Catholic Church been deeply engaged in politics - had caused factional conflicts which resulted in violence and killings.

Next week, representatives from each Deanary will meet in Tsiroge to draw up plans for a major spiritual reconciliation as a lead-up preparation to the 2019 Referendum.

Some of the spiritual events to take place before the referendum were; reconciliation by clans at the village level and a region-wide prayer vigil to be held on the 14th of June, 2019  just a day before the crucial vote.

EndsThe amendment to the Labour Code that comes into force on May 1 2018 enshrines, among other things, a pay increase for employees. This pay increase only concerns the wage supplement paid to employees who work (i) on outings; (ii) on Saturdays; (iii) on Sundays; and (iv) at night.

The changes concerning work on Saturdays, Sundays and at night apply not only to employees under a standard employment contract, but also to students employed under a temporary student employment contract and to workers engaged under an agreement to perform work or a work activities agreement.

Some of the wage supplements that have been voluntary in the past will now be mandatory (work on Saturdays and Sundays), and other mandatory wage supplements will be increased. In some cases, this increase is quite substantial in comparison to the existing legislation and as such is considered a fundamental change that will impact the business sector.

The amendment provides for a transitional period of one year, from May 1 2018 to May 1 2019, during which time reduced wage supplements will be in effect. This means the increase will effectively be implemented in two phases.

Employees were previously entitled to a supplement of 50% of their average hourly wage for holiday work; beginning May 1 2018 the supplement will be increased to 100 % of an employee's average hourly wage.

The wage supplement for work on Saturdays has been strictly voluntary until now but under the new legislation, effective as of May 1 2018, a supplement of 25% of the employee's minimum hourly wage will be mandatory; and effective as of May 1 2019, the supplement will go up to 50% of the employee's minimum hourly wage. The type of work is irrelevant. In other words, the increase applies equally to standard work and to dangerous work.

The amendment also provides for a wage supplement for work on Sundays, which had previously been strictly voluntary. The new legislation makes the supplement mandatory and it will be phased in beginning May 1 2018. The amount will be set at 50% of the employee's minimum hourly wage, with the full amount of 100% of the minimum hourly wage effective as of May 1 2019. The supplement is applicable across the board, regardless of the type of work (ie standard work, as well as dangerous work).

The wage supplement for night work is based on whether the employee performs standard work or dangerous work. Existing legislation provides for a night work supplement of 20% of the employee's minimum hourly wage; for standard work, the supplement will go up to 30% on May 1 2018 and to 40% beginning on May 1 2019. The supplement for dangerous work will be increased to 35% as of May 1 2018 and then to 50% of the minimum wage effective as of May 1 2019.

Employers will be able to apply exceptions as provided by the Labour Code for certain areas, particularly as regards employers whose workers regularly work on Saturdays, Sundays and at night because of the specific conditions of the business operation or due to the nature of the work itself. For employers, this means the ability to negotiate a collective agreement with the trade union that provides for a wage supplement of less than the lawful amount for work on Saturdays, Sundays and at night. In companies with fewer than 20 employees who are not organised in a trade union, the employer may negotiate directly with the employees for a lower wage supplement, keeping in mind, however, that the minimum supplement cannot be less than the amount required specifically by law. This gives employers the opportunity to reduce wage supplements by a maximum of 10% off the lawful amounts.

The employment contracts of managerial staff may provide for a salary that is inclusive of any potential work on Saturdays, Sundays or at night. In other words, these employees would not be entitled to any wage supplements for that work.

Another noteworthy change requires employers to state the offered pay in their job advertisements, with binding effect. In this context, 'binding effect' means that the employment contract subsequently presented to the selected candidate cannot provide for a base wage lower than the amount that had been stated in the job advertisement.

Yet another change concerns the requirement of applying certain provisions of the Labour Code, such as the provisions on minimum wage, annual leave, and working hours, to employees that have been posted to Slovakia from non-EU countries to provide services to employers. The aim is to prevent social dumping in the posting of workers from non-EU countries.

Rudolf Sivak Byung Sung Park

 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs.

Share this article140518Diocese Farewells Longa Family

New Dawn FM News

Former Bougainville Dioceses head of finance and acting Administrator, Mr Julius Longa was farewelled with his wife Mrs Alina Longa at the Hahela Parish Fr John Begg Conference Centre on Buka Island on Saturday.

Mr Longa aged 70, started work in 2010 and later held onto the Administrators post in 2016 when the position was left vacant in 2016 after the previous administrator Mr Tony Luwong left.

He handed his finance job to a young successor, Mr Julian Kuheu from Siwai in South Bougainville.

Mr Longas wife Alina aged 64, was the former Coordinator of the Family Life Apostolate  an entity that provides family life and trauma counselling services. She held the position since the 1990s until 2018. Through her work, she fostered lots of families affected by drugs, disaster and domestic violence.

She was also remembered by her colleagues from the Catholic Health Sector for her initial contributions in setting up the Catholic HIV Response Centre in early 2000 to address the HIV Epidemic a key HIV office that is effectively addressing the dreadful disease in Bougainville.

With the couples retirement, both key positions are vacant and no replacements have been mentioned. The Diocese Management Team and Bishop Bernard Unabali will run the affairs of the Diocese now.

I never thought of working for the Diocese. If it was not by our heavenly father who inspired me to accept the work here, I would have ended up somewhere. When I look back, I have no regrets but to proudly say what a nice coincidence it was that I have contributed to our Diocese. Mr Longa said during the farewell ceremony.

Bougainville Diocese Bishop His Lordship, Bernard Unabali also extended his appreciation to Mr and Mrs Longa for their contributions.

We were like pioneers walking through a new unchartered land. With no strategic plans in place, we had to plan as we travelled along. Said Bishop Bernard.

He said it was with the support of the Administration, that the Diocese had embarked on various impact plans.

One of the program he mentioned was the Forward Model Communities - a project aimed at building a reliant socio-economic community.

Also Farewelled were four (4) officers. They are Lands Officer Rose Kiarei, Education Officer Peter Zalei, Accounts Clerk Mary Jane Patein, Office Staff Imelda Lerui and Security and Sanitary Officer Max Hanette.

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browserAnushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan are seen at the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai. Important scenes of their next film, Zero, are currently being shot in Huntsville, Alabama, which has a large Indian American population. (U.S. Consulate Mumbai)Praveen Sinha, an Indian American computer engineer, died mysteriously at home near Cincinnati, Ohio, on the evening of April 3. Sinha and his wife had arrived in the U.S. just three months prior to his death. (gofundme photo)Rajika Bhandari, head of research at the Institute of International Education, said the program has successfully attracted science and engineering talent to the U.S. and boosted science research and innovation. If the program is scaled back, the Indian American warns, those students might choose other destinations. (screen grab of YouTube/SymbiosisU)The industrial minerals industry will gather in Barcelona, Spain, next month at the Industrial Minerals Congress to discuss the many different markets that we cover.

Those involved in the talc market will be sitting alongside those interested in batteries and glass industries while we learn more about the state of...Syria Imposes New Rules of Engagement on Israel





By Sayed Hasan

May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - On Thursday 10th May 2018, an unprecedented exchange of strikes happened between Israel and Syria. The mainstream media , as well as some alternative media like Russia Today , were quick to relay the Israeli army version, according to which the Zionist entity retaliated to an Iranian attack by Revolutionary Guards Al-Quds Force consisting of twenty rockets fired at Israeli positions in the occupied Golan, four of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome and the others crashed into Syrian territory, no damage being recorded in Israel. Israel has reportedly responded to this unprecedented act of aggression by a large-scale operation that would have destroyed the entire Iranian infrastructure in Syria, in order to deter the Islamic Republic from any stray impulse of future strikes.

This narrative takes for granted the postulates, data and myths of the Zionist entitys propaganda  which imposes permanent military censorship on the Israeli media, exposing any offender to a prison sentence; and reading the international media, one might get the idea that, like American economic sanctions, this censorship is extraterritorial  but none of them can withstand scrutiny.

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The aggressor is undoubtedly Israel, who carried out more than a hundred strikes against Syria since the beginning of the conflict. After Dumas chemical stage attacks, this aggresion intensified with attacks on the Syrian T-4 base on April 9, which killed 7 Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Following the US announcement of withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, new Israeli strikes targeted Syrian positions on Tuesday (May 8th) in the southern suburbs of Damascus, and Wednesday (May 9th) in Quneitra, in the south of the country. Undeniably, Syria has only responded to yet another aggression, with a firmness that has shaken Israel and forced it out of the muteness to which it usually confines itself.

The Syrian  and not Iranian  response consisted of more than fifty  and not twenty  rockets against four sensitive Israeli military bases in the occupied Golan, which caused material damage and even casualties according to Al-Manar , Hezbollahs media. These were not reported by the Israeli press because of the draconian military censorship forbidding mentioning Israels initial aggression, more than twenty rockets fired on Israel, the identification of their targets and any hint to the damage inflicted, in order to reassure the population inside and allow the vassal Western capitals to shout their sickening refrain of the sacrosanct-right-of-Israel-to-defend-itself. The Lebanese channel Al-Mayadeen specifically identified the military posts struck: 1/ a military technical and electronic reconnaissance center; 2/ border security and intelligence station 9900; 3/ a military center for electronic jamming; 3/ a military spy center for wireless and wired networks; 4/ a transmission station; 5/ an observatory of precision weapons unit ; 6/ a combat heliport; 7/ the headquarters of the Regional Military Command of Brigade 810; 8/ the command center of the military battalion at Hermon; 9/ winter headquarters of a special alpine unit. And as this channel has reported, even Israeli journalists and analysts have expressed doubts about this unconvincing version according to which these massive strikes, unprecedented since 1974 and therefore unexpected, would have proved harmless. Moreover, as Norman Finkelstein pointed out , nothing has changed for Israels wars in Gaza from 2008 to 2014 despite the deployment of the Iron Dome, only 5% of the  largely primitive  Hamas rockets being intercepted during Protective Edge; and one of the best missile defense specialists, Theodore Postol of MIT, has already revealed the chronic deficiencies of this system. It is unlikely that it was able to cope better with the much more sophisticated Russian, Chinese and Iranian rocket launchers that Syria has.

The success of the Israeli strikes, which, according to Israeli War Minister Avigdor Lieberman , almost destroyed all of Irans infrastructure in Syria, is largely exaggerated: Russian military officials, whose radars have followed this fight in real time, announced that more than half of the 60 missiles fired by 28 Israeli F-15s and F-16s  as well as 10 ground-to-ground missiles  were intercepted. The Syrian army records 3 dead and 2 wounded, a radar station and ammunition depot destroyed and material damage to Syrian anti-aircraft defense units. The latter have already demonstrated their effectiveness against strikes from Tel Aviv, Washington, London and Paris, unlike the mythical Iron Dome whose main role is to reassure the Israeli population.

The very presence of Iranian military bases and / or large Iranian contingents in Syria is a fable: Iran has only a modest presence (essentially composed of military advisers, indeed from the body of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards), unlike Hezbollah or Russia. Robert Fisk points ou t that an Israeli statement that the Iranians had missiles in Syria was surely made in concert with the Trump administration, that the Iranian forces in Syria are far fewer than the West imagines and that all Israeli statements should be reported with the utmost circumspection. Any objective reporting on these events should resemble that of Robert Fisk: The latest overnight Israeli air strikes, supposedly at Iranian forces in Syria after a supposed Iranian rocket attack on Israeli forces in Golan  and its important to use the  supposed  and not take all this at face value  must have been known to the Americans in advance. Indeed, these so-called unexpected attacks had been announced for days by the Israeli army, which had already conducted a so-called  preemptive strike   rather a provocation  on May 8.

The red line that this alleged Iranian presence would pose to Israel is belied by the fact that Tel Aviv has, since the beginning of the conflict, been steadily slowing the progress of the Syrian Arab Army and, using various pretexts (delivery of arms to Hezbollah, response to actual or suspected gunfire from the Golan Heights, etc.), assisting armed terrorist groups in any way possible: weapons, intelligence, airstrikes coordinated with ground offensives, medical care, etc. Israel, the only country in the world that officially does not fear anything (and indeed has nothing to fear) from ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the like, has seen the situation in Syria turn from a dream  see a myriad of terrorist groups tear down the only anti-Israeli Arab regime, back of the Resistance Axis, and bleed Hezbollah  into a nightmare  to face Hezbollah, Syrian and Iran forces more battle-hardened and powerful than ever, and allied with the Palestinian Resistance, Iraq and Yemen, as well as Russia , is only continuing its destabilizing work under new pretexts, and more directly: Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, had announced that after the defeat of proxies in Syria, their sponsors could either give up or intervene more and more openly.

Iran, whose opposition to the racist and colonialist project of Israel has been a principle and even a dogma since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, is not easily provoked into an ill-thought reaction, and has always preferred to act with patience for long-term objectives  let us remember its restraint after the massacre of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan in 1998. The goal of Iran is not to carry out a simple reprisal operation to avenge his officers and soldiers deliberately (or accidentally, as was the case in Quneitra in January 2015) killed by Israel, but to work for the complete liberation of Palestine by putting an end to the illegitimate Zionist regime, just like the Apartheid regime in South Africa, which, by the way, collapsed after its military defeat in Angola and Namibia against Cuban mulattoes, then viewed with as much racism as Israeli Jewish supremacism considers Arabushim. As Hassan Nasrallah pointed out , Israels direct aggression against Iranian forces in Syria is a major turning point in the history of the Israeli-Arab  or rather, Israeli-Arab-Persian  conflict, and Israel must now get ready to confront the Iranian forces directly  whether in Syria, occupied Palestine or even elsewhere. Moreover, when the Iranian missiles enter the scene, they are launched from the territory of the Islamic Republic and with undeniable success, as shown by the strikes against ISIS at Deir-Ez-Zor on June 18, 2017, in retaliation for terrorist attacks in Tehran.

As we can see, the reality cannot be more different from the fable that has been propagated by the majority of the media. Journalists who tamely take over Israels talking points turn into IDF propaganda outlets and mere agents of Netanyahus diplomacy of lies. Israel is indeed constantly lying to the world  and, increasingly, to its own people. And when its reckless actions have disastrous repercussions, it publishes hasty and contradictory communiques in which it presents itself both as a victim and as a hawkish punisher, while also claiming, through Lieberman and via Russia, to have no intention of stepping into an escalation and hoping things will stop there  proclaiming the success of its retaliatory strikes is also a way to say it does not want/need to go any further. The international media contented itself with repeating these statements immediately after the first attacks, without any critical distance. Rational actors like Iran, Syria and Hezbollah  or Russia  are not in such a hurry to speak out and confirm or deny others claims, leaving their opponents getting entangled in their lies, and trusting in the primacy of the battlefield that becomes more favorable to them day by day. Moreover, the fact that a bitter setback for Israel, which literally reverses the strategic situation, is transformed into a military success by Zionist and Atlantist propaganda, and combined with Israeli protests of non-belligerency, can only confirm the Resistance Axis in its choices.

Yoav Kish, a member of the Knesset quoted by Al-Manar , stressed that regardless of the author of the strikes and their results  that censorship forbade from mentioning , it was a major shift in the history of the wars of Israel, which is being attacked from Syria. Indeed, the Golan military installations are now directly targeted as a result of Israeli aggressions, and not just the Israeli air force, which has already seen its finest  the F-16  be shot down on February 10, 2018. The journalists and Israeli analysts also pointed out the psychological and economic repercussions of this incident, with more than 20,000 Golan settlers having had to hastily find their way back to the shelters in the middle of the night (how much will they be at the next escalation?), and the beginning of the summer period having been ushered in by a wave of hotel reservation deletions due to fears of a war between Israel and Iran. The Zionist entity, which unabashedly inflicts the greatest loss and damage to the Palestinians and its neighbors, is severely shaken by the slightest losses, unbearable for Israeli society.

The accusation against Iran is explained by essential factors (the inherent racism of Israeli society and its Prime Minister, who more willingly believe in a dangerousness of Persian Iran than in that of Arab Syria) and circumstantial  a refusal to assume the consequences of the suicidal policy of the Netanyahu government , which led him to a direct confrontation with the entire Resistance Axis, not to say with Russia. And most importantly, Israel wants to capitalize on Trumps withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal to advance its main obsession, much older than the Syrian crisis, namely Tehrans ballistic program, which it wants the West to end with, exploiting the perennial nuclear pretext  let us remind that the manufacture, possession and use of nuclear weapons are unlawful in Islam according to Imam Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, supreme authorities in Iran. Netanyahu has made it clear that a war with Iran is inevitable, and that it would be better to happen now than later . Since 2005, he vainly strives for the United States to launch it for him, but no negotiation, sanction or aggression will ever deter Iran from its course. And just as the Israeli strikes on April 9, which were supposed to encourage Washington, London and Paris to conduct severe strikes on Syria, ended in a bitter failure, Israel only worsened its own situation yet again and finds itself alone in the face of the disastrous consequences of its actions, to the extent of the blind arrogance that triggered them.

What about Russia? Netanyahus presence in Moscow for the commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of the USSRs victory against Nazism, and reports that Russia would not deliver the S-300s to Syria , must not mislead us. Russia has invested far too much in Syria to allow anyone  be it Washington, Tel Aviv, Riyadh or Ankara  to reduce its efforts to nothing. Moscow said it would no longer tolerate Western strikes against Syria in case of a new chemical weapons masquerade, and that it is ready to provide Damascus not necessarily with the S-300 anti-aircraft system, but, according to Sergei Lavrov , with whatever is required to help the Syrian army to deter aggression. The current Syrian defense systems have already proven their worth  Including the Pantsir, which is much more suited to the needs of the Syrian army , and allow to envision the day when Israel loses its only advantage, namely the air supremacy  that already was to no avail in 2006 against Hezbollah or 2014 against Gaza , without which its supposedly invincible ragtag army would literally crumble. Israels use of ground-to-ground missiles for the first time, and the concentration of attacks on Syrian anti-aircraft defenses  IDF released the video of the destruction of a Pantsir S-1 system, probably inactive  proves that it is well aware of its limitations.

It is obvious that Israeli aggressions against Syria will be increasingly costly, both for the Israeli air force and for its internal military bases and population, because of the determination of Syria and its allies (Hezbollah and Iran) to respond to any aggression, of their experience and new capabilities, and of their successes on the ground. The Resistance Axis  of which Russia is not a part  is now able to face Israel directly on its own, with a united front and without fear of escalation. As for Israel, already overwhelmed by the peaceful demonstrations in Gaza that must culminate on May 15, it is not ready for war against a single member of the Resistance Axis, let alone against several of them simultaneously. The new equation imposed by the Syrian army on May 10 is more fearsome for Israel than the prospect of the loss of another F-16, as Damascus has shown its determination to wage war on enemy territory, and to strike the Zionist entity in its depth.

The Resistance Axis will soon have its eyes fixed on the occupied Golan, that Syria has never given up liberating by armed struggle  a right conferred by international law itself, this territory being recognized as Syrian by all the international community: any Syrian operation there is a legal and legitimate act of resistance against Israels 1967 aggression in and subsequent occupation, even without further provocation. As early as May 2013, Hassan Nasrallah announced Hezbollahs participation in the opening of a new frontline in Golan. In March 2017, the Golan Liberation Brigade was formed by Iraqi Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, a movement backed by Iran and involved in the liberation of Iraq and Syria from ISIS. Today, Syrian strikes in the occupied Golan unquestionably open up a new chapter in the history of the Israeli-Arab wars, in which Israel will increasingly be forced into a defensive position. Are we going to see the IDF building a wall on the border of the occupied Golan to hinder any future invasion, as is already the case on the Lebanese-Israeli border to prevent Hezbollahs promised incursion into the Galilee ? Anyway, the next war against Israel will drastically change the map of the Middle East.

Translated for the Saker Blog - Source : http://sayed7asan.blogspot.fr/2018/05/la-syrie-impose-de-nouvelles-regles-de.html

=====

Join the DiscussionThe Dark Side of Israeli Independence

By Brett Wilkins

May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - On May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. Each May 15, Palestinians solemnly commemorate Nakba Day. Nakba means catastrophe, and thats precisely what Israels independence has been for the more than 700,000 Arabs and their five million refugee descendants forced from their homes and into exile, often by horrific violence, to make way for the Jewish state.

Land Without a People?

In the late 19th century, Zionism emerged as a movement for the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Although Jews ruled over kingdoms there more than 2,000 years ago, they never numbered more than around 10 percent of the population from antiquity through the early 1900s. A key premise of Zionism is what literary theorist Edward Said called the excluded presence of Palestines indigenous population; a central myth of early Zionists was that Palestine was a land without a people for a people without a land.

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At its core, Zionism is a settler-colonial movement of white, European usurpers supplanting Arabs they often viewed as inferior or backwards. Theodore Herzl, father of modern political Zionism, envisioned a Jewish state in Palestine as an outpost of civilization opposed to barbarism. Other early Zionists warned against this sort of thinking. The great Hebrew essayist Ahad Haam wrote :

We are accustomed to believing that Arabs are all wild desert people who, like donkeys, neither see nor understand what is happening around them. But this is a grave mistake. The Arabs see and understand what we are doing and what we wish to do on the land. If the time comes that [we] develop to a point where we are taking their place the natives are not going to just step aside so easily.

Jewish migration to Palestine increased significantly amid the pogroms and often rabid antisemitism afflicting much of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. As control of Palestine passed from the defeated Ottoman Turks to Britain toward the end of World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour declared the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. Israelis and their supporters often cite the Balfour Declaration when defending Israels legitimacy. What they never mention is that it goes on to state that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.

Those existing non-Jewish communities still made up more than 85 percent of Palestines population at the time. As Zionist immigration swelled in the interwar years, conflict between the Jewish newcomers and the Arabs who had lived in Palestine for centuries was inevitable.

The Palestine Problem

Some Arabs reacted to the massive influx by rioting and attacking Jews, who responded by forming militias. Hundreds of Jews and Arabs were murdered in a series of clashes and massacres throughout the 1920s, and as yet another wave of Jewish migration surged into Palestine following the rise of Hitler, Britain formed the Peel Commission to examine the Palestine problem. The commission proposed a two-state solution  one for Jews, another for Arabs, with Jerusalem remaining under British control to protect Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites.

As Arab attacks and Jewish retaliation escalated, an exasperated Britain issued the 1939 MacDonald White Paper , which limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. It emphatically stated that the Balfour Declaration could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish state against the will of the Arab population of the country. From then on, Jewish militias, who by now had gone on the offensive and were initiating often unprovoked attacks on Arabs, targeted British occupiers as well.

The two most infamous Jewish terror militias were Irgun and Lehi, led respectively by Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, both future Israeli prime ministers. Irgun was by far the most prolific of the two terror groups, carrying out a string of assassinations and attacks meant to drive out the British. On July 22, 1946, Irgun fighters bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people, including 17 Jews, an attack still celebrated in Israel today. They bombed and shot up crowded markets, trains, cinemas and British police and army posts, killing hundreds of men, women and children. Meanwhile, Lehi assassinated British minister of state Lord Moyne in Cairo in 1944, while planning to kill Winston Churchill as well.

No Room for Both

With it soldiers, police, officials and, increasingly, its reputation constantly under attack and its resources strained to the breaking point after World War II, Britain withdrew from Palestine in frustration in 1947. The Palestine problem was handed off to the fledgling United Nations, which, under intense United States pressure, voted to partition the territory. The Arabs were not consulted. Jews, who comprised just over one-third of Palestines population, would get 55 percent of its land. Arabs were enraged.

Jews rejoiced. There was, however, a huge problem with the UN partition plan. If the state of Israel was to be both Jewish and democratic, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would have to leave. Forever. Years earlier, Jewish National Land Fund director Joseph Weitz said :

Among ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both people in this country and there is no way besides transferring the Arabs from here to neighboring countries We must not leave a single village, a single tribe.

A Bit Like A Pogrom

To that end, David Ben-Gurion, who would soon become Israels first prime minister, and his inner circle drafted Plan Dalet, the  principle objective of the operation [being] the destruction of Arab villages, according to official orders. At times the mere threat of violence was enough to coerce Arabs from their homes. Sometimes appalling slaughter was required to get the job done. In the most notorious of what Israeli historian Benny Morris has identified as Nakba 24 massacres, more than 100 Arab men, women and children were killed by Jewish militias at Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948. One 11-year-old survivor later recalled:

They blew down the door, entered and started searching the place They shot the son-in -law and when one of his daughters screamed, they shot her too. They then called my brother and shot him in our presence and when my mother screamed and bent over my brother, carrying my little sister, who was still being breast-fed, they shot my mother too.

To me it looked a bit like a pogrom, confessed Mordechai Gichon, an intelligence officer in the Haganah, which would soon become the core of the Israel Defense Forces. When the Cossacks burst into Jewish neighborhoods, then that should have looked something like this. Widespread looting and brutal and often deadly rapes were also reminiscent of antisemitic pogroms, with Jews now the aggressors instead of the victims.

News of Deir Yassin spread like wildfire through Palestine, prompting many Arabs to flee for their lives. This is exactly what Jewish commanders  who would play self-described horror recordings of shrieking women and children on loudspeakers when approaching Arab villages  wanted. Attacking Jewish militias typically gave most of their victims room to escape; commanders generally preferred a fright-to-flight strategy over wanton slaughter.

Like Nazis

Jewish ethnic cleansing of Palestine accelerated when Arab armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq invaded with the intent of smothering the nascent state of Israel in its cradle. On July 11, 1948, future Israeli foreign and defense minister Moshe Dayan led a raid on Lydda in which over 250 Arab men, women, children and old people were killed with automatic weapons, grenades and cannon. What followed, on future prime minister Yitzhak Rabins orders, was the wholesale expulsion of Lydda and Ramle. Tens of thousands of Arabs fled in what became known as the Lydda Death March. Israeli reporter Ari Shavit wrote :

Children shouted, women screamed, men wept. There was no water. Every so often, a family stopped by the side of the road to bury a baby who had not withstood the heat; to say farewell to a grandmother who had collapsed from fatigue. After a while, it got even worse. A mother abandoned her howling baby under a tree. [Another] abandoned her week-old boy.

The international community was horrified and outraged by the Jewish atrocities of 1948-49. In the United States, a prominent group of Jews including Albert Einstein blasted the terrorists who attacked Deir Yassin. Others compared the Jewish militias to their would-be German destroyers, including Aharon Cizling, Israels first agriculture minister, who lamented that now Jews have behaved like Nazis and my entire being is shaken.

Jews indeed behaved something like Nazis as they expelled or exterminated Arabs for their own lebensraumin Palestine. By the time it was all over, over 400 Arab villages were destroyed or abandoned, their residents  some of whom still hold the keys to their stolen homes  never to return. Moshe Dayan, one of Israels most exalted heroes, confessed in all but name to Israels ethnic cleansing in a 1969 speech:

We came to this country, which was already populated by Arabs, and we are establishing a Jewish state here. Jewish villages were built in place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you, because those geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either There is not one place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.

War on Truth & Memory

Today such honesty is sorely lacking, both among most Israeli Jews and their US coreligionists and supporters. In addition to efforts to silence and even outlaw peaceful protest movements like the growing worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) effort, Zionists and their apologist allies  some with their own competing religious agenda  have aggressively sought to erase the Nakba from memory. This is accomplished by denying Israeli crimes and by tarring critics with allegations of antisemitism.

Special vitriol is reserved for the self-hating Jews who dare shine light on Israeli atrocities. Teddy Katz , a graduate student at Haifa University and ardent Zionist who uncovered the mass slaughter of 230 surrendering Arabs at Tantura on May 22, 1948, was sued, publicly humiliated, forced to apologize and stripped of his degree for the offense of telling the ugly, uncomfortable truth. The Israeli government even went as far as banning diaspora Jews who are too critical from making the birthright return to Israel granted to every other Jew in the world.

No Return, No Retreat

Speaking of the right to return, as Nakba refugees fled Palestine, often to settle in squalid camps in neighboring countries, the United Nations passed Resolution 194 , which guaranteed that every Palestinian refugee could return to their home and receive compensation for damages. None ever did. Israel ignored this and dozens of other UN resolutions over the coming decades, its impunity ensured by massive and unwavering US support.

Enabled and emboldened, Israel now marks 70 years of statehood and over half a century of illegal occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Today, Israels illegal Jewish settler colonies are the spear-tip of what critics call its slow-motion ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Its Jews-only settlements and roads, separation wall and ubiquitous military checkpoints are, according to Jimmy Carter , Desmond Tutu and others, the foundation of an apartheid state. Its periodic invasions of Gaza, with their 100-1 death toll disparities, their slaughter of entire families and enduring economic privation , are globally condemned as war crimes.

Yet through it all, the Palestinian people endure, despite the overwhelming odds against them. The more honest voices among earlier generations of Zionists foresaw this. Echoing Ahad Haams 1891 warning that the natives are not going to just step aside so easily, Ben-Gurion later acknowledged that a people which fights against the usurpation of its land will not tire so easily. Seventy years later, neither Palestinians nor Jews have tired so easily, and the world is no closer to solving the Palestine problem. Meanwhile, Jews, Arabs and the wider world brace for the next inevitable explosion. This is colonialisms deadly legacy.

Brett Wilkins is editor-at-large for US news at Digital Journal. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace.

This article was originally published by " Counterpunch "-

=====

Norman Finkelstein on Israel's 'Murderous Assault on Nonviolent Protesters' in Gaza

Join the DiscussionHow U.S. Taxpayers Fund The World's Most Profitable Corporations

By David DeGraw

May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - We were trying to think of an issue that could possibly be more significant than $21 Trillion in taxpayer money disappearing from the Pentagon. While it is very hard to fathom something more significant than $21 Trillion, the only thing we could come up with is the lack of Return on Public Investment that American taxpayers get

As American taxpayers, did you know that we have been major investors in many of the worlds most profitable corporations?

Yes, significant Research & Development of technology, done by the Pentagon through our public investment via taxpayer funding, has been handed over to global private corporations and foreign countries, for their profit.

Global weapons manufactures, foreign countries and most of Silicon Valleys largest companies have been gifted trillions of dollars worth of technology, at our expense, for their profit.

Meanwhile, instead of having state of the art infrastructure and paying significantly less in taxes, our taxes increase, our infrastructure is collapsing and social services are getting cut, as our National Debt skyrockets to an all-time high.

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Instead of having a record-breaking surplus, we are trapped in a debt death spiral.

Here is a section from our War Profiteers report that covers this incredible swindle and gives a few examples

Return On Public Investment In addition to the looting of our natural resources, various taxpayer-funded public investment initiatives, such as military spending in general, which has been a significant source of Research and Development for Global Private Military Companies and Silicon Valleys profit, return very little to U.S. taxpayers. For one of many examples, when foreign countries purchase weapons from U.S. military companies, a scandalously small percentage of that money goes back to the Defense Department and U.S. taxpayers to cover the costs of developing those weapons. To make matters even worse, the percentage that is supposed to go back to U.S. taxpayers is often waived. Based on a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, from 2012 through 2017, the Pentagon approved $9.2 billion in waivers, which were supposed to be given back to U.S. taxpayers, on weapons sales to foreign countries. $4.5 billion of those waivers were from last year alone, up from roughly $500 million in 2016. Out of the $4.5 billion from the past year, the primarily benefactor was Saudi Arabia, with $3.5 billion in waivers. In other words, Saudi Arabia owed U.S. taxpayers $3.5 billion last year. However, the Trump Administration agreed to waive those costs  just as the Obama Administration had done for billions of taxpayer dollars during his presidency. If you are a stockholder in Lockheed Martin or Boeing though, dont worry. Theyre still getting paid in full. When it comes to the U.S. taxpayers Return On Investment, the $9.2 billion lost to foreign countries in weapons sales is a small percentage of what is lost to Global Military Companies and Silicon Valley overall. While were at it, lets add in the Federal Reserves $4.5 trillion Quantitative Easing scheme, which allows them to retain profits that should be given back to the U.S. Treasury. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other corporate welfare schemes that redistribute wealth from hardworking Americans to the richest 0.01% Global Interests. Global corporations have made off with trillions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer investment. At this point, individual Americans shouldnt even have to pay taxes. The return on decades of public investment into the worlds most profitable Global corporations would be enough to fund the government and state of the art infrastructure nationwide. Unfortunately, due to outrageous corruption, this is not the case  and due to extensive propaganda, this isnt even considered by the public. Instead of having a record-breaking surplus, we now have an all-time high deficit.

The Ongoing Pentagon Audit

With the first ever full-scope audit of the Pentagon happening now, not only can we get a much better understanding of where over $21 trillion in unaccounted for money has disappeared to, we can also get an in-depth view of how our taxpayer-funded Research and Development of technology has been stolen by global private corporations.

It is strategically vital that we raise public awareness and support for the first ever full-scope audit of the Pentagon, which is happening now.

One of the biggest critics of mind-blowing accounting fraud at the Pentagon has been Senator Chuck Grassley. As fate has it, he is now the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If we can rally public support around this issue, he will hold hearings, and we have a solid chance to get a Frank Church-style Congressional Committee very soon.

We cannot overstate the strategic importance of us pounding on this issue now. To the small number of you reading this post right now, it is up to us. If we dont make this issue a major priority right now, who will?

The mainstream medias total blackout on coverage of the Pentagon Audit is the ultimate example of the absolute death of journalism in this country.

Weve received support on this issue from veterans and active-duty soldiers, former and current Intelligence Community officials, accountants and economists, conservatives and liberals, cutting across the entire political spectrum.

People who understand what is happening with military spending, and care about the future of this country, agree on this issue.

What is happening with military accounting cannot be defended. The evidence is overwhelming!

This is our chance to drop a bomb into the heart of the Death Star and blow this issue up. We can blow this issue wide open and strike at the very root of corruption.

We need to stop the looting of our tax dollars and the all-out plunder of the U.S. Treasury.

For more information on this mind-blowing issue, heres a recent radio interview that David DeGraw did with Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert:

This article was originally published by " Change Maker Media "-

=====

Join the Discussion140518TANIS RESIGNATION INVALID

New Dawn FM News

The resignation by JAMES TANIS the Secretary for Peace Agreement Implementation last week has been deemed invalid by his immediate Minister, ALBERT PUNGHAU.

In his letter to MR. TANIS Minister Punghau said that he should have informed him prior to tendering his resignation and also he should have wrote to the President as the Chairman of the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee and not to the Chief Secretary.

On the issue of unauthorized negotiations to settle outstanding debts of the Peace Directorate you have already admitted to President Momis and the Chief Secretary.

In a separate letter to the Secretary, Chief Secretary JOSEPH NOBETAU also highlighted that he would not accept the resignation as he must write to the Chairman of the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee.

MR. NOBETAU also said that Section 40 subsection 1 of the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee act requires him to give a three month notice of his intention to resign.

Last Friday, New Dawn FM talked with MR. TANIS on this and that he had discussed further with the President, Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS on how they will continue into the future.

President MOMIS said that a Deputy Secretary will be appointed to deal with administrative matters of the office whilst MR. TANIS will only deal with negotiations and other important areas of implementing the Peace Agreement.

Ends

US Ambassador to Israel Gave Money to Jewish Terror Group: Reports



David Friedman was president of American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva Center when a donation was made to Qomemiyut Movement, reports say



By MEE staff

The US ambassador to Israel was president of an American charity that donated money to a Jewish group designated a "terrorist organisation" by the United States, Israeli media has reported just days before he was due to open a new embassy in Jerusalem.

David Friedman was the president of American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva Center between 2011 and 2017, which raises about $2m a year for settler-linked programmes, particularly in Beit El and its Beit El Yeshiva religious school Friedman attended as a young man.

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The settlement is also home to the Qomemiyut Movement, an alternative name for Kahane Chai, designated a "terrorist group" by the US State Department in 1997 for alleged links to a deadly shooting in 2005 and harassment of Palestinians and Israelis who want illegal Israeli settlements dismantled.

Citing a report by the Israeli NGO Democratic Bloc, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency said the American Friends group donated 48,000 shekels ($13,000) directly to the Qomemiyut Movement in 2013. The documents show Qomemiyut received the cash from "Shocharei Yeshivat Beit El" - the Hebrew translation of Friends of Beit El Yeshiva. An employer identification number for the organisation on the documents matched that of the American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva, the JTA reported .

Haaretz said that donation was one of several to Qomemiyut totalling about $100,000 between 2008 and that year.

On Monday, Friedman was due to open the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was one of Trump's campaign promises and caused dismay among Palestinians and in capitals across the world as a blow to peace efforts.

'Commitment to Jewish education'

Questioned about the American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva during his confirmation hearing, Friedman said that his presidency derived "from my commitment to Jewish education ... everything we've given money to has been in the nature of gymnasiums, dormitories, dining rooms, classrooms and things like that".

He told the hearing he had no connection to political activity inside the Beit El settlement: "My philanthropic activity there has not been connected to their political activity which I really had no part in."

In response to the claims, Friedman's office told Haaretz: "The ambassador is not familiar with the Qomemiyut Foundation, nor is he aware of any connection between those entities and American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva Center."

Qomemiyut's Facebook page describes its mission as the "strengthening and instilling of the values of the righteousness of the Jewish renewal and preventing the expulsion of the Jews from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights".

The organisation includes far-right Israeli politician Bezalel Smotrich of the Jewish Home Party and Dov Lior, a rabbi who has said Jewish law allows the destruction of the Gaza Strip.

The current head of Qomemiyut, Mousa Cohen, told Haaretz that he was not aware of Friedman's involvement in the donation, saying that "the connection was between the two organisations".

This article was originally published by " MEE "-

=====

Charity headed by David Friedman, US envoy to Israel, gave money to terrorist group

Norman Finkelstein on Israel's 'Murderous Assault on Nonviolent Protesters' in Gaza

Join the DiscussionTravel Bans, Restrictions And Barbed Wire



Do You Want to Travel Around The Middle East? Think Twice!



By Andre Vltchek

May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Do you think it is that simple to travel around the Middle East? Think twice!

Ask Palestinians, about trying to get from a point A to a point B in their own nation.

Some time ago, sitting in an old Ottoman hotel in Bethlehem, I asked a waiter what it takes to travel from there to Gaza, where he said, several of his relatives were living. He looked at me as if I had fallen from the Moon:

There is no way I could travel there. If my relatives get very sick or die, then, in theory, I could apply for an Israeli travel permit to go there, but there is absolutely no guarantee that they would approve, or that I could get to Gaza on time

I tried to appear naive: And what if someone from an Arab country which does not recognize Israel, wants to come here, to Bethlehem? Like, a Lebanese pilgrim or just a tourist? Could he or she enter from Jordan?

The waiter weighed for a while whether to reply at all, but then had mercy on me:

West Bank You know, it only appears on the maps as some sort of autonomous or independent territory. In reality, the borders and movement of the people have been fully controlled by the Israelis.

My friend, a legendary left-wing Israeli human rights lawyer and a staunch Palestinian independence supporter, Linda Brayer, downed another cup of coffee and made several cynical remarks. She was actually illegally smuggled by me into Bethlehem. As an Israeli citizen, she was not allowed to enter the West Bank at all, but since I was driving and she was with me, a foreigner, and on top of it she wore a headscarf (she converted to Islam several years earlier), the Israeli soldiers just let us pass without asking too many uncomfortable questions.

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Bizarre, disgusting, and even mind-blowing? Not for us who live or operate in this part of the world! All this is by now considered as business as usual.

During the last Intifada, I hired a taxi in Jerusalem to the border with Gaza driven by a Russian-Israeli Jew, a student, who literally clashed with a border guard, demanding to be allowed to enter Gaza, in order to see what my fxxxxing government is doing to the Palestinian people.

They did not let him into Gaza. They detained him. As a foreigner, I entered. During my work in Gaza, an Israeli helicopter gunship fired at my hired car. It missed But at least I was allowed to enter and work in Gaza. It is like Russian roulette: sometimes you get in, sometimes you dont, and no explanations are given.

That was the time when the new Gaza International Airport had just opened. After few days of fighting, the runway was bombed by the Israelis, all flights cancelled, and I had to, eventually make my way out through Egyptian Sinai.

Later, I also witnessed how brutal the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights has been; how it has divided countless families and communities. People are forced to shout at each other through the Israeli barbed-wire electric fences. The only way for the families to reunite, at least for a day or two, was to somehow get to Jordan.

The Syrian Golan Heights used to be famous for its delicious apples and ancient Druze community. It used to attract travelers from all over the world. Now it is occupied by Israel, and it is de-populated and monstrously militarized.

You want to travel there? You cannot; not anymore. It is off limits.

*

For years and decades, this insanity of travel bans and restrictions, as well as barbed wire and watch towers, has been applying mainly (although not exclusively) to the territories occupied by Israel. However, now almost the entire Middle East is divided by conflicts, insane regulations and travel prohibitions.

Unless you are a war correspondent, a Western advisor, an intelligence agent or a development worker, dont even think about going to Iraq. Almost like Afghanistan and Libya, Iraq had been thoroughly wrecked by the Western coalition and its allies. On top of it, to get visa there is now close to impossible. In the recent past, the Westerners flooded Erbil and its surroundings; the main city of what was called, unofficially, Iraqi Kurdistan. The place used to be governed by the independence-seeking and shamelessly pro-Western elites, and it used to have its own visa regime. Now even this area is more or less off limits to foreigners.

Syria is still a war zone, although its government, which is supported by the majority of the Syrian people, is clearly winning the brutal conflict ignited and fueled by the West and its client states.

Syria used to be one of the safest, the most educated and advanced countries in the region, built on solid socialist principles. It used to have an impressive scientific base, as well as dozens of world-class tourist attractions. Therefore, applying Western imperialist logic, it had to be first smeared, and then attacked and destroyed.

Logically, Syria is not issuing tourist visas to the citizens of the countries that are trying to destroy it.

Next door, Lebanon is still suffering from the flood of refugees, from geographical isolation and from the various dormant and semi-active terrorist cells.

Travelling from Lebanon to Syria is now almost impossible, or at least very dangerous and difficult. Lebanese citizens can still enter, but at their own risk.

In the not so distant past, people used to drive from Beirut to Europe and vice-versa, via Turkey and Syria. Now this option is just a sweet memory. But then again, in the very distant past, I am often reminded, it was not unusual for the Lebanese middle class to spend a weekend in Haifa, driving their own cars. Now the border between Lebanon and Israel is hermetically sealed. Both countries are technically at war. The U.N. patrols the so-called Blue Line. Apart from drones and Israeli war planes en-route to bombing Syria, nothing can cross.

All along the Turkish-Syrian border, both sides are suffering. Of course, the Syrian people are suffering much more, being victims of the direct Turkish military adventures. But also Turks are now paying a very high price for the war: they are suffering from terrorist attacks, as well as from the total collapse of trade between the two countries. Many villages around Hatay and Gaziantep are quickly turning into ghost towns.

For instance, cities like Adana in Turkey and Aleppo in Syria used to be connected by motorways, enjoying constant flows of people from both ends. There was bustling trade, as well as tourism, and social visits. Now, Ankara has been building an enormous concrete wall between the two countries. No traffic can pass through the border, except Turkish military convoys.

*

For years and decades, it has been impossible to enter Saudi Arabia as a tourist. This fundamentalist Wahabbi client state of the West simply does not recognize the existence of tourism, or leisure travel. To enter the KSA, it has to be either for business or religious pilgrimage.

With its huge territory, the KSA effectively divides the entire Gulf region, when it comes to transportation and the movement of people. There are some loopholes, and transit visas can be obtained (with some luck, difficulties and expense), for instance, for those people driving their own vehicles or taking a bus from Jordan to Bahrain, or to Oman.

Traveling to culturally the most exciting country in the Gulf  Yemen  is now absolutely impossible. Yemen used to be one of the jewels of historic architecture and civilization, counting such cities as Sanaa, Zabid and Shiban. Now the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is occupying the city of Aden and the coast, while Saudi forces are brutally bombing the rest of the country, which is controlled by the rebels.

Then, there is a bizarre conflict which brewing between Qatar (the richest country in the Gulf with the substantial U.S. military presence as well as huge local business-controlled media conglomerate Al-Jazeera), and several other Arab allies of the West, including Saudi Arabia. Borders are presently closed and insults are flying. There is the growing possibility of a military confrontation. Qatar is being accused, cynically, of supporting terrorism, as if the KSA was not doing precisely the same.

*

Flying around the region has become a Kafkaesque experience.

All Middle Eastern and Gulf airlines are avoiding Israel. Some fly over Syria but most of them, dont. The once mighty and now deteriorating Qatar Airways is clearly forbidden to enter the airspace of Saudi Arabia as well as of the United Arab Emirates.

Recently I travelled with Qatar from Beirut to Nairobi, Kenya. It used to be a simple, comfortable commute, which has recently turned into a terrible nightmare. Unable to fly over Syrian and Saudi airspace, a plane has to first fly in totally the opposite direction, northwest, over Turkish airspace, then over Iran, making a huge, almost 90 minutes detour. On the second leg, a trip of less than 4 hours now takes more than 5 hours and 30 minutes! The plane flies directly away from Africa, towards Iran, and then makes a huge loop, avoiding both the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Lebanese MEA (Middle Eastern Airlines) is one of the few airlines that ignores all this, flying directly over Syria, and towards the Gulf states. Most of the others dont dare. But MEA has to avoid Israeli airspace, making often interesting final approaches to Rafik Hariri Intl Airport.

The exception is Turkish Airlines which basically flies over everything and into everywhere, including Israel itself.

*

This essay is not only about the politics and what has led to the present situation, although it is clear that we are talking here, above all, about the neo-colonialist arrangement of the world.

Political nightmare unleashed by the traditional Western colonialist powers and their client states, has led to the geographical divisions; to a perverse state of affairs in this part of the world. Increasingly, the people are losing control over their own nations and the entire region. They have already lost the ability to move about freely through it.

Of course, something similar exists in many other places, including the South Pacific. There, I described the situation in my book Oceania. An entire huge part of the world has been literally cut to pieces by the neo-colonialist powers and their geo-political interests and designs: the U.S., France, Australia and New Zealand have plainly overrun and shackled Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. A once proud and unique part of the world has been fragmented internally: people are brutally separated and forced to depend almost exclusively on the West.

In the Middle East, divisions, walls and barbed wire, are now everywhere; they are visible to the naked eye, but they are also inside peoples minds, damaging the human psyche, making dreams of unity and a common future look very unlikely, and sometimes even impossible.

This used to be one of the cradles of our civilization  a deep, sane and stunningly beautiful part of the world. Now everything is fragmented. The West rules, mainly through its client states, such as Israel, the KSA and Turkey. It controls everything. It governs almost the entire Middle East; nothing moves without its knowledge and permission.

Yes, nothing and no one moves here, unless it suits the West. We dont read about it often. It is not discussed. But that is how it is. This bizarre concept of freedom implanted from the outside. The rulers who were injected into the Gulf and various other occupied nations. The result is horrid: the electric wires, walls and travel restrictions everywhere; the old pathological British divide and rule concept.

*

As I am working on this essay, my plane which is supposed to be flying south-west, is actually hovering north-east, in order to avoid the airspaces of the various so-called hostile states.

Local people may be getting used to the fact that their part of the world has already been re-arranged. Or perhaps they have already stopped noticing.

The computer, however, keeps showing the absurd flying path of the airliner. Computers can be programmed and re-programmed, but they cannot be indoctrinated. Without judging, they are simply demonstrating the absurdity that is unrolling around them, on their screens.

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are his tribute to The Great October Socialist Revolution a revolutionary novel Aurora and a bestselling work of political non-fiction:  Exposing Lies Of The Empire . View his other books here . Watch Rwanda Gambit , his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism . Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter .

First Published by NEO  New Eastern Outlook

=====

Join the DiscussionOliver North, Cocaine Traffickers And Arm Terrorists. Now Hell Be President of the NRA By Jon Schwarz May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The National Rifle Association has always been clear about drugs: Theyre terrifying. Last year, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre darkly warned that members of drug gangs are infiltrating law enforcement and even the military. In 2013, LaPierre proclaimed that Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States, and are a key part of the hellish world that awaits us in the future. When Charlton Heston was president of the NRA in the 1990s, he declared that regular Americans would soon be besieged by 10,000 drug dealers freed from prison by the Clinton administration. It seems odd, then, that the next president of the NRA will soon be Oliver North , who spent years in the 1980s working together with large-scale cocaine traffickers and protecting a notorious narco-terrorist from the rest of the U.S. government. This reality about North has been largely covered up, first by North himself and then by Fox News and the passage of time. Thirty years later, its been almost totally forgotten. But the facts remain genuinely appalling. North was an active-duty Marine when he joined the Reagan administrations National Security Council in 1981. One of Reagans top priorities was organizing and funding the Contras, a guerrilla military force, to overthrow the revolutionary socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. But the Contras engaged in extensive, gruesome terrorism against Nicaraguan civilians. Congress gradually reduced and then eliminated appropriations supporting them, leading the Reagan administration to secretly search for money elsewhere. According to the report from a later congressional investigation , North was put in charge of this operation, which participants dubbed The Enterprise. "Report of the congressional committees investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran; U.S. Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, 1987 North enthusiastically looked for cash wherever he could find it, and led many of the clandestine schemes that later became known as the Iran-Contra scandal. The Sultan of Brunei donated $10 million (which Norths secretary Fawn Hall accidentally wired to the wrong Swiss bank account), and Saudi Arabia ponied up as well. North also pushed what he called a neat idea: selling U.S. military equipment to Iran, with the proceeds passed along to the Contras. Meanwhile, the Contras had a neat idea of their own: facilitating cocaine trafficking through Central America into the U.S., with a cut going toward supporting their war against the Sandinistas. Some Contras were themselves cocaine traffickers, and others were simply happy to make alliances of convenience with drug cartels. Theres no evidence North actively wanted cocaine to be smuggled into the U.S. It was simply that he had other priorities. But was he aware of the Contras drug trafficking? Yes. Did he try to shield one of his cocaine traffickers from consequences from the other branches of the U.S. government? Yes. Did he work together with a known drug lord? Yes. All in all, Norths connections to drug trafficking were so egregious that in 1989 he was banned from entering Nicaraguas neighbor Costa Rica by Oscar Arias, the countrys president and 1987 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. This may seem shocking to the easily shocked. But its all been documented in various government investigations. All you need in order to learn about it is curiosity and an internet connection. For instance, heres a screenshot from the CIAs website about the Nicaraguan Revolutionary Democratic Alliance, or ADREN by its Spanish acronym, which was later folded into the Contras: "Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, CIA, 1998 The full extent of Norths complicity in cocaine trafficking will never be known. When the Iran-Contra scandal story broke in November 1986, he ordered Hall to destroy so many documents that the shredder malfunctioned , and she had to ask White House maintenance to come and fix it. Moreover, when North was removed from his National Security Council job, he took with him 2,848 pages of daily notes  which legally belonged to the federal government. By the time a congressional investigation was finally able to examine the notes, North and his lawyers had redacted huge amounts of information. Nonetheless, 543 of the pages mentioned drugs or drug trafficking, with the probe finding that in many of these cases, material in the Notebooks adjacent to the narcotics references has been deleted. "Drugs, Law Enforcement And Foreign Policy, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 1989 But despite Norths cover-up, what we do know for sure is incredibly damning. Perhaps most significantly, according to Norths own notes he met with Panamas then-dictator Manuel Noriega in London in September 1986 to collaborate on a plan for Noriega to support the Contras in return for American money and arms. They discussed sabotaging a Nicaraguan airport and oil refinery, as well as creating a program to train Contra and Afghan mujahedeen commandos in Panama with Israeli help. (Its not completely clear, but North appears to have written that Rabin  i.e., Yitzhak Rabin, who was then Israels minister of defense  approves.) North was clearly enthusiastic about the potential partnership with Noriega. In an earlier email selling the proposal to one of his superiors, he wrote that we might have available a very effective, very secure means of doing some of the things which must be done if the Nicaragua project is going to succeed.  I believe we could make the appropriate arrangements w/ reasonable OPSEC and deniability. Email, Oliver North to John Poindexter, May 8, 1986 But of course, Noriega was himself a powerful drug trafficker. Knowing this didnt require a top-secret clearance: It was published on the front page of the New York Times three months before North met with him. According to the Times article, A White House official said the most significant drug-running in Panama was being directed by General Noriega. The North-Noriega operation ultimately didnt come to fruition; the Iran-Contra affair was exposed just two months after they met. But the planning that did occur is conclusive evidence that North eagerly worked with drug dealers operating on the largest scale imaginable. Panama Strongman Said to Trade In Drugs, Arms and Illicit Money, New York Times, June 11, 1986 North also went to great lengths to protect an ally who was a key participant in what the Justice Department called the most significant case of narco-terrorism yet discovered. In 1984, Jose Bueso Rosa, a Honduran general, plotted with several others to assassinate the president of Honduras. They planned to fund the hit with the proceeds from selling 760 pounds of cocaine in the U.S. The FBI, however, had the participants under surveillance, intercepted the shipment when it arrived at a small airfield in Florida, and arrested everyone involved. But Bueso had played a key role in Honduran support for the Contras. So North went to work to get him off as lightly as possible. (Bueso had not himself been charged with drug trafficking, but wiretaps made it obvious he participated in that part of the project.) In email, North explained his plans to cabal quietly with other Reagan administration officials to look at options: pardon, clemency, deportation, reduced sentence. Eventually, North planned to have the cases judge informed in camera  that is, secretly  about our equities in this matter, in order to push for leniency. Then, North wrote, it would be necessary to quietly brief Bueso, so that he wouldnt start singing songs nobody wants to hear. North didnt get everything he wanted, but did succeed in having Bueso transferred to a Club Fed minimum security prison. Bueso was released on parole after 40 months. There are also numerous documented examples of North being informed that members of the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, with no signs that North took any action. For instance, after meeting with a key assistant, North wrote in his notebooks about a plane being used by the brother of a top Contra leader to ferry supplies from the U.S. to Central America. Honduran DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans, North jotted down, is probably being used for drug runs into U.S. North testified in front of Congress that hed passed this information along to the Drug Enforcement Administration. When later questioned by the Washington Post, the DEA, the State Department, and the U.S. Customs Service all stated that there was no evidence North ever said anything about the matter to them. Oliver North, notes, August 9, 1985 The same aide who told North about the plane also informed him about the potential involvement with drug running of one Contra official and that another was now involved in drug running out of Panama. And after a call from another subordinate, North noted that the Contras were planning to buy weapons from a Honduran warehouse  and 14 M to finance came from drugs. North was getting similar reports from outside the government as well. Dennis Ainsworth, a Republican real estate investor whod volunteered to help the Contra cause, informed a U.S. attorney that the top Contra commander was involved in drug trafficking, but that the Nicaraguan community was frightened to come forward because they could be blown away by Colombia hit squads. Ainsworth said hed tried to inform the White House about this but we were put off by Ollie North, and I was even physically threatened by one of Ollie Norths associates. (The U.S. attorney later wrote a memo with Ainsworths statements and transmitted it to the FBI.) Regarding Dennis Madden Ainsworth, Information Concerning, FBI, January 6, 1987 North and the NRA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this history. When North ran for Senate in 1994, his campaign spokesperson said his involvement with the Bueso case was old news and garbage and nobody cares about it. In a 2004 appearance on Fox News, North called a congressional investigation that focused on the Contra-cocaine connection a witch hunt with witnesses who clearly had a political agenda. But the extraordinarily sordid nature of Norths past will be clear to anyone who appraises it honestly. In announcing Norths appointment, Wayne LaPierre said theres no one better suited to serve as our President, and hes correct. Oscar Arias wrote Thursday that the NRA finds in Oliver North a leader worthy of its mission. Peter Kornbluh, who was co-director of the Iran-Contra documentation project at the National Security Archive, is even more straightforward: North, he says, is the perfect pick to further the NRAs reputation for favoring bloodshed and criminality over responsible gun control and ownership. This article was originally published by " The Intercept "- ===== 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.U.S. Goes Rogue





How the abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal could mark the start of a Saudi-American-Israeli axis.



By Andrew J. Bacevich

May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - For the past year or so, in speaking to groups, Ive ventured to suggest that Donald Trump will ultimately rank among the least consequential presidents in U.S. history. I did not intend that to be a laugh line.

Trump, I argued, was likely to end up being to the 21st century what James Buchanan was to the 19th and Warren G. Harding to the 20th  someone who, after occupying the White House for a time, departed and left nary a trace. In the end, Trumps defining traits  vulgarity, meanness, self-absorption, and apparently compulsive dishonesty  would count for little in the scales of history. So I believed.

Let me confess that I have now begun to entertain second thoughts. Trumps abrogation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the so-called Iran deal, easily qualifies as the most consequential decision of his administration. For once bluster is matched by action. Trump appears intent on making his mark after all.

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In reaching this decision, Trump ignored the advice  make that, pleas  of traditional U.S. allies such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Instead, the president chose to heed the counsel of his new friends Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Viewed from this perspective, May 8, 2018 marks the inauguration of a Saudi-American-Israeli axis and a major realignment of U.S. strategic relationships.

The creation of this new partnership confirms the fact that NATO no longer constitutes the central pillar of U.S. national security policy. Dating from its creation back in 1949, the purpose of the now essentially defunct Western alliance was to contain the Soviet Union, prevent war, and nurture liberal democratic values. Today the USSR is long gone. And if the West still exists, it no longer really matters, at least in Trumps estimation.

In contrast, the not-quite-explicit purpose of the new Saudi-American-Israeli axis is not to contain the Iranian government, or regime in Trump-speak, but to overthrow it. Indeed, there is ample reason to suspect that Trump and those to whom he looks for advice would actually welcome a war against Iran.

No doubt MBS fancies that such a war will elevate Saudi Arabia to a position of preeminence in the Gulf. For his part, Netanyahu probably fancies that toppling the mullahs in Tehran will enhance Israeli security. There may even be some basis for their views. One can easily imagine the two of them this very day figuratively raising a glass to their pliable pal in the White House. Heres to you, Mr. President!

How engineering regime change in Tehran will benefit the United States is less clear. This is especially true if taking into account the results of Americas success in overthrowing governments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya since 9/11. The facts speak for themselves: When U.S. forces oust an undesirable government in the Islamic world, the inadvertent result is to make things worse. Been there, done that, several times over.

Yet heres the irony: As a candidate for president, Trump seemed to understand that U.S. military interventionism in the Middle East had exacted huge costs while accomplishing next to nothing. If elected, he was going to extricate the United States from endless war. Now, Trump is deep-sixing one of the few glimmers of hope that the United States might some day extricate itself from the mess that it has done so much to create. Instead, apparently egged on by the likes of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, the president has decided to continue the futile and counterproductive effort to assert hegemony in the Greater Middle East.

How will this decision effect the other signatories of the JCPOA? If the Russians and Chinese are smart, they will stick to the terms of the agreement, demonstrating the maturity and consistency that are marks of a mature power. In other words, by doing nothing, they can win big points at Washingtons expense.

How France, Germany, and the United Kingdom will react is the more interesting question. For years now, the United States has verged on going rogue  recall, for example, George W. Bushs thumbing his nose at the world in deciding to invade Iraq in 2003. Now it has definitively done so. If the European democracies pretend that Trumps highhandedness is nothing out of the ordinary, they will forfeit whatever last remnants of political credibility they possess.

By and large, I dislike Munich analogies. But in this instance the comparison may have some merit. In 1938, faced with a megalomaniac in charge of a fearsome military machine and surrounded by a coterie of fanatic militarists, the European democracies wilted, paving away for a great disaster. Today another megalomaniac with a fearsome military machine at his command and responding to the counsel of the latter day equivalent of Goering and Goebbels is on a tear. History will not treat European leaders kindly if they repeat the mistakes of Neville Chamberlain and Eduard Daladier. As an American, I believe that Trump needs to be confronted, not indulged.

When I make promises, I keep them. So Trump stated while announcing his decision to withdraw from the JCPOA. Well, no, Mr. President you dont, as your several wives and sundry business associates can attest. Your modus operandi is betrayal.

The abandonment of the JCPOA is an act of betrayal with global implications. Who will say nay?

Andrew J. Bacevich is author of Americas War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History.Israeli Celebrates: Slaughters 55 Palestinians in Gaza

By ICH & Agencies

May 14, 2018 - Israeli occupation forces killed at least 55 Palestinians along the Gaza fence Monday as angry protesters demonstrated on the day the United States opened its embassy in occupied Jerusalem.

Among the Palestinians killed are five children, including one girl, and among the wounded are 122 children, and 44 women.



27 of the wounded Palestinians suffered very serious wounds, 59 serious injuries, 735 moderate wounds, and 882 suffered light wounds.



772 of the wounded Palestinians were shot with live rounds, three with rubber-coated steel bullets, 91 with shrapnel, 100 cuts and bruises and 737 suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.



65 of the wounded were shot in the head and neck, 116 in their arms, 48 in the chest and back, 651 in the lower extremities, 52 in several parts of their bodies and 737 suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.



The soldiers also caused damage to at least one ambulance, and injured one medic and eleven journalists.

Trump's Message Upon the Dedication of the U S Embassy in Jerusalem

Transcript

The United States under President Harry Truman became the first nation to recognize the state of Israel. Today, we officially open the United States embassy in Jerusalem. Congratulations. It's been a long time coming.

Almost immediately after declaring statehood in 1948, Israel designated the city of Jerusalem as its capital. The capital the Jewish people established in ancient times. So important.

Today, Jerusalem is the seat of Israel's government. It is the home of the Israeli legislature and the Israeli supreme court and Israel's prime minister and president. Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital.

Yet for many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious: the plain reality that Israel's capital is Jerusalem. On Dec. 6, 2017, at my direction, the United States finally and officially recognized Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel.

Today, we follow through on this recognition and open our embassy in the historic and sacred land of Jerusalem. And we're opening it many, many years ahead of schedule.

As I said in December, our greatest hope is for peace. The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and we continue to support the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, including at the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif.

This city and its entire nation is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people. The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace.

We wish Ambassador Friedman good luck as he takes up his office in this beautiful Jerusalem embassy, and we extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors. May there be peace. May God bless this embassy. May God bless all who serve there. And may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.

- See also -

The Israeli Occupation Force just killed this man. They took his land. They took his legs. Then they took his life. Just think about that... #Gaza #Jerusalem #Palestine pic.twitter.com/HvbmZtryri  George Galloway (@georgegalloway) May 15, 2018

Truman Adviser Recalls May 14,1948 US Decision to Recognize Israel

The Real Story of How Israel Was Created

Jared Kushner Speaks at US-Jerusalem Embassy Dedication - Full Speech

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

==See Also==

#_

The farewell of the martyr Said Abu al-Khair (14 years), who was killed by Israeli occupation soldiers today #IsraeliCrimes pic.twitter.com/GIgoK3Ea47  alQuds (@palestine_bs) May 14, 2018

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'Burn them, shoot them, kill them': Israelis cheer in Jerusalem as Palestinians shot in Gaza

UN expresses concern as dozens killed on border ; UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting; EU calls for 'restraint'

The Catholic Church is an instrument of Satan : A look at Robert Jeffress, the controversial figure giving the prayer at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem today

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Join the DiscussionLeah Sharibu, the only Dapchi schoolgirl yet to regain freedom from Boko Haram terrorists today May, 14th marks her birthday with her abductors. The Nigerian government, almost two months negotiated the release of the 105 abducted Dapchi girls.

Miss Sharibu, was one of the 110 girls abducted from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, after their school was attacked by the Boko Haram on February 19. President Muhammadu Buhari, a few days after their kidnap promised the safe return of all the abducted students, while also promising that his administration would ensure the abductors of the Dapchi girls were apprehended and brought to justice.

However, the federal government secured the release of 105 of the girls, following what was described by the Director-General of the State Security Service Lawal Daura as a series of behind-the-scene discussion a month after their abduction, except for Miss Sharibu. Sharibu, who would have been the 106th girl to be freed, was left behind for refusing to denounce her Christian faith.

The remaining four kidnapped girls were reported to have died at the hands of their captors, who entered freely into Dapchi town on March 21 to return the freed girls.

President Buhari promised his administration will not relent in efforts to bring Leah Sharibu safely back home to her parents as it has done for the other girls, shortly after the other girls were returned. President Buhari promised his administration will not relent in efforts to bring Leah Sharibu safely back home to her parents as it has done for the other girls, shortly after the other girls were returned.

See what Nigerians are saying

2day is Leah Sharibu's 15th Birthday but she is currently in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists for refusing to renounce her faith in Jesus Christ, I celebrate you 2day Leah, I pray that you return safely. May God grant ur family the needed strength at this time#FreeLeahSharibu pic.twitter.com/Z5v4D852jO  Oluyemi Fasipe (Igbalode Pastor) (@YemieFASH) May 14, 2018

https://twitter.com/SKSolaKuti/status/995958903555919872

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state in a quick response to President Muhammadu Buharis congratulatory message to Kayode Fayemi, who won the All Progressives Congress, APC governorship primaries in Ekiti, said the president shouldnt be too quick to rejoice as Fayemi would be defeated in the election.

According to Fayose, Mr President should reserve Fayemis seat at the Federal Executive Council(FEC) because Fayemis desperation to be Ekiti governor is dead on arrival.

See what he wrote via Twitter.

President Buhari congratulating Fayemi on his emergence as APC candidate is like day-dreaming.He will surfer another major defeat on July 14.Rather than congratulating him,the President should reserve his seat at the FEC because this desperation to be Ekiti gov is dead on arrival  Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) May 14, 2018

Some Nigerians on the platform have also urged Fayose not to be too quick to believe Fayemi wouldnt win the July 14, gubernatorial election in the state because APC is the party in power now not PDP.

It will be recalled that in 2015, reports emerged that Obanikoro, Chris Uba And General Olukolade Rigged Ekiti Governorship Election in collusion with the Nigeria Army had helped the Peoples Democratic Party win the election in Ekiti. The election which saw Fayose emerge as governor.

See how a lot of people reacted to Fayoses tweet

Obanikoro rigged election for you in 2014 and the same Obanikoro will be deployed to Ekiti and this time for Fayemi What about that?  Musa Ahmed (@Kempez2017) May 14, 2018

The summary is Fayose is jittery. His past bad deeds in 2014 election is haunting him.  Akinlemi Olushola (@SholeskyFX) May 14, 2018

Why the worry for mere congratulations? This is no longer politics. This is public display of enmity, grudge, pain.

How will Nigeria grow with such mindsets in public offices?  DOUBLE DEE (@Double_Dee4U) May 14, 2018

The same way youre desperate to be governor again after your first failed outng. Remember, nobody gave you any chance of comng back except probably your pastor wife, your reelection was highly controversial.Dont be too confident your Excellency, people could decide otherwise  Azeez Nurudeen Adebayo (@AzeezNurudeenA3) May 14, 2018

Where Goodluck used the whole machineries at the Federal Level to get you into power. You guys intimidated and coerced the armies to your favour then.  Ogechi Agim (@AgimOgechi) May 14, 2018

Mr. You keep on disappointing some of us, you were not desperate to complete your 2terms as Ekiti state Governor when you were first impeached in your 1st term and came back after Baba left his seat as the President of Nigeria, to be the Governor d 2nd time  Ogechi Agim (@AgimOgechi) May 14, 2018

Mr Governor, why all this panicking now, lets wait till July 14 and see it with our two eyes and in a free and fair election, if your performance can defeat Fayemi. Pls Mr Ayodele Fayose dont worry yourself, the people of Ekiti State will determine their next Governor.  adediran micheal (@ademicke09) May 14, 2018

If APC now wins, what will you say happened to the Dead on Arrival dream? Resurrection I guess. Just wait till the time sir  Agentblancovic (@blancbeatz) May 14, 2018

When you hear a person speaking authoritatively on Ekiti people that suffer lack and deprivation of social amenities, then you should perceive that evil manipulation is involved.  Femillonaire (@Odimayomioluwaf) May 14, 2018An enormous amount of people came out en masse to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari as he arrived Jigawa state for his 2-day official Visit.

The crowd cheered and waved at the President as he smiled at them. He was also welcomed by Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa and Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state.

See more photos below:

Meanwhile, Former governor of Anambra state and current Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, says President Buhari has so far done well in all ramifications and deserves a second term in office. Ngige said this when he spoke at an APC members meeting in Ojoto, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra.

I stand before you today to say Mr President has done so well in all ramifications. He will be returned by Nigerians in 2019 in a landslide victory, he said

Leave a Comment

commentsTwo wealthy Nigerian students battered a classmate with a shisha pipe as they rowed over whose dad was the richest, a report by UK Sun has revealed.

Elvis Ilonze, 20, who is so rich he had his Mercedes covered in fur, attacked childhood pal Prince Nnaji at their home in Brighton. Ilonze then chased his friend down along with Daniel Oluyemi, 24, as he tried to flee before beating him with a wine bottle.

They also attacked law student Chiedozie Dibiagwu, 23, who was sat on a chair nearby, and pushed Mr Nnajis girlfriend Louanna Rayawa to the ground.

Ilonze and Oluyemi were both spared jail today after admitting two counts of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.

They were instead handed a one-year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, at the Old Bailey following the attack on April 7 last year.

The court was told Mr Nnaji and Ilonze had known each other from when they were in Nigeria but Ilonze decided to teach his pal a lesson after he said he had the richer father.

Privileged Ilonze came to the UK to study a four-year Masters of Engineering degree at The University of Sussex, and is one year away from completing his course.

His lawyer Tom Hoskins pleaded with the judge not to sentence him to more than one year in prison as he would face deportation.

Oluyemi, who is training to become an accountant at the same university, is expecting a child later this year.

His barrister, Johnathan Page, said that the right place for him is at home, preparing for the momentous occasion.

Judge Christine Laing QC said: Unlike many of the people who pass through the courts you both come from, effectively, backgrounds of privilege.

It couldnt be more childish, effectively an insult on somebodys parents  whos got the richer dad  that started this fight.

You both appear to be incredibly immature, perhaps as a result of being cosseted in your upbringing.

The judge added that the pair of them, though immature, have much to contribute to society.

Both Ilonze, who wore a blue suit, and Oluyemi, wearing a grey suit and glasses, thanked the judge for sparing them jail before leaving the Old Bailey dock.

Ilonze, of Hendon, and Oluyemi, of Colindale, North London, admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

They were each given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

-ToriFollowing the arrest of suspected internet fraudsters in Ikoyi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. there have been arguments and counter-arguments on internet fraud Yahoo. Dropping his two cents on the issue, Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has said some Nigerians feel the need to support Yahoo Yahoo not because it is right but because of some thing the government does.

Reno in a series of tweets on Sunday said FGs double standards of releasing confirmed terrorists who repent and arrests young men who may or may not be fraudsters. See what he wrote:

Google FG release repentant Boko Haram members to understand why many Nigerians are saying double standards. Nigerians dont support Yahoo! But what is the agenda of a government that frees confirmed terrorists who repent and arrests young men who may or may not be fraudsters?  Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) May 13, 2018

Afghanistan is officially at war, yet more people died from terror in Nigeria in 2018 than in Afghanistan. In the 1st quarter of 2018, Afghanistan had 763 war related deaths. In the 1st quarter of 2018, Nigeria had 1351 terror related killings. Yet Nigeria is officially at peace.  Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) May 13, 2018

The irony of a government that got elected on the strength of fraudulent promises it never intended to keep now arresting youths for alleged fraudulent crimes. Who taught the youths how to deceive people in the first place? Is it not government that taught the behavior to them?  Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) May 13, 2018Posted 5/13/18

Virginia Alice Cottey was born March 27, 1848, in a log cabin about 10 miles from the village of Edina in Knox County. Her parents were Ira and Sara (Eads) Cottey, and Alice was one of 10 children Sponsored

Vincent Hayes, Global Head of Family Office and International Wealth Management at BNY Mellon Wealth Management describes the evolution of BNY Mellon Global Family Offices 50 years of serving family offices, and how its strategic approach has helped generations of families maintain and grow their wealth.traceto.io has assembled a team of influential industry heavy-weights as investors and advisors including John Ng from Signum Capital to help propel its traceto.io KYC and compliance platform to the next level by ensuring a continuing flow of new clients and partners

SINGAPORE - May 14, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) traceto.io continues to gather momentum with the announcement of prominent ICO advisor and investor John Ng, who is part of the family that built and runs the Far East Organisation, a significant regional property group and financial powerhouse. John's established and highly-regarded reputation as an active deal-maker in both traditional and emerging industries such as cryptocurrency will be a powerful strategic asset for traceto.io as it consolidates its position as a major player in the blockchain sector.

John, co-founder and partner of influential blockchain consulting and investment firm Signum Capital, will act as a key strategic advisor to traceto.io. Signum, which is also an early backer of traceto.io, will mobilize its significant resources and deep blockchain network to help bring other strategic partnerships, reputable investors and connections to drive the project forward. Already in Signum's portfolio are a range of highly-regarded blockchain projects, including Kyber Network, Sentinel Protocol and Republic Protocol, which have all previously relied on traceto.io's parent company Cynopsis' compliance services for running KYC.

The traceto.io project has also already lined-up a stellar team of advisors, including blockchain industry heavy-hitters such as:

Simon Kim, CEO & Partner of Hashed - Korea's largest crypto assets fund, accelerator and community builder

Dr Loi Lui, Founder & CEO of Kyber Network - a decentralised cryptocurrency exchange and rising-star project in the Ethereum ecosystem

Professor Ooi Beng Chin - National University of Singapore Chair Professor - prominent computer science academic and co-founder of big data firm yzBigData, and AI data-driven financial analytics company Shentilium

Wong Lee Hong, veteran business development operator in various tech industries, venture capital investments, banking industry technology regulatory management, and blockchain project advisory (including for Kyber Network)

Nizam Ismail, Partner at RHT Law - prominent financial services regulatory compliance and litigation lawyer with over 25 years experience in the industry including with Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Singapore, Nomura Singapore, and Citigroup

The traceto.io platform has been moving forward in leaps and bounds to realize its vision of being a model for industry best-practice and largest provider of of compliance services to blockchain companies and individual investors. With the advisory board and strategic partnerships it has now assembled, traceto.io will have guaranteed access to an ongoing stream of significant new high-value projects to add to its already huge compliance and KYC services portfolio. Leveraging the networks of its advisors, the founders of traceto.io also expect to be announcing new strategic partnerships, clients and investors in weeks to come.

To learn more about traceto.io visit: traceto.io

About traceto.io

traceto.io is a decentralized Know Your Customer (KYC) network that seeks to bridge the regulatory and compliance gap between the real and virtual worlds.

traceto.io seeks to develop a network based on its extensive KYC framework that will satisfy real-world regulations. It will also provide an ongoing due diligence process that is demonstrable to regulators and fuse smart contracts with A.I. to promote regulatory inclusion.

About Signum Capital

Signum Capital is a Singapore-based firm that exclusively consults in Blockchain-enabled companies. Its mission is to realize the future of Blockchain economy by consulting in game changing projects and companies. It participates in Pre-sale stages of Token Generation Events and Equity investments.

More Info:

This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders

Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions.

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Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.aspMay 14, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) BMO Capital Markets reviewed the latest news involving this gold miner, the announcement of Q1/18 results and a foreign government's request.

In a May 8 research note, Andrew Kaip, a BMO Capital Markets analyst, reported that Kinross Gold Corp. (K:TSX; KGC:NYSE) achieved "a solid earnings beat on strong production and lower costs" in Q1/18, but concerns involving the Mauritanian government "could overshadow Q1 results until more information is available."

As for Kinross' Q1/18 results, adjusted earnings per share were $0.10 versus estimates of BMO, $0.06, and consensus, $0.05. "The beat was attributable to higher production and lower operating costs," Kaip explained.

During Q1/18, the company produced 654 thousand ounces (654 Koz) of gold equivalent (Au eq), more than BMO's estimated 630 Koz. Contributors were "strong results at Bald Mountain and higher-than-expected residual leaching ounces at Maricunga," noted Kaip. Q1/18 sales of Au eq were 668 Koz, exceeding the total ounces produced.

Kinross' all-in sustaining cost (AISC) in Q1/18 was $846 per ounce, well below BMO's estimate of $1,015 per ounce.

The mining firm reiterated 2018 guidance of 2.5 million ounces Au eq at an AISC of $975 per ounce. It maintained its capital guidance for the year at $1,075M.

Operating cash flow was $294 million ($294M), above BMO's expectation of $263M. Similarly, free cash flow of $32M exceeded BMO's forecast of $24M due to greater cash flow and slightly lower-than-estimated capex.

At Q1/18's end, Kinross had $998M in cash and cash equivalents and $1,567M in available credit.

The company's current issue involves its Tasiast mine in Mauritania and the government of that country. Phase 1 of the Tasiast expansion remains on schedule and on budget to reach 12 thousand tons per day of production by the end of June 2018.

However, following the denial earlier in Q2/18 of a development permit for this project, the Mauritanian government recently notified Kinross of its "desire to enter into mutually beneficial discussions regarding the company's activities in country," Kaip relayed. The company is "assessing the situation and the potential impact on its phase 2 expansion at Tasiast." More information is needed, added Kaip.

BMO has a Market Perform rating on Kinross.

Disclosure:

1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article.

Disclosures from BMO Capital Markets, Kinross Gold, May 8, 2018

Analyst's Certification: I, Andrew Kaip, hereby certify that the views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject securities or issuers. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

Analysts who prepared this report are compensated based upon (among other factors) the overall profitability of BMO Capital Markets and their affiliates, which includes the overall profitability of investment banking services. Compensation for research is based on effectiveness in generating new ideas and in communication of ideas to clients, performance of recommendations, accuracy of earnings estimates, and service to clients.

Analysts employed by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and/or BMO Capital Markets Limited are not registered as research analysts with FINRA. These analysts may not be associated persons of BMO Capital Markets Corp. and therefore may not be subject to the FINRA Rule 2241 restrictions on communications with a subject company, public appearances and trading securities held by a research analyst account.

Company Specific Disclosures

Disclosure 2: BMO Capital Markets has provided investment banking services with respect to Kinross Gold within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 4: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has received compensation for investment banking services from Kinross Gold within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 5: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate received compensation for products or services other than investment banking services within the past 12 months from Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 6A: Kinross Gold is a client (or was a client) of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., BMO Capital Markets Limited or an affiliate within the past 12 months: A) Investment Banking Services Disclosure

6C: Kinross Gold is a client (or was a client) of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., BMO Capital Markets Limited or an affiliate within the past 12 months: C) Non-Securities Related Services. Disclosure

8A: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has a financial interest in 1% or more of any class of the equity securities of Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 8C: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has a financial interest in 0.5% or more in the issued share capital of Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 9: BMO Capital Markets makes a market in Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 16: A BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. research analyst has extensively viewed the material operations of Kinross Gold.

For Important Disclosures on the stocks discussed in this report, please click here.

More Info:

This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders

Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions.

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Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.aspYou have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseThe Ames Main Street Farmers Market is a local market that has been a staple of downtown Ames for the past eight years. The market So far, we have seen Apple being sued by frustrated customers for poor performance or other issues with its products. However, the latest suit targeting the company is altogether on a different level. Families of several victims of the EgyptAir flight 804, which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea killing all 66 passengers onboard, have filed a suit against the Cupertino company.

Why file a lawsuit against Apple for a plane crash? Well, thats because the investigation documents point to an overheating iPad catching fire which ultimately led to a bigger fire in the cockpit thereby leading to the crash.

The suit is filed based on a theory by French investigators who claim that the overheating iPad mini 4 or iPhone 6s of a co-pilot played a key role in EgyptAir 804 going down.

While some industry experts have questioned the theory of the French investigators, the families of the victim believe theres enough evidence here to file a suit against Apple for the death of their loved ones.

Its important to note that theres no official government report out on the whole matter yet. And until that happens and it clearly blames Apples products for the plane crash, it is unlikely that any action will be taken against Apple. Egyptian investigators have found traces of explosives on the crash site and from the recovered debris which clearly points to the plane crash occurring due to other reasons.

[Via TMZProactively From the Sea; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.The 5th Annual Janice White Memorial Track Meet will be at Cleveland Middle School on Monday, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm for 5th grade students. Ms. White was a legendary P.E. teacher in the school system. The track meet is meant to be a fun competition between the elementary schools and a great transition activity for 5th grade athletes, as this will be the last event before they become one team of athletes at Cleveland Middle School. The events include a 1600 m run, 800 m run, 400 m run, 200 m sprint, 100 m sprint, 4 x 100 m relay, softball throw, running long jump and a tug competition.



Cleveland City Schools Board of Education Site Committee will meet on Monday, 10:00 am at the Administrative Office Building. Click here to view the agenda. For more information contact Andrea Byerly, 423-472-9571, abyerly@clevelandschools.org.



Cleveland Middle School presents the final performance of the musical Guys & Dolls Jr. tonight, Monday, 7:30 pm. General admission tickets are $8.



Yates Primary hosts the 2nd Grade Wax Museum on Tuesday, 6:00-6:45 pm. Students and their families are invited to attend. For more information contact Mike Collier, 423-479-1723, mcollier@clevelandschools.org.



Cleveland Middle School hosts Rising 6th Grade and New Student Parent Night on Tuesday, 6:30-8:00 pm. School administrators and teachers will provide information on registration, procedures, activities, and clubs/sports at CMS for parents and students. For more information contact Luz Price, 423-479-9641, lprice@clevelandschools.org.



E.L. Ross hosts a school-wide Talent Show on Wednesday, 1:20 pm. Students have been auditioning for the past two weeks, and the selection committee will choose performances to showcase. Stop by Ross and let us entertain you! For more information contact Lisa Earby, 423-479-7274, learby@clevelandschools.org.



Cleveland High School Science National Honor Society hosts the Blythe-Bower Kindergarten classes in the Science Wing on Thursday. This is the sixth year that science teachers and their students engage these enthusiastic kindergarten students in hands-on lessons such as slime making, bubble science, and a walk through the heart. For more information contact Jeannie Cuervo, jcuervo@clevelandschools.org.



George R. Stuart Elementary presents Career Day on Thursday. Fifth grade students have researched careers and will give presentations to other grade levels in the auditorium throughout the day. As a culminating activity at the end of the day, all students will go outside to see emergency vehicles; EMS, SWAT, firefighters, and TWRA personnel will speak about their jobs and how they use their vehicles as part of the job. For more information contact Debbie Nerren, dnerren@clevelandschools.org.



The F. I. Denning Center of Technology and Careers invite you to Graduation, Thursday, 6:30 pm at the Arnold Memorial Auditorium. Parents, families, and the community are invited to this celebration. For more information contact Barbara Ector, 423-339-0902, bector@clevelandschools.org.



Cleveland Middle School hosts Band Instrument Selection on Thursday, 6:30-8:00 pm. Rising 6th grade students are invited to play different instruments and make a selection for band next year. For more information contact Caleb Bolanos, cbolanos@clevelandschools.org.



E.L. Ross Houses that have earned at least 250,000 points throughout the school year will enjoy a House Party Celebration on Friday including inflatables, a water slide, a picnic, outdoor games, and a disco. The House that has earned the most points will be treated to cupcakes and ice cream at the end of the day. For more information contact Lisa Earby, 423-479-7274, learby@clevelandschools.org.



Cleveland High School hosts Graduation, Friday, 7:00 pm in the Raider Arena. Doors open at 5:30 pm. For more information on ticket availability contact Whitney Harden, 423-478-1113, wharden@clevelandschools.org.



Kindergarten Celebration:

Mayfield - Wednesday, 12:00 noon

Field Days:



Office Furniture Warehouse has been awarded $8,500 to reimburse the expense of company efforts to further employees personal and professional development with the newly-adopted Incumbent Worker Training program. The Incumbent Worker Training Program is a competitive grant that provides funding to help eligible Tennessee businesses effectively train and retain employees by providing skills upgrades and process improvement training for existing, full-time employees."All grant projects shall be performance based with specific measurable performance outcomes including the completion rate of the training project, number of employees trained, beginning and ending wages of trainees, and customer satisfaction. officials said.The grant was awarded by the American Job Center in partnership with the Southeast Tennessee Development District Office of Workforce Development."We are proud to partner with SETD on our training goals. says John Jerman, OFW president and founder.We strive to continuously improve our customer experience by providing skill building opportunities for our OFW team."As we ramp up OFW training activities, we will gain efficiencies that translate into savings for our valued customers." said Mark Kleiner, VP of Finance.Office Furniture Warehouse, LLC, winner of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerces 2014 Small Business of the Year Award is a BBB-accredited dealer of new and used commercial furniture, insured office mover and provider of furniture services. Office and showroom, 1900 Stuart St. in Chattanooga, are open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.Zion Assembly Church of God will be celebrating a groundbreaking on Saturday at 11 a.m. for the expansion of its international offices and ministries center. The expansion will include facilities for the beginnings of an envisioned Bible college. The international ministries center is at 5512 Waterlevel Highway, (64 Ocoee East), Cleveland.

Presiding Bishop Wade H. Phillips noted recently in a public address, We are excited for the future of Zion Assembly. We are on a prophetic schedule that cannot be turned aside: for it has been ordained by the Lord! Zion Assembly is promised victory on top of victory if we remain faithful to our call and commit ourselves to stay the course.



This building project represents over 10 years of planning.

The facility will allow for much needed office space. The vision for the Bible college was explained by Bishop Phillips in his annual address in 2011, Nothing short of developing a Bible college and seminary will enable us to offer the kind of thorough ongoing education needed to set our ministers apart and to equip them for the great end-times task of the church --- to ground and settle them in the spiritual and biblical mysteries of the Gospel and the Bible church, and to fully equip them for national and international leadership in the sophisticated and complex world of the twenty-first century.

The new 10,000 square-foot facility will consist of a fellowship hall, academic library, media studio, classrooms, offices, and much-needed additional storage space.



This new facility will be instrumental in Zion Assembly meeting its goals to introduce sinners to Christ and Christians to the church of the Bible. Our media ministries will be able to expand and have a greater impact online. Our educational department will be able to launch both online and in-class programs in connection with the Bible college. We envision training students in both full-time and part-time capacities, said Anton Burnette, Education and Media Ministries director.



Speakers will include Bishop Wade H. Phillips, Bishop Anton Burnette and city and bank representatives.

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Coil Design Corporation officials announced on Monday that the manufacturer will invest $3.4 million to establish its corporate headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Dayton.

Coil Design Corporation plans to create nearly 70 jobs over the next two years.



For decades, Dayton has had a rich manufacturing legacy, especially in skilled trades that supply the HVAC industry, Mr. Rolfe said. By establishing its headquarters and production in Dayton, Coil Design Corporation will play a crucial role in boosting the local economy and providing jobs for the citizens of Rhea County. Id like to thank Coil Design Corporations leadership for the confidence it has in the skilled workforce of Rhea County and look forward to its future impact on the community.



Coil Design Corporation will occupy the former Goodman Manufacturing plant in Dayton. Coil Design Corporation will invest in new equipment and facility upgrades. The plant to is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2018.



At the Rhea County facility, Coil Design Corporation will manufacture and design cooling and heating coils for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the HVAC and refrigeration industries as well as the aftermarket.



Coil Design Corporation will be the supplier of choice for coils in the heating, cooling, refrigeration and aftermarket industries, Coil Design Corporation CEO Paul Guariglia said. We have a skilled staff of employees that manufactured coils at this very site for 21 years under its previous ownership. The presence of an existing, highly trained labor force will allow us to grow at an accelerated pace while maintaining the highest level of quality. Tennessee is a great place to operate a business and Dayton is a location that met all of our needs. We are grateful for the support we have received from the city, county and state.



Coil Design Corporation intends to hire machine operators, copper flame brazing technicians, assembly workers, drafters, engineers and sales personnel.



Were proud to have Coil Design Corporation choose Dayton for its new manufacturing and headquarters operation, Dayton Mayor Gary Louallen said. When so many companies take manufacturing offshore, its great to see a company investing in the U.S. and creating well-paying jobs right here in our community.



Our county is a great place to do business and were excited to have Coil Design Corporation choose Rhea County, Rhea County Executive George Thacker said. We have a business-friendly environment and they are a great fit for our community.

When we first began talking with Coil Design Corporation about choosing Dayton, it was all about the availability of skilled labor, Dennis Tumlin, executive director of Rhea Economic and Community Development said. Being located here in the Greater Chattanooga metro, were able to draw labor from 16 counties to meet their current and future needs. We welcome them to Rhea County.



The Tennessee Valley Authority also supported Coil Design Corporations new operations in Dayton.



Dayton and Rhea County are represented by Sen. Ken Yager (R  Kingston) and Rep. Ron Travis (R  Dayton) in the Tennessee General Assembly.The Planning Commission on Monday recommended approval of a plan by developer John "Thunder" Thornton for five additional homes at his 10-acre Riverview estate.

The okay came though some neighbors had some concerns.

An attorney for some of the neighbors asked for some conditions, including an agreement not to widen the private Rivervista Drive, putting all utilities underground, and putting a bond toward any road repairs brought on by heavy trucks.

Mr. Thornton said he had no plans to widen the road, and he said utilities would be underground. He said he keeps the road up and a road bond was not necessary.

He had requested that some of the new residences have small guest homes on the property, but planning staff said that is not allowed under current Chattanooga rules. Mr. Thornton said the city might re-look at that policy. He said those have been popular in his developments at Jackson Hole, Hawaii and elsewhere.

Mr. Thornton, who is currently developing Jasper Highlands, said he could have put up to 60 homes at the property, but he said he limited it to just five.

He said the new homes will be on about 1.7 acres each and will "greatly enhance the neighborhood."

Charles Albright of Heritage Landing below the site said Mr. Thornton "has not been the best neighbor in the past." He said the residents wanted "total proof" there would not be new water runoff or mud slides.

Mr. Thornton said he had only gotten one complaint from Heritage Landing and had quickly addressed it.

The developer, who acquired the property in 1993 and lives there with his wife, Eileen, called it "a really fabulous piece of property."The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] 6-3 Monday in McCoy v. Louisiana [SCOTUSblog materials] that a defense lawyer cannot admit a clients guilt over the clients objection, even when the lawyer believes this is the clients best chance of avoiding the death penalty.

The case arose after Robert McCoys defense counsel conceded guilt, despite McCoys express objection, because he believed it was his ethical duty to save his clients life and conceding guilt would do so. The attorneys strategy failed, however, and McCoy was sentenced to death.

In an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court held,

that a defendant has the right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsels experienced-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance to avoid the death penalty. Guaranteeing a defendant the right to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence, the Sixth Amendment so demands. With individual libertyand, in capital cases, lifeat stake, it is the defendants prerogative, not counsels, to decide on the objective of his defense: to admit guilt in the hope of gaining mercy at the sentencing stage, or to maintain his innocence, leaving it to the State to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Justice Samuel Alito filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

The court had heard arguments in the case in January after taking it up [JURIST report] last September.The support group for people diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome and their families will hold its quarterly meeting from 4:30-6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22. The Lynch support group meets once every quarter in the Rees Skillern Cancer Institutes Cancer Risk and Survivorship Center, Suite 307. Catherine Marcum, DPN, APN, AGACNP-BC, AGN-BC, advanced practice nurse with training in clinical cancer genetics through the City of Hope, facilitates the group. Rhonda Edwards, licensed clinical social worker, will discuss and teach relaxation techniques.Lynch Syndrome is an inherited disorder that increases the risk for colorectal, endometrial and many other types of cancer. Those with Lynch Syndrome and their family can face a lifetime of screenings and decisions about preventative surgery. This support group gives those affected by Lynch Syndrome an opportunity to talk with others on a similar journey.There is no charge to attend the Lynch Support Group. To RSVP, or for information on cancer risk counseling, call 423-495-GENE (4363).



Three years after the shootings at the Armed Services Recruiting Center on Lee Highway and the U.S. Naval Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway on July 16, 2015, thousands of supporters will participate in the Third Annual Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk to honor and remember those who lost their lives, as well as the hundreds of responders who worked to protect the city.The Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk, presented by Erlangers Level One Trauma Center, will take place on Saturday, July 14 beginning at 8 a.m. The event will include:The five mile loop course will begin at the Naval Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center and end at the Hubert Fry Center at the Tennessee RiverPark.Parking will also be available at the RiverPark.A Stroller Corral will be reserved at the starting line for those who wish to bring a smaller buddy with them to the event. Participants can dress their children in red, white and blue and deck out their jogging strollers for the event.Participants can join virtually if they are unable to travel to the event. Deadline to register is July 10 at midnight.The one mile kids run will begin at 10 a.m. at the RiverPark.Volunteers are needed to assist with pre-run bag packing, set up, race activities, kids run and post run clean up.For more information about the Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk, how one can volunteer or to register for the event, visit www.chattanoogaheroesrun.com The families of Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells and Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall Smith have chosen to use the proceeds from this event to help fund the construction of a permanent memorial space at the RiverPark.Erlanger officials thank the following for their time, manpower and support of this heroes tribute: City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, LIFE FORCE Event Medicine and Rock Creek.Silverdale Baptist Church is planning a new coffee shop and worship venue near its Bonny Oaks campus.

Senior Pastor Tony Walliser said the Bonny Oaks Coffee Shop will have coffee available on the first floor and a worship area on the second floor.

He said the church already conducts nine services per week in four locations.

The coffee shop will be on Bonny Oaks Drive near the church and school.

Pastor Walliser said coffee shops "are today's meeting places."

He said the top floor can also be used for community meetings, events and weddings.Erlanger Health System will celebrate Trauma Awareness month and 30 years of providing trauma services in the region as a Level I Trauma Center on Thursday at noon.

In honor of this milestone, Erlanger is hosting an event showcasing the history of the program and three trauma survivors will share their stories.

Patient stories include: Ashlyn Andersons car was struck by another vehicle and a dump truck resulting in a severe brain injury among other injuries. Kristy Kelly was seriously injured when she suffered a high fall landing on concrete injuries her head, breaking several ribs and multiple other fractures. Aiden Brown fell off the front of his familys pontoon boat and was struck multiple times by the propeller requiring a LIFE FORCE flight to Childrens Hospital at Erlanger.

Officials said, "Erlanger provides the highest level of 24/7 care for critically ill and traumatically injured patients in the region. As southeast Tennessees only Level I Trauma Center designated by both Alabama and Tennessee, Erlanger is the comprehensive resource for a 63-county service area, as well as the tertiary care facility central to the areas Regional Trauma System covering Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina."

The event will be held in the POB dining room at the Erlanger Baroness Hospital Medical Mall and is open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP to Regena Young at 778-5620 or regena.young@erlanger.org. For more information about Erlangers Trauma Services visit www.erlanger.org.PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Police in Gresham, Oregon say a teen girl has been hospitalized after she was struck by a bullet fired from more than a block away.

The girl, who police described as about 16 or 17 years old, was standing outside her apartment talking to friends when she was hit around 10 p.m. on Saturday. Her condition wasn't immediately known but she was expected to survive.

The East Metro Gang Enforcement Team is investigating the shooting. Officers said two men were fighting some distance from the teen, and at least one of them fired a gun, which hit the girl in the stomach. Police said she was not the intended target of the shooting.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

5/13/2018 11:52:01 AM (GMT -7:00)MEDFORD, Ore. -- Governor Kate Brown has declared May National Foster Care Month. As part of her proclamation she made specific points on how housing instability has contributed to the amount of children in foster care.

Research from the Department of Human Services 2017 report reveals foster care has increased 40 percent over the last two years due to inadequate housing. It also found that housing instability played a factor in 17 percent of the removals of children from their family. That means 200 more children were affected over the last two years.

NewsWatch 12 Spoke with the Illinois Valley Community Development Organization, or IVCanDO, which helps families dealing with housing instability in Josephine County. The groups says its fighting misconceptions about the people that need help with affordable housing.

"Your friendly neighborhood waitress may well be working three jobs and living in a car with her child," said IVCanDO Coordinator Kate Dwyer. "It doesn't matter how hard she works if there isn't a house she can afford to get into."

Dwyer has spent significant time with families living in tents, cars, of shelters around the Illinois Valley. She advocates for parents who are struggling with housing to seek help through the school district.

If your family is housing unstable, if you are living on somebodys couch, living in your car, you need to tell your students public school about it," said Dwyer. "Your student is protected by law and the schools want to help. Not just because its the law but because they really do care about your child.

To read more about the DHS's report on foster care, click here.A sea of red ascended on Thursday as a group of close to two hundred local real estate agentsall in red shirtsserved at the Chambliss Center for Children in participation of RED Day, Keller Williamss nation-wide day of community service. Projects ranging from playground mulch, painting and pressure washing were completed to prepare the local center for their wide array of summer activities.

Part of Keller Williams Realtys Mission Statement is to create legacies worth leaving. RED Day stands for Renew, Energize, Donate. Each year on the second Thursday of May, the entire company closes their offices for a day of service in an effort to create legacies worth leaving in their communities.

Contributing to my community is an important part of my life and my business, said Mark Hite, a top-producing agent in the city and a board member at the Chambliss Center for Children. I enjoy working for a company and alongside other agents who value that service, as well.

Locally, Keller Williams has partnered with Chambliss Center for Children for more than 5 years. Keller Williams associates have donated time and money to help clean and prepare for the child care centers summer activities. In addition to those projects, this year agents worked to finish two duplexes on-site for transitional housing as students move out of the foster care system. There are 10 transitional housing units in the Southeast Region, all of which are provided locally by the Chambliss Center.

Many local sponsors joined Keller Williams in the day of service including Jody Millard Pest Control who grilled and served lunch for the team of volunteers. Maryann Azambuja of Choice Home Warranty, RCS Construction, and Jeremy Ames of First Title Insurance provided breakfast.

The four offices have created two public charities called Greater Chattanooga Cares and KWEB Cares to support their own agents during hardship and other non-profits in the community. Each contribute locally and nationally to KW Cares which raised more than four million dollars in grants for KW associates and family members experiencing hardship in 2017 alone.Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, right, talks MI5 head Andrew Parker during symposium on hybrid threat scenarios in Berlin Monday, May 14, 2018. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)Volcanic gases and ash rise from recent lava fissures near Pahoa, Hawaii on Monday, May 14, 2018. The field of hardened lava rocks in the foreground is from previous eruptions. People nixing vacations to Hawaii's Big island has cost the tourism industry millions of dollars as the top attraction, Kilauea volcano, keeps spewing lava. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)Liberal MP Sean Casey rises in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Monday, December 11, 2017. Ottawa says it will spend $350,000 to study ways to protect 275-year-old dikes that connect Nova Scotia to the rest of Canada from being washed away by rising sea levels, storm surges and other effects of climate change. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian WyldThis is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power.EUGENE, OR. -- A Eugene couple said they have been getting harrassing scam calls from people claiming to be the IRS.

But when they called the scammers back, things took a turn.

The wife, who we can only call "Serenity" for her safety, said she has had a history of people trying to make her a victim.

Because of an incident that happened several years ago, she said she refuses to let anyone try to victimize her.

So when these scam calls kept happening, she wanted to give them a piece of her mind.

"I made it very clear. You will not be doing this to me, and I will go to the top if I have to to bring you people down."

"Serenity" said she and her husband have been getting these phone calls for about four months.

It's mainly her husband who gets these calls, and he said they happen at all ours of the day.

A voicemail from one of the calls said, "Custody by the local police, as there are four serious allegations pressed on your name at this moment. We would request that you get back to us, so that we can discuss about this case before taking any legal action against you."

The message goes on to give you a number to call them back with.

The couple checked with the IRS and confirmed that it was in fact a scam, and reported it to police and the District Attorney's office, which is exactly what Scott McKee with Springfield Police said you should do.

"Be very cautious of anyone that calls and starts demanding money for any reason," said McKee. "And if they mention a legitimate government entity, contact that entity through their legitimate contact and just verifty what's going on."

But the scammers wouldn't let up, so "Serenity" called them back to confront them.

During the confrontation, the man on the other end of the call became overly aggressive.

"When I told him again, no, you're not IRS, do not call my number anymore, he proceeded to tell me, well, every which way possible and impossible a human being could be raped and killed, and that he was going to do this to me," said "Serenity."

McKee said it's because of harrassment like this, and the possibility of manipulation, that police urge you not to call these scammers back.

"If you call, then they sort of have you on the line, and that's how people get really manipulated. It's sad, but true."

"Serenity" said she knows she's not really in any danger from this scammer, but wants to let others know how dangerous this could be to your mental and financial well-being.

"Don't be a victim," she said. "You don't have to be. To me, if you act strong and you carry yourself strong, you portray yourself strong, they don't victimize you. They leave you be."

McKee said the best thing you can do is write down those numbers, block them, and report them to police.The political coalition led by prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr emerged as the front-runner as the initial results of Iraq's historic parliamentary election came out in 10 of the 18 provinces, the Iraqi electoral commission said Monday.

Iraqi soldiers vote in a polling station in Baghdad, May 10, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

The al-Sa'iroon coalition won four provinces, including the capital of Baghdad, which has 71 parliamentary seats, the most among all the 18 Iraqi provinces, according to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

The other three provinces it has secured were Dhi Qar, Wasit and al-Muthanna. The coalition also came second in the provinces of Karbala, Basra, al-Qadisiyyah and Babil.

The al-Fath Coalition led by Hadi al-Ameri also won four provinces, namely Basra, Karbala, al-Qadisiyyah and Babil. However, it has garnered 233,289 votes in the capital, compared to al-Sa'iroon's 413,638 votes.

According to IHEC figures, the State of Law Coalition, headed by Nuri al-Maliki, came third in Baghdad province with 211,243, but failed to take the lead in any of the 10 provinces.

The al-Nasr Coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi placed fifth in Baghdad province with 194,797 votes, after the al-Wataniyah (National) Coalition led by Ayad Allawi, which garnered 204,686 ballots.

The initial results do not include voters outside Iraq, and the results of the remaining eight Iraqi provinces will be released later on Monday, Riyadh al-Badran, an IHEC senior official, told the press.

Millions of Iraqis went to 8,959 polling centers across the country on Saturday to vote for their parliamentary representatives in the first general election after Iraq's historic victory over the Islamic State (IS) group last December.

Some 90 political entities and 7,000 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliament.OSAGE, Iowa - By 2030, the Association of American Medical Colleges believes there will be a doctor shortage of about a 150,000 across the U.S. That leaves Shelly Russell of Mitchell County Regional Health Center asking county supervisors for recruitment money to get doctors to call towns like Osage home.

It's expensive to recruit new providers to your community. Many physicians are coming out with student loan debt so the money would be used for that, Russell said.

Around $40,000 is being granted in total in order to move a surgeon and family practice provider to Mitchell County. Russell explains those at the hospital are going to residencies and medical schools to pitch the idea to soon-to-be graduates. The U.S. Census Bureau projects in 2050 there will be nearly 84 million Americans over the age of 65, and with more health issues that means a need for more physicians to help.

People going out. They may have a niece, a nephew, son, daughter, cousin, uncle who practice medicine and recruiting them to this area is critical, Russell said.

According to Nerdwallet, in 2013 an average new doctor will be nearly $170,000 in school debt.WORTH COUNTY, Iowa  A Lake Mills man is being held on $27,000 bond after a traffic stop in Worth County.

Joshua Lee, 36, is being held on charges of drug trafficking, possession of drug paraphernalia, a drug tax stamp violation, operating a non-registered vehicle and failure to provide proof of financial liability.

The Worth County Sheriffs Office said Lee was pulled over at 7:42 p.m. Saturday for a driving a vehicle thats registration expired in 2017. Lee also had a warrant out of Winnebago County.

Lee was allegedly found to be in possession of eight grams of methamphetamine and a pipe.

Authorities claim Lee told them he was having trouble with his vehicle turning.

He was pulled over at 10th St. and 9th Ave. N. in Northwood.CRESCO, Iowa  A trial is scheduled for a woman accused of embezzling thousands of dollars.

Rebecca Sue Creger, 57 of Cresco, is charged with ongoing criminal conduct and 1st degree theft. Authorities say that while she was the treasurer of the Regional Health Services of Howard County Hospital Auxiliary, Creger wrote 26 checks to cash for herself. Shes accused of stealing a total of $20,727.

Her trial is set to begin on September 12 in Howard County District Court.UPDATE: As of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Erie is listed in critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital.

LANSING, Minn.  One person suffered life-threatening injuries in a pickup/truck collision Monday afternoon.

The Minnesota State Patrol says it happened around 4:11 pm at the intersection of Highway 218 and 270th Street, west of Lansing. The westbound car driven by Jazmin Claudia Portillo, 18 of Austin, pulled out in front of the southbound truck driven by Burton Jay Iversen, 79 of Austin.

The State Patrol says Portillo suffered a non-life threatening injury and was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin. A passenger in her car, Megan Marie Erie, 17 of Austin, was transported to St. Marys Hospital with a life-threatening injury. Iversen was unharmed.

All three were wearing their seat belts.

The Mower County Sheriffs Office, Austin Fire Department, and Gold Cross Ambulance assisted at the scene.BYRON, Minn.  A man charged with criminal vehicular operation in a deadly crash in December of 2016 is facing felony drug charges.

Jordan Wilde is facing charges for fifth-degree possession and sales of after the Southeast Violent Crimes Enforcement Team searched a home at 215 2nd Ave. NW in Bryon.

Authorities said they found 60 grams of marijuana wax, 20 doses of 500 milligrams of marijuana oil, 27.2 grams of weed and $2,300 in cash.

The Olmsted County Sheriffs Office said the drugs had a set of labels to make it appear like the products were medical marijuana.

Wilde was the driver of a vehicle that killed a 60-year-old Byron man on New Years Eve in 2016.ALBERT LEA, Minn.  A former Mason City man is pleading guilty to a child porn charge.

Isaiah Jon Homan, 22 and now living in Montevideo, was arrested in November 2016 in Freeborn County and charged with use of a minor in a sexual performance and solicitation of a child to engage in sexual conduct. Authorities say he used a cell phone to send naked pictures of himself to a 14-year-old girl and received naked photos from her.

On Monday his trial was scheduled to finally begin but Homan entered a plea of guilty to use of minor in a sexual performance. His sentencing is set for July 9.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday outlined the United States' plans to help the development of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) if the country agrees to complete denuclearization.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a media availability with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha at the State Department, Friday, May 11, 2018 in Washington. [File photo: AP/Alex Brandon]

Pompeo said on Friday that the United States and South Korea are ready to help the DPRK achieve prosperity if it takes "bold" action in denuclearization.

In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Pompeo elaborated on the plan, which deals with economic and security issues.

"What Chairman Kim (Jong Un) will get from America is our finest -- our entrepreneurs, our risk-takers, our capital providers," he said.

The DPRK "is desperately in need of energy support, electricity for their people. They are -- they're in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, the finest from the Midwest that I come from. We can deliver that."

Excluding the possibility of U.S. economic aid to Pyongyang, the top diplomat said "American know-how, knowledge, entrepreneurs, and risk-takers" will work alongside the DPRK people "to create a robust economy for their people."

He admitted that the aforementioned measures that allow U.S. companies to invest directly in the DPRK are sanctions relief. "If we get denuclearization, of course, there will be sanctions relief."

Also on Sunday, Pompeo told Fox News in a separate interview, "Now, the task is for President (Donald) Trump and he (Kim) to meet to validate the process by which this would go forward, to set up those markers so that we can negotiate this outcome."

On Fox, Pompeo also said the topic of "security assurances" to Pyongyang would surely be put on the table.

He said that the objectives include that the U.S. president would convince the DPRK leadership to the point "where America was no longer held at risk" by the DPRK.

The specifics of the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization process have been a major cause for U.S.-DPRK conflict.

John Bolton, the U.S. national security advisor, demanded earlier that the DPRK ship out all its nuke programs and weapons to the United States to dismantle before the U.S. side grants any concessions. However, Pyongyang insisted on "phased and synchronous measures" in its denuclearization, requiring reciprocal actions by the United States, such as sanctions relief, in exchange.

Pompeo said that there are still "a great deal of details to be worked on" in this regard.

When asked by Fox about his meetings with Kim, Pompeo said their conversations were "professional."

Pompeo said Kim knows what he is trying to achieve for his people. "He is able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it," he said.

Pompeo said the U.S. and DPRK teams would work together to "put our two leaders in a position where it's just possible we might pull off a historic undertaking."

During the inter-Korea summit on April 27 in Panmunjom, Kim promised to dismantle the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in the northeastern DPRK in a transparent manner and show the dismantlement to the world.

On Saturday, the DPRK announced it would hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site on May 23-25, taking a step forward towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump is scheduled to meet the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.ROSE CREEK, Minn. - A Rose Creek toddler battling a rare genetic disorder is one step closer to seeking medical treatment in Germany.

The family told KIMT they are now halfway to their $20,000 goal.

Cora Jean Rubin is living with Primary Lymphedema, leaving her extremities painfully swollen.

After two years of medical visits and potential treatment here in Rochester, and what the family believed to be no real answers, they decided to look overseas for medical attention.

They need to raise $20,000 before they can book tickets to Germany, where they will visit a doctor who specializes in Cora's disorder.

To Donate Click Here.WAUKON, Iowa  A northeast Iowa man accused of killing his step-father is pleading not guilty.

John Michael Quanrude, 32 of Waukon, is charged with 2nd degree murder and his trial is scheduled to begin on June 6 in Allamakee County District Court after Quanrude demanded a speedy trial.

Authorities say Quanrude shot Dean Elliot Russell, 60, on April 16 in a mobile home at the Parkview Trailer Court in Waukon. Russell was taken to the hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.

Quanrude reportedly called 911 and asked for medical help after an accidental shooting. Russells body was found lying face down inside a trailer with a gunshot wound to the chest.

In addition to being Quanrudes step-father, authorities say Russell was also his roommate.MASON CITY, Iowa - If you want to make sure you're going in to the primary elections educated, listen up.

Laws are changing this year when it comes to voting in Iowa. What you need to be aware of is that you'll be asked if you have a form of I.D. and if you don't you'll have to take an oath. Next year, if you don't have an I.D., you will have to fill out a provisional ballot meaning if you can't prove you're a valid voter, your vote won't count.

I think it could be for some people doesn't tend to be for me but not everyone has a drivers license so hopefully they have a procedure for those who don't drive, or a student to that effect, John Robbins from Mason City said.

A roundtable on this is happening Monday from 3pm to 4pm at the Cerro Gordo County Courthouse. Staff from the Iowa Secretary of State's office and the Cerro Gordo County auditor will be leading it.Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

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Xiao Xiao, a female Francois' langur, is pictured with her newborn twins at Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, May 13, 2018. Xiao Xiao gave birth to the pair of unlike-sex twins here in April. Francois' langur babies are born with bright orange fur which turns black within two to three months. The Francois' langur is listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. [Photo: Xinhua]By Celeste Kriel



"This isn't poetry because it's not Shakespeare or Dickens or Goethe or White," author Magda Ayuk writes in her newly released poetry and prose piece, "Blue Bird."



Ayuk's writing in "Blue Bird" is at once an unapologetic weapon against anti-blackness, an ode to women of color and a soothing balm of self-love for all who need it.





Magda Ayuk / Korea TimesNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in this May 9, 2018 photo released on May 10, 2018 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. / REUTERS



US ready to offer North Korea security assurances, investment



The United States is prepared to offer North Korea security assurances and bountiful private investment if it makes the strategic choice to give up its nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged Sunday.



The U.S. price for normalization  complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization  is one Pyongyang has never before been willing to pay, seeing nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee of the regime's survival.



But both countries have been on charm offensives ahead of the summit June 12 in Singapore between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the first ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. On Saturday, North Korea said it will destroy its nuclear test site later this month  a gesture Trump quickly hailed as "very smart and gracious."



Pompeo, who has met twice with Kim, described him as well-informed and attuned to western media coverage, a leader "who knows his brief" and what he wants to achieve.



The secretary said he was "convinced" Kim shared US goals.



"We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure," Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. "This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years. No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible."



"Our eyes are wide open with respect to the risks, but it is our fervent hope that Chairman Kim wants to make a strategic change," he said.



Southern Baptist Pastor Submits Resolution Against Social Justice



CUERO, Texas, May 14, 2018 /



As a result, pastor Arnold has submitted a resolution against social justice to the Southern Baptist Convention, that will consider his resolution at their annual meeting being held in June 12-13 in Dallas. Within the resolution, Arnold states that social justice activism is "a vehicle to promote abortion, homosexuality, gender confusion, and a host of other ideas that are antithetical to the gospel."



The resolution further quotes from former Fox News broadcaster Glenn Beck, who, in a May 2010 broadcast caused a stir by calling on Christians to "run as fast as you can" away from churches that teach social justice.



Russell Moore who is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention that receives a budget of over 4 million dollars annually, is mentioned as bringing the Southern Baptist Convention to a "crisis point" by actively promoting social justice. Moore, who is no stranger to controversy, has articles dating back to 2009, actively calling Southern Baptists to embrace social justice.



Pastor Arnold warns in his resolution that denominations that have embraced social justice have rapidly dropped in membership and have become more liberal in their theology. "If Southern Baptists are concerned with having conservative theology and want to avoid even further numerical losses, they need to talk to their pastors, local associations and state conventions, and tell them to take a firm stand against social justice."



"If Southern Baptists in the heartland knew the extent that social justice was being promoted in the Convention, they would be aghast. Southern Baptists need to know that their cooperative program dollars are going to an agenda they don't agree with."



"If Southern Baptists don't rise up and take a stand now, then in a few years they will be seeing books in their Lifeway bookstores promoting liberation theology, black theology, and feminism, and in their literature, they will be called upon to understand their 'white privilege' and the need to feel guilty about it."



The resolution can be found at



Share Tweet Contact: Grady Arnold, 361-489-7640; www.godlyamerica.org CUERO, Texas, May 14, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- A pastor in Texas is calling Southern Baptists to be alarmed about promotion of social justice within the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor Arnold, a lifelong Southern Baptist, declares that "most Southern Baptist churches have no idea how wide or deeply rooted that social justice is in the Convention."As a result, pastor Arnold has submitted a resolution against social justice to the Southern Baptist Convention, that will consider his resolution at their annual meeting being held in June 12-13 in Dallas. Within the resolution, Arnold states that social justice activism is "a vehicle to promote abortion, homosexuality, gender confusion, and a host of other ideas that are antithetical to the gospel."The resolution further quotes from former Fox News broadcaster Glenn Beck, who, in a May 2010 broadcast caused a stir by calling on Christians to "run as fast as you can" away from churches that teach social justice.Russell Moore who is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention that receives a budget of over 4 million dollars annually, is mentioned as bringing the Southern Baptist Convention to a "crisis point" by actively promoting social justice. Moore, who is no stranger to controversy, has articles dating back to 2009, actively calling Southern Baptists to embrace social justice.Pastor Arnold warns in his resolution that denominations that have embraced social justice have rapidly dropped in membership and have become more liberal in their theology. "If Southern Baptists are concerned with having conservative theology and want to avoid even further numerical losses, they need to talk to their pastors, local associations and state conventions, and tell them to take a firm stand against social justice.""If Southern Baptists in the heartland knew the extent that social justice was being promoted in the Convention, they would be aghast. Southern Baptists need to know that their cooperative program dollars are going to an agenda they don't agree with.""If Southern Baptists don't rise up and take a stand now, then in a few years they will be seeing books in their Lifeway bookstores promoting liberation theology, black theology, and feminism, and in their literature, they will be called upon to understand their 'white privilege' and the need to feel guilty about it."The resolution can be found at www.godlyamerica.orgU.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton / REUTERS



U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday there will be no benefits to North Korea before it fully dismantles all elements of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.



U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet in Singapore next month to discuss the issue of the North's denuclearization.



The U.S. will be putting on the table the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons and equipment, as well as its ballistic missile program and chemical and biological weapons, Trump's top national security aide told ABC News.



"I think the implementation of the decision means getting rid of all the nuclear weapons, dismantling them, taking them to Oak Ridge, Tennessee," Bolton said, referring to the site of a nuclear weapons plant, which stores Libya's dismantled nuclear weapons equipment.





North Korean scientists work at a nuclear facility in Yongbyun, North Pyongan Province. / Korea Times file, screen capture from YTN



By Ko Dong-hwan



North Korea has taken to the road to complete denuclearization  at least superficially  after announcing it would demolish its nuclear test site in front of invited international media outlets.



However, while the communist state's unexpected step has raised expectations of peace across Northeast Asia, the objective will take longer than many have hoped because the future whereabouts of North Korean scientists  the cerebral foundation behind North Korea's nuclear weapons  remains a critical point as Pyongyang waits for the June summit with the U.S. and further meetings with leaders from other countries involved in the geopolitical issue.



Experts in Korea and other countries say that "dismantlement of intelligence" involving up to 10,000 scientists  including 200 core leaders, 2,000 experts and 6,000 technicians  is required along with the demise of test site in Punggye-ri scheduled for May 23-25.



But questions linger whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who, according to North Korean experts, considers the scientists "the state's last card," will agree to this.



When U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea in May and met Kim to discuss the summit, Washington asked Pyongyang to move the North Korean scientists overseas and destroy nuclear weapons program data to make sure North Korea carries out denuclearization most effectively, according to Asahi Shimbun on May 10.



The Donald Trump administration, insisting on a "permanent, verifiable and irreversible dismantling (PVID)," is concerned that as long as its scientists remain, Pyongyang could restart its nuclear program.



South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Monday Pyongyang must "permanently dismantle its nuclear weapons or move the nuclear wastes to the third country." Seoul and Washington want the North to remove its nuclear waste material as part of any denuclearization.



Japanese media's reporting on North Korea's denuclearization on April 22. North Korea announced it was willing to denuclearize the day before. / Yonhap



By Jung Da-min



Japan has been sidelined from the ongoing peace process and North Korea's denuclearization effort.



The latest development is the North's decision to keep Japanese media out during the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear site, planned for May 23 to 25.



The North's foreign ministry said North Korea would invite journalists from six countries, including five member countries of the six-party talks, except Japan. The U.K. is on the list instead.



Japanese media have remained calm.



"Japanese media have responded to North Korea's announcement very calmly by just reporting this news," said Kosuke Takahashi, Tokyo correspondent of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.











Kosuke Takahashi, Tokyo correspondent for IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.By Kang Aa-young, Park Si-soo



It is hard to confirm a lawmaker's claim that Pyongyang agents abducted a North Korean defector-turned-journalist last year and are holding him in a dungeon, South Korea's unification ministry said Monday.



A ministry spokesman told The Korea Times that the journalist, surnamed Choi, was confirmed to have vanished, but it was unclear if he was abducted to the North.





By Kim Rahn



Seoul welcomed Washington's plan to allow U.S. firms to invest in North Korea if Pyongyang completely dismantle its nuclear arsenal.



A Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday that South Korea expects such a proposal to be put into practice as soon as possible.



His remarks followed an interview of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who hinted at private American investment in the reclusive regime which needs to build an energy infrastructure.



"The sooner (the process for such an investment is made), the better," the official said on condition of anonymity.



Some compare such a U.S. stance to the Marshall Plan, a U.S. initiative to provide economic aid to Western Europe to help rebuild economies there after World War II. The official said, "Whatever it is called, (the related parties) are expected to exchange the North's denuclearization for a security guarantee for the regime.



"Regime security means safety, but with a more active interpretation, it means the North will be able to have normal exchanges with international society including the U.S.," he said.



In the interview with Fox News, Pompeo said if North Korea fully dismantles its nuclear programs, "this will be Americans coming in  private-sector Americans, not the U.S. taxpayers  private sector Americans coming in to help build out the energy grid. They need enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea."



He also hinted at the possible investment in infrastructure and agriculture so North Koreans "can eat meat and have healthy lives."



"Those are the things that if we get what the president demanded, the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, the American people will offer in spades."



Pompeo even mentioned sanctions relief. "If we get denuclearization, of course there will be sanctions relief. Certainly. There will be more than that," he said in a separate interview with CBS.



Washington's intention to allow private investment is a positive action for not only Pyongyang but also Seoul, which is seeking inter-Korean economic projects, because American investment will mean not only money but also the Kim regime's security and thus will likely make the projects more stable and sustainable.



President Moon Jae-in's special security adviser, Moon Chung-in, earlier focused on the positive effects of such investment.



"The security of the regime which North Korea wants is a Trump Tower being built along its Taedong River and a branch of McDonald's opening in Pyongyang," he said in a forum ahead of the inter-Korean summit in late April.



"If such business projects are carried out in the North, the country will think it will be safe from U.S. military options," the adviser said.



Meanwhile, President Moon welcomed and highly praised North Korea's announcement of the public dismantling of its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri between May 23 and 25, as well as its release of three American detainees.



"It is meaningful as the initial measures for complete denuclearization have begun," Moon said in a meeting with his secretaries.



He said it was also positive that the North was showing sincerity for the success of its summit with the U.S. "I also highly recognize that Kim is carrying out his promises, which he made during the inter-Korean summit, one by one, following the first one to align its time zone with South Korea," Moon said.

Activists call for a thorough investigation into the North Korean restaurant workers' defection case that took place in April 2016, in a press conference held in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han



By Choi Ha-young



A two-year-old controversy around 12 North Korean restaurant workers, who fled a state-controlled restaurant in China, has been rekindled, following a media report in which three of them claimed they were "kidnapped."



In the news report aired Thursday by cable channel JTBC, four of the "defectors" said they never intended to come to Seoul in April 2016. "The restaurant manager surnamed Huh said the restaurant would move to another area. I figured out we were heading for South Korea, once we arrived at the South Korean embassy in Malaysia," she was quoted as saying.



Huh verified their remarks, saying South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) orchestrated the group defection. "An NIS agent lured me, saying then-President Park Geun-hye was waiting for me. He said a post in the NIS was confirmed for me, but the promise was never fulfilled," Huh said.



The Ministry of Unification said Monday it will look into the renewed controversy. "We are closely looking into the news report," ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said, declining to comment on their possible repatriation to the North. However, the ministry has never met the former restaurant workers, since the spy agency has had custody of them.



Lawyers for a Democratic Society (LDS) lodged a complaint on the same day, against those who allegedly plotted the incident  former President Park, her presidential chief of staff, the former NIS head and former unification minister, as well as Huh. In a press conference Monday, the LDS called for a thorough fact-finding and prompt repatriation of the victims.



Lawyer Jang Kyung-wook, chief of an LDS taskforce regarding the issue, has raised suspicions the defection was fabricated. "The 13 people arrived in Seoul rapidly via a flight and their pictures were also revealed to the public, which was very exceptional," Jang said.



Usually, defection through a Southeast Asian country takes at least a few months. Also, defections are rarely made public, helping the defectors have a smooth settlement in the South.



However, the group defection case was made public on April 5, 2016, only a week before the general elections. At that time, speculation circulated that the conservative administration staged the incident, in a bid to rally conservative voters. In the divided nation under the threat of the totalitarian regime, people tend to vote conservative in the face of the "North Korean factor."



The case was widely cited by conservative groups as a signal of the regime's looming collapse. However, progressive newspapers and lawyers refuted the analysis, raising suspicions it was fabricated.



Interviews of the restaurant workers' parents in the North amplified the ideological confrontation. North Korean state-run media framed it as a "humanitarian issue," calling for their repatriation as a condition for resumption of inter-Korean humanitarian cooperation including reunions of divided families.



Regarding the increasing calls for possible repatriation of the restaurant workers, another defector said she fears forced repatriation to the North. "I would never go back to the North voluntarily. In such a case, please rescue me," defector Kim Tae-hee posted on social media. The Ministry of Unification, however, refuted the spreading rumors about repatriation in a press release Saturday.

Rep. Park Yong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in the National Assembly, May 10. / Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won



By Choi Ha-young



The "water rage" scandal involving a Korean Air heiress rocked the nation, giving rise to consecutive demonstrations staged by company workers. Koreans were enraged by the latest tantrums of Cho Hyun-min, a former senior vice president of the family-run carrier, which already came under fire in 2014 for her older sister's "nut rage" incident.



Rep. Park Yong-jin, a first-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said the simmering anger should target the fundamental and structural root of such scandals so as not to end empty handed.



"It's such an illusion that the two heiresses' ethical lapses or psychological problems are viewed as a fundamental reason," Park said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in the National Assembly, last week. "The scandals were superficial phenomenon of the chaebol system, in which a handful of founding family members have abused their authority."



Park, a member of the National Assembly National Policy Committee in charge of inspecting financial institutions and private firms, believes that political parties need to persuade angry citizens to seek a better economic system. "Like American President Theodore Roosevelt who boldly adopted trust-busting policies, political leaders should be bold in reforming the current chaebol system."



Rep. Park acquired the nickname of "chaebol sniper," following his parliamentary activities during the Assembly audit in October last year. There, the lawmaker took issue with borrowed-name bank accounts owned by the Samsung Group's ailing Chairman Lee Kun-hee.



An intraparty taskforce led by Rep. Park with a goal to impose fines on owners of bank accounts dropped the curtain May 2, after successful mission. As a fruit of its six-month activities, the nation's largest conglomerate had to pay overdue taxes  presumably over 100 billion won ($93.28 million)  and is expected to pay more as new "accounts" have come to light yet.



Still, the ruling party lawmaker agrees with critics who say the liberal Moon Jae-in administration's chaebol reform has "failed to impress." The core reason for this sluggish reform is resistance from the bureaucracy, he alleged.



"For example, Financial Services Commission (FSC) head Choi Jong-ku has been an obstacle in renovating the nation's financial system," Park stated.



Choi, appointed by President Moon, had been reluctant to revise regulations governing the insurance industry. The existing regulations made it possible for Samsung Life Insurance to hold an 8.24 percent stake in Samsung Electronics, which was needed to consolidate Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong's control over the group.



Park has taken issue with the regulation, citing laws that prohibit financial companies from obtaining over 3 percent of non-financial firms. Choi, however, refused to revise the regulation. Park called such a move the "accumulated evils in a bureaucracy."



"Reform of organizations like the spy agency, prosecution and the police are easier compared to reforming economic and financial bodies," he said. "Both conservative and liberal administrations have failed to revamp the economic authorities, because it requires expertise and in-depth knowledge of economics and finance, as well as a determination for reform."



Tiger-like FSS Governor



In this regard, Park pinned high hopes on the newly inaugurated Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) head Yoon Suk-heun. When disgraced FSS chairman Kim Ki-sik resigned, Park said a "tiger" would replace a "wolf." After Yoon's appointment, Park said the 70-year-old professor was the right person for the job.



"For thorough reform of the financial circle, understanding of the market and leadership to persuade government officials are a must, like a tiger reigns over the mountain. A wolf can bite and attack opponents, but it can't persuade others," Park noted.



As seen by the appointment of Yoon, Rep. Park expects the Moon government  which is now concentrating on the denuclearization of North Korea  to slacken the reins on chaebol in the coming years.



Park paid particular attention to FSC chief Choi's recent remarks recommending Samsung Life Insurance to sell its Samsung Electronics stocks. The Ministry of Justice abruptly altered its position on a revision of the Commercial Law, which is under discussion in a bid to protect small stockholders' rights.



"Such alternations of stances reflect the administration's increasing attention to chaebol reform," Park said.



New era of growth



Asked about the ultimate goal of chaebol reform, he accentuated the need for renovating the existing system, ruling out the dissolution of the family-run conglomerates.



"I believe that Samsung Electronics is the only organization which is capable of leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution," he said. "If the company stops agonizing over how to maximize the heir's authority with insufficient shares, it will be able to put a priority on technology development and future-oriented initiatives."



The changes will bring about palpable changes for ordinary people as well. Small- and medium- businesses here, which are making their profits by supplying goods to conglomerates, have no motivation for technology renovation, he said. Conglomerates have forced them to keep their products cheap, in order to maximize benefits for themselves.



"Chaebol reform would vitalize the Korean economy, opening up a new era for Asia's fourth largest economy," Park said. "What I am dreaming of is not a revolution or dismissal of chaebol companies, but continuous efforts to correct wrongdoings," he said.



"Obviously, the family-run conglomerates had a leading role in achieving the rapid growth of the Korean economy. However, the food we ate yesterday may have gone bad," he added.



The lawmaker was unsure as to whether the professional manager system is superior to the family-run system. Still, the nation should not tolerate factors that harm the efficiency of the market economy, he noted.



"The second and third generation descendants of the founding chief have ruled the conglomerates through cross-shareholdings, simply thanks to the same DNA structure as their fathers," he said.



Former street activist



Before joining the Democratic United Party  the predecessor of the DPK  he was a founding member of the progressive Democratic Labor Party, following his longtime devotion to the labor movement. He clinched a parliamentary seat after being defeated in the 2000 and 2008 general elections, in which he ran as a candidate of nonmainstream progressive parties.



As a lawmaker of the ruling party with 121 lawmakers, he aims to institutionalize the changes that he dreams of.



"The proposals for chaebol reform have been discussed for decades but they were never implemented. The minor progressive parties can raise their voices, but it's hard for them make rapid changes. As a ruling party lawmaker, I will do my best to make tangible changes."



Despite his transformation from street activist to politician, he maintains frequent contacts with citizens, as part of an effort to get them to understand the complicated problems of the chaebol system. As of Thursday last week, Park completed his 15th meeting with grassroots organizations and labor unions, primarily on the chaebol issues. He aims to carry out 100 lectures on the issue.



"After an hour lecturing, I could figure out that audiences could see the structural problems beyond the 'water' and 'nut' rage incidents at Korean Air," he said.

By Kim Bo-eun



The third round of talks between South Korea and the U.S. on the former's covering of costs for U.S. troops stationed here began in Washington, Monday (local time).



The two-day negotiations led by Chang Won-sam and his U.S. counterpart Timothy Betts, are taking place to decide how much South Korea will shoulder starting from next year for the 28,500 U.S. troops here, under the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). The last five-year deal expires at the end of this year



A key point of contention is expected to be centered on the costs of deploying U.S. strategic assets here.



In the second round of talks in April, the U.S. proposed that South Korea bear the cost, but Seoul has maintained that the SMA only covers the cost for stationing U.S. troops here; and that for deploying strategic assets should not be addressed in SMA negotiations.



South Korea has proposed that the system of cost provision be changed so that it covers expenditures after they occur, rather than agreeing to pay a certain amount in advance  in order to improve transparency.



The first round of talks took place in March in Hawaii and the second last month on Jeju Island.



The first SMA was signed in 1991 and has been renewed nine times  every two to five years.



South Korea is paying 960 billion won ($887.5 million) this year for South Korean staff at U.S. military bases, building military facilities and purchasing supplies.



The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy civic group claimed the status of the U.S. forces in Korea (USFK) should be reviewed at a time when North and South Korea seek to establish peace on the peninsula, in a meeting last week with the SMA taskforce at the foreign ministry.



This is because the USFK is stationed to protect South Korea from possible attacks from the North.



Earlier, a foreign media report stated U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered a review on scaling down the size of the USFK but the White House denied the report. Cheong Wa Dae also stated that the USFK would continue to play its role here.

Officials of Rainbow Action, an LGBT rights group, hold a press conference in front of the Constitutional Court of Korea, Seoul, Saturday, asking for the abolishment of the Military Criminal Act Article 92-6. / Yonhap



By Park Ji-won



The nation's human rights watchdog is embroiled in controversy over its recent investigation of a former Army chief of staff suspected of masterminding illegal surveillance of homosexual soldiers last year.



The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ended its investigation without questioning chief of staff Jang Jun-kyu despite claims from the alleged victims that he violated the human rights of gay soldiers. Jang allegedly ordered the Army to uncover homosexuals in the military from February to March last year through eavesdropping, monitoring of gay dating applications and questioning soldiers about their sexual orientation.



The Military Human Rights Center for Korea (MHRCK), the advocate of soldier rights, filed an official complaint against Jang in May last year. In a petition to the commission, the center called for a thorough investigation of Jang and four soldiers who followed his order to find gay soldiers, according to the MHRCK.



However, the commission concluded the case citing a lack of evidence.



Gay rights advocates, however, claim the human rights body did not do its job properly.



"Even though Jang Jun-kyu retired from his post, the national human rights body wasn't able to question him, being afraid of high ranking officials," MHRCK official Kim Hyung-nam told The Korea Times.



"How can the body do its job without questioning the alleged assailant? The body cannot conduct proper research on human rights violations in the future as a guardian of such rights in the army if it won't summon a retired general."



Article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Act bans homosexual activity. In particular, the law defines homosexual activity as anal intercourse and also includes unwanted sexual advances. If a person violates the article they are punishable by a minimum prison term of two years. A lieutenant who was allegedly known to have had consensual anal sex with a soldier was sentenced to serve a six-month prison term with one year of probation last year.



The NHRC doesn't have the authority to conduct an investigation in the same way police do, but it can summon and fine a person who refused to show up for questioning, the activist group insisted.



Meanwhile, officials at the commission refuted the allegation of neglecting their duty saying they did their best according to procedures.



"We had a phone interview with Jang and he said he didn't give those orders," an official at the NHRC told The Korea Times.



"We usually conduct an investigation through questionnaires for procedural efficiency. We didn't consider summoning Jang as it wasn't key to the investigation. We have other investigation results which have been driven through other means that weren't enough to prove criminal activities against human rights."

Defense Minister Song Young-moo, right, talks with Kim Hoo-sik, acting chairman of the May 18 Memorial Foundation, at Songjeong Station in Gwangju, Monday. Song was supposed to visit a cemetery to honor victims of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, but failed to appear due to protests from civic groups there. / Yonhap



Song fails to visit national cemetery amid strong protests



By Lee Min-hyung



Defense Minister Song Young-moo pledged Monday to conduct a fair investigation into a brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in Gwangju in 1980 during his visit to the southwestern city.



Song visited Gwangju to honor massacre victims and their families ahead of the 38th anniversary, which falls this Friday.



His visit came at a time when the Ministry of National Defense has in recent months come under criticism amid a controversy that helicopters opened fire on civilians protesting the military coup of Chun Doo-hwan.



Last week, another speculation also surfaced over reported mass rapes committed by military soldiers under the dictatorship.



"We will delve into the truth behind any controversies over the uprising  including the helicopter attack on civilians and sex issues," Song told chiefs of civic groups of the uprising, Monday.



"The defense ministry is in a position to wrap up the fact-finding activities no later than the end of the President Moon Jae-in administration in 2022," Song said. "Under the name of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, we will correct distorted history."



His visit, however, was met with strong protests from some civic groups there.



Song planned to pay his respects to victims of the uprising by visiting a national cemetery there, but he canceled amid fierce opposition from civic activists and some of the bereaved families of the democracy movement.



The defense ministry said the plan was aimed at showing respect to those who gave their lives to the movement, but unexpected protests prevented Song from attending as planned. The ministry added the decision came amid concerns that possible clashes with the protesters could distort the purpose of Song's visit to Gwangju.



"It may give a negative image (over the event) if I push ahead with the plan surrounded by Gwangju citizens protesting with a banner," Song said, promising to pay his respects at the cemetery sometime later.



"I will send buses for relatives of the victims to come to the ministry headquarters no later than the end of this month," Song said. "We can discuss details (on how to resolve the incident). The next time I visit Gwangju, I hope we can pay our respects together."



Song also pledged to investigate the allegations over the reported sex crimes carried out during the 1980 uprising between May 18 and 27.



"We will team up with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to find the facts in the reports," the minister said. "Female investigators will have face-to-face talks with the victims."



The gender equality ministry will join to enhance transparency of the investigation, according to the minister.

Filmmaker Says Mitt Romney Unjustly Labeled Robert Jeffress a Bigot

Contact Jen Thompson: jthompson@livingwaters.com



LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Best-selling author and Christian filmmaker Ray Comfort says that Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, was sadly mistaken when he recently tweeted:

"Robert Jeffress says 'you can't be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.' He's said the same thing about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens United States Embassy in Jerusalem."

Comfort said that tweets such as this can only cause more division in our government, and potentially cause division between Israel and the United States.



He said, "If Mitt Romney knew the Scriptures, he would know that no one is saved by being a Jew. God saves by grace, not by race. I'm a Jew and trust alone in His grace. If Romney knew the Scriptures, he would know that the Jesus revealed in the Bible is not the brother of Lucifer, that God doesn't live on a distant planet with multiple wives, and that we are not all going to eventually become gods. These are just some of the beliefs of the Mormon churchnot doctrines that are found anywhere in the Bible."



Comfort is respectfully asking Mitt Romney to watch a short video of a civil discourse between himself and a very likable Mormon, that Comfort had this past Saturday at Huntington Beach, California: youtu.be/psbxEU43wKc



"The God of the Jews provided one Jewish Savior who went first to the Jews, then the offer of eternal life went universalto the Jews and to Gentiles. The biblical gospel is good news for Jews, Mormons, atheists, Muslims, Hindus, agnostics, etc.'whosoever will may come.' Christianity is not bigotry. It's just the opposite."



For interviews with Ray Comfort, contact Jen Thompson: jthompson@livingwaters.com

Thae Yong-ho, former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in 2016, salutes the South Korean national flag while attending a forum at the National Assembly, Monday. / Yonhap



By Kim Bo-eun



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not give up the state's nuclear program, Thae Yong-ho, the former North Korean diplomat to the United Kingdom and defector to South Korea, said Monday.



He made the claim in a press conference at the National Assembly to mark the release of his book "Password from the Third Floor."



"North Korea's definition of denuclearization is different from the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement we think of. It may reduce the scale of the nuclear weapons it possesses but its end goal is to be a nuclear state that appears to have denuclearized," Thae said.



The former diplomat pointed out that Kim declared his nuclear weapons as a "strong sword and a firm means to guarantee the regime's security" at a key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, April 20.



"Why would he declare the definition of the regime's nuclear weapons in such a way if he were to give them up?" Thae said.



In his book, Thae focuses on the fact the leaders of the North and South agreed on "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," and not on "North Korea's denuclearization" at their April 27 summit.



He alleged the agreement on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a means to drive U.S. forces out of the South.





An office worker checks into his office with his company card in this file photo. / Korea Times file



By Jung Da-min



The country's hourly labor productivity recorded a value of $34.3 last year, up $1.4 from the previous year, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data.



The hourly labor productivity is equal to GDP per capita divided by the total working hours.



This is the largest increase in seven years since 2010 when the increase was $1.6.



The hourly labor productivity first exceeded $30 in 2011.



However, it remains low compared to other OECD members, despite Korea's long working hours.



A single Korean laborer worked an average of 2,069 hours a year, following Mexico and Costa Rica, according to the OECD's 2016 data.



Korea's hourly labor productivity ranked 17th among OECD members.



The country's hourly labor productivity is 38 percent of that of Ireland, and $13 less than that of Spain.



Ireland tops the chart. Spain's economic output is similar to that of Korea.



The average labor productivity of OECD members stood at $48.6 last year.



The country's overall increase in productivity is not a result of growing efficiency.



It is because of a decrease in employment in the manufacturing and services sectors, according to the state-run Korea Productivity Center.



Labor input measured by aggregate employment and working hours in the manufacturing industry fell 1.4 percent last year. The services industry's labor input increased 0.5 percent.



Workers say long working hours do not lead to higher or efficient productivity.



"I think in most Korean offices, there are times when its employees have to stay late because their manager is there also, even though they don't really have any work to do," said an American employee, who recently worked for a Korean company in Seoul for nine months.



"The manager may feel under pressure to stay late, maybe in order to earn a promotion or because he or she feels pressure from company executives, and so that forces employees to stay late as well."



Korean employees said they remain at work even after they have finished their daily tasks.



Working longer hours has long been considered a sign of diligence here.



"I was forced to sit and stay late even without any assignment," said Kim, a former employee of a foreign bank's Seoul branch.



Some expressed concerns that forbidding overtime could create side effects.



"Some are sent home after 6 p.m. to promote work efficiency," said an office worker in Seoul.



But this creates a problem as they are sent home without being able to complete their assignments.



They could have to work at home with their personal laptops, or go back to the office to complete the task, she noted.

By Hannah Jun





Hannah JunBy Doug Bandow





Lest anyone imagine that Kim Jong-un is an international ingenue, consider how well he played the People's Republic of China. Long on Beijing's as well as Washington's naughty list, North Korea forced the PRC to come calling, finally inviting Kim to visit more than six years after he took power.



Then earlier this week Kim received a second invitation. Did President Xi Jinping also promise additional support to keep China involved?



Far from being "as close as teeth and lips," as commonly said, the PRC and North Korea were at best frenemies. Their differences go back to the Korean War. Only massive Chinese military intervention saved the North's founding dictator Kim Il-sung from defeat.



China suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties; Mao Zedong's son is buried in the DPRK. Yet Kim demonstrated little gratitude for the "fraternal assistance." Indeed, when I visited the Victorious Fatherland War Museum in Pyongyang last year, I saw no mention of the PRC's contribution.



Kim zealously guarded his nation's independence. Relations with Beijing worsened as Mao criticized the plan to turn the DPRK into a de facto monarchy, with Kim's son, Kim Jong-il, chosen as heir apparent.



Contrary to the claim that China was using North Korea against the U.S., the PRC was highly displeased with Pyongyang's nuclear program. Beijing wanted a docile client state on its border to provide a stable buffer. The DPRK was anything but pliable.



The PRC desired denuclearization and stability. However, the harder it pushed the former, the less likely it was to get the latter.



Nevertheless, even before President Donald Trump pushed China to do more, an irritated Beijing was steadily tightening sanctions and increasing enforcement. The PRC also downgraded official contact with Pyongyang.



The North responded with vitriolic public criticism of the PRC. The DPRK sometimes appeared to schedule its missile and nuclear tests on important Chinese dates to spite Beijing.



When I visited North Korea last year officials indicated their desire not to be dependent on "any single country."



Kim's execution of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, reflected at least in part the latter's role as the DPRK's chief interlocutor with China; the list of charges against him included selling off land "to a foreign country."



Kim's apparent assassination of his half-brother probably reflected fear that the PRC might try to use Kim Jong-nam, who lived in Macau under Chinese protection, as front-man in a more pliant regime.



By the end of last year, the two countries had little political and fast-diminishing economic contact.



However, Kim's international pirouette changed everything. No doubt, Beijing was happy to see its supposed client turn toward diplomacy. But rather than resumption of the Six-Party Talks, or some other international forum that included the PRC, Kim threatened to build an exclusive bilateral relationship with the PRC's most important rival.



A "grand bargain" with the U.S. could result in Pyongyang looking to the U.S. for both economic aid and security assurances. Worse from Beijing's viewpoint, such an agreement could presage reunification, with creation of a united Korea allied with the U.S. and hosting U.S. troops on China's border.



Chinese policymakers and analysts know that the odds remain against such a transformation, but the mere possibility makes Beijing nervous. In the midst of potentially dramatic geopolitical changes, the PRC is largely out of action.



Kim will be negotiating the region's future without Xi's presence. Rumors that Pyongyang will not demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South, long China's objective, may be intended as a not-so-subtle warning to Beijing.



All of this apparently encouraged the Xi government to show interest in its small ally. China's foreign minister visited Pyongyang in early May, the first trip by a Chinese foreign minister in 11 years. Moreover, there are reports that cross-border commerce has picked up, perhaps reflecting more relaxed Chinese enforcement. Then Kim and Xi met again, in northern China.



Of course, the PRC's friendlier attitude gives Kim a boost in advance of the latter's meeting with President Trump. While it is hard to imagine a bidding war over Pyongyang's allegiance, China's renewed warmth reduces pressure on Kim to make more concessions more quickly.



The upcoming Kim-Trump summit will be full of promise and peril. However, so far Kim has proved adept on the international stage. He even forced his dominating neighbor and nominal ally to come calling, twice. Whatever happens next, Kim has transformed Northeast Asia.





Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is author of Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World and co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America's Troubled Relations with North and South Korea.

By Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu





Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid an official visit to Korea to boost bilateral relations on May 2.







During a summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in, both sides underlined the importance of a better relationship as "blood brothers." Turkey is accepted as a blood brother by Korea because of the unforgettable efforts of Turkish soldiers to protect women and children as well as to sacrifice numerous young soldiers for peace during the 1950-53 Korean War.







Before the talks about the partnership issues, Erdogan congratulated President Moon on the Seoul-Pyongyang meeting, and expressed his wishes for peace and security in the region by guaranteeing Turkey's support for all kind of efforts in this process.







The visit was shaped by three main themes about bilateral cooperation such as the economy, defense, and culture. In the joint press release, two sides showed their expectations on the balanced growth of trade cooperation and quick implementation of the service industry and investments under the FTA framework which was signed in 2012. This was important to mention because the bilateral trade volume is not satisfactory for either side. Erdogan also shared his concerns about this case. He said the total population of the two countries is 132 million and the trade volume should be doubled with this potential to reach around $13-15 billion.







Turkey also invited Korean companies to take part in the Canal Istanbul Project which is a plan to build an artificial canal to link the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea in Istanbul. The Korean companies are already operating major projects in Turkey, and the officials showed their willingness to enlarge the cooperation areas such as construction, manufacturing and nuclear.







A partnership on nuclear power plant construction worth $20 billion which was a hot agenda in 2010 couldn't be realized due to the financial and specific technical problems. But Korea remains an important country for Turkey on the nuclear issue. Even though both sides failed in the power plant project, recently, Korea Nuclear Association and Nuclear Engineers Society of Turkey agreed to cooperate on experience sharing, developing nuclear policy and accommodation of technical needs in March 2018.







Also, officials expressed their desires to improve the talk and meetings of MIKTA which is an informal partnership and led by foreign ministers of Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia. This initiative can create new developments for both countries to work together in a single organization to fulfill various global agendas. These two countries need to perform on different platforms together to understand each other and find new ways to establish different forms of collaboration. It has been frequently criticized that states, by themselves, are sometimes not sufficient to improve bilateral relations.







Guidance from an institutional perspective is necessary regarding issues of international energy, terrorism, good governance, and peacemaking. On this case, Korea might have the support of Turkey, as a NATO ally, on the direction of recent political developments. Turkey has had many experiences of defense partnerships with this enormous organization and, for Korea, this country might be a good source of learning the management process of critical issues.







In the cultural context of their bilateral relations, Turkey announced a new initiative to enhance its cultural ties with South Korea. Turkey will establish a branch of the Yunus Emre Institute in Seoul soon. As a non-profit organization formed by Turkey in 2007 to promote Turkish culture and language all around the world, the institution will provide wide opportunities to the young generation of Korea with language learning courses, certificate programs, education opportunities in Turkey, summer schools and scholarship facilities. It will be a bridge between Turkey and Korea to reach the ideal form of their bilateral relations.







Both nations figured out the importance of new initiatives to improve bilateral relations from the state level to the institutional level. Thus, blood brothers can really become strategic partners in the near future.







Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu (





oztarsu@gmail.com ) is a Turkish analyst in Seoul.By Javier Solana





AACHEN, Germany  With the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement  formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has demonstrated, yet again, that it is determined to destroy major global structures and agreements. The decision will be a massive blow to the 2015 deal, putting the entire world at risk.



The JCPOA  the result of years of difficult negotiations  was agreed by seven countries and the European Union, and unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. Yet Trump has decided unilaterally to impose "the highest level of economic sanction" on Iran and on "any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons."



Now, companies and banks from countries that have lived up to their commitments under the JCPOA stand to suffer considerably, as a result of their legitimate business ties with Iran. In other words, the country that is breaking its promises has decided to punish those that have kept theirs.



The JCPOA can still be salvaged. All of the other parties to the agreement have already reaffirmed their commitment to it. But the EU, in particular, must step up to take responsibility for ensuring that the JCPOA survives. While transatlantic relations are a high priority, so is defending multilateralism  and all of its milestones  from reckless and unjustifiable attacks. This is all the more true when those attacks aim not to put "America first," but to put Trump first.



Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA has come at a particularly sensitive moment for international relations. For one thing, nuclear proliferation remains at the top of the agenda on the Korean Peninsula. While some positive steps have lately been taken, the Trump administration, with its incoherent policy approach, may yet squander this opportunity.



On April 27, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss a formal peace agreement to end the Korean War. The Moon-Kim meeting was a prelude to another extraordinary summit, between Kim and Trump, which will take place on June 12.



The first-ever meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president reflects the significant progress that has been made in the space of just a few months. Lest we forget, 2018 began with Kim and Trump exchanging threats for the umpteenth time, and with Trump going so far as to boast about the size of his "nuclear button."



Since then, however, the U.S. has relied on diplomacy rather than bombast in handling the North Korean nuclear threat  an approach that has enabled recent progress. And yet, just as newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to North Korea to meet Kim for a second time, Trump reverted to his antagonistic modus operandi with regard to Iran.



Negotiating with Kim was always going to be extremely challenging, especially given that North Korea, unlike Iran, already possesses nuclear weapons. With America's diplomatic credibility now undermined by Trump's violation of the JCPOA, that job will be all the more difficult.



Trump tends to express himself in terms of national interests, sovereignty, military capacities, and economic supremacy. Yet his fixation with Iran has little to do with realpolitik. Rather, it is in keeping with his systematic rejection of all policies associated with his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Beyond that, his JCPOA withdrawal is meant to please Trump's two favorite allies in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Israel  the first two countries he visited as president.



Indeed, when Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, visited the White House in March, Trump quickly dispensed with the thorny question of the Saudi-led war in Yemen by denouncing Iranian support for the Houthi rebels. Rather than take the diplomatic initiative to end the fighting and restore stability in Yemen, the Trump administration has continued to fan the flames of an ongoing Saudi-Iranian proxy war that is causing untold suffering and roiling the region.



Similarly, this week the U.S. will move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump's announcement of the move in December already generated great unease in the Muslim world (though Iran's protests were more aggressive than Saudi Arabia's).



The fact that the embassy will be opened precisely on the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence will only intensify the controversy. On the following day, Palestinians will mark the Nakba ("catastrophe"), commemorating the mass displacement of the Palestinian population that resulted from the establishment of the state of Israel.



To be sure, the U.S.'s alliances with Saudi Arabia and Israel are not new. But Trump has abandoned the previous administration's more moderate approach, and thus risks opening a Pandora's box in the Middle East. Hawks in both countries are now emboldened, as evidenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's eccentric attempt to discredit the JCPOA. The same holds true for Iran, where Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA plays directly into the hands of hard-liners.



The current state of affairs does not bode well for the situation in Syria, where all of the region's powers have a stake. Israeli and Iranian forces have already clashed in southern Syria, and Netanyahu's government is now threatening further action in response to reports that Russia may furnish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.



Trump's abrogation of the JCPOA will almost certainly fuel the downward spiral of confrontation in the Middle East, while further complicating matters on the Korean Peninsula. More broadly, Trump's decision could have serious implications for global nuclear nonproliferation efforts, which now face the prospect of backsliding. The stakes in the weeks and months to come could not be higher.





Javier Solana was EU high representative for foreign and security policy, secretary-general of NATO, and foreign minister of Spain. He is currently president of the ESADE Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics and distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).

US offers bigger carrot for North's denuclearization



The United States has hinted at providing not only security assurances, but also generous economic incentives to North Korea if the latter meets U.S. demands for immediate and complete denuclearization. This is raising hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will strike a grand bargain at their summit to be held in Singapore on June 12.



U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has heightened these by saying that Washington will allow the American private sector to invest in North Korea if the Kim regime agrees to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program. His remarks came after he visited Pyongyang for a second time last week, and had last-minute negotiations with Kim to set the time and place for the first summit between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. He returned with three Americans detained in the North.



Some experts and officials speculate that Washington and Pyongyang have agreed in principle to the North's full denuclearization in return for security guarantees for the Kim regime. Pompeo's remarks implied that the two sides might have gone further to agree on how to denuclearize the North and how to compensate for complying with what the U.S calls for: complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.



Yet it is difficult to confirm whether such speculation is true. What's clear is that Washington is at least trying to offer such attractive incentives to Pyongyang that the North's leadership will find them hard to turn down. This can be all the more true when the North said that it had reached a "satisfactory" agreement with the U.S. when Pompeo met with Kim last Wednesday.



Pompeo even said Sunday that the U.S. would agree to lift sanctions on the North if the latter commits to completely dismantling its nuclear arsenal. He apparently signaled that Washington might soften its hard-line position that it would stick to maximum pressure and sanctions until Pyongyang gives up its nuclear and missile program completely.



Such a seemingly eased U.S. stance is likely to give more room for the two adversaries to strike a big deal at the upcoming summit. This might reflect President Trump's determination to make the summit a success even though he officially sticks to his much-avowed principle of denuclearization before sanctions lifting. Trump, a businessman-turned-president, must have kept in mind his signature "art of the deal."



Pompeo's idea of economic incentives for Pyongyang includes the U.S. private sector's help to rebuild the North's dilapidated energy grid, develop the country's infrastructure and boost its agriculture sector. If the idea is translated into action, North Korea could enjoy economic prosperity that will rival that of South Korea. Pompeo also promised not to seek regime change in the North.



We hope Kim will accept this formula so that he can bring economic wellbeing to North Koreans and move toward peace and co-prosperity on the peninsula.



What's more urgent is to push for defense reform



Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo revealed during a recent debate on the national defense budget that South Korea will take over wartime operational control (OPCON) of its armed forces from the U.S. in 2023 when a "national defense reform" project is completed.



It is the first time for Song to make public the timing for the recovery of OPCON, now held by the commander of the Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command who is commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).



The minister's remark has drawn much attention as it comes at a time when talks about North Korea's denuclearization have started in earnest following the April 27 inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjeom. The North Korea-U.S. summit is scheduled to be held in Singapore on June 12.



It cannot be overemphasized that South Korea should recover OPCON at an early date as a sovereign nation by fulfilling the necessary conditions as soon as possible, such as the building up of the ROK Armed Forces' capability to lead the ROK-U.S. combined defense, among others.



Of course, there will be less need for the USFK to have OPCON, if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula through the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.



But what is more urgent than recovery of OPCON is modernizing the nation's weapon systems and military power through bold and efficient defense reforms. A hasty action without full preparation will only cause trouble. The military has to solidify its combined readiness posture through ROK-U.S. mutual assistance and cooperation.



It is needless to say that the nation should cooperate with international society to counter possible misjudged provocations by North Korea. The Ministry of National Defense should waste no more budget on the grounds of reforming national defense. The prerequisite for OPCON recovery is to push the long-awaited reform of the defense system.



Oracle Korea CEO Kim Hyung-rae

By Baek Byung-yeul



Oracle Korea's labor union will go on a three-day strike from Wednesday to protest what they call low wages and poor working conditions.



Oracle Korea employees announced the walkout Monday, as they couldn't reach an agreement with company management. The employees of the U.S. tech giant's local unit have demanded fair wages and working conditions.



"The labor union had met with the company more than 10 times since last December, but couldn't reach an agreement," said Kim Chul-soo, leader of Oracle Korea's labor union. "We conducted a strike vote and decided to call the walkout after 96 percent of voters agreed on the strike action."



The union held the strike vote for three days from Wednesday to Friday. Among its 600 members, 82.5 percent took part in the vote and 96 percent of them voted for the strike.



The labor union has been negotiating three points with the company. It has demanded job stability as the company has frozen wages for 10 consecutive years. It also demanded the company recognize the organization and improve employee welfare.



With the decision to go on strike, employees who joined the labor union will stop work ranging from customer service to licensing.



It is not clear how long the walkout may last, as Kim said the strike would continue until the two sides reach a solution.



"If the company doesn't show signs of change after employees go on strike from Wednesday, the union representatives will hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss extending the strike," Kim said.



Due to the strike, Oracle Korea canceled a press conference scheduled to be held on Thursday. The company was to introduce its cloud business in Korea.



Oracle Korea explained the cancellation is because the company needs more time to communicate with its parent company Oracle, but industry watchers presume the event was delayed due to the strike.



Oracle Korea said it believes there will be an agreement between the two sides after negotiation and it will work to reach an agreement.



Oracle Korea employees established a labor union last September following employees of the Korean units of HP and Microsoft. It was a rare move among employees working for foreign IT firms to establish a labor union.

LG Electronics CEO Jo Seong-jin

By Baek Byung-yeul



BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm, has acquired a significant stake in LG Electronics, becoming the third-largest shareholder of the Korean tech giant.



The U.S. asset manager and its 13 affiliates had owned 4.97 percent of 8.14 million shares in LG Electronics and it acquired an additional 0.07 percent or 102,838 shares on May 7.



This came to attention, as a stake purchase of more than 5 percent in a listed firm requires filing a report with the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Exchange within five days.



With the acquisition, BlackRock is the third-largest shareholder of LG Electronics, following LG Corp and the National Pension Service.



BlackRock said the stake acquisition is for investment purposes only. The U.S.-based global investment manager with assets worth $6.3 trillion under its management reportedly owns about a 1.5 percent stake in Samsung Electronics as well.



Industry watchers presume the stake acquisition might be affected by LG Electronics' recent acquisition of Austrian automotive light maker ZKW. LG acquired a 70 percent stake in ZKW for 1.4 trillion won last month.



The deal was the largest merger and acquisition (M&A) deal in LG's history and LG expects the strategic move will provide synergy in its automotive components business. With the merger, LG Electronics plans for its vehicle components division to record 10 trillion won in revenue by 2020.



Established in 1938, the Austrian company is a global leader in the automotive lighting sector. The light maker recorded revenue of 1.26 billion euros last year and has kept its average annual growth rate over 20 percent for the past five years. The firm supplies parts to BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, all of which are key battery customers for LG Chem, LG's chemical affiliate.



Thanks to robust sales of premium home appliances and TVs, LG Electronics recorded an operating profit of 1.1 trillion won in the first three months of this year. The company raked in 61.4 trillion won in sales last year, which was the company's all-time annual record.



BlackRock also has raised its stake in SK hynix to 5.08 percent.



BlackRock owned 4.99 percent or 36.36 million shares in SK hynix. It reported on May 9 that it acquired an additional 0.09 percent or 651,896 shares.

Seats for GM Korea senior executives are empty while members of GM Korea's irregular workers union chant slogans, as the press conference was canceled at a GM Korea plant in Incheon, Monday. / Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



INCHEON -- GM Korea abruptly canceled a press conference Monday after squaring off against the members of its irregular workers' union.



GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem, GM International President Barry Engle, GM Korea Vice President Dale Sullivan and a number of other senior executives of the automaker were scheduled to announce their GM Korea normalization plans in the press conference at its Bupyeong plant in Incheon, but canceled after delaying it for more than 20 minutes, citing "safety reasons."



GM Korea seeks to put its operation back on track, following a $6.4 billion rescue deal by GM headquarters to salvage the cash-strapped Korean unit. Last week, Kazem spoke of "a bright future" for GM Korea after signing an MOU with the government on their cooperation, but the mood hit a sour note as the executives decided to turn away more than 100 reporters and photographers.



More than 10 union members burst into the conference room at around 9:40 a.m., after skirmishing with company officials who blocked their way, and staged a protest arguing the normalization plan neglects irregular workers and the plan is a deception unless these workers are guaranteed regular jobs.



The union members claimed they would "not interrupt the conference but silently watch," but the management canceled the conference, saying "it is not safe to have the press conference with the union members present and it seems inappropriate to announce amicable future plans in such circumstances."



"This is a worrisome situation for the executives who have experienced a sit-in at the president's office by members of the labor union," a GM Korea official said.



"We were about to explain how GM Korea will turn profitable in the future and discuss our plans to release 15 new models next year. For safety reasons, however, we decided to postpone this press conference." He added the company is yet to schedule another press conference.



However, the union members said the cancellation is proof that the company has no plans for the irregular workers and lacks the will to normalize the company.



"If GM Korea and global GM have intentions of normalizing this company, they must have shown that at the conference," said Hwang Ho-in, the head of the union.



Unlike GM Korea regular workers, the union said job security for irregular workers was not included in the deal between the GM regular workers' labor union and management. Hwang said there are more than 2,000 irregular workers at GM Korea and more than 300 were fired through text message, while the jobs of those still remaining are also at stake amid GM Korea's proposed workforce cut.



"We are sorry for the fuss, but we also wanted to hear what the normalization plan will be and what will happen to our future," Hwang said.

By Nam Hyun-woo



The looming voting showdown between Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) and U.S. activist fund Elliott over the spinoff-merger of Hyundai Mobis will likely be determined by the National Pension Service (NPS), as the automaker tries to persuade shareholders to approve the plan.



According to industry sources Monday, HMG started asking shareholders to approve of the Hyundai Mobis spinoff. Also, securities firms began receiving applications from shareholders who oppose the plan and want to exercise their appraisal rights.



The processes are prior to a May 29 shareholder meeting of Mobis, in which shareholders will vote for or against the group's bid to spinoff the auto parts maker's business divisions and merge them into Hyundai Glovis, the group's logistics unit.



The spinoff-merger is the first step in the group's proposed plan to restructure, which will have Mobis at the top of the group's governing structure and under the HMG owner family's control.



The plan is opposed by Elliott, which claims it lacks a sound business rationale and the share swap ratio between Mobis and Glovis is unfair for Mobis shareholders. Though the hedge fund's stake in Mobis is estimated at 1.6 percent, it is believed to be influential because it is taking the lead in urging shareholders to oppose the plan.



Analysts say this gives the NPS, which is the second largest shareholder in Mobis (9.82 percent), the decisive vote in HMG's restructuring plan.



Currently, Kia Motors, one of HMG's car making units, is the single largest shareholder in Mobis with 16.88 percent. Adding that to the 6.96 percent held by HMG Chairman Chung Mong-koo, the 5.66 percent of Hyundai Steel and the 0.67 percent of Glovis, the total friendly stakes for HMG's plan is 30.17 percent, which gives extra significance to the NPS's nearly 10 percent stake.



"The most important shareholder, the NPS, has yet to show its stance on the spinoff-merger bid," Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Lee Jae-il said. "It is as if the NPS is holding the key to HMG's bid to defend its plan."



The NPS is being prudent before making another important decision that can sway Korea's business circle.



The NPS has faced questions over its investment function as its approval of the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015 stirred controversy over its involvement in the corruption scandal that dethroned former President Park Geun-hye.



Also, currently, the NPS chief investment officer post is vacant as former NPS Chief Investment Officer Hong Wan-seon was jailed for abuse of power in the Samsung C&T merger.



Thus, industry watchers expect the pension operator will be more open to the opinions of outside counselors, such as the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and the Korea Corporate Governance and Service (KCGS).



According to industry officials, the ISS and the KCGS are expected to release their opinion about the HMG restructuring plan this week.



Another factor that will affect the meeting will be the stock price of Mobis. Mobis has set 233,429 won per share as the price for the appraisal right. If Mobis' stock price falls below this, shareholders who oppose the spinoff-merger can oblige Hyundai to buy back their shares at that price.



Mobis has been fluctuating between 231,000 won and 237,000 won last week, but ended at 240,000 won Monday, up 1.27 percent from the previous session.





By Baek Byung-yeul







Lotte Chemical is suffering problems from Malaysian affiliate, petrochemical unit Lotte Chemical Titan, as the latter is struggling with plant operations.







Industry watchers said Wednesday that the affiliate is experiencing operational setbacks at it polyethylene production facility in Malaysia, causing almost 10 billion won in depreciation and repair costs







Lotte Chemical has invested 300 billion won in expanding polyethylene production there since 2015 and the plant is estimated to have a production capacity of 810,000 tons, up 13 percent from the previous capacity of 720,000 tons.







Lotte Chemical Titan is involved in the manufacturing and sales of petrochemical products including ethylene, polyethylene and polypropylene in Malaysia. Lotte bought Malaysia's largest chemical producer for 1.5 trillion won.







Cho Hyun-ryul, an analyst at Samsung Securities said the operation rate at the facility was at 83 percent in the second quarter, dropping from 86 percent in the first.







Lotte Chemical Titan recorded a first quarter net profit of 71.9 billion won, the analyst said, missing a forecast of 91.4 billion won.







The lagging performance of the affiliate also negatively affected parent company, Lotte Chemical.







Lotte Chemical posted a net profit of 662 billion won in the first quarter. This still makes the company the country's leading petrochemical company, but it is 18.8 percent down from 814.8 billion won in the first quarter of last year.







The company said the lower-than-expected first quarter result was driven mainly by poor product margins. The company saw a higher naphtha cost in February due to increased oil prices that rose sharply by over $5 per barrel.







Lotte Chemical listed its Malaysian unit on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange last July and raised about 1 trillion won in fresh funding.

Asiana Airlines said Monday no one was hurt after one of its jets collided with a Turkish Airlines jet as it was moving toward a runway from a taxiway at Istanbul Airport.The incident that happened on the ground damaged the winglet of the starboard wing on its Airbus A330 jet and destroyed the tailfin of a Turkish Airlines Airbus A321. The accident occurred at 5:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. Seoul time) on Sunday, causing a fire on the Turkish plane, Asiana said.Turkish authorities have launched a probe to determine the exact cause of the accident.Two South Korean government officials plan to leave for Istanbul later in the day to observe the probe and collect relevant information over the accident, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.Asiana Airlines said it offered hotel accommodations for the 222 passengers who were on board the Seoul-bound plane, and the passengers are set to arrive in Seoul at 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday on a different plane. (Yonhap)A video capture shows an Asiana plane colliding with a stationary Turkish airliner at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Sunday. / Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo



An Asiana airliner carrying 222 passengers hit a stationary Turkish Airlines plane in Istanbul, Sunday, damaging the latter's vertical stabilizer.



No one was hurt in the collision. The transport ministry is set to launch an investigation to uncover who is at fault.



It may serve as a setback for Asiana which hopes to catch up with Korean Air, given the industry leader is embroiled in a slew of controversies hurting its reputation and pushing its chairman to the brink of resignation.



According to the nation's second-largest airline and international media, the Asiana Airbus A330 heading for Incheon was taxiing on the runway of Istanbul Ataturk Airport before its starboard wing tip touched the Turkish A321's stabilizer.



The collision resulted in a fire on the Turkish jet, forcing fire crews to rush to the scene. The Asiana aircraft's wing tip was also seriously damaged.



The flight to Korea was canceled and the passengers were offered hotel accommodations, according to the Korean full-service carrier. Asiana also sent another plane from Incheon Monday to transport the passengers.



Turkish authorities have investigated the cause of the accident. In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also plans to send its staff to Istanbul to check what exactly caused this incident.



"If the ministry finds the collision is Asiana's fault, the airline will face an administrative measure," a ministry official said.



It may be a bitter pill to swallow for Asiana _ in particular, at a very crucial moment, where its nemesis Korean Air is caught in unprecedented "huge" troubles regarding its owner family's abuse of power against employees as well as a variety of misconduct allegations.



Due to the brouhaha, there had been some whispers that Asiana could narrow its deficit with Korean Air, but the Sunday mishap is expected to put a damper on the company's emergence.



Previously, Asiana made global headlines in 2013 due to its accident in San Francisco, when one of its airplanes struck a seawall as it was landing at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013, killing three Chinese passengers and injuring more than 180.



The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board concluded its flight crew over-relied on automated systems they did not fully understand, leading to a "too low and too slow" landing.



Kim Jong-chul

By Park Jae-hyuk



Former Jeju Air CEO Kim Jong-chul recently unveiled his plans to establish the country's first budget carrier specializing in medium- and long-distance flights.



"Air Premia has been in preparation for its launch since January last year, so as to begin flights next year," Kim said in a press release, Monday. "We are about to set up the company and will apply for an aviation license in the second half of this year."



Given the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has restricted market entry of Aero K and Fly Gangwon, the two small domestic low-cost carriers which sought aviation licenses, the businessman's new project is drawing attention from market observers.



Existing players have maintained a pessimistic view on the potential of newcomers, citing the saturation of the low-cost carrier market.



They claim fiercer competition will lead to a price war that will damage all competitors.



The land ministry said it will also tighten licensing requirements for budget carriers, having newly entering firms to be capitalized at more than 30 billion won ($28 million) and to have a minimum of five aircraft.



Kim has been confident about Air Premia's success and its business strategy.



"Air Premia will offer a more premium economy class with higher consumer preferences and better cost-effectiveness, as well as pioneering new medium- and long-distance routes," he said. "We are pushing ahead with establishing a company that can satisfy consumers and contribute to the country's airline industry."



When he served as Jeju Air CEO from 2009 to 2012, the loss-making low-cost carrier turned to profit.



After leaving the company, he shifted his focus to medium- and long-distance routes and premium economy class, which are still regarded as blue oceans in the Korean market.



"Although the nation's airline market has shown a high growth rate in recent days, foreign budget carriers are rapidly increasing their share in medium- and long-distance routes, because Korean companies have yet to offer flights for longer distances," Kim said.



He promised to offer a 35-inch (seating space) economy class and 42-inch premium economy class at more affordable prices than carriers Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.



According to Air Premia, the company's medium- and long-distance flights will offer free baggage service, in-flight meals and Wi-Fi.



Kim said he has hired experts on safety, maintenance, flight control and marketing.

ST Unitas CEO Yoon Sung-hyuk

By Jhoo Dong-chan



ST Unitas' irresponsible approach to a worker's suicide is igniting a labor rights movement, civic groups said Monday.



The bereaved family of the deceased, surnamed Chang, who committed suicide in January after suffering depression from overwork, demanded an immediate apology and countermeasures to stop the company's exploitative labor practices, but ST Unitas has yet to respond.



Civic groups have since staged a one-person relay protest at the company's head office in Seoul. Activists from various groups, including the People's Solidarity for Social Progress, Youth Union and Research Institute for Alternative Worker's Movements, have joined the protest on a daily basis.



"ST Unitas should stop violating labor laws," said an activist with People's Solidarity for Social Progress during her one-person protest in front of the ST Unitas head office in Seoul, Friday.



"The company has yet to apologize to the bereaved family. It should immediately come up with a disciplinary measure against those who are responsible for Chang's death."





Minor opposition Justice Party leader Rep. Lee Jeong-mi speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly, April 5. The party said it has decided to report ST Unitas to the prosecution for violating labor laws. / Courtesy of 82WebDesignerKendallville, IN (46755)

Today

A shower is possible early. A few clouds. Low 57F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. A few clouds. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, depriving the heart, brain and other vital organs of oxygen. Victims are sometimes found with a cherry red rash, a symptom of carbon monoxide molecules attaching to red blood cells. Some who survive live with irreversible brain damage. One couple described a life where they now struggle with severe memory loss and are dependent on hired assistants.

The gas level in Fred Schaubs home was at least 30 times the level that humans can tolerate. His body was found in his bed, with a rash on his head and chest.

The plants inside the house lost their leaves, said Doug Schaub, his son.

A Risk Detected Early

The keyless ignition was introduced as a luxury feature in Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Germany in 1998, a year after Daimler-Benz filed for a German patent, and entered the American market in 2002. Some carmakers called it the smart key, a wireless device sending a code to the cars computer so the driver can start the engine with a button, instead of a mechanical key. It was meant as an additional selling point for luxury cars: no more fumbling for keys.

The risk identified initially was theft, because drivers might leave the key fob in the vehicle by accident. (In conventional ignitions, under regulations adopted in the 1990s, the key cannot be removed unless the car is in park.) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations general counsel warned automakers in 2002 that keyless ignitions would be prone to mishaps arising from human error. In 2006, the agency updated its regulations to state that with keyless ignitions, a warning must be sufficient to catch a drivers attention before he or she exits the vehicle without the keys.

Two weeks later, a 70-year-old Florida woman, Jeanette Colter, failed to notice that she had left her keyless Toyota Avalon running in the garage. The home filled with carbon monoxide and she collapsed and died between the bedroom and the kitchen, according to her daughter Vickie. Her 89-year-old husband, David, died in the bedroom. They appear to have been the first victims of carbon monoxide poisoning linked to keyless vehicles.

By 2009, a number of such incidents had come to the attention of the Society of Automotive Engineers, which formed a panel to develop recommended practices to address keyless ignition hazards. The objectives included minimizing user-instigated errors like exiting the vehicle while the propulsion system is enabled.

The engineering groups recommendations, issued in January 2011, called on carmakers to install an externally audible or visual alert  implying an unspecified number of beeps, or a warning light  when all doors are closed, the key fob is not present and the engine is still running. If the engine automatically shuts off, the alerts are not necessary.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 14)  The Commission on Election remained firm that unqualified candidates would not be sworn in if they win in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

In a press conference Monday, Comelec Acting Chair Al Parreno said the agency's law division is currently suspending candidates who did not adhere to the required qualifications.

"Para po sa lahat, wag silang magulat. Nag-suspend po kami ng mga taong baka ma-proclaim mamaya na nanalo na SK, dahil kung overage ka, hindi ka namin papaupuin. Isu-suspend namin ang proclamation mo," Parreno said.

[Translation: Don't be shocked because we are suspending those who may be proclaimed winners in the SK polls, because if you;re overage, we will not allow you to swear in. We will suspend your proclamation.]

"Ganoon din po sa mga barangay captain at mga kagawad na hindi naman taga-doon sa distrito nila na nag-file pa rin, non-registered voters, isu-suspend po namin sila," he added.

[Translation: We will also suspend the candidates for barangay captain and kagawad who are not residents and registered voters of the districts they file in.]

According to Comelec rules, barangay candidates must be registered voters in the barangay they are running in. They must also be a resident in the same barangay for at least a year before the elections, able to read and write in Filipino or in the local language, and at least 18 years old.

The Republic Act No. 10742 or the SK Reform Act, meanwhile, sets the age requirement for SK candidates at 18 to 24 years old.

In addition, an SK candidate must be a Filipino, a qualified voter of the Katipunan ng Kabataan, a resident of the barangay for at least a year, able to read and write in Filipino, English, or the local language, not convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, and have no relatives within 2nd degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent official.

There are 1,178,300 candidates vying for 671,168 open positions nationwide.

Parreno said they are processing over 3,000 cases of violators, about 1,000 of whom have been suspended.

Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia, meanwhile, said they hope to resolve all issues by June 30.

"Ang mangyayari diyan, maca-cancel ang certificate of candidacy nila, kapag ang basis is that their declarations in their certificate of candidacy are false. Pag hindi eligible, may procedure diyan for succession," he said.

[Translation: Their certificate of candidacy would be canceled, on the basis of false declaration. There would then be a procedure for succession.]

Guia added while they are still studying the cases, the seat may eventually go to the candidate with the next biggest number of votes.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 14)  The failure to file statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) may constitute laziness  but it is not an indicator of integrity, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said on Monday.

"I'd say failure to file SALN is laziness, not necessarily (lack of) integrity," Hilbay told CNN Philippines' The Source.

"Someone who's not able to file SALN, whether repeatedly or not, is a lazy person... but at the same time, (could) be a person of integrity," he added. "Someone who doesn't accept bribes, somebody who decides cases fairly, can at the same time be lazy with certain administrative matters."

His comment comes after the Supreme Court in a landmark case voted 8-6 to void the appointment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. In a 153-page decision, Associate Justice Noel Tijam wrote that Sereno's failure to submit a complete record of her SALNs constituted "a lack of integrity."

Under Article 8, Section 7 of the Constitution, "a member of the Judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence." Other constitutional requirements provide that a judge must be at least 40 years of age, a natural-born citizen, and a law practitioner for 15 years or more.

Hilbay maintains integrity is one of the "subjective" requirements to being a judge, and is therefore flexible as determined by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). In 2012, the JBC included Sereno in the shortlist for Chief Justice candidates despite the supposed missing SALNs.

Her camp previously said they recovered and submitted about 11 SALNs to the Supreme Court, but admitted that the rest were lost.

The high court granting the quo warranto petition is highly contested, as senators and many in the legal community maintain that impeachment is the only way to unseat a Chief Justice. An impeachment was underway in Congress, but it is now considered moot after the decision.

The former Solicitor General said that the Senate had a very important role to play, as it was one of the "biggest victims of this decision."

Hilbay added that senators he had spoken to were mulling on what to do after the ouster, but the effects of Senate action had yet to be seen.

"They can file a resolution, they can express their opinion with respect to the decision of the Supreme Court," he said. "What weight will that have with respect to the decision of the motion for reconsideration and down the line, we really don't know."

Several senators  including those from the majority coalition, like Senate President Koko Pimentel  have questioned the decision and voiced out the necessity for an impeachment trial.

Sereno's camp is planning to file a motion for reconsideration.

Hilbay noted that the vote was a lot closer than expected, and could still be overturned.

"There are cases where the Supreme Court has changed its mind more than three times in one particular case. Given the closeness of the voting here, I think there will be attempts to either retain the vote or change (it)," said Hilbay.

When asked about the possibility of justices changing their mind, Hilbay said, "For very close cases you always have that... Sometimes justices decide on the day of the voting itself."

The former solicitor general previously appealed "not to demonize" the justices who voted in favor of the decision, as a turnaround was still on the horizon.

Pending a motion for reconsideration, the Supreme Court decision was "immediately executory."

Even then, Hilbay surmised that the former Chief Justice could still make a comeback. Sereno, who is one of the youngest top judges in history, was expected to hold her post until 2030.

"That means that theoretically, with the new President, she can file for the Supreme Court," said Hilbay. "If the President recognizes her status as still the Chief Justice, then you have another live case."

Watch the full interview with Hilbay here.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 14)  It seems like no one is immune from the charm of Wakanda's Queen Mother  even the daughter of Broadway royalty.

Lea Salonga, currently starring in the musical revival of Once on This Island, shared a clip on her Instagram page Monday showing her daughter, Nicole, meeting actress Angela Bassett who played Queen Ramonda in the movie Black Panther.

Salonga was telling Bassett her daughter was a "huge fan," just as Nicole came out of a dressing room. Bassett held out her arms and was about to hug the young girl, when Nicole crossed her arms over her chest, and knelt in front of the actress  just like a true Wakandan.

Bassett did hug Nicole and kiss her forehead, and the young girl's gesture was met with cheers and applause by other Once on This Island cast members.

Salonga could be seen laughing in the clip, later on she's seen holding a mobile phone as she recorded the meeting.

The clip was accompanied by the caption: "So THIS happened tonight after the show!!! My daughter knelt to Wakanda's Queen Mother!!! Thank you for your kindness, @im.angelabassett!!! We were so honored by your presence!!! #WakandaForever."

Bassett is not the first star to see the musical and meet Salonga. Robert De Niro, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Neil Patrick Harris, Tina Fey, and Aga Muhlach have all gone backstage and had their photo taken with Salonga.

Just recently, Salonga posed with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, the stars of the classic 80s flick, The Karate Kid, and the new online series, Cobra Kai.

She captioned the photo: "DEAD! Thank you, gents, for your kindness!!!"Milan, May 14 - 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said that substantial agreement has been reached after a meeting on forming a new government overnight with League leader Matteo Salvini. "The meeting with Salvini went well," Di Maio said. "It served to fine tune the final details of this government. Tomorrow (Monday) we'll go the president's palace". The issue of who will be the premier of the new executive, however, does not seem to have been resolved so far. Di Maio and Salvini have said they are trying to identify a 'third premier' - someone who is neither of the party heads. President Sergio Mattarella will hold talks with the anti-establishment M5S and the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League later on Monday. At 16:30 he will meet M5S representatives and then, separately, he will have talks with a delegation from the League at 18:00.Torre Annunziata, May 14 - Italian police on Monday acted to execute warrants for the arrest of five people over the gang rape of a British tourist on the Sorrento Peninsula in October 2016, sources said. Prosecutors have included the aggravating factor of the use of a date-rape drug in the charges. The attack took place on the last night of the woman's stay in a well-known Sorrento Peninsula hotel. Two barman allegedly gave the 50-year-old woman and her daughter a drink laced with a date-rape drug. The barman then allegedly sexually abused the woman near a swimming pool. She was then allegedly taken to a staff bedroom where "an number of men, at least 10, were waiting and took turns" to rape her. The attack was filmed and photographed by members of the gang with mobile telephones.Aosta, May 14 - Former Aosta Valley Governor Augusto Rollandin is among seven people being probed in an investigation into alleged corruption involving companies the regional administration has stakes in, sources said on Monday. Rollandin is accused of criminal association in the investigation that Carabinieri police have completed, along with former manager Gabriele Accornero and businessman Gerardo Cuomo, the sources said. The case regards alleged bid rigging and misappropriation.Rome, May 14 - Paola Deffendi, mother of tortured and slain Italian research student Giulio Regeni, began a hunger strike on Monday to demand the immediate release of the wife of the director of an NGO that has been assisting the family in Cairo. Amal Fathy, wife of Mohamed Lotfy who heads up the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), was arrested by police in the early hours of May 11 for reasons that remain unclear. Alessandra Ballerini, the lawyer representing the family in its quest for truth concerning Regeni's 2016 disappearance and murder while he was in the Egyptian capital conducting research work for Cambridge university into street hawkers' unions, is also participating in the hunger strike, and the pair have appealed to other women to do the same. "As women, we are particularly upset and concerned about the prolonged detention of Amal, wife of our legal consultant Lofty," the women said in a statement. "No one should ever again pay for our legitimate request for truth concerning Giulio's disappearance, torture and murder," they added. Italian prosecutors believe the Egyptian security apparatus was implicated in the crime.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 14)  President Rodrigo Duterte did not show up in his polling center in Davao City for the barangay elections but it remains unclear why he was not able to vote.

Duterte was supposed to cast his ballot Monday at the Daniel Aguinaldo High School in Matina, Davao City, where his daughter, Davao City mayor Sara Duterte, voted around 10 a.m.

While she did not reveal a specific time, Sara said her father would vote.

Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go said there was "no reason" why the President did not vote.

Duterte spent the weekend in Davao City, but was expected to return to Manila Monday evening for an event in Malacanang.

Commission on Election spokesperson James Jimenez told CNN Philippines they have no information why Duterte did not show up, but rules would still be followed.

"The rule simply is that voting closes at 3 p.m., if you're not in the polling place by 3 p.m., and you're not in the list of people who are allowed to finish the voting process until even after 3 p.m., then that might cause a problem for anyone who hasn't been able to vote yet," he said.

"I guess we'll find out how the local Comelec deals with this particular issue considering the personalities involved," Jimenez added.

Meanwhile, the old wooden chair that Duterte used when he cast his vote during the 2016 presidential elections has been secured as a "historical" chair by the school and has been placed inside a glass case.The driver of a Tesla electric car had the vehicles semi-autonomous Autopilot mode engaged when she slammed into the back of a Utah fire truck Friday, in the latest crash involving a car with self-driving features.

The 28-year-old driver of the car told police in South Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City, that the Autopilot system was switched on and that she had been looking at her phone before the crash.

Tesla Inc.'s Autopilot system uses radar, cameras with 360-degree visibility and sensors to detect nearby cars and objects. It is built so cars can automatically change lanes, steer, park and brake to help avoid collisions.

The Palo Alto automaker markets the system as the future of driving, but it warns drivers to remain alert while using Autopilot and not to rely on it entirely to avoid accidents. Police reiterated that warning Monday.

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A Tesla spokesperson did not comment after the disclosure about the use of the feature.

On Twitter, Tesla co-founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk said it was super messed up that the incident was garnering public attention, while thousands of accidents involving traditional automobiles get almost no coverage.

South Jordan police said the Tesla Model S sedan was going 60 miles per hour when it slammed into the back of a fire truck that was stopped at a red light. The car appeared not to brake before impact, police said.

The driver, whom police have not named, was taken to a hospital with a broken foot. The driver of the fire truck suffered whiplash and was not taken to a hospital.

Whats actually amazing about this accident is that a Model S hit a fire truck at 60 mph and the driver only broke an ankle, Musk tweeted. An impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not opened an investigation into the crash, board spokesman Keith Holloway said, though it could decide to do so.

Over the last two months, federal officials have opened investigations into at least two other crashes involving Tesla vehicles.

Last week, the NTSB opened an investigation into an incident in which a Model S caught fire after crashing into a wall in Florida. Two 18-year-olds were trapped in the vehicle and died in the flames. The safety agency has said it does not expect the semi-autonomous system to be a focus of that investigation.

The NTSB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are also looking into the performance of the Teslas Autopilot system in the March crash of a Tesla Model X SUV on a Northern California highway. The driver in that incident died.

The investigation into the crash in Utah is ongoing, police said. The driver of the Tesla may face charges for failing to maintain the safety of her vehicle, which would be a traffic infraction, according to police spokesman Sgt. Samuel Winkler.

UPDATES:

4:05 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional details and background information.

This article was originally published at 3:40 p.m.CBS Corp. has essentially declared war on its controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, setting the stage for an epic battle for control of one of Americas oldest and most popular broadcasting companies.

CBS board on Monday filed a lawsuit intended to thwart Redstones effort to push through a merger of CBS and Viacom Inc., the New York-based media company controlled by the Redstone family.

The legal gambit escalates a high-stakes feud that has been playing out behind the scenes between Redstone and CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves for much of this year.

CBS draws first blood, John Janedis, media analyst with the investment firm Jefferies, wrote in a research report.

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The lawsuit followed weeks of tension between Moonves and Redstone over the possible CBS-Viacom merger. On Friday, a Redstone representative told CBS that Shari Redstone wanted an unidentified CBS board member to be removed in advance of the companys annual meeting with shareholders later this week, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The move triggered alarm at CBS, where Moonves and several other board members have been suspicious about Redstones motives. They worried that she would invoke the Redstone familys voting control to unilaterally reconfigure CBS board. The company quickly mobilized and held a meeting with members of a special committee of the board Sunday. The committee formally rejected the CBS-Viacom merger and prepared a preemptive strike.

CBS on Monday asked a Delaware judge for a temporary restraining order to prevent Redstone and her familys investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc., from trying to exert their influence before the board can meet Thursday and vote on a measure that would strip the Redstones of their control.

Moonves and other CBS executives have been stewing for months over CBS falling stock price as investors became skittish about the potential for a merger with the weaker company, Viacom. Media reports that Redstone was prepared to fire the well respected Moonves, should he oppose a merger, only heightened tensions.

The anxiety is understandable. Only two years ago, Shari Redstone and her ailing father, Sumner Redstone, unilaterally made changes to Viacoms board, which led to sweeping management changes. According to CBS lawsuit, Shari Redstone had been quietly interviewing candidates to replace Moonves.

The suit seeks to eliminate the Redstone familys clout by treating them like ordinary shareholders. Although the Redstone family owns just 10.3% of CBS stock, it holds preferred shares  A shares  that give the family nearly 80% of the vote.

Instead, at a meeting Thursday, CBS directors will consider issuing a dividend of Class A shares to all stockholders that would dilute National Amusements voting interest to 17%.

Ms. Redstone, through her recently obtained domination and control of [National Amusements], has taken actions over the past two years that have led the Special Committee to conclude that she presents a significant threat of irreparable and irreversible harm to the Company and its stockholders, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, filed in Chancery Court in Delaware, accuses Shari Redstone of breaching her fiduciary duty to CBS shareholders in her pursuit of a CBS-Viacom merger. CBS contends merger talks have wiped out $7 billion in market value, harming rank-and-file shareholders. Last year, CBS shares were trading as high as $70 a share, but lately have been hovering around $50 a share.

CBS also alleged in its complaint that Shari Redstone rebuffed the CEO of another company about a possible merger with CBS. The potential suitor was Verizon Communications, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

CBS board or its shareholders were not allowed to entertain discussions with Verizon, which probably would have sent CBS shares soaring, the sources said.

The Redstones appeared to be blindsided by Mondays lawsuit, in part because CBS special committee had made at least two offers to buy Viacom. Although talks were slow, Shari Redstone felt that progress was being made toward a CBS-Viacom union.

National Amusements Inc. said in a statement it was outraged by CBS lawsuit and strongly refutes [CBS] characterization of recent events. The company added that it had absolutely no intention of replacing the CBS board or forcing a deal that was not supported by both companies.

The investment firm said it raised specific concerns about incidents of bullying and intimidation in relation to one CBS director, dating back to 2016. NAI has made every effort to deal with this matter privately and confidentially. Unfortunately, CBS action today continues to enable and empower such conduct.

There are no signs the conflict will abate soon. National Amusements was preparing to file its own court papers as early as Tuesday.

Pass the popcorn, Doug Creutz, a media analyst with Cowen & Co., wrote in a research report. It is hard to gauge the chances of success for CBS, however, we view the suit as consistent with acting in the best interest of shareholders.

Shari Redstone has made two attempts in two years to reunite the companies that her father divided in 2006. She believes they would be stronger together as traditional media competes with such technology giants as Facebook, Google, Netflix and Amazon.

But CBS does not want to be weighed down by Viacoms cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon, which have lost steam in the ratings as viewers switch to streaming services that dont have commercials.

And Moonves and other CBS board members dont want Shari Redstone to have sway over the company that Moonves has successfully managed for 12 years.

Another sticking point in the merger talks is what role her handpicked lieutenant  Viacom CEO Bob Bakish  would play. Shari Redstone previously said that she would like Moonves to serve as chief executive of the combined company for at least two years.

She has threatened to impose her and NAIs will on the company at the expense of all of the companys stockholders, CBS said in its lawsuit. She has undermined management. It has been publicly reported that she will replace directors who will not do her bidding. She has sought to combine CBS and Viacom regardless of the strategic and economic merits of the transaction and to the exclusion of considering any other potential transaction.

The lawsuit is a classic example of why companies with two classes of stock, such as CBS and Viacom, can be problematic, said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

Under CBS structure, holders of Class A shares have voting power, while those with Class B shares do not.

With its lawsuit, CBS went for the nuclear option, said C. Kerry Fields, a professor of business law and ethics at the USC Marshall School of Business. The suit, Fields said, is Moonves way of communicating to shareholders that CBS is on a strong trajectory under his leadership and should not be saddled with Viacoms troubles.

Fields said the judge will undoubtedly grant the temporary restraining order to prevent interference with the boards special meeting.

Judges typically are sympathetic to applications for temporary restraining orders when there is a matter of great seriousness that might be upset if this injunction isnt put in place, he said.

CBS shares closed at $53.65, up 2%. Viacom closed at $28.74, down nearly 5%.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

meg.james@latimes.com

UPDATES:

1:25 p.m.: This article was updated to include comments from University of Delaware professor Charles Elson.

9:55 a.m.: This article was updated to include a statement from National Amusements.

9:05 a.m.: This article was updated to include comments from USC professor C. Kerry Fields.

8:10 a.m.: This article was updated to add that the lawsuit accuses Shari Redstone of breaching her fiduciary duty.

This article was originally published at 7:35 a.m.Hairdressing magnate Bruno Mascolo has listed a high-rise condominium in West Hollywood for sale at $4.195 million.

The one-bedroom, two-bathroom unit is in Sierra Towers, a popular spot for celebrities and jet-setters seeking a home base in the Los Angeles area. Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap the entire condo.

1 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 2 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 3 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 4 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 5 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 6 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 7 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com) 8 / 8 Hot Propety | Bruno Mascolo (Redfin.com)

The 1,672 square feet of ultra-chic interior space includes open-plan living areas and private terraces that overlook the Hollywood Hills.

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Building services include valet parking, a saltwater swimming pool and a fitness center. But such perks and the life they provide dont come cheap. Monthly homeowners dues are $2,400.

Mascolo is chief executive officer of the Toni&Guy hair salon chain.

Branden Williams and Rayni Williams, both with Hilton & Hyland, an affiliate of Christies International Real Estate, are the listing agents.

lauren.beale2@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurenebealeMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 14)  Some Supreme Court associate justices should resign if they feel strongly against the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, a representative from the majority, said on Monday.

Isabela Representative Rod Albano told CNN Philippines' The Source that he would like to "appeal to our justices to stop acting like politicians."

He cited the dissenting opinion of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, who slammed the decision on Friday as "seppuku without honor."

"Somebody's saying that the Supreme Court committed seppuku. Yung institution, magse-seppuku ba iyon?" said Albano.

"If you really believe that, dapat mag-resign nalang sila sa position nila, kaysa sa i-divide niya yung court," he added.

[Translation: Would the institution commit seppuku? If you really believe that, they should just resign instead of dividing the court.]

In his 64-page decision, Caguioa argued that the court had no constitutional authority to unseat its own Chief Justice, and its decision rendered the rest of the judiciary vulnerable.

"The other members of the Court... are called upon to grin and bear the unbearable as travelling this prohibited road will be at the expense and to the extreme prejudice of the independence of the entire judiciary, the independence of the Court's individual members, and the freedom of discourse within the Court," Caguioa wrote.

"This case marks the time when the court commits seppuku  without honor," he added.

Also called "harakiri," Britannica defines "seppuku" as the "honorable method of taking one's own life, practiced by men of the samurai (military) class in feudal Japan."

Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide made similar remarks ahead of the ruling on Friday. He said ousting the Chief Justice would expose the rest of the court, calling it "a suicide" and "doomsday for judicial independence."

Albano's comment comes after a landmark decision where the Supreme Court voted 8-6 that the Chief Justice's appointment was invalid.

The quo warranto petition was filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida and was one of two ouster efforts against Sereno. The second is an impeachment underway in Congress.

Granting the petition is highly contested, as senators and many in the legal community maintain that impeachment is the only way to unseat a Chief Justice.

Another dissenter, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, wrote in his separate opinion that the decision "[rendered] this Court subservient to an aggressive Solicitor General."

However, Albano waved off comments that the Solicitor General now wielded much power, saying Calida was not infallible.

"So walang sacred cow dito [There are no sacred cows here]," said Albano. "You just have to get all your skeletons in the past and fix it... before you get appointed to a higher position."

Albano is among representatives who endorsed the impeachment complaint against Sereno. He is also Vice Chairperson of the House Committee for Good Government and Public Accountability.

While Sereno's camp prepares to file an appeal, Albano says the House will consider the impeachment effort moot and academic.Cannes notebook: The wonderful, improbable Palme dOr triumph of Hirokazu Kore-edas Shoplifters

Director Hirokazu Koreeda winner of the Palme dOr award for Shoplifters. (Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)

On the last day of every Cannes Film Festival, word begins to leak out about which filmmakers from the competition have been called back for the closing-night awards ceremony.

Many of us already knew, going into Saturday nights show, that Pawel Pawlikowskis Cold War, Alice Rohrwachers Happy as Lazzaro, Spike Lees BlacKkKlansman, Nadine Labakis Capernaum and Hirokazu Kore-edas Shoplifters were certain to go home with awards, though which film would win what remained a mystery.

Festival juries are notoriously difficult to predict, but several other critics shared my hunch that the Palme dOr, the festivals top prize, would go to either Capernaum or BlacKkKlansman. Both were among the most enthusiastically touted films in the competition, and they offered the jury a chance to anoint either Labaki, a Lebanese director who had just launched herself into the big leagues, or Lee, a veteran American auteur who had famously (and angrily) lost the Palme nearly 30 years ago for Do the Right Thing. Would they go with the striking new talent or the overdue veteran?

In the end, they chose the overdue veteran, though not the one some of us were expecting. In a development as startling as it was altogether marvelous, the jury president, Cate Blanchett, announced that the Palme dOr had gone to Kore-edas Shoplifters, one of the quietest, loveliest and most emotionally enduring films in the competition.

Did anyone see this coming? To judge by his genially shell-shocked reaction, Kore-eda himself certainly didnt.

Read more on this years winnersThe 71st Cannes Film Festival is underway (May 8-19), and L.A. Times critic Justin Chang is there, seeing as many movies as possible and writing about it for a day-by-day, film-by-film diary. This is one in a series of entries spanning from the opening festivities to closing night. For more entries and reviews, click here.

I saw a beautiful movie at Cannes on Saturday night  an artful, surprising and thrillingly intelligent story about a few women trying to make a difference, forging bonds of solidarity in quiet defiance of the repressive, small-minded men in their rural village. That movie is 3 Faces, the latest from the ever-resourceful Iranian writer-director Jafar Panahi, who has been restricted from traveling abroad by his countrys government and so was unable to attend his films festival premiere.

This has become fairly routine for Panahi, who was arrested in 2010 for allegedly making anti-Islamic propaganda and was sentenced to a 20-year ban from filmmaking. That hasnt stopped him, of course: While under house arrest, he shot the feature-length video diary This Is Not a Film, which was smuggled out of Iran on a flash drive hidden inside a cake and premiered to deserved acclaim at Cannes in 2011. Panahi also appeared as himself (or a version thereof) in his next two pictures, Closed Curtain (2013) and Taxi (2015), both of which screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.

3 Faces marks Panahis first shot at the Palme dOr; if he wins, he will have effectively scored the European film-festival equivalent of the Triple Crown. (Taxi won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2015, while Panahis The Circle took the Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice International Film Festival.) But the prospect of awards feels especially beside the point with regard to 3 Faces, in which the pursuit of an artistic calling is shown to have potentially much graver consequences than merely losing a prize.

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Ill be discreet. 3 Faces may be modest and low-key on the surface, but its surprises are worth preserving, its insights casually profound. At the heart of the story is a mystery: What happened to Marziyeh (Marziyeh Rezaei), a teenage girl and aspiring actress from Irans Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan region, who has suddenly gone missing? Before she vanished, Marziyeh, whose family strongly disapproves of her choice of calling, sent an alarming self-shot video to the famed actress Behnaz Jafari (playing herself). Jafahi was sufficiently rattled by the footage that she has now come to the girls village in search of answers, chauffeured by none other than Panahi himself.

Much of this subtly, bracingly pleasurable movie is spent following Panahi and Jafari as they drop in on the villagers and make inquiries. They observe firsthand the environment  largely cut off from the outside world and ruled by small, superstitious minds  that undoubtedly both gave rise to and attempted to suppress Marziyehs defiance. They drive slowly around the hilly, rocky countryside, along winding mountain roads that are often too narrow to accommodate two cars passing each other in opposite directions  a situation that Panahi turns into an ingenious metaphor for a society mired in tradition for traditions sake, unable to see past the end of its patriarchal nose.

Kristen Stewart, left, Lea Seydoux, Khadja Nin, Ava DuVernay, Cate Blanchett and Agnes Varda arrive at the screening of Girls of the Sun at Cannes. (Franck Robichon/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock )

A puzzle, a tragicomedy and, by the end, something of a ghost story, 3 Faces drew sustained applause after the screening for its no-show director, whose seat, marked with his name, was left symbolically empty on Saturday night. It was a sweet but somber occasion, especially compared with the rousing events that had unfolded on the red carpet a few hours earlier.

Eighty-two women  including Cate Blanchett, the president of the competition jury, and Agnes Varda, an honorary Palme dOr winner  marched up the carpet in an act of protest against widespread gender disparity in the film industry. Each woman represented one of the 82 female-directed films that have been selected for competition at this festival; compared with the 1,645 that were directed by men, thats barely 5% of all the films selected for Cannes most prestigious section.

The march was cannily timed to precede the world premiere of Girls of the Sun (Les Filles du Soleil), a war drama from the French writer-director Eva Husson, and the first of three pictures directed by a woman to screen in this years 21-title competition. (The other two are Alice Rohrwachers Happy as Lazzaro and Nadine Labakis Capernaum.)

Set in 2014, Girls of the Sun tells the ripped-from-the-headlines story of a battalion of female soldiers fighting extremist oppression in Iraqi Kurdistan. The commander, Bahar (Iranian star Golshifteh Farahani), saw her home village invaded by ISIS forces, who killed the men (including Bahars husband) and took the women and children hostage; mass rapes and child-soldier indoctrinations ensued. Bahar managed to escape (as we see in flashbacks), and now is preparing to lead a peshmerga unit, consisting of other female ex-captors like herself, to liberate her hometown.

Golshifteh Farahani stars in the movie Girls of the Sun. (Maneki Films )

Girls of the Sun has some tense, muscular action filmmaking to recommend it, as well as a feel for tough-and-tender female camaraderie that reaches the screen far too rarely to be dismissed lightly. But Hussons formal chops  already on display in her lusty 2015 teen drama, Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)  decidedly outstrip her instincts as a screenwriter. Representational merits alone cant distinguish this movies clumsy farrago of good intentions, ham-fisted story choices and cloddishly on-the-nose dialogue.

You know what youre in for early on when Bahar gets asked a question about her background and replies, Im a lawyer, then glances sadly sideways and corrects herself: Was a lawyer. Shes addressing a hardened war correspondent, Mathilde (Emmanuelle Bercot, sporting an eyepatch), who initially plays the unnecessary role of audience surrogate.

Thankfully, Mathilde is cast aside for much of the running time, allowing Husson to favor the direct perspective of Bahar and her fellow captives-turned-fighters. But it simply raises the question of why this outside character, if thats the word, was deemed necessary to begin with. Surely not so that Bahar could tearfully exhort her to write the truth  advice that this movie, with its clunky manipulations in service of an unimpeachably noble cause, might have done better to follow.

The festivals general delegate, Thierry Fremaux, said in a press conference on Monday that he was open to taking any number of steps to improve the representation of women in the official selection, including diversifying the ranks of his selection committee (something he claimed to have already done in the past year) and helping to bolster the number of women enrolled at film schools. But he drew the line at programming films in competition simply because they were directed by women, noting that while he believed in positive discrimination in society, the Cannes selection process would always be strictly merit-based.

Thats not entirely true, of course. All sorts of factors and favors come into play when programming a festival, and Ive long suspected that if the process really were strictly merit-based, we would routinely see more female filmmakers in competition, not fewer.

In my 12 previous years of attending Cannes, Ive wondered why each of the following movies  Claire Denis Bastards and Let the Sunshine In, Pascale Ferrans Bird People, Agnes Vardas Faces Places, Celine Sciammas Girlhood, Chloe Zhaos The Rider, Clio Barnards The Selfish Giant, Kelly Reichardts Wendy and Lucy and Valeska Grisebachs Western  hadnt scored a competition berth instead of some male-directed mediocrity.

Theres also the infuriating reality that even if a female-directed movie is the best film in competition by several light years  as was the case just two years ago with Maren Ades masterful Toni Erdmann  theres still a strong chance the jury will overlook it completely. (Yes, Im still angry.)

As Saturdays red-carpet womens march suggests and as the endlessly debated #MeToo movement seems to demand, the question of Cannes responsibility in all this has finally come to a head. In one of the less productive lines of discussion to emerge, Ive heard several journalists offer their theory that with Blanchett presiding over a female-majority jury that includes Ava DuVernay, Khadja Nin, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, this years Palme dOr winner will almost certainly be directed by a woman. (To date, a jury has awarded the Palme to only one female director, Jane Campion, whose The Piano tied with Chen Kaiges Farewell, My Concubine in 1993.)

Of course it could happen. It also could not, and for reasons that might have everything or nothing do with gender, aesthetics, quality and other relevant concerns. At any rate, no one likes to be pigeonholed. To suggest that Blanchetts jury might be inclined to make a choice for purely political reasons  especially at this point, before all the films in competition have screened  feels both presumptuous and cynical, and serves no purpose other than to cast the harsh glare of bad faith on whatever choice they ultimately wind up making.

READ MORE: Daily updates from the 2018 Cannes Film Festival 

justin.chang@latimes.comI have had a massive meander in my life, Jessie Buckley says. The Irish actress, 28, is sitting in a booth at the Ace Hotel here, preparing to head to the set of Judy, which shes shooting alongside Renee Zellweger. I quite enjoy the meander, she adds. Theres so much thats there to explore and have an adventure with.

Buckley got her start in theater, doing everything from musicals to Shakespeare, and had a jazz singing career for several years in London before being cast as Marya Bolkonskaya in the 2016 miniseries War & Peace. Since then, the actress appeared in FXs Taboo and shot several upcoming TV series and films, including a BBC adaptation of The Woman In White and The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle (in which she portrays Queen Victoria opposite Robert Downey Jr. as the title character).

In the midst of all that, Buckley spent five weeks shooting a small indie film called Beast, written and directed by first-time filmmaker Michael Pearce. The picture had its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and is now playing in limited release. It was Buckleys first feature as well, and she immersed herself whole-heartedly into the story, which follows a troubled girl who lives on the island of Jersey.

I got the script and got 20 pages in and I was like Oh, my God, Buckley recounts. I just had a really big gut reaction to her. I felt a massive connection to her within 20 pages. There was something really fresh. Id never really quite read anything like that before.

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Pearce, who spent seven years developing the script, grew up on Jersey, a secluded British island in the English Channel. He wanted to create a story that explored the landscape of Jersey and reflected on the isolation of its small community. Beast is both about Buckleys Moll, a character trapped by the circumstances of her oppressive home life, and about a serial killer who has been murdering young women across the island. Molls love affair with Pascal (Johnny Flynn) awakens something inside her, even as she knows he might be the killer.

The perspective [in crime films] is always either the killer or its the detective  or both, Pearce says. What you dont see as much is the people who are on the periphery of these stories. A woman that might be involved with one of these guys. Thats actually quite an epic emotional journey. I had this sense early on that it had the template of a fairy tale  this seemingly innocent girl trapped in a family who goes out into the woods and meets a character who might be Prince Charming or who might be the Big Bad Wolf.

Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn in Beast. (Kerry Brown / 30West / Roadside Attractions )

The film is gritty, visceral and emotionally commanding, led by Buckleys evocative performance. Pearce cast the actress after a large search and was deeply struck by her audition. The director felt like Buckley was the type of person Moll could have been under different circumstances, a sense that underlies her scenes throughout the movie.

It was intense, but it wasnt heavy, Buckley shrugs. Its an intense and heavy topic and context, but you get so much energy from doing that. Especially to play Moll, who starts numb. Shes in a weird purgatory place in the beginning of the film, but you feel theres something simmering underneath. From that, you know shes never going to go back to where she is at the beginning. Its kind of a coming of womanhood, in a weird, feral, animalistic way. She adds, When you get a chance to play someone like that, its so much fun. And she really is empowering. I felt really enlivened by her.

Although Beast was shot two years ago, there is something distinctly relevant about a film that showcases a woman coming into her own and who refuses to be tampered down by male violence. Shes not a victim, even when shes at the mercy of those around her. Buckley found Moll truly inspiring, particularly as she is a complex, immensely flawed female character, one unlike those we typically see on-screen.

I loved her bravery to live a life  or at least fight for a life  that was removed from a sheen and expectation, the actress notes. She dances with the fire. You feel like, at the end, that shes never going to be that numb ever again. Something has been awoken in her that is incredibly powerful. I think we should have more of that in storytelling. For women  and for men as well.

The archetype of male hero is so boring. And the pretty, boobed woman is so  boring. She laughs. Thank God I will never play that. Im quite glad about having a few craggy edges to myself.

Next up, Buckley has Judy, in which Zellweger plays Hollywood legend Judy Garland and Buckley is Garlands assistant Rosalyn Wilder, a very different type of complex woman. The actress, who says making Beast was how she always dreamt it would feel to craft a movie, wants to investigate the inner workings of characters who arent totally glossed over.

You can play women who have a face on or who zip something up, but you have to dig deeper to actually find the humanity and real aspects, she says. The things people are ashamed of come through in whatever their outerwear is. I suppose I am always looking for that, even if its somebody who on the outside seems to be perfect. She grins and adds, But I hate perfection.

calendar@latimes.comWelcome to the Mens Group has perhaps the most full-frontal male nudity ever in a mainstream movie. If that sounds at all cool, think again: Its just one of many irritating, self-indulgent, faux-provocative bits in actor-director-co-writer (with Scott Ben-Yashar) Joseph Culps interminable yakfest.

A monthly mens support group, set at the Westside L.A. trophy house of lawyer Larry (Timothy Bottoms), finds seven longtime members and a new guy (Mackenzie Astin) naval-gazing about work, women, sex, fathers, kids, secrets and more. That is, when theyre not scarfing bagels, engaging in primal or spiritual bonding rituals, or raucously fighting.

Their disparate issues vary in gravity: Larrys depressed wife has taken off, the manic Carl (an over-the-top Stephen Tobolowsky) seems suicidal, macho Eddie (Terence J. Rotolo) is freaked about becoming a dad, college professor Mike (Culp) battles sex addiction, the goofily Zen-like Fred (David Clennon) has co-habitation anxiety, and so on.

But the endless sharing and chaotic conflicts that ensue among these largely uninviting men prove more tedious than convincing, with flashback bits that are more redundant than enlightening. At least they get us out of Larrys house.

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The capable cast (including Ali Saam and Phil Abrams) is certainly game; too bad its not in the service of more nuanced and engaging material.

As for the embarrassingly contrived and, er, extended mass birthday suit sequence, less would have been decidedly more.

-------------

Welcome to the Mens Group

Not rated

Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

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calendar@latimes.comFox has renewed the action comedy Lethal Weapon, the network announced Sunday, but the series will go forward with a new co-star.

Seann William Scott (American Pie) will replace Clayne Crawford as the partner of Roger Murtaugh, played by Damon Wayans.

Lethal Weapon is based on the movie franchise of the same name that starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. It focuses on an aging detective, Murtaugh, who was saddled with a veteran, yet unstable detective in Martin Riggs.

Crawford had thus far played the part of Riggs, but the network, in re-upping the series, noted that Scott will play a new character who folds into a partnership with Murtaugh.

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Reports had surfaced earlier this year that Crawford had been reprimanded for numerous issues on set. The actor, in an April 24 post on Instagram, conceded that he had been disciplined on two occasions, one in which he said he reacted with anger over working conditions that did not feel safe.

I met with Human Resources, I apologized for my part of the conflict, and I completed studio-appointed therapy, he said of the first incident in the post. I even shared a sizable portion of my paycheck with one of the parties involved.

Though specifics of the incidents remain undisclosed, Deadline Hollywood had reported that the relationship between Crawford and Wayans had become strained to the point that the future of the series could be in jeapordy.

Crawford in an Instagram post, congratulated the cast on the renewal, writing Sunday: Riggs was a dream role and the experience will live with me forever.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandraLos Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar never expected to spark a political movement when his tiny Orange County city decided to take on Californias sanctuary state law.

In April, Edgar and the rest of the City Council  representing a suburb of just 11,600  took the stand, and it encouraged other conservative government bodies to follow suit.

On Wednesday, Edgar and Los Alamitos Mayor Pro Tem Warren Kusumoto will join President Trump at the White House at the presidents invitation.

Edgar sent a letter to Trump and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on May 1, requesting support. But he didnt expect an invitation.

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I remember signing  and thinking, This feels a bit far-fetched, but our city has got behind us, Edgar said.

Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel and a few elected officials from San Diego were also invited to the meeting with Trump to talk about the anti-sanctuary actions taken by various municipalities across the state, Edgar said.

In addition to Trump, Edgar said, Sessions, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and possibly Vice President Mike Pence will join them in the West Wing.

Los Alamitos made national headlines March 19 when it approved an ordinance aiming to exempt the city from Californias sanctuary laws, which were designed to protect immigrants in the county illegally. The California Values Act, which took effect Jan. 1, restricts local law enforcements cooperation with federal immigration officials in many cases.

The Trump administration has gone to federal court to invalidate the state laws, claiming they blatantly obstruct federal immigration regulations and violate the Constitutions supremacy clause, which gives federal law precedence over state measures. That case is pending. Los Alamitos leaders also voted to file an amicus brief to the Justice Departments lawsuit.

Since Los Alamitos move to ignore state law, several cities in Orange County and other counties have voted to voice similar grievances and adopt similar resolutions. Some, such as the city of Yorba Linda, voted to write an amicus brief in support of the federal lawsuit against the state. Others, such as Huntington Beach, voted to file their own lawsuit. The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a move to join as plaintiff in the federal lawsuit.

Last week, Santa Clarita became what is believed to be the first city in L.A. County to formally oppose Californias sanctuary state law. After an hours-long meeting May 8, the City Council unanimously voted to adopt a resolution stating its opposition to Senate Bill 54 and directing the city attorney to file a brief in support of the federal government in its lawsuit against California. The measure was largely symbolic, as Santa Clarita does not have the power to exempt itself from the states law. Neither do the other cities.

Kusumoto, who proposed the Los Alamitos initiative that thrust the city into the national immigration debate, has said he was compelled to introduce the measure because he believes the states sanctuary laws are in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Los Alamitos Mayor Pro Tem Warren Kusumoto listens during public comments at a council meeting last month. Hes been invited to meet with President Trump in the White House about immigration. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

SB 54 largely prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from using personnel or funds to hold, question or share information about people with federal immigration agents unless those individuals have been convicted of any of 800 crimes outlined in a 2013 state law.

Federal immigration authorities can still work with state corrections officials and enter county jails to question immigrants.

Edgar, the Los Alamitos mayor, said he hopes the meeting will be productive and address sanctuary and immigration policy issues. At the same time, Edgar said he wants to selfishly secure continued direct and indirect support for Los Alamitos and our battle with the ACLU and Gov. Brown.

The ACLU launched a lawsuit against Los Alamitos last month, contending that its ordinance violates state law and asking the court to declare the citys ordinance illegal.

Even before the lawsuit, Edgar had launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for legal costs. As of Monday, the page had raised $22,145 of its $100,000 goal.

In an emailed invitation sent last week, a White House official said Trump is excited to hear your story and get your perspective.

Steel, who introduced her own anti-sanctuary measure to the Orange County Board of Supervisors a few days after the Los Alamitos vote, called the meeting an amazing opportunity.

It is great to see so many leaders around California choosing to stand up for their constituents, and for the Constitution, she said in a written statement.

cindy.carcamo@latimes.com

Follow Cindy Carcamo on Twitter @thecindycarcamo

UPDATES:

7 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with additional details and background.

This article was originally published at 12:15 p.m.USC names retired aerospace executive Wanda Austin as acting president, announces Nikias departure By Harriet Ryan USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administrations handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USCs board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor. A second search company, Heidrick & Struggles, will also advise trustees. Read More Facebook

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Ex-student sues elite Brentwood School after teacher is charged with sexually abusing him By Richard Winton A former student sued the elite Brentwood School on Monday in the wake of a female teacher being charged with repeatedly having sex with the minor, alleging that other faculty members encouraged the unlawful behavior and failed to report it to authorities. The lawsuit accuses the private school, whose students include the children of many of Hollywoods elite and L.A.s powerful, of acting negligently and allowing Aimee Palmitessa to abuse and batter the teenager sexually. The suit alleges that the student was abused in summer 2017 after one of the schools counselors offered words of encouragement to the then-17-year-old, identified in the suit as only John Doe, to engage in an illegal relationship with the teacher. Read More Facebook

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Civil jury vindicates fired Montebello school executives in whistleblower case By Howard Blume The Montebello school district is in dire straits  at risk of insolvency and under apparent criminal investigation. An outside audit in July found some teachers earning more than $200,000 a year, as well as improper raises, excess paid vacation time and inappropriate overtime, sick leave and car allowances. Fixing the district and pinpointing blame could take time. Read More Facebook

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L.A. schools fall short on safety measures, new report warns By Howard Blume After the mass shooting at Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, Los Angeles school officials reassured parents that much had been done to keep local schools safe. California had tougher gun laws, after all, and the school district paid close attention to students mental health. But a new report issued Monday by a panel convened to take a close look offers some cause for concern, flagging inconsistent campus safety measures, thinly spread mental health staff and inadequate coordination between the school district and other public agencies. With the stakes this high, we must strive to do better, said L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer, who assembled the panel. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school district says more are graduating, but rate may not show it By Howard Blume The L.A. Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, even though L.A. Unified is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. Read More Facebook

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Betsy DeVos to California: Not so fast on that federal education plan By Joy Resmovits Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (Erik Lesser / European Pressphoto Agency) In April, Californias top education officials breathed a sigh of relief. After months of debate and back-and-forth with Betsy DeVos staff, they had finalized a plan to satisfy a major education law that aims to make sure all students get a decent education. The state focused on aligning its plan to fulfill the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act with Californias Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts to help students who come from low-income families, are in the foster system or are English learners. But this week, DeVos team said not so fast. Jason Botel, the U.S. Department of Educations principal deputy assistant secretary, sent California education officials a letter asking for more information in such areas as measuring student progress, graduation rates and English learners. In an unsigned statement, the California Department of Education declared itself surprised and disappointed because officials thought  after a meeting with federal officials in Washington  that they were on the right track to get approval. Now the Every Student Succeeds Act plan will be up for discussion once again at the July meeting of the State Board of Education. The U.S. Department of Education has already approved most state plans. Every Student Succeeds is the Obama administrations 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act. Facebook

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L.A. school board sets a new goal: prepare every grad to be eligible to apply for Cal State or UC By Sonali Kohli Last month, Los Angeles school board president proposed a spate of highly ambitious mandates aimed at ensuring that every district graduate be eligible to apply to one of the states public four-year universities by 2023. By the time the L.A. Unified school board unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday, the original language had been watered down. The goal is no longer that in five years 100% of students meet the long list of benchmarks, which include not just college eligibility for graduates but first-grade reading proficiency and English fluency by sixth grade for all students who enter the district in kindergarten or first grade speaking another language. The original college-readiness goal, for example, called for 100% of all high school students to be eligible to apply to one of the states four-year universities. Now the goal seems to offer more wiggle room: Prepare all high school graduates to be eligible to apply to a California four-year university. Read More Facebook

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We have been hurt. More women say they were mistreated by USC gynecologist By Richard Winton USC student Anika Narayanan says she vividly recalls her first appointment with Dr. George Tyndall at the campus health center, alleging that he made several explicit comments during an examination she felt was inappropriate and invasive. When she came back for a second visit in 2016 after a nonconsensual sexual encounter, he allegedly chastised her, she said in a civil lawsuit and at a press conference Tuesday. He asked me if I had forgotten to use a condom again,  said Narayanan, 21. At one point, she said, Tyndall asked if I did a lot of doggy style,  she said. Read More Facebook

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L.A. Unified gives inspector general brief contract extension By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday extended the contract of Ken Bramlett, its inspector general, by three months, though his job is far from secure and questions remain about the future direction of his watchdog office. Board members also unanimously promoted Vivian Ekchian, who had been the runner-up for the superintendents job, to deputy superintendent  the districts No. 2 position. Both moves had elements of peacemaking between different factions on the board. Read More Facebook

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USCs handling of complaints about campus gynecologist is being investigated by federal government By Harriet Ryan The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into how the University of Southern California handled misconduct complaints against a campus gynecologist, the latest fallout in a scandal that has prompted the resignation of USCs president, two law enforcement investigations and dozens of lawsuits. In revealing the inquiry by the departments Office of Civil Rights, officials rebuked USC for what they alleged was improper withholding of information about Dr. George Tyndall during a previous federal investigation. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for taking a less vigorous approach to examining sexual misconduct than predecessors, called for a systemic examination of USC and urged administrators to fully cooperate. Read More Facebook

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Judge to sentence woman and her boyfriend for the murder of an 8-year-old that led to L.A. child welfare reforms By Marisa Gerber A woman and her boyfriend are expected to be sentenced Thursday for the torture and murder of an 8-year-old boy whose killing in 2013 provoked public outrage, prompted sweeping reform of Los Angeles Countys child welfare system, and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the childs case. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. A jury decided last year that her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37, should be executed. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. Read More Facebook

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L.A. Unifieds spending out of step with similar school systems, task force says By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school district is out of step with similar school systems, spending more on teachers pay and health benefits and less on activities that could enhance student learning, according to a new report by an outside task force. The L.A. Unified School District Advisory Task Force did not make specific recommendations, but instead posed a series of questions it said the district needs to answer to make sure its funding is aimed at providing a full opportunity for all students to succeed. What were trying to say is: Lets put the data on the table. Lets look at the truth. Lets be transparent and here are the numbers, said task force member Renata Simril. This is not to say that  we should cut teachers salaries. Read More Facebook

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Top USC medical school official feared dean was doing drugs and alerted administration, he testifies By Paul Pringle A former vice dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the schools then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, could be doing drugs and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the universitys No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016. Dr. Henri Fords testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafitos possible drug use before he stepped down. A Times investigation in 2017 found Puliafito led a secret second life of using illegal drugs with a circle of young criminals and addicts. Puliafito testified about his behavior at the hearing Tuesday, saying he took drugs with one young woman on a weekly basis. Ford said that he decided to alert USC Provost Michael Quick after receiving reports in early 2016 that Puliafito was partying in hotels with people of questionable reputation, and that he came to worry about his mental stability. Read More Facebook

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Why L.A. Unified may face financial crisis even with a giant surplus this year By Jessica Calefati With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. Its a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if youre a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes. But budget documents show that todays $548-million surplus cannot be sustained  and that even basic services face steep, seemingly unavoidable cuts because of massive problems barreling the districts way. Theres a disconnect between the rosy short-term picture and what we know is coming, said board member Kelly Gonez. Read More Facebook

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We have failed: Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal By Joy Resmovits Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the universitys longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Several USC deans have sent out messages trying to reassure students and faculty that the university is committed to changing. We have failed, wrote Jack H. Knott, dean of USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy, in a May 24 letter. What happened is antithetical to everything we know is right. Read More Facebook

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Rick Caruso is named chair of USCs trustees, vows swift investigation of gynecologist scandal By Thomas Curwen The University of Southern Californias board of trustees has elected mall magnate Rick Caruso to be the new chair of the board, giving fresh leadership as the university navigates a widening scandal involving a longtime campus gynecologist. The move marks the latest effort by USC to address the case, which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and dozens of civil lawsuits. More than 400 people have contacted a hotline that the university established for patients to make reports about their experience with Dr. George Tyndall. In his first act as chairman, Caruso announced that the white-shoe L.A. law firm OMelveny & Myers would conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the gynecologists conduct and reporting failures at the clinic. He set an ambitious timeline for the review, pledging it would conclude before students return for the fall semester. Read More Facebook

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UC Berkeley students persistence helps win more liberal rules for in-state tuition By Teresa Watanabe Ifechukwu Okeke thought shed be a shoo-in for in-state tuition when she was admitted to UC Berkeley for fall 2016. She had moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2012 to go to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. By the time she got her acceptance to transfer to UC to study molecular and cell biology, she had lived in California four years. She had a California drivers license, bank account and rental records as proof. UC Berkeley, however, ruled she was a nonresident  which meant she would have to pay nearly $27,000 more. Read More Facebook

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State medical board calls former County-USC doctor a sexual predator, suspends his license By Matt Hamilton A UCLA cardiologist has been temporarily stripped of his medical license after state regulators described him as a sexual predator who assaulted three female colleagues when he was working and training at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Read More Facebook

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Global California 2030' aims to get more students learning more languages By Joy Resmovits Tom Torlakson (Andrew Seng / Associated Press) Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday announced a new statewide effort to encourage students to learn more languages. Called Global California 2030, its goal is to help more students become fluent in multiple tongues. Torlakson said that by 2030, he wants half of the states 6.2 million K-12 students to participate in classes or programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages. By 2040, he wants three out of four students to be proficient enough to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy. Torlakson announced the initiative at Cahuenga Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program in English and Korean. Californias public school students speak more than 60 languages at home, and 40% come to school with knowledge of a language other than English. Torlakson called his plan a call to action that invites parents, legislators, educators and community members to pool resources to expand language offerings in schools and get more bilingual teachers trained. He said the state already is working with Mexico and Spain to expand a teacher-exchange program. Fluency, the plan argues, can help students succeed economically  and language acquisition can help their overall critical thinking. The initiative builds on Proposition 58, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 that undid an earlier requirement that English learners be taught in English-immersion classes unless their parents signed waivers. Torlakson recently visited Mexico and met with that countrys education secretary. They later signed a pact to increase collaboration, particularly in language education. This [Global California 2030] is great follow-through on Toms part and very important, Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor who hosted the Mexico meeting, said in an email. It hands over a plan to move forward in an area in which California has a unique advantage, but must seize the opportunity. Facebook

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Jury convicts man of murder in 2015 slaying of UCLA student found inside her burning apartment By Marisa Gerber A jury on Tuesday convicted a man in the 2015 slaying of a UCLA student found dead inside her burning apartment  a gruesome stabbing case that led to a fierce rebuke of the police response amid concerns that the killing could have been prevented. The panel deliberated for about six hours before finding Alberto Medina, 24, guilty of murder, arson, burglary and animal cruelty. On Sept. 21, 2015, firefighters found the charred body of Andrea DelVesco inside her apartment after responding to the complex a block from campus. The 21-year-old student  an Austin, Texas, native known to her sorority sisters as a fearless giver who befriended others with ease  was stabbed at least 19 times, authorities said. Read More Facebook

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LAPD begins sweeping criminal probe of former USC gynecologist while urging patients to come forward By Adam Elmahrek The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USCs longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. Tyndalls behavior and practices appear to go beyond the norms of the medical profession and gynecological examinations, said Asst. Chief Beatrice Girmala. We sincerely realize that victims may have difficulty recounting such details to investigators. We are empathetic and ready to listen. Read More Facebook

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At L.A.'s only school for the deaf, parents want leaders who speak the same language By Anna M. Phillips Ever since her son was 6 months old, Juliet Hidalgo has been bringing him to the Marlton School, a low-slung building in Baldwin Hills that for generations has been a second home for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Los Angeles. Marlton staff taught Hidalgos brother and sister, both of whom are deaf. The school was where her deaf son learned to make the signs for milk and food. Hidalgo had planned to enroll her daughter, taking advantage of a popular program that allows hearing children to learn American Sign Language alongside their deaf siblings. But after more than a decade of involvement, she and other family members are considering withdrawing their children. They are not alone. Read More Facebook

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Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor By Ryan Menezes An unprecedented amount of money from wealthy donors, unions and corporations is flowing into the California governors race, giving independent groups  unrestricted by contribution limits  a greater say in picking the states chief executive than ever before. The groups have already spent more than $26 million through Thursday, the most ever spent by noncandidate committees in a gubernatorial primary, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance reports. California elections have always been expensive, and the future is even more expensive, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former state Republican leader. The stakes are very real. Read More Facebook

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2 hurt in Indiana middle school shooting; suspect in custody, authorities say By Associated Press Authorities say two victims in a shooting at a suburban Indianapolis school are being taken to a hospital and the lone suspect is in custody. Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, said in a news release that the victims in Friday mornings attack at Noblesville West Middle School are being taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and their families have been notified. He says no other information is available about the victims. Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was taken into custody. No additional information about the suspect was made public. Read More Facebook

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For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period By Howard Blume In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest. Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district. Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best  not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students. Read More Facebook

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Pressure grows on Board of Trustees amid USC gynecologist scandal By Paul Pringle USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down. Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician. So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president. Read More Facebook

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UC regents approve leaner budget for Janet Napolitano By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations. The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security. Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state. Read More Facebook

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USCs Academic Senate calls on university president to resign after a series of scandals By Matt Hamilton The body that represents USCs faculty called on President C.L. Max Nikias to resign Wednesday in the wake of relevations that the universitys longtime gynecologist faced years of accusations of misconduct by students and colleagues at the campus health clinic. The Academic Senate took the vote late Wednesday afternoon after a fiery town hall meeting attended by more than 100 faculty members, many of whom voiced outrage over Nikias and the Board of Trustees leadership. The vote came a day after the trustees executive committee stood firmly behind Nikias, saying it has full confidence in his leadership, ethics and values. At the town hall meeting, Senate President Paul Rosenbloom said he did not think Nikias or Provost Michael Quick committed wrongdoing but that the university president deserved criticism for a lack of transparency. Read More Facebook

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Californias public universities on the way to getting a big longed-for boost in funding By Teresa Watanabe The University of California and California State University systems are poised to get major funding boosts that will help them enroll thousands of additional state students and eliminate the need for tuition increases in the coming school year. A key Assembly budget panel on Wednesday approved $117.5 million in new funds for the UC. A Senate panel approved a similar sum last week. The same committees recently approved even more funding for the Cal State system. Read More Facebook

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UC regents to scrutinize Janet Napolitanos office budget in a step toward stronger oversight By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents this week plan to scrutinize the budget of President Janet Napolitano, whose office came under political fire last year for questionable spending and murky accounting. Regents will vote on the proposed $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 during their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, at UC San Francisco. They also will discuss state funding, financial aid, online education and transfer student policies. Board Chairman George Kieffer said regents are stepping up to exert stronger oversight of the presidents office after a blistering state audit last year found financial problems including an unreported $175 million budget reserve. Read More Facebook

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State legislative panels approve major funding boost for Cal State By Teresa Watanabe Cal State students protest against a tuition increase outside the chancellors office (Irfan Khan) After months of intensive lobbying, Cal State University has convinced two key legislative panels to approve funding to enroll nearly 11,000 more students, hire more faculty and expand housing aid to those without shelter this fall. An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved $215.7 million more for Cal State, adding to Gov. Jerry Browns proposed $92.1 million general fund increase. A Senate budget panel approved a similar increase last week. The extra funding  which went beyond Cal States own request to the Legislature of $171 million  is still subject to final budget negotiations with Brown. But the actions by the Senate and Assembly panels amount to a demand from Democrats that the governor hike higher education spending. Cal State University is the workhorse undergraduate university serving hundreds of thousands of Californians, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who heads the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. We need more graduates for the California workforce and higher education is the ticket to the middle class. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White hailed the actions, but said it was too soon to celebrate. The CSU has a singular focus on helping students earn high-quality degrees sooner, and the entire university community has rallied to reinforce that message to our states lawmakers, he said in a statement. The actions taken thus far by the Assembly and Senate are promising and show that our message is being received, but there is still work to be done. Funding for the University of California was not taken up Tuesday as originally scheduled. McCarty would not comment on sticking points but said he was confident that a resolution would be reached this week. Were looking to provide resources above whats in the governors budget, but negotiations are ongoing, he said in an interview. State per-student funding is not what it once was, leaving both Cal State and the UC in a tough financial squeeze. Both systems raised tuition last year after a six-year freeze on higher costs. For this year, Cal State had asked for funding to enroll an additional 3,621 students, but both the Senate and Assembly panels approved three times that amount. Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, turned away 32,000 eligible students last year because its campuses werent able to accommodate them. The panels asked that at least $50 million of the extra funding be used to hire more tenure-track faculty to help boost graduation rates. The Assembly panel also approved one-time funding of $5 million to ease hunger on campuses and $14 million for rapid rehousing pilot projects at three campuses, offering needy students rental support and short-term case management. Other items approved include $5 million to support the CSU Long Beach Shark Labs research on sharks and beach safety and $2 million for equal employment opportunity practices. This post has been updated to include comments from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White. Facebook

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Faculty members call for USC president to step down: He has lost the moral authority to lead By Matt Hamilton Two hundred USC professors on Tuesday demanded the resignation of university President C. L. Max Nikias, saying he had lost the moral authority to lead in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct. Read More Facebook

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Gun battle, negotiations lasted 15 minutes before Texas school shooter was apprehended, sheriff says By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Minutes after a school shooter opened fire in an art class last week, killing 10 people and wounding 13, including a local police officer, fellow officers returned fire in a protracted gun battle before isolating the suspect, the local sheriff said Monday. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset praised first responders as well as Santa Fe Police Officer John Barnes, who was working as a resource officer at the school the day of the shooting. Their actions, he said, prevented the attack from spreading to other classrooms and potentially claiming additional victims. As officials continue to probe last Fridays shooting at Santa Fe High School, students are worried about returning to the scene of the attack when classes resume next week. Read More Facebook

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6 women sue USC, alleging they were victimized by campus gynecologist By Richard Winton Six women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctors behavior. One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment in 2003 while making vulgar remarks about her genitalia, according to one of the lawsuits. Another woman alleged that Tyndall groped her breasts in a 2008 visit and that later he falsely told her she likely had AIDS. A third woman accused the doctor of grazing his ungloved fingers over her nude body and leering at her during a purported skin exam, the lawsuit states. The wave of litigation comes as USC continues to grapple with the scandal, which legal experts said could prove costly to the university as scores of former patients come forward about their experiences with the gynecologist. Read More Facebook

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Fatalities reported in Texas high school shooting; suspect arrested, officials say By Associated Press Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a local high school Friday morning. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports. The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it wouldnt immediately release further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson said a suspect has been arrested and secured. Read More Facebook

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This student followed the new L.A. schools chief on his first-day tour L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner is greeted by Van Nuys High School principal Yolanda Gardea. (Melissa Barales-Lopez) Melissa Barales-Lopez, a senior at Garfield High School followed Supt. Austin Beutner on his first day on the job, as he toured a variety of programs around the Los Angeles Unified School District. Heres what she took from the experience. LAUSD students and staff alike are looking for a personal champion, someone who will address and improve the difficulties afflicting their education.  What LAUSD students need is someone whos willing to listen and learn, someone who can understand the current issues affecting their schools and act to efficiently amend them, someone who can unlock the full potential of LAUSD students and enable them to reach their goals. During the entirety of his first day, superintendent Austin Beutner did indeed demonstrate a willingness to learn. Posing questions to teachers and students, Beutner engaged with the student communities he encountered to gain a better comprehension of the minutiae and nuances that distinguish each school inside an overwhelmingly large district. From inquiries about Grand View Boulevard Elementary Schools dual language program to questions regarding the services of LAUSDs after-school program, Beyond the Bell, Beutner revealed he has a lot to learn about the system. But, Beutner also showcased a willingness to tackle challenges head-on on his first day. Read More Facebook

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USC let a gynecologist continue treating students despite years of misconduct allegations By Matt Hamilton For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern Californias student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous with distinctive jet black hair, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndalls exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. The complaints began in the 1990s, when co-workers alleged he was improperly photographing students genitals. In the years that followed, patients and nursing staff accused him again and again of creepy behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies. Read More Facebook

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Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

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On his first day as L.A. schools chief, Beutner plans a day of visits across the district By Howard Blume L.A. Unifieds new superintendent, Austin Beutner, will kick off his first day of work on Tuesday with a choreographed tour of the nations second-largest school district, from the San Fernando Valley to Carson. His day is scheduled to begin at 5:15 a.m. at a school bus depot and end more than 12 hours later at a parent meeting at Garfield High School. Along the way, Beutner is expected to be joined by school district administrators, L.A. Unified board members and the vice president of the union that represents school bus drivers. Though he will be covering a lot of ground, Beutners tour has him skipping Tuesdays school board meeting, when board members are expected to discuss labor negotiations in closed session. Read More Facebook

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Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

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Why a handful of rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as governor By Ryan Menezes California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018. But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter-school supporters. Together they have spent more than $13 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary  at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election. Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions  longtime stalwarts of the party  and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren. Read More Facebook

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Talking schools with L.A. Unifieds new superintendent By Anna M. Phillips Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ( Incoming L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner talks to students at Belmont High School.) Austin Beutner, who officially starts Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is taking on a famously difficult job at a particularly difficult time. The school board is divided and did not back him unanimously. The nations second-largest school district has deep-seated problems, including declining enrollment, lagging academic achievement and rising pension and healthcare costs that eat away at its budget. The 58-year-old former investment banker and former L.A. Times publisher has years of experience in the financial world but none as an educator. Earlier this week, he sat down with the Times education team to discuss the challenges facing the district, which has about 60,000 employees and 500,000 students in traditional public schools. He did not talk about his plans  saying repeatedly, stay tuned  but he spoke in broad terms about his mindset in approaching the tough decisions ahead. Read More Facebook

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Suspect detained, authorities search campus after reports of armed man at Palmdale high school By James Queally One person has been detained after a report of an armed man at a Palmdale high school sparked a massive law enforcement response Friday morning. The suspect was spotted at 7:05 a.m. on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, according to Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. The person was detained in a nearby parking lot, according to Nishida, who did not know whether that person was an adult or juvenile. Deputies at the scene are clearing the school methodically, and students will be transported home via school buses once the campus is deemed safe, Nishida said. Read More Facebook

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The education of Bertha Perez: How a UC Merced custodians disenchantment led to a political awakening By Robin Abcarian Its the third day of a three-day strike, and UC Merced custodian Bertha Perez is taking a break from a picket line at the universitys unremarkable entrance, an intersection with stop lights. Photos from other UC campuses this week have shown big crowds of striking service workers  members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees  marching and chanting pro-labor slogans as they try to force the University of California back to the negotiating table. But here, at UC Merced, whose handful of big buildings rise from a flat expanse of farmland, the picket line is tiny, maybe two dozen workers and a few students. Its not a big-city-style show of force. Then again, a union sympathizer is banging relentlessly on a snare drum, so its noisier than youd expect. Read More Facebook

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Ref Rodriguez resigns from teacher credentialing commission By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez appears during a court appearance. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez has resigned from the states Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which oversees the integrity and quality of Californias teachers. Rodriguez faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. Separately, his former employer, a charter school organization, has accused him of improperly authorizing checks to a nonprofit under his control. Rodriguez has denied wrongdoing. Rodriguezs resignation from the state body was effective May 4, days after he cast a crucial vote as part of a narrow majority that voted to authorize contract negotiations with Austin Beutner to become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District. Beutners first official day on the job is Tuesday. Rodriguez remains in his $125,000-a-year position on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The mission of the state body is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of Californias teachers. Critics had questioned Rodriguezs continued service on the commission, given that teachers can be suspended from work if they face criminal charges. They also can lose their jobs for lapses in personal behavior, such as excessive drinking, with the potential to affect their performance. Police in Pasadena arrested Rodriguez on a Friday afternoon in March for public drunkenness. He was not charged in the incident and has apologized. The state commission reviews teacher discipline cases and can take action to remove a teachers credential to work in a California classroom. The commission has 15 members. Rodriguezs departure was disclosed in a one-sentence announcement on the agencys website. Facebook

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School board members request for restraining order against blogger is rejected By Priscella Vega An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a school board members petition for a permanent restraining order against a Huntington Beach blogger. Attorney Jeffrey W. Shields filed the petition on behalf of Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, 46, who alleged in court documents that Charles Keeler Johnson, 56, has threatened her on social media and at school board meetings, causing her to fear for my own safety and for that of my immediate family members. Johnson, who goes by Chuck and publishes HBSledgehammer.com, said the trustee tried to stifle his freedom of speech. He also contended that Clayton-Tarvin took his blog posts and Facebook comments too seriously and out of context, saying anyone who is afraid of metaphors has serious issues. Read More Facebook

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Deal with workers averts one-day strike that could have shut down L.A. schools By Howard Blume Los Angeles school district and union officials announced a contract agreement Tuesday night that averted a one-day strike planned for next week. The pact, which runs through June 2020, removes one labor problem from the desk of incoming Supt. Austin Beutner  whose first day on the job would have coincided with the strike. Plenty of other challenges remain. Read More Facebook

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UC labor strike expands with show of support from more unions By Teresa Watanabe Fong Chuu is a registered nurse who has assisted with countless liver transplants, kidney surgeries and gastric bypasses during 34 years at UCLA. Working with her are scrub technicians who sterilize equipment, hand medical instruments to the surgeon and dress patient wounds. They are a team, Chuu says, which is why she walked off her job Tuesday in support of those technicians and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The 25,000 member AFSCME local, the University of Californias largest employee union, launched a three-day strike Monday. Read More Facebook

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We are humans too: Voices of UCLAs striking custodians, hospital aides and imaging technicians By Joy Resmovits Demonstrators parade in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) This week, thousands of UC employees are staging a three-day strike for better pay and working conditions. On Monday, more than 20,000 custodians, cooks, lab technicians, nurse aides and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off their jobs. By Tuesday, two more unions joined in sympathy strikes. The union and UC reached a bargaining impasse last year. The university has said it wont meet the workers demands. The strikers said they wanted better pay, more equity in the allocation of work, stable healthcare premiums and an end to the universitys use of contract workers. These are their stories. Read More Facebook

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Massive UC workers strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services By Joy Resmovits A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services. More than 20,000 members of UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Two altercations involving protesters and people driving near the rallies were reported at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. At UCLA, police took a man into custody Monday after he drove his vehicle into a crowd, hitting three staff members. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, said Lt. Kevin Kilgore of the UCLA Police Department. Read More Facebook

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Sen. Kamala Harris to skip UC Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers By Teresa Watanabe Sen. Kamala Harris (Chris Dekmas) California Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled plans to deliver UC Berkeleys commencement address this weekend in support of UC workers who are on strike over wages and health benefits. Due to the ongoing labor dispute, Sen. Harris regretfully cannot attend and speak at this years commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley, said a statement from Harris office issued Monday. She wishes the graduates and their families a joyous commencement weekend and success for the future. They are bright young leaders and our country is counting on them. UCs largest employee union, the 25,000-member American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees Local 3299, launched a three-day strike Monday and had earlier called for a speakers boycott. The union and university reached a bargaining impasse last year and subsequent mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement. The union is asking for a multiyear contract with a 6% annual pay increase while the university is offering 3% annual increases over four years. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ will deliver the keynote address instead, the university announced. About 5,800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony Saturday. Facebook

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School mural depicting Trumps bloody, severed head sparks controversy By Gary Warth A Chula Vista school mural that depicts the bloody, severed head of President Trump on a spear sparked a controversy that prompted officials to cover it and issue a response distancing themselves from the work. The statement also said the artist will alter the painting. We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our schools philosophy of non-violence, read the statement from MAAC Community Charter School director Tommy Ramirez. We have been in communication with the artist  who has agreed to modify the artwork  to better align with the schools philosophy. Read More Facebook

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New blackface incident at Cal Poly prompts calls for state investigation By Kim Christensen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials have asked the state attorney generals office to investigate after a new photo of a white student in blackface surfaced on a fraternity groups private Snapchat. I am outraged, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in a video address Friday to the campus. These vile and absolutely unacceptable acts cannot continue. We must not allow these acts to define us as an institution. Armstrong said the latest photo was intended to imitate an incident last month in which a white member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was photographed at a party wearing blackface. Read More Facebook

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More than 50,000 UC workers set to strike this week but campuses will remain open By Teresa Watanabe More than 50,000 workers across the University of California are set to strike this week, causing potential disruptions to surgery schedules, food preparation and campus maintenance. The systems 10 campuses and five medical centers are to remain open, with classes scheduled as planned. UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, plans to begin a three-day strike Monday involving 25,000 workers, including custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Read More Facebook

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New L.A. schools chief Beutner pledges to listen, learn and take action By Howard Blume New Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner proved Wednesday that hes a quick learner even without an education background. Like countless public officials before him, he appeared at an important event  his first speech and news conference  with a photogenic background of students. His message  that he would put those students first  seemed heartfelt if hardly original. Nor was it a huge surprise that he pledged to push cooperatively but unflinchingly to improve the districts academic performance and stabilize its finances. As an introduction, Beutner, a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street, offered little flash, but that was partly the point. Read More Facebook

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In a school lockdown, one student takes stock of the stressful scene (Phalaen Chang) At the beginning of lunch one day late last month, Duarte High School, Northview Middle School, and California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley were advised by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to go into lockdown mode due to police activity in the immediate area. Phalaen Chang, a junior at the California School of the Arts, wrote a series of notes on her iPhone while she sat in a room with her classmates. By the time the lockdown ended an hour later, she wrote, she knew which of her friends would hold open the door for others, be the ones calming others down, be the ones barricading the doors. She knew that all of them have the potential to be such strong people. Read More Facebook

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Tale as old as time: L.A. Unified superintendent pick follows a historical pattern of outside-the-box choices By Joy Resmovits Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, superintendent from 2006-2008. (L.A. Times file photo) L.A. Unified has long gone back and forth between picking insiders and outsiders to run the nations second largest school district. The choice of Austin Beutner, announced Tuesday, places the district squarely back in the outsider camp  months after a consummate insider, Supt. Michelle King, announced that she had cancer and would not return to the job. Check out this timeline of former L.A. superintendents to see how the school board members have changed their minds, sometimes favoring leaders who come from the world of education and sometimes executives from elsewhere, recruited to shock the system into change. At one point, the district hired someone from the military  retired Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, who served as superintendent from 2006-2008. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator  largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. Facebook

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Austin Beutner named superintendent of Los Angeles schools By Howard Blume Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, on Tuesday was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest school system. His selection was the biggest move yet by a Los Angeles school board majority elected with major support from charter school advocates. The decision came after lengthy public testimony, most of it in support of the other remaining finalist, interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian, who is well known within the school system. Beutner, 58, has no background leading a school or school district. Less than 2 years ago, a school board with a very different balance of power named Michelle King, a former teacher who rose through the district throughout her career, to L.A. Unifieds top job. Read More Facebook

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Hearing delay gives both sides more time in Ref Rodriguezs potential trial By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez and his attorneys will have more time to prepare their defense against charges of political money laundering, a judge ruled Monday. The preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled to begin May 9, but that date will now be pushed back to July 23 per the ruling from L.A. Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil. Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school board poised to name Beutner as superintendent By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is poised to select philanthropist and former investment banker Austin Beutner to be the next superintendent of the nations second-largest school system. Barring a last-minute development, the only mystery is whether Beutner emerges with four or five votes from the boards seven members. Terms of his contract already have been under discussion, according to sources close to the process who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak. The selection of Beutner, 58, who has no experience managing a school or a school district, would be a signal that the board majority that took control nearly a year ago wants to rely on business management skills instead of insider educational expertise. Read More Facebook

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Teacher walkouts in Arizona and Colorado continue national debate on money for schools By Michael Livingston Following the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education. Read More Facebook

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Three decades before the #MeToo movement, UC San Diego led the way against sexual assault By Teresa Watanabe When Nancy Wahlig first started her fight against sexual assault, one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor. Because of the very nature of society, the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself, read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent. Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then, and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses. In 1988, she started UC San Diegos Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), the first stand-alone program at the University of California. Today, she remains the systems most senior specialist. Read More Facebook

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Andres Alonso withdraws from consideration for L.A. schools job By Howard Blume Andres Alonso, believed to be one of three remaining finalists to lead the Los Angeles school system, has withdrawn from consideration. The remaining known candidates in the confidential search are former investment banker Austin Beutner and interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Alonso, 60, announced his decision on Twitter on Thursday night, saying he had notified the L.A. Unified School District on Monday. The exit of Alonso, the former Baltimore schools chief, seems to solidify the front-runner status of Beutner, who also was a former L.A. Times publisher and a Los Angeles deputy mayor. He held each of those positions for about a year. Read More Facebook

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Heres why the apparent increase in autism spectrum disorders may be good for U.S. children By Karen Kaplan The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children continues to rise, new government data suggest. And that may be a good thing. Among 11 sites across the U.S. where records of 8-year-olds are scrutinized in detail, 1 in 59 kids was deemed to have ASD in 2014. Thats up from 1 in 68 in 2012. Normally, health officials would prefer to see less of a disease, not more of it. But in this case, the higher number is probably a sign that more children of color who are on the autism spectrum are being recognized as such and getting services to help them, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More Facebook

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UC shelves tuition increase for now, in hopes of getting more state funding By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase next month, shelving the plan for now in hopes that state lawmakers will come through with more funding. Raising tuition is always a last resort and one we take very seriously, UC President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in a statement. We will continue to advocate with our students who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the university to ensure UC remains a world-class institution and engine of economic growth for our state. Last week, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the 23-campus system no longer would consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year. But unlike Cal State, UC officials have not taken a tuition increase off the table entirely. Read More Facebook

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A chemical spill, unchecked eyewash stations, poor training: Audit details Cal States lax lab safety By Joy Resmovits In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. Read More Facebook

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After blackface incident, minority students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo say they dont feel welcome By Hailey Branson-Potts Aaliyah Ramos was walking through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus last year when a prospective student approached her. Ramos was the only black person, the young woman said, that she and her mother had seen that day. They asked about the quality of education and the diversity of the student body. Ramos, a mechanical engineering student, didnt want to sugarcoat the truth: Cal Poly long has been predominantly white. But she told the young woman  who also was black  that she didnt want to discourage her from applying, because that wouldnt help with diversity at a school where only 0.7% of students are African American  the lowest percentage of any university in the California State system. Read More Facebook

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El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills wins the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon By Carlos Lozano El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills has won the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon, officials said. The winner was announced early Saturday at a ceremony in Frisco, Texas. More than 600 students from the U.S., Canada, China and the United Kingdom gathered there over the last three days to compete in the 37th annual U.S. Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to El Camino Real Charter High School for another impressive victory, said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Your academic stamina and competitive spirit to win is remarkable. The entire L.A. Unified family is so proud of you. Read More Facebook

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Anticipation mounts as L.A. school board meets over superintendent selection By Howard Blume L.A. schools superintendent candidate Andres Alonso got an endorsement Friday, but Austin Beutner and Vivian Ekchian also have supporters. (Elizabeth Malby) The Los Angeles Board of Education is reconvening in closed session Friday at noon as anticipation mounts about the choice of the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. The presumed front-runner is former investment banker and philanthropist Austin Beutner, but interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian and former Baltimore Supt. Andres Alonso also are in the running. Most district insiders appear to be rooting for Ekchian, who has spent her entire career in education within the school system. After her 10 years as a teacher, her roles have included head of human resources, chief labor negotiator and regional administrator for campuses in the west San Fernando Valley. Shes managed the district since September, when then-Supt. Michelle King went on medical leave and chose Ekchian to fill in for her. King, who is battling cancer, never returned and announced her retirement in January. Numerous influential civic leaders have urged  and pressured  the board to select Beutner. Also lending their weight have been advocates for charter schools, which are independently operated, growing in number and competing for students with district-operated campuses. Four of the seven board members  enough to control the outcome  were elected with major financial support from charter supporters. Beutner has two ongoing connections with the L.A. Unified School District. The first is his leadership of an outside task force that is making recommendations on how to improve the school system. The second is his charity, Vision to Learn, which supplies glasses to low-income students. The charity and the school system are in a dispute at the moment over who is responsible for delays in providing services to students as part of a $6 million contract, half of which is paid for by L.A. Unified. Unlike Ekchian and Buetner, Alonso, who currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has no deep-seated local constituency, but the prospect of his selection has generated some excitement. While in Baltimore, Alonso was recognized for pushing for progress at low-performing schools, and for being willing to take strong action. While in Baltimore, he also weathered a test-score cheating scandal and occasionally rocky relations with the teachers union. But by the time he resigned, after six years, he and union leaders seemed to be working together without rancor. Leaders of some community groups have split from the pro-Beutner camp. They worry that Beutners approach to confronting the districts financial problems could shut out their voices or involve severe economic cutbacks that would undermine programs that are helping students. Some prefer Ekchian; some Alonso. Theyve been reluctant to speak out publicly because theyll have to work with whoever is selected, but they have tried to get the ear of board members. On Friday morning, one leader of a community group decided to come out in favor of Alonso. L.A. Unified has the opportunity to bring in an instructional leader of color with a history of success, said Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, which works on behalf of low-income students and families in South Los Angeles. If we have a shot at that, we should go for it  because its in the best interests of our kids and of our community. Retana said his statement was not meant to criticize Beutner or Ekchian but to alert board members that there also is community support for Alonso. Facebook

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Cal State leader shelves proposed tuition hike: Its the right thing to do, but its not without risk By Joy Resmovits Cal State, the nations largest public university system, will no longer consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Friday. The decision is a bet that Sacramento will come through in the end. If Cal State loses that bet, it could mean cuts to campus programs. White said in an interview that Californias economy is strong enough that families should not be shouldering the burden of higher college costs. Read More Facebook

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L.A. students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday By Joy Resmovits (Los Angeles Times) Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people  12 students and one teacher  killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, theyll participate in a host of different activities. Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence, and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts. According to a central hub for organizing the protests  written by the students of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut  the walkouts are intended to drive the political change necessary to curb school violence. The day is also a time for students to interact on an elevated platform they have never had before, the site states. It is a day of discourse and thoughtful sharing. Bringing together communities and students to get a national discussion rolling. Organizers have suggested using the event to convey the importance of curbing gun violence to legislators. They are encouraging students to push legislation that would ban assault weapons and tighten up rules around who can buy guns and how. Over 2,500 schools nationwide are expected to participate. In L.A., some students  at campuses including Eagle Rock High School, the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Bravo Medical Magnet  plan to walk out. Students from various schools expect to join area marches, including those in Santa Monica and Huntington Park. Other schools are hosting career days and voter registration drives. At 1 p.m., students plan to start a rally in front of L.A. Unified headquarters. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that 12 teachers and one student were killed in the Columbine shooting. The opposite is true: twelve students and one teacher died. Facebook

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Stabbing of popular student devastates South El Monte High School; teen friend suspected in slaying By Sonali Kohli When administrators at South El Monte High School called Jeremy Sanchezs parents to say he never showed up for class Wednesday, his father began to worry. It was unusual for the 17-year-old junior to miss school, so his father filed a missing persons report and assembled two of Jeremys close friends to look for the popular student-athlete. Their search took them to a scenic stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail, where one of the friends  a 16-year-old boy  made a tragic discovery. Among the bushes in the riverbed near Thienes Avenue and Parkway Drive was Jeremys body, punctured with stab wounds, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Read More Facebook

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Racist fliers spark outrage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo By Alene Tchekmedyian Soon after Neal MacDougall arrived on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus Tuesday, the professor noticed university police standing outside a restroom near his office. A racial slur against African Americans had been scrawled in red marker on a stall wall. Later, he discovered a series of racist fliers pinned up next to his door. Someone had also slashed posters hed hung outside his office supporting students in the country illegally. The discovery was the latest controversy on the prestigious campus  which the president said is less than 55% white  that MacDougall said demonstrates a culture of racism at the university. Last week, photographs emerged of white fraternity members, including one in blackface, flashing gang signs. Read More Facebook

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The superintendent waiting game, paying for L.A.'s College Promise, Princetons slave history: Whats new in education By Joy Resmovits Acting LAUSD superintendent Vivian Ekchian is a finalist for the permanent job. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) In and around Los Angeles: The L.A. Unified school board spent 10 hours interviewing and discussing candidates for superintendent. When they adjourned after 10 p.m., they said they would reconvene on Friday. Who is paying for Mayor Eric Garcettis much-touted College Promise, a program that promises two years of community college for LAUSD grads? In California: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would boost K-12 education funding for black students. When the cost of living is taken into account, California has the highest rate of child poverty. Nationwide: The families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never occurred. Princeton will name two spaces  an arch and a garden  after slaves who lived or worked on the campus. Facebook

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L.A. school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon. Going into the days meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak. Read More Facebook

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Two Sandy Hook families sue Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never happened By David Altimari Families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed lawsuits in Texas against controversial radio host Alex Jones for continually claiming the massacre never happened. Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse Lewis, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner died in the massacre, filed separate lawsuits late Monday in Travis County, Texas. The lawsuits allege that Jones defamed the parents by constantly calling them crisis actors and insisting the shooting was a false flag operation; they also claim Jones accusations have led to death threats against the Sandy Hook families by Jones followers. Read More Facebook

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Beutner emerges as a top pick for L.A. schools superintendent amid last-minute jockeying By Howard Blume Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles. Though he does not have a background in education, the former investment banker has in the last year examined some of the districts intractable problems, serving as co-chair of an outside task force with the support of then-Supt. Michelle King. Sources inside and outside the school district said Beutner appears to have more support on the seven-member board than other finalists, and his name could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Challenge at Chicago school construction site: Watch for 38,000 unmarked graves By Nereida Moreno A 15-year effort to build a school in Chicagos Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil. The $70-million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House, where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the countys insane asylum. There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place, said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. Its a spooky, scary place. Read More Facebook

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Oklahoma teacher walkout winds down despite lawmakers failure to meet demands By Washington Post Oklahomas largest teachers union has announced an end to a walkout that has drawn thousands of educators out of classrooms and to the state Capitol demanding greater investment in the states schools, which have endured the nations steepest funding cuts. The announcement Thursday from the Oklahoma Education Assn. does not necessarily end the protests at the Capitol, as teachers not affiliated with the union vowed to stay longer. Instead of a walkout, the union and school districts across the state have said they plan to send delegations of teachers to Oklahoma City to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Teachers and their supporters have also promised to push education issues to the forefront of November elections, when the state chooses a new governor. As school districts begin to reopen, the protests may lose steam. The Legislature is not in session Friday, and observers are waiting to see what happens Monday, when lawmakers return. Read More Facebook

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Most Californians are worried about school shooting threats and oppose arming teachers, survey finds By Joy Resmovits Hamilton High School student Aiyana Dabriel holds a sign during a March 14 walkout in support of the Parkland shooting victims. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Most Californians are worried that a school shooting like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., in February could shed blood closer to home, a new survey found. Some 73% percent of adults and 82% of public school parents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about school shootings. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 1,704 adults in the state by phone just after the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence. Latino and black respondents were significantly more likely to be concerned about school violence than white or Asian respondents, the institute found. Two-thirds of adults and public school parents said they opposed letting more educators carry weapons in school. The response differed across party lines, with 86% of Democrats and 69% of independents voicing their opposition, while 60% percent of Republicans said they would support a measure to arm educators. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2% in either direction, also asked Californians about school funding, educational issues in the governors race and the impact of immigration enforcement on students. You can find the full results here. Facebook

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Californias largest virtual charter school network agrees to contract with its teachers By Anna M. Phillips Nearly four years after teachers at Californias largest online charter school voted to unionize, they have reached a deal to increase pay and create job protections, according to a spokesman for the California Teachers Assn. The contract, which is still tentative and subject to ratification, is a victory for the teachers union. Although charter schools are publicly funded, most are privately managed and their employees arent protected by labor contracts. Under the terms of the contract  the result of years of negotiation and legal wrangling  approximately 500 teachers working for California Virtual Academies will no longer be at-will employees who can be dismissed for almost any reason. Their average salary will rise to just over $45,000, according to union estimates, a figure that remains far below the norm for traditional public school teachers. Still, it is an improvement over the previous average of $38,000. The accord also places a limit on the number of students each teacher is responsible for monitoring in online homeroom classes. Were very satisfied with the gains we made, said teacher Brianna Carroll, president of California Virtual Educators United. I think were going to see some extraordinary changes in our schools. According to Carroll, teachers at California Virtual Academies  better known as CAVA  had grown frustrated with the organizations foot-dragging and were making preparations to go on strike when CAVAs leadership agreed to the deal. CAVA and K12, the Virginia-based for-profit company linked to its schools, did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking for comment. The network currently operates nine virtual charter schools across California. In 2016, the charter network agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims of false advertising, misleading parents and inadequate instruction. The state attorney generals office had also accused K12 of controlling the charters for its own financial benefit. Neither CAVA nor K12 admitted to wrongdoing in the settlement. A year later, the state imposed a $2-million fine on CAVA after an audit found that it had misspent public funds. The network disputed the findings. Facebook

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School board approves a new formula for funding high-need schools By Sonali Kohli L.A. schools will soon get more money if they are located in neighborhoods with such problems as high levels of gun violence and asthma. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new formula to determine how to dole out some funding to schools, based not only on the characteristics of the student populations but on the traumas that affect the communities around campuses. The new formula will be applied to $25 million in funding next fiscal year and about $263 million annually in future years  a small part of the districts $7.5 billion annual budget. Read More Facebook

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Protesters demand Ref Rodriguez resignation outside school board meeting By Sonali Kohli Students, parents, teachers and UTLA marching outside the board meeting chanting "Ref resign" pic.twitter.com/W0LRWZSIXY  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 A few dozen parents, students and teachers marched outside the Los Angeles Unified School Board meeting Tuesday, some calling for board member Ref Rodriguez to resign the week after news broke that he was taken into custody on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena bar and restaurant. Rodriguez was not cited or charged in that incident, but was held for more than five and a half hours before being released. The school board member faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. He is accused of getting more than two dozen people people to donate to his campaign for his school board seat with the understanding that he would reimburse them. He stepped down from his post as school board president after he was charged last fall, but he did not give up his seat on the board. He has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. He cant give his full focus to our students, said Rebecca LaFond, a Highland Park parent whose three children marched with her as she chanted, Ref resign. One daughter marched in front of her, using a drum stick to hit the bottom of a gallon-size empty water jug. Our kids deserve someone who has the utmost ethical standards representing them, LaFond said. The protests continued into the board meeting, where some addressed Rodriguez directly, calling on him to step down during public comment portions of the meeting. Rodriguez, through his chief of staff, declined to comment. Some parents outside the board meeting did not know about the charges against Rodriguez but came out to protest the possibility of sharing their school campuses with charter schools. Protesters also oppose colocation  not all of the parents are here to ask Ref Rodriguez to step down pic.twitter.com/1Co8zQ9zSi  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 Cynthia Martinez said her son, who goes to Christopher Dena Elementary School in Boyle Heights, has been bullied in the past by students from a charter school sharing the campus. She said she didnt know who Rodriguez was. Some parents and teachers are worried about losing computer labs, robotics rooms and fitness centers if they are required to share their campus with charter schools, said Ilse Escobar, a parent community organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles. The issues of Rodriguez and colocation are related, Escobar said. Rodriguez is part of a majority on the school board elected with financial backing from charter school supporters, and many parents, she said, feel that the school board is compromised if he is a part of it. Staff reporter Howard Blume contributed to this post. Facebook

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Delaine Eastin tries to gain momentum in the California governors race, one voter at a time By Seema Mehta Delaine Eastin was a sophomore in high school when a drama teacher urged her to try out for a part in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She hesitated until he told her: This is a metaphor for your whole life. If you never try out, you will never get the part. Eastin auditioned and won the role. Decades later, the advice sticks with the former state schools chief, this time in her unlikely run for governor. Despite calls for more women in leadership roles in state politics following sexual misconduct allegations in Sacramento, Eastin has been largely overlooked in the race, lagging far behind her Democratic rivals in fundraising and the polls. Read More Facebook

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Arizona high court rejects in-state tuition for DACA recipients By Associated Press Young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by President Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling will affect at least 2,000 students attending the states largest community college district and hundreds more at other colleges and the states three public universities. The Maricopa County Community Colleges District and state universities said they would begin raising tuition immediately for the coming school year. Read More Facebook

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New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass By Associated Press A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries. Read More Facebook

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Some good news for California in national student test scores By Joy Resmovits National test scores for fourth- and eighth-graders were generally flat from 2015, but eighth-grade reading scores showed some improvement. Every two years, the nations fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in math and reading  and newly released results from last years tests give California at least a little reason to be pleased. The 2017 results  out Monday night  were mostly flat nationwide compared with 2015, though the average score in eighth-grade reading went up. But while that improvement largely came from the increased scores of the highest-performing students, California eighth-graders showed some reading progress from the lowest levels to the highest. Read More Facebook

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Under state control, Inglewood school districts financial picture worsened By Anna M. Phillips When Eugenio Villa agreed to return to the Inglewood schools for a second tour last summer, he knew the district remained one of Californias most troubled. Inglewood Unified had been nearly insolvent when it was taken over by the state Department of Education in 2012. Six years later, its enrollment was still declining. Its school buildings were tired  some edging into decrepitude. Its test scores and graduation rates were still below the state average. And the public was out of patience. Still, Villa, who had signed back on as the districts chief business official, was shocked at what he found when he arrived in June 2017. Two years earlier, he had left the school system on what he thought was firm ground. Read More Facebook

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Charter school group drops two lawsuits against L.A. Unified By Howard Blume A charter schools advocacy group last week announced that it would end two long-running lawsuits in which it was seeking more classroom space and construction money from the Los Angeles school district. The decision, the California Charter Schools Assn. said, reflects better relations between charter schools and the L.A. Unified School District. But the move also suggests that the litigation, which already contributed to significant gains for area charters, was unlikely to produce much more. It takes time, money and effort to litigate, said Ricardo Soto, general counsel for the charter group. Maybe its better to see if we can find the time and opportunity for collaboration. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez is arrested on suspicion of public intoxication By Richard Winton Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez was arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant, the latest trouble for an elected official who faces political money-laundering charges. Pasadena police took Rodriguez into custody on March 16, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Officers arrested Rodriguez at about 4:30 p.m. at the Yard House restaurant and bar at the Paseo Mall and held him in jail for more than five-and-a-half hours. Rodriguez was ultimately released without being cited or charged, Derderian told The Times. Other details about the arrest were not available, she The 62-year-old man with a scraggly beard and glasses poured water from a plastic jug onto a towel and began washing up for the new morning outside the tent he shares with his wife.

Koreatowns been kind to him, said the man, who gave his name only as Tony but is known to most as Maddogg. Those who walk along this stretch of New Hampshire Avenue daily know hes sick with colon cancer and ask how hes feeling. Others come by with food. Once, a well-dressed man dropped a $100 bill in front of him. When Tony tried to return it to him, the man said it wasnt his.

He returns the favor  keeping the block that he calls home meticulous, picking up around him every day.

If we stay here, he said, we respect it and keep it clean.

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Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Herb Wesson earlier this month chose a city-owned Koreatown parking lot, two blocks from where Tony has been living, to be the launch site for the mayors $20-million initiative for temporary homeless shelters across the city.

With about 400 people living on the streets and nearly 70 encampments, the need in Koreatown is pressing and palpable, Garcetti and Wesson said. The 65-bed shelter would be a pathway to getting people off the street while the city builds permanent housing, they said. One temporary shelter will be built in each of the 15 council districts.

But the decision to put the shelter near the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, in the heart of Koreatown and within a short distance from several schools, has led to overwhelming opposition from residents and business owners that has caught city and community leaders by surprise.

Koreatown residents protest homeless shelter plan, saying it's too close to schools, businesses https://t.co/ICUTwjmB2e pic.twitter.com/wfdf972aWH  ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) May 7, 2018

Opponents accuse the city of having blindsided the community by choosing the site for the shelter and making the announcement with little input from those who live, work and run businesses there. They say they see the need, and agree there should be a shelter in Koreatown, but that the current site is unacceptable.

More than 8,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the plan, and hundreds have protested at two weekend rallies demanding the city relocate the shelter site. (A smaller group also staged a counter-protest expressing support.) Korean-language media have been lambasting the plan, calling it an arbitrary decision by city government. An anonymous donor cut a check for $20,000 to the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles to push back against it.

Many contend that the way the lot was selected and the decision announced was just the latest incident in the citys long history of failing to include the Korean community in decisions affecting them.

This is just one more time where the Korean community feels like it was just invisible, said Emile Mack, vice president of the federation, which was inundated with calls and social media messages from those concerned about the shelter. It was just, Heres the decision.

Mack and other community leaders who stood alongside Garcetti and Wesson when the announcement for the shelter was made said they werent given enough details about the proposal in advance, and that the city appeared to have finalized the plans before approaching them the week before.

This is just one more time where the Korean community feels like it was just invisible. Emile Mack, vice president, Korean American Federation of Los Angeles

Steve Kang, director of external affairs for the Koreatown Youth and Community Center, said the furor ignited in a grass-roots manner through online forums and social media networks.

Unlike other big Koreatown issues, this one was very organic  young moms, young dads, grandparents, first and second generation, average ordinary folks, he said.

Several organizers of the opposition drew comparisons to the 1992 riots, when the Korean American community felt abandoned and sidestepped by the city. One television spot by a Korean-language news station urging people to come out to this Saturdays rally spliced footage from the post-riot peace rally with the previous weekends protest against the shelter. In the clips, Wesson can be heard saying that there would be no public hearing and Garcetti saying that the lot was city property.

Because this crisis demands it, Garcetti said of the shelter. And we own it.

Faced with the uproar, Garcetti and Wesson, accompanied by Councilman David Ryu, a Korean American who has previously worked in the community, met with neighborhood groups and held a rare news conference specifically for the Korean-language media.

Denise Lee, 35, sits next to her tent in a parking lot near 6th and Vermont in Koreatown. She is one of more than 400 people living on the streets in Koreatown, where a proposed temporary shelter has been met with opposition. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

They acknowledged there could have been more outreach but said they did contact area businesses, schools, religious organizations and community groups to seek support before the public announcement.

They attempted to dispel notions that the shelter will result in blight and safety issues in the area, emphasizing there would be around-the-clock police presence and that they would be bringing those already sleeping on nearby streets to indoor beds where they can receive supportive services.

No community ever has one voice, Garcetti told the Korean media on the steps of City Hall. Every community will always have voices that may have fear, and others that have hope.

Wesson spokeswoman Vanessa Rodriguez said more outreach could have been done, but that given the limited options of city-owned property, the lot was the best location in an area of dire need.

There may never be a perfect place, but this is pretty close, she said. It was about where there are the most of them, and how can we get them immediate services.

The entreaties by city leaders have done little to assuage the ire.

Thank you @krcla for expressing your support for the temporary homeless housing facility to be built in Koreatown. We're proud to be your partner in empowering L.A.'s Asian American communities and bringing resources where they are needed. pic.twitter.com/wbOJxIYSQB  L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson (@HerbJWesson) May 11, 2018

Chan Yong Jeong, a Koreatown attorney, said he has filed a public records request for analyses, reports and email correspondence within City Hall regarding the shelter and its location.

He said he and others feared the shelter will result in a surge of homeless individuals who cant all be accommodated by the 65 beds in what is a busy corridor central to Koreatown where schoolchildren often pass.

This spot is the wrong place, said Jeong, who passed out thousands of fliers urging residents to come out to a Saturday afternoon protest. I dont think there was a real impact analysis. Look at skid row downtown  they could not do anything about it for decades.

Laura Jeon, president of the Korean American Federation, said much of the outrage comes from a history of feeling that the community has no voice in city matters.

Theres distrust in governmental authority and City Hall from the riots. The hurt, the memory runs too deep, she said. We havent seen this kind of united anger and outrage since the riots.

One community organization, the Korean Resource Center, expressed full support for the shelter.

It could be just the luck of the draw. Why wouldnt they want to help? Raymond Hunter, homeless Koreatown resident

David K. Song, chair of its board of directors and an 18-year Koreatown resident, said the vocal opponents didnt speak for everyone in the community. He said he sees the need every day on the streets around him, when he walks his daughter to day care or takes a stroll with his son.

Youre assuming the worst. Its not that just because theyre there, theyll be a threat, he said. It makes sense to have it in that area for a while.

Tony, the Koreatown tent dweller, hadnt heard of the proposed shelter or the uproar over it. He had more pressing matters, like sorting out his health insurance.

Raymond Hunter, 38, has been staying next door to Tony and his wife in a smaller tent. He said he liked Koreatown for its diversity and energy. Nobody feels like the king of this place, he said.

He said a shelter would go a long way to help, especially now that motel vouchers for the homeless had dried up. He said it was the first time in his life that he was living on the street and hoped others could see that the same could happen to them.

It could be just the luck of the draw, he said. Why wouldnt they want to help?

victoria.kim@latimes.com

For more California news, follow me on Twitter @vicjkim



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.A 9-year-old boy was playing inside a bounce house in his frontyard in Adelanto on Saturday afternoon when strong winds swept the inflated enclosure onto a nearby highway a few hundred feet away, authorities said.

When the bounce house rolled onto Highway 395, it hit a car, said Sgt. Marc Bracco of the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department. Then the boy tumbled out onto the No. 2 lane.

Fortunately, traffic stopped and he emerged with only scrapes and scratches.

The kid got lucky, said Bracco, who added that in his 18 years in law enforcement, hes never seen a bounce house fly such a distance.

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Bracco said it may have been a freak accident caused by the powerful winds.

The winds have been strong in the high desert all weekend  but that area, the winds were going probably a litte faster up there, he said.

The boys family had rented the bounce house for a family party with about 30 guests. The inflatable had been secured, but its not clear how.

In the past, Bracco said, he has advised people to weight them down with concrete buckets or five-gallon water jugs, which he said are more stable than just hammering stakes into the ground.

Once those stakes rip out of the ground, that stuff starts moving, he said.

The driver of the sedan that struck the bounce house was not injured, but he was shaken up, the Sheriffs Department said. The highway was closed for about two hours, jamming traffic.

Its not the first time a bounce house has blown away and caused injuries. In 2014, two young boys were seriously hurt in South Glens Fall, N.Y., when they fell from a bounce house that had been blown as high as 50 feet in a wind gust. A young girl who fell out right away also was slightly injured.

Less than a month later, two 10-year-old children in Colorado were slightly injured when an inflatable castle became detached from the compressor that was keeping it full of air.

As the castle started to deflate, wind sent it rolling as far as 300 feet away across a field during a lacrosse game.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchekWhen officers entered the home, they found spoiled food, trash and feces strewn across the floors, clutter blocking the walkways.

Nine children, ranging in age from 4 months to 11 years, were inside. Their 12-year-old brother, whose disappearance had prompted the police visit that evening, was found asleep under a bush in a neighbors yard.

The March 31 discovery in Fairfield, Calif., triggered a six-week child abuse investigation that uncovered disturbing allegations. Authorities said this week that nine of the children had been tortured as far back as 2014, with eight of them describing attacks that caused puncture wounds, burns and bruising, and involved repeatedly getting shot with a pellet gun. Some had visible scars.

It was pretty ugly, Fairfield Police Lt. Greg Hurlbut told The Times on Monday. Bottom line is, were really concerned with the welfare of the kids.

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Jonathan Allen in a photo released by the Solano County Sheriffs Office on Monday. (Associated Press )

Now, Jonathan Allen, who is the biological father of some of the children, faces seven counts of torture and nine counts of felony child abuse, authorities said. The 29-year-old man was arrested Friday and is being held on more than $5-million bail.

Their mother, Ina Rogers, has been charged with a misdemeanor count of child endangerment, but prosecutors are evaluating whether to file additional charges.

Im horrified by the statements that were given by these children, said Sharon Henry, chief deputy district attorney of the Solano County district attorneys office. She said the children were tortured for a sadistic purpose.

Investigators are trying to piece together the familys history, looking into when they moved to Fairfield, where they lived before and the motivation behind the alleged abuse. They asked neighbors and family friends with information to come forward and executed a search warrant at the home last week.

So far, they said theyve discovered that the children were home-schooled. Its unclear what the couple do for a living. At least one neighbor told investigators that they didnt even know children lived inside the home.

Feces was strewn across the bathroom floor of the Fairfield home where authorities say 10 children were living in squalor. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press )

Speaking with reporters Monday, Rogers, 30, denied the abuse allegations, saying the situation was a misunderstanding. She said she felt this whole situation was exploded after she called police to help find her son.

The conditions they saw in my home was me tearing up my house because my son was missing, she said. I was afraid that I could not find him. You know, once that fear sets in, you dont know what to do.

She called her husband, Allen, an amazing person and said she is an amazing mother.

Im not going to allow this to break us, she said.

Rogers called police about 7:30 p.m. on March 31, telling them her son had been unaccounted for since about 1 p.m., Hurlbut said. After a couple of hours, Hurlbut said, responding officers persuaded Rogers to let them search the house in case he was hiding inside.

Thats when they came across the squalor. The children were taken into protective custody by Solano County Child Welfare Services and are now staying with family members.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

UPDATES:

8:25 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about the alleged abuse.

This article was originally published at 12:50 p.m.The defense attorney for Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., the suspect in the Golden State Killer case, fought on Monday against the release of case documents sought by the Los Angeles Times and other media organizations.

DeAngelo, 72, appeared in court for Mondays brief hearing, walking in on his own power and standing in a barred holding cage before the judge. In past hearings, DeAngelo was rolled into court in a wheelchair.

DeAngelos public defender sought to keep sealed the records that led to his arrest or delay their release until her office receives a complete list of what police took in their search. The prosecutors office turned over a list on Monday  but it lacks information on what investigators found on DeAngelos cellphone and computer.

The warrant and accompanying documents  including a statement by investigators explaining why they believe DeAngelo is behind at least 12 killings, dozens of rapes and more than 100 burglaries across the state  could shed light on how exactly investigators homed in on him as a suspect using DNA from a decades-old arrest case and a genealogy website.

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Defense attorney Diane Howard argued that she is preparing for what will inevitably be the biggest trial in California history and that pretrial publicity will make the proceedings against her client unfair.

In an opposition brief filed to Judge Michael Sweet, Howard noted the affidavits to the search and arrest warrants total 114 pages, suggesting they contain a large volume of sensitive investigative information. Making those details public may jeopardize prosecution and influence potential witnesses, including those not yet located, she argued.

The sealed affidavits contain information on a large number of rapes and other serious crimes alleged against DeAngelo, but for which the statute of limitations has run out and he cannot be prosecuted, Howard said. It also contains information on an alleged murder prior to the Sacramento County killings, but details were not immediately available.

The Sacramento County killings are, so far, the first in the series of 12 linked to the Golden State Killer.

Howard also warned that the April 24 probable cause statement used to secure DeAngelos arrest included material from old investigations that if made public could contaminate the case.

Witnesses providing the information in the affidavits did so several decades ago and may have passed away or the prosecution may not call them to testify, her filing said.

The fact that DeAngelo wasnt identified as a suspect until early 2018, Howard said, citing detectives statements, means the case is far from over.

She also pointed out that the innovative technique authorities used to find DeAngelo  trolling public genealogy websites and comparing the data against crime scene DNA  is mentioned only in passing in their search warrant affidavit.

In fact, she told the court, the search warrant contains only a single sentence describing the DNA process.

Nowhere in the affidavits is there any mention of genealogical websites, she said.

As evidence of the intense media interest in the case, Howards court filing included a photograph of the bank of television cameras fixed on DeAngelo at his initial arraignment. Judge Sweet had permitted as many reporters into the small courtroom as could fit, and allowed electronic recording of the proceeding. He has restricted reporters to notes only in all subsequent hearings, and the courtroom has had seats to spare.

But DeAngelo isnt the only one under intense media scrutiny.

The novel DNA strategy investigators used through consumer genealogy websites for criminal investigations is fraught with questions about privacy and civil liberties. Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert has set precedent in using DNA to identify criminal subjects in the past. She was responsible for what became known as the John Doe warrant, which sought evidence from an unnamed suspect based on his DNA.

At the end of the hearing, Sweet said he would revisit unsealing the warrant on May 29. Ordinarily, search warrants become public record within days of their execution.

DeAngelo is charged with the shooting deaths of two people in Sacramento and 10 more counts of murder in three other counties as part of a 1980s series of crimes attributed to a man known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker.

In addition, investigators believe DeAngelo was responsible for a crime wave in Visalia that involved dozens of home burglaries, assaults and one killing. Authorities say DeAngelo may have begun his criminal activity as a cat burglar in Rancho Cordova in the early 1970s.

DeAngelo worked as a police officer for small towns in California until 1979, when he was fired in Auburn for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent. He then worked for decades as a truck mechanic, living in a suburb north of Sacramento and communities that had been terrified by rapes and murders now attributed to the Golden State Killer.

On Friday, prosecutors from Sacramento, Ventura, Orange and Santa Barbara counties met to discuss where and how to put DeAngelo on trial for the slayings since the crimes cover multiple jurisdictions. No decision was made.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

UPDATES:

3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the search warrant.

This post was originally published at 11:15 a.m.The eight outreach workers sat around a conference table in Long Beach wrestling with a dilemma involving one of their clients: a homeless man who needed to start dialysis immediately.

Placing him in short-term housing would get him off the streets, but it also might cost him a chance at a permanent apartment because he could then no longer be considered chronically homeless.

After reaching the inevitable conclusion  the man needed a roof to save his life  and sorting through half a dozen other tough cases, the outreach workers split up in teams to tackle their assignments in the field.

Sessions like that, where teams convene to devise strategies for their homeless clients, are becoming routine across Los Angeles County.

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With nearly $20 million flowing in this year from the Measure H homeless sales tax, street outreach has become the most visible of the countys 21 homeless strategies and the first to show measurable effects.

By summer, at least 500 outreach workers will be in the field, more than doubling the force that existed last summer, said Colleen Murphy, supervisor of outreach coordination at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Once the buildup is complete, 36 teams of social workers, mental health specialists, nurses and substance abuse counselors will be assigned to specific areas. They will be augmented by 50 two-person teams.

No one has ever done the level of street outreach that L.A. is doing right now, Murphy said. There is no model for this. Were building it.

The new system must reshape a patchwork of outreach workers deployed by a variety of public and private organizations into an organized network of teams with responsibilities covering every corner of the county.

Some of it is high-tech, some of it is low-tech, Murphy said. Its just getting the teams together that were in silos, getting them to the conference table, especially in areas that are hot spot areas like Hollywood, Venice to sit down and say, OK, how are we going to slice and dice this area up? Why dont you take this encampment, you take that encampment? 

The backbone of the high-tech part is an online tracking system, scheduled to be available to the public by June, that will allow anyone in the county to report a homeless person needing services.

Requests for service, which can be made via smartphone or computer, will be sent to a regional coordinator in one of eight homeless service areas, then relayed to a team leader in the field. The leader, overseeing several outreach teams, will assign the request to specific workers based on the location and nature of the request.

In the service area covering the South Bay and Long Beach, regional coordinator Breanna Jaijairam works in a small office in the Harbor Interfaith Councils homeless access center in San Pedro.

Until the portal opens, Jaijairam is still working the old way, receiving referrals from service organizations, police or city officials. She relays them by phone or email to a team leader, such as Laurie Ramey, who supervises several outreach teams under contract with Mental Health America, a national nonprofit.

Ramey, who has been hiring for months, expects to be fully staffed by summer. Shell supervise 16 outreach workers.

Her teams will coordinate with others fielded by the city of Long Beach, the county Department of Mental Health and the social services agency PATH, covering an area stretching from Inglewood to Long Beach.

With 63 outreach workers for that area, there also will be more time for the low-tech part  sessions where teams hash out the toughest cases and strategize how to get their clients through the complex homeless bureaucracy.

Rameys teams get together twice a week in Long Beach. During a recent conference, they discussed two men who were living in a park.

Both were registered sex offenders, making them ineligible for federal housing support, and one was suicidal. One was offered a housing placement through the probation department, but it was only for him. They refused to separate.

Their best option was a shelter in Los Angeles, one of the few that would accept sex offenders. Permanent housing could wait.

Theyre pretty at risk, Ramey said. We feel that getting them indoors will help a lot.

The conference also was a time to review the teams performance.

Ramey went over the numbers for the fiscal year that started last July: 1,455 contacts at the end of March, already nearly 50% over the years goal, but only 34 housed out of 200 linked to housing subsidies.

Those numbers dramatize the challenges ahead.

Even with the bulked-up resources, there wont be enough outreach to adequately serve all of the countys 43,000 unsheltered homeless people.

Murphy expects some to be helped by church or other outreach efforts that arent yet part of the system. Others will be able to escape homelessness by their own means, she said.

For some, it will just take longer.

But Murphy expressed confidence that, at a minimum, contact will be swift and frequent. Still, its goal of getting people off the streets will be limited by the supply of shelter beds and housing units.

I cant be successful in outreach if I dont have those things, Murphy said.

People love the idea of outreach and going out and talking to people on the streets. But my biggest wish is to help people understand that it doesnt stop with outreach, she said.

What she does promise is that every person who enters a request will receive an email confirmation that a person in the field will respond.

If you put it in, were going to go out there, she said. It may take a little while and that person may tell us to pound sand, but thats the messaging  that we will go.

doug.smith@latimes.com

@LATDougA sheriffs search and rescue crew on Sunday found three victims amid the wreckage of a plane that crashed and sparked a 12-acre fire in a remote canyon in San Diego County, officials said.

The unidentified aircraft went down in a steep canyon on the east side of Volcan Mountain about 8:40 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. Flames from the crash quickly spread and continued to burn for more than two days.

Firefighters found the plane Friday, but search and rescue team members werent able to make it to the aircraft until the fire was 100% contained Sunday morning.

Sheriffs Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam said the canyon was too steep and treacherous to guide investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to the wreckage, as they usually would. Instead, a team of sheriffs investigators made the estimated half-mile hike and conducted the initial investigation.

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The team found three victims near the crash site, but they werent able to recover the bodies because the winds were too high for the helicopter to fly them out, authorities said.

The victims have not been identified.

Investigators also havent been able to establish if the crashed plane is that of a twin-engine Beechcraft Duchess that was supposed to land at Ramona Airport on Thursday but never arrived, Rylaarsdam said.

We havent positively identified the plane yet, the lieutenant said. I think we may be able to at some point, perhaps with a serialized part, but its not like theres a plane sitting down there. Theres a debris field.

A Beechcraft with the same tail number as the missing plane is registered to Scandinavian Aviation Academy, a flight school located at Gillespie Field, according to FAA records.

Capt. Isaac Sanchez with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said firefighters were expected to be at the crash site until at least midweek due to heavy fuels and extensive mop-up required, the fire agency tweeted.

lynsday.winkley@sduniontribune.com

Winkley Smith writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.A Mothers Day shooting in Stockton killed a 5-year-old girl and her parents.

Stockton police responded shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday to a report of multiple people shot at a residence in the 1600 block of 11th Street. When officers arrived, they found five people with gunshot wounds.

Someone was outside and fired multiple rounds at the house, said Joe Silva, a public information officer with the Police Department.

One man was pronounced dead at the scene, and a woman and her 5-year-old daughter were transported to hospitals, where they died, police said. Two men were also shot but are expected to survive.

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At this time, there is no suspect information or a motive, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Stockton Police Department at (209) 937-8377, Investigations at (209) 937-8323 or Crime Stoppers at (209) 946-0600.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_MejiaFormer Army Capt. Ernest L. Medina, a key figure in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, has died in Wisconsin. He was 81.

Medina was an Army captain on March 16, 1968, when American troops under his command killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. He was acquitted in a court-martial over the massacre.

Medina died May 8, according to an obituary written by his family. No cause of death was given. He was being buried Monday.

Medina was captain of Charlie Company, whose mission was to attack a crack Vietcong unit. The intelligence soldiers received was inaccurate and they encountered no resistance in the village of My Lai and a neighboring community. Charlie Company killed 504 villagers in just three to four hours, most of them women, children and elderly men.

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It wasnt until more than a year later that news of the massacre became public.

Medina was accused of responsibility in the deaths of at least 182 civilians. Medina, whose platoon took up a position in reserve outside the village, said during his trial that he was not with the soldiers when the massacre happened and that he didnt know about it until it was over. Medina acknowledged killing one woman, but said he believed she was about to attack him.

Lt. William L. Calley Jr., who led the first platoon into My Lai, was the only one convicted of the 25 men originally charged in the massacre.

In a 1988 interview with the Associated Press, Medina looked back on My Lai as a horrendous thing that never should have happened.

I have regrets for it, but I have no guilt over it because I didnt cause it, he said. Thats not what the military, particularly the United States Army, is trained for. But then again, maybe the war should have never happened. I think if everybody were to look at it in hindsight, Im sure a lot of the politicians and generals would think of it otherwise. Maybe it was a war that we should have probably never gotten involved in as deeply as we did without the will to win it.

Medina earned a Silver Star for bravery for actions he took saving the lives of fellow soldiers during a battle shortly before My Lai. Although Medina was acquitted of murder and manslaughter for the My Lai killings, his 16-year Army career was ruined and he resigned his commission. He moved with his wife and three children to Marinette, Wis., in 1971. He worked as a salesman for a helicopter manufacturer for a while, and later went into real estate.

Medina was born in Springer, N.M., to Simon and Pauline Medina. Medinas mother died shortly after his birth and his grandparents raised him in Montrose, Colo., according to his familys obituary.

Medina lied about his age to join the Colorado National Guard at 16, his family said. In 1956, he enlisted in the Army after briefly considering joining the seminary. Then, while stationed in Heilbronn, Germany, he met the woman he would eventually marry, Baerbel Dechandt.

He quickly fell in love and declined an offer to take an exam to go to West Point Military Academy so that he could marry his soul mate, his obituary reads.

Ernie, as his family called him in the obituary, craved time with family, friends, and working in the community.

He also enjoyed having an occasional cigar, a good home-brew, trying to fill his endless garage with assorted collectibles, and dreaming of restoring an antique Ford Model T and a 1960s VW Bug, his obituary reads.

According to the obituary, Medina is survived by his wife, daughter Ingrid Medina, sons Greg and Cecil Medina, eight grandchildren and his cousin, Ercelica Salomoni.Kilaueas continued eruptions  possibly a long windup to a major explosion at the summit  forced more evacuations Sunday as yet another fissure opened and spattered lava along the volcanos eastern flank .

The Hawaii County Civil Defense sent out the evacuation alert for residents west of Highway 132 on the Hale Kamahina Loop Road after the fissure appeared. They were asked to head to shelters, like the roughly 2,000 residents from the Leilani Estates neighborhood who began evacuating last week.

The latest fissure was several hundred yards long and spatter reached as high as tens of feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which reported lava creeping away from the vent.

Early reports indicated this was the 18th fissure to open up, but another fissure previously reported over the weekend was smaller and didnt emit lava  so scientiests downgraded it and kept the total at 17 fissures.

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The biggest fear is that the summit will explode and blast huge boulders into the air. Officials are also wary of heavy ash and hazardous sulfur dioxide emissions from vents that continue to steam in Leilani Estates.

RELATED | In Hawaii, life goes on under the volcano, even as it spews lava and threatens to explode 

Describing the situation as fluid, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Scientist in Charge Tina Neal said: We have yet to see any evidence of explosive interaction of groundwater and hot rocks. Thats what were concerned about and we continue to watch for and wait.

Explosions could be heard sporadically from Leilani Estates and nearby areas Sunday. Scientists said they come from the fissures.

Rochelle Berryman, who lives in the neighborhood and was allowed to drive through it, described the last 10 days as nerve-racking and said they reminded her of the tornado warnings she experienced while living in Oklahoma.

Hawaii National Guard units were blocking off more roads and only allowing local traffic to enter restricted areas. The Hawaii Civil Defense Agency said vacation rentals in Lower Puna were being asked to stop operating.

A donation center in Pahoa was still operating Sunday morning as evacuees picked up canned goods, water, rice and clothes. It was uncertain when they might be able to return to their homes. Hawaii National Guard Maj. Jeff Hickman said there are 300 people in shelters, while others have moved in with family or friends.

Since the earthquakes and eruptions began May 3, three dozen structures have been destroyed. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been arriving to assist displaced residents. President Trump declared Hawaii a disaster area Friday.

Pahoa, which has taken in the bulk of the evacuees, was relatively quiet Sunday as intermittent rain and overcast skies disguised smoke from the volcano.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church was filled for an early Sunday morning Mass as the Rev. Ernest Juarez Jr. urged parishoners to open up their doors to evacuees in need of help. The church also was soliciting volunteer help to assist with the disaster.Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday proposed reinstating the death penalty in Illinois for mass killers and people who slay law enforcement officers.

The death penalty provision, part of Rauners rewrite of a gun control bill, would create a new category of homicide called death penalty murder, which could apply to adults who kill police officers or more than one person. Guilt must be determined beyond all doubt, rather than the standard reasonable doubt requirement, according to the governors office. Rauner said at a Chicago news conference Monday that people in those cases deserve to have their life taken.

The measure the Republican governor rewrote originally was designed to create a 72-hour cooling off period to buy an assault weapon for those who may have intent to cause harm, and to allow additional time for sellers to complete a background check. Under current law, the waiting period to purchase assault weapons including AR-15s is 24 hours. Its 72 hours to buy a handgun.

Rauner said he also wants the bill to include a complete ban on the sale and possession of bump stocks and trigger cranks, devices designed to make guns fire more rapidly. He wants courts to have the ability to remove guns from people who are deemed dangerous and for judges and prosecutors to be required to explain decisions on plea agreements that result in the release of habitual gun offenders. And he wants funding to hire mental health workers for schools.

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The governors decision on the legislation means that the Democratic-controlled General Assembly will have to either accept his changes or override them in order for the underlying bill to become law.

Rauner said the 72-hour rule should apply to all guns.

If someone is perhaps on the verge of committing suicide, if someone is potentially a dangerous person and they have violent acts in mind, that extra two days could make the difference between life and death, Rauner said Monday at the news conference.

But while expressing support for the underlying purpose of the bill, Rauner used the measure as a vehicle for putting forward the additional proposals, which he said were the product of a public safety task force he convened earlier this year. That means that the 72-hour waiting period cant be enacted unless lawmakers consider his other proposals or pass a new bill. Had the governor signed the bill Monday, or had he done nothing, the 72-hour waiting period would have become law immediately.

Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Carroll of Northbrook said he expected the death penalty provision and changes on plea bargains to complicate things politically.

He hijacked my bill and put politics ahead of policy, Carroll said. He said he had not been consulted about the governors proposed changes.

I think that it was very telling that there was not one Democrat there, Carroll said of the news conference, which was held at an Illinois State Police facility in Chicago. It would have been nice if, as the original sponsor, if I would have been invited to have conversations about this bill or even to the press conference today to talk about this bill.

Rauners rewrite of the measure allows him to tout some tough-on-crime ideas promoted by conservatives as he is trying to unify the Republican Party ahead of the November election, while also showing suburban moderates  another key constituency  that he is taking gun violence seriously.

It is a comprehensive package, it is a thoughtful package, it is good policy, Rauner said. Each piece is critically important.

The death penalty provision in particular could become part of election-year campaigning. Former Gov. George Ryan put a moratorium on death penalty sentences in 2000, and former Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation to outlaw the practice in 2011.

Of the provision that would allow confiscation of guns from people who are deemed dangerous, Rauner said such a removal would be allowed for a period of 14 days and then they go back to the individual if theres no real proof, real evidence justifying the confiscation.

This cant just be a random, unjustified accusation or statement by someone. This has to go through a process, it needs to be adjudicated, Rauner said. We want to protect the rights of individuals, their constitutional protection.  We also have a duty as a community, as a society, to do what we can when theres clear evidence that someone is dangerous.

The legislation was one of several gun control bills that surfaced after a series of high-profile shootings, including the February massacre at a high school in Parkland, Fla. The violence sparked demonstrations at schools across the nation as students called for tougher regulations amid pushback from gun owners who argue their 2nd Amendment rights are at risk.

In March, Rauner vetoed a separate measure that would have created a new state licensing system for gun shops. He argued that it was duplicative because gun retailers are already licensed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He also maintained it would force small businesses to close without making communities safer.

Supporters contend that federal rules do not go far enough. As Rauner was talking with reporters Monday, Democratic state Sen. Don Harmon announced plans to unveil a revamped proposal on gun licensing on Tuesday.

Supporters of that effort hope Rauner may be less inclined to reject the proposal a second time as he seeks to appeal to a wider audience ahead of a November matchup against Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker. His veto of the licensing bill came just days before the March 20 primary election, in which he faced a challenge from conservative Rep. Jeanne Ives. Ives opposed the bill.Callie Greer, a community organizer from Selma, Ala., on Monday stepped on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, a strip of sackcloth fastened around her upper left arm to signal she was willing to go to jail.

Greer lost her daughter Venus, who could not afford health insurance, to breast cancer in 2013. For that reason, she was one of hundreds of protesters who had traveled to Washington to focus attention on the plight of poor people in America.

My baby didnt have to die, said Greer, 58, whose state legislators refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Im going to jail today for a good reason.

Hundreds of poor and low-wage workers, clergy and activists were arrested Monday outside the U.S. Capitol and at statehouses across the country as they kick-started a revival of the Poor Peoples Campaign  the civil disobedience movement founded 50 years ago by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

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The 40 days of planned protests and other activities, organizers said, are intended to highlight the issues of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the societal cost of Americas military buildup.

The idea is to lift poor people to the top of the nations agenda, disrupting the mainstream political conversation and jolting lawmakers, pundits and the 24-hour news cycle dominated by the Trump administration.

A looming question, as organizers pledge to usher in one of the largest waves of nonviolent direct action in U.S. history, is whether the campaigns message will gain traction.

A movement to fight poverty across racial lines could be a tough sell at a time when many poor whites voted for politicians who oppose minimum or living wage laws. At the same time, not all poor African Americans consider their struggle to be the same as that of poor whites.

In Washington, a crowd of several hundred protesters from states as far afield as Alaska and Florida, California and Maryland, held up signs declaring The War on Poverty Is Immoral and We Are a New Unsettling Force.

Many fastened yellow pieces of paper to their bodies, detailing poverty statistics such as 62 million people work for less than a living wage and There are 38 million poor children in the U.S.

We are here to make our voices heard, the Rev. Liz Theoharis, a Presbyterian minister from New York and co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign, told the crowd gathered in front of the Capitol. To tell this nation that there are 140 million poor people living in it. There comes a time when silence is betrayal. There comes a time when we cannot take it anymore.

The Rev. William J. Barber II, a pastor from North Carolina and the campaigns other co-chair, called for a revolution of values.

We have come to put our mouths and our bodies on the line, he said. Weve come to put forward the people who are hurt by the policy violence, because you cant change the narrative until you change the narrator.

When Greer stepped up to the stage, she abandoned the speech she had written.

Im wailing, she screamed into the microphone. How many more babies? How many more children? As she collapsed in sobs, Barber took over.

Thats what the nation ought to hear, he said as she cried. Her daughter died because Alabama refused to expand Medicaid. We need to make this nation cry.

Carolina Alas, a fast-food worker from Richmond, Calif., told the crowd that she did not earn enough to support her family.

The 48-year-old  a U.S. citizen from El Salvador  said she worked 40 hours a week cooking hamburgers at a Jack in the Box. But she still struggles to pay her $700 rent and phone and medical bills on an $11-an-hour salary. She said she could not afford a car, dinner out or even a pain reliever if she had a headache.

Fifty years after King was assassinated, about 41 million Americans live below the official poverty line. Many more barely scrape by. In 2016, 1% of Americans held 20% of the nations wealth, up from 12% in 1968; the percentage of U.S. families subsisting below the official poverty rate is stuck at about 10%, according to the Institute for Policy Studies.

Organizers with the Poor Peoples Campaign say official measures of poverty are too narrow and do not take into account the number of people struggling in an era of stagnant low wages and steep rises in rents and living expenses. If food, clothing, housing and utility costs, as well as government assistance programs, are factored in, they say, the number of poor and low-income Americans swells to 140 million, about 43% of the population.

At the end of the rally in Washington, Barber and Theoharis  both wearing white clerical stoles that said Jesus was a poor man  slowly marched onto 1st Street, behind a large banner proclaiming: We cant go down this road any longer.

Carrying bullhorns, they led the crowd in a civil rights anthem:

Turn me round

Turn me round

Im gonna keep on walkin

Keep on talkin

Marchin into freedom land.

A protester near the front held a large placard listing some of the campaigns policy demands: ending child poverty; equal pay for equal work; a guaranteed annual income; fully-funded welfare programs; safe public housing for the poor; a repeal of the 2017 federal tax law.

As the marchers neared the Library of Congress, a police line blocked their path.

If you dont leave the roadway, you will be placed under arrest, an officer announced as more than 100 protesters remained on the road.

The crowd refused to move, singing, We wont be silent anymore.

In the late 1960s, King outlined his plan to build a Poor Peoples Campaign as he began to worry that the passing of landmark laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had not fundamentally shaken up inequality in America.

In May 1968, a month after King was assassinated, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference forged ahead with his plan, and thousands of poor people traveled to Washington to set up a shantytown known as Resurrection City on the National Mall. Calling for a $30-billion annual appropriation for a comprehensive anti-poverty effort, they demanded full employment, a guaranteed annual basic income and construction funds for at least 500,000 units of low-cost housing a year.

The campaign, however, was beset with organizational problems as it struggled to provide food, shelter, clothing and basic services. Before long, rain turned the National Mall into a field of mud, drenching the wooden shacks and canvas tents. Eventually, thousands of police officers helped evacuate the shantytown residents.

Unlike that campaign, the current effort is not calling for poor people to camp in the nations capital until its demands are met. After six weeks of protests and teach-ins, organizers said, poor people will join together on June 23 for a mass mobilization outside the Capitol and then return to their states to continue building a multi-year campaign.

On Monday, after a half-hour standoff in the middle of the street, officers fastened red wrist bands around more than 200 protesters who had refused to move  including Barber and Theoharis. They were detained in metal pens on the lawn of the Capitol before being processed by law enforcement and released.

As a crowd gathered on the other side of the yellow police tape, protesters waved Poor Peoples Campaign banners and sang, One jail is not enough for all of us.

Many protesters said they planned to continue next week with more activities across the country.

Once you ring a bell, you cant unring it, Greer said. Were ringing a bell, and people will hear it.

Jarvie is a special correspondent.

UPDATES:

8:10 p.m.: The article was updated with comments and descriptions related to the revival of the Poor Peoples Campaign.

The article was originally published at 9:20 a.m.Page Content

The EGTCs, as the first European cooperation structure defined by EU law, play a key role in strengthening cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation within the European Union and beyond. They often serve as laboratories of the European Union, testing new and innovative ways of cooperating across borders and work on practical projects aimed at improving the lives of EU citizens. As such, the EGTCs that together make up the CoR's EGTC Platform, gathered in Athens on 4 May to discuss their views on Europe's common future.

The representatives of the EGTCs had an opportunity to discuss their vision of Europe with the EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos who underlined the importance of this cross-border cooperation and the role of the EGTCs in the future of Europe. He underlined that " What unites European citizens, today and tomorrow, is a common vision and perspective. Local and regional authorities have a key role to play in bringing the EU closer to the citizen and EGTCs make an important contribution towards achieving this ".

The chair of the CoR's COTER commission Petr Osvald underlined the fact that " The EGTCs are unique entities, both supranational, truly European constructions, but at the same time sub-national. This uniqueness gives them a special perspective that is important to take into account when re-thinking Europe ".

First vice chair of the COTER commission, Spyridon Spyros said, " The European Union is at a key moment in its history, with decisions being taken over the coming months shaping its long-term direction. In charting this future, we must remember the remarkable achievements of our Union which can be exemplified from the broad peace our once divided continent enjoys, down to the daily, practical work of EGTCs ".

MEPs Eliza Vosemberg (EPP) and Eva Kaili (S&D), as well as CoR member Michel Delebarre, also gave their views on the European Union and highlighted the important role EGTCs can have in the European project. EGTCs look beyond national borders; and they rethink how we work in Europe as they are no longer bound by purely national interests, but by the interests of their cross-border regions, or even wider, by transnational interests.

The participants had the opportunity to hear about innovative approaches to this cross-border cooperation from Pablo M. Rivera Bua, Executive Director, EGTC Eurocity Chavez-Verin (PT-ES), Loic Delhuvenne, Director of EGTC Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai (FR-BE), Gyula Ockay, Director of CESCI (HU EGTCs) and Xavier Bernard-Sans, Director of EGTC Euroregion Pyrenees-Mediterranee (ES-FR). The presented projects have a high level of transferability, and through the EGTC Platform, EGTCs can find information about tried and tested practices that have made border regions more attractive and helped them work better for their inhabitants.

During the event, three Greek EGTCs presented their work; they were represented by Vassilis Xenos Gavrielis, Director EGTC AMPHICTYONY, Giorgos Pappous, Director EGTC EFXINI POLI, and Giannis Anastasiadis, Director EGTC HELICAS.

The debates and viewpoints on the Future of Europe will feed into a declaration that will be shared with all the EGTCs and put forward for adoption at the next EGTC Platform meeting in October.Since the fatal shooting of 17 people at a South Florida high school, five states  Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Rhode Island and Vermont  have passed laws that allow authorities to temporarily take away guns from a person who has shown a pattern of violence.

While most legislative proposals to address gun violence stall, the red flag laws, as they are known, have passed with bipartisan support and the collaboration of activists on both sides of the gun control debate. The momentum for these laws comes after investigations revealed that the shooters often showed warning signs that they would commit violence.

Nine states now have such laws on the books and dozens of others are considering such proposals.

The most recent law came in Delaware, where Gov. John Carney on April 30 signed the Beau Biden Gun Violence Prevention Act into law. It allows mental health professionals to report potentially dangerous people and have their guns seized through a court order.

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I was honored to sign the Beau Biden Gun Violence Prevention Act, and to help carry on Beaus legacy and his commitment to protecting Delawareans. #gunsafetyde https://t.co/Vd0e29xLTz pic.twitter.com/Wn9YDfgF3N  Governor John Carney (@JohnCarneyDE) May 1, 2018

The bill failed in 2013 but now, in the aftermath of the carnage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, it passed the General Assembly unanimously.

We had meetings where the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence met with members of the local NRA, said state Rep. David Bentz. We sat in a room and talked about the bill. They seemed sincere in their efforts.

Delaware lawmakers are expected to pass a second bill similar to most red flag laws, which allow family members and law enforcement officials to petition a court to seize guns from people who exhibit warning signs of harm  to themselves or others. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan signed such a bill into law in April.

I think that we were able to craft a really effective law here in Maryland because it was a huge cooperative effort, between all organizations, Jen Pauliukonis, president of the Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence said.

Under red flag laws, guns are taken from a person temporarily; how long the guns are withheld varies from state to state. Such laws in California and Florida, for example, allow firearms to be removed for up to a year.

The laws address a concern from law enforcement  how to take action when a crime has not yet been committed, said William Rosen, deputy legal director for Everytown for Gun Safety. The red flag law steps into that gap, he said.

In March, the National Rifle Assn. surprised gun rights advocates and gun-control proponents by expressing support for red flag laws.

We need to stop dangerous people before they act. So, Congress should provide funding for states to adapt risk protection orders, Chris Cox, executive director for the NRAs Institute for Legislative Action, said in a YouTube video.

The NRAs stance felt like a betrayal to some. The key point for red flag laws is that someone can be accused and have their guns confiscated. It is an anti-American proposal, said Dudley Brown, president of the National Assn. for Gun Rights.

Red flag laws amount to a removal of due process, he said. They think you might do something bad, so theyre going to take away your civil rights.

Gun rights advocates hand out 30-round magazines at an event outside the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier in March to protest gun-control laws. The measures, including a red flag law, were signed into law. (Lisa Rathke / Associated Press )

A nationwide study by Everytown for Gun Safety showed that 42% of the time, the suspect in mass shootings showed warning signs prior to the incident.

An anonymous caller told the FBI about Nikolas Cruzs disturbing behavior patterns one month before the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. In a statement, the FBI said the caller told authorities about Cruzs gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts. The FBI had admitted that the proper protocols were not taken for the callers concerns on Cruz.

Proponents of red flag laws note that before a court order can be executed, there must be evidence of a history of violence, or documented threats of committing harm to themselves or others.

Making one threat doesnt count as convincing evidence, said Jennifer Lynch, board member of Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety. The statute requires multiple, provable evidence for the cops to come in.

Red flag laws ask the court to consider, among other things, a persons documented history of violence or attempted violence, unlawful use of controlled substances or deadly weapons and recent purchases of deadly weapons.

After a persons guns are taken, he or she has time to have the order rescinded. Each state allows a window for the petitioner to have a court date and argue for their guns back.

Before a red flag law passed in Rhode Island in April, civil libertarians there wanted significant amendments to address concerns about due process. Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Rhode Island, said there should be a significant danger of imminent harm before a petition could be made.

A mandatory mental health evaluation was also removed from Rhode Islands law because it was promoting a persons mental health as the basis for issuing these orders, Brown said. There are many criteria a judge is supposed to consider, regardless of mental health or illness.

In some states, earlier efforts to pass red flag bills failed. Such legislation died in Oregon in 2016. That winter, James Tylka bought a 9-millimeter handgun on Christmas Eve to kill his wife, Katelynn Armand-Tylka. He also shot an Oregon state trooper, who survived. Tylka was later shot multiple times by police and also had a self-inflicted gun wound. He died.

Armand-Tylka had planned to file a restraining order against Tylka, who had a documented history of domestic violence, including text messages threatening her life. A red flag law later passed and since it went into effect in Oregon on Jan. 1, the state has had 19 orders filed in 15 counties, according to Phillip Lemman with the Oregon Judicial Department.

Mental health professionals believe red flag laws balance public safety with personal rights by focusing on behavior, not mental health diagnosis.

It isnt just about mental illness. Its about the persons history and capacity to be a responsible gun owner, said Dominic Sisti, director of the Scattergood Program for Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare.

If the standards for a red flag werent as high, it would be a greater concern. I think thats totally reasonable. If an individual is in crisis, it seems like common sense to me that [person] shouldnt have firearms, Sisti said.

With any kind of public policy, there has to be a balance, said Kristin Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. These [red flag] laws strike that right balance.

michael.livingston@latimes.com

@Livingston_LATIsaiah McCoy walked out of a Delaware prison a free man in January 2017, five years after being convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

A judge found him not guilty at a retrial, and McCoy soon began enjoying the limelight that came with his exoneration. He reveled in speaking engagements before lawyers associations and anti-death penalty groups.

People were loving my story, McCoy said.

But in less than a year, he went from death row in Delaware to giving speeches about wrongful convictions to back behind bars.

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Now, hes in a detention center in Hawaii, where he is charged with seven counts of sex trafficking.

He told the Associated Press from the Honolulu Federal Detention Center that hes again accused of a crime he didnt commit, and hell use his knowledge of the law  learned during years of incarceration  to represent himself at his upcoming trial.

Prosecutors arent impressed. They say McCoy became a pimp after moving to Hawaii and that he threatened and coerced young women into prostitution. They call his arguments for dropping the charges, including vindictive prosecution, conclusory and baseless.

A Tuesday hearing is scheduled on McCoys motion to dismiss the case.

McCoy traces his criminal history to a tender age, 7 or 8, when he began dealing drugs, which led to gang membership.

But after years landing in and out prisons and jails, he seemed to have some direction and hope when he was released from death row. He was able to hug his daughter  conceived right before he went to prison  for the first time.

McCoys exoneration also thrust him into a spotlight he always craved, and he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

Hes a powerful speaker, said Magdaleno Leno Rose-Avila, executive director of Witness to Innocence, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that opposes the death penalty. Hes especially powerful with youth.

While McCoy was in L.A., a University of Hawaii law student contacted him about speaking at a criminal justice reform rally she organized at the state Capitol. McCoy thought it would be a good opportunity to visit his mother and siblings who had moved to Hawaii.

McCoy sounded well-spoken and sincere at the April 2017 Hawaii speaking engagement, said Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, who also spoke at the rally. He has the ability to capture peoples attention.

McCoy decided to stay in Hawaii after spending time with his four nieces.

Everything in his life was hitting on all cylinders, said one of his brothers, Daniel Moody. He didnt have any plans for anything negative.

By September, McCoy was in the news. He spoke to a Honolulu TV news station after a friend was arrested and charged with a fatal Waikiki shooting. McCoy, who was not a suspect in the case, told Hawaii News Now police targeted Jordan Smith because hes black. McCoy said he brought Smith, the brother of a childhood friend, to Hawaii from Delaware for a fresh start.

While working as a security guard for a Waikiki hotel in an area of the tourist mecca known for prostitution, McCoy started dating a woman who he says worked as a stripper and prostitute. He could relate to her, and she wasnt judgmental about his time behind bars.

He said the woman is one of the seven alleged victims in the indictment against him.

McCoy said he and the woman had a falling out, and she went to Honolulus Susannah Wesley Community Center  a nonprofit human services association that helps trafficking victims  and lied about being afraid of McCoy in exchange for a plane ticket out of Hawaii. The other alleged victims did the same, he said.

All of these females were prostitutes before I met them, McCoy said. Why would I have to force someone to do what theyre already doing?

The centers executive director, Ronald Higashi, declined to comment on McCoys claims.

Prosecutors say McCoy is so dangerous to his victims that theyve gone to great lengths to ensure their names are not released.

McCoys Army soldier wife, Tawana Roberts, is a co-defendant in the federal case. They wed six days after meeting at a Honolulu nightclub. She has pleaded not guilty and hasnt responded to a request for an interview in the same detention center where her husband is held.

Roberts is charged with prostitution in a separate case in state court. According to police documents in that case, McCoy had been actively pimping in Hawaii since December 2017.

In January, authorities conducted a sting involving an undercover officer with a pretend foot fetish who set up a meeting in a Waikiki hotel room. Roberts and another woman who showed up with her were arrested.

The next day, a federal grand jury returned a sealed indictment charging McCoy and Roberts with one count of sex trafficking. Another indictment later added six more counts.

McCoy will represent himself at his trial, scheduled for July, with a court-appointed lawyer standing by as needed. McCoy represented himself during his initial murder trial.

He boasts of his courtroom prowess at that trial: Im impeaching witnesses at every turn. Im asking excellent questions. I gave wonderful closing arguments.

He gets louder and more animated reminiscing about his performance: Im thinking, I got this.

The jury found him guilty.

Being on the streets, I learned to be numb to a situation. You become emotionally unattached, McCoy said. It wasnt me. It was my client this was happening to.

Moody said McCoys family is confident he will successfully fight the new charges.

The lawyers who represented McCoy in an appeal and at his retrial sent letters supporting him in the Hawaii case. So did Philip Primason, a private investigator who worked on his Delaware defense team.

He wanted to become a public speaker and advocate, educating the public about the incarceration crisis, the enormous public risks of the death penalty and to advocate for innocence, Primason wrote. I was very pleased to see this become a reality.Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Monday, May 14, and heres whats happening across California:

TOP STORIES

Remember all that money L.A. voters gave to help the homeless? It will go less far than many hoped. Skyrocketing development costs and loss of state and federal subsidies are undermining Los Angeles goal of adding 10,000 units of homeless and affordable housing in a decade. At the current rate of spending, the $1.2-billion bond authorized by Proposition HHH would fall as much as 4,000 units short, officials said in a report to the citizen oversight committee for the bond program. Los Angeles Times

-- L.A. Mayor Eric Garcettis presidential bid is seen as tied to the homelessness crisis. Wall Street Journal

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-- Opposition from residents and business owners to a proposed shelter in Koreatown has caught city and community leaders by surprise. Los Angeles Times

-- With money from Measure H pouring in, L.A. Countys homeless services authority is rebuilding a disjointed outreach system. By summer, every part of the county will be covered by teams able to promptly respond to calls for service posted on a public website. Los Angeles Times

-- In California, leaving the homeless out in the sun. Wall Street Journal

Its not TV, its ...

Even as they face rising competition from digital video and tumbling ratings, TV networks are proudly touting their new offerings this week. But the mood is grim. The broadcast networks have seen double-digit declines in viewing by the 18-to-49 age group most coveted by advertisers. Many cable channels are seeing audience erosion too, as pay TV subscriptions dropped by 3.6 million in 2017 and an additional 700,000 in the first quarter of 2018. Los Angeles Times

Get the Essential California newsletter 

Juana Juaregui goes over homework with kids who congregate at her East Los Angeles home after school every day. ( Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

L.A. MOMS

In East L.A.: She helps strangers at the worst moment of their lives. Los Angeles Times

Grocery matriarch: She had 13 children and 53 grandchildren and another 53 great-grandchildren. By the time she died last month at 90, she was the matriarch of a large, prosperous clan. One small grocery store in Anaheim had grown to 40 up and down Southern California, reporting about $900 million in sales last year. Los Angeles Times

A columnists tribute: My mom the cheerleader. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

Big case: Los Angeles County has wrongly canceled Medi-Cal coverage for thousands of residents, often leaving them without access to healthcare and needed medicines, a judge has ruled. Los Angeles Times

Success story: A Hawaiian food empire via China and then L.A. Two brothers began Ono Hawaiian BBQ in 2002 at Santa Monica Boulevard and Bundy Drive. Sixteen years later, the company has 1,200 employees and 71 corporately owned locations, most of them near Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Los Angeles Times

Ups and downs: The latest thrill ride is not at Disneyland but up the 5 at Knotts Berry Farm. Why people are so excited about HangTime. Orange County Register

In WeHo: Can Soho House expand without becoming less exclusive? Wall Street Journal

Grading the university: Assessing USC and gentrification, the good and the bad. L.A. Taco

CRIME AND COURTS

Abuse allegations: Ballet students tell stories of sex abuse and betrayed trust. San Francisco Chronicle

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Will you vote? By the time Californias primary election day arrives in June, its possible the state will be very close to having 20 million registered voters  a historic milestone. But the history of modern California politics suggests as many as two-thirds of those voters wont even cast a ballot next month. Los Angeles Times

Fight! Inside Rep. Devin Nunes versus the Justice Department. New York Times

Repercussions: After the Stephon Clark shooting, race and policing in Sacramento have become a political issue. Sacramento Bee

Whoops: An important quirk in Californias pot legalization law. Wired

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Coogler in Cannes: I dunno, Im from Oakland, so black culture was everything where Im from. The idea that nobody will want to see a film about a bunch of Africans, I dont care how many spaceships or stuff is blowing up in it  it can become truth if you dont have anything that disproves it. I just think weve gotta keep making stuff.  Black Panther director Ryan Coogler on his influences. Los Angeles Times

Fierce: The woman they call Irans Beyonce is having a moment. Los Angeles Times

Ahoy: They finally avoided the high rents of San Francisco, but moving into a sailboat. SF Gate

If youd like to leave a message: Is the death of voicemail in our texting age a blessing or a curse? Can you ignore a text in the same way you avoid voicemail? Mercury News

Showrunner: Why is Ryan Murphy getting the really big bucks in the age of Peak TV? Because he revolutionized it. The New Yorker

Toxic? A Silicon Valley foundation gone awry? New York Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: Partly cloudy, 68, Monday. Sunny, 67, Tuesday. San Diego: Partly cloudy, 67, Monday. Partly cloudy, 68, Tuesday. San Francisco area: Mostly sunny, 60, Monday. Partly cloudy, 60, Tuesday. Sacramento: Sunny, 78, Monday. Sunny, 76, Tuesday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

This weeks birthdays for those who made a mark in California: Director George Lucas (May 14, 1944), Rep. Jackie Speier (May 14, 1950), L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer (May 14, 1958), Rep. Mimi Walters (May 14, 1962), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (May 14, 1984) and Father Greg Boyle (May 19, 1954).

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.The blowout at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage well was one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S history. It went on for 118 days in 2015 and 2016  25 days longer than the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. More natural gas escaped from that single leaking 10-inch-diameter pipe than 80,000 homes would use in a year. Thousands of residents in Porter Ranch evacuated after complaining of headaches and nosebleeds. Estimates peg costs at nearly $1 billion. Continuing restrictions on storage at Aliso Canyon are still disrupting gas delivery to power plants.

The key thing about the failed well at Aliso Canyon is that is wasnt originally designed for high-pressure gas storage. It was an oil well drilled back in 1956 that had been repurposed. Because of its vintage, at certain depths, it had only one layer of pipe separating the gas from surrounding rock. Wells built today use multiple concentric pipes, and only the innermost pipe transports gas so as to reduce the risk of a blowout.

Aliso Canyon, though, wasnt unique or even rare in having that single-pipe design.

Last year, my colleagues at Harvard and I tried to figure out how common these Aliso-style wells are. Based on the best data we could get about the age of wells, we estimated that out of the approximately 14,000 storage wells nationwide, about 2,700 might be Aliso-type wells.

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That was worrying. But in truth, the picture is much worse.

Thanks to a new Department of Transportation rule, gas companies that operate storage facilities must now disclose information about the design, monitoring, leaks and repairs of their wells. That data released April 4 show that more than 10,000 wells have gas flowing through only a single unprotected pipe. Of the nearly 400 natural underground storage facilities in the United States, 296 of them have one or more of these wells. They are in 32 states.

The system we have now is endangering the climate, the health of those who live near gas storage fields and the stability of our power grid.

More than two-thirds of these wells are currently doing a job they werent designed to do  withstand countless cycles of high-pressure gas injection and withdrawals  without backup safety valves to prevent blowouts. Its also important to remember that a gas storage field is only as safe as its weakest well: Aliso Canyon had 114 wells, but it only took one failure to cause a disaster.

After the Aliso Canyon leak, a survey of Californias 12 natural gas storage fields uncovered 229 wells leaking at 11 facilities. Eight of the leaks were bad enough to be considered an existing or probable hazard to persons or property.

California responded to all this by outlawing the operation of wells that have only a single pipe with no extra barrier. Federal regulators, however, have not done that. And now perhaps we see why  because more than two-thirds of U.S. gas storage wells would need to be fixed or replaced.

And yet, ignoring this problem poses serious risks to our energy system. Because natural gas has largely supplanted coal for power production, underground storage is at record-high levels. If the storage and delivery of natural gas to power plants is disrupted, that leaves the electric grid vulnerable. Last Monday, regulators, power companies and grid operators again warned that Southern California may not have enough power to meet peak demand this summer or next winter because of what happened at Aliso Canyon.

People rightfully concerned about climate change may balk at the suggestion that we should drill new natural gas storage wells or replace pipes. But the Aliso Canyon leak made clear that there are immediate human health risks to neglecting this aging infrastructure. We also now know that Aliso-style wells are everywhere. There shouldnt have to be another major blowout before the rest of the country makes gas infrastructure safer.

Drew R. Michanowicz is a research fellow at the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookNewsoms budget proposes $3 million for Alzheimers research, brain task force By Melody Gutierrez Amyloid plaques, shown here in human brains, are a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. (UCLA School of Medicine) Gov. Gavin Newsom will call for the creation of a brain health task force and dedicate $3 million annually from the states general fund to Alzheimers disease research in the budget proposal he will release Thursday, a source close to the administration said. The money for Alzheimers research would target the new grants at understanding why the disease is more prevalent in women and people of color. Former California first lady and Alzheimers activist Maria Shriver pushed for the funding to be included in the state budget. Shriver said in a statement Wednesday that the funding would make California the first state to make understanding our brains a priority. The states former first lady, whose late father Sargent Shriver was diagnosed with Alzheimers, founded the Womens Alzheimers Movement, an advocacy group raising awareness about womens increased risk for developing the disease. In 2011, she wrote a comprehensive assessment on the disease, to which Newsom  then mayor of San Francisco  contributed a portion called What one city is doing. This is personal to me, just like it is to millions of California families, Shriver said. Alzheimers is one of the largest medical, social and economic crises in our state, and of our time. I am so proud that, once again, California is leading the way. Wiping out Alzheimers is going to require bold thinking, and there is no doubt in my mind that California is home to bold thinkers who can make this happen. Facebook

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Gov. Gavin Newsom orders reinvention of troubled California DMV By Patrick McGreevy A line of people stretches around the South L.A. location of a California Department of Motor Vehicles Office on Aug. 7. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has been plagued by hours-long wait times at field offices, computer crashes and voter registration errors involving tens of thousands of customers. Just a few days after taking office, Newsom appointed a top advisor to a new DMV Reinvention Strike Team to revamp the beleaguered agency over the next six months. By any metric, California DMV has been chronically mismanaged and failed in its fundamental mission to the state customers it serves and the state workers it employs, Newsom said in a statement, adding Its time for a reinvention. The governor appointed state Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer to lead the strike team with a goal of modernizing the agency and enacting changes that improve customer satisfaction, employee performance and transparency. Newsom also ordered an accelerated review of initial findings of an ongoing audit ordered last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. The action was welcomed by lawmakers who have been critical of the DMV, including Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield). The egregious management failures of the DMV have been self-evident, which is why I have been calling for new leadership and a comprehensive independent audit of this troubled state agency over and over again as the problems grew significantly worse, Fong said. Last summer, Californians seeking new driver licenses complained of wait times of four to six hours at DMV offices, which the agency blamed partly on snafus caused by a rush of people trying to get Real IDs, a new identification card design required for airline passengers starting in late 2020. Delays were also blamed on computer crashes at DMV offices as the agency struggled to update its aging automation systems. The DMV also admitted that there were an estimated 23,000 errors as people either were unknowingly registered to vote or mistakes were made in their registration status as part of the states new motor voter program. The agency registered to vote as many as 1,500 people with legal U.S. residency but no citizenship. Last month, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto retired from the agency. Legislators were angered earlier this week when the DMV said it needed an additional $40 million to prevent the return of long lines at its field offices. In addition, the agency has been under fire for issuing driver licenses in the last year that do not comply with the federal Real ID standards requiring two forms of identification by applicants. Facebook

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California police unions are preparing to battle new transparency law in the courtroom By Maya Lau Just as a landmark police transparency law is going into effect, some California police agencies are shredding internal affairs documents and law enforcement unions are rushing to block the information from being released. The new law, which begins to unwind Californias strictest-in-the-nation protections over the secrecy of law enforcement records, opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. But the lawsuits and records destruction, which began even before the law took effect Jan. 1, could tie up the release of information for months or years, and in some instances, prevent it from ever being disclosed. The fact that police unions are challenging this law is on some level not surprising, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, one of the principal supporters of the new law. They have a long history of fighting tooth and nail against transparency. Read More Facebook

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Secretary of State Alex Padilla begins second term with challenge to ensure every Californian is counted By Jazmine Ulloa Secretary of State Alex Padilla takes the oath of office as his family stands by his side on Monday in Sacramento. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Secretary of State Alex Padilla was sworn in for a second term on Monday, saying he would continue the battle to protect the right to vote at a time when voter suppression efforts, online disinformation campaigns and interference from foreign adversaries have polarized the public and threatened to undermine trust in U.S. elections. I am doubling down on our fight here in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C., to defend our democracy, he said. Working on the front lines with so many of you, I know that our collective resolve has never been stronger. But the loudest applause came when Padilla promised to fight back against the Trump administrations changes to the U.S. census, saying he will ensure every Californian gets counted. Padilla, a former state senator and Los Angeles City Council member from the San Fernando Valley, led the cause for a new motor voter registration law in 2015, and a new system for online business registrations. But the programs have had experienced problems: More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by the state DMV, the agency reported last year. On Monday, Padilla said he would continue to push back against false claims of voter fraud in California and pointed to the states voter turnout as proof that his office was involving more people in the democratic process, a promise he made when he was first sworn in four years ago. More than 12.7 million voters cast ballots in the Nov. 6 midterm election, representing roughly 65% of the states registered voters, the highest number of any midterm election since 1982, according to state certified results. I made that promise based on a shared belief that we are a stronger democracy and a better California when we hear all voices from all corners of California, and when those voices are not just heard but counted, Padilla said. Facebook

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Ricardo Lara, Californias first statewide officeholder to come out as gay, sworn in as insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on the floor of the state Senate in 2016. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Ricardo Lara took the oath of office as California insurance commissioner on Monday, pledging action to boost healthcare coverage and combat climate change. Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens, is the first elected statewide officeholder in California who has come out as gay. He began his speech in downtown Sacramento by thanking LGBTQ leaders who came before him and celebrated the occasion. Today, because of you, weve shattered the pink ceiling, Lara said. In his inaugural speech, Lara announced the creation of an executive position in his office to address climate change. There is no other industry that has the necessary expertise to ensure that California is prepared to mitigate and reduce risk to our communities and our environment, Lara said. Our planet cant wait. Im ready, and I hope you are too. Lara served as a state legislator and in 2017 introduced a bill to create a single-payer healthcare system in the state. He promised to work with new Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand coverage across California. Lara was sworn in by retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who declared unconstitutional Californias Proposition 8 gay marriage ban. State Sen. President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) was on hand for the ceremony along with multiple other state lawmakers. Facebook

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New California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis says she will help expand access to universities in the state New Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, center, is shown in June talking with attendees at the Power to the Polls rally in Sacramento. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) More Californians should be given access to public universities, Eleni Kounalakis said as she took the oath of office Monday to become the states first woman elected lieutenant governor. Kounalakis was given the oath of office by Gov. Gavin Newsom, her predecessor in the job, who pledged they would work together. As lieutenant governor, Kounalakis serves on the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees, she noted in a speech at her swearing-in ceremony at the main Sacramento Library. In that role, she said, she will be committed to expanding access to affordable public higher education here in our state. Its wise, its smart and it is the best way to address our rapidly changing digital economy. Kounalakis is former president of a development company founded by her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, and served during the Obama administration as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary. In November, she won her first run for statewide office. Also attending the ceremony were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Facebook

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California meets Dutch Newsom, who steals the show at his fathers inauguration By Taryn Luna Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his inaugural address while holding his youngest son, Dutch. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) In the California political world, all eyes were on Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday until his 2-year-old son stole the show. Dutch, the youngest of four children in the Newsom brood, climbed onstage in the middle of his fathers inaugural address in a tent outside the Capitol on Monday. The unplanned moment saw the 51-year-old governors big day interrupted by the toddler, bringing levity to the ceremony. Newsom was recounting Gov. Jerry Browns last inaugural speech and reference to the Sermon on the Mount, a biblical story about two men who built separate homes on sand and rock, when Dutch approached his father, a pacifier in his mouth and blanket in hand. Now more than ever we Californians know how much a house matters and children matter, Newsom said, improvising as he scooped the boy into his arms. The governor kissed Dutch on the cheek and held him for several minutes as he continued with the speech. This is exactly how it was scripted, Newsom joked. Newsom eventually put his child down and Dutch walked to the edge of the stage before retreating behind the podium to hide from his mother, First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The crowd roared. Siebel Newsom was able to briefly divert her son only for him to return to the stage minutes later. She grabbed him again and this time, the crying toddler did not reemerge. When fires strikes, when kids cry and the earth shakes, well be there for each other, Newsom said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said the moment humanized Newsom, threw cold water on any theories that Dutchs cameo was planned. No, I know it was not, Garcetti said with a laugh after Newsoms speech concluded. I could see that look of absolute abject terror [on Newsoms face]. Weve all been there. Kids always think its about themselves and theyve proved it. California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) agreed. I worked in early childhood education for 20 years and theres no way you can ever get a child to do anything when you want them to do it, Rendon said. Facebook

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Fiona Ma takes oath as Californias new treasurer By Liam Dillon State Treasurer Fiona Ma. Fiona Ma took the oath of office in Sacramento on Monday as the states 34th treasurer, promising to boost Californias economy. Ma previously served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in the state Assembly and on the California Board of Equalization. I want to thank everyone for entrusting me with this important job. I understand my role here as your state treasurer is to build that financial wall around California so that we will remain the fifth-largest economy, Ma said in brief remarks. That is my promise to you. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath to Ma. Following the ceremony, Ma held an ice cream social for guests. On Wednesday, she will host a public event in San Francisco to celebrate her swearing-in. State Treasurer Fiona Ma takes the oath of office. (Liam Dillon / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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Expectations are high for newly sworn-in state schools chief Tony Thurmond Tony Thurmond shakes hands with retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco after taking the oath of office. (Melody Gutierrez / Los Angeles Times) Tony Thurmond took the oath of office as Californias state superintendent of public schools on Monday, promising a labor-friendly agenda before the teachers, students and Democratic officials who filled an auditorium at McClatchy High School in Sacramento to watch him being sworn in. We cant close the achievement gap without a great teacher at the head of every class, Thurmond said Monday to applause. We have to make sure we provide quality compensation and support to our teachers and our classified staff and all the educators who support our kids. Thurmond, a Bay Area Democrat who served in the state Assembly, won a hotly contested and expensive race with the help of labor leaders against charter school executive Marshall Tuck. The race took several days to sort out after Tuck held an initial lead in early returns on election night before falling behind thereafter. Thurmond was sworn in Monday by retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco. He was joined on stage by labor rights leader Dolores Huerta and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount). Thurmonds former colleagues in the state Assembly took turns praising him and promising to be an ally in improving schools. Many said they expected Thurmond would be a strong leader focused on improving student outcomes. We know we are going to work hard to give you the money you need and the budget you need to fully fund education and our schools so we can put our money where our mouth is and make sure our children have everything they need, Assemblywoman Connie Leyva (D-Chino Hills) said. As state superintendent, Thurmond will oversee the education of 6.2 million students at 10,000 schools. Thurmond was a member of the West Contra Costa County School Board and a Richmond city councilman before he was elected to the state Assembly. Tony is the right man at the right time to fight the federal, Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos anti-child, anti-education, anti-civil and -human rights agenda, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. Tony is going to do that for us. Facebook

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State Controller Betty Yee takes oath of office with call for more affordable housing and healthcare State Controller Betty Yee California Controller Betty Yee took the oath of office Monday for a second term, saying she still has work to do addressing problems that include a lack of affordability in housing, healthcare and higher education. A San Francisco native, Yee is the chief financial officer of California  the fifth-largest economy in the world  having first won election to the post in 2014 before winning reelection in November. No region is spared from the widening inequality and increased poverty that plague our state, fueled by the lack of affordable, stable housing, the cost of healthcare and transportation, limited educational opportunities, student loan debt, displacement caused by disasters and more, she said. Yee was administered the oath of office by California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento before an overflow crowd that included state Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. As a public official it is about governance that delivers results and stays accountable while upholding the underlying value of dignity for all, Yee said. Facebook

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California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra begins new term promising to fight Trump policies California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra on Monday took the oath of office for a new term, saying he would continue his role as a leading challenger to Trump administration actions that he believes are counter to the states interests. Becerra, a former 12-term congressman, has become a national opposition figure to Trump, having sued the federal government 45 times since he was appointed as the states first Latino attorney general in 2017. Weve been a little busy stopping the dysfunction and insanity in Washington, D.C., from infecting California, Becerra told an audience during a swearing-in ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento. Whether its the criminals on our streets or the conman in the boardrooms or highest office of the land, Becerra said, the California Department of Justice, well, weve got your back. Becerra won his first statewide election as the states top cop in November, two years after he filled the post vacated when predecessor Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has peppered the Trump administration with lawsuits challenging federal policies on healthcare, the U.S. census, the environment and immigration. Our state builds dreams, not walls, he said in a direct criticism of Trumps proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Just last week, Becerra led a coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general in announcing an appeal of a federal judge in Texas that ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The ACA has been the law for nearly a decade and is the backbone of our healthcare system, Becerra said last week. This case impacts nearly every American  workers covered by employers, families, women, children, young adults and seniors  so we will lead the ACAs defense as long and far as it takes. Facebook

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California Democratic Party Vice Chairman Daraka Larimore-Hall announces bid to lead group By Christine Mai-Duc Daraka Larimore-Hall. (Dominic Parisi / Courtesy of Daraka Larimore-Hall) Daraka Larimore-Hall, a top official at the California Democratic Party, said Monday hes running to replace former chairman Eric Bauman, who resigned abruptly in November after being confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct. Larimore-Hall, a longtime state party activist and former chairman of the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County, was one of the party leaders who urged Bauman to resign following the allegations. In an email to supporters announcing his bid, he urged both structural and cultural change at every level of our Party. He also repeated his call for a top-to-bottom investigation of the allegations, the party and its culture. In a Times investigation, 10 party activists and staff members said Bauman made crude sexual comments and engaged in unwanted touching and physical intimidation in professional settings. In order to be where we need to be for 2020, we have to confront the culture of abuse and fear that allowed someone to behave in such a vile way for so long, Larimore-Hall said in an interview. We cant brush it aside or think that our activists or our candidates or our donors are going to forget about this overnight. Larimore-Hall said his first priority would be to fully investigate the allegations and restore rank-and-file confidence in the partys leadership. The second would be to refocus the party on political priorities as the 2020 presidential election nears. The Bauman episode, Larimore-Hall said, threatens to derail the Democrats plans to help defeat President Trump and keep the seven congressional seats gained in the midterm elections. Its definitely a crisis, Larimore-Hall said. But the component parts  the energy, the enthusiasm, the volunteers, the infrastructure  its still there. We just need to direct it toward something. Larimore-Hall was elected vice chairman of the state party in February following Baumans razor-thin victory over Bay Area activist Kimberly Ellis. Ellis has announced another bid for the chairmanship and former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon is also mulling a run. The vote will take place at the partys May convention in San Francisco. Facebook

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Newsom will vow to seize this moment, and swipe at Trump in Monday inaugural address By Melanie Mason Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family attend an Inauguration Family Event at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Building on the theme of California exceptionalism that defined his campaign, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will depict the state as a guardian of progressive values and a counterweight to President Trump in his inaugural address Monday, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. What we do today is even more consequential, because of whats happening in our country, read the excerpts obtained by The Times. Peoples lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe  they all hang in the balance. The country is watching us. The world is waiting on us. The future depends on us. And we will seize this moment. The speech casts Californias political stakes in a decidedly national scope, promising an agenda that will unify and be an example to the rest of the country. It contrasts the governing goals of Newsom, a Democrat, with that of Trump, the incoming governors perennial foil. We will offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House, the excerpts say. Our government will be progressive, principled, and always on the side of the people. Newsom campaigned on an ambitious and wide-ranging platform, promising sweeping solutions on housing, healthcare, education and other issues that rank among Californians top concerns. In the weeks after his election, he struck a more muted tone, taking pains to emphasize his fiscal caution and need for patience in achieving those goals. The inaugural excerpts indicate a return to lofty pledges. While Newsom will vow to prepare for uncertain times ahead by building budgetary reserves and paying down debt, the prepared remarks quickly turn to a vow to be bold. Newsom has already floated several proposals for his first budget that carry significant price tags, including a nearly $2-billion plan to boost early childhood development for low-income families and a dramatic expansion of paid family leave from six weeks to six months. When asked for a preview of his inauguration speech during a news conference Sunday evening, Newsom predicted pundits would criticize his address as short on specifics. Well, of course, Im at an inaugural, Newsom said. But Ill be very detailed in the budget, a few days later. And then we will architect, in much more nuance and detail, in state of the state. I really see this as three opportunities  to communicate over the next few weeks our agenda, our vision for the state. Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Read More Facebook

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Newsom-hosted benefit concert raises nearly $5 million for wildfire victims By Taryn Luna Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom speaks at a concert to benefit wildfire victims at the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) On the eve of the gubernatorial inauguration, Californias political class rubbed elbows in Sacramento for a benefit concert hosted by Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and headlined by the rapper Pitbull. Newsom told the crowd gathered at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday evening that the fundraiser brought in nearly $5 million for the California Wildfire Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that supports the families of fallen firefighters and communities affected by wildfires. You know, a lot of folks feel anxious about not just politics, but government, Newsom said on stage before introducing the rapper and activist Common. But those firefighters, they are the antidote to the fear and cynicism; they are the manifestation of why government matters and why you should care. Top sponsors, including Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente and other interest groups, paid up to $1 million each to support the cause and curry favor with the new administration. Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom, said organizers sold more than 7,000 tickets. Several state lawmakers attended the concert alongside Capitol staff, lobbyists and business types, who mingled on the floor of the arena and offstage in private VIP areas. The rock band X Ambassadors and a duo called the Cold Weather Sons from the town of Paradise, which was destroyed by fire in November, were among several performers who entertained the crowd during the four-hour event. The California Rises concert is the final in a series of festivities held Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Californias 40th governor. Earlier in the day, Newsom attended a private brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum and his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront. Newsoms inauguration is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday on the steps of the Capitol. Facebook

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Inauguration fever hits Sacramento as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom prepares to take office By Phil Willon Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom holds his son, Dutch, as he and his family attend an inaugural event at the at the state Railroad Museum Sunday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Incoming Gov. Gavin Newsom doesnt officially take the oath of office until Monday, but the parties celebrating his inauguration were in full swing all day Sunday. Newsom and his family were mobbed by well-wishers at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront in the afternoon, where his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families. He just has charisma. Hes able to really connect with people, said Rosielyn Pulmano, an attorney from Elk Grove who came to see Newsom with her husband, two sons and her niece. I think he cares about working Californians and a lot of their issues. Newsom arrived with his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and their four young children, and the governor-elect spent a good deal of his time wading through crowds, taking selfies with supporters and signing autographs as music boomed in the background. As the family toured the inside of the museums locomotives and the bevy of exhibits, Newsoms two-year-old son, Dutch, was wide-eyed, impressed by all the train cars and seemingly a little overwhelmed by the crowd. Newsom said that for his son, all that was missing from the museum was Thomas the Train, popular fictional locomotive in childrens books and cartoons . If theres one thing I can contribute to Sacramento maybe its getting a Thomas the Train exhibit for the two years olds, Newsom joked when talking with reporters afterward. Newsom said he wanted to include such an event in his inaugural festivities to highlight families and children, whose wellbeing will be among the top priorities of his administration. Youll see that not only as a preamble to the inaugural and the budget that well be submitting next week, but I think itll be a big part of the administration, Newsom said. The museum event followed a private, high-dollar brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum. A steady rain failed to dissuade as many as 200 guests who sipped wine and dined on chicken and salmon while waiting for a photo with Californias new first couple. Seen at the event were representatives of some of the states most powerful political interests, among them organized labor, healthcare companies and tribal gaming interests. A few other high-profile guests attended, too, including Larry Baer, CEO of the San Francisco Giants, and Erika Jayne, a singer and cast member of the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Im excited to see someone like Gavin  young, vibrant  taking over the state and leading us into the future, Jayne said after attending the brunch with her husband, attorney Tom Girardi. Hes got a lot of great plans. Attendees said the event, which was closed to reporters and held under a tent in the museums outdoor atrium, did not include prepared remarks by Newsom. Among those seen leaving the event were representatives of AT&T, the California Medical Assn., Uber, Kaiser Permanente and the State Building and Construction Trades Council. A fundraising invitation obtained by The Times offered bundled tickets to all of the inauguration events, including those on Sunday and the Monday ceremony, ranging in price from $25,000 to $200,000. The money will be collected by a committee specifically organized to pay for Newsoms inaugural weekend. Sundays festivities are scheduled to end with a benefit concert headlined by Pitbull at the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBAs Sacramento Kings, to raise money for the victims of Californias recent deadly wildfires. Among the attendees at @GavinNewsoms pre-inaugural leadership brunch: Real Housewife of

Bev Hills @erikajayne. Im excited to see someone like Gavinyoung, vibranttaking over the state and leading us into the future. Hes got a lot of great plans. pic.twitter.com/561NHiy2XQ  Melanie Mason (@melmason) January 6, 2019 Facebook

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As Newsom inaugural events begin, he unveils more state budget promises on education and paid family leave Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, seen here last April, will propose new state budget efforts on paid family leave and education subsidies. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Californias incoming governor, who must send his first state budget plan to the Legislature this week, has already signaled a significant new focus on programs to help families and children from infancy to college. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom campaigned on a platform that included a number of child-focused efforts specifically aimed at helping lower-income families. The price tag for the initial efforts is expected to approach $2 billion  a cost paid out of an unrestricted tax revenue windfall that could be one of the largest in state history. Newsom may also seek help for families through new subsidies paid by California employers. The governor-elect is expected to propose a dramatic expansion of paid parental leave  from six weeks to six months  according to an internal document provided by a source close to the Newsom transition team, first reported on Sunday by the New York Times. The document doesnt offer a full explanation for how the program will be funded, saying instead that the budget will set a goal of ensuring that all newborns and newly adopted babies can be cared for by a parent or a close family member for the first six months. Employers across the state are currently assessed a payroll tax that helps offer a subsidy to parents who temporarily leave their job to care for a newborn. Newsoms plan, according to the document, would pay for some of the new costs by shrinking the mandated cash reserve of the state fund that administers the program, allowing more of the money to be paid in benefits. The increase in paid leave would not all happen at once but instead be phased in over a multi-year period. A task force to help implement the expanded care plan is also envisioned, according to the document. It would determine whether two parents could split the six months of paid leave and whether an extended family member could be enlisted to help care for the child of a single parent over the six-month period. The incoming administrations focus on young children will also include $1.8 billion in new spending on early childhood education programs, with a particular focus on training childcare workers and pushing for more California schools to offer full-day kindergarten. Those costs, according to an overview memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times, are considered to be a one-time expense while leaving the long-term costs of the effort to be determined later. More community college students would get free tuition under a third initiative expected in the new governors budget plan. Newsom will propose spending $40 million to offer a second year of tuition-free college to California students, according to an outline provided by a transition official, first reported by Politico. Students are already eligible for a single year of paid tuition under a plan agreed to by Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers in 2017. The incoming governor embraced the idea of free community college during the 2018 campaign as part of a broader focus on additional investments in higher education. Education is an economic development strategy, Newsom said at a higher education forum last spring. We need to significantly increase the investment from the general fund of this state on higher education. Theres no greater higher return on investment. Whether the proposal would be targeted to students based on a familys financial need is unclear. Many low-income students are already eligible for fee waivers at community colleges. The new governor must submit his full state budget plan to lawmakers no later than Thursday. Facebook

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Gavin Newsom and his family decide Sacramento is the place to be The Old Governors Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will move his family into the mansion. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family will give up the Marin County life and move to the Victorian-style governors mansion in Sacramento after he takes the oath of office Monday. Newsom and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had debated whether or when to relocate to the state capital since his election in November. The couple have four young children and expressed reservations about moving in the middle of a school year. To best serve the people of California while also maximizing family time together, the Newsoms have therefore decided to move to Sacramento, said Newsoms spokesman, Nathan Click. On Monday, they will move into the Governors Mansion  along with their four children, their two family dogs, and their family bunny rabbit  and reside there for the immediate future. The Newsoms currently live in Marin County. Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Ann Gust Brown, moved into the grand house in 2015 after it underwent $4.1 million in renovations to update electrical and plumbing systems, as well as to remove lead-based paint and install a fire sprinkler system and other security features. The mansion was built in 1877 and has been home to 14 governors, but before Brown it had not housed a California governor for nearly half a century. The state bought the mansion from a wealthy Sacramento hardware merchant, Albert Gallatin, in 1903 for $32,500. It was one of the few California homes at that time to have indoor plumbing. Facebook

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Newsom announces top labor, business liaisons as he prepares to take office Julie Su will be secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency for Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday named two advisors on issues related to the California economy, each recognized for their expertise on business and labor. The incoming governor will appoint Julie Su as secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and Lenny Mendonca as chief economic and business advisor and director of the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development. Su, 49, has served as state labor commissioner under Gov. Jerry Brown since 2011 and has led an office tasked with the enforcement of Californias labor laws. She won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2001 and previously worked as a civil rights attorney representing low-wage workers. In her new position, Su will be tasked with coordinating the work of several workforce departments in state government, including those that administer unemployment benefits and oversee the relationship between agriculture workers and employers. Mendonca, 57, has been a longtime advocate for rethinking government operations as co-chairman of the nonprofit organization California Forward. Previously, he was partner at McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm. While he will be a key advisor to Newsom on the states economy, Mendonca will also lead the office often referred to as Go-Biz, designated as a high-level way to encourage job growth and economic development. In his new role, Mendonca will help ensure that California is rolling out the welcome mat to current and future California businesses and growing a sustainable economy for every Californian, said a statement from the Newsom transition team. Newsom will take the oath of office as governor Monday. He has previously selected key advisors on the state budget, legislative affairs and the executive branchs wide array of agencies and departments. Facebook

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Joshua Groban, aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, sworn in to California Supreme Court By Taryn Luna California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban gives remarks after he is sworn into the court by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. (Taryn Luna) California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban, a lawyer and longtime aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, was sworn into the states highest court Thursday in Sacramento. The ceremony marked Browns fourth appointment to the state Supreme Court and gave the seven-member bench a Democratic majority. We live in a highly chaotic, ever-changing and ever-confusing world, Groban said in prepared remarks at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building. But Im happy to report that Im joining an institution whose fundamental purpose, at core, is to provide stability and consistency amidst this chaotic place we live. I look forward to doing that with a sense of reflection, respect, fidelity to the law and compassion. None of Browns appointees, Groban included, have judicial experience. Groban served as legal counsel to Browns 2010 gubernatorial campaign and joined the administration as a senior advisor to the governor, overseeing the appointments of some 600 judges over the last eight years. Prior to working with Brown, Groban, 45, practiced law for more than a decade. In perhaps his final public appearance before his successor, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, takes office next week, Brown pushed back on notions that he stacked the court. I dont want this to be known as a Brown court, the governor said before administering the judicial oath of office. First of all, the so-called Brown appointments do not agree with themselves and nor should they. They are individuals. They will differ. Its not anybodys court. The governor called the court a high calling and said Groban possesses the values for the job. Probably, next to my wife, Ive talked to no person as much as Ive talked to Josh Groban, Brown said. I think youve talked to him more, Californias First Lady Anne Gust Brown interjected. I cant tell you what the hell hes going to do, Brown later quipped. I warned him, dont screw up, at least not at first. Facebook

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California campaign watchdog agency seeks law barring use of campaign funds to fight harassment claims Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). ( (Steve Yeater / Associated Press)) Elected officials accused of harassment or discrimination would be barred from using political contributions to cover their legal defense costs under legislation proposed by Californias campaign watchdog agency. The state Fair Political Practices Commission has agreed to pursue a law change to clear up confusion after an attorney for one former state lawmaker argued political funds could be used in such legal defenses. Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said putting a prohibition into the law would provide some much needed clarity. As chair, I would like to show the public their lawmakers are held to a standard that is above reproach, Germond said in a statement. People dont give money to campaigns for lawmakers to use it to defend their own bad behavior, so lawmakers shouldnt be able to use it in that manner. The issue came up a year ago when an attorney for former Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) sought a formal opinion from the FPPC after the Senate launched an investigation that later concluded Mendoza likely engaged in a pattern of harassment against female aides. Mendoza resigned in February under threat of expulsion by the Senate. In a Jan. 10, 2018, letter, Cassandra Ferrannini, an attorney for Mendoza, wrote to the FPPC that she believed Mendoza should be allowed to establish a legal defense fund able to defray his legal expenses in defending himself against the allegations. The use of campaign funds for attorneys fees under these circumstances would fall squarely within the scope of legislative matters, since it involves the alleged conduct of a legislator with regard to legislative staff that he supervised, Ferrannini wrote. The commission staff originally issued an advice letter that said Mendoza may use campaign and legal defense funds to defend himself from claims of sexual harassment that arose directly out of his activities or status as a candidate or elected officer. But the panel later rescinded the letter after some members questioned using campaign funds to fight sexual harassment claims. That left uncertainty about what was allowed, which Germond said could be cleared up by a new law. The FPPC is still looking for a legislator to carry the bill, a spokesman said. Facebook

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Californias landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it California Supreme Court building (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) A new state law allowing the public disclosure of internal police shooting investigations has gone into effect after the California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a bid by a police union to block it. The law opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. challenged the law last month, asking state Supreme Court justices to decide that the law only apply to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. The court rejected that request Wednesday, allowing members of the public to seek all applicable records held by police departments. Union president Grant Ward said in a statement that his organization was disappointed with the decision and is now seeking other legal options. We feel this is a statewide issue and should be considered accordingly, Ward said. Last month, the city of Inglewood authorized the destruction of more than 100 police shooting investigations and other records in advance of Jan. 1, when the disclosure law was scheduled to take effect. California law requires police departments to keep such records for five years, and Inglewood City Council voted to destroy records older than that. Mayor James T. Butts has said the decision had nothing to do with the new law. In Los Angeles, Police Chief Michel Moore has said that complying with the new disclosure rules could take hundreds of thousands of hours of work. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of the transparency law, has said she has no immediate plans to propose changes to it. Facebook

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Few complaints of racial profiling are sustained by police agencies in California, state panel finds CHP Officer J. Nelson stands outside the office of Gov. Jerry Brown as activists in 2015 support requiring the tracking of police stops. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Law enforcement agencies in California sustain few citizen complaints of racial or identity profiling, according to a report Wednesday by a state panel set up to help reduce bias in policing. The states Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board recommended in its annual report that law enforcement agencies improve training and adopt clear guidelines for tracking and reporting data on who is stopped by officers. The panel said that 453 law enforcement agencies in the state received 9,459 civilian complaints in 2017, including 865 complaints alleging racial or identity profiling. Of the racial and identity complaints that reached a disposition that year, 1.5% were sustained, 14.6% resulted in officers being exonerated and 83.9% of complaints were not sustained or were determined to be unfounded, the report said. A clearer picture of the issue is expected from a 2015 law that requires police agencies to report demographic data on all detentions and searches. The first reports by the eight largest agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, are due to be submitted in April. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, whose office oversees the board, said tracking of all detentions and searches will be helpful to understand the scope of the issue. The Boards recommendations will help make our law enforcement agencies more transparent and promote critical steps to enhance, and in some cases, repair the public trust, Becerra said in a statement Wednesday. Facebook

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California housing crisis podcast: What Minneapolis decision to end single-family zoning might mean for California A view of downtown Minneapolis in 2014 (Stephen Maturen / Getty Images) Theres a national movement brewing to roll back zoning rules in cities that only allow one house on a plot of land. The epicenter of that movement is Minneapolis, which passed a plan last month to eliminate single-family zoning citywide and let landowners build duplexes and triplexes on residential property. On this episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast, we talk about the reasons why Minneapolis leaders took this action, including their desire to combat a history of racial exclusion and spur more housing density to fight climate change. We also debate how Minneapolis decision might affect housing politics in California. Our guest is Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender, who helped shepherd the new zoning rules to passage and a former San Francisco city planner. The episode also crowns 2018s Avocado of the Year  the most ridiculous story exemplifying Californias housing woes  and includes our predictions for the most under-the-radar important themes in housing politics in 2019. Gimme Shelter, a biweekly podcast that looks at why its so expensive to live in California and what the state can do about it, features Liam Dillon, who covers housing affordability issues for the Los Angeles Times Sacramento bureau, and Matt Levin, data and housing reporter for CALmatters. You can subscribe to Gimme Shelter on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Facebook

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How young immigrant Dreamers made flipping control of the House a personal quest By Jazmine Ulloa Gabriela Cruz, who was brought to the U.S. illegally when she was 1, couldnt vote, but in the final hours before the Nov. 6 election, she was making one last run to get people to the polls. The sun was setting in Modesto when she found Ronald Silva, 41, smoking a cigarette on a tattered old couch behind a group home. He politely tried to wave her off until she reminded him he had a right that she as an immigrant without citizenship didnt have. It could really make a change for us, said Cruz, 29. Read More Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose almost $2 billion for early childhood programs (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Seeking to frame his new administration as one with a firm focus on closing the gap between children from affluent and poor families, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose spending some $1.8 billion on an array of programs designed to boost Californias enrollment in early education and child-care programs. Newsoms plan, which he hinted at in a Fresno event last month, will be a key element in the state budget proposal he will submit to the Legislature shortly after taking office Monday, a source close to the governor-elects transition team said. The spending would boost programs designed to ensure children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, closing what some researchers have called the readiness gap that exists based on a familys income. It would also phase in an expansion of prekindergarten and offer money to help school districts that dont have facilities for full-day kindergarten. The fact that hes making significant investments with his opening budget is really exciting, Ted Lempert, president of the Bay Area-based nonprofit Children Now, said Tuesday. Whats exciting is the comprehensiveness of it, because its saying were going to focus on prenatal through age 5. A broad overview document reviewed by The Times on Tuesday shows that most of the outlay under the plan  $1.5 billion  would be a one-time expense in the budget year that begins July 1. Those dollars would be a single infusion of cash, an approach favored by Gov. Jerry Brown in recent years. Most of the money would be spent on efforts to expand child-care services and kindergarten classes. By law, a governor must submit a full budget to the Legislature no later than Jan. 10. Lawmakers will spend the winter and spring reviewing the proposal and must send a final budget plan to Newsom by June 15. Though legislative Democrats have pushed for additional early childhood funding in recent years  a key demand of the Legislative Womens Caucus  those actions have typically come late in the budget-writing season in Sacramento. Quite frankly, to start out with a January proposal that includes that investment in Californias children reflects a new day, state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said. The governor-elect will propose a $750-million boost to kindergarten funding, aimed at expanding facilities to allow full-day programs. A number of school districts offer only partial-day programs, leaving many low-income families to skip enrolling their children because kindergarten classes end in the middle of the workday. Because the money would not count toward meeting Californias three-decades-old education spending guarantee under Proposition 98, which sets a minimum annual funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges, it will not reduce planned spending on other education services. Close behind in total cost is a budget proposal by Newsom to help train child-care workers and expand local facilities already subsidized by the state, as well as those serving parents who attend state colleges and universities. Together, those efforts could cost $747 million, according to the budget overview document. An expansion of prekindergarten programs would be phased in over three years at a cost of $125 million in the first year. The multiyear rollout would, according to the budget overview, ensure the system can plan for the increase in capacity. Lempert said the Newsom proposal is notable for trying to avoid the kinds of battles that in recent years pitted prekindergarten and expanded child care against each other for additional taxpayer dollars. The reality is we need to expand both simultaneously, he said. Another $200 million of the proposal would be earmarked for programs that provide home visits to expectant parents from limited-income families and programs that provide healthcare screenings for young children. Some of the money would come from the states Medi-Cal program, and other money from federal matching dollars. Funding for the home visits program was provided in the budget Brown signed last summer; the Newsom effort would build on that. Emphasizing a policy area with broad appeal in his first state budget could reflect Newsoms political sensibility about the challenges ahead. Democratic lawmakers and interest groups will be especially eager to see how Newsom addresses the demand for an overhaul of healthcare coverage in California  especially after a 2017 effort to create a single-payer, universal system fizzled. The path forward on healthcare is complex and costly, making early childhood education a more achievable goal in the governor-elects early tenure. Newsom is likely to face considerable demands for other additional spending. In November, the Legislatures independent analysts projected that continued strength in tax revenues could produce a cash reserve of some $29 billion over the next 18 months. Almost $15 billion of that could be in unrestricted reserves, the kind that can be spent on any number of government programs. Kim Belshe, executive director of the child advocacy organization First 5 LA and a former state health and human services secretary, said the initial Newsom budget proposal suggests the next governor will focus on a comprehensive approach to improving outcomes for children from low-income families. School-ready kids deserve quality early learning, strong and well-supported families, and access to early screening services, Belshe said. Newsom understands the whole child, multifaceted needs of our kids and is clearly ready to lead. Mitchell, the chair of the Senate budget committee, said shes eager to see the details of the governor-elects proposal to determine whether it might signal the beginning of an even broader expansion of early education efforts. Similar efforts have been hindered by a lack of money and ongoing debate over which services to help children 5 and younger need state funding the most. Universal preschool, in particular, has been debated for more than a decade. California voters rejected a ballot measure to fund a full prekindergarten system in 2006. Its clear theres a new movement afoot trying to engage on investment for universal preschool, Mitchell said. How we invest, and how we prioritize that investment, is going to be a great conversation for the coming months. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: A final conversation with Gov. Jerry Brown No Californian has served longer as governor, signed more laws, granted clemency to more felons or waged more high-profile campaigns than Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown will leave behind a unique legacy when he packs his last belongings for the trip from the governors mansion in Sacramento to his Northern California ranch. His final two terms in office could be his most consequential. The governor reviewed some of the more notable moments from the past eight years in a far-reaching interview with The Times on Dec. 22. This weeks podcast episode includes extended portions of that conversation. Facebook

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A sagging economy could doom a 2020 ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes, Gov. Jerry Brown says Gov. Jerry Brown, at his Colusa County home on Saturday, said a ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes could struggle in 2020. (Randall Benton/For The Times) An effort to remove commercial property in California from the tax limits imposed by the landmark Proposition 13 could be felled by an economic slowdown, Gov. Jerry Brown said. In a Saturday interview with The Times at his Northern California ranch, Brown said liberal activist groups that have successfully placed the proposal on the November 2020 statewide ballot shouldnt read too much into early poll numbers showing support for the plan. That isnt as easy as you think, Brown said. Because youre going to be in a downturn of the business cycle. And youre talking many kinds of business. And the cost of doing business in California is already high. The ballot measure would allow counties to more frequently assess the market value of commercial property in California than allowed under Proposition 13, a 1978 ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to place strict limits on assessing property values and taxation for both homeowners and businesses. An analysis of the new measure, which qualified in October for the 2020 ballot, estimates it could bring in some $10.5 billion a year in new tax revenue. The business community will fight it, Brown said. And the minimum wage, the family leave, the environmental rules  business[es] have left California, thats going to be the big argument. And I think thats something you really have to think a lot about. The governor, who leaves office early next month due to term limits, declined to either endorse or oppose the ballot measure. He said Californias economic health in two years time could be a key factor in how voters weigh the proposal. Well be in a recession by then, Brown said. So its anybodys guess. Facebook

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Inglewood to destroy more than 100 police shooting records that could otherwise become public under new California law By Jack Dolan Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) The city of Inglewood has authorized the shredding of more than 100 police shooting and other internal investigation records weeks before a new state law could allow the public to access them for the first time. The decision, made at a City Council meeting earlier this month, has troubled civil liberties advocates who were behind the state legislation, Senate Bill 1421, which takes effect Jan. 1. The law opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The legislature passed SB 1421 because communities demanded an end to the secrecy cloaking police misconduct and use of force, Marcus Benigno, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said in a statement. Inglewood PDs decision to purge records undermines police accountability and transparency against the will of Californians. California law says police departments must retain records of officer shootings and internal misconduct investigations for five years. The city of Inglewood, however, had kept records longer than that, including case files of police shootings dating to 1991. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of SB 1421, intended for her bill to allow public access to all qualifying records held by a department, no matter the date of the incident. Inglewood City Council approved the destruction of records that have been in the police departments possession  more than 100 cases  longer than required by law. The city staff report and council resolution describing the action makes no mention of the new police transparency law. Instead it says the affected records are obsolete, occupy valuable space, and are of no further use to the police department. It added the traditional method of destroying such records is to shred them. It is unclear whether the records have since been destroyed. A spokesman for the Inglewood Police Department along with Inglewoods city manager, attorney, clerk, four council members and Mayor James T. Butts, a former Santa Monica police chief, did not respond to requests for comment. Inglewoods City Hall is closed the last two weeks of December. The Inglewood Police Department has a reputation for secrecy and using excessive force. In 2008, the departments officers fatally shot four men in as many months, three of whom turned out to be unarmed. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe and found significant flaws in the way the department oversaw use-of-force cases and investigated complaints against officers. Civil rights advocates still question why Inglewood police opened fire on a couple found sleeping in a car in 2016, killing them both. California police have a long history of shredding records to avoid scrutiny of their actions. In the 1970s, the LAPD famously destroyed more than four tons of personnel records after defense attorneys began requesting them as part of criminal cases against their clients. The move resulted in the dismissal of more than a hundred criminal complaints. In response, the Legislature demanded that records be preserved but then took other measures, supported by police unions, to ensure the public had very little access to them, making California the most secretive state in the nation when it comes to police misconduct. Skinners legislation begins to unwind those laws, which have been on the books since 1978. No video or audio of the Dec. 11 council action is available on the citys website and neither are meeting minutes or any record of the decision. A city spokeswoman, Courtney Torres, confirmed that the council had voted in favor of the police records purge, and said all the relevant reasons for the decision were included in the city staff report. The Jan. 1 implementation for SB 1421 has prompted other police officials to act. A police union in San Bernardino is asking the state Supreme Court to determine that Skinners bill only applies to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner earlier this month warning that complying with the law in regard to older records in the departments possession could take hundreds of thousands of work hours. Facebook

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Federal officials question California DMVs process for issuing Real IDs (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has notified the California Department of Motor Vehicles that its process for providing residents with federally recognized identification cards is not adequate. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said Friday that 2.3 million residents who received Real IDs under the current process will have to submit additional documentation when their cards are renewed in five years but will be able to use them in the meantime. The DMV is developing a way for residents to submit more documentation online or via email to comply with the stricter federal requirement, he said. But some state legislators are upset about delays in notifying them of the problem and say Homeland Security could eventually require additional documentation provided by current holders. The DMV has known for a month that millions of Real IDs theyve been dolling out are potentially invalid, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) said. The DMVs only hope is that the Department of Homeland Security takes pity on California and gives the DMV more time to fix this mess. Real IDs are a new kind of driver license and identification card that federal law will require legal residents to present when boarding domestic flights or visiting military bases and other federal facilities starting Oct. 1, 2020. The DMV has only been requiring one form of documentation, including a current lease or utility bill, to verify the residence of a card applicant. But the federal government said in a Nov. 21 letter to the agency that two such documents are needed. On Friday, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto released a letter defending the current process but said her agency will start requiring a second document to prove residency in April. In order to minimize confusion among our customers, the CADMV will work to inform individuals who have been issued a Real ID under the current process that their card will be accepted for official federal purposes, even if their renewal occurs after the October 1, 2020, final enforcement date for Real ID, Shiomoto wrote to the federal agency. Legislative officials worry there is still a possibility that those issued Real IDs in the past might be required to present a second document to have their cards designated as compliant. The more complex process for obtaining Real IDs has led to hours-long waits for customers at DMV field offices this year, although wait times have been reduced recently by an increase in staffing. Shiomoto last month announced that she is retiring amid problems with the motor voter registration system and after the governor ordered an audit of her agency in response to the long wait times. On Friday, Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron of Escondido blasted the DMV for waiting a month to tell legislators of the problem. This is unacceptable and flies in the face of security for our citizens, which is what Real ID was created for in the first place, she said in a statement. Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom taps Keely Bosler to be his finance director Keely Bosler, the director of the California Department of Finance, will continue in that role under Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (California Department of Finance) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday appointed Keely Martin Bosler as director of the California Department of Finance, continuing the role she has served under Gov. Jerry Brown since August. Bosler will become Newsoms chief fiscal advisor, and will play a pivotal role in shaping Newsoms spending plan for the state that will lay the foundation for his top policy priorities. Newsom must roll out his first budget plan within days of taking office on Jan. 7. Californias brighter future depends on a strong, stable fiscal foundation, Newsom said in a statement released Friday afternoon. Keely is an accomplished public servant of sound fiscal judgment. She understands that state budgets are more than numbers on a page  they are value statements affecting the fate and future of millions of families reaching for the California Dream. We are fortunate to have her on our team. Prior to being appointed finance director, Bosler served as Browns cabinet secretary for two years and, before that, as the chief deputy director for budget in the Finance Department for three years. Earlier this year, Brown picked Bosler to lead an audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles, which had come under fire for long wait times at DMV field offices and numerous computer problems, including errors in the new motor voter program that registered Californians to vote. As we have discussed, long wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles do not reflect the high standards of service that Californians expect from their state government, Bosler wrote in a letter in September to DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. The audit is still ongoing, but Shiomoto has since announced she will retire at the end of the year. Facebook

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Californias legislative analyst, after decades of nonpartisan research for lawmakers, calls it a career Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, who has led the state research unit since 2008, will retire on Dec. 31. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Only five people have led the independent research office of the California Legislature since its creation in 1941. And each of them has had a pretty simple mantra to live by in reviewing public policy proposals and government programs: Call it like you see it. The job of any analyst, to me, is you maintain that nonpartisanship, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said. Taylor, 65, will retire from the post at the end of December after a four-decade career with the research team that began, as he likes to tell it, just after the passage of the landmark property tax rollback, Proposition 13, in 1978. He became the leader of the office, with the title of legislative analyst, in October 2008. Two months later, state government found itself in arguably the worst fiscal crisis in its history  a projected shortfall that ultimately grew to $42 billion by the following winter. There were forces beyond our control, Taylor said of that time. But dont underestimate the policy changes that were made afterward. Those changes, most notably a boost in taxes paid by high-income earners and a robust state budget cash reserve fund, have helped lead to successive years of fully funded government services. The state is projected to have some $24 billion in reserves by the end of the current fiscal year. Taylor announced his intention earlier to step down this year. Leaders from both houses of the Legislature select the analyst, who leads a staff of almost five dozen researchers. The office provides in-depth reports on pending legislation, as well as on broader policy topics like education and healthcare, and produces an independent analysis for every proposed ballot measure. A succession of lawmakers and governors alike have praised or panned the work of the Legislative Analysts Office based on their own political worldview. Taylor said his staff is mindful that they work for legislators, but try to ignore the rhetoric that follows the release of a major report. People are going to do what theyre going to do with our information, he said. They dont always like it, but they appreciate that we give them our best advice. Taylor oversaw a transformation in the way the Legislative Analysts Office distributes its information, embracing the release of research reports through social media instead of relying on traditional printed copies and journalist roundtable events. But he said the work of the researchers has remained largely unchanged through the decades. Having an independent take on things, I think, is good for the Legislature, he said. No replacement for Taylor has been announced, which means a short transition for his eventual successor before Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom sends his first budget proposal to lawmakers in early January. Taylor, who lives in the Sacramento suburbs, said he will honor the tradition of his predecessors in stepping away from public policy debates in order to give the new analyst space to lead the team as he or she sees fit. He said he hopes to travel in the coming years and spend time with his children who have moved to the East Coast. Forty years in state government, Taylor said in why he was stepping aside now. Isnt that enough? Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown sues to save California sentencing laws By Don Thompson, Associated Press (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown sued Thursday to protect one of his signature actions in office, a voter-approved measure that allows most prison inmates to seek earlier release and participate in rehabilitation programs. His administration filed a lawsuit challenging a pending 2020 initiative that seeks to toughen criminal penalties as part of an effort to roll back reforms adopted by voters within the last decade. Browns lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court contends the measure lacked enough valid signatures to overturn a previously approved constitutional amendment. County officials and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified the signatures in July but said they were submitted too late to qualify for last months election. The lawsuit names Padilla and the ballot measures official proponent, Nina Salarno Besselman, president of the advocacy group Crime Victims United. Padilla said the measure exceeded the required roughly 366,000 valid signatures, equal to 5% of votes cast for governor in 2014. Browns lawsuit says he used the wrong threshold. It says changing the state Constitution requires 8%, or more than 585,400 signatures. That makes the pending initiative more than 150,000 signatures short, the lawsuit says. Hes wrong, said Jeff Flint, a spokesman for the campaign backing the measure. He predicted a judge will be reluctant to reject a measure that already has qualified for the ballot. The secretary of state told us how many signatures are required, and thats how many we collected, Flint said. Padillas office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The measure would reverse reforms adopted by voters through Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 in 2016. Proposition 57 allows most inmates to seek earlier paroles, and Proposition 47 reduced some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The combination has helped keep Californias inmate population below a population cap set by federal judges. Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said the measure gives corrections and parole officials broad discretion to protect our communities and fashion a rational system of rehabilitation and punishment. This new initiative unlawfully seeks to supplant the departments constitutional authority to implement these critical reforms to our criminal justice system. The pending initiative would shorten the list of crimes that qualify for earlier parole and change some theft crimes from misdemeanors back to felonies. It would also increase the number of crimes for which DNA is collected, a list that was limited when some crimes went from felonies to misdemeanors. Those supporting the tougher penalties say easing criminal penalties has increased the number of dangerous criminals on the streets, but those backing the changes say they have helped reduce mass incarceration and rehabilitate convicted criminals. Facebook

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California Supreme Court orders records unsealed in pardon of ex-state Sen. Roderick Wright Former state Sen. Roderick Wright (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) The California Supreme Court has granted a request to unseal court records involving Gov. Jerry Browns decision last month to pardon former state Sen. Roderick Wright for felony convictions involving lying about living in his legislative district, officials said Thursday. The court order was in response to a request by the nonpartisan First Amendment Coalition, which argued that the public has a right to know what information went into the governors decision to grant clemency to Wright. This is an important victory for public access to court files involving the exercise of executive clemency, said coalition spokesman Glen A. Smith. We are gratified the court has recognized that these decisions should be subject to the same public access rules that apply to other judicial records under California law. The court gave Browns office until Jan. 2 to redact confidential material before giving the court documents that can be released to the public. The court files submitted by the governors office include letters of support for a pardon and an internal review of Wrights case. The court denied a motion to unseal the records of all clemency cases but left open consideration of requests on other individual cases. Browns office is currently evaluating the courts decision, said spokesman Brian Ferguson. The governor argued against unsealing records in a recent court filing that said confidentiality is consistent with historical practice and is supported by state law. In pardoning Wright on Nov. 22, the governor wrote: He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen. Facebook

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California political watchdog agency fines BART, urges prosecution over using public funds for campaign A Bay Area Rapid Transit train leaves the station in Oakland in this 2013 file photo. (Ben Margot / AP) Californias state political watchdog agency on Thursday imposed a $7,500 fine against the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and called for a possible criminal or civil prosecution over allegations the district used public resources to campaign for a 2016 bond measure. The state Fair Political Practices Commission levied an administrative fine against BART for its failure to disclose spending on YouTube videos, social media posts and text messages to promote Measure RR, which authorized $3.5 billion in general obligation bonds. Though the panel lacks authority to seek criminal charges over the misuse of public funds, it also urged county district attorneys in the BART service area and the state attorney general to pursue possible criminal or civil charges over the spending of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes, Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said. It is the concept of misusing public funds that I think we all here are very disturbed about, and we want to send a warning and not create a precedent that is a minor, little slap on the wrist, Germond said, adding that the referral to criminal prosecutors would further send a message that this is wrong. Commissioner Brian Hatch also called for the state Legislature to consider granting the FPPC power to go after public agencies that spend taxpayer money on campaigns. Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) called on the agency to increase the fine to the maximum level of $33,375. The proposed $7,500 fine represents a slap on the wrist for a very serious violation of the law and the publics trust, Glazer said in a letter to the panel. In supporting the fine recommended by the staff, Germond said BART has agreed to pay the penalty. Somebody did something wrong and they have admitted it, she said. A staff report said there were factors in favor of a fine below the maximum. Although the Commission considers BARTs violations to be serious, the absence of any evidence of an intention to conceal, deceive, or mislead; the voluntary filing of the delinquent campaign statement; and the absence of a prior record are mitigating, the report said. Facebook

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California police union seeks state Supreme Court review of new law disclosing internal investigation records Los Angeles Police Department officers. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A police union is asking the California Supreme Court to block the release of internal officer investigations before a new state law takes effect next year. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. filed a petition Tuesday asking justices to rule that only investigations of incidents that occur after Jan. 1 would be available under the law  and not those the department has on file from years prior. The litigation comes after this years passage of Senate Bill 1421, which opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department has told the union it intends to make available in response to public records requests all the information it has. The union is very concerned about any plans to retroactively apply Senate Bill 1421, Grant Ward, the unions president, said in a statement. We believe retroactive application violates our members rights and we hope the California Supreme Court will consider the serious issues raised by our legal challenge. The bills author, Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), does not agree with the unions interpretation. She has said her legislation should apply to all the records in a police departments possession because the law simply declared that affected records were no longer confidential. If the record exists, its disclosable, Skinner said. A decision on what records will be available under the law is key to how far-reaching it will be. If the court restricts access to incidents that occurred prior to 2019, those cases will not be subject to public scrutiny. The police union in San Bernardino County is not the only one raising concerns about the law. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner expressing concern that his agency would be overwhelmed if the law required the department to disclose older incidents. Even if the law only applied to the previous five years, Moore wrote, it could take nearly 300,000 hours of work to comply with its provisions. The LAPD operates with a guiding principle of Reverence for the Law; as such, we will diligently comply with SB 1421, Moore wrote. We maintain, however, that a retroactive implementation of SB 1421 will be exceptionally burdensome and would require significant reallocation of front-line investigative personnel. Skinner said if complying with the law becomes untenable for law enforcement agencies that maintain records for a long time, she would consider modifications. But she said agencies did not raise this concern during discussion over the bill. SB 1421 went through multiple committee hearings, multiple floor debates, extensive opportunity for all parties to weigh in on concerns with its structure, she said. That was not an issue that was raised by law enforcement at the time. Facebook

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Gov. Brown warns of backlash for Republicans in 2020 if Obamacare repeal is upheld Gov. Jerry Brown at the National Press Club in April. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown warned Republicans on Tuesday that repeal of the Affordable Care Act would devastate the partys political chances in the 2020 election. Brown, speaking at a Sacramento Press Club event moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton and Brown family historian Miriam Pawel, said a federal judges ruling last week to strike down the 2010 law  if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court  will build such a backlash that the Democrats will not only take over the Senate, theyll win the presidency and will win with the kind of momentum, particularly on the issue of healthcare, that [the law] will be replaced probably with something even better. The governor, who leaves office in less than three weeks, said he did not believe the ruling by a Texas judge would ultimately prevail. I think the decision will probably be overturned, Brown said. Few states have embraced the law championed by former President Obama more than California, both through its healthcare exchange, Covered California, and by expanding access to government-funded services under Medi-Cal. Some 12 million Californians now receive healthcare through Medi-Cal, and Brown said a final ruling affecting the federal dollars that subsidize that care would be a serious blow. California would not be able to afford it without the subsidy, the governor said. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks (acuna-hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses, and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors, and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles and San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks. (Acuna-Hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Californias DMV director announces retirement amid problems with motor voter program (Kent Nishamura/Los Angeles Times) The director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles will retire at years end with a number of questions unanswered about the implementation of a major voter registration system and long wait times experienced by customers for much of the past summer. Jean Shiomoto will not continue in her current role as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom takes office, and announced to staff several weeks ago her intent to retire at the end of the year after 38 years in state service, spokesman Armando Botello said in an email to The Times on Friday. Newsoms transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on who might lead the department in 2019. Shiomoto was appointed DMV director by Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013, having served in prior leadership roles with the department. DMV officials have been sharply criticized by lawmakers in recent months for delays in serving customers at its field offices across the state. Last week, DMV officials revealed errors in registering California voters for the November election  mistakes that followed a series of problems in the rollout of the states new motor voter registration system. Secretary of State Alex Padilla last week said he had lost confidence in Shiomotos leadership as a result of the voting registration problems. Facebook

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New law could break the stalemate over housing on the site of a near-vacant Cupertino mall By Liam Dillon For more than a decade, developers have tried to build new housing on the site of an all-but-empty mall in Cupertino, a city in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to Apple headquarters. A well-organized group of neighbors, upset about traffic, building heights and the potential loss of the communitys suburban lifestyle, turned away every plan. Now, for the first time, the stalemate might be broken  thanks to a decision made in the state Capitol. In an effort to address Californias housing affordability problem, legislators passed a law last year that requires cities and counties to approve housing projects if they comply with local zoning rules and other standards, forcing some resistant communities to agree to new homebuilding. In September, the city of Cupertino, citing the state law, approved developer Sand Hill Property Co.s proposal to build an office park and more than 2,400 homes where the Vallco Shopping Mall sits. Read More Facebook

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Local government was a last bastion for struggling California Republicans. Not anymore By Mark Z. Barabak Theres no shortage of watery metaphors to describe the disaster that befell California Republicans this midterm election. A blue wave. A Democratic tsunami. But the most apt may be a flood, with the casualties steadily rising as the vote count climbed in the days and weeks following Nov. 6. Eventually half the GOP congressional delegation was washed away, along with the entire slate of statewide Republican candidates. In Sacramento, Democrats claimed 29 of 40 state Senate seats and seized three-quarters of the 80-member Assembly  the largest number since 1883, when Chester A. Arthur was serving in the White House. Read More Facebook

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For the Republicans left in Californias Legislature, fewer lawmakers will have to do more work By John Myers From January to late summer every year, the California Legislature is a perpetual motion machine. And in the new year, the people most likely to struggle in keeping up will be Republicans, vastly outnumbered but still responsible for representing millions of the states residents. There are 22 standing committees in the state Senate, plus at least a dozen more subcommittees or special committees. And after Novembers election, only 11 Republican senators will be left to divvy up the work. To the victors go the spoils. To the vanquished go the extra assignments. Read More Facebook

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Californias DMV failed to finish registering 329 new voters before November election (Los Angeles Times) Officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles said Friday that the agency failed to send information for 329 new voters to state elections officers in time for the November election, the latest revelation in a string of mishaps regarding voter registration. Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded with a blistering letter, calling on Gov. Jerry Brown or Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to replace Jean Shiomoto, the DMV director. The Director of DMV has lost my confidence and trust, Padilla wrote. In all, the agency revealed that 589 mailed voter registration records that should have been processed under election deadlines werent sent to Californias secretary of state until late November, including forms from 260 drivers who had intended to update their address on existing voter registration records. The DMV had been instructed to not send registration forms that came in after Oct. 22, but the voters in question had forms that were postmarked before the deadline. In some cases, when the postmark wasnt legible, the agency said, documents inside indicated the voter had intended to finish their registration in time for the Nov. 6 election. The DMV recognizes the pause in transmittals was an error and affected the timing of the registration of the 589 individuals referenced above relative to the November election, Shiomoto wrote in a letter to Padilla on Friday. The pause was due to a misunderstanding on the part of the department, for which we take responsibility. Those who were trying to update their address for voter registration would not have been blocked from casting ballots. But officials said its unclear whether any of the 329 new voters were able to participate in the election. Shiomoto said in her letter that DMV will work with elections officials. The errors were not related to previous DMV mistakes about registering voters, problems associated with the rollout of the states new motor voter law. In those cases, multiple registration forms were sent to local elections offices for some voters, some people were assigned the wrong political party preference and others who are noncitizens were incorrectly placed on the list of registered voters. DMV officials have yet to respond to questions posed by The Times over the last several weeks about who knew of those mistakes and when. Facebook

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Newsom appoints a labor advocate and a former staffer as his chief deputy Cabinet secretaries By Taryn Luna A labor advocate and a San Francisco political operative have accepted positions in Gov.-elect Gavin Newsoms new administration. Angie Wei, a Capitol insider with deep ties to organized labor in California, will serve as a chief deputy Cabinet secretary with a focus on policy development. As a legislative director and chief of staff at the California Labor Federation, Wei has represented more than 1,200 unions and 2.1 million workers in Capitol fights over a host of policy issues, including drug-pricing transparency and paid family leave. The governor-elect also tapped Jason Elliott, a policy advisor to Newsom during his time as mayor of San Francisco and a chief of staff to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, as another chief deputy Cabinet secretary overseeing executive branch operations. Elliott and Wei will serve under Ana Matosantos, Newsoms previouslyAllies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt mPresident Trumps son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner has enjoyed the gilded highs of White House life  attending Trumps first official state dinner last month, conducting secret diplomacy in the Middle East and counseling the president on fast-paced foreign trips.

Kushner also has endured the lows  hes been pulled into the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign for his still-murky private meetings with Russians, including a Kremlin-connected lawyer from Moscow who spoke almost no English.

He has been mocked on late-night TV, portrayed with a squeaky voice by Jimmy Fallon, and publicly derided by Trumps lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, as disposable.

If Democrats win the House or Senate this fall, as some polls suggest, Kushner almost certainly will face a more direct danger  congressional investigations into potential conflicts of interest with his familys vast financial holdings, and growing questions about his failure to qualify for a high-level security clearance.

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We have to be worried about how our national security may be weakened when Jared Kushner has all these conflicts of interest and at the same time has great power through the White House, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who sits on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, said in an interview.

How is it possible that someone who has such suspicious entanglements with foreign governments and foreign actors can even enter the White House, much less occupy a high office? asked Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), another member of the committee.

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Abbe Lowell, one of Kushners lawyers, said Kushner has followed his legal teams ethics advice in the White House and signed a written ethics agreement that was reviewed by outside lawyers and White House counsel to avoid any conflicts of interest.

He has lived up to every sentence in it, Mirijanian said.

Theres no way for the public to know, however. Cabinet secretaries and other executive branch officials file ethics agreements with the Office of Government Ethics, which makes the documents public. As a White House staffer, Kushner filed his with the Executive Office of the President.

That office is not legally required to release it, and in this case it has not. Kushners lawyer also declined to either provide a copy or characterize its contents for this article. The lack of transparency troubles ethics specialists.

I dont know why you would not make available to the public an ethics agreement for a public official who is in such a powerful and influential role, said Don Fox, who served as general counsel at the Office of Government Ethics under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Fox called Kushners publicly known financial holdings amazingly complex. Kushner is married to Trumps eldest daughter, Ivanka, who is also on the White House staff as a senior advisor and has her own significant business interests.

In the decade before he joined the White House, Kushner headed his familys privately held Kushner Companies LLC. He has divested some holdings, including a position in Kushner Cos. to a trust controlled by his mother, Seryl Kushner. But he has kept the bulk of his ownership intact.

In public financial disclosure filings last year, Kushner valued his real estate and other holdings in the range of $206 million to $760 million. But the forms provide an incomplete picture.

Kushner holds investments in numerous limited liability companies for commercial real estate ventures, for example. The forms do not require him to identify his lenders or equity partners.

What we dont have visibility into is all of the companies and individuals that Kushner is connected to financially, said Kathleen Clark, a professor of ethics law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Kushner Cos. owns mixed-use commercial buildings and thousands of residential apartment units, primarily in New Jersey, New York and Maryland.

Kushner, now 37, took over the company after his father, Charles, pleaded guilty in 2004 to federal charges of tax evasion and witness tampering. He served a two-year sentence in a prison in Montgomery, Ala., and a halfway house in Newark, N.J., and paid a civil penalty of $508,900 to the Federal Election Commission for making improper campaign contributions.

Jared Kushner had studied law at New York University and was an intern in the Manhattan district attorneys office when his father was arrested. The case left him wary of federal prosecutors armed with subpoenas and cooperating witnesses.

My dads arrest made me realize I didnt want to be a prosecutor anymore, Kushner told the Real Deal, a real estate trade magazine, a decade later. If youre convicting murderers, its one thing. Its often fairly clear. When you get into things like white-collar crime, there are often a lot of nuances. Seeing my fathers situation, I felt what happened was obviously unjust in terms of the way they pursued him.

In 2007, as chief executive of Kushner Cos., he oversaw the purchase of a 41-floor office tower at 666 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan for $1.8 billion. It was the most ever paid for a New York building.

When the housing market crashed in 2008, triggering a deep recession, prices plummeted for top-of-market properties. Kushners plans to lavishly upgrade 666, as the building is known, were canceled and commercial leasing suffered.

In response, Kushner Cos. leveraged the building further. Those notes, totaling about $1.4 billion, are due next February. Jared Kushner sold his stake in 666 to a family-controlled trust when he joined the White House.

Similar debt-related pressure surrounds a 30-story office tower in the heart of Chicagos West Loop. Kushner Cos. bought the iconic tower for $275 million in December 2007, also on the eve of the recession.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has questioned how Kushner Cos. obtained $184 million in mortgage refinancing for the building last November. A New York-based firm, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc., made the loan. One of its major shareholders is the government of Qatar.

Joshua Harris, co-founder of the parent company, Apollo Global Management LLC, met several times with Kushner at the White House in early 2017. Those discussions focused on general U.S. economic policy, said Mirijanian, the spokesman for Kushners lawyer.

Charles V. Zehren, a spokesman for Apollo Global Management, would not say if Qatar is involved with the loan to Kushner Cos. Apollo is reviewing the matter, Zehren said. A spokesman for Qatars ambassador in Washington declined to comment.

The extensive debts have fueled concerns about Kushners potential financial conflicts at the White House  and have intersected with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into whether Kushner or anyone else in Trumps campaign assisted Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

On Dec. 13, 2016, a month after Trump was elected, when Kushner still was at the helm of Kushner Cos., he met privately in New York City with Sergei N. Gorkov, chairman of Russias Vnesheconombank. The state-run bank was under U.S. and European Union economic sanctions at the time, a result of Russias seizure of Crimea in 2014.

White House officials later said Kushner was seeking to improve U.S. relations with Moscow, as Trump has frequently urged. The Russian bank suggested another motive, saying Gorkov met with the head of Kushner Companies, Jared Kushner, as part of Vnesheconombanks development strategy until 2021.

Kushner told the Senate and House Intelligence committees last July that Sergey Kislyak, then Russias ambassador in Washington, had suggested the meeting because Gorkov had a direct relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kushner said they met for about 25 minutes and after discussing U.S.-Russian relations, Gorkov told me a little about his bank. He added, At no time was there any discussion about my companies, business transactions, real estate projects, loans, banking arrangements or any private business of any kind.

Criticism also followed the Kushner Cos. attempt to sell a $400-million stake in 666 to a Chinese entity, Anbang Insurance Group. Bloomberg reported the then-pending sale in March 2017, while Kushner was helping Trump prepare for an upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida.

Critics questioned if Kushner was unlawfully exploiting his government position for his own benefit or that of his family.

This deal, if executed, would appear to present a clear conflict of interest for Jared Kushner, five Senate Democrats wrote to the White House at the time. Five days later, Kushner Cos. and Anbang announced the deal was off.

Another controversy erupted over Kushners repeated trips to the Middle East as a special envoy for Trump, and Kushner Cos. efforts to win financing from the Persian Gulf state of Qatar for the distressed 666 property.

In April 2017, Kushners father met in New York with Qatars minister of finance, Ali Sharif Al Emadi, who oversees an investment authority with more than $330 billion in managed assets. The Intercept, an online investigative website, later reported that Charles Kushner made a direct pitch for Qatar to invest in the building, although no deal ultimately was struck.

Charles Kushner and Kushner Cos. referred inquiries to a spokeswoman, Chris Taylor. She declined to answer written questions submitted for this article.

U.S. relations with Qatar, home to the largest American air base in the Middle East, have deteriorated. Last summer, after Trump and Kushner visited the region together, the president sided with Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies who imposed a land and sea blockade against Qatar for allegedly sponsoring terrorism.

The blockade has fueled suspicions, but no hard proof, that Kushners advice to Trump may be influenced by his familys business problems.

Some Qataris see this Kushner involvement as a shakedown that they ended up on the wrong side of, said David B. Roberts, a Persian Gulf scholar at Kings College London. If Qatar had invested [in 666], is there any real chance that Kushner would have supported the blockade?

The meeting that has drawn the most intense scrutiny didnt focus on money, however.

On June 9, 2016, Kushner and two other top strategists from Trumps presidential campaign  his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and his campaign manager Paul Manafort  met on the 25th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan with a former Moscow prosecutor named Natalia Veselnitskaya.

It was unusual in several ways, not least because Veselnitskaya spoke almost no English and addressed the group in Russian, relying on her translator.

Trump Jr. had arranged the meeting after an intermediary for a Russian oligarch had said in an email that Veselnitskaya could provide official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. The offer, the email said, is part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump.

Trump Jr. said later that no incriminating information was provided. Kushner has said he didnt notice the offer about Clinton in the email chain. He said he left the meeting after 10 minutes or so and soon forgot about it.

The special counsels office interviewed Kushner late last year. Kushner has publicly denied any wrongdoing.

I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so, he told reporters on July 24. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my business.

After Trump won the White House, he named Kushner his administrations point man to seek peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and on other sensitive matters in the Middle East.

Kushner was granted interim access to highly classified information, including the Presidents Daily Brief, the top-secret gleanings from Americas intelligence-gathering systems worldwide.

In early 2017, Kushner submitted his application for a government security clearance, a process that requires disclosure of past close contacts with foreigners. He did not cite his meeting with Veselnitskaya, his discussions with Russias ambassador in Washington, his meeting with Gorkov, or any other foreign contacts.

Kushner later blamed his aides for submitting his incomplete Standard Form 86 security application. He subsequently amended it four times, listing more than 100 names, according to people familiar with the document, which has not been made public.

John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, notified Kushner and other staffers in February that they would lose routine access to highly classified information if their applications remained unapproved. Trump has authority to share classified materials with anyone he chooses, so its not known if Kushner has lost any access.

National security experts say Kushners financial ties, the Kushner Cos. huge debts and his failure to report foreign contacts should raise red flags. Some question how he operates in the White House, or advises the president, without a high-level security clearance.

If Kushner were not the presidents son-in-law, he would be nearly impossible to clear, said Mieke Eoyang, a former senior staff lawyer on the House Intelligence Committee and the House Armed Services Committee.

At a congressional subcommittee hearing on Oct. 11, Rep. Krishnamoorthi cited Kushner when he asked an executive branch official if he could recall any other security application that was supplemented with four addenda detailing over 100 errors and omissions?

The official, Charles S. Phalen Jr., director of national background investigations for the Office of Personnel Management, replied: I have never seen that level of mistakes.

david.willman@latimes.comSurely subscribers to this newsletter are engaged, registered to vote and planning to participate in the next election.

But just in case, consider this line in John Myers Sunday Political Road Map column:

No gubernatorial primary has attracted even 35% of registered voters since 2002.

Put another way, its been 38 years since a majority of Californias electorate showed up for a non-presidential primary.

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Even though the state is close to having a historic 20 million registered voters, Myers predicts that only about 6 million votes will be cast in next months election  the kind of apathy made even more remarkable by the fact that so many ballots are now sent through the mail. Millions of them may just sit on kitchen tables, never to be mailed in.

Thanks to the top-two primary, the June 5 election could effectively decide Californias next governor. And as we outline in more detail below, it will set the direction for crucial U.S. House races that this fall will determine who controls Congress.

The deadline to register to vote is May 21. Tell your friends.

Sign up for the free Essential Politics email newsletter 

NEW TOP-TWO TACTICS

In the race to capture Republican-held congressional seats, Democrats are increasingly worried they could be locked out of key contests. So the party has deployed a new strategy in hopes of avoiding that worse-case scenario: attacking lower-polling Republicans.

With tensions running high among Democratic activists, party leaders have been warned that increasing their support for one candidate or attacking other Democrats could backfire. Attacking two Republicans was seen as an elegant solution that could lead to GOP voters splitting  and allowing a Democrat to make it through.

And with another round of polling suggesting support for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is eroding and GOP candidate Scott Baughs chances of making it a two-Republican runoff in the 48th Congressional District are increasing, Democrats boosted one of their own by naming Harley Rouda to their Red to Blue program.

For more on the midterms, Christine Mai-Duc joined Politicos Carla Marinucci and Capital Public Radios Ben Bradford for their new podcast on congressional races in California. You can listen to the latest episode here.

THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR

Californias six major candidates running for governor all are pledging a big boost in housing production as a way to tackle the states affordability problems.

Liam Dillon dug into their plans. Heres what he found: Five of the six want to see developers build at a rate not seen in at least three decades. And the sixth wants an unprecedented increase in new government-subsidized homes for low- and moderate-income residents.

Dillon also covered the candidates proposals on the most recent episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis podcast.

A new attack ad by state Treasurer John Chiang accuses Democratic rival Antonio Villaraigosa of being a failure as mayor of Los Angeles and nearly driving the city into bankruptcy. The ad comes as Chiang, who has been lagging in the polls, scrambles to overtake Villaraigosa in the race for the second spot behind front-runner Gavin Newsom.

As Phil Willon writes in a fact check, while Villaraigosa certainly made some fiscal mistakes as mayor, blaming him for L.A.s financial woes during the greatest economic downtown since the Great Depression is misleading.

Newsom and Villaraigosa were on the campaign trail in Los Angeles on Saturday, rallying their faithful and outlining what they would do to fix Californias problems.

This weeks California Politics Podcast sorts through who scored, and missed, in Tuesdays debate among candidates for governor.

The Times editorial board last week endorsed Villaraigosa. Heres a behind-the-scenes on how the group of writers  completely separate from the newsroom that covers the race  made the decision.

A reminder: You can keep up with all of these races in the moment via our Essential Politics news feed on California politics.

THE BUDGET DEBATE BEGINS IN SACRAMENTO

Lawmakers at the state Capitol have 32 days to send Gov. Jerry Brown a final budget for the new fiscal year. And they now know where Brown stands in the wake of an extraordinary tax windfall.

Brown released a $199-billion spending plan Friday, one that spends a portion of that extra cash on the states homelessness crisis. He also embraced a $2-billion bond proposal to help fund homeless housing developments, which means there could be as many as five housing measures on the November ballot.

The governors budget includes, too, close to $100 million in new funding to help combat wildfires.

Brown also proposed Friday to create five teams in the state attorney generals office to investigate Californias black market for marijuana after firms that received state licenses complained they are being undercut by the illicit growers and sellers.

The budget also stashes away a tax windfall for future economic hard times into what will be the largest savings account for the state ever. George Skelton calls the rainy day fund a parting gift for Browns successor.

ELECTION SEASON PUSH FOR IMMIGRATION VOTE

A bipartisan group of House members led by California Rep. Jeff Denham, a Republican from Turlock, are working to force a vote on four immigration bills over the objections of GOP leadership. Their petition got 17 of the 25 GOP backers it needs to move forward, and Sarah D. Wire has the story on how GOP leaders are rushing to stop it before they are forced to hold the votes.

Its rare for a Republican lawmaker to attempt to circumvent the wishes of a House speaker from his or her own party. Getting the backing of enough colleagues to actually take advantage of the arcane maneuver is almost unheard of.

THE COHEN CONNECTION

Before the presidential election, Michael Cohen created Essential Consultants LLC to pay hush money to the porn star known as Stormy Daniels. But after Donald Trump won, Cohen tried to use the company to cash in on his longtime clients ascent to the Oval Office. New revelations show how major corporations paid millions of dollars to Cohen in hopes of getting a leg up with the new administration.

Trying to follow the Cohen payments that lead to Russia? Its complicated. This graphic will help.

There was also a twist in Cohens criminal case. A New York lawyer is concerned that some of the documents seized by federal agents could involve women who accused Eric Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general who just resigned, of abuse. The new court filing means Cohen knew about the allegations years ago when he was trying to help Trump fend off Schneidermans lawsuit against Trump University, which was eventually settled for $25 million after the election.

Get the latest about whats happening with the investigation on Essential Washington.

NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND

The Supreme Court has opened the door for legalized sports betting nationwide.

-- Theres another Democratic yes vote for Gina Haspel to lead the CIA, but Californias two senators are both opposed.

-- If Democrats win control of Congress, President Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner almost certainly will face a more direct danger  congressional investigations into potential conflicts of interest with his familys vast financial holdings, and growing questions about his failure to qualify for a high-level security clearance.

-- Kushner spoke Monday morning at the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, an event overshadowed by violence that killed dozens of Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

-- Mark Z. Barabak has the political tale of two cities: Kevin McCarthys Bakersfield and Nancy Pelosis San Francisco.

-- L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered a commencement speech in New Hampshire on Sunday, adding another notch to his travels in key primary states as he contemplates a run for president.

-- Adopting another measure to counter the Trump administration, the California Senate on sent the governor a bill that would bar the disclosure of the immigration status of victims and witnesses in open court unless a judge rules the information is relevant to the case. If Brown signs the measure, it would become law immediately.

-- Brown warned local water agency officials from throughout California that unless the San Joaquin Delta tunnels project gets needed permits soon and continues advancing, the major infrastructure project may not happen in their lifetime.

-- Californias teachers retirement system will pressure retail companies it invests in to stop selling firearms and parts that are outlawed by the state, and would consider divesting from firms that refuse to make changes.

LOGISTICS

Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?

Miss Fridays newsletter? Here you go.

Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox.A Huntington Beach woman who was ousted from two school district committees after she was alleged to have referred to minorities as colored people in a YouTube video will remain on the citys Finance Commission after an investigation by Councilman Patrick Brenden found insufficient evidence to remove her.

I have completed a thorough and time-consuming review of the allegations against Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark, Brenden said in a text message to the Daily Pilot.

Brenden, who appointed Larrea-Van Der Mark to the commission in 2017, said he made his decision after meeting with her about the allegations. Brenden said he also considered input from people on both sides of public comments about the issue during City Council meetings.

From this process, I find insufficient evidence to support a finding of just cause for removing her from her appointed volunteer position, Brenden said. I have complete confidence in Graceys ability to fulfill the responsibilities of serving on the Finance Commission and I look forward to her continued service to the community.

Larrea-Van Der Mark could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Larrea-Van Der Mark, who is Latina, came under fire in April after she reportedly made the colored people comment in a post with a video she uploaded to YouTube in 2017 showing protesters crashing an anti-racism workshop in Santa Monica by a group called Committee for Racial Justice.

According to the OC Weekly, Larrea-Van Der Mark wrote: This meeting was being ran by the elderly Jewish people who were in there. The colored people were there doing what the elderly Jewish people instructed them to do.

Brendens decision, which he announced in the message late Friday, came days after Larrea-Van Der Mark publicly addressed the allegations during the May 7 council meeting. She denied claims in the community that she is racist and contended that liberals have become increasingly intolerant of diverse viewpoints.

She said her words were attacked and twisted so viciously by the left in an attempt to remove me from positions, threatened by ideological differences.

She said she was physically assaulted when she attended the anti-racism workshop and then described what happened using terminology used at the event.

I consider myself to be a colored person. I am not offended by the term, Larrea-Van Der Mark said. She added that the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People also uses the phrase.

In my opinion, all people of all colors should be accepted, all political sides should be accepted, she said. But school boards should be nonpartisan.

Several of Larrea-Van Der Marks supporters called the allegations against her a political blow initiated by Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, who last year appointed Larrea-Van Der Mark to a district bond oversight committee but last month called for her removal from the panel and from the city Finance Commission after the alleged colored people comment surfaced. Clayton-Tarvin said the remark promoted bigotry and did not reflect the school district.

The Ocean View school board voted April 24 to remove Larrea-Van Der Mark from the Citizens Oversight Committee for Measure R. A week later, the Huntington Beach City School District removed Larrea-Van Der Mark from its Measure Q Citizens Bond Oversight Committee. Both panels oversee expenditures related to voter-approved bond measures for school facility improvements.

Huntington Beach City district officials said Larrea-Van Der Mark was removed after hearing concerns from parents and community members. She was assigned to that committee in 2016 by the Orange County Taxpayers Assn.

Brendens decision to investigate came after several people, including Peter Levi, Orange County regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, called on the city April 16 to take action against Larrea-Van Der Mark.

Though Brenden didnt know Larrea-Van Der Mark before appointing her, he said he thought she would be a good addition to the Finance Commission after learning she had been appointed to the Ocean View committee.

Larrea-Van Der Marks online activity has received heightened attention since she spoke in support of Huntington Beachs plan to file a lawsuit against California to challenge Senate Bill 54, a state law that expands protections for undocumented immigrants.

The OC Weekly reported on the colored people comment days after the City Council approved the lawsuit early last month.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscellaAs another school year comes to a close, most high school seniors at Newport Harbor will graduate, go off to college, and the next class of seniors will take their place. A little stress is a good tool to get students motivated. However, students are more stressed than ever, and it is just getting worse.

As a graduate from Newport Harbor, I have experienced this pressure first-hand. This pressure to be successful comes from school and parents and pushes students to maintain a high place in society. Stress is commonly linked to mental health problems like depression and anxiety. This stress typically stems from competition, uncertainty of the future and societal pressures.

It is no secret that it is harder to get into college than when my parents were applying in the 1980s. My dad often reminds me of how he would not get into the school he attended now. While I think it is meant to be a compliment to my intelligence, the changing standards are still daunting.

Students take Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate classes and participate in various extracurricular activities in an attempt to secure their acceptance into college. This does not necessarily ensure their admittance because the acceptance rates of prestigious schools are very low.

While good stress motivates students to excel, many high-performing students, according to one study, experience high levels of chronic stress, to an extent that impedes their abilities to succeed academically. This pressure to be admitted to a well-regarded school inevitably affects students mental health.

According to a study released by the Anxiety and Depression Assn. of America, 40 million U.S. adults suffer from anxiety disorders, and 75% of them experienced their first episode of anxiety before they were 22. Jobs now tend to require years of experience. Each day we are reminded of this.

Even my sister in high school is worried about getting a job. Students in high school are trying to figure out their interests and what type of person they want to be. They often get bogged down with the concern of what people think of them. Societal pressures take a huge toll on young people.

Students in the Newport Beach area face extra pressures because of the focus on wealth and status. The expectation is to be effortlessly perfect. We live in a bubble that is unlike many places in the world. The heightened pressure to always be perfect affects everyone in a different way.

Yes, we do live in a stressful society, but studies show that teenagers and young adults are more stressed out than adults. According to a study by the American Psychological Assn. in 2014, teens reported their stress as a 5.8, and adults as a 5.1, on a 10-point scale.

Today, we are more open to discussing and dealing with mental health problems. However, the study also reports that, nearly half of all teens report not doing enough about their stress. This issue needs to be discussed openly to find solutions or reduce the effects; the conversation should start at home.

Students need to be able to escape the strain of high expectations when they come home. Parents need to start lessening the pressure they put upon their children and understand the stress they are going through. Young people need to have the support of their first role models. It is important to encourage them, but also to have realistic expectations.

Priority needs to be placed upon these issues. By openly discussing and managing stress, we will be able to reduce the impact it has on our society. Students and parents can address the issues in Newport Beach and figure out how to deal with them.

DANIELLA CARRESE, a Newport Harbor High School graduate, attends the University of Vermont.Authorities have identified a 69-year-old woman who died Friday after getting into a traffic collision on the 2 Freeway in Glendale.

Celeste Milby, a resident of Altadena, was traveling northbound on the freeway around 1:50 p.m. when she attempted to exit at the Mountain Street off-ramp at an unknown speed and collided with a passing Peterbilt truck. According to California Highway Patrol, Milby made a left turn and went down the off-ramp embankment for an unknown reason and into the path of the truck.

The truck was traveling in the No. 5 lane at about 55 mph, according to CHP.

Milbys car, an Acura MDX, was struck and both vehicles went across all lanes of traffic and crashed into the freeways center divider. Milby received major injuries as a result of the crash and was transported to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, CHP said. She died later that day.

The incident remains under investigation and anyone with information can contact CHPs Altadena office at (626) 296-8100.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_TrucTen Years Ago

The tragic death of a newly graduated University of California, Berkeley student sent shock waves through the university community as the news spread of the accident. The tremors were also felt in La Canada Flintridge, where the 22-year-old had grown up. Alan Kaname Hamai, an honor student and 2004 graduate of La Canada High, died early on a Saturday morning after falling off the roof of his Berkeley apartment building. He had collected his degree in anthropology the morning before and his parents were on their way home to Redondo Beach following that ceremony when they heard the news. He was one of the most polite and genuine students I have ever encountered. Very quiet and always with a smile on his face, recalled Hamais former art instructor at La Canada High, Mike Kauffman.

Twenty Years Ago

Don and Shirley Hingst of La Canada were soon to ride high as the grand marshals of the 1998 Fiesta Days Parade held on Memorial Day 1998. Don Hingst, until 2008, oversaw the holiday mornings Memorial Service, so it would be a mad dash for the couple to make it from the 9 a.m. service in Memorial Park to the grand marshals vehicle in time for the parade.

Thirty Years Ago

La Canadan George Milan, sponsor of St. Georges Boy Scout Troop 502 and unit commissioner, was presented with the Silver Beaver Award during a Court of Honor. The award was given in recognition of Milans 45 years in scouting and for his service to the local troop.

Forty Years Ago

Two brothers, ages 32 and 16, were caught in the act when they burglarized a pharmacy in the 500 block of Foothill Boulevard during early morning hours. The siblings gained entry through an open vent in the pharmacys roof and later burrowed through a wall to an adjoining beauty salon, tripping a silent alarm during their caper. Sheriffs deputies found them hiding in the ceiling of the salon with $2,000 in cash on them.

Fifty Years Ago

The county spurned local recommendations to build a new La Canada Library on land facing Foothill Boulevard between Rinetti Lane and Indianola Way, saying it was too expensive. Instead, the choices were narrowed to a space on the north side of the 800 block of Foothill, or on Oakwood Avenue behind Verdugo Savings & Loan. A new library was necessary because the pending construction of the Foothill (210) Freeway through town called for the demolition of the existing facility then on the east side of La Canada Boulevard (just north of where Sees Candies is today).

Sixty Years Ago

A display window was broken and merchandise damaged at the L.W. Brown toy store at 858 Foothill Blvd. in May 1958 after a car crashed into the building (where Citizens Business Bank operates today). The female behind the wheel said shed been driving north on Beulah Drive, halted at a stop sign, then turned right onto Foothill. She said that as she made her turn, the driver of a car traveling eastbound on Foothill blasted his horn, causing her to panic and turn her car into the stores window. Neither the driver nor either of her two passengers were hurt in the crash.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.Forget stars homes. These tours visit pot growers and bong makers By Hugo Martin In Napa and Sonoma, tour bus operators ferry oenophiles between tasting rooms and vineyards. In Hollywood and environs, they shepherd the starstruck past the homes of the rich and famous. Now theyre giving customers a mind-expanding look at one of Los Angeles burgeoning industries: pot. Since recreational use of marijuana became legal a year ago, a pot tourism business has emerged, taking visitors behind the scenes of Californias estimated $7-billion cannabis industry. Read More Facebook

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Plans for a state-backed pot bank arent feasible, a study says By Sam Dean Hopes that California might create a public bank to serve the states legal marijuana industry are nothing but a pipe dream, the authors of a new feasibility study told state officials Thursday. In the end we were not able to find any approach to doing this that makes any sense whatsoever, said William Roetzheim, founder and chief executive of Level 4 Ventures, the consulting firm hired to carry out the study for the State Treasurers Cannabis Banking Working Group. California voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016 to legalize growing, possessing and selling marijuana for recreational use. But since cannabis remains illegal under federal law, most banks which are federally chartered and insured by the FDIC  refuse to hold weed money. Read More Facebook

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Santa Cruz marijuana company fined $50,000 for explosion that badly burned employee By Hannah Fry A Santa Cruz-based marijuana manufacturing company is being fined more than $50,000 by state regulators for safety violations after an employee was severely burned in a propane explosion, officials have announced. An employee at Future2 Labs Health Services was working alone inside a 128-square-foot portable storage container in Watsonville on June 19, extracting oil from cannabis leaves with propane, when a spark ignited the tank and it exploded. The worker was hospitalized with severe burns, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The process of using a highly flammable gas to extract oil from cannabis leaves is dangerous, Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum said Thursday in a prepared statement. Read More Facebook

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FDA casts shadow on hemp win, calling CBD products illegal By Associated Press The hemp industry still has work ahead to win legal status for hemp-derived cannabidiol, or CBD oil, as an ingredient in food or dietary supplements despite the big farm bill President Trump signed this week designating hemp as an agricultural crop. CBD oils have become increasingly popular in lotions, tinctures and foods, but their legal status has been murky and the Food and Drug Administration has sent warning letters to some companies making health claims for CBD. In a statement following Thursdays bill signing in Washington, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb restated his agencys stance that CBD is a drug ingredient and therefore illegal to add to food or health products without approval from his agency. Read More Facebook

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One year of legal pot sales and California doesnt have the bustling industry it expected. Heres why By Patrick McGreevy When Californians voted in 2016 to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, advocates of the move envisioned thousands of pot shops and cannabis farms obtaining state licenses, making the drug easily available to all adults within a short drive. But as the first year of licensed sales comes to a close, Californias legal market hasnt performed as state officials and the cannabis industry had hoped. Retailers and growers say theyve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes and decisions by most cities to ban cannabis shops. At the same time, many residents are going to city halls and courts to fight pot businesses they see as nuisances, and police chiefs are raising concerns about crime triggered by the marijuana trade. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who played a large role in the legalization of cannabis, will inherit the numerous challenges when he takes office in January as legislators hope to send him a raft of bills next year to provide banking for the pot industry, ease the tax burden on retailers and crack down on sales to minors. Read More Facebook

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Hemp is about to be legal under the 2018 farm bill. You cant get high from it  but you can wear it By Kurtis Lee Hemp  a close relative of marijuana that can be used to make textiles and other products  has long been classified as a Schedule I drug by the federal government. Thats set to change. President Trump is soon expected to sign a farm bill that includes a section that legalizes the commercial cultivation of hemp nationwide. The bill, years in the making, comes as public support for cannabis legalization has increased over the years, offering a cover of sorts to politicians who see the potential for boosting state tax revenue. Read More Facebook

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Students sent home after Marysville middle schooler brings pot brownies for class to eat By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde Several students at a middle school in Marysville, Calif., were sent home this week after eating marijuana-laced brownies, officials said. Staff at Anna McKenney Intermediate School called police Wednesday morning after learning that a 13-year-old girl had passed out the brownies to her classmates, said Marysville Police Sgt. Jason Garringer. Nine students were sent home, Garringer said, but no one who ate the brownies showed obvious signs of being under the influence. Read More Facebook

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Mistletoke, luxe vape cases and other gift suggestions for the cannabis enthusiast on your nice list By Adam Tschorn Now that some form of cannabis use is legal in 33 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and Californias era of legal adult-use weed is almost a year old (though it remains illegal under federal law), its easier than ever to find a little something special for the cannabis consumer on your nice list. Below are a few items that  with the exception of the first item which is available in L.A. only  are legal, widely available and, if ordered soon, can still be under the tree in the U.S. by Christmas Day. For those who want to do good while feeling good  and score a little holiday decor at the same time  L.A.-based Zoma Cannabis is prepared to send some lucky L.A. residents a limited-edition floral-meets-cannabis Mistletoke arrangement that intertwines sprigs of mistletoe with three trimmed buds (roughly five grams total) of its Santa Cruz-grown True OG and/or Gelato strain cannabis flower all tied up in a big red Santa-worthy bow. No purchase is necessary, but recipients are highly encouraged to make a donation to the charity reforestation group One Tree Planted to aid in the recovery efforts from the 2017 and 2018 California fires. Zoma will match donations dollar for dollar. Each dollar donated means one tree gets planted, and that means the green you donate for its green means a greener Golden State moving forward. Zoma is set to deliver the decor right to your door if you live in L.A., are over the age of 21 and are one of the first 50 folks to fire off an email to info@zomacannabis.com with the word Mistletoke in the subject line. Supplies willing, orders placed as late as Dec. 20 will arrive in time to make your Christmas very merry indeed. Read More Facebook

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3 marijuana businesses win OK in Costa Mesa as another is put on hold By Bradley Zint The Costa Mesa Planning Commission this week approved three new marijuana facilities but postponed a decision on a fourth due to the absence of one commissioner, whose vote likely will decide the fate of the business. After two commissioners expressed support and two expressed opposition for Triiads proposal for a marijuana distribution facility, the panel voted 3-1 on Monday night, with Commissioner Jeffrey Harlan absent, to hold a special meeting Monday to reexamine the matter. Commissioner Carla Navarro Woods dissented. The proposed location at 3525 Hyland Ave., Suite 265, is in Hyland Plaza, north of South Coast Collection in an area identified under city law as permissible for marijuana uses. Read More Facebook

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Marlboro cigarette maker places a $2.4-billion bet on marijuana By Associated Press Altria Group Inc., one of the worlds biggest tobacco companies, is diving into the cannabis market with a $2.4 billion buy-in. The Marlboro cigarette maker is taking a 45% stake in Cronos Group Inc., the Canadian medical and recreational marijuana provider said Friday. Altria will pay an additional $1.4 billion for warrants that, if exercised, would give Altria a 55% ownership stake in the Toronto company. Read More Facebook

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Utah voters approved medical marijuana in November. State lawmakers just passed big changes to the ballot measure By Associated Press Lawmakers in Utah passed sweeping changes Monday to a voter-approved medical marijuana ballot measure under a planned compromise that secured the support of the influential Mormon Church but sparked a backlash from pot advocates. Supporters of the compromise cheered the vote, saying it would help suffering patients while creating safeguards against broader recreational use. I believe this agreement was a landmark day for our state, and we are helping people, said outgoing Republican House Speaker Greg Hughes, who sponsored the legislation and helped bring together the players for talks. Read More Facebook

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Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy, two others arrested on drug charges after heist at pot warehouse By Maya Lau The Los Angeles sheriffs deputy pulled up to the pot-filled warehouse just after three in the morning. He held up an official-looking document to a guard, who promptly unlocked a gate. The deputy and two other men, each of them armed and dressed in sheriffs jackets, got out. After locking the guard and two other employees in the back of the deputys SUV, the men went to work lugging bags of marijuana from the warehouse. Read More Facebook

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Cannary West dispensary to host Higher Standards pop-up shop Saturday through Feb. 28 By Adam Tschorn The Higher Standards X Cannary West pop-up is slated to run from Saturday through Feb. 28. (Higher Standards) Following its successful (and still running) pop-up space inside the Pottery dispensary in L.A.s Mid-City, purveyor of luxury-level cannabis accoutrements Higher Standards has announced plans to take up temporary residence inside the Cannary West dispensary in the Rancho Park neighborhood just in time for the holidays. On track to pop-up on Saturday (with a 20% opening day discount) and run through the end of February, itll serve up a similar curated mix of high-end smoking tools and accessories from brands like Marley Naturals, Grav Labs, Dr. Dabber and Puffco (makers of the futuristic-looking Peak dab rig) as well as home goods for the discerning head by Jonathan Adler, Malin+Goetz and Forestry Wool. Higher Standards X Cannary West Where: 2435 Military Ave., Los Angeles. Entry is restricted to those 21 and older. Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays from Saturday through Feb. 28. Info: cannarywest.com, higherstandards.com Facebook

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I fell off the way. A charismatic pastor-turned-marijuana smuggler heads to prison By Kristina Davis On Easter Sunday 2007, Pastor John Lee Bishop drew about 15,000 worshipers to a sports arena in Portland, Ore. With a flair for showmanship, Bishop  a jeans-clad minister sporting a youthful, moppish haircut  relished building buzz around his Living Hope Church, based in Vancouver, Wash., on the north bank of the Columbia River. One time, it was bringing a Bengal tiger onstage. Another, according to an account in the Columbian newspaper, it was advertising a sermon series with the word sex prominently facing a busy street. Read More Facebook

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For all your weed needs, theres now a pot superstore in Las Vegas By David Montero The employee in the red shirt counseled the two men on what  or what not  to buy. Now, if you start thinking dolphins are talking to you, that might be too much, she explained. The two young men nodded slowly. One stroked his beard. Neither had ever talked to dolphins before. Or even yelled at them on Sundays when they play against the New England Patriots. Above them, the continuous light show on the ceiling was like an electric lava lamp  orbs expanding and dividing in an endless trip. Then it was gone and replaced by flowers and a Saturn-like planet floating in the sky. Read More Facebook

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4 more marijuana permit applications await Costa Mesa Planning Commission review By Luke Money The recent parade of permit applications from marijuana manufacturing and distribution businesses looking to open in Costa Mesa will continue next week, when the city Planning Commission is scheduled to review four more. All the requests on Mondays agenda are for conditional use permits, which are among several approvals required to open a cannabis company in the city. Here is the latest lineup of applicants: Read More Facebook

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With Jeff Sessions out at the Justice Dept., the marijuana movement exhales By Kurtis Lee He described marijuana as a very real danger and has said its effects are only slightly less awful than those of heroin. Once, during a drug hearing when he was a Senator, he said he wanted to send a clear message: Good people dont smoke marijuana. So when Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions was ousted recently, a collective sigh of relief rose up from proponents of legalized pot  activists, politicians, investors  who felt targeted by the nations top law enforcement officer. Sessionss departure has translated into spiking stocks for cannabis companies and a reset of sorts for the legalization movement which, since 2012, has seen nearly a dozen states pass recreational pot measures. Read More Facebook

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This is what a cannabis executives party pad looks like By Kavita Daswani Dont expect to find bongs, water pipes and empty packets of Funyuns at the Los Angeles-area home of Will Htun. When we asked to look inside the home of the CEO of cannabis brand Sherbinskis, we found a sleek and minimal space where he could host chef-catered, cannabis-paired dinners on the rooftop and take meetings in a high-ceilinged front room. Htun, 34, moved into the 2,700-square-foot townhouse in July 2016, after he and brand founder Mario Sherbinski, who is based in San Francisco, decided it would make an ideal live/work space. With its three en-suite bedrooms, Htun opens up the home to associates in town for business instead of housing them in a serviced apartment. Read More Facebook

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First recreational pot shops in Eastern U.S. to open in Massachusetts By Associated Press Two marijuana stores in Massachusetts have been given the green light to begin selling to recreational customers, making them the first commercial pot shops in the eastern United States. Both stores, one located in Northampton and the other in Leicester, said they would open Tuesday morning after the Cannabis Control Commission, the states marijuana regulatory agency, on Friday authorized them to begin operations. The announcement ended a long wait for commercial sales to begin in Massachusetts. The states voters legalized the use of recreational marijuana by adults 21 and older in 2016, but its taken more than two years for state legislators and regulators to reach the point where the first stores can finally open. Read More Facebook

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Heres whats behind Mexicos radical move toward legalizing marijuana during its war on drugs By Kate Linthicum Mexico may soon legalize marijuana, a radical shift for a country whose prohibition on narcotics has been at the heart of its long and violent war against drug traffickers. Legislation submitted to Congress last week by the party of leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would regulate cannabis, allowing it to be grown, sold and consumed for recreational use. Proponents of legalization say it would reduce bloodshed in Mexico by weakening drug cartels and freeing up police officers and prosecutors to focus on more serious crimes. But the proposal has critics, including the Catholic Church, which holds significant sway in Mexican politics. A poll in Mexico last year showed a majority of respondents opposed legalizing marijuana. Read More Facebook

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Curious about all the CBD-infused products you see? By Kavita Daswani Some chew it, or place a few drops under the tongue or let it soak in through the skin. There are numerous ways to consume cannabidiol  better known as CBD. Its touted for its therapeutic effects, but, unlike its better-known cousin THC, does not get you high. Hemp-derived CBD is increasingly in the limelight these days, at natural products stores and even fashion boutiques, catering to widening demand from consumers who find it helps them with pain, anxiety and insomnia. Despite Californias marijuana-friendly laws, however, the state announced earlier this year it is waiting for the federal government to rule on the use of CBD oils and products before giving the green light to sales. Critics, meanwhile, have been asking for clarity, to help consumers who want options. Read More Facebook

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6 cannabis cookbooks with recipes from basic to gourmet By Amy Scattergood As cannabis is legalized  although it remains illegal under federal law and goes mainstream in California and other states, the cookbook industry has churned into high gear with books on what ways to use jazz cabbage beyond the bong. What to look for? A lot depends on your level of expertise  not just in the kitchen but with cannabis itself. If youve been making batches of pot brownies and want to expand your repertoire to, say, French macarons, there are cookbooks to help you out. Many books have lengthy introductions that outline the specifics of cooking with cannabis, so find one that fits with what you know  or dont know. Bong Appetit: Mastering the Art of Cooking With Weed by the editors of Munchies (Ten Speed Press, $30) This book, based on the Munchies and Viceland television series Bong Appetit, was published in October by Ten Speed Press. (This is in itself notable, as Ten Speed is one of the best cookbook publishers around, and continues the legitimate trajectory of the cannabis cooking genre.) The book has a comprehensive introduction that includes topics such as dosing, techniques, methods of decarboxylation and infusion, cannabis pairing tips, questions to ask your dispensary, tips on equipment and more. The recipes are sourced from the Munchies test kitchen and from many well-known chefs, whose recipes are recalibrated to add cannabis. Thus: Korean fried chicken from Deuki Hong of San Franciscos Sunday Bird; fried soft-shell crab with shishito pepper mole from Daniela Soto-Innes of Cosme and Atla; and (my favorite) Joan Nathans preserved lemons. The Munchies test kitchen also has some fun ones, including herb focaccia with, well, herb; and confit octopus, in which a whole octopus is poached in cannabis-infused olive oil. If that sounds too aspirational, there are instructions for making an apple bong  a hollowed-out apple filled with weed-infused mezcal  at the end of the drinks chapter. Read More Facebook

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Sativa or indica? CBD or THC? What to know before cooking with cannabis By Brette Warshaw Dont know the difference between MSG and THC? Heres a guide to the terminology youll encounter. Cannabis sativa and cannabis indica are two of the three species of cannabis. (The third species, cannabis ruderalis, is less attractive due to its smaller stature and low concentration of THC.) Sativa is a warm-weather species characterized by tall plants and thin leaves. The plant takes 10 to 15 weeks to mature and is known for a cerebral, energetic and invigorating high thats particularly suited for daytime use. Medically, it can be used to help people with depression and chronic pain. Read More Facebook

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California pot tax revenue improves but is still short of projections (Mathew Sumner / Associated Press) The amount of money collected by the state from taxes on cannabis grown and sold legally in California continues to increase but is still falling short of budget estimates, according to figures released Wednesday. Tax revenue reported from the cannabis industry totaled $93.1 million for the three months ending Sept. 30, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. That is an increase from the $80.2 million collected during the second quarter of the year. If revenue continues to grow by the same 16% per quarter, pot taxes will bring in $471 million during the fiscal year that began July 1, while the budget approved by the governor and Legislature estimates the taxes would bring in $630 million during the fiscal year. Read More Facebook

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Eaze launches (nearly) nationwide delivery of hemp-derived CBD products By Adam Tschorn Eaze Wellness offers non-psychoactive CBD products derived from hemp. (Eaze) Eaze, the San Francisco-based technology platform thats been coordinating dispensary-to-consumer home deliveries of cannabis in Los Angeles since April, has expanded its reach  for CBD-containing products, that is  to most of the United States. (CBD, a.k.a cannabidiol, is a cannabis compound said to have anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety properties but none of the high associated with THC. These claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.) Through the just-launched Eaze Wellness website, consumers over the age of 21 in 41 states and the District of Columbia can order a range of hemp-derived CBD tinctures, tablets, balms, bath bombs, patches, vape pens and pet products for delivery within four to six days. (Shipping is free for orders $50 and up; otherwise, itll cost you $5.) Much like its in-state marijuana-delivery service, which coordinates deliveries with local dispensaries, Eaze isnt doing the shipping itself, but rather working with a third-party partner to get goods from brands such as Plant People, Cannuka, BeTru Wellness and Vital Leaf from point A to point B. Although the laws surrounding the legality of CBD are murky at best (a loophole in federal law has been widely interpreted as making CBD derived from hemp grown for research purposes legal), one point B that Eaze Wellness wont be coordinating shipping to is its home state of California. (The company cites state regulations as the reason.) Yes, California, where cannabis  even the kind that gets you high  has been legal under state law since the beginning of the year. Additional information is available at www.eazewellness.com. Facebook

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What THC-infused edibles are most popular? Fruit-flavored gummies and chocolate-covered coffee beans for starters By Adam Tschorn Nearly a year in to the state-legal cannabis scene, theres no shortage of THC-infused items on the market for 21-and-older consumers, from sachets of herbal tea and cans of citrus-flavored soda to honey mustard pretzels, with analysts and dispensary owners seeing it as a growing side of the business. Since recreational use was legalized in January, edibles have seen a 20%-30% hike in sales, said Nick Danias, managing partner of the Pottery and Cannary West dispensaries in Los Angeles, who added that edibles have proved particularly popular with new cannabis users who might be reluctant to start experimenting by smoking cannabis flower. Edibles companies have been able to offer consumers micro dosing that allows for a controlled amount of THC to be ingested, he said. (State law requires that edibles be portioned or scored into servings that contain no more than 10 milligrams of THC per piece and no more than 100 milligrams of THC per package.) Read More Facebook

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5 more marijuana permit applications await Costa Mesa Planning Commission By Luke Money The torrent of applications from marijuana manufacturing and distribution facilities looking to open in Costa Mesa continues Thursday, when city planning commissioners will review five more during a special meeting. Should the commission grant all the requested conditional use permits, it would bring the total number of marijuana facilities with such approvals to 22  including nine in the past month. The applications up for review this time are: Read More Facebook

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Two shot and killed in Koreatown marijuana dispensary By James Queally Two people were shot and killed early Monday morning after gunfire erupted inside a Koreatown marijuana dispensary, authorities said. Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 400 block of Western Avenue in Koreatown around 4:20 a.m. Monday, according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Department. There, they found a locked and sealed marijuana dispensary, according to the statement. A female employee told police she and several customers were inside the dispensary when they heard gunshots in the waiting room. They fled through the back of the building, and when officers gained entry, they found two people who were pronounced dead at the scene. Read More Facebook

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Party of Mexicos president-elect wants to legalize marijuana By Associated Press The party of Mexicos president-elect submitted legislation Thursday that would legalize marijuana possession, public use, growing and sales. Sen. Olga Sanchez Cordero presented the measure, saying that everyone should have the right to carry up to 30 grams [1 ounce] of cannabis. People could carry more than an ounce if they obtained a permit to do so under the proposal. From the point of view of negative effects, there is no reason why marijuana should not be legal, if alcohol and tobacco are, according to the bill. Read More Facebook

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Want to grow your own marijuana? This class will show you how By Jeanette Marantos California law lets anyone over 21 grow up to six marijuana plants in their yard or home, as long as the plants are not accessible to the public. (Check your City Hall for any additional local rules.) Unsure how to start? Check out Fig Earth Supplys two-hour workshops, Cannabis Cultivation for the Home Grower, on Nov. 10 or Nov. 17, taught by professional cannabis growers. Attendees must be at least 21. No plants or seeds will be sold. Workshops cost $95 and start at 5 p.m. at 3577 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles. More info: figearthsupply.com Read More Facebook

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Whats that smell? Survey asks Venice Beach denizens if theyre vexed by odor of marijuana By Joseph Serna They descended on free-wheeling Venice Beach with clipboards and questions in hand. Their goal: to gauge humanitys tolerance for the smell and sight of public pot smoking. Akbar Karriem considered them ridiculous. Everybody be smoking, Karriem said as he sat on the boardwalk and lit a marijuana pipe. Its part of the culture here. Its like a religion. Read More Facebook

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Las Vegas newest and biggest pot shop aims to entertain By Jay Jones Prepare to be entertained at Las Vegas newest and biggest cannabis store a mile west of the Strip. Planet 13 combines light shows and fog-making fountains to wow visitors at the shop, which sells recreational pot, cannabis extracts and cannabis-infused products. The idea is to meld a cannabis shop with an entertainment complex. Visitors, who must be at least 21, can change the colors of 13 giant LED-lighted lotus flowers blooming on the roof of the building. Read More Facebook

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CBD-infused products are being sold everywhere in California  but are they legal? By Laura Newberry Greg and Gary Avetisyan make no secret of it: They proudly sell all manner of products infused with CBD, from essential oils to bath bombs to fruity tea-like beverages that promise calming relief in a frantic world. CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a molecule derived from cannabis. But unlike its chemical cousin THC, it wont get you high. What it might do, according to some research, is alleviate anxiety, seizures, chronic pain and dozens of other ailments. The Avetisyan brothers belief in the alleged benefits of the extract is so steadfast that they opened Californias first CBD-only store, Topikal, in Tarzana last year and opened a second along the Venice Beach boardwalk in April. Read More Facebook

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Review: Documentary Weed the People looks at cannabis and pediatric cancer By Kimber Myers An urgent cry for help, Weed the People explores the effects of cannabis on pediatric cancer, as well as the establishments disinterest in researching its efficacy. With the lack of scientific studies available, Abby Epsteins moving documentary primarily devotes its time to five children and their families who are trying to survive using the alternative treatment. Weed the People doesnt ease into its multi-story narrative, wasting no time in sharing the stories of these kids with cancer. With parents desperate for their children to feel better, they turn to medical marijuana to ease the pain, as well as directly addressing the cancer cells. Without studies and lack of nationwide legalization, there is little regulation in the industry. Enter Mara Gordon, a former process engineer who brings precision and rigor to her medical cannabis company, offering the families hope for healing. Read More Facebook

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Denver verdict on pot odor and property values could discourage homeowners from filing RICO lawsuits By Associated Press A Colorado jury likely threw cold water on future legal challenges against cannabis companies by homeowners who consider filing racketeering lawsuits alleging that proximity to pot operations hurts their property values, analysts and industry lawyers said Thursday. A federal jury in Denver on Wednesday rejected claims involving the odor from a pot farm made in a case that was closely watched by the marijuana industry. It was the first such lawsuit to reach a jury. Three others are pending in California, Massachusetts and Oregon. Read More Facebook

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Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Office makes its largest seizure of illegal marijuana plants By Joseph Serna An estimated 400,000 marijuana plants were destroyed by Santa Barbara County sheriffs investigators this week in what authorities are calling the countys largest seizure of pot plants at one site. The plants were hidden among farmland in Santa Maria and discovered by sheriffs investigators on Monday, the sheriffs office said in a statement. The crop belonged to a resident who, authorities said, had applied for a temporary state cannabis license using false information and did not have a valid cannabis license. Investigators found the 400,000 plants in various levels of maturity and tapped state Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel to help in the case. Read More Facebook

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Is Rohrabacher trying to lose Republican voters by caving on marijuana policy? To the editor: I was disappointed to read in a column on voters trying to flip an Orange County congressional district that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) wants to weaken federal laws against marijuana. Recently-approved state laws legalizing marijuana have not been beneficial. In Colorado, following the legalization of recreational marijuana, the number of traffic fatalities involving marijuana-impaired drivers more than doubled. Surveys have found a majority of marijuana users in Colorado do not believe driving high is dangerous, leading some to get behind the wheel impaired. As a retired law enforcement officer who has had the opportunity to work with people impacted by drug addiction, and as a lifelong Republican, I feel Rohrabacher is making a mistake. Read More Facebook

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Berners Melrose birthday bash celebrates a new dispensary  and a collaboration with the G Pen Gio By Adam Tschorn The Cookies dispensary at 8360 Melrose Ave. celebrated its grand opening on Saturday. (Grenco Science) On Saturday morning, the lines were stretching around the corner and down the block outside the bright blue Beverly Grove storefront with the word Cookies above the door. The enthusiastic members of the crowd werent queued up for baked goods, though. They were waiting to get into a new cannabis dispensary  and to help celebrate the birthday of its founding partner, Bay Area rapper and entrepreneur Berner (born Gilbert Millam Jr.). Minimalist, awash in natural light and appointed in the brands blue and white color scheme and emblazoned with the cookie-with-a-bite-missing logo, it marks the second Cookies dispensary in Los Angeles County; the first, Cookies Los Angeles, is located in Maywood. Like that one, its stocked with a wide variety of cannabis flower, oils, edibles and the like, with a particular emphasis on the proprietary strains from the Cookie Family collective (the growers who originated the strain formerly known as Girl Scout Cookies as well as other dessert-named strains such as Gelato and Sunset Sherbet). It also stocks three different Cookies-logoed colors (blue, white and black) of the new G Pen Gio ($29.95), a vaporizer pen that uses cannabis concentrate cartridges for a super-simple, draw-activated plug-and-puff experience. The Cookies G Pen Gio from Grenco Science x Berner collaboration officially launched at the Saturday Berner bash, and includes Gio cannabis-oil cartridges filled with Gelato, London Poundcake, Sunset Sherbet or Snowman strains ($60 for 500 mg, which Tim Patenaude, Grencos vice president of marketing, says marks the first time those Cookie strains have been commercially available as concentrates. (Gio pod cartridges are now available at 500 dispensaries across 12 states, according to Patenaude, including MedMen, BARC and the Pottery locally, as well as through the Eaze delivery service.) Shown are Berners blue-and-white birthday cake, left, and vape pens and cartridges from his Cookies G Pen Gio collaboration. (Grenco Science) Patenaude says the partnership with Berner has its roots in Grencos 2014 partnership with another rapper  Wiz Khalifa (Wiz Khalifas weed guy was Berner, Patenaude said, and thats how we first met him.). He calls Berner the most important person in cannabis today, citing not only Berner and his partners wildly successful strains, but the rapper/entrepreneurs brand-building abilities outside of the cannabis space. His Cookies clothing label is sold in every Zumiez in every mall in America, Patenaude said. In a chat with the Los Angeles Times Rolling Paper, Berner said that the Cookies SF streetwear label he launched out of his garage less than a decade ago saw $12.8 million in revenue in 2017 and that hes aiming to open a store next door to the dispensary  hopefully in time for the Black Friday shopping season. (Theres currently a single flagship store in San Francisco.) He also said the dispensary opening bash was a good way to usher in his 35th year on the planet. Man, I couldnt be happier, he said. Were turning [over] customers left and right, theres no holdup anywhere, everyone is super-juiced and there was a line down the block and wrapped around [the corner] at 6 a.m. You cant ask for anything else. Cookies Melrose, 8360 Melrose Ave. (at North Kings Road), Los Angeles. Additional information on the G Pen Gio (including local availability) is at gpen.com. Facebook

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2 Chainz wants to put a THC tiger in your tank with his new cannabis brand Gas By Adam Tschorn Rapper 2 Chainz attends the launch party for Gas, his fuel-themed cannabis line now available in flower and pre-rolled joints. (Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times) Rolling into the Friday launch party for his new cannabis brand Gas, the first thing Grammy-winning rapper 2 Chainz did was brandish a joint in one hand and a smartphone in the other to record the rows of boldly packaged cannabis flower and pre-rolled joints in a video to share with his 5.7 million Instagram followers. The second thing he did was stand back and take in the moment. I cant believe it, thats why I was over here just trying to take it all in, 2 Chainz said about seeing all the green, yellow and black plastic pouches filled with marijuana, and a jerrycan converted into a display tray overflowing with green buds. Ive been told for over a year that we were doing this line, so now Im just trying to live in the moment. I dont do that a lot. The launch party took place at the Mid-Wilshire offices of Green Street Agency, a cannabis-focused branding and licensing company that is one of the rappers two Southern California partners in the venture. The other is L.A.-based Mazel Management Group (owners of the Westside Station dispensary in Van Nuys). Before joining the throng of well-wishers, industry friends and employees dressed in logo-emblazoned overalls, 2 Chainz (born Tauheed Epps), chatted with the Los Angeles Times Rolling Paper about his new project, how cannabis branding is like music and what took so long for the project to come to fruition. (Hint: There was lots of taste-testing). The Rolling Paper: Where does the name of your line  Gas  come from and what does it mean? 2 Chainz: Its Atlanta lingo that we use that basically signifies that this is a stronger type of flower  a stronger cannabis. Ive been saying it since I came into the rap game and Ive used it in a few verses of a few songs. At first people were like: What do you mean by [the line] gas in the ashtray? After it caught on and basically went mainstream, I figured why veer off from what got me here? So we started a legal line of cannabis called Gas. TRP: Ive heard that you were pretty picky in the development process. 2C: It took months and months and about 30 different kinds of [cannabis] flower. I think I was looking for that first impression  that first pull  how it made me feel. Were there fireworks or no fireworks? What kind of memory did it create? Thats what I was looking for. TRP: The three different types of flower youre launching with dont have names but numbers  87, 89 and 93  are those supposed to be kind of like octane ratings but for marijuana? 2C: Thats a great way of describing it. The 87, for example [a Petrol OG hybrid, with a THC content of 14%] is for functioning throughout the day, [and for] people who are on the go [or] at work and cant get that whole indica sleepy feeling during the middle of the day. I think 87 will be sufficient. The 89 [a Sour Gas hybrid, 17% THC] is for when people go out for cocktails after work, when they want to get ready for the wind-down  it signifies the medium [strength]. And the 93 [an indica called Gods Fuel No. 2 with a THC level of 20%] Id definitely say is the strongest. Thats for night-night. TRP: How did the fuel theme and octane ratings and all that evolve from the name? 2C: I approached this the way I do in my music  which was come up with the concept and follow all the way through with it. So, when you have Gas, you have to have the gas cans and the imagery that actually represents the gas pumps and things that tie in to the brand itself. I think that gives it legs  gives it a little more substance and sustainability. And I used these colors because I knew they would be very catching and appealing to the eye and I know that I will kind of have to muscle my way in as far as getting where I need to be on [dispensary] shelves these days. I figure I could be on the back of the shelf and you could still see this green, this yellow and this black packaging. Gas prices range from $12 to $14 (for 1-gram pre-rolled joints) and $36 to $48 for 3.5 gram packages of flower. Currently available at Westside Station, 7022 Valjean Ave., Van Nuys. Facebook

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A chemical found in liverwort has surprising similarities to the THC in marijuana By Noga Tarnopolsky Its an amazing plant that produces hypnotic effects, according to online testimonials. Some people who have ingested it or inhaled its smoke say it gave them a mild, marijuana-like high. Now scientists have weighed in. In experiments with more than 100 mice, they found that chemicals in the liverwort plant produced four of the same key effects as THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. An hour after being injected with the experimental chemicals, the mice entered a trance-like state, lost some of their ability to move, became less responsive to pain and experienced a drop in body temperature, according to a study published this week in the journal Science Advances. Read More Facebook

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Hours-long standoff at Tarzana weed dispensary ends after police learn building is empty By Hailey Branson-Potts The police standoff lasted more than six hours, shutting down a busy six-lane stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana for most of the evening. An armed robbery suspect, authorities said, had barricaded himself inside an illegal marijuana dispensary in a strip mall in the 18300 block of Ventura Boulevard. He was believed to be one of four suspects and was thought to have a female hostage. But when officers searched the building after 8:20 p.m., there was no one inside, said Officer Mike Lopez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Read More Facebook

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State officials decline to drop plan to allow home deliveries of pot in California cities that ban marijuana stores Cities and law enforcement leaders say a state proposal to allow pot delivery to homes would increase crime. (Mathew Sumner / Associated Press) Despite objections from cities and police chiefs, state officials on Friday declined to drop a proposal allowing marijuana firms to deliver to homes everywhere in California, including in areas that have banned pot shops. The proposed rule, which was made public in July, was opposed by the League of California Cities, which represents the states 482 municipalities, and the California Police Chiefs Assn., which said it would jeopardize public safety. But the state Bureau of Cannabis Control announced Friday that it is moving forward with the proposed rule after a series of public hearings and after weighing hundreds of comments from residents and interested parties. Read More Facebook

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San Diego plans to crack down on marijuana ads, especially billboards By David Garrick San Diego officials say they plan to crack down on marijuana advertising, particularly the billboard ads that have become increasingly common with recreational use of the drug now legal in California. Legislation proposed by City Councilman Chris Cate aims to keep marijuana billboard ads out of areas where young people congregate and to prevent illegal marijuana businesses from advertising anywhere. The proposal, which would go beyond relatively new state laws that govern marijuana advertising, will be included in a series of city code updates that Mayor Kevin Faulconers staff plans to present to the City Council next year. Read More Facebook

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Drinking before a flight is common. Now some fliers are turning to pot before takeoff By Hugo Martin Commercial flights can be so stressful  cramped seats, delays, turbulence, loud seatmates  that more than 60% of travelers in a recent survey said they down a drink or two before heading to the airport. But the survey by a drug treatment organization found that nearly as many fliers are now turning to marijuana to relax before getting on a plane. The online survey of 1,137 people who have flown in the past year was taken by Florida-based Delphi Behavioral Health Group. It found that nearly 30% of respondents said they had smoked marijuana and another 25% had consumed pot-infused snacks before arriving at an airport. Read More Facebook

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Marijuana issues dominate Costa Mesa Planning Commission agenda By Luke Money Cannabis-related companies will be front and center in Costa Mesa again Monday, when city planning commissioners will consider four applications for proposed marijuana manufacturing and distribution facilities. Should the Planning Commission OK all the requests, it would bring the number of marijuana businesses with city-approved conditional use permits to 17. First up will be Aureus LLC, which is looking to open in a 5,556-square-foot industrial space at 3505 Cadillac Ave., Building A. The company proposes to manufacture cannabis concentrates, particularly oils intended for use in vaporizer cartridges, according to city planning documents. Read More Facebook

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Canada is now the worlds largest legal marijuana marketplace By Associated Press Ian Power was among the first to buy legal recreational marijuana in Canada but he has no plans to smoke it. He plans to frame it. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday in Newfoundland. Power was first in line at a store in St. Johns, Newfoundland. I am going to frame it and hang it on my wall. Im not even going to smoke it. Im just going to save it forever, Power said. Read More Facebook

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Bloom Farms doubles its meal donations on Oct. 16 in observance of World Food Day By Adam Tschorn Bloom Farms Pineapple Single Origin vape cartridge is a World Food Day exclusive that will be available only in October. (Bloom Farms) In recognition of the United Nations designation of Oct. 16 as World Food Day 2018, Oakland-based cannabis company Bloom Farms is doubling its usual meal-donation-per-sale for purchase made through the Eaze delivery service (which is doing its part by offering a day-long 20% discount on all Bloom Farms products) as well as participating dispensaries statewide (including Buds & Roses, Urban Treez and Green Dot locally). The company says that since 2014 it has donated about 1.4 million meals to food banks statewide through its one-for-one program, with a goal of donating 5 million meals. World Harvest Food Bank in Los Angeles and the San Diego Food Bank are among the SoCal beneficiaries of the Bloom Farm donations. Although the double-down on meal donations lasts only one day, Bloom Farms has a couple of slightly less time-sensitive promotions to raise awareness and drive donations in furtherance of the U.N.s mission of a zero-hunger world by 2030. One is a partnership with vaporizer maker Pax  which has pledged $10,000 to fund meal donations  that includes a free Pax Era vape pen (custom-engraved on-site) with the purchase of two Bloom Farms Pax pods at special dispensary events throughout the month, the second is an exclusive, October-only Pineapple Single Origin vape cartridge that, after the purchase of any two Bloom Farms products  can be purchased for just a penny. Additional information  and a calendar of dispensary events and demonstrations  can be found at getbloomfarms.com/events. Facebook

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Screened at U.S. border, Canadians who are honest about using marijuana could be banned from the U.S. By Kurtis Lee Bill Powers flipped through the sworn statement he gave to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the printed pages taking him back to that August afternoon  back to the border checkpoint into Washington state where agents asked if he had ever smoked marijuana. Yes, he answered, not initially thinking much of the question. The 57-year-old Canadian has a license for medical marijuana, and pot had been legal in Washington for six years. Like that, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents turned him away with an extreme decree: He had been banned from the United States. Its absolutely out of control. Here I am being honest with the United States and I get the boot, Powers said on a recent afternoon as he stood in his driveway in this farming town an hour east of Vancouver. I have a license  yet theyre turning people away for pot? It makes not a single bit of sense. Read More Facebook

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Newport mayor says he wants to sell his boat factory site, not grow marijuana on it By Hillary Davis Despite having local and state approvals to cultivate or distribute medical marijuana on the site of his boat factory in San Bernardino County, Newport Beach Mayor Marshall Duffy Duffield says he isnt a pot farmer. Rather, he says, he sought the entitlements to make the property more attractive to buyers so he can move his factory to Utah. Duffield said in a statement emailed to the Daily Pilot on Sunday that he split his 4.7-acre property in Adelanto into thirds and sought a cannabis distribution permit from the California Bureau of Cannabis Control to take advantage of increased property values that followed Adelantos passage of a medicinal cultivation ordinance in 2015 and creation of a cultivation zone in 2016 that later expanded to include the factory site. As a property owner, I am trying to maximize the value to sell the land, not grow pot, Duffield said. I am actively manufacturing electric boats at the plant and there is no room to be growing pot. Read More Facebook

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NHL: Legal pot in Canada wont affect league policy By Associated Press Now a handful of years into retirement from more than a decade of junior and pro hockey, former enforcer Riley Cote is a proponent of cannabis and its oils as an alternative to more addictive drugs commonly used by athletes to play through pain. Marijuana can be detected in a persons system for more than 30 days, is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency without a specific therapeutic use exemption and is illegal in much of the United States. Canada on Wednesday will become the largest country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana. That means it will be available under the law in seven more NHL cities (its been legal to adults in Denver since 2012). The move is a step forward for those who, like Cote, believe marijuana has been stigmatized and should be accepted as a form of treatment. It was so tainted for a long time, Ottawa Senators forward Matt Duchene said. And now people are starting to learn a little bit more about it and there is definitely some positive uses to different elements of it. Read More Facebook

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Costa Mesa council to review marijuana permit decision By Luke Money Costa Mesas review process for marijuana-related businesses will enter uncharted territory Tuesday when the City Council takes a second look at an earlier decision to award a required permit. So far, whats separated this particular application by Pivot Naturals LLC from the dozen other marijuana manufacturing and distribution facilities that previously sailed through City Hall isnt so much the question of whether the business should be allowed to open, but when. City planning commissioners decided last month to grant the business a conditional use permit to operate within a 5,283-square-foot industrial space in Suite 101 at 3595 Cadillac Ave. However, they added a new wrinkle by restricting hours to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Read More Facebook

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Business linked to Newport mayor paid councilman to help create marijuana facility in Inland Empire, records show By Hillary Davis A business linked to Newport Beach Mayor Marshall Duffy Duffield paid his City Council colleague Scott Peotter to help convert part of Duffields boat manufacturing facility in San Bernardino County to a medical marijuana cultivation or distribution hub, records show. Peotter made at least $10,000 from DC Developments, a Duffield-associated company, according to Peotters state-required statement of economic interest forms. A string of corporations that financially tie the two together appears to answer a question  has Peotter ever worked for Duffield?  that has dogged them for weeks as they seek reelection in November. Read More Facebook

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Following California, pot legalization campaigns across the U.S. aim to throw out old convictions By Kurtis Lee Rob Jenkins tried for four years to find a job, scouring the internet for anything that seemed at all appealing  a maintenance position at a Chevron refinery, a counselor for foster kids, a clerk at Hertz. Some employers seemed interested, until they found out about his 2008 misdemeanor conviction for growing marijuana. I was stuck, recalled the 37-year-old college graduate. No job opportunities were coming in. Read More Facebook

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Canada is about to legalize marijuana. How did that happen? Justin Trudeau, for starters By Kurtis Lee Politicians herald it as transformative. Residents offer resounding support in the polls. Investors see billions of dollars on the horizon. When Canada legalizes marijuana on Oct. 17, it will join Uruguay as the only countries to allow recreational cannabis nationwide. The South American country became the first in 2013. The effort, years in the making, is unlike the piecemeal approaches to marijuana legalization that have been passed in the United States and the Netherlands. For pot proponents around the world, Canadas implementation of legal marijuana is being closely watched. Read More Facebook

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Can you carry marijuana in LAX? Yes, but its more complicated than that By Chris Erskine LAX wants you to know this about the marijuana you may be taking with you on your trip: Whats legal on the street is also legal in the terminals. Up to a point. Travelers can carry the legal amount of marijuana in California  up to 28.5 grams through the airport areas that are under city supervision, that is up to pre-security checkpoints. Read More Facebook

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Dont you dare light up at Las Vegas new cannabis museum By Jay Jones Inhale  we mean through your nose  in the new marijuana museum in Las Vegas. You wont smell a thing, even though recreational pot is legal in Nevada. Signs in the elevators at Neonopolis, the downtown entertainment, dining and retail center thats home to the immersive Cannabition museum, make it clear that consumption in public is still against the law. Just steps away, a colorful mural covering the museums exterior depicts the changing attitudes toward marijuana, from the scare tactics of the 1930s to strict law enforcement in the 80s to growing tolerance today. That history is depicted in greater detail once youre inside. Read More Facebook

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Costa Mesa Planning Commission awards permit to 13th marijuana business By Luke Money A 13th marijuana manufacturing and distribution facility took a step closer to opening in Costa Mesa after the city Planning Commission decided Monday to grant it a required permit. The 3-2 vote, with Chairman Stephan Andranian and Vice Chairman Byron de Arakal opposed, awards a conditional use permit to Pivot Naturals LLC to operate in an existing 5,283-square-foot industrial space in Suite 101 at 3595 Cadillac Ave. Pivot Naturals intends to process cannabis oils into a powder for use in a variety of products, including tablets, food and beverages. Read More Facebook

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Kindergartner can take cannabis drug to school, judge says By Associated Press A kindergartner can keep bringing a cannabis-based drug used for emergency treatment of a rare form of epilepsy to her public school, a judge ruled Friday. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that a judge sided with the family of 5-year-old Brooke Adams. The Rincon Valley Union School District in Santa Rosa sought to ban the ointment from school grounds because it contains the active ingredient in marijuana. Read More Facebook

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Glendale police seize hundreds of marijuana plants after reportedly discovering elaborate grow operation By Andy Nguyen What started as a routine wellness check by Glendale police officers on Monday led to the alleged discovery of an illegal marijuana grow operation and the seizure of more than 600 plants. Officers with the Glendale Police Department were in the 100 block of Wonderview Drive at around 12:40 a.m. after receiving a call about a person yelling for help from one of the homes in the neighborhood. After speaking with the homes occupant, 38-year-old Rui Yun Guan, officers entered the residence and discovered it had been converted into an elaborate marijuana grow operation, according to Tahnee Lightfoot, a spokeswoman for the department. Read More Facebook

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Tilrays wild ride shows how hyped pot stocks are catching up to the crypto craze By Craig Giammona Tilray Inc. investors could probably use a bit of the companys products right now. The Canadian maker of medicinal cannabis extracts finished a whipsaw session Wednesday with its share price 38% higher. But Tilray was up as much as 94% earlier in the day, peaking at $300. Fifty-three minutes and four trading halts later, it was in negative territory. The closing flourish that added $63 to the share price  it finished up $59.08 to $214.06  took just six minutes. It left a sea of bodies, both longs and shorts, behind in its wake, said Dave Lutz, managing director at JonesTrading. Read More Facebook

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Marijuana industry fights stoner, pot and other words that stigmatizes people By Gary Robbins Theres a badge on her uniform, possibly a gun on her hip, and her arms are spread a little, suggesting shes ready for anything. You might think that youre looking at a police officer walking a beat. But what youve seen on billboards and, more recently, the internet is an effort by MedMen Enterprises of Culver City to remind you that marijuana users come from all walks of life. They can be cops, nurses, teachers, scientists, construction foremen and grandmothers. Read More Facebook

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Police arrest eight people after searching illegal cannabis store in San Fernando Valley By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde Los Angeles police arrested eight people at an illegal cannabis store in the San Fernando Valley after serving a search warrant, officials said Wednesday. About 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Departments Mission Area Narcotics Unit searched a cannabis retail shop in the 15400 block of Devonshire Street and confiscated several items of evidence and contraband, police said in a news release. The store was operating without proper permits and was considered a nuisance location, authorities said. Read More Facebook

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More than 2 million U.S. middle and high school students have vaped marijuana, study finds By Karen Kaplan Electronic cigarettes are the most popular tobacco product among U.S. teens, but tobacco isnt the only thing theyre vaping. A new report from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that more than 2 million middle and high school students have used an e-cigarette to vape marijuana. That figure is based on survey results from the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which polls a representative sample of American students in grades 6 through 12. Among the questions the 20,675 participants were asked in 2016 was, Have you ever used an e-cigarette device with a substance besides nicotine? One of the possible answers was this: Yes, I have used an e-cigarette device with marijuana, THC or hash oil, or THC wax. (THC, short for tetrahydrocannabinol, is the mind-altering chemical that produces marijuanas high.) Read More Facebook

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Police chiefs warn of increased crime if California allows pot deliveries statewide By Patrick McGreevy The prospect of vans loaded with pot delivering to homes in quiet Morgan Hill makes Police Chief David Swing uneasy. Like most cities in the state, the upscale San Jose suburb has banned pot shops. But now, as California considers a proposal to allow marijuana businesses to send home-delivery vans into communities where retail stores are prohibited, Swing and others in law enforcement say they are preparing for the worst. This will make it easier and more lucrative to rob a delivery person than a liquor store, said Swing, who is president of the California Police Chiefs Assn. He notes drivers would be allowed to carry up to $10,000 in cash. Robberies are the tip of the iceberg. They can lead to other crimes, including aggravated assaults and homicides. Read More Facebook

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Tesla erupts in chaos after senior executives leave and Elon Musk tokes up By Dana Hull The turmoil at Tesla Inc. reached a fever pitch Friday, as news emerged that two senior executives will leave Elon Musks electric-car maker a matter of hours after he smoked marijuana during an hours-long interview with a comedian. Chief Accounting Officer Dave Morton gave notice Tuesday that he was resigning less than a month into the job, according to a filing. Teslas stock plunged, then extended declines after Gabrielle Toledano, the head of human resources whos been on a leave of absence, told Bloomberg News that she wont rejoin the company. Morton, a former chief financial officer for computer-drive maker Seagate Technology Plc, joined Tesla the day before Chief Executive Musk tweeted that he was considering buying out some investors at $420 a share and taking the company private. Musk abandoned that take-private effort 17 days later, and in the process drew a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission and a series of lawsuits alleging market manipulation. Read More Facebook

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Elon Musk smokes a blunt live on YouTube with podcaster Joe Rogan By Russ Mitchell Elon Musk apparently smoked dope with comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan live on YouTube late Thursday night, then giggled about turning Mars into a big Jamaica. I mean, its legal, right? Musk said, accepting a lit blunt from Rogan in the Los Angeles studio, where The Joe Rogan Experience is webcast live. Rogan told Musk hed rolled marijuana in tobacco leaves. Musk took a single deep toke. If the pair were joking about what they were smoking, they didnt say so. Read More Facebook

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L.A. launches crackdown on unlicensed marijuana businesses; more than 500 people are charged By Joseph Serna A police crackdown on local unlicensed marijuana businesses has ended with misdemeanor charges against more than 500 people in Los Angeles, the city attorneys office said. In 120 criminal cases filed since May, City Atty. Mike Feuer has charged 515 people in connection with 105 illegal marijuana businesses, grow sites, extraction labs and delivery companies located throughout the city, his office announced Friday. All of the defendants were charged with unlicensed commercial cannabis activity within the city, which carries a potential sentence of six months in jail and $1,000 in fines. Local judges have been hearing the cases since May with arraignments scheduled through the end of October, Feuers office said. Read More Facebook

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12th marijuana business wins permit approval in Costa Mesa By Luke Money Costa Mesa planning commissioners Monday evening gave their blessing to another local marijuana manufacturing and distribution facility, bringing the total number of approvals to 12. On a 4-0 vote  with Chairman Stephan Andranian absent  the commission awarded a conditional use permit to Pure Labs Inc., which is looking to open in a 2,025-square-foot space in Unit M-103 at 3505 Cadillac Ave. The decision is final unless appealed to the City Council within seven days. Read More Facebook

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Former L.A. mayor Villaraigosa joins board of local cannabis firm MedMen By James Rufus Koren Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is joining the board of publicly traded cannabis company MedMen, marking his return to the business world following a resounding defeat in Junes Democratic gubernatorial primary. MedMen, a Culver City company that operates high-end cannabis shops in California, Nevada and New York and has aggressive expansion plans, announced Villaraigosas appointment Wednesday morning. Villaraigosa adds political and governmental experience to a board made up of branding, entertainment and accounting executives. Other recent additions to the companys board include Stacey Hallerman, a former executive at the conglomerate that owns luxury brands Montblanc and Cartier, and Jay Brown, the chief executive of of RocNation, the entertainment company co-founded by Shawn Jay Z Carter. Read More Facebook

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Newport man accused of operating illegal marijuana dispensary in Costa Mesa By Luke Money A Newport Beach man is accused of operating an illegal marijuana dispensary in Costa Mesa, according to authorities. Omid Delkash, 47, was charged Monday with four misdemeanor counts of unlawful transportation, sale and furnishing of marijuana. He pleaded not guilty and is in custody at Orange County Jail, records show. He is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a pretrial hearing. Costa Mesa law prohibits the retail sale of marijuana or marijuana products anywhere in the city. Read More Facebook

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California lawmakers want the state to collect data on drivers under the influence of pot By Patrick McGreevy After she was injured in a car accident allegedly caused by a driver impaired by pot, state Controller Betty Yee is backing a bill approved Monday by the Legislature that aims to begin addressing the problem of drugged driving on California roads. The measure sent to Gov. Jerry Brown would require the California Highway Patrol to report on how many motorists stopped for impaired driving are allegedly under the influence of marijuana. Its what other states have done  like Colorado and Washington  to at least start collecting state-level data, Yee said. They just want to understand the extent of cannabis-impaired driving. Read More Facebook

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Marijuana use is rising among pregnant patients. Not so fast, doctors warn By Jenny Gold Marijuana may be losing its image as a dangerous drug, but mounting research suggests women should steer clear of it if they are pregnant or breastfeeding, according to new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The advice comes as more than half of the states, including California, have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. Growing acceptance of the drug has made it seem harmless, or even beneficial. As a result, doctors fret that more and more babies are being exposed to the drug. The march toward legalization has outpaced scientific research about marijuanas health effects. Because it is a Schedule 1 drug  one with potential for abuse and no approved medical use  studies have been limited by federal law. Read More Facebook

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Mormon Church ramps up opposition to medical marijuana effort in Utah, speaking out publicly By Kurtis Lee The Mormon Church has played a quiet role in the fight against an effort to legalize medical marijuana in Utah, releasing measured statements and helping to bankroll lawsuits. But on Thursday, leaders of the powerful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out from behind the scenes. We are deeply concerned by the history of other states that have allowed medical and recreational use of this drug  and have experienced serious consequences to the health of its citizens, Elder Jack N. Gerard, flanked by politicians, medical professionals and other church leaders, said at a news conference at the state Capitol. Read More Facebook

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California lawmakers move to help expunge pot-related convictions California lawmakers voted Wednesday to ease the process for clearing the records of those convicted in the past of marijuana offenses. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) With recreational marijuana legalized by the states voters, Californians with past convictions for cannabis-related offenses would get state help in expunging their records under a bill sent by lawmakers to the governor on Wednesday. Proposition 64, which state voters approved in 2016, legalized the sale and use of marijuana for recreational use and permitted those with past convictions for the activity to petition the courts to clear their records. But state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) told his colleagues Wednesday that the process is complicated, and many with pot convictions do not know about the opportunity. Read More Facebook

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By next year, you can buy medical marijuana in Hawaii, but youll still have to jump through some hoops By Jay Jones Out-of-state medical marijuana users next year will be able to buy cannabis products at dispensaries in Hawaii. The only hitches: Visitors will need to apply online and pay $45 (plus a $4.50 processing fee) for a temporary Hawaii medical marijuana card thats valid for 60 days. Weve been fielding a lot of calls daily about reciprocity, said George Bullock, director of the Cure Oahu marijuana dispensary in Waikiki. We really look forward to being able to serve them in the future. The Hawaii Department of Health plans to allow medical marijuana cardholders from other states to make purchases at dispensaries on Oahu, Maui and Kauai. But state officials are not using the word reciprocity because those out-of-state cards wont work. Read More Facebook

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Teen sold weed from her bedroom, with her parents as suppliers, Merced County officials say By Joseph Serna A teenage girl who sold marijuana out of her bedroom was using her gun-toting parents as her suppliers, the Merced County Sheriffs Office said. On Friday, deputies served a search warrant on the home of Jose Reyes Martinez, 44, and his wife in Delhi, Calif., where they found 80 pounds of packaged marijuana and a dozen large plants along with two firearms, officials said on Facebook. The packaged weed was found in the master bedroom closet alongside a loaded AK-47, deputies said. A makeshift greenhouse in the backyard held a dozen large plants, authorities said. Read More Facebook

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Newport Beach sues to halt what city calls a marijuana dispensary at Church of the Holy Grail By Hannah Fry Newport Beach officials are asking an Orange County Superior Court judge to block an operation that identifies itself as a church but the city says is a marijuana dispensary violating local law. Brick-and-mortar marijuana dispensaries are prohibited in Newport Beach under municipal code. Cultivation, processing, distribution and delivery of cannabis have been banned in the city since 2016. A civil lawsuit Newport filed June 25 seeks an injunction to forbid the organization known as Church of the Holy Grail from operating at 2072 Bristol St. It isnt clear how long it has been operating, though the lawsuit states the location has been running without a business license since at least Jan. 24. Read More Facebook

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Proposal to create state-chartered banks for California marijuana industry fails to advance Virgil Grant arranges containers of various strains of medical marijuana in a display case at a dispensary he runs in Los Angeles. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images) California lawmakers on Thursday shelved a proposal to allow the state to license private banks to handle the billions of dollars expected to be generated by the states legal marijuana industry amid questions about the plans feasibility. Voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016 to legalize growing, possessing and selling marijuana for recreational use, but newly licensed pot shops and farms say they cannot put their money in federally chartered banks because cannabis remains illegal under federal law. Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles) proposed that the state could license special privately financed banks that would issue checks to the businesses to pay rent and state and local taxes and fees, and to compensate vendors for goods and services provided to their businesses. Read More Facebook

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Parent of Corona beer bets $3.8 billion on U.S. love of marijuana By Bloomberg Constellation Brands Inc., which for seven decades has made its money off beer, wine and whiskey, sees its future in a marijuana leaf. In the biggest (legal) marijuana deal, the Victor, N.Y., beverage company will spend about $3.8 billion to boost its stake in Canadian grower Canopy Growth Corp., betting legalization will gain traction around the world and especially in the United States. This is rocket fuel, Canopy Chief Executive Bruce Linton said on the companys earnings call Wednesday. Were going to be way more global. Read More Facebook

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Marijuana is not really legal in California if residents dont have a reasonable way to buy it By The Times Editorial Board California law allows adults to buy marijuana. It allows licensed businesses to deliver marijuana to customers, and it says specifically that cities and counties cannot prevent delivery services from traveling on public roads. Yet even though cities cant stop deliveries traveling through their jurisdiction, many cities currently ban deliveries to their jurisdiction. That means that unlike deliveries of virtually every other legal, adult-use product  including alcohol and cigarettes, which can be ordered over the internet in California  marijuana deliveries are barred. The practical effect is that residents in some places have little to no access to legal medical or recreational cannabis products because of local regulations  which seems contrary to the intent of Proposition 64. Roughly half of Californians live in cities or counties that prohibit marijuana stores and delivery services form opening in their jurisdictions. An analysis by the Sacramento Bee earlier this year found residents in 40% of the state had to drive 60 miles or more to find a licensed dispensary to buy legal marijuana  medical or recreational. Read More Facebook

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California cities oppose plan to allow pot delivery in areas where sales are banned California cities are objecting to changes in the states rules on marijuana that they say undermine local control. (Mathew Sumner / Associated Press) California cities on Monday objected to a state proposal that would allow marijuana delivery to homes in areas where storefront pot sales have been banned locally. The changes, which are being considered by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control, will undermine a citys ability to effectively regulate cannabis at the local level, Charles Harvey, a legislative representative for the League of California Cities, said in a letter to the bureau. The cities group, which represents the states 482 municipalities, supports other changes to clarify the rules of Proposition 64, which was approved by voters in 2016 and allows the growing and sale of marijuana for recreational use. Read More Facebook

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Cypress Hills B-Real set to open a Sylmar dispensary, as Cannary West takes flight Saturday By Adam Tschorn B-Real, from left, Kenji Fujishima and Rojo Desantis in front of the soon-to-open Dr. Greenthumbs dispensary in Sylmar. (Dr. Greenthumbs) Rapper and marijuana entrepreneur Louis Freese, better known as Cypress Hill frontman B-Real, plans to celebrate the grand opening of his flagship dispensary in Sylmar with a day-long bash next Wednesday. Called Dr. Greenthumbs  a name music fans will recognize as the title of a 1998 Cypress Hill song  the Foothill Boulevard dispensary will be heavy on strains from B-Reals Insane brand of cannabis as well his Phuncky Feel Tips product line (glass tips designed to fit the business end of a hand-rolled joint). It will also serve as the home base for the rappers online BReal.TV network. According to todays announcement, the Wednesday event will be open to the public (though youll need to be at least 21  or 18 with a medical marijuana card) and feature a line-up of BRealTVs DJs as well as a slew of surprise guests [making] appearances throughout the day. A second Dr. Greenthumbs is expected to open in Cathedral City later this year. Dr. Greenthumbs grand-opening party, Aug. 15 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., 12751 Foothill Blvd., Sylmar (just west of the 210 freeway between Arroyo and Vaughn streets). Cannary West In other dispensary-opening news, a rebooted and relocated Cannary West (this version by the folks behind the stylish, upscale Venice Blvd. dispensary the Pottery), officially opens its doors Saturday. Although parts of the space in the Rancho Park neighborhood are still under construction, its only because plans include adding sustainable on-site cultivation (a process also underway at the Pottery), it does already have one of Los Angeles real estates most enviable features  a dedicated off-street parking lot for customers around back. To mark the grand opening, the first 200 customers who spend $30 or more after the dispensary opens for business at 10 a.m. will receive a little something special for their efforts. Cannary West, grand opening, Aug. 11 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 2435 Military Avenue, Los Angeles (just south of Pico and two blocks east of Sepulveda). Facebook

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As budget remedies, Huntington Beach may explore marijuana-related revenue and boosting fines for illegal short-term rentals By Priscella Vega With general-fund revenue increases projected to taper off in coming years, the Huntington Beach Finance Commission this week recommended several potential budget-tightening and revenue-generating solutions. Among them are increasing fines for illegal short-term rentals, reducing city staff and exploring opportunities for marijuana-related revenue. Some recommendations will be unpopular with employees, but at the same time we hope they realize implementing some recommendations may make funding available for salary increases, Finance Commission Chairman Nouha Hreish told the City Council during a study session Monday. Read More Facebook

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High Times rolls out new online video network By Adam Tschorn High Times, which launched as a print magazine in 1974, has added a streaming video service to its offerings. (High Times TV) Los Angeles-based cannabis media brand High Times, which launched as a print magazine in 1974, has added a streaming video service to its offerings. Announced Thursday, the ad-supported web channel High Times TV is both a showcase for the brands own content (behind-the-scenes videos from its Cannabis Cup events, for example, and how-to videos for ganja guacamole) as well as a platform for an assortment of independent cannabis-content creators like the Stoner Mom (a Colorado mother with a family of six who focuses on living a responsible cannabis lifestyle), StrainCentral (a strain review site founded by Joshua Young) and That High Couple (Hollywood-based couple Alice and Clark who chronicle their THC-infused life via social media). While High Times newest venture is hardly a unique move- there isnt a legacy media brand out there that isnt trying to capitalize on streaming video  it could end up being a lifeline for the independents in the stoner space who have seen their traditional social media channels (particularly YouTube) threatened, restricted or suspended in a cannabis-content crackdown that began earlier this year. High Times TV is now available as an app on Android, Roku and Apple TV as well as online at tv.hightimes.com. Facebook

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Newport Beach lawsuit seeks to ban marijuana business that operated in residential neighborhoods By Hannah Fry Newport Beach officials are asking an Orange County Superior Court judge to block a marijuana business from operating in two homes in violation of city law. A civil lawsuit filed May 4 seeks an injunction to forbid the business  known as OC Healing House, Bud Man OC and Bud Man Newport Beach  from operating at a home on Drakes Bay Drive in Corona del Mar and a home on Promontory Drive in Newports Promontory Point community. The city attorneys office says the business was using the homes for marijuana delivery and distribution. The lawsuit calls the business a public nuisance. Read More Facebook

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Marijuana is a gift from God. A battle over pot pits the Mormon Church against an unlikely group: other Mormons By Kurtis Lee Brian Stoll faced a dilemma as his wedding day approached. For more than a year, he had been smoking marijuana to treat severe back pain, but to remain in good standing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and get married in the temple, he had to stop using pot. Since marijuana was illegal under Utah law, church leaders told him, it was forbidden. Stoll turned to an opioid painkiller and has continued using it since his marriage three years ago, despite unpleasant side effects and its inability to match the soothing qualities of marijuana. This was devastating ... I had to choose between my health and my fiancee, Stoll said recently. It seemed asinine that if I lived in another state, I wouldnt have to make such a difficult decision. Read More Facebook

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Roommates were unaware of drug lab operation in Glendale home, police say By Andy Nguyen Authorities arrested a man on Friday suspected of operating an illegal butane honey-oil lab out of a Glendale home. John Kelly, 52, was taken into custody after the Glendale Police Department received a tip about the suspected manufacturing operation in the 1400 block of Randall Street. The information was derived from an ongoing narcotics investigation, according to Sgt. Dan Suttles, a spokesman for the department. Butane honey oil is a type of concentrated cannabis product made when marijuana is soaked in butane in order to extract the plants essential oils. The process can lead to explosions if the butane gas builds up in an enclosed area and ignites from a spark. Read More Facebook

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Rams guard Jamon Brown says marijuana is reason for suspension By Gary Klein Rams starting right guard Jamon Brown, suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the NFLs substance-abuse policy, said Thursday that the suspension stemmed from a 2017 incident in Kentucky that involved marijuana. Brown still worked with the first-team offense Thursday as the Rams held their first training camp practice at UC Irvine. Brown, a fourth-year pro from Louisville, said that before last season he was pulled over for speeding and that police found marijuana in the car. Read More Facebook

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Democrats still havent figured out that legal weed is a winning issue By Tom Angell Every Democratic U.S. senator rumored to be considering a 2020 presidential run supports marijuana legalization. So do 77% of Democratic voters. The partys 2016 national platform backs states rights on cannabis and calls for a reasoned pathway for future legalization. So why is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee  the entity charged with winning back control of the U.S. House  attacking a Republican congressman over his support for marijuana reform? And why is it citing a right-wing magazine to make the case? Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) has a cult-like fixation on marijuana, said a National Review article excerpt the Democratic committee highlighted in a tweet posted Monday. The party organ said the GOP congressmans cannabis advocacy is one reason why [Democratic nominee] @HarleyRouda needs your help flipping this seat...from #RedToBlue. Read More Facebook

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They worked at Apple, Amazon and Lyft. Now theyre working to get you stoned By Tracey Lien For much of her career, Natasha Pecor followed a path well-worn by tech workers. She built her reputation with her first employer in the industry, earning the title head of platform at Yelp. Then she jumped to one of the giants, Amazon, where she worked as a product manager. Most recently she parlayed that experience into a leadership role at a smaller start-up  a common move among techies willing to take a risk for a new challenge and perhaps a big payday. But this start-up wasnt exactly a tech company. Read More Facebook

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Fountain Valley man sentenced to life in prison in kidnapping and torture of marijuana dispensary owner By Hannah Fry A Fountain Valley man was sentenced Friday to spend the rest of his life behind bars for kidnapping a medical marijuana dispensary owner and his roommate in 2012 and torturing the dispensary owner as part of a plot to extort money. Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett gave Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 39, the maximum sentence of life in state prison. A Superior Court jury in January swiftly found Handley guilty of of kidnapping, aggravated mayhem and torture, all felonies. Prosecutors contended that Handley, a marijuana grower who supplied the victims dispensary, and three other defendants kidnapped the man and his female roommate from their 25th Street home on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach on Oct. 2, 2012. Read More Facebook

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More California kids are having pot-related health scares, poison control officials warn By Patrick McGreevy State and local officials say they are alarmed by a spike in calls they have received to report children and teenagers ingesting marijuana products since California legalized cannabis for recreational use by adults in 2016. The number of calls to poison control centers involving people 19 and younger who were exposed to marijuana has steadily risen from 347 three years ago to 588 last year. In the first six months of this year, there have been 386 calls to poison control centers involving marijuana exposure by underage people. If that trend continues, there could be more than double the reports in 2018 as there were 2015. Nearly half of the calls received last year  256  involved children 5 and younger, including 38 children under 12 months old, and 64 toddlers who were a year old, according to Stuart E. Heard, executive director of the California Poison Control System. Read More Facebook

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With marijuana legal, California flooded with dubious health claims about the drug By Gary Robbins Spend a few minutes surfing Twitter and youre likely to encounter a startling claim that comes without proof: Cannabis cures cancer. The online world is awash with such posts, startling scientists and physicians who are urging weeds proselytizers to tap the brakes. Read More Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown appoints members to new cannabis permit appeals panel Marijuana on display at the Harborside dispensary in Oakland. (Mathew Sumner / Associated Press) Six months after California began licensing growing and selling marijuana, Gov. Jerry Brown on July 3 appointed the first members of a new Cannabis Control Appeals Panel to consider objections from those denied permits or those facing penalties for violating regulations. The governor gets to name three of the five members of the panel and appointed county prosecutor Sabrina D. Ashjian of Fresno, college lecturer Diandra Bremond of Los Angeles, and a staff attorney for the governor, Adrian Carpenter of Plumas Lake. The other two appointments will be made by the Senate Rules Committee and the speaker of the Assembly. Read More Facebook

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Federal law? State law? Which takes precedence when you want to travel with cannabis? By Catharine Hamm You cant take it with you. Actually, you can. But its not a good idea when youre traveling, especially for the risk-averse. We speak, of course, of cannabis; its use was approved by 57% of California voters in November 2016. Proposition 64, known as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, allows the recreational use of marijuana in the Golden State; medical marijuana had been legal for about a decade before that. Legal, it should be noted, in California. Not legal according to federal law, although President Trump has signaled his willingness to support legislation that, according to an L.A. Times article, would end the federal ban on marijuana. Read More Facebook

TwitSaying the wrong thing to airline staff can get passengers into serious trouble. Tell an off-color joke or make a verbal threat, and a problematic passenger can find himself or herself removed from a flight.

He or she might even get arrested.

Dont believe this? Consider what happened to Trevor Davis at Los Angeles International Airport.

On April 18, as the 24-year-old Green Bay Packers wide receiver checked in for a Hawaiian Airlines flight, an airline employee asked a routine question: Did you pack unapproved items such as aerosols, knives or explosives?

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Yeah, Davis replied, according to Rob Pedregon, a spokesman for the airport police. Davis then turned to his traveling companion and asked, Did you pack the explosives?

Davis was arrested, booked into Los Angeles County Jail and charged with making a false bomb threat at an airport.

Although charges against him were later dropped, Davis joke is a cautionary tale for those who think bomb threats are funny.

Part of my job as a flight attendant is to report suspicious behavior to the captain. If someone boards the aircraft and jokingly says, I have a bomb in my bag. Can I get a business-class upgrade? I am required to report the statement to the captain.

I must do so even if I think the passenger is joking  even if I know the passenger is joking.

When it comes to airline security, nothing is left to interpretation.

If you say you have an explosive device in your bag, airline staff is required to treat you as though you have an explosive device in your bag.

Recently, during the boarding process on my flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil, a middle-aged American man expressed outrage about something that happened on his previous flight. As he stepped through the boarding door, he said, When this plane lands, Im gonna shoot every employee at [this airline].

The flight attendant stationed at the boarding door heard the threat. So did several passengers. The flight attendant reported the incident to the captain, who immediately called police.

Two police officers interrogated the passenger on the jet bridge. I stood within earshot, concerned that someone who threatened to shoot me and my colleagues might try to downplay the seriousness of his statement.

One of the officers asked the man whether he had made the verbal threat.

Well  not exactly, the man replied. I said, When this plane lands, I hope somebody shoots every employee at [this airline].

I couldnt believe what I had heard.

By saying he hoped somebody would commit a horrific act of violence against innocent people instead of admitting that he expressed the desire to do so, he was trying to deflect blame.

It appears his ploy worked. The officers decided not to arrest him. After consulting with the flight attendants  all of whom took the threat seriously  the captain asked the officers to remove the passenger from our aircraft.

The gate agent also initiated procedures to permanently ban the passenger from flying on the airline.

Sometimes, its what a passenger doesnt say that will get him removed from the aircraft.

At the conclusion of every onboard safety video, the Federal Aviation Administration requires flight attendants to walk through the cabin and ensure that seat belts are fastened, tray tables are stowed and seats are in their upright position.

Most passengers are familiar with the process. Yet during one flight, when my colleague asked a particular passenger to stow his tray table, he stared ahead blankly and refused to respond.

Concerned, she asked whether he was OK.

He didnt answer. He continued to stare at the seat back in front of him.

Her concern deepened.

She stowed his tray table and repeatedly asked whether there was a problem. He never answered, instead staring ahead as though he were in a trance.

Unsure about how to proceed, she summoned me. There were no hearing impaired passengers on the passenger information list, so that wasnt the issue. The mans behavior was certainly suspicious

Sir, I said, why arent you responding? We need a response from you.

The man looked at me briefly and continued to stare ahead.

As we taxied toward the runway, I moved to the front of the aircraft and described the situation to the purser. She confronted the passenger, explaining that refusing to respond to a crew members request could be grounds for removal.

I need you to respond before takeoff, she said. Please talk to me.

Still, the passenger chose not to speak.

Moments later, the captain announced that we were returning to the gate.

When the aircraft door opened and uniformed officers escorted the man from the aircraft, he spoke for the first time.

Whats the big deal? he asked.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelAn Indonesian family brought its 8-year-old daughter to a suicide bomb attack it launched Monday on the police headquarters in the countrys second-largest city, authorities said, a day after members of another family conducted coordinated suicide bombings on three city churches that killed 12 people.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the girl, who was with two of the attackers on a motorcycle, survived being thrown by the blast at Surabayas police headquarters. The attack killed the four perpetrators. Six civilians and four officers were wounded.

The attack came just hours after police said the family that carried out the church bombings included girls ages 9 and 12.

The flurry of bombings raised concerns that previously beaten-down militant networks in the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria. Experts have warned for several years that when those fighters return, they could pose a significant threat.

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Islamic State claimed responsibility for the church bombings in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. Karnavian, however, said earlier police comments that the family had spent time in Syria were incorrect.

He said the church bombers and the police headquarters attackers were friends, as were members of another family whose homemade bombs exploded in their apartment Sunday night.

The use of children in the attacks has been particularly horrifying to people.

This is terrifying, said Taufik Andrie, executive director of an institute that runs programs to help paroled militants reject extremism and rejoin society. This is showing how extremist ideology can entrap children. Children have no choice. They cant comprehend the decisions involved.

All told, 25 people have died since Sunday including a total of 13 militants and their children.

Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo condemned the attacks as barbaric and vowed that authorities would root out and destroy Islamic militant networks. The top security minister, Wiranto, who uses one name, said the government will attempt to hasten passage of an updated anti-terrorism law that has languished in parliament.

A security camera video of the attack on Surabayas police headquarters showed at least one explosion after the four attackers rode two motorcycles up to a security checkpoint. The motorcycles, which moved closely together, pulled up alongside a car and four officers manning opposite sides of the checkpoint.

Two men, apparently civilians, were walking into the area just yards from the motorcycles at the moment of the explosion, which a split second later was followed by a second possible blast.Vivid split-screen realities played out Monday in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as the Trump administration brought to symbolic fruition its controversial decision to move the U.S. Embassy to the holy city, while dozens died in a chaotic confrontation between Israeli troops and Palestinians seeking to breach the squalid enclaves frontier.

The embassy inauguration, presided over by dignitaries who included President Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law and Mideast advisor Jared Kushner, drew wide condemnation from across the Arab world, and was shunned by U.S. allies in western Europe. The festivities posed an arresting contrast to the bloodshed only 50 miles to the southwest, where at least 55 Palestinians died on the most violent day in weeks of clashes between Gaza protesters and Israeli forces.

Six children were among the dead and more than 2,700 people were injured, according to Palestinian officials. Israel insisted it acted in self-defense and braced for clashes that security officials fear will spread to the West Bank.

With Israeli warplanes roaring overhead in tribute, the American ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, declared that the embassys move to contested Jerusalem was a decisive U.S. endorsement of the right we extend to every other nation  the right to designate its capital city.

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U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. (Menahem Kahana / AFP/Getty Images )

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a key Trump ally who has hailed U.S. moves such as the pullout from the Iranian nuclear deal, praised the U.S. president for having the courage to keep our promises. The embassy move was a long-standing Trump pledge, dating back to campaign days.

What a glorious day for Israel! said Netanyahu. We are in Jerusalem, and we are here to stay.

On the Gaza frontier, flaming tires set alight by protesters sent columns of black smoke aloft as demonstrators fled Israeli fire, some of it from tanks. Israel said protesters hurled firebombs and stones as they tried to break through the border fence, and that its troops came under fire, although no fatalities were reported on the Israeli side.

In a video message played at the embassy celebrations, Trump shrugged off qualms about the American ability to serve as an honest broker in any future Mideast peace talks, declaring that the United States remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

A great day for Israel! Trump exulted earlier Monday on Twitter.

At the Jerusalem ceremony, Kushner sought to place blame for the days violence  and unrest preceding the embassy inauguration  on Palestinian protesters.

Those provoking violence are part of the problem, and not part of the solution, he said.

The U.S. delegation also included four GOP senators and Trumps Treasury secretary, Steven T. Mnuchin.

The embassys formal but temporary move from a sprawling fortified bunker in Tel Aviv to an existing consulate facility in Jerusalem is in many ways symbolic. No decision has been made on a permanent location for the main American diplomatic mission.

The protests in Gaza, ruled by the militant group Hamas, were intended to mark the climax of a weeks-long bid to protest the 70th anniversary of Israels creation and the mass Palestinian displacement that accompanied it.

Palestinians had been protesting at the Gaza border since March 30, demanding the right to reclaim ancestral homes in Israel and an end to the stifling blockade imposed on the strip when Hamas took over in 2007. Netanyahus government, and preceding Israeli administrations, have deemed the right of return a non-starter.

Palestinian health officials said nearly half of the injuries were caused by live ammunition, a higher toll than on previous days. Other people were hit by rubber bullets and shrapnel or were overwhelmed by tear gas.

Protesters deploy projectiles toward the border fence separating Israel and the Gaza Strip. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

The days jarring juxtapositions  VIP guests and celebratory applause at the Jerusalem ceremony, while sirens wailed and clouds of acrid smoke hung over Gaza  pointed to the latest instance of U.S. isolation even from some of its closest allies. The international consensus has long held that Jerusalems fate should be decided through negotiations. Israel claims Jerusalem in its entirety; Palestinians want the citys eastern sector as the capital of an eventual state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sara, second from left, are joined by White House advisor Jared Kushner, President Trumps daughter Ivanka, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin at the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem. (Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images )

The White House said Hamas bore responsibility for the Gaza casualties, which represented the worst violence since a 2014 war in the enclave. White House spokesman Raj Shah, echoing the position of the Netanyahu government, said Israel has the right to defend itself.

But elsewhere, the heavy toll drew expressions of alarm. Federica Mogherini, the European Unions top diplomat, cited the heavy toll in calling for utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life. France called for only strictly proportionate use of force by Israel. South Africa recalled its ambassador for consultations, and Kuwait called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council.

Medical units carry an injured man during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on May 14. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

Human rights groups for weeks have denounced Israeli use of lethal force against the demonstrators, and did so again Monday, but in stronger terms.

The policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of whether there is an immediate threat to life on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, caged in for a decade and under occupation for a half-century, has resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen, said Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.

In Gaza, by mid-morning, thousands of people were streaming toward five protest camps set up along Gazas eastern border with Israel. Some were wrapped in the Palestinian flag; others carried knives and wire cutters to break through the security barriers erected by Israeli forces.

Terrified for their daughters safety, Shireen Nusrallas parents locked her in her room Monday so she would not go to the protests. But the 30-year-old woman said she sneaked out through a window.

Im not afraid, she declared as she walked toward a camp east of Gaza City, carrying a large Palestinian flag. My dream is to get martyred or to kidnap an Israeli soldier.

The protesters had spent days collecting tires from across Gaza, which they set on fire along the border to create smokescreens to conceal the demonstrators from Israeli snipers. Israeli forces fired volleys of tear gas and bullets into the clouds of thick black smoke to drive back waves of protesters. But still they kept coming.

Some used slingshots and even a makeshift catapult to hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers, while others tried to cut through rolls of barbed wire.

The injured were carried away on bloodied stretchers in a steady stream and loaded onto ambulances for the short drive to a makeshift field hospital. Sirens wailed and music blared from loudspeakers set up to encourage the protesters.

Many said they felt abandoned by Arab nations, which have remained largely silent about the protests.

What is happening here is craziness, one enraged man yelled at a cluster of television cameras. Look how many people are injured. Where is Jordan? Where is Egypt? Where is Algeria? Where is Dubai?

By midafternoon, ambulances were pulling up every few minutes at a makeshift field hospital set up by the Gaza Ministry of Health. Patients were loaded onto tables and quickly treated or transferred to hospitals to make way for the next arrivals.

Hamadi Kannita cried out in pain as a nurse put two stitches into his bloodied foot, which got caught in razor wire. There was no time to give him an anesthetic, the nurse said. And besides, trauma supplies are running out and must be saved for those in greatest need.

As soon as the nurse finished working, the lanky 24-year-old pulled a torn sock over his bandages and hobbled back to the border fence.

I wont leave until we return to our land, he said.

At Shifa hospital, the main medical facility in the Gaza Strip, desperate families gathered outside the morgue, clamoring for information about missing loved ones. The families were allowed to send in a representative to identify the dead. Some emerged looking relieved: their loved ones were not inside, meaning they might still be alive. Others emerged with tears in their eyes.

Oh Samir, we lost you, one man moaned, as his family gathered round, hugging and kissing each other. We lost our beloved brother.

More families filled the hospitals hallways and spilled out onto the grass outside, waiting for news of relatives who were brought there for treatment.

My son has been lying here bleeding for four hours and all you do is change his dressing, Rasmiya Abu Ayesh, 54, yelled at a passing doctor, her light gray veil stained with the young mans blood as he grimaced on a gurney.

There isnt anyone who isnt working, the exhausted doctor replied. His turn will come soon.

Hamas, unsurprisingly, blamed Israeli forces for what it described as the deliberate killing of unarmed protesters.

These crimes would never happen without the decisions of America, which is supporting Israel, as well as the regional and international silence, the group said in a statement.

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Twitter: @alexzavis

laura.king@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT

Zavis reported from Gaza City; special correspondent Tarnopolsky from Jerusalem and King from Amsterdam.

UPDATES:

3:10 p.m.: This article was updated with the death toll in Gaza rising to 55 and more details and quotes about the injured.

12:50 p.m.: This article was updated with international reaction to the Gaza border clashes.

10:56 a.m.: This article was updated throughout with Los Angeles Times staff reporting.

8:53 a.m.: This article was updated with the the death toll rising to 52.

6:25 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the protests.

5:40 a.m.: This article was updated with the death toll rising to 37.

This article was originally published at 4:20 a.m.An alliance led by Muqtada Sadr, the anti-U.S. firebrand cleric-turned-reformist, was leading Iraqs parliamentary elections in preliminary results announced early Monday.

A victory for Sadr would be a major upset for Prime Minister Haider Abadi, who led the country during its four-year battle against Islamic State and is supported by the U.S. and other Western nations.

Abadi was widely seen as the front-runner. But with the vote tallied in 10 of the countrys 19 provinces, he was in third, well behind both Sadr and an alliance of paramilitary factions, many of which are supported by Iran and led by Shiite militia leader Hadi Ameri.

The elections, the fourth since the 2003 fall of strongman Saddam Hussein and the first since the government defeated Islamic State, included some 7,000 candidates fighting for the countrys 329 parliamentary seats.

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The official turnout, just under 45%, was the lowest since 2005, reflecting deep frustration after 15 years of malfeasance and corruption by the politicians who have dominated Iraq since the U.S invasion in 2003.

Cars crowd into Baghdads Tahrir Square early Monday morning to celebrate the strong electoral showing by firebrand cleric Muqtada Sadr. (Nabih Bulos / For The Times )

Results have yet to be tallied from nine provinces, including Nineveh  home to Mosul, the countrys second-largest city  and the three provinces comprising the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.

The Independent High Electoral Commission said those results would be officially announced later Monday and could still change the standing of various blocs.

The low turnout spurred several political groups to call for the results to be nullified, with many citing difficulties in using the electronic voting machines employed for the first time in this election as well as accusations of voter fraud.

The announcement of final results is likely to kick off a furious bout of horse-trading as the winning bloc attempts to form a coalition government within the mandatory 90-day period.

Over the last few years, Sadr, long dismissed as a political has-been who had once ordered his Jaish Al Mahdi militia to attack U.S. troops, has emerged as a nationalist figure, equally scornful of both U.S. and Iranian influence in the country.

He had positioned himself as an anti-corruption reformer, and in a move that surprised many, allied himself in the months before the election with leftist and communist groups as the head of the Sairoon bloc.

The strategy appeared to pay off, with Sadrs anti-corruption message resonating in the capital, Baghdad.

Supporters of Muqtada Sadr take to the streets of Baghdad on Monday night to celebrate Sadrs early lead. (Nabih Bulos / For The Times )

His followers wasted no time celebrating the preliminary results, cheering and dancing as they flooded Baghdads Tahrir Square, waving the blue and orange flag of Sairoon along with the Iraqi flag.

As a station wagon topped with speakers slowly parted the masses, a crowd of men sang: From his stare they fear him, no one dares to touch us, our Sayed is the flag [of our country], he attacks his enemies like a falcon, Sayed Muqtada.

As he danced, Shaker Midhhab Hawaal, a 42-year-old worker who had come to Tahrir Square, said he felt great happiness for Abu Hashem, referring to Sadr by a nickname.

He wants to reform the country from the corrupt.

Another laborer, 30-year-old Khaled Kaabi, agreed.

This is a high-level reformist revolution that was launched by the will of the people from a leadership that had never made peace with the [U.S.] invaders and has no sectarian bias, he said.

This area once rejected the masses, but today Sadr entered legally from the door and not the window.

Bulos is a special correspondent.On the eve of the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, the Holy City partied.

The truth is that not only has Jerusalem been the capital of the Jewish people for millennia and of our state for decades, but the truth is that under any peace deal Jerusalem will remain Israels capital, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced from a stage bedecked with American and Israeli flags at a gala held in the courtyard of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

He expressed gratitude to President Trump for the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv. For decades, Netanyahu has exhorted the world to recognize and accept Israel as it is  with its capital, its parliament, its Supreme Court and its ministries in Jerusalem.

Guatemala, Paraguay and the Czech Republic have also announced intentions to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

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The European Union, however, has criticized the new American position as an impediment to peace, and four European ambassadors attended the festivities.

It is true we have not made the same decision as the Americans, said Austrian Ambassador Martin Weiss. But I recognize the importance of this day for Israelis across the board, and I am the ambassador to Israel, so I am happy to be part of their celebration. It is OK.

The Palestinian Authority government, which has boycotted all contact with American officials since Trump announced the embassy move in December, issued a a statement saying the relocation signified a U.S. endorsement of Israels policies and measures that undermine Palestinians fundamental rights.

The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

The Israeli celebrations coincided with Jerusalem Day, in which residents enjoyed a day off to honor the anniversary of the 1967 reunification of the city by Israeli forces that captured East Jerusalem from the Jordanian army.

Roughly 40,000 Israelis people paraded through the Old City.

Earlier in the day, several hundred members of the Tag Meir civic forum marched along the same route handing out flowers to Arab shop owners, along with fliers with a message of understanding : We have come here to reach out to you on this complicated day.

The ceremony Monday officially opening the embassy is expected to draw about 800 dignitaries, including U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, the presidents daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.

It is very strange that for all these years Israel has been the only country in the world where America doesnt have its embassy in the capital city, said former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. He said he wasnt sure hed live to see the day the Jerusalem Embassy Act he coauthored in 1995 would finally take effect. The law allows presidents to waive it on national security grounds  and Trump is the first to not do so.

Dan Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Obama, said the relocation should be viewed as a first step that can contribute to the ultimate American strategic objective  of two states with two capitals in a shared Jerusalem, with a U.S. Embassy to Palestine in East Jerusalem.

Our embassy belongs in Jerusalem, he said.

Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina, is leading a congressional delegation to the embassy dedication.

Everybody has a claim to Jerusalem, from a religious point of view, he said. But I think the premier claim comes from the Jewish people, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and it could one day be the capital of the independent Palestinian state.

Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent.By Pamela Sroka-Holzmann | For lehighvalleylive.com

Park season is just around the corner and in some cases, already well under way.

There's never a shortage in the Lehigh Valley for those seeking thrill rides, classic amusements and family-fun attractions. And for avid fans of amusement parks, we know you're wondering what is new, what is no longer and what might be coming soon.

We rounded up some of our favorite nearby amusement parks and tell you just that and when opening day is.

Since a passion for roller coasters and the like knows no borders, we also decided to expand our look to other areas across Pennsylvania and the neighboring states of Ohio and New Jersey in case you want to make it a weekend getaway.

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Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

Where is it: 3830 Dorney Park Road, South Whitehall Township



When does it open: Opened May 4, but hours are weekends only until May 25, when the park begins daily operation.

What's new? "Thunderhawk," a wooden roller coaster and the the park's second oldest ride at nearly a century old, underwent a little TLC in the winter. About 150 feet of track was tapped to be replaced from the exit of the "figure 8" to the final approach.

Construction is nearing completion on the new Tidal Wave Cafe at Wildwater Kingdom, which will include a larger shaded seating area. It's expected to be ready Memorial Day weekend.

Two "Coke Refresh" stations are expected to be upgraded, along with an additional station added to the Tidal Wave Cafe. Renovations and upgrades to the main restroom facilities at Wildwater Kingdom also are being completed.

What's gone? The park said goodbye to "Stinger" in the winter. The ride came from Dorney's sister amusement park, California's Great America, five years ago.

It was one of the only suspended boomerang inverted steel coasters on the east coast with face-to-face seating. Once released, passengers reached speeds of 55 mph going through the launch station into the "boomerang," which was a a 180-degree turn with double inversions. Once exploding out of the boomerang, riders then returned to an upright position only to head straight into a 72-foot-high vertical loop before rocketing to the top of the coaster. The drop length was 125 feet and the ride totaled 1 minute, 30 seconds.

Dorney Park spokeswoman Kristin Hager has been mum on what could be constructed in the coaster's place, previously saying, "We don't have details to share right now, but we are working on future planning and development of the park."

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Six Flags Great Adventure

Where is it:

1 Six Flags Boulevard, Jackson, New Jersey

When does it open:

The

park is open

from now to May 13; May 17 to May 20; and then open for the season, starting May 24.

What's new?

The "Cyborg Cyber Spin" ride, named for the DC Comics super-hero and member of the Justice League (or Teen Titans, depending on your demographic), in which park representatives describe the attraction as having a "futuristic triple box design." The ride allows the gondola to spin around three separate axes while rotating forward, backwards and sideways up to 70 feet in the air. The floor-less seats leave riders' feet dangling as they whirl through the air.

What's gone?

No missing rides or attractions mentioned on the park's website for 2018.

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Knoebels Amusement Resort

Where is it:

391 Knoebels Boulevard, Elysburg, Northumberland County

When does it open:

Knoebels opening weekend began April 28

, and the park operates weekends only until May 23 when it is open daily. It is also open on Wednesday, May 16.

What's new?

Knoebels last year planned to open the rotating ride "

Over The Top,"

but had to wait due to software issues. The ride instead opened on April 28. "Lazer Maze," an attraction at the Lazer Command building using laser beams from the walls of the facility, also debuted. Stacy Ososkie, a spokeswoman for the amusement park, said several food and beverage options also were added, such as espresso and latte at the Cookie Nook; Texas-sized B.L.T. sandwiches at the International Food Court; and fish tacos at the Wharf.

What's gone?

No rides or attractions were mentioned closing in 2018 on the park's website.

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Sesame Place

Where is it: 100 Sesame Road, Langhorne, Bucks County

When does it open: Opened on weekends on April 28; opens daily starting on June 6. There are also hours on May 28 and 31.

What's new? "Oscar's Wacky Taxi" is making its debut in late spring 2018. The ride, which is inspired by everybody's favorite Grouch, is the park's first ever family-friendly wooden-steel hybrid roller coaster.



What's gone? No rides or attractions have left the park for 2018, said Sesame Place spokeswoman Dana Ryan.



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DelGrosso's Amusement Park

Where is it: 4352 E. Pleasant Valley Boulevard, Tipton, Blair County

When does it open: DelGrosso's began opening for the weekends on May 5. The ride park and water park are open daily starting June 2, and are also both open the weekend of May 26.

What's new? Delgrasso's Laguna Splash, a water park that opened in 2016, was recently expanded. It includes a lazy river, wave pool and "Leaning Tower of Pisa" water feature. Guests also can receive a wrist band with their child's height on it to bypass being measured for every attraction.



What's gone? No rides or attractions are mentioned closing in 2018 on the park's website.

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Hersheypark

Where is it: 100 Hersheypark Drive, Hershey, Dauphin County

When does it open: Hersheypark's Springtime in the Park opened on March 30, weekends only. The Hersheypark Summer Season opened April 27 for weekends, and is open weekdays beginning May 24.

What's new? "Breakers Edge Water Coaster," the 14th coaster of the park, will be featuring a four-person in-line raft while the "White Cap Racer" is poised to be the world's longest mat racer worldwide. Both are opening Memorial Day weekend, along with the rest of the Boardwalk water attractions.

In 2017, the park also added "The Triple Tower," a three-in-one drop ride allowing guests to "choose your own thrill."



What's gone? No rides or attractions were listed to be closing in 2018, according to the park's website.



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Overview of the 220,000-square-foot waterpark, Pennsylvanias largest indoor waterpark, at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions.

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Kalahari Resort and Conventions

Where is it: 250 Kalahari Boulevard, Pocono Manor, Monroe County

When does it open: The outdoor portion of the Kalahari Waterpark opens daily beginning May 28 (weather permitting). The indoor waterpark is open year-round.

What's new? "Bug's Burrow," an experience offering children the chance to imagine what it would be like if they were the size of a bug; and "Halotherapy," Spa Kalahari's salt therapy room containing pure organic Himalayan salt and a high-quality halogenerator to turn the pure salt into a salt vapor providing various health benefits.

Also on tap at the resort will be the "Bike Barn," a relaxing bike ride with the family; "Gorilla Express," a train running continuously; and "Legends of the Lost Jungle Mini Golf," featuring 36 holes on a mini golf course.

What's gone: No rides or attractions have been eliminated for 2018, according to the waterpark's website.

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The Land of Make Believe

Where is it: 354 Great Meadows Road, Hope Township, New Jersey

When does it open: May 26-28, then is open weekends until June 16, when it is open daily through Labor Day Weekend. What's new? The "Scream Machine 360," an upside down thrill ride. What's gone? No rides or attraction are mentioned leaving for 2018 on the park's website.



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Camelbeach Mountain Waterpark

Where is it: 309 Resort Drive in Tannersville, Monroe County

When does it open: Billed as Pennsylvania's biggest outdoor water park, Camelbeach opens Saturday, May 28 for the Memorial Day weekend. It opens daily starting June 15. The resort's Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark is open year-round.

What's new? This season will see the launch of the Camelbeach 'Beats at the Beach' series that features a variety of DJs every Saturday and Latin DJs every Sunday.

What's gone: No rides or attractions have been eliminated for 2018, according to the waterpark's website.

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Dutch Wonderland

Where is it: 2249 Lincoln Highway, Lancaster, Lancaster County When does it open: Dutch Wonderland Dutch Wonderland opened April 28 for weekends only, and opens daily beginning May 26. What's new? The park's latest ride, "Merlin's Mayhem," was actually added in 2017. However, the suspended family roller coaster ride -- the first of its kind at Dutch Wonderland, and the tallest ride at the park -- had its opening well delayed into the summer and opened officially last month. The ride takes 20 guests The park's latest ride, "Merlin's Mayhem," was actually added in 2017. However, the suspended family roller coaster ride -- the first of its kind at Dutch Wonderland, and the tallest ride at the park -- had its opening well delayed into the summer and opened officially last month. The ride takes 20 guests sitting in pairs about 60 feet into the air at its tallest point. There are two helix turns along with many twists and dips. Merlin also provides riders with clues and encouragement through on-board audio within the seats. What's gone? No rides or attractions are leaving in 2018, park spokeswoman Hannah Shepard said.

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Free outdoor movies this summer in the Valley

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Worth Mentioning

Here are some other amusement parks across Pennsylvania, but they certainly will be more of a destination trip from the Lehigh Valley:

Idlewild & SoakZone, 2574 Route 30 in Ligonier, Westmoreland County, opens on the weekend of May 19, and is open daily starting on May 25. Latest features include a "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" attraction that opened in 2015 based on the character and an "Enchanted Castle" and new Princess character debuted in 2016 at Story Book Forest, according to the park's website.

Sandcastle Waterpark, 1000 Sandcastle Drive, Pittsburgh. Sandcastle Water Park opens daily starting on May 26. A latest feature includes the "Dragon's Den," a dark chute quickly dropping guests down a 45-foot tunnel slide before entering a 35-foot wide bowl where they complete two to four revolutions around a 9-foot tall dragon spraying a watery mist. The ride debuted in 2012, according to the waterpark's website.

Lakemont Park, 700 Park Ave, Altoona in Blair County. The park is closed for the 2018 season, but plans to reopen in spring 2019. The park is undergoing a transformation from what was once a conventional amusement park to what will now become a family entertainment center with family-focused programming and entertainment in addition to some amusements, according to a news release. Among the renovations are the addition of a new miniature golf course, new electric go-karts, batting cages and enhancements to the waterpark.

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Conneaut Lake Park, 12382 Center Street, Conneaut Lakein Crawford County. Coneaut Lake Park's 2018 opening day is May 26. The then 122-year-old amusement park underwent a reorganization and comeback after filing for bankruptcy in December 2014, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Here are a couple from western Pennsylvania and neighboring Ohio, too, which might be worth a weekend getaway:

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Kennywood

Where is it: 4800 Kennywood Boulevard, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania



When does it open: Opened on April 28 for weekends only, with additional educational days on May 16 and May 22. Plans to opens daily, starting May 24.

What's new? "Thomas Town," which is a new section of the park featuring characters and rides taken from the "Thomas and Friends" series, as well as five new rides. It will become the second-largest permanent Thomas & Friends attraction in North America.

Thomas Town will not be available this month, but plans to open mid-summer 2018.

What's gone? "Log Jammer," which debuted in 1975 as the park's first million-dollar attraction, closed Sept. 17, 2017. The classic chute was known for its 53-foot drop.

While park-lovers are speculating about what might come to replace the old ride, whatever it is, it won't be ready for 2018, our sister website, PennLive reports.

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Cedar Point

Where is it: 1 Cedar Point Dr, Sandusky, Ohio

When does it open: Season officially opened May 5.



What's new? Known as the Roller Coaster Capital of the world, the park with 18 coasters recently added "Steel Vengeance," a new "hyper-hybrid" coaster that is the tallest, fastest and longest worldwide of its kind -- combining a steel running track on a wooden structure.

Chick-fil-A had been in the park in recent years, then it left. Now the popular chicken chain returns for 2018 in FrontierTown at the former Frontier Inn, according to MLive, our sister website.

What's gone? The park in 2016 removed its "Mean Streak" coaster, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The ride, which opened in May 1991, then broke the world record for the for tallest lift and the longest drop on a wooden roller coaster. The park then unveiled, "Valravn," the world's tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster.

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MORE:

The 15 most thrilling rides at Dorney Park

A popular rollercoaster taken down for good at Dorney Park

Inspection group gives safety rating to Land of Make Believe

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Industries Useful Alcohols: Ceresana-Report on Market for Solvents

Market Study: Solvents (4th edition)

14.05.2018 12:48:46 - Solvents play a major role in industrial production: They can dissolve, dilute, and, in a very fine distribution, absorb other substances without changing them chemically.



(live-PR.com) - Solvents (sometimes also called dissolvents) are mainly used in the paints and varnishes, print inks, and adhesives industry but also, for example, as an ingredient of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and detergents. Substances that cause unpleasant odors, explosive vapors, as well as health and environmental damages are controversial and increasingly targeted by the legislature. Ceresana analyzed the global market for solvents already - Solvents (sometimes also called dissolvents) are mainly used in the paints and varnishes, print inks, and adhesives industry but also, for example, as an ingredient of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and detergents. Substances that cause unpleasant odors, explosive vapors, as well as health and environmental damages are controversial and increasingly targeted by the legislature. Ceresana analyzed the global market for solvents already for the fourth time.



Paint Industry Looking for Alternatives



The largest consumers of solvents are manufacturers of paints and varnishes, followed at a considerable distance by producers of printing inks. Demand on the part of the pharmaceutical industry ranked third, followed by utilization in cosmetics and adhesives. Other important applications are chemical manufacturing processes, cooling circuits, dry-cleaning, and deicers. However, a trend away from solventborne products and towards more environmentally friendly alternatives based on water is prevailing in the segment paints and varnishes. This development has an inhibiting effect on demand for solvents.



Growing Demand in Asia



The industry in Asia-Pacific accounted for about 44 % of global demand in 2017. China dominated the market, followed at a considerable distance by Japan and India. The regions North America and Western Europe ranked second and third. Ceresana expects constantly high growth rates for Asia-Pacific. In the segments paints and varnishes, printing inks, and adhesives, this region is the major consumer. On the contrary, Western Europe and North America account for the largest demand in the segments cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.



Promising Ethers



Alcohols are the solvent type with the by far highest demand: especially ethanol, n-butanol, isopropanol, and methanol. The region Asia-Pacific is the largest consumer in the segment alcohols as well, with a demand of about 2.7 million tonnes, followed by North America. Besides alcohols, mainly ketones were utilized as solvents in 2017; but also aromatics, esters, and ethers hold significant market shares each. With an expected increase of 3.2 % per year, the group of ethers will be the fastest growing market.



The Study in Brief:



Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the global solvent market  including forecasts up to 2025: For each of the seven world regions, Western Europe, Easter Europe, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, demand split by solvent types as well as revenues are examined.

Chapter 2 provides detailed data on solvent demand and revenues in 16 countries. In addition, this chapter provides in-depth information on the demand for solvents in the sectors paints and varnishes, printing inks, adhesives, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as well as in other application areas.

Chapter 3 offers a substantiated analysis of the application areas of solvents: data on demand development, split by the seven world regions. Additionally, demand per applications area is examined individually for the most important countries.

Chapter 4 takes a look at the several solvent groups: alcohols, ketones, esters, ethers, aromatics, non-aromatics as well as other solvents. The following solvent types have been analyzed separately: ethanol, n-butanol, isopropanol and methanol, acetone and methyl ethyl ketone as well as toluene.

Chapter 5 provides profiles of the largest solvent manufacturers, clearly arranged according to contact details, turnover, profit, product range, production sites, profile summary, and product types. Extensive profiles of 102 producers are given.



Further information:





About Ceresana:

Ceresana is a leading international market research institute and consultancy company for chemicals, plastics, industrial goods, and packaging. The company has been providing more than 10,000 customers from trade and industry in 60 countries with up-to-date analyses for over 15 years. The services of Ceresana for manufacturers, processors, and associations include implementation oriented consulting, customized single-client studies, and more than 100 market studies independent of the order.

More about Ceresana at

for the fourth time.Paint Industry Looking for AlternativesThe largest consumers of solvents are manufacturers of paints and varnishes, followed at a considerable distance by producers of printing inks. Demand on the part of the pharmaceutical industry ranked third, followed by utilization in cosmetics and adhesives. Other important applications are chemical manufacturing processes, cooling circuits, dry-cleaning, and deicers. However, a trend away from solventborne products and towards more environmentally friendly alternatives based on water is prevailing in the segment paints and varnishes. This development has an inhibiting effect on demand for solvents.Growing Demand in AsiaThe industry in Asia-Pacific accounted for about 44 % of global demand in 2017. China dominated the market, followed at a considerable distance by Japan and India. The regions North America and Western Europe ranked second and third. Ceresana expects constantly high growth rates for Asia-Pacific. In the segments paints and varnishes, printing inks, and adhesives, this region is the major consumer. On the contrary, Western Europe and North America account for the largest demand in the segments cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.Promising EthersAlcohols are the solvent type with the by far highest demand: especially ethanol, n-butanol, isopropanol, and methanol. The region Asia-Pacific is the largest consumer in the segment alcohols as well, with a demand of about 2.7 million tonnes, followed by North America. Besides alcohols, mainly ketones were utilized as solvents in 2017; but also aromatics, esters, and ethers hold significant market shares each. With an expected increase of 3.2 % per year, the group of ethers will be the fastest growing market.The Study in Brief:Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the global solvent market  including forecasts up to 2025: For each of the seven world regions, Western Europe, Easter Europe, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, demand split by solvent types as well as revenues are examined.Chapter 2 provides detailed data on solvent demand and revenues in 16 countries. In addition, this chapter provides in-depth information on the demand for solvents in the sectors paints and varnishes, printing inks, adhesives, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as well as in other application areas.Chapter 3 offers a substantiated analysis of the application areas of solvents: data on demand development, split by the seven world regions. Additionally, demand per applications area is examined individually for the most important countries.Chapter 4 takes a look at the several solvent groups: alcohols, ketones, esters, ethers, aromatics, non-aromatics as well as other solvents. The following solvent types have been analyzed separately: ethanol, n-butanol, isopropanol and methanol, acetone and methyl ethyl ketone as well as toluene.Chapter 5 provides profiles of the largest solvent manufacturers, clearly arranged according to contact details, turnover, profit, product range, production sites, profile summary, and product types. Extensive profiles of 102 producers are given.Further information: www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/chemicals/solvents/ About Ceresana:Ceresana is a leading international market research institute and consultancy company for chemicals, plastics, industrial goods, and packaging. The company has been providing more than 10,000 customers from trade and industry in 60 countries with up-to-date analyses for over 15 years. The services of Ceresana for manufacturers, processors, and associations include implementation oriented consulting, customized single-client studies, and more than 100 market studies independent of the order.More about Ceresana at www.ceresana.com Contact information:

Ceresana



Mainaustrasse 34

78464 Konstanz

Germany



Contact Person:

Martin Ebner

Media contact

Phone: +49 7531 94293 10

eMail: eMail



Web: http://www.ceresana.com

Author:

Martin Ebner

e-mail

Web: http://www.ceresana.com

Phone: +49 (0)7531 94293 10 14.05.2018 12:48:46 -

Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party.Business What is Data Analysis and the Role of Data Analyst?



13.05.2018 23:36:37 - In Some companies, the role of data analyst where the Business Analysis and Data Analysis tasks can be performed by the same person, this person should possess skills required for Business Analyst or Data Analyst but in big or more specialized companies this job could be divided in form of two roles which are Data Analyst and Business Analyst.



(live-PR.com) - In Some companies, the role of data analyst where the Business Analysis and Data Analysis tasks can be performed by the same person, this person should possess skills required for Business Analyst or Data Analyst but in big or more specialized companies this job could be divided in form of two roles which are Data Analyst and Business Analyst.



So, - In Some companies, the role of data analyst where the Business Analysis and Data Analysis tasks can be performed by the same person, this person should possess skills required for Business Analyst or Data Analyst but in big or more specialized companies this job could be divided in form of two roles which are Data Analyst and Business Analyst.So, What is data analysis?

Data Analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modelling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making.



But the business analyst is someone who analyzes an organization or business domain (real or hypothetical) and documents its business or processes or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology. On the other hand, Data Analysts also needs similar skills but must have high technical ability as much of the role focuses on complex databases, statistics, and formulas that need skills to analyze data like SQL, DATA mining, OLAP, Reports, statistics etc. The main benefits of data analysis are rather self-evident. How can someone improve their processes and identify problematic issues if they are not willing to look at the data to make reliable improvements? Data Analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modelling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analytics allow us to make informed decisions and to stop guessing.



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What is data analysis?Data Analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modelling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making.But the business analyst is someone who analyzes an organization or business domain (real or hypothetical) and documents its business or processes or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology. On the other hand, Data Analysts also needs similar skills but must have high technical ability as much of the role focuses on complex databases, statistics, and formulas that need skills to analyze data like SQL, DATA mining, OLAP, Reports, statistics etc. The main benefits of data analysis are rather self-evident. How can someone improve their processes and identify problematic issues if they are not willing to look at the data to make reliable improvements? Data Analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modelling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analytics allow us to make informed decisions and to stop guessing.The Main Role of Data Analyst:The skilled Data Analyst that makes proper data analytics adds the following benefits to his/her organization:Objective answers that can put an end to an argument.Helping companies to spend their advertising budget with maximum effect.Identifying the important (and often mission-critical) trends. Identifying businesses performance problems that require some sort of action and sometimes provide recommended corrective actionsProviding data analysis in a visual manner, which leads to faster and better decisionsBetter awareness regarding the habits of potential customersProviding the company with an edge over their competitors.We are the home of Business Analysis Experts; with tens of BA gurus, we proudly present a unique set of Business Analysis Services in Saudi Arabia & Egypt, which will invert the foundations of your business weakness into key success pillars.Value PropositionFor Short-term Projects and business initiatives, there is no need for permanent hires.Use our expertise in a pay as you go mode to cover the skills gaps in your teams and transfer those skillsKnowledge Transfer of Business Analysis Skills and latest trends.Higher quality analysis and design provides for better solutionsWe do not cover all industries, we are particularly specialized and armed with the knowledge of particular industries and business domains, including Banking, Financial, electronic payments and Insurance sectors.ServicesBusiness Analysis ServicesEnterprise Architecture ServicesBusiness Process Improvement ServicesQuality Management ServicesTo know more about our servicesRequirements EngineeringIn order to produce successful software solutions, the best approach is to engage business analysis -prior to start  for narrowing the undistinguishable and critical tab between business and technical communities. Software solutions success relies heavily on strategic association between the what business leaders, customers needs and what the technical communities build; this is primarily achieved through clear requirements.We serve as a liaison between the business community and the technical solution providers throughout the entire business solution lifecycle, from strategic planning, delivery of a new solution to operations, implementation and to maintenance.Our Business Analysis services are based on the IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) standards and is also aligned with Agile, Rapid Application Development, iterative methodologies.Business Analysis Services - BBLSoftware Selection & EvaluationEvaluating and selecting new enterprise system is a challenge Organizations face whenever there is a need to adopt a new solution or add more functions to the existing solutions and have become more and more difficult.The underlying technologies are changing. Some systems look good on the surface but may not be the best fit for a specific industry. Others may not provide flexibility for the future. Still others may be overkill for small and midsize businesses. Vendor viability, software reliability, and ease of implementation must also be considered.We take the time to get to know your organization, understand your operational model, get to know your people and find the right fit for your organization.Reverse Engineering Is your business dependent on a legacy software system for which you no control? Was it built in-house by staff who have left long ago? Are you struggling to make changes? Are you planning to upgrade to a ready-made software solution and dread shifting from your reliable old software applications? Have you jumped to code and across years of operating, you have lost no recollection of the business logic and business rules encapsulated in your applications?When your business is growing, the expansion requires synchronized technological control and efficiency to pave the way for streamlined business operations, to empower your organization to adapt to changing market demands. If your business suffering from an old legacy software application which encapsulates years of accumulated business knowledge but starts to become an obstacle to your growth, slowing down your operation? Or the makers of your software application are out of business and even with a source code you still feel handcuffed?We reverse engineer your code into clear business and software documentation allowing for further customizations, efficient support and a streamlined operational cycle.We will reverse those thousands of lines of code and that multi-hundreds tables database into readable clear business requirements and software requirements specifications easily understood by senior executives, project managers, business analysts, product managers, development, testing, support teams, your vendors or business partnering systems.Our successful Methodology as business analyst Saudi Arabia & EgyptBusiness Borderlines experimented RE methodologyWe use the latest and most advanced RE Tools to convert your unreadable maze into business treasure. We will not only deliver models and diagrams converted automatically by the reverse engineering tools, that you can do yourself! But you will still spend months hindering your business progress to understand the business policies, branching logic, processing, validation controls and flows portrayed within these models. We deconstruct and interpret these diagrams and generate a full comprehensive set of requirements documents We have helped large financial organizations in Egypt convert their obsolete (to-be replaced) software into Architecture Diagrams, Business Requirements, Business Process Models and Software Specifications. Press Information:

Business Borderlines



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Monday newspaper round-up: High street, Carillion, Crossrail, WPP 14-05-2018 07:32



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.ukStock Market News

Sears rallies as it explores sale of Kenmore brand, other assets 14-05-2018 15:41



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.ukThe beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

Vote

View ResultsAotearoa musicians and promoters get behind #VaxForLife

Help save summer and get vaccinated now!On Sunday 13 May, thousands attended a public meeting of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Karachi. Along with a huge turnout by Pashtuns, ordinary men and women from Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir nationalities also took part.

The meeting continued until late into the night as Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of the PTM, arrived late. He was not allowed to board a plane from Islamabad to Karachi on 12 May, and had to travel by road. On the way, he was arrested several times and his identity checked at various points to discourage his travel. This made his journey even longer. Furthermore, unidentified cars followed him in a threatening manner. But despite all these hurdles he ultimately arrived at the meeting place after a 40-hour-long journey and addressed the gathering. The organisers of the meeting had announced it would continue until the arrival of Pashteen, even if they had to wait until the morning.

Turnout at the meeting was massive (despite a campaign of intimidation) and carried on into the night / Image: fair use

In Karachi, several measures were also taken to disrupt the meeting. First, the date of the meeting had to be changed, as other political parties (PPP, ANP and PTI) announced meetings on the same day. This was a clear attempt at sabotage by parties (linked with the establishment) that didn't want the meeting to go ahead. The PTM were then forced to change the venue from Jinnah Bagh to Al-Asif Square at Sohrab Goth. Jinnah Bagh is a central location in the city, which ordinary people could have reached quite easily. The PPP held its meeting at Jinnah Bagh on 12 May, though it couldn't pull a big gathering, despite using all the resources of Sindh government (which has ruled for the last 10 years), and despite pouring in millions of rupees to advertising and arrangements. The PTM was forced to shift its venue to a corner of the city.

Moreover, a campaign of harassment and intimidation was carried out across Karachi in the weeks before the meeting. More than 150 activists and political workers involved in preparations for the meeting were abducted, and legal cases registered against some of them. These cases included charges of sedition and terrorism. On the day of meeting, the main roads of the city were blocked and people who tried to arrive were threatened and harassed. Caravans coming from other cities were blocked on the way and dozens were arrested.

At some points, people started travelling on foot to reach the venue, hundreds of kilometers away. The venue itself was encircled by the authorities and anyone entering or leaving was threatened and their picture taken. There was complete media blackout, meaning there was no coverage of these intimidation tactics. The day before, the organisers were summoned by the Commissioner of Karachi to discuss preparations and security measures. When they reached the Commissioner office they were arrested and sent to unknown locations. Though some were released shortly after that, their mobile phones were not returned.

Despite this campaign of intimidation, the turnout was massive. A large number of women also participated, which shows high political level of the movement. A lot of women had come with pictures of their family members who had been abducted by the security forces and have been missing for many years: sometimes up to a decade. Though international media covered the event, the local media was completely silent, except for some correspondents from English-language newspapers.

Every participant had a horrible story to tell about abductions, terror and threats by the security forces. Every participant was charged with enthusiasm to win his or her rights, which was reflected in rapturously received-slogans for justice. Revolutionary songs were played from the stage, with the most popular being "What kind of freedom is this?" (the PTMs anthem), which was repeated several times during the evening. Balochi and Sindhi women also spoke from the stage explaining their plight and sharing stories of the abduction of their family members. All these speeches got a tremendous response from the crowd.

The meeting was entirely different from recent gatherings held by other political parties in Karachi. Millions of rupees are spent on making these events a success. Companies are hired for publicity and plastering advertisements across the city, while chairs and carpets are arranged for the participants. Luxury buses and dinners are arranged, and many participants are actually paid to attend. But in this meeting there were no chairs, carpets or tents. People were sitting on the ground with nothing above their heads. All the advertising was done by grassroots organisers and participants had made huge sacrifices, given their meager incomes, to attend. Despite all these difficulties the crowd was gripped by an electric atmosphere and it looked like that a festival was going on.

Members of many oppressed nationalities, besides Pashtuns, turned up / Image: fair use

When Pashteen came to speak on the stage it was already very late but everyone wanted to hear him. People were saying that they could listen to him for a whole night and day. They never wanted to leave! There was a sense of hope: a hope of changing their miserable conditions.

Pashteen, despite being tired from his long journey, enthused the audience with his speech. He vowed to continue his struggle until justice is done for every last victim of the Pakistani state. He said that the PTMs demands are lawful and they want them fulfilled under the rule of law and the constitution. He said that the PTM is made up of peaceful people who have adopted peaceful methods to raise their demands, and they should not be pushed to use extreme measures. He also wore a Sindhi cap and Ajrak briefly during his speech to extend solidarity with the Sindhi people. He said that people of Sindh are also being intimidated by the state, and institutions of the people should be formed that can serve the people and not terrorise them. He also demanded the release of all activists who were abducted in Karachi prior to the meeting, or else the PTM would call worldwide protests on 15 May.

The Marxists' material was well recieved / Image: own work

Many social activists and political workers also addressed the meeting, and received a mixed response from the audience. Those who tried to spew nationalist hatred were condemned by the crowd. The character of the movement clearly shows that it wants to link up with other oppressed nationalities of the country and wage a joint struggle against the atrocities committed by the state. The PTM extending solidarity to the movement of Hazaras in Quetta is an example of this.

In Karachi, this spirit of solidarity was more visible as the city is the center of all oppressed nationalities of the country, including Sindhis, Mohajirs, Baloch, Kashmiris and many others. Speeches from the stage in favour of linking up with the Pashtun nationalist parties, which have been rejected by the masses, were also condemned. At last Ali Wazir, the main organiser of the meeting in Karachi, had to address this question in his speech, reflecting the mood of the audience. He clearly stated that there is no space for any prejudice inside the PTM and nationalist prejudice in particular would not be tolerated. He said that PTM would stand with all the oppressed nationalities of Pakistan to wage a struggle against the state. This statement received a warm response from those present.

Marxists have supported the PTM since the beginning / Image: own work

The Marxist tendency was also present at the meeting with its literature, which was appreciated by all those who visited our stalls. Marxists in Pakistan have supported the PTM from the beginning and have been at the forefront of this struggle. Many comrades were abducted from Karachi on 22 April when they came to extend solidarity with the PTM at Karachi Press Club in preparation for this marvelous meeting. Although they were later released due to protests inside the country and across the world.

The meeting in Karachi has shown that, despite all attempts by the state to block this movement, it is moving forward. Though it still lacks a clear political program and an organisational structure, it has aroused enthusiasm and hope among millions living in poverty, misery and suffering. This movement has sown the seeds of bigger mass movements that will erupt sooner rather than later and will reshape the politics of Pakistan with revolutionary upheavals.President Klaus Iohannis was fined with 2,000 RON by the National Council for Combating Discrimination.

CNCD President Csaba Astalosz says though he disagrees with the institution he is leading. In his opinion, we do not deal with a vulnerable group, he says, which means there is no discrimination.

The decision was made with five to four votes and Csaba Astalosz and the other three members who disagreed with the majoritys opinion are to draft a separate opinion.

The decision was made after the head of state used the term offenders referring to certain political leaders.

The National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) said on Wednesday, with a 5-4 majority, that the term  offenders used by President Klaus Iohannis exceeded the limit of freedom of speech.

For this reason, the head of state was fined 2,000 lei.

In the case of the DNA head, the CNCD rejected the complaint. Laura Codruta Kovesi used the expression defenders festival.

Both complaints were submitted by the website luju.ro (Lumea Justitiei)

Klaus Iohannis and Laura Codruta Kovesi made statements and commented on the recordings released by former Chamber of Deputies member Vlad Cosma, who claims that prosecutors from DNA Ploiesti are manufacturing evidence.

President Iohannis complete statement made on February 15th: From my point of view, things can be summed up in a few words: some offenders are desperate to attack and discredit DNA and DNAs leadership. In my opinion, this attempt is pitiful and unconvincing, and my opinion about DNAs work is something you know, but I am happy to repeat it. In my opinion, DNA and DNAs leadership are doing a very good job, and this attack, or attempted attack from some offenders, is likely to confirm that DNA is doing a good job.

CNCD President considers that this is not discrimination. There is no vulnerable group

The head of state has already announced that he will challenge the decision (taken with a close score of 5 to 4) and chances of winning are particularly high, as the chairman of the council himself considers it incorrect.

In a press release, the Presidential Administration qualified the CNCDs decision as a political one.

Csaba Asztalos explained on Wednesday that, in the opinion of his colleagues who considered the term some offenders discriminatory, this mention was addressed to persons for whom there is no irrevocable decision in court and the term offender has a pejorative sense.

In his view, though, taking into account CEDO jurisprudence, the context, person, content, this expression falls broadly within the limits of freedom of expression.

First of all, these people are not part of a vulnerable group. They are politicians, and CEDO says politicians must have a greater tolerance to criticism that must be made in good faith and except the private life.

In the case of Times New Roman there was the private life of those people, there we were in favour of identifying the act and penalizing it. In this case, we do not deal with a vulnerable group, the CNCD president argued.

Mr President is broadly speaking a political figure who made a political statement on a subject of public interest, he criticised and attacked the functioning of the judiciary. In these situations, freedom of expression is much broader, even shocking expressions that lead to indignation can be used, said Csaba Asztalos.This weekend's Long Meddowe Days is as much about learning more on the history of Longmeadow as it is fun and games.

"I'm not sure that everyone realizes Long Meddowe Days is organized by the Longmeadow Historical Society and not the town," said Society member Jim Moran about their primary fundraiser.

"We began Long Meddowe Days 39 years ago as a prelude to the town's bicentennial celebration and it hasn't changed in concept over the years. Longmeadow as a town was first incorporated after the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and has the distinction of being the first town incorporated in Massachusetts," he added.

It all begins for two days on Saturday at 10 a.m. with music, food, crafters, kids' activities and more as a parade with local groups and schools arrives at the Town Green. The parade begins at 9:30 a.m. from St. Mary's Church.

"We try to keep the music as local as possible with many school groups and other talented performers, including musicians from the Community Music School of Springfield and Falcetti Music," Moran said.

Also, Strange Alliance, a Connecticut-based band, will be playing classic rock from the '70s and '80s on Sunday at 3 p.m.

"Our crafters come from all over New England, some of whom have been with us for 15 years or more, and we emphasize the fact that we want them to be selling handcrafted items," Moran said.

In addition, various community non-profit organizations and town departments will be setting up informational booths at the event.

There will also be many activities especially for children, including miniature train rides, climbing wall, bounce house, temporary tattoo station and more.

Prior to the 10 a.m. kickoff on Saturday on the Town Green, there will be a free LPRD Pancake Breakfast at the Community House from 7-10 a.m. Shortly after the breakfast begins, the 25th Annual Tim Paige 5K Memorial Road Race/Walk will step off at 7:30 a.m. for walkers and at 8 a.m. for runners. Registration runs until 7 a.m. on race day and is $25 and $15 for those under 18. For more information, visit longmeddowedays.org.

But when the first day officially ends at 5 p.m., there is still more fun to be had.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the Town Green will come alive again with a sing-a-long, free hot dogs and hamburgers, and a campfire.

"Bring marshmallows and toast them at our campfire or make s'mores. And, we're going to have an open-mic for those who aspire to be like Longmeadow's 'Voice' contestant Brynn Cartelli," Moran said.

For history buffs, there will be an authentic Civil War encampment, walking tours of the Old Burying Yard, and a guided architectural tour of the many historic homes on the Town Green.

Tours of the Old Burying Yard in Longmeadow Cemetery will be held both days at 2 p.m. While a guided tour, many of the gravestones tell their own story about residents that lived in Longmeadow hundreds of years ago with some of the gravestones over 250 years old. Also, the 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery group will be conducting a service, playing taps and firing a musket volley at the end of each cemetery tour.

"The Longmeadow Historical Society has a new exhibit at the Storrs House Museum that will be making its debut during Long Meddowe Days. We're excited about the new addition which explores a dynamic period of history when we became a town," Moran said about the exhibit entitled "Through the Lens - Longmeadow into New Century - 1890-1920."

Other special activities include a Memorial Service on the Town Green at 11:10 a.m. on Sunday to honor and commemorate Longmeadow residents who served and also gave their lives for our country. Also, the Friends of Storrs Library will hold their 11th annual Used Book Sale on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Storrs Library at 693 Longmeadow Street.A Boston firefighter was arraigned on child rape charges in a Boston courthouse Monday morning.

Samuel Perez Rosado, 38, was arraigned on one count each of rape of a child and assault and battery in South Boston Municipal Court, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.

He was held on $50,000 cash bail and ordered to stay away from the alleged victim. A judge said Rosado must surrender his passport and any firearms.

Rosado was placed on administrative leave, according to a statement provided to WCVB News from the Boston Fire Department.

The alleged assaults began in 2012 and continued for five years, authorities said.

The Boston Globe reports the victim was between the ages of 12 and 16 at the time of the alleged assaults. The newspaper reports the charges stem from alleged assaults at different locations including a Boston home where "a relative of the victim lived."It was in the Shapiro Family Courtyard, in front of the "Art of the Americas" wing at the Museum of Fine Arts that 187 immigrants from nearly every corner of the globe came together to become American citizens.

"I feel so grateful and happy," said Guionar Sumrall, 52, a Brazilian immigrant and new U.S. citizen. "I know that God is a good God and he's faithful to his promises."

Sumrall said she came back to America because she met her husband here. The two bumped into each other decades ago on an MBTA train when Sumrall, now 52, was a student at the Harvard Extension School. The two fell in love, but immigration laws kept Sumrall out of the country after her studies. Years later, in 2014, she remedied the situation and was able to re-enter the United States.

"It was a very hard time, but we survived. He would visit me," Sumrall said. "That's why this is so important to the two of us." The married couple now live together in Lynn.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held its first-ever naturalization ceremony on Monday. Immigrants from 57 countries were invited to attend the special program that included words from the museum, a local poet and U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler, who presided over the ceremony.

"You are all ages. Your backgrounds are different. The journey has been long and for some difficult," Bowler told the group.

"These ceremonies are held all over the country. In city halls, high school buildings...But you will have the privilege of saying, 'I was at the first ceremony conducted at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,'" Bowler said to applause.

She urged the group to vote in all elections, to heed jury duties, to remember their own language and culture while also learning the new language and history, and to honor those in the U.S. military.

"You should never feel that because you are a naturalized citizen, you are in any way a second-class citizen," Bowler said.

"In fact, you should feel more important. For rather than accept a mere birthright, you have made the decision that this is the country you want to call your home," she added.

At the ceremony, the candidates took an official "Oath of Allegiance." An a capella ensemble from the nearby Berklee College of Music sang triumphant contemporary tunes as well as patriotic songs. Some candidates for citizenship wore red, white and blue. Some held miniature American flags provided by the museum.

"My wish is that you always feel that the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is your home," said Matthew Teitelbaum, the Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. "That you feel welcome here, you feel invited here, you feel engaged in what we do."

The event, coordinated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, marks the first such ceremony at the MFA.

The museum, Judge Bowler explained, is emblematic of American diversity. Art is a "unifier," Bowler said.

"The Egyptian collection, the great Japanese collection, the French impressionists, the Dutch Golden Age," Bowler said. "You can wander through this museum and I trust most everyone will find a connection."

When it was over, many of the new American citizens beamed with patriotic pride, posing for photos with their citizenship certificates and American flags.

Australian woman Vera Benson came to the U.S. at the age of 58 to meet a man she had corresponded with online (now her current husband of six years). Benson said the citizenship process served as a reminder of her late parents, once Russian immigrants who became naturalized citizens in Australia.

"Now I can appreciate it. I just felt like they were with me in spirit, having come to a new country...and actually started a new life," Benson said. "It's just...it's very emotional."

Eighty-year-old Qiaoying Rong, who traveled to the U.S. from Wuhan, China and now lives in Lexington, was overjoyed at her new American citizenship status. She is legally blind and cannot speak English, but loves the ideals of America, her daughter said.

"She said, 'I lived here for a long time,'" Rong's daughter said, translating her mother's words after the ceremony. "She really loves this country, and thinks the liberty and democracy are all wonderful."A medical device manufacturer based in Massachusetts is facing tens of thousands of lawsuits from women.

In a "60 Minutes" report aired Sunday, the news program looked into the issue of gynecological mesh, an implant used to treat stress incontinence - a common condition expierenced by women after childbirth.

Boston Scientific, a Massachusetts-based company, is one of the largest manufacturers of the device.

More than 100,000 women across America who reported complications with gynecological mesh have filed suit. Of those lawsuits, 48,000 were filed against Boston Scientific.

"It felt like a cheese grater inside of me," one woman who had an implant created by Boston Scientific told "60 Minutes." "It felt like the material was pulling on the muscles and I'd get shooting pains you almost felt like there was something inside of you that was like sandpaper back and forth, every time you'd walk."

Gynecological mesh created by Boston Scientific is made of polypropylene, a plastic.

Boston Scientific switched suppliers of the polypropylene in the past decade after their previous supplier issued a warning that the plastic must not be used for "permanent implantation in the human body," "60 Minutes" reports.

The company sought to continue using the plastic mesh, as it already had FDA approval, "60 Minutes" reports, and found a company in China that had a large quantity of it, enough to last several decades worth of sales.

In an email exchange made public regarding the planned purchase, one Boston Scientific employee wrote "do we need to ask [the Chinese company] if this material is supposed to be used in medical implantable?" To which Boston Scientific's director of materials management wrote back, "please don't tell them where we will use it. It could scare them away," the newsmagazine reports, of the exchange.

Of the change in suppliers, the FDA said in a statement shared with MassLive that "an extensive investigation" was conducted and federal officials found "that all samples met the appropriate specifications."

The report features interviews with several medical and plastics experts expressing concern about the mesh.

A surgeon who has removed hundreds of mesh implants told "60 Minutes" he has seen implants "substantially altered" by the time they're removed.

"They are shrunk by at least 50% in width; they are encased in scar tissue. The pores here, these openings here are shrunk substantially," Michael Margolis, a doctor who has testified in lawsuits against medical manufacturers said.

Boston Scientific declined to speak on camera for the story, offering a statement. "Nearly one million women have been successfully treated... We have extensively tested the [plastic] resin to confirm its composition, safety and performance."

Additionally, the American Urogynecological Society has said plastic mesh is "safe and effective."

Founded in 1979, Boston Scientific is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The company employs about 27,000.EASTHAMPTON -- Facing delays related to wetlands violations, a New Jersey developer has temporarily withdrawn its applications for two large solar farms.

Soltage, LLC -- through its engineering consultants, AMEC Foster Wheeler -- on Thursday notified the Easthampton Planning Board that it will withdraw special permit applications for large-scale solar projects at 232 Park Street and on land adjacent to Westview Terrace and South Street.

"The permit withdrawals are being requested without prejudice so that the property owners may continue to resolve previous ongoing issues at the proposed project locations and potentially resubmit the applications for consideration at a future date," the May 10 letter reads.

The Westview Terrace property, adjacent to the Manhan Rail Trail, is subject to an enforcement order after land owners David and Marilyn Cernak of Easthampton allowed trees to be cut on the property in violation of state and local wetlands law.

The Conservation Commission on April 6 ordered the Cernaks to hire a wetlands scientist to fully construct, plant, and stabilize damaged resource areas on their land, a former Christmas tree farm, where Soltage plans a 2-megawatt, 7.4-acre ground-mounted solar array.

The commission found that unauthorized tree cutting had occurred on the land sometime in March, and that the work affected wetland resource areas under its jurisdiction. The cutting was done without a local permit. David Cernak last week declined to comment on the matter.

Soltage also plans a 3-megawatt project on a 37-acre property at 232 Park St. owned by Easthampton real estate developer Bernard Gawle. That project would cover 9.5 acres, with around 18 acres of trees near White Brook planned for felling.

Because Gawle has outstanding wetlands violations at other properties he owns, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection won't issue a file number for that solar proposal -- effectively stopping the project in its tracks.

The Cernak property is complicated in that part of the 79-acre parcel is under Chapter 61A, a state tax-relief program for owners of agriculture and forest land. A "forest cutting plan" for land within the Chapter 61A boundary was approved by the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation, but tree-cutting has not begun in that area, according to the state.

"At this time, there aren't any current, pending, or past issues with the (Forest Cutting Plan) for the Cernak land in Easthampton," said DCR spokesman Troy Wall in an email to The Republican. "There are currently two tree cutting areas at this location; however, there is only one that is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation and Recreation."

The DCR has no jurisdiction over land outside of the forest cutting plan. But the local Conservation Commission does.

A forest cutting plan under Chapter 61A can not be used to clear land for development, said city conservation agent Mallory Larcom. A lawyer for the Cernaks recently petitioned the City Council to remove 18.5 acres of that land from 61A status to accommodate a solar farm.

The Planning Board meets May 15 at 6 p.m., where a continued public hearing on the solar farms was planned. The Cernaks' 61A land conversion request appears on the City Council's May 16 agenda.

This story will be updatedAGAWAM- Six Flags New England and Connecticut Children's Medical Center teamed up this past Mother's Day weekend to celebrate groundbreaking women in the medical field. On Saturday, the park hosted its 2nd annual Women in Uniform event that recognized empowering women and their commitment to bettering their communities.

In the ceremony, 14 inspiring women who serve as doctors, nurses, surgeons, phlebotomists, medical technicians and a variety of other positions at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, were honored for what they do each day. The hospital in Hartford employs more than 2,200 females including 112 female physicians.

"The Obesity Center is proud to partner with Six Flags New England to provide a day of fun for families as well as honor women in leadership roles," said Clinical Director of the Obesity Center at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Melissa Santos, PhD. "Our goal is to help people make healthy lifestyle choices and it is inspiring to see so many women take a leading role in building stronger families and communities. We are grateful for the support provided by Six Flags New England and encourage everyone to visit the theme park and celebrate Women in Uniform Day."

The special Saturday morning ceremony included a check presentation benefiting Connecticut Children's Medical Center. As super heroes in their own right, the women also received Wonder Woman capes and they and their families will be treated to complimentary park admission, parking, and a VIP park experience.SPRINGFIELD -- The City Council on Monday will once again consider approving property tax incentives for a market-rate apartments renovation project at the former Springfield YMCA building on Chestnut Street after rejecting the request in March.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno is urging council approval for the tax increment financing exemption agreement with the developer, SilverBrick Group, that purchased the property at 122 Chestnut St., in December, for $4.8 million.

The council meeting begins at 7 p.m., at City Hall.

The renovations of the building are estimated at $6.2 million and involve 99 existing apartments and the creation of 15 new units, according to the submitted plans.

SilverBrick already owns 280 apartments at SilberBrick Lofts in downtown Springfield, formerly the Morgan Square Apartments, investing millions of dollars in its purchase and renovations.

In addition, Chicopee Mayor Richard J. Kos announced this month that Aaron Popowitz, founder and managing partner of SilverBrick LLC and 4 Perkins LLC, has submitted new plans to renovated the largely vacant Cabotville Mill in Chicopee Center for up to 600 apartments.

In Springfield, the tax incentive would last up to 10 years long or result in property tax savings of up to $150,000, whichever comes first, the agreement states. The 10-year agreement would take effect July 1, 2019.

In March, the vote was five councilors in favor of the tax incentive and seven opposed.

The total tax savings at that time was estimated at $254,000 over the 10-year period, and would also provide an opportunity to qualify for state tax incentives, officials said.

Proponents of the tax incentive spoke of the benefits of improving deteriorated housing, and of bringing more market rate housing downtown.

Some opponents questioned providing such tax incentives to a housing project rather than a business development.

Sarno praised SilverBrick as having "a proven track record with out city."

"I deeply appreciate their continued belief and investment in Springfield," Sarno said. "This is another positive step in our continued efforts to reinvent and enhance our downtown residential neighborhoods."

Approval would also send a strong message "to our 'urban pioneer' residents," who live in the downtown area, and would encourage new residents to come to the downtown area, Sarno said.SPRINGFIELD -- White Street Elementary School fourth-grader Olivia Hall couldn't help but flash a wide grin Monday morning as she was honored before her peers for coming up with the name of the Springfield Fire Department's newest fire engine.

Henceforth, the department's new version of Engine 3 will be known as "The Screamin Banshee."

All of the school's fourth-graders participated in the contest and Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi selected Olivia's entry as the name to be emblazoned on the shiny new pumper.

"I am very excited, I am very honored," Olivia said, shortly before the start of a brief ceremony, which included comments from Mayor Domenic Sarno, Calvi and White School Principal Kristen Hughes.

The 2018 Pierce Velocity PUC (Pierce Ultimate Configuration) Pumper was delivered to the city in January at a cost of $794, 898.00.

Olivia said she got her idea for the name from one f her favorite television shows, "The Supernatural."

Coincidentally, Olivia's uncle, Jeff Hall, an 18-year veteran of the department, works on Engine 3.

"This was quite a surprise," said Hall.

"It's pretty cool," said Olivia's mother, Jamie Libby, of her daughter's name being selected. "I think it is awesome."

Libby said her uncle, Skip Libby, is a retired fire captain from Portland, Maine. Her cousin, T.J. Libby, is a Portland firefighter who is currently serving in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army.

The ceremony included the Pledge of Allegiance, the singing of the national anthem and prayers and a blessing by Springfield Fire Department Chaplin Gary Daley.METHUEN - Two men were held over the weekend without bail and a woman was held on $25,000 bond after police allegedly found heroin and an unlawful gun in their car after a traffic stop.

Alfred Colon, 32, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, Casey Currivan, 34, of Manchester, New Hampshire, and Amanda Reilly, 29, of Salem, were arrested Friday night. All three are charged with trafficking in heroin, possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during a felony, carrying a loaded firearm, improper storage of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. Currivan and Colon were also charged with giving a false name and on warrants. Currivan was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and Reilly was charged with driving without a license, Massachusetts State Police said.

The three were stopped at about 10:25 p.m. by Trooper Joseph Diliegro, who was on patrol in Lawrence and he spotted a Toyota speeding. He caught up to the car in Methuen and pulled over Reilly, who was driving.

After the stop Diliegro and a second trooper searched the car as a result of an investigation. They allegedly found 40 grams of drugs and a H & R revolver with nine cartridges, police said.HAMPDEN -- Residents of Hampden and Wilbraham will vote on a host of articles, from funding authorizations to proposed zoning amendments, at their respective spring town meetings this evening at 7. Hampden's meeting will be held at Bethlehem Church, 123 Allen St., while Wilbraham's meeting is at Minnechaug Regional High School, 621 Main St.

Highlights of Hampden's 27-article warrant include a proposal to hire a town administrator to oversee daily operations and another proposal to create a combined dispatch center for Hampden and East Longmeadow public safety agencies at Hampden police headquarters, 100 Allen St.

Voters will be asked to authorize the Hampden Board of Selectmen to appoint a town administrator to a one- to three-year term at an annual rate of $90,000. The administrator can be removed from the position at the discretion of the board, according to the warrant article.

The estimated cost of combining Hampden and East Longmeadow dispatch services under one roof is over $120,000, with the towns expected to split the cost, according to officials, who also plan to pursue grants to help refund costs.

In Wilbraham, voters will consider a 58-article warrant that includes a number of requests to use available funds from the Community Preservation Act for various projects, including $37,000 for improvements to the historic town-owned Stuart Warner Farm House, 859 Stony Hill Road.

Another CPA funding request seeks to use almost $55,000 to design and build a gravel trail on the south side of Thayer Brook Forest, which is managed by the Wilbraham Conservation Commission.

Voters will also consider an article to ban helicopters from landing in residential zoning districts. The only exceptions to this rule would be in emergency situations by public safety agencies, including for firefighting purposes, search-and-rescue missions, and airlifting patients to hospitals.When Kevin A. Perry Jr. was released from federal prison in 2008 on drug charges, he was supposed to be penniless. But when he opened up two restaurants in Worcester, investigators soon learned he had more cash than he let on.

Now Perry will go to federal prison after he was sentenced to serve 14 years for money laundering and drug charges. The sentence was issued Monday in a Worcester federal court.

The 44-year-old man wept in court while addressing Judge Timothy Hillman. He spoke of childhood demons and the damage he caused through his fentanyl dealing.

"I contributed to people's misery without thinking," Perry said.

Perry will be on supervised release for five years once he gets out of prison. The judge ordered the government can seize several of his properties. Perry will forfeit $510,000, nine properties and two vehicles.

The cloud surrounding Perry hasn't dissipated just yet, however. Snared in the investigation into Perry and his ill-gotten cash were his wife, her former business partner and another man who helped hide Perry's cash in a church.

Perry was convicted in federal court in 2005 of selling and manufacturing ecstasy. He told federal authorities he had nothing for the government to seize.

Millions in cash were concealed by Perry, and once he was released from prison in 2008, he went back to the drug game. Perry bragged in federal prison that he hid cash from the government, Assistant U.S. District Attorney Greg Friedholm said in court.

Authorities say he began making and selling steroids, fentanyl and cocaine. The delivery of an illegal pill press to Perry's former workplace in Framingham was flagged by federal investigators in 2012. It gave authorities an idea Perry was back to his old tricks. The pill press, sent from Canada, was allowed through by investigators, who began to watch him.

Over $1 million in hidden cash was used for Perry to scoop up properties in Worcester County, including the financing of two restaurants in Worcester - The Blackstone Tap and The Usual.

The purchases were made at a "somewhat surprising rate," Friedholm said.

His wife, Stacey Gala, who was in the courtroom when Perry pleaded guilty in October, still has her own legal troubles since she was accused of money laundering after authorities say she used $200,000 of Perry's drug money to start a new restaurant.

She wasn't in court Monday during sentencing.

The Usual was re-branded into The Chameleon by Gala and her business partner, Joseph Herman. Authorities said Perry's drug cash was used by the duo. The restaurant didn't last long.

Herman told the License Commission that money to re-brand the business came from relatives. He claimed to put in $40,000, according to a video of the hearing.

But to do so, they first had to get approval to amend their alcoholic beverage license for the new name. In a hearing before Worcester's License Commission, Herman allegedly lied about the source of funding for the renovations.

"40,000 that you got from relatives and yourself?" Worcester Police Lt. James Johnson asked during the hearing.

"Yeah," Herman said.

Herman and Gala were indicted for money laundering. Herman is also accused of lying to federal investigators and trying to tamper with a witness.

The cash used by Gala and Herman was retrieved from a storage locker in Northborough, investigators say.

"In or about May 2017, Perry told Gala that he had hidden approximately $260,000 in a self-storage locker in Northborough, Massachusetts. The money consisted of Perry's drug proceeds," federal records said. "Gala told Herman about the money and, eventually, Herman and another individual, C.S., removed over $200,000 from the self-storage locker in which Perry had concealed the drug proceeds prior to his arrest."

Herman, authorities allege, helped hide $330,000 in drug proceeds, but told investigators he had no role in hiding the cash. He then tried to get a man to lie to authorities.

Based on the federal records, Herman tried to get Christopher Slavinskas - another man tied to the Worcester restaurant scene - to lie.

Slavinskas admitted to hiding a black toolbox containing more than $300,000 of Kevin A. Perry's drug money in a church and using $20,000 of the funds to pay for a vacation to Atlantic City.

He already pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements.

Slavinskas took about $80,000 of Perry's drug money from the black toolbox. He first told investigators he gave Gala the money back, but later said he and Herman took $80,000. The two men used $20,000 to take two women to Atlantic City.

Perry has accused Gala and Herman of having an affair, according to posts on Perry's account on Facebook.

Another $20,000 was given to a third party.

Defense attorney James Budreau said his client is "clearly at the end of his rope." Without going into detail, Budreau said Perry's behavior is connected to his client's childhood issues.

Friedholm detailed the 2005 case against Perry. He said a mobile home in Connecticut with a hole cut in the floor. The hole led to an ecstasy manufacturing lab. Two people lived in the trailer to help with the operation, the prosecutor said.

When Perry was released, he began working as a personal trainer making about $60,000 a year. But Perry began dropping money on properties throughout Worcester County.

From June 2015 to early 2016, Perry was receiving unemployment benefits as well, Friedholm said.

When an undercover informant agreed to purchase fentanyl from Perry in 2017, the deal was for a few hundred pills. Perry delivered 2,000 pills, the prosecutor said.

The pills were covered with Canadian oxycodone markings, and at the time, there was a demand for that type of oxycodone. Friedholm said the fraudulent markings made Perry's dealing even more dangerous.

It is clear prosecutors still don't believe Perry isn't hiding assets. Friedholm said Perry underwent a polygraph test when he was asked to disclose all his assets during this recent case.

The results of the exam showed Perry was "deceptive," the prosecutor said. Budreau questioned the validity of the polygraph.

Before giving Perry his sentence, Hillman spoke to him.

If Perry was able to use his energy to legal activities, he would have been way ahead of others, the judge said.

"We'd be borrowing money from you, not the other way around," Hillman said.A Marlborough man who was on the Massachusetts State Police Most Wanted list for multiple child rape charges has been caught in Nevada.

Daniel Escalante, 42, was arrested in Reno, Nevada Sunday after Massachusetts State Police learned he might be there.

Escalante is accused of sexually assaulting several children in the Marlborough area, according to State Police. He was added to the Most Wanted list in March.

Authorities learned Escalante left Massachusetts and was living in Nevada under an alias. He was arrested by a U.S. Marshals task force around 9 p.m. Sunday.

Escalante is being held in Nevada on a fugitive from justice charge. He will appear before a judge on Monday. Prosecutors in Massachusetts will work with Nevada authorities to arrange his return to Massachusetts.

Escalante faces five counts of rape of a child with force, two counts of assault with intent to rape a child and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.By Vince Neffinger

A group of Springfield employees who are critical to protecting Springfield residents, have been locked in a multiyear process for the approval of a new contract by the Springfield City Council. The group is the Springfield District Fire Chiefs ("SDFC") who are charged with supervising all fires, hazmat incidents, water & vehicle rescues and natural disaster response. They have the immense responsibility of the safety of all Springfield firefighters, residents and visitors when these events occur. I'm proud to be the President of our union.

The SDFC's is made up of nine dedicated fire safety professionals who combined have close to 250 years of Springfield Fire Department experience. Among us, we have two veterans; one a disabled Navy vet and another Air Force vet who was a crash rescue firefighter while serving. Some have Masters degrees, others have Bachelors and Associates degrees. Many of them are instructors and teachers of other firefighters and future firefighters. One served on the statewide Incident Support Unit which provides command and control services at emergencies across Massachusetts. We have saved many lives of Springfield citizens over the two and half centuries of service and have been cited and accommodated both individually and in units they served for their heroic efforts.

But that is not all; these men also give back to their community. Within our ranks, we have a foster parent of the year awardee who has fostered over 300 children working with the Springfield DCF, multiple volunteers of the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity, men that deliver meals to the needy through their church, an active supporter of a ministry to the homeless in Springfield who also has performed mission trips to Ghana, Ukraine and Hungary and an exemplary land lord in Springfield who makes it a point to patronize Springfield businesses for materials to revitalize blighted properties.

I say all of that because I think it is important to know who these men are and what they have done for the City of Springfield with and without a fire helmet on. These are the same men who have not been afforded a raise since 2011 nor a new contract since 2012.

Why? A disagreement over a murky residency requirement. As such, in the contract before the Council we have agreed to residency concessions above and beyond any other contract approved by the City Council previously. Not all of our members live in the City at the moment but moving forward SFDC's will have to if the Council approves the contract.

None of us were ever told that residency was a requirement when we were promoted and we have never concealed the fact that some of us do not reside in the City that we work to keep safe. A contradiction is that every other contract that has been recently approved by the Council has grandfathered in employees who live outside the City because the requirement was murky and unclear. We appreciate that the Council wants to rectify this and make it more clear moving forward in regards to the residency requirement which is why we agreed to sign a contract with a requirement for all new promotions moving forward which as stated the Council approved in all 11 recent contracts. They understood that forcing employees who were under no assumption nor directive to live in the City to move back into Springfield or be fired was unfair in all those instances; why is ours so different?

If having only Springfield residents in these positions is the goal of the Council it only makes sense to pass the current contract which has the strongest residency language of any public safety union. This is because within two years, four of the six non-residents will retire which will result in eight of the ten members living in the city. Without a contract with the new residency language, non-residents could still be appointed to the positions.

It is truly our hope that we can get the contract approved by the Council so that these men are compensated fairly for their dedication and continued service to the City of Springfield; we deserve as much.

Vince Neffinger is District Chief and President of the Springfield Fire Chiefs AssociationWhen the boss isn't merely an occasionally crude blowhard, but is instead a boorish character who revels in his frequent, full-throated outrageousness, no one should be surprised to find the employees often acting in kind, outside the bounds of generally acceptable behavior.

As such, it makes no real sense for folks to be amazed by a White House communications aide's dismissal of Sen. John McCain's opposition to the president's pick to head the CIA because "he's dying anyway." Such pronouncements are just par for the course in this White House.

Trump himself set the stage for last week's comment about McCain nearly three years ago now. Appearing at an an event in Ames, Iowa, in July 2015, just a month after he'd declared his candidacy for president, Trump said of McCain: "He's not a war hero.

"He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

Trump, it should be remembered, received five draft deferments -- four student, one medical -- during the Vietnam War.

At the time he dismissed McCain's heroism, there were many who'd thought that Trump had crossed a line that would soon enough doom his candidacy. Instead, one can draw a line from Trump's wildly inappropriate statement to last week's comment in a White House meeting.

On Thursday morning, about two dozen White House staffers were discussing Trump's nomination of Gina Haspel to move up from deputy CIA director to head of the agency, and McCain's stated opposition to her candidacy. According to reports, special assistant Kelly Sadler said: "It doesn't matter -- he's dying anyway."

The White House didn't deny that she'd made the outrageously inappropriate comment. Nor did it offer an apology. A day later, though, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, supposedly furious at the time, denounced the leak of Sadler's comment while meeting with members of the press team. "I am sure this conversation is going to leak, too," she reportedly said. "And that's just disgusting."

No, it's not the leak that's disgusting. It was Sadler's comment. And the tone that was set, and that's been repeatedly reinforced, from the top.

McCain, the senior senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 2008, has been sidelined as he battles a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer. His pronouncements have been made from home, mostly in the form of written statements.

The history of his capture during the Vietnam War is well known. He was held prisoner of war for more than five years, was repeatedly tortured but refused early release, which was offered after his captors learned that he was the son of a Navy Admiral. Accepting release before those who'd been imprisoned earlier, however, would have been a violation of the military code of conduct. As such, McCain refused the offer.

If that's not a pretty clear definition of heroism, it's difficult to say what is.

McCain is an unquestioned American hero. And for its treatment of the ailing senator, this unapologetic administration, from the chief executive to the lowliest aide, is an embarrassment.

As the old Greek saying has it: A fish rots from the head down.Massachusetts law does not explicitly prohibit police from having sex with people in their custody. A bill by two Democratic state representatives, heard before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary Monday afternoon, would change that.

Representatives Marjorie Decker and Kay Khan's legislation would make it illegal for any municipal police officer to "engage in sexual relations" with "anyone who is under arrest, in detention, otherwise in the actual custody of said officer, or who the officer is interacting within their official capacity."

It would close a legal loophole that could allow officers to claim sex, touching, or groping a person during their work as police was consensual. The bill deems a person under arrest "incapable of consent to sexual relations" because of the inherent power dynamic. The bill would apply to municipal police, University of Massachusetts Police, State Police, MBTA officers, and police from the officer of environmental law enforcement.

The bill was born out of a Buzzfeed News report that follows the story of Anna Chambers, an 18-year-old New York woman, who says she was raped by two officers in the back of a police van. Though the two officers resigned from the New York Police Department and were each charged with rape, they still maintain the encounter was consensual, according to a lawyer representing the officers.

The trial for Chambers, which has not yet been scheduled, will rely on her word against the words of two New York police officers.

A Buzzfeed review of a Buffalo News database showed that of the 158 law enforcement officers charged with sexual assault or other illegal sexual contact with a person in their custody, at least 26 were acquitted or had charges dropped because of the consent defense.

In Massachusetts, former Salem police officer Brian Butler was arrested on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery in November 2016. He is accused of raping a man in a police station on Halloween.

The case is ongoing, but Khan and Decker told the Boston Globe Butler is defending the incident "on the ground that the sexual activity was consensual."

It is already illegal in Massachusetts for a correctional officer to have sex with an inmate, but the bill by Khan, of Newton, and Decker, of Cambridge, extends that protection to anyone interacting with an officer on duty.

The bill was heard in committee Monday, but a vote is not yet scheduled.A group of 170 Massachusetts doctors and several health care organizations are urging Gov. Charlie Baker to publicly oppose Republican attempts nationally to place further restrictions on food stamps.

"Restricting access to SNAP or cutting benefit levels threaten the health of our patients and make our job treating illness more difficult and costly," the doctors wrote.

SNAP refers to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, the official name of the food stamp program.

A Republican-sponsored farm bill that may go to the House floor this week would require food stamp beneficiaries who are able-bodied adults to work or attend a job training program for 20 hours a week to remain eligible for the benefits, beginning in fiscal 2021. The bill would create a new database to ensure recipients are not getting benefits in multiple states.

These are among several ideas Republicans have floated aimed at reducing the number of people on food stamps, eliminating abuse and giving welfare recipients incentives to work. Some Republicans have talked about drug testing welfare recipients. President Donald Trump proposed giving food stamp recipients a box of nonperishable food instead of an electronic debit card.

The letter to Baker, a Republican, was signed by the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, along with 170 doctors who work across the state.

The doctors urge Baker to "take a public stand against any cuts or harmful changes to SNAP in the 2018 Farm Bill" and to contact the National Governors Association and other state and federal politicians.

The doctors wrote that food insecurity has detrimental health effects and increases health care costs. "Any changes to SNAP that cut benefits or threaten the programs' effectiveness to respond to food insecurity will harm Massachusetts residents and likely increase health care costs," the doctors wrote.

They specifically voiced concerns about efforts to impose work requirements, increase paperwork, eliminate an eligibility connection between food stamps and fuel assistance and reinstate a "benefits cliff," in which someone's benefits would disappear as soon as they hit a particular income level, rather than decreasing gradually.

Baker has in the past spoken out against efforts by his own party that he believes would hurt Massachusetts. For example, Baker opposed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act that would have resulted in Massachusetts getting less Medicaid money.

The Republican / MassLive.com has left a message for Baker's spokesman seeking Baker's response.

FINAL Health Provider Letter to Gov Baker Re Farm Bill by Anonymous SnY0inh on ScribdBOSTON -- The Red Sox today reinstated knuckleballer Steven Wright from his 15-game suspension for a domestic violence policy violation.

Wright was arrested Dec. 8 on a domestic assault related charge.

His case was retired in court Dec. 21. The case will be dismissed next December if no other offenses occur in the meantime. He has said from the beginning he did not raise a hand at his wife Shannon. The confrontation was verbal.

"The policy's there and I messed it up," Wright said today in the Red Sox clubhouse. "It's something that was my wrongdoing. It was nothing else that anybody else did. I did it to myself. But I'm now just happy to have it behind me and just kind of move forward."

Wright began the season on the 10-day disabled list. The Red Sox activated him April 28. He then began serving his suspension.

Wright is out of minor league options. So the Red Sox had to activate him today.

"It definitely wasn't the highlight of my career," he said. "But it's in the past now. I can move forward and do everything I can to help the team win."

Wright is returning from knee surgery last May that cut his 2017 season short. He hasn't pitched in a major league game since April 29, 2017. He made five starts last season.

"It definitely feels good to finally be back," he said. "It's been over a year. So something I've been looking forward to pretty much ever since I hurt my shoulder (August 2016). And then it obviously got worse with the knee. It was tough being down at Florida without being around the guys. But I was able to use it as a time to really concentrate on getting healthy. I feel pretty good."

The Red Sox plan to use him out of the bullpen.

He said watching the team go 28-12 has been hard and exciting.

"It's definitely hard because you always want to be a part of it," he said. "But watching them, it's just been exciting. Every game they've got a chance to go out and do something that's just miraculous. So it's been fun to watch. I've definitely been rooting them on down in Florida and my time being down in Pawtucket."

Wright pitched in four rehab outings (two starts) for Pawtucket. He allowed seven earned runs in 14 2/3 innings (4.30 ERA).

He allowed just one run in his final two outings (seven innings).

"The first time I went out there it felt foreign because it had been so long since I went out there feeling healthy," he said. "But felt good. Every time I went out there I felt like I was able to stay more around the zone, change speeds. Just really start to get back to pitching with the knuckleball."SBA 504 Loans offered statewide! Real estate and equipment, acquisitions, renovation, and new construction. Low, fixed-rates up to 25 years with as little as 10% down.Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.On Tuesday, May 15, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce https://kalispellchamber.com/ will host its monthly luncheon from 11:45am to 1:15pm at the Red Lion Hotel in Downtown Kalispell. The event will focus on tourism, its impacts on Flathead Countys economy, and activities and organizations working to increase tourism year-round.

What:

Kalispell Chamber of Commerce May Luncheon

Who:

* Rob Ratkowski, Director of Glacier Park International Airport, speaking on increasing air service and future growth of the airport

* Dax Schieffer, Director of Voices of Montana Tourism, speaking on the Kalispell/Flathead County tourism economy and the importance of travel promotion to grow and sustain a tourism economy

* Ryan Weiss, Montanas Public Access Specialist for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, speaking on the growing need for recreation access for diverse uses in the winter and warm seasons, highlighting local projects

* Diane Medler, Director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, speaking on tourism promotion efforts of the KCVB in popular markets across North America

All speakers will be available for interviews.

Where:

Red Lion Hotel, 20 N. Main Street, Kalispell

When:

11:45am  1:15pm

About the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau:

Since 1904, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau https://kalispellchamber.com/ has been a leading voice in strengthening our community and the business climate, with the goal of making Kalispell and the Flathead Valley an ideal location to live and work. The Chamber consists of 700 businesses and organizations, which employ over half of the workforce in Flathead County, Montana.The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce is the longest-standing and leading advocate for the Flathead Valley community and business climate.Africa Oil Week has launched of first in a series of complimentary reports, produced in association with Wood Mackenzie. The report Opportunities for Africa in the Energy Transition, will be accompanied by a free-to-attend webinar taking place this Wednesday (29 July, 15:00 GMT+1).

Posing the question What does the energy transition mean for Africa?, the report explores the continents role in meeting global hydrocarbon demand and examines how Africas position as a hydrocarbon exporter will be challenged under various accelerated energy transition scenarios. It also looks at how net zero goals, electrification, and new technology deployments are accelerating the energy transition globally, whilst providing an overview of how these factors are at play within Africa.

Moderated by Wood Mackenzies Valentina Kretzschmar, the accompanying webinar will include frank discussions around both the challenges and opportunities for Africa in the energy transition. The expert contributors, listed below, will be on-hand to provide cutting-edge analysis and answer questions from the audience:

David Brown, Head of Markets & Transitions  Americas, Wood Mackenzie

Ville Rimali, Director  Growth & Development, Wartsila

Jonathan Evans, VP Africa New Ventures, BP Exploration

Ade Adeola, Managing Director, Energy & Natural Resources, Standard Chartered Bank

The report is available here (https://bit.ly/330FbNc)

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LinkedInJerol Sakita, the Penama VNCW President and the nurse serving with the Vanuatu Family Health speaking at the health awareness for women last Saturday.Carter Page already ADMITTED to being a Foreign Agent for Russia and had been embroiled in espionage cases.All the FISA court needed was information to show that there was CONTINUED concern on PAge for the THIRD renewal to be issued.FBI WARNED Carter Page about Russia. He ignored them.You have nothing jimLongWinded said: 1996.....



Not exactly true what he said. You have it all screwed up.







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TNV posting things that in fact disagree with his points? Color me not surprised.He misreads headlines and posts them all the time not realizing that they argue against him.. It's great fun reallyANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance is proposing the construction of a new $19 million dance building that would include a 100-seat performance venue on UM's North Campus.

The proposed construction of the new 24,000-square-foot building is on the agenda for the Thursday, May 17, UM Board of Regents meeting in Dearborn and would be funded by gifts, resources and investment proceeds from the SMTD.

The building would be located adjacent to Brehm Pavilion, on the southern end of the Earl V. Moore Building, "in order to create collaboration opportunities," according to the Board of Regents action request.

In addition to the performance venue, the new building would house dance studios, locker rooms and administrative space.

The architectural firm of TMP Architecture Inc. would design the project, if approved.

A new dance building would further expand the Earl V. Moore Building, which underwent a three-year, $29.5 million renovation and expansion that was completed in 2015 with the addition of Brehm Pavilion. The project was funded in part by $10 million in donations by UM benefactors William and Delores Brehm.

The renovation was completed to address a shortage of practice rooms, modernizing the 1950s-era building while providing additional storage, offices and classrooms.BAY CITY, MI -- Bay City is becoming the premier city in Mid-Michigan for marijuana-related businesses to sprout, and because of the growth, a business development group is working to educate more entrepreneurs on how to plant and nurture their budding businesses.

The Michigan Cannabis Business Development Group is hosting a series of small business conferences for cannabis entrepreneurs and lawmakers who want to learn more about the marijuana business. The conference will be held from 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bay City-Riverfront.

"We've seen Bay City really evolve their thought on marijuana laws," said Rick Thompson, spokesman for the Michigan Cannabis Business Development Group. "Its time the industry rewards communities who are supporting our businesses and our patients."

Several speakers will be at the conference to discuss topics such as licensing and regulatory affairs, banking options, insurance for businesses and residential growing operations.

Thompson said the business development group chose to bring the conference to Bay City because its leaders have embraced cannabis law reform and many of Bay County's municipalities are opting into the Medical Marijuana Facility Licensing Act.

In December 2017, Bay City commissioners approved an ordinance to allow medical marijuana facilities to operate within the city limits. As of Monday, May 8, the city had approved five dispensaries or provisioning centers. The ordinance allows 25 dispensaries in the city's limits.

"This (marijuana) is an issue that really is important to Bay region residents," Thompson said. "It is something that all of the communities are dealing with or are going to have to deal with in the immediate future, and it represents a change in revenue for some of the places that have not had new revenue stream for a very long time."

Followed by the conference, a networking mixer will be held at the downtown Bay City offices of the Medical Marijuana Licensing Experts.Dearborn police are deferring to Michigan state police and state police are releasing little information about the fatal shooting of a man who was allegedly carrying a loaded rifle while walking in Dearborn Heights Sunday, May 13.

"We have nothing new" to release at this time, State Police First Lt. Mike Shaw said when asked Monday whether footage of the shooting, specifically dashcam video, existed.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man who was killed as 38-year-old Jim Collins Jr. from Redford.

Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office spokeswoman Lisa Croff said a formal cause and manner of death was still pending.

Dearborn Heights Officer Involved Shooting Briefing https://t.co/OU50YvdKci  MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) May 13, 2018

State police were responding to a report of a distraught woman in the area of Telegraph and West Warren. While they never located the woman -- they did later spot her while reviewing surveillance footage from the area -- a responding officer spotted a man walking with a rifle near Boneyard BBQ.

"As the officer made contact with the individual, there were some words exchanged back and forth and the officer fired shots at the suspect, hitting him and killing him" Shaw said.

The Dearborn Heights Police Department contacted state police to conduct the third-party homicide investigation. The findings will be presented to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for review of any possible criminal wrongdoing.

MLive attempted to reach Dearborn Heights Police Chief Lee Gavin for comment, left a voicemail and is awaiting response.

While unusual to see, it is legal to openly carry firearms in Michigan.

"He wasn't contacted because of the open carry law," Shaw told MLive. "So that's a myth."

Shaw said the man was contacted because he was "acting strangely out there."

Shaw declined to discuss specifics of the resulting exchange between the man and Dearborn Heights police or answer a question about what led the officer to fire.

James Baker, a Detroit-area open-carry activist who's conducted marches with firearms on display in order to educate the public about their Second Amendment rights, says he doesn't know the man involved in this case.

Baker said people in the open-carry advocacy community are themselves trying to figure out what happened and determine how the man's decision to openly carry a rifle contributed to the shooting.

This was one of two fatal police-involved shootings in Detroit this weekend.

The other involved a 20-year-old Cody Reynolds of Royal Oak, who was shot and killed by a Royal Oak police officer about 3 a.m. Monday, May 14.

Police were looking for the man in connection with a domestic disturbance. Police said the man assault his father with a guitar and stabbed his mother.

When police responded and located the man walking in the area, Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O'Donohue said the man charged an officer, who opened fire.

This is also the second officer-involved shooting in Royal Oak in the last month.

An officer fatally shot Antonino T. Gordon shortly after 6 p.m. April 11 in the drive-thru of the White Castle fast food restaurant near 13 Mile and Shenandoah in Royal Oak.

Police said Gordon fled a traffic stop a short time before his death, but haven't said why he was shot.UPDATE:

Trio charged with torturing, trafficking woman for sex out of Flint home

FLINT, MI -- A woman who claimed she was held captive and escaped a Freeman Avenue home this weekend led police to what may be a possible human trafficking operation.

A woman called police from a nightclub on South Grand Traverse Street on Saturday, May 12, telling police she was held captive at a home in the 600 block of Freeman Avenue, according to Michigan State Police Spokesman Lt. Dave Kaiser.

Kaiser said there were no additional victims found on Saturday.

The state police are assisting the Flint Police Department on what may be a possible human trafficking investigation, Kaiser said.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach Flint police for comment on Monday, May 14.GRAND BLANC TWP, MI -- Grand Blanc Township police are warning drivers of the consequences of circling around "Road Closed" signs in the area of a new roundabout project.

The intersection of Hill and Belsay roads closed Monday, May 14, to allow for construction work in the area to begin, but Grand Blanc Township police posted a photo of several drivers continuing to approach the area.

"Trust us, we hate that Belsay and Hill is closed too. So, to keep you from getting a ticket and hating it even more, we want to warn all drivers that driving around the 'Road Closed' signs risks the safety of the workers, is 2 points and costs 140 bucks!" reads a department Facebook post.

Access to residential drives and businesses will be maintained during the project, which is expected to be completed by July 30, according to the Genesee County Road Commission.

*****THIS IS NOT A TEST...WE REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A TEST!***** The intersection of Hill and Belsay Roads is closed for construction! Posted by Grand Blanc Township Police Department on Monday, May 14, 2018

Police reminded motorists that cutting through the Rite Aid parking lot near the construction zone is also illegal, as it is not considered a road.

"Please adjust your routes to prevent meeting one of our Officers!" concluded the message.

The detour route is Perry Road, Irish Road, Bristol Road, and Center Road.

Work in the area is set to include the construction of a drainage system, concrete roundabout, asphalt approaches, drives, placement of signing, pavement markings, roadway lighting and removal of pavement.

The project is expected to cost approximately $796,000.LANSING, MI -- Protective sleeves will likely be wrapped around dented portions of the Line 5 oil and gas pipeline, which was damaged last month by a suspected anchor strike.

A timeline for the fix is not currently available, as Enbridge Energy still has to confirm plans with regulatory officials, according to company spokesperson Ryan Duffy.

A section of the Line 5 pipeline crosses the Straits of Mackinac in Lake Michigan.

The Line 5 damage occurred April 1 when, according to a lawsuit filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a boat owned by an Escanaba-based shipping company dragged its anchor through the Straits, causing the damage.

Although visible "impacts" to the company's twin pipelines crossing the Straits of Mackinac haven't compromised line integrity, it did warrant a precautionary reducing of maximum operating pressure, Duffy said.

The line's eastern leg sustained a dent of a little more than three-fourths of an inch and an abrasion to the outer coating, according to Peter Holran, Enbridge director of U.S. government affairs.

The two dents on the western leg were a little less than three-quarters of an inch and under a half-inch, he said. On both legs, the impacts were spaced about 24 inches apart.

The pipes are 20 inches in diameter and have a wall thickness of 0.8 inches, Holran said.

An underwater photograph of Enbridge Line 5's eastern leg shows what the company calls "apparent contact areas," which are circled, believed to be damage resulting from an April 1 incident in the Straits of Mackinac.

Once the protective sleeve is implemented, the maximum operating pressure precaution will be lifted, Duffy said.

The suspected strike also damaged American Transmission Company's high-voltage power cables running through the straits. An estimated 600 gallons of dielectric fluid leaked into the water as a result.

Jerome Popiel, a representative from the U.S. Coast Guard, categorized the spill as "minor" with negligible environmental effects.

"It wasn't a big deal in terms in what actually happened," Popiel said. "What could've happened is getting everyone's attention."

Popiel declined to give further information about the incident, citing the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Line 5 pipeline, built in 1953, runs 645 miles from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Canada, and transports up to 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and natural gas liquids per day.

The April 1 incident and the possibility of a major spill renewed calls for the aging pipeline to be shut down.

There are no restrictions to dropping or dragging anchor in the Straits of Mackinac, only an advisory.

"Mariners should use extreme caution when operating vessels in depths of water comparable to their draft in areas where pipelines and cables may exist and when anchoring, dragging or trawling," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states.

At the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board's May 14 meeting, the first since the Straits incident, the possibility of a "no-anchor zone" to protect from further, and possibly worse, anchor-strike incidents was briefly mentioned.

"I think that's definitely being looked at," said Scott Dean, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. "I think everyone is very focused on never seeing this happen again."

A problem with any anchor-drop ban, Dean said, is there must be stipulations that ensure protection of human life in cases where, for example, a ship is headed for collision with the Mackinac Bridge.

Dean cited awareness and warning campaigns as additional options.

Holran declined to say whether he's in favor of an anchor-drop ban in the Straits.

He told the board that Enbridge is working with the state and looking into safeguards which ensure vessels aren't acting "recklessly" or "negligently."

Mike Shriberg, Great Lakes executive director for the National Wildlife Federation and a member of Michigan's Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, said he supports an anchor-drop ban in the Straits, with the only exceptions being emergencies of life or death.

"We know that this is the No. 1 risk factor," Shriberg said. "We don't know how many times anchors have been dropped in the Straits."Josh Kuiper.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After being denied a pair of appeal requests, former Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Josh Kuiper is likely heading to trial.

Kuiper's trial was set for Oct. 1 during a status conference Monday, May 14, in Kent County Circuit Court.

The prosecution and defense met privately Monday, and they didn't discuss the case publicly in Judge J. Joseph Rossi's courtroom.

Kuiper is charged with reckless driving causing serious impairment and a moving violation causing serious impairment in connection to a Nov. 19, 2016 crash. He is accused of drunkenly driving the wrong way on a one-way road on Nov. 19, 2016, and injuring a man when he crashed into a parked vehicle.

The former prosecutor appealed his case to the Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court, but was denied by both courts. The Michigan Supreme Court's March 5 ruling sent the case back to Kent County Circuit Court.

Kuiper was driving his 2014 Toyota Tacoma around 12:30 a.m. Nov. 19 on Union Avenue, south of Fulton Street, when he crashed into a parked PT Cruiser. He told police he had previously been drinking at a retirement party for the then-outgoing prosecutor, William Forsyth.

Forsyth confirmed that he saw Kuiper earlier that evening and thought he may have consumed too much alcohol. He advised Kuiper not to drive.

At the time of the crash, Daniel Empson was retrieving his coat from his vehicle, which was struck by Kuiper's vehicle. Empson said he was thrown 60 feet, and suffered three broken bones in his back, a severe shoulder injury, laceration to his scalp and a possible concussion.

Empson sued Kuiper for negligence, and three local bars -- McFadden's Restaurant & Saloon, Luna, and J. Gardella's -- for over-serving the then-prosecutor. The parties reached a settlement in February, according to court records.

Police responding to the crash noticed Kuiper as an assistant prosecutor and attempted to not arrest him despite his apparent intoxication. Kuiper was cited for going the wrong way on a one-way street, and an officer gave Kuiper a ride to a relative's house in the area.

Former Lt. Matt Janiskee, the shift commander on duty at the time, was fired for his role in the cover-up. He told an officer on scene, "Let's pass him if we can. I'd like to pass him on sobriety just because."

A veteran police sergeant at the time concluded that Kuiper was intoxicated when he caused the wrong-way crash. Grand Rapids' police chief requested the additional investigation by the sergeant after the crash.

Officers Thomas Warwick and Adam Ickes were suspended and demoted. They are still employed by the Grand Rapids Police Department.

Evidence of the attempted cover-up was captured in voice recordings from a police department phone that was believed by many in the department to be the "non-recorded line."

MLive/The Grand Rapids Press filed a lawsuit against the city of Grand Rapids after officials refused to release the recorded phone calls tied to the crash. The state Court of Appeals sided with MLive in September 2017 and ordered that the city turn over the recordings.

Shortly after the crash, Kuiper resigned from the Kent County Prosecutor's Office. He is still a practicing attorney in Grand Rapids.

Kalamazoo Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting, who acted as special prosecutor in the case, chose not to charge Kuiper with operating while intoxicated causing serious injury because it carries the same penalty as the reckless driving charge.

Getting said it would have been difficult to prove the OWI charge in court because police didn't test Kuiper's blood or breathe after the crash.

Before the Oct. 1 trial, Kuiper is expected back in court for miscellaneous motions scheduled for June 8, according to court staff.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Grand Rapids police are working to get the word out that they are not actively searching for individuals who are in the country illegally.

Crime is often under-reported in Grand Rapids' Hispanic community, according to police, and a Hispanic business owner confirms that fear of a federal crackdown on undocumented individuals is reducing the calls to police for help.

Grand Rapids Police Capt. Geoffrey Collard wants to debunk that misconception. During a May 8 radio interview with local station "La Mejor GR," Collard said his department isn't interested in immigration status when responding to calls.

"Ultimately we want to keep people safe," he told the radio show host. "We want to have the safest community possible and the only way to do that is to work together and that people trust us to come and show up and not worry about anything other than what they need help with.

"We want to have people trust us so we can help in emergencies."

Collard told radio listeners that Grand Rapids police are here to enforce local and state laws, not federal immigration laws.

He said local officers do not seek out immigrants who are in the country illegally, and they're not actively passing names along to federal agencies. However, there are incidents when officers are obligated to assist ICE when asked.

Two days after the radio interview, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers knocked in the front door of a house on Sutton Street SE, and arrested Jose Sevilla Carcamo, a native of Honduras, according to a report by El Informador.

Carcamo was arraigned Friday, May 11, on six felony offenses related to illegally re-entering the country and using false identification documents, according to federal court documents.

A singular Grand Rapids police officer was assigned to standby while federal agents served the arrest warrant on Sutton Street. He wrote in his report that he did so without incident.

"We all know ICE and other groups have been in the city; federal agencies are going to do what they want to do and we don't have a lot of control over it," Collard said. "We're not going to show up (in response to a domestic call) and worry about that. We're going to make sure it's safe for the parent and the children."

Distinguishing between uniformed officers and what their intentions are can be difficult for people living in fear, according to Angelica Vasquez, owner of La Casa de la Cobija on South Division Avenue.

"I think they're afraid of all police," Vasquez said of the city's Hispanic community. "They're scared to call the police when they have problems. They don't know what will happen tomorrow."

Vasquez said she is a legal citizen but she often speaks with members of the community who live in fear of deportation. Those worries keep them from calling police to assist them in incidents like domestic violence.

She said spouses fear that their partner might be deported if police are dispatched to de-escalate a situation. In some homes, she said, families teach their children not to call 911 for similar reasons.

"The people, they have a misunderstanding," Vasquez said. "We have to be clear with it because the people have to call when they need help. It's very sad."

In November, the city commission adopted a new policy that prevents city officials and staff from asking residents about their immigration status.

Grand Rapids police are the exception to the rule, which concerned some community members. But Police Chief David Rahinsky said at the time that the Grand Rapids Police Department doesn't prioritize asking for immigration status.

Rahinsky said his department will not target immigrants, and adopted the Impartial Policing Policy in July.

Vasquez said she's had conversations with police near her store about perceptions within the Hispanic community. She acknowledged that officers have made changes in how they patrol the area as a result, and she is advocating for more police-community conversations to better understand each side's perspective.

Similarly, Collard said it's the department's goal to "take baby steps to show we care and we're interested in interacting in non-enforcement-type situations."

Vasquez said she plans to sit down with police next week to further discuss ways to educate members of the local Hispanic community, while educating officers on the community's fears.

"I love my people with all of my heart; it's a huge family here," Vasquez said. "If we work together we can have better life for everyone, for police, for the community and for the little ones."ROCKFORD, MI -- Academic experts from Michigan and North Carolina will talk per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, chemical pollution on a free online seminar with public viewing sessions happening this week at three locations in West Michigan.

The University of Michigan is hosting the live-feed presentation online Wednesday, May 16 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Viewings are at the Rockford North Middle School and Grand Valley State University facilities in Grand Rapids and Muskegon.

Three speakers will discuss the PFAS groundwater contamination events in Michigan, with an emphasis on "the process of building scientific knowledge about the scope of the contamination and its public health impacts," according to an event flier.

The panelists will also talk about potential contamination solutions.

Panelists will take audience questions submitted from each location and online after the formal presentation ends at 5:30 p.m. There will be a moderator at each location.

Panelists include:

Richard Rediske, an environmental chemistry and toxicology professor at the Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute. Rediske has been actively involved with community groups, decision makers and the media related to PFAS since he helped bring Wolverine World Wide's use of the chemistry to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality attention. He will describe key events of the Rockford area PFAS investigation, "focusing on what is currently known about its environmental scope and impacts, and what is known and not known about population exposure."

Rita Loch-Caruso, a toxicology and environmental health sciences professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Loch-Caruso's research focuses on health effects of environmental exposures and she speaks regularly with community groups about the public health effects of groundwater contaminants. She will present current knowledge on the public health impacts of PFAS.

Detlef Knappe, a professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University. Knappe's research has focused on unregulated contaminants in drinking water. In 2016, his research group identified high levels of a PFAS chemical with the tradename GenX in the drinking water of communities in the Cape Fear River Basin of North Carolina. He will be presenting about his experience with GenX and other PFAS chemicals. Knappe will discuss pathways by which the chemicals enter the environment, their impact on drinking water quality and the effectiveness of PFAS home filters.

The webinar is presented by the Michigan Center on Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease (M-LEEaD) University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Live viewing locations:

* Rockford North Middle School, 397 E. Division Street NE

* GVSU Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, Room CHS 233, 301 Michigan Ave NE, Grand Rapids

* GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 West Shoreline Drive, Muskegon

Attendees can register at this link.CHEBOYGAN, MI - A woman was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted after she was unwillingly pulled into a van in Northern Michigan, according to Cheboygan County Sheriff Dale Clarmont.

According to a news release, the 33-year-old female from Cheboygan was walking on Main Street near Mickey's Mini Mart south of Cheboygan at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 13 when she was forced into the van by two male subjects.

The victim said she was taken to the dead end of Duncan Bay Drive on the east side of the city where she was sexually assaulted. Police are investigating the claims.

Clarmont said the suspects in this case are familiar with the area and knew where they were taking the victim, according to a news release.

The victim described the van as a dark blue, 1990's-style, full-size van with a possible side sliding door. Make is unknown. There was shelving in the back of the van but no seats. The vehicle is possibly used as a work van, police said.

The driver of the van is described as a white male in his 50s, approximately 5' 7", with a slender build with short blading gray hair.

The second suspect is also a white male, but in his 40s. He is also described as having a slender-tall build, but with brown/black shaggy hair that covers his ears.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cheboygan County Sheriff Department at 231-627-3155.The Trump administration has blocked a Centers for Disease Control study that is poised to recommend a safety level for PFAS exposure in drinking water that's six times lower than the current benchmark guiding federal and state contamination response efforts in Michigan, according to emails reported by Politico.

According to one email, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has yet to release new draft toxicological profiles for several per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, after White House aides deemed the new levels a "public relations nightmare" in January.

The Environmental Protection Agency's current health advisory level for PFOS and PFOA -- two PFAS compounds that ATSDR is studying -- is 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt). It was set in 2016.

The ATSDR, the toxicological arm of the CDC, thinks the "minimal risk level" should be dropped to less than 12-ppt for some PFAS chemicals, based on its finding that exposure above that level "could be dangerous for sensitive populations like infants and breastfeeding mothers."

The ATSDR defines minimal risk levels as estimates of "the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse non-cancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure."

According to the emails, the agency's report include toxicological profiles of PFNA and PFHxS in addition to PFOS and PFOA. The ATSDR says that PFHxS -- a chemical closely associated with PFAS-laden firefighting foam -- has the longest half-life in the human body of any PFAS compund.

Adequacy of the 70-ppt benchmark has been the subject of substantial debate, with regulators and polluters generally loathe to endorse lower levels and public health advocates pointing to new studies calling its effectiveness into question.

According to the Environmental Working Group, the proposed ATSDR levels are is based on weakened immune systems among exposed populations. The levels are not legally binding standards, but rather screening levels intended to help toxicologists understand the risk at hazardous waste sites.

But even non-enforceable levels can have major real world impact.

The U.S. Defense Department will not supply long-term safe water to homes near current and former military bases contaminated by PFAS unless the well tests above 70-ppt.

Wolverine World Wide, which is being sued by the state and more than 100 residents in Kent County after polluting the Rockford and Belmont area groundwater with PFAS from tannery waste, has recently used 70-ppt as a cutoff threshold for supplying whole-house filtration systems in some houses with contaminated wells.

Wolverine has called 70-ppt a "very conservative" safety benchmark. Through a spokesperson Monday, Wolverine called it "imprudent" to speculate on unpublished findings when asked if the new report alters the company's position.

Earlier this year, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality used the EPA's level to set cleanup criteria for PFOS and PFOA in groundwater used for drinking water and quickly filed a lawsuit against Wolverine once the rule was published.

At a conference on April 25, Kathleen Shirey, acting DEQ remediation division director, called the new standard a "challenge" because 70-ppt is "very, very low and we're still looking at what levels you find commonly in the environment."

The DEQ has a lower enforceable PFAS level used for surface waters used as a drinking water source. That level, 12-ppt for PFOS, was developed to guide fish consumption advisories several years before PFAS contamination became widely known.

The state of Michigan has convened a PFAS science panel to explore whether the state should adopt a PFAS drinking water standard below 70-ppt.

"The significance of the conflict between the ATSDR's minimal risk level and the EPA's health advisory is that yet another group of scientists have looked at the evidence and decided that the EPA levels are too high to protect public health," said David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group.

In Michigan, advocates for a lower PFAS safety level called the report troubling and called on the Trump administration to release the findings. They also called for independent action by state regulators and lawmakers.

To date, there are more than 30 known PFAS sites in well over a dozen Michigan communities. That number is expected to climb as more testing is conducted.

"These findings are consistent with studies conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, which have previously been ignored by both the EPA and the State of Michigan," said Anthony Spaniola, a Troy attorney who owns a cottage on Van Etten Lake, which is polluted with PFAS from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda.

"In light of the identified health risks to children and breastfeeding mothers, the White House and the EPA should release the findings without further delay, and the EPA and the State of Michigan should immediately implement enforceable drinking water standards that are consistent with the suppressed federal findings," he said.

Lisa Wozniak, director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, said it's "past time for our elected officials here in Michigan to take the reins."

State Rep. Winnie Brinks, a Democrat from Grand Rapids who introduced a bill to establish 5-ppt as the enforceable PFAS level in Michigan drinking water, called the revelations "troubling, but not surprising."

"The fact that the Trump Administration and the EPA are concerned about a public relations disaster is a perfect example of how our government is out of touch and failing to protect its people from this contaminant across the country," she said.

"I have been calling for much more precautionary levels in our state for months. It's way past the time to start having a real conversation about the actual health impacts that these chemicals have."

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, says he wrote to both the EPA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services demanding release of the report.

"Americans deserve to have the most up-to-date information regarding these chemicals that are increasingly affecting many people's lives," Kildee said.JACKSON, MI - The parent company of Consumers Energy is off to a record start to 2018, with a net income of $241 million.

It marks the best quarter for CMS Energy since the company restructured in the early 2000s, Consumers Senior Public Information Director Brian Wheeler said. A chunk of the success, however, is due to federal tax reform.

In 2017, the public utility netted $199 million. CMS managed to make more money before taxes in 2017 than 2018, however.

CMS paid $40 million in income taxes in the first quarter this year, compared to $96 million during the same period in 2017, Wheeler said. The corporate tax rate was cut from 35 percent to 21 percent through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

A chunk of those savings will be given back to customers, as CMS has proposed a plan to the Michigan Public Service Commission to give customers $200 million in 2018. Consumers had $65.8 million in electric rate increases approved in March and is seeking $178 million in gas rate increases later this year.

The first quarter has traditionally been strong for CMS - it's been the highest earning quarter of the year in four of the last five years.

The $241 million income in the first quarter equates to 86 cents per share. Jackson-based CMS also credits weather and cost savings in a press release for the record number.

Here's a look at earnings numbers since 2010, the earliest data available on the CMS Energy website.

2010:

First quarter: $85 million, 34 cents per share

Second quarter: $80 million, 32 cents per share

Third quarter: $134 million, 53 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $25 million, 9 cents per share

2011:

First quarter: $135 million, 52 cents per share

Second quarter: $100 million, 38 cents per share

Third quarter: $139 million, 53 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $41 million, 15 cents per share

2012:

First quarter: $67 million, 25 cents per share

Second quarter: $100 million, 37 cents per share

Third quarter: $148 million, 55 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $67 million, 25 cents per share

2013:

First quarter: $144 million, 53 cents per share

Second quarter: $80 million, 29 cents per share

Third quarter: $126 million, 46 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $102 million, 37 cents per share

2014:

First quarter: $204 million, 75 cents per share

Second quarter: $83 million, 30 cents per share

Third quarter: $94 million, 34 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $96 million, 35 cents per share

2015

First quarter: $202 million, 73 cents per share

Second quarter: $67 million, 25 cents per share

Third quarter: $148 million, 53 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $106 million, 38 cents per share

2016

First quarter: $164 million, 59 cents per share

Second quarter: $124 million, 45 cents per share

Third quarter: $186 million, 67 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $77 million, 27 cents per share

2017

First quarter: $199 million, 71 cents per share

Second quarter: $92 million, 33 cents per share

Third quarter: $172 million, 61 cents per share

Fourth quarter: $147 million, 52 cents per share

2018:KALAMAZOO, MI -- Four days after Kalamazoo County assistant corporation counsel Amber Beebe told her bosses she intended to file a civil rights complaint, Beebe was terminated for workplace misconduct and violating county policies.

Documents obtained by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette through the Freedom of Information Act show Beebe, who is African American, said the county trumped up a reason to fire her after it was clear she would be filling a grievance alleging discrimination based on her race and disability status.

"The way this is being handled shows implicit and explicit bias," Beebe said in a letter to the Board of Commissioners. "I have done nothing more than do a good job since I began working for the county ... The fact that the white administration, its new corporation counsel and labor counsel are allowed to attack me in this manner is disgusting."

Beebe declined to comment for this story after consulting with her legal counsel.

Board Chair Stephanie Moore said she is "disheartened at the way she (Beebe) was treated and the way her employment ended with the county."

"I was not surprised there was an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, nor was I surprised at her allegations of discrimination," Moore said. "If you look at the county and their (management) hiring process and promotions, especially women of color, you'll see a pattern there. That's not necessarily a place that is welcoming and accepting of diversity and inclusion."

According to a termination notice, Beebe was fired for using county resources to maintain a private law practice, insubordination and raising a "reckless and baseless" allegation against Administrator Tracie Moored regarding access to emails. Beebe denied this claims, according to county documents.

"The County emphatically denies any allegation that it discriminated against Ms. Beebe at any time or for any reason," Corporation Counsel Elizabeth White said in an email Friday. "Ms. Beebe was terminated as a result of information obtained during the course of the investigation. Her termination was not related to any statement that she intended to file a civil rights complaint."

Civil rights complaint

Beebe performed the duties of corporation counsel for six months while the county worked to find a replacement for Thom Canny -- who took a job with the County Circuit Court and Probate Court court last October.

White, who worked in the Grand Rapids city attorney's office for 15 years, started as Kalamazoo County's corporation counsel Monday, March 19.

An hour after sending a Friday, March 23, email informing human resources and White she was filing discrimination complaints, Beebe said she was escorted off county property by two human resources employees. She was then placed on paid leave while the county investigated her claims.

Beebe was terminated on Tuesday, March 27. She was an at-will employee and could be terminated without cause, according to county documents.

In a letter to Beebe, the county's newly hired chief legal officer said issues of insubordination, making false claims "and others" left White unable to trust Beebe after serving only a few days as her supervisor.

Canny had no documented issues with Beebe's professional conduct. In a 2017 performance evaluation, she received ratings of "above expectations" in all but one category.

Moored declined to comment when asked if Beebe had performance issues while serving as Canny's temporary replacement.

A grievance alleging Beebe was terminated illegally was filed with the county board chair on April 1. The county denied the grievance, but the denial was signed by Vice Chair Dale Shugars after Moore recused herself from the process.

"I specifically did not sign on the response the county gave to her grievance letter," Moore said. "That should speak volumes of where I'm at."

Charges of discrimination based on Beebe's race and disability status were filed with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights five days later, on April 6.

Beebe said in the complaint that the discrimination began in July 2017. She requested a standing desk due to chronic back spasms, but was not accommodated.

"I believe that I was discharged in retaliation for complaining (and) denied reasonable accommodations of my disability," Beebe wrote in the civil rights complaint.

Moored declined to answer a question posed by MLive about why Beebe was not given a standing desk.

After a brief investigation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission informed Beebe that the file on her complaint was closed. Based on its investigation, the commission was unable to conclude the law was broken, according to a claim dismissal form on file with the county.

"This does not certify that the respondent is in compliance with the statutes," the April 16 notice reads. "No finding is made as to any other issues that might be construed as having been raised by this charge."

Before the EEOC complaint was investigated, Beebe said she intended to sue the county. Court records show no lawsuits have been filed in county or federal court, as of Friday, May 10.

Allegations on both sides

After Canny's departure, Beebe served as his temporary replacement while a search was initiated to permanently fill the position. She was not given an interim position, which would have come with a pay increase.

Moored declined to explain why Beebe was not given the interim title.

After a few months serving as Canny's replacement, Beebe formally applied for the permanent corporation counsel position in January.

She was not asked to interview. It was determined other candidates had skills and experience that presented a stronger fit for the position, according to county records.

Beebe was placed on paid leave on Friday, March 23. White sent Beebe a notice of the allegations against her on Monday, March 26.

Beebe denied allegations of misconduct in writing and in a meeting with the county's human resources director.

She was fired the next day.

Beebe's grievance states she was removed from county property the previous week so her work computer could be searched for "anything incriminating that could be used to terminate me and/or find a defense to the pending EEOC charge."

White said Beebe violated policy by maintaining an active private law practice without prior approval or notice from the county, according to county documents.

Beebe's said website advertising her private practice was created before she became a county employee in September 2016. No new clients were generated from the website, she said, though Beebe was active in cases before her employment.

The previous corporation counsel was made aware of the active cases when Beebe was hired, she said in a written response to the allegations. There is no evidence that she worked on the cases while county time or with county resources, she said.

In a notice of allegations sent on March 26, the day before Beebe was terminated, White said Beebe did not follow three directives given in White's first week as her boss.

First, White said, Beebe claimed the county administrator hacked the email of another employee to obtain information about a FOIA request Beebe processed. White said Beebe ignored her request to provide a written memo substantiating the allegation of hacking.

Beebe said in the letter that Administrator Tracie Moored accessed emails from a health department employee after Beebe advised against it.

"The allegation that Ms. Moored improperly accessed employee emails is also false," White said in an email to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette, also stating that such an action would be legal if it did occur.

Beebe said she did not have enough time to complete a memo, but sent White an email with some information.

White told Beebe not to directly communicate with the Board of Commissioners. White wanted all communications with the corporation counsel's office to come through her.

Beebe forwarded this email to the board chair, which White categorizes as insubordination. Beebe said she only sent the email so Moore would know about the new procedure.

White also directed Beebe to keep her door open at work. Beebe said she found it out of the ordinary, but her door remained open unless she was out of the office, in a meeting or needed quiet to focus.KALAMAZOO, MI -- A decade-long effort was realized Sunday when nearly 50 students became the first graduates of the new WMU medical school.

The inaugural Class of 2018 of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine crossed the stage at Miller Auditorium Sunday, May 13, marking a first for the medical school that was merely a vision a decade ago.

"Yesterday we were students. Today we are doctors. Tomorrow we will be interns," Dr. Jacqueline Dauch, student speaker at Sunday's event, said to her classmates.

The class "proudly represented WMed" throughout their four years in school, which taught them that "being a good doctor is predicated on being a good human being," Dauch said to the new doctors and the crowd of proud friends and family gathered on the WMU campus.

The historic graduation is the final step in the school's first cycle, Founding Dean Dr. Hal Jenson said during the commencement. The inaugural class was "exceptional," he said. "The bar is high."

Green hoods came over the heads of each of the 48 former students before they received their diplomas. Cheers and applause from the crowd of proud parents, siblings and children rang out as each graduate was called doctor for the first time.

Crossing the stage was "nerve wracking, but exciting," graduate Dr. Nina Sadigh, said after the commencement.

Another graduate, Dr. Gus Zervoudakis, said words like "trailblazer" and "pioneer" are used often to describe the class. But it wasn't until Sunday when he felt the true weight of those words.

"Today you look back over the past four years, all the rough spots you've hit, all the mountains you've climbed," Zervoudakis said. "You look back and you see the product and those words really come to life and have meaning on days like today."

Planning for the new medical school began in 2008, only a year after former WMU President John Dunn arrived in Kalamazoo. The school was built with private donations, including a $100 million gift from Ronda Stryker, the granddaughter of Homer Stryker, and her husband, Bill Johnston, who serves on WMU's Board of Trustees.

The medical school was granted full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in 2018. The seven-year journey toward accreditation began in 2011 when WMed first began preparing for the LCME accreditation. In 2012, WMed was granted preliminary accreditation, which allowed for the acceptance of student applications for the class of 2018.

"This is a day we've been looking forward to for many years," Jenson said in an interview after the commencement ceremony.

Former WMU President John Dunn, who first challenged the campus community in 2007 to consider developing a medical school, said in an interview it was a "day of pride not only for the medical school, but also for our community."

Creation of the school not only provided education, but it also brought a vibrancy to the community, helped the local economy and helped "people understand what a great place this is," Dunn said.

"What we started out, with just sort of a vision has come to fulfillment, and it will only get better, and better and better," Dunn added.

Dr. Alan Shapiro, senior medical director of Community Pediatric Programs at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York, gave the commencement address Sunday. He was also the keynote speaker at the White Coat Ceremony for the Class of 2018 in September 2014.

Shapiro, talked about disease epidemics, gun violence, obesity and inequities in healthcare as issues the new doctors might face. He encouraged the graduates to always "practice humanism in medicine," and said it was not about what they practiced, but rather how they practiced.

Shapiro said the doctors must always approach patients free of bias and judgment and be advocates for affordable and accessible healthcare.

The commencement speaker talked about the HIV epidemic, babies born addicted to heroin, and the Flint Water Crisis before encouraging the graduates to remember the role of doctors to "fight medical inequity and social injustice."

"What values will you bring to your practice?" Shapiro asked the graduates during his address. "Humanism in medicine requires empathy and respect, even if you don't like your patient's personal choices."

Sunday's message was significant, Sadigh said after the commencement. It is "important to keep in mind, especially as very fresh doctors, to make sure we embody that as we go on," she said.Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,May 14, 2018

The 'Kingmaker' Is Back - Muqtada Al-Sadr Wins The Election In Iraq

On Saturday the people of Iraq voted for a new parliament.

The surprising winner is the Sairoon coalition of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Communist Party of Iraq. According to the preliminary results it gained 54 parliament seats. There are a total of 320 seats in the Iraqi parliament and complicate multiparty coalitions are necessary to gain a majority and to elect a new Prime Minister.

The Fatah Coalition headed by Hadi al-Amiri came in second with 47 seats. The Nasr coalition of the current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is third with 42 seats. The party of former premier Maliki is lagging behind with 25 seats.

Two, three or four of the larger blocks will have to find a coalition agreement that will also accommodate dozens of smaller parties with two or three parliament seats.

For outsiders Iraqi politics can be somewhat surprising. The female candidate of the Communist Party in the Shia holy city of Najaf, Suhad al-Khateeb, wears a Hijab. She is a scion of the Marjaiyya (religious establishment) family Saleem Adel. The Communist Party is allied with rabble rouser Moqtada al-Sadr. She won her parliament seat.

Muntaza Al Zaidi (vid), the Iraqi journalist who in 2008 threw his shoes at George W. Bush (vid) also won a seat.

This was the first election after the war against ISIS in Iraq has been won. It was feared that ISIS underground cells would interrupt the election by attacking candidates or voting locales but nothing significant happened.

With only 44.5% of the people voting the participation was abysmal. The last elections had participation rates above 60%. One reason might have been the generic election campaigns of the establishment parties. They lacked arguments on issues and policies. Fortunately sectarianism played only a small role with some Shia candidates winning large shares of Sunni votes and vice versa.

The low participation rates favored those parties and personalities with a large direct following. These "whale parties" will now have to make further coalition deals. It is quite possible that Prime Minister Abadi, whose party lost significantly, will stay in his office and lead a new coalition government in which he has less say. Muqtada al-Sadr will be the one who decides that.



Muqtada al-Sadr after voting in Saturday's election - bigger

The forty-four year old Muqtada al-Sadr is the son of a Grand Ayatollah who was assassinated under Saddam Hussein. The traditional political base of the al-Sadres is in the poor of Baghdad. Sadr city in Baghdad is named after his father. Muqtada and his followers in the Mahdi Army viciously fought the U.S. occupiers as well as sectarian Sunni gangs. In 2006 the U.S. planned to kill him and al-Sadr fled to Iran. U.S. media called him "anti-American" but Sadr is simply an Iraqi nationalist. He settled in Qom and tried to acquire higher theological credentials. Academically he was said to be a rather dim bulb and his studies went nowhere. He still lacks higher clerical credentials. Al-Sadr is disliked by the Iranian government and clerics as an unreliable and unthankful maniac.

During the U.S. occupation of Iraq we wrote quite a bit about Muqtada. Commentators at Moon of Alabama nicknamed him Mookie.

Over the last ten years Muqtada took the non-sectarian position traditionally associated with his father. He criticized the corruption of the political class but mostly from the sideline. Muqtada has lately partnered with the Iraqi communists and with secular candidates. His coalition campaigned on an anti-establishment note. His regained significance might help to clean up the patronage policies and corruption that long paralyzed Iraqi politics.

Muqtada has good contacts with the Saudis. His meeting with the Saudi Clown Prince Mohamad bin-Salman in July 2017 took place in an airport conference room. It lacked the usual gold and glitter of Saudi royalty. One wonders which side proposed the low drama location.

The Saudis will likely find, like everyone else before them, that Muqtada is uncontrollable. After this election neither the Saudis nor Iran nor the U.S. will have much political influence in Iraq. While Iran has strong economic and religious ties with Iraq its political meddling is much despised. The U.S. is seen as manipulative. Everyone believes that it created ISIS and Al-Qaeda and most Iraqis want all U.S. troops to leave.

Iraq has many serious problems. The economy is in bad shape. As the Turks build more and more upstream dams water in Iraq is getting scarce. The Kurds are not loyal to the Iraqi state. They think of vengeance after Baghdad took Kirkuk back from them. The Islamic State will try to come back. U.S. threats and machinations against Iran will make Iraqi foreign policy more complicate.

After the crushing experience of the last two and a half decades the people of Iraq truly deserve peace and a government that cares about their needs. Muqtada al-Sadr's strong position will help to form a less corrupt and more technocratic government that actually solves problems.

The next Iraqi government will try to keep Iraq out of the U.S.-Iran conflict. That will likely be in vain.

Posted by b on May 14, 2018 at 14:39 UTC | Permalink

CommentsWelcome to Morningstar.co.uk!

You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.Crown Holdings (CCK) disclosed in its first-quarter 10-Q filing that it now expects to incur a loss related to a 2015 German investigation into anticompetitive pricing. German investigators have now handed over control of the case to the European Commission after finding evidence of wrongdoing. Crowns shares have fallen more than 5% since the May 2 filing, in contrast to rival Balls (BLL) shares, which have remained steady. This reaction appears to overestimate the severity of the fine that we expect to be imposed on Crown, and we are maintaining our $59 fair value estimate. With the shares trading nearly 25% below our fair value estimate, we think long-term investors could take advantage of an attractive entry point in this narrow-moat company.

Our fair value estimate assumes a $25.3 million fine following a review of European cartel laws, applicable fines, and Crowns disclosures to date. The case includes an investigation into German, U.K., and French operations, limited in scope to food cans. Based on Crowns disclosures, the company turned over evidence of wrongdoing by German employees within six months of the investigation in 2015, and the case cites a duration of several years. In our base- and bull-case scenarios, we assume that only 2013-15 German revenue is exposed to fines by the European Commission. We also expect that Crowns early cooperation will qualify the company for a 25%-40% fine reduction under the European Commissions cartel leniency policy. Before leniency, the assessed sales penalty rate is 7% in our base case and 5% in our bull case.Union Home and Alliance Deal; Reverse Mortgage Changes; Fed Speeches This Week

Forward lenders cant ignore that 10,000 people a day in the U.S. turn 62. Of course, not every one owns a home, or has appreciation  but many do. And thus, plenty of lenders now have reverse mortgage departments. All FHA HECMs are non-recourse loans. The borrower or the estate will never owe more than the value of the subject property at loan maturity. In many instances, reverse mortgage borrowers walk away from a reverse mortgage with equity! (More below on reverse lending development and law changes.)



Reverse News

The Federal Savings Bank (TFSB), one of the largest privately held federally chartered banks in America focused on residential home lending, announced plans to offer its Member Reverse Mortgage Program to credit unions nationwide. Since most credit unions do not offer reverse mortgages to their members, this partnership with TFSB is an opportunity for credit unions to better serve their growing population of retirement-aged members through this expanded product offering. The partnerships will be based strictly on a referral basis and allow TFSB to educate more seniors about this less-known option to plan for a secure financial future. (Learn more about TFSBs Member Reverse Mortgage at www.creditunionreversemortgage.org.)

FHA has released Version 2.5 of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Calculation Software on its Home Equity Conversion Mortgages for Lenders (HECMs) webpage under Software. Version 2.5 of the HECM Calculation Software (Calculator) includes the new Initial Mortgage Insurance Premium (IMIP) formula for HECM refinance cases.

Washington has enacted House Bill 2057, an Act relating to the services and processes available when residential real property is abandoned or in foreclosure (the Act). The Act is effective as of June 7, 2018. The Act modifies provisions relating to nonjudicial foreclosures, required beneficiary remittances, notice of pre-foreclosure for residential reverse mortgages, and a process for when residential real property is determined by a local government to be abandoned, in mid-foreclosure, and a nuisance.

The state of New York modified its Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law and Civil Practice Law and Rules relating to foreclosure upon a reverse mortgage. The provisions regarding reverse mortgage loans, including a new disclosure and defining a reverse mortgage as a home loan, become effective immediately and are deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after April 20, 2017. A home loan shall include a loan secured by a reverse mortgage if the following requirements are met: The borrower is a natural person; The debt is incurred by the borrower primarily for personal, family or household purposes; The loan is secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on real estate improved by one to four family dwelling or a condominium unit used or occupied or intended to be used or occupied wholly or partly, as the home or residence of one or more persons and which is or will be occupied by the borrower as the borrowers principal dwelling; and the property is located in the state of New York.

Register for Plazas May 15th webinar on how to use the Reverse Mortgage to purchase a home.

Dan Ribler with Baseline Reverse tells us, Total new production bond issuance in March and April 2018 was $817MM vs total new production issuance in the same period of 2017 of $1,092MM, (so) volumes are down ~25% vs the good ol days of 2017. Its also worth noting that November and December were massive new issuance months vs the rest of 2017. AAG set the pace again in April, issuing $103.5MM of new production bonds, $92MM of which was Annual LIBOR. The $103.5MM represents 25.8% market share. This is down from 29.4% market share and $122MM of new production bonds in March. With $77.7MM of new production bonds in April, FAR captured 19.4% market share, in line with the $77.8 they issued in March. In April RMF issued $70.8MM of new production, down from $85.6MM the month prior. Ocwen created $62.3MM in April to take 15.5% of the market, up from 11% share on $45.9MM in March. Rounding out the top 5, Longbridge captured just under 11% of the market, creating $43.6MM in new production bonds. (As always, fully interactive charts are available on our site with loan level data available in Baseline Universe.)

Earlier in the year, new HMBS issuance (containing Ginnie Mae backed Home Equity Conversion Mortgages  HECMs), were at $1.26 billion so far in 2018, compared to $1.04 billion for the first two months of 2017. For the month of February, American Advisors Group (AAG) led the way with $149.8MM/24.7% followed by, Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF) ($122.3MM /20.1%), Finance of America Reverse (FAR) ($112.3MM/18.5%), Longbridge Financial at ($84.8MM/14.0%), Live Well Financial ($67.3MM/11.7%), and Ocwen Loan Servicing ($53.1MM/8.7%). RMF issued $689 million of seasoned pools in February.



Capital Markets

Sure, rates are heading higher this year, but for now theyre pretty quiet. The 10-year closed unchanged at 2.97% to end Friday, unmoved despite President Trump announcing he planned on cutting prescription drug prices in half. Follow what he does vs. what he says, is what one MBS trader told me recently.

This week's calendar is heavy on Fedspeak  its everywhere! There are speakers scheduled for all but Friday. This includes the vetting of PIMCO's Rich Clarida (for Vice Chair) and Michelle Bowman (Governor) by the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday morning. April retail sales is the data highlight on Tuesday with reports on inventories, TIC flows, housing and industrial production also scheduled.

Coming in this morning there was a lot of big news on the US-China trade front and this is helping to propel S&P futures higher  but having little impact on bonds. Today sees little on the data front, save the usual Monday T-bill business, two Fed speakers, and the NY Fed releasing its Survey of Consumer Expectations for April at 11:00am. Tomorrow things pick back up April Retail Sales, Retail Sales ex-auto, and May Empire Manufacturing (prior 15.8). Additionally, we will have March Business Inventories (prior 0.6%) and May NAHB Housing Market Index (prior 69). We begin the trading week with rates up a smidge: the 10-year is yielding 2.98% and agency MBS prices are down a shade versus Fridays close.



Lender Products and Training

New Penn Financial has launched a new High Balance Extra product thats perfect for borrowers exceeding max conforming loan limits. This proprietary product provides attractive benefits such as DU risk assessment allowing for reduced documentation and reserve requirements. Some of the highlights include: Loan Amounts up to $750,000 with no county restrictions, 90% LTV with no MI, FICOs down to 680, DTI to 45% and Cash out to $500,000. Visit www.GoNewPenn.com to learn more.

Do you use Cenlar as your subservicer? Richey May & Co., a public accounting firm recognized as the leader in providing audit, tax, compliance and oversight services within the industry, will once again be conducting a review over Cenlar in early June to assist companies with their monitoring and oversight responsibilities. Richey Mays oversight report is over 120 pages and includes interviews with all servicing departments as well as compliance, internal audit, QC, IT and Vendor Management. It also offers loan-level testing specific to a clients portfolio in numerous and varied servicing areas. To learn more about Richey Mays comprehensive oversight review program and the upcoming review over Cenlar, or to participate in the oversight review already conducted earlier this year over Dovenmuehle, please contact Kevin Lohry.

Caliber Home Loans, Inc. recently expanded its mobile platform to now support its wholesale brokers. CaliberH2O is a feature rich mobile app that puts the power of Calibers proprietary H2Online system, conveniently in the palm of their brokers hands. Brokers can search, price and lock loans from the app, which syncs real-time with the online platform. Caliber CEO Sanjiv Das said, Caliber's investment in technology provides a new level of service for our wholesale business partners than ever before. Through a secure digital platform, mortgage professionals can take their business outside of the office and have information readily available at their fingertips. To learn more ways CaliberH2O can work for a brokers business, watch this short video. The mobile app is currently available to download in both the App Store and Google Play.

Join this weeks webinar  Mortgage Sales & Marketing Boot Camp: 6 Tips to Master Marketing  on May 18, from 10-10:45am PT. Register here. If youre interested in making a real impact on your companys bottom line with your marketing efforts, this is the webinar for you! Join this webinar to learn how to unify your end-to-end marketing to sales process for a better borrower experience. Industry experts Dale Vermillion (Mortgage Champions) and Josh Friend (Insellerate) will go over best practices around creating a seamless lead journey to maximize conversion. Register today to learn how to get more out of your current marketing spend, email best practices, and how to improve content engagement.

eRAMP reduces MERS workload by 70% or more with batch processing. Submit 25, 500 or more loans to MERS in minutes. All transaction types supported; Registration, Update, Transfer of Rights and more. eRAMP has been the leader in batch processing MERS transactions for nearly 15 years. Lenders with LendingQBs loan origination system receive additional benefits through our LQB integration including eRAMPs exclusive registration confirmation report uploading into EDocs. Its all about more loans, less work. If you are interested in learning more about eRAMP, contactGreg Uttal (818.917.2265) or visit www.oncyberlink.com.



Employment and Personnel Moves

Congratulations to Jim Anderson, Aaron Shepler, and Mike Floyd who have joined First Look Appraisals leadership team. Jim Anderson joins as EVP of Business Development and Strategy, overseeing advancements for strategic growth. Jim stated, the people, processes and proprietary technology at First Look will positively disrupt the industry and provide lenders and appraisers a best-in-class solution. Aaron Shepler is Chief Technology Officer and architect of First Looks proprietary technology, Docent, that provides complete visibility and pro-active control over appraisal orders. Along with 15 years of experience leading development teams, Aaron previously served as CTO for the largest independent AMC in the US. Mike Floyd, Chief Corporate Appraiser, has over 20 years of appraisal industry experience including ten years as Chief Corporate Appraiser for a large national AMC. Mike directs appraisal quality control policy and procedure and focuses on cultivating the industrys best national appraiser panel. To learn more about First Look Appraisals contact Jim.

Assurance Financial is quietly growing into a nationwide leader in lending. Just ask Mike Killmeyer who recently opened a branch for Assurance Financial in Denver, Colorado. Mike was equipped to take loan applications immediately with little downtime and is now poised to add to his growing professional staff. Mike and his team saw that our compensation structure is excellent, and our back-office support was second to none - 16 years of working, changing, and perfecting it. He also saw that we have an unwavering mission to close loans on time, every time! We have immediate openings for proven, successful, producing Branch Managers and MLOs in Wilmington, Charlotte, Denver, Austin, and many other branch locations throughout the country. For immediate consideration, contact Paul Peters, CMB, Assurance Financial, Recruiting Manager (225-239-7948).



Lender M&A

Ohios Union Home Mortgage Corp. (UHM) announced the Asset Purchase of Alliance Home Loans, headquartered in Arizona, under the Union Home Mortgage brand. UHM has grown to 130+ established retail branches across 36 licensed states and this agreement will push Union Homes loan volume over 4 billion dollars in annual loan production. Culture is important for both. Bill Cosgrove, CEO and owner of Union Home Mortgage, believes, The culture match is wonderful and Jamie Korus Pearce [President of Alliance Home Loans] should be proud of the company she has built. Alliance employees have impressed us, and they are absolute UHM material. Ms. Pearce stated, My team is my most valuable asset and the decision to join UHM was easy because their culture is to value and treat their team in the same manner. UHM has the most impressive leadership team I have ever seen, and the platform, operations and tools that they have created and made available has everyone extremely excited about this new venture. (UHM has retail, wholesale, consumer direct, a rapid growing servicing portfolio, and is an approved direct lender of F&F, FHA, VA, USDA, and other conforming and non-QM loan products.)BBQ is personal. BBQ is communal. BBQ at its core is primal. Meat slowed cooked over smoke. Simple. But not easy to do correctly. BBQ is personal. BBQ is communal. BBQ at its core is primal. Meat slowed cooked over smoke. Simple. But not easy to do correctly.

BBQ is the only food that has a definition codified in Federal Law. Title 9 of The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) defines it this way in Chapter III, Subchapter A, Part 319, Subpart C, Section 319.80

Barbecued meats, such as product labeled Beef Barbecue or Barbecued Pork, shall be cooked by the direct action of dry heat resulting from the burning of hard wood or the hot coals therefrom for a sufficient period to assume the usual characteristics of a barbecued article, which include the formation of a brown crust on the surface and the rendering of surface fat. The product may be basted with a sauce during the cooking process. The weight of barbecued meat shall not exceed 70 percent of the weight of the fresh uncooked meat.

I love BBQ and have traveled thousands of miles eating the best of Memphis, Alabama, St. Louis and Kansas City. I have learned a few things about BBQ. It is intensely personal. Whenever a chef or pitmaster spends 8, 10 or even 15 hours preparing a cut of pork or beef, you are eating the real fruit of labor. The rub, the mop, the sauce, all come from family recipes tested and tasted and tweaked over time.

BBQ is best enjoyed with family. Splitting plates. Telling stories. Savoring time around the table. Slow. Just like the preparation.

Ive done some research and found that you dont have to drive far for authentic BBQ. We have some great cue right here in Dayton Ohio. Let me tell you about them. These are my favorites and if you like slow cooked smoky meat, they will be yours too. There are another 1/2 dozen places to get bbq in Dayton (that doesnt count some remarkable food trucks). These folks are smoking ribs, brisket, pork, chicken and sausage over a real fire with real smoke. Thats the standard.

135 S Garber Dr, Tipp City, OH 45371

Hickory River in Tipp is worth the drive. Its a big family place and reminded me of the bigger Kansas City joints I have visited in recent years. By far the friendliest of my visits. My son and I split 4 ribs, brisket, a pulled pork sandwich and a 1/4 pound of the smoked sausage with two sides and drinks for under $30 dollars. My favorites here were the ribs and sausage. The pulled pork had a good amount of bark full of smokey flavor. My son says the mac and cheese was as good as he ever had. The slaw was fresh and made in-house.

Did I mention the prices and friendliness? I cant wait to get back there. Tuesdays are buck a bone rib nights.

Gotta Try: Smoked Sausage

1101 W Third St, Dayton, OH 45402

Texas Brisket and Texas attitude. By far the best brisket I have had in Ohio. Peppery, slow cooked, sliced right. Smoke ring and it had a good pull to it. Tender, but not pot roast falling apart. The sauce is kept behind the counter, ask for samples of both offerings. The sausage was great and the pulled pork sandwich was full of smoke and tender. Careful ordering the menu here. It gets pricey fast. Pulled pork, sausage and a portion of brisket with two sides set me back almost $40 bucks. Ribs are sold by the slab and 1/2 slab only so we didnt get to try them. Wings need to be ordered ahead by 20-30 minutes. Drink offerings are limited but beer is an option.

Gotta Try: Brisket

1334 Linden Ave, Dayton, OH 45410

Fatbacks is my go-to. Its set up like the smaller joints in Memphis, which I love. His brisket is always tender and the best pulled pork is found here. His ribs have a sweet finish which I prefer. He also has a thing he calls a pig pop. It is the lower shank smoked slow and covered in a sweet sauce that almost candies on the rendered skin. Get one. No. Get two. Sides here are always great, from greens to slaw to beans.

PS. This guy is building smokers like the pros use when he isnt feeding lunch to locals on Linden Ave.

Gotta Try: Pig Pop

912 E Dorothy Ln, Dayton, OH 45419

Id put Oinks ribs against anyone in Dayton. I wish I could figure out the rub he uses there. The founders of Oink studied BBQ in Kansas City brought their newfangled smoking technology back home to Dayton and we benefit from that. Their ribs are never overcooked and always have a great smoke. I find their brisket to be a bit overdone and falling apart. Still tasty on a bun though! Wings. Get the wings. Smoked tender and soft and full of flavor. Not like your normal bar wings. The corn pudding should be a mandatory side. Brisket, wings, pulled pork and a few ribs and sides under $30 again. Perfect for a date or father/kid outing. Oink is also making burnt ends. A Kansas City invention.

Gotta Try: Ribs and get a side of the smoke potatoes

Combs BBQ Central

2223 Central Ave, Middletown, OH 45044

I really cant say enough about this place. Its out of range for lunch during the week but it quickly becoming my favorite on Saturdays.

This laid-back spot is part of Downtown Middletowns rebirth. These ribs are legit, always cooked perfect and the pulled pork has texture, great flavor and that spicy bark you want in every bite. Brisket doesnt happen every day. Recently I was there when they had smoked an entire pot roast. Delicious on a bun with a touch of sauce. Prices are good and the service is tops and fast.

Gotta Try: Pulled Pork and Ribs

1001 S Main St, Englewood, OH 45322

Brisket. Check. Ribs. Check. Pulled pork. Check. The best wings in Dayton? Yes. Youve got my word on it. They smoke wings in a marinade (a wet smoke) then cool them and deep fry them when you order. If youve never had them, get up there today. Crunchy outside with a soft smoky interior the wing is in a class all its own. The team of Company 7 is pushing the envelope with lunch specials and a drive-thru. Thats right. A bbq sandwich from a drive-thru. Ive not timed it from Kettering, but I am considering it.

Bonus at Company 7beer. More than 20 craft beers in cans and bottles and always a few Company 7 Brews on tap.

Gotta Try: Smoked Wings

Im always looking for a new spot for great BBQ! Tell us where yourgo-too place is for great ribs, brisket, pulled pork or barbecued chicken.

Speaking of BBQ- MostMetro.com and Bryan Suddith, a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society Judge are teaming up for a Dayton BBQ Tour! Speaking of BBQ- MostMetro.com and Bryan Suddith, a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society Judge are teaming up for aVous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  In a story May 13 about lobster shell strength, The Associated Press reported erroneously that marine biogeochemist Justin Ries attributed the collapse of the southern New England lobster fishery to shell disease. He attributed it to overfishing and population shifts caused by warming waters.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Lobster industry fears weaker shells, but evidence is mixed

The globalization of the American lobster business has spurred fears within the industry that lobsters' shells are getting weaker, but scientific evidence about the issue paints a complicated picture

By PATRICK WHITTLE

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  More people outside the U.S. are enjoying the New England tradition of cracking open a freshly cooked American lobster, and that experience hinges on one thing  the lobster getting there alive.

That's a looming problem, according to some members of the American lobster industry, who are concerned that lobsters' shells are getting weaker. Scientific evidence about the issue paints a complicated picture.

U.S. lobster exports to Asian countries have increased exponentially this decade, and American shippers prefer lobsters with hard, sturdy shells to survive the long journey to places such as Beijing and Seoul.

But some members of U.S. industry have complained in recent years of poor shell quality among lobsters, most of which are plucked from the ocean off Canada and New England. They've raised concerns about warming ocean waters or acidification of the ocean having a negative effect on lobster shells.

Scientists said there is a correlation between higher temperatures and increased shell disease, but incidence of the disease is very low off Maine, the nation's top lobster-producing state. Lobstermen also are catching lots of lobsters in the summer, when the creatures molt and are softer. Otherwise, there isn't much hard evidence to suggest lobster shells are weakening, scientists said.

Here are some issues raised by the industry and what the science says:

___

WHY DOES THE INDUSTRY PREFER STRONG SHELLS?

There's a lot of money at stake in getting lobsters to their destinations alive. American lobsters were worth a record $669.3 million at the docks in 2016, a year in which fishermen caught nearly 160 million pounds of the crustaceans.

While lobster meat is used in some processed products, such as lobster macaroni and cheese and lobster bisque, the whole live lobster is one of the biggest draws in the seafood world. It's also the sought-after item in the booming Chinese market, which took a record of nearly 18 million pounds of U.S. lobster last year

A lobster with a harder, sturdier shell has a better chance to live through the one- to two-daylong journey.

Bill Bruns, operations manager for The Lobster Company of Arundel, Maine, said "finding and producing enough product that's possible to ship" has become a problem.

___

WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE SAY?

Rick Wahle, a University of Maine zoologist who studies lobsters, said he hasn't "heard anything that lobsters are necessarily getting softer." But he and many other scientists said lobsters do face environmental challenges that could impact their ability to be shipped.

Wahle and others said the jury is still out on whether the increasing acidification of the ocean is one of those factors. There appear to be subtle effects on lobster larvae from acidification, but nothing to suggest something as dramatic as weaker shells, he said.

It's possible that processors are just seeing more "soft shell" lobsters that have recently molted, which is a natural process necessary for them to grow, Wahle said.

A 2017 study that appeared in the scientific journal FACETS looked at the subject of the health of soft-shelled lobsters in southwestern Nova Scotia. It concluded that future research is needed "to evaluate the effects of long-term ecosystem change on shell-quality."

___

DO WARMING OCEANS PLAY A ROLE?

Many lobsters live in the Gulf of Maine, which is warming faster than most of the world's oceans. This poses many challenges to lobsters, including potential changes to their access to food and the abundance of predators.

It also raises concerns about epizootic shell disease, which disfigures lobsters to the point that they can't be sold. The Maine Department of Marine Resources said researchers found the disease in about 1 percent of lobsters last year after almost never finding it as recently as a decade or so ago.

Justin Ries, a marine biogeochemist with Northeastern University, said it's important to monitor for the disease. The incidence of the disease is much higher off of southern New England, where the lobster fishery collapsed. Ries attributed the collapse to a combination of overfishing and population shifts caused by warming waters.

___

WHAT IS THE INDUSTRY DOING?

Whether or not lobster shells really are getting weaker, the industry is working on ways to make them stronger.

One Portland firm, Ready Seafood Co., is partnering with the University of Maine to try to harden lobster shells for better shipping. Curt Brown, a marine biologist with the company, said Ready hopes to "expedite that natural process" with strategies such as manipulating the ion concentrations in the tanks where it stores lobsters.

The goal is to consistently improve a soft-shelled lobster to one that can survive an international flight over the span of a week, Brown said.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.GET OUR NEW APP Our new Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here.Bob Baffert has spent his whole life following D. Wayne Lukas.

As a teenager at the quarter horse track in Arizona where Baffert tagged along with his dad and learned about racing, he looked up to Lukas as a legend.

"I'll never forget when he came in with his fancy trailer and man, there's Wayne Lukas," Baffert said. "He was huge then. He's always set the bar."

Baffert even asked Lukas for a job out of high school. Lukas turned Baffert down, but in the four-plus decades since, they've developed a friendship as deep as their combined success.

They are two of the best thoroughbred trainers in racing history and their paths are crossing again this week at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. They will go head to head in the Preakness, a race that each has won six times.

"We've become good friends because we have a lot in common, we had a lot of quarter horse stories and friends that we knew coming up," Baffert said. "It's been a lot of fun."

Baffert goes into the Preakness with Kentucky Derby winner Justify , the heavy favorite to advance to the Belmont Stakes with the chance to give the 65-year-old his second Triple Crown champion in four years. A win Saturday would tie the 83-year-old Lukas' record of 14 Triple Crown victories.

Lukas said Baffert "is going to roll right past that" mark.

"Bob is an excellent horseman," said Lukas, who is expected to start Bravazo and Sporting Chance in the Preakness. "Not only has he got a good clientele base and gets some nice horses, but he absolutely knows what to do with them."

Baffert's dad got him involved in horse racing at age 11 and he considers his father his mentor  but he holds Lukas in high regard. Lukas has been an icon and rival for Baffert over the years, especially in the 1990s and 2000s when owner Bob Lewis pitted the two against each other.

Calling Lukas one of the hardest workers he has ever seen, Baffert set out to duplicate those efforts with incredible success. Lukas and Baffert just kept winning  including a combined 34 Breeders Cup' races to go along with the Triple Crown victories  and became closer along the way.

"The one thing that you quickly find out is who you can greatly respect and respect is what really starts to bond these friendships that we develop over the years," Lukas said. "I have developed a deep friendship and respect with him and his whole family, (his wife) Jill and everybody for the simple reason that I think he's a very good horseman and he does a very, very good job."

Baffert has done such a good job that Lukas considers him one of the top three or four trainers in history. If Justify wins Saturday, it would tie him with 19th-century trainer R.W. Walden for the most Preakness victories.

Leading up to Saturday's race, Baffert will again share a barn with Lukas, who is looking for his first win on the Triple Crown trail since 2013. Despite the drought, Lukas is still the standard by which many younger trainers measure themselves.

"To me, he is still above me," Baffert said. "He thinks he's going to win everything."

As much as Baffert praises Lukas for changing quarter-horse and thoroughbred racing, Lukas acknowledges Baffert's more recent impact. The old-school Lukas looks to Baffert's management model now and jokes, "I'm saddling horses for him and I'm sort of his assistant."

"Our game is more than just trying to race horses," Lukas said. "It's managing people, managing horses, developing studs and put them out, effecting the breeding industry, causing economic impact in the sale ring and Bob has done all of that. ... Bob affects every facet of the industry in some way or another."

Baffert has come a long way from the 18-year-old who Lukas had no job for back in the day. Baffert ended the 37-year-old Triple Crown drought with American Pharoah in 2015 and continues to build his resume race by race.

"I learned it by trial and error  mostly error," Baffert said. "And I said (to Wayne), 'I'm sure glad you turned me down, because you'd be taking all the credit for this.'"

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Investors looking to buy Venezuela's new cryptocurrency may want to head to a little-known Moscow bank whose biggest shareholders are President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government and two state-controlled Russian companies under U.S. sanctions.

Evrofinance Mosnarbank has emerged as the only international financial institution so far willing to defy a U.S. campaign to derail the world's first state-backed digital currency, called the petro, even before it begins to function.

Early would-be investors who registered with Venezuela's government and downloaded the petro's wallet software  available in Spanish, English and Russian  were then invited to buy the cryptocurrency by wiring a minimum of 1,000 euros to a Venezuelan government account at Evrofinance.

The bank's place in the rollout of the petro is further evidence of Russia's role in the creation of a cryptocurrency that much of the digital world has shunned but that Maduro hopes will allow Venezuela to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions imposed last year.

At the petro's launch on Feb. 21, Maduro heaped praise on two Russians in the audience who worked with wealthy, Kremlin-connected businessmen, thanking their previously unknown startups  Zeus Exchange and Aerotrading  for their role developing what he joked would be a kind of "kryptonite" against U.S. economic dominance.

A day later, he dispatched his economy minister to Moscow to brief his Russian finance counterpart.

And in March, the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain awarded the Venezuelan government an award for its role "challenging the de-facto powers of the international financial system."

Russia's interest in the petro stems from its own increasingly pariah status in the west, said Claiborne W. Porter, the former head of the U.S. Justice Department's bank integrity unit. As relations with the U.S. and European Union become more tense, both countries are looking for ways to demonstrate political strength while moving money outside the American financial system.

"Like kids on the playground, Venezuela and Russia think they are fighting a common bully in U.S. sanctions, so they're going to try and form a united front," said Porter, who is now the Washington-based head of investigations at consulting firm Navigant.

Russia has provided Venezuela with billions in debt relief over the years and is a major investor in the country's oil industry. That financial lifeline has become more important since the Trump administration last year banned Americans from lending money to the nearly bankrupt government and now threatens to slap sanctions on the OPEC nation's oil industry if Maduro goes ahead with presidential elections this month that are widely seen as a sham. In March, Trump signed an executive order banning Americans from any dealings with the petro.

Evrofinance and its executives didn't return repeated email requests for comment. But after The Associated Press' inquiries, all references to the bank were removed from the petro's wallet, leaving prospective buyers with no guidance on how to actually buy it, though it's still listed for sale in rubles and euros as well as three other widely circulated cryptocurrencies.

Venezuela's government purchased a 49 percent stake in Evrofinance in 2011, making the bank, which traces its history back a century as a western financial outpost for the Soviet Union, a vehicle for binational trade and investment projects, with almost $800 million in assets.

The rest of the shares are held by two major banks, state-controlled VTB and Gazprombank, which were sanctioned by the U.S. and European nations in 2014 over President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea.

It's unclear how many petros the government has sold. Maduro boasted this month that the government had raised $3.3 billion in the pre-sale phase. But so far only a small fraction of the petros appears to have been distributed to buyers, according to the blockchain where the digital currency's movements can be publicly tracked.

Experts say that the petro is of little interest to foreigners other than drug traffickers and others active in Venezuela's burgeoning criminal underworld. Even offshore trading platforms like Bitfinex are refusing to deal in the petro for fear of violating sanctions. Rating website ICOindex.com, which tracks initial coin offerings of cryptocurrencies, called it a "scam."

"An overwhelming majority of ICOs don't deliver on what they promise because their promoters are outright scammers or fall short on technical expertise," said Alejandro Machado, a Venezuelan-born computer scientist who consults for crypto startups. "In the case of the Venezuelan government, both reasons apply."

One of the two Russians who signed agreements with Maduro to position the petro globally, Denis Druzhkov, had been fined $31,000 and barred for three years by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for fraudulent trading in futures' contracts. Zeus Exchange, which Druzhkov created alongside a Kremlin-connected industrialist, said in a statement that it has never had any business ties with the Venezuelan government and that Druzhkov resigned after abusing his authority.

The other, Fedor Bogorodskiy, used to help run the credit card division at a bank controlled by a Russian oligarch. He has lived in Uruguay since 2009, combining telecommunications business with part-time promotion of Russian culture. He told The AP that his company, Aerotrading, whose website consists of a single home page with no company information, immediately ceased all work on the petro after Trump announced his ban.

Despite the pressure, Maduro is showing no signs of slowing down. He's given government institutions  from ministries to airports  120 days to start accepting the petro as legal tender in all transactions. He's also paved the way for the creation of 16 local exchanges where Venezuelans will be able to purchase petros with their fast-depreciating bolivars. Also in the works is a second state-backed cryptocurrency tied to the country's gold reserves.

But gaining international acceptance remains an uphill battle.

Yuri Pripachkin, president of the Russian blockchain group that honored Venezuela, said that while the Kremlin is keeping a close eye on the petro it hasn't been involved in its development. Still, he said as long as sanctions are used as a foreign policy tool to punish governments that challenge U.S. policies, the incentives to seek out alternative means of financing will remain. He also dismissed the idea that the petro could be used to fund criminal activity.

"That's a fairy tale," said Pripachkin. "The most popular currency for terrorists and criminals the world over is the U.S. dollar, not crypto, and nobody is suggesting we ban dollars. This is just an attempt to stop crypto from expanding."

--

AP Writer James Ellingworth in Moscow contributed to this story.

Follow Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.ORLANDO, Fla. -- Minnie Van drivers can now join a Disney World labor union.

Feds: Minnie Van drivers at Disney can join union

Drivers shuttle Disney guests in polka-dotted vans

Disney World officials had opposed the move

RELATED: Disney World 'Minnie Vans' use Lyft app

A National Labor Relations Board official made the ruling last week, the Associated Press reported.

Teamsters Local 385 filed a petition last year to have Minnie Van drivers included in its union.

Walt Disney Park & Resorts asked that the petition be dismissed.

Disney argued that the 60 drivers who operate the polka-dotted vans were not eligible to be represented by the union because Teamsters had waived its right to represent any worker not mentioned in its five-year contract.

The contract was negotiated in 2014.

However NLRB Region 12 director David Cohen found that under the existing bargaining agreement, Minnie Van drivers can be represented by the Teamsters, which also represents bus drivers and parking attendants at the resort.

In his decision, Cohen added that work Minnie Van drivers are required to do is "functionally the same" as that of Disney's bus drivers, who transport guests.

"The new position is part of the unit where the functions performed are essentially the same," Cohen wrote.

Minnie Van drivers are Disney World employees who drive guests around the resort as part of a service accessed using the Lyft app. The service costs $20 per trip.

Disney first announced the service last year at its D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.

The service, which was initially only available at select Disney World Resort hotels, has expanded to all on-property hotels.

Teamsters Local 385 is part of the Service Trades Council which includes five other unions. The council represents around 38,000 employees at Disney World.

Spokespeople for Disney World did not immediately return request for comment.NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Family and friends of a 16-year-old girl whose remains were found in DeLand held a candle light vigil Saturday evening.

Family, friends held candlelight vigil for Justis Garrett

The 16-year-old's remains were found along a road in DeLand

Garrett was reported missing after she didn't return home from school

RELATED: Remains found in DeLand those of missing Mount Dora teen

The body of Justis Garrett was found a week after she had been reported missing from Mount Dora.

The vigil was held at Riverside Park in New Smyrna Beach.

Pictures of Garrett were posted up at the park as dozens of loved ones came remember her young life.

Emotions ran high as family members and friends talked about Garrett.

Dannielle Higbie called Garrett her best friend.

Kind, caring a big heart, she was a like a great light if you needed someone to go to she was there, Higbie said.

Mount Dora Police say Garrett was dropped off at Mount Dora High School on April 13, but never came home. The following week, her remains were found on Gas Line Road in DeLand.

Garretts family and friends are still seeking justice.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says foul play is suspected.VIERA, Fla. -- Brevard County Public Schools Superintendent Desmond Blackburn submitted his resignation Monday, the district said.

Brevard Superintendent Desmond Blackburn resigns

He'll become CEO of education nonprofit

School Board to begin discussions on replacement

READ: Blackburn's resignation letter (PDF)

Blackburn, who has been superintendent since 2015, gave 90 days' notice, resigning to become the CEO of national education nonprofit New Teacher Center .

"We wish Dr. Blackburn and his family the very best," School Board Chairman John Craig said in a statement. "We thank him for his leadership in the community and the positive impact he has had on our schools and children."

In a statement, the Brevard Federation of Teachers said, "His three years with BPS have been marked by a newfound emphasis on social emotional education, the emergence of transparency within the budget, a commitment to improving school culture, and a restructuring of district personnel. These were all prudent steps, given the bottoming out of staff morale in recent years. Moving forward, we urge the School Board members to consider internal candidates who can continue Dr. Blackburns strategic vision without the need of a complete overhaul."

Blackburn was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott as the only superintendent on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, which is studying what went into the Parkland mass shooting and will recommend courses of action going forward.

The California-based New Teacher Center trains and mentors teachers and school leaders, though Blackburn will continue to be based in Florida.

Craig said the School Board will discuss the search for a new superintendent during a workshop Tuesday.ORLANDO, Fla. -- The identity of the woman whose body was found in an Orange County retention pond last week has been released.

Body of woman found in east Orange retention pond ID'd

Tamara Lamour was found a day after witness saw person struggling

Witness said person was heard shouting that they'd been bit

The body of Tamara Lamour, 19, was found Thursday, a day after a neighbor reported hearing and seeing a person struggling in the retention pond near Fabian Street and Regan Avenue, south of East Colonial Drive and State Road 417.

The neighbor called 911 after seeing what he thought at the time was a man flailing in the water, yelling that an alligator had bit him.

Orange County deputies, a dive team and officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission undertook an "active water rescue" and found the body. There was no evidence of an alligator bite on the body, deputies said.JERUSALEM -- At least 55 Palestinian protesters have been killed on the Gaza border alone on Monday, as a brand new U.S. Embassy opens in Jerusalem.

Deadly protests break out over US Embassy move

US Embassy moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Florida Gov. Rick Scott was there for embassy opening

The protest in Gaza was to be the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem Monday.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv, a key campaign promise of President Donald Trump, has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

Trump tweeted Monday morning that it is "A great day for Israel!"

U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018 <_script charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js">

The president was not there for the opening, but he spoke during the ceremony via video.

Our greatest hope is for peace," the president said. The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

He did not mention what was happening on the Gaza Strip not far from the opening of the new U.S. Embassy.

Dozens were killed in those protests Monday, in the deadliest day of clashes between Palestinians and Israelis since 2014.

The White House said responsibility for those deaths "rests squarely with Hamas," said spokesman Raj Shah.

The move is somewhat symbolic, because most of the embassy staff will stay in Tel Aviv and the ambassador will continue to commute between the two cities.

The president's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner were there for the opening, where American and Israeli flags are flying side by side throughout the city.

We stand with our friends and our allies, and above all else we have shown that the United States of America will do whats right and so we have, said Kushner during the ceremony.

Jerusalem is home to holy sites in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions.

However, last year, the Trump administration recognized it as the capital of Israel, not Palestine.

Since then, Paraguay and Guatemala announced they would move their embassies to Jerusalem. However, other countries will continue to keep their embassies in Tel Aviv until Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace agreement.

Turkey, meanwhile is recalling its ambassadors to the United States and Israel for consultations, and condemned the decision.

The opening took place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of the State of Israel. It is known to Jewish people as Israel Day, but Palestinians refer to it as "the Catastrophe," as hundreds of thousands of them fled their homes.

Many of them now live in the Gaza Strip, an area almost completely locked by Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. It also borders Egypt.

This is the life of Palestinian people and those who think that opening the embassy opened doors to peace, let them look at what is really happening in the Gaza Strip, said Riyad Mansour, a representative from the Permanent Observer Mission.

The Israel Defense Forces say they warned Gaza residents against protesting with leaflets, yet they continue.

Israeli forces are shooting and firing missiles at the protesters.

The Red Cross is set up on the border to tend to any medical needs.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott was there for the big opening. He supported the decision to move the embassy and has made two official visits to Israel.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in recent weeks between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.MIAMI -- A high school is facing backlash after bringing a live tiger to its "king of the jungle" themed prom.

High school in Miami had live tiger on display at prom.

Event received backlash on social media.

School principal responded saying they will evaluate policies and procedures when planning events.

A video showed the caged tiger was among several animals on display alongside fire dancers.

Marie-Christine Castellanos, whose brother was at the prom, took to social media to criticize the event, which she called "shameful."

&amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

The school's principal responded in a statement by saying "Moving forward, we will evaluate our current policies and procedures in the planning and management of school events, including the impact these events have on others."Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel

Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch

"Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia

Google Ad

UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month

The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York

Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency

UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers

Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland

Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden.

"The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer

Generation A 13  your chance to be the change

President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev

Google Ad

"uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only

For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road

Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion

Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan

UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN

Joint statement

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

Covid-19: 163 new cases in Armenia

Armenia: Remarks by Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at the press point with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan

The United States Welcomes Azerbaijans Release of Armenian Detainees and Armenias Actions to Facilitate Demining

The Coronavirus-Related Situation in Armenia

International aviation: Council greenlights signing of major agreements with four countries

With UCOMs level up tariff plans subscribers have unlimited access to Netflix, Duolingo and ZoomStatement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel

Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch

"Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia

UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month

The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York

Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency

UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers

Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland

Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden.

"The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer

Generation A 13  your chance to be the change

President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev

Google Ad

"uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only

For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road

Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion

Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan

UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN

Joint statement

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

Covid-19: 163 new cases in Armenia

Armenia: Remarks by Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at the press point with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan

The United States Welcomes Azerbaijans Release of Armenian Detainees and Armenias Actions to Facilitate Demining

The Coronavirus-Related Situation in Armenia

International aviation: Council greenlights signing of major agreements with four countries

With UCOMs level up tariff plans subscribers have unlimited access to Netflix, Duolingo and ZoomBy Holly South

New Hampshire Senate Clerk Tammy Wright turned to yoga while recovering from serious injuries, and her experience and awareness of both the physical and psychological benefits inspired her to share her expertise with others.

She pursued a teaching certification, and after leading her first class, knew this was going to be something I would do for a long time. I loved it.

Shes been offering free weekly yoga and meditation classes to veterans in her hometown of Concord for the past five years. She enjoys the friendships with her students and appreciates the perspective they bring: To hear them talk and how blessed they felt would bring me back to reality. Its going to be OK. I know that Ive helped them  but theyve helped me, too. They keep me balanced.

Her passion for wellness, in fact, led her to the clerks office. The former clerk of the New Hampshire Senate attended some of my classes and I built a relationship with her through fitness. I never knew what she did for work until one day she asked me if I would ever be interested in a full-time job. I came in for a meeting  to find out about the job, which unexpectedly, ended up being an interview, and I was hired on the spot.

While serving as an aide, Wright cross-trained and ultimately learned every position in the office so that she could fill in where needed. I was handed a gift. She was able to transition to assistant clerk and then clerk. [When the time came] I knew the office and was ready to step in. I was so nervous and didnt feel ready, but once I started, realized I had already been doing the job.

One of the highlights of her nearly 29-year-tenure happened at the beginning of the 2008 session. On Organization Day, the clerk presides over the 24-member Senate until the Senate president is elected. On that day in 2008, Wright oversaw a milestone. The New Hampshire Senate became the first legislative body with a female majority. Thirteen womenincluding the Senate presidentwere sworn in that day and interviewed on Good Morning America.

Day to day, the relationships shes formed in the State House are the most rewarding part of being the clerk. The friendships that Ive made are invaluable! Wright continues, You must be able to look past the politics and get to know the people. She quotes New Hampshires dean of the Senate, Senator Lou DAllesandro (D), who often says on the floor during debate, Life is about relationships. Wright feels this is particularly important in a small state like New Hampshire.

Wright has been elected unanimously every two years since 1997 as an assistant clerk and then clerk of the Senate. Having worked with both Republican and Democrat leaders, and despite a more and more challenging political environment, shes earned respect from both sides of the aisle. I can walk into both Republican and Democrat offices and focus on making sure our session will run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. It takes all of us  and Im proud that weve built an environment where this happens. She adds, Partisanship aside, we do really good things.

Shes also proud of her team: We work really, really well together. We have great respect for one another and weve become accustomed to anticipating each others needs, which helps us run like a well-oiled machine even on the busiest days.

Since joining the office, Wright has become an active member of the American Society of Legislative Clerks & Secretaries. During last falls professional development seminar she taught yoga that participants could incorporate into their workday. With peers from around the country to call upon for advice, The people I have met and friendships I have made have been extremely helpful with my work in the State House. Plus, attending the meetings has given me much insight as to how other states operate, and has opened my mind to new ideas. Shes happy to return the favor: I strive to be a role model for others coming in to this career. It is imperative that clerks show honesty, integrity and dedication to preserving this role with impartiality. Her advice to others is something she herself keeps in mind. As clerk you are serving the leaders who are elected to office  you need to be adaptable. You have to be  open to change [while] also keeping in mind the traditions and past precedents that guide the changes you are inevitably going to make.

In 2013, Wright was also certified as Reiki I &II practitioner and integrates reiki into her yoga practice.

Ive been able to incorporate the stress relief and relaxation techniques that yoga and reiki have taught me into my daily life in the Senate. Ive also had the opportunity to share these things with senators, staff, lobbyists and even the mayor of Concord, many of whom have attended my classes outside of the State House. Wright has found that yoga gives her a whole different perspective to her job. Yoga and meditation makes me the best clerk I can be.

Check out the NCSL podcast, Our American States, which this week features Tammy Wright and Megan Jones Bell, the chief science officer of Headspace, a meditation app.

Holly South is a policy specialist in NCSL's Legislative Staff Services Program, which provides strategic, programmatic and administrative support to the professional staff associations of NCSL and develops training and information programs for the nation's more than 30,000 legislative staff. She also staffs the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries.

Email HollyBy Express News Service

BENGALURU: With the results of the crucial Karnataka elections just a few hours away, offices of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), Karnataka Pradesh Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) here wore a

deserted look with no activities or any senior leaders.

With the exit polls throwing unpredictable figures, various party offices did not seem to have any preparation for celebrations as well. "We do not know what will happen after the vote count. We have

kept crackers, sweets and garlands ready, but we dont want to reveal it. We will wait till the trends are out by afternoon,'' said a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.

READ | Karnataka polls: Hung House, exit of Congress as single largest party predicted

The scenario at the JDS and BJP offices was no different. One of the staff at KPCC Office on Queens Road said there were hardly any persons present on Monday. "It was quiet today. On results day,

people including AICC General secretary and State in-charge K C Venugopal and KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao will start pouring in,'' a staff member told The New Indian Express.

At the BJP office, while some party workers seemed excited and jubilant, others are already nervous about tomorrow.

Many leaders including Shobha Karandlaje, Arvind Limbavali, Ashwath Narayana, PC Mohan were at seen at the makeshift office waiting to welcome B S Yeddyurappa who is scheduled to meet about 150 workers, volunteers, vistaraks who were a part of the election campaigning at various levels. Everybody is confident of a victory with no less than 120 seats tomorrow. B S Yeddyurappa visited the office at around 5 PM and spent rest of his time meeting his well-wishers, taking phone calls. He had initially planned to return to Shikaripura but has now decided to stay back in Bengaluru. B L Santosh has written thanks giving letter to all their party workers

The preparations for tomorrow are going on at the headquarters where all the action will take place with a huge gathering of the party volunteers. The BJP's office in Malleshwaram was also looked desolated. "Why should one come a day before polling results. We are going to win with a simple majority,'' sources

from BJP's office said.

Most of the candidates took their chance on Monday to reportedly visit their assembly constituency. A few went on temple visits.

None of the party members or candidates are out of the state or country as the gap between polling day and counting day is less,'' said the sources. There is a tension among senior leaders too, but they are confident of emerging as winners.

At JDS offices, workers and leaders looked relaxed. "We know victory will be ours. We are getting ladoos from Appaji canteen for our workers and others. We are going to celebrate in a big way. We have

already kept crackers ready. The exit polls and other results will not be true. We are coming back with a bang for sure,'' JDS MLC Saravana said.By PTI

NEW DELHI: As many as 189 trees were uprooted in the national capital during a squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph that barrelled through Delhi and neighbouring areas this evening, the police said.

According to a senior Delhi Traffic Police officer, traffic was affected in Lutyens' Delhi, West and South Delhi.

READ | Thunderstorms, lightning wreak havoc in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh states; kill 41

Traffic was affected due to uprooting of around 70 trees, and about 25 trees which have fallen on roads are yet to be removed, the traffic police said.

All traffic police cranes were deployed while disaster management vehicles of traffic and municipal bodies were being also involved in removing bigger trees which were uprooted, they said.

Delhi Police has received 40 calls about fallen poles which affected traffic movement.By Online Desk

KOLKATA: At least 14 people have died and scores were injured in panchayat election violence in West Bengal on Monday that has prompted the Union Home ministry to seek a report from the state government. Some 72.5 per cent votes were polled across the state till the end of polling at 5 pm.

Of the 14 dead, 5 were CPM supporters, 4 were TMC workers, 2 BJP and 2 independent candidate supporters and one was a voter.

The deaths were reported from eight of the 20 districts that went to an election on Monday. Reports of rigging and vandalisation of ballot boxes were reported from several districts.

UPDATES:

7: 30 pm- Alleging widespread violence and deaths during the West Bengal panchayat polls today, a lawyer showed videos to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and prayed for summoning the State Election Commissioner (SEC) and the state home secretary to ensure a peaceful election. (PTI)

7: 15 pm- 12 people died, identity of 6 more yet to be ascertained. 3 police personnel also injured. Last yr 25 people were killed in the election. Security has been taken care of. We hope rest of the election will pass peacefully: Surajit Kar Purkayastha,West Bengal DGP. (ANI)

5: 50 pm-

West Bengal: People form long queue outside a polling booth in Purulia to cast their vote. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/WWttDxQzbW  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

5: 00 pm- Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the West Bengal Government regarding incidents of violence.

4: 15 pm-

West Bengal: Members of CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) & other parties of the Left Front staging protest outside State Election Commission againt the incidents of violence during the #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/Cr5vtgVHSM  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

4: 00 pm- Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed. Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution: CPI(M) leader Biman Bose. (ANI)

3: 30 pm- Overall 56% polling recorded till 3 pm in the West Bengal Panchayat Election.

West Bengal: Women queue up to cast their votes at a polling booth in Cooch Behar. #PanchayatElections pic.twitter.com/zoLL22btpS  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

3: 04 pm- Congress protest outside the West Bengal State Election Commission office in Kolkata. (ANI)

A view of a vacant polling booth at Shantipur area after clashes between two political parties at Nadia district of West Bengal on Monday. | PTI

3: 00 pm- Ballot boxes looted at gunpoint by unidentified people at 44, 45 and 45K booths in Murshidabad. (ANI)

2: 50 pm-41.51 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm in West Bengal. (ANI) READ MORE

2: 45 pm-

West Bengal: Voting booth vandalised allegedly by TMC workers in North Dinajpur's Sonadangi during #PanchayatPolls pic.twitter.com/I9epqPreXR  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

2: 30 pm-Clashes break out between TMC and Congress supporters in Murshidabad. (ANI)

1:40 pm -

The Election Commission of West Bengal must act to restore faith in the process. Else it will be seen as complicit in TMC's project of destroying democracy. Allowing TMC to get away with throttling democracy has implications well beyond West Bengal. pic.twitter.com/F6vHJbiqun  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 14, 2018

1:35 pm - CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the West Bengal State Election Commission will be seen as complicit in the ruling Trinamool Congress' project of destroying democracy if it does not act to restore faith in the electoral process.

1:30 pm -

1:10 pm - There are minor incidents taking place, no major incidents have been reported. The administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peacefully. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists, says Partha Chatterjee, TMC.

12:50 pm - Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal government is a shameless government. You cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in West Bengal, says Babul Supriyo, Union Minister.

12:40 pm - The five dead include a CPM worker and his wife who were burnt to death, hours before polling even began.

Women stand in a queue to cast their vote for Panchayat election at Shantipur polling station in Nadia district of West Bengal on Monday. | PTI

12:31 pm - So far, five people have been reported dead and scores injured in various incidents of violence related to the West Bengal panchayat polls. [READ FULL REPORT]

12:15 pm - 26 per cent voter turnout till 11 am in West Bengal.

12:10 pm - Five local journalists were injured during the violence following booth capturing in Birpara, allegedly by TMC workers.

One of the journalists who was injured during West Bengal Panchayat poll violence. (ANI)

11:55 am - A TMC worker named Arif Gazi was shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district.

11:30 am - At least 20 people have been injured after a crude bomb explosion in Amdanga's Sadhanpur in North 24 Parganas.

11:20 am - BJP agent was trying to run away with ballot box, officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all. TMC hasn't attacked anyone, says West Bengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh who was caught on cam slapping a BJP supporter.

11:10 am - Over 11 per cent polling recorded till 9 am.

#WestBengal: 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling booth in Dantan area of West Midnapore. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/fLWXwztMb1  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

10:45 am - Ballot papers were thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between TMC and BJP in Murshidabad. Voting has been stopped there.

10:20 am - BJP supporter in Bilkanda severely injured after being attacked with a knife, allegedly by TMC workers. He is currently undergoing treatment.

10:05 am -

#WATCH: On being identified, BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das, was slapped by #WestBengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh (in purple kurta) at Cooch Behar's booth no. 8/12 in presence of Police. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/9S2gyAoNQt  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

9:30 am - Violence was reported in Burdwan districts too.

9:25 am -

9:15 am - Senior minister Jyotipriyo Mullick denied the involvement of the TMC in the incident and accused BJP of terrorising the voters.

9:10 am - The opposition CPI(M) and BJP had accused the TMC of terrorising voters and hurling bombs outside polling stations. But, the TMC has termed the allegations as baseless.

9: 05 am - In North 24 Parganas, the BJP accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of letting loose a reign of terror in several parts of the district, especially in Amdanga area. A few people were injured when clashes broke out between two groups, SEC sources said.

9:02 am - In Dinhata area of Coochbehar district in North Bengal, a few voters were injured after clashes broke out between two groups outside a polling station, SEC sources said. The voters, later on, lodged a police complaint.

9:00 am - Violence broke out in North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Coochbehar and South 24 Parganas districts.

8:30 am - Considering the history of violence in the state panchayat polls, elaborate security arrangements have been made to maintain law and order during the polling.

Voters standing in a queue outside a polling booth in Purulia's Chakra to cast their vote for Panchayat Elections #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/gVBBCYfQKb  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

8:00 am - The voting will continue till 5 p.m. in 621 zilla parishads, 6157 panchayat samitis, and 31,827 gram panchayats. The counting will take place on May 17.

7:30 am - The much-awaited West Bengal panchayat polls began at 7 am.

(With inputs from agencies)Yervand Bozoyan: It will be a cognitive meeting, not to expect anything extraordinary (video)

Russia has always pursued a policy of slack and cookie, political scientist Yervand Bozoyan told journalists today. "There must be times when they understand how to work with Armenia." Many things cannot be expected from the meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and RF President Vladimir Putin, the political scientist says. "It will be a cognitive meeting, not to expect anything extraordinary. Both sides will try to maintain good-neighborly relations." The composition of the government is unfamiliar to Yervand Bozoyan. "They are full of surprises for the public," he says. "It is important here which program and which preparations will be made before the snap elections." "In the near future the amendments to the Electoral Code are mandatory, the rating system should be removed and the election bribe will finally disappear from our lives. While political prisoners must be released before the elections so that they can participate in the electoral process," says the political scientist. According to Yervand Bozoyan, obvious problems should be solved immediately. "There are always luxurious cars at the government building, it's anti-esthetic and immoral, and this phenomenon must be eliminated."Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Armen Badalyan: Many people did not want Serzh Sargsyan to become Prime Minister

It is not a secret that there were other people in power who did not want Serzh Sargsyan to become Prime Minister, today, such opinion was expressed by political technologist Armen Badalyan during a meeting with journalists. "Many people did not allow Serzh Sargsyan to become Prime Minister. They wanted Karen Karapetyan to become Prime Minister, but they did not succeed either. This is a reform of the political system," said Armen Badalyan. He also added that it was logical that members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) were also part of the government as they have supported the popular movement. "It does not matter whether the person is from the ARF or from another party, the important thing is to work well in this new system. In 100 days we will be able to evaluate the government's work. It does not matter whether they are young or not, essential is professional work. It's symbolic that the Minister of Defense, who was representing the RPA during the elections, resigned, it is symbolic," said the political technologist. According to Armen Badalyan, if there were parliamentary elections, the Civil Treaty would gain the majority by the influence of the revolutionary pathos. He also added that it would be good to hold the elections in September and October and the Central Electoral Commission and Public Television Leadership had to go from top to bottom to organize fair elections.Mrs Lam meets the head of the China delegation to the 74th session of the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific Zhang Jun.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivers a keynote speech at the 74th session of the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific in Bangkok.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam attended the 74th session of the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific in Bangkok today.

In the morning, Mrs Lam delivered a keynote speech at the event to share Hong Kong's experience in boosting social inclusion and environmental protection to achieve sustainable development.

She said the successful implementation of "one country, two systems" since Hong Kong's return to the motherland has laid the foundation for its continued prosperity and stability.

Mrs Lam added Hong Kong will seize opportunities brought by the Belt & Road Initiative and strive to promote economic development, which she stressed should be inclusive and beneficial to all.

"Hong Kong was more than willing to help and share experience in capacity building with some emerging economies, as part of Hong Kong's contribution to the promotion of people-to-people bond in the global environment.

"Hong Kong is one of the safest and most efficient cities in the world, and over the years of our development we have accumulated a lot of experience in city management, covering areas such as firefighting, flood prevention, slope stabilisation, aviation safety, railway operation."

On environmental protection, Mrs Lam talked about Hong Kong's targets and actions in combating climate change and reducing carbon emissions. She said countries should embrace greater co-operation across political, economic and social boundaries to achieve common goals.

She also met Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and to discuss strengthening co-operation between Hong Kong and Thailand.

Mrs Lam said she was pleased about the Thai government's positive response to her proposal in last year's Policy Address to establish in Bangkok the third Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The office is expected to open early next year.

She later met the head of the China delegation to the 74th session of the commission Zhang Jun. She thanked the Central Government for its support for Hong Kong's participation as an associate member in the commission's annual session and related work over the years.

Also attending the meeting were Chinese Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Thailand Lyu Jian and Permanent Representative of China to the commission Li Hong.PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Victoria Falls last night and is expected to officiate at the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions conference which kicks off in the resort town today.



He was accompanied by Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Retired Air Marshal Perrance Shiri.



Matabeleland North Minister for Provincial Affairs Ambassador Cain Mathema, Victoria Falls Mayor Councillor Sifiso Mpofu, service chiefs and heads of Government departments were at the airport to welcome the President.





A total of 13 countries are expected at the regional farmers conference whose theme will be bordering on trade enhancement with respect to agriculture. The Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) and Commercial Farmers Union are hosting the rotational conference on behalf of Zimbabwe.Self-Exiled former Zanu PF politburo member and Cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo has defended MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisas performance during a recent BBC current affairs programme, HARDtalk, saying the opposition leader did his best given that most of the questions thrown at him were inane.



During his recent visit to the United Kingdom, Chamisa had a steamy 30-minute interview with the British public service broadcasters Stephen Sackur on the hard-hitting current affairs programme.

Consequently, some Chamisa loyalists were quick to describe the interview as embedded journalism based on the personal sentiments that Sackur uttered in which he described Chamisas electoral promises as silly and equated them to the fictitious novel Alices Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll.



Over the weekend, Moyo who has always blamed Britain for clandestinely conspiring with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to consolidate his grip on illegitimate power, suggested on his Twitter handle that the interview was a lucid exhibition of the fishy relationship between the former colonial master and the current administration.



(British ambassador) Catriona Laings role in the November 15 coup and UK governments hurry to recognise the coup government are well-documented, but yet to be fully told. Meanwhile, the chips have begun to fall into place and Sackurs inane BBC HARDtalk with Nelson Chamisa is a telling case in point, Moyo said.



Moyo went on to draw parallels between this years looming elections and the maiden 1980 elections in which Britain was also blamed for trying to undermine Robert Mugabes populist influence in favour of the then incumbent Abel Muzorewa and he warned that such practices will end in shame.



After Stephen Sackurs crass BBC HARDtalk with Nelson Chamisa, there is growing chatter (that) Catriona Laing is behaving more like Junta PFs (Zanu PF) commissar to Britain than UKs ambassador to Zimbabwe. Theyve forgotten how such support for incumbent Muzorewa in 1980 ended in UK shame, Moyo warned.



Chamisas interview on BBC continues to receive mixed reactions on social media with MDC-T activist and former broadcaster Eric Knight, saying: It seeks to expose and because of that, it thrives on two facets namely, extensive research and the iron-fistedness of the presenter.



Dont forget it is the same programme that Pakistan President Musharaff reminded the host that I am President, the same programme that (Kenya opposition leader Raila) Odinga went quiet in front of the cameras and the same programme in which Hilary Clinton became violent, Knight posted on Facebook. NewsdayCanada to Manning: Come

Here So We Can Deport YouRemarks by Edward Nalbandian (video)

Remarks by Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, on the occasion of completing his tenure addressed to the diplomats of Armenia 14 May 2018 Dear colleagues, Ten years ago I had the honour to become the head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. During those years we have reached together important achievements. I am confident, that in the upcoming years it will be possible to fulfill all the things that has not been implemented yet. This confidence is founded on the goal-oriented working environment that exists in the Foreign Ministry, the established institutional mechanisms, professional and patriotic diplomatic staff devoted to their job. When last year we marked the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations of Armenia with a number of countries, there was no doubt that during that relatively short period of time we have managed to form a vibrant institution which today carries out its responsibilities with an honour. This has a great importance for all of us, especially for those who were standing at the roots of formation and establishment of the diplomatic service in Armenia. The documents and figures summarizing the past ten years speak for themselves. I will name only few examples. During the last ten years a conceptual changes have taken place with regards one of the most important priorities of Armenian foreign policy - the process of settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue, our positions have been significantly strengthened. Statements of the heads of the Co-Chair countries in L'Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos and Enniskillen clearly enshrined the realisation of the people's right to self-determination, which has been the cornerstone of our position for years, as a main element for the settlement of the issue, and those statements outlined that the status of Artsakh will be determined by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh through their legally binding expression of will. This is the position which today enjoys the support of the international community. While Azerbaijan was claiming for years that the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should be based exclusively upon the principle of territorial integrity, today we have reached a milestone when the international community states that three principles - non-use of force or the threat of force, equal rights and self-determination of peoples, territorial integrity - should serve as a basis for the settlement, which are considered as an integrated whole and any attempt to prioritize one of them will undermine the peaceful settlement. Armenia has stated on numerous occasions that the comprehensive and lasting settlement of the issue is impossible without the participation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Today the Co-Chairs share this stance and it is embedded in the working papers of the negotiation process. In contrast to the previous period, it was exactly during the last years that the Co-Chairs started to issue statements addressed to Azerbaijan as well. After failing in the negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh issue, in April of 2016 Azerbaijan unleashed new aggression against Artsakh thus attempting to impose its own approaches on the settlement within the negotiation process. Baku failed yet again, and the outcomes of the Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva Summits, numerous statements of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries attest to that. Today we can unhesitatingly state that the international community and Armenia speak almost with the same language: the peaceful settlement of the issue based on the implementation of the right of people of Artsakh to self-determination, international recognition and guarantee of security has no alternative. As a negotiating side, Armenia has repeatedly stated that together with the Co-Chair countries will continue to undertake efforts in this direction. The unfolded developments attest to the rightfulness and effectiveness of the tactic we have chosen and our steps. The achievements we have registered are the result of our consistent and zealous work. And the maintenance and enhancement of those achievements also require big efforts so that to make reaching the settlement on that basis possible. For the ten years the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide have been one of the main priorities of our foreign policy. During this period of time the number of countries which recognized the Armenian Genocide increased by ten, and the number of different international institutions and administrative units of countries by dozens. Genocide Centennial events, our nationwide unity and the resonance of the events held are worth a special mentioning. Upon Armenias initiative, a number of resolutions on prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity were adopted in the UN Human Rights Council and other international fora. Based on the resolution initiated by Armenia and adopted by Human Rights Council in March of 2015 through a consensus, the UN General Assembly designated December 9 as a Day of commemoration of the victims of genocide. In April of 2018, upon Armenias initiative the Human Rights Council adopted through consensus another resolution on prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, which was co-sponsored by sixty countries. Today various international institutions consider Armenia with its initiatives as a frontrunner in the international efforts to prevent crimes against humanity. In december this year on the occasions of the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Yerevan will host the third Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, which will be dedicated to the topic of preventing genocide through education. Necessary preparatory works to hold the Forum on a proper level have been carried out. Our country has been actively involved in the processes and initiatives towards settlement of global issues, such as non proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms control, nuclear security, fight against terrorism, protection of victims of ethnic and religious identity-based discrimination and violence, addressing issues of migration, refugees and others. During the last decade, our attention was constantly focused on the protection of interests of citizens of the Republic of Armenia and native Armenians, as well as providing assistance to our compatriots in crisis situations. The vivid example of this is the comprehensive assistance provided to Syrian-Armenians. Armenian-Russian allied relations were further deepened and enhanced over the past decade and are currently at their height. This was reflected in the recent state visits of the leaders of Armenia and Russia, which were the first state visits in the history of our bilateral relations. Political dialogue, economic cooperation, military-technical, decentralized, scientific-educational and humanitarian cooperation have gained a new momentum. The Protocol No. 5 to the Agreement of 16 March 1995 on the deployment of the Russian military base in the territory of Armenia was signed between Russia and Armenia. It envisages that the military base of Russia in Armenia together with the Armed Forces of Armenia will act as a guarantor of Armenia's security and, for that purpose, Russia will provide Armenia with modern weapons, as well as special military equipment. Through our joint efforts, the friendly partnership with the United States reached a qualitatively new level. The high level contacts became regular, the collaboration was expanded in various areas, from political dialogue to development programmes. Two visits of the US Secretary of State, one after the other, were noteworthy. The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement was signed, the largest investment from the United States in Armenia was also made in recent years. Visa regime has been facilitated. The centuries-old good-neighbourly relations with our immediate neighbours Georgia and Iran have been incrementally developed. One of the most important priorities of our foreign policy was the active participation in regional integration processes. In 2015 Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, which stems from the strategic and economic interests and opens up broad prospects for the development of our country. Being an active member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia, with its realistic steps, proved that it can also effectively cooperate within other integration formats Signing of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement became a significant milestones of the Armenia-European Union relations. Armenia is unanimously identified by the international community as a successful example of cooperation with various integration structures. We have deepened the traditional friendly partnership with France, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Vatican, Italy, Eastern and Central Europe, Scandinavian and other European countries. During this period the geography and intensity of Armenia's relations have been enhanced. Significant progress has been reached with regards the cooperation with China. The contacts with India, Japan and the Republic of Korea have intensified. Effective and practical cooperation has been developed with the Arab world, Asian region, Latin America, African countries Thanks to our initiative aimed at normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations, the support of the international community towards Armenia's principled position on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations with no preconditions has been reiterated, and destructive approaches of Turkey have been treated correspondingly by the international community. One of the most important directions of Armenia's foreign policy was the deepening of involvement in international organizations. An extensive work has been done to ensure the election of Armenian representatives in various international structures. The chairmanships of Armenia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were marked by new initiatives. The chairmanship of our country in the Council of Europe has been highly appreciated internationally. During these years, Armenia has twice chaired the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. The BSEC Foreign Ministers Council session is scheduled to be held in June in Yerevan. Armenia has expanded its engagement in international peacekeeping operations by participating in a number of peacekeeping missions. The cooperation between Armenia and North Atlantic Alliance has been continued. The vivid demonstration of confidence and solidarity towards Armenia by the international community has become the decision to hold the 17th summit of the International Organization of La Francophonie in Yerevan and to transfer the presidency of this organization, unifying almost the half of the world, to Armenia. A large-scale preparatory works have been carried out. Already today heads of two dozens countries and governments have already confirmed their participation in the October summit. I would like to ask all of you to do everything possible to hold the summit and the Francophone Economic Forum at the highest level. Accept this as a personal request. As a result of promoting the economic component of Armenia's foreign policy, cooperation with traditional partners has been strengthened, the cooperation within regional and international financial and economic structures has been deepened, and effective mechanisms of intergovernmental economic cooperation committees have been established with a number of countries. Dear colleagues, The new and comfortable building of the Foreign Ministry itself symbolizes the extensive work that has been done to increase the effectiveness of our diplomatic service in recent years. I am confident that these walls will witness a lot of successes in the coming years. It is with particular respect that I would like to speak about the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, more than 100 graduates of which have joined the diplomatic service, breathing in a new life into our system. The geography of our diplomatic missions has drastically expanded, over the last ten years Armenia has established about two dozen diplomatic missions. During the same period of time, 15 diplomatic missions have been established in Armenia. The number of countries having diplomatic relations with Armenia has reached 175. The number of international organisation to which Armenia is a member has also increased reaching around hundred. Around nine hundred international agreements have been signed throughout these years. Several hundreds high level mutual visits have been carried out. A number of meetings at the level of Foreign Ministers and heads of international organizations exceeds a thousand. To the staff of the Foreign Ministry gathered here it is clear what a huge amount of work is hidden behind this, at first glance, cold numbers and facts, and how great were our efforts. All this would have been impossible without the hard work and devotion of our entire staff. It is my greatest wish for our diplomatic service to spare no efforts and energy in order to double the achievements, to continue keeping high the dignity of the Armenian diplomat, to represent and protect the interests of our country and people to the best possible. Amidst the recently occurring events in Armenia, it is noteworthy that the foreign policy of our country has not become a subject for any criticism, moreover, the main guidelines of it have been reiterated by the political forces with different views. Taking stock of the last ten years, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan for granting me the opportunity and the honour to serve for Armenia as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as for for the support and trust. I would like to express my gratitude to the staff of the MFA, from the high level officials to the graduates of the Diplomatic School who have recently joined us, our colleagues abroad, who serve their homeland with the most devoted dedication, often in a very difficult situations, the technical staff who have a substantial contribution to the effective functioning of our Ministry, to all those with whom I had the honour to work for the advancement of interests and priorities of Armenia. I wish success and new achievements to newly appointed Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and all our diplomats for the glory of our Motherland and the Armenian people. I thank you.(Newser)  Horror in Indonesia: For the second time in two days, a suicide bombing was carried out by an entire family, including a child, police say. Authorities say an 8-year-old girl was among five family members who attacked police headquarters in the city of Surabaya on Monday morning, the Guardian reports. CCTV footage of the attack shows the family arriving on two motorcycles and detonating their explosives at a checkpoint, reports the AP. Police say the only people killed were the four adult family members. The girl was thrown by the blast and is being treated in a local hospital. Four police officers and six civilians were injured in the attack, which President Joko Widodo called "undignified and barbaric."

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The police headquarters attack follows Sunday's attacks on three Christian churches in the city, which police say were carried out by members of a single family, including a 9-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl. Police have identified the father as Dita Oepriarto, head of a local ISIS-inspired terror cell. Six family members and eight others died in the three attacks. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and police say the family members were among hundreds of Indonesians to return to the country from Syria after the collapse of ISIS' "caliphate." In another Surabaya blast, three people were killed in an explosion at an apartment Sunday night. Police believe all three people killed were bombers. (Read more Indonesia stories.)(Newser)  A 5-year-old girl in Colorado was seriously injured after going outside in the middle of the night to investigate noises she thought were coming from her dog and being attacked by a bear. Kimberly Cyr's father tells NBC 11 that the Grand Junction girl will be "fine" after the attack at around 2:30am Sunday. Her mother says that after she heard screaming, she went outside to see a black bear dragging the girl away. The mother says the bear dropped her daughter after she started screaming at it. Kimberly, whose condition was upgraded from serious to fair Sunday afternoon, needed 77 stitches but suffered no life-threatening injuries, a pediatric surgeon at St. Marys Medical Center tells Q13 Fox.

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer Rebecca Ferrell tells ABC that traps have been set for the bear. She says that if it is captured, it will be euthanized and a necropsy will be carried out to determine what happened. Ferrell says Kimberly may have startled the bear, since the animals are "not expecting people to be up and about" at that time of night. Ferrell says bear encounters in Colorado are unusual, but anyone who does encounter one should stay calm and make it aware that there are people near it. "Do not ever run from a bear, don't try and climb a tree, because a bear can do both of those things much faster than we can, she says. (Read more bear attack stories.)(Newser)  "Obviously what's happening here is a complete crash and burn. I don't know what the procedures/rules are for contacting parents but if this was my kid, I'd want to know." So wrote Graham Burton's adviser at New York's Hamilton College to the academic dean. It's a sentence that sums up so much of the sentiment and questioning that followed Burton's December 2016 suicide in his Hamilton dorm room. The school knew he was strugglingprofessors exchanged emails about his absences, and he was failing all but one of his classesbut didn't inform the parents, who were outraged to belatedly learn about what the school knew and they didn't. The New York Times reports that Hamilton has cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as a privacy-minded law that prevents them from doing just that in the absence of a student's consent.

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While the rules allow for exceptions in the case of suicidal students, it's an allowance, not a requirement. The question of where a student's privacy and autonomy should begin and end isn't just one being asked at Hamilton, notes the Times, which cites the even more explicit case of Olivia Kong. The University of Pennsylvania junior committed suicide eight months before Burton did, after at least twice phoning a psychiatrist with the university counseling center who made this note: "Said that she had actually planned to return to campus Sunday and kill self." (The Daily Pennsylvanian reports a suit filed by Kong's parents alleges Kong and those close to her reported her suicidal thoughts to the university nine times.) The Times offers no answers, but it does look at steps suggested by Burton's parents and other students. Read the full story here. (Read more suicide stories.)(Newser)  A pair of British hikers looking for adventure in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been freed after being kidnapped, but a 25-year-old park ranger is dead. British authorities said Sunday that Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty had been freed after gunmen ambushed their vehicle in Virunga National Park on Friday, reports the BBC. During the ambush, the gunmen killed Rachel Masika Baraka, who was one of 26 female rangers at the park. She is believed to be the first female ranger killed at Virunga, which Reuters explains is located in a still-volatile region near Uganda and Rwanda but remains a draw for tourists worldwide because of its endangered mountain gorillas and active volcano. She is the eighth park ranger overall killed in this year alone.

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The details of how the hostages were freed remain murky, but ransom negotiations had been underway. The gunmen took the British pair on foot, along with their driver, who was eventually freed before the Brits. "One of them said to me I will leave you here, if (they) find you, tell them we need $200,000 and if they keep on chasing us, we will kill these two,'" the injured driver tells the Telegraph. The kidnappers later reduced their demand to $30,000, according to another story in the Telegraph. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson announced the release but did not say whether any ransom was paid. "I pay tribute to the help of the DRC authorities and Congolese Institute of Nature Conservation," Johnson tweeted. "My thoughts with the family of the ranger tragically killed during the kidnapping." (Read more Democratic Republic of Congo stories.)(Newser)  Four years after MH370 vanished without a trace we still have no answersbut we do have a theory. Australia's 60 Minutes on Sunday ran an episode that tries to get at what happened to the doomed plane and presents Senior Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy's "discovery"one he first aired in 2015 but one that's now getting fresh attention. He pored over the plane's flight path and believes that Captain Zaharie Amad Shah was on an intentional suicide mission and skirted back and forth over the border between Thailand and Malaysiaeight times, he previously told the BBCas a means of avoiding detection by either country's military. "It's going in and out of those two countries ... so both of the controllers aren't bothered about this mysterious aircraft. Cause it's, 'Oh, it's gone. It's not in our space anymore,'" he says.

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But there was another point that he pondered for a long time, reports news.com.au: why the plane veered off course and "dipped the wing" over Penang, Malaysia. "And after two months, three months of thinking about it, I finally got the answersomebody was looking out the window." Hardy explains Penang was Zaharie's hometown, and he believes the pilot wanted to see it one last time before his death. A separate piece at news.com.au isn't satisfied with what the episode had to offer, saying too many holes remain. A big one: Zaharie's alleged motive has never been established. Meanwhile, the AP in early May reported that a new scan of the Indian Ocean that began in January has covered 31,000 square miles but turned up nothing. Ocean Infinity's search is expected to conclude in about a month. (The hunt for MH370 may have solved two 19th-century mysteries.)(Newser)  Kyle Plush managed to call 911 twice from the third-row seat of the van in which he had become trapped on April 10, using Siri to place two calls from the phone in his pocket. The 16-year-old suffocated in the parking lot of Cincinnati's Seven Hills School, and on Monday the City Council's Law and Public Safety Committee was presented with the findings of an investigation into the teen's death and discussed them publicly. Police Chief Eliot Isaac, his investigators, and technical staff were the ones sharing the findings, reports WLWT. The most looming question, per the Cincinnati Enquirer: "whether 911 operators and police officers responded appropriately to Kyle's two calls for help."



The report concluded 911 operations and police did act appropriately, but the report cites technical and personnel failings that produced the failed response. "We failed to get the outcome we wanted in this emergency response," said Mayor John Cranley.

The investigation found that the two officers who responded to the 911 calls erred in turning off their body cameras 3 minutes into their 14-minute search, reports Fox 19. Isaac said the officers drove through lots looking for Kyle over the course of those 14 minutes; that included the lot where he was trapped. They at no point exited their vehicle, a decision they said was made in order to cover the most ground and because the lots were crowded due to school just ending.

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Council member Amy Murray said she didn't understand why the cops didn't enter the school to let the school know someone named Kyle was said to be trapped in a van. Members also questioned why every van wasn't specifically searched.

The report's conclusion: Officers Edsel Osborne and Brian Brazile took "actions [that] were consistent with the actions that a reasonable officer would take" and "met department standards."

The Plush family were the only citizens permitted to speak at Monday's meeting, and Cranley characterized father Ron Plush's comments as "courageous" and "appropriate," per Fox 19; he was the one to find his son dead. Plush said the report didn't provide answers to all the family's questions. Among them: whether officers had exact GPS coordinates for the van. WCPO's Hillary Lake tweeted, "we have reported that they did because the GPS lat & long shows up on CAD."

The AP reports the investigation found the phone disconnected Kyle's first call, and that he could not have a back-and-forth conversation with the 911 dispatcher. In his first call, placed at 3:14pm, he said he was "going to die here" if help didn't come. The operator didn't hear that line; Fox News reports Kyle's words were "overriden" by 911's automatic greeting and therefore not transmitted to operators.

Kyle's aunt, Jodi Schwind, also spoke, taking issue with the fact that officers were initially told they were looking for an elderly female locked in car, per WOSU. This though Lake tweeted that the 911 operator got Kyle's voicemail greeting 3 minutes after his first 911 call was disconnected. The voicemail was not a generic one but said "Hi, this is Kyle." Schwind felt the name and knowledge the call came from near a school should have provided enough for officers to go on.

Kyle placed a second call at 3:35pm, and a different dispatcher answered it but was unable to hear him again express the seriousness of the situation and provide more detailed info, like details about the Honda Odyssey he was in. The report didn't establish why she didn't hear him, but said her headset might not have been working.

Council members put a May 29 meeting on the calendar for police to return with answers to questions raised Monday. Ron Plush is calling for an outside investigation.

(Read more Kyle Plush stories.)(Newser)  The US formally opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, and the historic move triggered a new wave of violence. At least 52 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops as they demonstrated near the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, reports the AP. The Washington Post reports that organizers of the demonstration urged protesters to breach the fence, saying incorrectly that Israeli soldiers were fleeing their positions when, in fact, the opposite was taking place. Estimates of the number injured ranged up to 2,400. Addressing those at the ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Monday a "great day" for Israel and the US, and "a great day for peace," reports the Wall Street Journal. Also:

Jared Kushner: The presidential son-in-law spoke at the opening ceremony. "As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said, per the Guardian. As for Trump: "While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to the move the American embassy once in office, this president delivered. ... The United States stands with Israel because we know it is the right thing to do."

The presidential son-in-law spoke at the opening ceremony. "As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said, per the Guardian. As for Trump: "While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to the move the American embassy once in office, this president delivered. ... The United States stands with Israel because we know it is the right thing to do." President Trump: In a videotaped message to the opening ceremony, Trump said the new embassy has "been a long time coming." Trump, whose decision to move the embassy fulfills a campaign promise, said his "greatest hope" is for peace. He said the United States "remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

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Palestinians: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he "will not accept" any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration after the embassy move. Abbas told PLO officials Monday that "this is not an embassy, it's a US settlement outpost in Jerusalem," in a reference to Israeli settlements on war-won lands sought for a Palestinian state. The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were "massacres" carried out by Israeli troops.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he "will not accept" any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration after the embassy move. Abbas told PLO officials Monday that "this is not an embassy, it's a US settlement outpost in Jerusalem," in a reference to Israeli settlements on war-won lands sought for a Palestinian state. The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were "massacres" carried out by Israeli troops. More criticism: Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal warned that the embassy move "has raised the volume of anti-American rhetoric, adding that "its not a step that will bring peace to Palestine or to the Middle East. Iran's foreign minister called Monday "a day of great shame" because of the violence. And Syria's foreign ministry condemned "in the strongest terms" the "brutal massacre" by Israel.

Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal warned that the embassy move "has raised the volume of anti-American rhetoric, adding that "its not a step that will bring peace to Palestine or to the Middle East. Iran's foreign minister called Monday "a day of great shame" because of the violence. And Syria's foreign ministry condemned "in the strongest terms" the "brutal massacre" by Israel. Marines in place: The US has added Marines to guard embassies in Israel, Turkey, and Jordan, reports NBC News.

The US has added Marines to guard embassies in Israel, Turkey, and Jordan, reports NBC News. The basics: The Wall Street Journal has a primer on the US decision to move the embassy, something stipulated by Congress in 1995 but delayed by every president until Trump, as well the Palestinian protests at the border fence. Israel accuses Hamas of using them as a cover to commit attacks, while Palestinian leaders want Israel to allow Palestinian refugees and the ancestors to return to their homeland.

(Read more Israel stories.)(Newser)  Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star Delhi hotel in 2014 after a bizarre Twitter feud involving a Pakistani journalist who, the Indian woman claimed on the social media site, was having an affair with Pushkar's husband. It was first treated as suicide, but now her husband has been charged in Pushkar's death, the BBC reports. Shashi Tharoor, an Indian member of parliament and former UN diplomat, was charged with cruelty to his spouse and abetment to suicide; under Indian law, that means he allegedly instigated his wife to kill herself.

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Her cause of death is still not clear. The first postmortem report suggested a drug overdose was a possibility; she had reportedly been on medication. But subsequent reports have mentioned possible "poisoning," a "deep bite" on her palm, and "mysterious injection marks." In 2015, police said they were treating the case as a murder rather than a suicide, reports the Hindustan Times, which has a detailed timeline of the case. Tharoor and Pushkar wed in 2010, and after the strange series of tweets before her death, they had insisted they were happily married and said the tweets were "unauthorized." Tharoor says he will fight the charges, calling them "preposterous." (Read more India stories.)(Newser)  Though it was previously confirmed that Meghan Markle's father would attend his daughter's wedding to Prince Harry this weekend and walk her down the aisle, Thomas Markle now tells TMZ he's not going. Thomas Markle, who is divorced from Meghan's mother, tells the gossip site he was tired of being caught by the paparazzi in unflattering situations (including "buying beer, looking disheveled and reclusive," per TMZ), so he agreed when a paparazzi agency offered to pay him if he let photographers take pictures of him getting ready for the royal wedding. An uproar ensued over the staged photos, and Thomas Markle says he decided not to attend the wedding so as to avoid embarrassing his daughter or the British royal family. Asked about the TMZ report by CNN, Kensington Palace said only, "This is a deeply personal moment for Ms. Markle in the days before her wedding. She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr. Markle in this difficult situation."

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Thomas Markle had a heart attack six days ago, he tells TMZ, but he had checked himself out of the hospital in order to attend the wedding before he changed his mind. He says the staged photos look "stupid and hammy" and that he didn't mean to cause drama for his daughter or the royals; he also says he was not paid anywhere close to the $100,000 that has been reported (and that he's turned down multiple requests to be interviewed for up to $100,000). As People reports, Meghan Markle's estranged half-sister Samantha says she's the one who arranged for their dad's photo shoot in an effort to improve his public image. Samantha has spoken out against her sister and Prince Harry more than once, and it was recently reported that Meghan Markle "has no relationship" with her half-siblings (she also has a half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr.) and they would not be attending the wedding. (Read more Meghan Markle stories.)(Newser)  A black Louisiana man's death while in the custody of multiple white police officers has been ruled a homicide. The Times-Picayune reports that the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office had Keeven Robinson in custody after he allegedly led them on a car chase last week. The parish coroner announced on Monday that the 22-year-old died of neck injuries "consistent with compressional asphyxia." Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich also ruled the manner of death as homicide. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto appeared with the coroner at a news conference amid widespread media scrutiny of the case. Lopinto declined to identify the four deputies involved but did confirm they were white. Per the AP, Lopinto said it was too early to conclude whether a choke hold was used. "There's no doubt they used force," Lopinto said. "It's whether the force was excessive."

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News outlets in New Orleans reported that authorities had said Robinson was under surveillance by narcotics agents Thursday morning when he noticed the agents approaching at a gas station. He drove away but abandoned his car after crashing into two vehicles. Deputies chased him and caught and handcuffed him in the back yard of a home. Lopinto said he was in possession of heroin. He was unarmed, although there was a gun in the abandoned car. Meanwhile, an attorney for Robinson's family says a march has been scheduled for Monday evening in his honor near the spot where the struggle happened. The attorney, Hester Hilliard, appeared with the family at a news conference where she said the sheriff's office and coroner had acted with "professionalism and transparency." However, she also said the family would like to see an agency other than the sheriff's office lead the investigation. (Read more race relations stories.)(Newser)  A once-trusted nanny who was convicted of brutally murdering two small children in her care while their parents were out was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without parole, the AP reports. Yoselyn Ortega wept as she spoke brieflya rare show of emotion in a lengthy trial at which she was convicted of the gruesome October 2012 stabbing deaths of 6-year-old Lucia Krim, known as Lulu, and 2-year-old Leo Krim. "I'm very sorry for everything that happened, but I hope that no one goes through what I have gone through," the 55-year-old Ortega said through tears. "Although many people wish me all the worst, my life is in the hands of God." The children's parents, Marina and Kevin Krim, spoke in court of how Ortega robbed them of their children and how Ortega's family and friends helped with this by lying to them about Ortega's personality and experience as a nanny.

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Ortega, who's from the Dominican Republic, had been recommended by her sister, a nanny for another New York family, and her background and references were faked by her family. The consequences, the Krims said, were horrifying. Ortega, for her part, said she wasn't feeling well but wasn't able to go to the doctor. "I ask for a great deal of forgiveness. To God, to Marina, to Kevin. I wish my family had told them that I did not feel well," she said through a Spanish-English interpreter. But Judge Gregory Carro referred to Ortega as "pure evil" and said she should spend the rest of her life in prison. Kevin Krim eviscerated Ortega for not pleading guilty and forcing the case into a courtroom. He said she never should have put the family, the jurors, or the audience through it. "The defendant is an evil and utterly dangerous narcissist," he said. "It is right that she should live and rot and die in a metal case, like the ugly and dark shadow of Lulu and Leo's bright and shiny lights."

(Read more Yoselyn Ortega stories.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionBahraini parliament has approved a controversial bill preventing all members of dissolved opposition groups and organizations from running for elections, a fresh step by the small Persian Gulf island country in suppressing the dissent ahead of parliamentary polls this year.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Bahraini parliament has approved a controversial bill preventing all members of dissolved opposition groups and organizations from running for elections, a fresh step by the small Persian Gulf island country in suppressing the dissent ahead of parliamentary polls this year.



Bahrain's state news agency, BNA, reported on Sunday that the Consultative Council, the National Assemblys upper house, passed the draft bill, according to which all leaders and members of political associations dissolved by the judicial system are prohibited from standing for elections.



The report added that the bill had been approved against these people due to their serious violations of the constitution and laws of the kingdom.



The bill has already secured its approval from the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Assembly, but still needs to be signed by Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah to become law.



On July 17, 2016, the Bahraini High Administrative Court ordered the dissolution of the countrys main Shia opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, and the seizure of its funds, accusing it of helping to foster violence and terrorism in Western-allied Bahrain, where the US Navys Fifth Fleet is stationed.



The court ruling drew criticism from the United Nations, with then Secretary General Ban Ki-moon describing the dissolution as the latest in a series of restrictions of the rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of association, and freedom of expression in Bahrain. Al-Wefaqs leader Sheikh Ali Salman, a senior Bahraini Shia cleric, has also been in prison on a nine-year jail sentence since late 2014.



On October 26 last year, Bahrains High Appeals Court also upheld a decision by the countrys Appeals Court to dissolve the National Democratic Action Society (Waad), some four months after the latter court banned the leftist party on terror charges.



Other opposition groups such as the Islamic Enlightenment Society (Tawiya), al-Risala Society, and the Islamic Action Society, commonly referred to as Amal Party, have already been dissolved by Manama over similar charges. All dissolved groups, however, have strongly rejected the allegations.



Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.



They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.



Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.



Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regimes crackdown.



On March 5, 2017, Bahrains parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide. Bahraini king ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 last year.









/129But dinner diplomacy between Israels prime minister and a prominent Emirati ambassador sheds light on one of the worst kept secrets in the Arab world: the quiet ties between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors that are increasingly coming out in the open as they find common cause against Iran.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The Associated Press Agency said on Saturday (May 12, 2018) that a secret meeting was held between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahraini and Emirati ambassadors, during Netanyahu's visit to Washington last Mach to take part in an annual pro-Israel policy conference, AIPAC.



The meeting was held in Cafe Milano, in Georgetown region in Washington, according to the agency.



By coincidence, the Emirati ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al-Otaiba, was at the restaurant hosting Brian Hook, the State Department's policy planning chief, and a group of U.S. journalists, along with Bahrain's ambassador, Abdullah bin Rashed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa.



The Americans dining with Otaiba and Al Khalifa wanted to know if the Israeli would mind making an appearance at their dinner. That request first passed through the restaurant's owner, then one of the journalists.



It wasn't long before Netanyahu and his wife came over to say hello on their way out.



The Associated Press reported that six people attended the dinner, talked and answered questions about Iran and other issues. There were smiles, a few laughs about the oddity of the situation, and Netanyahu shook hands with the two ambassadors before leaving the restaurant.



The Israeli and Emirati embassies in Washington declined to comment on this secret meeting.



This comes few days after series of stances that proved the normalization approach at the Bahraini and Emirati governments.



The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday (May 4, 2018) the arrival of Bahraini and Emirati cyclists teams to Jerusalem to take part in an international race hosted by Israel.



The ministry published on its Facebook page "Israel Speaks Arabic" two photos for the Gulf teams in Jerusalem.



For his part, Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa issued controversial statements in which he expressed his baking to the recent Israeli strikes on Syria.



The minister said that "Israel has the right to defend itself against Iran".









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After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, petrol price was on Monday hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies.

With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Oil PSUs, who had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.

State-owned oil marketing companies are estimated to have lost about Rs 500 crore as they absorbed higher cost resulting from the spike in international oil rates and fall in rupee against the US dollar.

Oil PSUs, which have been since June last year revising auto fuel prices on a daily basis to reflect changes in the cost, have kept pump rates static since April 24, an analysis of daily price notification issued by oil companies showed.

Oil PSUs have refused to acknowledge if the freeze followed a government diktat so as to help ruling BJP in Karnataka.

Also Read | Walmart takes over Flipkart in deal worth $18-$20 billion

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman Sanjiv Singh last week said that the state-owned firms were "temporarily moderating" prices to avoid sharp spikes and panic among consumers.

Petrol and diesel prices were last revised on April 24 when they were hiked by 13 paise each. But prices were frozen thereafter. This despite benchmark international rate for petrol going up from USD 78.84 per barrel, which was used for raising the price to Rs 74.63 a litre on April 24, to USD 82.98 now, according to sources privy to fuel pricing methodology.

The benchmark international diesel rates during this period have climbed from USD 84.68 per barrel to USD 88.63. Also, the rupee has weakened to Rs 67 per US dollar from Rs 66.62, making imports costlier.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last month denied reports of a directive to state oil firms to absorb at least Re 1 a litre hike by not raising prices in line with cost.

The prices at petrol pumps of state-owned fuel retailers like Indian Oil Corp (IOC) were cut by 1-3 paise every day in the first fortnight of December 2017 before Gujarat went to polls.

They started moving up immediately after polling for assembly elections in Gujarat concluded on December 14, leading to speculation that government may have asked oil companies to hold the prices.

State-owned oil companies in June last year dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month and instead adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantly reflect changes in cost.

If this practice was followed in letter and spirit, petrol and diesel prices should have been increased by Rs 1.5 a litre in last 19 days, an analyst tracking the sector said.

The government had in June 2010 freed petrol price from its control and the diesel rates were deregulated in October 2014. Prices have since then moved more or less in tandem with international rates barring a few exceptions like the period before a crucial election.

Also Read | India's oil import from Iran will not be immediately hampered by US sanctions

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg have in the past weeks ruled out any immediate reduction in excise duty to cushion the increases warranted from a spike in international oil price.

The BJP-led government had raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47 per litre to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices. This led to its excise mop up more than doubling to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

The central government had cut excise duty by Rs 2 per litre in October 2017, when petrol price reached Rs 70.88 per litre in Delhi and diesel Rs 59.14. Because of the reduction in excise duty, diesel prices had on October 4, 2017, come down to Rs 56.89 per litre and petrol to Rs 68.38 per litre.

However, a global rally in crude prices pushed domestic fuel prices far higher than those levels.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed the first chargesheet against diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi in connection to India's largest ever financial scam worth Rs 14 thousand crore in the Punjab National Bank.

"PNB scam case: Central Bureau of Investigation submitted charge-sheet in Special CBI Court in Mumbai," the news agency ANI reported.

Hours after the CBI filed the chargesheet against the fraudstars, the DFS (Department of Financial Services) has directed the directors of PNB and Allahabad Bank to divest all the powers of the officers, who are accused in the case.

"We have initiated the removal of 3 board level officers, 2 ED officers of Punjab National Bank and 1 MD of Allahabad Bank," DSF secretary Rajiv Kumar said.

WATCH Live via ANI FB: DFS Secretary briefs media on PNB scam case https://t.co/3mo97GEPcV pic.twitter.com/RgwgHgDit8  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

With DFS initiating the removal action, the PNB has decided to divest ED officers to replace them.

The decision was taken after a PNB board meeting took place on Monday.

The Allahabad Bank too will call a board meeting soon and then decide to divest the power of Chief Managing Director (CMD) named in the CBI charge sheet.

The chargesheet, filed in a Mumbai court, detailed the alleged role of the PNB's former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian. She is currently serving as the CEO and MD of the Allahabad Bank. The CBI recently questioned Ananthasubramanian in connection with the scam.

Besides these, the names of several other top officials along with the PNB executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad were also mentioned in the chargesheet.

Read | PNB Fraud Case: Punjab National Bank moves Hong Kong High Court against Nirav Modi

The CBI has detailed the roles of Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modi's company, an official closed to the development told PTI.

PNB scam case: Central Bureau of Investigation submitted charge-sheet in Special CBI Court in Mumbai.  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

The chargesheet basically deals with the first FIR registered in the case relating to the fraudulent issuance over Rs 6,000 crore of Letters of Undertaking to Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

The agency has not given in detail the role of Mehul Choksi in the present chargesheet. It is likely to come up when the CBI files supplementary charge sheets in the case related to the probe of the Gitanjali group.

The CBI has registered three separate FIRs in connection with the alleged fraud in the public-sector bank by the companies of the nephew-uncle duo of Modi and Choksi. CBI has arrested 19 people in connection to the PNB scam so far.

Read | SBI, PNB put 15 NPAs worth Rs 1,063 crore for sale

Earlier, on April 21, the Punjab National Bank moved a Hong Kong court against the billionaire jewellers in order to recover an amount of over USD 5 billion.

Both Modi and Choksi had left the country before PNB filed the complaint with the CBI. They are at large after defrauding PNB of over Rs 14,000 crore using 1,200 illegally secured letters of undertakings (LOUs).

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The online registration process for admission to various courses in Delhi University (DU) affiliated colleges will be glitch-free, assures the administration. The DU online admission process begins on and the administration is making all efforts to avoid any technical glitches.



Many students faced problems in 2017 as the website's server went down and many could not access the DU portal.



"We have opened all tabs and ensuring zero technical glitches," Officer on Special Duty (Admission) Ashutosh Bharadwaj said.



The registration for undergraduate programmes will begin on Tuesday from 6 pm onwards, and postgraduate programmes and postgraduate diploma in cyber security and law registrations will begin on .



Registration for Ph.D and M.Phil programmes in DU will begin on .



Meanwhile, Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) president Rocky Tuseed said the union would set up a centre on North Campus to help aspirants in the registration process.



Admissions to Ph.D, M.Phil, postgraduate and undergraduate courses for 2018-19 academic session, and registration process for all categories and quotas will be online.



The online form for 2018-19 admissions will have new features, such as a single portal for applications for both merit-based and entrance-based entry into undergraduate courses.



DU will also hold 'Open Day' sessions during the period and (except ) at Conference Centre near Gate number 4 on North Campus.



"Open Days will have two sessions - 10 am to 11.30 am and 12 pm to 1.30 pm. On these days, information about registration, admission process, schedule and other related information would be provided," the DU statement said.New Delhi:

Bigg Boss 11 proved to be one of the most loved and watched shows on the small screen. The Salman Khan hosted show was known for its regular dose of controversies, fights and romance.A

It wouldnat be wrong to say that Hina Khan and Shilpa Shinde won millions of hearts during their stint in the popular reality show. The two power-packed performers had their issues on the BB11 and but it seems the Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hain actress wants to bury the hatchet.A

The Marathi Mulgi, who is currently seen in Dhan Dhana Dhan, extended an olive branch to Hina Khan on Twitter. A fan had shared a video mocking the Yeh Rishta Kya Keh Lata Hai actress, but this didnat go down well with Shilpa.

The Maayka actress requested the fans to love their idol instead of hating each other. Shinde also declared that she liked Hina and there was no point fighting as Bigg Boss had ended a long time back.A

Life is really very short. Negativity Se Jyada fun dekho Y I really like Hina.

And now bigg Boss is over so there is no point to fight.

Hina is doing great so its my request to all fandom, rather than hating each other love your idol.



Lotas of love to all Y https://t.co/FqNHO0MmfM a Shilpa Shinde. Risk everything...Regret nothing... (@ShindeShilpaS) May 13, 2018

Both the popular actresses are currently occupied with their respective work. While Hina Khan recently completed the shooting of her short film Smart Phone, Shilpa is co-hosting Dhan Dhana Dhan with Sunil Grover.New Delhi:

Delhi Police on Monday said that the chargesheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case that accuses her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of abetting her suicide was completed on the basis of amedico-legal and forensic evidence.a

Tharoor is the single person who has been arrayed as an accused in the case. The police have also alleged that Tharoor has subjected his wife to cruelty, in its chargesheet which runs around 3,000 pages.

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice," said a Delhi Police spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor responded to the charges by tweeting:A

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous chargesheet & intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.) a Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable! a Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel suite in South Delhi on January 17, 2014, after accusing her husband of being involved with a Pakistani journalist.

The former union minister was interrogated by the police on the circumstances in which Sunanda Pushkar left him at the Delhi airport.

Allegedly, the couple had a disagreement on a flight from Kerala to Delhi.

The police, at first, claimed that Sunanda was poisoned and registered a murder case in January 2015, without any suspect. She was 51 at the time of her death.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A high-velocity dust storm wreaked havoc on Sunday in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi-NCR, claiming over 50 lives and leaving behind a trail of destruction across north India.

At several places in north India including Delhi, high-velocity winds uprooted trees electricity polls and affected traffic, metro, rail and air services.

Uttar Pradesh bore the brunt of the hailstorm which left at least 39 people dead, while 12 people including four children were killed in West Bengal, nine in Andhra Pradesh, and two in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took to micro-blogging site Twitter and expressed his grief over the same.

"Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured," Modi tweeted.

Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. Asked officials to provide all possible assistance to those affected.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 13, 2018

Read | Thunderstorm updates: Massive dust storm hits Delhi-NCR; death toll rises to 53 in north India

Condoling the deaths, Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a tweet asked party workers to provide all assistance to the bereaved families.

My condolences to the families of those killed in the severe storms and lightning strikes across India, yesterday. Many have also been injured. I urge Congress Party workers to provide all possible assistance to the families of those killed and injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 14, 2018

The thunderstorms also lashed different parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Sunday.

The life-threatening dust storm with a wind speed of 109 km per hour claimed 3 lives in Delhi and threw the flight, rail and metro operations out of gear.

In West Bengal, at least 12 people, including four children, were killed and over 15 injured in lightning strike amid heavy rain, according to the state disaster management department.

Five deaths were reported from Howrah district, while two deaths each from West Midnapore, North 24-Parganas and Nadia districts and one from Murshidabad district.

In Andhra Pradesh, nine persons were killed in lightning strikes.

Read | Kalkaji Mandir-Janakpuri West section of Delhi Metro's Magenta Line to open next week

While seven persons were killed in Srikakulam district alone, two more were killed in Kadapa. Two persons lost their lives in Bihar.

Various parts of the southern state witnessed rain, accompanied by gales.

Meanwhile, with a cool and partly cloudy morning in the national capital on Monday, the weatherman predicts light rain or drizzle in the afternoon session of the day.

The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 37 degrees Celsius, according to officials.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

After a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the State Election Commission, the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition parties, the voting for the single-phase panchayat elections finally took place on Monday across West Bengal.

The polling began at around 7:00 am and culminated at 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17, according to officials.

According to the State Election Commission (SEC) sources, the elections are being held in 621 Zilla Parishad and 6,157 panchayatA samitis, besidesA 31,827 gramA panchayats.

Out of the 48,650 seats in 3,358-gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayatA samitis, 3,059 were uncontested, said West Bengal SEC.A

In the 20 Zilla Parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested, SEC added.

Over 12,000 Kolkata police personnel and 46,000 state police officers have been deployed in order to avoid incidents of violence. However, several incidents of brutality have already been reported from at least four districts of the state.

With 40 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats located in the districts, political parties are viewing theA event as a warm-up match ahead of 2019 general elections.

It is the last major polls in the state before the Lok Sabha elections and all eyes are on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is leaving no stone unturned to establish its power in the TMCP-ruled state.

Here are the LIVE updates onA West Bengal panchayat elections:

# 05:03 PM:A Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the West Bengal Government regarding incidents of violence during Panchayat Election in the state.

Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the West Bengal Government regarding incidents of violence during #PanchayatElection in the state. pic.twitter.com/AfIWrSQitx a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 04:21 PM:A Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed. Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution: Biman Bose, CPI(M) on West Bengal Panchayat Election.

# 04:18 PM:A West Bengal: Members of CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) & other parties of the Left Front staging protest outside State Election Commission against the incidents of violence during the Panchayat Election.

# 04:09 PM: Media is showing exactly what is captured in the camera.We admire the courage of journalists: SitaramYechury, general secretary, CPI-M on incidents of violence during West Bengal Panchayat Election.

# 04:03 PM:A Overall 56% polling recorded till 3 pm in West Bengal Panchayat Election.

# 03:56 PM:A This is nothing but the complete destruction of democracy. Election Commission not giving time to the political representative. We are organizing a protest against it: Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, CPI-M on violence during West Bengal Panchayat Elections.

# 02:38 PM:A West Bengal: Congress workers hold protests outside Election Commission in Kolkata.

West Bengal: Congress workers hold protest outside Election Commission in Kolkata #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/OXAmycIZMr a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 02:25 PM:A West Bengal Panchayat Elections: Ballot boxes looted at gunpoint by unidentified people at 44, 45 and 45K booths in Murshidabad.

# 02:23 PM:A West Bengal Panchayat Poll: Ballot box being retrieved from a pond in West Bengal's Sonadangi.



# 02:21 PM:A 41.51 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm in West Bengal Panchayat Election.

# 02:17 PM:A West Bengal: Voting booth vandalised allegedly by TMC workers in North Dinajpur's Sonadangi during Panchayat Polls.

# 02:00 PM:A West Bengal: Clashes broke out between TMC and Congress supporters in Murshidabad.

West Bengal: Clashes broke out between TMC and Congress supporters in Murshidabad #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/PXzQoK2gO7 a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 01:08 PM:A There are minor incidents taking place, no major incidents have been reported. The administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peacefully. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists: Partha Chatterjee, TMC.

There are minor incidents taking place, no major incidents have been reported. Administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peaceful. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists: Partha Chatterjee, TMC #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/SXwjExlQRH a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 12:55 PM:A Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal govt is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in WB: Babul Supriyo, Union Minister on violence in various during.

Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal govt is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in WB: Babul Supriyo, Union Min on violence in various during #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/ElEr4OSbaf a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 12:40 PM:A Clashes between BJP and CPI(M) workers in Durgapur during West Bengal Panchayat Elections.

# 12:12 PM: 26.28% voter turnout till 11 am in West Bengal #PanchayatElection.

26.28% voter turnout till 11 am in West Bengal #PanchayatElection. a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 12:10 PM:A West Bengal: Five local journalists injured after violence, following booth capturing in Birpara, allegedly by TMC workers.

#WestBengal: Five local journalists injured after violence, following booth capturing in Birpara, allegedly by TMC workers. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/qv18fyEAhy a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 12:00 PM:A West Bengal: A TMC worker named Arif Gazi shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district.

# 11:56 AM:A Highly condemnable and deplorable, it signifies that culture of political violence under TMC has engulfed entire #WestBengal & it is an alarming sign for democracy: BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi on violence during.

# 11:43 AM:A West Bengal: At least 20 people have been injured after a crude bomb explosion in Amdanga's Sadhanpur in North 24 Parganas.

#WestBengal At least 20 people have been injured after a crude bomb explosion in Amdanga's Sadhanpur in North 24 Parganas. #PanchayatElection a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 11:27 AM:A BJP agent was trying to run away with ballot box, officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all. TMC hasn't attacked anyone: Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh who was caught on cam slapping a BJP supporter.

BJP agent was trying to run away with ballot box, officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all. TMC hasn't attacked anyone: #WestBengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh who was caught on cam slapping a BJP supporter pic.twitter.com/j6EvoK1wf7 a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 11:21 AM:A West Bengal: Ballot papers thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between TMC and BJP in Murshidabad. Following which voting has been stopped for now.

#WestBengal: Ballot papers thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between TMC & BJP in Murshidabad. Following which voting has been stopped for now. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/0kcQSz4izl a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 10:37 AM:A West Bengal: BJP candidate Raju Biswas from Bilkanda severely injured after being attacked with a knife, allegedly by TMC workers. He is presently undergoing treatment.

The person was injured after knife attack, allegedly by TMC workers, is a BJP candidate from Bilkanda. His name is Raju Biswas & he is undergoing treatment at Panihati State General Hospital. #WestBengal #PanchayatElection https://t.co/ILVznCF0Km a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 10:05 AM:A West Bengal: 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling booth in Dantan area of West Midnapore.

#WestBengal: 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling booth in Dantan area of West Midnapore. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/fLWXwztMb1 a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 10:02 AM:A West Bengal: Road blocked by locals in Bhangar. They allege TMC workers of capturing the booth.

# 10:02 AM:A BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das, was slapped by West Bengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh at Cooch Behar's booth no 8/12 in presence of Police.

#WATCH: On being identified, BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das, was slapped by #WestBengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh (in purple kurta) at Cooch Behar's booth no. 8/12 in presence of Police. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/9S2gyAoNQt a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 09:38 AM:A WestBengal Panchayat Election: Violence reported in Bhangar, a media vehicle has been torched in and a camera has also been broken.

#WestBengal #PanchayatElection: Violence reported in Bhangar, a media vehicle has been torched in & a camera has also been broken. Media not allowed to enter the area. a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 09:23 AM:A Alleged TMC workers barring voters from entering Booth No. 14/79 in Birpara in West Bengal.

# 09:08 AM:A West Bengal: CPI (M) worker and his wife charred to death after their house in North 24 Parganas was torched last night, CPI (M) alleges TMC workers were behind the attack.

#WestBengal: CPI (M) worker & his wife charred to death after their house in North 24 Parganas was torched last night, CPI (M) alleges TMC workers were behind the attack. pic.twitter.com/6Do8g0Cmr0 a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 08:59 AM:A West Bengal: 20 injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar. The injured have been taken to MJN hospital for treatment."We went there to vote but people belonging to TMC attacked us with sticks," say locals.

#WestBengal: 20 injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar . The injured have been taken to MJN hospital for treatment. Locals say, 'We went there to votee but people belonging to TMC attacked us with sticks'. pic.twitter.com/hkHsqcsZa7 a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 07:10 AM:A Voting underway for Panchayat Elections in West Bengal.

Voting underway for Panchayat Elections in #WestBengal, visuals from a polling booth in Cooch Behar. pic.twitter.com/lGLcp3s3eT a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 07:00 AM:A Voters standing in a queue outside a polling booth in Purulia's Chakra to cast their vote for Panchayat Elections West Bengal.

Voters standing in a queue outside a polling booth in Purulia's Chakra to cast their vote for Panchayat Elections #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/gVBBCYfQKb a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 06:55 AM:A Voters standing in a queue outside a polling booth in Jalpaiguri's Ashighar, with umbrellas in their hands, to cast their vote for West Bengal Panchayat Elections.

Voters standing in a queue outside a polling booth in Jalpaiguri's Ashighar, with umbrellas in their hands, to cast their vote for #WestBengal Panchayat Elections pic.twitter.com/wodXBfaDFz a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

# 06:47 AM:A Voting for Panchayat elections in 20 districts of West Bengal begins.

Voting for Panchayat elections in 20 districts of #WestBengal begins pic.twitter.com/OSi6cOChQH a ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

Earlier, the ruling Trinamool Congress was engaged in a bitter war of words with the opposition Congress, Left Front and BJP over the violence that erupted during the filing of nominations for the polls.

The opposition had accused the ruling TMC of letting loose a reign of terror during the nomination process. The TMC rubbished the allegations and had said the oppositions do not have a mass base and are trying to evade the polls.

The filing of nominations, which was held from April 2 to April 9 and then again on an extended date on April 23, was marked by violence and clashes between the ruling TMC and opposition parties that led to several deaths.

Although top leaders of all parties campaigned for the polls, TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refrained from it.

Banerjee appealed to the people to vote in favour of development ushered in by her government.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Widespread violence hit the West Bengal panchayat polls on Monday, leaving at least 14 people dead and 43 injured, according to local reports.

The pre-poll clashes between the supporters of Trimool Congress and opposition parties took over several areas in the state, including North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts, even after having massive security arrangements.

More than 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and other states were deployed for the polls.

A person was shot dead near a polling booth in Sujapur village of Murshidabad. The victim was a BJP worker, the partys local unit leader Subhas Mondal claimed.

A person was also killed in South Dinajpur, while four others were injured after a bomb was hurled outside a polling station in Tapan area, the official said.

Another person died in clashes between two groups in Nakashipara area in Nadia. Another death was reported from Shantipur, he said.

A CPI(M) supporter was killed and another was injured when bombs were hurled outside a station in Amdanga area of North 24 Parganas, the official said.

At Kutali of South 24 Parganas, one person was killed, he added.

The SEC official said 41.5 per cent polling was recorded till 1 pm.

At least 15 people, including the voters were injured in Dinhata area, after clashes broke outside a polling station, police said.

Whereas, fifteen people were injured in Nandigram of East Midnapore district. One person was hit on the head with a knife and one lost his finger, police said.

Chilli powder was thrown at an independent candidate and four others at a polling booth in Contai area, they said.

Three crude bombs were found near a booth at Galaisura, in North Dinajpur, police said.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were spotted threatening voters outside few booths.

In Keshpur of West Midnapore, lathicharge was ordered by as police chased men who were allegedly threatening voters.

The office-in-charge of Ratua police station of Malda, Debabrata Chakraborty was injured in stone-pelting by the workers of a political party, SP Arnab Ghosh said.

The panchayat polls are being held after a legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the opposition parties.

Senior CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, democracy has been murdered by TMC in Bengal.

"There have been one or two isolated incidents. The administration has taken steps in all the cases. We have seen elections during the Left tenure when we used to witness bloodbath and death," said TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, dismissing the allegations.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

It is a tragedy of our times that after the violence in society that characterised leftist rule in West Bengal, the current day government of Trinamool Congress has followed that legacy to a t while being greatly antagonistic towards the Left.

The Mamata Banerjee government has indeed worn the mask of pacifism and fair play, but in effect, it has hounded opponents almost as ferociously as the Leftists did in their heydays.

It is the leftists who are now at the receiving end and the new element is the BJP which is seeking to make a mark electorally but has some way to go.

The panchayat polls held on Monday have been the latest trigger for large-scale violence and intimidation.

The polls are being held after days of court hearings and opposition allegations of "Trinamool terror" - accusations that have been denied by the ruling party but not quite convincingly. Instances of violence, including a bomb attack, were reported from at least eight districts on the day of polling, May 14, across the state with at least four casualties and many instances of intimidation.

In some places, voters said they were not being allowed to enter polling booths. Before elections, Trinamool candidates were elected unopposed in 34 per cent seats - a situation over which the Supreme Court expressed concern. That a lot of those who would have contested the poll did not do so for fear of being attacked by goons of the Trinamool Congress is a hard reality which the Left parties and the BJP have articulated.

The Left and the BJP had moved court against the excesses of the state government. While making it clear that elections to local bodies was a state subject, the ape court had stayed the Kolkata High Court order that accepted nominations via e-mail and had told the State Election Commission not to declare the results for the seats where the TMC was unopposed.

Trinamool spokespersons say in their support that there have been fewer murders in the run-up to the panchayat polls this year than in 2013 but this is hardly any defence considering that the opposition had retreated from the public space. That the Left and the BJP have come together at some places to combat Trinamool goons jointly shows the extent of their fear and helpless state.

Unless the Trinamool tendency to intimidate voters is curbed at this stage, there would be hell to pay in the Lok Sabha elections next year. This is indeed a challenge to the Election Commission to take punitive steps to ensure that the general elections go off smoothly and peacefully. Not just the Trinamool cadres but those of the CPI-M and the BJP too are charged up and ready for a confrontation.

The people of West Bengal must also seek to defuse the situation through innovative measures to usher in durable peace and tranquillity.

If, as the CPI-M claims, 800 of its candidates were prevented from filing their nomination in the panchayat polls, it is a serious matter which cannot be allowed to perpetuate. It is worth recognising that the BJP cadres can be aggressive and the Left cadres have had experience of practising strong-arm tactics when their government was in the saddle in the state for nearly four decades before the Congress and later the Trinamool Congress took hold of the reins.

It is undeniable that many in the TMC had suffered at the hands of Left cadres and are looking for revenge now, but this is no way to even things out. A stop has to be put to the cycle of violence and if that means taking strong measures to deter violence so be it. But partisan politics by the TMC would only worsen matters.New Delhi:

Bangladeshs first ever satellite was elevated by SpaceX into the orbit, using an enhanced and upgraded rocket designed for dozens of repeat flights including back to back same day launches.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said that launching the same rocket twice in a time span of 24 hours will be crazy hard, but he is optimistic of pulling off the feat.

The final variant of Falcon 9 rocket is capable of more than 10 re-flights, made its debut on Friday. It took off from NASAs Kennedy Space Center, carrying a communication satellite named Bangabandhu-1.

The newest booster landed on an ocean bed following the take-off as planned. What a great sight! the launch commentator exclaimed in joy as cheers and applause erupt in jam packed SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California.

The point of re-flights is to save the launch costs.

This is a ridiculously hard thing, Elon Musk told reporters before Thursdays postponement.

It has taken us ... 16 years of extreme effort and many, many iterations and thousands of small but important development changes to get to where we think this is even possible. Crazy hard. We still need to demonstrate it. Its not like weve done it. But it can be done.

The new model carries a SpaceX enhanced engine performance, with improved landing gear system and new muscled parts. In one of the most visible changes, the segment between the first and upper stages went to black from white with new thermal insultation.

Would you rather fly in an aircraft that has never had a test flight before or would you rather fly in an aircraft that has flown many times successfully? he said.

Musk, on Thursday addressed safety concerns regarding SpaceXs load and go feature. He said SpaceX could still change the procedure of loading the propellant first.

I dont think its going to be necessary any more than passengers on aircraft need to wait until the aircraft is full of fuel before boarding, he said.

Bangladesh was thrilled to have its own satellite to expand internet throughout the land and give emergency services during natural disasters.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshs ambassador to the U.S, Mohammad Ziauddin, called it a historic moment and a matter of great pride for his Bangladeshs citizens.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who courted controversies over his recent remarks on the 26/11 Mumbai attack, on Monday defended himself, saying he will speak the truth no matter what the consequences are.

The ousted prime minister, on Saturday, publicly admitted Pakistan's role in the 2008 Mumbai attack, which claimed over 150 lives in the financial capital of India.

Sharif was speaking to a Pakistani daily 'Dawn' and questioned the policy to allow the 'non-state actors' to cross the border and 'kill' people in Mumbai.

"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete trial?," Sharif was quoted by the Pakistani daily.

During his interview with Dawn, the former prime minister was questioned why Pakistan has not completed its trial in the 26/11 Mumbai attack till the time and his reply to the same had come as a shocker to the country.

In the wake of this fresh controversy, the National Security Committee has called a high-level meeting to reject the statement. Under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the NSC on Monday met to discuss "misleading media statement" attributed to Sharif.

Earlier in the day, Sharif defended his earlier statement, making a contradictory remark to the stance taken by his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Also Read | Nawaz Sharif admits Pakistan's role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks

On Sunday, the party president Shehbaz Sharif said that the party "rejects all claims made in the report, be they direct or indirect", Dawn newspaper reported.

"What did I say that was wrong in the interview?" 68-year-old Sharif asked while talking to reporters outside an accountability court in Islamabad, where he is facing corruption charges.

After the publication of Sharif's interview on Saturday, his party issued a clarification, saying that the Indian media had "grossly misinterpreted" his remarks.

Sharif on Monday dispelled the notion that the comments were falsely attributed to him, saying that he will speak the truth come what may.

"Former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Rehman Malik and former National Security Adviser Major-General (retd) Mehmood Durrani had already confirmed [what I said]," he added.

Nawaz regretted that those who ask questions are being termed traitors in the media.

"Despite our 50,000 sacrifices [of lives], why is the world not paying heed to our narrative? And the person who is asking this question has been labelled a traitor."

He also called out those local media outlets that had criticised his words. "I am being called a traitor on the media. They [the media] are being made to call me a traitor."

Also Read | Surabaya attacks: 11 killed, 41 injured after suspected IS-inspired suicide bombers hit churches

"Are those who tore apart the country and the Constitution patriots? Are those who pulled out judges from their offices' patriots?"

"Will speak the truth no matter what the consequences are," he said.

When a reporter pointed to Sharif's acknowledgement of the presence of "non-state actors" in the country, his daughter Maryam, who was accompanying him, replied: "So then who was Zarb-i-Azb [military operation] conducted against?"

Operation Zarb-e-Azb was a joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against the various militant group in 2014.

According to Dawn newspaper, differences within the ruling party surfaced following the issuance of contradictory statements by the Sharif brothers on the issue.

However, the incident is being seen as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attack in 2008.

Also Read | Sunanda Pushkar's death: Shashi Tharoor charged with abetting suicide by Delhi Police

Ten heavily armed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed to Mumbai in November 2008 and carried out coordinated attacks that killed 166 people and injured over 300. Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafeez Saeed, who is the mastermind of the terror attack, is being allowed to roam free by Pakistan across the world.

The case is now in its 10th year, but Pakistan is yet to punish any of the suspects.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Cannes, May 13 (BNA): The Saudi Film Council (SFC) has announced, during its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, the launch of several key programmes that will benefit both local filmmakers and film industry development in the Kingdom, as well as international filmmakers, production companies and studios that will look to the country as an important, emerging global production location.



The initiatives are expected to have significant positive impact on production growth in the local market through a newly established 35% baseline cash rebate programme, and on domestic talent development through a grant programme and international skill-building partnerships.



As a key component of SFCs strategy, the initiatives will contribute to building a sustainable industry that will bring economic contributions including job creation, services spend and industry infrastructure development. The initiatives will also drive the development of Saudi stories for audiences both at home and globally, introducing a new Saudi narrative in film to the world.



We are very excited to mark our first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival and Marche du Film with the launch of initiatives that support our overall goals for talent development and film and content production in the Kingdom including one of the most attractive rebate programmes in the world, Ahmad Al-Maziad, CEO of the General Culture Authority, which oversees SFC, said. They highlight two of our key pillars  nurturing and empowering our rich talent pool of aspiring and established filmmakers and introducing the international industry to the world of opportunities the Kingdom has to offer, as we seek to build an industry that draws on our heritage and supports the unique needs of our country, while at the same time plays a vital role within the global film community.



The cash rebate programme will apply to productions that will be filmed in KSA, offering a baseline of 35% for all spend used and consumed in the country, with the ability for productions to realize higher rebates by meeting certain criteria. A 50% rebate will also be available for spend on Saudi labor employed on productions.

The rebate is expected to bring productions to the Kingdom, including feature films, documentaries, episodic series and animated content, as well as encourage production companies to employ local crew. Details on the programme rollout will be made available in the coming weeks, the Centre for International Communication (CIC) reported.



The rebate programme will drive greater visibility of the country as locations are featured in films and TV programmes, that will further attract international productions and impact the countrys nascent tourism sector. As in-country spend grows, it is expected to have a follow-on effect on industry infrastructure development such as studios and service providers, including hotels and accommodation, catering, transportation and other support services. The programme is in line with SFCs strategy to develop a vibrant and sustainable film industry in Saudi Arabia, as well as to engage the global international film community.



Talent development is a key area of focus for SFC, as a critical element in building a sustainable sector. The National Grant and talent partnership programmes for Saudi nationals will lay a solid foundation for growth through education and skill-building to foster and enhance the local community. A deep industry talent pool will not only put an added spotlight on the creative capacity of Saudis and support increased local content development, it will also ensure that international productions can source local talent, resulting in increased domestic job opportunities.



The National Grant Programme will be open to KSA nationals who produce or post-produce content in the Kingdom and meet the Programmes eligibility criteria.



Talent development partnerships with global film institutes, including The University of Southern California, the Studio School and Film Independent in the United States, and La Femis and Les Gobelins in France, are providing critical skills training for aspiring and established Saudi filmmakers, as well as train the trainers programmes to add further domestic skill building capacity. In 2018, trainings and multi-week summer camps will be undertaken in Saudi Arabia, Los Angeles and Paris covering the full spectrum of skills required for film production, including directing, editing, screenwriting, sound design, VR/AR and 2D/3D animation.



The Saudi Film Council was launched in March 2018, as part of Saudi Arabias drive to develop a vibrant society and propel economic diversification through new industries under Vision 2030.

It was launched by the General Culture Authority (GCA) of Saudi Arabia as one of its five key cultural industry sector entities.Residents of Gudabiya and Hoora are angry on expatriates .Do you know why ?

Residents of Gudabiya and Hoora are angry on expatriates .Do you know why ?

Residents of Hoora and Gudaibiya areas in the eastern parts of the Capital are at swords points with the authorities following the installation of parking meters in their localities a few months ago.

rn

The metres which charge 200 fils per vehicle disallow parking in the same spot for more than two hours and the residents say the move has added to their parking ordeal, which is now more than a decade old.

rn

According to them, finding a parking lot is not an easy task in these highly-populated neighbourhoods and the authorities have hardly done anything to fix the problem.

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MP Adel Al Assoomy, who represents the area, lashed out at the officials of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry and the General Directorate of Traffic in the Interior Ministry for installing parking meters.

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On January 30, the Council of Representatives reviewed an urgent proposal submitted by Mr Al Assoomy, who demanded the Government to immediately remove the meters, not only in Hoora and Gudaibiya, but from all residential areas across the Kingdom.

rn

Threatening to hold the official behind the installation of meters accountable before the Council, the furious MP said, "How could they even think of such a move. This is an unreasonable decision and was not thoroughly studied. It contributes to creating countless social issues."

rn

"Such devices should be placed at commercial and public areas, not at the doorsteps of citizens' homes. Similar moves push citizens out of the old areas in Bahrain. No one would live in an area where they are charged for parking their vehicles near their homes for at least six to 10 hours a day.

rn

How come we reached this point where citizens should pay fees even in front of their homes?," the MP remarked, while demanding the government to authorise Bahraini citizens to reserve the parking spots near their residences.

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In his speech before the council on that day, Mr Al Assoomy hinted that expats and private companies are part of the problem, stating that they occupy most of the parking spaces in old areas, including Hoora, Gudaibiya and Al Fadhil in Central Manama.

rn

He added while requesting his fellow legislators to pass the proposal, "We should have strategic goals that include conserving old areas, which are being evacuated by citizens because of such inappropriate behaviours, practices and decisions." The majority of MPs voted for the proposal.

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Mr Al Assoomy said he has taken up the issue with authorities, who are studying his suggestion to exempt certain categories from meters. I believe a mechanism to implement an adequate solution would be announced soon.

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Expats part of the problem

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Speaking to Tribune, Bahraini Ali Makli, who works in private sector, said hes not happy with the move. He blamed the situation on the increasing number of expats living in the neighbourhood. "This entire situation is caused by the foreigners living in the area, especially those of Asian nationalities."

rn

"Many of them live as groups in a single apartment. Having six people living in one flat, while each of them own a vehicle has surely worsened the existing issue of limited parking spaces in the area.

rn

"Additionally, they park their cars and dont move them for days, especially during weekends. Some of them occupy parking spaces from Thursday to Sunday. This is unacceptable as Bahraini residents of Hoora dont have any place to park their vehicles. This creates problems between the residents too, usually leading to verbal and even physical disputes between them. \

rn

Because of these issues that are caused by the huge numbers of foreigners living in the area, many families, particularly Bahrainis, have left to other areas," he added.

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Additional expenses

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Suhail Salim generally parks his car in an open yard formed after the demolition of an old building in Hoora. Like Mr Makli, he too is very much upset with the parking meters.

rn

"I park my car here these days, even though it's far from where I live. We have repeatedly complained about these new meters that were fixed all over the area lately. I would have to pay more than BD1 for parking my car for around six hours a day.

rn

Now I have to move my car from the paid parking zone more than one time, because I would be fined by the traffic cops if I leave it at the same spot for more than two hours. I am a student and can't bear all these expenses," he said.

rn

The Bahraini said he would often hesitate to get out of the car thinking he would lose the parking space and even thinks of going to college on foot.

rn

Mr Salims neighbour Yaqoub Ahmed has a suggestion. "Free parking spaces for two cars should be given to each Bahraini family in the area."

rn

Shedding light on the another side of the struggle, Mr Yaqoub said, "It's absolutely unacceptable that our sisters and daughters are forced to park far away near Exhibitions Avenue and have to walk long distances, at late hours sometimes, to reach home, while a non-Bahraini bachelor is occupying the parking space. We demand a solution. Spaces must be allocated for Bahraini families staying in the area to park their cars."

rn

"Many social issues are born as a result of no parking spaces. We cant accept a foreigner parking his car at the entrance of our house. It's shameful. We have no privacy."

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A Solution

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Anwar, who prefers to be identified with his first name, is a resident of Gudaibiya. He said the lack of parking spaces has been a decade old problem for both citizens and expats.

rn

He is of the view that Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry has worsened the issue by installing the parking meters in the middle of residential areas, and also prohibiting residents from reserving the spaces near their homes, be it by placing steel poles or other objects.

rn

Anwars suggestion to authorities is to avoid residents in these neighbourhoods from paying fees, while outsiders could be charged.

rn

"The General Directorate should utilise its modern technologies to solve the issue. Traffic policemen could easily use the number plates of the vehicle to verify if the driver lives in the area or not. Those living in the same block shouldnt be fined, because they park for long hours near their homes. But I believe that it wouldnt be harmful if visitors could spare a couple of coins to benefit from a parking spot in such a busy area."

rnKyoto University has removed a number of signs put up by student groups around campus. But new ones protesting the removal were posted soon after.

University officials on Sunday removed signs from a sidewalk around the university's Yoshida Campus in Kyoto City.

The school is removing the signs after being informed by city officials in October that they breached a Kyoto ordinance.

The signs feature unique designs and messages. They have long been a fixture at the school and are a popular attraction.

University officials say there were no major demonstrations when the signs were taken down.

But new ones, protesting the removal, appeared at the site on Monday.

A student said he was opposed to the removal and that he wanted to see as many signs back up as before.

A man who attends lectures on campus said he thinks the move deprives the students of their freedom.

But a woman who lives in the area said it was necessary to create an environment that allowed the students to focus on their studies.Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 39-year-old man over the alleged molestation and assault of a woman in Machida City earlier this month, reports

On the night of May 5, Kazuhiko Hayashi, a temporary worker, allegedly embraced the woman, aged in her 30s, from behind on a road in the Tsuruma area and fondled her chest.

The suspect then beat the woman in the face before fleeing the scene. She suffered light injuries, according to police.

Hayashi, who has been accused of indecent assault resulting in injury, admits to the allegations. aSince she resisted, I lost myself in the moment and beat her repeatedly in the face with my fists,a the suspect was quoted by police.

Hayashi became a person of interest after he was seen following the woman in security camera footage taken at a convenience store located about 200 meters from the crime scene.

Police are now investigating Hayashi over two other similar incidents involving different women that took place at the end of April.State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers came to the rescue recently of several lost and/or injured hikers and a lost UTV driver - in addition to fighting wild fires or assisting in prescribed burns.

Apart from those situations, three Forest Rangers were presented with New York State Liberty Metals for incidents during a recent special ceremony in Rome, N.Y. in recognition of incidents where the Rangers saved someone's life.

The following occurred between May 8 to May 13. All specifics below were supplied by the DEC.

Town of North Elba

Essex County

Wilderness Search: "On May 8 at 5:30 p.m., DEC Ray Brook Dispatch received a request to assist two lost hikers in the McKenzie Wilderness Area. An 18-year-old female from Argyle and a 22-year-old female from Gansevoort became disoriented while descending Haystack Mountain. One Forest Ranger was dispatched to locate the pair while Dispatch obtained cell phone coordinates from Essex County 911. Although the Ranger called the women to tell the hikers how to get back on the trail, the two went in the opposite direction. The Ranger then told the women to stay in place so he could find them. The women were located and escorted back to their vehicle by 8 p.m."

Town of North Hudson

Essex County

Wildfire: "On May 8, Forest Rangers responded to a report of a wildfire in the Dix Mountain Wilderness Area. The fire was located at 1,200 feet elevation, just west of I-87 and inaccessible to local fire departments. By May 10, the fire was contained to 26.5 acres. The fire is believed to have been started by a lightning strike."

City of Albany

Albany County

Prescribed Fires: "Forest Rangers assisted Albany Pine Bush Commission fire management staff conduct two prescribed fires on May 8, and 9. A total of 62 acres of woodland and open areas were burned for prescribed fire. Both burns supported the ecological goal of improved habitat for endangered species."

Town of Clayton

Jefferson County

Wildfire: "On May 8, two Forest Rangers assisted eight county fire departments contain a wildfire caused by debris burning. The fire was stopped at 4.7 acres, but required several days of additional work to extinguish fire burning in debris piles."

Town of Indian Lake

Hamilton County

Wildland Rescue: "On May 9 at 12:30 p.m., Hamilton County 911 reported to DEC Ray Brook Dispatch that a 20-year-old Cornwall man was suffering seizures while hiking John's Pond Trail. By 1:30 p.m., Forest Rangers, Blue Mountain Lake Fire Department, and Inlet EMS reached the hiker using all-terrain vehicles (ATV). After being rehydrated, the hiker was transported to the trailhead by 3:30 p.m. He refused further medical treatment and returned home."

City of Rome

Oneida County

Recognition of Heroism: "On May 10, New York State Senator Joseph Griffo presented three Forest Rangers with New York State Liberty Metals for unique incidents during which the Rangers saved someone's life. Ranger David Cornell was recognized for saving the life of a motorcycle operator severely bleeding after a highway accident. Ranger Luke Evans was recognized for rescuing a kayaker stranded and submerged in the rapids of the Moose River. Ranger Robert Piersma was recognized for rescuing two unresponsive boaters capsized in the icy waters of Chittning Pond.

Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, Rangers Piersma, Cornell, and Evans, and Senator Griffo

Town of North Elba

Essex County

Wilderness Rescue: "On the evening of May 12, three Erie County hikers at Avalanche Pass called 911 for help. The hikers had just climbed Wright and Algonquin mountains, were cold and wet at higher elevations, and unprepared to stay overnight. One Forest Ranger intercepted the group as they struggled to get to Adirondack Loj. After some minor first aid, the group returned to the parking lot two hours after their call without need of further medical care."

Town of Riverhead

Suffolk County

Prescribed Fire: "Five Forest Rangers plus additional DEC staff and volunteers conducted a prescribed burn on 20 acres of the Peconic Headwaters State Forest on May 11. The grass field needed burning to enhance warm season grasses that provide an improved habitat for varieties of local wildlife. "

Town of Edwards

St. Lawrence County

Wildfire: "On May 13, six Forest Rangers assisted 50 volunteer firefighters from four county fire departments contain a wildfire started at a residence where garbage was being burned. By the end of the day, the fire had burned 68 acres and was 60 percent contained with no loss of buildings or reported injuries. Six Rangers returned on May 14 to continue developing a containment line and to extinguish any burning material. No further spread of fire is expected and the incident is under investigation."

Be sure to properly prepare and plan before entering the backcountry. Visit DEC's Hiking Safety (http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28708.html) and Adirondack Backcountry Information (http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7865.html) webpage for more information.Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has assured all stakeholders that the crisis currently rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress will be ...

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has assured all stakeholders that the crisis currently rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress will be resolved soon.Osinbajo gave the assurance while speaking with journalists after the inauguration of President Julius Bio of Sierra Leone in Freetown on Saturday.The transcript of the interview was made available to journalists on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande.The Vice-President said there was nothing unusual in the disagreements being witnessed among members of the party.He said, In politics, as you know, there will always be tensions. But the party is strong and the leadership and membership of the party are committed to ensuring that the party remains strong and continues to offer the hope and promise it has always offered and given to the people.I think a lot of the issues will be resolved as we go along. This is the normal order of things; there will be some disagreements, there will be those who may feel that they need certain preferences or certain things which may not have been done earlier on. I dont think there is any major problem.Osinbajo extended President Muhammadu Buharis congratulatory message to the people of Sierra Leone and promised better relationship between the two countries.The Police in Suleja, Niger State, have confirmed the arrest of the parents and relation of a bride, who disappeared after her wedding, ...

The Police in Suleja, Niger State, have confirmed the arrest of the parents and relation of a bride, who disappeared after her wedding, refusing to go to her husbands home.The arrest of the trio followed a complaint to the police by their son in-law, Shuaib Dauda, over the sudden disappearance of their daughter few hours after wedding.Inspector Aliyu Lawal, officer-in-charge of Kaduna Road Police outpost in Suleja, who disclosed this, yesterday, said the incident occurred on May 6 when the bridegroom complained to the police that the people he sent to the brides home to fetch her, in accordance with the tradition, did not see her.Lawal said the footdragging by the brides family to deliver the bride to the bridegroom led to the disruption of peace in the area, hence the arrest of the parents and the marriage guardian. They were arrested on Sunday, May 6, and granted bail on Monday May 7, he said.But Mr Abubakar Haruna, popularly known as Zakiru and a resident of Hayi along Kaduna Road, disclosed that he gave out two daughters same day, Fiddausi to Dauda and Saliha to one Muhammadu Murtala. He said before the marriage, Dauda and Murtala promised to comply with all the religious and traditional obligations for the marriage such as the dowry and buying of clothes and boxes for the brides. After the wedding ceremony, Dauda said he could not afford to buy the clothes and boxes for the bride as promised earlier.Fiddausi, realising that Murtala (the husband to Saliha) had redeemed his promise and presented the traditional gifts and Dauda did not, ran away to the neighbouring house until her bridegroom fulfilled his own promise, he said. Haruna said already beddings, traditional kitchen wares, furniture and other domestic utensils had been taken to Daudas home, ahead of the conveyance of Fiddausi to her new home. He explained that while they were searching for Fiddausi, the team sent by the bridegroom to fetch her to the matrimonial home hinted Dauda of the sudden disappearance of the bride.He claimed Dauda mobilised his friends, who stormed his compound, insisting that Fiddausi must be produced. In the process, they molested him and brutalised his wife, named Bayi. Some other female guests from Kano were also brutalised, food items and other valuables they brought for the wedding ceremony were stolen by the hoodlums who attacked us for our alleged failure to produce the bride, Haruna said.Haruna said while the hoodlums were molesting his family and his guests, the police officers from Kaduna Road outpost arrested him, his wife and his younger brother who is also the marriage guardian. The latter was identified as Umar Musa.Haruna dismissed the allegation by the police that he was arrested for disrupting public peace in the community. Rather, he explained that the police asked him to refund N260,000 to Dauda, being the amount he spent on the marriage.Arrest and detention Haruna said when he failed to pay the money as demanded, he was detained together with his wife and his younger brother by the police. According to him, they were detained overnight at the police outpost and were granted bail following the intervention of his lawyer, Mr Aliyu Musa.He said the bail was obtained on the condition that they would bring the money the following day or risk prosecution. Meanwhile, Fiddausi has returned to her fathers house.President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption drive moved a notch higher yesterday. Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)s agreement...

Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement.

Agreement on Trade Promotion and Protection

Judicial Agreements on Extradition

Transfer of Sentenced Persons

Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters

Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters(recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth)

The Federal Government has been trying to attach some suspected assets allegedly owned by some Nigerians or traced to them in UAE.

President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption drive moved a notch higher yesterday. Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)s agreement on recovery of assets and cash stashed away in UAE by Nigerians takes off next month.Besides, the collaboration among heads of anti-corruption agencies in Commonwealth (Africa) countries will be stepped up as Nigeria hosts the 8th annual general meeting and conference for heads of anti-corruption agencies in Commonwealth Africa from today in Abuja.Buhari is expected to open the conference, with the theme: Partnering towards assets recovery and return.Yesterday in Abu Dhabi, officials of the UAE and Nigeria exchanged instruments of ratification on judicial agreements signed between both governments in 2016.With yesterdays exchange of instruments, the agreement will now take effect from June 13.According to WAM Emirates news agency, the UAE and Nigeria signed the agreement regarding the apprehension of criminals, extraditing convicted persons, providing mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, as well as for legal and judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.The ceremony for exchanging the instruments of ratification took place between Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Jarman, Assistant Minister for Human Rights and International Law at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Nigerias Ambassador to UAE Mohammed Dansanta Rimi, at the headquarters of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.The UAEs Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Justice, Abdul Rahman Murad Al Balushi, witnessed the ceremony during which the June 13 take-off date was confirmed.Nigeria on January 19, 2016, signed six agreements with the UAE following a state visit by President Muhammadu Buhari.The pact includes Judicial Agreements on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters (the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth).The Federal Government had been collaborating with the UAE authorities on suspicious cash and assets allegedly owned by some Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).The agreements, which were signed by President Buhari are:The EFCC also has evidence of how some public office holders benefited from the London-Paris Club refund and how the cash was laundered in Dubai, UAE.The financial intelligence sharing by the two countries has uncovered some cases involving ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and some of her business associates.The assets allegedly identified with Diezani are marked as J5 Emirates Hills (30million Dirham) and E146 Emirates Hills valued at 44million Dirham.Those allegedly traced to her assiociate Kola Aluko are: 4100 Le Reve Dubai Maria, Dubai; Unit 1402, PS 14th Floor located at Metro TECOM near Internet City Metro Station, Dubai; Unit 712, ES 7th Floor located at First Central, Off Sheikh Zayed, TECOM, Al-Barsha 3 Dubai and Unit 512, 5th Floor located at First Group Marina Hotels, Al-Seba Street, Plot 394-426, Dubai AE-AJ.Sections 7 of 28 and 34 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and Section 13(1) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004 mandate the agency to seize suspicious assets.Section 7 says: The commission has power to (a) cause any investigations to be conducted as to whether any person, corporate body or organization has committed any offence under this Act or other law relating to economic and financial crimes.(b) Cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the commission that the persons lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income.Sections 28 and 34 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and Section 13(1) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004 empower the anti-graft agency to invoke Interim Assets Forfeiture Clause.Section 28 of the EFCC Act reads: Where a person is arrested for an offence under this Act, the Commission shall immediately trace and attach all the assets and properties of the person acquired as a result of such economic or financial crime and shall thereafter cause to be obtained an interim attachment order from the Court.Section 13 of the Federal High Court Act reads in part: The Court may grant an injunction or appoint a receiver by an interlocutory order in all cases in which it appears to the Court to be just or convenient so to do.(2) Any such order may be made either unconditionally or on such terms and conditions as the Court thinks just.There was pandemonium in Enugu, the Enugu State capital, after an explosion rocked Holy Cross Catholic parish, Iji-Nike in Enugu-East Loca...

There was pandemonium in Enugu, the Enugu State capital, after an explosion rocked Holy Cross Catholic parish, Iji-Nike in Enugu-East Local Government Area.

It was gathered that the explosion occurred around 5:40 a.m. on Sunday, as worshippers were gathering for mass.





Parish priest in-charge of the church Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okwor told newsmen that the explosion occurred when he was preparing for 6:00 a.m. mass.





He said that the sound shook the church, leaving the neighbourhood in a state of confusion, while parishioners in the premises scampered for safety.





The Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese addressing newsmen in the state described the incident as worrisome and called for vigilance.





He said that athough the explosion was minor as police described it, it would have caused a stampede if it had exploded at the time the worshippers had filled church.





Those behind the act to desist from further action, government and security agencies should please do something fast before such incidents get out of hand, the Bishop said.





Police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the explosion.





Amaraizu described it as a minor explosion, urging people not to panic.





We thank God that there was no loss of life nor major destruction. We have to be more vigilant and security-conscious and be able to partner with security agencies to ensure that there is no repeat of such an incident, the spokesman said.



President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday expressed the belief that the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemis track rec...

Buhari said this while congratulating the former governor for winning the All Progressives Congress ticket to contest the July 14, 2018 governorship election.The Presidents congratulatory message was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.Buhari also urged those who contested against Fayemi for the ticket to keep upholding the values and philosophy of the party by supporting the APC candidate in the forthcoming election.The statement read, President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates former governor of Ekiti State and Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi, for winning the APC ticket to contest the July 14, 2018 governorship elections.President Buhari commends all the participants in the keenly contested primary, who passionately worked hard to serve the state as governor, urging them to keep upholding the values and philosophy of the party by supporting the APC candidate in the forthcoming elections.President Buhari believes that Fayemis track record in the state as a reformist, with a penchant for building educational infrastructure and promoting the welfare of the ordinary people, will bolster his chances at the forthcoming polls.The President notes that the successful primary in the state, with more than 30 aspirants, further validates the credentials of the APC on internal democracy, and its preparedness to take the country to another level of development.Meanwhile, The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that Fayemi will this week resign his position as the Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development.The minister had on Saturday night emerged as the APC candidate for the election in a keenly contested primary.He secured 941 votes as against 481 votes polled by his strongest contender, Segun Oni, who is also a former governor of the state.Fayemi was in April granted a one-month leave of absence by President Buhari to enable him to take part in the primary.Our correspondent gathered that the one-month leave would expire this week.However, having won the primary, sources close to Fayemi said the minister would not return to his office as a substantive minister.Fayemi, it was learnt, was not ready to delay his campaign in order not to jeopardise his chances during the election.The source said the late open declaration of the former governor for the race nearly cost him the ticket as many of his initial supporters had declared their loyalty to other aspirants.The source said, Fayemi will be in Abuja either on Monday or early Tuesday to submit his letter of resignation to President Muhammadu Buhari.Though he could still remain in office till June, at least a month before the election, he needs to be on the ground in Ekiti earlier than that.Remember that his late declaration for the position worked against him during the primary as many of his supporters had already started working for other aspirants.Because they had declared their loyalty to these aspirants, it was very difficult for the minister to ask them to return.But this time round and having emerged as the partys candidate, we want all of them to return and that can only be achieved when Fayemi returns home fully to take charge.Efforts made to speak with the minister on Sunday were not successful as calls made to his telephone indicated that it was switched off.The minister had earlier told our correspondent that he only took a month leave of absence from office to enable him to contest the partys governorship ticket.Meanwhile, our correspondent also gathered that Fayemi had started consultations on who would be his running mate.How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Morning Star, Son of the Dawn! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken th...





How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Morning Star, Son of the Dawn! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!- Isaiah 14.12.





On 4th May 2018 Mr. Layefa Walter wrote the following:





Please dont forgot that it was under Buharis watch that Nigeria dropped a bomb on refugees at an Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) camp in Rann, Borno State and called it a regrettable operational mistake. That mistake killed about 250 people. Yes, 250 unarmed Internally displaced people were killed.









Dont forget that it was under the command of President Buhari that over 400 unarmed Shiites were killed by the Nigerian military. Yes, over 400 unarmed Shiites were killed.





Dont forget that it was under the supervision of President Buhari that over 300 unarmed IPOB members were killed by the Nigerian military. Yes, over 300 unarmed IPOB members killed.





Buhari is a thieving and lying mass murderer: a President who superintendents over the killings of his own citizens. It is a shame!









Mr. Walter is absolutely right.





And in case anyone is still in any doubt about just how bad things are I urge them to watch a video that went viral on the internet two days ago showing a group of violent and battle-hardened Fulani herdsmen and terrorists in Church choir robes dancing, celebrating and making mockery of Christians whilst brandishing AK47s in the Church premises after they had slaughtered 2 Catholic clerics and 20 parishioners in Benue State last month.





This is indeed a graphic depiction and an eloquent testimony of a sign of the times. Simply put, we are in a mess.





Meg Barn hit the nail on the head when she said,





The bitter truth is that Buhari is suffering from bipolar disorder which makes him errorneously believe that he is Nigerias Messiah in the day time while at night he is Usman Danfodio fighting a Jihad to complete the work Danfodio could not complete. Buhari is a dangerous psychopath mistakening Nigeria for the 18th century and hes a re-incarnatiion of another psychopath called Usman Dan Fodio. Impeach Buhari, get him to resign or vote him out! Do what you must but this must be his last tenure.





Her analysis and conclusions are as apt as they are insightful.





I saw all this coming in 2015 and I warned the nation but sadly few would listen. A few key figures in President Goodluck Jonathans government and a handful of others at the highest level of the then ruling party, the PDP, felt that I was going too far.





They were uncomfortable with the fact that I was prepared to speak the bitter truth about Buhari.





Their view was that he was not as bad as I claimed and that he ought to be treated with kid gloves. How wrong they were!





Others made the same mistake in 2016 when they brought the demon called Ali Modu Sheriff to lead our party and I kicked against it. Once again, to their utter shock and chagrin, I was proved right.





The fact of the matter is that the difference between yours truly and others is that I have foresight, insight and the gift of discernment whilst most of them do not. Unlike them, I move in the prophetic. It is a gift from God.





I can see and smell the evil in people long before others do and long before he or she shows their true colours. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit.





That is why I fought so hard and with so much passion against Buhari in 2015 during the presidential election. I was not just fighting for Jonathan but also for my people including the Christians, the Middle Belters and the southerners.





I was fighting for the hundreds of thousands of lives and souls that I knew would be killed and would perish under Buhari if he managed to win power.





I was fighting for the future and soul of our beloved country Nigeria because I had been to the mountain-top and I saw what Buhari had purposed to do.





Yet many, even from our own side during the presidential campaign, sought to rubbish me, discredit me and undermine me and they laughed my passion and zeal to scorn.





Now they know better and they are not laughing anymore. They stopped laughing three months after Buhari was sworn in!





They stopped laughing after he showed his true colors, exposed his fangs and bit them in their soiled posteriors. And they have been living in trepidation and suffering from a Buhari-induced trauma ever since!





Yet the truth is that they have not seen anything yet. The wickedness, persecution, mass murder, violation of civil liberties and human rights, graft, theft, selective justice, ethnic cleansing, genocide, oppression and tyranny that we have witnessed and experienced from Buhari over the last three years is childs play when compared to what he purposes to do to Nigeria and to his perceived enemies if he manages to come back in 2019.





Those that were not comfortable with my approach in 2015 are now crying under their beds like babies and hiding in their wardrobes like the cowards that they are as a conseqience of the calamitious evil that has befallen the entire country.





They dont talk anymore and they dare not publicly criticise the government out of fear for their lives, safety and liberty.





They cringe, tremble, quiver, beg and crawl on their knees as Buhari and his goons kill our people, terrorise our citizens, burn our Churches, murder our priests, slaughter our women and butcher our children.





They shiver and pray fervently as Buhari maligns and hunts down members of the opposition and bays for the blood of his detractors and perceived enemies like a ravenous beast.





Today they are paying the price for refusing to fight and oppose evil three years ago.





And the bitter truth is that Buhari never came to govern or to lead Nigeria: he came to torment her. Like the devil, he came to kill, steal and destroy. He came to enslave and to demonise.





He came to uproot and to decimate all that is good, clean, decent, edifying and wholesome.





He came to divide Nigeria on regional, ethnic and religious lines.





He came to promote and provoke havoc until we end up being catapulted into a long, cruel, barbaric, horrendous, fratricdal and devastating civil war that will soak our nation from top to toe in blood and turn the entire west-African sub-region into a cauldron of fire.





That is Buharis mission and the demons around and within him are lusting and craving to usher in that unprecedented bloodfest and that era of carnage and destruction.





I say shame on all those, particularly the Christians, that encouraged and supported him to come to power.





They must share part of the blame for the great calamity that has befallen our country over the last three years because they supported and prayed a hungry, vengeful, blood-lusting and bitter wolf into the chicken coup in 2015.





They also handed the keys of our national treasury to a certified and trigger-happy armed robber that thrives on giving the world the impression that he is an angel.





The truth is that Buhari did not come to govern. He came to punish the Nigerian people, to destroy his many detractors, to Islamise Nigeria and to entrench, enshrine and establish Fulani supremacy, hegemony and power in perpetuity.





In 2015 everyone in the north knew what he stood for and what he intended to do with power. Worse still they knew what he and his supporters felt about Christians, Middle Belters and southerners because during the presidential election campaign itself they did not hide it.





Anybody, whether Christian or Muslim, that was not prepared to support his candidacy and instead opted to support Jonathan was labelled as a kaffir, an arne, an unbeliever, a heretic and a filthy traitor to Islam who hated Muslims and the Muslim cause.





They said this over and over again from political podium to political podium, from mosque to mosque, from village to village and from town to town all over the north.





Hardest hit and most insulted were the Muslim core northerners who heroically rose above primordial sentiments and supported Jonathan simply because they felt that he was the better man, regardless of his Christian faith and despite the fact that he came from the south.





Buharis supporters disdainfully referred to such selfless and patriotic northern progressives and enlightened thinkers as pastors even though they knew that they were practising and devout Muslims. They regarded these profoundly good men and women as nothing more than blacklegs and traitors to the northern cause.





This was sad and unfortunate but worse of all was the fact that few were prepared to challenge them and their primitive and myopic world-view, their unacceptable sentiments and beliefs and their irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric.





And to reiterate the point some of Buharis supporters articulated what has come to be known and recognised as the Buhari doctrine in a way that Buhari himself could not openly and publicly do.





For example let us consider the words of Aliyu Ismaila Gwarzo, a well-known and respected Buhari supporter and a core northern Muslim from Kano.





On October 2nd 2014. he said the following:





When I say that the Presidency must come to the

north next year I am referring to the Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern Christian or Muslim minority tribe. The Christians in the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma, the Burra, the Kilba, the Bachama, the Mbula, and all the others are nothing and the Muslim minorities in the north including the Kanuri, the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur, the Bade, the Bura, the Igalla, the Zerma, the Bariba, the Gbari, the Gwari and all the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.





They can grumble, moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for. Some of them are even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one nights sport and pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Uthman Dan Fodio. We also captured Ilorin, killed their local King and installed our Fulani Emir. We took that ancient town away from the barbarian Yoruba and their filthy pagan gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing Islam on them by force.





It was either the Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the good works of our forefathers Allah, through the British, gave us Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please. Since 1960 we have been doing that and we intend to continue. The Igbo tried to stop us in 1966 and between 1967 and 1969 they paid a terrible price. They were brought to heel and since then they have been broken. No Goodluck or anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africas biggest war zone and refugee camp if they try it.





Many say we are behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and they want to take even that from us. We must fight and we will fight back in order to keep it. They have brought in the infidels from America and the pigs from Israel to help them but they will fail. The war has just begun, the Mujahadeen are more than ready and by Allah we shall win. If they dont want an ISIS in Nigeria then they must give us back the Presidency and our political power. Their soldiers are killing our warriors and our people every day but mark this: even if it takes one hundred years we will have our revenge. Every Fulani man that they kill is a debt that will be repaid even if it takes 100 years. The Fulani have very long memories.





Gwarzo spoke the mind of millions of hardline conservative Fulani Muslims and reflected the thinking of Buhari and those in his inner circle. This was an excellent enunciation of the Buhari agenda and doctrine. As the British would say, he was spot on.





Sadly in 2015 few were prepared to stand up to this irritating and insidious nonsense.





Worse still even fewer were prepared to fly the flag of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into battle and stand up and speak for the Ancient of Days, the Lord of Hosts, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the King of Kings in Nigeria.





As MC Holyman rightly wrote, what is happening today in Nigeria is a well organised jihad which was planned a long time ago.





And what we are witnessing today are the fruits of that evil agenda. Consider the following:





On 26th March 2018, Badu Salisu Ahmadu, President of the Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) said,





The time for half measure is not now. Fulani all over are being killed and massacred. In Mambilla, over 1000 Fulani were killed in cold bloodWe call on all Fulani to prepare for the Jihad. This is the basis of the anger of the poor people in the north against their political leaders.They are angry that instead of defending the Fulani, they are busy supporting those against Fulani, wining and dining with infidels.





What more evidence do we need of the insatiable appetite for violence and unconciable bloodlust of these demons in human flesh?





These are indeed the sons of satan and the seed of Beelzebub.



Ten people were feared killed suspected Fulani herdsmen in the early hours of Monday attacked two communities in Ilu-Ajo, Kogi West, kil...

Ten people were feared killed suspected Fulani herdsmen in the early hours of Monday attacked two communities in Ilu-Ajo, Kogi West, killing several people.A version of the reports had it that the herdsmen invaded two Tiv settlements in the outskirts of Mopamuro and Ido-Gbedde in Ijumu LG, around 4am.A source close to the sole administrator of Ijumu LGA, Alhaji Taifiq Isah, however told newsmen that only one person died from an attack by suspected Fulani herdsman.According to the source, trouble started when the Fulani, whose honey was allegedly stolen, accused a resident of one of the communities, but that the latter denied having a hand in the theft, leading to the launching of an attack that culminated in the killing.Another version had it that armed herdsmen in a surprise attack invaded the two communities, and opened fire on the people, killing 10.Read Also: Killings: Court asked to declare Fulani herdsmen, Miyetti Allah terroristsThe administrator of Mopamuro LGA, Moses Sunday David condemned the attack by the suspected Fulani herdsmen.He was quoted as saying, I am surprised that the attack came barely a week after we had a peace/security meeting at the Elulus palace to forestall this kind of unfortunate occurrence.In a spot assessment of the damage, the administrator in company of his Ijumu counterpart, Taofiq Isah, said We shall work with the security agencies to see that we rejig the security architecture to see that people and properties are safe.The council boss said that he had contacted relevant government agencies, just as he assured the people of the readiness of the government to ensure that the menace does not reoccur.When contacted, the Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRI), Mr. William Ayah, said that the command was yet to receive any report from any of the affected communities, nor was he aware of the incident.Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the issues of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be resolved. Osinbajo said he does not think ...

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the issues of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be resolved.





Osinbajo said he does not think theres a major problem in the party. He described the APC as a strong party that is committed to offering hope to the electorate.





Laolu Akande, the vice-presidents spokesman, quoted him to have said this while fielding questions from journalists after the inauguration of President Maada Bio of Sierra Leone on Saturday.





Akande quoted Osinbajo as saying, in politics, as you know, there will always be tension, but the party is strong and the leadership and membership of the party are committed to ensuring it remains strong and continues to offer hope to the people.





I think a lot of the issues will be resolved as we go along.





This is the normal order of things; there will be disagreements, there will be those who may feel that they need certain preferences or certain things which may not have been done earlier on.





I dont think there is any major problem.





Fatalities were recorded in Oyo, Lagos and Gombe states during the APCs local government congress which held on Saturday.





Days prior, thugs burnt the APC secretariat in Imo, forcing the postponement of the LG congress in the state.



Sequel to the continued detention of the immediate past governor of Plateau State and senator representing Plateau North, Jonah Jang by th...

Sequel to the continued detention of the immediate past governor of Plateau State and senator representing Plateau North, Jonah Jang by the EFCC, his aide on Monday threatened that there would be a mass protest in Abuja if the lawmaker was not released immediately.

This threat was made by Jangs media consultant, Clinton Garuba, while addressing a press conference in Jos, the state capital.





He said, It is with a deep sense of apprehension that I address you today on the critical subject of the desperation of the APC Government as it relates to the continuous unlawful detention of Senator Jonah David Jang the former Governor of Plateau State and current Senator representing Plateau North Senatorial District in the red chambers of the National Assembly by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC.





It would recall that on Monday, May 7, 2018, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, detained Senator Jang after he honoured their invitation in Abuja.





Garuba continued, Ever since he has been unlawfully kept in their custody in flagrant disregard of the constitution, and abuse of his fundamental human rights as a law abiding citizen, especially when he has never failed to honour their numerous invitations.





You would also recall, that Senator Jonah Jang issued an ultimatum to Minister of Information Lai Mohammed stating his intention to seek legal redress if the Minister does not expunge the Senators name from his infamous looters list released some weeks ago wherein the Senator was said to have looted N12.5billion.





Shortly after that, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related crimes Commission ICPC, in what was a curiously dramatic and braggadocios awakening swung into action inviting the Senator over the same allegations he has generously given explanations to all along, leading to his eventual detention.





As a man fondly referred to by many admirers as the Architect of Modern Plateau, for his transformational work in the State, he has consistently availed himself whenever occasion demands to give account of his meritorious service as Governor of Plateau State from 2007-2015, a period characterized by massive infrastructural development and giant feats in the socio-economic lives of Plateau people.





Definitely, that is not the kind of man that should be detained for whatever reason.





To detain him for a week today is a crime against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which provides for a citizen to be charged to court within one day as stated in section 35(5)(a) of the 1999 constitution, as amended.





For a government which has legitimately earned for itself an enviable reputation as a lawbreaker and usurper of the law, we are not surprised at all at the desperate tactics deployed to deal with Senator Jonah Jang.





For a government which revels in the dehumanization of its citizens and oppression of perceived opponents, we are not in the dark about its penchant for human rights abuses as witnessed in the separate cases of the former NSA and the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.





A government renowned for using deodorants in the its fight against corruption within the ranks of its supporters, cronies, and hallelujah choristers, is not justified when it uses insecticides against Senator Jang and those like him who speak truth to power.





For the avoidance of doubts, the man Jonah David Jang cannot be broken, dispirited, or intimidated.





His resolve to be strong for his people is intact. His opinion against a government which allows the killing of innocents in the Middle-Belt is unchanged.





His position against the transfer of ancestral lands from the people of the Middle-Belt to herdsmen for grazing reserves or colonies is emphatic.





His criticism of the government and its totalitarian tendencies is unstoppable. Therefore, his persecution in the hands of the EFCC will not yield the intended result envisaged when the plot was orchestrated, he stressed.





We find it most apt to call on the EFCC to be as law abiding as Senator Jonah Jang by charging him to court where he is ready to defend himself.





This we believe will save Nigerians the discomfort of following another boring misadventure typical of the shameful theatrics that have pervaded our political landscape in recent times making our country a laughing stock the in world.



Imagine celebrating your birthday  as a 15-year-old  surrounded by insurgents in a far away hideout; maybe inside a cave. No cakes, no can...

Imagine celebrating your birthday  as a 15-year-old  surrounded by insurgents in a far away hideout; maybe inside a cave. No cakes, no candle lights nor birthday songs. Just terror and fierce faces threatening you to denounce your religion to regain freedom.

That is the sad story of Leah Sharibu whose continued captivity in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents is her price for reportedly not accepting Islam.





She was the only Christian girl among the 112 kidnapped from their school  Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state  by Boko Haram members on February 19.





While the others were later brought home, Sharibu was held back for reportedly refusing to denounce Christianity.





She turned 15 years on Monday, 12 weeks after her kidnap. But she wont be having the usual funfare that comes with teen birthday celebrations. She is somewhere enveloped in fear, in the company of the same persons that took her away from her friends and family.





FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO BRING HER HORROR TO AN END?





Shortly after the other girls were released, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed sadness over Sharibus situation and promised his government will not abandon her.





The lone Dapchi girl, Leah, will not be abandoned  President Buhari assures the Sharibu family that he will continue to do all he can to ensure that they also have cause to rejoice with their daughter soon, a statement from Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, had read.





But that was on March 22, almost two months ago. Is the president still doing all he can to ensure Sharibu returns? Or is it now gradually turning to the sad tale of the 112 Chibok schoolgirls that were kidnapped by the insurgents on April, 2014, and has so far spent four birthdays in their custody  while the federal government keeps promising its best and doing everything possible to ensure the girls are back.





Sharibu spent Easter in captivity and now, she has to go through another horrific experience of marking a new year in her life without the least she could ask for: freedom.





Here is a call on the federal government to keep to its promise and secure the release of Sharibu  and the other schoolgirls.





And like the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement  advocating for the girls release  put it, please, wish Leah a happy birthday and help ask, #WhereisLeahSharibu?Isaac Adewole, minister of health, says President Muhammadu Buhari receives medical treatment abroad because Nigerians do not know how to ...

Isaac Adewole, minister of health, says President Muhammadu Buhari receives medical treatment abroad because Nigerians do not know how to handle information.





Adewole was reacting to the criticisms trailing the presidents medical trips abroad.





Speaking to THISDAY, Adewole said the president, as an individual, is entitled to his privacy.





Describing Nigeria as a strange country, he said Nigerians have no respect for peoples right to confidentiality.





He said the case of Yusuf, the presidents son who was involved in a motorbike accident, is an indication that the privacy of a patient could be easily compromised in the country.





You have forgotten that as our president, he is also an individual. Unfortunately, we still, as a country, we cannot handle information, Adewole said.





The presidents son was operated; they said he was dead. You see, it is a strange country; and so, we do not respect peoples right to privacy and confidentiality. We also have no respect for doctor-patient relationship.





The same person who went abroad was the same person who said, let my son be managed in Nigeria. I was at the centre; people said let the boy be flown abroad. The president said no. All he asked was, Can they manage him in Nigeria? I said, yes, and he said, Go ahead.





The minister further explained that Buharis frequent medical trips abroad do not mean he has abandoned the nations health sector.





He is committed to improving the health sector, and working hard to make it something everybody would be proud of. But you know doing this would not happen overnight, he said.





So, lets not over flog it. To me, its a non-issue. Like the upgrade we are doing for cancer, it has taken us almost one year because things have to be properly done. You cant buy a radiotherapy machine if there is no proper assessment.





So upgrading the health facility, he is committed to that. But its not going to happen immediately. And we are working hard to make sure that things are in proper shape.



The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State on Sunday rejected the results of local government council elections, saying it would...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State on Sunday rejected the results of local government council elections, saying it would go to court to challenge the outcome of the polls.The party announced its plans just as its chairmanship candidate in Kachia local council was declared the winner.Mr Nuhu Garba, SIECOMs returning officer for the council, said Mr Peter Agite of the PDP won the chairmanship seat with 42,242 votes beating his APC counterpart, Peter Dan-Baki, who got 33, 817 votes in the polls.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) had through its local government returning officers, released some of the results with the ruling APC winning in most of the local government areas released so far.So far, the APC has won 17 local councils, while PDP has won two. The election in two local councils, Jaba and Kauru was postponed, while tallying has not been concluded for Chikun local council.There are 23 local councils in Kaduna state.The Chairman of PDP, Mr Felix Hassan Hyet, who addressed a news conference in his office on Sunday, however, alleged that his party had been shortchanged going by the results released in 13 local government areas of the state.He said the party would soon release its field results of the just concluded local polls.According to him, the PDP agents have submitted their reports which, he claimed, were at variance with the results announced by the local government returning officers.Hyet further claimed that most of the results announced so far were through radio stations rather than the returning officers, whom he alleged disappeared after the conclusion of the election.The Chairman, however, appealed to the party supporters to remain calm, assuring that the party would follow legal means to address the injustice.He said the commission should have requested some of the manufacturers of the Electronic Voting Machines stay behind to monitor the machines to avoid malfunction experienced in some polling units.Hyet alleged that some machines were snatched to unknown destinations and results were later released by the returning officers.We call you to brief you on the update of the local election results of 13 local government so far released.Some local government results were not announced by the returning officers but by radio stations. At the moment we have some local government areas like, Kaduna South,Chikun,Kajuru,Jemaa,Kagarko,Sanga, still awaiting to be announced.The returning officers have disappeared completely. Even some of the wards returning officers also disappeared.We are waiting for the returning officers to come out and announce the results in local government areas yet to be announced.Our agents have submitted the results to us and we will take necessary legal steps to address the injustices, Hyet said.Members of Kano State House of Assembly are set to impeach Speaker of the house, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf.

Members of Kano State House of Assembly are set to impeach Speaker of the house, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf.

It was gathered that as at Sunday night, 21 lawmakers had duly signed in support of the speakers impeachment.





We have already impeached the principal officers by having 21 lawmakers signed for their impeachment and we are needing only six members to make the requirement of 2/3 to impeach the speaker, a lawmaker told Daily Trust.









The reasons are many but the major one is incompetency. The speaker has completely localised the house.





We cannot sit until after 2pm and even at that things are not moving as expected. We cannot just continue like that because we are representing our constituents.





Meanwhile, armed policemen have sealed the complex.





Police Public Relations Officer, SP Magaji Musa Majia confirmed the deployment of operatives.





He said, We deployed our men to the Assembly to ensure that nobody breaks law and order.



The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Saad Abubakar, h...

The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Saad Abubakar, has urged Muslims across the country to look for the new moon of Ramadan on Wednesday.





The Deputy Secretary-General of the NSCIA, Prof. Salisu Shehu, in a statement said: Following the advice of the National Moon Sighting Committee (NMSC), the President-General enjoins the Nigerian Muslim Ummah to search for the crescent of Ramadan 1439 AH immediately after sunset on Wednesday 16th May, 2018 equivalent to 29th Shaaban 1439 AH. If the crescent is sighted by Muslims of impeccable character on the said evening, His Eminence would declare Thursday, 17th May, 20187 as the first day of Ramadan.





If, however, the crescent is not sighted that day, then, Friday, 18th May, 2018 automatically becomes the first of Ramadan, 1439 AH. The council hereby enjoins the Muslims all over the country to be on the lookout for the announcement of His Eminence, the President-General of NSCIA, on the commencement of the 1439 AH Ramadan fast.



Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, says during his time in power,  we did not know anything like corruption.

Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, says during his time in power,  we did not know anything like corruption.

Gowon said this on Monday while speaking at the meeting of the 8th Commonwealth regional conference for heads of anti-corruption agencies in Africa.





The meeting which has as its focal point assets recovery and return, is ongoing in Abuja.





The former head of state said though some of his ministers then were accused of corruption, his government worked to curb it so it did not go into the public service.





During our time, we did not know anything like corruption. Some of my ministers were accused of corruption but we did not allow it go into the public service, he said.





After I left office, apart from my salary, it was the staff that worked with me that contributed their estacode so that i have something to live on. During our time, we did not know that thing. We were afraid of being exposed.





Gowon said it is sad to see reports or articles that portray all former heads of states as thieves.





It is sad to read reports that all former heads of state are thieves, he said.





I will like to ask you (heads of anti-corruption agencies) to find a way of making those in leadership not to be tempted  let them be honest.



The House of Representatives chairman of Committee on Works, Toby Okechukwu, yesterday said there was need for the Federal Government to approve a complete engineering procurement construction, EPC, contract to perfect the second Niger Bridge.Okechukwu made this disclosure in a chat with Vanguard, noting that  when a contract is awarded in phases, it prolongs the perfection of such a project.The Enugu Lawmaker representing Aninri Awgu Oji River Federal Constituency, under the platform of PDP explained that:The Second Niger Bridge actually has gone through a lot of processes and as at 2017, it was fairly controversial and that was because, there was no framework of expenditure on the bridge.We had early works one, early works two, early works three, then early works four was coming up and these were piecemeal awards of contract.So, even when you complete early works four which is going to be completed by June, you cannot do any further expenditure on the bridge because there is no contract on it and our position is you do not handle projects that way. You must know the total cost of a project for you to be able to effectively plan for its completion.There is no PPP on it, so it is not concession; there is no complete EPC contract on it and I am certain that the Federal Executive Council would be ready to award an EPC contract on it and that is what we have insisted that has to be done. Otherwise, you would find out that the cost of doing the bridge will be much more expensive when you adopt a piecemeal approach and under us, that should not happen.Returnees recently repatriated from Libya have continued to relive their tortuous experience in their journeys to enter Europe through t...

Returnees recently repatriated from Libya have continued to relive their tortuous experience in their journeys to enter Europe through the North African coast.Some of them received by the Edo State Task Force against Human Trafficking, who spoke toon Sunday, expressed regret that they could not reach their preferred destinations after parting with huge amounts of money to get to Italy.One of them, Nana Sandra, who hails from the Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state, said she made up her mind to leave the shores of the country on January 27, 2018, when she could no long manage her job as a salesperson in Benin.But Sandra noted that though she earned little as a salesgirl in a boutique, she managed to raise N700, 000 for the journey.I was going to Europe to earn a living. I was working as a salesgirl in a boutique before I left. I paid N500,000 to get to Libya and N200,000 to cross to Italy.The journey was hard; it was not easy. I will never forget my experience in the desert. Although I did not see people dying in the desert, some of my friends told me they did.I was treated well where I was kept in Libya. I was trying to cross to Italy when I was caught and taken to a deportation camp. I spent a week and one day.I feel very sad because my plan was to go to Europe to earn a living. I am not happy coming back, she narrated.When asked if she had any plan to return to Libya, Sandra said, Honestly, Libya is not a place to be. I will not advise my enemy to go to Libya. If the government wants me to learn a skill, I will. I would like to learn hair styling.Another returnee, Edith Richard, alleged that many Nigerians in Libyan detention camps were treated like animals as they were poorly fed.The 21-year-old woman from the Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state said, I left Nigeria because I wanted to look for something to do. I struggled to raise N500, 000 to get to Libya.But I could not cross to Italy because as soon as we were on the Mediterranean Sea, we were caught by some Libyans on the sea. I was taken to a detention camp and was maltreated. They (Libyans) talked to us anyhow.We did not like the way they fed us, giving us food without meat. They treated us like animals.Richard, who noted that she was happy to return home, however, wondered if her parents would feel the same way as she did not seek their permission before she left.I happy to be back home. I do not regret that I did not get to Europe because some of us lost their lives. About five died at sea and in the desert. One of them, Blessing, died due to the heat from the sun. She could not bear it.I have parents but I did not inform them that I was living the country (Nigeria). But I called them when I got to Libya. I do not know whether they will accept me. I am afraid that they might shout at me; I want them to forgive me.I am ready to learn a skill and I want the state government to help me. I thank the government for bringing me back, he said.In an interview with, the Head of the Rehabilitation and Reintegration unit of the task force, Florence Nwaonuma, said the returnees would be assessed based on the level of trauma they had experienced.The Federal Government on Monday in Abuja announced that $320m stolen funds by former late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, would be spent on the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of the administration to support the poor.Declaring open the Eighth Commonwealth Conference of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa, Buhari, represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said it was one condition given by the Switzerland authorities for the repatriation of the funds.Buhari said that The Global Forum on Asset Recovery, after its inaugural meeting in Washington, DC, in December 2017, had facilitated efforts toward asset recovery and return.The GFAR saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and the Government of Switzerland for the return of an additional $320m of the Sani Abacha loot.Included in that agreement is the commitment that the funds would be invested in one of Nigerias flagship social investment programmes, the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme targeted at the poorest and most vulnerable households in our country.It's been almost 20 years since police started looking for Israel Ramos, who was accused of "heinous" child sexual assault crimes in 1999 and became one of Atlantic County's most wanted fugitives.

The search ended April 5, thanks to a tip, lots of digging on social media and facial recognition software, police were finally able to put handcuffs on Ramos, now 51, as he tried to leave his home in Philadelphia.

Ramos had assumed a fake identity as Juan Vasquez-Perez, was working at an auto parts store and living with a woman.

He'd also managed to avoid interaction with law enforcement for 19 years, according to Detective Anthony Branca of the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office Fugitive Squad, who has been heading the search for five years.

"It was a relief, a weight off my shoulders," Branca said Monday, when the sheriff's office announced the arrest. Branca said it was a case that, as a father, especially bothered him. "It was a heinous crime on a young child."

Branca said Ramos sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in Atlantic County in 1999 and was eventually charged with aggravated sexual assault, among other charges.

In 2000, police in Cumberland County filed firearm and assault charges against him in connection with a domestic violence case involving Ramos' then girlfriend, he said.

But Ramos disappeared.

Police were unable to find him and in 2013, his case file fell on Branca's desk at the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office. He said he spent countless hours interviewing Ramos' family, friends and acquaintances, and following leads from Florida to Connecticut.

Nothing was panning out until late last year, when he got a tip that Ramos might be staying with a woman in Pennsylvania.

That's where social media came in handy.

He said that he found the woman's social media presence and while looking at her Facebook page, found that she was connected with a man named Juan Vasquez-Perez - who had several similarities to Ramos. He was the right age, looked kind of similar, and had a former address that matched Ramos' old home in Vineland.

Branca said the new photos were sent to New Jersey State Police who ran a facial recognition comparison and found it was a 90 percent match to Ramos' 1991 mugshot.

Branca said officers from Atlantic County, Philadelphia and U.S. Marshals staked out the apartment in Philadelphia and watched as Ramos walked out the door and to his car. He spotted the officers and tried to drive away, but they quickly moved their vehicles and boxed him in.

He had nowhere to go.

"I think he knew the jig was up at that point," Branca said.

Seeing Ramos arrested was a big moment, but the trepidation wasn't over. Because he was arrested on a warrant out of state, he was granted bail in Pennsylvania pending his extradition to New Jersey.

It was a high bail -- $750,000 -- but if any of his friends or family came up with 10 percent, he could have been released and on the run again, Branca said.

That's why the sheriff's office delayed in publicly announcing the arrest, Branca said.

His moment of relief finally came when Ramos didn't make bail and was extradited to the Atlantic County Jail. He is now being held without bail pending trial on the charges from the turn of the millenium, the detective said.

The case is far from over, but Branca said it still felt "overwhelming" to cross Ramos of the county's most wanted list after all that time.

"That's why we do this job," he said. "That's why I get up every day. To get people like this off the streets and make things a little bit better."

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A man from El Salvador who was kicked out of the country after serving a 10-year prison term for sexually assaulting a child admitted Monday he did not register as a sex offender when he traveled back to the U.S. illegally.

Samuel De Jesus Corvera-Mata, 42, faces another hefty prison sentence, and another deportation, federal authorities said.

He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden to the federal crimes of illegal re-entry following a conviction for an aggravated felony and failing to register as a federal sex offender, the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said.

Corvera-Mata was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct on a 7-year-old in 1996, in California, and then deported in 2004 following his prison term.

As part of the conviction, and deportation, Corvera-Mata was required to register as a sex offender if he ever returned to the United States, the office said.

He did at some point, and was located and arrested in Camden County in October 2017, the office said.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.You can call her doctor, now.

"I'm always asked by people what should I call you? Queen? Latifah? Dana? After today, you can just call me doctor," Newark native Queen Latifah told graduates of Rutgers-Newark Monday morning, after receiving an honorary doctorate degree in fine arts.

Born in Newark and raised in East Orange, Latifah impressed upon the black-robed graduates, who gathered for their commencement at the Prudential Center, the importance of home.

"I'm a Jersey girl, born and bred ... I couldn't be more proud to be one of Newark's own today, this is home," she said of her homecoming. "Today's Newark is stirring again, stirring because our greatest export was never a product, it's always been the people. People like each of you -- unique, strong, creative individuals."

Rutgers Newark commencement speaker Queen Latifah reat the Prudential center in Newark, NJ. Monday,05/14/2018

A hip-hop icon, Grammy-award winner and Golden-Globe winner, Latifah is also a philanthropist who founded a scholarship for low-income youth. She said the lessons she learned in New Jersey make her who she is.

In school, Latifah said she was taller, bigger and different than the other girls. "By the time I was 13, I had body, all of it, it was all there," she said. "It still is, and I'm damn proud of it," she added, placing her hand on her left hip.

Latifah said she grew confident when she took the stage as one of the Dorothy's in her school's production of "The Wiz."

"Graduates, home shapes you, make sure you shape it back," Latifah said. "Take a chance on that next kid who comes along the way, the way someone took a chance on you, the way someone took a chance on me."

Rutgers Newark commencement at the Prudential center in Newark, NJ. Monday,05/14/2018

Safika Frazier, 39, was graduating on Monday with a masters degree in public administration. Her graduation cap was glittered red, with photos of her two daughters (ages 13 and 15) and her late mother.

"My children are my inspiration," Frazier, of Newark, said. She said having Latifah as the commencement speaker was an honor.

"She makes me proud, definitely proud of my city," she said. "It's good to have someone here representing the city in a positive light."

Rutgers officials said the class of 2018 was the largest and most accomplished class in the university's history. At Rutgers-Newark, 97 received phD degrees, 77 received masters degrees and 15 maters in fine arts.

"In a world of bullets and divisions and distractions, we need more citizens pulling us together instead of trying to pull us apart," Latifah said. "Give back to your home."

Mayor @rasjbaraka urges diverse group of graduates to be ambitious but inclusive. Take your degree, make it mean something ... and make this world as beautiful as it is today. @Rutgers_Newark pic.twitter.com/9fk8w04PNX  Karen Yi (@karen_yi) May 14, 2018

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.A woman authorities say assaulted her estranged boyfriend, leaving him bloodied and beaten, waited 16 hours before seeking medical help and tried to clean up evidence of the crime, prosecutors alleged Monday.

David Morris, 55, died of his injuries days later.

Susan Coffin-White, 50, of Williamstown, appears before Judge Kevin Smith for a detention hearing on Monday. (Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media)

Susan Coffin-White, 50, who is accused of assaulting Morris in the Williamstown residence they shared, won't have to sit in jail while she plans her defense to a manslaughter charge, a judge ruled during a Monday detention hearing.

Coffin-White, who works in special education at a Gloucester County school, allegedly assaulted Morris around midnight on May 2, but it wasn't until around 4 p.m. that day that she called 911 to report that he was unconscious.

Coffin-White was charged with assault and jailed, but her charges were upgraded to manslaughter when Morris died May 8 at Cooper University Hospital. An autopsy determined that he died of blunt head trauma.

Morris and Coffin-White were previously in a relationship, prosecutors said, but still lived in the same home. No restraining orders had been issued previously involving the pair.

White acknowledged several family members in attendance as she was brought into the courtroom. She stood quietly as attorneys debated her future.

Prosecutors sought Coffin-White's continued detention Monday, arguing that she failed to contact 911 in a timely manner and tried to clean up evidence from the scene, including bloodied bed linens.

Bloody paper towels and a glass ashtray were found in a kitchen trash can, though authorities do not know if the ashtray was used as a weapon.

Coffin-White was asleep in her bed when she says Morris got on top of her, Assistant Prosecutor Dianna Reed-Rolando said.

"She admits to striking him at least once and maybe multiple times," Reed-Rolando said. She also admitted pushing him, the prosecutor said, but it's not clear how he received his multiple injuries.

A gash to the back of his head was consistent with falling or being pushed off the bed -- a nightstand was damaged -- but it was not the cause of death, Rolando-Reed said.

Morris suffered an orbital fracture and swelling of the brain resulting from a blow to the face, the prosecutor said. An autopsy determined that this was the injury that killed him, but it's not clear if it was caused "from fist, elbow or an actual weapon being used."

Coffin-White went back to sleep after the incident and awoke in the morning to find Morris with swollen eyes and "bleeding profusely."

She explained to police that Morris told her to leave him alone, and admitted she cleaned up the bloody sheets before going to work.

Morris called a friend around 7:30 that morning and told him about the altercation, according to the prosecutor, saying that Coffin-White got on top of him and repeatedly struck him in the head. He told the friend his eyes were swollen shut and he thought his nose might be broken.

Superior Court Judge Kevin Smith presides over the detention hearing for Susan Coffin-White. (Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media)

When Coffin-White returned home that afternoon, she found Morris unconscious on the kitchen floor. Her phone indicates she placed a call to 911 around 3:40 p.m., but the call didn't go through, Rolando-Reed said. About 20 minutes later, she called 911 again, and this time the call was completed.

In arguing for her release, defense attorney Leonard Grasso Jr. noted that his client has no prior criminal record, has a job and is the sole caregiver for her child.

"She has strong family ties and strong ties to the community," he said. "Judge, she is no danger to the community."

Coffin-White, who works as a specialized program assistant with the Gloucester County Special Services School District, is on paid administrative leave from her job.

As for the bloody scene described by prosecutors, Grasso pointed to additional comments made by Morris' friend.

The friend told investigators that Morris bruised easily because of prior health issues and was also prone to bleeding. "He states that he bleeds quite often and quite a lot," Grasso noted.

Superior Court Judge Kevin Smith agreed to Coffin-White's release with the requirement that she live with her brother and sister-in-law while her case proceeds.

She will return to court June 21 for a pre-indictment conference.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips.JERSEY CITY  An attempt to publicize a Kumbaya moment between Jersey City and Polish officials over the controversial relocation of the Katyn monument took a left turn Monday when a crowd of protesters met the announcement of a truce with boos and taunts.

Mayor Steve Fulop joined with Polish officials inside City Hall's council chambers to offer details about the city's plan to move the monument from its longtime home on Exchange Place to the foot of York Street. The two sides signed off on the deal Friday after spending two weeks bickering over the push to find a new home for the statue, which commemorates the 1940 slaughter of over 20,000 Polish people by the Soviet Union.

The joint press conference continued even after Fulop left the council chambers  to chants of "shame" by protesters  when the man who appeared to be leading the opposition stood behind the podium the mayor had just used and addressed the crowd of protesters and members of the media as city officials tried to shut off the sound system.

Monday's events signal that the city may not be immediately successful in quelling the furor that erupted two weeks ago when the Polish community learned the Katyn statue will be moved to make way for a $5 million new park at Exchange Place. The controversy generated headlines here and in Poland. One Polish citizen told The Jersey Journal that Fulop was featured on Polish television more than President Trump.

Under the new plan, the city would lease the area at the foot of York Street to the Katyn Forest Massacre Memorial Committee at no cost for 99 years and turn the area into a park that Fulop said would reflect the significance of the monument, which depicts a bound-and-gagged soldier stabbed in the back with a bayoneted rifle. Those renovation plans would cost about $250,000, with the city picking up some of the cost, Fulop said.

"It is indeed a powerful statement and a real gift from the city," Maciej Golubiewski, the Polish consul general in New York, said at Monday's press conference.

The new location is one block south from where the statue has stood since 1991. Fulop, who said the council will vote on the plan next week, has described the monument relocation as one that will reflect the change and "progress" Jersey City has seen in the last three decades. He called the Exchange Place plaza "underutilized" and described the statue's current placement there as incongruous with the festivals and celebrations that occur around it.

"I certainly recognize that change is never easy," Fulop said.

Krzysztof Nowak, president of the statue committee, supports the York Street plan, saying at the press conference that he wants to "save the monument." Protesters also booed him.

The crowd of about two dozen protesters appeared to be led by Slawek Platta, an attorney and candidate for New York Senate. Gathered inside the council chambers, they booed Fulop and Golubiewski and yelled at them from their seats. "Mayor doesn't know history," one person yelled. "Stop trolling on Twitter," hollered another man to the mayor.

There was a tense moment when Platta attempted to walk up to the podium as Fulop spoke. The mayor told Platta not to walk beyond a certain point. When it appeared Platta might continue to approach Fulop, one of the police officers who guards the mayor approached Platta and kept him from getting any closer.

Platta told reporters before today's event that the statue contains the remains of Katyn massacre victims and legally cannot be moved. Fulop said in response that the statue was already moved once (its initial home was a few feet away from where it stands now).

Fulop suggested that Platta's public appearance was political in nature.

Councilman Rich Boggiano, a frequent Fulop critic, has bashed the deal to move the statue, saying the Polish officials who agreed to it "sold out" the Polish community. He told The Jersey Journal he does not understand why the Polish ambassador to the United States now supports moving the statue after spending two weeks saying he opposed any relocation.

"Hudson County politics," Boggiano said, declining to elaborate.

After the press conference ended, Platta took over, explaining his opposition to the York Street plan as city workers examined the sound system for the council chambers for ways to shut off the microphone Platta was using. After failing, a city spokeswoman walked behind Platta and unplugged the microphone, leaving his words garbled inside the acoustically challenged chambers.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.Accusing Jersey City of a "long-standing de-facto policy" that tolerates wrongful arrests and excessive force, a man who was hit by a police sergeant with his SUV last year is alleging the officer and the city violated his civil rights.

In the lawsuit, plaintiff Shiron Cooper says not only that he was the victim of excessive force on Aug. 6, 2017, but that the now-retired sergeant who hit him directed a colleague to "conceal the illegality" of his actions by filing a false police report about the incident, at least 10 seconds of which was caught on surveillance video.

The eight-count complaint doubles as Cooper's indictment of the Jersey City Police Department, which has seen 23 of its officers charged with some type of offense in the last three years. The officers involved in Cooper's case  John Ransom, the retired sergeant, and Officer Patrick Egan, who wrote one of the police reports about Cooper's arrest  were emboldened by the department's "virtual whitewash" of excessive force cases, Cooper alleges.

"The lack of discipline for acts of excessive force allowed PO defendants to wrongfully stop, arrest and commit excessive and unreasonable force against the plaintiff because PO defendants knew that there would be no official reprisals for their actions against plaintiff," the lawsuit reads.

Cooper, 27, names the city, its police department, Cooper and Egan as defendants. A request for comment from a city spokeswoman was not returned. The city's two police unions declined to comment.

Cooper is seeking money for physical and emotional suffering plus "a judgment declaring that the JCPD's policy, practice and/or custom of unlawful stops, searches, arrests and acts of excessive and unreasonable force, wrongful arrests and racial profiling" are unconstitutional. He also wants an independent monitor to oversee stops, searches, arrests and acts of force.

Cooper says he was walking home near Audubon Park in the city's Greenville section on Aug. 6 when plainclothes officers tried to stop him. In his lawsuit, he says he ran because he thought he was going to be robbed. When he realized they were police officers, he says, he turned and raised his hands.

Then Ransom, driving his police-issued Dodge Durango, drove into Cooper. Cooper says he bounced off the SUV and then hid behind a tree. When Cooper emerged from behind the tree, he says, Ransom accelerated toward him and hit him again and ran over him. One of those moments is caught in a bit of surveillance video that leaked soon after the incident.

In January, county prosecutors charged Ransom with fourth-degree assault by auto. In February, Ransom pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense and was forced into early retirement.

Cooper was hit with six charges on Aug. 6, including resisting arrest. He pleaded guilty to one charge from that arrest, third-degree drug possession, and a simple assault charge from a previous incident.

"With more than a dozen Jersey City cops having pled guilty to various crimes in just the past year alone, it is clear that the culture of the Jersey City Police Department is in need of serious reform," said Cooper's attorney, Thomas S. Mirigliano. "We remain hopeful that shining a light on civil rights abuses within the department will lead to change and improved relations between the police and the community."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.JERSEY CITY -- A Jersey City man arrested Thursday on a gun offense was charged the next day with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man in the back, authorities announced today.

Shyquan Bell, 25, of Ocean Avenue, was arrested less than 24 hours after Wednesday's shooting on Woodlawn Avenue, which left a man suffering from a single gunshot wound to his back, Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said last week.

He was originally charged with unlawful possession of a semi-automatic handgun, possession of suspected heroin and cocaine, resisting arrest, contempt, and other offenses, Wallace-Scacione said.

While in custody, a second warrant was signed charging Bell with attempted murder in connection to the shooting, court documents indicate.

Bell allegedly fled from police on Ocean Avenue on Thursday and was caught on Stegman Street, Wallace-Scalcione said, adding that the shooting victim's wound was not considered life-threatening.

Bell made his first appearance on the original charges Friday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.

At the hearing, the state moved to detain him through the course of his prosecution. A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.Cesar Teran, 36, of Jersey City

A Jersey City man arrested after a head-on collision early Monday morning is facing two counts of assault by auto, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced.

Cesar Teran, 36, is charged with assault by auto in the third and fourth degrees, as well as motor vehicle violations following the 2:20 a.m. crash on Route 1&9, Suarez said.

The crash, which occurred near North Street, sent a 63-year-old Union City man to Jersey City Medical Center with "serious bodily injuries to his upper body," Suarez said, adding that he remains in stable condition.

The Jersey City Police Department responded to the scene shortly after 2:20 a.m. and found a BMW had collided head-on with a Honda in the northbound lanes of the roadway, Suarez said. The initial investigation by the Hudson County Regional Fatal Collision Unit and the Jersey City Police Department determined that the BMW, driven by Teran, was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes when it collided with the Honda, Suarez added.

The driver of the Honda, a 42-year-old male from Union City, suffered minor injuries. The 63-year-old man was his passenger, she noted.

Photos from the scene show the Honda wedged between the BMW and the concrete divider in the middle of the highway. It's two rear wheels are suspended in the air.

While the crash did not result in a fatality, the Hudson County Regional Fatal Collision Unit is continuing to investigate the collision with assistance from the Jersey City Police Department.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip at hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org. All information will be kept confidential.

On May 14, 2018, shortly after 2:20 a.m., the Jersey City Police Department received a report of a motor vehicle collision with serious bodily injuries on Tonnelle Avenue in Jersey City.

Upon arrival, responding Police Officers found a BMW automobile and a Honda automobile had collided head-on in the area of 725 Tonnelle Avenue in the northbound lane.

A male, age 63, of Union City, who was a passenger in the Honda, was transported by Emergency Medical Services to Jersey City Medical Center with serious bodily injures to his upper body. At this time, he remains in the hospital in stable condition.

Cesar Teran, age 36, of Jersey City, was identified as the driver of the BMW. He has been arrested and charged with two counts of Assault by Auto in violation of N.J.S. 2C:12-1, third-and-fourth degree crimes. Teran was also charged with Title 39 motor vehicle violations.

Prosecutor Suarez credited the Hudson County Regional Fatal Collision Unit and the Jersey City Police Department with the investigation and the arrest.An apparent head-on collision on a busy Jersey City roadway sent one person to the hospital and landed another person in handcuffs early Monday morning.

The crash on the rain-slicked Route 1&9 occurred on the northbound side of the road, south of North Street, at roughly 2:30 a.m.

According to police radio transmissions, one person was taken to a local hospital serious injuries. Another person at the scene was seen being placed in handcuffs by police.

Also according to police radio transmissions, a person was struck by a vehicle at Route 1&9 and County Avenue two hours later, at 4:20 a.m. Police radio transmissions said the pedestrian suffered a serious leg injury. More information on the two crashes were not immediately available.

Jersey Journal staff writer Michaelangelo Conte contributed to this report.JERSEY CITY -- A second man has been charged with killing a 19-year-old man who was shot dead on Merseles Court earlier this month, authorities said.

Omar Williams, 20, is charged with murder, two counts of possession of a weapon, and two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, for the May 2 killing of Kamal McCord, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced Monday.

Williams, who surrendered to authorities with his attorney Monday, is the third alleged shooter to be charged in the incident at the City Crossing apartments, which also left a 21-year-old woman injured.

Police arrested Kai Robinson, 20, in Newark on Thursday on identical charges to Williams. A third man, 24-year-old Lasaun Rose, was charged with aggravated assault and weapons offenses.

Williams is expected to make his first appearance on the charges in Criminal Justice Reform Court Tuesday afternoon. Both Robinson and Rose are being held in custody pending a detention hearing.

Rose is due back in court Tuesday while Robinson will appear Wednesday.

Sources previously told The Jersey Journal McCord ran inside a City Crossing apartment and collapsed after being shot in the courtyard area. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman's injuries were not considered life-threatening, authorities said.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.JERSEY CITY -- A Newark woman who showed up at a Jersey City car dealership in a Mercedes she bought with a stolen identity was arrested as she tried to buy second car using the same stolen identity, police said.

On Thursday, Shannon M. Stevens, 31, of Wainwright Street, went to a Toyota dealership on Route 440 and filled out a credit application to buy a RAV4 using an identity stolen from a woman, a criminal complaint said.

But when the application was processed, the victim was send a fraud alert that she set up after the Mercedes was purchased from a Hillside dealership in her name, the complaint said.

She called Hillside police, Hillside police called the Toyota dealership and the Toyota dealership called the Jersey City Police Department, which sent officers to the dealership, the complaint said

When approached, Stevens gave police the other woman's name, but officers soon determined her identity and she was arrested. Stevens also handed over the keys to the Mercedes and officers found it parked nearby, the complaint said.

Stevens was charged with counts that include theft, receiving stolen property, credit application fraud and providing a false government document  a driver's license, the complaint says.

Stevens made her first appearance on the charges on Friday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. At the hearing, she was ordered released with conditions of supervision pending trial.Three teenagers reported missing last week - along with $8,000 belonging to the father of one - have been found, police said.

Ulises Yance, 16, Alex Lopez, 15, and Alexa Arenas, 16, were believed headed to New Mexico, police said. Arenas was last seen Thursday and Yance and Lopez were last seen Friday morning, police said.

Yance's father had reported that about $8,000 was taken from him before the teens fled, according to a township news release.

"All juveniles have been located and are safe! Thank you for your assistance," Bloomfield police said in a Facebook update.

Alexa's father, Carlos Arenas, said Monday the teenagers had taken a train from Bloomfield to Philadelphia, where they spent a day or two.

Arenas said some of the money was recovered from the teenagers when they were found in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, apparently attempting to board another train.

The amount of money taken was in dispute, Arenas said, adding it may have been less than $8,000.

No charges were filed and the teens were all safe at home on Monday, Arenas said.

Police on Monday were not immediately available to comment.

UPDATE: All juveniles have been located and are safe! Thank you for your assistance. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/bloomfield/articles/three-teens-are-missing-bloomfield-police-seek-c?platform=hootsuite Posted by Bloomfield Division of Public Safety on Saturday, May 12, 2018

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Actor Richard Marcos Taylor, who played a notoriously domineering figure in an Oscar-nominated film, is facing a year of probation after pleading guilty to threatening staff at a Middlesex County bank last year.

The actor is also alleged to have confronted police officers who responded to the bank.

In the 2015 movie "Straight Outta Compton," which depicts the rise of the pioneering West Coast rap group N.W.A, Taylor, a Plainfield native who goes by R. Marcos Taylor plays Marion "Suge" Knight, the imposing bodyguard-turned label boss who founded Death Row Records with Dr. Dre.

Taylor appeared in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick on Monday in front of Judge Colleen Flynn. As part of a plea agreement, Flynn sentenced him to one year of probation for making terroristic threats at a TD Bank in South Plainfield on Aug. 8.

The actor, 41, also a stuntman -- and, like Suge Knight, a former bodyguard -- is accused of making threats against staff and squaring off with police at the bank.

"I'd like to put this behind me as soon as possible," the 6-foot-3-inch Taylor said, his voice small in the court.

Actor Richard Marcos Taylor appeared in state Superior Court in New Brunswick on Monday, where he was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty to making terroristic threats at a bank in South Plainfield in 2017. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Police charged Taylor, an alumnus of Rahway High School, with making terroristic threats, obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct after he allegedly threatened to assault and kill employees at the bank on Aug. 8, according to a summons. Police said Taylor threatened violence against staff if they called the police, which allegedly prompted customers to flee the bank.

When officers arrived, Taylor allegedly "squared off in a fighting stance" and one officer tried to use pepper spray on Taylor but missed him.

Taylor later pleaded guilty to making terroristic threats. On Monday, Flynn dismissed the other two charges against Taylor.

"There's some concern that he has a little bit of anger management issues going on," said Flynn, mentioning Taylor's bank arrest in connection with other incidents he has been linked to in the past year.

The judge told Taylor to stay away from the TD Bank in South Plainfield. She said she did not order Taylor to undergo a psychiatric evaluation or to seek counseling because he had already been seeing a therapist and psychiatrist.

Kristie Howard, Taylor's lawyer, told the judge the conflict was more between Taylor and police than Taylor and bank employees. She claimed that Taylor had come to a resolution with the manager of the bank, but police had already been called. She said staff had tried to call police to tell them not to come to the bank.

The bank arrest wasn't Taylor's only scrape with the law. The actor was charged with assaulting staff at a restaurant in Somerset County the very next day.

According to a police report, Taylor is alleged to have punched multiple employees at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Green Brook on Aug. 9 after staff members said he became aggressive because he was unhappy with the service.

Taylor, at left, with his lawyer, Kristie Howard, played imposing rap mogul Suge Knight on two occasions. The day after he was arrested at the South Plainfield bank, he was accused of assaulting staff at a Green Brook restaurant. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The manager told police he attempted to placate Taylor by offering him two free pieces of cheesecake but that Taylor replied with an insult, according to the report. The manager said he asked Taylor to leave the restaurant and that he was escorted off the premises. The man said that Taylor got into his car but then got out again and allegedly started a physical altercation with restaurant staff.

The same manager said one employee fell and suffered an elbow injury after Taylor allegedly punched her, and that Taylor allegedly punched another employee in the face who was trying to defend the first employee. He also said Taylor allegedly punched a third employee in the head. He said when another employee tried to tackle Taylor, the actor allegedly hit that man in the face and eye gouged him.

Police said a witness who had been in the parking lot provided video.

The actor was charged with four counts of assault, one count of criminal mischief and one count of disorderly conduct.

A few weeks after the incident was reported last year, Taylor told TMZ that he got jumped in the restaurant parking lot.

"Don't believe everything you read #thatismyjudgement," Taylor posted on Instagram on Aug. 23.

Howard, Taylor's lawyer, referred to the Green Brook case as "resolved" in court on Monday, and said Taylor would be paying restitution to the alleged victims.

Taylor is due in Green Brook Municipal Court on May 23.

In May of 2017, less than three months before the New Jersey incidents, the Miami Herald reported that Taylor was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after he allegedly assaulted a security guard at a resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

Taylor has worked as an actor and stuntman since 2011. In addition to his role in the 2015 film "Straight Outta Compton," he appeared in the 2017 movie "Baby Driver" and the Netflix series "Luke Cage" in 2016. Taylor is also trained in various martial arts, has competed in tournaments and has worked as a martial arts teacher.

Suge Knight, the character which Taylor is most closely associated with -- he also played him in the 2016 Lifetime movie "Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel'le" -- has had a string of legal troubles and is currently in jail. The Los Angeles Times reports that the 53-year-old rap mogul will go on trial to face murder charges in September, having allegedly rammed his truck into two men in a parking lot during the filming of "Straight Outta Compton," which proved fatal for one of the men (Knight claims he was being ambushed).

Last year, Knight was also indicted on charges of threatening the film's director, F. Gary Gray.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.By Declan O'Scanlon

I gained weight this past election and winter season. You can't really see it. My winter heft is kind of spread out throughout my entire body. My dog too!

Because of the delayed spring, our regular three-mile runs were interrupted and the little guy is like a rotund....meatball! Dealing with this got me thinking: about property taxes, bloated budgets and the fiscal cliff we're facing.

Follow me here. If we were to be able to create our government from scratch, right now, it just wouldn't look like it does, or cost what it costs. So, how did this happen?

The same way me and (my four-legged meatball) Finneas' weight snuck up on us. Bloat doesn't happen quickly. But it's insidious. And by the time you notice it it's stunning how bad it's gotten and how hard it is to correct.

Lots of government largess and bloat are like this. Small things: little giveaways, like pension computation adjustments; and health care kickers; and union pension giveaways. We didn't get the most insanely crazy comprehensive and expensive level of public health care benefits in the country overnight. We didn't crush our pension system with one huge benefit increase. It happens gradually.

If some political favor-currying concession is OK, another should be too. Massive increase in pension payouts? Sure! We legislators know better than whoever designed those pesky laws of mathematics. Wanna stop making pension payments, well, maybe just this once. For a little while, what's the harm?

And no one notices.

Voters foolishly assume that we legislators are watching out for them when in reality we're making deals at their expense to ensure we keep these ego-satisfying jobs. Don't want to piss anyone off -- especially any one with big campaign bucks.

Call him Meatball for now. Declan O'Scanlon wants his dog Finneas to go on a diet after a prolonged winter with fewer runs. He offers a similar prescription for New Jersey's budget: Cut the fat. (Photo courtesy of Declan O'Scanlon)

It is astounding to me that I have to have any debate at all about the arbitration award cap, taxpayer-screwing pension system transfers or the need for further health benefits reform, or how profit-motivated red-light-camera camera/automated enforcement is government-sanctioned theft.

Give me five minutes on each with any average New Jersey voter and they'll get it. But months with some of the people making these calls, and STILL they make excuses. Is it that they aren't as smart as the average voter -- or editorial board member? Or is it that they've tortured a way within themselves to justify their actions, or lack thereof, to rationalize the path they've chosen?

Sorry, rationalizing doesn't cut it.

It's either stupidity or a conscious decision to screw taxpayers for political gain. The latter is a dangerous flirtation with corruption. When you add up the impact of all the things we've done that we shouldn't have, to the value of all the failures to do things we should, you end up with the bloated, inefficient, outrageously expensive and unjust New Jersey government we have today.

The people we've pledged to protect and represent are being screwed. And we're so close to colossal, system-crushing-failure, we can't get away with looking the other way anymore. Insolvency is a mere hiccup of economic growth away -- never mind the total economic, pension-system-crushing cataclysm that a real recession would cause!

I'm not fatalistic though. I'm hopeful. Hopeful that the tension, let's be honest, animosity, between our new governor and the Legislature can work to good government's benefit. The Legislature can curb Gov. Phil Murphy's, hopefully fleeting, campaign-motivated, over-promising. Murphy and his cabinet can pick up where the wiser voices of the Christie administration left off.

This all can work together, to work for all of us. We may have just done so regarding the union pension bill -- the jury's still out. I was sworn in as a senator a few months ago, and since then I've thrown the palm tree overboard (google Mr. Roberts, watch the 1955 movie, learn something about honor and decency and fighting mindless bureaucrats. Made me cry as a kid, guides me now, thanks mom!). I'm hoping the people of New Jersey are ready to join me. Without you, I'm but one voice. With you, our power is immense. We can take back our government, force accountability, demand that our leaders to do the right thing.

Like eating right and exercising after a prolonged break, it's the healthy thing to do to prolong our lives. Our mission is important for all of us, but essential if we hold out any hope that our children get their shot to live here and love this place as much as we do.

Declan O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth, is a New Jersey state senator.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.Gov. Phil Murphy is a political novice whose close relationship to the public worker unions has worried both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature.

But on Thursday, he found a way to tread some treacherous political ground by retooling a terrible bill that could have allowed unions to increase pension benefits on their own and impose more costs on taxpayers.

The revised bill, which is certain to win approval, offers much stronger protections for taxpayers and is the first sign that Murphy is willing to tame the unions that helped put him in office.

He did it without any of the caustic melodrama that defined Chris Christie's tenure. This was the product of patient negotiation over the course of several months, not the result of chest-pounding and demonizing public workers.

The flawed bill that landed on Murphy's desk would have handed control of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS) to a board dominated by unions. There's nothing inherently wrong with unions managing their own fund, and it's understandable that the cops and firemen wanted to break away from the state's other pensions funds - especially since PFRS is in much healthier shape, with a total funded ratio of nearly 70 percent.

But Murphy saw that some of the technical details in the bill would put taxpayers at risk, so he wielded his scalpel judiciously.

For starters, the governor set higher standards for benefits enhancements, such as the reinstatement of the cost of living adjustment (COLA). The new 12-member board - which includes 6 active cops and firefighters and 1 retiree chosen by the union - was originally given the authority to increase benefits and lower employee contributions with an 8-4 supermajority. Murphy, however, insisted that this can be executed only after consultation with actuaries.

He also insisted that PFRS use the same assumed rate of return for investments as the other public pension systems rather than setting its own rate.

And Murphy recommended that PFRS keep $26 billion in assets in the Department of the Treasury, because such a massive transfer would risk destabilizing the fund.

Most alterations in his conditional veto were technical, and some smart people steeped in such technicalities will point out that Murphy still left too much on the table. Assemblyman Ned Thomson, R-Monmouth, an actuary who has administered more than 500 pension plans, suggests the governor's revisions were mere "window dressing."

"If the unions are such responsible stewards, why did they fight so hard to make sure an 80-percent funding mandate (for benefit increases) isn't there?" Thomson said. "This has the potential to be a train wreck."

Thomson, however, is a minority voice in this debate. Legislative leaders gave Murphy's recommendation their enthusiastic support. Union leaders were jubilant.

Even the state League of Municipalities - which represents the taxpayers whose contributions account for 73 percent of the fund, and was vehemently opposed to the original bill - praised the additional taxpayer protections included in Murphy's version.

And the Legislature's most voluble budget hawk, Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth, who believed the original plan was "toxic" and "destined to screw the taxpayers," now wants to "commend" the governor and his policy staff for their "complete reassessment" of the original bill.

That's an extraordinary coalition for such a complicated, contentious issue. They all agree that it was time for the unions to take control of their fund, as long as they were not dumping further obligations on taxpayers. In the end, the governor took steps toward assuring that won't happen. It's a victory for the process.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.Past American presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have agreed that moving our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would provoke violence and destroy the credibility of the United States as a broker for peace.

President Trump brushed that aside, and on Monday, our new embassy in Jerusalem opened with a triumphant ceremony. The result was precisely what the other presidents predicted.

Massive protests erupted, especially in Gaza, and were met with Israeli gunfire. Hospitals were forced to stow patients with bullet wounds in hallways because operating rooms were full. Israel used its military superiority with ruthless efficiency, firing live ammunition at mostly peaceful protesters, killing more than 50, and wounding roughly 2,500, many of them women and children.

As predicted, the United States has now lost any scrap of credibility as a peace broker. Our role has been reduced to supplying Israel with military equipment and cheerleading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he works to expand Jewish settlements in occupied territories, effectively killing any hope for a peaceful settlement.

President Trump said in January that moving the embassy would take the Jerusalem issue "off the table" in peace talks. "We don't have to talk about it anymore," he said.

This is delusional thinking of a man who knows little about the region, or the art of diplomacy. The final status of Jerusalem, sacred to both Judaism and Islam, has long been the most emotionally charged issue of all. Moving the American embassy does nothing to change that. It only signals that we have taken sides.

Mark this as another major break with our closest allies, who have condemned the move. Trump has left us isolated on nearly every big international issue that has arisen during his time in office -- Jerusalem, the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate treaty, and trade policy. For China and Russia, the split in the West is a godsend.

It is unnerving that a president with no experience in foreign policy is inclined to lead by his gut, with so little respect for expertise. To find peace in the Middle East, he appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a real estate developer. His new ambassador, David Friedman, was a bankruptcy lawyer who helped Trump weasel out of paying bills in Atlantic City, and once compared Jews who favor a two-state solution to Nazi collaborators. Neither man had a scrap of experience in diplomacy before Trump handed them this mission.

At the embassy ceremony Monday, Friedman invited Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress to offer a prayer. Jeffress is best known for saying that Jews and Muslims will be sent to hell for eternity after death, and that the Roman Catholic Church is an instrument of Satan. What message does that send?

This motley team is dangerously unqualified to manage one of the most explosive conflicts on the face of the planet. And the trouble is likely to grow.

Palestinians are planning larger protests for Tuesday, including a massive march to the border separating Gaza from Israel, with Hamas leaders urging followers to crash the border fence.

Israel, of course, cannot tolerate that. What nation would? And the risk is especially grave because the demonstrations are organized by Hamas, a terrorist group that responds to Israeli excess by trying to kill innocent Jews. Hamas might well take advantage of a border breach to send its fighters into Israel.

But while the mission is justified, the tactics are needlessly brutal. A New York Times reporter witnessed one pointless shooting of a Palestinian woman who was protesting peacefully before she was gunned down.

Both sides have squandered changes to move towards peace in the Middle East, and both are cursed by craven leadership. What's needed most is a respected broker with the credibility to speak hard truths to both sides.

That, sadly, is off the table.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.New Jersey lawmakers on Monday advanced a package of bills aimed at cracking down on the sexual abuse of inmates at New Jersey's women's prison at the hands of corrections officers sworn to keep watch over them.

Calling the criminal accusations against seven staff members in the last two years a "heinous chapter in our state's history," state Sen. Linda Greenstein, D-Middlesex, said the legislation was a first step toward reforming the Edna Mahan Correction Facility for Women in Union Township.

The bills were drafted following a January public hearing called by lawmakers in direct response to a series of reports from NJ Advance Media showing how problems at the prison were far graver than corrections officials had publicly acknowledged.

"We're expediting our work on this because of the severity of these conditions revealed inside the prison," Greenstein said.

Among the legislation advanced on Monday were measures that would:

* Create a 17-member commission to study the problem of sexual abuse behind bars and recommend additional reforms (SJR74).

* Establish stricter requirements for reporting suspected abuse by staff, as well as a $5,000 penalty for officials who fail to properly report and investigate abuse claims (S2521).

* Require officials at the state Office of Victim-Witness Advocacy to make unannounced visits and random surveys at state prisons to identify potential victims of sexual assault (S2533).

* Strictly limit cross-gender strip searches and surveillance in state prisons (S2522).

* Mandate corrections employees receive 40 hours of training, including eight hours specifically devoted to issues of sexual abuse and fraternizing with inmates (S2532).

The legislation, sponsored by Greenstein and Sen. Joseph Cryan, D-Union, was approved Monday by the Senate Law and Public Committee, which Greenstein chairs.

The package of bills comes amid an ongoing investigation by the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office that has already led to two guilty pleas and one jury trial where an officer was convicted of abusing two inmates.

The re-nomination of Corrections Commissioner Gary Lanigan was also stalled amid questions about the department's handling of the issue. Lanigan, who was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie, later announced his retirement just three months after Gov. Phil Murphy asked him to stay.

Officials at the state's largest corrections officers union, PBA 105, supported several of the measures. At a January hearing, they said a lack of training and resources had allowed problems at Edna Mahan to fester.

Raymond Heck, a state delegate for the union, said Monday that "the reprobates that we're dealing with are less than one percent of the total population" of officers.

But he added that the ongoing criminal probe had "polarized" the work environment at the facility, telling lawmakers that standardized rules and training would protect the majority of officers who did their jobs honorably.

Lydia Thornton, a former inmate at Edna Mahan and now a coordinator for the Prison Watch program at the American Friends Service Committee, told the committee the reforms were overdue.

"These women are coming out more damaged then they went in, and that's not supposed to be the process of corrections," she said.

Several of the bills will now go before the Budget Committee before receiving a vote from the full Senate. Greenstein said she would amend the language in some of them so the proposed requirements apply to male prisons as well.

"We do want to look beyond, because we know that these things are taking place in all the prisons," she said.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of staff members recently criminally charged over abuse claims. While more have been publicly accused in civil proceedings, just seven face criminal accusations.By the time Kwinton Adams graduates high school next month, he will already have a college degree.

The 17-year-old from the Stewartsville area will be among the 250-plus students in Saturday's commencement at Warren County Community College, where he has been acquiring college credit through a dual-enrollment program since he was 15, according to a news release from the college. He will receive an associate degree in liberal arts.

Adams' older sister, Kwyla, is also receiving a history degree from WCCC on Saturday and plans to attend Temple University and pursue law studies.

Kwinton Adams will graduate from Phillipsburg High School on June 13. He plans to attend Washington & Jefferson College in western Pennsylvania to pursue a biology major and eventually medical school, according to WCCC and an announcement by the Phillipsburg School District superintendent.

PHS Student, Kwinton Adams, will graduate with 2 Degrees this Spring! Kwinton Adams, son of Annette Walters, and a... Posted by Superintendent of Schools, Phillipsburg School District on Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook."Heeeeeeere's God!"

In a boldly daring move, Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre expands this month well beyond its traditional fare to present "An Act of God," a clever riff imagining the Creator of the universe as a witty, cynical, bored and exasperated late-night talk show host.

Along with a pair of angelic sidekicks, this God delivers essentially an 85-minute standup comedy routine lamenting how he has been misunderstood by humanity through the millennia. Working in his mysterious ways, he decides to issue forth a new set of 10 Commandments, clarifying it all.

Penned by Emmy Award-winning TV comedy writer David Javerbaum, the show opened in 2015 on Broadway as a vehicle for Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory"). Javerbaum's chief credits include serving as head writer for "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart and currently "The Late, Late Show" with James Corden.

What:

That snarky attitude and style of topical humor permeate "An Act of God" to strong effect. In the Book of Javerbaum, this is an Old Testament God, one given to flashes of anger and whim. He is a petulant brat, somewhat neurotic, explosively emotive and so self-centered that you'd think the universe revolves ... oh, never mind.

In a show in which God declares a new commandment to be "Thou shalt separate me and state," the sharpest humor is drawn more from politics than theology. Indeed, one's political persuasion will likely determine the reaction to "An Act of God" more than one's faith.

Like a monologue by Stewart or Stephen Colbert, laughter ensues throughout when the one-liners work, and even when they don't for those in agreement with the commentary. The show also will be considered by many to be grossly offensive, even while being entertained by it. And there will be a handful, as was the case on opening night, for whom it is simply too blasphemous and there will be an exodus for the doors.

Director Maxwell Williams recognized that challenge and realized that "An Act of God" demands a star performance to pull it off. For its local premiere, the comedy stars Bryan Batt, a local favorite whose Broadway and Hollywood career began from the stage at Le Petit.

Along with his wing men, Wendy Miklovic and Leon Contavesprie as the archangels Gabriel and Michael, Batt makes more of the trifle of a script than is there by sheer force of personality.

As God, from his opening self-referential and dazzling entrance, Batt delivers a tour-de-force performance. With a wry attitude and self-effacing humor, he enlivens what could essentially become a one-joke stunt.

He has a brilliant sense of comic timing but more importantly delivers even the most daring lines with a twinkle in his eye that reminds the audience that it's just for fun. Yes, there are moments that offend, but Batt finds a precise balance between being snappy without becoming snippy.

(In addition, Batt impresses simply by keeping up with a plethora of lines in a non-stop performance, while making it all sound spontaneous and in the moment.)

As the two angels, Contavesprie and Miklovic would appear to have little to do, however they carefully provide a balance to the proceedings. Miklovic's Gabriel serves as a spokesperson for God. This is the angel that stayed Abraham's hand from sacrificing his son, Isaac, the angel of the Annunciation to Mary. As such Miklovic brings an august presence, officious and ready to ensure the integrity of the brand.

As the ultimate Guardian Angel, Contavesprie's Michael becomes the voice for mankind, who questions God - even challenges him - over his more baffling actions. The emotion behind his cry demanding to know why suffering exists rings with truth. He asks the questions that anyone of faith has likely struggled over. That exchange between God and Michael also leads to one of the funniest moments of the piece.

Williams keeps the work moving at a breakneck pace, never letting much time pass between the next joke. However, he also leaves room for his cast to reveal some richer emotional moments that even the playwright may not have planned.

The intimacy of Le Petit brings the audience directly into the work. Technically, the show pulls out all the stops and the theater clearly spared no efforts to achieve some powerful moments that dazzle and add to the laughs. The immaculate set designs by Eric Porter are beautifully lit by George Johnson. Sound design by Fitz Patton, production design by James Lanius and technical director Kyle Salzman bring it all together to cosmic effect. Julie Winn did the costumes; Beverly Trask choreographed.

"An Act of God" is not for everyone. Daring and provocative, it often raises intriguing questions that it then skips over going for the silly laugh line. Audiences willing to look beyond the flaws of the script, however, will find charm in the performances of Batt, Contavesprie and Miklovic.

And the audience saw that it was good.Three members of the Mid-City Killers gang pleaded guilty Monday (May 14) in connection with five fatal shootings that took place across the city in 2012 and 2013.

Dwayne "Wayne" Miller, 25, and Glen "G Three Stone" Emerson, 23, each pleaded guilty in connection with the fatal shootings of Lawrence Burt and Vivian Snyder in 2012, and Isaac "Big Ike" Stern, Joseph Massenburg and Ricky Johnson in 2013, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office.

Cannizzaro said in a statement that Burt and Massenburg were innocent bystanders.

Miller and Emerson pleaded guilty to five amended counts of manslaughter, five counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder as part of a pattern of criminal gang activity, according to Cannizzaro's office.

Criminal District Judge Karen Herman will sentence the men to 40 years in prison - the maximum sentence for manslaughter - on May 21. Cannizzaro's office said the victims' families approved of the sentence.

Richard "Trey" Ward, 20, also pleaded guilty Monday to three amended counts of manslaughter for his role in the deaths of Stern, Massenburg and Johnson. Additionally, Ward pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder and to conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of gang activity.

Ward, who was 15 years old when associated with the Mid-City Killers, will receive a 20-year prison sentence under the plea agreement, according to Cannizzaro's office.

A fourth man, Tyron "Gangsta-T" Watson, 24, is facing conspiracy to murder and second-degree murder charges in Massenberg's death. He is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial conference on May 25.

"This is a welcome resolution to this case," Cannizzaro said, "It removes from our community a reckless and extremely dangerous group of individuals who showed no hesitation or reluctance to open fire on our city's streets with weapons including assault-style rifles."

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Burt and Snyder were killed in a barrage of gunfire in the 2400 block of St. Andrew Street in Central City on Dec. 12, 2012.

Police said they believed Stern's shooting on Feb. 15, 2013, outside his house near the Fair Grounds was retaliation. At the time of the shooting, Stern's son, Isaac "Ike" Jones, recently had been arrested on a murder charge.

Massenburg was an 18-year-old AmeriCorps volunteer and had just moved to New Orleans when he was shot on April 1, 2013.

He was killed in a drive-by shooting near the corner of Eagle and Birch Streets in the Leonidas neighborhood in a case of mistaken identity, police said at the time. Members of the Mid-City killers thought he was a member of a rival gang, the Hot Glocks.

Johnson, the brother of NOPD homicide detective Gregory Johnson, was found shot to death in the backyard of a home in the 1400 block of Eagle Street on June 21, 2013 -- just one block from where Massenburg was gunned down.

Cannizzaro's office said they worked in collaboration with the local U.S. Attorney's office to prosecute this case. Together, the agencies examined a series of killings, shootings and armed robberies by the Mid-City Killers (MCK), Young Gangsta Gang (YGG) and the Young Melph Mafia (YMM) between 2011 and 2013, resulting in a series of indictments and prosecutions in state and federal court.

Detectives Sgt. Dean Herrick and Guy Swalm of the New Orleans Police Department's Multi-Agency Gang Unit, and NOPD homicide detectives Robert Barrere and Andrew Waldron led the investigations.

NOPD crime lab technicians secured critical ballistics evidence that connected the trail of gang crimes around the city, and federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives examined that evidence.

Assistant District Attorney Andre Gaudin Jr. prosecuted the case. Court records show Townsend Myers represented Emerson, Bradley Phillips represented Miller and Graham DePonte represented Ward.Hundreds of people sitting in New Orleans' jail awaiting trial on low-level offenses aren't there because a judge decided they're a flight risk or a danger to the community. They're there simply because they can't afford to pay bail.

According to a report released Monday (May 14) by The Data Center, 548 people were in New Orleans' jail on any given day in 2015 only because they could not afford a bail amount of $100,000 or less.

Read the full report.

"Bail historically has meant release prior to determination of one's guilt, not release if you can pay," said Jon Wool, director of justice policy at the Vera Institute of Justice's New Orleans office. He's also one of the authors of the report. "We have now thoroughly flipped the right to release to one in which it is a conditional right that only those with means -- and generally only those who have white skin -- can enjoy.

"And that's not accidental. That is part of a historical set of practices that persist today."

The new report, titled "From Bondage to Bail Bonds: Putting a Price on Freedom in New Orleans," looks at the city's modern-day money bail system, a structure the authors say has roots in slavery and contributes to New Orleans' high incarceration rate.

It was written by Wool and Benjamin Weber of the Vera Institute, and Flozell Daniels Jr., president and CEO of Foundation for Louisiana. It's the fourth in a series of reports the Data Center plans to release in connection with the city's tricentennial and its own omnibus report, "The Prosperity Index."

"But for people's ability to pay ... what you end up having is all these people in jail in ways that don't aid and abet public safety, but that in fact injure people, injure their families," Daniels said. "We're using public money to suck private money out of the poorest communities to get results that are failing."

The authors of the latest report are trying to draw attention to this issue now because it's a central component of the criminal justice system. Plus, they said, New Orleans is 300 years old and has a new mayor -- a perfect time for change.

"The only difference between what we're proposing should happen and what's actually happening is the detention and the extraction of resources," Daniels said. "New Orleans is not going to prosper for another 300 years if we don't fix this issue."

According to the Data Center report, people arrested in New Orleans pay $6.4 million annually to the money bail system. More than $1 million of that goes to Criminal District Court; $227,000 goes to three agencies -- the sheriff, district attorney and public defender offices -- and $4.7 million goes to commercial bail bond companies, the report said.

The people paying those money bonds are disproportionately poor -- 85 percent of people arrested in New Orleans are too poor to hire a lawyer -- and black, according to the Data Center. Citing a 2018 Vera Institute analysis, the report said black people are arrested at 2-1/2 times the rate of white people in New Orleans.

According to the Data Center report, the development of money bail was linked to the legal and financial instruments of slavery.

"The institution of slavery shaped the concept of bail beyond its original meaning as a source of pretrial freedom for propertied white men," the authors wrote in the Data Center report. "It built a financial market based on white fear, empowered private actors to capture people alleged to be criminal, and eroded the presumption of innocence."

How it works

Louisiana law requires judges set a monetary bail amount for every charge a person faces upon arrest.

Once bail is set, a person must pay the total bail amount in cash or purchase a commercial bail bond for 12 percent of the bail amount.

The bondsman keeps 9 percent of that money, according to the report, and 1.8 percent goes to Criminal District Court. The remaining funds go to the sheriff's office, the district attorney's office and the public defender's office.

According to the Data Center report, 97 percent of people arrested on a felony charge who are able to pay bail purchase a commercial bail bond. That number is 59 percent for people arrested on misdemeanor charges.

The cash bail is refundable, but the commercial bail bond premium is not, according to the report.

"People who think the system works fine, it's because ... they experienced the presumption of innocence," Weber said. "Because when they got stopped for a DWI or having a joint, they could come up with $1,000 ... so they think that the people held in there are somehow on more serious charges."

The money bail bond system has come under fire in recent years. A New York Times story published in March said commercial bail has grown into a $2 billion industry.

U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in February called Harris County's cash bail system unconstitutional. She said it violates due process and equal protection rights, and ordered the county to begin releasing indigent inmates this month while they await trial on misdemeanor offenses.

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In New Orleans, a man facing criminal charges has filed a federal lawsuit against a local bail bonding business, claiming the company used kidnapping and extortion tactics to collect fees he says are illegal.

Other options

According to a 2018 Vera Institute analysis, 64 percent of the 5,308 people with dispositions in Criminal District Court in 2017 had their cases dismissed, were found not guilty, or were convicted and received a sentence of probation.

That number does not include people whose cases were refused by the district attorney's office, or people who received credit for time served at disposition.

"What we're doing for those people who can't afford to (pay) is holding these people in jail, incarcerating them only during the period of their legal innocence, and then at the moment they're guilty, saying the appropriate societal reaction is such that you needn't be in the jail or in prison at all," Wool said. "That's got to be widely understood as perverse and dangerous."

Daniels said one could argue that keeping people in jail just because they can't afford bail is actually making them more dangerous.

"We now know pre-trial services and other standards of practice are actually the things that help reduce recidivism and ensure people show up for adjudication and things of that nature," he said. "What we're doing doesn't work, neither to keep us safe, or to reform, or help people recreate their lives in a more positive way."

Daniels, Weber and Wool do not suggest everyone arrested be free while awaiting trial. Instead, they said, New Orleans should look at non-money-based detention policies, like the ones in place in the federal system and in a handful of other states.

In both the federal criminal justice system and Washington, D.C., money bail may be set but may not result in detention, they said in the report.

Money based detention is barred by the state constitution in New Mexico, according to the report.

In New Jersey, the report said, courts prioritize all other alternatives to upfront payment of money bail as a means of ensuring return to court and avoiding re-arrest. California, Connecticut and New York are moving in similar directions.

And four states -- Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon and Wisconsin -- outlaw commercial bail bonds as a form of money bail.

"When you're talking about money bail, it is wrong across the board," Wool said. "It does not work at the truly high risk, truly presumably dangerous end any better than it does in randomly detaining people who pose no risk at the low end just because they don't have $500."

Setting a money bail for those accused of the worst offenses and those who are dangers to the community is particularly wrong, he said.

"The worst thing you can do is give them the keys to their jail cell by placing a dollar amount on them that you have no idea whether they can make or not," he said.

Progress

While there's still work to be done, Weber said progress has been made.

There's been an increase in the number of arrested people judges release on recognizance, essentially a promise to pay if the person fails to meet the conditions of release. A recognizance release requires no up-front payment, and none at all if the person meets the conditions of release.

In 2011, the city adopted a system that provides research-based, objective information to judges to guide them in making a decision on bail at a person's initial post-arrest hearing.

Because of a City Council ordinance adopted last year, Municipal Court judges established a bail schedule that does not use money as a factor. The ordinance requires the Sheriff's Office to release most people immediately upon being booked with a directive to appear in court on their own volition.

Beginning this summer, courts will implement the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) Model, a tool aimed at helping judges better determine who poses a public-safety risk, as part of ongoing efforts by city leaders to reduce New Orleans' jail population.

"What we are hoping is that this city can come together around a principle that putting a dollar on somebody's constitutional right to pre-trial liberty is inappropriate," Weber said. "That should be something the city is ready to fully embrace."

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said this report is the second in a series of reports the Data Center plans to release in connection with the city's tricentennial. This is the Data Center's fourth report.A 9-year-old girl was sexually assaulted Sunday (May 13) after her young sibling opened the door of their West Lake Forest home for a stranger who took the girl away and raped her, New Orleans police said.

NOPD spokesman Aaron Looney, citing a police report on the sexual assault, said detectives were investigating the assault as a first-degree rape.

Earlier in the day, police investigated the attempted rape of another juvenile in the Desire area after a 16-year-old girl awoke to an unknown man lying in her bed "and hugging her from behind."

Two days earlier, on Friday, NOPD launched an investigation after a 14-year-old girl got in the car with a stranger, blacked out after drinking water he offered her, and woke up in Baton Rouge in pain and without any bottoms.

The rape of the 9-year-old girl was reported about 1:43 p.m. Sunday. The girl told detectives she and her brother were home while their mother was at work when "an unknown male knocked at the door."

The 11-year-old brother opened the door, "at which time the male entered the home and reportedly locked the brother inside of a room," Looney said in an email. The unknown man then picked up the girl, she told police, took her to his vehicle and then to his residence at an unknown location where he "sexually assaulted her," Looney said.

Following the assault, the man dropped her off near her home in front of a school in the 5100 block of Bundy Road, where police found her.

The 9-year-old girl described her attacker as having a low, fade hair style, a cross tattoo in the middle of his forehead and a teardrop tattoo under his right eye.

A sexual assault examination was completed, Looney said, and the investigation is continuing.

16-year-old wakes in Desire to stranger in bed

Earlier on Sunday, about 8 a.m., a 16-year-old reported to NOPD she awoke at her home on Morrice Duncan Drive in the Desire area to find an unknown man "lying next to her in bed and hugging her from behind," Looney said.

The teen said the man told her to remove her clothes, but she was able to call her mother with a cellphone and tell her what happened. The mother then called police, Looney said.

There was also a 12-year-old girl at the residence who said the same unknown man "grabbed her by the wrist" before fleeing in a white SUV, Looney said. He said the investigation is continuing.

14-year-old New Orleans girl sexually assaulted, left in Baton Rouge

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The rape of a 14-year-old girl was reported early Friday (May 11) when the girl woke up behind a church in Baton Rouge hours after getting in the car with a stranger in New Orleans, Looney said.

NOPD detectives went about 2:20 a.m. Friday to a hospital to interview girl after the first-degree rape was reported. The teen said after running away from home about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, she was walking in an unknown area when an older man in a truck offered her a ride.

The truck was described as black and white with a Mississippi license plate and the letter "T" illuminated on the top of the vehicle.

The girl said she got in the vehicle and was offered a bottle of water, Looney said, citing the police report. "Shortly after drinking the water, the victim said, she blacked out and did not wake up until the morning of May 10," Looney said. The girl woke up behind the Baton Rouge church without any underwear or pants on and felt discomfort in her vaginal area.

She was taken to the Baton Rouge Police Department station, who referred the case to the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services. That agency contacted the girl's parents, Looney said, and a sexual assault examination was conducted. NOPD detectives are working with BRPD on the case, Looney said.

The 14-year-old girl provided three different locations, Looney said, but NOPD listed the 3300 block of Loyola Avenue near the CBD as the address connected to the rape report, pending further investigation.

The investigation is continuing, Looney said.

Rape of woman at Armstrong Park reported Thursday

A 26-year-old woman reported to police on Friday that the evening before, someone sexually assaulted her near a dumpster at Louis Armstrong Park, said Looney, citing a police report.

The woman said it was about 8:30 p.m. Thursday and she was "heavily medicated," had exited the Canal Street ferry and was walking on North Peters Street when she realized she lost her purse. She said she remembered meeting an unknown man who offered to help her find her purse. He walked with her to the park then sexually assaulted her before fleeing, Looney said.

The woman said she went to a friend's residence in Mid-City, where she later contacted police.

She described the man who attacked her as about 5-foot-11, about 220 pounds, with short, black hair, a colored T-shirt and blue jeans, Looney said. He said the investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information about the sex crimes is asked to contract the NOPD's special victims section at 504-658-5523 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.Relatives and community members plan to march Monday evening (May 14) in honor of Keeven Robinson, the 22-year-old who died of asphyxiation during a struggle with Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives.

The march is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. near the Shell service station at the corner of Jefferson Highway and Labarre Place in Old Jefferson's Shrewsbury neighborhood. Participants will head towards Andover Street and up to Frank Lemon Playground, 1307 Causeway Blvd., Jefferson, La.

"We want everyone to come out," attorney Hester Hilliard said Monday morning. "We want you to support the Robinson family. But we also want you to be safe, and we want this event to reflect that we can stick together as a family and a community, and we can do it in the right manner."

The Shell station is where Robinson's deadly pursuit began Thursday morning when he spotted undercover narcotics officers in the parking lot, the Sheriff's Office said. Robinson was the target of a drug investigation, authorities said.

Robinson got into his vehicle and sped out of the lot, hitting two JPSO cars during the brief, half-block chase, Sheriff Joseph Lopinto has said. He then got out of the car and scrambled over two fences before struggling with detectives in the backyard of a home in the first block of Labarre Place.

"They were in a fight," Lopinto said of the detectives' actions in subduing Robinson, who stopped breathing during the struggle.

Medical personnel could not revive him, and he was pronounced dead at nearby Ochsner Medical Center. Authorities initially suspected that Robinson's death may have been due to his lengthy history of asthma.

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But Jefferson Parish coroner's office forensic pathologists ruled Robinson's death a homicide by "compressional asphyxia." They found "significant trauma" to Robinson's neck and the soft tissues of his neck, Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich said.

The four detectives involved in taking Robinson into custody have been reassigned to administrative duties, Lopinto said.

West Jefferson NAACP Director Gaylor Spiller said she was satisfied, thus far, with the way Lopinto has stepped up to the plate. But she said the NAACP would continue to follow the case.

"The NAACP support Jefferson Parish and all law enforcement. We do recognize and realize that a lot of our young black, African-American male and females are dying by the hands of some bad police officers. Which makes it look bad on all police officers," she said.

The NAACP does not support criminals or criminal activity, Spiller said. But the organization would not stand for unjust killings.

Sheriff's Office deputies will be on hand Monday during the march to help cordon off streets and control traffic.

Stay with NOLA.com for more on this story.A 19-year-old man is accused of shooting two 15-year-old boys in the Little Woods area of New Orleans East last month, according to New Orleans Police.

Police said Monday (May 14), Morris McKnight and "a known juvenile" shot the two boys in the 8800 block of Gervais Street on Friday, April 27. The boys told police they were sitting in a laundry room when they heard several gunshots fired just before 8:30 p.m.

One of the teens was shot in the leg and the other was shot in his leg and arm, according to NOPD spokesman Juan Barnes. Barnes said their wounds were not life-threatening.

McKnight was booked into Orleans Justice Center jail last Tuesday on two counts of aggravated second-degree battery and one count of illegal use of a weapon, according to online court records. He appeared in court the same day, where Orleans Parish Magistrate Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set his bond for $30,000 and assigned a public defender to his case, court records show.

As of Monday afternoon, the "known juvenile" has not been arrested and is considered wanted by police, according to NOPD spokeswoman Ambria Washington. Police did not release the juvenile's name, but Washington said he is 14 years old.The Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club's annual Mother's Day second-line was "a big party" before it began disbanding in Gentilly on Sunday (May 13), an Avondale woman said. But then shots rang out and left one man dead and a 15-year-old girl injured, New Orleans police said.

The woman, who declined to give her name, said she and her 17-year-old son came to the second-line together. It was their first time attending one.

The woman said they marched with the group "the whole way" and said there was no indication of what was to come.

"But then when we were here under the bridge. I heard five shots -- pow pow pow pow pow -- and everyone started screaming and running," she said.

Another witness, who also declined to give her name, said she heard seven shots.

"It's a shame," the woman from Avondale continued. "It was such a great day before but now I just want to go home, and I'm never coming back to a second-line."

Police said the victim, who has not yet been identified but was described as being in his 30s, died at the scene. The girl suffered a graze wound to the leg and was taken to Children's Hospital, police said, where she was in good condition Sunday evening.

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In a press conference at the scene Sunday evening, NOPD 3rd District Commander Jeffrey Walls said the second-line ended about a block away from the shooting, though it wasn't immediately clear if it involved anyone from the event, he said.

A young woman arrived at the scene early Sunday evening, sobbing and screaming.

"Where's my uncle at?" she shouted, as a woman tried to hold her back and calm her down.

Minutes later, as investigators moved the body screens away, the woman joined a group of about 10 people consoling each other and standing near the crime scene tape. The man's body could be seen lying on his back in the the roadway, his arms up. At least 10 green evidence cones were on the ground beside him.

Five years ago, 19 people were injured, including two children, in a shooting at the Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club's annual Mother's Day second-line in the 7th Ward. Two gunmen later pleaded guilty to charges related to the shooting.

Stay with NOLA.com as more details develop.A 22-year-old New Orleans-based rapper was injured in a shooting Saturday night (May 12) near Elysian Fields Avenue and Interstate 610.

Neno Calvin was shot once while he was driving near the intersection of Spain and Benefit streets shortly after 7:15 p.m., his booking manager confirmed Monday. According to his manager, Calvin is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.

According to a preliminary police report, Calvin was in his car in the 3100 block of Spain Street when a black car pulled up next to him and a man got out. Calvin tried to drive away, but the man started firing shots at the car, striking Calvin once, police said.

Calvin continued to drive away after and stopped on an elevated portion of Elysian Fields Avenue, just past the intersection of Elysian Fields and Abundance Street. According to NOPD, he was brought to the hospital in a private vehicle.

Police have not provided any further details of the shooting, including a motive or suspect, and said the investigation is ongoing.

Calvin released his first album, Regrets & Progression, in March 2016 and he has since been featured on songs with Cash Money co-founder Birdman. He recently collaborated with fellow New Orleans native, Pell, who featured Calvin and Tarriona 'Tank' Ball on a remix of his song "chirpin," which was released in March.The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday (May 14) granted a new trial for a Louisiana death row inmate whose lawyer told a jury in 2011 his client was guilty.

Robert McCoy was convicted of killing his estranged wife's mother, stepfather and son in Bossier City in 2008. McCoy testified in his own defense, telling jurors he was out of town at the time, and that corrupt police killed the victims when a drug deal went wrong.

A court-appointed sanity commission examined McCoy and found him competent to stand trial.

Over McCoy's repeated objection, his attorney, Larry English, told jurors McCoy "committed three murders" in his opening statement and closing argument, and again at the penalty phase. His strategy was to urge the jury to consider McCoy's "serious mental and emotional issues" and to avoid a death sentence for his client.

The jury returned three death verdicts.

In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote, "With individual liberty--and, in capital cases, life--at stake, it is the defendant's prerogative, not counsel's, to decide on the objective of his defense: to admit guilt in the hope of gaining mercy at the sentencing stage, or to maintain his innocence, leaving it to the State to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

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Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

Alito wrote in the dissenting opinion that English did not admit McCoy was guilty of first-degree murder, just that he killed the victims.

"English strenuously argued that petitioner was not guilty of first-degree murder because he lacked the intent required for the offense," Alito wrote.

McCoy unsuccessfully sought a new trial in 2016. The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's ruling that English had authority to concede guilt, despite McCoy's opposition.

McCoy's attorney, Richard Bourke, said McCoy's case will "now, for the first time, be investigated and litigated by a legal team intent on honoring his vehement protestations of innocence, rather than conceding his guilt."

"The ruling restores in Louisiana the constitutional right of every individual to present their defense to a jury," Bourke, director of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, said. "While rare in the rest of the country, what happened to Mr. McCoy was a part of Louisiana's broken criminal justice system that fails to respect individual human dignity."A 20-year-old woman was reported missing from a behavioral health center in the Little Woods area of New Orleans East, according to New Orleans police.

Police said Kyran Mckay was last seen by a nurse at Beacon Behavioral Health Center in the 14500 block of Hayne Boulevard about 3:45 p.m. Sunday (May 13). Around that time, Mckay got angry, kicked open a secured exit door and fled the location, according to NOPD.

She was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black tights and a yellow shower cap, according to NOPD.

Anyone with any information regarding the location of Kyran Mckay should contact Seventh District detectives at 504-658-6070.Forty-five teams of crawfish boilers converged on the University of New Orleans campus on Saturday (May 12) for the seventh annual Crawfish Mambo, which is hosted by the UNO International Alumni Association.

Attendees could dig into all-you-can-eat crawfish prepared by the teams, who competed for a $1,000 prize and the "Best of Boil" title.

This year, the winners of the "Best of Boil" competition were:

First place: Boilers Cast Net

The "Best Sides" Award went to the Faux Pas Boiling Team for its snow crab and soft-shell crabs added to the hot, boiled (and award-winning) crawfish.

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Also, 10 contestants from across the United States competed for the "Peel N' Eat Crawfish Competition." They had to eat as many crawfish as they could in 10 minutes to win $1,000 in prize money. The winners were:

First place: Russell Callis from Marrero, who won the competition in 2016.

Two other annual awards also were given at this year's Crawfish Mambo. They were "Crowd Favorite," which went to Geaux Creole for the fourth year in a row; and "Best Decorated Booth" Welcome to the Jungle

Crawfish Mambo raises money for the professional development programs at the University of New Orleans.The Orleans Parish School Board is taking heat for its April decision to close enrollment at McDonogh 35 High School for the next six months, which it says is necessary to make improvements to the school's curriculum, staff and organization. The move has spurred outcry among parents and alumni of the historic New Orleans public school.

All New Orleans public schools are set to return to Orleans Parish School Board oversight in July, meaning the district is on its way to becoming an all-charter district, with every public school run by a third-party charter operator approved by the board. McDonogh 35 remains an exception. OPSB continues to run the school directly after failing to find a charter organization to take it over through three application cycles.

In February, OPSB proposed a two-pronged plan to have a "non-charter" operator manage McDonogh 35 under the same name, while it continued to search for a charter group to manage the school. The district received three proposals from interested organizations, but OPSB said in April that none of them met the standard for approval.

OPSB has told students and parents it is temporarily closing new enrollment so it can work on improving the McDonogh 35 building at 4000 Cadillac St. However, parents and McDonogh 35 alumni say they are concerned about the school's future.

Parents told Fox 8 News they intend to fight against McDonogh 35's possible chartering during a May 11 rally outside the Gentilly campus. Another protestor told WDSU News they were speaking out against OPSB's decision to close enrollment at McDonogh 35.

The district reacted to the protest in a released statement last Friday, when it informed residents that OPSB is in the final stages of hiring an executive director for McDonogh 35. OPSB plans to reveal a comprehensive plan for the school this fall, including plans for a new McDonogh 35 freshman academy that will open for the 2019-20 school year.

Gentilly resident and McDonogh 35 alumna Armtrice Cowart was among several who questioned the rationale behind the district's decision to pause enrollments during an April 19 public hearing.

"If we have to wait until you find an operator or charter, another year of no enrollment can pass by and that is de facto closing the school even though y'all say that is not what you're doing," Cowart said.

Cowart told the district it's not too late to place McDonogh 35 into the OneApp enrollment lottery system, which is in its second round of accepting applications in May. She argued the school had more than enough interested applicants for a new 9th grade class.

Cowart also pushed the district to better support the current students and staff at McDonogh 35. McDonogh 35 is "a shining star, unless you just want to sell it to the highest bidder," Cowart told the board, drawing applause.

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"It seems you guys are trying to starve the school to death (by) not supporting the current students and staff in a way that is accelerating the failure of my alma mater that I love," Cowart said.

St. Roch resident Ronald Magee told OPSB he appreciated OPSB Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. for including alumni in discussion about McDonogh 35's future earlier this year. However, he questioned why they weren't more parents of students involved in the talks.

"The parents are the forgotten people and they should be the first stakeholders involved in any discussions," Magee said, praising the establishment of parent advisory committee as a "first step."

Lewis acknowledged McDonogh 35 "has been on a decline" for the last several years, but he said how the board has managed it "has nothing to do with the young people who are at that school." Lewis said they are currently trying to put a summer school together for those students.

Lewis, at points raising his voice to speak above the crowd, said the district will continue to work on a long-term plan for McDonogh 35.

"We're going to move forward and make sure that we put a plan in place that can make all of us proud," Lewis said.

McDonogh 35, founded in 1917 as the city's first public high school for black students, celebrated its centennial last year. That same year, McDonogh 35 dropped 7.3 points to a "D" letter grade in the state's 2016-17 school performance scores. Last year the campus phased out its 7th and 8th grades. It is now solely a high school.

. . . . . . .

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.Drake announced Monday (May 14) the "Aubrey and The Three Amigos Tour" will make a stop in New Orleans Sept. 24 at the Smoothie King Center. Drake will be joined by special guests and "Walk It Talk It" collaborators Migos.

American Express card members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 15 through 10 p.m. Thursday, May 17. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting Friday, May 18 at Ticketmaster.com.

Drake recently released a music video for his new single, "Nice for What," which -- with a notable assist from New Orleans musician Big Freedia -- salutes powerful women while also paying homage to New Orleans' homegrown Bounce movement, NOLA.com reporter Emily Lane wrote.

The video opens with the voice of Freedia, and among Drake's opening lyrics is the line, "Everybody get your (expletive) roll on," a throwback to the 2000 hit, "Get your roll on," by Cash Money's Big Tymers. Freedia is not seen in the video, however.

Produced by Live Nation, the 41-date outing will begin July 26 in Salt Lake City and travel across the United States and Canada.Grammy winner and New Orleans legend Irma Thomas returned to the Audubon Zoo on Sunday (May 13) to perform for her 35th annual Mother's Day celebration.

It was clear mothers were being honored with a much deserved day off as families played with bubbles, danced, sang and tossed beach balls during the warm early summer day in New Orleans.

Before her show, Thomas was given a lifetime pass to the zoo and aquarium by Audubon Institute officials.A 36-year-old man involved in a domestic disturbance was shot and killed by a Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's deputy late Sunday (May 13) near Amite. The victim was identified Philip Steven McMichael of Amite.

The Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations was called in to investigate the shooting, which occurred at approximately 10:03 p.m. on Taylor Creek Road.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Tangipahoa deputies were called to the residence to investigate a domestic incident in which a suspect was threatening family members with a weapon, the State Police reported in a news release.

When deputies arrived on the scene, they made contact with the suspect and "during the encounter, shots were fired," according to the news release. The suspect, identified later Monday as McMichael, was fatally injured and pronounced dead at the scene by the Tangipahoa Parish Coroner's Office.

Police did not release details on exactly what led to the shooting or whether the suspect fired a shot at the deputies. The news release, issued Monday morning, said the investigation is still active and that no further information is available at this time.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards issued a brief statement Monday, saying no deputies were injured in the shooting.

"With all things considered, we are incredibly grateful and blessed that none of our deputies were injured during this incident," Edwards said. "I want to thank all first responders and law enforcement agencies who were on scene and offered their assistance."The trucks came from as far as Wisconsin and Florida, driven by people who are normally loggers but descended upon Louisiana after Hurricane Ida produced untold amounts of wreckage that needed to be hauled somewhere.The number of tryout players the New Orleans Saints that earned a roster spot after rookie minicamp is up to three.

Veteran defensive tackle Jay Bromley is set to sign with the Saints, according to a league source. He joins veteran offensive tackle Michael Ola and undrafted rookie fullback Ryan Yurachek (Marshall) as players who earned contracts after trying out this past weekend.

Bromley was a third-round pick by the New York Giants in 2014. Although he played 55 games the past four seasons, he started just four last season, tallying 76 tackles and two sacks.

Defensive tackle is a position the Saints were hoping to improve this offseason. They hosted free-agent defensive tackles Muhammad Wilkerson and Ndamukong Suh, but both ultimately signed elsewhere.The New Orleans Saints were obviously happy with their group of tryout players during rookie minicamp this past weekend.

Former Georgia Tech linebacker KeShun Freeman is signing with the Saints, according to a tweet from his agent. Freeman is one of four tryout players who earned a contract after the three-day camp.

The Saints also have signed veteran defensive tackle Jay Bromley and offensive lineman Michael Ola, as well as fullback Ryan Yurachek, who went undrafted this year like Walker.

The 6-foot-2, 246-pound Freeman was a defensive end in college, but his size makes him a better fit at linebacker in the Saints' 4-3 defense.

Freeman started for most of his four years at Georgia Tech and had 98 tackles and eight sacks.A gust of wind lifted an inflated bounce house with a 9-year-old child inside and landed on a nearby highway in Adelante, California, on Saturday, according to television station ABC7.

The boy fell out of the inflatable house after it rolled into the street and collided with a vehicle, the television station reports.

The child was transported to a hospital for treatment of what the television station reports as minor injuries.

Read ABC7's entire report.The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is investigating a fatal boating accident involving a father and son in Ascension Parish, according to a Sunday release (May 13).

The 20-foot boat was operated by Patrick White, 53, along with his son Caleb, 27. Upon hitting a bulkhead around 9 p.m. on Saturday night (May 12), Caleb sustained fatal injuries and Patrick sustained minor injuries, according to LDWF.

According to Patrick White, he and his son left to go boating that morning and were returning from their trip when they struck the bulkhead. LDWF believes Caleb was ejected from the boat, hit the bulkhead and ricocheted back into the boat.

An agent on patrol discovered the boat up against the bulkhead and called for an ambulance. Caleb died en route to the hospital, the release said. The Ascension Parish Coroner's Office will determine an official cause of death, according to LDWF.

Patrick White tested above the legal limit for alcohol and was arrested for vehicular homicide, operating or driving a vessel while intoxicated and reckless operation. He faces a $2,000 to $15,000 fine and five to 30 years in prison for the first count, $300 to $1,000 fine and 10 days to six months in jail for the second and $200 fine and 90 days in jail on the third.Update of the challenge score of The First "Qiangwang" (Cyberspace power) International Elite Challenge on Cyber Mimic Defense in Nanjiang, capital of east Chinas Jiangsu Province, May 10, 2018. (Photo provided to Guangming Online)

NANJING, May 11 (Guangming Online)The First "Qiangwang" (Cyberspace power) International Elite Challenge on Cyber Mimic Defense, which kicked off on Thursday, has attracted almost 30 teams of Chinese and foreign white hat hackers, including four top foreign teams: dcua from Ukraine, P4 from Poland, TokyoWesterns from Japan and LCBC from Russia, in Nanjing, capital of east Chinas Jiangsu Province.

Nowadays cyber security becomes increasingly important to the stability of a county and has become its strategic base of national security. The gathering of these computer specialists who use hacker techniques to test computer and cyber security in China shows our open attitude and confidence.

Wu Jiangxing, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), first proposed the mimic defense system featuring an ever-changing software environment which made conventional hacker attacks difficult to locate a target. He thought that the system was expected to change the current ex post facto defense pattern in cyber security.

This challenge about cyber security for top white hat hackers will be a new starting point for China to implement the Internet power strategy.

Update of the challenge score: (Up to 17:00, May 10)

TokyoWesterns: 1074.3

HAC: 810.98

LCBC: 803.75

2

1

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]I recently visited the Rwanda  residing largely in Kigali.

I was particularly impressed by the transition and strong faith by citizens in their development trajectory. There is strong unionism and apprehension to do what is good.

Loosely speaking to colleagues, I intimated that a good number of officials in government  needless to mention the president, private sector and other stakeholders had strong roots in Uganda, where some even profited from government of Uganda bursaries.

As such, they should pay us 0.5 per cent of their tax revenue for over the next ten years. If this were feasible, now would have been a good time to make this case, because Rwanda is increasingly growing towards self-sufficiency.

In the next financial year, 84 per cent of the budget will be funded by domestic resources  and this is the highest in the region. There are various reasons to underpin this strong progress in tax revenue as is strong sense of effective public service delivery which collectively built strong social contracts.

The question then becomes: why is it that those who were nurtured and raised, to some extent in Uganda, are diding it in Rwanda?

The answer may lie in one of my favorite books  Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and Jim Robinson. In this book, the authors interrogate a pertinent question of why some nations become rich, while others remain poor.

The answer, backed by over thousand years of economic history, is that institutions (economic and political) matter. The intimate connection between political and economic institutions is the heart of the major development contribution.

I must contend that the scope of this article is not to contextualize the book on Rwanda or even least draw comparisons between Rwanda and Uganda.

While I acknowledge that no model is absolute, from observation-based perspective, there may be some lessons we could draw from Rwanda.

The economics that works means doing the right thing right. This is the message coming from the top. This top down approach has arguably been pivotal to building strong institutions from basic foundations and the system has no room for complacency.

This is also demonstrated by the recent changes at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Agricultural Board, Education Board, as well as the mayor of Kigali. The public sector is no bedrock of inefficiency and retirement roadmap.

This message was also underlined by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta while presiding over Pakasa Forum in 2014. He, indeed, showed remorse  nostalgically referring to the 1960s and 1970s when public service delivery was diligent, with pride undertaken by civil servants.

Public service delivery has far reaching effects on the wide economy, and trickle down are contingent on the level of efficiency of public service.

The global ratings in doing business, global competitiveness and corruption index, among others, put Rwanda ahead of her regional peers. In fact, Rwanda is among the four African countries ranked in top 50 in Corruption Transparency International index.

The quality of infrastructure, especially roads, is nakedly evident to anyone who visits Kigali and its neighboring towns. There is consistency with quality of works across national roads, especially greening road reserves and street lighting.

Until 2017, Rwanda had more traffic lights than Uganda. This is despite the fact that Uganda has seven times more cars and tarmacked road mileage than Rwanda. Key focus is also paid towards road maintenance. One observable contrast in Uganda is the mushrooming private infrastructure without commensurate public infrastructure. This is the reverse in Kigali; visibly public infrastructure is leveraging private settlements.

Digitalisation agenda is real. This covers, but not limited to, city bus transport, nationwide street parking, centralized billing machine receipts even in modest bars and restaurants (funa receipt yo is operational), e-procurement, e-tax filing system and renewal of ibyangombwa (passports, driving permits, national ID), among others.

Digitalisation reduces informality and improves efficiency of tax administration. In conclusion, strong institutions build positive sentiments and attitude requisite for economic transition. The journey is still long for Rwanda, but arguably institutional environment works even at local community level (umudugudu).

The latter is paramount in execution of local community work (every Saturday of the month). Rules matter to mention inter alia  no littering, no polythene bags, the so-called boda boda cyclists have helmets, seat belts are a must and speed limit of 60km/hour (highest) is respected.

I must underline that some of these rules, despite being backed by law, have failed to work, to some extent, in Uganda.



The author is an economist based in KigaliThey say money doesnt grow on trees, but theres a dog in Colombia that would certainly argue with that. The clever pooch started paying for biscuits with tree leaves after seeing students pass banknotes to a food stall attendant in exchange for the tasty treats. He decided to try it for himself one day, and after getting the result he wanted, hes been doing it ever since.

Negro recently became a social media sensation after a teacher at the Diversified Technical Education Institute of Monterrey Casanare, in Colombia, shared some photos and a video of the clever dog paying for treats with tree leaves. Students had apparently been buying the pooch biscuits from an on-campus food stall for a while, and after observing humans handing out money in exchange for the tasty treats, he decided to try it out for himself. Only instead of actual money, he used a much more accessible currency  fallen tree leaves.

Photo: A Pena J David/Facebook

He would go to the store and watch the children give money and receive something in exchange, teacher Angela Garcia Bernal told The Dodo. Then one day, spontaneous, he appeared with a leaf in his mouth, wagging his tail and letting it be known that he wanted a cookie.



Impressed with the animals understanding of commerce, the seller took the leaf and gave him a cookie. Negro took it as a confirmation that his currency is acceptable, and his been paying for treats with leaves ever since. As you can expect, he tends to overdo it sometimes, but the stall attendant limits his purchases to about two a day, mostly to make sure he doesnt get too fat.



He comes for cookies every day, Gladys Barreto, the stalls longtime attendant said. He always pays with a leaf. It is his daily purchase.



Negro was adopted by staff at the Monterey learning institution years ago, and hes become sort of a mascot. Everyone loves him, and not that hes a celebrity, theyre even more proud to have him.



When you first see it, you almost want to cry, Angela Garcia Bernal said about Negros shopping habit. Hes found a way to make himself understood. Hes very intelligent.Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) holds talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing on Sunday.

Wang said China attaches importance to the traditional friendship with Iran, as well as the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

China regards Iran as an important partner in the Belt and Road construction, Wang said, noting that China is willing to work with Iran to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries to promote various cooperation.

Wang said China firmly safeguard multilateralism and international agreements.

The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was hard-earned and the deal helped to safeguard the international system of non-proliferation and maintain the peace and stability in the Middle East, Wang said.

As an important party, China made a lot of work in the process of reaching and implementing the JCPOA, Wang said.

"China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned, and continue to work to maintain the deal," Wang said.

Zarif said Iran attaches great importance to traditional friendly ties with China and is willing to have cooperation with China in infrastructure and connectivity within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Iranian foreign minister spoke highly of China's stance on maintaining the JCPOA and stressed Iran is willing to keep communication and cooperation with the parties who still support the deal.

Zarif said it is the responsibility and obligation of all parties to ensure that the JCPOA should be implemented in a sustainable, comprehensive and effective way, and Iran is willing to make its own efforts.

Both sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy and Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States from May 15 to 19 for economic and trade consultations, a foreign ministry spokesperson said here Monday.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, will pay the visit at the invitation of the U.S. administration, spokesperson Lu Kang said.

Liu will continue to hold consultations with the U.S. economic team headed by the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on economic and trade issues between the two countries, he said.

[ Editor: Xueying ]GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Head of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation in Gaza, Gilan Devorn, on Monday called for avoiding losses and casualties among Palestinians joining mass protests against Israel in eastern Gaza Strip.

"We call on all parties to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties and avoid causing losses and casualties," Devorn told a news conference at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza.

The director of the ICRC warned that hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been seriously weakened by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and need support.

Clashes broke out earlier Monday in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. Young men threw stones and Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse them.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a short press note sent to reporters that 28 Palestinians were injured in eastern Gaza Strip, with 22 of them injured by live ammunition, adding that they were taken to hospitals in Gaza for medical treatment.

The National Commission for the marches in Gaza called earlier for the largest ever masses of protests and rallies in eastern Gaza Strip. They called Monday the day of "passage."

Since March 30, when the marches of return started, the Israeli army has killed 49 Palestinians and wounded more than 8,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry official figures.

[ Editor: WPY ]By: Donald A. Steinbrugge, CFA With more 15,000 competitors, the hedge fund industry is extremely competitive. Many institutional investors are contacted by thousands of managers a year, meeting with a few hundred, have follow up meetings with fifty, and ultimately allocating to two. In this competitive environment, any edge over the competition is vital. Having a well thought out social media strategy is one way to achieve this. During the past five years, the use of social media has significantly increased within the hedge fund industry. Today, a vast majority of firms have at least some presence on social media. Far and away the most utilized social media platform in the industry is LinkedIn, which can provide benefits to multiple parts of the firm. This paper will focus on its use to enhance a hedge fund's sales and marketing strategy. Utilizing LinkedIn to Enhance a Hedge Funds' Sales and Marketing Strategy: Identify, Enhance Knowledge, and Screen Investors - The hedge fund investor universe is opaque, with very little information publically available about investors. Many hedge fund investors do not even have a website, or if they do, it is often limited or password protected. LinkedIn is a great resource to map out a firm's organizational structure, figure out who conducts hedge fund research, and who has the authority to recommend and ultimately allocate to an external manager. Those in hedge fund research can be identified either by jo...................... To view our full article Click hereOpalesque Industry Update - The California Public Employees' Retirement System today announced that Ted Eliopoulos, CalPERS' chief investment officer (CIO), is leaving the pension fund in order to relocate to the East Coast to be closer to family. A search for his permanent replacement will begin immediately. Eliopoulos will remain chief investment officer until a new CIO is named and assist in the transition through the end of 2018. "With two daughters in college, and one with health considerations that require my wife and me to be within reasonable distance, we have decided to relocate to New York City where they both will be in school," said Eliopoulos. "Due to this fact, I will be stepping away from CalPERS by the beginning of 2019." "It's been extremely rewarding to have helped steward an investment institution that serves so many hardworking and deserving California families. I am confident the transition to a new CIO will be seamless as I leave the office in the hands of some of the most skilled investment professionals in the industry," Eliopoulos said. "Under Ted's leadership, the investment office has greatly reduced the cost and complexity of the investment portfolio and increased transparency around fees," said Marcie Frost, CalPERS CEO. "Because every dollar we save goes back into the fund, our members will directly benefit from those cost savings for years to come. Ted has always been guided by our fiduciary obligation to our members and the fund." As CIO, Eliopoulos managed an investment portfolio of more than $350 billion, comprising both public and private assets, and a team of nearly 400 investment professionals. During his tenure, Eliopoulos implemented the Vision 2020 Strategic Plan, which sought to reduce the complexity of the portfolio, reduce fees, and better manage risk. As CIO and as head of the CalPERS Real Assets program before that, Eliopoulos focused on reducing external managers, ensuring only strategic partnerships were retained. This included reducing the number of external real estate managers from 90 to 15 and external managers from approximately 400 in 2007 to about 140 today. As a result, today more than 70 percent of CalPERS' assets are managed internally. Eliopoulos also ended the hedge fund program at CalPERS in 2014, saving significant fees for the pension fund. Under Eliopoulos' leadership, CalPERS established its first Emerging Manager Plan in 2012 and the Investment Office's first Diversity & Inclusion Committee in 2016. He also established CalPERS' first Governance and Sustainability Plan and the Opportunistic Credit Program in 2016. Eliopoulos joined CalPERS in 2007 as senior investment officer for the Real Estate division and the Real Assets unit. Following the financial crisis, he led the effort to restructure the asset class, refocusing on core investments in real estate and infrastructure that generated stable returns. He continued this work across all asset classes when he was appointed interim CIO in June 2013 and later as the permanent CIO in September 2014. "Ted's commitment to the long-term health of the Fund has been unwavering," said Henry Jones, chair of the Investment Committee. "It has been an honor to work with him, and we are incredibly grateful for his service to California over the past decade." "Ted leaves the Investment Office in a better place," said Priya Mathur, CalPERS board president. "He has managed risk, negotiated lower fees with external managers, and set the Fund up for success moving forward. On behalf of all of us on the Board, we wish him much success and happiness as he starts the next chapter in his life."The Portland teachers union has signaled to its members that it won't change its teachers contract despite pressure in light of a scathing investigative report.

Last week, independent investigators called out provisions in the teacher contract as one of the factors that helped educator Mitch Whitehurst dodge repeated allegations of sexual misconduct throughout his 32-year career.

But union president Suzanne Cohen wrote to all Portland Association of Teachers members Friday that Portland Public Schools administrators' failure to show initiative and follow discipline procedures, not contract provisions, led to that debacle.

The union statement to members was more detailed than a press release the union issued, which merely said the union was horrified by conduct detailed in the report and that the union "will make every effort to work with the district moving forward to ensure that every allegation is properly and fairly investigated in a timely fashion. This is something we believe in very strongly."

That statement did not weigh in on the determination that some contract provisions endangered students. The missive to union members, however, was clear that union leadership disagreed the contract shared any responsibility.

"The problem in PPS isn't the PAT contract, and the problem isn't the quality of the PAT members," Cohen wrote. "The problem is that PPS has allowed a culture of irresponsibility and dysfunction to flourish among its administrative ranks. The constant acceptance by PPS of administrators who cannot follow the simplest contractual requirements related to evaluation, discipline, safety, and a myriad of other issues reinforces what we have been claiming for years and has harmed students and educators."

The Portland school board hired the investigative team last fall after an Oregonian/OregonLive August 2017 investigation, "Benefit of the Doubt: How Portland Public Schools helped an educator evade allegations of sexual misconduct."

Cohen's statement to members offers new insight from a powerful union that has resisted attempts to gather teachers' perspectives on what went wrong in regard to Whitehurst. Cohen would not speak to the investigators and last fall told The Oregonian/OregonLive she would never grant an interview about the matter and asked a reporter to stop asking for comment.

Blame, Cohen said in her statement, lies with the district's refusal to create a culture where discipline protocols are followed. If the district actually used the process in place, she said, students wouldn't be in danger.

Although investigators made sure to spotlight the contract as particularly problematic, rethinking parts of the teacher contract was not the only proposed solution offered by investigators. The report detailed a host of failures at seemingly every level of the district and offered more than a dozen suggestions to help ensure students are safe.

The district is locked into the current teacher contract through 2019, so changes won't happen unless the union is on board. Right now, the message to members is the union is averse to contractual fixes to how Portland Public Schools prevents sexual abuse.

Although the Whitehurst case is horrific, Cohen wrote, it isn't surprising as the district has long been sloppy with personnel investigations. The union, she said, will never stand in the way of "proper handling of inappropriate behavior."

"To be very clear: there is absolutely no desire to have policies in place that protect people who abuse children," the statement said. "The district failed in its responsibility to properly investigate allegations of sexual misconduct. Repeatedly, serious allegations did not even lead to opening a formal investigation."

Investigators did find that administrators avoided discipline out of a desire to avoid following protocol. That attitude, they found, was harmful and stoked a lack of accountability already embedded in district culture. Administrators told investigators shirking formal channels became the norm because of fear the union would drag out the matter or that higher ups would not support accountability efforts and thus action was risky and futile.

"Whitehurst's rights as a union member, and the anticipation that the union would fight any discipline, may have influenced the response to concerns about Mr. Whitehurst's conduct," the report says. "Repeatedly, we found evidence of the district approaching an issue with Mr. Whitehurst from the view of what they couldn't do with Mr. Whitehurst rather than what they could do to prevent him from continuing to engage in inappropriate conduct that put the safety and well-being of students at risk."

Still, in addition to faulting administrators avoidance of the process in place, investigators said some contract requirements put children at risk.

Cohen's statement didn't specifically address those recommendations other than a quick defense of recently tightened timelines on investigations. Investigators called out a mandate that administrators act on a complaint within 10 days as a tight timetable that risks a rushed investigation.

A key area that should change, investigators, said is a complex and confusing file system that is frequently purged. Per the contract, complaints that have not been vetted through extensive due process must be removed from educators' files whenever the teacher or the teacher's boss moves schools.

Cohen's statement was silent on the file-purging requirements and the profusion of file types. Both of those contract provisions can make it hard or impossible for an educator's supervisors to spot patterns of troubling conduct.

It contained plenty of strong language calling out district management.

"We are appalled to see the level of dysfunction that has put students in these situations. Though we are disgusted, sadly, we were not surprised," Cohen wrote. Her statement called administrator actions "faulty," "sloppy" and the cause of "troubling times."

"Spotty record-keeping contributed to Mr. Whitehurst avoiding formal reprimand on multiple occasions," the report said. "Better record-keeping could have led to shared knowledge about Mr. Whitehurst's career, and perhaps a different outcome."

 Bethany Barnes

Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.comThe Vietnamese delegation to the workshop was led by Deputy Head of Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations Nguyen Tuan Phong, at the invitation of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

The workshop, held on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, attracted the participation of delegates from the members of the presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nobel laureate Alferov, representatives of the Russian scientific community and delegates from 38 international political parties.

Speeches presented at the workshop emphasised the leading role of Marxism towards the working class and people, affirming the theoretical value of Marxs ideological legacy.

They also stressed the need to creatively apply and develop Marxist ideals in accordance with the reality of each country and affirmed that the Marxism values remain at present.

Reports by the Vietnamese delegation focused on the historical values and significance of Marxism-Leninism, and the role of Marxism-Leninism in Vietnams nation building and safeguarding cause.Two apartment units at a Northwest Portland complex were badly damaged after fire broke out Sunday afternoon.

Eight residents from two families were displaced by the one-alarm fire that broke out Sunday afternoon at the Timber Creek apartments, 12220 N.W. Barnes Road in Portland.

The fire scene

The fire was first reported at 4:49 p.m. More than 30 firefighters from Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue and the Portland Fire Department arrived at the scene with fire visible on the outside of the building and flames possibly breaching into the attic.

Crews brought the fire under control at 5:24 p.m. No one was hurt.

Investigators were still at the scene Sunday evening trying to determine the cause of the fire, said Lt. Ryan Stenhouse, public information officer for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue. The extent of the damage has not yet been estimated.

-- Jeff ManningA two-year campaign to organize fast-food workers at Burgerville restaurants in the Portland area gained momentum as the chain's Gladstone location became the second to form a federally recognized union.

Employees at the Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard outpost voted 17-5 in favor during a two-day election that ended Sunday night. The victory comes less than three weeks after workers at a Burgerville in Southeast Portland approved a historic union vote.

"The fight won't be over until Burgerville stops paying us poverty wages, stops threatening undocumented immigrants through their use of e-verify, and stops treating us like we're disposable," members of the Burgerville Workers Union said in a statement. "We demand respect, and we won't stop until we get it."

In April, workers at the chain's Southeast 92nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard location became the first in decades to organize a union drive at a fast food establishment. Members of the Industrial Workers of the World  better known as the Wobblies  in 2016 helped launch the union campaign, which has been led by restaurant employees.

Members of the union want a $5 an hour raise, health care for all workers and schedules set two weeks in advance. They're also asking the company for paid holidays, family care and for the chain to stop checking employees' immigration status.

The election victories, overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, legally requires Burgerville to negotiate a contract with workers at both locations  something the company had refused to do voluntarily.

Workers from the 92nd and Powell location will begin contact negotiations with the company May 22.

"Burgerville is a progressive, pro-employee company," Beth Brewer, the company's director of operations, said in a statement after Sunday's vote. "We support their decision."

Known for its anti-capitalist leanings and focus on low-skilled laborers, the Industrial Workers of the World has previously tried to organize workers at Starbucks and Jimmy John's locations throughout the country, with limited success.

Burgerville, owned by Vancouver-based Holland Inc., has about 1,500 employees in Oregon and southern Washington across 42 locations, the company said.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 II @shanedkavanaughSteve Fund

Intel is replacing chief marketing officer Steve Fund, a high-profile executive who held top jobs at Procter & Gamble and Staples before joining Intel four years ago.

Chief executive Brian Krzanich notified employees of the change last week but didn't specify any reason behind the shakeup in a memo obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. He wrote that Fund will now handle "special projects for the company," reporting to general counsel Steve Rodgers. The particular projects Fund will handle, Krzanich said, "will be announced at a later date."

Intel appointed Michelle Johnston Holthaus, general manager of the company's sales and marketing organization, to run marketing and communications while Intel seeks a new CMO. Krzanich said Intel plans to move quickly to select Fund's replacement and will consider candidates inside and outside the company.

Intel didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Under Fund, Intel's marketing shifted from its historical "Intel Inside" tagline to emphasize aerial drone lightshows and sponsorships at the Olympics, Super Bowl and other high-profile sporting events. Intel sought to use drones and 3D camera systems, neither of which are central to its business, to revitalize its brand and highlight practical applications for technology.

Intel has made a series of executive changes in the last three years, replacing its president, chief financial officer, chief information officer, data center chief and several other top positions. Many of the departures have been longtime Intel insiders, often replaced with accomplished executives Krzanich hired away from other companies.

Fund's abrupt departure appears different. He's an Intel outsider hired by Krzanich in 2014.

Fund worked in California. Holthaus is a Hillsboro executive and Linfield College graduate, promoted last summer to run Intel sales and marketing.

Intel is enjoying robust growth in sales and profits despite a prolonged downturn in its core market, microprocessors for PCs and laptops. The company has compensated for those losses with tremendous growth in its highly profitable data center segment and with strong growth in smaller businesses, including memory chips and programmable chips.

The company's stock closed Friday at $54.67, near its highest point in 18 years.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699Josh Reich, who co-founded Portland online banker Simple and has run the business for nearly a decade, said Monday he's stepping aside.

Simple appointed Chairman Dickson Chu to take over as interim chief executive. Reich said he will stay on the company's board but wants more time to focus on his family and spend time at a farm he and his wife have purchased near Silverton. Reich said he's leaving after Simple's strongest quarter to date.

"Given that momentum it felt like this was a good and safe time to begin the transition," said Reich, who turns 40 next month. He said he will retain a home in Portland and expects to continue advising entrepreneurs and working with the city's startup accelerators.

Simple is among Portland's biggest tech employers with a staff of roughly 300, most of them at its headquarters in inner Southeast Portland.

Founded in 2009, Simple moved its headquarters from Brooklyn to Portland two years later and grew quickly here. The company provides banking services customized for mobile apps, aiming to help a younger client base to navigate the financial world and set financial goals.

Simple gained enormous attention as smartphones gained in popularity and startups began exploring new applications for mobile technology. The company sold to Spanish bank BBVA for $117 million in 2014, and Reich remained at the helm while BBVA invested aggressively in the business.

There have been signs, though, that Simple's growth hasn't matched expectations. The company laid off 10 percent of its workforce last August and replaced five members of its executive team.

As Simple focused its engineering on the nuts and bolts of online banking, Reich said the company had necessarily neglected the process of adding new features and tools for customers. The company began refocusing last summer, he said, "rebuilding that startup mentality."

CEOs at Portland's Big Seven

Seven startups that emerged around the time of the Great Recession played an outsized role in rebooting Portland's tech scene. Of those companies' founding CEOs, Josh Reich was the last still at the helm.

Act-On Software

: Founder Raghu Raghavan stepped down as CEO in 2015.

Elemental Technologies

: Co-founder Sam Blackman died in August 2017, two years after Elemental's $296 million sale to Amazon.

Jama Software

: Founder Eric Winquist stepped down in 2016.

Janrain: Founder Larry Drebes exited in 2016.

Puppet

: Founder Luke Kanies resigned in 2016. He remains on the company's board.

Simple

: Josh Reich stayed on as CEO after selling the business to Spanish banker BBVA for $117 million in 2014. He stepped down Monday.

Urban Airship

: Former Citrix president Brett Caine replaced founding CEO Scott Kveton (who once briefly led Janrain) in 2014.

Over the last couple months, Reich said he had begun talking with Simple's board about the timing of his own exit. He will remain on site for the next two months to help with the transition and kick off search for his replacement.

"It's not going to be an easy search," Reich said. "We run a complicated business."

Chu, the interim CEO, is BBVA's head of portfolio management. He's been an adviser to several technology companies and had previously held leadership roles at PayPal, Citi and Wells Fargo. He lives in the Bay Area and will commute to Portland to run Simple, according to Reich.

The farm near Silverton has goats, chicken and geese and Reich said it will soon add a nursery with native plants. Reich said he and his wife hope to start their own family.

"That's definitely something we'd like to add to the flock," he said.

This article has been updated with additional comment from Josh Reich.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli fire killed at least 41 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border on Monday, marking the deadliest day of violence there since a devastating 2014 cross-border war and casting a pall over Israel's festive inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

In a show of anger fueled by the embassy move, protesters set tires on fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. The Israeli military said its troops had come under fire, and accused protesters of trying to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.

By midafternoon, at least 41 Palestinians, including five minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. One of the minors was identified as a girl.

At least 772 protesters were wounded, including 86 in serious or critical condition.

The Hamas-led protest in Gaza was meant to be the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem which got under way Monday afternoon.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv, a key campaign promise of President Donald Trump, has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

"A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted early Monday.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a cease-fire since the 2014 war -- their third in a decade.

The protests mark the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fueled by despair among Gaza's 2 million people, to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Since weekly border marches began in late March, 83 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by Israeli army fire. Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead Monday.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests against Israel will continue "until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved."

"Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will be a disaster on the American administration and a black day in the history of the American people because they are partners with the occupation and its aggression against the Palestinian people," he added.

Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible Monday, something Israel has vowed to prevent at any cost.

Most of the casualties were in the southern Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Rafah. Israeli forces were firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowds, and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard. Sirens were constantly wailing as the wounded were carried to nearby ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army had set up additional "layers" of security in and around communities near the border to defend Israeli civilians. He said there already had been several "significant attempts" to break through the fence.

"Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them," he said.

In a statement, the army said troops had shot and killed three Palestinians who attempted to plant a bomb along the fence. It also said an aircraft had targeted a Hamas post in northern Gaza after Israeli troops came under fire.

The timing of Monday's events was deeply symbolic, both to Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's independence.

A majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the "Great March of Return" to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

In one of the border areas east of Gaza City, Mohammed Hamami, a 40-year-old civil servant, joined a crowd of hundreds of protesters, along with his mother and five children.

"Today we are here to send a message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land," he said.

Some protesters moved to within about 150 meters (yards) of the border fence. A reporter saw two men who tried to advance further being shot in the legs by Israeli troops.

Clouds of black smoke from burning tires rose into the air. Earlier Monday, Israeli drones dropping incendiary material had pre-emptively set ablaze some of the tires collected by activists.

Protesters have used the thick smoke as cover against Israeli snipers perched on high sand berms on the other side of the border. The army accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to plan or carry out attacks.

Leaflets dropped over Gaza by army jets warned that those approaching the border "jeopardize" their lives. The warning said the army is "prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians."

Trump's decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians seek the city's eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to mediate peace talks.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, said Monday that Trump had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance and that his administration is "based on lies."

Erekat said the Trump administration has "become part of the problem, not part of the solution."

In the West Bank, several dozen Palestinian stone-throwers clashed with Israeli troops on the outskirts of Jerusalem, with no immediate reports of injuries. Earlier Monday, several thousand gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest the inauguration of the new embassy.

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital and view the Trump administration's change in policy as a blatant show of pro-Israel bias. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly praised Trump's decision to upend decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Although Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, it is seen by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israel's side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict.

Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow suit. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

In a reflection of the deep sensitivities, dozens of countries -- including Britain, France and Germany -- skipped a celebration Sunday night at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

European foreign ministers said Monday the embassy move was unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions. Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the U.S. move.

Monday's opening was attended by Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers. Kushner leads the Trump Mideast team.

-- The Associated PressOn the morning of May 14, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang chaired a ceremony to welcome Suvon Luongbunmi and the high-ranking military delegation of Laos.

Afterwards, the Lao military officers paid a courtesy call to Vietnamese Minister of National Defence General Ngo Xuan Lich, who said the visit will make significant contributions to enhancing the special traditional friendship between the two countries, and bilateral defence cooperation in particular, for the sake of their people.

Sen. Lieut. Gen. Luongbunmi said senior leaders of Laos and Vietnam and their armies have paid great attention to promoting ties in defence cooperative.

He expressed his belief that the sound relations and comprehensive cooperation between the Parties, States, armies, and peoples of Laos and Vietnam will be tightened and strengthened in the future, thus helping to maintain peace, stability, and development in each nation.

The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in training Lao military students and officers in Vietnam in addition to building a shared borderline of stability and comprehensive development.

Vietnam and Laos will also coordinate to speed up the search for and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Laos during the wartime as well as maintaining exchanges of delegations, culture, and sports, especially among young officers.

The same day, Sen. Lieut. Gen Phan Van Giang held talks with his Lao counterpart Suvon Luongbunmi.

They said the cooperation between the Vietnamese and Lao armies has become a key pillar for relations between the two countries, contributing to sustainable development and stability in other fields.

The two sides have strengthened coordination among forces to protect the shared borderline and prevent cross-border crimes, particularly drug crimes.

They also carried out training courses for military experts and officers, share experience and provide mutual support in building and improving the armies preparedness for combat.He told visiting Minister-President of the Flanders region Geert Bourgeois in Hanoi on May 14 that Vietnamese businesses want to cooperate with Belgian partners, and the Vietnamese Government encourages local people and enterprises to enhance business cooperation with firms from the EU, including Belgium, as the two sides hold substantial cooperation potential.

The number of 80 Flanders businesses accompanying Minister-President Geert Bourgeois during his visit to Vietnam has demonstrated their confidence in the countrys economic development, he said.

Vietnam attaches importance to economic and trade ties with the European Union (EU), and Belgium and the Flanders region in particular, the leader stressed.

He said that Vietnam highly values Belgiums role in the EU as well as the countrys cooperation and support for Vietnam across fields, particularly in education, training, economy and trade.

Vietnams signing of the free trade agreement with the EU aims to promote collaboration between the two sides, he said, expressing his belief that Belgium will encourage other EU member countries to soon approve the deal.

The PM told his guest that Vietnam and Belgium are expected to sign a strategic cooperation programme in the fields of agriculture, fishery, husbandry and floriculture, among others.

For his part, Minister-President Geert Bourgeois highlighted the long-standing relations between Vietnam and Belgium as well as the Flanders region, saying the working sessions between his delegation and Vietnamese ministries and agencies over the past days reaped fruitful outcomes.

The Minister-President noted his support for the approval of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and held that the pact would create a momentum for economic and trade links between Vietnam and EU member countries.

The Flanders region exports EUR4.92 million (US$5.8 million) worth of goods to Vietnam but imports only EUR2 billion from the market.

The reality shows that goods made in Belgium and Vietnam, especially farm produce, are not competitive but supplementary, enabling the two countries to boost cooperation in trade and investment.PM Phuc highlighted the profound relationship between the two Parties, States, armies and peoples, noting that throughout history, the Vietnamese army and people have always stood side by side with their Lao counterparts in all circumstances.

Sen. Lt. Gen. Luongbunmi briefed his host about the outcomes of his talks with Sen. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang, Deputy Defence Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam Peoples Army.

The two sides reviewed cooperation in 2017 and discussed concrete cooperation orientations for this year and the time ahead, he said, elaborating that the two defence ministries worked together in all aspects last year. Notably, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence has actively helped the Lao army to build forces, thus greatly contributing to the socio-economic development of Laos.

The two sides have also carried out a number of joint activities to improve living standards of residents in their countries border areas, which has been strongly supported by Vietnamese and Lao people, he noted.

In the coming time, they will increase collaboration in personnel training and building the Vietnam-Laos boundary into a border of stability and comprehensive development, the officer said.

Applauding the two defence ministries cooperation, PM Phuc asked them to enhance connections to help intensify the countries friendship.

Meanwhile, he said, as Vietnam and Laos share a long borderline which mainly traverses mountainous and disadvantaged areas, the countries should step up joint activities between their armies and security forces to maintain peace, security, order and friendship along the border.

Aside from efforts to improve border residents living standards, the two armies also need to bolster ties in the fight against human trafficking and drug crimes, as well as in personnel training, he added.

The PM voiced his belief that the fine relationship between the armies will fortify the trust and all-round cooperation between the two Parties, States, and peoples while ensuring peace, stability and political security for each countrys development.Humble City Councils unopposed incumbents sworn in

Even though the May 5 general city election was canceled because there were no candidates running against the incumbents for city council positions 3, 4 and 5, those incumbents are still required to be reinstalled into their respective elected positions.

Mayor Merle Aaron with Norman Funderburk (left) and Allan Steagall (right) following their swearing in. David Pierce was absent but took the Oath of Office on May 8. Photo by Bruce Olson

Council Members Allan Steagall, Norman Funderburk and David Pierce were all officially reinstalled as Humble city council members at the May 10 city council meeting. This is the second election in a row that they each have been unopposed.

City Manager Jason Stuebe read the official Certificate of Election into the record. The oaths of office were then administered to Steagall and Funderburk. Stuebe said, Councilman Pierce is absent as he had to be out of town today but he was administered the oath on Tuesday.

Following the swearing-in ceremony, Stuebe introduced his recommended candidate for appointment to the open position of city secretary. I am recommending for your consideration Ms. Jenny Page to serve as our next city secretary, he said. Jenny comes to us from the City of Frisco with 22 years of municipal experience in Frisco, Jasper, College Station and Dayton. I think she will be a real asset for us.

Mayor Merle Aaron made the motion to appoint and the council unanimously approved it.

In other business, the council approved a variance request by PS Lightwave, Inc. to City Ordinance 17-807 regarding the placement of light poles. The variance is required in order to place two of five utility poles within approximately 100 feet of the intersection of Birchridge Drive and Glencreek Drive. A no objection letter had been prepared with the request for approval and Humble Public Works Director Barry Brock verified there was no obstruction created by the variance request.

There being no other business, Aaron adjourned the council and invited all at the meeting to a post-meeting celebration of the councilmens reinstallation and the appointment of Page. Refreshments were served just outside council chambers.Humble ISD wins Outstanding School Board in Texas

The Humble ISD School Board was announced as the best school board in Texas at the 2018 H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards and won a $25,000 award for the district. There are more than 1,000 school boards in Texas.

Humble ISD School Board President Angela Conrad accepts the Outstanding School Board award and a check for $25,000 at the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards at the Marriott Marquis Houston Sunday, May 6. From left, Conrad, parliamentarian Robert Sitton, vice-president Charles Cunningham, Martina Dixon, secretary Nancy Morrison, Colin Carney and Keith Lapeze.



The school board was evaluated for leadership based upon academic and student progress within the district, identification of community needs and specific actions taken based on those needs, and new and creative methods for community engagement. A panel of judges visited Humble ISD in February and met with students, parents, teachers, principals, school board members and Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Fagen.

H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards held May 5



Serving on the Humble ISD School Board are President Angela Conrad, Vice-President Charles Cunningham, Secretary Nancy Morrison, Parliamentarian Robert Sitton, Keith Lapeze, Martina Dixon, and Colin Carney. School board members in Texas are elected and do not receive pay. They volunteer their time to serve their communities.

There were five school boards  Brazosport, Harlingen, Humble, Mansfield and Southwest  called to the stage as finalists at the statewide awards ceremony held on May 6 in Houston, where H-E-B revealed Humble ISD as the 2018 winner. During the evening, CEO Charles Butt and other H-E-B executives handed out a combined $430,000 in cash awards and grants to two principals, six teachers, one large district, one small district, an early childhood facility and one school board. H-E-B has awarded more than $9.5 million in cash and grants since the programs inception in 2002. A major goal of the Excellence in Education Awards is to make a statement about the great things going on in Texas schools by spotlighting best practices and celebrating the work of Texas educators.

The school board is donating the $25,000 award to the Humble ISD Education Foundation to fund special projects and services at schools that serve students whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey.

We know how important schools are to communities and healing, Conrad said.

Fagen said the culture of a district starts at the top with the school board. Humble ISD is a family, she said. Our school board supports every teacher and campus in doing whats best for students. I would like to thank H-E-B for recognizing and celebrating excellent leadership.

The Humble ISD School Board was a finalist for the award in 2015 and 2016. In the district category, Humble ISD won the best large district award in 2015.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.Hang made the remarks on May 14 while answering reporters question regarding Vietnams response to the recent terror attacks in Surabaya city.

We extend our deepest sympathy to the Indonesian Government and families of the victims, she said, noting that Vietnam supports the Indonesian Governments efforts in combating terrorism and believes that masterminds behind the attacks will be punished properly.

Also on May 14, President Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc cabled messages of condolences to Indonesian President Joko Widodo over the recent terror attacks in Surabaya city of Indonesia.

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also expressed his sympathy to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.Koehler Paper Breaks Ground for New Paper Machine Project in Kehl, Germany May 14, 2018 (Press Release) - Papierfabrik August Koehler SE, based in Oberkirch (Germany), recently celebrated the official groundbreaking ceremony for a new paper machine. Watched by some 145 invited guests, including the shareholders of Koehler Holding GmbH & Co. KG, the ground was broken by the Koehler Executive Board and representatives of the contracted construction firms Bold GmbH & Co. KG and Rendler Bau, Dr. Michael Trefz (Voith Paper Holding), the architects Alfons Burkart (archigroup GBR) and Thomas Schweiker (Schweiker Architekten), and the Kehl Building Commissioner, Harald Krapp. In his welcome address, CEO Kai Furler, who is the eighth generation of his family to lead Koehler, underlined the fact that the Kehl site (Germany), with its three paper machines, will be the largest and most modern production site for specialty papers in Europe. This investment is the most significant in the 211-year history of the company. During its global search for a perfect site for the new production facility, the company came to the conclusion that there is no need to search far and wide when the answer is so close to home. Chief Technology Officer Dr. Stefan Karrer explained that the EUR300 million investment in the construction of a new paper and coating machine for the production of flexible packaging not only represents an investment in the future, but also sends a clear signal in terms of environmental awareness. The paper machine, which will be completed in 2019, will manufacture specialty papers for use in the packaging industry, such as packaging that protects foods against moisture and external influences while being biodegradable, recyclable, and eco-friendly. Here, Koehler is demonstrating its sustainability commitment with cutting-edge technology and going on the offensive against plastic packaging. Dr. Karrer also emphasized that the project in Kehl constitutes a strong commitment to the region and appealed to specialists in Germany, who will find an attractive employer in Koehler. Kehl's Building Commissioner, Harald Krapp, highlighted the outstanding partnership between Koehler and the town of Kehl before wishing the company a seamless and accident-free construction phase. Mayor of Oberkirch, Christoph Lipps, remarked that Koehler is a national and international standard-bearer for the entire economic region of Ortenau. Accompanied by the Koehler works band, the ceremony closed in fine style with a rendition of the Baden regional anthem. Koehler Paper Group is a producer of high-quality special papers including: thermal paper, carbonless paper, fine papers and technical specialities, colored papers and specialities, decor paper, and wood pulp board. To learn more, please visit: www.koehlerpaper.com . SOURCE: Koehler Paper Group Go to related story on PaperAge.com:

 August Koehler to Install New Paper Machine at Kehl Mill in Germany . Aug. 2, 2017.Model, social media star, and native New Yorker Alexis Jae is a style icon at 19 years old who is unafraid of experimenting with trends and moving from one bold look to the next. Part of her stylish flare she gets from her mama, Jennice Jae, who she says is a supporter of local artisanal designers.

Related | Tyra Banks and Her Mom Recreate Iconic Mother-Daughter Duos

"She knew BOND Hardware before me and she saw that I did a photoshoot for them," Jae tells PAPER. "She was like 'Oh my gosh! You did a shoot for them!'" She told the Brooklyn-based jewelry brand's co-owners Dana Hurwitz and Mariah Pershadsingh about her mom's love for their fearless,"aggressively minimalist" accessories, and they decided to do a mother-daughter collaboration for BOND's new "Single Blade" collection  with the photos (taken by Pershadsingh) exclusively released on PAPER.

Hurwitz began designing BOND's looks as a student at Pratt Institute. It was born out of creations for herself, Pershadsingh, and friends when attending warehouse parties and "Susanne Bartsch-type" functions. The young designer wanted to make visually expressive accessories that could be worn formally as well as casually. It was nothing big at the time. "But then Sharon Needles won the first season [of RuPaul's Drag Race] and she wore one of the pieces from our prototype collection to a rooftop party at Le Bain celebrating her win."



Related | The World According to RuPaul

And while many of their previous designs took gothic inspiration, their new collection is a lot more sculptural and abstract. In 2018, BOND is turning a new leaf in terms of production by having everything crafted in New York City and made with nickel-free silver and metals, which the brand believes is much more appealing for mothers who want pieces that last  BONDs that last.

Pershadsingh says that this particular photo shoot was a good way of testing the question of "Would my mom wear it?" And as we can see with Mrs. Jae, mom certainly can.

Photos courtesy of BOND HardwareThe winners received a cash prize of VND50 million (US$2,200) and, along with the runners-up, will represent Vietnam at the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest scheduled for August, in Vietnams northern city of Ninh Binh.

This is the eighth time that a team from Lac Hong University have won in a national competition and teams from the university also won the Asia-Pacific contest in 2014 and 2017.

This year, the Asia-Pacific contest is being hosted by Vietnam and is modelled on a ball throwing game known as nem con in Vietnamese, which is popular in northern provinces.

A team will gain an absolute victory if a ball is thrown by their robot through a ring and touches down on a cup.Venerable jewelry designer Chris Habana boasts several collaborations with then-emerging designers, practically all of whom have gone on to achieve great critical and commercial success. Habana, whose eponymous brand traffics in what he calls "aggressive looks and directions," has previously worked with the likes of Gypsy Sport, Zana Bayne, Prabal Gurung, and Adam Selman. And for Fall 2018, he teamed up with splashy young brands Christian Cowan and Willy Chavarria for two collections that adroitly translate the aesthetics of all involved.

Related | Meet the Designer Behind SZA's Heavenly Met Gala Halo

The Manila-born Habana founded his line CHRISHABANA in New York City a decade ago, but still considers himself to be something of an upstart. So when it comes to collabs, he's primarily drawn to the new. "We've worked with bigger brands and they've been great too, but with an up-and-coming person you can sense their passion, and you can feel their design sense from the get-go," Habana said. "People who are just starting out really want to put a stamp on their visions."

After admiring Cowan and Chavarria's "strong, unapologetic" work, Habana reached out to both designers via DM. From Habana's description, the collections came together seamlessly, and the resulting pieces convey clear-cut points of view. Cowan, a British designer worn by celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Cardi B (the rapper wore his clothes both on the cover of her new album, Invasion of Privacy, and during her blockbuster Saturday Night Live performance) makes garments for party girls  sequins and feathers abound, and during his last runway show, models even sported glittery conical party hats. And so Habana's work with the designer, fittingly, is a take on party favors, with necklaces that elevate raver glow sticks and paper party whistles. The collection is clearly perfect for New Year's Eve. Related | Free to Be Miley

CHRISHABANA x Christian Cowan

Habana explained that Cowan was focused, and wanted to make luxurious party accessories. But the jeweler took it one step further, also drawing inspiration from vintage, gem-like perfume bottles, whose shapes influenced the necklaces' 14-karat gold fastenings. "To me, Christian's collections in general have this very brazen kind of excess, almost like '80s Dynasty, translated in a very modern way" said Habana. "His clothes have this very excessive, glamorous kind of expression. So when I started looking at it, I started thinking that it reminded me of vintage perfume bottles." Related | Designer Christian Cowan Embraces the Fantasy So while Habana's creations for Cowan bring to mind an eternally confetti-covered affair, his collaboration with Chavarria was influenced by something far more pressing: the biased mass incarceration of black and Latino people in America. "[Chavarria] does a lot to promote Latino culture, but it seems to always be translated through this minimal type of eye," said Habana. "So when I started talking to him, he said he definitely wanted to keep that feeling of keeping it all about Latino culture, homeboy culture, especially in LA. And as we kept talking, it became kind of apparent to me that we both wanted to make a comment on the American prison system, and migrant workers, and how that all tied together."

CHRISHABANA x Willy Chavarria

Chavarria's last collection celebrated his Mexican-American heritage, drawing on both Chicano style and the clothes of California migrant workers. The show was both uplifting and dark; models were shown crying, acknowledging the dire current political situation for people of color. In an interview with Remezcla, Chavarria stated that he is "glorifying my own people, and giving back to my own people  showing us in a light that is intelligent, sophisticated, and thoughtful. It's not just clothes." Habana's pieces show a precise extension of Chavarria's vision, utilizing Catholic symbols like the Virgin Mary, the Mary of Guadalupe, the Sacred Heart, and a classic crucifix, and adding elements of prison weapons and drug culture. One crucifix is adorned with weed leaves; another bears a switchblade. Habana described one Virgin Mary piece as "almost melting into a shiv," and he carved a Sacred Heart into a coke spoon. Related | Willy Chavarria's Models 'Have More Fire In Them' The pieces are beautiful and impossibly intricate; Habana carved many of them himself. But while they are designed to honor Latino culture and condemn a racist prison system, I asked if he was concerned about white customers wearing the pieces, if it constituted appropriation. "For me, it's really about we feel," he said. "If people kind of pick up on it when they purchase the pieces or see it on Instagram or something that's really great, but we're not ones to push our own agenda. Our agenda is being pushed through the work itself. Our work speaks for itself." 2018 is going to be a big year for Habana. In addition to these collaborations, he's gearing up for an August presentation with CALA and Next Century 21, the impossibly hip concept store from downtown discount stalwart Century 21. He'll also be art directing and participating in an exhibition at Tokyo Fashion Week; other major projects are ahead, though he has to keep a tight lid on them. But overall, the future looks bright. Much like a 14-karat necklace. Splash Photo via Getty/Additional Photos Courtesy of Chris Habana

Photography: Olivia Wong

Production: Edmond Asante

Models: India (State Management), Navarre (Fenton Models)

Beauty: Natalia Lopez de QuintanaMeek Mill performs for the very first time since he's been released from prison last month. The rapper made a surprise appearance at Miami's Rolling Loud Festival, following DJ Khaled's set.

Related | Meek Mill Is Finally Out of Prison

In November 2017, Meek was sentenced to prison for up to four years because of an old weapon and drug case from ten years ago. Judges ruled that he had violated the terms of his probation, and this launched protests and debates regarding racial discrimination in the American justice system. Luckily, he won the legal battle and was released on bail.

On Saturday, Complex reports that Khaled introduced Meek by saying they were about to witness something "iconic" and "historic." The Philly-raised musician then whipped out some of his greatest hits, including "On the Regular," "Ima Boss," "We Ball," "Issues," "Dreams and Nightmares," and "1942 Flows."

Watch clips from his performance in the video below.

.@MeekMill FINALLY hits the @RollingLoud stage for the first time since his release!!! pic.twitter.com/WhhREExPXe

 Tony M Centeno  (@_tonyMC) May 13, 2018





Image via Getty

We're only a few days out, which means Royal Wedding mania is reaching a fever pitch, and apparently, every celebrity, close the royal family or otherwise, is asked for their thoughts on the big day.

Related | The New Royals

During her launch for Savage x Fenty lingerie, our preferred Pope Rihanna was asked by a reporter as to whether her relationship with Prince Harry secured her an invite. If your pop culture memory serves, you might recall Harry and Rihanna convened back in 2016 at the Toast to the Nation event in Barbados, commemorating 50 years of independence for Barbados after being colonized by the Brits.

But when it comes to catching Meghan Markle on her way up the aisle, Rihanna clearly could not care less. "Okay, you met me you think you're coming to my wedding?" She jokingly asked the journalist. "Am I coming to your wedding?" Yikes, and yet, who wouldn't want Rihanna at their wedding?

Of course, Rihanna is far too busy to factor in flying to London to participate in something of the like. Lingerie aside, she has just launched her "BEACH PLEASE" Fenty Beauty collection for summer, which includes new eye shimmer duos, and lip "luminizers."

God Save the Queen.

Image via BFA

By Josh Rich --

As the saying goes, hard cases make bad law. And it certainly looked improper when Sergey Aleynikov downloaded high-frequency trading ("HFT") source code as he was leaving his job as a Goldman Sachs programmer, at least to the juries who convicted him of Federal and New York state crimes. But while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned his conviction because the law did not fit the offense, the New York Court of Appeals (the highest court in the state) recently upheld his conviction on "Unlawful Use of Secret Scientific Material." To reach that conclusion, however, the Court of Appeals had to construe two statutory provisions in ways that may have unintended -- and unwanted -- consequences for New York's criminal laws.

To recap, Mr. Aleynikov left Goldman Sachs on June 5, 2009 to take a job with another trading firm where he would be writing HFT software.[1] Before he left, first on June 1 then again on June 5 (his last day as an employee), he downloaded portions of the Goldman Sachs HFT software source code and uploaded them to a server in Germany. He later downloaded the source code to his personal computer and allegedly used it to structure HFT code modules for his new employer.

After discovering Mr. Aleynikov's actions, Goldman Sachs notified the FBI, who questioned Mr. Aleynikov about Goldman Sachs's allegations. Mr. Aleynikov cooperated with the interrogation, admitting that he had downloaded the source code, but explaining that he had innocent motives. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney did not see his actions as innocent; he was prosecuted in the Southern District of New York for violations of the Economic Espionage Act and National Stolen Property Act and found guilty under both laws.[2] Upon appeal, however, the Second Circuit reversed his conviction on both counts. Importantly, in doing so, it found that source code was "intangible property" and therefore not a "good" under the National Stolen Property Act.[3]

Although the Second Circuit overturned Mr. Aleynikov's conviction, the FBI turned Mr. Aleynikov's computer, passport, and other materials over to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office rather than returning them to him. The Manhattan D.A. then charged Mr. Aleynikov with two counts of Unlawful Use of Secret Scientific Material (each count tied to one of the two downloading sessions) and one count of Unlawful Duplication of Computer Related Material. At trial, the jury convicted Mr. Aleynikov on the count of unlawful use related to his June 5 downloads, hung on the count of unlawful use related to his June 1 downloads, and acquitted him of unlawful duplication. But the trial court (known in New York as the Supreme Court) overturned the jury conviction, reasoning (among other things) that Mr. Aleynikov had not made a "tangible reproduction or representation" of the Goldman HFT source code and that the prosecution had not shown that he had intended to "appropriate" the use of the code, both of which were statutory requirements for the unlawful use offense.[4]

The appellate court (the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court) reversed the trial court order, reinstating the jury conviction on the unlawful use count.[5] Whether the source code itself was tangible or intangible property was irrelevant to the appellate court. Instead, it found that Mr. Aleynikov made a "tangible reproduction or representation" when he uploaded the source code to the German server because "when he copied it onto the server's 'physical' hard drive[,] it took up 'physical space' and was 'physically present." With regard to the term "appropriate," defined in the New York Penal Law generally for all larceny offenses, the appellate court considered the portion of the definition that indicated that "[t]o 'appropriate' property of another to oneself or a third person means (a) to exercise control over it, or to aid a third person to exercise control over it, permanently . . . ."[6] The appellate court focused on Mr. Aleynikov's intent with regard to the copy he had made of the secret scientific material, finding that there was no evidence that he had intended to return the copy, and therefore had appropriated it.

Against this backdrop, the New York Court of Appeals accepted review to consider whether Mr. Aleynikov had made a "tangible reproduction or representation of [Goldman's HFT source code] by means of writing, photographing, drawing, mechanically or electronically reproducing or recording such secret scientific material," and whether he had intended to appropriate the use of that source code. It answered both questions in the affirmative.

The first issue the Court faced was what the term "tangible" meant in the context of the unlawful use statute. The Court reviewed the background of the statute (which arose out of concerns that the conduct in a Federal case, United States v. Bottone, 365 F.2d 389 (2d Cir. 1966), might not be prohibited under New York law), but then noted that the term "tangible" is not defined in the Penal Law. It noted that dictionaries could provide "useful guideposts" for determining the ordinary meaning of statutory terms; indeed, both the prosecution and Mr. Aleynikov had proposed definitions from Black's Law Dictionary for the interpretation of the word "tangible." Mr. Aleynikov had suggested that it meant "capable of being touched," the State had argued that it meant "having or possessing physical form."

The Court of Appeals rejected Mr. Aleynikov's proposed definition in two steps. First, it asserted that, if construed that way, "the term does not apply to ink printed on paper any more readily than to source code, and provides no workable criterion." Second, it indicated that the question was not whether source code was tangible (and, to conform with prior cases, the Court was constrained to agree that source code is intangible), but whether a copy of that source code would be tangible when downloaded. Thus, the Court sought to distinguish between source code generally and a copy of source code taking up physical space on a hard drive or CD.

The Court's position is curious, and appears to be based on a limited computer literacy. The Court's first statement is odd, as there is no doubt that paper with printed indicia can be touched by hand. On the other hand, virtual (that is, not printed) source code is not stored in the same format as it is printed; it is saved as binary code. Therefore, it cannot be touched as compiled source code, even on a microscopic level. There is a clear distinction that, while perhaps intellectually unsatisfying, is easy to police. Second, even before it is saved, computer code takes up physical space (whether in memory or saved on media). That is, the Court of Appeals makes a distinction where there is no difference.

Notably, the Court struggles to provide any meaning to the term "tangible" in the phrase "tangible reproduction or representation." It posits the example of memorization of source code, but notes that such memorization would not fall under the statute because the reproduction or representation must be "by means of writing, photographing, drawing, mechanically or electronically reproducing or recording." It circumvents the conundrum by stating, "the word 'tangible,' as we interpret it, does not introduce redundancy; it adds a modest element to 'reproduction,' serving to emphasize that the crime consists in making a physical, not a mental, copy of secret scientific material." But that "emphasis," in light of the requirement of certain means for making the reproduction, is redundancy.

The Court then gets to the heart of its objection to Mr. Aleynikov's position, stating that "it would be absurd to suppose that the statute criminalizes photographs stored on film but not ones stored on a hard drive." But that absurd result is for the legislature to prevent through an amendment of the statute, not the Court to fix through interpretation.[7] The unlawful use statute was adopted in 1967, long before the internet was in common use. The legislature had not yet criminalized computer crime specifically, and would not do so for almost two more decades. And even now, there is a package of legislation proposed that would remedy the absurd juxtaposition noted by the Court.

The Court of Appeals made short work of Mr. Aleynikov's second argument, that he did not intend to appropriate the relevant source code because he did not intend to deprive Goldman Sachs of the source code. In doing so, it disaggregated the definition of "appropriate": under the New York Penal Law, "[t]o 'appropriate' property of another to oneself or a third person means (a) to exercise control over it, or to aid a third person to exercise control over it, permanently or for so extended a period or under such circumstances as to acquire the major portion of its economic value or benefit, or (b) to dispose of the property for the benefit of oneself or a third person."[8] The Court asserted that the definition was intended to indicate that control could be exercised (i) permanently or (ii) for so extended a period or under such circumstances as to acquire the major portion of its economic value or benefit. From that, it surmised that exercising permanent control over another's property would be sufficient, and asserted that Mr. Aleynikov intended to exercise control over the source code permanently, since he admittedly did not intend to return the copy of source code in his possession.

The Court's resolution of the appropriation issue is ironic, as it elides the distinction between the source code and the copy of the source code it made in relation to "tangible reproduction or representation. That is, Mr. Aleynikov certainly intended to keep the copy of source code he had made, but had no intent to control Goldman Sachs's use of its own copy of the source code. But the Court did not address the inconsistency between the two interpretations.

While the Court of Appeals was clearly bothered by the prospect of Mr. Aleynikov getting off on a "technicality," it substantially expanded the unlawful use statute to do so. Of course, the language of a statute is not a technicality. But the Court interpreting the statute extremely broadly is likely to chill behavior that the legislature did not intend to criminalize. There is always tension between preventing harm to intellectual property owners and allowing employees freedom to move from job to job; the New York Court of Appeals drew the line far more to employers' liking because of the hard facts of the case. In truth, that should have been the legislature's job.





[1] For more details on Mr. Aleynikovs conduct and prosecutions, please see the Patent Docs posts "Another Aleynikov Trade Secrets Case Ends with Narrower Statute" and "Aleynikov Conviction Reinstated by New York Appellate Court," as well as the Snippets article "New York v. Aleynikov: New York State's Penal Code (Like Federal Criminal Law) Does Not Cover Electronic Reproduction of Source Code."

[2] The Economic Espionage Act is found at 18 U.S.C.  1832 and the National Stolen Property Act is found at 18 U.S.C.  2314.

[3] United States v. Aleynikov, 676 F.3d 71, 76-79 (2d Cir. 2012).

[4] See N.Y. Pen. L.  165.07 ("A person is guilty of unlawful use of secret scientific material when, with intent to appropriate to himself or another the use of secret scientific material, and having no right to do so and no reasonable ground to believe that he has such right, he makes a tangible reproduction or representation of such secret scientific material by means of writing, photographing, drawing, mechanically or electronically reproducing or recording such secret scientific material.").

[5] New York v. Aleynikov, 148 A.D. 3d 77 (N.Y. App. Div. [1st Dept.] 2017).

[6] N.Y. Pen. L.  155.00[4].

[7] For example, after the Second Circuit reversed Mr. Aleynikov's conviction under the Economic Espionage Act, Congress moved quickly to amend the statute to cover future abuses of the same sort. Pub. L. 112-236.

[8] N.Y. Pen. L. 155.00[4].Tomorrow, May 15, Palestinians and supporters around the world will mark Nakba Day, commemorating the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. From the UKs Independent paper, we read:

The convergence of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day with these contemporary developments is an opportunity to consider its significance in the past, present and future. The Nakba was the systematic expulsion of Palestinians and destruction of their communities. Over a period of two years, 85 to 90 per cent of Palestinians who had been living in what became the State of Israel were expelled and hundreds of villages were destroyed. The Nakba fits our understanding of what we now refer to as ethnic cleansing.

And, the article states the destruction and killing continues. Ethnic cleansing, siege, territory theft, apartheid, are all terms gaining increasing currency in describing the situation there. You can read about the little village of Al Walaja, near Jerusalem, which for many represents a microcosm of the greater conflict.

Today the Palestinians have a voice, however often silenced it might be. My Unitarian Universalist Church here in Seattle has its own Palestine-Israel committee devoted to working on peaceful solutions to the conflict. Other organizations and gatherings like this, large and small, dot the map.

Rotate your globe just a few degrees and you will come to eastern Burma and Bangladesh, where a fresh catastrophe is unfolding. This catastrophe has received global news coverage over the last five years, including a number of stories here:

Global organizations for human rights have reached out to make the Rohingya a focus of their work, including Unicef USA, Human Rights Watch, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Buddhist Global Relief.

And while some Buddhist leaders in Burma, who wield significant power, have actively supported the violence against the Rohingya, others have spoken out against it. It is certain, too, that they are at least receptive to foreign criticism for their actions, leading numerous Buddhist leaders around the globe to sign an open letter to leaders condemning the violence. However, Burmese leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have denied the violence, minimized it, or deflected responsibility and will likely continue to do this until global support for the Rohingya reaches a point where they can no longer ignore it.

Writing earlier this month for the Washington Post, Alex Wagner writes that My Burma was a lie woven from the nationalist nostalgia of its exiles. The article in full is worth reading, as it draws us into the deconstruction of the lie, allowing a glimpse into both realities, as it were.

It solicits empathy for those still doggedly defending the mythical Buddhist land of peace, while showing how that myth maintains itself even in the face of obvious Buddhist violence. She writes reflectively of the beauty and peace of the country as remembered by her family, but also of the current reality:

Burma, led by both its military and civilians, is engaged in genocide, a systematic slaughter of its Muslim minority. In the past eight months alone, some 14,000 ethnic Rohingya have been killed. Seven hundred thousand have fled a terrifying brutality: babies stabbed to death or tossed alive into fires, grenades thrown through the front doors of homes, mothers gang-raped and slaughtered. Suu Kyi alone could not have stopped this killing, but that is beside the point: She has refused even to acknowledge it.

She goes so far as to call the current crisis a bloodthirsty campaign  being waged by Buddhists. Such writing tends to raise the hackles of Burmese nationalists and their supporters, along with a fair number of Western converts who insist that no real Buddhist could commit violence.

That such a bloodthirsty campaign is being waged by Buddhists has sometimes been a source of shock to the rest of the world. But for those of us in the West who had pinned a part of our national identity on Suu Kyi and her struggle, it has prompted introspection: Where did this violent strain of Burmese nationalism come from, and what does it mean for us? As it turns out, the roots of this particular Burmese intolerance run deep.

She offers a short history of the ethnic divisions of parts of Burma where the Bamar (ethnic Burmese) hold power as a majority. Like Syria and Israel-Palestine, as well as neighboring Pakistan-India-Bangladesh, Burma was forged out of Post-WWII colonial map making and retreat. Her concluding words could be written of so many countries, so many periods in human history, a warning of the peril of looking away and a plea to take the lessons of Burma now to heart:

Here, then, is the rot on the underside of our Burmese story, a decay that attends any truthful accounting of a place and people. No country can merely be the province of frangipani blossoms and golden light, after all. If there is something to learn from this mournful episode, it is the danger that we, as a society, repeat these horrors and injustices, decade after decade, when we construct identities that are too rooted in simplicity, too reliant on nostalgia, too ready to embrace heroes who stand atop pedestals fashioned from lies.

How very true, in Burma as in Israel and so many other places.

Enjoy reading this blog?

Click to support independent coverage of Buddhism as a patron.President Rouhani Orders Talks With JCPOA Partners To 'Guarantee' Iran's Interests

05/13/18

Source: RFE/RL

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani has assigned his foreign minister to review the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through direct talks with his British, Chinese, French, German and Russian counterparts.



Negotiations with 4+1 (5+1 minus U.S.!)



Despite European efforts to encourage the U.S. to remain a party to JCPOA, President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the agreement on May 8 and promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions on Tehran.



The U.S. decision reignited the danger of economic crisis for Iran, which is now at the center of Tehran's diplomatic efforts.



According to reports by Iranian news agencies, Rouhani, in issuing his orders on May 12, underlined the importance of securing Iran's economic interests.



JCPOA was implemented in 2016 after five permanent members of UN Security Council, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and USA plus Germany reached an agreement with Rouhani's government to lift international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for Tehran to curb its nuclear program.



Tehran insists that if the remaining signatories do not guarantee Iran's interests, Tehran might resume unrestricted uranium enrichment.



Based on Rouhani's order, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is expected to leave Tehran for Beijing on Sunday, May 13 and then to Moscow.



Before leaving Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in a telephone conversation discussed the fate of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US pullout, according to Fars.



Zarif and Mogherini also conferred on plans and arrangements for a Tuesday meeting in Brussels between them and the three European countries foreign ministers, FNA said.



The Iranian foreign minister highlighted the need for other parties to the JCPOA to provide "sufficient guarantees" that assure Tehran of being able to "reap the benefits" of the nuclear deal.

#IranDeal "I have convened a ministerial meeting with the FMs of Germany @HeikoMaas, France @JY_LeDrian , UK @BorisJohnson for next Tuesday in Brussels. First the three of them with me, and then we will meet with Iran FM @JZarif" @FedericaMog  #JCPOA #SOU2018 pic.twitter.com/E19WCmHfpk  European External Action Service - EEAS  (@eu_eeas) May 11, 2018

Earlier, in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rouhani called on the European states to shortly clarify the manner in which they will "guarantee" their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.



"How Europe is going to secure Iran's interests in the JCPOA should be clarified in a limited period of time," President Rouhani told Merkel.



"Iran's interests in important areas and issues relevant to the JCPOA, like oil, gas, and petrochemicals sales, as well as banking relations should be clearly and explicitly defined and guaranteed," Rouhani said.



Angela Merkel, for her part, without any reference to the "guarantees" demanded by Rouhani, said that keeping JCPOA is of prime importance for Europe.



Meanwhile, delegations of Iranian experts will continue negotiating the future of JCPOA with their European counterparts.



Iran's main concern is that renewed U.S. sanctions will have a far-reaching impact on the willingness of non-American companies and banks to deal with Iran, crippling its trade, oil exports and an already strained economy.



However, President Trump has explicitly noted that US hopes to reach a "fair" deal with Iran through new rounds of talks. Tehran has repeatedly said that it would never accept re-negotiating the nuclear deal.



The White House also has bluntly warned Iran of unspecified consequences should it resume nuclear activities prohibited under the agreement.



"If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before," President Trump said on May 9.Shaparak Shajarizadeh Twice Arrested For Allegedly Removing Her Headscarf in Public in Iran

05/14/18

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Shaparak Shajarizadeh has been arrested again for allegedly allowing her hair to show in public in Iran. Her lawyer, prominent human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, called the ongoing arrests of Iranian women for allegedly violating the country's compulsory hijab rule a "manifestation of violence against women."



Shaparak Shajarizadeh

"I don't know if she removed her hijab or not but my question is, how come women get immediately arrested for not observing the hijab or having an inappropriate hijab, or wearing tight or short dresses, or wearing lipstick but in cases dealing with theft and murder, suspects never get arrested so fast?" Sotoudeh said.

"Why should women be arrested like this every day?" she added. "This is a manifestation of violence against women."

Sotoudeh informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) that the police detained Shajarizadeh along with her 9-year-old son on May 8 in the city of Kashan, 152 miles south of Tehran, for allegedly removing her hijab.

Her son was released several hours later.

All women in Iran are forced to cover the skin on their bodies (excluding the face) and their hair when they are in public. This rule was gradually imposed after the country's 1979 revolution by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Women who fail to cover themselves according to current standards in public in Iran could be arrested, fined, lashed and imprisoned for committing "haram."

According to Article 638 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code: "Anyone in public places and roads who openly commits a haram [sinful] act, in addition to the punishment provided for the act, shall be sentenced to two months' imprisonment or up to 74 lashes; and if they commit an act that is not punishable but violates public prudency, they shall only be sentenced to 10 days to two months' imprisonment or up to 74 lashes."

According to Article 639 of the Islamic Penal Code: "The following individuals shall be sentenced to one year to 10 years' imprisonment... A - Anyone who establishes or directs a place of immorality or prostitution. B - Anyone who facilitates or encourages people to commit immorality or prostitution."

Shajarizadeh was previously arrested in late February 2018 for removing her headscarf and waving it on a stick in the north Tehran neighborhood of Gheytarieh.

Shajarizadeh and several other women who have repeated the act in cities across the country in 2018 have since been referred to as the "Girls of Revolution Street" by social media users.

Shajarizadeh is scheduled to appear at Branch 1089 of the Criminal Court in Tehran on June 10, 2018, to be tried for her previous arrest on the charges of "not observing Islamic hijab" and "encouraging corruption" her attorney told CHRI.

Iranian women have been protesting against the compulsory that was instated in Iran shortly after the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution for more than three decades in various ways, including by allowing more and more hair to show under their scarves as the years passed on.

But the protests received international attention in 2018 after 31-year-old mother Vida Movahed stood on a sidewalk utility box on Enghelab (Revolution) St. in Tehran on December 27, 2017, and waved her headscarf like a flag as the first known woman to have done so in Iran.

Two women are currently facing prison time for engaging in the peaceful form of protest.

On March 7, sociology student Narges Hosseini, 32, was sentenced to 24 months in prison-21 months suspended for five years-for the charges of "encouraging people to engage in corruption by removing the hijab in public" and "committing a forbidden act in a public space."

On March 25, Maryam Shariatmadari, a 32-year-old computer science student in Tehran, was sentenced to one year in prison for "encouraging corruption by removing her hijab."

It is unclear whether either of the women will be forced to serve the sentences.The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says his government is going to use oil revenues to create assets for the country, and not waste it on consumption.



According to President Akufo-Addo, as a relatively new entrant in the league of oil-producing countries, Ghana is not going to treat her oil like she has done with gold, and allow it to be exported in its raw material form as crude.



Ghanas oil, President Akufo-Addo explained, presents the country with the perfect opportunity to transform the structure of Ghanaian economy through industrialization and value-added commercial activities.



Our oilfields provide us with the perfect opportunity to create a petrochemical industry in Ghana. We have begun the processes leading to the setting up of a gas feedstock industrial estate in the Western Region of the country, he said.



The President indicated further that we intend to convert our petrochemicals into hundreds of industrial and consumer products produced in Ghana, including plastics, paints, rubber, fertilizers, detergents, dyes, textiles, solvents and, hopefully, bitumen for road construction.



President Akufo-Addo was convinced that from the petroleum, the country can get the preservatives to can food produced in Ghana, with the synthetic by-product from petroleum serving as raw material for the manufacturing of different types of garments and footwear.



The President made this known on Saturday, 12th May, 2018, when he delivered a speech at the London Business Schools Africa Summit, on the theme Scaling for Impact  the Important role of Industrialisation.



In his remarks, the President indicated that unless Ghana industrialises with the goal of adding value to her primary products, the country cannot create the necessary numbers of good-paying jobs that will enhance the living standards of the mass of the Ghanaian people.



Raw material producing economies do not create prosperity for the masses. The way to that goal, the goal of ensuring access to prosperity, is value addition activities in a transformed and a diversified modern economy, with a modernised agriculture. In other words, the industrial development of our economy, which takes on board the aid of digital technology, he added.



Importance of Education



Industrialization, the President said, can only be successful with a workforce that is equipped and skilled, and can compete effectively on the global market.



Any country that aims to transform itself into a modern productive player in the global marketplace must get its educational policies right, adding that the countries that have made rapid progress around the world put education at the heart of their development.



Citing the example of the United States of Americas transitioning to publicly funded high school education in the mid-19th century, President Akufo-Addo stated that the experiment paid off, and America set herself up for 20th century success, creating a workforce fit for rapid economic development, which has inspired the emergence of the most powerful economy so far known to human history.



Indeed, other nations, who began their lives as independent states at the same time as we did, like Singapore, Malaysia and Korea, have emulated a similar model, and have also achieved great economic success. In fact, in their case, they followed Japans excellent example, he said.



Through the policy of Free Senior High School education introduced in September 2017, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that 90,000 more students gained access to Senior High School in 2017, than they did in 2016.



We are of the firm conviction, also, that we shall be able to transform Ghanas economy and reduce unemployment, when we pay attention to technical and vocational training. That is where the skills needed for the modern economy can be developed, the President added.



Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stated, has the opportunity to become a regional centre for light manufacturing for a market of some 350 million people in the ECOWAS Community, projected to reach 500 million by 2030, by weaving together our numerous natural resources, like food produce, bauxite, iron ore, oil and gas, with our talents and energy, to turn our nation into an economic powerhouse in West Africa, generating full employment for our teeming youth.





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Zarif is heading a high-ranking political-economic delegation during his visit to China.

Following his China visit, the Iranian foreign minister will tour Russia and some European countries, during which he will exchange views with relevant parties on the developments of the Iranian nuclear issue.

Iran seeks contracting parties' assurance for the survival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after the US departure.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that the United States would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and impose "the highest level" of economic sanctions on Tehran, triggering global outcry.

The landmark nuclear pact was signed in 2015 by Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus the European Union (EU) and Germany.The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has said that the ban on drumming and noise making in the metropolis will begin today to June 14, 2018.



It has, therefore, set guidelines in the interest of peace, harmony and national security.



This was made known in a statement signed by Mr Gilbert Nii Ankrah, the head of Public Affairs of the AMA and copied to the media.



It said during the period of the ban, the usual form of worship should be confined to the premises of churches/mosques and noise levels be minimised to the barest limits possible.



The religious bodies and the traditional authorities must show respect for one another and restrain their followers from making derogatory and inflammatory remarks about the beliefs and practices of one another, the statement said.



It stated that the positioning of loud speakers outside the premises of churches, mosques and pubs are banned while roadside evangelists are to cease their activities during the period.



The statement said apart from an identifiable task force which consists of AMA personnel, the police and representatives from the traditional authorities with tags should be seen or found enforcing the abatement of noise in the metropolis.



It mentioned the jurisdiction of the metropolis as northern boundary  boundary dividing Accra from the Eastern Region; western boundary  Odukpon Kpehe (Kasoa); and eastern boundary  Osu.



The statement said residents in villages and towns under Osu, Ngleshie Alata and Ga Traditional Councils are affected by the ban.

Source: Daily Guide









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Government of Ghana yesterday joined the rest of the world to celebrate women on Mothers Day.



A statement signed by the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisah Djaba, described mothers as the bedrock of human civilisation, explaining that without mothers there is no human existence.



The statement acknowledges Mothers Day as one of the most significant anniversaries in the international calendar of events and an opportunity to honour, admire and respect the women of the world.



As the ministry with direct oversight over issues related to women and children, the gender, children and social protection ministry, thus celebrates Ghanaian women bearing in mind their contributions and sacrifices to the development of the country.



I wish to appreciate, applaud and acknowledge the mothers of Ghana in particular and the world in general for their contributions, and sacrifices on behalf of the Government and People of Ghana



While celebrating mothers for their love and sacrifice the ministry recognises the challenges, difficulties and tribulations of women and has given assurance it is working around the clock to ensure equity, justice and fairness in governance, and the allocation of resources in Ghana



The ministry praised women for challenging the status quo and making significant strides that have contributed to every aspect of the economy.



Today, more Ghanaian women are getting out of their homes into paid jobs and are stoically combining their work at home as homemakers with jobs outside the home as income-earners.



The contribution of women to the countrys economy over the years has been tremendous and visible to all in the economic, social, political, health, religious and educational spheres. It is estimated that women make up about 85 per cent of the wholesale and retail trading business sectors



The ministry urged the public to show love to all mothers by reaching out to them and celebrating them.



As we in Ghana join the international community to celebrate and acknowledge our gallant and loving mothers, let us reach out to our mothers and all the women who have impacted our lives and say AYEKOO to them, the statement concluded.

Source: Today









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 opposition National Democratic Congress has been exposed for issuing a statement in the name of the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku.



A statement making rounds in the media landscape purported to have been penned by the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana seeks to dispel the assertion made last week by the Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia over the GHC 4.6 billion contract of the Mobile Money Interoperability System awarded to Sibton Switch Systems of Roland Agambire fame.



The project has been successfully done at GHC 16 million, which is a far cry from the astonishing figure that the NDC was going to have it done for.



According to the former boss of the Central Bank, he has not issued any statement on the Mobile Money Interoperability System, and neither has he caused for any statement to be issued for him by any person or group of persons". He has therefore asked the media to "disregard the statement attributed to him and cautioned them to verify such information from him before going to press with it in future".



For all intents and purposes, the statement attributed to Dr. Nashiru Issahaku is a pure invention from the corridors of the opposition party for some tendentious reasons. It was couched to throw into dispute the unvarnished facts the Vice President of the Republic put out there when commissioning the Mobile Money Interoperability System on 10th May, 2018.



The opposition NDC is struggling to fend off the deluge of condemnation from all corners of the country apropos the GHC 4.6 billion contract that went to Roland Agambire of RLG fame.



Having had their propaganda to divert attention from them annihilated, the next move of the opposition party is to hold a press conference with the aim of giving countless but unfathomable reasons why the contract awarded was worlds apart from what Dr. Bawumia and his team have been able to deliver.

Source: Yaw Baah Sarpong









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It took a while for police in northeastern Pennsylvania to catch up with a 36-year-old woman accused of having sex with a then-15-year-old boy up to six times a day.

But as the Citizens Voice reports, Joleen Gambardella, 36, who had fled the area, has now been arrested and charged by Pa. state police at Hazleton.

According to the newspaper, the case dates to January 2016 when a boy told police Gambardella and he started having sex when he was 15 years old and he enjoyed it.

Joleen Gambardella, 36

They continued to have sex daily - at least six times a day, the boy told police according to the newspaper report.

All the while, Gambardella allegedly supplied the teen with prescription pills like Xanax, Percocet, Adderall - and then eventually introduced the teen to heroin, the Citizen Voice writes, quoting court papers.

In 2015, she allegedly posted nude photos of the boy online and advertised him for sexual hookups with strangers, according to the arrest papers quoted by the Citizens Voice.

The goal was to get money to buy more heroin, the boy told police, but he could not go through with sex acts with men, the newspaper wrote.

State police at Hazleton filed an arrest warrant against Gambardella in May 2016, announcing she had fled the area, the Citizens Voice writes.

It was not immediately clear how or when she was taken into custody last week.

She was arraigned Friday on charges of endangering the welfare of a child, promoting prostitution, corruption of minors and criminal use of a communication facility.

At last report, Gambardella was jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $100,000 cash bail.Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle arrive at Nottingham Academy in Nottingham, England , Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com

Pennsylvania's connections to kings, queens, princes and other royalty, in honor of the upcoming royal wedding

If you haven't heard, there's a big wedding coming up: Prince Harry of England and American actor Meghan Markle are going to tie the knot this weekend. And as celebrity weddings go, it's hard to top the British royal family.

And whether you're a fan of the pomp and ceremony, enjoy a Cinderella story, or don't care a whit about what the Brits are up to, it's interesting to look at how Pennsylvanians have connected one way or another with various royal titles.

We look a look at some of the most prominent connections between our state and members of royalty -- though some are sillier than others.

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Meghan Markle

Soon-to-be Princess of the United Kingdom

Markle will soon be wedding Prince Henry of Wales, aka Prince Harry, which will make her a princess of the United Kingdom. It has been speculated that Harry will be given a dukedom and accompanying title following the marriage, which will make Markle a duchess.

Markle has a Pennsylvania connection through her father, who grew up in Perry County. Markle's parents will meet with Queen Elizabeth II prior to the wedding, which will take place on May 19.

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Grace Kelly

Princess of Monaco

Being a Hollywood star may make one seem like a sort of royalty, but Philadelphia native and Academy Award winner Grace Kelly became literal royalty when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco. After appearing in films such as "High Noon," "Dial M for Murder," "Rear Window" and "To Catch a Thief," Kelly retired from performing at the age of 26.

If you want to check out Kelly's childhood home in Philly, you may get that chance: her son Prince Albert announced that the building will become part of the Princess Grace Foundation

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Dauphin County

The Crown Prince of France

If you've ever wondered where the name Dauphin County comes from, you can thank a long list of French royalty. The dauphin was heir to the throne of France, and the county was named after him following France's aid during the American Revolution.

Want more info? Get the full story here.

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King of Prussia

King Frederick II of Prussia

The city known as King of Prussia is today perhaps best known for the King of Prussia Mall, one of the largest in the nation. Fittingly, the city originally took its name from another commercial establishment: the King of Prussia Inn, established in the early 1700s. The inn, in turn, would have taken its name from Frederick II of Prussia, also known as Frederick the Great.

Though there is no other particular regional connection to Frederick II, many Prussians did fight on both sides of the American Revolution in the region. Perhaps the most prominent was Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a general of the Continental Army and one of George Washington's trusted aides.

Planning a trip to King of Prussia? Here's how to make the most of your visit. And if you're interested in Revolutionary War history, don't miss out how Washington and Steuben were almost booted out of leadership during the famed winter in Valley Forge, thanks to a conspiracy in York.

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Will Smith

The Fresh Prince

"In west Philadelphia, born and raised / on the playground is where I spent most of my days"

Like the song says, Will Smith hails from Philadelphia. After a popular first album, rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince found themselves in the sophomore slump. But booking a sitcom for NBC helped to catapult Smith into stardom, and cement his status as entertainment royalty.

And if you're looking for the Fresh Prince's best picks for a bit of hometown cuisine? Check out Will Smith and other Philly celebs' top picks for an authentic cheesesteak.

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The French Azilum

The French royal family

Not long after the American Revolution, France had one of their own ... to mixed results. The resulting Terror which followed the deposing of Louis XVI led to many members of the nobility, including Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette, being executed.

Several Pennsylvanian sympathizers to French nobility set out to establish an asylum for refugee members of the French royal family. The Azilum was built in Bradford County, and for a time hosted French exiles. However, many either relocated or returned to France under the reign of Napoleon, and the community ran out of funds in the early 1800s. It remains a historic site to this day.

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Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum

Artifacts of European royalty

When Theodore Davis Boal of the wealthy Boal family married a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus, two families combined their fortunes and collections of artifacts and heirlooms. The resulting combined collection is on display in Boalsburg, and includes items as varied as possessions of King Tut's family members to a lock of Napoleon Bonaparte's hair.

Want a closer look? Check out Jim Cheney's story about the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum by clicking here.

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Tom Mix

The King of Cowboys

While relatively unknown today, Tom Mix was the star of the Western movie genre in the early days of Hollywood. It didn't hurt that he was a trick rider who knew actual Wild West legends like Wyatt Earp, rode alongside the Rough Riders during Theodore Roosevelt's inauguration, and helped John Wayne get his start in Hollywood.

Mix may be the most famous person from Cameron County, Pennsylvania: click the link to check out the most famous Pennsylvanians from each county.

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"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood"

King Friday XIII

King Friday may have been merely a puppet ruling over the fictional Neighborhood of Make-Believe, but considering that he was created and performed by Fred Rogers, a true prince among men, we figured it would be fitting to give him a spot.

King Friday was one of the many puppet characters on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," which was filmed and produced in Pittsburgh by public television station WQED. Among one of the most beloved entertainers of all time, Fred Rogers was given a stamp by the Post Office earlier this year, and his program will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. The documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor" will be released on June 8.

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Wallis Simpson

Her Grace, the Duchess of Windsor

The last time a Pennsylvanian woman married into the British royal family, it caused a constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom.

Born in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, Simpson had been twice divorced before becoming engaged to King Edward VIII of England. Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry her, though he was granted the title of Duke of Windsor by his brother and successor, King George VI. Simpson then became Duchess of Windsor, though she was not granted the style of "Her Royal Highness."

You may have recently seen Wallis and Edward if you've been keeping up with "The Crown" on Netflix.

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Jan "Lewan" Lewandowski

The King of Polka

Speaking of Netflix: the above trailer is for a film based on the story of Jan "Lewan" Lewandowski, a Polish-American polka sensation who settled in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. In addition to his career as the so-called "Polka King," Lewandowski also sold securities on his jewelry business, and would eventually go to jail for defrauding nearly 400 people.

If a fictional portrayal doesn't interest you, there's also a documentary about Jan Lewan. Get more info here.

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Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I

Barring a seance with spirits of long-dead monarchs, the actual Renaissance-era kings and queens aren't likely to make an appearance at the Mount Hope Estate. But thanks to the magic of theater, numerous nobles of the 16th century have been known to appear at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.

This year's season will include appearances from King Henry VIII and his wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon, as they host King Francis I of France and his wife, Queen Claude. The Renaissance Faire season begins August 4 and continues through October 28. For details, visit the Ren Faire website.

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Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com

Free Library of Philadelphia

The Magna Carta

There is some irony that Philadelphia keeps appearing on this list, considering the city was where the Second Constitutional Convention declared America's independence from the British crown.

That said, this next item is certainly fitting with the birthplace of American independence: the Free Library of Philadelphia's rare books department has a copy of the Magna Carta, dating from around 1300, in its collection. The medieval document, signed by King John of England in 1215, was one of the early attempts at legal checks on a king's power.



There is also copy of the works of Horace, dating from the 16th century, with Queen Elizabeth I's coat of arms, signifying that the book may have belonged to the monarch herself.

For more info on the Free Library of Philadelphia, click here.

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Julia Mullock

Empress Consort of Korea

Pennsylvania native Julia Mullock was working under the renown architect I.M. Pei when she met Yi Gu, the Prince Imperial Houen of Korea, in 1958. The two were married in New York, but in a similar scenario as Wallis Simpson above, the marriage of a foreign commoner to a crown prince met with resistance among the royal family.

Mullock and Prince Gu never officially married under Korean custom, and thus Mullock was not enrolled as a member of the royal family. The two divorced in 1982.

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More from PennLive:

Can't get enough news about the impending imperial nuptials? We've got you covered:California just became the first state to require solar power for new homes. Environmental and clean energy advocates have applauded the move, arguing the requirement will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But others argue the new solar standards will cause already expensive home prices to rise even more, and consumers should be able to make that decision for themselves. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

California just became the first state to require solar power on all new homes. The five-member California Energy Commission voted unanimously to approve the measure, according to the New York Times. Many have noted the new requirements will cause home prices to rise, but clean-energy advocates argue the extra cost to buyers will be offset by the significantly lower energy bills.

Environmental advocates have applauded the decision. California has been leading the way when it comes to clean energy, and if the solar power requirement bodes well in the state, other states will likely follow suit. A senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club Rachel Golden views the move as a huge step for renewable energy.

But not everyone is convinced the new solar requirement is a good thing. The spokesperson for Meritage Homes Corp Brent Anderson told Bloomberg while he believes solar power is "the right answer" in the long term, he worries the increase in home prices will make it even harder for people to buy in an already expensive market.

Others feel the requirement is problematic because it clearly favors one zero-emissions technology--solar--over others.

Consumers should be allowed to choose how to best reduce greenhouse emissions for themselves. This top-down approach to clean energy threatens to hurt those who cannot afford to keep up. Until solar power is a more affordable alternative, California should let the free market decide.

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.By Beth Lew-Williams

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which just opened in Montgomery, Alabama, forces America to reckon with the lynching of more than 4,000 African-Americans. But this should only be the beginning of the historical reckoning.

Beth Lew-Williams (Washington Post photo)

Over the past two centuries, racial violence has also targeted Native Americans, Mexicans and Chinese. Recognizing other histories of racial violence will not detract from the memorial's urgent work. Rather it will help us to better understand what it is that we must mourn.

The mass lynching of African-Americans was more than a tragic national mistake: It was central to how a nation built on racial violence and white supremacy functioned.

As the memorial exposes, African-Americans faced lynching on an unprecedented scale. In an effort to maintain white supremacy and subordinate black labor, vigilantes made the hanging of black men and women into spectacularly gruesome public events. By making an example of a few, the mob hoped to terrorize the masses into submission.

Vigilantes also targeted Native Americans, but with the primary goal of erasing them from their land. Historians have so far documented 137 Native American victims of lynching between 1835 and 1964.

This statistic, however, fails to capture the full violence against native peoples. The first governor of California, Peter H. Burnett, described the nature of this violence in no uncertain terms. "A war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races," he declared, "until the Indian race becomes extinct."

State agents often instigated the lynching of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans as a tactic to police the border. Historian Monica Munoz Martinez has shown that vigilantes and Texas Rangers, under the guise of policing banditry between 1910 and 1920, murdered thousands of ethnic Mexicans without due process of law. While the killings often occurred in remote areas away from prying eyes, corpses were left behind for all to see. The dead served as a reminder of who controlled borderlands.

In my own work, I tell the history of violence against the Chinese in the U.S. West. A notable example of lynching is the case of Hong Di, a domestic servant accused of murdering his employer and slandering her good name. He was dragged out of jail and strung up by a mob in Colusa, California, in 1887.

A photograph of his hanging, once marketed as a souvenir, shows the 16-year-old adolescent dangling from a railroad turntable, chained and shoeless. The image was a mere curiosity for collectors, but for the Chinese, it was a warning to mind the color line.

Lynchings of Chinese immigrants were relatively rare. More common were expulsions. Mobs used arson, assault and harassment to round up and drive out tens of thousands of Chinese in the 1880s. Under the banner "the Chinese must go," vigilantes demanded that the federal government forever bar these "inassimilable aliens."

While remembering the lynching of black men and women as a unique and horrific episode in American history, we must not pretend it was an aberration. Recognizing these other narratives of violence does not lessen the brutality of Jim Crow, nor does it mean that all people of color share a uniform history. What it does suggest is that the lynching of African-Americans is just one example of America's systematic use of racial violence to construct the nation.

The new memorial and museum in Alabama makes powerful connections between the past lynching of African-Americans and the present-day practice of police brutality. And this is only a glimpse of how racial violence continues to haunt our landscape. Murders of ethnic Mexicans in the early 20th century sowed the seeds for our militarized southern border and the clamoring for a wall. Campaigns to exterminate Native Americans foretold confrontations over oil pipelines and land rights at Standing Rock. And expulsions of Chinese immigrants fostered the federal policies that permit mass deportation today.

Acknowledging our many histories of racial violence is the first step in dismantling the biased systems of policing and border control they helped to erect

Beth Lew-Williams is assistant professor of history at Princeton University and author of "The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America." She wrote this piece for The Washington Post, where it first appeared.It's often been said that, politically speaking, we live in a new age.

Just three years ago, it was seemingly inconceivable that a former reality television star/real estate developer from Queens would not only win the White House, but also break a four-decade-old Democratic winning streak in Pennsylvania.

President Donald Trump broke the political mold in 2016. And on Tuesday, thanks to a radical redrawing of the state's political topography (an action that will no doubt be litigated for years to come), the chance for surprise and history abounds.

No fewer than seven of the state's 18 congressional seats will be open when voters head to the polls on Tuesday morning. In Philadelphia's battleground suburbs, Democrats could pick up two seats, and conceivably win a third in the bellwether Lehigh Valley.

In western Pennsylvania, all eyes will be on newly elected Democratic U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, fresh off a remarkable special election win in a district that Trump carried by 19 points in 2016. Lamb has no primary, but his general election fight with U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus is already well underway in the new 17th District.

In the neighboring 14th District, Lamb's one-time opponent, state Rep. Rick Saccone is looking for a win over state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler in a hard-fought intra-party contest.

And with this year touted as the year of the woman, well-qualified female candidates (of both parties) are running up and down the ballot. That's particularly true in suburban Philly's 4th and 5th Congressional Districts.

In the race for governor, Pittsburgh attorney Laura Ellsworth is seeking the GOP nomination against two better-funded, and more well-known opponents. Her opponents are state Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York, and former healthcare executive Paul Mango of Allegheny County.

In the race for lieutenant governor, two women, Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone, and former Philadelphia Deputy Nina Ahmad, are both seeking the Democratic nomination.

The two women are part of a crowded field of four candidates looking to unseat incumbent Lt. Gov. Mike Stack. On the Republican side of the ledger, three of four candidates, including Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan, are women seeking the GOP nomination.

In the Capital Region's 10th District, four Democratic candidates are vying for the chance to face-off against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry in the fall.

There's also a contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate, pitting retiring U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11th District, against state Rep. Jim Christiana, of Beaver County. The winner faces U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in the fall.

Pennsylvania's primaries are closed, meaning you can only participate if you're a registered member of the Big Two parties. And as an institution, PennLive/The Patriot-News has long advocated for an open system that would give more voters a voice in these very important elections.

But that's a fight for another day.

On Tuesday, if you're able and you're registered, use your voice. It's easy to get cynical and to believe that one vote can't make a difference. But others have fought and bled for your right to exercise the franchise.

Make your voice heard. Vote on TuesdayFormer Gov. Tom Ridge will be joining other Pennsylvanians in casting a ballot in Tuesday's primary.

Ridge, who works mainly out of his consulting firm's D.C. office but still maintains his residence in Erie, was asked which gubernatorial candidate he thinks is best suited for the job he held from 1995 to 2001.

"I'm voting Republican," he replied, meaning his choices include Sen. Scott Wagner, Paul Mango and Laura Ellsworth.

Asked which of those he's vote for, Ridge chose not to make public his preference. He laughed and repeated: "I'm voting Republican."

The former governor, who left office before the end of his term to join then-President George W. Bush's administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, was in Harrisburg last week to deliver the keynote address at the opening ceremony of The Wall That Heals exhibit.

While in Harrisburg, he sat down with PennLive to discuss a myriad of topics. Here are some highlights of that conversation.

What the Wall means to him: Ridge, a Vietnam War combat veteran, said he visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. every once in a while as a reminder that "there but for the grace of God go I."

He shared a story about how after he graduated first in his class at NCO school for Army leadership training at Fort Benning, the company commander asked him to stay on and be the drill sergeant for the next platoon of men that arrived. He said the man who graduated first in that next class "was probably a far better soldier than I was. He was good. It was just instinctive. He didn't come home. The best of the best. He didn't make it."

So Ridge said the fact his name isn't on the wall "had nothing to do with being a good soldier. Survival had very little to do with being a good soldier. A lot of good soldiers didn't come home. They were all good soldiers. Everybody on that wall was a good soldier."

President Trump's military parade: Let's just say Ridge isn't a fan of the idea of a military parade in the nation's capital and has no plans to attend.

"I don't know of too many men and women who served in the military based among my friends who think we glamorize warfare," he said.

"I dare say if the President went to Vietnam, I'm not sure he'd be looking for a parade to come down Constitution Avenue. I know it's maybe in his way to be a tribute to our military but there are other ways than flexing your military muscle in front of the world to pay tribute to the men and women that serve. So I don't think it's a good idea but apparently we're going to have one whether Tom Ridge likes it or not.

"So much for my veto power," he added with a chuckle.

His buddy John McCain: Ridge last spoke to him about three weeks ago and is anxious to read McCain's book, "The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations" due out later this month.

While he said they didn't talk specifically about politics, Ridge said this about their conversation, "Our country needs his voice. Oh I know some people just say, 'Ridge you're wrong.' His voice, his civility, his decency. I campaigned with him in 2000 when he ran for president ... and I ran into and had occasion to spend time with other prisoners of war. Their admiration and respect for him is beyond anything I can explain."

McCain, who was taken as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down, remained captive for five and a half years. He was offered a chance to go home but refused, insisting instead that those captured before him should be released first.

"People forget that," Ridge said.

'Causes bigger than yourself': One thing about serving in the military is it makes you think about causes bigger than yourself, Ridge said. You start to think you are part of a team and you have each other's back.

"In the process of doing that, you advance the cause," he said. "That sense of community is difficult to understand and appreciate unless you had that advantage."

Ridge thinks it's a life lesson that everybody should learn. One way to do that would be to require every American to give a commitment of year or two of public service.

"It's never going to happen but I like the notion. I like the notion," he said.

Looking at America through a different lens: Ridge told a story about a visit he made to a Vietnamese refugee camp outside of Hong Kong in the mid-1980s. While there, he saw a Vietnamese fisherman show up in a rickety old boat that he said was in such poor shape that some people might not even take it across the Susquehanna River. Yet, the man made it across the South China Sea.

Through an interpreter, Ridge asked him why he would risk everything - pirates, treacherous weather, and navigating by the stars - to get there.

He said the fisherman took out a folded letter in yellowed plastic from his shirt pocket and handed it to the interpreter. The interpreter read the letter gave it back to the fisherman, who folded it up and put it back in his pocket.

"The interpreter told me that was a letter from his son who had made it to the United States and the letter from the son to the father said if you ever get a chance to leave the country, regardless of the risk, you need to come to America because it has," Ridge paused, getting choked up with emotion. Then he continued,"There are liberties and freedom here that you will never understand and you will never appreciate until you get here."

Ridge said he thinks of that fisherman from time to time and wonders if he ever made to America. "He was willing to risk his life to try and get here. It puts it all in perspective."Grade 7 KVR Middle School students Asia Palfrey, Alex Koturbash and Max MacIntyre don the appropriate robes as they prepare for Law Day on Wednesday at the Penticton courthouse. Local students will learn the ins and outs of the justice system through the trial of the Big Bad Wolf.The Site C Dam location is seen along the Peace River in Fort St. John, B.C., Tuesday, April 18, 2017. The federal government is not going to argue against halting construction of the controversial Site C hydroelectric dam in British Columbia while a B.C. court sorts out if the project violates constitutionally-protected treaty rights. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardMoody's says Trinidad & Tobago outlook stable



By Suzanne Sheppard



PORT SPAIN

Petroleumworld 05 14 2018

Moody's Investor Services has given the T&T Government a rating of BA 1. With a stable outlook. In a May 10 credit opinion, the rating agency cited, large financial buffers, high wealth levels and significant international reserves.

However, the agency added: Those credit features mitigate credit challenges related to a policy response that has been unable to offset the impact of low energy prices on the Government revenue. A steady rise in Government debt ratio has contributed to an erosion of sovereign creditworthiness.

Moody's said the stable outlook is based on the expectation that capital revenue related to asset sale will help reduce borrowing requirements and lead to relatively stable debt ratios of around 64 per cent of GDP. It said stable fiscal buffers limit down downside credit risks, along with ample access to a relatively deep domestic financial market.

T&T could suffer a rating downgrade if limited fiscal consolidation leads to significantly higher deficits. A reduction in assets held in the Heritage and Stabilization Fund (HSF) would undermine creditworthiness and lead to a downgrade, Moody's warned.

T&T's economic strength was assessed as low because of the slow pace of growth and the economy's relatively small size. However, this was partly offset by high income levels.

Growth prospects remain subdued given the sluggish recovery in the non-energy sector, while an increase in gas production and higher prices support activity in the energy sector, the agency said.

The score also reflected limited prospects of further economic diversification away from oil.

Fiscal strength was rated as moderate because debt burden and debt affordability indicators do not fully capture the heavy reliance of Government revenue on the energy sector and on capital revenue such as asset sales, which cannot be sustained over an extended period, Moody's said.

On balance, the country' rising debt burden is offset by low foreign-currency debt and moderate debt affordability indicators.

The Government has accumulated savings in the heritage and Stabilization Fund of around 27 per cent of GDP, which it has used to help finance the Government deficit, limit the increase in debt and keep interest costs down.

Moody's said the country's susceptibility to event risk is very low because of limited liquidity risk but said foreign exchange shortages and emergence of a parallel market for US currency were indicators of downward pressure on the exchange rate.

External pressures, however, are contained given a robust international reserves position of nine months of imports and an External Vulnerability Indicator (EVI) of 19 per cent, the agency added.

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Glencore temporarily barred from S&P Global Platts' Singapore fuel oil pricing process

By Reuters



SINGAPORE

Petroleumworld 05 14 2018

Glencore was temporarily barred from the S&P Global Platts price assessment process for fuel oil cargoes starting at the end of April, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.

However, by Thursday, the company had returned to the so-called market-on-close (MOC) price assessment process for the Singapore fuel oil market, known by traders as the window, according to trade data collected by Reuters. The window activity is a primary contributor to setting prices for fuel oil in the region.

Glencore in late April was placed under what Platts calls editorial review but is known to market participants as being boxed and means a company is not allowed to participate in the MOC. In the MOC, traders place bids, offers and trades that are monitored by Platts in order to calculate a daily price assessment.

Three of the sources said Glencore's exclusion from the window was likely caused by the delayed delivery of an unknown number of fuel oil cargoes it sold during the MOC for April delivery.

One of those three sources and another one of the five sources also said that Glencore sold cargoes that did not meet quality specifications outlined by Platts and that also contributed to the company being barred.

Glencore spokesman Charles Watenphul responded No comment. to an email request from Reuters for a statement on the matter.

S&P Global Platts said in a statement it does not comment on any participation reviews that may or may not occur, nor the activities of any individual company that participate in our assessment processes.

Glencore is one of the world's largest energy and commodity traders and being barred from the MOC would have left it unable to give inputs on setting the price for fuel oil in the region.

Glencore, typically an active participant in the Singapore fuel oil price assessment process, had last appeared during the MOC on April 23 when it offered to sell multiple 380-centistoke fuel oil cargoes, trade data collected by Reuters showed.

In April, Glencore was the largest supplier of fuel oil cargoes in the Singapore fuel oil MOC process by volume having sold 340,000 tonnes of the fuel to multiple buyers. A typical cargo sold through the MOC is 20,000 tonnes.

While such exclusions not uncommon and tend to be brief, the sources said delivery disruptions could have ripple effects for the buyers or end-consumers of those cargoes including increased logistical costs and risks of non-performance for cargoes that have been sold on to third parties.

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France to argument against U.S. sanctions on Iran

By Reuters



PARIS

Petroleumworld 05 14 2018

France pledged on Friday to push back against the threat of U.S. sanctions against French companies doing business with Iran, in the wake of Washington's withdrawal from the international nuclear agreement with Tehran.

The French government is seeking waivers and longer transition periods from the United States for companies such as Renault and Total, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, while pressing for European Union measures to improve the bloc's economic sovereignty in the longer term.

It's time that European countries opened their eyes, Le Maire said on Europe 1 radio.

President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal risks exposing European countries that have since invested in Iran to renewed U.S. sanctions after wind-down periods of three to six months expire.

Europe needs new financial instruments allowing it to be independent from the United States, Le Maire said.

Germany plans to offer legal advice to help its firms continue to do business in Iran, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier also said on Friday.

France and Germany are among EU countries that had drawn up euro-denominated Iran export finance programmes to resist U.S. sanctions. But the severity of Washington's stance has raised doubts about their viability.

Le Maire said he had asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for temporary or permanent exemptions for French companies, citing carmaker PSA, drug giant Sanofi and food group Danone among those affected - in addition to Renault and oil major Total.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also toughened the government's tone in an interview with Le Parisien.

We're telling the Americans that it's their business what sanctions they impose, but we consider the extraterritoriality of these measures unacceptable, Le Drian said. Europeans should not have to pay for U.S. withdrawal from an agreement.

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Brazil eyes 6.8 bln reais in 5th round pre-salt oil auction

By Reuters



RIO DE JANEIRO

Petroleumworld 05 14 2018

The Brazilian government expects to rake in 6.8 billion reais ($1.89 billion) through the so-called fifth round of bidding for stakes in the country's choice pre-salt offshore oil play, the government said on Friday.

In the coveted pre-salt area, billions of barrels of oil are trapped under a thick layer of salt beneath the ocean floor. Bidders compete for stakes there by offering the biggest percentage of oil after cost to the government, which also receives a fixed bonus from the winning group.

Earlier this month, Brazil's energy policy council CNPE proposed Sept. 28 as the date for the fifth round auction, which should include blocks in the Saturno, Tita, Pau-Brasil and Southeast of Tartaruga Verde fields in the Campos and Santos basins.

The plan still requires presidential approval.

$1 = 3.5919 reais

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U.S. overhaul biofuel policy to include fewer refinery waivers - source

By Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice



NEW YORK

Petroleumworld 05 14 2018

The Trump administration will scale back the use of biofuels waivers for small refineries and count ethanol exports toward federal biofuels usage quotas as part of a broad overhaul of the nation's renewable fuel policy, a source briefed on the plans said on Friday.

The changes are aimed at easing tensions between the oil and corn industries, rivals that have been clashing for months over the future of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard - a law that requires refiners to add increasing amounts of biofuels into the nation's gasoline and diesel.

While the RFS has helped farmers by creating a 15 billion gallon a year market for corn-based ethanol, oil refiners have increasingly complained that complying with the law costs them a fortune and threatens the very blue-collar jobs President Donald Trump has promised to protect.

After hosting several meetings between representatives of the corn and refining industries, the administration is in the last stages of formally proposing changes to the biofuels law intended to appease both sides, the source said on Friday.

A White House announcement is imminent, the source said, but did not have a timetable. The changes would be subject to the federal rule-making process, added the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The biofuels changes include cutting back on the number of waivers that the Environmental Protection Agency can provide to small refiners to free them from the regulation, and to ensure that any waived obligations are redistributed to other refiners.

The EPA is required by the RFS to provide such waivers to refineries of less than 75,000 barrels per day in capacity that can prove that complying with the RFS would cause them disproportionate economic hardship, but the agency has broad discretion over assessing the applications.

In recent months, the EPA has granted more than two dozen such waivers in an effort to help the refining industry cope with the RFS - about triple the typical level under past administrations - angering the corn lobby, which argued the exemptions are reducing overall demand for ethanol.

Reuters has reported that the recent EPA waivers have gone to refineries belonging to companies like the large and highly-profitable Andeavor and to CVR Energy, owned by billionaire Trump ally Carl Icahn.

The source did not say by how much the waiver program would be reduced, but said that the administration was committed to ensuring that any waivers provided do not have the effect of reducing the amount of biofuels blended in a given year - something that would be accomplished by redistributing waived blending obligations to other refineries.

Republican Senator Tom Barraso, who represents Wyoming, home to several smaller refineries, said he would oppose any agreement that would make it more difficult for small refineries to obtain hardship relief in the future.

Another change will be to allow exports of biofuels like ethanol to count toward the annual biofuels volume mandates under the RFS - which could ease the burden on domestic refiners by reducing the amounts they would have to blend domestically.

Biofuels groups have strongly opposed the idea, saying it could spark trade tensions and goes against the RFS' intent to increase domestic use of biofuels.

Counting exports toward the annual volumes mandates would be achieved by allowing such shipments to qualify for tradable government-issued biofuels credits that must be turned in to EPA each year to prove compliance with the RFS.

The Trump administration's tweaks to the RFS would also include temporarily lifting restrictions on selling a certain kind of higher-ethanol blend gasoline in the summer, called E15, according to the source.

Trump has already publicly stated his support for such a move, which has been long sought by the corn lobby because it would theoretically expand the market for biofuels.

Sales of E15 are currently banned in the summer over worries that it could increase smog - but the biofuels industry, and numerous scientific studies, show that E15 is little different from the currently approved blends in that regard.

The White House and EPA did not immediately respond to request for comment about the proposed changes to the RFS.

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China's first home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province for sea trials on May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Hu Kaibing)

DALIAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's first domestically-built aircraft carrier set out from a dock of Dalian Shipyard, northeast China's Liaoning Province, for sea trials Sunday morning.

It is the country's second aircraft carrier.

The sea trials will mainly test the reliability and stability of the carrier's power system and other equipment, sources said.

Construction on the carrier has been carried out as planned since it was launched in April last year, and equipment debugging, outfitting and mooring tests have been completed to make it ready for the trial mission at sea, the sources said.

China's first home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province for sea trials on May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Hu Kaibing)

China's first home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province for sea trials on May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Hu Kaibing)Mexico make first move to its annual oil hedging program

Stefan Klein/Global Look Press



Annual sovereign hedge is Wall Street's largest oil deal. Mexico seeking quotes from counterparties to lock-in income.

By Javier Blas and Catherine Ngai



LONDON/NEW YORK

Petroleumworld 05 14 2018

Mexico has taken the first steps in the world's largest annual oil deal , asking Wall Street banks and other traders for quotes to lock-in its income from production through next year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The country has been asking counterparties this week for quotes to hedge output, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. One of the people said the ministry has begun executing trades. Mexico's Finance Ministry declined to comment on the hedging program, which usually begins each year in May or June.

The oil hedge, a multibillion-dollar deal which typically covers between 200 million and 300 million barrels, has the potential to roil the market. Banks writing put options for Mexico -- contracts that give it the right to sell oil at a predetermined future price -- hedge themselves in the market by selling oil and refined products futures and swaps.

The recent rise in oil prices, driven in part by the U.S. decision to scrap the Iran nuclear accord, may have proven tempting for a nation seeking to set a price floor for its oil supplies. Oil options traders and brokers said a slight rise in volatility for both Brent June 2019 and December 2019 contracts may have been a result of Mexico hedging. Calendar prices for 2019 are averaging over $70 a barrel.

It was not immediately clear at what price the hedges were taking place.

Hacienda Hedge'

Mexico's Finance Ministry, the Secretaria de Hacienda y Credito Publico, historically buys put options from a small group of investment banks in what's considered Wall Street's most secretive annual oil deal . Two years ago, Mexico also included a small number of oil firms, with Royal Dutch Shell SA becoming the first non-bank to participate.

Last year, the Mexican government said it locked in an average export price of $46 a barrel. Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company better known as Pemex, also hedged some of its production for 2017, spending nearly $134 million buying a put option spread that gave it some protection if prices drop below $42 a barrel. The company said last month that it will start working on its 2019 hedge in September and October.

In recent years, Mexico has spent $1 billion on average buying the put options from Wall Street banks. The country has made money at least three times on the hedge since it started to lock-in prices every year in 2001, including a record payout of $6.4 billion in 2015 after oil prices crashed.

Mexico is preparing for an election on July 1. An aide for the front-runner, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said this week that the hedges by the Finance Ministry and Pemex will continue if he becomes president.

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The last thing you expect to see while spending a quiet day fishing is a Bigfoot moving about on the shoreline and throwing rocks. A Kentuc...Chinas first domestically designed aircraft carrier, which displaces 50,000 metric tons, leaves the Dalian Shipbuilding Industrys shipyard in Liaoning province on Sunday.LI GANG / FOR CHINA DAILY

Tests will focus on reliability, capability of new vessel's propulsion systems

China's first domestically designed aircraft carrier set out its maiden sea trial on Sunday morning, indicating it might not be long before it is delivered to the Chinese Navy.

The colossal vessel, which displaces 50,000 metric tons, left the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry's shipyard in Liaoning province about 7 am amid thick fog with the assistance of several tugboats before navigating into the sea under its own power.

The People's Liberation Army Navy said in a statement the trial aims to demonstrate the reliability and capability of the ship's propulsion systems, adding its construction has been proceeding well.

Hu Wenming, chairman of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, parent of Dalian Shipbuilding and chief of the new carrier program, told China Central Television that the new vessel is one of the advanced carriers in the world and its construction has strengthened the country's research and development capability regarding aircraft carriers.

The new carrier's name and hull code remain unknown, as the PLA usually only makes public such information when a ship is commissioned.

According to the Navy, the commander of the new carrier is Senior Captain Lai Yijun. Lai is reported to have been captain of CNS Lianyungang guided-missile frigate, commander of a frigate flotilla and then executive officer of CNS Liaoning aircraft carrier.

The ship, the largest and most sophisticated naval vessel in China, was designed and built by the nation on its own.

Its construction began in November 2013, and work in the dry dock began in March 2015. The carrier was launched  moved into water  in April 2017. By now its outfitting  during which engineers installed and fine-tuned all interior equipment and weapons  has been completed.

Gao Zhuo, a military analyst in Shanghai who follows China's aircraft carrier programs, said that after the first sea trial, more trials will follow to verify the carrier's maximum speed, resistance to different sea conditions, electronics and weapons systems as well as the compatibility of aircraft and aviation-support devices.

He said the vessel will be better than China's other aircraft carrier, the CNS Liaoning, when it comes to deploying and supporting fighter jets in combat thanks to designs by Chinese engineers.

Cui Yiliang, editor-in-chief of Modern Ships magazine, said the new carrier's sea trials will be like those of the Liaoning, and the total time needed for the trials may be slightly shorter than the Liaoning's because Navy personnel have had experience obtained through the Liaoning's operations.

The Liaoning was originally a Soviet-era vessel and was extensively refitted at the Dalian shipbuilder. The vessel conducted 10 sea trials starting in August 2011 before going into service in September 2012.

The new carrier has a conventional propulsion system. Like the Liaoning, it will use a ramp to launch J-15 fighter jets, the spearhead of China's carrier battle group. The ship also will carry several types of helicopters.

The new carrier has more than 12,000 pieces of equipment that were made by 532 Chinese enterprises, including many private firms, according to officials from China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. They said the vessel has more than 3,600 cabins, noting that during construction, there would be at least 3,000 workers from across the country working on the ship each day.

According to sources from the Navy, several aspects on the new carrier are different from those on the Liaoning  the new ship's island (the towering section of the ship) is shorter than that of the Liaoning; it has three aircraft arresting wires (brakes) instead of four on the Liaoning; and the landing section is longer than the Liaoning's, among other differences.

Experts have said that the new carrier will have missions that differ from those of the Liaoning, which is mainly tasked with testing equipment and weapons and training personnel. The new vessel, by comparison, will focus on what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do: run combat-ready patrols and safeguard the nation's maritime sovereignty and interests.

Zhang Junshe, a researcher with the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the Chinese Navy needs at least three aircraft carriers. When it has that many, one can be on duty, one can train personnel and the third can take on maintenance, he said.

Besides China, seven countries  the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Italy, Thailand and India  operate a total of 18 aircraft carriers. The US is the largest operator, with 11 nuclear-powered carriers, each having a full-load displacement of about 100,000 tons.

Related:

Chinas new aircraft carrier ranks among worlds most advanced warships

The new aircraft carrier ranks among the worlds most advanced warships, said Hu Wenming, chief of the new carrier program, during an interview with China Central Television (CCTV). [Full story]Vybe Urgent Care Clinics, a Philadelphia-based chain of four health care centers, plans to expand its footprint following an investment into the company led by Radnor-based NewSpring Capital and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM).

"We hope to get to 15 new centers by the end of next year," said Vybe CEO Peter Hotz. Formerly known as On-Demand Urgent Care, Vybe was founded in 2015 by Hotz, a health-care entrepreneur who previously was a Walgreens Group vice president and served as the president of Take Care Health Systems. "The company's name refers to the feeling you get as soon as you walk in the door," Hotz said. "It's supposed to summon the positive patient experience we're going for."

The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

As part of the transaction, Kapila Ratnam, partner at NewSpring, and Jay S. Feldstein, president of PCOM, will join Vybe's board of directors. PCOM will work to develop educational programs for physicians and the agreement will provide opportunities for the school's students to train at Vybe's centers.

"As patient care continues to evolve, urgent care is becoming a larger part of the health care delivery system," said PCOM's Feldstein in a statement. "Through a clinical affiliation agreement, we can expand the training prospects for our students, allowing them to interact with diverse patients populations."

Vybe currently operates in Center City, South Philadelphia, Port Richmond, and Roxborough. NewSpring manages about $1.7 billion in assets, according to its website. About 2,500 students attend PCOM at its City Line Avenue campus. The school is opening another location in southern Georgia next year.Gene Terruso (left), founder of BEST Divadlo, the first English-language theater in Brno, Czech Republic, confers with technical director Honza Capek on stage. Read more

Some are born into the theater, some achieve the theater, and some have theaters thrust upon them.

Gene Terruso had a theater thrust upon him  in the Czech Republic. One moment, he was a Fulbright scholar about to return home; the next, he was artistic director of the first all-English-language theater in Brno, a bustling, international, U.S.-culture-loving city.

Terruso is former artistic director of Steel River Playhouse in Pottstown, longtime teacher of drama at the University of the Arts, and an actor/director with on- and Off-Broadway credits. He was finishing up (he thought) a Fulbright year. He'd been teaching at the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, directing plays at the Orli Street student theater there. He also taught at Masaryk University, directing plays at the English department's student theater, the Gypsywood Players.

The U.S. Embassy asked him to give a farewell talk (he thought) about recent U.S. television. So he did. "When the talk was over," Terruso says by WhatsApp from Brno, "I was coming down off the podium, and this guy was walking right toward me."

"This guy" turned out to be the head of the English department at the University of Hradec Kralove, a couple of hours away. He'd come to give Terruso an award, as in a visiting professorship, research money, and teaching to last another year.

We hear youll be staying

Word travels fast in the close-knit Brno art world. "Soon," the popular Terruso says, "my colleagues at Masaryk called and said, 'We hear you'll be staying. Why not keep teaching here, too?'

"And then the Brno Expat Centre calls me," Terruso says: " 'We've had tremendous interest in establishing an English-speaking theater. We heard you'd be around. Would you be interested?' "

Before long, he was running the theater called BEST Divadlo. Its first production, November by David Mamet, ran March 11-April 8, sold out, to great acclaim, and "we're already being asked to do it again," according to Terruso, "even take it to international festivals."

For the record, BEST stands for Brno English Speaking Theater. Divadlo means "theater" in Czech. Also, for full disclosure, Terruso is the father of reporter Julia Terruso of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. He's in Brno for the duration, planning the theater's first full season, to start in the fall.

"Brno is a town that really supports the arts," says Don Sparling, a native of Canada and a retired professor of English at Masaryk, where interest in American studies is so keen that 800 students are pursuing that major.

Sparling was a major force in setting up BEST Divadlo. He describes Brno as a cosmopolitan, theater-loving town. "It's a city of about 400,000 people, but it has, I'd estimate, around 40 theaters," he says. (Philadelphia proper, about four times the size, doesn't have quite that many.) "And English-language theater is very popular," Sparling says.

BEST Divadlo co-founder Ivana Danhelova, a Gypsywood alum, says, "I think Brno has always been that way." She says "the Czechs are quite a cultural and creative nation  when four people with the same interests gather, they are able to form a theater company or a music band."

Theater from scratch

They had to find a place: a 50-seat space in the arts venue Kabinet Muz. They had to file paperwork for incorporation  three times. ("They kept sending it back," says Terruso.) The theater had to have a non-rented official address, so they used Sparling's. They had to set up a board of directors. They had to line up sponsors, like the communications company Deutsche Telekom.

And they had to pick a play and assemble cast and crew.

Casting was no problem: "Everybody knows everybody else," Terruso says, "and lots of people were interested in being part of the production." He says he chose November "partly because it has a cast of five, everyone wears business attire, and you need a desk and five folding chairs for a set."

November is Mamet's 2008 comedy about "an absolutely terrible president," Terruso says, adding, "People connected with it immediately." Robin Schenk, a native Czech who has studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, landed the role of Archer Brown, chief of staff in November. "Gene is a great director," he says by phone. "He has in his head the way he wants everything to go, and we were able to complete rehearsals in only five weeks."

And what did Schenk think of November? "The kind of humor Mamet has is really my kind of thing," he says. "At our first reading, at some points I couldn't stop laughing and had to rest between jokes. As not a native speaker, a lot of the jokes I didn't get the first time and had to ask native speakers what they meant. And many of them are local American jokes. Very local: The Americans and Canadians were saying, 'Some of this is so local, not even all Americans would understand it.' But when we did the play, I was actually quite surprised by how much the audience got the jokes."

Jitka Kratochvilova went twice. An English and Norwegian major at Masaryk and a Gypsywood alum, she's a fan of Woody Allen, Tom Stoppard, and other dramatists. "When I learned that Gene Terruso was founding an English theater group here in Brno, I immediately joined," she said. "This was for the first time I have seen a play by David Mamet  though I have liked The Untouchables movie  and learned about 'Mamet-speak,' which I came to love immediately."

"I feel an obligation to getting the theater further established," Terruso says, "which I think I can do by getting them through a full season of four plays. I've also started an educational program, a film series, and a public reading series of plays we're considering. All of those are giving us an identity in town."

Among plays getting a look are A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing, Neil LaBute's Autobahn, The Archbishop's Ceiling by Arthur Miller, Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, and Sweat by Lynn Nottage  an ambitious lineup tackling deep political, social, and philosophical issues.

So he's in Brno through at least summer 2019. Terruso goes home twice a year; spouse and family come out to visit. He says he doesn't know exactly when he will return to the States, or to what job. "But, hey," he says, "that's the theater life."Jay Leno likes to keep busy, which is why, on a recent Tuesday morning, he was giving a phone interview while waiting with a broken-down, "hundred-year-old" motorcycle by the side of a road in Los Angeles, pausing occasionally to greet passersby who were offering help.

"It's hilarious. It has absolutely no brakes, and the clutch broke, and I'm in L.A. traffic. So I think there's someone watching over me," said the former Tonight Show host and current star of Jay Leno's Garage (10 p.m. Thursdays, CNBC).

While Leno, who will be headlining at the Academy of Music on May 19, waited, we talked about the no-win nature of playing the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, his unwillingness to slow down, and the part that a gig in Valley Forge with Perry Como played in launching his marriage of 38 years. Here, edited and condensed, is how the conversation went:

How is your Academy of Music appearance different from your stand-up act?

Well, I think it is my stand-up act. You know, my favorite thing is comedians who play clubs for years and then you bring a lamp and a chair on stage and call it a one-man show. I'm doing a comedy act. What do they have me listed as?

Theyre calling it An Evening with Jay Leno.

Oh, they always do that. That's just a fancy way [of saying it]. It's a comedy show! Why would you want to spend an evening with me? I'd rather see a comedy show.

So your motorcycle broke down and you thought youd do an interview?

You need to utilize all your time. I'm all right. A shaft broke, and I'm waiting for my guys to come with a truck. I can't fix it by the side of the road. I didn't crash, so I'm glad about that.

Happy to hear it. So with all thats going on right now, do you ever miss having a late-night show?

No, I don't. You know, it's so ugly now. I did it when [George W.] Bush was dumb and [Bill] Clinton was horny. I never questioned anybody's motives, I just questioned their judgment. The world we live in now, if you don't agree with a performer's politics, then you don't like what they do. I have friends on both sides. People on the other side I don't quite understand, but we have informed, lively discussions. I watched the first season of [Netflix's] House of Cards. Then by the second season, [he thought], well, this is ridiculous, this could never happen. Well, now it's a documentary. You wake up in a world where [Bill] Cosby's in jail, [Donald] Trump is president. What's going on?

There is a lot of news, anyway.

There's a lot of breaking news, but most of it really isn't breaking, it's just news. I'm glad I lived in the time I lived in and did it in the time I did it. I don't envy the comics doing it now, the men and women, because you're all basically doing the same joke. I love Samantha Bee, I love [Stephen] Colbert, I love Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Kimmel is good, Conan [O'Brien] is fun. But I mean when the president is cavorting with porn stars, how do you make that funnier? It's hilarious.

With the country as divided as it is, do you see a role for comedy?

Yeah, it's the same role it's always had. I think people want to be entertained. When I do a show, I like to sort of make fun of both sides, so there's something there for everybody. I don't think anybody is particularly interested in my personal opinion. I mean, if I go to a musical performance, and the guy says, 'I'm not going to sing tonight, I'd like to talk about  ,' hey, it's not what I paid for. It's supposed to get you away from the things of the world.

You hosted the White House Correspondents Association dinner four times. Whats your reaction to the reaction to Michelle Wolfs performance?

I think she's great, and she's very funny. It's very funny to me that a comedian is held to a greater standard [on language] than the president of the United States. You can't really win at the correspondents' dinner. You come out and you're just funny, then they attack you for not being vicious enough. And if you're too vicious, then they'll attack you for going over the line.

Read more: Tina Fey defends Michelle Wolf

Im sure youre asked this all the time, but why are you still working the road? You could play with your cars and motorcycles all day long if you wanted to.

Well, I'm a huge believer in low self-esteem. The only [people] with high self-esteem are criminals and actors. To me, you're only as good as your last joke. Plus, it's fun. I love to write jokes, and to tell them. I played Philly when I couldn't get arrested a million times, and it's fun to come back and play there.

Have you seen Showtimes Im Dying Up Here, about the L.A. comedy club scene in the 1970s?

I have. I think everybody in it is very good, but where's the joy? We loved being young comics. I mean, everybody [on the show] is so depressed. Are there petty jealousies? Sure, there are. But when I did my first Tonight Show [appearance in 1977], Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld and all those guys came, and if you play my first Tonight Show, you hear Robin laughing in the back. When Robin did his first Tonight Show, I went with him. When Jerry did his first Tonight Show, I went with him. We all kind of supported one another. Steve Martin brought Johnny Carson in to see me. It's a pretty nice fraternity. Of course, there were a few people who were crazy, who had problems. But for the most part, it was a wonderful time.

Do you have any particular memories of playing Philly?

I played Grandma Minnie's, the Main Point in Bryn Mawr. I was at Valley Forge with Perry Como one time  I played Valley Forge with everybody  and I had my wife, Mavis, with me. We weren't married. Perry said, 'I like that girl. What's going on with her?' I said, 'We're probably going to get married.' He said, 'When you going to get married?' I said, 'As soon as I get some money.' He took out two grand and he said, 'Here. Go marry her.' And I said, 'OK.' And I did. And that was 38 years ago.

An Evening With Jay Leno. 8 p.m. May 19, Academy of Music. Tickets: $29-$139. Information: www.kimmelcenter.orgIn this May 7 photo, First Lady Melania Trump speaks on her Be Well initiatives during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Read more

First lady Melania Trump underwent a procedure to treat a benign kidney condition Monday morning, the White House said in a statement.

Trump, 48, underwent an embolization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The minimally invasive procedure involves injecting tiny pieces of a special material through a catheter into one or more kidney vessels to cut off part of the blood supply.

"The procedure was successful, and there were no complications," her office said.

Jerry McCauley, chief of nephrology at Thomas Jefferson University, said two relatively common kidney conditions can be diagnosed with imaging and treated with embolization: a vascular malformation or a benign mass called angiomyolipoma.

Without treatment, vascular malformations can bleed abruptly and become life-threatening, while angiomyolipomas can grow, causing pain and bleeding, explained McCauley, who is not involved in the first lady's medical care.

Embolization generally has little or no effect on the kidney function of otherwise healthy people, he said.

The first lady was last seen in public with her husband on Thursday when they greeted three Americans who were released from North Korea. The president, who remained at the White House during the procedure, tweeted that he was going to visit her around 5 p.m.

A week ago, she unveiled her formal platform, Be Best, focused on opioid addiction and two other initiatives.

Her office said she would likely remain at Walter Reed "for the duration of the week."

McCauley said most patients go home within a couple of days from an embolization, "but maybe there is an abundance of caution with the first lady."Daniel Webster, 86, whose perceptive, elegant criticism chronicled the classical music scene in Philadelphia and beyond for nearly four decades, died Sunday at home in Wilmington, said his wife, Karen Gripp.

The Inquirer's classical music critic from 1963 to 1999, Mr. Webster occupied his spot as Philadelphia commanded national and international attention through an orchestra that toured, recorded, and broadcast widely. He retired as classical music was being buffeted by many of the cultural and demographic shifts that continue today.

"His contribution for many, many years to the musical and cultural life in Philadelphia has been very important," said Riccardo Muti, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. "He was knowledgeable, honest, critical, and a very nice person.

"He was not the man of the elite, but the man of the people," said Muti, recalling the critic's early calls for classical music to attract wider audiences by abolishing highbrow perceptions.

Mr. Webster's Philadelphia era was bookended by artists like tenor Richard Tucker and conductor Hermann Scherchen in the 1960s, and the arts boom of the 1990s that created hundreds of millions of dollars in custom-built arts facilities and one of the most bustling music scenes in the country.

"Dan wore the language of music as comfortably as an old tweed jacket," said Rebecca Klock, former Inquirer fine arts editor. "Never pedantic or punitive or imperious, he made you feel that you should know these pieces as friends, or potential friends. His deep knowledge and sharp judgments were palpable, but beneath these lay a tender affection that spoke to a kinship with music that was far more personal than professional. In every review, he could have been writing for himself."

He described English violinist Nigel Kennedy in 1999 as "charming his audience with downscale nonchalance and upmarket playing." A 1988 visit to the Painted Bride by avant-garde composer Meredith Monk drew the observation that her "songs project everything but words. Her post-verbal texts are made of glottal stops and hisses, tongue clicks and tones pushed out from the diaphragm. Voice and amplification are one. She has almost erased the distinction between voice and the electronic means that project it."

He said of Joshua Bell's 1988 local recital debut at age 20 that the violinist was "clearly testing ideas, taking chances and sometimes running headlong through music, propelled by pleasure in his own dexterity."

Mr. Webster was one of only a handful of journalists to travel with the Philadelphia Orchestra to China in 1973 as the communist regime cautiously cracked open the door to Western culture. A few years later, with Eugene Ormandy's powers winding down and the best of his four-plus decades as the orchestra's personification clearly behind him, it was Mr. Webster who cheered on the young Italian firebrand Muti.

As traditionalists clung to the idea of keeping the orchestra in its ancestral home, the Academy of Music, Mr. Webster applauded the drive to build a new hall whose acoustical quality could be on par with that of the city's famous ensemble.

"He had a very open mind," said Muti. "He was a person always looking ahead and hoping for a society more culturally cultivated."

Particularly so for Philadelphia, which, despite its arts chic today, had a very decidedly less progressive vibe and aesthetic in the middle of the last century. "When he came here in '63, it was, as [composer] Ralph Shapey used to say, a musical graveyard," said Anthony P. Checchia, founding artistic director of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. "Dan was encouraging and supportive of new endeavors and projects."

Harvey Daniel Webster, born and raised in Grand Junction, Colo., trained as a French horn player and he recalled his astonishment as a young adult encountering his first Beethoven Symphony No. 3. It arrived over the car radio, and he pulled to the side of the road to hear it to its conclusion.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, he worked as a counselor at the New England Music Camp in Oakland, Maine, where he met his first wife, Helen Theresa Sault. They married in 1953. During the Korean War, he spent two years in the U.S. Army Band stationed in Salzburg, and after the war he went back to school, earning a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.

Soft-spoken and prone to deflecting praise, Mr. Webster had his first job at the Newburyport (Mass.) Daily News, and then moved on to the Quincy Patriot Ledger.

He was hired by the Inquirer in November 1963. It was a different time in music director-music critic relations, and Ormandy did not resist the urge to critique the critic.

"We spoke frequently. When he didn't like a review, he would call my wife," he recalled in a brief reminiscence written a few months ago. Helen Webster died in 1989.

Among the moments Mr. Webster considered high points: The trip to China in 1973 ("a chance to see a vanishing culture," he said); visits to Italy before Muti was hired; travel in Europe with the orchestra; attending the opening of the Metropolitan Opera's new house in Lincoln Center; recording the growth of music and dance in the city, especially with the start of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; and working with Vera Wilson at Astral Artists, which he did for a dozen years after retiring from full-time work for the Inquirer.

"It was a fortunate time in journalism and in music," he said.

He also wrote a coins column for the Inquirer under a nom de plume borrowed from his father-in-law, Henri Sault, and often wrote dance criticism for the paper.

He was in his post long enough to see cultural policies rise and fall like hemlines. He marveled when a study was commissioned to prove that the Musical Fund Hall's historically important 600-seat auditorium was of no use to the city, and then, just a few years after demolition of the hall's auditorium, he watched as arts leaders stumped for what would eventually become the Kimmel Center, which included a hall of about 600 seats.

And yet he expressed wonder most often at the unlikely profession of listening to music and telling readers what he thought of it, and at the growth of the art form itself. Wrote Mr. Webster in his farewell column: "Institutions may wobble, but music does not."

In addition to Gripp, whom he married in 1993, he is survived by their daughter, Emily Webster Gripp; children Martin, Nathan, and Theresa; and six grandchildren. Donations in his name may be made to Astral Artists, 230 S. Broad St., Suite 300, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102; the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, 1528 Walnut St., Suite 301, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102; or Delaware Hospice, 6 Polly Drummond Center, Newark, Del. 19711.Former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, at 80, reflects on his tenure and talks politics in his new book. Read more

Shortly after Jim Florio was sworn in as governor of New Jersey in 1990, he enacted a ban on assault weapons that remains one of the strongest in the nation.

"I'm proof it can be done," Florio said in an interview last week after the release of his first book, Standing on Principle. Florio, now 80, said he wrote it partly to encourage the activists who are working to get gun-control laws passed in the aftermath of the school massacre in Parkland, Fla.

Florio, a Democrat who served as an elected official for 24 years, says there are lessons to be learned from his experience  even though he paid a price.

The National Rifle Association was instrumental in defeating him when he sought reelection, he said.

Florio had been a rising star in the Democratic Party and was viewed by some as a possible future presidential candidate. He lost to Christie Whitman in 1993, with a 1 percent margin of votes.

Before he was governor, he served in Congress for 15 years and was the architect of the federal Superfund program, which would be used to clean up thousands of toxic sites across the country. He also had the vast, ecologically sensitive Pinelands designated a national preserve.

Sitting in his Cherry Hill law office, Florio said he has no regrets about the razor-thin loss that abruptly ended his career in politics.

"I'm at peace with it," he said. The former amateur boxer from Brooklyn won't concede absolute defeat, saying his gun law "is still the toughest assault weapon ban in the country."

The NRA had opposed the ban, saying it erodes a citizen's Second Amendment rights. The gun lobby poured thousands into a campaign to get the law rescinded and to beat him.

One year before Florio enacted the ban, America had witnessed a school massacre in Stockton, Calif. In 1989, a shooter who hated immigrants sprayed a schoolyard with an AK-47 and killed five children who were Southeast Asian refugees.

Florio said another reason he wrote the book was to encourage people to become more involved in politics and to learn about their elected officials. Are the candidates laying out "long-term policies, or short term?" he asked. Do voters just want their taxes reduced, or do they want their roads improved?

When Florio, as governor, raised taxes and imposed a new one on paper goods, he faced harsh criticism. Protesters tossed toilet-paper rolls at the statehouse and called for his ouster.

The toilet-paper rolls were "a clever public relations device  I have to give the devil its due," he said, smiling. But the protesters were shortsighted and didn't understand the issues, he said.

He raised taxes by a record $2.8 billion, but he said it was necessary because a recession had unexpectedly punched a $600 million hole in the budget. At the same time, the high court ordered the state to pay $1 billion to help struggling school districts.

"The problems I faced came as a surprise to everyone," he said. His predecessor, Tom Kean Sr., had reported a $300 million surplus in the budget as his term was ending.

As a child, Florio did not dream of becoming a public servant. He grew up in a working-class family, dropped out of high school to join the Navy, and then went to college on the GI Bill to become a teacher. He was drawn to politics because of his "drive to combat unfairness."

After graduating from Rutgers Law School in Camden, he volunteered to work for the Democratic Party and was mentored by former Camden Mayor Angelo Errichetti. The two men parted ways over a disagreement before Errichetti was arrested and convicted in the FBI Abscam sting in 1981.

Later, Errichetti was caught on the FBI's surveillance tape derisively calling Florio "a Boy Scout" who would refuse the cash that FBI agents posing as Arab sheikhs were offering.

Intensely private while in office, Florio divulged in his book that his brother, Bill, was gay and died of AIDS. "We never talked about it," he said, quietly. They never even discussed the law that Florio signed banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In the book, Florio said that his brother "had to live in the shadows for so much of his life."

Florio also wrote that after his marriage to his first wife ended, he met his second wife, Lucinda. She was an elementary schoolteacher and lived in an apartment above his when he was a congressman.

He was serious and guarded, and she taught him how to enjoy life and loosen up, he said.

Florio also divulged that his father, Vincenzo, committed suicide while Florio was governor. His father was terminally ill and was worried his medicines "would leave my mother penniless," Florio wrote.

In the interview, Florio said that his family tragedies and life experiences influenced his political career and that he had worked hard for the underdog.

Donald DiFrancesco, a Republican who became Senate president during Florio's tenure, said Florio's gun law had earned him "a lot of credit  and a lot of heartache." He said that Florio had tried to do too many things, too soon, and that likely hurt him politically.

"I have a lot of respect for him.  He dedicated his whole life to public service," DiFrancesco said.

Trim from his daily four-mile walks, Florio said that "life is good" and that he enjoyed serving the public. He still practices law and lives in Moorestown.

He worries that politics has become a nasty word and that apathy will undermine the democracy.

Florio praised New Jersey's new governor, Phil Murphy, for his progressive agenda and said that he will bring change.

Murphy, like Florio, has taken a stand "against the special-interest groups" in the fight for gun control, said Dan Ryan, Murphy's spokesman.

Ryan also said Florio "will be remembered fondly by history."

Florio said that writing the book helped him see patterns in his life. He hopes his 10 grandchildren will better understand what their "Pop-Pop" accomplished and will appreciate the importance of being informed and involved in government.

When they were small, Florio said, he took them to the Jersey Shore and told them how he had worked to make the oceans cleaner. "As far as they were concerned," he said, "Pop-Pop's major claim to fame is bringing the dolphins back."Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has cautioned that some people in the United States are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two countries, calling for enhanced dialogue to eliminate the "deficit of mutual understanding."

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Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai [File photo: VCG]

Cui made the remarks on Friday at the panel discussion "Forty Years of U.S.-China Relations" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The event, gathering over 200 people from politics, business, academia and media, was held to discuss "the twists and turns in the relationship over the last four decades and the challenges that lie ahead," the CSIS said on its website.

China and the United States will mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year.

COMMON INTERESTS STRONGER THAN DIFFERENCES

Beijing and Washington, after having come together 40 years ago united by common strategic interests, have seen the expansion of their cooperation and common interests in bilateral, regional and global issues, the ambassador said.

Their wide-ranging common interests have stimulated bilateral relations in the past 40 years and will serve as an important foundation of their future ties, he said.

As history proves, the common interests of China and the United States are greater than their differences, Cui said, adding that this will ensure the sustainable and healthy development of bilateral ties.

Referring to crises in bilateral relations, including the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, Cui said that the incidents took place either in or near Chinese territory.

These incidents were triggered by moves from the U.S. side that harmed China's interests, and that China had to take actions to defend its legitimate rights, Cui said.

He called on China and the United States to enhance dialogue to eliminate the "deficit of mutual understanding."

China has no desire to contend for global dominance with the United States; rather, it wishes to work with the U.S. side for a new type of relations featuring non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, he said.

GLASS CURTAIN

It would be naive to hope that good faith could serve as the basis of nation-to-nation relations, however, it would be more dangerous to see a country's foreign policy defined by hostility, fear and suspicion, Cui said.

There are some people in the United States who are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two nations, so as to impede bilateral exchanges in economy, science and technology, and people-to-people engagements, and even stoke suspicion against exchange students and research fellows from China.

China hopes these ominous trends will not be recognized by U.S. mainstream society, Cui said.

Cui said that the biggest challenge for large countries now is not posed by foreign competitors, but by their domestic governance.

The right choice for the United States is to increase engagement with China, rather than to confront, he said.

Like a race, Cui said the correct way to compete is to run faster and not to look back to see who is catching up or standing in one's way.

Talking about China's requirement that foreign airlines not list China's Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as "countries," Cui said any foreign company doing business in China shall abide by its laws as required by widely recognized international standards.

Among regional affairs of mutual concern, Cui talked about the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, saying any future negotiations should give full consideration to the security concerns of all parties, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan.The unmarked grave of Philip Duffy, of Duffys Cut infamy, the spot where 57 Irish immigrants were buried in a mass grave in 1832 outside Philly, was recently uncovered at St. Annes Parish cemetery in Port Richmond. A tombstone will be placed for Duffy at St. Annes during a dedication ceremony Saturday. Read more

Philip Duffy was an Irishman and a railroad contractor who will forevermore be linked to Duffy's Cut, a stretch of land just outside Philadelphia where he let 57 Irish immigrants  some of whom were murdered and some of whom died of cholera  be buried in a mass grave in 1832.

And then, as far as history can tell, he kept quiet about it.

If not for brothers William and the Rev. Frank Watson, two historians who uncovered secret documentation about the mass grave in 2002, the story of the 56 men and one woman buried near a stretch of the old Philadelphia & Columbia railroad line in Malvern would have gone untold and forgotten.

With history the great leveler that it is, Duffy's final resting place was forgotten, too. Until now.

Duffy's grave  which was not marked with a tombstone  was recently pinpointed at the cemetery at St. Anne's Parish, on Lehigh Avenue and Memphis Street in Port Richmond, thanks to work from the St. Anne Historical Committee and other researchers.

William Watson, one of the brothers who uncovered the documentation about the mass grave at Duffy's Cut, called the discovery "an amazing turn of events."

>> READ MORE: Promising discovery in 1830s deaths of Irish rail workers on the Main Line

"We always thought that a fire at the turn of the century caused the collapse of the tombstones, and that's why the grave was lost," said Watson, a professor at Immaculata University. "It turns out his family didn't want him to have a tombstone because they thought it would be desecrated."

But Duffy's going to get a tombstone anyway. In a Saturday ceremony at St. Anne's, Duffy's grave will be dedicated and a tombstone, donated by Laurel Hill Cemetery, will be installed. Watson and his twin brother will give remarks  even if, as William Watson said: "I don't think very fondly of him."

Duffy isn't believed to have been responsible for the cholera outbreak that killed immigrants just eight weeks after he brought them to the United States from Ireland to work on the railroad line, which is now the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh main line. Nor is he believed to have been complicit in the murders, which may have occurred at the hands of anti-Irish vigilantes. But his deafening silence about both was part of the reason their stories were almost never told.

"He couldn't have stopped the cholera outbreak or the massacre, but he could have told their stories and commemorated their heroism. Instead he wiped his feet of it," said Watson. "I do think he put his career and the advancement of the railroad ahead of the men at the site."

In 2012, a funeral service was held at Laurel Hill for four men and a washerwoman whose murdered remains were found by the historians at Duffy's Cut. The remains of two others were returned to Ireland for burial.

>> READ MORE: Long-forgotten dead of Duffy's Cut get proper rites

Watson said his team would resume excavation work at the site soon.

"We know the first seven were murdered, without a doubt  and I think that you're talking about a lot more who were murdered," he said. "This may be the biggest mass murder in Pennsylvania history."

A second newly discovered grave

A second gravestone will be dedicated Saturday at St. Anne's to mark the final resting place of Sgt. Michael Trainer, a Battle of Gettysburg veteran from the 69th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, whose grave was also recently discovered at the parish. Members of the 69th Pennsylvania Civil War Reenactment Group will be on hand to mark the occasion.

Over the last seven years, the St. Anne Historical Committee has worked to uncover and organize records from the church, which was founded in 1845 as a place of worship for Irish Catholics. Using logs, burial records, and attendance tallies, researchers located unmarked graves, which included 53 Civil War veterans, according to Russ Wylie, the committee's president emeritus.

"Many of the Irish immigrant soldiers that made up a large portion of the Union Army, their families didn't have the resources to buy them a gravestone, so they were just buried," Wylie said.

With most of the research and mapping of the cemetery at St. Anne's now complete, Wylie said, he's not aware of any other notables who may be buried there.

"However, the church has been serving the Port Richmond area for over 170 years, and there is always a possibility that more famous Philly characters are buried in the cemetery," he said.Advocates formed a human protected bike lane to raise awareness about bike safety after a woman was hit on her bike and killed in December. Five months later, Pablo Avendano was killed in a crash on his bike while working for delivery service Caviar. Read more

Bike messenger Pablo Avendano was delivering food Saturday night in Philadelphia at 10th and Spring Garden Streets when he was hit by a car and killed.

If Avendano, 34, had been working for a company that classified him as an employee, his family would be eligible for workers' compensation, and they'd be paid a portion of his wages. But he was working for Caviar, a San Francisco-based on-demand delivery service, the kind that has proliferated in the last decade and has built its business model around a workforce of independent contractors.

Avendano was one of those contractors, working in what's known as the gig economy. That means he didn't get benefits that most employees do, such things as health insurance, paid time off, or workers' compensation.

His death raises questions about gig workers' rights, or rather, the lack thereof. It's an issue that advocates have been grappling with as more workers enter into nontraditional work arrangements.

"The gig economy was created under the guise of giving workers more flexibility, but it was really created to lower labor costs and to find a way to get things done cheaper, and it's workers that are bearing that burden," said Debbie Berkowitz, Worker Health and Safety Program Director at the National Employment Law Project.

The National Employment Law Project published a paper in 2016 advocating for gig workers to be covered by workers' compensation, pointing out that such jobs as taxi drivers and bike messengers are among the most dangerous.

Some workers have effected policy change. In New York, there's a state-mandated "Black Car Fund" subsidized by a surcharge on fares, that provides benefits to all for-hire transportation workers, whether or not they are employees. And, in 2016, London gig workers for delivery services Deliveroo and Uber Eats organized protests and strikes for higher wages.

The gig economy is not a new phenomenon, says Stanford economics professor Paul Oyer, however it's become more prevalent now that technology has made it easier to connect workers with jobs.

In our current labor market, Oyer says, anyone who wants a full-time job can get one, so if someone is working for Uber or Caviar, that's because that person wants to, whether it's for flexibility or because it's better than, say, working at McDonald's.

That makes it harder for gig employers to staff their enterprises right now, but ultimately, he says the gig economy is here to stay. That's because it provides value to workers and to companies.

Employers say it's a matter of freedom and flexibility for workers.

Jianming Zhou, cofounder of SherpaShare, a service that helps Uber and Lyft drivers track hours and pay, has said that gig workers don't want to be classified as employees, as it would allow employers to have more control over them, and it's precisely that freedom they're signing up for when they take a contract job.

A contingent workforce also allows start-ups to grow faster: It lets companies easily enter and exit a market, as well as test new services, such as Amazon's launch of its new two-hour Amazon Prime Now delivery service and Uber testing out different products such as UberEATS and UberFlash.

Still, the distinction between employee and independent contractor is an issue that's being argued in courts across the country, with renewed interest because of the increase in the number of companies that employ contractors. Caviar was among the online food delivery services that were being challenged in court or through arbitration in San Francisco in 2015 for classifying its workers as independent contractors. Most recently, the Supreme Court of California issued a decision that will make it harder for companies to treat their employees as contractors.

As for whether Avendano's family is eligible for any benefits, Caviar spokeswoman Katie Dally said, "We're working to get in touch with Pablo's family and seeing what we can do to help."A frame grab of the attempted killing of officer Jesse Hartnett by suspect Edward Archer during a news conference at Police Headquarters Friday January 8, 2016. Read more

A Delaware County man was sentenced Monday to nearly 50 years in prison for shooting a Philadelphia police officer in an ISIS-inspired ambush attack in 2016.

Edward Archer did not visibly react as Common Pleas Court Judge Leon W. Tucker imposed the sentence of 48 to 97 years  the maximum allowed. As he had throughout his trial this year, Archer refused to identify himself and mostly declined to respond to the judge or to his lawyers, saying he was loyal only to Allah.

The man he shot, Officer Jesse Hartnett, testified briefly at the hearing, saying Archer  whom he did not know before the assault  fired more than a dozen shots at him purely because of the car he drove and the uniform he wore. He said Archer displayed "cowardice" and deserved the stiffest penalty allowed by law.

"He was on a mission," said Hartnett. "A mission to kill."

Assistant District Attorney Jan McDermott also read several statements from Hartnett's relatives, describing the officer's physical limitations in the aftermath of the crime  including the need to perform most tasks with only one arm  and the emotional impact on his family.

"We are extremely blessed that he is alive," Hartnett's father, Bob, said in a statement read by McDermott.

McDermott asked Tucker to impose the maximum allowable penalty against Archer, and his attorneys voiced little in the way of opposition.

Archer, of Yeadon, fired while the officer sat alone in his patrol car in West Philadelphia on Jan. 7, 2016. Hartnett was struck in an arm but managed to open his door with his feet and return fire as Archer ran away.

After being apprehended, Archer told investigators he had acted out of allegiance to the Islamic State. He has refused to participate in his own defense, declining to talk to his lawyers or submit to mental health evaluations.

Investigators have found no link between Archer and any organized terror organization. His lawyer, Trevan Borum, said Monday that he believes Archer to be mentally ill  possibly schizophrenic and certainly suffering from delusions.

Archer, in a brief outburst in court, denied his lawyer's diagnosis, saying he was not schizophrenic and that "I don't have no mental defects." He refused to say anything else.

As he was led out of the courtroom, his mother, who was in the gallery, said, "Love you, Ed," while his sister cried. They declined to speak with reporters afterward.

Borum said he was unsure whether Archer was remorseful. As for Hartnett, he said the officer "is probably the bravest man alive."

Monday's proceeding likely ends a chapter of city history that attracted international attention and was even mentioned by presidential candidates during the 2016 campaign. It occurred just days into the new tenures of Mayor Kenney and Commissioner Richard Ross, thrusting a spotlight on the city administration.

During a two-week trial in January, prosecutors presented evidence including surveillance video of the attack, ballistics and DNA tests, and Archer's recorded interrogation, during which he said he had acted out of religious inspiration. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before convicting him of counts including attempted murder, assault against a law enforcement officer, and weapons charges.

Ross on Monday said Hartnett's actions after the shooting were "nothing short of miraculous." He also said that the Police Department has been installing ballistics shields in the side windows of cars to help protect against similar ambushes.

Hartnett, who has undergone at least 11 surgeries since the shooting and had a unique set of metal braces inserted into his elbow, said he was pleased that the judge agreed to impose a long sentence to reflect what he described as an indiscriminate and selfish assault.

Since that day, Hartnett has gotten married, had a daughter, and harbored hopes of returning to active duty. He said Monday that he's unsure if he'll be able to fulfill that goal due to the constraints on his arm. Still, he said, he "would never change anything" about his life.

"I absolutely love this job," Hartnett said. "If I could take it all back, I would still be a Philadelphia police officer. I wouldn't change a thing."Gloria Byars (center) walks inside Philadelphia City Hall before entering Orphans Court Judge John Herrons courtroom Monday, May 14, 2018. At right is her attorney, Sharon Alexander; at left is an assistant. Read more

A Delaware County woman removed as court-appointed guardian for about 100 elderly clients in the region was berated by a Philadelphia judge Monday for repeatedly failing to follow his orders, being nine months late in filing a report he requested, and failing to show up at two hearings last month.

"She has failed over and over and over again to comply with the orders of this court," Orphans' Court Judge John Herron said of Gloria Byars, 57, of Aldan, who has been accused by family members of financially exploiting their elderly relatives. She arrived at the afternoon hearing a few minutes late, walking with a cane.

Byars, who has a criminal background of fraud, bad checks, and forgery, was the subject of a March 30 Inquirer and Daily News article highlighting the lack of state requirements, including background checks, for guardians who manage the affairs of people deemed incapacitated.

After her convictions became known to Herron last year and the judge learned that she was doling out work to her husband's company without disclosing it, the judge removed her from the 34 cases to which he had appointed her, and ordered her to provide reports of how she had spent her clients' assets.

Earlier this year, the other two Orphans' Court judges removed Byars from their remaining cases, as did judges in Montgomery and Delaware Counties. In all, she was removed from about 100 guardianship cases.

Monday's hearing dealt with the estate of a former Northeast Philadelphia woman, Estelle Segal, who died in February in a Bucks County nursing home at age 83. Byars, who operated Global Guardian Services in Lansdowne, had failed to file a report of how she had spent Segal's assets as ordered Aug. 10 by Herron and had not appeared at an April 2 hearing to explain herself.

Herron, in an April 4 decree, wrote that $127,607 was unaccounted for in Segal's estate. He sentenced Byars to five months in jail for contempt of court, but suspended the sentence pending Monday's hearing.

On Monday, Byars and her attorney, Sharon Alexander, told the judge they would immediately file a final account of Byars' expenditures. They said Byars had missed the April 2 hearing and another on April 24 because of illness.

Herron's threat of jail time remains pending the outcome of a June 6 hearing to review Byars' expenditures in Segal's estate.

After Monday's hearing, Byars and Alexander declined to comment.

The April 24 hearing was to explain disputed expenditures in the estates of a former Fox Chase couple, Edmund and Margareta Berg. The judge Thursday issued a decree ordering Byars to pay $63,079  in part to reimburse the Bergs for $34,113 in improper expenditures and $4,487 in guardianship fees she paid to herself, and to pay $24,479 in legal fees and costs incurred by Margareta Berg's brother, Josef Wituschek.

In a harshly worded opinion Thursday, Herron wrote that Byars' "misconduct ranged from mismanagement of the estates of her wards in the best of cases, to misappropriation of their assets in the worst."

Herron also lambasted the Philadelphia Corp. for Aging, which had recommended Byars for most of her city guardianships, writing that "the court is deeply disappointed in PCA and disturbed by its lack of due diligence in examining the history and fitness of [Byars] to serve as guardian before nominating her."

Added Herron: "PCA's utter failure to conduct even the most elementary assessment of [Byars'] fitness to serve resulted in her appointment to nearly all of her 91 former cases in Philadelphia."

He added that although Byars "is only one bad apple, that one bad apple has imposed an astronomical administrative burden" on the court's small legal staff, which has "had to go to extraordinary lengths to remediate her misconduct and find suitable successor guardians for each ward."

The agency's lack of vetting of Byars "has shaken the public's faith in the guardianship system," Herron wrote.

Byars has not been criminally charged in any guardianship cases. Herron wrote in his decree Thursday that the matters of the Bergs and Segal "have both been referred to the district attorneys of Philadelphia and Delaware Counties for appropriate review."

Unlike 18 other states, Pennsylvania does not require professional guardians to undergo criminal background checks, although the revelations of Byars' fraudulent past have spurred some changes.

In Philadelphia, guardians now must affirm that they have not been convicted of any crime involving fraud, deceit, or financial misconduct. Also, an individual or agency, such as PCA, now must submit a Pennsylvania State Police criminal history report for a proposed guardian. And if the guardian resided within the last five years in one or more other states, a criminal history report from each of those states is required.

The petitioner also must submit a statement of the guardian's certifications, caseload, and counties where the guardian has served. The new city requirements are similar to proposed changes recommended in December by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Orphans' Court Procedural Rules Committee to the Supreme Court justices, who would decide whether to adopt them statewide.

Changes also are being proposed in the legislature. State Rep. Mark Gillen (R., Berks) on April 9 introduced a bill requiring criminal background checks for prospective guardians and prohibiting felons from serving. State Sens. Art Haywood (D., Montgomery-Phila.) and Judith Schwank (D., Berks) are working on a Senate amendment to another bill to require background checks and certification for guardians.

"The court sincerely hopes that the discovery of [Byars'] malfeasance will serve as a clarion call to make the larger changes necessary to protect incapacitated Pennsylvanians," Herron wrote in Thursday's opinion.

Abbey Porter, a PCA spokeswoman, said in a statement Monday: "PCA acknowledges the court's new procedure concerning its appointment of guardians  [and] endorses the position that criminal history is only one of the criteria that may be relevant to the screening of potential guardians, and looks forward to its role in the development of these standards."In this file photo, agents take evidence from the Nueva Vida Behavioral Health Center of N.J. in Camden. Read more

A 78-year-old woman who worked as a psychiatrist at a mental-health services provider in Camden pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to defrauding Medicaid, prosecutors said.

Lyda Monte, of Bellmawr, worked at Nueva Vida Behavioral Center on New Jersey and signed bogus documents to get Medicaid funds for the nonprofit, prosecutors said.

Monte pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in federal court in Camden to making false statements to a health care benefit program. Between January 2010 and August 2016, Cesar Tavera, executive director of Nueva Vida, directed therapists to prepare false treatment plans, including plans reflecting treatment that was not actually performed on patients, in order to mislead New Jersey Medicaid inspectors. Tavera then directed Monte to sign these fabricated treatment plans. Monte admitted Monday that she signed the treatment plans knowing that they were fraudulent.

Cesar Tavera previously pleaded guilty to defrauding New Jersey Medicaid out of $2.5 million and embezzling more than $1.5 million from Nueva Vida. He was sentenced to 70 months in prison. Monte, who faces a maximum five years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 28.Sandrea Williams, 17, was shot and killed on Friday, May 11, 2018, in West Philly. Read more

It was "almost like a terror attack," Homicide Capt. Jack Ryan said Monday.

Two shooters  likely teenagers  "indiscriminately" opened fire on a group of teens Friday night in West Philadelphia, killing 17-year-old Sandrea Williams and wounding two teenage boys, Ryan said.

Shortly before 10:30 p.m., the gunmen crept up a driveway on the 300 block of North Simpson Street and fired 23 shots in approximately seven seconds at a group of at least six teens hanging out near Simpson and Carlton Streets, Ryan said.

Williams, who had just driven to West Philly with a 17-year-old friend to visit friends and her mother, who lives on Simpson, was an apparent bystander. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Her 17-year-old friend and another boy, 15, were each shot in a leg and hospitalized in stable condition.

Ryan declined to say who the shooters may have been targeting except to say it was likely not Williams.

Police believe the shooting was motivated by "some manner of petty neighborhood dispute," said Ryan, who declined to elaborate. Police were still investigating Monday and working on collecting surveillance video, he said.

Fired cartridge casings were found from two guns  a .45-caliber and a 9mm. "It's a miracle that there weren't any more casualties," Ryan said.

In an interview Saturday, Williams' mother, Nadia Syblis, 34, said she had been sitting on her front steps talking to an older brother when she heard the gunshots. She ran inside, came back out after she saw someone lying on the 6400 block of Carlton, then realized it was her daughter.

Doctors at Penn Presbyterian told her that the girl was hit by a bullet that entered her back and exited her neck, the mother said.

The teen had lived with her mother and two sisters, ages 10 and 18, on Simpson, but had moved in February to East Mount Airy to live with an aunt and help care for her three children, family members said. Williams was a junior at Camelot Academy in North Philadelphia after spending her freshman and sophomore years at Overbrook High School, her mother said.

A $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Tipsters can call the Citizens' Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS or homicide detectives at 215-686-3334.An ambulance driver was carjacked in Philadelphias Logan section. Read more

Two men jumped into a private ambulance and drove off with the operator in the back early Monday before throwing the driver out of the vehicle during a struggle in Philadelphia's Logan section, police said.

The 32-year-old ambulance driver was taken to Einstein Medical Center for treatment of a shoulder injury. Police later took one suspect into custody.

Police gave this account:

About 2:40 a.m., a man jumped into an idling Healthfleet ambulance at 12th and Louden Streets while the driver was in the back. The operator's partner was away from the ambulance getting something to eat.

After driving a block, the carjacker stopped to let the second suspect into the ambulance.

The ambulance operator tried to get out of the vehicle and started struggling with the intruder in the passenger seat.

At 12th and Rockland Streets, a block away, the carjackers threw the ambulance driver out. He called police and his dispatcher.

The ambulance company started tracking the vehicle and police ultimately stopped it at 11th Street and Rockland. By that time, one of the men had gotten out the ambulance.

Police arrested the 42-year-old man who was behind the wheel of the ambulance and took him to Northwest Detectives for questioning.

Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said the suspect appeared to be intoxicated and smelled of alcohol. His name has not been released.Voters face an unusual wealth of qualified congressional candidates in Tuesdays primary election, thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Courts new district map. Go vote. Read more

We're holding a primary election on Tuesday. You should vote.

That's the sort of thing we always say. (Because you should always vote.)

But this year, we mean it even more. You should really vote on Tuesday.

In part, your vote will be a vote of confidence for an exceptional year for democracy  especially for Pennsylvania's congressional districts.

The state Supreme Court, in overturning the state's gerrymandered map and drawing more sensible districts, stimulated a new sense of competition. And candidates rushed to get on the ballot in Southeastern Pennsylvania's new districts.

So now, in areas where members of the House were once reliably assured of re-election, we have open seats or incumbents facing qualified challengers.

>> READ MORE: Pennsylvania Primaries 2018: Endorsement Guide

Why waste a chance to weigh in on all that by staying home?

This year was already shaping up for healthy voter turnout. The results of the 2016 presidential election sparked a new energy and interest in politics and policy.

That is proving out with a wealth of new female candidates, looking to change the fact that Pennsylvania has not sent a woman to the House since former U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz left office in 2015. This influx matches a nationwide trend.

But don't vote for a candidate simply because of gender. Or their political party. Or because they ran the only television commercial you saw this election season.

With this abundance of options comes a responsibility for voters to educate themselves. Check to see if you are in a new district. Read up on the candidates. And browse the voter guide compiled by the Committee of Seventy, a good-government watchdog group.

Now, more than ever, we need a well-informed electorate making clear-eyed choices.

>> READ MORE: Pa. primary election 2018: Voters guide

It is firmly established that Russian-sponsored hacking of our 2016 presidential election was not a one-time act of international nefariousness. It is an ongoing attack on our democracy.

Nothing beats that back better than Americans with a well-versed sense of civic duty.

While a healthy voter turnout is forecast for Tuesday, not every primary sparks so much interest. This is a good time to be thinking about increasing access to the polls.

State House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R., Indiana) this month began soliciting support for proposed government reform measures. One of them would allow voters registered as independent or not affiliated with a political party to cast ballots in primary elections.

Currently, nearly 750,000 non-affiliated voters are banned from participating in primaries. That means nearly 9 percent of the state's 8.5 million voters go unheard in these elections.

New Jersey is also exploring more ways to encourage voting, including early ballot-casting and expanding vote-by-mail for any reason.

Increasing turnout in elections would further enhance competition, giving us a better crop of candidates from which to choose.

Former President Barack Obama last year paraphrased an ancient bit of wisdom about elections  "You get the politicians you deserve."

That puts the responsibility on voters, where it belongs. On Tuesday, ask yourself: What do you deserve from your government. Then go vote.When voters enter the booth Tuesday in Philadelphia, theyll be asked: Should Philadelphia mandate all city workers receive sexual-harassment training? Read more

When voters enter the booth Tuesday in Philadelphia, they'll be asked: Should Philadelphia mandate all city workers receive sexual-harassment training?

Considering the seismic #MeToo movement's effects in every corner of the working world, that might seem to be a no-brainer. But what would that training actually look like? And would it prevent sexual harassment?

At this point, no one knows.

Experts in sexual-harassment training say it's effective at preventing sexual harassment and empowering employees to report only if designed properly. Some research shows that it can even have the opposite effect: In the worst cases, these training programs can be detrimental to reporting environments and even empower people doing the harassing.

In a bit of a Catch-22, voters won't know whether they will be paying for the effective or ineffective variety: The city's training program won't be designed "until we get the official green light from voters," said Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who sponsored legislation authorizing the ballot question.

City spokesman Mike Dunn said the administration supports the measure, and should it pass, the Office of Labor Relations will work in conjunction with the Mayor's Office and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer to develop the program. He said those efforts will be in addition to an internal review that has been underway since last fall that is examining all current safeguards, training, and investigatory methods.

The Mayor's Office will also consider recommendations from City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, who is examining the city's sexual-harassment policies. A spokeswoman for Rhynhart said that audit, expected to be released by June, will likely include a recommendation of mandatory "high-quality" sexual-harassment training.

Currently, sexual-harassment training is required for rank-and-file city employees only when a supervisor deems it necessary. The new legislation would establish the standard as mandatory training that takes place on a basis of every one to three years.

No matter what is decided, experts roundly agree: Training isn't a fix-all, but rather should be part of a holistic approach that includes other steps such as updating policies, strictly enforcing rules, and promoting more women.

"The message of the training has to be that the city thinks this is important," said Deborah Weinstein, CEO of the Philadelphia-based Weinstein Group and a longtime trainer around sexual harassment. "The culture has to be that the policies and procedures have teeth."

Sexual-harassment training popularized in workplaces over the last 30 years has been largely ineffective in terms of preventing sexual harassment, because it was focused on "simply avoiding legal liability," according to a 2016 report from a task force charged by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Eric Meyer, a partner at the Philadelphia office of the FisherBroyles law firm, conducts antiharassment training and said effective training is most helpful for people who might be reporting it. As for the perpetrators? "People basically know what sexual harassment is," he said. That's why training sessions can be as much about establishing accountability as they are about education.

"So now it is about instilling trust in the employees that the organization has their back  that there are no free passes," Meyer said. "Whether it's the person who sits in the C-Suite or the person who cleans the C-Suite, the rules are applied the same way."

Below are 10 recommendations from experts and the EEOC when developing a sexual-harassment training regimen.

1. Conduct training in person

Sexual-harassment training programs are most effective when they're done in an interactive environment where questions are encouraged. Skip the online modules.

2. Tailor the training

Reynolds Brown said she'll advocate for customized training programs, as office employees might require different training than trade workers or police. Weinstein said it's also important that supervisors get different training than rank-and-file employees. She said supervisors "need to know that there are rules and that there are consequences." On the other hand, staffers need to be "told it is safe to come forward and complain and that there will be no retaliation," she said.

3. Keep it short and entertaining

Gina Ameci, a labor and employment attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said training programs should be as interactive as possible. They should last just a couple of hours and "need to be entertaining."

And, she added, grab coffee and doughnuts beforehand, because if you want to keep attention high, "food is a necessary evil."

4. Focus on building trust

Meyer said that since #MeToo, he's changed his training programs to focus more on fostering trust in the upper echelons of an organization, telling managers and supervisors that sexual-harassment training is as much about building confidence and trust in them as it is about educating employees about policies.

"I tell people, 'Forget about what the law says,'" he said. "`You should be focused on what is allowed in this workplace. I'm trying to educate you about your rights, your responsibilities, and how we can have a workplace that's harassment-free.' "

5. Clarify whats OK outside of work

Meyer said training programs should also remind employees that what they do off the clock can affect their employment, particularly as it relates to social media. For example, he said, if someone posts something harassing about a coworker online at nighttime, but that person reads it at 10 a.m. the next day at work, that "just became a work problem."

6. Include civility training

In recent years, some sexual-harassment training programs have been rebranded as "workplace civility" education. In other words, these programs tell employees what to do  treat one another with respect  as opposed to what not to do. The EEOC recommends that all employers consider implementing some form of civility training into their employee education.

7. Emphasize bystander intervention

The EEOC recommends including directions for bystanders in any sexual-harassment training. Weinstein said this can include instructions on how to report behavior they see or hear about. It can also include tips for how to intervene, whether that's speaking to the perpetrator after  with a stern "that joke wasn't funny"  or simply interrupting the situation to get one party out of the interaction before it escalates, Weinstein said.

8. Include language about traditionally marginalized groups

Studies show racial and gender minorities are subjected to high rates of sexual harassment in the workplace. Meyer said it's important that sexual-harassment training programs emphasize that harassment is a form of discrimination.

9. Avoid the terms harasser and victim

These words can exacerbate gender stereotypes in the workplace, studies show.

10. Follow up

Meyer said that while sexual-harassment training should be part of training for new employees, he recommended annual training sessions.The Chinese embassy in Myanmar has called for parties concerned to exercise restraint for an immediate ceasefire and take concrete and effective measures to prevent the worsening of the situation, following the outbreak of a fresh conflict between the Myanmar armed forces, police and armed groups in Muse Township, northern Myanmar, on Saturday.

A conflict between the Myanmar armed forces, police and armed groups breaks out in Muse Township, northern Myanmar, on Saturday, May 12, 2018. [Photo: cctv.com]

A statement of the Chinese embassy issued late on the day said some Myanmar inhabitants in the border area fled into the Chinese territory and some stray bullets were landed in the Chinese territory.

Condemning the violent incident and saddened by the injuries and death of the innocent people, China has urged the parties concerned to ensure life and property safety of the two countries' inhabitants in the border area.

Pointing out that at present, relevant parties in Myanmar are actively preparing for the third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference and China has been providing required assistance in this regard, the statement voiced firm opposition to any attempt to undermine peace and stability along the China-Myanmar border and any act deliberately obstructing the Myanmar peace process.

The statement called on all parties concerned to enhance dialogue, promote mutual trust, and move forward in the same direction to play a due constructive role in promoting national reconciliation and Myanmar peace process.

At least 19 people, including a police, four militia and 14 civilians, were killed and 27 others injured in attacks by armed groups in Muse township, Myanmar's Shan state Saturday morning, according to a release from the office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Service of Myanmar.

The attacks targeting three areas were launched by a combined force of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).The Pennsylvania congressional map for the 2018 elections, imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Read more

Like being part of history?

Well, if you're voting Tuesday, and I hope you are, you'll be part of what is arguably Pennsylvania's most extraordinary election ever.

Thanks largely to new, controversially created congressional maps, the state's often somnambulant self is suddenly shaking in ways formerly unimagined.

A record number of candidates, especially among women. Reported high energy. Maybe record turnout. And races that challenge political norms, some setting the stage for oddness this fall.

Take Western Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District. It's the only congressional race without primary competition. The lone Democrat and the sole Republican on the ballot both are incumbents.

Come November? Incumbent v. incumbent.

Yep. Democratic U.S. Rep. (from the old 18th District) Conor Lamb, who won a special election in March, faces Republican U.S Rep. (from the old 12th) Keith Rothfus in the general election in a brand-new district.

Might confuse some. But nice and easy for headline writers the night of Nov. 6: "Incumbent Congressman Ousted."

Oh, and that special election Lamb won amid a flood of national attention? You may recall he beat GOP state Rep. Rick Saccone.

Well, Saccone is running in a contested primary in the new 14th District. So, it's possible the region ends up sending both winner and loser of its world-watched special election to Washington.

Only in Pennsylvania.

And how about an incumbent lieutenant governor with same-party opposition?

Philly's Mike Stack, he of controversy over reported mistreatment of staff and security, has four Democratic opponents  and no love from his boss, Gov. Wolf.

Last time an incumbent LG seriously was challenged? I'm thinking never.

And Stack is vulnerable. A former Philly deputy mayor with money, Nina Ahmad, could grab some of his hometown base to help herself and the race's only Western Pennsylvania candidate, Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.

(Also, a colleague suggests, longtime same-party Stack rivals, the Brothers Boyle  U.S. Rep. Brendon Boyle; state Rep. Kevin Boyle  might offer to drive Northeast Philly Stack voters to polling places in Berks County. Hey, stranger things happen.)

And what of the slew of wannabes across the commonwealth?

A total of 84 candidates are running in our 18 congressional races, seven of which are open seats.

The Fifth District, covering Delco, some of South Philly and a piece of Montco, features 10 Democrats and a single Republican. And the sprawling 13th District, seven counties and parts of three others in Southcentral/Southwestern Pennsylvania, has nine candidates: eight Republicans, one Democrat.

I wonder how many voters don't know what district they live in, find themselves facing a ballot filled with names, wonder whatever happened to names they know, and end up randomly casting a vote or dejectedly walking away?

Speaking of which, there are special elections in the fall, concurrent with the general election, to fill unexpired terms of resigned U.S. Reps. Charlie Dent (in the old 15th, now the Seventh) and Pat Meehan (in the old Seventh, now the Fifth) to serve for a whopping two months.

Presumably, primary winners in those districts will run both in the special and general (hey, a chance for extra pay, benefits and a jump on seniority), giving some voters the rare (Philly-like?) opportunity to vote for the same person twice.

What a state.

Finally, this election is notable for diverse, credentialed candidates. And not just in Philly and its burbs.

Take the Dem primary in the 10th Congressional in South-Central Pennsylvania. Candidates are Shavonnia Corbin-Johnson, a woman of color who worked in the Obama White House and holds degrees in international affairs from Georgetown and George Washington Universities; Alan Howe, a decorated Air Force Iraq War veteran with a summa cum laude degree in Middle East studies from George Mason University; Eric Ding, an Asian American scientist and health economist, a Johns Hopkins grad with dual doctorates from the Harvard School of Public Health; and George Scott, a former Army Lt. Col. intelligence officer who graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown in international politics, and later in life became a Lutheran minister.

So, check who's running in your neighborhood. And don't let history pass you by.Mayor Kenney's signature $500 million public works initiative is being threatened by a dispute over a commitment to diversify Philadelphia's building trades unions.

Kenney and the trades' leader, John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, are clashing with City Council over the terms of an agreement to boost minority participation among the construction unions. Dougherty said he won't negotiate further with Council after having struck an accord with the mayor.

"That's the only deal they're getting from me," Dougherty said. "These agreements are perfect for trying to break the lack of inclusion in the trades."

Dougherty's remarks came as Kenney has lashed out at Council for its refusal to pass legislation that would authorize construction to begin in his 18-month plan for the first round of projects to reshape parks, libraries, and recreation centers.

"We are at risk of losing a summer of construction for facilities that are in dire need of improvements and may not be able to operate next year without them," Kenney, a Democrat, wrote in a letter Friday to Council President Darrell L. Clarke.

"The lack of progress has put the program in doubt for all Philadelphians eagerly awaiting these investments," the mayor said, noting that it had been nearly a year since Council provided initial approval for the initiative, known as Rebuild.

Kenney is also seeking Council approval for a property-tax hike to fund city schools. He is up for reelection in 2019.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed May 3 by Kenney and Dougherty with regard to Rebuild, the building and construction trades committed to adopting a goal of 40 percent minority participation and 5 percent female participation "in the building trades workforce in the Philadelphia area."

Dougherty, business manager of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, signed the agreement on behalf of the 21 unions in the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. But he's the only labor leader who signed it, and some Council members worry the document wouldn't be legally binding on other unions, said two Council sources, who asked not to be named discussing the sensitive issue.

Said one: "What we have seen was not felt to be ironclad."

Dougherty shot back: "It's an ironclad statement. These are the same people who were playing politics with the mayor because they don't want the mayor to succeed.  The mayor is the most popular elected official in the region."

"I think this Council is slowly becoming an anti-business council," he said.

Rebuild is funded by the city's 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on soda and other sweetened beverages. Kenney's administration scaled back the overall spending for the program when the mayor introduced his fiscal year 2019 budget in March.

City officials said the spending on Rebuild  as well as pre-K and community schools, which the tax is also funding  changed because the tax brought in less revenue in its first year than initially projected.

The fate of the controversial tax is uncertain; the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Tuesday morning on the tax's legality. City officials have said that expansion of programs funded by the tax is on hold until the litigation is settled.

The Kenney administration says it is now scaling back the program in order to expedite construction. Instead of issuing bonds through an authority, the city wants to do so through general obligation borrowing. But the administration was unable to provide an estimate for what it would spend on the initiative under the new approach.

City officials also said the administration would tap $8 million that had been approved for the fiscal year 2018 capital budget. Kenney wrote in the letter that he would begin using those funds immediately, without seeking an OK from Council. The mayor would need its approval for the vast majority of the money he wants to spend.

The mayor submitted the 18-month plan for the first round of Rebuild projects to Council in November. Council held a hearing on the legislation in March and again this month.

But Council hasn't passed it.

"All of this could have been avoided if Council had a seat at the table" during negotiations with the building trades, said Councilwoman Cindy Bass.

Staff writer Laura McCrystal contributed to this article.Two key players in the plan to save Philly schools: Superintendent William R. Hite (left) and Mayor Kenney. Read more

Philadelphia is in the midst of a significant shift in the governance of its public school system.

Since 2001, the School Reform Commission (SRC) has overseen the city's more than 200 district and charter schools, and the more than 200,000 children they serve. Come July 1, the School District of Philadelphia will be governed by a mayoral-appointed Board of Education.

The Committee of Seventy supports the move back to local control. And we applaud Mayor Kenney, Gov. Wolf, and our last set of SRC members for seeing this transition through.

We also support the proposed City Charter amendment voters will see on primary election day. The amendment, notably, does not approve the change in governance. This was initiated by a vote of the SRC and confirmed by the Pennsylvania secretary of education in December 2017. Approval of the May 15 ballot question would make sensible adjustments to the eligibility, nomination, appointment, and removal of school board members. Seventy encourages voters to review our full statement on the proposal at www.seventy.org.

>> READ MORE: Pennsylvania Primaries 2018: Endorsement Guide

Most important, for the first time in nearly 17 years, the buck will stop at one desk: the mayor's. For a system as large and complex as the School District, clear accountability is essential. The SRC was, by design, largely insulated from political pressure, and therefore also from the voters. This will soon no longer be the case.

Still, responsibility for our schools will not only reside within one office.

City Council sets the levies that currently provide nearly half of the School District budget.

Philadelphia's state senators and representatives must work with their colleagues in the General Assembly for the education policy and funding needed not only for our children, but others across the commonwealth. Our delegation in Congress has a similar responsibility.

Meanwhile, the nine Philadelphians selected to the new school board will be approving budgets, issuing debt, and overseeing the superintendent, who runs the district on a daily basis. For this first cohort of board members in particular, setting the highest possible standard for ethics and integrity is critical.

But responsibility still does not end there.

>> READ MORE: 6 things the new Philly school board absolutely should not do | Editorial

Voters choose our elected officials. We must stay informed on the issues, demand action, and expect results. With that in mind, scores of candidates across the city are vying for legislative and congressional seats this year. And municipal offices are on the ballot in 2019.

The Committee of Seventy looks forward to working with the new school board, our elected officials, and organizations across the city to ensure all children have the opportunity to reach their potential.

David Thornburgh is CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan advocate for better government and politics in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, right, waves to supporters as he joins fellow Sen. Tom Cotton (R, Ar.), at left, on the final weekend of the campaign at VFW Post 106 in West Chester, PA on November 5, 2016. Read more

As I sat in the hearing room watching Gina Haspel's confirmation hearing to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief . . . that Tom Cotton wasn't nominated.

Cotton, a 40-year-old Republican senator from Arkansas and a Trump loyalist, had been the front-runner for the position. But President Trump instead tapped a career CIA operative, and Cotton was on the dais when Haspel testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.

Haspel has her flaws. Her lawyerly statements about torture, and her role in destroying tapes of black-site interrogators using it, did not inspire confidence that she would stand up to Trump if he pressed her to, say, poison Angela Merkel's Pilsener.

But Haspel's flaws are nothing compared with those of Cotton, who has surpassed Ted Cruz (R., Texas) as the most disliked member of the Senate. He used his five minutes of questioning time to "clear up" and "take exception to" the "entirely false" things his colleagues said, peppering his remarks with gratuitous partisan swipes.

And then he kept going.

When Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, was questioning Haspel about moral standards, Cotton heckled his senior colleague from the other side of the dais.

A few minutes after that, when Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark R. Warner (D., Va.) was giving closing remarks about former CIA Director John Brennan's views on torture, Cotton interrupted again.

Warner winced and looked over at Cotton. "Excuse me," he said.

Cotton kept on heckling. "That would be the same Mr. Brennan who supports her nomination!"

Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina hammered the gavel to silence his fellow Republican.

"The senator will suspend," he ordered.

Cotton ignored Burr. "We need the full record on the record!" he continued.

"No," Burr repeated. "The senator will suspend."

Cotton still refused. "John Brennan supports her nomination!" he said, before quieting.

Such an outburst and rebuke is unusual  but Cotton is no ordinary guy. Colleagues and staff on the Hill report that he can be as nasty privately as he is publicly, as uncivil to Republicans as he is to Democrats. He imputes ill motives to those who disagree with him. He served in the military but now treats politics as war.

He is, in short, an embodiment of what ails Washington: no compromise, and no disagreement without disagreeability.

It was Cotton who went to the White House to dissuade Trump from backing a bipartisan immigration compromise. When Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R., S.C.) observed that Cotton had become "sort of the Steve King of the Senate," Cotton retorted that Graham "didn't even make it off the kiddie table in the debates."

It was Cotton, too, who suggested that Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D., Ill.) and Graham were lying about Trump's referring to "shithole" African countries  even though Trump and the White House hadn't denied he used such language.

It was Cotton who in 2015 wrote a letter to "the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran" discouraging them from negotiating with the Obama administration.

It was Cotton who in 2016 denounced the "cancerous leadership" and "bitter, vulgar, incoherent ramblings" of then-Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D., Nev.).

And, most revealingly, it was Cotton who blocked confirmation of Cassandra Butts to be ambassador to the Bahamas. Butts died while awaiting confirmation, but she told Frank Bruni of the New York Times that Cotton told her that because she was a friend of President Barack Obama's, "blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president." Bruni reported in 2016 that Cotton's spokeswoman did not dispute Butts' account.

The Haspel nomination is a case in which reasonable people can disagree. Demonstrators portrayed her as "Bloody Gina" the "torturer." She, by contrast, went full Carrie Mathison in her opening statement, describing brush passes, dead drops, dusty alleys and dismantled cells.

In between those caricatures are fair and principled concerns: that she's allowing declassification only of favorable information about her; that she's reluctant to say it was wrong to do "enhanced interrogation"; that she's naive to think Trump would never ask her to do something inappropriate.

But Cotton could see only malignant motives. "If Hillary Clinton had won and nominated you to be CIA director, how many votes do you think you would have gotten?" he asked Haspel, in a statement full of partisan invective that preceded his heckling.

I asked Cotton's office if he had regrets about the hearing. Cotton replied to me in a statement: "I regret Sen. Warner implied that Gina Haspel and other CIA officers belonged in jail. I regret Sen. Reed compared patriotic CIA officers to terrorists. I regret Senate Democrats are shocked when they are called to account.  I regret Senate Democrats are so blinded by their hatred of Donald Trump."

And I regret that this rage-filled man can't understand that his opponents are not his enemies.

Dana Milbank is an op-ed columnist. He sketches the foolish, the fallacious and the felonious in politics. @MilbankBrian F. Dolan, 45, of Fox Chase, a decorated Navy veteran and Philadelphia firefighter for the last 15 years, died Thursday, May 10, of injuries sustained in a fall from a ladder while helping a friend with a home-maintenance job.

Mr. Dolan, a skilled handyman, was at the friend's residence in the 800 block of Fanshawe Street when he fell. He died at 12:18 p.m. in the emergency room at Einstein Medical Center. The cause of death was blunt impact and the fall ruled accidental by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office.

Mr. Dolan was a career Philadelphia firefighter who had served since 2003 with Engine 51 and then with Ladder 29, both based out of a fire station on Old York Road in Olney.

While with Engine 51, his job was mainly fire suppression, dragging hoses and knocking down flames. While with Ladder 29, he performed search-and-rescue missions and positioned ladders against buildings, said Fire Department Lt. Nicholas Lazar, who worked with him at Ladder 29. The units both fight fires, but their jobs are somewhat specialized.

But Mr. Dolan had a third skill as an emergency medical technician. "The number of EMS calls he handled probably ranged in the thousands," Lazar said. "He assisted many people in their time of need, be it a fire, sickness or illness. Everyone's worst day was the time Brian would step up."

Born and raised in the Olney section of Philadelphia, he was the son of Ernest J. Dolan and Paula M. Yost. He graduated from Northeast Preparatory High School in 1991.

He served in the Navy from 1992 to 1994 as an electrical and mechanical equipment repairman aboard the Barnstable County LST-1197, a tank landing ship. He was awarded the Southwest Asia Service Medal with a Bronze Star and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. He was honorably discharged with the rank of fireman apprentice.

As a young man, Mr. Dolan aspired to become a firefighter. "He talked about it when I met him in 1995," said his wife, Laura M. Weaver.

Mr. Dolan was "a true Philadelphian," meaning he loved the Rocky movies and was passionate about the Eagles, said his family.

"I'm glad he got to see them win the Super Bowl before he died," said his wife. "He was happy as heck. He was a true fan."

He also enjoyed spending time with family in Toms River, N.J., and Wildwood during the summer.

He was so proud of his Irish heritage that he married Weaver, whom he called his "soulmate and best friend," on St. Patrick's Day, 2001, at St. Cecilia's Parish in Fox Chase. The couple raised three children in Northeast Philadelphia.

"He would do for others," his wife said. "He would give you the shirt off his back. He used to say he had so many friends, that if he had a Facebook page, the computer would explode."

In addition to his wife, he is survived by children Brian Joseph, Gwyneth and Daniel Dolan; two brothers; a sister; and nieces and nephews.

A viewing starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 15, will be followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m. at Wetzel and Son Funeral Home, 419 Huntingdon Pike, Rockledge. The service will be conducted by Charles R. Lindsay, a Philadelphia fire chaplain and friend of Mr. Dolan's. Interment with full military honors will be at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Newtown.

Memorial donations may be made to the Philadelphia Fire Fighters' and Paramedics Union, Local 22 Widow's Fund, 415 N. Fifth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19123. Checks should be made out to Local 22 Charitable Trust.The line outside the Philly Tech Week 2018 kickoff. Philly Tech Week, now in its eighth year, is a week-long conference that looks at the intersection of technology and innovation. Read more

Problems and opportunities are related, but they aren't the same.

For example, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Buffalo face many of the same related problems: inadequate investment, poverty, crime.

But their opportunities have more differences. For one, Philadelphia has nearly 2 times the population of Detroit, and is clinging to growth, while Detroit is still shrinking. For another, Philadelphia is relatively well-transited and connected to the country's densest economic corridor, while Buffalo is more isolated. But likewise, Detroit and Buffalo have distinctions that Philadelphia does not.

So, when one is assessing a city's successes, including its progress in fortifying a new entrepreneurial class, one first needs to decide whether to compare by problems or opportunities.

I found myself thinking about this last week during the eighth annual Philly Tech Week, presented by Comcast. Each year, this is a time for introspection. I asked myself a familiar question as Philly Tech Week wound down this year:

How does Philadelphia's tech sector stack up against other communities'?

Philadelphia has the familiar problems of big, old cities  decaying infrastructure and hardened factionalism. Long ago, we fell out of the peer group with London and Paris and were leaped over by Shenzhen and Dubai.

But we risk doing Philadelphia a disservice when we reduce our city's innovation reputation options to a binary: global super city or decrepit backwater. So, though Philadelphia is more Kyoto than Tokyo, we are are not quite akin to Birmingham, Ala., when it comes to innovation. To make that comparison would be overly reductive.

Philadelphia's problems may sound a lot like those of Cleveland and St. Louis. We are both poor and not wealthy. Our outdated tax structure is a drag on business growth, and we traded up that brain drain for a mid-career muddle, resulting in nervous millennial watchers. Philly remains a violent place.

But the answer to the question of how competitive is Philadelphia's tech scene is positive, precisely because of the opportunities that lie ahead of us: We have serious assets. This is a (relatively) talent-rich landscape. We are in a customer-rich region. We conquered our post-graduate brain drain problem. Center City is a magnet for the college-educated.

So, taking all of that into consideration, how is Philadelphia's tech sector faring?

One of the country's largest educated regional work forces is experiencing positive directional signs of an urban-core innovation boom. Philly Tech Week's 100 innovation events are a sign of just that, part of our storytelling. If you ask enough people who self-identify as part of this big category of the Philly tech community, you'll be able to find some eager to point out what is lacking here. In my experience reporting on a half-dozen tech clusters and following at least a dozen more, I can say they all have the same problems and opportunities.

It's always easier to offer excuses for why something isn't what it could be than to be someone doing something about it. We know our problems, and we should continue to confront them. We know what needs to be done, and let's debate other needs. But what we most need is people to get to work. That's the best of what entrepreneurship and technology communities are  people who define themselves by confronting and solving problems.

That's why we must invest in wealth creation tethered to civic good. Because, while Philly, like all cities, has problems big and small, the opportunities that exist for us are expansive. We have the problems, but we have so many more solutions. We can make change with that in mind.

Christopher Wink is a founder and the CEO of Technical.ly, the local tech news network. An edited version of this post appeared on Technical.ly last week.U.S., China working to get ZTE back into business: Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington and Beijing are working to get Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, which is suffering from a U.S. exports ban, back into business.

The two sides "are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," said Trump in a tweet.

Visitors experience products of Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp, at the Mobile World Congress America Exhibition in San Francisco. [Photo: Xinhua]

The president added that he has instructed the U.S. Commerce Department "to get it done."

ZTE, one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers, was forced to suspend its main operations worldwide after the U.S. Commerce Department prohibited American companies from exporting products to it in mid-April.

Following the exports ban, ZTE said it was making active communications with relevant parties to seek a solution to the issue, and stressed that it attached significant importance to export control compliance.

The Chinese public and government are greatly concerned about the fate of the company, which hires some 70,000 people across the globe. The incident also triggered in China extensive discussions about the necessity and urgency to develop a reliable domestic chip industry.

During the latest China-U.S. economic and trade consultations held in Beijing in early May, the Chinese side lodged "solemn representations" with the United States over the ZTE case.

The U.S. delegates responded that they "attach importance to" China's stance and will report it to President Trump, according to a spokesperson with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

The ZTE ban is also expected to cause sizable losses for the companies' key American suppliers in both revenues and jobs.

According to an April statement by California-based optical gear maker NeoPhotonics, the company's estimated annualized revenue with ZTE and its supply chain partners would have grown up to 5 percent without the exports ban. Business with ZTE and its supply chain partners accounted for approximately 3 percent of NeoPhotonics' total revenue in 2017.

As the fourth-largest mobile phone supplier in the U.S. market, ZTE said it has estimatedly supported some 130,000 high-tech jobs in America.

Related:

US reconsideration on ZTE ban is welcomed

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump tweeted, "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"A Texas-based training program, called Interdiction for the Protection of Children (IPC), teaches law enforcement officers how to spot indicators of child-sex trafficking and conduct roadside investigations.

Among the warning signs: drivers who are older and unrelated to their victims, who tell unlikely stories to the police, or who possess illegal drugs in amounts consistent with personal use  to keep their companions docile. Victims, officers learn, often lie to the police in obvious ways, sometimes appearing scattered or nonsensical  telltale effects of fear and trauma. They continually try to make eye contact with their abuser, as if looking for signals or orders. And they frequently possess sex toys, condoms, lubricant and lingerie inappropriate for their age, reports the Washington Post.

Some of these details might seem obvious; but, surprisingly, before the development of the IPC program in 2009 by a Texas Department of Public Safety officer named Derek Prestridge, there was no comparable, comprehensive training program to help patrol officers  those most likely to encounter children in distress  identify missing, exploited or at-risk kids.

The success of the program has been, unavoidably, difficult to quantify. Before the creation of IPC training, Texas DPS kept no record of "child rescues." But as of February, Texas state troopers had made 341 such rescues since the program's inception; and in formalized follow-up interviews, virtually all of the troopers said the training was key to spurring them to action.Here's a story from Fox News that caught my eye. It calls attention to Minnesota being a congressional battleground state this year, with CD1 obviously being a hot spot with Rep. Tim Walz running for governor.

Here's what Fox News says about the favorite on the Republican side, Jim Hagedorn, who's making his fourth bid for the 1st District seat, and who's being challenged by Rochester state Sen. Carla Nelson:

Republicans see the opportunity to win at least one Minnesota House race: the 1st congressional district seat vacated by Democrat Tim Walz, who's running for governor.

The leader in GOP primary appears to be conservative blogger Jim Hagedorn, whos competing against state Sen. Carla Nelson. Hagedorn has the state partys backing and the personal endorsement of Minnesota GOP Rep. Tom Emmer, a co-leader in the National Republican Campaign Committee.

"However, other Republicans are wary about Hagedorns general election chances of retaking the conservative-lean southern Minnesota seat -- considering hes lost in three previous attempts, including a 2016 bid when Republican Donald Trump won the district by roughly 15 points. ...

"Nominating Jim Hagedorn this cycle would be catastrophic for our chances in this seat in November," retired Mayo Clinic Dr. Ricky Clay told Fox News on Friday. "Democrats have never spent much money or used his lengthy history of inappropriate comments against him. Trump won this district by 15 points and Hagedorn still lost. This time we have a targeted race with millions of dollars being poured into it."

FYI, Hagedorn and Nelson will square off in the primary election on Aug. 14.

Among interesting angles on this: Who's retired Mayo Dr. Ricky Clay? The Fox News story doesn't say -- it doesn't even say where he lives now.

The only references to Clay in the Post Bulletin archives are a few clips from the early 1990s about his work at Mayo as a plastic surgeon, including a case involving conjoined twins from Fargo, N.D., who were separated. There's no indication of any political involvement.

I checked quickly online and after leaving Mayo, Clay practiced in Jackson, Miss. I called a recent contact number for him in Jackson and was told he had retired in February.

I'll check with 1st District Republicans as to why he would be cited in a national Fox News story about Hagedorn's prospects in the 1st District. I also contacted the Fox News reporter, and Sen. Nelson's office.Launching rockets and satellites has long been the preserve of China's State-owned aerospace firms, but private space companies are now popping up hoping to find gold in the space dust.

A report by Beijing-based investment institution FutureAerospace said that more than 60 private Chinese companies have entered the commercial space industry over the past three years, focusing on the production and launch of satellites and rockets.

Most of the companies are based in Beijing, home to many space experts, as well as South China's Guangdong Province, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Central China's Hubei Province, where the manufacturing industry is more developed.

This follows a government policy issued in 2015 to encourage private enterprises in space.

Analysts said that commercial space activity could help lower costs, increase the efficiency of space activities and accelerate technology development.

Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are developing cost-effective carrier vehicles with the aim to make space travel possible for ordinary people. They have also inspired Chinese entrepreneurs.

Founded in June 2015, LandSpace, a private rocket producer, has gained investment of more than 500 million yuan ($78.61 million). Its technicians are former State-owned aerospace industry workers.

"This is the best time for China's commercial space companies. The core advantage of private companies is rapid decision-making and rapid technical upgrading," said Zhang Changwu, CEO of LandSpace, which signed a contract with a Danish company this year to provide launch services.

LandSpace has designed a small solid-propellant rocket that can carry up to 300 kilograms into a low-Earth orbit. It is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018. The company is now focusing on developing a liquid-propellant engine and a medium-sized rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and methane.

LandSpace is not alone in the launch market.

Shu Chang set up OneSpace in August 2015. With investment totaling 500 million yuan, OneSpace has developed a rocket engine that passed factory trials. Its first mini-rocket, capable of sending a 100-kg payload to an altitude of 800 kilometers, is expected to launch soon.

"SpaceX has inspired China's space industry. But I dont want to duplicate the SpaceX story. I want my company to have its own advantages," Shu said.

With the development of autonomous driving, the Internet of Vehicles and the Internet of Things, remote sensing and communication satellites are believed to have good prospects.

SpaceOK, a Shanghai-based start-up, plans to produce and launch up to 40 small communication satellites in the next three years for Internet of Things.

"We aim to solve the problems of the traditional aerospace enterprises, such as a lack of innovation, high costs and insufficient application of satellite data," said Wang Yang, CEO of SpaceOK.

The value of the global space market is estimated to reach $485 billion in 2020, with the value of China's market alone projected to be 800 billion yuan.Within the hour we will move our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Its a big day for Israel and the United States. Hamas wants it known that its followers are unhappy about it. Hamas terrorists are staging assaults on Israel today in response. They would like to kill the Jews across the border, but they will be almost as happy to get their own civilians killed. Its all for the benefit of an audience that never tires of eternal recurrence, Palestinian style.

I have found the IDF to be a far more reliable source of news on the war than even Fox News, let alone the Democrats media adjunct. Reports based on announcements from the Gaza Health Ministry are particularly dubious. I doubt that the news in this IDF report will get through the smoke. Click on the tweet below for more.

A short while ago, 3 terrorists attempted to place an explosive device near the security fence in Rafah, under the cover of violent riots. In response, the IDF fired at the terrorists, who were killed pic.twitter.com/LFRRyfHDzl  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 14, 2018

The IDF, incidentally, has done its best to save lives of those on the other side. I doubt that this will make it through the smoke either.

This is what is written on the leaflets pic.twitter.com/s88z1P83QM  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 14, 2018

Twitter is a useful resource on a day like today. Click here for the IDF Twitter feed, here for Richard Kemps, here for Avi Mayers, here for Peter Lerners, and here for the Times of Israel.

With 37 Gaza Arabs reportedly killed by the IDF in their clashes so far today, Hamas has it going according to plan.Last week at this time, relying on a report by the Washington Post, I wrote that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is the front-runner in Iraqs national elections. This was good news, I said, because Abadi had worked closely with the U.S. in the fight against ISIS, was campaigning on a message of national unity, and seemed to enjoy support across sectarian lines.

The frontrunner Abadi may have been. However, it appears he will not win. Instead:

An electoral ticket backed by the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr emerged as the early front-runner in Iraqs elections, according to preliminary results released late Sunday, dealing a significant blow to the reelection campaign of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. . . . Sadrs coalition, called Sairoon, won by a large margin in the capital, Baghdad, which accounts for the largest number of seats in Iraqs 329-seat parliament. A ticket led by the commander of a Shiite militia close to Iran came in second. Abadis coalition, which had been forecast to win and was Washingtons choice, came in fifth in the capital and was running third overall, according to the preliminary results.

Some readers probably remember Moqtada al-Sadr from the first few years following our 2003 invasion of Iraq. He commanded a Shiite militia that fought against U.S. troops during those bloody times.

The U.S. showed considerable forbearance in not killing the bastard, it seemed to me. I remember thinking that if Sadr survived, he would one day become an immense force in Iraqi politics  possibly for better, more likely for worse.

Sadr did not run for president this year. However, he is the power behind the Sairoon coalition. As such, if the early election results hold, he will be in a position to determine Iraqs next leader.

Sadrs coalition apparently did not run on a pro-Iran or hardcore Shiite platform. According to the Post, Sadr formed a cross-sectarian, non-Islamist electoral coalition that pushed an anti-corruption message. He expressed hostility towards his old enemy, the United States, but at the same time opposed Irans growing influence in Iraq.

This probably means that a victory by Sadrs coalition would not the worst possible outcome for the U.S. However, it would still likely be bad news in my view.

The other main story of the election is voter apathy. Iraqi pundits thought voters would flock to the polls for the first big election since the demise of ISIS in Iraq. Instead, voter turnout came in at about 45 percent. Thats considerably less than the 63 percent turnout of 2014 and 2010.

Why the decline? Disaffection with Iraqi politics, presumably.

A number of prominent Iraqis urged an election boycott. Most notably, Iraqs top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, signaled his displeasure with the field of candidates and instructed followers not to support any hopeful who has failed the country in the past. In a departure from his stance in past elections, Sistani said there was no religious obligation to participate in this election.

Iraqis dont seem all that interested in politics right now. But politics may still be interested in them.Its true. Everyone in Minnesota is nice. Not just Scott and John and Mitch Pearlstein. Everyone, that is, except progressive Democrats. Turns out a Democratic group in the state founded to promote the legacy of the late Paul Wellstone is feuding:

In the Democratic Partys reckoning following the election of Donald Trump, an unlikely feud has erupted inside an organization at the heart of the progressive movement. Earlier this year, the board of directors of Wellstone Action  an influential training group formed after Sen. Paul Wellstones death  dumbfounded Minnesota Democrats when it voted the late senators sons off the governing board.

Supposedly the feud is about money, but Politico notes that the feud started over some ideological divisions:

Still simmering three months after the brothers departure, the rift at Wellstone Action offers an unusually raw glimpse of a larger debate playing out among Democrats nationally as the party ramps up for the 2018 midterm elections and beyond. How to win back white, rural voters who went for Trump in 2016, while also courting an increasingly diverse electorate. The issue stands center stage in Minnesota, where Trumps steamroller performance in rural America led to a near-disaster for the Democratic Party in 2016. Republicans took control of the state Legislature, while Trump came within 1.5 percentage points of carrying the state  a feat no Republican has managed since Richard Nixon in 1972. . . David Wellstone and other Democrats close to his father began objecting last year to what he described as Wellstone Actions abandonment of disaffected Democrats in the rural Midwest  the rural poor were an early focus of the late senator  with an increasingly narrow focus on gender politics and people of color. . . In an early sign of tension at Wellstone Action, then-board member Rick Kahn, Paul Wellstones longtime friend and campaign treasurer, raised concerns in an email to a staffer last year about a draft tax filing in which staff proposed changing the groups stated mission from a advancing progressive social change and economic justice to advancing progressive social change and economic, racial, and gender justice. I am not remotely questioning the work we do in the realm of racial and gender justice, Kahn said in the email, one of several documents he provided to POLITICO. I support it, and applaud it, all of it. That has always been true, and will always remain true. What I am calling into question, and vigorously objecting to, is the strategic thinking in expressly choosing to highlight our work for just those two groups, and no others, in a document posted online, that we share with the entire world.

The subtext is clear. Minnesotas urban liberals have decided their principal message to rural Minnesotans is: Drop dead.

Looks to me like one more small step to Minnesota turning red.What is it with NBC News? If you thought theyd hit rock bottom, you may have to revisit the question with a look at national reporter Heidi Przybylas piece on the Gatestone Institute last month: John Bolton presided over anti-Muslim think tank.

This is an old-fashioned hit piece. The headline reveals the true object of the hit. John Bolton drives the left absolutely nuts. He has their number and he can call them out with great skill. This they cannot abide. Bolton was the target of Pryzbylas piece; Gatestone was just the club that she took to hand.

Nina Rosenwald is the founder and president of Gatestone. At the invitation of Lawrence Kadish, John Hinderaker and I spoke to a group including Nina in New York in 2005. She is a formidable force in her own right and one of the nicest people with whom I have had the good fortune to cross paths as a result of my work for Power Line. Meeting her was a great kick.

Since its founding, Nina has made Gatestone a go-to source of news and analysis from reporters and knowledgeable observers such as Khaled Abu Toameh, Bruce Bawer, Soeren Kern, Douglas Murray, Richard Kemp, Guy Milliere, Alan Dershowitz, and many others. We feature their work almost every day in our Picks here. It is great stuff.

Today, to take just one example, Gatestone has posted Richard Kemps Smoke & mirrors: Six weeks of violence on the Gaza border. It is more informative than the sum total of everything else NBC News has on offer today.

The Gatestone Institute responds to Przybylas hit in NBC News defames Gatestone Institute. Here are the bullet points of Gatestones response to Przybyla:

 Gatestone Institute, far from being anti-Muslim, is pro-Muslim. Gatestone does not want to see Muslims deprived of freedom of speech, flogged or stoned to death for supposed adultery. Gatestone is also opposed to honor killings, children forced into marriages, homosexuals flogged or killed, and so on. Is one to assume that NBC and its followers do want to see these abuses? Good to know.

 Gatestone is, however, openly committed to educating the public about an aspect of Islam, namely Sharia law, which, according to the European Court of Human Rights and others, is incompatible with liberal democracy.

 NBC states that Russian trolls tweeted a total of four Gatestone articles  out of more than 200,000 tweets identified by Twitter as being linked to Russian accounts. By way of comparison, the database shows that Russian trolls tweeted seven articles from Heidi Przybyla, the author of the NBC report.

 A search of articles on Sputnik, the Russian government-controlled news agency, turns up 1,650 pages of NBC citations. If getting retweeted 4 times makes you a Russian spy, NBC must be the Kremlin.  Daniel Greenfield, journalist.

 The crimes are being played down by German authorities, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments. The director of the Criminal Police Association (Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter, BDK), Andre Schulz, estimates that up to 90% of the sex crimes committed in Germany do not appear in the official statistics.

 NBCs claims are based on truths, half-truths and untruths all woven together and framed in way not only to misrepresent Gatestones work, but also to destroy its reputation and that of others.

Przybylas hit piece can serve as the very model of a smear job. If you seek to learn how to do it, study Pryzbylas piece. Its in the nature of these things that far fewer readers will see Gatestones response than saw the hit piece. Thats part of the art of hit. Please pass on Gatestones response to friends who might find it of interest.Some on the left and in media are beginning to acknowledge the excesses of the anti-Trump resistance. For example, Evan Mandery of Politico discussed the shunning of Alan Dershowitz for the sin of raising civil libertarian concerns about some of Robert Muellers conduct. And Jack Goldstein acknowledged and worried about the deep states assault on President Trump.

In both cases, though, there was a caveat. Mandery expressed it in remarkable prose:

[P]erhaps the democratic project is under existential threatand history, if it survives as an independent academic enterprise, will look back pityingly upon civil libertarians who coddled power with their concerns about prosecutorial overreach while a fundamentally corrupt president undermined the great American project.

Stated less floridly, Trump may be such a threat to democracy that almost anything goes when it comes to resisting. Anyone who defends the president on any front deserves the abuse he receives.

Die hard anti-Trumpers arent the only ones who thought they detected an authoritarian bent to Donald Trump. I did too. And it is never wrong to worry that a president might veer in an authoritarian direction.

But we are now more than 15 months into Trumps presidency. Its fair, at this point, to ask for evidence that Trump threatens, existentially or otherwise, the democratic project. Its also fair to ask for evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia  the alleged phenomenon that Goldsmith cited as possibly justifying the deep states assault.

Where is threat to free expression? Whose speech has been shut down? Which news outlet has been curbed?

Please dont cite Trumps barbs about fake news, etc. As David Azerrad says, the First Amendment does not protect the media from harsh criticism. All citizens, including those serving in government, are permitted to chastise it. This is not the exclusive prerogative of The New York Times ombudsman.

Where is the threat to the rule of law. Show me that court order Trump has violated or ignored. Show me the law he has violated or refused to enforce.

The travel ban was the basis for some of the early hysteria about Trump. But the administration twice revised that order in an attempt to conform with court rulings it didnt agree with.

Where is the assault on minority rights? At the fringes of civil rights laws, the administration has pulled back, or tried to, from some of the aggressive positions taken by Team Obama. But in doing so  e.g., when it comes who uses which restrooms and who must bake wedding cakes for whom  it argues in favor of the understanding of civil rights and constitutional law that prevailed for decades.

Our democratic project is not threatened if our civil rights laws are interpreted as they were before Barack Obama became president. Nor is threatened by enforcing immigration laws or supporting legislation that would bring immigration levels more in line with historical norms.

Finally, where is the evidence of Russian influence on Trump? Identify the Russian agents who have served in the administration. Show me the policy decisions Trump has made that favor Russia.

The fact is that on nearly all big ticket foreign policy issues  Iran, Syria, Ukraine, you name it  Trumps decisions have gone against Russias interest. And lets not forget about the expulsion of all those Russian diplomats. No wonder some, including Trumpf and Putin, say that USRussia relations are more acrimonious than at any time since the end of the Cold War.

The anti-Trumpers need to move beyond the Trump as authoritarian tool of Russia narrative. Few are still buying it.

But if the left does move on, what remains that might justify resistance. As of now, only nasty tweets and conservative policies.

The left would be more than happy to maintain its campaign of hyper-resistance based solely on Trumps conservatism. Thats what its resistance was always really about, anyway.

But can the left sustain and sell the kind of carrying on weve been witnessing with only that and some rude tweets? Even with the mainstream media in overdrive, Im not convinced it can.Did anyone happen to catch David Brookss latest column, Donald Trumps Lizard Wisdom, in the New York Times? I about fell out of my chair, because Brooks almost tacitly admits that maybe he was wrong about Trump. Referring to Trumps experience dealing with the mobbed-up New York construction scene in his long real estate career, Brooks says:

And yet I cant help but wonder if that kind of background has provided a decent education for dealing with the sort of hopped-up mobsters running parts of the world today. There is growing reason to believe that Donald Trump understands the thug mind a whole lot better than the people who attended our prestigious Foreign Service academies. The first piece of evidence is North Korea. When Trump was trading crude, back-alley swipes with Little Rocket Man, Kim Jong-un, about whose nuclear button was bigger, it sounded as if we were heading for a nuclear holocaust led by a pair of overgrown prepubescents. In fact, Trumps bellicosity seems to have worked. Its impossible to know how things will pan out, but the situation with North Korea today is a lot better than it was six months ago. Hostages are being released, talks are being held. There seems to be a chance for progress unfelt in years. Maybe Trump intuited something about the sorts of people who run the North Korean regime that others missed. The second piece of evidence is our trade talks with China. Over the past few decades, the Western diplomatic community made a big bet: If we all behaved decently toward Chinese leaders, then theyd naturally come to embrace liberal economic and cultural values and we could all eventually share a pinot at the University Club. The bet went wrong. . . The president has pushed back harder on the Chinese and has netted some results. After some Trump swagger, Xi Jinping promised to significantly lower Chinese tariffs on imported vehicles.

About Trumps policy toward Iran, Brooks adds:

Maybe Trump is right to intuit that the only right response to a monster is to enclose it. Maybe hes right that when you sense economic weakness in a potential threat, you hit it again. Please dont take this as an endorsement of the Trump foreign policy. Id feel a lot better if Trump showed some awareness of the complexity of the systems hes disrupting, and the possibly cataclysmic unintended consequences. But there is some lizard wisdom here. The world is a lot more like the Atlantic City real estate market than the G.R.E.s.

I imagine that Times readers must be freaking out about this. (I cant find the comments section on the Times redesigned web format.) Now, Brooks is not a leftist, But Willie Brown, the legendary for speaker of the California State Assembly and mayor of San Francisco, and one of the smartest politicians in America, certainly is a leftist, and he wrote this yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Trump Is More Popular Than Dems Want to Admit Its time for the Democrats to stop bashing President Trump. Its not going to be easy, given his policies and personality. It might even mean checking into a 12-step program. But setting a winning agenda is like maneuvering an aircraft carrier. It takes time to change course. And if they want to be on target for the November midterm elections, the Democrats need to start changing course now. Like it or not, a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days. They are making money. They feel safe, and they agree with with the presidents protectionist trade policies, his call for more American jobs, even his immigration stance. The jobs growth reports, the North Korea summit and the steady economy are beating out the Stormy Daniels scandal and the Robert Mueller investigation in Middle America, hands down. So you are not going to win back the House by making it all about him.

If Brown is saying this, you can bet hes on to something, and knows his party is poised to blow it.

Bonus: Later in his rambling column, Brown tells this interesting story:

Cruise control: Got into a taxi the other day, and the cabbie promptly introduced himself as Cadillac Jack. Ive owned 29 Cadillacs, all of them new, he said, and proceeded to tell me about each and every one of them as we drove across town. Finally I had to ask. How old are you? Sixty, he said. How did you manage to go through 29 Cadillacs? Well, you know, if you dont pay for them, they take em back.Aerial photo taken on May 12, 2018 shows newly-built residential buildings in Xiaoyudong Town of Pengzhou, southwest China's Sichuan Province. A decade ago, a devastating 8.0 magnitude earthquake rocked southwest China's Sichuan Province, severely ruining many counties such as Wenchuan and Beichuan. After ten years of reconstruction and development, those quake-stricken areas have now taken on a new look. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)

China's earthquake rescue capability has increased by more than 200 percent in the past 10 years and an early earthquake warning system now covers most of the population in areas prone to temblors, and President Xi Jinping called on the nation this weekend to enhance disaster-prevention capabilities to guarantee people's safety and property.

Xi said that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the areas hit by the powerful quake had reached "remarkable achievements in restoration and reconstruction work, providing useful experience and inspiration for the international community in post-disaster reconstruction work".

His praise came in a letter to the International Conference for the Decade Memory of the Wenchuan Earthquake and the fourth International Conference on Continental Earthquakes, which opened in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Saturday.

On May 12, 2008, the magnitude 8 quake hit Wenchuan, Sichuan province, killing nearly 70,000 people and leaving nearly 18,000 people missing and millions more homeless.

"There is no end to the human understanding of natural laws. Disaster prevention and reduction, and disaster relief are the eternal topics for people's survival and development," Xi said in the letter.

"Scientifically understanding the laws of disasters, effectively reducing disaster risks and achieving a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature requires the joint efforts of the international community.

"China will adhere to the people-centered development philosophy and pay attention to disaster prevention and relief work while treating prevention as a major task."

He called on the delegates to actively participate in the seminar, which is focused on the theme "Living with Seismic Risk", and to contribute to promoting international cooperation to reduce the risk of natural disasters and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

When the Wenchuan earthquake struck, China only had 4,200 earthquake rescuers with 27 official teams across the country, including a national team and 26 provincial teams.

By March, China established a four-level official rescue team system down to the county level, which has more than 250,000 members. There also are 11,000 civilian rescue teams with 694,000 volunteers, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Chinese International Search and Rescue Team, the national earthquake rescue team with 480 members, has won international recognition and passed the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group's external classification.

"The team is capable of conducting rescues in nine different locations with complicated conditions simultaneously," the ministry said.

It also said China had established a world-leading digital seismological observation network that consists of more than 3,000 stations. And 13,000 shelters have been established across the country.

China began developing early earthquake warnings after the Wenchuan quake and became the third country with an early earthquake warning system after Japan and Mexico.

Relying on cellphones, TV, radio, government micro blogs and special receiving terminals, the early warning network, installed by the Institute of Care-Life in Chengdu, covers 660 million people in areas prone to earthquakes, accounting for 90 percent of the population in these areas, according to Wang Tun, head of the institute.

Since 2011, the system has successfully sent early warnings immediately after more than 40 destructive earthquakes, including two magnitude 7 earthquakes in Sichuan, one in Lushan county in 2013 and one in Jiuzhaigou county in 2017.

A real-time system providing warnings seconds after an earthquake occurs can save lives because the warnings are transmitted via radio, which move faster than seismic waves. Radio waves travel at 300,000 kilometers per second, while seismic waves travel at 3 to 6 km/s.

People who get warning messages may be able to escape before the seismic waves arrive, according to Chen Huizhong, a research fellow at the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration.

Before the first anniversary of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal that killed 8,699 people in 2015, Wang's institute also helped Nepal install the system, making the country the fourth in the world with an earthquake early warning system. The system covers one-third of Nepal's territory and half of its population.

On May 3, the Institute of Care-Life announced that it would provide early earthquake warnings through television to an additional 5 million people in 11 cities and counties in Sichuan. The move brought the number of people in the province covered by early earthquake warnings via TV to 5.3 million.

Wang Zhiguo, head of Beijing earthquake prediction research center, said, "China is the only country in the world with official research on earthquake prediction and also the only one that once successfully predicted an earthquake."

The country successfully predicted the magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Haicheng, Liaoning province, in 1975 and dozens of other earthquakes, he said.

He said that while China has made some achievements in conducting medium-and long-term prediction for earthquake, it has yet to be capable of predicting the exact time, location and magnitude of earthquakes, which is a global difficulty.President Andrzej Duda will lay flowers at the Katyn Memorial in Jersey City, when he visits the US next week.

The head of state's trip to America, in the company of first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, takes place because Poland assumes the presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

Apart from New York, where UNSC has its seat, the President is also scheduled to visit Chicago, to meet with local Polish diaspora.

Andrzej Duda will also lay flowers at the Katyn Memorial in Jersey City, where he had already "paid tribute to war heroes in 2016."

The city's mayor recently announced plans to relocate the monument, and both the diaspora and Warsaw protested, with a local court ordering that the memorial remain in place at least until May 28. Meanwhile, the mayor invited Polish diaspora for talks to resolve the issue.

The Polish head of state consistently supports efforts of the diaspora circles and the Polish diplomacy, aimed at successfully resolving the issue of the Katyn Memorial's location, in agreement with the Jersey City authorities. (PAP/MK)Sacramento Police Department(LOS ANGELES) -- The daughter of a man who was allegedly murdered by the "Golden State Killer" came face-to-face with the suspected serial rapist and killer for the first time in court Monday.



Jennifer Carole, whose father and stepmother Lyman and Charlene Smith were bludgeoned to death in 1980 in Ventura County, noted that the suspected killer "looked just like an old man."



"From his orange Crocs to his orange outfit, his shoulders are sagging, he had whiskers on his face," Carole told ABC News after court.



"He looked incredibly ordinary, which I think is the part that all of us are struggling with," she said. "From the outside he looks particularly ordinary and yet we know on the inside there's a monster there."



Joseph DeAngelo, 72, was arrested in the cold case killings last month and has since been charged with 12 counts of murder: two in Sacramento County, two in Ventura County, four in Orange County and four in Santa Barbara County.



DeAngelo, who showed no expression at today's brief hearing, only spoke to his public defender.



Carole said DeAngelo "didn't have the courage to face his accusers -- he didn't look our way once."



"I wouldn't expect him to," she added.



DeAngelo was unshackled in court today and appeared to be standing. At his first hearing he was in a wheelchair.



"I was happy that he was standing up, because he should be standing up for this," Carole said.



Carole said she came to court today not only to see DeAngelo, but also to show support for the other family members and survivors.



"I was glad to be holding the hand of one of the rape survivors," she said. "It felt good to be together and ready to fight this guy."



The identity of the suspected "Golden State Killer" was a mystery for decades. Twelve people were murdered and 50 raped throughout California from 1976 to 1986.



It was DNA from Charlene Smith's rape kit that investigators plugged into a genealogy database that led authorities to identify DeAngelo as a suspect.



DeAngelo returns to court on May 29.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The China-Europe freight train from Tangshan of China arrives at Antwerp Port, Belgium, May 12, 2018. A freight train service has been launched from a port in Tangshan of North China's Hebei province to Belgium, a further line for freight between China and Europe. [Photo/Xinhua]

BRUSSELS -- After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The train with 41 containers which left Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed on Saturday in Antwerp. The direct railway link between China and Belgium is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

By opening up a new and quick route into China, the initiative offers plenty of new opportunities for the development of the Sino-Belgian trade relations.

Luc Arnouts, Director International Networks, Antwerp Port Authority, said at the welcoming ceremony that "This direct train link puts our port on the BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative)map and will further strengthen our ties with China. We have long been working on this project, which represents an important milestone in our trade relations with China."

The China-Europe freight train from Tangshan of China arrives at Antwerp Port, Belgium, May 12, 2018. A freight train service has been launched from a port in Tangshan of North China's Hebei province to Belgium, a further line for freight between China and Europe. [Photo/Xinhua]

In his speech, Guo Jianjun, economic counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, pointed out that given the ongoing escalation of trade friction threats in major global economies, it is even more necessary for all parties to strengthen cooperation.

"As Europe's second largest port, Antwerp has a very important position in Sino-Belgian trade," said Guo.Supports Upcoming Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh Devices

REDWOOD CITY, California, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment, Incorporated (ASSIA), the market-leading supplier of broadband and cloud-based Wi-Fi management software, adds support for multi-access point (AP) devices and forthcoming Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh products to its CloudCheck software platform.

"Wi-Fi Alliance is pleased that ASSIA plans to support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh in their solution. Multiple access point systems offer many benefits to service providers, and Wi-Fi EasyMesh delivers an interoperable, standards-based approach which will foster broader service provider adoption and a better Wi-Fi experience for their customers." Kevin Robinson, VP of Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance.

The prevailing wisdom among subscribers  and many operators  is that installation of additional mesh extenders in their home is a panacea for improving subscriber Wi-Fi performance. Although a straightforward approach to the complex problem of home Wi-Fi management would be ideal, the reality is that home Wi-Fi environments are highly dynamic and congested, and addressing their challenges requires more than adding extenders alone.

Wi-Fi extenders can provide benefits in many environments, but ASSIA has found deployments of Wi-Fi extenders or multi-AP hardware without a Wi-Fi management solution often results in zero improvement  and in some cases negatively impacts Wi-Fi performance. This is usually due to a combination of:

Improper mesh configuration

Poor extender placement

Increased Wi-Fi congestion introduced by the additional Wi-Fi extender nodes

Ineffective client roaming to additional access points or extenders

The CloudCheck solution is ASSIA's hardware vendor-agnostic and cloud-based software platform which enables many of the world's most progressive carriers and cable operators to manage and optimize residential subscriber Wi-Fi. The CloudCheck platform delivers significant call and dispatch savings for operators while driving customer satisfaction up and driving churn down.

The CloudCheck architecture employs a lightweight agent installed in the subscriber's gateway and communicates with the ASSIA cloud for real-time diagnostics and optimization to enable subscriber self-help, self-healing, and self-install.

"ASSIA's CloudCheck product has been field proven to deliver best-in-class Wi-Fi management to the world's leading service providers. The cloud and agent-based architecture offers the advantages of real-time performance, with the scale and machine learning power of the cloud," said Adlane Fellah, Senior Wireless Analyst with Maravedis.

The CloudCheck platform offers additional features to specifically address multi-AP environments and ensure subscribers are benefitting from the additional hardware. These features include:

Easy Installation

Fast and easy on-boarding and placement of extenders in a subscriber's home.

Machine Learning Optimization and Diagnostics

Cloud-based heuristic optimization with machine learning for dynamic, network-wide management of multi-AP deployments.

Analytics and Reporting

Historical and real-time analysis of quality-of-experience ("QoE") metrics such as speed, connectivity, latency, and coverage per home and across the entire operator's network.

Hardware Agnostic

Supports any vendor, any multi-AP environment, and will support upcoming Wi-Fi EasyMesh devices.*

"We are excited to expand our CloudCheck offering to manage multi-AP deployments for global service providers. Supporting upcoming Wi-Fi EasyMesh devices allows us to continue to deliver an advanced and consistent set of Wi-Fi management tools to customer care teams across all classes of devices." Kevin Mukai, Director of Product Marketing, ASSIA

To learn more about ASSIA CloudCheck please visit:

www.assia-inc.com/products/cloudcheck/.

* The CloudCheck solution's multi-AP support is available today. CloudCheck will support EasyMesh devices upon their release.

About ASSIA

ASSIA is a trusted partner with the leading market share of management and optimization software solutions for global broadband and residential access networks. ASSIA's Expresse broadband system enables significant operational expense reduction and revenue generation for Internet Service Providers in the area of subscriber care by increasing customer satisfaction and upgrades to higher revenue-generating service tiers. ASSIA's ClearView software provides both broadband access and Wi-Fi connection analysis and recommends appropriate steps to resolve problems using language that is easy to understand by call-center agents and field technicians. ASSIA's CloudCheck Wi-Fi optimization software enables service providers and enterprises to deliver premium digital experiences over residential Wi-Fi networks. ASSIA has more than 100 million broadband households under contract worldwide. Thanks to the company's product evolution and contributions to broadband standards, ASSIA is poised to help ISPs across the world as they upgrade their networks with next-generation G.Vector and G.Fast standards. For more information, visit www.assia-inc.com.

Expresse, ClearView, and CloudCheck are registered trademarks of ASSIA.

"ASSIA" is an acronym for "Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment, Incorporated."

Media Contact:

David Raun

President & COO

ASSIA

(650) 801 4111

[email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/585613/ASSIA_Logo.jpg

Related Links

www.assia-inc.com



SOURCE ASSIA Inc.GURUGRAM, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

China's cold chain industry is set to soar due to growing demand for refrigerated trucks.

cold chain industry is set to soar due to growing demand for refrigerated trucks. Investment in small cold chain market in China will impact the market in a positive manner in the forecast period. Government efforts coupled with rise in fresh e-commerce market is expected to increase demand for cold chain services.

China cold chain market is in its infancy stage with high double digit growth and is highly fragmented in nature. The sector is poised to enter in growth stage in next 5 years. Advanced technologies of GPS, Internet of Things, mobile internet and big data will be applied in cold chain logistics in the forecast period. Various cold chain logistics parks are in pipeline and will be constructed in major locations and large and middle-size cities in the forecast period. The construction of the Hengqin logistics centre is in progress and it is scheduled to commence operation in the first quarter of 2018. CMAC also plans on expanding capacity by increasing the logistics center. The pharmaceutical industry is anticipated to grow at a five year CAGR of 7.8% during 2017-2022 which will further enhance the demand for cold storage and transport facilities as few pharmaceutical products require temperature controlled environment for maintaining their quality. The express logistics market is expected to drive the cold chain logistics market owing to the shipments consisting of perishable items such as food products including meat, dairy, frozen items and others and pharmaceutical products including vaccines and injections which require temperature controlled environment. Based on the growth of the cold chain industry, future investment opportunities are attractive with regards to ULD manufacturing and management, temperature-controlled warehousing, and 3PLs.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661352/Ken_Research_Logo.jpg )



The expanding demand for fresh sea food in China has stimulated investment in the cold chain sector in China. These products are transported to supermarkets, hypermarkets and online stores via temperature-controlled supply chain.

Cold storage has dominated the cold chain market in 2017. Solidus Logistics, SF express, Rokin Logistics, DCH and CMAC are the major cold transport companies operating in China. The companies leading in China cold storage warehouses market include Xianyi Supply Chain, Swire Cold Chain Logistics and CMAC. The major players in China cold chain market include Swire Cold Storage, Solidus Logistics, Itochu Logistics, SF Express, Rokin Logistics, DCH Logistics, CMAC, Zheng Ming and others.

Ken Research in their latest publication "China Cold Chain Market Outlook to 2022 - by Cold Storage and Cold Transport and by Industries (Meat and Seafood, Fruits and Vegetables, Bakery, Pharmaceutical and Others)"observed that the top 100 cold chain logistics firms in China account for approximately 0.4% of the market and the supply chain is highly fragmented.

Rising e-commerce and use of updated technology, growth of last mile logistics are expected to have positive impact on the demand for cold storage and cold transport.

Key Topics Covered in the Report

Snapshot on China Logistics Infrastructure Road Network Airports Seaport

Value Chain for China Cold Chain

China Cold Chain Market Introduction Model of China Cold Chain Market China Cold Chain Market Size by Revenue, 2012-2017 China Cold Chain Market Segmentation By Cold Storage and Cold Transport, 2012-2017 By Industries (Meat and Seafood, Fruits and Vegetables, Bakery, Pharmaceutical and Others), 2017

China Cold Storage Market China Cold Storage Market Size, 2012-2017 Cold Storage Trends China Cold Storage Market Segmentation By 3PL and Owned, 2017 By Regions (East China, South Central, North East, South West, North West and North China ), 2017 By Size of Warehouses (Small, Medium and Large), 2017 China Cold Storage Future Outlook and Projections, 2018E-2022E

China Cold Transport Market Overview and Genesis China Cold Transport Market Size by Revenue, 2012-2017 China Cold Transport Segmentation By Domestic and International Transport Facilities, 2017 By Rented and Owned for International Companies, 2017 By Modes of Transport (Ground, Air and Sea), 2017 China Cold Transport Future Outlook and Projections, 2018E-2022E

Trends in China Cold Chain Market

Cold Chain Market Issues and Challenges in China Cold Chain Market

Cold Chain Market Government Role in China Cold Chain Industry

Cold Chain Industry Snapshot on China Cold Chain Tracking and Monitoring System Market

SWOT Analysis of China Cold Chain Market

Decision Making Process for China Cold Chain Companies

Competitive Landscape for China Cold Chain Market

Competition Stage

Parameters for Companies in China Cold Chain Logistics Market

Cold Chain Logistics Market Company Profiles Swire Cold Storage Limited Solidus Logistics Itochu Logistics ( China ) Co. Ltd SF Express Rokin Logistics China DCH Logistics China Merchants Americold Zheng Ming Logistics Other Company Profiles

China 3PL Cold Chain Market China 3PL Cold Chain Market Segmentation By 3PL Cold Storage and 3PL Cold Transport, 2012-2017 China 3PL Cold Chain Market Future Outlook, 2018E-2022E

3PL Cold Chain Market Recent Industry Activities in China Cold Chain Market

Cold Chain Market China Cold Chain Market Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 By Revenues, 2018E-2022E By Industries (Meat and Seafood, Fruits and Vegetables, Bakery, Pharmaceutical and Others), 2022E

Analyst Recommendation for China Cold Chain Market

For more information on the research report, refer to below link:

https://www.kenresearch.com/automotive-transportation-and-warehousing/logistics-and-shipping/china-cold-chain-market/145655-100.html

Related Reports

Turkey Cold Chain Market by Cold Storage and Transport, by Product Type (Bakery, Confectionary, Dairy, Meat & Sea Food, Vaccines & Pharmaceutical, Fruits & Vegetables, Chemicals) - Outlook to 2022

The growth of Turkey's cold chain market in the long run will be supported by the building up of new infrastructure and expansion of existing companies into the eastern region of the country.

India Cold Chain Market Outlook to 2022 - by Cold Storage & Cold Transport, 3PL, End User Industry (Agro food, Fruits & Vegetables, Fruit pulp & Concentrates, Dairy Products, Ice Cream, Meat, Sea Food, Confectionery, Poultry, Ready to Cook, Pharmaceutical, Industrial Products)

The cold chain industry in India remains underserved and presents huge potential in terms of expansion. As of 2014, there exists a requirement of 3.3 million MT of cold storage and 52.7 thousand reefer trucks.

Vietnam Cold Chain Market by Cold Storage and Cold Transport, Product Type (Bakery, Confectionary, Dairy, Meat & SeaFood, Vaccines & Pharmaceutical, Fruits & Vegetables, Chemicals) - Outlook to 2021

Seafood and meat industry have dominated the cold chain market with the revenue share of 60% in 2016 in Vietnam owing to domestic and international demand for these products.

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SOURCE Ken ResearchTotal online shopping sales in China are set to pass US$1 trillion in 2018, whilst cross-border online purchases will exceed US$125 billion, finds new Frost & Sullivan study

SINGAPORE, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- China's online shopping market is the largest in the world, with over 500 million online shoppers set to spend over US$1 trillion in 2018. Of this, cross-border eCommerce (Haitao) purchases (i.e., from a retailer located outside China) are set to reach US$125 billion, according to a new research report, The Cross-border eCommerce (Haitao) Opportunity in China, released today by leading consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, in partnership with China retail strategy expert Azoya Consulting. The study includes research amongst over 1,000 online shoppers in China, together with findings from interviews with over 100 international retailers and brand owners.

"The research revealed the strong interest and expenditure amongst Chinese consumers in buying online from overseas retailers, with the average online shopper in China spending almost US$850 per year on purchases from overseas retailers," said Mark Dougan, Consulting Director, Asia-Pacific, Frost & Sullivan. "Our research indicated that Chinese consumers are significantly motivated by the perceived higher quality and lower risk of buying fake goods that overseas retailers offer."

The research also revealed that:

Cross-border online shopping is growing strongly, with 63% of Chinese shoppers planning to increase their spending in 2018 compared to 2017

with 63% of Chinese shoppers planning to increase their spending in 2018 compared to 2017 Fashion is the top category bought from overseas retailers (bought by 22% of online shoppers in the past month), beauty and cosmetics (20%) and mom and baby (15%)

(bought by 22% of online shoppers in the past month), beauty and cosmetics (20%) and mom and baby (15%) Japan is the overseas origin country that Chinese online shoppers have most confidence in (72% having confidence in Japanese vendors), followed by South Korea (60%), the US (55%), Australia (37%), France and Germany (both 26%) and the UK (23%)

(72% having confidence in Japanese vendors), followed by (60%), the US (55%), (37%), and (both 26%) and the UK (23%) Women are higher cross-border online shoppers than men, spending US$976 on average per year, which is 20% more than men. Men seek fast delivery, whilst women seek Chinese language customer support, and relevant content on the supplier's website. Women are more likely to use an overseas supplier's standalone direct-to-consumer website (21% vs. 18% of men).

Whilst Chinese consumers are significantly increasing their cross-border online shopping, international retailers often report challenges in successfully exploiting the market opportunity in China. Over recent years, China has opened up its domestic eCommerce market to international vendors through initiatives such as free trade zones, and over 80% of global retailers now see China as an attractive market opportunity. However, only 30% of online retailers are satisfied with their current level of sales in China. This is particularly the case for those using Chinese marketplaces as their online channel, where only 21% of retailers are satisfied with their current level of sales. Challenges of these marketplaces include the plethora of competing brands, intense price competition, margin-eroding commissions and high upfront costs. Consequently, the research revealed that increasingly retailers are looking to set up their own standalone web stores for the Chinese market.

China's online market may be vast, but it can also be confusing and is highly competitive. Consequently, global retailers need to think carefully about the right way to approach the market. "To build a brand that Chinese consumers trust, which commands a healthy profit margin and repeat buyers, retailers need to approach customers through multiple touchpoints. The key channel should be within retailers' control, accompanied by supplementary platforms," said Don Zhao, Co-Founder of Azoya International. "More and more retailers are establishing standalone websites as the core of their strategies, as these sites directly connect retailers with Chinese consumers who desire foreign brands, while empowering retailers with flexibility and control over their business."

The research confirmed the attractiveness of the Chinese market to global retailers, but also identified that many retailers are struggling to convert that promise into reality. As the Chinese cross-border eCommerce market grows, global retailers need to carefully consider the most appropriate market entry strategy. Successful implementation will then rely on offering the right products through the right channels and with appropriate brand communications to the half-a-billion online shoppers in China.

About Azoya Consulting

Azoya Consulting empowers international retailers with clear and actionable China e-commerce strategy powered by data, research, expertise and business intelligence. With over 5 years' experience in e-commerce to China, Azoya consultants help dozens of international retailers build successful business cases with China entry strategy, e-commerce operation guidelines, digital marketing strategy, O2O strategy, logistics and supply chain. Azoya Consulting is a subsidiary of Azoya International, a borderless e-tailing group that assists international retailers as they expand to China via e-commerce. Learn more at www.azoyagroup.com

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the Global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organisation prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Learn more at http://www.frost.com

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SOURCE Frost & SullivanPUNE, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Data Mining Tools Market by Component (Tools and Services), Business Function (Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and Logistics, and Operations), Industry Vertical, Deployment Type, Organization Size, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", ", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Data Mining Tools Market size is expected to grow from USD 591.2 Million in 2018 to USD 1,039.1 Million by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.9% during the forecast period.

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Browse 70 market data Tables and 44 Figures spread through 151 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Data Mining Tools Market"

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Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The significant increase in data volume and increased awareness among enterprises to leverage the benefits of available data assets are expected to be the major drivers of the Data Mining Tools Market.

North America is expected to have the largest market size during the forecast period.

North America is expected to be the largest contributor to the Data Mining Tools Market in terms of its regional revenue. This region comprises developed countries, such as the US and Canada. North America is open to the adoption of new and emerging technologies, and its strong financial position enables the region to invest majorly in leading tools and technologies for effective business operations. The North American region would be in the leading position over the next few years, due to the increasing usage and early adoption of digital technologies and cloud-based platforms across different industry verticals, such as telecom and IT, Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), healthcare, manufacturing, and retail and eCommerce. The early adoption of digital technologies and cloud-based platforms gives organizations in North America a competitive edge over other organizations from other regions.

The BFSI industry vertical is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period.

The BFSI industry vertical includes commercial banks, insurance companies, non-banking financial companies, stock brokerage firms, and payment gateway providers. The BFSI industry vertical deals with large volumes of customer and transactional data from various sources. The diversity and dimensions of financial data are exploding at a faster rate, due to the ever-increasing advancements in internet connectivity. Moreover, the need to gather customer insights from channels, such as Point of Sale (PoS) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), enhanced the adoption of data mining tools in the BFSI industry vertical.

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The large enterprises segment is expected to hold the larger market share during the forecast period.

Organizations with more than 1,000 employees are categorized as large enterprises. The use of data mining tools in large enterprises is relatively higher as compared to that of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This is due to the affordability and high economies of scale, which enable large organizations to benefit from data mining tools. Large enterprises leave no stone unturned to compete in today's cut-throat competitive market. In large enterprises, actionable insights play a major role in evaluating the overall performance of organizations. Good quality data is always a key enabler for organizations to focus on enhancing their core competencies that ultimately lead them to have a competitive edge over their competitors.

Major vendors in the Data Mining Tools Market include IBM (US), Microsoft (US), SAS Institute (US), Oracle (US), Intel (US), SAP SE (Germany), RapidMiner (US), KNIME (Switzerland), Teradata (US), MathWorks (US), H2O.ai (US), Alteryx (US), FICO (US), Angoss (Canada), Salford Systems (US), BlueGranite (US), Megaputer (US), Biomax Informatics (Germany), Frontline Systems (US), Dataiku (France), Wolfram (US), Reltio (US), SenticNet (Singapore), Business Insight (Belgium), and SunTec India (Delhi).

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsEmerging Market Rebound to Lead to 5% Growth in Aftermarket in 2018, says Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan, the growth partnership company, announced today that it will host a live, complimentary Growth Innovation Leadership (GIL) briefing titled, "Global Automotive Aftermarket in Developing Markets Opens Up New Opportunities", on Tuesday, 22nd May at 1 pm EDT. The webinar will offer Frost & Sullivan's expert insight from Kumar Saha, Research Director and Anuj Monga, Global Program Manager, Global Automotive & Transportation Research Team at Frost & Sullivan. The webinar will also feature expert commentary from Brad Fry, Senior Manager, Business Strategy & Development, Parts & Accessories eBay.

The global automotive aftermarket is undergoing massive transformation. Some of the key disruptors picked up pace in 2017 and will continue to change supply and demand dynamics in 2018 and beyond. Frost & Sullivan's Global Aftermarket Outlook will highlight some of these short-term market shifts (e.g. why will North America lag in aftermarket growth in 2018 while India, Latin America will see growth) as well as medium- and long-term trends such as digital B2B and service management platforms. The briefing will enable attendees to position themselves effectively against the challenges and disruptions while understanding where the next wave of opportunities will come from.

"The future of the aftermarket will be about integrated vehicle management  not siloed products and sales," says Saha. "The changing nature of vehicles and new market entrants will shake up the entire ecosystem in the next 10 years. There will be winners and losers."

Join us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the aftermarket growth and decline rates by key global markets to support your annual planning and projections, identify the growth markets and categories to develop targeted strategies for those regions and products and uncover emerging business models and development strategies in order to tap into growth opportunities.

Expert Insight You Don't Want to Miss:

Understand how vehicle age will influence aftermarket growth in China and India ;

and ; How will advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles impact aftermarket growth?

How will Amazon's digital platform approach influence vehicle maintenance?

What are the data monetization opportunities in aftermarket?

Barriers and challenges to growth: Increasing penetration of EVs and ADAS-enabled vehicles in mature markets, declining new vehicle sales in North America , declining product replacement rates in mature markets.

For more information and to register for the webinar, please click here.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion

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SOURCE Frost & SullivanPORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research titled, "Advanced High- Strength Steel Market by Grade and End User: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20172023," the global advanced high-strength steel market size was valued at $13,147 million in 2016, and is expected to reach $29,151 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 12.2% from 2017 to 2023. North America dominated the global market in 2016, accounting for one-third share of the total revenue.

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Advanced high-strength steels, also known as AHSS, are the complex materials produced from heating and cooling processes. The demand of new steel is witnessed increasingly across the world owing to its ductility and formability. In addition, replacing cast iron and conventional steel components with AHSS directly reduces chassis by up to 50%, and thus minimizes fuel consumption of the vehicle. Thus, the adoption of lightweight steel facilitates the incorporation of additional advanced emission control system, safety devices, and integrated electronic systems without hampering the overall vehicle weight. This further supplement the growth of the global advanced high-strength steel market.

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The deployment of AHSS in the automobile industry experiences significant growth. The continuous adoption of the new technologies and grades is expected to shape the automotive sector by providing lighter vehicles and meeting fuel efficiency standards. In addition, it facilitates enhanced performance of the vehicle and superior strength that is achieved with lighter and thinner materials. Implementation of stringent government regulations to reduce the emission of CO2 drives the growth of the advanced high-strength steel market in the automobile industry. Carmakers replace conventional steels with new grades of AHSS and offer lighter body designs with an aim to reduce GHG emissions and improve fuel economy. The body in white (BIW) structure saves around 25% of mass and 9% of total vehicle weight.

The demand for lightweight components, growth in automotive industry, and the need to reduce CO2 emission levels are anticipated to drive the growth of the advanced high-strength steel market during the forecast period. In addition, the growth in shipbuilding industry and increase in urbanization and industrialization, particularly in the developing economies is projected to create lucrative opportunities for AHSS manufacturers to provide their efficient designs to the shipbuilding manufacturers.

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Increase in passenger traffic accounted for delivery of around 1,400 airplanes in 2015; this number increased to around 2,400 airplanes in 2016. Around 39,620 new airplanes are estimated to be delivered globally by 2035. AHSS is used in the aerospace industry in the production of variety of complex components and tight tolerance parts. Thus, the growth in aerospace industry is anticipated to create lucrative opportunities for the aircraft makers.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) formulated a national program for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards. The program aims to minimize the GHG emissions through improved fuel economy. In addition, it is expected to cut around six billion metric tons of GHG for the vehicles sold in between 2012 and 2025, thereby saving more than $1.5 trillion in fuel costs. The increased consciousness to reduce CO2 and GHG emission levels and stringent government regulations drives the growth of the global advanced high-strength steel market.

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Key Findings of the Advanced High-strength Steel Market:

In terms of value, the dual phase segment in the global advanced high-strength steel market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.0% during the forecast period.

North America is expected to dominate, registering a CAGR of 11.3% in terms of value.

is expected to dominate, registering a CAGR of 11.3% in terms of value. Automotive industry is anticipated to dominate global market registering a CAGR of 12.5%.

Asia-Pacific is projected to show exponential growth in demand throughout 2023, growing at a CAGR 14.0% of in terms of value.

is projected to show exponential growth in demand throughout 2023, growing at a CAGR 14.0% of in terms of value. In the global market, India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.0%, in terms of value.

Key players profiled in the global advanced high-strength steel industry include Tata Steel Limited, ArcelorMittal S.A., NanoSteel, AK Steel Corporation, Nucor Corporation, MTL Advanced Ltd., United States Steel Corporation, Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., Kobe Steel Ltd., and SSAB AB.

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About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market ResearchPUNE, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report "Homeland Security and Emergency Management Market by End Use (Law Enforcement & Intelligence Gathering, Cyber Security, Critical Infrastructure Security, Risk & Emergency Services, Border Security, CBRNE), System, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets , the market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 557.14 Billion in 2018 to USD 742.06 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 5.90% from 2018 to 2023.

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Browse 171 market data Tables and 61 Figures spread through 234 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Homeland Security and Emergency Management Market"



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Increasing terrorist threats and biohazard attacks and occurrence of unpredictable natural disasters due to ever-changing climatic conditions worldwide are key factors driving the growth of the homeland security and emergency management market.

Based on vertical, the homeland security segment is expected to lead the homeland security and emergency management market

Based on vertical, the homeland security segment is expected to lead the homeland security and emergency management market and is expected to continue to lead till 2023. The homeland security and emergency management market has been segmented into homeland security and emergency management, which provide security and safety across various verticals including aviation, border control, law enforcement & intelligence agencies, financial service industries, government intelligence agencies, and cyber security. It is essential to safeguard these verticals from various intrusions which can cause harm to financial assets leading to financial loss.

Based on end use, the cyber security segment of the homeland security and emergency management market is expected to grow at a high rate during the forecast period

Based on end use, the homeland security and emergency management market has been segmented into law enforcement and intelligence gathering, risk and emergency services, border security, maritime security, aviation security, cyber security, critical infrastructure security, and CBRNE security. The cyber security segment is projected to grow in the homeland security and emergency management market at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Cyber security solutions are categorized into 6 major types, namely, network security, endpoint security, application security, cloud security, wireless security, and others. The increasing deployment of mobile and web based application security solutions by organizations is expected to lead to the growth of cyber security market.

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The market for homeland security and emergency management in the Asia Pacific is projected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period

The rapid growth of the homeland security and emergency management market in the Asia Pacific can be attributed to the increasing spending on homeland security by emerging countries, such as China, Japan, South Korea, and India. China is estimated to account for the largest share of the Asia Pacific homeland security and emergency management market in 2018. This high share can be attributed to the need to counter rising terrorist activities, geopolitical conflicts, strikes and protests, chemical attacks, and natural disasters, which have led major homeland security and emergency management solution providers of the region to develop enhanced techno-efficient homeland security and emergency management systems and equipment.

Major players operating in the homeland security and emergency management market are Lockheed Martin (US), Raytheon (US), IBM (US), FLIR Systems (US), Thales Group (France), Elbit System (Israel), General Dynamics (US), Unisys (US), and others.

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MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets' flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsPUNE, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report "HVAC Controls Market by System (Temperature, Ventilation, Humidity, Integrated Controls), Component (Sensors, and Controllers & Controlled Devices), Implementation Type (New Construction, Retrofit), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets , the market was valued at USD 13.63 Billion in 2018 and is expected to reach USD 27.04 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 12.1% between 2018 and 2023.

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Browse 69 market data Tables and 63 Figures spread through 161 Pages and in-depth TOC on "HVAC Controls Market"



https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/smart-hvac-controls-market-130456761.html

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Factors that support the growth of the market are the need for efficient use of energy in buildings, growing construction market, increasing adoption of IoT in the HVAC industry, and rising demand for building automation systems (BASs).

Temperature control system to hold the largest size of the HVAC controls market throughout the forecast period

The temperature control system consists of sensors, controllers, and HVAC equipment. The prime example of a temperature control system is a thermostat. Thermostat constantly measures the temperature of the area and, thus, controls the operation of heater or cooler to maintain the user-defined temperature. The major concern is maintaining energy efficiency, and the efficiency can be achieved by turning off the HVAC equipment periodically to save energy.

Commercial application held a major share of the HVAC controls market in 2017

Commercial application held a major share of the HVAC controls market in 2017. The rise in the adoption of smart buildings and green buildings increases the use of smart sensors and HVAC controls such as programmable thermostat, which would save a lot of energy in commercial buildings. The application of HVAC controls in commercial buildings ensures switching on or off the HVAC equipment in a particular area, which is not currently occupied. The Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 set in the US provides tax credit to owners of new or existing commercial buildings on the implementation of heating, cooling, ventilation, or hot water systems, which help in reducing the overall energy consumption of the buildings.

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New construction to hold the largest size of the HVAC controls market during the forecast period

Growing urbanization, economic growth, and rising disposable income in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are fueling the growth of the HVAC controls market for new construction. Governments of various countries are investing in the infrastructure development, which complies with environmental standards. Along with the need for infrastructural development, governments have also realized the need to curb the adverse effects of construction activities on the environment.

HVAC controls market in APAC to grow at the highest CAGR between 2018 and 2023

China, Japan, and India are the major consumers of HVAC controls. Governments of these countries have taken active measures for increasing the adoption of HVAC controls. For example, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, has adopted a smart city mission, which focuses on developing the cities to make them energy-efficient and sustainable along with improving the quality of living in these cities. Owing to the increasing population and depleting resources, the development of smart cities plays a major role for future sustainability in terms of energy. Furthermore, Japan is following strict regulation in terms of improving energy conservation. From 2012, it has launched some policies related to buildings that comprise the promotion of the use of higher efficiency products in construction of houses and buildings. It also follows energy efficiency standards for all type of buildings, including new and retrofits.

Major players operating in the HVAC controls market are Honeywell (US), Johnson Controls (US), Siemens (Germany), Schneider Electric (France), Emerson (US), Delta Controls (Canada), Ingersoll-Rand (Ireland), United Technologies (US), Lennox (US), and Distech Controls (Canada).

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MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their pain points around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets' flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

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MarketsandMarkets INC.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsWashington (People's Daily) - The White House hosted the Artificial Intelligence (AI) for American Industry Summit on Thursday, discussing future plans for AI and relevant policies.

The summit convened with over 100 senior government officials, technical experts from top academic institutions, heads of industrial research labs, and American business leaders, with industry sectors ranging from food and agriculture, energy and manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, to transportation and logistics, according to the summit summary released by the White House office of Science and Technology Policy.

The summary showed that the key issues discussed in the summit included supporting the US national AI R&D ecosystem, developing an American workforce to take full advantage of the benefits of AI, removing barriers to AI innovation in the US, and enabling high-impact, sector-specific applications with AI.

"As artificial intelligence transforms everything from agriculture to manufacturing to transportation, the potential for AI remains breathtaking. But we cannot be passive," said Michael Kratsios, top White House technology adviser, in prepared remarks for the summit.

(File photos)

In February, US President Donald Trump designated AI, autonomous and unmanned systems as his administration's R&D priorities in the fiscal year 2019 budget request. He had called out the significance of AI for the future of the American military in his administration's National Security Strategy last December.

The summary released said that the US Federal Government's investment in unclassified R&D for AI and related technologies has grown by over 40 percent since 2015, in addition to substantial classified investments across the defense and intelligence communities.

Kratsios said, to a certain degree, job displacement is inevitable, "We must do what Americans have always done: adapt." He also listed multiple actions the Trump administration has taken to ease the transition and further close the job gap in his remarks.

Last September, Trump signed a memorandum prioritizing high-quality Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, with a particular focus on computer science education, and directing at least $200 million per year in grant funding, which was immediately matched by the private industry with another $300 million.

Kratsios said his office will release a 5-year strategic plan later this year to better coordinate STEM education programs across the Federal Government.

Summit attendees also discussed efforts to prepare America for the jobs of the future, with a renewed focus on STEM education throughout childhood and beyond, technical apprenticeships, reskilling, and lifelong learning programs to better match America's skills with the needs of industry, the summary read.

During the summit, Kratsios announced the creation of a Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence under US's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), a Cabinet-level council for Trump to coordinate science and technology (S&T) policies across the Executive Branch.

According to the Charter of the Select Committee, the Committee is to advise and assist the NSTC to improve the overall effectiveness and productivity of Federal R&D efforts related to AI, and to ensure continued US leadership in this field. It shall be chaired by the US' Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.NEW DELHI, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights gaps between effectiveness and priority in strategy and risk management

The role of the Finance function is evolving in India with new responsibilities coexisting with more traditional ones

The traditional, limited remit of the cost accountant is being replaced by the more expansive, value creation-oriented, strategic partnering role expected of today's global management accountant

In some areas (for example, statutory reporting), practices in India still more closely resemble those in emerging economies; in other areas (for example, strategy development), they more closely resemble those in developed economies

For this report, IMA engaged with firms across key Indian markets including those in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad.

The role of the finance function in India is evolving to include new high priority responsibilities in addition to the traditional, limited remit of the cost accountant, finds new research from IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), MyCFO and the Institute of Directors (IOD) India. To see the full report, visit here: https://goo.gl/vqMu7v.

IMA in collaboration with MyCFO and the IOD India, conducted a survey of finance and accounting professionals working in businesses to assess the state of management accounting practices in India. Survey respondents were from firms of various sizes, with midsize (100 to 999 employees) and large (greater than 5,000 employees) firms more numerous than firms of other sizes. For this report, IMA engaged with firms across key Indian markets including those in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad.

As the Indian economy embraces industry 4.0, characterized by automation, machine learning and widespread use of the IT, Indian companies are hard pressed to embrace an exciting new world-one characterized by rapid economic change. Industry 4.0 presents companies with new opportunities but also greater risks. Like other corporate functions, fiscal jurisprudence is also affected and requires new approaches to help CEOs mitigate new challenges and embrace new opportunities. Today more than ever before, accounting and finance professionals need to possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to enable them to act as strategic business advisors. The report identifies similarities between the evolution of the accounting profession in India and other developing countries. China sees a great demand for public accounting professionals as companies have restructured and gone public to raise capital in an increasingly competitive global business environment.

In India, there's currently a great focus on activities related to business financing (business valuations, start-up companies, and so forth). The Indian business environment is rapidly evolving and newer finance responsibilities such as forecasting, planning, and strategy are emerging priorities, and newer management accounting techniques, are being adopted. Yet Indian companies, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, under-prioritize investment in developing practices that are considered to be most effective in yielding better business insight.

"Indian companies are entering an exciting new world-one characterized by rapid economic, social, and political change. While planning, forecasting, and providing business insights are high priorities for the finance team, India's complex tax and regulatory environment requires substantial focus and resources, which reduces their ability to focus on providing business insight," said Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA vice president of research and policy and author of the study.

As IMA's first research project in India, the study focuses on the state of the finance function among Indian companies of various sizes and types of ownership. The study also compares the survey results from India to prior studies in China and other regions to examine how management accounting practices differ. It found that Indian companies spend a similar amount of time on statutory reporting compared to other companies in emerging economies.

"The results of this study provide a revealing portrait of management accounting practices in India," said T. Subbarayudu, President of IMA's Bangalore Chapter, who spearheaded the execution of the survey. "Prior to this report, there has been relatively limited research on the role that management accountants play within their organizations, the enterprise performance management (EPM) systems that they help design and deploy, or the tools and techniques they use."

"The report indicates that while the industry classification of a firm didn't significantly affect how the finance function spends its time, there were significant differences based on type of firm. As might be expected, publicly traded companies and wholly foreign-owned companies spent more time on statutory reporting than partnership firms and privately held companies," explained Manoj K Raut, CEO and director at IOD. "Surprisingly, though, partnership firms spend much more time on strategy development than other private and public companies."

"While statutory reporting still takes up most of their time, finance professionals are spending an increasing amount of time on strategy development as the regulatory burden eases. This is a positive indication that finance will be well-positioned to enhance its business partnering role in the near term," said Deepak Narayanan, co-founder at MyCFO, which works with companies in finance transformations, performance measurement, turnaround and restructuring, post-merger integration and interim management.

"The Indian business environment is rapidly evolving, and so is its management accounting," said IMA's Lawson. "Newer finance responsibilities such as forecasting, planning, and strategy are emerging priorities, and newer management accounting techniques are being adopted. Yet Indian companies, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, under-prioritize practices that are most effective in yielding better business insight.

"Companies need to ensure that their accounting and finance professionals possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to act as strategic business advisors. By being able to help their organizations develop and implement effective strategic performance management systems, today's management accountants can greatly contribute to the success of their companies."

About IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

IMA is the only global management accounting organization to consistently be a forerunner in delivering relevant research on the evolution of the financial professional to business partner. With a history of nearly 100 years of management accounting innovation and insight, IMA is a global member association for those professionals involved in strategy, financial planning and analysis, and other areas that enable organizational growth.

Media Contact:

Anika Wadhwa

[email protected]

011-43898907

Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees India



SOURCE IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)PUNE, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Immunoassay Market by Product & Service (Reagents & Kits, Analyzers, Software), Technology (ELISA, Rapid Test), Platform (Radioimmunoassay), Specimen, Application (Infectious Diseases, Oncology, Cardiology), End User (Hospitals) - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to reach USD 27.15 Billion by 2023 from USD 20.19 Billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 6.1%.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg )



Browse 293 market data Tables and 50 Figures spread through 344 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Immunoassay Market"

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/immunoassay-market-436.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report

The increasing incidence of chronic and infectious diseases, technological advancements in immunoassay instruments and introduction of novel automated systems, and growth in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are some the major factors driving the growth of this market.

By product and service, the reagents and kits segment commanded the largest share of the market in 2017

On the basis product and service, this market is classified into reagents and kits, analyzers, and software and services. In 2017, the reagents and kits segment accounted for the largest share of the Immunoassays Market. The large share of this segment can primarily be attributed to the requirement of the repeat purchase of kits and reagents, coupled with the increasing number of immunoassay tests being performed across the globe as a result of the rising incidence of chronic and infectious diseases.

The chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIAs) segment led the Immunoassays Market in 2017

By platform, this market is classified into CLIAs, radioimmunoassay (RIAs), colorimetric immunoassays (CIs), fluorescence immunoassays (FIAs), and other platforms. The CLIAs segment accounted for the largest share of the Immunoassays Market in 2017. The large share of this segment can primarily be attributed to the low cost and high sensitivity of CLIA-based tests.

Ask for PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=436

By technology, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2017

On the basis of technology, the Immunoassays Market is segmented into ELISA, rapid tests, western blotting, enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT), immuno-PCR, and other immunoassay technologies. The ELISA segment accounted for the largest share of the Immunoassays Market in 2017. The large share of this segment can primarily be attributed to the increasing use of immunoassay tests in cancer, infectious diseases, and therapeutic drug level monitoring.

North America held the largest share of the market in 2017

Based on region, the Immunoassay Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the market in 2017. The large share of this regional segment is attributed to the increasing incidence of chronic diseases and improved healthcare infrastructure.

Key players in the Immunoassays Market include Roche (Switzerland), Abbott Laboratories (US), Siemens (Germany), Danaher Corporation (US), Sysmex Corporation (Japan), bioMerieux (France), Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (US), DiaSorin (Italy), QIAGEN (Netherlands), Thermo Fisher Scientific (US), Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Merck (Germany), Bio-Rad Laboratories (US), Agilent Technologies (US), PerkinElmer (US), Quidel Corporation (US), Bio-Techne Corporation (US), and Mindray (China).

Know more about the Immunoassay Market:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/immunoassay-market-436.html

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

Contact:

Mr. Salgarkar

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]



Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets

SOURCE MarketsandMarketsMUMBAI, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Honoured for his work in rural development and innovative approach

Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), the world's leading peer-to-peer network of successful business owners, is honoured to name Vishal Chordia, Chairman of the Maharashtra State Khadi & Village Industries Board (MSKVIB), as the 2018 EO Global Citizen of the Year.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690821/Vishal_Chordia_EO_Award.jpg )



The Global Citizen of the Year award is a prestigious accolade presented annually to an EO member whose entrepreneurial spirit, innovative approach, and effective business practices transcend borders, change lives and set an example for EO members and the global business community. Vishal Chordia takes his place among a cast of distinguished past winners who have nurtured entrepreneurial growth in developing nations, built schools and revolutionized healthcare to make it more affordable and accessible for the underprivileged.

An active entrepreneur and a founding member of the EO Pune chapter, Vishal Chordia has been empowering rural development in Maharashtra for two decades. He leads Suhana, a multi-million dollar spice export company and last year accepted the position as the Chairman of the MSKVIB. Recognizing the role that crafts and rural entrepreneurs can play in reducing both economic and social inequities, he pioneered the 'MahaKhadi' initiative that is reorganizing crafts and village industries to alleviate poverty and create just working opportunities for craftspeople across the state.

"Vishal embodies the EO spirit of 'being significant' and is an outstanding role model for business leaders around the world. His commitment and dedication to his community and his vision to help it flourish and prosper has led to success in his personal endeavours and more recently with his work at the MSKVIB," said Brian Brault, EO Global Chairman. "We are honoured to have Vishal so actively involved with the Entrepreneurs' Organization and to be able to present him with the coveted Global Citizen of the Year award."

"Giving back to my community and helping to empower artisans and rural entrepreneurs of Maharashtra is something I am passionate about, making it easy to dedicate my career to these efforts," said Vishal Chordia, Chairman, MSKVIB. "My involvement with Entrepreneurs' Organization has been very meaningful as it offers an environment of learning and growth and provides the perfect platform to inspire and draw inspiration from fellow entrepreneurs to make dreams a reality and also look beyond to make an impact on our communities and economies."

The Global Citizen of the Year award was presented at the annual EO Global Leadership Conference (GLC) where over 1,500 entrepreneurs from 54 countries gathered this year to connect with other EO members and gain leadership skills, perspective and awareness.

About Entrepreneurs' Organization

Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) is a global, peer-to-peer network of more than 12,000 influential business owners in 173 chapters and 54 countries. Founded in 1987, EO is the catalyst that enables leading entrepreneurs to learn and grow, leading to greater success in business and beyond.

Media Contact:

Rashneen Kaur Anand

[email protected]

+91-7045527436

FleishmanHillard for Entrepreneurs' Organization



SOURCE Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO)FOD is a common problem in the aviation industry. In addition to being a major safety hazard, it also costs civil aviation, worldwide, $4B a year. Whereas existing solutions focus on detection technologies, Airvrix focuses on prevention by installing their product on the runway shoulder, preventing FOD from reaching the runway.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690643/Airvrix_FOD_Solution.jpg )

With globally registered patents, the FOD barrier was developed in-house by Airvix's team of aeronautical and mechanical engineers, in accordance with FAA requirements.

"Before approving the installation, our product was thoroughly and diligently vetted by IAF engineers. This included in-depth study of the design and materials, as well as testing of the prototype. Findings showed the product to be effective and capable of seamless integration with bases' routine operations. At the conclusion of the pilot, we are glad to report results show an 80% decrease in FOD occurrences, which has increased the number of flights and aircraft availability" says Ivry Shapira, CEO of Airvrix.

"The challenge when designing the solution was to ensure that the barrier is strong enough to withstand the jet blasts and prevent FOD from settling on the runway, while also easily collapsing if a plane runs over it" says Ivry.

IAF officials believe that the cost-effective barrier will be a game changer in fighting FOD.

Airvrix is currently widening its activity to serve new customers around the globe.

About Airvrix

Airvrix's main mission is to improve runway safety using their innovative FOD barrier, an advanced solution for preventing FOD on runways.

The FOD Barrier has been tested and installed by the Israeli Air Force.

For more information visit Airvrix.com

SOURCE AirvrixPUNE, India, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report "On-Board Magnetic Sensor Market by Type (Hall Effect Sensors, Magnetoresistive Sensors, Squid Sensors), Magnetic Density (<1 Microgauss, 1 Microgauss-10 Gauss, and >10 Gauss), Vertical, Geography - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets , the overall market is estimated to be worth USD 1.26 Billion in 2018 and expected to reach USD 1.89 Billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 8.4% between 2018 and 2023.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg )

Browse 66 market data Tables and 32 Figures spread through 134 Pages and in-depth TOC on "On-Board Magnetic Sensor Market"



https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/on-board-magnetic-sensor-market-37994383.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report



The factors that are driving the growth of this market are the continuous growth in the use of on-board magnetic sensors for consumer electronics applications and role of on-board magnetic sensors in navigation.

Automotive vertical expected to hold major share of on-board magnetic sensor market during forecast period

The on-board magnetic sensor market for automotive is expected to hold the largest share by 2023. The aim of the automobile manufacturers to enhance the convenience and safety of drivers and passengers is expected to propel the demand for on-board magnetic sensors in the automotive vertical. In this vertical, on-board magnetic sensors are used in engine positioning, displacement, rotary positioning, linear positioning, timing, and angle sensing application. Moreover, the development of advanced vehicles, such as hybrid vehicles, and the increased production of passenger vehicles are the major factors fueling the demand for on-board magnetic sensors in the automotive vertical.

>10 gauss (BIAS magnetic field sensor) magnetic density expected to hold major share of on-board magnetic sensor market between 2018 and 2023

>10 gauss magnetic density is expected to dominate the overall on-board magnetic sensor market during the forecast period. The automotive segment is the major revenue pocket for the on-board magnetic sensor market. The BIAS magnetic field sensor technology, mainly comprising Hall and GMR sensors, is widely used in automotive applications. The BIAS magnetic field sensor technology also finds applications in the industrial and infrastructure segment in automation equipment, conveyors, packaging equipment, and other applications incorporating motor latches.

Ask for PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=37994383

On-board magnetic sensor market in APAC expected to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period

On-board magnetic sensors are in high demand in APAC owing to the increasing focus of the region to automotive, consumer electronics, and healthcare verticals. In this study, the on-board magnetic sensor market in APAC has been divided into India, China, Japan, South Korea, and Rest of APAC. China is the largest automotive and consumer electronics manufacturing country in the world. Thus, the fastest growth in APAC will be seen in China mainly due to the applications such as antilock braking systems and central locking systems wherein on-board magnetic sensors are largely used. Moreover, the gaming industry is also booming at a fast rate, which will add to the consumption of on-board magnetic sensors in consumer electronics in the country.

Major companies involved in the development of on-board magnetic sensors include Asahi Kasei Microdevices (Japan), Sanken Electric (Allegro Subsidiary) (Japan), Infineon Technologies (Germany), TDK Corporation (Japan), and Melexis NV (Belgium), Murata Manufacturing (Japan), Honeywell International (US), TE Connectivity (Switzerland), AMS (Austria), and NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), among others.

Know more about the On-Board Magnetic Sensor Market

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/on-board-magnetic-sensor-market-37994383.html



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets' flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

Contact:

Mr. Salgarkar

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA : +1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]





Connect us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets



SOURCE MarketsandMarketsMUMBAI, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The first edition of The Machine Conference (MachineCon), India's most powerful gathering of analytics and data science leaders, was successfully hosted by Analytics India Magazine on 11 May 2018 at Hotel Hyatt Regency in Mumbai. The Machine Conference, which was presented by Cartesian Consulting, saw more than 200 industry leaders, who discussed the latest opportunities and challenges in the data-driven world.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690836/Analytics_India_Magazine_Logo.jpg )



The conference began with an insightful keynote session by Ramasubramanian Sundararajan, Head of AI Lab at Cartesian Consulting, which was followed by other engaging talks and panel discussions by industry thought leaders. It had over 12 talks, delivered by more than 50 leaders around the theme 'Putting analytics to work in India'.

An exclusive conference for senior analytics executives, it brought together India's analytics leaders to learn and do business. Data is at the forefront of all business transformations, but the challenge is to use this data and transform it into customer insights by implementing algorithms and designing new business models. The Machine Conference provided a platform to recognise those who know how to transform data into competitive advantage.

The highlight of the conference was Analytics50 awards, which recognised and honoured 50 best minds in the Indian analytics industry who have successfully transformed data into meaningful insights. The prestigious award which celebrated leaders who have helped mould the Indian analytics landscape, was presented by Mandira Bedi, a renowned actor and television celebrity. The winners were handpicked by our editors and industry doyens, who chose from the best minds vetted against the best in the industry.

Sandeep Mittal, MD at Cartesian Consulting, said, "The vibe at MachineCon was special. A close knit group of people, all dealing with the same questions, striving to better their understanding of this exciting field we are in and willing to share stories from the trenches. It's a rare confluence of good things that happened. We at Cartesian are delighted to have been the presenting sponsor at the first MachineCon, and we look forward to many more in the future."

Bhasker Gupta, founder and CEO, Analytics India Magazine, said, "Being a first edition, it turned out to be an exceptional conference with an extravagant participation from analytics leaders. We are glad that we were able to provide a platform for senior professionals in analytics and artificial intelligence to discuss growth, challenges, and adoption of analytics in their respective domains. We are also glad to have recognised the best minds in the analytics industry through our Analytics50 awards, which was an effort to celebrate men and women behind the success of data science in India. We look forward to hosting many more editions of The Machine Conference in the coming years."

Some of the other sponsors for the Machine Conference 2018 were Accenture, Teradata, 3LOQ, BDB, The Weather Company, Bridgei2i, UpGrad and Hansa Cequity.

About Analytics India Magazine

Analytics India Magazine (AIM) is India's no.1 platform on analytics, data science and big data, dedicated to passionately championing and promoting the ecosystem in India. It aims for the promotion and discussion of ideas and thoughts on Business Analytics from India perspective. AIM was started in May 2012 by Bhasker Gupta, who has worked in analytics space for more than 12 years. Visit http://www.analyticsindiamag.com for more info.

Media Contact:

Bhasker Gupta

[email protected]

+91-9916006869

CEO, Analytics India Magazine Pvt Ltd

SOURCE Analytics India Magazine Pvt LtdBANGALORE, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

ZRMindz Global Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a tech company enabling people to make 'Smarter Life' decisions, has launched Virtual Admission Fair 2018 (VAF 2018), wherein students can apply for college admission from the comfort of their home. This virtual platform can be presumed as a magnificent online platform for both colleges and students from all over India who are passionate about securing their career. VAF 2018 is an online platform where students can view colleges and their facility details, saving precious time and travelling expenses. It is also beneficial for colleges, as they will be able to admit progressive students who can bring pride and glory to the institutions with their performances.

Virtual Admission is a great opportunity for students to reach out to colleges from different fields, streams and specializations to help them meet their career goals and ambitions. It is an excellent platform guiding students to make the right decision in choosing the best college at their fingertips. Colleges can also benefit as a wide range of students can be reached to take admissions.

The benefits which students will acquire from VAF 2018 are below:

VAF 2018 will guide students by providing them one platform under which they can view numerous colleges and finally make the right choice A direct communication with the college representatives of various streams using modern techniques like live chat tools can be accessed by the students through VAF 2018 Easy and quick details regarding a student's favourite college, infrastructure, faculty and facilities are easily available and can be viewed Admissions and enrolments can be made without any further delay thus saving a student's precious time and travelling expenses

"Ease and transparency was the need in the college admission process. We have conducted several surveys and research before creating this platform and we have found many challenges faced by both students and colleges. We strongly believe that this virtual reality platform, Virtual Admission Fair, that we have built, will solve all problems and challenges these colleges and students have with regard to admissions. This platform will enable students and parents to take wise and smart decisions. I urge all students and their parents to take time and choose the best through Virtual Admission Fair, sitting fom the comfort of their home," said Mohammed Haseeb, Founder & CEO, ZRMindz Global Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Colleges will benefit in an excellent way as they can improve their online brand value and reputation. An easy and quick admission process can be conducted to connect students who are eagerly waiting to join colleges. VAF 2018 will be a good medium to inform students about the colleges' unique features, admission process and other necessary details. It is a good platform for the colleges to showcase their strengths to the students who will maintain the reputation of the colleges in near future. A great positive impact could be seen in the college admission process due to VAF 2018.

For more information visit https://www.vaf.mindzglobal.com/

About ZRMindz Global Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

ZRMindz Global are a technology-based company started in 2015 with a vision of empowering people to make right and smart decisions in every step of life. Through our innovative ideas and use of technology, we have built various platforms which empowers, educates and shows easy and cost efficient ways of choosing things in every aspect of life which is helping the citizens of the country to be protected from all types of mis-selling and fraud or getting cheated and making the right decision faster, efficient and smarter than ever before.

For more information, visithttp://www.mindzglobal.com

Media Contact:

Christy Praveen

[email protected]

+91-9986770698

Manager - Opreations

ZRMindz Global Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

SOURCE ZRMindz Global Technologies Pvt LtdTOKYO, May 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

ProInversion, the Peruvian Investment Authority, concluded today a highly successful Asia investment roadshow in Tokyo, Japan, with a busy agenda that included meetings with the local business community and with potential investors.

The delegation was formed by Cesar Martin Penaranda, Director of Investor Services at ProInversion and Gustavo Ibarguen, ProInversions Portfolio Director who met with local businessmen and investors to present current investment opportunities in Peru for Japanese companies across various sectors including Natural Gas projects, infrastructure, water and healthcare.

Japan is Peru's fifth largest trade partner and Japan has invested over 500 million dollars in the country over the past decade. Throughout the roadshow, Mr Ibarguen presented the Agency's portfolio of projects to some of the main Japanese holdings as well as to financial institutions who are willing to finance the participation of Japanese companies in projects to be developed in Peru.

Mr. Penaranda concluded: "Our visit to Tokyo represented a great opportunity to consolidate an already strong and dynamic relationship between Japanese and Peruvian business communities. The road show was a huge success and we received a lot of interest from investors, and we are very optimistic about the future economic relations between our two countries. ProInversion will be following up on all of the meetings to ensure the best possible results from this visit."

Long-term bilateral diplomatic relations began in 1873, when Peru became the first Latin American country to sign the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation with Japan, which is still in force. The existing Free Trade Agreements between Peru and Japan strengthen the bilateral economic relations between both countries and give security to investors, which allows us to keep promoting a greater FDI flow.

About ProInversion:

The Agency for the Promotion of Private Investment - PROINVERSION - is a public agency which promotes private investment in public services and public infrastructure works, as well as in state assets, projects, companies and other state activities.

Our Vision is for our agency to be recognized by investors and the population as an effective strategic ally for the development of investment in Peru.

Our Mission is to promote sustainable private investment with efficiency, quality and transparency, to the benefit of the population.

Among the sectors to be promoted during the Asia Road Show 2018 are water & sanitation, energy and telecom among others.

SOURCE ProInversionSEOUL, South Korea, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- KT Corp. (KRX: 030200) (NYSE: KT) has completed the construction of Rwanda's nationwide LTE network, the first in Africa by South Korea's top mobile carrier, as part of its efforts to boost global exports in the field of information and communications technology (ICT).

KT announced today that it celebrated the completion of Rwanda's 4G LTE network at the Transform Africa Summit 2018, Africa's largest ICT conference, which was held May 7-10 in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

Addressing the summit on the landmark project, Yun Kyoung-Lim, President of KT Global Business Office, said that its completion represents a momentous stride in realizing 'Smart Rwanda' and the country's Fourth Industrial Revolution.

With the completion of Africa's first nationwide LTE network, 95 percent of the Rwandan people now have access to high-speed wireless broadband service. Rwanda has a population of about 12 million and 8.6 million people subscribe to mobile services, of which 1.15 million use smartphones.

The Rwandan government expects the faster mobile communication network will help improve the quality of life of the Rwandan people. The nationwide 4G coverage has been completed in the three and a half years since KT Rwanda Networks (KTRN), a joint venture between KT and the Rwandan government, launched commercial services from Kigali in November 2014.

Jean de Dieu Rurangirwa, Minister of Information Technology and Communication, Republic of Rwanda, called the network a splendid feat jointly achieved by KT and the Rwandan government. "Our government will continue to offer all possible support so that the network will improve the quality of people's lives in many ways."

KTRN has drawn attention as an outstanding example of public-private partnership. KT expects it will serve as a springboard for increased cooperation with other African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi, Benin and Senegal.

Rwanda has hosted the Transform Africa Summit, organized by the Smart Africa Alliance, since 2013. This year's summit, held at the Kigali Convention Center, drew the participation of 4,000 people, including the heads of state, cabinet ministers and project leaders from 54 countries.

Under the theme of 'Accelerating Africa's Single Digital Market,' the summit comprised ministerial-level round table talks and forums on public-private partnership.

For related pictures, please visit our English website: https://bit.ly/2wDUYCT

Media Contacts

For inquiries, please contact our Foreign Media Relations Team at kt.fmrt@gmail.com

SOURCE KTAt least 41 people were killed and many others injured across India after dust storms, thunderstorms and rain accompanied by gusty winds hit many states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and the national capital New Delhi, officials said Monday.

The storms hit the states Sunday evening wreaking havoc by uprooting trees and electricity poles.

"In Uttar Pradesh 18 people were killed, 12 deaths were reported in West Bengal, nine people died in Andhra Pradesh, and two lives were lost in Delhi due to storms," disaster management officials said.

According to Meteorological department officials, squall and dust storm with a wind speed of upto 109 kmph hit capital city and its outskirts.

"The winds claimed two lives, besides injuring 19 people," the state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said.

The storms caused disruption in flight, rail and metro operations in the capital city, affecting commuters.

Reports quoting officials said about 70 flights were diverted from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and flight operations were put on hold due to storm. Likewise, Delhi Metro services were hampered in wake of the storm, following which thousands of commuters were stuck on the metro stations.

The trains were slowed down as a precaution.

Several areas in the city faced power outages as electricity lines snapped. Power companies maintenance teams have been restoring the electricity supply.

Indian prime minister and president have expressed their sadness over the deaths caused due to storms.

"Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. Asked officials to provide all possible assistance to those affected," Modi wrote on twitter.

India's Meteorological department officials said thunderstorms are expected across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours, as several weather phenomena, including western disturbances, converge.

"The thunderstorms will continue for the next 48 to 72 hours over north-western, eastern and southern parts of the country," AIR quoted Met Department official Mrutyunjay Mohapatra as having said. "Thunderstorms are occurring due to circulation of a western disturbance in North West India and strong easterlies."

Local government in Uttar Pradesh have advised people in the state to remain indoors inside the concrete structures and avoid venturing near trees, transformers and electricity polls during the time of storm.

Last week 18 people were killed in thunderstorm and rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this month at least 124 people were killed and more than 300 others injured in five Indian states due to dust storms, thunderstorms and lightning.A 'spoonful of sugar' proves more effective with young/child patients

Results from a clinical study suggest a sweet drink solution is an effective way of delivering a coloured dye to the retina to help doctors detect eye diseases

The drink could replace painful injections for children

The medical study is the first undertaken in the UAE to be published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association Ophthalmology

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690636/Moorfields_Eye_Hospitals_UAE_Procedure.jpg )



(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690637/Muhammed_Irfan_Khan.jpg )



A medical study on diagnosing children undertaken in the UAE by a team of four consultants at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai and Moorfields Eye Hospital Abu Dhabi, including Dr Irfan Khan supported by Dr Dk Khurram, Dr Syed Ali and Dr Igor Kozak, has achieved the distinction of becoming the first medical study undertaken entirely in the UAE to be published by the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Ophthalmology. Consultants involved in the study have already begun to share the results with colleagues at international scientific meetings.

The medical study relates to a new procedure developed by Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai in collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital Abu Dhabi, to diagnose retinal problems in children and avoid the use of injections in the vein, which can be painful and frightening for children and worrying for parents.

The new procedure (known as oral fundus fluorescein angiography or oral FFA) involves using a special coloured dye solution mixed into a sweet drink, which is then drunk by the child. An ultra-widefield retinal imaging device then follows the flow of the dye into the eye and reveals the circulation of blood in the retina, which is a sensitive film at the back of the eye and plays a vital role in our vision. Traditionally, the coloured dye would have been injected into the child's vein, causing discomfort.

The UAE study included 18 children who were imaged at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai and Moorfields Eye Hospital Abu Dhabi, using this oral technique and advanced imaging device, with no side effects; and all of the patients have been treated successfully.

Commenting on the innovation and JAMA Ophthalmology publication,

Declan Flanagan, Medical Director at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: "Retinal disorders are one of the most common causes of sight loss in children. It's so important that we get clear images of the back of the eye so we can accurately diagnose conditions to ensure that we offer the most appropriate treatment. The study suggests that drink solution technique is effective and it will hopefully make hospital visits much more pleasant for our young patients as it will reduce the need for painful injections. The publication of the UAE study by JAMA Ophthalmology is a great honour for our Paediatric Ophthalmology team at Moorfields Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It demonstrates innovation and patient-focus healthcare in the UAE."

Dr. Irfan Khan, Consultant Ophthalmologist with special interest in Paediatric eye conditions, Strabismus, Adult and Paediatric Cataract, Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, added: "This study has demonstrated that the oral administration of the coloured dye with the addition of modern imaging works very well. Our team is delighted to have been recognised by JAMA Ophthalmology with the publication of the study. I would like to convey my special acknowledgment to Dr Igor Kozak who has been instrumental in the publication of our study."

Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, CEO and Managing Director of United Eastern Medical Services in Abu Dhabi, the parent partner of Moorfields Eye Hospital Abu Dhabi, emphasized on the importance of this scientific study, which was conducted by the hospital's physicians in Dubai in collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital Abu Dhabi. "The study opened new horizons to reach new techniques when it comes to the diagnosis of paediatric retina disorders, which makes UAE's healthcare sector an active contributor with international medical and research centres in developing new diagnostic technologies and innovations. Our team were able to achieve this milestone with the support of the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi who has always supported medical research and innovations in the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi."

Notes to editors:

Background to the study

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-abstract/2677072?redirect=true

The study:

Oral ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography in pediatric retinal disease

Syed M.A.Ali, MBBS,[1],[2] Irfan Khan, DRCOphth, FRCOphth,[1],[2] Darakhshanda Khurram, MBBS, FRCS,[1],[2] Igor Kozak, M.D., PhD.[1],[2]

Moorfields Eye Hospital Centre, Abu Dhabi , U.A.E. Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, Dubai , U.A.E.

It is a common misperception that children do not have any eye diseases. In fact, they can have all the adult diseases. However, children are unable to explain details about their vision. This can make diagnosis difficult - but diagnosis is central to treating a medical problem.

The Retina is the most sensitive part of the eye and works like a photographic film. Whatever we see is imprinted on the retina and the brain helps us to see and understand those images.

The Moorfields Dubai study was a modification of an existing diagnostic tool in which the team used a state-of-the-art imaging device which gives a wide field image of the

retina. Traditionally, coloured dyes have been used and were injected directly into the vein - an uncomfortable experience for children.

Dr. Irfan Khan, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Dubai, introduced the idea of using the dye as an oral solution mixed in a sweet drink. This proved very effective and very easy for the child patients. With the help of Dr. Syed Ali [Consultant Ophthalmologist], Dr. Darakhshanda Khurram [Consultant Ophthalmologist] and Dr. Igor Kozak [Consultant Ophthalmologist] Moorfields has now imaged more than 30 children without any side effects, and all underwent successful treatment.

About Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai

Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (MEHD) is the first overseas branch of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the oldest and one of the largest centres for ophthalmic treatment, teaching and research in the world. Located at the Al Razi Medical Complex in Dubai Health Care City, the facility provides day case surgery and outpatient diagnostic and treatment services, for a variety of surgical and non-surgical eye conditions. MEHD will also raise standards for research and teaching in the region. MEHD is owned and managed by the NHS Foundation Trust, and maintains close links with London, to ensure that patients in the GCC receive the best eye care treatment in the world.

SOURCE Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690230/Sakip_Sabanci_for_Turkish_Studies.jpg )



Speaking in the inauguration, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger stated his thanks to Sakip Sabanci family for their generous gift and noted that the centers belief was to engage student and the faculty from Columbia and all around the globe in teaching and research that would examine the region that's arguably unsurpassed and its impact on the world and in shaping modern society.

"Understanding Turkish people is essential to navigate many challenges we face in this century."

Bollinger said that the Center was the first of its kind in the US for Turkish Studies, and expressed his belief that understanding in the politics, history, culture and the religion of the Turkish people is essential to navigating many challenges we face in this century.

Guler Sabanci, Sabanci University's Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees, thanked President Bollinger and the Sakip Sabanci Family for the establishment of the Sakip Sabanci Center for Turkish Studies in Columbia University.

"Knowledge generation, research, scientific thinking and discussion will enable Turkey to become more effective, capable and consistent in finding solutions to regional and global problems."

Guler Sabanci added in her speech that, "Sakip Sabanci Center for Turkish Studies aspires to situate studies on Turkey in comparative global perspective. We hope that the Chair and the Center's activities will move focus from understanding Turkey to how Turkey can inform global debates around the world. Knowledge generation, research, scientific thinking and discussion will enable Turkey to become more effective, capable and consistent in finding solutions to regional and global problems."

Guler Sabanci stated that a global center with such an aim will inevitably touch many areas of inquiry: art, music, literature, business, history, politics, medicine, life sciences, engineering and others, and added that the Center will lead to innovative cross-fertilization across these disciplines.

The ceremony followed by an academic panel in which professors from Columbia, Sabanci University and other schools explored "Human Rights and Hybrid Regimes".

About Sakip Sabanci

Sakip Sabanci (1933-2004) was a businessman, philanthropist, art collector, social entrepreneur, pioneer in education, whose contributions have left indelible marks in Turkish business, education, arts, and social life.

His children, Dilek, Sevil, and Metin Sabanci endowed the Sakip Sabanci Chair and Center for Turkish Studies to honor his vision of constructing bridges between scholars of Turkish culture, society, and politics around the globe and to constitute a platform for the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Since 2006, in honor of the late Sakip Sabanci, "International Research Award" has also been given by Sabanci University in the field of Social Sciences.

https://sabancicenter.columbia.edu/

Contact: Omer Ertum, omertum@sabanciuniv.edu, +90-216-483-90-00

SOURCE Sabanci UniversityATLANTA and BRUSSELS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

- BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) CV oral formulations are approved as a monotherapy or adjunctive therapy in patients four years of age and older with partial-onset seizures

- Approval provides pediatric epilepsy patients a treatment option which can be initiated at a therapeutic dose from day one

- Pediatric epilepsy is the most common, serious neurological disorder among children and young adults, thought to affect nearly 470,000 children in the U.S[1],[2]

- Indication comes less than 2 years after the launch of BRIVIACT in the U.S., building on existing adult monotherapy and adjunctive therapy indications, and broadening clinical application for UCB's newest anti-epilepsy drug

UCB announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for the company's newest anti-epileptic drug (AED) BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) CV oral formulations indicated as monotherapy and adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial onset (focal) seizures in patients age four years and older.

This approval provides clinicians with the convenient option to prescribe BRIVIACT to their pediatric patients as a tablet or oral solution, providing flexible administration options which are important considerations when treating children.

As the safety of BRIVIACT injection has not been established in pediatric patients, BRIVIACT injection is indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures only in patients 16 years of age and older. Please see additional BRIVIACT Important Safety Information below.

As a result of the FDA's decision, children age four years and older with partial-onset seizures in the U.S. can now be treated with BRIVIACT. This extends the clinical application for BRIVIACT which already has a similar indication for adults.

BRIVIACT is the newest anti-epileptic drug (AED) in the synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) family of medicines - a class of medicines discovered and developed by UCB. BRIVIACT demonstrates a high and selective affinity for SV2A in the brain. It is highly permeable and is rapidly and almost completely absorbed which may contribute to its anticonvulsant effects. Gradual dose escalation is not required when initiating treatment with BRIVIACT for monotherapy or adjunctive therapy, allowing clinicians to initiate treatment at a therapeutic dose from day one.

"As a pediatric neurologist, one of the most challenging aspects in treating epilepsy in children is establishing, quickly, which anti-epilepsy drug will support them best in managing their seizures. The impact of poor seizure control can be extremely detrimental - both to overall quality of life for patients and caregivers and for a child's development. There is a real sense of urgency for parents and healthcare providers to know whether a particular therapeutic approach is likely to be successful, minimizing some of the challenges associated with epilepsy and potentially allowing them to live a normal and active life," explained Dr. James Wheless, Director, Neuroscience Institute & Le Bonheur Comprehensive Epilepsy Program - Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. "The availability of an approved treatment option, such as BRIVIACT, has potential to help improve the lives of children and their families by providing an additional choice to support them in their epilepsy journey."

Epilepsy in childhood is a complex disorder that can have a significant impact on many aspects of a child's development and function. Social and societal stigma still associated with epilepsy can be especially cruel for children. The prevalence of pediatric epilepsy has been steadily increasing in the U.S.[3] Today, it is estimated that nearly 470,000 children in the U.S. under the age of 18 have epilepsy, representing around a quarter of the total worldwide population who develop the condition each year.[4] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 0.6 percent of children in the U.S. ages 0 to 17 have active epilepsy - equivalent to six students in a school of 1000.[5] Despite its growing prevalence, approximately 10 to 20 percent of pediatric epilepsy patients experience inadequate seizure control with available anti-epileptic drugs.[6],[7],[8] Alongside close partnerships with educators, family members, and healthcare providers, there is a need for newer AEDs with better seizure control which can support and maximize a child's potential for academic success.

"We believe there is a real need for newer AEDs to support and maximize the potential for success for children with epilepsy," explained Jeff Wren, Executive Vice-President, Head of UCB's Neurology Patient Value Unit. "The approval of BRIVIACT in the U.S for pediatric patients represents an important milestone for patients, families, doctors, UCB, and the wider epilepsy community, and has the potential to provide additional value for patients - both today and for their future. We are very excited to be able to provide a new pediatric treatment choice, and we are proud to support patients as they progress on their epilepsy journey."

The expanded FDA indication for BRIVIACT is based on the principle of extrapolation of its efficacy data from adults to children, and is supported by safety and pharmacokinetics data collected in children. Adverse reactions in pediatric patients are generally similar to those seen in adult patients[9]. This principle of extrapolating clinical data from well controlled studies in adults has been recognized by the FDA as potentially addressing the challenge of limited pediatric data availability.

The safety and effectiveness of BRIVIACT in the treatment of partial-onset seizures have been established in patients four years of age and older. Use of BRIVIACT in these age groups is supported by evidence from placebo-controlled partial-onset seizure studies of BRIVIACT in adults with additional pharmacokinetic and open-label safety studies in pediatric patients age 4 to younger than 16 years of age. Partial-onset seizures in pediatric patients aged 4 to 16 years of age are similar to those in adults and a similar AED exposure-response relationship has been demonstrated. Weight-based dose adaptations have been established in the pediatric population to achieve similar plasma concentrations as observed in adults. The safety and tolerability profile for BRIVIACT in pediatric patients 4 to 16 years of age is generally similar to that seen with adult patients.[9]

The most common adverse reactions recorded for adults (at least 5 percent for BRIVIACT and at least 2 percent more frequently than placebo) are somnolence and sedation, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea and vomiting symptoms.[9]

For additional medical information about BRIVIACT, patient assistance, or any other information please visit http://www.BRIVIACT.com or call 1-844-599-2273.

About Epilepsy[10],[11],[12],[5]

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder of the brain. It is the fourth most common neurological condition worldwide and affects approximately 65 million people. In the U.S. more than 3.4 million people have epilepsy. Anyone can develop epilepsy; it occurs across all ages, races and genders, and is defined as one or more unprovoked seizures with a risk of further seizures. Around one third of patients with epilepsy currently live with uncontrolled seizures.

About UCB in Epilepsy

UCB has a rich heritage in epilepsy with over 20 years of experience in the research and development of anti-epileptic drugs. As a company with a long-term commitment to epilepsy research, our goal is to address unmet medical needs. Our scientists are proud to contribute to advances in the understanding of epilepsy and its treatment. We partner and create super-networks with world-leading scientists and clinicians in academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies and other organizations who share our goals. At UCB, we are inspired by patients, and driven by science in our commitment to support patients with epilepsy.

About BRIVIACT[9],[13]

BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) is a new molecular entity that was rationally designed and developed by UCB.

Brivaracetam displays a high and selective affinity for synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) in the brain, which may contribute to the anticonvulsant effect. However, the precise mechanism of action by which BRIVIACT exerts its anticonvulsant activity is not known.

In the U.S., BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) CV is indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients 4 years of age and older. As the safety of BRIVIACT injection in pediatric patients has not been established, BRIVIACT injection is indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures only in adult patients (16 years of age and older).

In the European Union, BRIVIACT is approved as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients 16 years of age and older with epilepsy. The European Medicines Agency has different regulatory requirements from FDA for approval of monotherapy indications.

Important Safety Information about BRIVIACT in the U.S. [9]

Warnings and Precautions

- Suicidal Behavior and Ideation: Anti-epileptic drugs, including BRIVIACT, increase the risk of suicidal behavior and ideation. Monitor patients taking BRIVIACT for the emergence or worsening of depression; unusual changes in mood or behavior; or suicidal thoughts, behavior, or self-harm. Advise patients, their caregivers, and/or families to be alert for these behavioral changes and report them immediately to a healthcare provider.

- Neurological Adverse Reactions: BRIVIACT causes somnolence, fatigue, dizziness, and disturbance in coordination. Somnolence and fatigue-related adverse reactions were reported in 25% of adult patients taking at least 50 mg per day of BRIVIACT compared to 14% of adult patients taking placebo. Dizziness and disturbance in gait and coordination were reported in 16% of adult patients taking at least 50 mg per day of BRIVIACT compared to 10% of adult patients taking placebo. The risk is greatest early in treatment but can occur at any time. Monitor patients for these signs and symptoms and advise them not to drive or operate machinery until they have gained sufficient experience on BRIVIACT.

- Psychiatric Adverse Reactions: BRIVIACT causes psychiatric adverse reactions, including non-psychotic and psychotic symptoms. These events were reported in approximately 13% of adult patients taking at least 50 mg per day of BRIVIACT compared to 8% of adult patients taking placebo. A total of 1.7% of adult patients taking BRIVIACT discontinued treatment due to psychiatric reactions compared to 1.3% of patients taking placebo. Psychiatric adverse reactions were also observed in open-label pediatric trials and were generally similar to those observed in adults. Advise patients to report these symptoms immediately to a healthcare provider.

- Hypersensitivity: BRIVIACT can cause hypersensitivity reactions. Bronchospasm and angioedema have been reported. Discontinue BRIVIACT if a patient develops a hypersensitivity reaction after treatment. BRIVIACT is contraindicated in patients with a prior hypersensitivity reaction to brivaracetam or any of the inactive ingredients.

- Withdrawal of Anti-epileptic Drugs: As with all anti-epileptic drugs, BRIVIACT should generally be withdrawn gradually because of the risk of increased seizure frequency and status epilepticus.

DOSING CONSIDERATIONS

- Dose adjustments are recommended for patients with all stages of hepatic impairment.

- When BRIVIACT is co-administered with rifampin, an increase in the BRIVIACT dose is recommended.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

In adult adjunctive therapy placebo-controlled clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions (at least 5% for BRIVIACT and at least 2% more frequently than placebo) were somnolence and sedation, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea and vomiting symptoms. Adverse reactions reported in clinical studies of pediatric patients 4 years to less than 16 years of age were generally similar to those in adult patients.

BRIVIACT is a Schedule V controlled substance.

Please refer to full Prescribing Information at http://www.briviact.com/briviact-PI.pdf

For more information on BRIVIACT, contact 844-599-CARE (2273).

BRIVIACT is a registered trademark of the UCB Group of Companies.

About UCB

UCB, Brussels, Belgium (http://www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With more than 7500 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of  4.2 billion in 2016. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news

Forward looking statements - UCB

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current plans, estimates and beliefs of management. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial information, expected legal, political, regulatory or clinical results and other such estimates and results. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions which could cause actual results to differ materially from those that may be implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Important factors that could result in such differences include: changes in general economic, business and competitive conditions, the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals or to obtain them on acceptable terms, costs associated with research and development, changes in the prospects for products in the pipeline or under development by UCB, effects of future judicial decisions or governmental investigations, product liability claims, challenges to patent protection for products or product candidates, changes in laws or regulations, exchange rate fluctuations, changes or uncertainties in tax laws or the administration of such laws and hiring and retention of its employees. UCB is providing this information as of the date of this press release and expressly disclaims any duty to update any information contained in this press release, either to confirm the actual results or to report a change in its expectations.

There is no guarantee that new product candidates in the pipeline will progress to product approval or that new indications for existing products will be developed and approved. Products or potential products which are the subject of partnerships, joint ventures or licensing collaborations may be subject to differences between the partners. Also, UCB or others could discover safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with its products after they are marketed. Moreover, sales may be impacted by international and domestic trends toward managed care and health care cost containment and the reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers as well as legislation affecting biopharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement.

References:

1. Shinnar, S., Pellock, J.M. Update on the epidemiology and prognosis of pediatric epilepsy. J Child Neurol. 2002;17(Suppl 1):S4-17.

2. Zack MM, Kobau R. National and State Estimates of the Numbers of Adults and Children with Active Epilepsy - United States, 2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66:821-825. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6631a1 accessed 02 May 2018.

3. Datamonitor Healthcare. Epilepsy disease coverage. 2015.

4. Featherstone, V. Epilepsy in children and young people. Cerebra - Positively Different. 2010. Available at: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/14522/1/Epilepsy%2520Brief.pdf accessed 12th March 2018.

5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy/basics/fast-facts.htm Accessed 02 May 2018.

6. Berg AT, Vickrey BG, Testa FM, Levy SR, Shinnar S, DiMario F, et al. How long does it take for epilepsy to become intractable? A prospective investigation. Ann Neurol. 2006;60:14-17.

7. Berg, A., Shinnar, S., Levy, S., Testa, F., Smith-Rapaport, S., Beckerman, B. Early development of intractable epilepsy in children: a prospective study. Neurology. 2001;56(11):1445-1452.

8. Geerts A, Arts WF, Stroink H, Peeters E, Brouwer O, Peters B, et al. Course and outcome of childhood epilepsy: a 15-y follow-up of the Dutch study of epilepsy in childhood. Epilepsia. 2010;51:1189-97.

9. Briviact U.S. Prescribing Information. Brussels, Belgium: UCB, 2018. https://www.briviact.com/briviact-PI.pdf

10. The Epilepsy Foundation of America. About epilepsy basics http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/about-epilepsy-basics accessed accessed 02 May 2018.

11. The Epilepsy Foundation of America. What is epilepsy? http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/epilepsy-101/what-epilepsy accessed 02 May 2018.

12. The Epilepsy Foundation of America. Who gets epilepsy? http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/epilepsy-101/who-gets-epilepsy accessed 02 May 2018

13. Briviact EU Prescribing Information. Brussels, Belgium: UCB, 2016. http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/003898/WC500200206.pdf accessed 02 May 2018.

SOURCE UCBThe Opening Ceremony of Make the World a Better Place  International Childrens Painting Exhibition in Honour of the Tenth Anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake (People's Daily Online Ji He)

SYDNEY, May. 12 -- The opening ceremony of Make the World a Better Place  International Childrens Painting Exhibition in Honour of the Tenth Anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake took place in the Sydney China Culture Centre in the evening of May 11. The exhibition aims to honour the lives lost in the Wenchuan Earthquake, and to introduce the achievements in rebulding Wenchuan to overseas Chinese and those who care about the event. About 200 representatives from fields of culture, art and education attended the ceremony.

The exhibition is hosted by Sydney China Culture Centre, People's Daily Online Australia and Sichuan Xinhua Foundation and is supported by many other organisations. The exhibition invites children from the disaster area to share their paintings about their memory of the earthquake and the impressions of their hometown nowadays. Children from Sydney Yucai School and Melbourne Xin Jin Shan Chinese Language and Cultural School also contributed their paintings about their impressions of China. Among the art works of the exhibition, 30 are from Sichuan, 11 are from Sydney and 3 are from Melburne. The youngest artist ages 6 and the oldest ages 19.

Many parents bring their children to the exhibition(People's Daily Online Ji He)

Expect from the paintings, there are also a set of photos showing the comparison between the scenes of Wenchuan earthquake and the scenes of Wenchuan after the rebuilt.

Mr Chen Shuang, the Director of Sydney China Cultural Centre, said the works can help people in Australia understand the destruction caused by the earthquake, the changes that have taken place in that area and the hometown in the childrens eyes.

The Opening Ceremony of Make the World a Better Place  International Childrens Painting Exhibition in Honour of the Tenth Anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake (People's Daily Online Ji He)

Dr Zoe White, representing the organizer, said the exhibition is not only in memory of the lives lost in the earthquake, but also is the discussion about the meaning of life. By holding the exhibition, the host wants to inspire people to live a positive life and pursue a bright future.

Many parents bring their children to the exhibition(People's Daily Online Ji He)

Mr Zhang Yingbao, Consulate-General of China in Sydney, and Ms Virginia Judge, former Minister for the Arts of NSW also attended the event and delivered speech.

The exhibition will be on display at the Sydney China Culture Centre from May 12th to 24th, and in Chengdu, Sichuan later on 1st of June. (Peoples Daily Online/ Gong

Mr Chen Shuang, the Director of Sydney China Cultural Centre, delievers a speech(People's Daily Online Ji He)

Dr Zoe White, representing the organizer, delievers a speech(People's Daily Online Ji He)

Mr Zhang Yingbao, Consulate-General of China in Sydney, delievers a speech(People's Daily Online Ji He)

Ms Virginia Judge, former Minister for the Arts of NSW delievers a speech(People's Daily Online Ji He)

Qingdou Wei talks about the inspiration of her paiting (People's Daily Online Ji He)

The Opening Ceremony of Make the World a Better Place  International Childrens Painting Exhibition in Honour of the Tenth Anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake (People's Daily Online Ji He)The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force released a new promotional video on May 13, recapping the recent patrols of multiple aircraft including stealth fighters J-20, fighter jets Su-35 and bomber H-6K.

The video reveals the improvement of Chinas air combat capability, and indicates the air forces determination to safeguard the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity.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Were proud of our performance and thrilled that the National Sandwich of Chicago has been recognized for its deliciousness.

Buona, The Original Italian Beef, is the official national champion of the annual Munch Madness Tournament, a competition to determine Americas Best Regional Eats put on by Goldbely, a curated online marketplace for regional and artisanal foods crafted by local food purveyors throughout the United States. Buona, the Chicago-based family-owned brand of Italian Beef, was up against some stiff competition, including Vienna Beef, Primanti Bros, and iconic pizza brands Lou Malnatis and Ginos East. In the end, Buona was not only the winning brand in the Midwest category, they were the victor over all 64 brands involved in the contest. 2018 marks the first year that Buona competed in the Tournament.

Were proud of our performance and thrilled that the National Sandwich of Chicago has been recognized for its deliciousness, says second-generation owner Joe Buonavolanto. We owe our victory to our amazing family recipe and our dogged devotion to making it old school and all-natural  just like they did in the 1930s.

The Buona Beef sandwich earned 33,000 votes in the final round, while the nearest competitor earned 24,000.

###

About Buona Restaurants

The first Buona restaurant began serving Chicagos original Italian beef in Berwyn, IL in 1981. Founded by Buonavolanto patriarch Joe Buonavolanto, Sr., the group is the last standing 100 percent family-owned Italian beef chain. Buona is the Official Italian Beef of the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, and is proudly served at Soldier Field. Buona has evolved from a beefstand to a restaurant that serves a perfect blend of old-school indulgence and next-generation menu choices  made with a focus on fresh, scratch-made food. While the menu has expanded, the original Italian beef recipe has not been compromised  for the three generations of Buonavolantos who are active in the company, compromise and quality are never uttered in the same breath.

Buonas Italian beef sandwich has won several awards and accolades since its inception, including USA TODAYs 10Best, The Chicago Tribunes Best Italian Beef in Chicago, Steve Dolinskys Essential Italian Beef Joints in Chicago(land), Eaters 11 Essential Chicago Italian Beef Restaurants, Berwyns Best, West Suburban Livings Best of the West, The Daily Heralds Readers Choice Award. Buona retail products are now sold at Target, Jewel, Marianos, Aldi and Peapod.

For more information, visit Buona online at http://www.buona.com, like on Facebook or follow on Twitter or InstagramThe acquisition will add to MobilityWorks' existing presence in the state of Florida, where they currently have 11 locations. With the acquisition, the company will now have 73 total locations in 24 states.

Together, Movin on Mobility and MobilityWorks look forward to continuing to help people connect with who and what matters most, while making sure clients remain completely satisfied. The main objective of both organizations is working with the client to find the best solution for the individuals specific needs. The two companies have been in the industry for over 20 years and take pride in delivering quality products.

We are extremely pleased to have Movin On Mobility become a part of our family, said Eric Mansfield, President of MobilityWorks. Adding Movin On Mobility to our organization will complement our 11 other locations in Florida and truly benefit our customers. I anticipate this being a very smooth transition and we look forward to expanding our service in the Fort Myers area.

In addition to selling new and pre-owned modified vans for wheelchair accessibility, MobilityWorks and Movin On Mobility will also provide rental vans and adaptive equipment such as hand controls, turning seats and scooter lifts. MobilityWorks also manufactures and sells a variety of commercial vehicles to business clients throughout the United States.

About MobilityWorks

MobilityWorks (aka WMK, LLC) is a Cleveland, Ohio-based Inc. 500 company that employs specially trained Certified Mobility Consultants to work closely with its clients to understand their specific transportation needs in finding the right vehicle solution. Founded in 1997 with one location, MobilityWorks has been recognized on the Inc. 500|5000 list of Inc. Magazine's fastest growing privately held companies for the past ten years. MobilityWorks Commercial is the largest provider of commercial wheelchair vans in the country. TransitWorks, located in Akron Ohio, is the manufacturing division of WMK, LLC and is Ford Motor Company's largest mobility upfitter. Learn more about MobilityWorks at https://www.mobilityworks.com.Yellow Sky: a gathering of evil that will lead to betrayal and murder. Yellow Sky is the creation of published author, William Lynn Smith. William has always been and will always be a storyteller. His life has been full and satisfying as his writings indicate. His forty-three-year railroad career included positions ranging from shave tail switchman for the Frisco in Memphis, Tennessee to Manager of Government Reporting for the BNSF system in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1977 he began a side career as a volunteer firefighter, eventually attaining the certification of Journeyman Firefighter for Tennessee in 1982. In 2009, he retired. He treats his novels like he does his stories, keeping it clean for the kids and interestingly humorous for the adults.

His mind went into a frenzy of what ifs and he looked over his shoulder at the road. In the distance he could hear the siren of his pumper approaching from Mable and momentarily tried to figure the ETA by the sounds. He had no breathing device and every rookie fireman on the planet knows that entering the dangerous environment of a burning house without an SCBA is tantamount to suicide. What he heard over the crackling roar of the fires and approaching siren electrified hima coughing voice from behind the door. It made the decision to enter for him. --William Lynn Smith

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, William Lynn Smiths new book shares what the Bible says, [w]here there are two or more of you gathered in Gods name, there He is also. Yellow Sky reveals the same can be said about those gathering for evil intent.

In the small American town of Yellow Sky, Bull Tarkel is a factory worker. Because he is also a volunteer firefighter, his life becomes intertwined in a variety of circumstances that unexpectedly land him in the middle of a sinister plot. For each blessing in life, Bull Tarkel discovers there is almost always a matching curse.

View a synopsis of Yellow Sky on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseYellow Sky at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Yellow Sky, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.Jim Carpenter, Gilbane Operations Manager Our Philadelphia office continues to expand our healthcare, higher education and commercial portfolios, and we believe Jim is the perfect person to help support this growth.

Gilbane Building Company has hired Jim Carpenter as the Operations Manager for the Philadelphia office. In his role, Jim will support the local leadership by focusing on maximizing efficiencies, exceeding financial goals and mentoring employees to support continued growth. He will also focus on process improvement, leveraging technology and enhancing the services we provide to our clients across Greater Philadelphia.

Jim will expand workforce planning and maximize opportunities for development and employee engagement throughout the business unit. Additionally, he will lead the support services in Philadelphia including quality, safety, purchasing, estimating, scheduling and training.

Our Philadelphia office continues to expand our healthcare, higher education and commercial portfolios, and we believe Jim is the perfect person to help support this growth, says Shawn Carlin, Vice President. Jim brings expertise in large, technical projects as well as the desire to build a strong team grounded in Gilbanes core values. His industry experience will be invaluable, and we are happy to welcome him into our Gilbane family.

Throughout his career, Jim has been responsible for all phases of delivery including project planning, conceptual and construction estimating, procurement, design management and construction management. Additionally, he has extensive experience in value engineering, scheduling, cost control and contract management. Jims successes span across Greater Philadelphia with notable projects in higher education and healthcare, specifically cancer centers and childrens hospitals.

Jim has been in the construction industry for 32 years. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and is an active member of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), American Concrete Institute (ACI) and ASTM International.

About Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services  from preconstruction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, general contracting, design-build and facility management services  for clients across various markets. Founded in 1873 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has 46 office locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com.

Gilbanes Philadelphia office sits in the heart of downtown, with an extensive knowledge of the Greater Philadelphia market including construction processes, area subcontractors/suppliers, local M/WBE contractors, and familiarity with the Greater Philadelphia Area jurisdictional authorities. With over 50 years of success in the highly competitive Philadelphia market, Gilbane is committed to continuing the strong tradition of excellence.Richard F. (Rick) Jones Jr., longtime executive at Forrest T. Jones & Company, Inc. (FTJ), was recently elected president of the American Institute of Professional Association Group Insurance Administrators (AIPAGIA).

Jones became the third generation of the family-owned company to head AIPAGIA, an exclusive association of top insurance administrators, TPAs, marketers, and brokers providing insurance marketing, expertise, and member-benefits to affinity groups and associations around the country. Jones began his one-year term as president in April at the annual AIPAGIA meeting in Sanibel Island, FL.

AIPAGIA is an organization dedicated to administrators and brokers sharing ideas and best practices in the marketing of group benefits to association members. Jones, who joined FTJ in 2004, directs all agency operations and has led an expansion that now includes a Dallas office offering risk management, consulting, and professional liability program insurance along with other products to professionals.

Being selected to lead AIPAGIA is an honor and a big part of our legacy, Jones said. I have been involved with AIPAGIA for many years. My grandfather Forrest Jones and my father Richard Jones both served as president of AIPAGIA. Im looking forward to a tremendous year.

Formed in 1953, Forrest T. Jones & Company is a national, privately owned insurance brokerage for more than 80 associations/affinity groups and a TPA administering more than $650 million in premium annually. FTJ is the flagship of an organization that includes two life insurance companies, a captive reinsurance company, and an FINRA broker/dealer. For more information, please visit http://www.ftj.comThailand is at the forefront of clinical trials, diagnostic kits, biopharmaceuticals, vaccine development, and stem cell technology.

A delegation consisting of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS), Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), and other representatives from academic, public, and private institutions, representing the best of Thailands life sciences and biotechnology sector, will be in attendance at the BIO International Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, taking place from June 4-7, 2018. The delegation will be led by Mr. Chokedee Kaewsang, Deputy Secretary General of BOI. The annual BIO International Convention brings together professionals from the life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for a week of intense networking, partnership building and discussion.

According to a 2017 report published by Global Market Insights Inc., the global biotechnology market  divided into the biopharmaceutical, bioagricultural, bioindustrial and bioservices industries  is expected to reach upwards of USD$414.5 billion in 2024, with an annual growth rate well in the double digits. Thailand is experiencing similar growth; research and consulting firm GlobalData expects the kingdoms pharmaceutical market to increase from USD$5.91 billion in 2015 to USD$9.47 billion by 2020.

Already home to hundreds of biotechnology firms, Thailands life sciences and biotechnology sector is rapidly expanding. The countrys climate, excellent geographic location, wealth of agricultural resources, and status as a regional medical hub all feed into the strength of its biotechnology industry and give it a similarly wide range of application. Thailand is at the forefront of clinical trials, diagnostic kits, biopharmaceuticals, vaccine development, and stem cell technology. The countrys agricultural biotechnology offering includes plant breeding development, animal farming and disease diagnosis, as well as biochemicals, biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel. Institutions such as the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) and the Thailand Center for Excellence in Life Sciences (TCELS) have also helped the country manifest one of the strongest biotechnology offerings in the ASEAN region.

Thailand attends the BIO International Convention in the U.S. continuously for the past 10 years  its an excellent opportunity to connect with industry experts and business leaders in the life sciences and biotechnology sector, said Deputy Secretary General Kaewsang. We look forward not only to sharing updates about the biotechnology sector, but on identifying ways in which Thailand will continue to move this industry forward, with the cooperation of the international biotech community."

To kick off their participation in BIO 2018, the Thai delegation will be hosting a Life Science, Medical & Biotech Industries Seminar at the Westin Boston Waterfront on Monday, June 4th from 2 pm to 4 pm. In addition to Deputy Secretary General Kaewsang, featured panelists will include Dr. Nares Damrongchai, CEO of the Thailand Center of Excellence in Life Sciences (TCELS), Ms. Renate Schirrow, Senior Vice President of Operations, ACLIRES International Ltd., and the panel moderator, Dr. Panit Kitsubun, Plant Operation Director of Thailands National Biopharmaceutical Facility (NBF). The panel is set to discuss technology localization, Thailands investments in technology infrastructure, conducting R&D activity in Thailand, as well as offer testimonials from companies successfully operating in the biotechnology and life sciences work in Thailand. The seminar will be followed by the networking reception that will open the opportunity for seminar participants to network with the Thai biotech delegation. For registration and further information about the seminar please visit this link.

As the seminar in Boston will illustrate, there are a significant number of North American biotech companies with operations in Thailand, including Kendall Gammatron, a subsidiary of Medtronic, Cardinal Health, St. Jude Medical, Pfizer, and MSD (a subsidiary of Merck) just to name a few. These companies are drawn to Thailand not only because of the expertly-trained workforce but also the healthy support the Thai government offers biotechnology companies, including a corporate tax exemption of up to eight years (with a five-year additional 50% off tax exemption for businesses that locate in science and technology parks), permission to own land, and special assistance on foreign worker visas, among other benefits.

The Thailand Pavilion at BIO 2018 is located at Booth 1527. For further information, please contact Ms. Tanita Sirisup, Director of BOI New York Office at nyc(at)boi.go.th.

Every year we get to share bigger and better accomplishments with our industry peers at BIO, concluded Deputy Secretary General Kaewsang. We look forward to doing the same again this June.

About BOI

The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) is the investment promotion agency for Thailand that facilitates foreign direct investment. BOIs services are free of charge and customized to help business succeed in Thailand. For more information, please visit http://www.boi.go.th and http://www.thinkasiainvestthailand.com.AMGtime Exhibit Time, Attendance, and Scheduling Solutions at the 36th Annual APA Congress At APA Congress, AMGtime will reveal its most anticipated product, AMGtime Workforce Scheduling.

AMGtime is participating in the APA Congress Expo in both #317, held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland from May 16-18. AMGtime will showcase their extensive offerings for time, attendance and scheduling, which includes software on both cloud and PC-based, biometric hardware devices, mobile apps, specialized industry solutions, seamless integrations and more.

AMGtime recently released exciting product additions to their comprehensive workforce solutions. At APA Congress, AMGtime will reveal its most anticipated product, AMGtime Workforce Scheduling. This allows employers to filter for specific skills, training or certifications for individual jobs, set schedule preferences, automatically create schedules, allow employees to swap shifts, as well as many more capabilities.

Software updates include the Payroll Wizard, which allows users to create custom payroll export files, among others. Regarding the AMGtime mobile apps, the newest update is the GPS Workforce Tracking. Employers can use this to track employee movement during work hours. AMGtime has also developed a solution to convert HandPunch devices into wireless and real-time time clocks. Lastly, AMGtime offers an Open API (XML-RPC) for bridging payroll, HR, and other external software solutions for seamless integrations.

The American Payroll Association is the nations leading provider of payroll education, publications, and training. APA Congress is the largest annual gathering of payroll professionals, as well as industry vendors and experts. Industry vendors, such as AMGtime, will be demonstrating the latest technology and offerings in the payroll industry.

Visit AMGtime at booth 317 to learn more about recent innovation in time, attendance, and scheduling. While you are there, do not forget to enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card!

About the Company

AMGtime is a national leader of time, attendance, and scheduling solutions used for workforce management. In addition to customizable and scalable software on both cloud and PC, AMGtime offers a variety of biometric devices and mobile applications. AMGtime is recognized as a preferred partner across multiple industries such as skilled nursing, staffing, and construction, due to their innovative industry specific solutions. With an open API, AMGtime can be bridged with payroll, HR, and other external software solutions. AMGtimes offerings are customizable and adaptable for basic to complex configurations, and simple to implement, providing organizations with the highest level of efficiency and ROI. For more information visit http://www.amgtime.com.Rob Slimp, HNTB Chairman and CEO, delivered opening remarks at an Infrastructure Week kick-off event at Union Station in Washington, D.C. ... The funding needed to address aging and obsolete infrastructure, as well as improvements to provide adequate mobility for people and goods, far outstrips what is available at the federal, state and local levels.

As the sixth annual national Infrastructure Week, May 14-21, launches in Washington, D.C., HNTB Corporation joined key leaders from American business, labor and government to support the critical role infrastructure plays in Americas economy and prosperity.

Today, Rob Slimp, HNTB Chairman and CEO, joined U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and other infrastructure experts at a kick-off event at Union Station in Washington, D.C. They discussed urban and rural infrastructure systems; business competitiveness and jobs; tech innovation and smart infrastructure; resilience and planning for the future; and funding and finance at the federal, state and local levels. Slimp provided opening remarks for the event.

There is strong and growing bipartisan agreement that infrastructure is an issue that must be addressed now. However, the funding needed to address aging and obsolete infrastructure, as well as improvements to provide adequate mobility for people and goods, far outstrips what is available at the federal, state and local levels, Slimp said in his remarks from the podium. Those of us who have made our careers in the infrastructure industry know what we need to do. We need the means to do it. That means we need a long-term sustainable funding plan for infrastructure that includes investments at the federal, state and local levels, along with the private sector.

HNTB continues as a founding sponsor of Infrastructure Week, a position it has held since the events inception six years ago. In addition to Slimps opening remarks, firm leaders will take part in other IWeek events across the country in an effort to highlight the critical importance of a well-funded, well-maintained U.S. transportation network. Kimberly Slaughter, HNTB transit/rail market sector leader and senior vice president, is moderating a session today at Infrastructure Week Atlanta. In New Orleans, John Basilica, Jr., HNTB Gulf Coast district leader and vice president, will participate on a panel at the Infrastructure Week Southeast Summit to discuss funding and finance. Later in the week, at the Transportation Breakfast on Capitol Hill, HNTB will demonstrate a virtual reality experience of traveling on a high-speed train in California.

According to organizers, Infrastructure Week convenes a national week of education and advocacy that brings together American businesses, workers, elected leaders and everyday citizens around one message in 2018: Americans are waiting. The future wont. Its #TimeToBuild. Each year during IWeek, leaders and citizens around America highlight the state of our nations infrastructure  roads, bridges, rail, ports, airports, water and sewer systems, the energy grid, telecoms and more  and the projects, technologies and policies necessary to make America competitive, prosperous and safe.

A bipartisan steering committee and over 300 affiliates host events, drive media attention, and educate stakeholders and policymakers about the critical importance of infrastructure to Americas economic competitiveness, security and job creation and the impact on daily lives of every American.

About HNTB

HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure solutions firm serving public and private owners and contractors. With more than a century of service, HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit http://www.hntb.com.Hear more about the Tech Hub on Site 1001's InSite Coast to Coast: https://wp.me/p7Sj72-XN "Cities are made of buildings, which means the biggest opportunity to make huge improvements to the quality, comfort and sustainability of our cities and communities is by making our buildings smarter, more efficient and better connected to the people and infrastructure around them."

Smart building software developer, Site 1001, announced the opening of its new tech hub in south Orange Countys San Clemente. The new facility will be home to the companys new data science unit and 20 new software engineers specializing in AI, machine learning and blockchain technologies. The tech hub development team will be working on a variety of Site 1001s smart building projects including voice interaction, adaptable building behavior, and connected buildings/communities.

Most people dont think of buildings as much more than big containers to hold whatever work we do in them, so theyre generally overlooked when people talk about smart cities and communities, said Pete Fiacco, CTO at Site 1001. But cities are made of buildings, which means the biggest opportunity to make huge improvements to the quality, comfort and sustainability of our cities and communities is by making our buildings smarter, more efficient and better connected to the people and infrastructure around them. Our new tech hub is focusing on making this vision a reality.

San Clemente was chosen for Site 1001s tech hub for its central location between San Diego and Los Angeles, an area ripe with talent for the new engineering positions. With a dozen top-ranked universities nearby, the new tech hub is perfectly suited for the technology-filled region and gives creators opportunities to join the company at a pivotal point.

Site 1001s focus on the areas of intelligent software design is reflected in the companys recent reorganization and shift to a building performance and operations platform. The companys engineering team will build upon the platforms proven success and roots in facilities management and maintenance with new AI-based capabilities that make the building run at its maximum potential.

The companys Director of Data Science, Dr. Filip Ponulak, will lead the new data sciences unit. With over 15 patents in the field, Dr. Ponulaks background in neural computation, machine learning, data science, and robotics is the foundation for the team to grow Site 1001s modeling of the central nervous system within buildings.

Site 1001 makes software that helps building owners and operators improve performance by giving them a complete 360* view of how their building is doing. Combining information from major building systems like heating and cooling, electrical, and water with people-generated data from complaints or repair work orders, Site 1001s platform connects real time performance to comfort, sustainability and longevity and helps maximize building performance and reduce operating costs.

Were building a platform that we think will not only change how people look at buildings, but how buildings adapt and even how theyre built, said Fiacco. The Site 1001 engineering team is bringing the hottest capabilities out there into todays buildings, which is proving to be an area hungry and desperate for improvement.

Site 1001 is currently hiring engineers with machine learning, AI, blockchain and data science expertise to staff the tech hub. Available positions include full time software engineers, machine learning internships, software program managers and more. Details can be found on the companys website: http://www.site1001.com/careers.

About Site 1001

Site 1001 is the developer of a high performance building performance and operations software platform that uses core building information, building systems and sensor data in combination with a powerful machine learning engine to put the smart in smart buildings. Cloud-based, mobile first, and location-aware, Site 1001 helps building owners, operators and facilities managers save money, improve building performance and extend building and asset life by delivering critical facilities information to the right person in the right place at the right time. Backed by a revolutionary building AI technology called Carl that continuously monitors building operations to anticipate maintenance needs and can both notify personnel as well as automatically interact with building systems to correct issues, Site 1001 users can improve efficiency, slash FM costs and extend equipment lifecycles without increasing workloads. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Site 1001 has an executive office and tech hub in Orange County, California, and an Eastern regional office in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, visit Site 1001s website at https://www.site1001.com, email: info@site1001.com, or call +1 (949) 276-6300.Xiao Xiao, a female Francois' langur monkey, met the public with her pair of mixed-sex twins at Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province, on May 13, 2018.

The new mother gave birth to the worlds first mixed-sex Francois' langur twins last month. The twins were born with bright orange fur, which will turn black like their mothers within two to three months.

The Francois' langur monkey is one of China's most endangered wild animals, and is noted as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list.

The species are found in China's Guangxi, Guizhou, Chongqing and Sichuan provinces, as well as the northeastern mountain areas of Vietnam.Debbie has been a key part of our success, and in acknowledging her outstanding contributions we are thrilled to promote her to this important position. Debbie will secure the effective operation of our business to drive extensive and sustainable growth, said Steve Richmond, Founder and CEO of Projetech. Richmond will remain in his current capacity as CEO of Projetech.

Mrs. Herbers joined the company in 1996 and quickly rose to several supervisory and management positions. Mrs. Herbers was previously with Cincinnati Public Schools in its computer services group.

About Projetech

Projetech, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a privately-held Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of IBM Maximo asset management software. Projetech is an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified provider, and an authorized reseller of IBM Maximo software and services.Today, local Navajo businessman and entrepreneur, Shawn Redd, announces his run for Arizona U.S. Senate. The democrat is a member of the Navajo Nation. Originally from Cortez, Colorado, Redd has lived and done business in Arizona for 15 years. His mother was a Nez, from the Redhouse Clan and belongs to the Kaibeto Chapter. Growing up, Redd got a taste for entrepreneurial life working at his fathers car business in the Four Corners area. At a young age, Redd was tapped as a consultant to the Navajo Nation for more than 20 years, where he focused on economic development issues.

As one of the only independent business owners on the entire Navajo Nation, Redd provides private investment and business expertise. Redd works daily to advocate for small businesses, rural Arizona, veterans and acts as a watch dog to Native American law enforcement. Driving more than 10,000 miles across the state a month, Redd visits low-income neighborhoods and has strong ties in less populated areas of the state. Redd is the only candidate that has lived and done business both on and off the reservation, making him invaluable in relating to the diversity of Arizona.

Arizona needs to send someone to Washington who will make the government work for the people of our great state and advocate for individuals of all backgrounds, says Shawn Redd, Arizona U.S. Senate Democratic candidate.

As a vocal advocate and supporter of veterans, Redd has firsthand experience understanding their needs. His father is a Korean War veteran, which makes Redd passionate about finding solutions to improve the Phoenix VA Health Care System. He also wants to work with health care providers and pharmaceutical companies to find solutions to stop the opioid epidemic that is plaguing the nation.

It was recently announced that the Navajo Nation filed a federal lawsuit against opioid makers, distributors and pharmacies for playing a large role in addiction and overdose in the community. I plan to continue to fight for change, says Redd.

An ally to teachers and those in the education field, Redd is a supporter of the #RedforEd movement. He wants to see teachers receive the salary they deserve for molding the minds of future leaders. Redd is also passionate about being a watch dog to the Native American Law Enforcement and is not afraid to stand up against violence towards Native American women.

Redd is available for media interviews upon request. For more information about Shawn Redd or to learn how to get involved, visit http://www.shawnredd.com, or 'like' him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/azredd.Flag Materials

The Flag Company, Inc., one of the most traditional flag manufacturers in the United States, is releasing updated guidelines on how to choose the ideal fabric for a flag, as well as the best care instructions.

There are three main materials used to manufacture flags: Nylon, Polyester, and Cotton. Each one has its benefits and downsides, and should be chosen according to the usage of the flag, as well as the level of maintenance desired.

Nylon flags are the most popular ones, due to the affordability and versatility of the material. Nylon flags have a silky feel, they are usually thin, and will brightly display colors, giving an attractive appearance. Nylon flags are suitable for both indoor and outdoor display, and being such a light material, they will fly with even a very low breeze.

The lightness of the fabric can also be a problem, as these flags are not intended to fly in heavy winds. Nylon flags are usually not as long-lasting as other materials, such as polyester.

Polyester flags are by far the most durable ones. This tougher material feels more substantial than nylon, and wont be as shiny, but it will retain the original colors for a longer time.

The polyester flags are best suited for outdoor use, given its long lifespan, and can fly in more extreme weather conditions. Generally, these flags last 50% longer than nylon. On the other hand, the heavier material also requires stronger breezes to fly these flags.

Lastly, there are cotton flags. Cotton is best suited for indoor environments and its a very popular choice for presentation and ceremonial uses, because of its rich, vibrant colors.

For outdoor usage, they are not very practical, but will still look beautiful, so long as the environment is assessed accordingly.

Cotton flags displayed outside may require more maintenance, due to how easily they can wrinkle, and because the material is not very effective at wicking water excess.

The Flag Company, Inc. offers great options for flags in all these materials, for both internal and external usage. The American Nylon Flag is the ideal choice for Nylon flags, with reinforced seams and extra-stitched fly ends for great durability.

For customers looking to buy a flag with longer lifespan, the American Duratex Tricot Knit Polyester Flag will provide the longest usage, strong and retaining its original colors. The lightweight tricot knit polyester material flies easier than 2-ply polyester, repelling water just as efficiently as nylon.

For milder environments  or for flying flags in special occasions  the American Cotton Flag will showcase the richest, most vibrant colors.

All these flags are proudly made in the USA and sold by The Flag Company, Inc., direct to consumers on their FlagCo.com website, where people can also find very interesting content on the history of the American Flag, the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, as well as how to properly care for a flag, regardless of the material its made, whether its for indoor or outdoor use.

About The Flag Company, Inc.

Located in Acworth, Georgia, The Flag Company, Inc. has been locally owned and operated since 1989, being recognize for their customer excellence and high-quality product standards, made in the USA. Theyve been operating their webstore since 1996, making them one of the pioneer e-commerce sites on the web.

The Flag Company, Inc. staple product is the Farming Flag, the miniature stick flags that Real Estate Agents have traditionally distribute. From there, the company grew to other areas, always selling the best quality products at very reasonable prices. Carrying a wide array of international, military, message, religious, and nautical flags, The Flag Company, Inc. positioned itself as the worlds best online source for all flags and accessories.

Catering to eighteen distinct categories of customers, The Flag Company, Inc. provides an extensive inventory of over 8,500 items. The Flag Company, Inc. also partnered with a dedicated machine and manufacturing company to expand its capability to provide custom brackets, finials, hardware and other similar products for special orders.

Today, The Flag Company, Inc. runs on five major divisions, including Flags, Flagpoles, Lighting, Graphic Design (Custom Flag printing), and Warehouse & Shipping.Through this partnership well have the unique opportunity to connect our brand partners to kids and parents with an omni-channel mindset.

Playwire, the largest COPPA compliant digital group online, today announced a new partnership with Sandbox Networks Inc. (SNI), a leading gaming and educational company for millennial parents and their children. Playwire will exclusively represent the online advertising of SNIs portfolio of seven web and mobile properties globally including, but not limited to, sponsored content, custom gaming experiences, and augmented reality ads.

This partnership rounds out Playwires offering of top-notch kids-focused digital properties for their notable advertising brands. Included in this deal are COPPA-compliant and kidSAFE gaming and educational web properties, Poptropica, Poptropica Worlds, Funbrain, Fact Monster, and Infoplease. Additionally, this arrangement includes FamilyEducation.com, the longest-standing parenting site on the web, and TeacherVision.com, used by one third of all teachers in the United States. This partnership adds sixty-five million pageviews to Playwires Kids Club.

As we build our reach more and work towards becoming a leading destination for edutainment, we wanted to partner with another entity that really understands this space, said Abhi Arya, President of SNI. This partnership brings focus to our teams to deliver great edutainment products to the market while our partner (Playwire) helps us scale and build long-term marketing partnerships. We are delighted to be working with Playwire as we believe this partnership will take both our companies to greater heights.

SNI is part of the wider Sandbox & Co family which has an impressive portfolio, including Tinybop and Hopster, that engages, educates and entertains twenty million millennial families and their children in over 100 countries every month. With online products and services that make learning fun, SNI is at the intersection of the digital, learning & media industries.

Sandbox has a comprehensive portfolio thats not only tailored to a kids audience but also to their parents, said Jayson Dubin, CEO, Playwire. Millennials are beginning to get older and raise the next generation. Through this partnership well have the unique opportunity to connect our brand partners to kids and parents with an omni-channel mindset.

Playwire has a long-standing history as a trusted partner for kids-focused websites to help them navigate the changing rules and laws of advertising to kids. Playwire is kidSAFE+ and COPPA certified, and makes sure their kids-focused partners stay compliant, safe, and successful.

In addition to Sandbox Networks Inc., Playwire has also recently partnered with Kidzworld and Multiplication.com.

For more information, please visit http://www.playwire.com and http://www.sandboxandco.com.

About Playwire

Playwire is a global technology and services company that helps publishers generate more revenue from their user base and run their businesses more efficiently. With their Complete Monetization Platform they are able to provide an all-inclusive solution to manage every aspect of the ad ecosystem for digital publishers through machine learning technology dubbed, Revenue Intelligence.

Playwires portfolio includes managing over 450 websites, serving six billion video and display ads, and streaming one billion minutes of video each month. The exclusive nature of the companys relationship with their partners allows them to provide all of their digital advertising services through one channel. Playwire is headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida and has business operations and satellite offices around the globe. For more information, please visit http://www.playwire.com and on Twitter @playwire.

About Sandbox Networks Inc.

Sandbox Networks Inc. (SNI) is a millennial education company with a mission to Engage, Entertain and Educate. With online edutainment products and services that make learning fun, SNI is at the intersection of the digital, learning & media industries. SNIs goal is to help children acquire the knowledge and skills they will need for today and tomorrow by providing a holistic set of educational products across the millennial family with kids, parents and teachers.

SNI is a part of the wider Sandbox & Co family which is made up of award-winning products, platforms and brands. Every day kids enjoy our online games, mobile apps, books, and more, including Poptropica, TeacherVision, Fact Monster, Story Arc Media, Family Education, Tinybop, and Funbrain. Sandbox is committed to providing an unparalleled ecosystem of engaging learning tools accessible all around the world, in any location, at every age. For more information, visit us at http://www.sandboxandco.com.

###We are excited to join DoraHacks on their mission to support the hackers of today, which we believe will be the future innovators of the blockchain industry.

Crowdsourcing to raise money for charities is nothing new, but IoTeX is utilizing a new approach to redirect cryptocurrency hype towards charitable donations, while also rewarding those who donate. IoTeX, a startup building privacy-centric blockchain infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT), recently completed their second Charity Program, where those who donated were given tokens of appreciation by IoTeX. Jing Sun, co-founder of IoTeX, said, we are grateful for our incredible global community that participated in IoTeXs Charity Program. IoTeX is proud to support the broader blockchain ecosystem, and knowing our community is by our side makes it even sweeter.

IoTeXs first Charity Program in March to support the Ethereum Foundation was met with resounding support from IoTeXs community, and their second Charity Program was no different. IoTeX raised over 140 ETH to support DoraHacks, Chinas largest hackathon organizer and developer community, which will use the donations to reward hackers that successfully complete projects on real-world blockchain and IoT problems suggested by the IoTeX team. In addition, IoTeX will serve as mentors and judges in upcoming hackathons, and will also donate IoT hardware devices for hackers to incorporate into their projects.

In our first Charity Program, we donated to the Ethereum Foundation, the pioneers of blockchain who paved the way for companies like IoTeX to innovate. said Raullen Chai, co-founder of IoTeX. This time, we chose to donate to a different but equally important population: the next generation of blockchain and IoT developers.

Many former DoraHackers have already gone on to start and lead successful blockchain startups. This year, DoraHacks will leverage their unique ability to build deep-rooted developer communities to expand globally to 10 countries, including the USA, South Korea, Japan, and England. To provide transparency into how donations are dispersed around the world, IoTeX and DoraHacks will publish the donation recipients on their websites, as well as their respective technical code on Github. Furthermore, the flow of funds from IoTeX donors to DoraHacks to DoraHackers cryptocurrency wallets will be verifiable, thanks to the traceability and immutability of blockchain transactions.

One of the most important, but often absent, aspects of giving to charity is knowing how your donations are used, said Qevan Guo, co-founder of IoTeX. We are glad to be able to inform our community of the innovative projects funded by their donations and will use transaction traceability, a native benefit of blockchain technology, to ensure full transparency in our Charity Program.

Following their initial StoneVan code release in April, IoTeX will unveil their second code release (Testnet Alpha) in June, which will include innovative features developed fully in-house such as their Roll-DPoS consensus mechanism and lightweight, dual-key stealth addresses. While the IoTeX team pushes forward on their ultimate goal of connecting the physical world, block by block, it is clear that they will never forget to support the broader blockchain ecosystem, as IoTeX will be holding several more Charity Programs in the coming months.

About IoTeX

IoTeX is the auto-scalable and privacy-centric blockchain infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT). IoTeXs global team is comprised of Ph.Ds in Cryptography, Distributed Systems, and Machine Learning, top tier engineers, and experienced ecosystem builders. IoTeX is developing several in-house innovations to push the frontier of blockchain 3.0, including a blockchain-in-blockchain architecture for heterogeneous computing, lightning fast Roll-DPoS consensus mechanism, and lightweight privacy-preserving techniques, to bring autonomous device coordination to the masses.As health professionals, educators and community members, we are committed to supporting parents and the school in their efforts to ensure our children engage in healthy eating and exercise programs..."

Students in Trenton elementary schools are celebrating the incredible milestone of 650,000 minutes of physical activity documented with GoNoodle this school year.

GoNoodle is an online suite of interactive movement videos. It helps teachers motivate and engage students with 3-5 minute moderate to vigorous exercises they can perform next to their desks. Through the 2018-2019 school year, GoNoodle is available for free to every Trenton Public School and Diocese of Trenton elementary school classroom thanks to a 3-year sponsorship from St. Francis Medical Center and Novo Nordisk.

According to the CDC, only one-quarter of todays youth meet the current recommendation of at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Together with St. Francis and Novo Nordisk, GoNoodle is helping Trenton students accumulate vital movement minutes with entertaining experiences that feature high-energy dance music, fitness routines, virtual field trips and physical challenges. Through increased movement in the classroom, these elementary students are not only improving their health but also boosting their cognitive processing, focus and academic performance.

Kids and parents are also increasingly using GoNoodle at home turning screen time into active time. Parents can sign up for a free account and log in from home  providing a new outlet for summer activity.

"This paves the way for proactive health by making it a resource for our children," said Judy Rottkamp, Physician Liaison at St. Francis Medical Center.

The partnership between Novo Nordisk and the Trenton School District involves GoNoodle and other nonprofit agencies working together to provide opportunities for Trenton children to engage in healthy eating and exercise through the Ready, Set, Healthy! program. The program is designed to help improve the health and wellbeing of Trentons young people by increasing knowledge about and access to healthy, affordable foods; provide more opportunities for physical activity; and give students, parents, and caregivers the tools to make healthy lifestyle choices. Novo Nordisk is a proud sponsor of the Ready, Set, Healthy! program.

The number one health care crisis that our children are facing today is childhood obesity and the early onset of type 2 diabetes, said Genevieve Jean-Bart Fadayomi, Associate Director, U.S. Corporate Sustainability & Social Impact, Novo Nordisk. As health professionals, educators and community members, we are committed to supporting parents and the school in their efforts to ensure our children engage in healthy eating and exercise programs that help them take control of their health now and into the future.

To use GoNoodle, teachers need to have a computer with an Internet connection and a shared screen such as a projector or interactive white board. Trenton teachers in the sponsored schools have access to over 300 online movement videos, including exclusive GoNoodle PLUS videos that bring movement and core-subjects together to develop fluency in grade-specific math and ELA topics. These short movement videos incorporate kinesthetic and active learning principles by closely tying movement with core content. Both energizing and calming videos are available to help teachers channel kids energy for good while incorporating math, spelling and vocabulary.

Thanks to the sponsorship by St. Francis Medical Center and Novo Nordisk, teachers, kids and parents can access GoNoodle for free by visiting http://www.gonoodle.com.

About St. Francis Medical Center

St. Francis Medical Center, a member of Trinity Health, is an acute care teaching hospital recently ranked by Consumer Reports as one of the top ten hospitals in New Jersey for safety and number one in Mercer County. Most noted for its Cardiac Surgery program and the first accredited Stroke Center in Mercer County, St. Francis features regional services including the Heart Hospital, a Regional Cancer Center, a Sleep Disorder Center and an extensive Community Outreach Program. St. Francis partners in care include LIFE St. Francis (Living Independently For Elders) and LifeCare Physicians, PC, which includes Primary Care and Surgery throughout the region, as well as Lourdes Health System (also a part of Trinity Health). St. Francis Medical Center and Lourdes Health System work together closely in serving the South Jersey community.

About Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company, has been committed to discovering and developing innovative medicines to help people living with diabetes lead longer, healthier lives for 95 years. This heritage has given us experience and capabilities that also enable us to help people defeat other serious diseases including obesity, hemophilia and growth disorders. We remain steadfast in our conviction that the formula for success is to stay focused, think long term and do business in a financially, socially and environmentally responsible way. With U.S. headquarters in New Jersey and production and research facilities in four states, Novo Nordisk employs nearly 6,000 people throughout the country. For more information, visit novonordisk.us, Facebook and Twitter.

About GoNoodle

GoNoodle (launched in 2013), gets kids moving to be their smartest, strongest, bravest, silliest, bestest selves. GoNoodle is among the fastest adopted online resources used by elementary teachers; connecting movement, mindfulness and learning for their students. Delivering measurable gains in academics and health, GoNoodles 100s of short interactive videos and games get kids moving throughout the school day, keeping them energized and focused, while introducing curricular topics, practicing mindfulness or just getting the wiggles out. GoNoodle supports teachers in optimizing learning opportunities while creating a joyful classroom. Currently, more than 14 million kids and over 650,000 teachers use GoNoodle each month. GoNoodle is used in 80% of U.S. public elementary schools in all 50 states and worldwide in 185 countries. Over 2 million families use GoNoodle at home, turning screen time into active time, either through gonoodle.com, apps for the iPhone and Apple TV and through the GoNoodle YouTube channel. Learn more at http://www.gonoodle.com.If your family company is experiencing growth or governance challenges, one of the first courses of action should be to consider adding an outside non-family member to your board.

Family companies often operate as small fiefdoms under the control designated family patriarch or to use a business term, the CEO. Few family-owned companies have a formal board of directors and for those that do have boards, CEOs tend to populate them with family members, friends, and internal management. The theory for not establishing a board is that board members do not know the business of the company, cost too much, are not part of the family and often do not provide value. In some cases, those conclusions can be true. But in many cases, the establishment of an effective board and the inclusion of outside non-family board members have saved many a company from ruin.

It is estimated that less than 5 percent of middle-market companies have an established board or advisory board, the primary reason for such a low percentage is that small and middle-market businesses believe they are smart enough not to need a board, think it is too expensive, or believe it would constrain their decision-making abilities.

With the demands on CEOs  including ongoing regulatory changes, pressure from family and other founders, the rise of new competitors and business models, and the need to transform businesses at an ever-quickening pace  it may be time for you to get some help and add an outside director to your board.

Outside directors bring outside experience and perspective to the board. They keep a watchful eye on the inside directors and on the way the organization is run, and provide guidance as to risk management and good corporate governance practices. Outside directors are often useful in handling disputes between inside directors, between family members or between shareholders and the board.

The Four Roles of Corporate Boards

Family owned companies have different needs and expectations from outside board members. Frequently, outside board members can help to resolve family owner disputes and act as an independent mediator. Board members in these companies can frequently help generate company sales through their contacts or help raise capital. Whatever the need, there are typically four key roles that a board should play in a middle-market company. An outside board member with experience frequently is needed to help define and implement the following:

1. Identification and Direction

Even subtle shifts in a companys competitive position have a way of changing everything: what form of leadership is called for; what constitutes success; what risks are to be managed; and what regulatory requirements must be met. This doesnt mean that a board should hold frequent, formal strategy sessions. It does mean that boards must be alert to defining moments that represent opportunities for it to add value or, conversely, lose the trust of the CEO and other stakeholders.

These defining moments dont usually involve a simple choice between clear alternatives. They require the board to formulate new options or look at old options in new ways, uncovering their implications. To be effective on the occasions when the company has come to a turning point, directors must have taken the time and made the effort to build collective understanding among themselves. The board and CEO must fundamentally see themselves as a team, who share a set of tools for collaborating and a common approach to leadership.

2. Teamwork

There are real challenges to getting a board to act as a team. Members represent diverse backgrounds, agendas, skills, and stakeholders. Family companies may have family board members with very differing interests: some may want to sell the company, some may be looking for a stream of dividends and some might be focused on the growth of the company. Even with years of being part of the same family, they may know one another only superficially, spending time in each others company for a few hours a year at holidays in relatively formal settings. Many directors tend to be uncomfortable differentiating themselves from their peers. Their discomfort rises in direct proportion to the stakes they perceive. Peter Drucker long ago counseled that teamwork begins not with focusing on relationships or structure; it starts with goals, then crafting the mechanics to achieve them.

Boards have a mandate to exercise their powers collectively, even though members are required to make their judgments as individuals. Boards that work as a team build a bridge between members personal viewpoints and collective decision-making. Good governance occurs when a team rises to the occasion in the companys defining moments. With the exception of the boards reserve powers, such as its power to select, reward, and remove the CEO, the CEO is an integral member of the team.

3. Tools

There is a self-perpetuating cycle that sets in when the family board members and CEO are out of alignment. The CEO thinks, They get so lost in the weeds  how will I ever get them to see the big picture? The board thinks, There is something hes not telling us  we need to drill down. He is getting paid a salary and we are getting nothing.

To be truly effective, the board as a whole needs a shared sense of the conversations they should be having along with tools to guide how the conversations are conducted. Bear in mind that people talk at roughly 1,200 words a minute but think at around 450. Its one thing for directors to speak their mind. Its quite another for everyone to be really prepared to change their mind. Most boards need to improve their capacity for dialogue: synthesizing, sharing airtime, listening rather than rehearsing, inviting other perspectives, exploring assumptions, and setting aside efforts to convince and convert in order to really listen and reflect.

4. Leadership

The board chair must pay attention to the appropriateness of the agenda, the robustness of the pre-work, and the legitimacy of the conversation. At points of chaos or closure, a capable chair will find ways to strengthen the voices that tend to be outgunned and draw in those who have unspoken perspectives.

Consultants estimate that 80 percent of any improvement is in the process itself, rather than the solution. Board chairs and members can improve their process by directing their efforts, in defining moments for the company, on reframing issues, forging a real partnership between board and CEO, and leading a more authentic dialogue that will help the company seize opportunity.

If your family company is experiencing growth or governance challenges, one of the first courses of action should be to consider adding an outside non-family member to your board. If you do not have a board, establish one as the first step.

Michael Evans is the Managing Director of the California Offices of the Newport Board Group.ERT-Logo-Tag_CMYK.jpg Were delighted to provide a means for trial sponsors to collect high quality data and to confidently accelerate development of new MS treatments for the patients who need them.

ERT, a global data and technology company that minimizes uncertainty and risk in clinical trials, today announced the availability of the ERT Neurostatus-EDSS System. The complete electronic clinician-reported outcome (eClinRO) assessment solution delivers high quality data from the Neurostatus-Expanded Disability Status Score (Neurostatus-EDSS), a widely-used primary outcome measure that is accepted as a basis for labeling claims in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical trials.

Produced in collaboration with Neurostatus-UHB  a research group led by Professor Ludwig Kappos at the University Hospital Basel (UHB)  ERT will provide the electronic Neurostatus-EDSS, which is currently the industrys only version to include full scoring algorithms and complete edit checks from the original Neurostatus-EDSS. As a result, data discrepancies are reduced, as is the burden of data verification and query resolution typically placed on site raters, UHB expert reviewers, and trial sponsors.

ERT truly understands the importance of maintaining the scientific properties that are critical to capturing valid Neurostatus-EDSS data, said Marcus DSouza, MD, Neurologist and Head of Neurostatus-UHB at the University Hospital Basel. Were pleased to have collaborated with them in the development of a complete electronic solution that ensures the reliability of this important data for MS researchers.

Based on best practices gleaned from more than 2,000 eCOA clinical trials conducted over the past 20 years, ERT designed this electronic Neurostatus-EDSS system under the guidance of Neurostatus-UHB. ERT is the first eCOA provider to collaborate with Neurostatus-UHB on a complete electronic Neurostatus-EDSS system that includes the full scoring algorithms and complete edit checks from the original Neurostatus-EDSS. These algorithms and edit checks allow clinician raters to review and address data inconsistencies in real-time, improving MS clinical trial data quality. From training investigative site raters to effectively capturing the Neurostatus-EDSS electronically, to enabling clinical data query resolution via an interface with UHB central reviewers, sponsors can improve data quality while significantly improving MS trial efficiencies.

We worked very closely with Dr. DSouza and his team to ensure the ERT Neurostatus-EDSS system meets the high standards of data reliability set by UHB, said Susan M. Dallabrida, PhD, Vice President of eCOA Clinical Science and Consulting at ERT. Were delighted to provide a means for trial sponsors to collect high quality data and to confidently accelerate development of new MS treatments for the patients who need them.

For more information on how ERTs eCOA system delivers the highest quality clinical trial data, visit ert.com/eCOA.

About ERT

ERT is a global data and technology company that minimizes uncertainty and risk in clinical trials so that its customers can move ahead with confidence. With nearly 50 years of clinical and therapeutic experience, ERT balances knowledge of what works with a vision for whats next, so it can adapt without compromising standards.

Powered by the companys EXPERT technology platform, ERTs solutions enhance trial oversight, enable site optimization, increase patient engagement and measure the efficacy of new clinical treatments while ensuring patient safety. In 2017, more than 60% of all FDA drug approvals came from ERT-supported studies. Pharma companies, Biotechs and CROs have relied on ERT solutions in 13,000+ studies, spanning more than three million patients to date. By identifying trial risks before they become problems, ERT enables customers to bring clinical treatments to patients quickly  and with confidence.

For more information, go to ert.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About the University Hospital Basel (UHB)

The University Hospital Basel (UHB) is one of five university hospitals in Switzerland and the main hospital for north-west Switzerland. It is a public institution affiliated to the University of Basel, which specializes in the treatment of all patients requiring highly specialized medical care. Research that improves the patients quality of life is an important part of the UHBs mission. The translational focal points of UHBs research are agreed with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Basel: immunology, oncology, neurobiology, cell plasticity and tissue repair, biomedical engineering.

About Neurostatus-EDSS

Neurostatus-EDSS is a registered trademark of the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland.Cieplak Dental Excellence Supports 2018 Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Maryland Dr. Patrick Cieplak and his staff at Cieplak Dental Excellence are proud to announce their ongoing support of the 2018 Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Maryland.

Dr. Patrick Cieplak and his staff at Cieplak Dental Excellence are proud to announce their ongoing support of the 2018 Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Maryland. To show their commitment to both the fundraising event and the athletes in the local community, a Maryland event T-shirt was purchased for each staff person to wear on the day of the event. Proceeds of all T-shirt and hat sales go toward helping the Special Olympics Maryland law enforcement team continue its mission to raise funds to support the organizations athletes.

As a long-time dentist in La Plata, MD, Dr. Cieplak helps members of his community receive proper dental care. His teams goal is for all men, women, teens and children to be able to protect their teeth and gums. Research shows a direct correlation between healthy mouths and positive systemic health advantages.

The 2018 Maryland Law Enforcement Torch Run will be on Thursday, June 7, 2018 and between May 30 and June 8, 2018 a variety of individual and team events are scheduled. T-shirt and hat sales are one of the ways businesses like Cieplak Dental Excellence can honor this fun, once-a-year experience. Each T-shirt or hat is $15, and the Charles County Sheriffs Office continues to encourage every business and resident to invest in the cause. Charles County was proud to raise the most money last year in T-shirt and hat sales out of all 23 Maryland counties.

As a first-time business of the Law Enforcement Torch Run, everyone at Dr. Cieplaks office is excited to support the event. They will also be educating their new and current general and family dentistry patients on the upcoming events to help build momentum for Special Olympics Maryland and the Law Enforcement Torch Run.

For individuals and families who want to talk about their dental needs, the dentist in La Plata, MD, is now accepting new patients. Their office can be reached at 301-609-9999 by those who want to schedule upcoming appointments before and after the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Maryland. Emergency family dentistry treatment is also available case-by-case.

About the Doctor

Dr. Patrick Cieplak is a general dentist offering personalized dental care to patients in La Plata, MD. Dr. Cieplak is dedicated to learning the latest dental techniques and has completed hundreds of hours of continuing education courses. Dr. Cieplak is one of only 3,000 dentists to receive the Academy of General Dentistrys Masters Degree and he is a Fellow in the International Congress of Oral Implantology as well as Associate Fellow in the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. Cieplak Dental Excellence strives to offer each patient customized treatment to help them achieve proper oral health. To learn more about Dr. Cieplak, his team or the services they offer, please visit http://www.patcieplakdds.com or call 301-609-9999 to schedule an appointment.KnowBe4, providers of the worlds largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced that it has added new training modules from ThinkHR to its arsenal of training materials.

ThinkHR combines live human resources with innovative online technology to deliver trusted knowledge solutions that enable organizations to thrive. Their industry-leading HR knowledge products help their partners strengthen their client relationships and win more business. HR professionals use ThinkHRs tools to be more effective in their roles, while business and risk managers leverage its industry-leading team of HR advisors for compliance and risk guidance. And, all employers benefit from their HR compliance tools while building a positive and productive workplace.

Were constantly looking for new and exciting ways to freshen up our training content modules, said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. ThinkHR brings KnowBe4 into an entirely new training arena for the company  the HR space. Were pleased to be able to offer this new, innovative content to our customers.

Were excited KnowBe4 selected our award-winning training content as the next big addition to their security platform, said Doug Doyle, CMO at ThinkHR. Well-trained employees are a companys most powerful firewall. Our mutual commitment to combining the best of SaaS technology and human expertise is the basis for this valuable partnership.

The content is centered around HR compliance issues such as FERPA, harassment training, physical security, and managerial training with most modules running between thirty and sixty minutes each. The training will be available in the KnowBe4 Mod Store for its Diamond Level customers.

For more information on KnowBe4, please visit http://www.knowbe4.com.

About KnowBe4

KnowBe4, the provider of the worlds largest integrated new-school security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 17,000 organizations worldwide. Founded by data and IT security expert Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness of ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to security awareness training. Kevin Mitnick, internationally recognized computer security expert and KnowBe4s Chief Hacking Officer, helped design KnowBe4s training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Thousands of organizations trust KnowBe4 to mobilize their end-users as the last line of corporate IT defense.

Number 231 on the 2017 Inc. 500 list, #50 on 2016 Deloittes Technology Fast 500 and #6 in Cybersecurity Ventures Cybersecurity 500. KnowBe4 is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida with European offices in England and the Netherlands.China and Africa are a closely allied community with a shared future. The cooperation is mutually between two brothers. No matter how the international situation or world economy may evolve, there is no weakening in Chinas support for Africa.

China, a reticent nation, is the worlds rising economic power, being the worlds second-largest economy, after the United States of America. It is the worlds biggest exporter and second largest importer. These expanding imports largely lend a hand in enhancing the countrys influence in the global market, something encouraging for developing nations, especially for third world nations.

Chinas continued economic diplomacy through its win-win approach could be of value more so in line with the One belt, One Road, which is a Chinese development initiative started in 2013.

Chinese President Xi Jinping remains committed and has pledged his countrys continuous support to strengthen China-Africa relations, even under harsh condition. Xi Jinping in 2015 announced a $60 billion funding support for Africa at the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

FOCAC is a cooperation mechanism established in 2000 for the purposes of lifting the bars of cooperation between the continent on one hand, and China on the other, in a number of areas including infrastructure, trade, and people-to-people exchanges.

The programs cover the areas of industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.

Chinas pledge to Africa has been disbursed to various programs. This shows our commitment to take development to our African brothers and sisters, says Wang Dong, an official at the Department of West Asia and African Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce.

Some of the projects that had already been undertaken since the Johannesburg Summit included the completion of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway line, completion of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway and some projects were underway in Congo and Tanzania, amongst other countries.

The China-Africa relations will give the Africa Continent an opportunity to achieve sustainable development.

Amidst the global economic challenges that resulted to the Chinese economy slowing down in 2016, the Chinese were much more committed to rolling out all ten programs so as to prepare for further support starting this year.

As it stands, African nations should only work on ensuring improved negotiations on issues of cooperation since there is a lot they could yield from their ties with the Asian rising power- China.

My ten months stay in China have informed me, rightly so, that the Chinese can be greater partners of development, not just in terms of economic growth, but in dealing with other sectors of growth like infrastructure and human resource development. All I can wish is for all efforts to be taken to ensure a surge in our ties of cooperation both at the BILATERAL and MULTILATERAL levels.

Ignore the rhetoric; the Chinese today have a huge and an influential contribution to the continents growth trajectory.

Specific Economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa

Chinese companies have great confidence and respect for the African market. Lots have been achieved in the past decade and we have incorporated projects covering all African countries, Wang added and advised that China and Africa should put monies into the right projects so as to avoid wastages. Feasibility studies should be carried by both the donor country and the implementing country in order to identify the right model and ensure the correct use of the funds, he said.

Discussing Chinas development cooperation with Africa should take into account the models being used. First, there has been the general principle of non-interference when it comes to the internal affairs of states at the bilateral levels of cooperation.

Much is also felt from the framework of mutual relations and benefits, win-win, partnership, shared growth principle, investment-oriented trade, special economic zones, and industrialization. These models of friendship and ties at the people-to-people and government-to-government levels have been very instrumental for third world nation.

With these facts, third world nations are bound, given their need for growth, to ensure a surge in their cooperation ties with China, from all fronts more so at the BILATERAL and MULTILATERAL levels.

China-Africa Development Fund

CAD Fund has been making great efforts to promote cooperation with African countries to build economic and trade parks, assist enterprises in attracting investment, encourage Chinese enterprises to invest and build factories in Africa so as to improve the processing and export capacity of African countries, help to balance their trade and boost economic developement.

In recent years, China is entering a new era with the rapid development of direct investment in African countries. Some enterprises are involved in expanding market share, locating closer to the end consumer, or seeking natural resources. With the economic globalization, within the framework of market-based systems, CAD Fund seeks to apply its many advantages including identification of policy, risk control, and value-added services to make an active contribution to cooperation between Chinese and African enterprises and the establishment of the new strategic partnerships between China and Africa.

CAD Fund, according to the funds Vice President Wang Yong, has played a significant role in giving opportunities to Chinese companies to invest in 36 African Countries with about 100 projects and has created 74, 000 local jobs. All projects seek to generate $2 billion on export and $10 billion on local taxes.

China-Sierra Leone win-win relation

Sierra Leones quest for sustained growth should there see it digging out the growth opportunities that China offers! Remember, they deal not just with Africa, but the world.

As a country, all we need is improved negotiations on issues of cooperation and then build on where the former government (which in my view did an impressive work in sustaining the ties of cooperation with Chinese) left!

China has become increasingly present in Sierra Leone. The country is currently financing a new airport, a hospital, a hydroelectric dam, a rubber production project spanning several thousand hectares (worth $1.2 billion, financed by China Hainan Rubber Group) as well as rice cultivation (100,000 hectares). In 2016, FDI targeting mining and transport infrastructure also came from Chinese investors, including the Kingho Group (investment of $6 billion in a mining complex). China is willing to continue investing in Sierra Leone in order to improve stability.

Even at the sub-regional Mano River Union (MRU) level, we could take the lead role in recommencing talks on a once, much anticipated Economic Free Zone along Makona, with the support that should have come from the Chinese. I know there were high-level talks on this, including the presidents of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. We should not be oblivious of the fact that, regional and subregional projects stand a greater chance of funding and support more so in line with the multilateral framework to development cooperation.

The trade between China and Sierra Leone has witnessed a continuous growth since 2002. China is one of the major trading partners of Sierra Leone, the Chinese Economic Counsellor to Sierra Leone Mr. Shen Xiaokai told a local newspaper. He said that exports to China from Sierra Leone have grown by 44.8% from last year amounting to $239 million.

Over the course of Koromas presidency, Sierra Leone has broadened trade relations with China to levels not seen since the 1980s. China has become one of the largest importers of Sierra Leones fish and timber.

Bilateral investment is now, more than ever, crucial for President Julius Maada Bio to be able to achieve some of his infrastructural ambitions.

China has been a true friend of Sierra Leone and has assured to continue in that direction. The Government Agenda of Sierra Leon requires a stronger partnership with China to ensure a modern prosperous Sierra Leonean society."Service is our number one product."

How does a company stay in business for 60 years?

When Certified Slings' customers call they talk to a professional who is trained to listen, understand customer needs, and suggest a solution.

Certified Slings has been in business for 60 years because of its uncompromising commitment to three core values: Service, Quality and Team. From the very beginning Ron Worswick, the company's first-generation President and CEO made his company's values clear when he said, "Take care of your team, and they will take care of your customers. Everything else will take care of itself."

Ron Worswick believed what he said. His team also believed what he said. And, over the years, so have their customers.

Today Certified Slings & Supply is a third generation ISO-certified manufacturer and distributor of custom rigging, overhead lifting, load securement, contractor supplies and safety equipment. It has sales offices in seven Florida locations and a safety training facility in Tampa. More recently the company has established a presence in Latin and Central American countries and the Caribbean, with product distribution throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Contributing to the company's growth is its face-to-face approach to business. Whether by car, mobile showroom bus or plane, company representatives go directly to customers' work sites. Current CEO Doug Worswick explains his company's approach by saying, "Service is our number one product." He believes that mutually-beneficial relationships create loyal, long-term customers. "Quick sales create only short-term profits, not customers for life, says Worswick.

Company stability, in-house expertise and an emphasis on innovation have enabled Certified Slings & Supply to develop, manufacture and market its own line of products including Bubba Rope for vehicle recovery and its industry award winning product the Gator-Jaw Synthetic Shackle. Certified Slings' futuristic vision has also enabled it to make a significant investment in "The Academy" a state of the art interactive training facility based in Tampa, Fla. now co-branded with North American Crane Bureau offering world-class rigging and fall protection training programs.

Certified Slings & Supply's emphasis on corporate responsibility and community involvement is demonstrated in its support of the Foundation for Foster Children, the National Fire and Safety Council, the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, the Run Childhood Cancer Out of Town 5K and the Seminole County Friends of Abused Children. The company's commitment to the industry and industry standards is reflected in its membership in Associated Wire Rope Fabricators, the Web Sling & Tie Down Association and its ISO 9001:2015 Certification.

Indicative of the company's concern for its team members is its reception of the Orlando Business Journal's "Best Places to Work" award. At Certified Slings, team members benefit from 401(k) automatic enrollments for new team members, Thanksgiving Gift Cards and numerous monetary awards for performance and length of service.

Along with its 60 years of service Certified Slings & Supply has achieved a well-deserved reputation for excellence among its customers. Their foundation of Quality, Service, Team has earned them a top standing with all customers; earning multiple large contracts and lifelong customers. Their U.S.A. commitment has given support to all branches of the United States Armed Services with multiple opportunities spanning their 60 years.

Certified Slings vision is To be the most trusted and respected company in rigging, overhead lifting, load securement and contractor supplies in the world. Established and successful after 60 years of serving their customers needs, they are poised to realize this vision.

http://www.certifiedslings.com"When esports fans talk, not only do we listen, we make it our mission to respond with innovative solutions that will exceed their expectations. That was our goal with OP Live Dallas," says Chris Stone, CEO of eGency Global.

eGency Global, the most experienced esports production, marketing and talent management firm, in collaboration with SMU (Southern Methodist University) Guildhall, the top ranked graduate school for video game design in the world, are pleased to announce the launch of OP (Over Powered) Live Dallas, a premier esports event. OP Live Dallas will run September 22-23, 2018 on the 50,000 sq. ft. main floor of the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas.

Through their collaboration, eGency Global and SMU Guildhall will offer esports fans a unique and more robust experience than traditional esports events. Beyond the interactive and engaging experience, OP Live Dallas will showcase the multitude of career opportunities available to video game and esports devotees. SMU Guildhall alumni work for the biggest names in the video gaming industry, as well as in gamification sectors in a multitude of other industries like tech, education, business and medical.

The session for parents will shine a light on career and education opportunities for youth in the video gaming, cybersecurity and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, as well as the many upsides of the gaming community. The community is known for its supportive nature and lasting friendships, says Chris Stone, CEO of eGency Global.

The two-day OP Live Dallas schedule will be jam packed with non-stop competitions and activities, opportunities to meet popular pro players, cosplayers and more. Highlights include:



Competitions for 16 collegiate teams and 4 pro esports teams, with prizes to be awarded.

Showcases featuring never-before-seen games created by SMU students and alumni.

Mini TED-like talks with industry experts.

Interactive and personalized experiences.

Cosplay and game art gallery.

High School Hackathon, where students compete to identify, defend and terminate cybersecurity threats in a fictional small business.

Fundraising to benefit Childrens Medical Center Dallas through Extra Life, a division of Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals.

The entire event was designed with esports and gaming fans in mind. According to Stephanie Chavez, Director of Marketing at eGency Global, In the past year, weve spoken with dozens of fans who regularly attend esports and gaming events. We wanted to find out what they love most about the events and where improvements could be made. This insight was invaluable when we were planning OP Live Dallas.

As experts in the esports ecosystem, eGency Global was able to take this insight and create an elevated esports event that is unmatched in the industry. Says Stone, At eGency Global, we employ the best of the best in every aspect of esports event planning and execution. When esports fans talk, not only do we listen, we make it our mission to respond with innovative solutions that will exceed their expectations. That was our goal with OP Live Dallas.

Easy access to great, affordable food as well as lodging, restaurants and activities near the event venue are top priorities for esports event attendees. The Irving Convention Center was chosen specifically for this reason. In addition, several popular local food trucks will be onsite both days.

eGency Global estimates attendance of approximately 7,000 for the two-day event. Numerous sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities are available to organizations looking to reach fans in the burgeoning esports space.

To learn more about attending OP Live Dallas visit http://www.OPLiveDallas.com. For information on sponsorship opportunities (digital, event app, brand activations, signage, event/activity/workshop sponsor, broadcasting rights, food truck zone and more) or securing exhibitor space, contact Ward Eastman, eGency Global Director, Strategic Alliances at 214-957-7870 or weastman(at)egencyglobal(dot)com.

About eGency Global:

eGency Global is one of most experienced esports firms in North America, offering a full suite of services from event production, customer/fan engagement, sponsorship and talent marketing to data analytics, media and strategic marketing. eGency Global is the leading strategic partner in helping brands, event and media properties, and teams looking to navigate and capitalize on the rapidly expanding esports ecosystem.

About SMU Guildhall:

SMU Guildhall is the #1 Graduate Program for Game Design in the world. Many of the schools founders are industry icons, and classes are taught by industry veterans. Since 2003, the program has graduated over 700 students, who now work at more than 250 video game studios around the world. SMU Guildhall offers both a Master of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development degree and a Professional Certificate of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, with specializations in Art, Design, Production, and Programming.Dr. Duane Mitchell The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently named immunotherapy 2.0 as the advance of the year as it's a standard treatment option for many cancers, but not for brain cancer. This is why it's so important to create awareness on the role of immunotherapy in treating brain cancer.

The EndBrainCancer Initiative (EBCI, formerly the Chris Elliott Fund) announced today that Duane A. Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., world-renowned expert in using immunotherapy in the treatment of brain cancer will be the keynote at its 7th annual Brains Matter Awareness, Fundraiser, and Celebration Dinner. Dr. Mitchell is Co-Director of the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy and Director of the UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program. The dinner will be held at the Bellevue Club on Thursday, May 17th, from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Igniting HOPE for brain tumor patients and their families and friends, this annual May event will also feature the presentation of EBCIs National HOPE Award to Ken Whitley who was selected by EBCI following an outreach campaign to the brain tumor community nationally to nominate a brain cancer patient who most embodies HOPE in facing this disease. The EndBrainCancer Initiative would like to thank Novocure [https://www.novocure.com/ for once again underwriting this national education and awareness initiative.

Diagnosed with a brain tumor on Super Bowl Sunday 2017, Ken credits the EBCI team with providing guidance and insight that changed his approach to treatment as well as connecting him with key doctors offering a wide variety of treatment options. While the journey has at times been challenging, it has also had its very rewarding moments. It has strengthened his trust in God, and Ken and his then girlfriend, Cathy, got married in August 2017. After not qualifying for a number of clinical trials, Ken enrolled last September in a clinical trial with Dr. Allan Friedman of Duke University utilizing a re-engineered, tumor-seeking bacteria. This past week Ken got the results of his latest MRI no measurable change in the tumor with the three previous scans showing tumor reduction and dissipation.

Kens advice to others facing a brain cancer diagnosis:

DONT GIVE UP!! THERE IS HOPE! Put one foot in front of the other; keep moving forward. Define and pursue your goals while putting your trust in God. Doctors can treat. They cant heal. God does, however, work through doctors, scientists and the EndBrainCancer Initiatives Team. Dont give up! New GBM treatments are around the corner and the EndBrainCancer Initiatives team can provide IMMEDIATE ACCESS to these specialists and these new treatment options.

Dellann Elliott Mydland, EBCI Founder & President, has this to say about the need for expanded treatment options:

This year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has named immunotherapy 2.0 as the advance of the year and now, immunotherapy is a standard treatment option for people across a broad range of cancers. However, immunotherapy is still not a standard treatment option for brain cancer patients. This is why the EndBrainCancer Initiative is currently focusing much of its education, awareness and outreach efforts on the role of immunotherapy in treating brain cancer. EBCI believes that all brain tumor and brain cancer patients should have immediate access to all brain tumor treatment options, including genomics and immunotherapy. It is for this reason that we have chosen Dr. Duane Mitchell as our Keynote Speaker and also because most of our audience attending our Brains Matter event are brain tumor patients, their families and friends. Through our Direct Connect program, it is our mission to personally introduce patients to Brain Tumor Centers of Excellence, specialists, principal investigators, and more in efforts to immediately open up more treatment options for them; including clinical trials. We work hard to improve patient outcomes and fuel commercialization of new treatment options.

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Mitchell to Seattle during the National Brain Tumor Awareness Month of May. Dr. Mitchell will Ignite HOPE through sharing his insights around new and emerging immunotherapy options. He will personally engage with brain tumor patients, their families and friends which will better equip them to understand their own needs for expanded treatment options.

Registration for the Brains Matter Dinner is $150. Pre-registration is required. All proceeds go towards supporting vital services that are provided free of charge to brain cancer and brain tumor patients locally and nationally. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. for a champagne networking reception. The educational program and presentation of awards start at 6:30 p.m. followed by a fundraiser consisting of a live auction and Raise the Paddle. Registration and Corporate Table sponsorship details can be found at https://endbraincancer.org/about/events/dinner/.

The EndBrainCancer Initiative would like to thank our sponsors who have made this event possible: Keynote Sponsor, Foundation Medicine [https://www.foundationmedicine.com and Educational and Event Sponsors OncLive [https://www.onclive.com , CURE Magazine [https://www.curetoday.com , Oncology Nursing News [http://www.oncnursingnews.com , Orbus Therapeutics [http://www.orbustherapeutics.com/ , STELLAR Trial [https://www.stellarstudy.com , Nativis [http://nativis.com/ , glassybaby [http://www.glassybaby.com , University of Florida Health [https://ufhealth.org/ , The Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy [https://braintumors.ufhealth.org , The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke [https://tischbraintumorcenter.duke.edu , Synaptive Medical [https://www.synaptivemedical.com , JMS Construction [http://jmsconstruction.com/ , Brotherton Cadillac [http://www.brothertoncadillac.com/ , Hatchbuck [https://www.hatchbuck.com and Titos Handmade Vodka [https://www.titosvodka.com .

About the EndBrainCancer Initiative

The EndBrainCancer Initiative (EBCI, formerly the Chris Elliott Fund) is a national brain cancer and brain tumor patient advocacy organization and national 501(c) 3 social enterprise with offices in Redmond, Washington. Established in 2002 and now celebrating 16 years of service, EBCI is committed to finding a cure for brain cancer and bringing HOPE to the lives of patients and their families through its three programs:



Direct Connect Patient Services Program

Brain Tumor Disease Education, Awareness, and Outreach Program

Brain Tumor Patient Advocacy and Access

Since its founding, EBCI has helped thousands of patients, caregivers, and their families and has become a credible and trusted resource at all levels in the brain cancer treatment community from patients to research institutions to pharmaceutical and regulatory entities. EBCI also participates as the Patient Voice in clinical trial design. Founder and President, Dellann Elliott Mydland has been published in CNS Oncology.

The organization and its staff support 900+ patients and caregivers free of charge annually through the Direct Connect Program, and provide Education, Awareness, and Outreach to over 8.7 million annually, including members of the Brain Tumor Community. EBCI is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO), American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, American Association for Cancer Research, and Life Sciences Washington, among other organizations.

If we can help, please contact us at WeCare(at)EndBrainCancer(dot)org or 425.444.2215.

Follow us on Social Media:

Twitter: [https://twitter.com/EndBrainCancer

Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/EndBrainCancer/

Google+: [https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ChrisElliottfundOrg

LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/chris-elliott-fund/

About Dr. Duane Mitchell

Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D. is a world-renowned expert in translational research and immunotherapy. He is Co-Director of the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy at the University of Florida. Dr. Mitchell received his medical degree and doctorate degree in immunology from Duke University. Dr. Mitchell now leads a comprehensive brain tumor program at the University of Florida focused on translational research. He also currently serves as a chartered member of the NIH study section on Cancer Immunopathology and Immunotherapy, Chair of the NCI Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Immunotherapy Committee, and member of the NCI Brain Malignancy Steering Committee Working Group. Dr. Mitchell has more than 40 refereed journal publications, 15 textbook chapters and scientific reviews, and is inventor on five United States patents on findings from his oncological research.

More about Dr. Mitchell and his work can be found at [https://neurosurgery.ufl.edu/faculty-staff/research-faculty/mitchell/We have hope that the new and smart US sanctions against the rulers of the terrorist Islamic Republic in Iran (IRI), will pave the way for the final uprising of the people of Iran to non-violently overthrow this dictatorial and extremist regime.

Three days after President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran, a group of prominent Iranian exiles and pro-democracy leaders offered the US President a plan for the first 100 days following the collapse of the Iranian regime.

The regime change plan entitled The First 100 Days was initially developed 15 years ago with the title Iran of Tomorrow Project and covered a wide variety of issues that would need to be quickly addressed in the event of regime change. The First 100 Days project which is due to be released soon, is building upon the previous roadmap and will include recommendations for key government positions to be filled with top caliber pro-democracy personnel, and a list of Islamic Republic of Iran laws that would need to immediately be revoked or revised during the first 100 days after regime change in Iran.

Contributors to the regime change include Dr. Iman Foroutan, a Los Angeles based tech entrepreneur and Iranian democracy leader known for using technology to help coordinate large-scale civil disobedience campaigns with Iranians inside the country vast majority of whom are hostile to the regime. Foroutan has been a major source of secure communications between anti-regime activists within Iran and those outside of the country who are lending support and telling their stories.

Joined by veteran democracy advocates Dr. Taghi Alereza, Abraham Ganji, Manouchehr Mehrpouyan, and Sara Safiri, Dr. Foroutan, over the last 18 years, has built up a vast support network inside Iran. Their organization is a 501(c)4 non-profit within the United States that goes by the moniker of The New Iran (TNI). The announcement of President Trumps withdrawing the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement struck by President Barack Obamas administration in 2015, was met with high praise by the pro-democracy group.

Your friendly and hopeful message to the people of Iran has made millions of Iranians inside the country very happy, told Dr. Foroutan in a letter dated 3.09.2018 from The New Iran to Mr. Trump. We have hope that the new and smart US sanctions against the terrorist Islamic Republic in Iran (IRI), its officials and important entities such as the Revolutionary Guard and IRIs government-run media will pave the way for the final uprising of the people of Iran to non-violently overthrow this dictatorial and extremist regime.

The letter concludes with these prominent Iranian exiles offering their service to the United States to help accelerate regime change in Iran: In conclusion, we would like to offer our counsel, support, expertise, and extend our hand in cooperation with your administration, to work together and assist each other to rid the world of a blood thirsty regime that has done absolutely nothing for humanity since they came to power.

###

Dr. Foroutan has over 35 years of experience in Information Technology and over 18 years as an Iran analyst and advocate. In addition to running his personal businesses, he is the Executive Director of The New Iran, a global non-profit that advocates for peaceful regime change within Iran. Dr. Foroutan is also the founder of Iran of Tomorrow Project (IOTP) and one of the founding members of Iran of Tomorrow Movement (IOTM) and S.O.S. Iran. Prior to his commercial entrepreneurial ventures Dr. Foroutan servers as a consultant to the US Armed Forces and defense contractors. He is a graduate of University of California in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specializing in pattern recognition, process improvement and re-engineering, and design of complex online applications. Dr. Foroutan has been interviewed on many media outlets including CNN, Fox News, Le Monde, and Newsweek.Windstar has doubled its number of Concierge Collection shore excursions  intimate, small group experiences ranging from four to 16 guests  increasing the total number of these unique tours to 90. Our teams, who carefully craft each excursion, are the clever architects of our guests vacation, designing each experience to top the last one.

Small ship cruise line Windstar Cruises has doubled its number of Concierge Collection shore excursions in 2018, increasing the total number of these unique tours to 90.

Concierge Collection excursions are more intimate, small group experiences that range in size from just four to 12-16 guests, most often under 10. The program is designed for those travelers who are looking for experiences off-the-beaten path that offer the opportunity to live life like a local for one day whether its halibut fishing in the deep waters off Icy Strait Point, Alaska; flying over the expansive vineyards of the Medoc Valley in beautiful Bordeaux, France; lunching and learning the nuances of olive oil with the Maitre dHotel of the Splendido Hotel in Portofino, Italy; wine making in Portimao, Portugal; or zooming around the world famous TT Motorbike Race Course on Isle of Man, Scotland.

At Windstar we are out to own destination authenticity and deliver the destination experience better than anyone else with more immersive tours, more overnights and longer hours in port to explore. Our teams, who carefully craft each excursion, are the clever architects of our guests vacation, designing each experience to top the last one, commented Windstar President John Delaney.

Of the 44 new Concierge Collection tours, many are highly localized culinary experiences, while others are a deep and meaningful encounter with the environment and natural world. In many cases, the Concierge Collection experiences combine both of these travel aspects  culinary AND the environment  imbuing a bit of local culture along with exposure to awe-inspiring scenery.

Here are highlights from nine of the new Concierge Collection tour additions taking place this summer and early fall:

Akureyri, Iceland Concierge Collection: Polar Flight to Grimsey Island

North of mainland Iceland lies Grimsey Island, a lovely green oasis that straddles the Arctic Circle. Cruise guests are treated to a thrilling 30-minute flight with amazing views over the tall mountains that line either side of Eyjafjordur Fjord. Upon landing on the polar outpost, a local Grimsey guide invites guests on a hike around the island where few have tread, acquainting visitors with its reach Viking history dating to 1024, cultural oddity of a cod currency, and renowned abundance of fish and birds. A photographers paradise, Grimsey has extensive bird colonies, said to accommodate at least 60 different species like kittiwakes, puffins, arctic terns, fulmars, and guillemots. The return flight provides more spectacular views of rugged Iceland and bragging rights to having crossed the Arctic Circle twice.

Ketchikan, Alaska Concierge Collection: Fishing & Wilderness Dining

Guests actually get to cook their catch of freshly caught Alaskan fish and shellfish from the pristine wilderness and waters of the Tongass National Forest, where whales, bald eagles and numerous Alaskan seabirds are often seen. Guests can reel in Pacific halibut, rockfish, lingcod, Pacific cod, and salmon before working with a local fish monger and chef to cook up the catch of the day, learning about how sustainable fishing is a pillar of many Alaskan communities.

Tangier, Morocco Concierge Collection Cooking Class at the Blue Door

The first stop on this outing is the Grand Socco, home to a cavalcade of color, charm, street musicians, a fish market, scenic handicrafts, and spices. Next stop is the Blue Door Hotel Cooking Classroom, where guests are warmly welcomed with minty Moroccan tea followed by learning how to cook a traditional Moroccan dish infused with fragrant herbs. Guests also learn the secrets of how Moroccans make such moist bread, including a visit to a local oven where community baking is a time-honored practice. While waiting for the bread, guests learn the proper way to make and serve Moroccan tea. Of course, once the food is ready, everyone digs in.

Troms, Norway Concierge Collection Huskey Hike

Guests travel to the Troms Wilderness Camp to meet some of the friendliest inhabitants of Norway: 100+ huskies. The local couple who run the camp made their mark in the world of dog sled racing and regularly participates in the Finnmark Race and have competed in the worlds longest dog race, the Iditarod in Alaska. The guide takes guests on a hike with some of the camps top-trained dogs, heading into spectacular northern Norwegian nature with great views of the fjords and mountains surrounding Troms. Back at the Wilderness Camp, guests are treated to a hot beverage and a snack before its time to say goodbye to the huskies.

Portimao, Portugal Concierge Collection: Winemaker Experience & Bottle Blending Workshop

One of the reasons Quinta dos Vales has quickly become one of the leading wine producers in the Algarvean wine market is its focus on quality instead of quantity. With this unique experience, guests get the opportunity to create a wine perfectly tailored to their preferences. With some information, training, and all the necessary equipment, only creativity is needed to blend the wines in different combinations and proportions. To make it even more personal, guests are able to bottle the wine, label it, and cork it themselves.

Heimaey Island, Iceland Concierge Collection: Snowmobile & Helicopter Glacier Adventure

This exclusive tour contains the ultimate adventure: a combination of helicopter flightseeing and snowmobiling on Icelands 4th largest glacier, Myrdalsjokull. Guests fly over the islands of the archipelago before heading to the mainland of Iceland, along the way seeing Eyjafjallajokull Glacier, the volcano that erupted in 2010 and brought the world to a halt for a few days. After landing at Myrdalsjokull, guests can push the throttle on their snowmobile and ride the glacier while enjoying magnificent scenery, with Eyjafjallajokull Glacier from the west and the breathtaking view over the South coast and its black beach. Following the ride, guests board the helicopter for the scenic journey back.

Quebec City, Canada Concierge Collection: Wendake Culinary Experience

La Traite Restaurant at Hotel-Musee Premieres Nations is a gastronomic tribute to First Nations, Inuit, and Aboriginal heritage and culture. Guests are greeted at the museum with traditional drums and chanting, followed by a privately guided visit of the museums permanent exhibition. Guests then visit the nearby Ekionkiestha Longhouse to witness a Unification Ceremony followed by a rhubarb water tasting from a traditional Wendat cup. Then, its an incredible four-course meal (along with wine) that honors what has been hunted, fished, or gathered.

Porto Empedocle, (Sicily) Italy Torre Salsa, Sciacca & Tasting

The tour starts with a visit to the World Wildlife Federation nature reserve of Torre Salsa before heading to a local farmhouse for an explanation of the olive harvest and its maceration. After a tasting of oils and home-made cuisine consisting of typical local and traditional dishes, guests continue to the center of Sciacca, famous for its beautiful sea, monuments, and spas.

Bora Bora, French Polynesia Concierge Collection: Overnight Romance Package  Pearl Beach

Guests can enjoy a unique opportunity to stay at one of the nicest resorts in Bora Bora in a classic overwater bungalow. Guest are met on the dock on Bora Bora for a boat transfer to the resort, where there is access to the hotel facilities, pool, beach, and non-motorized water toys. Then its a three-course dinner at Tevairoa Restaurant before enjoying the pleasure of staying in an overwater bungalow, with breakfast the next morning. Another highlight is a two-course lunch served beachside before the transfer by boat back to the Windstar ship.

The new Concierge Collection enhances the hundreds of shore excursions that Windstar offers in porst around the world. To learn more about Concierge tours and authentic small ship cruising with Windstar, contact a travel professional or Windstar Cruises by phone at 877-958-7718, email info(at)windstarcruises(dot)com or visit WindstarCruises.com.According to Joe Nelms, Vice President at Bigge, The Liebherr LTM 1220-5.2 is the best five axle crane ever built. With its best in class capacities, quick rig in and rig out characteristics, the LTM 1220 is often the most efficient method for completing our customers lifting requirements.

Users of Liebherr LTM 1220 All-Terrain cranes will no longer be able to purchase this model from the manufacturer. Learning of the discontinuation of this long-sought after and best in class crane, Bigge decided to purchase the last four of these outstanding two engine, 60-meter, Tier-4 final cranes. The delivery of these cranes is expected to be between May and October 2018.

Since their inauguration in the 1970s, the Liebherr LTM mobile crane series has been a great addition to heavy lift equipment fleets all over the world. The LTM 1220 is known to be one of the most flexible cranes in its class due to its ease of transport, adaptability, and technology. Released in 2004, the LTM 1220 is an all-terrain crane with five axles and a maximum lifting capacity of 265 US tons. The Bigge team recently used an LTM 1220 to set storm water detention tanks as part of the building of a school in Dublin, California. The contract for this project was carried out by Robert A. Bothman Construction, you can watch the full job video visiting this link.

According to Joe Nelms, Vice President at Bigge, The Liebherr LTM 1220-5.2 is the best five axle crane ever built and is perfect for a wide range of lifting applications. With its best in class capacities, quick rig in and rig out characteristics, the LTM 1220 is often the most efficient method for completing our customers lifting requirements. Bigge has a large LTM 1220 fleet in service and is expecting four late model cranes to become available for sale from its California and Texas locations. You can learn more about this machine by visiting its dedicated page on our site.

Since 1916, Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. has been the premier provider of crane rentals, crane sales, and specialized heavy lifting projects across America. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bigge operates a strategic network of seventeen service locations nationwide, allowing them to provide logistical and field support throughout the U.S. Bigge offers quality new and used cranes for sale or rent, and has more than 1,000 cranes in its rental fleet. Safety, teamwork, passion, and innovation are part of Bigges core values. Bigge continues to lead the crane industry into the 21st century with its rental, sales, and projects teams holding generations of combined experience in the crane and rigging industry.

To learn more about our crane rental, crane sales, and crane parts divisions please visit us at bigge.com.Paul Gotel marks his publishing debut with the release of The Big U: A Guide to Self Revolution (published by Balboa Press), a guidebook offered to anyone who is tired of living small and is ready to take the big step to revolutionize their life. Readers can find the book at https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001032205.

The book emphasizes that people live a small version of their true big potential, and that the bigger part of each is actually a unified part of all people. Moreover, to evolve beyond the present limitations, they must be ready to start a self-revolution, not against some exterior power of society or government, but within themselves.

Inspired by Gotels journey for wisdom around the world, the book condenses many spiritual traditions into the simplest unified voice so all people of the world, adults and children alike, may have a clear and inspiring message to guide them on their own journey of evolution.

I wish the reader to understand that the small concept of who they are is only limited by a false idea of lack, that in actuality they are much Bigger than they could imagine. From this viewpoint, one can see there were no mistakes, simply misunderstandings of the purpose of their life, and the Bigger role and influence they actually have on it! Gotel shares.

The Big U: A Guide to Self Revolution

By Paul Gotel

Hardcover | 5.5 x 8.5in | 130 pages | ISBN 9781504366236

Softcover | 5.5 x 8.5in | 130 pages | ISBN 9781504366212

E-Book | 130 pages | ISBN 9781504366229

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

After achieving a successful career as a producer, DJ and marketing professional in the global music business before he was 30, Paul Gotel realized this was not the answer and decided to leave the western world behind. He travelled to over 75 countries on a five-year spirt quest, visiting the worlds sacred sites to gather up ancient wisdom through direct experience. He walked amongst ancient cultures, investigated lost mythologies and visited still existing Tibetan monks, Egyptian Bedouins and Indigenous Australians. After 18 years of deep self-work, Gotel relocated to Hawaii to refine all the wisdom he was taught into what he describes as this revolutionary small book with a BIG message.

Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc.  a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with indie book publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 877-407-4847 today. For the latest, follow @balboapress on Twitter.FarmerDates.com states that there are actual millennials who are farmers and dating online. It would be safe to assume that it is precisely the millennial farmers who are driving these Farmer Dates numbers up as they've finally realized that the web is the place to find desirable matches.

Living in the digital era means transferring most of our daily and business activities online, and some communities are quicker to adapt to this than others. Given that farmers aren't the kinds of people to fall for fads that come and go, it has taken them a while to adjust to the idea of digital dating, and accept that no, this is not a fad. Most farmers, young or old, that work out in the fields live relatively isolated from other people, which is why any sort of digital dating is actually perfect for them, especially the one that caters to their specific niche. Out of many farmers dating sites, millennial farmers seem to prefer Farmer Dates as evidenced by this platforms growing member base.

According to AFBF's Food&Farm Facts book (the 2017 edition), there are 2.1 million farms in the US, and just over three million farmers. About 30 percent of all farmers are women, which means they have plenty of choices if they wish to date within their own community. However, one of the most interesting facts is that there are actual millennials who are farmers and dating online! Just over 250,000 people in the agriculture business in the US belong to this cohort, a figure further supported by the fact that about 20 percent of all farmers are beginner farmers (in business for less than 10 years). It would be safe to assume that it is precisely the millennial farmers who are driving these Farmer Dates numbers up as they've finally realized that the web is the place to find desirable matches.

Farmer Dates does cater to any age group, and if we take into account the fact that online dating stats are seeing a steady increase across all niches, there is no doubt that the number of users frequenting Farmer Dates is only going to grow further in the future.

Farmer Dates is available 24/7 all over the country and it can be found at https://www.farmerdates.com.Dr. Angela Cotey, Dentist in Mt. Horeb, WI Completes Laser Dentistry Course Using lasers, top dentistry professionals like Dr. Cotey can remove the barriers to good health comfortably, efficiently and effectively.

Respected general dentist in Mt. Horeb, WI, Dr. Angela Cotey has recently completed an intensive laser dentistry course as part of her continuing education (CE) training. By advancing her knowledge in this arena, Dr. Cotey hopes to enhance her skills in detecting and treating early signs of periodontal disease in order to prevent problems associated with gum and jaw bone deterioration.

A proponent of laser advancements, Dr. Cotey regularly sees patients suffering from many of the warning signs of gum disease. The earliest form of gum disease, gingivitis, can be cured using laser dentistry techniques, a gold standard in top-level dental care. However, if gingivitis has progressed to more moderate and advanced periodontal disease, it moves to a chronic, incurable state. At that point, laser dentistry can still be used to manage problems.

Typical first indicators of gingivitis, which is caused from a build-up of bacteria between the teeth and gums deep in the periodontal pockets, are often overlooked. They include bleeding gums, red gums, swollen gums, bad breath and tender gums. Dr. Cotey encourages anyone experiencing these symptoms to take immediate action. Without immediate, leading care and intervention, gingivitis will inevitably become more pervasive.

Studies have shown significant correlations between gum disease and systemic issues such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Using lasers, top dentistry professionals like Dr. Cotey can remove the barriers to good health comfortably, efficiently and effectively. In fact, when lasers are employed during gingival treatments, the success rates improve considerably for patients.

Dr. Cotey is accepting new patients interested in learning more about laser dentistry, or who simply are in need of a new general dentist in Mt. Horeb, WI. Her team can be reached at 608-433-2102 or by visiting http://www.villagesmilecare.com for initial consultation or appointment arrangements.

About the Doctor

Dr. Angela Cotey is a general dentist offering personalized dental care to patients in Mount Horeb, WI. Dr. Cotey and her entire team take pride in offering the latest advancements in dentistry and dental technology to ensure each patient enjoys a comfortable experience with long-lasting results. Dr. Cotey combines advanced dentistry with a fun and friendly style. She is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Dental Association, the Wisconsin Dental Association, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry and current President of the Wisconsin Dental Study Club and Madison Dental Progress Forum. To learn more about Dr. Cotey or the services she offers, please visit her website at http://www.villagesmilecare.com or call 608-433-2102 to schedule an appointment.Murrieta Genomics "Providing the right treatment to patients determined by their individual biology can save lives and money."

Murrieta Genomics, LLC, the Southern California genomic sequencing business incubator, will be represented at the World Precision Medicine Congress 2018 in London, England May 16-18, 2018. Jay Goth and John Powers, two of the companys founders, will be meeting with potential incubator companies, partners and investors at the event. Mr. Goth, who is also managing partner of Forentis Fund, an early stage biotech VC, will be chairman of the Infrastructure and Investment track at the Congress, focusing on the development and funding of precision medicine projects.

This congress attracts global medical industry leaders who are driving the new precision medicine paradigm, stated Mr. Goth. Providing the right treatment to patients determined by their individual biology can save lives and money. Genomic sequencing and accurate measurement of the many omic biomarkers provide key insights that can guide both treatment and ultimately prevention of disease. Funding provides the support needed by researchers to bring new discoveries to market.

The Congress looks at the precision medicine pipeline, from early discovery and development of personalized drugs and diagnostics, through to research and innovation, implementing precision medicine into clinics and hospitals.

The use of genomic sequencing to guide precision medicine is on the rise globally, said Mr. Powers. We believe that by providing both the technology and business mentorship to biotech entrepreneurs, Murrieta Genomics is breaking new ground on bringing science to the patient. We provide bench space, access to NGS technology, scientific and business advisors, as well as an extremely supportive local healthcare coalition that can provide the support these researchers need. If they can prove their science and business model with our guidance, we provide the graduate with seed funding and access to secondary sources of capital, for a clear pathway to commercialization.

While healthcare is a primary focus of Murrieta Genomics, the company views the flourishing field of genomics impacting agriculture as well, and sees applications of the technology in consumer products, forensics, and the veterinary field.

Genomics hold the key to so many dynamic new business models, Powers added. We have had conversations with entrepreneurs in all of these areas and believe that companies that come out of our incubator will have a significant impact in a number of industries.

About Murrieta Genomics, LLC

Murrieta Genomics provides access to next generation sequencing technology for researchers in the health, veterinary, agriculture, forensics and direct to consumer industries. The company is a true business incubator, offering mentorship and guidance from both the scientific and business perspective to aspiring genomic-related entrepreneurs. The four founding principals of Murrieta Genomics have extensive background in business, finance, science and technology. They are supplemented with an advisory board and local mentors from both business and science. In addition to low-cost incubation, the company provides hands-on consulting and will provide seed funding to qualified incubator graduates and connections to next-stage funders. For more information visit http://www.murrietagenomics.com.Chinas express delivery companies are increasing their input into technologies, in a bid to speed up the transition from a labor-intensive industry to an intelligent one.

According to Chinas State Post Bureau, 13.67 billion parcels have been delivered in the first 4 months of 2018, up 29.3 percent from last year.

Courier services were considered a labor-intensive industry in the past. However, with an increasing labor price, it's natural that the industry wishes to apply new technologies to reduce costs.

Major listed courier firms handle more than 10 million parcels per day. ZTO Express, Chinas largest express delivery company by market share, handles as many as 26 million items every day.

"The industry is expanding at a double-digit speed annually, which puts higher requirements on technology," said Zhu Jingxi, vice president of the ZTO Express.

Automation and intelligentization are two major directions for courier companies. In the first quarter of this year, 94 percent of ZTO's express sheets were made electronically available, and the company handled 36 percent more parcels with an increase of only 7 percent to its human workforce.

In addition, ZTO Express also released a research report on block chain technology, hoping to apply it to the logistics sector.

SF Express, which is the largest courier company by market cap, also sees technology as its core competitiveness. Its financial report said that its number of research personnel amounted to 2,800 in 2017, and the company invested 108 percent more on research than in the previous year.

The company has also made a blue print to employ drones, smart devices and Internet of vehicles to its delivery services. It was granted the first license for drones to drop off products this March.

We can still see the couriers riding electronic bikes, but it doesnt suggest the future of logistics industry, said Tian Min, Chief Technology Officer at SF Express.Prince Harry & Megan Markle PEZ Set

Following the charity auction of an exclusive Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PEZ Set, PEZ Candy, Inc., today announced the winning bid of $9,893.33. The auction, in support of Make-A-Wish UK began May 7 and concluded May 13. The exciting auction saw 25 bidders and 46 bids with the winning bid coming down to the final minutes and going to the highest bidder from New Jersey.

All proceeds from the auction will be going to the Make-A-Wish UK Foundation.

The foundation grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to inspire them and give them strength as they cope with their challenges. Were excited to have partnered with Make-A-Wish for this exciting charity auction and look forward to seeing the proceeds put to work in supporting the important mission of Make-A-Wish. said Christian Jegen, President & CEO of PEZ Candy, Inc.

About PEZ Candy, Inc.:

Based in Orange, CT, PEZ has been inspiring and innovating since 1927. PEZ Candy, Inc. is the pioneer of interactive candy that is both enjoyable to eat and fun to play with. PEZ was first marketed as a compressed peppermint candy in 1927 in Vienna, Austria.

Today, the company sells and markets its products worldwide with locations in Orange, Connecticut and Traun, Austria. Between them, the two locations distribute approximately 70 million dispensers and 5 billion candies per year. PEZ products are available in more than 80 countries worldwide and are a hot collectible for adults and children alike. PEZ dispensers have been a staple of American pop culture for over 60 years. To learn more, visit us.pez.com.Hobsons, the education technology leader, will hold a free Starfish Student Success Summit hosted by Jefferson (Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University) in Philadelphia, Penn today. The summit will bring together more than 85 student success practitioners from community colleges, private institutions, and public universities interested in supporting all stages of their students higher education journey.

The summit offers the opportunity for dozens of student success professionals to explore student success trends, discuss recent research, share best practices, and engage in lively discussion about leveraging technology to make data-informed decisions and increase student momentum.

Sessions will cover topics including: the ethical use of student success data, how to engage faculty and students, how to measure student success interventions, and how to connect college to careers.

Multiple leaders in student success will present at the summit, including:



Chris Romano, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Affairs and Dr. Jeremy Teigen, Faculty, Ramapo College of New Jersey

Dhanfu Elston, Vice President of Strategy for Guided Pathways and Purpose First, Complete College America

Graham Tracey, Senior Director of Student Success Services, Hobsons

Iris Palmer, Senior Policy Analyst, Education Policy Program, New America Foundation

Megan Mills, Director of Academic Student Success Center, Jefferson (Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University)

Michael Simpson, CEO of PAIRIN

Ross Bandics, Professor and Counseling, Northampton Area Community College

We are proud to offer free student success summits across the country throughout the year, said Howard Bell, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Starfish. It is our mission to bring higher education leaders together to discuss the best ways to assist students in achieving their academic and career goals.

The Philadelphia Student Success Summit is the fourth of a series of Hobsons-led events that have taken place across the country. Previous summits have been held at Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., Hobsons headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio and Pierce College in Puyallup, Wash.

Hobsons is dedicated to furthering the conversation on student success. Join over 1,000 education leaders at Hobsons Summer Institute 2018, the premier conference that brings together K-12 and higher education leaders to participate in 30+ student success best-practice sessions.

About Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University)

Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University) is a leader in interdisciplinary, professional education. Jefferson, home of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, is now a comprehensive university delivering high-impact education in 160 undergraduate and graduate programs to 7,800 students in health, science, architecture, design, fashion, textiles, business and engineering. The new Jefferson is redefining the higher education value proposition with an approach that is collaborative and active; increasingly global; integrated with industry; focused on research across disciplines to foster innovation and discovery; and technology-enhanced. Student-athletes compete as the Jefferson Rams in the NCAA Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

About Starfish by Hobsons

The Starfish Enterprise Success Platform helps hundreds of colleges and universities efficiently scale their student success programs so that more students can achieve their academic and life goals. The Starfish platform helps higher education institutions identify at-risk students, pinpoint areas of concern, and connect students with valuable services. With Starfish, institutions can leverage reliable, actionable data to assess which services and interventions are working to keep students on track. Starfish was awarded the 2017 Guided Pathways to Success (GPS) Seal of Approval from Complete College America. To learn more, visit [http://www.starfishsolutions.com.

About Hobsons

A global leader in education technology, Hobsons helps students to identify their strengths, explore careers, match to best-fit educational opportunities, create academic plans, and reach their education and life goals. More than 13,000 K-12 and higher education institutions partner with Hobsons and leverage our expertise and our solutions -- Naviance, Intersect, and Starfish -- to improve college and career readiness, college recruiting and admissions, and higher education student success to support millions of students around the world.Sonja Chernos Sonja, with her experience and background, will be a tremendous asset as we explore new publishing initiatives that support our organizations mission of increasing adult literacy rates.

ProLiteracy is pleased to welcome Sonja Chernos as the new VP of Publishing for ProLiteracys publishing division, New Readers Press. She is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the organizations current portfolio and future curriculum development as well as distribution of both print and digital solutions for adult basic education, English language learning, high school equivalency, and workforce development.

Sonja has extensive experience in curriculum development and portfolio management. Prior to joining ProLiteracy, she spent 13 years with McGraw-Hill Education in different capacities, most recently as the VP of Academic Design for Intervention, Adult Education, and Product Development Operations. Sonja holds a bachelors degree in environmental and occupational health science and a masters in public health from California State University, Northridge.

Kevin Morgan, president and CEO of ProLiteracy said, While ProLiteracy and New Readers Press have been developing effective adult literacy resources for over 50 years, we are looking for innovative ways to help adult learners access new instructional material through books and education technology. Sonja, with her experience and background, will be a tremendous asset as we explore new publishing initiatives that support our organizations mission of increasing adult literacy rates.

###

About ProLiteracy

ProLiteracy believes every adult has the right to literacy. ProLiteracy, the largest adult literacy and basic education membership organization in the nation, is committed to creating a world in which all adults are literate. ProLiteracy has 1,000 member programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and works with 52 nongovernmental organizations in 34 developing countries. ProLiteracy develops educational programs that help adults acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to function more effectively in their daily lives with reading, writing, and basic math skills, as well as financial, digital, and health literacy. For more information about ProLiteracy, please visit http://www.proliteracy.org.It made all of us affiliated with Sheba proud to be part of such an important cause, said Peter Halasz, Chairman of American Friends of Sheba in New York. It felt like we were listening to science fiction, but it was real.

On Thursday, May 10, Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, an internal medicine physician at the biggest and most comprehensive hospital in the Middle East  Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer  talked about the latest revolutionary developments in healthcare. He spoke at an American Friends of Sheba Medical Center event, A Look Into The Future of Medicine, which was hosted at the law firm of Schulte, Roth and Zabel.

Dr. Zimlichman described a future where patients will be greeted at hospitals by virtual nurses. Doctors, with the use of robotics, will be able to perform heart surgeries on patients across the world. And people will be able to carry instruments on their bodies that will enable them to get CAT scans and MRIs from the comfort of their own homes.

Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer is taking a step toward the future through their new Innovation Center. Sheba is already known as a hub for medical innovation for Israel, and this new development will take them above and beyond to push the envelope on medical innovation. The Sheba Innovation Center focuses on predictive medicine, virtual reality and telemedicine  three areas that are transforming health care. This kind of technology allows an idea to rapidly develop into a product that can then be used to save and treat patients.

Dr. Zimlichman is currently the Deputy Director and Chief Quality Officer at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. He is a pioneer when it comes to using technology to improve the quality of healthcare and the safety of patients.

Another example of high-tech innovation at work can be seen at the cardiac ICU at the Lily and Edmond Safra Childrens Hospital at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. It currently houses an iRobot doctor. This machine helps physicians to check on their patients without having to enter the hospital room and interfere with any protocols that may have been set in place.

It made all of us affiliated with Sheba proud to be part of such an important cause, said Peter Halasz, Chairman of American Friends of Sheba in New York. It felt like we were listening to science fiction, but it was real.

To request photos from the event or interviews with Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, contact Elian Dombey at 954-681-8056 or via email through elian(at)redbanyan(dot)com.

About Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer:

Born together with Israel in 1948, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East. Sheba is the only medical center in Israel that combines an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital on one campus, and it is at the forefront of medical treatments, patient care, research and education. As a university teaching hospital affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University, it welcomes people from all over the world indiscriminately.DocLink is an essential tool that enables everyone throughout an organization to be more effective, and I am looking forward to sharing this with attendees this week.

Altec, a leader in enterprise document management and process automation solutions, announced today they will be participating and presenting at the BAASS Connect Caribbean 2018 conference in the Bahamas and Barbados this week, May 15 and 17 respectively.

At the BAASS conference, Patrick Nguyen, Altecs Southeast Sales Director will highlight DocLink, the companys Sage-endorsed document management solution. Tightly integrated with Sage ERPs, DocLink leverages the existing data in Sage to automate any document-intensive process to improve productivity in AP, AR, Sales Order, Contracts, HR and throughout a companys enterprise.

Nguyens presentation will detail for BAASS customers how to make a digital transformation with DocLink. Whether they are a CFO, Accounting Manager, AP Clerk, HR Manager or IT  attendees will learn how to spend less time touching documents while gaining improved efficiency, visibility and control throughout their organization. DocLink:



Eliminates paper-based bottlenecks like AP invoice and contract approvals

Increases control and visibility of transactions while eliminating key strokes

Simplifies processes by customizing forms (expense reports, credit card statements, HR onboarding, new vendor requests, etc.)

Automates the delivery of ANY documents and associated data from ANY department to customers, vendors, partners

Allow users to retrieve, edit and approve documents instantly and easily, from any device (mobile, web)

Nguyen states, All around the globe, the Internet has permeated everyday life. Cloud computing is mainstream, there are more tablets and smart phones than personal computers and over half the world's population is connected digitally. So its a natural progression that companies must make to take everything digital in order to be competitive. Events like BAASS Connect Caribbean provide a great opportunity for Altec to share with international users how DocLinks full integration to their Sage solution can help companies make a digital transformation by, first, going paperless, and then automating everyday processes in every department. DocLink is an essential tool that enables everyone throughout an organization to be more effective, and I am looking forward to sharing this with attendees next week.

About Altec

Altec is a leading provider of integrated document management and process automation solutions. Its flagship product, DocLink, helps companies connect people, processes and data providing them with the ability to store, search, retrieve and send any document securely. DocLink effectively eliminates the need for paper while automating processes that improve organizational efficiency and reduce costs associated with human errors. With thousands of customers globally, Altec enjoys collaborative partnerships with Sage, Microsoft, Acumatica, Intacct, Key2Act, SAP B1, AmTech, and Epicor that deliver flexible, comprehensive solutions to adapt to an ever-changing global market. Learn more at http://www.altec-inc.com.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:

Home Regional News EastWelcome Guest! You Are Here:The first heavy truck of Shaanxi Automobile Group recently rolled off the production line in Algeria, recognized as the countrys first Chinese automobile assembly plant in production.

The plant, occupying a space of 20,000 square meters, was jointly built by the Chinese company and its Algerian partner Mazouz Trade Group in the eastern province of Setif. Production was launched this May as the first automobile assembly plant under a Chinese brand in Algeria.

About 3,000 trucks under the brand of Shacman are expected to be assembled and manufactured at the plant each year. The vehicles, apart from meeting local needs, will also be sold to surrounding countries such as Tunisia and Mali.

Due to its high quality at a reasonable price, Shacman is fast becoming the most popular brand of heavy trucks in Algeria. Statistics indicate that over 40,000 vehicles have been exported to Algeria since 2007, occupying 80 percent of the country's engineering truck market.

Moreover, the Chinese company cooperates with Algeria on talent training to help the country with infrastructure construction.

Zhang Lei, a manager of the company, stated that they have launched a special program to cultivate talent in automobile creation for Algeria with Changan University, one of Chinas top universities, by offering scholarships and education opportunities to Algerian teenagers.

Construction of the plant not only directly creates 1,200 jobs for local people, but also plays a significant role in introducing Chinese manufacturing technologies to Algeria, said Ahmed Mazouz, CEO of the Algerian group.

The CEO added that Chinese products have left a deep impression on him since he started business with China in the 1990s.After the royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the royal couple might enjoy their honeymoon in two African countries.

Several reports are hinting that the royal couple has concluded plans to enjoy their first days together in Namibia which is situated in the southwestern part of Africa.

Hello! reports that Prince Harry and Meghan are believed to have selected the African nation for a romantic once-in-a-lifetime trip, where they can enjoy their first few days as newlyweds away from the public eye.

ALSO READ: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are spending millions more on their wedding

Could it be Botswana?

UK Independent reports that the royal couple might also be visiting Botswana owing to their earlier trip to the African country in 2017.

Prince Harry and Meghan had visited Botswana to celebrate the royal brides birthday while visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites during their trip.

Another report says aside from the celebration of Meghan's birthday in Botswana, the center stone of the royal brides engagement ring is also from Botswana.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in Seychelles for their honeymoon

UK Independent also reports that if Prince Harry and Meghan choose to enjoy their honeymoon in Africa, they wont be the first but rather will be taking inspiration from the honeymoons of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge before them.

In 2011 after their wedding in England, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge departed for Seychelles, one of the popular African country known for its coastal beauty and tourism.The Kumawood star actress in a conversation on Celebrity Ride show made it clear that she has had enough of it.

"One issue I want Ghanaians to stop talking about is why Nana Ama McBrown does not have a child," Nana Ama McBrown told Zionfelix.

According to her, it is not her desire not to give birth since she would be happy to have a child with her husband, Maxwell Mensah.

I dont think theres any woman who would not like to have a child when she gets married. So, I want to see a combination of me and my husband.

Sometimes people talk and you ask your self why the internet was even invented, she continued.

The 40-year-old actress revealed that she has made several efforts to solve the child birth issues and has left the rest to God to take control.

READ MORE: Gifty Anti says she never thought she would ever get pregnant

Nana Ama McBrown wants Ghanaians to stop talking about her not having a child

McBrown further aired that at times she wonders the kind of human beings God created since they comment on other peoples issues without thinking twice.

"Some people talk about certain issues as is they are not human beings," Nana Ama said.

The multi-talented entertainer further opined that God should have been selective with the kind of people he created but He is God and that is why you cannot understand him.She subsequently posted a photo of the said letter on Facebook with the caption: Umunnem just negodi what I saw on my table yesterday.. Umuazi kita dont have respect bikonu.. My teaching practice story.

READ MORE:

Below is the love letter the obsessed student wrote to his teacher:

Aunty Chioma,

These might sounds strange to you but I mean every word from the first time I saw you in school, it was if my brain cell stopped working.

Each time I see you it will be as if smoke is coming out of my eyes. Your beauty is killing me seriously, although am still in secondary school, I have plans on becoming a rich man.

I know you will say ama a small boy, but let me tell you when you are in love, age does not matter.

I am becoming very useless all because I keep thinking about you each time I close my eyes, I see your picture. Please consider my request and make me useful for once.

Yours in love

Pin code.

Well, this is not unprecedented. There have been stories of teachers and their students in sexual relationships and some have resulted in marriages eventually.

Probably, the only reason why this particular one has become an issue is the fact that it has been leaked.Reports say Chief Justice Maraga was scheduled to preside over two separate functions at the end of which the East African regional countries Chief Justices who were in Kenya for a consultative forum on enhancing regional collaboration in the administration of justice were expected to issue a joint communique.

According to Tuko.co.ke, the journalists first registered their displeasure when an official of the judiciary entered the venue, saying: You people kept us here all these hours without telling us whether the function is still on or not.

Though the official calmed the news men by apologising for the inconvenience meted out to them, they got more infuriated when they overhead Judiciary Registrar, Anne Amadi say: They are not alone waiting for the swearing in ceremony. I have also been around since morning.

As if it was predetermined, the journalists picked their tools and walked out of the venue to their various media houses.Four major airports in western China recently started large-scale expansion, with the aim of becoming the worlds top aviation hubs in regards to passenger traffic.

Changshui International Airport in Kunming

After two previous rounds of expansion, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport of Shaanxi province, is planning for a phase-3 project that will enhance its annual passenger capacity to 110 to 120 million.

The phase-3 project was officially approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China last November. According to the expansion plan, two runways and a 700,000 square meter terminal will be built.

Thanks to the phase-2 project of the airport which concluded in May 2015, the airport is now able to handle 50 million passengers every year. However, passenger traffic is expected to reach 55 million in 2020.

Kunming, Yunnan province is another city that plans to expand its airport. The passenger traffic of Kunming Changshui International Airport will see an estimated increase to 120 million by 2030, with a cargo capacity of 1.2 million tons and 820,000 aircraft movements.

In addition to the above two cities, Chengdu and Chongqing in southwest China are also preparing to build secondary airports. The aviation passenger traffics of the two cities are estimated to surpass 100 million respectively.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US was the worlds busiest airport in 2017. A total of 103.9 million domestic and international passengers passed through the airport in Georgia last year. These figures suggest that the airports in Xi'an, Kunming, Chengdu and Chongqing will all be ranked among the worlds largest in terms of passenger traffic after their expansion.

These four airports are among Chinas busiest. As a result of a topographic complex and the long distance from the eastern region, western China sees a high demand in air transportation.

With further economic development and population influx, the current conditions will not meet future demand.

Whats behind the need to meet the demand is also local governments ambition to improve their regional competitiveness. For instance, Xi'an, as an inland city, is hoping to enhance its airport-related economy and open more to the rest of the country as well as the world.

I believe that each provincial capital has the potential to build its own aviation hub, said professor He Yuanxiao with Xi'an Jiaotong University. With a huge population base and economic development, air transportation enjoys substantial space to develop, he added.One Ghanaian pastor who has gained a lot of fame from doing such bizarre things as asking his female congregants to bring their used panties to church for what he referred to as special prayers, and many other mind blowing stories is Angel Obinim.

The controversial man of God was recently seen in a viral video in which he claimed he was rebuking angel Gabriel and others.

While Pastor Obinim and others have been condemned by a section of the public for their weird so called miracles, a Zimbabwean pastor has joined the fray.

In what looked like a fetish ritual, Pastor Mboro is seen in a video that is making the rounds online apparently fondling his manhood, while his congregants enthusiastically waved their panties they had apparently removed in advance.

In the video, the man of God is also heard asking his members, do you like what I am doing? and they replied yes.

He then proceeded by further asking: Must we stop because somebody doesnt like it? and the congregants replied again no.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!Doctors diagnosed her with allergies, a winter cold, and head congestion, but nothing helped. "Everywhere I went I always had a box of Puffs, always stuffed in my pocket," she said.

Kendra said her runny nose was like a waterfall, continuously. And, even though doctors claimed it was allergies, she knew something else was going on. It wasnt until Kendra went to Nebraska Medicine that she learned it wasn't snot coming out of her nose-it was brain fluid.

Doctors diagnosed Kendra with a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, and told her that she was losing about half a pint of brain fluid a day-the equivalent of a cup of water.

Her doctor ended up using some of Kendra's own fatty tissue to plug the leak, which was caused by a small hole between her skull and nostrils.

Now, she says, she has her life back again. "I don't have to carry around the tissue anymore and I'm getting some sleep," she said.

What is a CSF leak?

Youre probably not familiar with the concept of fluid leaking out of your brain, which is totally fair.

A CSF leak is basically a loss of fluid that cushions and protects your brain, according to Cedars Sinai. One way it can happen is after a lumbar puncture, or spinal tap (often done to test for conditions like meningitis), if the doctor accidentally places a needle through the membrane that keeps your CSF in place in your lower back, says Amit Sachdev, M.D., an assistant professor and director of the Division of Neuromuscular Medicine at Michigan State University. This source of CSF leak is typically treatable but it can cause a headache, Sachdev says. (Ya think?)

You can also get a CSF leak when you have a surgery in the base of your skull. Then the CSF leaks through the nose, which is a fairly dirty place, Sachdev says. This can create a pathway for an infection to get into your brain, which can be serious, says Santosh Kesari, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist and chair of the Department of Translational Neurosciences and Neurotherapeutics at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif.

And, like Kendra, you can develop a CSF leak after a head trauma, Alexis Jackman, M.D., an otolaryngologist head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates, tells WomensHealthMag.com.

While this all sounds terrifying, know this: Overall, these things are pretty rare, Sachdev says. Still, they happen. Ive treated this situation before, Jackman says.

CSF leak symptoms

Obviously, youd want to know when you have a brain fluid leak because, OMG. A leaky, runny nose is the major symptom, Kesari says. A CSF-induced runny nose is often watery and usually comes out of just one nostril instead of both, Jackman says. Thats the big tip-off that youre dealing with a CSF leak and not allergies, although its possible for someone with allergies to have a deviated septum that causes a runny nose on one side, she says.

A lack of other typical allergy symptoms like watery, itchy eyes, having a runny nose that doesnt respond to allergy medication, and having allergies that last beyond allergy season or happen even when youre not exposed to things like dust and pet dander should be big clues that something else is going on, Kesari says.

CSF leak treatment

If your doctor suspects that you have a CSF leak, theyll order testing of the fluid thats coming out of your nose, Jackman says. The test specifically looks for beta-2 transferrin, which is something thats almost exclusively found in CSF fluid, she explains. If you test positive for this, its pretty likely you have a CSF leak. However, your doctor will usually order an MRI to try to figure out whats going on in there, Sachdev says.

Once you have a diagnosis, there are a few options doctors will take. If your leak is minor, your doctor may recommend conservative therapy like bedrest to decrease the pressure in your head, Jackman says. However, surgery to repair the hole is usually mandatory, Sachdev says.PoliceProsecutorChudu Gbesi told the court that the accused committed the offences with others still at large on April 24 at Nigerian Post Office, Ota.

Gbesi alleged that the accused impersonated and forged identity cards of staff members of Chubyzion Nigeria Ltd and attempted to collect a parcel containing six iPhones worth N400, 000 belonging to the company.

The accused attempted to steal the parcel that was sent from Atlanta, U.S. before they were apprehended.

The offences contravened Sections 467, 484 and 516 of Criminal Law of Ogun, 2006.

The duo, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

In his ruling, the Senior Magistrate, Mr G. E. Akan, granted them bail in the sum of N100, 000 each with two sureties each in like sum.

He said the sureties should reside within the courts jurisdiction and should be gainfully employed.

In addition, the sureties should show evidence of tax payment to Ogun Government.We count on you to help us at the lower level, the grassroots level to make sure that things go very well, Mr Mahama charged the ex-MMDCes, adding: We have the ability to capture more than 50 seats back from the NPP in the next elections if we handle ourselves well", he said.

The ex-President is yet to declare his intention to lead the NDC again in 2020 however reports suggest he is likely to contest.

"If were to handle ourselves well and make this reorganisation effective, then you cannot exclude the role of DCEs at the grassroots level and Im sure that with the zeal and the passion that Ive seen in you today, nothing makes me doubt that by the grace of God, Insha Allah, well win 2020 and come back into government, he added.He said he was relegated and sidelined in the government by Mahama.

Amissah-Arthur stated that he was replaced by someone to perform the duties of the vice president, though he did not mention name.

READ MORE: Kwabena Adjei reveals why NDC lost election 2016

He said "Need I say more? We all know who was used to relegate me to the background. I dont need to mention a name for you to decipher who it was, but you are quite aware whom I am referring to. As a matter of fact, I was made redundant."

Speaking on the chances of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 elections, he was, however, optimistic they will return to power if it is well organised.

Describing the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as deceptive, he admonished party faithful to unite and attach a lot of importance to the grassroots and branches.

According to him, the branches are the bedrock of the party hence a lot of seriousness must be given to that sector.

Although the NDC has not opened nominations yet, some bigwigs and other members have shown their interest to lead the party in 2020.According to him, party members contesting top leadership positions may go to the Akan sub-group in the party.

He said the rank and file of the party had the most credible record of embracing every ethnic group in the country.

Nana Akomea who is the Managing Director of the State Transport Company, (STC) said "When nominations opened last week, l declined to pick forms. What is emerging is that this particular election may present the NPP with the most undiversified national leadership, as almost all the elected positions may be filled from the Akan subgroup. Every effort must be made to ensure that some of these positions have elected members from outside the Akan subgroup."

The party opened nominations last week ahead of its National Delegates Conference scheduled for July 7, 2018.

Several party stalwarts have already picked up their nomination forms.

The acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay and acting General Secretary, John Boadu are among those seeking election as substantive leaders of the party.

But the former communications Director speaking on the delegates conference fears that the party could end up padding only Akan subgroups as national executives.

In a Facebook post, he said every effort must be made to ensure that some of the positions have elected members from outside the Akan subgroup.

Below is his full statement:

In the last couple of months leading up to the NPP national executive elections, l have been accosted by various groups in the NPP to urge me and pledge support for me to contest for one or the other national executive positions. Delegations have come from Ashanti, Eastern and Western regions had come to my office to urge me on. Several WhatsApp groups have been formed by like-minded individuals to promote my contest.

Several individuals and critical party leaders have also spoken to me about offering myself for a national position.

Research conducted by the Danquah Institute found l was the clear, overwhelming favourite for one of the key executive positions.

When nominations opened last week, l declined to pick forms. What is emerging is that this particular election may present the NPP with the most undiversified national leadership, as almost all the elected positions may be filled from the Akan subgroup.

Every effort must be made to ensure that some of these positions have elected members from outside the Akan subgroup.

It is to be part of this effort that l have declined to contest for the Vice Chairmanship position. It is my great hope that the three Vice Chairmanship positions will afford the election of other members from outside the Akan subgroup.

I remain thankful to all the groups and individuals who have looked forward to my contest and who will be disappointed now. I assure them it is for the greater good of the party.

The NPP remains the best political party to take this country to the "promised land".

God bless us allIt was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.

The dead included eight children under the age of 16, according to the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations. The Gazan health ministry provided the overall death and injury toll.

Tens of thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

The embassy inauguration nonetheless went on as planned, attended by a Washington delegation that included US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides.

Ivanka Trump helped declare the new embassy open and a plaque and seal were unveiled before the 800 guests at the ceremony.

Trump addressed the ceremony by video.

"Our greatest hope is for peace," he said despite the Palestinian anger the move has provoked.

"The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump in his address that "by recognising history you have made history."

Protests and clashes

Along the Gaza border, crowds built throughout the day in the Palestinian enclave less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) away from Jerusalem and sealed off from Israel by a blockade.

Israel's military said 40,000 Palestinians had taken part in the protests and clashes.

"The rioters are hurling firebombs and explosive devices at the security fence and at (Israeli) troops and are burning tyres, throwing rocks and launching flaming objects with the intention of igniting fires in Israeli territory and harming (Israeli) troops."

The military also said one of its fighter jets had struck five targets at a Hamas training facility in Gaza.

Earlier, a military plane and tank targeted two other Hamas posts in response to what it said was fire toward its forces by Hamas.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused Israel of "massacres," while Amnesty International called the violence an "abhorrent violation" of human rights. Human Rights Watch denounced a "bloodbath."

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "we expect all to act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life," while British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman urged "calm and restraint".

Netanyahu defended the use of force, saying "every country has the obligation to defend its borders."

Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus alleged "we have seen three different squads, fully equipped terrorist squads with weapons, trying to plant IEDs at the technical fence in three different locations."

The inauguration followed Trump's December 6 recognition of the disputed city as Israel's capital.

The ceremony took place at what until now had been a US consulate building in Jerusalem.

Abbas said the new embassy was tantamount to "a new American settler outpost" in Jerusalem and that the United States "is no longer a mediator in the Middle East."

Police and the Israeli military deployed massively.

Around 1,000 police officers were positioned around the embassy, while Israel's army said it almost doubled the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a message to Gazans "we will protect our civilians with all our means and not enable the fence to be crossed."

'Off the table'

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Beyond the disputed nature of Jerusalem, the date of the embassy move was also key.

May 14 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

On Tuesday, Palestinians mark the "Nakba", or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are also planned for Tuesday.

There had already been weeks of protests and clashes along the Gaza border, with 106 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire there since March 30.

No Israelis have been killed and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.According to Reuters, the procedure was carried out on Monday, May 14, 2018, by doctors to treat a benign kidney condition.

According to a stamen from the First Ladys office, Melania will still be at Walter Reed medical center for the rest of the week.

A spokesperson from her office, Stephanie Grisham said Mrs. Trump, 48, underwent an embolization procedure to treat the kidney condition.

The procedure was successful and there were no complications.

The first lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere.

According to a White House official, President Donald Trump is expected to pay his wife a visit.

Another source said that The president spoke with the first lady before the procedure, and the president has spoken with the doctor after the procedure.

Brief Profile

Melania Trump was born in Novo Mesto, a city in South-Eastern Slovenia on April 26, 1970.

She is a fashion model who has worked for agencies in Milan and Paris.

Mrs. Trump moved to New York City in 1996, became a permanent resident of the United States in 2001, got married Donald Trump in 2005.Speaking during the Youth Connekt Africa Summit in Rwanda last week, Mr Ma said he aims to support young entrepreneurs across the continent and added that the programme will be operational later this year.

I want that fund supporting African online businesses, said Mr. Ma, who is a Special Adviser to UNCTAD for Youth Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

The money is set. This is my money, so I dont have to get anybodys approval, he added.

The Chinese tycoon said that he would also work with UNCTAD help bring 200 budding African business people to his homeland China to learn from Alibaba.

I want them to go to China, meeting our people, seeing all the things we have been doing, all the great ideas China has.

They know what they want. And when they know what they want, we can support it, he said.

ALSO READ: Jack Ma says Africa does not need to copy Europe and China to succeed

Mr Ma flew to Rwanda after completing his two-day Nairobi visit last week. The Youth Connekt Africa Summit in Kigali brought together over 1,500 participants from government, entrepreneurial and investor communities, multinationals, and startups shaping the African technological ecosystem.

In addition, Mr Ma seeks to roll out a partnership with African universities to teach internet technology, artificial intelligence and e-commerce.China's first domestically designed aircraft carrier left a Dalian Shipbuilding Industry's shipyard to begin its maiden trial at sea last Sunday.

Chinas first domestically designed aircraft carrier, which displaces 50,000 metric tons, leaves the Dalian Shipbuilding Industrys shipyard in Liaoning province on Sunday.LI GANG / FOR CHINA DAILY

The new aircraft carrier ranks among the worlds most advanced warships, said Hu Wenming, chief of the new carrier program, during an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).

Hu, also the chairman of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, parent of the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, told CCTV that the construction of the vessel will further improve the countrys research and development regarding aircraft carriers.

According to Hu, most of the worlds medium-sized aircraft carriers, which have a displacement of 40,000 to 60,000 tons, are conventionally powered vessels, except for Frances nuclear-powered surface vessel Charles de Gaulle. Chinas new carrier is in a leading position in regards to technology, he added.

Hu stated that a total of 532 suppliers were involved in the research and development of the new aircraft carrier, 412 of them without any military background, including SOEs, private enterprises, scientific institutions and universities.

Such integration of the military and non-defense enterprises not only facilitates the application of the countrys manufacturing and research abilities, but also in turn enhances the development of suppliers. The new technologies achieved will also be used in civil sectors, the chairman noted.

We can say it proudly that we have acquired the most advanced technologies regarding ship-building, Hu said.Just 24 days after opening, Accra Marriott hotel is already receiving huge patronage.

Strategically located in the heart of Airport City, a burgeoning urban development, the hotel occupies an enviable location with major city landmarks and experiences within easy reach.

As such it is a great choice for both business as well as leisure travellers.

READ ALSO: Seychellois are living the best life in Africa but Ghanaians are not so far behind

Speaking to Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa (BISSA) at the companys property in Accra, general manager at Accra Marriott Hotel, Kenneth Shore said with an increasingly growing middle class, Ghana is one of Africa's greatest success stories.

According to him, the West African country offers investors an attractive and stable business climate which makes the country a great option for business travellers.

"Ghana is also a beautiful and exciting country, a melting pot of many cultures. It is home to a mix of animals species, beaches, mountains, landscapes, and an incredible coastline. Ghana is attractive to travellers from around the world," Mr Shore said.

The Ghanaian capital has seen a rapid influx of new inventory in the last few years with international brands making an entry and redefining the hospitality space.

But how different will Accra Marriott add up?

Kenneth Shore tells BISSA that his outfit will add to the city's maturing hospitality scene, providing facilities and experience that inspires brilliance for all, infused with the renowned hallmark Marriott service.

"Modern designs, new food and beverage concepts and the next level of services have placed Ghana at par with other developing and emerging countries around the world. With today's well-heeled traveller, customer expectations have also undergone a radical change. It is our mission to provide more forward-thinking experiences and aesthetically inspiring spaces that speak to the incentive nature," the general manager of Accra Marriott Hotel said.

Marriott International has been expanding its footprints, particularly in Africa, and Ghana is the latest region to have one of the largest hotel brands in the world.

Although the luxury hospitality brand is strengthening its presence in existing countries, it is still gearing up to foray into new countries like Benin, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Senegal.

The general manager of the Accra Marriott hotel Kenneth Shore says "with a legacy that dates back to over 4 decades of operating hotels in Africa, today we are present in 20 countries on the continent."

READ ALSO: Inside the Ghanaian washing bay where all staff are deaf and customers are taught to sign

Ghana's cultures are quite different from where Marriott International has already operated. How easy will the new luxury brand adjust?

Kenneth explains that while the company may hire a few expats to help open the hotel, the majority of its associates are local hires.

Through our daily interactions with these local hires, we learn and educate ourselves on the local nuances; he added.

The hotel sector in Ghana has remained resilient despite recent global economic challenges. Following the fall in oil prices as well as other commodities on the global market, President Nana Akufo Addos government had taken steps to diversify the economy, including promoting the hospitality and tourism sector.Recently, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) faced a major backlash for saying that tithing is the key to heaven.

He finally addressed the critics while speaking on Saturday, May 12, 2018, at the church's Northern Regional Camp in Jos, Plateau State, Daily Post reports.

According to the popular cleric, anyone that attacks is indirectly attacking members of RCCG worldwide and Christians, by extension.

Pastor Adeboye talks about his critics

In his words, "You are aware that some people spend their time attacking me, particularly on the internet. Those attacking me are actually attacking you, but be rest assured, they would soon be sent out of this country.

"The Bible said, when you strike a Shepherd, the sheep shall scatter."

Pastor Adeboye, who is fondly known as Daddy G.O also referred to Matthew 23:23, which says, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."

Then he said, "They say Pastor Adeboye only talks about tithes, is it only what I preach? Don't I talk about holiness, healing, prosperity, salvation? Don't let anybody deceive you because if you meet Jesus on the Last Day, you don't say I stopped paying tithes because somebody said it is wrong."

Daddy Freeze reacts

The controversial OAP and leader of the free the sheeple movement has reacted to Pastor Adeboye's response to critics.

On Twitter, he shared a post of the RRCG G.O's reaction writing:

Between Pastor Adeboye and Daddy Freeze

The popular cleric got into a lot of trouble when he implied that that non-tithers will not make heaven.The President represented by a Director with National Universities Commission, Dr Gidado Kuma, said there will soon be stability and balance in the system.

Buhari made this known on Saturday at the 23rd, 24th and 25th combined Convocation Ceremonies of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.

I have noted with great concern the incessant strikes by teachers and other university workers, even though, most of the demands are germane but the repercussions have negative consequences.

Let me assure you that this administration will very soon come up with modalities of addressing your grievances without face-offs so that we attain stability and balance in the system.

The university is unable to conduct convocations as at when due for sets of students, this is not peculiar to your university but rather an underlying difficulty the system has found itself over the years, the president said.The boards Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the payment was in line with the agreement reached with the CBT centres.

Besides, he said it would promote and sustain a cordial working relationship with stakeholders that participate in the conduct of its annual examinations.

We have just paid over N1 billion to all owners of CBT centres used in the conduct of our 2018 UTME.

Centre owners that gave us quality service during our examination have all been commended for a job well done and we have reciprocated by effecting payments.

However, we however discovered that some centres could not live up to their responsibilities as a result of some technical issues, he told NAN.

According to him, candidates that are scheduled for the examination in such centres are relocated to new centres which will now be paid for their services.

Benjamin said it was only proper to promptly keep to agreements as and when due to ensure better collaborative efforts in quality service delivery.

He explained that any centre that was originally scheduled for the exam that eventually had technical issues would not be paid because the board could not afford to pay twice for the same purpose.

In some others on watching the footage of the CCTV cameras at the centres after the examination, we discovered operators or owners of such centres colluded with some candidates to cheat.

These categories of centre owners cannot be paid. Currently too, the board has embarked on a mop-up exercise for candidates with biometric issues and other related issues that was no fault of theirs during the conduct of the examination.

Apart from the biometric issues, some candidates innocently found themselves in some centres that colluded with candidates to cheat in the examination.

In such cases, it will be wrong to cancel the entire results of the candidates. All such innocent candidates will be singled out and be given the opportunity of re-taking the exam.

As a responsive organisation, we will continue to ensure that every candidate is given a right to access higher education, Benjamin said.According to the beautiful actress, who couldn't hide her joy, she was excited about meeting the newly elected leader of the country and to be accompanied by her husband. She took to her Instagram page where she posted a number of photos from the event.

"Meeting with the President Federal Republic of Sierra Leone Rtd Brig Gen Julius Maada-Bio, First Lady of Gambia Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow, First Lady Sierra Leone, Fatima Maada-Bio, Prince Odianosen Okojie (AKA Hubby) and myself,'' she captioned one of the photos.

Mercy Johnson celebrates Easter with family

The Easter celebration might be over but we can't get enough of the Okojies as Mercy Johnson and her family celebrated the holiday at the beach. The beautiful actress took to her Instagram page on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, where she posted a video of herself with her husband who couldn't stay away from her and their friends.

In the video, you can also see Mercy's kids playing in the background especially her first daughter who was riding a horse. Mercy Johnson captioned the video with a quote where she got to thank those who came out to celebrate with them.

Mercy Johnson shuts down marriage crisis

Mercy Johnson has shut down the speculation going around that there is a crisis in her marriage. The voluptuous actress took to her Instagram page on Monday, January 8, 2017, where she posted a photo of herself and her husband, Prince Odi in their bedroom reading a bible together.The pretty proud mum took to her Instagram page on Sunday, May 13, 2018, where she posted a number of photos of the latest graduate flanked by his sister, Ted, their father and herself. In one of the photos, she captioned with a quote obviously written by a proud mother.

"Hello beautiful people, today my darling son , Adekoyejo Abudu graduated from Duke University in the class of 2018, with a BA in Political Science with special honours - The Cum laude. Today was a truly glorious day. Lord I give you praise #proudmum #cumlaude," she wrote.

Congratulations to Adekoyejo Abudu on his latest achievement and to a proud mother, Mo Abudu.

Federal government hails Mo Abudu, others over awards

Back in March 2018, the Federal government congratulated Mo Abudu, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, for winning the Variety Magazine awards. According to the magazine, these women are among the top 50 women doing extraordinary things on the worldwide stage.

In a statement released on Sunday, March 11, 2018, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed described the women as iconic women in the creative industry.A very excited Taraji took to her Instagram page on Monday, May 14, 2018, where she posted a photo of herself wearing what looks like a very expensive ring.

"I said yes Y'all!!! He started with the Cartier love bracelet BUT that was my #Mothersday gift and then he dropped to his knee and I almost passed out!!! #sheisofficiallyoffthemarket and she is sooooooooooooo HAPPY!!!!!! #GODIS," she captioned the photo.

Congratulations to one of America's greatest actors who have been on a steady rise over the years. Taraji Henson became a household name when she starred in the acclaimed T.V. series, "Empire," which has bagged her a number of awards. The number of celebrities has gotten hitched since 2018 and we are excited about it.

Among the female celebrities who have gotten engaged so far this year is the media mogul, Linda Ikeji.

ALSO READ:Taraji Henson poisoned

Linda Ikeji is engaged

This is one good news that came as a surprise to many and drove her fans wild with happiness as no one saw it coming. A number of celebrities, by the time the news broke sent Linda Ikeji congratulatory messages, among those who have congratulated the media guru is the actress, Toyin Ainmakhu. Toyin posted a photo of Linda on her Instagram page with a caption.

"Congratulations to our very own Linda Ikeji for ticking one of the important boxes every woman has piled up on her list; as she got engaged to her heartthrob! Guys you can get the full gist on @broadwaytv @officiallindaikeji, I can't wait to fill my tummy up with the rice o, so don't keep us waiting too long... We just can't wait!!! NB: FAM I'm next," she wrote.Pulse Movies has put together five must-see films of Balogun, a bundle of talent who deserves opportunities to cement her status as a household name.

1. "The Royal Hibiscus Hotel"

Starring alongside Kenneth Okolie in the EbonyLife Film, Balogun plays Ope,a chef who falls in love with the business man in talks to buy her inheritance.

The movie is about a Nigerian couple who run a hotel in Nigeria. In desperation, the husband, Segun decides to sell the hotel without his wifes knowledge, as a way of settling all their debts.

When their daughter (Ope) decides to return to Nigeria for a vacation, her Dad wants her to sign the papers to sell the hotel she is destined to inherit, while her mom cant wait to marry her off to a charming property developer, Deji.

When her daughter meets Deji by accident, she has no idea that he has made the deal to buy the hotel. Just as she is finally falling for Deji, despite much resistance, she learns the truth and is devastated.

2. "The Wedding Party"

"The Wedding party" follows the shenanigans that go on during the planning of a wedding in Nigeria, focusing on the relationship between Dunni and Dozie.

In its sequel, The Wedding Party: Destination Dubai, Nonso continues his romance with Deirdre, the bridesmaid from London.

In these commercially successful Nollywood films, Balogun plays Wonu, the dramatic wedding planner.

The movie stars her alongside Adesua Etomi, Banky W, Enyinna Nwigwe, Sola Sobowale, Ireti Doyle among others.

3. "Soldier's Story"

In the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award winning film, Regina and Angela, two young female scavengers rescue a soldier who had been left for dead.

Regina decides to take him to her house for further examination to the disdain of Angela (Zainab Balogun). After protecting and nursing him back to health for months, the fighter finally awakens but has no recollection of who he is and his past.

As time goes on, the soldier begins to develop feelings for Regina but as he begins to regain his memory, he starts to realize he might actually have a life in Nigeria.

4. "Ojukokoro"

Capturing the brutality that comes with violence, "Ojukokoro" features an ensemble cast that includes Zainab Balogun.

Mixed with violence and humour, the comedy/crime-heist about a money-strapped manager of a shady Petrol Station, who decides to rob his employers, but along the line finds out in a sudden twist that he is not alone in his ambition, is an entertaining watch.

5. "Sylvia"

One of the most anticipated movies of the year, "Sylvia," which already premiered on Nollywood Week Paris, tells the story of Richard, a young man who has always existed between the real world and a fantasy world which is home to his friend and lover Sylvia, played by Zainab Balogun.

The movie stars Balogun alongside Ini Dima-Okojie, Udoka Oyeka and Chris Attoh.The term elderly drifters, or laopiao in Chinese, is used to refer to a large group of the aging population who migrate to cities where their children live and work.

This kind of migration has amounted to nearly 18 million people in China, according to the National Health Commission statistics, accounting for 7.2 percent of the 247-million strong migrating population. Almost half of them migrate to take care of their children and the younger generation, Peoples Daily reported.

Generally, they wake up early, prepare breakfast for their working children and grandchildren, and then their daily schedule centers around preparing meals for the whole family and taking their grandchildren to school.

Although most are tired but happy, some feel they are part of an invisible population due to different dialects or living habits in their new city, a 2016-2017 report on Beijing social governance development disclosed.

The laopiaos or elderly drifters appear in the process of peri-urbanization, said Professor Mu Guangzong at Peking University. Its a sign of improved urbanization in China.

The associated risks of an elderly population leaving their hometowns are mainly old-age security, health care and social communication, said Professor Mu. With a fixed mindset, lifestyle and reliance on acquaintance, they may feel isolated and misunderstood, thus affecting personal evaluation of their old-age life.

Miao Yanmei, a junior social worker and associate professor at Beijing City University, is dedicated to finding out how to make these migrating old people happy.

Miaos surveys indicate that a half of these aged migrants come from other provinces and cities, mainly rural towns and villages. Some regarded their stay with the younger generation in a strange city as a fixed-term imprisonment. Whats worrying is the fact that a large number of Laopiaos may suffer from mental illness such as depression.

The Professors social work group in Beijing initiated a series of activities to get the aged migrants into communities, such as lectures on life and health and even singing competitions. With a strengthened sense of belonging, they will feel more secure and happy. With an added sense of happiness, they'll find a long-term stay more enjoyable.

Making elderly migrants happy requires the coordinated efforts of their children, governments and the whole society, according to Yuan Zhifa, the author of Happy Old Age. He calls for adults to treat their aging parents as they do their children, giving more time, tolerance, company and understanding.

In addition, governments should provide better social service, but also build up an old age care system for this special group.If Nollywood decides to make films about Nigerians in positions of public trust and how they have utilized or abused their power, there would be enough movies to go round for years.

Pulse Movies has put together five news stories about politics and politicians in Nigeria, which deserve to become Nollywood movies.

1. The Maina Gate saga

The reinstatement of a dismissed government official wanted by the EFCC is juicy enough for the big screen.

In 2013, Abdulrasheed Maina, the former head of the Presidential Task Team on Pensions Reforms, was accused of diverting N100b during his tenure. He was subsequently sacked by the Federal Civil Service Commission on the orders of the Head of Service.

However, Maina, who was already wanted by the EFCC, was promoted to become the director of the Ministry of Interior's human resource department in 2017. It was revealed that his posting was approved by the same office of the Head of Service, which had initially fired him.

This film will reinforce conversations on the existing loopholes in several government parastatals.

2. Dino Melaye

To some Nigerians, Dino Melaye, the senator who represents Kogi West in the upper legislative chamber, is a politician who shouldn't be taken seriously. To others, he is a vocal opposition that must be protected.

Nevertheless, he has had an interesting and often hilarious run as a Nigerian in position of public trust.

From openly opposing the president to threatening to beat a fellow senator, from his dramatic fights with friend- turned-enemy, the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, to allegedly providing false information to the police about an assassination attempt on his life, Melaye is arguably the most controversial Nigerian senator.

The senator is currently in police custody after ignoring their invitations for months and then staging a dramatic escape before he was finally arraigned in court for criminal conspiracy and illegal arms possession. He's currently standing trial in three criminal cases in three different courts in two different states.

With Odunlade Adekola as the lead character, a film about Melaye will probably become the highest grossing Nollywood comedy film.

3. Nnamdi Kanu

This film will chronicle the political activist's fight for a sovereign state for the Igbo speaking people of Nigeria.

As the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) - now labeled by the Federal Government as a terrorist group - Kanu was arrested for treasonous offences in Lagos in October 2015, and was detained without trial for over a year before he was released on bail in April 2017. Weeks after his release, he started violating his bail conditions.

Following the Operation Python Dance II by the Nigerian Army in the South Eastern part of Nigeria, there were reports that soldiers tried to gain access into Kanu's father's compound in Afaraukwu, Umuahia and shot at IPOB members who formed a human shield to keep them out. On September 14, 2017, Nnamdi Kanu disappeared and has not been seen since then.

A film about Nnamdi Kanu will not only explore how outliers are treated by the government, but also start further conversations on the gravity of a united or divided Nigeria.

4. EFCC and Police vs DSS and NIA officers

In November 2017, the EFCC stormed apartments of immediate past Director of the DSS, Ita Ekpeyong and sacked DG of the NIA, Ayodele Oke, to arrest them for questioning.

However, they were unsuccessful as they were stopped from gaining access to the properties of both men by gun wielding DSS and NIA agents.

The conflict caused a standoff between the four agencies and resulted into a traffic pileup in the area.

The film will explore the sacking of Oke a month before the intended arrest. He was sacked after his public involvement in the controversial N13 billion loot recovered by the EFCC from an Ikoyi apartment months earlier. He had laid claim to the funds, saying it was earmarked by the agency for covert operations.

Ekpeyong, on the other hand, was allegedly wanted in connection with the probe of a $2.1billion arms procurement during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

5. The Mace Theft

On Wednesday, April 18, 2018, hoodlums invaded the upper legislative chamber in the National Assembly complex,seized the mace of the chamber and fled in a black SUV.

This theft was blamed on the lawmaker representing Delta Central senatorial district, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who had allegedly led the hoodlums into the chamber before they seized the mace.

Prior to the incident, the lawmaker had been suspended for 90 legislative days for his conduct in objecting to the electoral amendment bill which is seeking to reorganise the order of elections in the country.

The mace was found the next day where it was abandoned by the side of the road and its theft has been described as an attack on democracy.This is coming barely 24 hours after the topic of fraud dominated the Nigerian social media, pointing out that there are others who have successfully defrauded others without the need for a laptop.

ALSO READ: Yahoo boys in Delta arrested on their way from rituals

According to the Snapchat user, Tolulope, she had been waiting for a bus when a man who claimed to be a pastor approached her.

In her defence, Tolulope noted that she only gave him audience because he had been spot on about the issues her raised concerning herself and her family.

Tolulope waited to receive prayer points on the discussed issues from the pastor and the next thing she remembers is waking up almost three hours later, with her account cleared and the cash with her, gone.

Read her post below:

After drawing the attention of passersby, and recounting her experience, Tolulope received the same reply many other people who have fallen victim to similar fraud schemes, received.

"Eko la wa." (This is Lagos).

Yahoo boys claim to use charm in defrauding victims

Three suspected Internet fraudsters arrested at their hideout in Soka area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, have claimed to use charms in their online business.

The suspects were apprehended at about 6:30am on Wednesday, November 16, by the police commands Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Daily Post reports.

The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Adekunle Ajisebutu, while confirming the arrest in a statement, said, The arrest of the suspects (names withheld) was made possible following a tip off by members of the public.

The suspects, who had been elusive for some time now, were eventually arrested after several days of intelligence gathering and painstaking investigation carried out by the police.

During interrogation, the suspects confessed to being internet fraudsters and that they had defrauded many innocent victims they referred to as clients of their hard earned money in naira and foreign currencies.

ALSO READ: Yahoo Boy' who was about to escape to Malaysia jailed 24 years

They also disclosed that they often used charms to facilitate their illicit business.

This they did by hypnotising victims and commanding them to part with their dollars and valuable properties.

The suspects further disclosed that those who had fallen victims included foreign nationals and Nigerians alike.

Exhibits recovered from them included four assorted laptops and assorted criminal charms.

The PPRO also said, The Commissioner of Police, , has directed that discreet investigation be carried out about their other nefarious activities at the end of which they would be arraigned in court.The clip, shared via Instablog9ja's IG, showed the duo exchange smoke during a session accompanied with light music.

A caption which reads,"Viral video of Ogun State University students transferring smoke to each other," explained the action which has received mixed reaction in the comment section of the post.

Bright CU dropout laments miserable life after smoking marijuana

A first experience with Marijuana proved to be a disastrous meeting for a Covenant University male dropout whose life took a downward turn after he had a puff of the drug substance.

It all started for the one-time bright kid, now 28 years old, during a visit to his friend's residence at the age of 12.

ALSO READ: Abuja is becoming a busy territory for codeine users

As a youngster who grew up in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the road looked so smooth for him.The Nigerian Foreign Ministry made the disclosure on Monday, May 14, 2018.

The suspect who has been identified as Miss Inas Khalid Maikano, reportedly attended Prime College in Kano and now lives in Khartoum, Sudan.

In a statement issued in Abuja by the Ministrys Spokesperson, Dr Tope Elia-Fatile, it was alleged that the suspect, a student at the Sudanese-Canadian College in Khartoum, murdered Almu in his official quarters on Thursday, May 11, 2018.

Elia-Fatile stated that the suspect has been arrested and detained by the security agency in Sudan.

Consequently, after several arrests and investigations by the host authorities, it was established that the deceased was stabbed to death.

The suspect who is a student of Sudanese-Canadian College in Khartoum is a Sudanese of Nigerian origin. It was discovered during investigations, authorities discovered that the suspect had stolen some of the deceased personal belongings including cash, he said.

Woman beheads husband, dumps body parts in different places

A 32-year-old Vietnamese woman, Hoang Thi Hong Diem, has been arrested by the police after she allegedly beheaded her 37-year-old husband, Tran Thanh Tu, chopped off his body parts and dumped them in different places.

Vietnam Times reports that Diem who admitted to the crime after her arrest said she snatched the knife from her husband during a quarrel and chopped off his head after he threatened to kill her in the heat of the argument.

The incident happened in a southern town of the country on Saturday, December 16, 2017, where it was reported that Diem and Tu had been constantly fighting.

The police said Tu's head was wrapped in a black plastic bag inside a backpack and was recovered by a garbage collector in Binh Duong with several deep lacerations all over the severed head.

After being notified of the horrific find, policemen were invited to the scene to begin investigating a murder.

By Sunday evening, officers had discovered a number of plastic bags containing human body parts within a one-kilometre radius from where the head was first discovered.

Confirming the incident, Colonel Tran Van Chinh, the Deputy Director of the Department of Police in Binh Duong Province, said that Diem was on Sunday morning and that she is assisting the investigation into her husbands death.

Initial information reveals that the incident may have arisen from a conflict between a married couple. We are continuing the investigation to confirm if there were other accomplices involved, Col. Chinh said.

According to Diems statement, Tu returned to their rented apartment in Thuan An Commune, Binh Duong, on Friday night after drinking with friends.

An argument reportedly broke out between the couple during which Tu threatened to stab his wife with a knife, the suspect said.

She narrated that she snatched the weapon from Tu before chopping his head off with it and fearing that she would get caught, she said she used the same knife to cut her husbands body into pieces, wrapped each part in black plastic bags and then dropped them off at multiple locations, before returning home to her normal schedules.

Though she admitted to the crime, she said she was unable to remember the exact locations she had dumped the body parts.The professional confirmed the sad incidents, which occurred in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in a report published by Punch News on Monday, May 14, 2018.

Itemuagbor had various body injuries on his elbow and arm as proof of maltreatment in the hand of SARS operatives. He expressed that the officers beat him up on a visit to a police station.

Punch News gathered in a chat with the I.T Consultant the action of the security men who forced him to writing two statements that saw him admit guilt as a Yahoo Boy and one who attempted to bribe the police.

The efforts of the SARS official yielded in a payment of N150,000, according to a Punch News report.

That Sunday experience was the second this year.

"I was first arrested in March when I was driving to the office. I was flagged down by policemen and asked what I do for a living and I told them that I am an IT consultant. They said I was an internet fraudster and they took me to their office.

I was with my girlfriend that day; and we were in their office from 11am to 4pm. After lots of pleading, they asked me to give them money, I did and they set us free.

Last Sunday, which was my second experience, I went to get food in an eatery when I saw some guys behind me in a Toyota corolla waving me to stop; initially I thought they were kidnappers because they all wore black clothes.

I wanted to speed off but I later realised that they were SARS officials, I stopped the car and wind down the vehicles glass. One of them came to meet me and said I wanted to run away and I said no.

I greeted them and they asked who I was and I told them my name and my occupation; they asked for my ID card and I showed them.

After showing them my ID card, they said they know who I was.

I was asked to open my Facebook account While one checked through my phone, the other official said we should go to their office.

While we were on the way to their office, I asked him what my offence was but he said, if you dont shut up, something else is going to happen to you, Im asking you questions, youre showing me ID card, you think youre smart? We know all you peoples antics.

I asked him who are the you people, but he didnt answer me and said that if I got to their office; I would answer any question they asked me.

When we got to their station, I was asked to take off my shirt and trouser and sit on the floor.

I was asked again what I do for a living and I told them that Im an IT consultant and they gave me a hot slap; one of them came with a big stick and started hitting me. At this point I was confused, I dont know what to do again.

They gave me a paper to write a statement, I was asked to confess to being a yahoo boy, a popular slang for an Internet Fraudster, but I protested that I was not and they slapped me.

One of them that didnt join them to torture me later came to meet me that I should just write whatever they want me to write and they would release me, I was forced to admit that I was a yahoo guy.

They came to ask me about what I could offer them and after much talk; they said I should give them N1m.

I told themthat they should just kill me there because I did not have that kind of money. They said I should raise N500,000, but I told them I dont have the money.

They told me to call my people, but I told them that I did not have anybody. Then, they asked me to write in my statement that I offered them a bribe to facilitate my release.

After that, I was taken to an ATM close to their office and I withdrew money in multiples of N10,000 and a total of N150,000 and gave it to them, after which they drove to one place and they gave me my car key and asked me to go," says Vaughn Itemuagbor in a chat with Punch News.

ALSO READ: Yahoo Boys abandon exotic cars at Club 57 to escape EFCC raid

Victim wants protection from harassment

Having had two painful experiences with SARS operatives, Vaughn Itemuagbor wants the administration of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), to save him from persistent harassment.

A reason why he reportedly reached out to the office of the Inspector General of Police of Nigeria.

He confirmed to Punch News that he has not received a response since reporting the incident to the police.

ALSO READ: Hypertensive mom slumps to death as FSARS operatives arrest son in illegal raidIn a video clip which was shared by Instablog9ja, the young man seemed unable to disclose how he had gotten into the canal or his own identity.

ALSO READ: Man who got drunk at the opening of funeral home dies swimming

According to the reports, the man was later handed over to the police in the area.

Anyone with information as to his identity or the incident surrounding his presence in the canal should kindly inform the police in the area.

Drunk police officer found sleeping in muddy gutter [Video]

A Nigerian Police officer has further brought shame and disdain to the force after he was found sleeping in muddy water after getting himself drunk to stupor.

The dead drunk officer, according to eyewitnesses, had left his duty post and went to a drinking joint where he got plastered beyond control and could no longer be in his senses.

While staggering home, the gallant officer decided to take a nap and found the muddy gutter the appropriate place to have a rest and sleep off his drunken state and trust Nigerians who found him in that state as they took photographs and made a video of the drunken master which was later posted on the social media.

ALSO READ: Drunk policeman causes nuisance in LagosThis week, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, a coalition of concerned Nigerians, founded by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, was collapsed into the African Democratic Party ahead of the 2019 elections.

The leadership of the movement, after detailed examination, wide consultation and bearing in mind the orientation, policies and direction of the movement, have agreed to adopt ADC as its platform to work with others for bringing about desirable change in the Nigeria polity and governance, Obasanjo said on Thursday, May 10, 2018.

Months ago, OBJ had said he would resign from the coalition if it became involved in partisan politics. That hasnt happened.

ALSO READ: 7 things Obasanjo said about APC and PDP

Anyone who has followed Nigerian politics will know that the events that led up to this merger and the apparent presentation of ADP as a third force in the coming elections is not new.

It was this same model, a seemingly well-meaning merger of interests that led to the creation of APC, the behemoth that now occupies Aso Rock.

This paints a very dire scenario: that while they hope to change the country's course in the coming elections, Nigerians may be left with more of the same, or a choice between the lesser of two, or three evils.Mercy Johnson Okojie is known for her knockout hourglass figure which was highlighted by the gorgeous dress which fit like a glove. The Nollywood beauty kept it simple and styled her midi dress with blush pumps.

Stylist cum designerJane Michael Ekanem is making waves in the industry with her high-quality, perfectly tailored clothing.

Jane uses her know-how as a stylist to influence her designs and ends up creating versatile, unique pieces of wearable art.

Credits

Stylist: Jane Michael Ekanem @janemichaelekanem

Outfit: Custom Jane Michael Collection @janemichaelekanem

Photography: Nelson Spyk @nelsonspyk for @Wildflowerpr

Womenswear brand, Jane Michael Collection puts out look book for debut collection tagged The Ladypreneur.

The new collection, brain child of stylist, Jane Michael Ekanem, aims to celebrate the working woman, the achieving woman.

A release by the brand tags the new collection as one that features dresses, two-piece clothing and complementing separates incorporating clean sleek lines with asymmetric and unparalled cuts enhanced by leather accents and aesthetic beading embellishments.

Jane Michael releases lookbook for debut collection. (Jane Michael)

The black and white theme of the collection redefines how work wear is perceived.

Jane Michael hopes to show that contrary to popular belief, the workwear fashion can be classy, graceful, elegant and still find a stylish transition from work to after-hours and suitable for any appearance; accentuating the sophistication of women with diverse preferences.

ALSO READ: Ufuoma McDermott oozes elegance in this movie premiere attire

The collection also features a collaboration with bespoke footwear brand QBCool and handmade bag brand Freshinn by Kemi Odunsi.

The Ladypreneur is a fearless achieving fashionista. She could be an entrepreneur or a value adder who knows all about lifes set rules but is comfortable enough to walk outside the defined lines.111 other girls and another schoolboy had also been kidnapped that same night and hauled away to an unknown location while the nation was struck with disbelief, again.

The events that have unfolded since that unfortunate abduction have not been particularly kind to Leah and her family.

The government had reached a decision immediately after the abduction to negotiate with Boko Haram for the return of the victims.

One month later, that decision yielded results as the terrorist group drove the abducted students back into the heart of Dapchi on March 21, 2018, as agreed with the federal government.

The sight was unbelievable as terrorists entered the town in triumph and had the temerity to threaten parents against sending their daughters to school.

Despite the jubilant mood in Dapchi when the girls returned, every parent wasn't jumping for joy as only 107 of the 113 kidnapped had been returned.

News soon filtered out that five of the girls that were taken had died of heart attack and stress as a result of the long trip, and buried in the bush.

While this put a dampener on things in Dapchi, the most striking development was that of Sharibu.

The first reliable account of Sharibu's fate was from her schoolmate, Khadija Grema, who reported that Boko Haram decided to continue to hold her because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.

"There's one of the girls that wasn't freed because she is a Christian, she was held back," she said.

Leah's father, Nathan Sharibu, a police officer, later confirmed this story, expressing his happiness that she did not do the bidding of the terrorists and renounce her faith.

The story of what had happened to Sharibu understandably threw her family into disarray.

Her mother, Rebecca, was inconsolable and in a deep state of mourning while other parents celebrated the return of their children in March.

Her sister was also reported to have fainted after hearing the news that her sister was not among those that were released.

Since news broke about why Leah was not released by Boko Haram, it has generated a lot of attention from Nigerians especially Christian institutions who consider it as an attack on the faith.

With relentless pressure from advocacy groups, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has been forced to make several promises about Leah's safe return, but this has not yielded any tangible results.

Leah is now 15 years old today, Monday, May 14, 2018, surrounded by strangers who are willing to cause her emotional and physical harm.

Her father lamented to Pulse Nigeria on Monday about how the family has been in a confused state since the abduction with no word from the government.

He said, "We are just sad. We are even confused in the family right now. I have not heard anything from the government concerning my daughter. I'm pleading with the government to do their duty."The Longines Master Collection: the Moon on her... The Longines Master...

Elegance, character and purity are the pillars of The Longines Master Collection, which is aimed at those who love the exceptional

Elegance, character and purity are the...He made the statement following the incessant killings in the state allegedly by Fulani herdsmen.

According to Daily Post, Ortom said that the security agencies should be allowed to do their jobs.

The Governor said this while installing 10 first class chiefs.

Expect more bloodshed

The National Vice President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association (MACBAN), Husaini Yusuf Bosso recently said that there will be more bloodshed in Benue state if the anti-grazing law is not scrapped.

The Benue state government enacted the law to curb the constant clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

Governor Ortom has however said that there is no going back on the anti-grazing law.

No more enemies

Ortom also called on the Benue people not to attack innocent people adding that Benue will not see these enemies again.

He said We are not fighting any tribe but fighting for justice and fairness. We should not take laws into our hands in the course of fighting for justice.

We have indigenes of Benue all over Nigeria. Dont make them become subjects of intimidation. Let us not do anything that will aggravate our problem.

We have done well and people are talking about our ranching law as the right way to go. Dont ever attempt taking any innocent lives anywhere. If you are caught, you will be punished.

You dont need to go after anyone. Allow the security men who are trained to do so do their job. Dont go after innocent lives who know nothing about what is going on in Benue. Its a matter of time, Benue will not see these enemies again, he added.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim reportedly said that the implementation of the anti-grazing law in Benue State is the cause of the recent massacre in the state by Fulani herdsmen.Obioma said she and her two kids were travelling from Lagos, Nigeria, to Ontario, Canada, on March 4, 2016, when an airline employee escorted her off the plane before take-off.

She shortly after found that a passenger complained that she smelled "pungent" (a strong smell).

In the civil right lawsuit, Obioma accused the airline of discriminating against her because she is black, Nigerian and African.

According to the suit, she said the drama started when she and her kids boarded the flight at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, United States, after completing the longest leg of their trip from Lagos.

Obioma said a white man was already sitting in her assigned seat in business class when she got there.

She said the man refused to get up despite the intervention of the flight staff. So she agreed to sit in the nearby seat assigned to the man.

Before takeoff, Obioma said she went to the bathroom and when she tried to return to her seat, the same white man blocked her path.

She said one of the Airlines staff then ordered her to get off the plane.

ALSO READ: United Airlines CEO finally apologizes as image takes beating

Another United Airlines employee was said to have told Obioma that the pilot received a complaint from the man sitting near her that she smelled 'pungent'.Soyinka stated this at the opening ceremony of a meeting of heads of anti-corruption agencies from Commonwealth Africa in Abuja on Monday, May 14, 2018.

Recalling his moments with the acting EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, during a visit to the agencys new office, Soyinka asked if the facility had a presidential wing.

I had asked for the presidential wing of the cells out of his human rights concerns to ensure such personalities are well treated while in detention, Soyinka said.

But Magu said they are an egalitarian organisation that treats peoples equally.

Until we make some of our leaders walk through those doors [of the EFCC new office] the fight against corruption will not be won, Soyinka added.

Abacha loot

Soyinka advocated for thefull recovery of all money stolen by former Head of State, Sani Abacha.

He recalled making similar request at a Commonwealth meeting during the reign of Abacha over some monies alleged to be shared as bribes to some leaders for the military leader to remain in power.

President Muhammadu Buhari who was represented at the event by his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, called for more collaboration amongst African countries, stressing that it was key to winning the fight against corruption.

It is only through collective action that we can stay ahead of the criminal elements who rob our countries and our citizens of their present and their future.

We must also work hard to build cooperation and mutual understanding. We must insist that recovered stolen assets be returned to countries of origin, without any preconditions in line with article 51 UNCAC.

Recovered funds must also be returned to countries of origin without preconditions, he added.

While acknowledging the complex nature of obtaining legal assistance in repatriating looted funds, Osinbajo maintained that corruption must be tackled globally.

He further noted that: the fight against corruption is futile, if proceeds of corruption find safe haven. Regrettably, the procedures to obtain mutual legal assistance to seize, confiscate, to repatriate proceeds of corruption are often so complex.

Corruption is a global challenge and it requires global collaboration to tackle it. We need to break down the walls and collaborate. African countries must come together to address this issue, he added.

In his opening remarks, Magu described the presence of his colleagues from Commonwealth African countries for the meeting as an endorsement of Nigerias efforts against corruption.

He said President Buhari has kept faith with his promise not to interfere with the operations of the anti-corruption agencies in the country.

However, Mr Magu stressed that the most valuable support you need to do this job is that of the masses admixed with the political will at the very top.

The conference, which will run till May 18, 2018 has as its theme: Partnering towards Assets Recovery and Return.Kalu and Obasanjo are now sworn enemies after they fell apart sometime between 2003 and 2007.

Obasanjo was Nigerias democratically elected president from 1999 to 2007.

Orji Uzor Kalu is currently the chairman of SLOK Holding, The Daily Sun and New Telegraph newspapers.

Kalu served as the governor of Abia State from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007.

In an explosive interview he granted The Sun, Kalu tore into Obasanjo like he's never done before:

1. How Heads of State killed Obasanjo's third term agenda

Shortly before the expiration of his second term in office in 2007, Obasanjo reportedly lobbied the national assembly to insert a third term clause in the nation's constitution.

The whole plan was called the "third term agenda" at the time.

That agenda perished on the floor of the national assembly as the constitution review bills were trashed by lawmakers.

Kalu who was governor at the time, says he witnessed it all first-hand.

"He (Obasanjo) wanted the Heads of State to ask him to continue in office. Unfortunately for him, he never knew we had planned a coup under him by bringing the President of Tanzania and then South African and his Ghanaian counterpart They told Obasanjo that they would not allow third term", Kalu says.

"Even the Americans joined them and said they were not going to allow third term. And that was exactly what happened.

"Obasanjo went to bring Bush told him that as long as you dont tamper with the Nigerian constitution."

2. Senators responsible for death of third term bill

Kalu says: "The persons who derailed the third term in the senate are and who had just been removed as Senate President. So, we contacted him, made a deal with him, made a deal with Mantu and we used them to derail the thing. It was a full marshal plan to derail it that day and kill it.

"And thats how we killed it".

3. Obasanjo told Kalu he will deal with him

In Kalu's words: "Obasanjo told me that I will kneel down and suffer for the rest of my life. That he will deal with me. That he will crumble me. He told me face-to-face. That is the truth. I dont care about what he says. He is not my God. Im still wearing nice suit till tomorrow. I still see him".

4. Kalu calls Obasanjo a shameless man

Kalu says: "The immorality in a Obasanjo is a shameless man. He was supposed to be a one term president. That was the promise he made to us in Ota. There was a deal in place concerning this. And this is the truth. I was there".

5. According to Kalu, Obasanjo promised to hand over power to Babangida

Kalu says: "Obasanjo said he will serve for only one term and then Babangida will continue. Babangida is alive, Obasanjo is alive. Let any one of them contradict it, then wed go to NTA and talk about it.

"I went with Babangida to him (Obasanjo). Babangida told Obasanjo how many presidents would you make in me? Obasanjo was wearing shorts on the day. He went in and came back and said Ibrahim, I will only do 4 years and hand over to you.

"So, we sat him down and started talking. He said yes, he will do one tenure. I was there. I'm not saying somebody said. So, how can he be lying to the nation?

"On many occasions, I confronted Babangida. This was why we wanted to fight him in 2003. Babangida said No. That he wont want to confront his boss. That was the reason. So, we said, if you cannot do it, lets use Atiku. When we met Atiku, Atiku said no, that he had made up with his boss.

"So, we were stranded. We could have used one governor to remove him. Before the 2003 election, Obasanjo was as good as gone".

6. Kalu says Obasanjo knelt down to beg him

"Obasanjo did not only kneel down to beg Atiku, he also knelt down and begged me in my bedroom",Kalu says.

He continues: "Obasanjo came to Governors lodge in Asokoro. He came in the middle of the night. He came straight to my bedroom because he was Commander-in-Chief. As C-in-C, security personnel had no right to stop him. They just knocked on my bedroom door and I opened and it was Obasanjo.

"He knelt down and begged me. After he won (re-election) and I went to greet him, he told me I will suffer throughout my life for what I did to him. So, this is the kind of man you are talking about.

"Obasanjo is an animal. He is supposed to be caged where chimpanzees are kept in the zoo".

7.Kalu says there are so many corruption petitions against Obasanjo

"There are so many petitions against Obasanjo. Go and ask Magu (acting Chairman of the EFCC). Im not a friend of Magu. There are so many petitions against Obasanjo. There is the 16 billion and other monies he stole and other monies he gave to businessmen.

"Obasanjo is the owner of so many companies you are seeing today in Nigeria.

"People know these things but just dont want to talk about it. This is why the North American intelligence agencies dont respect him, the European Union dont respect him. His power is only in AU (African Union). They dont respect him because they know hes a thief.

"Its not courage. I say what other people fail to say. I can die tomorrow, I can die today. I have overcome the fear of death. I am not even afraid of who will kill me and who will not kill me", Kalu says.

Obasanjos spokesperson,Mr. Kehinde Adeyemi, wasnt immediately available for a reaction to Kalus allegations. Pulse will use his reactions in a separate story once we have them.

Calls placed to Adeyemi's mobile were not answered before this story was filed.In the statement, Obasanjo accused Buhari of rank incompetence, nepotism, poor economic management, as well as gross dereliction of duty and urged him to consider stepping down from active public service in 2019.

While many were initially struck by the weight of criticism coming from such a place of influence, Obasanjo had moved more than a few game pieces across the board in that same statement in what was the perfect sleight of hand.

While expressing his exasperation with the status quo, Obasanjo said he'd lost hope in the ability of the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) and the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) to provide Nigeria with the initiative it needs to progress.

As the problem-solver that he is, he 'proposed' a simple solution - the creation of a movement of well-meaning Nigerians who will engage in democratic practices that will drive the country forward and be a source of hope for all Nigerians for speedy, quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and progress.

A week later, on January 31, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) was officially launched at the Yar'Adua Centre, Abuja.

When Obasanjo waltzed into the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Abeokuta, Ogun state, the next day to sign his membership form, Nigeria's electoral fate in the 2019 general elections was radically reshaped in a way that still wasn't entirely clear.

When he made his initial statement in January, and a couple times since then, he noted that due to his quest for non-partisanship, he would gladly leave the movement whenever it became a political group. While it appeared unusual to be preparing for an eventuality before the group had even launched, deliberately or not, Obasanjo showed his hand on his true vision for CNM, and a few political spectators noticed.

On Thursday, May 10, Obasanjo finally unveiled his masterpiece as he disclosed that the movement has made the decision to adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its political platform.

According to him, the ADC will serve as the movement's platform "to work with others for bringing about desirable change in the Nigerian polity and governance."

"The second phase (of CNM) will involve galvanisation of all like-minded forces for enthronement of new order in Nigeria," he added.

The Third Force wave in Nigerian politics

As public disillusionment with Nigeria's current crop of influential political class has skyrocketed over the past three years that Buhari has been president, there's been a fevered clamour for a new political crop to steer the country towards a clear new path.

With what has been regarded as Buhari's failure to truly transform the country as promised, coupled with the disappointment of PDP's 16 years of inadequate governance, Nigerians have been crying out for a force strong enough to rewrite the nation's political history once again.

Over the past few months, there have been a lot of groups jostling to fill that much-needed vacuum.

Former Minister of Education and activist, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has been spearheading a Red Card movement that's hell-bent on putting an end to "the tyranny of rulership of a wicked minority political elite class" that is responsible for the nation's "stagnation and retrogression".

Presidential aspirants such as Omoyele Sowore, Kingsley Moghalu and Fela Durotoye have also been riding on the Third Force wave to reconcile Nigerians with a future that's better than the one the current crop has to offer.

While Durotoye is contesting on the platform of the Alliance for a New Nigeria (ANN), Sowore and Moghalu remain without a political platform while promising that they're working to attempt a power grab with like minds separate from the ones that have plunged Nigeria into chaos.

It could be argued that Obasanjo's call for the creation of CNM and its eventual establishment was him taking advantage of the relentless clamour for a new generation of leaders and he's pandered well to it.

If there was a physical vacancy for a Third Force, with its merging with the ADC, Obasanjo's CNM has effectively filled that slot now.

With Obasanjo's influence, ADC has been plucked from relative obscurity to become the third biggest party in the country and that has implications, for better or worse.

What the rise of Obasanjo's ADC means for 2019

There's no sense in downplaying the amount of influence Obasanjo commands in Nigeria, especially since he's served as a military and democratic president. This commanding influence means ADC is about to get some great momentum going for it in next year's elections.

Even though, as he previously promised, Obasanjo has disclosed that he'll not be a member of the ADC, his new role appears to be left open to interpretations.

He said, "With the emergence of ADC as a political party for the Movement and its associates and in line with my clear position which I have often repeated, the first phase of my job is done and I will not be a member of the Party but as I have always done since I quit partisan politics in 2014, I will keep alive and active on Nigerian and African issues and interests and I will be open to offering advice to any individual or organisation for the unity, development and progress of Nigeria and indeed of Africa.

"I will, of course, continue to exercise my right to freedom of speech where and when I consider necessary in the interest of Nigeria, Africa and humanity."

Despite his public position, it's unthinkable that Obasanjo won't maintain a presence in the ADC's runnings; and then, when you think about it some more, what's potentially behind the curtain is just as disconcerting as what's out in the open of the CNM-ADC merger.

How fresh is Obasanjo's Third Force?

The most stimulating attraction of a Third Force that Nigerians have been clamouring for is the injection of a new political crop untainted by the sins of the old order; people like Sowore, Moghalu and Durotoye. However, Obasanjo's CNM has some familiar suspects that are at the front and centre of the show.

On May 10, hours before Obasanjo's announcement of the CNM-ADC merger, former Osun state governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, resigned his appointment as the chairman of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

In his letter, dated May 9, Oyinlola told Buhari, who appointed him in 2017, that his resignation was spurred by his decision to pursue a "greater political engagement". His resignation also effectively announced his defection from the APC as he noted, "I am moving on to chart a new course in my politics outside the ruling party."

If you haven't connected the dots already, Oyinlola has been affiliated with Obasanjo's CNM from the jump. He was at the movement's launch in Abuja with former Cross River state governor, Donald Duke, and was also in Abeokuta when Obasanjo signed his membership form the next day.

In the near future, Oyinlola will be referred to as a founding father of the CNM because of his influential presence in its formation. However, he is not exactly what many would consider Third Force 'material'.

He was sacked as governor of Osun in 2010, while he was with the PDP, when a Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan ruled his second term victory "null and void" due to electoral malpractices. Years later, in 2013, another court sacked him as the PDP's national secretary as a result of being improperly elected, and even though he won an appeal, unsuccessful attempts to return to office eventually forced him out of the party to join the APC. Oyinlola was the secretary of the New PDP, a faction that split off from the then-ruling party to form a coalition with the APC.

Not only has he appeared to be a serial defector, Oyinlola was also indicted at some point for an alleged N2.5 billion contract scam by the Osun state government that succeeded him, although not much happened to the allegation which he vehemently denied.

The crux here is that Oyinlola is, arguably, damaged goods and does not fit the description of what Nigerians clamour for in a Third Force; and the more ominous tilt is that Obasanjo appears to have laid the groundwork to bring more like him into the ADC.

When he was speaking about the ADC's adoption, he found the time to note that the "PDP and APC are not actually made of men and women who are totally evil".

He continued, "There are sprinkles of good men and women out there and among them. What must be done is to take what is best from all to come together on a new alliance platform that will take us to the promised land."

"The clean fingers in either of them can and must be grafted to the clean hands of new entrants and participants to move up and move on and that is what I understand the reinvigorated party platform is all about - change, new order and progress," he added.

It'll be interesting to see, over the next few weeks, who these "clean fingers" from the old establishment are, but this is how the APC became an institution that Nigerians have come to despise. Despite running as a "new order", the party took on lots of comers from the PDP, to consolidate its influence, and has been forced to attempt to hide their soiled hands in plain sight, unsuccessfully.

In what might be a connected event, the New PDP faction that joined the APC is already grumbling to the party's leadership about how they have been feeling neglected by the party; and it will not come as a surprise if they start showing up in the ADC in the coming weeks with their wandering band.

If Obasanjo thinks Nigerians have not seen this play before, then he must not have been paying attention.

How does Obasanjo fit into 2019?

I need to point out that since his scathing criticism of Buhari in January, Obasanjo has been saying all the right things that Nigerians have been feeling for quite some time.

I particularly agree with him on certain subjects such as reform to the country's electoral system, grassroots involvement and a paradigm shift in power equation involving youth and women, reduction of elitism in Nigerian politics and widespread contribution across all spheres from every Nigerian to bring about the kind of change the country desperately needs.

However, Obasanjo has not been completely forthright especially in acknowledging how much he contributed to the problem the country is in.

Any Nigerian with a short memory who listens to how Obasanjo rips into the institutional rot of the PDP's reign would be fooled into thinking that he wasn't president for half of the party's 16-year stranglehold on federal power.

In his campaign against the establishment, Obasanjo has been laundering his own image and tacitly absolving himself of the blame on how he's one of the biggest beneficiaries of Nigeria's democratic malfunctions that's gotten us to this point.

While speaking last week, he accused the PDP of administrative failure in the "last eleven years", conveniently stopping just short of his own 8-year stint in the presidency which Nigerians don't generally regard with rose-tinted glasses like he habitually does.

Ever since the failure of his detestable third term bid over a decade ago, Obasanjo has been trying to run from the facts of his time in office and this will always make it hard for Nigerians to fully buy into his selfless campaign of reformation. In fact, some have suggested that his Third Force campaign is a reactivation of his failed third term agenda.

The ADC was registered in 2006, contested in three presidential elections and currently has one elected member in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, so it wasn't born yesterday. With the CNM's adoption of the party, it's about to witness some redecoration over the next few weeks, and despite Obasanjo's public professions, he's expected to be the big man behind the curtains: the Third Force Nigerians didn't think they'd wake up to.

This is a defining chapter in the fate of the 2019 elections as the CNM-ADC merger will present a dilemma for Nigerians. Should they get behind a Third Force that finally appears to be able to rub shoulders with the APC and PDP even though it has Obasanjo's fingerprints all over it, or should they persevere and keep looking to lesser known actors that are very likely to fall short next year? With the emergence of the CNM-ADC alliance, the Sowores and Moghalus and Durotoyes of this world have their work cut out for them even more.

It is up to Nigerians to decide whether they want to gladly jump on the wagon clearly being boosted by Obasanjo's influence and that of the same band of old heads that have been around forever and are expected to move in soon. Fingers remain crossed on what comes of this; but if the APC is enough of a cautionary tale, then we've been here before, and these are not the prophets we've been waiting for.21 members of the Assembly have reportedly signed to remove him from office due to allegations of being incompetent. 6 more signatures are required from the 40-member House to remove him at the next sitting.

While reacting to the plot, Ata said only God will determine whether the impeachment move against him succeeds or fails.

He said, "In anything in life, there is starting point and the end. If Allah has designed it that my time is off, nobody will extend it by a second. And if it is not time, nobody can remove me from office, that is my belief.

"My happiness is that I didnt not steal anybody's money. So, if today, they remove me from office, I will leave. I have a constituency that I am representing. But nobody will accuse me of stealing."

Armed police officers shut down the Kano state House of Assembly complex on Monday, May 14, 2018. The heavily armed officers arrived at the complex around 2am to stop members from gaining access to the premises.

The spokesperson of the Kano State Police Command, SP Magaji Majia, said the deployment was a move to maintain peace in the state.

He said, "We deployed our men to the Assembly to ensure that nobody disrupts the peace. We need peace in the state and therefore we will not allow anybody to tamper with existing peace and harmony being enjoyed by the people in the state."

This came after Ata ordered the suspension of all House activities until after the Eid-El Kabir festivities.This is coming after hoodlums on Friday, May 11, 2018.

Punch reports that the chairman of the APC in Imo state, Hillary Eke had also petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris over the incident.

Police confirms reports

Imo Police spokesperson, Andrew Enwerem also confirmed that officers were stationed at the secretariat to carry out investigations.

He said We have temporarily taken over the secretariat following the fire outbreak.

The Police are investigating and in order not to jeopardise the investigation process, we have to take the secretariat over in the meantime.

This is to avoid any other attack on the secretariat and to make sure that peace is restored.

The party also shifted its local government congressslated to hold on Saturday, May 12, 2018 to Monday, May 14, 2018."The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended," MohammadJavadZarif said at the start of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement".

Lavrov, for his part, said Russia and Europe had a duty to "jointly defend their legal interests" in terms of the deal.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it.

After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over Trump's decision.

Renewed coordination?

Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he told AFP.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he added.

On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour".

But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

Russia key regional player

Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Germany's Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

The countries sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.The Government, which the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) wrote to requesting for facilitation of his return including buying air ticket, has warned lawyer Mr Miguna not to expect any special treatment when he lands.

Government spokesman Eric Kiraithe on Sunday said Miguna will have to comply with all the travel requirements, sentiments shared by Immigration PS Gordon Kihalangwa, who trashed possibilities of buying ticket for Miguna, as the Court did not touch on that matter.

"We would not want the government to shift its attention to one mans travelling," Kiraithe said.

Miguna over the weekend through his social media channels said he was yet to receive his passport as was directed by the courts, pending his Wednesday return, which he has named cast on granite. His only hope is 13 courts.

Last week, the KNCHR wrote to Immigration PS Gordon Kihalangwa to give Miguna a valid passport and air ticket.

"They have disobeyed Justice Luka Kimarus court order of February 15, which clearly stated their purported cancellation of my citizenship and passport were null and void and directed them to deliver my valid Kenyan passport to the High Court registry," Miguna said.

He added: "They have also continued to disobey Justice Chacha Mwitas order that directed them to issue me with a travel document and facilitate my unconditional return to Kenya."

He continued, "They have even refused to obey the order directing that the KNCHR be allowed access to the immigration and customs areas. Its just impunity, pure and simple."

But Kiraithe said the standard procedure of clearing travelers into the country will apply to Miguna.The former Prime Minister is expected to deliver lectures at the Cambridge University and Oxford University on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

According to his spokesman Dennis Onyango, Odinga will on Wednesday hold a meeting with the UK Minister for Africa at the Commonwealth Office.

The NASA leader will also meet Kenyans living in the UK at the Greenwood Lecture Theatres of Kings College.

He is accompanied to the UK trip by Nyando MP Jared Odoyo Okello.

Miguna's arrival

Odinga's departure from the country interestingly coincides with the arrival of firebrand self-proclaimed National Resistance Movement General Miguna Miguna from Canada on Wednesday.

Already the government has warned Miguna not to expect any special treatment when he lands in the country.It took the watchmakers of Carl F. Bucherer, the jewellers of Bucherer Fine Jewellery and the specialists of Bundnerbike a year to design and produce the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition. A team of eight employees from both companies contributed all of their expertise. More than 2,500 working hours were invested in this project, which combines Swiss craftsmanship and the passion for exclusive, tailor-made and very cool products.

 Bucherer

The Harley-Davidson Blue Edition is based on a Harley-Davidson Softail Slim S. However, there is not a great deal left that is reminiscent of the initial model with its cool vintage style. Every metal element found on this one-of-a-kind motorcycle has been produced, welded, beaten, ground and polished by hand. The complete frame of the motorcycle is welded seamlessly, and even the rims are custom-made. The rotating camshaft is visible through a window in the camshaft housing, as are the valve control and the gold-plated throttle valves. Heat-resistant LED lights illuminate the scene. The Harley-Davidson Blue Edition is thus the worlds first motorcycle to have a motor that is lit up from the inside. Various parts of the motorcycle are also gold-plated. The cowhide saddle has been sewn by hand in Switzerland. A special detail: the iridescent colour. A specific technique had to be employed to illuminate the Harley-Davidson in this intense blue. In a first step, the entire motorcycle was silver-plated, before six colour coatings were then applied using a secret coating method.

 Bucherer

This unique piece is perfected by the incorporation of the arts of watchmaking and jewellery making. This is also a world first: never before have a manufacture watch and jewels been integrated in a motorcycle. The Dizzler rotating ring from the Bucherer Fine Jewellery collection was adapted for the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition to allow it to be mounted on the hand grips. That was a technical challenge, says Jurg Ludwig Jr, Managing Director of Bundnerbike. To ensure that the rings really stay in place, a special method was applied that guarantees a very strong hold. How this works remains a secret of the Bundnerbike blacksmith, explains Ludwig. A further pair of Dizzler diamond rings can be found on the forks, while a large version of the Dizzler ring is located in the left half of the tank.

 Bucherer

Underneath a glass dome made from armoured glass, another piece of jewellery of special value can be found in a retractable safe: a six-prong Heaven solitaire ring with a 5.40-carat diamond. This is also a unique feature, as is the watch from Carl F. Bucherer at its side. This special custom-made watch, which is based on the Patravi TravelTec II model, is located in a second safe in the right half of the tank. The dial of this unique piece is adorned by elements of a motorcycle engine. To ensure that the vibrations of the engine do not damage the mechanical movement, the watch is housed in a cage with an elaborate holder made from silicon rings. It was a long road, says Samir Merdanovic, Head of Manufacture Movements at Carl F. Bucherer, about the development process, which demanded a great deal of thinking. The holder, for example, also serves as a watch winder. The watch is therefore wound regularly and continues to run, even if the motorcycle is not ridden for an extended period, explains Merdanovic.

 Bucherer

The owner can also look forward to wearing a further unique Carl F. Bucherer watch on their wrist. This has been created by the manufacturer exclusively for the buyer and also incorporates design elements of the motorcycle and its engine on the dial. Even when not riding the motorcycle, the buyer will therefore always have a piece of the pinnacle of Swiss watchmaking at his or her side.

 Bucherer

With all of these elements, the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition is testimony to the passionate spirit, the comprehensive design understanding and the openness to new ideas of the Lucerne-based family company. It is the addition to the Bucherer Blue Editions watch collection, created in cooperation between Bucherer and the most renowned brands in the watchmaking industry. Inspired by the colour blue, the corporate colour of the Lucerne-based jewellers, outstanding timepieces from the best manufacturers are created for the collection. We are pleased to be able to contribute our long-standing experience and close relationship with our partners in order to create exclusive and unique watches and products as part of the Bucherer Blue Editions, which are exclusively available at Bucherer. This allows us to appeal to customers around the world who want to stand out from the crowd and live the Blue Editions lifestyle, says Patrick Graf, Chief Commercial Officer at Bucherer. There is no doubt about it: the world can look forward to further surprising, first-class innovations and luxury products from Bucherer.

The Bucherer Blue Editions collection includes 17 wristwatches, which each stand out thanks to unique features and consummate craftsmanship. With the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition, the collection is now being supplemented by a luxury product that shares these values: the handcrafted Harley-Davidson worth CHF 1.888 million includes three world firsts: it is the worlds most expensive motorcycle, it is the first motorcycle to be embellished with a manufacture watch and jewels, and it is the first motorcycle with an engine that is lit up from the inside.QUIZ: Guess the Road Songs

We can't wait to get back on the road again! Play this quiz and see if how many you can get right!Newshub News Desk

Newshub welcomes your news tips and information.

Please email us: news@newshub.co.nz or

call the news team on 0800 Newshub.

The network news centre is in Auckland, with journalists in Wellington and Christchurch, as well as the Press Gallery office at Parliament, combined with a team of freelance reporters around the country.



Newshub supplies news and sport to all 140 MediaWorks radio stations, making it the most listened-to commercial radio news service in New Zealand.

Newshub is owned by Discovery New Zealand.Related Libya says bodies of Egyptians beheaded by Islamic State group recovered

The secretary to Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II told Ahram Online on Monday that the church has not yet been officially notified about the planned date of return of the bodies of 20 Egyptian Christians beheaded by the Islamic State group in the Libyan city of Sirte in 2015.

Media reports have been circulating that Libya will return the victims' bodies to Egypt on Monday.

"We have not been notified by officials yet about the date on which we will be receiving the bodies of the martyrs," Father Angaleos Ishak Massoud told Ahram Online.

Libyan officials discovered the bodies in October of 2017 after the city was recaptured from the IS group.

Officials were able to identify the bodies by matching DNA which had been taken from family members of the deceased.

The incident dates back to February 2015, when Islamic State group members appeared in a lengthy well-produced video while beheading the 20 Coptic workers, most of whom were from Upper Egypt's Samalut city in Minya governorate.

Another victim, reportedly from Ghana, was killed along with the Egyptian Copts.

Less than 24 hours after the video's release, Egypt launched airstrikes on Islamic State group hideouts in the Libyan cities of Derna and Sirte in coordination with the Libyan army.

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Steiermarkbahn has expanded its fleet and reduced its reliance on leasing companies with the purchase of a batch of Tatravagonka four-axle Sggnss container wagons.RUSSIA: A foundation stone was laid on May 11 for a bridge over the River Ob which is to be built as part of the 353 km Northern Latitudinal Railway. Attendees included Russian Railways President Oleg Belozerov, Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov and Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District Dmitry ...Defendants in case on cashing out of $120 mln in Admiralteysky bank plead not guilty

 RIA Novosti, Aleksey Kudenko

11:30 14/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 14 (RAPSI)  Five defendants in a criminal case over unlawful bank activity in Admiralteysky bank estimated at 7 billion rubles (about $120 million) and credit fraud have pleaded not guilty, the spokesperson of Moscows Khamovnichesky District Court Olga Myshelova has told RAPSI.

Currently, three defendants are under house arrest while two others have been released on their own recognizance, Myshelova added.

According to investigators, the defendants acted as members of an organized criminal group from January 2012 till September 2015. They allegedly used sham firms and Admiralteysky bank accounts to cash out 7 billion rubles and receive additional 250 million rubles ($4.3 million) as commission income. Moreover, two of the defendants allegedly embezzled 150 million rubles ($2.6 million) by providing false data to the bank.

In January 2017, the Khamovnichesky District Court sentenced Musa Israilov to 3.5 years in prison for illegal banking activity and embezzlement of more than 23 billion rubles (over $370 million) from Admiralteysky bank. The court also collected 210 million rubles ($3.6 million) from Israilov on a civil claim.Investigators seek to extend detention of high-ranking customs official in bribery case

 RAPSI

13:13 14/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 14 (RAPSI)  Investigators have filed a motion with Moscows Basmanny District Court seeking to extend detention of First Deputy Director of the Federal Customs Services Far Eastern Directorate Sergey Fedorov charged with taking bribes until September 19, the courts spokesperson Yunona Tsareva has told RAPSI.

Hearing on the motion will be held on May 17.

According to investigators, from December 2015 to October 2017, Fedorov received at least 26 million rubles ($451,500) and $150,000 in bribes from businessman Rodion Tikhonov for protection of his companys business. The suspect provided full assistance in the organization of the Far Eastern Customs Directorates work towards Tikhonovs Dalzavod-Terminal CJSC and helped in settling all problematic issues with the customs body.

Fedorov could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The defendant has pleaded not guilty. His defense lawyers claim that the case is based on slander.

Businessman Tikhonov was earlier charged with organizing a gang and evasion of customs payments. He was put in detention, the Investigative Committee said earlier.



Former MAST-Bank top managers plead not guilty to $90 mln embezzlement

 RIA Novosti

19:47 14/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 14 (RAPSI)  Ex-president of now insolvent MAST-Bank Yury Pirogov and two other ex-managers of the bank have pleaded not guilty to embezzlement of 5.6 billion rubles ($90 million), the spokesperson of Moscows Preobrazhensky District Court Alexandra Savelyeva has told RAPSI.

Investigators believe that in 2013-2015 the defendants embezzled funds by giving out non-performing credits to companies under their control and then transferred money further to other organizations.

The defendants have been detained until September 27.

Earlier, the court sentenced former top manager of the bank Alexander Chemetov to 4.5 years in a penal colony. Chemetov admitted his guilt in full.Bill on penalties for compliance with anti-Russian sanctions submitted to State Duma

 flashnord.com

10:56 14/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 14 (RAPSI)  A bill on criminal penalty for abiding by and support of anti-Russian sanctions in the country's territory has been submitted to the State Duma, according to the database of the lower house of parliament.

Under the bill, actions or inactivity aimed to adhere to sanctions imposed by foreign states against Russian nationals and companies would result in fines of up to 600,000 rubles (about $10,000), supervised release, community service or imprisonment for up to 4 years.

Moreover, the draft law stipulates punishment for deliberate acts contributing to imposition of sanctions against Russia. Thus, Russian citizens would face fines of up to 500,000 rubles, supervised release for up to 3 years, detention for up to 6 months or prison sentence for up to 3 years with a 200,000-ruble fine for such actions.

The bill was drafted by the State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Chair of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and leaders of all parties of the parliaments lower house. Amendments are proposed to the Criminal Code of Russia.







Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.

Search Real EstateEgypt's foreign ministry has said that there is a state of anticipation that Tuesday's ministerial-level talks in Addis Ababa on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will overcome the current stalemate.

The foreign ministers, irrigation ministers and chiefs of intelligence of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will meet to follow up on the results of the first ministerial meeting, held in Khartoum on 4 April, and the directives of the leaders of the three countries during their meeting on the sidelines of the African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital in January.

"This meeting comes as the latest meeting of the tripartite technical committee held on 5 May in Khartoum, which didnt achieve any progress towards adopting the consultative offices advisory report, which was approved by Egypt, resulting in a stalemate regarding the resumption of studies on the possible negative effects of the GERD on the two downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan] and ways to avoid them," read a statement by Ahmed Abu Zeid, the Egyptian foreign ministrys spokesman.

Abu Zeid expressed Egypt's hope that the high-level meeting would be able to implement the directives of the three leaders to overcome the obstacles facing the tripartite technical committee and to accomplish the course of studies confirmed by the 2015 Declaration of Principles, for the mutual benefit of all countries and to enhance tripartite cooperation in various fields such as trade, investment and technical cooperation.

The April talks were aimed to resolve an impasse in negotiations over studies conducted to determine the impact of the dam on the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan.

An Egyptian foreign ministry statement in April as rejected comments by Ethiopian and Sudanese officials that he said blamed Egypt for the failure of the talks.

The Ethiopian government began construction of the GERD on the Blue Nile near the countrys border with Sudan in 2011, as part of a development plan aimed at eradicating poverty and generating electricity.

Over the past seven years, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have held multiple rounds of talks on the dams anticipated impact on Nile water resources.

Egypt has expressed concern the dam could adversely affect its share of Nile water.

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RECOILtv NRAAM 2018: CZ-USA & Dan Wesson Handguns

Dan Wesson is celebrating its 50th anniversary. CZ-USA shows us new Dan Wesson pistols, which are two bull barrel pistols. The new pistols are the DW ECP and TCP, both will be available in 9mm and .45 ACP.

CZ-USA Dan Wesson pistols

http://cz-usa.com/product-category/danwesson/

Want to see more from RECOILtv? WATCH NOW!Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with the head of France's General Directorate for Internal Security in Cairo on Monday to discuss regional issues and cooperation between Egypt and France, according to an official statement.

The meeting with Laurent Nunez was attended by Egypt's acting chief of intelligence Abbas Kamel, El-Sisis spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

El-Sisi conveyed his greetings to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, stressing the strength and depth of Egyptian-French relations and the importance of strengthening the ongoing cooperation between the two countries on all levels, including security and intelligence.

He also hailed the ongoing coordination and consultation between the two countries on regional and international issues of common interest, as well as counter-terrorism efforts, which reflect the depth of partnership between Egypt and France.

Nunez expressed his country's appreciation of the close cooperation and historic relations enjoyed by the two countries, Rady said.

He also affirmed his country's keenness to maintain the level of coordination with the Egyptian side on challenges facing the two countries, especially in light of the regional situation in the Middle East, praising Cairo's pivotal role in strengthening security and stability in the region and in its efforts to achieve political settlements to the current crises.

Rady said the two men discussed a number of issues related to bilateral relations and ways of developing aspects of cooperation between Egypt and France, as well as developments related to regional issues and combining international efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.

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'I want the prime minister to be punished because he put our country in difficulties as he took this decision without Cabinet approval.'

'When he had already ordered the printing of new currency notes on May 19, 2016, why did he tell lies to the country?'

For the last two years Right to Information activist R L Kain has been trying to get details about demonetisation -- how it was done, who took the key decisions and whether Prime Minister Narendra D Modi called a Cabinet meeting before his speech at 8 pm on November 8, 2016, to announce the move.

The prime minister's office has refused to divulge details pertaining to the printing of currency notes post the note ban, citing the exemption clauses related to national and economic security in the RTI Act.

"Demonetisation was a dirty game played on the common man," Kain tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

What information were you seeking through your RTI plea on demonetisation?

I wanted a copy of the (minutes of the) decision when demonetisation took place, but I was refused that.

I said if you are not giving me the copy, then at least show me those minutes, but I was told that if the government does that, then the Indian economy will be in danger.

I am only asking when the new currency notes were printed and on whose orders they were printed.

I got partial information from the Reserve Bank of India, that these new currency notes were published on May 19, 2016, and sent to the central government.

Now the central government is not telling me who ordered the printing of new notes.

The finance ministry is not answering this question, the PMO is not answering.

Whereas I have got the information from the RBI that by September 2016 the new currency notes were printed and ready. (Please click here to see the RBI's reply: Page 1 and Page 2)).

This was when Urjit Patel was deputy governor of the RBI.

It means this entire exercise was illegal.

I am asking for this information and they are not giving.

Why do you call it illegal?

Raghuram Rajan quit (as RBI governor) in September (2016) and Urjit Patel was deputy governor till then.

It is an offence if the deputy governor signs currency notes when the RBI governor is still working.

So, when Rajan was governor of the RBI, how could Patel have signed the new currency notes?

Moreover, Prime Minister Modi on November 16, 2016, in Goa said new currency notes were being printed since the last six months.

On November 10, 2016, Arun Jaitley too said the new currency notes were already printed.

When both of them claim that the new currency notes were already printed, then why did Prime Minister Modi do all this drama on November 8, 2016?

He also said he had called a Cabinet meeting at 7 pm before he went on to address the nation.

So, I am just asking, give some proof that Modi called a Cabinet meeting on demonetisation.

Since they are not giving the records, I feel everything was done behind the curtain.

Why do you say so?

The country must be run according to the Constitution of India.

Without a Cabinet meeting and a Cabinet decision, they cannot move a single inch.

The Constitution of India will exist whoever is the prime minister.

I am a victim of demonetisation.

I was to go to Chandigarh on November 22 and I suffered because I had no money.

I suffered at that time because my granddaughter was to get married and there was no money in the banks because of demonetisation.

It was with great difficulty that I arranged the money.

Two hundred people died because of demonetisation.

I want the prime minister of India to be punished because he put our country in difficulties as he took this decision without Cabinet approval.

When he had already ordered the printing of new currency notes on May 19, 2016, why did he tell lies to the country (that the decision was taken on November 8, 2016)?

And he is not even apologising for his mistake.

Who told you that the new currency notes were printed on May 19, 2016?

The Reserve Bank of India gave me in writing that they gave the recommendation to print new currency notes of Rs 2,000 on May 19, 2016.

I have shown this letter to the chief information commissioner (R K Mathur) too.

As per section 24 of the RBI Act, 1934, there is a provision which states that Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 currency notes can be printed.

Nowhere is it mentioned that the government can print Rs 2,000 denomination notes.

Chief Information Commissioner Mathur too asked the same question to the government where is the decision (copy order) of the government that they ordered to print Rs 2,000 currency notes.

The government did not give him the decision (copy of the order), so that means the Rs 2,000 currency note is illegal.

Now, I want to prosecute the prime minister of India.

If I cannot, then wind off the RTI Act.

But Section 24 of the RBI Act empowers the government to introduce any denomination of currency, apart from the ones mentioned in it, and also to withdraw any denomination from circulation.

Yes, it does, but there is a due process to be followed, there has to be legislation introduced, or ordinance brought in, which was not done in this case.

So how exactly was the decision taken and implemented? That's why I want to know.

Why don't you believe the government's version that the decision on demonetisation will have to be kept secret as it can harm our economy?

All Modis are running away from India, be it Lalit Modi or Nirav Modi, and I pay taxes for them.

Now this ICICI scam is also coming out and we are all paying taxes.

I am a retired officer and on my pension too I am paying taxes.

I have to file tax returns too and I am feeling the pinch.

You are now talking like an Opposition leader.

I am not from any Opposition party.

I am from the aggrieved party.

I have no association with any political party.

Why are you asking for details of Cabinet meetings regarding demonetisation?

Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency without Cabinet approval.

She called a meeting of the Cabinet early morning (June 26, 1975) at 6 am and got approval for the Emergency, and now look what the status of the Congress party is today.

She at least took a nod from the Cabinet for the Emergency, but here Prime Minister Modi did not take an approval from the Cabinet before imposing demonetisation on the country.

If everyone is keeping quiet, then who will speak for the common man?

Are you saying the Union Cabinet did not know about demonetisation?

Yes. Modi took this decision in collusion with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and five others.

I also requested Prime Minister Modi's 'unedited' speech on November 8, 2016 to be given to me.

His speech was recorded and cut to 42 minutes. (Please click HERE to see the reply from Prasar Bharati, which operates Doordarshan).

The original speech was for 90 minutes and they are not giving a copy of it to me.

The person who leaked this news (external link) was sacked from his job.

Doordarshan told me in an RTI reply that they got the signal from the prime minister's office that this should be telecast live at 8 pm.

It means his demonetisation speech was recorded earlier, in advance.

SPG (Special Protection Group) officers went to Mandi House and took Doordasharn staffers to the PMO stating they had some recording work to be done.

They took their mobiles with them and recorded the prime minister's speech in the morning.

They did not allow these people to go home till 3 pm that day. All these things are coming out now.

When he says he called the Cabinet meeting, then I am only saying, let him give the meeting's agenda.

The reply which I got is that calling the meeting on demonetisation was confidential and it was not called officially.

It was impromptu.

This was also confirmed by Arun Jaitley on India TV

All said and done, demonetisation was initiated to fight the black money menace.

But has the circulation of black money stopped?

Has terrorism stopped?

Has the Indian economy improved?

Nothing has changed due to demonetisation.

Moreover, the RBI is unable to give the correct figure as to how much money has come back in the system as they are still counting the money.

They are not giving exact figures.

Ask them for details and they have no data.

If the government does not have the data, then who will have it?

But the RBI said 99 percent of old currency notes have come back to the system.

They are not giving exact figures to the Parliamentary standing committee.

He (RBI Governor Dr Urjit Patel) has been called again before the committee.

I bet you they don't know how much money has come back after demonetisation.

After one-and-a-half years, does all this have any significance?

Demonetisation was a dirty game played on the common man.

It may take long to get justice, but justice must be done.

I bow before the prime minister of India as a citizen of this country, but if he does something wrong, then I must oppose him.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar has taught us this and our Constitution says so.It is likely the airports - Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati - will be bid out for 30 years and the tariffs will be fixed upfront.

The governments attempt at privatising maintenance of airport terminals has drawn a blank from investors.

And, has forced the Narendra Modi government to mull complete privatisation - a plan initiated by the previous United Progressive Alliance government but dropped by the current regime, facing protest from employee unions.

The plan is to privatise at least eight government-owned airports - Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati.

The civil aviation ministry is having discussions on designing the model on how the airports would be bid out, according to sources.

It is likely the airports will be bid out for 30 years and the tariffs will be fixed upfront.

Under the two models being examined, one is a forward bidding process based on tariff per passenger.

Under this, players will bid on fee per passenger it will share with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The player that quotes the highest figure will be chosen. The landing and user charges an operator will set during the concession period will be fixed upfront by the ministry.

The other model being considered is a reverse bidding model - essentially a tariff-based bidding.

Under this, a bidder who quotes the lowest landing and user charges will emerge winner.

In this case, the revenue to be shared with the AAI will be fixed upfront.

AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said the government was looking at different options but refused to give details.

Officials said the model of bidding will be distinctly different from the process followed for Delhi and Mumbai airports.

Our experience with privatisation has shown tariffs in cost-plus projects are based on investments made by the operator. User charges consequently shoot up. We are now looking at a model where airports can be privatised on the basis of fixed tariff, a government official said.

In the case of privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, a bidder was selected on the basis of the highest share of revenue offered to AAI from the gross revenues of the airport.

This reduced the scope of return on investment for the developer, leading to an increase in tariff for compensation.

Over the past decade, GMR and GVK, the operators of the two airports, have run up costs in excess of estimates because a clear process was not established for determining the appropriate level of capital expenditure.

For instance, the cost of modernising Delhi and Mumbai airports more than doubled to $3 billion each.

We welcome the governments move. Fixing the tariff upfront will bring regulatory clearance and encourage foreign airport developers to invest in Indian airports, said Satyan Nair, secretary general, Association of Private Airport Operators.

The Centre has been forced to look at the model of privatisation after the bidding process for operation and maintenance (O&M) of airport terminals at Ahmedabad and Jaipur ended in a stalemate, with the GVK group being the only company that submitted a formal bid.

Officials of the AAI, which conducted the bidding process, said private players cited unviability of the projects as a reason for staying away.

Under the O&M model, only certain activities like maintenance of terminal and car parking at Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports were to be handed over to private developers.

Private players say there is lack of opportunity to get healthy returns on investment by managing only airport terminals.

"They have suggested that airside and city-side development should also be made part of the process, an AAI official said.

Photograph: Amit Dave/ReutersThe founders of IndiGo may have thought it's time to go for a rejig of the top leadership team which can take care of the growing demands of an airline that has grown much bigger than they could have ever imagined, says Shyamal Majumdar.

It is unrealistic to expect that the exit of a high profile head of India's largest airline can happen quietly.

So the noise surrounding Aditya Ghosh's resignation from IndiGo, an airline he served as president for close to 10 years, was quite natural.

Though the noise has been described as "drama" by Ghosh and "unfair" by IndiGo founder and interim CEO Rahul Bhatia, their media statements did little to shed any light as they refused to go beyond denying media speculation about the actual reason for the sudden exit.

There are several reasons for the questions that followed Ghosh's resignation.

For example, the IndiGo media statement recently said Gregory Taylor has been appointed senior adviser and will take over as the new CEO once regulatory clearance was received.

Taylor, who was earlier the executive vice-president of revenue management and network planning at the airline, had quit in February this year and left the country.

The question is, what happened between February and April that prompted IndiGo to bring him back -- this time as Ghoshs successor?

The second question pertains to the appointment of many key people in quick succession in the months leading to Ghosh's exit.

The buzz was that these new executives were taking over the decision-making, bringing about a cultural change and leaving little for the incumbent management.

For example, the latest joinee, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, was appointed chief operating officer in January.

IndiGo has justified these appointments by saying that the airline is preparing to launch long-haul flights and the experience of these expats are crucial.

But many say bringing in people from vastly different backgrounds may not build a cohesive team, especially if the person they are supposed to report to, has had limited say on their appointments.

Most of these expats have a formidable global experience behind them.

For example, Prock-Schauer is an industry veteran of nearly 40 years, having worked with Air Berlin, Austrian Airlines, Jet Airways and GoAir (as CEO).

Taylor is also an industry veteran of 40 years and has served in various senior management roles at United Airlines and US Airways in the areas of corporate planning, strategy, network planning, fleet planning etc.

The other appointments have been Michael Swiatek as chief planning officer and Willy Boulter as chief strategy officer.

All of them also have a decent understanding of the Indian aviation market.

Therefore, it would have been difficult for them to have worked under Ghosh for long -- a fact IndiGo promoters couldn't have been unaware of.

Though Ghosh has been integral to IndiGos success, his experience in aviation is just 13 years.

It was in 2005 that InterGlobe started its aviation project.

The other tension point could have been the series of missteps by IndiGo in recent times.

For example, in the last few months the airline has had to ground several planes -- at one time 11 -- and cancel several flights, over 900 in the second half of March, on account of engine glitches in its A320 Neo fleet.

Some cases of IndiGo aircraft being forced to do emergency landings on single engines went viral on social media.

Far worse was the incident of IndiGo ground staff manhandling a passenger on the tarmac.

The airline sacked the whistle-blower on the pretext that he had instigated the assault and refused to tender an apology.

Ghosh relented later, but the damage was already done.

The airline was also embroiled in an unneccesary legal battle with the Delhi International Airport (DIAL), which had directed airlines to partially shift their flights to Terminal-2.

For some inexplicable reason, IndiGo took DIAL to court, but lost the case.

And then, a Parliamentary Committee report was harshly critical of its services.

These are examples that do not point to a CEO who is firmly in command.

There is no doubt that Ghosh had a phenomenal connect with the people (he knew most employees, including junior ones by name) and played a stellar role in the success of IndiGo.

But the founders may have thought it's time to go for a rejig of the top leadership team which can take care of the growing demands of an airline that has grown much bigger than they could have ever imagined.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.'1998-1999 was the only year in the last quarter century that India had net-negative foreign investment.'

'Foreign money ran away from India that year because capital is a coward and does not like uncertainty of the sort produced by such casual treatment of a destructive technology,' says Aakar Patel.



IMAGE: From right, Dr Farooq Abdullah, then Union minister; R Chidamabaram, then chairman, Atomic Energy Commission; A P J Abdul Kalam, then chief scientific advisor to the prime minister; then defence minister George Fernandes, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and others celebrate the successful nuclear tests, May 1998.

On May 11 and 13, 1998, India conducted five nuclear explosions in the Pokhran range in Rajasthan. This came 24 years after the first test in 1974, also in Pokhran.

Indira Gandhi had then violated the terms under which nuclear technology was imported from Canada and India faced sanctions.

That first test came in a period which was decidedly unstable. China had become a nuclear power 10 years before that, in the mid-1960s, becoming the last of the five veto holders in the United Nations to get an atom bomb.

It was a period also during which much of the world was at war. The United States was finishing a bloody conflict in Vietnam and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was five years down the line when Indira tested.

The world was less predictable and conflict more common in the 1970s. During the Korean war, America's top general Douglas MacArthur had threatened nuclear strikes against China and North Korea so casually that even the Americans were alarmed.

This was the background to Indira's tests 44 years ago.

Under Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998, there was no such compulsion.

This was the period after the cold war had ended, the Soviet Union having collapsed, and on the cusp of the information technology revolution.

It become clear in this period that Bangalore would lead India to a brave new services-led economic future.

It was a period when the economic rise of nations like Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and the other Asian tigers proved that power lay in wealth and not weaponry.

North Korea, which was a big military power but with millions of impoverished citizens, only proved this further.

We did not have any debate over the tests in 1998. The Vajpayee government had in fact wanted to test nuclear weapons during its first 13-day government, but an alarmed bureaucracy had said it could not agree to this.

This shows how casually the tests were actually taken. There were celebrations, including firecrackers and sweets, which ensured that there was no debate after the tests either and certain basic questions were neither asked nor answered.

Twenty years later, when the emotion has gone and the issue is now boring, let us look at those questions:

First, did the tests make India a nuclear power? The answer is no.

Indira and India were punished by the world after 1974, denying us access to nuclear technology, precisely because we had violated the earlier terms by weaponising our programme. The 1998 tests repeated that.

Second, did it make India safer? The answer is no.

One year after Pokhran, in May 1999, Pakistan provoked a war in Kargil, in which we lost 500 soldiers. Ten years after that we had the attack in Mumbai.

The most violent phase of the conflict in Kashmir was actually after Pokhran, in 2001, when 4,500 people died.

Third, did it improve our nuclear technology? The answer here is also no.

The Manmohan Singh government made a deal with the United States, but it has not got anywhere.

Fourth, did it raise India's status? The answer is no.

India has long insisted it should be a member of the United Nations Security Council. The nuclear tests did not help us get there. Most likely it harmed us.

Narendra D Modi decided India should be a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, but that has not got anywhere either.

Fifth, did it the tests help us produce more electricity because of nuclear technology? The answer is no. India's focus today has become solar rather than nuclear.

Sixth, did it alter the power dynamics of the South Asia region? The answer is no.

Pakistan tested in Balochistan's Chagai region only a few days after Pokhran and today there is a nuclear stalemate on the subcontinent.

We can no longer use our conventional superiority for fear that the conflict will escalate.

China has pushed its economic initiative strongly in our region and today our concern is not its military might but its ability to take away all of our options.

Today Pakistan is actually ahead in terms of the number of nuclear devices it has produced, according to many sources. It is indisputable that it is our action of 1998 that drove them to it.

These were the questions we should have asked ourselves, but did not, in 1998.

Any mature society and particularly a democracy should have debated a move that will have such far reaching consequences. We treated it like setting off a firecracker.

Knowing all this would we still have gone ahead with the tests? I will leave it for the reader to decide. I cannot figure out a single benefit that the tests gave us.

I will point to one significant loss. 1998-1999 was the only year in the last quarter century that India had net-negative foreign investment.

Foreign money ran away from India that year because capital is a coward and does not like uncertainty of the sort produced by such casual treatment of a destructive technology.

The loss to India and its economy from this has not ever been discussed. And as the lack of celebrations on the 20th anniversary show, we have moved on as if nothing happened.

Aakar Patel is Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are his own.'If only Cariappa/Thimayya/Chaudhari/Manekshaw were given a free hand, there'll be no PoK, the Chinese would have been taught a lesson, 1965 would have slain the Pak demon and in 1971 just another fortnight's fighting after Bangladesh and West Pakistan would have been occupied.'

'No authoritative military account suggests anything remotely like any of these...'

'...Chronologies, names, even periods get mixed up, but, never mind, because the point -- strong Army denied by cowardly Congress -- is made.'

'This is where Modi is coming from,' points out Shekhar Gupta.



IMAGE: The legendary General K S 'Timmy' Thimayya

The prime minister mixing up military history is between him and his aides.

If only they had checked Wikipedia they would have known that (the then) General K M Cariappa (not General K S Thimayya) became the first Indian Army chief on January 15, 1949, and that is the reason it is celebrated as Army Day.

General Cariappa was just 50 (born 1899) when he took over. They made much younger chiefs then.

That history can get you in a twist partly because of rapid developments that were taking place.

For clarity: Both the Indian and Pakistani armies were led by British commanders through the 1947-48 campaign. They often exchanged notes with each other as the fighting went on.

As if that wasn't complicated enough, the operations on both sides were handed over to 'native' commanders dealing directly with the political leadership.

India picked Cariappa to lead the Kashmir campaign. Then a lieutenant general, he was made to head the Delhi and East Punjab command. He promptly renamed it the Western Command.

Confusion arises because Cariappa, in turn, hand-picked a fellow Coorgi, Major General K S Thimayya, coincidentally the initial 'K' in both their names stands for Kodandera, their common clan.

Cariappa sent Thimayya to command the Kashmir (later 19th) division, which did the crucial fighting in the early months. The Coorgis (or Kodavas) are a small and super-successful ethnic group.

In the fifties, these names were both unfamiliar and similar-sounding. Both worked together, earned well-deserved heroism in the Kashmir campaign, and became chiefs.

Thimayya, unlike Cariappa (whose defence minister was the genial Sardar Baldev Singh, whose name preceded Santa-Banta for the good-hearted joke industry), had run-ins with his defence minister, V K Krishna Menon.

Menon, a deep-crimson Communist, detested the starched, Anglicised Army brass.

Thimayya had no patience with his minister's constant interference. The late Inder Malhotra, among the finest chroniclers of those years, recounted the delightful story of how Thimayya once wanted to take leave to avoid another inevitable face-off with Menon and his aide asked him what he should mention as the reason.

'Just say I have a touch of Menongitis,' Thimayya said.

Thimayya resigned in angry protest in 1959, only to be persuaded by then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to withdraw and complete his term in 1961.

All this, and the quaint Coorgi coincidence can confuse ordinary folk. But how can it also get the prime minister and his office mixed up? We might have a plausible hypothesis.



IMAGE: General K M Cariappa greets Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Our history of 25 years after Independence is marked with wars, large ones with Pakistan (1947-48, 1965 and 1971) and China (1962), and small ones in Hyderabad (1948), Goa (1960) and again China in Sikkim's Nathu La, 1967.

Barring 1971, none of the major ones was a clear Indian victory. The one of 1962 was a clear defeat, 1965 was a tired stalemate and 1947-48 was an unfinished business.

A belief-set has been consistently built through decades by the political class that the army could have done much better if it wasn't let down by the political leaders of the day.

To say that the politicians swallowed this poison to cover for the armed forces is an oversimplification, but only because they had no choice.

These were the post-colonial world's perilous decades. Democratic institutions were still forming up and the armies were taking over, notably next door.

The political class, led by Nehru, had many anxieties when civil-military equations were still evolving. The challenge was establishing civilian/political pre-eminence.

At the same time, a civil-military tension was to be avoided. Small fact: General (Later Field Marshal) Ayub Khan, who grabbed power in Pakistan in 1958, had served as colonel under Cariappa in his brigade in the Frontier.

A strategic doctrine of politico-military story-telling, therefore, was built over these years. That the armed forces and their commanders could do no wrong.

All blame for setbacks, or a lack of success, was to be taken by politicians.

Of course, success would be shared, as Indira Gandhi did after 1971. This hasn't changed since.

Kargil, 1999, was more a failure of the military leadership than of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

How did the Pakistanis manage to come in so deep, dig in across such a large frontier, undetected?

Once again, a convenient (but necessary) mythology was created. The blame was parked with civilian intelligence, very few in the army leadership were called to account, and all we now remember are stories of heroism and victory.

Because the doctrine of quarantining the armed forces from any criticism was, and is, vital.

The armed forces have institutional continuity, so blaming individual leaders would bring the entire institution into disrepute.

Politicians will come and go, usually replaced and always criticised by rivals.

Probably the most authentic account of these fateful decades is in a recent publication: Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy since Independence by Yale professor Steven Wilkinson.

He describes these tensions in a manner most Indians -- including, honestly, this writer -- would be afraid to. He writes, for example, of the anxiety the politicians had over the army's domination by the Punjabis, and the steps they took to widen its base, finally leading to Babu Jagjivan Ram's landmark decision to bring state population-based recruitment quotas.

Not all states fill up their shares and these devolve on others. But the fake colonial 'martial races' theory is being systematically rolled back.

By the way, the state to take the largest share beyond its own quota isn't one the British or even the ethos we inherited considered particularly martial. It is Kerala.

Accounts by Wilkinson and other chroniclers all tell us that one reason India was able to rebuild its military after Krishna Menon's eccentric depredations and the disaster of 1962 was also two sagacious defence ministers during the warring 1962-1971 decade, Y B Chavan and Jagjivan Ram.

You never heard them blame any generals. Generals Thapar and B M Kaul took the rap for 1962, but mostly it was blamed on a politician, Krishna Menon's door.

It was Y B Chavan who took the call to classify the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report and keep it from Parliament.

Not because it would have exposed any secrets to the Chinese, but because it was critical for the army's performance and leadership and ran contrary to the Haqeeqat-ised victimhood version (as immortalised by Chetan Anand's film by that name), laced with Lata Mangeshkar's Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon.... Fifty-six years later, it is still classified.

Through the decades, a spiced up, hyper-nationalist version of this history was built: That the generals were always doing the right thing but the politicians came in the way.

It goes like: If only Cariappa/Thimayya/Chaudhari/Manekshaw were given a free hand, there'll be no Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the Chinese would have been taught a lesson and Tibet liberated, 1965 would have slain the Pak demon and in 1971 just another fortnight's fighting after Bangladesh and West Pakistan would have been occupied.

No authoritative military account from any side suggests anything remotely like any of these. But a 'my Army strongest' sentiment was essential in a new democracy while it firmly kept the soldiers out of the power structure.

In the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh lore, it was embellished further. It helped that most of these 'pusillanimous' leaders were of their detested Gandhi dynasty.

In the RSS versions it became something like: Cariappa/ Thimayya/Chaudhari pleaded with the PM of the day, give me a little more time please. But the Gandhi-Nehrus got cold feet, or worse, were complicit with foreign powers.

The only trouble here is Shastri in 1965, whom the RSS deifies. But, in the din of rhetoric, you gloss over it. Ask anybody with an RSS exposure and you will hear the same argument.

In that process, chronologies, names, even periods do get mixed up, but, never mind, because the point -- strong Army denied by effete, cowardly Congress -- is made.

This is where PM Modi is coming from. And also why he and his aides got it so mixed up.

By special arrangement with ThePrint'Even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did.'

'That is because both the leaders do not want it.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, China, April 28, 2018. Photograph: Courtesy, @MEAIndia/Twitter

Will the informal two-day summit between Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan and their plan to meet three more times in 2018 introduce a new era in the India-China relationship?

Colonel R Hariharan, below, is a retired military intelligence specialist on South Asia who. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia Analysis Group.

"The priority given by the two nations is how to take the agenda forward without coming into clash with each other," Colonel Hariharan tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.

How do you look at the Modi-Xi meeting at Wuhan? Is it more business than politics?

If you see the open agenda they had, both sides have emphasised the word 'informal'. So, it was a free discussion of the two leaders.

After the Doklam debacle, it was to be a free discussion and they would have discussed many key issues.

And there was no joint statement this time.

But the statements by the Chinese foreign office and the ministry of external affairs have some common ground. The key issue I notice is that China recognises India's growth as an economic power.

The MEA statement also says Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping underline the importance of building an open, multipolar, pluralist and participatory global economic order which will allow all countries to pursue, develop and contribute to the elimination of poverty and inequality.

This is the sum total of the Wuhan meeting.

There is a big churning that has happened after Trump came to power.

The unpredictability of Trump is the reason why the two Koreas are also coming together.

So, it is an advantage for China if nuclear disarmament happens in the Korea peninsula as it provides a strategic cushion for China.

China is trying along with India, Russia and Brazil to bring in a new alternate world order which will not be dominated by the Western powers. Everything from the IMF to the World Bank is now dominated by the US and the European Union.

The priority given by the two nations is how to take the agenda forward without coming into clash with each other.

There are areas of competitive trade and competitive power play which can happen between any big powers.

India being a neighbour, China would not want this to happen now.

I think both Modi and Xi have timed the summit to suit their own requirement.

With a trade war imminent between the US and China, do you think this informal summit is significant for China because of the huge market that India is?

You will be surprised China has over 1,000 trade agreements with the US. There is no question of India replacing the US as a trade partner.

Investment in America is so much that China holds US government bonds in billions of dollars. You cannot sever China-US trade relations. They will manoeuvre somehow to adjust.

India, of course, is a big market, still untapped for China.

There is a huge infrastructure plan on which China has expertise in and money to invest, and it is competing with Japan.

If you look at the China statement, you will see a slight difference in emphasis; it starts by saying both sides agree with the view that the international landscape is undergoing a profound change. It has used the term, the 'new world order'.

Do you think the direction of the talks may have been on the new world order?

It cannot be. India has very close relations with the US, particularly in domestic security and Indian Ocean security. You cannot say, because of that, we are doing this.

We are also expanding our interests in the world, probably a little less than China.

For example, with Iran, India is trying to build relations and through that, enter the Central Asian markets.

In Africa, India is using French bases and this is done after the Macron visit. Macron wants India, Australia and France to join together for strategic security in the Indian Ocean.

Nobody is sure about what Trump would do next.

Do you think China's initiatives all around us -- the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Maritime Silk Road Project in Sri Lanka, the Belt and Road Initiative in Nepal and Bangladesh -- are something to worry for India?

These are inevitable. China has got money and it is investing in these countries, which India cannot match.

At the same time, countries like Nepal have huge links with India which China can never substitute.

India provides a lot of employment opportunities to the people of Nepal.

Unless China opens its market with a competitive price, the trade balance will never be the same.

Nepal's infrastructure is very bad and China has the money and wherever there is a problem, China will leverage it to its advantage.

Is it to checkmate India?

Absolutely not. This is the mistake we are making. Whether you checkmate or otherwise, the Chinese will come.

In India itself, they have come and they are India' biggest trading partner.

For example, the mobile market in India is totally ruled by the Chinese. Like the US came earlier with a lot of money in the pocket, China is doing that.

The road initiatives, the Maritime Silk Road Project and the Belt and Road Initiative are also part of China's expanding interests.

To protect those interests, PLA (the People's Liberation Army) will follow and you will see China getting increasingly involved in these countries militarily. It will use it when there is a crisis.

In Pakistan, they are opening a second base. They will also ensure that the regime remains friendly to them.

Is China interested in these markets or are they going there because India is a big power in this area?

It is inevitable that the Indian market will be exploited. For example, India has a free trade agreement with Sri Lanka which is going quite well.

So, when China starts business in Sri Lanka with Chinese capital, they can export to India. You cannot stop it.

Colombo harbour is used by Indian ships and China has opened a modern carrier terminal in Colombo.

Today, India along with Japan are offering its own deals to Sri Lanka like the India-Japan power plant. Similarly, an India-Japan investment is happening in Africa also.

This is the strategy both India and Japan are using to counter China.

How much should India be worried?

It is not a question of worrying. The more powerful you become, the more you take care of your own security.

Pakistan has a strategic agreement with China and Chinese troops are protecting Chinese investments and interests.

Naturally, it will affect India's security perception. When you have a hostile neighbourhood, you have to take measures.

Prime Minister Modi has been visiting many countries including our neighbours. Do you think we have better relations with everyone now except perhaps Pakistan?

I would say we have the best relations with our neighbours now.

You should not compare our neighbour's relations with China.

You should not think that just because Nepal has better relations with India, it shouldn't have good relations with China.

Bangladesh has very good relations with China for many years. When India refused to supply arms to them, China has been the main arms supplier to Bangladesh.

As long as your border disputes with China are unresolved, Nepal and Bangladesh are very vital to Indian security.

India is vulnerable in the east.

In the statement after the Wuhan summit, China has mentioned that it will try to resolve the border disputes by holding talks.

Many experts say China can never trusted. On one side, you may have such friendly informal talks, but on the other side, there can be a Doklam.

Do you think China cannot be trusted?

I would say, there are no permanent friends, there are only permanent interests.

I attach symbolism to this meeting. Chinese also has this symbolism.

At the same location, the Nixon-Mao meeting took place. Obama also came to Wuhan.

Wuhan is a historical place and now, Modi also has come to this place. It is not the case with the earlier meetings of all the others.

It showed the level of confidence China has in India.

For a long time, India had been cribbing that China did not recognise India as an equal partner.

Through the meeting, China sent the signal that we do recognise the importance of India though not on par.

Do you think it was a positive step in India-China relations?

After Doklam, China must have been surprised by India's strong reactions.

They are now trying to take the confidence both countries have for each other to a higher level.

The objective of the meeting also was to enhance trust.

Is that why they have established a hotline between the two militaries?

Yes. Confidence building will come through at two levels.

One is through diplomacy and the other is military diplomacy.

Will we have good relations with China or will it always be bitter-sweet?

We are having normal and good relations with China now. The problem is, both India and China have media which focus only on the negative aspects.

The positive aspect is there are less chances of a Doklam happening now and even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did. That is because both the leaders do not want it.

The visa regime has to go now. Indian tourists are going to China, but not the other way around.

Businesses have to open up in China. Then only, I will say we have a truly happy relationship.

Also, there has to be a balance of trade which at present is in favour of China.

When China invests more in India, there will be a change.

It is a fact that for stability in South Asia, China has to have a good workable relationship with India.

That doesn't mean you wish away the problems; they will be there.Egypt condemned on Monday the terrorist attack in Indonesia that targeted a police station and said it wished a speedy recovery for the injured, the foreign ministry announced.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said the Egyptian people and government stood with their Indonesian counterparts against the terrorist attacks that had targeted the government over the past 48 hours.

Militants on Monady detonated explosives from a motorcycle at a police station in the city of Surabaya, on Java Island. At least 10 people were reportedly injured.

The attack in Surabaya comes 24 hours after suicide bombings at three churches in the city by members of one family killed at least 13 people.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Egyptian foreign ministry also demanded more international efforts to stand against the phenomenon of terrorism that targets security and stability all over the world.

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Yechury could play the role Harkishan Singh Surjeet had played in 1996 and 2004 to unify the opposition, writes Archis Mohan.

IMAGE: Yechurys troubles within his party, however, are far from over. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI Photo

Until a few years back, it was usual for the national headquarters of the Communist Party of India-Marxist at the AK Gopalan Bhavan in New Delhi to wear a deserted look by 5.30 in the evening.

The office would also come alive by 11 am.

Such discipline wasnt just unusual for a national party, but the regimented timetable left party leaders disappointed when they would come visiting from across the country hoping for a freewheeling discussion with the party boss.

Sitaram Yechury, elected the partys fifth general secretary at its Vishakhapatnam congress in April 2015, brought back to AKG Bhavan the temperament of a mainstream political party, a throwback to the days of Harkishan Singh Surjeet, who served as the party chief from 1992 to 2005, when party leaders could drop in unannounced but knew they would get a patient hearing.

Yechury, 65, has taken to not only start his day early, but can be found, whenever he is in Delhi, at the AKG Bhavan until late evening, catching up with party leaders over a smoke and a tall glass of black tea, or eating the frugal vegetarian lunch with them and the office staff in the office kitchen.

The CPI-M has suffered many electoral reverses since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

It currently has one of its poorest legislative presences in Parliament since it was formed in 1964 -- it lost the West Bengal assembly polls in 2016 emphatically and recently also lost its 25-year-old government in Tripura.

However, since 2015 the CPI-M has also been at times the only political formation fighting the Narendra Modi government on the ground and has become a lynchpin for people's movements on issues of farmers, tribals, Dalits, workers and minorities.

In the aftermath of the Dadri mob lynching in September 2015, Yechury galvanised litterateurs and academics to return their government awards in protest.

Under Yechury, the CPI-M was also the first major political party to express solidarity with the Dalit cause, and organised protests in New Delhi and elsewhere in the country against the increasing atrocities on the community.

The All India Kisan Sabha, its peasants union, has led several successful agitations in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, including the long march by farmers from Nashik to Mumbai in March.

Along with Sharad Yadav and others, Yechury has also been a key organiser of conferences on 'saving India's composite culture'.

Yechurys performance in the Rajya Sabha, that most opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, heed his advice, his friendships with leading politicians struck over the last three decades, and his understanding of the media have helped the CPI-M punch much above its weight on the national stage despite its dwindling legislative presence.

At the recently concluded party congress in Hyderabad, Yechury was re-elected the party chief for a three-year term in the face of opposition by the Prakash Karat camp. The support for Yechury was overwhelming among the party delegates, several of whom believe him to be best suited to fill the big shoes left by Surjeet and revive the party.

Yechurys troubles within his party, however, are far from over.

But at a time when the opposition is looking at giving Modi-led BJP a 'one on one' fight in most seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Yechury, with his "intellectual property right" on outside support, with no personal ambitions of power and pelf, could play the role Surjeet had played in 1996 and 2004 to unify the opposition.The informal summit will be held in Russian city of Sochi on May 21.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the ministry of external affairs announced on Monday.

The informal summit will be held in Russian city of Sochi.

"This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our Special and Privileged Strategic partnership," the MEA said in a statement.

It said both the leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters.

"This informal Summit in Sochi between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels," the MEA said.

Last month, Modi had travelled to Chinese city of Wuhan for an informal summit with President Xi Jingpin.A Special National Investigation Agency court in Kochi on Monday convicted 18 people in the December 2007 Wagamon SIMI arms training camp case.

The court also acquitted 17 others.

Special Judge Kauser Edappagath found the convicts guilty under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosives Substances Act and various sections of Indian Penal Code.

The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Tuesday.

While only two accused were produced on Monday in the court, the others who are lodged in various jails in Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Bengaluru, attended the proceedings via multi-point video conference.

The National Investigation Agency which probed the case had charged the accused with involvement in terror activities and being in cahoots with terror groups besides criminal conspiracy and violation of Arms Act among others.

The case was investigated on the basis of complaint that a secret training camp was organised allegedly by Students Islamic Movement of India at Thangalpara, Wagamon in the state during December, 2007.

It is alleged that in and around November 2007, office bearers and functionaries of SIMI, a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, entered into a criminal conspiracy in Choral, Indore, Madhya Pradesh to conduct training camps for their active cadres.

NIA has alleged that they conducted camps at Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat from December 10, 2007 to December 12, 2007.

They organised a secret training camp at Thangalpara, Wagamon within the limits of Mundakayam Police Station, Kottayam (Kerala).

The agency alleged that the SIMI cadres were involved in physical training, arms training, firing practices, manufacture of bombs/petrol bombs, motor bike racing and rope climbing practices in the camp.

They also allegedly conducted jihadi classes in the camp with an intention to train the cadres to advocate, incite and abet unlawful, terrorist activities, disrupt communal harmony and causing threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, thereby waging war against Government of India.Chinas first indigenously-developed aircraft carrier began sea trials on Sunday, official media reported, a historic step in the countrys quest to modernise its military and bolster its naval presence in the disputed regional waters.

IMAGE: The 50,000-metric tonne vessel will become the countrys second aircraft carrier, and the first to be entirely built and designed inside of China, when it joins the navy sometime before 2020. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

The 50,000-metric tonne vessel left a shipyard of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry in Liaoning province around 7 am (local time) against thick fog and with assistance from several tugboats, before navigating into the sea using its own propulsion, state-run China Daily reported.

The vessel will become the countrys second aircraft carrier, and the first to be entirely built and designed inside of China, when it joins the navy sometime before 2020.

The navy said in a statement that the trial aims to demonstrate the reliability and capability of the ships propulsion systems.

The still-unnamed carrier was launched this time last year but since then has been undergoing fitting of weapons and other systems and has not yet entered service.

China launched the new aircraft after it commissioned the first carrier the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Union-made vessel in 2012.

IMAGE: Chinese experts have said that the missions for the new carrier will be different from those for the Liaoning, which is mainly tasked with testing equipment and weapons as well as training personnel. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

Though Liaoning has become operational, it is being mostly used for research and improvements for the new carriers China plans to build.

Reports said China is already building its third aircraft carrier in Shanghai. China reportedly plans to have four aircraft carriers by 2030 to beef up its navy as it asserts its claims in the disputed South China Sea.

Few countries in the world have aircraft carriers. Besides India, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Thailand and China operate a total of 18 aircraft carriers.

The US is the largest operator as it runs 11 nuclear-powered carriers with each having a full-load displacement of about 100,000 tonnes.

Some reports said China is also planning to build a nuclear aircraft carrier.

Chinese experts have said that the missions for the new carrier will be different from those for the Liaoning, which is mainly tasked with testing equipment and weapons as well as training personnel.

The new vessel, by comparison, will focus on what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do like conducting combat-ready patrols and safeguarding Chinas maritime sovereignty and interests, the report said.

China has developed a new jet fighter called A J-15 fighter to operate from the decks of its carriers.

IMAGE: The new carrier has more than 12,000 pieces of equipment that were made by 532 Chinese enterprises including many private firms. The vessel has more than 3,600 cabins. About 3,000 workers from across the country worked on the ship on a daily basis. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

The second aircraft carriers name and hull code remain unknown as the Peoples Liberation Army Navy usually makes public such information when a ship is commissioned.

The new carrier has a conventional propulsion system. Like the Liaoning, it will use a ramp to launch J-15 fighter jets. The ship will also carry several types of helicopters.

The new carrier has more than 12,000 pieces of equipment that were made by 532 Chinese enterprises including many private firms, the report said.

The vessel has more than 3,600 cabins. About 3,000 workers from across the country worked on the ship on a daily basis.

Officials of the navy said, several aspects of the new carrier are different from those on the Liaoning. For example, the new ships island is shorter and the landing section is longer.The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party has issued a statement dismissing all claims with regard to former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's remarks on 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, stating it has been 'grossly misinterpreted' by the Indian media.

The statement shared by Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, on Twitter read, "The PML-N would like to set the record straight on the interview of PML-N Quaid carried yesterday by DAWN. At the outset, statement of the Quaid has been grossly misinterpreted by the Indian media."

"The PML-N as the country's premier popular national political party and its Quaid need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistan's national security," it further read, criticising opposition leaders, who have been questioning his loyalty towards Pakistan.

On May 11, Sharif in an exclusive interview to a Pakistan daily, The Dawn, had appeared to admit that terrorists sent by Pakistan were responsible for the 26/11 attacks.

"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Nawaz noted in the interview in a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

The Mumbai attacks-related trials are stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

United States President Donald Trump had accused Pakistan of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.

Sharif, 68, was disqualified by the Supreme Court for not being "honest and righteous" as he failed to declare in 2013 a salary he got from the company of his son in the UAE.

In February, the apex court also disqualified Sharif as the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Citing the military and judiciary establishment, Sharif further said: You can't run a country if you have two or three parallel governments. This has to stop. There can only be one government -- the constitutional one.

The relations between the military and the Sharif government were at its lowest ebb in October 2016 when the latter told the former to act against home grown militant groups or face international isolation.

The Mumbai attack case has entered into the 10th year but none of its suspects in Pakistan has been punished yet, showing that the case had never been in the priority list of the country that appears to be keen to put it under the carpet.

A number of Pakistani witnesses both official and private testified and provided evidence against the seven accused, but the Pakistani authorities have been insisting on sending Indian witnesses for reaching a verdict in the case.

Some 166 people were killed in the attack carried out by 10 LeT men. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and hanged after handed down death sentence.

With inputs from PTIShashi Tharoor called the chargesheet "preposterous" and said he intends to contest it "vigorously".

The Delhi Police on Monday accused Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar and told a Delhi court that his custodial interrogation was necessary as investigation was yet to be concluded.

The police filed a nearly 3,000-page chargesheet in the court, naming Tharoor as the only person as accused in the case and claiming that there was enough evidence to proceed against him.

The police has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

Meanwhile, Tharoor has termed the chargesheet "preposterous" and said he intends to contest it "vigorously".

"I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part," he tweeted.

"It does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!," Tharoor added.

The chargesheet in the mysterious death of Pushkar was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh, who will consider it on May 24.

The agency also urged the court to summon Tharoor, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, as an accused.

The couple's domestic servant Narayan Singh is one of the key witnesses in the case.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The chargesheet, which includes several annexures, said that Pushkar died within three years, three months and 15 days of her marriage with Tharoor.

The couple had entered the wedlock on August 22, 2010.

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of the South Delhi hotel on January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation.

An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

According to a prosecution sources, the chargesheet has mentioned that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty.

After all the possible and material evidence collected and verified, it was felt that his custodial interrogation would be required in the case, the charge sheet, which contains several medical reports, said.

Tharoor has not been arrested in the case so far as he had joined the investigation when required.

The Delhi high court had last year in October 26 dismissed Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking a court-monitored special investigation team probe into the death of Pushkar, terming his PIL as a "textbook example of a political interest litigation".

Later, Swamy moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order which asked the BJP leader to satisfy the court on the question of maintainability of his plea.

The SIT on April 20 had told the apex court that a draft final report has been prepared after conducting "thorough professional and scientific investigations" in the case relating to the death of Congress MP 's wife.

The Delhi Police, in its affidavit filed in the apex court, had said then that a draft final report has been sent to the prosecution department of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi for "legal scrutiny" and it would be filed in the concerned trial court after being vetted.The United States on Monday opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump that has infuriated the Palestinians, who clashed with Israeli soldiers who shot dead at least 52 of them in Gaza, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

IMAGE: A worker is seen inside the new US embassy compound during preparations for its opening ceremony, in Jerusalem, on Monday. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters



Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue.

"Today, we officially opened the United States embassy in Jerusalem. Congratulations. It's been a long time coming," President Trump said in a recorded video at the US embassy opening in Jerusalem.

"Israel is a sovereign nation, with the right like any other sovereign nation, to designate its capital," he said.

The American leader said the US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians. He said that his country supports status quo at the Temple Mount, a flashpoint of Israel-Palestinian conflict that houses the Western Wall (holiest site for the Jews) and the al-Aqsa mosque -- known as Haram al-Sharif.

"This city and entire nation is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people," Trump emphasised.

Later, the US President tweeted, 'Big day for Israel. Congratulations!'

The inauguration ceremony started with the singing of the American anthem and the presentation of colours by US Marines.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman noted that Washington, which became the first country to recognise the State of Israel, has now taken 'a step awaited, voted upon, and litigated and prayed for for all these years'.

"Again the United States leads the way," in relocating the embassy, he said.

The move is the result of the 'vision, the courage, and the moral clarity' of President Trump, to whom we own an 'enormous and eternal debt of gratitude', the US envoy stressed.

IMAGE: From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin during the dedication ceremony. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters



"We have shown the world once again that the US can be trusted," said Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the President and Trump's son-in-law.

He also hailed Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal, saying the President announced his intention to exit the 'dangerous, flawed and one-sided Iran deal'.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Trump for keeping his promise.

"Thank you, President Trump, for having the courage to keep your promise," he said.

"Thank you, President Trump for making the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever," he said.

"You can only build peace on truth. And the truth is that Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he asserted.

A high-level American delegation that includes Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Kushner, senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt attended the embassy opening ceremony.

IMAGE: Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters



Meanwhile, Palestinians, who protested massively along the Gaza border clashed with Israeli forces, leading to the death of at least 52 of them.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 52 people have been killed and more than 2,400 people suffered injuries.

Of the 52 killed on Monday, at least six were below the age of 18, including one female. And, of more than 2,400 wounded, at least 200 were below the age of 18 and 11 were journalists.

The Palestinian protestors burned tires and threw stones at the soldiers, trying to approach the fence.

The Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and headquartered in the West Bank town of Ramallah accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' as the death toll soared.

IMAGE: A female Palestinian demonstrator gestures during the protest. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters



Seeking international intervention, Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud said that it was an urgent requirement given 'the terrible massacre in Gaza committed by the forces of the Israeli occupation against our heroic people'.

The death toll made it the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a statement accusing Hamas, which controls Gaza, of 'leading a terrorist operation' and inciting protesters who had amassed by the border fence with Israel to conduct what Israel described as terror attacks.

The IDF estimated that around 35,000 people -- who it describes as 'violent rioters' -- had assembled in 12 different locations along the border fence between Gaza and Israel and thousands more were gathered in a tent city about a kilometer from the border.

The military said the protesters threw Molotov cocktails, burned tyres, and stones at Israeli soldiers positioned along the fence.

The State Department noted that the opening of the new embassy will take place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of the State of Israel, the day of its founding and a day that Palestinians refer to as 'the Catastrophe', as hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

The embassy move is contentious for Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital, and for many in the Arab world, as it is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam.

The city is also home to deeply holy sites for Jews and Christians.

The issue has been so thorny that international negotiators had left the question of Jerusalem to the final stages of any peace deal.The Youth Movement in Sahrawi Refugee Camps

Publisher International Crisis Group (ICG) Author Hannah Armstrong Publication Date 25 April 2018 Cite as International Crisis Group (ICG), The Youth Movement in Sahrawi Refugee Camps, 25 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5af0038a4.html [accessed 9 October 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

25 April 2018

The Youth Movement in Sahrawi Refugee Camps

Refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, have long been run by the Polisario movement, which seeks an independent state in Western Sahara, also claimed by Morocco. But a new generation of Sahrawi refugees is growing fractious as aid dwindles and diplomatic efforts fail to deliver a settlement.

Set deep in the desert outside Tindouf, Algeria, the Sahrawi refugee camps are a remote yet lively political hub. The camps are home to 173,000 refugees of a forgotten conflict: an older generation who remember the war against Morocco from 1975 to 1991, and a younger generation born in the camps since the latter year's ceasefire agreement. All are active in the struggle for a return to the disputed territory of Western Sahara, a 100,000-square-mile coastal stretch of desert now mostly controlled by Morocco. The camps resemble other Saharan settlements, with trucks threading through low sand-clad structures and herds of camels, goats and sheep grazing the desert bush. But their politics are unique: the Polisario Front, a military and political movement formed in the early 1970s to fight for independence for Western Sahara, controls them.

Living conditions in the seven Tindouf camps have improved a great deal since 1976, when Sahrawi refugees first fled here from fighting between the Polisario and the Moroccan army. With the men in combat, nomad women, with no experience in administration, had to set up rudimentary structures for social welfare. Over the next 40 years, the camps grew and the Polisario invested heavily in education and health. In the past several years, more schools  including kindergartens, a film school and an arts academy  and clinics have popped up, and six of the seven camps have been connected to electricity grids. With electrification, access to the Internet  and its galaxy of virtual worlds  has become widely available.

Between aid reduction and ambient despair, the Polisario risks losing control of the generation born and raised in the camps.

But while some doors have opened, others are closing. The international assistance upon which the camps rely is shrinking: an aid worker said annual donations had dropped from $10 million to $7 million over the past several years. Jobs in the camps are scarce. A senior Polisario defence official said an unusually high number of youths, perhaps 500, left the camps in mid-2017 in search of work. In general, though, opportunities for legal migration to Europe  normally to Spain, the former colonial power in Western Sahara  are fewer. Between aid reduction and ambient despair, the Polisario risks losing control of the generation born and raised in the camps. "Without work and without money, men are fragile. The temptation toward migration, extremism or narco-trafficking is strong", the senior defence official said.

Meanwhile, the Internet allows youths to express themselves outside of traditional channels. "There's a sense of transition from a mass movement to something less centralised", a 30-year-old video blogger and activist said. Social media is tying refugees more tightly to Sahrawis living in the parts of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, with activists circulating mobile phone videos of Moroccan repression.

Most of all, the younger generation appears to doubt that diplomatic efforts can resolve the crisis they have grown up with. "When our fathers were fighting against the Moroccan occupation, the whole world, and especially the UN, were listening to Polisario", said Hamdi, a youth leader. But not now, he continued. "Either we get our land back or we go back to war".

Souring on the UN

The Western Sahara conflict has been frozen, with a few flare-ups, since the 1991 ceasefire along a line snaking from the south-eastern corner of the Moroccan-Algerian border to the Atlantic Ocean. Moroccan soldiers sit on the western side of the line, now fortified by a berm of sand and stone two metres high, and Polisario fighters patrol the eastern side. In 1991, the UN created a peacekeeping mission with the additional mandate of supervising a referendum in Western Sahara on self-determination. The referendum has never been held and the peace process appears stuck. In many respects, the conclusions of Crisis Group's last extensive report on the conflict, published in June 2007, remain relevant today: a resolution will have to come through direct negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario, rather than the UN-led process. Since 2007 Morocco has proposed autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty as the basis for a settlement. The Polisario rejects the idea. Negotiations between 2008 and 2012 bore no fruit, with Morocco unwilling to consider any alternative to its proposal and the Polisario remaining committed to self-determination.

In the meantime, the parties' relationship with the UN has soured as both sides have become more aggressive. In November 2015, Rabat declared the secretary-general's special representative, U.S. diplomat Christopher Ross, persona non grata in the disputed territory, after he pushed to restart negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario. In 2016, it expelled dozens of civilian staffers of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) after Ban Ki-moon, then the secretary-general, used the term "occupation" to refer to Morocco's presence in Western Sahara during a trip to Sahrawi refugee camps. Rabat allowed only some of the MINURSO personnel to return following discreet talks with UN officials. For the Polisario, these incidents amount to an erosion of the UN's role, even as the status quo continues to its disadvantage, since Morocco controls two thirds of Western Sahara's territory.

In August 2017, the current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed a new envoy, Horst Kohler, a former president of Germany. Kohler embarked on a listening tour of the region as a prelude to relaunching negotiations, but thus far he has not succeeded. The Polisario remains cool to UN efforts. For its part  ahead of the annual renewal of MINURSO's mandate in late April, when Morocco and the Polisario customarily trade accusations to mobilise allies on the Security Council  Rabat is saying that the UN has been "insufficiently firm" about Polisario violations in the buffer zone. It is threatening to take military action if the supposed infractions continue. In a sense, both sides share a similar complaint: that the UN is inadequately enforcing the ceasefire.

The Guerguerat Events

The rise in tensions suggests that the conflict's structure is changing, albeit slowly. On the Polisario side, an important factor is that the movement's leader throughout most of the conflict, Mohamed Abdelaziz, died in May 2016. He had held the position of Polisario secretary general since 1976 and was the first and only president of the state the front declared, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). His successor as secretary general, Brahim Ghali, another Polisario founder, is temperamentally different: he has shown greater willingness to confront Morocco and the UN, something that has earned him credit among deeply frustrated Sahrawis.

Events in Guerguerat are a sign of this change of approach. Guerguerat is a buffer zone just outside the berm abutting the border with Mauritania. In August 2016, Morocco deployed gendarmes to supervise the construction of a road through Guerguerat. The Polisario protested that the deployment was a violation of Military Agreement No. 1 of the ceasefire, which stipulates that the berm is a line of demarcation neither party can cross.

The Polisario says that without a vote it has no option but to return to war. Morocco [...] advances its autonomy proposal as the only viable way forward.

After weeks passed with no response from the UN, Ghali dispatched Polisario fighters to the area, triggering a months-long standoff, with the two sides at times just 200m apart. It was the closest they had come to armed confrontation in decades. The Polisario also increased its high-visibility deployment of fighters to areas east of the berm (which it calls liberated territory)  despite Morocco's withdrawal of forces outside the berm in February 2017  to assert its claim to sovereignty. Most recently, in December 2017, it held a live-fire military exercise in Guerguerat that Rabat termed a provocation. Because top Polisario leaders attended, it likely was meant as one. The preceding April, the UN said it would dispatch a technical commission to investigate ceasefire violations at Guerguerat, but it has yet to do so, reportedly due to Moroccan opposition. The Polisario cites the delay as proof of the UN's bias in favour of Morocco and the status quo.

Since the idea of holding a referendum continues to structure the peace process, the Polisario says that without a vote it has no option but to return to war. Morocco, for its part, advances its autonomy proposal as the only viable way forward, and has effectively ruled out a referendum. Direct negotiations have never moved beyond this impasse. "If the referendum is not going to happen, the UN should declare this officially, so we can decide our next step", a Polisario diplomat told me.

Rays of Sahrawi Hope

"The Moroccan strategy of using the passage of time to legitimise its occupation isn't working", a Polisario minister told me. "As time passes, we are seeing more affirmations that the international community will not endorse the Western Sahara's Moroccan-ness". Countries friendly to the Polisario are also acting on the precedents set in the European court. In May 2017, South African customs officials boarded the NM Cherry Blossom, a vessel carrying 50,000 tonnes of phosphates for the Moroccan state-run Office cherifien des phosphates from the Western Saharan port of Laayoune that docked in the South African port, Port Elizabeth, on its way to New Zealand, and seized its cargo.

An area where the Polisario claims to be making progress but faces greater uncertainty is its handling of Morocco's accession to the African Union (AU) in January 2017. Morocco immediately started lobbying for the SADR's expulsion from the AU and sought to exclude the self-styled Sahrawi state from the November 2017 AU-EU summit in Abidjan. It failed in these efforts. In the Polisario's view, Morocco miscalculated its ability to shift AU member states' positions in a multilateral organisation long dominated by states sympathetic to the legality of the group's claims to self-determination, including Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa.

Polisario leaders are of two minds about Moroccan accession to the AU. They assert that the SADR's membership alongside Morocco as equals may create an opportunity to use the AU for dialogue and diplomacy, even though Rabat adamantly opposes using the AU as a negotiating channel and is trying to kick out the SADR. At the same time, the Polisario is concerned that while the AU has successfully pushed back against Morocco and remains committed to recognising the SADR, which is an AU founding member, the regional organisation no longer is the reliable ally it once was. Instead, it has become a new battleground.

MINURSO's Job

Back in the camps around Tindouf, young leaders are conflicted. On the one hand, they feel grateful for the sacrifices made by the older generation. They appreciate the efficiency of the Polisario's management of the camps and the political freedoms they enjoy there, aware that such liberties are unusual in a region where autocratic governance prevails. "We have freedom here. We can go to hospitals and schools for free; we can travel [Sahrawi refugees have broad access to training and education programs in Spain, Cuba and Algeria]; we can criticise our leader and government and send our message to the world. When I talk to him [Brahim Ghali], I feel like we're on the same level", an elected leader from Polisario's youth wing said.

On the other hand, they are impatient with the pace of diplomacy on the Western Sahara question. "If we wait for the UN Security Council to deliver the referendum and the freedom to go back to our land, we will be here for 300 years", said Hamdi, the youth leader quoted above. "I believe that the UN and MINURSO represent international protection for the Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara. If we don't go back to war, nothing will change. After all this time, I don't believe in a political solution. The UN thinks it can just give us some food and essentials and we won't bother them".

The older generation is somewhat fearful about how the ascent of these more confrontational, more militant youths will affect the Polisario movement. "We're doing our best to calm our youths, but how long can this last? Every night on TV they see Moroccans beating Sahrawis and the international community does nothing", a senior Polisario diplomat said.

The uptick in tensions raises wider questions. Is it the conflict that is frozen or the nearly three-decade-old framework for resolving it? What would the breakdown of the status quo precipitate in a regional environment that has radically changed since 1991? Both the Maghreb and the Sahel, which Western Sahara straddles, face political upheaval and violent turmoil.

With the frozen conflict showing signs of thawing  at least on the Polisario's side  while also appearing with new urgency on the EU and AU agendas, creative thinking is needed to unblock the peace process. It is complacent to imagine that the status quo can continue indefinitely. A final settlement of the conflict may be elusive for now, but are there better modalities of conflict management worth contemplating? Can the parties be pushed to modify their maximalist positions, and if so, how? These are not easy questions to answer, but they are important ones to ask  for the UN secretary-general and Secretariat, for members of the Security Council, for the involved parties, and for the Maghreb and the Sahel more broadly. UN envoy Kohler, who has started to ask some of these questions, will need the support and engagement of Security Council members to get answers, since neither side is likely to budge from its position without external pressure.

In the interim, Kohler needs space to bring a new strategic direction to efforts to resolve the conflict. For this he also will need the support of MINURSO, which is mandated to support his efforts but also to fulfil a number of operational functions. The mission should carry out the investigation it promised in Guerguerat and enforce the ceasefire  the latter in particular is critical to improving Kohler's prospects of restarting talks that remain the best option for resolving the long-running crisis and reducing prospects it again turns violent.Egypt's foreign ministry has condemned the targeting of unarmed Palestinian civilians by occupying Israeli forces, after dozens of Palestinians were killed at the Gaza border on Monday.

Demonstrators had streamed to the border with Israel to protest the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

The foreign ministry statement highlighted Egypt's strong condemnation of the targeting of Palestinian civilians, "which has created 37 martyrs so far and injured more than 1,600."

"Egypt totally rejects the use of force against civilians protesting in peaceful marches demanding their legitimate and just rights," the statement read.

The ministry also warned of "the negative consequences of such a dangerous escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories."

The statement stressed Egypt's full support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, especially the right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar, Ahmed El-Tayyeb, also issued a statement on Monday condemning the move of the embassy.

El-Tayyeb said that the decision hurts the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims across the world, who have been witnessing violations taking place near Islamic holy sites, and also at Christian holy sites.

He called on all governments, peoples, and Arab, Islamic and international institutions that believe in the values of justice and freedom to carry out their national, religious and moral duty towards Jerusalem and Palestine," the statement read.

Monday saw the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since a series of protests dubbed the "Great March of Return" began at the border with Israel on 30 March, and since the 2014 Gaza war.

Tens of thousands gathered at the border with Israel on Monday, some of them approaching Israel's border fence - a line Israeli leaders vowed Palestinians would not be allowed to breach.

Health officials said 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets, Reuters reported. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said eight journalists were among the wounded.

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RUSSIA: "Everyone has become much more cautious"

Publisher Forum 18 Author Victoria Arnold Publication Date 18 April 2018 Cite as Forum 18, RUSSIA: "Everyone has become much more cautious", 18 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5af00b324.html [accessed 9 October 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

18 April 2018

RUSSIA: "Everyone has become much more cautious"

The authorities use two Administrative Code articles to confine the exercise of freedom of religion and belief to easily regulated places, and to limited numbers of people. "Where the boundaries of lawful behaviour lie is incomprehensible," a Hare Krishna lawyer told Forum 18.Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.KAZAKHSTAN: State demands young worshippers' personal data

Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 11 April 2018 Cite as Forum 18, KAZAKHSTAN: State demands young worshippers' personal data, 11 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5af014d54.html [accessed 9 October 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 April 2018

KAZAKHSTAN: State demands young worshippers' personal data

A Kazakh regional Religious Affairs Department has demanded the personal data of everyone under 18 who attends Christian meetings for worship. "It was not sent to Muslims, for example, just to Christians, and selectively", an official stated. She refused to explain what "selectively" means.UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners of conscience freed, others not

Publisher Forum 18 Author Mushfig Bayram Publication Date 13 April 2018 Cite as Forum 18, UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners of conscience freed, others not, 13 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5af0155b4.html [accessed 9 October 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

13 April 2018

UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners of conscience freed, others not

Sisters Zulhumor and Mehrinisso Hamdamova were freed after more than eight years in prison for unauthorised religious meetings. Also freed was Zuboyd Mirzorakhimov, a Tajik citizen jailed for Muslim material on his mobile. An unconfirmed report says another Muslim Farida Sobirova was freed. Yet another, Mastura Latipova, remains jailed.Title K. v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie (C331/16), and H. F. v Belgische Staat (C366/16) (reference for preliminary ruling)

Publication Date 2 May 2018

Citation / Document Symbol ECLI:EU:C:2018:296

Cite as K. v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie (C331/16), and H. F. v Belgische Staat (C366/16) (reference for preliminary ruling) , ECLI:EU:C:2018:296 , European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union, 2 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,ECJ,5af96a5b4.html [accessed 9 October 2021]

Comments interpretation of the second subparagraph of Article 27(2), Article 28(1) and Article 28(3)(a) of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member StatesAn Ismailia criminal court issued preliminary death sentences on Monday to 13 defendants convicted of escaping El-Mostakbal prison in the Suez Canal governorate in 2016.

The court has referred the case to the country's grand mufti for a non-binding opinion on the death sentences, per Egyptian law.

The defendants include members of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis terrorist organisation, now known as Daesh Sinai, and other defendants being tried in absentia.

A final sentence will be issued by the court on 12 July.



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The law creates stiff new penalties, including prison terms, for internet crimes that threaten national security

The Egyptian parliament approved on Monday a new government-drafted law that targets cybercrimes in an initial vote.

The 45-article law, titled the Anti-Cyber and Information Technology Crimes Law, is focused on combating the danger of extremist and terrorist organisations using the internet to carry out terrorist attacks or destabilise the country.

""All of the law's 45 articles were approved in general, but as we do not have a two-thirds majority right now as required by the constitution, the final vote on this law will be postponed to a later date," parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said.

The debate in the House of Representatives on the above law came only after it took a sufficient time of study and discussion in government and parliamentary circles," he said.

"It also came after we sought the opinion of the National Council for Human Rights and the State Council which agreed that the law goes in line with the constitution," Abdel-Aal said.

Nidal El-Saeed, head of parliament's telecommunications and information technology committee, said the law was drafted in a way that guarantees a balance between the illegal abuse of the internet and securing the use of state and private statements, data and information systems.

According to El-Saeed, the first ten articles of the new law define commonly used concepts such as "website, traffic date, digital directory, personal statements and national security."

Article two regulates the activities of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and their obligations to provide national security authorities with information and technical assistance necessary to help them do their jobs.

The cybercrime bill will also permit local or foreign websites involved in broadcasting "statement, figures, photos, pictures, films or any other material that might pose a threat to national security" to be blocked.

Article three states that the law also covers foreigners who commit any of the crimes targeted by its articles as long as this crime was carried out on an Egyptian air, land or maritime means of transport, that this crime led to the killing of an Egyptian, that it was committed by a criminal gang targeting Egypt and other countries, or that the perpetrator of the crime was arrested in Egypt.

Article four obliges state authorities to reach bilateral agreements with as many foreign countries as possible on fighting cybercrimes and exchanging information in this respect.

Articles five and six state that officials who will be responsible for implementing the law will be granted judicial powers that will help them tighten the grip on cybercrimes.

Article seven also states that investigation authorities will be authorised to block any websites or online activities only after they get strong evidence that these websites are involved in broadcasting material that poses a threat to national security.

Owners of websites can appeal the block decision before the affiliated criminal court.

Article nine states that the prosecutor-general is authorised to ban defendants accused of cybercrimes from travelling abroad.

The law's first chapter on penalties, including articles from 14 to 22, covers crimes focused on assaulting information technology systems and grids.

Article 20 imposes a fine ranging from EGP 50,000 to EGP 200,000 and a two-year prison sentence on persons convicted of assaulting information systems affiliated with the state.

The second chapter, including articles 24 and 25, tackles crimes committed by information systems and technologies, and crimes related to emails.

Persons found guilty of creating an email or private account or a website in the name of another person or institution will be sentenced to three months in prison and fined between EGP 10,000 and EGP 30,000.

Chapter three covers penalties imposed on assaulting private lives; chapter four deals with managers who set up, use and administer certain websites or accounts for the purpose of committing certain crimes.

Chapter five, including articles 31 to 34, details the criminal responsibility of ISPs.

The remaining articles cover cybercrimes which target national security, national unity and social peace.

Penalties in this respect will be much tougher, including hard labour prison terms.

MPs seized discussion of the law to open fire on social websites, especially Facebook.

Saad El-Gammal, head of the Arab affairs committee, said "these should rather be called the socially destructive websites,"

"This is true as we now see that terrorist organisations have become so skilful in using social websites to destabilise countries and spread chaos," he added.

Osama Sharshar, an independent MP, said the law should be directed to fight "the electronic militias of the banned group the Muslim Brotherhood."

"These militias are very active and more dangerous than the group's armed and military militias, and so the penalties in this law should be tough enough to disqualify the electronic arms of this group," Sharshar said.

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Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles.

Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.Here is Adele Loar along with the U.K. walkers meeting Prince Harry, Expedition Patron, at Walking With The Woundeds official launch of the Walk Of America expedition, in London on April 11, 2018.The bodies of 20 Egyptian Christians who were excuted in 2015 by the Islamic State group in the Libyan city of Sirte were flown back to Egypt on Monday, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

According to Al-Ahram, 22 ambulances arrived at Cairo International Airport to transfer the remains, which were flown from Libya by private plane, to Zeinhom Morgue.

The morgue will then identify the remains through DNA samples taken from the victims' families.

In February 2015 a video was released showing Islamic State group members in Libya beheading the 20 Coptic expatriate workers, most of whom were from Samalut city in Minya.

Another victim, reportedly from Ghana, was killed in the video alongside the Egyptians.

The Egyptians bodies were discovered in October 2017.

A day after the video's release, Egypt launched airstrikes on Islamic State group hideouts in the Libyan cities of Derna and Sirte in coordination with the Libyan army.

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Egypt and Russia agreed on Monday on the importance of their joint coordination in fighting terrorism, a statement by Egypt's foreign ministry said following the conclusion of talks between the foreign ministers of both countries in Moscow.

In an official statement, Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow, discussing issues of shared interest.

Abu Zeid said both ministers exchanged viewpoints over regional issues, headed by the situation in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and the repercussions of the American withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement.

The Palestinian cause, and the escalation uncovering in the occupied territories, was also on the table of discussions.

Shoukry presented with his Russian counterpart the "steady improvement" of the Egyptian economy in the past period, with the trade exchange between the two countries amounting to $6.712 billion in 2017.

According to Abu Zeid, Russian investments in Egypt were estimated at $66.49 million in 424 companies up to January 2018, operating in the fields of tourism, construction, industry, communications, information technology, and agriculture.

"Egypt hopes for greater investments in the upcoming period to reflect the strength of the relationship and the common interests that benefit both sides," the statement said.

Both ministers said they were looking forward to the joint Egyptian-Russian economic committee on 21-23 May in Moscow, where several agreements between the two countries are set to be inked.

Monday's meeting comes as part of periodically held Egyptian-Russian two-plus-two dialogue mechanism, which involves the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries.

The meeting was the fourth after those held in Cairo in November 2013, in Moscow in February 2014, and in Cairo in May 2017.

The strategic two-plus-two mechanism between Egypt and Russia was activated in 2013, with Egypt being the sixth country to establish such a framework with Russia after the US, France, Italy, the UK, and Japan.

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Egypt will keep its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip open on Monday and plans to send humanitarian aid to the territory, after over 50 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli forces.

The aid includes food items and medical supplies, Al-Ahram Arabic reported.

The Rafah border crossing is the main gateway to the outside world for 1.8 million Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip, and is the only crossing point not controlled by Israel.

Earlier this week, Egypt said it would be opening the border crossing from Sunday to Tuesday.

Monday's announcement comes as Israeli occupying forces killed at least 55 and injured 2,700 Palestinian protesters in one of the deadliest offences against Palestinians since the 2014 Gaza war.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered on the border with Israel on Monday, some of them approaching Israel's border fence - a line Israeli leaders vowed Palestinians would not be allowed to breach - to protest the inauguration of a new American embassy in Jerusalem.

The embassy was ordered relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial decision by US President Donald Trump last December.

Earlier on Monday, Egypt issued a statement condemned the targeting of unarmed Palestinian civilians by occupying Israeli forces, rejecting the use of force against civilians protesting in peaceful marches demanding their legitimate and just rights.

Egypt has repeatedly maintained since the crisis unrolled its full support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, especially the right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.An exiled Ethiopian opposition party from the country's restive Oromiya region said it had held talks with the government, a tentative step in its aim of returning to the political fold.

The talks on Friday and Saturday followed pledges by Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, to push through democratic reforms in the wake of unrest, mainly in the Oromiya region, that threatened the ruling coalition's tight hold on Africa's second most populous nation.

The Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) was formed in 2013 by former members of the secessionist Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and seeks self-determination for ethnic Oromos, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. ODF leaders have been living in exile in Europe and North America since the early 1990s when OLF turned against the ruling coalition and was designated a "terrorist" group by the government.

"A high-level delegation of the government ... and a delegation of the Oromo Democratic Front held a fruitful discussion, from May 11-12, 2018, regarding the reforms currently unfolding in Ethiopia," the group said in a statement.

"Pursuant to its longstanding public position, the ODF reiterated its commitment to deepening and broadening the reforms and democratization process. The government delegation also expressed its enthusiasm to engage all those espousing non-violent means of struggle."

It did not disclose where the talks were held but said they were the start of a wider engagement between the two sides, and it would soon send an "advance team" to the capital Addis Ababa for formal talks.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment.

The ODF previously held lower level discussions with the government in 2015, but government officials declined to meet party leader Lencho Leta when he travelled to Ethiopia from his home in Norway for the talks.

Oromos make up roughly a third of Ethiopia's population of 100 million.

Oromiya, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa, has been plagued by violence since 2015, largely fuelled by a sense of political and economic marginalisation among its young population.

The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has been in power since 1991, when it took over from the Derg military regime. Abiy, who became prime minister in April, has told opposition leaders the country will strengthen a range of political and civil rights, in the latest sign he may be willing to push through reforms announced in the wake of violent protests.

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Israeli occupation troops shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border on Monday as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, a move that has fueled Palestinian anger and drawn foreign criticism that it undermines peace efforts.

It was the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since the Gaza offensive in 2014. Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 58 protesters were killed and 2,700 injured either by live gunfire, tear gas or other means.

The bloodshed drew calls for restraint from some countries, including France and Britain, and stronger criticism from others, with Turkey calling it "a massacre".

The White House declined to join in urging Israel to exercise restraint and pinned the blame squarely on Gaza's ruling Hamas group - backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the Israeli military's actions as self-defence of his country's borders.

In contrast to the scenes in Gaza, Israeli dignitaries and guests attended a ceremony in Jerusalem to open the US Embassy following its relocation from Tel Aviv.

The move fulfilled a pledge by US President Donald Trump, who in December recognised the holy city as the Israeli capital.

Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognised internationally, as its "eternal and indivisible capital".

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

Peace talks aimed at finding a two-state solution to the conflict have been frozen since 2014.

Trump, in a recorded message, said he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He was represented at the ceremony by his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, US envoy to the Middle East.

Kushner said it was possible for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to gain more than give in any peace deal. "Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together," he said in a speech.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States had opened an "American settlement outpost in East Jerusalem". He called the deaths in Gaza a massacre and announed a general strike on Tuesday.

South Africa said it was withdrawing its ambassador to Israel until further notice following what it called the "indiscriminate and grave" attack on Monday.

Border Bloodshed

In Gaza, Palestinian protests quickly turned into bloodshed. Tens of thousands had streamed to the edge of the coastal enclave's land border, some approaching the Israeli fence.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

Clouds of black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air. Demonstrators, some armed with slingshots, hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, who fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire.

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

Netanyahu took to Twitter to direct the blame at Hamas.

"Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," he wrote. "The Hamas terrorist organisation declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."

Hamas denied instigating the violence, but the White House backed Netanyahu. "The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," White House spokesman Raj Shah told a regular news briefing.

The 58 deaths included at least six people under 18 years of age, including one girl. The total number of fatalities since a series of protests to demand Palestinians' right to return to their ancestral homes in Israel is now 103.

They also included a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

Throughout the day sirens of ambulance vehicles carrying casualties to hospitals wailed almost non-stop. In Gaza mosques, loudspeakers mourned the dead, who were carried for burial in funeral marches.

Restraint

Trump's recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December outraged Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process with Israel.

A senior Hamas leader, Khalil Al-Hayya, said at a border encampment that Monday's protest was timed to coincide with the "deplorable crime of moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem".

He said: "Our people went out today to respond to this new Zionist-American aggression, and to draw by their blood the map of their return."

France and Britain called on Israel to show restraint, with French President Emmanuel Macron planning to talk to all involved parties in the region over the next few days. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the events in Gaza and said it showed the need for a two-state political solution.

Britain said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and it disagreed with the US decision to do so. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the US move flouted international law.

Other responses to the assault were stronger. Regional power Turkey accused Israeli security forces of carrying out a massacre and said the US Embassy move had encouraged them.

More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow Gaza strip.

"The policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of whether there is an immediate threat to life on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, caged in for a decade and under occupation for a half century, has resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen," Human Rights Watch said.

The Trump administration says it has nearly completed a new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan but is undecided on how and when to roll it out.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, in a statement on Monday, accused the United States of "blatant violations of international law".

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.

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A group of global leaders have strongly criticised the White Houses decision to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, describing it as a serious blow to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

In a statement issued on Monday the Elders, a group founded by former South African president Nelson Mandela, reaffirmed its long-held position that the city of Jerusalem must be shared between Israelis and Palestinians as "as part of a two-state solution based on the internationally-recognised 1967 border."

Kofi Annan, the chairman of the Elders and former UN secretary-general, is quoted in the statement as saying that the status of Jerusalem can only be changed by agreement between the parties, and then endorsed by the UN.

"Todays ceremonial opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem is regrettable and makes it harder to maintain the prospect of a viable two-state solution," he said.

The statement also quoted Lakhdar Brahimi, the former Algerian foreign minister and UN diplomat, as saying that unilateral action on the part of the Trump administration only made the prospect of a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more distant.

"Peace will only come when all parties are treated with respect, their rights and grievances acknowledged, and negotiations are undertaken in good faith, he said.

The Elders also urged other countries not to follow the United States. So far Uruguay, Guatemala, Honduras and Romania have said they will also move their embassies to the disputed city.

The Elders are a group of senior world figures originally brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela in 2007.

Other members include former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, theologian and Anglican cleric, Desmond Tutu and former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedilo.

On Monday, US and Israeli officials oversaw the inauguration of the American embassy in its new location in East Jerusalem.

Over 52 Palestinians were killed on Monday by Israeli occupation troops at the Gazan-Israeli border while protesting the inauguration.

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Millennials in India are no different to millennials anywhere in the world. Whether it's their lifestyle or consciousness on the environment or even social awareness they identify with global youngsters. Therefore, when it comes to jewellery preferences, brands concerned about environmental issues, strong in philanthropy, charity and society oriented, etc., find loyalty among the Indian millennials. But, as they show distinct behavioural differences in matters related to 'investment', jewellery happens to play an important part in their purchases...

The millennials, due to improvement in purchasing power, are redefining the consumer story in India. Their savings account for 10 percent any incremental income. With 34 percent of the Indian population belong to this "Gen-Y", they are the chief wage earners in the household. In majority of Indian homes, up to 71 percent of income is contributed by millennials. India is estimated to have about 440 mn millennials among its 1.3 bn population.

So, if any jeweller wants to be relevant, millennials are an important customer segment and understanding their purchase habits is vital. India's Gen-Y shop jewellery using a mix of online and offline modes, compare prices and when they shop in a regular store.

Also, millennials in India are better educated and more connected to the world than their predecessors. They are also willing to try out new things in the luxury sector. So jewellery, especially the diamond studded jewellery, has caught the fancy of the millennials, but again they are also increasingly placing greater emphasis on ethical brands. They are basically conscious of where the jewellers have source their inputs or raw materials from and what practices are deployed to convert them into finished products. In other words, millennials view brands from a holistic angle and place greater reliance on the ethos and value system of the brand.

Suvankar Sen, Executive Director, Senco Gold & Diamonds has his own take on Indian millennials and said: Millennials are interested to buy jewellery for daily wear and use. For fashion-oriented designs, small sized diamonds albeit lower quality is preferred and for classic solitaire-based designs, millennials demand top quality diamonds"

"We have seen an increasing trend in demand for diamond jewellery in last 5 years. And demands in terms of gold versus diamond studded jewellery received by our company could be around 90:10 - Gold: Diamond", he added.

India is the worlds second-largest gold market, but Indian millennials are changing the way the gold-crazy country buys jewellery or how their parents bought jewellery. Though jewellery is competing with designer and luxury fashion, smartphones and so on, it has a strong position in India. Due to cultural reasons, jewellery has always been an important part of traditions... from weddings, religious ceremonies, and other rites. The point to notice is that when millennials buy jewellery for the same reason, they are going in for modern, contemporary designs in diamond-studded jewellery to go with their attire and lifestyle.

K Srinivasan, Founder-Chairman of Emerald India, a jewellery manufacturing company in Coimbatore said: "Yes, in South India millennials have the interest in diamond studded jewellery. Preferences by and large are for the entry level during their casual purchases and expensive ones are for the occasions. They also prefer VVS EF-GH in quality and sizes they like are stars and melees most."

"In last 5 years demand is increasing for diamond jewellery. Demand received by our company is about 95 % and 5% respectively for Gold versus Diamond in terms of value," Srinivasan added.

Indian jewellery companies like Titan and Malabar Gold launched sub-brands such as Mia and Starlet targeting young women. These products are typically light-weight and more stylish. In addition, new marketing and advertising strategies are also being deployed. Also, online retailers like Bluestone and Melora are opening up the market for younger women aged between 25 and 35. In May 2016, for instance, Titan announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Carat Lane, an online jewellery retailer--- all focused on the millennial buyers.

A jewellery specialist and blogger, and a millennial herself, Preeta Agarwal can clearly gauge what Indian millennials are interested in: "The interests of Indian millennials in diamond jewellery has certainly increased over the years. The interest has though shifted from expensive occasion wear to a more everyday wear. Having said that, it doesn't mean the sizes of the diamonds used have decreased. The size of the products preferred might have dropped from big necklace set to ear studs and bracelets but the carat size of the diamonds used has increased and that too in good clarity and colour. This millennial generation believes in quality and not giving in to low quality just to get a big size. They believe in splurging on themselves and want the best for themselves."

Todays Indian millennials, who are professionally inclined, are spoilt for choice, especially in different varieties of jewellery.They have moved from traditional mindsets of securing future, to living in the moment. They are following their own mind and shunning stereotypes. Millennials are moving away from mass to classy affordable bespoke jewellery, according to market studies.

Indian millennial women are investing in jewellery and they take charge of their hard-earned money. Women in general have always had a soft corner for jewellery, be it gold, diamonds or platinum. Purchasing gorgeous pieces not just satiates their style appetite but also serves as a great investment option for the millennial women.

"The demand for diamond jewellery has increased considerably in the last five years. It is proportional to the disposable income and with a steep rise in the disposable or surplus income of millennials, their interests have shifted to luxury items and what better than the sparkle of diamonds." says Preeta.

Women today want to buy minimal and dainty pieces that work well with their business suits and traditional attire. Daintier pieces are not only easier to wear, but also are versatile and go with most outfits. The presence of many online jewellery sites not only offer a good range of sleek and modern designs but they also have many attractive discounts that make shopping on these sites irresistible.

The Diamond Insight Report-2016 published by De Beers Group said: " the millennials spent over $2 billion on diamond jewellery in 2015 in India. From all the four largest consumer market in the world, millennials in India have a strong desire for diamond jewellery. Around 50 percent of the diamond jewellery sold in India was claimed by the millennials. In the top four markets, which account for 73 percent of global diamond jewellery demand, the potential millennial market for diamond jewellery is more than 220 million people."

Studies say that the millennial generation in India is not expected to reach its most affluent life stage for another 10 years. This demographic also represents the diamond sector's largest growth opportunity, which works out well for the industry on the whole. Millennial consumers also display particular purchasing trends. For example, self-purchasing of diamond jewellery is an important and growing acquisition route among millennials in India.

Taking an overall view of the purchasing pattern of millennials, Preeta Agarwal says: 'I think they are all inter-related. With more stress on education for the women, comes an increase in working women which leads to confidence in self -buying and rise in purchasing power. One thing leads to the other, the resultant has been very beneficial for our diamond jewellery industry. It now easier for women to buy smaller price bracket jewellery, just by themselves, without any consent of a husband or a family. Yes, when it comes to wedding jewellery, Indian family values still guide the woman but there also it is often seen only the women of the family coming to shop and that too more for helping to choose the most befitting design. As far as fashion consciousness is concerned, I believe that most women are fashion conscious depending on their spending power. And, with the help of social media and bloggers, latest trends are at your fingertips guiding you through every fashion and fad."

As of today, in India, it is the young Indians who drive diamond jewellery sales. Indian millennials, who are also known to splurge on fancy gadgets and vacations, have emerged as one of the most important consumer segments buying diamond jewellery in India. In fact, millennials account for close to half of the sector's overall revenues showing that the diamonds has not lost its sheen among the youth.

The gold to diamond shift in India is been happening for a while now, though gold is rooted in the Indian culture and represents a collective mindset. Diamond, on the other hand, is more about the individual and personal taste. Having said that, one can conclude that the millennials represent a compelling opportunity for the Indian diamond industry... and waiting to be explored.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & PolishedJoy Alukkas started his first jewellery showroom in UAE in the year 1987, and today the Joyalukkas Group is a multi-billion global conglomerate with varied business interests. Beginning with a single jewellery room in Abu Dhabi, Joy Alukkas has grown the Group to a 140 plus jewellery showroom chain, spread across 11 countries around the world, including India, USA, UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, there is no stopping Joy Alukkas, who is called 'Man with the Midas Touch'.

Touching the lives of millions of people worldwide, brand Joyalukkas has become a household name across the globe, thanks to his vision and commitment to excel and constantly innovate. He had the foresight to open the worlds largest showroom at Chennai in South India, considered the jewellery hub of India.

Seemingly untouched by the phenomenal success of his Group, Joy Alukkas continues here, explaining the journey from where he left off in his last Q&A session with ROUGH &POLISHED.

Some excerpts:

How did the Joyalukkas Group perform financially during the year 2017? In which country did the Groups turnover peak; and what growth do you look forward to in the year 2018?

2017 was a year of fast-paced growth for Joyalukkas, spurred by an unprecedented number of new Jewellery showroom openings and promotions. We also saw an increase in turnover in spite of the unfavourable market conditions. Historically the UAE and India have always been where our turnover peaks, but our newest market, USA, and the 8 other countries we operate in are not too far behind. Work is underway to extend our network further with new showrooms in addition to new branded items and collections to our portfolio, as well as our online store. So we see both our number of locations and turnover rate continuing to rise in 2018 and beyond.

What additions have taken place in terms of expansion with India as well as overseas since 2015, when you last spoke to us? Is there any more expansion plans in the future? Details, please.

Our massive expansion plans begun in 2015 is going ahead as scheduled. This has seen us enter the USA, opening showrooms in Houston, New Jersey and Chicago just a few weeks apart. Were also averaging around one new showroom every six months in the GCC region and almost one new showroom every quarter in India. We began with 110 showrooms in 2015, we are currently at 140 and still, growth will be more aggressive in 2018, especially in India.

We have recently launched Mission 2020, which is my vision to ornament the world come to fruition. In celebration of 20 years of Brand Joyalukkas, we aim to grow from 140 showrooms in 11 countries to 220 showrooms in 12 countries by the year 2020, along with a target $3 billion in turnover. So the next two years will be very busy and exciting for us.

With the Middle East being a growth area, what has your group achieved in the last 2 years? Dubai too is turning into a trading hub with many jewellers/banks etc. establishing a business there. What changes do you see in the sector in terms of competition? Your comments.

We pride ourselves in setting new standards in the Jewellery retail industry, especially in the GCC. In the last 2 years, we have implemented new systems and processes that offer more transparency and assures the customers that what they are getting from our showrooms is the best the world has to offer, be it in products or services.

In this business, being in tune with customer requirements is key to staying ahead. This is no longer the time to be looking at what your neighbour is doing and copying what works. The focus should simply be on the customer, offering them the designs they seek, the quality they want and the added value they deserve. At Joyalukkas this principle has resulted in new brands catering to more contemporary tastes at more affordable price points and an e-commerce function on our website, as well as the introduction of a CRM facility so we can get customer feedback and/or respond to their queries in a direct and timely manner, etc. We expect any changes in the industry and amongst our competitors to be along the same lines.

What transformations have happened in jewellery demand in the past few years in UAE, in terms of diamond, gold content, design etc.?

Not only in the UAE but around the globe, customer buying behaviour has changed significantly. In my opinion, the economic depression of the late 2000s is largely the cause, with shoppers now more prudent about their purchases, seeking as much information as they can before shelling out the cash. Were also seeing a big change in terms of tastes. Diamonds and fine Jewellery, for example, were traditionally gift items or wedding ornaments  definitely something you would wear only for a special occasion. But were now seeing customers who buy these for themselves, preferable to be worn every day. Todays Jewellery shoppers tend to buy pieces based on how they can express their personality, whether its 22K gold and diamonds or 18K and enamel. Unique designs and quality materials are now the deciding factors for most buyers.

I recall it was your plan to enter the US market way back in 2015. What is the status of that initiative? Also, now that you have entered Singapore, what are your views on the Singapore market?

We opened our first USA showroom in Houston in Q4 2016, quickly followed by New Jersey and Chicago in early 2017. I am quite happy to say that all three showrooms received a warm welcome and are doing well in terms of sales and footfall one year on.

Singapore is an exciting market, and we recently opened a second showroom at the heart of Little India, where the sizable expat community is enjoying the added convenience of having us practically at their doorstep. Jewellery retail in Singapore is unique as it is a more brand-conscious economy, so fashion and luxury brands with a Jewellery offering are the more obvious choice. However, shoppers are now gravitating towards unique, bespoke and handcrafted Jewellery and are willing to shop around, even at emerging brands, until they find what they want.

With an extensive presence in UAE as well as India, what difference in growth have you witnessed over the years? And in Jewellery demand, what changes are seen in both the markets as in design, diamond content etc.? Your comments.

As mentioned earlier, the changes were currently seeing are not specific to the UAE or India, theyre happening worldwide. However, it is interesting to note that even the Indian market, a largely traditional and gold-led market is experiencing these changes as well. A new generation of shoppers is coming of age, choosing and buying their Jewellery themselves, so were seeing more youthful, trendy choices in designs as well as materials. Where 22K gold was the norm, there is now a growing market for 18K gold Jewellery in three tones, not just the ubiquitous yellow. Diamonds, as well, are also shifting from occasional to daily wear.

At Joyalukkas we are keeping pace with these changes. We recently launched an 18K gold Jewellery collection as well as 7 Wonders, diamond necklace sets for everyday wear. New brands are also in the works, including one targeted at teens and a contemporary collection inspired by natural forms and patterns.

After the PNB fraud, media reports made the round that diamond Jewellery was studded with synthetics and CZs. Has this affected your group's sales of diamond Jewellery in any way in India or elsewhere? Or is your Group's reputation strong enough to retain consumer trust in your diamond Jewellery? Your views...

Joyalukkas is known as the worlds favourite jeweller, building on a reputation of excellence and trust. We were the first Jewellery retailer to be awarded both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. We also have purity testing machines in every showroom and use only IGI/GIA certified diamonds in our collections. So our loyal customers know that the Joyalukkas name is an assurance of quality, and such rumours would not stop them from coming to us to fulfil their Jewellery requirements.

What are your current views on the Indian gem and jewellery sector? What steps do you think should be taken to strengthen the industry going forward? And in what way should the government help the industry, which is still unorganized?

As one of the drivers of the Indian economy, the gem and Jewellery sector is vibrant and ever growing. We praise the recent decision of the government to declare the sector as a focus area for export promotion. Joyalukkas offers its full support and looks forward to the promised new investments and technological upgrades that are sure to push the industry to even greater heights.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & PolishedBlueRock sells 7.1 ct diamond for $64.8k BlueRock Diamonds, which owns and operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine in South Africa, has sold a 7.1 carat stone for $64,826 in the September tender.

Six suspected illegal miners killed in South Africas North West Six suspected illegal miners known as zama zamas were killed and 35 arrested after an attack on security guards at an unnamed mine in North West.

Mountain Province Diamonds announced change in executive leadership Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. announced that the company and Stuart Brown, its president and chief executive officer, have reached a mutual decision that Brown will depart the company, effective immediately.

Opsydia advances new technology of diamond identification Opsydia announced they can now place permanent identifiers in melee diamonds without affecting their surface polish. Its an important advancement for volume manufactures to secure their supply chain and protect it from undisclosed synthetics.De Beers tracks first diamonds with blockchain

14 may 2018 News

De Beers said it has for the first time tracked 100 high-value diamonds along the value chain during the pilot of its industry blockchain platform.

The platform, called Tracr, was expected to launch later this year and would be open to the industry.

The Tracr project team has demonstrated that it can successfully track a diamond through the value chain, providing asset-traceability assurance in a way that was not possible before, said De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver.

This is a significant breakthrough made achievable by the close engagement of the pilot participants who share our commitment to industry progress and innovation.

Five diamond manufacturers  Diacore, Diarough, KGK Group, Rosy Blue NV and Venus Jewel  had been working with De Beers during the development of Tracr and were said to have played a vital role in creating the first blockchain platform to span the entire diamond value chain.

The platform would provide consumers with confidence that registered diamonds are natural and conflict-free, improve visibility and trust within the industry, said De Beers.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&PolishedImage credit: Indias Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council

The Banking Summit - Diamond and Jewellery Financing: Mitigating risks effectively - organized by Indias Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) was held in Mumbai on May 11, 2018. The event, which was primarily envisaged to find ways to reduce risks and infuse confidence into financiers, was attended by leading banks and financial institutions including the SBI, Central Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, ECGC etc.Honble Minister for Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh Prabhu, who also unveiled a White Paper drafted by GJEPC said, I am happy that such a White Paper on Diamond and Jewellery financing has been brought out by the Council. I hope the active participation of Banks, ECGC and other stakeholders will help in strategizing for the development of the Gems and Jewellery industry that has a proven track record of being labour intensive, continuous job creation and economic development.The minister also added, We will never encourage wrongdoers in the industry but will ask our financial system to support all genuine players in the gems and Jewellery sector. This is essential to help the industry realise the full potential.Pramod Agarwal, Chairman GJEPC said, The point is, it has taken decades of hard work and commitment to developing this industry in India. And we wish to take this industry to new heights in the future and contribute to the countrys economic growth and generate employment. We, as an industry, promise to address the issues to the satisfaction of the banks. In fact, this is the only industry in India that has created arbitration mediums with the banks and parties in case of NPA to achieve recoveries.Commerce Secretary Ms Rita Teaotia welcomed the initiatives of the council such as MyKYC saying, This initiative will improve confidence and boost lending to the sector and as well ensure better sharing of information and transparency and growth of this SME sector. It is important for the banking sector to support gems and jewellery industry as it forms an integral part of the countrys GDP.Vice Chairman of GJEPC Colin Shah, who has been at the helm of drafting the white paper said, The joint efforts of key financiers and industry have been able to address many risk factors and MYKYC will be a single largest contributor in increasing transparency and address relevant risks. An MoU was also signed between the GJEPC and the AWDC for co-operation on the MyKYCBank platform.The summit was also attended by Paul Rowley, Executive Vice President, De Beers, Dinesh Kumar Khara, Managing Director, SBI, Manoj Dwivedi, Joint Secretary Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Biju Patnaik, Executive VP and Head, Diamond and Jewellery division IndusInd Bank, M. Senthilnathan, ED, ECGC, and others.Sergey Takhiev to take the helm of ALROSA corporate finance

14 may 2018 News

Sergey Takhiev appointed Head of Corporate Finance of ALROSA.

Prior to joining ALROSA, Sergey was Director of Investor Relations at NLMK Group, global steel company. His teams efforts were recognized as the best in class among public companies in the global metals and mining sector.

Sergey Takhiev studied Financial Management at the Academy of National Economy, and he is a graduate from INSEAD (France). Sergey has over 13 years of experience in metals and mining sector.

Alexey Philippovskiy, ALROSA Chief Financial Officer:

In his new role, Sergey Takhiev will be responsible for attaining a fair valuation of the company, improving its information transparency, building dialogue with the finance community, investors, credit rating agencies, as well as management of the long-term financing. Sergeys experience in the global public company will help to deliver successful implementation of ALROSAs corporate finance strategy.Port of Quebec

The Port of Quebec will receive CA$15.5 million (US$12.1 million) from Canada's National Trade Corridors Fund to upgrade port infrastructure including rail.

Three projects at the port will benefit from the funding that officials say will help local businesses compete by moving local goods to market and by making improvements to port infrastructure.

The first project is in the Anse au Foulon sector. The infrastructure in this sector was built almost 100 years ago. Officials explain that port operations that take place there require an efficient transportation network and infrastructure adapted to the needs of export businesses. This project aims at increasing the efficiency of both the existing rail transport infrastructure and the road infrastructure by upgrading them. At the same time, the electrical network and the water system will be upgraded. This port sector holds great potential for the export of Canadian goods.

A second project, in the Estuaire sector of the Port of Quebec, will repair the drawbridge structure, motors and gears to give the drawbridge at least 30 years of useful life.

The third project will restore strategic infrastructure in the Anse au Foulon and Beauport sectors of the Port of Quebec to address the deterioration of the wharves. The project is expected to have significant economic and employment benefits by creating 300 full-time jobs during construction.

Our government is investing in Canadas economy by making improvements to our trade and transportation corridors. We are supporting projects that will efficiently move commercial goods to market and people to their destinations, stimulate economic growth, create quality middle-class jobs and ensure that Canadas transportation networks remain competitive and efficient, said Canada Minister of Transport Marc Garneau.

In mid-April, another provincial port, the Port of Montreal, also received a grant to optimize its rail network.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman said on Monday that the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem would create incitement and instability in the region and ruled out Washington as being a mediator for Middle East peace.

"With this step, the U.S. administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability, said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh.

Trump, in a recorded message at a ceremony opening the U.S. embassy, said on Monday he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

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NRC

The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association's (NRC) 15th Annual Railroad Construction and Maintenance Equipment Auction this year sold a total of 367 items and brought in $1.15 million from on-site and online bidders.

The association held the auction April 26 at Blackmon Auctions in Lonoke, Ark., and raised a record $72,027 for its NRC Safety & Education Training program, which receives a percentage of the value of all consignments from contractors, suppliers and railroads and 100 percent of the proceeds from donated items.

The NRC Safety & Education Training program allows the association to bolster its efforts to ensure safety within the rail industry, hold the annual NRC Contractor Safety Award contest, and continue to produce safety material like the safety manuals and the NRC safety video series.

Railroad equipment auctions across America have seen equipment sell at far lower prices than in past years. It is very impressive that in this market that the NRC auction sold 367 items and brought in over a million of total sales, stated NRC Board member and NRC Auction Committee Chairman Danny Brown of Custom Truck One Source. A reason for the auction being so successful this year with market conditions was because of a job well done by Thomas Blackmon and his team at Blackmon Auctions.

The rail construction equipment sold at the auction ranged from tampers to grapple trucks, tie inserters to spikers, tie exchangers to ballast regulators, rotary dump trucks to pickup trucks, NRC said.

Notable sales included a Jackson 6700S tamper ($85,000), a Super TKO tie inserter ($80,000), a Dymax trailer ($67,500), a Takeuchi tie crane ($50,000), a Sterling truck ($50,000), a rotary dump ($45,000) and a Pettibone 445E Speedswing ($41,000).

A big thank you to the individuals and companies who sold and donated items at this years NRC Auction, said NRC Chairman Mike Choat of Wabtec. This years auction would not have been the most successful ever to the NRC without the hard work of our NRC Auction Committee Chairman Danny Brown, the NRC Auction Committee members, and of Matt Bell of our NRC staff. Thanks to all and we look forward to the 16th annual NRC Auction in the spring of 2019.

NRC said the auction committeeincluding Danny Brown of Custom Truck One Source, Deric Berry of Herzog Contracting Corp., Daniel Daugherty of Progress Rail Services, Mark Gaffney of Stacy & Witbeck, Jay Gowan of RailWorks, Matt Harbison of Danella, Russ Gehl of Holland, Paul Laurello of Delta Railroad Construction, Mark Snailham of Balfour Beatty and Greg Spilker of Encore Rail Systemswas critical to getting the equipment to the auction location and spreading the word about the annual event throughout the industry.VEON Ltd. (VEON) reported that its first-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders widened to $109 million from $4 million in the same quarter last year.

EBIT increased by 5.0% to $362 million in the latest-quarter, mainly due to lower depreciation, driven by the classification of Pakistan towers as assets held for sale in the second-quarter of 2017 and the depreciation of Uzbek som.

Profit before tax of $37 million, compared to a profit of $130 million in the prior year, was hurt by a decrease in foreign exchange gain and an increase in the loss in joint venture and associates to US$130 million.

Total revenue decreased by 1.4% to US$2.250 billion, mainly due to the significant devaluation of the Uzbek and Pakistani currencies. Total revenue grew organically1 by 3.2%, driven by Russia, Pakistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, partially offset by continued pressure in Algeria and Bangladesh.

The company said it is on track to deliver on its 2018 outlook.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsThe Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has banned all banks and financial institutions in the African nation from transacting in bitcoin and other virtual currencies. They have been given 60 days to fall in line with the rule.

The RBZ noted that the major cryptocurrency exchanges facilitating the trade of virtual currencies in Zimbabwe are Bitfinance (Pvt.) Ltd. (Golix) and Styx24, with the former having set up a crypto-ATM machine last month.

In a circular to banking institutions, the country's central bank said the move is to safeguard the integrity, safety and soundness of the country's financial system, and to protect the public in general.

The apex bank clarified that "providing banking services" include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, clearing, collateral arrangements, remittances, payment and settlement accounts, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges dealing with them and transfer / receipt of money in accounts relating to purchase/ sale of virtual currencies.

Financial regulators around the world have identified the dangers and risks presented by virtual currencies to financial stability which include risk of loss due to price volatility, theft or fraud, money laundering, and other criminal activities.

Amid the acute liquidity crisis in Zimbabwe, cryptocurrencies were gaining popularity among people, and Golix's Bitcoin ATM, which comes loaded with US dollars, allowed anyone to buy and sell bitcoin at favorable rates using the physical greenback.

It was easier for people to get physical US dollars through the crypto-ATM by selling bitcoins in hand. Zimbabwe is a country that adopted the U.S. dollar as its official currency way back in 2009.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsHSBC and ING Bank team successfully conducted the world's first live trade-finance transaction using a blockchain for their mutual client, the American food and agricultural giant Cargill, thus demonstrating the commercial and operational viability of the distributed ledger for trade digitization.

The two banks carried out the end-to-end trade transaction on the New York-based start-up R3's scalable blockchain platform called Corda, HSBC said on Monday.

HSBC issued a "Letter of Credit" using Corda to ING, both acting on behalf of Cargill entities.

The blockchain transaction financed a bulk shipment of soybeans from Argentina, through Geneva's trading arm of Cargill, to Malaysia, through Cargill's Singapore subsidiary as the purchaser.

The exchange was done in 24 hours, in contrast to conventional exchanges of paper-based documentation related to letters of credit that usually take between 5 and 10 days. The transaction was completed in two days and used a single shared application rather than multiple systems.

Vivek Ramachandran, HSBC's head of growth and innovation, said, "Trade finance transactions have been made simpler, faster, more transparent and more secure."

"The need for paper reconciliation is removed because all parties are linked on the platform and updates are instantaneous."

"The quick turnaround could mean unlocking liquidity for businesses," he added.

R3 leads a consortium of over 200 firms, including banks, financial institutions, and technology companies, among others, to develop on the Corda enterprise blockchain ecosystem targeted at businesses.

The United Nations reckons that digitizing all of the Asia-Pacific region's trade-related paperwork could slash the time it takes to export goods by up to 44 percent. Consequently, there will be a cost reduction of up to 31 percent, and exports would be boosted by as much as $257 billion a year.

Adoption of blockchain for trade financing is most relevant to Singapore that handles a huge volume of shipments every year. In 2017, Asia's prominent trade hub handled a total of 626.2 million tonnes in cargo, up 5.5 percent from 2016, while annual vessel arrival tonnage increased by 5.1 percent to reach 2.8 billion gross tonnes.

Enterprise blockchain records information on a shared ledger, with each party holding a copy of the said ledger that updates the appropriate information required by the participant instantaneously. Each party can only view the information that is relevant to them.

Thus, the distributed ledger technology or blockchain is apt for trade as it maintains an unchangeable record of the transaction that includes a description of the goods themselves, the cost, and any legal requirement, on one digital ledger.

The blockchain allows the information required by participants to be shared with them for approval at the appropriate time in each transaction.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Technology NewsCanadian cannabis company Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) has agreed to acquire smaller rival MedReleaf Corp. (LEAF.TO) in an all-stock deal valued at about C$3.2 billion, the two companies said Monday.

Under the terms of the deal, holders of MedReleaf common shares will receive 3.575 common shares of Aurora for each MedReleaf share held by them. The exchange ratio implies a price of C$29.44 per MedReleaf share.

Following completion of the transaction, existing shareholders of Aurora and MedReleaf will own about 61 percent and 39 percent of the pro forma company, respectively.

The deal has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, with both recommending that their respective shareholders vote in favor of the transaction.

The transaction will result in the combination of two Canadian cannabis companies with a total funded capacity of over 570,000 kg per year of cannabis, through nine facilities in Canada and two in Denmark.

The combined company will have three established medical brands, Aurora, CanniMed and MedReleaf, coupled with a portfolio of consumer and wellness brands - San Rafael '71, Woodstock, and AltaVie.

Canada legalized medical cannabis in 2013 and has some of the largest cannabis companies in the world. The federal government has announced plans to legalize adult use later this year, which would make Canada the first G7 country to federally legalize adult use.

The transaction will require approval by at least 66.67 percent of the votes cast by the shareholders of MedReleaf present at a special meeting of the shareholders. Holders of about 56 percent of MedReleaf's shares have entered into irrevocable hard lock-ups to vote their shares in favor of the transaction.

The issuance of Aurora shares in connection with the transaction requires the approval of a simple majority of Aurora shareholders present at a special meeting.

The takeover agreement also provides for reciprocal termination fees of C$80 million and reimbursement fee of C$15 million in certain specified circumstances. In the event a superior proposal is presented for either MedReleaf or Aurora, the other company will have five days to match it.

This is the second acquisition by Aurora Cannabis this year. In January, the company and CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. (CMED.TO) ended a protracted takeover battle with a friendly $1.1 billion merger between the two marijuana giants.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsSenate Democrats will force a vote on Wednesday on a bill that would undo the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality rules.

The resolution would reverse the FCC's decision via the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to overturn regulations within 60 days of their publication in the Federal Register.

All forty-nine members of the Democratic caucus and Republican Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, have expressed support for the resolution, which needs only a simple majority to pass.

"The repeal of net neutrality is not only a blow to the average consumer, but it is a blow to public schools, rural Americans, communities of color and small businesses," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

He added, "A vote against this resolution will be a vote to protect large corporations and special interests, leaving the American public to pay the price."

Even if the resolution is approved by the Senate, the measure faces an uncertain future in the Republican-led House and is likely to be blocked by President Donald Trump.

Democrats may still utilize the outcome in midterm election campaigns, as polls have shown broad support for the net neutrality rules.

The rules, implemented under President Barack Obama, required internet service providers like Verizon (VZ) and Comcast (CMCSA) to treat all web traffic equally.

Democrats claim repealing the net neutrality rules could lead to higher prices for consumers, slower internet traffic, and even blocked websites.

Meanwhile, Republicans have accused Democrats of looking to score political points, arguing that lawmakers should work together to provide a permanent solution on net neutrality.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News(Agencia CMA Latam) - Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is currently in jail with little chances of running for president, had the most significant voter support in a CNT/MDA opinion poll about the 2018 presidential race in the country.

According to the survey, Lula has 18.6% of the voters' support, followed by Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing Brazilian representative, with 12.4%. Compared to the previous edition of the survey, released in March, Lula remained unchanged, while Bolsonaro rose ten basis points.

Ciro Gomes, a left-wing candidate, remained in the third place, with 1.7% of support - unchanged from the last edition -, while the environmentalist Marina Silva, who is also a former Brazilian senator, rose to the fourth place, with a 1.3% voter support rate, from 1.2% in the March edition.

Sao Paulo's state governor Geraldo Alckmin, viewed as a candidate most aligned to the financial market agenda, had a 1.2% support, down from 1.4% in the previous edition of the survey.

Excluding Lula from the list of potential presidential candidates, Jair Bolsonaro leads has the most support (18.3%), followed by Marina Silva (11.2%), Ciro Gomes (9.0%) and Geraldo Alckmin (5.3%). However, only Ciro Gomes had larger support compared to March.

At that month, Bolsonaro had 20.0% of the votes, followed by Marina Silva (12.8%), Ciro Gomes (8.1%) and Geraldo Alckmin (8.6%).

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.WHO: Against all odds, Yemen launches its first large-scale treatment campaign against trachoma [13/May/2018] br> SANAA, May 13 (Saba) - Despite ongoing civil unrest and instability, Yemens Trachoma Elimination Programme launched its first large-scale treatment campaign, targeting approximately 450 000 people in areas at high risk for the disease, according to a report issued Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO).



Trachoma is the worlds leading infectious cause of blindness and Yemen has one of the highest prevalence levels in the Middle East.



Despite delays, we were able to implement the programme in six districts of Ibb and Al Hudaydah governorates, thanks to support from the World Bank, Sightsavers1 and medicines donated through the International Trachoma Initiative said Dr Nevio Zagaria, WHO Representative in Yemen. The success of this campaign depended on the support of the population and of entire affected communities, as well as partners, through close coordination with other ministries and actors involved in trachoma elimination.



The report said the campaign, from 24 May, was conducted by trained health workers and volunteers who also distributed WHO-supplied facial kits, comprising face towel and soap, to encourage hygiene and facial cleanliness.



Yemen completed a series of trachoma surveys under the Global Trachoma Mapping Project from 2013 to 2015, covering 70 districts across the country. The surveys determined that more than 2.7 million people in 30 districts require public-health interventions to address transmission of the bacteria that cause trachoma and its associated morbidity.



WHO recommends implementation of the SAFE strategy (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental improvement) to achieve elimination of the disease as a public-health problem.



The surveys revealed that the prevalence of active trachoma exceeded 10% in several areas of the country, with the highest estimates in Ibb and Al Hudaydah. The two governorates were therefore prioritized for the first mass treatment intervention said Dr Zagaria. If all goes well and, depending on the security situation, the current campaign will be repeated annually for three years, after which an impact survey needs to be done.



In an additional 24 districts, the prevalence of active trachoma2 is above 5%, requiring large-scale antibiotic treatment, supported by awareness and educational campaigns.



Trachoma, which affects mainly people living in areas deprived of water and sanitation, puts more than 190 million people at risk across 39 countries. It is also responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of around 1.9 million people worldwide.



The SAFE strategy recommended by WHO to prevent and treat trachoma is guiding international efforts to eliminate the disease as a public health problem.



In its earlier stages, trachoma can be treated with oral antibiotics taken once a year, usually for 13 years.





BA





SabaReport: Army, committees wage military offensives against Saudi troops over 24 hours [14/May/2018] br>

SANAA, May 14 (Saba) - The Yemen army and popular committees have waged military offensive operations which targeted Saudi soldiers and their mercenaries sites and gatherings in frontlines over 24 hours, according to melitary media statement obtained by Saba News Agency on Monday.



In Saudi border province of Jizan, Katyusha rockets were fired toward Saudi armys gatherings in Mawsim, while an artillery bombardment targeted Saudi-paid mercenaries in Huthira and Tiwal border crossing.



Also in Jizan, artillery shells and Katyusha rockets were fired toward Saudi soldiers and mercenaries gatherings in Ghawiah site.



Furthermore, a bulldozer, that was creating sites on MBC mountain, was destroyed by a number of artillery shells.



In Najrann Saudi border province, three military vehicles, loaded with mercenaries, were bombed in the west of Sudais site and Ajasher desert.



Also in Najran, artillery and missile shelling targeted gatherings of Saudi soldiers and their mercenaries in Shabaka and west of Sudais.



In additional, sniper unit of the army and committees shot dead two of mercenaries in Shabakah site and a Saudi soldier in Marash Censorship.



In Baydaa province, a mercenary was killed by the fire of the army and committees in Natea front.



In Taiz province, a military vehicle of mercenaries was burned in West Coast front.



In Marib province, a Saudi-paid mercenaries was killed in Makhdara front by the army and committees fires.



In Hajjah province, a mercenaries military vehicle was smashed in the north of Medi desert.



Also in northern Medi desert of Hajjah, artillery force of the army and committees shelled gatherings of Saudi-paid mercenaries.







Writing by Sameera Hassn

SabaKuwait, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, said Monday it might call for an emergency meeting of the UN body after the Israeli occupation army killed dozens of Palestinians during protests in Gaza.

"We condemned what has happened," the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations, Mansour al-Otaibi, told journalists. "We will see what the council will do. Today or tomorrow we may ask for an emergency meeting."

He said he was consulting with the Arab Group at the UN and with the Palestinian ambassador to the world body.

At least 52 Palestinians were killed Monday by Israeli occupation troops in Gaza along its border with Israel, as thousands protested the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

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Yemen strongly condemns US decision of opening its embassy in al-Quds [14/May/2018] br>

SANAA, May 14 (Saba)  Yemen strongly condemned on Monday the United States' decision of opening its embassy in al-Quds (Jerusalem), considering the blatant move as a declaration of war against the Arab and Islamic nations.



In a statement received by Saba, the Supreme Political Council, the upper ruling authority in Yemen, said the US decision will have unlimited badly consequences on the region. It said the action comes in supporting the Israeli occupation forces on the Arab Palestinian land.



"The US decision is an all-out war on the Arab and Islamic nations as it emphasizes the US implication in backing Zionist occupation on the Arab Palestinian lands," read the statement.



Earlier on the day, the United States announced the opening of its embassy in al-Quds, recognizing the city as the capital city of Israel, amid a large-scale silence from the US-allied Arab leaders, topped by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.



"The US resolution was an apparent move paved by the public and secret normalization between Israel, the United States and those Arab leaders led by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates," the Supreme Political Council said in the statement, adding that the US decision is "the century's deal between the Israeli allies.



Saudi Arabia and UAE have been leading a four-year-old devastating war against the Yemeni people since March 2015.



The supreme political council reaffirmed that "al-Quds has been, and it will be forever, the capital city of Palestine."



Ali Ahsan/Zak

sabaYemeni Parliament condemns transfer of US Embassy to Jerusalem [14/May/2018] br>SANAA, May 14 (Saba) - The Presidency of the Yemeni Parliament condemned the transfer of the United States Embassy on Monday to Jerusalem.



The Parliament considered this action an attack targeted the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people and undermined the status of the United Nations, the rule of international law and efforts towards a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.



The Parliament stressed that the special status of Al-Quds is a central importance to the Arab and Islamic nations, which requires rejection of this procedure and the protection and preservation of its unique religious and cultural character.



The Parliament called for the implementation of the State resolutions on the empowerment of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of a state on its national soil with Jerusalem as its capital and called on the international community not to support the American decision to recognize Jerusalem as the alleged capital of the Zionist entity and the transfer of diplomatic missions to it.



The Parliament confirmed that the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, a clear confirmation of the US involvement and its support for the Zionist occupation, adding that that Arab weakness in the framework of the so-called deal Century will be a terrible disaster.



Sameera Hassn





SabaPM discusses relations, cooperation with WFP Regional Director [15/May/2018] br>

SANAA, May 15 (Saba) - Prime Minister on Monday, Abdul Aziz Saleh bin Habtoor, met in capital Sanaa with the Regional Director of the World Food Program for the Middle East and North Africa, Muhannad Hadi, who is currently visiting Yemen.



During the meeting, which was attended by Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf and WFP Resident Representative in Yemen Stephen Anderson, they discussed the relations of cooperation and partnership between the country and WFP in this extraordinary period that the Yemeni people are going through as a result of the brutal Saudi-led coalition and the continuous blockade for more than three years.



They also discussed the aspects of the existing governmental facilities and the importance of dealing with any problems that the program may face during performing its humanitarian tasks to serve the Yemeni people and contributing to alleviating its suffering.



Habtoor stressed on the keenness of the salvation Government to strengthen the partnership relations with the WFP to enhance its humanitarian interventions and continue its leading role in helping of the Yemeni people, especially school students.



For his part, the WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa emphasized the partnership between WFP and Yemen, explaining the impact of the program's activities to millions of Yemeni people in their current plight.



Sameera Hassn

SabaArab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit on Monday blasted as "shameful" countries that are celebrating the opening of the US embassy in Israel in the disputed holy city of Jerusalem.

"It is shameful to see countries participating with the US and Israel in celebrating the former's embassy move to occupied Jerusalem in a clear and grave violation of international law and (UN) Security Council resolutions," said Abul Gheit.

Speaking in Cairo, where the Arab League is based, he called on all countries to "refrain from taking any step that would harm the rights of the Palestinian people."

The status of Jerusalem -- home to Muslim, Jewish and Christian places of worship -- is perhaps the thorniest issue in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Monday's ceremony included around 800 guests, though not US President Donald Trump whose decision to move the embassy has sparked deadly violence.

Abul Gheit said the move "represents an extremely dangerous step" and "I don't think the American administration realises its real implications in the short and long terms".

"The Palestinian side feels that the United States has abandoned its historic role as a credible mediator in this conflict, after Washington unfortunately revealed full bias towards the Israeli positions which consistently contradict international legitimacy and law."

The Arab League will hold emergency talks Wednesday to discuss Washington's "illegal" decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a senior official said earlier.

The meeting would focus on "ways of countering the illegal decision by the United States to move the embassy to Jerusalem", said Saeed Abu Ali, the organisation's deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs.

He told reporters the permanent representatives of members of the Arab League would meet "at the request of the state of Palestine".

Jordan denounced the embassy move as a "clear violation" of the UN charter.

In a statement, it also "condemned" a unilateral decision by Trump to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite Palestinian claims to part of the city.

In the hours leading up to the inauguration, at least 37 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire along the Gaza border, the Gaza health ministry said, as mass protests and clashes erupted against the embassy transfer.

The clashes took place as a White House delegation and Israeli officials gathered for the embassy inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem. It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.

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The French presidency condemned "the violence" in Gaza on Monday after 52 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli occupying forces during protests over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem.

President Emmanuel Macron "will speak to all the actors in the region in the coming days," his office said in a statement.

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At least six people were killed on Monday in West Bengal as violence and clashes between supporters of different parties in several districts marred voting for the rural bodies. "We have, so far, received telephonic complaints of six deaths. We are awaiting written confirmation," said State Election Commission Secretary Nilanjan Shandilya, who put the polling percentage till 1 p.m. at over 41 per cent.



A youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter a polling premises in Nadia district while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district's Kultali, police said.



The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed one of their activists was killed in bomb attacks in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga.



Two deaths were reported from Murshidabad district, and another from Nadia.



"Three youths were beaten up by locals in Nadia district's Shantipur area on Monday morning. Police rescued and got them admitted to a local hospital. One of them, Sanjit Pramanik, succumbed to his injuries," Nadia district Superintendent of Police Santosh Pandey told.



"Trinamool Congress worker Arif Ali Gazi was shot in the chest while coming out of a polling booth. He died in a hospital," an officer from Kultali police station said.



Though CPI-M's North 24 Parganas leaders claimed their party activist died in Amdanga after he was attacked with crude bombs, there was no police confirmation.



"We have heard of the incident but it is not confirmed yet. We are going to the spot," an officer from Amdanga police station said.



The polling for electing 38,616 representatives in three tiers of the Panchayati Raj institutions started at 7 a.m. and will continue till 5 p.m.



As the day progressed, reports of clashes, booth capturing, vandalising of ballot boxes and rigging were received from pockets of South and North 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, Nadia, West Midnapore and Cooch Behar districts.



In South 24 Parganas' Bhangar, the 'Jomi, Jibika, Bastutantra O Poribesh Raksha Committee' (Committee for protecting land, livelihood, ecology and environment), which is spearheading an anti-power grid movement in the area, accused armed miscreants of the Trinamool Congress of kidnapping their Panchayat Samiti candidate Sariful Mullick and terrorising voters.



The committee alleged that their candidate Entazul Khan was severely injured in an attack by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants and was taken to Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital.



Clashes were also reported in the district's Namkhana and several other areas.



In north Bengal's Cooch Behar, Minister Rabindranath Ghosh was accused of slapping a Bharatiya Janata Party polling agent and forcing him out of the polling premises, following which the SEC sought a report from the district administration.



The Minister, however, denied all allegations.



Violence also took place in East Midnapore district's Panskura and West Midnapore district's Keshpur where gun-toting miscreants gathered outside the polling stations and beat up voters.



Several attempts to rig the election process were also reported across the state as miscreants poured water into ballot boxes or set them on fire.



Initially, voting for the rural bodies was to be held on May 1, 3 and 5 but as the nomination process started in April, it was rescheduled to May 14 by the SEC following a Calcutta High Court order to extend the nomination deadline and announce a fresh polling date.



Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of the rural local bodies, 20,076 seats, or 34.2 per cent, have been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.



These include 16,814 of the total 48,650 gram panchayats seats, 3,059 of the 9,217 panchayat samiti seats and 203 of the 825 zila parishad seats.



The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in these seats.



Afghan security forces battled for hours against a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday after a coordinated assault that killed at least 15 people and wounded 42, local officials said.

A car bomb was detonated at the entrance to the state accounts office before a group of about six attackers armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades rushed the building, the officials said. There were multiple blasts as they fought off security forces in a gun battle that lasted much of the day.

The attack took place in a busy area of the city with many other official buildings nearby, including a school in which about 1,000 girls were trapped as the fighting raged. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks that have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan this year and put heavy pressure on the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Most have been in capital city Kabul, but in January gunmen attacked an office of aid group Save the Children in Jalalabad, killing at least five people and wounding 25. That attack, claimed by Islamic State, followed much the same pattern as Sunday's incident.

After several hours of fighting that sent plumes of smoke rising into the sky above the accounts office, Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said that Sunday's clash had ended with all the gunmen killed.

Public health officials said that at least 15 people, including a child, had been killed and 42 wounded. Witnesses said the explosions had caused carnage among passers-by.

"I saw two rickshaw drivers on the ground with their arms blown off," said Khan Mohammad, a local resident who saw the initial blasts and the start of the gun battle.

Violence has escalated across Afghanistan since the announcement of the Taliban's annual spring offensive last month and there have been heightened security fears around preparations for elections in October.

Dozens of people have been killed in voter registration centres in recent weeks, leading to fears that people could stay away from elections that are seen as a major test of the government's credibility.

At the same time, Taliban fighters have stepped up the pressure on government forces across the country, from Baghlan province in the north, where they seized a district centre last week, to Farah in the southwest or Ghazni, south of Kabul.

Last year the United States increased its support to struggling Afghan forces, announcing plans for thousands of additional advisers and more air strikes in an effort to force the Taliban to enter peace negotiations.

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The nation is in mourning today having lost another prominent member of the business community with the passing of Maposua Rudolf Keil.

The Owner of Radio Polynesia passed away at his home on Sunday.

News of Maposuas passing has drawn condolences from mourners in Samoa and all over the world on social media.

Mack Tane described Maposua as a great man.

Condolences to your family from us all here in NZ, he wrote on Corey Keils Facebook page.

A staunch member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints in Samoa, Maposua will be sadly missed.

Please pass on sincerest condolences to the family Corey, Norman Wetzell writes.

As the scriptures say there is a season for everything yes even to leave this life but it is not the end but a new beginning. May Heavenly Father bring you all much comfort at this time. Alofa atu.

Church member, Jase Bond, also offered condolences to the Keil family.

I remember this Sunday when we celebrated his 80th birthday at Church. A man of great faith. Rest in peace my friend...Im gonna miss seeing you every week at my office after temple. Families are forever. Much love.

More details in tomorrows Samoa Observer edition.Whether you love or loathe the work of China in Samoa and the Pacific, this one thing cannot be denied.

The Pacific Island nations owe them a big vote of thanks for drawing the worlds attention back to the region  which some of the bigger nations had ignored for some time.

You only have to look at the reaction from France, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and most recently Australia and New Zealand to know Chinas work in the Pacific is making them very uncomfortable.

Today, they have finally woken from their slumber with all of them renewing their promises to strengthen their work in the Pacific region.

And from what weve seen so far, the one thing they are now admitting is that they need to do more for the Pacific. From Paris, London, Washington DC, Canberra, to Wellington, it is the same reaction.

Take the New Zealand government for instance. Last week, New Zealand Foreign Minister, Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters, announced a budget increase of NZ$714 million (T$1.2billion) for the Pacific. Thats a whopping increase by any standard.

Here in Apia, the news has come as music to ears of New Zealand High Commissioner to Samoa, David Nicholson. He said this is a clear and positive message about New Zealands relationship with Samoa and the wider region.

New Zealand is of the Pacific, we want our region to thrive, and we value the close connections that we enjoy, said Mr. Nicholson. With this funding, we will assist all of our Pacific partners to make progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals; support youth across the region with access to health services, education and training; support good governance, human rights, and gender equality; and promote the sustainable and inclusive growth of Pacific economies.

This announcement is good news for Samoa, and the wider Pacific, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Government of Samoa in the further development of our Countries shared priorities.

We couldnt agree more. This is in fact the best news weve heard from New Zealand in terms of aid for a long time. But its not just New Zealand.

President Macrons historical visit to the Pacific two weeks ago is another sign that France is serious about increasing its engagement in the region. Weve seen India made a similar move. The United States has been making a lot of noises about the issue.

The United Kingdom recently announced the establishment of several Embassies in the region  including one in Samoa  which is a sign that they are also looking at increasing their voice in the region.

Closer to home, we know Australia is taking Chinas growing influence very seriously.

All this global attention is good news for the Pacific countries. It means more assistance, which should translate to changing lives for the better.

The fact is that if Chinas growing influence in Samoa and many other Pacific countries had not become such a visible threat to some of these big countries, many of them would have continued to ignore this part of the world.

But Chinas rise in the Pacific has not only angered them, some of them have finally woken up to the fact that unless they react now, the Pacific will soon become another part of China  if that hasnt already happened in some places.

Now the issue of Chinas aid and their intentions remains a sensitive one.

It has been a controversial topic from the start and it will continue to be the case as long as China continues to open its wallet to the Pacific countries.

Which is precisely what the Pacific countries need. They dont need any more promises, they want to see action.

At the end of the day, it works out well for China. They know that many Pacific countries are desperate and in their desperation, they would welcome any assistance  whether its in a form of a grant or a loan. China is only too happy to oblige. And in doing so, they have become the saviour in the eyes of many Pacific nations  including Samoa.

Which is something all these other countries will increasingly find difficult to keep up with. Stay tuned! Have a great Tuesday Samoa, God bless!A family of Islamist militants in Indonesia carried an eight-year-old into a suicide bomb attack against police in Surabaya on Monday, a day after another militant family killed 13 people in suicide attacks on three churches in the same city.

The suicide bombers rode two motorbikes up to a checkpoint outside a police station and blew themselves up, Tito Karnavian, the police chief in Indonesia's second-largest city, told a news conference.

He said the child survived the explosion, and CCTV footage showed a child stumbling around in the aftermath.

Four officers and six civilians were wounded in the attack, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

President Joko Widodo branded the attacks in Surabaya the "act of cowards", and pledged to push through a new anti-terrorism bill to combat Islamist militant networks.

After some major successes tackling Islamist militancy since 2001, there has been a resurgence in recent years, including in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Police suspected Sunday's attacks on the churches were carried out by a cell of the Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an umbrella organization on a US State Department terrorist list that is reckoned to have drawn hundreds Indonesian sympathizers of Islamic State group.

"In the case of Surabaya, they escaped detection, but once it happened we moved fast to identify their network," Karnavian said.

The father of the family involved in those attacks was the head of a JAD cell in the city, the police chief said.

Earlier, police said his family was among 500 Islamic State group sympathizers who had returned from Syria, but the police chief said that was incorrect.

During the hunt to for the cell, police shot dead one suspect and arrested four others.

The police chief said the JAD cell may have been answering a call from Islamic State group in Syria to "cells throughout the world to mobilize."

He said the imprisonment of JAD's leader, Aman Abdurrahman, could be another motive, and cited clashes with Islamist prisoners at jail near Jakarta last week in which five counter-terrorism officers were killed.

In another incident in Sidoarjo, south of Surabya, Karnavian said police recovered unexploded pipe bombs an apartment where an explosion killed three members of a family alleged to have been making bombs. Three children from the family survived and were taken to hospital.

In all, 25 people have died since Sunday in attacks, including 13 suspected militants, Karnavian said.

Childrem Used in Attacks

CCTV footage of the blast outside the police station on Monday morning showed two motorbikes arriving at a checkpoint next to a car followed by an explosion as officers approached.

Security experts said it was the first time in Indonesia that a child had been used by militants on a suicide mission.

"The objective of using a family for terror acts is so it is not easily detected by the police," said Indonesian terrorism analyst Stanislaus Riyanta.

He said that families could also avoid communicating using technology that could be tracked.

Indonesia's chief security minister said on Monday that police backed by the military would step up security across Indonesia.

President Widodo said he would issue a regulation in lieu of a new anti-terror law next month if parliament failed to pass the bill. Police have complained that current laws do not allow them to detain suspects to prevent attacks.

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Dear Editor,

Re: P.M.s leadership hailed

I hope you can reverse your former  Global Warming and later  Climate Change phenomenon to curb the unfavorable climatic conditions thats happening around the world today because youre using this natural occurrences that happens every 2,160 yrs let alone 25,920 in the Precession of the Equinox (Platonic Year) as a justification to realign the political and economic structure of the world.

The end of the world as we supposedly waiting for is nothing more than the end of an era; which the earth is undergoing some major shift in polarity and self cleansing itself in getting ready for another 2,160 year cycle to occur.

The earth is like a cell with a DNA that has the mechanism to self-correct itself. Without knowing any knowledge of Astronomy or Astrology, we can never understand how the alignments of the heavenly bodies or the planetary system works in our galaxy.

Those that are in the knows of these changes can easily manipulate the masses by making all these changes weer seeing happening around the world today. As one American politician Ron Emanuel once said,  You can never let a serious crisis go to waste. Regionalism as they called it is a euphemism for consolidating all the Pacific nations into one body as theyve already done in the European Union.

Remember what the ignorant govt. of Japan in one article I read a while back that says we are not the owners of our land according to some historical study they conducted or something to that effect.

Then the PM said he already commissioned Rev. Oka Fauolo to have a consultation with the people of Samoa to which they were in agreement for the passage of the LTRA 2008.

These are all linked to this new regionalism concept of no more boarders.

Thats the same concept the British people rejected and voted against it because they know that they will lose their identity and freedom if they go along with it. Im just trying to think out of the box as I know that reality is only an illusion unless you are initiated to have eyes to see and ears to hear to see through  the smoke and mirrors  that these perpetrators have always trying to control this beautiful world we lived in through manipulation and wars to gain their Ultimate control.

L.T.R.B.A prominent businessman and a pioneer in the radio industry has passed away.

The Owner of Radio Polynesia, Maposua Rudolf Keil, passed away at his home on Sunday. He was 83 years old.

Maposua started Radio Polynesia Limited in 1989 at Afiamalu and over the years had grown the business to now include several stations including Talofa FM, Magic FM, K Lite FM, Malo FM and Star FM.

Contacted yesterday, his son, Corey Keil, declined to comment.

But news of Maposuas passing immediately spread on social media where it has drawn condolences from mourners in Samoa and all over the world.

Many of them describe Maposua as a pioneer, a man of great faith and a great man.

Condolences to your family from us all here in NZ, Mack Tane wrote on Corey Keils Facebook page.

A prominent businessman, he was also recognized for his distinguished service in the community.

A staunch member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints in Samoa, Maposua will be sadly missed.

Please pass on sincerest condolences to the family Corey, Norman Wetzell writes. As the scriptures say there is a season for everything yes even to leave this life but it is not the end but a new beginning. May Heavenly Father bring you all much comfort at this time. Alofa atu.

Church member, Jase Bond, also offered condolences to the Keil family.

I remember this Sunday when we celebrated his 80th birthday at Church. A man of great faith. Rest in peace my friend...Im gonna miss seeing you every week at my office after temple. Families are forever. Much love.

Lawyer Leiataua Jerry Brunt expressed condolences to the Keil family. I am so sorry to hear of your loss. It won't be the same but have faith you will see him again someday and that for sure he will always by your side. Avao Tiatia said Maposua was a pioneer and will be sadly missed but his legacy will live on with you all.

Last year Radio Polynesia celebrated its 26th birthday with a Roots Concert in front of the government building.

When it first started in Afiamalu there was only one station, he said.

Like anything in life, there were many challenges but fast forward 26 years we now have five stations. A lot has improved and the station has been growing immensely with 25 staff members now employed at Radio Polynesia.

Among Maposuas children is Police Commissioner, Fuiava Egon Keil.The Minister of Prisons and Correction Services, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, has declared the Apia Police Station a prison to satisfy the legal aspect of housing Tagaloasa Filipaina and Ovaleni Poli in Apia.

This was confirmed in an Order signed by Tialavea on 3 May 2018.

In consideration of the fact that the following buildings and places were being used as prisoners before the commencement of the Prison and Corrections Act 2013 on 01 January, 2015, the Commencement date and pursuant to section 16 (1) of the Prisons and Corrections Act 2013, do hereby appoint as prisons the following buildings and places, the Order reads.

The building situated and known as the Apia Police Station together with the building and land used in connection therewith.

The building at Aleipata in Upolu known as the Aleipata Police Post and the building and land sued in connection.

The building at Leulumoegag in Upolu known as the Poutasi Police Post, Tuasivi in Savaii and Falelima Police Post in Savaii.

The matter is in relation to the ongoing saga involving two notorious convicts who had been moved to the Apia Police Station after a failed mass prison break plan last year.

The declaration follows a legal opinion provided by the Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff.

He opined that the prisoners can still be detained in the Apia Police station until the actual case is heard by the Court and a definite determination is given as the lawfulness or otherwise of their detention at Apia Police station.

Lemalu quoted section 16 of the Prisoners Act, which gives the Minister the power to declare a building or land a prison.

He adds the Commissioner also has the power under Section 16 (4) to make arrangements for prisoners to be kept at a location designated by the Commissioner as a temporary prison.

Either option can be taken immediately, he said.

It is recommended that these steps be taken as we cannot have persons we need to hold in Apia for whatever public reason in future, claiming that cells are not a prison.

Tagaloasa Filipaina and Ovaleni Poli have been housed at the Apia Police Station since the incident last December and they hired a lawyer to fight the decision in Court.

Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson ruled that the Apia Police Station is not by law a prison.An uncle, who raped his niece, while her mother was attending bingo, has been found guilty.

The verdict followed the completion of an Assessors Trial last week.

The matter was presided over by Supreme Court Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren who issued a suppression order on the details of the victim.

However the order does not apply to Pulemau Sione, Justice Tafaoimalo.

Sione was represented by Afamasaga Michael Soonalole while prosecuting was Assistant Attorney General, Rexona Titi.

Sione, 67, faced one count of rape against his his sisters daughter who was 17 years old at the time.

The victim took the stand and informed the jury members that on 22 October 2017 she was asleep with her two younger siblings when Sione entered her bedroom and woke her up.

I was awoken when I felt someone on top of me, and when I woke up thats when I saw my uncle and immediately asked him what is he doing but he said to be quiet or he would kill me and chase my family out of this house.

He then placed his hands around my neck and told me not to tell anyone and not to make a sound. I tried pushing him off but he overpowered me and held me down, and he raped me.

The Assessors also heard from the victim that her mother was attending bingo on the night in question and efforts to get in contact with her were unsuccessful.

I called my mom five times and she did not answer her phone, said the victim while holding back her tears. The victim then called her two sisters and no one answered and thats when she logged into her facebook page and messaged her auntie overseas.

When he was finished he threatened to kill me if I told anyone and also threatened to chase us out of the house, because he was the one built the house that we live.

The victim also informed the court that her mother was out to bingo on the night question.

The Assessors also heard that Sione who lives in New Zealand is the eldest of sibling of his family and has been very supportive by sending remittances to his family.

Sione who also testified vehemently denied the rape allegations.

Nothing happened, I was about to go to sleep when I heard her (victim) calling out to me and when I get to the bedroom she was naked and was acting inappropriate. I swore at her and then I left the room and went to sleep, said Sione.

He then left for American Samoa the next day.

The Assessors however found him guilty of rape and Judge Tafaoimalo then ordered to place the defendant into the custody for sentencing on 8 June, 2018.Three candidates are looking to fill the 38th Senate District seat held by Joel Anderson, who is serving his second and final term. Anderson, a Republican, has held the office since 2010.

Running in the June 5 primary are Santee City Councilman Brian Jones, a Republican; Democrat Jeff Griffith, a firefighter/paramedic; and Libertarian Antonio Salguero, a business owner/entrepreneur.

The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to Novembers general election.

The 38th District includes the northern and eastern portions of San Diego County  including El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Ramona, Poway, Escondido, Fallbrook and Carmel Mountain Ranch  and leans Republican, with 39.6 percent of voters registered as Republicans, 29.5 percent as Democrats and 25.3 percent as having no political party affiliation.

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Jones served in the Assembly for six years after eight years on the Santee City Council. Jones was appointed to the council last year to fill a vacancy created when Santees mayor, Randy Voepel, was elected to the Assembly.

Brian Jones (Courtesy photo )

Jones, 49, has been in East County since 1978 and lives in Santee with his wife and three children. He earned a bachelors degree in business administration from San Diego State University.

Jones said he is running on my proven record of common sense leadership in Sacramento, lifelong ties to the community and the support of leaders we trust.

Jones said he has always been an advocate for pro-business policies and said he is proud of Santees thriving businesses, low crime, parks and recreation services, and its family-friendly atmosphere.

While serving in the Assembly, one of my top priorities was doing what I could to bring a more business-friendly approach to our state government, Jones said. California is fortunate to host a number of important industries, corporations, and businesses that provide jobs for our entire state. However, as Sacramento continues to impose more red tape and higher taxes on businesses, more and more will continue leaving our state, reducing our competitiveness and economic strength.

Jones said he received lifetime A ratings from the National Federation of Independent Business for his voting record on business issues as well as high marks from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and California Taxpayers Association.

He said he is also concerned about public safety and looks to work on policies that focus on law enforcement and social service needs.

Jeff Griffith (Courtesy photo )

Griffith, a fire captain for CAL Fire in Riverside County, is married and has two daughters. He has been living in Escondido since 1995.

Griffith, a second-generation firefighter, has an associates degree in social and behavioral science and an EMT-Paramedic license from Butte Community College in Oroville.

He said his experience as a two-term elected member of the Palomar Health board (2012 and 2016), plus 30 years of experience as a firefighter and paramedic, will help him bring important representation to the area.

He said he hadnt thought about higher politics until last year when several people approached him and asked him to run for Senate. He said he always wanted to do more, to contribute more and believes he can improve things for a lot of people.

Two big things I know about and Im passionate about are public safety and health care, said Griffith, 50. I was elected to the Palomar board when (the) Affordable Care Act came into being, and that brought a lot changes in the culture of health care. I believe in climate change and in keeping fire fuels (overgrowth of brush) down to make for a safer environment.

Griffith said he is also concerned about PTSD as it affects those in the public safety field as well as treatment centers and their regulation. About the growing rate of suicide among police and fire personnel, Griffith said it alarming to him that no one is talking about it.

At 26, Salguero is one of the younger candidates in this years election and has played up that fact, saying he wants to bring representation to the younger generation of California.

Antonio Salguero (Courtesy photo )

He owns and operates a security firm that he founded. Salguero said he attends Grossmont College, and is studying administration of justice with an emphasis in security management and music.

He said his priorities are addressing high taxation and spending, cost of living and housing affordability, education, economic opportunities and a comprehensive criminal justice reform with an emphasis in civil liberties.

Salguero said California needs to move to a more pro-business climate, needs to reduce or eliminate corporate taxes and eliminate minimum wage laws.

I believe that if addressed properly, these issues will have a big impact in increasing the quality of life for the majority of Californians, Salguero said. Californians bare the highest tax burdens in the country, especially in regards to individual income tax. My guiding principle on taxation is that if it is an individual right, it should not be taxed and if it is taxed, it should provide a service.

He said he is concerned about unfunded liabilities in the pension system for government employees and that it needs to be reformed. He also said that Californias criminal justice system and its welfare system need to be fixed.

karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comIn the seven years he has fought to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, opposition forces Col. Haitham Afisis beard has turned white and his voice has become a deep rumble.

The tall, muscular colonel, however, remains familiar to many Syrians, and someone to admire for those who oppose the Assad government.

Days after fighters under his command had joined with Turkish forces in March to wrest a corner of northwestern Syria away from rival Kurdish forces, Afisi, 58, spent some time greeting patrons at a cafe on the outskirts of Gaziantep, Turkey.

The city of Gaziantep, 32 miles from the border, is a hub of the Syrian opposition, providing offices for nongovernmental organizations and a Turkish location for the Syrian Interim Government, a group formed by leaders in exile headquartered in Azaz, Syria.

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As Afisi sat drinking tea and smoking cigarettes during a busy dinner period, several passersby walked up to him to say hello. He planned to stay in Turkey for a day before returning to the opposition-controlled Syrian city of Afrin.

We have gotten more popular since these operations with Turkey began, Afisi said during a recent hourlong interview. Even in regime-controlled areas there are calls for people to join new brigades now.

Since allying themselves with neighboring Turkey in 2016, Afisi and other fighters belonging to some of the more moderate rebel factions arrayed against Assad have been granted a new lease on life.

A new, unified force, dubbed the National Army, was announced in December and is receiving funding and training from Turkey. But its attempts to forge a united front against Al Qaeda-affiliated factions and to establish an alternative to Assads government have been beset by infighting.

Maintaining discipline and loyalty within their ranks has been an elusive goal for the rebels since the start of the multi-sided civil war in 2011, when officers such as Afisi, who served in the Syrian air force, quit and announced they would form the Free Syrian Army, hoping to protect protesters across the country calling for Assads ouster.

In the years since, the rebels have seen funding and weapons from foreign backers come and go, and lost members to less moderate factions.

In 2014, Afisis son, a commander in a rebel brigade in the Idlib countryside, was kidnapped and held for nearly two years by the former Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda-affiliated rebel faction now known as the Organization for the Liberation of Syria. Al Nusra killed hundreds of rebels from U.S.-backed factions such as Afisis 51st Brigade and went on a kidnapping and killing rampage targeting activists and civilians who served in local councils set up to administer the rebel-held area.

Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview on May 10. (SANA handout / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock )

Support for Assad from Russia and Iran, meanwhile, shrank the space the rebels controlled in Syria, leaving Idlib province the last major opposition stronghold. Al Nusra became the dominant force in Idlib in 2017 and formed a new umbrella group that drew fighters from various factions in the Free Syrian Army.

They included fighters backed by Washington, who took equipment such as antitank missiles with them to join Al Nusra. Washington put an end to backing the Free Syrian Army in Syria, including those under Afisis command, and shifted its focus on training Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a mix of Kurdish and Arab fighters whose main goal was not to topple Assad, but to defeat the militant group Islamic State.

In March, the National Army, an alliance of 37 groups of about 30,000 fighters under Afisis command, took part in Turkeys Operation Olive Branch, a two-month battle that succeeded in pushing Kurdish rebels out of the northwestern Syrian district of Afrin.

Turkey considers the Kurdish militia that controlled Afrin an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. The families of Turkish-allied rebels killed in the operation have been promised Turkish citizenship.

It was a very successful battle, we managed to eject the terrorists without causing much damage or killing innocent people, said Muhammad Atarib, part of the 9th Division, one of the groups that took part in the battle, who was reached by phone in Afrin. As a Syrian, I hope the operations with Turkey will continue, and we will liberate other areas as well.

The Turkish-backed victory in Afrin links the area with a strip of northern Syria that the same forces took from Islamic State in 2016, in what Turkey called Operation Euphrates Shield. About 75 miles of the Turkey-Syria border is now controlled by the forces, free from airstrikes and attacks from the Syrian government and its allies.

The impetus for the 2016 operation came from the Turkish government in Ankara, which sought to eject Islamic State from its border, while commanders such as Afisi hoped to carve out an area of control to use as a base for their fight against Assad.

At a headquarters in Syria used by Turkish special forces, Afisi and dozens of other rebel commanders decided to form a unified structure, calling themselves the National Army.

People welcomed it, we needed unity, we needed backing, Afisi said. Fighters of course need food, they need water, they need weapons, supplies, and so when the U.S. cut us off, we had to turn to Turkey.

Turkey pays the salaries of the National Army fighters, about $150 a month, and has set up military bases in Syria to train them.

Turkeys effort to stabilize the areas under its control in northern Syria have also benefited civilian opposition groups, who have thrown their lot in with Ankara, hoping to use the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to govern.

After rebel groups took part in Turkeys Operation Euphrates Shield, which resulted in Turkeys occupation of northern Syria, the Syrian Interim Government was chosen by Ankara to help control areas formerly under Islamic State. The arrangement provided at least nominal control between the city of Jarabulus, and the city of Azaz, a key waypoint for supplies coming from the Turkish border crossing at Bab Salameh.

The Syrian Interim Government last year announced its prime minister, Jawad Abu Hatab, a heart surgeon, would serve as defense minister and oversee the new National Army, with Afisi working under him.

Helping to form a disciplined National Army is in Turkeys interest, as it seeks to ensure stability in the parts of northern Syria it has taken over, said Sinan Hatahet, a researcher at the Istanbul-based Al Sharq Forum.

The army doesnt exist per se, its still in preparation, Hatahet said.

Days after Turkey announced Afrin had been taken, fighters from rival National Army factions set up their own checkpoints into the city. Fighters with the Turkey- and U.S.-trained Al Hamza brigade manning one such checkpoint shot and killed a commander from the hard-line Ahrar al Sharqiya group, sparking clashes that killed at least seven rebels and that ended only when Turkish military officers showed up to broker a cease-fire.

Afisi said a military police force is being formed, with military courts and a headquarters near Al Bab, that he hopes will put an end to embarrassing situations.

The biggest challenge facing the opposition is navigating the push and pull of Turkey, Iran and Russia, he said.

Every decision that is taken, we sit with the Turks and come to a decision, based on consensus, but we should not forget that there are political pressures that exist as well, Afisi said.

Afisi said opposition forces would continue fighting as necessary regardless of their foes.

We will work to advance the goals of the revolution, he said, and we are ready to fight anyone in the way, including Islamic State, or [Al Nusra Front], or the regime.

Farooq is a special correspondent.The initial deployment of California National Guard troops has arrived at the international border here and will soon begin backing up federal law enforcement agents.

Standing in front of 51 troops during a brief Monday morning news conference, Gloria Chavez, the new Border Patrol chief in the El Centro sector, said that the Operation Guardian Support soldiers would be unarmed, serve solely in support roles and wont be asked to arrest any suspected unauthorized immigrants, gun runners, drug mules or other criminal suspects.

Theyll be assisting from behind the scenes so that our agents are able to get to the front lines and do the border security, she said.

Chavez said that California National Guard headquarters in Sacramento is expected to send another 22 airmen and soldiers to her sector before the deployment wraps up in the end of September. The initial wave of troops is undergoing training that will reorient them to operations along the international border.

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Theyll be working cameras, she said. Theyll be working in offices. Theyll be conducting intelligence analysis. Theyll also be helping us with road infrastructure with regards to vegetation and road clearing and such but itll never be a frontline border security assignment or task.

Their job is going to be behind the scenes, providing us that critical support that today Border Patrol agents do. Where I need my Border Patrol agents is on the frontline, doing the patrols, doing the interdictions of anything that crosses that border.

Chavezs sector stretches for 71 miles along the international boundary from the Jacumba Mountains in the west to the Imperial Sand Dunes in the east and includes the cities of El Centro, Calexico, Brawley Indio and Riverside.

In the budget year that ended on Sept. 30, El Centro agents apprehended 18,633 undocumented immigrants and interdicted 5,554 pounds of marijuana, 483 pounds of cocaine and 1,526 pounds of methamphetamines. They also reported 21 assaults against Border Patrol personnel.

From the toe of Texas to the Pacific Ocean, Border Patrol last year apprehended 303,916 migrants crossing unlawfully into the United States from Mexico, the smallest number since 1971, according to the agencys official statistics.

Chavez said that her approximately 900 agents now are detaining on average about 80 unauthorized immigrants per day.

National Guard troops did not speak during the news conference but their roles appear to match those outlined by California Gov. Jerry Brown in written orders he drafted on April 18, following a back-and-forth with President Donald Trump over how uniformed personnel would be used along the border.

Brown has set a limit of 400 troops to be used to beef up border security, targeting criminal gangs, human traffickers and smugglers moving guns and drugs statewide, not just along the international line.

They largely will supplement ongoing Guard initiatives. Before the arrival of the troops in El Centro, the Guard already had 250 personnel assisting on transnational counter-narcotics efforts statewide, 55 of them along the border with Mexico.

The federal taxpayer will foot the bill for the influx of Guardsmen but Brown retains command over how theyre used.

Although Californias troops now join Guardsmen from Arizona, Texas and New Mexico along the border, Brown ordered his personnel to never help workers erect a controversial three-story border wall championed by Trump or assist in arrests of undocumented immigrants, saying that those are roles reserved for federal law enforcement agents.

Trump is the third president over the past dozen years to seek help from state governors to secure the border.

President George W. Bushs Operation Jump Start stretched between 2006 and 2008 while Barack Obamas Operation Phalanx kicked off in mid-2010 and wrapped up six years later.

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cprine@sduniontribune.comThe initial deployment of California National Guard troops has arrived at the international border and will soon begin backing up federal law enforcement agents.

Standing before 51 troops during a Monday morning news conference, Gloria Chavez  the new Border Patrol chief in the El Centro sector  said the unarmed Operation Guardian Support soldiers would serve in support roles and wont be asked to arrest any suspected gun runners, drug mules or immigrants crossing the border illegally.

Theyll be assisting from behind the scenes so that our agents are able to get to the front lines and do the border security, she said.

Chavez said that California National Guard headquarters in Sacramento is expected to send an additional 22 airmen and soldiers to her sector before the deployment wraps up at the end of September. The initial wave of troops is undergoing training that will reorient them to operations along the international border.

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Theyll be working cameras, she said. Theyll be working in offices. Theyll be conducting intelligence analysis. Theyll also be helping us with road infrastructure with regards to vegetation and road clearing and such, but itll never be a front-line border security assignment or task.

The El Centro sector stretches for 71 miles along the border from the Jacumba Mountains in the west to the Imperial Sand Dunes in the east and includes the cities of El Centro, Calexico, Brawley, Indio and Riverside.

In the budget year that ended Sept. 30, El Centro agents apprehended 18,633 immigrants in the U.S. illegally and interdicted 5,554 pounds of marijuana, 483 pounds of cocaine and 1,526 pounds of methamphetamines. They also reported 21 assaults against Border Patrol personnel.

About 900 agents are detaining an average of about 80 unauthorized immigrants a day, Chavez said.

Following a back-and-forth with President Trump over how National Guard personnel would be used along the border, Gov. Jerry Brown set a limit of 400 troops to be used to beef up border security, targeting criminal gangs, human traffickers and smugglers moving guns and drugs statewide.

Before the arrival of the troops in El Centro, the Guard had 250 personnel assisting transnational counter-narcotics efforts statewide, 55 of them along the border with Mexico.

cprine@sduniontribune.com

Prine writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.Britain is concerned by the reports of violence on the Gaza border, the spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday, urging restraint.

"We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza. We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts," he told reporters. "The UK remains firmly committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital."

He also said May would raise human rights with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at talks on Tuesday.

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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered a commencement speech in New Hampshire on Sunday, adding another notch to his travels in key primary states as he contemplates a run for president.

Garcetti flew east Saturday, speaking to graduates at Southern New Hampshire University the next morning before returning to Los Angeles, where he faces a homelessness crisis and a decision on who will be the citys next police chief.

This was Garcettis second trip to New Hampshire. In August, before publicly acknowledging that he was considering a presidential run, he stumped for Manchester mayoral candidate Joyce Craig.

In recent months, Garcetti has stepped up his presence in early primary states, visiting Nevada, South Carolina and Iowa. Last week, he addressed a labor union convention in Florida.

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In his Mothers Day speech to about 1,800 graduates of SNHUs College of Online and Continuing Education, Garcetti spoke about navigating borders both physical and psychological.

Many of the graduates had returned to school after years or decades, determined to get their college degrees amid the challenges of working and parenting. They came to the ceremony from as far away as Texas and Hawaii.

There was a contingent in the crowd from Los Angeles  Dont forget to vote, Garcetti quipped. The online division has so many students from Southern California that a graduation ceremony will be held there soon, said university spokeswoman Lauren Keane.

To get here today, each one of you had to navigate borders  borders of geography, of opportunity, borders of identity and of your own doubt, said Garcetti, 47.

He spoke of his own grandfather, who crossed the border from Mexico as a baby, and his great-grandparents, who fled anti-Semitism in Russia.

Im an average American. As I joke, Im the average Mexican American Jewish Italian mayor of the most diverse city in the world, he said.

The theme of borders extended to national politics. Garcetti urged the audience to talk to people with opposing political views. He referenced veterans, refugees and homelessness while criticizing Washington politicians for failing to bridge differences.

The pundits call it right now in our country that there are two Americas  theres the rural and urban divide, the immigrant and native-born, the coasts and the heartland, red and blue, Garcetti said. I do believe there are two Americas, but its none of those  its Washington, D.C., and the rest of us.

In Iowa last month, Garcetti made the standard Democratic candidate rounds  a training center for carpenters, a gay rights gala  without formally declaring that he was running.

Garcettis New Hampshire trip had less to do with a possible presidential run than with speaking at a school known for providing opportunities for veterans and older students, said Yusef Robb, a political advisor.

The mayor made no other official stops on the trip, Robb said.

Craig, who won her bid for Manchester mayor, introduced Garcetti to SNHU President Paul LeBlanc, Robb said, and the trip was paid for by the university.

Garcetti spoke to SNHU trustees at their recent board retreat in Los Angeles, which led to the commencement invitation, said Keane, the university spokeswoman.

In case anyone had forgotten that presidential politics were in the mix, LeBlanc slipped in a joke as he took the microphone back from Garcetti.

Thank you, President Garcetti  uh, Mayor Garcetti, he said.

cindy.chang@latimes.comPresident Trump says he signed the first military pay raise in 10 years. Did he?

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said two-thirds of the people who use Medicaid are poor children, but two-thirds of Medicaids money goes to long-term care for seniors. Is she right?

One of your Facebook friends says teens are swallowing laundry-detergent pods as part of a Tide Pod Challenge. Are they?

The answers to the above are, No, No and Eww, yes. The truth comes courtesy of FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com and Snopes.com, three nonpartisan organizations devoted to separating fake news from the real thing, whether the news is coming from the White House or your Facebook feed.

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None of these organizations receive funding from political parties or special interest groups, and none of them has a paywall standing between you and their information. And in this age of 24/7 information and misinformation, all of them provide you a clear path through the media jungle. Here is a look at the people who are carrying a mean machete so you wont have to.

FactCheck.org

A long-term project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, FactCheck.org is dedicated to determining the accuracy quotient in everything from political speeches and newspaper editorials to campaign ads and Facebook posts.

Best quickie: If political spin is making your head swim, your port in the storm is The Wire, a nonpartisan round-up of stories that ferret out the truth behind some of our more eye-catching political headlines. Neither party is spared, so put your outrage on hold.

Best rabbit hole: That would be the Ask FactCheck Archives, where your burning questions about the border wall, Parkland shooting crisis actors and weird Denzel Washington rumors are answered in patient detail.

PolitiFact.com

The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its coverage of the 2008 election, PolitiFact.com was owned by the Tampa Bay Times newspaper until 2018, when ownership was transferred to the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

With help from its eye-catching Truth-O-Meter icon, PolitiFact.com (and its PunditFact pages) rate statements made by political figures and pundits as True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False and the incendiary Pants on Fire. The latter designation is reserved for statements that are both inaccurate and ridiculous.

Best quickie: The Truth-O-Meter page catalogs PolitiFacts latest investigations, with each statement accessorized with a Truth-O-Meter graphic and a one-sentence explanation of what tipped the needle.

Best rabbit hole: The Pants-on-Fire! page, which is a deep dive into all of the insane and/or ill-informed statements to receive PolitiFacts hellfire rating. This is where 9/11 conspiracies and Hillary Clinton death hoaxes go to fry.

Snopes.com

The San Diego-based Snopes.com website was founded in 1994 by David Mikkelson for the noble purpose of researching urban legends. It now also investigates political questions (Did President Trump revoke gun background checks for mentally ill people?); viral photographs (Did this man really carry his horse to safety after it was bitten by a snake?); and clickbait rumors (Are cut onions more dangerous than spoiled mayonnaise?).

Best quickie: The best way to get a handle on this eclectic site is the Fact Check section, which gives you the Snopes skinny on all the weird news that someone saw fit to post or print. It could be a true image of the Ayatollah Khamenei reading a copy of Fire and Fury, Michael Wolffs anti-Trump expose, or a look at a Fox News analysts debunked claim that Sen. John McCain cracked under torture.

Best rabbit hole: The Snopes Archive organizes past stories by category and by rating. So whether you want a Disney deep dive, a look at bizarre Coke rumors or a guide to scams, its all there for the reading and sharing. Tell them Big Foot sent you.

Want more?

The San Diego Public Librarys Breaking News @ The Library series has two upcoming Citizen Journalist workshops dedicated to the basics of the news business, including how to tell the difference between real news and fake news: May 16 at 6 p.m. at the Kensington-Normal Heights Library and May 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the La Jolla/Riford Library. The sessions are presented by the San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists and the San Diego Press Club.

Twitter: @karla_peterson

karla.peterson@sduniontribune.comThe top United States official at the international agency charged with overseeing efforts to stem ongoing water pollution in the Tijuana River Valley stepped down on Friday.

The departure of Edward Drusina, former commissioner of the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC, comes as the agency continues to face legal attacks from South Bay cities that routinely shutter beaches due to pollution from south of the border.

Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego took legal action against the IBWC in March, suing the agency for failing to adequately control everything from sewage to industrial waste to pesticides to massive amounts of trash that flow through the Tijuana River and into the Pacific Ocean.

I asked for his resignation or firing over three years ago, said Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina. He did almost nothing to advance efforts to clean up the Tijuana River.

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Officials with the U.S. IBWC said the departure of Drusina, who was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama, was a somewhat routine changing of the guard ordered by the current White House administration.

He served at the pleasure of the administration, said Lori Kuczmanski, spokeswoman for the IBWC. With the next president coming in, we were expecting he would just work until notified, and he was notified.

Commissioner Drusina did well for our agency, and he will be missed, she added.

Principal Engineer Jose Nunez will step in as acting commissioner, according to an agency press statement. He has been with the agency for more than 27 years.

Imperial Beach, which includes the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge has portions of its shoreline off-limits to swimmers roughly a third of the year on average due to sewage and other water pollution flowing from Mexico, according to San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of San Diego County records.

To address sewage spills, Tijuana would need an estimated $280 million to as much as $500 million. However, the region doesnt seem to have the resources to fix its ailing infrastructure, such as a crumbling wastewater treatment plant along the coast in Punta Bandera.

In April, IBWC officials in Mexico and the U.S. ordered construction of a roughly four-foot earthen berm in Tijuana River to temporarily trap polluted water in the rivers concrete channel before it hits open water.

*Correction: A pervious version of this story incorrectly stated that Edward Drusina resigned on Monday. He was removed on Friday by the presidential administration.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.comThough we long ago thrust monarchy from our shores, Americans still grow up on kings and queens, princesses and princes. We are raised on stories of King Arthur and parodies of stories of King Arthur; on Prince Hal and King Lear, on lords and ladies and dukes and duchesses and barons and earls. On King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday. We take weird pleasure in calling Paul McCartney Sir Paul or Judi Dench Dame Judi, even though we fought a revolution in order to not have to do that.

Not every royal wedding gets major media coverage over here: Since Charles married Diana in 1981, his brothers Andrew and Edward and sister Anne have all wed, as Charles has again, with little local hullabaloo. (There are non-British royal weddings, of course, though unless they involve an American movie star, we dont want to know.) But when the big ones come along, they cause a stir, sending ripples through the media and causing writers on every platform to dust off terms like fairy tale and fascinator. This has been so at least since the present queen married Prince Philip (see Netflixs The Crown, Season 1).

There was Diana, once upon a time, in a dress that was enough for two dresses; and her son William a few babies back. Now its brother Harrys turn to make a person a princess (well, a duchess). And that the person, Meghan Markle, is an American makes this a truly local foreign event, as well as cementing the relationship between two great nations.

We are less than a week away from the happy day  Saturday, May 19, if you need to write that down  and television will be there, and there for you. The wedding itself, to take place at Windsor Castle, in the modest enormousness of St. Georges Chapel, will be covered live not only by all four big broadcast networks, but by Fox, PBS, E! and BBC America, which will simulcast the BBCs own feed. CNN and HLN are sending troops. On the West Coast it will be a toss up between staying up late and getting up early  the ceremony begins at 4 a.m. Pacific Time. Wear your formal PJs.

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Today co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb see Windsor in style in the pre-nuptial special Inside the Royal Wedding: Harry and Meghan. (Colin Hutton/NBC )

Most exciting for some viewers will be HBOs The Royal Wedding Live With Cord and Tish! featuring Pasadena broadcast legends Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan, the Rose Parade veterans who bear a strong resemblance to Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon. Coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. PT with a replay at 6:45 p.m.

Will Ferrell as Cord Hosenbeck, left, and Molly Shannon as Tish Cattigan. Theyll host live coverage of Prince Harrys marriage to Meghan Markle in The Royal Wedding Live with Cord and Tish on HBO. (HBO / AP )

But the coming week will provide programs to wet your whistle, including several documentaries on the paths that led Harry and Meghan to their engagement and the meaning of it all for the future of the kingdom and the nation. (All signs, seemingly, are good; the royal family has grown up enough to accept an American biracial divorced actress into the family, and the U.K. goes wild.) These variations on a theme come with similar titles, overlapping information and some of the same film clips arranged with different emphasis.

Of the ones Ive seen, BBC Americas imported Harry & Meghan: A Very Modern Romance (Tuesday, 10 p.m.) is in some ways the most interesting, because it hasnt been made for an American audience, but for viewers who have a more immediate, long-term interest. It has some concern for the future Duchess Meghan, as well, whom it admiringly explains as a modern woman  a feminist, an activist  to the people whose hands she has already begun to shake and shoulders to hug with enthusiasm and ease. Yes, people are reminded of her fiances mother.

Smithsonian Channel has framed the wedding within the context of its Million Dollar American Princesses series (next airing, 1 p.m. Tuesday), which is usually about rich American women rescuing British aristocrats from penury by marrying them. (You may be familiar with the arrangement from Downton Abbey.) This is not whats happening here; Suits cant have paid that well. The royal weddings of Hollywood brides Grace Kelly (a common comparison in these shows) and Rita Hayworth are examined for context in this episode on Markle. Some dramatic re-creation included.

Not the real thing: Parisa Fitz-Henley as Meghan Markle and Murray Fraser as Prince Harry in Lifetimes Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance. (Lifetime )

Today co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb host NBCs cheery Inside the Royal Wedding: Harry and Meghan (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), prowling Windsor while real English correspondent Kier Simmons takes a sneak peek inside the chapel and visits florists and bakers and tailors and hostlers whose hard work will make this party more than a quick trip to City Hall. Friends and colleagues of the bride are deposed, certain that Markle can handle whatever the queen and her country have to throw at her. If she is Cinderella, she is Cinderella come to rescue the prince.

TLC has three hours of original wedding programming Friday, the nuptial eve, featuring the same enthusiastic commentators throughout. (Britains overnight Meghanologists I find especially delightful  Can we ever remember a time when there wasnt a Meghan Markle? wonders journalist Andrew Morton.)

The bride and groom get a special apiece, Prince Harry: Wild No More (8 p.m.) for him, Meghan Markle: A Royal Love Story (9 p.m.) for her. The focused attention given each makes room for clips and tidbits other documentaries cant  including an appearance by Markle first love Joshua Silverstein, whom she kissed at camp, and the fact that Harry quietly dated Jenna Coleman, who has played his great-great-great-great grandmother in Victoria  while adding a layer of seriousness to the biographical accounts. The highly speculative Secrets of the Royal Wedding, which follows at 10 p.m., might better be titled Guesses About the Royal Wedding, but it efficiently rounds up whats known about the preparations and details and where Harry and Meghan have already broken from tradition.

What else? Lifetime has an imaginative feature docudrama, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, with lookalikes Murray Fraser and Parisa Fitz-Henley in the title roles (Tues. 8 p.m. and available to stream at www.mylifetime.com, along with the merely documentary Harry & Meghan: Royal Rebels.) And local PBS outlet KOCE has a Royal Wedding Watch every weeknight at 10  sure to be educational!

Even for someone who rarely spares a thought for royalty and its big book of silly rules and regulations, these shows can be moving: Its evident from nearly every scrap of footage of Meghan and Harry that these mature young people are crazy about each other, and as the programs above also make clear, impressive in their own rights. No dummies. Socially conscious. Well-spoken.

Yes, I choked up, as if at the climax of a Richard Curtis rom-com. I didnt expect to. But love, it seems, conquers all.

ALSO

Live updates: Countdown to the Royal Wedding

When Harry Met Meghan: the royal wedding is the perfect Hollywood ending for a very Hollywood story

Meghan Markles rise to Hollywood stardom

Where to watch the royal wedding at L.A.-area pubs and tea parlors

Accidentally royal: 11 films to watch before Prince Harry and Meghan Markles big day

Find out how Meghan Markle bid farewell to Suits ahead of royal wedding

robert.lloyd@latimes.com

Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd

UPDATES:

May 14, 1:10 p.m.: This story was updated with additional details on TLCs royal wedding programming. The article was originally published May 12 at 6:30 a.m.Margot Kidder, the actress who reached new heights with her seminal performance as Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in Superman:The Movie, died Sunday. She was 69.

Margot passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, May 13th, a representative for Kidder told The Times on Monday.

UPDATE: Superman actress Margot Kidders death ruled a suicide 

Kidders death was originally confirmed by a representative of Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, Mont.

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Best known for her film work in the Superman franchise, Kidder also starred in Black Christmas, The Great Waldo Pepper and The Amityville Horror, earning an Emmy Award in 2015 for her performance in the childrens series R.L. Stines The Haunting Hour.

Known for her seemingly endless energy  Superman director Richard Donner once referred to her as a whirling dervish  Kidder found that hiding the truth about her animated personality was a burden.

After Superman came out, I found it very difficult and hard to deal with. There is a sense of having to put on this phony face when you go out in public, Kidder said in a 1997 interview. I wasnt very good at it, and it filled me with anxiety and panic. I had to hide the manic depression, for one thing. I just felt inadequate for the job.

Kidder became a public face for mental health advocacy after a highly publicized bipolar episode in 1996 resulted in the actress going missing, only to be found disheveled and disoriented several days later.

A diagnosis is just a description of symptoms to guide doctors on how to treat you. A diagnosis does not even hint at the root cause or the possible cure for those symptoms, Kidder told The Times in 2001 about her struggle with mental illness.

The actress and activist was awarded the Courage in Mental Health Award from the California Womens Mental Health Policy Council in 2001.

Born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in Canada, Kidder became a naturalized United States citizen in 2005 and was a longtime Montana resident.

Kidder is survived by daughter Maggie McGuane, granddaughter Maisie Kirn and grandson Charlie Kirn.

A cause of death has not been released.

libby.hill@latimes.com

Twitter: @midwestspitfire

UPDATES:

11:35 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about Kidders life.

This article was originally published at 10:20 a.m.An iron tailor, a dragon and Doctor Who were among the costumes people wore on Sunday during Costume Con, an international event that returned home to San Diego this year after a 35-year absence.

Nearly 500 costume makers and enthusiasts from around the world converged on the DoubleTree Hotel at Hazard Center this weekend for panels on makeup transformations, fun with fosshape, beginner embroidery and ribbon cockades.

Marianne Pease traveled from Maryland as part of her ongoing effort to promote costuming as an art form.

I try to attend as many Costume Cons as I can, said Pease, president of the nonprofit International Costumers Guild.

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She said this years event, which began Thursday night and runs through Monday afternoon, has exceeded expectations in all but one important way.

I was guaranteed San Diego weather was going to be perfect, and it rained, Pease said.

The event also attracted locals like Rancho Bernardo resident Bob Mogg, a costume maker who often teaches classes.

1 / 8 A group of penguins march past the lobby heading for the Costume-Con held in Mission Valley this past weekend. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 8 Nicole Teifer dressed as the Mad Hatter along with her husnband, Brian Teifer dressed as the White Rabbit from Point Loma attended the Costume-Con in Mission Valley this past weekend. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 8 Karen Wallach (left) dressed as the Woodland Wanderer and Susan Farnham dressed as Nellie Oleson learn to sew a ribbon cockades at the costume workshop during Costume-Con this past weekend in Mission Valley. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 8 Ita Vandenbroek takes a photo of a series of costumes on display at Costume-Con Museum. Vandenbroek was attending the convention in San Diego to learn tips and techniques in the creation of costumes. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 8 John Lucia shows off his winning creation at Costume-Con held in Mission Valley this past weekend. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 8 At the Merchants Alley, attendees visit the various vendors as they shop for costume items. The attendees were taking part in Costume-Con held in Mission Valley this past weekend. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 8 Debbie Bayliss (left) gets big laugh out of Penny Buchanan trying out one of the costume samples during a costume creation workshop held at Costume-Con 2018 in Mission Valley. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 8 Nicole Teifer dressed as the Mad Hatter along with her husnband, Brian Teifer dressed as the White Rabbit from Point Loma pose for a portrait with photographer Richard Man. The couple was attending the Costume-Con in Mission Valley on Sunday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Mogg, wearing an iron tailor costume, said he was impressed by the talented array of people he has met at his first Costume Con.

There are so many creative people, Mogg said. Im learning more from the people here than theyre learning from me, even though Im on a teaching panel. Everyone brings different talents, and when you start blending them together you get some amazing pieces.

Costume Con was founded in San Diego in 1982 by Karen Schnaubelt, who also attended this years event, but began rotating cities after the 1983 event and hasnt returned to San Diego until this year.

Other locales have included San Jose, Montreal, Australia and Baltimore.

Rebecca Rowan, organizer of this years event, said many people travel to Costume Con each year to prepare for costume competitions.

While learning to make better costumes is a key draw, she said many people come with the goal of showing off their latest creations to people who will appreciate them.

The demographics of Costume Con run the gamut, but the annual event tends to attract an older crowd.

A lot of the people running it are older because theyve been doing it for a while, but were also trying to draw in the young crowd, too, because we dont want it to die out, Rowan said.

One way they do that is with a masqeurade ball each year with a science fiction theme. Rowan said a highlight of this years masquerade, which was Saturday night, was a 16-foot dragon manipulated simultaneously by three people.

Each Costume Con also includes something called a Fashion Future Folio, which gets posted online for people around the globe to see.

The goal is designing what people might be wearing in the future, said Sandy Pettinger, a Nebraska resident overseeing this years folio.

It can be work clothes, it could be for performing, it could be wedding wear -- whatever they want, Pettinger said.

Two women from Montreal donned futuristic clothes on Sunday aiming to make the folio.

Vicky Larouche, who is making her first trip to the United States, said costuming is a fun hobby to go along with her day job in human resources.

Larouche said shes learned new techniques this weekend and has been impressed by the creativity. She said its also fun to see people shes met at previous Costume Cons.

The event was sponsored by the nonprofit San Diego Speculative Fiction Society. The groups next events include an anime convention June 1 through 3 at the Sheraton Mission Valley and a Gaslight Steampunk Expo in October in Mission Valley.

For details, visit sansfis.org.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrickThe race to be San Diegos next District Attorney gives voters distinct choices: prosecutor against defense lawyer, outsider versus insider, reformer against establishment.

It also give voters something theyve only had three times over the past quarter century  a choice at the ballot box. Only three time in the past 24 years  1994, 2002 and 2014  has there been a contested race for the top law enforcement job in the county.

And make no mistake, the contest between Interim District Attorney Summer Stephan and Deputy Public Defender Genevieve Jones-Wright is being fiercely contested.

That can been seen at boisterous candidate forums where the candidates trade barbed critiques of the others experience, qualifications and campaign, and in what is shaping up to be in the final weeks a full-on media advertising onslaught on television, digital devices and mailboxes.

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The race received a jolt in the past week when billionaire financier George Soros dumped $1.5 million into an independent committee supporting Jones-Wright and candidates in contested DA races in other counties in California, and the committee immediately spent $402,459 in advertising and media buys.

The contest is playing out against a larger backdrop on the state and national level that is trying to change criminal justice policies of the past several decades that advocates say swelled prison populations at the expense of minorities and other disadvantaged communities, vested police and prosecutors with more power and less accountability, all at enormous costs. In an era of declining crime rates, advocates say, changes are needed.

That amount of money can surely boost the relatively unknown Jones-Wrights name recognition in the county in the weeks before voting. Stephans campaign was ready, launching a website dubbed ThreatToSanDiego.org and tying Jones-Wright to Soross liberal criminal justice reform platform.

Its a platform Jones-Wright adopted since she announced her candidacy to little fanfare last July. She supports reform measures like not jailing low-level nonviolent defendants and instead sending them to diversion programs, reforming the cash bail system to more heavily weigh the seriousness of the crime and the risk a defendant would flee, charging fewer juveniles in adult courts, and holding police and law enforcement more accountable in officer involved shootings and other instances.

At a recent packed candidate forum at the Chula Vista library, Jones-Wright succinctly summarized her posture in the race. I am anti-status quo, she said, which is why they are afraid.

While Jones-Wright largely emphasizes the large-scale reform positions, Stephan has emphasized her experience and qualifications. Shes been a prosecutor in San Diego for 28 years, working her way from trial prosecutor to supervisor and eventually a chief deputy. That work has earned her the endorsement of every major law enforcement organization in the county representing police, sheriffs and prosecutors.

In contrast Stephan points out that Jones-Wright has been a deputy public defender for a dozen years, and has not held a management or supervisory position. That experience gap is crucial to head an office of 1,000 employees and a budget of roughly $190 million, she said.

Stephan has emphasized her work on sex and human trafficking  she started a special unit in the office devoted to such work  as well as her work advocating for victims.

She has touted her work establishing programs that steer veterans with substance abuse issues, the homeless and others away from jails into diversion programs. She wants to increase elder abuse protections, attack the opioid epidemic by prosecuting those who supply fentanyl and push for mandatory labeling on the drugs  warning of their addictive power.

She rejects the notion that shes not a reformer, arguing she can bring reform to the office from the inside and has done so.

When people see me they dont see the establishment, she said in a recent interview.

Stephan was appointed by the Board of Supervisors last year to fill the unexpired portion of predecessor Bonnie Dumaniss term, when Dumanis retired to run for supervisor. She was Dumanis preferred successor  a fact Jones-Wright hammers her for and says is a sign that she is part of the establishment.

Stephan was already an announced candidate, and says she applied for the interim appointment reluctantly  when the board of the labor group for prosecutors, which endorsed her candidacy, urged her to seek the appointment.

That process has become a strong line of attack for Jones-Wright, who has said that the county should have an elected DA, not a selected DA. At the forum in Chula Vista, she said rooting out corruption was the single biggest problem in the county, and implied the way Stephan was selected was an indicator of the problem.

We are not safe at all if the people at the head of our public agencies are corrupt themselves, she said.

Stephan has repeatedly criticized Jones-Wright for not knowing that many of the reform measures she touts  such as going easier on non-violent offenders are in place in the countys criminal justice system.

She has depicted Jones-Wright as the anti-DA, and questioned why someone who as Stephan said at the forum has defended criminals for 12 years now suddenly wants to be the countys top prosecutor. Jones-Wright parries that by saying in part that county voters, who have supported several criminal justice reform propositions that reduced penalties for some nonviolent crimes, changed juvenile justice rules and legalized recreational marijuana use, want a change in approach that she represents.

While the Soros money supporting Jones-Wright has drawn attention, Stephan has also enjoyed substantial support from independent committees and PACs. The PAC for county prosecutors, San Diegans Against Crime, has spent $275,526 for her. Another committee set up by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and Lincoln Club on Monday has $100,000 in it.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.comKenneth E. Sulzer, a longtime executive with the countys regional planning agency who retired in 2000, died on Saturday. He was 79.

Sulzer was executive director of the agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, in 1987 when voters first approved Transnet, a half-cent sales tax surcharge to fund transportation projects countywide.

Sulzer joined SANDAG in the early 1970s after a long career in planning that included stints in Boston and Washington, D.C., where he helped create the subway system. He also worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development there.

He served as the No. 2 official at SANDAG until 1986, when he took the helm from retiring executive director Richard Huff, the first to hold that job.

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Sulzer was replaced as executive director by Gary Gallegos, who resigned last summer.

Sulzer was born in Chicago and received his masters degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois in 1962.

He was a member of the American Planning Association.

After retiring, he worked as an adjunct professor in urban studies and planning at the University of California, San Diego.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrickGovernor of Egypt's Central Bank Tarek Amer said on Thursday that the country is expected to make an $850 million payment on its debts to foreign oil companies.

According to the latest records announced by the Egyptian government, which date back to last June, Egypt's debts to oil foreign companies are $2.4 billion.

Amer's statements came during a two-hour meeting with the Al-Ahram editorial board ahead of the Al-Ahram Business Leaders' Awards ceremony in Cairo on Thursday.

During the meeting, the central bank chief said Egypt's monetary policies and current fiscal position is assuring.

He highlighted that the country's total foreign exchange inflows reached $120 billion since floating the Egyptian pound in November 2016.

Amer then said that Egypt's level of external debts does not raise any concern. He added that Egypt has never been late in paying any of its obligations even during the most difficult times.

"We are continuing to carry out economic reforms, as we have strong reserves which are seen as a deterrent to any manipulation of the exchange market," said Amer.

The governor also announced that EGP 30 billion is expected to be pumped into small enterprises, which is expected to benefit 8 to 10 million citizens.

The closed round of talks was attended by Makram Mohamed Ahmad, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, Karam Gaber, Head of the National Press Council as well as head of the journalists' syndicate and Al-Ahram chairman Abdel-Mohsen Salama and other editors-in-chief and Al-Ahram board members.

Speaking on the economic reforms that have been taking place since 2016, Amer said that its results have strengthened the stability of the Egyptian economy.

"Although these decisions were painful, they were necessary, because they were delayed for many years," said Amer.

He explained that for the reform policies to bear fruit, Egyptians should continue their efforts to achieve all their aspirations for a better living.

In October 2017, Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla said that Egypt will fully pay off its debt to foreign oil companies within two years if it continues making payments at the same rate.

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A complicated recovery mission came to an end Monday after sheriffs officials, with help from aviation investigators, flew three victims from the wreckage of a plane that crashed into a Volcan Mountain canyon near Julian.

A search-and-rescue team found the bodies on Sunday, but treacherous terrain prevented the crew from relocating the bodies without assistance from a helicopter.

It was too windy to reach the canyon over the weekend, but a National Transportation Safety Board helicopter was able to fly into the area Monday afternoon and help the sheriffs crew move the bodies, sheriffs Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam said.

The victims will be turned over to Medical Examiners Office personnel who will work to identify them.

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Aviation investigators were also able to use the helicopter to recover plane parts that may help identify the aircraft and determine what led to the crash. Rylaarsdam said the crash and subsequent fire left a debris field rather than an intact plane.

Its likely, although it hasnt been confirmed, that the crashed aircraft is that of a missing twin-engine Beechcraft Duchess that was supposed to land at Ramona Airport on Thursday.

A Beechcraft with the same tail number as the missing plane is registered to Scandinavian Aviation Academy, also known as SAA, a flight school at Gillespie Field, according to FAA records.

That plane was due to land at Ramona Airport on Thursday night but never showed up. Instead, a Julian resident reported seeing a plane crash near Volcan Mountain around 8:30 p.m. that evening.

Less than 30 minutes later, authorities got word of a brush fire in the same area. The flames scorched a dozen acres before firefighters were able to contain it Sunday morning.

The fire further complicated recovery efforts. Firefighters warned deputies over the weekend that the charred ground was so hot, it would melt their boots and ropes.

Crews were expected to be in the area of the crash until at least midweek due to heavy fuels and extensive mop-up required, Cal Fire tweeted.

City News Service contributed to this story.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.comThe San Diego Union-Tribune is reaching out to readers to ask about the experiences they have had with such direct-to-consumer gene testing companies as 23andMe, Pathway Genomics and Helix. Were also interested in your experiences with Ancestry.com.

We will be asking readers whether they found the test results easy to read, and whether they could directly apply the data to their own medical care.

If you would like to share your thoughts, please send an email to U-T science writer Gary Robbins at gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com. Please include your full name, and the name of the town or city you live in. Thank you.California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018.

But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter school supporters. Together they have spent $13.7 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary  at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election.

Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions  longtime stalwarts of the party  and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren.

Gary Borden, executive director of the California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, which is behind the pro-Villaraigosa independent expenditure group, said it is backing Villaraigosa for his history of challenging the status quo in education as mayor of Los Angeles. While he led the city, he tried to take over its schools and blasted the influence of the teachers union in Los Angeles.

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He didnt need to do the things he did, Borden said. Some of this goes back historically, just to how strong Antonio has been on public education and our level of confidence that thats how he will be as governor.

His groups advocacy effort has raised more than $17.1 million from 14 donors for the Families & Teachers independent expenditure committee, according to campaign finance documents filed with the secretary of states office. Such groups cannot legally coordinate with campaigns, but can accept unlimited donations.

After Hastings, the biggest contributors are philanthropist Eli Broad and and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who each donated $2.5 million, and hedge fund manager Bill Oberndorf, who contributed $2 million.

Oberndorf is a major donor to Republican candidates and causes, and replaced Betsy DeVos as chairman of the American Federation for Children after President Trump nominated DeVos to be his education secretary.

I have become involved in this race to ensure that low-income and minority children in our state have the same education options most Californians already enjoy who live in a community with high-quality public schools or send their children to private schools, Oberndorf said, adding that though he is a life-long Republican, he does not believe a GOP gubernatorial candidate can win in the general election. Fortunately, in Antonio Villaraigosa all Californians  Democrats, Republicans and Independents  have a candidate who will represent all of our interests including the most educationally underserved children in our state.

Broad, Hastings and Bloomberg did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Villaraigosa demurred when asked about the charter school effort launched to support the candidate.

Mayor Villaraigosas focus is how we unite Californians to lift more families into the middle class  and keep them there, spokesman Luis Vizcaino said. This campaign isnt going to be distracted from that mission by outside efforts for us, or against us.

A spokesman for Villaraigosas main Democratic rival and front-runner in the race, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, sought to tie Villaraigosas charter school backers to President Trumps administration, notably DeVos, a billionaire who stumbled badly during her confirmation hearings, has no previous experience in government or public education and has sought to allow public money to flow to private, religious schools.

Newsom is not a rubber stamp for any group, especially those who align themselves with Betsy DeVos. And unlike Antonio Villaraigosa, he would never brag about waging a holy jihad on public educators, said Newsom campaign manager Addisu Demissie, referring to a statement Villaraigosa made to The Times editorial board about the citys teachers union as he sought to take control of the citys school district.

The effort by the charter school supporters is part of a broader movement aiming to overhaul how public schools are run. Advocates for charter schools have frequently clashed with teachers unions over issues including merit pay, seniority, the use of standardized testing to evaluate teachers and school choice.

While many education decisions are made at the local school district level, the state has notable power over some of these issues. The governor has significant influence through the bully pulpit, because of the ability to make appointments to the state Board of Education and to affect the legislative process. And many expect Californias next governor to play a significant role on policy that could reshape the states public schools.

We have something of a wild, wild west environment, said John Rogers, director of UCLAs Institute for Democracy, Education and Access. There probably are going to need to be new laws [regulating charter school authorization and oversight]. Its not going to be clear to everyone as we move forward  the question is how are these new laws going to be written and who is going to have sway over them.

Education is one of the few areas where Villaraigosa and Newsom disagree.

The former big-city mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, took divergent paths on the issue.

When Newsom first ran for mayor, he touted charter schools as places to explore new and better ways of reaching and educating our youth. But as he ran for governor, he told the California Teachers Assn. that he did not believe the number of charter schools in the state should increase, according to the Sacramento Bee. A spokesman told the paper that Newsom believed that no more should be authorized until there is greater state oversight.

Villaraigosa started his career as a union organizer, and labor buttressed his campaigns, donating millions of dollars and dispatching members to turn out voters. But as mayor, he became the most prominent Democrat in California to criticize teachers groups, blasting Los Angeles union as the largest obstacle to creating quality schools.

He unsuccessfully tried to seize control of the Los Angeles Unified School District, arguing that city schools needed to be dramatically overhauled because they were failing the neediest students. He eventually took over more than a dozen struggling campuses through a nonprofit he founded.

Villlaraigosas crusade continued after leaving office. He sided with students in a lawsuit that argued that their state constitutional rights were violated by laws regulating teacher layoffs, firings and tenure. The students initially triumphed, but the decision was later overturned.

Borden said his group grew alarmed by reports of Newsom supporting caps on the number of charter schools in the state, which currently number 1,275 and serve about 630,000 students.

We would not be supportive of anyone who just blanketly opposes something that is clearly working on behalf of the kids of California, he said.

Yet the charter group has not focused solely on Newsom. The bulk of their television ads have promoted Villaraigosa, while a smaller number have dinged GOP candidate John Cox, who polls show is Villaraigosas main competition for the second spot in the June top-two primary.

The anti-Cox ad paints the wealthy Rancho Santa Fe businessman as a Chicago carpetbagger who failed at multiple efforts to run for elected office in Illinois, and to put initiatives on the ballot in California. Cox is effectively self-funding his campaign, having donated $4 million to date.

Coxs campaign manager, Tim Rosales, criticized the effort.

If they are willing to attack someone with a 30-year history of supporting charter schools and school choice, I dont know why any candidate  Republican or Democrat  would ever stick their neck out for these people again, he said.

The charter school backers also released an ad that criticizes Newsom, though not by name. The ad says as violent crime went up in San Francisco, Villaraigosa put more police officers on the streets of Los Angeles, leading to a sharp reduction in crime.

Newsom is the leader in fundraising, but he also has the support of well-funded independent expenditure groups, notably a labor committee that has raised $3.8 million.

He has been endorsed by the California Teachers Assn., one of the most potent forces in California politics. The union contributed $1 million to another pro-Newsom independent expenditure committee on Monday, and sent mailers to California voters last week saying that billionaires are trying to buy the election for Villaraigosa and Marshall Tuck, a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, to privatize California schools and take away the rights of educators and students.

Eric Heins, the president of the CTA, declined to say how much the union would spend boosting Newsom. But he pointed to Villaraigosas attempt to take over Los Angeles schools while mayor, as well as the billionaires backing his bid to explain why they are supporting Newsom.

You can tell who bought Antonio by where his money is coming from, Heins said. These are not people who believe in public education. They believe in vouchers and unregulated charters. These are policies that are failing our students.

The California Federation of Teachers also contributed $125,000 to a pro-Newsom group on Monday.

The fight between the teachers unions and the education reform movement comes at a time of changing political dynamics for both groups.

The CTA has long been one of the most potent forces in California, a kingmaker in Democratic politics.It spent more than $53 million to stymie a series of ballot measures proposed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005, leading to an electoral rebuke that reshaped his governorship. But the union faces challenges, notably a Supreme Court decision expected in June that could stop public employee unions in California and several other states from collecting dues from everyone they represent.

Meanwhile, charter school backers have been increasingly active in California, spending tens of millions of dollars on elections in recent years, with varying levels of success.

In 2014, they spent more than $10 million in an unsuccessful effort to elect Tuck, a Democratic former charter school leader who is close with Villaraigosa, as the states schools chief. The CTA spent $12 million to defeat him.

But last year, they won their first-ever majority on the board that oversees Los Angeles sprawling school system.

National politics are also a factor. Education reformers were ascendant during the Obama administration, when some prominent Democratic leaders publicly questioned teachers unions priorities. But now they are being linked to the Trump administration, notably DeVos  anathema in Democratic circles.

Meanwhile in California, Gov. Jerry Browns greatest focus on education was changing the school funding formula in a way that sent more K-12 dollars to disadvantaged communities. But he largely avoided wading into the debate between teachers unions and charter school backers, in part to avoid splintering the coalition that backed his school funding overhaul.

The next governor will probably have to more forcefully address the schism between unions and those opposed to their powers.

The money is lining up the way it is because the choice [for governor] moving forward is likely to be more consequential, UCLAs Rogers said.

Follow California politics by signing up for our email newsletter 

Coverage of California politics 

seema.mehta@latimes.com

For the latest on national and California politics, follow @LATSeema on Twitter.

UPDATES:

4:15 p.m. Wednesday: This article was updated to add a comment from Bill Oberndorf.

5:25 p.m. Tuesday: This article was updated to reflect additional donations and spending by an independent expenditure committee.

3:30 p.m. Tuesday: This article was updated to reflect additional donations and donors to multiple independent expenditure campaigns.

10:21 p.m. Monday: This article was updated to reflect additional donations to the independent expenditure campaign.

This article was originally published at 1:20 p.m. Monday.As The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board has opined for years, San Diego County government really needs strong new voices to challenge the complacency of county leaders who just last week, in their latest egregious example of showcasing a foolishly high self-regard, released a 200-page report on last years deadly hepatitis A outbreak listing noteworthy successes without really detailing their failures. His more critical eye is one reason why we endorsed Democratic attorney Omar Passons for the 4th District county supervisorial seat.

We used this same lens to view the 5th District race to replace termed-out GOP Supervisor Bill Horn and represent north-northwest San Diego County. Horn has been on cruise control for years, treating the countys high bond ratings as proof of county leaders greatness and being unduly proud of his record even though the quality of life in his district may have actually declined in his time in office.

While no one in the 5th District race details the downside of the countys arrogance as well as Passons, we think one candidate has the most promise to lead the county in a better direction: three-term San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond. In his interview with the editorial board, Desmond, a Republican, made a powerful point about the importance of a county supervisor having broad regional experience and established relationships with elected officials and executives in other local governments. If elected, Desmond  and county residents  will be well-served by his years of work on the boards of the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

As mayor, Desmond has kept his citys finances in order. He has also established infrastructure as a priority in a state where the issue is too often on the back burner. This history will be of particular value in never-ending county policy fights between big-city advocates of mass transit and those in rural and suburban areas  like Desmond  who say improving roads and freeways must also be a priority.

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Desmond also makes a nuanced case in defense of the countys unusually high reserves. He thinks the county should always have available funds to cover 50 days of expenses in case of catastrophe to ensure residents have access to vital services. But he seemed willing to accept some new spending.

We do have concerns. In his interview, Oceanside Mayor Jerry Kern, another veteran GOP officeholder and Desmonds most prominent challenger, showed more of a willingness to criticize county government, starting with budget decisions involving probation agents that he thinks could hurt public safety. Also, Desmond saying he supported the Lilac Hills housing project in 2016 because he didnt know until later that the developer had cut corners is baffling, and his hard line on marijuana is too harsh given state voters mellowing mood. And both Desmond and Kern seemed too ready to play politics with immigration by supporting President Donald Trumps legal challenge to the states so-called sanctuary laws even though the supervisors had missed a deadline to sign onto the suit at this stage.

All in all, Desmond outclasses Kern and two well-meaning but inexperienced Democratic opponents, Jacqueline Arsivaud and Michelle Gomez. On June 5, we endorse the San Marcos mayor for supervisor.

Read and listen to all of our candidate interviews & questionnaires.

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Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek said in a statement on Sunday that the prosecution has referred 278 defendants who belong to the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group to military court on charges of leading and joining the two banned armed groups Hasm and Lewaa El-Thawra, which are affiliated with the Brotherhood.

The general prosecution said the group, which includes 141 people in precautionary detention, have carried out 12 terrorist operations in several governorates through cluster cells affiliated with the two terrorist groups, which targeted and killed police officers, manufactured car bombs to use in terrorist operations, and targeted vital and economic installations and public figures.

According to investigations carried out by the High State Security prosecution, the defendants supplied the two groups with money, explosives, weaponry and ammunition, and other forms of logistical support.

The statement said that according to investigations by the National Security Agency at the Ministry of Interior, fugitive Brotherhood leaders in Turkey plotted with fugitive members of the group in Egypt to rebuild its armed wing to carry out hostile acts against members of the Egyptian judiciary, police, army, public figures; as well as obstruct the country's economic reform program and topple state institutions.

Fifty-two of the defendants have provided the prosecution with detailed confessions of their crimes, the statement said, adding that some of the defendants received military and technical training in Sudan on the manufacturing of explosives.

The prosecution said that the defendants were found in possession of 100 machine guns, 11,000 rounds of ammunition, 70 explosive devices, 13 landmines, seven cars, and military uniforms.

The High State Security Prosecution said the Brotherhood has assembled its members in 17 governorates nationwide under the name Hasm and Lewaa El-Thawra to plot terrorist attacks.

According to the statement, Brotherhood leaders have provided both financial and logistical support for members of the armed groups, providing them with 25 locations to manufacture and store explosives.

Three of these locations, which were discovered in Beheira and Alexandria governorates, were used to store weaponry and nearly a tonne of the highly explosive material RDX, as well as vehicles to be fitted with bombs for terrorist attacks.

The statement said that these groups have carried out assassinations and attempted assassinations against policemen, governors, and public figures in Daqahliya, Fayoum, and Damietta.

Hasm has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks against Egyptian security personnel since 2016, mostly targeting police checkpoints, policemen, and public figures.

In 2016, Hasm claimed responsibility for the assassination of a senior policeman in Fayoum. It also claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt against former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa outside a mosque in 6 October City in August 2017.

Over the past year, Egypt's interior ministry has said that security forces have killed and arrested dozens of Hasm members in shootouts during security raids.

Meanwhile, Lewaa Al-Thawra has claimed responsibility for the October 2017 assassination of a high-ranking army officer outside his home in Qalyoubia governorate.

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Some lies have more impact than others. Here are eight that caused untold damage.

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These days lying is in the news  practically every day.

Lie was a word that, not so long ago, politicians and the media rarely spoke outright. But under the current administration, the president and the press have repeatedly accused each other of dishonesty. Many of these fabrications are ignored or quickly forgotten by a public that is no longer surprised by mendacity.

But all lies are not equal. And in the medias frenzy of fact-checking, thats one fact thats too often overlooked. Some memorable lies have been spectacularly false but wrought relatively little harm. For example, think of President Nixons assertion that no one in the White House staff  was involved in the Watergate break-in (August 29, 1972), or President Clintons I did not have sexual relations with that woman (Jan 26, 1998). They probably changed no ones mind, and did little to delay the ultimate consequences for those presidents.

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But other lies in history not only were whoppers, but also caused untold damage. Its important that we do not forget these terrible deliberate deceits  lies that were responsible for unspeakable suffering and, in some cases, millions of deaths.

Here are eight lies that had serious, large-scale, long-term consequences. No doubt there are very many more evil fabrications we have overlooked. We welcome your input. Its important that we never forget how easily and how often mankind has been played for suckers, with disastrous results.

1. In todays regulatory environment, its virtually impossible to violate rules.

Thats what Bernie Madoff said in 2007, addressing a conference on illegal practices in Wall Street. Even as he spoke, he was operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. When it came crashing down the following year, the investment advisor had bilked 4,800 clients of $18 billion.

Result: After confessing that his firms asset management was one big lie, he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 150 years in prison. (To date, $11 billion of the lost $18 billion have been recovered and restored to Madoffs victims.)

2. There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States immediately struck back at the terrorist masterminds in Afghanistan. But many people in the Bush administration were convinced that the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was not only conspiring with Al Qaeda but was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction to use against the United States (illustrated in the above quote from Dick Cheney).

Despite there being no credible evidence that this was true  most intelligence and on-the-ground inspections revealed no WMDs  the Bush administration chose to pin its reasons for going to war on information from an Iraqi informant nicknamed Curveball, as well as on documents that showed Iraq had obtained a large quantity of uranium for the purpose of making a nuclear bomb. The informant was soon discredited, and the uranium documents were discovered to be obvious fakes, but the wheels were already in motion. In 2002, President Bush told the country that Saddam not only had stockpiled deadly chemical and biological agents, but that he had also been building nuclear bombs. In 2003 the United States launched war against Iraq. Its not clear who knew the evidence for WMDs was false, or when they knew it. Regardless, the financial and human cost was devastating.

Result: Thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands, if not more, of Iraqis have died in a war that lasted eight years and cost $2.4 trillion. General Colin Powell, who led the U.S. defeat of Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, would later bitterly denounce his own speech in 2003 as U.N. Ambassador defending the Bush invasion. America and the world are still living with the wars consequences.

3. Cigarette smoking is no more addictive than coffee, tea, or Twinkies.

For years, the tobacco industry assured customers that cigarettes were neither unhealthy nor addictive. The makers of Old Gold cigarettes claimed Not a cough in a carload. And in 1994, James W. Johnston, CEO of R.J. Reynolds, told a congressional committee, Cigarette smoking is no more addictive than coffee, tea, or Twinkies.

The reality, of course, is quite different. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 480,000 Americans die every year from cigarettes.

Result: In 1998, the four largest tobacco companies reached a settlement with 46 states to pay $206 billion over 25 years to help cover the medical costs of smoking-related illnesses.

4. We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

In 1964, Americans were concerned about the countrys growing involvement in the Vietnam War. On October 21, 1964, President Johnson assured the country, as he was running for president, that they had nothing to worry about. Despite his words, the following March, he began shipping Americans by the tens of thousands to Vietnam.

Johnsons statement began a long campaign by our government to lie to the American people about the fact that almost everyone who knew the facts  from the soldiers to the bureaucrats to the president himself  knew that the war was unwinnable. After Johnson left the White House, President Nixon continued the pretense, even secretly expanding the war into Cambodia.

Americans were furious when, in 1971, defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg released military intelligence  known as the Pentagon Papers  that showed the extent of the deception. They realized theyd been lied to about the conflict because neither Johnson nor Nixon wanted to take responsibility for losing an unwinnable war that we never should have undertaken in the first place.

Result: In addition to the 58,000 American lives it claimed, the war produced a chronic mistrust of the government that, for many, continues to this day.

5. There is no famine or actual starvation, nor is there likely to be.

In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin was determined to wipe out private farms in Ukraine and put the population into Soviet controlled communes. He instituted a policy that began starving this region. Ultimately, between two and four million people starved to death. As could be expected, the Soviet government denied any problems. What is surprising is that many western reporters repeated Moscows interpretation of what was happening in the region.

Walter Duranty, a reporter for the New York Times, wrote repeatedly that was no famine (those are his words, above). He wasnt the only reporter who parroted the Soviets line, but he was at a prestigious paper and had actually won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Stalinist Russia. Duranty also justified the brutality of Stalins gulag system as a necessary measure that would ultimately benefit the Russian people.

Result: Durantys assertions that there was no actual starvation assured western leaders there was no reason to press for famine relief. His reporting helped the world turn away from the deaths and imprisonment of millions.

6. The German Army was stabbed in the back.

In 1919, General Paul von Hindenburg told the German people why they lost World War I. He said Germany hadnt been beaten honorably on the battlefield by the enemy, but by radicals and other undesirables back home whod overthrown the Kaisers monarchy and replaced it with a republic. The real reason for the defeat, Hindenburg said, was The German army was stabbed in the back.

In fact, the German army had thrown everything it had into one last, desperate chance for victory. By June, they had simply run out of steam. Moreover, the revolution had begun not by civilians but by members of the German military.

But the lie was swallowed by Germans who were convinced that if only the troublemakers could be silenced, Germany would regain its greatness.

Result: The lie fueled the rise of the Nazi party.

7. The Jewish Peril: The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion

In 1905, Russian writer and mystic priest Sergei Nilus claimed that he had proof of a Jewish plan to achieve global domination by corrupting the morals of Gentiles and controlling the worlds media and money. The Jews were also plotting, he claimed, to slaughter Christian children, spread plague, and commit other atrocities.

Despite the fact that the Protocols were shown to be a malicious fabrication, many people stubbornly believed its vile slanders. Henry Ford thought it so important he paid to publish half a million copies. And the Nazis later cited it to justify their slaughter of eight million Jews.

Result: The Protocols continue to be used to fuel anti-Semitic hatred.

8. We know Dreyfus is guilty of treason because he made everything disappear.

In 1894, French military intelligence officers learned the Germans were receiving secret information about new French artillery. After reviewing possible suspects on the French General Staff, they accused Lt. Col. Alfred Dreyfus. His chief qualification for being suspect was his Jewish faith. He was tried by a military court, found guilty, stripped of his rank, and sent to permanent exile on Devils Island off the South American coast.

High-ranking military officials had been determined to pin the blame on Dreyfus. They had secretly supplied the judges with wholly invented evidence. And the fact that there was absolutely nothing that implicated him was actually used against him. The proof of guilt, an officer said, was that Dreyfus made everything disappear.

In 1896, new evidence indicated the traitor was actually another officer who was allowed to flee the country. For years, the military ignored the public outcry against Dreyfuss conviction. Ultimately it yielded to pressure and tried Dreyfus again, and convicted him again.

Result: The lie did more than convict an innocent man. It split the country between social classes, age groups, and political parties. Even after Dreyfus accepted a pardon in 1906 rather than return to Devils Island, the case continued to divide the country, and this lack of unity seriously weakened its ability to defend itself in both world wars. (The French military finally proclaimed Dreyfus innocent in 1995.)

Featured image: ShutterstockNew York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/14/2018 -- White Cement market top players including are Cementir Holding, JKCL, Cimsa, Cemex, Lafarge, Sotacib, Ras AI-Khaimah, Italcementi, Aditya Birla, Federal White Cement, Shargh White, Sastobe(Basel Cement), Adana Cimento, Ghadir Investment, Boral, Cementos Portland Valderrivas, Bank Melli Iran Investment, Saudi White Cement, Holcim, SECIL, Kuwait Cement Company, Dycherhoff ?Buzzi Unlcem?, Cementos TudelaVegufn, Royal Cement Co, CBR Heidelberg Cement, Union Corp, Fars and Khuestan Cement.



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+1-800-819-3052Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on Sunday for African youths "to change reality, during a speech at the Model African Union in Cairo.

The president said that African countries face the same challenges, which include unemployment, poor education, child marriage, terrorism, extremism, and illegal migration.

The Model African Union, a simulation of the African Union, is sponsored by Egypt's World Youth Forum (WYF), the last session of which was held in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2017.

El-Sisi delivered his remarks in front of 60 participating African and Egyptian young men and women following a simulation session on the challenges facing the continent.

The Egyptian president said that he is proud of the youths' capabilities, adding that Egypt will work on problems facing the youth when it chairs the AU in 2019.

El-Sisi told the attendees to prepare a new approach to address the problems of the continent, but it has to be different. We want to show the AU a fresh model showing how the youths of Egypt and the continent are able to change reality.

Last January, Egypt was elected by African leaders in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa to head the African Union's upcoming session in 2019.

The president also hailed the efforts of Egypts Presidential Leadership Programme, which was launched in 2015 to build the skills of youths and develop their leadership abilities.

El-Sisi extended his invitation to African youths to participate in the programme's sessions and modules.

"The hope for change is the hope for continuation. You are the hope who can change reality through effort, determination, and patience," El-Sisi concluded.

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Foreign policy experts are largely hostile to Trumps decision to terminate waivers on sanctions against Iran. Their fears might be well-founded, but it could also be a gamble that works

Donald Trump's Iran decision is explained by two sets of factors: Trumps personality, stubbornness and ignorance; and his wish to please his base, some lobbyists, and Bolton-like hardliners.

Trumps decision frightens me and I am not sure it is a correct one. However, I am dismayed: I did not find a single paper trying to defend it. Of course, I did not go to Fox News website. I surveyed my usual suspects.

Once again, I am no expert, neither on proliferation nor on Iranian issues. However, the arguments of those attacking the move are not altogether convincing.

It is tempting to say the West pays attention to global issues and the impact of Trumps move on the international system, non-proliferation efforts and the globalised economy, while we Arabs focus on the regional rationale of the move, and on the Middle Easts geopolitics. There is more than a grain of truth in this. Nevertheless, it does not tell the whole story.

In effect, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a transaction: you stop trying to acquire a nuclear bomb, and we stop the sanctions. That meant, And we are going to fund you.

We were told this was a way of empowering the Iranian moderates, or at least strengthening their playing hand. I never bought the argument, as the balance of power in Iran favours the hardliners. I will skip the question, Are the moderates real moderates?

It turned out the deal allowed Iran to fund its expansionist policies in the Middle East, especially in Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The Western liberals became, all of a sudden, hard-boiled realists and would reply, None of our business, and "We cannot do anything for Syria." Well, I understand you can do nothing for Syria, but Syrias fate concerns you. The Syrian regime and Iranians are in effect pushing outside Syria millions of Syrians, who largely migrate to Europe. Therefore, Western choices have some unpleasant consequences for the West.

Personally, I would welcome Syrians, but European public opinion begs to disagree.

That does not mean JCPOA was not the lesser evil. It simply questions the assumption that everything was fine before Trumps move. We, Middle Easterners, paid a heavy price for President Obamas choices, combining a radical Assad must go stance with inactivity and indifference, while claiming the moral high ground. In addition, his choices had an impact on Europe. Neither the Arab world nor Israel nor Europe, nor even Turkey or Russia, can live comfortably with an Iran-dominated Syria.

The best defence I can imagine for Obamas passivity is that it encouraged both Russia and Iran to overreach and that these two powers will ultimately pay a heavy price.

Many commentators, including one as brilliant as Stephen Walt, assume the Trump administration is going for regime change in Tehran. Of course, I am not a Washington insider. This might be the real objective. It would be, of course, especially stupid and dangerous, even in the improbable scenario of success.

Unfortunately, recent history proves stupidity is a real and permanent problem, so I wont rule out this.

Nevertheless, President Trumps record and practice look different: he barks a lot, trying to disseminate fear and uncertainty. His probable objective would be negotiation with a frightened Iran. This might or might not work. It looks like a gamble, especially if we consider his tendency to withdraw from global commitments.

However, we do not know how he prepared his move. We do not know whether he has a serious understanding with the powers hostile to Tehran.

I have here some criticism of Trumps move. It seems to assume no significant player can seriously consider escalation, and everybody will negotiate, may be after some gesticulation, bellicose or not. This is a not so implausible gamble, but it is a gamble. I think Iran can escalate, for instance by hitting the Saudis or the Israelis. This may or may not be carefully calibrated. The Israelis, also, can opt for war.

Yes, the Trump decision means a war is less unlikely, and this is not a pleasant prospect. If a war erupts, the American leader will look stupid.

Therefore, the Trump administration should quickly show a carrot to the Iranians, and I am not sure this is coming.

Commentators also say the move will have a significantly negative impact on oil markets. Moreover, it contradicts Trumps proclaimed goal of energy independence." I am not totally convinced by this. This is the kind of issue that really matters for President Trump, as it would hurt his electoral base. It seems quite probable he extracted promises from the Gulf States.

Western critics also say this move is contrary to international law, and they are right. They say it is also a terrible blow to Washingtons credibility. Its signature will no longer be trusted. This is right, of course, but it tends to overlook that more often than not Western capitals do not stick to agreements.

In this region, at least, since the early 1990s, nobody trusts Washington, for very good reasons.

The critics also say this brusque move will have a negative impact on negotiations with North Korea. But I also read that this move was a signal: you cannot hope for a deal like the one Tehran secured (concessions on the nuclear issue versus a free hand on other ones).

It is therefore difficult to figure out how all this will impact the negotiations with North Korea. What is certain, as already stated, is that if this move is the start of a general offensive against Iran, Tehran will most probably strike back, with terrible consequences for all. If it is the prelude for a general negotiation, for a Yalta-like drawing of zones of influence for everybody, and tracing serious red lines, then everything is possible.

To sum up: I do not like the Trump decision as our region is already exhausted. I do not like his style and his bullying. We cannot rule out the possibility that this is a major blunder, preceding new major blunders. However, it might also be a successful gamble.

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STATEMENT OF SEN. ANGARA ON THE SC RULING TO OUST CJ SERENO

If the decision is indeed 8-6 as reported, it shows a divided Court on a very important constitutional issue. This means the ruling may not be a stable one and may be subject to revision going forward.

I do not agree with the decision because impeachment is the only constitutional route for removal of a Chief Justice, but we acknowledge that the Court has spoken. The ripple effect of the decision may be felt in the coming months and years.

I pray that wisdom and sobriety prevail in the future for the good of the country and our people.Press Release

May 11, 2018 De Lima seeks Senate recognition for 8 distinguished Filipino scientists Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has filed a Senate resolution commending and honoring the eight outstanding Filipino scientists who made it to the list of 2018 "Asian Scientist 100" of the Singapore-based Asian Scientist Magazine. De Lima filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 714 expressing the sense of the Senate to congratulate, commend and honor the eight Filipinos for bringing glory and prestige to the Philippines through the recognition. "The Senate of the Philippines has, in various occasions, paid tribute to notable and admirable Filipinos," she said. "The eight honorees have shown admirable dedication and commendable commitment in the development and enrichment of science and technology in the country," she added. "Asian Scientist 100" is a recognition of exemplary researchers, academicians, innovators and business leaders in Asia, released annually by Asian Scientist Magazine The eight distinguished Filipinos duly recognized as honorees of the "Asian Scientist 100" whom De Lima wanted the Senate to accord due recognition are the following: Dr. Aletta T. Yniguez who is a recipient of the 2017 National Academy of Science and Technology Outstanding Young Scientist (NAST OSY) award for her work on "modeling the dynamics of the ocean ecosystem to build early warning systems;

Dr. Phillip A. Alviola who is known for his research contributions on mammalian ecology and bat virology;

Dr. Nathaniel P. Hermosa II who is a recipient of the 2017 Eduardo A. Quisumbing Medal;

Dr. Rogel Mari D. Sese who is leader of the Philippines' National Space Development Program (NSDP);

Dr. Mario Antonio L. Jiz II, who is a recipient of the 2017 NAST OSY Award for his valuable contribution in understanding schistosomiasis;

Jeffrey S. Perez who gained a spot for his contribution in the field of geology;

Dr. Lanndon A. Ocampo who received 2017 NAST OSY Award for his significant contributions in theory and in practice of manufacturing sustainability and risk analysis; and

Dr. Lucille V. Abad who earned the Julian A. Banzon Medal as a 2017 Outstanding Research and Development Awardee for her research on "using irradiated seaweed as a plant growth supplement." The Senator from Bicol said it is proper and fitting that the Senate give due distinction and support to Filipino academicians, scientists, researchers and inventors to further encourage them in their endeavors. She added the recognizing them will also instill in them "the best interests of the country in cultivating science and technology to aid in the improvement of the lives of millions of Filipinos." Asian Scientist Magazine began in 2016 with the purpose of emphasizing research and development in Science and Technology from various parts of Asia. According to the Asian Scientist Magazine founder and Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Juliana Chan, the aim of this yearly listing of award-winning researchers is to spark interest and enthuse young scientists towards excellence in Science by raising the profiles of remarkable researchers and inventors.Press Release

May 11, 2018 Statement by Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on the Supreme Court's decision to grant the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno With all due respect, I totally disagree with the decision of the Supreme Court. A quo warranto proceeding is not the proper, legal, and constitutional way to remove an erring impeachable officer. The Constitution is clear that the only remedy on erring constitutional officers like the Chief Justice is a conviction in an impeachment proceeding. The Constitution has vested such power only in the hands of Congress. With this decision however, the power to remove an impeachable officer including Supreme Court justices, heads of constitutional offices and even the President is, by implication and in effect, made available to the Solicitor General by way of a quo warranto petition. Hence, this decision makes the Solicitor General the most powerful official in the bureaucracy, even more powerful than both the House of Representatives and the Senate insofar as the removal of impeachable officers is concerned. Whereas in the House of Representatives, a vote of at least one-third of its members is required to initiate an impeachment proceeding - in the case of the Senate, at least two-third vote is needed for a conviction - here only an act of the Solicitor General can be sufficient to initiate the removal of any impeachable officer. This decision has opened a bottomless pit of power for SolGen. From the very start, we have warned that the granting of this quo warranto petition against the Chief Justice is a very slippery slope. Now we have entered into a very dangerous situation because all officers who are removable only by impeachment can now be removed through a quo warranto proceeding. It is a very sad episode in our political life. As an officer of the court however, I respect the decision of the Supreme Court but I register my objection.Press Release

May 11, 2018 STATEMENT ON THE OUSTER OF CHIEF JUSTICE SERENO VIA QUO WARRANTO Many years ago, when called upon to resolve a conflict between the legislature and the judiciary during the early days of the Philippine tradition of constitutional government, Justice Jose P. Laurel made an insightful observation: "In times of social disquietude or political excitement, the great landmarks of the Constitution are apt to be forgotten or marred, if not entirely obliterated." More than eighty years after they were written, these words still ring true, as it appears that the political excitement surrounding the embattled Chief Justice has obscured the longstanding constitutional doctrines that govern the removal of impeachable officers. It is well-established that the Constitution vests the sui generis power to remove an impeachable officer solely and exclusively in Congress. The road to unseating any impeachable officer, including the Chief Justice, must start at the House of Representatives and end at the Senate. No detours are allowed. By granting the quo warranto petition to oust Ma. Lourdes Sereno as Chief Justice the Supreme Court has circumvented this crystal-clear constitutional mandate of Congress, subverting in the process the paramount tradition of separation of powers that lies at the very heart of our republican system of government. Sereno will certainly file a Motion for Reconsideration, which will give the Court the chance to revisit its ruling. I am hopeful that the honorable members of the Court will come around and recognize the ongoing impeachment proceedings in the House as the exclusive legal means available to prosecute Sereno's ouster. In the event that the House will vote to impeach Sereno, I am confident that the Senate will conduct her impeachment trial with the utmost impartiality, probity, and integrity. The Senate will not hesitate to remove her from office if she is found guilty of the serious charges she is facing. What is important here is that Sereno be given her day in court, and that day must come before the Senate acting as an Impeachment Court, not the Supreme Court.Press Release

May 11, 2018 Hontiveros on Sereno's removal via Quo Warranto:

A BLACK DAY FOR JUSTICE, A STAB TO THE HEART OF THE CONSTITUTION "A black dawn has broken over the Supreme Court." This was the statement issued today by Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros after the high tribunal granted the quo warranto petition brought against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, making her the first constitutional officer to be removed not by impeachment but through a simple voting of her peers. "The Supreme Court has fallen" "This is a black day for justice and the rule of law. The Supreme Court has fallen, and fallen hard in the eyes of the public. By giving its nod to an obviously unconstitutional petition, the high tribunal has surrendered its judicial independence and integrity to the whims of President Duterte, and subverted altogether our constitutional process of impeachment," Hontiveros said. "A stab to the heart of Constitution" "The Justices' failure to rise above their personal issues has paved the way for the rise of a black dawn in the judiciary. The Supreme Court has opened the floodgates for the removal in the future of other impeachable public officials through arbitrary means and for whimsical reasons. It is a direct stab to the heart of our Constitution," Hontiveros added. "Slap in the Senate's face" The opposition Senator also described the SC ruling as "a slap in the face of the Senate." "The Constitution is clear. The best way to hold accountable and remove impeachable high-ranking government officials is through the process of impeachment in which the Senate is convened as an impeachment court. With this decision, the Senate is robbed of that power and denied the obligation to fulfill its constitutional duty. There is a clear attempt to relegate the Senate to the political sidelines," Hontiveros stressed. "Guardrails of democracy" Hontiveros urged the public to continue the fight "to defend the integrity of the country's democratic institutions." "One by one the 'guardrails of democracy' are being taken away and our democratic institutions are falling into the hands of an undemocratic and overreaching President, crippling our system of checks and balances and undermining democracy and the rule of law," Hontiveros said. "The people must push back. As they say, 'once more unto the breach.' Only by ensuring the integrity and independence of our democratic institutions and strengthening our assaulted culture of democracy can we guard the people's liberty and preserve our democracy from tyrannical attempts to consolidate power for narrow ends," Hontiveros concluded.Koko slams murder of ex-solon, demands quick results from PNP

Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Sunday condemned the killing of former La Union 2nd District Representative Eufranio Eriguel, who was shot at around 7pm on Saturday in Agoo, La Union.

Eriguel is a member of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban), of which Pimentel is the President.

"The Philippine National Police must forcefully, quickly, and effectively respond to this outrage", said Pimentel.

Two of Eriguel's bodyguards, Bong Tubera and Bobby Ordinario, were also killed in the incident. Eriguel previously survived a bomb attack in April 2016.

This is not the first time that Pimentel has called the PNP to task for the large number of unsolved cases of killings in the country.

However, Pimentel is also instrumental in the passage of the salary increase for policemen and also offered support for increasing the budget for the PNP's training and equipment.

Pimentel said, "What we need is a professional and credible police force that can deter criminals and effectively deal with those who violate the law. I am encouraged by PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde's efforts to discipline the police force, but we will see if his measures would translate to increased effectiveness of the PNP in catching the killers."Statement on the Passing of former Senate President Edgardo J. Angara

I join my colleagues and the whole nation in mourning the passing of former Senate President Edgardo J. Angara, a true public servant and a pillar of the Senate.

I likewise extend my condolences to Senator Sonny and the Angara family on this sad day. It is difficult to quantify the contributions of one of the giants responsible for nurturing democracy in the years following the Edsa Revolution.

Our institutions are the product of the hard work and brilliance of Senator Angara and the leaders of his generation, and millions of our countrymen are beneficiaries of his belief in the power of education to improve lives and drive national development.

Senator Angara was an educator, lawyer, and legislator with few peers; leaders of his caliber are a rare breed, and getting rarer still, and he will truly be missed.Press Release

May 13, 2018 Koko calls on COMELEC and PNP to enforce vote buying ban Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Sunday asked the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to strictly enforce the law and arrest those involved in vote-buying. The Omnibus Election Code prohibits the exchange of anything of value to induce a voter to vote for or against a particular candidate, an act commonly referred to as vote buying. "The law is clear: This practice is illegal and candidates involved can lose their status as candidates, or if elected, lose their positions. Both COMELEC and PNP must not shirk from enforcing the law even on the most powerful of individuals", said Pimentel. The Senate President said that reports have reached him from various concerned citizens about the proliferation of the illegal practice in their communities as the country prepares for the barangay and SK elections. Pimentel said, "I am saddened that this practice continues unabated, even for barangay elections. I call on our countrymen - do not sell your vote. Report all incidents of vote buying to the nearest police station or COMELEC office." The Senate President was previously the victim of electoral fraud and is a staunch advocate of electoral reform. Pimentel said, "This election is one step towards Change. If we unite and say, in our words and actions, that we will not tolerate this atrocious practice of exchanging votes for money, we would have taken one big step towards a better future for the Philippines."Press Release

May 13, 2018 Senate to tackle more priority measures before 2nd Regular Session ends The Senate will resume its session on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, with the Senate leadership vowing to finish work on more priority legislation before the 17th Congress' 2nd Regular Session ends in July. Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said the institution would "work harder to improve the quality of life for all," when they return to work on Tuesday. The 2nd Regular Session of the 17th Congress started last July 24, 2017, and is set to end on July 22, 2018. For his part, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the Senate would try its best to finish working on at least 24 bills which is part of the Senate's priority legislative agenda. Leading the list of priority bills is the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (SBN 1717), which will establish the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to replace the existing Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The bill is already undergoing interpellations at second reading in the Senate, while the House of Representatives' version of the measure has been endorsed by a joint House committee. The Senate will also prioritize the ongoing proposals for Charter Change, and the shift towards a federal form of government, which is currently being discussed at the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws. Sotto said that another top priority would be the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2017 (SBN 1715), which would amend the Human Security Act and impose tougher penalties for individuals who commit acts of terror. The Senate will also tackle bills on economic reforms and consumer rights such as the proposed amendments to the Corporation Code of the Philippines (SBN 1280), amendments to the Agricultural Tariffication Act, amendments to the Government Procurement Act, Budget Reform Act, the proposed Innovative Startup Act (SBN 1532) and the Philippine Fare Discount Act (SBN 1597). The Senate has also prioritized bills that are seen to streamline bureaucracy, improve government processes and expand services to Filipinos such as the proposed Open Access in Data Transmission Act (SBN 1763), Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute Act of 2017 (SBN 1574), the National Museum Act (SBN 1529), the Retirement Law of the Office of the Ombudsman (SBN 1762), amendments to the Fair Elections Act, and the bills creating the Department of Disaster Response and Preparedness, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Included in the list are pro-justice reforms such as the Anti-Discriminate Act of 2017 (SBN 1619), proposed Criminal Investigation Act, and the proposed Community Service in lieu of Imprisonment Act. The Senate will also prioritize pro-health and social service reforms such as the proposed Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act (SBN 1390), Enhanced Universal Healthcare Act, the One Town: One Doctor Act of 2016 (SBN 930), and the amendments to the Social Security Act.Scales Corp will have about $220 million in its war chest to pursue merger and acquisition opportunities after the country's largest apple grower sells its cold storage businesses to US-based Emergent Cold, according to brokerage Craigs Investment Partners.

Christchurch-based Scales said last week it had agreed to sell its cold storage businesses Polarcold Stores Ltd and Whakatu Coldstores Ltd, which were merged on Jan. 1 under the Polarcold brand, to Emergent Cold for $151.4 million, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval. The OIO process could take six months, and the transaction gives Scales merger and acquisition capacity of about $220 million, Craigs research analyst Adrian Allbon and research assistant Luke Mills said in a note to clients.

Scales is New Zealand's second-biggest apple exporter after T&G Global and has invested in apple crops that are sought after by customers in Asia, where the sweeter, redder varieties fetch a premium price over more traditional varieties. The company has low levels of debt and is hunting for agribusiness acquisitions that would fit well with its export apple business, consistent with its aim to become the foremost investor in and grower of New Zealand agribusiness.

"We think SCL has exited their cold storage operations at a solid price which is broadly in line with what we would have implicitly been carrying this division in our group valuation," Allbon and Mills said in their report titled 'Cashing out for warmer opportunities'. "That being said, a key and open question looking forward is how these proceeds are re-deployed within SCLs refreshed strategy of focusing more on pure agribusinesses, export-led and with the opportunity to add value from existing Chinese relationships."

Scales is most likely to use the funds for merger and acquisitions, given the organic growth opportunities in its existing Horticulture and Meteor businesses could be largely satisfied by internal cash flows, according to the Craigs report.

In its 2017 financial year, Scales reported earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation of $61 million and average net debt of $54.8 million, giving it a debt/ebitda ratio of 0.9 times.

Earlier this month, Scales said it remains positive with regard to its 2018 financial performance, with all three divisions (horticulture, storage & logistics and food ingredients) trading well during the first quarter of 2018 and including this years apple harvest.

Shares in Scales last traded at $4.90, and have gained 44 percent over the past year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Trustpower lifted annual profit 35 percent as the electricity generator-retailer's earnings were bolstered by favourable hydro generation, firm winter wholesale prices and its retail strategy.

Net profit rose to $129 million or 40.9 cents per share in the 12 months ended March 31, from $94 million or 29.6 cents a year earlier, the Tauranga-based company said in a statement.

Including the discontinued Australian operations, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, fair value movements of financial instruments, asset impairments and discount on acquisition were $267 million, in line with guidance. In January, Trustpower said ebitdaf would be between $255 million and $270 million in the year ending March 31.

Last December, Meridian Energy agreed to buy Trustpower's Australian hydro-electric generation assets for A$168 million. While the three generation schemes in New South Wales have performed well, given their size and distance from New Zealand, the board considered that selling the Australian subsidiary was the best option for enhancing shareholder value, said Trustpower chair Paul Ridley-Smith.

Chief executive Vince Hawksworth said the companys retail earnings of $60 million were a good indication the company has a strong underlying retail business, forming a solid platform for continued growth.

"Despite strong competition, our multi-product retail business strategy bundling lifes essential utilities including power, gas, internet and phone, continues to deliver results," he said.

Total utility account holders reached 397,000, a 3 percent increase from 385,000 at 31 March 2017. Gross margin increased to $151 million from $133 million in the previous year.

This rise is well in excess of the increase in utility accounts, validating Trustpowers view that the new category of bundled energy/telco is more profitable than either energy or telco alone, said Hawksworth.

New Zealand generation production was up 11 percent at 2,235 GWh, which also helped boost earnings.

While there is an element of good fortune in having strong hydrological inflows, the ability to capture that benefit requires a focus on long-term asset management and a dedicated team of experts operating the equipment throughout the country, said Hawksworth.

Looking ahead, the company said its ebitdaf guidance for the current financial year is expected to be in the range of $205 million to $225 million, assuming average hydrology and climatic conditions. The guidance assumes a reduction in revenue of $27 million following the sale of the Australian operations and a reduction from the current year of approximately $25 million for a return to average hydrology and pricing.

The company declared a final dividend of 17 cents per share payable June 15, with a record date of June 1. The total payout was 34 cents in the 2018 financial year. Following the sale of our Australian operations we still anticipate sustaining this level of dividend in the immediate future," said Ridley-Smith.

The stock opened up 0.2 percent at $5.86 and has eased 2.2 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Bad headlines about Fletcher Building from some segments of the media have overshadowed a business with "healthy prospects" and a new management team that is "a catalyst for change", says listed investment fund Kingfish.

The fund overseen by Fisher Funds Management added Fletcher to its portfolio in April, when the shares slumped to their lowest levels in almost six years. Last month Auckland-based Fletcher unveiled a $1.25 billion refinancing plan including a deeply discounted offer to shareholders to raise $750 million and a $500 million standby banking facility that could be used to repay noteholders in the US private placement market.

The company also announced plans to sell its Formica and steel roofing tiles businesses after a strategic review, retreating to its main New Zealand and Australian markets. Fletcher dumped its former chief executive last year in the face of losses at its Building + Interiors unit and in February this year chair Ralph Norris said he would step down to take responsibility for the company's poor performance. Still, excluding B+I the company has kept full-year earnings guidance unchanged and new CEO Ross Taylor has helped restore confidence, undertaking a full strategic review of Fletcher.

"The company has made too many newspaper headlines with delays on major construction projects and the significant losses reported by its B+I unit," said Sam Dickie, senior portfolio manager at Fisher Funds, in an update from Kingfish. "It is fair to say this has been a company with a chequered track record facing a number of challenges. We believe the headlines, and the fallout from some of Fletchers poor strategic decisions, are hiding a business that has healthy prospects. New management is the catalyst for change."

Among negative headlines, the National Business Review news outlet was referring to the company last month as "Flaky Fletcher".

Dickie said that after watching Fletcher for the past 12-18 months, "we believe a rare attractive opportunity is emerging which justifies an investment."

Kingfish hasn't disclosed a substantial holding in Fletcher since April, suggesting it picked up less than 5 percent of the company during its equity raising last month. The fund, which invests in New Zealand companies, counts Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Mainfreight as its biggest holdings, at 12 percent each, followed by Freightways and A2 Milk on 9 percent apiece, and 7 percent made up of Ryman Healthcare. Total shareholder return in the past 12 months has been 18.1 percent.

Dickie said that after "years of distracting international acquisitions and diversification away from key operations, the companys decision to sell its overseas businesses (Formica and Roof Tiles are currently up for sale) makes sense. This is likely to generate in excess of $1 billion for the company and may result in it being able to return capital to shareholders."

The comprehensive restructure of the business "presents both cost savings and potential revenue growth opportunities," he said. "All up we think these initiatives could add $30 million-$50 million to its core earnings." He said that "for the first time in Kingfishs history we are encouraged by what we see at Fletcher Building."

Fletcher shares last traded at $6.37 and may be helped today by news it has been retained in a key MSCI index that means index-weighted funds will continue to hold the shares.

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand dollar remained weak against the Australian dollar as sentiment across the Tasman was boosted by waning fears of a global trade war.

The kiwi traded at 92.15 Australian cents as at 5pm in Wellington from 92.25 Australian cents as at 8 am and 92.31 cents on Friday in New York. It was at 69.61 US cents from 69.66 cents on Friday in New York.

The Australian dollar benefited more than the kiwi on signs of improving US-China relations. Sentiment got a lift from news that US President Donald Trump instructed the US Commerce Department to help Chinese telecommunications group ZTE after the agency recently banned China's second-biggest telecommunications group from sourcing US components for its devices, putting the firm on the verge of bankruptcy.

"Certainly fears of an all-out trade war have died away a lot and that's arguably one of the reasons why the New Zealand dollar is underperforming against the Aussie as the general perception is that Australia is more vulnerable... so it's more relief for them," said ANZ Bank senior macro-strategist Phil Borkin.

Also the kiwi is "trying to test that 92.00 cent level on ongoing momentum in that cross following the RBNZ last week," he said. The central bank last week kept the official cash rate at 1.75 percent said the direction of the next move is equally balanced and could be up or down.

Borkin said news that the New Zealand's services sector activity, which accounts for about two-thirds of the economy, dropped back in April but remained above the long-run average, may also have weighed on the currency at the margin.

Looking ahead, Borkin said the main event for the kiwi dollar will be Thursday's budget as well as any international factors.

The trade-weighted index was at 72.62 from 72.69 last week.

It traded at 4.4122 Chinese yuan form 4.4111 yuan and at 58.21 euro cents from 58.30 cents last week and 51.32 British pence from 51.53 pence. The kiwi was almost unchanged at 76.14 yen from 76.18 yen.

New Zealand's two-year swap rate fell 2 basis points to 2.18 while the 10-year swaps fell 2 basis points to 3.13 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They say true love knows no boundaries, no reason and no distance.

Angelica Goude and Simon Norrman obviously live by the above-hypothesis.

Read on and we'll explain why!

The awesome twosome calls Sweden home, but planned a trip to New York around Paul Anka's back-by-popular-demand dynamic performance last Sunday at the St. George Theatre -- to a sold out crowd.

And unbeknown to Angelica, Simon had other things on his mind -- as in a marriage proposal.

"Everything started one year ago when we visited New York and decided to take in the Paul Anka show at the St. George Theatre," Simon said. We loved both the concert and the place."

The handsome young suitor said, one night in November of last year, the couple was relaxing at home outside Malmo in the South of Sweden -- with a bottle of wine and listening to Paul Anka. That's when they brainstormed the idea of booking tickets to another Anka show.

"All said and done," Simon quipped -- and the best available tickets were theirs.

There was only one question left. How to get there? They began to search for flights, but Angelica wanted to combine the New York trip with lots of fun in the sun.

"I have for a long time talked about doing a cruise and we found a Royal Caribbean cruise that fit in with the Paul Anka Concert," she said. "Seven days at sea, making stops in Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico, four nights in Miami and four nights in New York with the Paul Anka show capping the trip on the very last night."

Simon, a business consultant with his own company, started to plan the proposal.

"This was the perfect opportunity," he said. "The same place, same concert on the last day to summarize this dream vacation."

The whole day unraveled to perfection.

Simon turned 30 one month ago and Angelica planned a surprise, "Jazz and Champagne Cruise" outside Manhattan. A few hours later, they began their commute to Staten Island.

"I knew 'Diana' was one of the last songs and it was. I did propose during the show and she said 'Yes.' So many people came up to us with nice words and to meet Paul was an absolutely perfect ending of that night."

Angelica, an operational manager in property development at Coor Service Management, said, "I was super shocked about the proposal. I did joke with him on the way to the concert 'where is the ring?' but i could never believe that he would do it!"

Angelica said she should have realized something was up when Simon insisted they change seats: "They were not as good as the ones we had before and I still didn't have a clue about his plan. The first thing he said was 'I hope you didn't think that you should have to go home again without a ring?' And I still didn't have a clue!"

Not until Simon actually sat down on his knee, that is!

"I just cried with happiness. And knew that this was the best day in my whole life!" Angelica said. "I'm very thankful for the love that he gives me and how he supports me with work and allows me to be just me. I just can't imagine a life without him."

FYI: After the show, when a member of Anka's crew was apprised of the happenings, the entertainer agreed to meet and greet the "couple from Sweden" who were engaged that evening.

"I'm very proud from the theatre perspective -- because the St. George Theatre is also a tourist destination," said Vincent Innocente, manager of audience Services and marketing for the historic venue. "When people talk about the New York Wheel and the revitalization of the North Shore, we know the St. George Theatre is already attracting people from different states and all over the world based on the acts that are booked here."

Next up for Simon and Angelica: Planning a wedding in Portofino, a little village in Italy. That said, "we cant wait to meet both Paul and Staten Island again," the groom-to-be said.

We promise to keep you posted!STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- At least 35 people have been infected with a salmonella outbreak tied to the recall of more than 206 million eggs, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports.

A dozen people were added in a May 10 update by the CDC, upping the tally of those infected with Salmonella Braenderup linked to the recall. In New York, eight people have fallen ill in relation to the recall.

The outbreak, traced to a single egg producer, has resulted in 11 hospitalizations. No deaths have been reported, according to the CDC.

In April, Rose Acre Farms of Seymour, Ind., voluntarily recalled 206,749,248 eggs because they could be contaminated with salmonella.

The recall was made after several people suffered illness related to salmonella infections. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) investigators inspected the Hyde County, N.C., farm and collected samples for testing.

The eggs went to stores and restaurants in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

In grocery stores, the eggs were sold under the following brands: Country Daybreak; Crystal Farms; Coburn Farms; Sunshine Farms; Glenview; Great Value (Walmart's store brand), and Food Lion's store brand.

On the packaging of the recalled eggs, consumers can find the plant No. P-1065, and a Julian date range of 011 through date of 102.

The CDC continues to recommend consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, serve, or sell recalled eggs produced by Rose Acre Farms' Hyde County farm. Throw them away or return them to the place of purchase for a refund.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If you've dined at a Chili's Bar and Grill restaurant in the last few months, keep an eye on your credit or debit card accounts.

The tex-mex restaurant is the latest chain to be affected by a data breach, Chili's parent company Brinker International announced.

"We sincerely apologize to those who may have been affected and assure you we are working diligently to resolve this incident," Brinker International said in a statement.

The company learned on May 11 that some customer's payment card information was compromised at certain Chili's restaurants as a result of a "data incident" between March and April 2018.

"Based on the details of the issue currently uncovered, we believe that malware was used to gather payment card information including credit or debit card numbers as well as cardholder names from our payment-related systems for in-restaurant purchases at certain Chili's restaurants," Brinker said in a press release.

Since Chili's doesn't collect certain personal information like social security numbers, date of birth or federal or state identification numbers from customers, this information wasn't compromised in the breach.

The full list of affected restaurants has not yet been released. Brinker said it is working with third-party forensic experts to determine those who were affected at certain restaurants and guests.

On May 11 we learned that some of our Guests payment card information from certain restaurants was compromised. We value our relationship with our Guests and are committed to sharing details as we know more here: https://t.co/xWnJ1a7Auy  Chili's Grill & Bar (@Chilis) May 12, 2018

Chili's is the latest company to inform customers of a data breach. Last month, both Panera Bread and Best Buy warned consumers of exposed customer data breaches.Update: This story was updated to include a comment from the Department of Transportation.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A new study found that a special education school on Staten Island is located near one of the city's most dangerous intersections.

The Richard H. Hungerford School in Stapleton, which serves District 75 students from seventh to 12th grade, is located less than 150 feet from the intersection of Tompkins and Vanderbilt avenues.

"For this school, that specific intersection is one of the most dangerous ones we found in terms of number of incidents," said Steven Kalifowitz, president of Localize.city, which conducted the study.

Crashes at the intersection have injured seven pedestrians and two cyclists from January 2013 to January 2018, according to the study.

There have been an additional six crashes at the intersection since the beginning of 2018 for reasons including improperly turning or driver inexperience, according to NYPD motor vehicle collision data.

While the analysis only identified Hungerford in the area, PS 78 is located a block away from the intersection.

"Just to be consistent, [the study only looked at schools within] 500 feet or less, but if there's a lot of kids crossing through there to the other school, the kids should be aware," said Kalifowitz.

A large majority of students at the Hungerford School travel to school by bus. When the Advance visited the intersection during school arrival time Monday, the foot traffic consisted of school staff, local city bus riders and students and parents walking to PS 78.

PS 78 parents said the intersection has always been dangerous.

"It's an accident almost every day," said Lubia Dorres, who brings her grandchildren to school at PS 78. "When [vehicles] see people crossing, they don't stop, they just keep on going. I bring my grandchildren to school and I grab ahold of their hands and I say, 'Oh my God, there's no respect for the people.' It's very scary."

Sean Williams, the parent of a second-grader at PS 78, said he was surprised to learn the intersection was considered one of the city's most dangerous near a school.

"For the last four years, I've been taking him to this school and I haven't really seen much issues there besides them building that hospital and traffic building up," he said. "As far as accidents, I haven't really seen a major one there in a while."

Localize.city is an artificial intelligence-driven site that allows users to search any address in the five boroughs and receive an in-depth view of what it is like to live in the area.

The Department of Education declined comment Monday referring questions to the Department of Transportation.

"Under New York City's Vision Zero initiative to reduce the number of traffic deaths and serious injuries, the safety of schoolchildren and others who use the streets around our schools are top priorities," a DOT spokesperson said.

The DOT said it anticipated an influx of traffic in the area due to the recent opening of the NYC Health and Hospitals clinic located at 155 Vanderbilt Ave.

"As we continue to monitor the site, we will also assess the feasibility of a 20 mph School Slow Zone on Tompkins Avenue," said a DOT spokesperson.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Authorities allege an off-duty cop threatened a woman in Tompkinsville with rape and robbery before pushing her to the ground and taking her purse.

Probationary officer Kevin Williams, 34, allegedly approached the woman near the intersection of Castleton and Cebra Avenue around 11:10 p.m. on Thursday, threatened her, and attempted to take her handbag.

A criminal complaint alleges Williams told the victim, "I'm gonna rape and rob you," before he pushed her to the ground, causing lacerations to her elbow.

The New York Daily News reported Williams' lawyer, Philip Ohene, told the judge at his client's arraignment Williams was returning from Manhattan after a night of drinking in Manhattan.

"He was walking home and he blacked out," the attorney said, according to the News. "The next thing he knew, he woke up in the hospital."

Williams was arrested at Richmond University Medical Center, according to police. His lawyer did not return a request for comment on Sunday.

The officer is charged with two counts of attempted robbery, one count of assault, one count of attempted petit larceny, and one count of attempted criminal possession of stolen property.

Court records indicated Sunday that he was being held on bail of $6,00 bond, or $5,000 cash. He is due back in court on Wednesday.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Uber rides have more than doubled on Staten Island over the past year, according to data from the ride-hailing company's new microsite, UberConnectsNYC.

The new site highlights the work Uber has done to expand in areas underserved by public transportation, including Staten Island.

"From New Brighton to Great Kills, Uber helps us move around in our communities, and in every corner of the five boroughs. That is why the majority of Uber rides are now outside of Manhattan, in areas like Staten Island. And, in the past year, trips here have more than doubled," said Uber spokeswoman Danielle Filson.

The site offers newly released data, including a look at specific neighborhoods, as well as testimonials from the Rev. Franklyn Richardson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and borough-based riders who rely on Uber.

On Staten Island, the number of Uber trips have steadily increased. The top destinations include the Staten Island Ferry, Staten Island Mall, College of Staten Island, Staten Island University Hospital and Richmond University Medical Center.

UberConnectsNYC also has additional information about three specific Staten Island neighborhoods: New Brighton, Todt Hill and Great Kills.

In New Brighton, Uber rides have nearly tripled in the past year with more than half of the trips using UberPool.

On Todt Hill, Uber rides have nearly doubled in the past year with roughly one-third of the trips using UberPool.

In Great Kills, Uber rides have more than doubled in the past year with approximately half of the trips using UberPool.

In March, Uber offered a free UberPool ride to Staten Island residents to celebrate the company's growth in areas underserved by mass transit.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A new traffic lane will be added to a portion of the New Jersey-bound West Shore Expressway this fall, the New York state Department of Transportation announced Monday.

The $7 million project, which has been in the works since 2016, will focus on alleviating congestion between the Victory Boulevard entrance and the Muldoon/Arden avenues exit by adding an auxiliary lane connecting the two.

The lane will provide more time for vehicles to merge onto or exit the expressway and is expected to increase vehicle capacity, improve mobility and significantly reduce traffic congestion along that stretch, the DOT said.

"This project, Governor [Andrew] Cuomo's latest investment in Staten Island roadways, will remove a major traffic bottleneck and make traveling the West Shore Expressway more efficient," said state DOT acting commissioner Paul A. Karas.

"I'm pleased to see that NYSDOT heeded our calls for a solution to the problems that affect this part of the West Shore Expressway," said Borough President James Oddo.

In addition to the new lane, the expressway and the ramps within the project limits will be resurfaced, the DOT said.

The nearby drainage system will be upgraded to replace an existing 15-inch drainage pipe with an 18-inch pipe and install additional swales to filter storm water and reduce runoff.

Four new lampposts also will be installed, including at the Muldooon/Arden avenues exit.

"The planned improvements that will be funded through this project will significantly help address traffic issues on the West Shore Expressway on Staten Island," said state Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island).

"These improvements will enhance safety and improve the flow of traffic for Staten Island motorists," said state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island).

This project marks the latest of several state DOT projects aimed at improving travel conditions along the West Shore Expressway.

In fall 2017, permanent barriers were installed at the Korean War Veterans Parkway/West Shore Expressway interchange approaching the Outerbridge Crossing to ease congestion and enhance safety.

In fall 2014, the agency reconstructed ramps in Charleston and constructed a new ramp to the West Shore Expressway south of Bloomingdale Road along Veterans Road West.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 61-year-old man was arrested for the burglary of a Dunkin' Donuts on Richmond Terrace in New Brighton, according to police.

Stanley Wincelowicz, 61, of the 200 block of E. 53rd Street in Manhattan, was taken into custody on Thursday morning at the 120th Precinct in St. George, according to a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Police previously put out a wanted flier seeking tips for a man who forcibly entered through the front door at the Dunkin' Donuts at 700 Richmond Terrace and took about $150 at about 3:45 a.m. on April 29.

Wincelowicz has been charged with burglary, criminal trespass, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, according to public records.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance for an arrest on Staten Island on Thursday afternoon, according to public records.

The suspect, who stands about 6'3 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds, is being held at the Brooklyn Detention Complex in lieu of combined bond set at $10,500/$5,500 cash. The suspect is due back in Criminal Court on Tuesday, based on public records.

A warrant was issued for a parole violation against him, according to public records.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Joseph (Joe) Delaney never attended the University of Notre Dame, though he developed a strong connection with it through his father, Joseph Sr., who had a great love for the school.

As most men of that generation, Notre Dame was the "Catholic Harvard," and the college that fathers wanted their sons to attend because of the Catholic formation and professional training they would receive.

Unfortunately, when Joe was 14, his father passed away, and Joe ended up attending Seton Hall. However, Joe never lost that love for Notre Dame, and when he moved to Staten Island, several local Notre Dame alumni asked him to join the Notre Dame Club of Staten Island.

He eventually became the executive director of the Notre Dame Bread of Life Food Drive here and across the United States, a title he still holds today.

You are very philanthropic. Where did you learn this?

My parents had a great influence on me. They were hard working people who grew up in the shadow of the Depression and World War II. Most of their "philanthropic effort" was centered around contributing to our local Catholic parish and helping church programs that serve people in need. [Also,] the Sisters of Charity, the Christian Brothers and local Catholic priests, who educated me from kindergarten to 12th grade, and then in college. The greatest influence imparted to me by my parents and religious educators was to respect others and always be a useful citizen in the community and country.

Which job is the most significant one you've held?

I was a partner/managing director with the professional service firm of Deloitte, where I was in charge of many administrative departments and human resource programs. I retired in January 2010.

What are you doing in your retirement?

In my retirement, I utilize my training and experience as a Deloitte managing director to help the many not-for-profit organizations I serve to work more efficiently and to enhance their ability to better their clients and their communities. Currently, I am the chairman of the board of Catholic Charities of Staten Island and the executive director of the University Notre Dame Bread of Life Food Drive here on Staten Island and across the United States. I also serve on the board of directors for the Bernikow Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, on the board of Project Hospitality, and I am the vice president of the board for the Christopher White House Foundation. I am ... [the] first non-alum member on the board of University of Notre Dame national alumni board of directors. And finally, I serve on the National Board of Virtual Enterprises International, an organization devoted to mentoring high school students about business.

Tell us more about your involvement with the charitable organizations. Have you received any awards or honors?

For each, my involvement runs from eight to 20 years. They have grown in services over that time and I believe I have been part of the impetus for the growth. The professional experience I have brought to each of the organizations' board of directors has enhanced their positions since I joined.

What awards and honors have you received?

[To name a few honors] I've received: the Hero of Staten Island from former Assemblyman Robert Straniere; R.S.V.P. Volunteer of the Year; the 2004 Greater NY Board of the March of Dimes Volunteer of the Year; U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Award for Organizational and Logistical Support of the Marines' Toy for Tots program in New York City; the 2005 American Legion of Richmond County's Citizen of the Year for service to veterans and the Staten Island community; University of Notre Dame Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award in 2012 and 2018; and many others.

What are your feelings about the world today?

The world and our nation are too divided. We lack a sense of community toward each other and people around the world. As a student of history, I know our nation and the world have been divided many times, but, "We The People" eventually rise above our division and conflicts to understand each other better.

How can we help bring this about?

We can involve ourselves in volunteer work in faith-based programs that heal and bring people together. Start with effort to fight hunger, involve ourselves in assisting people affected by the drug epidemic and lend our talents to assist education by being a mentor to a student or providing assistance to a teacher. I encourage everyone not to be discouraged, but to strive and, with God's help, to make a more peaceful and united world.

GET TO KNOW JOSEPH

His family: His wife, Nancy, is a retired paraprofessional with the city Department of Education. They have two children and two grandchildren.

What he's proud of: "Being a caring husband for 47 years ... family is the most important unity of society and being a good husband and father means you work at this role every day of your life."

Who he admires: Father Ted Hasburg, the late former president of Notre Dame 1953-1987; Saint Pope John XXIII; and President Harry Truman. All three had great vision, purpose, character and integrity.

His commitment to others: Nancy and Joe's 30th wedding anniversary fell on Sept. 11, 2001. Joe worked across the street from the World Trade Center; following the terrorist attacks, he remained on-site to assist his firm with business recovery, and assist the first responders. He stayed at the site for five days.China hails Trump's ZTE olive branch ahead of trade talks



Beijing, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



China on Monday hailed President Donald Trump's offer to prevent Chinese telecom giant ZTE from collapsing due to a US technology ban, as the two sides prepare for new negotiations this week to avert a trade war.

In an apparent olive branch, Trump announced on Twitter that he had discussed how to save ZTE with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The fate of ZTE has become a key part of the talks between the top two world economies, with Chinese officials protesting at the ban during discussions with top US officials in Beijing earlier this month.

"We highly commend the positive remark from the US on the ZTE issue and now we are communicating with the US side on the details," foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular press briefing.

ZTE, which employs 80,000 people, said last week its major operations had "ceased" after being banned for seven years from buying crucial American technology, raising the possibility of its collapse.

Its fibre-optic networks depend on US components and its cheap smartphones sold en masse abroad are powered by US chips and the Android operating system.

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted on Sunday.

"Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"

Trump's concern for Chinese workers comes despite his repeated vows to bring back US jobs which he complains have been lost to other countries, particularly China.

"How about helping some American companies first?" Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in response to Trump's tweet.



- Trade war fear -



US officials imposed the ban because of what they said were false statements by the firm over actions it claimed to have taken regarding the illegal sale of goods to Iran and North Korea. ZTE pleaded guilty to the charges in March last year and was hit with $1.2 billion in fines.

Trump has insisted that relations between Washington and Beijing have never been better and has been working closely with Xi to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

At the same time, threats of mutual tariffs have sparked fears of a trade war after Trump accused China of unfair practices that have cost American jobs.

China's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, will be in Washington for a new round of trade talks from Tuesday until Saturday, the foreign ministry said, confirming the dates of the previously announced trip.

"The two sides will work together to ensure a positive and constructive outcome during the upcoming consultations," Lu said.

The Washington Post reported late Sunday that the White House and senior Chinese officials are discussing a deal that would relax the severe penalties on ZTE in exchange for unspecified demands from Trump.

It said ZTE has become a bargaining chip as Washington seeks trade-related concessions while pushing for cooperation on sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

The daily reported that a high-level Chinese delegation was in Washington on Friday and raised the issue of whether the US could relax its stance on ZTE.

The newspaper also cited a veteran lobbyist as saying the high-powered Hogan Lovells law firm, which has represented ZTE, has been asking people close to the Trump administration for ways to alter the US position.

There has been an intense rivalry for supremacy in emerging technology fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G, the next-generation superfast wireless system.



- Cybersecurity 'threat' -



Against that background, the Pentagon cited security risks in banning personnel on US military bases from buying equipment from ZTE and fellow Chinese smartphone maker Huawei.

Trump's conciliatory move quickly came under fire domestically.

"Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat," said Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

"You should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs," he wrote on Twitter.

David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, said Trump was sending mixed signals after scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and threatening sanctions on European countries that continue to do business with Tehran.

The US president earlier this year cited security concerns when he took the unusual step of blocking the proposed takeover, by a firm then-based in Singapore, of US chipmaker Qualcomm.

That case highlighted growing concerns about the rise of Chinese competitors.

"China and the United States are working well together on trade," Trump said on Sunday.

"But past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries," he tweeted. "But be cool, it will all work out!"

bur-ia-lth/prw/sm

QUALCOMMPage Content

The Council of Ministers has put Maria Plantz forward to the Kingdom Council of Ministers as nominee for the position of member of the Kingdom Council of State (Raad van State) as per October 1, 2018. This vacancy remained unfilled after Dennis Richardson left the Council of State in 2013 to become Minister of Justice. Mrs. Plantz currently serves as member nominated by Sint Maarten of the CFT, since October 1, 2015 and has previously served as vice-chair of the first Corporate Governance Council of Sint Maarten from 2010 to 2014.





Mrs. Plantz is the granddaughter of the first elected Senator of the Windward Islands, Mr. William Rufus Plantz, and is the legal representative of his estate on Sint Maarten. Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin is extremely happy that this important position to safeguard Kingdom relations will be filled now.





The Kingdom Council of State is a High Council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which acts, among others, as independent advisory body to the Kingdom Government on legislative and administrative matters, including matters, which affect the Caribbean countries in the Kingdom.





Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin remarked, We have come to know Mrs. Plantz as a knowledgeable legal professional, with a wealth of experience gained from her career as CEO in international business. She has proven to be a valuable member of team Sint Maarten, serving the country in public functions since 2010 and I am very happy that she will accept this new role when her term as member of CFT ends on October 1.





The Kingdom Council of Ministers is currently considering the succession of Mrs. Plantz at CFT, where her departure will leave a void. We are mindful that we need to ensure that a replacement is found for Mrs. Plantz at the CFT as soon as possible. We regard CFT as an important partner to achieve improvement of our overall financial budgeting and accountability, said Prime Minister Leona Romeo- Marlin.





Photo caption  Mrs. Maria PlantzPOND ISLAND:---In line with transparency, Minister of Justice Cornelius de Weever gave an update with respect to an overview he gave in the House of Parliament on May 8 during the national budget debate when responding to questions from a Member of Parliament about the status of the current vehicle fleet of the Sint Maarten Police Force (KPSM).

Minister De Weever received an update on May 11 with respect to the current status of the fleet of vehicles at the disposal of law enforcement.

On behalf of the people, Government and in particular the Ministry of Justice of Sint Maarten, I would like to reiterate how thankful we are to the Dutch Government, the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, and the Dutch National Police Force, for all the assistance and resources that they have contributed and rendered to Sint Maarten, and continue to do so since the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

This form of assistance once again shows the strong bonds within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and at the same time it shows how the relations and structural forms of cooperation can be used to assists each other in times of national disaster, and the hurricanes of September 2017 were a clear example of the aforementioned at work, Minister of Justice Cornelius de Weever said on Sunday.

At the beginning of October 2017, the Sint Maarten Police Force received 20 police vehicles from the Dutch National Police Force that were donated to the Ministry of Justice of Sint Maarten. These vehicles arrived onboard the Zr. HM Karel Doorman.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria severely damaged 80 per cent of the police vehicle fleet. In order to increase police visibility and to be able to respond to emergencies and requests for police assistance, the Chief of Police and Management Team prepared a request for assistance which included vehicles.

The Dutch National Police Force made available 20 police vehicles which comprised of 14 Tourans, four vans, one mobile command center and one truck/mobile command unit. Upon arrival of the aforementioned, the vehicles were immediately put to use as soon as they were registered and all official documents were in order.

The truck and small command unit were returned to the Netherlands during the second trip of the Zr. HM Karel Doorman to the country at the end of October.

Due to the road conditions especially within districts, several patrol vehicles sustained damage; climbing of hills at high speed in response to emergency calls; the use of a different type of fuel; different climate conditions; a number of the vehicles had mechanical issues.

At the moment, eight of the 14 Tourans patrol vehicles are operations, and an additional three will be back on the streets of Sint Maarten. The aforementioned three will be restored by using parts from the other three that suffered mechanical challenges.

Road conditions in the immediate aftermath of the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria took a toll on vehicles in general.

KPSM use the Tourans on a daily basis to carry out their duties to protect and serve the Sint Maarten community and are therefore very thankful to the Dutch National Police for their assistance.PHILIPSBURG:---  Two weeks before the start of the new hurricane season June 1st, almost three months following snap elections on February 26, a new government remains elusive. The People of Sint Maarten and its Faithfull visitors deserve better. A hands on and structured approach including open communication in regards to how we will move Sint Maarten forward is long overdue.

Regardless of the reasons why it is taking so long to form a new government, there is simply no excuse for further delay, given the critical position we are still in following the devastation of the hurricanes Irma and Maria September 2017.

Arrindell said: most agree that we are still facing a crisis situation while reconstruction takes place. Daily traffic jams, burning dump in Philipsburg, many homes including that of the elderly still roofless or destroyed, many un or under insured, un or under employed, business closures, government owned companies requesting government support, poor internet connections, long lines at government building, are just a few examples of the dire straight position we are in today. Several reports have been written providing short- midterm and long term solutions to the abovementioned and other pressing matters. What is the fate of the much talked about National Reconstruction and Recovery plan? Additionally, recovery funds have been firmly committed, with conditions by the Rutte cabinet as well as by the European Parliament. Why was the meeting with the World bank held behind closed doors of Parliament.?

 Given the current situation, it is clear that business as usual is clearly not an option. More emphasis and urgency must be placed by the new Parliament to ensure that a new pro -active government is appointed sooner rather than later. There is a case to be made to appoint a (Junior-Minister of reconstruction ) who will act as a coordinator of the reconstruction process. The current Council of Ministers has its hand full in dealing with the going concern of the day to day management of this Country. The Prime Ministers office is in charge of a.o. of general affairs, personnel affairs, census office, disaster management.

This new entity can legally be implemented by Parliament and paid with the salary cuts of the current Parliament and Council of Ministers, including the Ministers Plenipotentiary (s) in the Hague. Thousands of people endured drastic salary cuts or have been laid off. In solidarity with our People, Parliament and Government should empathize and lead by example until we are once again stable and secure. The proposed Minister of Reconstructions main task should include execution of the priorities set by the new Government.

Our Country is at a critical and historic crossroad. Pro- active decision making is not a luxury. Initiative legislation ( not only a motion) can be submitted by Parliament or by an individual Member of Parliament as has been the case when the Ombudsman office was presented to the island Council prior to 10-10-10. Time to implement is NOW!!Xerox announces termination of merger deal with Fujifilm



San Francisco, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



Xerox on Sunday announced it was terminating a proposed merger with Fujifilm and appointing a new chief executive after entering into a settlement with activist shareholders who had contested the takeover.

In a statement on its website, Xerox cited "material deviations" in the audited financials of an existing joint venture known as Fuji Xerox that is controlled by Fujifilm.

The move follows a lawsuit by powerful shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason who have vigorously opposed the merger, which had been announced in January.

Xerox added that Jeff Jacobson had resigned from his role as the company's CEO, along with five board members who were replaced by five new members.

The new board will be chaired by Keith Cozza, who is the current CEO of Icahn Enterprises, while its new CEO is set to be John Visentin.

The board will immediately convene to "evaluate all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value."

Icahn said: "We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm.

"With that behind us and new shareholder-focused leadership in place, today marks a new beginning for Xerox."

The conflict was the latest involving a big company and a high-profile shareholder activist, in this case Icahn, a battle-tested billionaire who has aggressively challenged companies since the 1980s.

Icahn and Deason had in late April won a temporary injunction against the merger after a New York judge agreed the deal prioritized the interests of the Xerox CEO over that of the company's shareholders.Trump pledges to safeguard Chinese telecoms jobs



Washington, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was working with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to prevent telecom giant ZTE from going out of business after it was hit by an American technology sales ban.

Writing on Twitter, Trump said he had issued instructions for officials to come up with a rescue plan, saying too many jobs were at risk.

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump said.

"Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"

The concern for Chinese workers comes despite Trump's slogan to "Make America Great Again" and his repeated vows to bring back US jobs, which he complains have been lost to other countries, particularly China.

"How about helping some American companies first?" Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in response to Trump's tweet.

ZTE, which employs 80,000 people, said last week that its major operations had "ceased" after being banned for seven years from buying critical American technology, raising the possibility of its collapse.

Its fiber-optic networks depend on US components and its cheap smartphones sold en masse abroad are powered by US chips and the Android operating system.



- Trade war fear -



US officials imposed the ban because of what they said were false statements by the firm over action it claimed to have taken regarding the illegal sale of goods to Iran and North Korea. ZTE pleaded guilty to the charges in March last year and was hit with $1.2 billion in fines.

Trump has insisted that relations between Washington and Beijing have never been better and he has been working closely with Xi in efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

At the same time, threats of mutual tariffs have sparked fears of a trade war, after Trump accused China of unfair practises that have cost American jobs.

The Washington Post reported late Sunday that the White House and senior Chinese officials are discussing a deal that would relax the severe penalties on ZTE, in exchange for unspecified demands from Trump.

Citing people briefed on the discussions, the Post said ZTE has become a bargaining chip as Washington seeks trade-related concessions while pushing for cooperation on sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

Beijing's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, is due in Washington this week for trade talks.

But the Post reported that a high-level Chinese delegation was in Washington on Friday and raised the issue of whether Washington could relax its stance on ZTE.

The newspaper also cited a veteran lobbyist as saying the high-powered Hogan Lovells law firm, which has represented ZTE, has been asking people close to the Trump administration for ways to alter the US position.

Cheng Xiaohe, an international relations professor at China's Renmin University, said last week that Washington had sent Beijing a clear signal "through its attack on ZTE: compromise, make compromises" on trade.

"Otherwise, we will kill you."

There has been an intense rivalry for supremacy in emerging technology fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G, the next-generation superfast wireless systems.



- Cybersecurity 'threat' -



Against that background, the Pentagon cited security risks in banning personnel on US military bases from buying equipment from ZTE and fellow Chinese maker Huawei.

Trump's conciliatory move quickly came under fire domestically.

"Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat," said Adam Schiff, who is the senior Democratic Congressman on the House Intelligence Committee.

"You should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs," he wrote on Twitter.

David Frum, a former speechwriter for president George W. Bush, said Trump was sending mixed signals after scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and threatening sanctions on European countries that continue to do business with Tehran.

The US president earlier this year cited security concerns when he took the unusual step of blocking the proposed takeover, by a firm then-based in Singapore, of US chipmaker Qualcomm.

That case highlighted growing concerns about the rise of Chinese competitors.

"China and the United States are working well together on trade," Trump said on Sunday.

"But past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries," he tweeted. "But be cool, it will all work out!"

bur-ia/it/dan

QUALCOMMUS wants to work with Europeans on new Iran deal: Pompeo



Washington, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



The United States' top diplomat said Sunday Washington still wants to work with its European partners on an agreement to counter Iran's "malign behavior" as President Donald Trump justified his decision to withdraw from the landmark nuclear deal.

The development came as Iran's foreign minister said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the pact, while speaking in Beijing at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing it.

Trump's announcement last Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay in Europe where companies now face the threat of sanctions if they do business with Iran.

But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was keen to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its allies as Trump said Iran had been "trying to take over" the Middle East since the nuclear agreement was signed.

Pompeo, who is barely a fortnight into his new job, told Fox News Sunday that he had been tasked by the president "to work to strike a deal that achieves the outcomes that protect America."

"That's what we are going to do and I will be hard at it with the Europeans in the next several days," said the top US diplomat.

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well.

The administration says the lifting of sanctions as part of the nuclear pact had allowed Iran to build up its military.

Trump weighed in later Sunday, saying his decision would limit Iran's regional ambitions.

"Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place," he said. "They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!"



- Zarif embarks on tour -



While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a recent visit to Washington.

German leader Angela Merkel also told Trump on a visit to Washington late last month that the nuclear deal was insufficient in itself to curb Iran's ambitions in the region.

Germany, France and Britain were three of the six signatories to the 2015 pact which saw sanctions lifted in return for the commitment by Tehran not to acquire nuclear weapons.

Although most analysts believe the US withdrawal has effectively scuppered the agreement, Iran's foreign minister talked up the prospects of its survival on Sunday while visiting China, another of the signatories.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

After their meeting, Zarif and Wang hailed the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between their countries, with the Chinese minister saying: "I hope and believe that these visits to multiple countries will... help protect Iran's legitimate national interests and peace and stability in the region."

Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels to consult the remaining signatories to the 2015 agreement denounced by US President Donald Trump.

Zarif also published a government statement on his Twitter page, slamming Trump's "extremist administration" for abandoning "an accord recognized as a victory of diplomacy by the international community".

Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian pro-regime fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.



- Iran hardliners fight back -



Iranian hardliners -- who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West -- are already mobilizing against the efforts to save the nuclear deal.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West.

"We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars news agency.

"The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions."

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week he was highly doubtful that Europe would provide the "real guarantees" needed for Iran to stay in the nuclear deal.

But analysts said Iran was determined to maintain the moral high ground in the coming weeks.

"For the first time, Iran has the chance to show the world they are not the rogue nation they are always presented as, that they negotiated in good faith and keep to their commitments," said Karim Emile Bitar of the Institute for International and Strategic Studies in Paris.

burs-ia/mdlN. Korea will never fully give up nuclear weapons: top defector



Seoul, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



North Korea will never completely give up its nuclear weapons, a top defector said ahead of leader Kim Jong Un's landmark summit with US President Donald Trump next month.

The current whirlwind of diplomacy and negotiations will not end with "a sincere and complete disarmament" but with "a reduced North Korean nuclear threat", said Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016.

"In the end, North Korea will remain 'a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state'," Thae told the South's Newsis news agency.

His remarks come ahead of an unprecedented summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12 where North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes are expected to dominate the agenda.

North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation of the peninsula at summit last month, and Pyongyang announced at the weekend it will destroy its only known nuclear test site next week.

But it has not made public what concessions it is offering.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation (CVID)" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Pyongyang has said it does not need nuclear weapons if the security of its regime is guaranteed.

But Thae, one of the highest ranking officials to have defected in recent years, said: "North Korea will argue that the process of nuclear disarmament will lead to the collapse of North Korea and oppose CVID."

The North wanted to ensure Kim's "absolute power" and its model of hereditary succession, he added, and would oppose intrusive inspections as they "would be viewed as a process of breaking down Kim Jong Un's absolute power in front of the eyes of ordinary North Koreans and elites".

At a party meeting last month when Kim proclaimed the development of the North's nuclear force complete and promised no more nuclear or missile tests, he called its arsenal "a powerful treasured sword for defending peace".

"Giving it up soon after Kim Jong Un himself labelled it the 'treasured sword for defending peace' and a firm guarantee for the future? It can never happen," Thae said.



- 'Peace gestures' -



In his memoir that hit shelves Monday, Thae added: "More people should realise that North Korea is desperately clinging to its nuclear programme more than anything."

Tensions on and around the peninsula had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others.

Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Winter Olympics in the South, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting.

Kim has also twice visited China after not paying his respects to President Xi Jinping in the six years since he inherited power from his father, and met the South's President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.

North Korea's sudden change in attitude was probably driven by the mounting international sanctions imposed over its weapons programmes that had begun to take a toll on the livelihoods of ordinary citizens, Thae said.

As of last year the UN Security Council sanctions included measures on sectors such as coal, fish, textiles and overseas workers.

"North Korea did not foresee the destructive power of these sanctions," Thae told the interview. "These sanctions are threatening the livelihoods of millions of North Koreans at the root."

But Pyongyang had a long history of making overtures that ultimately came to nothing, he warned.

"North Korea's diplomacy has always been a repeat of hardline and appeasement," Thae said.

"It is North Korea's diplomatic tactic to push the situation to extreme confrontation and suddenly send peace gestures."Iran FM in Moscow as Russia moves to save nuclear deal



Moscow, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



Iran's foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow on Monday he was seeking "assurances" from the backers of the country's nuclear deal after the US pulled out.

Russia is trying to keep the landmark 2015 accord alive in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe.

"The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended," Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the start of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement".

Lavrov, for his part, said Russia and Europe had a duty to "jointly defend their legal interests" in terms of the deal.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it.

After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over Trump's decision.

- Renewed coordination? -



Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he told AFP.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he added.

On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour".

But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.



- Russia key regional player -



Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Germany's Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

The countries sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.

Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.Iran slams US 'disregard for international law' in UN letter



Tehran, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



Iran's foreign minister on Monday released a letter he sent to the UN secretary general accusing the US of "a complete disregard for international law" over its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 agreement constitutes "a complete disregard for international law and the United Nations Charter", Mohammad Javad Zarif said in the letter.

His actions "undermine the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes, endanger multilateralism and its institutions, indicate a regress to the failed and disastrous era of unilateralism, and encourage intransigence and illegality," he added.

The letter was written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on May 10, two days after Trump made the historic move to pull out of the agreement and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

It was only published Monday on the website of the Iranian foreign ministry.

Zarif is on a diplomatic tour of China, Russia and Europe, the other backers of the agreement who strongly opposed Trump's decision and hope to salvage the deal.

Unlike Iran, "which has scrupulously fulfilled its undertakings... the United States has consistently failed -- since 'implementation day', and particularly after the assumption of office by President Trump -- to abide by its commitments," Zarif wrote in the letter.

He said Trump's withdrawal also meant multiple cases of "significant non-performance" with the nuclear deal, and "clear non-compliance" with resolution 2231 of the UN Security Council, which endorsed the deal.Pakistan's Sharif ignites firestorm with Mumbai attacks interview



Islamabad, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has sparked a firestorm at home and in India after suggesting Pakistani militants were behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks, with the National Security Council slamming his remarks on Monday.

The former premier approached what is seen as a red line in the country by touching on criticism of Pakistan's armed forces, especially their alleged use of proxies in India, in the interview with Dawn newspaper published over the weekend.

"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Sharif told Pakistan's leading English daily, referring to stalled court cases against several suspects.

The Mumbai attacks left 166 people dead and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

The carnage played out on live television around the world as commandos battled the heavily armed gunmen, who over three days detonated explosives and gunned down civilians across the port city.

Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba stands accused of masterminding the attacks. India has long said there is evidence that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved but Islamabad denies the charge.

Sharif's interview ignited controversy on both sides of the border, with Pakistani politicians deriding his remarks as unpatriotic while Indian media portrayed the interview as an admission of Pakistan's role in the attacks.

Following its publication, Pakistan's powerful army announced the meeting of the National Security Council -- which consists of top military brass and key cabinet ministers -- to discuss Sharif's comments.

"The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions," said the council.

Hours after the council's meeting, Sharif doubled down on his position, saying Pakistan was being isolated internationally due to its reputation.

"I am being labelled as a traitor because I care for Pakistan. I said Pakistan is being internationally isolated and I said so because I felt it," Sharif told thousands of supporters at a rally in the northwestern disrict of Buner.

Since being ousted by the Supreme Court last July, Sharif and his supporters have repeatedly suggested they are the victims of a conspiracy driven by the military and the courts to damage their party.

Pakistan has long been accused of playing a "double game" by supporting militant groups for its own strategic ends, particularly in India-controlled Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Sharif's comments have put more pressure on the powerful military, which is also grappling with a growing grassroots movement out of the tribal region on the border with Afghanistan. Its leaders accuse the armed forces of supporting the Afghan Taliban.Iran FM in Moscow as Russia moves to save nuclear deal



Moscow, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



Iran's foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow Monday he was seeking "assurances" from the backers of the country's nuclear deal after the United States pulled out.

Russia is trying to keep the landmark 2015 accord alive in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision, pushing Moscow into rare cooperation with Europe.

"The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended," Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the start of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement".

Zarif later said he was seeking "solutions in order for other countries, in particular those remaining in the agreement, to have relations with Iran without hindrance," in comments reported by the Iranian ISNA news agency.

Lavrov, for his part, said Russia and Europe had a duty to "jointly defend their legal interests" in terms of the deal.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it.

On Monday he also sent a letter to the United Nations in which he accused the US of showing a "complete disregard for international law" in pulling out of the deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about efforts to save the accord, after voicing his "deep concern" over Trump's decision.

And on Monday Putin met Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, telling him that Russia was "ready to continue to uphold the Iran nuclear deal despite the withdrawal of the United States".

- Renewed coordination? -



Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," said Andrei Baklitsky of the Moscow-based PIR Center nuclear safety NGO.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action themselves," he told AFP, referring to the official name of the nuclear deal.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he added.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour."

But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.



- Russia key regional player -



Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the Syrian conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

The countries had sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.

Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.UK government awards submarine contract to BAE Systems



London, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



The UK government on Monday said it had awarded British defence group BAE Systems a contract to build nuclear-powered submarines.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that BAE had been awarded a contract worth pound1.5 billion ($2.0 billion, 1.7 billion euros) for delivery of the seventh Astute class submarine.

It had additionally won a pound900-million contract for the next phase of the Dreadnought submarine programme.

"This multi-billion-pound investment in our nuclear submarines shows our unwavering commitment to keeping the UK safe and secure from intensifying threats," Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in the statement.

"HMS Agincourt will complete the Royal Navy's seven-strong fleet of hunter-killer attack subs, the most powerful to ever enter British service, whilst our nuclear deterrent is the ultimate defence against the most extreme dangers we could possibly face."Fiery cleric, paramilitary leader surge at Iraq elections



Baghdad, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



An alliance headed by nationalist cleric Moqtada Sadr and a rival bloc of pro-Iranian former fighters appeared to surge Monday in surprise preliminary results from Iraq's first poll since the defeat of the Islamic State group.

If confirmed, the outcome would throw open the race to become the next prime minister, as internationally favoured incumbent Haider al-Abadi lagged behind after a vote hit by record abstentions.

According to partial results seen by AFP, the Marching Towards Reform alliance of Shiite cleric Sadr and his communist allies was ahead in six of Iraq's 18 provinces and second in four others.

Sadr has reinvented himself as an anti-graft crusader after rising to prominence as a powerful militia chief whose fighters battled US forces after the 2003 invasion.

While long railing against the United States, the nationalist firebrand has also distanced himself from its key rival Iran, drawing closer to regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

Next in the running is the Conquest Alliance, made up of ex-fighters from mainly Iran-backed paramilitary units that battled IS, with results putting them ahead in four provinces and second in eight others.

The head of the list is Hadi al-Ameri, a long-time ally of Tehran, whose forces ended up battling alongside the US to oust the jihadists.

Both Sadr and Ameri are long-time political veterans well-known to Iraqis, but they pitched themselves as seeking to sweep clean the country's reviled elite.

The complex electoral arithmetic of the Iraqi system, however, means that the final makeup of 329-seat parliament is still far from decided.

The ballots of some 700,000 security personnel who voted and Iraqis abroad were yet to be tallied up, meaning Abadi could get a boost five months after he announced victory over IS.

Whatever the outcome, there looks set to be lengthy horse-trading between the main political forces before any new premier and a coalition government can be installed.

Sadr -- who did not stand as a candidate and therefore cannot become premier -- appears in pole position to play kingmaker after years on the sidelines.

Among the traditional powerbrokers looking set to lose big at the election was divisive former premier Nuri al-Maliki, who remains widely reviled for the loss of territory to IS.



- 'Done with corruption' -



The electoral surprise comes with tensions surging between the United States and Iran after Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, sparking fears of a destabilising power struggle over Iraq.

Abadi -- who came to power as IS swept across Iraq in 2014 -- has been a consensus figure who balanced off the United States and Iran.

Several senior political figures had previously told AFP that preliminary results put Abadi in the lead, on course to scoop 60 of the 329 parliamentary seats up for grabs.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose country still has troops in Iraq from the fight with IS, on Saturday lauded the poll and called for an "inclusive government, responsive to the needs of all Iraqis".

But the ballot saw a record low turnout, as only 44.5 percent of eligible voters headed to the polls in the lowest participation rate since the 2003 US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein.

After the announcement that the Marching Towards Reform was ahead in Baghdad, supporters took to the streets in the capital to celebrate early Monday.

Crowds of mainly young people waved flags and pictures of the populist nationalist cleric Sadr while fireworks fired off into the night sky.

Zeid al-Zamili, 33, described the vote as a "new chapter for the Iraqi people".

"We're done with corruption and the corrupt, we've suffered for years, now everything will change," added another supporter in a black t-shirt.

In the cleric's impoverished Sadr City neighbourhood in Baghdad residents said they were hoping for improvements after the elections.

"Today we finally have hope," said local Ghassan Matar.

Whoever emerges as premier will face the mammoth task of rebuilding a country left shattered by the battle against IS -- with donors already pledging $30 billion (25 billion euros).

Over two million people remain internally displaced across the country and IS -- while weakened -- still has the capability to launch deadly attacks.UK and France 'determined' to save Iran deal



London, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



France and Britain on Monday said they were "determined" to save the Iranian nuclear deal, despite the United States pulling out last week.

Speaking during a visit to London, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also condemned as "intolerable" comments by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after a knife-attack in Paris on Saturday.

Kadyrov had said that France bore "full responsibility" for the attack, which French police said was carried out by Chechnya-born French national Khamzan Azimov.

"We do not need lessons from a dictator who does not respect the... rule of law in his own country, and who also knows very well that there are thousands of Chechens fighting on the side of" Islamic State, Le Drian told AFP.

The attacker went on a stabbing spree in a busy district of central Paris on Saturday evening before police shot him dead, killing one person and seriously wounding four more.

Following talks with British counterpart Boris Johnson, Le Drian also spoke about the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group (China, the US, France, Britain, Russia and Germany).

The agreement lifted international sanctions in exchange for Tehran promising to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors.

"Our position is one of determination and unity, of will to keep this agreement alive," Le Drian said.

"The US leaving an international agreement does not mean that the international agreement is null and void," said the French politician, on the eve of a Brussels meeting between the Iranian, French, British and German foreign ministers.

"We remain in the agreement and we want to keep it alive, as long as Iran respects it", he added, describing the agreement as "win-win".

"Our position is... united with the German position," continued the minister.

British counterpart Johnson said the "UK and France are determined to conserve the essence of the Iran nuclear deal.

"Tomorrow in Brussels, we are going to have a conversation about what we can do to help UK firms and help European firms have confidence that they can still do business.

"I'm not going to pretend to you now that it will be easy but we are determined to do that," he added, saying it was "vital that we continue to engage with the US".

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif on Monday in Moscow said he wanted "assurances" from the deal's signatories that they would continue to abide by its terms, especially on sanctions relief for Tehran.

He was in Moscow on Monday following talks in Beijing over the weekend.Fiery cleric leads in Iraq election surprise



Baghdad, May 14 (AFP) May 14, 2018



An alliance spearheaded by nationalist cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose fighters once battled the United States, led Monday in surprise preliminary results from Iraq's first poll since the defeat of the Islamic State group.

In a further political upset, a rival bloc of pro-Iranian former fighters appeared to be coming in second, squeezing internationally favoured prime minister Haider al-Abadi into third.

If confirmed, the outcome would throw open the race to become the next premier, following a parliamentary vote on Saturday hit with record abstentions fuelled by widespread disillusionment.

According to partial results seen by AFP, the Marching Towards Reform alliance of Shiite cleric Sadr and his communist allies was ahead in six of Iraq's 18 provinces and second in four others.

Sadr has reinvented himself as an anti-graft crusader after rising to prominence as a powerful militia chief whose group waged a bloody insurgency against US forces after the 2003 invasion.

While long railing against the US, the nationalist firebrand has also distanced himself from its key rival Iran, drawing closer to regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

Next in the running is the Conquest Alliance, made up of ex-fighters from mainly Iran-backed paramilitary units that battled IS, with results putting them ahead in four provinces and second in eight others.

The head of the list is Hadi al-Ameri, a long-time ally of Tehran, whose forces ended up battling alongside the US to oust the jihadists.

Both Sadr and Ameri are political veterans well-known to Iraqis, but they pitched themselves as outsiders seeking to sweep clean the country's reviled elite.

The complex electoral arithmetic of the Iraqi system, however, means that the final makeup of 329-seat parliament is still far from decided.

The ballots of some 700,000 security personnel who voted and Iraqis abroad were yet to be tallied up, meaning Abadi could get a boost five months after he announced victory over IS.

In a televised address Monday afternoon, Abadi hailed the "winning lists" and called on all sides to "respect the results", after calls for a recount in the multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk.

Whatever the outcome, there looks set to be lengthy horse-trading between the main political forces before any new premier and a coalition government can be installed.

Sadr -- who did not stand as a candidate and therefore cannot become premier -- appears in pole position to play kingmaker after years on the sidelines.

Among the traditional powerbrokers looking set to lose big at the election was divisive former premier Nuri al-Maliki, who remains widely reviled for the loss of territory to IS.



- 'Done with corruption' -



The electoral surprise comes with tensions surging between the US and Iran after Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, sparking fears of a destabilising power struggle over Iraq.

Abadi -- who came to power as IS swept across Iraq in 2014 -- has been a consensus figure who balanced off the US and Iran.

Several senior political figures had previously told AFP that preliminary results put Abadi in the lead, on course to scoop 60 of the 329 parliamentary seats up for grabs.

An official at the US State Department remained coy ahead of the definitive tally, telling AFP "we are awaiting the announcement of the official results and look forward to the formation of the new government".

The ballot saw a record low turnout, as only 44.5 percent of eligible voters headed to the polls in the lowest participation rate since the 2003 US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein.

After the announcement that the Marching Towards Reform was ahead in Baghdad, supporters took to the streets in the capital to celebrate early Monday.

Crowds of mainly young people waved flags and pictures of the populist nationalist cleric Sadr while fireworks fired off into the night sky.

Zeid al-Zamili, 33, described the vote as a "new chapter for the Iraqi people".

"We're done with corruption and the corrupt, we've suffered for years, now everything will change," added another supporter in a black t-shirt.

In the cleric's impoverished Sadr City neighbourhood in Baghdad residents said they were hoping for improvements after the elections.

"Today we finally have hope," said local Ghassan Matar.

Whoever emerges as premier will face the mammoth task of rebuilding a country left shattered by the battle against IS -- with donors already pledging $30 billion (25 billion euros).

Over two million people remain internally displaced across the country and IS -- while weakened -- still has the capability to launch deadly attacks.Shaheed El-Hafed, May 14, 2018 (SPS) - The Polisario Front expressed its strong condemnation of irresponsible Moroccan actions, based on blatant defamation and systematic lies.



In a statement issued by the Ministry of Information on Monday, it stressed that these actions are a new indication of the endeavors of the Moroccan occupation state to evade the implementation of Security Council resolution 2414 to resume direct negotiations between the two parties, the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco, without preconditions and in good faith, ensuring the inalienable right to self-determination and independence of the people of Western Sahara.



The statement called on the Security Council as a primary guarantor of international peace and security to act urgently to counter this escalatory and irresponsible behavior and the determination of the Moroccan occupying power to blow up the path of peace sponsored by the United Nations in Western Sahara.



The Polisario Front highlighted that the Moroccan occupation state, in its deliberate falsification and misleading, seeks to obstruct the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Western Sahara and at the same time reveals a clear disregard for the constitutive act and decisions of the African Union. (SPS)



062/SPS/TRALisbon, May 14, 2018 (SPS) - Portuguese Parliament has approved a motion of support for Sahrawi people in their struggle for independence, and in which the MPs called on the government to promote an action in favour of the right of Sahrawis to self-determination, said local media.



During a plenary session held on 11 May at Portugal's Parliament, the MPs reaffirmed, in the motion proposed by the Parliamentary Group of the Portuguese Communist Party, their support to the efforts for the resumption of an effective negotiation process for a just, peaceful and lasting solution to the Western Sahara conflict, said the source.



They also underlined that a just and lasting solution to the conflict entails the end of Morocco's illegal occupation of Western Sahara and its human rights abuses, added the source.



The MPs called on the Portuguese government, as part of its foreign policy, to promote actions in favour of achieving the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, especially within international institutions where Portugal is represented, said the source. (SPS)



062/SPS/APSEnglish13/05/2018

THERE ARE NO CONDITIONS FOR ACCOMMODATION OF MIGRANTS IN SRPSKA

BANJALUKA, May 13 /SRNA/ - The Republika Srpska Government concluded today that there are no conditions for accommodation of migrants in Republika Srpska.



Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic has said after a Cabinet meeting that Srpska will not accept any decision that might be made by the BiH Council of Ministers pertaining to certain measures in the territory of Srpska without its agreement.



She has said that one of the Cabinet conclusions is that Republika Srpska police should increase their presence in border areas.



The Republika Srpska Government will ask the BiH Border Police to increase their operations on the border and will ask the BiH Presidency to engage the BiH Armed Forces to increase border controls.



One of the conclusions pertains to new talks on asylum policy.



The Republika Srpska Government has concluded that it will provide necessary logistics for transportation and transit of migrants. /end/sgThe scheme, which is run in association with Reaseheath College in Cheshire and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, has had huge support from the industry, with parlour businesses acknowledging the importance of an industry accreditation.

The latest graduates from this scheme recently completed the first Category 2 course at Hartpury College. All with previous experience in parlour engineering, this group of eight technicians have now been accredited with the Parlour Safe Intermediate Category 2, recognising their deeper understanding of, for example, regulatory body requirements; hygiene and cleaning; the implications of cow flow and parlour design; parlour testing and maintenance; animal health and animal psychology.

The content of the course illustrates the increasing need for a wider understanding of dairy farm management. There are so many factors that influence the efficiency of a milking parlour, and these engineers are now well equipped to discuss these with their clients and consider how they can improve their systems, says Ian Coleman, Hartpury College.

With milking equipment getting more and more sophisticated, its also important that farmers have the reassurance that theyre working with properly trained individuals and this accreditation offers that.

Parlour Safe offers the full complement of independent training accreditation, adds Ruth Bailey, Chief Executive, MEA. The courses cover all levels of skill, experience and required learning. Knowing their technician has an industry recognised accreditation gives farmers the confidence that they will carry out equipment installation, servicing, repair and after-sales support to the highest standards.Forefront to the McHale demonstration will be the recent development and expansion into the twin rotor centre delivery rake range. Having launched the McHale R62-72 and the McHale R68-78 last year, the FTMTA Grass & Muck demonstration will be the first time the McHale rakes will be demonstrated in Ireland.

Also new to Irish customers is the McHale ProGlide B9000 with Hydraulic Width Adjustment. The butterfly rear mowers now come with a hydraulic width adjustment as an option. The operator can hydraulically adjust the working width to help the mower achieve optimum cutting performance in hilly or undulating conditions.

Since the last FTMTA Grassland event, McHale F5, V6 and Fusion Balers all feature a new pick-up which has a number of new features which include;

Larger feed augers

A larger diameter rotor

A flexible floor

A camless pick-up option

When combined these features deliver higher output and better reliability in all conditions but greatly improves machine performance in uneven lumpy swaths and heavy and light rows.

McHale have introduced a number of new changes to the Fusion 3 Plus, mainly in the area of bale quality with a bale weighing, bale density and bale moisture content recording option available. This will allow customers to ensure their bales are of maximum quality. Two customisable cameras are now provided as standard on new Fusion 3 Plus machines, which allow for the operator to choose their preferred view of the NRF/Netter camera and the bale transfer and wrapping camera.

McHale report that in its main markets some customers are using variable chamber machines for silage. As a result, McHale have developed a single belt option which leads to better belt tracking and less crop loss. This full width single endless belt is standard on all McHale Fusion Vario machines and is available as an option on all V6 variable chamber balers. The V6 Variable Range of balers also features a new high performance hydraulic stretch netter unit and a new Expert Plus 3 Control Box which delivers better features and usability.Life Legal Seeks to Have California Assisted Suicide Law Held Unconstitutional

Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation , 202-717-7371NAPA, Calif., May 14, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- Life Legal attorneys will appear in court tomorrow, May 15, to argue that California's assisted suicide lawthe End of Life Option Actshould be declared unconstitutional because the state legislature acted outside the scope of its authority when it enacted the Act.In June of 2015, Governor Jerry Brown convened an extraordinary session of the legislature to address Medicaid funding shortfalls, services for the developmentally disabled, and in-home support services. While the California Constitution permits the Governor to issue proclamations to convene extraordinary legislative sessions, the Legislature is prohibited from enacting bills that are not the specific subject of the proclamation.The California Supreme Court has held that "The duty of the Legislature in special session to confine itself to the subject matter of the call is of course mandatory. It has no power to legislate on any subject not specified in the proclamation."The purpose of the End of Life Option Act is to decriminalize physician-assisted suicide, which is not related or even incidental to the stated purpose of the extraordinary session. Suicide does not improve health.The sponsors of the Act knew the Act would never pass through the normal legislative process, so they unlawfully exploited the extraordinary session to advance their agenda behind closed doors. Legislation allowing doctors to prescribe lethal drugs is highly controversial and opposed by many members of the state legislature, as well as disability rights groups, hospitals, physicians' groups, and the Life Legal Defense Foundation."This flagrant and unlawful abuse of the legislative process cannot be permitted to stand. If the Attorney General has his way, virtually any special interest bill could be enacted by a select handful of legislators," said Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. "The California Constitution expressly prohibits such an outcome, as it violates the democratic process, which requires legislation to be approved by the full body of elected representatives."Stephanie Packer, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, will be present at the hearing. After the End of Life Option Act was implemented, Stephanie's insurance company denied coverage of life-saving chemotherapy treatment, but said it would pay for "aid-in-dying" drugs.Stephanie has spoken out against assisted suicide in California and other states, saying, "As soon as this law was passed  and you see it everywhere when these laws are passed  patients fighting for a longer life end up getting denied treatment, because this will always be the cheapest option."Life Legal attorneys and Stephanie Packer will be available for questions immediately following the hearing. The hearing will be held at the Riverside County Superior Court at 4050 Main Street, beginning at 8:30am.About Life Legal Defense FoundationLife Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.orgBlog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (215)This memorial in Jersey City, N.J., commemorates the Katyn massacre of 1940. (Eleanor Lang/Wikimedia Commons)(JTA)  A statue that commemorates the Polish victims of a World War II massacre will be relocated on the Jersey City waterfront in an agreement...The team behind the study includes centre researchers Diego Galafassi, Tim Daw, Matilda Thyresson and Ida Gabrielsson, as well as colleagues from Kenya, Mozambique, UK and Portugal. They conducted the study within the SPACES research project (Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services). The project uses social and natural science fieldwork and analysis as well as participatory workshops and dialogues with stakeholders to disseminate findings and co-create potential solutions. SPACES is a collaboration between SRC, Exeter University, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and a number of other institutions in Kenya, Mozambique, UK and North America.

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System mapping and scenarios

A range of system mapping and scenario tools were used in the workshops to support the exchange of knowledge and understanding of challenges. Diego Galafassi along with a team closely observed the process of the workshops and interviewed participants and facilitators. With these techniques the research team was able to explore how participants narratives shaped the outcomes of the process.



Our results highlight the difficulties of challenging dominant narratives and the creative potential that exists in reflecting on their underpinning assumptions, they write.



The team of researchers also draw attention to the limitations of participatory workshop methods to challenge and open up narratives for new interpretations.



Even when carefully facilitated, narratives can still be perpetuated and accommodated within the processes and artifacts produced, particularly by actors with greater discursive power, they write.



Fruitful insights

The study concludes with fruitful insights that can help inform the design of processes that may lead to shared narratives and transformative change. They summarise these insights in three broad categories:



First, they emphasize the importance of listening to and telling stories rooted in participants lived experiences as an important starting point to build shared conceptual repertoires. Stories play an important role in grounding concepts and making them understandable to different people. Stories are crucial in shaping new shared ideas for how to tackle the challenges of poverty alleviation and ecosystem sustainability.



Secondly, they conclude that designing interventions for transformative change relies on peoples assumptions of how a system works. In this context they also advocate for spending time on the co-construction of shared metaphors and reflecting on how they shape a groups understanding.



Thirdly, they found that even though shared understanding and jointly framed challenges may boost collective action, it is often challenging to break away from established perspectives. That means change is likely to be more incremental rather than rapid.



These insights led the researchers to suggest that knowledge co-creation goes through three stages summarized as, unravelling when concepts are explored by sharing stories and experiences, meshing when new concepts are formed by synthesis and creativity, and ravelling when narratives and shared meanings emerge.

Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.Since 2016 Russian firms have revealed the existence of several armed UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) but only one of them appears to have entered service; the five ton Uran-6. This one has seen action in Syria in an unarmed version for use by combat engineers to deal with landmines, roadside bombs and, most importantly, ensuring that a route is clear of mines and bombs. To accomplish that Uran-6 can be equipped with a number of accessories like a plow, flail (for setting off landmines) or robotic arms. The large size of the Uran-6 enables it to survive close proximity to exploding mines or bombs and keep going. The Uran-6 is battery powered (for up to 16 hours per charge) and remotely controlled from a distance of up to 1,500 meters. Use in Syria seems to be combat testing because engineers have been seeing double checking for mines with more conventional mine detectors after the Uran-6 had already checked a route.

Uran-6 could be armed but there is a larger (ten ton, diesel powered) Uran-9 which looks like a small tank and described as equipped to handle a variety of remotely controlled guns, missiles and flamethrowers. At least one Uran-9 has been sent to Syria for combat zone experience but there are no reports of actual combat activity. Uran-6 is designed to compete in a mature market for EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) UGVs, a market the United States and Israel have dominated for nearly two decades. Uran-6 is the largest EOD UGV and could find a niche in the EOD market if it proves successful in Syria. Armed UFVs are a more difficult sale but Russia is eager to avoid casualties among its own troops in Syria and armed UGVs are seen as a potential solution.

In late 2017 Russia revealed that it an armed UGV ready for service. This one, the Nerekhta, is literally a small tank, weighing 300 kg (660 pounds) and able to move silently on rubber tracks at up to 11 kilometers an hour. The armor protects the one meter (40 inch) long UGV from small arms fire and most shell and grenade fragments. Battery powered, it can be armed with a RWS (remotely controlled weapons system) equipped with 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine-gun or an AGS-30 automatic 30mm grenade launcher. The RWS can be quickly replaced with 50 kg of explosives and the Nerekhta can be used on a one-way mission to deliver the explosives. Sensors enable the remote operator to see around the UGV day or night. Uran-9 is a much larger version of this.

Armed UGVs are nothing new and one armed with explosives were used by the Germans (as the gasoline powered Goliath) during World War II. Currently, armed UGVs are most often produced by Israel and South Korea for patrolling long borders that are often threatened by armed intruders. American manufacturers can and have armed their UGVs but find it more profitable to let the Israelis, South Koreans, Russians and Chinese have that market.

UGVs have become more common since the late 1990s and are usually unarmed and useful mainly for recon and surveillance in very dangerous situations. Even though armed UGVs have been developed and remain under remote control by a human operator, many nations resist adopting them, just as they resist armed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Yet there has never been similar opposition to sea-based unmanned armed weapons or even those that are not even under remote control. An example of this is the naval torpedo, which first appeared in the late 19th century. A century later it became possible to add remote control to high-end torpedo models and these are regularly carried by man submarines.

But for nations under constant threat of attack, the attitudes are different. Since 2001 Israel has developed several generations of armed UGVs. One of the more recent of these is Dogo, a smaller (12 kg/26 pounds), more aware (constant 360 degree camera coverage) and more lethal remotely controlled robot. Dogo showed up in 2016 and was designed with lots of input from soldiers and police who have been using UGVs for over a decade. Dogo is armed with a 9mm pistol loaded with 14 rounds and aimed by cameras dedicated to aiming the pistol accurately at ranges of up to 50 meters. Commandos and SWAT teams can carry one or more battery operated Dogos with them on missions that can benefit from a very mobile (it can climb steps) UGV that has night vision, is quiet and can hear as well as broadcast whatever the operator has to say (like hostage negotiation or demanding surrender). Many of these features have been found in earlier UGVs but never one as small or as capable.

Since 2006 the Israeli military has been moving its UGVs from guard duty to the battlefield. During that time Israeli infantry and several new generations of UGVs have been working together to see exactly what works and what doesnt. The basic idea here is to have UGVs with good enough sensors to successfully move across a battlefield in front of troops and look out for mines, roadside bombs, ambushes or any signs of the enemy at all. This gives the troops following close behind a better idea of what nasty surprises the enemy has for them and an opportunity to avoid lots of casualties and hit harder than the enemy expected. Dogo can do this as well as have its 9mm weapon replaced with pepper spray, a blinding flash or other non-lethal devices to deal with human threats.

Both Israel and the United States have already discovered that armed UGVs are not very successful on their own. But Israel believes that new designs, operating in close cooperation (as an advanced guard while moving into hostile territory) with infantry and manned armored vehicles might work well enough to justify regular use. The new UGVs are similar to the armed four-wheeled vehicles Israel has been successfully using for guard duty along the Gaza and Lebanon borders. The eventual success of these UGVs encouraged trying to use them in combat.

Previous use of armed UGVs in active combat zones showed that these systems were vulnerable to attack and interference, which are the main reasons for not using them. Unless the cameras and other sensors (sound, heat and seismic) can pick up hostiles far enough away, the remotely controlled weapon can be destroyed, along with many of the sensors, thus blinding the operators. By 2009 both the U.S. and Israel had developed smaller armed robots. The American systems are called Swords (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detecting System). This was a 57 kg (125 pound) remotely controlled vehicles that looked like a miniature tank. These were armed with a 5.56mm machine-guns and 350 rounds of ammo. Also known as Talon IIIB, the army spent over a year testing them in the United States before sending some to Iraq in 2008. There they found there were many ways to mess with Swords. Many tricks didn't even damage the equipment; like having a child or woman come out and throw a towel or sheet over it.

Israel has a similar system called Viper that carries a 9mm machine pistol (an Uzi) and can carry explosives, along with the usual video camera and microphones. Both Swords and Viper do have their uses, like entering into very dangerous situations (like a cave or building believed occupied by fanatical gunmen). The droids can also be used for guard duty in dangerous locations (where the enemy might get a shot off, or toss a grenade.) But no matter what you have the battle robots do, the mechanical grunts lack the same degree of situational awareness of a human soldier. This requires much better sensors that have been available so far. The sensors used on droids (mainly visual and acoustic) are getting better, as is the software that can quickly evaluate what the sensors see and hear. But humans can also smell, and feel (on their skin), as well as using superior vision and hearing. Until the sensors get better, the combat robots will always be at a disadvantage. But if used with those disadvantages kept in mind, the robots do have their uses. Dogo is the latest effort to expand that usefulness and more are on the way. Russia, on the other hand, prefers their traditional brute force approach. Thus you have Uran-6 and Uran-9. When used via remote control by nearby operators these can be effective. But only a lot of combat experience will let you know just how effective.C-130J Super Hercules from the 36th Airlift Squadron prepare to take off during the 374th Airlift Wing Generation Exercise Elephant Walk at Yokota Air Base, Japan, May 4, 2018. The exercise was conducted in order to demonstrate the wings ability to rapidly deploy forces across Indo-Pacific region. The 374th AW maintains and operates the C-130J Super Hercules, C-12 Huron, and UH-1N Iroquois, making it the primary Western Pacific airlift hub for U.S. Air Force peacetime and contingency operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe)

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Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways:President Duterte is reviving the old Cold War tactic where a nation courted by two superpowers (in this case China and the U.S.) plays the superpowers off each other by demanding more and more aid, goodies and other concessions. While China isnt backing away from occupying offshore areas (in the South China Sea) that belong to the Philippines, China is offering the Philippines all sorts of gifts. Duterte is gracefully accepting the gifts with no strings attached and insisting on negotiations for the gifts that may contain hidden costs. Duterte isnt giving up any legal claims the Philippines has to South China Sea areas occupied or threatened by China. The Philippines isnt giving up any allies it has in the confrontation with China. This includes the United States, which Duterte criticizes but does not cut ties with or refuse military assistance from. China is playing along, in part because there are no better options and, given the size of the Chinese economy, it isnt all that expensive. The Americans go along as well, as it is China that is spending the most on this particular competition.

In April the American commander of U.S. naval forces in the western Pacific confirmed that China had built sufficient port and aircraft facilities on islands in the South China Sea to quickly station warships and combat aircraft at these new facilities and, in effect, declare that it controlled the South China Sea and dare anyone to oppose that control. Many of the islands are artificial, made by dredging up sand from nearby reefs and shallow waters. Seven reefs belonging to the Philippines have undergone this transformation and commercial satellite photos already show military aircraft and other equipment showing up on these artificial islands. Apparently, China has also installed anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles on some of these islands (Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, all just west of the Philippines) in addition to EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment, including jammers as well are arriving on the new islands. China did not announce installing this military equipment but aerial and satellite photos show the equipment appearing during April, if not earlier. Thanks to commercial photo satellites it is easy to keep track of what China is doing on the artificial islands they created in Filipino waters. Mischief Reef, which an international court agreed belonged to the Philippines, now has a Chinese military base and an airstrip that is regularly used by Chinese military aircraft. In addition, China has installed electronic surveillance and jamming equipment there in addition to air defense and anti-ship missiles. Filipino politicians and most of the Filipino voters they represent are not happy about this.

ISIL On Idle

The Filipino branch of ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) is battered and much reduced in membership over the last year, but still exists. The BIFF and Maute factions are still carrying out attacks, just fewer (maybe one a month) and less effective (few casualties). Most local ISIL members belong to Abu Sayyaf but that is because Abu Sayyaf began as a gang of veteran local bandits in Sulu and Basilan provinces and knew how to make money. Abu Sayyaf never lost their bandit attitude and aptitude. While much diminished over the last few years there are still several hundred Abu Sayyaf members active and they still have cash, and about a dozen captives they are seeking ransom for. The government has cracked down hard on those paying ransom and increased the number of troops and police searching for (and often encountering) Abu Sayyaf. There do not appear to be any more hardcore local ISIL leaders left. All of those were killed in the last year and their replacements turned out to be very low key and much less aggressive. That may change but for the moment the remaining Filipino ISIL members are still on the run.

May 13, 2018: In the south (Sulu) troops clashed with a large group of Abu Sayyaf gunmen. After an hour long battle the Islamic terrorists escaped into the bush, apparently taking their wounded with them. Abu Sayyaf lost ten men while two soldiers were killed. It was unclear if this group had any of the Abu Sayyaf hostages with them. To be on the safe side artillery fire was used carefully to avoid hitting any captives the enemy might have.

May 11, 2018: The government signed an agreement with Kuwait to more effectively regulate how Kuwait treats 262,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait. The Filipinos in Kuwait are a major source of remittance money coming back to the Philippines each year. China also receives a lot of remittance money from overseas citizens. During 2017 China received $64 billion in remittances from Chinese living abroad. This was the second largest amount for any nation in the world. The world leader is India, which received $69 billion in 2017 closely followed by China with $64 billion, the Philippines $33 billion, Mexico $31 billion and Nigeria $22 billion. The Philippines is the leader when it comes to the portion of GDP coming from remittances. Aware of that one of the gifts China has offered is to legalize about 200,000 Filipinos working illegally in China and allow another 300,000 legal workers in, the Philippines is eager to close this deal. China is suffering a labor shortage because of a declining birth rate (a side effect of prosperity) and is accepting more and more legal foreign workers.

May 9, 2018: Police revealed that the war on drugs had, between July 2016 and April 30th 2018, resulted in 4,251 drug trade operatives or suspects killed. This is the official police count which the government can document. Local and international opponents to the drug war claim that over 20,000 have died but offer no proof other than that during the same period police reported another 16,000 homicides with possible drug connections. At the same time, there have been nearly 143,000 drug related arrests (including 217 elected officials, 48 members of the security forces and 239 other government employees). Many suspected leaders of drug gangs have been arrested and then released because of insufficient evidence (plus lots of lawyers and possibly bribes). Meanwhile, the majority of Filipinos support the war on drugs and have from the beginning.

May 8, 2018: A Japanese four-engine P-1 maritime patrol aircraft held joint patrol exercises off Palawan Island with Filipino forces. This was all near areas where China has taken control of parts of the South China Sea that are technically part of the Philippines. The Japanese P-1 was part of the 34th Balikatan international joint exercises. Elsewhere in the area 8,000 American and Filipino military personnel also conducted joint training. Philippines recently (March) received three more twin-engine C-90 patrol aircraft from Japan and now have five. Some of these trained with the P-1.

May 7, 2018: In the south (Sulu) troops clashed with a group of Abu Sayyaf men during a search for two policewomen who had been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf recently. Three of the Islamic terrorists were killed and seven soldiers wounded during the clash. Abu Sayyaf still holds as many as fifteen people, most of them Filipino, for ransom. Abu Sayyaf wants $100,000 for the two policewomen.

In the north (Quezon City) police arrested a known Filipino ISIL (Maute group) member, Unday Makadato. The arrest came because of tip by a suspicious local.

May 5, 2018: In the south (Sulu) Abu Sayyaf released one of their Filipino hostages. This was apparently because of the intense military pressure to find two other Abu Sayyaf prisoners; policewomen seized in April. The released prisoner reported that the Abu Sayyaf group that held him, and three others, consisted of twelve armed men.

May 3, 2018: In the far north (Cagayan province) troops encountered 30 NPA gunmen and after 30 minute gun battle the NPA got away taking their casualties with them. Troops pursued and eventually found the body of one NPA gunman. Several days later one of the NPA gunmen involved surrendered, and brought his weapon with him. A growing number of veteran NPA gunmen are giving up.

May 2, 2018: In the south (Basilan) troops clashed with Abu Sayyaf and killed nine of the Islamic terrorists. Several other Abu Sayyaf men were wounded. Locals reported that about 40 Abu Sayyaf men were gathering in a remote village and the military responded with ground troops and air strikes.

May 1, 2018: The government released the official list of 207 village officials currently under investigation for suspected involvement in the illegal drugs trade. The list was released because local elections take place in two weeks and voters wanted to know who was officially suspect.

April 30, 2018: In the south (Bukidnon province) two off duty soldiers were ambushed by NPA gunmen. One soldier was killed.

April 29, 2018: In the south (Sulu) Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped two off-duty policewomen. Abu Sayyaf later demanded $100,000 ransom for the two women. Instead, the security forces launched a large scale search operation which is still underway. After about two weeks the search efforts had left over a dozen Abu Sayyaf dead and many more wounded and on the run.

Elsewhere in the south (South Cotabato province) BIFF (another local ISIL faction) was responsible for a bomb at a church that went off and wounded two people. Another bomb was placed nearby but was discovered and disabled.

April 28, 2018: In the south (Negros Oriental) a local defense volunteer was ambushed and killed by NPA gunmen.

April 23, 2018: The leader of the NPA, living in European exile, accepted the Filipino government offer to return to the Philippines and participate in peace talks.

April 21, 2018: In the south (Davao del Sur province) troops came upon the NPA leader for a large part of the province and portions of Davao City as well. The NPA leader was killed and another NPA rebel was captured.Is your workplace a safe place? By Randima Attygalle Experts call for enhanced focus on health and safety measures in offices, factories, worksites and warehouses View(s): View(s):

How many of us are actually familiar with the fire exits of our workplaces? How many of us actually know to handle a fire extinguisher? How many factory workers are capable of preventing or mitigating accidents? The bitter truth is that we take safety at work for granted.

The recent toxic gas inhalation tragedy in Horana and the collapse of a warehouse in Grandpass speak for the fact. A recent study by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reveals that the margin between the number of work-related accidents and road accidents is not so huge. However, the National Hospital (NHSL) statistics show that 12,553 work-related accidents were reported in 2016, as against 22,235 road traffic accidents. This is because such accidents are often not officially recorded as work-ralated accidents.

As NIOSH Director General Dr. Champika Amarasinghe tells the Sunday Times, the practice of reporting them as work-related accidents or deaths is virtually non-existent in the country, with the exception of NHSL. This often dilutes the gravity of the situation as available statistics actually do not reflect the magnitude of the problem, notes Dr. Amarasinghe.

The arrest of a factory owner or compensating for a lost limb is not the end of the story. What is at stake is human life which cannot be quantified. Occupational safety and health (OSH) is a multi-disciplinary concept, for which the tri-pronged proactive participation of employers, employees and the community is vital, stresses the NIOSH Chief. The commitment, she notes, should go beyond legal provisions by creating enhanced OSH literacy among the people.

Occupational safety is a grave concern within the informal economy which considers it insignificant and at the same time an extra cost. Although accidents can happen even in the safest working environments, the chances are minimised by the bigger industrial players who adhere to the best practices, notes Dr. Amarasinghe who calls for an integrated mechanism of reaching out to the small-scale factories of the informal economy. This should ideally be a collective networking system comprising community level health workers, labour officers and other relevant grassroots level stakeholders.

The Factories Ordinance and the subsequent amendments brought to it presently provide legal provisions for OSH. The relevant law was given more teeth by the National Policy initiated in 2014. The proposed Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare Act which is to repeal the Factories Ordinance, still remains a pipedream although the need for it is deeply felt. The proposed legislation offers a broader definition of a workplace  replacing the factory  to include any premise where work is carried out by one or more persons and covers premises used for the storage of tools, machinery, equipment or substance.

Expressing her concerns over the proposed provisions for the mandatory presence of a safety and health officer at workplaces with more than one hundred workers, Dr. Amarasinghe opines that the ceiling should be brought down as several small-scale factories have less than 100 workers. However, mere presence of an officer would not work, unless the person is competent and qualified. The presence of a safety and health officer, although mandatory by law at construction sites, is not often adhered to in reality, other than by the established large scale players, she says.

The Higher National Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health  now made possible by the NIOSH especially in view of the booming construction sector  aims to strengthen safety measures and thereby mitigate the occupational hazards in the sector. Additionally, the diploma, which is an accredited National Vocational Qualification, enables a new career path for many.

The National Certification System, envisaged by the NIOSH in collaboration with the other industry players, is an ambitious move to create a system of a home-grown standard for the industries, especially the smaller ones. The exercise is also partnered with the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC). Multinationals companies in Sri Lanka and some local industries on par with these global giants adhere to the internationally accredited ISO standards which, the small scale players cannot often abide by due to the cost factor, she says. She expresses hope that the proposed standard system will fill this gap.

Every year around 2.78 million workers die worldwide due to work-related accidents and disease, according to the latest global estimates by the ILO. More than 85 percent of these cases are attributed to occupational illnesses. Non-fatal injuries affect around 374 million workers around the world, while young workers  those between the ages of 15 and 24  are disproportionately affected by work-related illness and accidents.

In such a global setting and in the wake of the recently reported local accidents at work, there cannot be any compromise on the OSH, notes the Director General of the EFC, Kanishka Weerasinghe. With the rising ageing population and youth becoming a rare resource, intervention at the grassroots level to strengthen OSH standards at work is imperative, he adds.

The community level task force mooted by the EFC is envisaged to be an intervention to prevent unwarranted consequences, points out the EFC Chief. The Task Force, he says, should be ready to mobilise immediately in the event of any complaint or accident in a manner that the ill-effects of such incidents are kept to a minimum. The EFC and its membership have been at the forefront of promoting best OSH practices over the years. The proposed EFC-NIOSH collaboration, a public-private partnership, is another of the many initiatives of the EFC to promote the creation of sustainable OSH compliant enterprises island-wide. We are confident that it will be a boon to local industries, which are keen to prosper in business whilst ensuring worker welfare, maintains Mr. Weerasinghe. He adds: This intervention will also cover what matters to workers, which is a key element in ensuring productivity and competitiveness. It is hoped that by creating greater awareness of the benefits of OSH at the workplace, more employers will be encouraged to implement and maintain these values; a strategy that will enable all stakeholders to commit resources towards prevention.

To give validity to the ILO Convention 155 on OSH, which we are yet to ratify, it is imperative to have the proposed Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare Act in place, says the Commissioner General of Labour, A. Wimalaweera. At the same time formulating a strategic plan on labour inspection and benchmarking ourselves with regional best practices, like those of India, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore, are essential, he adds. Collating information on industries as high, medium and low risk, possibly through an industrial survey is also mooted by Mr. Wimalaweera.

Training labour officers in OSH with the ILOs technical support and building a network of grassroots stakeholders to elicit information on hazardous industries and occupational hazards and thereby making necessary interventions are also envisaged by the Labour Department.

To champion a safety culture in the country, the effort should go beyond legal provisions and labour inspections, notes the Labour Commissioner who calls for other proactive measures such as employer contribution to OSH, introduction of a mandatory OSH module to national level vocational training and engaging visual arts on OSH.

The changing dynamics of industries and workplaces call for increased OSH, points out Mr. Wimalaweera, noting that their sustainability will largely depend on it. We hardly see any clauses related to OSH in collective agreements. Trade Union activism should also draw attention to this vital component of economic literacy as we simply cannot afford to compromise the most productive populace of our work force.A sighting of a three-metre-long blue shark caused alarm on the beaches of Fuengirola on Sunday, forcing a four-hour ban on swimming.

Several bathers warned of the presence of a shark only several metres from the shore in Torreblanca at around 12.15pm.Following the spread of several different videos on social media, the Guardia Civil sent out a patrol to find the shark, but failed to locate it.

The red flag was raised until around 5pm, when it was downgraded to yellow. According to several sources, the authorities tried to capture the shark and return it to deeper waters, but were unsuccessful in their search.

Malagas marine rescue service, Aula del Mar, said that the presence of blue sharks is not uncommon on the Malaga coastline. Juan Jesus Martin, biologist and director of the centre, explained that this species is the only type of shark that regularly ventures in shallow waters. Its not common, but it can happen, he said.

Martin clarified that the blue shark is one of more than twenty species that live in the Alboran Sea, and although it can venture into areas with bathers, there has never been a documented encounter between the two.A trash hauling truck parked at Feher Rubbish Removal at 526 State Fair Boulevard in Syracuse on Friday, May 11, 2018.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Solvay Bank has filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court against Feher Rubbish Removal and Larry Feher, alleging the company owes at least $2.8 million to the bank, state and others.

The bank is asking the court to appoint a receiver for Feher and its property to collect the income generated from the liquidation of Feher's assets and properties, according to court papers filed in Onondaga County Monday.

There is "imminent danger" that Feher's assets will be lost or diminished without a receiver, the court papers said. Solvay Bank has been told by former Feher employees that assets are being taken to scrap yards to sell, the papers said.

Feher Rubbish Removal, the county's second largest trash hauler, closed its business abruptly last week, leaving towns, villages, individual residents and businesses without a trash hauler.

The company had tens of thousands of customers in Central New York and the Rochester area.

In the court papers, Solvay Bank said Feher Rubbish owes $2,832,539 to the following:

$1,459,378 to the New York State Department of Labor to cover wages owed workers, plus possible interest and penalties.

$240,517 to American Express credit card company, which has obtained a judgment against the company.

$676,729 to Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency.

$500,915 notes, lines of credit and credit cards to Solvay Bank.

The appointment of a receiver is necessary, the bank says, to protect the value of Feher's assets and order the distribution of its assets in an orderly fashion, the court papers say.

Other court records show the company also owes at least another $200,000 to two fuel companies, according to judgements filed in Oneida and Broome counties. It owed Mirabito Holdings $121,084 in Broome County and Clifford Fuel Co. $87,127 in Oneida County, court records show.

The lawsuit by Solvay Bank was filed against Feher Rubbish Removal and Larry Feher, president and chief executive officer for the company.

Feher Rubbish, a family-owned business in operation for more than 50 years, is based in Syracuse with offices in Geneva, Watertown and Utica, according to the company's web site. The company employed about 90 people, according to a former company executive.The Syracuse University Department of Public Safety advised students late Sunday night to avoid Comstock Avenue near Oakwood Cemetery because of a report of a robbery.

Syracuse police are also on the scene and investigating.

A robbery was reported to police at about 11:15 p.m. It happened in the 900 block of Comstock Avenue, they said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 315-443-2224.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Three men were charged recently with felony drug possession after a five-month long investigation in Syracuse by the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, according to the state police.

State police and officers from numerous other agencies executed search warrants Thursday at 201 Kellogg St. and 213 Congress Ave. in Syracuse, state police said Monday.

Officers seized:

83 glassine bags containing heroin and fentanyl

269 small Ziplock-style bags containing cocaine

$301 cash

State police charged the following men with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a felony:

Ricardo A. Bonilla, 50, 213 Congress Ave.

Carlos J. Lazu, 39, 201 Kellogg St.

Edwin J. DeJesus, 37, homeless

The men were arraigned in Syracuse City Court.

Bonilla was remanded to the Onondaga County Justice Center in lieu of $5,000 cash bail, Lazu was held without bail, and DeJesus was remanded on $10,000 cash bail, state police said.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The use of secret non-disclosure agreements by state or local government agencies would be outlawed in New York under a bill sponsored by Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-DeWitt.

DeFrancisco introduced the bill in response to a recent syracuse.com story that reported the State University of New York used one of these confidential agreements to pay the former CEO of Upstate University Hospital $660,500 to work as a consultant for one year.

The bill memo says the SUNY agreement would have remained confidential had syracuse.com not obtained a copy of it through a Freedom of Information Law request.

DeFrancisco said he was surprised to learn SUNY entered into one of these agreements with the former hospital CEO Dr. John McCabe.

The agreement required McCabe to quit the Upstate faculty and medical staff, and stay off campus. It also prohibited SUNY and McCabe from disclosing what work he did as a consultant to Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, Upstate's president.

"I don't think that's the right way to do business," DeFrancisco said. "No public contract should ever have a requirement of non disclosure."

Confidential agreements are typically used to cover up embarrassing situations, DeFrancisco said. "If it's embarrassing, all the more reason the public should be involved," he said.

Non-disclosure agreements are routinely used in the private sector to settle employer-employee disputes.

Under his bill, the ban on the use of secret agreements by government agencies would be added to the state's Freedom of Information Law.

DeFrancisco said he is seeking an Assembly sponsor for the bill and hopes to get it passed before the end of the legislative session.

Contact James T. Mulder anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2245SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga County Comptroller Robert Antonacci is seeking the Republican nomination to run for the state Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John DeFrancisco.

Antonacci sent a letter today to members of the local GOP committee asking for their support as he seeks the party's endorsement in the 50th Senate District.

"I need your support to officially become the Party's nominee so I can take the fight to Governor Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the radical politicians who want to wrestle control of the Senate away from the hardworking families of Syracuse, its suburbs and all of Central New York,'' Antonacci wrote.

Antonacci, 53, of Onondaga, has been county comptroller since 2008. He said he has more than $115,000 in his campaign account and has already planned several fundraisers.

Republicans will endorse a candidate in the race sometime between now and early June. So far, the only other Republican to formally seek the party designation is Rick Zaccaria, a Van Buren town board member.

In addition to winning three terms as county comptroller, Antonacci has run for state office twice before. He sought the Republican nomination for attorney general in 2010 but lost. He was the GOP candidate for state comptroller in 2014, losing to Democrat Thomas DiNapoli.

Antonacci is a lawyer and a certified public accountant. He said he wants to join the state Senate to help reform state government, which he characterized as both corrupt and misguided.

"So many of our problems emanate from Albany that, if you can't fix Albany, I think some of our remedial efforts here will go wasted,'' he said. "The bottom line is that state policy affects counties and cities and villages like no other.''

Democrats in Onondaga and Cayuga counties last week designated West Genesee High School biology teacher John W. Mannion as their candidate for the Senate seat.

DeFrancisco announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election to the Senate seat he has held since 1993.

Contact reporter Tim Knauss | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023Syracuse, N.Y. -- Stephen Cvengros is retiring at the end of May as vice president of content for Advance Media New York, where he has helped lead the news operations of The Post-Standard and its online affiliates syracuse.com and NYUP.com.

Cvengros, 62, joined Syracuse Media Group, Advance Media New York's predecessor, in 2013 after serving as executive producer of MSN News, which he launched for Microsoft Corp. in 2012.

"We brought Stephen to Syracuse in 2013 to take a great newsroom and make it a great digital newsroom," Tim Kennedy, president of Advance Media New York, said in an announcement to the company's staff Monday. "That this was achieved is undeniable."

During Cvengros' tenure, syracuse.com has continuously ranked as one of the top local news sites, in terms of market penetration, in the nation and The Post-Standard also has maintained its position as one of the country's top five best read newspapers. Syracuse.com will generate 600 million page views this year, 150 million more than it generated in 2013.

Cvengros developed the initial business plan for NYUP.com, which launched three years ago to report news from throughout Upstate New York. The site is on track to generate 200 million page views this year.

Prior to joining MSN, Cvengros held editor roles at the Chicago Tribune, The Detroit News and Compuserve. He said he plans to move back to suburban Detroit and get back to writing.

"We will announce plans in the very near future, but Stephen and I will make sure that there is a smooth transition," Kennedy said. "We have a very talented group of newsroom leaders and we are well positioned for this transition."

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man who apparently confessed to molesting a 6-year-old girl will spend five years in prison after deciding to take a plea offer.

Willie Rouse, 28, had balked at the punishment during a February court appearance, electing to take his case to trial.

But he later changed his mind, pleading guilty to sex abuse for the 2011 incident.

Rouse apparently confessed to police, as well as to his girlfriend during a jailhouse phone call, prosecutor Jordan Aiello said in February.

"I'm getting arrested for what I did to (the victim) in the past...I made a mistake when I was drunk," Rouse said during the phone call at the time of his July 2017 arrest, according to court documents.

The victim's older sister also told a relative that the victim had reported the abuse to her, the prosecutor has said.

Aiello wanted Rouse to spend six years in prison, with six years on post-release supervision (similar to parole). But County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller offered five years in prison with 10 years of post-release supervision.

That's what Rouse agreed to in exchange for his guilty plea. He'll be a registered sex offender once released from prison.

He had faced up to seven years in prison if convicted after trial.Richard D. Wilkins, a resident of DeWitt, is a longtime observer of Middle East affairs.



By Richard D. Wilkins



Late Friday afternoon, May 14, 1948 (5 Iyar on the Hebrew calendar), ahead of British Palestine Mandate's midnight expiration, Israel proclaimed its independence. The moment was far from auspicious. Since the United Nations General Assembly's Nov. 29 passage of the Palestine Partition Plan, unofficial hostilities had raged with irregular Arab forces. Five Arab armies poised to attack -- Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Iraq -- now invaded. Though losing 6,000 lives, the state survived. With the 1949 Armistice, the War of Independence had been won, the War for Acceptance barely begun.



Rapidly absorbing hundreds of thousands of destitute Holocaust survivors and Jews expelled from Arab states, Israel's population doubled, while its economy struggled. Decades later, it welcomed a million Soviets, and thousands of Black Ethiopian Jews. "Home," as Robert Frost observed, "is where when you have nowhere else to go, they have to take you in." For endangered Jewish communities everywhere, facing rising anti-Semitism from accelerating anti-Israel agitation, Israel remains such a refuge.



Experiencing no decade without a major violent flare-up, Israel has also faced economic boycott, diplomatic isolation, international body condemnation and unceasing terrorism. There have been some hopeful interludes: Sadat going to Jerusalem, leading to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace agreement, soon cold, and the 1993 Oslo Accords, soon soured. Currently, there is growing sub rosa cooperation with Sunni states facing a common enemy, a militantly aggressive Iran, which is slowly encircling -- from Lebanon, Syria and Gaza -- the Jewish state. Peace with the Palestinians remains as elusive as ever.



So "gloom and doom" must pervade Israel? Not at all. Israel has overcome such existential challenges in the past and will do so again. A recent survey declared Israelis to be the 11th happiest people in the world. The OECD ranks it 20th in per capita income, economically on a par with Japan and EU countries. Mediterranean beaches, Red Sea corals, unparalleled wealth of religious, archeological and historical sites, even all-genre music festivals and massive bird migrations increasingly beckon tourists. Once thought devoid of natural resources, Israel is poised to export natural gas from offshore fields. Israel has world class museums, universities and research institutes, proudly boasting more Nobel laureates than Olympic medalists.



Arab-Israelis participate in all sectors and professions of society. They are well-represented in higher education, the booming tech scene, with its over 6,000 startups, medicine and the law. They have served on the Supreme Court and abroad in the diplomatic service. So integrated are they in Israeli politics, in the last election they gamed the proportional representation system by combining several mutually antagonistic parties into a single electoral list. As for Mideast Christians, elsewhere fleeing, only in Israel are they flourishing.



The entire world benefits enormously from the Start-Up Nation's staggering array of innovations, be they advanced computer chips, software apps, cybersecurity, agricultural advances or medical devices, drugs and procedures. Israel pioneered voicemail, instant messaging, mobile phones, anti-virus and autonomous vehicle software. It is the world leader in water conservation, beyond introducing drip irrigation. In medicine, it has literally allowed the lame to walk, the deaf to hear and the blind to see. There is ReWalk for paraplegics; LightOn, turning sound into light; the nano retina implant, and much more. For those in the world's most remote regions, the RevDx "hand-held hospital" provides automated blood analysis and diagnosis.



Israel's contributions to Western security are incalculable, starting with invaluable intelligence sharing. The WeCU airport screener is coming into service worldwide, with widespread adoption of the Iron Dome anti-missile system also expected. Future combination of such protection from short range attack with David's Sling (medium) and Arrow (long range) interceptors, shows considerable promise of neutralizing missile threats from terrorists or rogue states. Israel is among the leaders in drone technology, with many security and commercial applications.



Israeli search and rescue teams are among the first on scene after natural disasters, be it earthquakes in Haiti, Mexico or Nepal, or flooding in the Balkans, Japan, even Houston. Over six decades, NGOs and government agencies have run humanitarian aid missions in over 140 countries. Eye From Zion has performed free eye surgeries, Save A Child's Heart, pediatric heart surgery. Field hospitals on the border treat wounded Syrian civilians. Seriously ill Palestinian leaders and family members seek treatment in Israel. There are ongoing agricultural and health training missions in several African countries and India, where 25 collaborative horticulture centers of excellence have vastly increased crop yields.



Resolute and resilient, Israel's achievements have repeatedly confounded the naysayers, thwarted the designs of her enemies, and more than fulfilled the most expansive expectations of Zionist early thinkers. What will the next decades bring? "You ain't seen nothing yet."



To the Editor:

I read with interest the lengthy piece on gun confiscation in my Sunday paper of April 29 (

).

Unlike the people in the group discussion, I have actually spent time in Australia; and I would know better than to compare them to America.

First of all, Australia is not a Constitutional Republic. Australians are not citizens, but subjects.

the government in such countries literally have the power of life and death over their people. If they decree your child's life -- or your mother's life -- is not worth living, they can let them die. You can't do a thing about it. So when a subject hears the word "frog," they're required to jump.

Second of all, Australia is mostly empty. Vast stretches of Australia have never been visited, much less settled or citified and the people who do live in these largely empty areas could have atom bombs, as far as anyone in Canberra knows. The idea that any kind of total gun confiscation could possibly be enforced is simply laughable.

For American gun-grabbers, I suggest that a dictionary definition of "militia", which is the reason for the Second Amendment, might be enlightening. It is widely acknowledged that one of the best militias in America is the Korean Grocer's Association in Georgia. During the Atlanta version of the Rodney King Loot 'n' Shoot, their shops were not touched, because, as was heard among the loot 'n'shoot mob, "they shoot back."

Instead of devoting all your energy to disarming the average citizen, perhaps you could go into the areas where people are actually dangerous. Chicago, for example. South Central L.A., maybe. And of course the mob that chanted,

I rest my case.

Elizabeth K. Shaw

SyracuseWASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Transportation has rejected a bid from New York state, Amazon and other partners who wanted to make the state one of 10 new national test sites for drone technology.

Amazon proposed teaming up with the state and Syracuse-based NUAIR Alliance to test package delivery by drone, a move that would have required a waiver of existing safety rules from the Federal Aviation Administration.

But federal officials instead selected 10 other locations as test sites for a program launched by President Donald Trump last year to speed the safe integration of drones into the national airspace.

The 10 projects approved by Trump's administration include other high-profile technology companies -- such as Google parent Alphabet, Intel and Uber - that will team up in public-private partnerships.

The FAA had previously designated the Syracuse-based NUAIR Alliance in 2013 as one of seven national test sites for developing technology to safely integrate drones into the national airspace.

NUAIR had touted the availability of its 50-mile drone test corridor between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport in Rome as a reason why it should be selected for the new FAA program.

U.S. Rep. John Katko said Monday that the federal decision to exclude New York and Amazon didn't make sense, and he plans to demand an explanation this week from FAA officials.

The federal government received 149 applications from communities and corporate partners who wanted permission to break FAA rules and experiment with drone flights over people, at night, and beyond the operator's visual line of sight.

Katko, R-Camillus, and Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-New Hartford, and Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, had touted New York state as the perfect place to do those experiments.

The state's application, which has not been made public, listed five unique environments within New York where the drones could be tested, according to Katko.

The proposed test areas were in the 50-mile air drone corridor between Syracuse and Rome, the Adirondack Park, airspace around John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, airspace over commuter rail lines in the greater New York City area, and land along the border of New York and Massachusetts.

"We have one of the most, if not the most, advanced drone research apparatus up and running in the country," Katko said in an interview. "It has spawned a lot of private interest and private investment. This program was going to bring it to the next level of research."

Katko said he found it "highly confounding that a site like ours with all of that capability" and a $95 million commitment of support from New York state would have been beaten out by 10 other proposals.

Katko, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he will meet in his Washington office this week with DOT and FAA officials to learn more about their decision.

"They're going to sit down and talk with us and explain why we didn't qualify," Katko said. "We're deeply disappointed. I think it's a shock to the industry nationwide that we weren't designated."

Katko said he didn't know if politics entered into the decision. Trump has been critical of Amazon, the nation's largest e-commerce business, and its chief executive Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said it's possible her department will approve additional projects in the coming months.

Amazon officials declined to provide more details about their proposal in New York, and an FAA official said he could not immediately make public the state's application.

An Amazon official said in a statement that the company would continue to pursue its highly-publicized effort to develop a safe way to use drones for its business.

"While it's unfortunate the applications we were involved with were not selected, we support the administration's efforts to create a pilot program aimed at keeping America at the forefront of aviation and drone innovation," said Brian Huseman, vice president of Amazon Public Policy.

Nevada-based Flirtey, a drone delivery startup, told Reuters it was a partner on four of the winning projects.

The 10 winning teams selected by the FAA are:

Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority in Memphis, Tenn., which plans to work with package and shipping giant FedEx.

Lee County Mosquito Control District in Fort Myers, Fla. The project involves low-altitude use of drone for mosquito spraying and surveillance.

Kansas Department of Transportation in Topeka, Kansas.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority in Herndon, Va. The alliance will team up with an existing drone research site at Virginia Tech.

San Diego, Calif., working in partnership with AT&T's national first-responder network authority, FirstNet.

The Choctaw Indian Nation of Oklahoma, working in partnership with cable news network CNN and the Green Valley Farms Living Laboratory.

The city of Reno, Nevada, which will partner with commercial medical companies to develop a prototype for medical deliveries.

University of Alaska-Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska

North Dakota Department of Transportation in Bismarck, N.D.

North Carolina Department of Transportation in Raleigh, N.C., which plans to test local package delivery by drone in a defined airspace.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751Joe Carni, a two-term member of the Syracuse Common Council, said today he plans to seek the Republican nomination for the 50th District state Senate seat that will open with the retirement of John DeFrancisco.

Carni, 27, told syracuse.com that he will launch his campaign at 3 p.m. Tuesday in front of his family's business, Thanos Import Market at 105 Green St. in Syracuse.

He becomes the third Republican to begin campaigning for the seat, joining Rick Zacarria, of Baldwinsville, and Onondaga County Comptroller Bob Antonacci. Antonacci sent a letter Monday to county GOP committee members, asking for their support.

Carni, a 2008 graduate of Henninger High School and 2012 graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh, said his campaign will likely focus on cutting New York taxes, economic development and efforts to combat Lyme disease in the state.

"It's been such a good experience being on the council," Carni said. "I love helping people, and I know at the state level I can do it in a much bigger way."

Carni is the son of state Supreme Court Appellate Division Associate Justice Edward Carni.

Democrats have designated John W. Mannion, a West Genesee High School biology teacher, as their candidates for the Senate seat. DeWitt Town Councilor Joe Chiarenza lost a battle for the designation, but has not said whether he will seek to challenge Mannion in a Democratic primary.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751How much money do New York's public schools expect to spend per student in the 2018-19 school year?

Use the search below to compare districts across the state. You will also see how much the proposed spending would change from this year to next year in each district.

Schools across the state will ask voters on Tuesday to approve next year's spending plans.

The median spending per student in Upstate New York, outside of the five major cities, is $25,600, according to records released by the New York State Education Department.

New York schools spend more than any other state. The U.S. average was $11,392 in 2015, the most recent U.S. Census data available.

(The data does not include Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Yonkers or New York City.Taxpayers in big cities don't vote on school budgets.)

to load this Caspio

Contact Michelle Breidenbach anytime:

|

| 315-470-3186.FULL RANKING: 5 New York colleges rank among the safest schools in America in 2018

For any parent sending a child off to college, safety is bound to be a concern, and a new study and ranking shows which New York State colleges are among the safest.

The ranking uses data from the FBI to rank the 243 safest schools in the country with student bodies above 10,000. Each school was give a safety score, calculated by analyzing crimes reported by universities, including rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, motor vehicle theft and arsons. Crime rates for the cities in which each school is located were also factored.

Cornell University, in Ithaca, was the highest ranked New York State school on the list. Here's the data included on the ranking:

#1 Cornell University

Violent crime count: 7

Property crime count: 217

Population: 21,904

National rank: #82

Four other New York state schools made the ranking as well. See the full list from NYup.com, and the Top 10 safest schools in the U.S. below.MANLIUS, N.Y. -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer stopped by Fayetteville-Manlius High School on Monday to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to crack down on companies marketing e-cigarettes to teens and children.

He zeroed in on one particular brand, Juul, which is a sleek vaporizer that can be bought online and looks like a USB drive. Consumers can buy flavors of the nicotine-infused liquid that is vaporized that taste like "candy," "Sour Patch Kids" and "bubble gum."

"Do you think they're trying to attract a 60-year-old grandmother with 'bubble gum'?" Schumer (D-NY) asked to a small crowd of high schoolers, public health advocates and school administrators.

Schumer is asking the FDA to crack down on e-cigarette marketing the same way it does with regular cigarettes. That would entail banning the marketing of "kid-friendly flavors" in all e-cigarette devices.

"Do you think they're aiming it at anybody but kids?" Schumer said. "New York kids are locked in a flavor trap."

Juul, the company, said on its website it is taking steps to prevent minors from trying the addictive substance, including cracking down on third-party online sellers that do not verify buyers' ages. It does not say whether it will stop selling particular flavors.

The Juul device can be charged with a laptop and used discretely, because it does not produce much vapor, Schumer said. Districts across Central New York have sent letters home to parents to tell them to be on the lookout.

Members of Schumer's staff bought these boxes containing packets of the nicotine-infused liquid at a local smokeshop. Schumer held them up as evidence that the products are not marketed at adults.

E-cigarettes are marketed as healthier alternatives to regular cigarettes, but they have proven to be attractive to teens and even-younger kids. One in five New York high schoolers has tried vaping, Schumer said, which is a rate twice as high as other states.

Peter Blake, superintendent for the Rome school district, said he recently learned of a fourth-grader selling one of the Juul devices to fellow students in his district. He said the sweet flavors and sleek designs appeal to kids the way cigarettes never did.

"I don't think you'd be able to find a fourth grader that would know how to light a cigarette," Blake said. "With these, all you do is push a button."

Vickie Freyleue, a member of the Cancer Action Network, said teens being addicted to nicotine is bad enough, but her group is worried it will encourage young people to smoke cigarettes instead, boosting their risk of cancer and other illnesses.

"It is addictive, basically a gateway drug," Freyleue said.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Thousands of Gaza residents headed toward the border with Israel on Monday, drawing Israeli fire in a potentially bloody showdown as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

At least two Palestinians were killed in the area of Monday's march, which was to be the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory.

As crowds began to swell at midday, Israeli troops began firing from across the border fence. Palestinian health officials reported two people killed and at least 69 others wounded by live fire, nine seriously.

The march was also directed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem later Monday. The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in recent weeks between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

It is the culmination of a campaign, led by the Islamic militant Hamas and fueled by despair among Gaza's 2 million people, to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory by Israel and Egypt. Since weekly border marches began in late March, 44 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible Monday, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking through the barrier at any cost.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional "layers" of security in and around neighboring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there already had been several "significant attempts" to break through the fence.

"Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them," he said.

With Israel and Hamas digging in, there is growing concern about large numbers of casualties.

The timing of the embassy move, and the marches, was deeply symbolic.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's independence.

A majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the "Great March of Return."

In one of the border areas east of Gaza City, Mohammed Hamami, a 40-year-old civil servant, joined a crowd of hundreds of protesters, along with his mother and five children.

"Today we are here to send a message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land," he said.

"We will cross the border and impose new realities like the reality Trump imposed in Jerusalem," he added, referring to President Donald Trump's decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and then move the U.S. Embassy there.

Some protesters moved to within about 150 meters (yards) of the border fence. A reporter saw two men who tried to advance further being shot in the legs by Israeli troops.

Clouds of black smoke from burning tires rose into the air. Earlier Monday, Israeli drones dropping incendiary material had pre-emptively set ablaze some of the tires collected in advance by activists.

Protesters have used the thick smoke as cover against Israeli snipers perched on high sand berms on the other side of the border.

Leaflets dropped over Gaza by army jets warned that those approaching the border "jeopardize" their lives. The warning said the army is "prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians."

In Jerusalem, top Trump administration officials attended events linked to the inauguration of the embassy later Monday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that it was a U.S. "national security priority" to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump's decision to go forward with a campaign promise to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians. Previous presidents had signed a waiver postponing the move, citing national security.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians seek the city's eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, blasted the Trump administration Monday, saying Trump had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance and that his administration is "based on lies."

Erekat said the Trump administration has "become part of the problem, not part of the solution." He suggested Trump's Mideast team is unqualified, saying "the world needs real leaders, and those (White House officials) are real estate dealers, not leaders."

Administration officials have dismissed Palestinian criticism, portraying the embassy opening as an essential step toward an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. However, they have not said how they will move forward without the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's "bold decision" in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "It's the right thing to do," a smiling Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd at a reception in Jerusalem late Sunday.

Although Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has been perceived by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israel's side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict. Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow suit. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

In a reflection of the deep sensitivities, dozens of countries -- including Britain, France and Germany -- skipped a celebration Sunday night at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Monday's opening will be attended by Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers. Kushner leads the Trump Mideast team.Troubles continue for casino mogul Steve Wynn, who grew up in Central New York, after being accused of sexual harassment and assault earlier this year.

Bloomberg reports Wynn is auctioning off three paintings for an estimated value of $135 million. However, the most expensive work of art -- a Pablo Picasso piece worth $70 million -- has been damaged.

Christie's announced over the weekend that "Le Marin" (The Sailor), Picasso's 1943 self-portrait, was damaged Friday "during the final stages of preparation" for auction Tuesday and pulled from the auction block. Details, including how bad the damage is or how it happened, have not been disclosed.

"Two outside conservators have now been consulted and have made recommendations for the successful restoration of the painting," Christie's said in the statement.

According to Bloomberg, Wynn suffers from a disease that affects his peripheral vision. He accidentally ripped a hole in another Picasso, "Le Reve," when he hit it with his elbow in 2006, but had it successfully refurbished and sold it to hedge fund titan Steve Cohen for $155 million in 2013.

Christie's says its consignment contracts "have insurance provisions to cover damage and other contingencies."

Bloomberg reports Wynn has since decided to pull another Picasso painting, 1964's "Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil" (woman with a cat), from the auction. Its estimated worth is between $25 million and $35 million.

A third item from Wynn, Andy Warhol's 1963 "Double Elvis [Ferus Type]," will be go on sale May 17 as planned, according to Christie's. The pop culture piece, showing Elvis Presley as a cowboy, is estimated at $30 million.

Wynn grew up in Utica and is a 1959 graduate of The Manlius School, which later merged with Manlius Pebble Hill School.

Billionaire Steve Wynns plan to sell $70 million Picasso at auction has been derailed after painting gets damaged https://t.co/cLkJU0IcY5 pic.twitter.com/qAVOg7HFrJ  Bloomberg (@business) May 14, 2018

Wynn resigned as chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts Ltd. in February and stepped down as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee amid allegations of sexual misconduct. He has denied wrongdoing.

It's unclear why Wynn is selling his art, but it's unlikely he needs money. CNN reports he received $2.1 billion when he sold his stake in Wynn Resorts in March.Dallas -- Another Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing over the weekend after the cabin started losing pressure.



Flight 861 was traveling from Denver to Dallas with 120 passengers on board. Passengers told CBS Dallas that oxygen masks dropped around 9 p.m.



Crewmembers told passengers to put them on because the cabin was losing pressure, CBS said. The plane was about 30 minutes outside Dallas at that point.



The plane was able to land in Dallas.



Southwest said in a statement that the plane experienced a "pressurization issue" in flight, according to CBS News. The airline described the landing as "uneventful."



Paramedics checked four passengers for ear pain on the ground, Southwest said in its statement, according to CBS.



The plane is undergoing a maintenance review.



Passengers disagreed with Southwest's description of the landing, CBS Dallas said.



"When you're in the air 20,000 feet above the ground and don't know what's going on, it's not uneventful," passenger Glen Eichelberger said, according to CBS Dallas.



Eichelberger said there was no communication from the flight attendants or cockpit on the level of danger involved in the incident. Pilots were able to land the plane quickly, he said, according to CBS Dallas.



"I had no idea what was going on or what the outcome was going to be," Eichelberger said.



The emergency landing in Dallas is the latest in a series of incidents for Southwest in recent weeks.



Earlier this month, a cracked window on a Southwest flight headed from Chicago to New Jersey forced pilots to divert the plane to Cleveland. The plane landed safely and there were no injuries.



In April, an engine on a Southwest plane exploded in the middle of a flight. The blast sent debris flying into the plane, breaking a window and killing a passenger.



Jennifer Riordan, 43 of New Mexico, was partially sucked out of the broken window before passengers were able to pull her back in. She later died.



And last week, a pickup truck crashed into a Southwest plane on a runway at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Maryland.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112The next three months are going to see an increase in ticks, and a new species found in New Jersey is now in the mix.

Longhorned Ticks From East Asia Now Invading The US

New Jersey has always been a high-risk area that is home to many species of ticks, but state officials are now more worried about the invasion of a foreign species.

The exotic tick, which is native to East Asia, is new to the United States. Having survived its first winter since coming to the Hunterdon County in 2017, the tick is now spreading across New Jersey as state officials confirmed its presence in Union County.

Called the longhorned ticks, it is yet unknown if it can also transmit Lyme disease to unsuspecting humans.

"We don't know how it will behave here in New Jersey," said Andrea Egizi, a professor in Rutgers Department of Entomology.

"What we know is that it can carry disease in its native habitats so that's a concern."

Although they might not transmit Lyme infections, they can still spread a deadly virus causing severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Victims may have symptoms including fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle pain, conjunctival congestion, and lymph nodes disease among others. In serious cases, the disease may lead to death.

Longhorned ticks are also known to spread the pathogen causing the Japanese spotted fever and more.

What We Know About Longhorned Ticks

Like the common ticks found in America, these exotic ticks are also small arachnids that may be hard to detect. They may even be harder to spot as they are colored brown. If they're full of blood, though, they grow to the size of a pea.

They mainly infest animals and livestock, but they are a threat to humans as well. The population of the longhorned ticks can grow fast if left to their own devices as they can reproduce without a male. As a result, they are now a major problem in Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific Islands after coming from Korea, Japan, and China.

Although they are new to the United States, they have always been known to cling to animals and materials from other countries before the shipment is allowed to enter. It was only in August 2017 that it was first documented to be in the American lands after a sheep owner brought a sample to the county health department.

State officials further urge the public to bring in uncommon ticks to be identified.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Google Duplex stunned the tech world last week when it perfectly mimicked a human during a call interaction. However, the ethical implications make experts worry.

Favorable Start, Skeptical Future

The new service made its debut early this week, during the I/O keynote. Sundar Pichai, the company CEO, made a brief introduction to highlight how users value their time and how the feature will help give it back. The feature works together with Google Assistant and automatically places a call on behalf of the user.

Two recorded phone calls allegedly made by Google's latest AI-technology were played back, and the results stunned the crowd and even drew cheers. However, some worry that it can also take jobs away from individuals.

Proper Introduction For Awareness

Even though the Google Duplex demo successfully showcased the AI's ability to interact with a human and complete its task, experts pointed out that the people who received that calls were unaware that they talked to a bot.

"Google Assistant making calls pretending to be human not only without disclosing that it's a bot, but adding 'ummm' and 'aaah' to deceive the human on the other end with the room cheering it... horrifying, Silicon Valley is ethically lost, rudderless and has not learned a thing," commented Zeynep Tufekci, a prominent sociologist.

The search company confirmed that what people heard during the I/O event was a demo of the tech in its early stages. It pointed out that it is aware of the issue and that later versions of the AI-driven service will include a disclosure.

Job Security And Trust Issues

Now that the tech industry got a sneak preview of how far Google has taken its natural-language and machine-learning technology, sources confirm that people worry that the service might affect human employment.

There are already groups that are concerned about the implications of an AI-controlled society. Google's decision to broadcast a demonstration of just how human-like artificial intelligence has become will only reinforce mistrust among those individuals. After all, they would not be able to tell if the other person on the line is, in fact, human or just another virtual assistant.

Moreover, machines had already replaced some of the jobs held by people before everything became industrialized. Now, it looks like voice-related jobs like customer service and others might be at risk as well. For now, It seems that Google's Attempt to make Duplex look great might have unexpectedly backfired due to an ethical blunder.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Google kicked off the week with the 2018 I/O keynote and the release of the second developer preview of select smartphones compatible with Android P.

The first Android P version, released in March, was an alpha preview with minimal features baked in. The latest preview takes it up a notch by increasing the number of supported smartphones and adding some of the new stuff shown during the keynote presentation.

Disclosure Before Installation

Before anyone can install the latest beta firmware, it is important to know that this is the second out of four to five more developer previews for the OS. Due to the unstable nature of the software, it should be downloaded by individuals who know what is in store for them.

Furthermore, the beta is only compatible with a limited number of smartphones from different manufacturers, such as the Google Pixel/XL, Google Pixel 2/XL, Vivo X21/UD, Sony Xperia XZ2, Essential PH-1, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Nokia 7 Plus, and the Oppo R15 Pro.

Where To Download And Notable Features

Interested users who own any of the supported handsets can check the official Android P Developer page. To help make the software even better, users should submit feedback regularly.

Now that most users have taken the time to try out the latest software beta, here are some of the great features in Android P that users reportedly love.

Gesture Navigation

When Apple dropped the physical home button from the iPhone X, it delivered a new gesture system that users quickly adapted to. Manufacturers such as Xiaomi and OnePlus followed suit and implemented their own gesture control system.

For the longest time, Google's operating system relied on physical or virtual buttons, but it will soon include gesture-based navigation. Android P will allow its users to have a similar experience with that of the iOS-based device along with a little extra.

Once enabled, it replaces the buttons below the screen with a gesture icon. A single tap takes users back to the Home screen, while a long-press opens Google Assistant. A short swipe right opens the previous app, but dragging left or right flips through recent apps. A long swipe up toggles the app drawer, and a short one pulls up the recent apps.

Adaptive Battery

Google wants to showcase some of the advancements it made with machine-learning in Android P. One of its features is programmed to get to know the user to control battery consumption. Based on the usage patterns of the user, the system identifies frequently used applications.

The system will enforce restrictions on rarely used apps to conserve battery life. The OS will automatically adjust if usage patterns change in the future.

Dashboard

Google acknowledges that there are smartphone users who are addicted to their device, it might mean more business for the company, but it understands that wellness comes first. Android P will track and analyze the user's activities. Users will be able to track their smartphone usage so they can make the necessary adjustments.

Details such as how many times the device was unlocked, frequently used apps or functions, and hours spent looking at the screen will be available.

Do Not Disturb Improvements

With Android P, Google wants to give users more control over their smartphones. The software expands the customization options available to users when the phone is in Do Not Disturb mode. Users will be able to change the settings to allow important calls to go through and to display certain notifications.

Another feature called Shush allows owners to automatically activate Do Not Disturb mode by putting their phone face-down.

Google is expected to release the next Android P preview on June, and more improvements will be available by then.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Geneticists in Germany have combined human stem cells with Neanderthal DNA to grow miniature brains that hopefully could reveal major differences between humans and Neanderthals.

The organoid experiment will examine the disparities of three genes that are integral in the development of human brains.

By using CRISPR gene editing technique, the scientists altered the human stem cells to make it more similar to Neanderthal genes. The miniature brains are being grown inside a laboratory in Germany.

Svante Paabo, director of the genetics department at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, hopes that their experiment could identify precisely the biological basis as to how humans reproduced to millions of species, propagate across the world, and develop cultures as opposed to their Neanderthal relatives.

The team's success, if achieved, is going to be a first in the study of genetics.

Growing Miniature Brains

Paabo and his team employ chemical triggers to stimulate the stem cells to develop into neurons, which grouped together on their own to form into structures similar to brains. These structures, measuring a few millimeters, are not completely developed miniature brains yet but are in the process of growing into fully formed ones. For the meantime, as the growing process continues for about nine months, they exist as separate blobs devoid of any sensory inputs.

"You don't get a well-formed human brain at all, but you see multiple regions have kind of formed; you can study the synapses and electrical activity and early developmental differences," explains Gray Camp of the Max Planck Institute and who is at the helm of the Neanderthal organoid experiments.

The geneticists will observe how fast these genetically engineered Neanderthal organoids divide and evolved on their own to mimic three-dimensional brain structures. The team will also dissect how the brain cells are wired up differently. They will subsequently assess these results to how the same processes take place on fully developed human brains.

The team will also examine whether the Neanderthal genes common in the DNA of people with European and Asian ancestry could influence brain development. They would like to find out if they can re-grow the Neanderthal brain and afterward resurrect the functionality of those Neanderthal genes, Camp says.

Neanderthals And Humans

Paabo explains that Neanderthals are the closest species to humans, hence, they make the perfect basis for comparison.

As for their present study, they want to pinpoint what exactly set humans apart for them to be able to evolve while the Neanderthals went extinct. The miniature brain experiment will not delineate which of the species is smarter, but why humans evolved to be capable of planning, socializing, and using languages, he adds.

In April, a study published in Scientific Reports, co-authored by Naomichi Ogihara of the Keio University in Japan, constructed a virtual model of a Neanderthal brain. This team of scientists, who are not involved with the present experiment conducted by the German scientists, was able to identify that Neanderthals has a larger brain than the Homo sapiens.

Neanderthals, however, had smaller cerebellum which is the portion of the brain responsible for speech and learning. This difference may be the reason why there was a disparity in social and cognitive abilities between Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens.

"Although the difference could be subtle, such a subtle difference may become significant in terms of natural selection," Ogihara explained.

The team from Japan, however, did not arrive at a conclusion that the Neanderthal's small cerebellum is the major contributing factor why the species went extinct.

The Neanderthal Genome

In 2010, Paabo and his team reconstructed code of the Neanderthal genome based on samples acquired from four females who were inhabitants of Europe some 10 thousand years ago. Based on the samples, they concluded that about a third of the Neanderthal genome survived and is to be found in the genes of some people today.

In previous experiments, Paabo's team had also injected Neanderthal genes into mice to observe what takes place during craniofacial development.

The same team had also injected Neanderthal pain perception genes into frog's eggs to compare the amount of pain bearable to Neanderthals and humans.

Now that the team progressed into experimenting on the brain, they hoped they could ultimately define why humans appeared to have the highest cognitive skills among all species.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.For the first time, conjoined twins have been found among deer. Scientists are studying stillborn conjoined twin fawns found in a forest in Minnesota to learn how they were carried to term by the doe.

Conjoined twin fawns have also been found before but they were still in utero and were stillborn.

Conjoined Twin Fawns

The two-headed deer was found by a mushroom hunter near the Mississippi River in Freeburg, Minnesota in May 2016. They were clean and dry and seemed to have just died. The hunter then took the specimen to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources where the author of the study, Gino D'Angelo, previously worked.

In order for a necropsy to be performed on the body of the fawns, the remains were frozen to keep them in good condition. Scientists then completed a necropsy on the remains along with a 3-D CT scan and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the University of Minnesota's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

D'Angelo of the University of Georgia calls the latest finding amazing and extremely rare, considering that the twin fawns were delivered by the mother.

Findings Regarding The Twin Fawns

After the tests, researchers saw that the fawns had two separate necks and heads although they shared the same body. Everything else about their body seemed normal: the fur, the heads, the legs, and the spot pattern on their necks. D'Angelo called the spot pattern "almost perfect."

The necropsy of the fawns also showed that both shared a malformed liver, had extra spleens and gastrointestinal tracts, along with two hearts that had a single pericardial sac.

Researchers ran lab tests to confirm that the fawns were indeed stillborn and never breathed air the moment they were delivered. D'Angelo says that the fawns would not have been able to live. Since the hunter found the remains of the fawns cleaned and in a natural position, it means that the doe that delivered the fawns tried to care for them before realizing they were stillborn.

Conjoined twins are rare among wild animals and are more common among humans. Between 1671 and 2006, only 19 cases of confirmed conjoined twins have been found in the wild, five of those cases have been deer. Two cases of conjoined twins have been found among white-tailed deer, the same species as the fawns, but were both fetuses and were not delivered.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.The Trump administration has killed NASA's Carbon Monitoring System, which was responsible for compiling data from separate satellite and aircraft measurements of CO2 and methane emission across the Earth.

This program allowed scientists to have a picture of the flow of carbon all over Earth.

Carbon Monitoring System

The Trump administration's move to shut down the Carbon Monitoring System was first reported by Science. This move will make it harder for nations to be able to verify that quotas are being met according to the promises in the Paris climate accords. Every nation on Earth, except the US, is part of the accord.

Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director of Tufts University's Center for International Environment and Resource Policy, told Science that if emissions aren't being measured, countries will not know who is keeping their promises according to the Paris climate accords.

A spokesperson for NASA told Science that existing grants like the Carbon Monitoring System will be allowed to finish but that no new research will be taking its place. NASA cited budget constraints and other research that is marked a higher priority as the reason for the cancellation. No specific reasons were given for the shutdown of the program.

The Trump administration has been proposing budget cuts to NASA's earth science programs which focus on climate change. The last Congressional budget didn't have the Carbon Monitoring System included which showed what was going to happen to the program.

Climate Change Records

It's an ironic time for the Carbon Monitoring System to be killed off from NASA. Earlier in May, data showed that carbon dioxide found in Earth's atmosphere passed a new monthly average of 410.31 parts per million in the month of April. These findings were found by the Scripps CO2 Program.

Measurements were taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. This was the first time that the monthly average exceeded the threshold of 410 parts per million, It was also the first time that there was a 30 percent increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the world.

For centuries the world's concentration of carbon dioxide fluctuated between 200 ppm and 280 ppm. Levels skyrocketed after the industrial revolution showing human activity is what is driving the rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Data has also been gathered from ice cores that contain ancient air bubbles. These air bubbles show the CO2 levels from the last 800,000 years. The ice cores show that the CO2 level has always fluctuated but was never higher than 300 ppm before the industrial revolution

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.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China's first domestically designed aircraft carrier set sail on its maiden sea trial on Sunday morning. [Photo by Hu Kaibing]

On Sunday, China's first domestically designed aircraft carrier set sail on its maiden sea trial. The new aircraft carrier is expected to be commissioned to the People's Liberation Army Navy.

Two experts shared their views with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang.

Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute

Compared with the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, the new aircraft carrier has improved quite a number of aspects. For example, its hull is not only totally designed by domestic engineers and designers, but also follows the latest design, which has made huge progress compared with that of the Liaoning, designed decades ago.

Besides, the hangar, the ship island as well as the ammunition lift of the new aircraft carrier have all been improved, and different sections of the ship, such as the radar system and the electronic system, merge better with each other. Thus it is not excessive to say the new aircraft carrier marks a giant step forward compared with the Liaoning.

However, that does not offer any support to claims of certain Western media outlets, who guess that an arms race is underway between China, Russia and the US with China owning its second aircraft carrier. There is only one reason for China to strengthen its naval power and that is self-defense  defense of its maritime boundaries as well as its overseas interests.

Besides, from the Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China had suffered over 470 times from sea invasions by Western powers. For generations, a lesson has been carved in our hearts that China needs a strong navy to prevent such invasions.

Yang Yi, former director of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the People's Liberation Army National Defense University

China's second aircraft carrier will promote the fighting capability of the PLA Navy further than the Liaoning, because the Liaoning is more for scientific research purposes than for combat and training purposes.

Besides, the fact that China can independently design, manufacture and arm an aircraft carrier shows huge progress in the domestic military industrial capacity. Therefore, it is fair to call the new aircraft carrier a new starting point for China's development of its naval power. With ripe technologies in building an aircraft carrier independently, China will hopefully sharpen its technology in the future.

Some Western media outlets take China's second aircraft carrier as an opportunity to hype up the "China threat theory". China does not need two aircraft carriers, they claim. Actually, when the Liaoning started its first voyage, they said China did not need any aircraft carriers. Their purpose is to weaken the PLA Navy.

Their statement is ridiculous for anyone with the basic sense to believe. Just look at how many sea-based interests China has: defense of the maritime boundaries, peace and stability in the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as keeping its maritime transportation lines open. One aircraft carrier fleet is obviously not enough for these.

Of course, China won't build a navy that exceeds its needs, either. China does not seek hegemony or control over the ocean. Therefore it won't build such a huge navy like the US. All these break the lies behind "China threat theory".Tony Clayton successfully prosecuted Jauve Collins for the 2007 slaying of a retired Southern University administrator, and now Collins wants Clayton disqualified from taking part in the U.S. Supreme Court-mandated resentencing of Collins.

Collins, who was 16 when he fatally shot 69-year-old Henry Bellaire during an attempted armed robbery outside Bellaire's home, claims Clayton should be recused because he knew the victim personally and has a personal interest in the outcome of the case.

Clayton, a prosecutor in the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office and a member of the Southern University System Board of Supervisors, doesn't think much of Collins' request, calling it "asinine" and a waste of time.

+4 Prosecutors: Keep 'vicious' killer of ex-Southern University administrator in prison for life Jauve Collins was just 16 when he fatally wounded 69-year-old retired Southern University administrator Henry Bellaire with a shotgun blast to

Bellaire was a neighbor of then-East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden, residing in a house across the street from Holden in Scotlandville.

Collins, now 27, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced in 2009 to a mandatory term of life in prison without parole, but three years later the Supreme Court struck down automatic life sentences for juvenile killers and said they're entitled to hearings to try to show they're capable of reform.

The high court said sentences of life without parole for juvenile killers should be reserved for "the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption."

Clayton contends Collins fits that description. Collins' attorney, Ron Johnson, disagrees.

Collins, despite being represented by Johnson, personally filed his recusal motion May 1. Johnson said state District Judge Lou Daniel, who has presided over Collins' case from its inception, on May 3 gave Johnson 15 days to file a recusal motion on Collins' behalf. Johnson said the motion Collins filed was being withdrawn.

Johnson said Wednesday he agrees with Collins that Clayton has a personal interest in the case and should be disqualified.

+2 Man who killed Southern University administrator as a teen 'not incorrigible,' defense lawyer insists Nine years after Jauve Collins was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a retired Southern University administrator as a 16-

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Collins, in his motion, asks that Daniel appoint a prosecutor from another district attorney's office to handle the resentencing matter.

"Tony Clayton has a conflict of interest in my case regarding Henry Bellaire  who he knew personally," Collins stated in his motion, arguing that such a conflict affects the fair and impartial administration of justice.

"Tony Clayton  is anxious to keep me in jail for the rest of my life and want me to pay for the victim death eternally," Collins added.

Clayton said he'll entertain Collins' request if Collins can bring Bellaire back from the dead.

"Mr. Bellaire is stuck in a six-foot box in a grave for the rest of his life while Mr. Collins watches color TV and eats popcorn ," Clayton said. "I'm sure he'd (Bellaire) love to swap places with Jauve Collins."

Johnson previously took issue with comments Clayton made in a December article in The Advocate in which the prosecutor called Collins a "vicious little dude" who is incorrigible. Johnson says Collins is not incorrigible.

In its 2012 ruling, the Supreme Court said sentences of life without parole for juvenile killers should be reserved for "the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption."

Prosecutors are seeking another life without parole sentence for Collins.

Trial testimony indicated Collins fatally shot Bellaire with a sawed-off shotgun blast to the chest in the driveway of Bellaire's home. Bellaire was helping one of this daughters unload groceries. She witnessed the killing.

Two other Baton Rouge men pleaded guilty to an accessory charge in the Bellaire case and received five-year prison terms. Jonathan Dunn, now 29, and Tedrick Davis, now 28, testified against Collins at his trial.Attorneys for two men who pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter in a 2015 killing in Baton Rouge say they should be allowed to withdraw their pleas after prosecutors dismissed all charges against the suspected triggerman.

The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office's decision last month to drop Dedrick Lawless' second-degree murder and home invasion charges has left Reginald Irvin, 25, of Baton Rouge, and Vernon Jordan III, 27, of Baker, in a lurch, Irvin's attorney said Monday.

"I think it's an atrocity," said Dedrick Moore, who represents Irvin. "It has left me baffled."

Jordan's attorney, Niles Haymer, filed a motion May 2 seeking to withdraw Jordan's Sept. 22 guilty plea. Irvin pleaded guilty Sept. 25, and Moore said he intends to file a similar motion.

Haymer claims in the motion that prosecutors "suddenly and unexpectedly" dismissed their case against Lawless, leaving Jordan's manslaughter conviction to stand "despite his contention that he did not commit the act" and despite his cooperation with the District Attorney's Office.

Moore said the safety of Irvin and Jordan has been jeopardized because inmates who agree to testify against fellow inmates are not looked upon kindly. Both men remain in custody, while Lawless has been set free.

"It puts us in real compromising position," Moore added. "It put them in a position of peril. That's a scary situation."

"It would have been worth it to put it in the jury's hands," Moore said of the charges against Lawless, 26, of Lithonia, Georgia, that have now been dropped.

Murder charge dismissed against Georgia man in 2015 Baton Rouge murder case Prosecutors dismissed second-degree murder and home invasion charges Tuesday against a Georgia man in a fatal 2015 shooting on Avenue H in Bat

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Haymer declined comment Monday. His motion is scheduled to be heard Aug. 1 by state District Judge Beau Higginbotham.

"At this time I believe that it is premature to discuss this matter as we are currently reviewing the motions and have submitted evidence for further testing," said District Attorney Hillar Moore III, no relation to Dedrick Moore.

Lawless' attorney, Margaret Lagattuta, said last month there was no physical evidence linking Lawless to the slaying of Gerald Penny.

Penny was found dead Oct. 12, 2015, after being shot multiple times in the 10000 block of Avenue H, and within days detectives identified Irvin, Jordan and Lawless as suspects.

Irvin told detectives that Lawless and Jordan picked him up the day of the killing, and Lawless said he had been offered money to kill Penny, the police report says. When the three men arrived at the home where Penny was staying, Irvin knocked on the door and told the homeowner to leave for his own safety, which he did.

Jordan and Lawless then entered the home to find Penny, Irvin told police. When Penny fled, Lawless followed him to the corner of Avenue H and Woodcock Street, where he shot Penny several times, according to the report.

Detectives investigating the slaying obtained a search warrant for Irvin's cellphone and discovered a Facebook message from Irvin to the homeowner, in which Irvin told the homeowner he would tell him who "paid us off" at a later time and that "I spair u cuz I love u so much," the report says.

Jordan and Irvin were originally charged with second-degree murder and home invasion. The home invasion charge was dismissed when they pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The two men have not been sentenced.Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionAfter more than 40 years as one of the most restrictive housing units within Louisianas Angola prison, corrections officials have closed CampSen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, center, jabs his finger onto the testimony table for emphasis during debate on his SB243 by the House Criminal Justice Committee at the State Capitol, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. At left is Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, and at right is Alexandria attorney Ed Tarpley, left, former District Attorney for Grant parish, who had earlier testified in favor of the bill. The bill cleared the House by a vote of 82-15 today. This November, Louisianians will vote on whether to amend the constitution to require unanimous jury verdicts for serious crimes in Louisiana.A full-court press to roll back some of Louisiana's strictest occupational licensing requirements appears to be heading the same path that many controversial topics travel at the State Capitol: A task force will study the issue.

Despite an unlikely combination of support from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and conservative business lobbying groups, the effort to end licensing for florists and hair braiders, among other trades, has been shelved this session.

House Bill 748, which still must pass the full Senate before it can become law, instead calls on the Governor's Office to review all occupational licensing requirements within five years to determine whether they are necessary.

"The meat of it is still there," Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, said of her bill as it faces the Senate floor after being heavily amended in committee.

The effort to repeal the florist licensing requirement in Louisiana, which was rejected in a Senate committee this month, was the crown jewel of a broader push to review occupational licenses in the state, after a report last fall from the Institute for Justice found that Louisiana and Washington license more lower-income occupations it analyzed than any other state  77 of 102 jobs.

Under HB748, the state would review every one of its occupational licensing requirements and determine whether changes are needed.

In its original version, the bill sought to put into state law that the ability to pursue lawful occupation is a fundamental right and the state will defer to the least restrictive regulation available while maintaining consumer safety. It was heavily amended in the Senate Commerce Committee to only require a review from the Governor's Office.

Review of occupational licensing would begin under bill advancing in House Louisiana would review every one of the state's occupational licensing requirements and determine whether changes are needed under legislation

In addition to Edwards, the effort was backed by the conservative Americans for Prosperity, normally at odds with the Democratic governor.

"It's disappointing because I think we really could have done ourselves a favor as a state," said John Kay, the Louisiana state director for Americans for Prosperity.

But Kay said the review that appears to be heading to final passage is a good start. "It advances the ball in the right direction for us," he said.

Opponents of the effort say licensing in the state helps ensure consumer safety and satisfaction.

During a committee hearing on the florist bill, several people raised concerns about the potential threat of invasive pests and consumer protection issues, in general.

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Emerson chalked most of the defeat up to a session that has been so focused on the budget.

+2 Effort to end florist licensing in Louisiana nipped in the bud with Senate panel's rejection A Senate panel has rejected an attempt to do away with retail florist licensing in Louisiana  the only state that requires such occupational 

State lawmakers are aiming toward an early end to the regular session so that lawmakers can begin a special session to try to address the $648 million "fiscal cliff" the state faces when temporary tax measures expire June 30. The House and Senate finance committee have advanced spending plans that leave large gaps in funding for state agencies that threaten programs. The full Senate is expected to take up House Bill 1, which carries the annual budget, next week, with hopes of transitioning to a revenue-raising special session as early as next week.

"Obviously, everything else has kind of taken a back seat," Emerson said.

Emerson said her intent is to sort out onerous licensing requirements that can be barriers to work and was not intended as a slight to professional florists.

"I've been working on this issue for over two years now," she said.

Edwards mentioned occupational licensing among his priorities in his session-starting State of the State address, and he has frequently noted in public speeches that Louisiana is the only state in that report to require licensing of florists.

The unusual nature of siding with the governor isn't lost on Kay.

"It's a unique opportunity, and they were a good partner throughout the process," he said. "We don't agree on a whole lot, and we're probably not going to agree on a whole lot in the special session, but in this case, it was the right move to work together."

He said he believes the issue will continue to gain traction.

"I think it gives us an opportunity look forward to 2019 and beyond and where we may be able to work with stakeholders on areas where we all might agree," Kay said. "It should be easier to work and no one is really put at harm."

Emerson said she's happy to have brought attention to the issue.

"There is going to be some pushback, and I believe that a lot of it is the fear of the unknown," she said.It was like any other big meeting you might see at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans: the attire was "business casual" and the conversations involved packaging, marketing, entrepreneurship, investment and growth in what is, literally, a budding industry.

But there were no free samples at the product booths and there were explicit warnings in the convention program that possession and use of the featured product was strictly prohibited; a sensible stricture given that  even when the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo NEXT is in town  recreational use of marijuana remains illegal in Louisiana.

But, will that always be the case?

The ice has been broken: Medicinal weed is expected to be available to patients in Louisiana this summer. And, nationwide, opposition to more liberal marijuana laws has eroded.

Southern signs marijuana contract with Advanced Biomedics despite power struggle at firm Southern University has signed a contract for the schools medical marijuana program with Advanced Biomedics on assurances the two biggest own

Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner announced a change of heart on marijuana last month. He said he will promote its nationwide legalization as a way to help veterans and address the nation's deadly opioid crisis. Less than two weeks later (on April 20, the informal "holiday" for marijuana) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said he'll introduce a bill taking marijuana off the federal list of controlled substances.

Then, there was "MJBizCon NEXT," the three-day event, put on at the convention center last week by the publication Marijuana Business Daily. The buzz at one of the numerous Thursday sessions on investing in the cannabis industry was all about how lawmakers in Maine overrode Gov. Paul LePage's veto of a law authorizing and taxing pot sales  legislation passed after Maine voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults in 2016.

The fight in Maine, and elsewhere, makes clear that efforts to legalize marijuana in many localities won't be easy. In Louisiana, despite support for medical cannabis, bills to decriminalize recreational use of marijuana had so little support that they never even came up for a vote in the current legislative session.

Nevertheless, the vibe at the convention center in one of this red state's bluest cities was that of ground-floor optimism. Meetings dealt with how to break into the business, investment strategies, branding and customer service.

As medical marijuana program moves forward, Louisiana doctors 'gun shy' about recommending drug Only a handful of doctors have become licensed to recommend medical marijuana to patients in Louisiana, raising concerns of a bottleneck whe

Sections of the expo hall resembled a giant home-improvement store. There were hydroponic growing systems, greenhouse models, bags of soil, gleaming high-tech arrays of tanks and tubing for extracting chemicals from cannabis, and handsome display cases retailers can use to show off canisters of weed.

There was a big poster of a guitar-toting Julian Marley (son of reggae legend Bob), at the booth for Julian Marley Juju Royal Ultra Premium Cannabis.

Some booths were sponsored by companies ready to guide the fledgling commercial cannabis grower through license applications, design and construction of cultivation facilities, employee training and legal compliance. Still others represented established growers and sellers like High Life Farms. Wholesalers of various paraphernalia  grinders, vape pens and old-fashioned rolling papers  were on hand.

So were insurance companies. And security companies. And software sellers. And law firms.

A few blocks away, at City Hall, the City Council has taken steps to free up time for overworked police by lowering fines and lessening the possibility of jail time for small-time marijuana arrests. The local district attorney says it's a bad idea and could lead to rising crime.

The debate also takes place amid concerns about the social and long-term health effects of marijuana use.

Such fears from local city halls and courthouses all the way up to the U.S. Department of Justice portend a rocky road for widespread legalization.

But, if the aroma of weed was absent at MJBizCon NEXT, the smell of money was strong.

If the boom is for real, and it lasts, how long will Louisiana and other states resist?

Kevin McGill is an Associated Press reporter in New Orleans.Louisianas House of Representatives is the most conservative and populist institution in state government.

Now, members of that body have a chance to advance a reform that reflects the highest ideals of limited government, individual liberty and direct consent of the governed. Its an opportunity they should embrace, seizing a moment when good politics and good policy perfectly align.

After gaining approval in the state Senate, legislation to help change Louisianas shameful 10-2 jury rule could be considered by the House this week. Unlike almost every other state in the nation, Louisiana allows defendants to be convicted of felonies without a unanimous vote of a 12-member jury. In Louisiana, the agreement of just 10 out of 12 jurors is enough for a conviction.

Only one other state, Oregon, uses the 10-2 rule for felony cases, although defendants in that state cant be convicted of murder without a unanimous jury, as they can in Louisiana.

Clearly, Louisiana lags the rest of America when it comes to protecting its citizens from the power of the state. In continuing to embrace the 10-2 rule, in fact, Louisianas judicial system is clinging to a remnant of its darkest past, the Jim Crow days after the Civil War. Thats when state leaders, fearing that black jurors might disrupt the status quo, did away with the need for jury unanimity in felony cases to ensure that the will of white jurors would prevail.

A yearlong Advocate review of felony court cases across Louisiana shows that the rule disproportionately disadvantages black defendants.

But doing away with 10-2 is about more than mending racial disparities. At stake is the right of any defendant, regardless of race, creed or walk of life, to the same standard of justice afforded almost every other American in the land of the free.

Legislation now in the House, which would allow a constitutional amendment abolishing 10-2 to be put on a statewide ballot, should be welcomed by any legislator who loves law and order.

The amendment, if approved, would restore the requirement of jury unanimity for felony convictions, allowing citizens to speak with the highest moral clarity in sending the guilty to prison and safeguarding the rights of the innocent. Jury unanimity helps ensure that the right person is convicted of a felony, limiting the possibility that the truly guilty still walk the streets committing more crime.

By allowing the proposed change to the 10-2 jury rule to be put on a statewide ballot, lawmakers can affirm the power of Louisianas citizens, through direct democracy, to determine the destiny of justice across the state.

We urge members of the House to let the people rule  and send the proposed 10-2 reform to voters.FILE - In this May 22, 2016 file photo, Denise Wilkes, left, looks at baby Noah Burton, sitting on a fellow worshiper's lap, during a church service in Birmingham, Ala. Emma and Liam were the most frequently chosen baby names for 2017. For the fourth year in a row, Emma was the top girl's name according to the annual list of the most popular baby names released by the Social Security Administration on Friday, May 11, 2018. Liam pushed last year's champ, Noah, to second to claim the top spot. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration may have improperly diverted millions of dollars in property taxes meant for schools, flood protection, drainage, public safety and neighborhood improvements to several state retirement systems.

Thats according to a lawyer for the Downtown Development District and documents filed in its lawsuit seeking a refund of about $400,000.

According to state Supreme Court rulings and an Attorney Generals Office opinion, local governments are not allowed to use property taxes for expenses not approved by voters. However, from at least 2014 to 2016, the city used between $3.7 million and $4.2 million of those taxes to contribute to state pension funds.

In March, The Advocate reported that the Downtown Development District had demanded repayment of hundreds of thousands of dollars that it said the city had collected on its behalf but then diverted to the retirement funds.

The district sued the city in April. It argued that its tax, which is levied on properties in the Central Business District, can be used only to fund its own activities, such as sidewalk improvements, a new homeless shelter and enhanced security in the CBD.

However, the improper withholdings may go well beyond the money due to the DDD, said Bill Aaron, the agency's lawyer.

Our Views: How should Charity Hospital be re-purposed? Mitch Landrieu had one of the better ideas At a cool million square feet, the old Charity Hospital building is both an obstacle and a grand opportunity for New Orleans.

City-prepared spreadsheets included in the DDDs court filings show that the city took money from a number of special taxes  including those dedicated to the Orleans Levee District, the Orleans Parish School Board, the police and fire departments and Sewerage & Water Board drainage work  from at least 2014 to 2016.

Another document shows that the city withheld the funds from the DDD in 2013 as well.

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Under state law, the city is obligated to contribute to several state-administered pension funds, including those for employees of the local district attorney's and sheriffs offices.

The city passed on its obligations to other tax recipients, Aaron said. Thats against the law, he said, because voters didnt authorize those taxes to be used for those pensions. If the tax is for a special purpose, it can only be used for that purpose.

School district spokeswoman Dominique Ellis said the School Board "is aware of the circumstance, and it is currently under review.

Richard Rainey, a spokesman for the Sewerage & Water Board, said that agency is looking into questions about the funds but needed more time to research the issue.

+4 New spots for Confederate monuments? Two should stay in N.O., one out of state, committee says Three statues of Confederate officials removed from their prominent public locations in New Orleans last year would be divided up between Gree

According to an affidavit from Anthony Carter, finance director for the DDD, the city improperly withheld about $240,000 from the districts property tax between 2013 and 2016. He based that figure on the city Finance Departments own calculations.

The district has noted the discrepancy in its three most recent annual audits.

Carter, who declined to comment for this story, estimated that the city owes the district an additional $140,000 for 2017 and 2018.

A judge recently ordered the city to stop withholding money from the districts property tax, except for a 2 percent collection fee, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

The issue came to light as LaToya Cantrell prepared to succeed Landrieu as mayor May 7.

Among the taxes that Landrieus administration may have diverted are more than $1 million annually for schools and between $400,000 and $500,000 per year for drainage.

Aarons position is supported by a 2007 state Attorney Generals Office opinion, which said the city could not use DDD taxes to pay state retirement expenses.

It also appears to be supported by the Louisiana Supreme Court. In a 2007 opinion, justices noted that the court had consistently interpreted the constitution to prohibit the use of dedicated and special taxes for purposes other than those for which they were levied.

That ruling predated Landrieus administration, but according to Carters affidavit, the administration was well aware of it: In 2014, Norman Foster, Landrieus chief financial officer at the time, handed Carter a copy of the ruling.

The city is required to contribute to five state retirement systems, for the offices of the clerk of court, sheriff, registrar of voters, district attorney and assessor. Those contributions are set at a percentage of all the property taxes the city collects, including general taxes and taxes earmarked for specific purposes.

The city sends between $4 million and $5 million per year to the retirement funds, according to the spreadsheets. Thats about 1 percent of the $500 million or so it collects from all property taxes in a year.

Much of that $500 million is collected on behalf of outside agencies, like the School Board and the Sewerage & Water Board. Some other taxes are dedicated to specific city departments, like police and fire.

In fact, only one property tax millage isnt dedicated to a specific purpose. That leaves just that one source of revenue to pay the pension funds, the city argued in the 2007 lawsuit. That tax generates about $50 million per year; the annual payments to the pension funds come to about 10 percent of that.

There is a wrinkle: Under a state law passed in 2012, the city may be able to divert some property taxes to the retirement funds, Aaron said. The law requires government agencies seeking new, increased or renewed property taxes to give notice that they may use a portion of the money for that purpose.

Several property taxes have been approved or reauthorized by voters since 2014. That means the amount of money that may have been improperly diverted could be lower since 2015.

But Aaron said that doesnt apply to the DDD tax or any other tax approved by voters before 2013, when the state law went into effect.

According to The Advocate, Landrieus administration told Cantrells transition team about the problem with the DDD money.

A recent court filing indicates that Cantrells administration may be discussing a settlement with the DDD. Given the change in administrations, the city believes that the matter may be resolved by agreement, an assistant city attorney wrote.

But its not clear what, if anything, the city will do about the taxes for other agencies.

At this time, the matter is in litigation and the city is determining the most appropriate path forward, Landrieu spokesman Craig Belden said in a statement to The Lens before Landrieu left office.

Beau Tidwell, Cantrells communications director, cited the lawsuit and declined to comment.Two prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola committed suicide Saturday morning. Both hanged themselves within Camp J, the prisons disciplinary unit, where prisoners facing serious charges for offenses at Angola are sent.

At 5:33 a.m., about the time when the prison is serving breakfast, Calvin Craddock, 49, was found dead in his cell, according to a news release from Angola spokesman Gary Young.

Craddock was serving a life sentence for raping a woman at knife point at her uncles house in 2004 in St. Tammany Parish. He had been assigned to Angola since 2006.

Several hours later, at 10:20 a.m., Terrance Carter, 36, was found hanging in his cell, in a different part of Camp J.

Carter, a death-row inmate, was sentenced to death in 2006 in Red River Parish after he was found guilty of tying his ex-girlfriends 5-year-old son to a chair and setting him on fire after finding out that the woman was dating someone else. He arrived at Angola in 2009.

A complete review is underway by Angola investigators, Young said, adding that the preliminary investigation showed that all protocols were followed and that the suicides seemed to be unrelated.

Prisoners in Camp Js cell blocks are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day without privileges. They typically are sent there for grave infractions of prison rules, such as fighting with a weapon or being found in possession of contraband. They can work their way out of Camp J after a certain amount of time.

Carter had been temporarily assigned to Camp J for a serious rule infraction, according to the news release, which didnt name the violation that landed Craddock there.

Suicides are rare at Angola. Young said these two deaths were the prisons first suicides of 2016.

About 30 years ago, a rash of suicides at the prison led to a suicide-prevention program. Wherever an inmate is alone in a cell, the prison assigns tier walkers to walk up and down the tier, checking for signs of trouble and acting as first responders if they see anything unusual. Guards also must punch time clocks at the end of a tier to show they made an entire rotation of the cells.

When suicides do happen, its almost always in solitary cells such as these.

Keith Nordyke, a lawyer who visits Angola often, said he believed he would have heard if anything bigger was at stake than two prisoners individual problems. I know of no larger context, he said Saturday.

Carters mother, Irma Jean Carter, received the news with a heavy heart Saturday morning.

Carter said she had just received a letter from her son, telling her that he wouldnt be able to call her for 12 weeks for disciplinary reasons. But he told me that, after those 12 weeks are up, The first person I will call is you,  said Irma Jean Carter, who had reread the letter several times to see if she could detect any warning signs in it.

I cant see anything that sounds like he was depressed, she said, noting that he had been having health problems for the past year or so, which had worried her enough that she called the prison to ask about them. Shed been assured that his condition was not life-threatening, she said.

His family hopes to hold a funeral and bury him this week, she said.

Carter said she had called the police in 2006 after realizing that her son had committed murder, but she had never thought he was violent or prison-bound before that, though hed suffered with some mental difficulties and had been in and out of petty trouble since was a teenager.

Yet, she got a sign very early on that life wouldnt be easy for him, she said, recalling that he was born prematurely. He weighed 4 pounds, 9 ounces at birth, she said, recalling how she went to see him in the intensive-care unit when he was 3 hours old.

When I laid my eyes on him, God told me, Thats your trouble child,  she said.

Carter said she found it hard to believe as she looked at the tiny newborn. He hadnt done no good or evil at that point. So I put my all into him, she said.

Now, 36 years later, she will lay her troubled child to rest. He will be in the grave by Saturday, she said. Im praying and hoping that God will grant him some peace.

Editor's note, April 23, 2016: This story has been corrected to reflect that Terrance Carter's mother's first name is Irma Jean.NEW ORLEANS (AP)  One used to deal drugs on the streets of New Orleans. Another grew up in Chicago with two drug-addicted parents. A third survived the tough streets of New York and Washington, D.C., where he once stared down the barrel of a gun.

All three young black men became board-certified doctors.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pierre Johnson, Maxime Madhere and Joe Semien Jr. said they knew the odds were stacked against them when they entered Xavier University of Louisiana in 1998 with hopes of becoming doctors. Black men make up a small percentage of doctors in America, and they knew getting through college and medical school wouldn't be easy.

Their early lives, college struggles, and victories are chronicled in "Pulse of Perseverance: Three Black Doctors on Their Journey to Success." They said they wrote the book to show African-American boys that athletes and entertainers aren't the only examples of black achievement and success.

Madhere, an anesthesiologist in Baton Rouge, said they're fortunate and have a responsibility to share their experiences with the next generation.

"Young boys need to know it's not a game in these streets. They need to know that we are completely marginalized as people of color when we mess up. They also need to know you don't have to rap or shoot a ball to get out of their circumstances," said Madhere.

Semien, Johnson and Madhere each set a goal early on to become a doctor. Semien, an obstetrician/gynecologist from New Orleans who practices in Lake Charles, describes in the book how he became intrigued by a sixth-grade anatomy class. Madhere discovered his love for medicine after volunteering at a hospital. Johnson said he "just knew" he wanted to heal people after dealing with his parents.

Getting there, however, wasn't easy. Four percent of doctors in the U.S. are African American, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The men chose Xavier, knowing that the nation's only historically black Catholic institution consistently places black students in medical school.

Johnson, an obstetrician/gynecologist working in Chicago, writes about Xavier's nurturing environment, which helped spark the trio's friendship.

Johnson said he often saw Madhere in class and around campus but noticed that he, too, was "always in the library."

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"We started a conversation about how things were going and the struggles we were going through in class and ultimately decided we needed to band together ... and we saw that same energy in Joe," Johnson said.

"We held each other accountable," Semien recalled. "When one was falling short, the other would pick him up."

Semien had to shed a street reputation that included dealing drugs and an anger problem that got him in trouble. He dropped out of Xavier at one point, joined the military, re-enrolled, dropped out again, and finally returned and met Johnson and Madhere.

Madhere describes in the book the troubled Brooklyn neighborhood where his mother lived after divorcing his father. He recalls one day when a young black man was shot in front of her apartment building.

"This was my first encounter with death. The image of this man dead on the pavement, with the police and paramedics swarming around him, was immediately burned into my 7-year-old mind. It remains there to this day," he wrote.

Johnson writes of being 3 when he and his mother frantically ran from his father "who was high out of his mind."

"We sought refuge at my paternal grandparents' house ..." he writes. "We crawled under the covers; I thought for a moment that we were safe. A few minutes later, my father came into the bedroom, dragged my mom into the hallway by her ankle, and beat her."

Both parents struggled with addiction, and Johnson wrote: "I learned as a young boy that one of my purposes in life was to help others who could not help themselves."

The three doctors decided to tell their stories in one project because they'd already proven they could work together. Johnson said he plans to push his friends to write a follow-up.

"If this book does what we hope and plan, to inspire kids everywhere and to push people to achieve success through all circumstances, definitely a second book is in the making," he said.Louis DiVincenti has almost no memory of the first few weeks, just the steady beeps and chirps that managed to pierce the fog as he lay in a hospital bed at University Medical Center.

He had arrived at UMCs new Burn Center on March 10, even before it officially opened, after being electrocuted by power lines at work. The accident caused burns on 40 percent of his body and would soon claim two of the toes on his right foot.

As the days passed, DiVincenti felt the presence of his sister Mary, who had been by his side all along, monitoring the same beeps and chirps with the rest of the centers staff. And as the narcotics used to keep the excruciating pain at bay began to ebb, DiVincenti was able to begin recognizing the faces and remembering the names of the doctors and nurses who had been helping him recover.

On Friday afternoon, DiVincenti stood with the aid of a walker in the courtyard of the UMC complex on Canal Street, choking back tears as he told many of those same staff members they had become like family to him.

Ill be forever grateful for the people and the facility here for saving my life, he said, noting that he arrived with only a 2 percent chance of survival. And I really do believe that they did save my life.

DiVincenti is recovering at home and is in his second week of outpatient physical therapy.

UMC officials say his storys happy outcome is just one of many more to come now that New Orleans  after a three-decade absence  is once again home to a burn center.

This fills a hole in the greater New Orleans area thats been there for 30 years, state Fire Marshal H. "Butch" Browning said. This is going to save peoples lives, including firefighters.

Letters: Consequences of Louisiana budget not funding UMC? Loss of jobs, education support, state revenue In response to Dan Fagans Sunday opinion column, Fiscal cliff not nearly what governor cited as an excuse to raise taxes, and as someone wh

Funding cuts at the former Charity Hospital forced the closure of the burn unit there 32 years ago, and West Jefferson Medical Center eliminated its unit 26 years ago. Ever since, burn victims in the New Orleans metro area have been sent to Baton Rouge or Shreveport or transported out of state.

If you delay care for about two hours, which is the average transport time, your mortality can go up dramatically, somewhere in the order of 20 percent, said Dr. Jeffrey Carter, who came from North Carolina to become the new burn centers medical director. A 1-in-5 chance of dying because it took you longer to get there is not really acceptable, particularly when you have the rich medical community you do in New Orleans.

The new 27,000-square-foot center, which has seen about 50 patients since early April, has 16 inpatient ICU beds, four outpatient clinic rooms, a debridement room with a hydrotherapy tank, a dedicated operating room and a therapy and rehabilitation center.

The facility is helicopter-accessible and can be increased to a 20-bed capacity during major emergencies, Carter said.

Dr. Peter DeBlieux, UMCs chief medical officer, said the process began two years ago, when the new hospital identified creating a burn center as one of its first three initiatives, along with advancing primary care and adding palliative medicine.

In addition to cutting down on time-consuming transfers, treating burn victims locally allows them to have family members close by.

The presence of family during recovery, Carter said, really is a big motivator in terms of people getting better.

The importance of many of the center's facilities is obvious, like the specially outfitted baths and the large, equipment-filled rehabilitation center.

Carter said burn victims can lose up to 20 percent of their muscle mass as their body fights to repair the damage, and access to a full range of physical therapy options is crucial.

Other elements are more subtle: double doors on the bathrooms for easier access, and a family gathering room (the average burn victim is in their 30s).

Carter, who is one of only 300 burn surgeons in the U.S., also pointed out that the temperature in the rooms can be taken up to 85 degrees, with the capability to bring the temperature of the patient to 95 degrees.

Burn victims, Carter explained, suffer from hypothermia due to the loss of skin and expend massive amounts of energy to try to stay warm. The steam-heated rooms can keep their temperature safely elevated without things like heat lamps, which can be dangerous.

The center provides all the additional services patients need  pharmaceutical, rehabilitation, nutrition, dermatology, psychology and counseling  in one place.

"From a patients perspective, I couldnt have ended up in a better place in the world," DiVincenti said. "And for that Im extremely grateful."

+9 Six Flags, Charity Hospital, more: Well-known N.O. sites will need Cantrell's attention Along with assuming leadership of all things New Orleans when she takes office on May 7, Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell will come under pressure Not every juror was convinced Troy Rhodes was the stick-up man who blasted a delivery driver in the gut with a sawed-off shotgun during a robbery in 2002.

Yet in 2003, 10 out of 12 votes were enough to send the 35-year-old Rhodes to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for 99 years. Louisiana is one of two states that allow non-unanimous jury verdicts in felony cases.

Now, Rhodes soon could be freed. A federal judge declared in March that his original lawyers performed so poorly that Rhodes was effectively denied a fair trial. She ordered the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office to release or retry him within 120 days.

His new lawyer says a perfect storm of bad luck led to her clients conviction. Pam Metzger, a Southern Methodist University law school professor, says he fell victim to ineffective counsel, a bad identification by a heavily medicated victim and Louisianas divided jury rule.

You just couldnt have created circumstances that were more likely to predict an injustice being done, Metzger said.

Louisiana leads nation in locking up people for life; often, jurors couldn't even agree on guilt By the time authorities fished Bobby Byrd out of the Red River in 2011, they were pretty sick of him.

Two federal judges said it was bad enough that Rhodes' previous lawyers, at his trial and on appeal, failed to bring up a medical report showing the delivery driver had been prescribed painkillers before he identified Rhodes as his assailant.

Even so, New Orleans prosecutors say the deliveryman remains convinced that Rhodes was the shooter. They plan to appeal U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzos decision tossing out his conviction.

Even if Rhodes wins at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, prosecutors say they will put him on trial again.

On the morning of June 19, 2002, David Blohm, a driver for Leidenheimer Baking Co., had just stopped at the A&D Food Store on Touro Street when a man hopped into the passenger side of his truck with a sawed-off shotgun.

Blohm handed over a wad of cash from the truck and from his wallet. The robber wasnt satisfied.

"I told him I gave him everything I had," Blohm said at the trial, according to a Times-Picayune article at the time. "He leaned forward with the gun and pulled the trigger."

Blohm was taken to the hospital. He was in and out of consciousness and unable to make an identification from a photographic lineup on June 22 and 24. On June 25, the same day he underwent liver surgery, he picked Rhodes as the shooter.

Blohm confidently repeated the identification at his trial, and he denied he was under the influence of painkillers when he first identified Rhodes.

Nevertheless, there was doubt among the jurors. The jury remained undecided after four votes. When the trial judge asked if they could reach a verdict, the foreman seemed uncertain.

I think there is some discrepancies about the testimony and some of the other eyewitnesses that testified in this case, he said.

In the end, however, the jury voted 10-2 to convict.

Louisiana split juries have convicted several people wrongly, but not enough data to discern a trend Wilfred Moliere feels somewhat vindicated now. But he recalls the isolation he felt two decades ago inside a Jefferson Parish jury room, where

Rhodes repeatedly appealed his conviction and 99-year sentence in state court. Eventually, his bid for freedom gained traction in federal courts.

Rhodes' new lawyers said he was denied his right to a fair trial by ineffective lawyering from Iona Renfroe, the public defender who represented him at the trial. Although Renfroe had medical records showing that Blohm was on a constant stream of morphine, Percocet and Promethazine in the days before he made his identification, she never confronted him with them.

In a case that was so closely decided, confronting Blohm could have flipped the verdict, Metzger said.

U.S. District Judge Helen "Ginger" Berrigan ruled in 2014 that Renfroes failure to press Blohm on the painkillers amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel.

First Berrigan detailed her examination of Blohms prescriptions and records of their administration, which she said showed that Blohm was still on painkillers when he made the ID. Then, she theorized that Blohm might have picked Rhodes as the shooter because Rhodes was a regular customer at the store.

"In the end, notwithstanding the victim's 'hundred' to 'hundred-and-ten' percent certainty regarding the identification, the jury nearly hung," Berrigan said. "Only ten out of twelve jurors ultimately voted to convict."

That was not the end of the case, however. Under federal rules, Rhodes also had to prove that he got a raw deal in state appeals courts. Metzger argued that Rhodes original appellate attorney, Kevin Boshea, erred by failing to raise the medication issue in Louisiana courts.

Boshea apparently never knew about the painkillers because he did not have a copy of Blohms medical records. Ninety percent of the public defenders case file was missing when Boshea received a copy. He said he assumed the records were lost in Hurricane Katrina.

They werent, and later, lawyers were eventually able to turn up a copy of the medical records. Metzger said Boshea should have tried harder to obtain them.

Boshea did not return a call for comment. Renfroe died in 2013.

On March 8, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo, who took over the case after Berrigan retired, found that Boshea had erred, too. She gave the District Attorneys Office 120 days to either retry or release Rhodes.

The district attorney plans to appeal her ruling. Prosecutors say Berrigan made too many assumptions in her intricate interpretation of the medical records. They also argued that Renfroe might have made a strategic choice to avoid boring jurors with a discussion of pharmaceuticals.

Judge Berrigans interpretation of the medical records is, at best, not beyond dispute. What is more, it is not at all clear that attempts to parse the records Talmudic subtleties in open court would have been particularly effective, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Ponoroff said in one filing, referring to the famously complex commentaries on Jewish law.

New Orleans DA's Office asks judge to dismiss lawsuit over use of 'fake subpoenas' Lawyers for the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office told a federal judge Wednesday that prosecutors should be shielded from liability fo

Even if the defense had succeeded in convincing jurors that Blohm was on medication when he first identified Rhodes, it does not follow that this would have had a material effect on the verdict, he added.

Metzger said she is confident Rhodes can win at a new trial. Among other issues, she hopes to present jurors with scientific studies on cross-racial identifications, which show they are less reliable than intra-racial IDs. Blohm is white and Rhodes is black.

Metzger has asked Milazzo to order Rhodes immediate release, while the district attorney has asked her to put a hold on her order for a new trial while they appeal it to the 5th Circuit Court.

Prosecutors point to Rhodes criminal record before the shooting: He was convicted of an armed robbery in New Orleans and a bank robbery in LaPlace. His defense attorneys say he has since completed a bachelors degree and served as a trustee at Angola.

"While our office is pleased that this defendant is working to better himself while imprisoned by taking advantage of educational and vocational programs available to him, we would oppose his release ahead of a second trial, should one remain ordered," said Ken Daley, a spokesman for the District Attorney's Office.

Metzger said her client remains optimistic he will return home to his wife and family.

The ability to have hope and faith and optimism and grace while youre living under this cloud that says you will die in jail is such an extraordinary gift, she said.Keeven Robinson, the 22-year-old man who died while being arrested by Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office deputies last week, was asphyxiated, and his death is being investigated as a homicide, officials announced Monday.

The announcement came two days after the autopsy was performed on Robinson, and the findings are preliminary, Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said.

The autopsy showed Robinson had injuries to the neck consistent with compressive asphyxia. That occurs when a persons neck is squeezed from the outside.

Sheriff Joe Lopinto said four narcotics deputies who were questioned in connection with Robinson's death have been reassigned to desk duty. That is not a step the agency always takes in use-of-force cases.

Can't see video below? Click here.

Lopinto did not immediately identify the deputies. They are all white, and Robinson was African-American.

According to the Sheriffs Office, narcotics agents conducting surveillance on Robinson as part of a drug-dealing investigation followed him to a gas station at Labarre Place and Jefferson Highway during the late morning Thursday.

Robinson tried to drive away when he noticed the agents  with badges and in plainclothes  approaching on foot, the Sheriffs Office has said.

But he bailed out of his car about a block away after crashing into two Sheriffs Office vehicles. Deputies chased Robinson on foot as he leapt over a number of fences and caught him in the backyard of a home.

They fought with Robinson  who was in possession of what deputies suspected was heroin  before they managed to handcuff him, Lopinto said. Lopinto said Robinson did not have a gun on him during the struggle, though he had one in his car.

At that point, Robinson stopped breathing, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Paramedics took Robinson to Ochsner Medical Center a few blocks away, but he died there.

Initially, Lopinto said investigators were trying to determine whether Robinsons history of asthma had contributed to his death.

But Robinsons family and their supporters immediately expressed skepticism about that possibility. They said they feared Robinson had been either beaten to death or strangled by deputies, who dont carry body-worn cameras in Jefferson Parish.

Cvitanovich met with Robinsons family on Monday to share the findings. Robinson's mother and other relatives were visibly upset leaving. An attorney representing the family, Hester Hilliard, made a brief statement thanking the coroner's office for its professionalism and transparency.

Jefferson Parish NAACP President Gaylor Spiller said she was relieved deputies issued a ruling on Robinson's death within a matter of days and that "there was no cover-up."

Louisiana State Police will assist the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office on the investigation into Robinson's homicide. The FBI's Civil Rights Task Force will also participate.Source: icrc.org

Shanghai (ICRC)  Senior military officers from 19 countries in Asia and the Pacific have gathered in Shanghai for a regional workshop on the law of armed conflict at sea to be held from 8 to 11 May. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and National Defence University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) are jointly hosting the workshop. As many as 35 military officers will discuss a range of operational issues related to naval warfare and current issues about humanitarian action at sea during the four days.

"The aim of the workshop is to build the capacity of region's naval forces in law of armed conflict at sea," said Zarvan Raniero Owsia, an armed forces delegate at the ICRC delegation in Beijing. "The workshop seeks to establish a neutral platform for operational dialogue with, and among, participating countries on issues relevant to the region, including responses to maritime issues and humanitarian action at sea."

Specialists from the ICRC and participating countries will make presentations, discuss case studies and take part in group exercises based on the law of naval warfare, the use of force during armed conflicts as well as other humanitarian concerns.

"Promoting the law of armed conflict is an important part of the PLA's political tasks," said Major General Zhao Wenhua, vice principal of the National Defence University. "The world today is undergoing profound and complicated changes. The trend for peace, development, cooperation and win-win situations is mixed with increasing uncertainties threatening world peace and development, with regional conflicts and local wars breaking out one after another. The law of armed conflict is facing many new challenges, both in theory and in practice. It's necessary to strengthen communication among countries in this regard."

"The PLA has integrated the law of armed conflict into the curricula of its academies and universities, invited the ICRC to provide training, and organized simulation exercises, which achieved positive results," added Wenhua.

The workshop also witnessed the launch of the Chinese version of the Updated Commentary on the Second Geneva Convention.

The ICRC and the PLA have collaborated since 1990 to promote understanding and awareness of the law of armed conflict.

This is the first time the workshop is being held in China. It was previously hosted in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, during which 100 naval officers from 25 countries took part in the discussions.Gaylor Spiller, president of the Jefferson Parish chapter of the NAACP, said Monday that she is "very happy" to find out that the death of Keeven Robinson -- the 22-year-old man who died while being arrested by Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office deputies last week -- "wasn't a cover up."

Spiller attended a Monday news conference in which Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto and Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich said Robinson was asphyxiated, and his death is being investigated as a homicide.

Lopinto identified the JPSO agents involved as white. Robinson was African-American.

"The main reason why the NAACP is involved is because given the fact that there is a lot of killing by some -- some -- police officers where we believe they use excessive force...That's the NAACP concern," Spiller said.

Can't see video below? Click here.

Lopinto said four narcotics deputies who were questioned in connection with Robinson's death have been reassigned to desk duty.

"We want the truth to the community," Spiller said.

Click here to read more on the background of the Robinson case and what occurred during the incident last week.if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday applauded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) announcement that it will dismantle its northern nuclear test ground between May 23 to 25.

"The measures taken by the DPRK demonstrate its goodwill for advancing denuclearization of the peninsula and building mutual trust with related parties," spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing.

He said that this is conducive to the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and should be welcomed, encouraged, and supported by the international community.

The DPRK announced that it will hold a ceremony for the dismantling of the northern nuclear test ground between May 23 and May 25, depending on weather conditions, and journalists from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and the Republic of Korea will be allowed to conduct on-site coverage.BAGHDAD, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Air Force on Monday carried out an airstrike on a position of the Islamic State (IS) militants inside Syria near the border with Iraq, the Iraqi military said.

Acting on intelligence reports, the Iraqi F-16 warplanes pounded a "logistic headquarters" for terrorist Daesh (IS group) in al-Deshisha area inside Syria, according to a statement by the media office of the Joint Operations Command.

The statement gave no further details, but said more information about the result of the airstrike will be released later.

The airstrike is the second this month on IS positions in Deshisha area in eastern Syria after May 6 airstrike, which both came as part of preemptive airstrikes against IS militants inside Syria with Iraqi F-16 fighter jets.

On April 19, Haider al-Abadi, the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, ordered Iraqi F-16 fighter jets to carry out airstrikes on IS positions inside Syria near the border with Iraq, killing 36 IS militants, including five of the group's leaders.

On April 26, Abadi pledged to continue airstrikes on positions and headquarters of the IS in Iraq's neighboring Syria, asserting that Iraq will not interfere in Syrian affairs.

"Iraq will not allow IS terrorists to regroup in Iraq, as they will not find breeding ground inside Iraq anymore," Abadi told reporters in Baghdad.

He said that IS group has suffered fiasco in both Iraq and Syria, but the complex situation in Syria and the ongoing conflict on the ground gave a breathing chance for IS in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq.

On Dec. 9, 2017, Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.WandaVision may be getting a Disney Plus Spinoff

Looks like we haven't seen the end of Agatha Harkness after all.A nuclear-armed Iran is something that the world community should strive to prevent, but in the long run our pushing Iran into a corner will be detrimental to both the United States and Israel

1. Iran is the Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism

The State Department has been regurgitating this mindless drivel for decades and now President Trump is echoing it. Mr. Trump was more lucid and forthright before becoming President when he bluntly wrote that Saudi Arabia is the biggest funder of terrorism. But now that Israel and Saudi Arabia have formed a temporary alliance of convenience against Iran, President Trump is willing to ignore his better instinct about our ally Saudi Arabia. Iran has never attacked the American homeland and was among the first countries to condemn the attacks of September 11. Without exception, every Islamic terrorist attack in the United States has been perpetrated by Sunni extremists who have been indoctrinated by the intolerant, anti-Western Wahhabi sect funded by the Saudi regime. From well before 9/11 and up to the present day, Saudi-taught and Saudi-inspired terrorists have remained the greatest threat to the United States.

As with any myth, there is always a kernel of truth and it is undeniable that Iran has sponsored attacks on U.S. interests overseasbut only when it perceived them as legitimate responses to military aggression. The most obvious example of this was the 1983 suicide bombing of our Marine barracks in Lebanon in which 241 of our Marines lost their lives. While that attack was deplorable, what is usually left out of the narrative about that attack was that the United States was initially viewed by all sides as neutral, but eventually the White House chose sides in the ongoing civil war in Lebanonnever a good idea in any civil warand started shelling Shia villages. Moreover, if we consider which state sponsor of terrorism is responsible for the most American deaths overseas, again Iran falls short. That label is more appropriately awarded to our other longtime ally Pakistan, which has funded and protected the Taliban and the Haqqani network who have killed or wounded thousands of Americans in Afghanistan.

2. Iran Would Pose the Greatest Nuclear Threat to the World

Wrong again. That characterization is once again more accurately associated with Pakistan. A nuclear-armed Iran is something that the world community should strive to prevent, but it is laughable to insist that a nuclear Iran could ever pose as great a threat to the world as does Pakistan. Iran, for all its flaws, is not riven with deep religious and tribal divisions, nor is it infested with a large variety of powerful and independent terrorist groups. The prospect of Pakistan imploding and the central government losing control of its nuclear arsenal is a real possibility and if those weapons were to fall into the wrong hands the world would be far less secure than it would be with a nuclearized Iran.

But we do not worry so much about Pakistan for two reasons. First, it already has nuclear weapons, and getting any country to relinquish its nuclear program is difficult. And second, all of Pakistans nuclear weapons are targeting India. To be painfully honest, American concern about Pakistans nuclear arsenal would be far greater if Israel were located along the Indus rather than along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.

3. We Want a Better Deal

The plethora of commentaries condemning President Trumps withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is bewildering. Not bewildering in that they criticize him for needlessly increasing international tensions nor in causing yet more stress in our relationship with our European allies. Rather, pundit after pundit keeps warning that walking away from the agreement may cause Iran to accelerate its development of nuclear weapons and then we would be stuck with a nuclear-armed Iran, as is now the case with North Korea. Are all these otherwise brilliant analysts really this clueless? The whole point of President Trumps walking away from the agreement is to maneuver Iran into a more belligerent stance in order to justify a military attack by the United States. Is the current Iran deal flawed? Yes. Can it be improved? Yes. Would Benjamin Netanyahuand by extension President Trumpaccept fixes to the agreement? No. What is clear is that regardless of what flexibility Iran might show, it would never be enough to satisfy them. Even if it were to close down all its nuclear reactors, it would be insufficient. This military attack will not be like the blundering 2003 invasion of Iraq; it will be solely done with aircraft and missiles, but it will be enough to kill hundreds of Iranian civilians, though few if any Americans. That the Saudis would be willing to side with Israel and America against another Islamic state may seem incomprehensible at first, but any cursory understanding of religion makes this understandable: Apostates and heretics are always more despised than members of other faiths.

4. America First

What ever became of America First? Our policy isnt even Israel First. Our policy has evolveddevolvedinto Likud First. How is Mr. Trumps approach toward Iran any different from George W. Bushs approach to Iraq, which Mr. Trump repeatedly and convincingly criticized? Frustratingly, President Trumps policy to avoid foreign entanglements has been hijacked by those very same individualsparticularly Mr. Netanyahu and John Boltonwho convinced President Bush fifteen years ago that he needed to attack Iraq.

But there remains a fundamental difference in attitude even if the result is the same. Mr. Bush always believed America should be a force for good in the world, and so he embraced with evangelical zeal the interventionist mantle of all the post-World War II presidents that preceded him. A decent, earnest man who wanted to prove himself decisive, Mr. Bush was easily convinced that he would be making the world a better place by ridding it of Saddam Hussein. How President Trump developed into Likuds Lackey is diametrically different from how former President Bush became the same. President Trump, unlike all his post-World War II predecessors, seeks to embrace a more isolationist foreign policy in which we do not needlessly meddle in other peoples affairs. Thus, Mr. Trumps early and harsh criticism of Mr. Bush for his Iraq debacle. But even populist isolationists can become interventionists if they can be convinced that another country poses a serious security threat to the United States. To do good is appealing, but to avoid evil is even more seductive and the result is the same: an ultimately counterproductive intervention in a conflict that could be avoided.

5. We Will be Safer

In the long run our pushing Iran into a corner will be detrimental to both the United States and Israel, but the negative consequences are years off, and initially, President Trumps willingness to walk away from the nuke agreement and attack Iran will be seen as successes, much like the invasion of Iraq appeared to be a success for the first few years afterwards. If the attack is timed just right, as was President Bushs invasion of Iraq, the majority of Americans will rally around President Trump, and he might even get re-elected. The negative consequences from attacking would not be seen immediately, perhaps even for several yearsagain, as in Iraq. As mentioned above, Iran has never sponsored an attack on the American homeland and rarely has supported attacks against U.S. interests overseas. All of this will change when we attack Irans nuclear facilities. The Iranian response will not be immediate, but it will change the dynamics both in the Middle East and here at home for a long time.

The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politicswe approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.BAMAKO, May 14 (ChinaMil) -- Force Commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) Major General Jean-Paul Deconinck awarded on Saturday the Certificate of Appreciation to the 5th Chinese peacekeeping guard detachment to Mali to commend Chinese peacekeepers contributions to promoting the peace process in Mali.

The prize-awarding ceremony was held at the MINUSMA Headquarters in Bamako, capital of Mali.

The Certificate of Appreciation is the highest honor given by the UN to peacekeeping forces and peacekeepers serving in different peacekeeping mission areas.

Deconinck said that the Chinese peacekeeping guards, with their rigorous discipline, excellent quality and professional defense capabilities, are able to effectively respond to emergencies and ensure the absolute safety of the UN camps.

The Chinese peacekeeping guards respect local customs and observe local laws and regulations in performing armed patrols, guard duties and other operational tasks, winning widespread praise of the local people and demonstrating a good sense of military-civil cooperation, said Deconinck in the order of commendation.

Since deployed to the mission area in Gao in May last year, against the background of the deteriorating security situations, increasingly complex political environment and extremely harsh natural conditions, the 5th Chinese peacekeeping guard detachment has been performing security guard missions at the headquarters of the Sector East of the MINUSMA and the UN peacekeeping forces' camp and other emergency support tasks, The detachment is regarded by MINUSMA as the "most professional force", and the 170 peacekeepers of the detachment have all been awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Daniar Supriyadi and Katherine E. Dethan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 11:16 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3cad02 3 Opinion cyber-war,cyber-security,Internet,cyber-attacks,cyber-security-agency,military Free

On April 16, Western governments blamed Russia over cyberattacks targeting network infrastructure worldwide. The attacks have affected network routers, switches, firewalls and network intrusion detection systems, according to The Guardian. Western leaders deemed cyber-offensive action the appropriate response to the purported Russian attack.



Earlier, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, speaking at the international conference on cybersecurity in Jakarta on March 5, had argued that cyberwar posed a very real threat to national security, along with terrorism and drugs. It has been reported that a significant number of cyberattacks  exactly 205,502,159  occurred in 2017, most of which were directed against government websites and categorized as cybervandalism, according to the Indonesia Security Incident Response Team on Internet Infrastructure.



Cyberwar is not governed in the 2001 Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, as this convention substantively deals with illegal access/hacking, interception, misuse of devices, computer-related forgery and fraud, child pornography, etc. To date, there is no binding international legal instrument encompassing cyberwar.



Nonetheless, a prominent document governing cyberwarfare is the Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, authored by distinguished international law practitioners and scholars with facilitation from NATOs Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia.



That manual, however, does not express any opinion about the weaponizing of artificial intelligence or autonomous weapons, as recently discussed by the United Nations.



That manual not only substantively deals with the use of force by states in the context of military operations, but also examines key aspects of the public international law governing cyberoperations during peace time. Whereas, according to the manual, the term cyberoperation refers to the employment of cybercapabilities (cyberweapons, tactics and methods) to achieve objectives in or through cyberspace, the definition of cyberwar appears not to have been explicitly stipulated.



Nevertheless, an online glossary of the above NATO center indicates that cyberwar as is escalated state of cyberconflict between two or more states carried out by state actors against cyberinfrastructure as part of a military campaign. Cyberwar can be either declared war or de facto war with the absence of a declaration (ccdcoe.org).



In that context, cyberwar connotes a cyberattack carried out by state actors that can be compared to cyberterrorism, where an act/threat of violence (usually) by non-state actors creates fear or compliance in a victim or a wider audience for political endsas cited by the scholar Peter Grabosky.



States, however, may be responsible for cyberoperations directed against other states even though those operations are not conducted by state organs. The manual articulates, as supported by customary international law, that operations carried out by non-state actors shall be attributable to the state if the person or group acts under the instruction of, the direction of or the control of that state. Any state that sponsors the cyberattacks operations will also be held responsible for the damage caused.



Attributing responsibility for a cyberattack, is not an easy task for authorities, as digital evidence of cyberattacks exhibits peculiar challenges, inter alia, anticomputer forensics, distributed evidence and technical challenges. Even the victims of cyberattacks are often reluctant to report the attacks because of embarrassment, a lack of awareness, or ignorance of what to do. Often they simply put it down to experience, as researchers and reports note.



In Indonesia, even though neither the 2002 Defense Law nor the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions Law deal specifically with cyberwarfare or cybersecurity, those pieces of legislation certainly admit that technological development decisively influences the form of threats to national sovereignty and political independence. In that connection, the Defense Minister promptly issued Ministerial Regulation No. 82/ 2014 on defense guidelines regarding cyberwar, cyberterrorism, cyberespionage, etc.



Indonesian authorities thus have powers to take defensive action or conduct counterattacks against cyberattacks that might prejudice national security. The International Law Commission in its draft articles on the responsibility of states for internationally wrongful acts incorporated countermeasures as action taken by a state in response to an international wrongful act of another state directed against the former state.



To invoke the right to conduct countermeasures, the action must be proportionate to the damage resulting from a cyberattack; otherwise it would be considered a mere reprisal in international law. Countermeasures are considered one of the preclusions of wrongfulness, whereas international law prohibits states from taking revenge.



All in all, the alleged cyberattack on critical infrastructure in the case between some Western countries and Russia provides insight for Indonesia to strengthen national cybersecurity whenever cyberwar is inevitable.



Thus authorities should identify public and private entities that provide essential services for the maintenance of critical societal and/or economic activities, such as energy (e.g. electricity, oil, and gas), transportation (e.g. air, rail, road and water transportation), banking and financial market infrastructure, the health care system, and digital infrastructure (e.g. telecommunication, internet service providers and online media players).



Apart from adopting and maintaining organizational and technical cybersecurity measures, operators of those services should promptly notify the authority for ascertaining risks with regard to whether or not a cyberattack has a significant impact on the continuity of essential services.

***

The authors are digital business and technology lawyers at Bahar law firm. The views expressed are their own.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.Britain got a glimpse Saturday at Queen Elizabeth II's elaborate formal consent for her grandson Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle, a week ahead of the wedding ceremony.

The Instrument of Consent, intricately hand-written on vellum and illuminated with decorations, sets out the monarch's approval for the union, which is required in law.

Harry is sixth in line to the throne and the first six need the sovereign's permission to marry, otherwise they and their descendants are disqualified from inheriting the crown.

Buckingham Palace released pictures of the document, which Queen Elizabeth signed in March. In her Elizabeth R signature at the top, the the R stands for regina, the Latin for queen.

The instrument is written using the "royal we", or majestic plural.

It states: "Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle."

KCVO refers to Harry's status as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch.

The document, which will be presented to the couple after the wedding, is flanked with artwork representing the bride and groom.

To the left, the design incorporates a red dragon -- the heraldic symbol of Wales -- along with the UK's floral emblems: the rose of England, Scotland's thistle and the Irish shamrock.

It also features Harry's label, which includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer arms of his mother Diana, princess of Wales' family.

Read also: Guide to Britain's royal wedding on May 19

The design on the right, for Markle, includes a rose -- the national flower of the United States -- flanked by two golden poppies: the state flower of California, where the former actress was born.

It also bears the Welsh leek, Harry's label and olive branches adopted from the Great Seal of the United States.

The document depicts Harry's coronet and the Commonwealth flag.

Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Commonwealth and last month made Harry her youth ambassador to the 53-country organisation.

The instrument is sealed with the Great Seal of the Realm, used to symbolise the sovereign's approval of important state documents.

- Law to protect dynasty -

The Royal Marriages Act 1772 required descendants of king George II to seek the sovereign's consent before they wed, otherwise their marriages were deemed invalid.

The law was repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, under which only the first six in line to inherit the throne need the monarch's permission.

The first five are currently Prince Charles, the monarch's eldest son; his eldest son Prince William; his eldest son Prince George; then William's other children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Harry, Charles's second son, was fifth at the time of his engagement in November. His nephew Louis was born on April 23.

Harry is the first to receive consent under the new law.The tip came from a woman standing in line at a post office in a small town in northern California.

A customer was shipping dozens of boxes to China, and the caller suspected they were filled with abalone, a highly-prized shellfish listed as an endangered species.

But fish and wildlife officers who responded to the call instead uncovered an international smuggling ring that has been stripping the bluffs along the northern California coastline of Dudleya succulent plants and shipping them to countries in Asia where they are used for decoration.

"The poachers literally fly into the US just to get these plants so they can ship them to Korea, China or Japan," said Captain Patrick Foy, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "They are ripping them out of the ground and selling them between $40 and $50 dollars a piece."

The plant, which grows in bud-like circles and resembles an artichoke, is called Dudleya farinosa and is native to the rugged coastlines of Oregon and northern California.

Foy said several suspects from Asia have been arrested in recent months in connection with the heists, including two Koreans and one Chinese national who were nabbed on April 4.

The trio had entered the country as tourists and were detained as they were about to ship 1,334 of the plants overseas. An additional 1,000 Dudleya were later found in their hotel room.

Read also: Thousands join coastal clean-up in Bali

- 'They favor remote locations' -

The three men -- Tae Hun Kim, 52, and Tae Hyun Kim, 46, both of North Korea, and Liu Fengxia, 37, of China -- are scheduled to appear in a California court on May 16, charged with several felony and misdemeanor counts. If convicted, they face up to nine years in prison and steep fines.

At least two other similar cases are pending.

Foy said he believes poachers in the last year have quietly been slipping into the country, targeting remote areas along the coast and digging up "thousands and thousands" of Dudleya before stuffing them into boxes with crumpled up newspaper and putting them in the mail.

"They go in at night or during the day... and seem to favor locations that are not well traveled -- places where you can park your car and walk half a mile and not be seen by a lot of people," he added.

"These are people who are taking every plant that they can find and they are shipping them by the hundreds of boxes at a time."

Authorities said they fear the plant, also known as "bluff lettuce", could end up on the endangered species list if the poaching continues and are warning of the detrimental effect on the environment.

"They are ripping the plants out of their habitats and they are trampling other plants while they are doing it," said botanist Stephen McCabe, emeritus director of research at the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum.

"It's just disgusting that they are going into the wild and stripping whole cliffs."

The Dudleya, which can continue to grow for years once potted, is said to be highly prized in China because of its resemblance to the lotus flower.

Foy said that while he understands the attraction, he was baffled as to why collectors were not simply buying similar-looking plants.

"Why these ones are so much extra special, frankly I have no idea," he said. "There are perfectly other nice succulent plants out there that can be purchased for five dollars at a nursery."Despite her childrens repeated requests to shut down her Maranatha comic store in Bandung, West Java, Herlina Markus is staying true to her heart, patiently waiting for comic book lovers to discover the legendary wayang comic books that propelled the place to popularity in the 1960s.

Founded in 1961 by Herlinas late husband, Markus Hadi, Maranatha comic store published some of the most popular wayang comic books, most notably RA Kosasihs Mahabaratha.

Mahabarathas five Pandawa  Yudistira, Bima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sadewa, were the heroes of Indonesian comic readers in the 1960s, way before Marvels Avengers and Japans Doraemon dominated the local comic market.

It may be hard to imagine that Maranatha was once a giant in the countrys comic industry. Located on Jl. Ibu Inggit Ganarsih in Bandung, the small store is filled with old comics with faded covers.

In some sense, Maranatha is not entirely a comic store. Half of the store is occupied with photocopy machines and stationary products.

Perhaps children nowadays prefer to watch TV and play with smartphones rather than read our comics, Herlina said. And they love Japans manga. The kind of comic with giant googly eyes.

Manga is a worlds apart from the wayang-inspired comics that were published and sold by Herlina and her husband.

RA Kosasihs Mahabaratha comics are filled with intricate details of the wayang universe, which blends Hindu and Indonesian culture. Meanwhile, Petruk-Gareng comics by Tatang S. tell funny stories from the perspective of two famed Javanese wayang figures.

Before establishing Maranatha, Markus Hadi had worked as a bookkeeper at a fish canning company and spent his spare time drawing comics and sending them to magazines.

One time, a publisher asked him to work as a full-time comic artist in Jakarta, the 81-year-old said. Om Kus [Markus] was eager to accept the offer but I wanted my children to stay and study in Bandung. At the end, Om Kus declined the offer.

Sole guardian: Herlina Markus poses with a comic book in her Maranatha comic store in Bandung, West Java. (Fabian Resa Triputra/File)

What seemed to be a missed opportunity turned out to be the start of Maranatha. The owner of Bandung bookstore on Jl. Alkateri, Bandung, had asked Markus to draw and publish his own comics.

We took the chance, starting with a small number of copies. We were surprised the comics sold out quickly Herlina said.

The couple opened the publishing house and comic store, Maranatha, in 1961 on Jl. Kopo. It was named after the university in Bandung where Markus studied accounting for two years before dropping out.

Maranatha started making comic adaptations of Hans Christian Andersens stories and local folklore, such as Malin Kundang and Tangkuban Parahu.

We once made three series of Putri Duyung [Mermaid]. The school children would come to our store and ask when we would publish the next book, she said about Nanang Durahmans Putri Duyung comics.

In the end, we expanded the series into 10 books. Children loved the stories, they even cried because the stories were so sad.

As demand grew steadily, the couple looked for new talent to produce new titles.

A day after we posted the advertisement, dozens of comic artists lined up in front of our store with their works in their hands. Some even said, You dont have to pay me, please just publish my works so I can become famous, said Herlina.

Holding on: Once a celebrated comic store, Maranatha is losing its appeal, with the store now a third of its original size and its publishing business shut down. (Fabian Resa Triputra/File)

But the talent that really put Maranatha in the spotlight was RA Kosasih.

Prior to creating the Mahabaratha comic, RA Kosasih had gained popularity in 1953 for his Sri Asih comic series, a batik-clad superwoman largely inspired by William Marstons Wonder Woman.

Pak Kosasih adjusted the Mahabaratha story in line with Indonesian culture. People instantly loved it, perhaps because they were familiar with Mahabaratha, which often played in shadow puppet shows in their villages, Herlina said.

Maranatha printed 2,000 copies of one comic title that would sell out in a few days. The comics reached towns across West Java, Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Palembang.

Markus passed away in 1993, a time when Japans manga started eclipsing the popularity of wayang comics. Herlina continues to run Maranatha with substantial adjustments.

The store is now a third of its original size. Herlina has turned the remaining space into shop-houses and leases them to earn a steady income.

Herlina only reprints 2,000 copies of an existing comic title once every six months. As Maranatha has closed its publishing business, Herlina prints her comics at a local publishing house.

Maranatha used to have 17 employees. Now, there are only three employees left to help Herlina run the store.

Herlina realized that her once-celebrated comic store is losing its appeal to the younger generation.

My grandchild even said, Granny, wayang comics are so confusing! It is because they dont know the characters.

Herlina acknowledged the need for fresh blood to reinvigorate Maranatha. However, none of her four children or 10 grandchildren are willing to keep the store.

My children told me to close the store instead, she said.

I have one granddaughter who wanted to keep the store. But then she got married and moved to Australia. I believe it is Gods will.

However, not having any apparent successors does not concern her. Herlina prefers to live in the present rather than worry about the future.

Om Kus asked me maintain the store [] The bookstore agents keep encouraging me not to cease the business. Its what has kept me going until now.

Above all, deep in her heart, Herlina truly believes in the courage and kindness conveyed in wayang comics.

Bima is an honest man and Yudistira has a pure heart, she said. Wayang stories contain morals that help us shape our personality.Although not obvious at first, the kitchen and how we approach cooking, recipes and ingredients are a perfect metaphor for life.

In her latest book, critically acclaimed Indonesian novelist, poet, journalist and food writer Laksmi Pamuntjak paints a colorful picture of the relationship between friendship, self-discovery and mouthwatering delicacies.

The Birdwomans Palate, the English translation to Laksmis novel Aruna & Lidahnya ( 2014 ), was published in January this year.

The book follows protagonist Aruna, an epidemiologist dedicated to food and avian politics, on her journey across Indonesia to research bird flu cases where she discovers the countrys culinary treasures together with two friends and a coworker.

It was also recently announced that Palavi Films has acquired the rights to adapt the novel for the silver screen. Directed by Edwin with a screenplay by Titien Wattimena, the movie is scheduled for release in late September and will star Dian Sastrowardoyo as Aruna.

Read also: Dian Sastrowardoyo to star in Laksmi Pamuntjaks book-to-movie adaptation

Laksmi talked about her lifelong love affair with food during the recent event Temu Sastra at the Rumah Budaya Indonesia in Berlin.

I come from a family that is very passionate about food, she recalled. We had a cook who created the most wonderful dishes for us at home, so I was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by good food. We also had a tradition as a family to go out and try new restaurants together.

Whenever she travels abroad, Laksmi likes to keep this tradition alive by visiting different restaurants.

She quickly realized that, compared to many other cuisines, preparing Indonesian dishes is rather labor-intensive, as they require a large variety of spices and condiments  which is arguably the main reason behind the archipelagos flavorful and rich culinary scene.

With The Jakarta Good Food Guide, she elevated the art of food writing in Indonesia to a new level. A guide to more than 500 restaurants, cafes and street vendors scattered throughout the capital, the series  published between 2001 and 2010  not only includes insightful reviews but also personal observations and essays on culinary traditions and heritage.

In The Birdwomans Palate, Laksmi shows the process of cooking can mean so much more than just preparing a meal  it can be about coming out of ones shell, to be more open for new things and to expand ones horizon. Talking about cooking can become a metaphor for love, hatred and revenge, but also sociology, politics and religion.

Food plays a vital role in everyones life  sometimes even more than we realize, because it is something we take for granted.

Sharing a personal story, Laksmi remembered her late husband, who passed away from cancer at the age of 44. During his last weeks, she said, he was on a drip, unable to ingest solid food, yet he continuously watched food channels on TV.

I thought it was too much to bear to see all this food when he couldnt even taste it himself anymore, but then I realized that many of our best life memories are related to food, she said. He talked a lot about the restaurants we had gone to together, the dishes we had eaten.

Read also: Laksmi Pamuntjak wins international award for female authors

After the international success of her debut novel The Question of Red (Amba in Indonesian)  a sweeping love story during the political turmoil in Indonesia in the 1960s  it may seem at first glance that Laksmi is turning away from political issues with The Birdwomans Palate, but instead, she said it was a natural development, given her background in food writing.

In any case, Laksmi added, her approach to writing a novel remained the same.

When you are writing, you have to be willing to do thorough research, expand your knowledge and most of all, be passionate, regardless of the topic, she said. And even though The Birdwomans Palate mainly revolves around food, it also touches on more serious issues, like corruption and bird flu.

The evening with Laksmi, whose sequel to The Question of Red will be published in August, was the first in the new event series called Temu Sastra (Literary Encounter), which, according to Ahmad Saufi, cultural attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, is dedicated to Indonesian literature and its main protagonists, including authors and translators.

The event encourages the audience to discover Indonesian literature through discussions with the authors, readings as well as Q&A sessions.

Indonesian literature experienced a global boost since Indonesia was the Guest of Honour country at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2015, he said. To accommodate the growing interest in Indonesian literature, we decided to establish this new forum.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara  Mon, May 14, 2018 06:00 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3b9026 2 National Lombok,stray-dog,stray-cat,Muslim-and-dogs,West-Nusa-Tenggara,rabies,Baiq-Desy-Marlina,tourism Free

Baiq Desy Marlina, 37, has been a savior of stray dogs and cats for two decades. However, media coverage has brought disapproving neighbors to her door. Now, she has to move at least 105 dogs and 39 cats  some of which have been with her for six to 10 years  to other places.

Since the story of her and her dogs was picked up by the media, Desy has faced criticism and online bullying. She cited several media outlets that ran her story without interviewing her, not giving context over how her mission benefited the larger public  they only presented it as religiously controversial, as she is a Muslim woman who wears a hijab and takes care of dogs.

Desy is a resident of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, a predominantly Muslim province. In most forms of Islam, dogs are considered unclean and Muslims should do their best not to touch their saliva. Earlier this year, another woman taking care of dogs, Hesti Sutrisno, 37, sparked online debates for keeping 11 dogs as pets in her home in Tangerang, as reported by tribunnews.com. Hesti wears a niqab.

I have asked them for more time, at least until I can sterilize all the dogs, Desy said, responding to the demand to send her dogs away from the neighborhood. Recently, she was also threatened via phone calls and text messages, some of which were death threats.

Since the story of her and her dogs was picked up by the media, Desy has faced criticism and online bullying. (Courtesy of Baiq Desy Marlina/-)

Lombok Island, a growing tourist destination, has many stray dogs. Along the southern coast of Lombok, there are more than 500 stray dogs, according to Desys estimate. The population will only continue to increase without human intervention. The stray animals are prone to rabies and often cause traffic accidents, especially among motorcyclists.

Scouring the streets for strays

Every weekend or on national holidays, Desy hits the streets of Lombok to search for and save stray cats and dogs. If she finds any, she brings them home, takes care of them and nurses the old and wounded ones. Male dogs are sterilized to avoid overbreeding.

The cats are kept at home and some are given to close family, because cats are more welcome in Muslim society. Desy cannot keep her dogs at her home in Kopang village, Central Lombok district, where it is forbidden to have dogs as pets. Instead, she keeps her dogs in Mataram City and West Lombok. However, Desy has been forced to find new places to house them as the locals began protesting after her story went viral.

Cats are not an issue, but I have to provide special places for the dogs. I have offered two puppies for adoption, but I will pay for their food and sterilization process when they grow up, she said.

Desys mission is not cheap. She spends Rp 6 million (US$429) to 7 million per month on food alone. The cost is even greater if her pets are sick or have to be sterilized. For sterilization, she pays Rp 650,000 per female dog and Rp 400,000 per male dog. Desy is hoping that local hotels and restaurants will help her to provide food for the animals.

Stray dogs will continue to exist. There must be an effort to control the population without killing them. Ive done this for a long time, and since then there has been constant criticism from the people, Desy told The Jakarta Post. She added that there had not been any help from the regional government, despite the fact that her mission also benefited the public. Two years ago, she reached out for help by sending out a request for shelter from the government. To this date, the letter has remained unanswered.

Having faith that Allah helps her

Her mission began in 2009. Then, Desy worked freelance in sales for instant noodles. She was tasked with returning expired instant noodles to a factory in Mataram.

Lombok Island, a growing tourist destination, has many stray dogs. Along the southern coast of Lombok, there are more than 500 stray dogs, according to Desys estimate. (JP/Panca Nugraha)

Desy felt it was a waste to just throw away the instant noodles, thinking that it would be beneficial for animals since there were many starving stray cats and dogs. So she only returned the instant noodle packages. The noodles themselves were softened in water and given to stray animals.

That was during the 1999 monetary crisis. I was only paid Rp 100,000 per month, she said.

Now, Desy runs a business online. She also puts animals up for adoption through Facebook. Through social media, she accepts donations from fellow animal-lovers, starting at Rp 100,000 per month. Some even offer to pay for the sterilization of her dogs.

Desy has faith in what she has done and believes that Allah has helped her to keep going this far. She said she understood the Islamic teaching about dogs and had a system to abide by it.

I know what I am doing. I prepare spare clothes and clean myself. I believe that all good things will bear goodness as well, and the bad things will bear badness, even to stray dogs, she said.

Believe me, there is an indescribable happiness when you save even just one stray puppy, because it also helps us for bigger things in the future.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Gaza City, Palestinian Territories  Mon, May 14, 2018 18:15 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e8e71 2 World Israel,Palestine,Jerusalem,Gaza-strip,clash Free

Twelve Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border Monday, the Gazan health ministry said, as mass protests and clashes erupted against the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

The 12, including a 14-year-old, were killed as major clashes broke out across the border between stone-throwing Palestinians seeking to damage the fence and Israeli snipers. Thousands of others were protesting near the border.

Clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel on Monday between Palestinians and Israeli forces ahead of the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Several thousand had gathered near the border, while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians were approaching the fence and seeking to damage it, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

Larger crowds were expected to gather later in the day to protest the move of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

The embassy inauguration was due to occur at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests and clashes began along the Gaza border on March 30.

The protests are calling for Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation to be allowed to return to their homes now inside Israel.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya  Mon, May 14, 2018 14:14 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3da09f 1 National SurabayaBombings,terrorism,police,family,IslamicStateMilitants,Sidoarjo,surabaya,East-Java Free

The East Java Police have announced that 25 people were killed and dozens injured in a string of suicide bombings that three families perpetrated in the province.

Thirteen of the 25 dead victims were the perpetrators, East Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Machfud Arifin told reporters on Monday.

A family of six, including a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old, were responsible for the deadly bombings of three Surabaya churches on Sunday morning. The church attacks killed 12 people, including Vincencius Evan, 11, and Nathan, 8.

A few hours later, a bomb prematurely went off at the Wonocolo rusnawa (low-cost apartment) located behind Taman Police station in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Three people  the father, the mother and their eldest son  were killed in the Sidoarjo incident, while the two daughters survived. It is believed that the family was plotting to attack the police station.

This morning, a family of five [attacked the Surabaya Police station]. [They] were carrying a little girl on their motorcycle. This is so heartbreaking, said Machfud.

The girl survived the attack and has been taken to the nearest hospital.

The police said they were now hunting a fourth family suspected of planning another attack. The family was believed to have recently returned from Syria, large parts of which were once under the control of Islamic State (IS).

The police have not released the identity of the fourth family pending their ongoing investigation.

Dita Oepriarto, the head of the family that carried out the church attacks, and Anton Febrianto, the head of the family in the Sidoarjo incident, were believed to have radicalized members of their families.

Dita was the leader of the East Java branch of Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), a pro-IS group. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Saud Abu Ramadan (Bloomberg) Jerusalem  Mon, May 14, 2018 22:45 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3f1d57 2 World Palestine,Gaza,Jerusalem,embassy Free

Forty-three Palestinians were killed in confrontations with Israeli troops after thousands converged on the Gaza Strip border in a protest marred by violence, casting a pall over President Donald Trumps contentious inauguration of a US embassy in Jerusalem.

It was the deadliest day in Hamas-run Gaza since Israel warred with militants there in 2014. Hundreds were also wounded by live fire, the Gaza Health Ministry reported. About 100 Palestinians have been killed since a campaign of protests began on March 30, according to the health officials.

The US decision to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv was a diplomatic victory for Israeli officials, but a blow to the Palestinians, who see it as undermining their claim to establish a capital in the citys eastern sector. Gaza protesters, egged on by loudspeakers and transported in buses, streamed to the border, where some threw rocks, burned tires, and flew kites and balloons outfitted with firebombs into Israeli territory.

The Israeli military airdropped leaflets warning protesters to stay away from the frontier. It said that it stopped militants from laying an explosive device and that aircraft targeted Hamas security posts after troops were fired upon, it added.

Israel accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to attack the Jewish state, and has vowed to prevent any attempts to breach the border, the ultimate objective of the protest campaign. It also charged Iran of funding the violence against Israel along the border.

At the embassy inauguration ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised soldiers protecting the border with Gaza.

The March of Return, as the weeks-long protest is known, began as an effort by grassroots groups to draw attention to the Palestinians demand to return to homes lost in fighting surrounding Israels 1948 creation. The campaign, which took shape after the embassy transfer was announced, was quickly co-opted by Hamas, eager to divert popular anger away from its management of impoverished Gaza.

Border confrontations are expected to spill into Tuesday, when Palestinians mark the 70th anniversary of the nakba, or catastrophe, of their displacement by Israels birth.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya, East Java  Mon, May 14, 2018 16:01 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e255f 1 National Surabaya-bombings,TerrorAttacks,Jamaah-Anshar-Daulah Free

The National Polices Densus 88 antiterror squad arrested six suspected terrorists allegedly linked to the pro-Islamic State (IS) group Jamaah Anshar Daulah (JAD) in Surabaya and Sidoarjo, East Java, on Monday. Two suspects were reportedly killed during the arrests.

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera said the suspects had allegedly plotted terror attacks in Surabaya, following a coordinated bombing in the provincial capital and a premature bomb explosion in Sidoarjo the day before. Seven civilians were killed in the terror attacks, which struck three churches across the city.

Police have identified one of the terror suspects killed as Budi Satriyo, the second-in-command at the JAD Surabaya chapter after Dita Oeprianto, a suicide bomber in Sundays church attacks.

Police did not elaborate on the details of the planned attacks.

We wont disclose the locations [targeted by the suspects] to avoid spreading fear, he said Monday.

The East Java Polices forensics and laboratory team is examining chemicals seized from the suspects, identified as triacetone triperoxide, also known as the Mother of Satan. (swd)U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is trying to find a way to let giant Chinese technology firm ZTE "to get back into business, fast" after the U.S. had barred the company from using American components. "Too many jobs in China lost," Trump said in a Twitter comment days after ZTE announced it had ceased "major operating activities" because of the cutoff of U.S.-made parts that provide a quarter or more of the parts needed to build its wireless stations, optical fiber networks and smartphones. Trump has often complained about China stealing U.S. jobs, but said he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease the economic fallout at ZTE and had ordered the U.S. Commerce Department "to get it done!"

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a forum in Cleveland, Ohio on May 5, 2018. /AP

ZTE halted manufacturing at its Shenzhen factory after the Commerce Department blocked access to American-made components until 2025, contending that ZTE had failed to punish its workers for violating U.S. trade controls against North Korea and Iran. The U.S. fined ZTE $1.2 billion last year but said last month the company had failed to live up to the agreement and lied about punishing the employees believed to be involved in skirting the sanctions, instead paying them bonuses. ZTE, with 75,000 employees and business in more than 160 countries, is the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the U.S. When the U.S. sanctions were announced in April, ZTE said it had worked to improve its compliance with the trade bans and sent the U.S. commerce agency information to support its request to end the U.S. export ban.

A ZTE Axon7 device is displayed at company's booth during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on Feb. 27, 2017. /Reuters

Trump's move to help the Chinese technology firm could signal a thaw in trade relations between the world's two biggest economies, the U.S. and No. 2 China. The U.S. leader has proposed tariffs on as much as $150 billion in Chinese imports, and Beijing has responded in kind. The two countries have held trade talks during the tariff standoff, but there has been no immediate resolution to call off the tariff hikes. In a second tweet, Trump said, "China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!"Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 14:50 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3dc544 1 National IBRA,BPPN,BLBI-case,Syafruddin-Arsyad-Temenggung,Syafruddin-Temenggung,corruption,KPK Free

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors have indicted Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung, former chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), for his alleged involvement in a case pertaining to irregularities surrounding the disbursement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI).

The defendant, as IBRA chairman, issued a letter freeing Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia [BDNI] and its stakeholder Sjamsul Nursalim from their debts, although the latter had not yet fulfilled his obligation to the agency, KPK prosecutor Khairudin read out the indictment on Monday.

Syafruddin is accused of misusing his authority as former IBRA chairman.

(Read also: Prosecutors to make charges against ex-IBRA head)

Prosecutors also said his alleged move caused Rp 4.5 trillion (US$322 million) in state losses, according to an audit conducted by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

The antigraft body named Syafruddin a suspect in April last year. He was the first official to be named a suspect in the case after three years of investigation.

The BLBI was liquidity support provided by the government through the central bank for 48 commercial banks totaling Rp 144.5 trillion to cope with massive runs during the monetary crisis. It was later found that 95 percent of the funds had been embezzled. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14 2018

The Jakarta administration has instructed all nightlife venues to halt operations for Ramadhan one day before the fasting month begins next week.

The instruction was given in a circular issued by the Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency.

Nightclubs, spas, massage parlors, gaming centers and bars were among the establishments that were asked to temporarily close.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Winny Tang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 14:05 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3d5ea7 1 Business #SurabayaBombings,economy,measures,finance-ministry Free

With the Finance Ministry determined to restore investor confidence, it hopes the recent bomb attacks in Surabaya, East Java, do not have a long-term impact on the economy.

"The government will act quickly regarding this issue in order to minimize the impact on the country's economy," Luky Alfirman, the ministry's financing and risk management director general, said in Jakarta on Monday.

The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) slipped 0.76 percent to 5,911.79 in the first trading session on Monday.

All sectors slumped, while the rupiah exchange rate weakened 0.23 percent to Rp 13,988 against the US dollar on Monday afternoon.

Four suicide bombings have occurred in the past two days in the East Java capital of Surabaya, the country's second- largest city, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens of others.

On Monday Morning, police personnel were deployed to safeguard Santa Anna Catholic Church in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, following a report of a possible bomb at the location. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Harry Suhartono (Bloomberg) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 10:45 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3c62e4 2 Business stock,rupiah,drop,#SurabayaBombings Free

Indonesias stocks and currency fell after a fresh explosion rocked the main police office at Surabaya, a city that was hit by a series of bombings a day earlier.

The Jakarta Composite Index falls as much as 1.4 percent to 5,873.192 and the rupiah retreated as much as 0.3 percent to 13,993 to a dollar after the at the headquarters of Surabaya police at 8:50 a.m. local time, Frans Barung Mangera, a spokesman for East Java police, said in a televised address.

Read also: Sri Mulyani says terrorist attacks 'will not affect investment'

At least 14 people, including 6 suicide bombers were killed and dozens injured in three separate bombings at churches in Surabaya on Sunday, according to police.

Indonesia has the worlds largest Muslim population and has been battling Islamic extremists since independence. Barely a week ago, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility after five police officers and a prisoner were killed during a prison riot in the capital, Jakarta, local media reported. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Fachrul Sidiq (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 14:46 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3dbc1d 1 City security,alert-status,police,train-station Free

State-owned railway operator PT KAI has heightened security at several train stations in Jakarta following Sundays suicide bombings in Surabaya, East Java.

In a press statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday, KAI operational region (DAOP) 1 executive vice president R. Dadan Rudiansyah said that Gambir Station and Pasar Senen Station in Central Jakarta, two of the busiest trains stations from which thousands of people travel to and from Jakarta daily, would receive tighter security measures.

Thirty security personnel have been deployed, from the usual 25. Mirrors and portable metal detectors will also be used to check vehicles entering the stations, he said.

Read also: Do not issue travel warning against Indonesia: ASITA

"Everyone at the stations, both passengers and officers, are urged to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activities," he added.

Four separate suicide bombings across Surabaya, Indonesias second largest city after Jakarta, have killed at least 14 people and injured dozens of others in the past two days.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said the police force had declared a Siaga 1, its highest security alert status, for the capital.

"This means we'll increase our efforts in checking anyone seeking to enter police stations. We are also conducting patrols with the military," Argo told reporters.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 17:39 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e5f4b 1 City public-cemeteries,ritual,ramadhan-in-indonesia,jakarta,Muslim,ramadhan,#Ramadhan2018 Free

With the start of Ramadhan only a few days away, Jakartans are flocking public cemeteries to perform the ritual of visiting the graves of their loved ones before the fasting month.

Lofyan, a security guard of the Jakarta Forestry Agency stationed at Jeruk Purut public cemetery (TPU) in South Jakarta, said more visitors started coming to the public cemetery about a week ago.

Sunday was the peak day for visitors. Around 2,000 people have come from morning until this afternoon, Lofyan said as quoted by Warta Kota on Sunday.

He said the Jeruk Purut TPU management increased the number of security guards in the cemetery to 10 in three areas due to the increase of visitors.

Ramdani, 43, was one of the pilgrims visiting Jeruk Purut TPU on Sunday to pray for his father, who had died a few years ago.

Visiting my parents' grave has become a tradition for us. We do not look for any blessing here. We are just praying for our parents, said Ramdani, who came to Jeruk Purut TPU with his relatives.

Other public cemeteries, such as Budi Darma TPU in CIlincing, North Jakarta, and Kemiri Rawamangun TPU in East Jakarta, were also crowded with visitors who wanted to pray for their deceased loved ones.

At Karet Bivak TPU in Central Jakarta, the increased number of visitors also attracted roadside vendors, causing frustration between visitors who wanted to park their cars and vendors who had stationed themselves around the cemetery. (ami)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 17:42 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e6111 1 City security,alert-status,jakarta Free

Jakarta residents must not go into panic mode because the high security alert issued in the city was only aimed at police officers, an official said.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said Jakartans should go about their daily activities as per usual because the police would implement extra security measures to safeguard the city.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said all important locations in the city would be guarded by about 36,000 joint personnel.

"The high security alert issued by the Jakarta Police chief is aimed at police officers to be vigilant," Argo said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

The alert was issued following several bomb blasts that hit Surabaya in East Java, which killed at least 14 people.

The police are often targeted by Islamist militants who believe that they are supporters of democracy and thus considered thogut (those who worship anything except Allah). The militants are seeking to establish a global caliphate.

"Please go about your activities as usual but be vigilant. With the help of the military, we will conduct large-scale patrols to throw a security blanket over Jakarta," Argo said.

Anies said Jakartans should not get caught up in the moment by spreading unverifiable news that might trigger panic across the city.

"We are on high alert but there is no problem in Jakarta. Everything is safe. We have to be vigilant and follow the latest developments. Security officials are ready to provide the best possible security," he added. (fac/vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 17:42 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e6669 1 National graft-suspect,graft,corruption,Public-Works-and-Public-Housing-Ministry,Basuki-Hadimuljono,KPK,corruption-eradication Free

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned on Monday Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono as a witness in a suspected bribery case relating to infrastructure construction in Maluku during the 2016 budget year.

The minister was questioned as a witness in the case of Rudy Erawan, the suspended regent of East Halmahera in North Maluku, who was named a suspect by the antigraft body in January.

The questions were about the appointment of Pak Amran as the ministrys regional office head and also on whether I knew Pak Rudy before, to which I replied 'no', Basuki said after the questioning on Monday.

He referred to Amran Mustari of the ministrys highway and bridge construction department for the Maluku region, who was found guilty of accepting kickbacks from several contractors. Amran allegedly gave the illicit money to Rudy, who is suspected of accepting Rp 6.3 billion (US$450,484).

Basuki claimed Amrans appointment was done through the ministrys rank and promotion agency.

Rudy was named a suspect as a result of the KPKs probe into a bribery case revolving around a number of botched construction projects in the province. The case came to light following an operation conducted by the commission's graft busters in Jakarta in January 2016.

During the operation, KPK investigators arrested and named several bribery suspects, including Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Damayanti Wisnu Putranti and businessman Abdul Khoir, both of whom were later found guilty. Rudy is the 11th suspect to be named in the case. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 13:23 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3d2ca1 1 World bomb,suicide,suicide-attack,SuicideBomber,suicide-bombings,#Surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,UN,United-Nations,TerrorAttacks,terrorism,terror-attack Free

World leaders and prominent figures have condemned the terror attacks in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday and Monday, offering their condolences to the victims families.

The simultaneous attacks on three churches across Surabaya on Sunday morning killed 14 people, as well as the six suicide bombers, and injured dozens.

In a press statement published on the United Nations official website, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was appalled at reports saying that children were used to participate in the attacks.

He added that the UN supported the Indonesian government and its people in their efforts to fight and prevent terrorism and violent extremism.

Separately, Pope Francis addressed the Indonesia people, especially Christians in Surabaya, to say he was praying for the victims and their loved ones.

(Read also: [UPDATED] Surabaya church bombings: What we know so far)

Leaders of several neighboring countries have also offered their sympathies.

Singapores President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote on Monday a condolence letter to President Joko Jokowi Widodo, expressing their shock and sadness over the news of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australia stood in solidarity with Indonesia.

We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of those killed and injured, they said in a joint statement. Our two nations share a common commitment to mutual respect and diversity and we reject those who seek to spread division and hatred.

Meanwhile, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary-general Yousef Al-Othaimeen condemned the terror acts, reaffirming the OICs principle position that violence and terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.

Violent extremism and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including violence against civilians and suicide attacks, are against the holy principles of Islam and [an] affront to the religious diversity of Indonesian society, he said.

A family of six blew themselves up at three separate churches in Surabaya on Sunday morning. In the evening, a bomb prematurely went off in a low-cost apartment in Sidoarjo, East Java, killing two members of a family and injuring their children. It is believed that the family had been planning a similar terror attack.

On Monday morning, another bomb went off at the Surabaya Police headquarters. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 20:02 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3eed97 1 National IS,Islamic-State,#Surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,National-Police,Tito-Karnavian,suicide-bombings,suicide-attack,terror-attack Free

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has said the terrorists behind a series of suicide bomb attacks at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday, used an explosive type called triacetone triperoxide (TATP). This type of explosive is commonly used by Islamic State (IS) militants when carrying out terror attacks.

TATP, sometimes referred to as "Mother of Satan", is made from materials that are widely available on the market, Tito said.

"All of those materials are very dangerous since they can easily trigger an explosion at random because of their sensitivity," he told journalists in a press conference Surabaya on Monday.

(Read also: What is JAD? Terror group behind Mako Brimob riot, Surabaya bombings)

Tito added that unlike any other explosives, TATP did not need a detonator to set the bomb off. "Heat or a mere shaking motion can cause the bomb to explode."

Although TATP is made from widely available materials, Tito explained, the explosive could create a bigger explosion than TNT. It is also difficult to detect it by X-ray, making it a popular type of explosives among terrorists.

Several major bombing incidents causing multiple fatalities, such as the 2005 London bombings, the 2015 Paris bombing, the 2016 Brussels airport bombing, as well as last years bombing of the Manchester Arena, used TATP.

Before Sundays Surabaya church bombings, this type of explosive was first reportedly used by Leopard Wisnu Kumala, a 29-year-old man who attempted to extort money from Alam Sutra Mall management by threatening to explode several bombs in the mall in October 2015. (dpk/ebf)The rapacious U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management is seeking compensation over allegations that the Korean government in 2015 illegally facilitated the merger of two Samsung units that paved the way for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong to seize control.

The New York hedge fund handed a notice of intent to Korea's Justice Ministry under the investor-state dispute settlement system in the free trade agreement with the U.S.

In 2015, Elliott filed for an injunction against the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, arguing it was designed to cement the power transfer to Lee Jae-yong from his comatose father Lee Kun-hee.

This is widely accepted to have been the intent and result. The question is only whether the administration of disgraced President Park Geun-hye illegally smoothed the process.

The U.S. hedge fund, which owned about seven percent of Samsung C&T at the time, lost the vote but claimed Samsung bribed Park to clinch support from the government-run National Pension Service, the major shareholder.

Elliott claims it incurred significant damages as a result of the merger and is now taking advantage of reams of court rulings against Park. But the Korean government is unlikely to accept the demand any time soon.

Elliott is scaring Korean conglomerates with serial raids. Last month, it demanded that Hyundai Motor change its management structure by adopting a more efficient holding structure merging Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Mobis.

The aim here too is to wrest control from the de facto owner family, the Chungs. Hyundai said it will continue to communicate with shareholders including Elliott about how to streamline its governance structure through business spinoffs and mergers.

As foreign investors increase their shares in Korean companies, they are expected to further scrutinize the Byzantine holding arrangements that give founder families control of publicly traded firms in which the clans only hold a minority stake.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 07:00 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3ba1dd 1 World SurabayaBombings,surabaya-church-bombings,travel-advisory,European-Union,Vincent-Guerend,Singapore,condolences,Australia,UK,South-Korea Free

Sympathy and solidarity from the international community continued to pour in, and no serious travel advisories were issued at the end of a bloody Sunday in East Javas provincial capital Surabaya, where a family of six carried out suicide attacks targeting Christians observing mass.

A series of blasts struck three churches across the provincial capital of Surabaya at around 7 a.m., leaving at least 13 dead and over 40 others wounded. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks via its propaganda agency Amaq.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop issued a joint statement late on Sunday, condemning what they called "cowardly" terrorist attacks on peaceful religious gatherings.

Our two nations share a common commitment to mutual respect and diversity and we reject those who seek to spread division and hatred, they said in a statement issued on Twitter.

Singapores top diplomat, Vivian Balakrishnan, also took to social media to express his deep sadness over the appalling bomb attacks.

We strongly condemn this mindless act, which has taken several lives and injured others, he said in a post on his Facebook page on Sunday.

Britains Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, contributed a tweet of his own, expressing solidarity with the people of Indonesia. Appalled by terrorist attack this morning in Surabaya. We stand with the people of Indonesia at this difficult time. #KamiTidakTakut, he tweeted, using an Indonesian translation of the #WeAreNotAfraid hashtag.

A Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson also issued comments on the terrorist attack, saying the South Korean government "strongly condemned" the incident, and expressed its intent to cooperate hand-in-hand with Indonesia to fight "the terrors that threaten all of humanity".

The European Unions Ambassador to Indonesia, Vincent Guerend, strongly condemned the attack on places of worship irrespective of religion and said the EU stands ready to continue our dialogue and cooperation.

Were faced with same challenges in Europe, and we have to support each other, Guerend told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He declined, however, to comment on whether the incident had any effect on European business interests in Indonesia, appealing instead to focus on the plight of the victims.

Later that day, Brussels issued its own statement extending condolences to the friends and families of those killed in the blasts.

Attacks on communities at prayer run counter to Indonesias traditional culture of religious diversity and inter-religious harmony. Such a culture is a source of inspiration for many around the world, especially in times, such as now, of tension, EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said in the statement.

And while concerns about terrorism in Indonesia are on the rise, most statements issued by foreign embassies in response to the attacks did not warn against general travel to Indonesia.

On the EUs website for consular protection for EU citizens abroad, most member states called on their citizens to remain cautious and warned against traveling to certain areas in Indonesia.

The Australian governments Smartraveller website continues to advise its citizens in Indonesia to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia, including in Bali, Surabaya and Jakarta, because of the high threat of terrorist attack.

It also says there is a heightened risk of further terrorist attacks in the lead-up to and during Islams holy month of Ramadhan, which runs from mid-May to mid-June.

The United Kingdom government website also updated its foreign travel advice to reflect the latest incident, but without much change in its assessment of travel safety in Indonesia. "Around 360,000 British nationals visit Indonesia every year. Most visits are trouble free," it said. (tjs)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 15:40 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e2523 1 City bomb-threat,hoax,shopping-mall,Surabaya-bombings Free

Jakarta Police have urged the public to question the sources of reports they may come across following the Surabaya bombing incidents in East Java amid the circulation of fake news on various social media platforms and messaging apps.

Among messages circulating include a false report that the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and Densus 88 antiterror squad had issued a list of shopping malls in Jakarta and Surabaya that were allegedly being targeted by terrorists.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono asserted that the information was false.

Read also: Jakarta, East Java, Riau Islands on highest alert after Surabaya bombings

"We can say that the broadcast [message] about the list of shopping malls in Jakarta and Surabaya [being targets of bombings] is incorrect," he said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city after Jakarta, has been hit by four suicide bombings in the past two days. At least 14 people have been confirmed dead.

Following the deadly incidents, Jakarta has been on high alert. Argo said there had been many false reports purportedly aimed at creating fear among residents. (fac)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 14:59 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3dfc18 1 Business #SurabayaBombings,terror-attack,market,impact,analyst Free

The market shocks that followed a series of bomb attacks in East Javas capital of Surabaya is expected to be only temporary, a senior economist has said in Jakarta on Monday.

PT Bank CIMB Niaga chief economist Adrian Panggabean said that historically, after terrorist attacks like the 2002 Bali Bombing, and the 2009 and 2016 attacks in Jakarta, the stock market and the rupiah were both affected, but recovered not long after.

"After those incidents, there were some shocks to the market but it quickly bounced back. Presently, the stock market and the currency are relatively stable," he said at a press briefing in Jakarta.

Read also: Indonesian stocks, currency drop after fresh bombing in Surabaya

The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) and the rupiah dropped on Monday when trading opened as a result of the suicide bombings in Surabaya, East Java, but both bounced back in the afternoon.

The JCI fell by 0.76 percent to 5,911.79 while the rupiah stable stood at Rp 13,980 per US dollar before Monday's trading opened at 9 a.m., when the JCI fell by 1.4 percent to 5,873.19 while the rupiah declined slightly to Rp 13,990 per US dollar.

Adrian added that market players were currently benchmarking on valuation rather than other sentiments, like terrorist attacks.

"Market players are looking at asset valuations. If there is no change in Indonesia's macroeconomic fundamentals, they will stay," he said. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14 2018

As many as 16,000 runners are set to take part in the 2018 edition of the MILO Jakarta International 10-kilometer (10K) race, which is part of celebrations for the capitals 491st anniversary on July 15.

On behalf of the Jakarta administration, I welcome the MILO Jakarta International 10K, Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said in a statement.

One must thoroughly prepare before joining a marathon race. I appreciate the organizers effort in accommodating those who are planning to take part in the 10K with a training session today [Sunday]. For those who havent registered, please do.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya, East Java  Mon, May 14, 2018 09:56 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3c0e32 1 National #SurabayaBombings,#Surabaya,terror-attack,surabaya-church-bombings,East-Java Free

According to the East Java Police, a premature explosion that took place at the Wonocolo low-cost apartment in Taman Sidoarjo on Sunday evening had involved a family  similar to the family of six that launched a series of deadly attacks on three churches across Surabaya earlier that same day.

The suicide bombings on Sunday morning killed 14 people and injured 41 others.

They are the perpetrators, not victims, East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Mahfud Arifin said on Monday as quoted by surya.co.id.

According to Mahfud, the family staying at the low-cost apartment had been planning an attack on an undisclosed target in Surabaya.

Police have identified the suspects as Anton Febrianto, 47, his wife Puspitasari, 47, and their four children, HR, 17, AB, 15, FS, 11, and GA, 10.

Read also: IS-linked family responsible for Surabaya bombings, police say

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera said Anton was alive but had sustained severe injuries after the bomb prematurely went off, killing Puspitasari and their eldest son.

FS and GA also suffered severe injuries in the explosion; only AB was left unscathed.

He [Anton] was holding a bomb trigger when officers arrived at the scene. Anton died after police officers decided to gun him down, Frans said.

Frans said AB was the one who later took his younger siblings to the hospital.

Currently, the two are being treated at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Surabaya, Frans said, adding the bodies of Anton, Puspitasari and HR had been taken to the same hospital for an autopsy.

We also seized several pieces of evidence, including packages presumed to be explosives, he said.

According to the low-cost apartments administrative manager, Lidya Susanti, the family had been staying in Wonocolo since 2015. The parents had made a living by selling cakes.

The East Java Police said they were collecting evidence to find a link between Antons family and that of Dita Supriyanto, who were behind the suicide bombings at Saint Mary Immaculate Catholic Church (STMB), Surabaya Pantecostal Church (GPPS) and the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI). (dmr)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 19:10 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3ecd81 2 City pornography,arrest,woman,South-Jakarta,Kalibata-City-apartment Free

The National Polices cybercrime unit officers have arrested a woman, identified only as NYM, 32, for allegedly working as a prostitute and pornographic content provider at Kalibata City, an apartment complex in South Jakarta that has become notorious for such practices.

NYM, who was arrested at her home on Jan. 23, had allegedly uploaded graphic content through her Twitter account @Onenk_Lemot since 2016. Most of her posts reportedly contained bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM) content.

NYM claims she doesnt even understand what BDSM was; she only wanted to please her followers, said the cybercrime unit chief Sr. Comr. Dani Kustoni on Monday, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com.

Built and managed by two subsidiaries of property giant Agung Podomoro Land, Kalibata City was a pioneer in apartment projects that were aimed at the capitals middle class market in 2008. Poor management, however, has plagued the apartment complex over the years, resulting in maintenance issues and reports of endemic crime, including prostitution.

Earlier this month, the Jakarta Police shut down traditional massage parlors in two towers at the apartment complex, which allegedly operated as fronts for prostitution.

Two suspects, identified only as H and M, were named suspects for offering prostitution services to their customers through the WeChat messaging application.

H and M allegedly sent messages to new tenants containing information about the massaging services along with photos of the therapists.

The polices general crimes deputy director Adj. Sr. Comr. Ade Ary said that one massage session cost around Rp 500,000 (US$36). The pimps reportedly took 40 percent of the money the therapists received from each customer.

NYM, a single mother-of-two, allegedly began uploading BDSM content in February 2017. She recorded videos and took pictures of such acts, including of herself.

It was ordinary pornographic content at the beginning. Later I received more requests from my customers to include BDSM acts, she said during a press briefing at the police headquarters in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

She said she had charged her customers Rp 700,000 to Rp 800,000 per session, which usually took place at her apartment.

I have two children who live with my mother at her house. I told them I work here as a sales promotion girl for a cosmetics brand, she added.

Following the arrest, the police confiscated several items of evidence such as condoms, scissors, chains, a ruler, candles, a lighter, underwear, a cellphone, duct tape and rope.

NYM has been charged under Law No. 44/2008 on Pornography and Law No. 19/2016 on Electronic Information and Transactions, which carry total maximum punishments of 12 years in prison. (vla/wit)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya  Mon, May 14, 2018 13:19 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3d2391 1 National terrorism,SurabayaBombings,police,East-Java Free

East Java Police have confirmed that four suicide bombers who attacked the Surabaya Police headquarters on Monday morning were the second family to have carried out terror attacks in the province in the past two days.



The four perpetrators at the [Surabaya Police] headquarters used two motorcycles and have been declared dead, East Java Police Chief Machfud Arifin said on Monday.

An 8-year-old girl who was riding with the perpetrators survived the attack. She has been transferred to the Port Hospital Center in Tanjung Perak.

Read also: Sidoarjo bomb also involved family of six: E. Java Police

The attack has left three police officers and three civilians injured. Previously on Sunday morning, a family of six were said to have carried out three deadly bombings at three churches in Surabaya. They were all killed in the attack, along with at least seven other people.

On Sunday night, a bomb prematurely exploded in Sidoarjo, killing two adults and their son who were believed to have been planning to launch a terror attack in the city. Two of their other children survived the explosion. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Riza Roidila (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 10:11 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3c4f66 1 National #SurabayaBombings,surabaya-church-bombings,terror-attack,solidarity Free

Hundreds of Surabaya residents in East Java flocked to the citys Heroes Monument on Sunday night to hold a candlelit vigil against terrorism and mourn the victims of three church bombings earlier that day.

Dressed in green, the provincial capitals signature color, participants sang folk songs and called on all Indonesians to join hands and condemn acts of violence committed on behalf of religion.

One was seen raising a placard that read, No religion teaches terrorist, while another held up a banner with the message: We are not afraid to die to fight terrorism. We are not afraid.

The vigil was shared across social media platforms with the hashtag #SuroboyoWani (BraveSurabaya).

Read also: #SurabayaGakWedi: Netizens launch hashtag offensive after Surabaya bombings

Three bombs exploded in three churches across the city shortly before Sunday Mass, killing 13 people and injuring 41 others.

Two attempted attacks were reported at two other churches in the city.

Later the same day, another explosion was reported at a low-cost apartment in the nearby city of Sidoarjo. (dmr)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 19:27 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3ed0c4 1 National #suicide,#Surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,bombings,suicide-bombings,suicide-attack,Muhammadiyah,Haedar-Nashir Free

Haedar Nashir, a central executive board member of Muhammadiyah, Indonesias second largest Islamic organization, slammed the suicide bomb attacks at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, and expressed its condolences to victims of the incidents.

These were barbaric acts whatever the motives were. Muhammadiyah cannot tolerate terrorism, Haedar told journalists on Monday.

He hoped the terror attacks in Surabaya would neither divide society nor disrupt the lives of the religious in Indonesia.

We want all parties to stay calm and not build negative assumptions that can lead people to becoming increasingly suspicious of each other, or get into social sentiments, which will lead our country and nation to disruption, said Haedar.

He hoped the police and the government could investigate the suicide bombing attacks in Surabaya thoroughly, objectively and transparently. The government also needs comprehensive solutions so that similar incidents will not happen in the future anymore, he added.

Radicalism cannot be fought by using deradicalization, because you cannot use violence to beat violence, said Haedar.

He hoped the House of Representatives could immediately finish the revision of the 2003 Terrorism Law because Indonesia needed a strong law to combat terrorism.

Is it very difficult for the House to revise the 2003 Terrorism Law? I dont agree with the [governments] plan to issue a government regulation in lieu of law [Perppu] on terrorism, said Haedar.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo said earlier if the House failed to complete the Terrorism Law revision, the government would issue a Perppu. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Stephen Farrell (Reuters) Jerusalem  Mon, May 14, 2018 18:50 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3ec84c 2 World #USA,#Israel,#Jerusalem,#embassy Free

The United States opens its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians.

The opening ceremony is at a US consular building in the Arnona neighborhood. It will house an interim embassy for the ambassador and a small staff until a larger site is found.

The compound cuts across the 1949 Armistice Line that separated West Jerusalem from No Mans Land, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and has held under occupation ever since.

The embassy move follows US President Donald Trumps decision last December to break with decades of US policy and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision, saying it reflected that the Jewish people have had a capital for 3,000 years, and that it is called Jerusalem.

But the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a slap in the face and said the United States can no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel.

Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works and that by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Americas closest ally he had taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.

There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a promise of his 2016 election campaign.

Vice-President Mike Pence and David Friedman, the ambassador to Israel appointed by Trump, are thought to have pushed hard for both recognition and embassy relocation.

The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Pence.

Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem. But Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama consistently signed waivers.

Announcing his decision on Dec. 6, Trump cited the Jerusalem Embassy Act and suggested his predecessors had lacked courage. He said: They failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.

Jerusalem is a city sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, early Muslim rulers, Crusaders, Ottomans, the British Empire and by the modern states of Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Israels government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. Jews call the city Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds (The Holy).

At the heart of Jerusalems Old City is the hill known to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews.

Within yards of the wall are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also a pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected.

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a corpus separatum to be administered by the United Nations.

That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the complete and united city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the citys status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The king of Jordan retains a role in ensuring the upkeep of the Muslim holy places.

Guatemala will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16 and Paraguay later this month.

Netanyahu said in April at least half a dozen countries were now seriously discussing following the US lead. He did not identify them.

In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote.

Since the announcement there has been tension, with Palestinian protests in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest.

That protest culminates on May 15, a day Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost as Israel was created in 1948, given extra significance this year because it falls on the day after the US Embassy move.

Although clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces have not been on the scale of the first and second Palestinian intifadas in 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion.

In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque, causing damage. So charged was the Middle Easts political climate -- just two years after the Six Day War -- there was fury across the Arab world.

In 2000, Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. Palestinians protested and there were clashes that quickly escalated into the second Palestinian uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Deadly confrontations took place last July after Israel installed metal detectors at the entrance to the complex after the killing of two Israeli policemen by Arab-Israeli gunmen.

Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned that a unilateral American move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.North Korea will be formally close its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri at a ceremony between May 23 and 25 in the presence of reporters from South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and the U.K., the North's state TV said Saturday.

Making the announcement, the North Korean Foreign Ministry did not say whether international experts will also be invited.

But some experts worry that closing the site without supervision from international scientists could result in valuable clues to the North's nuclear capabilities being destroyed.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom  Mon, May 14, 2018 17:57 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e6a23 2 World Turkey,Palestine,Israel,Jerusalem Free

The US has lost its role as mediator in the Middle East by moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in London on Monday.

"With its latest step America has chosen to be a part of the problem, not a solution, and lost its mediator role in the Middle East peace process", Erdogan told the Chatham House international affairs think tank.

"We are rejecting once again this decision which violates international law and which is against UN resolutions," he said.

Erdogan called the US embassy move from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem "very, very unfortunate" and said it "will increase tensions and ignite an even greater fire between communities".

"The international community must do its part as soon as possible and take swift action to put an end to Israel's increasing aggression," he went on.

"The establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is the only way for lasting peace and stability," he said.

A White House delegation and Israeli officials are set to attend an inauguration ceremony for the US embassy later on Monday and there have been clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces along the Gaza border.

Seven Palestinians were killed and more than 500 were injured on Monday as violence flared at five spots along the border, the Gazan health ministry said.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Jerusalem  Mon, May 14, 2018 20:53 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3ef8ab 2 World trump,Jerusalem,Israel-Palestine-conflict,capital-city-relocation Free

The United States officially opened its deeply controversial Jerusalem embassy on Monday in a ceremony that included a video address by President Donald Trump.

Trump told the ceremony that the United States remained committed to reaching a lasting Middle East peace though the move of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has provoked outrage.

A plaque and seal was unveiled at the ceremony officially opening the embassy.

The ceremony moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem began with the US national anthem.

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman then spoke and President Donald Trump was given a standing ovation when he mentioned him.

Friedman referred to the embassy's location as "Jerusalem, Israel" drawing wild applause.

Earlier in the day, violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border, leaving 37 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds wounded in the conflict's bloodiest day in years.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana and Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 18:00 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3e72a4 1 National JAD,Jamaah-Anshar-Daulah,Aman-Abdurrahman,IslamicStateMilitants,Islamic-State,terrorism,mako-brimob,SurabayaBombings,Tito-Karnavian Free

Multiple deadly bombings in East Java and the brutal killing of six police officers at the Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, which took place within less than a week have catapulted Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) into notoriety.

JAD, the largest local terror group pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, has played a significant role in the terror attacks.

"[The attacks] are connected to JAD, which is the main supporter of ISIS in Indonesia and was founded by Aman Abdurrahman," National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian confirmed on Sunday.

A family of suicide bombers linked to JAD attacked three churches across Surabaya on Sunday morning, killing at least 12 people and injuring 41 others.

Two attempted bombings were reported at two other churches in the East Java capital. Later the same day, another explosion was reported at a low-cost apartment in the neighboring city of Sidoarjo. The latest attack took place on Monday morning, when a bomb exploded at the Surabaya Police headquarters.

In total, 25 people, including 13 suicide bombers, were killed and dozens injured in the series of bombings in Surabaya, which resembled the pattern of attacks carried out by the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) movement at dozens of churches across Indonesia at the start of the millennium.

JI is said to have renounced violent jihad, leaving pro-IS group JAD as the most lethal terror group in the archipelago.

But what is JAD? And how influential is its founder, Aman?

Aman Abdurrahman (center), the alleged mastermind of the Jan. 14, 2016 suicide bombings and gun attacks on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, during a court hearing in South Jakarta District Court on Feb. 15. (kompas.com/Nursita Sari)

The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) calls JAD "the largest faction of ISIS supporters in Indonesia," consisting of followers of pro-IS ideologue Aman and Jamaah Anshorul Tauhid (JAT) leader Abu Bakar Baasyir.

The term JAD, which means "Partisans of the [Islamic] State Group," was previously a generic term referring to anyone who had sworn allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but is now specifically used by a group that was formed in Malang in November 2015 and has chosen Aman as its ideological head.

Aman was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2004 after a failed terror plot in Depok, West Java, and was released for good behavior in 2008.

Soon after his release, Aman collaborated with Ba'asyir to form a joint terrorism training camp in Aceh in 2010 that united the different terrorist groups, leading to another prison sentence of nine years.

Despite being behind bars, Aman has been accused of involvement in several other terrorist attacks across Indonesia, including masterminding the deadly Jan. 14, 2016, Thamrin attacks in Central Jakarta.

The firebrand cleric, who graduated from the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies (LIPIA), was also allegedly involved in the May 25, 2017, bombings in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, that killed three policemen.

Aman and his followers believe that all security forces of an ansharut thoghut (idolatrous state) should be considered kafir (non-believers), whose property can be seized and blood can be shed.

Barbed wire installed at the entrance to the National Police Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, following a riot on Tuesday night. (Warta Kota/Maulana Mahardihka )

After the declaration of the Islamic State by al-Baghdadi at Mosul, Iraq in June 2014, Aman believed that the Hegira, or emigration to Syria, was the obligation of all ISIS supporters.

Shortly before the 2016 Thamrin attacks Aman issued a fatwa that was widely circulated among extremist groups:

"Emigrate to the Islamic State and if you cannot emigrate, then wage jihad with spirit wherever you are, and if you cannot wage war or you lack the courage to do so, then contribute your wealth to those who are willing to do so. And if you cannot contribute, then urge others to undertake jihad. And if you cannot do that, then what is the meaning of your loyalty oath [baiat]?"

The terror inmates who rioted last Tuesday evening at the Mako Brimob detention center reportedly demanded to speak with Aman, who is being held at the facility, during initial negotiations with police officers, a demand that the police later met.

The police, Tito said, suspected that the Surabaya bombings were motivated by the police's actions in arresting leaders of JAD. "They reacted [to the arrests] by carrying out retaliatory attacks, such as that which occurred at Mako Brimob."

The terrorists' decision to launch the attacks in Surabaya, Tito said, may have been related to the recent conviction of the leader of JAD's East Java chapter, Zaenal Anshari, for smuggling weapons to Indonesian militants in the southern Philippines.

Zaenal is the second-in-command in JAD after Aman.

The incidents in Depok and Surabaya were part of a number of recent terror attacks or attempted attacks allegedly orchestrated by JAD-linked militants.

Residents stand next to human body parts at a scene where two bombers launched an attack at Kampung Melayu bus terminal in East Jakarta on May 25, 2017. ADEK BERRY / AFP (AFP/Adek Berry)

Since the Thamrin bombings in January 2016, counterterror officials have thwarted numerous attempted attacks by suspects affiliated with JAD in various regions across Indonesia.

In January 2017, the US State Department said it had designated JAD as a terrorist group, which in practice prohibits US citizens from being involved with it.

The deadly riot at Mako Brimob, which led to a 36-hour standoff between terror inmates and security forces, and the string of bombings in East Java, may have shown that the group has ramped up its capability to launch terror attacks. (ahw)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 10:05 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3c3f79 1 National Yogyakarta,#Surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,bombings,church-attack,Tugu-Monument,surabaya-church-bombings Free

Hundreds of Yogyakarta residents gathered at Tugu Monument on Sunday to pray and show their solidarity following suicide bombings that hit three churches in Surabaya, East Java. Thirteen people died and around 40 others were injured in the attacks.

Artists, religious leaders, activists and students attended the event on Sunday evening, which was closed by a joint prayer and candlelight vigil.

Representatives of 60 civil society organizations conveyed short statements during the event. They included the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), the Yogyakarta Womens Network (JPY) and the Islam and Social Studies Institute (LKIS).

We condemn the terror acts and convey our condolences to the victims, said event coordinator Mukhibullah.

Remembrance: Yogyakarta residents and religious leaders attend a candlelight vigil at Tugu Monument, Yogyakarta, following suicide bombings in Surabaya, East Java, on May 13. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)

Read also: Jakarta, East Java, Riau Islands on highest alert after Surabaya bombings

Mukhibullah asserted that no religion promoted terrorism. He also called on the government to protect the constitutional rights of all Indonesians and to stay alert of any movements that aimed to weaken democracy in Indonesia.

In her statement, Sukiratnasari of JPY condemned violence in Surabaya that had involved women and children. Such acts would lead to the growth of hatred among children, she went on.

Children and women are symbols of civilization, said Sukiratnasari.

Meanwhile, M. Iqbal Ahnaf, a lecturer from the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University, said he believed the terror acts in Surabaya would instead strengthen peoples belief that Indonesia was built on diversity.

Indonesia will not be defeated by terrorism, violence. Indonesia will remain a safe house for people of various religions and ethnicities. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, May 14, 2018 14:01 1243 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3d4705 1 National #ChurchAttack,#SurabayaBombings,Surabaya-bombings,surabaya-church-bombings,#Terrorism,terror-attack Free

An 8-year-old boy, identified as Nathanael, died at Surabaya Bedah Hospital at around 8 p.m. on Sunday.

He was the latest victim in the suicide bombing at Saint Mary Immaculate Catholic Church (SMTB) in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning, which was followed by deadly explosions in two other churches in the countrys second-largest city.

Nathanael died after suffering from serious wounds on Sunday night at around 8 p.m., despite a team of doctors having tried to save his life and one of his legs getting amputated.

His older brother, 11-year-old Vincencius Evan, died earlier that day not long after he was admitted to the hospital.

The two brothers, who were elementary school students, were near the church gate with their mother and cousin when the incident happened. Their mother and cousin survived.

Nathan suffered from serious injuries. The doctors at the hospital decided to amputate one of his legs. So he joined his brother, Desiana Setiawan, Nathaniels teacher at St. Clara Catholic Elementary School Surabaya, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

As of 10:30 a.m. on Monday, police reported that 14 people were killed in the Surabaya church attacks. (ipa)Residents of Mayong village, Seririt district in Buleleng regency, Bali, have been making a living on their well-maintained paddy fields and farms, from the crops as well as the tourism potential. Located in the northern part of Bali, the village is considered a haven among agricultural tourism destinations.

The vice chairman of the tourism-awareness community in Mayong village, Putu Orbawan, told Antara news on last Monday that: Most tourists only recognize the terraced paddy fields in Tabanan, Badung and Gianyar. However, more people have become acquainted with northern Balis agriculture tourist attractions, which are also very interesting.

He added that back in 2010, subak (irrigation system) Poh Asem in Mayong village participated in a national competition held by a farmer association after previously being crowned winner of Balis subak competition.

Read also: Obamas Bali trip includes museum visit, rice terraces, rafting adventure

At the national level, subak Poh Asem has one of the top five irrigation systems due to the support of organized bodies, good maintenance and financing for water management.

The main attraction for tourists in Mayong village is its hilly and panoramic terrain full of paddy fields, which serves as a breathtaking setting for leisure activities such as hiking. Tourists can visit farms, walk along paddy field embankments, down to the trenches and up again to the hills.

Putu Orbawan said Mayong village attracted mostly European tourists, Most of the tourists visiting Mayong village come from European countries, such as the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Approaching peak season in June to September, the number of people visiting Mayong village is far lower than in other areas in Bali. At the very peak of the holiday season, the village usually receives only 50 to 100 visitors per month. (asw)

For more Bali-related content, read our Bali magazine on Flipboard.

View my Flipboard Magazine.Following the suicide bombings in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday, the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) has asked foreign countries via its partners abroad not to issue travel warnings against Indonesia.

I would like to say to neighboring countries and other foreign countries to ask their governments not to issue travel warnings against Indonesia, ASITA chairman Asnawi told KompasTravel on Sunday.

Asnawi believes that travel warnings would only hurt Indonesias tourism.

Although [the recent] terror attacks happened only in Jakarta and Surabaya, [foreign countries] may think attacks are happening all around Indonesia, he added.

According to Asnawi, countries that are known to issue travel warnings in regards to terror attacks are the United States, several European nations and Australia.

Read also: Unveiling gem in northern Bali: Mayong village

He also hopes to form a partnership between tourism agencies and the government for the effort to convince foreign countries not to issue travel warnings. The effort should include travel agents and stakeholders, such as Indonesian embassies and the Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry should work to explain the issue to ambassadors, Asnawi said.

The issue is more pressing, according to Asnawi, due to Indonesias upcoming role as host of the 2018 Asian Games and International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting in Bali, which will be attended by representatives of various countries.

Foreign tourists, especially those from Europe, pay a great deal of attention to security matters, he said, expressing his condolences to the families of those killed in the Surabaya bombings on behalf of ASITA. (asw)Bombs are no joke, especially when you are in an airport or an airplane.

Joking about bombs will have sanctions that include passengers being removed from the plane to being charged with imprisonment, while an airport could be temporarily closed as security measurements are taken.

As regulated in Law No. 1/2009 on the Transportation Ministrys national flight safety program, anyone who expresses false information that could endanger flight safety could face a maximum of a one-year prison sentence. With bomb attacks having occurred in airports worldwide, bomb threats and bomb-related remarks are taken very seriously.

Joking about bombs can also cause other passengers to feel uncomfortable as well as flight delays.

Over the years, there have been several cases of passengers making bomb-related remarks on an airplane, with the most recent one taking place in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Saturday.

Read also: Passenger removed from Garuda flight over bomb joke

A Lion Air passenger reportedly uttered the word bomb toward a flight attendant upon boarding the plane, as quoted by kompas.com.

The JT 618 flight bound for Pangkalpinang, Bangka, was delayed, while all 148 passengers with their luggage had to be rechecked for safety reasons.

Lion Air released a statement in relation to the incident, stating: According to the procedures, Lion Air offloaded passenger ZN and four persons traveling with him, including 10 pieces of luggage, from JT 618. ZN then faced security measures and multiple investigations from the airlines aviation security, airport security and the police.

Garuda Indonesia faced a similar incident in 2017 when a passenger jokingly said there was a bomb in the bag he was carrying. In 2014, a Venezuelan doctor stated he was carrying C4 explosives prior to boarding an Avianca Airlines flight from Miami to Bogota, Colombia, in humorous spirit. This caused the evacuation of the airport and hundreds of flights were delayed as the bomb squad came and swept the area. The doctor was fined $89,172 for the incident. (wng)Posted Sunday, May 13, 2018 11:00 pm

The C.E.F.S. Economic Opportunity Corporation's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) still has energy assistance funding available for the 2018 season. Applications will be accepted through Thursday, May 31. Any household that has applied as of Oct. 2, 2017, or after would not be eligible to apply again, unless they are being disconnected from their utility service. LIHEAP provides one-time grants to help income-eligible households pay for their winter utility expenses.

C.E.F.S. began taking LIHEAP applications last October for the current program year 2018. To date, in Montgomery County, energy benefits totalling $384,715 have been approved for 823 households. The average payment per household was $467. Additionally, in Montgomery County, 161 households received $83,579 in emergency reconnection assistance. The average reconnection assistance payment was $519.

Items needed at the time of application are the household's proof of all income for the previous 30 days, including the day of application, proof of Social Security numbers for all members of the household and current heating and electric bills.

Thirty-day income eligibility guidelines for LIHEAP for the 2018 program by size of household are as follows. For a family of one, $1,508; for a family of two, $2,030; for a family of three, $2,553; for a family of four, $3,075; and a family of five, $3,598. For each additional member add $522.50.

In order that no one is denied the opportunity to make an application, any special accommodations that are needed should be arranged by contacting the local county C.E.F.S. Outreach office. All offices will accommodate applicants that require special arrangements for their appointments; these include applicants who are homebound, hearing-impaired or are otherwise disabled.

Appointments for LIHEAP may be made by contacting the C.E.F.S. Montgomery County Outreach office by visiting them at 8353 IL Rte. 127 in Taylor Springs or calling 217-532-5971, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Funding for LIHEAP is provided through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). C.E.F.S. Economic Opportunity Corporation is the local administering agency for Christian, Clay, Effingham, Fayette, Montgomery, Moultrie and Shelby counties.North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Saturday described how the regime intends to dismantle its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province.

The first step will be using explosives to collapse the underground tunnels used to test nuclear weapons. North Korea has dug at least four tunnels under Mt. Mantap in Punggye-ri.

The No. 1 tunnel on the eastern side of the mountain, which was used in the North's first nuclear test in 2006, and tunnel No. 2 to the north, which was used in the second to sixth tests, have already collapsed and are apparently no longer in use. Tunnels No. 3 and 4, which are on the west and south side and were dug more recently, are still apparently usable.

There is a strong chance that tunnel No. 2, the most-used one, has been contaminated by radiation, and experts say it will be difficult to set up explosives there even if workers wear protective suits. That means explosives can only be set up at the mouth of the shaft.

"The ground layer underneath Mt. Mantap has already collapsed, so any haphazard attempt at blowing it up could cause radiation leaks to the surface."

Some experts warn that underground hollows measuring hundreds of meters across that were formed by the nuclear blasts could collapse, causing tremors or even landslides, but others say radiation leaks could be contained simply by sealing off the entrances. More than 100 m of the entrances would have to be filled up to render the tunnels permanently useless.

The North will then demolish the buildings at the test site and formally close the entrances to the site. There are dozens of buildings near the tunnel entrances and south of the mountain.

"Security personnel and research staff will be evacuated simultaneously with the dismantlement of the test site so that the surrounding area will be shut down," the ministry said.

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Home PageFull operational control of South Korean troops will be handed over from the U.S. to Seoul by 2023, when the country's defense reform program is complete, Defense Minister Song Young-moo said last Friday.

Back in October 2014, the two allies agreed the handover will only take place on condition that South Korea is in a better position to handle its own defense, but they scrapped the specific date when wartime operational control will be in South Korean hands.

Currently South Korean troops would be commanded by the U.S. Forces Korea in a war, a leftover from the post-Korean War arrangement. Under the new arrangement U.S. and South Korean forces would be under a joint command headed by a South Korean officer.

The announcement comes amid a thaw in relations with North Korea and hopes that Pyongyang can be persuaded to give up its nuclear program.

President Moon Jae-in on the campaign trail pledged to complete the handover within his term of office. But the handover still depends on South Korean forces actually being capable of conducting massive operations on their own and having the necessary equipment to repel a missile attack.

The Defense Ministry spends about W43 trillion a year on defense to maintain the armed forces but will seek W50 trillion next year, Song added (US$1=W1,069).

One only has to look at the rising number of incarceration statistics to realize that something is really wrong with the way we are handling drug use and criminal activity.

The DEA continues to grow as an entity and the cost to operate it keeps growing with no proof of success in sight. As soon as they take someone down, someone else steps in their place and business continues as usual because the customers demand it. It is a supply and demand gimmick that never ends.

Police officers and first responders are using Narcan at alarming rates with no proof of success in sight. All the while, taxpayers complain about its cost ignoring the gazillion dollars being used to incarcerate and house inmates in prisons. Sentences are swift and harsh while we give little thought to giving sex offenders a slap on the wrist.

Our prisons are filled with petty crime offenders who committed those crimes to support their drug use. Sadly, only 11 percent of those addicts receive any rehabilitation while incarcerated. They get out and have not been rehabilitated and go back to their lifestyle. Again, the cycle continues. Its never ending.

There is a saying that is popular in the recovery world: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. How profound and yet so ignored.

What we are doing as a society is not working.

The opiate crisis is recognized as a true beast of burden and politicians, including the president, speak to its potent destructive ways. Talk is cheap, folks. It changes nothing.

Switzerland recently brought to the spotlight a program that has proven to be successful. The program is being viewed as controversial, but shows results. It is called HAT  Heroin Assisted Treatment. HAT dissolves the street component of addiction by taking the illegality out of use and replacing it with supervised regulated methods.

Founded in 1994, HAT has had the following impact on opiate addiction:

*Health outcomes for HAT participants improved significantly.

*Heroin dosages lessened, usually in two or three months, rather than increasing as some had feared.

*Illicit heroin and illicit cocaine consumption was significantly reduced.

*A large reduction in fundraising-related criminal activity among HAT participants. This benefit alone exceeded the cost of the treatment.

*Heroin from the trials was not diverted to illicit markets.

*Initiation of new heroin use fell (the medicalization of heroin making it less attractive), and, in turn, there were reductions in street dealing and recruitment by user-dealers.

*Uptake of treatments other than HAT, especially methadone, increased rather than declined as some had feared it might.

Why are we not utilizing or creating similar programs?

Because there is a lot of money to be lost by guilty parties if we were to solve or lessen opiate addiction.

Who benefits? Pharma companies, prison systems, politicians who are bought out by pharma companies, etc. Corruption, corruption and more corruption is what is keeping the opiate crisis alive and well in the United States. Very few are interested in solving this problem. A lot of people stand to lose big time if we were to actually do something productive about it.

Sadly, we live in a country who used to be a socially innovated leader in the free world. We have taken a few steps backwards in that area all in the name of greed and corruption. Most public figures are bought out leaving behind their integrity and their duty to lead the way for the betterment of society.

Sandra Parker of Allen Park is a special education teacher. She can be reached at allenpark7@yahoo.com.The shift in the ministry's attitude has made other defectors nervous. One woman who came to South Korea in 2008 and is raising a son here said, "I haven't slept more than an hour a night since the inter-Korean summit. People like me who have been living quietly could be dragged off to North Korea any moment."

Ho Kang-il, the restaurant manager at the time, told cable channel JTBC, "We followed intelligence agents without knowing our destination." JTBC suggested some of the women who defected wish to return to the North.

Unification Ministry spokesman Baek Tae-hyun said, "There have been new claims by the restaurant manager and some of the women about their mass defection."

The official position remains that they came of their own volition, but now some news media have raised suspicions that the National Intelligence Service orchestrated their defection.

The following day, the Unification Ministry said, "There is a need to verify the facts." That has raised fears that the government could send some of the defectors back to their oppressive homeland.

Already last Thursday one TV channel raised suspicions that not all of the members of a group of North Korean women who defected from a restaurant in China in 2016 came to South Korea out of their own volition.

North Korean defectors who have precariously settled in the South are watching warily as the two Koreas cozy up to each other.

Some 31,500 North Korean defectors live in South Korea, and many are feeling unsure of their status amid the thaw. They have been seen as having the potential to build bridges between the two sides if the two Koreas reunify but could now find themselves treated as obstacles to the smooth running of the political machine.

They are complaining about the South Korean government's indifference and ostracism by other South Koreans. To them, it would be a devastating signal if some of the restaurant staff are sent back to the North.

Defectors who returned voluntarily were not punished since they were considered to have been "abducted" by the South. One defector said, "The fate of the family members they left behind in North Korea is very important for defectors. If they become targets of reprisals, the defectors in the South would come under enormous pressure."

Defectors already find themselves increasingly marginalized as inter-Korean relations grow closer. First of all, demand for their views on the lecture circuit is drying up. One defector who makes a living giving lectures about the North to South Koreans has not had a single booking since the inter-Korean summit last month and half her bookings have been canceled.

She had been lecturing two or three times a week for W200,000 a time ($1=W1,069). At one lecture, she was chided for negativity. Since last week, she has been waiting tables to make ends meet.

Another defector who used to give lectures now works part-time in a convenience store and waits tables at weekends. He says bookings have dried up, and whatever bookings he gets now are for talks about peace.

Defectors have never felt very welcome in the South, where they are often treated as second-class citizens and regarded as scroungers. This has only got worse since the summit, as reflected in posts on the Cheong Wa Dae website. Around a dozen new posts a day by South Koreans ask the government to send defectors back to the North. They also demand a thorough investigation of the defection of the restaurant workers. By last Thursday, around 2,400 people had clicked their support.

But another person wrote a post opposing the repatriation, saying, "It is vicious and inhumane to send back defectors to the North who risked their lives coming to the South," and some 7,900 people showed their support.

Meanwhile, the women who appeared in the JTBC report are living in fear, scared that their identities and whereabouts may be exposed. They have claimed that their comments were taken out of context in the JTBC report.

Civic groups supporting North Korean defectors also said their comments were not portrayed accurately. They simply said they miss their homes and wish to see their parents, but the report made it sound as if they were forced to come to South Korea against their will.

Kim Byung-Jo at the Korea National Defense University said, "North Korean defectors really know the good and bad points of both Koreas. It is important for the government to ensure that they do not feel nervous."

This comic right here? This is the sweet stuff. THE REAL GOOD STUFF. We should have more of this stuff DC. More. MOAR!!!

*To those who do not know what they're about to read. Well, here's your warning. The following is just Zechs being Zechs. Grammatical errors are bound to happen you down three bottles of This Ain't Your Dad's Root Beer or several soft drinks mixed with Captain Morgan trying to comprehend the garbage you read.

Further, these reviews began on the forums. Those looking for a numerical system as per my other reviews best look else. Some folk above me love me blurting out raw brutally honest shit, and rather have that be on the front page. So there. You've been warned. Anything now is on your head for not following the warning.

If you so wish and recommend me some horrific comics for October if you join our Patreon. After all, someone's gotta pay for my drinking tab.

Nearing the end of his run, writer James Tynion IV looks to add a few more exclamation points on an already exemplary Detective Comics run. Oh sure, the OMACTimBat (yes that is somehow a thing in this comic and it's glorious) continues his reign of trying to "secure" Gotham while being looking horns with Batwoman. But really this was the appetizer. On the other hand, it drives the subplots for these two characters to their crux with Kate at long last seeing what caused Titans Tomorrow Tim to go down the path he did (as we saw ourselves a few issues ago). It's great that we see just Kate's reaction and it'll be interesting to see just how this subplot ends with the two. Because surprisingly, both characters are kind of in limbo (Kate's ongoing will be canceled sadly, and Tim? Well, who knows what will happen to Tim). So there are some interesting stakes to be had and results that will possibly change both's status quos.

But really, you know what I REALLY want to talk about. The thing that you WANT me to talk about. The "main course" of the plot with this issue with Batman, Orphan, and Spoiler taking the fight directly to the ones manipulating OMACTimBat and the events in "Batman Eternal": Brother Eye and the General.

Here we get something that's been A LONG TIME coming for the characters of Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. Ever since their reintroductions into the mainline of DC Comics, there has been one flaw with both characters: erasing their times as Batgirls, for Stephanie as Robin, and Cassandra being utterly alone (save for her friendships with Tim/Steph and Clayface).

This issue tackles that HEAD ON and it amazes me the lengths Tynion went with it. I'm kind of surprised given the history both characters had during the New 52 and the toxic editorial stance (the characters were never that just whomever up there at DC itself who made the stupid decisions that resulted in fans' ire) on the two. The fact that Tynion actually went there and the reactions both had to was icing on the cake. Save for one thing. Like Tim Drake and Kathy Kane, Stephanie Brown is also kind of up in the air sadly again (Cassandra will still be around in the next arc post-Tynion, and it seems VERY likely she'll be a part of an Outsiders spin-off). But something in my gut tells me that there's probably something for her and Tim down the line (*cough* it'd be stupid if DC doesn't do a Young Justice comic with the pair plus Aqualad try to find Superboy, Impulse, and Wondergirl *cough*).

The reactions for both, but Stephanie, in particular, was just amazing. Since this run, Stephanie has been meh as a character. I figured Tynion just enjoyed playing with Cassandra and Tim more, and Stephanie kind of got left out (of the three her arc throughout his run felt the most rushed). So it's just so satisfying to see her get the last laugh on the villains of this arc. That basically Stephanie wins and it just feels so damn satisfying after well, all of this.

But there is one tiny flaw I found in Stephanie's reveal of her past to her. The artist, Scot Eaton, used A TON of homages on Cassandra. Like literally, I kind of knew each and every one (which either astounds or scares me that I know what exactly was used). There was A LOT of effort in that and I appreciate it. Stephanie though? Just one. That's kind of disheartening given Dustin Nguyen, Lee Garbett, or Trevor Scott worked on her ongoing. You'd think we get one memorable thing done from that run?

I will say this though, the last time I remember Eaton's pencils in Batman & Robin Eternal they so didn't impress me and distracted me from the comic. This time? Not so much. I mean there were some problems, but nothing to stand out and make me think I was staring at the Ark of the Covenant and seeing characters with melting faces terrified my face was next to go if I didn't look away.

Anyway, for those saying it was to accept these current versions of the characters? No, it was to finally reveal that in fact something was taken from both. A lot of in fact. That in loss, the two rose up to smack the living hell out of the villains of this arc.

Now, the only question is can Tynion stick to the landing with his end? That's the grand problem he's had with some of the arcs on his run. Some work. Some do not. So far this looks like this end is on target to end quite the memorable run on the comic. Possibly even more memorable. We shall see.



Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Areas of patchy fog developing. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Areas of patchy fog developing. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch.The North will also probably want to transport a Mercedes-Benz sedan for Kim as well as secure communications equipment.

North Korea is faced with a logistical challenge trying to fly leader Kim Jong-un to Singapore for his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on an outdated plane that has so far barely chuffed to Beijing.

One solution would be to rent an airplane from China for safety's sake, but Kim would naturally prefer his own jet, an ancient Ilyushin IL-62M from the former Soviet Union that was bought by Air Koryo in 1982.

Only a year later a plane of the same type crashed in Guinea.

With four engines, the IL-62M in theory has a range of 10,000 km, but Greg Waldron of aviation magazine Flightglobal said Kim's jet has never flown such a long distance before, so caution will be needed.

It could also stop over in China or Vietnam for refueling or an emergency landing.

Kim's Mercedes-Maybach S6000 Pullman Guard could be flown to Singapore aboard an IL-76 cargo aircraft which also took it to Dalian when he visited earlier this month.

North Korea Agrees To Open Its Doors To Christianity

by Lee Grady

How times can change. A few months ago, North Koreas dictator, Kim Jong-un, was firing missiles over Japan and threatening to send nuclear bombs in our direction. Now North Korea has agreed to open its doors to food, medicine and the message of Christ.

But last week, the young North Korea leader dropped a different kind of surprise on the world: He met with South Korean president Moon Jae-in on April 27 and announced that the 67-year-old Korean conflict is over. I came here to put an end to the history of confrontation, Kim Jung-un told Moon in a meeting on the border town of Panmunjom.

There will be no more war on the Korean peninsula, and a new age of peace has begun, the two leaders said in a joint statement.

Charisma Magazine reports: Kim Jong-un, who has built the fourth largest army in the worldwith 1.19 million soldierssays he will now focus on rebuilding his countrys shattered economy.

Boom. Just like that, swords were converted into plowshares. The two leaders, all smiles for the cameras, agreed they will denuclearize the Korean peninsula within a year. They also agreed to set up reunions with families that have been divided since the Korean War started in 1950.

It feels like we should declare a global holiday and dance in the streets. But most Americans were too distracted by the opening of the new Avengers movie to pay attention to the headlines.

What was behind the Korean surprise? Most media outlets didnt notice that Christians in South Korea had been fasting and praying for the peace summit. Pastors held an all-night vigil in the city of Paju, south of the North Korean border. And a group of Christian politicians held a fasting and prayer event in the National Assembly buildings in Seoul, according to Yonhap News.

North Koreas persecuted Christians have also been praying for this momentfor years. They have been horribly persecuted. They have been forced to meet secretly. They have been routinely rounded up and sent to labor campsor just shot on sightbecause they did not worship Kim Jong-un as their god.

Defectors say something began to change when Kim Jong-un became dictator in 2011



FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>>For Subscribers Gov. Kristi Noem may be raising the white flag in her anti-marijuana crusade

"If you guys are waiting for me, I wouldn't do that," the South Dakota governor said when asked if she'd push for changes to state's medical pot law.A debate in Seoul on Tuesday brings together global security experts to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue and other regional challenges.

The debate is held on the sidelines of the 9th Asian Leadership Conference hosted by the Chosun Ilbo at the Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday under the theme, "Globalization in Crisis: Navigating the World with New Opportunities."

Under Chatham House rules, the doors of debates remain firmly shut, and nothing will be recorded to ensure that participants can exchange opinions freely.

Participants are veteran officials who have been involved in security and diplomatic affairs on the Korean Peninsula for decades. They include heavyweights from the conservative Heritage Foundation and Atlantic Council, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Brookings Institution.

What is certain is that the debate will be chaired by Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the CSIS. The morning session will focus on the prospects of the U.S.-North Korea summit and North Korean denuclearization, while the afternoon session will involve political affairs in Northeast Asia.

Cha was the Asia chief at the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration and is now a prolific commentator. He recently fell foul of U.S. President Donald Trump and was bumped off the post of ambassador to Seoul at the 11th hour.

Other participants include Joseph Yun, a former special representative for North Korea policy at the U.S. State Department, and Evans Revere of the Brookings Institution, another ex-State Department official.

Bruce Klingner at the Heritage Institution, Sue Mi Terry at CSIS and Jung Pak at the Brookings Institution will also take part. Both used to spy on North Korea for the CIA.

On Wednesday, the Asian Leadership Conference kicks off at the same hotel with around 20 nuclear experts among 200 speakers who will take part in some 80 individual sessions.

About two dozen young innovators will also take part in a special session on blockchain technology. They include Patrick Dai, founder of Qtum, the world's second-largest virtual currency operating platform, who will deliver a keynote speech along with French lawmaker Joachim Son-Forget and Chin Dae-je, former minister of information and communication, and head of the Korea Blockchain Association.

Markus Gnirck, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based tryb Group, will speak about investing in virtual currency and blockchain technology companies.

For details, visit www.alcchosun.com.

Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 23C. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 13C. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo on Friday told reporters that North Korea can have "a future brimming with peace and prosperity" if it agrees to denuclearize quickly and completely.

But does the disorganized U.S. administration have a plan remotely comparable to the Marshall Plan that raised Europe from devastation after World War II?

So far it looks as if Washington trusts in market forces. "The biggest gift the U.S. can give the North is to clear the way for it to lure multinational firms to invest in it by lifting sanctions and helping it join the international community," a diplomatic source there said.

"Of course that's a mid- to long-term vision that can be fulfilled only after the permanent, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons."

Other steps could include helping the North join the international financial system to help it lure investments and for foreign countries to give financial support, and pushing for massive infrastructure projects.

"The United States aspires to have North Korea as a close partner and not an enemy," Pompeo said Friday about his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on May 9. "The U.S. has often in history become good friends with former adversaries."

Pompeo added, "If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends." When he was in Pyongyang on May 9, Pompeo reportedly offered a comprehensive compensation package bringing on board South Korea, China, Japan, and the EU.

But as of 2016, the North's gross national product was a mere 1/45 of South Korea's.Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke at the national memorial ceremony for Ethiopian Jewry who died on their way to Israel on Sunday.

Honored guests, and first among them our brothers and sisters who came from Ethiopia. To the family of Abraa Mangisto, I want to tell you that we will not rest until we bring Abraa back home again. For generations upon generations, you lived on the horn of Africa and you prayed to raise the horn of Israel. You prayed for independence, freedom, and salvation. From the place where you lives, you exposed yourself in an effort to come to Israel, our home of milk and honey. When Israel was created a fire was kindled inside of you.

Sadly, the immigration of the tens of thousands from Ethiopia was not possible at that time for various reasons. But 40 years ago it began to happen in a flow that kept getting stronger. A stormy and moving chapter in the history of the return to Zion began. Overnight you began an arduous journey, just as our ancestors did when they left Egypt. You marched through paths of fear. The thousands who died on the way you buried by the side of the road in deep sorrow. Perhaps the entire story is told by one small note left on one of the graves, which read: My body lies here but my soul is in Jerusalem. That very much sums up the message of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi.

Netanyahus speech continued to evoke deep emotions from those gathered. He then turned to the lesson behind the march. The entire nation of Israel could learn an important lesson from you [The Ethiopian community]. We can learn about the love of Jerusalem, about fortitude and willpower, and about caring for one another. That caring was evident even in the meeting between you and the Israeli emissaries sent to meet you, those who were in uniform and those who were not in uniform. They proffered a helping hand and a hug on rubber dinghies of the Shayetet and the planes of the air force. Those hugs, more than anything else, represented the depth of brotherhood that characterizes our nation. That is always our goal, to be as one person with one heart.

Netanyahu then moved ahead in his speech to the future and current times. Your aliyah story involved a lot of hardships even when you came to Israel and tried to acclimate to society, as all stories of immigration do I have supported and continue to support the incorporation of the Ethiopian community within Israeli society. This does not mean to say that all the problems have gone away. There are very real issues and problems that we still need to deal with, but we are working on them. Here to we will not abandon the task until it is completed.

Three years ago I established a special committee which I requested to sit at the head of in order to deal with the inclusion of the Ethiopian community within Israeli society. We meet every few weeks and we work together with representatives from the community, some of whom I see here, and everything we do is with their full cooperation. We talk, we make things happen and we follow up to see that they are carried out. Changes are happening in many areas of society, but the important thing is that you look at your own story and take pride. Not just as it is a heroic story for your community, but for the entire nation of Israel

Who would have believed that in Israel, in the country of the Jews there would be racism? But sadly, it exists. I have just received the first report of the governmental task force to coordinate the fight against racism in Israel. We set up this task force and it works. It is working to get at the root of the problems and uproot them in a serious way. Each and every complaint of racism is investigated and dealt with. Simultaneously, the task force is working to uproot educational trends that lead towards preconceived notions and stereotypes and allow these to influence decisions. This too is a lengthy journey, but we will not give up on our goal, which is equal and fair treatment and respect for all and especially for you, the Ethiopian community.

Netanyahu said that he personally is moved everytime he sees a soldier with Ethiopian heritage be honored as an exemplary soldier and each time he sees an example of members from this community make strides in the fields of culture. There is here a juxtaposition to embrace the Israeli identity while still gleaning strength and pride from your special traditions. The names of Ethiopian Jewry have garnered fame for your unwavering faith and loyalty to our country, our traditions, and our city. We will always remember those who sacrificed themselves on the way to come to Israel, and we hope that they find comfort in the building of Jerusalem our capital. May their memories be forever blessed.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)If you've ever had your identity stolen online or been a victim of fraud, you'll know just how stressful and financially destructive it can be.

But even though the consequences can be severe, both personally and financially, making sure you're protected against fraudsters online is still something that is often pushed aside to 'do another day'.

Cyber attacks are unfortunately now commonplace and recently Twitter warned its 330 million users to change their password after a bug was discovered in its IT system, which stored passwords and usernames in plain text.

By looking at your photos or videos, fraudsters can also figure out where you live and work

Meanwhile last month the headlines were full of potential threats of state-sponsored hacking attacks from Russia and lead to a joint warning from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security.

Large-scale cyber attacks are thankfully quite rare yet we regularly hear from individuals who have fallen victim to online fraud.

We asked a number of cyber security experts for their top tips for avoiding becoming a victim and here we've made a list of the best.

1) Be careful with the information you share on social media

Social media can be a treasure trove for fraudsters, especially when it comes to finding personal details and potentially conning people out of their cash.

Therefore it's important to make sure personal information, such as your date of birth, phone number or address, isn't shared here. Similarly if you regularly leave updates on your social media accounts when you go on holiday, this can be a tool for criminals and will let them know when your house will be empty.

Lisa Baergen, director at online technology firm, NuData Security, said: 'By looking at your photos or videos, hackers can figure out where you live and work.

'They can find your spouse's name and who you socialise with  even the name of your pet that you may use as an answer to stronger security questions - even your mother's maiden name, a favourite data point used by creditors and financial institutions to verify your identity.'

A password manager is free to use and generates secure passwords with a combination of letters, number and special characters

To protect yourself on your social media feeds, review your security settings so you know who can access the details you share. Make sure your security settings are on the highest possible setting and use less obvious answers for security questions - such as the name of your pet, which may be easily obtained from your profile.

2) A password manager will encrypt and store all your passwords

You've probably been told a thousand times to change your password regularly and to have a different one for each account you use. However, remembering eight or nine different passwords (if not more) and changing them on a regular basis can be a real hassle and take a lot of time.

Instead a password manager can do this for you. They are free to use and generate secure passwords with a combination of letters, numbers and special characters. These are then stored in an encrypted account and when logged into the password manager, your username and password will be filled in automatically when you're asked for them.

Adam Brown, spokesperson for online technology firm Synopsys, explains: 'Users have hundreds of online accounts these days and if one of those is breached, and the password data leaked along with a linkable identifier like a username or email address, then that user's password is often no longer confidential due to the common but bad practice of reusing passwords.

'Anything linked to the user should be avoided, along with dictionary words and variations. Targeted attacks use reconnaissance to gain intelligence about the victim; social media or even public records can reveal friends and relatives names and dates etc.

'Ideally a unique string with numbers, letters of mixed case and special characters should be used; and sentences can help increase the complexity of a password while keeping them memorable.

'A reputable password manager gives users the opportunity to use non-guessable passwords (which also tend to be non-memorable) with their online accounts. It may seem like putting all your eggs in one basket but they have very strong security controls and in fact a good password manager never actually stores your password, just a super encrypted version of it that only you with the key (the password manager app and password) can access.'

3) Install up-to-date virus software

When you connect your computer, mobile phone or tablet to the internet, you're potentially opening it up to catch a virus which could steal private information from you.

To prevent this happening, install an anti-virus programme and make sure you regularly update it. This includes completing regular full virus scans and downloading any updates sent by the provider.

There are a number of free anti virus programmes available, such as Windows Defender (free to those with newer versions of Windows), Avast Antivirus and Avira.

Social media feeds can be a treasure trove for fraudsters, especially when it comes to finding personal details

4) Patch your operating system

'Patching' your operating system simply means completing the regular updates from whatever system you're using.

Large companies, such as Apple and Microsoft, send these out to make sure users of their systems can fully update their computers with the latest software to attack viruses and remove them.

This is especially important when it comes to cyber security as these patches will often include details to protect your computer from recent online viruses.

5) Use a VPN connection when looking at private information online

A free wifi network can be a godsend if you've run out of data or simply don't want to burn through your data while using the internet. However, it also can be used by hackers as a way to steal personal and financial information from people using the network.

Open wifi networks aren't as secure as private ones so try to avoid using online banking or entering your payment or personal details when using one.

If you are, a VPN, or virtual private network, connection can give you an extra layer of protection.

These allow you to remotely connect to a private network and encrypt your internet connection and any data you send, so no one can access this  including the internet service provider or a potential hacker. There are several VPNs available for free online and a number of apps you can download.

6) Check your credit scored regularly for suspicious payments or applications

Often your credit score can be the first place you find out you've been hacked, because any applications for credit will show up here. Therefore it's important to check it on a regular basis and to contact the credit reference agency if you spot anything strange.

James Jones, spokesperson for Experian, comments: 'If you're unlucky enough to be targeted by a fraudster, the sooner you discover it and raise the alarm the less time and effort will be needed to set the record straight.

'All three main credit reference agencies (Experian, Callcredit and Equifax) offer free support to fraud victims to limit any distress and inconvenience, including liaising with the lenders involved on your behalf. We also offer paid-for web-monitoring tools that can scour the web and alert you if your personal information is found somewhere new online.'

A VPN, or virtual private network, connection can give you an extra layer of protection

7) Never open links from people you don't know

If you're contacted by someone you don't know, be it in an email, phone call, text message, via social media or even in a WhatsApp message, always double check who the person or company is before clicking any links within the message or handing over any of your details.

If there are links or attachments within the message, don't open these until you're confident you know the sender is genuine. If you know the sender, double check with them to make sure they intended to share the link and it's not a virus.

Ryan Wilk, vice president at online security firm, NuData Security, says: 'Most fraudsters will first try to contact you with an email pretending to be from your bank or financial institution, or perhaps from a trusted merchant brand. Be very wary of any emails received from these sources - it is highly unlikely that any bank will contact you via email.

'Unfortunately, emails from brands are standard routine (sometimes, all-too-often) and have become extremely realistic and sophisticated. If an incoming, unsolicited email is asking for your personal and/or financial information, do your research and/or pick up the phone and call the sender organisation directly.'Commemorative Royal Wedding memorabilia is everywhere right now - from mugs to china plates and even celebratory Meghan and Harry digestive biscuits.

But would you buy a car celebrating Prince Harry's wedding? A pair of car makers clearly think someone might do and have decided to jump on the bandwagon too.

Mini and high-end British car customiser Kahn Design have both created one-off special edition models to mark the big day - with the special Mini being donated to raise money for charity.

Royal Edition: The Mini has a specially created roof design that's a blend of the Union Jack and Stars and Stripes flag to celebrate the union of the couple

The Kahn Design Chelsea Truck Company Flying Huntsman 105 Longnose is said to feature 'iridescent manifestations of royal craftsmanship'. It also has a very collectible number plate

Kahn Design's car is a custom-made Land Rover Defender - called the Chelsea Truck Company Flying Huntsman 105 Longnose - and it says it 'features iridescent manifestations of royal craftsmanship'.

It also crucially comes with the numberplate 4 HRH.

The Mini is a one-of-a-kind Cooper S hatchback - an ideal car for young newlyweds with no kids in tow.

But the keys won't be handed to the royal couple - instead the iconic British brand is gifting the car to The Children's HIV Association (CHIVA) for public auction with all proceeds going to the charity.

Mechanically, there's nothing to set the Mini apart from any other three-door automatic Cooper S you can buy in a showroom today from 22,995.

That means it has a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine that produces 189bhp. It has a top speed of 145mph and can reach 62mph from a standstill in 6.5 seconds.

But what sets it apart - and will probably double its value - are the bespoke styling features you won't find on any other Mini.

The exterior has a Crystal White finish with silver and blue accent strips with a contrast roof with a unique 3D-printed roof graphic that's claimed to be a combination of the Union Jack and US Stars and Stripes.

All new Mini hatchbacks come with Union Jack brake lights as of this year, but this model goes one step further by blending the UK flag and the US Stars and Stripes on the roof

The one-of-a-kind car has been gifted to The Children's HIV Association (CHIVA) for public auction with all proceeds going to the charity

The Royal Wedding Mini is the only one of its kind and has plenty of unique touches

While all new Mini hatchbacks now come with Union Jack brake lights, this special edition also gets special indicators - they're the initials 'M' and 'H' with a heart and rings.

That's not the only fairly cheesy addition - open the doors and a 'Just married' emblem shines onto the ground.

Inside, the first names of the bride and groom, plus the wedding date and good wishes to the newlyweds, have been added to the panel above the glovebox and the headrests, sun visors and door sills all feature 'love' sentiments.

The Mini indicators have an 'M' and 'H' design with a heart and rings

Inside, the panel above the dashboard has the names of the couple plus the wedding date and good wishes to the newlyweds

Open the door and a 'Just married' design is beamed onto the pavement. Spot the 'Mini loves you' illumination in the door sills, too

Speaking about the bespoke car, Mini's head of design, Oliver Heilmer, said: 'As an iconic British brand with almost 60 years of history in the UK, we are pleased to mark the royal wedding with this special charitable gift.

'The Mini Design team has created a one-off Mini Hatch for the occasion. Its specially designed roof graphic combines with 3D-printed personalised interior and exterior details as well as special embroidery to make this a Mini like no other.'

No value has been quoted for the Mini, with a standard Cooper S automatic retailing from 23,000

There is plenty of custom stitching around the interior, including on the headrests of the seats and in the sun visors

The red, white and blue design from the roof is also carried into the cabin of the car

And Mini isn't the only UK car maker to create a Meghan and Harry special.

Kahn Design, which is best known for creating behemoth six-wheel trucks and heavily-modified Range Rovers, has produced a custom-made Land Rover Defender.

Called the Chelsea Truck Company Flying Huntsman 105 Longnose - no small mouthful, we know - it even comes with a special registration plate that's surely worth a few bob.

'Complete with the much sought after 4 HRH number plate; the principal British designer believes this particular Chelsea Truck Company Flying Huntsman model is exactly the sort of vehicle that one would associate with royalty, thanks to its fashionable and iconic silhouette which pays tribute to the original Defender  ideal for Prince Harry and his future brides wedding day,' says the British car company.

Kahn Design said the car is available for sale from 79,995 and will be displayed in its Chelsea showroom in the week leading up to the wedding

It's not their first royal creation either - it has already released a number of vehicles celebrating Her Majesty, The Queens Jubilee, 60th Coronation and HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding day.

Owner, Afzal Kahn, said: 'As a proud Englishman, this is our way of wishing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle many happy years together.

'The vehicle is currently on display at our Kings Road showroom in Chelsea.

'However, additional vehicles with the 'WED IIN' and 'WED IIIN' registrations will be available at our Kensington showroom.

'Everyone is welcome to join us and celebrate this joyous occasion.'

The price of the special edition Defender is 79,995.Rolls-Royce is facing a bill upwards of 750m after its flagship Trent engines

Embattled engineer Rolls-Royce has banned all but essential staff travel as it faces massive bills to fix faults in its high- tech airplane engines.

Boss Warren East has urged staff to swap face-to-face meetings for teleconferences where possible and asked them to find any way to reduce indirect costs.

The firm is facing a bill upwards of 750million after its flagship Trent engines, which are used by airlines all over the world, started deteriorating faster than expected.

It was revealed last week that Rolls-Royce, which has already axed hundreds of managers, could also quit its plush headquarters in central London as it seeks to save cash.Japan has been snubbed by North Korea in sending out invitations to international press for the closure of its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province later this month.

Japan was a member of the long-defunct six-party talks, and back in June 2008 Japanese broadcaster TBS covered the demolition of a cooling tower at North Koreas nuclear facility in Yongbyon.

North Korea said media from only five countries were invited because of lack of space at the nuclear test site. But instead of Japan, the U.K., which was not a member of the six-party talks, was included in the list besides South Korea, the U.S., China and Russia.

That has led to speculation that North Korea deliberately wants to freeze Japan out of future denuclearization and disarmament talks.

Japan has called for North Korea's short and mid-range ballistic missiles to be included in the denuclearization agenda, which none of the other partners seem too worried about.

North Korea has repeatedly slammed Japan even after the historic inter-Korean summit on April 27. The official Rodong Sinmun daily wrote Sunday that Japanese Prime Minister Abe "will attempt to use all the petty tricks in order to prolong his doomed political life. But the more he clings on to the usual old tricks, the more his abominable self will be revealed to the rest of the world."

Abe is widely tipped to leave office later this year as a corruption probe closes in around him.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported, "It seems that North Korea wants foreign currency under the premise of inviting foreign media," and added, "The dismantling of the nuclear test site may just be another theatrical performance to the outside world."

A Cheong Wa Dae said the matter is "too sensitive" for comment but added, "It seems that the fact that there has not yet been official dialogue between Japan and North Korea may have influenced the decision."

Shell shareholders are being urged to vote against boss Ben Van Beurden's 7.8m pay packet

The boss of oil giant Shell is facing the threat of a revolt over his 7.8million pay packet.

Institutional Shareholders Services, a leading investor advisory group, is recommending that Ben van Beurdens pay is voted down at the annual general meeting later this month.

ISS said it also wants more information about how the 60-year-olds bonus was affected by an incident in Pakistan in 2016, when a fuel tanker operated by a Shell Pakistan contractor exploded, killing more than 200 people.

Shell said that it disagreed with several of ISSs concerns.MBABANE  When women worship the floodgates of heaven open.



This was a scenario at the Swaziland Theatre Club on Saturday night as When Women Worship brought down heavens through their worship and praise.



This was during the groups live recording which saw over 70 people taking part during the well prepared recording.

When Women Worship is a group consisting of experienced women in the music industry, who praise and worship through their voices. The main purpose of the group is to give praise to the Almighty and lift peoples spirits up with their music.



Indeed Heavens were brought down as the women worshipped and praised. Those who attended the show did not regret braving the cold just to be with the group as it gave a thrilling two hour performance.



Gospel music lovers were not disappointed as they got what they had come for. Among others who were at their best were soloist Zodwa Sambo and Hazel Dlamini ,who is famously known as Make H when on stage.



They set the tone of the rerecording giving their best performance something.

The group sang a number of songs which gospel music lovers enjoyed. One of the songs that were a hit on the one titled Wemoya Oyingcwele which was led by Make H.



As soon as she mentioned that she would sing this song some of those who attended stood up and were ready to join her as she sang.

She did what she does best as she sang with the rest of the group. Most of the gospel music lovers seemed to be in love with this song.

By the time the recording came to an end, the gospel fans wanted to know when the live DVD would be available in stores.



Spicing up the event was another gospel artist Sunshine M. This artist who is famously known for singing Heal Songs did not disappoint as he spent 15 minutes while worshipping. His set was enjoyed by everyone. At the end of the show, the programme director, Sharon Maziya called him back to the stage to sing a closing song. Most people felt he had prepared himself for the performance.MBABANE  Patients at Mbabane Government Hospital did not bath on Friday and Saturday as there was no water.



Those patients who woke up early on Friday were the only ones who found the water running.

Some of the patients in Wards 12 and 8 were found on Saturday at around 11am, complaining that they could not use the hospital bathrooms because of the shortage of water.



According to them, they were not told what was happening and those who can walk had to use the bathrooms in the other wards.

Relatives who are watching over those admitted to the wards, had to get buckets to collect water for bathing for themselves and their sick relatives.



Other patients were found asking the nurses who were attending to them to find out what was happening and the nurses told them they also did not know.



Some were speculating that the water had been disturbed by the construction company which was busy in the hospital premises.

One patient in the newly revamped Ward 12, stated that what was happening to them was not fair because bathing made them feel better.

Another stated that he was being discharged on the Saturday and had to go home using public transport dirty because there was no water to bath. Ward 8 is that of young children and they also could not use their toilets or take baths. The patients admitted that it would have been better if there was no electricity than water because they would be clean.First Tangshan-Antwerp freight train arrives at Belgium

From:ChinaDaily | 2018-05-14 07:01

BRUSSELS -- After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The train with 41 containers which left Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed on Saturday in Antwerp. The direct railway link between China and Belgium is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

By opening up a new and quick route into China, the initiative offers plenty of new opportunities for the development of the Sino-Belgian trade relations.

Luc Arnouts, Director International Networks, Antwerp Port Authority, said at the welcoming ceremony that "This direct train link puts our port on the BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative)map and will further strengthen our ties with China. We have long been working on this project, which represents an important milestone in our trade relations with China."MBABANE  Turning a blind eye on alleged dagga dealers while on patrol has resulted in a police officer being arrested.



The police officer Mazwi Senzo Dlamini, who is based at Siphofaneni Police Station, has been charged with defeating the ends of justice and extortion.



He is alleged to have failed to arrest the alleged dagga dealers whom he found standing next to a car at Siphofaneni while he was patrolling the area.



Dlamini (32) has since moved an application for bail at the High Court where he claimed that he was not aware that the people he found next to a shopping complex were dagga dealers.

In his bail application, Dlamini stated that he was arrested by police officers from the same station (Siphofaneni Police Station) on May 5, 2018.



He told the court that after his arrest, he was subsequently charged with two counts.

He narrated that on the day in question; he was on patrol near Timbili Complex when he saw a suspicious group of people.

According to Dlamini, two cars were parked where they were standing.



As I approached, one of the people ran away and a motor vehicle that was close to where they were standing sped off. I left the scene as I did not have a back-up and I did not know why they were running away, alleged the law enforcer.



The accused (Dlamini) submitted that days later, he was arrested and charged with defeating the ends of justice and extortion.

He claimed that it was only then that he learnt that the motor vehicle which sped off had a consignment.

MBABANE  Former SIPA employee, Zizwe Vilane, is set to be paid close to E700 000 by the company.



This comes after the two parties reached an agreement of settlement which was made an order of the High Court.

Vilane held the position of Director of Foreign Investments at SIPA. SIPA is an acronym for the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority.



According to the settlement, SIPA will pay Vilane the sum of E683 115.96.

The agreement comes after Vilane took SIPA to court in 2015 challenging his dismissal from the organisation and arguing that it was both procedurally and substantively unfair.



After his application, SIPA claimed that his dismissal was both procedurally and substantively fair, which led to the dispute remaining unresolved.



Eventually, a certificate of unresolved dispute was issued by the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) on April 24, 2015.

when an application for determination of unresolved dispute was filed in court,

Vilane argued that he had performed all his obligations under his employment contract and remained employed until November 29, 2014 when the company unlawfully terminated his contract.



At the time his contract was terminated, Vilane was earning a gross monthly salary of E56 926.33.



MANZINI  Shocking! This best describes a sensitive story narrated by a rape suspect, Mazwi Ginindza (32) of Lomahasha, who told the court that he was allegedly ordered by former minister of Justice Sibusiso Shongwe to kill Prime minister, Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini.



Ginindza, who appeared before Principal Magistrate David Khumalo yesterday, said he was allegedly incarcerated together with Shongwe at Sidvwashini Correctional facility.

The rape suspect was arrested and charged with the rape of *Mary, which occurred on March 2016 at Mpolonjeni in the Hhohho region.



robbery



Ginindza was charged with the rape offence, which he committed using a gun, a robbery offence where he robbed a woman of E18 000 cash and a housebreaking with intent to steal and theft offence.



The rape suspect alleged that after his incarceration, he was admitted to bail which was paid for by the former minister, who later housed him at his home while they allegedly orchestrated a plan to assassinate the prime minister.



Sibusiso Shongwe paid bail for me and later kept me at his home. this is when I was arrested before these offences. He instructed me and two other men whom we fetched from Lomahasha border, to attack and kill the prime minister, Ginindza alleged.



referred



He ordered that we must kill the Pm together with another person referred to as Elijah Fakudze, who was attending church at Calvary Ministry, situated in Manzini. He threatened to kill my family members if I failed to heed to his orders, Ginindza alleged in court.

Ginindza further alleged that the former minister told him that judges and magistrates were hired by him and he had control over them. Shongwe is alleged to have also told the suspect that he would order judges to detain him for the rest of his life.



I later learnt that Shongwe was after me after I had escaped from his home and I then decided to buy the gun which is before court in order to scare him, in case he attacked me with an intention to kill me, he further alleged.City to announce 3-year 'red tourism' plan

From:Shine | 2018-05-14 01:29

Research into more than 400 historic sites in Shanghai is being carried out ahead of a three-year plan to develop "red tourism" which will be released later this year.

Shanghai has about 600 revolutionary sites, but many were destroyed during war, said Shen Chao, a director at the Shanghai Tourism Administration.

The plan will cover turning "red tourism" resources into "red tourism" bases, developing "red tourism" products, and training staff to promote the development of the city's "red tourism."

Shanghai has 34 "red tourism" bases, and six will be added by 2020, Shen said.

Fan Xiaoming

Residents learn about Shanghai's "red tourism" routes at a "red tourism" related event atLuxun Parkon Sunday.

At a "red tourism" related event hosted by the administration at Luxun Park in Hongkou District on Sunday, a competition was launched for photographers to submit works related to "red tourism." Winning photos will be exhibited during this year's Shanghai Tourism Festival.

Shanghai plays an important part in the history of the Communist Party of China, and is home to many historical and cultural sites, revolutionary sites and former residences of famous people, ideal for the city to develop into "red tourism," officials said during the event.

Fan Xiaoming

A student answers questions about "red tourism" at the event.

The city has many "red tourism" resources, but they are scattered and some have residents living inside, said Xu Weiwan, director of the administration. They have many stories to tell and the target is to string these resources together, she said.

The city has already developed 10 "red tourism" routes, that include the site of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai Luxun Museum, the former residence of martyr Li Bai and the former site of Tiantongan Station of Songhu Railway.

The design of some routes involves immersive experiences, encouraging participants to complete tasks, unravel mysteries from clues hidden in exhibits and "experience" relevant historic events.

"'Red tourism' is an inseparable part of Shanghai tourism," said Shen. "Immersive experiences allow youngsters to better experience the glamour of 'red tourism."

Shanghai will also enhance regional cooperation on "red tourism" and develop a variety of "red tourism" products, Shen said.

The city will join with Jiaxing, Zunyi, Jinggang Mountain, a site revered as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army, and Yan'an on tourism promotion and route design.Israeli forces killed 52 Palestinians on the Gaza border in the conflict\s bloodiest day in years on Monday as clashes and protests coincided with the deeply controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The clashes, which left more than 2,400 Palestinians wounded, erupted before a White House delegation and Israeli officials opened the embassy at an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem and continued throughout the day.

It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.

The dead included eight children under the age of 16, according to the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations. The Gazan health ministry provided the overall death and injury toll.

Tens of thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

The embassy inauguration nonetheless went on as planned, attended by a Washington delegation that included US President Donald Trump\s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides.

Ivanka Trump helped declare the new embassy open and a plaque and seal were unveiled before the 800 guests at the ceremony.

Trump addressed the ceremony by video.

"Our greatest hope is for peace," he said despite the Palestinian anger the move has provoked.

"The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump in his address that "by recognising history you have made history."

 Protests and clashes 

Along the Gaza border, crowds built throughout the day in the Palestinian enclave less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) away from Jerusalem and sealed off from Israel by a blockade.

Israel\s military said 40,000 Palestinians had taken part in the protests and clashes.

"The rioters are hurling firebombs and explosive devices at the security fence and at (Israeli) troops and are burning tyres, throwing rocks and launching flaming objects with the intention of igniting fires in Israeli territory and harming (Israeli) troops."

The military also said one of its fighter jets had struck five targets at a Hamas training facility in Gaza.

Earlier, a military plane and tank targeted two other Hamas posts in response to what it said was fire toward its forces by Hamas.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused Israel of "massacres," while Amnesty International called the violence an "abhorrent violation" of human rights. Human Rights Watch denounced a "bloodbath."

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "we expect all to act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life," while British Prime Minister Theresa May\s spokesman urged "calm and restraint".

Netanyahu defended the use of force, saying "every country has the obligation to defend its borders."

Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus alleged "we have seen three different squads, fully equipped terrorist squads with weapons, trying to plant IEDs at the technical fence in three different locations."

The inauguration followed Trump\s December 6 recognition of the disputed city as Israel\s capital.

The ceremony took place at what until now had been a US consulate building in Jerusalem.

Abbas said the new embassy was tantamount to "a new American settler outpost" in Jerusalem and that the United States "is no longer a mediator in the Middle East."

Police and the Israeli military deployed massively.

Around 1,000 police officers were positioned around the embassy, while Israel\s army said it almost doubled the number of troops surrounding Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a message to Gazans "we will protect our civilians with all our means and not enable the fence to be crossed."

 \Off the table\ 

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Beyond the disputed nature of Jerusalem, the date of the embassy move was also key.

May 14 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

On Tuesday, Palestinians mark the "Nakba", or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel\s creation.

Palestinian protests are also planned for Tuesday.

There had already been weeks of protests and clashes along the Gaza border, with 106 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire there since March 30.

No Israelis have been killed and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

Jerusalem\s status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city\s status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.

He has argued that it helps make peace possible by taking Jerusalem "off the table", but many have pointed out he has not announced any concessions in return from Israel.

Source: AFPHome  Just In  From the Kathmandu Press: Monday, May 14, 2018

Various newspapers published from the Kathmandu Valley have given importance to various political, sociocultural and business stories. The address of Prime Minister to the House of Representatives and the controversial statement made by the Province 2 Chief Minister during a civic facilitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been given importance.

Various other economic and sociocultural stories also grabbed significant attention in the major broadsheets today.

Important

PM says Modi visit has taken Indo-Nepal relation to new level

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that the visit of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi has laid a new foundation for the Nepal-India relations. The visit of Modi as a pilgrim has taken the relation between both the countries to new height, according to Gorkhapatra.

Briefing the lawmakers about Modis visit in Parliament on Sunday, Prime minister KP Oli said that no steps were taken that was against the nations will. He further assured that he had made no agreements that would undermine the dignity of the country, reports Republica.

Likewise, the Prime minister also assured that the Raxaul-Kathmandu train will operate in next five year with India bearing all the cost for the construction, adds the lead story published in Annapurna Post.

Province 2 Chief Ministers controversial statement displeases PM

The speech made by Province 2 Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut at a civic felicitation programme to welcome Indian Prime minister Modi has sparked controversy for criticising the Constitution of Nepal as discriminatory.

The struggle against the discriminatory constitution and provincial rights continues, the Chief Minister had said while addressing the programme, reports Republica.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has expressed his dissatisfaction over the controversial statement made by the chief Minister. During the visit, many statements made were against the national will and diplomatic etiquette, Oli said, reports Kantipur.

PMs China visit likely in June

As Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli announced that he would visit China soon during his address to the House of Representatives meeting on Sunday, officials in both the countries have informally begun preparations. Quoting Olis chief political advisor, Bishnu Rimal, the anchor story in The Kathmandu Post says Oli is likely to go to Beijing in June, after the annual budget announcement. The government announces the budget in the last week of May.

The report claims that the exact date for the visit will be announced soon and it is likely to be timed around the 18th Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, scheduled for June 9 and 10.

During the visit, the two countries will sign a Transit Transport Protocol, according to the report.

Ignored

Chinese aircraft continue to bleed NAC dry

Two aircraft purchased from China have become proved white elephants for the Nepal Airlines Corporation as the loss incurred by them is increasing over years, according to a story in Karobar.

The loss amounted to Rs 338 million in the last fiscal year whereas it is likely to cross the one billion rupee mark this year, the report says, adding the national flag carrier, however, has purchased four similar aircraft this year too.

Nepali Army fires junior staffer over pork controversy

Naya Patrika claims that Nepali Army has fired one of its junior staff after he allegedly refused to consume food prepared in utensils used to prepare pork foods. Mohammad Jabir Khan has claimed that eating pork is very disrespectful to his religion, Islam; therefore he refused to take it.

Earlier, he had submitted his resignation to save his faith, which the national military organisation had rejected. But, after five months, he was told that his resignation was approved and he could quit the job.

Meanwhile, he has filed a complaint at the Army Headquarters and National Human Rights Commission.

Lawmakers wont be given development funds from next fiscal

The Himalayan Times says the government is in the mood to discontinue the release of funds through lawmakers for infrastructure development projects though lawmakers of major political parties including CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre have piled pressure to continue them.

The Constituency Development Programme and the Constituency Infrastructure Special Prorgramme will come to an end, according to the report.

Interesting

NEA ends load shedding at industries too

Many newspapers have published on their front page that regular power outage, popularly known as load shedding, have officially ended in Nepal as the Nepal Electricity Authority has said it will capable of supplying uninterrupted power to industries and factories too.

Earlier, power outage for domestic customers had ended one and half years ago, but industries were still facing the problem for three to four hours every day.

Gorkhapatra says there will not be load shedding at any place connected with the central transmission line except on occasions of technical glitches.

Meanwhile, the central transmission line will receive 1,000 megawatt more power this year, according to Kantipur.You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber.



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Recently, efforts are being made to put Nepali cuisine on the world map, but we hardly appreciate authentic Nepali cuisine. We seem to take our food for granted as most of us often say why eat out dal bhat, I can eat that at homea reason why Nepali cuisine isnt as well known as other cuisines.

Here in Nepal, the word authentic seems to have been misused over the last decade. A number of restaurants have opened across the city that claim to serve authentic Nepali cuisine; but most of them fail to live up to their expectation as they serve the same food calling it Thakali or Thali.

However, there are some which do try to give more than just food. At Utsav, you get more than just good food, you get an experience which will stay with you for years to come. Its a restaurant that has incorporated Nepali culture with Nepali food and has been doing so since 2009.

On arrival, I am greeted warmly by the staff dressed in full Nepali attire who puts a tika on my forehead. Most visitors here are foreigners and to give the patrons an idea about Nepali hospitality, they do so for all the guests who come to the restaurant. That is why even before I take a seat, I feel welcomed and am already impressed.

The restaurant was opened in 2009 with the vision of serving authentic Nepali food to the foreigners who come to Nepal. As I take my seat, I am greeted by Mahesh Regmi, the manager of the restaurant who tells me about the history of this nine-year-old eatery. Previously, it was at a building where club deja vu is at; but after the 2015 earthquake, the building needed repairing so the owners decided to move to a better place a near Lal Durbar in Durbar Marg.

The best thing about Utsav is its hospitality and their food along with the cultural dance performance which is quite unique in its own.

In most restaurants, they serve you food and thats about it, there is no interaction with the guests, but thats not the case here. Here, the staff talk to the guests and explain the food that is being put on their plate along with any other query one has.

While I sit there observing a group of foreigners try aila, my food arrives. I have the same meal the foreigners have and for starters, the staff put some chicken momo on the table. The momo, cooked to perfection, is quite brilliant as it is full of flavours and tastes homely.

As I finish the starters, the cultural performance starts. A group of boys and girl in traditional Nepali attire start the performance. Its mostly dance that isnt seen in other places. Most of them are cultural dance which depicts the stories of gods and goddesses.

While I observe the dance, the staff put a traditional Nepali brass plate on the table. Then comes the main course starting with steamed rice followed by black lentils tempered with herbs. To go with that, the staff bring mix-vegetable, sauteed spinach, Nepali style chicken, Nepali style fish and fresh tomato pickle.

The meal as a whole is quite homely. No artificial flavours like monosodium glutamate are added during preparations so it is like youre dining in your own home. The chicken is tender, not too spicy considering the taste buds of the foreigners present. The fish is the same and is delicious. The mixed vegetables arent that good, but the spinach is as good as one cooked at home by our mothers and grandmothers. A Nepali meal is incomplete without a pickle and the tomato pickle complements the entire meal.

The performances continue throughout the meal without being intrusive. The performers are talented, energetic and they bring the characters to life with the various costume changes.

The ambience and decor of this place gives you a taste of old times. The flooring, the furniture and overall decor compliment the set-up which can cater up to 250 people in the two large halls. Apart from dinner, the place is also ideal to host conferences and can also be an option for team building activities for corporate houses.

Apart from the set Nepali meal, they also serve other cuisines to cater to the needs of their diverse patrons.

To sum up, the restaurant is quite unique and offers a solid Nepali experience which is different to other similar restaurants. Its a place you go for an experience rather than the food that will leave you and your family wanting to come back for more.

Location: Lal Durbar, Durbar Marg (The alley beside Ace Travels)

Opening times: 10 AM to 10 PM

Phone: +977 01 4430170, +977 01 4434965

Email: [email protected]

utsavrestaurant.com.npAND WE'RE BACK!!!

Kansas City Downtown Agenda Deets

From Bluegrass to Margaritaville, Downtown has it all this week From Bluegrass in the Bottoms to Jimmy Buffett in Margaritaville; from Peter Pan in Neverland to The Lion King at Music Hall the week ahead looks like poster for Downtown cool from Monday to Sunday, May 14-20 - including: Bluegrass in the Bottoms returns to the East Bottoms on Friday and Saturday nights with some of the hottest names in bluegrass music lighting up Knuckleheads Outdoors.

Goldne Ghetto Burns This Morning

Crews battle two alarm apt. fire in Overland Park OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Fire and rescue crews from Overland Park and Leawood battled a two-alarm apartment fire at the Springhill Apartments at 8819 W. 121st Terrace. Crews were called to the scene just after 4:20 Monday morning.

Kansas City Lady Good Deeds

Blisters for Sisters reveals a global sisterhood in Kansas City GSR Today - Kansas City's annual Blisters for Sisters celebrates sisters and raises a little money for the Serra Club. From the 174 sisters in attendance at this year's walk/run and more, I encountered sisters from around the world - a microcosm of religious life today.

Arguing No Fun In Kansas

Capitol Insider podcast: Lawmakers make case for dog and horse racing in Kansas Two Kansas lawmakers say opponents to horse and dog racing in Kansas resort to "scare tactics" in the debate over gambling legislation.Rep. Adam Lusker, D-Frontenac, and Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth, discuss the possibility of changing state law to resurrect horse and dog racing for the latest episode of Capitol Insider, a podcast from The Topeka Capital-Journal that explores people and issues in state government.

Show-Me Weekend Jail Riot

Riot reported at the Crossroads Corrections Center Inmates refused to leave the dining hall.

Home Team Heartbreak Cont'd

Duffy tagged for nine runs in Royals' 11-2 loss to Indians CLEVELAND - Corey Kluber became the American League's first six-game winner and the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 11-2 on Sunday. The reigning Cy Young Award winner gave up two unearned runs in seven innings, scattering eight hits. Kluber (6-2) was backed by four hits from Yan Gomes, including a three-run homer.

Local Weather This Week

First Alert: Thunderstorms possible Monday evening Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT TODAY, IF YOU HAD A BE OUTSIDE IT WAS HOT. HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. 90 DEGREES AND IT WAS HUMID. HEAT INDEX WE HAD TO DEAL WITH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 90'S. STILL FEELS LIKE IT IS IN THE MIDDLE 90'S.

Hottieinspires this hard look at financial reality.Closer to home, here's a quick collection of some of the top links we're checking to start the work week:is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . .At the 3800 block of South Benton. The child, who is under the age of 6, accidentally shot themselves. Police said that gun belonged to the child's parent. The child was rushed to an area hospital in critical condition.IS THIS A WIN FOR THE GUV OR A SIGN THAT THE CASE AGAINST HIM IS GETTING MORE SERIOUS?!?!

"It was a great victory and it was a long time coming. This experience has been humbling and I have emerged from it a changed man," (Guv) Greitens said afterward. "Above all I am sorry for the pain this process and my actions have caused my family, my friends and the people of Missouri."









KCUR: Governor Greitens has been accused of taking a photo of a partially nude woman without her consent. He has denied taking the photo, although he has acknowledged having an extramarital affair with the woman. She hasn't spoken publicly about the case. Her former husband told a local television station about the allegations in January.





Sorry, the only thing really shocking about this one is that we've gone on so long with such an amateur effort and it took so long for smarter people to step-in . . .More to the point . . .The Missouri Guv counts it in his win file . . .Check the links . . .You decide . . .Mashreq Bank, the UAEs leading financial institution, today announced the appointment of Ibrahim Al Mheiri as the new head of Mashreq Al Islami Retail Segment and UAE National Segment.

With over 15 years of experience in retail and commercial banking, Al Mheiri has held senior positions at other leading banks in the UAE, Egypt, and Oman. He has also worked for Mashreq in the past, holding the role of product manager for retail assets, liabilities and investments. Prior to joining Mashreq Bank, he served as the unit head of commercial banking at Al Masraf Bank.

Skilled in products, sales and risk management, he has a comprehensive understanding of the retail, SME and commercial segments. He has a wealth of experience in managing and selling a wide variety of products, global and local alike. Additionally, he has expertise in managing branch services for commercial clients.

Mashreq Banks Head of Retail Banking Group, Subroto Som, said: We are proud to welcome Ibrahim Al Mheiri back to Mashreq. He brings a wealth of experience in commercial and retail banking to the team. Ibrahim will be responsible for our Retail Islamic Banking and will also be leading our UAE National segment. I am confident that he will help us achieve our long-term strategic goals and focus further on Islamic and National segments. Al Mheiris appointment represents our commitment to the creation of Emirati leaders in the banking and financial industry. - TradeArabia News ServiceSaudi Arabia is set to convert part of its highway system into toll roads to help make its transport system more efficient under its new reform programme. Draft plans for this project may be ready in six months, said a report.



The government aims to establish between four and six toll roads which private companies would operate in exchange for fees, according to Reuters.



Under this programme, Saudi government will let the private sector operate much of the kingdom's transport infrastructure, including airports and sea ports, with the government keeping a role as regulator.



Saudi Arabia, which does not have a significant auto manufacturing industry, is spending billions of dollars to expand the public transport systems in the capital Riyadh and other big cities, and has imported thousands of buses in the last few years, said the report, citing the transport minister.



"We are developing the public transport system with a lot of buses, so we want to see how we can leverage this to develop domestic industry," remarked Nabeel Al Amudi in an interview on the sidelines of a recent business conference in Jeddah.



Saudi Arabia recently held preliminary discussions with foreign firms about manufacturing buses domestically and expanding public transport systems in the capital Riyadh and other big cities, he stated.



The manufacturing of the vehicles locally, he stated, would allow Saudi Arabia to save on import costs while creating jobs and expanding domestic industry.



The minister, however declined to name the companies with which the kingdom had been talking, reported Reuters.



Last May, German vehicle maker Daimler received an order from Riyadh for 600 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses, the largest order for the vehicles in the history of its bus division. China Yuchai International last month announced the delivery of 800 buses to Saudi Arabia.Bahrain-based Investcorp, a leader in alternative investments, has released a white paper which examines the GCCs evolving multi-billion dollar healthcare industry, and highlights six focus areas to improve the sector.



The white paper titled, A Health Prescription for the GCC, identifies four areas of weakness in the regions healthcare industry, namely, insufficient access and quality of care, the high cost of treatment of a relatively young population and the increasing burden of funding on GCC governments - the current primary spenders on healthcare in the region.



Based on tried and tested models, global best practices and deep knowledge of the GCCs healthcare industry, the paper offers six vital remedies and highlights key priorities to help improve it.



Firstly, Gulf countries must improve their wellness and prevention measures by promoting a healthy food and exercise regimen for their citizens and encouraging screening and health checks.



Secondly, to help fill supply gaps with adequate care, there needs to be a focus on increasing the number of specialized facilities and improving the quality of services, by, for instance, partnering with experienced Western institutions, the paper said.



Third, Healthcare providers, such as hospitals and clinics, need to consolidate to benefit from economies of scale.



Fourth, the paper stresses the importance of privatization to improve the overall healthcare system and infrastructure. Fifth, it recommends that governments try value-based care systems to incentivize good behaviour and reduce costs. Finally, the paper emphasizes the need for greater cooperation between GCC nations and pooling of purchasing power and infrastructure



Tristan de Boysson, co-head of Corporate Investment for Mena at Investcorp, said: The GCC healthcare industry is undergoing a much-needed transformation, mainly driven by the pressure on governments to shift the burden of funding to the private sector and the rise of the patient as a consumer of healthcare services. The change is creating plenty of opportunities, and the build-up of a more complete eco-system.



Commenting on the paper, Rabih Khouri, managing director, Corporate Investment Mena at Investcorp said: Encouraging steps have already been taking place to help take the GCC healthcare industry to global standards. The magnitude of the transformation is highest in Saudi Arabia, where new regulations are being prepared as well as a substantial privatization programme. I believe the transformation will considerably raise the standards of healthcare and better meet the populations expectations.  TradeArabia News ServiceAluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based leading aluminium producer, has demonstrated its dedication to strengthen sound corporate governance practices by relaunching its Code of Conduct as well as its confidential reporting system Integrity Line.



The launch took place today (May 14) at the Oasis Hall, and was attended by Albas chief executive officer Tim Murray, executive management and managers, said a statement.



The launch programme included speeches, a training video and presentations, it said.



Murray said: Our company has always upheld the highest standards of ethical and professional behaviour as well as practices of transparency, fairness and continual improvement.



We are proud of the open and transparent manner in which Alba operates, and are thankful to our chairman, board of directors, management team and employees for their strong support towards safeguarding the company as well as shareholders values, he said.



We remain committed to exceed the best industry practices in Corporate Governance standards at all times, he added.



Alba's chief internal auditor and risk officer Bryan Harris added: The Code of Conduct and IntegrityLine are key elements of our continued dedication to strengthening its corporate governance and instituting best practices within the company.



As a public listed company, we are committed to operating its business to the highest ethical standards and in the best interest of its stakeholders, he said.



Alba was one of the first companies in the region to launch its own Code of Conduct and confidential reporting system in 2009. The updated Code of Conduct will be rolled-out through a company-wide communication and training plan in the coming weeks under the theme Shining a light on Integrity, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceShell Oman has recently signed an agreement with International Live Solutions (Mubashir), a tech-savvy Omani SME to expand its Customer Interface Screens (CIS) project across its network of service stations.



Mubashir will take this project to the next level with advanced state-of-the-art technology and features, a statement said.



This agreement comes into effect three years after the initial launch of CIS with comprehensive market research, testing, analysis and taking into consideration customers feedback.



The CIS enables customers to enjoy high definition Shell and third-party communications from the convenience of their vehicles as they refuel. In addition to transaction details, this also provides audio visual information in looped sequences that include safety messages and services available at the station, as well as third party marketing content.



Khalid Hashil Al Awaisi, retail country manager at Shell Oman said: This project puts customers at the centre of our agenda. We work with our partners to offer innovative products and services from Shell that improve the customer experience and engage them. Contributing to sustainable development remains integral to the way we do business. Therefore, to create In-Country-Value, we look forward to working with Mubashir, an award-winning Omani SME, who is our technology and media partner for this pioneering project.



Raif Mohamed Al Harthy, chief executive officer at Mubashir said: Three years into this amazing journey and based on customers feedback, we are now fully convinced that CIS is one of the most innovative out-of-home platforms for third party marketing and communication.



The CIS has been adopted by many advertisers and entities to reach out to their clientele and the public 24/7. The smart system gives our clients control by scheduling their campaigns and brings their ads and messages to life with sound and videos. Mubashir will continue adding smart, dynamic and innovative features to enhance the experience for the advertiser and customer, he added.  TradeArabia News ServiceOman Air, the national carrier of Oman, has opened reservation for its planned service to Russia announced by the airline earlier this year.



Oman Air will begin its new daily flight from Muscat to the Russian capital of Moscow on October 28. The new route will follow the launch of new routes to Istanbul and Casablanca in June and July respectively.



The new daily service to Moscow Domodedovo Airport will be operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 8 with an estimated flight time of 5 hours and 55 minutes, offering 12 seats in Business Class and 150 in Economy. Flight WY181 will depart Muscat daily at 14.00, arriving in Moscow at 18.55 local time. And the return flight WY182 will depart Moscow at 00.55, arriving into the award-winning new passenger terminal at Muscat International Airport, at 07.35.



The direct flight will be the only non-stop operation between Oman and Russia, benefitting both business and leisure travellers, in addition to offering seamless connections via Oman Air hub, Muscat International Airport to destinations across the globe. The captivating city of Moscow boasts a rich history that still mesmerises many visitors to Russia's capital. The sprawling city of Moscow is a mixture of historical and contemporary sights.



Next month, Oman Air will also receive the first of its three 787-9 Dreamliner on order, which features a three-class configuration. The carrier unveiled the new First Class Mini Suite of its Dreamliner 787-9 fleet on the opening day of the Arabian Travel Market 2018. - TradeArabia News ServiceThese new books are now available at the Transylvania County Library:

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The Triangle area recently received a visit from Amazon. There were no public reports on what Amazon looked at or whom they talked to, but state and local officials are confident the Trian...Lt-Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd)

Lt-Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd)

Ex-GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps

In J&K's bleak security landscape through 2017-18, a unilateral ceasefire proposed by the state's mainstream parties was bound to be received with a mix of emotions, some happy and others involving concern, disquiet and a sense of foreboding. The term ceasefire is itself questionable because in sub-conventional operations, the accepted term is seizure of offensive operations (SOO) or, simply, restraint in operations.

Unilateral decisions of this kind are many times perceived as something which only the disadvantaged side looks to as a reprieve from a difficult operational situation it finds itself in. This is a flawed perception. While the almost daily incidents of killing in Kashmir have caused dismay, the proposal to restrain operations by the state is not such a simple issue. It needs much greater deliberation from two angles: first, the psychological messaging which arises from such a decision; and second, on the doability of the proposal.

Earlier ceasefire

In J&K, this is the second time that the issue has arisen, the first being then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Ramzan 'ceasefire' of November, 2000. While the government may have for now not accepted the proposal, two models of this need to be kept in mind. The first is of Nagaland where such a decision resulted in a successful negotiation that has fructified into a yet-to-be-firmed-in settlement; it does need a reminder that in the North-East, the level of proxy and ideological support has mostly remained below threshold. The second is the Sri Lanka model where the LTTE went through many such arrangements with the army only to emerge stronger each time to fight back with renewed vigour.

Reports in Delhi indicated that intelligence agencies possibly favoured such a step and extracts from the Army Chief's interview with a mainstream newspaper were also being initially used to indicate the Army's favour for the same. The proposal needs a deeper analysis.

There is no doubt that the current situation is not reflective of any domination by the terrorists. Operation All Out has met unqualified success in terms of neutralisation of the armed cadres. Yet, the situation is not under full control because of the deep-set alienation which has forced the Kashmiri youth in particular to take to the streets, unmindful of their safety. A persistence of this attitude is dangerous and unpredictable. There also appears a spurt in recruitment to local terrorist ranks. The Durbar has just returned to the Valley and the month of Ramzan is approaching, the ending of which will nearly coincide with the commencement of the Amarnath Yatra. The Chief Minister's proposal did make sense from the timing and situation point of view, provided the powers-that-be are clear what they are aiming at. We have the experience of the Non-Initiation of Combat Operations (NICO) of 2000-01 in J&K and of the SOO in the North-East to go by and the institutional knowledge of the Army will always be handy.

Focused aim must

Any major decision in operations must have a focused aim  the necessity to allow things to calm and emotions stabilise. Yet it cannot allow a leeway for rebuilding terrorist capability and wherewithal. Restraint in such operations has to be a graded one, with nuances that will ensure both adequate control and sufficient freedom. The political community must have the chance to go back to the grassroots and engage with its constituencies. There has to be absence of violence. The spelling of saner narratives will then be possible. The one thing to guard against is disinformation and misinformation enabled by social media.

The naysayers need to understand that in the world of sub-conventional operations, ego must be shelved since there are no winners or losers against your own people; that is the notion with which the Army operates. A unilateral restraint in operations is no indicator of weakness. In fact, it is a display of confidence and the will to seek peace. The concept of execution must remain such that in the eventuality of failure, the return to operations must not witness greater terrorist capability.

Under such a decision, the Army does not go into rest and recuperation mode or back to its barracks. The challenge of execution is actually even greater than when operational freedom exists. Offensive operations are curbed (no cordon and search and no search and destroy operations) but open display of weapons by terrorists invites action. All defensive operations continue and this includes securing of roads and installations, area domination and display of the flag. There is no change in the execution of counter-infiltration at the LoC. The presumption is that terrorists, too, will refrain from striking, although all security precautions remain in place. The problem in execution arises when such a halt exists only against local terrorists. In end-2000, during the NICO period, the LeT conducted a dastardly but failed attempt to storm into Srinagar airport. With strength of foreign terrorists now much lower, this too can be overcome.

If giving peace a chance is the aim, then absence of an identified terrorist leadership is likely to militate against it. The engagement with the public will have to take the shape of 'awami sunwai', an experiment in direct engagement successfully conducted in 2011-12 to promote hope through interaction. For this, the political community and the administrators will have to take risks and step forward even as they receive flak and humiliation.

In a worse scenario, the exercise in restraint could just fail. With a professional army, return to operational mode will be immediate and a projection of moral ascendancy having been achieved through the restraint will not be unhelpful in the conduct of psychological operations.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 13

With the new disaster threats developed since the World War II besides the traditional disasters need to be considered and dealt with as a challenge more effectively, the army medical corps held a Continuing Medical Education-cum-workshop on the disaster and trauma management recently at the military hospital here.

Lieutinent General Dushyant Singh, Corps Commander, 11 Corps, inaugurated the two-day conference. Addressing the gathering, Gen Dushyant laid emphasis on the training of delegates for disaster preparedness.

Also, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Varinder Sharma spoke on the management of the district administration to deal with any natural disaster.

While informing more, Col H C Sharma, Senior registrar of the Military Hospital said the contribution by armed forces is usually made under the official arrangement for aid to civil power, as laid down in the standing operating procedures. Moreover, the military forces have a history of effective disaster response.

The armed forces can offer assistance to the victims with invaluable support in engineering, communications, transport, rescue, emergency medical services, field sanitation water supply and so on.

The flexible organisational structure, capability of sustained operation in all weathers and well-trained management system of the armed forces make them particularly well-suited for effective disaster relief operations, said Col Sharma.

He added that as army is the first to provide a cohesive response during a disaster, the conference will be of immense benefit to the delegates specially those directly involved in disaster related administration and trauma care.

Event on medical negligence and assault on doctors at PIMS

Jalandhar: The department of Medicine and Forensic Medicine jointly organised a Continuous Medical Education (CME) event at the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Jalandhar under the aegis of Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.

The CME was conducted under the Chairmanship of Dr HL Kazal (HOD) department of medicine and Dr Anju Gupta (HOD) department of forensic medicine and toxicology. The guest of honour for the event was commissioner of Police Parveen Kumar Sinha. The CME was inaugurated by the PIMS resident director, Amit Singh, Director Principal Dr Kulbir Kaur, principal secretary labour medical education and research Sanjay Kumar, along with PIMS society director Dr. Bimal Sekri, Dr Kapil Gupta (PMC), medical superintendent Dr. Kulbir Sharma, Dr HL Kazal and Dr Anju Gupta.

Guest of honour CP Parveen Kumar Sinha highlighted that there should be a transparency between patient and doctor relationship. There should be a professional counselling for doctors in each hospital. He added that such cases should be immediately reported to the nearest police station and a special helpline can initiated for hospitals.

Amit Singh (resident director PIMS) said the incidents like medical negligence and assault on doctors were key issues faced by medical professionals. He said in some of the cases, the kin of patients are so violent that they not only harm doctors but also destroy hospital properties. He added that the purpose of the CME is to throw some light on such issues and to stop violence against doctors.

More than 300 delegates from various medical colleges and institutes attended the CME.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14

The Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing on petitions challenging Article 35A of the Constitution that gives special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. The provision debars non-permanent residents from buying property or getting state government jobs.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra posted the matter for hearing on August 6 after Attorney-General KK Venugopal sought an adjournment.

This is a very sensitive matter. Our only prayer is that it may not be heard before three weeks as a solution is in the course of being devised, Venugopal told the Bench, which also included Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud.

Opposing an interim order at this juncture would be counter-productive, the Attorney-General told the Bench.

On behalf of the PDP-BJP Government led by Mahbooba Mufti, senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi said the Supreme Court had already settled the issue by ruling that Article 370 of the Constitution had attained permanent status.

Added to the Constitution through a Presidential Order in 1954, Article 35A gives special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and debars rest of Indians from acquiring immovable property, obtaining state government jobs and settling in the state.

But the Centre had been shying away from filing its response to spell out its stand on Article 35A. Venugopal had last year told the court that the government didnt want to file its affidavit in response to petitions against Article 35A. It has been challenged on the ground that the President could not have amended the Constitution by an Order in 1954 and it was to be a temporary provision.

Amid growing political unease in Jammu and Kashmir over alleged attempts to do away with Article 35A, the top court had on August 14, 2017, hinted at sending petitions challenging the controversial provision to a Constitution Bench for a definitive finding on its validity.

Petitioners Radhika Gill, Eklavya and Vijay Kumarresidents of Valmiki Colony, Gandhi Nagar in Jammuchallenged the validity of the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954 on the ground that it violated their right to life, right to equality, right to non-discrimination, right to equality of opportunity in public employment and right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.

On behalf of petitioners, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar said: It is a strange situation in J&K as persons from Pakistan can come and settle in the state but those who have been staying there for generations cannot even get a government job.

Noting that the issue required interpretation of constitutional provisions, Dwivedi opposed interim directions sought by the petitioners.

There were four petitions demanding scrapping of Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir listed before the CJIs Bench, the first one was filed by We the Citizens, a Delhi-based NGO in 2014. Three more petitions have been filed since then against the controversial provisions and all the petitions have been clubbed together.

The latest petition, which was filed on May 1, is on behalf of more than 4,000 persons belonging to the second, third and fourth generation of 272 safai karmcharies (sweepers) who moved from Gurdaspur and Amritsar and settled Jammu way back in 1957 at the stance of the Jammu and Kashmir Government to work as sweepers to replace the sweepers of the Municipal Corporation of Jammu, who had gone on an indefinite strike. The petitioners said they were the descendents of few persons amongst the 272 safai karmcharies and were born in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and had been residing in the state since their birth.

Earlier, the top court on October 30 deferred hearing on petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A in view of negotiations initiated by the Centre with various stakeholders in the state.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 14

A high alert was sounded here after movement of suspected militants was detected along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district, a senior police officer said on Monday.

The development comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the state on May 19.

A search operation was launched after four militants reportedly infiltrated into Hiranagar sector of Kathua district on the International Border.

Infiltration was reported between BOP Bobiyan and Londi.

Militants were allegedly seen in combat uniform along with bags.

According to the officials, the security forces will continue to conduct cordon and search operation for the next three to four days.

BSF troops saw a movement of (five) suspicious persons little away from the border fence. Based on that, a high alert was sounded and searches are being conducted, Kathua Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sridhar Patel told PTI.

All the troops have been alerted and the search operation will go on for the next three to four days, he said, adding additional check points have been setup and highway has been monitored.

The Army is conducting aerial surveillance through helicopters and so far nothing has been found, the officer said.

The security installations along the highways in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts have been put on alert.

The fencing is intact and there is no breach in the border fencing, the SSP said.

Movement of suspected militants carrying bags was detected in Kathua districts Tarnah Allah area, which is close to the I-B, the officer said.

They are believed to be part of the group that has infiltrated from Pakistan into this side in Tarnah Allah between the Londi and Bobbiyan Border Outposts (BoPs), according to reports.

IGP Jammu SD Singh Jamwal said that an alert has been sounded in the area since 12 am after suspicious movement.

According to a senior BSF official, suspicious movement of at least four to five people, suspected to be terrorists, was noticed along a stream between Londi and Bobbiyan in Tarnah Allah area of Hira Nagar sector shortly after midnight last night.

We are not sure whether they have managed to cross over to this side or returned back. They were noticed by the alert personnel and immediately a search operation was launched, the BSF officer said.

The officials said security installations along the Jammu-Pathankot highway especially in Kathua and Samba have been put on high alert while check posts have also been set up at various places as a precautionary measure.

The local residents have also been alerted and asked to report any suspicious movement to the nearest security installation.  With PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Kolkata, May 14

Widespread violence during the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday left at least 13 people dead and more than 100 injured, as 73 per cent of the electorate turned out to cast their vote.

Notwithstanding the elaborate security arrangements in which 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and other states were deployed, violence broke out in North and South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts.

Polling booths were mainly targeted during the violence after clashes broke out between Trinamool Congress supporters and Opposition party workers. Crude bombs were also hurled near several polling stations.

Despite the violence, State Election Commission (SEC) sources said 73 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm, the closing hour, but many more voters were still in the queue.

Opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing a reign of terror and destroying democracy.

First, they didnt allow people to file nominations. Second, after filing nominations TMC started threatening the candidates to withdraw. The people who didnt withdraw were attacked. This is nothing but a complete destruction of democratic process, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

CPI leader D Raja said it was a farce of an election and the Mamata Banerjee government should have taken steps to save democracy in West Bengal.

However, the TMC downplayed the violence, saying it was far less compared to the previous rule of the Left.

To all newborn experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead. Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times. Yes, few dozen incidents. Say, 40 out of 58,000 booths. Whats %age? (sic), TMC leader Derek OBrien said on Twitter.

The state police and the SEC gave a break-up of the incidents of violence and about the people who died today.

In East Midnapore, two persons were killed in Nandigram block-2, when bike-borne miscreants threw bombs on voters waiting in queue outside a booth, SP S N Kumar said.

In another incident in Nandigram, 15 people were injured in a clash outside a booth. One person was hit on the head with a knife while another lost his finger, police said.

In the districts Contai area, chilli powder was thrown at an Independent candidate and four others, police said.

A State Election Commission (SEC) official said that a man was shot dead near a polling booth in Sujapur village in Murshidabad. Local BJP unit leader Subhas Modal claimed the victim was a party worker.

In South Dinajpur, a man was killed and four others were injured after a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, he said.

One person was killed in clashes between two groups outside a polling booth in Nakashipara area in Nadia district, while another death was reported from Shantipur area, he said.

The SEC official said bombs were hurled outside a polling station in Amdanga area of North 24 Paragans in which a man, said to be a CPI(M) supporter, died and another injured.

At Kultali in South 24 Parganas, one person was killed when a bomb was hurled outside a polling station, he said.

In Cooch Behar district, North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh allegedly slapped a person outside a polling booth, the official said, adding that the SEC has received a complaint and asked authorities to take action.

Television channels showed Ghosh slapping the person. He, however, claimed that he did not do it.

In Dinhata area of the district, at least 15 people, including voters, were injured after clashes broke out between two rival groups outside a polling station, police said.

In North Dinajpur, three crude bombs were found near a polling booth at Galaisura, police said. Of the three bombs, two were found on railway tracks, RPF sources said.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were seen threatening voters outside some of the booths. Television footage from Basanti block of South 24 Parganas showed masked gunmen outside polling stations.

In Bhangar, which was rocked by pre-poll violence and saw the arrest of a TMC leader, police resorted to batoncharge and fired teargas shells to disperse people following clashes, the SEC official said.

In Keshpur area in West Midnapore, police resorted to lathicharge and chased people allegedly threatening voters.

In Malda, the office-in-charge of Ratua police station Debabrata Chakraborty was injured in stone-pelting when he went to remove a blockade on a state highway, S P Arnab Ghosh said. Chakraborty has been admitted to a hospital, he said.

The panchayat poll is being held after a protracted legal battle in the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the opposition parties.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh alleged that the TMC has turned the polls into a farce.

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said democracy has been murdered by TMC in Bengal.

The TMC has termed the allegations baseless and concocted. Its secretary general Partha Chatterjee said: There have been one or two isolated incidents. The administration has taken steps in all the cases. We have seen elections during the Left Front rule when we used to witness bloodbath and death.

CPI(M) workers led by senior party leaders Biman Bose and Surya Kanta Mishra staged a sit-in outside the SEC office in the city. Congress workers too staged a protest rally outside the SEC office. Agenciesuttara@tribuneindia.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14



In what appears to be a major fissure in the movement for a united Opposition, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has cautioned political parties against allying with the Trinamool Congress.

As violence in West Bengal during panchayat elections escalates, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday accused rival TMC of being "anti-democratic", and warned opposition against "doing business" with TMC.

"This is nothing but complete destruction of democracy. Election Commission's not giving time to political representatives. We are organising a protest against it," Yechury told the press.

At least six people were killed and 43 people were wounded violence in West Bengal as panchayat elections went underway on Monday.

Reports of violence trickled in from Cooch Behar and Bhangar, where the press was attacked, with a media vehicle torched and a camera broken in mob violence. Bhangar locals held protests and blocked roads, accusing the TMC of rigging elections at a booth.

Both right-wing BJP and the Left have accused the TMC of orchestrating large-scale violence over Panchayat elections.

Reports of violence led to elections in panchayats, scheduled earlier between May 1 and May 7, to be postponed to Monday. The TMC has already won 34 per cent of 58,692 seats uncontested, forcing the Supreme Court to intervene earlier this month, and withhold their results amid allegations of rigging.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the chief of TMC, has yet to respond to the allegations.

Allegations of violence against the TMC cast a shadow over an initiative to bring the opposition together to take on the BJP, particularly since Banerjee has been seen as a pivot to the possible alliance. With agencies





monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14

For the first time in independent India, the principal opposition party, the Congress, knocked the doors of the President to complain against the sitting Prime Minister.

In a letter signed by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and veterans, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress leaders have urged President Ram Nath Kovind to "caution" PM Narendra Modi against using "unwarranted and intimidating language against leaders of the Congress".

"The President of India as the constitutional head of the Union of India enjoys high duty and obligation to advise and guide the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Admittedly, the Prime Minister is not expected to use menacing language even in the course of election campaign, which tantamounts to using his powers and privileges as the Prime Minister to settle personal and political scores. Hon'ble President may caution the Prime Minister from using such unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against leaders of the Congress Party or any other party or person as it does not behove the position of the Prime Minister," says the letter The Tribune has accessed.

The reference the Congress leaders made was to the following remarks Prime Minister made on May 6 during his election campaign at Hubli in Karnataka.

"Congress ke neta kaan kholkar sun lijiye, agar seemaon ko paar karoge, to yeh Modi hai, lene ke dene pad jayenge...., Modi said.

Referring to the public speech by the PM, Manmohan Singh and other Congress leaders said "the threat held out by the Prime Minister to the INC's leadership deserves to be condemned. This cannot be the language of the Prime Minister of a constitutionally governed democratic country of 1.3 billion people. Such discourse whether in public or private is unacceptable conduct. The words used are menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of the peace."

Congress leaders said theirs was the oldest party in India and had faced many challenges and threats.

"The Congress leadership has always exhibited courage and fearlessness in facing threat and challenges. We would like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats," stated the letter.

It earlier argued that the Prime Minister of India held a very special position under the Constitution took an oath of office to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, faithfully discharge duties and do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will and will not directly or indirectly affirm, communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter, which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as the Prime Minister for the Union except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such Minister.

"In the past, all Prime Ministers of India have maintained immense dignity and decorum in discharge of public or private functions and actions. It unthinkable that in our democratic polity, the Prime Minister as head of the government would utter words, which are threatening, intimidating in content and a public warning to the leaders and members of main opposition party, the Indian National Congress," the letter said.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Canning (WB), May 14

A couple were burnt to death at their home in South 24 Parganas district early on Monday, hours before panchayat polls were to being in West Bengal, police said.

Family members of the victims, stated to be a CPI(M) worker and his wife, alleged that goons of the ruling Trinamool Congress set fire to the house at Kachharabari locality of Kakdwip at around 1 am.

"An incident of fire was reported. A man and his wife were burnt to death. Forensic experts have been called," Sundarbans Coastal police district SP Tathagata Basu said.

CPI(M) district secretary Shamik Lahiri named some people claiming that those goons of the Trinamool Congress had assaulted party worker Debaprasad Das and his wife Usha and then set the house afire.

Minister and local Trinamool MLA Mantu Pakhira denied the allegation and said the fire may have been caused by short circuit. PTIgspannu7@gmail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14

Just days after a first informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to hold a similar dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

PM Modi will travel to Sochi in Russia for an informal summit meeting on May 21.

The two leaders are also scheduled to meet at the upcoming SCO summit meeting in Qingdao in China in early June and for a formal structured annual dialogue later in the year.

This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our special and privileged strategic partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a formal statement.

The visit comes at the invitation of Putin, informed the MEA.

In Wuhan, PM Modi and President Xi held nearly nine hours of conversation with one-on-one sessions without note takers and only translators weaved in.

There was no joint statement, but the two sides put out individual press remarks with some differing emphasis on issues like terrorism.

However, the leaders reportedly shared their perspectives on domestic issues shaping up their foreign policy, expected to play out in the Modi-Putin meeting as well.

Both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters, added the MEA.

Interestingly like Xi Jinping who emerged stronger after the last Communist Party Congress and removed the cap on presidential term in the Chinese constitution, Putin too recently emerged as the undisputed leader in Russia.

After securing historic major win in elections, he has been sworn in for the fourth presidential term in Kremlin.

This will be PM Modis first meeting with Putin since the latters return to power.

Indias engagements with China and Russia come at a crucial time when the two countries have found common ground opposing Donald Trumps position on several issues, including Iran nuclear deal to Syria.

India also faces roadblocks in defence deals with its largest military supplier Moscow owing to sanctions imposed by US under CAATSA (Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions).

Under CAATSA, third countries like India doing business with Russian oligarchs and defence firms blacklisted by the Trump administration, could face secondary sanctions.

Meanwhile, India itself has been doing a tightrope walk between Moscow and Washington DC and the west on controversies surrounding Russia on alleged use of chemical weapons from Salisbury UK to Syria.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Panaji, May 14

A relative of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has filed a complaint against activists of the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) for allegedly defaming the CM and his family during a protest here.

The chief ministers nephew, Akhil Parrikar, lodged a complaint on Sunday at the Agassaim police station in North Goa district, accusing GSM leader Hrudaynath Shirodkar and others of defaming and maligning the image of Manohar Parrikar and his family members.

Meanwhile, GSM workers also lodged a counter-complaint against BJP activists, including Akhil Parrikar, for manhandling and assaulting them during the protest on Sunday on the sidelines of BJP president Amit Shahs meeting near here.

The activists of GSM, a political party floated by a former RSS functionary, protested against Shahs reported statement at an election rally in Karnataka that he would assure supply of the Mahadayi river water to farmers in the southern state, if the party was voted to power.

The CMs nephew, in his complaint, alleged that while he was proceeding towards the venue of Shahs meeting, GSM activists stopped his car and threw a water bottle at his mother.

He also accused the GSM supporters of manhandling him and his family while they were travelling in the car, and shouting slogans against the chief minister and the BJP that, he claimed, were intended to defame and malign the CMs image.

However, in a cross-complaint filed at the same police station, the GSM workers alleged that Akhil Parrikar, along with others, stopped at the place where they were peacefully demonstrating and hurled abuses at them.

GSM general secretary Atmaram Gaonkar demanded action against those who disrupted the peaceful demonstration.

When contacted, a senior official at the Agasaim police station confirmed receiving both the complaints saying an inquiry was on.

We have taken the statements of those named in the complaints, he added.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, through a video message, on Sunday said he would return to his home state in the next few weeks from the US, where he had been undergoing medical treatment since March.

The video message was played at the BJP workers meeting that was addressed by party president Amit Shah. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, May 14

Two armed men riding a motorcycle shot at an ATM guard of IDBI here, snatched Rs 9 lakh in cash and the guards gun before fleeing.

Injured guard Leela Singh was admitted to Civil Hospital here.

Sangrur City SHO Vinod Kumar said the van of a private company had come to the ATM to upload cash.

When employees Mukhtiar Singh and Rajinder Singh were inside the ATM with the cash bag containing Rs 9 lakh, the two men with covered faces came on the motorcycle and fired at security guard Leela Singh, who was standing outside the ATM kiosk.

He took the bullet in the stomach and fell down. The accused entered the ATM, snatched the cash bag and fled.

DSP Sukhdev Singh, along with a police team, reached the spot and started investigation.

Both CCTVs of the CL tower were not working. Building owner Om Parkash said the CCTVs needed repair.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 14

Congress MLAs Rakesh Pandey, Amrik Dhillon and Randeep Nabha on Monday tendered their resignations from Vidhan Sabha committees in protest against being ignored in the recent Punjab cabinet expansion.

They said they would meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi to register their protest and decide the future course of action.

They claimed that no senior state party leader, including the Chief minister, had heard their grievances.

They are yet to resign from the party positions.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Gaza Border/Jerusalem, May 14

Israeli forces killed at least 41 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday as angry protesters demonstrated at the frontier on the day the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem, health officials said.

It was the highest Palestinian death toll in a single day since a series of protests dubbed the Great March of Return began at the border with Israel on March 30, and since the 2014 Gaza war.

The health officials said 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets.

Tens of thousands streamed to the coastal enclaves land border on Monday, some approaching the Israeli fence - a line Israeli leaders said Palestinians would not be allowed to breach.Clouds of black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air.

Demonstrators, some armed with slingshots, hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, who fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire.

Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever, said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end, he said.

Israeli leaders and a US delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy, relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial decision.

A great day for Israel, the US president, who stoked Arab anger by recognising disputed Jerusalem as Israels capital in December, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in lockstep with Trump over fulfilling a long-standing US promise to move the embassy to the holy city and over Washingtons withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last week, echoed the sentiment.

What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel, Netanyahu said.

The Palestinians, who seek their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trumps shift from previous administrations preference for keeping the US Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks, aimed at finding a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflcit, have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the US move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem  a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

Man in wheelchair killed

The 41 Palestinian dead on Monday included a 14-year-old boy, a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

The Israeli military identified three of those killed as armed militants whom it said tried to place explosives near the fence in the southern Gaza Strip.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 86 since the protests started six weeks ago. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

At the protest sites, families sat in the shade of tents nearly 800 metres (yards) from the border fence. Hundreds of protesters ventured to within several hundred metres of the barrier, while others moved even closer, rolling burning tyres and hurling stones.

Some flew flaming kites to try and torch bushes on the other side of the frontier and distract Israeli marksmen. Hundreds of Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation.

The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will act forcefully against any terrorist activity and will operate to prevent attacks against Israelis, the military said in a statement.

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States has echoed Israel in accusing Gazas ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow strip, which is blockaded by Egypt and Israel.

Kushner promotes peace deal

In excerpts seen by Reuters of a speech he planned to deliver at the embassy inauguration ceremony, Kushner said it is possible for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to gain move than they give in any peace deal.

Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together, Kushner, the US envoy to the Middle East, will say at the opening.

The Trump administration has nearly completed a long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan but is still undecided on how and when to roll it out, given Palestinians outrage over the embassy move and their contention that Washington can no longer be an honest broker.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, in a statement on Monday, accused the United States of blatant violations of international law.

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the Nakba or Catastrophe when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israels creation.

Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process, Hamdallah wrote.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the US decision to do so.

The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across the Middle East.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Paraguay intends to follow suit later this month. Reuters

Arabs, Muslims condemn US Embassy move

The Arab League and the top Sunni Muslim religious authority have criticised the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem.

The Cairo-based Arab League called on the international community to oppose what it considers an unjust decision and the ongoing Israeli occupation of the city.

It called the move a blatant attack on the feelings of Arabs and Muslims, and a grave violation of the rules of international law that would destabilize the region.

The Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, have called for an urgent meeting at the Arab League on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Egypts Al-Azhar religious institution called on the international community to use all peaceful means to dismiss positions of countries that sided with the Zionist entity, referring to Israel. Reuters/APNews





Bookmark + Class 8 Orders Down Despite Strong Demand Septembers Class 8 order number is not a true indicator of 2022 truck demand, FTRs Don Ake said, because OEM are delaying entering order until the health of the supply chain improves.The domain turkeytelegraph.com may be for sale. Please click here to inquireHolly Miller Receives UW CHS Outstanding Career Achievement Award

Holly Miller, director of both the Basic BSN and BRAND nursing programs at the UW Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, oversees UW student David Cortes, from Bolivia, in his skills and treatment of a simulated patient. Millers intentions -- with Cortez and with every student she has taught through her career -- have been to make sure future human patients will receive exceptional care. Miller recently received the UW College of Health Sciences Outstanding Career Achievement Award. (UW Photo)

Holly Miller recently received the 2018 University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences (CHS) Outstanding Career Achievement Award.

Miller, currently director of both the Basic BSN and BRAND nursing programs at the UW Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing and Clinical Simulation Center coordinator, received her award at the CHS award recognition event April 26. Miller will retire from teaching this month.

Miller is truly one of the best teachers Ive worked with over the years, says Mary Burman, dean of the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing. She combines the ability to challenge students, even making them a bit uncomfortable by stretching them as clinicians but, at the same time, providing care and support to them.

Miller has 30 years of experience in nursing education, all with UW, where she began her employment with the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing in 1988. She began as the Learning Resource Center coordinator (now Clinical Simulation Center coordinator) and has continued in that capacity until the present. In 1996, she added clinical instructor to her job duties, supervising acute care medical-surgical clinical rotations.

Over time, she became the undergraduate clinical coordinator, the schools Occupational Safety and Health Administration officer, the clinical agency coordinator for lvinson Memorial Hospital and director of the Basic BSN and BRAND programs.

Miller was instrumental in designing and setting up the state-of-the-art simulation center when the school moved to its present location in 2005. She has used her knowledge of nursing education and simulation to recruit hundreds of students to UW over the years, and provided many tours of the simulation center to introduce students and their parents to the joys of nursing.

For the past three years, Miller has led her undergraduate teaching colleagues in the development of coursework for the new statewide curriculum, Revolutionizing Nursing Education in Wyoming (known as the ReNEW program); and continues to provide support for the implementation of the new curriculum. Further evidence of her contribution, along with other UW nursing faculty, to the quality of nursing student outcomes is the recent achievement of a 100 percent student pass rate on the NCLEX, nursings national licensure examination.

JD Rawlings, a former UW student, says Miller has been a large influence on his life and integral to his nursing career.

I can recall sitting in the downstairs of the student health building (where the School of Nursing used to be located), watching Holly as she taught a room full of nursing students basic skills and techniques with precision and safety, compassion and enthusiasm, earning her the place of being the most memorable instructor I had.

Additionally, Miller has been a role model for professionalism for faculty and students by maintaining active membership in the Wyoming Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association and the local chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society of nursing. Even though her job description does not require scholarship productivity, Miller published in the Journal of Nursing Education, a well-regarded nursing education journal, and has presented regionally and nationally on simulation in nursing education.

This is not the first time Miller has been recognized. She was recognized as the Albany County Nurse of the Year in 1998; earned the UW Excellence in Advising Award in 2002; was given the UW CHS Meritorious Service Award in 2006; and was honored as a Mortar Board Top Prof in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2016. In 2012, Miller received the CHS Outstanding Teacher Award. Recently, she was the recipient of the WYO-Gold Student Alumni Association Cowboy of the Month, recognizing her for her school pride and love of the entire UW community.

I love to watch Holly teach, as her passion for patient safety and advocacy always shines through, says Ann Marie Hart, a UW professor of nursing. When she teaches, its as if she can see the actual patients for which these future nurses will provide care, and she is doing everything she possibly can to ensure these patients will receive the safest and best care possible.UW Board of Trustees Authorizes Wyoming Union Visioning Study

The University of Wyoming is seeking the services of a third-party firm to help develop a long-term vision for the Wyoming Union.

The UW Board of Trustees voted last week to authorize the administration to issue a request for qualifications from architecture/planning firms to lead a comprehensive visioning study of the facility, which is the center of campus life.

The objective is to produce a comprehensive, 30-year plan for the Wyoming Union in preparation for renovations that will allow the facility to fulfill its mission of providing a nurturing environment in which students are encouraged to pursue excellence, develop leadership and realize their potential.

The Associated Students of UW (ASUW) will fund up to $350,000 for the visioning study.

As the centerpiece of student life, the Wyoming Union  needs to be a priority in the plans of growth and investments on the campus of the university, says an ASUW report on the need for a visioning study. A revitalized Wyoming Union has the potential to increase the inclusivity, involvement and overall student experience, accomplishing many goals set forth in (UWs strategic plan).

The Wyoming Union opened March 3, 1939, and received additions and renovations in 1957, 1973 and 2002. It offers over 19,000 square feet of meeting and conference space. The building houses the University Store, the Copy Center and a variety of dining options. It is home to the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership; ASUW; Fraternity and Sorority Life; the Campus Activities Center; Service, Leadership and Community Engagement; Student Media; the Nontraditional Student Center; the Rainbow Resource Center; and the Multicultural Resource Center. Renovations are underway to house the Veterans Services Center as well.

ASUW wants the visioning study to explore the possibility of:

-- Additional event space.

-- Upgraded meeting and conference rooms.

-- Theater-style presentation spaces.

-- New and upgraded retail options.

-- Flexible physical space for business opportunities and initiatives.

-- More space for cultural/art demonstrations and experiences.

-- Technology upgrades.

The selected firm will work with a Wyoming Union visioning planning team that will include several students; representatives of the Faculty Senate and Staff Senate; a Board of Trustees appointee; and administrative representatives.

Plans call for the team to recommend a consulting firm to the Board of Trustees in June; board approval of a firm in July; the study to take place from August to December; and a report to the Board of Trustees in January.

On a separate facilities-related matter, the trustees voted last week to use the construction manager at risk process for construction of a West Campus Satellite Energy Plant north of the Agriculture Building. The plant will serve new facilities on the northwest part of campus and will include gas-fired boilers and a chiller system. Work on the project could begin this year.UWs Leonard Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Research Chair in STEM Education

Jacqueline Leonard

Jacqueline Leonard, director of the University of Wyomings Science and Mathematics Teaching Center (2012-16) and professor of elementary and early childhood education (2012-present) in the College of Education, has been selected for a Fulbright Canada Research Chair in STEM Education award.

The award is considered the most prestigious appointment in the Fulbright Scholar Program and is awarded to highly respected scholars with a noteworthy history of publication and teaching. Only two such awards were awarded in North America in 2018-19.

This award means a great deal to me as a senior scholar and researcher, Leonard says. It allows me to extend my research agenda of equitable STEM education to indigenous students in an international context and to serve as a role model for underrepresented students in Calgary, Alberta.

Fulbright awards encourage mutual understanding between the United States and foreign countries through the exchange of knowledge and skills. These positions allow scholars to immerse themselves in the host institutions, conduct their own research, work collaboratively with new colleagues, engage with students and become involved in local communities.

A Distinguished Scholar Fulbright is a highly competitive award and a rare recognition for the individual receiving it, says Ray Reutzel, UW College of Education dean. It also is a wonderful recognition of the quality of the faculty we have in the College of Education at the University of Wyoming. We are all very proud of and pleased for Dr. Leonard and for our college.

Leonard will spend four months teaching and working on research at the University of Calgarys Werklund School of Education. She will teach game design and computer modeling to elementary students in grades 4-6 in schools with high populations of indigenous students. Her research will focus on measuring the impact of students self-efficacy in technology, or belief in oneself to succeed in specific situations, and how it affects their ability to learn new technological skills.

This position will bolster UWs reputation for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) research, and the university will benefit from cross-collaboration.

In 2019, I will invite a member of the Werklund School of Education faculty to present at the Distinguished Speaker Series that I established while director of the Science and Mathematics Teaching Center, Leonard says.

This award aligns with Wyomings recent decision to be a national leader and mandate computer science courses in schools across the state.

More than 50 percent of 21st century jobs will involve computer science, Leonard says. It is important for underrepresented students in North America to develop and demonstrate computational thinking and computer science knowledge.

The Fulbright Scholarship Program started over 70 years ago with legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright and enacted by President Harry Truman. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the program awards approximately 8,000 grants annually to U.S. and foreign students, U.S. and visiting scholars, and several hundred teachers and professionals.iStock/Thinkstock(LONDON) -- Authorities have thwarted 12 Islamist terror plots in the United Kingdom since the Westminster attack in March 2017, bringing the total number of foiled attacks in the country since 2013 to 25, the head of the U.K.s domestic intelligence agency said on Monday.



Even though ISIS has lost ground in Syria and Iraq, the U.K. and the EU will have to work together for years to come to tackle the extremist group, said MI5 chief Andrew Parker, describing the tempo of attack planning as unprecedented.



Europe faces an intense, unrelenting and multidimensional international terrorist threat, Parker said in a speech at an event in Berlin hosted by Germanys BfV domestic intelligence service. Daesh [another name for ISIS- continues to pose the most acute threat, but al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups havent gone away. With the police, we are also actively monitoring the trajectory of extreme right-wing terrorism.



Since 2016 seven European countries -- the U.K., Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and Finland -- have seen 45 attacks, he said. The latest took place two days ago in Paris, where an assailant killed one civilian with a knife. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency.



Parker also described the Russian government as a hostile actor, saying it has chosen to pursue greatness on the world stage through aggressive and pernicious actions by its military and intelligence services.



Instead of becoming a respected great nation, it risks becoming a more isolated pariah, he said, highlighting Russias support for the Syrian government, its annexation of Crimea and its meddling in elections in the U.S. and France as behavior that is "not acceptable."



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.UPDATE: May 13, 2016 4:50 P.M.

The woman killed in Saturday's shooting in Jamestown has been identified by authorities.

Nicole Haliaaloh Gututala-Hoff, 25, of Jamestown has been taken to Bismarck for an autopsy. Officials with the Jamestown Police Department say it could be several weeks before results are returned.

The children of the suspect and victim have been placed with family in the Jamestown area. This continues to be an open and active investigation.

-------------------

Authorities are investigating a shooting in Jamestown that left a woman dead.

Around 3:55 P.M. on Saturday, the Stutsman County communications center received several calls reporting a shooting at 503 15th St SE in Jamestown. Callers reported a man had shot a woman in a vehicle in the parking lot of that apartment building, and fled the scene in a white SUV. Officers were dispatched to the location.

Moments later, the dispatch center received a call from Kevin Michael Hoff, 37, of Montpelier, ND. Hoff stated he had shot his ex-wife and wanted to turn himself in. Officers took Hoff into custody at the Stutsman County Law Enforcement Center without incident.

Officers who responded to the scene of the shooting, discovered a female victim deceased in a vehicle in the parking lot. The name of the victim is being withheld until family is notified. The Jamestown Police Department is being assisted by the Stutsman County Sheriffs office, North Dakota Highway Patrol and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The investigation is continuing. There is no further danger to the public regarding this incident.Start your day with Sunrise, a roundup of B.C. news and opinions delivered straight to your inbox

Start your day with Sunrise, delivered straight to your inbox

Sign up now>Four Seasons The Nam Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam

The swimming pool facing the sea at Four Seasons The Nam Hai in Hoi An. Photo courtesy of Four Seasons The Nam Hai

The infinity pool looks directly onto Ha My Beach, which has been hailed by as one of the most beautiful beaches in the region. The Nam Hai is only seven miles from Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site characterized by its antique houses and unique cuisine. Two other UNESCO sites can be reached from the resort: the former imperial capital of Hue and the My Son Temple Sanctuary.

Fusion Maia, Da Nang, Vietnam

The swimming pool is surrounded by green shade at Fusion Maia in Da Nang. Photo courtesy of Fusion Maia Da Nang

Just look at it. Could it get any more tropical and relaxing? Fusion Maia is a high quality, all-inclusive spa and yoga retreat. The 5-star resort sits in the center of Da Nang, the coastal city famous for its marvelous beaches and tropical paradise looks. From Fusion Maia, it takes only 30 minutes to get to Hoi An, the captivating ancient town known for its elegant architecture and rustic charm.

The Tent Spa, I-Resort, Nha Trang, Vietnam

The swimming pool lies under low wooden roof at The Tent Spa, I-Resort in Nha Trang. Photo courtesy of I-Resort

Inside an operating mineral hot spring, The Tent was built for relaxing purposes and is an ideal hideaway spot for anyone whos looking for tranquility and a healthy experience. The coastal city of Nha Trang is known for its sandy beaches and untouched islands. Nha Trang is also home to the remains of the Champa Kingdom and Buddhist temples with valuable culture value.

The CNTraveler list is dominated by European resorts, although Thailand and Indonesia's also join the top section.

The three Vietnamese entrees are among favorite choices for many foreign tourists when visiting the country. In the first four months of 2018, Vietnam welcomed over 5.5 million foreign visitors, up 29.5% in comparison to the same period last year.MobiFone's headquarters in Cau Giay district, Hanoi. Photo: thanhnien.vn

At the May 11 afternoon meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue at the Government Office, chairman of Comvik expressed interest in Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services One Member Ltd. (MobiFone)s equitisation and a hope to co-operate with the firm.

Accordingly, with the strong technological foundations, including 90 per cent of Swedens non-cash transactions and Comviks research to develop a 6G network programme and non-cash transaction applications, Comvik believes the firm could successfully support the Vietnamese government to equitise MobiFone.

This is the third time Comvik offered to participate in the equitisation. At the meeting with the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) in August 2014, a representative of Comvik Group expressed the desire to become MobiFones strategic partner through the equitisation.

The representative also added that Comvik was particularly interested in investing in MobiFone and affirmed that with the long-term co-operation with VNPT (MobiFone was under VNPT Group until late 2014), Comvik has much better odds of success than other investors.

Newswire ScandAsia stated that since the governments policy to equitise MobiFone in 2006, Marc Beuls, managing director of Millicom International Cellular SA Groupthe parent company of Comviktalked about potentially buying into MobiFone on the stock market.

Not only Comvik, but many other foreign investors, including Singapore-based Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (Singtel), Norway-based Telenor Group, and Australia-based Telstra Co., Ltd. expressed interests in buying MobiFones stocks. Even VNPT itself wants to own 20 per cent of the shares, according to vietnamnet.vn.

What are Comviks chances of success?

MobiFone has found itself in the midst of a scandal after using state-owned capital to buy 95 per cent of AVGs shares. Accordingly, MobiFone forked out VND16.565 trillion ($729.7 million), while AVGs real valuation was VND1.983 trillion ($87.3 million).

With long-term difficulties in MobiFones value assessment as well as its controversial acquisition of 95 per cent of Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG)s shares, Comvik Group may once again be thwarted in becoming MobiFones strategic partner.

In 2008, Credit Suisse was chosen as an equitisation consultant for MobiFone and set the telecom networks valuation at $2 billion in 2009. However, the equitisation process was delayed to 2011 because MobiFone was forced to separate from its parent company VNPT Group in accordance with Decree No.25/2011/ND-CP.

In June 2014, Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC) estimated MobiFones value at about $3.4 billion, which could increase to even $4 billion if its revenue and profit continued to increase after the initial publicly offering in 2016-2017.

According to the Vnexpress, AVG has been running accumulated losses since its initial establishment. However, MobiFone used AVGs valuation result ($729.7 million) of AMAX Valuation & Investment Consultancy Co., Ltd. as a basis to buy its shares. The Government Inspectorate stated this figure was off by a great deal.

Currently, despite terminating the acquisition, MobiFones violations may hugely affect its equitisation in the future.Daikin's arrival will heat up the already contested market

Located in the northern province of Hung Yen, the $100-million factory has a capacity of 500,000 units a year, which is planned to increase to one million units by 2020, to cash in on the growing demand for residential-use air conditioners in the country, which is predicted to rise to 40 per cent (market penetration) by 2020 from the current 22 per cent.

According to Ly Thi Phuong Trang, president of Daikin Air Conditioning Vietnam JSC, the Asia-Pacific region is among Daikins most important investment destinations in the world. In Vietnam, residential-use air conditioner sales were 2.3 million units in 2015 and are forecast to climb to four million units in 2020. Residential-use air conditioners rank fifth in long-lasting consumer products in the country, just behind automobiles, TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines.

Over the past few years, Daikin has been importing air conditioners to Vietnam, mainly from its subsidiary in Thailand. The Thai production facilities have been operating at full capacity since the third quarter of 2015 due to growing demand from Vietnam and other markets. Also, supply have lately failed to keep pace with demand.

With Daikin's move in, competition in the local market is expected to heat up. Other market leaders are now Panasonic, Samsung, Gree, LG, Midea, Mitsubishi, Sharp, Toshiba, and Electrolux.

Currently, Daikin Industries has operations in Japan, China, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

System air conditioner market booming in Vietnam The strengthening of the property market with housing and other construction mushrooming all over the country has sharply pushed up the demand for system air ...

Air conditioner vendors battle it out over Vietnam Japanese Daikin Industries will invest $93.6 million to build an air conditioner manufacturing plant in Vietnam, as part of its plans to capitalise on the Southeast Asian nation's ...As many as 40 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises choose to use commercial arbitration in cases of disputes, rather than going to court.-Photo nhandan.com.vn

Speaking at a seminar, entitled, Commercial Arbitration  Increasing Confidence in Foreign Direct Investment, held in Hanoi late last week, Dat said the FDI firms chose commercial arbitration for resolving disputes because of its effectiveness, and due to its helping them save time and costs. Meanwhile, court proceedings to settle disputes failed to meet FDI requirements when many of the judgments were unfair, causing lengthy disputes and considerable expenses for enterprises.

Statistics showed that some 24 per cent of disputes were resolved at VIAC and involved FDI as one of the parties. Of these, 32 per cent were in the purchasing of goods, 24 per cent in construction and 20 per cent in leasing.

More than a half of commercial arbitration cases at VIAC are resolved in foreign languages (mainly English), he said, adding that the rate of disputes in the country has been on the rise in the last three years.

Vu Anh Duong, VIACs general secretary, said Vietnam has been considered one of the countries with high and stable economic growth in the region and the world. One of the reasons for the significant momentum for this growth was FDI activities in Vietnam.

Pham Manh Dung, VIACs arbitrator and a lawyer from Rajah and Tann LCT Lawyers Company Limited, said that by the end of 2017, Vietnam had 24,700 FDI projects with total registered capital of US$318.7 billion, accounting for 25 per cent of the total investment in the country and more than half of the nations total industrial production value.

Dung noted that FDI has had a large impact on Vietnams integration into the world economy.

This has been an important factor for the countrys infrastructure development and in completing legal systems to develop market mechanisms that are suitable with international norms, he said.

VIAC has striven to become a trusted address to resolve disputes, thus helping ensure the rights and benefits of investors seeking to invest in Vietnam.

Commercial arbitration in Vietnam has been increasingly developed to become a useful tool for foreign investors in the country.

Disputes in investment activities have many mechanisms for resolving conflicts, such as courts, commercial arbitration and foreign affairs. However, the courts have not been an attractive solution, while resolving disputes through foreign affair mechanisms have been used in certain cases.

Commercial arbitration and investment arbitration have been mostly preferred.

CHALLENGES

The dispute resolving mechanisms of commercial arbitration also faced challenges, said Fan Mingchao, Regional Director of Arbitration and ADR for North Asia at the International Chamber of Commerce.

He said the majority of challenges were concerning competitiveness, as the scale of disputes become larger and more complicated, resulting in prolonged time, which reduces its effectiveness.

The issues relating to security and transparency of arbitration procedures have also been a problem.

Security is a core feature of international arbitration, but transparency requirements are also increasingly high. In order to address this issue, agencies have approved and joined the transparency framework of the United Nations, he said.

The benefit has also been seen in commercial arbitration.

He said that Governments should build a transparent arbitration procedure to control the quality of arbitration decisions.

The seminar focused on discussing the necessity and efficiency of commercial arbitration methods as one of the most effective ways of resolving disputes related to FDI enterprises.

The seminar is divided into three sessions, with discussions on topics, such as: An update on the situation of commercial arbitration in Vietnam and around the world; Commercial Arbitration - A new element worth noting to attract foreign direct investment; Commercial arbitrage as a useful tool for controlling business risks.

The event is considered to be an important forum for lawyers and leading experts to share knowledge with enterprises and help Vietnamese enterprises to better understand and more effectively use commercial arbitration methods. Commercial arbitration is an effective tool in preserving capital inflows from legal risks in business investments.

More than 100 delegates from FDI enterprises, counterpart enterprises, potential partners with FDI enterprises, many prestigious lawyers, and representatives from State management agencies attended the seminar.Firms are teaming up to excel in insurance world

The firms CEO Khamsaya Soukhavong spoke to VIR about the companys vision to grow sustainably in the Vietnamese market.

Could you tell us about the development strategy of Mirae Asset Prevoir?

Khamsaya Soukhavong

Vietnams economy achieved a high growth rate and generally stable macro-economic environment in 2017. The insurance market has itself maintained a high growth rate of around 20 per cent with great potential to develop, as Vietnamese people have increasingly better incomes and a growing awareness of the necessity of insurance.

Given these circumstances, Mirae Asset Prevoir (formerly known as Prevoir Vietnam) aims to increase its investment in key resources like professionals, technology, distribution, products, and services, to capture the growth opportunities of the market and anticipate its needs as well as those of the target customers.

Shopping behaviours of consumers have been changing drastically over recent years, along with the development in technology and e-commerce. As a life insurance company, we are expected to adapt to the fast changes of the market amid the rapid digitalisation by focusing on providing customers with the right products and services, taking a more proactive approach to win over potential customers, in the most appropriate way.

Why did Prevoir choose Korean investor Mirae Asset Life to become its strategic shareholder?

Mirae Asset Prevoir is currently promoting various initiatives with the aim of pursuing excellence in life insurance and serve the increasing and diverse needs of Vietnamese customers.

When we decided to join forces and seek a partner, we kept business philosophy in mind. In that regard, we see ourselves having a common vision and mission statement with Mirae Asset Life. This is extremely valuable for both parties to reach a mutual understanding and provides a foundation for establishing long-term goals.

This strategic partnership opens up opportunities for both sides to leverage the competitive advantages of technology, networks, expertise, and bancassurance know-how for mutual success. Mirae Asset Prevoir is looking to invigorate and innovate in life insurance, valuing the simplification of processes, customised services, and tailor-made products to cater to the customers interest.

Mirae Asset Prevoir plans to leverage partners strengths to succeed on the Vietnamese insurance market

Will the strength and experience of Mirae Assets online distribution be utilised for your business in Vietnam?

Mirae Asset, a global financial group headquartered in Seoul Korea, is currently extending its presence far beyond the capital markets of the Asia Pacific region, to major developing markets across the globe. In Vietnam, Mirae Asset has entities providing a wide range of financial services including investment, asset management, consumer finance, and wealth management.

As a part of the Mirae Asset group, Mirae Asset Prevoir will attempt to establish synergies with other member companies, capitalising on existing competitive strengths in terms of technology. With our dedicated team and specialists working amid the trend of rising customer demand in the insurance

market, we will embrace the advantages of digital technology to provide Vietnamese customers with valuable and innovative life insurance products, with fast access.

Being one of the first life insurance companies in the market, pioneering the bancassurance model as early as 2005, what do you see as the future of this model? Will exclusive partnerships with banks be the strategy that Mirae Asset Prevoir works toward?

Bancassurance is an ongoing trend in Southeast Asia, and Vietnam is not an exception. Bancassurance in Vietnam is still relatively small, but developing very fast. It performs as an attractive segment for both the banks and insurance companies.

Agencies currently dominate as the main distribution channel for most insurers; however, experience from other markets indicates that bank channels offer far superior productivity and persistency rates than traditional agent-based models.

Financial services today account for around 2 per cent of Vietnams GDP, far below the regional average of 6-8 per cent across ASEAN. We expect both GDP and the share of financial services to increase substantially over the coming five years, leading to double-digit growth rates in large parts of the banking and insurance industries.

With this increased opportunity comes increased competition. In order to stand out, our bancassurance strategy is based on innovative products that are tailored to the specialised characteristics and needs of bancassurance customers. We see a healthy banking sector with significant room to grow the credit portfolio and related life insurance products. Furthermore, the effective data integration between banks and insurers will promote the creation of high-value products for customers.

What about the direct sales model? Will Mirae Asset Prevoir continue with this model?

Mirae Asset Prevoir has gained long-standing experience and engagement with customers in many provinces, even in remote areas, over the last 13 years of operation. Direct distribution still works extremely well for plenty of our customers, taking into consideration that the focus of the direct sales model today has been shifting away from quantity-focus campaigns to more targeted and niche

campaigns. Considering that, our team has been working industriously to prioritise our customers satisfaction by improving products and customer services corresponding to the increasing needs and changing family lifestyles of Vietnamese customers in rural areas.

As of April, Mirae Asset Prevoir has been expanding its presence in many cities and provinces. This step is not only to affirm our promise to maintain high-quality services for our current customers, but also to recognise our devotion to help many more customers in remote provinces protect their familys financial future with life insurance coverage.

The life insurance market in Vietnam is forecast to continue growing at more than 20 per cent in 2018, meaning that there are still many opportunities for insurance companies. How will Mirae Asset Prevoir capitalise on the opportunity to grow and develop?

Considering the current landscape of the Vietnamese life insurance market, this increasingly competitive sector provides room for new entrants to carve out an attractive niche, given that the penetration levels are fundamentally low and there are high growth prospects in the field. This is the right time to invest.

Coupled with Vietnams upward economic trend, the growing tendency of internet and mobile phone usage is driving further investments of enterprises into both infrastructure and technology, as well as changing the habits of Vietnamese consumers.

We may take Youtube as an example, a segment leader with 87 per cent of consumers using the video streaming site on a regular basis. Detailed consumer data today is key to any business strategy. We will use these insights to increase the efficiency of our customer approach and services, leveraging the successful track record of Mirae Asset Life in South Korea.

After more than 13 years in Vietnam, has the company achieved the goals set in the beginning?

Our achievements came from the companys strategy of making life insurance easy and affordable for a majority of Vietnamese customers.

Over the past years, we have successfully built a business foundation to capture further growth opportunities. We have concentrated on expanding customer portfolios, obtaining an in-depth understanding of local customer needs, building a stronger base for financial soundness, establishing and strengthening different distribution channels, developing human resources, and much more.

With the expansion of our sales offices in many cities and provinces nationwide, we continue fulfilling our responsibility of making many valuable propositions of insurance available to local customers.

Three awards obtained by Mirae Asset Prevoir in 2017 serve as recognition of our firms commitment to its customers and the community. We were honoured as part of the top 10 most reputable life insurance companies in 2017, the most trusted brand by families in 2017, and with the Golden Dragon Award 2017-2018.

Being acknowledged for our efforts, we feel extremely grateful to our customers. When it comes to business, to be trusted by customers is a great compliment. And Mirae Asset Prevoir can take this boost along to reach new heights in development in the near future.Banh khot  Vietnamese mini savory pancakes

Round crispy pancakes bank khot are served in Vung Tau. Photo by VnExpress/Lieu Lam

An important part of Vung Tau cuisine, banh khot is a famous savory dish that everyone has to try when they come to the beach town.

The tiny crispy pancake is cooked in small round molds, with other ingredients like pork, mung beans, shallots and coconut milk added on top. The rim should be slightly burnt to add flavor to the tasty treat. The cake is eaten by being rolled in fresh leaves and dunked in fish sauce.

The southern dish has at least two versions. The Mekong Deltas banh khot is softer, thicker and usually more yellow due to the addition of turmeric powder. Vung Taus banh khot is flatter and crunchier and is white, with shrimps and shrimp powder on top.

Goc Vu Sua is a famous spot for banh khot in Vung Tau, particularly thanks to the unique way they make it, on a huge cast iron oven.

Pork knuckle noodle soup

A bowl of rice-based noodles with pork knuckles in Vung Tau. Photo by VnExpress/ Di Vy

This thick Vietnamese rice noodle soup has its own place in Vung Tau cuisine although the ingredients are pretty simple. The rice-based, soft and chewy noodle is served with seafood broth and some slices of pork knuckles will get you food-struck from the first try. One bowl of soup costs VND45,000 (US$1.98).

The soup can be found in many places here, especially the Vung Tau market.

"Tossing" noodle soup

A bowl of noodle soup is served after several rounds of tossing at Nghiep Ky Restaurant in Vung Tau. Photo by VnExpress/Vi Yen

The famous tossing noodle restaurant Nghiep Ky on Ba Cu Street in Vung Tau is a family legacy that has won generations of tourists. The chef would be tossing noodles up in the air to dry them up before putting them into a bowl, which is fun to watch. Many people come to this address for the extra act.

The broth here is cooked with pork bones and ribs. The noodle is served with extra ribs or chewy beef meatballs. The noodles-wonton combination is the favorite of many.Haiphong International Container Terminal was opened by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc

On May 13, Haiphong International Container Terminal Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Saigon New Port (51 per cent) and Japans Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), Taiwans Wan Hai Lines (WHL), and Japans Itochu Corporation (ITO), organised the launching ceremony of HICT and welcomed the first ship to the port.

With two 750m-long wharves, HICT is capable of receiving vessels up to 14,000 TEU. The goods output through the port is estimated at 1.1 million TEU per year.

The first container handled at HICT

Covering an area of 45 hectares at Cat Hai Island, Haiphong Citys Cat Hai district, the construction of the terminal was kicked off on May 12, 2016 with the total investment capital of $321 million. This is component B under the Hai Phong international gateway port construction project.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc assigned the Ministry of Transport to co-operate with other ministries and relevant authorities to develop a synchronous transport system for HICT, connecting it to Lach Huyen port.

Besides, the authorities need to improve the quality of domestic waterways and railways in order to create smooth cargo transportation from the countrys economic centres to HICT, improving the competitive capacity of Vietnamese seaports, the prime minister added.

In addition, PM Phuc asked the HICT board of management to co-operate with other international seaports in Danang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Ho Chi Minh City, among others.

The first containers on their way from the port

According to Saigon New Port, HICT has a favourable location as it connects most inland waterways and coastal roads to Quang Ninh and the northern provinces. It also links to feeder terminals New Port 128, New Port 189, ICD New Port-Hai Phong, and ICD New Port Ha Nam, as well as the northern and central key economic zones and south-western China.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met last month in Moscow. The two men met again Monday to discuss how to salvage the Iran nuclear accord after Washington pulled out. (Photo: AFP/Alexander Nemenov)

Russia is trying to keep the landmark 2015 accord alive in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe.

"The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended," Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Lavrov, meanwhile, said Russia and Europe had a duty to "jointly defend their legal interests" in terms of the deal.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it.

After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over Trump's decision.

RENEWED COORDINATION?

Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he told AFP.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he added.

On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour".

But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

RUSSIA KEY REGIONAL PLAYER

Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Germany's Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in Jul 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

The countries sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.

Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.Vietnamese companies are starting to see the fruits of investing in other markets

Cubaa new focus for overseas investment

There has been noteworthy news from the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment about Vietnamese companies overseas investments since the beginning of the year. Reportedly, Cuba has risen among the top three countries receiving Vietnamese investment.

In general, in the first four months of this year, Vietnamese companies invested a total of $153.6 million overseas. This sum included $129 million in newly-registered capital and $24.64 million in added capital. When divided into individual markets, Laos takes first place with $80.12 million, taking up 52.2 per cent of the total. The runner-ups are Cambodia and Cuba, with $25.9 million and $19.9 million, respectively.

The nearly $20 million poured into Cuba is not a big figure, but it shows that Vietnamese companies are ready to invest in a market halfway across the Earth, which is starting to open up for foreign investors with great potential for trade development.

To date, there have been several investment projects by Vietnamese companies in this new market. Examples include PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP)s oil and gas exploration project, the diaper manufacturing and the washing powder manufacturing projectsinvested by Thai Binh Corporation in Mariel Special Zone.

Apart from the aforementioned projects, many other investment plans are also being prepared, including a five-star hotel and offices project for lease invested by Hanel and a Cuban partner, and Vicos washing powder manufacturing project. Moreover, Viglacera is aiming for a joint venture in ceramic manufacturing, and Hung Thang Co. is planning to manufacture bottled water.

In reality, information about the promising Cuban market has long been of interest for Vietnamese companies. Several years ago, many reports predicted that following Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, Cuba would emerge as a popular destination for Vietnamese companies, because this country has huge potential as a new market in a period of openness. In fact, the Cuban government has time and again invited Vietnamese companies to invest.

After General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs visit to Cuba in March 2018, many new opportunities for collaboration have sprung up. During the visit, a number of agreements were signed. The most noteworthy event was the closure of the official negotiation of the Trade Agreement between Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade and Cubas Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment. Accordingly, both parties will commence the legal processing necessary to sign as soon as possible and to put the agreement into practice in order to promote commercial growth and attract foreign investors.

In the framework of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs visit, Vietjet also reached an agreement to cooperate with Cuba Airlines. Additionally, agreements over hotel and resort development projects were signed.

According to experts, these are crucial steps to foster trade and investment between the two nations.

Overseas investment yielding fruits

After a period of active overseas investment, Vietnamese companies have recently started reaping the benefits of their work.

Most recently, Viettel announced that as of the end of 2017, it transferred $1.3 billion back to Vietnam from its overseas markets. In 2017, the firm reported $1.7 billion in revenue from Viettel Global and the Peruvian market, up 38 per cent on-year and nine times higher than the average growth rate of the global telecommunications sector.

According to the plan, in the second quarter of 2018, Viettel will officially provide telecommunications services in Myanmar, marking its presence in the tenth foreign market, after Cambodia, Laos, East Timor, Haiti, Peru, Mozambique, Cameroon, Burundi, and Tanzania.

Meanwhile, information from TH Corporation indicates that following the introduction of cows from the US and the opening of TH Corp.s first farm in Russia earlier this year, the corporation is preparing to produce milk in Russia for the first time.

Although it is still in its early stages, this is an important milestone, promising great success for TH Corp. in Russia. Once this project proves successful, TH continue to reap benefits from overseas ops, as FPT has done in America, Japan, and Europe or Vinamilk in America and Cambodia.

Successful overseas business will be a springboard for many Vietnamese companies to continue investing in other countries. Actually, in recent times, Vietnamese companies have not only invested in Cuba, Laos, and Cambodia but have started setting their sights to a whole range of other markets.

ot restricted to Asia, Vietnamese companies have invested in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Haiti, and Cameroon. To prepare for this flow of investment, numerous Vietnamese banks, from BIDV and VietinBank to Sacombank, MB, and SHB, have followed Vietnamese companies overseas.

While outbound Vietnamese investment capital flows seem to be slowing down, many projections predict that it will rise in the foreseeable future. The Foreign Investment Agency said that in the first four months of 2018, the finance and banking sector was in the lead with a total of $105 million in newly registered and additional capitalin foreign markets. This figure accounts for 68.3 per cent of the total investment capital.VICT is not included on the list of ports to be removed by the Ministry of Transport until its land leasing licence expires in 2034

VIRs Bich Ngoc asked Glenn Kong Wai Keong, general director of First Logistics Development Company, operator of one of the ports located along the Saigon River, about his point of view on the issue.

What is your view on Decision 3655, which will remove some ports and change others functions?

Glenn Kong Wai Keong

I understand that the relocation of river ports into areas close to the sea coast to compensate for the lack of channels and passages is part of the governments seaport master plan. The relocation of ports to the areas of Cai Mep-Thi Vai and Hiep Phuoc means not only the construction of new terminals, but also requires building supporting infrastructure including roads, highways, bridges, as well as inland cargo receiving and delivering points.

Therefore, I think that some ports located in the city will remain relevant, corresponding to the state of the supporting infrastructure. When the infrastructure becomes more developed, I expect more ports will be located away from the city.

Why do you think this will happen?

I believe that the question of which ports in the city will be relocated first will depend on land use rights, licensing, and the assessment of its economic values and any conflicts it generates.

In the short term, the relocation of some of the city ports will create some port service supply shortages.

Shipping lines choosing to deploy their vessels in, say, Cai Mep-Thi Vai may have to bear higher costs of inland connectivity and first-mile/last-mile logistic bottlenecks due to the lack of inland cargo receiving and delivering points. They may then have to pass on the added cost to the exporters and importers or shift the responsibility of resolving any inland connectivity challenges to their customers, until the supporting infrastructure can catch up with the relocation.

During these stages of development and improvement, some city ports should still remain active and relevant. The aspiration for our port, the Vietnam International Container Terminal (VICT), is to continue striving for this relevancy and continue to contribute to southern Vietnams economic and containerised trade growth, at least until 2034, when our licence expires.

Tell us more about your port VICT.

First Logistics Development (JV) Company is an international joint venture between MitOrient  an investment arm of CMA-CGM Group with headquarters in Marseille in France and Japans Mitsui and Company, as well as Vietnams Southern Waterborne Transport Corporation. The company operates VICT, a port which occupies around 11 per cent of the total volume of Ho Chi Minh Citys port system.

Since it was put in operation in 1998, the port has processed more than 15,500 vessels, amounting to more than 7.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units of cargo.

The container port operated by First Logistics Development (JV) Company is not included on the list of ports to be removed by the Ministry of Transport until its land leasing licence expires in 2034.

What do you think about the potential of logistics demand for the ports in the region?

Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong continue to receive the biggest investments by provinces in southern Vietnam in term of registered capital, in the first quarter of this year. Investment in manufacturing and processing, which is directly beneficial to the port, shipping, and logistics industries, makes up close to 60 per cent of this total investment. All these exciting developments shall

propel First Logistics Development (JV) Company to continue the hard work to become our customers first choice of port operator.HCM Citys Cat Lai Port is at risk of overload due to the high amount of containers being stored for months at a time.- Photo thanhnien.vn

This situation is causing both port companies and customs agencies a headache.

Ngo Minh Thuan, deputy general director of Sai Gon Tan Cang (New Port) Corporation, told the newspaper that Cat Lai Port is in peak phase after the recent holiday season.

At present, the amount of goods being left at Cat Lai Port is around 91.3 per cent of capacity, of that the imported goods up to nearly 120 per cent.

Due to the high amount of stored goods at the port, many imported containers are being left in a queue at Cai Mep and Tan Cang  Hiep Phuoc ports, before being moved to the final destination at Cat Lai Port.

In particular, at Cat Lai Port, the amount of long-day stored goods was very large, about 8,050 TEUs (1 teus equals one 20-foot container), including: 5,234 TEUs of plastic goods and waste-paper, and another 2,816 TEUs of goods that were stored for 90 days or longer.

The amount of goods is likely to remain at the port for the foreseeable future, according to Ngo Minh Thuan.

Thuan said the increase of long-day stored containers has seriously affected operations at Cat Lai Port and the progress of cargo container delivery.

At a conference between the customs department and related enterprises on May 8, Ngo Minh Thuan proposed solutions to the HCM Citys Customs Department to solve a number of urgent issues related to handling of stored goods, including more than 5,200 scrap containers.

The Sai Gon New Port Corporation has asked that the citys Customs Department allow them to transport goods stored for a long time. Firstly, it will move 90-day stored goods; as well as plastics and scrap paper stored longer than 90 days at Cat Lai Port to Tan Cang Hiep Phuoc Port, Nhon Trach Inland Container Depot (ICD), Long Binh ICD, and others.

When the cargo owners need to carry out procedures for receiving goods, Sai Gon New Port Corporation will transport the containers back to Cat Lai Port.

The corporation asked to be allowed to seek land areas adjacent to the port area for storing long-day containers under the supervision of the customs sub-department of Sai Gon Port.

Sai Gon New Port Corporation will bear the costs of renting and securing necessary conditions under customs departments management and supervision.

The situation remains complicated and if there are no strict management measures from the ministries, and State management agencies, the volume of such containers will continue to increase in Vietnams seaports, including Cat Lai Port, an important gate for export goods.

According to the Sai Gon New Port Corporation, since January 1, this year, due to the impact of Chinas ban on imports of scraps, the volume of plastic and paper scraps imported through Vietnam seaports has increased dramatically.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have tightened the licensing of imports of these items into the Vietnamese territory, leading to many shipments arriving in Vietnam not being able to complete procedures.

At present, the amount of plastic and paper scrap containers stored at Cat Lai Port number up to 1,000 TEUs. The port is facing issues with the increase of stored goods.

Recently, Sai Gon New Port Corporation has mapped out a measure to handle the situation.

Its asking the shipping companies to require importers to provide a valid permit for shipments of scraps, and to commit to a specific time of loading.

For scrap containers stored in the Cai Mep area bound for Cat Lai, the port will carry goods over only when owners provide full import documents and commit to a deadline for receive goods.

For goods left in stock more than 30 days at Cat Lai, the ports management board will transport the goods to Hiep Phuoc New Port for storage. In that case, all expenses related to transportation will be paid by the owners of the goods.Lotte Mart Centre in Vung Tau city

South Korean giant retailer Lotte has just announced selling one of its discount store chains to local retailer Liqun Group. This is a major step toward withdrawing from China, the worlds second-largest economy.

Lotte Shopping Holdings Hong Kong Co. will sell 100 per cent of its stake in its Chinese unit that operates Lotte Mart in Shanghai and nearby areas to Liqun Group for KRW291.4 billion ($272.7 million), the Korean firm said in a regulatory filing. Liqun is expected to buy 53 outlets, with the remainder likely to be shuttered.

Two weeks ago, Lotte Shopping decided to sell off 21 Lotte Mart stores in Beijing to local distributor Wumei Holdings Inc. They include 10 discount stores and 11 supermarkets in Beijing at the total price of about KRW248.5 billion ($232.6 million).

The deal with Liqun would leave Lotte with 14 discount stores in China. The Korean firm is in talks with a number of retailers to wrap up the sales of the remaining stores within the first half of this year.

Lotte Mart is withdrawing from China after 11 years of operations in the country. In 2007, Lotte Mart entered the Chinese market by acquiring eight Macro stores from a Dutch distributor. However, in last February, the Chinese government suspended 87 Lotte Mart stores in China.

Last year, Lotte Mart's sales in China decreased by 76.9 per cent to KRW263 billion ($0.24 billion) and its operating loss doubled to KRW268 billion ($0.25 billion). If losses from sales and wages are included, Lotte Marts cumulative loss would exceed $1 billion in this period.

Meanwhile, another Lotte Group subsidiary, Lotte Vietnam Shopping JSC operating the Lotte Mart retailer chain in Vietnam, has also been reporting consecutive losses.

Year Assets Liabilities Equity Sales Loss Total consolidated loss 2016 437 413.7 23.4 244.7 12.4 12.1 2017 379.4 371.13 8.255 244 13.23 15.14

Source: The consolidated financial statement of Lotte Group (Unit: million dollars)

Lotte Vietnam Shopping was granted its investment certificate at the end of 2006, was put into operation in 2007, and started to earn money in 2008 with the average revenue growth of around 50 per cent annually. Despite hundred-million-dollar annual revenues, the total losses of Lotte Vietnam Shopping are around $100 million after a decade in Vietnam.

After withdrawing from China, what are Lotte Groups designs for its Southeast Asian market? Will the group also leave Vietnam after ten years of losses or pour at least part of the $505 million gained from the Chinese exit into Vietnam, where it only has 13 trade centres?

In last March, vice chairman of Lotte Group Hwang Kag-Gyu told Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that the group wishes to continue investing and receive support for its business activities in Vietnam. "Lotte is looking forward to continue investing in the future," he emphasised.An investor views share prices on electronic boards at Tan Viet Securities Company. - VNS Photo Doan Tung

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained nearly 16 points, or 1.55 per cent, to close Friday at 1,044.85 points. It gained 1.7 per cent last week.

The southern market index also put an end to its previous three-day decline of 3.1 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange advanced 1.50 per cent in the last trading session of the week to finish at 122.77 points, marking it recovery after having fallen 4.4 per cent in the previous three sessions.

Also, the northern market index inched up from the previous weeks end of 122.57 points.

After having tumbled over three consecutive trading days, local stock exchanges were boosted by strong investor purchases, as stocks had fallen to more attractive price levels, especially when the VN Index fell below 1,000 points on Friday.

Alternating increases and decreases in the market were caused mainly by the underperformance of large-cap stocks, as investor confidence remained weak amid a lack of supportive information and rising tensions in the Middle East.

According to BIDV Securities Co (BSC), investors seemed to remain steady as the stock indices were moving, due to high selling from the supply side while foreign investors continued to weigh down the market through their extended net sell value.

The chances for the VN Index to reach 1,100 points and fall to the 950-970 point range are equal at the moment due to poor market sentiment, as local stocks were surrounded by negative news, BSC said in its weekly report.

On Wednesday, Iran and Israel attacked each others military bases in Syria, sending the two governments to the edge of a comprehensive war that could much worsen the current situation in Syria and spread the conflict to other Middle East countries.

Last week, the US government led by president Donald Trump, announced that they would withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran and planned sanctions on the worlds leading oil exporter.

The rising tensions in the Middle East caused an interruption to the worlds crude supply, pushing up oil futures by nearly 3 per cent to a 3 1/2-year high, benefiting local energy firms. Brent crude ended Friday at US$70.70 per barrel.

In Vietnam, local shares also traded in the negative territory on speculation about firms involvement in illegal business activities.

Shares of securities firm VNDirect (VND) were brought down to the daily decreasing band of 7 per cent on Wednesday and Thursday, after its involvement was reported in the recently-revealed gambling case.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd (BSR) shares sunk between Tuesday and Thursday, after its chairman and chief accountant were arrested for mis-using State capital and assets of the oil refiner.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co (SHS) said that Fridays recovery might be short-lived and highly risky for bargain-hunters, as trading liquidity continued to slide while investors chose to stand by and were unwilling to take part in the market trading activities.

An average of more than 211 million shares, worth VND5.71 trillion ($254 million), were traded in each session last week. The trading figures were down 12 per cent in volume and 9.5 per cent from the previous weeks numbers.

If inflow capital does not increase in the coming week, the short-term prospects of the markets are not highly recommended, SHS said. Given the current market status, alternating ups and downs may continue with low trading liquidity and cause the VN Index to struggle between 1,000 and 1,070 points.Viettel has replaced 22 foreign TV channels without annoucenment to its customers

According to Vnexpress, the Ministry of Industry and Trade's (MoIT) Competition and Consumer Rights Protection Agency will impose a fine on Viettel due to suddenly replacing 22 international television channels without making an announcement for its customers.

In addition, the agency also requested Viettel to provide comprehensive and accurate information for consumers using its pay-TV services.

Besides, Viettel will also have to refund customers if they are not satisfied with the new television channels. On the other hand, the customers will have to return the equipment initially installed to connect to Viettels network.

Previously, in the middle of April, the Competition and Consumer Rights Protection Agency punished VTVcab for a similar violation. The issue resulted in VTVCab not being able to host an initial public offering (IPO) because only one buyer registered for the auction.

VTVcab and Viettels termination of the contracts with Qnetthe firm owning the distribution rights for 30 international TV channelsis supposed to break Qnets exclusive hold on this segment.

According to data released by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, the government has issued licences to 70 international television channels to be broadcasted in Vietnam, including Qnet (30 channels) and nine other distributors (Thao Le, BHD, Fox, and others) with a total of 40 channels.

However, as each foreign television channel nominates only one exclusive distribution agent in Vietnam, pay-TV enterprises have no choice in negotiating the prices of international broadcasting rights.

Before April 1, 2018, Qnet distributed TV channels for 10 pay-TV units, including VTVcab, NextTV (Viettel), SCTV, K+, HTVC, MyTV, FPT Television, MobiTV, VTC, and HanoiCab. After VTVcab and NextTV terminated their contracts with Qnet, the giant distributor still had eight clients.U.S. Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands personnel spent the weekend battling a blaze at the Cox Heath Dump Site on Tortola.Intoxicated driver approaches cruiser during traffic stop

A Richmond police officer conducting a traffic stop at 31 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue on April 26 ended up arresting an intoxicated driver after he pulled up behind the patrol car, according to a police report. The officer motioned for the driver to go around the traffic stop, but the driver did not leave the area. The officer approached the vehicle and determined the driver was intoxicated. He was arrested, and his vehicle was impounded.

Police respond to marijuana report at school

Richmond police officers were dispatched to Richmond Middle School on April 18 in response to a report of a student in possession of marijuana, according to a police report. The student left the area prior to the officers arrival and was advised the school board would determine the students punishment. The case remains open pending contact with the student and parents.

Woman cited for driving without a valid license

A Richmond police officer stopped a vehicle with a broken brake light on April 6, according to a police report. After making contact with the driver, police discovered she did not have a valid license. She was issued a citation and released at the scene without her vehicle.

Phone reported stolen from car

A Richmond police officer responded to a stolen cell phone report made at the station on April 13, according to a police report. The complainant told police he was at a business located on the 69000 block of Main Street and left his phone in his vehicle. When he returned to his car, the phone was gone. There were no surveillance cameras in the area. All other investigative leads failed to verify the location of the cell phone. The case remains open pending additional follow-up.

 Barb Pert Templeton, For The VoiceNew legislation aimed at preventing violence in school classrooms was recently introduced in Michigan.

The legislative package, led by State Rep. Aaron Miller, R-Sturgis, is modeled after a proposal announced by a coalition of law enforcement and education organizations in late March.

The Michigan School Safety Reform Plan is based on clear, actionable strategies that are both effective and immediately achievable, the St. Clair County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon is praising the new legislation.

I feel this legislation will make schools in St. Clair County and those statewide much safer, Donnellon said. I am hopeful this measure will pass and be implemented quickly.

The plan calls for a new state grant program for personnel, a grant program for safety infrastructure and other reforms, including:

* More school resources officers  sheriffs and police  working in school facilities through a new state grant program.

* More school mental health professionals to identify problems early through the same new state grant program.

* A grant to ensure safer buildings for students and teachers. The reform plan would require a walkthrough by law enforcement officers of every school building in the state to identify safety issues and opportunities to harden schools against threats, a handout for the legislation found on gomasa.org states. Schools would be able to use the results to apply for funding to address the issues.

* Mandatory reporting of threats to law enforcement and graduated penalties to help prevent violence. Also, the ability to mandate mental health evaluations for every individual making a threat will be provided to better provide options for intervention and treatment, the handout states.

School safety should always be about protecting children and providing for them a safe place for them to learn and grow, Miller said in the release. Im proud that this legislation, along with other bills the legislature is working on, will make sure kids are better protected.

The Michigan School Safety Reform Plan is made up of House Bills 5942, 5966 and 5967 and is backed by the Michigan Sheriffs Association, the Michigan Association of School Administrators, the Michigan Association of School Boards, the Michigan Association of School Psychologists, the Michigan Association of School Social Workers, the Michigan School Counselor Association, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and the Prosecuting Attorney Association of Michigan.

 Emily Pauling, The VoiceRussia will not hand over anti air-system S-300 to Syria. So declared Vladimir Kozhin, the foreign aid adviser to the Kremlin.

The declaration came following two events: the visit of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, to Moscow on 9 May and the missile fire exchange on 10 May between forces present on both sides of the line of demarcation of Golan occupied by Israel.

Moscow had mentioned that it might hand over the anti air system S-300 following the Western bombing (United States, United Kingdom and France) that took place on 14 April 2018 against the Syrian Arab Republic.

How to decode this declaration not to hand over? The Russian Federation, which protects the Syrian air space, does not wish the Syrian Arab Army to be held liable for defending Iranian military sites on Syrian soil.Carnival Horizon Pays its Inaugural Visit to Gibraltar

The second Vista-class cruise ship, Carnival Horizon, made its inaugural visit to Gibraltar on Saturday 12th May.

The ship was built by Italian shipbuilders, Fincantieri, for Carnival Cruise Line, a division of Carnival Corporation. It entered service in March 2018 and has a gross tonnage of 133,500 tonnes, a length of 321 metres, and capacity for 3960 passengers and 1450 crew.

Having recently completed its maiden voyage and performed a series of cruises in Europe, the ship is now on its way to the USA where it will operate summer cruises to the Caribbean and Bermuda from New York before moving to Miami.

Like its sister ship, Carnival Vista, which made its inaugural call to Gibraltar on 23rd October 2016, the ship features SkyRide, an IMAX Theatre, a WaterWorks aqua park and Carnivals Seuss at Sea programme.

As with all other inaugural visits, there was the customary exchange of commemorative plaques with the ships captain and representatives of the Gibraltar Tourist Board, Gibraltar Port Authority and local shipping agents, Turner.GHA Boost Surgical Services

The GHA has recently completed the recruitment of a number of health professionals as part of the policy to repatriate clinical services and to further improve the delivery of surgical services in Gibraltar.

Ms Christina Macano, from the specialist Breast Team at the Royal Marsden Hospital, was contracted in January 2018 by the Gibraltar Health Authority to support the expansion and development of breast surgery services. Ms Macano completed a three month Fellowship at the Royal Marsden Hospital, with whom she maintains an honorary contract, prior to her engagement with the GHA.

Mr Denes Kovacs has been contracted to support the visiting vascular surgery team. Straightforward vascular operations such as varicose veins will now be carried out at the hospital, meaning that patients will not need to travel abroad.

The orthopaedic team has also been bolstered by the permanent appointment of Mr Marius Negru, a dedicated upper limb specialist, and Mr George Chami, a lower limb specialist. Mr Kamil Baczynski has been appointed as an associate specialist in Orthopaedics and his main area of responsibility will be the spinal clinic and coordination of the visiting orthopaedic super-specialists in scoliosis, spinal surgery and paediatric orthopaedics. The measures taken to improve inpatient bed availability and reduction of the joint replacement waiting list has seen over four times as many knee and hip replacements performed this year than last.

Patients receiving joint replacements in the GHA will soon benefit from the new enhanced orthopaedic recovery programme. A new tier of resident anaesthetic junior doctors, 6 in total, has made it possible to operate on more urgent cases over weekends and reduce waiting times for injuries such as broken hips.

The urology surgery team has also been augmented with an associate specialist, resulting in increased numbers and types of urological surgeries carried out locally.

The GHAs Medical Director, Dr Cassaglia said: The Surgical and Orthopaedic Departments have undergone a total restructure with many new members of staff. We now have a group of highly skilled specialist professionals working together in the GHA to provide the highest possible standard of modern surgical care. This is only the beginning of our reforms in this area. We plan to continue to repatriate more and more services to the GHA and ensure we continue to train and develop our team of professionals to provide the latest standards of care. I would like to personally thank all those members of GHA staff who work so very hard for our patients and have helped transform the Department in such a short period of time.

Minister for Health, Care and Justice, The Honourable Neil F .Costa MP said: My Ministry and the GHA are working diligently to continue the policy of repatriating as many medical services as possible to enable members of our community to receive first class medical treatment at home. We have also achieved notable advances in the quality of the medical care provided by recruiting leading international clinicians to the GHA. Sustained progress across all areas of medical services delivered to the community remains a core policy of my Ministry. I am also delighted to note that our bed management strategy and vigorous drive to reduce waiting lists for joint replacements has been extremely successful, quadrupling the number of operations carried out since last year.Photo: Focus Features

The opening titles of BlacKkKlansman, in all-caps typeface straight from a 1970s one-sheet, tell us that the story were about to watch is based on some fo real, fo real sh*t. (Asterisk theirs.) From its bombastic title on down, Spike Lee is in stylistic conversation with the blaxploitation genre, imagining his audacious real-life protagonist Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) as a self-styled vigilante in the style of John Shaft. Later in the film, Ron literally has a conversation about it, with his potential activist girlfriend. Hes trying to convince her that films like Coffy and Cleopatra Jones prove black cops can be a force for good. Thats just blaxploitation fantasy, she says with a sigh. So much of BlacKkKlansmans improbable story line suggests a similar fantasy, and yet: fo real, fo real. Lee never takes his eye off the connecting thread between the events of 1978 and the present. The result is one of his most flat-out entertaining films in years, and also one of his most uncompromising.

Ron signs up for the Colorado Springs Police Force  encouraged by the minorities welcome note on the recruitment banner  and after the chief of police gives his afro a skeptical look up and down, hes hired. Hes quickly bored by his rookie duties, fetching the criminal records of black men for white colleagues that barely veil their racism. So he requests to go into undercover work, and quickly gets more than he bargained for: Hes sent to keep an eye on Kwame Tures visit to the Colorado College Black Student Union, and monitor any Black Panther sympathy in the community. He convinces the chief of police that any worries of homegrown terrorism are overblown  and picks up a pig-hating love interest in the Student Unions president, Patrice (Laura Harrier). But then an ad in the local classifieds draws his attention: a recruitment line for the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. He picks up the phone and gives them a call.

Ron is a fascinating character; his adeptness at code-switching is a part of his identity, and the reason hes uniquely qualified for the job. It also brings him no small amount of angst, especially in his relationship with Patrice. Theres a lonely quality to Washingtons performance, the feeling of being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Ron finds some camaraderie when he gets moved to Intelligence, however, particularly with Flip (Adam Driver), a fellow cop quietly keeping his Judaism a semi-secret. When he starts pursuing his infiltration of the Klan, Flip becomes his real-world double, while Ron does all the phone work  a white Ron and a black Ron, working in tandem as the titular paradoxical figure.

Adam Driver is spectacular here; in many ways, his transformation while working with Ron is just as compelling as Rons in its subtlety. Flip admits he never had to think much about his identity because he wasnt raised culturally Jewish and never had to identify with it one way or the other. Now, he says, after withstanding some upsetting questioning by one of the Klan members who suspects he might not be Aryan Pure, I think about it all the time. Lee may have set his story between the extremes of the Black Power movement and white supremacists, but he grapples sensitively with two lead characters who find themselves somewhere in between. Some of the KKK characters are more caricatured in their repellent, all-consuming racism (Jasper Paakkonen didnt work for me as one particularly unhinged Klan member; Ashlie Atkinson as his wife is more complex in her monstrosity). But Topher Grace as the grand wizard David Duke himself is troubling on another level, mild-mannered, almost lackadaisical in his geniality, and utterly convicted of his total hatred.

The last proper shot, technically speaking, of BlacKkKlansman is so powerful, such a head rush, that Lee could have easily sent us out into the present with it, invigorated and clear-eyed and angry and ever-hopeful. But then he literally brings us into the present, cutting to a reel of the horrific footage from the Charlottesville, Virginia, white-power rally and counterprotest, including the car assault that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer. Lee plays with allusions to Trump and our present-day American mess throughout the film, sometimes more corny and wink-y than others, but the final minutes remove any semblance of joking. BlacKkKlansman is a nuanced story of race in America, but Lee doesnt take any chances with vagueness or ellipses, nor should he. As much as BlacKkKlansman plays with the mechanics of blaxploitation fantasy, it doesnt leave one with any question about whats real.Childish Gambino and Drake. Photo: Nicholas Hunt/VF18/WireImage

So far 2018 has been a banner year for Drake. Since February, Torontos leading performer has reigned over the singles charts: the uplift of Gods Plan carried it to first on the Hot 100 for nearly three months before Drake replaced it with the even peppier Nice for What. With the June release of the artists new album Scorpion looming, it seemed plausible that the streak would last for the majority of the year; in either case, theres already no denying that pop music is a game Drake can win simply by choosing to play.

The sudden emergence of Childish Gambinos This Is America has snapped Drakes streak at 15 weeks, but even so, the breakneck success of Donald Glovers conceptual trap number (and its music video especially) underlines the continuity of Drakes formula for success more than it disrupts it. The ensemble cast of ad-lib suppliers on This Is America is a whos who of contemporary southern trap, and its no accident that it overlaps heavily with Drakes prime list of collaborators. Rising Memphis star BlocBoy JB charted for the first time in February off the strength of Look Alive and its Drake guest verse; his ad libs are only the slightest of his contributions to This Is America, where Glovers dance routine features JBs viral shoot dance prominently. Quavo, whose Migos have had a long and sometimes fraught history with Drake, is going on tour with Drake this year; Glover has cast the Migos in Atlanta as, well, the Migos in Atlanta. Young Thugs four-dimensional warble has accompanied Drake no less than Gambino; the same goes for 21 Savages spartan contempt. (Rae Sremmurds Slim Jxmmi has never released a song with Drake, but Jxmmi and his brother Swae Lee did introduce Drake to their fans at an Amsterdam concert.)

Neither Glover nor Aubrey Graham are trap artists, but theyre both eager to position themselves in proximity to trap music. Glovers mimicry of trap flows and vocabulary on This Is America echoes Drakes own borrowings of lingo and triplets on If Youre Reading This Its Too Late. Its a recipe for commercial success predicated on a unique social position. As black middle-class artists with perfect fluency in (and complete acceptance from) white liberal mainstream culture, theyre ideally placed to mediate between paler neighborhoods fat pockets and the creative energies of the black South: witness the Gods Plan video, which lives off the images of Miamis populations of color, or the production of Nice for What, with its evident debt to New Orleans bounce music. Its true that the graphic violence and jagged tone of This Is America are far from any content Drake is ever likely to put out, and in that Glovers track departs from Drakes more inoffensive approach to courting his audience. But when it comes to channeling the South like an amplifier (and adding some distortion and profit for themselves in the process), theres little difference between Drake and the artist who replaced him, this week, at the top of the charts. Drake will, no doubt, be back at number one soon enough; in the meantime his strategy for getting there hasnt been dismantled by Donald Glover so much as its been upgraded.Dave Matthews has long been one of rocks most successful artists and, in a low-key way, also one of its most polarizing. And while the success part of that equation is inarguable  the Dave Matthews Band is reliably among the countrys most popular concert draws and has earned six No. 1 albums  the polarization part has recently shown signs of positive thaw. (Thats no surprise to anyone who saw Lady Bird; and the May 18 kick off of his summer tour as well as the arrival of a lovely and reflective new album, Come Tomorrow, due out June 8, should also keep the momentum going.) I do wonder about the success Ive had and whether I deserve it, says the 51-year-old Matthews, his beard flecked with gray, looking pensively out a conference-room window at the New York offices. Im humbled that anyone still wants to take the time to listen to my music or hear me talk. He grins. But Im happy to have the opportunity.

Id been planning on starting with a question about the new album, but just before you got here someone I work with was telling me how much hed been obsessed with your music  and how much he felt like he didnt jibe with your hard-core fans. So why dont we start there, because Ive heard other people say similar things. Where does the antipathy towards the cliche of a Dave Matthews fan come from?

This is a delicate thing for me to talk about. Im grateful I have any fans, but I dont understand how my fan base grew or what sort of cultural elements dominate. You know, I was on tour in Europe recently, playing with Tim Reynolds, and in Prague we played an opera house. The audience there was deathly quiet. Playing for an audience listening absolutely to everything that you do makes you focus as a musician in a beautiful way  you can achieve different dynamics. And that kind of audience attention is very, very flattering because you know theyre not there for a party, which I happen to think Dave Matthews Band fans are  thats what butters my bread. And thats great, by the way. Im glad to be able to give people a party.

Is the music you were making in Prague impossible at your typical gigs?

Its very hard to pull off. When Tim and I played for 20-something-thousand people in Saratoga Springs last summer, the crowd was jumping around and having a great time  and we were having a great time  but it was like Holy shit! Youre just trying to ride the energy as best you can. So to answer your question  and Im trying to answer without attacking the culture thats grown up around us  I could imagine that someone who had heard a recording of ours and liked it and was faced with our big, raucous audience might think, What is happening here?

Whats the best way you like to hear live music?

When I go to a show, I go with an obsessive desire to hear everything. I went to see alt-J recently: Theyre very deliberate musicians and their audience is so quiet. Were a party band. Thats not all the music is  its often something much darker  but we are about a party. Its almost like what people might think of as a Jimmy Buffett concert. And dont get me wrong, Jimmy Buffett is amazing. But in general theres a connect and a disconnect: People are coming to see the Dave Matthews Band

and dance and sing  and thats a good thing for there to be in the world  but when I listen to music I sort of want everyone to be quiet. So respect is being paid at our shows, but maybe not exactly the same way I would pay it.

Theres this romantic ideal of the rock star as someone who ruthlessly follows his or her own artistic vision. But theres another kind of star, someone like Jimmy Buffett or, in a different way, the Grateful Dead, who become vessels for a subculture, and their vision involves attending to that subculture. In your experience are those two modes necessarily oppositional?

I think Ive been lucky enough to follow my instincts. Or at least try to. I tell you what: I do question myself.

Whats the question?

Can I justify doing this?

Whats this?

Driving this career. Am I challenging myself? Am I eating my own tail? Am I just feeding off the thing that allowed me to be doing so extraordinarily well? Thats always the tension. Maybe you want to be a painter but to make money you do commercial art. Maybe you want to be a landscape photographer but for a career you take wedding photos. Ill write a funky song about lust and sex and it makes you want to dance. I feel like thats okay. But I also have to write songs about the dilemmas of being alive. This same question is something I talk to my wife and kids about.

What do they say?

They love what I do, but they also know that Im lucky enough to have the opportunity to put myself out there by, say, following my heart with visual art or going on a very different musical adventure. Maybe I need to follow those instincts. Maybe Im being dishonest if I dont.

When have you felt most gratified by following your instincts?

Well, right now Im working with a friend, Anthony Lucero, who wrote this beautiful story about a clown. That story has become a small film called Halo of Stars and I worked on the music. I remember when I first played Anthony some music Id thought of for the film: We were sitting in the same room and I was thinking, I hope hes not expecting music like my bands. And Anthony was thinking, God, I hope he doesnt play music that sounds like  Then I played the music, which was very different for me, and Anthony really responded to it. That was a very beautiful experience. I wasnt answering to anything other than the act of making new music, and that music was made with pure intention.

Are there times when it wasnt?

I think sometimes I  Sometimes I spend a lot of my life trying to get answers from the people around me instead of listening to myself. But after I turned 50, something happened. Ive realized that there are more important things than saying okay. An example is the last album I made, which is fine. Its called Away From the World. I think it was a great album and then I let people convince me it wasnt finished. I did a disservice to the music. I kept working on it and it lost a lot. Its too bad I didnt say, No, youre wrong. The music may be flawed and splintered but its genuine. Its done. The new album, I dont know whether its good or bad, but I managed to say No. People were saying things like, I dont know if we should put this song or that song on the album. And I was able to say, Youre wrong. Were leaving it. But I hope I never feel like Ive got it right creatively. That probably wouldnt be a good sign.

How satisfying was Lady Bird for you? Both for way it used Crash Into Me so warmly and also for how it showed a fan of yours who didnt fit any of the negative cliches. And also, that movie kicked off such a nice wave of affection for the band.

There was a great headline I saw online: something like Lady Bird Somehow Resurrects the Dave Matthews Band. Without question  and some express it with more vinegar than others  there are people who truly dont like my band. I think a lot of them just go, I hate the Dave Matthews band because they saw someone they didnt like in one of our T-shirts. But everything to do with Lady Bird was flattering. It was so lovely to see the song used as a central tool in someone elses story. And the moment in the movie when it plays is so beautiful: Lady Bird takes a stand, you know? It was also nice for me to see the song through someone elses eyes because I have a strange relationship with a lot of music that Ive written. I listen to it and Im like, What am I talking about? This is bullshit. So seeing Crash Into Me in Lady Bird allowed me to hear my music without having to impose myself on it.

A lot of people  you included  seem to have serious extra-musical feelings about the Dave Matthews Band. How much of a hindrance is that?

Yeah, it used to be If you like Nirvana you cant like the Dave Matthews Band; If you like Pearl Jam you cant like the Dave Matthews Band. But if I can like all those bands as much as I do, then why cant someone else? I guess we all have our tribe and youre not supposed to be in more than one. I remember the Miles Davis quote when hes asked, What kind of music do you like?

And he answers, Good music is good music.

Good music, yeah. I love some country music because theres great country music. I love some heavy metal because theres great heavy metal. Someone is going to have brilliance inside of whatever box theyre in. That brilliance is what I look for. Theres great every kind of music just like theres great every kind of liquor.

What do you think was going on in the 90s that allowed for bands like yours, Phish, Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, and so on, to find a big following? Was it just a coincidence that jam bands broke out back then?

There was a scene, and we were kind of against what was viewed as the legitimate rock music of the time. Jam band was pejorative, you know? It was never the critically acclaimed jam band. We were dismissed. But that also made what we were doing feel like a response to something and that made it exciting. There was also the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones  all these cool, amazing musicians that didnt fit into one box but that had an element of spontaneity. There was comfort in the togetherness of not belonging, if that makes sense. And I say that understanding the irony of my saying I dont belong when Ive got so many people listening to my music.

Now, you tell me if this is something you dont want to get into  and this could entirely be based on my misreading between the lines  but going back and reading old articles about you over the years, there were a conspicuous amount of references to drinking. Sometimes those references were playful and sometimes they werent. So the question occurred to me: Has alcohol ever been a problem?

Ive had a lot more drinking in my life than I wouldve if my job hadnt put me in an environment where everybody was celebrating drinking. All the years we played clubs and frats  every single night we would be drinking and doing whatever else was happening. I still drink, and I keep my center better. I do worry about destroying my mind sometimes.

Hows that?

By anyone elses standards but my own I am a raging alcoholic.

The way you said that  I cant tell how serious youre being.

I mean, Im talking about the amount I drink. But if I dont have a drink for a month, I dont  its harder for me to give up bread than it is to give up alcohol. But I like a drink. I grew up in an extended family that likes to drink. My mom, she enjoys a glass of wine or some whisky, but shes quite moderate relative to my uncles  South Africans are pretty big drinkers. Ive seen a lot of people around me go sober. The fish always gets bigger when they tell their drinking stories again, but I understand that as well.

Sometimes people need exaggeration in order to make sense of their lives.

Thats right  however you can move forward. A lot of people deal with [drinking] beautifully and a lot of people struggle with it. But I worry. I dont drink like I used to, I dont think. But I like wine. I like the culture of it. Ive pulled back, but I like it at the same time. I like it.

I appreciate how candid youre being, and I dont have any specific questions about that, but is there any more context you want to give?

I will say, as an example, that I havent had a drink in three days. As aggressively as Ill drink is how aggressively Ill then make an effort to offset it with exercise and things like that. Maybe Im lying to myself, but the reason I dont really think Im an alcoholic is because I dont miss it when I dont have it. Theres no question that my favorite thing about mowing the lawn is drinking the beer when Im done, and getting to the bottom of a bottle of Jameson with a friend feels like some sort of poetic achievement  even if its really just two people getting drunk. I dont know if any of that will convince anyone that Im not an alcoholic, but I dont have any friends whove said, I think you have a drinking problem. Maybe thats just because when Im drunk Im a lot of fun.

Given what youve said about drinking, is it at all weird to spend your summers getting up in front of crowds where you know a bunch of people are absolutely loaded?

Theres probably not as much drinking at our shows as there are at heavy-metal shows  and our crowds are probably better looking! But yeah, you see the most hammered people in the world from the stage. Theres a lot of revelry around me. Ive reined a lot of mine in over the years.

When a show isnt quite working, do you have a fail-safe move? Is that when its time to bust out Tripping Billies?

We probably should come up with a plan for when that happens, right? When Im having a hard time, Ill usually turn to [drummer] Carter [Beauford] and say something like, Bear with me. And like a brother, he usually goes, Oh man, youre doing great. But I never know if thats true or if hes being nice and trying to coax me along. So no, there isnt really an automatic go-to. The truth is that you cant win every race, but you can get to the end.

Dave Matthews. Photo: Bobby Doherty

Okay, so this question is related to things weve already talked about a little, but any musician at your level of success  whether its Bruce Springsteen or the Eagles or whoever  is usually tapping into something mythic that complements the music but is also bigger than it. Do you have any theories about what that might be in your case? What are people projecting onto you that makes so many of them so dedicated?

This question made me think of the first show we played. This was in Charlottesville, years ago. We were supposed to play first, but all the bands had other gigs they had to get to so we kept getting shoved further down the lineup. By the time it was our turn to play a lot of the audience had dissipated. But when we did start playing, everybody who was there started dancing. And we were like, What the fuck is happening here? So we learned very quickly that whatever it was that we were doing was something that translated well to audiences. It didnt necessarily translate well to tape  we didnt even hear back from most of the record companies we sent music to back then. There was not a lot of saxophone and violin and acoustic guitar happening in rock and roll at the time  or now. But this was pre-Hootie and the Blowfish even. We didnt fit in at all with what record companies might be looking for.

Youre talking about being a good live band. Thats obviously a huge part of whats gotten you so far, but there are lots of good live bands that havent had nearly as much success as youve had. What is the thing that makes people who fall in love with the Dave Matthews Band fall in love so hard? I realize Im asking you to pinpoint something thats maybe ineffable.

Youre right: The whole thing thats sprung up around the band has to be at least partly about something other than the music, because the scale of the success doesnt make sense. But I dont know what the fuck is happening or how its happening.

Is it strange to feel that way?

Ive come up with a defense mechanism for it. The analogy I use to explain it is something I took from Men in Black. You know theres the scene where an aliens face comes off and theres another little alien inside? I like being that little alien observing from the inside. That helps me feel distance from everything going on around me.

Why do you need that distance?

Fans come up to me and say the most incredible, generous things. I understand that because Im a fan and feel connections to the artists who I love. But fans are also going to think stuff about me that I cant really digest. I need to feel some distance in order to have a more real perspective about who I am and what I do.

I understand that your fans feelings about you and your music might be incomprehensible, but do you have clarity about what your music makes you feel?

I mean, I love my band. I remember hearing Carter play drums for the first time. He was in a fusion band in Charlottesville. It was a killer band, but my attention was all about him. Carter could never truly know how outrageous he is as a player. And LeRoi [Moore], my late sax player, is one of the unsung heroes of that instrument. He could play the most stunning, beautiful melody as I was singing and it wouldnt even partly get in the way of what I was doing vocally. Id hear him play at Millers, this bar I worked at, and all I wanted to do was be his friend. So I insinuated myself into his life until I had the courage to play him a tape of music Id written. I played him that and I played Carter some of my music and then we said wed all play together. Stefan [Lessard] came to play bass with us  he was just a kid. And [violinist] Boyd [Tinsley] came along. I was so awed by these guys. I could never have imagined the sound that they gave me. Its overwhelming.

Having spent so much time in Charlottesville, how shocking was last years riot?

The horribleness of it was shocking. And I think it changed the notion of what that towns image is. When I moved there in the mid-80s, it felt like such an enlightened space. There was so much great art being made there, and so many different kinds of people all getting along  students and musicians. I was completely seduced by Charlottesville. It was a great place to have conversations, you know? I obviously knew there was a history of racial crime there, but thats America, isnt it? Its a sad thing.

What did growing up partly in South Africa mean for how you see American racial dynamics?

Coming from a blatantly hyperracist society to America made for some consistent surprises. In my mind, when I came back to America I was surprised at how often race came up, because having been in South Africa, I was looking forward to coming back to a country that seemed to have solved its racial problems. Obviously I was pretty naive.

To get back to the subject of the band: Things had to change after LeRoi passed. Now things have to change again because Boyds not around. How difficult is that shift going to be?

I have a deep love for Boyd, and he has to deal with his stuff. In many ways Im sure it wouldve been a lot easier for him to just say, Im good. Lets go play. But you cant just throw yourself away, your wellness away, because you play violin in a band. It doesnt make any sense to do that.

I follow what youre saying about why Boyd isnt around, but how anxious are you about how his absence will affect the music?

Im used to turning to my right and seeing him going bananas  some days doing it better than other days. You know theres that idea of genius as something that, like, comes into a room through the window and into a person rather than lives in the person all the time? Sometimes Id hear Boyd and Id be like, Holy shit, you are good. Other times itd be like, Clearly today you left the window closed. But thats beside the point. Were all like that. I have terrible nights. The answer is that I dont know how its going to be without him there.

And are there plans for him to come back?

I cant say, I cant wait till he comes back, because I dont know whats going to happen. But right now being away is better for him. Nobody is happy about this situation. Except that were happy he can figure some stuff out. I hope he does. But Im going to miss having that whirling-dervish Adonis-Muppet over there on my right. I know the audience is, too. But we cant serve that desire.

You have to serve the human being on the end of that desire.

Doing that is the only thing that makes sense.

Why did it take six years to make Come Tomorrow? Thats the longest youve gone between albums.

It was a bit of what I was saying earlier: I get disheartened thinking, Why am I doing this? What the hell does my career mean? Im grateful, but am I doing it for good reasons? And also, like I was saying, I was frustrated with the outcome of the last record. But I had some songs that Id worked on with Mark Batson  songs with LeRoi on them  that were never finished and sitting there on the shelf. Then I started a record with Rob Cavallo and I lost my steam with that. Then John Alagia and I were working together and finally I said to him, Lets get all the music that I made with Batson and Cavallo, and whatever it is you and I are doing, and see what we have. It was way too much stuff for one album, but we started to chisel away, all the while making new music, and here we are. The newest music on the record is only a few months old and the oldest is from 12 years ago. But I think its quite an artistic record. Its got love songs to my children. Love songs to the planet. There are songs about lust. I think my wonder at the universe is on the record. Its got things that deal with death. It took a long time to make, but I feel good about the result.

If this is too difficult a territory let me know, but how much has the tragedy youve dealt with in your life colored your feelings about your success? The discomfort youve talked about almost makes it sound as if you feel guilty about what youve achieved. Is there any way in which the tragedy and the guilt are connected?

Its an interesting question, because I think about the injustice of things. I wonder why Ive been so fortunate when Im as undeserving as anybody. When I hear people that are excessively wealthy or excessively successful saying, Well, Ive worked for everything I have Hang on one second. What are you talking about? You think youre working harder than the guy who digs ditches for a living? Trade places with him for a week and then talk to me how hard you worked. Again, Im so grateful for what I have, but the amount Ive been rewarded does not square with my beliefs. Its hard to wrap my head around how perversely well-paid I am. But I do think in my actions  in going out and bringing people joy with music  that theres good purpose in what I do.

Pleasure isnt a small thing.

Yeah, I dont see what I do as nothing. I think theres importance to it. But I look at people in my family and I look at friends and I think, Why not them? What deception have I managed that has allowed me to get this far?

I think youre being way too hard on yourself. Even if your success is luck, youre as entitled to that luck as anyone else. It doesnt have to be that you pulled a fast one.

I suppose it takes just as much ego to say, Ive faked myself into this as it does to say, Im here because Im a badass. Maybe those are two sides of the same thing. But I do still think Im going to wake up one morning and everyone is going to be like, We were wrong about you. And Id be like, Ive been trying to tell you that the whole time!

Do you do therapy? You talk like you do therapy.

Maybe it comes from the therapy Ive done, but Ive always looked hard at myself. The last therapist I went to was after a dear, dear friend passed. It was very unexpected and very traumatic, and I went to a therapist who dealt with trauma. I went and I talked at her for about an hour. She asked a couple questions and when it was done she said, Well, you can decide whether or not you want to come back here, but I think youre doing okay.

Thats a good therapist.

Thats an honest therapist: She wasnt going to get a penny out of me! But yeah, I dont want to lose perspective. I guess, in a way, sitting here with you and talking is about getting perspective. Believe me, I know how lucky I am but you want to feel like you have an honest sense of who you are and I worry about getting lost in the fantasy celebrity world. So I find it comforting when I can convince myself  repeatedly  that any attention or acclaim Ive gotten should be taken with a grain of salt.

Whats the most satisfying thing about being in the Dave Matthews Band in 2018?

When I play music with Carter and the guys, I do have to remind myself that there is nobody else in the world having the experience that Im having. The incredible level of unspoken musical communication that we have  and the ease of it  is amazing. Im still surprised by how many people have embraced us and what the business of the band has become, but at the core of it is a very honest creative event. The excitement of that is undeniable. Its something I can still feel in my heart. Its magical.

This is a stupid random question: Do you ever run into people who think you wrote All Along the Watchtower?

[Laughs.] Im sure some people do think that, but Ill give you a different answer: The bands version of the song is something that evolved from when I was busking in Amsterdam. I would just play that song in a circle, over and over. I wouldnt stop. I would keep doing it and doing it and Id change little parts. Its one of those songs everyone knows and usually they go a little bit Hendrix or a little bit Dylan  I think Id also heard Michael Hedgess cover and may have tried to embrace some of what he did. But I remember Zac Brown was opening for us and I asked him, Will you come up and sing it with me? And he sat in and sang Watchtower and it hit me: Hes doing my version!

Like hed learned it from you and not from Hendrix or Dylan?

Yeah, that was my roundabout way of answering your question. I remember something similar happened when I covered Wild Horses. A girl shouted from the audience: I love the Sundays. And I said, Its also by the Rolling Stones. I hope I wasnt too snide.

What are listening to you lately?

I hate to  no, I dont hate to admit it.

Admit what?

I cant stop listening to the album Fragile by Yes.

Are you kidding me?

I cant stop.

Youre talking to a Yes fanatic.

[Laughs.] Im glad. I dont know why its that one album, but Im just like, Good God. Ill be sitting somewhere and that music will pop into my head and then I have to go put the album on.

I know exactly what you mean. Close to the Edge is the better album, but yeah, Fragile is a mind-blower.

I should try Close to the Edge, right? I just keep coming back to Fragile. A friend of mine was playing me a few tracks from the new N.E.R.D album, and it was great. Then I said, Let me play you this. I played him Fragile and after he goes, Fuck man. You win.

When you picture your life without the Dave Matthews Band, what does it look like?

I like to imagine myself strolling around with an unkempt beard and painting pictures, maybe writing music for other reasons. I fantasize about those things, because even though I do what I do for a living, Im quite quiet and reserved as a person. Its like theres nighttime me and daytime me: Nighttime me is Dave, who I dont really like very much, and David is the other me, the one my mother gave birth to. The two conflict, because the greatest things Ive managed in my life have actually been done in the calmer situations.

Can you tell me about one of those situations?

I remember being in the studio with Batson. Some friends were there, too, and, man, they were playing the music loud and having fun. But I left and I went into this little isolation booth and wrote what I think is one of the best songs Ive written, which is a song called Sister. Its about my love of my little sister; a genuine thank-you to the universe for making someone who knows me so well. After I wrote it I went back to the party in the studio and said, Do you guys mind if you record this song Ive got? And I sang that little song about my sister. After, it was dead silence. Then Batson said, Damn. That shit was gangster. And I was like, Thats a very nice thing to say. [Laughs.] I think that was pretty gangster, too.

Do you see a finish line for what you do at the scale at which youre doing it?

At this point in my life, I dont see dancing on a stage forever. Dancing is too strong a word for what I do. I shake up and down sort of in correspondence to the music while my head sticks out awkwardly. It seems unimaginable that I would do that endlessly. When I look at someone like Neil Young, hes like Thor. Hes slaying monsters with his guitar. Its unimaginable that he would ever stop playing music. But for me, no, I cant see doing this forever  and not because Im ungrateful.

But because you have other things to do?

For a lot of other people the greatest things Ive done in my life have been when I was hopping up and down onstage and singing. Those people are just as valid as I am in deciding whats real. I accept that. But, like I said, those very quiet moments of creating things are for me  for me  the most meaningful.

This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations.

Annotations by Matt Stieb.

Grooming Natasha Smee for Exclusive Artists using American English Vegan Haircare.Killing Eve Take Me to the Hole! Season 1 Episode 6 Editors Rating 2 stars * *  Previous Next Photo: BBC AMERICA/Sid Gentle Films Ltd 2018/Robert Viglasky

Disillusionment flecks Killing Eve like the tiny cloth knobs on a boucle sweater. Eves and Villanelles growing realizations that they cant depend on the institutions they serve give their story lines a bumpy, unpredictable texture. Last weeks revelation about a mysterious, chaos-promoting organization called the 12 feels like a setup for a letdown, as so many TV Big Bads tend to be when theyre all-powerful and opaquely written. Luckily for us, the Moscow-set Take Me to the Hole! largely focuses on Eves shifting relationship with her would-be mentor Carolyn and strains further Villanelles bond with Konstantin  interpersonal stories way more interesting than yet another evil Illuminati.

The hour begins with Villanelle and Konstantin outside of a Russian penitentiary  the same facility, well later learn, where the mercenary had been locked up before. Shes there to kill her ex, Nadia, and meet up with the prison doctor. For the first time, we see Villanelle as a fidgety, nervous wreck: She might be recognized, or far worse, left behind by Konstantin. She asks her handler why he never tried to have sex with her and licks his hand when he caresses her face in an attempt to comfort her, two gestures that feel touchingly human: Who hasnt annoyed someone in a desperate (if misguided) bid for affection and consideration? Villanelle gets into the back of a truck thats waiting for her, sneaks into the slammer, and is instantly stripped of her individual qualities. Good-bye, bubblegum-pink coats and sexually inappropriate comments to the people who hold her life in their hands. Hello, drab prison uniform and routine dehumanization.

In London, Eve and Carolyn resolve to visit Moscow to discover what Nadia can tell them about Villanelle (a.k.a. Eves obsession) and the 12 (a.k.a. Carolyns target). But first, Eve meets up with her husband Niko in an overwrought scene that makes me completely lose faith in what the shows trying to do with their marriage. Nikos compassion gradually gives way to condescension, as he first expresses his fears that Eve will end up killed like her two colleagues, then tells her that shes getting off on sniffing out a psycho.

Youre not saving the world, honeybunch he says  to a woman whos worked in intelligence for many years? Do you want me to hold on to your cape so you can go down on yourself a little bit more? he asks lewdly. Eve punches him in the face, then shoves him a couple more times. His out-of-character derision doesnt quite land because its so unlike anything weve seen before from him; rather, it feels like the show is just trying to get from point A to point B with this story line and indifferent to how to make that transition. Eves violence is simply abhorrent. Is this scene supposed to illustrate a badass wife blowing up an unfulfilling marriage to a simp, or an increasingly angry, not-quite-stable woman refusing to be denied her power? Either way, my neck hurts from the tonal whiplash.

Unlike last week, when Eve swanned around her house in the dress and perfume that Villanelle sent her, shes all business now. That becomes clearer once she and Carolyn land in Russia, and the uncharacteristically giddy older woman talks about feeling the excitement of Moscow in her buttocks and practically begs to borrow a lipstick from Eve.

Carolyn is even more aflutter when her Russian contact, Vladimir, and his colleague, Konstantin (!), arrive for cocktails. Eve watches this reunion between former spies (and obvious professional fuck buddies!) with a skepticism, instantly taking a dislike to Konstantin. Its a genuinely fun moment, with Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodna, and Laurentiu Possa doing a fantastically convincing job of selling themselves as frenemies whove battled each other for decades and have gained a strange appreciation for each other. Carolyn can read Vladimirs poker face and knows how to keep Eve from spilling any tradeable assets, but she also mistakenly believes that the three of them are on the same side. (Like the episode about Bill, this one does a great job of demystifying Carolyns aloof allure while suggesting onion-like levels of history.) Carolyn garners an interview with Nadia at the prison in exchange for the information that MI6 gleaned from the Russian sleeper agent who posed as Franks mother. But the most fateful scoop may be the one Eve offers for free: An assassin named Oksana broke into her house and demanded dinner.

At the prison, Villanelle wastes no time getting to work. She spots Nadia working in the kitchen and asks to be assigned there. A guard gives her a toilet scrub instead and sends her to the bathrooms, where Villanelle learns from a violence-prone cancer patient named Agniya that the only way to secure an appointment with a doctor is to be on the verge of death. Because basically every part of her jailhouse escapade is foreseeable, Villanelle gets Agniya to beat her up. During her medical consultation, the doctor gives her a shiv, Nadias cell number, and instructions to be at The Hole by a certain time, when Konstantin will get her out. (Naturally, the handler would have virtually nothing to lose by leaving his troublemaking and too-knowledgeable hireling in solitary confinement.)

Unbeknownst to Villanelle, Konstantin is at the penitentiary too, surveilling Eve and Carolyns interview with Nadia. After Nadia walks in on crutches and with an arm sling, the British agents offer her everything she could want: a ticket out of prison, asylum in the U.K., and presumably a life far away from hired killing. Nadia begins to out Konstantin as her recruiter into professional murders, but when the man himself walks into the room, she tells Eve and Carolyn to search instead for Anna, the wife of the man Oksana castrated. Carolyn asks Vladimir to arrange for the things she promised Nadia. Shes refused but undeterred, convinced its just a matter of wearing down her former lover.

Over another round of drinks, Carolyn spills that she slept with both Vladimir and Konstantin, and that she let the former take the blame for a secret that the latter leaked. Eve gets Kenny, Carolyns son, to drum up evidence for this betrayal, then goes behind Carolyns back once more to make a furtive deal with Vladimir: The name of the blabber for Nadia and Villanelle, whom Eve describes as young women manipulated into this job.

Does Eve really have such a bleeding heart? The rest of the episode actually makes a strong case for why Villanelle belongs in supermax. She stabs two guards and kills Nadia, though not before Villanelles ex writes a note to Eve and slips it outside the door. Villanelle ends up in The Hole, of course, and quickly realizes that shell be there for longer than she expected, also of course. Solitary confinement is tantamount to torture and a blight on the very notion of justice, but  doesnt a sadistic monster like Villanelle belong there? Or are we supposed to believe, despite everything weve seen, that shes a victim of circumstance who deserves a second chance? Im so confused about where this show is going, and not in the good way.Its commencement-speech season once again and actor Matt Czuchry wants to be clear: He isnt exactly sure why his alma mater, the College of Charleston, asked him to give this years address or receive an honorary doctorate. It isnt because the Gilmore Girls actor has ever used his degree (he hasnt), nor is it because his degree helped get him into law school (he claims to have bombed his LSAT and been forced to rethink his entire life). His college experience did, however, give The Resident star the wherewithal to keep going during the tough times, like when he found himself sobbing to Dave Matthews Bands Lie in Our Graves as he drove cross-country alone to pursue an acting career. Honestly, it sort of seems like Matt Czuchry learned more from Dave Matthews Band than college. Either way, he tells the class of 2018 exactly what a terrified young graduate wants to hear: Just keep going and it will all pan out in the end. Then Matt Czuchry sings Hamiltons My Shot, because people are also pretty much always up to hear that too.Timeless The General; Chinatown Season 2 Episodes 9 and 10 Editors Rating 5 stars * * * * *  Previous Next  Photo: NBC/Ron Batzdorff/NBC

The line I keep coming back to is, Please help me die easy. Its what one of the black Union soldiers tells the Time Team in The General after the Confederate ambush, after the soldiers been shot in the torso, as he looks at Lucy and Rufus with eyes wide with fear but mouth set in steely acceptance of his fate. Its one of those classic, all-hope-seems-lost moments that happen every week on Timeless, except this one looks and feels different.

Nothing really bad ever happens on Timeless, although its stealth ability to repeatedly convince you something really bad really is right about to happen is a major reason Im so hooked on the show. Everyones tucked back into their bunker by the end of the hour; everyone may not be happy, but everyone is safe. People do get killed, but, you know, mostly Rittenhouse goons and figures we never really got to share a moment with, like suffragist Alice Paul. (Shoutout to Anthony from season one, possibly the only deceased Timeless character I still think about!)

So why was I so shook by the passing of Unnamed Union Soldier No. 1? Probably because his death, unlike many on Timeless, wasnt handled silently or in one shot or off-camera entirely; it was its own moment. Possibly because the acting in that scene was so good, or because happening upon a man bleeding out for his freedom is just an automatic punch to the feels. (Its totes obvs that all hope is lost for this guy.) And definitely because, looking back, that scene feels like a metaphorical stand-in for the death of Rufus and the future of Timeless.

Folks, I cannot remember the last time I bawled so pitifully over the death of a fictional character as I did for Rufus. Good-hearted, sweet, vulnerable, defensive, wise-cracking, pop-culture-nerd-king Rufus. I was squeezing hot, hard tears out of my eyeballs for at least a solid ten minutes after Emma shot him. And man, I was so mad at myself  how did I not see his murder coming?! Of course I knew Jiyas vision of Rufuss death wouldnt actually play out as she was convinced it would. Like I said, the Timeless ethos is to convince you the bad thing is bound to transpire before showing you there is, in fact, a way out. But once Rufus avoided getting stabbed in the gut by the Rittenhouse goon as Jiya had long predicted, how did it not occur to me that something just as fatal would befall him a minute later? This has happened before! Its exactly what happened to that dude in The Salem Witch Hunt!

Serious question: Did Wyatt tell Lucy he loved her during their heart-to-heart in the bunker after they returned from their Jiya-rescuing, Rufus-killing mission? Because I was still so beside myself about Rufus that I barely bothered to pay attention. However, Im pretty sure there werent too many words said as Rufus lay dying, which is why when I think back on that moment; its soundtracked to that Union soldiers final wish.

Please help me die easy, he implored. Please let me down easy, I silently pleaded heading into Timeless second-season finale  because lets face it, its quite possibly the series finale as well. All week I worried how the show could leave open a few narrative possibilities for a season three while still delivering a satisfying closure should season two be the end. Rufuss evident, imminent resurrection once Future Lucy and Future Wyatt arrive at the bunker in Lifeboat 2.0 turned out to be just what I needed.

Nothing bad ever happens on Timeless, but something bad perhaps will happen to Timeless. Actually going through with killing Rufus was our reminder that yes, cancellation really would suck and really would feel like a death. But the implication that Rufus would live on in a possible season three just goes to show that there is always a way out; all hope is never lost. If you cant bear the thought of losing Rufus, you dont have to. All you have to do is believe in these characters you have come to love, who believe in their mission more than anything else, and whose mission has clearly changed yet again. None of us have anything anymore except each other, Lucy tells the Scooby Gang (plus creepy Uncle Flynn, a guy Jiya still cant bring herself to hug) before their shootout with Emma in Chinatown. We take out Rittenhouse together, Lucy tells them in a speech Rufus calls better than the one in Rudy. We are going home together.

Heres the thing: What do you care about more at this point? Figuring out whatever the hell Rittenhouse is and stopping them? Or do you just care about the good guys, like, as people? Wait, let me back up: What even is Rittenhouse at this point? Its Emma and Jess. Emma, whose last name may as well be IDGAF, seems to have no interest in Rittenhouse beyond using it as a tool to chase down Lucy and make her miserable. In Chinatown  and in a plot twist I absolutely did see coming, thank you very much  Jess finally outed herself to Wyatt as Team Rittenhouse, but Im not super-convinced shed be in it for the long haul once its just her and Emma hurtling through the fourth dimension solely to troll #Lyatt.

And Im really not sure Id want a season three full of split-screens or whatever to cram Present Lucy and Wyatt and Future Lucy and Wyatt side by side. That kicker with Future Lucy and Future Wyatt in their Indiana JonesmeetsRey in The Force Awakens dystopia-garb was quite boffo, no? If there is a season three, that could prove in retrospect to be Timeless jump-the-shark moment.

Spoiler alert: Yes, Im rationalizing here, because I want to brace myself in case the show gets the ax. And yes, Im actually pretty confident that if Timeless returns for another season, the writers would find a way to set everyone and everything back on their normal paths in swift fashion. (Meaning, Rufus alive, Future Lyatt gone bye-bye, Rittenhouse replenished.) But mostly I just feel spent; the end of Chinatown wiped me out. There is lots more we could discuss, of course. How Emma pulled a Sarah Palin by GOING MOTHER-EFFING ROGUE on Carol and Keynes, shooting them both point-blank in the face. How good guest star Christine Horn (you may recognize her from American Crime Story or Good Girls) was as Harriet Tubman in The General. How clever Jiyas story line was, the way she thought to plant that photo in one of Lucys history books. (When Lucy found her picture, it gave me a shiver.)

Those are all sweet little forget-me-nots Ill look back on someday and (not to get too precious) probably smile about, maybe even giggle about under my breath. Right now, though, I want to sit with this feeling: this stew of optimism, shock, and somehow, contentment. Timeless found a way to end this season exactly how it shouldve ended. Its miraculously both the finale I wanted and the finale I needed.Peter Mullan. Photo: Getty Images

Spoilers for season two, episode four of Westworld below.

Few accents are as mellifluous as those of Scotland, and few Scottish accents are as indelible as that of Peter Mullan. The veteran writer, director, and actor has inserted his smokers brogue into tentpole pictures (the Harry Potter films, in which he played Death Eater Corban Yaxley), cult classics (Children of Men, which features him as the pot-smoking fascist Syd), and prestige TV (he drew particular acclaim for his portrayal of town elder Matt Mitcham in Top of the Lake). This year, hes taken his talents to the wilds of HBOs Westworld, where we meet him in the role of James Delos, the insanely wealthy initial owner of the Westworld park. He turned in a fierce performance in the most recent episode, and we caught up with him to chat about sparring with Ed Harris, observing Jimmi Simpson, and initially being cast as someone else entirely.

You got to be a killer robot and destroy a room!

Oh, yeah! [Laughs.]

Was smashing the room up cathartic? Was that a good feeling?

Theres only two things you can do in films that are even more fun than smashing a room, and one is burning a room. And for some bizarre reason that is the best fun, its the most fun you can have. Especially burning buildings. And smashing up motor cars, smashing motor cars is always good fun.

Howd you end up on Westworld?

I got a phone call from the agency, that theyd like to talk to me. So I spoke to [show creators] Jonah [Nolan] and Lisa [Joy] on the phone and yeah, we had a really nice chat and then they sent me a script, and then literally it was as simple as that. Originally, way back in the day I was supposed to do the pilot for it.

Oh!

Yeah, the original pilot. I was all set to do it and then they changed the dates of it and by that time I had already committed to another film. And so I couldnt do it and I was devastated. I was really, really upset because I really wanted to do the Westworld pilot but I couldnt do it. So then, finally Jonah remembered me and then yeah, years later they offered me the other part.

Oh, so when you were reading for the pilot, it wasnt for this part?

No. No, the pilot  originally what was talked about was the Man in Black. That was on offer, that was discussed. And then they offered to have me play the farmer. Is it Peter Abernathy, I think it is? I was asked to play him. So when I saw the pilot, and I saw  Oh, God, who plays him again? [The actor is Louis Herthum.] Oh, I love it, its a beautiful performance. So that was fine, when you cant do something and you see a really good performance. You never mind that kind of thing.

What was it about the show that reached out to you? What made you wanna be a part of this?

I love the ambition of it. I love the fact that Lisa and Jonah are unashamedly intelligent, really. Im not embarrassed by the fact that they want to do a show that looks at the nature of self-determination and the nature of the human condition and the nature of the soul, the mind, questions of free will. For me it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite shows as a kid, The Prisoner, with Patrick McGoohan. Like, it doesnt worry too much if you cant  It doesnt feel it has to keep explaining the plot all the time. So when I watch it, I dont care if I completely understand whats going on or not, I just love being on that kind of journey. That was the big thing for me. I loved it.

And when they approached you to talk about playing Delos, what did they tell you about him?

We didnt really talk much about the character, really, other than he was obviously  strong-willed, shall we say. Personally, I would say hes a narcissistic maniac. Jonah and Lisa, what they said to me was they wanted to get in an actor who wanted to go kinda head-to-head with Ed Harris. They wanted an actor that they thought would enjoy that and not be intimidated by it and all that kind of stuff. And they were right, because I had an absolute ball. I was embarrassed to be getting paid for it because, you know, Ive just spent a couple of days in a room with Ed Harris and Jimmi Simpson and I had an absolute ball. Just one of those gigs that was such fun and Eds such a lovely, lovely guy, absolute sweetheart. And him and I got on really well and we laughed a lot, and then wed just do the scene and then continue chatting and stuff.

What sticks out to you about shooting your scenes with Ed Harris?

There was a wonderful moment when he told me that I was about to die shortly, in a none-too-pleasant kind of way, and then he walked through  The doors closed too early and he walked straight into these doors, which just cracked me up. [Laughs.] You know, hes telling me Im gonna die this really unpleasant death, and then he walks into a closed door. I mean, for me, that was priceless. The Man in Black never puts a foot wrong and he bloody walks into these two doors. And him and I just cracked up on that one. Things like that always make the best moments, particularly when its a serious moment and youre being terribly thespian and serious and you know, in character, its always the funniest moment when someone in character goes crashing into a wall.

And how about working with Jimmi Simpson? What stands out in your mind from your time with him?

He had whole different journey for him, cause Jimmi has got the incredibly difficult task of having to lay the grounds of, obviously, hes gonna become the Man in Black. So Jimmi would study Eds stuff quite forensically so that he could feed that into his own performance.

Oh, so you saw him doing that? Observing Ed Harris and then mimicking him?

Oh yeah, yeah. Jimmi was quite open about it. He would be watching as Ed and I were doing it. Jimmi would watch the monitor. Cause you would have to do that when, ultimately, hes then gonna go on and play the Man in Black, you know.

Oh, interesting. So you shot it out of order. Along those lines: How do you keep the dialogue fresh, given that youre not only doing a bunch of takes of a given scene, but then doing tons of takes of scenes that are near identical to each other?

Its actually, because of the way it was written, it wasnt difficult. Its a good piece of writing, so you know youre always playing the subtext and thats always fun. If youre just saying dialogue thats really difficult, then theres nothing. Theres no emotional kind of recall, you cant bring anything to it. But when youre actually playing the scene knowing that even though youre still on the same lines, exactly the same as you did the previous scene, youre working in a subtext, youre working with what the characters going through.

Were there any real-life bajillionaires you drew inspiration from?

With guys like him, you would always go to Scotlands most famous one, [Andrew] Carnegie. I know a little bit about Carnegie, and all these guys, the world they came from was always a street-life kind of world. When they were very young they wouldve been street fighters. Theyre cunning. Theyre not necessarily the brightest people in the world, but they have a cunning and a ruthlessness. And guys like the ones going around us now, like Murdoch and Bezos and all those guys, what they have in common is theyre ruthless. I mean, Zuckerberg  that generation interests me because they put on this facade that theyre cool kids, and its nonsense. Theyre no different from Carnegie or Murdoch or any of those other gazillionaires. Theyre obsessed with power and their own legacies as they see it. And I dont think any of those guys would hesitate to do what Delos does. You know, if they had the opportunity, if they thought that they could clone themselves to live forever, they would do it, in a heartbeat they would do it.

I love this idea of Delos coming up as a street brawler.

So many of these guys  a lot of them dont do particularly well in school. A lot of them are dyslexic. A lot of self-made millionaires have dyslexia, which is strange. A lot of them have that in common because they struggle at school, but theyre not stupid. That also feeds into a sense of grievance, that a lot of these guys feel aggrieved. They feel that they had no choice but to be the masters of the universe because they were mistreated when they were young. Or they werent appreciated when they were young.

What kind of directing did Lisa Joy give you in the episode?

It was Ed told me, I think, just towards the end, we were working, Ed said, Yknow, this is the first time Lisas directed. And I didnt know that. I didnt know that Lisa hadnt directed before. I cant speak highly enough; she was absolutely wonderful. She does what any good director does, which is she gives actors lots and lots of confidence to try things and to relax, and she takes on the responsibility for everything else. So then the actors ultimately are encouraged just to relax and have a good time. And that really is, thats a huge part of directing, is when the director doesnt foist upon the actor. A really good director allows an actor to breathe and to explore and ultimately to feel confident and to enjoy themselves.

Have we seen the last of Delos? Or can you not tell me?

I dont think I can tell you, no. I dont think I can.

Youre being a responsible actor.

No, Im just worried in case they sue me. Im worried about a lawyer telling me theyre gonna take my house away from me and the kids.

Do you have a particular favorite Delos line that you got to deliver?

Oh yeah, actually one of my favorites  it wont interest anyone else  but my favorite was when I have to look at the wonderful Ed Harris and say, Who the fuck are you? [Laughs.] The idea of me looking at Ed Harris and saying Who the fuck are you? just makes me laugh.

This interview has been edited and condensed.By Nicole Chavez and Amir Vera, CNN

(CNN) -- A new fissure opened early Sunday on Hawaii's Big Island, splattering lava tens of feet into the air and forcing more residents to evacuate.

The fissure, which is several hundred yards long, was the 17th crack in the ground to open on the island in the week since the Kilauea volcano erupted on May 3. The newest fissure was originally designated the 18th fissure, but because the one previously labeled 17th never spewed lava, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reclassified the latest fissure as the 17th.

Nearly 2,000 people have been evacuated since the volcano erupted May 3, sending lava flowing into communities and threatening a nearby geothermal plant.

The Department of Public Works and Police said the new fissure opened on Hale Kamahina Loop Road and is emitting steam and lava.

Residents along the road have been ordered to evacuate, officials said.

The volcanic vents, or fissures, have released slow-moving lava and toxic gas into island communities, gobbling up dozens of homes and vehicles.

Another fissure, the 16th, was reported earlier Saturday and "produced a lava flow that traveled about 250 yards before stalling," officials said.

That vent was about a mile east of the Puna Geothermal Venture plant, where officials removed 60,000 gallons of flammable liquids due to safety concerns.

In addition to the new fissures, USGS officials said an explosive eruption is possible at Halemaumau crater at the top of the Kilauea volcano. Such an eruption could generate ash plumes over an area 12 miles from the summit crater, the HOV said.

Trump signs disaster declaration

President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in Hawaii on Friday. The declaration allows federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in areas affected by the Kilauea volcanic eruption and earthquake.

Federal funding is available to state, eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis, the White House said.

The estimated cost to protect residents over the next 30 days is expected to exceed $2.9 million, according to the governor's office.

'They lost everything with the lava'

Aside from evacuations, the Kilauea volcano has had a devastating effect on some residents.

Larry and Geri Butler retired from Seattle to a Leilani Estates home in Hawaii 15 years ago.

The couple was part of the evacuation May 3 and found out May 5, via social media, that their home had been destroyed, their son Christian Butler said.

"They are still pretty shook up, but I think the initial shock is starting to wear off," Butler said. "They lost everything with the lava, and have to start over from scratch. I'm not sure that fact has really sunk in with them yet."

Video captured by island resident John Carter and shared on social media shows the Butlers' home engulfed in flames from the vantage point of the front yard. Another video, filmed in the backyard, shows lava consuming the couple's backyard.

Butler said the video was shared by people who lived in the area, then his parents found out. His parents called him to tell him the news. Butler lives in the Seattle area.

"I'm not able to be with them during all this," he said. "That makes this all that much more frustrating for me, so I am trying to do all I can for them from here."

He calls the home being destroyed a relief, though, because it helps him focus on his parents' future.

Butler said Sunday that seeing the images of his parents' home is "heartbreaking." He also said his parents, in their 70s, were living on retirement income, but luckily have insurance, so starting over will be a "long, long road."

"They're going to be able to recoup from this," he said.(CNN) -- In America, royal well-wishers tend to come in pairs, mothers and daughters, keen to catch a glimpse of a real-life prince and princess. Hollywood can take much of the credit for that.

Diana was the embodiment of a Disney princess, just as Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle were after her. Anyone can be President but you can't be a King or Queen without being born to royalty, or marrying in. It's the unattainability of that status that draws such fascination. They're almost mystical figures.

Wherever I am in the world and I speak to a member of the public after they have met a royal, their most common response is: "They're so normal!" As if they aren't real until you actually come face-to-face with one.

That's why Markle is such a star. She was normal and now she isn't. She's part of the fantasy. If you look into her trolls online many just come across as jealous. Many others appear to be supportive of her and what she represents. On the day her engagement to Harry was announced, an African American colleague told me she couldn't believe someone like Markle had "penetrated" the royal family.

The same excitement came through on the Facebook feed of an edition of my show "CNN Talk" that I anchored from Buckingham Palace. One of the panelists, Ayesha Hazarika, an equal rights campaigner, told me, "The royal family are the absolute top of the British class system; it is the most elitist system on the planet. A lot of people of color will think "good: it's high time that this system was opened up a bit more."

The institution has modernised, though you'd be forgiven for not noticing. The Queen went with tradition to marry a fellow blue-blood in Philip (a Greek and Danish prince) but Prince Charles married outside royalty to aristocrats. William cast his net further with Kate Middleton who was from a middle-class, rural family.

Prince Harry went further afield to marry an American divorcee. The last time that happened was in 1936 when Edward VIII had to abdicate his royal title in order to marry his American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. Meghan Markle though has been embraced by both the royal and political establishment which shows how things have moved on, if glacially.

Prince Harry is unlikely ever to be king so he is under less pressure to conform than his elder brother, though he did still require permission from The Queen to marry Markle. He is particularly close to William and Kate so he will have significant influence on the way the monarchy develops, as will his wife.

The "Fab Four" as they have been dubbed by the UK tabloids, co-ordinate their work through their court at Kensington Palace. When Harry moved in years ago, a royal source told me the office had been set up with a corporate structure. The "principals," as they are known, are treated as joint CEOs. Courtiers are there merely to advise.

William, Kate, Harry and Meghan call the shots, which was perhaps a reaction to the system the boys were brought up in when aides exercised more control, to the frustration of their mother Diana. The four are also equal partners in The Royal Foundation which brings together their charitable and campaign work.

"Working as a family does have its challenges," conceded Harry at a Foundation forum in February 2018. He and William have had a lifetime to get used to that of course but not so for Middleton and Markle.

The world's media turned out in force for the forum because it was our first opportunity to hear how Markle might take her public role forward. She had only been engaged to Harry for a few months and all we knew was that she had given up her acting career and cut all ties with the campaigns and organizations she had been associated with such as UN Women and World Vision.

Royal sources assured me she had every intention of continuing her work on those issues but wanted to do so with a clean slate from her new, more high-profile position.

Markle was asked on stage about women finding their voice and she responded, "You'll often hear people say, 'Well you're helping women find their voices,' and I fundamentally disagree with that because women don't need to find their voice. They have a voice. They need to feel empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen."

It was a clear statement of intent from Markle that she wasn't going to stop having opinions just because she was joining the most famous family in the world.

People would probably have questioned her strength of character if she had done anything else but she did raise a few eyebrows when she added, "and I think right now in the climate that we're seeing, with so many campaigns, with 'Me Too,' 'Time's Up,' there's no better time than now to continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered, and people really helping to support them, men included."

#MeToo and #TimesUp are regarded by some as political movements which is territory royals are expected to avoid and this speaks to the challenge Markle now faces.

She's eloquent, passionate and charismatic and that's endeared her to many but could create jealousy within the ranks, as Diana learned. If she then crosses the line into what could be construed as political interference then republicans will use it against her, increasing pressure on the family.

How would it go down if Markle repeated her views on Donald Trump, for example? During the 2016 US election campaign, she told The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, "Yes of course Trump is divisive," and then went on to call him "misogynistic." She said she "might just stay in Canada" if Trump won the presidential election, which of course he did.

As a senior member of the royal family, Markle is expected to represent the monarch, potentially even hosting President Trump. That role is only tenable if she avoids party politics. Who knows who she will be asked to meet by government in future?

Prince William: "I blubbed when George was born"

... A motto often attributed to Elizabeth is, "I have to be seen to be believed," and that explains why she wears those bright colors that mark her out in the crowd. When she meets a member of the public, she typically asks if they have come far and by the time they have answered an aide has ushered her on.

She's created a memory for life for that person but, crucially, hasn't given away anything of herself. She's also created a powerful image for the media to use showing her amongst the people. This was the monarch who popularized the royal walkabout and it wasn't by accident.

The Queen created more opportunities to get out there and meet people when she formalized the support of voluntary service in to her job description. It allowed her and her family to link up with charities and causes they care about and show some character.

Without that, The Cambridges and Prince Harry wouldn't have been able to start the "Heads Together" campaign to reduce the stigma of mental illness which has had a palpable effect on attitudes in the UK.

The brothers used it as an opportunity to open-up about the trauma of losing their mother. "Our grandparents, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, had made support for charity central to their decades of service to the nation and the Commonwealth," The Duke of Cambridge told the Royal Foundation forum.

"The task for us would not be to reinvent the wheel. Instead, our job was to follow the example of those who had come before us, to hold on to the values that have always guided our family, but also to seek to engage in public life in a way that was updated and relevant for our generation." In other words, to continue the conversation his grandmother picked up on.

William gave a demonstration of that "updated" monarchy when he left hospital with his wife and newborn son and heir, Prince George, in July 2013. He had his sleeves rolled up and carried the car seat himself, clicking it in to position before driving off with his new family.

That doesn't sound extraordinary but just a generation ago, when Prince Charles did the same thing with William as a baby he wore a suit and tie and took the back seat of the car as a chauffeur drove them all off.

I interviewed William a couple of weeks after George's birth at Kensington Palace. He was still in that exhausted yet elated stage of early fatherhood. "I blubbed for about half an hour when George was born," he told one of the producers. "It was ridiculous."

I then asked him about his approach:

William: Where I can be, I am as independent as I want to be, same as Catherine and Harry. We've all grown up differently to other generations and I very much feel if I can do it myself, I want to do it myself. And there are times when you can't do it yourself and the system takes over or it's appropriate to do things differently. But, I think driving your son and your wife away from hospital was really important to me. And I don't like fuss, so it's much easier to just do it yourself.

Prince Charles: Pushing the envelope

... In ordinary life, Charles would have retired years ago. His challenge has been to find his own purpose and he's managed that by professionalizing his own role, embracing the "public service monarchy" with thousands of engagements and fundraising efforts.

He's pushed the envelope, literally, on the family's political neutrality too by writing a series of so called "black spider" memos to government ministers with his thoughts on policy, so-called because of The Prince's unique scrawl. He's expressed views on everything from climate change to urban planning ...

A royal source assures me he has every intention of following her (the Queen's) example and steering clear of expressing opinion in public when he does accede to the throne. He's aware that, as Head of State, he will be expected to act on the advice of his ministers, not on his conscience.

Until then though, he has some room for manoeuvre perhaps and he's arguably been proven right on some of the issues he pioneered as a young man such as environmentalism and inter-faith dialogue that have since gone mainstream.

Charles' character famously came into question when his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles came to light, followed by an acrimonious divorce from Diana. He paid tribute to the "brilliant" way his second wife took on the "real, real challenge" of defining her public role in an interview I did with him in Scotland, 2015. It's still not clear if the public is ready to have Camilla as Queen, though she will automatically receive the title on his accession.

Clarence House issued a statement in 2005 saying she would use the title of "Princess Consort" instead but my understanding is nothing will be confirmed until the day Charles becomes king.

When I hear talk of the crown passing straight to The Duke of Cambridge, I don't detect any appetite from either of them for that to happen. The Prince of Wales has spent a lifetime preparing to rule and The Duke is busy coming to terms with his own clout and juggling a young family.

Neither of them speaks publicly on the matter of succession for obvious reasons but both will be aware of the towering example they are expected to live up to in Elizabeth II. She kept herself at the heart of the national conversation and that's the cachet that underscores her clout.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.Huntsville police are looking for two men who used a stolen identity to buy items in Huntsville last month.

Police released photos Monday of two men who used the identity of someone from Illinois to buy $2,500 in items at Best Buy. The crime happened April 3, police said.

The men have tried to use the same identity in several other states, police said, and they're not sure where the men are from.

Anyone with information about the men pictured is asked to contact the Huntsville Police Department at 256-722-7100.(CNN) -- Three families, including young children, were involved in a series of ISIS-inspired bombings that hit the Indonesian city of Surabaya within just 24 hours, the country's National Police said Monday.

The latest attack came Monday morning when a family of four riding on two motorbikes packed with explosives targeted a police station in Indonesia's second largest city, injuring 10 people including four police officers.

The four attackers died, while an eight-year-old girl who was on one of the motorcycles was thrown clear and survived, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

It followed a suicide attack involving a family of six on three Christian churches Sunday morning, when a husband and wife used their children to detonate explosives, killing 12 people and injuring at least 40.

Later Sunday, in what police also described as a terror incident, a mother and her 17-year-old daughter were killed in the Surabaya suburb of Sidoarjo, when a bomb, handled by the family's father detonated prematurely. Police found the father of the family in the house holding a detonator, and shot him, police spokesman Barung Mangera said.

The family's 12-year-old son took his two younger sisters to the Bhayangkara Police hospital, he added.

Tito Karnavian, Indonesia's top-ranking police officer, told reporters Monday that police were working on the assumption that the attacks followed a directive from ISIS Central Command to avenge the imprisonment of the former leaders of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian jihadi group that supports ISIS.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has struggled in recent months with a rise in Islamist militancy, which has come as ISIS has been squeezed out of its heartland in Syria and Iraq.

"These attacks are the nightmare scenario that's been anticipated since Indonesians affiliated with ISIS have returned from the Middle East," said Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics at Deakin University in Australia.

Kids involved in attacks

The series of attacks started Sunday morning when a family of six detonated bombs in three churches in Surabaya.

The father, identified by police as Dita Oepriarto, was said to have driven his wife Puji Kuswat and their two daughters, aged 9 and 12 to the Indonesian Christian Church. The trio went inside and detonated a bomb.

Oepriarto then drove the van to the Pentecostal Central Church, where, from inside the vehicle, he detonated another bomb, police said.

Around the same time the couple's two teenage sons, aged 16 and 18, drove motorcycles to the Santa Maria Catholic Church, where they also detonated bombs. All members of the family died in the attacks. Through its Amaq News Agency, ISIS claimed responsibility for what it called "martyrdom attacks" on the churches.

Karnavian also told reporters Monday that none of the families involved in the attacks had recently traveled to Syria, but Oepriarto had close links with someone who had recently returned from Syria who may have inspired him to carry out the attacks.

'Opening salvo'

Formed in 2015, the group linked to the attacks, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), is a jihadi group that supports ISIS, according to Jakarta officials.

Its leader, Aman Abdurrahman, was scheduled to appear at a court hearing last week, but it was postponed after a deadly riot broke out at the jail where Aman is being held in Depok, West Java, according to a report in the Jakarta Post.

Police now believe the riot at the Mobile Brigade Detention Center was initiated by a convict acting on the ISIS Central Command's instruction.

The militant group is part of a "second wave" of terrorist groups to be active in Indonesia, according to Hugo Brennan, senior Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk consultancy firm.

"The first wave was linked Al Qaeda from 2001 and were involved in the Bali attacks. Indonesian security forces dealt with them fairly effectively.

"Then in 2014 there was an uptick in violence as groups linked to ISIS became active, stoked by online propaganda, militants who traveled to the Middle East and fighting in the Philippines. The attacks yesterday are part of a pattern ... but (are among) the more sophisticated, and as it involved children, heinous."

Barton at Deakin University said the Surabaya attacks could be the "opening salvo of a new, more sophisticated campaign," and added that the timing -- just before Ramadan, which begins May 15 -- "bears the hallmarks of ISIS," which has used the holy month in the past to launch high profile attacks.

"This is the first Ramadan since ISIS-linked Indonesians have returned" from Syria, he said.

Indonesia has a long history with terrorist groups, particularly the al-Qaeda affiliated group Jemaah Islamiyah, which claimed responsibility for 11 attacks between 2000 and 2010, including the deadly 2002 Bali bombings that left more than 200 people dead and hundreds injured, many of them tourists.

According to Wawan Purwanto, the information and communication direct of Indonesia's National Intelligence Agency, around 930 Indonesians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside ISIS since 2013.

Of those, around 400 had returned to Indonesia while 100 are known to have died in battle. Exact numbers are uncertain because immigration officials in Iraq and Syria don't have a record of them entering those countries, Wawan said.

The United Nations Secretary-General condemned the three terrorist attacks on the Surabaya churches. Through his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, Secreatry General Antonio Guterres said that he was "appalled at reports that children were used to participate in the attacks," and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

"(The Secretary General) reiterates the support of the United Nations to the Government and people of Indonesia in their efforts to fight and prevent terrorism and violent extremism, including through the promotion of pluralism, moderation and tolerance," the statement said.

More than 82% of Indonesia's roughly 261 million people follow Islam. Almost 10% of the population is Christian.

Correction: The name of the father in the church suicide bombings has been updated following further information from police. His name is Dita Oepriarto.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.#stocks-summary Seoul stocks inch down on Chinese developers' debt crises South Korean stocks closed slightly lower Friday largely on the back of growing concerns about giant Chinese property developers' debt crisis. The Korean won fell against the U.S. ...

Maryland to open new 'Koreatown' The state of Maryland will open a new "Koreatown" this week with a new structure designed to symbolize the unity of the Korean-American community in the state, as well as its unity...If you dont violate the life, liberty, or property of someone else, you should not see the arm of the law.

by Frank Hollenbeck

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

High school students in the United States are usually required to take a course in government. They learn about the structure of government but rarely discover the appropriate role of government or the justifiable limits for the use of force in our society. If they did, one of their required readings would be Frederic Bastiats treatise The Law, a seminal mid-Nineteenth-century work that describes eternal truths about life and how we pursue justice. These truths are just as valid today as they were then.

Natural Rights and the Role of Government

Bastiat states that individuals are born with the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. From this notion, the only proper function of the use of force or the law is the collective organization of the natural right to self-defense of these rights.

Every individual has the right to use force for lawful self-defense. It is for this reason that the collective force  which is only the organized combination of the individual forces  may lawfully be used for the same purpose; and it cannot be used legitimately for any other purpose.

He then defines any illegitimate use of force or of the law as legal plunder. This is an all-encompassing term which includes any unjustified violation of the life, liberty, or property of others. Many examples abound today with regulations on labor (e.g. minimum wage laws), products (e.g. subsidies and tariffs), health care, education, or even the use of marijuana or any other drugs.

Legal plunder has two primary motivations:

The first is stupid greed . For example, you would never think of robbing your neighbor, but are complacent if the government uses legal plunder to rob him on your behalf. The second is misplaced philanthropy. Many socialist concepts fall into this category. For example, they constantly talk about fraternity, not one that is voluntary but rather forced by the law onto everyone. This is just another example of legal plunder .

Because legal plunder is so pervasive in society today, we often fail to distinguish the difference between justice and injustice. Just because something is legal, we assume it must be just, which is simply not true.

Legal Plunder and Social Unrest

The Democrats will shortly spend billions of U.S. dollars to try to take control of Congress in the 2018 Midterm elections and will spend billions more on the next presidential campaign in 2020. You only need to watch a few minutes of CNN or even part of an episode of Saturday Night Live to see the vitriolic hatred of the President by the left-wing media.

A similar hatred was shown by the right-wing towards Obama. Why such animosity between the opposing political positions? The answer is simple: they are trying to protect themselves from legal plunder, or are actively participating in the plundering.

The problem with legal plunder is that it creates hatred and discord and eats at the very fabric of society. The US Civil War was fought primarily for two reasons: slavery and tariffs. The first was a violation of liberty, the second was a violation of property.

According to Bastiat:

It is not true that the function of law is to regulate our consciences, our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our work, our trade, our talents, or our pleasures. The function of law is to protect the free exercise of these rights, and to prevent any person from interfering with the free exercise of these same rights by any other person.

The Government Should Matter Less

The law should be a viewed as a negation; if you dont violate the life, liberty, or property of someone else, you should not see the arm of the law or care much about the role of government. You should be somewhat indifferent as to who is elected president just as you should be indifferent as to who is elected dog-catcher if it does not affect you.

If the law were properly defined, you would not blame the government for your misfortunes nor would you credit it with your successes. There would be greater harmony and less reason to revolt since the governments jurisprudence would be well defined. You would not see, as in France today, different sectors of the economy constantly going on strike, paralyzing the country, and often demanding concessions from the government that are difficult or impossible to meet.

Bastiat wrote:

[I]f you attempt to make the law religious, fraternal, equalizing, philanthropic, industrial, literary, or artistic  you will then be lost in an uncharted territory, in vagueness and uncertainty, in a forced utopia or, even worse, in a multitude of utopias, each striving to seize the law and impose it upon you. This is true because fraternity and philanthropy, unlike justice, do not have precise limits. Once started, where will you stop? And where will the law stop itself?

More important than left or right is the concept of liberty. The solution to the problem of human relationships is freedom, and it thrives most when the role of government is limited, the use of force is constrained, and the law is confined to the administration of universal justice, or, more precisely, the law is exclusively used as a roadblock to injustice.

Today, a person in the U.S. will watch either CNN or Fox News but will probably never watch both. On Facebook, if a friend disagrees with you, you just unfriend him so that you are left with a group of people who hold similar opinions. We no longer have political discourse at the dinner table because of often-opposite viewpoints. Everyone tries to avoid disharmony.

This polarization can only ultimately lead to a form of civil war, very different, though, from the one fought over 150 years ago. We must recognize that we have a ticking social time bomb in our midst, and we must begin a serious discussion on the appropriate role of government or the just limits to the use of force by government. A good place to start would be to study Bastiats eternal truths found in The Law.

Frank Hollenbeck is a financial consultant who worked for the State Department as senior economist, Caterpillar overseas as chief economist, and Director of Research at the Banque Eduard Constant in Geneva.Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

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Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.No. 16 Kentucky hosts LSU, looking to remain unbeatenBy West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2018 | 06:26 PM | LAKE CITY, KY

Authorities have found the body of a Fort Campbell soldier reported missing after enjoying the water with friends along the Tennessee River in Kentucky.

Private First Class JuWan Richardson was reported missing Friday while tubing at Kentucky Lake, where the river widens near Lake City. Lyon County Judge Executive Wade White said in a Facebook post that Richardson's body was found Monday morning.



Lyon County Emergency Management Deputy Director Randy Reed said Richardson's body was recovered at around 8 a.m. near mile marker 30 on Kentucky Lake at Twin Lakes, LBL. His body was reportedly found by a search team and divers from Marshall County, and has been turned over to the Lyon County Coroner for examination.



Search crews and volunteers from several counties worked through the weekend using boats equipped with sonar in an effort to find his body. Lyon County Emergency Management thanked all of the organizations who helped in the recovery effort.By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 14, 2018 | 03:53 PM | MAYFIELD, KY

Three adults and one juvenile were arrested on drug and alcohol charges over the weekend.

The Mayfield Police Department says officers were conducting routine patrol on Saturday near the Mayfield Graves County Country Club. When officers approached the parking lot, they saw two vehicles with four people standing outside.

According to a police report, the officers observed alcohol, and could smell alcohol and marijuana. Police determined that all four subjects were intoxicated. Officers said one of the subjects admitted to smoking marijuana, one had a fake ID, while another had a controlled substance in her purse.

Twenty-one-year-old Ali B. Allbritten and 21-year-old Julia A. Adams, both of Paducah, were arrested and charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place and possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle. Allbritten was additionally charged with possession of controlled substance.

Twenty-one-year-old Brentley C. Adams, of Mayfield, was arrested and charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place, disorderly conduct and criminal possession of a forged instrument. A 17-year-old Mayfield juvenile was also arrested and charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The three adults were taken to the Graves County Jail. The juvenile was released to a family member.By MSU Public Relations May. 12, 2018 | 10:54 PM | MURRAY, KY

Murray State University celebrated Spring 2018 Commencement on Saturday during two services in the CFSB Center with one program in the morning for undergraduates and one program in the afternoon for graduate and doctoral students. Altogether, 1,509 pending degrees were conferred to students representing 28 states and 23 countries.

Murray State President Bob Davies presided over the ceremony. Davies, along with Provost Mark Arant, administered the conferring of degrees.

"Your success as a Murray State graduate will not be measured by your first job or your next step," Davies said. "It will be measured on what you are able to do with information by using the knowledge and wisdom you have gained at this fine institution. You will be measured by the experiences you have created. And, most importantly, you will be measured by the lives you touch and communities you transform."

During the undergraduate commencement service, Laura Guebert and Charles Graves, the outstanding seniors for spring 2018, delivered valedictions addressing their fellow graduates. Guebert, of Herrin, Illinois, graduated with a bachelor's degree in history, while Graves, of Murray, graduated with bachelor's degrees in accounting and mathematics.

Also featured during both services was the formal Presentation of Colors by the Murray State University Color Guard. Distinguished Professor Susan Edington, senior instructor in early childhood and elementary education, served as the mace-bearer.Trump's Aides Celebrate Embassy, as Border Burns

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By The Associated Press

May. 14, 2018 | WASHINGTON, DC

By The Associated Press May. 14, 2018 | 08:49 AM | WASHINGTON, DC

Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled.



Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, led the U.S. delegation with a single message: Only Trump had the courage to act on what America has wanted for a long time.



"While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it," Kushner was expected to say in a speech later Monday, according to excerpts released by the White House.



The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital. Protests roiled the Gaza border, resulting in at least 37 Palestinians killed, officials said.



In a tweet from Washington, Trump did not reference the violence, instead urging people to watch the ceremony on television and declaring Monday "A great day for Israel!"



In a Fox News interview that made no reference to the climbing death toll, Mnuchin repeatedly referenced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said Trump should be praised for "taking action" to keep Americans and people in the Middle East safe.



"The president is making difficult decisions because they are what he believes are the right long term decisions and not just kicking the can down the road," Mnuchin said.



Mnuchin also said "it's not coincidental" that the embassy move coincided with Trump's announcement that he planned to abandon the Iran nuclear deal.



Also on hand were Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.



The embassy celebration was widely considered a snub by the Palestinians. Roughly 800 guests were expected to attend. U.S. officials said last week that Trump's delegation was not planning on meeting Palestinian officials during their visit. The Trump administration in recent months also has slashed U.S. aid to the Palestinians and programs that support them.



Trump's policy is a sharp departure from past U.S. administrations, which have tried to position America as a neutral party ready to broker a peace deal.



"Of all the things President Trump could have done, doing this (embassy move) is the strongest signal he could send to the Israeli people," North Carolina's Graham said.Precinct Workers Needed for Primary Election

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

May. 14, 2018 | FRANKFORT, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 14, 2018 | 04:49 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Help is needed at polling precincts in next week's primary election.



On Monday, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes asked for help.



"It takes 15,000 poll workers to conduct our elections across Kentucky. In each cycle, the State Board of Elections and our county clerks and local parties work hard to recruit poll workers to conduct our elections at the local level," Grimes said. "This year, we are facing a shortage, so we need more Kentuckians to answer the call and sign up."



Voters interested in serving as poll workers are encouraged to call 502-782-7402 before 4 pm on Wednesday, May 16.



Poll workers must be registered voters. An individual cannot serve if he or she is a candidate, has changed their party affiliation within the last year, or in a precinct where a spouse or an immediate relative is a candidate on the ballot.



Voters appointed as poll workers must attend a required training session before Election Day.



Poll workers are paid a minimum of $10 for attending a mandatory training session before Election Day, and a minimum of $60 per Election Day, as well as additional payment for mileage. Each county board of elections sets the rate for compensation.By: Paige Cline The hills are still green for the most part, but a little[Read More]WiGBits Headline News Would you like to receive our WiGBits? Signup today!

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In a lab in Joburg, a crack team of Wits scientists led the investigation into the ubiquitous Listeria bacteria that stick like glue and thrive in the cold.

Listeriosis has killed 201 people since the outbreak was announced on 5 December 2017.

Dr Juno Thomas, a clinical microbiologist and alumna of Wits Medical School heads the Centre for Enteric Diseases (CED) at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). The NICD is a division of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). Dr Anthony Smith is a senior medical scientist within the CED and an alumnus of Wits. He holds a PhD in molecular microbiology.

Enteric refers to organisms that infect the gastrointestinal tract. Some of these organisms  like Listeria monocytogenes  can enter the bloodstream from the gut, go through to the brain, and cause meningitis. Thats the complication with some of these diseases, says Smith, who holds a joint staff appointment at Wits and the NICD.

(Un)usual suspects

Listeriosis is the disease caused by Listeria bacteria, which are foodborne pathogens. In South Africas outbreak, the specific genus and species involved is Listeria monocytogenes. Listeria are insidious bacteria that can contaminate a wide variety of foods, such as processed meats (polony), ice cream, or corn, and are ubiquitous in that they are widespread in the environment worldwide.

In terms of listeriosis outbreaks that have been described around the world  its frequently described, in the US, Australia, in England in corn recently  our outbreak in South Africa is the largest listeriosis outbreak ever described worldwide. Overseas they maybe deal with up to a few hundred cases, but were over the 1000 mark; 1027 cases have been reported from 1 January 2017 to 2 May 2018, says Smith.

A healthy person could possibly consume Listeria-contaminated food and not even know it, apart from experiencing a mild case of the runs. The problem comes when somebody in a high-risk group eats Listeria-contaminated food. High-risk people are those with reduced immune systems, those with HIV, on cancer treatment, diabetes, and the elderly and pregnant women.

In these high-risk people, symptoms could get worse than diarrhoea and, because of their compromised immune systems, Listeria enters their bloodstreams. Data has determined that around 29% of cases (for which patient outcome data is available) in South Africa have died.

In pregnant women, the bacteria cross the placenta to the child and then the child is born very ill. Mostly what happens is the mothers fine but the child dies  stillbirths or the child is born alive but with a serious disease, and about 30% will die. They die of septicemia, which is a bloodstream infection, or meningitis, an infection of the brain, says Smith.

Within this context, when reports of Listeria cases spiked and thus raised the alarm in July 2017, the CED geared-up to find the type and source of the killer Listeria.

Surveillance

The CED is a reference laboratory in South Africa for enteric and gastrointestinal pathogens. Clinical diagnostic laboratories in the government and private sector submit isolates to the CED for further investigation. An isolate refers to a sample of bacteria grown from a specimen collected from an ill patient. At the CED the scientists create genetic (DNA) databases of enteric pathogens such as Salmonella (including Salmonella Typhi, which causes typhoid fever), Shigella, Vibrio cholerae (including those that cause cholera), and Listeria monocytogenes.

We create genetic databases for all these organisms and once youve got a good background database of numbers, places and dates, when you suddenly see a spike in cases you can feed that into your database and see if youve seen this DNA profile before. The words are surveillance and molecular epidemiology and it gets done here for most of the enteric organisms, says Smith.

The spike in Listeria cases in South Africa happened around July 2017. The five to 10 cases per month usually reported throughout the country suddenly spiked to 40 or 50 cases in a month. This alerted the NICD that something was afoot.

Clinical diagnostic laboratories across the country do the primary diagnosis of Listeria from patient specimens. However, these labs routinely identify just to the Listeria genus/species level. As a reference lab, we take it a few steps further and ask; could these isolates be related somehow  what is their genetic relatedness? Are they the same strain? Is there an outbreak involved? says Smith, adding that one definition of an outbreak is a sudden spike above normal baseline levels.

The method used to determine relatedness relies on analysis of the genetic sequence of the pathogen. In the case of the listeriosis outbreak, the cgMLST (core genome multiple locus sequence typing) method was used. Dr Mushal Allam from the NICD's Sequencing Core facility conducted the bioinformatics required to conclude the investigation.

The CED, led by Thomas, comprises a large group of medical scientists, medical technologists, data clerks, and epidemiologists who investigate the incidence and distribution of enteric diseases. The investigation includes field investigations to interview those who have been sick and to collect and analyse data.

During outbreaks, the NICD produces regular Situational Reports. The listeriosis Situational Report dated 7 May 2018 shows that, prior to 2017, an average of 60 to 80 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases per year (approximately 1 per week), were reported in South Africa. In July 2017, an increase in laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis was reported to the NICD. Investigations into the reported increase followed. On 5 December 2017, the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced an outbreak. The source of the outbreak was identified as ready-to-eat processed meat products manufactured at Enterprise Foods production facility in Polokwane, Limpopo. A recall of affected products was initiated on 4 March 2018.

The CED undertook to investigate all cases in order to identify the killer pathogen, a task complicated, however, by the fact that Listeria can incubate for more than two months before people show symptoms.

You can eat a contaminated food item and some people could show symptoms within a few days. But in other people, the incubation before you see symptoms can go up to 70 days, and thats a problem. Now youre ill after 70 days and I come to you and ask, can you tell me what you ate over the last 70 days? Who can remember what they eat over the last 70 days? Thats what makes investigating this outbreak so difficult, says Smith.

The modus operandi

The way to find a source is to interview the people who were sick. A team at the NICD conducted interviews with these people or the families of the deceased.

With the patient interviews and questions related to types of food they have recently eaten, we include questions related to eating processed meats, because Listeria is a known risk in processed meats  polonies, hams, pates  things that sit in the fridge. Listeria love to just sit in the fridge and multiply. Listeria says, I dont mind the cold, let me go big! When patients report that they have eaten a particular type of food item, then we also ask about the brand of the food item. For example, when polony started coming up commonly as a food item eaten, then we start asking about the brand  Enterprise, Rainbow, Eskort, etc., says Smith.

Environmental Health Practitioners from the Department of Health also take food specimens from fridges (if available) from those who were sick to see if Listeria can be grown back in the lab.

Then all the isolates come back to us for DNA fingerprinting (DNA profiling). Lets imagine they had five isolates from five different patients. Then the question is: could these isolates be a single strain with the identical DNA profile, i.e., the same genetic variant?

Closing in under the microscope with DNA profiling

If you take the Listeria genomic DNA [the hereditary material in living organisms that carries genetic instructions] out of the bug and you pull it apart, it consists of some three-million bases. DNA is made out of Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine, and Thymine (A, C, G and T) and there is an order to it: CCGATC, GAACTGA, etc.  all possible combinations running in a string, three million of them, giving a genome a size of around 3Mb

"If you find human DNA at the scene of a crime (the suspect), the human DNA will have a particular DNA fingerprint. Now if you have a database of humans with all their DNA fingerprints, and you have the DNA fingerprint of the suspect from a crime scene, you can throw that into the database and look for a possible match to identify the suspect. Thats exactly the same thing we do here, says Smith.

"Each isolate of Listeria will have its own unique DNA fingerprint (genetic profile). We do DNA fingerprinting of all the Listeria isolates and investigate to look for DNA fingerprint matches. The DNA fingerprinting technique is called whole-genome sequencing.

Inside Listeria: ST6

The whole-genome sequencing (WGS) process entails extracting genomic DNA from the Listeria bacteria, performing the sequencing process and analysis of WGS data to generate the DNA profile of the bacteria. Then DNA profiles of isolates are compared to investigate their genetic relatedness and to look for DNA profile matches.

When isolates arrive at the CED, the identity (genus/species) of the bacteria must first be confirmed (in this case, Listeria monocytogenes) before proceeding to WGS. Confirmation is important because the technology is expensive and it is wasteful to sequence an isolate that is not Listeria. Whole genome sequencing costs R2200 per isolate and the CED has already sequenced the genomes of 1500 isolates.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis determined that the L. monocytogenes outbreak strain was sequence type 6 (ST6).

"Our big breakthrough in identifying the source of the outbreak came in January 2018. There was a creche in Soweto where some children fell ill and the symptoms showed quickly. We took specimens from the children and were able to culture the Listeria outbreak strain ST6. We also asked, What food do you prepare for the children? and on the list of items was polony. We asked Do you still have that polony? and yes, in the fridge was the polony the children were eating  Enterprise polony. We isolated Listeria from the polony and the DNA profile was a perfect match to the ST6 outbreak strain, says Smith.

This prompted a visit to the Enterprise Foods production facility in Polokwane, which manufactures many food items including polony. Environmental Health Practitioners from the Department of Health sampled and swabbed the facility. They found Listeria throughout. The DNA profile of many isolates found at there was a perfect match to the DNA profile of the ST6 outbreak strain. As a result, production of food at the Enterprise facilities was halted and all affected food products recalled on 4 March 2018.

Local relevance, global impact

Although South Africas Listeria outbreak is now under control, the reported numbers are not just going to drop away overnight, says Smith.

We still expect to find some cases a few months after the date of the product recall, especially given the 70-day incubation period of the bacterium.

Furthermore, contaminated food exported from South Africa can quickly make listeriosis a global problem, so there is a need for surveillance for this outbreak strain in the many African countries to which the contaminated food items are exported.

The CED is part of PulseNet International, a network that envisages using whole-genome sequencing in all public health laboratories globally to improve response to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks. Smith coordinates the African region of PulseNet International.

The idea is for everyone to be on the same page in terms of methodology: So I have the DNA profile for our ST6 outbreak strain in South Africa and somebody in another country might also identify an ST6 strain, which they want to compare to our outbreak strain. We can then share the DNA profiles electronically to see if they match. Its all about foodborne pathogens and using the same molecular subtyping methodologies so we can globally compare data and solve a global problem, says Smith.The Trump administration is set to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem Monday, formally breaking from decades of established American policy and international practice in a move that US officials say will create greater regional stability.

Critics say the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital could make a region already struggling with four ongoing conflicts all the more combustible. And they argue it marks the end of the US role as an "honest broker" in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

"In the long run, we're convinced that this decision creates an opportunity and a platform to proceed with a peace process on the basis of realities rather than fantasies," David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, told reporters Friday. "We're fairly optimistic that this decision will ultimately create greater stability rather than less."

The event celebrating the opening of the embassy is expected to begin at 9 a.m ET (4 p.m. local time). A pair of controversial Christian evangelical leaders, Pastors John Hagee and Robert Jeffress, will be on hand.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who now directs the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, said that with tensions between Iran and Israel escalating in Syria, President Donald Trump is now "only a few days away from throwing another can of gasoline on the fire by moving the embassy to Jerusalem. It's very dangerous."

A campaign promise

Trump announced the decision to move the embassy in December, when he formally recognized the city as the capital of Israel. It marked the fulfillment of a campaign promise he made to the pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"As the President stated on December 6, 2017, the historic opening of our embassy recognizes the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the seat of its government," the State Department said in a statement.

The Embassy move is contentious for Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital, and for many in the Arab world, as it is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam. The city is also home to deeply holy sites for Jews and Christians. The issue has been so thorny that international negotiators had left the question of Jerusalem to the final stages of any peace deal.

In 1995, Congress passed a law requiring America to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but every president since then has declined to make the move, citing national security interests.

The State Department noted that the opening will take place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of the State of Israel, the day of its founding and a day that Palestinians refer to as "the Catastrophe," as hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

Friedman is set to preside over the dedication ceremony. He'll be backed by a delegation that includes Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt.

Trump will also appear in a video message to be played at the opening.

US officials say the move represents the longstanding reality that Jerusalem is Israel's capital.

It also reflects a new Middle East reality, where ongoing wars in Syria and Iraq, and conflict in Yemen are uniting Israeli, American and Gulf Arabs around a central geopolitical focus: containing and constraining Iran.

In this scenario, the age-old tensions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are fading, Trump administration officials say, and the embassy move is no longer the flashpoint it might have been. Instead, they argue it can become grounds for more realistic talks and ultimately a settlement.

A "sea change has been coming over a period of years," said Victoria Coates, senior director for Strategic Assessment at the National Security Council, speaking of the closeness between Gulf countries and Israel.

She pointed to a tweet from the foreign minister of Bahrain saying that Israel has a right to defend itself in the face of Iranian missiles. "I think it shows you that the President is absolutely doing the right thing here," Coates said of the embassy move. "It is not upsetting any regional balance; in fact, his leadership is what's bringing the region together."

Leadership versus the people

But Diana Buttu, a Ramallah-based analyst and former advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the US might be making a mistake and conflating the region's leadership with its streets.

"I think the leadership is different from the people," Buttu said, speaking to CNN from Ramallah. "On a people level, the support is there because it's a just cause."

"The question is not what the regional reaction is, it is what is legal and what is right," Buttu said. The embassy move, Buttu said, was "making it worse because it's going to embolden the extreme right in Israel." She said the move also rewarded Israel for gains it made with the military.

Trump is "sending a message that its OK to acquire territory by force," Buttu said, calling that a "very dangerous message in this region."

In making what officials describe as a deliberate 180-degree policy shift from the previous administration, the Trump White House believes that by making the embassy move, they're empowering Israel to deal from a position of strength, make concessions and create peace.

Asked if Israel had offered any concessions in return for gaining the long-held goal of US recognition of Jerusalem, Friedman said there was "no give and take with Israel with regard to this decision."

"The Israelis are obviously desirous of this, and they've requested this, and they're very happy by it," Friedman said. "But the decision was made because it was viewed to be in the best interests of the United States and something the President had promised during the campaign."

US officials say that they remain committed to helping forge a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. In its statement on the embassy move, the State Department said, "we are not taking a position on final status issues, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, nor on the resolution of contested borders."

But Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center, former Mideast negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations, and CNN contributor, says that, "it's hard to accept this argument."

"Far from taking it off the table, Jerusalem -- the most volatile issue in the negotiations -- is now front and center at a time when neither of the parties are willing or able to deal with it," Miller wrote for CNN. "If and when the Trump peace plan is put on the table, the focal point will be what it says about Jerusalem."

And unless that peace plan reflects established language that reflects Palestinian aspirations, "including statehood with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital," Miller wrote, "it's hard to see the Jerusalem issue as anything but a continuing source of political impasse in negotiations."

"And that ensures virtually no deal and the likelihood of violence over Jerusalem in the future," he said.In lieu of recent events in Hawaii, it can be surprising to hear that some of the newly formed rock has made its way to Central New York. The rocks were collected from lava that erupted from fissure six on the night of May 5th.

Here at Hamilton College, geologists are taking these rocks and are grinding them down to a powder. The sample itself is less than a week old. Making it a baby rock, one of the youngest rocks at the present moment on earth.

David Bailey a geoscientist at Hamilton College says, Were simply providing a service. That we are doing a full chemical analysis of these lavas and then we are sending that back to the geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory for them to monitor and track the changing chemistry in the lavas during the eruption. So they can use that and are looking for changes over time and with space within the eruption and that helps them understand what's going on beneath the surface of the volcano."

Upon receiving their sample the geologists put their sample into a grinder. This results in a smooth powder. That powder is then put into molds and is heated to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The end result is a glass that is then put into an x ray spectrometer.

"We can look at the energy coming off each different element that way. That's how we can tell elements apart plus we can tell how intense the signal is for each one so we can get an idea of how much of that element is in the sample," says Richard Conrey, the XRF technician.

Once those results are in. They send all that information back to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to help them figure out what they are dealing with.ROME  A Rome man is facing weapon charges after he allegedly showed off a loaded gun during a dispute.

Rome police say around 4:15 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to West Fox Street for a reported dispute. When officers arrived, they were told by a witness that one of the people involved in the dispute, later identified as 24-year-old Kenneth Soberanis, had displayed a handgun.

During the investigation police found out a possible location for Soberanis, and officers set up a perimeter at 107 West Thomas St. in Rome. Police say they found Soberanis hiding in a first-floor common area bathroom, and he was found to be possession of a loaded .22 caliber handgun.

Soberanis was arrested and charged with felony second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and felony third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned and sent to the Oneida County Jail on $10,000 bail.

Police say further charges are pending.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -- Local leaders gathered to discuss international trade in Lafayette Monday morning.

Farmers for Free Trade, Trade for America and Greater Lafayette Commerce sponsored the event that included several local businesses.

The keynote speaker was US Senator Todd Young.

Executive Director of Trade for America, Bill Lane, said Monday's talk was about showing support for NAFTA.

Although he supports NAFTA, Lane said there are things that need to be changed.

"The goal is to work multi-laterally, not start a trade war on our own and it's sort of the understanding that there is one winner in a trade war, it's the folks that aren't involved," said Lane.

Agriculture and manufacturing were the two main focuses of today's trade talks.

Lane praised Greater Lafayette for its dedication to manufacturing.

"The great thing about Lafayette or the Greater Lafayette area is it's probably the best business climate in the Mid-West, and when you're competitive trade tends to be fair," said Lane.WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Sunday marked the final day for Purdue's Spring Commencement ceremonies. Students receiving degrees in agriculture and engineering walked across the stage.

2018 graduates took part in an uncommon year of ceremonies, as Drew Feustel received an honorary degree from space this year.

While Purdue University President Mitch Daniels spoke of the talents that the graduates can bring to the professional world, a few students looked back at their time on campus.

"Somehow I had to step out of my comfort zone but thanks to the professor and several knowledgable faculty here they helped me," said graduate Ehsan Ghafari. "They gave me this chance to be working on different projects across different disciplines with different departments so it was a very good experience."

"It was definitely a culture shock coming here as well, I came from a small little town as I mentioned, and seeing all these different people and different perspectives from people around the world really changed my mind view," said graduate William Pierce.WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  West Lafayette police have the results from the second annual "Know Your Limits" campaign on Purdue's campus.

As WLFI reported last Thursday, West Lafayette Police were around the bars near Purdue University's campus, looking for volunteers to take a sobreity test. The mission was to prevent people from driving under the influence.

Participants were asked how many drinks they had and if they thought they are okay to drive then they were given a breath test.

Police said 320 people participated this year. 139 blew over a 0.08  Indiana's legal limit to drive. Five of them responded they would have driven.



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Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home pageGov. Gina Raimondo applauds the Class of 2018, telling them: You are here today because you stuck with it and we are so proud of you. We are counting on you to stick around Rhode Island, she said, during Saturdays Rhode Island College Commencement at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence.Eighth Japanese reactor resumes power generation

14 May 2018

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Unit 4 of the Ohi nuclear power plant in Japan's Fukui Prefecture began supplying electricity to the grid again on 11 May, Kansai Electric Power Company has announced. The reactor is expected to re-enter commercial operation early next month.

Ohi units 3 and 4 (Image: Kansai)

Following the shutdown of all of Japan's reactors after the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Ohi 3 and 4 were given permission to resume operation in August 2012. However, the two 1180 MWe pressurised water reactors were taken offline again for Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) inspections in September 2013.

The NRA announced in May 2017 that the two units meet safety standards introduced in July 2013. The NRA approved Kansai's plan for strengthening the units in August last year. The regulator subsequently conducted pre-operation inspections of the units to confirm that the safety countermeasure equipment complies with the approved construction plan at the plant. The governor of Fukui Prefecture approved the restart of Ohi units 3 and 4 in November.

Kansai loaded 193 fuel assemblies into the core of Ohi 3 in February. The reactor was restarted on 14 March and attained criticality - a sustained chain reaction - the following day. The unit returned to commercial operation on 10 April.

Fuel loading was completed at unit 4 in early April. The reactor was restarted on 9 May and reached criticality the following day. Kansai announced on 11 May that the unit had begun power generation at 5.00pm that day.

In a statement, Kansai President and Director Shigeki Iwane said: "It is planned to increase the generator output in a stepwise manner while confirming the plant status at each power output. We will continuously give sincere and deliberate support to the subsequent inspections to be performed by the NRA."

Ohi 4 is the eighth of Japan's 39 operable reactors which have so far cleared inspections confirming they meet the new regulatory safety standards and have resumed operation. The others are: Kyushu's Sendai units 1 and 2 and Genkai unit 3; Shikoku's Ikata unit 3; and Kansai's Takahama units 3 and 4. Another 17 reactors have applied to restart.

Kyushu Electric Power said today that it had withdrawn its application to the NRA for test operation of unit 4 at its Genkai plant in Saga Prefecture. The company applied on 25 April to carry out test operation of the reactor, necessary for the completion of final inspections ahead of its restart. However, Kyushu company said today it had "temporarily stopped the start-up process" to check the seal on the primary coolant pump.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topicsChina and Uganda agree to nuclear cooperation

14 May 2018

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A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy has been signed between China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and the Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. The parties will give priority to cooperation in applying nuclear technology in medicine, agriculture and industry.

Muloni and Shoujun sign the cooperation MoU (Image: CNNC)

The MoU was signed in Beijing on 11 May by CNNC Chairman Wang Shoujun and Ugandan Minister of Energy Irene Muloni.

At the meeting, Shoujun gave a presentation on the history of CNNC, the nuclear supply chain, the construction of the demonstration Hualong One units and the development of overseas markets. He highlighted the company's capabilities in the application of nuclear technology and expressed willingness to share this with Uganda. He said the use of nuclear technology would help Uganda raise its infrastructure capabilities and improve its people's living standards.

Muloni introduced Uganda's energy and mineral resources, and emphasised that nuclear power development had been included in the country's long-term energy development plan. She said that CNNC's capabilities in the nuclear and non-nuclear sectors were in line with Uganda's industrial development needs and that the country was willing to conduct in-depth cooperation with the company.

The text of a draft MoU between the Ugandan ministry and CNNC was agreed upon during a May 2017 visit of a delegation from Uganda led by Prisca Boonabantu, undersecretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. That visit followed a visit of Chinese officials to Kampala in March 2016.

During last year's visit, Boonabantu noted that Uganda's Vision 2040 roadmap incorporated the development of nuclear energy as part of the country's future energy mix.

"Plans have been made in Uganda to have clean and safe energy generation sources with nuclear being one of them," she said. The country, she added, welcomes partners to help construct, train and develop nuclear energy in line with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards.

In June 2017, Uganda's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development signed an MoU on nuclear energy cooperation with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Uganda's Atomic Energy Bill came into effect in 2008, to regulate the use of ionising radiation and provide a framework to develop nuclear power generation. In October of that year, Uganda signed up to the IAEA's Country Programme Framework, which provides a frame of reference for planning medium-term technical cooperation between an IAEA member state and the Agency, and identifies priority areas where the transfer of nuclear technology and technical cooperation resources will be directed to support national development goals.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topicsTaxpayers in Europe will have to pay thousands of dollars in compensation to homeless migrants who were detained by police.

Lawyers in the European Union have successfully sued British Home Office enforcement officials for unlawfully arresting, detained, and in some cases deporting the migrants.

According to officials, about 698 homeless rough sleepers were removed from parks and other public places and were placed in custody.

Some migrants have settled their cases and were awarded a lot of money while at least 45 other illegals are pursuing claims that will cost the country thousands of pounds.

The Home Office argued that rough sleeping was an abuse of EU treaty rights. However, the lawyers said that many of those arrested work which is part of the treaty rights.

The Home Office will no longer arrest migrants who sleep on the streets after a court ruled it to be unlawful and discriminatory.

Tomas Lusas from Lithuania won A10,000 ($13,000) after he was arrested by immigration officers in 2016 for sleeping rough in London.

He was working when he fell on hard times and became homeless. He was picked up in the early morning hours while in his sleeping bag.

Lusas refused to sign his removal papers and was detained for 19 days before being released. He sued and won a lot of money.

He was later awarded more than $13,000 in damages.Students work raises curtain for headline-grabbing new musical

This article is old - Published: Monday, May 14th, 2018

A student who combined her love of musical theatre with her passion for graphic design and photography has seen her work published in the national press.

Wrexham Glyndwr University student Charley Wiles, who is studying Graphic Design and Multimedia, has always had a passion for the theatre.

Working alongside the Careers team at the university, she secured a placement at Theatr Clwyd in Mold  where her work so impressed staff that they asked her back to take pictures for a forthcoming production.

That production, a musical entitled The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, grabbed headlines across the globe  and Charleys work has now been seen by thousands.

I have been interested in theatre for most of my life  with acting, singing and all that jazz, explained Charley, from Mostyn.

I remember being onstage in front of thousands at the National Eisteddfod in 2007.

I met Tamara Harvey, Theatr Clwyds artistic director, when she came here to take part in the Creative Futures conference last year. I spoke to her about working with her then.

I then followed that up by talking to Gill Hewitt, in the Glyndwr Careers department, and asked her if there was any chance I could get to Theatr Clwyd on a placement?

Gill, who is a work experience officer at Wrexham Glyndwr University, said: I work on the GO: Wales programme here at the university. When Charley came along to talk to me, we spoke about the programme and I worked with her to put something together.

GO Wales: Achieve through Work Experience is part funded by the European Social Fund, managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and delivered by universities in Wales, including

Wrexham Glyndwr University.

The programme itself is designed to support the employability of young students on higher education courses in Wales.

Aimed at young students who have faced barriers in accessing higher education or work experience, and potentially could experience barriers to securing suitable employment when they graduate, it offers a variety of options where students can gain between three days and six weeks of work experience.

Charley explained: I did a placement with Theatr Clwyd last year. During that time, I did their panto shots for the programme at Christmas.

They liked those, and they asked me back to take some more when they started pulling together the musical. Its been fascinating work  its a very technical set and stage design. The musical is controversial, although I think when people actually see it, it wont be what they expect.

I didnt think too much about the pictures Id taken at first, but then someone from their marketing department contacted me to say my shots were in the Times  then they were on the BBC  and now Im keeping my eyes out because they are appearing everywhere.

She added: Im now involved with Company 25, a group of young people aged 17 to 25 who create things and have a passion for theatre, not just performing but creating the whole production and we almost have a full team. It has given me new opportunities with my graphic design.

Pauline Amphlett, senior lecturer in graphic design at Wrexham Glyndwr University, said: It has been marvellous to see Charleys work in national newspapers.

She has a real talent  and by working with Gill, and taking advantage of opportunities like our Creative Futures conference, an annual event organised by Careers Advisor Neil Pritchard, shes getting her work out there and getting it seen.

Its great to work with students like Charley. I always look for the best for our students and do what I can to support them and its wonderful to see her work recognised.

Gill Hewitt added: Charley has had musical theatre in her life so this has been great for her  she is a very, very active young lady who wants to go all the way, and helping secure work experience like this helps.

Helping people like Charley secure work experience is the best part of what I do. She has worked with us and we have worked with her  and shes a real success story.

More on Wrexham Glyndwr Universitys BA Hons and M (Des) in Graphic Design, can be found here. To find out more about your work experience options when studying at Wrexham Glyndwr University, click here.Seven South African miners were killed on May 3 following the collapse of a mineshaft at a gold mine in Driefontein, near Carletonville, Gauteng. The collapse resulted from a 2.2 magnitude earthquake that caused a massive rock fall, which buried 13 miners. Six of the miners were trapped for several hours under the rubble, but were ultimately rescued.

The Masakhane gold mine is operated by mining giant Sibanye-Stillwater, headquartered in Johannesburg. The company is the largest producer of gold in South Africa and one of the largest gold producers in the world.

The incident follows a series of disastrous accidents at the mining company, including Januarys calamity at Beatrix mine near Welkom in which 1,000 miners were trapped for over thirty hours due to a power outage. In February, a section of the Sibanye-Stillwater-owned Kloof gold mine collapsed, killing two miners. The company was forced to shut down operations temporarily pending a whitewash investigation.

Also in February, a mineworker at the Masakhane mine was crushed to death by a box containing gold ore.

The latest incident comes amid an overall rise in fatal mining accidents across the country in recent years. In 2017, 88 miners were killed in various accidents, a sharp increase over the previous year, in which 73 were killed. Since the start of 2018, there have been 33 mine deaths across South Africa.

In a cynical display of feigned sympathy for the miners killed, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman told South African media that the company was working with the Department of Mineral Resources to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident to prevent similar occurrences.

Illustrating the ruthless drive for profit by Sibanye-Stillwater at the expense of workers, Froneman told the media in February of his approval of business-friendly US president Donald Trump. America has become a very friendly place from a mining point of view, thats one good thing that Trump has done, he said.

South Africas trade union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and its affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), last week picketed the headquarters of Sibanye-Stillwater in Johannesburg, with union officials demanding action on the companys deteriorating mine safety standards.

NUM president Thamsanqa Piet Matosa said, If safety measures had been implemented, this incident would not have happened. We believe Sibanye could have done more. We are here to remind the Chamber of Mines to ensure that mining companies observe the law. Miners have the right to be safe.

Piet Matosa went on to condemn Sibanye-Stillwaters treatment of mineworkers. These people [the employers] are into profits, he said. They have no respect for workers. Some have never been underground to see the conditions of work. It is neglectful to send people who are not properly trained underground just to make profits.

The declarations of the NUM are completely cynical and dishonest. The NUM, along with the ruling ANC government, with former NUM leader Cyril Ramaphosa at its head, coordinated the creation of the Farlam Commission to whitewash the NUM and ANCs responsibility for the killing of 17 miners by South African police. The massacre occurred after mineworkers began a wildcat strike over low pay and intolerable working conditions at two Lonmin mines at Marikana in 2012.

The South African trade union bureaucracy has sought to bind the working masses to the pro-capitalist and corrupt ANC government.

Miners frequently experience catastrophic accidents due to the mining companies skirting of safety procedures in their drive to cut costs. But, with only the rarest of exceptions, no mining executives or directors are ever brought to account for their companys criminal negligence.

The hazardous working conditions mineworkers face are by no means isolated to South Africa, or even the mining sector. Internationally, workers across all economic sectors face extremely hazardous working conditions.

In Poland, seven miners were trapped after an earthquake struck the Zofiowka mine on May 5, resulting in a tunnel collapse that left four miners dead. Two more were rescued and one remains missing. Mineworkers in Poland face extremely hazardous working conditions. In 2017, 15 miners were killed in accidents. So far in 2018, eight have been killed.

On May 4 in Pakistan, 23 coalminers were killed at mines in two separate incidents after methane gas explosions collapsed the mines. Sixteen were killed at Marwar coalfields and an additional five went missing. At Spin Carez a gas explosion-induced collapse left seven dead.

In the United States, the World Socialist Web Site has reported the case of Shannon Allen, an Amazon warehouse worker who was injured while performing her duties at a fulfillment center in Haslet, Texas. The treatment she has received at the hands of Amazon epitomizes the exploitation of the working class under capitalism.

The mine disaster in South Africa comes amid growing popular opposition to the ANC government of Cyril Ramaphosa, an administration that is staggeringly corrupt.

After suffering years of stagnant wages and a skyrocketing cost of living, public workers have threatened to strike, demanding that the government grant a 12 percent increase in wages. Workers are also demanding increased spending for public education and health care.

At one pole, five individuals in South Africa are worth a combined $14 billion, while at the other pole the South African masses experience chronic unemployment, lack of affordable education and health care, and a generalized decline in living standards.

The ANC, after coming to power nearly 25 years ago at the end of apartheid, has presided over an astonishing rise of social inequality. The ANCs decades-long attack on the living standards of the working class shows the impossibility of securing social and political justice for the South African masses within the post-apartheid capitalist framework.During appearances in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney last week, failed US Democratic Party presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that the governments of Australia and New Zealand must stand up against Chinese interference.

Clintons tour was a promotion for her 2017 book, What Happened, about her loss to Donald Trump. She received standing ovations from apparently adoring and well-off audience members, who paid between $195 and $495 to hear her denounce the alleged misogyny and Russian conspiracies that she blames for her defeat.

Above all, Clinton was speaking as a life-long servant of the Democratic Party, Wall Street and US imperialism. Her main mission was to reinforce Washingtons demands that the two countries step up their agitation against China and their commitments to the US drive to reassert its hegemony over the Indo-Pacific region.

As President Barack Obamas secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Clinton was the architect of his administrations military, strategic and economic pivot to Asia that sought to encircle, isolate and confront Chinaa drive being escalated by Trump.

While her events were presented as an informal Evening with Hillary Rodham Clinton, her language was blunt. In Melbourne, she declared: What were seeing now is a desire by China to extend its influence and project its power. First throughout Asiathen, throughout the world.

The former US first lady accused an expansionist China of conducting efforts under the radar  to influence Australian politics and policy. She stated: You must not let that happen, it is insidious, it can eat away at the fabric of democracy and can build distrust among policy makers and citizens 

It is imperative for the Australian government to protect Australias interests  This is an urgent problem and one we must confront immediately and together.

Clinton said the US must remain a Pacific power to counter China. This was essential to back you up and support you in what you need to do to be a good trading partner, take advantage of the strategic position you find yourself in, but not allow China to undermine or subvert your own national interests or values.

The timing of Clintons message was not accidental. It came amid an escalating two-year media campaign in both Australia and New Zealand against alleged Chinese interference, aided by local agents of influence, in every aspect of political, economic and social life.

Australias Liberal-National government, backed by Labor and the Greens, is about to push through parliament sweeping, anti-democratic legislation to outlaw such foreign interference. The passage of the bills is being closely watched in Washington as a test case for mounting a witch hunt against Chinese people, including business figures and students, as part of the preparations for trade war and war against Beijing.

Speaking in Auckland, Clinton hailed one of the local leading US think tank proponents of the anti-China offensive. Anne-Marie Brady of the University of Canterbury has rightly called this a new global battle, and its just getting started, she said. We need to take it seriously.

Brady, a Global Fellow at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center, produced a report just before last Septembers New Zealand election, which claimed that the then National Party government was beholden to Chinese business interests. Bradys report, plus media interviews by the US ambassador to New Zealand, helped the Labour Partys Jacinda Ardern win office.

Clinton was not speaking simply in a personal capacity. On the same night that she appeared in Melbourne, the Obama administrations last ambassador to Australia, John Berry, told an audience of Australian military chiefs and diplomats at the Australian Naval Institute in Canberra that China was becoming more aggressive and authoritarian.

Because of the danger of confrontation, Australia and the US had to pursue a clear-eyed strategy of risk-management. This included legislating against foreign social media activity and financial contributions. Such actions should be illegal in each and every democratic nation, Berry said.

Clintons warning also came a week after another purveyor of the anti-China campaign, Australian Greens member Professor Clive Hamilton testified before a US Congressional committee. He said China had scaled up its threats of economic harm against Australia and this psychological warfare is only stage one, with real punishment to follow if needed.

Without any evidence, Hamiltons recent book, Silent Invasion, accuses Beijing of planning to take over Australia, a plight that could be averted by Australia joining a US-led war against China.

At her events, Clinton made an amalgam between the Democratic Party accusations of a Russian plot to install Trump and claims that Beijing is seeking to take control of the entire world. Russian interference in the 2016 US election was more than alarming, she said. It is a clear and present danger to democracy.

Not only did Clinton blame the Kremlin for her election loss, she claimed it was responsible for the rising class and social struggles in the US. The Russians are still playing on anything and everything they can to turn Americans against each other, from issues of race and gun violence to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

While Clinton criticised Trump, she echoed his administrations National Defense Strategy, which accuses China and Russia of wanting to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model and declares that inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in US national security.

Clintons whipping up of anti-Russian and anti-Chinese sentiment was accompanied by appeals to the affluent feminist layers who utilise gender politics as the means of gaining more privileged and higher-paid positions in the corporate, political and media elite.

In Melbourne and Sydney, Clinton was joined on stage by former Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Both attributed their political defeats to sexism, likening their fates to the Salem witch trials. There is this fear, there is this anger, even rage at women seeking power, women exercising power and people fall back on these attacks like you are a witch or you should go to prison  they know the power of misogyny, Clinton said.

The truth is that Gillard was undemocratically installed in office in mid-2010 via a backroom Labor Party coup against then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was ousted by Washingtons protected sources in the Labor Party because he had argued that the US should make some accommodations to Chinas rise. Gillard fully aligned Australia with the US pivot to Asia, including allowing US marines to be based in the northern city of Darwin.

The installation of Gillard backfired because of popular anger over Rudds behind-the-scenes removal. Her own party sacked her ahead of the 2013 election also because of working-class hostility to the harsh austerity measuresincluding throwing thousands of poverty-line single mothers off parenting benefitsthat were imposed by the minority government she formed with the Greens.

As for Clinton, she lost the presidential race because Trump exploited the fact that millions of predominantly working class Americans rightly viewed her as a champion of big business and US militarism, and a continuation of the Obama administration, which had driven down their living and working conditions for eight years. Despite losing the popular vote, Trump won more states than Clinton and the most votes in the arcane Electoral College that actually elects the US president.

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[20 September 2017]The Jazz Ambassadors, an hour-long film currently available on the US Public Broadcasting network, deals with the period from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s when the US State Department sponsored overseas tours of famous bands led by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others.

Louis Armstrong (center) is greeted by nine local trumpet players at the airport in Accra, The Gold Coast (present day Ghana) in 1956. Credit: Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

The context was the Cold War between Washington and Moscow. As the movie explains at its outset, US foreign policy officials concluded that jazz could give America an edge in the Cold War, with leading figures, mostly African-American musicians, serv[ing] as Cold War cultural ambassadors.

The film is directed by Hugo Berkeley, an award-winning British documentary filmmaker, whose earlier work includes Land Rush (2012), on the effort to build a sugar cane business in the West African country of Mali, and The Market Maker (2009), about an Ethiopian economists attempt to fight famine.

Narrated by actor Louis Odom, Jr., The Jazz Ambassadorsis filled with absorbing musical and historical footage of this period. This is supplemented by interviews with several historians, and also with some of the musicians, recalling their experiences of 50 and 60 years ago.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet performs in Krakow, Poland in April 1958. Credit: Courtesy of the Brubeck Collection, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. (c) Dave Brubeck.

Between 1956 and 1963 there were five State Department-sponsored jazz tours. Dizzy Gillespie and his band went to Asia, the Middle East, Turkey and Greece in 1956. He was followed by Dave Brubeck in 1958 to Europe and Asia, Louis Armstrong on a 45-day trip to 14 countries in 1960-61, Benny Goodman on an eight-week, six-city tour to the Soviet Union in 1962, and Duke Ellington, on a tour to the Middle East and India that began in the late summer of 1963 and was cut short by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November. Each of these trips is shown in some detail on screen.

A substantial part of the film is made up of fascinating archival and historical excerpts surrounding the tours, and this is indeed its strongest and most appealing element. Every one of the international trips involved racially integrated groups of musicians. Audiences in Africa, the Middle East, Poland and the Soviet Union are shown rapturously responding to the music. The footage includes such numbers as Gillespies St. Louis Blues and Blues After Dark, Benny Goodmans Lets Dance, from St. Petersburg on the 1962 tour, Brubecks band performing Kotos Song, the Ellington bands One More Time, in India on the 1963 tour, and the famous classic, Black and Blue, by Armstrong in the Gold Coast, which was about to become newly-independent Ghana.

There is something seriously confused in the telling of this story, however. Berkeley has said that he is drawn to stories that dont reinforce our assumptions but that challenge us to see the world anew. But The Jazz Ambassadors does not sufficiently challenge assumptions about 1950s politics and diplomacy. It is too willing to accept the conventional account, and this leads to a fundamental error in its narration and story line.

In the opening scenes of the movie, President Dwight Eisenhower is shown delivering his first State of the Union Address to Congress, in early 1953. There is but one sure way to avoid global war, says Eisenhower, and that is to win the Cold War.

Dizzy Gillespie (first on right) and his orchestra  including Quincy Jones (third from right at back)  in Turkey, 1956. Credit: Malcolm Poindexter III / Courtesy of the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University.

Another film clip follows almost immediately, of Theodore Streibert, the first head of the US Information Agency. Throughout the world, he declares, there is widespread misunderstanding of the United States. The Communists are quick to take advantage of this, in the lies they are spreading about us.

The narrator at one point repeats this, declaring that the issue of American racial discrimination was taken up by the Soviets and trumpeted enthusiastically around the world. There is an echo here of the current complaint, in different historical circumstances, about Russian meddling in US democracy, with the use of social media to encourage protests like those against police murders.

This is a misreading of the Cold War. The Stalinist regime in Moscow undeniably represented a privileged bureaucracy, the antithesis of the egalitarian goals of the Russian Revolution of 1917. But American capitalism used the crimes committed in the name of socialism to advance its own predatory aims, falsely portraying the Cold War as one of democracy versus Communism.

The Jazz Ambassadors credits the idea, concocted inside the State Department, that the jazz tours were somehow going to increase admiration for the US, diverting attention from its reactionary foreign policy while convincing the world that the hated system of Jim Crow was being dealt with at home.

This is a view that is refuted by the actual experience that is shown on the screen. The fact that people turned out in great numbers and with great enthusiasm to greet Gillespie, Armstrong and the other musicians was an expression of solidarity with an oppressed section of the US population, not an embrace of the US ruling class. It was a warm welcome to those who had, in the face of segregation and discrimination, made such a powerful cultural contribution. The majority of listeners, especially in the Third World, easily distinguished between these representatives of American culture and the foreign policy of the US government. One could argue that the musicians were hailed as representatives of the mass civil rights struggle taking place precisely during these years.

Duke Ellington listens to musicians in Pakistan, 1963. Credit: Courtesy of the Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

This decade included, among many other important episodes, the Montgomery Bus Boycott that began in late 1955, the fight to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, the lunch-counter sit-in movement that began in February 1960, the Freedom Rides of 1961 and the mass protests in Alabama and elsewhere in 1963. August 1963 saw the mass March on Washington.

Several commentators in the film, particularly Nicholas Cull, the British-born historian currently affiliated with the University of Southern California, reinforce a semi-official account of the Cold War. Cull admiringly recounts the story of Democrat Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., one of only two black US Congressmen, convincing Eisenhower that jazz musicians could help improve the US image.

Only toward the end does the film indicate the different outlooks of Powell and such figures as Armstrong and Gillespie. The musicians didnt think they were demonstrating the superiority of American values, but the power of jazz as a unifier, says historian Robin D.G. Kelley.

No doubt the jazz greats were motivated by the opportunity to bring their music to new audiences. Many also saw themselves as representing their country. There was, without question, a blurring of the lines between introducing jazz to a world-wide audience and engaging in Cold War propaganda. But, for the most part, the musicians resisted efforts to soft-pedal the role of Jim Crow and the struggle against it. When a pre-tour briefing was suggested, Dizzy Gillespie declared, Ive got 300 years of briefing. I know what theyve done to us, and Im not going to make any excuses.

Some of the interviews with veterans of the tours many decades later are particularly noteworthy. Darius Brubeck, who accompanied his father on tour as an 11-year-old, recalls that Brubeck was a World War II veteran and had seen the enormous suffering brought by Fascism and war. He wanted to participate in rebuilding. It was not at all a question of Americanizing the world, he says, but of lifting ourselves out of conflict and poverty.

Louis Armstrong (center) plays in Accra, The Gold Coast (present day Ghana) in 1956 to a crowd estimated at 100,000. He's flanked by clarinetist Edmond Hall (left) and trombonist Trummy Young (right). Credit: Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

Charlie Persip, a veteran of the Gillespie tour in 1956 who is now 88 years old, proudly recalls that they were not going to sugar coat some of the horrors. He explains that this was all before Martin Luther King, referring to the fact that open racism and legal segregation still held sway in many parts of the country.

Bob Crow, bass player in the Benny Goodman band that toured the USSR in 1962, remembers that the country looked just like our country, the people looked just like the people in New York. Strongly suggesting a criticism of right-wing anti-communism, he adds that these observations of the Soviet Union were a little education in political propaganda.

Another important subject touched on by the film is that of cultural exchange itself. This was the heyday, beginning in the late 1950s, of the interchange between East and West. The response the musicians won abroad reflected a genuine enthusiasm for jazz. While the Stalinist bureaucrats reacted nervously to any development they could not easily control, the workers and young people who responded in the USSR, Poland and elsewhere were not proclaiming support for capitalism, but rather admiration for the music and those who performed it.

The Soviet Union was among the most musically sophisticated countries in the world, and a young generation responded warmly to the opportunity to listen to jazz, which was seen as an expression of the cross-fertilization of cultures and a tremendous contribution of America to a global culture.

This cultural exchange was not confined to jazz. American Van Cliburn won the grand prize at the Tchaikovsky piano competition in Moscow in 1957, an event that was widely seen as part of an effort by the Moscow regime, for its own reasons, to undercut the Cold War, not to stoke it.

Nor were the cultural programs one-sided. American music-lovers were discovering musical geniuses like Soviet pianists Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter, and folk dance troupes like the Moiseyev dancers achieved great success on their American tours. In wide sections in the US and Western Europe, the musicians and artists from the Soviet Union were seen as representative of what had been achieved by the Russian Revolution, despite its horrific degeneration under Stalinism.

It is also worth considering why the high-profile jazz tours ended when they did. The civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965 did not usher in a period of calm and stability, but just the opposite. Major cities were convulsed by riots, as the class issues of poverty and joblessness came to the fore. The massive escalation of the war in Vietnam made the US government a far more hated symbol of imperialism than when the tours began in the previous decade. The jazz tours had not given the US an edge in the Cold War.

The Jazz Ambassadors, in summation, is a well-made but contradictory film. Much of its content tells a valuable story, an absorbing picture of the events of the period. The international appeal of jazz across national and ethnic barriers is a powerful tribute to this American musical contribution to the world.25 years ago: Maastricht Treaty to establish European Union passes last hurdles

The member states of the European Union. Credit: Encyclopdia Britannica

Denmark ratified the Maastricht Treaty, establishing the European Union, in a referendum vote on May 18, 1993. It was the second attempt at ratification in the small Scandinavian country, after a previous referendum was defeated narrowly in June 1992. The margin in the second vote was 56.8 percent for ratification and 43.2 percent against, a shift in sentiment obtained in part by the adoption of four amendments to the treaty to satisfy nationalist objections.

The four so-called opt-outs were outlined in the Edinburgh Agreement, adopted at a meeting of representatives of the 12 members of the European Economic Community in the Scottish capital in late 1992. The most important was to exempt Denmark from the Economic and Monetary Union, allowing the country to keep its own currency, the krone, rather adopting the euro. A similar exemption had been extended to Britain, allowing it to keep the pound.

Denmark is also outside the common military policy of the European Union and does not contribute troops to EU overseas missions. Some areas of domestic law enforcement are also exempted from EU rules.

The political maneuvers to obtain ratification of the Maastricht Treatyall 12 states had to ratify it in order to bring it into effectdemonstrated the buildup of political and social conflicts within the European Union even at the moment of its establishment. France ratified the Maastricht Treaty by a bare 50.5 percent majority, while Danish voters had to vote twice to get the needed assent.

In Britain, the path was just as tortuous, although there was no referendum vote. On May 20, two days after the Danish referendum, the British House of Commons gave approval to the Maastricht Treaty on its Third Reading, the last step before approval by the House of Lords and the royal assent. A separate vote was to be held later in the summer on whether Britain should be exempt from the EU social charter, as demanded by the ruling Conservative Party, over the opposition of the Labour Party.

Passage of Maastricht by a vote of 292-112 came despite rabid opposition to the establishment of the EU by a right-wing faction of the Tories, spearheaded by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. The margin of victory was assured by the decision of the Labour Party to abstain on the vote on final passage, despite its objection to removal of the social charter. The social democrats thus gave big business what it wantedBritish membership in the EUwhile pretending to uphold a more worker-friendly system of regulations.

50 years ago: Factory occupations sweep France

A section of the protests that occurred alongside the factory occupations during May-June 1968

Beginning on May 14, 1968, French workers, inspired by mass student protests in the preceding weeks, began a wave of factory occupations that shook capitalist France to its foundations.

One of the first occupations was at the Sud-Aviation factory in Nantes. The plant remained under control of the workers for one month, with red flags flying over the administration building. The regional director, Duvochel, was held captive by the occupiers for 16 days. The companys general manager at the time was Maurice Papon, a Nazi collaborator, war criminal and head of the Paris police in 1961, when he was responsible for the killing of demonstrators protesting against the Algeria war.

Workers at other factories followed suit in a wave of occupations across the country from May 15 through May 20. Everywhere red flags were hoisted, and in many factories the management was held captive. The actions affect hundreds of factories and offices including the countrys biggest factory, the main Renault plant in Billancourt, and other Renault plants at Flins, Le Havre, and Rouen. Workers shut down the Paris international airport at Orly. They walked off the job from two factories in Lyon, and from several newspapers in Paris.

By May 17, at least 100,000 workers were on strike in France, and the red flagthe symbol of international socialismwas hoisted above a number of factories and plants, including the Berliet truck factory, the chemical facilities of Rhone-Poulenc in Lyon, and the Rhodiaceta textile factory.

On May 18, the Cannes Film Festival was cancelled in its ninth day after judges resigned in sympathy with the wave of factory and school occupations. Film technicians and directors went out on strike the next day, blocking attempts to restart the festival.

Action committees sprang up in the occupied factories and surrounding areas drawing in local residents, students and pupils alongside the striking workers and technical and administrative staff. The committees took responsibility for the organization of the strikes and developed into forums of intensive political debate. The same was true for the universities, which were to a large extent occupied by students.

On May 20, the whole country was at a standstillhit by a general strike, although neither the trade unions nor any other organizations have issued a call for such a strike. Factories, offices, universities and schools are occupied, production and the transport system paralyzed. Ten million of Frances 15 million-strong workforce are involved in the actiontwo thirds of the entire working class, the most widespread and effective general strike in the history of France or any other country.

75 years ago: Nazis liquidate Warsaw Ghetto in occupied Poland

Women and children forcibly removed from a bunker

On May 16, 1943, Nazi officials in German-occupied Poland officially concluded their brutal suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Over the preceding weeks, Nazi troops from the notorious SS had unleashed a wave of terror in the Ghetto, after the eruption of an heroic rebellion against the dispatch of hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.

The uprising began on April 19, when Jewish workers and youth in the open air prison resisted deportation orders from the Nazis. Political organisations in the Ghetto, including the left-wing Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB), had conducted agitation for a struggle against the German troops, and had made logistical preparations. They were equipped, however, only with a handful of small arms, and improvised weapons, including Molotov cocktails.

The Nazis responded to the uprising by setting fire to most of the Ghetto, and by carrying out indiscriminate killings, including of children and the elderly. In his memoires, Jack Klajman, who survived the slaughter as an eleven-year-old, wrote, The ghetto transformed into an ugly war zone. The Germans became particularly vicious. Pregnant women were tortured, and mothers had their babies snatched from their arms and had to watch as soldiers saved bullets by bashing the childrens heads against the wall.

On May 8, the Germans had discovered the secret ZOB headquarters. The bulk of the fighters inside committed suicide. On May 16, SS Polizeifuhrer Jurgen Stroop, who commanded German troops in the Ghetto, personally detonated the bombs that destroyed the Warsaw synagogue.

In a dispatch on the same day to Berlin, Stroop wrote, The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence. The large-scale action was terminated at 2015 hours by blowing up the Warsaw Synagogue ... Total number of Jews dealt with 56,065 including both Jews caught and Jews whose extermination can be proved.

100 years ago: Wilson guts free speech with Sedition Act

Woodrow Wilson in 1919

On May 16, 1918, US President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the infamous Sedition Act, which outlawed language deemed by state authorities to be disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive of the federal government, the military, and the flag.

The Sedition Act amended and deepened the anti-democratic assault launched by the Espionage Act of 1917, which had outlawed forms of speech and political activity authorities construed as interfering with the military. Section 3 of the amended Espionage Act now imposed a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine of as much as $20,000 for anyone who did willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States.

This stricture was clearly aimed at socialist opposition to war. It would be used to impose a ten-year prison sentence on the 63-year-old Eugene Debs for his June 18, 1918 Canton speech opposing the imperialist slaughter in WWI. The amended Espionage Act also included language that could be used as a cudgel against the entire working class, by imposing prison on anyone who did urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production.

The Sedition Act, though extreme, was only one of many actions of the American ruling class as it lurched sharply toward dictatorship. Only two days earlier, on May 14, Iowa Governor William L. Harding signed into law an act that effectively outlawed the use of foreign languages in the heavily immigrant state, stating that only English [was] legal in public or private schools, in public conversations, on trains, over the telephone, at all meetings, and in all religious services.(Associated Press)- Records show that companies and local governments have proposed building new immigration detention centers in Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana in response to a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The proposals are preliminary and mostly from for-profit corrections companies. They were submitted after ICE put out a request in October for detention sites in the region as it steps up arrests in the center of the country.

ICE disclosed the proposals in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The proposals include a 640-bed detention center in Pine Island, Minnesota, and an 800-bed facility outside Chicago in rural Newton County, Indiana.

Officials in some of the locations identified as possible sites say they had very limited knowledge of the proposals or their status.

It's unclear if or when ICE might move forward.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli soldiers shot and killed at least 43 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border on Monday. It was the deadliest day there since a devastating 2014 cross-border war and cast a shadow over Israels festive inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

In a show of anger fueled by the embassy move, protesters set tires on fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. Later on Monday, Israeli forces fired from tanks, sending protesters fleeing to take cover.

The military said its troops came under fire in some areas, and said protesters tried to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians trying to plant a bomb.

President Donald Trump said in a video message played at the embassy inauguration  which took place just 70 kilometers (45 kilometers) from the bloodshed on the Gaza border  that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

A great day for Israel! Trump tweeted earlier Monday.

However, Mondays steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move by the Arab world raised new doubts about Trumps ambitions to broker what he once said would be the Mideast deal of the century.

Gazas Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza border has reached 37. (May 14)

By late afternoon, at least 43 Palestinians, including five minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. One of the minors was identified as a girl.

At least 772 protesters were wounded, including 86 in serious or critical condition.

At the embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Trump son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser Jared Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution, he said.

Kushner and Trump daughter Ivanka led a high-powered American delegation that also included the treasury secretary and four Republican senators.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an existing U.S. consulate, until a decision has been made on a permanent location.

In Gaza, the Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000, saying this fell short of what Hamas had hoped for.

The march was also directed at the inauguration of the embassy.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  a key Trump campaign promise  infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a cease-fire since the 2014 war  their third in a decade.

The protest was the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fueled by despair among Gazas 2 million people, to break the blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Since weekly border marches began in late March, 85 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by Israeli army fire. Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead Monday.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests against Israel will continue until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved.

Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will be a disaster for the American administration and a black day in the history of the American people because they are partners with the occupation and its aggression against the Palestinian people, he added.

Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to nearby ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army had set up additional layers of security in and around communities near the border to defend Israeli civilians. He said there already had been several significant attempts to break through the fence. The army said aircraft targeted a Hamas post in northern Gaza after Israeli troops came under fire.

The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

A majority of Gazas 2 million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the Great March of Return to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

Protester Mohammed Hamami, a 40-year-old civil servant, attended the march with his mother and five children. Today we are here to send a message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land, he said.

Clouds of black smoke from burning tires rose into the air. Protesters have used the thick smoke as cover against Israeli snipers perched on high sand berms on the other side of the border. The army accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to plan or carry out attacks.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to mediate peace talks.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, said Monday that Trump had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance and that his administration is based on lies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly praised Trumps decision to upend decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital.

Although Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, it is seen by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israels side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict.

Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow suit. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

__

Ben Zion reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The Latest on the Indiana Legislatures special session (all times local):

10:30 a.m.

A bill making an additional $5 million available for safety improvements was approved by the Indiana House as the first major action taken during whats expected to be a one-day special session.

The measure was approved Monday morning on a 96-1 vote. The House also approved a bill that made some technical changes to the states tax code, while also offering a tax break to the asphalt industry. The Senate is expected to vote on the bills Monday afternoon.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb requested the school safety funding during the regular session. But the measure was among a handful of bills that died amid infighting among majority Republicans as the regular session ended in March.

House Democratic leader Terry Goodin says the $5 million in safety funding is a pittance, amounting to about $7,000 per school.

___

5:40 a.m.

Indiana lawmakers are set to take action on a handful of bills that died in March during a chaotic close to this years regular legislative session.

A contentious schools takeover bill and four other measures are up for consideration in what is expected to be a one-day session on Monday.

The Republican-dominated Legislature is also likely to pass a waiver that would prohibit any amendments from being made. The GOP leaders say proposals have been extensively reviewed.

Democrats argue that provisions thrown into some of the bills on the last night of the regular session have not been properly vetted.

Other bills on the agenda include measures to bring the state in compliance to federal tax code changes and make an additional $5 million available for school safety improvements.INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WTHI) - Indiana lawmakers have some unfinished business. That's why they'll meet in a special session Monday.

Both Democrats and Republicans are aiming to finish the session in one day. It's a tight deadline because they have four major bills to discuss.

A critical topic on the agenda is school safety. The new federal tax law will also be discussed. A bill allowing Ball State University to take control of Muncie Schools is also on the agenda.

They're not getting the job done. Here it is in black and white, it's costing us tax money because they didn't get the job done, said John Zody, Chairman of the Democratic Party. They have to go back to finish what they couldn't get done in March.

"Our goal from the start was to complete the business that was on the table the last night of the session and only those items that are really important to do, said House Speaker, Brian Bosma.

The day-long special session is expected to cost taxpayers around $30,000.

Some Democrats are upset there will be no public hearings before the session.

Republican leaders say they are only re-introducing the bills they felt couldn't wait to be discussed.WEST POINT, Miss. (WTVA) - The West Point Police Department announced the loss of one of its former officers.

UPDATE: MDOC remembers former West Point police officer

A tweet was posted to the West Point Police Department's page which said, "We are saddened to learn of the death of former West Point Police Officer Mary Beth Watt, who passed on May 12, 2018. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this time of bereavement."

Details of her death are unknown.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Gov. Rick Scott is visiting Israel and will be on hand for the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Scott was scheduled to leave late Saturday for his trip. He is expected to return on Tuesday. John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, said that Scott's chief of staff is accompanying the Republican governor on the visit.

Scott backed the decision of President Donald Trump to shift the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move has ignited Palestinian protests and raised fears of a further outbreak of violence.

Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner will preside over the embassy ceremony on Monday.

Scott has previously made two official trips to Israel, including a trade mission last December. His trip is being paid by the state.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- Fisher Powell is an ordinary boy celebrating his birthday in a not so typical way. Fisher told his family and friends he didn't want the day to be about him. He wanted to focus on Paeton Cheeseborough, a friend who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

Fisher says, "I thought of one person that is missing a lot of fun stuff we get to do at school and I really want her not to have to miss that next year."

Paeton knows Fisher from school, but for the next several months, she'll be absent because she's undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

For Powell's 11th birthday, he wanted to help Paeton and her family. He started a GoFundMe and asked people to donate to it as his birthday present. He also hosted an exercise fundraiser at BodyTrac Health & Fitness.

He says, "After that we would have this place at my moms gym where we would do workouts and you could pay, you could also get a raffle ticket, or you could get all this candy behind me."

Everyone is hitting the ground running, or rather, hitting the treadmill running at this event. Every push up, sit up, and lap brings this group one step closer to helping the Cheeseborough family through leukemia treatments.

Fisher set his birthday goals high, hoping to raise $1,000 on Paeton's GoFundMe. As of Sunday afternoon, he's up to $835.

Fisher says, "My mom got a text saying that literally they cried because it was so nice of me. I think that's amazing." Almost as amazing as what he's doing for Paeton.

Jennifer Powell, Fisher's mom, says, "Because this little girl has been diagnosed with leukemia he said 'mom, let's do something special this year' and I couldn't be more proud."

Fisher is giving a little girl facing a huge challenge the gift of hope and support.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Spending money on food items for you and your family can put a huge dent in your wallet.

That's why Farm Share and Christian Heritage church teamed up to give away more than 16,000 pounds of food, collected by postal carriers.

"I just say thank you, thank you so much for everything," said Tallahassee resident Eddrie Moore.

Moore couldn't be more thankful now that she and many other members of the community were saved from a trip to the grocery store.

People were able to get black beans, cereal, and other donated goods collected from the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

"It's a great thing. What better way to give back than to make sure individuals have substances and continue on within they're daily needs," said Tallahassee resident Ariel McPerson.

Within just a few short hours over four hundred members of the community were able to walk away with vegetables and other food items.

Event organizers say this is all bout giving back to the community.

"I want them to know that God cares about them. I want them know that there's people that do care the men in our program especially care," said Michael Mahan of Christian Heritage Church.

According to Christian Heritage Church Members, the organization only served about half the food collected from the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

The church plans to find ways to give out the rest, in the coming months.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - On Monday the Florida Poor People's Campaign will join more than 40 other states in rallying at the State Capitol for various issues.

WTXL's Jada Williams visited the Capitol go learn details about the campaign.

The Florida Poor People's Campaign is fighting for exactly what the name details, poor people, while puting emphasis on the groups more statistically inclined to live in poverty. Those groups include minorities, women and children, and disabled persons.

People from across the state are meeting at the Capitol this Monday morning to speak out and hope to spark changes that they hope will bring more moral values to Florida.

This campaign is backed by various faith groups, activist groups and the arts community.

Across the country, people are joining in on the push to do more for the people in need.

The rally is today at the Capitol at 2 p.m.

The rally is the beginning of a campaign spanning more than an entire month.

The campaign is spending the next 40 days on trainings, demonstrations and events - all focusing on lending a helping hand and getting others to lend a helping hand to the impoverished.

Organizers say this is six weeks of nonviolent moral fusion direct action happening countrywide to show elected leaders that the disenfranchised - such as minorities, women and veterans - demand more attention.

The organization wants to use various forums to speak out from talking to lawmakers to getting the word out through art and music.

The majority of the trainings and events will be ahead at the Florida People's Advocacy Center on MLK in Tallahassee. Further details will be given out in the coming days.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida Highway Patrol says the roadway is no longer blocked at the intersection of Crump Road and Rifle Avenue early Monday morning.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was dispatched to the area at 3:37 a.m. Monday.TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- An area of disturbed weather in the Gulf of Mexico near Cuba looks to move northward through the next several days. This disturbance is forecast to bring cloudier skies with rain and thunderstorms to the Big Bend and south Georgia through Wednesday, with ample mid-level moisture continuing to funnel into the area into Friday. Between the disturbance and the moisture funneling to us, rain chances will remain on hand for much of this.

Tonight, mostly cloudy skies will remain on hand with a light south wind. Overnight lows fall to the mid 60s for much of the area.

Monday will be cloudy with rain chances increasing into the afternoon and evening, peaking at 50 percent rain coverage. This is due to the disturbance slowly moving northward. Thunderstorms may be possible, though they are not expected to become severe. Winds will be from the east northeast at 5 to 10 mph. Monday night will be cloudy with lows falling near 70 degrees.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 00:31:37|Editor: ZX

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SHANGHAI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai on Sunday announced new measures to open wider its finance businesses, in a bid to develop itself into an international finance center.

In the near future, the city will further open up banking, securities, and insurance sectors, according to the municipal finance authority.

Foreign-funded banks will be encouraged to set up both branches and subsidiaries in Shanghai. The city will also support establishment of securities, fund, and futures companies with majority ownership by foreign capital.

The scope of Shanghai-based foreign-funded insurance companies will be expanded.

The financial market will open wider. For example, the city will support overseas investors to invest in its securities market and overseas innovative enterprises will be allowed to issue Chinese Depository Receipt in Shanghai.

The practice of free trade accounts, which enable funds to move freely between the free trade zone (FTZ) and offshore entities, would be spread to pilot FTZs in the Yangtze River Delta region and the Yangtze River economic belt. The investment and financing function of those accounts would be expanded.

Shanghai will open its market for bank card clearing institutions and non-bank payment services providers, while relaxing the restrictions on credit rating services for foreign-funded financial services companies.

The city will advance financial reforms, without slacking in risk control, said a spokesperson with the authority.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 02:11:52|Editor: ZX

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People march to commemorate the upcoming Nakba Day in Rabat, Morocco, on May 13, 2018. Thousands of people marched Sunday here to commemorate the upcoming Nakba Day, or "the Day of Catastrophe," expressing their unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people. (Xinhua/Aissa)

RABAT, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people marched Sunday in the capital Rabat to commemorate the upcoming Nakba Day, or "the Day of Catastrophe," expressing their unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The demonstrators voiced their support for the Palestinians' struggle to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, criticizing the United States' decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"This march comes to reiterate the absolute and permanent support of the Moroccan people to their brotherly people of Palestine," Mohamed Benjaloune Al Andaloussi, the director of the Moroccan Association for Solidarity with the Palestinian Struggle, told the press.

They also expressed their solidarity with "the Great March of Return" which has been taking place in the besieged Gaza Strip since March 30, with thousands of Palestinians gathering near the Gaza border with Israel to demand their right of return to the villages and towns from which they were expelled in 1948.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 02:46:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, May 13 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi political coalition, led by Vice President Ayad Allawi, on Sunday called for a re-vote of the May 12 parliamentary election due to low turnout of Iraqi voters and irregularities.

Allawi's al-Wataniyah (National) Coalition "called for a re-vote, while seeing the current government as a caretaker government until appropriate conditions are set for the holding of elections that will reflect the aspirations of our people," said the coalition in a statement.

The coalition said the call was due to the "low turnout of the Iraqi people in the elections, spread of violence, fraud, deception and the purchase of votes."

Late on Saturday, Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission (IHEC) said that the turnout in the parliamentary election during the day has reached 44.5 percent, while votes of over 4,000 polling stations were still uncounted.

Millions of Iraqis headed Saturday to 8,959 polling centers across the country to vote for their parliamentary representatives in the first general election after Iraq's historic victory over the Islamic State (IS) group last December.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 03:27:08|Editor: ZX

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Workers prepare the stage for the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 13, 2018. Israel prepares on Sunday for the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a move that has sparked Palestinian protests. (Xinhua/JINI)

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on world leaders to follow the United States and relocate their embassies to Jerusalem.

Speaking during a reception of a U.S. diplomatic delegation in Jerusalem, Netanyahu thanked the United States for the relocation, which will take place on Monday.

"There is no greater supporter of Israel on the earth," he said. "We are eternally grateful."

He called on other countries to follow the U.S. move, saying that "in any peace that you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain as Israel's capital."

He also thanked the leaders of Guatemala and Paraguay for their decisions to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

According to Netanyahu, other countries are expected to announce similar decisions soon. "We will not say whom because that is a state secret," he said.

The delegation is led by U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said at the welcoming ceremony that Trump's decision to relocate the embassy was "essential to creating a roadmap for peace in the region."

A total of 86 foreign ambassadors in Israel were invited to the opening ceremony of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, while 40 of them accepted the invitation.

Four European countries - Austria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Hungary - have confirmed their participation in the U.S. move while the European Union opposes the relocation.

Thousands of police officers were deployed throughout Jerusalem over fear of Palestinian protests and riots. Additionally, Police officers will stand in "human wall" between the neighborhood of Arnona, where the new embassy is located, and the Palestinian Sur Baher.

Israel seized East Jerusalem, together with the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed East Jerusalem shortly later, claiming it as part of its "indivisible capital," in a move which was never recognized internationally.

On Dec. 16, 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move that triggered escalating tension and a wave of outcry in the region.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Following Trump's move, they said the United States cannot be considered as a fair peace broker in the Middle East.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 04:12:17|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Rescued illegal immigrants sit on the ground at the Tripoli naval base, Libya, on May 13, 2018. Libyan Coast Guards on Sunday rescued 260 illegal immigrants of African and Asian nationalities off the country's western coast, navy spokesman said.

TRIPOLI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Coast Guards on Sunday rescued 260 illegal immigrants of African and Asian nationalities off the country's western coast, navy spokesman said.

"Coast Guards patrol rescued 180 illegal immigrants of African and Asian nationalities on two rubber boats, 36 miles off the coast of the city of Garrabulli (some 60 km east of the capital Tripoli)," navy spokesman, Ayob Qassem, told Xinhua.

The rescued were taken to Tripoli naval base, provided with humanitarian and medical assistance, and handed over to Tripoli's housing center in the presence of international organizations, Qassem added.

Another Coast Guards patrol rescued 80 African illegal immigrants on a rubber boat off the coast of Zawiya city, some 45 km west of Tripoli, and they were also taken to a housing center in the city.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 04:27:20|Editor: ZX

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Syrians ride bicycles in Douma district, east of Damascus, Syria, on May 13, 2018. In the formerly rebel-held district of Douma, vehicles have been deserted with no fuel during the war, which pushed people to bicycles as an alternative means of transportation. (Xinhua/Hummam Sheikh Ali)

DOUMA, Syria, May 13 (Xinhua) -- In the formerly rebel-held district of Douma east of Damascus, cars have been deserted with no fuel during the war, which pushed people to bicycles as an alternative means of transportation.

That sprawling district in the Eastern Ghouta countryside was retaken by the army after the rebels' evacuation last month, and the streets in the central part of Douma are now bustling with people riding bicycles.

Few cars were seen, mostly those of the army or the trucks bringing in food to the people in that area, which was the most important bastion of the Islam Army rebels in Eastern Ghouta.

Burnt and destroyed cars were also left on the sidewalks in some of the streets there, reflecting the damage that has befallen large areas there as a result of the war that has dragged on for six years in Eastern Ghouta.

Old and young men, as well as children, were riding bicycles and the people there seemed to have overcome the problem of no regular transportation.

Bilal Delawa was riding his bicycle with his friend sitting behind him. He said those bicycles have been important for the people there with the high price of the fuel during the rebels' time.

"Most people have opted to ride bicycles and it has become the main transportation here in Douma because the fuel was expensive but of course, we favor cars or motorcycles or buses," he said.

Another biker Omar al-Ruz said even though the bikes were an acceptable alternative during the war, but they were not enough especially for workers who move heavy stuff from one place to another.

"The bicycle wasn't enough of a transportation to meet our demands ... for example, I can't transport goods of 100 kg on this bicycle, maybe 50 kg max," he said.

For his part, Bashar Ajweh, another resident of Douma, said that several places for fixing bicycles were opened in Douma during the war, adding that maintenance workers used to charge very high fees for fixing the bicycles, whose prices have jumped 10 folds during the war.

He said that he used to buy fuel in plastic cans for his motorcycle but when it got so expensive, he parked it and started using both the electric bicycle and the regular one.

"Bicycles have not only become the main transportation for regular people but also for workers who move stuff from one place to another but of course lite stuff only," the man said.

For the people in Douma, the transportation at this moment is important but the more important thing is food, which has started entering Douma at prices supported by the government, contrary to the rebel times when the militants used to stockpile food in their warehouses while giving so little to the people at high prices.

During a visit for Xinhua and other media outlets to Douma on Sunday, people were lined up to receive free bread bundles provided by the government.

Also trucks of foods, like potato, tomato and cucumber, were seen selling food items for the civilians at low prices.

People were seen carrying heavy bags of potato while expressing relief that they could finally buy food at low prices, as everything was extremely expensive during the rebels' control in Douma also due to the siege that was imposed on that area and other rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta.

Since fully capturing it from the rebels early April, the government made several moves to alleviate the suffering of the people who have been largely affected by the war there.

A mobile oven has been sent to Douma with a daily production capacity of five tons of bread to meet the demands of the people there.

On Saturday, a government-backed shopping festival kicked off in Douma with the participation of more than 40 companies.

The aim of the shopping festival is to offer a variety of foodstuff and other products for the people there at low prices, as part of the efforts to revive Douma and other recently-taken areas in Eastern Ghouta.MOSCOW, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Around 1,000 people took part in an authorized rally to defend Internet freedom in the center of the Russian capital, the city police said Sunday.

"A public event that was coordinated by the authorities of Moscow city is taking place on Academician Sakharov Avenue. About 1,000 people are taking part in it," the police said in a statement.

Policemen and Russian Guard officers worked together to ensure public order during the event, according to the statement.

The rally aimed to pave the way for appealing to the Russian Constitutional Court to reverse the ban on Telegram messenger in Russia, Interfax news agency cited a speaker at the event as saying.

Some 30 people were detained at the rally for chanting political slogans, said Sergei Udaltsov, leader of Russia's Left Front, a league of political organizations that is critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On April 13, Moscow's Tagansky District Court ruled to block access to Telegram in Russia due to its refusal to provide user data.

Launched in 2013, Telegram is now among the world's most popular messaging applications, with 200 million users around the world.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 09:58:11|Editor: ZD

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HARBIN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Having finished a six-month stay in Sanya of Hainan, China's southernmost island province, Zhang Guizhen, 69, and her husband Yang Yuhua, went back home to Harbin, the country's northernmost provincial capital, where the spring arrives in late April.

Over the past 13 years, Zhang has become accustomed to flying to Sanya in October and back to Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, the following May like a "migratory bird," just in time to spend Mother's Day with her children.

Across China, millions of old people are traveling north and south for a pleasant life all year around.

Zhang said she joined a group consisting of 100 seniors who go to the tropical island for a warm winter stay, where the average temperature remains above 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) in December.

Zhang used to suffer from the freezing air in her home city, as the temperature usually falls below minus 20 degrees Celsius in winter. She was in lasting discomfort due to her arthritis flaring-up in cold weather. Thanks to the warm weather of Sanya, her swollen knees and pain have gone for good.

According to a report by the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the number of migrants to Hainan exceeds 1 million every winter, most are from northeast China, though many come from other areas.

"Sanya and Harbin are over 4,000 km apart, but for me, it's just an air ticket away," Yang said.

The migrants' retired life is conditioned by increasing incomes, improved infrastructure and better facilities. The local real estate companies in Sanya have designed senior-citizen apartments with special features for elderly care, such as emergency buttons linked to medical services.

As the long-distance settlement of medical insurance has been adopted for years, the migrants can enjoy healthcare services anywhere. Local pharmacies are also stocked with medicines for common elderly diseases such as heart attacks, hypertension and arthritis.

As additional trips between Harbin and Sanya in summer and winter surge, tourist agencies have chartered special trains for passengers to travel between the north and south every November and April.

Now that summer is approaching, Yinquan Seniors' House, which has 100-plus guest rooms in Heihe, Heilongjiang, has been booked-up by elderly people in the south attracted by the mild summer, said Wang Wenlan, manager of the house.

According to data released by Heilongjiang Department of Civil Affairs, 2.05 million old people sojourned in the province in 2017, with total expenditure reaching 14.35 billion yuan (about 2.27 billion U.S. dollars).

"Such a tourist flow shows social change regarding the cultural tradition of being attached to one's native land in the past," said Wang Yalin, professor of sociology at Harbin Institute of Technology. "It is an inevitable trend in China that people are moving from cold industrial cities to sunny places, a phenomenon that occurred in the United States in 1950s and 1960s."

Wang Aili, deputy head of Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the periodic migration of Chinese seniors reflected their pursuit of a better life, which is conducive to consumption, economic growth and regional cultural exchange.

"My life is as good as it can be, and I am not afraid of getting old," Zhang said.WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday outlined the United States' plans to help the development of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) if the country agrees to complete denuclearization.

Pompeo said on Friday that the United States and South Korea are ready to help the DPRK achieve prosperity if it takes "bold" action in denuclearization.

In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Pompeo elaborated on the plan, which deals with economic and security issues.

"What Chairman Kim (Jong Un) will get from America is our finest -- our entrepreneurs, our risk-takers, our capital providers," he said.

The DPRK "is desperately in need of energy support, electricity for their people. They are -- they're in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, the finest from the Midwest that I come from. We can deliver that."

Excluding the possibility of U.S. economic aid to Pyongyang, the top diplomat said "American know-how, knowledge, entrepreneurs, and risk-takers" will work alongside the DPRK people "to create a robust economy for their people."

He admitted that the aforementioned measures that allow U.S. companies to invest directly in the DPRK are sanctions relief. "If we get denuclearization, of course, there will be sanctions relief."

Also on Sunday, Pompeo told Fox News in a separate interview, "Now, the task is for President (Donald) Trump and he (Kim) to meet to validate the process by which this would go forward, to set up those markers so that we can negotiate this outcome."

On Fox, Pompeo also said the topic of "security assurances" to Pyongyang would surely be put on the table.

He said that the objectives include that the U.S. president would convince the DPRK leadership to the point "where America was no longer held at risk" by the DPRK.

The specifics of the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization process have been a major cause for U.S.-DPRK conflict.

John Bolton, the U.S. national security advisor, demanded earlier that the DPRK ship out all its nuke programs and weapons to the United States to dismantle before the U.S. side grants any concessions. However, Pyongyang insisted on "phased and synchronous measures" in its denuclearization, requiring reciprocal actions by the United States, such as sanctions relief, in exchange.

Pompeo said that there are still "a great deal of details to be worked on" in this regard.

When asked by Fox about his meetings with Kim, Pompeo said their conversations were "professional."

Pompeo said Kim knows what he is trying to achieve for his people. "He is able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it," he said.

Pompeo said the U.S. and DPRK teams would work together to "put our two leaders in a position where it's just possible we might pull off a historic undertaking."

During the inter-Korea summit on April 27 in Panmunjom, Kim promised to dismantle the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in the northeastern DPRK in a transparent manner and show the dismantlement to the world.

On Saturday, the DPRK announced it would hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site on May 23-25, taking a step forward towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump is scheduled to meet the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 10:33:19|Editor: Yurou

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- An opera about Tu Youyou, the Chinese pharmacologist who received the country's first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday.

The play tells of how Tu Youyou and her team managed to extract a substance from artemisinin that proved effective in reducing malaria mortality, which won her the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Tu, born in 1930, suffered from a lung disease when she was young, but Chinese medicine saved her life and she developed a keen interest in traditional Chinese medicine, dedicating her life as a pharmacologist to healing the sick.

Tu started her work at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. She later served as head of the "Anti-malarial Chinese Herbal Medicine Group." With help from her colleagues, she successfully extracted artemisinin after three years of hard work.

The opera was performed by the Ningbo Performing Arts Group Corp.

"The opera aims to help young people understand that as long as one's personal goal chimes with that of the country, one can better realize the value of life," said Zou Jianhong, chairman of the company.

Tu won China's top science award in 2017 for her outstanding contributions to scientific and technological innovation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 10:33:19|Editor: ZX

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BAGHDAD, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The political coalition led by prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr emerged as the front-runner as the initial results of Iraq's historic parliamentary election came out in 10 of the 18 provinces, the Iraqi electoral commission said Monday.

The al-Sa'iroon coalition won four provinces, including the capital of Baghdad, which has 71 parliamentary seats, the most among all the 18 Iraqi provinces, according to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

The other three provinces it has secured were Dhi Qar, Wasit and al-Muthanna. The coalition also came second in the provinces of Karbala, Basra, al-Qadisiyyah and Babil.

The al-Fath Coalition led by Hadi al-Ameri also won four provinces, namely Basra, Karbala, al-Qadisiyyah and Babil. However, it has garnered 233,289 votes in the capital, compared to al-Sa'iroon's 413,638 votes.

According to IHEC figures, the State of Law Coalition, headed by Nuri al-Maliki, came third in Baghdad province with 211,243, but failed to take the lead in any of the 10 provinces.

The al-Nasr Coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi placed fifth in Baghdad province with 194,797 votes, after the al-Wataniyah (National) Coalition led by Ayad Allawi, which garnered 204,686 ballots.

The initial results do not include voters outside Iraq, and the results of the remaining eight Iraqi provinces will be released later on Monday, Riyadh al-Badran, an IHEC senior official, told the press.

Millions of Iraqis went to 8,959 polling centers across the country on Saturday to vote for their parliamentary representatives in the first general election after Iraq's historic victory over the Islamic State (IS) group last December.

Some 90 political entities and 7,000 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliament.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a joint press availability with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (not shown) after their meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC, U.S., May 11, 2018. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the United States had failed to reach an agreement with the European nations on the historic Iran nuclear deal.

He made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal on Tuesday. The U.S. exit, together with its threaten to sanction companies economically involved with Tehran, has sparked outrage in Europe.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said earlier that Europe should not accept that the U.S. is the "world's economic policeman," or become the U.S. "vassals" that "obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers;" Rather, Le Maire asked, "or do we want to say we have our economic interests, we consider we will continue to do trade with Iran?"

Pompeo said "I worked hard over the short time I've been the secretary of state to try and fix the deal. We couldn't reach agreement with our E3 partners," referring to Britain, France and Germany, all signatories of the Iran deal.

"The wealth that was created in Iran as a result of the JCPOA drove Iranian malign activity ... President Trump's withdrawal is denying them that wealth, denying them the resources to continue their bad behavior, to take the money away from them," he said.

However, he added the U.S. "sanctions regime that is now in place is very clear about what the requirements are," hinting that Washington is prepared to go after European companies and allies if they try to continue to do business with Iran.

While announcing his exit decision, Trump said the United States will impose "the highest level" of economic sanctions on Tehran, adding "any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States."

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin also noted in an announcement that "sanctions will be reimposed subject to certain 90 day and 180 day wind-down periods. At the conclusion of the wind-down periods, the applicable sanctions will come back into full effect. This includes actions under both our primary and secondary sanctions authorities."

For Iranian side, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Tehran will remain in the international nuclear deal if the country's interests are secured by other parties to the agreement,

"If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran's interests, the agreement will survive," he said during a meeting with visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena.

The U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 deal was "a violation of morals," he said.WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The European parties to the Iran nuclear deal have refused to accede to the United States and fix the deal signed in 2015 before the United States announced its exit, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told local media on Sunday.

"We did try. The President set out a set of objectives. He tasked me in my first couple of weeks to work with the Europeans to try and do it, although the work had been ongoing before I arrived at the State Department," he said in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation.

"And at no time were we able to reach an agreement," said the top U.S. diplomat. "The Europeans simply wouldn't accede to the requirements to fix the deal."

"They had some 90 days to do so," he added, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to Europe in January that if it could not come up with plans to fix the "flaws" in the deal, Washington will exit immediately in May.

Trump announced the country's exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran on Tuesday.

The JCPOA was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, the United States, Britain, France, and Russia) plus the European Union (EU) and Germany in 2015.

It froze the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for a gradual normalization of Iran's economic and political relations with the international community, and the end of sanctions.

Referring to the U.S. exit, Pompeo told Fox News on Sunday that "we couldn't reach an agreement with our E3 partners," namely Britain, France and Germany.

He said the U.S. "sanctions regime that is now in place is very clear about what the requirements are," hinting that Washington is prepared to go after European companies and allies if they continue to do business with Iran.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said last Tuesday that "sanctions will be reimposed subject to certain 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods. At the conclusion of the wind-down periods, the applicable sanctions will come back into full effect."

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire later responded that Europe should not accept the United States' playing the role of the "world's economic police," or become U.S. "vassals" that "obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers."

Despite the escalating trans-Atlantic tensions, Pompeo said on Sunday that Washington will continue to work with Brussels to work on a new deal.

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead, we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but there missiles and their malign behavior as well," he said.

On the Iranian side, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Tehran will adhere to the international nuclear deal if the country's interests are secured by other parties to the agreement.

"If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran's interests, the agreement will survive," he said during a meeting with visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.PARIS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Paris knife attacker who has been shot dead by police on Saturday was a French citizen born in Chechnya and was on a list of potential terrorism suspects, local media reported Sunday.

The attacker had shouted Islamic slogans when attacking passers-by with a knife in the downtown Opera district, a popular tourist area that becomes especially crowded on weekends.

Citing judicial sources, the BFM TV news channel said that the knifeman was born in 1997 in Chechnya, had no criminal record, but was on the police watchlist for links with a person in Syria.

A judicial source that appeared in various reports identified the attacker as Khamzat A, without giving his full name, but BFM TV and other French media said that the A stood for Azimov.

The knife attacker killed one person and wounded four others, and was shot dead by police at the crime site.

"France pays once again the price of blood but does not give an inch to the enemies of freedom," French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Saturday night, praising police officers for "neutralizing the terrorist."

The attacker's parents and a friend were arrested by the police for questioning after the incident.

The friend, who was arrested in the French city of Strasbourg, is reportedly of the same age as the attacker.

The killer had shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the greatest") when attacking passers-by with a knife. Only within hours of the attack, the terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility via its propaganda agency.

France has become a major target of terrorist attacks in recent years. Several attacks claimed by the Islamic State have rattled nerves in France and beyond, with the bloodiest one in Paris in November 2015 leaving 130 victims.MANILA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Two soldiers and 10 Abu Sayyaf militants have died after an attempt to free hostages held by Islamist militant group, the Philippine army said on Monday.

The clash took place in Tanum, a remote village in Patikul town in the southern Philippines around 6:15 a.m. Sunday, said Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana, the commander of the Joint Task Force Sulu.

"The firefight that lasted for about an hour left two soldiers dead and an estimated 10 unidentified Abu Sayyaf members killed," Sobejana said.

Sobejana said the troops had launched artillery shells at the Abu Sayyaf fighters. "Our actions are however very limited and calculated since we do not want to harm the kidnap victims," he said.

The troops are tracking down two policewomen who were abducted last month in Paitkul. The policewomen were among the several hostages who were kidnapped by the militants loyal to the extremists.

"We will continue to conduct pursuit operations in order to get the remaining Abu Sayyaf militants and rescue the kidnap victims." Major General Arnel Dela Vega, the general officer in charge of the Western Mindanao Command.

"We have strong reasons to believe that our troops inflicted heavy enemy casualty because we were the ones who initiated the action," Dela Vega.

"Only that they have numerical superiority that they were able to put up stiff resistance," he added.

Abu Sayyaf, a radical Islamist group in the Philippines, often carries out kidnappings, bombings and beheadings in western Mindanao, particularly in their lair in the island provinces of Basilan and Sulu.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 11:08:28|Editor: Yurou

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GUANGZHOU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Bocuse d'Or, a prestigious gastronomic contest also known as the "culinary Olympics," concluded its Asia Pacific selection during the past week in south China's Guangzhou, where increasing communication between western and eastern gastronomy creates new inspirations.

Japanese chef Hideki Takayama won the contest after a 5-hour-and-35-minute challenge. It was his second continental title after winning in 2014, and Japan's third consecutive win.

But new faces in the region also performed well.

Thai chef Natcha Saengow, 23, nailed second place, while Seon Yeong Gu from the Republic of Korea, 24, took third.

"Bocuse d'Or is all about promoting new chefs and different cuisines," Florent Suplisson, director of the event, told Xinhua. "Every country has its own tradition and its own produce, and we want to show that at Bocuse d'Or. That's our purpose."

Australian contestant Michael Cole and Singaporean Noel Ng Choon Wee, 4th and 5th place, respectively, will also join the Bocuse d'Or finale next January in Lyon, France.

The contestants were required to prepare 10 plates and a platter, using veal tenderloin and salmon respectively. They were also encouraged to bring in their unique cultures.

Saengow mixed salmon with Thai clams; Cole used Australian jarrah to smoke the fish; while Chinese chef Fu Zhuwei wrapped it in dumplings.

Founded by renowned French chef Paul Bocuse 31 years ago, Bocuse d'Or today includes some 60 national and four continental selections in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Africa. Numerous new ideas and inspirations are presented on the platform.

"This is what we call gastro-diplomacy," Suplisson added.

Aside from the contestants, elite chefs from across the world, many with Michelin stars, also joined the event.

During their stay in Guangzhou, more than 80 foreign chefs visited local food markets and learned about the produce. Some of them even cooked at local kitchens.

Karl Firla, owner and head chef of Oscillate Wildly in Sydney, was comfortable with the exotic local seafood and heavy Chinese kitchen knives.

"They're not so strange from my perspective, because obviously we travel a lot around the world to see what's happening in the industry," Firla said.

In the old days, cuisine was brought to different places mainly by immigrants, with their own traditions, emotions and stereotypes. But as Firla pointed out, with higher mobility and more access to different cultures, the spread and fusion of food has become an everyday reality.

"Different tastes are brought together in an easier and more creative way, and being exposed to such diversity can be a privilege," the Australian chef said.

"With all the diversity of cultures and the mixing, we're starting to build our own identity now," Firla said. "So it's a fantastic time to be in Australia and contribute to so many different components of our industry."

Many of these star chefs visiting Guangzhou have cross-cultural backgrounds, such as Brazilian and Colombian nationals studying in France, or French cooks working for London hotels.

Christophe Paucod, a Michelin-star chef and restaurant owner, taught French cuisine at "Le Cordon Bleu" in Tokyo 20 years ago, and noticed that more and more students were now from other Asian countries.

"We have more and more students from China now. And those cooking schools in Paris are also witnessing the same trend," Paucod said.

Chinese chef Fu Zhuwei, who once studied in Turin, Italy, was given a wild card to the Bocuse d'Or finale. Deeply proud of Chinese cuisine, Fu hopes to present the food to more customers and critics.

He also believes the food and beverage industry in China should further progress, especially in standardization.

"Chinese cuisine has a long, long history, but we should keep learning," Fu said.NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Three teenage girls were raped and set on fire in a week in India, killing two and leaving a third in critical condition, according to local police.

In the latest attack, a 16-year-old girl died from burns last Thursday after warning the rapist that she would tell her family about the assault. The other two girls were victims of similar attacks a week ago.

The serial brutal sexual assaults shocked the whole country, and have been the most infamous since the case on a New Delhi bus in 2012 that triggered mass protests.

Under such pressure, local police have arrested two suspects, one the cousin of a victim, and the other married with a child.

Earlier this month, India's top court directed all high courts in the country to fast track child sexual abuse cases.

In April, the Indian government approved an ordinance to allow courts to give the death penalty to child rapists. The new law also provides for a speedy investigation into and trial for rape cases, and there will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years.

Last Saturday, an Indian man was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a baby girl. A special court handed out the verdict three weeks after the convicted criminal committed the crime.

This is reportedly one of the quickest trials and fastest police investigations regarding rape cases in India.JAKARTA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A bomb blast broke out in a police office in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province on Monday morning, a police officer said.

The explosion took place at 08:50 a.m. Jakarta time in the police station located on Sikatan street, provincial police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

"An explosion has occurred in a police office in Surabaya," he was quoted by Antara news wire as saying.

Deputy police chief in the province Brigadier General Widodo Eko Prihastopo along with police personnel will immediately come into the scene, Barung added.

The explosion happened after suicide bombings in three churches and an explosion in a flat in the city a day earlier, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens others.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 11:53:36|Editor: ZD

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Photo taken on May 13, 2018 shows the scene of China-Laos law-enforcement cooperation ministerial meeting in Vientiane, capital of Laos, May 13, 2018. The public security ministries of China and Laos have decided to intensify efforts to crack down cross-border crimes and strengthen cooperation on law enforcement. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun)

VIENTIANE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The public security ministries of China and Laos have decided to intensify efforts to crack down cross-border crimes and strengthen cooperation on law enforcement.

The consensuses were reached after the first-ever ministerial meeting on law enforcement cooperation between the two countries was held on Sunday in Lao capital Vientiane, according to a statement by the Chinese public security ministry released here on Monday.

Both sides agree to jointly intensify the efforts to crack down telecom fraud, cross-border human trafficking, illegal immigration and strengthen cooperation in safeguarding national security, anti-terrorism, and immigration management, said the statement.

The two countries will also establish the security cooperation mechanism for major projects under the frame of China's-proposed Belt and Road Initiative in Laos, increase joint border patrols and management, and deepen the law enforcement and security cooperation along the Mekong River.

China and Laos, according to the statement, will strengthen anti-drug cooperation by enhancing information and intelligence exchanges and case-handling cooperation at this regard, continue to promote the operations to fight against the drug-related crimes along the Mekong River and establish and improve the cooperation mechanism between local law enforcement authorities of the two countries.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the visit to Laos made by Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi, since Saturday.by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 41 people were killed and many others injured across India after dust storms, thunderstorms and rain accompanied by gusty winds hit many states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and the national capital New Delhi, officials said Monday.

The storms hit the states Sunday evening wreaking havoc by uprooting trees and electricity poles.

"In Uttar Pradesh 18 people were killed, 12 deaths were reported in West Bengal, nine people died in Andhra Pradesh, and two lives were lost in Delhi due to storms," disaster management officials said.

According to Meteorological department officials, squall and dust storm with a wind speed of upto 109 kmph hit capital city and its outskirts.

"The winds claimed two lives, besides injuring 19 people," the state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said.

The storms caused disruption in flight, rail and metro operations in the capital city, affecting commuters.

Reports quoting officials said about 70 flights were diverted from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and flight operations were put on hold due to storm. Likewise, Delhi Metro services were hampered in wake of the storm, following which thousands of commuters were stuck on the metro stations.

The trains were slowed down as a precaution.

Several areas in the city faced power outages as electricity lines snapped. Power companies maintenance teams have been restoring the electricity supply.

Indian prime minister and president have expressed their sadness over the deaths caused due to storms.

"Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. Asked officials to provide all possible assistance to those affected," Modi wrote on twitter.

India's Meteorological department officials said thunderstorms are expected across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours, as several weather phenomena, including western disturbances, converge.

"The thunderstorms will continue for the next 48 to 72 hours over north-western, eastern and southern parts of the country," AIR quoted Met Department official Mrutyunjay Mohapatra as having said. "Thunderstorms are occurring due to circulation of a western disturbance in North West India and strong easterlies."

Local government in Uttar Pradesh have advised people in the state to remain indoors inside the concrete structures and avoid venturing near trees, transformers and electricity polls during the time of storm.

Last week 18 people were killed in thunderstorm and rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this month at least 124 people were killed and more than 300 others injured in five Indian states due to dust storms, thunderstorms and lightning.MEXICO CITY, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government on Sunday "strongly condemned" the violence against political candidates in the lead-up to the general elections on July 1.

"The government of President Enrique Pena Nieto strongly condemns aggressions against candidates and categorically rejects calls to violence or to violate electoral laws, whatever their origin," Mexican Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete Prida said in a message to the media.

He added that in Mexico, "no one is condemned" for their ideas and that "any act of violence that seeks to destabilize institutions" would be punished.

The minister also urged political parties and the five presidential candidates to maintain a "direct, inclusive, respectful, transparent and constructive dialogue."

"To prevail in this electoral process, certainty, civility, respect and harmony among Mexicans is needed," said Navarrete Prida in a message to the media.

The Interior Ministry would keep open all avenues of dialogue to avoid any political differences spiraling into violence, he said.

The country has seen increasing cases of violence against political candidates, with some even causing fatalities.

According to local media, attacks on candidates have killed at least 90 people in Mexico.

Navarrete Prida also said that the Mexican government will make sure the elections on July 1 will take place in an orderly and peaceful manner.

The Mexican government will "carry out the will of the majority of the people who gave it a mandate at the ballot box six years ago," said the minister.

About 89 million Mexicans are eligible to vote in the elections, which will choose a new president, eight governors and the mayor of Mexico City, as well as 500 federal deputies and 128 senators.HANOI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Some Vietnamese firms have recently imported tens of thousands of scraps, mainly steel, plastic and paper ones, without permit, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs on Monday.

The scraps imported without permit have been piled up at major seaports, causing environment pollution. Besides, some enterprises have exploited loopholes in scrap import-related procedures to smuggle second-hand products.

A local company in northern Ninh Binh province from January 2017 to March 2018 imported nearly 44,000 tons of plastic scraps without permit. The scraps arrived at seaports in Ho Chi Minh City, northern Hai Phong city and southern Ba Ria Vung Tau province.

According to a prime ministerial decision in 2014, a total of 36 kinds of scraps are allowed to be imported into Vietnam to serve as materials for domestic production. As of March 2018, a total of 928 Vietnamese enterprises imported scraps, mainly plastic, steel and paper ones.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 13:23:47|Editor: ZX

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SAO PAULO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Sao Paulo Fire Department on Sunday called off its search for missing persons in the rubble of a high rising apartment building that collapsed earlier this month.

At least four people were killed after the building caught fire and collapsed on May 1 in the city center.

Marcio Franca, mayor of Sao Paulo, announced the end of the rescue efforts, saying it is now considered impossible to find anyone alive.

"We have no more expectations, we have done as much as we can," the mayor told the press.

He said the rest of the bodies would have been almost completely charred due to the high temperature of the fire, adding that "it is common in this type of tragedy."

The building was home to 372 people, most of them low-income families, with authorities believing that the fire began after a domestic fight.

The fire began in the early morning on May 1, before spreading rapidly throughout the building and leading to its collapse.

During the rescue efforts, four bodies were found, including those of two children. Around 40 people are still missing.

The mayor said that some 1,700 people had participated in the rescue work, and that the Sao Paulo City Hall will now have to decide what to do with the remains of the building.

The collapse also caused serious damage to three neighboring buildings, including a church.KABUL, May 14 (Xinhua) -- At least three members of the Islamic State (IS) were killed after U.S. and NATO-led coalition forces launched an airstrike in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday, authorities said on Monday.

"An unmanned plane of coalition struck an IS fighters' hideout in Papeen locality, Dih Bala district, Nangarhar province on Sunday, killing three IS militants," Afghan army's 201 Corps Selab based in the region said in a statement.

Afghan forces and the NATO and U.S.-led coalition troops continued in mopping-up operations as spring and summer known as fighting season is drawing near in the mountainous country.

However, the militants responded by armed attacks and bombings.

On Sunday, eight IS suicide bombers, three security forces and seven civilians were killed and 42 people injured after IS militants attacked provincial department of custom and finance in Jalalabad city, capital of Nangarhar.JAKARTA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bombing broke out in the police headquarters in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, on Monday morning, a police officer said.

The explosion took place at 08:50 a.m. Jakarta time when the policemen were checking two persons, one of them a woman, riding a motorcycle and trying to enter the police office building, provincial police spokesman Senior Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera said.

"The attack was done with a motor cycle. The perpetrator is the rider with a woman at the back seat," Barung was quoted by a local media as saying at the police headquarters.

A video footage displayed one car and two motor cycles were entering the gate and police personnel were conducting checking. Suddenly, explosion occurred on one of the motor cycles.

The footage also showed parts of human bodies fell apart on the ground.

Separately in Jedong village of Sukodono sub-district of the province, an anti-terror squad was involved in an exchange of fires with militants, one person was shot and six bombs were seized.

The police arrested two men and one woman, based on a photo display.

The explosion in the police headquarters happened after suicide bombings in three churches and an explosion in a flat in the city a day earlier, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens others.MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday posted on its official social media account a video on the ministry's monitoring system for nuclear weapons tests across the world.

It is the first time the ministry has unveiled the work of the Special Control Service (SCS) to mark the 60 anniversary of the branch, the ministry said in a statement.

"In addition to monitoring nuclear weapons testing abroad, the Special Control Service monitors compliance with international treaties on the limitation and prohibition of nuclear weapons tests," said the statement.

The SCS also ensures Russia's participation in the international mechanism for monitoring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and coordinates activities by the federal government and the Russian Academy of Sciences to implement the CTBT.MEXICO CITY, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The number of international tourists to Mexico in the first quarter rose to a record high of 10.6 million, a 12.6 percent increase year-on-year, said the country's tourism ministry on Sunday.

"Only in the month of March, the flow of international tourists reached 4 million," said the ministry in a statement.

In the first quarter of 2017, a total of 9.4 million foreign tourists visited Mexico.

The country also saw 6.217 billion U.S. dollars in tourism revenue for the first quarter.

However, the tourism ministry said that the average expenditure of international tourists decreased by 4.4 percent in the first quarter, to 533 dollars from 558 dollars.

In 2017, Mexico was ranked as the sixth most visited country in the world, with 39.3 million visitors, surpassing nations such as Germany, Britain and Turkey, according to Mexico's government statistics.

Mexican Tourism Minister Enrique de la Madrid told a press conference during a tourism event in Mexico City last week his country wants to attract more foreign tourists, especially those from China.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 14:03:58|Editor: ZD

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SHANGHAI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese manned submersible has welcomed its oldest passenger on a deep-sea research mission in the South China Sea.

Well-known geologist Wang Pinxian, 82, boarded the submersible Shenhai Yongshi, or Deep Sea Warrior, on Sunday morning with another researcher. The vehicle reached a depth of 1,410 meters and Wang conducted more than eight hours of underwater research.

"We found a cold seep biogroup mainly consisting of feather duster worms and sea mussels," said Wang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "We also discovered a special biogroup of cold water coral and sponges, which is worthy of further research."

A cold seep is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane, and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs.

Wang said he has conducted research in the South China Sea four times over the last 20 years, but this was the first time that he had used a domestically-produced submersible.

"The journey reminded me of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and I just came back from the fairyland," Wang said when he walked out of the submersible. "I am so proud of the development of our country's marine technology."

China launched a research mission on the history of the South China Sea in 2011. More than 700 researchers have taken part in the program over the past few years.

Shenhai Yongshi underwent testing last year, and this was its 67th dive since it was put into service earlier this year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 14:08:59|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has called for enhanced cooperation in science and technology between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the mainland, vowing support for the region to become an international center of innovative technology and for HKSAR scientists to contribute to national strength building in this regard.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an important instruction and ordered timely actions to be taken in response to a letter written to him by 24 HKSAR-based academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in June 2017.

In the letter, the academicians expressed their strong intentions to make contributions to the motherland and enthusiasm to boost sci-tech innovation.

A solid sci-tech foundation and a large number of sci-tech talent who love the country and Hong Kong, possessed by the HKSAR, are an important force in implementing the national strategy of innovation-driven development and making China a country of innovators, Xi said.

Promoting sci-tech cooperation between the HKSAR and the mainland, supporting the HKSAR to become an international center of innovative technologies, giving play to their own unique sci-tech strengths and contributing to economic development and improving people's living standards both in Hong Kong and the mainland are all part of the implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle in the HKSAR, he noted.

Great importance should be attached to the problems mentioned by the academicians in the letter, Xi said, urging more work on concrete measures and proper solutions to support HKSAR scientists in making contributions to national sci-tech strength building and national rejuvenation.

In accordance with Xi's instruction, related government departments have acted fast, and sci-tech cooperation between the mainland and HKSAR has been pushed forward in an orderly manner.

The problems mentioned in the letter, concerning national sci-tech funding and favorable policies on tariff for equipment transfers, have been basically resolved.

Sixteen partner labs of key state laboratories based in HKSAR and two partner labs in Macao Special Administrative Region have received direct support from national programs.

All scientific research institutions established in the mainland by the HKSAR have already been enjoying preferential tax policies to promote sci-tech innovation.

Overall institutional arrangements have also been made to offer direct financial support to scientific research in Hong Kong and Macao via related national programs.

Related departments will further support sci-tech personnel who love the country and Hong Kong to intensively participate in national sci-tech programs, as well as expand and deepen sci-tech cooperation between HKSAR and the mainland in an orderly way.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 14:08:59|Editor: ZX

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KATHMANDU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Xia Boyu, 70, on Monday scaled the world's highest peak Qomolangma as the first double amputee climber from the Nepali side, government officials confirmed.

Till date, the only double amputee to summit Qomolangma is Mark Inglis from New Zealand, who had scaled the peak from China's Tibet side in 2006.

"The Chinese double amputee scaled the summit at 8:40 a.m. local time today. He is the first double amputee to climb the peak from south face," Gyanendra Shrestha, an official at the Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, told Xinhua via telephone from the base camp.

Xia's successful summit comes a day after eight rope-fixing team members reached the summit, making the climbing route open for all other climbers for 2018 spring season.

The double amputee had received the climbing permit from the Nepali government after the country's supreme court, on March, allowed double amputee and visually impaired persons from climbing any mountains above 6,500 meters.

Xia's expedition has been managed by a Nepal-based Imagine Treks and Expeditions company. Before leaving for the expedition, the Chinese climber told media that it is his fifth attempt to scale the 8,848-meter world's highest peak.

He had lost both his legs in 1975 during his first attempt to reach the summit due to frostbite.

Xia had attempted for the summit in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as well, but his dreams were shattered owing to avalanche, earthquake and bad weather respectively.

According to Nepal's tourism department, the official government body which issues climbing permits for the Qomolangma expedition, 346 mountaineers from 38 Nepali and foreign teams have taken the permits for expedition this year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 14:39:06|Editor: ZX

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CHONGQING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese commercial flight was forced to divert to an alternate airport after a mechanical failure, authorities confirmed Monday.

Flight 3U8633, operated by Sichuan Airlines, was en route from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. It was forced to divert to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

Posts from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on microblogging site Sina Weibo said that part of the cockpit window broke as the Airbus A319 flew over Chengdu. The aircrew enacted emergency code 7700 and landed in Chengdu. Two crew members were injured in the incident, according to Weibo posts.

Sichuan Airlines confirmed the diversion, and said that an investigation is under way. The plane landed in Chengdu at 7:42 a.m. on Monday.

There were 119 passengers and nine crew members on board, according to the airline.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 14:49:07|Editor: Li Xia

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A boy walks past fallen trees in New Delhi, India, May 14, 2018. Death toll has risen to 65 across India after dust storms, thunderstorms and rain accompanied by gusty winds hit many states, officials said Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Xijie)

NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Death toll has risen to 65 across India after dust storms, thunderstorms and rain accompanied by gusty winds hit many states, officials said Monday.

Over 70 people were injured in these storms.

The affected states include Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and the national capital New Delhi.

The storms hit the states Sunday evening wreaking havoc by uprooting trees, electricity poles and transformers.

According to Sanjay Kumar, relief commissioner in Uttar Pradesh, 39 people were killed and 53 others injured in the storm in Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh, India's state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said 12 deaths were reported in West Bengal, nine in Andhra Pradesh, three in Telangana and two in Delhi.

Indian Meteorological department officials said squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph hit capital city and its outskirts.

The storms caused disruption in flight, rail and metro operations in the capital city, affecting commuters.

Reports pouring in from Uttar Pradesh said nearly 100 houses were gutted in a fire which broke out due to lightning in Sambhal.

Several areas in the affected states faced power outages as electricity lines were snapped.

India's Meteorological department officials said thunderstorms are expected across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours, as several weather phenomena, including western disturbances, converge.

Last week 18 people were killed in thunderstorm and rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this month at least 124 people were killed and more than 300 others injured in five Indian states due to dust storms, thunderstorms and lightning.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 15:24:15|Editor: Yamei

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Flight 3U8633, operated by Sichuan Airlines, prepares to conduct emergency landing after a mechanical failure in Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2018. Part of the cockpit window broke as the Airbus A319 flew over Chengdu. The plane was en route from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. It was forced to divert to an alternate airport in Chengdu. All passengers are safe, although the co-pilot sustained injuries to the face and waist, and another crew member was slightly hurt during the emergency landing. After the landing on Monday morning, the airline has arranged another flight to take the passengers to Lhasa. (Xinhua/Wan Bi)

CHONGQING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese commercial flight was forced to divert to an alternate airport after a mechanical failure, authorities confirmed Monday.

Flight 3U8633, operated by Sichuan Airlines, was en route from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. It was forced to divert to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), part of the cockpit window broke as the Airbus A319 flew over Chengdu. The aircrew enacted emergency code 7700 and landed in Chengdu. All passengers are safe, although the co-pilot sustained injuries to the face and waist, and another crew member was slightly hurt during the emergency landing, according to the CAAC.

Sichuan Airlines confirmed the diversion, and said that an investigation is under way. The plane landed in Chengdu at 7:46 a.m. on Monday.

There were 119 passengers and nine crew members on board, according to the airline, which has arranged another flight to take the passengers to Lhasa.

Video footage shot by passengers showed baggage falling from overhead lockers during the emergency landing and oxygen masks dropping for use.SEOUL, May 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday hailed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s plan to transparently display the dismantling of its nuclear test site to the international community, calling it a start towards denuclearization.

Moon made the remarks during a meeting with his senior secretaries, according to the presidential Blue House.

"(I) highly evaluate and welcome North Korea (DPRK)'s (decision) to transparently make open the dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to the international society after releasing U.S. detainees," said Moon.

Moon said it was an initial act toward the DPRK's complete denuclearization.

The DPRK released three U.S. citizens held in the country, who returned home last week with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pyongyang announced plans over the weekend to dismantle the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site.

The DPRK invited journalists from five countries of South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Britain to witness the dismantling.

The DPRK's announcement came ahead of the scheduled summit between top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, which is set to be held in Singapore on June 12.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 16:09:28|Editor: Li Xia

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A Palestinian tries to put out the fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the U.S. embassy's move to Jerusalem in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians headed Monday to eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel to join the mass rallies they called the "Great March of Return." (Xinhua/Yasser Qudih)

GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Palestinians headed Monday to eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel to join the mass rallies they called the "Great March of Return."

A general strike dominated all the Gaza Strip, including schools, universities, banks and stores, and main streets seemed empty of traffic and pedestrians.

Pillars of black smoke were seen after tires were burned at crossroads of main streets all over the Gaza Strip to protest the celebration of the U.S. embassy's move to Jerusalem and also to mark Nakba Day or "Day of Catastrophe."

Busses and trucks were collecting people from the main streets, neighborhoods and near the mosques, while loudspeakers of mosques called on the people to join the one million Palestinian marches.

Busses and trucks were mobilizing hundreds of participants to five major areas in eastern Gaza Strip along the border with Israel.

The National Commission for the marches in Gaza called earlier for the largest ever masses of protests and rallies in eastern Gaza Strip. They called Monday the day of "passage."

The commission stressed that the Palestinians "won't retreat back from achieving the Palestinian people's goals of return and defying the siege."

It called on the people to be committed to the announced measures of closing public institutions, universities and daily popular services and heading to the border in eastern Gaza Strip. It also called on the West Bank to clash with the Israeli army forces.

Since March 30, when the marches of return started, the Israeli army has killed 49 Palestinians and wounded more than 8,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry official figures.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 16:24:34|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HANGZHOU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Fan, 29, has a 1arge following for sharing his sleeping issues on mobile phone app Snail Sleep.

"These days, I think I sleep better than before, as there are less audio recordings of my sleeping problems, on average around 10 recordings per night of grinding my teeth, snoring, or sleep talking," said Zhang, who works for an internet firm in China's e-commerce hub of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province.

He said his audio uploads sometimes receive up to 2,000 likes and comments.

The app, which has 20 million registered users, provides an online platform for sharing and commenting on sleep issues and audio recordings. Zhang said he has found friends who share similar sleeping problems via the platform.

Chen Yunjie, 33, from Beijing, has found that computer programmers like himself are prone to suffering from irregular sleep patterns, resulting from stress at work.

He has been in the community of night owls using the app for two years.

"Sleep talking reflects the true inner world. This community makes me feel relaxed about my sleeping problems," he said.

Abby Chen, marketing director of the app developer, said since March, there have been about 3 million active users on the platform, who generally become active from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. and then 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

She said the platform includes sleep-inducing music and offers services for users to contact sleep and psychological counselors.

Launched in 2015, the app has already begun to earn profits from ads, membership fees, and paid music.

Chen said one user told her that when he heard a recording of himself crying during his sleep, he became aware that he was not as strong as he seemed during the day.

Wang Ping, a researcher at the sociology institute of Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the app's sleep community shows that mobile phones now accompany a large group of people when they

sleep, especially those aged under 44.

Over 90 percent of registered users of the Snail Sleep app are aged under 40.

Chen said as the platform has gathered such a large group of people with sleeping problems, it offers important data for studies and analysis to find solutions for conditions such as insomnia. The company has begun to earn revenue from sharing data from the app for research and cooperation with private companies.

She said the company has plans to explore overseas markets, both in directly selling smart sleep monitoring devices and launching similar sleeping apps.SUVA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Fijian parents have been urged to ensure their children are vaccinated as Fiji's nationwide meningococcal vaccination campaign rolls out from Monday.

This campaign came after Fiji's Ministry of Health had declared an outbreak of the life threatening meningococcal disease in March this year. Fijian children under the age of 19 have started receiving vaccination from Monday. More than 333,000 children across the island nation are expected to be vaccinated over the next few months.

Fiji's Health Minister Rosy Akbar has urged parents and guardians to ensure their children are vaccinated from the life-threatening disease.

"Vaccination not only protects individuals from life-threatening diseases but it also offers protection to the community at large. As such it is also important that community members are aware of the proven effectiveness of immunization in saving lives and preventing serious morbidity and mortality," said Akbar.

The cost of vaccination stands at around 10 million Fijian dollars (4.8 million U.S. dollars).

Fiji's Ministry of Health has acquired over 124,000 doses of vaccine for the first phase of the program, and another batch of 200,000 doses is being procured and expected to arrive soon.

World Health Organization Pacific Technical Support Officer Wendy Snowdon said on Friday that it was important that individuals got vaccinated.

Fijian health authorities confirmed earlier this month that there were 58 reported cases of meningococcal from Jan. 1 to April 22 this year.

There have been four confirmed deaths from the meningococcal disease this year from the age group of less than five years old.

The ministry continues to intensify its public health awareness and monitor the reported cases.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 16:39:36|Editor: Li Xia

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KATHMANDU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has ended load-shedding in industrial sector one year after the country eradicated power outages to residential customers, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said.

There would be no power cuts in industrial sector from Monday, the NEA, the only power utility body of Nepal, announced on Sunday evening in a press statement. Until Saturday, the industrial corridors were facing load-shedding of three hours a day.

The NEA's move is expected to give huge relief to the industries as it would help them reduce cost of production due to round-the-clock power availability.

"We decided to end load-shedding formally due to rise in water level in the rivers boosting electricity production from the run-of-the river hydropower projects, managing available electricity better and increasing the import of electricity from India," said NEA Managing Director Kulman Singh Ghising.

Peak hour demand for electricity in the country stands at 1300 MW, it said.

Until a few years ago, Nepal had witnessed load shedding up to 18 hours a day, affecting the normal life of people as well as industrial sector which heavily depended on expensive diesel plants to fuel their factories.

Since November 2016, Nepal first ended the load-shedding in Kathmandu Valley, other major cities and eventually all the country within a few months for residential customers while reducing the power cuts substantially for the industries.

Industrialists say that the situation has improved considerably since days of prolonged load-shedding in the country.

"The complete end to load-shedding from the industrial sector will help attract more investment from domestic and foreign investors," Kishore Kumar Pradhan, vice-president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the apex private sector body of Nepal, told Xinhua on Monday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 17:09:41|Editor: Li Xia

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GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Head of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation in Gaza, Gilan Devorn, on Monday called for avoiding losses and casualties among Palestinians joining mass protests against Israel in eastern Gaza Strip.

"We call on all parties to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties and avoid causing losses and casualties," Devorn told a news conference at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza.

The director of the ICRC warned that hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been seriously weakened by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and need support.

Clashes broke out earlier Monday in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. Young men threw stones and Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse them.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a short press note sent to reporters that 28 Palestinians were injured in eastern Gaza Strip, with 22 of them injured by live ammunition, adding that they were taken to hospitals in Gaza for medical treatment.

The National Commission for the marches in Gaza called earlier for the largest ever masses of protests and rallies in eastern Gaza Strip. They called Monday the day of "passage."

Since March 30, when the marches of return started, the Israeli army has killed 49 Palestinians and wounded more than 8,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry official figures.by Jamil Bhatti

ISLAMABAD, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Once being an ignored tiny indolent fishing town located at the Arabian Sea in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Gwadar now witnessed a wave of development projects that is opening new avenues of employment and businesses for locals and will lay a strong infrastructural foundation for the country's future.

From 2013, the deep-water port is making its new identity. It has become fully functional since late 2016. Its free zone first phase and business center have been constructed within an astonishing six months earlier this year and embraced its first liner in March. Now, people in the remote Gwadar could also enjoy speedy 4G mobile connection to interact with the rest of the world.

According to the port's operator, China Overseas Ports Holding Company (COPHC), some 20 companies in different businesses have already joined the Gwadar free zone with direct investment of 3 billion Chinese yuan, or some 460 million U.S. dollars. The annual output could reach more than 5 billion yuan after full operation of the enterprises.

Abdul Ghaffar, owner of a grocery shop and a restaurant near Gwadar port area, enjoys the development of the port. "Around 150 people come to my restaurant for their lunch and dinner each. In the past, my sale was very low, but now my earning has become better and I have also extended my business. In the past, I used to open my shop and restaurant occasionally when the port opened in 2008, but now I don't close my shop because work is in the progress continuously."

Ghaffar, who migrated to Gwadar for a better future from the country's southwestern Quetta district in 2008, said, "I have seen a big change here. There was nothing in this area, but now several buildings have been built all around. Whenever there was rain, all ways were blocked here, but now things have changed. They (Chinese) have made a big thing from nothing."

Ghaffar is an early bird who came to Gwadar. Now, thousands of people have migrated from across the country to Gwadar to grab emerging business and employment opportunities since the launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Gwadar's population has increased from some 85,000 in 2007 to 138,000 currently. The amount of mobile SIM cards issued in the area also jumped from about 100,000 pieces to over 200,000.

Rahab Ali Meerani is a laborer who traveled some 1,080 km from district Shikarpur in southern Sindh province to work at a project in Gwadar port.

"I came here because in our area wages are not as high as what are in Gwadar." He added, "Chinese companies are coming to Pakistan and starting projects which are bringing a great support to poor people. Now, the poverty is being eliminated."

"There was a lot of unemployment in Gwadar, there was only fishing work, which is not a regular job. Now people are getting a variety of jobs and they are very happy," said Muhammad Ibrahim, a worker in Gwadar, adding, "I am very happy because this area is being developed. Some people say there is no development, but actually, development is taking place." Ibrahim has started learning the Chinese language to advance his contacts with Chinese people.

Gwadar's local people are also feeling the development impetus triggered by the rapidly developing port, construction of new roads, laying of new sewerage lines, establishment and upgrading of educational institutions and hospitals, construction of a new airport and installation of water purification plants in Gwadar due to CPEC.

Javed Mehmood, a local fisherman whose family is in the fishing business for almost one century, highlighted several development projects in Gwadar and said that "the port has developed, roads are being constructed, a road has linked Gwadar with China. First, we had only one hospital named Civil Hospital, now another hospital has been established."

"Three people from my area now have got jobs at the port, possibly around two to three people from every area got jobs," said Mehmood who wished that all people in Gwadar get employed.

Liaqat Muhammad, who works in a fish preservation unit, also enjoys the development as their business has multiplied after the construction of a road linking Gwadar with Karachi, the country's southern port city. "Now, the road infrastructure has improved and we can send fresh fish outside. The distance we covered in 24 hours in the past, can be covered in six to seven hours now."

Muhammad couldn't have a chance to visit the newly constructed port area, but he has watched many videos related to the port development and activities. "A lot of development works are taking place here. Imports and exports are in progress at the port, expo center has started. I have not visited the port yet, but I have seen the development through videos at my mobile," said Muhammad.

"In one or two years, our fish containers will be exported from the Gwadar port."

Availability of the potable water is a common issue in Gwadar, and almost every person, whom Xinhua talked to, pinned his hope on China to solve their water issue. And the COPHC has signed a contract with the Balochistan provincial government to provide clean drinking water to Gwadar.

Zulfiqar Bajwa, a tourist who came to Gwadar with his family from Karachi, told Xinhua, "I have come here to see the port because of international focus is on it. As we have seen it, it will be one of the biggest ports in the world."

"The future of our generations depends on it (Gwadar). When it will be completed, Pakistan's status will increase in the world. It will bring great benefits to the Pakistani nation through industrialization," said Bajwa.HARARE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has directed all banking institutions not to provide banking services to facilitate anyone dealing with or settling virtual currencies and once again warned the public against trading in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin saying that they risked losing their investments.

In a statement, RBZ said the move was taken to safeguard the integrity and soundness of the country's financial system and to protect the public in general.

It said dealers and investors in any kind of cryptocurrency in Zimbabwe were not protected by law and that virtual currencies were traded in exchange platforms that were unregulated the world over.

"The opacity and pseudonymous nature of virtual currencies resents regulatory concerns due to the potential risks to the public and financial stability. The nature of cryptocurrency transactions makes them the currency of choice for money launderers and other criminals, seriously undermining global efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism," the central bank said.

Many Zimbabweans are trading in cryptocurrencies which have given them quick yields, but RBZ also warned that anonymity surrounding deals made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace transactions.

It added that any instrument or platform that resulted in the flow of foreign currency or value into and out of the country or between residents and non-residents was subject to approval in terms of the law.

"The anonymity of transactions in respect of virtual currencies has the potential to result in exchange control circumvention as the transfer would not be effected and reported by an authorized dealer in foreign exchange," it said.

A local company recently introduced an ATM in Harare which it said would be loaded with U.S. dollars and would be used to transact Bitcoins.

The central bank said it would continue monitoring regional and global cryptocurrency development in order to inform policy direction.

But in the mean time, the bank has urged the public to stay away from the virtual currencies.

"Any person who buys, sells or otherwise transacts in cryptocurrencies, whether online, or otherwise, does so at their own risk and will have no recourse to the Reserve Bank or to any regulatory authority in the country," it said.NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and several others injured including some journalists Monday during clashes and violence that hit rural body (panchayat) elections in India's eastern state of West Bengal, according to local media reports.

The violence began soon after the polling began in the state in morning at 7:00.

"A Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI-M worker and his wife were killed in 24 South Parganas when suspected Trinamool Congress supporters set their house on fire. In North 24 Parganas, another CPI-M worker was killed in a blast," the television channel report said.

"A Trinamool Congress supporter died after being shot in Kuktuli in South 24 Parganas district, another succumbed to injuries in Nadia's Nakashipara. Student leader belonging to Trinamool Congress was allegedly lynched to death by villagers for capturing a booth in Nadia district's Shantipur area. A BJP worker was killed in a bombing in Murshidabad."

The television said an independent candidate in Murshidabad's Nawda was also shot dead by unidentified miscreants taking death toll to eight.

Until 1:00 p.m., around 41.51 percent turnout was recorded.

Earlier during the day, a low intensity blast went off at a polling station in Cooch Behar district, injuring 20 people.

Reports said a media vehicle was damaged in clashes in South 24 Parganas district and five journalists were injured during clashes in Birpara of Alipurduar district.

Reports said many ballot boxes have been set on fire and looted, besides ballot papers teared by the attackers.

Police have fired dozens of tear smoke shells and warning shots to disperse the arsonists.

Officials said ballot papers are being used instead of Electronic Voting Machines.by Tao Jun, Tai Bao

HANOI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Pham Cuong works as a professional interpreter who often travels around Vietnam and abroad. The 60 computers in his room in Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen province run around the clock all year.

His 30-square meter room has nothing but 10 racks of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices, each of which has six VGA cards. In other words, the 10 racks, or the 10 rigs, are equivalent to 60 computers which are designed for only one purpose, mining cryptocurrency.

"I bought the first 'plowing buffalo' (Vietnamese slang for ASIC device or rig) at a cost of 50 million Vietnamese dong (2,200 U.S. dollars) early last year, and I added nine plowing buffalos' later," Cuong, the 36-year-old chubby interpreter, told Xinhua.

His first "plowing buffalo" was installed with a Bitcoin mining tool, but it and nine others were later installed with Ethereum mining program.

"Mining Bitcoin used to be very lucrative, but more and more people are becoming Bitcoin miners, while there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins in the world, so I have opted for another cryptocurrency, Ethereum," Cuong explained, noting that the price of Bitcoin in December 2017 surged to nearly 20,000 U.S. dollars, but now stands at around 9,000 U.S. dollars.

According to the Vietnamese man, there are fewer Ethereum miners than Bitcoin ones, so it is easier to mine Ethereum and trade this cryptocurrency.

"One Ethereum is now worth 700-750 U.S. dollars, and my 10 plowing buffalos' generate 5 Ethereum every month. However, I have to pay a monthly electricity bill of 17 million Vietnamese dong (nearly 750 U.S. dollars), excluding electricity bills for industrial fans (to keep the computers from not overheating), and costs for device maintenance and repair," Cuong said.

It seems to be very easy for Cuong to make money, because his computers operate all day and night with little attention and net him a relatively regular amount of cryptocurrency every month.

But in fact, he faces a lot of risks. "More people jumping in on mining the fixed amount of cryptocurrencies means the amount of cryptocurrencies I can mine become smaller and smaller. And when the cryptocurrencies flow to my electronic wallets, it does not necessarily mean that I have the real money. I have to sell them on virtual trading floors like stock markets, and like stock markets, prices of cryptocurrencies often rise or fall unexpectedly," Cuong noted.

He said he often trades cryptocurrencies on Remitano, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange developed by a firm registered in the Seychelles. "Remitano website has a Vietnamese version, and I see that it also has Chinese, Japanese, Russian versions and some other languages," he noted.

In Vietnam, mining and trading cryptocurrencies are now not as effervescent as it used to be late last year, but it has still caused some headaches for both miners, traders and authorities and even for ordinary computer users.

In March, 139,000 computers in Vietnam were infected by a cryptocurrency-mining virus, according to a Vietnamese leading online security firm BKAV Technology Group. Spread through online platforms, the virus took control of victims' computers to mine cryptocurrencies without their knowledge.

Cryptocurrency mining by spreading malware like Digmine through Facebook accounts, emails, operating systems' security holes, and USB drives, will increase in the coming times, BKAV predicted.

"The enormous profit from cryptocurrencies is the reason for hackers to circulate the coin-miner virus. The situation will worsen in the coming time," said Ngo Tuan Anh, deputy chairman in charge of security at BKAV Technology Group.

More dangerously, all the mining and trading of cryptocurrencies are conducted through programs and platforms based outside, so some foreign firms have colluded with certain Vietnamese entities or individuals to set up large-scale scams relating to cryptocurrency, especially Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

"In April, many Vietnamese people declared to relevant state agencies and newspapers that two ICOs named iFan and Pincoin, which are operated by foreign companies, had cheated some 32,000 Vietnamese investors out of funds to the tune of some 15,000 billion Vietnamese dong (660.8 million U.S. dollars), an official from the State Bank of Vietnam, the country's central bank, told Xinhua.

That was the biggest cryptocurrency-related scam in Vietnam, the official said, adding that it is, however, very hard to pinpoint the culprits outside the country.

ICO is an unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture. In an ICO campaign, a percentage of the cryptocurrency is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies.

Regarding the case of iFan, after raising a large amount of money from investors through inflated and deceitful advertisements, the foreign firm said one iFan was worth 5 U.S. dollars, but in fact, the value of one iFan' dropped to 1 U.S. cent.

Eventually, the Vietnamese company which represented the foreign firm locally, closed, so the investors lost not only their hope of earning profits from holding and selling cryptocurrencies, but also their initial investment using real cash.

"Trading cryptocurrencies, and mobilizing funds through ICOs, especially under Ponzi schemes pose big risks to involved organizations and individuals, and may affect the financial market's stability and social order," the state bank's official said, adding that cryptocurrencies can be used for criminal activities such as money laundering, illegal money transfers, tax invasion and swindling, due to their anonymity and decentralization.

For these reasons, last month, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed a directive calling for stronger measures to rein in cryptocurrencies. Under the directive, credit institutions in Vietnam are not allowed to carry out cryptocurrency-related transactions and must swiftly report any suspicious activities.

Public companies, brokerages, fund management companies and investment funds are banned from any illegal activities related to cryptocurrencies and are required to comply with anti-money laundering rules.

The government leader also urged the authorities concerned to restrict the import of rigs (coin mining hardware) and double down their efforts to prevent fraudulent activities concerning cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has been tasked with perfecting the legal framework on regulating cryptocurrencies and virtual assets.

"Cryptocurrency mining is not banned in Vietnam, but using cryptocurrencies as means of payment is prohibited, so trading them is very risky."

"The riskier cryptocurrency trading is, the less lucrative mining becomes. Therefore, I plan to sell my plowing buffalos' to focus on my professional work," Cuong said, while carrying out his interpretation work at a construction site in Ho Chi Minh City.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:15:03|Editor: Liangyu

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A harvester transfers rice to the truck at Wanbao rice farm in Gaza province, Mozambique, April 4, 2018. The Wanbao Mozambique rice farm, invested by the China-Africa Development Fund, is the largest of its kind undertaken by China in Africa. The project, a comprehensive business that incorporates plantation, storage, processing and sales, aims to develop 20,000 hectares of farmland, and will lead farmers in surrounding areas to grow crops over another 80,000 hectares. (Xinhua)

by Xinhua writers Zhu Shaobin and Nie Zuguo

MAPUTO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Through the fertile basin in south Mozambique's Gaza province, the expansive Limpopo River waters are flowing into the Indian Ocean at the province's Xai-Xai district.

People living here, if they can speak hello in Chinese, "ni hao", they most certainly also know another Chinese term Wanbao, name of a Chinese rice farm project.

This is because of the local farmers' ever growing enthusiasm to get involved in this key agricultural project under a "company plus farmer" cooperation model that is already leading some farmers toward prosperity.

Under the model, the project provides initial investment for infrastructure and other inputs including production materials, modern machinery, technology and maintenance to the farm, while farmers sign plantation and sales agreements with the company.

Through this model, farmers themselves are trying to maximize their profits by hard work and skills training provided by the Chinese.

Matilde Filomone Mariquele, a mother of five children, was born and raised in the same area where the project is developing agricultural activities.

"I benefited from the rice technology transfer program, and learned to produce rice using Chinese technologies on one hectare of land," she said.

"Wanbao provides seeds, herbicides and fertilizers. The company also did land leveling, water pumping and provided infrastructure and maintenance service," she said.

She said that at the end of the harvest, she sold her produce to the company. After the company deducted the initial costs of production, the remainder profits were for her to keep. "With the money, I have improved a lot my life. I have built my house and my children are going to school," she said.

Meanwhile, 62-year-old Antonio Manuel is now even teaching other farmers how to grow rice as he is heavily involved in the project by cultivating crops over 40 hectares.

"I have an old tractor that I used, but with Wanbao I learned how to use modern tractors. My old tractor and non-mechanized methods produced only 1.5 tonnes of rice per hectare in the past. However, with modern tractors, the yields rise to as much as 8 tonnes, which is unbelievable!" Antonio said.

"Thanks to the project, both my children and grandchildren are living a stable life. Now I go to the fields to support the other farmers with teaching. In the future, I hope Wanbao will extend the growing areas to other corners of the country to help fight poverty," Antonio said.

Chinese ambassador in Mozambique Su Jian told Xinhua that Mozambique has a rice shortfall of between 400,000 and 600,000 tonnes. If the project achieves its set targets, it could potentially help Mozambique tackle the shortfall.

The Wanbao Mozambique rice farm, invested by the China-Africa Development Fund, is the largest of its kind undertaken by China in Africa. The project, a comprehensive business that incorporates plantation, storage, processing and sales, aims to develop 20,000 hectares of farmland, and will lead farmers in surrounding areas to grow crops over another 80,000 hectares.

"Agriculture requires long-term investment which means you get returns for your investment after long periods. However, the rice farm project undertaken by China demonstrates Chinese companies' efforts in giving back to Africa. The project is also in response to the actual development needs of Mozambique," Su said.

Currently, the project is being managed by the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation. Guo Wei, General Manager of the company's Mozambique subsidiary, said that during the last planting season, the total plantation area reached 2,200 hectares.

According to the company, grain production has greatly improved as output per hectare can reach 6 to 7.5 tonnes compared to only 2 to 2.5 tonnes in the past. In 2018 alone, 450 local households have so far signed agreements with the company for cultivation on another 800 hectares.

"From a loss-making farming business in the past, farmers now are very interested in our project and seeking to establish cooperation with us with a view for better future income." Guo said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:25:07|Editor: Xiang Bo

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China's COSCO Shipping Taurus docks at Piraeus port, Greece, Feb. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

by Xinhua Writer Tian Dongdong

BRUSSELS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- What do Europeans think of the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative?

For citizens in the German city of Duisburg, it is the sirens of trains travelling thousands of miles all the way from China, bringing new jobs and vitality to their city.

For Randi Vinfeldt, who runs a 27-hectare organic pig farm in Ostrup, Denmark, the initiative is a shortcut to China's huge market, where she can "get a good price" for her organic pigs.

For Dejan Gogic, a 37-year-old soya farmer from Belgrade, Serbia's capital, the initiative is a 1.8-km bridge taking its shape on the Sava River, connecting wilderness with future prosperity.

Some 2,000 years ago, our ancestors, trekking across vast steppes and deserts, opened the Silk Road connecting Asia, Europe and Africa. They were remembered not as conquerors but as friendly emissaries.

One year ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing that "history is our best teacher ... If we take the first courageous step towards each other, we can embark on a path leading to friendship, shared development, peace, harmony and a better future."

Now, with trains and ships loaded with goods from countries along the route, the initiative is increasingly seen as a bridge connecting hope and opportunity, and an express leading towards win-win results and common prosperity.

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

Proposed in 2013, the initiative is a grand infrastructure and trade project aimed at connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road

In late February, Germany Trade & Invest and Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) jointly published a study on the B&R Initiative, showing that 900 billion U.S. dollars had been invested in projects since 2013.

According to the study, the initiative creates a huge economic zone between Asia and Europe, serving as an important driving force for globalization.

Before China's COSCO Shipping came into the Piraeus port in Greece, the "Pearl of the Mediterranean" was listed 93 in the world ranking of cargo tonnage, and now it has climbed to the 38th. Cargoes loaded and unloaded at the port totaled 3.74 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in 2016, up from 880,000 TEUs in 2010, when COSCO Shipping's subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal took over the management of Piers II and III.

COSCO Shipping is expected to help create 125,000 jobs in the region in the very near future.

In recent years, Duisburg suffered from faltering growth. With the help of the China Railway Express (CRE), volume at the Port of Duisburg grew by 30 percent in 2017, making it the fastest growing port in Germany.

More than 6,000 jobs in logistics have been created for the city, Johannes Pflug, responsible for China affairs in the Duisburg municipality, told Xinhua, adding "we are beneficiary of the CRE trains."

Matteo Bressan, an analyst at NATO Defense College Foundation based in Rome, cited various figures to show that the initiative affects billions of people and involves trillions of dollars in business.

"It is evident that with these numbers we are facing an ambitious project ... (which) encourages new forms of win-win cooperation," Bressan told Xinhua, noting that Italy faces a great opportunity to become a hub of Chinese goods with its ports.

The idea of President Xi to recreate the ancient Silk Road evokes a past characterized by trade, mutual knowledge and cultural development, Bressan said, calling the initiative "unprecedented."

WIN-WIN

On April 27, a new China-Europe freight train arrived in Vienna, carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million U.S. dollars, and included LED displays, tires and lamps.

Departing from China's southwest city of Chengdu 15 days ago, the train traveled 9800 km through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia before pulling into the Vienna South Freight Center.

The China-Europe rail service is considered a significant part of the B&R Initiative. It is expected to boost trade between China and Europe, China's largest trading partner.

For Kosta Gouliamos, rector of European University Cyprus, the initiative has shown its massive effectiveness of strengthening international cooperation.

He noted that during the past five years, especially after last year's Belt and Road forum, construction of numerous projects have commenced, and some of the projects had delivered real benefits to the locals and the regions.

"China's Belt and Road Initiative has triggered the impulse for modernization in the areas far beyond Asia," said Volker Dreier, deputy CEO of DIHK, adding that it has great importance to the whole Germany.

"The strength of companies from Germany and China can complement each other and there is great potential for them to build long-term win-win cooperation," Lothar Herrmann, CEO of Siemens Greater China, told Xinhua.

Carl Fey, professor of International Business at Finland's Aalto University School of Business, said he was impressed to see the initiative develop into "a very sophisticated policy with many details linking many important parts together."

Echoing Fey, Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, told Xinhua that the initiative is expected to enhance greater international cooperation while fostering ties between participating countries.

"I think the Belt and Road Initiative will support the multilateral framework, enabling participating countries to reinforce and use the international agreements that are in place," said Gurry.

THE ONLY THING TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF

Some Europeans and the Western media have portrayed the Chinese initiative as detrimental to a nation's economy.

A New York Times story last year called China's investment in Greece as "a kind of neocolonialism without the gunboats."

Such a bizarre accusation has been refuted by the Greeks themselves.

Responding to the Times' story, Michail Psylos, president of Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency, told Xinhua that "nobody cares about the NYT report."

The Initiative "gives Greece the room and potential to upgrade its own role in the modern world as a member of the European Union," said the president, adding that "we think the relationship between China and Greece is of strategic and geo-political importance."

Meanwhile, Miguel Sanchez, Spain's EFE Agency's director of economic and financial sector, told Xinhua that China is "growing and becoming more and more competitive each day. The best way to fight against you is to say that you are doing nothing or doing things the wrong way."

Infrastructure investments and other projects within the framework of the initiative are benefitting Serbia and a wider Europe, Neven Cveticanin, a senior research assistant at the Institute of Social Sciences of Serbia, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Bilateral ties with China have helped improve Serbia's economy and living standards, and also set an example for Central and Eastern European countries to strengthen their cooperation with the Asian country, Cveticanin said.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, once told his fellow countrymen at the height of the Great Depression that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Roosevelt's words can serve as no better admonishment for those who chose to live in fear.

As the world is faced with severe challenges, China is offering its solution to several global problems, not only through capital and investment, but through win-win cooperation, said Gouliamos.

The initiative could be an antidote to the rise in anti-globalization, the rector added.

In his opening remarks during last year's B&R forum, Xi laid bare that China will not resort to outdated geo-political maneuvering during the initiative's expansion.

"What we hope to achieve is a new model of win-win cooperation. We have no intention to form a small group detrimental to stability," said the Chinese president. "What we hope to create is a big family of harmonious co-existence," said the Chinese president.

(Xinhua reporters Xu Yang, Zhu Sheng, Qiao Jihong in Berlin, Chen Zhanjie, Li Jie in Rome, Shi Jianguo in Geneva, Liu Yongqiu in Athens, Wang Tengfei in Vienna, Guo Chunju in Tallinn, Han Mei in Warsaw, Zhang Zhang in Nicosia, Wang Huijuan in Belgrade, Fu Yiming in Stockholm and Li Jizhi in Helsinki also contributed to the story. Video editors: Liu Yuting)Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:35:12|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ACCRA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Reports here early Monday said 12 travelers lost their lives late Sunday in a road crash at Akwatiakrom near Sunyani 400 km north of Ghana's capital.

The Ford Mini bus which they were travelling on to Kumasi 280 km north of the from Sunyani collided with a cargo truck diving in opposite direction.

The accident left 11 males including the driver of the bus and a female dead.

Police sources told media that the mini bus had veered off its course into the path of the on-coming cargo truck, resulting in the collision.

Police from Sunyani who had received a distress call from eye-witnesses carried both the injured and bodies to the hospital.

While the three survivors including the driver of the cargo truck are receiving treatment at the Bechem Government Hospital, bodies of the dead had been deposited at the Duayaw-Nkwanta Hospital Morgue and the Trust Laboratory's Morgue.

Three months ago a budding female musician, known as Ebony Reigns, lost her life together with two of her colleagues in a similar road crash just three kilometers away from where the latest incident occurred.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:40:13|Editor: Yamei

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URUMQI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- With a roar, the large turbines of a four-story-tall seed-drying machine swirl into life. Each minute, it processes more than a tonne of seeds.

This is one of China's most productive seed-drying machines, owned by Join Hope Seeds Co. Ltd., based in Changji, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The company, founded in 2003, is a major producer of corn, wheat, and cotton seeds, mainly meeting the demands of the domestic market, but has its eyes set on the increasingly lucrative market in Central Asia.

"We have teamed up with Kazak research institutions to develop seeds suitable for local soil and climate conditions," said CEO Hu Baomin.

The company recently set up a subsidiary in Kazakhstan and built an agricultural research center with an area of 133.3 hectares, larger than its own domestic campus.

Xinjiang, China's northwest doorway to Central and West Asia, sits at the center of the ancient Silk Road. Local businesses are eyeing greater opportunities westward as China sets to revive the ancient trade route.

The autonomous region saw a 24.2 percent increase in foreign trade in the first two months of 2018, with the trade volume with Kazakhstan hitting 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, a surge of 47.7 percent year on year, according to customs statistics.

Like Join Hope, other local companies have broken into markets in neighboring countries which have a similar climate, culture, and customs, while firms from other regions of China have set up Xinjiang branches for easier access to Central Asia.

"This year, we shifted our focus from the domestic to the international market," said Kerim Memetniyaz, owner of Xinjiang Parlak Carpet Factory, adding that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan are their main export destinations.

"Exports already generate 30 percent of our revenue and we expect it to grow further," said Memetniyaz.

The history of carpet exports from Xinjiang dates back to West Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 24 A.D.) Delicate, handmade carpets from the region were a popular product on the ancient Silk Road.

"Carpet is a symbol of being rich in Uygur culture," said Memetniyaz. "Uygurs cover their floors with carpets and wealthier families also drape them on all the walls."

"The custom is shared by many countries in Central and West Asia," he added.

To meet demand, the types of carpet produced in the factory have been extended from traditional Uygur to a combination of Uygur, Persian, and Kazan styles, Memetniyaz said.

In the future, the company plans to invest 600 million yuan (94.7 million U.S. dollars) to expand its factory and upgrade equipment.

Just kilometers away from the carpet factory, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (CRCHI), China's leading heavy equipment maker, based in the central province of Hunan, set up its Xinjiang subsidiary in 2015.

Machinery and appliances were the second biggest contributors to export growth in the provincial capital Urumqi in 2017 and have been increasingly transported on the China-Europe rail freight routes, according to Urumqi customs.

"As orders from Central and West Asia increased, the company deemed it necessary to set up the subsidiary," said Zhang Shimin, head of CRCHI's Xinjiang branch.

Transporting a tunnel boring machine, the company's main product, from Hunan to Xinjiang costs about three million yuan.

"That accounts for five to eight percent of the price of the machine," Zhang said.

Since its establishment, the branch has helped CRCHI save more than 60 million yuan.

"We are now bidding for another project in Kazakhstan," said Zhang. "The Central Asia market is full of potential."KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday that the new government has banned more officials from leaving the country, amid an expanding corruption probe which targets many serving the previous government led by former Prime Minister Najib Razak.

"We are investigating various officers who the public have accused of wrongdoing, and if necessary, we have to stop them from leaving the country," said Mahathir at a press conference, without revealing the names.

Mahathir, who built much of his campaign by accusing Najib of corruption, vowed to control corruption and cronyism after the election. He has ordered a travel ban on Najib and his wife and replaced the former attorney general Mohamed Apandi Ali, who was appointed by Najib.

Mahathir also said he will find a replacement for the head of the anti-corruption authority, after the resignation of former one.

The 92-year-old, who has been on a busy schedule since taking office, on Monday also met with the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, the first world leader to pay a visit to Malaysia after the election.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:45:17|Editor: Li Xia

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GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Seven Palestinians were killed and at least 350 injured Monday during clashes between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza said in a short text message sent to reporters that seven Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 350 wounded, with 227 injured by Israeli live gunshots in eastern Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators cut barbed wire of border fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel and managed to enter into Israel. Some of them burned tires.

The Monday protests were organized by the National Commission of the Great Marches of Return in eastern Gaza Strip, which have been going on since March 30. Monday's rallies were also against moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

The Great Marches of Return was organized to mark 70 years of the Palestinian Nakba Day or "Day of Catastrophe," which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:50:18|Editor: Yamei

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers a speech at the opening of China Business Summit 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand, on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The fourth New Zealand China Business Summit kicked off here on Monday, focusing on opportunities brought by China's economic development.

Themed Eyes Wide Open, this year's summit encourages all walks of life of New Zealand to pay close attention to the development of China such as e-commerce and cashless society, and seize opportunities.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lauded the relations with China while delivering a speech at the opening of the summit, noting that both countries are now pushing for cooperation at a higher level.

Highlighting China's blueprint of development and opportunities it brings to the world, Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wu Xi called for more efforts to deepen cooperation between China and New Zealand.

The fourth New Zealand China Business Summit hosts around 300 participants.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 18:55:20|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has called for enhanced cooperation in science and technology between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the mainland, vowing support for the region to become an international center of innovative technology and for HKSAR scientists to contribute to national strength building in this regard.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an important instruction and ordered timely actions to be taken in response to a letter written to him by 24 HKSAR-based academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in June 2017.

In the letter, the academicians expressed their strong intentions to make contributions to the motherland and enthusiasm to boost sci-tech innovation.

A solid sci-tech foundation and a large number of sci-tech talent who love the country and Hong Kong, possessed by the HKSAR, are an important force in implementing the national strategy of innovation-driven development and making China a country of innovators, Xi said.

Promoting sci-tech cooperation between the HKSAR and the mainland, supporting the HKSAR to become an international center of innovative technologies, giving play to their own unique sci-tech strengths and contributing to economic development and improving people's living standards both in Hong Kong and the mainland are all part of the implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle in the HKSAR, he noted.

Great importance should be attached to the problems mentioned by the academicians in the letter, Xi said, urging more work on concrete measures and proper solutions to support HKSAR scientists in making contributions to national sci-tech strength building and national rejuvenation.

In accordance with Xi's instruction, related government departments have acted fast, and sci-tech cooperation between the mainland and HKSAR has been pushed forward in an orderly manner.

The problems mentioned in the letter, concerning national sci-tech funding and favorable policies on tariff for equipment transfers, have been basically resolved.

Sixteen partner labs of key state laboratories based in HKSAR and two partner labs in Macao Special Administrative Region have received direct support from national programs.

All scientific research institutions established in the mainland by the HKSAR have already been enjoying preferential tax policies to promote sci-tech innovation.

Overall institutional arrangements have also been made to offer direct financial support to scientific research in Hong Kong and Macao via related national programs.

Related departments will further support sci-tech personnel who love the country and Hong Kong to intensively participate in national sci-tech programs, as well as expand and deepen sci-tech cooperation between HKSAR and the mainland in an orderly way.Photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the Wanbao rice farm project located in southern Mozambique's Xai-Xai district. (Xinhua/Nie Zuguo)

by Xinhua writers Zhu Shaobin and Nie Zuguo

MAPUTO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Through the fertile basin in south Mozambique's Gaza province, the expansive Limpopo River waters are flowing into the Indian Ocean at the province's Xai-Xai district.

People living here, if they can speak hello in Chinese, "ni hao", they most certainly also know another Chinese term Wanbao, name of a Chinese rice farm project.

Photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the Wanbao rice farm project located in southern Mozambique's Xai-Xai district. (Xinhua/Nie Zuguo)

This is because of the local farmers' ever growing enthusiasm to get involved in this key agricultural project under a "company plus farmer" cooperation model that is already leading some farmers toward prosperity.

Under the model, the project provides initial investment for infrastructure and other inputs including production materials, modern machinery, technology and maintenance to the farm, while farmers sign plantation and sales agreements with the company.

Photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the Wanbao rice farm project located in southern Mozambique's Xai-Xai district. (Xinhua/Nie Zuguo)

Through this model, farmers themselves are trying to maximize their profits by hard work and skills training provided by the Chinese.

Matilde Filomone Mariquele, a mother of five children, was born and raised in the same area where the project is developing agricultural activities.

"I benefited from the rice technology transfer program, and learned to produce rice using Chinese technologies on one hectare of land," she said.

"Wanbao provides seeds, herbicides and fertilizers. The company also did land leveling, water pumping and provided infrastructure and maintenance service," she said.

She said that at the end of the harvest, she sold her produce to the company. After the company deducted the initial costs of production, the remainder profits were for her to keep. "With the money, I have improved a lot my life. I have built my house and my children are going to school," she said.

Meanwhile, 62-year-old Antonio Manuel is now even teaching other farmers how to grow rice as he is heavily involved in the project by cultivating crops over 40 hectares.

"I have an old tractor that I used, but with Wanbao I learned how to use modern tractors. My old tractor and non-mechanized methods produced only 1.5 tonnes of rice per hectare in the past. However, with modern tractors, the yields rise to as much as 8 tonnes, which is unbelievable!" Antonio said.

"Thanks to the project, both my children and grandchildren are living a stable life. Now I go to the fields to support the other farmers with teaching. In the future, I hope Wanbao will extend the growing areas to other corners of the country to help fight poverty," Antonio said.

Chinese ambassador in Mozambique Su Jian told Xinhua that Mozambique has a rice shortfall of between 400,000 and 600,000 tonnes. If the project achieves its set targets, it could potentially help Mozambique tackle the shortfall.

The Wanbao Mozambique rice farm, invested by the China-Africa Development Fund, is the largest of its kind undertaken by China in Africa. The project, a comprehensive business that incorporates plantation, storage, processing and sales, aims to develop 20,000 hectares of farmland, and will lead farmers in surrounding areas to grow crops over another 80,000 hectares.

"Agriculture requires long-term investment which means you get returns for your investment after long periods. However, the rice farm project undertaken by China demonstrates Chinese companies' efforts in giving back to Africa. The project is also in response to the actual development needs of Mozambique," Su said.

Currently, the project is being managed by the China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation. Guo Wei, General Manager of the company's Mozambique subsidiary, said that during the last planting season, the total plantation area reached 2,200 hectares.

According to the company, grain production has greatly improved as output per hectare can reach 6 to 7.5 tonnes compared to only 2 to 2.5 tonnes in the past. In 2018 alone, 450 local households have so far signed agreements with the company for cultivation on another 800 hectares.

"From a loss-making farming business in the past, farmers now are very interested in our project and seeking to establish cooperation with us with a view for better future income." Guo said.LONDON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A report said Monday that 20 percent of British home sellers suffered house sale collapse every year, rendering them a lot of time waste.

More than 300,000 property transactions are falling through every year, costing sellers 400 million pounds, or 543 million U.S. dollars, according to a report published Monday by HomeOwners Alliance.

One in five sellers has experienced a sale collapse, incurring costs that average more than 2,727 pounds, or some 3,705 U.S. dollars, said the report.

Meanwhile, the study also revealed that nearly one in 10 sellers has been "gazundered," where the buyers lowered their offer just before the exchange of contracts.

The report came after the British government announced plans for a number of housing measures, including the introduction of voluntary reservation agreements.

These legally binding agreements would require both buyers and sellers to put down a non-refundable deposit to commit both sides earlier in the process.

The plans are being consulted upon, The Times newspaper said.

Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, told the British daily newspaper that "Gazundering and time wasting is a big problem."

"The home-selling system is so unreliable it's deterring homeowners from selling, adding to the housing shortage crisis as a lack of suitable homes is one of the barriers to people moving up the property ladder," Higgins said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 19:15:27|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday applauded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) announcement that it will dismantle its northern nuclear test ground between May 23 to 25.

"The measures taken by the DPRK demonstrate its goodwill for advancing denuclearization of the peninsula and building mutual trust with related parties," spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing.

He said that this is conducive to the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and should be welcomed, encouraged, and supported by the international community.

The DPRK announced that it will hold a ceremony for the dismantling of the northern nuclear test ground between May 23 and May 25, depending on weather conditions, and journalists from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and the Republic of Korea will be allowed to conduct on-site coverage.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 19:15:28|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China appreciates the U.S. position on Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday on Twitter that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working together to give ZTE "a way to get back into business, fast," and the U.S. Commerce Department has been instructed to work on the issue.

In response, Lu said China is keeping close communication with the United States on specific details and issues that the U.S. side is concerned about.

Earlier on Monday, Lu announced Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, Vice Premier Liu He, would visit the United States from May 15 to 19 for economic and trade consultations.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, will visit at the invitation of the U.S. administration.

Liu will continue to hold consultations with the U.S. economic team headed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on economic and trade issues between the two countries, Lu said.

"China stands ready to work with the United States to promote positive and constructive results in the forthcoming consultations," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 19:20:29|Editor: Li Xia

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A Palestinian protester burns tires during clashes with Israeli troops in Gaza, on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)

GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Sixteen Palestinians were killed and more than 400 injured Monday during heavy confrontations between hundreds of angry Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza said in a short text message sent to reporters that 16 Palestinian demonstrators were killed and more than 400 wounded, with 250 injured by Israeli live gunshots in eastern Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators cut barbed wire of border fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel and managed to enter into Israel. Some of them burned tires.

The Monday protests were organized by the National Commission of the Great Marches of Return in eastern Gaza Strip, which have been going on since March 30. Monday's rallies were also against moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

The Great Marches of Return was organized to mark 70 years of the Palestinian Nakba Day or "Day of Catastrophe," which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence.KIEV, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine and the European Union (EU) will hold their 20th summit on July 9 in Brussels, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency said on Monday, citing a senior EU official.

According to the agency, Hugues Mingarelli, head of the EU delegation to Ukraine, told reporters in Kiev that the summit will discuss Ukraine's fight against corruption, implementation of the Minsk agreements, and EU's macro-financial assistance for Kiev.

Ukraine's possible integration into the EU's customs union, the digital market, and the energy union will be also on the summit's agenda, Mingarelli said.

The 19th Ukraine-EU Summit was held in Kiev on July 12-13 last year.

On the eve of the 2017 meeting, the EU adopted the comprehensive Association Agreement with Ukraine, which includes a free trade deal and a broad range of legislation and regulation topics.

However, the EU gave no membership prospects for Ukraine, with officials of the 28-member bloc saying that the country did not meet political, legal and economic criteria to enter the bloc.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 19:30:33|Editor: Li Xia

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DOHA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Qatar has strongly condemned the assaults carried out by more than 1,600 Israeli settlers into holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Monday.

Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that "this is the largest number of Israeli settlers who have stormed the Mosque since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967."

Qatar has also rejected Israel's violations and aggressions on Islamic sites across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, the statement called on the international community to take urgent action to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites in Palestine.

On Sunday, huge clashes broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque between Palestinians and the Israeli settlers, who were celebrating the "Jerusalem Day" by marching through the holy city.

Last December, Qatar announced its rejection towards the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Qatar has been supporting the Palestinians. Qatar has donated 50 million U.S. dollars to offer the necessary services to Palestinian refugees.MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tehran said it will preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Russia despite Washington's decision to withdraw.

"Iran and Russia should guarantee our common interests, which are to preserve the deal and ensure economic benefits for all participants," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying on Monday following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Zarif said after Moscow he will travel to Brussels to meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany.

There was no press conference following the Lavrov-Zarif talks in Moscow, and the Russian Foreign Ministry only said in a brief statement that the main focus of the conversation was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal; both ministers agreed to maintain close contact on this issue.

Before visiting Moscow, Zarif went to China on Sunday for talks with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that the United States would withdraw from the deal, a landmark agreement signed in 2015 by Iran, Russia, the United States, Britain, China, France and Germany.

Trump claimed that the deal had failed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism in the region, which Tehran denies.RABAT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan authorities have arrested four suspected Islamic State (IS) militants who had been plotting attacks in the kingdom, the interior ministry said on Monday in a statement.

The suspects, aged between 20 and 26, had been active in the northwestern cities of Casablanca and Kenitra and northeastern cities of Fez and Driouch, and one of them is a former prisoner charged with terrorism, the statement said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were supporting and disseminating the propaganda of IS, the statement pointed out.

Some of the suspects made contact with IS fighters to learn how to make bombs, the same source said.

Electronic devices, military uniforms and books advocating extremist ideas had been seized during the arrest operations, it noted.

Since 2015, Moroccan security services have busted over 50 terrorist cells, more than 40 of which were linked to the IS, according to interior ministry statistics.SOFIA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. tech giant Google on Monday launched a digital competency training initiative here for Bulgaria's small and middle-sized business (SMBs).

Under the initiative titled "Grow with Google," 15,000 individuals and SMBs in 37 cities across the Balkan country would be trained by the end of the year, Annette Kroeber-Riel, Google's senior director of public policy and government relations, said at the launching ceremony.

"During this period, 12 digital consultants will deliver trainings, workshops, and one-on-one sessions which will focus on growing business online by making use of digital tools and instruments," Kroeber-Riel said.

She said the European economy and society are undergoing a digital transformation, which offers enormous opportunities for growth, innovation and jobs.

"However, according to the European Commission's data, 44 percent of the EU population and 37 percent of the labour workforce has insufficient levels of digital skills," she said.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov who attended the event said that in today's world, digital skills and knowledge are wealth, "and we all have to change ourselves if we want to be competitive on the market."

Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Economy Alexander Manolev added that initiatives like "Grow with Google" are very important because the number of SMBs in Bulgaria is 316,000, which is 99.8 percent of all non-financial enterprises in the country, and they are the backbone of the economy.MOGADISHU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Somalia has kicked off a constitutional review process ahead of "one-person, one-vote" elections scheduled for 2020.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, who launched the process, pledged financial and political support to the process to ensure the country gets a new Constitution by the end of 2019.

"I hereby confirm that my government has pledged 3 million U.S. dollars for the constitution process to be finalized," Khaire said, according to a statement issued by AMISOM on Sunday.

"However, this pledge should produce a Somalia-owned document, Somali thinking, Somali economy, Somali advice and new Somali unity that rebuilds the Somali nation we lost," he told the national convention held in Mogadishu and attended by Members of Parliament, religious leaders, civil society and international partners.

Khaire said there was need to finalize the constitutional process to unify the country, promote economic growth and above all deliver a new document for posterity.

He said Somalia needs a new Constitution to accomplish the movement towards one-person one-vote to give the population an opportunity to pick leaders of their choice.

The three-day convention comes as the Horn of Africa nation prepares to move towards one-person, one-vote elections in 2020/2021 in which the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) is working to achieve this.

Analysts say a key step in creating a stable and democratic political system is the registration of political parties, in line with the Political Party Law of the Federal Government of Somalia, which was passed by the Somali Parliament in June 2016.

Francisco Madeira, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC), lauded the efforts of Somali leaders for prioritizing the constitutional review process in accordance with Somalia's Political Roadmap.

"As we implement the transition plan and handover more security responsibilities to you the Somalis, this consultation and the subsequent voicing of your opinions on how you, the Somalis, wish to be governed, is the beginning of Somalia taking charge of its responsibilities," Madeira said.

He called for a wide consultative engagement, whose outcome should aim at facilitating a fair and inclusive political process in Somalia.

Somalia is currently governed by a Provisional Constitution, adopted on August 1, 2012 which was agreed upon by 825 delegates at the National Constituent Assembly after years of conflict.

The federal and state governments plan to have a new document ready ahead of the one-person one-vote elections scheduled for 2020.

Abdirahman Hosh Jibril, the Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Abdirahman Hosh Jibril, traced the history of the constitution making in Somalia, which began in 2000 in Djibouti and later moved to Kenya, before the eventual adoption of a Provisional Constitution in 2012 through a constituent Assembly.

"The agreement which we signed at the Office of the Prime minister last November made us become one united group without any divisions," Jibril said of the tripartite agreement signed by the Constitution Review Commission, the Parliamentary Oversight Committee and his ministry.

He said through the tripartite agreement, the Constitution Review Commission is determined to give the people of Somalia a new document as soon as possible so that the next elections in 2020 are held under a new political dispensation.MUMBAI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is`making efforts to help mobilize more finance for infrastructure projects in South Asia, AIIB Vice President and Corporate Secretary Danny Alexander said.

Alexander made the remarks in a recent interview. He highlighted the important role that infrastructure investment had played in the development of some economies in Asia in the 1980s.

"It's no coincidence that the Indian government has made improving the infrastructure of India a very important priority because it's really crucial for a country to develop economically," he noted.

The third annual meeting of the AIIB's board of governors will be held here in June.

The first annual meeting was held in Beijing in 2016. The second meeting was launched in South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju in 2017.

Officially launched in January 2016, the Beijing-based AIIB is a multilateral development bank initiated by China and supported by a wide range of countries and regions, which will provide financing for infrastructure improvement in Asia.HANOI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Intermediary online payment service is developing strongly in Vietnam with active participation of foreign players, according to the country's central bank on Monday.

To date, 27 intermediary payment service providers such as Alipay, Momo and Payoo have been licensed with majority of them having foreign investments, including those from Chinese conglomerate Alibaba and global investment bank Goldman Sachs, said an official from the State Bank of Vietnam.

The intermediary payment service providers offer users a digital wallet or electronic wallet (e-wallet) which allows them to make electronic transactions using computers or smartphones. An individual's bank account can also be linked to the digital wallet.

Vietnam's total e-wallet transactions rocketed to 53.1 trillion Vietnamese dong (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016 from 5 billion Vietnamese dong (220,300 U.S. dollars) in 2009, up 64 percent against 2015.

Local experts have attributed the intermediary payment service's boom to its high convenience, insignificant charges, no foreign ownership cap at merchants, and increasing popularity of smartphones.

According to the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, which operates a 17,200-ATM inter-bank network, a 270,000-POS system, and over 100 million domestic cards issued by 46 commercial domestic and foreign banks in Vietnam, 267 million transactions worth 28.9 billion U.S. dollars were made via its service last year.

As of August 2017, cash payment accounted for 11.5 percent of total means of payment in Vietnam which plans to lower the rate to 10 percent by 2020, according to the central bank.TUNIS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's cooperation with China will bring peace, prosperity and development, Mohamed Sahbi Basly, former Tunisian Ambassador to China, said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"Tunisia's cooperation with China will help create jobs, fight against terrorism and put an end to uncontrolled migratory flows between the north and south of Mediterranean," Basly said.

As president of Mediterranean Organization for the Silk Road, Basly inaugurated his organization in Tunis in early May, whose essential objective "is to popularize the culture of Silk Road to European, Arab and African decision-makers, and to establish strong cultural ties."

"China is a real locomotive of the world economy, in parallel with a certain American protectionism," said Basly.

"China's Belt and Road Initiative is a strong message," said the Tunisian official, adding that China reaches out hand to everyone to share wealth, especially to the countries in Africa, Arab world, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

"Tunisia will find its place on the Silk Road," emphasized Basly.

Referring to the Mediterranean region, Basly said it is not "a lake of peace and security," but faces a multitude of conflicts among ethnic groups, religions as well as conflicts on political and economic issues.

"Thus, the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue would have no way out, especially after the latent economic crisis since 2008 and 2011 Arab Spring," said Basly.

To get out of this vicious circle, Basly proposed that China could help boost the spirit of solidarity, tolerance, and cultural exchange in the region.

As for the benefits of Tunisia, Basly hoped his country "will recover its Mediterranean dimension and will be at the center of a Euro-Mediterranean dialogue resized on the basis of equality."Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 20:15:52|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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BERLIN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Stuttgart have reinforced their team with the signing of five youngsters for the next season, the Bundesliga club announced in an official statement on Monday.

Marc Oliver Kempf, Pablo Maffeo, Borna Sosa, David Kopacz and Robert Massimo joined the "Swabians", who may play in Europa League next season.

Centre back Marc Oliver Kempf joined from league rivals Freiburg after putting pen to paper on a four-year deal, stipulated until June 2022.

"We have observed Marc Oliver Kempf for a long time and we see great potential. He is one of the most interesting young German defenders and we are happy that he has opted for Stuttgart despite various offers," Stuttgart's sporting director Michael Reschke said.

Manchester City's Pablo Maffeo will strengthen Stuttgart's defense, as the 20-year-old defender has penned a long-term contract until June 2023.

"There were many requests for Pablo Maffeo from England and Spain but he has decided for Stuttgart. Pablo is a player with a big heart and huge force, who has a great future as a defender," Reschke said.

Borna Sosa moved from Dinamo Zagreb to Stuttgart and signed a five-year deal, which will keep him in Germany's top flight until June 2023. He received the jersey no. 24.

"Borna Sosa is a very interesting player for the future and will be important for Stuttgart in the upcoming season. Borna is one of the most interesting defender talents in Europe."

David Kopacz joined from league rivals Borussia Dortmund. The 18-year-old all-round talent inked a four-year deal until June 2022.

"David Kopacz is a very talented and versatile player. We want to introduce him carefully into the Bundesliga."

Stuttgart have also completed the transfer of Robert Massimo, who joined from second division outfit Arminia Bielefeld. The 17-year-old winger has signed a long-term deal but will stay with Bielefeld for at least one season on loan.

"Robert Massimo has very good requirements to establish himself in the Bundesliga in the coming years. We look forward to a highly talented player."

Stuttgart have completed the Bundesliga season 2017-2018 on the 7th position. If Bayern Munich wins the German Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt, the "Swabians" will move up into the Europa League.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 20:15:52|Editor: Yamei

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Photo taken on May 14, 2018 shows a self-driving vehicle for road testing in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. Tencent Monday received a government permit to test its self-driving car on certain public roads in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

SHENZHEN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tencent Monday received a government permit to test its self-driving car on certain public roads in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The Shenzhen Transport Bureau issued a license plate for a self-driving car of the Internet giant.

Han Hao, an official with the bureau, said the agency would soon announce the testing roads and time. A driver and a safety personnel should be in the car during the tests.

Multiple government agencies in Shenzhen have formed a working group to manage and promote self-driving technology.

Earlier several cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, issued self-driving car licenses after regulations governing road testing of unmanned vehicles went into effect.TRIPOLI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Libya's General Authority for Communications and Information on Sunday said that Chinese companies are strategic partners to develop the telecommunications sector in Libya.

The comments came during a workshop organized by the Authority in the capital Tripoli, titled "Postal Addressing: Necessity or Accessory."

The one-day workshop discussed a project to facilitate electronic connectivity and services.

"The Chinese companies are strategic partners for the development of the telecommunications sector in Libya," Adel Ehmedat, director of the Organization Department of the Authority, told Xinhua.

"They provide a great addition and service to the Libyan telecommunications sector, in terms of development of networks of telephone, mobile and fixed-line billing systems, as well as technical support of training and provision of spare parts for communication stations," Ehmedat said.

"We are talking about China's telecoms companies Huawei and ZTE. They have provided their services in the most difficult circumstances and have been with us most of the time. We are very grateful and look forward to further cooperation with the two companies," Ehmedat added.

Most foreign companies left Libya due to security deterioration following the overthrow of former leader Gaddafi's regime in 2011, when most development projects of electricity, water and housing were suspended.

Despite such problems, Chinese telecommunication companies remained in Libya and continued to operate despite the obstacles they face, making them the only foreign companies operating in the country in time of political division and economic decline.

The state-owned Libya Telecom and Technology Company (LTT) launched earlier this year the first phase of the 4G high-speed Internet service, implemented by the Chinese Huawei.

The first phase of the project was launched in six Libyan cities, including Tripoli and Benghazi.

The Libyan official spoke highly of the importance of the fiber optic project by the Chinese companies and seeking study chances for resuming the rest of the project.

"Libya has a fiber optic network of more than 12 thousand km. The first phase was completed in 2012, but then stopped. Now, the project is being studied with Chinese companies and we seek resuming and completing the remaining stages of the project," He added.

Ehmedat confirmed that future development of telecom sector with Chinese companies has promising and important opportunities.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 20:35:57|Editor: Xiang Bo

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A Palestinian protester burns tires during clashes with Israeli troops in Gaza, on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)

GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-eight Palestinians were killed and over 1,600 others injured Monday during heavy confrontations between hundreds of angry Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza said in a short text message sent to reporters that 28 Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 1,693 others injured, with about half of them injured by Israeli live gunshots in eastern Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses said that hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators cut barbed wire of border fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel and managed to enter into Israel. Some of them burned tires.

Monday's protests were organized by the National Commission of the Great Marches of Return in eastern Gaza Strip, which have been going on since March 30. The anti-Israel rallies were also against moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

The protests coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe."DAR ES SALAAM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania was in the process of ratifying the Biological Weapons Convention, an international effort to address the threats posed by biological weapons, a senior official told Parliament on Monday.

Hussein Mwinyi, the east African nation's Minister for Defense and National Service, said it was high time Tanzania ratified the convention, joining other countries that have ratified the deal.

"With ongoing terrorism threats in the world, Tanzania now sees it fit to ratify the convention," Mwinyi told the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma.

He said the government will table in the National assembly the convention for ratification in the next parliamentary session slated for September this year.

He said Tanzania first signed the convention on August 1, 1972 but it has not yet ratified it until now, adding that Tanzania did not ratify the convention because it was not important at that time.

Mwinyi was responding to Jason Rweikiza, the Member of Parliament for Bukoba Urban constituency, who had demanded reasons behind Tanzania's failure to ratify the convention.

The minister clarified that the government was aware of the effects of not ratifying the convention.

Mwinyi added that by not ratifying the convention, Tanzania was denied opportunities for its experts to get training on how to deal with biological and toxin weapons.

"Failure to ratify the convention also prevents Tanzanians from applying for opportunities in international institutions that are working in accordance with the law on biological weapons," Mwinyi told the House.

The convention bans the use of biological weapons in war and prohibits all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, or transfer of such weapons.

The convention was first signed in London, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. on April 10, 1972, and thereafter was opened for signing by other states.BERLIN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Free Democratic Party (FDP) criticized the German federal government on Monday for failing to shield German companies operating in Iran from new U.S. sanctions.

FDP foreign policy spokesperson Alexander Graf Lambsdorff told public broadcaster ARD that Berlin had not developed credible plans to counter new U.S. sanctions against Iran in spite of repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw from the landmark nuclear deal.

The FDP politician proposed making greater use of the European Union's (EU) publicly-owned European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide financing for business between the bloc and Iran as a potential solution neglected by the government. This way firms would not have to rely on private sector banks with branches in the United States and were hence barred from servicing any transactions with links to Iran under the newly-imposed sanctions regime.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently cautioned that he saw "no easy solution" to excluding German firms from the economic fallouts of sanctions aimed at Iran. As a consequence, business leaders would have to make a choice between being active either in the U.S. or Iranian market.

Washington has announced that companies currently active in Iran will have a grace period of between three and six months to wind down their operations entirely before facing the risk of hefty fines or loss of commercial access to the lucrative U.S. market.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain are scheduled to hold emergency talks over the subject with Iranian representatives in Brussels on Tuesday. Maas told press that the goal of the meeting was to ensure that "Iran continues to abide by the rules and regulations of the Vienna nuclear accord," whilst "preserving economic incentives" for Tehran in exchange.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has joined other state representatives around the world in condemning Trump's announcement to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord. Speaking to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the chancellor emphasized that Germany remains committed to the terms of the nuclear accord.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Iran has so far complied with all of the conditions established under the deal.Palestinian demonstrators run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border east of Gaza City May 14, 2018. (Reuters photo)

GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-eight Palestinians were killed and over 1,600 others injured Monday during heavy confrontations between hundreds of angry Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza said in a short text message sent to reporters that 28 Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 1,693 others injured, with about half of them injured by Israeli live gunshots in eastern Gaza Strip.

Palestinians run for cover from tear gas during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, east of Jabalia on May 14, 2018, as Palestinians protest over the inauguration of the U.S. embassy following its controversial move to Jerusalem.

Eyewitnesses said that hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators cut barbed wire of border fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel and managed to enter into Israel. Some of them burned tires.

Monday's protests were organized by the National Commission of the Great Marches of Return in eastern Gaza Strip, which have been going on since March 30. The anti-Israel rallies were also against moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

The protests coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe."THE HAGUE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Between 2015 and 2017, goods exports from the Netherlands to Asia increased most, by about a quarter, announced Dutch national statistics bureau CBS on Monday.

The CBS also said the share of Dutch exports in global trade reached 3.2 percent in 2017 after falling from 3.5 to 3.0 percent in the years after the financial crisis.

World trade has more than doubled in value compared with the year 2000, from 8.5 trillion euros to almost 20 trillion euros (2017). Between 2008 and 2017, the Dutch export value increased by more than 174.5 billion euros, with exports of goods up by 125 billion euros and that of services up by 50 billion euros.

The Netherlands still exports the vast majority of goods to European countries, 77 percent. But between 2015 and 2017, the strongest growth of Dutch goods exports was in petroleum products to Asia. Exports to European countries increased by 12 percent. Exports to North and South American countries and Oceania also increased.

Most of the Dutch services also go to other European countries (68 percent). In percentage terms, exports of services to Oceania rose most rapidly between 2015 and 2017, followed by services to Europe and Asia. In both Europe and Asia, the export value of business services, royalties and licenses increased. The export value of services to North and South America and Africa decreased between 2015 and 2017, said the CBS. (1 euro=1.20 U.S. dollars)Mohamed Sahbi Basly, former Tunisian Ambassador to China, received a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua. (Xinhua photo)

TUNIS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's cooperation with China will bring peace, prosperity and development, Mohamed Sahbi Basly, former Tunisian Ambassador to China, said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"Tunisia's cooperation with China will help create jobs, fight against terrorism and put an end to uncontrolled migratory flows between the north and south of Mediterranean," Basly said.

As president of Mediterranean Organization for the Silk Road, Basly inaugurated his organization in Tunis in early May, whose essential objective "is to popularize the culture of Silk Road to European, Arab and African decision-makers, and to establish strong cultural ties."

"China is a real locomotive of the world economy, in parallel with a certain American protectionism," said Basly.

"China's Belt and Road Initiative is a strong message," said the Tunisian official, adding that China reaches out hand to everyone to share wealth, especially to the countries in Africa, Arab world, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

"Tunisia will find its place on the Silk Road," emphasized Basly.

Referring to the Mediterranean region, Basly said it is not "a lake of peace and security," but faces a multitude of conflicts among ethnic groups, religions as well as conflicts on political and economic issues.

"Thus, the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue would have no way out, especially after the latent economic crisis since 2008 and 2011 Arab Spring," said Basly.

To get out of this vicious circle, Basly proposed that China could help boost the spirit of solidarity, tolerance, and cultural exchange in the region.

As for the benefits of Tunisia, Basly hoped his country "will recover its Mediterranean dimension and will be at the center of a Euro-Mediterranean dialogue resized on the basis of equality."MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tehran and Moscow say they will preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal despite Washington's decision to withdraw.

"Iran and Russia should guarantee our common interests, which are to preserve the deal and ensure economic benefits for all participants," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying on Monday following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Russia stated that it will adhere to and protect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, the report said.

Zarif said after Moscow he will travel to Brussels to meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany.

"The ultimate goal of all these negotiations is to obtain assurances that the Iranian people's interests guaranteed by the JCPOA will be protected," he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Monday.

There was no press conference following the Lavrov-Zarif talks in Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry only said in a brief statement that the main focus of the conversation was the JCPOA and that both ministers agreed to maintain close contact on this issue.

In their opening remarks, Lavrov said Russia, Iran and the other signatories of the deal, including China and three European countries, should together "defend their legitimate interest stipulated by this agreement."

Before visiting Moscow, Zarif went to China on Sunday for talks with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang said China will take an "objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned, and continue to work to maintain the (Iran nuclear) deal."

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that the United States would withdraw from the deal, a landmark agreement signed in 2015 by Iran, Russia, the United States, Britain, China, France and Germany.

Trump claimed that the deal had failed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism in the region.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 21:01:13|Editor: Li Xia

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An exhibitor shows summer robes during Consumer Trade Fair in Hawalli Governorate, Kuwait, on May 14, 2018. Kuwait held on Monday Consumer Trade Fair at the Kuwait International Fairground in Hawalli Governorate. It aims at displaying daily consumer products. (Xinhua/Nie Yunpeng)Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 21:01:03|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Universities and research institutions in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao are encouraged to participate in the central fiscal science and technology plans, according to guidelines released Monday.

The guidelines were jointly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Finance.

The guidelines are aimed at implementing the national strategy of innovation-driven development for the new era, promoting sci-tech cooperation between the mainland and HK and Macao, giving play to their own unique sci-tech strengths, supporting sci-tech innovation in HK and Macao, and incentivizing scientists who love the country and HK and Macao to play greater roles in building China into a technology power and making China a country of innovators.

"Following the principle of competition and selecting the best, they can apply to lead the central fiscal science and technology projects and get the funding," said the guidelines.

They can also apply to participate or lead such projects in cooperating with institutions on the mainland.

The guidelines started trial operation Monday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 21:06:04|Editor: Li Xia

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KUWAIT CITY, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah condemned on Monday terrorist attacks on three churches in the city of Surabaya in Indonesia.

In a cable of condolences sent to the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, the Kuwaiti emir affirmed Kuwait's strong condemnation and denouncement of such terrorist acts that target innocent lives and contradict all humanitarian doctrines and values.

He expressed sincere condolences and sorrow to the Indonesian president and people over victims of the terrorist blasts that killed 13 and wounded scores of people.

He also affirmed Kuwait's support to all measures taken by the Indonesian authorities to face terrorist acts and preserve the country's security and stability.

A total of 13 people were killed and scores of others injured as suicide bombers blew themselves during congregations in three churches in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, on Sunday.

The deadly blasts took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area, Gereja Kristen Indonesia church on Diponegoro street and Pantekosta church on Arjuno street.AMMAN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Relocation of U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will fuel regional tension and cause serious consequences, according to Jordanian analysts and officials.

Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said that the act of opening the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a clear violation of the UN resolutions.

"Jordan rejects the U.S. decision that lacks legal grounds, and Jordan, like the rest of the world, rejects the U.S. move," said the minister in a statement to the press on Monday.

East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, said the minister, stressing the kingdom's custodianship of the city.

The minister added that Jordan, which signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994, will exert all possible efforts to relaunch peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis and will continue to work with the international community to protect Jerusalem and the holy sites.

The minister warned of serious consequence of provocations in Jerusalem.

Retired major general and strategic analyst Adeeb Sarayreh said the U.S. move will worsen the situation, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"This U.S. move only serves extremism and violence in the Middle East," Sarayreh said, adding that there is a need for unified efforts to face the U.S. move.

"The Palestinian issue is the key issue in the Middle East and will remain as such... Any provocations will only worsen the situation," he said.

Political analyst Raed Omari agreed.

"I believe a new intifada is likely to occur in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the invalid U.S. move," Omari told Xinhua.

"The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump is reckless and is likely to fuel more tension...Jordan is directly involved as the Palestinian issue directly affects the kingdom," said Omari.

He added that the U.S. decision, which was rejected by overwhelming majority of world countries, violates UN resolutions and undermines peacemaking efforts.

"The U.S. decision preempts any future peace talks and this is a key obstacle for making peace," said Omari.

In December, the UN General Assembly voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions to adopt a resolution on the status of Jerusalem, which shows that few countries favor the U.S. decision to recognize the holy city as the Israeli capital and mirrors the isolation of the United States on the issue.

The resolution, tabled by Turkey and Yemen in a rare emergency special session at the UN, affirmed that the U.S. decision has "no legal effect, is null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council."

It also called upon all UN member states to "refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem."

The nine countries that voted against the text were Guatemala, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Togo, as well as the United States and Israel.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 21:36:13|Editor: Yamei

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OSLO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China and Norway on Monday started their latest round of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two countries.

The 11th round of free trade agreement negotiations between China and Norway was scheduled to be held in Oslo from Monday to Wednesday.

This is the third round of talks after the recovering of China-Norway free trade agreement negotiations in April 2017. On April 7, 2017, China and Norway signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Recovering China-Norway Free Trade Agreement Negotiation in Beijing. Since then, two rounds of China-Norway free trade agreement negotiations were held in Beijing in August and December, 2017, respectively.

China and Norway launched their free trade agreement negotiations in 2008 in order to further deepen bilateral relations and cooperation in economy and trade, promote the economic development of the two countries, and improve the living standards of the two peoples.DAR ES SALAAM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Minister for Defense and National Service, Hussein Mwinyi, said on Monday negotiations to find a lasting solution over Lake Nyasa border dispute with Malawi were still continuing.

"The government of Tanzania is working tirelessly to ensure an amicable solution is found peacefully," Mwinyi told the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma.

Tabling his ministry's budget proposals for the 2018/2019 financial year, Mwinyi said: "We are doing all we can to ensure that the Lake Nyasa border dispute ends peacefully."

He told the House that the negotiations led by former Mozambique's President Joachim Chissano, South Africa's former President Thabo Mbeki and Botswana's former President Festus Mogae were still giving hope of reaching "an amicable solution."

The border dispute over Lake Nyasa between the two countries has been there for a long time but resurfaced in 2012 when Malawi awarded exclusive oil prospecting licenses in Lake Nyasa to two British oil companies.

Malawi has linked the dispute to possible oil and gas reserves in the lake and claims ownership based on the 1890 Heligoland agreement.

Malawi claims to own the whole lake in its entirety. On the other hand, Tanzania claims that the boundary is the median line of the lake based on principles of customary international law.

Tanzania and Malawi officials last met in March 2014 in the Mozambican capital Maputo for talks after the two countries nearly went to war over the lake following discovery of oil in the lake.

Lake Nyasa is home to 1,000 species of fish. It is located at the crossroads of Malawi in the west, Mozambique to the south and Tanzania to its northeast.

With an estimated fish stock of 168,000 tonnes, Lake Nyasa is a source of livelihood for nearly 10 million people.NAIROBI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is considering introducing a series of incentives in order to boost the country's exports earnings, the country's export agency said on Monday.

Peter Biwott, the CEO of the Export Promotion Council (EPC), told a media briefing in Nairobi that the growth of exports has been declining in the past five years.

"In order to reverse the trend of slowing growth of export earnings, we shall soon roll out incentives to enable local producers to penetrate international markets," Biwott said during a trade forum organized by EPC.

Biwott said that the incentives include the formation of export fund, Export Import Bank as well as export guarantee schemes.

Current incentives for manufacturers include the Export Processing Zones as well as Manufacturing under bond.

According to the export agency, the incentives in place are not sufficient to enable exports to grow at the desired pace. Biwott said the incentives will enable small and medium enterprises to play a role in the export trade.

He said that the export fund will also help Kenya to penetrate African markets especially in countries that are perceived to have political risk.

"Kenya firms have in the past experienced revenue loss when they have exported goods to African countries that have later being affected by civil wars or undergone foreign exchange distress," he said.

The EPC chief observed that the government will compensate firms that lose revenue if their foreign buyers don't remit payment.

The CEO said that they will also provide banks that lend to exporting SMEs with guarantees to repay financial assistance that has been extended in case the small firms default on their loans.

According to Biwott, Kenya also plans to fund Kenyan firms to participate in international trade fairs in order to enable them to find and explore new markets.

He noted that all developed countries have already set up schemes to assist their firms in exporting their goods to the international market.

Data from the Economic Survey of 2018 shows that exports last year hit less than six billion U.S. dollars against imports of 17 billion dollars.

EPC noted that Kenya needs to diversify its export markets and destinations in order to reduce the trade imbalance.

He said that five products alone constitute about 60 percent of all export earnings making the country vulnerable to external shocks.

Chris Kiptoo, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, said Kenya's export strategy contains a detailed road map to raise the country's export performance.

Kiptoo said that Kenya's target is to achieve double digit growth in exports in order to eliminate the trade deficit in the next ten years.

He said that most of the country's exports are concentrated in unprocessed agricultural products.

"We want to ensure that agricultural produce are processed before they are sold internationally in order to increase the foreign exchange earnings," he added.

The PS noted that the government has prioritized the development of other sectors of the economy to make them produce export competitive products.

Kiptoo said that Kenya's manufacturing sector used to supply the East African Community bloc with industrial products but this has been on the decline.

"We are therefore seeking to sell manufactured products to countries in Africa outside of the EAC," he said, adding that Kenya has already signed preferential trade agreements with most countries in East, Central and South Africa.

"We hope to further boost our exports once the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement is fully operational," he added.

He said that once enacted, the proposed trade remedy bill will ensure that countries that dump their products on the Kenyan markets are penalized with stiff fines in order to protect domestic industries.DAR ES SALAAM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Augustine Mahiga, said on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to support the east African nation in its industrialization drive.

"The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Tanzania next year with a group of high profile investors in various sectors as the Middle East country seeks stronger ties with Tanzania," Mahiga told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli promised to turn the country to a middle income industrial economy by 2025 when he took power in November 2015.

Speaking on return from his recent official visit to Israel where he opened Tanzania's new embassy, Mahiga described Israel as a role model country to Tanzania saying that Netanyahu's visit would strengthen more Tanzania-Israel cooperation in various sectors.

According to him, Netanyahu promised that his country was ready to support Tanzania in the sectors of agriculture, industries, health, information and communication technology (ICT), defense and security, water and tourism.

"Israel is very unique in various sectors. So cooperating with this country would bring positive impacts in Tanzanian economy," said the minister.

Tanzania broke its relations with Israel following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and ties were restored in 1995, but Israel conducted its relations with Tanzania through Kenya.

In March, this year President Magufuli called for immediate signing of cooperation agreements between Tanzania and Israel in various sectors including security, training and economic issues for implementation to take place instantly.

Magufuli made the call after holding talks with Israel's Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who visited him at State House.

"Tanzania and Israel are longtime allies. I want to see our friendship growing; I welcome Investors from Israel to invest here especially in agriculture, mining and gas sectors," said a statement by the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House.PHNOM PENH, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Twenty political parties have so far registered to contest in Cambodia's upcoming general election, up from eight in the last election five years ago, National Election Committee (NEC) spokesman Dim Sovannarom said Monday, as the 15-day party registration period came to an end.

"Twenty political parties have registered with the NEC to contest in the July election, and four of them have been officially recognized," the spokesman said in a press conference.

The four recognized parties are the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, the Cambodian Youth Party, the Cambodian Nationality Party, and the Khmer National United party, he said.

Sovannarom said the NEC will take another seven days to decide whether it officially recognizes the other 16 political parties, including the royalist Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

"If these political parties meet the requirements determined by law, they will be officially recognized," he said.

The Southeast Asian nation is scheduled to hold a general election for the 125-seat parliament on July 29, and some 8.3 million Cambodians are eligible to cast their ballots, he said.

According to the Ministry of Interior's latest report, there are 41 groups registered as political parties in Cambodia.JUBA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Monday said its army killed 14 rebel fighters loyal to ex-army chief General Paul Malong following fighting last week in the Western Bhar el Ghazal region located northwest of the capital.

The South Sudan army (SPLA) spokesman Brig. Lul Ruai Koang, told Xinhua they clashed with a joint rebel force loyal to both Malong and the Sudan People's Liberation Army-in opposition (SPLA-IO) loyal to Machar at Birat near the border with Sudan, Dulu and Mangayat leaving 14 rebels dead including a senior rebel officer.

Koang said among the rebels killed included Brigadier Abdul Musa during the fight for control of Dulu area in Western Bhar el Ghazal which remains under government troops.

He said that the fighting happened after their position came under attack more than twice from May 9 at Birat and then on May 11 when Malong's forces joined hands with SPLA-IO to march to Belloku Southwest of Raja area.

He also revealed that the rebels after being defeated tried to take control of the Dulu area within the same region but were later on repulsed and the SPLA remains in control of the area.

"They tried to infiltrate the town of Dulu but were pushed out and 14 rebels in total were killed including Brig. Abdul Musa. We captured lots of AK47 rifles," Koang said.

The army spokesman said it marked the first time Malong's group was launching an attack on the government troops.

Former SPLA Chief of Staff Malong was sacked last year and formed the South Sudan United Front (SS-UF) to topple President Salva Kiir.

Meanwhile, Lam Paul Gabriel the SPLA-IO deputy spokesman said in a statement that they killed 28 government soldiers and that several civilians are displaced in the wake of fighting at Dulu.

"The regime's forces and JEM militias attacked the SPLA-IO base in Dulu but the SPLA- IO forces fought with zeal and bravery for four hours, killing 28 enemy soldiers and several others injured; while the SPLA IO lost one freedom fighter in the process. This fight caused more displacement to civilians as the regime's forces took the fight to the IDP area in Dulu," he said.

He also added that government troops are moving to attack Bazia area which is under their control.

"The SPLA -IO would like to alert Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM) and IGAD that if these provocative movements lead to any hostile confrontation, the regime is to be held accountable," he said.

The clashes come as the government and opposition groups prepare to hold third round of talks on May 17 in the Ethiopian capital.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar led to split within the SPLA, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after the outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016.MOGADISHU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Monday donated 1.5 million U.S. dollars to assist Somalis affected by the raging floods that have displaced thousands of people across the Horn of Africa nation.

Qin Jian, the Chinese Ambassador to Somalia who handed over the donation in Mogadishu, said such gesture demonstrates the deep friendship and brotherhood of the Chinese people to the Somalis during the difficult times.

"The Chinese government has decided to provide 1.5 million dollars in cash to the Somalia government and people for humanitarian assistance to the Somali people affected by the floods," Qin said.

He said in January Beijing provided some 6 million dollars with 72 containers of assorted goods to the Somali government as part of humanitarian assistance to the country.

"We will provide further 1 million dollars worth of police uniform which will arrive in Somalia from China soon," he added.

Ahmed Isse Awad, Somali Minister of foreign Affairs, who received the cash donation, lauded the Chinese government for providing such important assistance, saying it arrived at very crucial time following an international appeal for assurance by the president.

"I thank the People's Republic of China for providing us this humanitarian assistance that came at the right time, we also thank Chinese Ambassador to Somalia for his active role here, ties between the two countries is deepening and we will expand areas of cooperation," Awad said.

The Chinese assistance comes amid heavy rains pounding several parts of Somalia especially in central parts of the country.BRUSSELS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Council of the European Union (EU) on Monday adopted a directive strengthening EU rules to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

The adopted directive is an amendment of directive 2015/849 and is part of an action plan launched after a spate of terrorist attacks in Europe in 2016.

"These new rules respond to the need for increased security in Europe by further removing the means available to terrorists," said Vladislav Goranov, minister for finance of Bulgaria, which currently holds the Council's presidency.

"They will enable us to disrupt criminal networks without compromising fundamental rights and economic freedoms," Goranov said.

The main changes to directive 2015/849 involve broadening access to information on beneficial ownership, improving transparency in the ownership of companies and trusts.

It also concludes addressing risks linked to prepaid cards and virtual currencies, cooperation between financial intelligence units and improved checks on transactions involving high-risk third countries.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:19:45|Editor: Yamei

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Visitors take photos during the "Bridging the Gap: A Selection of Nominees of the Marcel Duchamp Prize" exhibition at Tsinghua University Art Museum in Beijing, capital of China, May 14, 2018. The exhibition, exhibiting the works of 10 artists selected for the Marcel Duchamp Prize, kicked off on Monday. (Xinhua/Xiao Xiao)Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:16:27|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RIYADH, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-led coalition involved in Yemeni war announced on Monday the interception of a missile which was fired towards border city Jazan and fell on the desert, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The spokesperson of the coalition, Col. Turki Al Maliki highlighted in a statement that the missile was fired by Houthi militia from Yemeni city Sa'dah on early morning. He accused the militias of purposely targeting residential areas and Iran of supporting them to destabilize regional security.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a group of Arab countries in fighting Houthis in support of Yemeni exiled government for the last three years. Border cities have been the most targeted in such attacks, with the majority of the missiles intercepted by Saudi air forces.LUANDA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Angolan and Portuguese Defense Ministers, Salviano Sequeira and Jose Azevedo Lopes, respectively, reaffirmed on Monday in Luanda the interest in renewing and strengthening the partnership in the military field.

Both officials said so at the opening ceremony of the 17th Angolan/Portuguese Joint Commission in the field of defense.

The Angolan minister said that despite the global financial crisis, the government has invested in restructuring and resizing the security system, making it strong and effective in preserving stability and promoting development.

He considered a great value the cooperation with Portugal in the field of training, facilitated by the common language.

The Angolan minister said that military cooperation between the two countries is developing and consolidating, becoming an example of brotherhood and solidarity between the two peoples.

He believes that the two states will continue working together under the framework agreement for 2012 and 2021 and build together the path of progress that is made by cultivating healthy relationships.

On the other hand, the Portuguese minister said that the relationship at the defense and military levels has been one of the most solid, institutional and loyal constants of cooperation between Portugal and Angola.

He believes that the time has come to raise this relationship and cooperation to a new level, from the technical-military level to coperation in the defense field.

Azeredo hopes that the exchange will be based on innovative programs with mutual benefits.

According to him, the defense cooperation represents a real contribution to the fact that both countries are producers of global, regional and subregional security.

The minister is on a six-day visit to Angola, starting May 14, in order to learn about all military cooperation programs that take place between the two countries.

The Portuguese minister's visit happens at a time that the Court of Appeal of Lisbon, Portugal, last Thursday decided to transfer to Angola the lawsuit against the former Angolan vice president of the Republic, Manuel Domingos Vicente.

This decision happens in sequence of previous exhortations made by the Angolan President, Joao Lourenco, to the Portuguese judicial authorities to transfer the lawsuit against Vicente -- whose immunity only expires in September 2022 -- to be judged by Angolan courts.

Portugal is Angola's main source of imports and Portuguese companies are very active in banking and construction in the huge African country. In turn, Angolan investors have snapped up large stakes in top Lisbon-listed companies.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:21:29|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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SANAA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's dominant Shiite Houthi rebels said they fired a ballistic missile towards the main distribution of the oil giant Saudi Aramco company in the Red Sea port city of Jazan on Monday, Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported.

However, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported that a missile fired from Yemen on Monday fell to a desert area in Jazan, causing no casualties.

On Wednesday, Saudi state media reported that the Saudi air forces intercepted two ballistic missiles fired from Yemen towards Saudi capital Riyadh.

Besides Riyadh, border cities with Yemen, such as Jazan and Najran are hit the most by such attacks with casualties and property damages.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition in a war in Yemen against the rebels in support of exiled Yemeni government led by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The three-year war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and pushed the Arab country to the brink of mass famine.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:21:31|Editor: Liangyu

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Bangladeshi Finance Minister AMA Muhith (R) delivers a speech at the signing ceremony in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 14, 2018. A Chinese consortium comprising the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on Monday signed an agreement with Bangladesh's Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to acquire 25 percent stake in the country's premier bourse and became its strategic investor. (Xinhua)

DHAKA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese consortium comprising the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on Monday signed an agreement with Bangladesh's Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to acquire 25 percent stake in the country's premier bourse and became its strategic investor.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) recently approved DSE's proposal to sell 25 percent of its stake to the Chinese consortium.

The BSEC approved the DSE's strategic partnership, fixing each of 450,944,125 shares at a price of 21 taka (0.25 U.S. dollars), the regulator said on its website.

DSE's hunt for a strategic partner came as it turned into a demutualized stock exchange on Nov. 21, 2013.

SZSE and SSE received DSE's tender invitation in July 2017.

A DSE official told Xinhua earlier that in consideration of all the aspects, the proposal of the Chinese consortium was the best offer in terms of value and technical support.

The bidding process also involved Indian, U.S. and Turkish exchanges.

According to a statement released by the Shenzhen bourse, the Chinese consortium's bid to become strategic partner of DSE would support the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation along the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

It said the Chinese bourses would cooperate with DSE on trading technology, market and product development.

Founded in 1954, DSE is Bangladesh's premier bourse and had 303 listed companies with a market capitalization of 44 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2017.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:26:33|Editor: Yamei

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NANNING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Su Yuanjiang, a Chinese bird photographer, enjoys taking pleasant pictures displaying the life of birds. But he takes heartbreaking ones too.

In a photo he shot years ago on Guanling Mountain, administered by Beihai City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, an osprey flapped its wings furiously in the sky, its feet caught by a mousetrap. "It could only fly, fly, fly, before being exhausted," Su said.

Such scenes have become less common in recent years thanks to efforts of forestry workers, police and volunteers.

The world has billions of migratory birds that travel along eight passages every year, including three passing China. Guangxi is along the passage linking East Asia and Australia. More than 300 species of migratory birds pass Guangxi each year, in which some 150 are attracted to the Beibu Gulf for its beaches, forests and islets. The gulf consists of Beihai, Qinzhou, and Fangchenggang cities.

"April and May is the migratory season. Every night, thousands of birds fly here, heading for their homes in the north. Some of them are rare," said Su, while patrolling Guanling Mountain.

Su is a member of a 400-strong volunteer team set up in 2010 to combat rampant poaching of migratory birds in Beihai, since eating birds used to be a tradition in the gulf area.

When patrolling the mountain at night, Su and other volunteers search for lights. "Where there is light there is probably a trap for birds," Su said.

Poachers bring lights to the mountain and turn them on in misty weather to attract birds, which have lost their sense of direction, into nets, according to Sun Renjie with the mangrove research center in Guangxi.

The volunteers dismantle the nets and give information on armed poachers to the police. The police have also cracked down on sales of birds in food markets.

"Over the past two years, gunshots have been seldom heard on Guanling Mountain. The hunters are usually driven away before taking action," Sun said.

The bird protection and rescue station of Beilunhe nature reserve in Fangchenggang and local forestry authorities have jointly dismantled more than 10,000 meters of bird nets since August. "We have set up cameras to better monitor the poachers," said Tang Shangbo, head of the station.

"Raising awareness is equally important with crackdowns on poaching," said Xu Hai'ou, head of Beihai's volunteer association. The association holds educational events in communities and schools, as well as free bird-watching activities.

An increasing number of birders has brought fortune to villagers.

During the past two to three years, birders from Guangxi's neighboring Sichuan, Yunnan, and Chongqing have flocked to Niulu Village near Shanxinsha Island, which is a stop for more than 30 species of birds, including an endangered type of sandpiper with a global population of 500.

"Tourism not only increased villager incomes, but also changed their attitude towards birds," said Pan Daman, Party chief of the village.

China has stepped up efforts to protect migratory birds and has seen less poaching of them in recent years, according to Yu Fengqin with China Wildlife Conservation Association.

"Today, even pupils know birds are humans' friends," Su Yuanjiang said.CAIRO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Egypt strongly condemned on Monday the Israeli continuous violence and use of excessive force against unarmed Palestinian civilians, warning of consequences of this "dangerous escalation."

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry slammed Israel for targeting civilians which led to the death of dozens of them.

At least 41 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,700 others injured Monday during confrontations between tens of thousands of angry Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers along the Gaza-Israel borders.

Egypt fully rejects the use of force against peaceful protesters who are calling for legal rights, the ministry stressed.

"Egypt fully backs the legal rights of the Palestinian people, with the establishment of their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital," according to the statement.

The Palestinian protests, which originally started on March 30, came in response to moving the U.S. embassy Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the disputed city as the capital of Israel in December last year, which was widely rejected by the international community.

The protests also coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe," when thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their cities and towns to become refugees.

The Palestinians consider East Jerusalem, which was seized by the Israelis in the 1967 war, as the capital of their future independent state, while the Israelis insist that the entire city is their eternal capital.BRUSSELS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on Monday for "utmost restraint" to avoid further loss of life in the wake of a clash along the Gaza border that has killed at least 41 Palestinians.

"Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and the principle of proportionality in the use of force. Hamas and those leading the demonstrations in Gaza must ensure that they remain strictly non-violent and must not exploit them for other means," the EU top diplomat said in a statement.

"Any further escalation of an already extremely tense and complex situation would cause again further unspeakable sufferings to both peoples, and will make the perspective of peace and security even more remote," she added.

At least 41 Palestinians were killed and over 1,700 others injured during mass protests along the Gaza border on Monday.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:46:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAIRO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Arab League's (AL) Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, said on Monday that moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is extremely dangerous.

In a statement, Aboul-Gheit said it is shameful to see some countries joining the ceremony of transferring the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in blatant violation of the international law and the UN Security Council resolutions.

He urged the international community to adhere to the international law and abstain from taking measures that harm the Palestinian people and the chances for a just peace settlement.

The AL chief said the United States does not realize how dangerous moving its embassy to Jerusalem is, adding that the Palestinian side feels that the Trump administration has abandoned its role as an unbiased historic peace sponsor after Washington fully adopted a pro-Israel approach in violation of the international law.

The United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the disputed city as the capital of Israel in December last year.

In protest to the U.S. move, tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank organized mass protests during which more than 40 people have been killed so far.

The protests coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe," when thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their cities and towns to become refugees.

Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel drew widespread criticism and protests.

The Palestinians consider East Jerusalem, which was seized by the Israelis in the 1967 war, as the capital of their future independent state, while the Israelis insist that the entire city is their eternal capital.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 22:51:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan (R) meets with Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes in Beijing, capital of China, May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan Monday met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes.

During the meeting, Wang conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping's greetings to Brazilian President Michel Temer.

Wang said that people-to-people communication is the foundation to the bilateral relationship while leaders' guidance is the key, adding that the ever-developing Sino-Brazilian relationship has provided bilateral cooperation with new contents.

"As comprehensive strategic partners and major developing countries, China and Brazil share broad consensus on global issues. The two sides should grasp the position of the relationship agreed by the two leaders, and give full play to the role of mechanisms like the China-Brazil high-level coordination and cooperation committee," Wang said.

He called on the two countries to continuously turn their potential of cooperation into wellbeing of the two peoples and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Nunes said that Brazil attaches great importance to relations with China, and that strengthening Brazil-China cooperation is beneficial to both sides and has global significance.

Brazil is ready to work with China to advance bilateral relations to a new level, he said.RABAT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China will be a guest of honor at the 14th Morocco's Tan-Tan Moussem Festival scheduled for July 4 to 9, the Almouggar Foundation, the party's organizer, announced on Monday.

Held under the patronage of Morocco's King Mohammed VI in the southwestern city of Tan-Tan, the festival is an annual gathering of nomadic people of the desert areas in Morocco, Africa and the Middle East.

The Tan-Tan Cultural Festival has been inscribed on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to maintain its annual organization.

The Moussem is a fair-like event that features several activities of artistic, cultural, sportive and socio-economic nature.

It celebrates nomadic customs, handicrafts, music, poetry and tribal culture.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 23:06:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DUBAI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a development agreement with Spain's Cepsa for a new linear alkylbenzene (LAB) facility in ADNOC's refining and petrochemicals complex in Ruwais, ADNOC announced on Monday.

Through the LAB project with Cepsa, an oil and gas company owned by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company, the ADNOC looks "to significantly enhance and expand its refining operations and capabilities to support its downstream plans," said the statement.

The agreement follows the signing last November of a Memorandum of Understanding between ADNOC and Cepsa to evaluate the setting up of a LAB facility in Ruwais in capital Abu Dhabi, the statement said.

After the successful completion of a feasibility study, the project is now ready to move to the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage, it said.

The facility is expected to have a production capacity of 150,000 tons per year of LAB upon completion, it added.

Alkybenzene are derivatives of benzene, a component used to produce gasoline.

Abdulaziz Al Hajri, downstream director at ADNOC, said "as we expand downstream and grow our refining capacity and capabilities, we will be able to expand the number of new products and value chains we can create."

Pedro Miro, CEO of Cepsa, said "the start-up of this complex underscores our commitment to continue developing our international operations as part of our integrated business model."Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 23:16:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday urged Muslims to unite against U.S. relocation of embassy in Israel, according to the state TV.

In a statement, the foreign ministry warned of the consequences of the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The move by the United States will only further strengthen the resolution and determination of the oppressed Palestinians in confronting and resisting occupation, it said.

Besides, "it will intensify anti-Zionist and anti-U.S. moves in the region and across the world," it said.

The statement also called on Islamic nations and governments "to remain vigilant in the face of plots hatched by the Zionist regime (of Israel) and its allies."

The new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem was opened on Monday. Israeli and U.S. officials gathered in the city amidst deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip.MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Armenia hope to maintain close bilateral ties following a meeting between the leaders of both countries at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.

"I hope that our relations will develop as progressively as they have been so far," Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying by a Kremlin press release.

He said that Armenia has been Russia's closest partner and ally in the Transcaucasia region, especially regarding economic and security ties.

Russia remains Armenia's leading trading partner, accounting for more than 25 percent of its foreign trade and around 35 percent of its foreign investments, while Armenia is a big supplier of agricultural products to Russia, Putin said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenia hopes to boost political, trade and military relations with Russia.

"As for the allied strategic relations between Armenia and Russia, I can assure you that there is consensus on this issue in Armenia ... I think that nobody will question the strategic importance of the Armenian-Russian relations," he said.

This was Pashinyan's first foreign trip since he was elected prime minister on May 8 after former Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan stepped down amid mass protests.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 23:31:53|Editor: Yurou

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (R) meets visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Warsaw, Poland on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Maciej Gillert)

WARSAW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Poland and Hungary have an unequivocal position on migration and refugee policy, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed on Monday following a meeting here with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.

During a joint press conference following the meeting, Morawiecki said both countries also had similar positions on the future European Union (EU) budget, cohesion policy, and common agricultural policy.

According to Morawiecki, the EU's proposals imposing the amounts of refugees undermined the very basics of state sovereignty. He also added that Poland wanted to make decisions on whom to receive: "Here, on the banks of Vistula River, we decide who will come to Poland".

"During our talks, we agreed...we both want a strong Europe, we want to participate in reforms and discussions strengthening Europe, we both want a peaceful development of Europe," the Hungarian prime minister said. He also said that in terms of migration policy, national sovereignty was the most important.

Referring to the future EU budget, Orban said there was still a lot of work to be done. Even though Polish and Hungarian positions were close, there are also many other countries with different points of view.

Orban noted that Poland and Hungary wanted to protect their interests, including the interests of farmers. According to Orban, the most important thing was the EU's coherent internal market with fair competition.

Morawiecki also emphasized that the central Europe region had its own unique experience which was not always well understood by Western countries. He expressed satisfaction with the friendly relations with Hungary, which, in his opinion, could contribute to further cooperation with other EU countries.

The Hungarian prime minister began an official visit to Poland on Monday. The talks between both prime ministers focused mainly on the future EU budget, regional cooperation, migration policy and Polish-Hungarian bilateral relations.

Following the meeting, Orban will also meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda.ABUJA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- An airman has been confirmed killed following an attack by gunmen on a Nigerian Air Force helipad in the southern city of Yenagoa, the air force said on Monday.

The attack on Sunday, at Igbodene area of Yenagoa, the capital of oil-rich Bayelsa State, was repelled by security operatives at the guard post, according to Olatokunbo Adesanya, the air force's spokesman.

Adesanya said an investigation has been launched to "unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident."

For many years, militants in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria have been battling to control the larger share of the resources.

The militants usually have confrontations with the armed forces deployed to quell the sporadic attacks by gunmen.WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit the White House and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 18, the White House said on Monday.

In a statement, the White House said the Trump-Guterres meeting "will reaffirm the commitment of the United States to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations."

The two leaders will also discuss issues of mutual interest, including the Korean Peninsula, Syria, reform of the United Nations, as well as other common threats and challenges.

Trump has been at odds with the United Nations ever since his presidential campaign. He hammered the multinational organization for what he called bureaucracy and "mismanagement."

Trump's decisions to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the historic Iran nuclear deal have raised eyebrows across the world.

After Trump's announcement to exit the Iran deal, Guterres said in a statement that he is "deeply concerned" with Trump's decision to begin reinstating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

"I have consistently reiterated that the JCPOA represents a major achievement in nuclear non-proliferation and diplomacy and has contributed to regional and international peace and security," he added.by Xinhua writer Li Jia

MINSK, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Since the second half of 2015, the China-Belarus industrial park, a special economic zone created by the two countries in Minsk Region, has developed rapidly.

Developed within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the park has witnessed rapid expansion.

"Since the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing last year, China and Belarus have provided further support for the development of the industrial park. The development company of the park also stepped up work in attracting investment," said Hu Zheng, CEO of China-Belarus Industrial Park Development Company.

"These actions have successfully promoted the rapid development of the largest inter-governmental cooperation project between the two countries," Hu said.

On May 11, plaques for 11 new resident companies were unveiled. Honorary certificates and medals were presented to the three companies that were the first to enter operations.

The industrial park, named Great Stone, is the largest foreign investment project in Belarus and represents a milestone in bilateral relations.

The slogan "Time is money, efficiency is life" stands at the entrance of the park. The slogan that was put forward at the beginning of China's reform and opening-up has inspired the builders of the industrial park to interpret "Chinese speed" with practical actions and achievements.

By the end of 2017, the first phase of the park's basic infrastructure had been completed, enabling the park to attract investment.

"Last year, more than 1,000 enterprise representatives from about 200 delegations visited the park. The interest in the park is also growing among foreign companies," Hu said.

In 2017, China provided technical and economic assistance for the park's basic infrastructure and actively participated in various promotional activities.

In May last year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko issued a decree to expand benefits for resident companies of the park in a bid to attract more enterprises from around the world, including those from China.

At present, the large-scale trade and logistics subpark has been put into operation. A standard workshop invested by the park's development company has been completed, and another two are being built.

Since last year's forum, the number of resident companies in the industrial park has risen from nine to 34, representing eight countries -- China, Belarus, Russia, the United States, Germany, Austria, Lithuania and Israel. The total contract investment has hit 1.1 billion U.S. dollars.

By the end of the year, the number of companies is expected to be no fewer than 40; there will be over 70 by 2020. With the arrival of new companies, investment is expected to exceed 2 billion dollars by 2020.

There's plenty of hope for turning the industrial park into a project of great importance for the local economy and to promote trade between China and Belarus, said Hu.

"We will really make the industrial park a 'pearl' on the Silk Road Economic Belt and an exemplary project of reciprocal cooperation," Hu said.BRUSSELS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday called for "utmost restraint" to avoid further loss of life, in the wake of the clash along the Gaza border that left at least 41 Palestinians dead.

"Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and the principle of proportionality in the use of force. Hamas and those leading the demonstrations in Gaza must ensure that they remain strictly non-violent and must not exploit them for other means," the EU top diplomat said in a statement.

"Any further escalation of an already extremely tense and complex situation would cause again further unspeakable sufferings to both peoples, and will make the perspective of peace and security even more remote," she added.

At least 41 Palestinians were killed and over 1,700 others injured during mass protests along the Gaza border on Monday.

The protests were organized by the National Commission of the Great Marches of Return in eastern Gaza Strip, which have been going on since March 30.

The anti-Israel rallies, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, a day before the Palestinians' "Nakba Day" or "Day of Catastrophe", were also against the opening of U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.

Mogherini stressed that both Israel and Palestine have legitimate claims and aspirations which need to be mutually acknowledged.

"Jerusalem is a holy city for Jews, Muslims and Christians. The ties of the Jewish people to Jerusalem are irrefutable, and must not be denied. And the same is true for the ties of the Palestinian people to the city," she said.

In a sign of rift among EU members over the status of Jerusalem, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic sent their envoys to a reception hosted by Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to mark the U.S embassy's relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Sunday.

However, Mogherini highlighted that the EU "will continue to respect the international consensus on Jerusalem embodied in, inter alia, UN Security Council Resolution 478, including on the location of diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved."

Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal and indivisible capital," in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

Palestinians, who make up more than one third of the city's overall population, consider East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The UN Security Council Resolution 478 adopted on Aug. 20, 1980 rejects Israel's attempted annexation of East Jerusalem and its declaration of Jerusalem as its capital.NICOSIA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 9 people believed to be immigrants from Syria have drowned off the northeast coast of Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot media reported on Monday.

They said that nine bodies were found on beaches between two communities in the Karpass peninsula, a stretch of land jetting about 100 kilometers into the northeastern Mediterranean.

The media said they probably were in a boat which sunk, adding that there are indications that a tenth person may have been in the vessel.

The coast where the bodies were found stretched for about 20 kilometers, and some of it is unreachable by land.

It was not immediately known where the boat sailed from.

Syrian refugees trying to reach Cyprus usually travel to Turkey and from there they sail in small boats from Mersin or nearby areas. Hundreds of people from Syria used this route to reach Cyprus last year.HO CHI MINH CITY, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 Blockchain Festival, the first of its kind, will be held in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on May 24-25, featuring over 30 Vietnamese and foreign speakers, and more than 1,500 attendees, the organizer said on Monday.

The event will be organized by Huobi.Pro, the world's third largest digital asset exchange.

Among the speakers, Le Ngoc Giang from the Vietnamese Justice Ministry will make a speech about the road ahead for Vietnam's blockchain industry.

According to another speaker, David Nguyen, president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, the two-day festival will help increase awareness of the public, including information and communications technology (ICT) businesses and students, about blockchain industry.

Fueled by a young population with a high rate of smartphone usage and large batches of information technology (IT) graduates each year, Vietnam has become one of the fastest growing economies. According to the World Economic Forum, Vietnam has ranked among the top 10 countries for producing engineering talent.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:07:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a presidential statement on taking collective action to improve UN peacekeeping operations.

The Council reaffirms its primary responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations for "the maintenance of international peace and security," as well as its commitment to "uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter."

The Council stresses that "the primacy of politics should be the hallmark of the approach of the United Nations to the resolution of conflict," including through mediation, good offices, the monitoring of ceasefires, assistance to the implementation of peace accords.

The Council further stresses that "political solutions should guide the design and deployment of United Nations peacekeeping operations," and are "the cornerstone of mandate and remain key to reach sustainable peace and security."

The successful implementation of the mandates of peacekeeping operations and special political missions "requires close cooperation and use of integrated planning mechanisms" between the different elements of these missions, according to the Council.

The statement, which was drafted by the Netherlands, builds on the themes raised in the March 28 open debate on "Collective Action to Improve UN Peacekeeping Operations," held during the Dutch presidency of the Council.

At that meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced a new initiative, "Action for Peacekeeping," aimed at mobilizing all stakeholders to create peacekeeping operations "fit for the future" through enhanced collective engagement.

The presidential statement is the first Council outcome related to this initiative, in what is expected to include a series of meetings on peacekeeping operations before the end of this year.

The statement recognizes the need for peacekeeping missions to have integrated strategies, articulating a clear end state with a pathway to achieving sustainable peace.

The statement stresses the importance of achievable, sequenced and phased mandates, where appropriate, with clear priorities set by the Council, and requests the secretary-general to provide integrated analysis, strategic assessment and frank advice to the Council.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:07:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Zhao Leji (C, back), who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and heads the central leading group on disciplinary inspection, attends a workshop on disciplinary inspection in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

CHENGDU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China's top anti-graft official on Monday explained the essence of disciplinary inspection as he called for stepping up work in the new era.

"It is the 'guiding principle' and 'soul' of disciplinary inspection in the new era to safeguard the core status of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership," said Zhao Leji, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Zhao, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and heads the central leading group on disciplinary inspection, made the call at a workshop held in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Zhao spoke of the need to implement to the letter a five-year (2018-2022) work plan and to expand the inspection to better cover all areas.

The work has achieved good progress since the 18th CPC National Congress, Zhao said.

Looking ahead, the inspection should continue "serving to identify problems, impose deterrence, push reform and promote development," he said.

Zhao emphasized that any violation of political discipline, the Party's principles and policies, the principle of democratic centralism, and the rules of official selection and promotion should be spotted promptly. Issues damaging the Party's political ecosystem should also be dealt with.

Once spotting such problems, inspectors should file fact-based reports, enforce corrections and strengthen regular supervision, he said.

During a tour to Leibo County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, Zhao asked anti-graft authorities to step up efforts in tackling corruption and undesirable work styles in work related to poverty relief.ADDIS ABABA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Attendees at a forum discussing Africa's electrification challenges held in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Monday urged closer China-Africa energy partnership to help meet the continent's energy needs.

The forum on "Grid Connection Gearing Up Sustainable Africa" was organized by Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO), a Chinese non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable development of energy worldwide.

Kuang Weilin, Chinese ambassador to the AU, told attendees at the forum China is ready to work with the AU and its 55 member states to meet the needs of estimated 600 million Africans who lack electricity to undertake their daily activities.

"African energy interconnection will enhance economic integration, improve African people's living standards and unleash great potential for intra-Africa trade," he said.

Kuang, said China has keenly followed the AU's efforts to electrify the continent through the AU's Agenda 2063 declarations and is ready to help Africa in its electrification drive through various Chinese-led initiatives.

Kuang said the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) are two Chinese-led initiatives that can incorporate China-Africa energy partnership in their frameworks.

He said the September FOCAC summit will heavily focus on China-Africa partnership in renewable, clean energy sector, with many African countries seeing energy as a key driver of their development.

Sileshi Bekele, the Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, said his country's electricity needs are growing by 20 percent with an annual 10 percent economic growth during the last 15 years.

"Ethiopia is building with Chinese assistance 12 industrial parks, several agro-processing industrial parks and is creating a transport infrastructure, including railways that are dependent on electricity from renewable energy," he told the forum.

"Ethiopia is partnering with China on clean energy development as part of its climate resilient green economy strategy and contribute to creating a healthier earth by using clean and safe energy," said Bekele.

Bekele said Africa has only used 10 percent of its hydro power potential and even less from other energy sources.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:12:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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y Murad Abdu

ADEN, Yemen, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The holy fasting month of Ramadan, a festal season of spirituality and a joyful occasion, will start throughout the Muslim world on Wednesday.

In the Muslim countries, people are eagerly waiting for Ramadan which is considered as an opportunity for unifying all the family members under one roof.

But in the war-torn impoverished Arab country Yemen, thousands of people are going to receive this Ramadan amid despair and harsh living conditions as a result of the three-year long military conflict that started in 2015 and is still raging across the country.

Families usually have to specify a private budget for Ramadan because the expenses increase and more food is consumed throughout this month.

Salah Gamil, 58, failed to prepare for Ramadan because he did not receive monthly salary that is necessary for him to go shopping early and buy food items.

"This Ramadan looks joyless because I'm a government employee but without salary and couldn't buy the food items for my children," Gamil told Xinhua.

"I really got fed up with waiting for several hours in front of the exchange company, but received no money in the end," Salah said.

Many other people in the southern port city of Aden were not fully satisfied because of the the sharp increase of basic commodities prices in shopping centers.

According to Yemeni economists and analysts, the food prices sharply increased between 35 percent and 100 percent in the recent months of 2018, compared with the period before the Saudi-led military intervention against the Shiite Houthi rebels in 2015.

"The burden of skyrocketing prices made our life very difficult by adding more woes. Everything is too expensive," Hani Saeed, a high school teacher, told Xinhua.

"My salary is not sufficient to buy all the needed commodities and I am obligated to exclude many food items that I couldn't afford to buy," Saeed said.

The persistent depreciation of the Yemeni Riyal against the other foreign currencies including the U.S. dollar, losing about 225 percent of its pre-crisis value, added another suffering to people's life.

Hilal Hutaibi, an owner of a wholesale business company, told Xinhua "this month we canceled our plan for importing new goods from other countries due to the rapid depreciation of the national currency, high cost of transportation and the double customs taxation."

"Local markets in Aden and others provinces are experiencing a severe shortage of essential goods required by the citizens," Hutaibi said.

Many people in Aden complained bitterly about the complete absence of supervision from the Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni government which is based in their city.

Fatima Nasser, a housewife in Aden's neighborhood Mansourah, told Xinhua that "the shopping centers and the groceries are filled with fake and contaminated food products because the trade officials are in deep sleep."

"The owners of supermarkets and big traders also exploit the absence of the government to increase the product prices in an unbelievable way and as much as they like," Nasser said.

She added by saying that "the voice of the citizens is totally ignored in this country and our suffering is getting worse day by day."

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

Immediately after sunset, families, neighbors and friends share the usually delicate Iftar meals to break their fast together in one place.

But for Musa Ahmed, a father of 8 children who escaped the war in Taiz province to live in Aden, this Ramadan will remind him of his eldest son who was killed in the ongoing war last year but his memory lives on.

"Some fathers will not have a complete happiness during Ramadan because they lost their beloved sons during the war and I'm one of those sad and unlucky fathers," Ahmed said.

"I used to live in dignity with all my sons gathered around me during the Iftar meal in Ramadan. But this Ramadan one of my beloved sons won't be present with us because he left forever," he told Xinhua, with eyes filling with tears.

Unemployment and poverty have been severely hurting most of the Yemenis.

According to the United Nations, more than 22 million people in Yemen require humanitarian aid or protection assistance, including 2 million who are internally displaced due to the ongoing conflict between the government and Houthi rebel forces.

During Ramadan, Muslim communities also engage in acts of charity. Mosques receive most of its funding during this month.

Akram Basha, an Aden-based citizen, said that "only during Ramadan all the charity organizations race for distributing aids and help the poor people to overcome their pains and poverty. But after Ramadan definitely poor people will be left alone."

The month of Ramadan would end with the festival of Eid al-Fitr.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:17:17|Editor: Yurou

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Palestinian medics and protesters carry an injured man during clashes with Israeli troops near the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on May 14, 2018. More than 40 Palestinians, including children, were killed Monday in a day of violent clashes with Israeli forces on Israel's southern border with Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

JERUSALEM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 Palestinians, including children, were killed Monday in a day of violent clashes with Israeli forces on Israel's southern border with Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.

This has been the deadliest day of violence between Israeli forces and the Islamic Hamas movement since they fought a war in the summer of 2014.

Hamas, a militant organization which rules the Gaza Strip, has been organizing demonstrations for weeks on the border with Israel, as part of a campaign to end Israel's blockade on the coastal enclave which has lasted more than a decade.

Over 40,000 Palestinians showed up at the border on Monday, said the Israeli military.

In a briefing to journalists, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said Hamas leadership was responsible for the escalation by "risking all the residents of the Gaza Strip."

"The violence we witnessed today is unprecedented and unacceptable," Manelis said.

"Further terrorist activities will be retaliated with operations inside Gaza," he added.

In recent days, the Israeli military has distributed leaflets warning Gaza residents not to risk their lives to get near to the border.

The Israeli forces also struck what they say are Hamas "terror posts" and a Hamas military training facility within Gaza at least five times on Monday.

The massive clashes coincide with a ceremony in Jerusalem marking the controversial inauguration of the U.S. embassy in the holy city.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but still maintains control of its air and maritime space.

Together with Egypt, it has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza since 2007, when Hamas violently took control of the enclave from the more moderate Palestinian faction Fatah.

Palestinians are expected to mark the Nakba day, or "Day of the Catastrophe," on Tuesday, the day after the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled homes in their occupied lands.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:17:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police said 14 protesters were arrested on Monday during the inauguration of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

"Protesters did not keep to the terms they had agreed upon with police," it said.

Thousands of policemen patrolled different areas of Jerusalem, with emphasis in and around the new U.S. embassy.

The inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem started on Monday afternoon amid deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip.

More than 100 protesters were seen in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem during the inauguration.

Hundreds of officials attended the ceremony, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Trump announced his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last December, and ordered the relocation of U.S. Embassy to Israel to the disputed holy city.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:22:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DUBAI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday ordered the release of 935 prisoners ahead of the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

The gesture is part of President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's attempt to provide prisoners "an opportunity to start a new life and alleviate their families' hardship," WAM said.

Ramadan, a four-week Islamic period of fasting and worshiping, will start on Wednesday or Thursday this week, depending on moon-sighting in different areas.

In the UAE, the president and the rulers of the seven emirates which form the Gulf state usually pardon prisoners as a sign of goodwill when Ramadan comes.CAPE TOWN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- South African MPs warned on Monday that attacks on tourists will threaten tourism which is a major driver of the economy in the country.

This came after three German tourists were robbed by four men in Ballito near the eastern coastal city of Durban on Sunday. The tourists reportedly were accosted by the men wielding an AK-47 on their way to King Shaka International Airport in an Uber taxi. The tourists were robbed of their luggage and other belongings, but were physically unharmed during the robbery.

"As tourism is a major driver of the economy, any threat to the safety of tourists has dire consequences," warned Lusizo Makhubele-Mashele, Acting Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Tourism.

South Africa has a lot to offer tourists in terms of natural beauty, sports, adventure and conference facilities, Makhubele-Mashele said.

Tourists must feel safe and, most importantly, must be able to tell their friends and family good stories about South Africa and its people when they return home to encourage more people to visit, she said.

"When tourists are subjected to life-threatening incidents such as this, South Africa's tourism industry suffers," Makhubele-Mashele said.

"We call on the law enforcement agencies to do all in their power to bring these criminals to book," said Mkhubele-Mashele.

Sunday's robbery is the latest in a series of attacks on tourists in South Africa which has a persistent high crime rate.

In September last year, 36 Dutch tourists were robbed on their way from OR Tambo International Airport to a hotel in Johannesburg. One person was injured during the robbery which forced the group to suspend their trip to South Africa.

About one month later, British model Sarah MacDonnell was robbed by a "machete-wielding gang" while she and her five pals were staying in a "luxury villa" in Cape Town.

At the end of last year, internationally acclaimed actor Richard E Grant was mugged in Cape Town while in South Africa on holiday.

These attacks have apparently dampened the enthusiasm of potential tourists who want to visit South Africa, tourism agencies complain.

The tourism sector directly contributed 2.9 percent to South African gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, according to the latest release of Statistics South Africa's annual Tourism Satellite Account for South Africa report.

The tourism sector's 686,596 employees outnumber the respective workforces of utilities (118,000 employees) and mining (444, 000 employees). In 2016 total employment in South Africa (both formal and informal) amounted to 15.8 million workers. Of these, 4.4 percent (or one in every 23) were directly employed in the tourism sector, a rise from the 3.8 percent recorded in 2005, the report says.NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 87 people were killed and 136 others injured across India after storms accompanied by gusty winds and lightning hit many states, officials said Monday.

The worst affected Uttar Pradesh reported 52 deaths.

"A total of 52 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in West Bengal, 13 in Andhra Pradesh, five in Bihar, three in Telangana and two in the national capital - New Delhi," India's state-run broadcaster All India Radio said.

Local news agency quoting officials said 136 people were injured in the affected states.

The storms hit the states Sunday evening, wreaking havoc by uprooting trees, electricity poles and transformers.

Indian meteorological department officials said squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 km/h hit the capital city and its outskirts.

The storms caused disruption in flight, rail and metro operations in the capital city, affecting commuters.

Reports from Uttar Pradesh said nearly 100 houses were gutted in a fire which broke out due to lightning in Sambhal.

Several areas in the affected states faced power outages as electricity lines were snapped.

Meteorological department officials said thunderstorms are expected across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours, as several weather phenomena, including western disturbances, converge.

Last week 18 people were killed in thunderstorm and rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this month at least 124 people were killed and more than 300 others injured in several states due to dust storms, thunderstorms and lightning.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:22:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The new leadership of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) said Monday that the forum would firmly support globalization to help achieve mutual development in Asia and beyond.

Newly-elected BFA chairman Ban Ki-moon said the BFA would work to realize the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity.

"Asia is a great beneficiary, contributor and hence a staunch supporter of globalization," Ban, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, said, noting that the "Asian Miracle" largely stemmed from globalization and free trade.

Echoing Ban's remarks, BFA vice chair Zhou Xiaochuan attributed the historic success and transformation taking place both in China and Asia to "economic reform and opening up."

"There has been a consensus that China's achievements are due to its consistent national policy of reform and opening up," said the former governor of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank. "China must continue its policy for the next decades with bold economic reform and wider opening to the world."

The year 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up, and the country has already moved to push for deeper integration into the world economy, with measures to grant foreign investors easier market access and ensure a level playing field.

Zhou, also China's chief representative to BFA, said he believed the country's experience was equally important to Asia and the world, saying the BFA would continue to promote an open and innovative Asia for the greater prosperity of the world at large.

The BFA aims for "a first-class economic forum for dialogues and cooperation with a global perspective," BFA secretary-general and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said, adding that the forum would go beyond Asia and reach out to other regions.

"In face of a rapidly changing and increasingly sophisticated world, the BFA, as the premier forum for Asia and emerging markets, will strive to keep pace with the changing times and become a front runner and key player," Li said.

Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.

This year's BFA conference, which ran from April 8 to 11 in Boao, a town in the southern island province of Hainan, had the theme "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:37:29|Editor: huaxia

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CHICAGO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities traded mixed on Monday morning, with soybean futures rising over 10 cents amid news of easing trade tensions between China and the United States.

China's Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday the Chinese side had accepted an invitation from the United States, agreeing to send a delegation to visit the country at a "proper time" for further economic and trade consultations.

China is welcoming news from U.S. President Donald Trump of a possible easing of economic sanctions against embattled Chinese firm ZTE.

China appreciates the U.S. position on Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Monday.

July corn was 0.25 cent lower at 3.9625 U.S. dollars per bushel as of 1440 GMT, July wheat was 7.25 cents lower at 4.9875 dollars, July soybean was up 14.25 cents at 10.0325 dollars.

All wheat production in the United States for the 2018-2019 marketing year that starts on June 1 is pegged at 1.821 billion bushels, up 5 percent from the prior 12 months and well above analyst estimates, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report last week.

Fund managers last week increased their bullish bets on corn while lowering their net-long positions in soybeans, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a report. EnditemSource: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:37:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Monday that he fears the international community's proposals for granting Palestinian refugees working permits are "prelude to settlement" which the Lebanese refuse categorically, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

According to the NNA, Aoun made the remarks while speaking to a delegation of the British Royal College of Defense Studies chaired by Major General Craig Lawrence and accompanied by British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter.

Aoun also reiterated his position on the return of the displaced Syrians to the safe areas in their country, casting doubt on "some sides hindering this return."

He hailed Britain for the military assistance provided to the Lebanese army, which is "proved to be highly effective in cleansing the Lebanese soil of terrorists."

The president reassured the international community on Lebanon's commitment to the provisions of UN Security Council resolution 1701, reiterating the government's rejection of any Israeli attack on the Lebanese soil.

Aoun reminded of the incessant Israeli violations of the Lebanese sovereignty and the exploitation of the national airspace to target Syria.PRAGUE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Czech Defence Minister Karla Slechtova dismissed on Monday the director of the Military Research Institute (VVU) Bohuslav Safar, announced the defence ministry on its website.

Safar was criticised by Prime Minister Andrej Babis over his statements about the Novichok agent previously. The ministry did not give the reason for Safar's dismissal.

When Moscow said the Czech Republic may have been the originator of Novichok, Safar said poisonous substances were produced in the Czech Republic solely for laboratory purposes to test their properties and in a very small amount of some grams only.

Safar said since only grams were involved, this was no production, but "laboratory preparation of a small amount" for the testing of its qualities.

Safar's statement was quoted by Czech President Milos Zeman in connection with his own statement that Novichok really was produced in the Czech Republic. This was dismissed by other Czech representatives. Babis said Safar's statement had been unfortunate, and could have led to misunderstandings with the president.

VVU is a state-owned enterprise that established by Czech Defence Ministry. Its director is appointed or dismissed by the minister or the government.

Safar did not comment on his dismissal. He said the minister has the right to dismiss the VVU director and she used her right, he could not say more about this.

According to Czech Defence Ministry, the VVU will be temporarily headed by its deputy director Josef Hrncirik and a tender will be put up for the post of its director.LISBON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa appealed on Monday for greater restraint in lighting fires in rural areas to reduce the risk of wildfires.

"Less fuel, less risky behavior and more vigilance, these are the responsibilities we must all face up to," said Costa, as reported by the Lusa Portuguese News Agency.

The prime minister was speaking at the Ministry of Agriculture in Lisbon, at the presentation of the National Program for the Reduction of Rural Fires and Ignitions.

Costa said that 98 percent of wildfires in Portugal are of human origin.

"Some are criminal in origin, started intentionally and feloniously, but many others are purely and simply the result of negligence, neglect and thoughtlessness on the part of every one of us. That's why along with clearing the scrub, it's just as important that we avoid thoughtless actions that cause unwanted tragedies," he said.

Costa was referring to the smallholder tradition of lighting small fires to burn waste or clear land. In hot, dry weather these fires can easily get out of control.

More than 100 people died and over 400,000 hectares were destroyed by wildfires in Portugal in 2017.

With the hot summer months now approaching, a period most vulnerable to the spread of wildfires, the government is upping its efforts to prevent a repeat scenario.

Besides encouraging greater restraint from the populace, the government also announced more vigilance. There will be an extra 55 rangers in national parks and 500 more officers from the National Republican Guard (GNR), Portugal's rural police force, on patrol. The armed forces will also monitor rural areas from the air.

To this end, cooperation agreements were signed between the Institute of Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF), the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) and the armed forces.BRATISLAVA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The EU-Western Balkans summit due to take place in Sofia on May 17 should provide a plan for future development and further prospects for youth, which are so needful in the Western Balkans region, Bulgarian Ambassador to Slovakia Yordanka Chobanova announced after meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini on Monday.

"Specific development projects for the Western Balkans region will be discussed during the summit, primarily aimed at transport, digitisation and education. We see big support from large European countries here, and so we believe that we'll achieve a compromise in this field as well," said Chobanova.

Slovakia belongs to the clear supporters of the tighter integration of the Western Balkan to the EU, Pellegrini confirmed at the meeting.

Chobanova underlined the importance of cooperation between EU-member countries with partners from the Western Balkans and praised Slovakia's support in this regard.

"The summit will be a clear signal concerning the European prospects of the Western Balkans region. A joint European declaration should be signed at the end of the summit. We're opening new chapters in talks, and that's what matters. We're contributing towards development, as the Western Balkans is a part of Europe," stated Chobanova.

Bulgaria took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union as of Jan. 1, 2018.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 00:57:37|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed Monday his condemnation of the United States moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

According to a statement by PM media office, Hariri said "on the eve of Nakba Day on May 15, the U.S. administration declares another catastrophe day, May 14."

Nakba Day is the term used to describe the day the Palestinians were forced to displace from their lands and homes by the Israelis on May 15, 1948.

"We reaffirm our rejection of the decision to consider Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. We also consider the transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as a step that puts all peaceful tracks in the region in front of a dead end," Hariri stressed.

He expressed his "deepest" regret over this decision that provokes the anger of hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims, inflames violence, allows the Israelis to "spill the blood of more innocent Palestinians, and increases the intensity of extremism that threatens the world."

The prime minister concluded by calling on the international community to act quickly to stop the "horrific massacres" and help the Palestinians establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.ZAGREB, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Croatian deputy prime minister and economy minister Martina Dalic resigned on Monday, days after her email correspondence with those relevant to a law designed to salvage the country's biggest private company was revealed.

Dalic announced her resignation on Monday in a joint news conference held by her and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

"I did nothing wrong, immoral, or illegal. But the perception is such and I do not want to be a burden to the prime minister and the Croatian government," Dalic said.

On Wednesday, Croatian news portal Index published email correspondence between Dalic and people who participated in the adoption of the Agrokor law, and were later engaged and highly paid in the process of stabilizing the debt-ridden company.

Dalic's correspondence with lawyers and consultants, who were involved in the government's restructuring process of Agrokor, shows she had been sending them confidential data regarding the state of the company before they were hired. The letters did not go through the economy ministry's official email service, and it is not known how the emails came to light.

"We have achieved a strategic goal and stabilized the largest Croatian company...I regret that there was not more time and transparency in the whole process," said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who accepted Dalic's resignation.

Employing about 60,000 people in Croatia and the region, private food and retail group Agrokor is the country's biggest company. Its revenue reached 6.5 billion euros (7.66 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015. However, things went wrong when it was discovered early last year that the company was in huge debt, when the government reacted with the special law dubbed "Lex Agrokor" that enabled the state to take over the management of the company.

The Constitutional Court of Croatia last week decided that the adoption Lex Agrokor -- the law on extraordinary administration procedure in companies of systematic importance for Croatia -- was not in contravention of the Croatian Constitution.

Agrokor's creditors' agreement should be reached by July 10, and by then the State Prosecution should investigate whether there were any criminal offenses when adopting and implementing the Agrokor law.

The company's founder and owner, Ivica Todoric, who is suspected of corruption and fraud by the Croatian authority, is awaiting a London court's decision on a complaint he filed after the judge decided on April 23 there was no obstacle to his extradition.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 01:02:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ISLAMABAD, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday showed concern over the shifting of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem that has sparked violent Palestinian protests.

"Pakistan has noted with grave concern that despite calls by the international community to comply with UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on the two-state solution, the United States is moving its embassy to the Holy City of Jerusalem," the Foreign Ministry said.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry said the U.S. decision represents a "violation of international law" and several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The statement said both houses of the Pakistani parliament have earlier voiced their position on the U.S. decision.BERLIN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Falling profits and heavy customer losses were added to the woes of embattled German renewable energy provider Innogy during the first quarter (Q1) of 2018, the RWE subsidiary told press on Monday.

According to Innogy, Q1 earnings before profit and taxes fell by 2 percent to 1.23 billion euros (1.47 billion U.S. dollars) with losses in the electric mobility unit amounting to 50 million euros.

At the same time, around 250,000 international customers abandoned the Essen-based company which faces the prospect of being dismantled in a widely-publicized deal agreed between energy sector giants RWE and E.ON.

The company blamed the negative development of earnings on an increase in purchasing costs and a related poor financial result for sales. The German sales unit hereby witnessed a decline in Q1 operative profits from 268 million euros to 211 million euros compared to the same period last year.

Nevertheless, Innogy re-affirmed an earlier earnings outlook for the fiscal year. The company highlighted that while its long-troubled British branch Npower had lost 115,000 customers as well, it was still able to raise its operative profits by 26.5 percent to 43 million euros thanks to successful restructuring efforts. Additionally, business with renewable energy generation and grid operation developed favorably.

Both Innogy chief executive officer (CEO) Uwe Tigges and chief financial officer (CFO) have announced that they will release a new statement on the progress of the RWE- E.ON deal Monday. Earlier, the company's management and supervisory refused to give their recommendation to a formal sales offer made by E.ON to minority shareholders of Innogy.

E.ON wants to acquire Innogy completely and is offering RWE a stake in its own business for the 76.8 percent of Innogy shares held by the energy sector rival. E.ON would then take over Innogy's lucrative grid business, while its renewable energy generation is concentrated under the corporate umbrella of the RWE mother corporation. As a consequence, the two-year-old subsidiary Innogy would cease to exist.

The deal worth around 20 billion euros has largely been welcomed by policymakers and trade unions as an example of positive corporate restructuring. In order to complete the transaction, however, E.ON must also persuade investors holding the remaining 23.2 percent of Innogy shares to sell their stocks for 38.4 euros per share. It remains unclear whether minority shareholders will accept the offer after signaling their disappointment with plans to break-up Innogy at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM).RABAT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan King Mohammed VI reiterated Monday his country's refusal to the United States moving embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, warning of the "grave repercussions" of this decision on the peace process.

In a message to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the king deemed this step as "contrary to international law and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions which stress on keeping the legal and historical status of the holy city unchanged."

The Moroccan king said he has noticed the international consensus rejecting the U.S. decision, considering this consensus as "a strong message" in support of the rights of the Palestinian people and their just cause, on top of which is the city of Jerusalem.

He reaffirmed his commitment to help restore trust and revive the peace process between the Palestinian and Israeli parties, and Morocco will continue its efforts to help the Palestinians establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as capital.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 01:27:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that the U.S. has lost its mediator role after moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"The U.S. is trying to impose its own solution regarding the Jerusalem issue," Cavusoglu said in an interview with local Haber TV channel.

"There is a massacre," he said, referring to the fact that over 40 Palestinians were killed and hundreds others injured on Monday by Israeli gunfire during their rallies in the Gaza Strip.

It is "state terror," the Turkish minister noted.

Cavusoglu urged the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to take joint action against Israeli violence.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, calling it "legally null and void."

The U.S. move "disregards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people" and "will not serve peace, security and stability in the region," the ministry said in a written statement.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered on the Gaza Strip's eastern border to protest the U.S. relocation of embassy on Monday, a day before the Palestinian Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."VILNIUS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite signed a decree on Monday appointing Elvinas Jankevicius as the country's new minister of justice.

Jankevicius, 42, currently is an advisor to the prime minister. He is also a former deputy interior minister. The new justice minister names bringing transparency to the country's prison system as one of his priorities.

"Unfortunately, the Prison Department has lost public trust. It needs to be reformed to make the department more transparent," Jankevicius told local media earlier on Monday before meeting the president before her final decision on the appointment.

Recently, the Prison Department, which falls under responsibility of the Justice Ministry, has been involved in scandals amid accusations of misuse of public funds and saw some of its top officers' resignations.

Jankevicius also vows to strengthen consumer protection. "Consumers must feel confident that they have all legal means available to them to return their purchase."

Jankevicius takes the seat of the Justice Minister following the resignation of Milda Vainiute two months ago. The former minister resigned following criticism for failing to implement necessary reforms at the country's prison system.

Cabinet members in Lithuania are appointed by the president under proposal of the prime minister.BRUSSELS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- NATO on Monday said it launched a new initiative to help detect explosives and firearms in public transport.

The program brings together experts from France, Ukraine and South Korea to design a microwave imaging system, which will be able to detect explosives and concealed weapons in mass transport environments.

The project, called microwave imaging curtain, has been co-funded by NATO and France, according to NATO's press release.

The system will be ready for on-site testing as of 2020.JUBA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan peace monitors on Monday called on warring parties to the conflict not to squander any opportunity during the next round of peace talks slated for Thursday in Ethiopia.

Festus Mogae, the chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), said the leaders of the world's youngest nation have missed so many opportunities to end the more than four years' conflict and achieve a durable peace.

"This is the time for all parties at the forum to put the interest of the country first and make compromises necessary to achieve resolution of all the outstanding issues," Mogae said after he announced the postponement of 21st JMEC plenary meeting in Juba.

He reiterated the urgent need to revisit the range of practical measures that can be applied on peace saboteurs and make it clear to all concerned that the world will not tolerate any further disruption of efforts to deliver peace.

"I want to appeal directly to the authorities here in Juba and to all the opposition groups that you are all South Sudanese, and I urge you all to accommodate one another, to end this senseless violence," said the former Botswana president.

He expressed his disappointment over the violation of a cessation of hostilities agreement that was signed in Addis Ababa, seen as the desired impact of halting the violence.

"I continue to urge the parties to adhere to the CoHA (ceasefire). The parties must refrain from all acts of violence, cease hostilities and take immediate steps to investigate and punish those responsible within their ranks," Mogae stressed.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) led High-Level Revitalization Peace Forum (HLRF) is scheduled to resume on Thursday.

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.RIGA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Swiss President Alain Berset and First Lady Muriel Zeender-Berset arrived in Latvia on a visit on Monday to reaffirm close cooperation and good bilateral relations between Latvia and Switzerland, local media informed.

After meeting with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, Berset said he would like economic exchange between Latvia and Switzerland to become even closer and that promoting this cooperation was one of the goals of his visit to the Baltic country.

Switzerland was one of the first countries to restore diplomatic relations with Latvia when it regained independence in 1991, and the Swiss president's visit to Riga became yet another confirmation of the good relations between the two countries, Berset said.

Vejonis said after talks with his Swiss counterpart that Latvia was especially interested in cooperation with Switzerland in bio-medicine, bio-economy, IT, education and science.

While discussing banking security and combating money laundering, which is currently a hot topic in Latvia, the Swiss and Latvian officials agreed they could share their experiences, especially Switzerland, whose banking sector is the cornerstone of the country's economy.

"This is homework each country has to do in its financial sector, and we were unanimous that the transparency of the financial sector, as well as the prevention of the financing of unlawful activities, are important to all European countries," said Vejonis.PARIS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday called on Israel to exercise restraint after more than 40 Palestinians were killed in violent clashes on the Gaza border.

"France calls on all actors to show responsibility in order to prevent further unrest," Le Drian said in a statement.

"France again calls on the Israeli authorities to exercise discretion and restraint with respect to the use of force, which must be strictly proportionate," he added, stressing that "the duty to protect civilians, especially minors, and the right of Palestinians to demonstrate peacefully."

Le Drian also disapproved of the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem which he said "contravenes international law and in particular the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions."

"There is an urgent need to recreate the conditions needed to find a political solution, in a regional context already marked by heightened tensions," the French FM said.

He recalled that the status of Jerusalem should be determined via talks to reach fair and lasting peace in the region where Jerusalem should be the capital of two states living side by side.File Photo: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump pose for a photo prior to a high-level UN reform meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit the White House and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 18, the White House said on Monday.

In a statement, the White House said the Trump-Guterres meeting "will reaffirm the commitment of the United States to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations."

The two leaders will also discuss issues of mutual interest, including the Korean Peninsula, Syria, reform of the United Nations, as well as other common threats and challenges.

Trump has been at odds with the United Nations ever since his presidential campaign. He hammered the multinational organization for what he called bureaucracy and "mismanagement."

Trump's decisions to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the historic Iran nuclear deal have raised eyebrows across the world.

After Trump's announcement to exit the Iran deal, Guterres said in a statement that he is "deeply concerned" with Trump's decision to begin reinstating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

"I have consistently reiterated that the JCPOA represents a major achievement in nuclear non-proliferation and diplomacy and has contributed to regional and international peace and security," he added.ADDIS ABABA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on Monday called for swift actions towards realizing the continent's ambitions through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, addressing a High-level Ministerial Dialogue on the AfCFTA as part of the ongoing 51st ministerial conference In Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Monday, have voiced joint support to the free trade pact.

Implementation of the AfCFTA, including internal reforms for member countries to fully benefit from the initiative, the strategic decisions to maximize countries' competitiveness, taxation issues and the importance of international cooperation on the field, were among the major topics raised during the high-level ministerial dialogue.

According to Aia-Eza Nacilia Gomes Da Silva, Angola's Secretary of State for Budget, "free trade is not just a matter of being together, it's a matter of changing internal structures, having uniform policies, and preparing agendas that are not conflicting with international commitments."

Ghanaian Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta also urged African countries to ratify the continental free trade area pact, which he said would enable Africa to start implementing the agreement for the benefit of its people.

"Ghana always felt that a much more united Africa will benefit all of us," he added.

The African Union also called on its member states to believe on the importance of the continental free trade area.

"The challenge we face is that not all of us in Africa believe the AfCFTA can be made to deliver," said AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga.

"We need to ensure that all of us change our mindsets and believe we can do it," Muchanga said.

He also revealed that the feedback given by the 11 countries who haven't signed the AfCFTA is "promising."

The AfCFTA was signed by 44 member states of the AU's 55 member states earlier this year, while Kenya and Ghana handed over to the AU the documents ratifying the pact last Thursday.

A minimum of 22 countries are needed for the AfCFTA to come into force as Kenya and Ghana have become the first two countries to do so.

The five-day gathering, from May 11 to 15, discusses the potential for AfCFTA as a powerful tool to drive industrialization, economic diversification and overall development on the African continent.

Among other things, it aims to advance the ambitious initiative to form a regional common market that could boost intra-African trade to 52 percent by 2022, up from the current level of only 16 percent, organizers said.ADDIS ABABA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday said his country would ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, giving a major boost to the continental economic initiative.

The PM made the remark during the opening of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Addis Ababa.

Ahmed said ratifying the AfCFTA agreement will boost intra-Africa trade and boost employment opportunities for Africa's predominantly young population.

Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation at around 100 million people which also happens to be East Africa's largest economy, is home to the AU headquarters, making its expected ratification of AfCFTA especially significant.

So far, Ghana and Kenya have ratified the Continental Free Trade Area, though 44 African countries have signed the AfCFTA document.

A minimum of 22 countries need to ratify the AfCFTA document for it to come into force.Palestinian protesters use slingshots to hurl stones at Israeli troops during clashes in Gaza, on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to address the violent clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, a Palestinian envoy said Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said the meeting will take place "possibly within the next 24 hours."

Mansour said 45 Palestinians were killed, including eight under the age of 16, and more than 2,000 were injured in violent clashes with Israeli forces on Monday when the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, which trigged the escalation of conflict at the Gaza border.

The escalation has brought the number of casualties since March 30, when the Palestinians first held the "Great Return March" protests, to almost 100 dead and more than 11,000 injured.

"We condemn in the strongest term this atrocity by the Israeli occupying forces using this massive fire power against civilians who have the right to demonstrate peacefully," said Mansour.

He further demanded international protection for the civilian population and called on the Security Council to condemn "this massacre" and to provide security to the Palestinians.

When asked about forming an independent investigation that he had earlier urged, Mansour said 14 members of the Security Council were receptive to the idea but one member "was obstructing the Council from doing so."

He added the UNHCR in Geneva, the world body's human rights organ, may undertake the task of establishing such an investigation commission.

Mansour said he expects the Palestinian leadership later Monday to decide on whether to refer to the recent events as war crimes, as recommended by the Palestinian National Council.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 02:23:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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AMMAN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's cabinet on Monday strongly condemned Israel's "serious escalation" of aggression in the Gaza Strip, state-run Petra news agency reported.

The condemnation came as clashes broke out in the coastal enclave between Palestinian protesters and Israeli border security forces, killing at least 52 people and injuring over 2,000 others.

The council said Israel's use of excessive force against the defenseless civilians in Gaza is a stark violation of their legal, humanitarian and political rights.

Also on Monday, the cabinet slammed the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, pledging to continue its efforts to curb the consequences of such a decision.

The protest was held one day before the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe." It was marked by the Palestinians as in 1948, hundreds of thousands of the Palestinians were expelled from their homes or fled the violence when Israel was created.CHICAGO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Fortune 500 corporation Cummins Inc., headquartered in the U.S. state of Indiana, announced it would form a 50:50 joint venture with China's Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd., local media on Monday quoted a press release of the U.S. company as saying.

The joint venture is formed after Cummins purchased Navistar's 50 percent equity of the JAC-Navistar Diesel Engine Company, the Inside Indiana Business website reported.

"Cummins and JAC share similar values. ... By strengthening our relationship, we can focus on becoming more competitive in our markets by developing and offering high-quality, clean and fuel-efficient products," Steve Chapman, Cummins Group Vice President for China and Russia, said in the press release.

The new joint venture will continue its operations at the manufacturing facility in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.

Cummins currently supplies light-duty, mid-range and heavy-duty engines to JAC Motors for its domestic market in China as well as its global operations.

"By integrating our equipment expertise with Cummins' world-class technological and power train capabilities, we are confident we have the right formula in place for tremendous success," said Xiang Xingchu, general manager of JAC Motors.

Chinese market contributed 5.56 billion U.S. dollars in sales for Cummins in 2017, growing 38 percent from the previous year. It is one of the largest and fastest growing overseas market for Cummins.

The company also maintains cooperation with a number of other Chinese manufacturers, including those based in the country's central and western parts.LAGOS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai on Monday ordered soldiers to flush out bandits in troubled Birnin-Gwari area in restive Kaduna State within three weeks.

Over 100 civilians, including 11 soldiers were killed by bandits at villages under Birnin-Gwari local government area in the last five months.

Launching a new military Forward Operation Base (FOB) at Birnin-Gwari area, the military chief charged troops to ensure that the criminals were finally brought down to their knees.

The new FOB was aimed at checking the bandits' killings in the area, Buratai told his audience.

"We are no longer going to adopt the defensive approach, it must be offensive. Since the battle has been brought to you, you must take it back and crush them wherever they are," he added.

According to him, the killings must stop, the wanton destruction of properties must stop, not only within Kaduna state but across the country.

"In the next two, three weeks, there must be a very resounding results that will bring these criminals to their kneels finally," he said.

"They are not coming from the moon, or coming from outer space, they are within this territory. I don't know why you cannot go to where they are and get them fished out," Buratai said.

Increased activities of criminals along the Birnin Gwari-Zamfara road have created fear and anxiety among road users as well as residents of the area.

Two weeks ago, armed bandits attacked Gwaska village, killing over 50 people.

The attackers were believed to have entered the village from the northwestern state of Zamfara, a neighboring state to Kaduna.

The gunmen, over 100 in number, came in at least 50 motorcycles. They rode mostly in twos.

Mostly children were killed during the four-hour attack.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 02:48:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HOUSTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The third U.S.-China Innovation and Investment Summit (UCIS) is held Monday through Tuesday in Houston, bringing another wave of technology and innovation investment to the city.

It is expected that more than 500 participants from China and the United States, including entrepreneurs and investors, will meet in Houston.

Government delegations from China's Jiangsu, Guizhou, Hubei, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Shaanxi, and representatives from Chinese industrial parks, research centers and businesses will meet with more than 120 U.S. technology companies.

The two-day conference will feature a range of events, including "INNOSTARS" preliminary competitions, innovation forums, B2B matchmaking, company exhibits, as well as satellite activities.

The meeting will not only enable Chinese entrepreneurs to learn about the development of science and technology in the United States, but also allow for one-to-one communications with American companies. It will showcase the advantages of different places and cities in China, providing new opportunities for international investment and cooperation.

The meeting covers six areas in science, health and technological innovations, including advanced manufacturing, health care and biotechnology, new energy and new materials, environmental protection technology, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, information and communication technology.

In addition to B2B matchmaking, the meeting will feature a China-U.S. innovation investment connection forum, a China-U.S. international medical investment and cooperation forum, a China-U.S. innovation and investment promotional meeting, and a medical device innovation and docking forum.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 02:53:15|Editor: Yurou

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Jordanians protest against the opening of U.S. embassy in Jerusalem near the U.S. embassy in Amman, Jordan, May 14, 2018. Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets on Monday to protest the "provocative" opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. (Xinhua/Mohammad Abu Ghosh)

AMMAN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets on Monday to protest the "provocative" opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

The protesters, including representatives of several political parties, gathered near the U.S. embassy in the capital Amman, where they burned U.S. and Israeli flags.

"This is a reckless move by the U.S. that will only increase the tension," a demonstrator told Xinhua.

"We are here to send our message to the world that East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine. There can be no peace without this," he said.

They also condemned the massacre of civilian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli forces.

Earlier in the day, Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said Israel should be held accountable for the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

"Israel, which is an occupation force, is responsible for the crimes committed in Gaza on Monday," state-run Petra news agency quoted Momani as saying.

The minister condemned the use of excessive force against Palestinians, saying the lack of a solution to the Palestinian issue will increase violence in the region.

Last December, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and ordered the relocation of U.S. Embassy to Israel to the disputed holy city.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 02:58:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Shin Bet security agency on Monday accused Iran of financing Palestinian violence near the Gaza-Israel security fence.

"Iran is transferring funds to Hamas for violent actions in the Gaza Strip fence area," the Shin Bet said in a statement, referring to deadly clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops.

The information was based on intelligence and interrogations of the Palestinians caught after crossing the fence, it added.

Palestinians in the besieged enclave have been staging weekly mass protests near the fence, known as the "Great March of Return," since March 30.

On Monday, new clashes erupted in the wake of the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, where 52, including at least two minors, were killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry.by Tian Dongdong, Fu Yiming

COPENHAGEN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Compared with the national average farm area of 70 hectares, a 27-hectare organic piglet farm is relatively small in Denmark. But Randi Vinfeldt, owner of the farm, dreams big.

"I want more organic pig farms all over the world. If more people in the world want more organic pigs or piglets, it would mean that I get a better price," she told Xinhua in an exclusive interview in late April.

However, dreams are bigger than reality. Due to the farm's relatively small size, Vinfeldt found it is difficult for her to sell her pigs directly to bigger players like Friland, an international food company affiliated with the Danish Crown Group, one of the world's largest meat exporters, which demands a large number of pigs on a regular basis.

If you sell pigs to Friland, they will take care of everything. But they are not interested in us because we don't have enough pigs for them, she told Xinhua.

But the Belt and Road Initiative could help to change the situation, she agreed, reflecting on the increasing interest in the initiative in Europe one year after the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing.

Proposed in 2013, the initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes, offering a shortcut for Danish goods to reach the Chinese market.

If the initiative benefits bigger players like Danish Crown and Friland, they would demand more pork from farmers, including smaller farmers like us, said Vinfeldt, adding she was excited by the prospect.

"China is so huge and that's why we are so interested in China," she said.

"I can feel China's big interest in organic pork. One or two years ago, I had a visit from two young Chinese from Shanghai. They started a restaurant there and came here to see how an organic pig farm works," said Vinfeldt, adding that their visit gave her confidence that China's organic market was growing.

Things actually develop faster than Vinfeldt expected. According to Friland CEO Henrik Biilmann, Danish Crown has already launched conventional pork in China on test base via railways along the Belt and Road, with organic pork transporting by train on its agenda.

"If there is a link across countries instead of sea, the transport will be shorter. And time is money for everybody both on the buying and selling sides. It will bring the two markets (China and Denmark) closer together," said Biilmann.

Besides, the railway could carry Danish pork directly to China's big inland cities such as Chengdu and Xi'an, capital cities of Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces with a total population of more than 120 million, 24 times that of Denmark.

"It (the Belt and Road Initiative) would be a great initiative to make the doors even more open for Danish export to China. It also strengthens the possibility of close collaboration between China and Denmark, making information to Chinese consumers even better about Danish products, which hopefully will also raise the motivation for looking into a broader range of Danish products," said Lise Walbom, CEO of Food Nation, the official Danish consortium for promoting products, solutions and competences from the Danish food cluster.

"That would be definitely a possibility," she added.MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry criticized the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.

"Nobody should be allowed to act in this manner and unilaterally revise agreements enshrined in the decisions of the international community," Lavrov said here at a joint press conference with Shoukry.

Lavrov recalled that UN-approved principles stipulate that all issues of the final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including the status of Jerusalem, should be resolved exclusively through direct dialogue between the leadership of Israel and Palestine.

Both Palestinians and Israelis consider Jerusalem as their capital city, and violence has plagued the region for decades.

Shoukry said that the United States "betrayed" the peace process by opening an embassy in Jerusalem.

"This decision will have its negative consequences for the peace process and the possibility to reinitiate the dialogue between the two parties," he said.

Earlier on Monday in a highly controversial move, the United States opened an embassy in Jerusalem, an ancient city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin attended the opening ceremony.

It triggered violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the Gaza border, killing at least 45 Palestinians and injuring more than 2,000 others.PRAGUE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Innovation Conference started on Monday in the framework of the third year Innovation Week Czech Republic 2018 with Robot Sophia, a artificial intelligence humanoid robot, as the special guest.

Organized by the European Leadership and Academic Institute (ELAI) at Forum Karlin in Prague, the conference aims to bring together the innovation leaders and experts all over the world.

Robot Sophia gave a speech at the opening of the conference, during which she mentioned that she knew the word "robot" invented by the Czech writer Karel Capek, as well as the title "Rossum's Universal Robot" from his science fiction play R.U.R.

The humanoid robot will participate in various sections during the event and visitors can talk to her or take photos with her.

Sophia was developed by Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics and activated in 2015. She was granted Saudi citizenship in 2017, which makes her the first robot to receive citizenship of any country.

According to the ELAI founder Lukas Sedlacek, although the Czech economy is growing, the Czech Republic has a sure problem when it comes to innovations as its support is quite low. He hopes that the conference can connect together the people and ideas.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 03:13:21|Editor: Yurou

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Demonstrators protest against the opening of U.S. embassy in Jerusalem outside the Israeli embassy in Athens, Greece, on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Greece called for restraint on Monday after dozens of Palestinian protesters were killed and over 2,000 injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers along the border of Gaza.

The killings occurred as the U.S. embassy was transferred to Jerusalem, as Israel celebrated the 70th anniversary since its establishment, and as Palestinians were set to commemorate Nakba (Day of Catastrophe) on Tuesday.

"We note with abhorrence and deep concern the tragic loss of dozens of lives, including those of children, and the wounding of hundreds of protesters resulting from Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip," read an e-mailed foreign ministry announcement.

"It is imperative that restraint be shown in order to avoid further escalation and more victims. Israel needs to respect the right to peaceful demonstration and avoid the use of disproportionate force. On their part, Hamas and all those organizing the protests in the Gaza Strip need to ensure the peaceful nature of these protests," the press statement concluded.

Monday's protests were organized as part of a series of anti-Israeli rallies which started in late March.

A symbolic demonstration in protest of the killings and the U.S policy in the Middle East was held on Monday in Athens outside the Israeli embassy by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), affiliated labor unions, and organizations.

In statements to local media outside the Israeli embassy, KKE general-secretary Dimitris Koutsoumpas strongly condemned the killings, the U.S. president's decision on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the Iranian nuclear program issue and the U.S policy in Syria.

"This is our neighborhood and when the neighbor's home is on fire, it will soon reach our home," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 03:43:30|Editor: Liangyu

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Zahir Tanin (Front), the UN secretary-general's special representative for Kosovo, briefs the United Nations Security Council on developments in Kosovo, at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 14, 2018. The UN envoy for Kosovo on Monday expressed concern over the tension between Kosovo and Serbia. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for Kosovo on Monday expressed concern over the tension between Kosovo and Serbia, from which the territory has declared independence.

The past few months were generally characterized by a decline in both the quality of actions and the tenor of political discourse between Pristina and Belgrade, Zahir Tanin, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Kosovo, told the UN Security Council.

Tentative meetings of the EU-facilitated dialogue between the two parties took place in March. But the atmosphere was poisoned by the subsequent arrest of Belgrade's chief negotiator Marko Duric, for allegedly entering Serb-dominated northern Kosovo illegally, said Tanin.

"Following the incident, political figures from both sides engaged in rhetorical escalation that led to further setbacks in the effort to continue the EU-facilitated dialogue," said the special representative and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

There has been discussion over many months about the prospects of a shift in the essentially frozen positions of the two sides through the new EU focus on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and on wider regional engagement.

Despite these expectations, recent rising political temperatures have created hurdles in advancing the dialogue that requires sufficient political will from either or both sides to bring a new level of engagement to bolster the process, he said.

"There is no other viable option. However, for that to happen, there is a clear need for exercising leadership to stand up to challenges even with short-term political costs."

A new focus by the EU at all levels provides a mutually beneficial opportunity for Pristina and Belgrade to leave the current difficult moment behind and to take the dialogue to the next stage of real progress, he said.

Kosovo, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in 2008. UNMIK was established in 1999 following the Kosovo War.

The UN mission's role has been dwindling since Kosovo's proclamation of independence and following the creation of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.CAPE TOWN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Monday decided to recall its ambassador to Israel with immediate effect in protest against Israeli attack in the occupied Gaza Strip.

The decision was made following Israel's deadly attack in the Gaza Strip earlier on Monday, said Ndivhuwo Mabaya, spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

"The South African government condemns in the strongest terms possible the latest act of violent aggression carried out by Israeli armed forces along the Gaza border, which has led to the deaths of over 40 civilians," Mabaya said.

Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who were protesting against the provocative inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Scores of other Palestinians were injured.

"As we have stated on previous occasions, South Africa reiterates its view that the Israeli Defence Force must withdraw from the Gaza Strip and bring to an end the violent and destructive incursions into Palestinian territories," Mabaya said.

South Africa, he said, maintains further that the violence in the Gaza Strip will stand in the way of rebuilding Palestinian institutions and infrastructure.

The routine actions of the Israeli armed forces present yet another obstacle to a permanent resolution to the conflict, which must come in the form of two states, Palestine and Israel, existing side-by-side and in peace, the spokesperson said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 03:48:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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VIENNA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The oil inventories of main developed countries nearly declined to a latest five-year average level, indicating a possible tipping point from the supply glut, OPEC's latest report on Monday showed.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a 14-member oil producer group, raised its forecast for global oil demand in 2018 slightly, expecting the world to consume 98.85 million barrels a day, 1.65 million barrels a day higher than last year.

The oil cartel's report shows positive signs of the oil market and the joint oil production cut, however, a stronger rivalry from U.S. shale, as it is expected to rise under a relatively higher price.

The data from OPEC show that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) commercial oil stocks in March fell by 12.7 million barrels from previous month to nearly 2.83 billion barrels. It's also 204 million barrels lower than the same period one year ago and only 9 million barrels above the latest five-year average.

The oil inventories is a key fact of the oil market balance, the decline of the oil stock is sign of the rebalance of the market.

The report is the last one before the oil ministers' meeting in Vienna to discuss the oil production ceiling two weeks later.

In 2016, the OPEC countries reached an agreement in Vienna to reduce daily oil production to boost global oil prices to eliminate the supply glut, the agreement was also supported by 11 non-OPEC states.

OPEC and its allies strictly comply with the oil supply ceiling with a very high conformity in the past months.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow on May 14, 2018.

MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Tehran and Moscow say they will preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal despite Washington's decision to withdraw.

"Iran and Russia should guarantee our common interests, which are to preserve the deal and ensure economic benefits for all participants," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying on Monday following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Russia stated that it will adhere to and protect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, the report said.

Zarif said after Moscow he will travel to Brussels to meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany.

"The ultimate goal of all these negotiations is to obtain assurances that the Iranian people's interests guaranteed by the JCPOA will be protected," he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Monday.

There was no press conference following the Lavrov-Zarif talks in Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry only said in a brief statement that the main focus of the conversation was the JCPOA and that both ministers agreed to maintain close contact on this issue.

In their opening remarks, Lavrov said Russia, Iran and the other signatories of the deal, including China and three European countries, should together "defend their legitimate interest stipulated by this agreement."

Before visiting Moscow, Zarif went to China on Sunday for talks with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang said China will take an "objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned, and continue to work to maintain the (Iran nuclear) deal."

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that the United States would withdraw from the deal, a landmark agreement signed in 2015 by Iran, Russia, the United States, Britain, China, France and Germany.

Trump claimed that the deal had failed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism in the region.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 04:03:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Palestinian medics and protesters carry an injured man during clashes with Israeli troops near the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on May 14, 2018. More than 40 Palestinians, including children, were killed Monday in a day of violent clashes with Israeli forces on Israel's southern border with Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

GAZA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A daylong of violent confrontations between hundreds of Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel left at least 55 Palestinians killed and 2,771 injured, said medical sources.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza, told reporters that Israeli army soldiers have shot dead 55 Palestinians and wounded 2,771 others, the bloodiest day since the end of the Israeli large-scale offensive waged on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014.

He said that seven of the killed Palestinians on Monday are children, adding that 54 injured are in very critical condition.

"Some 1,204 were injured by live ammunition, 13 by rubber-coated metal bullets, 133 by bullets shrapnel and 837 suffered tear gas suffocation," said al-Qedra, who accused the Israeli army of committing a massacre against "defenseless people."

A general strike dominated the Gaza Strip on Monday, involving schools, universities, banks and stores, and streets were empty of traffic and pedestrians.

Tires were burned at crossroads of main streets against celebrating moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Buses and trucks were collecting people from the streets and neighborhoods and near the mosques, while loudspeakers of mosques called on people to join the one-million-Palestinian march. Vehicles took hundreds of participants to the areas in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel.

The Popular Front to Liberate Palestine leader Jamil Mizher told reporters "Today our people are heading to eastern Gaza Strip areas to change the history and record a significant point in their history and their struggle."

"Our people are going out to say no to all conspiracies that target our Palestinian cause, the right of return and Jerusalem. These conspiracies won't pass and our people insist on grabbing their legitimate rights from the enemy and achieve the return, the freedom and the independence," he said.

Head of International Committee of Red Cross sub-delegation in Gaza, Gilan Devorn, had earlier on Monday called for avoiding losses and casualties among Palestinians joining mass protests against Israel in eastern Gaza Strip.

Devorn told a news conference at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza: "We call on all parties to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties and avoid losses and casualties."

Islamic Hamas movement spokesman Hazem Qasem said earlier that "the Palestinians won't accept by all means to keep living under the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, and they are determined to write their document of self-determination."

Top Hamas leader in Gaza Mahmoud Zahar told reporters during his participation in the rallies in southern Gaza Strip that despite the crimes of killing and wounding Palestinians, "we will carry on with our marches until our goals are achieved."

"The Israeli threats of targeting Hamas leaders and Palestinian militants reflect the terrorism that Israel is practicing against our people and an evidence of its failure to confront the Palestinian people," said Zahar.

Rallies, protests and confrontations reached its peak on Monday as part of what the Palestinians call "the Great Marche of Return" which started on March 30 and had so far left 104 killed and 12,000 injured.

"(U.S. President Donald) Trump who is moving today his country's embassy to Jerusalem without any concerns or deterrence, is the first and only responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people's blood shedding today," said Zahar.

Representatives of the National Commission of the Great March of Return said in a news briefing in eastern Gaza city "we call on our people to keep all fronts of struggle opened against the occupation."

"We fully hold the United States and the occupation fully responsible for today's bloody massacre in Gaza. Tomorrow will be a day of grief to reward the spirits of the martyrs and we call on our populations to carry on with the marches of return without a stop," the commission said.

Khalil al-Hayyah, deputy of Hamas chief in Gaza, affirmed "the peaceful marches will continue," saying the Palestinians "who live bitterly life for 70 years will not remain silent and will not retreat until achieving their return, defeating the occupation and establishing their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 04:13:35|Editor: Yurou

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Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, speaks during a press encounter at the UN headquarters in New York, May 14, 2018. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to address the violent clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Riyad Mansour said Monday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting to address the violent clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, a Palestinian envoy said Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said the meeting would take place "possibly within the next 24 hours."

Mansour said 45 Palestinians were killed, including eight under the age of 16, and more than 2,000 were injured in violent clashes with Israeli forces on Monday when the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, which triggered the escalation of conflict at the Gaza border.

The escalation has brought the number of casualties since March 30, when the Palestinians in Gaza first held the "Great Return March" protests, to almost 100 dead and more than 11,000 injured.

"We condemn in the strongest term this atrocity by the Israeli occupying forces using this massive fire power against civilians who have the right to demonstrate peacefully," said Mansour.

He further demanded international protection for the civilian population and called on the Security Council to condemn "this massacre" and to provide security to the Palestinians.

When asked about forming an independent investigation that he had earlier urged, Mansour said 14 members of the Security Council were receptive to the idea but one member "was obstructing the Council from doing so."

He added the UNHRC in Geneva, the world body's human rights organ, may undertake the task of establishing such an independent commission.

Mansour said he expects the Palestinian leadership later Monday to decide on whether to refer to the recent events as war crimes, as the Palestinian National Council has recommended.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel security forces to exercise maximum restraint in the use of live fire and called on Hamas, who governs Gaza, and the protest leaders to prevent violent actions and provocations.

He called for attention to the local exhaustion of essential medical supplies, drugs and equipment, noting that humanitarian funding and improved access is urgently needed.

The UN chief reiterated his support for the two-state solution "with Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace, each with its capital in Jerusalem."

President of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak also expressed concern over the matter, saying "I regret the loss of life. And I call for calm, restraint and dialogue."Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 04:23:37|Editor: Liangyu

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Zambia's Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya (L) confers a honorary certificate to Qi Zuhong, team leader of the 19th Chinese Medical Team, in Lusaka, Zambia, on May 14, 2018. The Zambian government on Monday honored the 19th Chinese Medical Team for their exemplary work during their tour of duty in the southern African nation. All the 28 members of the team, who have been in Zambia since May last year, were presented with the awards during a ceremony here on Monday. (Xinhua/Peng Lijun)

LUSAKA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Monday honored the 19th Chinese Medical Team for their exemplary work during their tour of duty in the southern African nation.

All the 28 members of the team, who have been in Zambia since May last year, were presented with the awards during a ceremony attended by senior Zambian government officials as well as officials from the Chinese embassy.

Chitalu Chilufya, Zambia's Minister of Health said the government was happy to honor the doctors who worked diligently to strengthen health systems in the country.

He said the doctors worked diligently during their tour of duty as evidenced in improved service delivery in the four hospitals where they were stationed in.

Zambia and China, he said, have developed cordial relations in the last 40 years in the health sector which has resulted in the improvement of both infrastructure in the sector and capacity building of health personnel.

"We would like to express our gratitude to the team for helping in strengthening our health system. Since 1978, Zambia and China have collaborated in the health sector," he said.

Chen Shijie, Charge d'Affaires at the Chinese Embassy, said the Chinese medical doctors who have been serving in Zambia over the years have gained the respect of the government because of their high professional skills and good medical ethics.

Since 1978, China has dispatched a total of 515 doctors to Zambia, he added.

The Chinese envoy said after 40 years of reform and opening up, China has achieved remarkable progress in the health sector and was committed to work with Zambia to promote the country's medical and health industry.

The Chinese medical team, he said, helped to train a group of high-level medical staffs in Zambia by clinical teaching, academic lectures, and mutual expert visits, which helped in bringing traditional Chinese medical treatment methods and advanced medical ideas.

Qi Zuhong, team leader of the medical team, said the doctors have helped in promoting the cooperation and exchanges in health care between the two countries.

The team, he said, worked well with their Zambian counterparts in saving lives of people in the country through upholding the spirit of sincerity, affinity and good faith.

According to him, by the end of April 2018, 15,275 patients were treated, 726 operations performed by surgeons, 3,080 anesthesia operations performed while 392 critically ill patients were rescued.

The medical team also helped train 352 local medical personnel at the hospitals, he said, adding that the team also donated medication and medical equipment worth more than 120,000 U.S. dollars.WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. first lady Melania Trump "underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition," on Monday morning, her office said in a statement.

"The procedure was successful and there were no complications," the statement said. "The first lady looks forward to a full recovery."

An embolization is a minimally invasive treatment that blocks one or more blood vessels or abnormal vascular channels.

The first lady is being hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington, D.C. and "will likely remain there for the duration of the week," the statement added.

President Donald Trump was expected to visit her at the hospital, located in Bethesda, state of Maryland, according to reports, citing a White House official.

Last week, Mrs. Trump, 48, unveiled an initiative that focuses on helping children.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 04:43:46|Editor: Yurou

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OTTAWA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of 7,612 asylum seekers illegally crossed the border into Canada from the United States in the first four months of 2018, CTV reported on Monday.

Some 96 percent of those asylum seekers entered the country outside official ports of entry, according to the report. More than 7,300 of them entered Quebec province, while the other two provinces Ontario and British Columbia received the remainder, almost 150 asylum seekers each.

The Quebec government has urged the Canadian federal government to help pay costs associated with the over-representation of asylum seekers in the province.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said earlier this month the Canadian government was in exploratory talks with the United States to reopen the so-called Safe Third Country Agreement.

The agreement allows both countries to turn back asylum seekers at border crossings except when they enter through an illegal point of entry.LONDON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Perfect weather is expected Saturday when Prince Harry and his bride-to-be Meghan Markle marry, Britain's Met Office said Monday.

Forecasters said the weather is looking ideal for the Royal Wedding at Windsor Castle, expected to be watched by a global audience of millions.

The latest forecast for Windsor for Saturday is almost perfect for the crowds gathering to watch and for Queen Elizabeth's grandson and the soon-to-be Princess Meghan.

Deputy Chief Meteorologist Chris Tubbs said: "We expect some warm, sunny spells, although, at this early stage, there is some uncertainty about just how much cloud we can expect during the day.

"Early temperature forecasts suggest that the day will start rather cool, with an early morning temperature of around 6 Celsius, so anyone who arrives early to get a good place in the crowd will need to wear something warm. The maximum temperature in Windsor on Saturday will be around 20 Celsius, compared to an average for the time of year of around 17 Celsius".

Meanwhile the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, which will provide an escort for the newly weds, continued Monday to make preparations for the big day.

"It will be a matter of huge pride and professional honor for the soldiers responsible and work is already underway behind the scenes to ensure they deliver a performance to make the nation and their brother officer proud," said a spokesperson for the British Army.

Prince Harry joined The Blues and Royals in April 2006 and served with the Household Cavalry Regiment, serving operationally in the frontline in Afghanistan and rising to the rank of Captain.

Some of the soldiers who trained and served with the Prince will be supporting him on his wedding day, either riding in the escort or lining the steps of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle where the marriage service will take place.

"The sovereign's bodyguard, the Household Cavalry, will selflessly sacrifice themselves to protect the monarch and her heirs," added the British Army spokesperson.KAMPALA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A court in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Monday started a pre-trial of Jamil Mukulu, a former leader of the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) operating in the jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mukulu and 33 others who appeared before the International Crimes Division of the High Court are facing charges of terrorism and multiple murders.

Solomon Muyita, a senior judiciary communication officer, told Xinhua that the pre-trial session will last at least 30 days.

Mukulu, whose rebel group carried out several attacks in the capital Kampala in the 1990s, is facing charges of terrorism, murder, kidnapping and recruitment of children.

He is also charged over attacks including the 1998 Kichwamba Technical Institute massacre in the western district of Kabarole, in which about 80 students were killed, and charges of murdering top Muslim leaders in the capital, Kampala.

The former rebel leader, who had evaded arrest for the last 20 years, was arrested in Tanzania in March 2015 where he was applying for a travel document for his child. He was extradited to Uganda in June.

The ADF was formed in the 1990s in Uganda, and has been active in eastern DRC in recent years. It has been accused of killing, kidnapping and recruitment of child soldiers in Uganda and DRC.

The group is blamed for the December 2017 killing of at least 15 United Nations peacekeepers and five DRC soldiers. More than 50 others were also injured in the attack in North Kivu province.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 04:53:50|Editor: Yurou

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People protest near the Israeli Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, on May 14, 2018. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday slammed the Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters after the relocation of U.S. embassy as "a cowardly massacre." (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

ANKARA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday slammed the Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters after the relocation of U.S. embassy as "a cowardly massacre."

Speaking at Esenboga Airport in the capital Ankara,Yildirim condemned Washington's decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and declared it "null and void."

He vowed to stand together with Palestine people until they gain the freedom and legitimate rights.

"Palestine is not alone. Jerusalem is not alone. Occupation will end and truth and justice will prevail," Ibrahim Kalin, Turkey's presidential spokesman, wrote on his Twitter account on the same day.

Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul also criticized on his Tweeter: "We cannot accept the unlawful attacks against Jerusalem's status and Palestinians' fundamental rights. Palestine and Jerusalem are not alone."

At least 55 Palestinians were killed and over 2,700 others wounded in clashes with Israeli security troops Monday on the border between Israel and Gaza, amid mass demonstrations to protest over the U.S. move of its embassy to Jerusalem.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 04:58:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BOGOTA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The National Liberation Army (ELN), a guerrilla group in Colombia, on Monday announced a unilateral ceasefire for the country's presidential election to choose successor to President Juan Manuel Santos.

"The ELN will cease military activities from midnight on May 25 to midnight on the (May) 29th to bring about favorable conditions to allow Colombian society to express itself," the group wrote on Twitter.

They added that "after announcing an end to military activities for the elections...we hope to see a similar stance from the various political and military forces of the regime."

The armed group announced a similar ceasefire during the last legislative elections on March 11.

The government of Santos has been involved in a peace process with the ELN, currently in its fifth round of negotiations in Havana, Cuba.

President Santos on Thursday said that he was confident that negotiations with the ELN would "end well."

"I have faith...that this process will also end well. It will be difficult but there is no other choice. I believe the ELN also understands that there is no other choice...we will try to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible," he said.

Negotiations previously took place in Quito, Ecuador, but President Lenin Moreno pulled out of hosting the peace talks after dissident members of the FARC, an extinct Colombian guerrilla group, killed three Ecuadorian journalists earlier this year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 05:03:54|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the terrorist attacks in Indonesia on Sunday and Monday, which resulted in at least 18 deaths and dozens of injuries.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government of Indonesia and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured, said the council in a press statement.

The members of the council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They urged all states to cooperate actively with the Indonesian government and all other relevant authorities in this regard.

The council members reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and asked all states to combat by all means threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

The terrorist attacks in the city of Surabaya on Sunday and Monday were carried out by three families, said Indonesian police.

On Monday, a family of five riding on two motorbikes attacked the police headquarters in the Indonesian city. Four members of the family died in the suicide bombing, which also injured six police officers and four civilians.

On Sunday, a family of six, including their four young children, detonated bombs in three churches in Surabaya, killing themselves and eight other people. Some 40 people were injured.

Later Sunday, a mother and her 17-year-old daughter were killed in a Surabaya suburb when a bomb handled by the father of the family detonated prematurely. Police described the incident as a terror act.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in the wake of the church bombings on Sunday, said through his spokesman that he was appalled at the fact that children were used to participate in the attacks.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 05:03:55|Editor: Yurou

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The remains of 20 Egyptian Christians, who were executed in 2015 by the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Libya, are seen on a plane in Libya's Misurata International Airport on May 14, 2018. The remains of 20 Egyptian Christians arrived in Egypt on Monday, official MENA news agency reported. (Xinhua/Hamza Turkia)

CAIRO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The remains of 20 Egyptian Christians, who were executed in 2015 by the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Libya, arrived in Egypt on Monday, official MENA news agency reported.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II, along with security officials, received the remains at Cairo International Airport, MENA said.

Official Ahram Online reported that the remains will be identified through DNA samples taken from the victims' families.

In February 2015, the IS published a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians abducted in the Libyan city of Sirte.

Libyan security forces discovered the bodies in October last year after the city was recaptured from IS militants.PARIS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence of Israeli armed forces against Palestinian protesters, which led to a large number of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza Strip on Monday and in recent weeks.

Macron made the remarks during his phone calls with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the French presidency said in a statement.

Macron called for restraint and de-escalation and stressed the need for the protests in the coming days to remain peaceful, the French presidency said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 05:13:59|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADEN, Yemen, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher announced on Monday that the dispute between his government and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over Socotra island was resolved peacefully.

"The crisis on the island of Socotra is over and the Yemeni flag is flying above our sea and airports again," Dagher said in a brief press statement obtained by Xinhua.

Hours after the announcement, the prime minister left the island, returned to Aden's airport and then immediately headed toward Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh, according to local sources.

He might hold a meeting with Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Riyadh on the latest developments in Yemen's Socotra island and elsewhere.

On Sunday, a commission of high-ranking officials from Saudi Arabia arrived in Socotra to mediate between the Yemeni government and the UAE.

A source told Xinhua that the Saudi mediating commission succeeded in "ceasing the aggravating tension between the UAE and the government after signing an agreement."

According to the agreement, "newly-recruited Yemeni troops will be in charge of protecting the key government facilities in Socotra including the airport."

Both the Saudi and UAE forces deployed in Socotra agreed to withdraw after the agreement, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Last week, hundreds of people staged a large demonstration in Socotra island and declared full support for the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

"The Yemeni people will not give up any of their sovereign territories, including the strategic island of Socotra," the Yemeni government said in an official statement last week.

In response, the UAE Foreign Ministry said the military presence in all liberated Yemeni governorates, including Socotra, fits within the efforts by the Arab coalition to support "legitimacy at this critical stage in the history of Yemen."

The ministry emphasized that the UAE has "no ambitions" in Yemen or any part of it, and its steps in many Yemeni governorates come within the context of supporting Yemen's security and stability, as well as helping legitimacy and Yemeni people.

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Socotra island is a Yemeni archipelago on the Indian Ocean, which has unique nature, trees, water springs and a strategic location.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led Arab coalition that has been fighting the Shiite Houthi rebels since March 2015 to support the internationally-recognized government led by President Hadi.RABAT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Morocco strongly condemned on Monday the knife attack that took place in Paris on Saturday night.

In a message to French President Emmanuel Macron, the Moroccan King Mohammed VI said he learnt with great grief the sad news of this "despicable terrorist act," in which one person was killed and four others were wounded.

In this painful circumstance, the king expressed, in his personal name and on behalf of the Moroccan people, to President Macron, to the victims' families and to all the French people, his sincere feelings of compassion and his full solidarity.

The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that one of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack on Saturday evening.CAIRO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court decided on Monday to send case papers of 13 defendants to the country's Grand Mufti, the top official of Islamic law, for his non-binding opinion on their execution.

The defendants were convicted of premeditated murder of a police officer and a civilian during a jailbreak attempt in 2016 in Egypt's Suez Canal city of Ismailia, official MENA news agency reported.

Ismailia Criminal Court has set July 12 to pronounce the verdict.

Five convicts attended the trial, while the eight others were tried in absentia, MENA said, adding that four of the defendants belong to the Sinai State terrorist group, an offshoot of the global Islamic State terrorist organization.

Terrorism prevailed in Egypt since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013 in response to mass protests against his 12-month reign and his currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Terror attacks killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in restive North Sinai province northeast Cairo before they gradually extended to other provinces, where dozens of civilians, mainly Christians were killed.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 05:34:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag announced Monday night three days of mourning over Palestinian killings by Israeli forces.

As the Rotating Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkey has called for an emergency meeting held on Friday, Bozdag said after a Council of Ministers meeting in the capital Ankara.

He slammed that the United States move to open embassy in Jerusalem had violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Ankara on the same day recalled Turkish envoys in Tel Aviv and Washington for consultations, according to Deputy Prime Minister.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported Turkey will organize a mass rally in Istanbul on Friday to show solidarity with Palestinian people, citing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks in London.

At least 55 Palestinians were killed and over 2,700 others wounded in clashes with Israeli security troops Monday on the border between Israel and Gaza, amid mass demonstrations to protest over the U.S. move of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.PARIS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence of Israeli armed forces against Palestinian protesters, which led to a large number of Palestinian civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip on Monday and in recent weeks.

Macron made the remarks during his phone calls with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the French presidency said in a statement.

Macron called for restraint and de-escalation and stressed the need for the protests in the coming days to remain peaceful, the French presidency said.

Macron reiterated France's disapproval of the U.S. decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem, in the particular context of the 70th anniversary of Israel's independence and the commemoration of exile for many Palestinian families, said the statement.

"The status of Jerusalem can only be determined between the parties, in a framework negotiated under the auspices of the international community," Macron said.

Macron will exchange views on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the statement.

Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called on Israel to exercise restraint.

"France calls on all actors to show responsibility in order to prevent further unrest," Le Drian said in a statement.

"France again calls on the Israeli authorities to exercise discretion and restraint with respect to the use of force, which must be strictly proportionate," he added.

On Monday, a daylong of violent confrontations between hundreds of Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel left at least 55 Palestinians killed and 2,771 injured, said medical sources.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza, told reporters that Israeli army soldiers have shot dead 55 Palestinians and wounded 2,771 others, the bloodiest day since the end of the Israeli large-scale offensive waged on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014.

He said that seven of the killed Palestinians on Monday are children, adding that 54 injured are in very critical condition.KHARTOUM, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday issued decrees to reshuffle the government, official SUNA news agency reported.

The decrees appointed seven federal ministers, five state ministers and eight state governors.

Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid was appointed as Interior Minister, Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed Ahmed Al-Dikhairy as Foreign Minister and Mohamed Ahmed Salem as Justice Minister.

Hashim Ali Salem, former minister of minerals, was appointed as minister at the council of ministers, with no new minerals minister named yet.

The surprise cabinet reshuffle came amid a severe shortage in fuel and foreign currencies.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 05:49:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The political coalition led by prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept its leading position in two more provinces, official figures announced Monday.

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced the initial results of Iraq's parliamentary election in six of the remaining eight provinces after announcing earlier 10 of the country's 18 provinces.

Sadr's al-Sa'iroon Coalition was the front-runner in counting of 98 percent in both the provinces of Najaf and Maysan, while its closest al-Fath Coalition, led by Hadi al-Ameri, came in the second place in three provinces of Najaf, Maysan and Salahudin, IHEC said.

The latest announcement makes al-Sa'iroon Coalition in the first place in six of Iraq's 18 provinces, while al-Fath was leading in four of the provinces.

The al-Nasr Coalition led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also made its first lead in counting of 91 percent of the predominantly Sunni province of Nineveh with 164,714 votes, and is followed the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by Masoud Barzani.

However, KDP was leading in its stronghold Erbil province and was followed by the major Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), while PUK was the first in its stronghold of Sulaimaniyah province.

IHEC said that the counting of the two provinces of Dohuk and Kirkuk are still underway and will be announced later.

Millions of Iraqis went to 8,959 polling centers across the country on Saturday to vote for their parliamentary representatives in the first general election after Iraq's historic victory over the Islamic State (IS) group last December.

Some 90 political entities and 7,000 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliament.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 06:09:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SANAA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's dominant Shiites Houthi rebels, who control north of Yemen, strongly condemned the United States opening its embassy in Jerusalem, the group said in a statement on Monday.

"The blatant move comes as a declaration of war against the Arab and Islamic nations," read the statement carried by Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

It said "the U.S. decision will have unlimited bad consequences on the region."

Earlier on the day, the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem, triggering deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, in which at least 55 Palestinians were reportedly killed and over 2,700 wounded.

The Houthis also called on the Yemeni people to participate in mass rallies on Tuesday in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa to protest against the U.S. move.

Backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been leading a devastating war in Yemen since March 2015 to roll back Iranian-allied Houthi rebels and restore Saudi-backed exiled Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into power.Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 06:24:21|Editor: huaxia

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RABAT, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Morocco launched on Monday three programs to upgrade its centuries-old medinas inside the cities of Rabat, Fez and Marrakesh.

Three partnership and financing agreements related to these programs were signed in a ceremony chaired by King Mohammed VI at Rabat's Royal Palace.

The upgrading program of the old medina of Rabat, which will run until 2021, will focus on the development of Bab El Had Square at the heart of the city, the strengthening of the signalling system, the setting up of interactive platforms for tourist information, the upgrading of 8 km alleyways, and the building of two underground parking lots with a total capacity of 1,090 vehicles.

The program in Marrakech, which will run between 2018 and 2022, includes the promotion of historic sites, the reinforcement of the signalling system and the lighting network, the establishment of interactive platforms for tourist information, and the building of 6 parking areas.

Concerning the city of Fez, the program until 2023 aims at the rehabilitation of 39 historic sites and 10 mosques and Koranic schools, the upgrading of 11 historic sites, the restoration of Dar Al Makina, in addition to the building of 8 parking areas and the renovation of the signalling system.

Some 150 million U.S. dollars are allocated to these upgrading programs, according to the agreements. EnditemSource: Xinhua| 2018-05-15 06:59:27|Editor: Liu

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MINSK, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese company CITIC Construction and the largest Belarusian bank Belarusbank have created a Chinese-Belarusian investment fund.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on the creation of the fund, the presidential press service said on Monday.

The statutory fund will be formed in the amount of 1 million U.S. dollars. The founders are CITIC Construction (60 percent) and Belarusbank (40 percent).

The fund will invest in Belarusian enterprises in exchange for their shares or bonds. The fund will attract money for investment in the Belarusian economy in foreign and domestic markets through the placement of shares and bonds of its own issue.

It is planned that projects worth 50 million U.S. dollars will be implemented in the next 2 years.

The foundation is created for a period of 10 years. To ensure the flow of capital to Belarus and the creation of attractive financing conditions, the decree provides for a number of tax privileges and preferences in the areas of currency regulation and circulation of securities.Hungarys home market has not overheated yet for the country as a whole, but prices in Budapest slightly exceed the level justified by economic fundamentals, the National Bank of Hungary said in a biannual report.

On a national average, housing prices are still below the level justified by the economic fundamentals, while prices in Budapest have slightly exceeded that level, the central bank said in the report.

As regards house prices, no overheating can be observed for the time being, but due to the high price level in Budapest and the rapid increase in lending, the market must be closely monitored, it added.

The bank noted a shift in housing market turnover from Budapest to other cities and towns. The rate of home price growth in the capital is on the decline, falling to 13.3% at the end of 2017 from around 18% at the end of 2016, it added.

On the national level, home price growth slowed to 13.8% last year from 15.4% in 2016. The NBH projected prices would rise a further 13.9% in 2018.

Interviews the NBH conducted with developers, contractors and real estate brokers revealed that developers are not keen on planning from 2020, when the preferential 5% VAT rate on home construction is set to be phased out; there is a shortage of almost 40,000 skilled labourers in the construction sector; and commercial property and state investments are siphoning off significant capacities to the detriment of housing developments.

Tight capacity has forced developers to postpone the anticipated completion date in the case of around 63% of homes under construction in Budapest, the NBH learnt.

The NBH acknowledged the marked pickup in home completions and the issue of home building permits last year, but said the renewal of Hungarys housing stock, at just 0.3% per year, is still extremely low in regional comparison.

It projected home completions in Budapest would reach 8,800 this year and 10,000 in 2019, before declining sharply, mainly because of phaseout of the preferential VAT rate.The BOOKR Kids reading application has raised a total of EUR 1 million investment from the state-owned Hiventures Venture Capital Fund. BOOKR Kids will be present in Hungarian elementary schools from September with a special pedagogical program.

The three-year-old startup develops interactive books and applications for children, publishing houses, companies and educational institutions, and produces digital versions of fairy tales and stories previously only available in print. BOOKR Kids thus provides a completely new format for IP owners.

Our main goal is to build a bridge between books and the digital world so that literature - besides screens - can also become a natural part of childrens lives, says Dorka Horvath, CEO and co-founder of the company.

We gamify the books while keeping their original values; it is only the format and the platform that changes. BOOKR Kids means legal tablet time for kids since its developing effect is approved by parents, teachers and educational experts.

With a special pedagogical program, BOOKR Kids will be present in Hungarian elementary schools from September. The educational plan was approved by the Digital Prosperity Program of Hungary and can be applied for under the Institutional Digital Development Plan.

This year the dynamically growing business has already matched its total revenue from 2017. The revenue goal for this year is EUR 500,000. Thanks to the capital injection, the company, already present in five countries, plans further international expansion.Just one day after German property developer ECE announced plans to build a EUR 200 million shopping center in the Obuda district in Budapest, Kristof Szatmary, the government commissioner for trade policy, says the development will not happen in its present form since it lacks the necessary construction permit.

Christoph Augustin, the head of ECEs local unit, told journalists in Budapest Wednesday that the mall would be built on the site of a former textile factory in District 3 of the capital, with a leasable area of 52,000 square meters and room for 170 businesses.

However, the announcement would appear to be premature, as Szatmary told business daily Vilaggazdasag Thursday that, in the absence of a valid construction permit, the plaza will surely not be built in the proposed form.

"Yesterdays announcement was misleading," he said, explaining that the developer only holds a permit from 2013, which is overridden by new regulations in force since the beginning of 2015. The latter, commonly known as the "plaza stop" regulations, ensure sustainable development according to guidelines themselves based on EU laws, he added.

Accordingly, Szatmary noted, the entire process of obtaining a permit needs to be begun again from the beginning, meaning that effectively nothing may come of the project which ECE announced for completion by 2021.

The commissioner stressed that had the company already begun work based on the 2013 permit, then it would be able to claim the latters validity; however, because this did not happen and the investor had not requested a new permit after 2015, the newer regulations invalidate any exemption from the "plaza stop."As Parliament elects Viktor Orban as Prime Minister, a pro-government columnist welcomes what he calls Viktor Orbans pragmatic vision. A left-wing commentator writes that although PM Orban now prefers the formula Christian democracy to illiberalism, his principles and aims remain unchanged.

On Thursday, the Hungarian Parliament elected Viktor Orban as Prime Minister. In his acceptance speech, PM Orban said he would serve the interests of 15 million Hungarians, in line with Christian values. PM Orban identified the migration crisis, the weakening of national solidarity and demographic decline as the main challenges Hungary faces.

He underscored that Hungary wants a strong union of European nation states rather than a more centralized United States of Europe. He mentioned that Hungary is situated in the centre of the geopolitical triangle of Berlin, Moscow and Istanbul.

He outlined his vision of making Hungary one of the fastest growing economies and most livable countries in Europe by 2030.

Magyar Idoks Otto Gajdics interprets PM Orbans speech as an indication that the Prime Minister will put Hungarian interests and Christian values first. The pro-government journalist suggests that the Prime Minister has underscored the importance of regional and European cooperation.

Mr Orban knows, he continues, that national sovereignty is strengthened by international cooperation and Hungary can only become successful in a Europe of peaceful and strong nation states. In light of all this, Gajdics thinks that PM Orban can no longer be accused of provincialism and isolationism.

On 24.hu, Zsolt Kerner thinks that while the Prime Minister may have replaced his vision of illiberalism with that of Christian Democracy, his main political aims are unchanged.

At the same time, he is flexible enough to switch terminology and abandon the broadly criticized idea of illiberalism in favour of the less divisive Christian democracy. But despite the discursive shift, PM Orban still identified migration as the main challenge ahead of Hungary and Europe.

The leftist columnist reads the PMs speech as proof that he wants to lead a balancing politicy between the EU, Russia and Turkey. As for Hungarian politics, Kerner suspects that PM Orban has not forgiven the opposition for their attacks, and may soon start to take revenge.

MTI Photo: Kovacs Tamas

This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

Click here to Share Your StoryHungary will continue to build open and honest cooperation based on mutual benefits with Slovenia in the next four years, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in Slovenias Lendava (Lendva) on Friday.

Orban held talks with former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa and Janez Magyar, a candidate of Jansas Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) in that countrys early elections set for June 3.

The prime minister referred to close ties between the peoples of Hungary and Slovenia, saying that his government was ready to promote the economy of Slovenias north-eastern region, home to an ethnic Hungarian community.

Orban said the goal of his visit was to speak for Jansa, a committed and courageous politician, who could ensure that Slovenia is led by a strong, stable, determined and brave government, which the country needs.

The Hungarian prime minister thanked Slovenian Hungarians for their support for his Fidesz partys recent election win, helping the country to a civic, national, and Christian government.

Jansa thanked the Hungarian government for its support for Slovenias Hungarian community and praised Hungary for setting an example in protecting the European Unions external borders.

Later in the day, Orban attended an SDS campaign rally in Celje, also attended by Manfred Weber, group leader of the European Peoples Party. In his address, Orban said that Slovenias prosperity was in Hungarys interest.

Concerning migration, Orban said that the 2015 crisis was but a prelude to what is still to come. Tens of millions, he said, were posed to leave Africa for Europe, and will keep coming as long as they receive invitations, as long as they see a small chance of getting to Europe.

Referring to Slovenias future, Orban said that the countrys crucial decisions must not be entrusted to small parties coming from nowhere or politicians jumping out of the cloaks of Marx or Lenin. He added that it was shameful that some European leaders now pay tribute to Marx.

MTI Photo: Koszticsak SzilardHungary can learn a lot from Colombias efforts to develop one of the most competitive economies in the world, the prime minister said after talks with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Colombia has ambitious plans for the future, the same way that Hungarians have also set some great plans, Orban said at a joint press conference with Santos, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Colombia is doing a number of things that we Hungarians could learn from, copy and utilise after making certain adjustments, he added. Orban also said that a scholarship scheme by Hungary to be expanded in the near future included Colombia and both countries have re-opened their embassies in each others capitals.

He described Santos as a real hero and said we have gained a new friend who understands that cooperation with neighbouring countries and regionalism will have great significance in the future.

Santos said it was a great honour to be the first president meeting Orban after his re-election. He congratulated Orban on Hungary standing out in Europe with its good economic indicators, high growth rate and accelerated development.

Orban represents policies that are very similar to those that Colombia has pursued in order to boost its competitiveness, he added.

MTI Photo: Kovacs TamasThe Public Foundation for the Research on Central and Eastern European History and Society and Szazadveg Foundation are holding a conference entitled The future of Europe on May 23-24, with international speakers.

The organisers promised 'politically incorrect' discussions and speakers with different backgrounds, at a press conference on Friday. The programme of the conference has been published afterwards.

The topics of the conference are: cultural clashes in Europe, migration, geopolitical challenges, economy and artificial intelligence.

Among others, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (pictured on top), author Frank Furedi, historian David Johannes Engels, journalist and author Douglas Murray, Polish foreign secretary of state Konrad Szymanski, Vice-Chairman of the German National Reserve Tobias Zech and former Czech President Vaclav Klaus will address the event.

Controversial British journalist and author Milo Yiannopoulos was also invited for the conference, which had been planned for January but was later postponed. Yiannopoulos will hold a lecture on May 25, at a different venue.

Date and time: 23 - 24 May, from 10 am

Venue: Castle Garden Bazaar

Address: 1013 Budapest, Ybl Miklos ter 4.

MTI Photo: KKMThis has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

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This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

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Best Home Defense ShotgunCoun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs

07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0)

Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na...Washington: Expressing sadness over the latest terrorist attack in Paris, US President Donald Trump today called for a change in mindset for how countries deal with terrorism.

"So sad to see the terror Attack in Paris. At some point countries will have to open their eyes & see what is really going on," Trump said in a tweet.

"This kind of sickness & hatred is not compatible with a loving, peaceful, & successful country! Changes to our thought process on terror must be made," he added.

Earlier, the US strongly condemned the Saturday's stabbing attack in Paris, where one person was killed and four others were injured by a 20-year-old knife-wielding man. The assailant was later killed by the police.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

She said the US stands in solidarity with the French people and their government against the terrorist attack.

"Acts like this only strengthen the resolve of the global coalition to defeat ISIS and drive it out of existence," Sanders said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US does not know much about who were behind the attack.

"We know that the caliphate ISIS has claimed responsibility. They said he was one of their soldiers. We can't verify that yet. The French authorities, with all the intelligence help the United States can provide, we'll do our best to unpack this in the coming hours," Pompeo told Fox News Sunday.Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said he had no reason to continue on his post if he could not protect the interest of the people of the state.

He was interacting with the editors of print and electronic media here last evening on the prevailing situation in the state following the recent visit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016.

"If the interest of the state and its people are not secure, then what is the meaning for me in continuing as the chief minister of the state. That is why we will sincerely work for safeguarding the interests of the people of Assam. This is certain," Sonowal said.

A key amendment in the Bill seeks to grant citizenship to people without valid documents from six minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India.

"It is my duty as the chief minister to take all with me and not take decisions on my own. By taking the opinion of the people of Assam, we will take a decision on the issue.

"I will seriously think about the suggestions given by you all here and as advised, I will also discuss the matter with senior citizens and intellectuals in the coming days," he said.

He also appealed for peace and said there is no need for people to get agitated as the process for the JPC to take their opinion is still on.

"We will not take any decision that goes against the people of Assam, We all have to ensure peace across the state and keep faith in the government. I appeal all to maintain peace so that unwanted situations do not develop in the state," he said.

"The JPC Chairman had hinted the Committee will return to Assam to further take the people's opinion on the Bill. The people should, however, continue to express their opinion and speak their mind to the JPC chairman through e-mail," he said.

The 16-member JPC headed by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal had visited the state from May 7 to May 9 to elicit views from stakeholders on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Sonowal said there was an allegation against him that he was not allowing the JPC team to visit Assam.

"When I had got the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act repealed, no JPC had come then. This time, people have been given top priority," he said.

The JPC had heard individuals, political and other organisations on the bill in Guwahati on May 7 for 30 Brahmaputra valley districts and the next two days for the three Barak valley districts.

Protests were staged against the Bill in front of the venue where the JPC hearing was held as people feared that it would breach the clauses of the Assam Accord.

The Accord states that all illegal foreigners from Bangladesh who had settled in Assam after March 25, 1971 would have to be deported irrespective of religion.

In the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley, a majority of the 315 opinions submitted to the JPC were in favour of the Bill, and people carrying placards formed a human chain in its support.

The opposers of the Bill are apprehensive that the granting of Indian citizenship to the Hindus of Bangladesh to live in Assam would negatively impact the demographic pattern of the state and make the indigenous people minorities in their own state, besides threatening Assamese language and culture.

A human chain carrying placards also supported the Bill, while politicians of both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress supported it even as their respective parties opposed it in the Brahmaputra valley.

Following the JPC hearings, protests have been taking place on a daily basis in the Brahmaputra valley against the Bill.New Delhi: One of the most talked about actors in Bhojpuri film industry, Pramod Premi will next be seen in 'Munna Mawali'. The film is directed by Ravi Sinha and the story is written by Rakesh Pandey. 'Munna Mawali' also stars hot cake Anjana Singh and sensational Poonam Dubey in the lead opposite Premi.

The film is a love triangle between the lead actors and the makers claim that it has been smooth ride so far shooting the venture. Premi has scenes with both the actresses in the film as it is a romantic story but often finds it hard to make things work comfortably between the two actresses.

Are we smelling a possible catfight? Well, maybe. Reportedly, the Premi has always maintained that both Anjana and Poonam are great actors and he is looking forward to work with them.

'Munna Mawali' is currently being shot at Panvel, Mumbai. The director revealed that the chemistry between Premi, Anjana and Poonam is brilliant. They get along quite well and we encountered no issues while filming.

The makers maintained that the entire cast and crew is loving and caring. Director Ravi Sinha said, The cast of 'Munna Mawali' is loving and we work in a fun way. The working atmosphere is quite good on the sets and the shoot has come out quite well. The film is a complete package as there is romance, action and everything. The songs are also catchy.

'Munna Mawali' has an ensemble star cast with actors like Manoj Tiger, Nagesh Mishra and Ayaz Khan while dialogues are by Surendra Mishra.By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can find out more by clicking this linkMumbai: Irrfan Khan-starrer 'Karwaan' has been locked for release on August 10, its makers announced on Monday.

The film, produced by Ronnie Screwvala's RSVP in association with Ishka Films, also stars Dulquer Salmaan and Mithila Palkar, marking their debut in Bollywood.

Southern film actor Dulquer tweeted: "And finally we are happy to announce a release date for 'Karwaan'! Coming to a cinema near you on August 10! Cannot wait for you all to watch it."

The film's first look was revealed some time ago as the poster introduced three lost souls, two dead bodies and a promise of a lifetime journey with it.

Directed by Akarsh Khurana, "Karwaan" revolves around three oddballs from different walks of life who are thrown together on a somewhat bizarre journey which helps them find normalcy in their lives.

It has been shot in Kerala.

This will be the second Irrfan-starrer movie to release since the actor announced he is suffering from a rare disease. "Blackmail" had released after Irrfan made it clear to its producers that the movie shouldn't suffer due to his condition.

The acclaimed actor has been diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour.New Delhi: A few days ago, Salman Khan had released a fresh new poster of his upcoming film 'Race 3' on Twitter and announced that the first trailer of the film will be released on May 15. However, his cryptic tweet today has generated doubt amongst the viewers.

Taking to Twitter, Salman wrote, "Kal ka mujhe thoda doubtful lag raha hai."

Kal ka mujhe thoda doubtful lag raha hai  Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) May 14, 2018

The 'Dabangg' actor informed his fans about the release date of the trailer and also explained why the team is sharing several posters. He wrote, "Sach Batau, we were not ready with the Race 3 trailer.Is liye itne posters banaye.But Intezar ka fal meetha hota hai. The Race 3 trailer will be coming to you on May 15 and I promise you the wait will be worth it."

Jacqueline Fernandez, who has previously worked with Salman in Kick, also shared a poster on Twitter earlier and captioned it: "Racing against time!! #Race3ThisEid."

The third instalment of the 'Race' series will also have an ensemble cast like the other two. While Jacqueline and Anil Kapoor remain constant from Race 2, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem are the latest additions to the movie.

Unlike the other parts, this time the movie will be directed by Remo D'Souza instead of Abbas-Mastan.

Earlier this month, Jacqueline along with Bobby and Remo were spotted making separate entries at Salman's Galaxy Apartment. Also snapped was Salman's rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur, who lent her voice for a song in the film.New Delhi: If you are in possession of soiled or mutilated Rs 200, Rs 2000 notes, there are chances that you will not be able to exchange them over the counter in bank branches, as per media reports.

Media reports say that the reason behind this is the status-quo in Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Rules 2009. As per the Note Refund Rules, it is mandatory for the bank branches to accept currency notes in the denomination of Rs 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000.

However, the new Rs 200, Rs 2000 notes have not yet found place in the Note Refund Rules, thereby fueling speculations that you might not be able to change them in-case you have a torn, mutilated or soiled currency notes of the said denomination.

Soiled Note

The Note Refund Rules describes a soiled note as one which has become dirty due to usage and also includes a two piece note pasted together wherein both the pieces presented belong to the same note, and form the entire note.

Mutilated Notes

The RBI guidelines prescribes the adjudication of claims in respect of notes of one rupee, two rupee, five rupee, ten rupee and twenty, hundred, five hundred and one thousand rupees denomination as per the square centimetre area (undivided piece) of the note.

The RBI launched bright yellow coloured Rs 200 banknotes last year while the Rs 2000 banknotes were immediately launched after the government demonetised old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in November 2016.

The RBI also introduced a new fluorescent blue Rs 50 banknotes last year.

The Rs 2,000 rupee notes account for about 35 percent of the Rs 18.43 lakh crore currency in circulation in the country. The printing of this high denomination notes has been halted as it had reached its threshold of Rs 6.70 lakh crore in the system. The Rs 18.43 lakh crore currency in circulation compares to nearly Rs 17.97 lakh crore currency in circulation before demonetisation of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes.A quick glance at the top news of the day:

1. Can Siddaramaiah win it for Congress and retain CM seat? Verdict on Tuesday

During the fierce campaign by all stakeholders in the run-up to the elections, Siddaramaiah took all the attacks directed at his government head-on. The results of all the 222 seats are expected to be declared by the afternoon of May 15 and any party or alliance securing 112 will be able to form the government in the state. Read full report

2. Key principle of Modinomics - fool as many people as you can: Rahul Gandhi on fuel price hike

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed the Modi government over the hike in petrol price by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus. Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93. Read full report

3. Shashi Tharoor charged with abetment to suicide in Sunanda Pushkar death case

Delhi Police on Monday charged senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor with abetment to suicide in connection with the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. Following the development, Tharoor called the chargesheet 'preposterous' and said that he 'intend to contest it vigorously'. Read full report

4. Arrested terror suspect trained in Pakistan, helped by Dawood Ibrahim gang

A 32-year-old man, who was arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from the city's western suburbs, reportedly had top politicians and Bollywood celebrities as his target. The arrested man, Faisal Mirza, is a technician by profession and is a resident of Jogeshwari. Read full report

5. West Bengal Panchayat elections 2018 marred by violence: 6 dead, several injured

Within eight hours of West Bengal Panchayat polls, six persons died and over 20 were injured after violence erupted across the state. Opposition parties later pointed fingers at ruling Trinamool as several reports of violence emerged from across West Bengal during the ongoing Panchayat polls. Read full reportNEW DELHI: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Monday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind asking him to caution Prime Minister Narendra Modi from using unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against the leaders of Congress party. The letter was also signed by other senior leaders of the grand old party.

In the letter written to President Kovind, the Congress said, "In the past, all Prime Ministers of India have maintained immense dignity and decorum in discharge of public or private functions/actions. It is unthinkable that in our democratic polity, the Prime Minister as Head of the Government would utter words which are threatening, intimidating in content and a public warning to the leaders and members of main opposition party i.e. Indian National Congress."

Sharing a link to the video of a public speech delivered by PM Modi on May 6, 2018 at Karnataka's Hubli, the Congress said that the threat held by him to the latter's leadership deserves to be condemned.

"The threat held by the Prime Minister to the INC's leadership deserves to be condemned. This cannot be the language of the Prime Minister of a constitutionally governed country of 1.3 Billion people. Such discourse whether in public or private is unacceptable conduct. The words used are menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of the peace. The Congress Party is the oldest party in India and has faced many challenges and threats. The Congress leadership has always exhibited courage and fearlessness in facing threat and challenges. We would like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats," the letter read.

The speech pointed out by the grand old party was delivered while the Prime Minister was campaining ahead of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections. Karnataka went to polls on May 15 and the results will be declared on May 15.

Here's the full text of the letter:

Respected Rashtrapati ji,

The Prime Minister of India holds a very special position under the Constitution of India. He heads the Union Cabinet to which the Union Executive reports and takes orders. On assumption of the office of the Prime Minister, the following oath of the office is administered:

"I, ___, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as the Prime Minister for the Union and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. I will not directly or indirectly affirm, communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as the Prime Minister for the Union except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such Minister."

In the past, all Prime Ministers of India have maintained immense dignity and decorum in discharge of public or private functions/actions. It is unthinkable that in our democratic polity, the Prime Minister as Head of the Government would utter words which are threatening, intimidating in content and a public warning to the leaders and members of main opposition party i.e. Indian National Congress.

The Prime Minister on 06th May 2018 A Hubli p Karnataka in his public speech delivered the following address (In Hindi): Video Link-voutube.com/watch?v=7rRpte2qChk

The threat held by the Prime Minister to the INC's leadership deserves to be condemned. This cannot be the language of the Prime Minister of a constitutionally governed country of 1.3 Billion people. Such discourse whether in public or private is unacceptable conduct. The words used are menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of the peace. The Congress Party is the oldest party in India and has faced many challenges and threats. The Congress leadership has always exhibited courage and fearlessness in facing threat and challenges. We would like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats.

The President of India as the constitutional head of the Union of India enjoys high duty and obligation to advise and guide the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Admittedly, the Prime Minister is not expected to use menacing language even in the course of election campaign which tantamounts to using his powers and privileges as the Prime Minister to settle personal and political scores.

Hon'ble President may caution the Prime Minister from using such unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against leaders of the Congress Party or any other party or person as it does not behove the position of the Prime Minister

With Regards

(Signatures of Congress leaders including Manmohan Singh)NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday presented the draft proposal to the Supreme Court outlining the water-sharing between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the decades-old Cauvery water dispute.

"We need to examine whether the said scheme is in consonance with our judgment," the SC bench, consisting of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, as reported by news agency PTI.

The bench added that it would consider and approve the scheme on May 16.

The top court said that it will not go into "correctness of the scheme" and rather confine itself to whether the scheme was in consonance with its February 16 judgment.

On February 16, the Supreme Court, in a significant verdict to resolve the decades-old Cauvery river water dispute, increased Karnataka's quota by 14.75 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft), taking it to to 270 tmcft. It reduced Tamil Nadu's share to 404.25 tmcft, while allowing it to extract 10 tmcft of groundwater from the river basin.

The Supreme Court ordered the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), and had given it six weeks to do so. That deadline lapsed at the end of March, with the Centre seeking extensions.

On May 8, the SC warned the Centre that it was in "sheer contempt" of the February 16 verdict by not framing the Cauvery management scheme on river water sharing between the four southern riparian states till now.Lahore: The daughter of revered Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz on Sunday claimed that Indian authorities denied her entry into a media summit in New Delhi where she was invited as a speaker. Moneeza Hashmi, 72, an eminent Pakistani television and media personality, was listed as a speaker at the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi between May 10 and 12.

Organisers in New Delhi, however, denied the charge and said that they were not even aware of any such incident. Press Information Bureau chief Sitanshu Kar said that he was not aware of any such incident.

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Director KG Suresh said: "I am not even aware of it, of this entire incident. I also came to know about it only through media persons".

Hashmi left India for Lahore on Saturday after she was barred from attending the summit.

"I was invited by the Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (ABID) but the Indian authorities stopped me from attending the summit in New Delhi," Moneeza told reporters here today.

"I was to speak 'Should All Good Stories be Commercially Successful' along with three other speakers in the summit but I was refused entry," she claimed.

Hashmi said that on her arrival on May 9 in New Delhi, she was told that she had no booking of the hotel and she was not registered.

"The organisers apologised. I stayed in another hotel and left for Lahore on May 12," she added.

The summit was hosted in New Delhi from May 10-12 in which representatives from nearly 40 countries delved on issues related to the media sector.

The summit was hosted by the Information and Broadcasting (I-B) Ministry, jointly with the IIMC, and public sector firm Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL).BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) has released the MP Board Results for Class 10 and Class 12 on Monday morning. According to emerging reports, Anamika from Vidisha district and Harshvardhan from Shajahanpur have topped in Class 10 HSC results. The passing percentage for class 10th students is 66 while for that of Class 12th students is 68. Once again, girls outshone boys in the exams.

MP Board Class 10 HSC Toppers:

Rank 1: Anamika from Vidisha district

Rank 1: Harshvardhan from Shajahanpur

Rank 2: Subhash Prasad Patel from Umariya district

Rank 2: Prabhat Shukla from Umariya district

MP Board Class 12 HSSC Toppers:

Science Stream Rank 1: Lalit Panchauri,

Commerce Stream Rank 1: Ayushi dhengula

Arts Stream Rank 1: Shivani Pawar

Class 10th Stats

Total Students: 11,48,098

Pass Percentage: 66%



Stats for Class 10th Regular

Number of Regular Students Appeared: 8,30,942

Number of Regular Students Absent: 10419

Results Withheld: 684

Failed: 189115

Passed: 545600

Number of Regular Students who gave supplementary: 85124



Stats for Class 10th Private

Number of Private Students Appeared: 3,17,156

Number of Private Students Absent: 33052

Results Withheld: 209

Failed: 1,79,718

Passed: 64658

Number of Private Students who gave supplementary: 39519

Class 12th Stats

Total Students: 7,65,358

Pass Percentage: 68%



Stats for Class 12th Regular

Number of Regular Students Appeared: 6,00,065

Number of Regular Students Absent: 4253

Results Withheld: 852

Failed: 1,08,358

Passed: 4,05,122

Number of Regular Students who gave supplementary: 81480



Stats for Class 12th Private

Number of Private Students Appeared: 1,65,293

Number of Private Students Absent: 16295

Results Withheld: 438

Failed: 81726

Passed: 41030

Number of Private Students who gave supplementary: 25804

MP Board Results Class 10 results and MP Board Results Class 12 results are out! Candidates can check their results on the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) official websites mpbse.nic.in and mpresults.nic.in and the third party result-hosting sites examresults.net and indiaresults.com. The results were announced by state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a conference on Monday.

Check MP Board Results Class 10 results and MP Board Results Class 12 resultsJust days after former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif triggered a controversy with his statement on 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistani Army has convened a meeting of National Security Committee. An announcement in this regard was made on microblogging site Twitter by the Pakistani Army.

Pakistan Armed Forces official spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor posted on Twitter that the NSC meeting was suggested to countrys Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Without naming Nawaz Sharif, the official spokesperson said that the meeting was suggested to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident.

NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) May 13, 2018

NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted on Sunday night.

On Saturday, Sharif had publicly acknowledged that terrorist organisations were active in Pakistan and questioned the policy to allow "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai, said a report in Pakistan-based Dawn.

"We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it," he said.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar's militant organisations - Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad - operating in the country with impunity, Sharif had said, "Militant organisations are active in Pakistan. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill over 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial."

Reacting to his statements, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called it "serious disclosure", adding that it proved India's position that the handlers of 26/11 attacks were in Pakistan.

"Well, it is very serious disclosure. India's position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan. It (Sharif's remarks) only proves that India's stand has been right all the way," she said.New Delhi: Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal was on Monday given the additional charge of Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministry by the Narendra Modi government in the absence of Arun Jaitley, while Smriti Irani will now handle only the Textiles portfolio.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been made the new Information and Broadcasting Minister in place of Irani and SS Ahluwalia will be the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, with Alphons Kannanthanam being relieved of the charge. Ahluwalia was earlier MoS in Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Earlier, in July 2016, Irani was removed as the HRD minister and was replaced by Prakash Javadekar, who was the environment minister at that time.

Jaitley underwent a successful kidney transplant at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday and is stable after the more than four-hour surgery, hospital authorities said. Jaitley, 65, who has been mostly working from home since early April 2018, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday. He had confirmed his illness in a tweet on April 6.

Earlier, Goyal was Minister of State with independent charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy. On 5 July 2016, during the second Cabinet reshuffle of the Modi ministry, he had taken over as the minister of Mines (MoS with independent charge) from Narendra Singh Tomar. Later, he became the minister of Railways on September 3, 2017, when Suresh Prabhu stepped down and was shifted to Commerce and Industry Ministry.

Rathore was made the MoS I&B in November 2014 and was appointed as a minister with independent charge for Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in 2017.The controversy over a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah refuses to die down as now a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister from Haryana has demanded that the name of the Aligarh Muslim University should be changed.

Referring to the portrait of Pakistans Quaid-e-Azam, Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said that AMU has a picture of the person who broke the nation into pieces, but does not have any portrait of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, claiming that the Jat king had donated the land for the university.

Picture of the one who broke the nation into pieces hangs inside Aligarh Muslim University's campus, but no picture of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh. I demand that AMU must be renamed as Raja Mahendra Pratap Vishwavidyalaya, said Captain Abhimanyu on Sunday.

According to the Haryana minister, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singhs contribution in the field of education cannot be forgotten. The remarks were made by Captain Abhimanyu while addressing a gathering at a ground-breaking ceremony of a Jat Dharamsala in Rewari.

Meanwhile, the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) has written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention into the controversy surrounding the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

In their letter to Kovind, the students alleged that no satisfactory action has been taken by the Uttar Pradesh government yet. They also said that the Aligarh district administration was yet to act against those who trespassed into the campus and indulged in acts of violence on May 2.

"Wed again like to make it very clear that the students of Aligarh Muslim University are in no way defending Mohammad Ali Jinnah or his portrait," AMUSU president Maskoor Ahmad Usmani had said.

Students of the university have been agitating for nearly two weeks, demanding action against the right-wing protesters, who entered the campus and demanded the removal of Jinnah's portrait from the student union's office. The row started after local BJP MP Satish Gautam wrote to AMU, raising objections to the portrait.

(With agency inputs)NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Monday charged senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor with abetment to suicide in connection with the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

The police filed a 3000 page chargesheet before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Following the development, Tharoor called the chargesheet 'preposterous' and said that he 'intend to contest it vigorously'.

"I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet and intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ years of investigation it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. The Congress leader said questioned the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police pointed out the delay of the chargesheet filing which took place more than four years after the death was reported," he tweeted.

In March 2018, a confidential report claimed that Pushkar was indeed murdered. The report, exclusively accessed by DNA, stated that investigators knew the answer as to who killed Sunanda Pushkar from the beginning yet her death was kept a mystery.

According to the first report prepared in the case by the then Deputy Commissioner of Police BS Jaiswal, it clearly stated that the Sub Divisional Magistrate at Vasant Vihar Alok Sharma, who inspected the place of crime at Leela Hotel and conducted the inquest proceeding, was of the view that it was not a suicide.

The report, exclusively accessed by DNA, stated unsatisfied with the inquest proceedings, Sub Divisional Magistrate had ordered the Station House Officer of Sarojini Nagar to investigate the case as murder.

The decision was made when the autopsy report stated, "The cause of death to the best of my knowledge and belief, in this case, is poisoning. The circumstantial evidenced are suggestive of alprazolam poisoning. All the injuries mentioned are caused by blunt force, simple in nature, non-contributing to death and are produced in a scuffle, except injury number 10 with an injection mark. Injury number 12 is teeth bite mark. The injuries number 1 to 15 is of various durations ranging from 12 hours to 4 days.

The report clearly stated that the injection marks were fresh. The report also stated the body of Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor had various scuffle marks.

"These seem to have caused due to a scuffle between Sunanda Pushkar and her Husband Shashi Tharoor as per the statement of their personal attendant Narain Singh," said the report which was submitted to then Southern Delhi range Joint Commissioner of Police Vivek Gogia, who was given a task to personally monitor the case. The report was further submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The secret report had all the annexure, which included, post-mortem, chemical, biological fingerprints reports - accessed by DNA - separately and each report pointed towards murder yet the police did not register a case.

On January 17, 2014, at about 9 pm police came to know that Sunanda Pushkar has died in Room Number 345, which is a suite, at Hotel Leela Palace. Preliminary enquiries stated that she had checked in to this hotel on January 15, 2014, at 5: 46 pm. The room number 307 was earlier given to her, later on, she moved to Room number 345 in the afternoon on January 16, 1 2014.

Also, the crime branch sleuths and journalist Nalini Singh stated that Sunanda wanted to a presser. At 3 pm, she had asked her assistant to take out her white dress as she wanted to do a press conference. Next thing happened, she was found dead. The question remained the same. Who killed the socialite Sunanda Pushkar.

(With inputs from agencies)At least 41 people were killed as thunderstorms accompanied with squall hit many parts of India, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi-NCR. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued yet another warning for thunderstorm and squall in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Odisha.

According to the IMD, wind speed reaching 50-70 km per hour is very likely at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Odisha, while thunderstorm and gusty winds are expected in parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Similar predictions have been made for Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Telangana, Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The weather department has further predicted duststorm in parts of Rajasthan and heavy rain in Odisha.

At several places in north India including Delhi, high-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services on Sunday.

According to the IMD, thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured."

Condoling the deaths, Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a tweet asked party workers to provide all assistance to the bereaved families.

Shortly after the drastic weather change on Sunday, the Met Department said that the weather would remain adverse for two to three days and thunderstorm will continue for the next 48 to 72 hours.

"There is a circulation of a western disturbance in North West India. We had forecasted that the weather will be adverse for 2 to 3 days. This thunderstorm will continue for the next 48 to 72 hours," said IMD scientist Charan Singh.

(With agency inputs)Karnataka will get a new government on Tuesday after the results for 222 seats for which voting took place on May 12 are declared which will reveal the constitution of the new Assembly. The three major rivals - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Janata Dal Secular - have been claiming that they will win the Karnataka Assembly elections but the voters' preference will be known only after the EVMs are opened on May 15.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is facing a tough battle to ensure Congress returns to power. Even history is against him as no party has been able to win two consecutive Karnataka Assembly elections since the Janata Dal's victory in 1983 and 1985. Siddaramaiah on Sunday sounded confident of Congress retaining power and added that this was his last election. He is contesting from two seats - Chamundeshwari and Badami.

He also ruled out that Congress was exploring a post-poll alliance with the former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led JDS. The Congress has been facing a string of electoral routs over the last few years with the only exception being Punjab Assembly elections 2017 and apart a win in Karnataka will come as a shot in the arm for the Grand Old Party.

The high-voltage campaign by the BJP leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the party hopes of returning to power for the second time in the state. BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa and party's national president Amit Shah have claimed that their party will secure a majority on its own in Karnataka Assembly. Yeddyurappa predicted that BJP will win 130 seats and the Congress would be relegated to a distant second with just 70 while the JDS would bag 25 seats.

The campaigning for Karnataka Assembly elections was highly acerbic with all the parties guilty of stooping too low and hitting below the belt. On May 12 voting took place for 222 seats as the election was countermanded in Jayanagar constituency after the sitting BJP MLA BN Vijayakumar died of a heart attack during campaigning while it was deferred in Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat to May 28 after almost 10,000 fake voter cards were recovered from a flat in the area. The result of Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat will be declared on May 31.

A total of 2,655 candidates are in the fray for the 224 seats in Karnataka Assembly. Among the candidates are four sitting and former chief ministers - the current CM Siddaramaiah, former BJP chief ministers BS Yeddyurappa and Jagdish Shettar, and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy. There are 219 women, too, among the aspirants. While the BJP is contesting in all 224 seats, the Congress put up candidates in 222 and the JDS in 201 seats.

According to the state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar 72.13 percent voters came out to exercise their franchise which is the highest in the Karnataka Assembly elections since the 1952 state polls.

Exit polls have forecast a hung Assembly with almost all of them predicting a close contest between the ruling Congress and its main rival the BJP with JDS expected to play the role of a kingmaker if no party manages to secure a majority on its own. At present, the majority mark is 112 as results will be declared for only 222 seats. While Karnataka Assembly has 225 seats, voting takes place for 224 constituencies as one is a nominated member from the Anglo-Indian community.Bengaluru: The counting of votes cast in 222 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka on May 12 will be taken up on Tuesday morning.

Following are main highlights of the high-stakes elections:

- A record 72.36 percent of the 5.07 crore electorate cast their votes, with 27,908 electors in defence services exercising their franchise through postal ballots.

- The Election Commission has deployed 16,662 personnel for counting of votes amid tight security.

- In all, 2,622 candidates, including 217 women contested the 222 seats, including 36 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes.

- The election in Bengaluru's Raja Rajeshwari (RR) Nagar was postponed to May 28 due to the seizure of voter ID cards and countermanded in the city's Jayanagar seat due to the death of BJP candidate and MLA BN Vijaya Kumar on May 4.

- Vote counting in RR Nagar will be taken up on May 31.

- The highest voting percentage of 84.55 was recorded in Ramanagaram district, followed by 84.19 in Chikkaballapur, 84.03 in Bengaluru Rural, 82.53 in Mandya and 82.51 in Tumakuru.

- The lowest voting percentage of 54.72 was in Bengaluru Urban, followed by Kalaurgi 62.68, Raichur 65.80 and Yadgir 65.84.

- The ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fought in all 222 constituencies while the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) fielded candidates for 201 seats. Its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contested 21 seats.

- There were 1,155 Independents and about 800 candidates from national, regional and fringe parties.

- Among the prominent candidates is CM Siddaramaiah from Chamundeshwari district in Mysuru and Badami in Bagalkot and his son Yatindra from Varuna in Mysuru.

- The others are the BJP's chief ministerial face BS Yeddyurappa from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district and JD-S state chief HD Kumaraswamy from Ramanagara and Channapatna in Ramanagaram district.

- Yeddyurappa became its first CM in south India when the BJP came to power for the first time on its own in the May 2008 elections.

- BJP's former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar is also in the fray from Hubballi-Dharwad Central.

(With IANS inputs)Bengaluru: Karnataka pradesh Congress committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara has said that there are a dozen aspirants for the post of the chief minister in the party. He added that ultimately the CLP would elect its leader and the final decision would be taken by the party high command.

However, Parameshwara had clarified that if the incumbent CM Siddaramaiah is elected by the CLP as CM, he will have no objection.

He had also told mediapersons on Sunday that the Congress would form the government once again and there was no question of a hung Assembly. "100% we will come to power," Parameshwara had said.

There's confidence & a sense of fulfilment that we have done our best for the people of K'taka. For @INCKarnataka, politics is about being honest & transparent about work. Our work speak volumes & has been recognised too. We will be back in power again. #KarnatakaWithCongress  Dr. G Parameshwara (@DrParameshwara) May 12, 2018

Parameshwara had lost to Sudhakara Lal of Janata Dal (Secular), the current MLA of Koratagere constituency, in the 2013 elections by a margin of 18155 votes. He had won the seat in 2008 Assembly polls.

With my yesterday's visit to Koratagere, the electoral campaign has come to an end. I seek your love & support as I pledge to develop Koratagere constituency on all fronts. #CongressMathomme #PragatiParaParameshwara pic.twitter.com/uIZD3vRRGc  Dr. G Parameshwara (@DrParameshwara) May 11, 2018

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah had said on Sunday that he was ready to make way for a Dalit CM if the Congress high command so decided. "I am confident that the Congress would win the elections with a majority and I would be the CM," Siddaramaiah had told journalists earlier. However, when asked on Sunday if he was ready to make way for a Dalit leader as CM, he had said,"I have no objection. I am not against anybody but the decision has to be left to the high command." At the same time, Siddaramaiah had maintained that the high command would also consider the views of the winning candidates before deciding the next CM.

Dalit veterans in the Congress like its leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Parameshwara are being seen as possible alternatives for CM's post.

Counting of votes will be taken up on Tuesday. Several exit polls have predicted a hung Assembly and have said that former PM HD Deve Gowda's JD(S) would play the role of the kingmaker.

In one of the most high-profile and bitterly fought elections in recent times, 222 of the 224 seats went to polls on May 12. Polling for RR Nagar seat was deferred on account of alleged electoral malpractices, while it was countermanded in Jayanagar seat following the death of the BJP candidate.

(With PTI inputs)Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) chief ministerial candidate for Karnataka, BS Yeddyurappa on Monday took a jibe at incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, questioning as to why didn`t he say about giving up CM seat for a Dalit 10 or 15 days before the assembly elections.

"Why didn`t he (Siddaramiah) say the same thing (about giving up CM seat for a Dalit) 10 or 15 days before," Yeddyurappa asked.

"He knows that he is going to lose the battle. We are going to form the government, we will go to Delhi to meet PM tomorrow," he added.

Yesterday, Siddaramaiah had said that he was willing to vacate his chief ministerial post for a Dalit.

"I am ready to sacrifice CM`s post for a Dalit," he was quoted as saying by a TV channel.

Ruling Congress, BJP, and Janata Dal (Secular) mainly fought high-profile Karnataka elections, voting for which took place on May 12.

Out of 225 Assembly segments, 222 went to the polls. Elections in Bengaluru`s constituencies - Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar - were postponed.

A party or an alliance needs 112-seats to form the government. The votes will be counted on Tuesday.Mumbai: A 32-year-old man, who was arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from the city's western suburbs, reportedly had top politicians and Bollywood celebrities as his target.

The arrested man, Faisal Mirza, is a technician by profession and is a resident of Jogeshwari. Mirza is said to have made some sensational revelations before the intelligence agencies when interrogated by them. As per Zee Media sources, his interrogation is said to have revealed the ISI nexus with the 'D gang' (underworld don Dawood Ibrahim). Mirza has also revealed that 'D network' members had provided him with logistical support in Sharjah and Dubai and had arranged his visit to Karachi on ISI's behest.

Along with firearms training, he also underwent training for stabbing with a butcher knife in order to carry out his plans. Mirza is said to have told the intelligence agencies that there are at least six training camps active in and around Karachi. The training is said to be conducted either in forest areas or in the valleys.

During the training, he was introduced to few retired military officials. Moreover, Mirza told the intelligence agencies that top officials of Pakistani paramilitary forces help and back the top three men of the 'D company' - Dawood, Anees and Shakeel.

The terror suspect was arrested from Mumbai's Juhu area on Sunday. He was presented before a local court, which has sent him to the ATS custody till May 21. The Mumbai Police and Kolkata STF also helped the Maharashtra ATS in this operation.

(Reporting by Sanjay Singh and Rakesh Trivedi)Mumbai: A 32-year-old man, who was planning to assassinate some important personalities, has been arrested by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad from the city's western suburbs, ATS officials said on Sunday.

Officials said that the man, who was arrested by the anti-terror agency's Juhu unit on May 11, had been to Pakistan, via Sharjah and Dubai, for training at a camp operated by a terror outfit.

Police said the accused got training in handling explosives, sophisticated firearms as well as suicide bombings at a Karachi-based camp run by a terror organisation.

"He was called to Pakistan by a person who is wanted in for terrorist activities in Mumbai. The arrested man first went to Sharjah to meet this wanted person where the latter provided him logistics support," an official said.

"After spending some time in Sharjah, he was sent to Dubai and from there to Karachi. He then attended a training camp there run by a terror outfit," the official said, adding that it has been learnt that this outfit had the backing of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The official said the arrested man's interrogation had revealed that he was part of a terror group that planned to carry out attacks on "public utilities" and crowded places.

"He has also revealed that assassinations of some important personalities of the city were also planned. Investigations are underway to find out more on all these aspects," he said.

The man was presented before a local court which remanded him in ATS custody till May 21Mumbai: Meghna Gulzar has often been offered to remake her father, iconic writer-lyricist, Gulzar's films but the director says she will never consider the thought as she believes "masterpieces shouldn't be touched".

Gulzar, 83, has helmed several celebrated films in his career such as "Ijaazat", "Aandhi" and "Angoor". Meghna, 44, however, did not specify which of her father's movies were offered to her to remake.

"I get suggestions and offers but I'll never do it, never consider it. I can't even imagine it because there is no need whatsoever. I was offered to remake, strangely, but yes. I don't think masterpieces should be touched," the filmmaker told PTI in an interview.

She says the fact that her father has never written any of her films - specially her directorial debut "Filhaal" and her second outing "Just Married" - is because he would never have the same perspective that she has. He, however, gives a few suggestions from time to time.

"The subjects I was picking, he says it himself, that he'll never be able to write something like a 'Filhaal' or a 'Just Married' because the perspective that I have, he wouldn't.

"I can't ever remember my father instructing me about anything. The upbringing, the support was subliminal and through suggestions. You cannot teach writing, it has to come instinctively."

Meghna, who has helmed four films in her over than 15-year-long career, had started assisting filmmaker Sayeed Mirza right after college. Surprisingly, she never worked on a set with Gulzar, a decision which she says, was deliberate.

"On my father's set, it was difficult not to be the director's daughter for the rest of the crew. So learning on that set wouldn't have been possible. I assisted my father in writing and postproduction, (but) never on the sets.

"On the sets, I can be a distraction for him too. He doesn't seize to be the father and it can be distracting for a director. I know how I feel when my son is on set," she says.

Meghna made "Filhaal" in 2002 and then went on to direct her second, "Just Married", five years later. The gap stretched to seven years when she made her third film, "Talvar" in 2015.

She also directed one of the 10 stories in the anthology film, "Dus Kahaniyaan" (2007).

"After 'Just Married', I took really long to write a script, due to I guess lack of motivation. When there's failure, there's lack of motivation. You do get a little deflated. But I did write three scripts which never materialised.

"But I've outgrown them now. 'Filhaal' is not my first script, it's my second. I put the first one aside, it was a comedy..." she says.

Meghna says the seven-year gap made her question her craft.

At one point, she even wondered if she is a "bad filmmaker or a bad storyteller, may be the subjects she chose are wrong".

The director says today she is in much more "confident" space and has found immense liking for stories based on real life, such as her latest "Raazi", a spy thriller.

"I find true life genre very stimulating because it's challenging, it's a tremendous responsibility and it's also very liberating.

"You can do away with the bells and whistles, nice looking actors and blow dry hair and pristine costumes. You can just tell the story in the best possible way," she adds.Chandigarh: Hours after a retaining wall of a busy flyover collapsed in Punjab`s industrial city of Ludhiana, authorities in the city`s civic body on Monday blamed it on rodents.

The retaining wall of Gill Road flyover in Ludhiana, around 110 km from here, collapsed on Sunday night.

There were no casualties even though traffic was moving on the flyover.

Traffic movement was stopped on the flyover on Monday resulting in traffic jams on roads near it.

Officials of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation on Monday said that the wall collapsed as some rats excavated the sand.

Corporation`s Superintending Engineer Dharam Singh told the media that rats were the reason behind the wall collapse.

Official sources said that an inquiry was being marked into the incident.

Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who visited the spot on Monday, told reporters that rats alone could not be blamed for the wall collapse.KOLKATA: At least 20 people were injured after clashes broke out in several districts across West Bengal on Monday morning during the ongoing state Panchayat polls. Media vehicles were torched as members of political parties ran amok on the street, stopping voters to exercise their franchise. The Opposition alleged that members of the ruling Trinamool Congress are not letting voters enter poll booths. Incidents of violence were reported from South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Birpara.

A media vehicle was torched in South 24 Parganas' Bhangar district, the camera and other equipment broken. Mediapersons were not allowed to enter the area, reported news agency ANI.

In another incident, two persons  a Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) worker and his wife  a were charred to death in North 24 Parganas on Sunday night. CPM later claimed that TMC members were behind the attack. Later, the party took to Twitter to claim:

Is this the Democracy you are talking about @MamataOfficial ? Is this the free and fair election you are talking about? @cpimspeak member Comrade #DebuDas and #UshaDas from Kakdweep, were torched to death by @AITCofficial goons last night. #BloodBath continues in #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/I6gbhEvtWR  CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) May 14, 2018

The much-awaited West Bengal panchayat polls are currently underway amid tight security. The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17. The rural elections are being held in 621 zilla parishads and 6157 panchayat samitis, besides in 31,827 gram panchayats, spread across 20 districts.

The panchayat polls are the last major elections to be witnessed by the state before Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The run-up to the polls witnessed intense violence, a series of court cases, and clashes among supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP, Congress and the Left across districts. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday urged people and political parties to participate peacefully and avoid rumours. Opposition parties, meanwhile accused the State Election Commission (SEC) of not providing enabling environment for their candidates to file nominations. They also accused the TMC for inciting violence during the nomination process for the polls. Trinamool has termed these allegations baseless.KOLKATA: Within eight hours of West Bengal Panchayat polls, six persons died and over 20 were injured after violence erupted across the state. Among those dead included a CPM supporter dead from Amdanga, North 24 Parganas, two TMC supporters dead -- one from Kultoli, South 24 Parganas and another from Nadia, a BJP supporter dead from Beldanga, Murshidabad, a supporter of an independent candidate dead in Murshidabad and One person dead from Shantipur whose political identity is not yet known.

Opposition parties later pointed fingers at ruling Trinamool as several reports of violence emerged from across West Bengal during the ongoing Panchayat polls.

"Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal government is a shameless government. You cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour, said BJP minister Babul Supriyo.

I demand President's Rule in WB," he added.

Reiterating similar views, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) will be seen as complicit in the ruling Trinamool Congress' "project of destroying democracy" if it does not act to restore faith in the electoral process.

The Election Commission of West Bengal must act to restore faith in the process. Else it will be seen as complicit in TMC's project of destroying democracy. Allowing TMC to get away with throttling democracy has implications well beyond West Bengal," Yechury said on Twitter.

The Election Commission of West Bengal must act to restore faith in the process. Else it will be seen as complicit in TMC's project of destroying democracy. Allowing TMC to get away with throttling democracy has implications well beyond West Bengal. pic.twitter.com/F6vHJbiqun  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 14, 2018

According to the State Election Commission (SEC), 12.2 per cent votes were cast in the initial two hours of polling till 9 am.

In less than three hours after polling began, reports of violence and clashes emerged from several districts across state.

Videos of party workers, armed with sticks, were seen stopping voters from entering booth at several booths. Over 20 people were injured in Cooch Behar alone. Reports of crude bomb being hurled around in several polling stations also emerged.

A media vehicle was torched in South 24 Parganas' Bhangar district, the camera and other equipment broken. Mediapersons were not allowed to enter the area, reported news agency ANI.

In another incident, two persons  a Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) worker Debaprasad Das and his wife Usha  a were charred to death in North 24 Parganas on Sunday night. Family members of the victims alleged that goons of the ruling TMC set fire to the house at Kachharabari locality of Kakdwip at around 1 am.

"An incident of fire was reported. A man and his wife were burnt to death. Forensic experts have been called," Sundarbans Coastal police district SP Tathagata Basu said.

In north Bengal`s Jalpaiguri, Minister in-charge of north Bengal development, Rabindra Nath Ghosh caught on camera slapping a BJP supporter. However, he denied slapping the opposition party worker saying he was merely trying to move people away using his hand. He said, "BJP agent was trying to run away with ballot box, officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all. TMC hasn't attacked anyone."

Incidents of violence took place in East Midnapore district`s Panskura and West Midnapore district`s Keshpur where gun totting miscreants gathered outside the polling stations and beat up the voters.

The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17. The rural elections are being held in 621 zilla parishads and 6157 panchayat samitis, besides in 31,827 gram panchayats, spread across 20 districts.Washington: Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri today said America's decision to shift its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem was evidence that negotiations and "appeasement" have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.

In a five-minute video entitled "Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims," the Egyptian doctor who took charge of the global terror group after its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 referred to the Palestinian Authority as the "sellers of Palestine" while urging followers to take up arms.

US President Donald Trump "was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade, where standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad," Zawahiri said, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

He added that Bin Laden had declared the US "the first enemy of the Muslims, and swore that it will not dream of security until it is lived in reality in Palestine, and until all the armies of disbelief leave the land of Muhammad."

He argued that Islamic countries had failed to act in Muslims' interests by entering into the United Nations, which recognises Israel, and submitting to Security Council and General Assembly resolutions instead of sharia (Islamic law).

Israelis were basking in national pride and pro-American fervour today as tens of thousands marched in Jerusalem, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move from Tel Aviv to the disputed city.

Palestinians readied for their own protests over the embassy's inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe", commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Top US officials have meanwhile insisted they could still push forward the troubled peace process despite outrage across the Arab world.

Asked in an interview with Fox News Sunday about whether there was any life left in the peace process, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by saying "the peace process is most decidedly not dead." "We're hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well," said Pompeo whose first two weeks in office have been largely consumed with arranging a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.France disapproves of the American decision to transfer the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as President Macron has reaffirmed on several occasions. This decision contravenes international law and in particular the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. [ here

La France desapprouve la decision americaine de transferer lambassade des Etats-Unis en Israel de Tel Aviv a Jerusalem, comme la rappele a plusieurs reprises le president de la Republique. Cette decision contrevient au droit international et en particulier aux resolutions du Conseil de securite et de lAssemblee generale des Nations unies. [ ici





Why is the French statement a lie?

The San Remo Conference and the League of Nations assigned the Land of Israel , what the Europeans --although not the Arabs-- called "Palestine." as the Jewish National Home in 1920 and 1922 respectively. The Preamble to the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (1922) specifically referred to the historical connection of the Jews with the Land:

Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for the reconstituting their national home in that country . . . .

In a fit of desperation at seeing their beloved "Palestinians" losing ground politically/diplomatically, the French Foreign Ministry, led by foreign minister Jean-Yves LeDrian accused the United States of violating international law by deciding to move its embassy to Jerusalem. It is very seldom that France or its NATO allies accuse the USA of violating international law. So this statement is remarkable for that reason, besides being a lie. See below the French statement:Even after the exile from Jerusalem forced by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who changed the city's name to Aelia Capitolina, Jews returned to Jerusalem in late Roman times and after other periods when they had been expelled from the city and forbidden to live there. Jews have lived in Jerusalem continuously after the Crusades since the Mongol withdrawal from the city in 1260. In more recent times, Jews became the absolute majority of inhabitants of the Holy City in the middle of the nineteenth century, by 1853, if not before. In 1853, the Old City was the whole city. Hence the Jews were the majority then in the Old City and up to at least 1900 Now the Quai d'Orsay [French foreign ministry] makes a legal argument supposedly based on international law. But Article 80 of the UN Charter, 1945, confirmed Jewish rights to the Land under the Jewish National Home principle previously adopted by San Remo and the League. Hence, in November 1947 when the UN General Assembly recommended accepting the partition plan for the country of the UNSCOP [UN Special Committee on Palestine], the existing legal status of the Land of Israel ["Palestine"] was that of the Jewish National Home. Since the UNSCOP Partition Plan was a recommendation, it was not law. In fact, the General Assembly can only make recommendations on political matters, according to the UN Charter. Therefore, subsequent General Assembly resolutions on the Land of Israel are no more law and no more binding than the UNSCOP plan. Therefore, the General Assembly resolutions that the Quai d'Orsay statement mention are not law and not at all binding. They are only recommendations.Security Council resolutions are considered binding. However, the SC cannot legally revoke rights of peoples and states that it does not like or no longer approves. Especially when the people or state in question is already exercizing that right. The anti-Israel resolutions of the GA and SC of the past and future can rightly be seen as Judeophobia, anti-Jewish expressions. The France of today is the heir of Vichy France and has no right to lecture Israel on its rights no more than the Palestinian Arabs whose top leaders collaborated with Nazi Germany and in the Holocaust

Labels: France, international law, Israel, Jerusalem, United StatesRead the original article at 112.ua

Swiss authorities disclosed to Ukrainian law enforcers information about the million-dollar bank accounts of the relatives of the former Partiya Rehioniv (Party of Regions) chairman Olexander Yefremov. According to the documents that DW received, since 2006 almost 900 million UAH have been gathered on these accounts. Why is this information important for Ukraine?

What did Switzerland declassify?



According to the information of the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Authority, since 2006 33 million Swiss francs have been received from the companies of Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands, and Canada, which belong to the son and daughter-in-law of Olexander Yefremov. The Ukrainian prosecutor's office reported on the million bank accounts of Yefremov's relatives back in November 2017. Then it was noted that the funds are of illegal origin. Earlier, the FBI informed on the withdrawal of millions of dollars from these companies to the accounts. And only now Switzerland has confirmed the information and started cooperation with the Ukrainian investigators.

What Yefremov has to do with it?



The fact is that the mentioned above accounts appear in the case opened against Olexander Yefremov, who is currently in custody. Law enforcers keep him there on suspicion of committing other crimes.



At the end of July 2014, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine opened a criminal case against him on the abuse of power - pressure on officials of the state enterprise Luhanskvuhillia during the procurement procedure for installation of mining equipment and low-voltage equipment (Yefremov was in 1998-2005 chairman of Luhansk Regional State Administration, since 2006 - People's Deputy of the Party of Regions).



As a consequence, according to the charges, the enterprise concluded contracts with Yefremov-controlled entities of economic activity at inflated prices, which caused significant damage to the state.



"According to the information received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the framework of international cooperation, since June 2006, FACE_2 (Yefremov, - Ed.) through Ukrkomunbank PJSC transferred significant sums of money that are measured in millions of US dollars, to the companies-non-residents of Ukraine, which are under his control," said in a court message.



In addition, the document notes: "During the pre-trial investigation it was established that the formal owner of Ukrkomunbank PJSC is FACE_8, who was in the position of deputy of the FACE_2 during the period of his leadership of the Luhansk regional state administration."



As follows from the Swiss judicial documents, Luhanskvuhillia bought from the Yefremovs firms mine equipment for a total of (about) 374 million Swiss francs in the period from 2008 to 2014.



Often Yefremov's companies won tenders, despite the fact that they sold equipment at times more expensive than their competitors.



According to Ukrainian investigators, the suspects used a fictitious company with an authorized capital of 100 hryvnias, registered in Lviv. The manager of the company took millions of hryvnias transferred by the Yefremovs firms and gave them to specific people for a reward of 200-400 hryvnia. A significant part of the funds was exported abroad.



On February 14, 2015, Yefremov was detained on charges of abuse of power, but on February 17 he was released on bail of 3.6 million UAH, which was paid for him by MP Borys Kolesnikov. Yefremov was detained on July 29, 2016, on suspicion of high treason, encroachment on the territorial integrity and state sovereignty of Ukraine, seizure of state buildings, as well as assistance in the creation of a terrorist organization "LNR". The next day Yefremov was taken into custody, the court repeatedly extended the measure of restraint to him.

What is the situation with the accounts of Yefremov in Switzerland?



According to media reports, Ihor Yefremov (Yefremov-junior) and his wife live in Vienna. And they "fight" for their Swiss accounts since 2016, when 33 million Swiss francs were blocked. The couple urged the Swiss judges that the criminal cases against Olexander Yefremov were "political reprisals" and even compared him to businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. But the arguments were not taken into account. According to the decision of the Federal Court of Switzerland on March 21, published in the register of court decisions in early May, the accounts of the Yefremov will be blocked until Ukraine proves in court the criminal origin of the funds.

What's next?



According to the DW, the Federal Department of Justice of Switzerland, on the basis of a decision of the federal court, transferred to Ukrainian investigators bank documents on the flow of funds on the accounts of the Yefremov in mid-April. Also, law enforcement officers from Ukraine received the materials of the criminal case on the suspicion of Ihor Yefremov in money laundering, including the protocols of his interrogation. This case in Switzerland was closed in 2015 due to lack of evidence, explained the local prosecutor's office.

Now its the turn of Ukrainian investigators and judges. It is noteworthy that in March 2017 the Court of Appeal of the city of Kyiv recognized the suspicion against the ex-MP (in the episode of economic crimes) as "unreasonable". Then it was noted that "the information on the results of public procurement, as well as the statement of malfeasance contained in the materials of the judicial proceedings, turned out to be such that it is impossible to read because of the extremely low quality of its copying." It should also be noted that earlier the court itself made a decision on access to Yefremov's things and documents that were in the National Bank building, but allowed to make only copies (without seizure of securities).Oleg Bokach, the combat medic of Ukraine's Armed Forces deceased in the war-torn Donbas on Saturday. He was saving his comrade who was under fire and was fatally wounded in the process.

According to volunteer Halyna Tsehelnyk, the deceased served with the 95th detached airborne assault brigade of Ukraine's Armed Forces.

'Combat medic Oleg Bokach, born in 1994, deceased yesterday (May 12, - 112 International). He sustained a shrapnel wound to the head, while trying to rescue the wounded man from the area under fire', the volunteer said.Open source

The State Secretariate of Ukraine's foreign ministry initiates a disciplinary case due to possible anti-Semitic expressions by a Ukrainian consul in Hamburg. Minister Pavlo Klimkin reported that on Twitter.

'Anti-Semites and those instigating the ethnic hatred cannot remain the members of the civilized society or the Foreign Ministry', he wrote.

Earlier, pro-Russian blogger Anatoly Shariy said that an employee of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Hamburg, Vasyl Marushynets, posted anti-Semitic publications on his Facebook page.

Related: MFA checks information on anti-Semitic statements of Consul of Ukraine in Hamburg



It is noted that the diplomat's page can't be viewed by people who are not his friends in the network.



According to the blogger, among the posts of Marushynets one can see such anti-Semitic posts as "Jews proclaimed the war against Germany in 1934", "God, punish Jews", "Babi Yar. Not in Moscow in 1941, but in Ukraine in 1918 -1941, ""Jews - s**t "(the spelling of the author of the messages is preserved, - 112 International).



Marushynets also reported that his Facebook page was blocked more than once.

Related: Anti-Semitic provocations often inspired by Kremlin, - MFA



We recall, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said that anti-Semitic provocations are often inspired by the Kremlin regime, which with the help of hybrid aggression tools is trying to shake the political situation in Ukraine.



Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov promised "a principled and quick" reaction of law enforcement officers to discrimination and anti-Semitism.

Related: Police look into anti-Semitic slogans during rally in Odesa on May 2, - interior minister

Related: US Congressmen concerned about anti-Semitism in Poland, UkraineThe President of Ukraine offered the following - every EU state prepares a targeted program on the patronage over separated cities in Donbas, facilitating their revival and restoration of the infrastructure

Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, met George Tsereteli, the President of The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, and offered an initiative on patronage of the EU stated over separate cities in Donbas, as the President Administration reports.

In this regard, the Head of State proposes that each EU country prepares a targeted program of patronage over certain cities of the Ukrainian Donbas, contributing to their revival and restoration of the infrastructure, the message says.

In his turn, Tsereteli shared impression concerning his visit to Donbas and thanked the Ukrainian delegation in the OSCE PA.

Poroshenko has also thanked the President of the OSCE PA for the support in the struggle against Russian aggression through adopting important resolutions.

The voice of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is very important in our joint efforts to stop the aggressor, Poroshenko stressed.

The parties discussed the security situation in Donbas and the necessary first priority steps towards the achievement of the progress of the peaceful regulation, including the initiative to bring UN peacekeepers in Donbas.

The necessity of prolongation of sanctions against the Russian Federation until the full restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity was emphasized, the message says.

Besides, Poroshenko called the OSCE PA for continuing to make efforts to release Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages kept in Russia.

Earlier, OSCE PA adopted a resolution, which includes an article on de-occupation of Crimea and Donbas.The Russian government violates the international norms of law, holding on to the course of aggressive and harmful actions of the military and special services, the official says

The Russian government risks making the country an outlaw because of the Skripals case; Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, the British security service said this as quoted by Reuters.

This was part of Parker's speech, which he voiced out in front of his European colleagues in Berlin.

'The attack on Skripals is the example of Russia's aggressive actions, which may end up isolating the country from the rest of the world,' the official said.

According to him, the Russian government 'violates the international norms of law, holding on to the course of aggressive and harmful actions of the military and special services'.

Britain blames Russia for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britains MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia who were both found unconscious on a bench in the cathedral city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain said the Skripals were attacked with a military-grade nerve agent from the Novichok group of poisons, developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s.

Moscow denied any involvement in the first known use of an offensive nerve agent on European soil since World War Two, though the attack sparked the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War.Open source

The workers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has exposed the illegal exploitation of the leased state marine vessel Ruta that caused the detention of 14 Ukrainian sailors in Libyan waters as the press service of the SBU reported.

Tanker Ruta owned by Ukraines Infrastructure Ministry was passed to foreign shipping company in 2003 on the basis of the rental contract. The law enforcers has established that in February 2017 the perpetrators forged the approval and registration document of the right to exploit the vessel and it allowed them to illegally raise the Ukrainian flag at Ruta and organize the illegal export of fuel shipment from Lybia as the violation of the UN resolutions demands, the message said.

The SBU added that the operatives of the Chief Counter-Intelligence Protection of State Interests in Economy Security Department of the SBU established the organizers of the deal within the open criminal proceeding.

The workers of the special service together with the National Police held the searches in Odesa, the representative office of offshore company that exploited the vessel for the documentation of the abuse of authority cases by the officials of the company. The materials exposed by the law enforcers will provide the return of detained crew members and tanker and prevent the imposing of the international sanctions against Ukraine, the SBU noted.

On April 28, 2017, Libyan military-marine forces seized two vessels suspected in the smuggling of the petroleum.

According to the officer of Libyan Armed Forces, the crews were armed and the runabouts were hired for their protection. It was reported that the tanker is owned by Odesa company. Later, it was reported that Lybian court arrested the smuggling of the petroleum and 14 citizens of Ukraine, crew members.Richard Grenell, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany has criticized the Nord Stream 2 project and claimed that the US is very concerned about it as Deutsche Welle reported.

Grenell has noted that the US closely works with the Europeans who share these concerns. He called the current strategy on the gas pipeline very problematic and he also warned Germany and Europe on the Russian influence through this project.

European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager has also criticized the Nord Stream 2. According to her, this project does not meet the European interests.

Out common strategy provides the recovering energy from different sources to not be dependent on Russia, Vestager noted.

As we reported the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has begun in Germany on May 3. Not all countries have given the permission for it; at the same time, Ukraine and Poland protest against the construction as it can strengthen Russias positions as the gas monopolist in Europe.

Earlier it was reported that all necessary permits needed for the project have also been received in Germany. The national permitting procedures in the other three countries along the route  Russia, Sweden and Denmark  are proceeding as planned.

Russias leading energy enterprise Gazprom and its partners intend to start implementing the Nord Stream-2 project worth almost 10 billion euros in April 2018. The 1,200-kilometers-long pipeline is to be laid through the Baltic Sea, linking Russia and Germany  bypassing Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic States. The capacity will be twice larger than that of Nord Stream-1. The construction is to be complete by late 2019.ECHR is informed on one more court decision within which Telegram was blocked and offered to file a separate appeal on it

Open source

The European Court for Human Rights has registered the appeal of Telegram on the fine in the sum of $13, 000 imposed at the messenger by the FSB for the refusal to provide the encryption keys. Pavel Chikov, the advocate of the international human rights group Agor reported this on Telegram on May 13.

Legal analyst of Agor Damir Gainutdinov reported that the ECHR is informed on one more court decision within which Telegram was blocked and offered to file a separate appeal on it.

According to the human rights activists, it shows the readiness of the ECHR to consider the case as the biggest part of the complaints to the court is rejected during the registration.

As we reported Roskomnadzor blocked the number of Google IP-addresses. This is reported by experts in the field of cybersecurity, and the consequences of these actions are proved by users in social networks.

On April 6, Roskomnadzor filed the lawsuit on the blocking of Telegram in Russia. Earlier, the ultimatum put forward by Roskomnadzor to Telegram ended. Roskomnadzor threatened with the trial if Telegram would not pass the encryption keys to the FSB.

On April 13, the court in Moscow ruled to satisfy the lawsuit of Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media or Roskomnadzor and block Telegram in the territory of Russia.

As we reported the Russian mobile phone operators has started to block Telegram on April 17.Nikol Pashinyan stressed that Armenia appreciates a balanced position, which Russia had during the internal crisis in the country

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met today in Sochi, as Radio Azatutyun reports.

The meeting was held within the summit of The Eurasian Economic Union in the Black Sea town in the south Russia. At the beginning of the meeting Putin congratulated Pashinyan on being appointed as a chairman of Armenian Government.

We consider Armenia, which everyone knows, as over close partner and ally in the region. This regards economic policy and security aspects. You know, that Russia remains the leader of trade and economic partner with Armenia, Putin said.

Russias resident stated that the trade and economic relations between two states are growing fast, we have recorded a growth by 25%, agricultural supplies from Armenia to Russia are rising, growth of which was 38% last month.

According to Putin, they will work active in terms of the international organizations, from UN, where Armenia and Russia have always supported each other, to regional organizations in the security field and economic development.

In his turn, Armenian PM thanked Putin for kind words, stating that it was a pleasure for him to have an opportunity to meet with Russian President only a few days after he (Nikol Pashinyan, - ed.) was elected the PM.

Because I think, there is something to discuss. But there is also something which does not need to be discussed. This is allied and strategic relationships between Armenia and Russia. I can assure that Armenia has, so to speak, consensus regarding this issue. And no one has ever doubted, and never will, the strategic significance of the relations between Armenia and Russia. We expect and we possess energy to give new impetus to our relationships both in a political and economic sense. We hope to develop our relationships in military-technical and other fields. Many tourists from Russia come to Armenia, which is really nice. I think Russian tourists really like Armenia and Armenian people like to see so many tourists in Yerevan, the PM said.

Pashinyan stressed that Armenia appreciates a balanced position, which Russia had during the internal crisis in the country:

I think it was a very constructive stand and our Government and society really appreciates this, Pashinyan said.

The Head of Armenia congratulated Putin on May Day holidays.

It was very fascinating to watch the parade on the Red Square. This is Armenias favorite sight  My 9 parade, and we are impressed by the achievements of Russian military-industrial complex, Pashinyan stated.

Earlier, after two-weeks of protests of the opposition Armenian Parliament elected a PM. 59 MPs voted for Pashinyan, the opposition leader, 42 MPs voted against. After the elections, the ruling Armenian party stated that it joins the opposition and refuses from all the positions in the Government.

Armen Sarkissian, the President of the Republic, has formed a new Cabinet of Ministers on May 12. Young fellows of the new PM joint the Cabinet.The representatives of the French institution noted that the museum is located at the address 9 Nakhimova Ave, Sevastopol, Russian Federation

Frances Culture Ministry prepared a map with the participants of an international action Museums Night with their addresses, where the Mikhail Kroshytski Sevastopol Art Museum is pointed as Russian. The map was published on the website of Frances Culture Ministry.

The representatives of the French institution noted that the museum is located at the address 9 Nakhimova Ave, Sevastopol, Russian Federation.

It should be noted that the museums located in mainland Ukraine take part in the action, including the museums in Kharkiv, Melitopol and Odesa.

As it was reported, New York Times published the map, where Crimea was presented as a disoutable territory.The decision was made because the lawyers of one of the suspects were not present at the session

Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi District Court postponed the preparatory session on the criminal proceeding concerning the bribe for Nazar Kholodnytsky, the Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine (SAPO), from May 14 to May 31, as 112 Ukraine correspondent reported after todays session.

The lawyers of one of the suspects, it is about Nataliya Ovcharenko, were not present at the session, as they are involved in other cases. Therefore the Court was asked to postpone this case for so long, so that they have a few days to come to the preparatory session. That is why the session was postponed to May 31 at 11:00, she said.

As we reported the SAP found a wire in the cabinet of Nazar Kholodnytsky. It was noted that the NABU and Prosecutor General's Office held the audition. It was noted that the NABU and GPU tapped the SAPO Head.

On March 22, Kholodnytsky confirmed that the wire was found in his cabinet. He noted that he does not know who is an owner of the device found on March 6 and waits for the response from the law enforcement bodies.

Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General of Ukraine initiated Kholodnytskys resignation on March 30. Lutsenko appealed to the Qualifications and Disciplinary Commission of Public Prosecutors concerning Nazar Kholodnytsky, his Deputy and the Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office.

Also, Kholodnytsky claimed that the Prosecutor Generals Office opened the criminal proceeding against him due to the disclosing of the details of the pretrial investigation, particularly, the Suprun case.Open source

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has suspended the Ukrainian Consul in Hamburg for the possible anti-Semitic statements. Mariana Betsa, the spokeswoman of the ministry claimed this as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

At the moment, the consul is suspended from his official duties. We do not exclude his revoke from Hamburg to Ukraine. At the same time, we continue the careful check of all details and we will inform the community on their results, Betsa noted.

She emphasized that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine categorically condemns any forms of discrimination, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

Such statements are absolutely unacceptable for if they take place within our diplomatic corps. We will be very serious and careful about this and will draw conclusions for the future, she said.

Betsa also hopes that the checks in this case will be rapid.

It is offensive that such situation takes place. It is, actually, the first time when we have such situation. Clearly, the government of Germany where this person is accredited will be informed if this person is revoked. We do exclude that it can take place in the near future. Then we will see on the results of the check. In general, we have not had such cases yet, Betsa concluded.

According to Reuters, they could not check the anti-Semitic messages at the page of Vasyl Marushchynets, the worker of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Hamburg.

Also, Marushchynets and Consulate General in Hamburg did not comment the situation immediately.

Earlier, blogger Anatoly Shariy said that an employee of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Hamburg, Vasyl Marushynets, posted anti-Semitic publications on his Facebook page.

It is noted that the diplomat's page can't be viewed by people who are not his friends in the network.



According to the blogger, among the posts of Marushynets one can see such anti-Semitic posts as "Jews proclaimed the war against Germany in 1934", "God, punish Jews", "Babi Yar. Not in Moscow in 1941, but in Ukraine in 1918 -1941, ""Jews - s**t "(the spelling of the author of the messages is preserved, - Ed).

Marushynets also reported that his Facebook page was blocked more than once.

We recall, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said that anti-Semitic provocations are often inspired by the Kremlin regime, which with the help of hybrid aggression tools is trying to shake the political situation in Ukraine.



Avakov promised "a principled and quick" reaction of law enforcement officers to discrimination and anti-Semitism.Ruban appealed to the representatives of ODLO with the demand to include him on the hostage list

The militants offer to exchange Volodymyr Ruban only one Ukrainian prisoner, which is unacceptable, as Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, told the journalists on air of 112 Ukraine.

A couple of weeks ago it became known that Ruban appealed to the representatives of ODLO with the demand to include him on the list. This causes puzzlement of course. But I would like to say to all the know-all, who say that then we can offer to pass Ruban and take our fellows  it is not like that. The representatives of the militants have said right away, that they demanded Ruban to be included on these lists, but only if he is exchange for someone else, which is unacceptable, she said.

Ruban was detained on March 8 at the Ukrainian checkpoint at the demarcation line of Donbas Conflict zone. It is stated that Ruban is suspected in the illegal handling of arms, preparation of a crime and terrorist action. Later the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv arrested Volodymyr Ruban, the Leader of Center of POW Release 'Officer Corps' for 60 days without a right to the bail. The Court extended the arrest on May 4 to July 2.

Nadiya Savchenko, Ukraine MP, is one of the defendants in Rubans case. Earlier, she intended to bail him out. Now, she is also under arrest, after Ukraines MPs agreed on that.

The hostages' exchange between Ukraine and ORDLO took place on December 27, 2017. 73 Ukrainian prisoners came back home. 233 people were transferred to the occupied territory.

Earlier, Bogdan Mertsonya and Igor Dziubak, Ukrainian border guards came back home on March 2. Russian special services kidnapped them near the state border in Sumy region in October 2017. Ukraine transferred to Russia Vladimir Kuznetsov and Askar Kulub, servicemen of the Russian Federal Security Border Service, arrested in Kherson region in summer of 2017.

It remains unknown when the next hostage exchange takes place. As it was reported, at the session of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk Ukraine claimed its readiness to exchange 23 Russians for its political prisoners kept in Russia. Meanwhile, the militants demand to pass them 80 convicted in exchange for 15 Ukrainian prisoners.Every illegal immigrant paid $3-5 thousand to their countrymen, who helped them to get into the country

Police found residence of around 100 illegal immigrants in Kyiv, as the press office of Internal Ministry reported on Facebook.

98 people were found, all of them are foreigners, in a room located on the territory of a automobile garage cooperative, the message says.

The migrant were taken to the Desnianskyi Police Department to determine personal data, documents and the way they came to Ukraine and the individuals who helped them.

32 immigrants did not have any documents, which would give the right of residence in Ukraine.

The immigrants came from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia.

It was determined that all of them came to Kyiv from Russia bypassing the official checkpoints through the Ukraines border. Every illegal immigrant paid $3-5 thousand to their countrymen, who helped them to get into the country.

Earlier, SBU Counterintelligence Division in Sumy region along with the Prosecutors Office reveled and stopped the activity of a group, which conducted an illegal transportation of immigrant from the Middle East and Central Asia to European states.Earlier it was reported that Javelin anti-tank missiles were supplied in Ukraine

Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine plans to participate in the testing of Javelin anti-tank missiles until the end of May. Iryna Lutsenko, the presidential envoy to the Ukrainian parliament claimed this as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

Ukraines President plans to participate in the testing of the Javelins at our proving grounds until the end of May 2018, Lutsenko said.

She noted that the provision of the U.S. Javelins to Ukraine confirms the weakening of Russia at the international arena.

As it was reported earlier, the U.S. State Department announced the Javelin anti-tank missile system delivery to Ukraine.

Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's military aggression in the spring of 2014 was negotiating with the United States on the supply of lethal weapons. Previously, Washington supplied Kiev with only non-lethal assistance (including armored Humvee cars, RQ-11B Raven drones and counterbattery radars) and helped in the training of Ukrainian servicemen.

The US defense budget for 2018 presupposes the allocation of $ 350 million to Ukraine for enhancing security and defense, including the use of lethal weapons.

The U.S. State Department made a decision on the sale of anti-tank missile system Javelin to Ukraine on March 1.The application period for classes to prepare for the High School Equivalency/GED tests is open now. New students must attend an orientation session.

Santa Fe Community College announces that the application period for classes to prepare for the High School Equivalency/GED tests is open now. Classes begin June 4 in Spanish and English. Call 505-428-1356 for more information.

New students must fill out and submit an orientation packet. Packets are available now at the Adult Education office on the SFCC campus, 6401 Richards Avenue in Room 502, between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and until 5 p.m. Fridays. New students must attend an orientation session. The sessions are scheduled for 5 to 9 p.m., Monday, May 14 and 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Friday, May 18. Registration for new students will take place at orientation.

The enrollment period for returning students is May 1 through 11.

The classes, which begin June 4, help students prepare for both state-approved tests  the GED and HiSet. Classes are offered at various times in the mornings, afternoons, evenings and Saturdays to fit students schedules.

A $25 fee covers all of the classes. Call the Adult Education office at 505-428-1356 (se habla Espanol) for more information.

For information about Adult Education programs, contact Lynne Matthes at 505-428-1433 or lynne.matthes@sfcc.edu or visit www.sfcc.edu/adult_education/GED.The director of policy and communication for Health Action New Mexico speaks at the monthly meeting.

Colin Ballio, director of Policy and Communication for Health Action New Mexico will speak to Albuquerque Press Women and Friends on Monday, May 14 at 11:30 a.m. at the Golden Corral (5207 San Mateo NE)

Ballio works on advocacy and research on Medicaid, the health insurance marketplace, prescription drug prices, dental care and other policy areas. His talk will ce on health advocacy and health issues in New Mexico. Bring your policy questions to an expert at our May meeting.

Everyone is welcome at APWF meetings. Each individual is responsible for their own meal, and since we use facilities at the restaurant we ask that everyone purchase a meal. Non-members will be charged an additional $5.National Distribution Services, Wholesale Distribution, owner Carl Johansson and employees Enrique Garcia and Donald Spicer were indicted in U.S. District Court.



Two trucking companies, an owner and two employees have been charged in California with conducting illegal repairs on cargo tanks used to transport gasoline.

National Distribution Services (NDSI), Wholesale Distribution (WDI), Carl Johansson, Enrique Garcia and Donald Spicer were indicted April 25 in U.S. District Court, Central District of California on charges they conspired to defeat federal transportation laws.

All five defendants were charged with participating in a scheme to conduct illegal repairs on cargo tanks used to transport gasoline  which in one case resulted in a fatal explosion  and obstructing DOT investigations into those activities.

According to the indictment, in 2014, two welders were repairing a cargo tanker at NDSI when it exploded. One welder was killed and another was seriously injured. NDSI did not have the proper licenses to weld cargo tanks, the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General said. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an out-of-service order to NDSI and put about 37 cargo tankers out of service.

NDSI was controlled and operated by Johansson. Garcia was the shop manager, and Spicer was the safety manager, the Office of Inspector General said.

In early 2015, NDSI allegedly transformed into WDI, which began conducting business as a hazardous materials trucking company. Johansson managed WDI, and Garcia and Spicer had the same roles theyd had at NDSI. Spicer registered WDI with FMCSA, but he did not identify the previous affiliation with NDSI. Specifically, he indicated on the registration paperwork that WDIs management was not associated with any previous entity, according to the indictment.

The Office of Inspector General is conducting the investigation with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on May 13 held a telephone conversation with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, the PMs office told Armenpress.

The Iranian President congratulated Pashinyan on being elected Prime Minister of Armenia and wished success on his responsible position.

The two officials discussed a number of issues relating to the Armenian-Iranian friendly relations, cooperation, as well as the international and regional agenda.

They also exchanged views on the recent developments over the Iran nuclear deal. In this context the Armenian PM and the Iranian President expressed hope that the current situation will be solved through negotiations.

During the telephone conversation PM Pashinyan and President Rouhani reached an agreement to agree upon the programs of upcoming meetings.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of the Netherlands, a political party chaired by the countrys Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, intends to ban Turkish politicians from campaigning in the country, the Turkish T24 news agency reported.

After Turkey said it will hold early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24, Netherlands, Germany and Austria  three European countries home to big Turkish communities, announced they will not allow any rallies in relation to the Turkish elections on their territory.

Netherlands PM Mark Ruttes political party launched a motion seeking to introduce legal bans for officially prohibiting possible election campaigning in the country.

VVD lawmaker Mrs. Bente Becker said Turkish politicians who are willing to campaign in the Netherlands disturb their society. In addition, she emphasized that the pre-election tension and possible clashes in Turkey are being shifted to the Netherlands, in case of campaigning, thus legal regulations are necessary.

Other political parties are expected to endorse the VVDs motion.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Turkeys Supreme Election Council has released the final list of candidates registered for participating in the June 24 presidential election, Anadolu reports.

A total of 6 candidates will run for the presidents position:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan  incumbent President, candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)

Meral Aksener  leader of the Good party

Muharrem Ince  candidate of the Kemalist Republican Peoples Party (CHP)

Selahettin Demirtas  member of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP)

Dogu Perincek  leader of the Vatan (Fatherland) party

Temel Karamollaoglu  leader of the Saadet (Happiness) party

The presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey will be held on June 24. Based on the election results the country will transition from the parliamentary system to the presidential one.

The Nationalist Movement party announced endorsing Erdogans candidacy during the presidential election.

The Good party, which has been formed in October, 2017, promises to make surprises in the coming elections. Its leader is former interior minister, former member of the Nationalist Movement party Meral Aksener who is expected to be Erdogans main opponent in the presidential election. She will be the first woman candidate to compete against Erdogan.

Earlier Muharrem Ince, candidate of the Kemalist Republican Peoples Party (CHP), announced that if second round of presidential election is held and he loses it, he will support the opposition candidate.

Selahattin Demirtas, HDP candidate for the president, is jailed since 2016 pending proceedings over terror related charges. The jailed lawmaker faces up to 142 years imprisonment if found guilty on terror related charges.

The chances of Dogu Perincek and Temel Karamollaoglu to win in the presidential election are almost zero.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. New minister of Diaspora Mkhitar Hayrapetyan says he is ready to begin his tenure with great vigor and responsibility.

The minister, who showed up a bit late to a scheduled meeting outside the ministry building with reporters, was in high spirit and highlighted beginning his first day with the media.

At the first working day I will get to know the ministry staff, the deputy ministers, directors of departments, the chief of staff and the others. Naturally changes will happen in the ministry, since the basis of the change of government was the issue of political generation change. However there wont be any staff slaughter, like it has been announcing for several times from a political platform, the new minister said.

The minister said experience must be combined with youth. He said he and his staff will decide on changes in the staff soon.

Minister Hayrapetyan said no decisions will be made in a hurry and that he looks forward to a rather positive teamwork, however joint work will show everything.

The youngest minister of the Cabinet, speaking about discussions and criticism over his appointment, mentioned that he understands the concerns. Hayrapetyan said he feels great responsibility and he will do his best while in office.

I believe we will be able to eradicate corruption, deception in a short period of time and make tangible changes during our tenure. I am convinced that the people who will come to replace us in the future will have qualitatively different ministries with a professional administration and teams, he said.

After talking with reporters outside the ministry building, Hayrapetyan and the journalists entered the building to meet the staff.

The minister greeted the staff and entered his office.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan was appointed minister of Diaspora on May 12 by President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian at the recommendation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. New minister of healthcare Arsen Torosyans online statements have caused various comments in social media.

The ministry has released a clarification over the criticism.

Being active in social networks and not indifferent over ongoing healthcare projects, Arsen Torosyan has always expressed his stance and concerns. However, certain expressions in the recent days have been presented out of context online and have been misunderstood.

The healthcare minister is apologizing for the expressions which have been misunderstood: the assessments have been addressed for the prevention of diseases and saving lives, while strict responses and examples, based on the situation, have only been aimed at sobering up.

According to Arsen Torosyan, if we want to save human lives, including the lives of children, we must use the entire scientific arsenal. Evidence-based medicine should be our guideline. Our children must be healthy, any approach must have a competent basis and aimed at maintaining the populations health, the ministry said in the statement.

After Arsen Torosyans appointment as healthcare minister, his earlier comments and statements have been widely spread online. The comments mainly relate to vaccinations. Torosyan has made some strict comments in the statements, which have caused criticism.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The Brussels Airlines on May 14 cancelled 75% of its flights as pilots strike in a dispute over pay and conditions, the airline said, Reuters reports.

The union delegation representing the pilot community of Brussels Airlines has called for strike actions on Monday May 14th and Wednesday May 16th.

Pilots want a pay hike, a better work-life balance, improved career prospects and the possibility of earlier retirement. Some 80 percent of them voted to strike.

According to the Airlines, these actions will affect over 60,000 passengers - holidaymakers, commuters and business travellers.

Brussels Airlines deeply regrets that strike actions triggered by its social partners representing the airlines pilot community are causing massive disruptions in Mondays and Wednesdays flight operations. The strike will impact Brussels Airlines flights to and from Brussels on May 14th and May 16th. 278 flights to and from Brussels were scheduled on Monday and 279 flights on Wednesday, with respectively 34,000 and 29,000 passengers booked, the statement said.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. New minister of education and science of Armenia Arayik Harutyunyan gave a new instruction to the ministry staff regarding the business trips, reports Armenpress.

The minister said on Facebook that the era of turning the business trip into an excursion and tour is over.

If the prime minister and the minister can participate in a foreign visit in a day and then quickly to return to work, the rest of the ministry employees must do the same, the minister said.

Arayik Harutyunyan was appointed minister of education and science on May 11 by the decree of the President of Armenia.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan has released a new statement on May 14 addressing the earlier voiced statements of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan on being a party to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The first presidents statement was published as an op-ed on ilur.am.

Arguing Nikol Pashinyans recently expressed idea on Armenia being a party to the Karabakh conflict, the former defense minister has said the following: Three days ago, Armenias Prime Minister expressed a number of stances regarding the settlement of the Karabakh conflict at a press conference, which, in my opinion, can be dangerous..The Prime Minister has stated that no drastic turns will happen in the foreign policy sector, but at the same time he hinted that Armenia is a party to the conflict. This has always been Azerbaijans assertion, whereas the international community knows that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Artsakh, a negotiating partner, but never a party to the conflict. This might have far-reaching consequences. Finally, the statements of Pashinyan also include manifestations of ignorance over negotiations details. (Aravot.am 12.05.2018.)

Vigen Sargsyan who is accusing Pashinyan in being ignorant on negotiating details is actually disclosing his own total ignorance about the content of the Karabakh settlement process. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh have received a Karabakh conflict party status by the international community in the OSCE 1994 December 6 Budapest summit final document and more clearly in the 1995 March 31 Prague clarification of the OSCE CiO.

From here it becomes clear that Vigen Sargsyans idea claiming that it is Azerbaijan that has always insisted to acknowledge Armenia as a party to the Karabakh conflict, is nonsense. In reality, that isnt what Azerbaijan has insisted, rather that Armenia to be recognized not as a party to the Karabakh conflict, but as a party to the Karabakh War, i.e. an aggressor. This aspiration of Azerbaijan has been thwarted through the brilliant efforts of Armenian diplomacy in four resolutions of the UN Security Council, where it is clearly stipulated that the surrounding Azerbaijani regions of Karabakh have been captured not by the Army of Armenia, but by the local Armenian forces.

If the defense minister of Armenia hasnt understood the difference between this elementary realities, then the Armenian people must be happy that it has been freed from this person who had declared himself to be the father of Nation-Army [concept].

Out of context, perhaps it is noteworthy to remind that the achievements of the full and equal party of the conflict internationally recognized status of Nagorno Karabakh was the greatest achievement of Armenian diplomacy, which was misled by Robert Kocharyans [2nd president], to say the least, criminal negligence, which became the basis of all future complications which arose in the Karabakh conflict settlement process, Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Diaspora Mkhitar Hayrapetyan says he is planning to present his action plan in the coming days.

Hayrapetyan told reporters during his first day in office that he is holding constant consultations for already few days with people aware of the sectors issues both in and out Armenia.

I will soon get acquainted with the existing problems in the ministry and I will give clear assessments to all issues. We must also very quickly get involved in the presentation of the government action plan, because there is much to do here in terms of the ministry too, he said.

Speaking about Armenians in the Diaspora, the minister said they will try to organize inclusive processes in order for the compatriots living abroad to be enabled to get involved with a part of political decisions.

In terms of investments we have great hopes with our philanthropist living in the Diaspora, but we also want to bring ties closer also in the decision making process. I am more than confident that organizing a great repatriation of millions of Armenians is very realistic. Our compatriots of the Diaspora have will and desire of returning, but there still is not appropriate environment for them to be able to realize their potential and adapt to conditions, the minister said.

Interests of investors, businessmen must be protected in Armenia, he added, noting that monopolies should be eradicated and everyone should have equal rights.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. An investigation is underway in the 3rd garrison military investigative committee to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting of a sergeant.

Sergeant Shamkhal Petrosyan, a conscripted serviceman, was wounded by gunfire.

The incident happened around 22:35, May 13, when the sergeant was on-duty in an undisclosed military outpost when he was hit by Azerbaijani gunfire. The round went through the abdomen of the soldier. Petrosyan was hospitalized and underwent surgery. Doctors say the sergeant is in a serious condition.

The military investigative committee launched the criminal case on attempted murder on motives of national, racial or religious hatred or religious fanaticism.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of education and science Arayik Harutyunyan will visit the State University of Shirak on May 15 to personally solve the highly publicized problems involving the rector.

Tomorrow morning I will visit Gyumri, the State University of Shirak. I call on the sides to display calmness, I am sure that we will have a resolution tomorrow. The Gyumri State University cant remain in such uncertain situation. The state cannot allow this, the minister said on Facebook.

Students of the university have been protesting against rector Sahak Minasyan, demanding his resignation.

The protests began May 4, when the rector fired vice-rector Anahit Farmanyan.

A month earlier, the rector had also fired two lecturers. The two lecturers, Gagik Hambaryan and Hovhannes Khorikyan, had raised the issue of the rectors misconduct back in 2017.

Media reports on alleged misconduct involving the rector have been recently forwarded to Gyumri police by the prosecution.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Former defense minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan has reacted to first President Levon Ter-Petrosyans comment on the statements of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and himself regarding Armenia being a party to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Vigen Sargsyan responded to Ter-Petrosyan with a statement titled Levon Ter-Petrosyans approaches in the Artsakh conflict are known, so is our societys attitude for them.

Levon Ter-Petrosyans approaches in the Karabakh settlement issue are known for a long time. They [approaches] became the obvious cause of his resignation and the total failure of his HAK [political party led by LTP] in the 2017 parliamentary elections. I sincerely hope that Nikol Pashinyan doesnt share these famous approaches of his over the Artsakh conflict.

I have and still do attach importance to forming a professional team over foreign political approaches with the purpose of ruling out the presentation of individual approaches as the countrys opinion. Especially in this case, when the person who was elected Prime Minister didnt have the chance to hold public and narrow expert discussions regarding his conceptual approaches over foreign policy issues. This is what I have first of all talked about in my interview.

The leadership of Armenia, especially when presenting its negotiation bid, must emphasize the approaches which stem from the interests of Artsakhs security and are strengthening its negotiations positions.

Simultaneously with advancing Armenias being or not being a war party, Azerbaijan is also always trying to present the conflict as a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

For doing this, it [Azerbaijan] always speaks about the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The conflict is between Azerbaijan and Karabakh. Armenia is a party to the negotiations and is the guarantor of security for the population of Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia has always emphasized that the Artsakh issue is a struggle of self-determination of the people, and I am sure it will continue proceeding from this position.

P.S.  I have never suffered from a mania of being considered the father of something, especially of our century old Nation-Army concept. I have always said this in my public speeches. I have simply done everything in my powers for transforming the reality of being a nation-army into an effective policy. I am proud to have succeeded in many things, former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan said in the statement.

Earlier, First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan released a new statement on May 14 addressing the earlier voiced statements of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan on being a party to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The first presidents statement was published as an op-ed on ilur.am.

Arguing Nikol Pashinyans recently expressed idea on Armenia being a party to the Karabakh conflict, the former defense minister has said the following: Three days ago, Armenias Prime Minister expressed a number of stances regarding the settlement of the Karabakh conflict at a press conference, which, in my opinion, can be dangerous..The Prime Minister has stated that no drastic turns will happen in the foreign policy sector, but at the same time he hinted that Armenia is a party to the conflict. This has always been Azerbaijans assertion, whereas the international community knows that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Artsakh, a negotiating partner, but never a party to the conflict. This might have far-reaching consequences. Finally, the statements of Pashinyan also include manifestations of ignorance over negotiations details. (Aravot.am 12.05.2018.)

Vigen Sargsyan who is accusing Pashinyan in being ignorant on negotiating details is actually disclosing his own total ignorance about the content of the Karabakh settlement process. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh have received a Karabakh conflict party status by the international community in the OSCE 1994 December 6 Budapest summit final document and more clearly in the 1995 March 31 Prague clarification of the OSCE CiO.

From here it becomes clear that Vigen Sargsyans idea claiming that it is Azerbaijan that has always insisted to acknowledge Armenia as a party to the Karabakh conflict, is nonsense. In reality, that isnt what Azerbaijan has insisted, rather that Armenia to be recognized not as a party to the Karabakh conflict, but as a party to the Karabakh War, i.e. an aggressor. This aspiration of Azerbaijan has been thwarted through the brilliant efforts of Armenian diplomacy in four resolutions of the UN Security Council, where it is clearly stipulated that the surrounding Azerbaijani regions of Karabakh have been captured not by the Army of Armenia, but by the local Armenian forces.

If the defense minister of Armenia hasnt understood the difference between this elementary realities, then the Armenian people must be happy that it has been freed from this person who had declared himself to be the father of Nation-Army [concept].

Out of context, perhaps it is noteworthy to remind that the achievements of the full and equal party of the conflict internationally recognized status of Nagorno Karabakh was the greatest achievement of Armenian diplomacy, which was misled by Robert Kocharyans [2nd president], to say the least, criminal negligence, which became the basis of all future complications which arose in the Karabakh conflict settlement process, Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Detectives of the Yerevan department of the investigative committee are probing the murder of a 60 year old man, the committee told ARMENPRESS.

The body of the 60 year old was discovered May 14 near a house in the citys Sari Tagh district. The body had multiple traumas and fractures to the skull.

A criminal case has been filed and detectives are investigating the murder.

Law enforcement agencies launched a large scale probe to identify the suspected murderer.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Edward Nalbandian delivered remarks addressed to the Armenian diplomats on the occasion of completion of his tenure as foreign minister of Armenia, the foreign ministry told Armenpress. Nalbandian thanked for the joint work and wished success to newly-appointed foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

ARMENPRESS presents the full text of his speech:

Dear colleagues,

Ten years ago I had the honor to become the head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. During those years we have reached together important achievements. I am confident, that in the upcoming years it will be possible to fulfill all the things that have not been implemented yet. This confidence is founded on the goal-oriented working environment that exists in the Foreign Ministry, the established institutional mechanisms, professional and patriotic diplomatic staff devoted to their job.

When last year we marked the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations of Armenia with a number of countries, there was no doubt that during that relatively short period of time we have managed to form a vibrant institution which today carries out its responsibilities with an honor. This has a great importance for all of us, especially for those who were standing at the roots of formation and establishment of the diplomatic service in Armenia.

The documents and figures summarizing the past ten years speak for themselves. I will name only few examples.

During the last ten years a conceptual changes have taken place with regards one of the most important priorities of Armenian foreign policy - the process of settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh issue, our positions have been significantly strengthened. Statements of the heads of the Co-Chair countries in L'Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos and Enniskillen clearly enshrined the realization of the people's right to self-determination, which has been the cornerstone of our position for years, as a main element for the settlement of the issue, and those statements outlined that the status of Artsakh will be determined by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh through their legally binding expression of will. This is the position which today enjoys the support of the international community.

While Azerbaijan was claiming for years that the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should be based exclusively upon the principle of territorial integrity, today we have reached a milestone when the international community states that three principles - non-use of force or the threat of force, equal rights and self-determination of peoples, territorial integrity - should serve as a basis for the settlement, which are considered as an integrated whole and any attempt to prioritize one of them will undermine the peaceful settlement.

Armenia has stated on numerous occasions that the comprehensive and lasting settlement of the issue is impossible without the participation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Today the Co-Chairs share this stance and it is embedded in the working papers of the negotiation process.

In contrast to the previous period, it was exactly during the last years that the Co-Chairs started to issue statements addressed to Azerbaijan as well.

After failing in the negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh issue, in April of 2016 Azerbaijan unleashed new aggression against Artsakh thus attempting to impose its own approaches on the settlement within the negotiation process. Baku failed yet again, and the outcomes of the Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva Summits, numerous statements of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries attest to that.

Today we can unhesitatingly state that the international community and Armenia speak almost with the same language: the peaceful settlement of the issue based on the implementation of the right of people of Artsakh to self-determination, international recognition and guarantee of security has no alternative. As a negotiating side, Armenia has repeatedly stated that together with the Co-Chair countries will continue to undertake efforts in this direction.

The unfolded developments attest to the rightfulness and effectiveness of the tactic we have chosen and our steps.

The achievements we have registered are the result of our consistent and zealous work. And the maintenance and enhancement of those achievements also require big efforts so that to make reaching the settlement on that basis possible.

For the ten years the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide have been one of the main priorities of our foreign policy. During this period of time the number of countries which recognized the Armenian Genocide increased by ten, and the number of different international institutions and administrative units of countries by dozens. Genocide Centennial events, our nationwide unity and the resonance of the events held are worth a special mentioning.

Upon Armenias initiative, a number of resolutions on prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity were adopted in the UN Human Rights Council and other international fora. Based on the resolution initiated by Armenia and adopted by Human Rights Council in March of 2015 through a consensus, the UN General Assembly designated December 9 as a Day of commemoration of the victims of genocide. In April of 2018, upon Armenias initiative the Human Rights Council adopted through consensus another resolution on prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, which was co-sponsored by sixty countries.

Today various international institutions consider Armenia with its initiatives as a frontrunner in the international efforts to prevent crimes against humanity. In December this year on the occasions of the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Yerevan will host the third Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, which will be dedicated to the topic of preventing genocide through education. Necessary preparatory works to hold the Forum on a proper level have been carried out.

Our country has been actively involved in the processes and initiatives towards settlement of global issues, such as non proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms control, nuclear security, fight against terrorism, protection of victims of ethnic and religious identity-based discrimination and violence, addressing issues of migration, refugees and others.

During the last decade, our attention was constantly focused on the protection of interests of citizens of the Republic of Armenia and native Armenians, as well as providing assistance to our compatriots in crisis situations. The vivid example of this is the comprehensive assistance provided to Syrian-Armenians.

Armenian-Russian allied relations were further deepened and enhanced over the past decade and are currently at their height. This was reflected in the recent state visits of the leaders of Armenia and Russia, which were the first state visits in the history of our bilateral relations. Political dialogue, economic cooperation, military-technical, decentralized, scientific-educational and humanitarian cooperation have gained a new momentum. The Protocol No. 5 to the Agreement of 16 March 1995 on the deployment of the Russian military base in the territory of Armenia was signed between Russia and Armenia. It envisages that the military base of Russia in Armenia together with the Armed Forces of Armenia will act as a guarantor of Armenia's security and, for that purpose, Russia will provide Armenia with modern weapons, as well as special military equipment.

Through our joint efforts, the friendly partnership with the United States reached a qualitatively new level. The high level contacts became regular, the collaboration was expanded in various areas, from political dialogue to development programs. Two visits of the US Secretary of State, one after the other, were noteworthy. The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement was signed, the largest investment from the United States in Armenia was also made in recent years. Visa regime has been facilitated.

The centuries-old good-neighbourly relations with our immediate neighbours Georgia and Iran have been incrementally developed.

One of the most important priorities of our foreign policy was the active participation in regional integration processes.

In 2015 Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, which stems from the strategic and economic interests and opens up broad prospects for the development of our country.

Being an active member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia, with its realistic steps, proved that it can also effectively cooperate within other integration formats

Signing of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement became a significant milestone of the Armenia-European Union relations.

Armenia is unanimously identified by the international community as a successful example of cooperation with various integration structures.

We have deepened the traditional friendly partnership with France, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Vatican, Italy, Eastern and Central Europe, Scandinavian and other European countries.

During this period the geography and intensity of Armenia's relations have been enhanced. Significant progress has been reached with regards the cooperation with China. The contacts with India, Japan and the Republic of Korea have intensified. Effective and practical cooperation has been developed with the Arab world, Asian region, Latin America, African countries

Thanks to our initiative aimed at normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations, the support of the international community towards Armenia's principled position on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations with no preconditions has been reiterated, and destructive approaches of Turkey have been treated correspondingly by the international community.

One of the most important directions of Armenia's foreign policy was the deepening of involvement in international organizations. An extensive work has been done to ensure the election of Armenian representatives in various international structures.

The chairmanships of Armenia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were marked by new initiatives. The chairmanship of our country in the Council of Europe has been highly appreciated internationally. During these years, Armenia has twice chaired the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. The BSEC Foreign Ministers Council session is scheduled to be held in June in Yerevan.

Armenia has expanded its engagement in international peacekeeping operations by participating in a number of peacekeeping missions.

The cooperation between Armenia and North Atlantic Alliance has been continued.

The vivid demonstration of confidence and solidarity towards Armenia by the international community has become the decision to hold the 17th summit of the International Organization of La Francophonie in Yerevan and to transfer the presidency of this organization, unifying almost the half of the world, to Armenia.

A large-scale preparatory works have been carried out. Already today heads of two dozen countries and governments have already confirmed their participation in the October summit. I would like to ask all of you to do everything possible to hold the summit and the Francophone Economic Forum at the highest level. Accept this as a personal request.

As a result of promoting the economic component of Armenia's foreign policy, cooperation with traditional partners has been strengthened, the cooperation within regional and international financial and economic structures has been deepened, and effective mechanisms of intergovernmental economic cooperation committees have been established with a number of countries.

Dear colleagues,

The new and comfortable building of the Foreign Ministry itself symbolizes the extensive work that has been done to increase the effectiveness of our diplomatic service in recent years. I am confident that these walls will witness a lot of successes in the coming years.

It is with particular respect that I would like to speak about the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, more than 100 graduates of which have joined the diplomatic service, breathing in a new life into our system.

The geography of our diplomatic missions has drastically expanded, over the last ten years Armenia has established about two dozen diplomatic missions. During the same period of time, 15 diplomatic missions have been established in Armenia. The number of countries having diplomatic relations with Armenia has reached 175. The number of international organization to which Armenia is a member has also increased reaching around hundred. Around nine hundred international agreements have been signed throughout these years.

Several hundred high level mutual visits have been carried out. A number of meetings at the level of Foreign Ministers and heads of international organizations exceed a thousand.

To the staff of the Foreign Ministry gathered here it is clear what a huge amount of work is hidden behind this, at first glance, cold numbers and facts, and how great were our efforts. All this would have been impossible without the hard work and devotion of our entire staff.

It is my greatest wish for our diplomatic service to spare no efforts and energy in order to double the achievements, to continue keeping high the dignity of the Armenian diplomat, to represent and protect the interests of our country and people to the best possible.

Amidst the recently occurring events in Armenia, it is noteworthy that the foreign policy of our country has not become a subject for any criticism, moreover, the main guidelines of it have been reiterated by the political forces with different views.

Taking stock of the last ten years, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan for granting me the opportunity and the honor to serve for Armenia as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as for the support and trust.

I would like to express my gratitude to the staff of the MFA, from the high level officials to the graduates of the Diplomatic School who have recently joined us, our colleagues abroad, who serve their homeland with the most devoted dedication, often in a very difficult situations, the technical staff who have a substantial contribution to the effective functioning of our Ministry, to all those with whom I had the honor to work for the advancement of interests and priorities of Armenia.

I wish success and new achievements to newly appointed Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and all our diplomats for the glory of our Motherland and the Armenian people.

Thank you.



YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting in Sochi on the sidelines of the Eurasian intergovernmental council sitting, the governments press service told ARMENPRESS.

Dear Prime Minister, dear colleagues, allow me to greet and once again congratulate you on being elected to the high office of the leader of Armenias government. At the outset of the meeting I would like to mention that Armenia is a close partner and ally in the region for Russia, this relates to both economic partnership and security issues. You know that Russia remains Armenias leading commercial partner, Russian investments in Armenias economic comprise almost 35% of foreign investments. Recently we observe a 25% growth of trade turnover, and supply volumes of Armenian agricultural products into the Russian market are growing with progressive paces, the growth comprised 38% in the previous months.

This is a very good dynamics, and I hope that we will succeed not only in maintaining it, but multiplying it. I would like to wish you success in the position of the governments leader and I hope that our relations will continue developing in the same manner like previously. We will work with the same activeness in the international arena, in international organizations, beginning from the UN, where Armenia and Russia have always supported each other, up to our regional organizations, both in the security sector and economic developments, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you for the warm words. It is nice to have the chance to meet you a few days after being elected as Prime Minister of Armenia, because I think there are discussable issues, but what related to the allied and strategic relations of Armenia and Russia isnt subject to discussion.

I can principally assure that there is consensus in this matter in Armenia, and no one has ever questioned, and I think will not question the strategic importance of the Armenian-Russian relations. We are set and full of energy to convey new impetus to our relations in both political and trade-economic sectors. We hope to develop our relations in the military-technical and other sectors. Now, many tourists are arriving to Armenia from Russia, which is nice. I think Russian tourists like Armenia, and Armenians also like seeing so many tourists in Yerevan also. We highly appreciate the balanced stance which Russia had during our domestic political crisis and I think that it was a very constructive stance, which is highly appreciated not only by our government but also by the Armenian society. Allow me to once again congratulate you on the past holidays, it was interesting to follow the parade in the Red Square. We are very impressed with the achievements which the Russian military-industrial complex currently has. Thank you once again for this opportunity, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanSOCHI, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council has kicked off in the Russian city of Sochi which is attended by the leaders of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is also participating in the session, Armenpress correspondent reports from Sochi. At the beginning of the session Russian President Vladimir President introduced Armenias new PM to the heads of partner states and congratulated Pashinyan on assuming office.

The session has kicked off in a narrow format, which will be followed by an extended format meeting. 12 issues are in the agenda.

Russia is an EAEU chairing country in 2018.

The discussion is focused on increasing efforts to create single market of goods and services, developing production ties and cooperation, as well as the course of financial policy rapprochement. Moreover, the Kremlin proposes to construct new, effective transportation chains. The sides must also discuss approval of draft on the status of observer state in the organization. This status, as expected, will be granted to Moldova. Among the priorities is the digital agenda.

During the session signing of documents is scheduled.

Informal dinner on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin will be provided in honor of the leaders of the EAEU member states.

The summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is the first meeting of leaders of member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2018. The EAEU was established on January 1, 2015 and includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Spokespersons of a number of ministries have stepped down after the formation of the new Cabinet.

Ani Smbatyan, spokesperson of the agriculture minister, who has served under ministers Sergo Karapetyan and Ignati Arakelyan, has resigned.

My dears, I am very happy to have had the chance to work with you. This is a great honor for me. I am sure we will continue cooperation. Thank you, Smbatyan said on Facebook.

Anush Danielyan, spokesperson of the minister of labor and social affairs, has also resigned. Danielyan serves as spokesperson for the last 4 years.

My dearest colleagues, thank you for the cooperation of the past 4 years, she said. I am also grateful to the already former minister Artem Asatryan, working for whom I learnt a lot, Danielyan said.

Anna Ohanyan, spokesperson of the minister of economic development and investments, has also stepped down. Ohanyan was in office for 1,5 years under minister Suren Karayan.

For the first time I dont know how to begin [writing] my text, unlike the dozens of press releases of the past one and a half years, she said, thanking reporters and colleagues.

Aram Araratyan, spokesperson of the Prime Minister, who served under Karen Karapetyan, had also resigned earlier.

The position of incumbent PM Nikol Pashinyans spokesperson is currently vacant.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan KocharyanSOCHI, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has a positive and constructive approach to the work with Kyrgyzstan not only within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), but also at the bilateral format, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the meeting with President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov in Sochi on the sidelines of the summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Armenpress correspondent reports from Sochi.

Traditionally we have had warm relations, and I am confident that these relations will not only continue being so, but will also develop. I regret that the high-level political relations do not completely reflect the economic ties, PM Pashinyan said, adding that one of its reasons is the distance between the two countries, but, according to him, this must not hinder the development of economic ties. We are inclined to energetic, positive work and will make all efforts for our bilateral relations to develop at a rapid pace, the Armenian PM said.

In his turn the President of Kyrgyzstan congratulated Nikol Pashinyan on assuming office and expressed confidence that the bilateral relations will continue strengthening and developing. We are ready to have our contribution to this matter, he said.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Newly-appointed minister of justice of Armenia Artak Zeynalyan and former justice minister Davit Harutyunyan on May 14 had a meeting with the ministry staff, the ministry told Armenpress.

Davit Harutyunyan highly appreciated Artak Zeynalyans professionalism and assured that he will support the programs to be implemented by the minister. Davit Harutyunyan said the current team of the ministry has carried out a large-scale work, and many of the programs are still underway. I am confident that the minister will successfully continue them and I am also confident that new problems and questions will arise, the former minister said and wished success to the new minister and staff.

Artak Zeynalyan welcomed the staff of the justice ministry and said changes took place in Armenia from which maximum lessons should be learnt. At the moment there is a broad opportunity to increase Armenias rating by our work and activity, the new justice minister said and wished good luck to everyone.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans three-day visit to the UK is accompanied by mass protests, Express reports.

Erdogan arrived in the Chatham House - the Royal Institute of International Affairs on May 14 amid tight security.

17-year-old Kurdish citizen was seriously injured during a confrontation between the police and the Kurdish protesters. The police commented on this incident, stating that the protesters attempted to block the passage of vehicles, therefore the police officers had to take actions to open the road.

Erdogan arrived in the UK on May 13. He is scheduled to meet with a number of high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elisabeth II.

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable condemned Erdogans visit and accused him of having an unacceptable disregard for liberal, democratic values.

English translator/editor  Aneta HarutyunyanSOCHI, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko congratulated new Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on getting out of the existing domestic political situation in Armenia with dignity, Armenpress correspondent reforms from Sochi.

You have assumed a very responsible position, and I wish you success, the Belarusian President said during the meeting with PM Pashinyan in the Russian city of Sochi on May 14. Lukashenko said he is happy for the meeting since there are many issues in connection with the region and the world which need to be discussed.

PM Pashinyan thanked for the congratulations and warm words. He said Armenia is ready to work to further strengthen the bilateral ties. He conveyed to Lukashenko his great surprise over presence of large number of Belarusian reporters in Armenia who arrived in Armenia to get acquainted with the domestic political developments. I highly appreciate the fact that the Belarusian reporters were trying to get first hand information. What can be felt and understood by Belarusian reporters, cannot be felt by reporters of other countries since we have lived in one state for many years, PM Pashinyan said.

Armenian lawmakers elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister of Armenia on May 8.

59 MPs voted in favor, 42 voted against.

The extraordinary sitting of the Armenian parliament kicked off 12:00 with 100 MPs in attendance for the second round of vote to elect a Prime Minister. Nikol Pashinyan, the opposition leader who spearheaded the recent nationwide demonstrations, was the only candidate for the position, just like during the first round on May 1.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The narrow format session of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Union starts with quite a saturated agenda. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of the session. He once again congratulated Nikol Pashinyan on the occasion of assuming the post of the head of the country. Expanding efforts in the direction of creating a common market of goods and services, development of industrial ties and cooperation, harmonization of financial and monetary policies and creation of new and productive transport routes are among the priorities, Correspondent of ARMENPRESS reports Putin as saying.

The Russian President noted that there are already a number of achievements in the organization uniting the 5 countries. Internal trade turnover rises, supply of goods and services to the 3rd countries expands, export infrastructures improve, new joint ventures are being established, long-term innovative projects are launched, the Russian President added.

Speaking about the agenda of the narrow format session agenda, Vladimir Putin highlighted the issue of granting Moldova with a status of an observer state, which can be implemented today.

The summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is the first meeting of leaders of member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2018. The EAEU was established on January 1, 2015 and includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan has held meetings with the Presidents of Moldova, Russia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. He is not scheduled to meet with the President of Kazakhstan.

English translator/editor  Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is determined to continue the active cooperation with the EAEU partners, the correspondent of ARMENPRESS reports Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan announced at the expanded format session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. He reminded that a peaceful change of power took place in Armenia and the program of the new Government does not foresee changes in foreign policy directions. I reaffirm Armenias full commitment to its international obligations, including those in the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Union, Pashinyan said.

He noted that the discourse over the EAEU inside the Armenian public is conditioned by the fact that the solution of administrative issues, switching to new and common regulatory mechanisms, as well as the existence of different obstacles do not justify the expectations of business to receive immediate and tangible results.

I think that the joint efforts of the EAEU member states and the commitment to record visible results every day will reduce the volume of such discourses, Pashinyan said, emphasizing that Armenia is interested in that. First of all its necessary to ensure rise in trade and economic cooperation, to put the emphasis on new and high technologies, ensure equal conditions for business entities in practice and find solutions to the issues that directly impact on the quality of life. Finally, if economic indexes are not felt by citizens, they become statistics, the Armenian Premier said.

The summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is the first meeting of leaders of member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2018. The EAEU was established on January 1, 2015 and includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

English translator/editor  Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Israeli air forces have conducted strikes at Hamas positions in Gaza Strip amid the mass rallies organized by Palestinians against the opening of the opening of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, ARMENPRESS reports Ria Novosti informs, citing Israeli sources.

Israeli army has provided no information over the death toll among Palestinians. According to media reports 43 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,000 people wounded.

English translator/editor  Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The Eurasian Economic Union successfully develops partnership with other countries and unions, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session.

FTA with Vietnam operates successfully. A trade and economic agreement with China is planned to be signed this week in Astana, as well as a temporary agreement with Iran on creating free trade zone. Talks with Israel, Serbia and Singapore on privileged agreements are underway. In the future similar negotiations are scheduled with Egypt and India, ARMENPRESS reports the Russian President as saying.

According to him, the priority issues of the integration structure are increasing the efficiency of the single markets, the harmonization of national legislations in different spheres, the elimination of restrictions on the free movement of goods, services, capital, labor, creating more favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurial activity.

In general, the Eurasian Economic Union develops rather dynamically. GDP in member states rose by 1.8%, industrial products by 1.7%, agricultural products by 2.5% in 2017, while the average price rise has declined by 3.1% in the member states. Internal and external trade has also improved. Exports to the 3rd countries have increased by 24.5%, and trade turnover has increased by 26.1%, the Russian president said.

The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session took place on May 14 with the participation of the Heads of State of all the member states. Moldova participated in the expanded format session as an EAEU observer state. Armenian PM held meetings with the Presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan in the sidelines of the summit.

English translator/editor  Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. In the sidelines of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met on May 14 in Sochi.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the President of Belarus congratulated Nikol Pashinyan on the occasion of assuming the post of Prime Minister and noted, Its a pleasure to meet with you. I congratulate for you were able to come out of the situation with dignity and in the right way, for which we are glad. Its very important that you hear from me what refers to the relations between Belarus and the friendly people and state of Armenia. I dont think there are or will be any problems in our relations. You have assumed a responsible position and I wish you success, Lukashenko said.

The President of Belarus highlighted the future development of friendly relations with Armenia and expressed confidence that bilateral relations will continue to expand in a constructive and friendly atmosphere. Alexander Lukashenko added that he recently discussed the developments in Armenia with the President of Armenia and Belarusian media representatives arrived in Yerevan for presenting them objectively.

PM Pashinyan thanked for the warm words and wishes, hoping that the cooperation with the Belarusian President will be productive for the benefit of the development and strengthening of the relations between the two states. Nikol Pashinyan underlined the importance of partnership between Armenia and Belarus in a number of spheres and added that consistent steps are required for fostering economic relations and trade turnover. In the recent period trade turnover between our countries has increased, but there is still unused potential. We should first of all work in that direction, PM Pashinyan said.

A number of other issues of bilateral interest were discussed at the meeting.

English translator/editor  Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekovon May 14 in Sochi. The Kyrgyz leader congratulated Pashinyan on the occasion of assuming the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia, expressing confidence that bilateral relations will continue to expand and strengthen. I am confident that by our joint work we will give new impetus to traditional Armenian-Kyrgyz relations, Sooronbay Jeenbekovon said.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan thanked for the congratulations and wishes, stressing that the Government of Armenia is interested in constructive steps aimed at fostering partnership between the two states. The PM highlighted development of economic relations, noting that they leg behind the political relations. We are full of energy to carry out productive works. There is great unused potential for expanding partnership between the two countries and we should make a step in that direction, Nikol Pashinyan said.

During the meeting the Armenian PM and Kyrgyz President discussed a number of issues of expansion of relations between the two states.

English translator/editor  Tigran SirekanyanA deeply eurosceptic far-right party and an anti-establishment group are set to unveil a coalition government agreement and name a new Italian prime minister on Monday, ending over two months of political deadlock. The leaders of the anti-immigrant League party and Five Star Movement will meet the Italian president on Monday afternoon to share details of a government programme for the eurozone's third largest economy, thrashed out over the weekend. Five Star's Luigi Di Maio will meet president Sergio Mattarella at 1430 GMT, while Matteo Salvini will bring a League delegation to the head of state's office at 1600 GMT. A Five Star representative told AFP on Monday that the pair want to present the details of their agreement -- including their prime ministerial candidate -- to the president before making them public. Di Maio said that the nominee would be a politician and "not a technocrat" after meeting Salvini in Milan on Sunday. If Mattarella accepts the nomination then the position could be filled within days. Italy, one of six founding members of what became the European Union, has been stuck in a political quagmire since its inconclusive March 4 election, which was dominated by a struggling economy, the refugee crisis and illegal immigration. The partnership between Salvini and Di Maio would represent a blow to mainstream European political parties across the continent. According to Italian media reports, their nominee for prime minister is likely be from a "third party" and will have to be able to make the eurosceptic nature of the new government workable with Brussels. - EU a 'gulag' - Salvini has in the past referred to the EU as a "gulag" and struck alliances with anti-union figures such as Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen. Di Maio has softened Five Star's previously antagonistic tone on Europe, but his party and the League have vowed to take tough stances with Brussels on issues like EU fiscal rules amid widespread Italian discontent over the country's economic malaise and a lack of European solidarity on dealing with migration. The parties have reportedly agreed on rolling back increases to the age of retirement while Five Star is broadly willing to follow the League's hardline anti-immigration policies. Salvini and Di Maio are also ready to make compromises over their flagship policies -- the League's drastic drop in taxes and Five Star's universal basic income -- which look tricky to reconcile in one of the eurozone's most indebted countries. Officials in Brussels have warned Italy for years about its fiscal discipline and the need to lower its debt load. There are also some policy sticking points between the League and Five Star -- such as on major public works like the Turin-Lyon high-speed railway -- and they also need to agree on representation from the parties. The League won 17 percent of votes in March, but it was part of a right-wing alliance including Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party that garnered 37 percent of the vote. Five Star won more support than any other single party with 33 percent of the vote. Anti-establishment Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio (L) and the leader of the far-right League party, Matteo Salvini (R), could be about to form a coalition government

A Sydney man is celebrating winning Lotto twice in one week.

The man, in his 40s, bought two entries from Bondi Sixway News and won $1,020,487 with a system 11 entry last Monday.

He told NSW Lotteries the win was amazing and would come in handy.

Im not going to be stupid with it, he said.

The man bought both entries from the same Bondi store. File pic. Source: Getty Images

But the Bondi residents lucky streak wasnt finished, and on Saturday, much to his shock, he was one of 14 division one winners of the $20 million Lotto Superdaw.

He took home a division one prize of $1,428,571.43, which was bolstered to $1,457,834.33 after his system 10 entry won a total of 145 times with multiple divisional wins.

In the space of a week, the man pocketed a total of $2,478,321.33.

The chances of winning twice in such a short period of time must be non-existent, he said.

I wish I had some advice to others on how to win the lottery but I dont  God has just looked after me!

The Bondi man won the Lotto twice within a week. Pictured: Bondi Beach. Source: Getty Images/ file pic.

Bondi Sixway Newss Naz Nsairat said he couldnt believe the man won twice with entries bought from the store.

We hope the luck rubs off on some of our other customers, Mr Nsairat said.

The Bondi man said he plans to invest wisely in real estate and hopes to purchase property on Bondi or the Gold Coast.

Hes also eyeing a trip overseas.

A holiday to Honolulu goes without saying, he said.

I did treat myself to a nice brand-new car though but the rest I will be sensible with definitely.

The Bondi resident was one of three division one winners from New South Wales from Saturdays draw. Seven winners were from Victoria, and one each were from Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Four division one winning entries were held by syndicates.Half a century after the historic trial at which Nelson Mandela escaped the gallows, one of his fellow former prisoners walked the Cannes red carpet Monday for the premiere of a documentary about those with him in the dock. Andrew Mlangeni is one of the last surviving defendants of the 1963-1964 Rivonia trial of Mandela and nine others who faced the death sentence on charges of plotting guerrilla warfare and acts of sabotage against South Africa's apartheid regime. "I knew that one day I would come out of prison... But I never thought in my life I would ever come to France, never mind appearing in a film which is seen by the entire world," the 92-year-old, who spent 27 years behind bars, told AFP. Mandela's impassioned three-hour address to the court, during which he declared that a democratic South Africa was an ideal "for which I am prepared to die" was the most significant of his career. It conferred a demi-god status on him that overshadowed the sacrifices of his co-accused. "The State Against Mandela and the Others", a French-funded documentary based on the recently released audio recordings of the proceedings, attempts to redress the balance by putting his comrades centre stage. "Mandela was not expressing his view alone, he was expressing the view of all the accused. We were almost certain that we were going to hang. But we were prepared. We were prepared for anything," Mlangeni said. The film uses animation, interviews and archival footage to show how the defendants turned a trial aimed at dealing a knockout blow to the anti-apartheid movement into an indictment of white supremacist rule. "We decided we had to conduct this not as a criminal trial but a political trial," says Ahmed Kathrada, one of three former prisoners -- one black (Mlangeni), one white (Denis Goldberg) and one of Asian origin (Kathrada) -- interviewed for the feature. Kathrada, who died last year, is one of the heroes of the documentary by journalist Nicolas Champeaux and filmmaker Gilles Porte. Born into a family of Indian Muslim immigrants, he refused, like his comrades, to appeal his sabotage conviction to avoid the indignity of being seen to beg for clemency. - 'It's life!' - Animated charcoal drawings are used to recreate clashes between the preening prosecutor, depicted as a vulture in flapping black robes, and the accused, who refused to be bowed. Powerful testimony from the likes of Mlangeni, who watched his parents work for whites "for peanuts", and Mandela's mentor Walter Sisulu, who complained of constant harassment of his family by the police, moved the world -- and the judge. At the end of the eight-month trial, the men were spared the noose. Mandela and seven others were sentenced instead to life in prison, a verdict they greeted with relief. "It's life! And life is wonderful!" Goldberg recalls shouting across the courtroom to his mother. But Mandela's ex-wife Winnie was already steeling herself for the long road ahead. "That's when my 'Amandla' (Power) started," she says in one of her last interviews before her death last month, uttering the rallying cry of the anti-apartheid movement with a clenched-fist salute. - Poetry in animation - For Champeaux, a former correspondent in South Africa who gained access to the 256 hours of digitised recordings, the trial had all the makings of an epic tale that needed to be shared. "There's the bad guy, the traitor, the love story, the suspense, the inscrutable judge, the families trembling in the gallery," he told AFP. But it is also a reminder, he said, "that when you are wedded to a cause, those close to you suffer." Coming ahead of the centenary of Mandela's birth, the film aims above all to remind the world that South Africa's tortured path to democracy was achieved by teamwork. It is a reminder, says Porte, "that all great things that happen in this world are achieved collectively." (From L) French director Nicolas Champeaux, South African anti-apartheid campaigner and former political prisoner Andrew Mlangeni and French co-director and screenwriter Gilles Porte present at Cannes "The State Against Mandela", a documentary about the historical Rivonia trial in the 1960sEverest's summit season got off to a frantic start Monday with at least 30 climbers reaching the peak, including a Chinese double amputee and an Australian who set a new world record. Xia Boyu, a 69-year-old hit by frostbite on Everest over four decades ago, and Steve Plain, who was nearly paralysed by an accident four years ago, were among the first to summit the world's highest mountain. Plain also set a new world record with his ascent, becoming the fastest climber to summit each of the highest peaks on Earth's seven continents. The Australian conquered Everest 117 days after standing atop Mount Vinson in Antarctica, breaking the previous seven summit speed record by nine days. Xia's summit is also notable, coming just months after Nepal's government tried to ban double amputees and blind climbers from scaling its peaks. The ruling was struck down by Nepal's top court in March, which ruled it discriminatory towards people with disabilities. Xi lost both feet to frostbite on his first attempt to climb Everest in 1975. In 1996 his legs were amputated just below the knee after he was diagnosed with lymphoma. "Climbing Mount Everest is my dream. I have to realise it. It also represents a personal challenge, a challenge of fate," Xia told AFP last month before heading to the mountain. A team of sherpa climbers fixed the ropes to the summit from Everest's southern side in Nepal on Sunday, opening the route for hundreds of paying climbers. Meanwhile a team which deployed to fix ropes from Everest's north in Tibet reached the summit on Monday, said the Himalayan Database which monitors climbers. - Lucrative business - This year hundreds are expected to make it to Everest's summit, 65 years after New Zealander Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the top of the world. Nepal has issued 346 permits to mountaineers for this year's spring climbing season, which runs from mid-April to the end of May. Most Everest hopefuls are escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning about 700 climbers will tread the same path to the top of the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) peak in the coming weeks. Another 180 climbers are preparing to summit Everest from its north side in Tibet, according to the China Tibet Mountaineering Association. Everest has become a lucrative business, with foreigners paying $11,000 for a permit to summit. But cut-price climbing outfits skimping on basic safety requirements have flourished in recent years, luring amateurs to the challenge. The rapid growth in the climbing industry has sparked complaints of overcrowding on the mountain and fears that inexperienced mountaineers could run into trouble. Climbers try to minimise the time they spend in the aptly named "Death Zone" -- an area above 8,000 metres on Everest where there is less than a third of the oxygen found at sea level. At that altitude traffic jams can be deadly as the low oxygen environment leds to hypoxia -- acute oxygen deprivation that leaves climbers vulnerable to frostbite, deadly swelling of the brain and fluid build-up in the lungs. Plain, the Australian climber, complained of long queues on the way to the summit. "When people realise they are causing a traffic jam, you'd like they'd have the courtesy to find a staff spot to step aside and let others pass. But no... (I'm looking at you Mr Blue Helmet)," the new world record holder wrote in a blog post Sunday. Chinese double amputee climber Xia Boyu has realised his dreamThe devastated father of the four children killed in the Margaret River family shooting says he believes he understands why their grandfather, presumed to be the one responsible, shot them as they lay in their beds.

Peter Miles, 61, his 58-year-old wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children with estranged partner Aaron Cockman  daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, eight  were found dead at the Miles rural Osmington property in Western Australia on Friday.

They had all been shot by firearms licensed to Mr Miles.

I still love who Peter was, Mr Cockman told reporters in nearby Margaret River on Sunday, speaking publicly for the first time since the tragedy.

Aaron Cockman has said that he believes his childrens grand Source: AAP

Mr Cockman had been embroiled in a bitter dispute with Katrina about access to the children, who were home-schooled, and blamed Peter and Cynda for that, saying they cut me off from my kids.

If it wasnt for Kats parents  I would still be with her. I miss her so much, let alone the kids.

He said the apparent murder-suicide was totally Peters decision and speculated about the pressure that had mounted on him in the lead-up to the tragedy.

Mr Cockman said Peter had lost a son years ago and couldnt bear the thought of losing the other, Neil, who is gravely ill with a kidney illness.

Katrina Miles with her daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, eight. Source: AAP

Theres no way possible he can lose another son, Mr Cockman said.

Hes just gone right I cant live anymore so this is it for me. But I need to take out everyone with me because that will fix the whole problem.

And hes fixed the whole problem.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.There is a killer moment in the new film "Pope Francis -- A Man of His Word" when you realise what he is up against. The Argentine is dressing down the cardinals and bejewelled princes of the Curia who run the Catholic Church, lacerating them for their greed, back-stabbing and lust for power. The scandal-hit, Italian-dominated body is full of people leading immoral double lives who "possess a heart of stone and a stiff neck", he tells them in German director Wim Wenders' remarkable insight into the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. "Pay a visit to the cemeteries" and look at those "who thought they were immortal, immune and indispensable," Francis urges them in the feature, which premiered late Sunday at the Cannes film festival. "You see the sharp faces of some of these cardinals who are rich and ambitious," said Wenders, who interviewed the reforming pontiff over several months for the portrait. "But you can also see other archbishops thinking, 'Yes, this is why we elected you.' As Francis said, you cannot combat the diseases of the world without examining yourself first." The picture that emerges of Francis from Wenders' unprecedented access is of a man determined to radically transform the vast wealthy institution into "a poor church for poor people". And Wenders, the maker of such classics as "Wings of Desire", "Paris, Texas" and "The Buena Vista Social Club", believes this pontiff has the steeliness to do it. - Enemies digging in - Many in the Curia "think he is going too fast and too far," according to Wenders, and have been digging in with traditionalists to resist him. "But I think the opposite," said the filmmaker. "I think Francis is stepping on the brakes in order to take them all along. "Yet also he is fearless. He knows what has to be done and he wants to push it as far as he can knowing that he is not young anymore." For Wenders, a lapsed Catholic who rediscovered his faith in a "friendly God" after the death of his doctor father, the 81-year-old is a revolutionary. "When you look him in the eye you see this is a very loving man who really likes people. He is as honest as a man can be and you see the courage in his eyes. "His message -- that we are equal and we have to treat each other as equals -- is why people say he is a communist. We cannot leave people behind in the dust. It is a tough message and he doesn't hesitate with it." Francis is a radical just like the medieval saint from whom he took his name, Wenders argued, "who like him wanted to go back to early Christianity... when the church was an organisation of poor people." - Call from the Vatican - "St Francis of Assisi was also the first ecologist," said Wenders, who was "amazed" by the depth of the pope's understanding of climate change and his warning that the global "mania for growth" is threatening mankind. "That growth is coming at the expense of the poor majority... who are suffering first and worst from climate change," said Wenders. The director said the Vatican contacted him out of the blue asking whether he would be interested in talking to the pope. "I was given carte blanche," he told AFP, and access to the Vatican's video archives. "There was no interference whatsoever," he insisted, despite the film being co-produced by Vatican television. Wenders said he was also touched by the pope's deep tolerance of other religions and lifestyles. "He says don't try to convert anybody, just try to convince them to be of goodwill and to accept each other. His firm belief is there is no difference between people. That is revolutionary -- communists don't have that message." But despite trying to lead by example by living modestly, the pope knows his power is limited. "All he has are his words," Wenders said. "Each time he left us after the shoot, he would look into our eyes and ask each of us, 'Please pray for me.' "There are a lot of people praying for him, praying that he can do it," Wenders said. For director Wim Wenders, who had unprecedented access to Pope Francis, the 81-year-old is a revolutionary Many in the Curia think Pope Francis "is going too fast and too far," says director Wim Wenders whose film on the pontiff just premiered at cannes German director Wim Wenders says the Vatican contacted him out of the blue asking if he would like to talk to the popeA five-year-old girl has been hospitalised after she was attacked by a bear outside her home.

The child had gone outside of her home in East Orchard Mesa, 390km west of Denver, Colorado, at about 2.30am on Sunday to investigate noises she believed were coming from a dog.

The girls mother told state wildlife officers she heard screaming and went out to find her daughter being dragged by a large black bear.

The five-year-old girl was attacked by a big black bear outside her home. Pictured is a Wild American black bear believed to be similar to the bear involved in the incident. Source: Getty, file.

She says the bear dropped the girl, identified by her father as Kimberly Cyr, after she began screaming at the animal, US television network ABC News reported.

Kimberly was rushed to St Marys Hospital with serious injuries, but according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, she has now been upgraded to fair condition.

CPW says officers are tracking the bear with the help of federal wildlife officers.Iran's foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow on Monday he was seeking "assurances" from the backers of the country's nuclear deal after the US pulled out. Russia is trying to keep the landmark 2015 accord alive in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe. "The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended," Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the start of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement". Lavrov, for his part, said Russia and Europe had a duty to "jointly defend their legal interests" in terms of the deal. Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it. After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over Trump's decision. - Renewed coordination? - Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia. "(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said. "The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he told AFP. Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he added. On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour". But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power. - Russia key regional player - Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime. Germany's Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum. Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions. After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions. The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany. Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War. The countries sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place. Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met last month in Moscow. The two men met again Monday to discuss how to salvage the Iran nuclear accord after Washington pulled outCracks appeared in nascent coalition negotiations between Italy's far-right and anti-establishment political forces Monday after nationalist League leader Matteo Salvini said "key issues" remained unsolved and the Five Star Movement (M5S) asked for more time to close a deal. Following a weekend of intense negotiations, the leader of the anti-establishment M5S Luigi Di Maio and Salvini had been widely expected to announce a "government agreement" and a nominee for prime minister on Monday afternoon. But speaking to the press after a meeting with President Sergio Mattarella, Salvini seemed to cast doubt on the feasibility of an accord, saying that the two parties had "different visions" on certain "key issues" such as infrastructure, immigration and Italy's relations with the European Union. The bullish leader insisted that his party wanted a "free hand" to deal with illegal immigration and reiterated his eurosceptic stance, demanding the right to re-negotiate the EU's tight fiscal rules. "If I go to the government, I want to do what I promised the Italians," he said, adding that his party was not afraid to return to the polls if discussions failed. Earlier in the afternoon Di Maio had adopted a more optimistic tone, telling reporters he had asked Mattarella for "a few more days" to come to an agreement with the League. "We are writing what will be the government programme for the next five years and it's very important for us to finalise it as best as possible, so we have asked the president for a few more days to definitively close the discussion," Di Maio said after meeting Mattarella, adding that a finalised deal would be put to an online vote for Five Star members. - Political deadlock - Italy has been in political deadlock since an inconclusive March 4 election, which was dominated by concerns over a struggling economy, the refugee crisis and illegal immigration. Five Star and the League have been negotiating a power-sharing deal since last Wednesday, when Salvini's right-wing coalition partner, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, gave the green light for the pair to form a government without his Forza Italia party. But coming to a deal was never going to be easy given the parties' vastly different stances on a wide range of issues. According to reports, Salvini and Di Maio had been willing to make compromises over their flagship policies -- the League's drastic drop in taxes and Five Star's universal basic income -- which look tricky to reconcile in one of the eurozone's most indebted countries. The media also suggested the pair had agreed step back from their political ambitions and nominate a neutral candidate for the premiership. Both leaders insisted Monday that no names within their future cabinet would be made public before they had been approved by Mattarella. At the March polls, Five Star emerged as Italy's largest single party in parliament by far after winning nearly 33 percent of the vote. Salvini's League won 17 percent of votes, but it was part of a right-wing alliance including Berlusconi's Forza Italia that garnered 37 percent of the vote. On Monday, Salvini claimed to be speaking on behalf on the 12 million people who voted for the right-wing coalition in March, despite entering into negotiations with M5S without his allies, and Berlusconi saying his party would not back an M5S-League alliance in parliament. Five Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio speaks to the press after a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella as part of consultations of political parties to form a governmentTurkey's jailed former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtas lambasted the "unfairness" of his campaign conditions for June elections but said he was ready to rally voters from prison. Demirtas, the charismatic ex-chief of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), is running against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the June 24 polls despite being held in jail for the last one-and-a-half years. He previously ran against Erdogan in August 2014 -- winning nearly 10 percent of votes -- and led the HDP into parliament for the first time in June 2015. Demirtas, 45, said in written responses to AFP questions delivered via his lawyers that he was forced to campaign from his cell, in marked contrast to Erdogan who has the state resources at his disposal. "This creates absolute injustice and unfairness," he said. He said the authorities "will be able to ban every gathering, news, media channels they want using the state of emergency" implemented after the 2016 failed coup. But Demirtas vowed he "will try to campaign from a cell" and send messages from prison to support the campaign. His comments were made before the party launched its manifesto on Monday in Ankara, where Demirtas vowed he would immediately lift the state of emergency if elected. Turkey has already come under heavy criticism from its Western allies and activists over the state of emergency, with the United Nations rights chief saying last week the upcoming elections would not be "credible". - 'Political hostage taking' - Demirtas was first jailed alongside 11 other HDP lawmakers including Demirtas' then co-chief, Figen Yuksekdag, in November 2016 over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "My detention in prison is the result of a policy of political hostage-taking," Demirtas said. The PKK has waged a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey since 1984 and is blacklisted as a terror organisation by Ankara and its Western allies. Since then the HDP has come under intense pressure and thousands of its members have been detained over suspected terror links. After Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) formed an alliance earlier this year, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) formed its own alliance with the newest IYI (Good) Party and two smaller parties, not including the HDP. But Demirtas said he believed the party can "emerge as a new government alternative". A total of 11 HDP lawmakers have been stripped of their MP status, including Yuksekdag, while nine MPs remain in jail. Ankara claims the HDP is a political front for the PKK but the party says that it is being targeted because of its strong opposition to Erdogan. Demirtas said it was "clear (Erdogan) wouldn't take any positive step" on the issue of Turkey's Kurds, by far the biggest minority ethnic group in the country. "Erdogan will continue to take Turkey backwards on not just the Kurdish issue, but on democracy and freedom. If Erdogan has a dream of freedom, it relates to his own freedom." - 'Not deaf to expectations' - In his election manifesto published on Monday, Demirtas said he would be a president to end one-man rule. After Ankara's tensions with the United States over multiple issues including Syria and strains with the European Union, Demirtas said his foreign policy would solve problems through dialogue. Following the June polls, Turkey's parliamentary system will transform into an executive presidency after constitutional changes expanding the president's powers were approved in a referendum in April 2017. In his manifesto, Demirtas suggested he would keep the parliamentary system intact. Demirtas in January had signalled an end to his political career. But he told AFP his party wanted him to run and he "could not be deaf to (their) expectations". A handout photo provided by the pro-Kurdish Peoples's Democratic Party (HDP) shows former party leader Selahattin Demirtas in prison from where he is campaigning for president in the June elections Basak Demirtas (C), wife of Selahattin Demirtas, who has been in jail for a year and a half, is flanked by women holding pictures of the Kurdish leader who is challenging Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the pollsKosovo remains the major "hurdle" blocking Serbia's path to European Union membership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Monday, urging concessions from Pristina. "The only big problem that I see as a real obstacle in our European path is the Kosovo issue," Vucic, an ultra-nationalist turned pro-European,told AFP in an interview. Serbia, which hopes to join the EU in 2025 at the same time as Montenegro, staunchly refuses to recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence and still considers the country as its southern province. Kosovo and Serbia both aspire to join the European Union, but Brussels has made clear that is not going to happen until the former foes normalise relations with a legally binding agreement. "After all it's all about Kosovo, whether we'll be able to do that or not," Vucic said, speaking in English. "And of course it's more about Serbs but it's also about the other side and they have to get a very strong message from the EU and from the West that they need to make some concessions as well," he said. Having launched negotiations under EU auspices in 2011, the two sides signed a deal five years ago in order to improve the every day lives of their citizens. - Not ready for concessions - However, their dialogue has been stuck since Pristina failed to allow the Serbian minority in Kosovo to form an association of municipalities where they hold a majority. Vucic has been involved in that dialogue with Pristina since he became deputy prime minister in 2012, then prime minister two years later and president last year. He said Kosovo Albanians were not ready to make any concessions. "They think that it is about time that Serbia recognised the full independence of Kosovo and that's it. They need to do nothing about Serbs, about Serbia, and they just need to wait. "I'm not ready to speak in concrete terms but they need to make some concessions in the real term of the word. If they are ready we can reach something, if they are not ready that'll be very bad news for all of us," Vucic said. - Pandora's box - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is among those who have proposed an exchange of ethnic Albanian-populated southern Serbian territory with north Kosovo where Serbs are in a majority. However, Vucic has never publicly endorsed it. The idea has been branded as dangerous by the international community, but Vuvic told AFP, "the most dangerous thing is to have a frozen conflict because one day someone might defreeze it." "I'm listening the West saying that would be the worst solution because it will open a Pandora's box, but Western countries opened Pandora's box 10 years ago by recognising Kosovo as an independent state." Almost a decade after the 1998-1999 conflict that ended with NATO bombing Serbia and forcing its troops out of Kosovo, Pristina declared independence. It was recognised by more than 110 states, including the United States and most EU member states, but not Serbia's traditional ally Russia. However, the EU itself has been divided over the issue, with Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus failing to recognise Kosovo's independence. On Thursday EU leaders will meet with their Balkans counterparts in Bulgaria, seeking to boost ties and to counter growing Russian influence in the region with promises of eventual EU membership. Serbia, along with five other Balkan nations -- Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro -- is growing impatient, with the EU putting expansion on hold four years ago. Serbia is considered a front-runner to join the EU by 2025, according to a recently unveiled new European Commission's strategy for the region. However, in addition to solving the Kosovo question, Serbia will also be required to align with the 28-member block's foreign policy, including on close ally Russia. But Vucic, who has repeatedly said Serbia would not follow the EU in imposing sanctions on Moscow, does not seem too worried about the EU line on Russia. "We have to comply with EU politics just before we enter European Union and in the best case scenario for us it will be within seven years and I hope that by that time it will be a completely different situation in the world," he said. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic arrives for an interview with AFP on May 14, 2018, in Belgrade Kosovo remains the major "hurdle" blocking Serbia's path to European Union membership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told AFP in an interview,urging concessions from Pristina Kosovo remains the major "hurdle" blocking Serbia's path to European Union membership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told AFP in an interview,urging concessions from PristinaUS President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, enraging Palestinians, has left several Latin American countries pondering whether to follow suit. To date, two nations have done so: Guatemala and Paraguay, both looking to strengthen ties with Washington even at the risk of alienating the 128 countries that backed a UN resolution condemning its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. And experts believe more countries in the region could yet follow. Monday's ceremony to inaugurate the US embassy was marred by violent clashes along the Gaza border that left 52 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and thousands wounded, in the conflict's bloodiest day in years. Guatemala will inaugurate its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday -- with its President Jimmy Morales attending -- hot on the heels of the US, while the government in Asuncion said Paraguay's embassy would switch to Jerusalem at the end of this month. Honduras, which voted with the US and Israel on the December 21 UN resolution, is yet to decide on relocating from Tel Aviv, despite parliamentary approval for the move. Significantly, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela, is to attend Wednesday's opening of the new Guatemalan embassy as Morales' guest. - 'Servile' Morales - Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Marcio Palacios, a political scientist at Guatemala's San Carlos University, described Morales' decision as "servile" and said it was in part governed by his evangelical religious beliefs. The president "does not distinguish between what he represents and what he believes in," Palacios said. Evangelicals want to see the Jews rebuild their temple in Jerusalem, which according to their beliefs would facilitate the Second Coming of Christ. "It's a servile action by the president, who has his hands tied to the policy of the United States," said Palacios. Morales' decision is also seen by some as a gesture to elicit US support at a time when he stands accused by Guatemalan prosecutors of accepting illegal campaign contributions. Former Guatemalan foreign minister Gabriel Orellana said Morales' decision has the effect of banishing his country "to the fringes of the United Nations". "Guatemala is sacrificing its place in a multicultural world for a bilateral relationship. That doesn't bring great benefits to the country and puts it at a disadvantage vis-a-vis other countries of the Arab world," he said. He also warned that beyond possible trade repercussions on Guatemala's important cardamom exports, the embassy move raises the possibility the country could become a target for terrorism. "Until now, we have fortunately been spared by such events, but the world has become so polarized that we cannot with any certainty say nothing like this will happen in Guatemala as a result of this situation." Guatemala and Paraguay "are following the United States' agenda," because they are relatively small and poor, said Patricio Navia, of the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL). "The weaker these countries are, the more they are under pressure," he said. Navia too said he feared countries that followed the US cue could pay a price. "Not only Guatemala, but these countries that supported this decision will be targeted in the future. We hope that we're wrong." - Will other countries follow? - Both Israel and the Palestinians have lobbied hard for support in the region. "We hope that some countries of the American continent will not transfer their embassy to Jerusalem because this is contrary to international law," Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas said last Monday during a visit to Caracas, flanked by Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro. Abbas was on a tour of Venezuela, Chile and Cuba. Most Latin American countries condemned the idea of moving the US embassy when Trump first broached it in 2017, and insisted they would keep their own missions in Tel Aviv. But countries with fragile economies are likely to be further tested. Last September, Benjamin Netanyahu made the first visit by an Israeli premier to Latin America, dangling lucrative trade contracts along with a delegation of 30 business leaders. Gaspard Estrada, head of the Observatory on Latin America at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, said Israel was "taking advantage of a swing to the right in the region" to court its leaders. Navia said he wouldn't be surprised "if other Central American countries follow suit, but it seems to me that it is more difficult for the bigger and more powerful countries in the region to do so." Guatemala, whose President Jimmy Morales is seen here alongside Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley in February 2018, is one of two countries that have mirrored the US embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces near the Gaza-Israel border on May 14, 2018

A dead two-headed deer found in a US forest is believed to be the first case of the species conjoined at birth.

A mushroom gatherer found the two-headed white-tailed deer fawn in a Minnesota forest in 2016, according to an article published in science journal American Midland Naturalist.

The deer were reported to be clean, dry, and freshly dead. No other deer were found in the area and the two-headed animal was given to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Its believed the twins were stillborn, and 3D simulations of their skeletons show the pair had separate necks with no connection at the head but connected at the vertebrae. They had separate hearts, esophagi and forestomachs but shared a liver.

A mushroom gatherer found a dead two-headed deer in a US forest. Source: University of Georgia/ Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

One of the authors of the paper, University of Georgia researcher Gino DAngelo, told UGA Today there had been only 19 cases of conjoined twins among domestic wildlife from 1671 to 2006, and two cases of white-tailed deer previously reported were found in utero.

He added the fawns were found groomed suggesting the doe tried to care for them after delivery.

An x-Ray of the two-headed deer shows no connection at the neck. Source: University of Georgia/ Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Co-author Louis Cornicelli described the find to Fox 9 as special.

Animals that are stillborn, they dont last long on the landscape because of scavengers, Mr Cornicelli said.

In our case, we were lucky that he found the fawn before it was eaten and turned it into [the] DNR.

The Minnesota DNR will have the conjoined fawns on display at its headquarters while the University of Minnesota Veterinary Anatomy Museum hosts a skeletal display.

An Australian surfing legend is calling for innovative technology that can detect shark movement to be implemented in California after a spate of attacks in the US state.

Personal trainer Maria Korcsmaros had a 2.8 metre great white shark wrap its jaws around her torso and almost rip her tricep off as she completed the first round of an ironman swim training session at Corona del Mar in 2016.

It just came out of nowhere and then it was gone in a flash, she told Fairfax Media.

Maria Korcsmaros recovers after being bitten by a shark in California in 2016. Source: AP

My body was literally being held together by my wetsuit. But I got lucky, there was a lifeguard boat close by and they got to me within 20 seconds and saved my life.

Just a year later, another woman, Leeanne Ericson, was victim to a shark at San Onofre State Beach, just 50km south of the location where Korcsmaros was attacked.

On the day of Ericsons attack there were 27 sharks spotted along the Los Angeles coast.

Sharks have become a big problem in California in recent years. Source: Getty Images / Stock image

The west coast had nine recorded unprovoked shark attacks in 2017.

Shark attacks are also a continuing concern in Australia.

The last fatality in Australia was in 2017 in Esperance on the west coast where Laeticia Maree Brouwer had her leg torn off by a great white. Two people died in 2016.

In 2015, shark attacks killed two people in Australia, while the year before five people died after fatal shark attacks, data from the Australian Shark Attack file says.

Following the growth of sharks in the California area, former Australian world tour surfer Ian Cairns, believes the answer is to deploy innovative technology that scans the ocean floors, detects shark movement and sends warnings to lifeguards in the area.

Ian Cairns believes innovative technology can combat any further shark attacks. Source: Ian Cairns / Facebook

This is clearly going to turn into something catastrophic, he told Fairfax media.

Cairns has teamed up with Smart Marine Systems and is lobbying for the technology to be implemented to prevent any further shark attacks however it hasnt been smooth sailing.

Story continues

US Congress announced the trial of the clever buoys at Corona del Mar but no one will put down the $1 million to install and run six buoys for a year.

A sheriffs helicopter detected a great white shark off Dana Point in Orange County, California in May 2017, and alerted surfers. Source: Orange County Sheriffs Department

He said he believes researchers dont have an accurate picture of the issue and that the technology would possibly lead to sharks and humans at least existing harmoniously in the same environment.

It appears crowd funding may now be the only option to get the project off the ground.Three key aides of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri were fired or resigned, his office has revealed, a week after a disastrous showing in the country's first general election in almost a decade. Hariri's Future Movement lost a third of its seats in the May 6 vote, ceding ground to its Christian former allies and parties on the other side of Lebanon's political divide, including the Shiite Hezbollah movement. The premier's chief of staff, his cousin Nader Hariri, "resigned from all his functions", according to a statement late Saturday, without specifying a reason. The movement said its coordinator, who was also in charge of the party's election campaign, had been relieved of his duties following a review. It said another unnamed cabinet official had also been dismissed. Despite seeing his movement lose its status as the largest party in parliament, Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance of power means Hariri is likely to remain prime minister once a deal on a new government is reached. Hariri blamed some of the movement's losses on Lebanon's new electoral law, but admitted he and his party had "betted on a better result". Saad Hariri is still likely to remain prime minister due to Lebanon's majoritarian governance systemFor three minutes, the border no longer existed for Ivan Castaneda and the family he left behind in the United States when he was deported to Mexico. They clung together in a weekend reunion for the first time since US authorities sent him back to Mexico two weeks ago as part of US President Donald Trump's migrant crackdown. Castaneda's is just one of thousands of Mexican migrant families whose lives are now disrupted by the border. On Saturday more than 300 separated families had the chance to embrace each other for three minutes under the hot sun, thanks to the "Hugs Not Walls" event organized by the Border Network for Human Rights, a US-based immigration reform group. "Every hug is an act of protest," said Fernando Garcia, the lead organizer. The fifth event of its kind saw the reunions take place at the river boundary that separates the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, in Chihuahua state, from the US city of El Paso, Texas. "Why don't you come with us?" Castaneda's four-year-old son asked innocently, unaware of the trauma his parents have endured since their separation began a month ago. Castaneda, 40, a former Mexican army soldier, fled to the US with his family from violence in their homeland, which registered a record 25,000 murders last year and is awash in crime linked to powerful drug cartels. "I cannot offer them anything here (in Mexico) other than suffering and death," Castaneda told AFP, referring to his family. Trump has made cracking down on undocumented migrants -- as well as toughening legal migration -- a centerpiece of his administration, while pushing for a wall to straddle the Mexico-US border in hopes of stopping the migrant flow, much of which comes from Central America. The US president has repeatedly tried to link illegal immigration to crime but immigrant defenders say many are fleeing poverty and violence. Activists accuse authorities of rounding up longtime residents with families and jobs on minor infractions. Castaneda came face-to-face with the crackdown a month ago when he opened the door of his home in Denver, Colorado to go to work on a construction job. - Fear of the cartels - Immigration agents were hiding behind his truck to detain and then deport him. Since then, he had not -- except for the three minutes on Saturday -- seen his wife and five children, aged two to 13. The reunion occurred on the edge of Chihuahua state which is turf disputed by the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels that traffic drugs to the United States, and is where Castaneda served for six years in the military. He says he got tired of the corruption, the rapes and even murder committed by military staff, even against his own colleagues. Instead of being discharged, as he requested three times, Castaneda was promoted until 2003 when he abandoned his post. The armed wing of the Juarez cartel then sought to recruit him. "I did not refuse. I said 'yes.' At the moment you cannot say 'no' because there can be reprisals. I took my family and crossed over to the United States illegally," he said. But they were all deported, and the criminals back in Mexico sought revenge. Castaneda says he then decided to seek asylum in the United States, where he worked hard for years to pay almost $15,000 to the lawyer who handled his case. But when he forgot to go to a court date, immigration agents arrested him and transferred him for 15 days to a detention center before deporting him. Now he lives in Ciudad Juarez, working in a mechanic's shop while waiting for the appeal of his deportation case. "Being alone again is not easy. I need my husband and my children need their dad," Castaneda's wife Hilda Melissa Martinez said tearfully when their brief hug had to end. Three minutes were up. The border was back. Members of a Mexican family separated by the US border embrace briefly along the frontier Mexicans separated from kin await a rare event -- Hugs Not Walls -- at which they are able to embrace on the US-Mexican border for three minutes Mexican ex-soldier Ivan Castaneda -- separated from his wife and five children -- works in an auto shop awaiting appeal of his US deportationUS photocopier and printer maker Xerox on Sunday announced it was terminating a merger with Fujifilm and appointing a new chief executive after entering into a settlement with activist shareholders who had contested the takeover. In a statement on its website, Xerox cited "material deviations" in the audited financials of an existing joint venture known as Fuji Xerox that is controlled by Fujifilm. The move follows a lawsuit by powerful shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who together owned more than 15 percent of the group and had vigorously opposed the merger announced in January. Xerox added that Jeff Jacobson had resigned from his role as the company's CEO, along with five board members who were replaced by five new members. In Tokyo, Fujifilm disputed Xerox's "unilateral decision." "We do not believe that Xerox has a legal right to terminate our agreement and we are reviewing all of our available options, including bringing a legal action seeking damages," the Japanese firm said in a statement. The company called on the Xerox board of directors to "reconsider their decision." The new board will be chaired by Keith Cozza, who is the current CEO of Icahn Enterprises, while its new CEO is set to be John Visentin. Xerox said the board would immediately convene to "evaluate all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value." "Over the past several weeks, the Xerox Board has repeatedly requested that Fujifilm immediately enter into negotiations on improved terms for a proposed transaction," the firm said. "Despite our insistence, Fujifilm provided no assurance that it will do so within an acceptable timeframe. "The Xerox Board believes that the transaction cannot reasonably be expected to be completed under these circumstances, particularly given the court's injunction of the transaction and the lack of shareholder support for the transaction on current terms, as well as the unresolved accounting issues at Fuji Xerox." - Latest victory for Icahn - The conflict was the latest involving a big company and a high-profile shareholder activist, in this case Icahn, a battle-tested billionaire who has aggressively challenged companies since the 1980s. Icahn and Deason had in late April won a temporary injunction against the merger after a New York judge agreed the deal prioritized the interests of the Xerox CEO over that of the company's shareholders. In early May, Xerox announced Jacobson would be stepping down before reversing its decision two days later. Reacting to the news, Icahn said: "We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm. "With that behind us and new shareholder-focused leadership in place, today marks a new beginning for Xerox." Under the terms of the merger Fujifilm would have held 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox while current shareholders would have received a special cash dividend of $2.5 billion. Deason and Icahn were also unhappy about a secret 2001 deal between Xerox and Fujifilm which contained a clause that prevented the Xerox board from seeking another buyer, effectively shortchanging the company's shareholders. In the wake of the announcement of Xerox's takeover in January, Fujifilm announced a cost savings plan envisaging thousands of job cuts at Fuji Xerox. Fuji Xerox was also weakened last year by the discovery of accounting irregularities dating back to 2010. The deal announced Sunday is a victory for so-called activist shareholders, among whom Carl Icahn is considered one of the "fathers." It comes after activist fund Elliott won a weeks-long power struggle with Vivendi over Telecom Italia by wresting control of the company's board in early May. Under the terms of the mergerwith Xerox, Fujifilm would have held 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox while current shareholders would have received a special cash dividend of $2.5 billionCYBERSPACEIn the days of old, before the internet, getting ahold of porn was a far more onerous task than it has become for today's fans. The neighborhood newsstand, which usually carried a variety of porn magazinesoften encased in plain brown wrapperswas one of the few ways to purchase adult material. Now, at least in the United Kingdom, those days may be returning, albeit with a high-tech twist, as U.K. porn fans try to adapt to a new anti-porn law set to take effect sometime this year.

The law is designed supposedly to stop minors from stumbling across online porn by accident, in the words of one government minister, by requiring porn fans to provide some sort of proof that they are over 18.

But the new law, part of the U.K. 2017 Digital Economy Act, has raised fears about how user data will be used and stored. The new requirements to upload personal information could even lead, cybersecurity experts say, to a serious national security risk, if the porn-viewing habits of government, military and business leaders fall into the hands of hackers from hostile foreign governmentsnot exactly an unusual occurrence, as events over the past several years indicate.

But one proposal for getting around the requirement for porn viewers to upload sensitive data would get newsstand operators back into the business of selling porn, or at least access to porn, just like in the pre-internet days.

According to a report in Britains Telegraph newspaper over the weekend, British adults who want access to online porn will be able to purchase a porn pass from their local news vendor on the street or corner shop. All theyll need to do is present proof of age to the clerk behind the cash register.

The pass will take the form, according to the media reports, of a 16-digit code that can be entered online on any porn site, or any type of online business that sells age-restricted products such as tobacco or alcohol. According to the proposal, now in front of the British Board of Film Classification, which is in charge of enforcing the new age restrictions, the passes would cost U.K. porn fans 10, or about $14 in United States cash.

Currently, the porn pass proposal is only that: a proposal. But according to the tech news site The Register, there is another possible workaround in the works for British porn consumers: porn by email.

In fact, created by internet anti-censorship activist Gareth Llewellyn, the Porn By Email service already exists, at this Twitter link. Users may even state a preference for, say, a specific performer, and the service will automatically email a selection of porn fulfilling those requirements.

Llewellyn told The Register that his software, when perfected, will be made open source, meaning that anyone, including entrepreneurial porn performers, can create their own customized porn email delivery services.

Photo by Carlos Suarez / Wikimedia CommonsDALLASAdult online retailer DallasNovelty.com celebrates May Masturbation Month with a new toy for gentlemen who want to spice up their solo sex life, The Satisfyer Men.

It looks sexy on the outside, and feels sexy on the inside, said Nick Mahler of Dallas Novelty. The Satisfyer Men is different to any sex toy you have ever seen before. It stands out thanks to its ultra-sporty lifestyle design. The Satisfyer Men ensures the most intense sensual stimulation with a unique mix or oral and vaginal sex.

The novel pump feature allows you to add or release air during use at the touch of a button. With this new system users can decide how tight the Satisfyer Men is and how intense the results are.

The Satisfyer Men comes with the Chambers of Pleasure sleeve that has flexible walls that sensually caress your shaft while enticing the sensitive tissues within to dive deeper. As you travel through the density within the chambers many symmetrical walls, a unique suction-pull is activated which summons your shaft into firmer intensity and sustained arousal. There are six optional sleeves also available.

The Satisfyer Men is available for order here.

For more, visit DallasNovelty.com.Cherie DeVille plays a recently divorced writer of adult fiction who relocates to a remote mountain house to clear her head and write. She is startled when a mysterious looking brunette appears at her door then vanishes abruptly. Shes even more unnerved when two bubbly blonde MILFsBrandi Love, Alexis Fawxshow up to welcome her to the neighborhood, when in fact she is miles from the nearest home.

Its a promising beginning to Dana Vespolis take on creepy-lady movies, a kind of Stepford Witches blend. Though it doesnt really develop as a story, it serves as an intriguing frame for lesbian action, ranging from fairly hot to fairly volcanic. The latter involves the mysterious brunetteKatrina Jadewho jumps into Cheries bed one night for prolonged and passionate sex, shot in shadowy half-light. Is it real or is it a dream? Cherie herself cant tell.

After that Cherie drives around looking confused while Alexis has sex with the younger Elsa Jean. After a some hard mutual pussy rubs, Alexis scampers off and Elsa freezes suspiciously. Brandi, her fellow coven wife, aggressively seduces teen neighbor Haley Reed. Brandi finishes off erotically with a long wet kiss and Haley sits up in a daze.

Cherie finally gets into a three-way with Brandi and Alexis. They make out in various acrobatic combinations with the wives making her squirt. Action highlight: a double-hand fuck with Brandi and Alexis each sticking four fingers into Cherie, simultaneously.

Will Cherie too awake in a daze? Is there any doubt? The ending sees a new writer (cameo by director Vespoli) ensconced in the house and being visited by now three blonde greeters.We've detected that JavaScript is not enabled in your browser.

You must enable JavaScript to use craigslist.On Thursday, White House chief of staff John Kelly appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, covering a wide range of topics. In the middle of the discussion, Kelly was asked about the White House's position on illegal immigration. Here's what Kelly said:Kelly was quickly labeled racist for this statement. Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post wrote a piece titled,She claims that Kelly James Martin called his comments "hateful, stereotypical and racist." Other commentators began tweeting out pictures of "Irish Need Not Apply" signs.It was not so long ago that this shameful attitude was prevalent in the US: - Jake Tapper @jaketapperSo, Kelly is right that the vast majority of people illegally moving into the United States aren't bad people. Obviously.Is he wrong that the "overwhelming majority of people" who come to the United States illegally are unable to assimilate or are "overwhelmingly rural," that they're undereducated and unable to assimilate?Here's what we know.Two-thirds of people in the United States illegally as of 2017 had come into the United States with a valid visa and then overstayed. The chief sources of illegal immigration are Mexico (by a long shot), followed by El Salvador, Guatemala, India, and Honduras; that represented 72% of illegal immigration in the United States as of 2014.It is obviously true that illegal immigrants are undereducated compared with the general American population. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, which is quite pro-immigration, 14.4% of foreign-born individuals in the United States over age 15 have less than a ninth-grade education, as compared with 2.3% of the native-born U.S. population. Slightly more than half of foreign-born immigrants to the United States "have more than a high school education." Those numbers are worse for illegal immigrants than the total foreign-born population: according to the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, three-quarters of illegal immigrants have no education beyond high school, as opposed to 56% of American citizens aged 25 and older with more than a high school education.As for the contention that foreign countries from which illegal immigrants come have lower average levels of education, that's true as well. The countries that lead the illegal immigration list are Mexico (14.8 years of education between ages 5 and 39, and the lowest performing OECD nation with an average score of 416), El Salvador (only 82% of children achieve a ninth-grade education), Guatemala (just 68% of students make it through primary school), India (the enrollment rates for secondary education are just 69%), Honduras (63% of the Honduran labor force has only a primary education).It is true that illegal immigrants have fewer marketable skills than American citizens on average; while a high percentage of illegal immigrants work, a higher percent of illegal immigrants than American citizens depend on welfare benefits as well. As for assimilation, according to the Census Bureau, well under half of illegal immigrants speak English well; immigrants were also far less likely to speak English at home than they were in 1980 (70% versus 85%).The problem isn't that the people coming into the United States illegally are bad, or that they're somehow different and worse than Irish or Italians or Jews who came over in the early 20th century. The problem is that the American system of assimilation is different - there was no welfare system, no bilingual education in the early 20th century. This means more people are apt to take advantage of our welfare system and more apt not to assimilate (this is true across the board, and is not specific to country or culture). That's a problem. And pointing out the problem doesn't make you a racist.Statistically speaking, Kelly's statement is rough and seriously overstated. But to label it racist is a wild overstatement as well.

Gina Haspel is the evidence-destroying torturer whose Senate confirmation hearings for CIA chief were so frightening to her that she tried to bow out of them (she went, and bullshitted her way through).



The Trump White House is determined to see a torturer running the Agency, and the Agency agrees  they like Haspel because she's a CIA lifer who will continue business as usual, rather than a Trump-appointed political hack like Mike Pompeo (who is vacating the job to serve as Secretary of State) or Senator Tom Cotton, whom Trump mooted giving the job to.





The CIA  a spy agency charged with effecting propaganda and disinformation campaigns in foreign countries  is now waging a propaganda campaign in support of Haspel. They have selectively declassified documents about Haspel that put her in a good light (while refusing to declassify documents that their Senate oversight committee wants made available to the public) and have sent lengthy, upbeat news briefings to national media.



Last week, Mr. Heinrich and two other Democrats on the intelligence committee, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dianne Feinstein of California, wrote a letter that decried "the absence of any meaningful declassification of her career." The plea for more information about Ms. Haspel was their fifth, they wrote, noting that they had yet to receive a response. Instead, the agency has "issued a news release that included a superficial narrative about Ms. Haspel without providing the public any meaningful information about her 33-year career at the C.I.A.," the letter said.



"Indeed, the more we review the classified facts," the letter continued, "the more disturbed we are, both by the actions she has taken during her career and by the C.I.A.'s refusal to allow the public an opportunity to consider them." Opposition to Ms. Haspel's nomination is growing elsewhere. More than 100 retired generals and admirals plan to release a letter on Monday saying they believe she is unfit to lead the C.I.A. because of her role in the interrogation program and destroying the videos. The letter was organized by retired Gen. Charles C. Krulak, the former Marine Corps commandant.

How the C.I.A. Is Waging an Influence Campaign to Get Its Next Director Confirmed [Adam Goldman and Matthew Rosenberg/New York Times]George W Bush spent a decade as the record-holder for the worst US president in modern history: a stupid man who weaponized a lie to start a pointless war that rages to this day, the "Heck of a Job, Brownie" president, the "You forgot Poland" president, the "Freedom Fries" president, the torture president, the mass surveillance president, the climate denier, the chimp-faced coked up draft dodger who was a modern hereditary princeling  probably not even much fun to have a beer with.



But today, GWB is largely rehabilitated: he gets gallery shows for his shitty paintings, cuddles Michelle Obama in public, and is remembered as a statesman who seems talented, measured and statesmanlike when contrasted with the eternal dumpster fire of Donald J Trump.





GWB, of course, is the president who made Ronald Reagan  friend to terrorists and arms-smugglers, secret bomber, death-squad ally, cruel victimizer of mentally ill people, demonizer of poor people, chaser of foolish Star Wars dreams, fiddler while the AIDS crisis burned, nuclear brinksman, liner of arms-dealers' pockets  look good by comparison.





If you want to understand the reputational future of Donald J Trump, look at GW Bush. I remember thinking that it would be inconceivable for Reagan to be rehabilitated, or Nixon, or Bush, but all of them have been, in some meaningful way, remade as virtuous by the passage of time and the advent of worse monsters than they. Trump is not the cause of Trumpism  he isn't smart or effective enough to have caused it and is barely smart enough to have taken advantage of it  and the same dark forces that coughed up Trump will cough up worse-than-Trumps in the years to come. Get ready to go for a drive up the Donald J Trump Memorial Highway to visit the Donald J Trump National Park where sailors from the SS Donald Trump will be visiting on shore leave.



Washington, it seems, has developed Bush nostalgia. Just nine years after he left the White House, many conservatives pine for their misunderestimated good old boy from Texas. Looking in the rearview mirror, the last Republican president suddenly appears measured, compassionate, principled  in short, presidential. Even liberals who could not wait for Barack Obama to move into the White House are grudgingly penitent, privately admitting that they didn't appreciate Bush's good qualities. Fifteen years since the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner was unfurled celebrating victory in Iraq, the debate about the war rages on. Critics of the invasion believe it will always define Bush's presidency. Admirers think history will be kinder to him. We'll all be dead before there's a verdict one way or the other. When Bush left Washington, his popularity was in the tank, with just a 33 percent approval rating. Those numbers have doubled: 61 percent of Americans, including a number of Democrats and independents, say they have a favorable view of him, according to a CNN poll released this January.

Donald Trump may be the best thing that ever happened to George W. Bush [Roxanne Roberts/Washington Post]Before China came under the sway of Communist rule, many of the impoverished people of the country's southwestern Guizhou province opted to live in caves rather than face the frequent assaults by the region's criminal element. The cave complexes in Guizhou are massive, and until recently, were unknown to those who hailed from outside of the province. Its connection to the outside world is a small one. In order to enter Guizhou, visitors to the region need to navigate a narrow mountain footpath. The difficulties that getting to Guizhou poses has gifted its people with a rare commodity in our increasingly connected world: seclusion.

But of late, the region's cave dwellers have become less cloistered. Tourists eager to see cave dwellers' way of life have been making the trek to Guizhou. This is good news for Guizhou's cave dwellers: The tourists have proven happy to pay for the privilege of renting space in the caves. It's also bad news: the Chinese government has noted that some of its citizens are hiding out in caves. Because of the optics this presents, they've been encouraging the cave dwellers to move onto farm properties, complete with modest houses and a relocation payment  let's call it a bribe  of $9,500. Five of the cave dwelling families were totally into the deal. The other 18? Not so much.

From The Globe & Mail:

The remaining 18 families have held on stubbornly to their homes inside the cave. They say that the new homes are too small, that they fear losing access to their land, and that they alone, because of their historical connection to the cave, should have the right to independently control its small tourism economy. "The residents of this cave should be the administrators of tourism here, regardless of whether or not we are paid," said Wang Qiguo, head of the local village, who established the first hostel there. As he spoke, his wife prepared a steaming array of dishes made from home-smoked pork and local vegetables grown in the valley. After all, Wang noted, "The best thing about this cave is its inhabitants."

The Globe & Mail offers a short but fascinating profile of the cave dwellers, their interactions with the Chinese government, and the difficulty of maintaining an unusual way of life in the face of modernity's demand for social conformity. If you've got a few minutes, take a read: your eyeballs and brain will thank you.

Image: , CC BY-SA 3.0, LinkMohsin Hamid's Exit West is a science fiction novel with a simple, allegorical premise: what if the poor, oppressed, and alienated could simply vanish through mysterious doorways and emerge somewhere else?



Exit West opens in an unnamed city that seems to be in the Indian subcontinent somewhere (possibly Hamid's birth city of Lahore) where a young couple begin courting just as hardline militants start to conquer the city. The couple, Nadia and Saeed, have a complicated relationship to their city and its culture: Saeed is religiously observant but culturally liberal, while Nadia avoids harassment by dressing in black, severe religious robes but doesn't actually have much faith.





As the religious militants slowly take the city, Saeed and Nadia are thrown together: their workplaces shutter, their streets thrum with gunfire, the power goes, and so does the water. Saeed's mother is killed by a stray bullet and his life is shattered, and Nadia moves into the flat where he lives with his grieving father.

The city grows more dangerous by the day: the lampposts are decorated with the strung up corpses of people who transgressed against the rebels' arbitrary religious edits, and militants go from house to house, seeking out heretics to execute and valuables to loot.





But in the background, there are the growing rumors of a way out: mysterious doors are appearing everywhere, the doors of old sheds and storage closets, basements and bedrooms. These black doors open somewhere else: sometimes somewhere wealthy and peaceful, sometimes some other war-torn place. Militants slip through these doors and emerge in western cities, gunning down civilians and slipping away, and anyone in militant-occupied territory caught scheming to escape via a door is killed on the spot.





Of course, Saeed and Nadia escape through the door, finding themselves skipping across the globe, in a series of refugee camps with escapees from all the world's climate-wracked, failing places. First they're in Mikonos, then London, then the Bay Area, buying SIMs and dodging police and navitist mobs, finding friendship and watching the tense news from home with dismay as the people they love escape or don't.

The villains of Exit West are the people who want to limit the freedom of movement: militants who want to force their austere version of religious purity on people at gunpoint; states and nationalists who want to keep those fleeing war and persecution off their precious soil, and who are prepared to resort to discrimination, violence and worse.





But the doors appear, answered dreams of people desperate to leave, and it's not just refugees, but all the alienated people  a accountant on the verge of suicide in London, an old Brazilian man who falls in love with an old Dutch man when he emerges from the shed in his Amsterdam housing block. The relentless drive to change and move is pitted against the mulish insistence on things staying the same, and while the status quo has historically enjoyed the home-team advantage over the forces of change and migration, the doors tip the balance, making a mockery of borders.





It's a timely and zeitgeisty novel, a book perfectly timed for a world where the UK is willing to commit economic and cultural suicide to punish its migrants, where Australia maintains offshore rape camps to "deter" refugee claims, where Hungary has re-elected a fascist who promises to purify the country of brown-skinned migrants  where Donald Trump took office on a wave of lies about sharia law and Mexican murderers.

Moreover, it's a beautifully told tale, full of poesie and romance and sadness and delicate strands of hope. As a migrant twice over, the father of a migrant, the son of a refugee, this novel touched me.

Exit West [Mohsin Hamid/Riverhead Books]

(Thanks, Cindy!)Last year, the UK occult arts publisher, Fulgur Limited , celebrated its 25th anniversary. Initially focused on the work of the early 20th century British occult artist, Austin Spare, over the years, the imprint has published some of the most beautiful and significant books at the confluence of art and magic and has been the leader in the modern so-called talismanic publishing scene. What the Devil is talismanic publishing? It's an approach to publishing that incorporates magical practice into the act of publishing itself.

The concept originated with occultist Aleister Crowley in the late 19th century. He sought to treat his small press published books on magic and poetry as talismanic objects. Where any book nerd might argue that a finely designed, high-quality printed and bound book is already a magical object, talismanic publishing takes this to another level, with the selection of papers, inks, colors, fonts, and dates and times of publishing often being chosen with magical intent and a special level of consideration being given to the "out of box" experience and initial opening of the book. I have had talismanic books arrive with hand-calligraphied addresses, special perfumed paper wrappings, wax-seals, hand-drawn sigils, and more. Some may roll their eyes at all of this as woo-woo marketing gimmickry, but when this treatment is done well, it lends itself to a unique and elevated experience for anyone who loves bewitching books.

A great case in point is Fulgur's gorgeous new tome, Touch Me Not, their full-color facsimile of the infamous late 18th century grimoire, A Most Rare Compendium of the Whole Magical Art. Which, truth be told, is really a collection of the blackest of the black arts from 1795, but still

Taking the book from the mailer, you are confronted with a jet-black book of sumptuous silk cloth. Binding the book closed is a brown paper band with a black foil skull & crossbones blind embossed into it. A demonic tome that is literally bound and that warns the unwary with an ancient symbol of danger and death? Nice. Breaking that band and removing it, beneath it is your final warning, the title, Touch Me Not, blind embossed in red foil. The title, Touch Me Not, is actually part of the full, original title A most rare compendium of the whole magical art, systematized by the most famous masters of this art in the year 1057. Touch me not.

Touch Me Not is a unique and astonishing artifact. And an extremely bizarre one. It is unlike any other grimoire in my collection. It exists as a strange and singular contribution to the central European "magical treasure hunting" craze of that era. The Fulgur edition of A Most Rare Compendium is derived from the copy found in the collection of the Wellcome Library in London, with side-by-side translations of its German and Latin texts.

There has always been a strange obsession with magical treasure hunting in the European grimoire tradition which I have never clearly understood. Even in more heavenly-minded tomes, like The Book of Abramelin, which includes a torturous process for contacting your "Holy Guardian Angel" and living and serving the lord, they still manage to concern themselves with magical treasure hunting. In Dr. Hereward Tilton's excellent introduction of Touch Me Not he explains what motivated this obsession. A lot of it had to do with the 30 Years War (1618  1648), the deadly religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants, which ultimately claimed the lives of some 6 million people.

In the wake of this war, many Catholic churches were looted and in ruins. Bandits on the run, loaded down with gold and religious artifacts, had to bury their loot in hopes of returning some day to retrieve it. They rarely did, which led to treasure caches, some real, many more imagined, throughout Europe. Given few maps or other surviving clues, treasure hunters turned to magical means to divine this lost treasure. This was also during the time of European witchcraft hysteria. In the wake of the war, there was devastating disease, crop failure, and famine. Who got blamed? Witches.

So that is why so many grimoires of the time are obsessed with treasure hunting! Mystery solved.

Touch Me Not is quite unique within the corpus of European grimoires. Unlike the Solomonic tradition of the Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon), or even Abramelin, this book can't be traced directly through a lineage of older texts. The author clearly knew of, and drew from, some of these earlier works, but this book did not evolve from them. It is a one-off.

Touch Me Not basically outlines a technique for drugging and scaring yourself near-mad and then raising the demons of Hell in the midst of that madness. You're supposed to take a psychedelic root concoction (which is basically a Medieval European equivalent of South American ayahuasca) along with cocktails of other strange drugs designed to "poison the imagination," and then cover your body in "sigillary body painting" (the sigils in the book are gorgeous). High as fuck, naked, and covered with magical temporary tattoos, you're then supposed to look through the paintings in the book until they scare you out of your ordinary mind. The paintings are extraordinary; beautiful, surrealist art of a surprisingly high order. And designed to be extremely disturbing. The text is also obviously designed to be lurid and shocking to the reader.

Suitably lizard-brained on the crazy root juice, terrified of what you've just seen and read, you then perform the book's infernal spells to raise the Devil and his legions of Hell. With the powers of darkness conjured to visual appearance, you command them to go find the treasure you're after. That seems to be the central point of Touch Me Not.

The book also talks about treasure guardians. These are spirits and familiars associated with treasure. Besides dragons (and there was widespread belief at the time that dragons lorded over hoards of treasure, in ruined Catholic churches, in magical caves, and in vast underground realms), black dogs, snakes, and "spectral maidens" were believed to be types of spiritual creatures who might guard or guide you to treasure.

Bands of treasure hunters, a ruined landscape with dragons and treasure hoards, magicians, necromancers, fighters, and magical and holy relics. Does all this sound strangely familiar? It's straight-up Dungeons and Dragons! Or, even closer still, it's exactly like the currently popular fantasy skirmish game, Frostgrave, where dueling wizards wield dark magic as their warbands fight over treasure and magical items in a ruined city.

Besides the treasure hunting concerns of Touch Me Not, there are recipes and spells for other dark, necromantic purposes, such as creating a magical mirror for "viewing everything." The process for making such a mirror is convoluted, torturous, and frankly, insane. The "recipe" involves an alloy made from specified "loths" of various metals (loth being an old German measurement for 1/2 of the "local ounce") and a consecrated hand bell from a church (again with the looted church relics). The process takes three years and there are many steps and ingredients involved, all related to violence, death, and corpses: The brick dust from a gallows, the shirt from a hanged man, coffin nails and coffin wood, etc. When completed, the mirror is fumigated with burning goat and horse hair (fragrant!) and stored in a box made from coffin wood and nails. To use the mirror, it is placed on a grave. The grave is apparently used as the power source for turning the mirror "on."

I have long thought that these exotic ingredient lists and drawn-out, torturous procedures found in grimoires are a way of ensuring that basically no one is ever actually going to be able to properly perform the ritual; that the whole sordid business is basically designed to be unattainablely aspirational, more to titillate, to scare, and to entertain.

In the opening essay, Hereward Tilton makes it clear that Touch Me Not was most likely a work of occult folk horror, an intentionally transgressive artifact that's a piece of supernatural fiction more than a working manual of the black arts. He points out that a book like this would be so rare, so expensive, that the only sort of person who could afford it would not likely be the sort who'd be traipsing into the deep forest in search of mythical treasure.

Seen in this light, Touch Me Not is a very fascinating and immersive form of supernatural horror, and an artifact unlike any in my collection. One of the other amazing things about this Fulgur edition is that it's extremely affordable, at $46.50. Of course, if you're not in the UK, there's the high cost of shipping. If you want one, I would suggest grabbing it quick. I hear it's selling out fast. If you do acquire this infernal tome, remember, as the last lines of the text warn, "meddling in this art never goes unpunished."News / National

by Staff reporter

CANADIAN investors are scouting for business opportunities in Guruve in a bid to secure 10 000 hectares of land for marijuana farming due to the area's favourable climatic conditions.Discussions are already at a preliminary stage.Guruve South legislator Patrick Dutiro confirmed that investors had approached his constituency to embark on the project in line with Government's policy on industrial purposes of marijuana farming.Several parts of Mashonaland Central are climatically ideal for marijuana farming and investors have identified Guruve as one of the areas with favourable temperatures for the plant production especially during the rainy season."The province is very ideal for mbanje farming due to the favourable temperatures and research has shown that Guruve is the only district which has optimum rainy season temperatures of 20-30 degrees Celsius which are most favourable with this plant."Cannabis juice is used for medicinal purposes and the residue fibre for car dashboards which are environmentally friendly," said Dutiro.Recently there has been mixed reactions over Government's move to legalise production of cannabis with calls for the reduction of licensing fees to include small-scale farmers especially those who have been growing the plant in places like Binga, Chiweshe and Dande."What it means is that Government wants large-scale growers whom it can monitor hence the $50 000 is meant to be a deterrent against small-scale farmers."We have two options with our investors since they want land, we have convinced them to come up with an out-grower schemes for contract farming in Guruve or to secure them land in Dande."Currently there are in talks with a Guruve white farmer to seal the deal."Previously before marijuana farming was legalised, we had advised the investors to develop a non-intoxicating seed which, however, could meet the same purposes for laboratory use," added Dutiro.Mashonaland Central Province has always been the home to illegal marijuana farming with areas like Dande, Guruve and Chiweshe leading in the productionResearch by medical experts have shown scientific evidence that cannabis has medical benefits in anorexia, epilepsy, therapy and glaucoma.News / National

by Staff reporter

The shock withdrawal by Jessie Majome from the MDC primary elections has triggered an outpouring of sympathy and anger from the residents of Harare West constituency who have vowed to derail the opposition party's attempt to retain the seat in the impending national elections.Majome, who had served Harare West for 10 years on an MDC ticket, is widely respected for the decent work and engagement with residents in the constituency.The veteran lawyer and former Women's Affairs deputy minister announced on Friday that she was withdrawing from the MDC primary elections because the party guidelines had been manipulated.But her sudden withdrawal triggered outrage from the Harare Westerners, as the residents call themselves, who suspect their adored MP was being set up for defeat by the leadership's preferred candidate, a rookie, Joana Mamombe."In Harare West where I stay, my vote is with Jessie Majome. If she is not on the ballot I will write her name on the ballot and spoil it. That is my inalienable right."This will be my first time to spoil a vote since I started voting in 2000. Will convince my family and neighbours to do the same. Can't stomach this tomfoolery masquerading as DEMOCRACY," researcher and governance expert, Pedzisayi Ruhanya wrote on his Facebook page after learning of Majome's withdrawal."The challenge in Harare West and MDC primaries in general appears to be lack of leadership to explain processes, address and clarify issues that are in the public interest. In Harare West, I prefer Jessie but if she loses to a fair process we embrace."With respect the other candidate Joana Mamombe has not done anything wrong to point at and handled herself well when brothers like us chose to support her big sister and if she wins that is it," added Ruhanya with a follow-up post.Political analyst and freedom of expression defender, Rashweat Mukundu urged Majome to stand as an independent in the national elections."Hope Jessie stands as an independent and better seat racho riende ku Zanu-PF...this patronising of voters is sickening."In politics you put your best, the experienced and with a reformed and strengthened Zanu-PF you need your experienced MPs in Parliament and you don't promote a system of patronage where you ring fence certain seats for your buddies and then use "democracy" to attack your capable hands."It is the kind of stuff that has made Zanu-PF unpopular. The party (MDC) is bleeding support through unnecessary divisions. .. and I really begin to wonder whether this is a party that is ready to govern and this point shall be further explored more in public arenas and soon," said Mukundu on Facebook.Another political analyst Gladys Hlatywayo urged the MDC leadership to find a way of allowing Majome to fight for her seat."I am a registered Harare Westerner and it is my hope that MDC will deploy its negotiation tactics in our constituency. In my opinion, a zero sum game will hurt the party. Hon Jessie Fungayi Majome has been one of the best MPs and retaining her in Parly is necessary." Joana Ruvimbo Mamombe is young, energetic and promising. My assessment is the latter is popular among party structures and the former among ordinary Harare Westerners.....to win the constituency you need both. Surely a win-win solution is possible," said Hlatywayo.Majome said her decision to withdraw from the party's primary elections was based on realisation that the MDC had manipulated its guidelines to the extent that she was not likely to get a fair outcome."Before the close of the 8th Parliament, I was seeking re-election for Harare West constituency under the banner MDC Alliance."However, sadly for me in this primary election, I have noted several factors that I cannot ignore, which I have highlighted to my party which I believe, honestly, constitute manipulation of my party guidelines towards a fair outcome to the extent in my view regrettably so, that the will of bona fide and genuine Harare Westerners would be lost in that process."In the light of this, I wish to advise the Harare Westerners that, because they had placed their confidence in me, that I am withdrawing with a heavy heart my candidature for MDC Alliance for Harare West constituency," Majome announced on FridayNews / National

by Staff reporter

New MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa - who had his work cut out when he succeeded the late popular opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai earlier this year - is confounding his critics, holding his own where many expected him to be a dismal failure and packing venues to the rafters when he addresses his supporters.What has particularly impressed friends and foes alike over the past few weeks is the fact that his high-octane campaign stumps nationally and abroad are gathering steam despite the ugly leadership dispute which threatened to floor the MDC after Tsvangirai lost his brave fight against colon cancer last February.Both political analysts and leading opposition figures who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday said although this year's looming national elections had attracted a large field, there was no doubt that the presidential poll would be "a straight fight" between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the youthful lawyer.Other observers pointed to the intense scrutiny and the serious savaging that he is getting from both known critics and social media bots  now popularly referred to as "varakashi" (online thugs)  as a measure of the impact that the the 40 year-old is having on the political stage.It has also not done Chamisa any harm that he has been drawing huge crowds at his rallies in supposed Zanu-PF strongholds, which were a no-go area for the opposition during the dictatorial reign of former president Robert Mugabe. Even his recent campaign stumps in the United Kingdom drew significant crowds.Former Cabinet minister during the era of the inclusive government, David Coltart  who accompanied Chamisa to the UK, is among those who feels that Chamisa, the leader of the MDC Alliance, has rattled Zanu-PF and Mnangagwa's government."The amount of abuse being directed his way shows how much of a threat he poses to a de facto military regime which has a long and bloody history of murdering, torturing and brutalising its opponents."Despite all of this, he is bravely campaigning and at the core of his message is non-violence. He is the only leader campaigning countrywide at present, drawing thousands of people these rallies in both rural and urban areas," Coltart says."Of course, Nelson Chamisa has faults. All of us do. Of course he has made mistakes in some of his pronouncements  all of us have done so in our own political careers. None of is perfect, but at this moment in our history we cannot let perfection be the enemy of the good."Notwithstanding these human flaws and the quality of some of the other presidential candidates, Chamisa is the only competent person who realistically stands between ongoing de facto military rule and a new dawn for Zimbabwe."Everything else is simply pie in the sky. That is the harsh reality all those who dream of a new, vibrant, tolerant and free Zimbabwe need to confront," he adds.On his part, former Finance minister Tendai Biti said yesterday that he was "very confident" that Chamisa would emerge victorious against Mnangagwa, "as long as elections were free and fair"."This is a no brainer because we will win this election hands down ... the MDC Alliance president is a winner and that is why the regime is now panicking and that is why you see these extra-legal moves around the printing of the ballot paper which they don't want to be transparent."They know their time is up, that it is a time for the Alliance, the time for Chamisa. The UK trip was an overwhelming success and we managed to get into some offices the regime never imagined we could have accessed, and we managed to change the false narrative that they have been peddling," Biti told the Daily NewsOn Sunday."They are now running scared and that is why you see all the shenanigans around the inspection of the voters' roll. How do you give two weeks to inspect a roll that took two months to establish?"It is now clear that they are up to no good, but they will not be the first people with the ability to stop an idea whose time has clearly come," Biti added.Among the Zanu-PF politicians whose attention Chamisa has caught is Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who told ruling party supporters at the former liberation movement's recent manifesto launch in Harare that Chamisa was "a juvenile in politics".Political analysts said such attacks were because Chamisa had so far demonstrated that he would pose the greatest threat to Mnangagwa's election bid in this year's keenly-anticipated presidential election.Respected University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure said Chamisa's political stock was "definitely rising"."it is indisputable that Chamisa's graph is fast rising. His chances have increased dramatically more than they were when he became the MDC leader, because he has been well received both locally and internationally."The government has taken acute notice of that development hence the attempts by people such as Chiwenga to rubbish him. But the reality is that in terms of how he has been received so far, he is way ahead of many of his rivals," he said.However, Masunugure was quick to warn that crowd sizes at rallies were "a less-than-complete tool" to assess candidates' chances of winning an election."The question is whether the crowds are registered voters and if they are, will they go out to vote and if they do, will they vote for him  because some might just be coming to get a feel of who this Chamisa boy is. So, the verdict at this point in time can be difficult to pass," he said.Another political analyst, Maxwell Saungweme, also said Chamisa was "a real threat to Zanu-PF" and could win the elections if the electoral field was level."Forget about his gaffes. He has a huge following of young and old who want change and who see him as representing their hopes. However, our electoral playing field is uneven and he at risk of being rigged out."Without reforms, no opposition can unseat the military regime in power. They have already started rigging ... and they will rig the polls during voting, at tabulation and at the announcement of the results," Saungweme claimed further.The looming national elections have generated such interest among both ordinary Zimbabweans and ambitious politicians alike that a number of opposition leaders are set to contest Mnangagwa in the presidential plebiscite.The polls themselves will be the first in the past two decades not to feature Mugabe and the late Tsvangirai.News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Hundreds of Zapu supporters gathered at Makorokoro on Wednesday. Without any exaggeration whatsoever, the just about a thousand villagers stunned even the organisers as it became Zapu's largest rural gathering to date from a single constituency.Zapu spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa said by the way, these people went to the meeting voluntarily."There were no 2kg packets of expired Chinese rice, no ntsarus with someone's head, no torches with anyone's head, no threats of being starved if one fails to attend, no money thrown around to energize them to insult a sitting President, there was none of it. It was a meeting to boldly declare that "kuZapu ndiko nkanye kwedu". It is a loud cry for the implementation of the Devolution of Power. And voting for a Zapu candidate wherever is to vote for a devolution of power," he said."The people of Makorokoro like many Zimbabweans, especially from Matebeleland South, have lived under a painful political quandary since Zimbabwe's independence. After the gukurahundi genocide and the subsequent forced political assimilation through the disgraceful 1987 unity accord, it has been difficult to identify a political direction. Heavily funded political vultures and opportunists of diverse types have taken advantage of the situation. Many have been using the plight of the people to join the ZanuPf looting spree as once elected, they would vanish into the luxuries of Harare."He said fearlessly attending a Zapu public meeting and turning it into a massive ward rally sent some shocking messages to hired or bribed semi-literate and rogue elements of the state security apparatus who panicked when realising that intimidation tactics were rendered not only ineffective but foolish as they are in vain."Fear as a weapon has a very limited duration.The people of Makorokoro must inspire all the victims of the Zanu-PF government to stand up and simply implement devolution of power through a vote. The Zapu President Doctor Dumiso Dabengwa has been saying it. It is not just the removal of certain individuals from government offices that we need now, but it is putting in place an alternative socio-economic order that emancipates the people by allowing them to manage developmental programmes in their communities. They must benefit from their God-given natural resources," he said.News / National

by Mxolisi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG - The Zapu-Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe (PDZ) merger is headed for stormy waters, following allegations of disrespect and mistrust between the two opposition parties. If untamed, the crisis could lead to a split of the party in a matter of weeks, say party insiders.Zapu, led by former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa and PDZ - led by Barbara Nyagomo, came together in March, after they ditched the Elton Mangoma-led Coalition of Democrats (CODE), citing "security concerns".The agreement of the merger was that the resultant formation would be called Zapu and be led by Dabengwa, while Nyagomo became the party's new Vice President, in place of Mrs. Lora Makuzva, who was allegedly sidelined under unclear circumstances. Another condition of the merger was that PDZ officials would be assimilated into Zapu structures, in positions "equal" to those they held in their party.However, Zapu and PDZ insiders at the weekend revealed that the alliance was teetering on the brink, counter-accusing one another in a manner that exposed the bad blood that exists between the two camps. PDZ members accused some Zapu top officials of treating them with condescension and reducing Nyagomo's role to that of a ceremonial Vice President, while Zapu officials accused the PDZ of exuding "suspicious" behaviour.Zapu spokesperson, Iphithule Maphosa, rubbished the possibility of a split at the weekend, calling it "a fantasy"."It is a fantasy, ZAPU is not in turmoil," said Maphosa. "It is just a figment of a very imagination fertile mind (sic). We see them by their actions and pronouncements, non-members who are hell bent in destroying the mother party. It's not the first time and surely it is not the last attempt. ZAPU is seized with preparation for elections while detractors are being paid to peddle lies of a split."However, WhatsApp chat messages from last week, seen by this reporter, showed all was not rosy in Zapu, barely two months after the two parties formed their alliance.In one of the chats, Nyagomo complained that she was being kept in the dark about events regarding the party presidency, having to rely on banners, press reports and information from junior members."Can u please tag the VP in any communications regarding the President's office and ZAPU. It's not proper for me to know about the President's visit to UK via social media or via a flyer by ZAPU UK. But hey, if u want me to continue as a Ceremonial VP then continue as before," wrote Nyagomo in one of her complaints.Responding to Nyagomo's complaint, Edwin Moyo, the party's Secretary for International Relations, indicated that Nyagomo was being sidelined as per "instructions", without stating where they came from. Moyo wrote: "Cde. VP, we are officers on the ground. We only carry the instructions and run with them. Your request is well noted yet not proper channel to air. That should be directed to the Presidency," to which Nyagomo retorted, "No worries continue as instructed."In the same thread, Dr Ralph Mguni, former ZAPU Secretary-General, wrote: "The President's travels are coordinated via the SG's office. That office controls all information about the President whereabouts, making judgments about all security issues. The guidelines were mapped out a while ago. What VP indicated is critical. When the President is out of the country, the VP is acting President and all party issues are resolved through her."Nyagomo also raised complaints that while PDZ members' curriculum vitaes had been submitted to Zapu  as demanded by other Zapu officials for purposes of their re-deployment in the party, she remained uninformed about "who is who in ZAPU"."ZAPU demands CVs from Partner Members PDZ. I have never heard of that in any political Coalition/Merger/Alliance. Joining a Party is never a certificated job of work. PDZ Members are now fully fledged ZAPU Members. They all deserve to be treated with maximum respect and honour and not as aliens. I have never seen the CVs of the ZAPU NEC members demanding CVs from PDZ," complained Nyagomo.Despite his categorical denial of the tensions, Zapu spokesman Iphithule Maphosa was also represented in the chat thread. "We are trapped in this mediocre pond because we fail to separate political processes from corporate processes," wrote the Zapu spokesman."We fail to understand the difference between leadership and management. Leadership is horizontal in form while management is vertical. We are busy managing each other here instead of providing leadership, that's why there is this emphasis on CVs and profiles, unnecessarily if one asks me. Indlala iyasabalala eMaguswini abantu besadinga amaCVs. (Hunger is wreaking havoc in the rural areas while people are busy looking for CVs)."PDZ members who spoke to this reporter expressed misgivings about their delayed deployments in Zapu structures, accusing Zapu of treating them as second-class members."We don't know how long we will be kept at bay, yet we want to start working and bettering the fortunes of the party. A lot still needs to be done, yet we remain members of the National Executive Council (NEC) without portfolios," said a PDZ official."We have tried to talk to other Zapu members, but it seems most of them are not prepared to work with us, for reasons only they understand. We need to be positioned where we can execute our responsibilities up to the required standard."In one of her chat messages in the group, Nyagomo suggested that ZAPU put more emphasis on academic, theoretical, protocol and procedural issues, adding the party had a "BIG Theory-Practice Gap"."We must focus more on the ground and be with the people. We need more social and emotional intelligence to use on the ground," said Nyagomo.A Zapu member who confirmed there were still some logjams in efforts to deploy former PDZ members in the broader Zapu, suggested that the party did not trust them."There is a lot that still needs to be done before we can deploy the members who came from PDZ. There are trust issues involved and in such a situation, you need to know who you are deploying and where," said the official.Indications are that should things persist as they are, the Zapu-PDZ merger could end acrimoniously within the next few weeks, as Nyagomo is under pressure from her party members to break up from the alliance and contest the 2018 election as PDZ.Nyagomo refused to comment Monday morning, saying party internal politics were not for the press."Watanga iwe. I don't know where you got that, but I have nothing to say to you. I don't discuss party internal processes with the press, bye," said the Zapu Vice President.Should Nyagomo and her party pull out of the merger, this would be the third time a Zapu Vice President left the party in unceremonious circumstances.She would have gone the same direction as Emelia Mukarakatirwa and Makuzva, who both left under unclear circumstances. It appears that some senior officials surrounding Dabengwa are angling to replace the Zipra intelligence supremo, who has indicated his desire to quit politics when he turns 80 years old - 2019, although that may change in the unlikely event that the decorated former Home Affairs Minister wins the Presidential election that he is contesting this year.News / National

by Staff reporter

As Zimbabwe hurtles towards the crunch July/August harmonised elections, former vice president Joice Mujuru, who now leads the National People Party (NPP), finds herself in no woman's land, with her party broke and supporters fleeing to other parties.Once touted as the one to succeed former president Robert Mugabe, Mujuru was unceremoniously fired from her position in 2014 - and riding on a wave of public sympathy, she went on to form her own party, the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF). Scores of former Zanu-PF stalwarts followed her but then later turned against her.Former politburo members Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo and Kudakwashe Bhasikiti left her and to her credit - although she wobbled - she plodded on and formed the NPP, party that has a sprinkling of Zanu-PF and MDC rejects, but which for now is finding the going hard against the big boys of local politics, namely, the mainstream MDC led by Nelson Chamisa and Zanu-PF led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.Academic and researcher Ibbo Mandaza told the Daily News that although the grounds are fertile for an opposition victory, Mujuru is feeble on her own and will not win in any constituency."The opposition forces are far bigger than any political party and it is now up to the leaders of those parties to capitalise on the fertile ground, she has a chance if she joins other organisations but on her own, she has little or no chance at all," said Mandaza.Professor of World Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, Stephen Chan, said Mujuru will not get a single seat in the forthcoming elections."I think the fortunes of Joice Mujuru will not revive for the elections. The fall of Mugabe and the declared agenda of Mnangagwa stole all her ground from under her feet. She can no longer gain political credit from being persecuted by a man who no longer holds office."And Mnangagwa's modernisation and internationalisation agenda has stolen ground from Chamisa as well as leaders of smaller parties like Mujuru. I do not think her party will gain a single seat in the elections," said Chan.With only a few weeks left before the litmus polls, analysts have already dismissed the decorated liberation struggle war icon chances in the forthcoming elections, saying she is a spent force.Apart from internal conflicts, he NPP is also dogged with financial woes at a time when Zanu-PF has splashed at least $2 million on advertising material including electronic billboards.Through her spokesperson Gift Nyandoro, who also doubles as the NPP secretary-general, the former VP - who was married to the country first army general the late Solomon Mujuru - was facing the same financial problems afflicting all Zimbabweans."I have heard allegations that we are having financial problems but we are not a profit making organisation, we are a political party that thrives on the foundations and principles that believe that another Zimbabwe is possible. NPP is no different from local churches that thrive on tithes from their members. Just like any other political party, challenges are expected, put simply any challenges that is premised on allegations of financial challenges is bound to be very normal in a country like Zimbabwe, we don't have a money to buy posters or buy chiefs cars like what Mnangagwa did, there is no difference between government and party," said Nyandoro.Mnangagwa's government recently bought top-of-the- range off-road vehicles for chiefs.While Zanu-PF, just like the MDC have parliamentary representation, they have access to funding under the Political Parties Finance Act of 2001, which was enacted to ensure that parties do not receive money from foreign governments.Mujuru's party has no representation in Parliament and depends solely on the goodwill of its supporters, according to Nyandoro."We are not losing sleep over that. The truth is going to be revealed in the next elections, we are not a dark horse, we are the government-in-waiting," said Nyandoro.Dissecting the problems that have bogged NPP and eventually resulted in several splits, political analysts said the tragedy of Mujuru is that she failed to define herself and dithered on joining the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa."There are a plethora of factors that made Mujuru's political project not that exhilarating as the euphoria of her bravado to defy Mugabe and her own political outfit slowly but surely waned. Firstly, the ideology from which her party is based is hazy and people struggle to draw the line between what her outfit stands for and what Zanu-PF stands for."Secondly, she was a tainted political figure with many allegations of corruption and plunder of national resources that hovered over the name Mujuru. People simply do not have an appetite for leaders allegedly involved in the plunder of our nation," analyst Maxwell Saungweme said.Mujuru and her late husband, just like most Zanu-PF politicians, are widely counted amongst the richest politicians in Zimbabwe, although she denies it.While most Zimbabweans celebrated Mugabe's demise last November, Mujuru was ambivalent, her response somewhat lukewarm and that effect, according to Saungweme, also further tainted her political standing."She seemed to be going against the grain when she showed sympathy for Mugabe after the coup, yet all people converged on Mugabe must go', though they did not say they wanted a junta regime after Mugabe."If she was politically tactful, maybe she should have joined Zanu-PF under Mnangagwa and his junta, as her political aspirations are similar to Zanu-PF's and are moored on the need to safeguard their ill-gotten wealth."Alternatively, she must have buried her pride and heeded calls by Tsvangirai to join him and his MDC in the so-called big tent'. But this would have meant her accepting an inferior role to Tsvangirai, now (Nelson) Chamisa."By doing this, she would have been clear that she is now an opposition member. Currently, people doubt whether her outfit is genuinely opposition or is a political blend of ruling and opposition ideas."People can't follow a party which is not clear about being opposition or seeking to maintain the ideals of ruling party, which are in her political DNA," said Saungweme.At 63, Mujuru is now entering the twilight of her political career and apart from age, something else might be standing against her, her gender."To a limited extent, her botch and the failure of her party are attributable to patriarchy or the Zimbabwe political terrain that is unfortunately averse to female leaders. But largely, she is responsible for the failure of her project and her lack of political sophistry and cohesive leadership are largely to blame for weak showing of her political endeavour."She will not be a dark horse in the impending elections. The battle is between Chamisa and Mnangagwa," Saungweme said.News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's spokesperson - George Charamba has warned MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa that he won't have an excuse if loses the forthcoming national elections - because government has created a platform for him to campaign uninhibited.This comes as the youthful leader of the mainstream MDC is packing venues to the rafters - including in the rural areas in supposed Zanu-PF strongholds, which were a no-go area for the opposition during the dictatorial reign of former president Robert Mugabe.Addressing members of the media in the resort town of Kariba at the weekend, Charamba who is also the permanent secretary in the ministry of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services, said police should give Chamisa unlimited access to all places."There is no reckoning in this dispensation that this election is about Zanu-PF and the MDC or whatever party, this election is about restoring international engagement and legitimacy, that is where we are."It must be honest, it must be transparent, it must be free, it must be fair, it must meet international standards, it must be violence-free and therefore it must be universally endorsed because it is an instrument of our international policy, that is where we are," Charamba told journalists.He also said Zanu-PF was playing a sophisticated game in this election which was actually part of the ruling party's international policy.He dismissed any notion that the looming national elections were a contestation between Zanu-PF and the opposition but were simply to legitimise the new administration which came to power through a military intervention last November."What young Chamisa has done and done inadvertently, but in a way that is nationally helpful, is to show that he can walk the length and breadth of this country uninhibited, which means it is going to be difficult for him to turn around and say it wasn't free, it was unfair, then people will say comrade we saw you all over the country, and we will be singing hero sadza garwe swedera, hero sadza garwe swedera, (here is the meal, crocodile advance), in apparent reference to Mnangagwa's moniker," said Charamba.Professor of World Politics at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, Stephen Chan said Mnangagwa is likely to win the forthcoming elections because he has taken the thunder from opposition parties and also enjoys the goodwill of the international community."Mnangagwa's modernisation and internationalisation agenda has stolen ground from Chamisa as well as leaders of smaller parties," said Chan.The opposition is demanding far reaching electoral reforms before elections are held.These include removing a veil of secrecy on ballot paper printers and reasonable time to inspect the voter's roll, among other demands.Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said the odds are stacked against the opposition in the forthcoming elections."Charamba is right. They know the outcome of the plebiscite is predetermined. Zimbabwe is known to be one of the best cases of elections rigging and manipulation.Charamba is indeed speaking on a point of authority.This year's national elections have generated such interest among both ordinary Zimbabweans and ambitious politicians alike that a number of opposition leaders are set to contest Mnangagwa in the presidential plebiscite.News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC national chairperson Morgen Komichi has said Harare West legislator Jessie Majome, who has opted out of the primary election race citing irregularities, jumped the gun because she did not wait for the selection of candidates that took place in Harare yesterday.Majome, who is hugely popular in her constituency, on Friday last week announced that she was withdrawing from the MDC primary race where she was set to lock horns with microbiologist and former student leader Joana Mamombe.She alleged that the party leadership had manipulated the party's election guidelines."I have noted several factors that I cannot ignore, which I have highlighted to my party which I believe, honestly, constitute manipulation of my party guidelines towards a fair outcome to the extent in my view regrettably so, that the will of bona fide and genuine Harare Westerners would be lost in that process,"Majome said during her press conference.Her withdrawal from the race left many in anger as she is highly regarded especially by people from her constituency as well as the nation at large for her contributions in Parliament, while her challenger is a relative newcomer.However, Komichi, who is in charge of the MDC internal elections, yesterday said the party will not impose candidates and there was never a deliberate ploy to elbow Majome from the race."We are firstly looking at consensus among candidates. And we have discovered that we have so many areas which can be dealt internally, we can't impose people."We first want to hear people's views, we cannot impose candidates but we must engage through negotiations."We cannot have one person stopping a process but the truth is she pre-empted our strategy. We are supposed to look into Harare today and determine who goes to proportional representatives if both candidates are popular," said Komichi.With Majome now under pressure to stand as an independent candidate, Komichi said the MDC was keen to have her back."We are aware of a possibility of independent candidates but she pre-empted our strategy, we were concerned by her fate and still are."We must bring harmony among our people; we cannot just protect one person."We have many areas where people have agreed on consensus, we have people withdrawing from the race through voluntary processes," Komichi said.He said there will be through with the selection process by May 18.News / National

by Byo24News Reporter

Tensions in the Movement for Democratic Alliance have manifested on twitter with MDC-T Secretary General, Douglas Mwonzora clashing with People's Democratic Party president Tendai Biti.Following the rally addressed by MDC Alliance presidential camdidate in Marange area, Mutare, Biti took to social media about the life of the villagers which he described as feudal.Posted Biti; "A big rare smile from Marange . . . Manicaland regrettably has the highest rate of polygamy in the country with 45% of married persons in this community being in polygamous unions. Education and development will eliminate these throw backs from our feudal past. #changethatdelivers ."The tweet did not go down well with Mwonzora who comes from Manicaland province."The people in Marange deserve respect. They are certainly not feudal," Mwonzora retorted angrily.Zimbabweans joined in the thread with some blaming Mwonzora for challenging Biti.However, others blasted Biti for his lack of regard for the norms and values of the people of Malawi.News / National

by Staff reporter

A Dutch firm has engaged Gvt on intentions to set up a factory in Zim to value add cannabis for medicinal purposes, while Gvt has so far received applications worthy $7 million from companies&pple intending to venture into mbanje farming. #Zimopen4buz @ZimMediaReview @24harare pic.twitter.com/7VMhcXIiUl  rungano dzikira (@ruedzikira) May 14, 2018

A Dutch firm has engaged the Zimbabwe government on intentions to set up a factory in Zimbabwe to value add cannabis for medicinal purposes, BusinessDaily.co.zw reported.There has been an overwhelming response from people and companies wishing to venture into cannabis farming, with the government having so far received applications worth at least $7 million.The development follows the government's gazetting of a statutory instrument legalising the farming cannabis in Zimbabwe only for medicinal and or scientific purposes.The $50 000 licence fee charged by the government seems to have not deterred potential farmers keen to venture into this billion dollar industry.Meanwhile, Canadian investors are scouting for business opportunities in Guruve in a bid to secure 10 000 hectares of land for marijuana farming due to the area's favourable climatic conditions.Discussions are already at a preliminary stage.Guruve South legislator Patrick Dutiro confirmed that investors had approached his constituency to embark on the project in line with Government's policy on industrial purposes of marijuana farming.Several parts of Mashonaland Central are climatically ideal for marijuana farming and investors have identified Guruve as one of the areas with favourable temperatures for the plant production especially during the rainy season."The province is very ideal for mbanje farming due to the favourable temperatures and research has shown that Guruve is the only district which has optimum rainy season temperatures of 20-30 degrees Celsius which are most favourable with this plant."Cannabis juice is used for medicinal purposes and the residue fibre for car dashboards which are environmentally friendly," said Dutiro.The Zimbabwean government recently published a licensing regime that will allow the legal cultivation of cannabis.Growing mbanje, as dagga is commonly known in Zimbabwe, will be legal for research and medical use under the new regulations, Statutory Instrument 62 of 2018, "Dangerous Drugs  Production of Cannabis for Medicinal and Scientific Use Regulations".Zimbabwe has been considering such partial legalisation for the last eight months.Five-year licences will clear also clear growers to possess, transport and sell fresh cannabis, cannabis oil, and dried product.The regulations impose an obligation on the government to consider the risk that dagga could be diverted to illicit use, complaints from police, or objections by local authorities.Recently there has been mixed reactions over Government's move to legalise production of cannabis with calls for the reduction of licensing fees to include small-scale farmers especially those who have been growing the plant in places like Binga, Chiweshe and Dande.Lesotho granted its first licences for marijuana production in September last year, believed to be the first African country to do so.A South African court ruling in March 2017 provides what is thought to be a viable defence against prosecution for private cultivation and use of dagga.News / National

by Byo24News Reporter

MDC-T Member of Parliament for Harare West constituency, Jessie Majome who recently withdrew her candidature in the party's primary elections citing irregularities has announced her decision to stand as an independent representative.Majome, however, said she will not quit the opposition party.Addressing a press conference in her Harare West constituency, Majome she will no longer participate as MDC Alliance candidate in the forthcoming harmonized elections."I hereby announce and strengthen by that I will be standing . . . as an independent candidate in Harare West constituency," she said.The MDC-T legislator said she cannot participate in a shameful election which is full of irregularities that the party frowns upon at national level."It is on record that the party leadership feels that we cannot participate in an election unless reforms are made."How then do I allow myself and you Harare Westerners to participate in an election where my party is failing to participate the same fairness that we are advocating for at national level," she said.Majome announced on May 11 her withdrawal in the primary elections citing unfair electoral practices."Elections in our party have turned into a lottery which could be won by whoever can buy the highest number of cards and not the one who can win heart and minds of Westerners.She added; "Election shrouded in mystery. Party's structures are not aware of the election criteria and the printing of ballots, numbers remain a secret."Majome also told ZiFM that people are being bused in from outside Harare West for meetings, some from Highfield. She fears these may vote in the MDC-T constituency primary.Majome says her rival Joana Mamombe doesn't meet the MDC-T candidate criteria; 5 years membership and resident of Harare West. The district informed MDC-T leaders of this but they overlooked it.She says the candidate selection is not free and fair being "manipulated towards a particular outcome." She claims there's manipulation of party membership cards used for voting.News / National

by Staff reporter

President Mnangagwa's LV briefcase alone costs north of $8,600 which is more than twice a nurse's yearly salary. pic.twitter.com/YGTkwp50ng  Gomo Dubi (@GomoDubi) May 14, 2018

Mnangagwa's briefcase is worth $8 600.



While the majority are surviving on less than a $1 A day, this is a clear case of life of extravagance and greediness.



ZANU doesn't care about the poor. pic.twitter.com/1GVCX6lWWZ  Zandile (@maDube_) May 13, 2018

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to turn his country's financial fortunes around.Mnangagwa carries around a Louis Vuitton limited edition presidential briefcase that retails at $8,600. At that price no ordinary bloke even with money can buy it: it is listed as "currently out of stock online call for availability" on the French high end clothing's website.The briefcase seen in a picture of the president hugging two children at his office has gone viral on social media with some saying the president's priorities are misplaced."Mnangagwa's briefcase is worth $8,600. While the majority are surviving on less than a $1 a day this is a clear case of a life of extravagance and greediness. Zanu doesn't care about the poor" tweeted @maDube_.But it seems it is his "fortune" - or how he spends it - which has got people talking after his branded briefcase was spotted in a photo:Now, others have questioned exactly how much the briefcase really cost - suggesting the price may be far lower, or could be a gift.However, the fact a Louis Vuitton briefcase is dominating the social media chat in an election year may be bad news for Mr Mnangagwa.Opinion / National

Chamisa shifted uncomfortably in the chair that suddenly looked too big for him and he blinked uncontrollably as if to say hamuwoniwo ndichi mudiki, zvakwana.It's very rare for politicians to fly thousands of kilometres away to foreign lands to embarrass themselves, but clever Nelson Chamisa did just that this past week. However, I am one of the very few sober people who think this little boy should be forgiven.We should stop behaving like those parents who when their son breaks a toy, they get upset and spank the boy as if there is no tomorrow.Boys will be boys, especially little boys.Chamisa was just being Chamisa. The little boy was just being a little boy. Ndiko kutamba kwepwere.Isn't it they say: "It's never too late to have a happy childhood? Do something childish today."Chamisa has just been trying to have a happy childhood with those bullet trains and spaghetti roads.But honestly, what do you expect little Chamisa to do when he is getting advice from political losers masquerading as academics like Ibbotson "Boycott" Joseph and Tony Reeler?These pathetic losers preach boycott politics as if they don't know that this has failed to work since 1999.Through their "boycott" advice, they took Morgan Tsvangirai to his grave, they took Simba Makoni to his political grave and now they want Chamisa to choose his political grave.Speaking last Thursday at the highly discredited Southern African Political and Economic Series Trust, Ibbotson "Boycott" Josephy, some call him Mandaza and Tony Reeler advised the opposition parties in the country to boycott the forthcoming elections.In their tired reasoning, the two said if the opposition parties participate in the elections, this would be tantamount to legitimising President Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF.This was Ibbotson's song before the 2013 elections.And now he is back. So nauseating. We know these two are perennial boycott campaigners and we also know that they know that the opposition is going to lose in the elections, but we will be grateful if they stop trying to spoil our democracy.These "boycott academics" should stay away from our elections. Ngavati zii vadye tumari tushomatwo twasara twemadonors.Indeed, they should stop messing up Chamisa's already messed up head. Instead of kupfekedza mwana mapampers, vari kutoviga mapampers acho. Kwanzi boycott? It's a shame really, but Chamisa knows the track record of these pretenders.Enough about these political pretenders. Today's sermon is on clever Chamisa. On April 29, 2018, I preached a sermon entitled "Chamisa: Beware the vexations of a fool."Some thought Bishop Lazarus was just being unfair on little Chamisa but now look what happened in the UK?The little boy was told the words silly and nonsense several times by the ruthless Steven Sackur on the BBC programme HardTalk.It was bad, really, really bad for the little boy.Some sympathisers are saying Chamisa did well to maintain his composure when he was under a barrage of attacks from Sackur but to some of us, the body language was enough to tell the story of a little boy who wished the BBC cameras could swallow him. Inga Jona akamedzwa nehove wani nhai mwari?Chamisa shifted uncomfortably in the chair that suddenly looked too big for him and he blinked uncontrollably as if to say hamuwoniwo ndichi mudiki, zvakwana.When after the interview he folded his hands on his chest, I knew that the boy had just woken up to the disaster. But then Sackur was not having any of that nonsense.He had a message from the British administration to deliver to little Chamisa.And he delivered it.Regarding Chamisa's populist statement that he will sort the country's liquidity challenges in two weeks, Sackur said: " you said you would change Zimbabwe's liquidity crisis in 2 weeks  that's nonsense. that is beyond nonsenseThat's just complete Alice in Wonderland."We thought Sackur was done, but no. He went on: "It reminds me of the promises to your party supporters in Chinhoyi, saying you can build a bullet train from Bulawayo to Harare; saying under your tutelage, it will help people travel within 35 minutes and that is beyond nonsense."Sackur went on to corner poor Chamisa into making several confessions and covert apologies.It was really a bad day for poor Chamisa. When I heard that Chamisa was going to be on the HardTalk programme, I instantly knew that the boy had made a fatal mistake.Sackur is known for embarrassing such political characters.When Joice Mujuru was chucked out of ZANU-PF, she was interviewed by Sackur and I think up to this day, she doesn't want to hear the name Steven Sackur.After grilling Mai Mujuru, Sackur concluded the interview saying: "It's hard to understand how your political career makes any sense at all if you have morals, ethics and principles."All Mai Mujuru could do was to giggle like a foolish little girl.Unlike poor little Chamisa who on hearing the name BBC rushed without giving it serious thought, Sackur prepares thoroughly for his programmes.Reports say he asks tough questions because he takes three days to prepare for each programme with researchers presenting him with a 20-page dossier of facts, quotes and statistics a day before the interview.Sackur doesn't even make it a secret that he takes his job serious. "I go in heavily armed," he has repeatedly told those who care to listen. While Sackur was heavily armed, Chamisa was heavily unprepared. A mismatch made in hell.But imi vanhu Chamisa anofarisa mhoti. How could the little boy get to the UK and insult his hosts? Kuda kuwudza mabhunu zvekuita.This was Chamisa's first fatal move. "We have seen that there has been a bit of a shift on the part of the British government in terms of focusing more on political stability and trade and commerce at the expense of democracy. But that is a false narrative; you can never have stability without democracy."We expect Britain and the EU to speak for free and fair elections. There's a very disturbing trend in the context of the British government in Zimbabwe. We're seeing the inclination to align with one political party against another. That is disturbing, particularly in terms of the issue of just setting the basic standard for free and fair elections."How could Chamisa be so silly?How could he say such nonsense? You never speak like that to your host, especially a host who is fed up pouring money into your party with nothing to show for it.Earlier on, little Chamisa had messed up his political pants at Chatham House leaving Professor of African History with special interest in Zimbabwe, Diana Jeater to conclude that; " the MDC Alliance is undergoing generational renewal. I had heard great things about Chamisa as an orator. So I arrived expecting to be impressed and encouraged."Alas, I left unimpressed and discouraged. Overall, Chamisa came across as out of his depth, over-excited about the idea of winning an election but failing to recognise the seriousness of what happens after the counting is finished."This is not good for young Chamisa. Towards the end of his interview with Sackur, Chamisa was told that he is going to lose the forthcoming elections, but it's very possible that he didn't get the message. Saka nhai vanhu vamwari toita zvekudii?Tsvangirai needed massive hand-holding, now what does Chamisa need? Ngatibatsirane kufunga. Chamisa is our little boy.As Albert Einstein said: "Play is the highest form of research." Let Chamisa play, he is on a research mission.He will soon discover where he belongs. He will soon discover why the British are supporting ED.He will soon discover that you never insult your hosts but more importantly he will soon discover that the British, through Sackur were telling him to go hang.If Chamisa thinks Bishop Lazarus is just a hater, he should take a bit of some time to read something called the political economy of the media.Sackur was not just being a tough journalist. The BBC has owners and controllers  those are the ones who gave Sackur the message. They knew he would deliver it with devastating consequences.Sackur is their main man.We welcome Chamisa back home. Like I said, we forgive the little boy. We know he will learn a lot from his trip of shame. But we won't stop him from playing a bit more. More rallies are coming. The elections are coming. As they say, "Let the children play."It's been a difficult year for Kelowna-born Tara Holitzki and her family.

Holitzki moved to Hawaii 21 years ago, and lives there still with her husband and children. The family's home is in Fern Acres on the Big Island.

In April, the family received terrible news when their 12-year-old daughter Cody was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Since then, Holitzki and Cody have travelled to the state capital, Honolulu, once or twice a week for chemotherapy treatments.

On May 3, they were flying to the capital when the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island erupted.

Her husband Mike stayed behind with their other children.

'She's hanging in there'

"It all happened pretty fast," said Holitzki.

Holitzki and her husband, a firefighter, knew from recent earthquakes that an eruption could be imminent. Mike Holitzki and his fire crew were near the volcano when it erupted

"He was down there when it erupted. He said the eruption sounded like a jet engine with all the gases coming out of the ground," said Holitzki.

Now, Holitzki and Cody are staying in Honolulu and have been advised by medical practitioners not to return to the Big Island for some time due to compromised air quality.

"She's hanging in there," said Holitzki, speaking of her daughter.

Mike is at home looking after their other children.

While dozens of homes have been destroyed on the Big Island, Holitzki said they're lucky because their home is about a half-hour drive uphill from the eruption zone.

Widespread destruction

The initial eruption was accompanied by many sustained earthquakes and roughly 2,000 people have been forced to flee their homes to escape the lava flow.

"It's really devastating for the people that live down there, I really feel for them," said Holitzki.

Their friends and family back in Kelowna are worried for them as well, she said.

"They've seen us through hurricanes, other eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis so they think it's time for us to come home," said Holitzki.

"We've wanted to come home for a while ... You never know."

With files from Daybreak South



Canadians were shocked when they heard the story last week of 27-year-old Emily Nield being handcuffed, arrested, jailed and charged in the state of Georgia for driving with a Canadian license.

The charges against Nield have been dropped but the recent graduate wants her story to serve as a cautionary tale to fellow Canadians driving across the border.

To find out what Canadians should know about the subject, Yahoo Canada News reached out to immigration and refugee lawyer, Joel Sandaluk.

When asked about the specific case of Nield, Sandaluk says she was not in the wrong.

I dont think that Canadians need to keep their passports on them at all times, he said. The main thing they have to keep in mind is that they need to have some kind if ID document on them at all times.

Nields case in particular might have been exacerbated by the fact that you do not get any documentation when you cross into the U.S., like getting your passport stamped.

I think one of the problems with this case in Georgia is that the officer might have been concerned that she was actually living and working in the United States and not just there for a visit, Sandaluk explained about Nields case.

If someone finds themselves in her situation, Sandaluk says the best thing to do is give simple answers about what you will be doing in the United States and how long you will be staying.

They may be asked some additional questions about who theyre staying with, where theyre staying  but thats usually it, he said.

And if you do run into any trouble while you are abroad, Sandaluk advises to contact the Canadian consul

Every Canadian consulate offers services for Canadians abroad if theyve encountered some kind of trouble with the police in a different country, a medical emergency, anything of that nature, he said. So they can always contact the Canadian consulate in the event of an arrest or in the event of just difficulties.

There isnt really a reason a Canadian driving south of the border would raise a red flag, said Sandaluk, except for a few situations.

Story continues

If you were in the United States and you were driving a friends car for example, if you were clearly traveling form work in a work vehicle or something of that nature, thats the kind of thing that would give an officer reason for suspicion, explained Sandaluk.

As for why Nield ran into trouble in the first place, Sandaluk has some thoughts.

Theres a lot of different police forces in a lot of different parts of the United States and this is a time right now, you know, of heightened awareness of illegal immigration in that country, he said. There were a lot of stories over the course of the last year or so about what you can only describe as empowered border officers questioning people about their religion or about their twitter feed or whatever.

Unfortunately, Sandaluk doesnt see Nields case being an isolated incident.

It seems like the sort of thing will probably reoccur at some point, but with how much frequency, no one can say, he said. Its probably a product of the political environment as much as anything.

Things to remember while driving south of the border:

It is legal to use a Canadian license while driving in the U.S.

You do NOT need to have your passport on you at all times

You do need some kind of ID on you at all times

You need to be able to explain what you are doing in the U. S.

If you run into any difficulties, contact the Canadian consulate

Have you ever run into legal trouble south of the border? Tell us about it in the comments below.



Domestic violence among immigrants, refugees to be major focus for social agencies

Front-line domestic violence workers in Calgary's newcomer and refugee communities say more supports and education for men and improved cultural sensitivity are needed to better to respond to what they say can often be a hidden problem.

Education and awareness are improving but communities and organizations say they need to work closer together.

"Families that come here have huge language barriers and cultural barriers," said Rekha Gadhia, manager of family services at Calgary Immigrant Women's Association and co-chair of the ethno-culturally diverse communities committee with the Calgary Domestic Violence Collective.

The collective is comprised of more than 70 different groups and says culturally diverse communities in Calgary will be a major focus of its work from 2018 through 2020.

Trauma adds to challenges

"Lots of newcomers come from refugee camps so there's a lot of trauma that they come with, so that multiplies the challenges around domestic violence," said Gadhia.

Newcomers face a list of major life changes including adjusting to a new family dynamic where men are often no longer the sole providers. Many have to face being unqualified for jobs, while struggling to learn English and facing major financial pressures.

"Back home men were responsible for finances, the wives were staying home but now the burden has to be borne by both men and women," Gadhia said.

"The role reversal issue is the grassroot issue for a lot of family conflict, parenting problems and domestic violence in immigrant families, because the whole family dynamic has changed," she added.

"For males, it's a huge blow for self-esteem, self-confidence and for their masculinity."

The stresses of adjusting and creating a new life in a new and strange country can push families and relationships to boiling point.

"They're working survival jobs, they're working different shifts and they may not even see each other many times," Gadhia said.

Story continues

There are also stresses when it comes to parenting, with children quickly adapting to life in Canada, often abandoning traditional values and norms.

"Kids are integrating so fast, four to five times faster than parents," said Gadhia, who says children and teens can become victims of violence too.

"Simple things like making eye contact with some parents is considered not a very respectful thing, and kids are being taught the opposite here. Watching kids move away from the culture they've been used to can be a really scary thing for parents and that adds to their already vulnerable situation," said Gadhia.

Help seen as taboo

The Calgary Immigrant Women's Association's family violence program has been running for 30 years, providing language support, cultural sensitivity support and free childcare  another vital resource for women in need.

Gadhia says when people come to her for help she takes a holistic approach, looking at the needs of the family and the root causes that need to be addressed.

But reaching out for help is considered taboo in many cultures, so many immigrant women suffer in silence behind closed doors.

"Counselling involves a big stigma in the majority of immigrant families, it's associated with having a mental issue and the fear of being seen by the community," said Gadhia.

Perpetrators need help too

She says education is key to overcoming the stigma associated with seeking help, as well as improving supports for the men, which are severely lacking.

"Support is not available for immigrant men, and families usually have low or zero income, so that is a big barrier. Also men  we have found from our research  do not tend to access these services regardless," Gadhia said.

"Also, a lot of families come from places where they don't have trust in the system and the police are a not a very trusted source for them," she added.

Culturally sensitive policing

Many domestic violence cases don't make it as far as police intervention but Calgary police say they are aware of the need for cultural sensitivity when they do. They say they are working with multiple organizations that specialize in working with diverse communities, many based in Calgary's northeast.

There are no figures specific to the northeast or to different ethnic groups but Calgary police say they responded to 18,528 domestic violence calls across the city in 2017, highlighting the scope of the problem city-wide.

"We have to understand that people have a different experience, regardless of whether you're born and raised here or emigrated from a different country where police aren't necessarily the most friendly people in the world," said David Jones, acting sergeant of the force's domestic conflict response unit.

"We're partnered with YW Calgary, we're currently working on educating the community and working with families closely to make sure they can access support services within the community," said Jones.

Anyone experiencing abuse or violence in a relationship can reach out for help:

- The Connect Family and Sexual Abuse Network can be reached at 403-237-5888 or toll free at 1-877-237-5888

- The 24-Hour Family Violence Helpline is available at 403-234-7233, or you can call 211.

- In Calgary, the Distress Centre is available 24-hours a day at 403-266-4357.

- If you are in immediate danger, dial 911.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration was open to lifting sanctions and allowing private American investments into the reclusive state.

Speaking on several networks Sunday morning, Pompeo said that if North Korea agreed to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons programs and launch capability, then the U.S. would allow capitalist endeavors in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Pompeo said such a move would be a huge boost to the countrys economic prosperity and could develop a financial relationship that will rival that of South Korea and the U.S.

What Chairman Kim will get from America is our finestour entrepreneurs, our risk takers, our capital providers. ... They will get private capital that comes in," Pompeo told CBSs Face the Nation Sunday. North Korea is desperately in need of energy ... for their people. They are in great need of agricultural equipment and technology.

Trending: North Korea Blowing Up Its Nuclear Site Shows Kim Jong Un Will Keep His Promises, Says Seoul

RTS1QON0

Reuters

"If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends," Pompeo continued.

We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South, Pompeo added. North Korean state media claimed in several weekend reports that the countrys leadership had begun the process of dismantling their nuclear weapons program.

Story continues

"The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test," North Korea's state media reported Saturday.

Pompeo added that any sanction relief would be dependent upon North Korea abolishing its chemical biological weapons program (CBW) and no longer continuing to assert a threat to the U.S. through its nuclear weapons arsenal. According to the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Iniative, North Korea's primary military development program is the National Defense Commission (NDC), which directly controls the subordinate Second Economic Committee (SEC). Those agencies oversaw the country's 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017 missile tests, as well as the 2,500-5,000 metric tons of chemical weapons the organization estimates are in North Korea.

Most popular: NES Classic Back in Stores This June

Pompeos comments came after three American prisoners being were released by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and arrived in the U.S. on Thursday. The transfer, which Pompeo told CBS the U.S. didnt exchange anything for in return, culminated with President Donald Trump meeting the three men before their arrival at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Thursday.

"They came back because Chairman Kim thought it was in his best interest to do so, and we're thankful for that," Pompeo said of the release, which occurred while he was in Pyongyang to help set up next months summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Every single site that the North Koreans have that can inflict risk on the American people that is destroyed, eliminated, dismantled, is good news for the American people and for the world, Pompeo told Fox News.

Pentagon spokeswoman Maj. Carla M. Gleason issued a statement Sunday saying the three Americans released by Kim Jong Un were grateful, in good spirits and coping well after their decompression time at a Washington-area hospital this week. Gleason said the men have been reunited with their families. Their time together has been an incredibly joyous occasion. They ask for privacy as they transition home.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekThe international community is condemning the eruption of violence along the Gaza-Israel border on Monday, where Palestinians held mass protests against the official opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli soldiers shot and killed at least 52 Palestinians, including five minors. lt also said 1,204 Palestinians were shot and wounded, including more than 100 who were in serious or critical condition.

Palestinian protesters set tires on fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. Later on Monday, Israeli forces fired from tanks, sending protesters fleeing to take cover.

The Israeli army said Hamas-led protesters tried to plant bombs and attacked the border fence. It accused the militant group Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking Israel.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is "profoundly alarmed by the sharp escalation of violence" along the Gaza-Israel border on Monday, a statement from his spokesperson said.

"Israel security forces must exercise maximum restraint in the use of live fire," the statement said. "Hamas and the leaders of the demonstrations have a responsibility to prevent all violent actions and provocations."

Canada also called on "all parties to the conflict" to "ensure civilians are protected."

(In addition to protesting the U.S. Embassy move, Monday's Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in weeks of border marches to try to break the blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007.)

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, also addressed both sides of the conflict, saying Israel must respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force," as well as "the right to peaceful protest."

At the same time, Mogherini said Hamas must make sure demonstrators in Gaza are peaceful and "must not exploit them for other means."

Story continues

Several countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Iran directly blamed Israel for Monday's violent clashes.

South Africa has recalled its ambassador to Israel, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry. South Africa's relations with Israel have long been chilly, as the South African government supports the Palestinian cause.

Kuwait called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to address the violence.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, urged the security council to condemn the Israeli military's actions, calling them a "savage onslaught" and an "atrocity."

The UN Security Council previously held an emergency meeting in March when the protests along the Gaza-Israel border began, but couldn't agree on any action or joint message, although it urged restraint on both sides.

But Washington remained steadfast in its support of Israel, saying responsibility for the Palestinian deaths "rests squarely with Hamas."

"Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," said White House spokesperson Raj Shah while speaking with reporters at a briefing. He accused Hamas's leaders of making a "gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt" at the same time the U.S. was opening the embassy in Jerusalem.

Shah also declined to join with other countries, including France and Britain, in calling for Israel to exercise restraint in its response to the protests.

On Monday afternoon, an official from the U.S. Marine Corps said several dozen additional Marines are being deployed to temporarily beef up security at American embassies in Israel, Jordan and Turkey in the aftermath of the violence.Monday May 14th, 2018 with Trish Bolechowsky and Joel Elliott

7:15 am - Canada-wide science fair at Carleton University Austin Sawyer and Madelaine Lazurko are Canada Wide Science Fair ambassadors. After 7:30, Sparklesaurus joins us to play live in the studio - album release show May 26MONDAY, May 14, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Progress made in limiting kids' exposure to secondhand smoke could be undermined by the increasing popularity of pot, a new study suggests.

"As we are removing cigarette smoke -- and that's a major public policy achievement -- that success will be attenuated by increasing exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke," said lead researcher Renee Goodwin.

The numbers confirm the trend.

Fewer parents are smoking cigarettes who have kids in the home these days -- about 20 percent in 2015 compared with more than 27 percent in 2002.

But marijuana use among cigarette-smoking parents increased dramatically during that same period, indicating that kids in those families could be exposed to more secondhand smoke than ever.

Among parents who smoke cigarettes, pot use increased from 11 percent in 2002 to over 17 percent in 2015, the researchers found.

"The kids who are already exposed to one thing, they're more likely to be exposed to both," said Goodwin, a professor with the City University of New York. "It's even worse for them."

Kids exposed to a combination of secondhand smoke from pot and tobacco are more likely to wind up in the emergency room or suffer an ear infection, according to another study presented earlier this month at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Toronto.

In the latest study, Goodwin and her colleagues also found there's been an uptick in marijuana use among parents who don't smoke tobacco, from 2 percent to 4 percent during the same period.

However, marijuana use was nearly four times more common among cigarette smokers versus nonsmokers, the findings showed.

"Overall, cannabis use is much more common among cigarette-smoking parents versus nonsmokers, but it is increasing in both groups," Goodwin said.

The trend toward marijuana legalization prompted the research team to look at whether parents are smoking pot more often around their kids.

Goodwin explained that she has a friend who works with a government agency in Colorado who often encounters casual marijuana use in other people's homes.

"He knocks on people's doors, someone comes to the door, a puff of cannabis smoke comes out and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not illegal," Goodwin said. "That's fine. But it is secondhand smoke."

To investigate, the researchers evaluated data from the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual and nationally representative survey.

There isn't a lot of evidence at hand about the health effects of secondhand marijuana smoke, Goodwin noted.

But what is available suggests that it is likely to be harmful, said Dr. Karen Wilson, division chief for general pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City.

Wilson noted that a recent study in Colorado found about 16 percent of kids hospitalized for a lung infection called bronchiolitis had blood markers showing they'd been exposed to marijuana smoke.

Worse, about 46 percent of the kids had been exposed to both tobacco and pot smoke, Wilson said.

"This is a significant concern, and one we're hearing more about even in places like New York City, where smoking marijuana is still illegal," she added.

Nine states plus the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use (Vermont's new law will take effect July 1), and 30 states plus the District of Columbia have approved medical marijuana. Goodwin noted that this could be leading to a culture where parents think it's OK to smoke pot in front of their children.

"People drink beer in front of their kids," Goodwin said. "If marijuana is legal in your state, are people more likely to use it around their children?"

Studies have shown that early marijuana use might alter a child's brain development and make them more susceptible to drug abuse.

Researchers are concerned that secondhand pot smoke might deliver a similar effect, Goodwin and Wilson said.

"We do suspect kids exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, their nicotine receptors are primed to make them more susceptible to cigarette smoking," Wilson said. "It's too early to say whether the same is true for marijuana smoke, but we wouldn't want to ignore that as a possibility and then have that become the case. We want to protect children now."

Goodwin suggested that public messaging about the dangers of secondhand smoke be expanded to include pot smoke.

"There is counseling and advice for folks on having their children avoid cigarette smoke, but no one is being advised on what to do about marijuana smoke," Goodwin said.

The study was published online May 14 in the journal Pediatrics.

More information

The American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation has more about secondhand marijuana smoke.Share this: Twitter

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Berlin, May 14, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Bulgarian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into an attack on investigative journalist Hristo Geshov, who was beaten on May 10 outside his home in the northwestern town of Cherven Bryag, and guarantee his safety.

Geshov told the Bulgarian business weekly Capital that an unknown assailant hit him several times in the back while he was unlocking his door, kicked him to the ground, and then continued to kick him all over. The assailant then rode away in a car that was driven by another unidentified person, according to news reports.

Geshov has reported on cases of alleged corruption in Cherven Bryags municipal government, including irregularities involving European Union funds, and the journalist received multiple anonymous threats via phone and online in relation to his work, according to reports. Approximately three weeks before the attack, Geshov told the independent news website Mediapool, an anonymous Facebook user posted a Rest in Peace sign on his Facebook page.

We call on Bulgarian authorities to launch an independent investigation into the beating of Hristo Geshov and the multiple threats he has received in retaliation for his journalism, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said from New York. The European Union must closely monitor how Bulgaria responds to the attack against Geshov and all similar attacks against the press in the country.

When CPJ reached the Cherven Bryag police, the man who answered the phone said he is not authorized to comment and referred CPJ to the Interior Ministrys regional Pleven office, which did not respond to repeated phone calls. The Cherven Bryag prosecutors office also did not respond immediately to CPJs request for comment.

On May 11, the Cherven Bryag municipality leadership issued a statement on its Facebook page saying it was sorry for what has happened with Mr. Hristo Geshov, and that it has nothing to do with the incident and is prepared to fully assist the investigating authorities with it.

In an interview with the online media group Bulgaria On Air, Geshov said he immediately reported the attack to both the Cherven Bryag police and the local prosecutors office. Geshov said that he does not have any information as to what actions the local investigating authorities have taken in his case.

I associate this attack 100 percent with my series of investigations, Geshov wrote on his personal Facebook page the night of the attack.

Geshov, 28, founded, currently hosts, and reports for the online broadcast program, On Target, which is carried by the regional investigative journalism platform Za Istinata (For the Truth).

In an open letter that was published in April on the Bulgarian news website Debati, Geshov said his mother was forced out of her job as a cook at a local daycare center in retaliation for his critical reporting.Indian Army has finalised Rs. 15,000-crore indigenous ammunition project under which range of ammunition for its critical weapons and tanks will be produced indigenously. It is claimed to be biggest ever initiative for indigenisation of ammunition. It aims to overcome long delays in imports and address problem of dwindling stockpile.

Key Facts

The immediate aim of this project is to create an inventory for all major weapons to enable forces to fight 30-day war while long-term objective is to cut dependence on imports. For this, 11 private firms will be involved and its implementation will be monitored by the top brass of Indian Army and Defence Ministry.

The overall cost of project has been pegged at Rs. 15,000 crore. Indian Army has set specific target for next 10 years in terms of volume of ammunition to be produced. Initially, ammunition for range of rockets, air defence system, artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers and various other field weapons will be produced under strict timelines. The production targets will be revised based on result of first phase of implementation of project.

The project is seen as first serious attempt by Government to address growing concerns voiced over past many years by Indian Army (worlds second largest standing Army) over fast dwindling stockpile of key ammunition considering the evolving security threats in the region and a at time when China is significantly ramping up its military capability.

Background

In July 2017, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report tabled in Parliament had mentioned that stock of only 61 types of ammunition out of 152 varieties was available, and these will only last for 10 days in event of a war. It was inadequate according to laid down security protocol which says that stockpile should be adequate for month-long war. The main reasons cited for the shortages were long delays in negotiations and subsequent procedural hurdles in import of ammunition which had adversely impacted the countrys defence preparedness. To overcome this shortage Government had initiated indigenisation programme. It also had empowered Indian Army to directly procure ammunition and spares for 10 types of weapon systems and equipment after internal review found optimum level of war stores was not being maintained.Nepal is going to host 2018 Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit. It was announced by Nepals Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kathmandu (capital city ).

BIMSTEC

BIMSTEC is the sub-regional group of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. BIMSTEC countries are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia. They are collectively home to around 1.5 billion people which constitute around 22% of global population.

BIMSTEC was established on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. It is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its prime objectives include technological and economic cooperation among south Asian and south East Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It is sector-driven cooperative organization, starting with six sector including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries. In 2008, it was expanded to embrace eight more sectors including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change.Sri Lanka: Malta eyes Sri Lankan exports to boost EU businesses

by Raj Moorthy

May 14,2018 | Source: The Sunday Times

Malta, an island located in the Mediterranean sea with a small population of 450,000 people, has an eye on Sri Lankan exports to boost businesses in the European Union (EU). There are many opportunities for sectors such as logistics, aquaculture, information and communication technology (ICT), plantation exports and so on in the EU. Sri Lanka has a very good vision but the country as a whole lacks implementation, a top visiting official from Malta said.



The European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (ECCSL) last week organised an event titled Malta your gateway to Europe at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo. Two experts from a professional services firm, ARQ Group in Malta, David Borg and Jean Paul Fabri explained the opportunities for Sri Lankan exporters in the EU.



We believe that resilience-building has the potential of ushering a new era of growth in Sri Lanka. Our experience from other small states, primarily Malta, demonstrates that a policy effort towards building resilience can leave long-lasting effects on an economy and society. Resilience-building offers the potential for small states to not only build their capacity to absorb negative shocks but more importantly, allows countries to identify niche areas and to develop new economic sectors. Our experience demonstrates that resilience-building does contribute to economic development. Sri Lanka has a very good vision but the country as a whole lacks implementation, said ARQ Group Managing Director, Mr. Fabri.



Mr. Borg at the event mentioned that Malta has a GDP of 9 per cent while its unemployment rate is 1.2 per cent. The countrys foreign direct investments have risen to 1,489 per cent of the GDP. From the north of the country it has access to Europe and from the south to Africa. The country has no natural resources while its dependent on the UK. Malta is mainly into the financial services sector and today the country ranks third after London and Luxembourg, and has also moved into diverse banking sectors. Mr. Borg also stated that Malta has advanced on asset registration, aircraft maintenance, high value added manufacturing, production of genetic pharmaceuticals and so on. Memory chips of iPhones are produced in Malta while aquaculture is done on a small scale. The country has the busiest harbour in the region. We want to develop the logistics sector of Sri Lanka to export goods into the EU market, he noted.



Mr. Fabri further elaborated that Malta has worked with nine governments around the world. For every improvement in governance, Maltas economic performance has improved four times over. Some 84 per cent of economic development is contributed by the private sector out of which 98 per cent is contributed by the small and medium scale enterprises. In Sri Lanka the government and the private sector must carve out attractive regulations for investments, introduce e-Government and interact with other governments, he added.COLUMBIA - The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened last month in Montgomery, commemorating 4,400 confirmed lynchings in the United States between 1877 and 1950, and documenting lynching as a form of terrorism used to maintain white supremacy in the Jim Crow era.





Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative that built the memorial, said its purpose is to encourage Americans to wrestle with that legacy and its lingering effects on the criminal-justice system - and all of society for that matter. According to Stevenson, "our goal is not to be divisive" but to "encourage people to confront the truth of our past with more courage."





South Carolinians should heed Stevenson's call. At the center of the memorial are 800 weathered, reddish steel monuments - one for each county in which a lynching took place. South Carolina is well represented with 35 monuments - some listing more than a dozen lynching victims.





It is imperative the citizens of this state not only know, but also face lynching's long legacy.





The research that Justice 360 founder John Blume and I conducted found that the large majority of those who lost their lives to a lynch mob were black men and boys, some in their early teens, accused of rape, attempted rape or lesser "offenses" against white women. In fact, prior to 1899, no black person was legally executed in South Carolina for rape or attempted sexual assault; every single person so accused died at the hands of a lynching party.





Even after 1899, lynchings were common for perceived transgressions against "Southern white womanhood," which the public believed deserved instant justice, or when the criminal justice system did not deliver the "correct" result. For example, after a judge directed a verdict of not guilty in a 1926 Aiken County murder case previously overturned by the S.C. Supreme Court, a mob "overpowered" the jailer and murdered the three defendants.





Lynching also occurred for minor offenses (our research identified one lynching of a man accused of stealing a Bible and of an elderly woman who allegedly covered it up) or for no crime at all (e.g., blacks not "knowing their place" in the social/economic order).





The last S.C. lynching occurred roughly 70 years ago. Willie Earle was arrested on circumstantial evidence that he killed a Greenville taxi driver. On Feb. 17, 1947, a white mob demanded the Pickens County Jail turn Earle over. The members of the mob then drove Earle to Greenville, where they stabbed and shot him.





After many of the men involved confessed their role in the lynching, 31 white men were tried for murdering Earle. An all-white jury found the defendants not guilty. The courtroom broke out in applause, and the judge, disgusted by the verdict and reactions, left the bench without thanking the jury for its service.





It is all too easy to say that lynching is a thing of the past, a product of an earlier era of our state's history best forgotten. That would be both wrong and short-sighted. Lynching was replaced with a legal system of capital punishment that continues to mete out the death penalty disproportionately to black defendants accused of crimes involving white victims. It became, for all practical purposes, lynching's stepchild.





The race of the victim continues to be a major determining factor in who will be executed. We have tracked every death penalty case in South Carolina since 1977 (the "modern era" of the death penalty), and 81 percent of all death sentences have been imposed on defendants accused of killing a white victim.





South Carolina's current death row is more than 56 percent African-American, though African-Americans make up less than 30 percent of our state's population. We have also identified several cases in which black men were convicted and sentenced to death by all-white juries (and judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys), making the courtroom appear (at least visually) more like a lynch mob than a court of law.





The racist roots of capital punishment are alive and well.





George Santayana said "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Unless we face and acknowledge the ugly history of racial terror embodied by the lynch mob, there is no hope of reducing the pernicious effects of race that continue to infect South Carolina's death penalty.

Source: Vann is the executive director of Justice 360; she represents individuals facing the death penalty. The Sumter Item , Lindsey Vann, May 14, 2018.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeSaudi Arabia has executed a Saudi man over armed attacks on banks in the Red Sea city of Jeddah 16 years ago.





The interior ministry said that Jameel Bin Mohammad Al Aseeri had 3 accomplices, 2 Saudi nationals and 1 foreigner, during the attacks.





The 4 gangsters covered their faces and stormed Al Rajhi Bank, fired in the air to scare the customers and staff. They dragged the manager out of his office and forced him and the tellers to give them the cash they had.





According to the case documents, they left the bank with SR85,000 (Dh82,243) and $4,000 (Dh14,690).





In the 2nd attack, they raided another bank, fired in the air and made away with SR190,000, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Monday.





In his confession, the ring leader said he had provided his accomplices with guns after they agreed to storm the 1st bank.





He said he was the one who fired bullets to scare the staff and the customers and that his accomplices took the money from the tellers.





Police said the main suspect had criminal precedents, unlike his accomplices.





The 1st court to review their cases sentenced all 4 defendants to death, but the verdict was challenged and another court decided the death sentence for the ring leader and 25 years in prison for the others.





However, the verdict was appealed a 2nd time and the court ruled 25 years for the ring leader and 20 for the accomplices.





The case was taken to the high court and the judges ruled the death penalty for the leader and 25 years for the others.





Al Aseeri was executed on Sunday after all legal avenues were exhausted.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Gulf News, May 14, 2018KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the risk of facing a death penalty, women are still willing to be a mule to smuggle drugs into Indonesia to earn easy money.





In the latest case, a 21-year-old Malaysian woman was arrested by the Indonesian authorities after she was found smuggling methamphetamine into the republic.





The woman was detained by the authorities on Thursday at Jalan Tien Soeharto, Nunukan regency in North Kalimantan.





A source said she was arrested at about 8pm when police received tip-off on her suspicious activities.





Police found methamphetamine and tool to consume the drugs on the woman who hails from Tawau, Sabah.





In a separate case, a 25-year-old woman was nabbed after being suspected of trafficking methamphetamine.





The Indonesian woman flew from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and was immediately arrested when she touched down at Bandung Husein Sastranegara International Airport.





She attempted to bring in the drugs by strapping the substance onto her thighs.





During interrogation, she claimed that her African friend, whom she met in Kuala Lumpur, had paid her to transport the 665g of methamphetamine, the source said.





Meanwhile, Federal police Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department deputy director Datuk Kang Chez Chiang said money remained the main factor why women were willing to become drug mules.





All drug mules are paid upon delivery of the drugs to the receiver (syndicate). All transportation and accommodation are taken care of with pocket money given to the drug mules.





Other factors are paying off debts or financial problems. There are also some women who are willing to do it for the love of their boyfriend or husband who are mostly foreigners, he said.





Under Indonesian strict drug laws, the maximum punishment for importing more than five grammes of illegal narcotics into the country is death penalty.





It is learnt that a kilogramme of methamphetamine worth between RM80,000 and RM100,000 in Malaysia, is valued at three times higher the prices in Indonesia.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeNew Delhi: Taking recourse to the Holy Koran, junior minister in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh said militants in Kashmir should follow what the holy book preaches and shun violence during the month of Ramzan.

Mr Singh told this newspaper in an exclusive chat: The holy month of Ramzan according to holy Koran is a month of fasting where every pious Muslim is supposed to observe a very pious living without harming fellow beings and without indulging in violence.West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: 20 people were injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Kolkata: As many as 38,529 seats across West Bengal were up for contest on Monday as the voters exercise their franchise in the West Bengal Panchayat Election.

The polls are the last major elections in the state before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Political parties have viewed today's poll as a warm up match ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The state has witnessed several incidents of political clashes and violence over the past few weeks.

After about 34 per cent of the seats were won by the Trinamool Congress, the Supreme Court last week expressed concern that such a large percentage of seats were won by the ruling party and the top court stayed the notification of those results.

"What bothers us is 34 per cent candidates have been elected unopposed... Elections to be held in absolute fairness," the Supreme Court had said.

Here are the updates of the West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018:

07:17 pm: "12 people died, identity of 6 more yet to be ascertained. 3 police personnel also injured. Last year 25 people were killed in the election. Security has been taken care of. We hope rest of the election will pass peacefully," Surajit Kar Purkayastha, West Bengal DGP, said

07:13 pm: Voter turnout till 5 pm is 72.5 per cent, reports ANI.

05:01 pm: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a report from the West Bengal government regarding incidents of violence during Panchayat polls in the state

"There are reports of six people being killed," a state Election Commission official said. However, unconfirmed reports say that 6 to 12 people have been killed in the violence across state

04:18 pm: Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed. Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution, Biman Bose, CPI(M) on West Bengal Panchayat Elections

04:17 pm: Members of CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and other parties of the Left Front staging protest outside State Election Commission againt the incidents of violence during the West Bengal Panchayat elections

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

04:08 pm: Overall 56 per cent polling recorded till 3 pm in West Bengal

03:38 pm: This is nothing but complete destruction of democracy. Election Commission is not giving time to political representative. We are organizing a protest against it, Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, CPI-M said on incidents of violence during West Bengal Panchayat election

03:09 pm: Women queue up to cast their votes at a polling booth in Cooch Behar

(Photo: Twitter/ANI)

02:49 pm: Congress workers hold protest outside Election Commission in Kolkata

(Photo: ANI/Twitter)

02:27 pm: According to reports, a Trinamool Congress worker was beaten to death in Shantipur, Nadia district while another worker of TMC was killed in South 24 Parganas. One person has died in Murshidabad and another in North 24 Parganas. However, the death toll has still not been confirmed by the police

02:25 pm: West Bengal Assembly Elections 2018: Ballot boxes looted at gunpoint by unidentified people at 44, 45 and 45K booths in Murshidabad, reports ANI

02:21 pm: Ballot box being retrieved from a pond in West Bengal's Sonadangi

02:14 pm: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: 41.51 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm

02:14 pm: Voting booth vandalised allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers in North Dinajpur's Sonadangi during West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

01:38 pm: Vehicles vandalised in Raniganj area of Asansol during voting for Panchayat polls in West Bengal, reports ANI

01:05 pm: "There are minor incidents taking place, no major incidents have been reported. Administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peaceful. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists," TMC's Partha Chatterjee said

12:53 pm: "Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal govt is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in WB," Union Minister Babul Supriyo said on violence during West Benagl Panchayat Election

12:40 pm: Clashes between BJP and CPI(M) workers in Durgapur, reports ANI

12:12 pm: 26.28 per cent voter turnout recorded till 11 am: ANI

12:10 pm: Five local journalists injured after violence, following booth capturing in Birpara, allegedly by Trinamool Congress, reports news agency ANI

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

12:00 pm: A TMC worker named Arif Gazi shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district, reports ANI

11:45 am: "Highly condemnable and deplorable, it signifies that culture of political violence under TMC has engulfed entire West Bengal and it is an alarming sign for democracy," said BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on violence during West Bengal Panchayat Election

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

11:43 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: At least 20 people have been injured after a crude bomb explosion in Amdanga's Sadhanpur in North 24 Parganas, news agency ANI reported

11:30 am: BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das, was slapped by West Bengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh at Cooch Behar's booth number 8/12 in presence of the Police. Rabindra Nath Ghosh said, BJP agent was trying to run away with ballot box, officers caught hold of him but people said let him go. I just drove people away using my hand, that's all. TMC hasn't attacked anyone.

11:22 am: Ballot papers thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between Trinamool Congress and BJP in Murshidabad. Following which voting has been stopped for now

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

10:48 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: BJP candidate from Bilkanda Raju Biswas severely injured after being attacked with a knife, allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers. He is undergoing treatment at Panihati State General Hospital

10:14 am: In Uluberia, Howrah, bombs were hurled at police

10:09 am: One person has been killed in poll violence in West Bengal in Raiganj in North Dinajpur district

10:06 am: 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling in Dantan area of West Midnapore

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

10:03 am: Road blocked by locals in Bhangar. They alleged Trinamool Congress workers of capturing the booth

09:51 am: An independent candidate from Nadia district has been shot dead

09:46 am: Violence reported in Bhangar, a media vehicle has been torched and a camera has also been broken. Media not allowed to enter the area, reports news agency ANI.

09:25 am: Alleged Trinamool Congeress workers barring voters from entering booth number 14/79 in Birpara

09:11 am: CPI(M) worker and his wife charred to death after their house in North 24 Parganas was torched on Sunday night, CPI (M) alleges TMC workers were behind the attack

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

09:10 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: 20 people were injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar. The injured have been taken to MJN hospital for treatment. Locals say, 'We went there to vote but people belonging to TMC attacked us with sticks'

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

09:09 am: According to reports, a media vehicle was attacked at Bhangar

09:08 am: Within less than two hours after the polling began, the State Election Commission has received complains of violence from at least four districts from different parts the state and has asked the police to take action, SEC officials were quoted as saying by news agency PTI

07:50 am: West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2018: A voter shows inked finger in Cooch Behar. Voting will be held across the state from 7 am to 5 pm

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

07:12 am: Voters queue up outside the polling booths in West Bengal to cast their vote. Outside a polling booth in Jalpaiguri's Ashighar, voters were seen standing with a umbrella. Several parts of the country on Sunday experienced severe thunderstorm and rains

(Photo: ANI | Twitter)

07:09 am: In the run up to West Bengal rural polls, there have been several incidents of sporadic violence across the state. A 30-year-old man was shot dead on Saturday when some gunmen opened fire on a poll rally at Bhangar, 25 km from Kolkata

Also Read: After pre-poll violences, court battles Bengal votes today in panchayat elections

07:05 am: West Bengal Panchayat polls 2018: Amid tight security, voting begins in West Bengal.

(With inputs from agencies)Tuesday's US withdrawal from the accord was a 'violation of morals', Rouhani said in remarks carried by state television. (Photo: AP)

Dubai: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that, if its interests were protected, Tehran would remain committed to its 2015 nuclear deal, which his foreign minister hoped could be redesigned without Washington.

Tuesday's US withdrawal from the accord was a "violation of morals", Rouhani said in remarks carried by state television.

"If the remaining five countries continue to abide by the agreement, Iran will remain in the deal despite the will of America," he said during a meeting with Sri Lanka's president.

US President Donald Trump's pullout has upset Washington's European allies, cast uncertainty over global oil supplies and raised the risk of conflict in the Middle East.

It has also highlighted divisions among Iran's political elite.

Rouhani made similarly conciliatory comments on Tuesday, and on Saturday his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, embarked on a tour of other signatory nations to the accord, state media reported, in a last-ditch effort to save it.

After arriving in Beijing on Sunday, Zarif said: "We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive (nuclear) agreement."

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he believed Zarif's tour would "improve countries'... understanding of Iran's position." and help Tehran protect its "legitimate national interests".

Rouhani has said Iran would stay committed to the deal, which Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia also signed, provided those powers could ensure Iran was protected from sanctions against key sectors of its economy such as oil.

The three European states have also recommitted to the agreement, but senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University on Friday that Europe was not to be trusted.

The head of the elite Revolutionary Guards also warned against relying on foreign powers to guarantee Iran's interests.

"America's exit aims to break the Iranian people's resistance, which is not new ...but today's problem is not US sanctions, it's that some officials look towards outside rather than looking at domestic potentials," Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari said, the state news agency IRNA reported.

On Wednesday, Jafari had cast doubt on European nations' ability to save the nuclear accord.

With the deal on shaky ground in the face of fierce opposition from hardliners at home, some analysts say the pragmatic Rouhani faces the prospect of serving out his second term as a lame duck leader.Ukraine boosts transit shipments of Russian gas to EU by 33%

Ukrtransgaz has also repaired several compressor stations.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterThe White House has condemned the Iranian regimes attack on Israel from military bases in Syria, and, in a statement from Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, also expressed strong support for Israels right to act in self-defense.

Israel reported that late on May 9 Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Qods Force fired 20 rockets at Israeli military positions in the Golan Heights.

Israel responded to the missiles by launching airstrikes against dozens of Iranian targets in Syria, including munitions store houses, logistics sites and intelligence centers used by Iranian forces in Syria.

In the White House statement, Press Secretary Sanders said, The Iranian regimes deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, bears full responsibility for the consequences of its reckless actions, and we call on the IRCG and its militant proxies, including Hezbollah, to take no further provocative steps.

The United States, she said, also calls on all nations to make clear that the Iranian regimes actions pose a severe threat to international peace and stability.U.S. Ambassador Alexander Laskaris, the Deputy Commander for Civil-Military Engagement at United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM, held high-level meetings in Freetown, Sierra Leone, earlier this month as part of a series of engagements across West Africa.

During the visit, Ambassador Laskaris, along with the U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone Maria Brewer, met with President Julius Maada Bio to discuss key military, economic, and security related issues.

One topic of particular interest during the meeting was the need for a signed National Maritime Strategy to guide Sierra Leones maritime agencies toward secure, sustainable, and profitable seas.

The United States, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, recently funded a series of events aimed at finalizing a Sierra Leone National Maritime Strategy, a National Maritime Policy, and a Framework for a Whole-of-Government Approach to Maritime Security, which are now awaiting governmental approval.

The participation of Sierra Leones military in Peacekeeping operations precipitated another fruitful discussion. The U.S. Ambassadors stressed the need for Sierra Leone to focus on its forces professional development and welfare in order to prepare peacekeepers that are disciplined, well-trained, and have strong leadership.

In speaking with the new Deputy Minister of Defense Simeon Sheriff, the U.S. delegation also offered to assist Sierra Leone in seeking out sound, economically viable options for training, equipping, and sustaining prospective peacekeeping forces.

At the conclusion of his visit, Ambassador Laskaris commented that he was impressed to see how well the democratic process is working in Sierra Leone and congratulated the country for its successful elections and subsequent peaceful transfer of power.

The delegation appreciated the opportunity to meet with President Bio and reiterated that the United States looks forward to its continued partnership with the government and people of Sierra Leone.Ukrtelecom plans to connect 8,000 villages with 6 mln residents to broadband Internet access in two years

Public joint-stock company Ukrtelecom has designed a project to connect remote settlements to the broadband Internet access service, which could cover 8,000 villages where 6 million residents are living, during two years, Director for Mass Market Segment at Ukrtelecom Denys Zakharenko said at the presentation of the project in Kyiv on Monday.

The total cost of the project is UAH 6 billion, including UAH 3.2 billion (53.3%) of government investment.

He said that all villages with schools (6,900) and villages located close to them with over 100 households will be included in the project.

Ukrtelecom said that mass connection would ensure the coverage of 40% of the total number of rural residents in Ukraine with the broadband Internet access service, which would cut the gap between cities and small towns and villages by 75%, as the share of rural areas in Ukraine where the service is not provided would decline from 56% to 16%, from 8.3 million to 2.3 million people.

According to the calculations of the operator, some 58,000 km of networks should be built to cover 8,000 villages.

The operator said that 14,000 villages are not covered by the project. A total of 2.3 million residents live there. This could be a ground for the second wave of connections.

Thanks to the implementation of the project, broadband Internet access saturation in Ukraine would grow by 4.4%, and GDP would grow by 0.6%, which in the prices of 2018 is around UAH 20 billion. Growth of the national budget's revenue could be UAH 5.4 billion.

Zakharenko said that the buyback period for government investment could be two years thanks to the increase in payment of taxes.

Ukrtelecom Director Yuriy Kurmaz said that the project will be presented to the government and parliament.Ukraine has received the right to export beef to the Turkish market, according to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

This decision was made following the results of work of the technical mission of the directorate general for protection and control of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey on assessing state control over beef production, which operated in Ukraine in late April 2018.

Turkish inspectors audited the system of state control over production of beef in Ukraine and inspected slaughter enterprises that are interested in exporting their products to Turkey.

At the same time, the service notes that work on agreeing the form of a veterinary certificate for exports of Ukrainian beef to Turkey is currently at the final stages.The Carpathian strategy could become one of the instruments for expanding interregional cooperation between Ukraine and Poland, and also with the EU as a whole, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said at a meeting with Polish Minister of Investment and Economic Development Jerzy Kwiecinski.

According to the website of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the parties discussed the deepening of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation and also touched upon the development of the Carpathian strategy.

"This is a joint and systemic regional policy in the field of energy, infrastructure, transport and digital economy. This is especially important in the border regions, for example, in the direction of increasing the number of checkpoints across the border with Poland, which is part of the Ukraine-EU border," Kubiv said.

The Polish minister noted the Carpathian strategy will allow to strengthen trade, expand cooperation between the EU countries and Ukraine. At the same time, he believes first it is needed to work out specific projects in these areas.

"After these projects are developed, it will be possible to determine transport priorities for the coming years and count on the solution of the issue of financing these projects through the EU instruments," he said.

Earlier Kwiecinski reported that Poland and Ukraine had begun the development of the Carpathian macro-regional strategy. According to him, the strategy should "unite all the Carpathian countries."Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli expects that the European Union will finalize the procedures for agreeing macro-financial assistance for Ukraine during the summer of 2018.

The EU has not forgotten about Ukraine. We are now preparing a new package of macro-financial assistance at EUR 1 billion. We hope that it will be approved by the relevant institutions of the EU during the summer, he said at a meeting with the European Business Association in Kyiv on Monday.

According to him, at the moment it is not known exactly what conditions it will contain, but it will definitely be in cooperation with the IMF program.Deputy FM expects that court of arbitration in The Hague to issue awards within six month in cases under lawsuits of Ukrainian companies

Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Olena Zerkal expects that Ukrainian companies, which filed lawsuits to the tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague against Russia over the seizure of their assets in Crimea, would receive awards of the tribunal within six months.

"We expect that within a half of the year all the companies that filed (lawsuits) in 2015-2016 would receive compensation, because the first stage, which concerned jurisdiction, namely Russia's responsibility for investments made in Crimea, achieved a positive result. All the plaintiffs who filed lawsuits against Russia received positive awards from the court of arbitration," she said on Channel 5 TV last Friday.

Zerkal said that Russia could delay the proceedings, for example, by appealing against judicial procedures.

"This territory [Crimea] is under their [Russia's] effective control and all the nationalization was carried out by their agencies or bodies that were under their control," the deputy minister said.

As reported, from January to June 2015, six similar suits were filed with the court of arbitration in The Hague from PrivatBank, its former owner Ihor Kolomoisky, Ukrnafta and a number of other related persons and companies.

The court of arbitration in The Hague on May 2, 2018 issued the first final award in one of the cases in favor of Ukraine.Tests of U.S. Javelin to be held before end of May with participation of Poroshenko

Until late May, Ukraine will have been testing the anti-tank missile systems Javelin, provided by the U.S. to Ukraine, representative of the Ukrainian president in the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Lutsenko has said.

"Providing Ukraine with Javelins confirms the weakening of Russia's positions on the international arena. In addition, the president plans to take part in the trials of these Javelins at our military ranges by the end of May," Lutsenko said during the conciliation council of the parliament on Monday.

As reported, Ukraine had requested to buy 210 Javelin missiles and 37 Javelin Command Launch Units, including two CLUs to be used as spares.

On April 30, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko confirmed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had received Javelin anti-tank missile systems from the United States.Mandate of U.S. State Dept Special Rep. Volker extended, expanded - Gongadze

KYIV. May 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The mandate of Special Representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker has been continued and even expanded, head of the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America Myroslava Gongadze has said.

"According to sources, Kurt Volker's mandate has been continued and expanded. He will have not only powers on the situation in Donbas, he will have broad powers over Ukraine as such," she said on 112.Ukraine TV channel on Sunday evening.

As reported, on May 12, U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Volker had announced on Twitter his visit to the east of Ukraine at the beginning of the next week.The LGBT community rights activists have jointed the protest rally of thousands caused by a police operation to detain drug dealers in night clubs and taking place on Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue.

Speaking at the rally, representatives of the Equality Movement public organization, which was seeking to hold an action in Tbilisi on the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia on May 17, said that from now on, they are ceasing all negotiations with the Interior Ministry regarding the approval of the site and time of the event.

During the special operation in night clubs, policemen verbally abused members of the LGBT community, they said.

"Taking into consideration that they insulted us yesterday, we are not going to continue negotiations with the Interior Ministry," a representative of the Equality Movement said.

The action in defense of the LGBT rights will be held in front of the parliament's building on Rustaveli Avenue on May 17, she said.

Meanwhile, the rally organized by the public movement White Noise standing for mitigation of the drug policy in Georgia is continuing on Rustaveli Avenue on Saturday evening.

Participants in the rally have demanded the resignation of the Georgian prime minister and the interior ministry, as well as those officials of the Interior Ministry, who had planned the special operation conducted in night clubs in the early hours of Saturday. Protesters fully blocked the roadway on Rustaveli Avenue.

The operation to counter drug trade was conducted in two night clubs, Bassiani and Gallery. The Interior Ministry said following it that it and the Prosecutor General's Office continue fighting against drug dealers.

However, people attending clubs, where the police operation had taken place, said that they were subjected to violence and humiliation.Head of the parliamentary faction of the Radical Party Oleh Liashko calls for the renunciation of Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said meeting the IMF's requirements for granting a tranche leads to the establishment of external management in Ukraine.

"When the International Monetary Fund puts forward loan demands, such as equipping the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) or the creation of an anti-corruption court, it is external management ... We are against external governance in Ukraine. Ukrainians, not the IMF, should rule Ukraine ... Therefore, we urge you to stop cooperation with the IMF," he told reporters in Kyiv on Monday.

At the same time Liashko stressed that his faction would not support the bill on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court.A working group of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine headed by First Deputy Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister Viacheslav Nehoda has started designing a model for developing mountainous and high mountain areas of Carpathian Mountains, the ministry's press service has reported.

"The specifics of the terrain makes the territory difficult to access, which translates into low business activity, low investment, high labor migration. It is difficult for mountain territories to compete with others in order to ensure their development. We must develop a policy of sustainable development of the Carpathian Mountains," the press service of the Regional Development Ministry reported, citing Nehoda.

According to him, the working group will develop mechanisms for the development of the infrastructure of the region, tools for creating jobs and business development and submit them for consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers.

According to the Regional Development Ministry, the working group was established on behalf of Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman. It included representatives of nine ministries, as well as Zakarpattia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regional administrations and councils. The first meeting of the group was held on May 10.

The press service of the Regional Development Ministry also reminded that in March the Cabinet of Ministers sent bill No. 8154 amending certain legislative acts of Ukraine on sustainable development and creating new jobs in mountainous and high mountain settlements to the Verkhovna Rada.

According to an explanatory note to the bill, the government proposes to establish the increased coefficients for the calculation of public medical and educational subventions for mountainous and high mountain settlements. In addition, the bill provides for the development and financing of state programs to stimulate the development of mountain areas, as well as the introduction of measures to improve sewage treatment plants.

In addition, the government proposes to reduce the minimum area of an industrial park in mountainous areas to 10 hectares with an existing minimum of 15 hectares for any area.All OSCE documents imply that Crimea and Donbas are part of Ukraine, even if it is not specified in a resolution, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly George Tsereteli has said.

"We never put a question mark on the status of Crimea. In every resolution and statement, we are supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity with Crimea, as the international community agreed. In this particular document, as we know, and we also had a discussion on that, they referred to a previous document, which was [published] before, so I think it doesn't mean that anybody questions the status of Crimea," Tsereteli said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday, when asked to comment on a statement by First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko that the OSCE/ODIHR, in its report on the presidential election in Russia, mentioned nothing about the falsification of the election in Crimea.

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, this opinion was also supported by OSCE PA Special Representative for Eastern Europe Kent Harstedt.

"I was the special coordinator for this election in this country on October 26, 2014, and, of course, when we are here talking about this country, including Donbas and Crimea, that's for the special report about the election of this country, when the election in Russia should not be related to Crimea or Donbas. It's quite clear, of course," Harstedt said.State Border Service guards refused Russian citizen Svetlana Surganova, an ex-soloist for the Night Snipers band and currently leader of Surganova and Orchestra, entry into Ukraine, an assistant to the State Border Guard Service chief, Oleh Slobodian, has said.

"During processing of passengers on the flight from Minsk, Russian citizen Svetlana Surganova was identified. During a conversation with her it became known that she visited Russia-occupied Crimea, taking a St. Petersburg to Simferopol flight, in May 2016. She stayed in Crimea for two days and returned to Russia," Slobodian said on his Facebook page on Monday morning.

Slobodian said Surganova has been banned from visiting Ukraine for three years.

Ukraine has already banned 117 Russian artists and performers for violating legislation on procedures for visiting the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.On Tuesday, May 15, at 14.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled "Shuliavka interchange: fighting or putting up with that?" An alternative three-level interchange project, which is actively supported by the city community, will be proposed at the press conference. Participants include the author of the alternative project of the three-level Shuliavka interchange, Viktor Petruk, representatives of public organizations and political parties. The action plan and the date of a rally of the people of Kyiv in support of a transparent tender for the selection of the best design solution of the Shuliavka interchange will be announced and the demands for the Kyiv authorities will be put forward (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. Additional information can be obtained by phone: (050) 566 6316.The death of Ukrainian sailors on board the Turkish vessel Atlantic Harmony, arrested near the coast of Cape Verde, should be subject to examination by law enforcement agencies, Head of the Socialist Party of Ukraine Illia Kyva has said at a press conference in Kyiv, writing on the official website of the SPU.

"There is an assumption that these deaths are murder cases. Perhaps, the guys witnessed unlawful actions on the board of the ship. We will address the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine], the police and Interpol. The first mate is also a citizen of Ukraine. He is a resident of Odesa, Serhiy Tarkhanov. And he is responsible for the crew. Therefore, our law enforcement agencies should understand and establish the extent of his guilt," the politician said.

Wives of sailors also suspect that their husbands could be killed through violence.

"When I was talking to the first mate, he told me that the examination showed that he died of pulmonary edema. No alcohol or drugs were found in the blood. But he hid from me the fact that by the time of our conversation there was already the second victim on the ship. After promising to send me a photo of the expert testimony, then he refused to do so, referring to the captain's ban. Instead, they sent me photos of how they were allegedly helping my husband. But I know every cell of his body, and I can say: these are staged photos, my husband was already dead on them," Olha, the wife of second mate of the captain of the Atlantic Harmony ship Oleksiy Lukashov, said.

Kateryna Chervona, the wife of third engineer of the ship Oleksandr Chervony, also casts doubt on the natural causes of her husband's death.

"My husband was absolutely healthy when the ship set sail. And when I talked to him on the phone, he was also healthy. But recently he had some depressed mood. He said that he wants to return home. But the captain told him that he could do it only at his own expense. I do not know what was happening on the ship, my husband did not tell me that, but the whole situation seems suspicious," she said.

The head of the SPU said that he intends to file an application about criminal actions of some persons to law enforcement agencies.

"Today there is a whole industry for selling people into slavery in Ukraine. Crewing companies take bribes from $1,000 to $5,000 to allow sailors to join the ships that set sail. It is business on people's lives. In addition, they have a percentage of their salaries. And finally, they are not responsible for anything. We will appeal to law enforcement agencies with an application about criminal actions of some persons. This is a question for the SBU: who controls the crewing companies that send people for slaughter abroad. They consider people as cattle. Let us look for these people who profit from death," Kyva said.

He also said that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine should ensure the return of the bodies of the sailors to their homeland as soon as possible. In turn, Deputy Director of the Department of Consular Service of the Foreign Ministry Vasyl Kyrylych said that the required procedures are already being conducted. The Ukrainian consul in Senegal and Cape Verde today is at the scene of the incident and began executing the necessary formalities.The debate over environmentalists detained and accused of espionage in Iran has gained momentum after an MP called upon President Hassan Rouhani to personally step in.

As the head of Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Rouhani should step in and end the row between the judiciary and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on one side and the Intelligence Ministry on the other, Tehran MP Gholamreza Haydari said.

While the IRGCs intelligence organization and judiciary insist the environmentalists were spies disguised as activists, Rouhanis Intelligence Ministry maintains that they are innocent.

Rouhanis allies have repeatedly noted that, according to the Iranian Constitution, espionage and counterespionage operations are the exclusive purview of the Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC has no legal right to interfere.

Judicial spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, however, says the Intelligence Ministry is not qualified to identify acts of espionage.

Tehran MP Mahmud Sadeghi tweeted on May 9, Based on indisputable evidence and documents, the Intelligence Ministrys experts have explicitly declared that there is no proof for accusing the incarcerated environmentalists of espionage.

Sadeghi said Intelligence Ministry officials were responding to pressure from conservative MPs to officially charge the alleged spies.

Pro-reform Sharq daily also reported on May 12, The experts and specialists of the Intelligence Ministry have told MPs that the detained environmentalists were operating at least 60 kilometers (roughly 37 miles) from military sites and their cameras would not have been able to film them.

Isa Kalantari, head of the Environment Department and a deputy of Rouhanis, agreed that environmental cameras cannot be used for espionage purposes.

Environmental cameras that monitor leopards activity have a range of no more than 50 meters (roughly 55 yards), he said.

A senior military adviser of Khameneis went so far as to say the environmentalists could be using animals to spy. In the context of hybrid warfare, every foreign tourist or environmentalist and scientist active in agricultural studies might be a spy, Hasan Firouzabadi told the state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) in February.

He described an incident a few years ago in which they detained several individuals and confiscated suspicious reptile desert species like lizards and salamanders, which, after undergoing studies, showed that the lizard-like animal skins attract nuclear waves.

They were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where we had uranium mines and where we were involved in atomic activities, he said. Many foreigners and Iranians who are involved in espionage are not even aware of the fact that they are actually spying.

Sadeghi says the Intelligence Ministry claimed the environmentalists could have passed on sensitive information to third parties without being aware of their wrongdoing.

IRGC agents arrested several environmentalists in late January, including the Iranian-Canadian founder of Irans Wildlife Heritage, Kavous Seyed-Emami. Two weeks later, officials announced that Seyyd-Emami had committed suicide at Tehrans notorious Evin Prison, a claim his family categorically rejected.

The IRGC apparatus expanded its dominance after the so-called reformist Mohammad Khatami won the presidential election in 1997. It has since detained scores of reformists and political and civil rights activists, including those associated with the Iran Freedom Movement.

Closely tied to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the IRGCs intelligence organization operates parallel to the Intelligence Ministry.

It played a pivotal role in suppressing widespread protests against the re-election of Mahmud Ahmadinejad in 2009. Khamenei then promoted the IRGC intelligence apparatus to the level of an organization practically on par with the Intelligence Ministry.

In one of the latest developments, the IRGC detained more than 40 environmentalists, rangers, and their relatives on May 7 and 8 in Hormozgan Province, reported the New York-based Center For Human Rights In Iran (CHRI).Rouhani has yet to respond to calls to step in or respond to an April 2 open letter signed by 800 Iranian environmentalists demanding that he clarify the fate of their peers.

Rouhani set up a fact-finding commission three months ago to investigate Seyed-Emamis case and other suspicious deaths in custody, but it has yet to publish any findings.Tehran City Council members elected Mohammad Ali Afshani as the new mayor of the Iranian capital May 13, after his predecessor resigned last month amid controversy.

Afshani won by 19 votes, while his main challenger, Acting Mayor Samiollah Hossaini Makaram, garnered only one vote.

Afshani, 59, has served as the governor of the Fars Province and Deputy Interior Minister, both under President Hassan Rouhani.

The new mayor replaces MIT-educated Mohammad Ali Najafi, who resigned in April amid controversy over his attendance at an official International Womens Day ceremony March 8 where a group of elementary school-aged girls performed a dance as part of the festivities. Conservatives accused Najafi of impropriety because the children performed for a mixed-gender audience.

Although Najafi repeatedly maintained he was stepping down due to a recently diagnosed illness, some council members insisted that the mayor was being forced out by his political opponents and that the allegations of impropriety at the International Womens Day event were carefully crafted to embarrass him.

Najafi had accused his own predecessor, a conservative, of corruption and financial mismanagement, which Najafis supporters say is the real reason he was pushed out.

While Najafi was under pressure to resign in early April, the outspoken deputy speaker of Irans parliament, Ali Motahari, wrote on his Telegram channel that the mayor was asleep in his bed when his political opponents barged into his home and forced him to resign.

According to Motahari, the Islamic Republics judiciary lacks sufficient independence and a segment of the regime used levers of power to force Najafi to resign.

Tehrans prosecutor-general, mid-ranking cleric Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, had earlier cautioned, If this mayor is incapable of managing Tehrans municipality, who will be responsible for [his mismanagement]? As the prosecutor-general, I hold the city council members responsible.

Montazeris comments were followed by widespread criticism from reformists, including Tehran City Council Member and former Tehran mayor Morteza Alviri, who said the prosecutor-generals remarks were against the principle of separation of powers.

Najafi resigned for the first time in mid-March, citing poor health conditions, but the City Council, suspicious the mayor had been pressured to step down, refused to accept his resignation. In April, the city council finally accepted Najafis second resignation and launched negotiations to find a successor.

Najafi, 66, who held cabinet positions in the 1990s and in 2014, was overwhelmingly elected as Tehrans mayor last August and officially took the helm at city hall in September.

He replaced Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander and former chief of police who challenged Hassan Rouhani in last Mays presidential election, but dropped out midway to back another conservative candidate.

Najafis successor Afshani was born in Irans western province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and is a reformist politician and member of Central Council of the Itimad-i Melli (National Trust) Party.

The incoming mayor has also held top posts at the Interior Ministry, Education Ministry, and a number of provincial governors administrations, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-run Fars News reported.

In an interview with the pro-reformist daily Sharq, the incoming mayor said he would strive to build a habitable city and highlighted the need for sustainable development in managing urban affairs.

Tehran is home to 12 million people and in dire need of efficient infrastructure, utilities, decent housing, efficient public transport, and above all, responsible city management.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Complex.

Azerbaijans Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev informed the head of state about the complex.

President Ilham Aliyev launched the complex and toured the area of the port.

The head of state then met with staff of the port and builders.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Themistoklis Asthenidis, a staff member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe- ACRE, who illegally visited occupied Azerbaijani territories, sent an official letter to Azerbaijan's Embassy in Belgium asking not to be put to the list of foreign nationals who illegally visited the occupied territories, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message May 14.

In the letter, Asthenidis noted that he paid a visit to Armenia as part of an official delegation to Yerevan in December 2017, where an ACRE event took place, and admitted that he visited the occupied territories without prior notice.



In the letter he states: As part of our visit to Armenia, our local partner organized a series of tourism activities for members of our delegation. Prior to our departure for the activities on the day, I was absolutely unaware of the intention of our local partner to also take me to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, as at the time of departure, the specifics of the visit were intentionally unclear and, I recognize, retrospectively misleading."

Asthenidis further reaffirmed his full respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan.

"He noted that his visit does not constitute any recognition of the illegal occupation of Azerbaijan's territories, and stressed that as a professional lawyer, he is very well aware of the legal and political sensitivities around the issue of our occupied territories," the ministry said.

"He expressed his sincere regrets for this action and asked for permission to visit Baku in June 2018."



The Foreign Ministry said that Asthenidis's appeal was considered in a due manner and a decision was taken not to add his name to the List of Foreign Citizens who Illegally Visited the Occupied Territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Since the deterioration of situation in Syria, Armenia has been encouraging Syrian Armenians to settle in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.

He made the remarks when addressing the International Conference on the Victims of Ethnic and Religious Violence in the Middle East, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message on May 14.

Mammadyarov said that according to various reports, hundreds of Syrian Armenians have been settled in these territories of Azerbaijan.

The intention behind this resettlement policy, which is a grave violation of international law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention and Additional Protocols, is to prevent Azerbaijani IPDs from returning to their homes and to secure annexation of the occupied territories, according to Mammadyarov.

"Indeed, while the international community is focused on searching for the ways out of the crisis in Syria, it is deeply disturbing that sufferings of this countrys population are being utilized to further complicate peace efforts in another region. This is totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated," he said.

Mammadyarov emphasized that Azerbaijan, even with the large scale and protracted displacement problem in its territory, supports the efforts of the international community in addressing urgent humanitarian crisis situations and building sustainable societies in different parts of the world.

"To date, people in nearly 40 countries of the world, including those in Yemen, Palestine and Syrian refugees in Jordan became beneficiaries of the humanitarian assistance provided by the Azerbaijan International Development Agency," he added.

As a country with rich and centuries-long traditions of peaceful and harmonious co-existence of adherents of various religions and denominations, Azerbaijan has invested a lot in the establishment of strong and genuine intercultural and interreligious dialogue both regionally and globally, through the Baku process, as mentioned in the UN Secretary General report 72/488, the minister noted.

It is obvious that, according to the Azerbaijani minister, one major obstacle in strengthening public institutions in the countries concerned will be lack of qualified personnel due to the fact that many of them left the country or even worse, were killed during the conflict.

"In this regard, I would like to draw the attention to the decree of the president of Azerbaijan issued last December on education grants for students from the member states of the Organization for Islamic Conference who wish to study in the Azerbaijani universities. So, the students from the Middle East countries may well benefit from this opportunity," he noted.

As to the other priority areas in the Madrid document, namely the protection of endangered cultural heritage, ensuring justice and fighting impunity, the minister stressed that the Baku Declaration adopted at the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations strongly condemned any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence and urged all member states to unite against violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations.

"We do believe that Baku Declaration should serve as guidelines for states and international organizations in promotion of intercultural dialogue as a means to counter violence, extremism and xenophobia," he said.

"We've addressed international community on countless occasions to take efficient measures to refrain Armenia from destroying cultural and religious sites in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and these acts of vandalism happened long before the similar acts in Syria," he said.

Mammadyarov further reminded the participants the Resolution of the UN Human Rights Council on Protection of cultural rights and property in situations of armed conflict, which was adopted at the initiative of Azerbaijan more than ten years ago, in 2007, i.e. well before the international community was shocked by the recent atrocities in the Middle East.

"We should not forget that a mere impunity in the past will sow a seed of graver crimes in the future," he added.

Today, according to Mammadyarov, the situation of refugees and IDPs remain the most complicated and problematic in the countries concerned.

"Using this opportunity, I would like to commend the efforts made by Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, who took the heaviest burden in providing most urgent, albeit temporary haven for those fleeing from the conflict areas. Taking into account the magnitude of internal displacement in the world, when the number of IDPs reached 41 million according to the UNHCR report, dignified return of IDPs is crucial and we are glad that, there are common understanding and support on the importance of return of displaced people to their homes," he said.

The minister noted that Azerbaijan fully supports all efforts to raise the awareness on the suffering of IDPs.

"Our sensitivity to the cause of IDPs is comprehensible, as Azerbaijan has one of the biggest number of IDPs per capita in the world. Displacement in my country was a consequence of the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan by Armenia in a blatant violation of international law. Currently, the number of IDPs and refugees in Azerbaijan exceeds one million, which is more than tenth of the total population," he noted.

Despite the large scale of displacement, the minister said, the Azerbaijani government has made remarkable progress in improvement of the living conditions of IDPs.

"During the last twenty years, about $6 billion was invested to solve social problems of refugees and internally displaced persons, and this resulted in significant decrease of poverty and unemployment among them," he noted.

The minister stressed that it shouldn't be forgotten that full restoration of human rights of forcefully displaced persons and refugees requires their voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return to their homes.

"Unfortunately, in our case, return is still impossible, despite the decades-old legally binding UN Security Council Resolutions demanding for the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and international assistance for return of displaced people to their homes," he concluded.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky , the Secretary General of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the Committee of the Regions (CoR), who illegally visited occupied Azerbaijani territories, sent an official letter to Azerbaijan's Embassy in Belgium asking not to be included to the list of foreign citizens who illegally visited the occupied territories, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said May 14.

In her letter, Sadikoglu-Novaky noted that as a representative of the organization she paid a visit to Armenia, where an ACRE event took place in December 2017.

The letter states: As part of the trip, a series of tourist activities were organized by the local partners of ACRE. On the day of the trip to the illegally occupied Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, I was misled by the nature of the trip. What I believed was a cultural trip turned out to be a trip violating international law and regrettably led to me being unwillingly taken to the illegally occupied Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh."

She said that she deeply regrets being misled by the local partners in Armenia and finding herself in a situation that jeopardizes her personal convictions on the illegal actions of Armenia.

Sadikoglu-Novaky noted that as a Turkish citizen who travels to Azerbaijan on an annual basis for family reasons and indeed as an individual whose personal convictions are aligned with the position of Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, she would not willingly jeopardize her right to enter Azerbaijan, according to the ministry.

She kindly asked to accept this letter as a formal apology and expressed her hope that this would not affect her future visa requests to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Foreign Ministry said that Sadikoglu-Novaky's appeal was in a due manner considered and a decision was taken not to add her name into the list of foreign citizens who illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

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.Details added (first version posted on 14:27)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

The new Baku Port will play an important role in strengthening Azerbaijan's transport potential, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Complex in Alat settlement on May 14.

"Today is a very significant day in the life of our country. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is being put into operation," President Aliyev said.

"I sincerely congratulate Azerbaijani people on this wonderful event. I am confident that the new Baku Port will play an important role in strengthening the transport potential of our country. I made the decision to build the Port several years ago. I knew, and I saw that Azerbaijan will have a major transport, transit potential, that our country will develop rapidly. The made decision showed that our policy is far-sighted, weighted," the head of state said.

President Ilham Aliyev said that construction work, which was divided into stages, has been launched.

"In 2014, the ferry terminal was commissioned, and Ro-Ro terminal - was commissioned earlier this year. And today, the Port is fully ready for operation. The Port that is capable of handling 15 million tons of cargo, including 100,000 containers, will undoubtedly play an important role in strengthening our transport infrastructure," he said.

The head of the state emphasized that the next stage stipulates ensuring that capacity for cargo transshipment is brought up to 25 million tons.

"Plans related to expansion work have been voiced during today's presentation, and it is planned to increase the port's capacity to 500,000 containers a year," the head of state said.

President Aliyev further noted that local and foreign specialists and employees participated in the port's construction.

"I would like to express my gratitude to them for the work done. I personally controlled the construction work. I am glad that today the highest standards are applied here, all equipment, necessary technical means, latest cranes were purchased and installed here. Thus, we established the strongest transport and logistics center in Azerbaijan," he said.

Choosing Alat also was not accidental, President Aliyev added.

"The existing Baku Port no longer meets our needs, it is located in the city center and its ability to handle increasing cargo volumes is very limited. Alat is a very favorable place from the geographical point of view, and routes passing Alat in both the western and southern directions, including roads and railways, undoubtedly played a major role in choosing this place Surely, development of the Alat settlement will depend, to a large extent, on the logistics and transport infrastructure created here," said the president.

He added that in the near future a free economic zone will be established in Alat, and in the future this territory of Baku will develop very rapidly, numerous workplaces will be created.

"Thus, Alat will take an important place in development of the country's transport and economic potential, " Ilham Aliyev said.

President Aliyev further said that the commissioning of the Baku International Sea Trade Port gives ground to say that all tasks set before the country's transport infrastructure have been fulfilled.Details added (first version posted on 14:27)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

The new Baku Port will play an important role in strengthening Azerbaijan's transport potential, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Complex in Alat settlement on May 14.

"Today is a very significant day in the life of our country. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is being put into operation," President Aliyev said.

"I sincerely congratulate Azerbaijani people on this wonderful event. I am confident that the new Baku Port will play an important role in strengthening the transport potential of our country. I made the decision to build the Port several years ago. I knew, and I saw that Azerbaijan will have a major transport, transit potential, that our country will develop rapidly. The made decision showed that our policy is far-sighted, weighted," the head of state said.

President Ilham Aliyev said that construction work, which was divided into stages, has been launched.

"In 2014, the ferry terminal was commissioned, and Ro-Ro terminal - was commissioned earlier this year. And today, the Port is fully ready for operation. The Port that is capable of handling 15 million tons of cargo, including 100,000 containers, will undoubtedly play an important role in strengthening our transport infrastructure," he said.

The head of the state emphasized that the next stage stipulates ensuring that capacity for cargo transshipment is brought up to 25 million tons.

"Plans related to expansion work have been voiced during today's presentation, and it is planned to increase the port's capacity to 500,000 containers a year," the head of state said.

President Aliyev further noted that local and foreign specialists and employees participated in the port's construction.

"I would like to express my gratitude to them for the work done. I personally controlled the construction work. I am glad that today the highest standards are applied here, all equipment, necessary technical means, latest cranes were purchased and installed here. Thus, we established the strongest transport and logistics center in Azerbaijan," he said.

Choosing Alat also was not accidental, President Aliyev added.

"The existing Baku Port no longer meets our needs, it is located in the city center and its ability to handle increasing cargo volumes is very limited. Alat is a very favorable place from the geographical point of view, and routes passing Alat in both the western and southern directions, including roads and railways, undoubtedly played a major role in choosing this place Surely, development of the Alat settlement will depend, to a large extent, on the logistics and transport infrastructure created here," said the president.

He added that in the near future a free economic zone will be established in Alat, and in the future this territory of Baku will develop very rapidly, numerous workplaces will be created.

"Thus, Alat will take an important place in development of the country's transport and economic potential, " Ilham Aliyev said.

President Aliyev further said that the commissioning of the Baku International Sea Trade Port gives ground to say that all tasks set before the country's transport infrastructure have been fulfilled.

"To date, huge work has been done in this direction. We have the biggest flotilla in the Caspian Sea, we have more than 260 vessels. According to information provided to me, 18 ships were purchased over the past few years. A shipyard was built in Baku upon my initiative. We can build, manufacture all types of ships and, thus, we have eliminated dependence on foreign partners," the head of state said.

President Aliyev added that over the past 15 years,15,000 kilometers of highways have been built in the country.

"Roads leading to our borders with all neighboring states were put into operation, intercity and rural roads were built, that is, this infrastructure was created. Over the years, seven airports were built. Six of them are international airports. Azerbaijan has the most modern aircraft fleet. Recently, the Heydar Aliyev International Airport received a five-star status. Just for information I would like to say that only nine airports in the world have a five-star status, one of which is the Heydar Aliyev Airport," President Aliyev said.

The president further noted the work done to upgrade the railway infrastructure.

"We are modernizing the railway infrastructure, updating the existing railways, that is, railways are being built to increase the speed. Locomotives and wagons are being purchased. Last October, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was commissioned on this territory. That was a historic project. Azerbaijan, which issued huge funds for the implementation of the project, was its initiator. We linked Baku and Europe with the help of railways. Indeed, Azerbaijan linked Asia and Europe. From now on, this transport corridor will yield great incomes for many years, bring great benefits to our people," the head of state added.

President Aliyev emphasized that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is a historic project. "Thanks to the successful implementation of this project, Azerbaijan will further strengthen its position in this region," he noted.

"We are currently working on creation of the North-South Transport Corridor and we have completed all the necessary work in our territory. Thus, the routes going from north to south and from east to west pass and will pass through the territory of Azerbaijan. We have allocated additional funds to complete the North-South Transport Corridor, and I am sure this railway will be put into operation in the next few years. Thus, Azerbaijan, which has no access to open seas in Eurasia, will become a transport and logistics hub. We already see this, we are already fulfilling this function," he said.

"One might think that we could consider the work already completed. But we should look and we look to the future. Presently, we are engaged in launching the South-West Transport Corridor. This is also a very important transport corridor, and according to the information provided to me, the first test train has already been sent on that route. Thus, creating a big transport infrastructure, we multiply the geo-political, geo-economic importance of Azerbaijan," President Aliyev said.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohamad.

I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of the beginning of your activity as the prime minister of Malaysia, Ilham Aliyev said in his letter. I believe that friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Malaysia, our bilateral and multilateral cooperation will continue to develop and expand in accordance with the interests of our peoples. I recall our meeting in Baku with the most pleasant impressions, and wish you good health, happiness, success in your upcoming activity for the sake of well-being of the friendly people of Malaysia.Details added (first version posted on 14:27)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

The new Baku Port will play an important role in strengthening Azerbaijan's transport potential, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Complex in Alat settlement on May 14.

"Today is a very significant day in the life of our country. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is being put into operation," President Aliyev said.

"I sincerely congratulate Azerbaijani people on this wonderful event. I am confident that the new Baku Port will play an important role in strengthening the transport potential of our country. I made the decision to build the Port several years ago. I knew, and I saw that Azerbaijan will have a major transport, transit potential, that our country will develop rapidly. The made decision showed that our policy is far-sighted, weighted," the head of state said.

President Ilham Aliyev said that construction work, which was divided into stages, has been launched.

"In 2014, the ferry terminal was commissioned, and Ro-Ro terminal - was commissioned earlier this year. And today, the Port is fully ready for operation. The Port that is capable of handling 15 million tons of cargo, including 100,000 containers, will undoubtedly play an important role in strengthening our transport infrastructure," he said.

The head of the state emphasized that the next stage stipulates ensuring that capacity for cargo transshipment is brought up to 25 million tons.

"Plans related to expansion work have been voiced during today's presentation, and it is planned to increase the port's capacity to 500,000 containers a year," the head of state said.

President Aliyev further noted that local and foreign specialists and employees participated in the port's construction.

"I would like to express my gratitude to them for the work done. I personally controlled the construction work. I am glad that today the highest standards are applied here, all equipment, necessary technical means, latest cranes were purchased and installed here. Thus, we established the strongest transport and logistics center in Azerbaijan," he said.

Choosing Alat also was not accidental, President Aliyev added.

"The existing Baku Port no longer meets our needs, it is located in the city center and its ability to handle increasing cargo volumes is very limited. Alat is a very favorable place from the geographical point of view, and routes passing Alat in both the western and southern directions, including roads and railways, undoubtedly played a major role in choosing this place Surely, development of the Alat settlement will depend, to a large extent, on the logistics and transport infrastructure created here," said the president.

He added that in the near future a free economic zone will be established in Alat, and in the future this territory of Baku will develop very rapidly, numerous workplaces will be created.

"Thus, Alat will take an important place in development of the country's transport and economic potential, " Ilham Aliyev said.

President Aliyev further said that the commissioning of the Baku International Sea Trade Port gives ground to say that all tasks set before the country's transport infrastructure have been fulfilled.

"To date, huge work has been done in this direction. We have the biggest flotilla in the Caspian Sea, we have more than 260 vessels. According to information provided to me, 18 ships were purchased over the past few years. A shipyard was built in Baku upon my initiative. We can build, manufacture all types of ships and, thus, we have eliminated dependence on foreign partners," the head of state said.

President Aliyev added that over the past 15 years,15,000 kilometers of highways have been built in the country.

"Roads leading to our borders with all neighboring states were put into operation, intercity and rural roads were built, that is, this infrastructure was created. Over the years, seven airports were built. Six of them are international airports. Azerbaijan has the most modern aircraft fleet. Recently, the Heydar Aliyev International Airport received a five-star status. Just for information I would like to say that only nine airports in the world have a five-star status, one of which is the Heydar Aliyev Airport," President Aliyev said.

The president further noted the work done to upgrade the railway infrastructure.

"We are modernizing the railway infrastructure, updating the existing railways, that is, railways are being built to increase the speed. Locomotives and wagons are being purchased. Last October, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was commissioned on this territory. That was a historic project. Azerbaijan, which issued huge funds for the implementation of the project, was its initiator. We linked Baku and Europe with the help of railways. Indeed, Azerbaijan linked Asia and Europe. From now on, this transport corridor will yield great incomes for many years, bring great benefits to our people," the head of state added.

President Aliyev emphasized that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is a historic project. "Thanks to the successful implementation of this project, Azerbaijan will further strengthen its position in this region," he noted.

"We are currently working on creation of the North-South Transport Corridor and we have completed all the necessary work in our territory. Thus, the routes going from north to south and from east to west pass and will pass through the territory of Azerbaijan. We have allocated additional funds to complete the North-South Transport Corridor, and I am sure this railway will be put into operation in the next few years. Thus, Azerbaijan, which has no access to open seas in Eurasia, will become a transport and logistics hub. We already see this, we are already fulfilling this function," he said.

"One might think that we could consider the work already completed. But we should look and we look to the future. Presently, we are engaged in launching the South-West Transport Corridor. This is also a very important transport corridor, and according to the information provided to me, the first test train has already been sent on that route. Thus, creating a big transport infrastructure, we multiply the geo-political, geo-economic importance of Azerbaijan," President Aliyev said.

President Aliyev further stressed that at the same time these projects expand and strengthen the international cooperation.

"If we look at the number and power of the countries participating in the East-West and North-South transport corridors, we will see that this is indeed a format for large-scale international cooperation. The East-West Transport Corridor connects China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further the countries of Europe. The North-South Transport Corridor unites Pakistan, India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, the countries of Northern Europe. And the South-West corridor unites countries in a wider format," President Aliyev said, adding that Azerbaijan is a country that participates in all these projects.

Azerbaijan made a lot of efforts to implement these projects, major political steps were taken in this regard, President Aliyev said.

"That is, we purposefully, thoughtfully worked, we made efforts to implement these projects. Finally, we saw the result. Once again, I would like to say that the implementation of these projects will bring economic benefits not only to us. We, by making the most efficient use of our transport potential, will significantly improve our economic situation. These projects greatly enhance Azerbaijan's geopolitical significance," he said.

The president stressed that Azerbaijan, as an indispensable country for the regional cooperation in Eurasia, will continue its activities.

"We enjoy great respect in the world. Azerbaijan is known as a very reliable partner, a country capable of much. Our growing economic power allows us to realize such historic projects. The construction of the Baku International Sea Trade Port is one of the important projects implemented through the state budget of Azerbaijan, and this day will be remembered as an important day in our history. I once again welcome all the participants of the construction of this port, I express my gratitude to them. I wish you continued success in your future work. Once again, I congratulate you and all Azerbaijani people on this wonderful event. Thank you," the head of state concluded.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy/Vice President of the Commission, met today with Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, said a message from the European External Action Service May 13.

Reportedly, they discussed EU-Azerbaijan relations, including the ongoing negotiations on a new bilateral agreement and cooperation in the context of the Eastern Partnership.

Both sides underlined their commitment to continuing these discussions and to further developing EU-Azerbaijan cooperation and dialogue, including on connectivity, economic diversification, energy and trade as well democracy and fundamental rights, said the message.



The High Representative and the Minister also spoke about developments in the wider region, in particular the need to preserve the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA) following the announcement by the US President, said the message.

In November 2016, the EU Council issued a mandate to the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to negotiate on behalf of the EU and its Member States a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan.

The new agreement should replace the partnership and cooperation agreement of 1996, which would make it possible to take greater account of the common goals and challenges facing the EU and Azerbaijan today.

The agreement will comply with the principles approved in 2015 in the document of the European Neighborhood Policy and will offer an updated basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

At present, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of the partnership and cooperation agreement, which was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999.

The new agreement provides for the approximation of Azerbaijan's legislation and procedures to the most important international and trade norms and standards of the EU, which should lead to improved access of Azerbaijani products to the EU markets.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_ZeynBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who is on a working visit to Belgium, met with James Appathurai, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy and NATO Secretary Generals Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message on May 14.

At the meeting, the sides expressed their satisfaction with the development of partnership between Azerbaijan and NATO.



Appathurai thanked Azerbaijan for its financial and technical support to the Afghanistan National Army Trust Fund and the Resolute Support Mission, which is aimed at establishing peace in Afghanistan.



The meetings of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations and Chiefs of the General Staff of the Russian Federation were highly appreciated.



The sides discussed the regional issues as well. Mammadyarov noted that the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia and the illegal presence of the Armenian armed forced in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan are very serious threats to the regional peace and stability.



At the meeting, the sides exchanged their views on the future perspectives of the Azerbaijan-NATO relations and the issues on the international agenda.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Azerbaijan attaches special importance to relations with the European Union, said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov during a meeting with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini in Brussels, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry told Trend May 14.

Mammadyarov touched upon issues of cooperation in energy, trade and other areas of mutual interest.

The sides noted the constructive continuation of the negotiations on the agreement on cooperation between EU and Azerbaijan and expressed confidence that this agreement will give impetus to raising ties to a qualitatively new level and their comprehensive development.

In November 2016, the EU Council issued a mandate to the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to negotiate on behalf of the EU and its Member States a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan.

The new agreement should replace the partnership and cooperation agreement of 1996, which would make it possible to take greater account of the common goals and challenges facing the EU and Azerbaijan today.

The agreement will comply with the principles approved in 2015 in the document of the European Neighborhood Policy and will offer an updated basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The new agreement provides for the approximation of Azerbaijan's legislation and procedures to the most important international and trade norms and standards of the EU, which should lead to improved access of Azerbaijani products to the EU markets.

During the meeting Mammadyarov spoke about the process of the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and added that he will meet in Paris on May 15 with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Minister highly appreciated the EU's position on supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

The meeting exchanged views on regional issues and issues on the international agenda.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

The work to lay seven new switches has started at the Yevlakh railway station in Azerbaijan, the Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC said in a message May 14.

The work is being carried out as part of the overhaul of the 600-kilometer section of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway.

The process of replacing switches at the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway has been going on since September 2016. A special fabrication yard has been built at the Sangachal production base, where the assemblage of lower structures of railroad switches and new reinforced concrete slabs is carried out. The first such railroad switch was mounted on September 9, 2016.

The first new railroad switch was installed Sept. 9, 2016.

So far, 156 new railroad switches have been installed. Seven switches will be replaced at Yevlakh station, and this work will be carried out in stages, the message said.

An additional agreement to the export contract for the second stage of reconstruction of the Azerbaijani railways was signed April 14, 2015 by the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and the Czech company Moravia Steel.

The contract envisages material and technical supply and overhaul of 600 kilometers of the Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway.

The project to overhaul the 600-km Baku-Boyuk Kasik railway was launched in October 2015.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrendEmployees of ZTE Corp, the Chinese telecom equipment maker, are cheering a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump that suggested a resolution is in sight for a devastating ban on sales to the Chinese company, Reuters reports.

In an unexpected reversal of a hardline U.S. stance on the issue, Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together to give ZTE a way to get back into business, fast, citing the loss of many jobs in China.

ZTE was last month hit by a move by Washington to forbid U.S. firms supplying the Chinese company with components and technology after it was found to have violated U.S. export restrictions by illegally shipping goods to Iran. It has since said that it has suspended its main business operations.

Trumps tweet was reposted widely by ZTE employees on social media with comments expressing relief, taking it as a sign of a an impending settlement.

Wow! Breaking good news! a ZTE manager wrote on her WeChat account, pointing to Trumps remark that the U.S. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done.

Almost there, wrote another ZTE employee.

According to a source close to the company, ZTE management welcomed the latest development and planned to negotiate with the U.S. side for a resolution under the guidance of the Chinese government.

The news boosted telecom and semiconductor related stocks in China, which were among the best performing on Monday.

Zhong Fu Tong Group, a communication network maintenance service provider and ZTE supplier, rose by the daily limit of 10 percent.

ZTE employees contacted by Reuters all expressed surprise and optimism at the turn of events, although some also voiced concern that it was still unclear how long it would take to lift the ban and at what cost.

In any case, there are probably going to be layoffs, if the company has to pay another big fine, said one employee, who declined to be named. He added that meetings were being held to discuss resumption of production.

In response to a Reuters request for comment, ZTEs press department said it was preparing a statement.

Edison Lee, an analyst with Jefferies, expressed caution about the news in a investors note, saying that it does not mean the tech-focused trade conflict between China and the US is over.

Lee said Trump appeared to have made the move as a goodwill gesture at Chinas request in order for trade talks to continue and because he expected concessions from China.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Delays at the border with Georgia are related to different approaches to the work of customs authorities, Chief of the Main Department for Activity Assessment and Development Programs of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Igbal Babayev said May 14.

"Today, many people complain that while passing the border of Georgia with Azerbaijan, the delay on the Georgian side lasts for 5-10 minutes, and on the Azerbaijani side  for about an hour. The fact is that Georgia and Azerbaijan have different approaches to the work of customs authorities. In Georgia, the customs authorities are engaged in fiscal activities, while in Azerbaijan the customs authorities to a greater extent ensure the security of the country. Therefore, it takes more time," he said.

Babayev added that Azerbaijani customs service provides only 13 percent of the total revenues to the state budget, while Georgian customs - more than 60 percent.

Babayev said that some processes on the border take a long time.

In order to liquidate one customs journal entry, we sometimes have to appeal to four ministries, and this takes 3-4 months, he noted. Overnight, we liquidated 27 journal entries and 18 documents. Earlier, customs points could check 283,000 cars, but today this figure is 1.35 million cars. More than 60 percent of vehicles cross the border in 20 minutes, 19 percent of vehicles cross the border in 20-60 minutes and only 18 percent of vehicles are delayed at the border for over an hour.

There are six customs border checkpoints between Azerbaijan and Georgia.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_MammadovDetails added (first version posted on 13:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Delays at the border with Georgia are related to different approaches to the work of customs authorities, Chief of the Main Department for Activity Assessment and Development Programs of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Igbal Babayev said May 14.

"Today, many people complain that while passing the border of Georgia with Azerbaijan, the delay on the Georgian side lasts for 5-10 minutes, and on the Azerbaijani side  for about an hour. The fact is that Georgia and Azerbaijan have different approaches to the work of customs authorities. In Georgia, the customs authorities are engaged in fiscal activities, while in Azerbaijan the customs authorities to a greater extent ensure the security of the country. Therefore, it takes more time," he said.

Babayev added that Azerbaijani customs service provides only 13 percent of the total revenues to the state budget, while Georgian customs - more than 60 percent.

Babayev said that some processes on the border take a long time.

In order to liquidate one customs journal entry, we sometimes have to appeal to four ministries, and this takes 3-4 months, he noted. Overnight, we liquidated 27 journal entries and 18 documents. Earlier, customs points could check 283,000 cars, but today this figure is 1.35 million cars. More than 60 percent of vehicles cross the border in 20 minutes, 19 percent of vehicles cross the border in 20-60 minutes and only 18 percent of vehicles are delayed at the border for over an hour.

There are six customs border checkpoints between Azerbaijan and Georgia.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_MammadovBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Kazakhstan will this year start large-scale assembly of Mi-8/17 helicopters at the Aircraft Repair Plant No. 405 JSC, the minister of defense and aerospace industry of Kazakhstan, Beibut Atamkulov said at a meeting of the Kazakh government.

"We plan to organize large-scale assembly of Mi-8/17 helicopters at the Aircraft Repair Plant in Almaty. This year we must start the first stage of the helicopter assembly," said Atamkulov.

The minister also stressed that the helicopters of this model are reliable and effective for several areas at once.

"This model has proven itself as very useful both for national economy and the armed forces of many countries," Atamkulov stressed, adding that Kazakhstan also plans to carry out major repairs of 14 military transport aircraft at the plant in 2018.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_MustafayevBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

In January-April 2018, investment company PASHA Kapital led the ranking of brokers in the Azerbaijani market of public and corporate securities, the Baku Stock Exchange said in a message on May 14.

The investment company provided brokerage services worth 2.11 billion manats during the reporting period.

Unicapital took second place with the rendered services worth 2.06 billion manats. Unicapital is followed by InvestAZ, which rendered services worth 1.8 billion manats in January-April 2018.

Below is the ranking of brokers in Azerbaijans securities market in terms of services rendered in January-April 2018:

Brokers name Value of brokerage services (AZN) Brokers current place in terms of services volume PASHA Kapital 2,107,189,269 1 Unicapital 2,055,295,560 2 Invest-AZ 1,802,105,287 3 AzFinance 1,655,263,352 4 Xalq Kapital 536,034,447 5 PSG Kapital 218,242,521 6 Kapital Menecment - 7

($1 = 1.7 AZN on May 14).

Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrendBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Azerbaijan's cargo airline Silk Way West Airlines has purchased two additional Boeing 747-400 aircraft, as well as expanded its flights in European direction, according to a message posted on The Loadstar.

Last week, the Azerbaijani airline received one cargo 747-400F, previously owned by Malaysian Airlines, and the second one will be brought in June.

Silk Way West also began in April to fly to Liege twice a week and resumed flights to Budapest after a two-year hiatus.

"The aim is to continue to connect our European network by adding more destinations and supporting a more tight schedule with a view to offer our customers maximum flexibility," said Wolfgang Meyer, CEO of the company.

Presently, Silk Way West operates in approximately 45 directions.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrendGazprom is holding talks on the route of the second line of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in the territory of Turkey, Deputy CEO of the Russian gas holding Vitaly Markelov said on Monday, TASS reports.

"As far as the second line is concerned, the readiness in respect of the Russian segment is high Concerning the main gas pipeline passing over the Turkish territory, we are now holding relevant talks on implementation of this project with the Turkish side," Markelov said.Nar introduced its all-new Europe bundle.

There is no need to look for Wi-Fi while travelling abroad to share something with your friends. Thus, by means of this offer, the customers are able to travel to many countries of Europe and enjoy lots of internet in roaming by paying only 2 qepik for every 1 Mb. The size of provided traffic is 200 Mb and the bundle costs AZN 4.

Joining this bundle can be done by dialing *777#078#YES or by using the personal account. Note that the bundle san be ordered unlimited number of times and bonuses ordered within the frames of the package are accumulating. Package usage period is 15 days. If the traffic is consumed before the expiration of this period, the cost of every 1 Mb will be 30 qepik. After the expiration of the bundle, cost of each MB will be calculated in accordance with the relevant zone.

Dial *777#20#YES to check the status of bonuses. For more detailed information send SMS with text Europe or Avropa to 777 or visit www.nar.az website.

Azerfon LLC (operating under the Nar trademark) started its operations on March 21, 2007, and within a short period of time became one of the leading companies of the telecommunications and mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan. Being the first operator in the country to introduce the 3G technology, Nar provides the customers with a wide 4G network coverage. With a large network of over 6500 base stations, covering 93% of the countrys territory, Nar provides more than 2 million subscribers with the high quality services.Nar conducted a traditional meeting with media representatives.

During the meeting, held with participation of large number of journalists, the operator has shared extensive information about its latest achievements, products and services, expanded network and works implemented within its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy.

During the meeting, media representatives were informed about highest results of Nar in terms of mobile internet users, as well as increase in the usage of mobile internet in Baku and Absheron peninsula (by 88%) and regions (by 28%), in addition to beneficial and convenient campaigns and offers.

CEO of Azerfon LLC Gunnar Pahnke welcomed the journalists and shared his insights with regard to latest achievements of Nar:

We are all pleased with achievements, which became possible thanks to dynamic development. These results were achieved thanks to significant expansion of mobile communication network, as well as modern services and beneficial prices. Nar will continue to strive for achievement of defined targets, with high development rate said Mr. Pahnke.

While talking about measures taken in direction of network reinforcement, it was mentioned that the operator provides high quality services to subscribers by means of more than 6500 base stations; along with providing 4G (LTE) services in regions. It was also said that only during the first months of 2018, as much as 147 new LTE base stations were installed in the capital and 18 regions of the country, along with installation of LTE network in the metro stations and ensuring reinforced network at racing areas during the Formula Azerbaijan Grand-Prix.

It was also communicated that according to mobile network benchmarking tests, held by an independent international P3 Communications company, during the second quarter of the year 2017, Nar network demonstrated the highest results in the country, in terms of provision of mobile voice services.

Keeping the demands and wishes of subscribers in a constant spotlight, Nar came up with various products and offers. The Full packages, offered by the mobile operator are first on the market to feature transferrable bonuses experience. Another offer is Qutu, which is a unique product combining fiber-optic internet for homes, digital TV, countrywide calling minutes to all directions and mobile internet services. Moreover, a 62% increase is observed in usage of Yerlim tariff, which is designed especially for countrys regions. In addition to that, usage of WhatsApp became free of charge in all Turbo packages of Nar.

In addition to business operations, the mobile operator pays special attention to social responsibility and social activities. Within the framework of its extensive CSR strategy, Nar opened a GSM laboratory, equipped with special equipment for students of Azerbaijan Technical University; contributed to revealing young talents by supporting the Microsoft Imagine Cup, continued supporting the Brain Ring intellectual contest, beloved by the younger generation, and organized various social initiatives.

This year, Nar implemented a new social project. Thus, on the occasion of 100th Anniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the operator has congratulated our soldiers, who serve at one of the military units at the frontline area, with Novruz holiday. This initiative is organized together with the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and participation of soldiers parents in the event became a pleasant surprise for our motherland guards, providing them with the real holiday mood.

Azerfon LLC (operating under the Nar brand name) started its operations on March 21, 2007, and within a short period of time became one of the leading companies of the telecommunications and mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan. Being the first operator in the country to introduce the 3G technology, Nar provides the customers with a wide 4G network coverage.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:

The High Tech Park LLC operating under the Azerbaijani Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ministry and the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham) signed a memorandum on cooperation in the IT sector, the ministry said in a message on May 14.

The document stipulates formation of a roadmap for long-term strategic cooperation between the parties.

Within the framework of the cooperation, AmCham will assist in attracting investments to local start-ups, create a favorable environment for cooperation with US venture funds, access of software solutions and services of local IT companies to the US market.

As part of Azerbaijani delegation's recent visit to the US, meetings were held with leadership of Google, Lenovo, Nutanix, the Investment technology center and the International investment company of the United States.

An agreement was reached with Lenovo on establishment of an R&D laboratory under the High-Tech Park and on provision of local start-ups with benefits of the Lenovo incubation and venture program.

Nutanix, in turn, offered to establish an academy at one of Azerbaijani universities for the exchange of scientific experience.

The US international investment company announced its readiness to organize investment sessions for local companies, while the US investment and technology center is to provide support in attracting investments to local start-ups and providing them with consulting services.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyevBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

During the first four months of 2018, Heydar Aliyev International Airport served over 1.239 million passengers, the airports press service said in a statement May 14.

This indicator exceeds the same indicator of the previous year by 15 percent.

National air carrier Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) carried 495,000 passengers, while national low-cost airline Buta Airways  139,000 passengers.

1.066 million passengers (86 percent of passenger traffic) accounted for international flights. 30 percent of total number of international passengers accounted for AZAL, while 13 percent - Buta Airways.

Presently, Heydar Aliyev International Airport serves 30 airlines on over 40 destinations. Top ten most popular international destinations include Istanbul, Moscow, Dubai, Kiev, Doha, Sharjah, Tbilisi, Baghdad, Tehran and St. Petersburg. 818,000 passengers traveled to these destinations in January-April.

The new airport terminal of Heydar Aliyev Airport (Terminal 1) was put into operation in April 2014. Its total area is 65,000 square meters.

In May 2018 Heydar Aliyev International Airport was awarded the maximum category of "5 stars" by the Skytrax, which is influential British consulting company specializing in the study of the quality of services provided by various airlines and airports worldwide.

Also Heydar Aliyev Airport was named the best airport among airports of Russia and CIS countries for the level of the provided services, being awarded the prestigious Skytrax World Airport Awards for the second year in a row.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrendBishkek and Moscow have not yet made a final decision concerning the establishment of another Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov said in an interview with TASS.

"We have considered this issue with Russia before I took office as president. But no final decision has been made so far," he said.

Jeenbekov pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan and threats related to it required "joint measures to ensure security in the Central Asian region." At the same time, he noted that Kyrgyzstan already hosted a Russian military base. "An aviation base of the Russian Armed Forces, located in the city of Kant, plays an important role in ensuring aviation security," Kyrgyzstans president said. According to him, Kyrgyzstans "position on setting up another Russian military base in the countrys south is based on the need to form collective response forces to deal with threats coming from Afghanistan, such as terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking.".Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 14

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The chairman of Turkmenistan's state concern "Turkmenkhimiya" Niyazli Niyazliyev has been reprimanded.

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has signed the corresponding decree "for unsatisfactory performance of official duties, weakening of control over the work implemented by the concern".

The main purpose of the activity of Turkmenkhimiya" concern is to meet the needs of the national economy and the people of Turkmenistan in mineral fertilizers and chemical products, as well as to export these products.

The state concern "Turkmenkhimiya" was established in 2007 with the purpose of organization of management of the enterprises making and distributing mineral fertilizers and chemical products in Turkmenistan.

The structure of the group consists of nine production companies, the structure for the provision of services in the area of sale of mineral fertilizers to consumers ("Dokunkhimiya") and the specialized Scientific Research Institute (Institute of Chemistry).Tehran, Iran, May 14

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:

Iran seeks new oil swap opportunities with Caspian Sea littoral states, Seyed Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Terminals Company (NIOTC), told Trend.

Iran is currently swapping oil with Turkmenistan, Mousavi said, adding that Iran considers to attract other littoral states to swap as well.

Last August Iran confirmed that has received several oil cargoes from Turkmenistan in the Neka port, saying the volume is planed to reach 200,000 b/d in 2018.

The unloaded oil at Neka port is transferred in stages through the 32-inch Neka-Sari-Rey oil pipeline to be used in Tabriz and Tehran refineries, located in northern Iran, and the same amount of Iranian oil is delivered to swap partner in Persian Gulf.

At the moment, the pipeline and the related facilities have capacity to transfer 370,000 barrels of crude oil per day, however it can be increased to 500,000 barrels, according to Iranian officials.

Mousavi said that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are the next countries that Iran targets to resume oil swap with them.

He further said that the Islamic Republic is negotiating with these countries, adding that "we enjoy the capacity to resume oil swap with our neighbors in the Caspian Sea and are determined to use this capability."

Iran stopped oil swaps with Caspian countries eight years ago after over one decade of operations which brought $880 million in revenues to Iran.

Under the oil swap agreements, which started in 1997 and were in place for over 12 years, Iran received crude oil of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in the Neka port and delivered an equal volume to the clients of the same countries in the Persian Gulf.

Earlier in March Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Masoud Karbasian said Tehran and Baku have agreed on eight documents on cooperation, including the swap of oil and gas.Tehran, Iran, May 14

By Fikret Dolukhanov, Javad Arabshirazi  Trend:

Foreign oil companies have put together a contingency plan if their contracts with Iran fall through in case of Washingtons withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), former Professor of Economics at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, Hamid Zangeneh told Trend on May 4.

"Each (oil) contractor has demanded and secured some clause that would enumerate contingencies and a way out of their contract if the JCPOA partially or totally collapses," Zangeneh said.

He added that in the absence of such explicit provisions, each contractor must comply with the terms of the contract.

Commenting on the possibility of Russian companies to replace foreign companies, Zangeneh also noted that he is not sure if Russia or China has the know-how similar to Total to undertake what Iran needs.

"But this is the story of Iran in the past 40 years. Iran, rather than resolving its issues with the US has tried every way to bypass the US by using and appealing to players such as Russia, China, EU, India etc. who do not have Irans interest at heart," Zangeneh said.

He concluded saying that Iranians need to understand that the US can live harmlessly and comfortable without Iran forever, while Iran has to pay a very large price its abstinence, and unless and until Iranians come to terms and understand this, they will be on the starting page one.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovTehran, Iran, May 14

By Umid Niayesh, Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:

Currently Iran swaps about one million cubic meters of gas per day with Azerbaijan, Irans deputy oil minister Hamid Reza Araqi said.

Araqi, who heads the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said that Iran swaps the volume with Azerbaijan to meet Nakhchivan Autonomous Republics demand, Trend correspondent reported.

Araqi added that Tehran is also swapping gas from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan.

An Iranian company buys gas from Turkmenistan and sells it to Azerbaijan, he said, adding that the volume of the gas sold to Azerbaijan by the company stands at six million cubic meters per day.

The Islamic Republic holds around 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, sharing 18 percent of total global gas reserves, which puts the country in the top of the world's gas holders list.

Iranian gas refineries processed 214 billion cubic meters (bcm) of sweet gas during the last fiscal year, ended March 20, 2018.Details added First version was published on 11:41

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Irans foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Russias official position on nuclear deal is very promising.

He made the remarks in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow May 14, Irans state-run IRINN TV reported.

After holding talks in China, the top Iranian diplomat departed to Moscow as part of efforts to save the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the six world powers in 2015, which provides the Islamic Republic with relief from international sanctions in return for curbing its nuclear program.

Zarif launched a diplomatic tour last week to talk the nuclear deal with counterparts following the US withdrawal.

The trip is carried on in line with the President Hassan Rouhanis directive for intensive talks on the possibility of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal) while the Iranian nations interests are guaranteed.

In his meeting with Lavrov, Zarif said that opposing international regulations and agreements have turned into a habit for the US government.

He added that the global community needs to protect the international laws and regulations.

Iran has decided to give a chance for diplomacy on preserving the nuclear deal after the US withdrawal, Zarif said, adding that the JCPOA is based on a balance between the commitments of the sides including Iran, Europe and the United States.

By the US withdrawal the balance will collapse and we must see how the interests of the Iranian people can be protected in this situation, the Iranian diplomat said.

Zarif also referred to his negotiations with the Chinese side as very positive.

After Moscow, Zarif will travel to Brussels on May 15 to hold meetings with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Britain, as well as EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini to discuss the accord.

Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word in the country has said that "It is not logical to continue the implementation of the JCPOA without receiving enough guarantees from three European countries, the UK, France, and Germany."Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has tweeted that he had good and substantive meetings with counterparts in Beijing and Moscow over the future of the nuclear deal, reached in 2015 between Tehran and the six world powers.

[We] will soon determine how P4+1 can guarantee Irans benefits under the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka nuclear deal] and preserve this unique achievement of diplomacy, Zarif tweeted ahead of his trip to Brussels to discuss the issue with the European counterparts.

The top Iranian diplomat is scheduled to meet with foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain, as well as EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini on May 15.

Following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on May 14, Zarif said that Russia confirmed its readiness to respect the nuclear deal.

Russia and Iran would do everything to save the nuclear deal after the Washingtons withdrawal from the accord, the Iranian diplomat said.

Zarif launched a diplomatic tour last week to talk the nuclear deal with counterparts, following the US withdrawal.

The trip is carried out in line with the President Hassan Rouhanis directive for intensive talks on the possibility of preserving the JCPOA while the Iranian nations interests are guaranteed.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Irans deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, heading an expert team of various economic fields, arrived in Brussels May 14 for negotiations on JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

Upon arrival the top Iranian diplomat held talks with Helga Schmid, secretary-general of the European External Action Service, Irans media outlets reported.

Negotiations between the Iranian and European experts is expected to continue till tomorrow, when EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini will host a meeting of Iran and three European foreign ministers (Germany, France, UK).

The expert level talks results is expected to be submitted to foreign ministers.

Irans foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif launched a diplomatic tour last week to talk the nuclear deal with counterparts, following the US withdrawal.

The trip is carried out in line with the President Hassan Rouhanis directive for intensive talks on the possibility of preserving the JCPOA while the Iranian nations interests are guaranteed.President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has assessed the events that took place on Rustaveli Avenue during the last two days as a "total failure of political and administrative actions at todays briefing, Agenda reports.

"There were a full range of mistakes starting with the police raid. How can we manage to reach this level of civil confrontation in just a few hours? There are questions which need very direct answers, he said, adding that the major goal is to maintain freedom of expression while on the other hand to keep order in Tbilisi streets and in the socio-political process at the same time.

He also thanked the police who were trying to prevent a confrontation between the two opposite groups of protesters and ensuring their safety at Rustaveli Avenue yesterday.

President Margvelashvili said the drug policy should be liberal and fight agains drugs trafficking needs to be carried out against traffickers, not users.

"We need an anti drugs campaign which should be lead by people who are close to the clubgoers hearts - representstives of club stages, Djs, influential clubers," President Margvelashvili explained.

At the 12-13 May protest rally organized by the White Noise movement, protesters occupied Rustaveli Avenue criticizing the police raid of Tbilisi night clubs of Bassiani and Cafe Gallery. Protesters also have demanded a more liberal drug policy. They were confronted by counter protesters headed by ultra-nationalist movement Georgian National Unity demanding the pro-liberalisation rally stop.

A peaceful resolution of possible confrontation between the two groups came after a more than one hour long meeting between the Minister of Internal Affairs accompanied by Tbilisi Mayor and the White Noise Movement leaders inside the parliament building.

Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia has promised to begin talks on re-examining the countrys drug policy. The first meeting between the White Noise Movement and the minister is being held today.Libya will return to Egypt on Monday the bodies of 20 Egyptian Christians killed in 2015 by Islamic State in its former Libyan stronghold of Sirte, a Libyan security official said, Reuters reports.

The bodies were recovered in October after the area where they were buried was recaptured from the jihadist group.

The Coptic Christians were beheaded on a beach in February 2015 wearing orange jumpsuits, according to a video posted by Islamic State.

Their bodies will be flown from the western city of Misrata to Egypt, a Libyan official said, adding that one victim was from Ghana.

Islamic State took control of Sirte in 2015 and lost the city late last year to local forces backed by U.S. air strikes.The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to address the violent clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, a Palestinian envoy said Monday, according Xinhua.

Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said the meeting will take place "possibly within the next 24 hours."

Mansour said 45 Palestinians were killed, including eight under the age of 16, and more than 2,000 were injured in violent clashes with Israeli forces on Monday when the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, which trigged the escalation of conflict at the Gaza border.

The escalation has brought the number of casualties since March 30, when the Palestinians first held the "Great Return March" protests, to almost 100 dead and more than 11,000 injured.

"We condemn in the strongest term this atrocity by the Israeli occupying forces using this massive fire power against civilians who have the right to demonstrate peacefully," said Mansour.Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on a government building in Afghanistan on Sunday, the Islamist militant groups Amaq news agency said without providing any evidence, Reuters reported.

Afghan security forces battled for hours against a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern city of Jalalabad after a coordinated assault that killed at least 15 people and wounded 42, local officials said.Colombian authorities evacuated around 600 people on Sunday from the town of Valdivia in northern Antioquia Department after the Cauca river burst its banks and destroyed 19 houses, a clinic, a school and a bridge, Xinhua reported.

According to the local risk management council, families have been resettled in improvised shelters until the situation returns to normal. People living along the river are also being evacuated in the towns of Taraza, Briceno, Caceres, Nechi and Caucasia.

"We are evacuating certain families ... at this moment, we do not have the total number of families being evacuated. We are only just beginning the contingency plan," said Didier Fernando Lopez, Valdivia's risk management director, to the local press.

The state government of Antioquia is also bringing in humanitarian supplies to the affected area.

Bogota has dispatched elements from the army, the police and the disaster management unit to the area while the Red Cross is also on the ground.

According to authorities, the rapid rise in the Cauca river's water level was due to the unblocking of a water evacuation tunnel on Saturday, which had been affected by a landslide at the nearby Ituango hydropower project.

By 6:00 p.m. Saturday, a new blockage had been registered in the tunnel, with authorities remaining on high alert for any other similar incidents.A severe blast ripped through a police headquarters on Monday in the second biggest city of Indonesia Surabaya. The attack was carried out by suspects driving "vehicles", AFP cited East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera. At least seven police officers were killed, Sputnik reported citing local media.

According to Frans Barung Mangera, the explosion had occurred at 8:50 am local time (01:50 GMT) at the main police office.

"There was an explosion and one of our members is a victim," East Java Police spokesman was quoted as saying by AFP.

According to the CCTV footage from the scene, the assailants arrived on a motorbike to the police HQ's security checkpoint before detonating an explosive devise, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.

"We cant be open up all details yet because we are still identifying victims at the scene and the crime scene is being handled," East Java Police spokesman was quoted as saying by Reuters. At the same time, the police have already found the links with the Sunday attacks on churches in Surabaya.

Similar types of explosives were used, Frans Barung Mangera said. Our personnel are identifying the victims. So far, we have accounted for seven victims. We are still collecting data, East Java Police spokesman told reporters.

On Sunday, alleged Daesh-linked suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and injuring about 40.Russias Acting Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday he planned to discuss the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal with Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih when they meet at an economic forum in St. Petersburg later this month, Reuters reports.

Novak told reporters global oil prices are currently under the influence of geopolitics but fundamentally the market is balancing out.Aviation authorities of Russia and the United States and US airlines should sign an agreement on transit across the territory of Russia by the end of this year, Acting Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told reporters on Monday, TASS reports.

"Such an agreement should be signed by the end of the year not merely with US air carriers but also with US aviation authorities at the level of the Russian Ministry of Transport and Russian aviation authorities. Certain arrangements must be achieved there, which should definitely satisfy our country and our transport sector from the political and the economic standpoint, the official said.

Russia expects to hold talks with the United States on air communication in the near future, he added. "We are preparing our position. First of all, it will be based on the interests of Russia, development of the transport industry. It will be an informed decision, but we need to come to it. We are formulating our position now. We expect to hold official negotiations with our American partners in the near future," he said.

There is no critical situation with US visas of Aeroflot crews and the issue can be resolved in the course of the nearest talks, Sokolov said.

"This is not a challenge now. In other words, there is no critical situation but this is an issue. In particular, we expect to close it out within the framework of our talks," the minister said.Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano that Russia is developing its nuclear energy in strict compliance with the restrictions on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, TASS reports.

"You know that Russia is one of key participants of the process of developing atomic energy," Putin said at a bilateral meeting. "We are fully meeting our commitments and all works which Russia conducts on developing atomic energy are in strict compliance with all the restrictions related to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

The Russian president stressed that he is glad that the IAEA is acting strictly in line with its charter and has earned confidence due to its professionalism and impartiality.

Putin thanked Amano for taking part in a forum held by the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation. The Russian leader recalled that Russia has been supporting the IAEAs activity from the very outset and continues active cooperation with the organization.

The president noted that at Mondays meeting with the IAEA chief he plans to discuss all issues of Russias cooperation with the organization.

Amano said he was impressed by the cutting-edge technologies in both atomic energy and other areas presented at Rosatoms exhibition.

The tenth annual international forum ATOMEXPO 2018 is held in Sochi on May 14-16. This is the largest event of such scale in Russia and the CIS, dedicated to nuclear energy. Some 90 representatives of Russian and foreign nuclear energy companies and more than 500 foreign participants are expected to take part in the forum.Philippine Foreign Minister Alan Peter Cayetano has arrived in Moscow and will hold talks with senior officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 15, a source in the Philippine embassy told TASS.

"He has already arrived in the Russian capital, talks with senior officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry are scheduled to be held on May 15," the source said.

Russia and the Philippines have been maintaining close political dialogue at various levels. On November 10, 2017, the two countries presidents - Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte - held a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vietnam, while Duterte made a visit to Russia in May 2017.Chief executive of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) and ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin consented to become a candidate to the office of the head of the Russian Chamber of Accountants from the United Russia`s (Edinaya Rossiya) party, a participant in the meeting of the fraction presidium told TASS on Monday.

"Yes, he has agreed," the source said. It was reported on Friday that the United Russia party put forward a proposal to Kudrin to head the Russian Accounts Chamber.

The United Russia`s (Edinaya Rossiya) party fraction in the State Duma will make a decision to nominate ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin as a candidate to the office of the head of the Chamber of Accounts, a participant said.

"We will make a decision [to nominate Kudrin - TASS] tomorrow at the fraction meeting after the State Dumas meeting," the source said.International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano refrained from commenting on Washingtons exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russias Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Mikhail Ulyanov told reporters on Monday, TASS reports.

"The Agency is a technical and non-political organization, so the director general was quite right to refrain from evaluating decisions made by Washington," the Russian envoy said.

"He said that the Agency had been conducting monitoring and checks in Iran and was determined to continue doing that based on the reasons provided by the United Nations Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors," Ulyanov said.

When asked whether the IAEA saw any violations on Irans part, the Russian envoy answered in the negative.

"I believe that it is either a misunderstanding of the deals nature or a political decision stemming from the rejection of Mr. Obamas legacy. This is the impression that one gets," Ulyanov said in response to a question as to what reasons were behind the United States decision.

In 2015, Iran and six major powers (five member states of the United Nations Security Council - Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and China - and Germany) agreed on the final Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the Iranian nuclear program, which particularly stipulates the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced Washingtons withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. According to Trump, the JCPOA left the door open for Iran to circumvent restrictions and develop a nuclear bomb. The US president said that old sanctions would be restored and new ones would be introduced in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions. At the same time, Trump called for making a new agreement.Military cooperation between Moscow and Cairo has been expanding, Russias Acting Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhy on Monday, TASS reports.

"There has been a sustainable positive trend toward growing military cooperation," Shoigu said. "We are pleased to see Egypts intention to provide modern Russian-made weapons and military equipment to the its armed forces," he added.

At the same time, the acting Russian defense minister pointed out that Moscow would like Cairo to strengthen its leading position "in ensuring regional security and stability." "We see visible progress in bilateral relations," he said.

According to Shoigu, Russia values the Egyptian authorities wish to boost multifaceted relations between the two countries, "including in the military area, as well as Cairos constructive stance on major security issues facing the Middle East and North Africa."

Shoigu went on to say that holding two-plus-two meetings between the foreign and defense ministers was important for Russian-Egyptian cooperation as participants had "a unique opportunity to compare their positions on pressing bilateral issues."

"We intend to continue boosting military cooperation in every field of mutual interest," Shoigu concluded.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Turkish General Directorate of Highways has announced an open tender for construction of five bridges in Diyarbakir province within 900 days since the date of announcement of the tender results.

Turkish and foreign companies can participate in the tender.

The tender will be held on June 6, 2018 at 11:00 (GMT +3).

Tender bids and proposals of the interested parties are accepted at the following address: Karayollar 9. Bolge Mudurlugu Buyukalp Caddes 21100.

The participation fee is 1,600 Turkish liras.

For more information, call: (+90 412) 228 80 50. Fax: (+90 412) 228 80 50.

Email: [email protected]

(1 USD = 4.2648 TRY on May 14)

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Very serious problems are awaiting the Middle East, this region is on the verge of new military conflicts, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkish media reported May 14.

Erdogan was commenting on the Israeli Air Forces strikes on Syria.

He said that in fact, Israel provokes Iran to the war.

He noted that the Israeli air strikes on Syria were carried out under the pretext of responding to shelling by the Iranian servicemen, however Iran doesnt recognize these statements of Tel Aviv as true.

On the night of May 10, the Israeli authorities said that Quds Force, a special forces unit of Irans Revolutionary Guards, fired about 20 missiles from Syria on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. Israel regarded these actions as Iranian aggression, and inflicted a retaliatory air strike on Syria.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Turkish Air Force killed 13 terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as part of air operations in northern Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said in a message May 14.

Three strongholds of the PKK terrorists were also destroyed, according to the message.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for more than 30 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The UN and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

The Turkish army has deployed 11th observation post in the Syrian Idlib to monitor the observance of the ceasefire in the de-escalation zone, Turkish media reported, citing the Turkish General staff.

The day before, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that 10 observation posts of the Turkish army in Idlib are already operating, and the remaining two, provided for by the agreements concluded in Astana, will be created within the next week.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Heads of intelligence agencies of Russia and Turkey discussed in Istanbul cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, head of the press office of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia Sergei Ivanov told journalists, reports TASS.

"On May 13, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Sergei Naryshkin held a meeting in Istanbul with Director of the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey (MIT) Hakan Fidan," Ivanov said.

The heads of intelligence agencies of the two countries discussed further strengthening cooperation in the fight against international terrorism. "There was a productive exchange of views on the situation in the Near and Middle East, as well as on a number of aspects of Russian-Turkish relations," the SVR press office stated.Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

Trend:

Thousands of people protests in Istanbul against Israel's actions in Gaza, which killed more than 50 Palestinians, Haberturk reported.

The protesters also oppose the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Demonstrators are marching in the area of the pedestrian street Istiklal and Taksim Square. They carry the flags of Palestine and Turkey, chant anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans.

Previously, President Donald Trump declared that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and announced about decision to move the US embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump's decision caused riots among Palestinians and protests in several Arab countries. The movement of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is scheduled for May 14, the day of the 70th anniversary of creation of Israel.In response to Israel's ongoing violent suppression of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recalled his country's ambassadors to both the US and Israel, accusing Israel of "state terror" and "genocide", Sputnik reported.

According to reports, Erdogan is recalling the ambassadors for consultations over Israel's brutal crackdown on the ongoing March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip, which came to a deadly head Monday as at least 55 Palestinians were killed while protesting the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. Nearly 3,000 Palestinians have been injured in the protests so far.

"Turkey will react to this harshly. We have withdrawn our ambassadors from Washington and Tel Aviv for consultations," Erdogan said on NTV Television during his visit to the UK. "We also propose to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. We will hold talks with many leaders."

Erdogan also declared a three-day national mourning period starting tomorrow for Palestinian victims.The volcanic activity on Hawaiis Big Island continues with new fissures opening up in the eastern rift zone of the islands Kilauea volcano, the Hawaii County Civil Defense said, Sputnik reported.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has verified reports a new fissure, number 18, opening up to the west, or Kalapana side, of Highway 132 on Halekamahina Loop Road in lower Puna  Lava spatter activity and gas emissions are occurring at this time, the Civil Defense said on Sunday.

At the same time, the US Geological Surveys Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said that the earthquake activity and ground deformation continues.

Aerial observations of this new fissure indicate it is at least several hundreds yards long and producing spatter rising many tens of feet into the air. A slow-moving lava flow is moving away from the vent, the observatory said.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump unlocked federal funding for Hawaii, providing both state and local authorities with federal assistance in their recovery efforts in the areas affected by the ongoing eruption.

The major Kilauea volcano eruption started on May 3, prompting evacuations in the Puna district which is home to around 10,000 residents.

Lava from Kilauea has destroyed so far 36 structures, including more than two dozen homes, and covered 117 acres of land. On Saturday, fissures No. 16 and No. 17 opened up some 300 feet apart from each other.The United States has condemned the deadly knife attack which took place in the French capital and expressed readiness to provide assistance to France, the White House said in a statement, Sputnik reported.

The United States strongly condemns yesterdays terrorist attack in Paris. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with the French people and their government against this vicious act of terrorism, and pledge any assistance needed. Acts like this only strengthen the resolve of the global coalition to defeat ISIS and drive it out of existence, the statement read.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington is unable to confirm that the assailant was an IS militant. The attacker, Khamzat Azimov, was of Chechen origin and received French citizenship in 2010.

In the late hours of Saturday, a knife-wielding man stabbed people in central Paris, killing one person and injuring four others. The perpetrator of the attack was killed by police at the scene of the incident. The Daesh terrorist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. French prosecutors said the incident was being treated as a terrorist attack.US representatives will not take part in the international meeting in Astana on the settlement in Syria, Kazakh Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anuar Zhainakov told reporters on Monday, TASS reports.

"The US delegation has refrained from taking part in the current round of talks on Syria in Astana," Zhainakov said.

The international meeting on the settlement in Syria will be held in Astana on May 14-15. Kazakhstans Foreign Ministry earlier reported that, in addition to Russia, Iran and Turkey acting as guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire, the delegations of the Syrian government and the opposition, UN representatives and observers from the US and Jordan had been invited to the meeting.

During the talks, the parties are due to discuss the current situation in Syria, including in the de-escalation zones, humanitarian issues and confidence-building measures and coordinate further steps to facilitate the resolution of the crisis in that country. Bilateral and multilateral consultations are scheduled to be held on May 14, while the plenary meeting is to be held on May 15.Dupa inscrierea pe site-ul HotNews.ro, poti deschide sectiunea MyHotNews ca sa completezi sau sa schimbi profilul de utilizator.

Atentie! Logarea pe site se face cu adresa de email, nu cu nickname-ul. Adresa ta de email va ramane confidentiala si nu va fi niciodata data unor terte persoane sau institutii.

Inainte de a te inscrie pe site te rugam sa parcurgi termenii si conditiile atasate unui cont HotNews.ro.The IMD has also informed that low depressions could develop in both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal in the span of the next two weeks.Shares of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) will begin trading ex-dividend in 2 days. To qualify for the dividend check of $1.12 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 17 May 2018, which is the last day the companys management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding Chevron can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stocks most recent financial data and dividend attributes. View our latest analysis for Chevron

5 questions I ask before picking a dividend stock

When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria:

Is its annual yield among the top 25% of dividend-paying companies?

Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past?

Has dividend per share amount increased over the past?

Is it able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

Will it have the ability to keep paying its dividends going forward?

NYSE:CVX Historical Dividend Yield May 14th 18

How does Chevron fare?

The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 81.06%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. However, going forward, analysts expect CVXs payout to fall to 66.48% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 3.59%. However, EPS should increase to $7.46, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment. If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, its dividend stocks and their constant income stream. In the case of CVX it has increased its DPS from $2.6 to $4.48 in the past 10 years. It has also been paying out dividend consistently during this time, as youd expect for a company increasing its dividend levels. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock. Compared to its peers, Chevron produces a yield of 3.45%, which is on the low-side for Oil and Gas stocks.

Story continues

Next Steps:

Keeping in mind the dividend characteristics above, Chevron is definitely worth considering for investors looking to build a dedicated income portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the companys fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Below, Ive compiled three important aspects you should further research:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for CVXs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for CVXs outlook. Valuation: What is CVX worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, its not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether CVX is currently mispriced by the market. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.



To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.The marijuana industry is growing like a weed, and investors can't seem to get enough of pot stocks. Over the trailing-two-year period, the vast majority of marijuana stocks have risen by a triple- or quadruple-digit percentage.

But, truth be told, not a lot is definitively known about the weed industry, which still operates behind a cloud of uncertainty. After all, marijuana is still illegal in every country around the world, save for Uruguay. Within the U.S., despite 29 states having legalized cannabis in some capacity, the federal government maintains a Schedule I classification on the drug, meaning it's entirely illegal, prone to abuse, and has no recognized benefits.

A jar filled with cannabis buds tipped over and lying atop a small pile of cash.

Image source: Getty Images.

In an effort to provide industry insights to Wall Street, investors, and the general public, Marijuana Business Daily publishes its "Marijuana Business Factbook" each year. "Factbook," as the report is better known, provides a plethora of estimates on U.S. cannabis job and sales growth over the coming five-year period. This past week, the latest edition of Factbook was released, which spanned growth estimates between 2017 and 2022. Here are the seven most awe-inspiring statistics provided in that exclusive report.

1. U.S. legal weed sales could rise by nearly 50% in 2018

As is often the case with this annual report, the headline statistic is the expectation of legal weed sales growth in 2018. After generating between $5.8 billion and $6.6 billion in legal sales in 2017 -- Marijuana Business Factbook often lists sales and growth estimates in ranges as opposed to a single projection -- legal pot sales are expected to reach between $7.9 billion and $9.7 billion in 2018. At the midpoint of both estimates, we're looking at 42% year-on-year growth.

The bulk of this increase will come from recreational cannabis sales, and more specifically, from California opening its doors to legal adult-use consumers. Factbook assumes minimum recreational cannabis sales of $500 million in California this year. Additionally, the launch of recreational sales in Massachusetts by this summer, along with Nevada's burgeoning adult-use market -- recreational sales in Nevada kicked off in July 2017 -- should help lift sales.

Story continues

A cannabis worker holding a trimmed bud in their hand.

Image source: Getty Images.

2. Legal sales could hit more than $22 billion by 2022

Over the longer run, legal marijuana sales in the U.S. are estimated to grow by more than 27% per year through 2022 (assuming peak sales estimates each year). After hitting a peak of $6.6 billion in legal sales in 2017, Factbook estimates that between $18 billion and $22.1 billion worth of cannabis could be sold to consumers through legal channels in 2022.

The push to potentially more than $22 billion in sales would be the result of new states legalizing pot in some capacity, as well as organic growth within already legal states. For instance, legal weed sales in Colorado have more than doubled from $699 million in 2014, the first year of recreational marijuana sales in the state, to $1.49 billion as of 2017, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

3. Recreational pot sales could double medical sales by 2022

Also of note is the breakdown of expected legal cannabis sales by 2022. According to Factbook, medical marijuana sales are expected to account for between $5.9 billion and $7.3 billion in sales in 2022. Meanwhile, recreational weed should tally between $12.1 billion and $14.8 billion in sales that year. Even though medical sales will have doubled since 2017, recreational marijuana sales will have quadrupled over the same time period. This suggests that recreational customers are a priority for growth-oriented cannabis companies.

A young man in a hooded sweatshirt holding a potted cannabis plant.

Image source: Getty Images.

4. Total U.S. cannabis demand is $52.5 billion

Just how big is the U.S. cannabis market? According to Factbook, legal channel and black market demand combined work out to $52.5 billion. That's a massive number, which has played a big role in pushing marijuana stock valuations ever higher.

Then again, this figure also shows just how far the legal weed industry has to go to stomp out the underground cannabis market. Assuming a midpoint of $6.2 billion in sales last year, this suggests that more than $46 billion in sales were conducted outside the scope of legal channels. Some folks would view this as an opportunity for legal businesses, while others would say that the black market is simply too powerful to overcome. Personally, I believe both views could be right.

5. Marijuana jobs growth to average 21% a year through 2022

Expansion of the cannabis industry in the U.S. isn't just about sales -- it's also about the jobs that are directly and indirectly tied to marijuana. As of today, an estimated 125,000 to 160,000 people are employed within the cannabis industry. By 2022, Factbook predicts that figure could soar to roughly 340,000 jobs. Assuming the current peak estimate of 160,000, this works out to jobs growth of 21% per year through 2022. By comparison, the healthcare industry is only expected to see jobs growth of approximately 2% per year through 2022.

A hemp farmer standing next to his crop.

Image source: Getty Images.

6. A greater than $75 billion annual economic impact by 2022

According to Factbook, the cannabis industry could generate an economic impact of between $28 billion and $34 billion in 2018 and surpass an economic impact of $75 billion by 2022. The report notes that: "Estimates for the industry's economic impact are based on retail marijuana sales and incorporates a multiplier of 3.5. For every $1 consumers or patients spend at dispensaries or [recreational] stores, another $2.50 in economic benefit is created in cities, states, and nationwide." Once again, this is about more than just sales. The expansion of the legal cannabis industry could generate jobs and help prop up local economies.

7. Fully legalized cannabis could eventually top U.S. cigarette sales

Lastly, and perhaps most aggressively, Factbook offers up the idea that if marijuana were made legal in the U.S., we could see legal cannabis sales surpass cigarette sales. For context, The Wall Street Journal reported in April 2017 that cigarette industry sales in the U.S. hit an estimated $93.4 billion in 2016. This assumption likely assumes strong pricing power for cannabis products, as well as ongoing weakness in cigarette volumes as consumers quit tobacco products altogether or move away from tobacco in favor of cannabis.

However, the important thing to remember above else, at least for the time being, is that cannabis remains illegal in the United States. As long as ardent cannabis opponent Jeff Sessions heads the Justice Department, there appears to be little chance of altering the drug's scheduling. That's bad news for investors looking to take advantage of the green rush in the U.S., as well as a growth inhibitor for the industry itself.

More From The Motley Fool

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Asian equities rose in afternoon trade amid signs of easing U.S.-China trade tension

Investing.com  Asian equities rose in afternoon trade amid signs of easing U.S.-China trade tension as U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Commerce Department to get Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp back into business.

Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that he is working with Chinese President Xi to give ZTE Corp (HK:0763) a way to get back into business, fast.

Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done, Said Trump.

The tweet came weeks after the decision to cut off the Chinese firm from its U.S. suppliers and accused the company of violating export restrictions by illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran. ZTE suspended its main operations earlier in the month, while trading in the companys shares has been suspended since the ban.

"This suggests that Trump might see the chance for real progress on trade talks, and is softening the U.S. position on an issue important to China," JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) said in a note.

"Trump also needs China to remain on side ahead of his meeting with North Korea's Kim and this also suggests that until the 12 June meeting the signaling from the U.S. on trade will be more positive."

Malaysian equities were another focus on Monday as the stock market reopened after a two-day holiday following a surprising victory of Mahathir Mohamad in the country's general elections last week. The FTSE Malaysia KLCI recovered in afternoon trade after recording early losses of more than 2%.

The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component both gained 0.6% by 1:00AM ET (05:00 GMT). The People's Bank of China said on Friday that it would maintain its neutral monetary policy while keeping the yuan currency basically stable. Some investors have previously expected the central bank to loosen its policies to support the economy amid growing fears of a trade war with the U.S.

Separately, U.S. officials are set to have talks in Washington with China's top trade official Liu He to resolve an intensifying trade dispute between the two nations, according to reports.

Story continues

Meanwhile, South Koreas KOSPI slipped 0.1%. The U.S. is ready to allow investments in North Korea once it has more confirmable evidence of its denuclearization, according to reports who cited two U.S. top national security officials.

The remarks came ahead of a historic summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore on June 12.

Elsewhere, Japans Nikkei 225 climbed 0.2%, while Australias S&P/ASX 200 also added 0.3%.

Looking ahead, investors attention would likely turn to the retail sales and industrial production data due from the U.S. and China later this week.

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NAFTA math may not add up to more U.S. auto jobs

Xerox abandons planned deal with Fujifilm in victory for Icahn and Deason

Asian stocks up on hopes of thaw in U.S.-China trade tensionsThe Australian and New Zealand Dollars are trading mixed shortly before the U.S. opening. The Aussie traded up to .7566 before breaking back to nearly unchanged. Its trading inside Fridays range which suggests investor indecision or impending volatility. The Kiwi traded higher earlier in the session before turn lower and taking out Fridays low. Todays rally stopped at .6975.

At 1044 GMT, the AUD/USD is trading .7544, up 0.0004 or +0.06% and the NZD/USD is at .6946, down 0.0016 or -0.23%.

Daily AUD/USD

There were no major reports out of Australia or New Zealand so todays weakness is likely being fueled by weakness in crude oil. Last weeks rebound rally in the Aussie and Kiwi was partly fueled by a strong rally in crude oil. The rally to multi-year highs drove up demand for commodity-linked currencies.

Crude oil is being pressured by concerns over increased U.S. production and resistance in Europe and Asia to U.S. sanctions against major crude exporter Iran.

U.S. oil drillers added 10 oil rigs in the week to May 11, bringing the total count to 844, the highest level since March 2015, according to energy services firm Baker Hughes.

There are also reports that Germany has said it will protect its companies from U.S. sanctions. Iran has said French oil giant Total has yet to pull out of its fields. Additionally, some are saying China will fill the void created by the U.S. Last week, some traders said they were worried about increased production from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

In other news, hedge funds and money managers slashed their bullish wagers on U.S. crude in the latest week to the lowest level in nearly five months, the U.S. Commodity Futures Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.

Daily NZD/USD

Forecast

Although the direction of the AUD/USD and NZD/USD will be primarily controlled by the direction of U.S. Treasury yields, todays price action may be largely influenced by the direction of crude oil futures.

We could also see position-squaring in the Australian Dollar ahead of tomorrows speech by RBA Assistant Governor Debelle and the release of the Reserve Bank of Australias Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes.

Story continues

Both Aussie and Kiwi traders are also preparing for the release of key economic reports from China including Fixed Asset Investment, Industrial Production, Retail Sales and Foreign Direct Investment.

Traders are also paying close attention to the ongoing negotiations between the United States and China as both try to avoid a trade war. Both Australia and New Zealand stand to benefit if this can be accomplished.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Black Hills is one of the ten dividend stocks that can help raise your investment income by paying sizeable dividends. These stocks are a safe bet to increase your portfolio value as they provide both steady income and cushion against market risks. Dividends play a key role in compounding returns over time and can form a large part of our portfolio return. As a long term investor with a short term temperament, I highly recommend these top dividend stocks.

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH)

Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a vertically-integrated utility company in the United States. Founded in 1941, and headed by CEO David Emery, the company employs 2,744 people and with the companys market cap sitting at USD $3.12B, it falls under the mid-cap stocks category.

BKH has a wholesome dividend yield of 3.26% and has a payout ratio of 38.99% , with the expected payout in three years hitting 59.51%. BKHs dividends have increased in the last 10 years, with DPS increasing from US$1.40 to US$1.90. The company has been a reliable payer too, not missing a payment during this time. Black Hillss earnings per share growth of 43.47% outpaced the us integrated utilities industrys -0.95% average growth rate over the last year. Interested in Black Hills? Find out more here.

NYSE:BKH Historical Dividend Yield May 13th 18

Spire Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, retail distribution, and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and other end-users of natural gas customers in the United States. Started in 1857, and currently run by Suzanne Sitherwood, the company now has 3,279 employees and with the market cap of USD $3.59B, it falls under the mid-cap stocks category.

SR has a wholesome dividend yield of 3.16% and is distributing 47.20% of earnings as dividends , with analysts expecting this ratio to be 64.10% in the next three years. In the last 10 years, shareholders would have been happy to see the company increase its dividend from US$1.50 to US$2.25. During this period, the company has not missed a dividend payment  as you would expect from a company increasing their dividend. The company recorded earnings growth of 48.76% in the past year, comparing favorably with the us gas utilities industry average of 28.56%. More detail on Spire here.

Story continues

NYSE:SR Historical Dividend Yield May 13th 18

Cardinal Health, Inc. operates as an integrated healthcare services and products company worldwide. Founded in 1979, and now led by CEO Michael Kaufmann, the company now has 50,000 employees and with the companys market cap sitting at USD $17.18B, it falls under the large-cap category.

CAH has a solid dividend yield of 3.45% and the company has a payout ratio of 34.24% . In the case of CAH, they have increased their dividend per share from US$0.56 to US$1.91 so in the past 10 years. During this period, the company has not missed a dividend payment  as you would expect from a company increasing their dividend. Cardinal Healths earnings per share growth of 26.00% outpaced the us healthcare industrys 8.76% average growth rate over the last year. Interested in Cardinal Health? Find out more here.

NYSE:CAH Historical Dividend Yield May 13th 18

For more solid dividend paying companies to add to your portfolio, explore this interactive list of top dividend payers.



To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned..  :    ,    17 ,     

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Finland, a perennial chart-topper on global rankings of well-being and prosperity, has just been named the worlds happiest country in the World Happiness Report. Finns are not happy about the news.

While Finland is often admired abroad for its progressive policies on work, family leave, and education, the praise is commonly met with skepticism at home. If Finland is the best the EU can offer, we should all be very concerned, former parliamentarian Risto Penttila wrote in response (paywall) to the World Economic Forum naming Finland the blocs most competitive country in 2014.

Writing in Scientific American, Finnish researcher Frank Martela explores why Finlands assessment of its own happiness is so different from that of outsidersand why that may be a good thing for everyone.

A product of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the World Happiness Report draws from Gallup polls that ask respondents to rate their lives on a scale from zero (worst possible existence) to 10 (fully actualized perfection).

Finns rated themselves an average of 7.632. The US average was 6.886; the average in Burundi, the least-happy nation, was 2.905.

Respondents werent asked why they rated themselves as they did. But the three economists who edited the reportJeffrey Sachs of Columbia University in the US, John F. Helliwell of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and Richard Layard of the London School of Economicspointed out several factors that tend to contribute to national well-being, including GDP per capita, life expectancy, lack of corruption, and social support.

Such factors make for a stable existence, but stability isnt the same thing as happiness. As Martela writes, when people in different countries are asked how often they have positive emotions and experiencesin other words, how often they actually feel happyFinlands ranking plunges. The top 10 in Gallups Global Emotions report is typically dominated by Latin American countries. In contrast, Finland came in 36th in a 2013 Gallup survey of self-reported positive experiences.

Story continues

But Finns wary view of their own happiness may have an upside, Martela writes. Comparison is the death of joy, an aphorism articulated by Mark Twain and backed up by research that finds people become less satisfied with their own lives when comparing them to others who seem to have it better. By downplaying their own good fortune, Martela suggests, Finns are sparing those of us elsewhere in the world the pain of envy and resentment.

If happiness is the prevalence of positive emotions (let alone the displaying of them), Finland is not the happiest country. If happiness is the absence of depression, Finland is not the happiest country, Martela wrote. But if happiness is about a quiet satisfaction with ones life conditions, then Finland, along with other Nordic countries, might very well be the best place to live.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:Following on from the US withdrawal from the Iran Deal, UK PM May reaffirmed her commitment to ensuring the deal is upheld.

She spoke via phone with the Iranian President yesterday, in advance of a meeting of the UK, France, Germany, and Iran in Brussels tomorrow. Over the weekend, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said that US sanctions on European companies that maintain business dealings with Iran were possible.

It remains to be seen if this threat will be upheld, which would be a further blow to US/European relations. EURUSD is higher at 1.1975, having risen as far as 1.19690 earlier. Elsewhere, Canadian PM Trudeau has said he is optimistic a NAFTA agreement can be reached. US Lawmakers want a deal by Thursday in order to give enough time to get it through Congress. USDCAD dropped to 1.27693 after closing at 1.27985 on Friday.

Canadian Unemployment Rate (Apr) was as expected, unchanged at 5.8%. Participation Rate (Apr) was 65.4% versus an expected 65.5%, against 65.5% prior. Net Change in Employment (Apr) was -1.1K versus an expected 17.4K, against a prior 32.3K. USDCAD moved up from 1.27321 to 1.27764 after this data release.

Suggested Articles

US Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (May) was 98.8 versus an expected 98.5, against a previous 98.8. USDJPY rose from 109.256 to 109.328 following this data release.

Baker Hughes US Oil Rig Counts was released with a headline number of 844 from last weeks number of 834. As this number creeps higher, more and more rigs are coming into operation, increasing the supply of oil and adding downward pressure on prices. WTI Oil fell from $71.37 to $70.41 after this data release.

This article was written by FxPro

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Heres a look at some of the companies the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) tops our list. The bank is naming Mark Leung as CEO of its China business. JPMorgan is also submitting an application for a majority owned onshore securities business and is looking to double its research on Chinese companies.

Xerox (XRX) is axing its merger deal with Japans Fujifilm. The move comes after activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason took control of Xerox earlier this month. Icahn and Deason previously blasted the deal saying it severely undervalued the iconic American company. Fujifilm says its looking into options including legal action to keep the merger in place.

Symantec (SYMC) is looking to bounce back after getting hammered on Friday. The stock plunged over 33% after announcing an internal audit. The Norton antivirus provider said the investigation was in connection with concerns raised by a former employee. The company has provided no other details.

Sony (SNE) wants to be friends with Charlie Brown. The Japanese electronics maker is buying a stake in Peanuts Holdings. Under the deal, Sony will buy 39% of the company from Canada based DHX Media. DHX will then own 41% and the family of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz will own the remaining 20%.

Nintendo (NTDOY) is bringing back a fan favorite. The video game maker will restock its popular NES Classic Edition console on June 29. The device comes pre-loaded with 30 retro games like Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. The console launched in 2016 and sold out almost immediately.By Liz Lee

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's new government is girding for a volatile start to trading on Monday when local currency, debt and equity markets open for the first time since the stunning election defeat of the coalition that had ruled the country for six decades.

"We will watch the market and take necessary action whichever way the market goes," Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday, after offshore investors expressed concern that his populist promises could undermine economic prospects.

Mahathir's alliance had pledged during the campaign to remove a goods and services tax, scrap toll fees, reinstate fuel subsidies and review Chinese investment deals.

The ringgit lost four percent in offshore trading, while an overseas Malaysian equity fund showed a 6 percent drop in share values after the results were announced early on Thursday.

The currency "may need to play catch up" on Monday, and fall in line with a four percent drop in three month non-deliverable forwards, while government bonds are likely to be under selling pressure, Frances Cheung Head of Macro Strategy, Asia at Westpac bank said by e-mail.

Mahathir named Lim Guan Eng, a relative unknown, as finance minister over the weekend, but also appointed billionaire tycoon Robert Kuok and highly-regarded former central bank governor Zeti Akhthar Aziz as advisers on financial matters to allay investor worries.

Local economic analysts said Lim had built a good reputation as chief minister of Penang state and would be welcomed by Malaysian investors.

But tensions within the ruling alliance over cabinet picks that emerged at the weekend would weigh on sentiment, analysts said. Mahathir and his jailed ally, Anwar Ibrahim, both stepped in to ease the tensions on Sunday.

"This is a coalition of four different parties with different agendas. The easy part was being in opposition - now they have to form government, and that's creating uncertainty," Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at Natixis, told Reuters by phone from Hong Kong.

Story continues

"This will have an impact on prices and they will have to correct to reflect this higher level of uncertainty...I think the markets have been wrong-footed," she said, though adding, that the economy, especially with oil prices rising, was well placed to absorb the shock.

Analysts also pointed to the possibility of reshuffles at the top of government-linked corporations and, if sentiment sours at the bourse, ratings agency Moody's sees the banking sector hardest hit.

"We will see increasing risks of capital outflows and a further weakening of the ringgit. That could in turn dampen private sector consumption and operating conditions for banks in Malaysia," said Moody's senior banks analyst Simon Chen.

The local share market is Asia's top performer so far this year after Vietnam, with more than 7 percent gains in dollar terms. Its open at 9 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) on Monday, provides some time for investors to absorb the surprise election results, analysts said.

"There will be some uncertainty in the near term but at least higher oil prices will provide additional revenue for the new administration," Khoon Goh, Head of Asia Research at ANZ Bank in Singapore told Reuters by e-mail.

(Reporting by Liz Lee and Tom Westbrook)This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.

Malaysian equities have been on a wild ride, with the Malaysia ETF surging on Monday after the opposition party surprised observers by winning the office for the first time in six decades.

The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) jumped 5.6% Monday, paring the previous week's losses on the knee-jerk political risk selling in response to the election surprise.

The market was shut for three days last week as Mahathir Mohamad led an alliance to unexpectedly beat the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, Bloomberg reports.

However, the markets were assuaged by prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir's first remarks that revealed his stance for a business-friendly administration and search for ways to boost the nations equity market. For instance, Mahathirs coalition pledged to abolish the country's current goods and services tax, along with fuel subsidies and minimum wage realignment.

Mahathir Could Benefit the Consumer Sector

Gan Eng Peng, director of equities strategy and advisory at Affin Hwang Asset Management, argued that Mahathirs vow to nullify the nations current goods and services tax, fuel subsidies and minimum wage realignment could benefit the consumer sector.

The rebound in Malaysia was led by government-backed local funds and investment bankers, MarketWatch Reports. State-run funds are key players in Malaysias markets and frequently support specific government-backed stocks when there is major selling pressure.

We believe any market selldown may be brief and offer accumulation opportunities, Bernard Ching, an analyst with Kuala Lumpur-based AllianceDBS Research, told MarketWatch.

Market watchers originally expected the equity market to broadly decline, with government-linked companies, benchmark index stocks and infrastructure companies taking the brunt of any selling after Mahathir's government said it would review the projects under the previous administration - the new prime minister previously campaigned on a premise to review all infrastructure projects including the East Coast Rail Link project.

Story continues

For more information on the developing economies, visit our emerging markets category.

POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM



READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM >Michael Cohen's corporate clients say they paid him millions of dollars to help them achieve their policy goals in Washington.

Cohen's work looked a lot like that of most D.C. lobbyists. But his clients, like Novartis and AT&T, insist the attorney did no lobbying for them.

So what did Cohen do? Some call it "political intelligence." Others call it selling his access to the president.

Michael Cohen , President Donald Trump 's personal lawyer, was paid $600,000 by AT&T T last year to help the company understand how the new administration might approach its proposed merger with Time Warner TWX , the tax reform debate and other issues, according to internal documents.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis NVS , meanwhile, said it paid Cohen $1.2 million to help the company navigate the Trump administration's proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act. And a Korean aerospace company pursuing a major defense contract confirmed that it had paid Cohen $150,000 in November for what the company said was legal advice on accounting standards.

While all three companies claimed to have hired Cohen to offer different types of expertise, overall, the work looked a lot like lobbying.

That is also how it reportedly looked to employees at Novartis. "Cohen promised access to not just Trump, but also the circle around him," one employee said in an interview with Stat News. "It was almost as if we were hiring him as a lobbyist."

Almost  but not quite. At the time they hired Cohen, soon after Trump's inauguration, both Novartis and AT&T already had scores of registered lobbyists in Washington who were working on the same issues that Cohen was hired to handle. These lobbyists, however, were required to disclose their work to the public under the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act.

In 2017 alone, 112 individual lobbyists from 34 different firms, including AT&T's in-house team, reported lobbying to advance the telecom giant's policy goals. Another 85 lobbyists representing 15 different firms disclosed that they had lobbied on behalf of Novartis.

Story continues

Yet if one were to enter Cohen's name into a search of the same lobbying disclosure database where the above information is stored, it would come up empty. That's because Cohen is not a registered lobbyist, and he never has been.

"The millions that Cohen was paid because of his perceived proximity to the president is a glimpse into the shadowy world of unreported lobbying," said Brendan Fischer, chief counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit group which has filed a number of complaints against the Trump administration.

Revelations about Cohen's work for corporations this week have prompted many to ask the same question: Why isn't Cohen a registered lobbyist?

Neither Cohen nor his attorney replied to a request for comment from CNBC for this story. But the answer to this question of why Cohen didn't register as a lobbyist rests on precisely what it was that Cohen was doing for his corporate clients.

Lobbying 101

To meet the definition of a lobbyist, the law says a person must meet three criteria :

First, he or she must be getting paid by the client for their work.

Second, to be considered a lobbyist, he or she must make at least two contacts with government officials on behalf of the client. These contacts can be in the form of phone calls, emails or meetings, and they need not be to the same government official both times. So if one were to contact two different senators on behalf of a client, that would count as two contacts.

The third threshold is often the murkiest: In order to be acting as a lobbyist for a client, the act of contacting government officials must take up at least 20 percent of the overall work that person does for this particular client.

For example, if a lawyer were hired by a company to do a year's worth of full-time legal work, and he or she happened to make two phone calls to lawmakers to discuss the client's agenda during that year of work for the client, this would most likely not be considered lobbying, because it wouldn't meet the 20 percent threshold.

"It is commonplace for well-connected consultants to evade lobbying registration by merely offering 'strategic advice' and carefully avoiding the 20 percent threshold," said Campaign Legal Center's Fischer.

Cohen's clients

These contacts lie at the heart of what it means to be a lobbyist, and it is not clear that Cohen actually contacted any officials to help press the interests of the companies that hired him. On the contrary, both Novartis and AT&T scrambled this week to distance themselves from Cohen by claiming he had done limited work for them  especially no lobbying work.

"Our contract with Cohen was expressly limited to providing consulting and advisory services, and it did not permit him to lobby on our behalf without first notifying us (which never occurred)," AT&T said in a fact sheet CNBC obtained Friday . "We didn't ask him to set up any meetings for us with anyone in the Administration and he didn't offer to do so."

Novartis went even further to disavow Cohen , claiming that it had hired him to advise on "certain US healthcare policy matters" in February 2017, the month after Trump took office, and decided after just one meeting with him in March "not to engage further." The pharmaceutical giant also claimed that the only reason it paid Cohen the full $1.2 million for an entire year is because it was trapped by the contract it had signed with him.

Nonetheless, Cohen's engagements with the two companies help shed light on the wide range of non-lobbying services companies are willing to pay for in order to gain a perceived advantage over their competitors.

"People pay law firms, lobbyists, other individuals to help them navigate the muddy waters of Washington politics every day. And it is not captured within the lobbying disclosure requirements or any other laws," said Meredith McGee, executive director of the nonprofit government watchdog group Issue One, in an interview this week with NPR.

"If [Cohen] does not meet the requirements to register as a lobbyist, then he's simply engaging in the selling of access to the administration," McGee said. "And that is not against the law."

Political intelligence

In Washington, the polite term for what McGee called "the selling of access" is "political intelligence." And companies are often willing to pay much more for it than they are for even top-tier lobbying services.

Consider the fees that Cohen charged his major clients: $600,000 for AT&T and $1.2 million for Novartis, each deal for a year. In the D.C. lobbying industry, this kind of money is more in line with what a foreign autocrat or a scandal-plagued organization might be expected to pay someone to take them on as a client, not what a Fortune 500 company like Novartis or AT&T would be charged.

To wit, a CNBC review of the lobbying fees that AT&T and Novartis reported paying in 2017 revealed that both firms paid Trump's attorney more than they paid any of their outside lobbying firms. A lot more.

According to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, Akin Gump, the highest paid outside firm that lobbied for AT&T last year earned $400,000 , or $200,000 less than the company paid Cohen. At Novartis, the highest paid outside entity was a boutique health-care firm, Tiber Creek, which was paid $240,000 -- just shy of a million dollars less than the drug maker paid Cohen.

The comparison is even more striking given that some of these lobbying firms list a dozen or more individual lobbyists in Washington who worked on the AT&T and Novartis accounts. Cohen, meanwhile, runs a one-man shop in New York City.

"The amount these companies paid Cohen shows the perceived value of political intelligence to multinational corporate interests," said Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center. "Even the smallest bit of inside information about a powerful political figure can give a company an advantage when they are trying to promote their interests with the government."

Risky business

Still, engaging in unregistered lobbying -- or political intelligence, or selling access -- is not without its risks, as AT&T and Novartis learned this week.

Within days of the payments becoming public, both companies were forced to admit that hiring Cohen had been a mistake , and they both expressed regret over the move.

At AT&T, the senior executive in charge of the contract with Cohen, longtime lobbyist Brian Quinn, was reportedly forced into taking an early retirement , which the company announced on Friday.

Elsewhere in Washington, a nonprofit watchdog group, Public Citizen, submitted a formal complaint against Cohen to the Justice Department and to congressional offices that oversee lobbying registrations.

According to the complaint, Cohen "has actively solicited clients based on his access to Trump and administration officials; received exorbitant payments from foreign and domestic clients with business pending before the administration; and he has also provided ample yet unspecified services to his clients in exchange for those payments."

Cohen's attorney declined to comment on the complaint.

In the long run, however, this week's scandal over Cohen's influence peddling is not likely to have much of an impact on Washington's shadow lobbying industry, or on the web of influence buying and selling that extends from K Street to political campaign funding to members of the president's inner circle.

"The average American can't afford to pay six-figures to get inside information on how to influence government officials, and they can't afford to make huge contributions to campaigns and super PACs to buy access," said Fischer, of the Campaign Legal Center.

"Cohen's slush fund is particularly unsavory, but it isn't entirely unique," Fischer added. "It is an example of how our political system is tilted towards the interests of the wealthy and well-connected."





More From CNBC

Ranger Energy Services, Inc. (RNGR) shares have started gaining and might continue moving higher in the near term, as indicated by solid earnings estimate revisions.

In its weekly release, Baker Hughes (BHGE), a GE company, reported an increase in total rig count in the United States.

About the Rig Count

Baker Hughes data, issued at the end of every week since 1944, helps energy service providers gauge the overall business environment of the oil and gas industry.

Change in this Houston-based oilfield services players rotary rig count impacts demand for energy services like drilling, completion and production provided by the likes of Halliburton Company HAL, Schlumberger Limited SLB, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. DO and Transocean Ltd. RIG.

Details

Weekly Summary: Rigs engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the United States totaled 1045 in the week (ended May 11), up from prior weeks 1032. Notably, total count increased 10 times in the last 11 weeks.

Since it slipped to an all-time low of 404 in May 2016, rig count has been rising rapidly in U.S. shale resources. Punctuated by a few pauses, the current nationwide rig count is considerably higher than the prior-year level of 885.

For the week in discussion, the rise in rig count can be attributed to higher onshore and offshore operations. The tally for offshore rigs was recorded at 21 compared with 19 for the week ended May 4. Also, the number of onshore rigs totaled 1021, up from 1011.

Three rigs operated in the inland waters last week, marginally higher than two in the week ended May 4.

Oil Rig Count: Oil rig count rose to 844 from 834 for the week ended May 4. Moreover, the current tally, though far from the peak of 1,609 attained in October 2014, is significantly higher than last years 712. The oil rig count rose ninth time in the last 11 weeks.

Natural Gas Rig Count: The natural gas rig count of 199 is higher than 196 for the week ended May 4.

Moreover, like oil, the count of rigs exploring gas is above the year-ago tally of 172.

Per the recent report, the number of natural gas-directed rigs is 88% below the all-time high of 1,606 achieved in late summer 2008.

Story continues

Rig Count by Type: The number of vertical drilling rigs of 55 units is in line with the figure reported in the week ended May 4. The horizontal/directional rig count (encompassing new drilling technology that has the ability to drill and extract gas from dense rock formations, also known as shale formations) rose by 13 units to 990 units.

Gulf of Mexico (GoM): The GoM rig count is at 20 units  19 rigs were oil-directed  higher than the tally of 19 for the week ended May 4.

Conclusion

The number of total rigs exploring in the United States has increased, courtesy of the addition of eight onshore rigs in Texas. The addition of three onshore rigs to each of Colorado and Oklahoma states also aided the rise.

The West Texas Intermediate crude recently reached its highest point since November 2014, hitting $71.36 a barrel after President Trumps announcement that the United States will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Hence, the rally in crude has been highly supportive for drilling activities.

Two energy stocks that should make valuable additions to your portfolio are Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. BCEI and Wildhorse Resource Development Corporation WRD. Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Bonanza Creek surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the prior four quarters, the average positive earnings surprise being 215.4%.

Wildhorse Resource will likely see year-over-year earnings growth of 272.1% in 2018.

5 Medical Stocks to Buy Now

Zacks names 5 companies poised to ride a medical breakthrough that is targeting cures for leukemia, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, and other conditions.

New products in this field are already generating substantial revenue and even more wondrous treatments are in the pipeline. Early investors could realize exceptional profits.

Click here to see the 5 stocks >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Schlumberger Limited (SLB) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Halliburton Company (HAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Transocean Ltd. (RIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. (BCEI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Wildhorse Resource Development Corporation (WRD) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.Monday, May 14, 2018

What to watch today

REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

U.S. stock market futures are higher as investors and traders continue to watch for developments in global trade policy. On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that hed help Chinas ZTE get back into business, fast. The U.S. Commerce Department had recently banned American companies from selling the tech giants products after it violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.

This week will be busy with Fed speakers, who will be expected to address recent report reflecting slowing job creation and cooling inflation. Speakers include Cleveland Feds Loretta Mester, Dallas Feds Robert Kaplan, incoming New York Fed President John Williams, Atlanta Feds Raphael Bostic, Minneapolis Feds Neel Kashkari, and Fed Governor Lael Brainard.

On Monday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak at the Consensus Blockchain Technology Summit in New York. On Tuesday, Fed nominees Richard Clarida (Vice chairman) and Michelle Bowman (Governor) will appear before the Senate Banking Committee for their confirmation hearings.

Top news

Teslas churn is making it tougher for Musk to burn short sellers: Elon Musk has said the short burn of the century is coming soon to investors betting against Tesla (TSLA). Hes rapidly losing top deputies to help him deliver on that prediction. Teslas management churn is among the reasons some investors say theyre wagering against shares of the company, which is valued similar to General Motors Co. (GM) despite selling a fraction as many vehicles and burning through billions in cash. [Bloomberg]

Xerox says it is ending Fujifilm deal: Xerox Corp (XRX) said on Sunday it was ending a planned $6.1 billion deal with Fujifilm Holdings Corp. and had reached a settlement with activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. The company said Chief Executive Officer Jeff Jacobson had resigned and that John Visentin was expected to be the new CEO. [Reuters]

Gas is headed for $3. What that means for the US economy: Economic growth has boosted demand for oil. If that growth continues, most consumers should be able to afford to pay more to fill up their tanks. But conflicts in oil-producing regions could mean even higher gas prices, posing a threat to U.S. growth as the cost of fuel and gasoline weighs on drivers, airlines, delivery companies and other big consumers. [The Wall Street Journal]

Story continues

JPMorgan applies to set up majority-owned securities business in China: The unit, in which JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) would own 51%, would allow the firms corporate and investment banking divisions to seek more Chinese clients on the mainland in an effort to expand and grow their businesses, JPMorgan said. The U.S. bank also said it is looking to double its research coverage of China-listed companies across all sectors. [Reuters]

Apple CEO Tim Cook brings up data privacy at Duke: While addressing Duke Universitys graduating class on Sunday, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook broached a topic that has embroiled big-tech in controversy  data privacy. His comments come as Facebook (FB) and other tech giants have been under fire for not adequately protecting users privacy. [Yahoo Finance]

For more of the latest news, go to Yahoo Finance

Riders from the Samson Riders, an Israeli motorcycle club, arrive on a road leading to the new U.S. Embassy during a group ride from the old embassy in Tel Aviv, ahead of the official opening, in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 13, 2018. On Monday, the United States moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the holy city at the explosive core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and claimed by both sides as a capital. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Yahoo Finance Originals

Lots of openings, fewer raises  The current U.S. labor market puzzle

Trump lets drug companies off the hook

Theres now clear evidence that anti-poverty programs like welfare and Social Security work

The worlds most valuable unicorn is a little-known Chinese payment company



Like what you just read? Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. And feel free to share it with a friend!

The Morning Brief provides a quick rundown on what to watch in the markets, top news stories, and the best of Yahoo Finance Originals.Nucor Corporation's NUE board of directors cleared the construction of a galvanizing line at the company's sheet mill in Arkansas. The move will enable Nucor to expand into a wider and more diverse set of strategic end-market applications. The company is investing $240 million in the new galvanizing line that will have an annual capacity of around 500,000 tons and is expected to come online in the first half of 2021.



This project is in sync with the companys previous investment of $230 million which is currently underway to construct a specialty cold mill complex at Nucor Steel Arkansas. Both these projects will support the company to efficiently produce products beyond the capability of any North American mill. Further, it will help the company meet demand for advanced high-strength steel products.



The company also plans to build additional galvanizing lines at other sheet mills as part of its initiative to further expand the sheet business.



Shares of Nucor have moved up 14.9% in the last six months, underperforming the industrys 25.1% gain.





Nucor logged net earnings of $354.2 million or $1.10 per share in the first quarter of 2018 compared with $356.9 million or $1.11 per share registered a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter came in at $1.17, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.10.



Nucor reported revenues of $5,568.4 million, up roughly 15.6% year over year from $4,815.2 million. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,541.6 million.



Nucor expects its earnings in the second quarter of 2018 to increase considerably from the first. Notably, the steel mill metal profitability and margins in March were the strongest in the first quarter. The company expects steel mills segments performance to improve sequentially in the second quarter as it continues to see the benefits of price increases.



Nucor believes that there is sustainable strength in steel end-use markets and is also encouraged by recent actions taken by the U.S. government to address the issue of illegally subsidized imports into the country.



The company expects performance for its steel products unit to sequentially improve in the second quarter, as increasing steel input costs are being passed on to customers.

Story continues





Nucor Corporation Price and Consensus

Nucor Corporation Price and Consensus | Nucor Corporation Quote

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider



Nucor currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).



Some other top-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space are FMC Corporation FMC, Huntsman Corporation HUN and Celanese Corporation CE. All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



FMC Corp has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 13.6%. Its shares have gained around 18.8% over a year.



Huntsman has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 8.3%. Its shares have moved up around 20.1% over a year.



Celanese has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 8.9%. Its shares have gained around 24.7% over a year.



5 Medical Stocks to Buy Now



Zacks names 5 companies poised to ride a medical breakthrough that is targeting cures for leukemia, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, and other conditions.



New products in this field are already generating substantial revenue and even more wondrous treatments are in the pipeline. Early investors could realize exceptional profits.



Click here to see the 5 stocks >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Celanese Corporation (CE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



FMC Corporation (FMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Huntsman Corporation (HUN) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Nucor Corporation (NUE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchU.S. West Texas Intermediate and international benchmark Brent crude oil are trading lower early Monday as long investors shed positions in reaction to concerns over Increased U.S. production and resistance in Europe and Asia to U.S. sanctions against major crude exporter Iran.

At 0720 GMT, July WTI crude oil is trading $70.35, down $0.33 or -0.45% and July Brent crude oil is at $76.69, down $0.43 or -0.56%.

Daily July West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil

U.S. oil drillers added 10 oil rigs in the week to May 11, bringing the total count to 844, the highest level since March 2015, according to energy services firm Baker Hughes.

There are also reports that Germany has said it will protect its companies from U.S. sanctions. Iran has said French oil giant Total has yet to pull out of its fields. Additionally, some are saying China will fill the void created by the U.S. Last week, some traders said they were worried about increased production from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq.

In other news, hedge funds and money managers slashed their bullish wagers on U.S. crude in the latest week to the lowest level in nearly five months, the U.S. Commodity Futures Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.

Daily July Brent Crude

Suggested Articles

Forecast

As I said last week, the recent rally in crude and the announcement of sanctions against Iran had all the makings of a buy the rumor, sell the fact situation. I also warned of a possible bull trap. I think these conditions still exist so investors should be careful about chasing the market higher at current price levels.

Additionally, with hedge funds and money managers slashing positions, one has to wonder if this means they are doubtful of significant prices rises before a meaningful correction into a value area.

There is also building pressure that Europe will oppose the sanctions on Iraq and that China and Russia will fill in any shortfalls. All of these factors create uncertainty and bullish traders dont like uncertainty.

Story continues

Traders are also bracing for monthly supply and demand reports from OPEC and the International Energy Agency. The release of these two reports could trigger a volatile reaction.

Im looking for crude oil to pullback into support to give the major players another chance to reassess the impact of President Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.

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This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - China's southern city of Shenzhen gave the green light to tech giant Tencent Holdings to test its self-driving car on some public roads as the country seeks to bolster its position in the global race for autonomous vehicle technology.

Tencent obtained a licence plate for its self-driving car from the Shenzhen Transport Bureau, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday.

It follows Beijing move in April to issue national guidelines for testing self-driving cars, which was reported by the China Daily newspaper.

China is making a major push into autonomous vehicles to develop national champions to compete with global leaders such as Waymo, the self-driving arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc , and Tesla Inc.

Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities previously announced local guidelines for self-driving tests.

Internet giant Baidu Inc already has approval to test self-driving vehicles in Beijing, while SAIC Motor Corp Ltd and electric vehicle start-up NIO have licences to test autonomous cars in Shanghai.

Xinhua said several cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, have issued self-driving car licences after testing regulations came into effect.

Following two high-profile crashes in the United States involving Uber Technologies and Tesla, China's central government officials said Beijing would make safety a priority.

The Shenzhen Transport Bureau required Tencent's autonomous car to have both a driver and second person for safety reasons to be in the car during tests, Xinhua reported.

(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu Editing by Edmund Blair)FILE PHOTO: SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks at a press conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) chief Elon Musk told employees on Monday the company was undergoing a "thorough reorganisation" as it contends with production problems, senior staff departures and recent crashes involving its electric cars.

In his email to staff, Musk said Tesla was "flattening the management structure to improve communication," combining functions and trimming activities "not vital to the success of our mission" in the reorganization.

The company confirmed the contents of the email, which was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal.

Tesla is at a critical juncture as it tries to fix an inauspicious launch of the Model 3 sedan, a mid-market car crucial to its success and future profitability that has been plagued by early production problems.

Tesla shares fell 3 percent to close at $291.97 on Monday.

Amid the manufacturing problems, senior Tesla executives have departed or cut back work. Waymo, Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) self-driving unit, said on Sunday that Matthew Schwall had joined from Tesla, where he was its main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators.

Last week, Tesla said Doug Field, senior vice president of engineering, was taking time off to recharge.

The company is developing multiple new vehicles, including a semi truck, and has registered a new car firm in Shanghai in a likely step toward production in China.

On a May 2 earnings call, Musk said Tesla would conduct "a reorganization restructuring" this month, without providing more details.

He added that he would reduce the number of third-party contracting companies engaged by Tesla, equating them with "barnacles" needing to be scrubbed off.

Tesla will still rapidly hire people to fill critical positions "to support the Model 3 production ramp and future product development," Musk said in Monday's email.

Tesla faces a slew of other issues, from increased skepticism over its finances to safety probes by regulators.

Story continues

Investors gave a rare rebuke to Musk after he cut off financial analysts on the earnings call, sending shares down 5 percent despite promises that Model 3 production was on track.

The company changed the terms of its borrowing agreement with banks to allow it to pledge its Fremont, California, auto plant as collateral.

A U.S. traffic safety regulator on May 2 contradicted Tesla's claim that the agency had found that its Autopilot technology significantly reduced crashes.

Autopilot, a form of advanced cruise control, handles some driving tasks and warns those behind the wheel they are always responsible for the vehicle's safe operation, Tesla has said.

In a Twitter post on Monday, Musk denied a Wall Street Journal report that Tesla had rejected a system that would have tracked driver eye movement when using Autopilot for cost reasons.

"This is false," Musk wrote. "Eyetracking rejected for being ineffective, not for cost. WSJ fails to mention that Tesla is safest car on road, which would make article ridiculous. Approx 4X better than avg," Musk said. He said Tesla's record of a fatality every 320 million miles compared with last year's national average of 86 million miles, per safety regulators.

Tesla's record of miles driven could not be confirmed by Reuters.

In another Twitter message on Monday, Musk said the "probability of fatality is much lower in a Tesla," saying Tesla would begin reporting safety numbers beginning in the second quarter.

On Monday, firefighters in Switzerland said a fatal accident involving a Tesla may have set off a fire in the car's battery. [L5N1SL7R8] It was the latest accident involving a Tesla.

A Tesla Model S sedan was traveling at 60 miles (97 km) per hour when it smashed into a fire truck stopped at a red light about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday night, according to police.

Police said on Monday that the driver, who suffered a broken ankle, said she had been using Autopilot before the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was not investigating the Utah crash.

Tesla said it had not yet received car data and did not yet know the facts, including whether Autopilot was engaged.

The NTSB said last week it was investigating a Tesla accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 8 that killed two teenagers and injured another - the agency's fourth active probe into crashes of the company's electric vehicles.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool and Tom Brown)(Repeats story from Friday)

* UAE wins friends, plants bases in Yemen and East Africa

* Abu Dhabi seeks to counter Islamism and Iran, guard trade

* South Yemen secessionist officers rise up with UAE blessings

* Presidents of breakaway Somali regions embrace trainers

By Noah Browning and Alexander Cornwell

ABU DHABI, May 11 (Reuters) - Military transport planes from the United Arab Emirates landed on the sleepy Yemeni island of Socotra last week, unloading tanks and troops as part of the Gulf Arab state's drive to extend its influence over a strategic waterway flanked by war zones.

The UAE, with a population of less than 10 million but the Arab world's second-largest economy thanks to oil, is deploying its soldiers and cash to create a web of bases and armed allies in Yemen and Somalia as a bulwark against Islamist extremists and Iranian influence, according to diplomats as well as Yemeni and Somali officials.

But backing groups at loggerheads with their national governments threatens to bog down the UAE in the seemingly endless conflicts of two of the world's poorest countries.

Lying between the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, Socotra island, best known for its otherworldly plant life, appeared far from the war until the UAE troops arrived, in a landing reported by Yemeni officials and media.

The Yemeni government accused the UAE of seizing the island's ports and airport. A government source told Reuters that the UAE move was a power-play for "commercial and security interests" and accused the UAE of trying to colonise Yemen.

"They won't get that from Yemen," the source said. "Yes, Yemenis are poor but they fight for their sovereignty,"

The UAE foreign ministry, in a statement on Socotra, said it backed Yemen's legitimate government and sought "to establish peace and stability and to support developmental projects for the island's residents".

The UAE has built up local army units in Yemen, increasing its influence along the Red Sea coast, but also opening up a rift with the country's exiled government.

Story continues

Across the Bab al-Mandeb strait, through which much of the world's oil flows, the UAE also has a foothold in northern Somalia, where Emirati firms have set up commercial ports and its troops conduct military and training missions.

Abu Dhabi, political capital of the seven-emirate federation, is moving assertively against the threat it sees from Islamist groups such as al Qaeda, while promoting itself as a stable, open and largely tolerant Muslim country.

It has allied itself with Saudi Arabia in the war against the Houthi group in Yemen, and with three Arab powers in a boycott of Qatar, accusing it of backing terriorism.

The UAE has hired senior foreign military officers to modernize its army, including Australia's former top special forces general, Mike Hindmarsh, who reports to Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

Hindmarsh oversees the Presidential Guard, the unit tasked with directing the UAE's campaign in Yemen.

"They are taking the fight to the enemy around the region," said a Western diplomat.

A Gulf source spelled out the UAE approach, saying it was protecting its interests in the region and promoting development to deter recruitment by Islamist groups.

"The UAE is helping to develop economically viable zones that create jobs and improve standards of living while also providing humanitarian and financial aid."

"There is a comprehensive Emirati approach to fostering long-term stability in the region," the source said.

SOUTH YEMEN REVIVED

A monument of leaning pillars in Abu Dhabi shows the cost of this engagement: inscribed with soldiers' names, the memorial pays tribute to the UAE's "martyrs".

The vast majority - more than 100 - fell in the three-year-old war the UAE is fighting in Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia against the Iranian-aligned Houthis.

Saudi Arabia's main ally in the conflict, Yemen's heavily Islamist government, is struggling against the Houthis, who control the north of the country and the capital, Sanaa.

The UAE, which has made the only visible gains by the coalition along the southwestern coast, has adopted a different strategy and cultivated its own friends in the war.

Across a string of small bases from the volcanic island of Perim at the mouth of the Red Sea to the dunes of Rumah near the Omani border, the UAE pays salaries and trains troops.

At the beginning of the Yemen war, the UAE prised from Iran's orbit a struggling secessionist movement which hopes to revive the former state of South Yemen.

The socialist movement's leaders left Yemen after the north and south were unified in 1994, and wound up in Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, from where they ran a low-level insurgency in Yemen, diplomatic and southern political sources said.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials and Hezbollah schooled the southern commanders in guerrilla tactics in hopes of destabilising Saudi Arabia's southern flank, the sources said.

But when the Houthis advanced into southern Yemen in 2015, promises of assistance from the UAE convinced the southern leadership to move to Abu Dhabi from where they could carry on the fight for their Yemeni homeland.

"They want to fight Iranian militias trying to seize our lands, and we do too. This is enough for the alliance to make sense for now," one southern official told Reuters.

This alliance helped the UAE to seize the southern port of Aden in 2015. The UAE trained southern Yemeni forces who captured the other main port, Mukalla, from al Qaeda.

Mukalla airport, closed to commercial flights, now hosts Emirati helicopters, a training centre, detention facility and also a small contingent of U.S. special forces helping to fight al Qaeda in nearby mountains.

Iran's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any involvement with the southern Yemeni secessionists. Hezbollah also declined to comment.

SOMALIA TUG-OF-WAR

Raids by Somali pirates on trade routes along the Horn of Africa helped draw the UAE, home to the Middle East's busiest port, into the tangled politics of Somalia, which has grappled for over a decade with al Qaeda-linked Shabaab militants.

The UAE is deepening ties with the semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland after state-owned Emirati firms DP World and P&O Ports signed deals there in 2016 and 2017.

UAE troops quickly followed, and have begun building a military base in Berbera, Somaliland, the region's President Muse Bihi Abdi told Reuters while on a visit to Abu Dhabi.

"It will be the guarantee for our security, for our development in any case of terrorism ... They have the resources and knowledge better than us. We are a nation after a war, rebuilding," he said.

The relationship - which includes investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Somaliland for projects such as a highway to Ethiopia and new airport - has angered the central government in Somalia, and the UAE has ended its military training mission in Mogadishu.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Reuters that support for the regions was not intended to split Somalia and his country had no quarrel with the central government.

"Our policy of recognising a one-Somalia stands ... But at the same time we are able to support the people of Somaliland through humanitarian, developmental."

The president of Puntland, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, told Reuters in Dubai that UAE personnel were training local forces to combat piracy as well as Islamist groups in Yemen or Somalia.

He denied that the UAE sought a long-term colonial presence.

"They are not occupying as a military force in Somalia," he said. "It's impossible. We are fierce fighters, we will never allow that to happen." (Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi Writing by Noah Browning Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Giles Elgood)CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnvoyAI today announced a new integration with Insignia Medical Systems InSight PACS to provide AI-enhanced imaging workflows to customers. For initial launch in the UK, this integration provides best-of-breed, curated AI content available on the EnvoyAI platform within the PACS environment at multiple integration points. These include AI results viewing directly within the PACS viewer, as well as within the already established Insignia integration with TeraRecon. EnvoyAI is the spinout formed by a 2017 TeraRecon acquisition of McCoy Medical Technologies. TeraRecons longstanding partnership with Insignia is further strengthened with the synergies between EnvoyAIs platform and TeraRecons latest advanced visualisation offerings.



The integrations with EnvoyAI and TeraRecon allow hospitals to customize their AI portfolio based on algorithms they can test and consume from within their Insignia PACS, including the utilisation of each hospitals own internally developed algorithms. Jon Hall, Chief Technology Officer, Insignia Medical Systems shared, Integrating to the EnvoyAI platform allows Insignia to more quickly and broadly execute on our goal of providing the most advanced functionality on the market to our end users. The integration provides instant access to premium AI directly as part of a cohesive end-user experience - expanding how we add value for our customers within a single, powerful interface.

The EnvoyAI platform readies the Insignia InSight PACS for the launch of any AI application  starting with the AI content already available on the EnvoyAI Exchange. With recent growth, the EnvoyAI Exchange now offers a total of 53 products from 22 partners, of which 10 have already achieved US FDA-clearance. The partnership creates added potential for future workflow integrations to TeraRecons iNtuition advanced visualisation solution already promoted by Insignia, as well as TeraRecons new NorthStar AI-results viewer for advanced physician interactions.

Maria Proud-Levitas, Regional Sales Manager for TeraRecon (UK) said, Working closely with Insignia for over 5 years has created a very clean and powerful offering for our customers. Building on that trust, we now look forward to delivering tools that take UK healthcare boldly into the future.

Steven Rothenberg, MD and Chief Medical Officer of EnvoyAI stated, The Insignia PACS integration makes the widespread use of AI an immediate reality for clinicians across the UK; allowing for the most rigorous data security protocols with on-premise installations. EnvoyAI is keen on bringing AI to clinicians in ready-to-use, powerful ways.

Richard Dormer, Managing Director of Insignia, said, We are excited to be building on our already fantastic relationship with TeraRecon to include the advanced technology available through EnvoyAI, which will ultimately help our customers and improve outcomes for patients.

The integration may be seen by visiting the EnvoyAI (Booth #103  Start-Up Street) and TeraRecon (Booth #405), locations at the upcoming Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland from May 31st  June 2nd, 2017. Online demonstrations are available by contacting EnvoyAI at info@envoyai.com, TeraRecon at info@terarecon.com, or Insignia at info@insigniamedical.co.uk.

About EnvoyAI (www.envoyai.com) EnvoyAI facilitates the streamlined distribution and hospital implementation of trained machine learning algorithms via a vendor neutral distribution platform. EnvoyAI provides a developer platform, integrations, and an open API for algorithm developers, technology partners, and end users. EnvoyAI assists research institutions and emerging AI companies in the translation and commercialization processes, starting with rapid deployment via a scalable, secure, cloud-based infrastructure with the ability to add local components to facilitate on-site deployments as well. EnvoyAI also works with distribution partners to make algorithms on the platform available to a very wide footprint of hospitals and, ultimately, to physicians.

About TeraRecon (www.terarecon.com) TeraRecon is a leader in advanced visualization, image viewing and post-processing. Our flagship product, iNtuition, consistently leads the advanced visualization category of the industrys leading independent technology analyst. We are committed to redefining advanced visualization by leveraging artificial intelligence, and to improving radiology workflow through personalized automation features that increase efficiency.

About Insignia (www.insigniamedical.co.uk) Insignia Medical Systems is the pioneering UK based PACS provider, offering technology-leading solutions for your entire organisation. With over 15 years pedigree in medical imaging, we have unrivalled experience in creating software that will take medical imaging storage to the next generation. As a British company specialising only in medical applications, we uniquely offer scalable solutions developed and delivered locally. All of our software solutions are owned and developed by us and as a company thats dedicated to the UK market we are quick to respond to the changing needs of the NHS.MIDLAND, VA, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Easi-Set Worldwide, a subsidiary of Smith-Midland Corporation (SMID) licensed producer update. Lonestar Prestress Manufacturing Inc. in Bellville, Texas, has been settling into its new 21-acre site after building an 85,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, with four bays up to 700-feet long and a separate 40 x 100 headquarters. Lonestar is the premier static cast, prestressed concrete pole and Easi-Set Building producer in the Southwest. The company is one of 14 Easi-Set precast concrete building licensed producers across North America.



For this impressive site, it was only natural that Lonestar would highlight its precast concrete building capabilities by using an Easi-Span Building for the headquarters and including five Easi-Set Buildings within the manufacturing facility. The precast concrete buildings were chosen for their strength, durability and affordability.

I have never seen an Easi-Span Building used as a headquarters, and I have not seen Easi-Set Buildings incorporated into a structure in such a way, says Art Miles, president of Easi-Set Worldwide. It is a stunning facility and very thought out to give Lonestar the space it needs now and room to grow. Lonestar has showcased its manufacturing talents and its thoroughness as engineering professionals, and the quality of this teams work shows in every aspect of the facilities and the site.

For 25 years, Lonestar operated in a residential area of Houston that was not conducive for an expanding manufacturing business. Brad B. Boyer, PE, President of Lonestar, had a vision for making Lonestars manufacturing process more efficient. About 18 years ago, the Boyer family purchased a 71-acre Greenfield site in Bellville on Highway 159, approximately 60 miles outside of Houston. When Boyer knew it was time to utilize this investment, he called on his son, Benjamin Boyer, an engineering student at Texas A&M University, to help with the design. Father and son, pulling from their experience working in multiple areas of Lonestar combined with employee input, rearranged original concept drawings to design a facility that is safe, efficient, environmentally responsible and definitely Texas size.

Boyer says: We started with a rectangular building that would accommodate roughly twice the manufacturing capacity we currently have. We tried numerous orientations and locations, and then we simply deleted any square footage we could live without but left the earthwork in place. We have the luxury of 71 acres overall, so there are options to build adjacent to the existing buildings in the future.

The site conditions had to be addressed for stabilization and drainage. John Stiver, P.E., of Stiver Engineering, provided the civil site design. Drainage was accomplished by elevating the building pad 3 feet above the natural grade to allow for sheet flow. The civil design was put to the test during the floods of Hurricane Harvey, when the manufacturing facility was protected and remained fully operational. The select fill was harvested on-site by constructing a 5-acre, L-shaped lake modeled after the company logo. The elevated pad was designed and constructed to accommodate future expansion.

In the facility design, five Easi-Set Buildings were erected within the manufacturing structure to house the supervisor offices, restrooms, breakroom, storage and electrical rooms. The five buildings were erected in two days using a forklift with a boom attachment. Each custom-sized Easi-Set Building has a different finish, including: Easi-Brick imprint, simulated CMU, simulated split face CMU, rubbed and vertical rib.

When customers visit us to see our capabilities, they also can explore finished products and compare the styles, finishes and options for Easi-Set Buildings, Boyer says. Beyond sales assistance, we selected Easi-Set Buildings because they provide a much higher level of protection for our most valuable resources, specifically our employees, during major storms.

The headquarters is located in a separate 40 x 100 x 12 Easi-Span Building that has two finishesthe lower portion is Florida Ashler stone, and the upper portion is vertical rib. All the concrete buildings are natural gray, unstained concrete. Easi-Span Buildings are the largest clear span all-concrete building system and the only expandable concrete building system on the market. Because of the post-tensioned and pre-stressed roof and floor system, Easi-Span Buildings can be installed in hours depending on their size and site conditions. The prefabricated assembly creates a durable structure that is resistant to weather, temperature, impact and seismic activity. This 4,000-square-foot building installation took only four days.

Lonestar chose an Easi-Span Building because it wanted to display an excellent example of the products it manufactures while experiencing the same benefits its customers have for years.

Specifically the longevity, durability, speed of construction and no-maintenance aspects of the Easi-Span Building made it a no-brainer when the design team began the plan for the headquarters, Boyer says. In addition, the energy efficiency of the high-mass sandwich panel walls paired well with the ultra-high efficiency geothermal HVAC system.

Flow and efficiency was inherent in the design of the manufacturing area. Each production bay is equipped with two bridge cranes with a 25-foot hook height. The batch plant provided and installed by Voeller Mixers was custom designed to fit within a 50x 100 covered bay, adjacent to the enclosed production bay. Concrete is discharged from the mixer directly into the concrete bucket transported by bridge crane. Materials are stored adjacent to casting tables and pole forms for easy access. Indoor finger storage racks for completed building panels have saved time by allowing trucks to be loaded indoors, regardless of outdoor conditions.

Vehicle traffic for both incoming raw materials and outgoing products use a 27-foot-wide loop road with access from both ends of the 21-acre facility site. Employee parking and the office are located inside the loop road to minimize mixing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Boyer notes, I have witnessed three truckscement, sand and palletized rockunload near the batch plant simultaneously and not have to wait for others to move out of the way.

Lonestars design team gave priority to being environmentally responsible. Approximately 30 of the 71 acres was disturbed during construction. Design team wildlife biologist Garry L. Stephens, with Wildlife Habitat Federation, created a comprehensive restoration and management plan. The environmental goal of the plan is to provide many ecosystem improvements for the soil, water, air, plants and animals. Native prairie vegetation that once covered Texas was planted to provide shelter and food for the wildlife. The prairie grasses put dramatically more water back into the aquifer than non-native turf grasses. Also with the establishment of the native habitat post-construction, wildlife presence on the site has increased.

The restored native vegetation creates a micro-prairie that contributes to the stormwater management system. This system begins in the manufacturing facility with the settling basin where suspended solids settle out of the wash water. The wash water then makes its way to a secondary settling basin before entering the multi-acre micro-prairie that acts as a final vegetative filter. Storm water from building and paved areas is directed through the vegetative filter for maximum absorption and final suspended solids removal.

To minimize the carbon footprint of the facility, energy efficiency was included in many aspects of the design. A ground-source geothermal HVAC system was implemented using HDPE pipes buried underground to provide cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. LED lighting is utilized throughout the facility to add efficiency and improve working conditions. The entire work area has a minimum of 45-foot candles of computer-controlled lighting with multiple fixtures to reduce shadows. So far, Lonestar has reduced utility costs by nearly half.

The office personnel moved into their new space in October 2017. The production sector moved over an 18-week period as portions of the new facility were completed.

After 33 years of consulting engineering for other projects, I must admit that starting with a blank page and designing a complete facility from scratch, for our business was fun and rewarding. Henry Ford would be proud of what we have accomplished from a production standpoint, Boyer says.

Discover more about Easi-Set Buildings and its network of licensed producers at www.easisetbuildings.com or by calling 800-547-4045.

Easi-Set Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Smith Midland Corporation, a public company, licenses the production and sale of Easi-Set products and provides diversification opportunities to the precast industry worldwide. Easi-Sets pre-engineered buildings are designed to provide durability, convenience and long-lasting security under a variety of applications. These maintenance-free structures are available through licensed precast concrete manufacturers across North America. Each producer manufactures Easi-Sets Buildings with the patented post-tensioned roof and floor system to guarantee a weatherproof structure. For more information about Easi-Set Worldwide or licensing opportunities, contact Easi-Set by calling 800-547-4045 or visiting www.easiset.com.

Lonestar Prestress Manufacturing, Inc. was founded in 1992 and has established itself as the premier static cast, prestressed concrete pole and Easi-Set Building producer in the Southwest. Lonestar is committed to providing top quality, innovative precast concrete products at a competitive price. To learn more, visit www.lonestarprestress.com, call 800-600-1719 or email sales@lonestarprestress.com.



CALGARY, Alberta, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NXT Energy Solutions Inc. (NXT or the "Company") (TSX:SFD) (OTC QB:NSFDF) today announced the Company's financial and operating results for the quarter-ended March 31, 2018. All dollar amounts herein are in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise indicated.



Q1 Financial and Operating Highlights

NXT management restarted marketing for SFD  survey contracts and multi-client data sales across South East Asia, China and Latin America enabled by successful financing efforts in conjunction with strength in international oil prices.

survey contracts and multi-client data sales across South East Asia, China and Latin America enabled by successful financing efforts in conjunction with strength in international oil prices. SHINE Quests FZC, an appointed representative of NXT, is working on the financing required for a large scale infrastructure and resource development within the Mannar Basin in Sri Lanka which would include a commitment to conduct an SFD  survey. The timeline remains uncertain as it is dependent on a number of factors including government approval and execution of final sales agreements.

survey. The timeline remains uncertain as it is dependent on a number of factors including government approval and execution of final sales agreements. Generation Resource Discoveries (GRD), an appointed representative of NXT, has entered into an MOU with the Government of Aceh to carry out a geophysical survey within the Aceh Basin in Indonesia and proposes to enter into contract discussions with NXT in conjunction with the performance of that survey upon securing permits and third party financing.

Engaged two new sales agents for SFD  surveys in South America focused in Mexico and Peru to leverage our experience and past success in the region.

surveys in South America focused in Mexico and Peru to leverage our experience and past success in the region. In connection with Brazil's most recent round of bidding for maritime oil and gas licencing rights, the National Agency of Petroleum confirmed that SFD  surveying would qualify as work credits toward the minimum commitment required of licencees in order to maintain their awarded blocks.

surveying would qualify as work credits toward the minimum commitment required of licencees in order to maintain their awarded blocks. No survey revenues were recorded for the first quarter of 2018.

A net loss of $1.95 million for the first quarter including amortization expense of $0.45 million and stock-based compensation expense of $0.30 million.

Operating activities used $1.34 million of cash during the first quarter and net cash provided was $3.60 million.

Losses per common share were $0.03 (basic and diluted).

Continued progress in our corporate cost reduction program with general and administrative costs decreased 28% compared to the same quarter last year.

Cash and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter of 2018 were $4.06 million.

Subsequent to the end of the first quarter, we received notification of the granting of NXTs SFD patent in China on April 13.

Update on Private Placement

On February 16, 2018 we announced a three-tranche private placement of 10,905,212 Units at a price of $0.924 per Unit for total gross proceeds of approximately $10,076,416 (Private Placement) to Alberta Green Ventures Limited Partnership (the "Subscriber"). The first tranche of the Private Placement was completed on February 16, 2018 and the Company received approximately $4,310,500 in connection with the issuance of 4,665,043 Units.

The second tranche will consist of 5,538,203 Units for gross proceeds of approximately $5,117,300. The Company plans to close on a portion of the second tranche on May 14, 2018 in the amount of $2 million by issuing a further 2,164,502 Units.

The Subscriber has requested an extension to June 15, 2018 to close the remaining portion of the second and third tranche which will now consist of 4,075,667 Units for gross proceeds of approximately $3,765,916. The Company has tentatively agreed to such extension, subject to approval by the TSX.

Closing of the third tranche of the Private Placement, consisting of issuance of 701,966 Units for gross proceeds of approximately $648,616, will cause the Subscriber to be deemed a Control Person of the Company under applicable securities laws and is subject to approval by the shareholders of the Company (other than the Subscriber and its associates or affiliates).

Update on Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders

The Company will be issuing an addendum to its Information Circular  Proxy Statement dated April 5, 2018 (IC Addendum) to update disclosure regarding plans for closing of the Private Placement following the conclusion of its discussions with the TSX. In addition, the IC Addendum will include supplementary information regarding executive and director compensation and an update on the independence of one board member.

Given the relevance of the information contained in the IC Addendum to the Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders of the Company (AGM), NXT believes it is prudent to convene the meeting on May 16, as currently scheduled, and to then adjourn it before conducting any business to allow shareholders additional time to read and consider the new information provided. The Company is planning to reconvene the adjourned AGM in in late May or early June and will make a further announcement once a new date has been confirmed.

Message to Shareholders



George Liszicasz, President, and CEO of NXT commented During the first quarter of 2018, NXT continued to focus on its strategy of securing contracts with potential clients (NOCs, Governments, and IOCs) to identify large potential reserves in under-developed, proven hydrocarbon basins and expanding revenue opportunities through new business lines. Supported by the closing of the first tranche of the Private Placement and a marked improvement in oil & gas market sentiment towards new exploration as a result of the continued rise in oil prices, we reinitiated intensive marketing efforts for the SFD technology across South East Asia, China, and Latin America. These continue to be core regions of activity for the Company and we were focused on progressing ongoing discussions towards the successful conclusion of a number of SFD contracts including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Mexico. As part of our marketing, we also initiated data sale discussions on our first ever multi-client survey shot in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Our sales force activity was expanded in the first quarter through the engagement of two sales agents in Latin America focused in Mexico and Peru. We believe these are leading areas in Latin America and globally for expected exploration activity and therefore important for NXT to have a presence on the ground in addition to management visits.

NXT reached another important milestone in developing its SFD IP, shortly after the end of the first quarter with the granting of its Chinese patent on April 13, 2018. This coincided with important meetings with Chinas largest National Oil Companies and the Potential Field Research Team at the China University of Petroleum. These important milestones will lay the foundation for SFD in this critically important region for the global oil & gas sector.

We continued our technical presentations and contract negotiations in Malaysia with a number of independent oil companies. NXT is also planning to present at the upcoming Dakar (Senegal) Upstream West Africa Summit in June 2018.

During the first quarter, we announced a $10 million Private Placement from Alberta Green Ventures. We are pleased to be closing on a portion of the second tranche of $2 million today and look forward to concluding the remainder of the second tranche and the third tranche of this financing by mid-June.

On behalf of our Board of Directors and the entire team at NXT, I want to thank all of our shareholders for their continued support. We believe the Companys strategy is well positioned to deliver growth in 2018 and beyond."



Summary highlights of NXTs 2018 first quarter financial statements (with comparative figures for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017) are noted below. All selected and referenced financial information noted below should be read in conjunction with the Companys first quarter 2018 unaudited consolidated financial statements and the related managements discussion and analysis (MD&A).

(all in Canadian $) March 31,

December 31,

2018

2017

Operating results: Survey revenues $ - $ - Survey expenses 249,762 163,217 General & administrative expenses 981,404 1,362,581 Stock based compensation expense 295,284 165,248 Amortization and other expenses, net 447,191 514,692 1,973,641 2,205,738 Income (loss) before income taxes (1,954,650 ) (2,223,409 ) Income tax expense (recovery) Current - (8,683 ) Deferred - - - (8,683 ) Comprehensive income (loss) for the period (1,954,650 ) (2,214,726 ) Income (loss) per common share  basic $ (0.03 ) $ (0.04 ) Income (loss) per common share  diluted $ (0.03 ) $ (0.04 ) Number of common shares outstanding as at end of the period 62,832,843 53,856,509 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period: Basic 60,392,209 53,856,509 Diluted 60,392,209 53,856,509 Cash provided by (used in): Operating activities (1,338,908 ) (1,422,686 ) Financing activities 4,284,736 21,306 Investing activities 650,001 1,145,628 Net cash inflow (outflow) 3,595,829 (255,752 ) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period 166,618 490,496 Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period 3,762,447 234,744 Cash and cash equivalents 3,762,447 234,744 Short-term investments 300,000 303,091 Total cash and short-term investments 4,062,447 537,835 Net working capital balance 2,572,091 185,754

NXTs 2018 first quarter financial and operating results have been filed in Canada on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and will soon be available in the USA on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar, as well as on NXTs website at www.nxtenergy.com.

Details of the conference call are as follows:

Date: Monday, May 14, 2018 Time: 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time (2:15 p.m. Mountain Time) North American Participants Call: 1-800-952-5114 International Dial In Numbers: https://www.confsolutions.ca/ILT?oss=7P1R8009525114 Participant Pass Code 4706625#

About NXT Energy Solutions Inc.

NXT Energy Solutions Inc. is a Calgary-based company whose proprietary SFD survey system utilizes quantum-scale sensors to detect gravity field perturbations in an airborne survey method which can be used both onshore and offshore to remotely identify areas with exploration potential for traps and reservoirs. The SFD survey system enables our clients to focus their hydrocarbon exploration decisions concerning land commitments, data acquisition expenditures and prospect prioritization on areas with the greatest potential. SFD is environmentally friendly and unaffected by ground security issues or difficult terrain, and is the registered trademark of NXT Energy Solutions Inc. NXT Energy Solutions Inc. provides its clients with an effective and reliable method to reduce time, costs, and risks related to exploration.

Contact Information

For investor and media inquiries please contact:

Mr. George Liszicasz

President & CEO

+1-403-206-0800

nxt_info@nxtenergy.com

www.nxtenergy.com

Mr. Jakub Brogowski

Chief Financial Officer

+1-403-206-0807

nxt_info@nxtenergy.com

www.nxtenergy.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information provided in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, the satisfaction of all required conditions (including regulatory and shareholder approvals) for completion of the Private Placement, the completion of the second and third tranches of the Private Placement, and the Company's use of the net proceeds. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Risk factors facing the Company are described in its most recent MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2018, which has been filed electronically by means of the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") located at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or otherwise, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.English French

Q1 2018 - Business review

Paris, May 14th, 2018 - JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, published today its revenue for the three months ended March 31st, 2018.

FIRST QUARTER 2018: BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

Key contracts wins

Rest of Europe

In January, JCDecaux announced that its German subsidiary Wall, based in Berlin, signed a new 15-year exclusive contract for all back-lit and digital advertising street furniture excluding bus-shelters following a competitive tender.

In February, JCDecaux announced that following a competitive tender, its subsidiary JCDecaux Luxembourg was awarded the self-service electric bike contract for Luxembourg. The contract is for a 10-year term in the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (116,000 inhabitants, 180,000 cross-border workers; 60% of the country's 590,000 inhabitants go to the capital at least once a week).

In February, JCDecaux announced that its Dutch company, JCDecaux Netherlands, was awarded the 8-year exclusive contract for advertising street furniture (excluding bus-shelters) in The Hague.

Asia-Pacific

In January, FMIDecaux Co., the new joint venture between JCDecaux S.A., the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide and its partner First Myanmar Investment Co., Ltd., Myanmar's first listed company, won an exclusive 20-year contract with Yangon City Development Committee ("YCDC") for advertising street furniture in the city of Yangon (population: above 5.2 million).

In February, JCDecaux was awarded an exclusive 7-year contract for managing advertising and maintaining 1,459 bus shelters across Singapore (population: above 5.6 million) by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

FIRST QUARTER 2018 AND OUTLOOK

Following the adoption of IFRS 11 from January 1st, 2014, the operating data presented below is adjusted to include our prorata share in companies under joint control. Please refer to the paragraph "Adjusted data" on page 3 of this release for the definition of adjusted data and reconciliation with IFRS.

The 2017 comparative figures are restated from the retrospective application of IFRS 15 "Revenue from Contracts with Customers", applicable from January 1st, 2018. The application of IFRS 15 leads to the change in presentation of invoices relating to advertising taxes. The impact on previously published Q1 2017 figures is +5.0 million on adjusted revenue.

Adjusted revenue for the first quarter decreased by -2.6% to 742.5 million compared to 762.6 million in Q1 2017.

Excluding the negative impact from foreign exchange variations and the positive impact from changes in perimeter, adjusted revenue increased by +2.8%.

Adjusted advertising revenue, excluding revenue related to sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture and advertising displays, increased by +2.7% on an organic basis in the first quarter of 2018.

Q1 adjusted revenue 2018 (m) 2017 (m) Reported growth Organic growth(a) Street Furniture 337.1 345.6 -2.5% +2.1% Transport 293.5 302.3 -2.9% +5.0% Billboard 111.9 114.7 -2.4% -0.6% Total 742.5 762.6 -2.6% +2.8%

a. Excluding acquisitions/divestitures and the impact of foreign exchange

Please note that the geographic comments below refer to organic revenue growth.

STREET FURNITURE

First quarter adjusted revenue decreased by -2.5% to 337.1 million (+2.1% on an organic basis). Europe (including France and the UK) was down, affected, as expected, by the cancellation of the Paris "City Information Panels" interim contract in France. Asia-Pacific was up strongly with a double-digit growth, mainly driven by our new contracts in Australia, as well as North America thanks to digital in New York and Chicago. The Rest of the World was also up double-digit benefiting from a strong performance in Latin America.

First quarter adjusted advertising revenue, excluding revenue related to sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture was up +2.8% on an organic basis compared to the first quarter of 2017.

TRANSPORT

First quarter adjusted revenue decreased by -2.9% to 293.5 million (+5.0% on an organic basis). Europe (including France and the UK) posted good growth. Asia-Pacific delivered strong double-digit growth. The Rest of the World was up thanks to our new contracts in Brazil partially offset by negative growth in the Middle East where the market environment remains difficult. North America was down due to high comparable in Q1 2017.

BILLBOARD

First quarter adjusted revenue decreased by -2.4% to 111.9 million (-0.6% on an organic basis). Europe (including France and the UK) was flat. The Rest of the World was slightly negative while North America was down more significantly due to high comparable in Q1 2017.

Commenting on the 2018 first quarter revenue, Jean-Francois Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said:

"Our Q1 2018 revenue of 742.5m, down -2.6% on a reported basis due to a negative impact from foreign exchange was up +2.8% on an organic basis. Street Furniture's organic growth of +2.1% was mainly driven by a double-digit digital revenue increase while analogue revenue was negatively impacted by the cancellation of the Paris "City Information Panels" interim contract. Transport's good performance reflects our strong revenue growth in China as well as a good sales performance in Europe and the contribution from new contracts in Latin America. Our traditional Billboard business remains challenging while our digital Billboard business is growing double-digit, although it only represents less than 10% of our Billboard revenue.

As far as Q2 2018 is concerned, and bearing in mind that it is becoming more and more difficult to assess forward advertising revenue because of late bookings which are now possible with digital out-of-home, we currently expect an organic growth around +3.5%.

In a media landscape increasingly fragmented, out-of-home advertising reinforces its attractiveness. With our strong exposure to faster-growth markets, our growing premium digital portfolio combined with a new data-led audience targeting platform, our ability to win new contracts and the high quality of our teams across the world, we believe we are well positioned to continue to outperform the global advertising market and increase our leadership position in the outdoor advertising industry through profitable market share gains. The strength of our balance sheet is a key competitive advantage that will allow us to pursue further external growth opportunities as they arise."

ADJUSTED DATA

Under IFRS 11, applicable from 1st January, 2014, companies under joint control are accounted for using the equity method.

However, in order to reflect the business reality of the Group, operating data of the companies under joint control will continue to be proportionately integrated in the operating management reports used to monitor the activity, allocate resources and measure performance.

Consequently, pursuant to IFRS 8, Segment Reporting presented in the financial statements complies with the Group's internal information, and the Group's external financial communication therefore relies on this operating financial information. Financial information and comments are therefore based on "adjusted" data, consistent with historical data prior to 2014, which is reconciled with IFRS financial statements.

In Q1 2018, the impact of IFRS 11 on adjusted revenue was -84.5 million (-87.4 million in Q1 2017) leaving IFRS revenue at 658.0 million (675.2 million in Q1 2017).

ORGANIC GROWTH DEFINITION

The Group's organic growth corresponds to the adjusted revenue growth excluding foreign exchange impact and perimeter effect. The reference fiscal year remains unchanged regarding the reported figures, and the organic growth is calculated by converting the revenue of the current fiscal year at the average exchange rates of the previous year and taking into account the perimeter variations prorata temporis, but including revenue variations from the gains of new contracts and the losses of contracts previously held in our portfolio.

m Q1 2017 adjusted revenue (a) 762.6 2018 IFRS revenue (b) 658.0 IFRS 11 impacts (c) 84.5 2018 adjusted revenue (d) = (b) + (c) 742.5 Currency impacts (e) 42.1 2018 adjusted revenue at 2017 exchange rates (f) = (d) + (e) 784.6 Change in scope (g) (0.3) 2018 adjusted organic revenue (h) = (f) + (g) 784.3 Organic growth (i) = (h) / (a) +2.8%

m Impact of currency

as of March 31st, 2018 USD 8.2 HKD 7.2 RMB 5.8 BRL 3.4 GBP 2.2 Other 15.3 Total 42.1

Average exchange rate Q1 2018 Q1 2017 USD 0.8135 0.9391 HKD 0.1039 0.1210 RMB 0.1280 0.1363 BRL 0.2507 0.2988 GBP 1.1320 1.1627

Forward looking statements

This news release may contain some forward-looking statements. These statements are not undertakings as to the future performance of the Company. Although the Company considers that such statements are based on reasonable expectations and assumptions on the date of publication of this release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual performance to differ from those indicated or implied in such statements.

These risks and uncertainties include without limitation the risk factors that are described in the annual report registered in France with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers.

Investors and holders of shares of the Company may obtain copy of such annual report by contacting the Autorite des Marches Financiers on its website www.amf-france.org or directly on the Company website www.jcdecaux.com.

The Company does not have the obligation and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements.

FINANCIAL SITUATION

The evolution of revenues is the major factor which to impact the operating margin, free cash flow or net debt during Q1 2018.TORONTO, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lydian International Limited (TSX:LYD) (Lydian or the Company) announced today its results for the three months ended March 31, 2018. All dollar amounts referenced in this news release are, unless otherwise indicated, in United States dollars.



Lydian continued to advance major construction and operational readiness activities at its 100%-owned Amulsar Gold Project in Armenia. Managements construction schedule prepared in April 2018 reflects production commencing in Q4 2018, with ramp-up continuing into 2019. Gold production is targeted to average approximately 225,000 ounces annually over an initial 10-year mine life once steady-state operations are achieved.

Joao Carrelo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lydian, stated, I look forward to leading the Lydian team through Amulsars transition from the construction stage to production, capitalizing on opportunities and, with the support of our stakeholders, building a strong and successful gold mining company.

First Quarter 2018 Highlights, Recent Developments, and Expected Timelines as of April 2018 Construction Updates

Engineering  Engineering is 100% complete for the crushing and screening plant, the ADR facility, high voltage distribution, pre-fabricated buildings, and geotechnical designs. The overland conveyor design is now completed. The balance of engineering is nearing 100% completion, with the exception of the mine shop and wash bay. Construction of these two facilities is underway with foundation work nearing completion.

Mine Operations  Nine Caterpillar 789D haul trucks, one Caterpillar 6040 shovel, and one Caterpillar 994 front-end loader have been assembled and commissioned. In late Q1 2018, Lydian started using its fleet to widen the mine haul road to its full width of 35 meters. This work is expected to be complete by the end of Q2 2018. This will be followed by pre-stripping and mining ore for stockpiling in preparation for commissioning the material handling facilities.

Materials Handling System  Construction activities progressed significantly at the crushing and screening facilities. Key concrete work is nearing completion and is being handed over for steel erection and equipment installation. Structural steel is in place and equipment installation is 80% complete within the screening building. Structural steel and equipment installation for the crushing plant and conveyor drive station is expected to commence in May 2018. Pre-cast concrete panels and structural steel for the coarse ore reclaim tunnel are in place and backfilling has commenced. Work on the downhill conveyor, which is on the critical path, is a key focus. Approximately one-third of the conveyor galleries have been placed to date. Foundation sleepers are in place for two-thirds of the conveyor route, allowing for additional gallery placement to continue in May 2018.

Heap Leach Facility  Final stages of leach pad contouring and clay under-liner placement continued throughout the quarter. Installation of the geomembrane liner for the process pond will commence in mid-May and liner installation for the leach pad will commence thereafter.

Gold Processing Facilities  Steel for the pre-fabricated buildings for the process facilities, including the ADR plant, refinery, metallurgical lab, and warehouse are being erected. All of the carbon-in-column tanks have been installed and associated process component installation is ongoing and will continue throughout Q2 2018.

Infrastructure - The 35kV transmission lines are substantially complete as is the main mine substation. The latter will be energized in Q2 2018 with feed from the utilitys 110kV main transmission line that runs next to the mine substation. The 110Kv line has been upgraded by ENA, the utility, and an additional tower has been constructed to provide the necessary transition from the utility line to the substation. All modular substations have been delivered to site. Construction of the natural gas line is ongoing. This will feed the ADR plant and mine facilities area, both for process requirements and area heating. Process and potable water distribution designs have been finalized and procurement of mechanical and piping components is underway. Internet services have long been established with a fiberoptic backbone design in place. The radio communications system has been designed and all components are on order. The mobile cell network currently provides excellent coverage and will be superseded by the radio network once installed and commissioned.

Operational Readiness  Core operations and commissioning personnel are in place and are implementing Lydians operational readiness plan. Activities during Q1 2018 centered on initiating service and supply contracts, developing standard operating procedures, recruitment, and training. Aptitude screening of approximately 100 truck driver and shovel operator candidates was done using the Caterpillar simulators.

Sustainability  Lydian continued its focus on environmental and social affairs throughout the first quarter of 2018. Biodiversity activities progressed for the formation of the Jermuk National Park, including the socio-economic and perception studies and assessments of the Potentilla porphyrantha plant species. Lydian continued to increase local employment and procurement in cooperation with construction contractors.

Financing  On March 9, 2018 Lydian reduced its future potential commitments by exercising its option under the Newmont Royalty Agreement to terminate the 3% Net Smelter Return royalty and in lieu thereof, elected the quarterly payment option to pay to Newmont the aggregate sum of $20 million, without interest, in 20 equal quarterly installments of $1 million commencing on the first day of the third calendar month following the start of commercial production. During Q1 2018 and to the date of this report, additional debt draws of $62.8 million were received. Management also focused on developing additional financing alternatives to provide for the estimated project cost of $425 million, support cash flow requirements through ramp-up as production commences at Amulsar, and maintain adequate contingency.

As announced previously, pre-operational costs at Amulsar are estimated at $425 million. Considering managements construction schedule prepared in April 2018, which reflects production commencing in Q4 2018 and ramp-up continuing into 2019, Lydian anticipates an additional funding requirement of $65 million. This estimate is sensitive to several key risk factors, a) including potential further changes to the schedule to achieve production and ramp up to a point of positive cash flow, b) additional pre-operational costs, and c) upcoming contractual commitments. Management continues to assess its funding requirements considering these and other risk factors.

Armenian Government Developments  In 2015 the Armenian Constitution was amended, whereby effective April 2018 the government would change from a Presidential to a Parliamentary system. On April 17, 2018, Serzh Sargsyan, Armenias President for the preceding 10 years, was elected by Parliament as the new Prime Minister, effectively establishing a third term as head of state. Following 10 days of peaceful protests initiated by Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister Sargsyan voluntarily resigned on April 23, 2018 and a new Parliamentary election was set for May 1, 2018. Mr. Pashinyan, who sought election as Prime Minister in the May 1 election, failed to receive a majority vote by Parliament. Thereafter, Mr. Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister through a subsequent election on May 8, 2018. He will now begin forming a new government. These developments to date, have had minimal impact on construction activities at Amulsar.

Appointments  Joao Carrelo was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Lydian International Limited effective May 1, 2018 following the resignation of Howard Stevenson. Mr. Carrelo is a senior mining executive with over 34 years of international experience in the mining and resource sectors. Mr. Carrelo will be instrumental in bringing Amulsar into production and executing on the Companys strategic growth objectives.

To view construction photos and videos, please visit www.lydianinternational.co.uk.

About Lydian International Limited

Lydian is a gold developer focusing on construction at its 100%-owned Amulsar Gold Project, located in south-central Armenia. Amulsar will be a large-scale, low-cost operation with production expected to begin in 2018. Gold production is targeted to average approximately 225,000 ounces annually over an initial 10-year mine life, making Lydian one of the largest gold producers to emerge during 2018. Open pit mining and conventional heap leach processing contribute to excellent scale and economic potential. Estimated mineral resources contain 3.5 million measured and indicated gold ounces and 1.3 million inferred gold ounces as outlined in the Q1 2017 Technical Report. Existing mineral resources beyond current reserves and open extensions provide opportunities to improve average annual production and extend the mine life. Lydian is committed to good international industry practices in all aspects of its operations including production, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. For more information and to directly contact us, please visit www.lydianinternational.co.uk.

For further information, please contact:

Doug Tobler, Chief Financial Officer

+1 720-307-5087 Pamela Solly, Vice President of Investor Relations

+1 720-464-5649 Or: moreinfo@Lydianinternational.co.uk

Caution regarding forward-looking information



Certain information contained in this news release is forward looking. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects, is expected, intends, anticipates or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, will, would, should, or occur or the negative or other variations of such terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to: the realization of mineral resource estimates and the timing of development of the Amulsar Gold Project, including the expected start date of gold production; the expected and estimated cost of operations and capital costs at the Amulsar Gold Project; the current Amulsar Gold Project construction schedule, the commitment to and implementation of good international industry practices; the expected gold production from, and life of mine of, the Amulsar Gold Project; the formation of the Armenian Government; the impact of management in relation to the Companys strategic growth objectives; and the expected mining methods at the Amulsar Gold Project. Statements concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking information to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered when the property is developed.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, without limitation: changes in gold and silver prices; adverse general economic, market or business conditions; failure to achieve the objectives of the future exploration and drilling programs; regulatory changes; as well as "Risk Factors" included in the disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.abid1986 wrote:

The Parthenon was a church from 1204 until 1456, when Athens was taken by General Mohammed the Conqueror, the Turkish sultan, who established a mosque in the building and used the Acropolis as a fortress.



(A) who established a mosque in the building and used the Acropolis as

(B) who, establishing a mosque in the building, used the Acropolis like

(C) who, when he had established a mosque in the building, used the Acropolis like

(D) who had established a mosque in the building, using the Acropolis to be

(E) establishing a mosque in the building and using the Acropolis as



Hi,

Comma + verbing modifies preceding independent clause,then how establishing and using is modifying athens,which is actually a dependent clause.



Thanks

Abid

Hi Abid,Thanks for posting your doubt here.The Comma + Verb-ing modifier modifies the action in the preceding clause. This preceding clause can be an Independent or a Dependent Clause. Ans also, action denoted by the Comma + Verb-ing modifier must make sense with the Subject of the action modified by this modifier.In this sentence, the cause preceding the Comma + Verb-ing Modifiers "establishing..." and "using..." is "when Athens was taken by General...So, here the action these modifiers modify is "was taken". The Subject of this modified action is "Athens". Hence, this modification is illogical because Athens did not do any of the two actions denoted by the Comma + Verb-ing Modifiers here.These actions were actually performed by the General. Choice A is the clear winner here that conveys that meaning perfectly.For more details on the correct use Comma + Verb-ing modifiers, please read the following article:Hope this helps.ThanksShraddha_________________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Baghdad May 14 (IBNS): With the lion share of the votes counted, Iraq's Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is set to lose the polls.

Iraq's parliamentary elections, which took place on Saturday, is the first since declaring itself free from the Islamic State rule.

According to reports, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is the favourite to register a shock victory. With a militia leader gunning for the second place, Abadi's fraction will have to contend with the third place.

The official result will be announced sometime later today.

Sadr is a Shia candidate, who is said to have benefitted from the low voter turnout of 44.5 percent.

His rise in politics coincides with the fall of former President Saddam Hussain.

According to media reports, nearly 7,000 candidates from 87 parties competed against one another in the polls.

Abadi Image: Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Wikipedia

Sadr Image: UUUU/WikipediaJerusalem, May 14 (IBNS): While Israel is in a jolly mood ahead of the opening of the new US embassy in its capital city Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinians have gathered to protest the move, along the Gaza Strip.

Since US President Donald Trump's nod to approve Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, against the wishes of majority of other countries and the United Nations, at least 40 Palestinians have been gunned down by Israeli forces during protests at the border.

Trump decision has also brought in contrasting views from Israel and Palestine.

While Israel's Prime Minister has thanked Trump for keeping the latter's word and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has remarked the move as the slap of the century.

To further foster the US-Israel bond, senior White House advisers Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's daughter, and her husband Jared Kushner, have arrived in Jerusalem and will attend the opening of the new facility. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will also attend the event.

According to reports, a new interim embassy will be functional from Monday, inside the existing US consulate building in Jerusalem.

Later, a new and bigger space will be scouted and the embassy will be moved there.



Image: twitter.com/usembassyjlmQuebec City, May 14 (IBNS): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has triggered a controversy by calling a by-election in Quebec, three days after announcing a new project in the particular riding, media reports said.

Trudeau on Sunday announced the by-election for the Quebec riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, which had fallen vacant after the resignation of Liberal MP Denis Lemieux late last year.

Lemieux had announced his resignation on the family grounds.

The poll is scheduled to be held on Jun 18.

The opposition parties have criticised Trudeau for pledging a $60 million fund for aluminium-smelting project in the riding.

The project is a joint venture between aluminium giants, Alcoa and Rio Tinto.

Conservative MP Gerald Deltell has been quoted by CTV News, "It's not a coincidence that suddenly the prime minister and the Liberal government are paying a lot of attention to this riding when he did absolutely nothing in the last two and a half years."

"People realize that and recognize that, and you just have to speak to people about that. They will not be fooled by the prime minister." he added.





Image: Facebook page of Kathleen Wynne

Toronto, May 14 (IBNS): The Ontario Liberals have highlighted a budget mistake of $5.7 billion in the New Democratic Party's (NDP's) election platform, media reports said.

The Liberals have highlighted the mistake on Monday.

The NDP's election platform was built on the 2018-2019 budget tabled by the Liberals in March.

Though the budget was made of $140.2 billion, the actual programme spending is $145.9 billion.

The officials said the NDP probably has deducted $5.7 billion dollar in new spending initiatives.

However, NDP leader Andrea Horwath countered the Liberals on Monday morning.

She has been quoted by CBC News as saying, "Anybody who thinks that the Liberals numbers are sound hasn't been paying attention to what they've been doing at Queen's Park for the last number of years."

Horwath has also ruled out any possibility to form a coalition government with the Liberals.

(Reporting by Suman Das)No one knows for certain how this will turn out given North Koreas status as a rogue nation and some have speculated that Kim Jong-Un is only closing nuclear facilities that were already damaged. Still, maybe the dictator has realised that his military might is nothing compared with the USs and decided to yield.

This brings up several questions about international diplomacy, but lets focus for now on the other rogue state that has been in the news recently for its nuclear programme: Iran.

Similar Rogue States

The parallels between Iran and North Korea are astounding, but could we hope that the Iranian mullahs will one day lay down their nukes in favour of peace? Well, simply no.

The Iranian Regime has had decades to reform and could well have surrendered their nuclear weapons programme in 2015, when they signed a nuclear pact with the US and other top nations, but it didnt and we should remember that. No matter what the future holds for North Korea, Iran will not make a pact for peace while the mullahs are in charge.

Under the mullahs regime, Iran is suffering from a broken economy with the vast majority of its people in absolute poverty, with half of all Iranians currently starving and the numbers rising by the day.

Lets be clear that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei isnt concerned about the fate of his people; he is only concerned about spreading his corrupted version of Shiism and making Iran a regional power. Thus, he wants to divert Irans budget to the military (including the funding of terrorists and proxy militias) and the nuclear programme, as he believes that this will bolster Irans threat to other nation states and make them more susceptible to Irans religious dictatorship.

Mohammed Al-Shaikh, a Saudi writer with al-Jazirah newspaper, wrote: The politicized Persian theocrats are not aware that the world standards today differ from those in the past  when invasion, jihad and dominance and exporting ideological revolutions by force controlled the relations of peoples. It has become impossible to invade nowadays. Todays world would never, I repeat never, let a theocratic state expand and act like terrorist militias, which its working to combat and to eradicate their culture.

The Iranian Regimes constant interference in other Middle Eastern countries, from supplying terrorist cells with weapons to paying proxy groups to fight in Syria on behalf of Bashar Assad to training terrorists in Iranian camps, has attracted international attention.

Other Middle Eastern countries have been talking about this for a while and defending themselves against the Regime, while Donald Trump noted it as one of the reasons that he pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal last week, and European diplomats are soon to bring it up in meetings with the Regime.

If Iran were to surrender its weapons and work with the rest of the world, it would be glorious for Iran and everyone else, but its not going to happen. Instead, in order to see a non-nuclear Iran, the international community should support the Iranian Resistance in their fight for a Free Iran, run by and for the Iranian people.A white paper that offers a strategy by which the Trump administration can assist an already aggravated Iranian public is being circulated among National Security Council officials. It outlines a democratization strategy that focuses on driving a deeper wedge between the Iranian people and the ruling regime.

The Security Studies Group, or SSG, a national security think-tank with ties to senior White House national security officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, authored the plan, which examines American foreign policy toward Iran and emphasizes a policy of regime change. This would require a fundamental shift in U.S. policy towards Iran, something to which the Trump administration appears to be receptive. In fact, Bolton is a longtime and vocal supporter of regime change.

U.S military intervention is minimized, and focus is placed on supporting the Iranian population that is angry at the ruling regime. The ordinary people of Iran are suffering under economic stagnation, while the regime ships its wealth abroad to fight its expansionist wars and to pad the bank accounts of the Mullahs and the IRGC command, SSG writes in the paper. This has provoked noteworthy protests across the country in recent months.

SSGs president, Jim Hanson, said in an interview, The Trump administration has no desire to roll tanks in an effort to directly topple the Iranian regime, Hanson said. But they would be much happier dealing with a post-Mullah government. That is the most likely path to a nuclear weapons-free and less dangerous Iran.

An NSC official declined to comment directly on the report, but said, Our stated policy is to change the Iranian regimes behavior of continuous destabilizing regional acts and support of terrorism. The official added, The National Security Council is in receipt of reams of policy papers and reports, some are read with interest, others are not. Receipt of a policy paper in no way means that we are going to adopt the position of that paper.

The JCPOA purposefully destroyed the carefully created global consensus against the Islamic Republic, said a source close to the issue. Prior to that, everyone understood the dangers of playing footsie with the worlds largest state sponsor of terrorism. Its now Trump, Bolton, and [Mike] Pompeos job to put this consensus back in place.

The source also discussed John Bolton, John is someone who understands the danger of Iran viscerally, and knows that youre never going to fundamentally change its behaviorand the threats against Israel and the Saudis especiallyuntil that revolutionary regime is gone, he said, adding that nothings off the table right now if Israel is attacked.

Another source close to the White House and familiar with the issue said, The problem is not the Iran nuclear deal its the Iranian regime. The source could only speak on background, but added, Team Bolton has spent years creating Plans B, C, and D for dealing with that problem. President Trump hired him knowing all of that. The administration will now start aggressively moving to deal with the root cause of chaos and violence in the region in a clear-eyed way.

The SSG claims that regional sources tell us that Iranian social media is more outraged about internal oppression, such as the recent restrictions on Telegram, than about supporting or opposing the nuclear program. Iranian regime oppression of its ethnic and religious minorities has created the conditions for an effective campaign designed to splinter the Iranian state into component parts.

More than one third of Irans population is minority groups, many of whom already seek independence, according to the paper. U.S. support for these independence movements, both overt and covert, could force the regime to focus attention on them and limit its ability to conduct other malign activities. It continues, U.S. policy toward Iran currently does not publicly articulate two components vital to success: That a new birth of liberty based in self-determination for the Iranian people should be official policy; and that military action should be anticipated if other measures fail.

The plan alleges that, A credible hard power option exists. That option does not consist of large invasion forces or long, costly occupations.

The probability the current Iranian theocracy will stop its nuclear program willingly or even under significant pressure is low, the plan states. Absent a change in government within Iran, America will face a choice between accepting a nuclear-armed Iran or acting to destroy as much of this capability as possible.

As Trump emphasized in his statement about exiting the deal earlier this week, U.S. officials must make efforts to publicly differentiate between Irans ruling regime and its people. The plan agrees, stating, Any public discussion of these options, and any messaging about the Iranian regime in general, should make a bright line distinction between the theocratic regime along with its organs of oppression and the general populace. We must constantly reinforce our support for removing the iron sandal from the necks of the people to allow them the freedom they deserve.Jokelore in Nepali politics

Politicians have been using satire as an effective tool to gain power, but in doing so they risk not being taken seriously in the long runChand-led CPN members attack police, release cadre arrested during banda

Cadres of Communist Party of Nepal led by Netra Bikram Chand on Monday attacked a police team and freed their fellow cadre who was arrested during the Nepal banda called by the party on Sunday.The United States officially moved its Israeli embassy from the city of Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday.

The move came as Israeli forces and Palestinians clashed along Israels border with the Gaza Strip. More than 50 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more were wounded.

Within 100 kilometers of the violence, American and Israeli officials gathered in Jerusalem for the opening of the new embassy.

Late last year, American President Donald Trump rejected long-standing U.S. policy that placed the embassy in Tel Aviv. The United States has now become the only country with its Israeli diplomatic headquarters in Jerusalem.

Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, both advisers to the president, attended the opening ceremonies.

While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.

He added that the Palestinians protesting in Gaza were, in his words, part of the problem, and not part of the solution.

Official reaction to the move

In a video, the president called moving the U.S. embassy out of Tel Aviv a long time coming. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, he said.

Earlier, Trump celebrated the move in a message on Twitter. He wrote, "A great day for Israel!"

Israel considers all of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The United Nations, the European Union and Arab leaders rejected the U.S. decision last December to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Now, several Arab leaders have condemned the American government for moving the embassy. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri called the move to Jerusalem an incitement to action. Irans foreign minister described it a day of great shame.

European leaders also objected to the move. British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was unhelpful to the goal of peace for the area.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the decision regrettable.

Pope Francis said he could not, in his words, silence his concern over the situation."

And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the move would jeopardize the chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Violence at Gaza border

In Gaza, thousands of people protested the new embassy. Some protesters threw rocks and other things across the border. Israel fired on the protesters. Israel said the shooting was necessary for security.

Many businesses and schools in Gaza were closed.

Palestinians were not protesting the embassy move alone. Many were also demonstrating to mark the anniversary of what they call the "nakba" or "catastrophe." Nakba describes the expulsion or fleeing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

New Embassy temporarily in existing office

The new U.S. embassy is currently housed inside an existing U.S. diplomatic building, while a search begins for new, larger offices. The building sits partly on a piece of land that the U.S. government does not officially recognize as Israeli territory.

A U.S. State Department official has said the land is partly in West Jerusalem, the part of the city recognized by the United Nations as Israeli territory.

The official said the rest is partly in No Mans Land, between the lines established by Israel and Jordan. The two sides established those lines as part of a truce signed on April 23, 1949.

A U.N. official describes that land as occupied territory, under two agreements: the Fourth Geneva Convention signed in 1949 and 1907s Hague Convention.

The U.N. official agreed to speak with VOA on condition that he or she not be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

The Trump administration has said it takes no position on the exact borders of Jerusalem, but does recognize the city as Israels capital.

Im Caty Weaver.

George Grow wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on reports from VOAs Ken Bredemeier, Chris Hannas, Heather Murdock and Michael Lipin. Caty Weaver was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

pledge  n. a promise or agreement

deliver  v. to provide to someone or something else

shame  n. dishonor; a feeling of guilty or sadness for something you have done wrong

jeopardize  v. to put at risk

catastrophe  n. a terrible event; a complete failure

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

There may be something in your food that you cannot see and cannot taste. But it could be killing you.

It is an artificial oil commonly called trans fat.

"Trans fat is a toxic chemical that has been added to our food supply and accounts for an estimated more than 500,000 deaths every year."

That is Dr. Tom Frieden. He is head of the public health organization Resolve to Save Lives. He was the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States from 2009 to 2017.

On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a plan to help countries remove trans fats from the worlds food supply within the next five years.

Frieden says the move is unprecedented.

This is the first time there has ever been an elimination program to get rid of -- not an infectious disease like polio or small pox -- but a non-communicable disease, in this case the risk factor for heart attacks that trans fat causes. This is an unprecedented move. And its really important that government and communities around the world replace artificial trans fats with healthier oils.

What is artificial trans fat?

Artificial trans fat is made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil. Food makers use this low-priced oil so food will stay fresh longer.

Although trans fats extend the shelf life of food, we think the priority should be the length and health of human life. Thats more important than the shelf life of food. There are alternatives to industrially produced trans fats.

Trans fat can be found in foods such as donuts, cakes, cookies and deep-fried foods. Baked goods that sit on grocery shelves for many months but still remain soft and moist usually contain trans fat. This is because the oil remains solid at room temperature. And Frieden says this is why it is dangerous to eat.

"Trans fat is tasteless. It's solid at room temperature, but it's also solid at body temperature in your coronary arteries."

Studies have found that trans fat raises cholesterol levels in the blood and increases the risk of heart disease.

High-income countries have either banned these artificial fats or are in the process of banning them because of their connection to heart disease. The Associated Press news agency says more than 40 high-income countries have been working on eliminating trans fats from foods.

Denmark banned trans fats in their food 15 years ago. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has called for food makers to stop using it by June 2018.

The World Health Organization is urging governments of low- and middle-income countries to do the same. Experts at the WHO say that three-quarters of the world's deaths from cardiovascular disease happen in low- and middle-income countries.

Where trans fats have been banned, heart attacks and deaths from heart disease have dropped greatly.

The WHO plan calls on governments to take specific steps. They include replacing trans fats with healthier oils such as olive oil, creating public awareness of the harms of trans fats, and enforcing anti-trans fat policies and laws.

If people stop eating products made with trans fats, more than 17 million lives could be saved over the next 25 years. Also a major source of heart disease will be eliminated.

And thats the Health and Lifestyle report. Im Anna Matteo.

Carol Pearson reported this story for VOA News in Washington. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English with additional reporting from the AP. Hai Do was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

QUIZ



Quiz - WHO Wants to Rid Global Food Supply of Killer Fat Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

artificial  adj. not natural or real : made, produced, or done to seem like something natural

toxic  adj. containing poisonous substances

account  v. to give a reason or explanation for (something)

unprecedented  adj. not done or experienced before

elimination  n. the act or process of removing something or someone : eliminate  v. to remove (something that is not wanted or needed) : to get rid of (something)

noncommunicable  adj. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression. The four main types of noncommunicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.

hydrogen  n. a chemical element that has no color or smell and that is the simplest, lightest, and most common element

shelf life  n. the length of time that food may be stored and still be good to eat

priority  n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first

coronary  medical of or relating to the heart and especially to the vessels that supply blood to the heart

cardiovascular  medical : of or relating to the heart and blood vessels

specific  adj. clearly and exactly presented or stated : precise or exactThis is Whats Trending Today

Netta Barzilai is sassy, she is fun and she can sing. Now, the 25-year-old Israeli is the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

She won with a catchy dance song about womens empowerment called Toy.

It is Israels first win since 1998, and fourth win overall. Netta beat competitors from 42 other countries.

About 200 million people watched this years contest, held in Lisbon, Portugal. Votes came in live Saturday from the capitals of participating countries. The final moments were tense, with Israel in a close, five-way race with Cyprus, Austria, Sweden and Germany.

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets early Sunday to celebrate Nettas victory. Fans gathered at Tel Avivs Rabin Square. The City Hall building there was lit up to spell Toy. Electronic signs throughout Tel Aviv congratulated Netta.

Netta was already a huge hit in Israel thanks to her personality and humorous performances.

Her winning songs main line is Im not your toy, You stupid boy, Ill take you down. Her message seems to appeal to fans. The song had more than 20 million views on Eurovisions YouTube page even before Saturdays main event.

Her win means Israel will host next years Eurovision contest. But it also means much more than that. Israel often feels under siege. And it celebrates international success that supports its image of itself as a normal country -- in a big way.

A win at the hugely popular Eurovision contest is as big as it gets. For example, Hallelujah became the countrys unofficial national song after it won Eurovision for Israel in the late 1970s. And Dana International became a national hero when she won with Diva in 1998.

Netta took congratulatory phone calls from the nations leaders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called her Israels greatest ambassador.

Izhar Cohen was Israels first Eurovision winner back in 1978. He told the Associated Press that Nettas win is a moment of joy that makes everybody together.

Because we are separated with so many views and political sides and all that, this contest made us one country, one people and Im so happy for that, he said.

Next time in Jerusalem

News of Israel hosting next years contest in Jerusalem came as Israel marked the yearly Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of what it describes as the citys unification following the 1967 war. It also came a day before the United States officially moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

On Saturday night, the Eurovision television hosts turned to each country to hear their votes. Jerusalem was the only capital city not called by name.

As she picked up her award, Barzilai shouted to the crowd, I love my country. Next time in Jerusalem!

And thats Whats Trending Today

The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

sassy - adj. confident and energetic

catchy - adj. appealing and easy to remember

empowerment - n. the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights

host - v. to be the host for (a social event, a group of people, etc.) host - n.

siege - n. a situation in which soldiers or police officers surround a city, building, etc., in order to try to take control of itTrump administration officials says Melania Trump is in the hospital recovering from an operation to treat a non-cancerous kidney condition.

The first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said the treatment Monday morning was successful.

Grisham said Trump is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, just outside Washington, D.C. She said the first lady would likely remain there for the rest of the week.



Last week, Trump made news when she launched her program Be Best to help children be their best selves.

I'm Caty Weaver.

The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Tensions over trade between the United States and China have now involved telecommunications equipment and soybeans.

U.S. President Donald Trump surprised government officials on Sunday by offering to help a Chinese telecommunications company.

Trump wrote on Twitter that he was looking for a way to let the Chinese company ZTE Corp. get back into business fast. The tweet also said, Too many jobs in China lost.

In April, the U.S. Commerce Department blocked ZTE Corp. from buying U.S.-made telecommunications equipment. The goods include parts needed for wireless stations, optical fiber networks and smartphones.

The action was taken after accusations that the company misled U.S. officials about its efforts to stop the sale of goods to sanctioned countries. The U.S. parts, officials said, were being put into products being sold to Iran and North Korea.

The U.S.-made parts however represent a large percentage of the parts the company uses to make its products. As a result, the company said it would have to shut down operations at its factory in the southern city of Shenzhen. The Associated Press reports that ZTE has more than 70,000 employees.

On its English language website, ZTE stated that the U.S. Commerce Departments denial order would severely impact the survival and development of the company.

America First policy

Trump has accused Chinese trade policy of costing American workers jobs during the 2016 presidential campaign and as president.

In March, the U.S. placed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China. The two sides have since exchanged threats to increase import taxes on a large number of goods.

Trumps statements, however, appear to be an effort to ease tensions.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that China appreciates the U.S. position. Lu said the two sides were discussing the issue.

U.S. and Chinese trade representatives are to hold talks this week in Washington. Vice Premier Liu He will visit the U.S. and is expected to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

U.S. farmers face unsettling trade dispute

In the U.S., the widening trade dispute threatens to hurt American farmers at a time when they have just planted this years crops.

China has not put in place tariffs as part of a response to the recent U.S. measures. There are concerns, however, that China already has stopped buying soybeans from U.S. farmers.

A Chinese tariff on crops like soybeans could hurt farmers like Scott Halpin of Illinois. He told VOA, Soybeans make up just under half of our crop rotation.

Phil Flynn is a market expert with Price Futures Group, a company that provides financial advice.

He is not too concerned about loses in the soybean market. He told VOA, They [China] have a lot more to lose than we do.

China imports about 63 percent of the worlds exported soybeans. Theres not a lot of places that can replace American soybeans in the near term, Flynn noted.

Halpin, however, would like to know that there is a buyer for his crop.

If China is buying from another country, somebody else is going to be looking for our soybeans. It would just be nice to have some stability, he said.

Im Mario Ritter.

Mario Ritter adapted this story for VOA Learning English. The story is based on reporting from Kane Farabaugh of VOA and the AP. Hai Do was the editor.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

optical fiber n. long, thin glass or plastic thread that carries light signals

sanctioned adj. describing countries that have sanction measures placed on them

tariffs n. taxes on imports or exports mean to protect some industries in a country

appreciate v. to understand the value of something, to be grateful

rotation n. a crop that is planted in turns to avoid weakening the soil

stability n. something not easily changed

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.The United States has said it may let American businesses invest in North Korea if the two sides reach a nuclear agreement. But even if U.S. economic restrictions against the North are lifted, the country would likely still present a difficult environment for foreign investment.

The U.S. government wants North Korea to end its nuclear activities. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted on Sunday that President Donald Trump has called for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the North.

Pompeo added that, if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agrees to disarm, the U.S. could offer foreign investment in spades.

Pompeo told Fox News, "This will be Americans coming innot the U.S. taxpayerto help build out the energy grid. He added that American businesses could help the North develop its infrastructure, (and) all the things that the North Korean people need...so they can eat meat and live healthy lives.



Trump-Kim meeting

The secretary of state recently returned from a trip to Pyongyang, where he met with the North Korean leader. The meeting was set up to prepare for Kims talks with Trump. The two leaders are to meet in Singapore on June 12. The North Korean government released three American prisoners to Pompeo as a humanitarian gesture.

The Trump administration is increasingly hopeful it can work out an agreement with the North Korean government.

Administration officials say the goal is to make sure the government can no longer threaten the U.S. or its allies. They want the North to end its nuclear program, destroy its supply of ballistic missiles and no longer have the ability to make chemical weapons.

Last month, the North Korean leader met with South Korean President Moon-Jae-in. During that meeting, Kim agreed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Kim said that he wants an end to the U.S.-led restrictions, which ban 90 percent of North Koreas trade exports. Those measures were announced because of his country's repeated nuclear and missile tests.

The North Korean government recently announced it would take apart its nuclear bomb test area between May 23 and 25. However, the North has argued for a slower denuclearization process that would provide immediate actions for each step taken. It is not clear how North Korean and U.S. officials can resolve the differences over their positions.

Investment issues

It is also unclear if foreign investors would be prepared to put millions of dollars in investments into North Korea after sanctions are ended and a nuclear deal is in place.

"The administration is perhaps inflating expectations of what the North Koreans can expect in terms of private investment, said Andray Abrahamian. He was once involved in developing business training programs for North Koreans.

Abrahamian noted that banks and financial companies will have concerns about the business climate in the North.

Under Kim Jong Un, the government has carried out a number of market reforms. Under those measures, North Korean farmers can keep some of their crops, while state-owned businesses are now permitted to earn a profit.

Foreign investors might be interested in expanding North Korea's mineral exports, such as coal and iron. Historically, North Koreans have been paid very low wages. This might prove appealing to clothing manufacturers and light industry.

But unlike mainland China, which successfully opened its economy to foreign investment, North Korea remains a complex business environment with unclear tax and investment laws. The North Korean government sees the outside world with distrust and restricts its own people from contacting that world.

Hope across Asia

The possibility of peace in Korea has raised expectations that economic conditions in East Asia will soon improve.

China and South Korea also agreed to provide economic aid if North Korea completes denuclearization.

The South Korean government has already suggested developing modern railroads that would connect the Korean Peninsula to China and Russia. Shares of South Korean manufacturing and railway stocks have risen. In addition, land prices are said to be rising near the neutral area between the two Koreas as the possibility of cross-border business activities increases.

Im Jonathan Evans.

VOAs Brian Padden reported this story. Susan Shand adapted his report. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

verifiable  adj. to prove, show, find out, or state that (something) is true or correct

irreversible  adj. not able to be changed back

in spades  n. large amounts

grid  n. a system of electrical wires and equipment that supplies electricity

infrastructure - n. roads, public water supplies and other public services

gesture  n. something said or done to show a feeling

ballistic  adj. related to a flying object or its flight American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

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 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.Guyana Goldfields Inc. provides exploration and production of gold. It engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, production, and operation of gold mineral properties. The company also owns and operates gold drilling rights. The company was formerly known as Chiboug Copper Company Limited and changed its name to Guyana Goldfields Inc. in January 1995. Guyana Goldfields Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. As of August 25, 2020, Guyana Goldfields Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group Company Limited.

Read MoreNational Bank of Canada engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, US Specialty Finance and International (USSF&I), and Other. The Personal and Commercial segment involves in banking, financing, and investing services offered to individuals and businesses as well as insurance operations. The Wealth Management segment focuses on the investment solutions, trust and lending services, and other wealth management solutions offered through internal and third-party distribution networks. The Financial Markets segment includes banking and investment banking services and financial solutions for large and mid-size corporations, public sector organizations, and institutional investors. The USSF&I segment comprises specialty finance expertise activities of subsidiary ABA Bank, which offers financial products and services to individuals and businesses; and activities of targeted investments in certain emerging markets. The Other segment encompasses treasury activities such as asset and liability management, liquidity management and funding operations, certain no

Read MoreTravis Perkins plc distributes building materials to the building, construction, and home improvement markets in the United Kingdom. It operates through four segments: Merchanting, Retail, Toolstation, and Plumbing & Heating. The Merchanting segment distributes interior building products, which include drywalls, ceilings, external envelopes, fire protection products, flooring and partitioning products, and tools and accessories to professionals within the construction industry; civil, drainage, and heavy building materials to specialist contractors and trade professionals; and pipeline and heating solutions. This segment also distributes building materials, plumbing and heating products, landscaping materials, timber and sheet materials, painting and decorating products, dry lining and insulation products, doors and joinery, and hand and power tools to trade professionals and self-builders. The Retail segment operates as a home improvement retailer, which sells kitchen, bathroom, paint, and timber products. The Toolstation segment supplies products to the trade, home improvers, and self-builders industry through approximately 350 branches, as well as online, call center, and a mobile website. The Plumbing & Heating segment supplies its products to the trade, home improvement, and DIY markets. The company also offers kitchens and joinery products to specialist joiners, kitchen fitters, house builders, local authorities, and national house builders; and operates as a tile retailer. The company was formerly known as Sandell Perkins Public Limited Company and changed its name to Travis Perkins plc in October 1988. Travis Perkins plc was founded in 1797 and is headquartered in Northampton, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreMesh networking has been all the rage in the WiFi router space over the last few years, with nearly every company that makes consumer networking gear offering a whole-home WiFi solution that lets you use multiple routers to boost your signal in spaces that would be tough to reach with a single router.

But theres a catch: you cant just grab any two routers and expect them to work together. Have a Google WiFi? Youll need another Google WiFi if you want to create a mesh network. The same goes for routers from Eero, TP-Link, Asus, Netgear, D-Link, and others.

But the WiFi Alliance has created a new standard that could allow interoperability if its widely adopted.

Its called Wi-Fi EasyMesh, and its a platform that offers a standards-based approach to the problem.

In a nutshell, if your home networking gear supports the standard, it will let you use multiple routers and access points to flesh out a single wireless network, regardless of who makes those routers.

Wi-Fi EasyMesh also makes it easy to add new hardware to an existing network, and the technology can monitor network conditions and make adjustments automatically. Your phones, laptops, or other wireless devices should automatically connect to the appropriate access point as you move throughout your house.

Of course, this all depends on companies integrating the new technology into their routers. And its not at all clear that theyll want to do that. After all, why make it easier for you to buy gear from their competitors?

The Wi-Fi Alliance suggests itll lead to improved customer satisfaction and thats probably true. But its telling that most of the testimonials accompanying the official press release come from chip makers, not the companies that actually make the routers youd actually buy.

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A family of seven including four children was found dead with gunshot wounds Friday at a rural property in southwest Australia in what could be the countrys worst mass shooting in 22 years, police and news media said.

The children died with their mother and grandparents. The three generations had moved in 2015 to Osmington, a village of fewer than 700 people near the tourist town of Margaret River, to grow fruit, media reported.

Police would not comment on the possibility of murder-suicide, but said they are not looking for a suspect. After being alerted by a phone call before dawn, police found the bodies and two guns at the property, Western Australia state Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said. Police wouldnt say who made the call.

The bodies of two adults were found outside a house and the others were found inside. They all resided at the property, he said.

Police said they have no information that would raise concerns about wider public safety, suggesting a shooter is not at large. Police are currently responding to what I can only describe as a horrific incident, Dawson told reporters.

This devastating tragedy will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community and, in particular, the local communities in our southwest, he added.

Police were attempting to make contact with the victims relatives, Dawson said. He declined to release the names or ages of the dead.

Philip Alpers, a Sydney University gun policy analyst, said the tragedy appeared to be the worst mass shooting in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.

Australias gun laws are widely acclaimed as a success, with supporters including former U.S. President Barack Obama saying Australia has not had a single mass shooting since they were implemented.

The generally accepted definition of a mass shooting  four deaths excluding the shooter in a single event  has been met only once in Australia since then. In 2014, a farmer shot his wife and three children before killing himself.

Police have revealed few details about the recent killings, and it is not clear whether there was more than one shooter.

Farmers are allowed to own guns under Australian law because they have a legitimate need to use them to kill feral pests and predators or sick or injured livestock. But automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are banned from public ownership.

Osmington is a collection of a few streets, farms, vacation accommodations and vineyards supplying the premium winemaking district known as Margaret River.

Samantha Lee, chair of the Gun Control Australia lobby group, said rural areas were over-represented in Australian gun deaths, including suicides.

Regional and rural areas are particularly vulnerable to these sorts of tragedies, because of the combination of isolation, sometimes mental or financial hardship and easy access to firearms, Less said in a statement.

Although the details of this tragedy are yet to come to light, Australia has a tragic history of higher rate of gun deaths in rural areas, she added. Rod McGuirk, Canberra, APA Cambodian school director has become the first person to be arrested on charges of insulting the monarchy after posting comments on Facebook critical of the authoritarian government. The law protecting the monarchy was passed in February. Critics say it further erodes freedom of speech and political activities, already under stress from Prime Minister Hun Sens government. Police say Khieng Navy was arrested in his home Saturday and could face five years in prison if convicted. He is accused of posting comments online that allegedly insulted King Norodom Sihamoni by suggesting he was behind the November court decision to disband the main opposition party to benefit Cambodias enemies. Sihamoni is a constitutional monarch with a minimal role in public affairs, while Hun Sen exercises almost absolute control over politics.

Pakistan: Heavy rainstorms kill 15

Officials in Pakistan say violent rainstorms in the northwest have caused at least 15 deaths and injured dozens. Latif Khan, a senior disaster management official, says Sunday that most of the deaths from the severe weather overnight were caused by the collapse of mud and stone walls and houses. He says the heavy rains also caused flash flooding in some places. Another official, Inayatur Rehman, said the roof of a seminary collapsed in the Bajur tribal region, killing six children and injuring nine. In the cities of Nowshera and Peshawar, motorists were killed and wounded by falling billboards and downed electrical cables. Khan says rescue and relief operations are ongoing, meaning the toll could rise.

Afghanistan: Militants attack govt building, 4 dead

Militants attacked a provincial government building in eastern yesterday, killing at least four people, according to provincial officials. Attahullah Khogyani, the spokesman for the provincial governor of Nangarhar province, said the building belonging to the provincial finance directorate in the provincial capital, Jalalabad. He said there were at least two explosions followed by a gunbattle that was still underway, adding that security forces have surrounded the building. Inamullah Miakhial, spokesman for the Nangarhar hospital, said at least 30 people were wounded. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Both the Taliban and a local Islamic State affiliate have carried out numerous attacks in Nangarhar.Chinas Ministry of Commerce has emphasized the unique role Macau has in enhancing the relationships between mainland China and Portuguese-speaking countries. A spokesperson for the ministry, Gao Feng, said that Macau has a natural connection with Portuguese-speaking countries with respect to language and culture, as well as other aspects. He further noted Macaus growing function in being the platform for trade and commercial cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. The Ministry of China hopes that Macau can continue to explore its distinct advantage, and to promote the joint development of mainland China, Macau, and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Floodwall tender to open this month

The floodwall construction project, which has been planned for the inner harbor to prevent flooding, which is a public tender, will have its bidding opened sometime this month. Yesterday, the Marine and Water Bureau Director, Susana Wong Soi Man, said that the floodwall will not be able to be completed this year due to the sheer amount of time that is needed for its construction. According to Wong, the temporary floodwall is capable of dealing with large-scale flooding. Recently, a design plan was delivered to Wongs bureau, which is now awaiting the opinions of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau.

Biotech company hopes to expand in Macau

Hengji Biotechnology, a Zhuhai based company, is attempting to export large quantities of captive-bred Andrias (giant salamanders) to Macau for consumption purposes, according to a report by Macao Daily News. The company has been said to be the only one in the world approved to conduct international trade of captive-bred Andrias. Last year, for the first time, the company exported 20 captive-bred Andrias to Macau, which was said to be the first international trade of this kind of animal product. The company is currently applying to export more Andrias to Macau in order to expand its market in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Europe. Reportedly, the company was established 24 years ago, and is producing more than 10,000 captive-bred Andrias annually.Chinas first entirely home-built aircraft carrier began sea trials yesterday in a sign of the growing sophistication of the countrys domestic arms industry.

The still-unnamed ship left dock in the northern port of Dalian at 7.00 a.m. to test the reliability and stability of its propulsion and other system, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Liaoning provincial maritime safety bureau issued an order for shipping to avoid a section of ocean southeast of the city between Sunday and Friday.

The 50,000-ton carrier will likely be formally commissioned sometime before 2020 following the completion of sea trials and the arrival of its full air complement.

The new carrier is based on the former Soviet Unions Kuznetsov class design, with a ski jump-style deck for taking off and a conventional oil-fueled steam turbine power plant.

Chinas first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, arrived as a mostly empty hull from Ukraine and was commissioned in 2012 along with its flight wing of Chinese J-15 fighter jets.

State media reports say China is also planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of remaining at sea for long durations.

China has the worlds largest navy in terms of numbers of ships, although it lags behind the U.S. in technology and combat capabilities.

It has been deployed to assert Chinas claim to virtually the entire South China Sea and is increasingly ranging farther into the Pacific and Indian oceans. China last year established its first overseas military base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where rivals such as the U.S., Japan and several European nations also have a permanent presence. APWhen Resorts became the first casino in the United States to open outside Nevada, gamblers overwhelmed it. Cars streamed into Atlantic City on May 26, 1978, and throngs waited in line for blocks on the famous Boardwalk.

People bought tickets for buffets they had no intention of eating, just to sneak inside the casino earlier than the rest. Men relieved themselves into plastic coin cups to avoid losing their spot at the tables. And cash  more than anyone had ever seen and more than management could imagine  flooded into the counting room, taking an entire day to count.

Forty years later , Resorts is a microcosm of the forces that boosted and buffeted the seaside gambling resort: the rapid rise to fabulous riches, the slowdown and struggle as more competitors emerged, and the recovery in a slimmed-down market.

We were the first one here, and were going to keep doing what we do best, said Resorts president Mark Giannantonio.

The casino plans to re-create the ceremonial first toss of the dice that came after then-Gov. Brendan Byrne confessed that his father taught him never to bet on anything other than Notre Dame and the New York Yankees.

But as Atlantic City grew, Resorts market share shrank. As one of the smaller casinos in town, with 942 hotel rooms, it suddenly found itself staring down newcomers with rooms of 2,000 or more.

And when casinos started proliferating in nearby Pennsylvania and New York, Resorts came within hours of handing the keys over to lenders and walking away in Dec. 2009.

Veteran casino executive Dennis Gomes, known for wacky promotions including customers competing against a chicken at tic-tac-toe, bought the casino but died soon afterward. His investment partner, Morris Bailey, kept Resorts afloat by writing checks each month, even as the casino lost money.

A turning point came when Resorts inked a deal to have the Mohegan tribe assume day-to-day management and to affiliate it with other tribal- owned casinos in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. A deal with Jimmy Buffett brought the Margaritaville brand to Resorts, and by 2014, it was back in the black, helped by $110 million of capital investments.

It has succeeded as one of seven casinos in a market that just four years ago had 12. But two of the shuttered casinos are reopening this year.

Some see the opening of the Hard Rock casino next door, in what used to be the Trump Taj Mahal, as a potential boon to Resorts.

If the place next to Resorts is a home run, there will be overflow, said analyst Lawrence Klatzkin with Rice, Voelker LLC in New York. Hard Rock could be the best thing that happens to Resorts. There could be good symbiosis there.

Resorts has found its niche, much as downtown Las Vegas casinos have by not trying to match their larger competitors on the Strip, said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Downtown casinos arent competing by trying to build their own Bellagio lake; they are competing by offering better value and better gaming conditions, he said. If Resorts can do that, it has a good future ahead of it.

Giannantonio predicts Resorts will have its best summer in a decade or more this year.

I think we will be around 40 years from now, he said. Matter of fact, Id bet on it. Wayne Parry, Atlantic City, APSuicide bombers who carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesias second-largest city yesterday were a family of six that included two young children, police said, as the worlds most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of the worst attacks on its Christian minority.

At least seven people plus the six bombers died in the attacks in Surabaya, according to police. At least 41 people were injured in the attacks, which Indonesias president condemned as barbaric.

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and 9 for her attack. Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

The extremist group claimed responsibility for yesterdays attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It didnt mention anything about families or children taking part in the attack, and said there were only three attackers.

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the scene. That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the citys Pantekosta Church, Mangera said.

A witness described the womans attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived. At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then [the bomb] exploded, said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs, two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church, were detonated by a bomb squad.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot that had been burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several meters by the blast. I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack, said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. Soon after that the explosion happened.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

In Jakarta, Indonesias capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks. We are angry, said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, but urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

Indonesias two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early yesterday in West Java towns. It wasnt clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

They have trained in order to attack police, Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year. Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9 percent of Indonesias 260 million people. Tuji Martuji, Surabaya, APMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad moved swiftly against predecessor Najib Razak just days after his shock election win, banning him from leaving the country and planning to reopen a probe into a multi-billion dollar scandal at a state fund that Najib helped set up.

Even as a chastened Najib said he would support a smooth transition of power and relinquished his dual roles as chief of his party and the broader Barisan Nasional coalition, Mahathir made clear he wouldnt be lenient after a bitter and intensely personal election campaign.

Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and defected to the opposition to stand as their candidate for premier, repeatedly called Najib, his former protege, a thief before the vote and pledged to revisit the 1MDB funding issue. His victory at the age of 92 swept away 61 years of rule by Barisan Nasional, which had maintained a grip on power since Malaysias independence with the support of ethnic Malay voters.

Mahathir on Saturday confirmed he had personally ordered travel restrictions on Najib after the former premier said he would take a short break to consider his future. Crowds gathered at a local airport after media reports that Najib and his wife were listed on a manifesto for a private plane to fly to Indonesia.

We have placed certain restrictions on a number of people who may be involved in wrongdoing or in making wrong decisions, Mahathir told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. He cited whatever little information that justifies ourselves taking action, including detention, arrests or even preventing them from going abroad.

Mahathir said he was instructing the auditor-general to remove any restrictions from the Official Secrets Act on publicizing the details of a report into 1MDB, and planned to replace the attorney-general, though he did not name a candidate for the role. The police would submit the report to him and he would study it, he said.

The U.S. Department of Justice claims billions were siphoned from 1MDB, which was set up in 2009 to support infrastructure projects. Najib faced allegations some of 1MDBs money ended up in his personal accounts before an election in 2013. He acknowledged around $700 million appeared in his accounts but said it was a donation from the Saudi royal family and most of it was returned. He was cleared by the attorney-general of wrongdoing.

Some offshore probes are ongoing. The DOJ is seeking to seize about $1.7 billion in what it says are misappropriated funds used to purchase a 300-foot yacht, luxury homes, artwork, and stakes in several Hollywood films, including The Wolf of Wall Street.

We want to do it as quickly as possible, Mahathir said of any resumed investigation. It is a very complex thing because it involves a lot of people, it involves a lot of decisions made, and the money you know has to be investigated as to the money laundering. We have to contact America, Switzerland, Singapore.

Najib said on Twitter he would respect the immigration department order. He called the election campaign regrettably personal and perhaps the most intense in Malaysian history, but said he apologized for any shortcomings and mistakes, and I thank you, the people, for the opportunity to lead our great nation.

TAKE TIME

Is Mahathir being realistic? Lets not forget that he was prime minister for more than 20 years. He knows how to govern, said Terence Lee, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, of the prospects for reopening the 1MDB probe.

Mahathir has shown that hes interested in moving swiftly to investigate any malfeasance, including those that pertain to the former prime minister, he added. But it will take time because it will be done through the legal system.

Mahathir on Saturday named Najibs former deputy Muhyiddin Yassin as home affairs minister. Muhyiddin was sacked by Najib in July 2015 after he called for greater clarity on the 1MDB investigations and was later expelled from Najibs party, the United Malays National Organisation.

Former central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz was included on a council of elders. She had been uncharacteristically blunt in her criticism of 1MDB, and the central bank had urged criminal proceedings at least twice against the fund.

The government will formulate an economic policy that restores investor confidence in Malaysia after the 1MDB scandal, Lim Guan Eng, who was named finance minister, said in a briefing on Sunday in Penang.

A THRESHOLD

Still, moving against 1MDB and Najib may not be straightforward. Malaysia attorney generals office and investigating authorities have previously announced that they found no wrongdoing on the part of senior political leaders in the previous government, said Robson Lee, a Singapore-based lawyer at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. So this would be a threshold that have to be resolved in any review by the new government.

And while Mahathir announced some cabinet members on Saturday, cracks are already starting to show in his coalition, a disparate group of parties that Najib described as a motley collection.

Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is president of the Peoples Justice Party, or PKR, was notably absent from the briefing. PKR sees the ministerial appointments as not final as they should be agreed upon by all four parties, Rafizi Ramli, the partys vice president, said in a statement. Mahathir would need facto coalition leader Anwar Ibrahims approval on behalf of PKR for the picks, Rafizi said.

Mahathir said before the election he would hand power to the jailed Anwar  who was his deputy premier in the late 1990s until Mahathir sacked him  as soon as he is released. While Anwar could be freed early next week, Mahathir has not confirmed he will still cede the premiership to his former foe.

Separately, Najib announced Saturday he would step down as president of UMNO and chairman of the broader Barisan Nasional coalition. Former deputy premier Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will become acting UMNO president, Najib said at a briefing. Former defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is Najibs cousin, will be acting deputy president.

Maybe this will give us a chance to improve on whatever weaknesses and flaws we must tackle, Najib said. After his comments he was surrounded and hugged by crying party members. BloombergGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to pull his country out of the Iran nuclear accord was making the situation in the Middle East even more difficult and warned Europeans to be skeptical of easy solutions promised by populists.

Speaking while in Italy to receive a peace prize, Merkel cited the recent escalation of Israeli-Iranian hostility that quickly followed Trumps announcement about the Iran accord as a reason for concern. She said Germany was closely following the developments between Iran and Israel, saying that was yet another reason for further effort to resolve the conflict.

The German leader made her remarks at St. Francis Basilica, in Assisi, the saints hometown, where Franciscan friars awarded her the St. Francis Lamp for peace. Merkel was honored for the welcome Germany gave to Syrian war refugees, a decision that carried political risks for the chancellor and her party.

Addressing conflicts on her own continent, Merkel decried what she called nightly violations in Ukraine of cease-fire agreements reached in 2014 and 2015 to end the conflict between pro-Kiev forces and pro-Russia fighters in the countrys battered east.

Delivering a sweeping speech about challenges to a more peaceful world, the chancellor also cautioned against Europeans seeking easy solutions to their problems from populist politicians, whose clout has been on the rise across much of the continent. The harder the problem is, and the easier the solution is claimed to be, the more suspicious and critical everyone [] should be, Merkel said.

Even as she spoke, two Italian populist leaders, from the euroskeptic 5-Star Movement and the anti-migrant League, were meeting in Milan to try to hammer out a deal for a coalition government.

Merkel stressed the importance of countering populist statements with facts and of speaking out when people make sweeping claims about entire sections of society. I think we should try to do two things at once: be European, but also regard our home countries as part of our identity. They dont have to be opposites, she said.

Introducing her at the ceremony was Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for dogged efforts to bring 50 years of violent conflict in his country to a peaceful end.

Santos praised Merkel for representing those principles which ought to serve as antidotes in a world in which the ghosts of nationalism, of fundamentalism, of racism, of populism and of intolerance are surging with dangerous vigor.

For her part, Merkel warned of the damage national stereotypes can pose for European understanding.

She recalled how during the Eurozone crisis of the last decade, Greeks were branded as lazy in German media. There are lazy Germans [too,] Merkel said. As soon as we fall into stereotypes, we destroy Europe.

Addressing the divisions around the issue of migrants to Europe, Merkel said tolerance must be always present in the European Union. She cited her own Christian faith, hailing Francis as perhaps the most famous saint.

Francis, she noted, broke the taboo of society. He embraced societys poor, which was then forbidden. Frances Demilio, Patricia Thomas, APA local billionaire was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday for bribing United Nations officials to buy their support for a proposed UN center in Macau that was never built.

Ng Lap Seng, one of Chinas richest men, had no visible reaction to the sentence imposed in federal court in Manhattan. Before hearing it, he had told the judge he was full or regret over his conviction on charges accusing him of paying the UN General Assembly president and another ambassador USD1.7 million in bribes.

Im very sorry for any suffering Ive caused my family, my friends and my employees, Ng told U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick Friday, reading from a prepared statement, his hands shaking. I promise, I will never repeat my mistakes.

I want to apologize to the court for all of the trouble my actions have caused, Ng added through an interpreter.

The defense had sought a non- prison sentence for a 69-year-old defendant it described as a devoted family man and philanthropist. But Broderick said he deserved time behind bars plus a $1 million fine, in part because he threw his money around without pausing to consider the consequences. Instead, you became more aggressive as time went on, Broderick said.

It is important to send a message, to the people at the UN itself and to other institutions in this country, that perverting the decision-making or attempting to pervert the decision-making through bribes will not be tolerated, Broderick said.

Ng, who speaks Cantonese, listened to a translation of Brodericks comments through headphones. More than two-dozen family members and friends attended the sentencing in Manhattan federal court. Some of them had traveled from China and sat in the gallery with headphones, listening to the translation.

The judge ruled Ng could remain under 24-hour guard at a Manhattan apartment on $50 million bail until he has to report to prison in mid-July. One of his defense attorneys indicated the sentence would be appealed.

In statement after the verdict, the U.N. said it had cooperated extensively to facilitate the proper administration of justice in this case, by disclosing thousands of documents and waiving the immunity of officials to allow them to testify at trial.

A jury had found Ng guilty last year of bribery, conspiracy and money laundering  a triumph for prosecutors who navigated thorny legal issues surrounding immunity given to U.N. diplomats before winning the cooperation of suspended Dominican Republic Ambassador Francis Lorenzo.

Lorenzo, who pleaded guilty, testified that Ng initially paid him $20,000. It was boosted to another $30,000 a month in exchange for getting Ngs construction business named on official UN documents as the company that would build the Macau center for Southern Hemisphere nations.

Defense lawyers contended the payments were ordinary. They blamed Lorenzo and the other ambassador  U.N. General Assembly President John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda  for manipulating Ng. Ashe, who also was arrested in the case, died in 2016 in an accident.

Ng has been confined to his multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment, with four bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths, a cook and masseuse, since shortly after his arrest. He told probation officials that his living expenses in New York are about $20,000 a month.

Hes frankly living a lavish lifestyle, Assistant U.S. Attorney Janis Echenberg told Broderick. MDT/Agencies

Ngs plan included casino, luxury hotel



Prosecutors said Ngs plan was to build a permanent home for an annual UN conference on economic cooperation among developing countries, to be located on a man-made island off the coast of Macau, for free to boost the value of a related complex that included apartments, offices, high-end shopping, a casino and a luxury hotel, which he also intended to develop. Ng and others involved were arrested before the center was built.Sands China last week launched its latest horizontal development program, offering 48 team members the chance to participate in a two-year academic coursework program and on-the-job training at its departments.

The Sands China Manager Development Program for Integrated Resorts was jointly developed by Sands China and the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), offering professional training courses and horizontal work experience to nurture local leaders in hospitality management for integrated resorts.

It is the first of its kind in horizontal development programs for pit supervisors and pit managers, offering them two years of academic coursework at IFT and on-the-job training within three departments: food and beverage, front office and housekeeping.

During the first 12 months, participants receive one day of paid training at IFT and four days of training at Sands China departments.

For the next 12 months, they receive full-time training at one of the departments in order to develop skills to overcome challenges and gain management experience.

The program has received applications from over 250 team members, with 48 chosen to join the program this year.

The first group of 23 team members have already started their coursework.

Upon completion, qualified participants can move to middle management in integrated resort operations, in positions such as assistant manager or manager.

Among the participants, 12 are graduates of the one-year Diploma Programme in Business Management exclusively offered by Sands China and the University of Macau, which encourages team members to continue their education.

Each participant receives a subsidy of over MOP 16,000 from Sands China for the coursework.

Speaking at the launch of the program, Sands China president, Wilfred Wong, said the company will continue to invest resources into offering [employees] a diverse range of career development programs.

Meanwhile, the gaming operator also invited local educational institutions to review their achievement in training team members, with program types comprised of continuing education, professional certification, vocational training and horizontal talent development, amongst others.

Sands China considers talent development [to be] crucial to the companys success and for the continued development of Macau as a world centre of tourism and leisure, said Wong.

We are very thankful for the education institutions we work with for helping us provide a platform for the professional development of Macau locals, he added. LVThe Public Prosecutions Office requires a kindergarten assistant suspected of sexually abusing minors to make periodic submissions to police authorities while the investigation is ongoing.

The staff member of D. Jose da Costa Nunes kindergarten, a 30 year old male worker who has been working at the school as an assistant since 2015, is accused of sexually abusing children in his care, after the parents of three children came forward and claimed the Philippine national inappropriately touched them.

According to a statement from the Public Prosecutors Office, the case has already been referred to the Judiciary Police for investigation as to whether the suspect committed the crime of child sexual abuse under the Criminal Code. Under the Criminal Code, an act of sexual abuse against a minor is punishable by imprisonment of between one and eight years.

The suspect is now required to present himself to authorities on a regular basis.

In view of the seriousness of the case and the actual situation, the criminal investigation judge, under the [advice] of the prosecutor, has imposed coercive measures on the accused, namely, periodic submission, the Office wrote.

Meanwhile, a parents meeting was held with the Association for Macanese Educations (APIM) board, the school director, and staff of the kindergarten on Friday night to explain the situation. According to witnesses, the meeting involved a heated discussion with many parents expressing concerns over how the education institution handled the case. APIMs president,, Miguel Senna Fernandes vowed to introduce changes in the recruitment process and other aspects of the schools management.

One controversial aspect of the schools handling is whether it did enough to prevent the alleged offences. The first suspicion of sexual assault attempt occurred in October, but the kindergarten teacher decided not to report the case to the schools director.

The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau is now following up on the case, demanding that a report be submitted by the D. Jose da Costa Nunes kindergarten. The bureau called on the public to await the outcome of the investigation before reaching any conclusions.

The parents of children at the kindergarten have been invited to attend two talks next week on sex education and parental guidance for minors. The talks will be conducted in Chinese and Portuguese.Singapores diplomatic ties with North Korea and its relative proximity made the Southeast Asian city-state a natural choice for the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump announced in a tweet Thursday the two leaders will meet in Singapore on June 12. The city is a great location for the summit, said Tom Plant, who specializes in nuclear and proliferation issues at Londons Royal United Services Institute. Kim will be on friendly territory, not hostile territory. But he wouldnt be on home turf.

Among the factors: Its closer for Kim than possible Europe venues, the experience of Singapores security forces, and the fact that Pyongyang has had diplomatic relations with the country since 1975.

Singapore is familiar ground for the reclusive communist country, which has its embassy in Singapores central business district.

Single-party rule since Singapore gained independence in 1965 has ensured stability and fostered a security state that is among the worlds most efficient. Located between two Muslim majority nations  Malaysia and Indonesia  with Islamic State group sympathizers, it has effectively checked terrorist threats.

Its also a perfect venue for top security meetings  protests are not allowed without permission, movement is strictly controlled and media are kept under control.

Singapore is sometimes decried by civil libertarians as repressive. Among the most common complaints: preventive detention without warrants or charges; monitoring of private electronic or telephone communications also without warrants; the use of defamation laws to discourage government criticism and strict laws limiting freedom of association, according to the annual U.S. State Department human rights report.

North Koreas state companies have, in the past, conducted legal and illegal business dealings with Singaporean companies. The city-state, under pressure from the U.S. and a leaked U.N. report, officially cut off trade relations with North Korea in 2017 to abide by sanctions.

Singapore also is welcome ground for the United States. It is a large trading partner, the second-largest Asian investor, and a longtime supporter of its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Its also the regional headquarters of large U.S. companies including Google, Facebook and Airbnb. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1966.

The North Korean side will likely have a very large number of logistical and protocol issues it wants addressed by the summit venue, so having a [North Korean] embassy in the country where the summit is to be held is likely a requirement, said Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

Located just over 4,800 kilometers from North Korea, Singapore is comfortably within the flying range of its aircraft. Flying to western Europe would require a stop or two to refuel.

Singapore is neither too far away as European nations are, allowing Kim Jong Uns private jet to make it here without refueling, nor too close that Trump might be seen as giving way to Kim by having to travel a longer distance than the latter, said Nah Liang Tuang, a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore David Adelman said Singapore was ideal because it has been an honest broker between East and West.

Singapore has been a great friend to the U.S. but also Singapore has carefully worked to be a friend to all, which has earned it trust in capitals around the world, he said.

Its free enterprise philosophy welcomes trading partners from everywhere, regardless of politics. We hope this meeting will advance prospects for peace in the Korean Peninsula, Singapores Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

In 2015, Singapore was the site of another unprecedented summit between two leaders burdened with a legacy of mutual distrust: Chinese President Xi Jinping and rival Taiwans then- President Ma Ying-jeou, the first such meeting since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949.

It also has hosted regional meetings, including the summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2007 and 2018. Since 2002, an annual security conference has been held there, featuring defense chiefs and officials from countries including the U.S., China and South Korea.

For such gatherings, roadblocks are set up around the summit venues, where armed Nepalese Gurkhas stand guard.

In 2015, Gurkha officers fired at a car that breached four roadblocks and crashed into a concrete barrier. The driver was killed and two passengers arrested in what turned out to be a drug-related crash, rather than an attack.

Valued foreign guests wont be troubled by protesters, either. Demonstrations in Singapore can only be held in a designated area, the 0.9-hectare Hong Lim Park.

Amnesty International says amendments to the countrys Public Order Act have given authorities more power to restrict public assembly, and participants in peaceful protests have been arrested. Annabelle Liang, Singapore, APLawmaker and political activist Sulu Sou will stand trial this morning at the Court of First Appeal, facing charges of qualified disobedience linked to a demonstration in 2016.

Sou is accused of disobeying police authorities during a street protest led by the New Macau Association, against the Macao Foundation over a RMB100 million grant to Jinan University in Guangdong.

The trial was originally scheduled to be held on January 16, but was postponed while the young lawmaker and pro-democrat activist filed several appeals regarding the lawfulness of the procedure leading to his suspension.

Those appeals were rejected by the Court of Second Instance earlier this year, resulting in the suspended lawmaker to contemplate taking the case to the Court of Final Appeal.

Sou was suspended from his role of a lawmaker in December last year so that his prosecutorial immunity could be waived and he could stand trial. The Legislative Assembly approved the suspension with 28 votes in favor and just four against.

However, Sou claims that the parliament overstepped a series of procedures disregarding the Basic Law and the House Rules of the Legislative Assembly. Among the violations, the lawmaker says, one of the most serious was that he was being denied the right to defend himself at the legislature.

The case has been criticized for being politically motivated, but this accusation has been refuted on numerous occasions by the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak.Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides technical, professional, and construction services. The company's Aerospace, Technology, Environmental and Nuclear segment offers scientific, engineering, construction, nuclear, environmental, and technical support services to the aerospace, defense, technical, and automotive industries. Its Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities segment develops/rehabilitates plans for highways, bridges, transit, tunnels, airports, railroads, intermodal facilities, and maritime or port projects; develops or rehabilitates critical water resource systems, water/wastewater conveyance systems, and flood defense projects; and provides engineering design, construction management, design build, and operations and maintenance. This segment also designs and constructs buildings; offers consulting, engineering, procurement, construction management, and delivery services for life sciences clients; and provides services relating to modular construction and other consulting and strategic planning services, as well as offers services in containment, barrier technology, locally controlled environments, building systems automation, off-the-site design, and fabrication of facility modules. The company's Energy, Chemicals and Resources segment offers services relating to onshore and offshore oil and gas production facilities, processing facilities, gathering systems, and transmission pipelines and terminals; feasibility/economic studies, technology evaluation, conceptual engineering, front end loading, detailed engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, and commissioning services; and engineering, procurement, and construction solutions. This segment also provides services, such as manufacturing complex, expansions, modifications, and management of plant relocations; construction management and field construction services; and services to operate and maintain facilities. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Read More47 minutes ago

IMF board says needs more time to weigh data-rigging details

WASHINGTON (AP)  The executive board of the International Monetary Fund said late Friday that it is seeking more clarifying details in its investigation into allegations that the head of the IMF pressured

Read ArticleA new model for improving how clinical trials are developed and conducted by bringing together academic cancer experts and pharmaceutical companies is being tested by research experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

An assessment of the alternative research model was published in the May 14 online issue of Cancer. The model was piloted in a multi-study leukemia research program established between MD Anderson and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and revamped how studies were designed and carried out.

Current methodology often limits patient access to and eligibility for studies, slows down drug development and increases costs. Since the 1980s, drug companies have employed Contract Research Organizations (CROs) - outside groups that have limited input from academic cancer experts and that focus on the one-drug, one-cancer approach to designing clinical trials with restrictive guidelines for patient eligibility.

The model allows researchers to arrive at findings more quickly, to conduct multiple clinical trials of pharmaceutical company drugs across several cancer types, to lessen expenses and to increase the likelihood of finding medical solutions more quickly. MD Anderson has more than 50 research partnerships and alliances with pharmaceutical companies, managed through its Strategic Industry Ventures group.

Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., chair of Leukemia and co-author, Ferran Prat, Ph.D., J.D., senior vice president for Research Administration and Industry Ventures, believe the new research model addresses these needs.

"This cancer research model is flexible and modifiable according to existing needs because it does not pretend to create a 'one-size-fits-all' approach," said Kantarjian. "These types of alliances have significant variations that accommodate the partnering drug companyits drug pipeline, research needs, financial benefits and other considerations."

MD Anderson's collaboration with BMS led to simultaneous trials using combinations of immunotherapies and other treatments for several leukemia types including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndrome. The trials include the first "triplet" immunotherapy study for leukemia, with results for all trials being analyzed by MD Anderson's top immunotherapy researchers.

The collaboration has already led to the establishment of a new standard of care for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia with an altered dose of the chemotherapy dasatinib, which has proved more effective and less toxic.

The BMS collaboration has resulted in unique study approaches including:

Allowing MD Anderson leukemia researchers exploration of BMS' immune-oncology pipeline across multiple blood malignancies.

Providing high-risk patients, typically excluded from BMS-sponsored studies due to CRO restrictions, access to trials at the discretion of leukemia experts.

Granting a set level of funding for all trials tied to MD Anderson research programs with BMS without the need to negotiate on a trial-by-trial basis

"The success of this initiative has resulted in program expansion in a number of directions," said Prat. "BMS extended the program to other clinical and research departments at MD Anderson, and is partnering with other academic cancer treatment institutions. Our Leukemia department and other MD Anderson programs have also established similar alliances with leading drug industry partners."

Explore further New CAR T case study shows promise in acute myeloid leukemia

More information: Hagop M. Kantarjian et al. Cancer research in the United States: A critical review of current status and proposal for alternative models, Cancer (2018). Journal information: Cancer Hagop M. Kantarjian et al. Cancer research in the United States: A critical review of current status and proposal for alternative models,(2018). DOI: 10.1002/cncr.31522Doctors are beginning to prescribe antibiotic treatments from the 1950s for benign infections to fight antibiotic resistance and preserve the effectiveness of newer antibiotics. But these "old" antibiotics were not tested in the same way as their modern counterparts before being put on the market, particularly in terms of their treatment effectiveness and side effects. Doctors from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, recently analysed two antibiotics frequently used against uncomplicated urinary tract infections. They discovered that the most-widely prescribed antibiotic today does not meet the expected success rate, while the second most commonly prescribed antibiotic seems as effective as the newer drugs used for this kind of infection. The study published in the journal JAMA shows the importance of evaluating old antibiotics against today's standards so that patient well-being can be ensured at the same time as restricting the use of newer antibiotics to more serious diseases.

Antibiotic resistance: the scourge of infectious diseases

Current antibiotics perform well against serious infections but are also used against benign infections such as cystitis (an infection of the bladder). But in response, the bacteria found in our digestive tracts are now developing a resistance to these agents. What is more, they are spreading among the general population, especially via the food chain and wastewater, which means that more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to treatment. With the increasing overuse of these new antibiotics, doctors are losing a valuable resource for combating certain serious diseases. "We currently estimate that up to 20% of the bacterial population causing urinary tract infections is resistant to ciprofloxacin, a highly effective broad-spectrum antibiotic," warns Angela Huttner, a researcher in UNIGE's Department of Internal Medicine Specialties and HUG's Infectious Diseases Division. "It follows that it is essential to reserve the use of this antibiotic for serious cases!"

A return to treatments from the 1950sbut with what side effects?

Since 2011, doctors have been urged to avoid treating cystitis with the newer classes of antibiotics, which date from the late 1980s to the present day  for uncomplicated urinary tract infections. The aim is to preserve ciprofloxacin and other newer antibiotics as a way of restricting the emergence of resistant bacteria. When cystitis is diagnosed, doctors can then either prescribe a drug such as nitrofurantoin, which was approved in 1953, or a drug called fosfomycin, which was released in 1971.

"The use of these drugs nowadays has increased five-fold with our knowing neither how effective they really are nor their true safety profile," says Huttner, because the evaluation and commercialisation of pharmaceuticals was not as strict when these medications were developed. "And since these products were already on the market, the large pharmaceutical companies don't want to invest money to carry out in-depth trials on them. That means it's the job of researchers to give the general public the information they need on the antibiotics they use," adds Stephan Harbarth, professor in the Department of Internal Medicine Specialties in UNIGE's Faculty of Medicine and professor at HUG Infection Prevention and Control Division.

Two old antibiotics tested on 513 women

The most commonly-prescribed drug for cystitis today is fosfomycin since it only requires one single-dose sachet. Nitrofurantoin, on the other hand, is supplied in the form of tablets to be taken three times a day for five days. At present, fosfomycin is prescribed nearly three times more often than nitrofurantoin in Switzerland.

513 women from Geneva (Switzerland), Tel Aviv (Israel) and Lodz (Poland) aged between 18 and 101 years were selected at random to follow either a fosfomycin or nitrofurantoin treatment. "We performed bacterial checks before the women took the drug at 14 days and 28 days after the treatment in order to observe the elimination of the infectious bacteria," says Huttner. The outcomes were clear: 70% of the women responded positively to the nitrofurantoin, with complete resolution of their symptoms, and 74% had elimination of the bacteria in their urine, while only 58% of women receiving fosfomycin had full symptom resolution and only 63% had elimination of bacteria. "Given that a woman already has a 33% chance of recovering from cystitis without taking an antibiotic, the results show that fosfomycin has little effect, even though it is the treatment that is the most commonly prescribed by the medical community," says Huttner.

Conversely, the success rate for nitrofurantoin is comparable to other classes of antibiotics, which makes it a suitable substitute. The rate of side effects (diarrhoea, headache and abdominal cramps) for fosfomycin, nitrofurantoin and ciprofloxacin is similar: there is a 7% risk of developing them when taking all three treatments. "The new antibiotics get better results from the point of view of eliminating harmful bacteria, which is why they replaced the old drugs," says Harbarth. "But it is now essential that we preserve ciprofloxacin's effectiveness by only using it for serious infections. If we don't, we will soon be helpless against certain infections."

Returning to the use of the old antibiotics is for the time being one of the strategies on offer for beating antibiotic resistance. "But we need to test their effectiveness and the real influence they have on bacteria so that we avoid creating other bacteria that are also resistant to these antibiotics," points out Huttner. This requires an in-depth analysis of the arsenal available to infectious disease specialists, including the medications already on the market, so that they prescribe only drugs that are genuinely effective and well targeted to the infection that they will best combat. "Our study, which was funded by the European Commission, demonstrates that single-dose fosfomycin is not the optimal solution against cystitis. But if it is administered in an optimised manner, it may be effective for something else," says Huttner in conclusion. The best way to administer fosfomycin  and thereby preserve its antibacterial effect  will be the subject of future studies.

More information: Angela Huttner et al. Effect of 5-Day Nitrofurantoin vs Single-Dose Fosfomycin on Clinical Resolution of Uncomplicated Lower Urinary Tract Infection in Women, JAMA (2018). Journal information: Journal of the American Medical Association Angela Huttner et al. Effect of 5-Day Nitrofurantoin vs Single-Dose Fosfomycin on Clinical Resolution of Uncomplicated Lower Urinary Tract Infection in Women,(2018). DOI: 10.1001/jama.2018.3627Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Among physicians, family physicians report some of the highest levels of burnout. According to a new study, however, early career family physicians who provide a broader scope of practice report significantly lower rates of burnout.

The studya secondary analysis of the 2016 National Family Medicine Graduate Surveyfound that those who practiced in more locations and performed a greater variety of procedures and clinical work were significantly less likely to report feeling burned out once a week or more.

The strongest associations were in the practice of obstetrics and inpatient medicine, two areas with a decline in practice by family physicians in recent years.

Specifically, the odds of reporting feeling burned out were 36 percent lower among those family physicians practicing obstetrics and 30 percent lower among those practicing inpatient medicine compared to their peers. Making house calls was also significantly associated with lower burnout.

If future research confirms a causal relationship between scope of practice and physician wellness, the authors suggest, it would allow for new policy levers and incentives for systems and physicians to improve health care as well as their own health.

Explore further Hospital ownership of practice may reduce physician burnout

More information: Amanda K. H. Weidner et al. Burnout and Scope of Practice in New Family Physicians, The Annals of Family Medicine (2018). Journal information: Annals of Family Medicine Amanda K. H. Weidner et al. Burnout and Scope of Practice in New Family Physicians,(2018). DOI: 10.1370/afm.2221With legalization looming in Canada, big pot producer Aurora has announced a mega-merger with rival MedReleaf

With the legalization of recreational marijuana looming in Canada, therapeutic producer Aurora said Monday it was acquiring rival MedReleaf Corp. in a huge deal set to create a giant company.

Aurora said it would pay Can$3.2 billion ($2.51 billion) as part of an all-stock deal that will leave Aurora shareholders with control of 61 percent of the resulting company.

The new company will have a production capacity of 570 tonnes of cannabis a year, with nine greenhouse operations in Canada and two in Denmark, Aurora and MedReleaf said in a joint statement.

The merger comes amid surging interest in the country's nascent pot industry with legalization expected this summer.

Already in January, Aurora had spent more than Can$1 billion to purchase rival CanniMed.

The Canadian government originally scheduled legalization for July 1, coinciding with the Canada Day weekend, but complications with new distribution and monitoring systems forced delays.

But last week Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told AFP that legalization would come this summer.

While provincial governments work to set up distribution channelsand prepare to share resulting tax windfalls with the federal governmentcompanies linked to the cannabis business have seen a speculative bubble develop.

The capitalization of the three biggest Canadian producers on the Toronto Stock Exchange has exploded in recent months.

Aurora shares have more than tripled in value in the past year, to more than Can$4.6 billion.

Whether or when that bubble might burst is unclear.

But it illustrates the growing interest in this soft drug, seen increasingly as a fiscal boon to governments in Canada, as it has been in US states like California that have legalized pot use.

In another deal, one of Aurora's chief rivals, Canopy Growth, announced Monday its purchase of the 33 percent of the Tweed Joint Venture group that it did not already own for Can$374 million, and said it planned to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Explore further Canadian cannabis firms agree to merge to create pot giant

 2018 AFPCredit: CC0 Public Domain

Do metastatic cancer tumors "break bad" or are they "born bad"?

This question is an essential mystery in cancer early detection and treatment. Lacking a clear answer, patients are given the same aggressive therapies when small, abnormal clusters of cells are discovered early, even though they might well be harmless.

In a study publishing the week of May 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team co-led by scientists at Duke and the University of Southern California has found that in the colorectal tumors they examined, invasive cancers are born to be bad, and this tendency can potentially be identified at early diagnosis.

"We found evidence that benign and malignant tumors start differently, and that cell movementan important feature of malignancymanifests itself very early on during tumor growth," said lead author Marc D. Ryser, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in Duke's departments of Surgery and Mathematics.

"By testing screen-detected, small tumors for early cell movement as a sign of malignancy, it might be possible to identify which patients are likely to benefit from aggressive treatment," Ryser said.

Ryser and colleagues built on recent research showing that in a subset of human cancers, many key traits of the final tumor are already imprinted in the genome of the founding cell. As such, they reasoned, invasive tumors would start out with the ability to spread rather than developing that trait over time. That is, they are born to be bad.

The researchers analyzed 19 human colorectal tumors with genome sequencing technology and mathematical simulation models. They found signatures of early abnormal cell movement in the majority of the invasive samplesnine of 15. This propensity is required for tumors to spread, causing them to become deadly. Early abnormal cell movement was not apparent in the four benign tumors the researchers studied.

"The early growth of the final tumor largely depends on the drivers present in the founding cell," the authors wrote.

The study was small and the researchers acknowledged that verification in a larger sample is required, but the finding is a significant step toward establishing a test to distinguish between deadly and harmless growths.

"Thanks to improved screening technologies, we diagnose more and more small tumors," said senior author Darryl Shibata, M.D., professor in the Department of Pathology at Keck School of Medicine of USC. "Because treating a patient aggressively can cause them harm and side-effects, it is important to understand which of the small screen-detected tumors are relatively benign and slowly growing, and which ones are born to be bad."

Explore further Researchers trace origins of colorectal cancer tumor cells

More information: Marc D. Ryser el al., "Spatial mutation patterns as markers of early colorectal tumor cell mobility," PNAS (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Marc D. Ryser el al., "Spatial mutation patterns as markers of early colorectal tumor cell mobility,"(2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1716552115A new study has shown that Australian children and teens from disadvantaged families are more likely to be prescribed antipsychotic medication than others in the same age group.

Social policy researcher Amy Kaim from the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide led the research which used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), cross-matched with information from Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

"The preliminary findings indicate that a larger proportion of children and teens from disadvantaged families are being placed on antipsychotic medication than others in the general population," Ms Kaim said.

"A larger proportion of children and teens taking the medication were boys, in lower-income families, with an unemployed primary caregiver, who were living in single-parent households.

"Their parents were more likely to report that their child had behavioural difficulties and they were more likely to have repeated a grade in school and to have lower school achievement.

"These findings strengthen the evidence that children from disadvantaged families are more likely to be prescribed antipsychotics, use more psychological services and have worse health and educational outcomes."

The study will be presented to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Annual Congress from 1317 May in Auckland.

Ms Kaim said the study team identified key risk factors which were linked to children being prescribed antipsychotic medication at higher rates than others.

"The risk factors were being a child or teen in a family that was dealing with stressful life events and financial difficulties," she said.

"Other risk factors include parenting practices in the family and whether parents themselves were in psychological distress.

"The social and emotional wellbeing of the individual child and their approach to learning could also compound those risks."

Ms Kaim said the study would continue to monitor the children and teens' medication use as they move through adolescence into adulthood.

"We hope that our study will contribute to a growing recognition of the need to look at the social factors which influence kids' mental health, rather than resorting to antipsychotics for the treatment of behavioural problems in Australian children and adolescents.

The President of RANZCP, Dr. Kym Jenkins said: "This study is a strong reminder of the importance of considering social and psychological facts in particular in child and adolescent mental health."New research from York University suggests that minority children as young as six years old show an implicit pro-White racial bias when exposed to images of both White and Black children. But how ingrained these biases become and whether they persist into late childhood and adulthood might depend on their social environment. Credit: York University

New research from York University suggests that minority children as young as six years old show an implicit pro-White racial bias when exposed to images of both White and Black children. But how ingrained these biases become and whether they persist into late childhood and adulthood might depend on their social environment.

Faculty of Health Professor Jennifer Steele conducted two studies with graduate student Meghan George and her former Ph.D. student Amanda Williams, now at the School of Education, University of Bristol. They were interested in looking at implicit racial bias in traditionally understudied populations. The goal of the research was to gain a better understanding of children's automatic racial attitudes.

In both studies children were asked to complete a child-friendly Implicit Association Test (IAT) which measures automatic associations that children may have toward different races. In this computer task, children were asked to pair pictures of people with positive or negative images as quickly as possible.

The first study was conducted in the large urban city of Toronto, Canada and included 162 South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, as well as Black minority children; children were divided into younger and older age groups with average ages of seven and nine respectively. Children were recruited from racially diverse areas with a large Black population within their schools and local community.

"We found that non-Black minority children living in a racially diverse part of Toronto showed an implicit pro-White bias from six years of age," says Steele. "However, what was interesting was that older children, who were on average nine years of age, showed less pro-White bias than younger children. This suggests to us that racial biases might not be as stable across development as researchers first thought. In this case, there could be factors in their racially diverse environment that are leading older children to show less bias, such as cross-race friends, mentors, positive Black role models, or a more Afrocentric curriculum that are helping to reinforce positive associations with this racial group."

In contrast, the second study was conducted in the urban city of Bandar Seri Begawan, in the small Southeast Asian country of Brunei Darussalam and included Malay majority and Chinese minority children and adults. These children had limited opportunities for direct contact with members of either White or Black outgroups in both their immediate environment, as well as the larger Southeast Asian cultural context of Brunei.

In this study, younger children, older children, and adults were quicker to pair positive pictures with White faces and negative pictures with Black faces on the IAT. However, the magnitude of bias was greater for adults.

Steele believes that this could be because they have had more time and opportunity than children to develop positive associations with people from White racial outgroups, due to their depiction and overrepresentation in high status roles in the news and online.

More research will be needed to determine what exactly led to these age differences in implicit racial bias. However, the results point to the role that the environment can play in shaping implicit racial attitudes. These results, combined with other research, indicate the importance of giving children the opportunity to connect with people from diverse groups early in life in order to challenge racial biases, says Steele.

"It is important for children to be exposed to diversity in their lives and for them to learn to appreciate this diversity. That can include reading stories with main characters from different backgrounds when people live in more racially homogeneous environments, or through positive experiences in multicultural cities," says Steele. "In our educational system, it is important that our materials reflect our increasingly diverse communities, and that children have the opportunity to learn about successful, contributing members of society from all walks of life. This can help to challenge racial biases and can help to contribute to a more equitable society for everyone."

The study is published in Developmental Science.

Explore further Reducing racial bias possible in older children, study finds

More information: Jennifer R. Steele et al. A cross-cultural investigation of children's implicit attitudes toward White and Black racial outgroups, Developmental Science (2018). Journal information: Developmental Science Jennifer R. Steele et al. A cross-cultural investigation of children's implicit attitudes toward White and Black racial outgroups,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/desc.12673Credit: Shutterstock

Action is urgently needed to address declining vaccination rates against pneumococcal pneumonia, which causes more than 2,000 deaths each year in people aged over 65.

Researchers, doctors and patients have teamed with Lung Foundation Australia during this week's Pneumonia Awareness Week to call for proactive community action to address the declining vaccination rates against pneumococcal pneumonia  an infection responsible for more than 15,000 GP visits, 8,000 hospitalisations, and 2,000 deaths among those aged over 65 each year.

Their call coincides with an article published in MJA Insight today co-authored by Dr Rob Menzies of UNSW Medicine, which urges governments and doctors to work harder to reinforce the public health message regarding the seriousness of the potentially life-threatening but preventable infection, pneumococcal pneumonia.

The article reveals pneumonia ends lives prematurely, even in wealthy countries today with access to the best health care. It also reinforces that the main tools to prevent the most common cause of pneumonia  streptococcus pneumoniae, responsible for an estimated 20 per cent of pneumonia cases in Australia  are vaccines.

Dr Menzies says a healthcare professional's recommendation to vaccinate, or otherwise, is the most influential factor determining whether a person chooses to protect against vaccine preventable infections.

"We're achieving a 93 per cent pneumococcal vaccination rate among Australian children. Yet we're failing to achieve even a 50 per cent pneumococcal vaccination rate among equally vulnerable seniors, despite the publicly-funded immunisation program  a simple preventative health measure that could prevent serious disease or premature death," says Dr Menzies, of the UNSW Vaccine and Infection Research Lab.

"The most recent data suggest pneumococcal vaccination coverage has actually declined to 47 per cent in NSW, with more than half of these vaccinations occurring after 70 years of age.

"This decline must be urgently reversed. Doctors should be looking to opportunistically vaccinate those at risk of pneumococcal pneumonia (including people aged 65 and over, the immunocompromised and Indigenous Australians) in the same way they do for other population-based programs.

"It is also important for individuals to take the initiative for their own health. Anyone who smokes, has a chronic disease, immunocompromising condition, or is aged 65 years or over should talk to their GP about whether they should have a pneumococcal vaccination, or a re-vaccination against the infection," he says.

Associate Professor Lucy Morgan, Specialist Respiratory Physician and Lung Foundation Australia Respiratory Infectious Disease Committee Chair, Sydney, says all adults aged 65 years and over are at increased risk of contracting pneumococcal pneumonia due to their age alone, and many more have existing chronic medical conditions or lifestyle factors, such as current or past smoking, that places them at heightened risk of infection.

"Importantly, the MJA Insight article reinforces the importance of vaccination against pneumococcal pneumonia as a preventative health strategy from the age of 65, rather than delaying vaccination for a number of years.

"Given pneumonia is a potentially life-threatening respiratory infection, should an individual develop a cough, fever, shortness of breath, and feel generally tired and unwell, they should head to their doctor without delay," says Associate Professor Morgan.

The pneumococcal vaccine is provided free under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) Schedule for all Australians aged 65 and above, Indigenous Australians aged 50 years and over, Indigenous Australians aged 15 to 49 years who are medically at risk, and infants under 12 months.

A second dose of vaccine is also available to Australians with immunocompromising conditions or chronic disease, or smokers, a minimum of five years following their first dose.

Explore further Many with work-related asthma not getting key vaccineCredit: CC0 Public Domain

A recently identified pig virus can readily find its way into laboratory-cultured cells of people and other species, a discovery that raises concerns about the potential for outbreaks that threaten human and animal health.

Researchers at The Ohio State University and Utrecht University in the Netherlands collaborated to better understand the new virus and its potential reach. Their study, the first to point to possible transmission of this virus between species, appears online in the journal PNAS.

Porcine deltacoronavirus was first identified in 2012 in pigs in China, but it was not associated with disease. It was first detected in the United States in 2014 during a diarrhea outbreak in Ohio pigs and has since been detected in various countries. Young, infected pigs experience acute diarrhea and vomiting. The disease can be fatal. As of yet, no human cases have been documented, but scientists are concerned about the possibility.

"Before it was found in pigsincluding in the Ohio outbreakit had only been found in various birds," said study senior author Linda Saif, an investigator in Ohio State's Food Animal Health Research Program at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), in Wooster.

"We're very concerned about emerging coronaviruses and worry about the harm they can do to animals and their potential to jump to humans," said Saif, a distinguished university professor of veterinary preventive medicine.

Emergence of the new virus is especially worrisome to veterinary and public-health experts because of its similarity to the life-threating viruses responsible for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) outbreaks.

The potential for a virus to jump from one species to another is highly dependent on its ability to bind to receptors on the cells of the animal or human, said lead researcher Scott Kenney, an assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine based in the Food Animal Health Research Program at OARDC.

"A receptor is like a lock in the door. If the virus can pick the lock, it can get into the cell and potentially infect the host," he said.

This study looked at a particular cellular receptor called aminopeptidase N that the researchers suspected might be involved.

"We know from other coronaviruses that these receptors on the cells are used and that they're found in the respiratory and digestive tracts of a number of different animals," Kenney said. "Now we know that this new virus could go into cells of different species, including humans."

Saif said it's important to recognize that, for now, the only known infection in humans and other species is in the laboratory, using cultured cells.

Their investigation confirmed that the virus could bind to the receptor in pigs, which was not a big surprise.

But it also was able to bind to the receptor in human cells, and to cells from cats and chickens.

"From that point, it's just a matter of whether it can replicate within the cells and cause disease in those animals and humans," Kenney said.

Added Saif, "This doesn't prove that this virus can infect and cause disease in these other species, but that's something we obviously want to know."

She said the next step in understanding this virus and its potential for human infection will be a study looking for antibodies in the blood that would serve as evidence that the pig virus has already infected people.

"We now know for sure that porcine deltacoronavirus can bind to and enter cells of humans and birds. Our next step is to look at susceptibilitycan sick pigs transmit their virus to chickens, or vice versa, and to humans?" Saif said.

In 2002 and 2003, a SARS outbreak that began in China was linked to more than 8,000 cases and 774 deaths in 37 countries, according to the World Health Organization. Scientists have since discovered that SARS originated in bats before spreading to people. An ongoing MERS outbreak in Saudi Arabia has led to more than 1,800 cases and more than 700 deaths, according to the WHO. The virus has been found in camels, and some of the infected people have had close contact with the animals.

Explore further New coronavirus emerges from bats in China, devastates young swine

More information: Wentao Li el al., "Broad receptor engagement of an emerging global coronavirus may potentiate its diverse cross-species transmissibility," PNAS (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Wentao Li el al., "Broad receptor engagement of an emerging global coronavirus may potentiate its diverse cross-species transmissibility,"(2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1802879115A new Canadian guideline for impaired vision in older adults recommends against primary care screening of older adults not reporting concerns about their vision. The guideline, published in English and French in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC), is aimed at primary care practitioners.

Visual impairment describes less than 20/40 vision, which usually cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or vision-related procedures. This level of difficulty with vision can affect quality of life, as well as participation in work, social and leisure activities, and increases the likelihood of injuries from falls and other accidents.

The task force considered the benefits of screening for visual impairment in primary health care and referring patients to optometrists for formal vision testing.

"We found no evidence of benefit to patients aged 65 years or older from being screened for impaired vision as a way to prevent limitations on daily living or other consequences," said Dr. Brenda Wilson, Task Force Impaired Vision Working Group Chair. "The task force therefore recommends against screening for impaired vision in primary care settings for people living independently in the community."

Currently, people must make their own appointments for regular vision screening or if they suspect visual problems. Most provinces in Canada cover comprehensive eye examinations for adults aged 65 years and older by eye care professionals.

The new guideline updates a previous guideline from 1995, which recommended screening for visual impairment in elderly patients with diabetes of at least 5 years' duration. The 2018 guideline is based on the latest and highest-quality evidence on screening, which includes 15 randomized controlled trials involving participants aged 65 years or older. It is consistent with the recommendation on vision screening for older adults from the United States Preventive Services Task Force.

"Although screening does not appear to be effective, we need to look for ways to effectively support older Canadians who do experience visual impairment so that they get the services they need from optometrists or other eye care professionals" said Dr. Brett Thombs, chair of the CTFPHC .

Explore further New guideline for screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms

More information: Screening for impaired vision in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and older in primary care settings, Journal information: Canadian Medical Association Journal Screening for impaired vision in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and older in primary care settings, https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.171430Co-management of patients by more than one primary care clinician is among new models of care designed to meet the demand for high quality patient care.

A new co-management model lays the groundwork for potential care partnerships between nurse practitioners and physicians.

It finds that effective nurse practitioner-physician co-management requires three core attributes: effective communication, mutual respect and trust, and a shared philosophy of care.

These attributes must be supported by a practice environment and policies that recognize nurse practitioners as autonomous primary care clinicians, as well as the willingness of nurse practitioners and physicians to co-manage patients.

The authors find that effective nurse practitioner-physician co-management can reduce the primary care clinician's workload, including both clinical care and administrative tasks, thus reducing burnout and fatigue.

They suggest that combining the experience and expertise of clinicians from nursing and medicine can result in better care.

Explore further More doctors follow the money, more nurse practitioners follow the need

More information: Allison A. Norful et al. Nurse PractitionerPhysician Comanagement: A Theoretical Model to Alleviate Primary Care Strain, The Annals of Family Medicine (2018). Journal information: Annals of Family Medicine Allison A. Norful et al. Nurse PractitionerPhysician Comanagement: A Theoretical Model to Alleviate Primary Care Strain,(2018). DOI: 10.1370/afm.2230YouTube started stepping up its original programming production and distribution in 2018, which it releases through a premium subscription service called YouTube Red.

Most recently, a 10-episode series continuing the Karate Kid saga from the 1980s called Cobra Kai launched on YouTube Red.

Google outbid Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and AMC for the rights to the show.

Cobra Kai stars a main actors from the films, Ralph Macchio, along with William Zabka, who portrayed his arch-rival in the original movie. The two actors are also executive producers on the show, along with Will Smith.

The launch of Cobra Kai follows YouTube picking up the show Lifeline in 2017, which has Dwayne Johnson as one of its executive producers.

Legal streaming

Sadly, there is no way for South Africans to legally watch these shows.

While the first two episodes of Cobra Kai are available on YouTube for free, to view the remaining eight you must subscribe to YouTube Red.

YouTube Red is currently only available in Australia, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States, and is $9.99 per month in the US.

Google confirmed that it plans to offer YouTube Red in up to 100 countries, but it did not say when it expects to expand the service  or when it will arrive in South Africa.

Besides offering access to original content, a YouTube Red subscription removes the ads from standard YouTube videos, allows background play on smartphones, and includes a Google Play Music subscription.

These features add a layer of complexity to YouTube Red, however, which may be the reason it is difficult for Google to expand the service into more countries  particularly the removing ads from YouTube and the free Google Play Music subscription aspects.

Offering a subscription service to remove ads from YouTube across many countries at once may have unintended consequences. There has also been speculation for years that even though YouTube is a massive source of revenue, it may not yet be profitable for Google.

YouTube will therefore want to be careful with any feature which may impact its profitability, or its relationship with advertisers.

Google Play Music

The inclusion of a free subscription to Google Play Music with YouTube Red may be another factor causing the hold-up in rollout.

Google Play Music has been available in South Africa since 2015, but Google is reportedly aiming to replace it with a new service called YouTube Remix.

YouTube Remix is said to be a combination of YouTube Music and the Play Music streaming services, and is intended to be a stronger competitor to industry leader Spotify.

It is expected that Google Play Music users will be migrated onto YouTube Remix by the end of 2018.

As a result of this planned change in Googles product roadmap, it may not want to launch YouTube Red until YouTube Remix is ready.

Google declined to comment on what is holding back the launch of YouTube Red in South Africa.

Now read: YouTube TV price increaseIn 2018, MyBroadband partnered with South Africas top ICT companies  which offer you the best telecoms and IT services for your home or business.

High-quality and affordable ICT services are important to ensure smooth business operations, especially in an increasingly-online business environment.

With a large number of companies available, however, it can be challenging to find the right one for your business or home.

To make it easy for you to find great companies for your connectivity, voice services, and IT needs, we have compiled a list of the top local IT and telecoms players.

Connection Telecom  Click here for more

Connection Telecom delivers real-time communication solutions, providing more context, speed, and accuracy to customers, straddling messaging, voice, managed network services and visual communication.

Vodacom Business  Click here for more

Vodacom Business offers a wide range of broadband, cloud, hosting, mobile, voice, Internet-of-Things, and tracking solutions.

Vox  Click here for more

Vox is a market-leading ICT and infrastructure provider, which offers a wide range of services  including data, voice, cloud, business collaboration, and conferencing tools.

CipherWave  Click here for more

CipherWave provides growing businesses with a range of solutions to help them connect, communicate, and collaborate with their customers, employees, and suppliers.

WIRUlink  Click here for more

WIRUlink uses the latest wireless and fibre technologies to offer data and voice services to businesses and homes in South Africa.

Afrihost  Click here for more

Afrihost is an award-winning ISP which offers DSL, fibre, mobile, LTE, hosting, and mobile services to consumers and businesses.

Axiz  Click here for more

Axiz is an industry-leading information technology value-added distributor focused on solutions ranging from Edge Client Devices, Core Data Centre hardware and software, and Cloud software and services.

Nashua  Click here for more

Nashua helps businesses to increase their efficiency with office automation, document management, and integrated business solutions.

Mint  Click here for more

Mint is a technology consultancy and development company that specialises in Enterprise Content Management, CRM, Cloud applications, and mobile services.

Ruckus  Westcon-Comstor  Click here for more

Ruckus is a pioneer in the Wi-Fi infrastructure market, enabling carriers and enterprises to stay ahead of the exploding demand for high-bandwidth applications and services.

InnoVent  Click here for more

InnoVent offers pay-per-use leasing solutions to companies and institutions to help them finance the purchase of brand new equipment.

Brother  Click here for more

Brother is a leading brand which produces high-quality, innovative products in the print, imaging, and labelling segments.About a quarter of American couples sleep apart at least a few times a month and even more Americans say their ideal arrangement is not sleeping in the same bed as their partner.The second example of the local womens dedication to community service was printed in a column adjacent to the Overacker piece. This springtime 1919 story also had an Upvalley connection.

The article began, One of the largest gatherings of Rebekahs ever held in St. Helena was the meeting that took place Thursday. The occasion was the annual meeting of the Rebekah Lodges in the Napa district, comprising those in Napa, St. Helena and Calistoga.

These local lodges were part of a larger benevolent organization, the Rebekah Assembly, whose efforts focused on helping those in need. Apparently, the April 1919 Rebekahs gathering was more than the annual meeting for the Napa County lodges. It featured an official visit of the president of the Rebekah Assembly of California, Laura M. Lawrie, of Stockton. The Journal continued, A school of instruction was conducted in the afternoon by Mrs. Lawrie, and many questions of importance were discussed, greatly benefiting all who were present.

While that program proved to be informative and helpful to the attendees, the evening program and activities were of even greater importance. The Journal reported, In the evening about 150 Rebekahs were in attendance, a special electric car (of the Napa Valley interurban train system) and automobiles brought a large number (of Rebekahs) from Napa and Calistoga.Theres a new sound of music in Napa, and its not coming from BottleRock, the Uptown or any other local stage.

The music is from Napas new low-power FM radio station, KCMU, found at 103.3 FM.

The new music-centric, nonprofit, community radio station was created by Napa resident Faith Henschel-Ventrello. Called the Napa Radio Project, KCMU launched on Dec. 31.

I always loved being in radio, said Henschel-Ventrello, who has lived in Napa since 2000.

After experiences working as the music director for a radio station while attending the University of Washington and later in record label marketing, I thought itd be fun to do radio here.

Henschel-Ventrello said she figured a new station was a pipe dream. But when the Federal Communications Commission made a limited number of Low Power FM Radio licenses available, Henschel-Ventrello jumped on it.

According to the FCC, the agency established LPFM licenses to create opportunities for new voices to be heard on the radio.

Its great for a community to have different people to share music and different shows, she said.

Such stations are limited to 100 watts and a service range of about 3.5 miles.

Many times, churches, as well as communities, start LPFM stations, Henschel-Ventrello said. In California, there are more than 200 others and 2,000 such stations across the U.S., records show.

According to FCC records, KCMU is the only registered LPFM station in Napa. A station called St. Helena Good News Broadcasting, KSHC at 106.5, is registered in St. Helena.

Henschel-Ventrello described the current format of KCMU as eclectic with an independent music bent. That includes a lot of indie rock, African music, blues, jazz, dance music, a little techno, a little classical  I mix it up.

Its a mixed bag of tricks, thats for sure, she said. Its all music you dont hear on other radio stations.

Artists include a wide range and mix  such as the Killers, Spoon, Fela Kuti, Afghan Whigs, Johnny Cash, John Cale, Brian Eno, the National, Beach House, Au Pairs, the Cramps and local bands Shannon & the Clams and Change.

To Henschel-Ventrello, most commercial radio stations focus on adult music thats kind of boring.

This radio station entrepreneur said there is definitely an appetite for people who want better music and access to different music in Napa Valley.

After determining that different variations of call letters related to Napa or Napa Valley were unavailable, Henschel-Ventrello discovered that KCMU, the call letters of her original college station, were available.

KCMU was known as an eclectic, cool radio station, she said. To her, re-using the same call letters for the Napa Radio Project means that legacy lives on.

The antenna that helps broadcast KCMU is 40 feet tall. For security reasons, Henschel-Ventrello didnt want to publicize the exact location, but it is somewhere in the Coombsville area of Napa.

Because the station range is only about 3.5 miles, right now, you can hear the station as far as some parts of Carneros and the airport and around Trancas Street.

Henschel-Ventrello said one of the biggest obstacles to getting started was getting her nonprofit designation.

It took about eight months longer than I thought I was going to take, she said. That was a learning curve. Another obstacle was getting the radio station broadcasting on time.

We had to get the antenna up and broadcasting by Jan. 10 otherwise wed lose the license, Henschel-Ventrello explained.

It was duct tape and bungee cords, she said with a laugh. I felt like I was MacGyvering the set-up.

There will be no advertising on KCMU, but underwriters or donations are welcomed. The station has no payroll  everyone involved is a volunteer.

She and her husband own Vintage Wine Marketing, a wine wholesale business in Napa. While Henschel-Ventrello works at her day job, she programs the station at night.

The license for KCMU was free, but not the equipment.

Henschel-Ventrello said the radio station antenna cost about $1,000 and the transmitter about $4,000. She also had to buy a radio cabinet and a computer to program the station. Some electrical work was also required.

The music itself comes from Henschel-Ventrellos own collection and friends from other radio stations. Record labels have been sending her music as well. Because its a nonprofit, and the coverage area is so small, Henschel-Ventrello estimated the royalty fees for the music KCMU plays will run just about $200 per year.

All told, the expenses have totaled about $10,000.

Thanks to a donation from Napa resident Anne Moses, the equipment was purchased and installed.

Sometimes you get drawn into someone elses dream, explained Moses. I was completely captivated by the idea of a nonprofit community radio station.

Plus, Henschel-Ventrello has exquisite taste in music, said Moses. Shes incredibly creative and very community oriented. I thought this was such a great idea for Napa Valley.

Henschel-Ventrello said she already has ideas for improvements at KCMU.

After the station goes online, hopefully in the next couple weeks, then anyone can listen, she said. The range of the station can be improved. Local programs can be added.

One common question Henschel-Ventrello gets is people asking if they can have their own show. Its certainly something shed like to start, she said.

A morning show might be another addition. But for that you really need a studio space  which they dont yet have, Henschel-Ventrello said. Thats the tricky part.

Henschel-Ventrello said that she currently programs the station on her computer, but her long-term goal is to have a physical studio space.

After that, I want the community to take it over, said Henschel-Ventrello. I want others to jump in.

Its going to be a great venue for people in the community that like a wide range of music, said Moses.

Were just at the very beginning, said Moses. Our hope is to expand and connect people with wine, music and art in Napa Valley.

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.Eight years after the city purchased land for a fire station at the entrance to Browns Valley, the golden shovels were finally put into the grHis client pleaded guilty to two charges stemming from an incident in October 2016 when he was pulled over in Yountville by a CHP officer. The charges were driving under the influence, and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher.

He will not serve time in jail, but will pay a $1,000 fine, be on probation for three years, and has already attended DUI school, Skelton said.

Students found the experience worthwhile, if not fascinating.

This was great, said senior Angelina Ramirez. I really want to be a lawyer when Im older. This was such a good experience.

Ramirez not only got to watch the trial along with more than a hundred students, but also served on a student jury that acted in an advisory capacity.

After Commissioner Monique Langhorne announced that the defendant had been found guilty, she asked the jurors if they would share their opinions with the audience on how they would have voted.

I would have ruled as guilty because you were driving and the [blood-alcohol] tests were valid, Ramirez said to the defendant seated across the stage.Petaluma police have arrested a Santa Rosa man on suspicion of fatally stabbing a man inside an apartment dorm room at Sonoma State University on Sunday evening.

The suspect has been identified as 19-year-old Tyler Bratton, police Lt. Tim Lyons said.

He has had prior police contacts and was taken to the Sonoma County Jail this morning, Lyons said.

Police have not identified the 26-year-old Sonoma County man who was killed. Lyons said Bratton and the victim were acquaintances, neither was a student at Sonoma State University and the homicide was not a random act.

A motive for the stabbing is under investigation, but there was some sort of dispute or altercation, Lyons said.

Sonoma State University police responded to the stabbing in the Quad area of the campus around 7:25 p.m. and quickly detained Bratton before Petaluma police arrived. Rohnert Park and Cotati police also responded.

Petaluma police recovered a knife and a backpack and have interviewed two people they believe witnessed the stabbing. Several people live inside the apartment where the stabbing took place, Lyons said.

"We believe we have the stabber," Lyons said.Sales taxes, once the primary source of revenue for the state budget, now play second fiddle to income taxes.

That said, sales taxes are still very important to local governments, particularly cities, and often affect local land use decisions  favoring tax-generating retail business over housing, for instance.

However, consumer trends are changing, radically affecting how many billions of sales tax dollars are allocated, and the Legislature is just beginning to deal with it.

Brick-and-mortar stores are losing consumers to online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon, forcing some retailers, such as Walmart, to embrace digital commerce themselves.

Currently, local sales taxes accrue to the jurisdictions in which the underlying transactions occur. If you buy a living room chair from a store in Sacramento, for instance, the city claims a few dollars of sales tax. But what happens if you order that chair via the Internet from Amazon and its delivered a few days  or maybe even a few hours  later?

Amazon does collect sales tax, thanks to a landmark deal with the state a few years ago that paved the way for the giant company to establish a string of distribution centers to service such orders, and the state gets most of those revenues.Political battles over land use issues in Napa county have raged since before creation of the Ag Preserve in 1968. The solution for solving currently imagined problems is again being promoted in Measure C.

Much of the repeated hysteria was embodied in Measure I in 2006, which proposed a new parks and open space district. At that time county Supervisor Bill Dodd equated the argument in favor of Measure I with, Motherhood and apple pie.

Dodd also predicted that, If Measure I passes .. a new layer of government will create a new tax or fee to fund their program.

This measure did result in the creation of the Parks and Open Space District and limited funding was provided and controlled by the county. Measure A and expansions of the land trusts continue to provide increased local watershed protections.

In 2016, an article by Peter Kilkus in the Lake Berryessa News noted a Zombie Tax resurrection of Measure I with the proposed sales tax Measure Z. This measure included some of the same emotional arguments as Measure I and the current Measure C proposal. The Measure Z sales tax would have provided a ten-fold increase in funding for the Parks and Open Space District. Measure Z did not pass.OSCE Minsk Group: Co-Chairs discussed possible de-escalatory and humanitarian measures

Sergey Markedonov: What axis between Yerevan and Tehran?

Armenia Parliament Speaker: It's very important to be able to turn the page over and establish peace in the region

Legendary Armenian gymnast Albert Azaryan's daughter, teacher Zhanna Azaryan dies from COVID-19

Georgia citizens to hold rally in support of Saakashvili in central Tbilisi on Sunday

Armenia sets up governmental commission for funeral of Ambassador Vigen Chitechyan

Armenia opposition MP: Yerevan, Baku are synchronously working to destroy Armenian statehood

Slovenia Ambassador to Armenia: Armenian-Slovenian economic relations not adequate to existing potential

Cavusoglu: Ukraine has applied to obtain observer status in Turkic Council

Turkey building a wall on border with Iran

Basque Country Parliament, affirming European Parliament's stance, adopts resolution on Armenian POWs

Turkish FM touches upon Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

Armenia FM receives Apostolic Nuncio of Holy See Jose Avelino Bettencourt

Saakashvili's father calls on son to stop hunger strike

Armenian and Belarusian MFAs hold political consultations

Digest: Russia offers 3+3 Caucasus regional platform, more on COVID-19 vaccination in Armenia

Armenia MOD receives Diaspora Armenian benefactors

Armenia Ambassador presents credentials to Turkmenistan President

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker and Russia Ambassador: We are interested in expansion of cooperation

Armenia finance ministry-European Investment Bank cooperation development directions discussed

One dollar drops below AMD 480 in Armenia

Hague court announces dates for considering petition for Armenian captives return, urgent measures against Azerbaijan

Armenia minister, Rosatom representative discuss cooperation in new sectors for infrastructure development

Armenia PM underscores need for effective investigation of criminal cases on 44-day war circumstances

Armenia MFA: Servants, followers of Armenian Church should have unimpeded access to cathedral in Artsakhs Shushi

Armenia opposition With Honor Faction lawmaker: MPs can be part of any parliamentary delegation

Turkish Armed Forces' 3rd army corps commander visits Nakhchivan

Sergey Markedonov: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not over

Opposition 'Armenia' faction: There is always a threat of war, but it is less likely in the near future

Armenian and Greek competition protection authorities sign Memorandum of Cooperation

Georgia FM comments on possibility of his country joining 3 + 3 format proposal including Armenia

Ruling power MP: Armenia needs to consider, grasp opportunities of 3 + 3 negotiation format

12 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh

FM meets with Sweden ambassador, stresses need for return of all Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Ukraine MP who penned Armenian Genocide recognition draft decision dies

Azerbaijan organizes another visit to occupied Shushi of Artsakh

Ombudsman in Rome, presents Armenian captives issue to international media

ANCA calls on US Congress to investigate State Department failures related to Armenia, Artsakh

Armenia opposition MP: Tatev bypass road will not resolve all our problems in current situation (PHOTOS)

1,202 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Opposition Armenia bloc challenges, at Constitutional Court, community enlargement law package

Armenia Central Bank chief in Rome, meets with Italy PM

Russia peacekeepers, philanthropists hand warm clothes to Artsakh families

State Department: US, Russia do not want to allow Iran to have nuclear weapons

Newspaper: Armenia state to no longer cover treatment expenses of patients not vaccinated against coronavirus?

Newspaper: Armenia judicial system to be in volatile situation in short time

UN Human Rights Council agrees to appoint special rapporteur on Afghanistan

Russia citizen driver, 52, dies on the spot after his car crashes into truck in Armenia

Launch of Armenian Studies Program announced during Armenia President's visit to Sapienza University

Will Turks be able to enter 26 countries of Schengen Area without visas?

Dinner served in honor of Armenia President and his wife in Italy

Armenian parliamentary standing committee chairman meets with Russia Ambassador

Armenia Ombudsman submits to Pope Francis reports on tortures of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Customs Attache: There hasn't been and there is no bias against Armenian drivers at Upper Lars checkpoint

Greece-France defense agreement will allow them to help each other in case of third country's attack

Treatment of coronavirus-infected but unvaccinated people to become paid service in Armenia as of December?

Turkish FM: Turkey's position on supporting Ukraine's "integrity and sovereignty" remains unchanged

Russian peacekeeping forces, charitable organizations provide assistance to boarding school in Karabakh

Zakharova: Moscow proceeds from priority to ensure geopolitical stability in South Caucasus

Armenia President pays tribute at Altar of the Homeland monument at Venice Square in Rome

Turkey, Iran to hold political consultations

Karabakh FM expresses condolences over death of Vigen Chitechyan

Armenia territorial administration and infrastructure minister has new deputy

Armenia Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan receives US Ambassador

Armenia Security Council Secretary, Netherlands Ambassador attach importance to fight against corruption

Digest: Armenian POW returned from Azerbaijan, PACE speaks on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination risks

Armenia and Italy are deepening cooperation in justice sector

Apprehended ARF-D members are released

Armenia high-tech industry minister receives Russia Ambassador

Armenia Embassy in Russia hosts delegation led by Armenian parliamentary speaker

Decisions to arrest Armenia ex-defense minister, arms supplier are appealed

Dollar continues going down in Armenia

Artsakh President to Putin: Your role in process of peaceful, final settlement of Karabakh conflict is invaluable

Amir-Abdollahian: We consider inadmissible Zionist regime provocative movement in our region from Azerbaijan territory

Iran FM announces readiness to visit Armenia, Azerbaijan

US ambassador to Armenia attends unveiling of new x-ray machine donated to Ashtarak city hospital (PHOTOS)

Putin: Russia attaches great importance to close cooperation with strategic ally Armenia

Police disrupt ARF youths protest outside Armenia government building

Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople meets with the Pope, in the Vatican

UK envoy to Armenia does not comment on Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Karabakh situation

Iran Supreme Leaders representative leaves Azerbaijan

Armenias Pashinyan to Russias Putin: We are grateful for your efforts to establish peace in South Caucasus

Putin, Aliyev confer on situation in South Caucasus

Putin, Erdogan discuss regional issues

4 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

PACE new resolution urges to ensure that COVID-19 vaccination is not mandatory

Zelensky sacks Ukraine ambassador to Armenia

PM: Armenia, Armenian people are grateful to Japan

Armenia PM: We have made decision regarding local elections

Armenia, Italy presidents farewell ceremony held in Rome (PHOTOS)

Sarkissian to Putin: Armenia highly values your contribution to maintenance of peace, stability in region

Having legal system is important for business development in fair environment, says UK ambassador to Armenia

Armenia President, Italy PM meeting in Rome (PHOTOS)

Baku not ruling out another meeting between Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs

Armenia President meets with Rome mayor

1,309 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Biden approval rating hits new low in latest poll

Armenia ombudsman in Italy parliament, presents evidence of Azerbaijan torture of Armenian captives

World oil prices dropping

Serial killer in US lured by social media is sentenced to 160 years in prisonYEREVAN.  We will carry out a huge immigration and repatriation; but this requires time and energetic daily work.

The new Minister of Diaspora of Armenia, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, stated the aforesaid at a press conference on Monday.

In his words, now it is already said that many have returned to their homeland, Armenia.

The victory of the revolution [in Armenia] brought with it hope, which for a long time was absent among people; its owing to this that they are returning, Hayrapetyan said. Now the moment has come to strengthen it with concrete steps. When we will create that climate, we will be able to propose to our compatriots to return.

Also, the new Armenian governments youngest ministerat 27 years of agenoted that there may be some changes in the current programs of the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia, and he added that there will be new ones, too.

In the ministers words, the relations as well as the quality of engaging with the Armenian diaspora communities need to change, since they were not given the attention that they deserved.YEREVAN.  We must take corresponding steps toward promoting economic cooperation.

Along the lines of the regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Councilthe highest supranational body of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)in Sochi, Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia on Monday stated the aforementioned at his talk with President Igor Dodon of Moldova, which has a status of an observer state in the EAEU which comprises Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Press office of the government of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the interlocutors lauded the current level of Armenian-Moldovan relations, but they underscored the need for consistent work toward the further development of these relations.

Pashinyan considered it indispensable to give a new impetus to bilateral economic cooperation and stressed that it does not match the current level of political relations between the two countries. He added that the Armenian governments decision to open an embassy in Moldova attests to the fact that Armenia stands ready to give a new impetus to bilateral ties.

President Dodon, in turn, first congratulated Nikol Pashinyan on being elected Prime Minister of Armenia and wished him success in this capacity. Also, the Moldovan president noted that cooperation between the two countries is developing with dynamism, and he expressed the hope that mutually beneficial ties will continue to strengthen and expand.

Subsequently, PM Nikol Pashinyan and President Igor Dodon discussed Armenian-Moldovan cooperation, and they deemed it necessary to expand the legal framework between the two countries.What civilization? Certainly the west is doing all it can do to include the entire global industrial sectors in this collapse as cover for the wanton bleeding dry of the west by the wests corporate and financial democracies. NASA ? Well they are interested in new empty space. Why would viable industrial sectors give up civilization because of western economic collapse? The statement betrays the absolute necessity of global war to the survival of the western ruling class .Once the host is mortally wounded it must be discarded for new blood.Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekovon May 14 in Sochi. The Kyrgyz leader congratulated Pashinyan on the occasion of assuming the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia, expressing confidence that bilateral relations will continue to expand and strengthen. I am confident that by our joint work we will give new impetus to traditional Armenian-Kyrgyz relations, Sooronbay Jeenbekovon said.

Nikol Pashinyan thanked for the congratulations and wishes, stressing that the Government of Armenia is interested in constructive steps aimed at fostering partnership between the two states. The PM highlighted development of economic relations, noting that they leg behind the political relations.

We are full of energy to carry out productive works. There is great unused potential for expanding partnership between the two countries and we should make a step in that direction, Nikol Pashinyan said.

During the meeting the Armenian PM and Kyrgyz President discussed a number of issues of expansion of relations between the two states, the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia.Moscow reserves the right to give a tit-for-tat response to the European Councils decision to blacklist five more Crimean officials, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday, TASS reported.

"The European Unions new measures once again demonstrate its real attitude to Crimeas population, to their interests and aspirations. Forgetting the high principles of democracy and human rights, Brussels is stubbornly seeking to punish those who organized democratic expression of will on the Crimean peninsula," she stressed. "It looks like that the positive changes in Crimea after 2014 give no peace of mind to EU officials, especially in contrast to the situation in Ukraine, where people feel deceived by the European Union, which once promised them a better tomorrow."

According to the Russian diplomat, it is clear to all in the European Union that the anti-Russian sanctions, which "have turned into ritualistic demonstration of EU solidarity," are futile. "Their only practical outcome is accumulation of irritants hampering mutually beneficial dialogue and cooperation with Russia," she said.

"The Russian side reserves the right to give a tit-for-tat response to the European Unions yet another unfriendly step," Zakharova added.

On May 14, the European Council supplemented its blacklist with the names of five members of Crimeas and Sevastopols election commissions who had organized presidential elections in Crimea in 2018.Veteran Nigerian rapper has waded into the trending online debate whether or not internet fraud aka Yahoo Yahoo should be justified vis a vis the state of the Nigerian economy. The veteran rapper in a few tweets made his stance known on the matter.

Somehow, several Nigerian artists have held certain sponsors who are allegedly Yahoo boys in high esteem. Some artists go as far as giving them shout out on their song which invariably promotes the lifestyle by idle Nigerian youths.

As the Yahoo Yahoo debate continues to trend veteran rapper eLDee has cleared the air as to whether or not he glorified Yahoo Yahoo in any form with his music.

Eldee mentioned that although Big Boy may have portrayed a lavish lifestyle he was in no way urging folks to go fraudulent to fund expensive lifestyles.

He also agreed he may have unwittingly contributed to the decay. However, he doesnt consider Big Boy a Yahoo Yahoo song.

See tweets:

Listen to eLDee Big Boy below;

[embedded content]Buhari said this while congratulating the former governor for winning the All Progressives Congress ticket to contest the July 14, 2018 governorship election.



The Presidents congratulatory message was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

Buhari also urged those who contested against Fayemi for the ticket to keep upholding the values and philosophy of the party by supporting the APC candidate in the forthcoming election.

The statement read, President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates former governor of Ekiti State and Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi, for winning the APC ticket to contest the July 14, 2018 governorship elections.

President Buhari commends all the participants in the keenly contested primary, who passionately worked hard to serve the state as governor, urging them to keep upholding the values and philosophy of the party by supporting the APC candidate in the forthcoming elections.

President Buhari believes that Fayemis track record in the state as a reformist, with a penchant for building educational infrastructure and promoting the welfare of the ordinary people, will bolster his chances at the forthcoming polls.

The President notes that the successful primary in the state, with more than 30 aspirants, further validates the credentials of the APC on internal democracy, and its preparedness to take the country to another level of development.

Meanwhile, The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that Fayemi will this week resign his position as the Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development.

The minister had on Saturday night emerged as the APC candidate for the election in a keenly contested primary.

He secured 941 votes as against 481 votes polled by his strongest contender, Segun Oni, who is also a former governor of the state.

Fayemi was in April granted a one-month leave of absence by President Buhari to enable him to take part in the primary.

Our correspondent gathered that the one-month leave would expire this week.

However, having won the primary, sources close to Fayemi said the minister would not return to his office as a substantive minister.

Fayemi, it was learnt, was not ready to delay his campaign in order not to jeopardise his chances during the election.

The source said the late open declaration of the former governor for the race nearly cost him the ticket as many of his initial supporters had declared their loyalty to other aspirants.

The source said, Fayemi will be in Abuja either on Monday or early Tuesday to submit his letter of resignation to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Though he could still remain in office till June, at least a month before the election, he needs to be on the ground in Ekiti earlier than that.

Remember that his late declaration for the position worked against him during the primary as many of his supporters had already started working for other aspirants.

Because they had declared their loyalty to these aspirants, it was very difficult for the minister to ask them to return.

But this time round and having emerged as the partys candidate, we want all of them to return and that can only be achieved when Fayemi returns home fully to take charge.

Efforts made to speak with the minister on Sunday were not successful as calls made to his telephone indicated that it was switched off.

The minister had earlier told our correspondent that he only took a month leave of absence from office to enable him to contest the partys governorship ticket.

Meanwhile, our correspondent also gathered that Fayemi had started consultations on who would be his running mate.Home | News | General | Just in: APC widens its hold on Kaduna, wins 13 seats as PDP gets 3 in the just-concluded LG polls

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna has widened its success in the just concluded council elections in the state winning Sabon Gari and Igabi local government areas to make increase it 13 seats it had so far won.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the returning officer for Sabon Gari local government, Micah Victor, announced Mohammed Ibrahim Usman of the APC as winner with 20,576 votes against PDPs Suleiman Ibrahim Gambo who got 9,580.

READ ALSO: Kayode Fayemi wins Ekiti APC governorship ticket

Ahmed Kofa, the returning officer for Igabi local government, also announced that Jabir Khamis of the APC was returned elected chairman of the local government after winning 47,630, against Abubakar Abubakar of the PDP who got 2,449 votes.

Daily Trust reports that the results of 16 local governments so far announced show that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has won with a wide margin while the PDP won three local government areas.

The report said the APC won in mainly northern and central parts of the state but was able to win one local government in the south.

Apart from the two earlier mentioned, the APC in Soba, Zaria, Lere, Ikara, Makarfi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Kagarko, Kudan, Kajuru and Kaduna North local councils.

On the other hand, the PDP won the chairmanship and councillorship election in Zangon Kataf, Kauru and Sanga local government areas of the state.

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The report said the returning officer for Zangon Kataf, Danjuma Baye-Luka, announced the results saying Elias Maza of the PDP scored 55,643 votes to defeat APCs John Hassan who polled 31,514 votes.

The results further showed that in Zaria, APC polled 42859 votes, while PDP got 16033. In Soba, APC got 40903, while PDP scored 13835. In Kaduna North, Saleh Shuaibu of the APC emerged winner with the returning officer, Umar Hayatu, saying he polled a total of 168,572 votes against Muhammad Sabo Babayaro of the Peoples Democratic Party who got 12,467 votes.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that the delay in the distribution of election materials left voters stranded in most parts of Kaduna metropolis, Chikun and Igabi Local Areas who turned out to elect their local government officials on Saturday, May 12.

The election materials were yet to be deployed to voting centres monitored as at 11:00 am, raising concerns among some of the as to whether the election would hold.

President Buhari on 2019 presidential election: will you vote for him? | NAIJ.com TV

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | We are willing to fund start-ups  DBN boss

In this interview, Managing Director, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Mr. Tony Okpanachi, indicated that long-term capital is no longer a hindrance to MSMEs in the country.

Excerpts:

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief

TO what extent has MSMEs benefited from DBN so far

You will recall, November last year we started our learning activities with three microfinance institutions. We have made available to them almost N5 billion. This was supposed to be for several MSMEs. Since we are a wholesale institution we work through financial

institutions, so when they come we make a line available to them so as they come with their clients we draw-down on the line.

Beyond that, we have started bringing on board some commercial banks which you can see on our website. We have also made credit lines available to them. So as they come, we draw down the line. But Im glad to tell you that we have nine currently on our list, both commercial and microfinance banks and between now and the end of June we expect more commercial banks.

Tony Okpanachi,

Can you give us an update about your visit to the UK, when European Investment Bank and Islamic Development Bank were to take up their investments?

We have equity shareholders coming in, that is African Development Bank and the European Bank. They have invested $50 million and $20 million respectively.

As we speak, effectively they have funded the investment in the DBN. So they are now shareholders in the DBN.

The $50 million from AfDB and European Bank are already in the system so now the bank is owned by the federal government, NSIA, AfDB and European Investment Bank.

What are the mechanisms put in place to ensure that the proposals of the micro finance banks meet the criteria?

For us, we receive the exact request, check the tenure and the terms and conditions offered before we disburse. We disburse for on-lending not for the banks to hold on to. We have a mechanism within our system that ensures that the funds hits the account of the end-borrowers within 72 hours. Beyond that, we follow up on them to see the impact made by the borrowing.

For example, we check if it had created more employment, has it increased turnover, has it increased revenue or enabled them pay more taxes

when necessary? We look out for all of these. We dont just create the lines for the banks alone.

Do you have uniform interest for borrowers?

No. It depends on the risk profile of the institution. It is not flat for everybody. It is based on assessment. Knowing that we take the risk of the financial institutions, we assess them and rate them, so that brings about the risk premium for each of them.

In your model, you talked about risk sharing, have you started that?

We have not started that, though we have obtained the regulatory approval to set it up. It is going to be a subsidiary of the DBN and we have started working with the World Bank to get the consultant to put the structure in place. It is our projection that towards the end of this year or early next year, the credit guaranty should come on board.

How far have you gone with de-risking the industry and providing capacity to PFIs?

That is also on-going. If you recall that we have a unit with the ministry called the project implementation unit, the idea is to have a different unit handling the capacity building issues so that we are not distracted from the core mandate of lending and they have sent out RFPs expression of interest for consultants to come in and the process is on-going. The next stage is to ensure that the consultants are short-listed and we identify which PFIs need this capacity building and allocate consultants to them. In the process of appraising the PFIs, some of them that do not meet our criteria, we identify ways we can help them, thats where the technical assistance comes in. for example if it is lack of a strong SME desk that is the problem, we give assistance.

The idea is that even if a firm does not qualify today, we work with them to make them qualify. The overall objective is to create more access to credit for the SMEs.

How are you thinking of helping the young graduates who may want to start up, knowing that they may not be able to meet collateral criteria of banks?

Part of what we are doing differently is that we are ready to help start-ups. This capacity building we are telling the financial institution that once a project comes and they assess it to be bankable, we are ready to take up the risk with them to give funding for start-ups.

Subsequently, we are going to come up with products that we are going to sell through these financial institutions for such institutions that will, again, sell them down the line. For now we want the buy-in of the financial institutions themselves so that we tell them the fund is available for them and we are willing to fund start-ups.

We build that confidence in them and subsequently we go out with our products directly to say help us sell these products to these people but that will be in phases.

We are very much available to help start-ups. We will also share risk with them. The overall objective is to make funding easy to them.

At your maiden interface with the media where you were unveiled, I recall you said you are targeting 20,000 MSMEs in the first year. You are about a year now; do you think you are meeting the target?

We are working towards meeting the target. Remember, I said our first year of full operations. DBN is a start-up and there is a process to start up. But now we have a full house so we will start from this year. We now have full operations in place. We were licensed on 29th March 2017. The process for setting up the structures took some time. Also because we are a wholesale bank, we will partner with financial institutions and that means we will have to bring them onboard to lend to them. I can assure you we are on course.

So far how many MSMEs have benefited?

So far, the request from the PFIs for MSMEs is beyond 500. As they make requests and meet the conditions, we fund them.

How simple is the processes of accessing these loans by the MSMEs?

That is the engagement that is going on with the PFIs. The PFIs do the credit appraisal which we cant get involved. But when it gets to the DBN side, unlike other institutions, its with speed. In terms of interfacing with customers directly, we wont do, the banks will do that. We are already thinking of products to address start-ups, to address women and others, with specific features, we will still engage the PFIs to bring their clients to access the products. Ultimately, we want to collaborate with the commercial banks and the micro finance banks so the reach will be everywhere. There would be serious awareness campaigns.

How are you engaging institutions involved in MSMEs development?

We are currently working with SMEDAN. We have technical committees from their end and our end. They have clusters around the geopolitical zones. We want to key into those clusters to help build capacity for the MSMEs. We notice the MSMEs lack certain capacities so we want to start teaching the MSMEs on a case by case basis. We hope that everyone who is interested in expanding their businesses should learn the basics of doing so. They were here a couple of weeks ago and we have been talking.

Beyond SMEDAN, we also know we need to collaborate with a lot of intuitions  the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) for instance, we need to engage them. There are so many partnerships we are going into. We have to work in collaboration. Other DFIS have been working in silos but that hasnt worked well, so we are coming with a collaborative approach to ensure that all the institutions playing key roles work together. The idea is to take leadership to ensure that MSMEs have easy access to funds.

You also signed an agreement with NIRSAL, can you tell us more about it?

The objective is to finance the agriculture value-chain. Our objective in that respect is how to make it easy for PFIs to fund the agric segment because it is a priority sector for the economy. How do we unleash the potentials in the agric space and get the PFIs interested? How do we make it easier for PFIs to get the comfort to lend to agriculture and we also have the comfort to on-lend to them for agric businesses.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | Edo, model for devt financing World Bank

By Simon Ebegbulem

BENINWORLD Bank Executive Director for Angola, Nigeria and South Africa sub-groups, Ms Bongi Kunene, said weekend, that with the successes recorded in executing major infrastructural and social development projects in Edo State, particularly the Edo-Azura Power Project, the state has become a model for development financing at the sub-national level in developing countries.

wold bank

She stated this during a lunch organised for 10 visiting World Bank Executive Directors, at Government House, Benin City, by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Ms Kunene disclosed that the Bretton Woods institution was impressed with the level of work done through its various projects as well as the partnership that birthed the Edo-Azura Power Project.

Noting that Edo State was among the two sub-national governments that accessed its budget support instruments, she stressed that the World Bank was willing to partner the state on future projects, as long as the projects are in line with the Banks focus.

On the Edo-Azura Power Project, she said, The project is transformational. It gives us a scope of what we can do together. We are delighted to see solutions.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | PFN hails Senate over IGP's summon, calls for end to killings in Middle Belt

- The federal government has been urged to end the killings in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria

- The PFN said no Nigerian with a clear conscience would fold his or her hands to watch the ongoing killings across the country

- The group also commended the Senate for summoning the inspector general of police

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has called on the federal government to end the incessant killing across the country especially in the Middle Belt.

The Christian body said nobody with clear conscience can fold his or her hands to watch the ongoing killings across the country.

In a statement on Sunday, May 13, the southsouth, Bishop Simeon Okah, said it is disappointing that security agencies have failed to end the killings.

READ ALSO: Buhari speaks on Ekiti APC primaries, congratulates Fayemi over victory

Okah also supporting the Nigerian Senate for summoning the police inspector general, said the federal government must prove to Nigerians that it does not have a hand in it.

He said: "No Nigerian with conscience can fold his or her hands and watch as fellow Nigerians are killed in their numbers.

It is disappointing to all Nigerians that the countrys security agencies are unable to stop the killings with the police yet to make any meaningful arrest, prosecute and convict those carrying out these dastardly acts," Okah said.

READ ALSO: Just in: APC clears 13 seats, PDP wins 3 as local government election results are collated

I have had cause to question the competence and integrity of our security chiefs and had openly challenged the federal government to stop the killings if it sincerely does not have a hand in them.

The summons of the security chiefs by the Senate will provide Nigerians an opportunity to hear them out on what they are doing and if need be, offer well meaning Nigerians a chance to assess and make useful inputs.

The National Assembly is a representation of all Nigerians, therefore, a summon by the National Assembly, is actually a summon by Nigerians hence, I call on the security chiefs and National Security Adviser to honour the Senates summon in the interest of all Nigerians," Okah added.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that the Kogi state governor, Yahaya Bello, had set up a judicial commission of inquiry to address the attacks by suspected herdsmen in the state.

The 14-member committee is expected to look into the attacks in the Ogane-Nigwu, Ojuwo-Ajimadi and Agbenema-Ife areas of the state.

The committee is also saddled with the responsibility of determining the immediate and remote causes of the crisis in the affected communities, identify individuals or group of persons responsible for the mayhem.

TY Danjuma, Nigerian army and the herdsmen crisis | NAIJ.com TV

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralHome | News | General | 2019: Nobody can push me out of office Nwaoboshi

By Festus Ahon

ASABATHE senator representing Delta North senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, has said he cannot be cowed, intimidated or muzzled out of office in 2019 by anybody.

Peter Nwaoboshi

Nwaoboshi, who spoke when the Ibusa Community Development Union, ICDU, paid him a solidarity visit, noted that his arraignment in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has nothing to do with fraud and corruption, adding that it was pure business transaction.

If anybody thinks he can muzzle or cow me, he is wasting his time because I can never be cowed, I can never be intimidated and I believe that justice will be done. I believe in God and I will be vindicated in the end.

Nwaoboshi, elated with the support and solidarity while in Lagos and back at home, said he was happy with the unity among the Ibusa people.

I am sincerely overwhelmed by the gesture from our town. Now, it is clear that we are becoming more united, he said.

Earlier, in a solidarity letter presented to Senator Nwaoboshi by ICDC President and Secretary, Sir E.U. Monye and Sir Henry Okonkwo respectively, the people said: We are appalled and intrigued at the sudden realization and consciousness, in 2018, of a phantom allegation by EFCC which dates back to 2007, levelled against our son, Senator Nwaoboshi.

The case brought against the senator was a manipulated machination of conspiratorial minds of political enemies and opponents who feel highly uncomfortable and uneasy about the towering stature, rising profile and meteoric ascendancy of Nwaoboshi.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday disclosed that the Nigerian immigration attache, Mr. Habibu Almu, who was murdered in Khartoum, Sudan on May 10, was killed by a Sudanese woman of Nigerian origin.

Recall that the Consular officer, Habibu Almu, was found to have been stabbed to death at his home in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum last Thursday. that the Consular officer, Habibu Almu, was found to have been stabbed to death at his home in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum last Thursday.

The ministrys spokesperson, Dr. Tope Elias-Fatile, in a statement in Abuja, alleged that the suspect, a student of the Sudanese-Canadian College in Khartoum, murdered Almu in his official quarters on Thursday.

Elias-Fatile said that the suspect has been arrested and detained by the security agency in Sudan.

Consequently, after several arrests and investigations by the host authorities, it was established that the deceased was stabbed to death by one Miss Inas Khalid Maikano.

The suspect, who is a student of Sudanese-Canadian College in Khartoum, is a Sudanese of Nigerian origin.

It was discovered during investigations that the suspect had stolen some of the deceaseds personal belongings, including cash, he said.

According to him, the suspect allegedly confessed committing the crime and is being held in custody.

Our Mission in Khartoum will continue to monitor and follow up the case to ensure that justice is done on this matter.

In the meantime, the process of conveying the remains of the late Almu to Nigeria for proper burial is being finalised, the spokesperson said.Home | News | General | 2 Boko Haram terrorists killed as brave soldiers rescue old man during gunfight (photos)

- An old man was rescued by a brave soldier in Borno

- This was during a gunfight between the army and Boko Haram terrorists

- 2 terrorists were killed in the confrontation

An aged man has been rescued by a brave soldier during a gunfight between troops of the Nigerian Army and Boko Haram terrorists.

This was contained in a statement by Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu on Monday, May 14.

The incident happened in Gobara village in Borno state where a platoon commander of the 192 Battalion, Lieutenant Asajwun Ahmadu reportedly carried the old man on his shoulder in rescue.

READ ALSO: Sultan sends message to Muslims concerning Ramadan

Two terrorists were killed while their weapons were recovered.

Read the statement below:

Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole have rescued an aged man who was held hostage by element!s of Boko Haram Terrorists group in the remote village of Gobara in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno state.

In a rare display of bravery and humaneness, a Platoon Commander of the 192 Battalion, Lieutenant Asajwun Ahmadu rescued and personally carried on his shoulders, the feeble aged man who had been caught up in the exchange of fire between the troops and the insurgents during an offensive to clear insurgents out of their hideout in Gobara on Friday 11 May 2018. The rescued man is currently receiving medical attention at the 192 Battalion Medical Reception Centre.

A soldiers rescued an old man during a gunfight between the army and Boko Haram terrorists. Credit: Facebook, SK Usman

During the advance to conduct the offensive at Gobara, the Counter insurgency troops uncovered and successfully detonated three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) buried by Boko Haram insurgents along the axis of advance at Damboa bridge, Fadakwe and Fadakwe Christian respectively.

In the offensive, the gallant troops killed two insurgents and destroyed their camp, logistics and IED factory during the fire fight . The troops also recovered 8 Dane guns, one G3 Magazine, one IED making device, one Unexploded Ordnance, three Tool boxes, three machetes, Length of electric cable and a Boko Haram flag.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The troops have also exploited further to clear Shiyadawe, Shiyadawe Bulama and Shiyadawe Fulani, all in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism group said that the dreaded Boko Haram sect operating in northeastern part of Nigeria has been defeated.

The Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism (CATE) said that contrary to the claim of the United Nations, the Boko Haram terrorists have been defeated across the country.

CATE reacting to reports by the United Nations Special Representative of the secretary general for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohammed Ibn Chambers, said the reality on ground shows that the sect has lost its hold on Nigeria.

Chambers had earlier said that Boko Haram has not been defeated in the northeast.

Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram on NAIJ.com TV

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Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: GeneralEnglish Dutch

Lochem, 14 May 2018

ForFarmers: update on share buy-back programme

ForFarmers N.V. (hereinafter 'ForFarmers') has repurchased 32,266 shares in the period from 7 May 2018 through 11 May 2018.

The shares were repurchased for an average price of 11.68 per share, for a total amount of 376,959. These repurchases were made in accordance with the authorisation granted by the ForFarmers N.V. Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 26 April 2018 as part of the share buy-back programme announced on 2 May 2018.

The total number of shares that has been repurchased to date according to this programme is 120,000 shares, for a total amount of 1,409,899.

More information about the purchase programme is available on the ForFarmers website (www.forfarmersgroup.eu/en).

This press release contains information that qualifies as inside information in the sense of Article 7 paragraph 1 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

 Download weekly report regarding progress of share buy-back programme (including the individual transactions).

Note to the editor / For additional information:

Caroline Vogelzang, Director Investor Relations & Communications

T: 0031 573 288 194 M: 0031 6 10 94 91 61

E: caroline.vogelzang@forfarmers.eu



Company profile

ForFarmers N.V. ('ForFarmers', Lochem, the Netherlands) is an internationally operating feed company that offers total feed solutions for conventional and organic livestock farming. ForFarmers gives its very best "For the Future of Farming": for the continuity of farming and for a financially secure sector that will continue to serve society for generations to come in a sustainable way. By working side-by-side with farmers ForFarmers delivers real benefits: better returns, healthier livestock and greater efficiency. This is achieved by offering tailored and Total Feed solutions and a targeted approach with specialist and expert support.

With sales of approximately 9.6 million tonnes of feed annually, ForFarmers is market leader in Europe. ForFarmers has approximately 2,300 employees and production facilities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 2017, revenues amounted to over 2.2 billion.

ForFarmers N.V., Postbus 91, 7240 AB Lochem, T: +31 (0)573 28 88 00, F: +31 (0)573 28 88 99

info@forfarmers.eu/en/, www.forfarmersgroup.eu/en/

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those relating to ForFarmers legal obligations in terms of capital and liquidity positions in certain specified scenarios. In addition, forward-looking statements, without limitation, may include such phrases as "intends to", "expects", "takes into account", "is aimed at", ''plans to", "estimated" and words with a similar meaning. These statements pertain to or may affect matters in the future, such as ForFarmers future financial results, business plans and current strategies. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, which may mean that there could be material differences between actual results and performance and expected future results or performances that are implicitly or explicitly included in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may result in variations on the current expectations or may contribute to the same include but are not limited to: developments in legislation, technology, jurisprudence and regulations, share price fluctuations, legal procedures, investigations by regulatory bodies, the competitive landscape and general economic conditions. These and other factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect any forward-looking statements or the actual results of ForFarmers, are discussed in the last published annual report. The forward-looking statements in this press release are only statements as of the date of this document and ForFarmers accepts no obligation or responsibility with respect to any changes made to the forward-looking statements contained in this document, regardless of whether these pertain to new information, future events or otherwise, unless ForFarmers is legally obliged to do so.Beaver Dam, WI (53916)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Areas of dense fog. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Areas of dense fog. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Namaste Technologies Inc. (Namaste or the Company) (TSXV:N) (FRANKFURT:M5BQ) (OTCMKTS:NXTTF) is pleased to announce the integration of several critical updates to the Companys online patient acquisition tool, NamasteMD Inc. (NamasteMD). NamasteMD, which is the Company's revolutionary mobile app, which is available on desktop, Apple IOS and Android devices, has allowed Namaste to accelerate patient growth at a rate that exceeds any industry peers and at significantly lower cost per patient. NamasteMD is presently ranked as the #2 Medical application in the Canadian Apple Store. NamasteMD provides a simple digital platform for patients to acquire medical cannabis documentation from the comfort of their home. Since its initial launch, the Company has acquired over 2,000 patients exclusively through organic growth without any paid advertising. The Company believes that the recent updates to the app will allow Namaste to fully deploy its marketing strategy and accelerate growth in what the Company believes will soon be Canadas largest database of medical cannabis patients.



With this release patients now have a more streamlined and reliable video experience, enabled by our trusted partner Twilio. This release also includes stability and performance improvements, including a fix for a bug that was preventing a small percentage of our users from logging in. The Company will focus on continued updates to increase the acceleration rate of its patient database through organic and paid advertising channels.

Additionally, the Company would like to announce that co-founder Kory Zelickson is transferring roles to become Vice President of Business Development and Investor Relations, and that Baran Dilaver will be appointed as the Companys interim Chief Operating Officer. With the Companys rapid expansion, Kory will focus on the growth of the Company in the areas of business development, strategic partnership and in investor relations and hand-off operations to Baran Dilaver, who has many years of experience in operations. This strategic decision will allow both Kory and Baran to excel in each of their respective areas to further propel the growth of the Company. Mr. Baran Dilaver has extensive experience in running companies and for the past three months, Baran Dilaver has been focused on improving Namastes operations and organizing its various business divisions. The Company welcomes Baran in joining as Interim COO and believes that these changes will provide further value to its shareholders. Upon his appointment, Baran Dilaver commented: I am thrilled to have such a critical role in shaping Namastes future, and I am in a great position to lead the recruitment of a world class COO to hand over some of the initiatives I started here with the operations and finance teams.

About Baran Dilaver

Baran is an entrepreneur, creator, and an accomplished executive. He launched several well-known brands worldwide and conceived and developed over 80 products. Baran is the founder of FutureScape, a technology focused product design and branding company and recently, as the COO and CMO at Firefly Vapor, he created and implemented business strategies that established Firefly as one of the most admired brands in the cannabis industry. Prior to Firefly, Baran Dilaver was the CEO of United Brands, a leading food technology company based out of San Francisco. He is a speaker in conferences like Tech Open Air Berlin, CannaTech, and European Communications Summit. He was a scholar athlete at UC Berkeley and studied Economics. He loves kitesurfing and snowboarding around the world and building large-scale art installations at Burning Man.

Management Commentary

Sean Dollinger, President and CEO of Namaste comments; Were very pleased to have had major updates approved to the NamasteMD platform. I believe that NamasteMD provides the Company with a competitive edge in being the first company in Canada to fully digitize patient acquisition. At a cost of only $60 per patient, Namaste is able to acquire patients at a much lower cost than our peers who require the use of physical clinics or doctors to acquire patients. In a very short period of time we have managed to acquire over 2,000 patients organically with zero spend on marketing or promotion. At this point of the business cycle we now feel that the platform is ready for full launch and anticipate an even more significant acceleration of growth over the next several months through a strategic marketing campaign.

Additionally, Im very pleased to have Kory focus on his areas of expertise in business development and investor communications where he brings major value to the Company. We have been continuously growing as a company and Kory has filled in as COO, but we have now decided to have each team member focus exclusively in their areas of expertise. The investor relations and business development role is very important to the Company and Kory is best fit for this role. We are also very pleased to be bringing on Baran Dilaver as interim COO who has many years of experience in the industry and as someone who has developed a deep level of understanding of Namastes global operations. Moving forward we are in a prime position to leverage an amazing management team and innovative technology to advance as a global leader in all things cannabis.

About Namaste Technologies Inc.

Namaste Technologies is a global leader in the sale of medical cannabis consumption devices. Namaste has nine offices with multiple distribution centers around the globe and operates over 30 websites under various brands. Namaste has developed innovative technology platforms including NamasteMD.com, Canada's first ACMPR compliant telemedicine application. The company is focused on patient acquisition through NamasteMD and intends on building Canada's largest database of medical cannabis patients. The company's subsidiary, CannMart Inc. is an ACMPR Licensed Producer with a "sales-only" license, whereby the company will offer a large variety of medical cannabis sourced from domestic and international producers. Namaste will continue to develop and acquire innovative technologies which will provide value to the Company and to its shareholders as well as to the broader cannabis market.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Sean Dollinger

Chief Executive Officer

Direct: +1 (786) 389 9771

Email: info@namastetechnologies.com

Further information on the Company and its products can be accessed through the links below:

NamasteTechnologies.com

NamasteMD.com

NamasteVapes.ca

Everyonedoesit.ca

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION This press release contains forward-looking information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, Namaste assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The TSXV has neither reviewed nor approved the contents of this press release.Delete this you monster

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What fresh hell is this?!?!

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gdi I KNEW this was going to be in here but I cam in anyway

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lmao me too

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lmao

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Came in here to comment about his nasty ass feets

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That's all I can think about when I see him.

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at least put it under a cut

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SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017





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lmaooo

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whY??? i'm actually crying

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Fuck no

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This as to be fake.

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Lol they look like what Damien's feet would look like hahaha

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lmao yuck

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GOD DAMMIT

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Will the mods count this comment as a death threat?

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Whenever I think he's handsome, my brain brings up this image and I get over it lol

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You ruined this post! Banned for going OT tbh.

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i was gonna masturbate but im too dry now

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LMFAO y'all don't understand I come into every Ezra post hoping someone brings up his feet so thank you for making sure its the 1st comment to this post

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no food for me today

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BITCH i jumped

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FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCK KKKKKK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUU

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the Salvador Dali Museum is here in Florida and it is the tightest shit. Like some of his paintings are MASSIVE, the size of a whole wall.

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I'm dying to go to the newer facility, I've only been to the older, smaller building.

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I probably haven't been to the new one since it was forever ago when I went. but now I have to check it out. I <3 art museums

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by far the best thing the tampa/st pete area has going for it imo.

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if you get the chance, go to the one in his hometown of Figueres. think taking up walls is cool? try ROOMS. WITH THREE STORY HIGH CEILINGS.

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I feel like this will be a mess. I'll see it, but it'll be a mess.

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I'm just here for Mary Herron tbh

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My brother's bff (or boyfriend, idk @_@) looks so much like Ezra that every time I see him I try not to laugh. He could be Ezra's fraternal twin.

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even with his demon feet i still love him tbh

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lmao

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gotta forgive this precious man and hope he's learned

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hot mofo!

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he is perfect!!!

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ugh he's so cute

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lmaoo

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Screaming

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I can't breathe jahshdhgds

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lol

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STOP IT LMAO

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omfg

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ikr like socks/stockings exist, he's precious and could still get it.

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screaminggg

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We have an art tag now!

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good sis, we all knew ezra is a work of art!!



jk i added it

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They need to come from Spain to play someone from Spain?

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No

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Stop it. Lol

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sis... spain is- nvm

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I love Dali so I'll see this.

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Mary Harron is the shiiiiiiiiiiiiit

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Ben Kingsley??

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Whats the deal w the feet?

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a mistake of his past life

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I doudt his feet look like that now.



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they've aged like a fine wine no doubt

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lmao

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the only good thing dc has done besides wonder woman is make ezra miller take a shower

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oh cool! id like ezra's career to be successful cause i reallllllly didn't like him as flash in justice league lolll i was sad about it D;

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I just found out last week that I work with his dad. I was like, WHAT.

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spill the tea sis

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I have nothing bad to say! His dad is super nice and super smart. He works in publishing (he started his own imprint at my company) and worked on Bidens and Comeys memoirs, among many others.

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LinkI bet the twist is that the white cops are part of the KKK.



Which wouldn't be a twist at all.



rganization aims to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream.



too late tbh

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great reference!

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Cant wait !!

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Clay Davis's voice is instantly recognisable lol

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This looks good and Ive seen positive things from the Cannes screening. Im excited.

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This looks interesting, and the reviews from Cannes are pretty good. I didn't know that Denzel Washington had a son, or that he was an actor.



BLACKkKLANSMAN: so mainstream it feels like the start of a franchise, but thats kinda part of its power  after all, The Birth of a Nation was a blockbuster. A wildly uneven but righteous fuck you to Trump, among other things. and so good for the Jews on a bad day. #Cannes2018  david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 14, 2018

Ugh, I knew as soon as I submitted the post that one would show up in the feed!This looks interesting, and the reviews from Cannes are pretty good. I didn't know that Denzel Washington had a son, or that he was an actor.

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also, its kinda fucked up to say, but David Duke was the role Topher Grace was born to play.



(ok time 2 write bye)  david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 14, 2018



omg omg

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yeah, that made me lol

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lmao

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i READ Topher Grace but PICTURED Tobey McGuire and just spent a few minutes looking at pics of both of them and being like "i don't see it"



why did i do that

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not surprised in the least

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LOL

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Spike directed Denzel in Malcolm X, so this must be such a full circle moment.

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Denzel has 4 children (2 girls and 2 boys) and the son who's an actor (and in this movie) is on the HBO show Ballers

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Is Laura Harrier supposed to be Angela Davis? Cause she looks exactly like her in the trailer.

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I did not recognize Laura before your comment and damn, she looks sooooooo good. Girl is gorgeous.

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She's gorgeous but it's weird to me that she was playing a high school student in Spider-Man: Homecoming just last year

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Im constantly surprised at her being almost 30. She looks and sounds so young.

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I don't know if I'm feeling this edgy remake of Undercover Brother.

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this looks great and the story is insane. i can't wait.

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People in Cannes must be just like constantly snorting coke how is it even possible to slap for six minutes straight

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HAHAHA. YES. i read these tweets every year and im like, how the fuck can they clap this long, jesus.

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It's possible but your hands start to hurt and then they go kinda numb lmao I hate it when I go to classical concerts or the opera (not to sound like a snob lol) and the standing ovations go on forever, easily for 5-10 mins. First my clapping will become slower and more unenthusiastic and then I'll stop while others are still clapping and sometimes they clap for so long that I can start clapping again lmao So, yeah. I don't believe that in situations like that, everyone is always clapping all the way through. There just needs to be a large enough crowd to keep the momentum going.

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Six minutes is really long for a Cannes standing O. Usually only one film per festival gets that kind of reaction. Last year they did it for the Safdie brothers' Good Time, and a fan recorded the whole thing and it seems like it's going on forever. Most Cannes standing ovations are two minutes or under, which is still a long time to stand and clap. Your arms get tired.





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lol

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Jordan snagging that Oscar in March and two months later the other movie he produced gets a 6-minute standing O @ Cannes 

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This looks good



Haven't seen a Spike Lee movie in a long time so this would be the movie I'm most likely [want to] see

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Damn, when Duke went "America first"...

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That was literally a Nazi slogan during WW2. It's not a mistake that Trump is using it now.

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"America first" originated during WW1 and was used by President Woodrow Wilson during the United States presidential election in 1916. It was also used as a KKK slogan in the 1920's.



Trvmp's father was arrested at a klan rally in 1927. That's where he gets all his racist stuff--he was raised that way.



This movie looks like a trip.

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Spike lee hasnt made a really worthwhile movie in a long time, but this one actually looks good, even with Adam drivers fugness all up in it.

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here for it

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mhm at the female lead

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mte

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okay glad i'm not the only one lmao

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i thought the same thing & i like laura but ...

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mte

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LinkI mean, yeah.

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Obviously

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It was so fucking transparent.

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it's funny because salma and lupita's op-eds in particular were SO credible and detailed and both of them were so good at clearly explaining WHY they stayed quiet or continued to 'go along' (so to speak) with things as they were in the industry. (not saying others weren't credible... of course everyone was... but i just found both of their accounts so carefully illustrated in terms of the timeline of events and the subsequent psychological impacts).



even weinstein's attempt to discredit lupita by saying she invited him to the play... well just reading her account of everything, it still fit with everything she said and the way she portrayed how she chose to handle it and how they were still in each other's circles years later.



Edited at 2018-05-14 09:18 pm (UTC)

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Lupita's Op-Ed was so in depth and with so much fucking detail 

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i know! i couldn't believe when people were like "hm well idk" even after reading that op-ed because exactly what would lupita nyong'o get out of publicly writing such an elaborate and detailed account of assault?

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Seriously, the fact THEIR claims are the only ones he refused? Dude, go fall off a cliff.

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too true.

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Harvey can go fuck himself.

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I'm sure he wishes he could.

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lol right? it was so fucking blatant when he only spoke out against certain accusations and they were all WOC.

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She's absolutely right.

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Harvey is a punk ass bish

Going after Salma Hayek and Lupita of course

Esp. Salma whose husband is a mega billionaire who could disintegrate Weinstein's pathetic bankrupt company 100 times over. Like she/her husband can alienate you.

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But what do Anna Wintour, ScarJo and Daniel Oyelowo think?

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All three of them took an active role in the re-launch of Georgina Chapman for the benefit of her brand that was one of Harvey Weinstein's weapons of choice to harass, bully and terrorize actresses like Lupita and Salma. Daniel went so far as to humanize Harvey in Georgina's Vogue profile that coordinated with Scarlett wearing Marchessa at the MET Ball.

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omg no what did Daniel say???

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I like how everyone just ran with Daniel Oyelowo lmao

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smh david stay messy 

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we been knew.

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ofc. he's a transparent shitbag.

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LinkRobert Pattinson has landed the role of Kurt Cobain in a film about the grunge-rocker's life, the British newspaper The Sun is claiming.Citing a "source" Britain's largest newspaper says the casting of Pattinson is a key condition for Cobain's widow Courtney Love, who reportedly has a large role in the film's production."Robert has been calling and emailing her non-stop," the source is quoted in the article. "But he is her number one choice to play Kurt."The article states that Love's choice to play herself is Scarlett Johansson. "She is adamant Scarlett will play her," the source tells the newspaper.Does this sound crazy? Kind of. But at the same time, the Sun features graphics of what Cobain would look like Pattinson-ized and it was pretty intriguing. Further, Rob does love his grunge and his guitar.Love is also reportedly in contact with director David Fincher ('Fight Club') to direct the film which has the working title 'All Apologies.'I don't know how to feel about this. I suppose it doesn't really matter. I always thought Cobain had Brad Pitt's face but he's like 102 and also a hillbilly so w/eha...Sun's pic of rpattz as CobainBy going through each frame and painting it in to look like one giant cheek.



Sounds terrifying.

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Ikr, what would that even look like?

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His face tbh

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hahahah

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How tragic.

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no1curr

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all i want to know is if this movie will show jacob imprinting on the demon baby because that's really all i care about seeing.

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they would draw out the only 5 seconds i want to see.

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Lol I still imagine imprinting as a dog 'spraying'.

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can i spoil? i just saw it

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It's in this one. Taylor has talked about it.

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they did, with a cheesy voiceover to boot

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I googled imprinting and still don't know what the fuck it means...

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There goes some of the movie-goers, I have no reason to see this shitfest now lol

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The sex scene is going to be fucking wack. YAWN.

I miss when the 90's went through that phase where every movie had to have an over the top, buckwild sex scene.

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I miss the sweeps lesbian kisses on every 90s show.

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don't forget the embarrassing music that comes with it

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basic instank! er instinct

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omg yeah, there was that movie with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo and they just had sex in every room of the house for like an hour. It was like I'm Fucking Matt Damon-on the bed, on the floor, on the towel, by the door, in the tub, in the car, up against the mini-bar--but with Pierce Brosnan.



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LOL. The Thomas Crown Affair.

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I read that as "Bronson Pinchott and Renee Russo" and I was like, "wtf did cousin Balki have a movie?". Fuck I'm slow today.

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One giant cheek?

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yeah srsly wat?

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I love this movie. "We're from France!"

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dead @ this whole scene lol









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DEAD

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You speak the truth, Ms. Garland.

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god, she was gorgeous.

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not only is she not giving a fuck shes doing it in a glamorous way none of us can achieve

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damn apparently this gif has been through a lot

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LOL

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loling forever

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FLAWLESS

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one giant cheek? LOL

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Yeah, I heard the sex scene ended up being tame because they cut a lot of it for the PG-13 rating. Lots of fans say it's still sweet though so hopefully it's still good. That said, I heard the birth scene is pretty graphic so maybe sex scene was tamed to get the birth scene by the ratings board.

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I feel like you can still be pretty risque with PG-13, I wonder if they just didnt even want to push it.

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Titanic was PG13 and that had boobs and bush.

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I am devastated

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he will never be able to take it up his ass :(

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ikr? lol irl

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Oh. I'm so heartbroken. How will I move on?

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Try imprinting. Works wonders. Especially at preschools and OB/GYN clinics.

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LinkBlaine, Minn., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Infinite Campus was selected by the School District of Prescott as its new student information system (SIS) to reduce third-party systems and save resources. Infinite Campus is the states leading SIS, supporting more than 50 percent of Wisconsin students.

Infinite Campus offers cutting-edge integrations and features that we need to help manage district resources, said Kyle Flaherty, the districts Director of Information Technology. We're a small district and cutting down on human work hours with more efficient tools was a top priority.

Since Infinite Campus is an integrated, web-based system, it streamlines administrative tasks and reduces errors. We're looking to Campus to save us money by eliminating a large amount of manual work, from scheduling to managing curriculum, Flaherty said.

The district also purchased Messenger with Voice, an Infinite Campus Premium Product. Messenger helps schools quickly communicate emergency notifications to staff, students and parents through email, text and voice messages. We're very excited to use it and experience how responsive and timely it can be, said Flaherty. Premium Products work seamlessly with the Campus SIS so customers can eliminate third-party systems. It will be nice to bring functionalities under one companys umbrella.

Built from the ground up, Infinite Campus SIS has a multi-tier architecture which supports districts and charters of any size. With more than 200 in-house developers, customers receive free enhancements and peace of mind knowing they have the best educational technology in the industry.

Its great software and surprisingly, cost effective. Infinite Campus was a logical choice, even for smaller districts, said Flaherty.

The district is scheduled to go live in July 2018.

About School District of Prescott

The mission of the School District of Prescott is to prepare people to lead fulfilling and productive lives in society. The district includes four schools and serves approximately 1,305 students in Prescott, Wisconsin. http://www.prescott.k12.wi.us

About Infinite Campus

As the most trusted name in student information, Infinite Campus manages 7.8 million students in 45 states. For 25 years, Infinite Campus has successfully implemented its solutions for customers of all sizes, from those with fewer than 100 students to those with more than 600,000 students. Infinite Campus customers include school districts, regional consortia, state departments of education and the federal government. www.infinitecampus.comlmao Lainey really wants to make the whole "Kristen cheated because Rob made her!!!!" thing happen



she is seriously delusional

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She needs to move on. Even KStew's in fucking Berlin trying to get her shit together. So embarrassed for her.

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Pretty much. Lainey's TED talk is straight up embarrassing.

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She got a TED Talk?! Ughh...

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SMH



Why TED, WHY?

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Laineygossip





Edited at 2013-09-17 03:26 pm (UTC)

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Britney has all the expressions bless her holy IDGAF light.





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bahahaha i love that there are gifs from this already

britneys power

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please, as if any of what happened with them was the result of a genuine relationship and not purely PR decisions

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It's too much to think this was PR, too many complications (both potential and realised). From a PR perspective it's a no-go.

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i'm not denying that it's obvious the situation itself wasn't planned, but if you think that everything that happened afterward wasn't orchestrated by their PR teams, you clearly have no concept of how much money these people and their images represent. and their relationship itself was obviously partly PR to begin with, for twilight.

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holla

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I still think their relationship was PR, she was caught with a married man and all Hell broke lose and they had to stage the reconciliation and everything.



Maybe it's far fetched but IDK it seems it to me.



Edited at 2013-09-17 04:57 pm (UTC)

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that apology still makes me cackle

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Me too! What the fuck was that

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It was sooooo ~frought.

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Let's be real, that apology was her freaking out because he wasn't returning her calls or something... lol.

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Come here bb I'll love you

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Which one?

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He ~lorded it over her~, making her ~humiliated herself~ through a public apology... take it down 5 notches, article. Yeah, how dare RPatz want an apology and how could he still be hurt and resentful that his partner so thoroughly made a fool of him on the international stage? Any shame she felt over publicly apologizing is not much compared to being cheated on and having the whole world be privy to it.

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oh, it's lainey. Of course it is.

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you really think that his shame was worse than hers? you're delusional. she was shamed to hell, and everyone just felt bad for him. maybe the apology was deserved, but you're crazy if you think that he didn't get great PR from it for being the poor, betrayed but devoted boyfriend while she was the homewrecking slut. like, come on now.

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Yeah true. That's what she copped for her lack of judgement I guess.

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Because it's not humiliating to be cheated on? Doesn't matter if public opinion was against her and she was slut shamed (which isn't cool, but is besides the point), doesn't take the sting away from being cheated on. You're talking PR perspective when I'm talking personal feelings. I'm sure he could have gone without the good PR and instead wasn't cheated on.



And lol please, her PR machine went into overdrive to make her seem like a young naive ingenue who was taken advantage of. Not all the press she got was bad - in fact, a ton of it was quite sympathetic and bunch of stars ~came to her defense~ and whatnot. It's not about who came of "worse". Obviously she did, but that's deserved. This article made it sound like her humiliation at having to apologize was on par with being cheated on.



Edited at 2013-09-17 03:55 pm (UTC)

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It should be worse for her. The situation was her doing, not his. But he was forced to deal with her shit and put on a happy face for 2 months of worldwide promo with everyone calling him a doormat.

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what? no she wasnt

everyone here who went through Kristmas in July knows that most media was on her side, saying how she shouldn't be shamed or judged, etc.



He looked good for like 5 minutes, which was the time he took to take her back tbh.

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she got GREAT pr. are you fucking kidding me? every article written about it was that kristen is a child actress prodigy and that everyone should leave her along and that she's young and we all make mistakes.



like, give me a break.

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lol nobody was laughing at rob for getting cheated on tho, they were too busy slut shaming kristen

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I know, right? How dare he not totally trust Queen Kristen after all of the humiliation that she went through???



It's not like he had to think about the effect of what she and Rupert did had Liberty's kids. Or if she'd be indescreet with her director on her next film location. Or that he or his family would run into any of the fifty pictures of her and the nasty ass, married and a father of two eating each other's bits off anytime he googled RPATTZ. Or that he has to request interviewers avoid that topic of her cheating whenever he wanted to promote anything new.



Glad that the world has Lainey to tell us what a bastard he is, LOL.

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lol your second comment

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I don't even believe they dated for real, let alone this crap.

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Oh a Lainey article. How lovely.



He mentions liking grand gestures so that means he forced her to make an apology for her cheating on him? Oh the world we live in..

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Not to mention that his comment about liking grand gestures was about buying great gifts for people...she didn't even use the full quote.

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quit making her the victim

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It's not even the Rob part at this point. Lainey is still trying it with the excuses and justifications. To what end? What a psycho, she reads like one of the commenters on Gossip Cop or something, it's been over a year ffs.

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oh shut up Lainey

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Um. Didn't SHE do the cheating?

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How disgusting. Clearly, he got what he deserved.

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lmao your icon gives me life.

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He looks damn fine! I'm about to start tracking his tag peace out kstew

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LinkMarawi City ruins

MARAWI CITY, Philippines  President Rodrigo Duterte directed Special Assistant to the President Bong Go to ensure a comprehensive land survey in Marawi City.

This was after President Duterte promised to return Marawi City to its native settlers, the Maranaos.

We are rebuilding Marawi, the money is slowly coming in. Its not overnight. If it had been cleared already, leveled to the ground, we will return it to you, President Duterte said Friday, May 11,

Aside from this, the President also directed Presidential Adviser on OFWs and Muslim concerns Secretary Abdullah Mama-o to negotiate with the Maute militant group after a number of Maute members surrendered to authorities last week. The surrenderers said some of their colleagues signified their intention to surrender as well.

The President tasked Mama-o to assess if it is possible to open an amnesty program for potential Maute surrenderers.

However, President Duterte warned the Maute militants not to enter into an alliance with the New Peoples Army (NPA). Should they decide to surrender, they would be among the recipient of the land reform once it pushes through in Mindanao.

The land reform eyes clear designation of land to Maranaos and other tribal communities. The president said he is willing to provide equipment such as tractors for the locals to cultivate the land and turn the into plantation of rubber trees and palm for palm oil production.

The president also plans to send Maute surrenderers to Malaysia and Indonesia in order to acquire knowledge on palm plantation and palm oil production.  Weng Fernandez | UNTV News & Rescue

The post Duterte eyes land reform in Mindanao, promises to return Marawi to its people appeared first on UNTV News.Japan Airlines (JAL) on Monday announced plans to launch a budget airline, hoping to take advantage of an expected expansion in the nation's low-cost market ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The new carrier would run medium-haul international services between Tokyo and major cities in Asia, the US and Europe from summer 2020, JAL said in a statement. The carrier, which will be named later, will become a subsidiary of JAL, the firm said, adding it may seek other investors to expand its business model. JAL has thus far limited its low-cost operations to its partial control of Jetstar Japan, which is owned by JAL and Australia's Qantas Group. With the new carrier, "the company aims to create new demand, working along with the successful services provided by Jetstar Japan", it said. In March rival ANA Holdings announced plans to integrate its low-cost carrier affiliates Peach Aviation and Vanilla Air to create the nation's biggest budget carrier after Jetstar. The middle-distance international carrier, which will be named Peach, is scheduled to begin services in Asia in around 2020. Japan's low-cost carrier market is expected to expand from about 10 percent of domestic flight passengers to some 30 percent in the near future, local media said. The Japanese government hopes to boost the number of foreign visitors from 28.7 million last year to 40 million in 2020 when the capital hosts the Summer Games.Voters searching for their names and polling precincts

QUEZON CITY, Philippines  Several voters in various areas in Quezon City were not able to vote because they couldnt find their names on the voters list of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections Monday, May 14.

In Barangay Payatas-B, some questioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as to why their names were missing when in fact, they voted in the 2016 presidential elections.

Aside from missing names, lack of consideration for senior citizens and persons with disability was also a common problem in the area. Voters were also dismayed over the absence of a help desk to assist them.

Hindi makita ang pangalan ko. Wala naman akong mapagtanungan. Ang sabi hanapin lang. Inikot ko na nang inikot, wala naman, said voter Ramon Manaoag.

(I couldnt find my name, and there was no one I could approach to assist. They just told me to continue searching. All my efforts were in vain.)

Nawawala po ang mga pangalan. Nandyan ang presinto pero wala po ang pangalanpahirap po talaga sa mga botante. May trabaho pa ko, said voter Roland Torres.

(Names are missing. The precincts are there but the names are notsuch a burden to voters. I still have work to do.)

In barangay Holy Spirit, members of the election board also admitted to lapses in the barangay list of voters.

May nagki-claim na iyong asawa niya ay nakaboto last election pero wala ngayon. Iyong tatay niya na walong taon ng patay, nandoon ang pangalan, observed election supervisor Noime Moncada.

(One was claiming that his spouse was able to vote in the last election but is not on the list this time. But his father, who has been dead for eight years, is on the list.)  Grace Casin | UNTV News & Rescue

The post Missing names dismay voters in Quezon City appeared first on UNTV News.A map showing some of what the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has discovered over the last twenty years. The dots show the distance to various sky objects that the SDSS has discovered. The horizontal axis of the map is labeled in light-years, stretching from our own solar system to the most distant reaches of the universe. Sample images at the top show some of the things the SDSS has seen. Credit: V. Belokurov, M. R. Blanton, A. Bonaca, X. Fan, M. C. Geha, R. H. Lupton, the SDSS Collaboration

This week marks the twentieth anniversary of "first light" for the telescope behind the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which has gone on to create by far the largest three-dimensional map of the Universe ever made. Early in the morning of May 10th, 1998, the observers and engineers pointed the Sloan Foundation Telescope to the celestial equator and light went through to the survey's exquisitely sensitive camera. When dawn broke after a long night's work, SDSS observer Dan Long emailed his usual observer's log summarizing what happened. After describing the technical details of the observations, and before noting a series of newly identified problems to fix, he wrote: "Wow; What a night!"

"That was the beginning of our survey, and we're still going strong twenty years later," says Michael Blanton, a professor at New York University and the Director of SDSS-IV. "We are now planning our fifth generation, called SDSS-V, and we're still using the same Sloan Foundation Telescope."

The telescope's mirror, 2.5 meters (8 feet) in diameter, is small by astronomy research telescope standards, but powerful because it can see a large area of the sky simultaneously. Astronomers have used it to make an enormous, highly-detailed map  a map which covers one-third of the night sky, with measurements of hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars and distances to more than four million galaxies. All the data collected by the telescope is available free to anyone online, and all images are open access under the SDSS's Image Use Policy.

This map has played a key role in astronomical history, helping astronomers learn about our Milky Way, other galaxies, distant black holes, the nature of dark matter and dark energy and myriad types of stars in ways never imagined when the project started.

The Sloan Foundation Telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, shown at time of first light in May 1998. An early set of images is shown superposed on the sky behind it. Credit: Dan Long (Apache Point Observatory

The SDSS has measured the universe's expansion more precisely than ever before and has mapped how galaxies and larger structures grew over cosmic time, helping to establish our current standard model of cosmology. It discovered some of the nearest stars and the smallest companion galaxies to our own Milky Way galaxy, revealing how our galaxy grew by cannibalizing smaller galaxies. It has studied the Milky Way's disk of stars more completely than ever before, using infrared light to peer through the obscuring dust. It has studied the dark matter content of the Milky Way and distant galaxies, and found some of the most distant quasars known.

And perhaps most importantly, the SDSS has achieved its remarkable scientific discoveries while establishing a new way of doing science. Since 2001, the project has made all its data freely available to the public in a series of roughly-annual releases of data  most recently with Data Release 14 in July 2017. The team who built and operated the survey recognized that the data were far too rich for them to reap all the science from it alone, and that maximizing the science return would require the entire worldwide community of astronomers. As a result, a generation of astronomers have grown up learning their craft with the help of SDSS data. Close to ten thousand astronomers have worked with SDSS data, publishing over eight thousand scientific papers  thus making it the most broadly used data set in astronomy.

Along the way, SDSS gained the support of numerous institutions. One-quarter of the funding for SDSS comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and about five percent comes from the U.S. Department of Energy. The rest comes from more than fifty universities and research institutions on four continents, all of whom consider it so vital to their scientists that they contribute their time, effort, and resources to become members of the project. The next step, SDSS-V, will commence in 2020 and will continue to uncover the unexpected by observing millions of stars, galaxies and black holes across the entire sky.

At the Apache Point Observatory, home of the Sloan Foundation Telescope, astronomers will gather this Wednesday, 9th May 2018, to mark this anniversary, remember the early days of the project, and discuss the impact it has had on the field of astronomy. The telescope no longer hosts a camera, but it still measures spectra of hundreds of celestial objects every night  and is still operated by a dedicated on-site team of observers and engineers. True to the online nature of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys over the last 20 years, this celebration will be broadcast live on the internet, and involve collaboration members past and present across all parts of the globe.

The core of the project  the people who get the data upon which so many of the world's astronomers depend  sits the team of observers and engineers at Apache Point Observatory. A handful of the original team that led the efforts in 1998 are still with the project. Dan Long was promoted along the way to Chief Telescope Engineer, a position from which he recently retired. Many other members of the team have joined more recently. But they all share the excitement that Dan Long expressed the night of first light, and each night brings the prospect of new discoveries that will change the way we see our universe and make them and us say "Wow."

Explore further The Sloan Digital Sky Survey expands its reach

Provided by Sloan Digital Sky SurveyThe Dudleya plant, such as this one shown by a California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer, is said to be highly prized in China because of its resemblance to the lotus flower

The tip came from a woman standing in line at a post office in a small town in northern California.

A customer was shipping dozens of boxes to China, and the caller suspected they were filled with abalone, a highly-prized shellfish listed as an endangered species.

But fish and wildlife officers who responded to the call instead uncovered an international smuggling ring that has been stripping the bluffs along the northern California coastline of Dudleya succulent plants and shipping them to countries in Asia where they are used for decoration.

"The poachers literally fly into the US just to get these plants so they can ship them to Korea, China or Japan," said Captain Patrick Foy, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "They are ripping them out of the ground and selling them between $40 and $50 dollars a piece."

The plant, which grows in bud-like circles and resembles an artichoke, is called Dudleya farinosa and is native to the rugged coastlines of Oregon and northern California.

Foy said several suspects from Asia have been arrested in recent months in connection with the heists, including two Koreans and one Chinese national who were nabbed on April 4.

The trio had entered the country as tourists and were detained as they were about to ship 1,334 of the plants overseas. An additional 1,000 Dudleya were later found in their hotel room.

'They favor remote locations'

The three menTae Hun Kim, 52, and Tae Hyun Kim, 46, both of North Korea, and Liu Fengxia, 37, of Chinaare scheduled to appear in a California court on May 16, charged with several felony and misdemeanor counts. If convicted, they face up to nine years in prison and steep fines.

Two unidentified men stand beside a load of Dudleya succulent plants, allegedly stolen by international poachers from remote cliffside locations along the northern California coast

At least two other similar cases are pending.

Foy said he believes poachers in the last year have quietly been slipping into the country, targeting remote areas along the coast and digging up "thousands and thousands" of Dudleya before stuffing them into boxes with crumpled up newspaper and putting them in the mail.

"They go in at night or during the day... and seem to favor locations that are not well traveledplaces where you can park your car and walk half a mile and not be seen by a lot of people," he added.

"These are people who are taking every plant that they can find and they are shipping them by the hundreds of boxes at a time."

Authorities said they fear the plant, also known as "bluff lettuce," could end up on the endangered species list if the poaching continues and are warning of the detrimental effect on the environment.

"They are ripping the plants out of their habitats and they are trampling other plants while they are doing it," said botanist Stephen McCabe, emeritus director of research at the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum.

"It's just disgusting that they are going into the wild and stripping whole cliffs."

The Dudleya, which can continue to grow for years once potted, is said to be highly prized in China because of its resemblance to the lotus flower.

Foy said that while he understands the attraction, he was baffled as to why collectors were not simply buying similar-looking plants.

"Why these ones are so much extra special, frankly I have no idea," he said. "There are perfectly other nice succulent plants out there that can be purchased for five dollars at a nursery."

Explore further San Diego State botanists name plant discovery after Jimi Hendrix

 2018 AFPFigure 1: (a) The pi-electron orbit and Mobius loop in 4n organic compounds with Mobius aromatic properties. (b) Structure of the ring-shaped molecule ([28] hexaphyrin) which displays stability because of its Mobius aromatic properties (n=7) in its ground state. Credit: Kobe University

As suggested by their name, Mobius molecules have a twisted loop structure, a special characteristic with many potential applications. A Japanese research team has revealed the properties of a type of Mobius aromatic molecule that expresses magnetism and retains high energy levels when exposed to light. These characteristics could potentially be applied in organic solar batteries, lights, and conductive materials.

The findings were made by a research team led by Professor Yasuhiro Kobori (Kobe University), Professor Atsuhiro Osuka (Kyoto University), Professor Kazunobu Sato and Project Professor Takeji Takui (Osaka City University), and the study was published on May 10 in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

Mobius aromatic molecules have drawn attention because they can be energized by light. When this happens, in their electronically excited state they display "antiaromaticity," characterized by high energy levels and high instability. This excited state could be used in the development of ecofriendly organic devices, such as organic thin-film solar cells and electroluminescent elements. However, the details behind the electronic character of this state and its antiaromatic properties remained unclear.

In this study, the group applied a time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance method that uses microwaves and electromagnets to detect the magnetic properties of a reactive intermediate. They observed the excited triplet state of a Mobius aromatic molecule [28] hexaphyrin. Illuminating this hexaphyrin with laser pulses, they detected the resonance between the microwave and the electron spins linked to the magnetism of the excited triplet state and to the external magnetic field as a snapshot with an accuracy of 10 million parts a second after each laser pulse.

Figure 2: (a) The time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectrum for the excited triplet state obtained from [28] hexaphyrin observed at several delay times. A and E show the signals (electron spin polarization) based on the absorption and release of microwaves. On the left, electrons are excited by depolarized light. B 0 and ( L ) show the light parallel to the external magnetic field and perpendicular to the external magnetic field. (b) The distribution of the unpaired orbitals ( and *) that express the directions of the main axes (X,Y,Z) for interaction between the unpaired electric dipoles shown by TREPR spectrum analysis. (c) The electrons in the triplet charge-transfer state. Parallel triplet spin configurations are shown in the Mobius strip. This study showed that the angular momentum change between the electron orbitals localized and bisecting each other leads to a deactivation to the non-magnetic ground state, and is a new marker for antiaromaticity. Credit: Kobe University

They also changed the angle of the polarization of the laser pulse relative to the direction of the external magnetic field. This allowed them to clarify the 3-dimensional location of the triplet spin, as well as taking 10 million "snapshots" a second of the deactivation process on sub-levels of the triplet. Their analysis revealed that twisted ring molecules possess a "charge-transfer" character that releases and localizes the charge at right angles between the orbitals. The charge transfer blocks the stabilizing effect caused by the exchange interaction between the electrons, thus contributing to the higher energy to provide the source of the molecule's strong antiaromatic properties.

The electron distributions in the present triplet state are very different from those in the excited singlet state species which does not exhibit magnetism. This study demonstrated that each electron distribution is localized in one part of the molecule's ring framework. They also showed that changing the orbital angular momentum between the localized orbitals in the triplet state leads to a quick deactivation of one sub-level to the ground state. These orthogonal orbital angle relations only appear in the twisted Mobius topology, meaning that the deactivation process could offer new tools for indexing antiaromatic character and for analyzing the excited state geometry.

Professor Kobori comments, "The special electronic properties of this highly active excited state could be applied in electronic functional materials, such as organic solar cells and electric conductors, and could potentially contribute to the solution of energy and environmental issues."

Explore further Thermally activated delayed photoluminescence from semiconductor nanocrystals

More information: Fumitoshi Ema et al. Charge-Transfer Character Drives Mobius Antiaromaticity in the Excited Triplet State of Twisted [28]Hexaphyrin, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (2018). Journal information: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Fumitoshi Ema et al. Charge-Transfer Character Drives Mobius Antiaromaticity in the Excited Triplet State of Twisted [28]Hexaphyrin,(2018). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b00740Credit: University of Saskatchewan

Researchers can't predict when the next cataclysmic natural disaster is going to occur, but Adam Bourassa can give you a good idea of how it could affect us.

The University of Saskatchewan professor of physics and engineering physics is a member of the university's Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies and has been studying the effects on earth's atmosphere and climate, from volcanic eruptions halfway around the world to wildfires in Western Canada. A U of S-led projectthe Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imaging System (OSIRIS)originally designed to operate for two years aboard a Swedish satellite, is still functioning almost perfectly 17 years later and downloading data daily.

"It is quite amazing," said Bourassa. "Because it has lasted so long and the data quality is so high, it has become really important for climate research."

Bourassa's findings, published in 2015 in the journal Science, confirmed that even small eruptions can launch aerosolsfine particles and volcanic gassesmore than 10 kilometres up into the stratosphere where they can linger for years, shielding sunlight and cooling temperatures world-wide.

"With OSIRIS we have seen about 10 volcanic eruptions reach the stratosphere and the climate impact of those smaller eruptions has been relatively small, but they can't be ignored if we want to truly understand what is happening with global warming and climate change," said Bourassa. "It also gives us an idea of what could happen in the event of a much more serious eruption like Mount Pinatubo."

The 1991 Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines was the largest in our lifetime, killing nearly a thousand people, destroying or damaging 80,000 homes, devastating crops, dramatically affecting air quality and delivering a billion-dollar blow to the country's economy. The eruption injected 17 million tons of sulfuric acid into the atmospherethe largest amount ever recordeddepleting the ozone layer and causing global temperatures to drop an average of half a degree Celsius for more than a year.

"We are always on the watch for another Mount Pinatubo-sized eruption and we never really know when it is coming, but there is usually one of that size every few decades," said Bourassa. "Those big eruptions, like Pinatubo in 1991 and two in the 1800s, Krakatoa (1883) and Tambora (1815), were associated with cooling of the climate, which can affect crop production. The period after the Tambora eruption was called 'a year without summer' as wine production in France failed and crops were affected world-wide."

More recently, the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption in Iceland created an ash plume that carried into the jet stream (nine to 16 km above sea level), resulting in a week-long shutdown of all air travel in Europe and more than 100,000 flights cancelled. Closer to home, U of S researchers are now studying data from the 2017 wildfires in British Columbia.

"The big forest fires in B.C. in August last year were so intense and strong enough that the smoke actually reached the stratosphere and lasted until January," said Bourassa. "And that was unprecedented. We had never seen that before."

The B.C. coast is also an active earthquake region with a string of 18 largely dormantbut not extinctvolcanoes, which could cause a catastrophic event. While the last volcanic eruption in Canada occurred 150 years ago at Lava Fork in northern B.C., Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington just south of the border erupted in 1980 with 1.5 million tons of sulfuric acid billowing into the atmosphere and volcanic ash falling across Western Canada, reaching as far as Saskatchewan.

"Mount St. Helens is obviously the one that went off most recently, but there is a series of volcanoes down the West Coast and I don't believe any of them are entirely dead," said professor Samuel Butler, the head of the Department of Geological Studies at the U of S. "Mount Hood (Oregon), Mount Shasta (California), even Mount Garibaldi in British Columbia could potentially go off at any time."

A 10-hour drive south of Saskatoon, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is home to a massive underground supervolcano that lets off steamliterallythrough active geysers, hot springs and bubbling mud ponds. Its eruption would be 2,000 times stronger than Mount St. Helens, killing millions and causing worldwide famine from an ash cloud that would circle the globe. However, Yellowstone last erupted an estimated 600,000 years ago and there aren't signs of any imminent eruption, according to Butler.

Of more immediate concern to Canada is the catastrophic damage that would be caused by a major West Coast plate tectonics earthquake and the resulting ocean tsunamilike the one that led to the Japanese Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in 2011. Butler explained that the Juan de Fuca plate from Vancouver Island down to California is slowly slipping underneath the North American plate, creating the potential for massive earthquakes. Experts agree it's not a case of if, but when, the next massive West Coast earthquake will occur.

"We know that a very large earthquake, probably a magnitude nine (on the Richter Scale), happened in the 1700s, so it's a timescale of hundreds of years," said Butler, whose department covers earthquake seismology and volcanic eruptions in undergraduate courses GEOL 108, 121, 282, and 406. "The next one could happen this afternoon, or it might not happen for another 300 years."

According to Natural Resources Canada and the Geological Survey of Canada, there is a 30 per cent chance that B.C. will suffer a major earthquake in the next 50 years. A 9.0 quake would prove devastating along the coast, causing numerous fatalities and infrastructure damage, and affecting the economy of the entire country. Better construction standards adopted in the past few decades have helped prepare structures for the next big quake, but scientists are still searching for ways to provide earlier warnings of impending earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

"Certainly in the seismic realm, the Holy Grail would be the ability to accurately predict earthquakes, and researchers have put quite a lot of effort into it and not had a lot of success," said Butler. "With volcanoes, by monitoring increasing seismic activity, experts are a little bit better at saying yes, there is going to be an eruption in the next day or two. Whereas with earthquakes, we just can't say that. We know where dangerous earthquakes are likely to happen, but we can't say when. So, that's the challenge for researchers."Twenty-four hour time-elapsed video shows melanoma tumor cells of mice squeezing and rotating an elastic microgel sphere filled with fluorescent nanoparticles. Credit: Ning Wang.

A new technique that uses tiny elastic balls filled with fluorescent nanoparticles aims to expand the understanding of the mechanical forces that exist between cells, researchers report. A University of Illinois-led team has demonstrated the quantification of 3-D forces within cells living in petri dishes as well as live specimens. This research may unlock some of the mysteries related to embryonic development and cancer stem cells, i.e., tumor-repopulating cells.

For decades, scientists have struggled to quantify the forces, called tractions, that push, pull and squeeze cells throughout their lifecycles. The tools available to measure force were not small enough to fit into intercellular spaces or sensitive enough to detect the miniscule movements within cell colonies.

Although small on a human scale, the magnitudes of these mechanical forces are far from trivial at the cellular level. According to the new study, prior research by the Illinois group and others indicates that traction plays a fundamental role in cell physiology.

The team led by mechanical science and engineering professor Ning Wang reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

"If we place a single cell in a medium within a petri dish it will not survive for long, even if we provide all of the nutrients needed," Wang said. "The cells fail to form any sort of tissue because there is no support or scaffolding on which to build."

As cells grow and reproduce, they exert forces on each other while competing for space. The team found that if they inject their tiny elastic spheres into early stage embryos of zebrafish and colonies of melanoma cells of mice in petri dishes, they too experience the forces.

"The cells do not seem to mind the intrusion," Wang said. "The spheres are made of a nontoxic microgel and even though the cells will push them around, they do not seem to interfere with development."

To measure the amount of force imposed on the cells, the team placed fluorescent nanoparticles inside of the spheres. When the cells squeeze the spheres, the nanoparticles all move the same amount per area of force. The researchers can then measure the motions of the glowing particles using fluorescent light microscopy to calculate the amount of force exerted on the spheres and cells. Using this technique, the team has marked the first successful measurement of all three types of forcecompression, tension and shearin all three dimensions, Wang said.

This ability to quantify force in cells may be very important to cancer cell research, Wang said. The team found that when melanoma tumor cells of mice in vitro begin to reproduce from a single cell to about 100 to 200 cells, compressive stress does not increase.

"We thought that cancer cells would generate more pressure at this early growth stage while the mass of the tumor increases, as we observed in zebrafish embryos, but they do not," Wang said. "We suspect that the cancer cells begin to spread out or metastasize right after this stage."

Illinois mechanical sciences and engineering professor Ning Wang, left, graduate students Erfan Mohagheghian and Gaurav Chaudhary, and postdoctoral researchers Junwei Chen and Jian Sun are measuring mechanical forces within cells to help unlock some of the mysteries of embryonic development and cancer. Credit: L. Brian Stauffer

Primary tumors are usually not deadly, Wang said. The real killer appears to be the spread of tumor-repopulating cells from primary tumors into soft tissueswith low intercellular tractionslike bone marrow, brain, lung and liver. "Although the underlying mechanism for metastasis is unclear, we have hypothesized that tumor-repopulating cells spread very rapidly in these secondary soft tissues. Having the ability to measure changes in tractions at the intercellular level may serve as an early cancer-detection tool," Wang said.

This microgel sphere technology may also help unravel the mechanisms behind a metastasis-halting synthetic drug recently described by Wang and his colleagues. In addition, Wang's co-authors are continuing to apply this technology to stem and embryonic cell research. "When other researchers see this powerful new tool that we have developed, they will be excited to use it in many different cell physiology, development and disease applications," Wang said.

Explore further Cell mechanics may hold key to how cancer spreads and recurs

More information: Erfan Mohagheghian et al, Quantifying compressive forces between living cell layers and within tissues using elastic round microgels, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Erfan Mohagheghian et al, Quantifying compressive forces between living cell layers and within tissues using elastic round microgels,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04245-1FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BBX Capital Corporation (NYSE:BBX) (OTCQX:BBXTB) (the Company) announced today that the Company plans to participate in the Annual B. Riley FBR Institutional Investor Conference in Santa Monica, California, on May 23 and 24, 2018. The Annual B. Riley FBR Institutional Investor Conference is being held at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.



Leo Hinkley, Managing Director and Investor Relations Officer of BBX Capital, is expected to represent the Company on Thursday, May 24, 2018, in a presentation session currently scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., and will be available for one-on-one meetings with investors throughout the conference session.

Investors interested in attending should contact their B. Riley & Co. representative and/or email: 1on1@brileyfbr.com.

About BBX Capital Corporation: BBX Capital Corporation (NYSE:BBX) (OTCQX:BBXTB), is a Florida-based diversified holding company whose activities include its 90% ownership interest in Bluegreen Vacations Corporation (NYSE:BXG) as well as its real estate and middle market divisions. For additional information, please visit www.BBXCapital.com.

About Bluegreen Vacations Corporation: Bluegreen Vacations Corporation (NYSE:BXG) is a leading vacation ownership company that markets and sells vacation ownership interests (VOIs) and manages resorts in top leisure and urban destinations. The Bluegreen Vacation Club is a flexible, points-based, deeded vacation ownership plan with approximately 212,000 owners, 67 Club and Club Associate Resorts and access to more than 11,000 other hotels and resorts through partnerships and exchange networks as of March 31, 2018. Bluegreen Vacations also offers a portfolio of comprehensive, fee-based resort management, financial, and sales and marketing services, to or on behalf of third parties. Bluegreen is 90% owned by BBX Capital Corporation (NYSE:BBX) (OTCQX:BBXTB), a diversified holding company. For further information, visit www.BluegreenVacations.com.Conservation efforts have brought Western Australia's biggest native mammal predator, the chuditch, back from the brink of extinction.

Cute? Yes. Courageous? You betcha. An endangered population? I'm afraid so. So how is it that the diminutive WA marsupial the chuditch is the state's biggest native mammal predator?

It may seem strange, but our lack of large predatory mammals means this carnivorous marsupial, weighing in at just 1.5kg, takes the crown as the state's largest native mammal predator, except for the introduced dingo.

But more recently, the lightweight predator is earning applause for a new reason.

Populations of the chuditch have begun bouncing back from the brink of extinction.

Bouncing back

So good is the recovery that conservationists have translocated 100 Western Australian chuditch to South Australia's Flinders Ranges.

The translocated chuditch are breeding and spreading in the SA region they last inhabited some 100 years ago.

And recently, residents have reported chuditch sightings outside Pertha place they last occurred in the 1950s.

Good news story

It's a good news story amid a sad era for many small to medium-sized native mammals whose populations are in decline.

That's the word from Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) animal science programme leader Keith Morris.

Keith says chuditch once ranged through most of Australia's southern half.

But their population plummeted after foxes and feral cats entered Australia in the 1800s.

The chuditch's fearsome reputation as a chicken thief didn't help. Early settlers trapped and shot chuditch to protect their chickens.

Eventually, their population shrunk to just southwest WA.

New hope

Then, in 1996, the then Department of Conservation and Land Management unleashed its Western Shield fauna recovery programme.

As part of the programme, the department (now DBCA) controlled foxes over 3.5Mha of southwest WA with baits.

The baiting slashed fox populations by up to 80%. But feral cats continued to thrive and predate native animals.

Fortunately, the chuditch was not as vulnerable to feral cat predation. Their feisty nature and agility make them more than a handful for a feral cat.

"Cats don't seem to impact as badly on chuditch as other animals like the numbat and woylie," Keith says.

Meat eaters

Chuditch prey on animals including birds, reptiles and other mammals.

Keith has even heard of cases of them dining on kittens in a rare instance of a native marsupial getting its own back.

Still vulnerable

DBCA estimates about 10,000 chuditch occur in the southwest. They range from Kalbarri to Esperance.

The translocated Flinders Ranges population will further boost its numbers. And conservationists also plan to reintroduce chuditch to New South Wales.

But despite the improvements, conservationists are unsure just how stable the chuditch population remains.

As such, our biggest native predator retains its endangered listing as vulnerable.

Explore further Detector dogs provide hope to save numbats

This article first appeared on Particle, a science news website based at Scitech, Perth, Australia. Read the original article.Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg tells the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce how the company will boost personal data protection as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect May 25

New European Union data protection laws take effect on May 25 to protect users' online information, in what Brussels touts as a global benchmark after the Facebook scandal.

The laws will cover large tech companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook that use personal data as an advertising goldmine, as well as firms like banks and also public bodies.

One major change is that consumers must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used, while they can also specifically ask for their personal information to be deleted.

Firms face huge fines of up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for failing to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"It's your datatake control," the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, urges the bloc's 500 million citizens in guidelines for the new rules.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg told US lawmakers last month the firm plans to fall into line with the EU rules as it seeks to rebuild its reputation after the breach, which affected 87 million users.

'Living in a jungle'

The scandal has proved a godsend for the EU.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova told AFP in an interview that the incident fueled "a campaign" for the new European law in a way that she could never have done.

She said the EU was setting a global benchmark for data protection as many Americans who once criticised Europe as too set on regulation now see the need for the GDPR.

The Facebook scandal showed "that we really are living in the kind of jungle where we are losing ourselves," the Czech commissioner added.

But not everything has run smoothly.

European Justice Commissionner Vera Jourova faces the press ahead of the May 25 coming into force of the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation

At least eight of the 28 EU countries will not have updated their laws by May 25.

The lack of preparedness comes despite the fact that the new laws were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to the rules.

This "will create some legal uncertainty," Jourova said, blaming countries for neglect rather than resistance to the law.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter have all started in the last few weeks to alter their terms of use, but the situation appears more complicated for small- and medium-sized firms.

'Brave choice'

In Germany, the chamber of commerce and industry expressed fears smaller companies may react defiantly to what they call "excessive red tape" under threat of fines.

The new EU law establishes consumers' "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for.

Individuals will be able to block the processing of their data for commercial reasons and even have data deleted under the "right to be forgotten."

They will have to be warned when there is unauthorised access, with the law establishing the key principle that individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used.

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

In return, EU officials argue that digital firms will benefit from regulation that restores consumer confidence and replaces the patchwork of national laws.

European leaders have backed the new laws.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech in Germany last week that he welcomed the "brave choice" of the new law, calling it a cornerstone in a new "digital sovereignty."

Explore further EU's tough new data protection rules

 2018 AFPPeople are exposed to many more plastic particles and associated chemicals through plastic packaging than microplastic pollution of drinking water. Credit: Therese Karlsson

In recent years microplastics have been found in everything from honey to beer and drinking water.

WHO have now launched a review into microplastics, following dramatic headlines that have caused uproar among the public and politicians.

Perhaps rightly so, since nobody wants to ingest plastic waste though food and drink products.

But these studies and the subsequent debate only focuses on individual cases and so miss the true magnitude of the debate.

Here, I will try to put these single discoveries into a broader perspective, following a study by my colleagues and I, published in the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment.

If we solely focus on isolated incidences of microplastics, we risk overlooking the potentially much larger problem: Our total consumption of  and exposure toplastics.

Analysis methods must be checked

Through my work studying microplastics at the Technical University of Denmark, I'm in no doubt that plastics and microplastics are a real problem for society. Microplastics are everywhere in our daily lives.

For this reason alone, it is important that we take a critical look at the analytical methods used to identify microplastics in the environment, food, and drink.

Finding errors and deficiencies in these methods allows us to improve our analytical tools and ensure that we don't overlook anything, which might otherwise give a wrong impression of the extent of the problem.

Isolated discoveries are not good methodology

Let's look more closely at the three studies I mentioned earlier that reportedly found microplastics in honey, beer, and drinking water.

After they were published, questions were raised about the validity of their results.

Critics suggested that the samples could have been contaminated during the analyses, and that the studies used analytical method that could not reliably differentiate between plastic and natural materials, such as cellulose and inorganic materials.

Another study carried out in Switzerland last year found no signs of significant amounts of microplastics in honey samples. This study combined visual investigations of the samples under the microscope with advanced chemical characterisation.

They discovered both particles and fibres from natural materials such as soot, cellulose, and chitin. They also found some synthetic fibres, which could originate from textile fabric. Such precise information on the type of material could not be identified with light microscopy as used in the original study.

The scientists behind the original honey study did not use the most suitable analytical methods, which in addition to the Swiss study, are good grounds to doubt the earlier results.

The two other studies of microplastics in beer and drinking water have received similar critique.

Background contamination is difficult to avoid

As scientists, we have become more and more aware of these analytical and methodological difficulties as potential sources of error in recent years: Both by preventing the sample from being exposed to contamination and by using appropriate analytical methods.

So we avoid wearing synthetic materials when analyzing microplastics in the laboratory, and prevent the samples from being exposed to the airkeeping samples covered and working in clean areas.

We live in a society surrounded by plastic. It is an important material that helps us to tackle a number of problems, but it can also be harmful for the environment when not disposed of in a sustainable way. Credit: Shutterstock

But even when we are very careful, it is impossible to avoid a certain amount of background contamination.

It was these type of contamination issues that got us thinking about the microplastic debate. In this context, should we be concerned about the five piece of microplastics that may or may not be found in a glass of drinking water or the 15 particles that float into the glass from the air?

What we do (not) know about plastics and our health

When microplastics are discovered in foodstuffs or drinking water, the first question we are asked is: Are they harmful for people?

The truth is that we do not actually know what effect these small particles have on our health.

We do know, however, that plastics contain chemicals like Bisphenol A and phthalates, which can have harmful impacts for example in the form of endocrine disrupting effects.

But we are exposed to these chemicals through contact with larger plastics such as packaging as well as microplastics.

So the problem is that the debate on microplastics lacks perspective. Instead of asking whether it is dangerous to eat mussels that contain microplastics, we should see mussels as one of many sources of microplastic exposure and plastics as a whole.

Microplastics in seafood are a drop in the ocean

We have compared the amount of Bisphenol A that one person would consume in a year eating microplastic-containing mussels with other sources of exposure.

Our calculations show that the general background exposure to Bisphenol A through food products and packaging, for example, is 40 million times higher than by eating mussels.

In other words, the Bisphenol A exposure from eating mussels is utterly insignificant compared to exposure from other sources.

This is not to say that we should stop investigating microplastics in the environment, animals, food, and drink.

As I say, our knowledge of the effects of microplastics on animals and people is limited. So, these types of studies are useful and provide important information on the collective microplastic exposure, both in terms of the type and size of microplastics.

But we hope that future studies will focus more on the development of reliable methods for sample preparation and analysis to avoid misleading results and gain a clearer picture.

Let's discus plastics as a whole instead of isolated occurances

We live in a society surrounded by plastic. It is an important material that helps us to tackle a number of problems. For example, in producing lighter airplanes and cars, which reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Plastics can also have positive effects for human health. Application of biocompatible plastic materials in medical technology has helped save lives and improve the quality of life for many in the form of pacemakers and artificial hips.

But these plastics and microplastics can also be harmful for the environment when they are not applied or disposed of in a sustainable way.

Instead of focusing on individual discoveries of microplastic in isolated food and drinks, we hope that our study helps lift the debate on plastics to a broader level and discus our increased use of plastic and microplastic.

Let's discuss how and when we should use various types of plastic materials. Let's discuss our use of plastic as a society and not get bogged down in isolated incidences.

Explore further Microplasticsan environmental cause for concern

This story is republished courtesy of ScienceNordic, the trusted source for English-language science news from the Nordic countries. Read the original story here.Hippo pool during wet season with clean water. Credit: Keenan Stears

The average hippo weighs more than 3,000 pounds and consumes about 100 pounds of vegetation daily. This naturally results in large quantities of dung being deposited into the rivers and lakes where hippos spend their days.

In general, the nutrients delivered via hippo dung to such aquatic ecosystems are perceived to be beneficial. For millennia, they provided a natural source of fertilizer that appears to fuel life in aquatic food webs. That may be changing.

In sub-Saharan Africa, deforestation, water-intensive agriculture and now climate change are significantly altering water cycles and causing many rivers to begin to dry. A new study by UC Santa Barbara community ecologist Keenan Stears, with colleagues at UC Berkeley and Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania, examines how these forces of global change are redefining the way hipposand their dungshape the ecology of freshwater ecosystems. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This work explores how hippo dung shapes freshwater chemistry and links these changes to associated patterns of aquatic biodiversity change," said Stears, a postdoctoral researcher in UCSB's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB). "It also illustrates that the net impact of hippos on river ecosystems is dynamically controlled by river hydrology and reveals the capacity of human disturbances on river flow to drastically alter the role of ecosystem-linking species."

Stears and his team studied river flow and hippo density in the Great Ruaha River in Tanzania's Ruaha National Park, which protects an area about the size of Connecticut and is home to large populations of some of Africa's most iconic species. The Great Ruaha River is the backbone of life in this dry region. Since 1993, however, the once constantly flowing river has ceased to flow during the dry season. The researchers tested nearly a dozen attributes of water quality and measured the diversity and abundance of aquatic life in hippo pools over multiple years, both when river flow was high and during dry periods when the river stopped flowing.

"During the dry season when there was no flow, the pools were completely separated," Stears explained. "We found a huge buildup of hippo dung, and therefore nutrient concentrations within high-density hippo pools. The high influx of nutrients caused the dissolved oxygen concentration to decline to sublethal levels for most fish species."

EEMB assistant professor Douglas McCauley, a senior researcher on the project, called these results an alarm bell for African wildlife. "Hippos are to Africa what polar bears are to the Arctic," he said. "Everything we thought we knew about how African ecosystems worked appears to be changing. Global change has turned productive hippo pools, once teeming with fish and life, into fetid black cesspools."

Only a few species of fish and insects are able to survive in the hippo pools when the river dries, because of extreme losses of dissolved oxygen in these pools. Stears and his colleagues noted large reductions in fish diversity and abundance inside the pools that were overfueled by dung when river flow ceased.

When the rains returned and the river resumed its flow, the researchers saw a reset in many impacts of hippo dung on water quality and biodiversity detected during the dry season.

"This suggests some kind of resilience within the system that allows it to recover after the hydrological disturbance every dry season," Stears said. "This resilience signifies that there is hope for this system, but without intervention soon, the chronic stress caused by river drying and overfertilizing of hippo dung may cause long-term species loss in this river system."

According to Stears, the findings from this study highlight the value of accelerating more efficient water-management policies and land-management practices not only for the conservation of hippos but also to ensure the sustained health and functioning of African watersheds in a changing environment.

"A lot of our results directly assess how changing river flow alters the hippos' influence on the ecological diversity and functioning of watersheds," Stears said. "However, these findings also call attention to the profound ways in which the dry-season impacts of hippos may influence local communities that rely on rivers as a food source. Tilapia are a commonly consumed fish throughout Africa and, during the dry season, we found that the presence of hippos reduced tilapia abundance by 41 percent across the watershed. That's not only bound to have ecological consequences but will also impact the human populations that rely on these rivers."

Explore further Hippo dung provides important nutrients to river fish and aquatic insects

More information: Keenan Stears et al, Effects of the hippopotamus on the chemistry and ecology of a changing watershed, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Keenan Stears et al, Effects of the hippopotamus on the chemistry and ecology of a changing watershed,(2018). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1800407115Heavy rains from convection clouds are the most important source of precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean region. Credit: Max Pixel, CC-0

An evaluation of weather radar measurements reveals that in the eastern Mediterranean the total amount of rain decreases with increasing temperatures. But while storms are weakening, convective rain cells  the chief cause of natural hazards in the region  are intensifying.

In our area of the world, storms characterised by heavy rainfall are mainly a summer phenomenon. These storms develop according to a set pattern: during the day, the sun heats up the earth's surface and this stimulates evaporation. The moist air then rises and cools to where the water vapour condenses, forming clouds. If the upward current is rapid, cumulonimbus clouds may reach heights of many kilometres within a few hours. These clouds often unleash a brief, violent downpour in a limited area, which may result in floods and landslides.

The amount of precipitation follows a physical principle, whereby under ideal conditions and on average worldwide, rain intensity increases by seven percent for every degree Celsius of temperature rise. This means that theoretically heavy rain should become even heavier in a warmer climate.

An exceptional series of measurements

ETH researchers from the Chair of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, led by postdoctoral fellow Nadav Peleg, examined an unusually long series of measurements to ascertain how the spatial and temporal characteristics of individual extreme rainfall cells are related to temperature.

The researchers deployed the ETH mainframe computer Euler to evaluate a massive data set from an Israeli weather radar system. This radar system was used by meteorologists over a period of 25 years to measure  continuously in time and space  high-resolution rain in the eastern Mediterranean region; it was accurate enough to capture even localised rainfall cells. The researchers took into account all rain measurements in a temperature range of 5 to 25 degrees Celsius  temperatures like those prevailing in the eastern Mediterranean in spring and autumn.

Their study, which has just been published in the Journal of Hydrometeorology, also shows the relationship between air temperature and other properties of storms, such as the spatial homogeneity of rainfall.

Peak intensities increase linearly

From their analyses, the ETH researchers were able to confirm that in the eastern Mediterranean region the peak intensity of extreme rainfall increases at higher temperatures. However, at 4.3 percent per degree Celsius, this increase is lower than the theoretical average based on the physical principle described above.

Up to now, there has been dispute as to whether the seven percent rate applies for the region, with other scientists reporting that extreme rainfall in the eastern Mediterranean would even decrease with increasing temperature. However, in their studies, the temporal and spatial resolution of the rain measurement was lower.

Peleg and his colleagues also established that the area of individual rainfall cells often became smaller at higher temperatures, and that rainfall was distributed differently across the storm: convective processes shift the moisture available in the atmosphere from areas with low rainfall intensity to areas with high rainfall intensity. "In a warming climate, the risk of local flooding in the region has the potential to increase," Peleg explains.

Trends, not predictions

But Peleg doesn't want to draw conclusions about the future warmer climate from present climate observation alone. "The data refer to the current climate and illustrate the trends of the past 25 years," he emphasizes. How the climate will change and the rainfall regime with it is not so clear." To accurately predict future changes in the occurrence of extreme storms, you need high-resolution climate models."

Nonetheless, he considers the findings important for policy and decision-makers. In general, extreme precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean region is likely to intensify. "The research results help to better assess the impact of the future climate on water availability or natural hazards  particularly local storms and floods," says the weather researcher.

In a follow-up project, Peleg and his ETH colleagues plan to investigate how extreme rain is changing in space and time in Switzerland. "Since the topography of the country is very complex, this may prove a tough nut to crack."

Explore further NASA's GPM observes Arkansas and Tennessee flooding downpours

More information: Nadav Peleg et al. Intensification of Convective Rain Cells at Warmer Temperatures Observed from High-Resolution Weather Radar Data, Journal of Hydrometeorology (2018). Nadav Peleg et al. Intensification of Convective Rain Cells at Warmer Temperatures Observed from High-Resolution Weather Radar Data,(2018). DOI: 10.1175/JHM-D-17-0158.1Ice calving of the Zachariae Isstrm in Northeast Greenland. The icebergs can be up to 1 km in diameter and the ice front up to 100 m high. Credit: Nicolaj Krog Larsen

A ribbon of ice more than 600 kilometers long that drains about 12 percent of the gigantic Greenland Ice Sheet has been smaller than it is today about half of the time over the past 45,000 years, a new study suggests.

Interestingly, the loss of ice from the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) took place not only during the warm Holocene period, but also during a period thought to be very cold preceding the last glacial maximum, the researchers say.

The findings suggest that NEGIS is particularly sensitive to environmental changes, which may exacerbate the influence of anthropogenic climate change. Results of the study are being published today in Nature Communications.

"There are some parts of the ice sheet that are relatively stable and others that show evidence of very rapid retreatinga pattern we're seeing today as well as thousands of years ago," said Anders Carlson, an Oregon State University geologist and co-author on the study. "Some of it relates to bed topographywhen the bed is below sea level, it stabilizes that part of the ice sheet. In low spots, it is unstable."

Carlson said different factors may help explain the ice mass loss, including orbital forcing and warm summer temperatures. The path of the Earth's orbit put it closer to the sun some 9,000 years ago, breaking the planet out of its glacial maximum. NEGIS showed significant ice loss.

The front of Storstrmmen glacier in Northeast Greenland seen from Twin Otter plane. Credit: Nicolaj Krog Larsen

Yet it also showed a loss of ice during the period preceding that maximum, about 41,000 to 26,000 years ago, which is thought to have been very cold. OSU paleoclimatologist Christo Buizert, also a co-author on the study, reconstructed air temperatures from that period using ice core analysis and found that air temperatures indeed were much colder than average, but summer temperatures were warmer, which may have contributed to the ice loss.

"That period was also quite dry and there wasn't nearly as much snowfall," Carlson said, "which may have driven the ice margin to be smaller."

The researchers were able to determine where the ice sheet margins were essentially by analyzing the rocks for "sunburn," Carlson said. When ice has retreated, the rocks become exposed to cosmic rays that hit the quartz in the rock and split the elements, creating beryllium-10. This cosmic bombardment leaves an elemental fingerprint that allows the researchers to reconstruct ice-free times over thousands of years.

"The anthropogenic forcing we are seeing today is having a significant impact on the ice sheet and it already has retreated to levels that weren't predicted to occur until the end of the century," Carlson said.

A team of Danish and American researchers conducted much of the fieldwork, studying three fast-flowing marine-terminating "outlet" glaciers on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

"Modern observations have shown that the NEGIS is very susceptible to changes in both air and ocean temperatures and is presently in a phase of rapid ice retreat," said Nicolaj Larsen of Aarhus University in Denmark, lead author on the study. Larsen spent much of the past year on sabbatical at Oregon State, where he collaborated with the OSU researchers.

Explore further New study shows freshwater input route from melting ice led to rapid coolingPhoto of RadFxSat CubeSat. Credit: The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) and Vanderbilt University

A small group of students recently got to experience a rare, spaceflight thrill: seeing if the tiny satellite, called a CubeSat, they designed and built not only survived a rock

A small group of students recently got to experience a rare, spaceflight thrill: seeing if the tiny satellite, called a CubeSat, they designed and built not only survived a rocket launch to space but also successfully gathered and transmitted data once on orbit.

The educational CubeSat missions were selected through the CubeSat Launch Initiative as part of the 14th installment of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions. The ELaNa XIV mission was an auxiliary payload on the Nov. 18, 2017, launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 satellite (now NOAA-20), a collaborative effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA.

One CubeSat launched from the JPSS-1 rocket, RadFxSat, is a partnership between students at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and AMSAT, a worldwide group of amateur radio operators. The Vanderbilt team built the science payload while AMSAT did the integration onto their own CubeSat platform. Their experiment is designed to obtain early on-orbit data in support of modeling radiation effects in a commercial memory, currently used for consumer electronics.

So far the project is successfully sending back data. "Because we partnered with the company donating the memory, there were engineering challenges to make sure we could communicate with the memory properly. I learned about power allocation and making sure the memories were within their power budget. I didn't realize how important power was for a spacecraft until I had to do it myself," said Rebekah Austin, a graduating Ph.D. student in electrical engineering at Vanderbilt. Austin is also a returning engineering summer intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Meanwhile, another CubeSat project, called EagleSat-1, is working through post-launch challenges. "It turns out we are not getting data back. There is still learning occurring, which is our main reason for doing the program. The students are learning the process of failure analysis and understanding the spacecraft a little bit better as a result of trying to figure out what could have gone wrong and try to figure out if there is anything we can do while it is on orbit," said Dr. Gary Yale, associate professor of aerospace engineering and faculty mentor for EagleSat-1, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

Photo of a student's hands holding the EagleSat-1 CubeSat. Credit: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

One possibility under consideration by the team of undergraduate researchers is that their antenna did not deploy after launch. The EagleSat-1 team hopes that if that is the problem, eventually the fishing line holding the antenna down will decay due to ultraviolet radiation in the space environment, causing the line to break and deploy the antenna, which was the backup plan for that eventuality.

"It is disappointing we haven't gotten data yet, and everyone is trying to make contact with it," said Deborah Jackson, an undergraduate and project manager for EagleSat-1. "We've passed down our lessons learned to our next project, EagleSat-2." EagleSat-1 has two functions, one is to track the satellite orbit as it decays over time and the second is to study the use of super capacitors in space as an alternative to traditional batteries, which rely on chemical reactions.

The results from these two NASA ELaNa CubeSat projects illustrates the program's function as an educational platform. "It is a way to pull kids into practical science application. I've seen junior and senior high kids building these things too," said Rex Engelhardt, NASA's ELaNA XIV mission manger and a launch services program mission manager, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The process begins with a proposal that is competitively selected. Each group funds the building of their spacecraft, and NASA provides a ride to space using available capacity on NASA rockets.

"For JPSS-1, we had to assure them we were tracking the design, build and testing of these spacecraft and would not negatively impact the JPSS-1 satellite," Engelhardt said. After the primary satellite is released and sent on its way, then the CubeSats are released. Each CubeSat group is responsible for shock and vibration tests to prove their satellite can survive the launch.

"The teams were a lot of fun to work with, and they are excited about what they are doing," Engelhardt said. "We have a mission readiness review, where they bring a briefing package which includes all their designs, how they built the spacecraft and met the requirements. We ask hard questions and challenge them in each three- to four-hour presentation. It is fun watching the different teams and personalities. One presenter drove in during his college break and did his presentation while munching an apple. We let him know that's not a good idea."

While the ELaNA CubeSat teams work through various stages of science and engineering challenges to get their CubeSats ready for flight, at the end it is about the learning process. "Motivating people to work to a common goal to stay focused on a project and complete it, is a huge educational win," Engelhardt said.

Explore further ELaNa XIV CubeSats launch on JPSS-1 missionCredit: CC0 Public Domain

Older workers tend to feel more stress than younger workers when their employers don't provide them with the support and resources needed to do their jobs well, according to a new Portland State University study.

The study, published online in April in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, is part of a larger project aimed at improving employee health, safety, work-life balance and well-being.

The research teammade up of Lale Yaldiz, a Ph.D. candidate in industrial-organizational psychology, and PSU psychology professors Donald Truxillo, Leslie Hammer and Todd Bodnersurveyed 243 municipal public works employees between the ages of 24 and 64 over the course of a year.

The study found that both younger and older workers had lower levels of overall stress when they were given more autonomy on the job, had good relationships with their bosses and felt they were respected and treated fairly at work. But when such resources were lacking, older workers reported significantly higher stress levels a year later than their younger colleagues.

"These are things that employers should provide to all employees, but may be especially important for older employees," Truxillo said. "You don't want to have a company policy that says, 'We treat young people this way and old people that way,' but it does show you that age-sensitive human resource systems should be in place where you maybe train managers on how to be aware of the needs of their different workers."

Yaldiz said the findings suggest that older workers place a greater value on having autonomy and a supportive work environment than younger workers because those resources allow them to adapt to the psychological and physical changes that come with aging. For example, older workers tend to prioritize emotional needs and care more about having socially meaningful interactions and mentoring their colleagues than younger workers whose focus tends to be on gaining the skills they need to advance in their careers.

The authors say the findings are especially important as the number of workers who are 55 and older continues to grow. The U.S. Labor Bureau estimates that older workers will account for nearly a quarter of the workforce by 2020.

"With the workforce becoming more age-diverse and older at the same time, it is important to understand the differences between younger and older workers to help them cope with the demands of their work lives more effectively," Yaldiz said.

Among the study's recommendations:

-Rather than require that employees complete tasks a certain way, employers should, when possible, give workers the flexibility to bring their different skill sets, strengths and years of accumulated job experience to the table

-Training for supervisors should emphasize leadership skills about how to build strong relationships with workers of all ages so they feel like trusted and valued members of their team

-Since older workers appear to be more susceptible to stress in the face of unfairness, organizations can help workers by being transparent about how decisions are made and implemented, not discriminating, valuing employee input when making key decisions and providing channels for employees to voice concerns

Bodner said that in many ways, it's common sense.

"When you come down to it, focusing on bottom lines and ignoring these human resource factors have really bad results and can be more expensive down the road," he said. "By not focusing on the human side, it's a short-term gain but a long-term loss."

The researchers suggest that future studies should look at diverse worker groups across industries, jobs, gender and ethnicities to generalize the study findings, and explore the types of resources that are important to younger employees' well-being.

Explore further Some employers see perks of hiring older workers

More information: Lale M. Yaldiz et al, Do resources matter for employee stress? It depends on how old you are, Journal of Vocational Behavior (2018). Lale M. Yaldiz et al, Do resources matter for employee stress? It depends on how old you are,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.jvb.2018.04.005Sample images of three breeds at different ages. The top row of images depicts a cane corso, the middle row depicts a Jack Russell terrier and the bottom row depicts a white shepherd. The middle column shows each dog at its most attractive age, as rated by participants: six weeks for Cane corsos; a little over seven weeks for Jack Russell terriers; and eight weeks for white shepherds. Credit: Arizona State University

The popular meme proclaiming that all dogs are puppies assumes that humans' adoration of canines is not conditional on their age. But a new study led by Clive Wynne, professor of psychology and director of Arizona State University's Canine Science Collaboratory, suggests otherwise.

In a paper published this month in Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions of People and Animals, Wynne and colleagues describe the study, which found dogs' attractiveness to humans peaks at roughly eight weeks, the same point in time at which their mother weans them and leaves them to fend for themselves.

While spending time in the Bahamas, Wynne was able to observe the many street dogs there. According to him, there are around a billion dogs in the world, 80 percent of whom are feral. For those dogs, human intervention is crucial to their survival. Wynne wondered if there was a connection between pups' weaning agewhen they are at their most vulnerableand their level of attractiveness to humans. So he designed an experiment to test his query.

"It came out exactly as I'd hoped it wouldthat there is indeed an optimal age of maximum cuteness, and that age does line up pretty closely with the age at which mothers wean their pups," Wynne said.

"This could be a signal coming through to us of how dogs have evolved to rely on human care. This could be dogs showing us how the bond between human and dog is not just something that we find immensely satisfying in our lives.  But for them, it's the absolute bedrock of their existence. That being able to connect with us, to find an emotional hook with us is what actually makes their lives possible."

Credit: Arizona State University

The study was carried out using a series of photographs of puppies at different ages, from the first weeks of life through young adulthood. Fifty-one participants were asked to rank the puppies' level of attractiveness in each photo. Three distinctive-looking breeds were ranked: Jack Russell terriers, cane corsos and white shepherds.

Results showed that the pups' attractiveness was lowest at birth and increased to a maximum before 10 weeks of age before declining and then leveling off.

Cane corsos showed a maximum attractiveness at 6.3 weeks of age; Jack Russell terriers showed a maximum attractiveness at 7.7 weeks of age; and white shepherds showed a maximum attractiveness at 8.3 weeks of age.

"Around seven or eight weeks of age, just as their mother is getting sick of them and is going to kick them out of the den and they're going to have to make their own way in life, at that age, that is exactly when they are most attractive to human beings," Wynne said.

Credit: Deanna Dent/ASU Now

The findings provide insight into the depth and origin of the relationship between humans and dogs, the oldest and most enduring of any human-animal relationship. And while some theories attribute the survival of the canine species to their intelligence, Wynne dissents.

"I think that the intelligence of dogs is not the fundamental issue," he said. "It's this tremendous capacity to form intimate, strong, affectionate bonds. And that starts at maybe eight weeks of life, when they're so compelling to us."

Though humans and other animals, such as cats and birds, have the capacity to form strong bonds, dogs in particular are especially suited to the task because of their gregarious nature. Even in hand-reared wolves, the species from which all dogs are descended, the willingness to engage humans does not match that of the domestic dog.

"It does seem to me that the dog has something rather special," Wynne said. "Dogs have a very open-ended social program. That they are ready and willing to make friends with anybody."

ASU Professor Clive Wynne and his dog, Xephos, sit together in their home in Tempe, Arizona. Credit: Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Wynne has thought of a couple of interesting ways to follow up on the cuteness study. One way is to show participants video of puppies at different ages, instead of still photos, to determine if perhaps there is something in the pups' movement that attracts people. Another is to determine what the pups' mother thinks about their level of attractiveness at different ages, though that is obviously easier said than done.

The takeaway from the study for Wynne is that extra piece of the puzzle that makes up the human-dog connection.

"[The study] doesn't mean to say that we stop loving our dogs past [eight weeks]," he said. "The eight-week point is just the point where the hook is biggest, the ability of the animal to grab our interest is strongest. But, having grabbed our interest, we continue to love them all their lives."

Explore further Emotional bond between humans and dogs dates back 14,000 years

More information: Nadine Chersini et al. Dog Pups' Attractiveness to Humans Peaks at Weaning Age, Anthrozoos (2018). Nadine Chersini et al. Dog Pups' Attractiveness to Humans Peaks at Weaning Age,(2018). DOI: 10.1080/08927936.2018.1455454WEST CHESTER, Pa., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Mothers Day, Key Financial Inc. of West Chester released their first video titled Mother to Daughter, where President & CEO Patti Brennan sat down with her 24 year old daughter Carrie Brennan, to talk about growing up, finance, family and life.



The 25 minute segment was led by Carrie, an aspiring actress who works part time as a communications analyst at Key Financial. When asked about getting to interview her mother, Carrie responded graciously, We just had a lot of fun. I have always marveled at my moms superhuman work ethic - her commitment to her clients, her employees, and her family. As I grow older, I realize now even more what an incredible feat it is to raise a family and a business at the same timeShe has such a powerful story and a unique perspective on life, we really just wanted to share that with others. In the end it really felt effortless.

As the President and CEO of Key Financial for almost 30 years, Brennan provides comprehensive wealth management with integrated strategies that are unique to each client. Known for her ability to see the impact of the little details on the big picture, Brennan is known for communicating complex financial concepts in simple, understandable and meaningful terms. In 2018, she was recognized by Forbes, Barrons and the Financial Times as being amongst the top advisors in the nation. In addition, Brennan proudly serves on the Board for the YMCA of Greater Brandywine and Cuddle My Kids. She has also formerly served on the Boards of the Chester County Economic Development Council, SEEDCO and Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital.

Key Financial, Inc. provides comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services and is located at 1045 Andrew Drive, Suite A West Chester, PA. For information about the firms planning services or to speak with Patti Brennan, call (610)429-9050 or visit www.keyfinancialinc.com.

Securities offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Insurance services offered through Patricia Brennan are independent of Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. Advisory services offered through Key Financial, Inc., a registered investment advisor not affiliated with Royal Alliance Associates, Inc.

*The Forbes ranking of America's Top Wealth Advisors, is based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative data, rating thousands of wealth advisors with a minimum of seven years of experience and weighing factors like revenue trends, assets under management, compliance records, industry experience and best practices learned through telephone and in-person interviews. There is no fee in exchange for rankings.

The Barrons Winners Circle Top 100 is a select group of individuals who are screened on a number of different criteria. Among factors the survey takes into consideration are the overall size and success of practices, the quality of service provided to clients, adherence to high standards of industry regulatory compliance, and leadership in best practices of wealth management. Portfolio performance is not a factor. Please see www.barrons.com for more information.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/4303b6fe-60ac-49d5-b22a-06cd6e1e92d4Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Skyrocketing drug prices and the looming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare are just two of many pressing issues caused by America's surging baby-boom population, often referred to as the "Silver Tsunami."

What can be done about it?

In a recent article published in The Elder Law Journal, Sharona Hoffman, the Edgar A. Hahn Professor of Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, urges policymakers to focus on the elderly population. "Everyone ages, and everyone has aging loved ones, so this is a personal issue for most of us, even if we don't want to think about it," she states.

"In 2016 voters listed terrorism as their first and most serious national concern, but only 80 Americans were killed in terrorist attacks between 2004 and 2013, while millions of individuals faced grave difficulties related to aging," said Hoffman, author of Aging with a Plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow (Praeger, 2015).

By 2030, senior citizens will represent more than 20 percent of the United States population, according to the Census Bureau. The looming challenges of an aging population cannot be ignored, Hoffman said.

"If American society does not prepare for the tens of millions of baby boomers who will become elderly in the coming years, the consequences will be grave in terms of suffering, costs and lives lost," she said.

Next steps

Hoffman offered five specific suggestions to improve conditions for seniors as their numbers continue to increase:

Advocacy organizations and the media should educate the public and policy-makers about the challenges the elderly face and strive to make them a political priority.

Long-term care (home care from aides, assisted living, and nursing homes) must become more accessible and affordable. This could be achieved through long-term care insurance that is subsidized by the government.

The working conditions of professional caregivers must be significantly improved. Consider wage increases, health benefits and paid sick days.

Affordable transportation options should be available to the elderly so they don't lose their independence if and when they stop driving.

Incentives, such as loan forgiveness programs and higher Medicare payments, should be offered to prospective health-care professionals as encouragement to enter the geriatric field.

The average life expectancy in 2013 was 81 for women and 76 for men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people, however, live much longer, and experts predict that by 2060, the U.S. population will include 19.7 million individuals who are 85 and older.

That matters for several reasons.

"Americans generally live long past retirement, but all too many do so without adequate financial security, without sufficient assistance from loved ones and in poor health," Hoffman said. "Meager savings make it extremely difficult for retirees to cover their out-of-pocket medical costs, often reaching thousands of dollars each year."

And that doesn't include the extremely high costs of long-term care such as nursing homes, assisted living and in-home care.

Hoffman added that every family should discuss aging and learn about the safeguards that should be put in place. There is much that individuals can do for themselves, such as writing a will and appointing decision-makers for finances and healthcare.

Explore further Americans' risk of needing nursing home care is higher than previously estimatedBy harnessing social media, the teenage survivors of the Parkland, Florida massacre in the United States have started a movement that might finally shift the dial on gun control.

Using their cellphones and laptops, they've not only organised a march on Washington, but built a digital network of supporters who are putting unprecedented pressure on legislators.

Social media platforms such as Facebook have richly earned our distrust. From Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election, to the spread of fake news and the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, the news just keeps getting worse.

But the Parkland movement reminds us that digital platforms have also provided the infrastructure to give a new generation voice and influence for civic good.

Recent attempts to deal with the proliferation of fake news and extremist content on platforms has seen some creators lose both audience and revenue. Now that the pitchforks are out for the platforms, their facilitation of new voices should not be overlooked in the push for further regulation.

Millions of creators and counting

The Parkland teenagers were influenced by established online creators like Philip DeFranco. DeFranco owns and operates his own social media brand, producing a daily vlog featuring commentary about topical events that are of interest to his online fan communities. And he's just one of a number of young online leaders who are using social media platforms for good.

There are an estimated 1.8 million YouTube creators, as well as 3 million using Instagram, in the US alone. The top 5,000 YouTube channels each have more than 1.2 million subscribers and over 360 million video views. US creators earned an estimated US$5.9 billion across nine digital platforms in 2016.

We have been researching this rising global creative industry of social media entrepreneurs and entertainers  called variously influencers, YouTubers, micro-celebrities, or just creators. It is radically more diverse and egalitarian than mainstream media, and has brought new voices to the public.

In many instances, these online leaders have engaged in or facilitated social activism, raising civic awareness and funding for progressive causes. Videogame player and YouTuber, Markiplier, secured 20 million subscribers while also raising over $US3 million for charity.

The Green Brothers' annual Project4Awesome campaign has encouraged dozens of online content creators to dedicate their time and efforts to raise funds and awareness for social causes for over a decade. Ben Stiller, Colin Kaepernick, and Jerome Jarre's #LoveArmy have raised millions for Mexican earthquake victims, Somalian famine sufferers, and Rohingyan refugees.

At the corporate level, YouTube, through its Creators for Change program, has provided millions of dollars in support of the collective creative efforts of global multicultural creators.

Demonetisation has already hurt them

The capacity of online cultural leaders to pursue these agendas is vulnerable to the new appetite for regulation, and the need for the platforms to put their houses in order.

Both The Guardian and CNN criticised YouTube for placing mainstream brands' advertising alongside extremist videos. In response, Google implemented a filtration algorithm that would flag content deemed "brand-safe" for advertisers.

Though it may have been well-intentioned, the resulting "adpocalypse" led to the demonetisation of many of these progressive creators  including DeFranco  due to their use of language and content choices.

In another instance, Casey Neistat and #LoveArmy filmed a fundraiser for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. However, it was removed from YouTube because of the platform's improper flagging mechanism, which was created in an attempt to minimise the spread of conspiracy videos about the event.

When The New York Times highlighted the rise of trending conspiracy videos about Parkland survivor, David Hogg, it failed to mention the numerous other videos created in support of the teens. These videos scaled five times faster and were likely also demonetised by YouTube's filtering system. One video by DeFranco directly addressing these "disgusting conspiracy videos" has close to two million views.

Regulation shouldn't stifle voices for good

As the call for greater regulation of these platforms gains momentum worldwide, it is critical to acknowledge that existing government regulation has already imposed greater constraint on many of these creators' practices than those rules applied to more traditional media like television.

The US Federal Trade Commission regulation demands that online creators be transparent about sponsorship and branded content. But traditional celebrities are able to flaunt their own brands on the red carpet, on the court, and across their own online channels without prohibition.

For decades, Fox News operated with the tagline "fair and balanced" without any regulatory constraint. This despite the years of academic media research that nailed the channel as a purveyor of media disinformation with a staunch conservative bent.

These concerns are at their greatest in the policing and censorship of Chinese creators (known as "Wang Hong"). Operating on Chinese owned-and-operated platforms, their ability to raise critically sensitive societal issues is firmly surveilled.

In China, as in many parts of the world, LGBTQ content and creators remain forbidden in mainstream media. The only hope for this community rests on the ability of these creators to express and fund themselves across social media platforms.

Whether because of hubris or poor internal governance, the platforms deserve what is coming at them. Our hope is that those regulators in a position to demand that platforms behave more responsibly will not implement policy at the expense of those young online leaders harnessing these platforms for good.

Explore further Facebook is testing ways to compensate video creators so it can cut into YouTube's dominanceCredit: Cardiff University

A space mission designed to solve fundamental questions about how galaxies and forming planetary systems grow and evolve will be considered by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The project, named SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics), will involve scientists from the University's School of Physics and Astronomy, and will be considered by ESA as a candidate for its next medium-class space mission, with launch envisaged at the end of the next decade. The joint European-Japanese observatory will be developed over the next two years together with two other candidate missions.

Unlike visible light, infrared radiation is not absorbed by the dust that pervades the universe  as a result, observations in the infrared can unveil the hidden universe, allowing astronomers to see deep into the inner reaches of galaxies, star forming clouds and planet forming systems.

The SPICA observatory will have a 2.5-metre diameter telescope cooled to only a few degrees above absolute zero temperature to reduce the radiation emitted by the telescope itself to the absolute minimum. Equipped with extremely sensitive detectors, it will be able to study objects out to the farthest reaches of the universe.

Cardiff University scientists will join forces with almost 20 intuitions from 15 countries around the world to build one of SPICA's instruments, called SAFARI.

Cardiff scientists will provide key optical components to select and control the wavelengths of light transmitted by the instrument, and work with Cambridge University on developing part of SAFARI's superconducting detector system.

Professor Matt Griffin, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy and UK spokesperson for the SAFARI team, said: "Selection by ESA for this study is an important milestone for SPICA. This observatory promises a huge leap in our ability to study the Universe. With its super-cool telescope and ultrasensitive detectors it will be hundreds of times more sensitive than previous infrared space telescopes."

Professor Peter Ade, who is also based at the School of Physics and Astronomy and leads the Cardiff technical programme said: "Cardiff's unique experience and expertise, developed in working on previous infrared space missions, is essential to make SPICA possible. We expect this intensive two-year study to demonstrate that this great observatory is ready to fly."

Explore further ESA selects three new mission concepts for studyLiquid-crystal display abstraction. Credit: MIPT

An international research team from Russia, France and Germany has proposed a new method for orienting liquid crystals. It could be used to increase the viewing angle of liquid-crystal displays. The paper was published in the journal ACS Macro Letters.

"This is first and foremost a fundamental study exploring the mechanisms of liquid crystal orientation," says Dimitri Ivanov, the head of the Laboratory of Functional Organic and Hybrid Materials at MIPT. "That said, we expect that these mechanisms might have applications in new LCD technology."

Most solids are crystals. In a crystal, molecules or atoms form an ordered three-dimensional structure. Unlike solids, liquids lack this internal long-range order, but they can flow. Matter in a liquid-crystal state has properties that are intermediate between those of liquids and crystals: It possesses both the molecular order and the ability to flow. A liquid crystal can thus be viewed as an "ordered" liquid.

Not all materials can exhibit a liquid crystalline state, and the phase transition mechanisms may vary. Among other things, the molecules of an LC material have to be anisometricthat is, rod- or disk-shaped. Some compounds become LCs in a certain temperature range. These are called thermotropic. By contrast, lyotropic LCs adopt the liquid crystalline state when a solvent is added.

Figure 1. Subpixel structure in a twisted nematic LCD. Credit: Lion_on_helium/MIPT

The properties of an LC material vary depending on the direction. For example, polarized light propagates in a liquid crystal at different speeds along different directions. Also, in an electric or magnetic field, the orientation of LCs can rapidly change. This phenomenon is known as the Freedericksz transition. Thanks to the optical properties of LCs and their ability to be easily realigned, they are widely used in the electronic displays of TVs, computers, phones, and other devices.

In an LCD, the image is generated by changing the intensity of light in each pixel via an electric field, which realigns liquid crystals. There are several LCD configurations, but the one most commonly used is based on twisted nematic LCs. These are rod-shaped thermotropic liquid crystals that can adopt a twisted configuration by using special aligning substrates. Applying an electric field to these LCs can untwist them. This reproducible and predictable response can be used to control light intensity.

Each pixel in a color LCD consists of three subpixels: red, green, and blue. By varying their intensities, any color can be displayed. A subpixel in a twisted nematic-based LCD (figure 1) consists of a light source, a color filter, two polarizers, and an LC cell between two glass plates with electrodes. If the liquid crystals were not there, no light would pass through the cell, because whatever light is let through by the vertical polarizer would be blocked by the horizontal polarizer before reaching the color filter. However, special substrates with groovy surfaces can be used to twist LCs in a spiral between two polarizers so as to turn the light precisely by the amount needed to pass through the second polarizer. The fully illuminated state of the subpixel is actually its "off" state. When voltage is applied, the liquid crystals untwist, changing the light polarization to a lesser degree. As a result, some of the light is blocked. Eventually, as some voltage no light can reach the color filter, and the subpixel goes dark.

Figure. 2. Chemical structure of poly(di-n-alkylsiloxanes), or PDAS. Credit: Lion_on_helium/MIPT

One of the limitations of this technology is the viewing angle of a display: From a sideways perspective, the LCD will not render the colors accurately. This is due to the co-alignment of liquid crystals. The issue can be solved using multidomain displays, in which pixels belong to a number of domains, whose LC orientations are different. This means that at least some of the domains are always oriented in the right way. The international team of researchers led by Professor Dimitri Ivanov, who heads MIPT's Laboratory of Functional Organic and Hybrid Materials, has proposed a brand new solution for multidomain display design.

The authors of the paper worked with liquid-crystal polymers. These are substances composed of long molecules with a chainlike, repetitive structure. A slight variation in the structure of polymers can drastically alter their orientation on the substrate. The polymers used in the study are poly(di-n-alkylsiloxanes), or PDAS. Each molecule is a chain containing alternating silicon and oxygen atoms. The silicon atoms in PDAS bear two symmetric hydrocarbon side chains (figure 2). The n in the name of the compound stands for the length of the side chains, which was varied between 2 and 6.

In the experiment, polymers from the PDAS family were deposited on a Teflon-rubbed aligning surface with a regular pattern of grooves. Generally, crystalline polymers are known to align on such substrates, but only when the lattice parameters of the substrate match those of the deposited polymer. The researchers examined the orientation of the liquid-crystal polymer chains relative to the direction of the grooves on the aligning surface. The side chain length n was increased in steps of just one methylene group (CH) at a time.

Figure. 3. Two possible orientations of liquid crystals relative to the Teflon substrate: On the left, polymer chains (wavy black line) and the grooves on the alignment surface (green) are orthogonal. On the right, they are parallel. The polymer chains are perpendicular to the lamellae. Credit: Credit: Lion_on_helium/MIPT

The researchers found that, contrary to expectations, the liquid-crystal orientation varied depending on side-chain length. At n equal to 2, the needlelike polymer superstructures known as lamellae co-aligned with the Teflon grooves. Because lamellae are known to be perpendicular to the polymer chains, the researchers concluded that the polymer chains are perpendicular to the grooves on the substrate (figure 3, left). When n was increased to three, the orientation of the lamellae changed by 90 degrees, making them perpendicular to the grooves. As a result, the LC polymer chains were now oriented parallel to the grooves (figure 3, right). At n equal to four, no further change in orientation was observed. However, when the side-chain length was further increased to five and six, the lamellae again co-aligned with the Teflon grooves.

The researchers have thus found that by merely adding one methylene group to the side chain of the polymer, they could switch the LC orientation, which is crucial for most applications of liquid crystals, including LCDs. According to the authors, the effect they discovered could be used to design LCDs with improved viewing angles. This could be achieved using a multidomain technology that works by orienting subpixels of one color in different directions. As a result, the pixels compensate one another when the display is viewed at an angle, improving color rendition. The researchers expect this technology to be considerably simpler and cheaper than other multidomain approaches that are currently used.

Explore further Scientists developed a material for the new type of liquid crystal displays

More information: Yaroslav Odarchenko et al. One Methylene Group in the Side Chain Can Alter by 90 Degrees the Orientation of a Main-Chain Liquid Crystal on a Unidirectional Substrate, ACS Macro Letters (2018). Journal information: ACS Macro Letters Yaroslav Odarchenko et al. One Methylene Group in the Side Chain Can Alter by 90 Degrees the Orientation of a Main-Chain Liquid Crystal on a Unidirectional Substrate,(2018). DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00044Tesla has long eyed manufacturing its cars in China, the world's biggest electric market

Tesla has set up a company in Shanghai focusing on technology development in China, a crucial market for the US firm as the country plans to scrap ownership limits for foreign automakers.

The US firm's Hong Kong subsidiary established Tesla (Shanghai) Limited on May 10 with a registration capital of 100 million yuan ($15.8 million), filings on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System showed on Monday.

Its business range includes technology development, import and export of electric cars and components, it said, adding Tesla Motors HK Limited is the sole shareholder of the Shanghai company with an operation period of 30 years.

Production of electric cars is not included in the business scope though. Tesla already exports cars to China, one of the California firm's top markets.

Tesla has long eyed manufacturing its cars in China, the world's biggest electric market.

Its CEO Elon Musk said earlier this month that the company will announce a China location for a new "Gigafactory" that will produce batteries as well as vehicles.

The announcement of the Shanghai firm came after China in April announced that it would to open up its manufacturing sector, including scrapping ownership limits for foreign automakers.

China currently restricts foreign auto firms to a maximum 50 percent ownership of joint ventures with local companies.

But the policy changes will end shareholding limits for new energy vehicle firms as soon as this year, followed by commercial vehicles in 2020 and passenger cars in 2022.

The automaker reported a less-than-expected net loss of $784.6 million on revenue of $3.4 billion in the first three months of this year.

 2018 AFPGeological sciences professor Brian Pratt holds a shatter cone, resulting from an asteroid hitting the Earth. Credit: University of Saskatchewan

In 1994, astronomers watched in awe as the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into the planet Jupiter, creating massive fireballs exploding with the force of six million megatons of TNTequivalent to 600 times the world's nuclear arsenal.

What would have happened if it had hit Earth instead of Jupiter?

"It would be the biggest destruction that mankind has ever seen," said Mel Stauffer, University of Saskatchewan geological sciences professor emeritus. "It wouldn't matter where it hit, it would affect all mankind."

The subject of Hollywood movies, the reality of asteroid and comet strikes is more science, than science fiction. Most researchers believe the likelihood of a massive object colliding with Earth in our lifetime is small, but the planet has been hit before and will certainly be hit again.

Stauffer has spent a lifetime collecting the evidence, searching for meteorites, shatter cones (rock violently fractured around the rim of impact craters) and tektites (pulverized rock liquified by the superheated temperature of an impact and blasted into the atmosphere before raining down to the surface).

Stauffer said on average the Earth gets hits by a one-metre-wide asteroid about once a year, although, most burn up in the atmosphere or crash into remote regions or our vast oceans. Two of the most alarming recent events occurred in the Siberian region of Russia, including the 2013 asteroid air burst near Chelyabinsk that was reported in the journal Nature to be a house-sized object 20 metres in diameter, releasing the energy equivalent of 440,000 tonnes of TNT.

In 2012, Brian Pratt, pictured right, helped discover the impact crater located on the northwestern part of Victoria Island in the Arctic. It is about 25 km wide and is Canada's 30th known meteorite impact feature. Credit: University of Saskatchewan

"It went just past a couple of villages, including Chelyabinsk, and because it was breaking the sound barrier and exploding into pieces, the shock wave broke windows that blew up in people's faces, so about 1,500 people were hospitalized from cuts," said Stauffer. "It was the second largest event that we have been able to accurately measure."

In 1908, what is believed to have been an asteroid exploded over a sparsely populated area of Siberia, flattening 80 million trees over 2,000 square kilometres of forest in what is called the Tunguska event. More than 1,000 research papers have been filed on that blast, with supercomputer simulations projecting the object to have been 60 to 190 metres wide and to have exploded with a force of up to 15 megatons of TNT (1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945).

Chelyabinsk and Tunguska are the most recent examples of what can happen when an asteroid or comet enters a collision course with the planet. The Earth Impact Database documents 168 asteroid craters of at least one kilometre in diameter, a list that includes the 130km Sudbury impactthe third largest in the world1.8 billion years ago, and the 150km Chicxulub crater in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula created 65 million years ago that has been linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The database includes six impact craters in Saskatchewan two kilometres or largerViewfield, Gow Lake, Maple Creek, Elbow, Deep Bay and Carswell (the biggest at 39km wide)dating between 75 million and 395 million years ago, as well as the 25km Victoria Island crater in the Arctic that U of S geological sciences professor Brian Pratt helped discover in 2012 while exploring the area for Natural Resources Canada.

"It was exciting," said Pratt, who co-authored a paper on the find in the research journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science. "We were flying in a helicopter and we could see the rocks looked strange. So, we landed and walked about 30 yards to the first outcrop of tilted rocks and right away we saw shatter cones. We both looked at each other and said, 'This is a meteorite impact!' That's what creates shatter cones, so we knew exactly what we were dealing with."

Pratt estimates that impact occurred between 130 million and 450 million years ago and likely had wide-ranging effects.

Daryl Janzen, a U of S sessional lecturer in physics. Credit: University of Saskatchewan

"It could have been a shallow sea when it hit, or it could have hit land, we just don't know for sure," he said. "If it hit land, there would have been an awful lot of debris in the atmosphere that would have affected climate, probably creating a cooling period."

While major asteroid strikes are rare in terms of Earth's 4.5-billion-year geological history, even another Tunguska-sized impact would have a devastating effect on a populated area. In the 1990s, Stauffer was a member of the national Meteorite and Impacts Advisory Committee which called on the Canadian Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States to identify near-Earth objects (NEOs) and track potential threats to the planet.

"They didn't do anything right away, but a few amateur astronomers did and NASA finally took heed and started their program, which I guess I can claim a tiny, tiny bit of credit that our group put the bug in their ear," Stauffer said.

To date, NASA has documented 18,043 NEOs in our solar system, including 1,900 that are at least 140 metres in diameter and have orbits near enough to Earth to be classified as potentially hazardous asteroids. But thousands remain undetected. On April 18 an asteroid labelled 2018GE3, estimated at up to 100 metres in diameter, escaped detection by NASA until just a few days before passing halfway between the Earth and moon (192,000km) at a speed of 106,000km per hour.

"There are lots of asteroids and comets in our solar system and it's impossible to predict the trajectories of all of these objects, but we need to try," said Daryl Janzen, a U of S sessional lecturer in physics who discusses NEOs in his Astronomy 104 class.

Identifying threats is the first step, with the United Nations recently endorsing establishment of the International Asteroid Warning Network for world-wide collaboration to defend Earth from potential impacts. While NASA's official position is that no known asteroid is projected to collide with the planet this century, NASA is preparing for a 2021 space mission designed to demonstrate a kinetic-impact technique to nudge an object off of a collision course with Earth.

"There is an extremely low probability of the planet coming into contact with one of these large near-Earth objects in our lifetime, but there is really good evidence that it happened in the past and led to mass extinction on the planet," said Janzen. "So, although the probability is low, it's important to discover as many NEOs as we can, so that if one does enter into a collision course with Earth, we can try to do something about it."

Explore further Small asteroid to shave safely by Earth FridayMore than 340,000 tons of turtle meat end up on dinner plates in China. Credit: Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

Using genetic methods, Senckenberg scientists have discovered that there are more species and genetic lineages of the Chinese softshell turtles Pelodiscus than previously assumed. These turtles are an important food source in Asia  in China alone, more than 340,000 tons are grown and eaten every year. In their study, recently published in the scientific journal The Science of Nature, the international team shows that this cultivation, in particular, threatens the species diversity of Pelodiscus.

In China, softshell turtles are standard fare in the traditional cuisine, and they are cultivated in large farms  340,000 tons of turtles are produced annually, and live softshell turtles are on sale in every supermarket, packaged in plastic nets. "Normally, one would assume that the large number of commercially produced softshell turtles guarantees that this species is not threatened, despite its intensive use," muses Prof. Dr. Uwe Fritz of the Museum for Zoology at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden.

However, a study by an international team of authors around Fritz and other Senckenberg scientists, recently published in the journal The Science of Nature, reveals that this commercial production actually threatens the diversity of the Chinese softshell turtles. As demonstrated by the authors, there is not just "one" Chinese softshell turtle, but many different species. "Several genetic lineages, which in part are considered separate species, were already known to us, but we were now also able to genetically characterize four new lineages for the first time," explains Fritz. To this end, the team analyzed about 150 softshell turtles, both wild and farm-bred animals, using different genetic methods. The results show that some of the lineages definitely constitute different species, since their ranges overlap in in the wild without any interbreeding.

In the commercial farms, on the other hand, the lineages are haphazardly thrown together, and the authors discovered genetic evidence that different species were crossed with each other. Moreover, the team of authors assumes that some farm animals escape back into the wild. In the Chinese Zhejiang province, they were able to document the simultaneous presence of five genetic lineages in one area that comprised at least three separate species  one of which is originally native to southeastern Siberia, more than 1,200 kilometers away.

Fritz explains, "The intermixing of different species in the farms creates a 'standard turtle,' and there is reason to fear that the species richness of the Chinese softshell turtles will be lost completely. The escape of farm animals into the wild only hastens this process, since they interbreed with the wild populations."

But there is hope: The study's lead author, Dr. Shiping Gong of the Guangdong Laboratory for Species Protection and Natural Resource Use points out that even today, many Chinese supermarkets already offer "bio-turtles" that are produced in accordance with organic-biological guidelines and sold at a much higher price than regular softshell turtles. He sees this as an opportunity for the preservation of the turtles' diversity. "If we succeed to convince our Chinese turtle consumers that "pure-bred" turtles are something special, then we hope that they are willing to pay a little more for these armored creatures. This would make the breeding of species- and lineage-pure farm turtles a profitable endeavor. I am confident that we would then be able to preserve the large diversity of the currently eleven different species and lineages of the Chinese softshell turtles. This could be a successful example of species conservation through exploitation."

Explore further Nest of endangered giant softshell turtle found in Cambodia

More information: Shiping Gong et al. Millennium-old farm breeding of Chinese softshell turtles (Pelodiscus spp.) results in massive erosion of biodiversity, The Science of Nature (2018). Shiping Gong et al. Millennium-old farm breeding of Chinese softshell turtles (Pelodiscus spp.) results in massive erosion of biodiversity,(2018). DOI: 10.1007/s00114-018-1558-9A cyclotron at the University of Alberta has proven capable of producing enough medical isotopes for up to 1,000 diagnostic procedures in a day. Credit: University of Alberta

University of Alberta scientists have taken a critical step towards supplying Alberta's demand for medical isotopes. Their newly published findings could have major implications for other health jurisdictions across North America as well.

Researchers at the university's Medical Isotope and Cyclotron Facility used a particle accelerator known as a cyclotron to produce enough isotopes for up to 1,000 diagnostic procedures in a day.

"We were asked to show that we could make it in the quantities that are required to supply a province and we've done it. We are the only people who have done that," said Sandy McEwan, a professor of oncology at the U of A.

The development comes in the wake of the closure last March of the Chalk River nuclear reactor, which was one of two major producers in the world of technetium-99m, the major medical isotope used for diagnostic procedures.

Technetium-99m, a radioactive tracer that can be detected in the body by medical equipment, is used in about two million procedures a year in Canada and another 20 million in the United States to help diagnose life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Traditionally, it has been supplied through specialized nuclear reactors that produce molybdenum-99, a radioactive isotope that decays to produce the needed technetium-99m on demand.

"Unlike other non-reactor-based methods of producing technetium-99m, the product from the cyclotron is functionally identical to that produced from a reactor. No new equipment or expertise is necessary at the nuclear medicine department," added Jan Andersson, a researcher at the U of A's Medical Isotope and Cyclotron Facility.

More than 70 per cent of today's diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are based on technetium, but the supply chain has proven fragile in recent years. In 2009 and 2010, reactors in Canada and the Netherlands unexpectedly went out of service at the same time and required long-term maintenance, causing worldwide shortages and major disruptions in patient care.

The U of A method represents a potential way forward in efforts to ensure a safe supply of isotopes that isn't susceptible to unplanned disruptions. It also bypasses public concerns about the use of nuclear reactors.

"One advantage with cyclotron-produced technetium is that the cyclotron is an electrical machine. We don't produce radioactive waste and it's very safe. When the electricity stops, the cyclotron stops and there is no hazard to the public," explained John Wilson, manager of the facility. "There are none of the issues you have with a reactor in terms of public perception, long-term waste and the huge initial cost of construction."

The innovation is part of an important strategic Canadian initiative to help counter the closing of Canada's Chalk River Nuclear Reactor. At its height, Chalk River supplied approximately 40 per cent of the world supply of molybdenum-99.

According to the U of A researchers, using a cyclotron to produce technetium and other radiopharmaceuticals also offers new opportunities as technological advances lessen the need for technetium in the future.

"It's my belief that over the next 10 years, technetium imaging will begin to disappear," said McEwan. "The technology is 50 years old."

McEwan explained that what can be measured and imaged with technetium has now been outstripped by what can be done with positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

The cyclotron can produce both technetium and the newer PET imaging isotopes, making it an important transition technology because it means people can run both systems simultaneously while moving their entire fleet of imaging units and scanners to PET.

"When the technetium market dies, technology that is specific for technetium production dies because it can't be used for anything else," added Wilson, "whereas a cyclotron can produce a variety of different isotopes for diagnostic imaging that are used in medicine."

With new radioactive isotopes increasingly in demand for PET imaging around the world, the researchers believe cyclotron technology gives a capability that ultimately provides the best health care for patients.

Though the technology is now proven, its future use for producing technetium is still unclear. Canada's federal and provincial governments will need to determine whether they want to use cyclotrons to replace reactors for medical isotopes, continue to rely on outside reactors or use the technology as a backup when there is need.

"Our work now allows a conversation to start on the future of precision medicine with imaging," said McEwan.

Explore further Breakthrough gives hope for new imaging isotope source

More information: J.D. Andersson et al, Robust high-yield ~1 TBq production of cyclotron based sodium [ 99m Tc]pertechnetate, Nuclear Medicine and Biology (2018). J.D. Andersson et al, Robust high-yield ~1 TBq production of cyclotron based sodium [ 99m Tc]pertechnetate,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.nucmedbio.2018.02.003Megan Brauner, a Washington State University Tri-Cities undergraduate, is researching how fungi can help restore native plant populations. Credit: Washington State University

Transplanting fungi to restore native plant populations in the Midwest and Northwest is the focus of efforts by a team of WSU Tri-Cities researchers.

Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with many plant roots, which helps stabilize the soil, conserve water and provides a habitat for many birds and insects, said Tanya Cheeke, assistant professor of biology. Some native plant species are more dependent on mycorrhizal fungi than invasive plant species. So, when that fungi is disturbed, native plants may not be able to compete as well with invasive species, disrupting the natural ecosystem of the environment and inhibiting many natural processes, she said.

Inoculate seedlings with microbes

"One way to improve native plant survival and growth in disturbed environments may be to inoculate seedlings with native soil microbes, which are then transplanted into a restoration site," Cheeke said. "We've been doing prairie restoration in Kansas for the past two years. Now, we're also doing something similar in the Palouse area in Washington."

Cheeke is working with a team of undergraduate and graduate students to complete the research. A group of her undergraduate students recently presented their project during the WSU Tri-Cities Undergraduate Research Symposium and Art Exhibition. Those students include Catalina Yepez, Jasmine Gonzales, Megan Brauner and Bryndalyn Corey.

The undergraduate team spent the past semester analyzing the spread of fungi from an inoculated soil environment in Kansas to see how far the fungi had spread into a restoration area. One year after planting, soil samples were collected at 0.5 meter, 1 meter, 1.5 meters, and 2 meters from the site of the inoculation in each plot. The samples were then tested for the presence of fungal DNA to see if the inoculated mycorrhizal species had reached the various distances from the inoculation points.

"The results will be used to inform ecological restoration efforts aimed at improving the survival and growth of native plants in disturbed ecosystems," undergraduate student Megan Brauner said.

Tanya Cheeke, WSU Tri-Cities assistant professor of biology, is researching how fungi can help restore native plant populations. Credit: Washington State University

Disturbed vs. pristine environments

Cheeke said they also are looking at how microbes change across gradients of disturbed environments compared to pristine environments.

"We want to determine the microbes that are present in pristine environments, but are missing from disturbed sites," she said.

Eventually, Cheeke said they would like to develop soil restoration strategies that other people can implement in their own environments.

Explore further Plant relationships break down when they meet new fungiNEEDHAM, Mass., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cambridge Healthtech Institute, a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, announces today that Linguamatics, the leading NLP-based text analytics provider for biomedical applications, will be demonstrating the newly launched Linguamatics iScite at this weeks Seventeenth Annual Bio-IT World Conference & Expo.



The Bio-IT World Conference & Expo is taking place May 15-17, 2018 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, MA, and will be attended by over 3,400 attendees from 35 countries  the event focuses on building the relationships that drive the Bio-IT industry forward.

We are looking forward to introducing iScite at Bio-IT World this week, said Phil Hastings, chief business development officer for Linguamatics. iScite is a breakthrough innovation in scientific search, putting the precision and power of our artificial intelligence-based technology directly into the hands of scientists, researchers and other knowledge workers. Users in our alpha and beta programs have been very enthusiastic about iScite, with its guided user experience and Answer Routing Engine providing intuitive access to AI-powered searches across key biomedical data sources, and delivering insightful answers to their search questions.

iScite uses Linguamatics award-winning technology stack to handle the nuances of language and the variety of ways people express the same information, ensuring searches are comprehensive and accurate. Using advanced NLP relationship and pattern matching, iScite rapidly guides users directly to the relevant insights extracted from cloud-hosted scientific content. Results are presented in a structured, semantically-meaningful way, with options for dynamic filtering and faceting, and multiple collaboration features to allow easier sharing of insights with co-workers and key stakeholders. Behind the scenes, Linguamatics uses a powerful blend of NLP and machine learning-based methods to achieve the best precision and recall.

Linguamatics will demonstrate iScite in Booth 549 in the Exhibit Hall at the Bio-IT World Conference. For complimentary exhibit hall passes to view the iScite demonstration, visit Bio-ITWorldExpo.com

For more information about Linguamatics and iScite, visit Linguamatics.com/iScite

For more information about the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, visit Bio-ITWorldExpo.com

About Cambridge Healthtech Institute (www.healthtech.com)

Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, CROs, academia, and niche service providers. CHI is renowned for its vast conference portfolio held worldwide including PepTalk, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, SCOPE Summit, Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, PEGS Summit, Drug Discovery Chemistry, Biomarker World Congress, World Preclinical Congress, Next Generation Dx Summit and Discovery on Target. CHI's portfolio of products include Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Barnett International, Insight Pharma Reports, Cambridge Marketing Consultants, Cambridge Meeting Planners, Bio-IT World, Clinical Informatics News and Diagnostics World.

About Bio-IT World (www.Bio-ITWorld.com)

Part of Healthtech Publishing, Bio-IT World provides outstanding coverage of cutting-edge trends and technologies that impact the management and analysis of life sciences data, including next-generation sequencing, drug discovery, predictive and systems biology, informatics tools, clinical trials, and personalized medicine. Through a variety of sources, including Bio-ITWorld.com, Weekly Update Newsletter and the Bio-IT World News Bulletins, Bio-IT World is a leading source of news and opinion on technology and strategic innovation in the life sciences, including drug discovery and development.

About Linguamatics (www.Linguamatics.com)

Linguamatics transforms unstructured big data into big insights to advance human health and wellbeing. A world leader in deploying innovative text analytics for high-value knowledge discovery and decision support, Linguamatics solutions are used by top commercial, academic and government organizations, including 18 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and leading US healthcare organizations.

Contact:

Lisa Scimemi

Corporate MARCOM Director

lscimemi@healthtech.comUnder the terms of the merger with Xerox, Fujifilm would have held 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox while current shareholders would have received a special cash dividend of $2.5 billion

US photocopier and printer maker Xerox on Sunday announced it was terminating a merger with Fujifilm and appointing a new chief executive after entering into a settlement with activist shareholders who had contested the takeover.

In a statement on its website, Xerox cited "material deviations" in the audited financials of an existing joint venture known as Fuji Xerox that is controlled by Fujifilm.

The move follows a lawsuit by powerful shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who together owned more than 15 percent of the group and had vigorously opposed the merger announced in January.

Xerox added that Jeff Jacobson had resigned from his role as the company's CEO, along with five board members who were replaced by five new members.

In Tokyo, Fujifilm disputed Xerox's "unilateral decision."

"We do not believe that Xerox has a legal right to terminate our agreement and we are reviewing all of our available options, including bringing a legal action seeking damages," the Japanese firm said in a statement.

The company called on the Xerox board of directors to "reconsider their decision."

The new board will be chaired by Keith Cozza, who is the current CEO of Icahn Enterprises, while its new CEO is set to be John Visentin.

Xerox said the board would immediately convene to "evaluate all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value."

"Over the past several weeks, the Xerox Board has repeatedly requested that Fujifilm immediately enter into negotiations on improved terms for a proposed transaction," the firm said.

"Despite our insistence, Fujifilm provided no assurance that it will do so within an acceptable timeframe.

"The Xerox Board believes that the transaction cannot reasonably be expected to be completed under these circumstances, particularly given the court's injunction of the transaction and the lack of shareholder support for the transaction on current terms, as well as the unresolved accounting issues at Fuji Xerox."

Latest victory for Icahn

The conflict was the latest involving a big company and a high-profile shareholder activist, in this case Icahn, a battle-tested billionaire who has aggressively challenged companies since the 1980s.

Icahn and Deason had in late April won a temporary injunction against the merger after a New York judge agreed the deal prioritized the interests of the Xerox CEO over that of the company's shareholders.

In early May, Xerox announced Jacobson would be stepping down before reversing its decision two days later.

Reacting to the news, Icahn said: "We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm.

"With that behind us and new shareholder-focused leadership in place, today marks a new beginning for Xerox."

Under the terms of the merger Fujifilm would have held 50.1 percent of Fuji Xerox while current shareholders would have received a special cash dividend of $2.5 billion.

Deason and Icahn were also unhappy about a secret 2001 deal between Xerox and Fujifilm which contained a clause that prevented the Xerox board from seeking another buyer, effectively shortchanging the company's shareholders.

In the wake of the announcement of Xerox's takeover in January, Fujifilm announced a cost savings plan envisaging thousands of job cuts at Fuji Xerox.

Fuji Xerox was also weakened last year by the discovery of accounting irregularities dating back to 2010.

The deal announced Sunday is a victory for so-called activist shareholders, among whom Carl Icahn is considered one of the "fathers."

It comes after activist fund Elliott won a weeks-long power struggle with Vivendi over Telecom Italia by wresting control of the company's board in early May.

Explore further Xerox CEO to resign in settlement with top shareholders

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Reference is further made to the stock exchange notification published by the Company on 20 April 2018, wherein it was announced that the Company had called, in full, the bond issue described as FRN Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA Senior Unsecured Callable Bond Issue 2013/2016, with ISIN NO 001 0682537 (the "Existing Bond Issue").



The Company has today offered all bondholders in the Existing Bond Issue to sell its bonds to the Company (the "Bond Buy-Back") for immediate discharge by the Company. The purpose of the Bond Buy-Back is to offer an alternative to bondholders who wish to receive early settlement of their bonds under the Existing Bond Issue.



The Bond Buy-Back will commence today, 14 May 2018, at 22:00 CET and expire on 22 May 2018 at 10:00 CET. Settlement under the Bond Buy-Back is expected to take place on or about 22 May 2018.



The offer price under the Bond Buy-Back is equal to 103% of the par value of all bonds offered, plus accrued but unpaid interest up until, but not including, the settlement date under the Bond Buy-Back.



The Bond Buy-Back is offered to all bondholders on equal terms, and is not conditional on any minimum number of bonds being offered to the Company.



Further details regarding the Bond Buy-Back are included in the attached Bond Buy-Back offer document and the bondholder offer form.

Hege Veiseth, CFO, +47 99 21 67 43EMGS, the marine EM market leader, uses its proprietary electromagnetic (EM) technology to support oil and gas companies in their search for offshore hydrocarbons. EMGS supports each stage in the workflow, from survey design and data acquisition to processing and interpretation. The Company's services enable the integration of EM data with seismic and other geophysical and geological information to give explorationists a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface. This improves exploration efficiency and reduces risks and the finding costs per barrel.EMGS operates on a worldwide basis with offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Houston, Villahermosa, Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur.For more information, visit www.emgs.comWeve talked about several obstacles to success in middle class Ohio for migrants from southeastern Kentucky: they had horrible accents and they tended to dress funny. But the biggest obstacle was the most difficult to overcome: their behavior.

As Ive noted, Scots-Irish immigrants to America brought with them a constellation of characteristics. These included an extreme independence of spirit, intense family loyalty, distrust of government or any other authority, and a hair temper prone to sudden violence. It was this last trait that was both the most difficult to change and the most likely to stand in the way of their success.

Back in Jackson, Kentucky, J.D. Vances family were hillbilly royalty, and the main quality that qualified them as royalty was their knee-jerk violence. You just didnt mess with the Blantons of Breathitt County. (Mamaw was a Blanton.)

So renowned were the Blantons for violence that one episode actually made the pages of the distant New York Times: the Blanton son of a local judge killed a man on election day in 1909.)

On another occasion a Blanton uncle believed that a truck driver had insulted his mother. (There was some question about thisthe driver had referred to the uncle as an SOB.) Cutting through the ambiguity (as it were), the uncle grabbed a power saw and began carving the driver up.

Closer to home, there is this story. One evening when Mamaw was twelve years old (i.e., the year before she began walking out with Papaw), Mamaw looked out the window and saw two miscreants in the act of stealing the family milk cow. Mamaw grabbed a rifle and began firing away, hitting one man while the other hightailed it out of sight. Realizing that the first fellow had only been wounded, Mamaw was in the process of finishing him off when, fortunately, a relative intervened.

True, all that happened in southeastern Kentucky. The trouble was that Papaw and Mamaw brought those same violent proclivities with them to Middletown, Ohio. Vance cites numerous examples, but here are just a few:

The drugstore incident. One time when J. D. Vances Uncle Jimmy was a little boy he went into a drugstore and began playing with an expensive toy. The angry store clerk threw Jimmy out. Mamaw and Papaw charged into the store and Papaw picked up the toy and slammed it to the floor, smashing it to pieces. Papaw then began throwing other toys around the store while Mamaw screamed at Papaw to beat the clerk up (but in much more graphic language).

Papaw advanced menacingly on the clerk and told him that if he ever spoke to Jimmy again Papaw would Break your f!#*king neck. Mamaw and Papaw then calmly continued their shopping trip as though nothing had happened.

The immolation incident. Papaw was for much of his life a drunk, and Mamaw was, in Vances word, a violent non-drunk. Angry at Papaws drinking, Mamaw once waited until Papaw took a nap, then poured gasoline on him and set him on fire.

Bev. The violence and instability in the Middletown home of Mamaw and Papaw had a devastating effect on Vances mother, Bev. She couldnt maintain a romantic relationship, taking up with so many men Vance lost count. She became depressed and attempted suicide. She was a drug addict whose behavior was often bizarre.

Once, Bev threatened to kill young J. D., who ran off and hid in a strangers home. Bev broke the ladys door down and yanked her son out kicking and screaming. The police arrived and dragged Bev away in handcuffs.

In other words, the kinds of behavior that, in Jackson, Kentucky, conferred hillbilly royalty status on the family, took on a very different and much darker hue in Ohio: people who acted like that were outlaws.

My grandparents were no strangers to hillbilly violence, having grown up near Bloody Harlan. Granddad was raised in a no-plumbing cabin situated halfway up a mountain just north of Barbourville, Kentucky. There were no roads up to the place, so whenever we visited Great Grandma, we parked down by the creek and hiked up through the woods.

(By the way, I always thought that place was called Darr Holler because, well, thats what everybody called it. It wasnt until I was in my twenties that I realized it was actually Dyer Hollow, Dyer being my grandfathers last name.)

The Dyers had their own private coal mine a bit further up the mountain, a useful thing to have in the middle of the winter. Unfortunately, other people knew about the mine and werent shy about helping themselves.

So Granddad kept a shotgun leaning just inside the back door. When the hounds set up a howl, suggesting that somebody was, in fact, helping himself to come coal, Granddad would grab the shotgun and run out back blasting away. When folks are stealing your coal, you shoot first and ask questions later.

But when Granddad and Grandma left Barbourville for Ohio, this sort of behavior stayed behind in Kentucky. They noticed right away that people in Springfield simply didnt act like that, and they did their best to learn other mechanisms for coping with anger and insults.

Both Grandma and Granddad had tempers, but they learned to turn those tempers only on each other, never on non-family members and rarely on familynot even on their annoying grandson. Not only were my grandparents not violent people, they were the least violent people I knew. Like the issue of dress, they knew they couldnt rely on their own instincts to avoid violence, but instead, by dint of sheer willpower, became more-Catholic-than-the-Pope: more peaceful than the Ohioans.

J. D. Vance grew up in Ohio, but in the atmosphere of southeastern Kentucky. His grandparents talked funny, dressed funny, and exercised tempers that took them from nothing to extreme violence in a nanosecond. I grew up in Ohio, and in the atmosphere of Ohio. My grandparents talked funny (but not in public), dressed like Ohioans, and lived lives so peaceful that no one in southeastern Kentucky would have believed they were actually hillbillies.

Over the next few weeks well reflect on the lessons Vance hopes we will take from Hillbilly Elegy, and that will bring this series to a close.

Next up: On Hillbilly Elegy, Part VIIIMay 14, 2018 in Business (E)

[prMac.com] Mons (Wallonia), Belgium - Creaceed introduces Inko - Group Edition, a new variant to their real-time collaborative whiteboard app for iPad, iPhone and Apple TV, that can now be purchased through Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP) by schools and enterprises. Just like its free counterpart, the Group Edition app lets users draw collaboratively in real time on the same canvas, offering network-less connectivity, a remarkable drawing experience, as well as live TV mirroring and interaction. Both app variants are compatible with each other.



Inko's peer-to-peer connectivity makes infrastructure network or internet access superfluous, offering a one-tap setup process that enables easy deployment in most situations. Inko also offers a beautiful pixel-free visualization with vibrant colors on wide color displays (P3).



Ready for Enterprise and Education:

With its nomadic connectivity, Inko - Group Edition is particularly well suited for schools and businesses. Furthermore, the free Apple TV companion app enables live mirroring of contents on large screens, up to 4K, and also offers innovative interaction with the remote used as a laser pointer. Moreover, the support for standard TV sets makes it an affordable alternative to expensive and less flexible interactive whiteboards.



Inko also offers full compatibility with the new & more affordable 6th-gen iPad, introduced by Apple at their education event in Chicago (March 2018), and a remarkable drawing experience through its extensive support for Apple Pencil as well as the Logitech Crayon. And with the availability of the Group Edition variant through Apple's VPP Store, Inko is a great match for schools.



"Inko is our fastest growing app so far, nearing 200.000 downloads after just one month. We believe Inko can be an advantageous alternative to dedicated interactive whiteboards, being more affordable, more easily deployed, and running on off-the-shelf devices (iPad, TV sets) that can serve numerous other purposes." says Raphael Sebbe, Creaceed's Founder.



Feature Highlights:

* Real-time drawing: highly responsive, "appears-as-it-happens" multi-user drawing with no lag

* Improved palm rejection (version 1.0.2) to avoid leaving marks when resting the palm while drawing with the Apple Pencil

* Dynamic trails: participants' labels on drawing trails that show who is currently drawing

* Seamless connectivity with up to 12 devices when using a Wi-Fi access point, or 8 devices without Wi-Fi access point

* Extensive Apple Pencil support with angle, pressure, high-speed & predictive sampling

* Reliable syncing and multi-user undo/redo

* Pen tool with two sizes & one calligraphic variant. Eraser tool with two sizes

* Ephemeral highlighter tool. On Apple TV, motion-driven, laser pointer-like control with the remote.

* Optimized for latest iOS: file sharing, Split View Multitasking on iPad, Drag & Drop, Today Widget, Quick Actions, etc.

* Hi-res PDF export for a productive workflow

* iCloud sync for personal drawings

* Free Apple TV companion app



Live Demonstrations at Vivatech in Paris:

The Creaceed team will be giving live demos of Inko at the Viva Technology (Vivatech) event in Paris from May 24th through 26th. Creaceed booth will be located in Vivatech Hall 1, on the Digital Wallonia pavillon (E44). Vivatech takes place at Paris Expo - Porte de Versailles.



Pricing and Availability:

Inko - Group Edition is available immediately both on the App Store ($19.99) worldwide and on Apple's VPP store ($9.99 for minimum 20 units, see conditions in link below) in 34 countries, and is localized in 12 languages. Inko - Group Edition provides the same features set as Inko with Collaboration Pack. An Apple TV companion app is available as a free download on the App Store, has no limitation, and works with both variants of Inko.

Creaceed is a Belgian company that has been making apps for 10 years, focusing on image processing technologies in the fields of document scanning & vision aid, note taking, photo and video processing. Other apps like Hydra, Carbo, Prizmo and Prizmo Go have been awarded & featured by Apple on multiple occasions. Copyright 2008-2018 Creaceed. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iOS, macOS, iPhone, iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

###ANAHEIM, Calif., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hestan  the award-winning culinary brand renowned for creating the market's most advanced, powerful and versatile commercial kitchen equipment  is prepping for the upcoming National Restaurant Association Show 2018, where it will be showcasing its innovative lineup of cooking suites, custom lineups, freestanding ranges, countertop units, specialty products and more. From Saturday, May 19 to Tuesday, May 22, approximately 66,000 industry professionals will gather in Chicago for the annual event. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience Hestans award-winning products, as well as get a first glimpse of the companys brand new large convection ovens and open burner rangetops. In addition, those in attendance at 11 a.m. on May 21 are invited to participate in a live question and answer session with world-renowned chef, Thomas Keller, a longtime supporter and brand ambassador for Hestan Commercial. The first 100 people to arrive at the booth at 10:30 a.m. will be gifted with an autographed photo of Chef Keller, and a personal photo opportunity will follow the question and answer session.



"We look forward to sharing our commercial lineup with NRAs thousands of attendees, who represent the most forward-thinking chefs and restaurateurs in the country, said Eric Deng, president of Hestan Commercial Corporation. We will be revealing our new large convection ovens and open burner rangetops, with designs directly inspired by working with world-renowned chefs.

Open Burner Rangetops: Hestans new rangetops are designed to focus heat towards the epicenter of its brass burners, creating an unprecedented balance for accurate cooking. The burner systems can produce power as high as 35,000 BTU/hour and as low as 1,500 BTU/hour  providing ideal searing, broiling and simmering  so the rangetops are as flexible as the chefs using them. Heavy-gauge welded body construction, highly polished stainless steel rod grates and the removable lift out burner bowl ensure durability and easy cleaning, while providing the long-lasting functionality that a commercial kitchen requires.

Large Convection Ovens: The new large convection ovens mark Hestans expansion into yet another category of cooking and answers the demand of customers looking for larger production capability. Energy efficient, the ovens provide extremely consistent results at a larger oven capacity than previous models  optimal for baking in high volumes. With precise site lines and a low-profile convection fan system, the ovens feature a small back-to-front footprint, ensuring lineup with the same depths as the rest of the heavy-duty line.

Our products are the result of decades of combined experience and will continue to set the tone for what chefs can and should expect from todays restaurant kitchen, added Deng. We are honored to attend this years NRA event and look forward to sharing the show floor with Chef Thomas Keller.

For more information about attending the event, visit https://show.restaurant.org/ . For more information about Hestan, please visit www.hestan.com.

ABOUT HESTAN: Hestan is the award-winning culinary brand renowned for creating the market's most advanced, powerful and versatile commercial kitchen equipment, premium outdoor grills, and now a new indoor line of appliances. Founded by culinary icon Stanley Cheng, and backed by some of the industry's most inventive and forward-thinking chefs and engineers, Hestan is forging new ground with visionary technologies and products. Headquartered in the heart of Southern California in a 130,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that includes a showroom, test kitchen and innovation lab, Hestan is led by a collaborative team of industry mavericks who bring together over 200 years of combined experience to create thoughtfully designed products that respond intelligently to the needs of the end user. Equipping the kitchens of acclaimed restaurateurs and Michelin-starred chefs such as Thomas Keller, as well as the legendary Culinary Institute of America, Hestan is setting the pace of the culinary evolution with products that provide the confidence and comfort of the highest quality materials and top craftsmanship. For more information, visit www.hestan.com.

Editors Note: To schedule an appointment with Hestan representatives, via email hestan@beyondfifteen.com or call (949) 733-8679 x 114.



MEDIA CONTACT:

Leslie Licano, Beyond Fifteen Communications, Inc.

leslie@beyondfifteen.com | 949-733-8679 x 101



Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/901b54aa-d813-4bc6-a170-93f124c537d8

http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/0579fc61-4177-42ee-8025-7c43bcabc2f5



" " This map of the New Madrid Seismic Zone shows earthquakes with magnitudes larger than 2.5 as yellow circles. USGS

Dec. 3, 1990, was a day of anxiety for America. A prediction made by climate consultant Iben Browning held that there'd be a "50 percent chance" of a magnitude 7 earthquake rocking the nation on this date. Browning also said that, if the quake came, it'd probably originate near the city of New Madrid (pronounced "MAD-rid") in southeastern Missouri.

Panic ensued as the moment of truth drew closer. A St. Louis Red Cross doled out 230,000 earthquake preparedness kits, the Memphis "Commercial Appeal" ran daily "Quake Watch" columns, and schools in four states let students stay home on the third of December.

But there was to be no major catastrophe that day. Browning's earthquake never manifested itself. Earth scientists weren't surprised. Browning was no seismologist, and the experts had dismissed his predictions. So why did the public take them seriously? After all, most earthquakes happen along the boundaries of tectonic plates. Yet New Madrid is thousands of miles away from the closest boundary.

Despite its location, the area does have a history of large-scale earthquakes. It rests upon an old seismic zone straddling Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee. Created millions of years ago, the sensitive spot produced massive quakes in the 19th century. Here's a brief history of the so-named New Madrid Seismic Zone.

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A Failed Rift

You might be familiar with Pangea, a prehistoric supercontinent that formed when all of Earth's major landmasses merged about 300 million years ago.

Before Pangea, there was the supercontinent Rodinia, which assembled itself between 950 million and 1.3 billion years ago. Then around 750 million years ago, Rodinia started to break apart. Rifts (or faults) emerged between  and within  the various continental plates. Some 600 million years ago, a point of division called the Reelfoot Rift appeared in what's now the southeastern United States.

On occasion, rifts split continents in half. That didn't happen here: The Reelfoot Rift was stopped in its tracks. Geologically speaking, it failed  but not before it weakened part of the continental plate and created faults that still exist today.

"[It] left something of a scar in the otherwise old and relatively homogeneous crust," Susan Hough, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, says via email. The New Madrid Seismic Zone lies within the Reelfoot Rift. To earthquake researchers like Hough, this region is an enigma. As her email notes, there are a lot of other failed mid-continent rifts in North America. (An especially big one extends beneath Lake Superior.) Yet these "have not produced significant earthquakes in recent or historic times."

"So why has the Reelfoot lit up with earthquakes, but not the [others]?" asks Hough. "There are some ideas, but no definitive answer."

Advertisement

"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"

When a quake hits a bed of wet, loose sand, the grains and water may burst up out of the ground in a geyser. Those create "sand blows," wide cones of debris on the surface. By radiometrically dating some very old sand blows, geologists have concluded that the central Mississippi Valley underwent some huge quakes in (approximately) 1450 A.D., 900 A.D., 300 B.C.E., and 2530 B.C.E.

The next seismic event that rivaled those pre-Columbian shakeups in magnitude wouldn't come along until 1811. On Dec. 16 of that year, at about 2:15 a.m. Central Time, northeastern Arkansas became the epicenter of a quake that toppled chimneys, knocked down trees and set off landslides on the Mississippi. Two similar rumblings occurred near New Madrid on Jan. 23 and Feb. 7, 1812.

Exactly how big the 1811-1812 quakes were is unknown. On the Richter Scale, seismic events with a measured magnitude of 8.0 or more are deemed "great." They can totally level small towns near their epicenter and are 10 times stronger than 7.0 quakes, which can still do great damage.

Historically, the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid Seismic Zone earthquakes have been regarded as some of the most catastrophic that the U.S. has ever seen. A few researchers even claim they were stronger than the 7.9-magnitude San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Hough doesn't buy that assessment. "My own research says the largest earthquakes were closer to 7 than to 8," she tells us.

Advertisement

Could History Repeat Itself?

Many buildings in the settlement of New Madrid were washed into the Mississippi by those 1811 and 1812 quakes. Nevertheless, the city takes pride in its seismic past: Drive over for a visit and you can buy T-shirts that read "It's Our Fault."

But should modern Americans be concerned about the failed rift? In 2009, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) calculated the potential threat of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake arising from the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The report claims that such a quake would destroy just under 715,000 buildings across an eight-state radius. It also foresees 2.5 million families losing power as well as 86,000 casualties and serious injuries.

Don't freak out just yet, though. The likelihood of that doomsday scenario is debatable. Among geologists, there are some strong differences in opinion about the zone's current activity levels. Regardless, as Hough points out, it hasn't caused excessive damage in quite a while.

"In recent geological times, the zone has produced sequences like that in 1811-1812 about once every 400 to 500 years," she tells us. "If you have one M7.2 (say) every 400 years, that suggests you will have one M6.2 about every 40 years."

And yet, things haven't worked out that way. The last regional seismic event to even approach magnitude 6 happened in 1895. Does that mean we're overdue for another major-league quake? "Short answer: nope," Hough says. There's no way to reliably predict earthquakes  something Browning failed to grasp in 1990. As Hough puts it, "[They] aren't babies. We don't know when they are due, so we can't say when they're overdue."

Now That's Interesting The name "Rodinia" means "motherland" in Russian. Whereas Pangea was teeming with life (the first dinosaurs and mammals evolved upon it), complex land organisms didn't exist in Rodinia's time. That means the older supercontinent was effectively barren.Elon Musks SpaceX has successfully launched its Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Friday, May 11 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The launch was initiated at 4:14 p.m. EDT. As per the reports, the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) approximately 33 minutes after launch.

Bangabandhu Satellite-1 is Bangladeshs first geostationary communications satellite. Development of

the satellite program, known as the Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project, was managed by the

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) with technical support from Space

Partnership International (SPI). The satellite, which is comprised of 26 Ku-band and 14 C-band

transponders, was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space on the Spacebus 4000B2 platform and will be

operated by the Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL).

The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission is the first to utilize Falcon 9 Block 5, the final substantial upgrade to

SpaceXs Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very

limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.

The first launch of upgraded Falcon 9 was aborted forcefully for the reasons that remain unclear, just one minute before the countdown yesterday. The organizations first-ever Falcon 9 Block 5 was planned to launch on May 10 from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, set for a mission to carry Bangabandhu Satellite-1 correspondences satellite to circle for the administration of Bangladesh.

Just 58 seconds before the planned liftoff time (5:47 pm) an automatic abort was triggered, and SpaceX couldnt analyze and settle the issue before the closing of the launch window 6:22 p.m. a twitter update by Space X stated that they are going to halt it today due to a standard ground system auto-abort at T-1 Rocket and payload are healthy  groups are working towards tomorrows backup dispatch opportunity at 4:14 p.m. EDT, or 20:14 UTC.

SpaceX originator and CEO Elon Musk have said that The Block 5 is the most recent and last emphasis of SpaceXs two-organize Falcon 9 rocket. The new form includes various unwavering quality and reusability overhauls that ought to permit each Block 5 first stage to fly 10 times with no restoration amongst dispatch and landing, and 100 times or more with some minor support. The new Falcon 9 cuts the turnaround time for dispatches from months to weeks.

The overhauls were likewise intended to meet NASAs team conveying prerequisites. SpaceX holds a deal with space agency which is worth multibillion- dollars to fly astronauts to and from the international space station and the Falcon 9 block 5 and its Dragon capsule will be used to perform these missions.

Built by the French company Thales Alenia Space, Bangabandhu-1 is going to be Bangladeshs first communication Satellite. This shuttle will provide a variety of communication services and broadcast to the tenants of the South Asian Country.

Bangabandhu Satellite-1 has a primary service area encompassing Bangladesh and the surrounding

region. The satellite will offer Ku-band coverage over Bangladesh and its territorial waters in the Bay of

Bengal, as well as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It will also provide Cband

capacity for the entire region.

Located at 119.1 East, Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will provide direct-to-home (DTH) services, video

distribution and very small aperture terminal (VSAT) communications across Bangladesh. The satellite

will also provide broadband connectivity to rural areas throughout the country. Bangabandhu Satellite1s

mission is expected to last at least 15 years.

Launch Facility

Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center has a long and storied history dating back to the

early 1960s. Originally built to support the Apollo program, LC-39A supported the first Saturn V launch

(Apollo 4), and many subsequent Apollo missions, including Apollo 11 in July 1969. Beginning in the late

1970s, LC-39A was modified to support Space Shuttle launches, hosting the first and last shuttle

missions to orbit in 1981 and 2011 respectively.

In 2014, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease with NASA for the use of historic Launch Complex 39A. Since

then, the company has made significant upgrades to modernize the pads structures and ground

systems, while also preserving its important heritage. Extensive modifications to LC-39A have been

made to support launches of both commercial and crew missions on SpaceXs Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy

launch vehicles.In an embarrassing act of shame, tourists at the Utah State Park are destroying the ancient dinosaur tracks that are nearly 200 million years old. Officials reported that the visitors at the park are throwing the sandstones carrying the footprints of dinosaurs into the Utah Lake. Park officials have not yet found the actual reason behind such act of vandalism but some believe the visitors might be doing such an undesirable activity without realizing the true potential of the rocks.

Josh Hansen who works as a manager at the Utah State Park said that he was shocked to see a boy throwing away large amounts of the sandstones into the lake while Hansen was casually boating across the water body. Hansen said it concerned him when his eyes quickly fell on the tracks of dinosaurs that the sandstones carried on them. Hansen stated that it is an integral part of the history which needs to be protected.

Some of the tracks are very distinct to the layperson, Hansen said,but just as many are not. That is why it is important to not disturb any rocks at the dinosaur trackway.

People come to Red Fleet from across the country and the world to see wonders like these, Hansen said. By deteriorating the track site, people are taking away the experience from thousands of others. Not only that, but this act also constitutes a crime.The Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore is expected to increase the ever-growing flows of capital to pour into Singapores real estate market, causing it to reach unprecedented levels. International publications are saying that Singapore was chosen as the venue for the Summit because it is a boring city. But boring is not necessarily bad.

The South China Morning Post describes Singapores boringness as such:

The Southeast Asian financial hub was likely chosen for its stability, neutrality, security advantages and track record of hosting international summits, observers say. The ultra-modern city state has a robust security infrastructure and is widely considered one of the safest cities in Asia. It has tight restrictions over media and public gatherings, which will allow for a controlled environment likely to be preferred by the North Koreans. As far as the attendees are likely concerned, Singapores reputation as being dull is a definite plus.

That could be one big reason for the President of the United States of America to choose Singapore as the venue for his June 12 Summit with the North Supreme Leader; and for the North Korean leader to agree to the venue.

In any case, this is not the first time Singapore has been chosen as the venue for high-profile Summits between leaders of States which have difficult relationships with one another.

On 7 November 2015, Ma Ying-jeou, president of the Republic of China (Taiwan; ROC), and Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of the Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China; PRC), met in Singapore. The meeting was the first between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1950 and the first since the meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in Chongqing during the Double Tenth Agreement in August 1945.

The international spotlight on Singapore as being a safe and boring city is good for the country, especially for its efforts to draw in competition for investment dollars  especially real estate investment dollars.

Story continues

The Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2018 report jointly published by Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC already ranks Singapore in third place this year.

real estate

Image credit: ULI-PwC report

The report said: Of all the various influences that have combined to shape recent investment flows into Asian real estate, one continues to stand out: excess liquidity. Local sovereign and institutional funds bearing vast stockpiles of accumulated cash are investing it increasingly in property, both regionally and globally. The resulting competition for assets is changing the industry in fundamental and often unexpected ways.

The Trump-Kim Summit is expected to lend more optimism to investors who are betting in the resurgence of Singapore, believing that the markets here have bottomed after several years of weakness.

And news that Chinas President Xi Jinping may also travel to Singapore for the unprecedented summit on June 12 will only add more optimism to investors who look to grow their monies in safe havens. Chinese businesses are already expanding their global footprint through targeting emerging markets, acquiring overseas firms and making strategic investments in new technologies.

For Chinese investors, Singapore is not only Asias most stable and transparent market and a global financial services hub, but it is also viewed as having strong links to China with good geographical positioning to act as a gateway into Southeast Asia.

There are however some concerns in certain quarters that the excess funds flowing into the Republic is invariably distorting the Singapore real estate market.

Chinese property developers have bid aggressively for Government Land Sales (GLS), which ramps up government coffers, but may be bad news for the Singapore property market and home-buyers, as additional costs may be headed their way.

There is fear that as land bids go up, so will prices for homes. A well known commentator on financial matters, Ryan Ong, previously explained how funds from foreign investors were distorting the Singapore real estate market:

Higher prices in private property are fine, if they are a result of a growing economy. But thats not the case  the current situation is one of foreign companies muscling in with deep pockets, and distorting the Singapore property market. Singaporeans who have long saved up to upgrade, or hope for their children to be able to do so, will suffer at the hands of rising property prices. Note that this isnt just an issue in the newly developed condos: theres a strong chance of a knock-on effect, as even older private properties will probably see their prices rise in tandem. Also, remember that the private property market is not totally divorced from public housing. As more Singaporeans are priced out of the private market, there will be further demand for public housing (such as resale flats). Increased demand, of course, leads to increased prices.

The ULI-PwC report confirms this view: The residential sector is also showing signs of bottoming, with rising transactions and a slight uptick in pricing for the first time in four years. Driven by buoyant sentiment, sales of developer sites have surged amid tightening supply as developers add to land banks. The rebound seems likely to be sustainable, given the momentum of several years worth of pent-up consumer demand. Chinese developers have been especially active in buying land, pushing up land auction prices for residential sites significantly through 2017.



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 for a free assessment.

The post Trump-Kim Summit will seal Singapore as a boring city safe for real estate investments appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources.DENVER, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RLH Corporation (NYSE:RLH) today announced an agreement for a $30 million five year credit facility and $10 million five year revolver in a strategic agreement with Deutsche Bank, Capital One and Raymond James. The facility expands the Companys relationships with financial institutions for future acquisitions where funding might be needed and provides flexibility for investing in future growth initiatives.



The strength of our balance sheet, growth of our franchise portfolio, and the progress in our asset light strategy  have positioned RLH Corporation to execute a credit facility agreement with Deutsche Bank, said RLH Corporation Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Doug Ludwig. The facility and revolver provide the Company with flexibility and capacity in funding its on-going asset-light growth initiatives.

Funds from the $30 million term loan will be primarily used for the previously announced Knights Inn acquisition. Proceeds from future sales of the five hotels still being marketed for sale will be applied to reducing the 20-year amortizing loan balance.

Entering a credit agreement with Deutsche Bank, Capital One and Raymond James represents a new factor in our strategic growth plans, said RLH Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Mount. We believe that the relationships we are building with these banks advance our ability to quickly act on future acquisition opportunities and support our enhanced focus on aggressively growing our franchise business.

To learn more about franchising with RLH Corporation, visit franchise.rlhco.com. We dont wait for the future. We create it.

About RLH Corporation

Red Lion Hotels Corporation is an innovative hotel company doing business as RLH Corporation and focuses on the franchising, management and ownership of upscale, midscale and economy hotels. The company focuses on maximizing return on invested capital for hotel owners across North America through relevant brands, industry-leading technology and forward-thinking services. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.rlhco.com.

Social Media:

www.Facebook.com/myhellorewards

www.Twitter.com/myhellorewards

www.Instagram.com/myhellorewards

www.Linkedin.com/company/rlhco

Investor Relations Contact:

Amy Koch

O: 509-777-6417

C: 917-579-5012

investorrelations@rlhco.com

Media Contact:

Dan Schacter

Director, Social Engagement and Public Relations

509-777-6222

dan.schacter@rlhco.comSingapore state courts (Yahoo News Singapore file photo)

A man who threw his own faeces at his ex-girlfriend at her workplace last September was jailed 26 months at the State Courts on Monday (14 May).

The man, who cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order, pleaded guilty to six charges for offences including stalking his former girlfriend, voluntarily causing hurt to her, using criminal force to dishonour her as well as an unrelated incident of stealing from the donation box of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.

Twelve other charges related to the harassment of his ex-girlfriend were taken into consideration for the mans sentencing.

Court documents stated that the 48-year-old married man had been having an affair with the victim when she broke off their relationship sometime in September last year.

Upset at her decision, he began stalking her from September to December last year in spite of the victim having taken out an Expedited Protection Order (EPO) against him. He also planned to exact his revenge on the woman.

On 26 September last year, the man defecated into a plastic bag while at home. He had been suffering a bout of diarrhoea at the time.

He tied up the plastic bag and kept it at his home overnight before heading to his ex-girlfriends workplace, a food and beverage outlet in Orchard Road, the next afternoon.

Upon reaching the eatery, the man untied the plastic bag and threw it at his ex-girlfriend while her back was turned. The bags extremely foul smelling contents splattered on the victims left arm and splashed her co-workers back and face.

Faecal matter was also splattered onto the eaterys countertop, with some also landing in the food outlet adjacent to the victims workplace. Total business losses incurred amounted to over $5,000.

The man fled to Malaysia on the same day and was arrested upon re-entering Singapore on 26 October. He was first charged on 11 December and was released on court bail.

Other incidents of harassment, abuse

The former lovers had worked together as kitchen helpers at a chicken rice stall. While having an argument in mid-August last year, he raised a chopper at his then girlfriend. She quit her job soon after and moved out of the mans house, breaking up with him by phone sometime in September.

Story continues

The man refused to accept her decision, deciding instead to stalk her at her home and workplace. The victim successfully applied for an EPO on 21 September.

At around 10.40am on 11 November, the man confronted the victim at a bus stop. When she refused to speak to him, he punched and bit her face, scratched her neck and pushed her into a nearby drain.

On 9 December, he also printed out nude photos of the victim and pasted them on the inside of the lift of the block where she lived. He had taken the pictures while she was asleep, during the time they lived together.

A few days later he sent the victim a video of her leaving the house with her mother.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Li Yihong described the man as having been persistent in his acts of harassment. His choice of using faeces was calculated to demean the victim and there was a great risk of transmitting disease, added Li, who urged the court to impose a jail term of 26 months.

The man, who was unrepresented, asked for leniency citing his sick wife, who was also in court. He said she had schizophrenia and needed someone to take care of her.

For stalking the victim he could have been jailed up to 12 months, fined up to $5,000, or both. For using criminal force to dishonour her, he could have been jailed up to two years, fined or both.

More Singapore stories:

Government to work with Pritam Singh and WP in interest of Singapore: Chan Chun Sing

Shanmugam on SCDF NSFs death: We will get to the bottom of it

SCDF NSF drowns after falling into fire stations pump well; 2 regulars arrestedSCDF personnel taking part in the Northstar counter-terrorism exercise at Changi Airport in October 2017. (Yahoo News Singapore file photo)

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) full-time national serviceman (NSF) has died after falling into a fire stations pump well while celebrating his impending operationally ready date (ORD) with his squad mates on Sunday (13 May).

CPL Kok Yuen Chin did not re-surface and was found unconscious at about 9.20pm on Sunday at the bottom of Tuas View Fire Stations pump well, a reservoir of water used by fire station personnel for training and testing the pumps of fire engines.

One of the activities during the celebration involved getting Kok  who was due to complete his full-time national service stint on Wednesday  into the pump well, said the SCDF in a statement on Monday.

A number of SCDF personnel had jumped into the pump well to locate him but they were unsuccessful. CPL Kok was eventually pulled out from the well after the water had been drained, the statement added.

A paramedic then immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Kok and an automated external defibrillator was also used.

Kok was then conveyed by ambulance to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The SCDF said that the police are currently investigating the matter to ascertain how Kok ended up falling into the pump well and whether any parties are criminally responsible for his death.

Two SCDF regular personnel were placed under arrest on Monday over the incident. Based on preliminary investigations, the SCDF said the mishap appears to have arisen as a result of activities which SCDF has prohibited.

Severe punishments and deterrent action have been meted out in the past to personnel who engaged in unauthorised activities, the SCDF added.

The SCDF said it will also be conducting briefings at all its fire stations and bases as well as look into check whether any similar activities were conducted in the recent past.

A Board of Inquiry will also be convened to look into the case and full details will be made public in due course, said the SCDF.

Story continues

SCDF is saddened by his death and extends our deepest condolences to his family. We are providing all necessary assistance to the family during this difficult time, it added in the statement.

The SCDF has not disclosed the ages of CPL Kok and the two SCDF regular personnel placed under arrest.

Koks death comes two weeks after a 19-year-old Singapore Armed Force NSF died from signs of heat injury following an 8km fast march.

Related stories:

19-year-old NSF dies after showing signs of heat injury following fast march

Committee of Inquiry convened to investigate death of NSF Dave LeeVersaFleet offers a SaaS transport management solution that automates modern supply chains with route optimisation, electronic proof-of-delivery, instant notifications and real-time job status tracking

Singapore-based logistics operations automation startup VersaFleet has secured S$2.8 million (US$2.1 million) in pre-Series A round of funding, led by local venture capital firm Prestellar Ventures, with participation from unnamed angel investors.

The company will use the money to expand operations across Asia and boost its Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Also Read: Big names lead US$60M investment into Singapore automotive marketplace Carro

Over the past three years, VersaFleet has been seeing strong growth, with our annual revenue increasing 350 per cent year-on-year. With this new injection of funds and the additional expertise from our investors, we aim to double the size of our team and serve beyond 5,000 drivers worldwide. We are also looking to expand regional operations within Malaysia and Indonesia, said Shamir Rahim, Founder and CEO of VersaFleet.

Founded in 2012, VersaFleet (previously known as Sypher Labs) offers a SaaS-based transport management solution that automates modern supply chains with route optimisation, electronic proof-of-delivery, instant notifications and real-time job-status tracking. Designed for the everyman, VersaFleet powers thousands of drivers worldwide, automating operations one successful delivery at a time.

VersaFleet claims it currently automates almost one million delivery/pickup tasks regularly for around 100 companies, including Fortune 500 brands across Southeast Asia.

VersaFleets ability to incorporate AI with human planning is critical in transforming the logistics industry roadmap. We see this as the future of logistics and are delighted to work together with Shamir and his team as they expand VersaFleet across Asia, helping more logistic operators to become more productive and efficient, said Rabindra Shrestha, Managing Partner at Prestellar.

Story continues

Also Read: Dating app Paktor is heading towards an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange

VersaFleet was incubated by NUS Enterprise and began operations on NUS campus.

Prestellar Ventures is a US$100 million early-stage private equity fund that invests in pre-Series A-stage startups in Singapore, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.

The post Singapores VersaFleet grabs US$2.1M to expand its logistics automation solutions to Malaysia, Indonesia appeared first on e27.The United States' top diplomat said Sunday Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behavior" as President Donald Trump called his withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal key to containing Tehran. But while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power. The development came as Iran's foreign minister said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the pact, while speaking in Beijing at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing it. Trump's announcement last Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay among its other signatories -- China, Russia, France, the Britain and Germany. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was keen to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners. Pompeo, who is barely a fortnight into his new job, told Fox News Sunday that he had been tasked by the president "to work to strike a deal that achieves the outcomes that protect America." "That's what we are going to do and I will be hard at it with the Europeans in the next several days," said the top US diplomat. "I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well. The administration says the lifting of sanctions as part of the nuclear pact had allowed Iran to build up its military. Trump weighed in later Sunday, saying his decision would limit Iran's regional ambitions. "Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place," he tweeting. "They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!" With Pompeo seemingly assuming the "good cop" role on behalf of the Trump administration, it was left to newly appointed US national security advisor John Bolton to remind Europe its firms could be punished if they didn't adhere to American measures. "It's possible," Bolton said on CNN when asked about the prospect of sanctions. "It depends on the conduct of other governments." "The consequences of American sanctions go way beyond goods shipped by American companies because of our technology licenses to many other countries and businesses around the world. As those sanctions kick in, it will have an even broader effect as well," he said. "I think the Europeans will see that it's in their interest, ultimately, to come along with us." - Zarif embarks on tour - While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a recent visit to Washington. Macron and Trump spoke by phone on Saturday, with the US president urging "the need for a comprehensive deal that addresses all aspects of Iran's destabilizing activities in the Middle East," according to a White House readout of the call. German leader Angela Merkel also told Trump on a visit to Washington late last month that the nuclear deal was insufficient in itself to curb Iran's ambitions in the region. Although most analysts believe the US withdrawal has effectively scuppered the agreement, Iran's foreign minister talked up the prospects of its survival on Sunday while visiting China, another of the signatories. "We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. - Iran hardliners fight back - Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels. Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian pro-regime fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies. Iranian hardliners -- who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West -- are already mobilizing against the efforts to save the nuclear deal. Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West. "We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars news agency. "The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions." burs-ia/mdlDENVER, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RLH Corporation (NYSE:RLH) today announced that it closed its acquisition of the Knights Inn brand from Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN).



As a result of the acquisition, the Company acquired approximately 350 economy segment franchise contracts across North America and a pipeline of additional contracts. The acquisition is another step in RLH Corporations transformation into an asset-light franchised hotel company. The Company expects the transaction will be immediately accretive to the Companys earnings and cash flow.

"We are enthusiastic to have closed the acquisition of Knights Inn," commented Greg Mount, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our team is working closely with all Knights Inn hotels to ensure a smooth integration into our systems. We will continue to focus on accelerating the growth of the Knights Inn brand along with all RLH Corporation brands. We are committed to delivering additional value and opportunities to all of our hoteliers and associates, as well as earnings accretion to our shareholders."

To learn more about franchising with RLH Corporation, visit franchise.rlhco.com. We dont wait for the future. We create it.

About RLH Corporation

Red Lion Hotels Corporation is an innovative hotel company doing business as RLH Corporation and focuses on the franchising, management and ownership of upscale, midscale and economy hotels. The company focuses on maximizing return on invested capital for hotel owners across North America through relevant brands, industry-leading technology and forward-thinking services. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.rlhco.com.

Social Media:

www.Facebook.com/myhellorewards

www.Twitter.com/myhellorewards

www.Instagram.com/myhellorewards

www.Linkedin.com/company/rlhco

Investor Relations Contact:

Amy Koch

O: 509-777-6417

C: 917-579-5012

investorrelations@rlhco.com

Media Contact:

Dan Schacter

Director, Social Engagement and Public Relations

509-777-6222

dan.schacter@rlhco.comAn unexpected tweet from US President Donald Trump over the weekend could soon see Chinas No 2 telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp resume normal operations after it was hit with an export ban a month ago, signalling a potential compromise between the worlds two largest economies amid a looming trade war.

Chinas top economic official Liu He will lead a Chinese trade delegation to Washington between May 15 and 19, after talks with the US governments seven-man delegation in Beijing earlier this month failed to produce any concrete result over simmering trade tensions.

Lius trip was confirmed soon after US President Donald Trump pledged in a tweet on Sunday to help give ZTE a way back into business, fast, after it was banned from buying from US suppliers for seven years. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! Trump tweeted, adding that he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help the company resume operations.

Donald Trump working together with President Xi Jinping to help restart Chinas ZTE

Shenzhen-based ZTE, which was forced to halt major operations because of its high reliance on US technology, is expected to resume production within the next two to three weeks, according to analysts.

We always believed ZTE would eventually be removed from the export ban [but] bear in mind that China also has some leverage in the negotiation process, ranging from North Korea to Chinas regulatory approval of Qualcomms acquisition of NXP, Edison Lee, head of telecoms research at Jefferies Hong Kong, said in a note on Monday.

ZTE claims to have 80,000 employees worldwide. Its main businesses include telecom equipment manufacturing, including 4G and 5G development, and smartphones. Prior to the current crisis it was the fourth largest smartphone vendor in the US.

Under the export ban, ZTE was not able to receive products from US chip suppliers Qualcomm, Intel and Micron Technology, optical component suppliers Maynard, Acacia, Oclaro and Lumentum, as well as software suppliers Microsoft and Oracle, among others.

Story continues

Chinese regulators have restarted their review of Qualcomms application for approval of its acquisition of NXP Semiconductors after earlier shelving the process in response to growing trade tensions with the US, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Officials of Chinas Ministry of Commerce have been asked to hasten the long-delayed review of the purchase and Qualcomms proposed remedies to protect mainland Chinese companies from potential monopoly practises if the acquisition proceeds.

ZTE has noted the tweet from Trump and welcomed this latest progress, a person close to the company told the South China Morning Post on Monday. ZTE will continue to communicate with relevant parties, under the guidance of the Chinese government, to facilitate a final resolution, said the person, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

Analysts said there are two scenarios likely to play out with respect to ZTE. The US Department of Commerce could either lift the export ban temporarily, subject to further investigation and negotiation, or conclude that ZTEs violation was a careless mistake, therefore lifting the ban but subjecting the company to more scrutiny of its compliance processes moving forward.

The first scenario could mean that ZTE resumes operations in two to three weeks, Jeffries Lee said.

Charlie Dai, principal analyst with Forrester, said the tweet shows that the business and political negotiations between the governments of two countries is working. It will still take a few weeks for ZTE to resume normal operations, but it will be resolved eventually, Dai said.

ZTEs Chinese suppliers and other tech stocks rose on Monday after the reconciliation signal from the US side, with Mobi Development surging as much as 30 per cent in Hong Kong, the most since 2013, while Zhong Fu Tong jumped by its daily limit of 10 per cent in Shanghai. Both companies derive a significant portion of their revenue from ZTE.

Dollar bonds from Chinese hardware manufacturers Huawei Technologies and Lenovo recouped some of their losses after Trumps tweet about ZTE.

Although the market responded positively to the US Presidents intention to lift the US export ban on ZTE, Lee said it does not mean the tech-focused trade conflict between China and the US is over.

The conciliatory signal from the American side comes almost a month after the US government banned sales by American tech suppliers to ZTE because the Chinese firm failed to discipline 35 employees involved in the illegal sale of telecommunications equipment to Iran, paid them full bonuses and lied about it to US authorities.

ZTE asks employees to welcome coming of dawn

ZTE said in a stock filing on May 9 that the ban has forced it to cease major operating activities, while chairman Yin Yimin indicated earlier that the move plunged the company into a state of shock.

Trumps tweet follows an internal memo from ZTE in early May which said it had requested a stay of the denial order that forbid US companies from doing business with it.

The company is striving to resolve the matter as soon as possible and will continue to maintain close communication with relevant parties, the memo said.

Jia Mo, a Shanghai-based analyst with industry consultancy Canalys, said the original seven-year export ban was a catastrophic move for ZTE, and pointed out that the company still faces many challenges even if the ban is lifted.

[ZTE will need to] resume its relationships with its suppliers as soon as possible to get business back to normal, said Jia.

The other challenge is repairing its brand image in the US. Many US consumers view ZTE as a security threat, and convincing them to keep buying ZTE smartphones could be a real challenge.

In the first quarter of this year, ZTE shipped 6.6 million smartphones globally, 72 per cent of which were to the US market, according to Canalys data.

This article ZTE could resume operations within weeks following Trumps pledge to help the company 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:The Associated Press

ROME, Italy. - A court in Italy has ruled that former three-time Premier Silvio Berlusconi is eligible to seek public office again, nearly five years after a tax fraud conviction sidelined him as a candidate and amid political gridlock that could result in a second national election this year.

Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Saturday that Milans Surveillance Tribunal made the decision after reviewing a request from lawyers for the 81-year-old Berlusconi, a media mogul who founded a center-right political party a quarter-century ago.

Berlusconi gave effective and constant proof of good conduct after carrying out his punishment, Italian news agency ANSA quoted the tribunal judges as concluding.

The development means Berlusconi could seek a political rebound by pursuing a fourth term as premier when the nation next returns to the ballot box, which could happen in a matter of months.

Italys president has warned that if squabbling political leaders fail to form a viable coalition government following an inconclusive parliamentary election in March, he would install a caretaker head of government and seek another vote.

The ban on his seeking or holding public office was due to expire in 2019. But Corriere della Sera said the tribunal ruled Friday that Berlusconi already had been rehabilitated.

Silvio Berlusconi can finally return to the playing field".

Silvio Berlusconi can finally return to the playing field, Mara Carfagna, a leader of the ex-premiers Forza Italia party. The rehabilitation by the Milan Surveillance Court puts an end to a judicial persecution and a cavalry that didnt chip away at the strength of great leadership, that, in a profoundly changed political scenario, is today still fundamental and central.

Milan Prosecutor General Roberto Alfonso said prosecutors have 15 days to decide if they will appeal the tribunals decision.

In October 2012, Berlusconi was found guilty of committing tax fraud as part of his vast business dealings. Italys highest criminal court upheld his conviction the next year.

Because a 2012 law stipulated that anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison is ineligible to hold or run for public office for six years, Berlusconi had to relinquish his Senate seat.

He had been sentenced to four years, but three were shaved off under an amnesty aimed at reducing crowding in Italys prisons. The clock on the ban started running with the appeals court decision in 2013.Frances DEmilio

ASSISI, ITALY.- German Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to pull his country out of the Iran nuclear accord was making the situation in the Middle East even more difficult and warned Europeans to be skeptical of easy solutions promised by populists.

Speaking while in Italy to receive a peace prize, Merkel cited the recent escalation of Israeli-Iranian hostility that quickly followed Trumps announcement about the Iran accord as a reason for concern. She said Germany was closely following the developments between Iran and Israel, saying that was yet another reason for further effort to resolve the conflict.

Tambien te puede interesar: N. Korea it will dismantle its nuclear test site

The German leader made her remarks at St. Francis Basilica, in Assisi, the saints hometown, where Franciscan friars awarded her the St. Francis Lamp for peace. Merkel was honored for the welcome Germany gave to Syrian war refugees, a decision that carried political risks for the chancellor and her party.

Addressing conflicts on her own continent, Merkel decried what she called nightly violations in Ukraine of cease-fire agreements reached in 2014 and 2015 to end the conflict between pro-Kiev forces and pro-Russia fighters in the countrys battered east.

Delivering a sweeping speech about challenges to a more peaceful world, the chancellor also cautioned against Europeans seeking easy solutions to their problems from populist politicians, whose clout has been on the rise across much of the continent.

Introducing her at the ceremony was Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for dogged efforts to bring 50 years of violent conflict in his country to a peaceful end. Santos praised Merkel for representing the principles which ought to serve as antidotes in the world.The Associated Press

BUJUMBURA, Burundi. - Twenty-six people were killed and seven others wounded in an attack by an unidentified terrorist group in rural Burundi, the countrys security minister said Saturday.

The attack came shortly before Burundians vote May 17 in a controversial referendum that could extend the presidents term. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related, although some activists said they believe it was.

Speaking at the scene, Security Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni told reporters that 24 people were killed in their homes Friday night and two others died of their wounds at a local hospital. He gave no further details about the attack in Ruhagarika community in the northwestern province of Cibitoke.

One survivor told The Associated Press the attackers came around 10 p.m. and attacked households and set fire on houses. Some victims were hacked with machetes and others were shot or burned alive, she said.

Her husband and two children were killed, she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.

These killers attacked my family and I am very angry, said another survivor, Pascal Hakizimana. My family is dead and to make matters worse, the army did nothing to save them even when they were not far from here.

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to a reporter, said four of the families targeted were headed by people he called police agents.

(The attackers) said when leaving, Where are those you trust to rescue you? he said.

Activists expressed concern

This is extra-judiciary killings. What one can ask is this: Do we have to see innocent people killed whenever elections are near in Burundi? said Gerard Hakizimana, leader of a pro-democracy civic group known as Folucon F.

President Pierre Nkuruniza, on Twitter, urged unity in the East African nation and said those who carried out the attack would be pursued and punished.

Burundi has seen deadly political violence since early 2015 when Nkurunziza successfully pursued a disputed third term. He later survived a coup attempt led by senior army and police officers, including some who fled and announced they had launched a rebel group against the government.

An estimated 1,200 people, including ruling party supporters, have died in sporadic violence since April 2015, according to the United Nations, with most of the killings blamed on the authorities and their allies.

Now Burundians are being asked to vote on a proposal to extend the presidents term from five years to seven, which would allow Nkurunziza to rule for another 14 years when his current term expires in 2020.Margot Kidder has died at 69. Kidder rose to prominence for playing Lois Lane alongside Christopher Reeve in the 1978 smash hit film Superman and its three sequels, although she was also a storied activist and hilarious and candid interviewee.

After her breakthrough in the late 1970s (which also included a role in The Amityville Horror), Kidder had to distance herself from the acting world due to her struggle with bipolar disorder. She spoke out against the Gulf War, Iraq War, and fracking, and served as the Montana State Coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America. In a 2016 interview, she said, My life has nothing to do with movies anymore. I live in a little town in Montana and basically do political activism.

She had roles as recently 2017, however, when she played Maggie in the Canadian drama The Neighborhood. Kidder also appeared in Smallville, Rob Zombies Halloween II, and R.L. Stines The Haunting Hour, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Childrens Programming.Rapper Meek Mill returned to the stage on Saturday night for the first time since his incarceration in November of 2017, performing a surprise set at Miamis Rolling Loud festival.

Mill, whose real name is Robert Williams, was released from prison on April 24 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered him released on bail from a two-to-four year prison sentence he was serving for a parole violation.

Mills legal saga is a case study in the ways the criminal justice system can turn a single conviction into a lifetime of legal hurdles. He was arrested in 2008 at the age of 18 and convicted of gun and drug-related charges. Although he served eight months in prison for the original conviction, since his release, its been one parole violation after another, for infractions ranging from missing a drug test to booking shows outside of Philadelphia without judicial approval. In 2013, he was ordered to take an etiquette class; in 2014, he was sent back to prison for three to six months for a long list of minor violations (including being combative and disrespectful when meeting with probation officers), and his probation was extended another five years. In 2016, he was given 90 days of house arrest and his probation was extended again, this time until 2022, 14 years after his initial arrest. In 2017, the rapper had two run-ins with the law, one when a fight broke out after an airport employee in St. Louis wanted a picture with him, and the other after Mill, in New York for a Tonight Show appearance, posted an Instagram video showing him popping wheelies on a dirt bike without a helmet. In both cases, the charges were dropped, but that was enough to earn Mill a two-to-four year prison sentence for violating parole again.

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Close followers of the United States unique approach to law enforcement will not be surprised to hear that Mills original conviction was questionable to begin with. Officer Reginald Graham, who arrested Mill and was a key witness in his case, was on a secret list at the Philadelphia D.A.s office of police officers who should not be called to testify in the future because of their reputation for lying, corruption, or racial bias. Graham testified that he saw Mill selling crack to an informant, on a day Mill says he was literally appearing in court on behalf of his cousin; that testimony led to a search warrant, which led to the gun charge. Mill acknowledged that he had a gun but says he immediately dropped it when police arrived, while Graham testified that he took cover behind a car and looked like he was trying to take a shot at the police. Mill, who had clearly been roughed up in his mugshot, further testified that the police took him back inside the apartment where he was staying for the express purpose of beating him up. Mill is not the only person whose convictions came down to the work of Officer Graham: the Philadelphia district attorneys office is reviewing more than a hundred cases possibly tainted by his involvement. (Philadelphias new district attorney, Larry Krasner, is committed to broad criminal justice reforms and supports vacating Mills original conviction.) In April, Mill was released on bail, but still faces probation unless his conviction is vacated.

So, to review: Meek Mill is out of prison and performed at a concert in Miami, DJ Khaled introduced him, and the American criminal justice system is irredeemably racist! Watch Mills appearance above.This article is published through a partnership with New York Medias Strategist. The partnership is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected by New York Media. If you buy something through our links, Slate and New York Media may earn an affiliate commission.

To find the very best products that no human being would have the time to try, look to the best-reviewed (thats four-to-five-star ratings and lots of em) products and choose the most convincing. Youll find the best crowdsourced ideas whether youre searching for comforters, bed sheets, or even Christmas trees. Below, the best rolling luggageincluding both carry-ons and checked bagsdetermined by the hard-nosed reviewers on Amazon. (Note that reviews have been edited for length and clarity.)

Best Hard-Side Carry-On Spinner with Front Pocket

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4.3 stars, 561 reviews

Fits more than you would think! I just came back from a five-day business trip; I managed to fit nine outfits (including biz clothes), three pairs of heels, laptop, and everything else (toiletries, jewelry, etc.). I could have easily fit more if I expanded the bag. The front-pocket thing is genius. True, it is hard to fit much more than my laptop, charger, and bag of liquids in it, but I think thats the point of it. It makes going through security much less stressful. Very lightweight, prettyyyy (I got it in the grayish-silver color), [with] four spinner wheelsexactly what I was looking for.

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4.2 stars, 237 reviews

This is an incredibly awesome travel case. Its super lightweight, extremely sturdy, easy to maneuver, and has incredible storage space  I love the hard shell of this case; its awesome in the plane. Weve used this twice already, once on a road trip and once for a cross-country business trip. This case is awesome for flying; its exactly within the FAA guidelines for travel, so no issues getting it onboard as a carry-on. Its so sturdy but so lightweight that its a breeze getting it in and out of the overhead compartment  On our road trip, my husband and I both used the same caseone case for the two of usand it fit ALL of our clothes for three days in it. I was so impressed!

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4.3 stars, 1,130 reviews

This is a great carry-on bag. Its small enough to fit the carry-on restrictions (I flew with American Airlines and Southwest and had no problems) yet still big enough to fit a weeks worth of clothes, a pair of flip-flops, a pair of sneakers/joggers, a microfiber towel, and my toiletries in it. I packed my bag as full as I possibly could, and the zipper held strong. The wheels were a dream; they made it so easy to push along the narrow aisles on the plane. The shell of the suitcase is just as strong and durable. I would recommend this bag to anyone looking for a good-quality yet still affordable bag.

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4.2 stars, 2,266 reviews

It has a nice hard (durable!) case, cool design, and fits perfectly in carry-on spacesboth domestic and international. It even fit really well in the overhead shelf when I was on a bullet train in Japan! The swivel wheels work very well, too, making it much easier to maneuver and with less strain on my wrists when pulling. It also expands a few extra inches, if you need it to; this was handy when I decided to check-in my luggage after coming home with so many souvenirs! Its actually my new favorite piece of luggage.

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4.6 stars, 287 reviews

I do a lot of traveling for work and like to have a lightweight carry-on suitcase that I can lift easily into an overhead compartment. I have also fallen in love with the four-wheel spinners for trekking easily through airports  I treated myself to this 6.5-pound baby in blue and had the chance to test it last month on a weeklong trip. Four flights, several badly designed airports with lengthy walks, stairs up and stairs down, and I absolutely love it. Didnt need any help lifting it overhead  but I still had no trouble fitting everything I needed for the week, including two pairs of shoes and two suits. It seems very well made, and in fact I found the handle and wheels more comfortable and easier than my [old] Samsonite. Its my new carry-on.

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4.5 stars, 358 reviews

Great-quality rolling bag! Used it as under-seat carry-on in my recent tripfit fine under United and EasyJet seats. Of course, it also fits overhead. Has plenty of room for clothes, electronics, and even two bottles of wine from the duty-free shop! Stiff sides provide a lot of protection, and a couple of zipper pockets held documents and other small items for easy reach in flight. I recommend it as a perfect weekend or second bag for long flights. I just looped the handles over my 24-inch roller-case handle and zipped through airports and hotels. The lightweight case was a breeze for my aching back as the carry-on through security  Ill never use a shoulder-bag or backpack again.

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4.2 stars, 511 reviews

It was perfect, and I packed for a week for my daughters wedding, minus a bag for heels and things I was bringing and leaving. It was at the max carry-on size, and we flew Delta and United. How the flight attendants were having us put bags in the overhead, the suitcase had plenty of room to spare, but [that] doesnt mean they may choose to deny you if you have it stuffed. We had one commuter leg where it was gate-checked, but I was expecting that  I had both of my mother-of-the-bride dresses, dress for [bridal] shower, pair of dressy jeans, two pairs of running leggings, three T-shirts, two dressy tank tops, a dressy shirt, two cardigans, a sweatshirt, underwear, and makeup.

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4.2 stars, 1,573 reviews

We love this duffel bag. It is very lightweight and if not overly packed can be squished into place in the overhead compartment on planes. It is a lightweight type of nylon-poly somethingeasy to wipe off inside or out if it gets wet or dirty. The wheels are amazing, like riding on ice. The handle goes up and down easily, never hangs up  Highly recommend if you are looking for lightweight, easy-to-use, rolling, clean duffel bag.

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3.9 stars, 98 reviews

I bought two of these neon-yellow suitcases to take on a monthlong trip to Asia that included China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Every airline checked these no problem (more concerned with the weight limit than size dimensions), and they were all easy to see at the baggage carousel. I can not think of a single negative thing about these and would buy again in a heartbeat. Sure, they got scuffed up, but the wheels still work fine and so does the retractable handle. A true Amazon bargain buy!

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4.3 stars, 544 reviews

I was looking for the perfect suitcase to take from NYC to South Africa in May 2015, and this was definitely it  I love everything about this piece of luggage, from the beautiful orange color to the paintbrush-strokes design to how light yet incredibly sturdy it turned out to be. After three continents, eight flights, and countless hours of travel, this held up beautifully with little to no wear and tear. Since the weather would be changing between our various locations in South Africa, I had to pack quite a variety of items, including a puffy coat (in May!). In spite of this, I actually only wound up packing half of it, leaving plenty of room for gifts and souvenirs. It expands, which is also a plus, but I never had to use that feature. It was only 23 pounds when I checked it at JFK. It was incredibly easy to wheel and very light. Im extremely pleased with this purchase, and hope its with me for many more trips across the world!

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4.4 stars, 548 reviews

We bought these before our big family Europe trip. We bought four of them, one for each family member. They went through London, Barcelona, Rome, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam airports without a single problem! The suitcases did great. No problem with wheels or zippers. In fact, one of the reasons we picked this suitcase was because the zipper was heavy-duty. We got some scratches, but that is to be expected. Have you seen the way those guys throw these things onto the plane?  The suitcase is relatively light (which is great when you know youll need that weight allowance for more shoes). The wheels move really smoothly, even over streets and cobblestones. The handle never sticks. I love that it locks in the halfway position, making it easier to push through an airport. Best of all, the suitcases NEVER tipped over.

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4.3 stars, 311 reviews

This is a nice, midsize suitcase with enough room for a trip of a week or longer. The 360-degree turning wheels make it easier to handle than my old suitcase, which is why I chose it. To be clear, this is a bag youll have to checkits larger than a carry-on. But its an easily manageable size. The price is right, tooIve long since stopped buying more expensive luggage because it gets beaten up so badly on airlines and cruise ships  The material is medium-weight, and if you pack the suitcase full, it should hold up well and keep items from being crushed. All in all, I think it is a good value for the money.

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4.3 stars, 635 reviews

Purchased two of these for a trip to Sweden in the winter (snow jackets are big!) and these held up really well. The wheels are great: super easy to roll around even when full and survived through 30 minutes of cobblestone roads. Love the built-in lock and zippered pockets. For those worrying about the oversize limits: This was not oversize for international travel, and we used it once domestically without a problem. Since it is so large, its really easy to load this thing and be overweight, so I suggest buying a small hand scalenot totally accurate, but close enough to save you a lot of money on airline overage charges.

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3.9 stars, 1,320 reviews

We were looking for some new luggage and decided on these for a couple of reasons: the locking mechanism for the zipper, the weight, the price, and the fact that they nest for storage. We thought that if they werent very good, we wouldnt be out that much money. We love them! They are so lightweight, you can pack more stuff and still lift them. They didnt seem very sturdy at first, but theyve since been handled by multiple airports (Zurich, Rome, Munich, Florence, Newark, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Orlando, and more), and they look new. The color makes them easy to spot, and the zipper locks keep the zipper pulls safe (weve lost zipper pulls on other bags). I think were going to buy another set.

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$130, AmazonA few minutes before the service officially begins at First Baptist Dallas, the orchestra slowly rises into sight, lifted by a stage elevator that delivers them smoothly into position. The robed choir of some 130 people files into place on risers behind them, and a smaller worship team of performers strolls out in front. The lights dim, and the congregationin this setting, an audiencehushes and waits for the show to begin. One Sunday in December, visitors to the church received a booklet containing a photo of the same choir and orchestra, performing behind President Donald Trump.

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First Baptist retains much of the aesthetic conservatism of its stained-glass-in-the-town-square DNA. The unofficial dress code is Sunday best, worshippers sit on wooden pews, and no one brings coffee into the sanctuary. But over the years, the congregation has acquired many of the hallmarks of a contemporary megachurch. In its worship center, a stadium-style screen spans the proscenium, which throughout the service displays slick promotional videos, close-up shots of the musicians and performers, and the pastors Twitter handle: @RobertJeffress.

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Until recently, Robert Jeffress was a pastor little known outside his hometown of Dallas. But over the past few years, hes become one of the most outspoken and influential Trump supporters in Christendom. He prays with the president, stands next to him in photo ops, and defends him on Fox News. On Monday, he is leading a prayer at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Its just one more example of promise made, promise fulfilled, he told Fox News in one of several appearances over the weekend. His sermons are packaged into a daily radio show and a weekly television show, both titled Pathway to Victory. His official biography says he has made more than 2,000 radio and TV appearances on shows from Fox & Friends to Real Time With Bill Maher. He has been relentless in expanding his reach beyond the walls of the church. Under Jeffress, First Baptist proclaims four missions: callings to worship, equip (which refers to Sunday school classes and other educational efforts), serve, and, notably, influence. Cheerleading for Trump has given [Jeffress] a kind of national stage, said John Fea, a Trump critic and historian at evangelical Messiah College. He is a master operator.

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Few of the most prominent Christians who support Trump are pastors of their own churches, let alone one with 13,000 members.

Over the course of two weeks in December and January, I attended three Sunday morning church services at First Baptist. (There are three services every Sunday.) I was drawn by Jeffress skyrocketing national profile but also by his unique cultural position as a pastor. Few of the most prominent Christians who support TrumpFea calls them court evangelicalsare pastors of their own churches. Jerry Falwell Jr. is the president of a college founded by his own father. Franklin Graham, who also borrows credibility from his father, runs an international aid organization. (Billy Graham, a longtime member of First Baptist Dallas, was only briefly a pastor of a church; neither were many of the previous generation of religious right leaders, including Trump supporter James Dobson.) Of the pastors on Trumps evangelical advisory board, few have both the high profile and institutional standing that Jeffress does. Paula White, for example, heads an independent nondenominational congregation with few outside institutional ties.

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Jeffress is different. He is the head of 13,000-member church, one of the oldest and most prominent congregations in the countrys largest Protestant denominations. First Baptist Dallas will celebrate its 150th anniversary this year. Jeffress job there is to preach the Gospel every week, to guide the spiritual lives of his flock, and represent Christianity to the wider world. The churchs official materials call Jeffress a bold leader in a decaying culture. But what exactly does it mean, I wondered, to be a full-time pro-Trump pundit and a full-time pastor at the same time?

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Founded in 1868, when Dallas was a wild but growing frontier hub, First Baptist has a long history of flexing its political muscle. One longtime pastor, George Truett, delivered a still-influential speech on religious liberty on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in 1920. His successor, W.A. Criswell, publicly opposed integration in the 1950s (he changed his mind later) and endorsed Gerald Ford over Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter in 1976. Criswell, with Paige Patterson, was an architect of the eventual takeover of the denomination by theological conservatives starting in the late 1970s. The Southern Baptist conservative movement, said Barry Hankins, an historian at Baylor University and co-author of Baptists in America: A History, in some ways  comes straight out of First Baptist Dallas.

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The modern megachurch is overwhelmingly a phenomenon of the suburbs, where expansion is relatively cheap and easy. And for First Baptist, located squarely downtown in the countrys ninth-biggest city, growth has required some creativity. In 2010, the church imploded four of its own buildings in downtown Dallas to make room for a $130 million renovation that grafted a sprawling glass-and-concrete addition onto the steepled Victorian brick building it had occupied for more than a century. (For a sense of the churchs fundraising power: In 2016, it set a two-year goal of raising $50 million.) Its property now spans six city blocks, with an impressive childrens building, sky bridges, and a multistory granite fountain topped with a cross. In some spots, architects had to put up faux brick to make the vision cohere, and visitors ride an escalator up two floors and then walk down to enter the sanctuary.

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Awkward juxtapositions do not seem to bother the members of First Baptist Dallas, which is defined by its enthusiastic blend of piety and patriotism. Last July, Trump spoke at a concert in Washington at which the churchs choir sang an original song titled Make America Great Again. A few months later, Jeffress interviewed Sean Hannity about the Fox hosts new movie onstage at the church on Sunday morning. Fox personalities Ainsley Earhardt and Todd Starnes also made Sunday morning appearances last year. When I visited in late December, a guest preacherPaige Patterson, a lion of the Southern Baptist Convention who has recently made headlines of his ownpredicted from the pulpit that Roe v. Wade would be overturned within the next few months, thanks in large part to Jeffress efforts. There was no evidence Roe v. Wade was on the brink of being overturned, let alone by springtime. But still the congregation burst into applause.

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Jeffress attended First Baptist with his parents during the Criswell years; he has said he remembers walking down the aisle of the church at age 5 to tell Criswell he had accepted Jesus Christ as his savior. When the family returned home from church on Sunday mornings, little Robert would watch Meet the Press. He has said God told him as a freshman in college that he would someday lead the church; Criswell, in his telling, believed it, too. Jeffress married his high school girlfriend, Amy, and served as the churchs youth pastor in his early 20s. He was named senior pastor in 2007.

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The church has long attracted wealthy conservative business leaders and other local elites. When the church celebrated the acceptance of its 20,000th member in 1978, the new member just happened to be the kicker for the Dallas Cowboys. Because of the churchs historical comfort with power, wealth, and publicity, Hankins told me, Jeffress seems to get more leeway than many pastors do to veer into politics.

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When I talked to Jeffress by phone after my visit to the church, he quoted Jesus command in the book of Matthew that Christians should be salt and lightpreservative and illuminationin the world. Many Christians have forgotten that, he said. They take the Benedict Option, where you just stand in your holy huddle and hope no one does you harm.  The church is to be on the offensive, not on the defensive. When a group of Trump-skeptical evangelicals met recently at Wheaton College to discuss the future of their movement, Jeffress dismissed them in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. Many of them are sincere, he said, but they are having a hard time understanding that they have little impact on evangelicalism.

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There are some ways in which Jeffress seems like an unlikely political operator. His 24 books have focused overwhelmingly on spiritual matters, including the end times, forgiveness, and the afterlife. His latest, which Trump recommended on Twitter, is about the nature of heaven. (When I attended, the church was giving out free copies to every new visitor.) But Jeffress has had a taste for making headlines since before he took the helm at First Baptist. As pastor of a church near the Oklahoma border in 1998, he offered to pay the local public library for its copies of Heather Has Two Mommies and another childrens book about gay parents, in exchange for a promise not to replace them; the City Council backed him up, and eventually the ACLU got involved. In 2011, when Mitt Romney was running for president, Jeffress called Mormonism a cult at a conference hosted by the Family Research Council. The church was sufficiently toxic by 2013 that Tim Tebow pulled out of a speaking engagement there. In return, Jeffress preached about men who wimp out rather than standing up for the truth. (Can a sermon serve as a subtweet?) The next year he wrote a book about Biblical prophecy that said Obamas support for gay marriage was paving the way for the Antichrist.

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But in the Trump era, Jeffress has truly come into his own as a political voice. He threw his chips in with the candidate early, telling attendees at a Dallas campaign rally in February 2016 that Trump would be a true friend to evangelicals. Preaching to Trump at a private service the morning of his inauguration, he compared him to the Old Testament figure of Nehemiah, who helped rebuild the city of Jerusalem; God is not against building walls, Jeffress told the incoming president. (He has also compared Trump to Winston Churchill.) He is a reliable defender not just of Trumps overtures to evangelicals but also of the presidents darkest and most dangerous instincts. He defended Trumps shithole remarks in January and characterized Trumps comments on the Charlottesville, Virginia, riots last summer as an attempt to denounce all racism. In August, he told Bill OReilly that Trump had the moral authority to assassinate Kim Jong-un or pre-emptively strike North Korea with a nuclear weapon, going too far even for OReilly. Jeffress support for Trump has raised his profile, but it has also earned him a torrent of criticism from his peers. The president is liked by the evangelical rank and file, who voted for him overwhelmingly, but he has remarkably few outspoken supporters among their leaders.

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First Baptist is a thoroughly mainstream evangelical church whose very ordinariness serves as an advertisement for Trumps own normalcy.

Within his own congregation, though, no one seems particularly rankled by the way Jeffress has merged the spiritual and the political. When I visited over two Sundays in late December and early January, the pews were full and the mood was cheerful. One volunteer told me she started attending about a year ago, and the place has changed her life. A church representative said that the church has grown in attendance and financial giving for every year of Jeffress leadership and that 2017 saw the highest giving in the churchs 150-year history. My church is glad that I have an ability to have a little bit of influence in the country, Jeffress told me. The Hannity interview at First Baptist, for example, was promoted as a chance for members to invite outside guests to church with thempeople who might be interested in Hannity but not necessarily in church. And as for the Make America Great Again hymn, written by the churchs former music minister and performed at that D.C. concert? It was never meant to be sung in church. (The song has since been added to the top licensed song database for churches planning their worship services.)

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Jeffress is not an absent figurehead; he preaches at First Baptist almost every week. Paula White, by contrast, told the Washington Post last year that she has relinquished many of her pastoral duties as her star has risen in Washington. Her son said at the time that the majority-black church had lost several hundred members and about $10,000 a week in donations because of Trumps unpopularity with the black community. First Baptist is mostly white but far from exclusively so. When my toddler and I sat in the section designated for young families, we were seated within one pew of black, East Asian, South Asian, and Hispanic families.

The truth is, other than Pattersons comment about Roe v. Wade, there was little I heard or saw at First Baptist that would have been out of place at any other theologically conservative church in America. I sang Amazing Grace and Power in the Blood, and my daughter made a construction-paper crown in the church nursery. Jeffress insisted that he has mentioned Trumps name from the pulpit perhaps three times in the past two years. He added that he views abortion and religious freedom, unlike health care and tax policy, as biblical issuesa handy distinction that carves out quite a bit of room for nonpolitical opining. (Jeffress has spoken publicly about both health care policy and tax reform.) Still, the average attendee at First Baptist will experience a worship service not a Trump rally. Thats part of what makes the church so disquieting. It is a thoroughly mainstream evangelical church whose very ordinariness serves as an advertisement for Trumps own normalcy.

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The first week in January, Jeffress opened his sermon in a reflective mode, with an anecdote about the deaths of his parents. He stepped out from behind the large wooden podium, holding his well-worn Bible open in his hands. Jeffress is a small man, and the deep stage and large Bible made him look even smaller. Preaching from a passage in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings about the death of the Prophet Elijah, Jeffress argued for the importance of living ones entire life with its end in mind. He talked about his habit of wandering into the churchs old sanctuary, now used for the churchs youth-oriented contemporary worship service; its the room where he himself was baptized and where he performed his first baptisms as a minister. Its a good thing, Jeffress told the congregation, to reflect back on ones own spiritual history and to contemplate the legacy you will leave behind. In Christian circles, we get caught up in the cult of personality, he said. We celebrate great believers like Elijah or Moses, and fear their heroism is irreplaceable. Thats a mistake, he said: God can work through anyone.Administration officials were full of praise for Sen. John McCain but they all pointedly declined repeated opportunities to apologize to him for a cruel joke by a White House communications aide. The aide, Kelly Sadler, told Meghan McCain she would publicly apologize for saying at a private meeting it didnt matter that Sen. John McCain, who is battling brain cancer, opposed President Donald Trumps pick for CIA director because hes dying anyway.

Meghan McCain said Sadler apologized to her and her family during a phone call. The senators daughter said the apology should be public. When I had a conversation with Kelly, I asked her to publicly apologize and she said she would, Meghan McCain said. I have not spoken to her since and I assume that it will never come.

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On Sunday, Trump advisers declined to comment on the remarks that were leaked from the closed-door meeting. On CNNs State of the Union, national security adviser John Bolton said he remained grateful for McCains past support. John McCain came to my defense in 2005 when my nomination to be U.N. ambassador was under criticism, Bolton said. He and I didnt know each other very well at the time. We certainly didnt agree on each and every position that he or I take. But he spent countless hours trying to help me out. When he was pushed to talk about Sadlers remark, Bolton said he wasnt in the room and couldnt comment. Ive said what Im going to say on the subject, Bolton said when asked whether the White House should apologize.

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Bolton's CNN interview concludes with him refusing to condemn a White House aide's tasteless joke about John McCain's cancer. He won't even acknowledge that the White House has an obligation to apologize. pic.twitter.com/eO7ZB301Vp  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 13, 2018

Sen. Bernie Sanders became one of the voices in Washington who seemed flabbergasted at the White Houses seeming insistence not to apologize for the remark. It is beyond my comprehension. It is one thing in the White House for somebody to say something crude and stupid and disrespectful about an American hero, Sanders said on CNN. It is another thing for them not to apologize. So, it is beyond my comprehension. And I just dont know what goes on in that White House mentality for there not being an apology for that terrible remark.

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Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders says it's beyond his "comprehension" that the White House has not apologized in the wake of reports that a staffer mocked Sen. John McCain's health https://t.co/R6kLqapfkR pic.twitter.com/DTY7BSHcvp  CNN (@CNN) May 13, 2018

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Sen. Lindsey Graham also condemned the disgusting remark about McCain and said the White House needed to speak up. If it was a joke, it was a terrible joke, the South Carolina Republican said on CBS Face the Nation. I just wish somebody from the White House would tell the country that was inappropriate, thats not who we are in the Trump administration.

AdvertisementCalifornia is not typically viewed as a hotbed of voter suppression, and not just because its California. Over the past few years, its legislature has passed sweeping reforms to protect residents right to vote with the strong encouragement of Gov. Jerry Brown. Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra has praised these measures and sued the Trump administration for attempting to abridge our fundamental voting rights. But even as Becerra attacks Trump for disenfranchising Americans, he is voluntarily defending a California scheme that nullifies tens of thousands of votes on the basis of dubious handwriting analysis.

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How did California, of all states, wind up suppressing so many votes? The problem lies in the state election codes rules for counting absentee ballots. All registered voters can choose to vote by mail in California if they want to; they need only request a ballot, fill it out, sign the ballot envelope, and drop it in the mail. Unbeknownst to most voters, however, is the stipulation that their signature on the envelope must match the signature on their voter-registration form. If it does not, election officials do not count the ballot.

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Who determines if it matches? The election officials themselves, who have an utter lack of handwriting-analysis expertise. A forensic-document examiner testified to the ACLU that an effective signature comparison requires 10 samples at a minimum to account for variability. California election officials have two samples and minimal training. And yet they have the power to disenfranchise a voter on the basis of a single signature. Voters receive no notice that a signature mismatch will void their vote, nor are they alerted if their vote has been voided, unless they expressly request the information.

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Voters receive no notice that a signature mismatch will void their vote, nor are they alerted if their vote has been voided, unless they expressly request the information.

In the 2016 election alone, as many as 46,000 ballots were thrown out in California due to signature mismatch. Asian Americans ballots were rejected at a substantially higher rate due to perceived mismatch; in four major counties, Asian Americans were 15 percent more likely than the general population to have their ballots tossed for this reason. In virtually every case, voters disenfranchised by signature mismatch had no idea that their ballots had been nullified. Nor were they given an opportunity to cure the loss of their vote by confirming their identity.

In August, the ACLU of Northern California sued the state to prevent election officials from voiding ballots for signature mismatch and then depriving voters of notice or recourse. And in March, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer ruled in the ACLUs favor, holding in La Follette v. Padilla that Californias scheme violated voters right to due process under the state and federal constitutions. Voting is a fundamental right, Ulmer explained, and notice and an opportunity to be heard are fundamental to due process. Because the current protocol fails to provide for notice that a voter is being disenfranchised and/or an opportunity for the voter to be heard, it infringes upon basic due process principles.

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To remedy this constitutional flaw, Ulmer ordered California to start informing every voter whose ballot is voided due to signature mismatch, and to give them an opportunity to cure the issue before election results are certified. (These results arent certified until 30 days after the election, giving officials ample time to help voters confirm the validity of their ballots.) Ulmer also directed Secretary of State Alex Padilla to inform election officials of his ruling in order to ensure statewide compliance.

It would be quite easy for California to simply comply with these instructions. It decided to take a different routeit appealed the ruling. In superior court, the state, of course, had a duty to defends its election code, which it did vigorously, if not persuasively. (It argued that the injury to Californians was slight because at most only 45,000 [ballots] were rejected and that the mismatch rule prevented voter fraud, while putting forth no evidence of any fraud.) But Becerra and Padilla had no obligation to appeal Ulmers ruling; when a state loses in lower court, it may simply decide to honor that decision and stop defending its unconstitutional law. Indeed, California did exactly that when a federal district court struck down Proposition 8, its ban on same-sex marriage, declining to appeal the ruling (and that move ultimately doomed the ban). Moreover, Padilla has already endorsed SB 759, pending legislation that would accomplish what Ulmers decision requires. By complying with the La Follette order, the state could achieve SB 759s goals as the bill moves through the legislative process, protecting voters rights in the meantime.

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Instead, inexplicably, Becerra and Padilla have not only decided to appeal Ulmers decision, theyve asked him to put his ruling on hold for the June 5 primary. (Neither the attorney general nor the secretary of state returned a request for comment.) Ulmer will hold a hearing on June 1 to determine whether his order should apply to the impending primary election. For now, the ACLU is urging all absentee voters to sign their ballot envelopes the exact same way they signed their voter-registration forms. But that isnt always easy; signatures change over time, and many voters register on computer touchpads, which can warp an individuals signature.

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California isnt the only state with a mismatch law. Florida, Illinois, and New Hampshire have similar rulesbut judges have directed Florida and Illinois to give voters an opportunity to fix a mismatched signature. New Hampshire is currently defending its mismatch law in court and appears to be headed for defeat. Thats promising, since these laws are built on two incorrect assumptions: that an individuals signature remains static throughout life, and that an amateur can determine whether two signatures truly match.

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Michael Risher, an attorney working with the ACLU on La Follette, told me on Thursday that we should all be shocked by Californias mismatch scheme. Not only that this has been going on for years, Risher said, but that the secretary of state is fighting a court order that would bring it in line with due process. Hes right. Weve come to expect these shenanigans from Florida and New Hampshire. But Californias top officials consistently extol their own efforts to expand voting rights. By appealing Ulmers order, Becerra and Padilla have struck a profoundly hypocritical stance, defending the franchise in public while subverting it in their own states courts.

Update, May 15, 2018: Sam Mahood, press secretary for Secretary of State Alex Padilla, told Slate, Our office will continue to support a legislative solution that provides voters a reasonable opportunity to verify their signature. A solution should recognize and account for the complex responsibilities and tight timelines that election officials must adhere to during the election canvass period.An international participatory art project started by French photographer JR made its way to a Bronx school last week. Students at Bronx Envision Academy capped off a school year art project with larger-than-life murals of themselves and a collaborative poem, "Strong Enough To Carry The Earth." "It is inspiring because we are able to express ourselves. Showing a picture of ourselves with a quote that we want to say to the world. We get to be who we are versus what society thinks," ninth grader Leandro Delgado said in the schoolyard. "Sometimes you act the way society wants you to be and you dont get to be who you really are. This project lets people be who they are."

Ninth graders at the school collaborated with non-profit arts group Community-Word Project over the course of 24 weeks. Students explored how they are "Strong Enough To Carry The Earth," by examining poetry of Sandra Cisneros, Daniel Beaty, Maya Angelou, and Jamaal May; the artwork of Emma Amos, Bryan Collier, and symbols from all cultures around the world from the ancient to the modern.

The students' portraits were printed as huge posters, thanks to Inside Out project which were then wheat-pasted onto the walls of the school, with words from their poem attached.



Photograph by David 'Dee' Delgado / Gothamist

"I think the collaborative poem is really powerful," Bronx Envision Academy principal Emily Shu said. "It speaks to the optimism and dreams that our students have. The images are also really powerful. The fact that they need to work together to make this entire space change is inspiring."

The ninth graders were equally enthusiastic, especially about the larger impact of the project. "This project makes me feel good about the community; it shows different cultures of people in one image. And it shows that we are the same people," student Widgie Poulaille said. "My favorite part of the project was when we started writing the poems because it showed that even from different nationalities we can still put the same mindsets of what we think. This project shows that everyone can work together, even if its late, that we try to make something better."

"It made the students realize that they had it in them to work together and positively impact their community," agreed Michele Kotler, executive director of Community-Word Project. "It gave them the opportunity to experience the power of their own image and what their images come together to create. It made students recognize the power of choosing how they want to be seen in the world versus how they believe the world sees them."

Student Eliana Grajales added, "This makes me feel really good because most of these quotes on the pictures [are statements] not a lot of people have the courage to say to adults, or anyone out here."While members of the Trump administration and select American VIPs are celebrating the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, dozens of Palestinians reportedly are being killed during protests along the Gaza border, with hundreds more wounded. The violence is, in part, a response to the Trump administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, one of many reasons why the previous three presidents stalled on making such a move and the clearest sign that the Trump administration isnt interested in a two-state solution since it deputized Jared Kushner to reach one. Meanwhile, everyone appears to be having a great time at the ceremony.

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If youre looking for a forceful, or even nuanced, response to the Trump administrations provocation, though, you wont get it from Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

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In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem, Schumer said in a statement Monday morning. Every nation should have the right to choose its capital. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it. This is Schumers long-held position, though one might have expected a caveat or two on a tragic day partially sparked by an extremely controversial decision.

But at least Schumers being consistent. If you hear other leading Democrats protest the move today, consider how theyve voted.

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The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, which provided for the relocation, passed the Senate 935 and the House 37437. Though most of the Democrats who voted for that are gone, not all of them are. In addition to Schumer, Sens. Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, Pat Leahy, and Patty Murray voted for it, as did House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The bill allowed presidents to repeatedly waive the embassy relocation if they found it in the United States national security interests. Thats how President Clinton, who signed the bill, as well as Presidents Bush and Obama regularly postponed the move.

Supporting the embassy move was a relatively easy position for legislators to take, as long as there were presidents willing to allow the bill to gather dust. Last year, they all took the easy vote again. A Senate resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, that reaffirms the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 as United States law, and calls upon the President and all United States officials to abide by its provisions, passed the chamber 900.

Yes, its just a resolution. Democrats who might have objected to the embassy relocation may have decided it wasnt worth it to fight over a line. But they voted for it! The current president is a glaring reminder that you shouldnt vote for things that rely on the responsible stewards in the executive branch not to enforce them.This past week, journalists in America were struggling to comprehend two major stories: The first was that Donald Trump announced (via tweet) on Wednesday that any news that paints him in a negative light is, by definition, fake news. He went on to threaten the press credentials of any journalist who doesnt portray him in a flattering light. This is, of course, the natural culmination of two years of attacks on the media, threats to reporters, promises to change the First Amendment press protections, and an unprecedented claim that the media itself is an enemy of the people. Perhaps relatedly, CBS reported Friday that every television at the Food and Drug Administration is tuned to Fox News and cannot be changed. This stuff is jarring because just two years ago, we believed such threats to the First Amendment died with Richard Nixon.

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At the same time, we are all attempting to unravel a narrative in which Michael Cohen, Donald Trumps nonlawyer, created a shell corporation to pay hush money to a porn star with whom Donald Trump claims not to have had sex. That company became a funnel for ungodly sums of money from Fortune 500 companies and Russian oligarchs to perform services that it could have in no way performed.

In other words, if you work in media, you would be well within your rights to have had a tequila shot with your breakfast every day this week. Its all just terribly sick and sad and the constant stream makes it hard not to be sick and sad all the time. Weve long since stopped describing news consumption as drinking from a firehose. It went from firehose to tidal wave a year ago. Nevertheless, weve persisted.

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Perhaps the most common refrain journalists hear from strangers is I feel bad for you. I feel sad that following all this is your job. The truth of the matter is that there is not enough hazard pay in the world. Its hard not to want to shut it all off and just hope that some combination of Michael Avenatti, Bob Mueller, and the 2018 elections might restore normalcy. Normalcy would be nice, because weeks and months of being the head/desk emoji is hazardous to ones mental health. Our brains, messed up from all that banging, still know something is amiss. It feels like the only way to exert any control at all over the insanity would be the capacity to turn it off.

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And, of course, turning it off is exactly what a president who wants to kill the news is hoping for. Also, remember how reading and making the news are still all of our jobs?

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This week a handful of tweets started trending that reminded me of how strong the impulse to normalize has become. It started with this tweet:

The most alarming thing to me about living through an illegitimate proto-fascist coup of American democracy is how mundane it is.



I still have to pay rent on time. There's still baseball on TV.



But everything is... wrong. Like an Instagram filter over every second of every day.  Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) May 11, 2018

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And spiraled into a series of these:

I want to scream at random people in the grocery store: How can you just be there, buying broccoli??? Cant you see our representative democracy is on fire?



And then I realize I need broccoli so I go and put some in my cart.  Karen T. Smith (@KarenTSmith) May 11, 2018

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How do we hold normal and crazy in our minds at the same time? Sorting through this dilemma, and living as a journalist in the Age of Trump, I have become thoroughly obsessed with a parable that mysteriously reached back from my childhood and grabbed me by the throat sometime after the election. Its a story I used to have on a record and forgot about for 40 years. Truthfully, its an improbable tale for a kids album in the first place, but the 70s were weird like that.

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It took me months, but an old summer camp friend, Michelle, with an assist from a folklorist friend, finally tracked it down for me. The story is credited to Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, a radically transformative thinker and mystic who lived in the late 18th century. Its a funny parable coming from a rabbi because God and religion appear nowhere in it. Its also weirdly prescient for three centuries ago, but I guess thats what makes a parable roll. Here it is:

HARVEST OF MADNESS There once was a king who was also an astrologer. By studying the stars he learned that the harvest of wheat that year would be tainted, and anyone who ate of it would go mad. The king revealed this prophecy to his friend, the prime minister, and asked if there was anything they could do. The prime minister said, Let us set aside some of last years wheat. That way we will not have to eat the tainted grain. The king thought about this for a while, and then he said, Its not possible to set aside enough of last years wheat for everyone. But if we alone eat the good wheat, we will be the only sane people in a mad world. All the others will look at us as if we were the ones who are mad. So, we will have to eat the tainted wheat. But let us place a mark on our foreheads to remind each other that we are mad, like everyone else.

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The tale wont let go of me in part because it so perfectly describes the world in which we now find ourselves, call it the Broccoli/World-on-Fire Paradox. We are trapped in a kind of national collective madness, where lies are truth, truth is derided as fake news, corruption is cleansing, and cruelty is good governance. Suddenly the adults are children and the Parkland, Florida, kids are adults, and every time you think it cant get madder, it just does. Its a world in which the mere act of declaiming, This isnt normal, or Theyre not telling the truth is dismissed as hysteria and overreaction. Jokes can hurt feelings, but ripping children from their parents leaves no lasting moral footprint.

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Recently, I have begun to think of the wheat in this parable as the news itself; the news we must consume, because there is no ethical option to ignore it. Thats the compact we have made, and so we eat of it and eat of it until we are half-mad, but at least we are all going there together. We know what this is doing to our sanity, to our relationships, to the country, and indeed the entire world, but theres no option but to follow it where it leads each day.

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While I used to think of the parable of the wheat as tragic and nihilist (and in my childhood, I found it terrifying and still wonder who thought it suitable for a childrens record), in the year since Donald Trump took office, I have increasingly found that the story stays with me for a more hopeful reason. It stays with me because of the image of this mark, this stain on our foreheads, the one thats meant to denote that we used to be sane, even if we cant remember that fact. Its a mark that signals that even though, as a nation, we must still inhabit these glittering cathedrals of lies and corruption, we can still see in one another the faint signs of what we were and what we hope to become again. Its the story of a kind of ultimate triumph of all the people who live within madness and are forced to eat all the lies and still refuse to call them delicious. For me its a parable about truth telling (or the echoes of truth knowing) for truths own sake and of forming communities of people with secret markings who recall that weve all lost our minds but still refuse to just float up above it all and pray it goes away.

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I told this story to a roomful of people the other night and someone asked me after how the story ends. I had to admit to him that as a formal matter, the story ends where I ended it: the madness and the markings. But the truth is that the story doesnt end so much as invite us into it, to contend with it on its own terms. Ive come to turn to this parable to recognize the markings and appreciate the people who suit up every day and use the tools of their trades to try to shovel the wheat around, to pile and sort it, and to hold fast to the old ideas about how the world should work. I see you there in the broccoli aisle, and you see me.

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The people who organize and vote and march and run for office, the people who track down and report news, the folks who file lawsuits and who hear those lawsuitsthey all do it in a world that makes no internal coherent sense anymore. But they see the other marks on other peoples foreheads, and they forge ahead. And I salute you, fellow broccoli people, and want to affirm that your marks are not as faint as they may seem. As long as we hang on to the marks and the memory and the promise, perhaps we can eat the wheat and not lose ourselves to it. The story holds fast so long as there are two people left to recognize each other. We eat the madness, as we may have to for a while longer, but we are not yet mad, and not yet alone.

This article is adapted from a speech Lithwick gave last week when she accepted the 2018 Hillman Prize for Opinion & Analysis.Slates Ruth Graham wrote Monday morning about Robert Jeffress, a prominent Dallas pastor who was invited to speak at the opening of the U.S. extremely controversial new embassy in Jerusalem despite having noted that he believes Jews will suffer for eternity in hell. Jeffress wasnt the only evangelical figure in attendance the event, thoughand in fact, he didnt even have the hottest take on Judaism of the two who were there. Heres CNN on San Antonio pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, who delivered a benediction at the new embassy Monday:

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Audio from one of Hagees sermons in the 1990s was leaked that seemed to suggest that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling Gods will by aiding the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy. God says in Jeremiah 16: Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers.  Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters, Hagee said, according to a transcript of his sermon. "And they the hunters shall hunt them. That would be the Jews.  Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.

Hagees Hitler sermon became an issue after he endorsed John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign; at the time, Hagee clarified that he had not meant to condone the Holocaust and that Hitler was a monster.

In any case, the U.S. opened an embassy in Jerusalem, triggering a massive outbreak of violence in the occupied territories, in part to satisfy a Texan extremist who thinks that doing so means we have now done our part in a process initiated by Hitler to fulfill biblical prophecy.At least 43 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli troops on the Gaza border Monday, in what might be just a prelude to more violence to come in a week that includes both the controversial opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and planned protests throughout the Palestinian territories.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, has been holding regular protests at the Israeli-Gaza border in the lead-up to May 15, the date on which Palestinians observe Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, to commemorate the displacement of Palestinians following the Israeli declaration of independence on May 14, 1948. Dozens have been killed at the border over the past few weeks, and Mondays violence was the worst so far.* Palestinians hurled stones, firebombs and burning tires, while Israeli troops responded with live sniper fire.

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Theres unlikely to be any respite from the violence and tension Tuesday, when marches are planned throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank for Nakba Day. While the Palestinian Authority, dominated by President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party, is supporting the protests, its unclear to what extent it will support direct clashes with Israel.

Mondays protests and killings followed a weekend of violence that also included a Saturday night Israeli airstrike on a tunnel in Northern Gaza and clashes in Jerusalem between police and Palestinians protesting the hundreds of Jewish worshippers who visited the Temple Mount on Sunday to mark Jerusalem Day, a holiday commemorating the reunification of the city in 1967.

The various anniversaries and commemorations this week would be tense enough without the additional flashpoint of the embassy move. The new embassy, which is actually just a pre-existing consular facility where Ambassador David Friedman and a few staffers will work until a permanent new facility is built, was formally opened Monday in a ceremony attended by a U.S. delegation including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and GOP donor Sheldon Adelson. Most European governments are boycotting the ceremony.

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With the embassy move, along with the decision last week to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement, the Trump administration has been working out brilliantly for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus otherwise beleaguered government. On the other hand, given that Palestinian leaders have been effectively boycotting contact with U.S. officials since the embassy move was announced in Decemberthe delegation in town for the ceremony wont meet with any PalestiniansTrumps formerly stated intention of dispatching Kushner to reach the ultimate deal for Mideast peace has been put on hold indefinitely.

Judging by the events of this week, the trend is moving in the opposite direction.Late last week, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a bill that would require immigration and border agents to document their stops, searches, and interrogations. From Vox:

Under current law, agents from both departments have broad authority to stop and question people about their immigration status. In the 100-mile border zone  the area of the US thats within 100 miles of a land or water border  agents can pull over cars and board vehicles to ask passengers about their citizenship if they suspect a person is not in the country legally. (In the rest of the country, ICE agents cant enter private property without a warrant or pull over vehicles without probable cause of an immigration violation.) But the law doesnt require agents keep track of whom they stop or why, unless the agents detain someone or end up using force.

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Gillibrands bill would require agents to report basic data and the justifications for each stop. That information would be compiled and made available to Congress and the public regularly. According to Vox, the bill was inspired in part by videos showing Customs and Border Patrol agents questioning travelers that went viral earlier this year.*

Since the initial travel ban in 2017, social media has played a significant role in liberal discourse over immigration policy under Trump. Viral stories about particular deportations are common, as is rhetoric assailing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A Twitter campaign to abolish the agency prompted MSNBCs Chris Hayes to ask potential presidential contender Sen. Kamala Harris whether she supported the idea in March. She does not, but a small cadre of House candidates do, including Randy Bryce, a mustachioed Democratic contender for Paul Ryans seat who is popular with the left.

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This talk and revulsion to Trumpism make it likely that immigration activists are going to demand a lot from Democratic presidential contenders come 2020. Its possible that theyll give Gillibrand a particularly hard time. Although shes since swung decisively left on the issue, Gillibrand began her tenure in Congress as an immigration hawk representing a rural, heavily Republican, and heavily white district in upstate New York. Her platform from this period can be read on an archived page of her old website:

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In Congress, Congresswoman Gillibrand has been a firm opponent of any proposal that would give amnesty to illegal aliens. The federal government must provide the necessary resources to secure our borders, which is critical for Americas economic and national security. She strongly supports legislation that would significantly increase the number of border patrol agents and place sophisticated technology along the Southern border to catch human and drug smugglers [] In addition, Congresswoman Gillibrand believes English should be made the official language of the United States and she opposes providing non-emergency taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens.

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When asked to explain her former views on an episode of 60 Minutes in Februaryafter calling Donald Trumps immigration policies racistshe referenced the composition of her district. I came from a district that was 98 percent white, she said. We have immigrants but not a lot of immigrants, and I hadnt really spent the time to hear those kinds of stories about what its like to worry that your dad could be taken away at any moment. But as 60 Minutes Sharyn Alfonsi pointed out, Gillibrand had spent a decade in immigrant-dense New York City and presumably heard accounts of the impact of deportation from the press, not to mention from immigration activists in her own party.

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If primary voters have a difficult time believing that excuse, shell have to conspicuously bolster her credentials on the issue to compensate. Gillibrands made some good moves since Trumps election. She demonstrated against the travel ban, for instance, and was among the Democratic senators that were willing to shut down the government over the DREAM Act in the winter. Her latest immigration bill might be a sign that she plans to lean a bit more heavily into the issue.Last Thursday afternoon, as the House was wrapping up its work for the week, Arizona Rep. Martha McSally asked for and received unanimous consent to remove herself as a co-sponsor of a piece of immigration legislation. The bill, introduced by Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo in March 2017, would have granted a 10-plus-year path to citizenship for certain Dreamers brought to the country at a young age. It was a more center-right version of the DREAM Act.

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McSally co-sponsored the legislation on April 5, 2017, and touted that legislation for much of the year. McSally, along with other immigration (then-)moderates, signed a letter in September 2017, shortly before President Trump announced the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, calling on Speaker Paul Ryan to take up legislation addressing the issue.

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Congresswoman McSally was an early cosponsor of the Recognizing Americas Children (RAC) Act, McSallys office said in a press release accompanying the letter, legislation that would provide three clear pathways to legal status for those currently protected under DACA: higher education, service in the armed forces, or work authorization. Additionally, she has questioned Secretary Kelly on whether or not DHS would protect the DACA holders, emphasizing their role in American society. 

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But later that fall, McSally had a eureka moment that changed her entire perspective on immigration. It went as follows: Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who saw his standing among Republican primary voters collapse after clashes with President Trump, announced he wouldnt run for reelection. Eureka! McSally thought. I should run for that Senate seat!

And so, instead of trying to win re-election in a narrowly Republican district that she captured by less than 200 votes in 2014, McSally now finds herself in a statewide primary against two anti-immigration hawks: former state Sen. Kelli Ward and recently pardoned exMaricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a couple of far-right pieces of work if ever there were. In January, she leapt at the opportunity to co-author Trumps preferred House immigration bill, Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlattes Securing Americas Future Act, which offers existing DACA beneficiaries renewable legal status in exchange for every conservative demand on immigration policy.

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McSallys staff told HuffPost and the Arizona Republic, which reported late last week on McSallys rejection of the more lenient bill that she used to love, that the congresswoman wanted to clarify which legislative solution she backs wholeheartedly ahead of immigration votes that might come if the discharge petition her former Republican allies are circulating gets a majority of signatures.

Congresswoman McSally is a lead author and champion of the Securing Americas Future Act, a border security bill that fully funds the wall, cracks down on sanctuary cities and criminal illegal gangs, and addresses the DACA population, her spokeswoman said. The Congresswomans bill is the only bill in the House that President Trump and Secretary Nielsen support.

Her rival campaigns immediately made fun of her for this, because its super-obvious and they should.A state senator in South Dakota running for the states only U.S. House seat said last year that his victory in the primary election would be secured by one more terrorist attack.

In an audio recording obtained in April by the Sioux Falls radio station KELO and confirmed Monday by HuffPost, Neal Tapio, the state director for Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, made it clear that his image as the Trump-associated candidate meant he would get a boost from a terror attack.

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In an audio clip, Tapio appears to be discussing his path to victory against the two other Republican candidates. He concludes: And then all that has to happen is that there will be one more terrorist attack between now and then, and I will be thejust by the Trump effectI will be the candidate. Thats the way I look at it.

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When KELO contacted Tapio about this statement, Tapio did not deny that it was him in the recording but rejected the stations interpretation of his words. To suggest I am advocating for a terror attack is a disgusting smear and you should be ashamed of yourself, he said. Anyone that would even suggest that is a vile and disgusting individual not worthy of being taken seriously. I would caution you that questions like that prove that you do not take journalism or this issue seriously.

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On his Facebook page, Tapio addressed the leaked recording by arguing he had the courage to speak about the dangers of Islamic terrorism, unlike other politicians who are afraid of being labeled as Islamophobic. Terror has something to do with Islam, he wrote. Nobody dares say this in public. I do.

Tapio also said in the recording that he would not allow his children to serve in the military because you just are giving up your life to be mercenaries for Saudi Arabia.

In response to a question from HuffPost about those comments, Tapio said he meant to sympathize with service members, who, he said, had faced a heavy long-term physical and mental toll from an endless war. He went on to reiterate that the unwillingness to call this war by its [sic] proper name, the global war against Islamic terrorism,  insulted anyone serving in the military. He said that Islam is not a religion of peace but a hateful and deadly ideology, and he criticized the false pretense[s] and policies of presidents Bush and Obama that, he said, left the most radical groups in power and amounted to a dishonest expenditure of the most valuable resource we have.

Whoever wins the June 5 Republican primary is expected to win the general election to become the states sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives.The Bureau of Prisons is going back to some of its old ways when it comes to handling transgender inmates. The rewritten Transgender Offender Manual makes clear that from now on biological sex and not gender identity are to be used to assign housing and bathrooms. The manual, which had been updated shortly before President Trump took office, called on prisons to recommend housing by gender identity when appropriate. That line has now been struck out in the new version that was posted online Friday.

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The new guidelines point out that the designation to a facility of the inmates identified gender would be appropriate only in rare cases. To determine placement, the Transgender Executive Council can use the health and safety of the inmate to figure out where they should be housed. In a seemingly small but key change, the word necessary was added to a spot where it didnt previously appear. Hormone and other necessary treatment may be provided after an individualized assessment of the requested inmate by institution medical staff, the new guidelines state. That word indicates the agency will make determinations about what sort of hormone therapies and other gender transition services are required, pointed out BuzzFeed News, which was first to report the changes in the guidelines.

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The change comes after four women filed a lawsuit in Texas targeting the rules for transgender inmates. The evangelical Christian women said that they were at increased danger because they were being forced to live with transgender women.

It is transgender inmates who will face increased risks of violence due to these changes, transgender rights advocates said. Once again, the Trump Administration is turning its back on those most vulnerable. It is well established that transgender prisonersparticularly transgender women housed in mens facilitiessuffer much greater rates of sexual abuse than other prison populations, said Richard Saenz, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal. There is no justification for this policy shift; it is a deliberate recipe for violence against transgender people based in inexcusable prejudice.

The National Center for Transgender Equality also emphasized the new dangers that transgender inmates will face, calling the changes a direct threat to the safety of transgender people in our nations prisons. It also noted that the new rules are in direct defiance of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which mandates prison officials must screen all individuals at admission and upon transfer to assess their risk of experiencing abuse.Monday, as an American delegation including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Steve Mnuchin, and top Republicans from Congress gathers for a ceremony to mark the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, they may also be marking another milestone: the end of Americas role as the central mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.*

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the United States has been the primary negotiator between Israelis and Palestinians. Bill Clinton came closest to ending the conflict during the failed Camp David summit between Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak in 2000. George Bush led the Annapolis process in 200708, failing to yield results. And most recently, under Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry spearheaded an effort in 201314, which also crashed and burned. (I was part of the State Department negotiating team in that latest round.)

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In every one of these talks, other countries played an important supporting role. The Norwegians hosted the secret dialogue that led to the initial breakthrough in 1993 and set the terms for future negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians. The Arab states, especially Egypt and Jordan but also increasingly Saudi Arabia, have been brought in to give the Palestinians greater political cover while offering incentives to the Israelis in the form of full normalization with the Arab world. The international community has provided humanitarian, economic, and political support through the Middle East Quartet, which comprises the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia.

But the United States has always been the irreplaceable player. This was not because we were viewed as evenhanded brokers. We werent. We tried our best to be evenhanded, but Americans have always had the strongest relationship with Israel. The United States was viewed as the key, because it was the only one that could deliver Israel. The special relationship between the two countries meant that the United States could reassure Israel, providing it with the security and diplomatic assurances it needs to take the risk of offering the Palestinians a state and territorial control of most of the West Bank. But also that it had the most leverage in pressing the Israelis to accept American proposals.

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Twenty-five years of failure have already caused many people, especially on the Palestinian side, to question whether an Israeli-Palestinian negotiation under the auspices of the United States was the best way to achieve the two-state solution. And now, the decision by the Trump administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital may seal that doubt, eliminating any fiction that the United States could act as the effective sole mediator in bringing an end to the conflict.

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Credible mediators cannot blatantly support one side over the other on a core issue in the negotiation, but that is precisely what the Trump administration has done. Conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims on Jerusalem as their capital have always been at the heart of the conflict. The United States has traditionally chosen not to weigh in, instead stating that the issue must be resolved between the parties. This, despite the fact that American negotiators privately acknowledge that the only solution that makes sense is two capitals in Jerusalem.

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If the United States wanted to move the ball forward, it could have announced the opening of two embassies in Jerusalem: one for Israel and one for the future state of Palestine. Or it could have conditioned moving the embassy to Jerusalem on an Israeli decision to reopen Palestinian governing institutions in East Jerusaleminstitutions that had existed in the 1990s as a symbol of Palestinian self-rule and preparation for statehood that included Jerusalem. These institutions were closed after the eruption of violence during the second intifada in the early 2000s. Re-establishing them while also moving the U.S. Embassy would have given a big symbolic win to both sides while cementing the reality that any agreement would include two capitals in Jerusalem.

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Instead, President Donald Trump chose to give a huge political gift to the Israelis while giving nothing to the Palestinians. He put his own campaign promises and political needs above the political needs of the parties themselvesprecisely the opposite behavior of a credible mediator. It is no surprise that the Palestinians reacted to this announcement by cutting off ties with the Trump administration and have refused to meet at senior levels for the past five months.

The provocative timing of the embassy move only further undercuts American credibility. The move comes on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, a day commemorated by Palestinians as the Nakbathe catastrophe. It comes the day before the start of Ramadan, in the midst of mass protests in Gaza, and during escalating tensions in Syria between Israel and Iran.

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Perhaps the only good news is that thus far the embassy move has not prompted significant violence. Palestinian security forces coordinating with Israelis have kept a lid on the situation in the West Bank. With the Middle East absorbed by civil war and domestic instability, the Palestinian issue has not been top of mind across the Arab world.

But why press our luck and throw additional uncertainty into a sensitive situation? That is not the role of a peacemaker. In its traditional role of mediator, America has always played the firefighter trying to put out the flames of the conflict. But by moving the embassy at this particularly sensitive moment, we are instead playing the arsonist.

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This undercutting of the American role may worsen if the Trump administration then follows up the embassy move by releasing a new peace plan, as it has been preparing to do for months. According to media accounts, the plan would be a radical shift from previous U.S. efforts and offer the Israelis more than any previous American administration. Coming on the heels of the Jerusalem announcement, the Palestinians will dismiss it out of hand.

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And for those who believe that this trend is temporary and that the United States will return to its central role after Trumpdont bet on it. Given the domestic political blowback that would result, it is highly unlikely that any future American president will reverse the Jerusalem decision.

So what happens instead? The United States will continue to play an important role in any future negotiations. We remain the global superpower and the country with the closest ties to Israel. But others will have to be brought into the process as equal participants instead of remaining as the supporting cast. The format could be similar to the P5+1 (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China) negotiations that reached a nuclear agreement with Iran.

It could include a regional formula that brings in the Arab State more directly. Or we may see greater involvement by the United Nations.

But whatever the new formula looks like, one thing is clear: The days when the United States dominated the Middle East peace process are likely coming to an end.In a tiny nation that will likely be underwater due to sea level rise within the next century, an American luxury hotel chain is constructing an underwater hotel room that the worlds wealthiest will be able to reserve for $50,000 a night. No one seems to have noticed the irony. But its hard to imagine a more perfect example of the way we think about climate change: a scary thing that will happen at some point in the future but not a problem worth mentioning in the present.

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When you search for the Maldives, a country composed of 1,192 islands that speckle the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka, on Google Maps, the names of the biggest islands appear in a blank sea. You have to zoom in to identify the minute slivers of land that are home to a population of 400,000. Soon even these slivers will be gone. With an average elevation of about 4 feet, and with literally zero hills or mountains, the Maldives is the worlds lowest-lying country. It will not survive the sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change.

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Amazingly, the hotel press release made no mention of Nasheeds stunt, nor of the climate vulnerability of the Maldives.

In 2009, then-President Mohamed Nasheed tried to broadcast the plight of the Maldives by holding what he called the worlds first underwater Cabinet meeting. Nasheed and several high-ranking government officials donned wetsuits and scuba gear, dove down 20 feet to the ocean floor, and, using hand signals and white boards to communicate, signed a document urging all of the worlds countries to cut carbon emissions. Should the world fail to control climate change, they implied, the Maldives would only be able to conduct its business underwater. This piece of political theater served as a metonym for the problem of climate change, a small and globally weak nation trying to publicize its environmental trauma in universally comprehensible terms.

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Amazingly, the hotel press release made no mention of Nasheeds stunt, nor of the climate vulnerability of the Maldives, in its announcement of what the hotel is calling the worlds first undersea residence, which will open in November of this year. Built into the ocean floor 16 feet below sea level, the residence, called the Muraka, will include a glass-walled underwater suite with views of the Indian Ocean and its rainbow of marine life. The upper level of the residence will sit on the water at current sea level and will boast 360-degree water views from the vast deck that includes, inexplicably, an infinity pool.

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The residence was designed solely to deliver innovative and transformative experiences to our global travelers, according to the hotel press release. (The Conrad chain that built the hotel is owned by the Hilton family of hotels.) The hotel has no social mission (a press representative for the hotel declined to comment for this story). It is not donating any portion of proceeds from the room to a climate adaptation fund. Neither the hotel itself nor any of the travel reporting that followed news of the underwater residence acknowledges that the planet is warming, that sea levels are rising, and that the optics of an extravagant underwater hotel room are less than ideal. Perhaps thats because the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island already operates Ithaa, the worlds first underwater restaurant, off the shore of the same island.

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I research and teach the literature of climate change. I have used John Shenks 2012 documentary on Mohamed Nasheeds presidency and climate activism, The Island President, to illustrate to my students how people are constructing narratives of climate change and its related disasters. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the way Shenk personalizes the abstract problem of climate change by shaping it around the quest of a single man. We observe the way his camera lingers on waves eating away at eroding beaches, examples of climate destruction. Shenk also films high-level meetings with government staff, so viewers get to eavesdrop on Maldivians forming their story about their precarious position.

The reason that Maldives is unique is that were going to lose an entire nation, and identity, culture, all these things, says Aminath Shauna, then the presidents climate coordinator, in one scene. Other countries will suffer, she says, but the Maldives will disappear.

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I am not the only one who was stirred by this message: The Maldives has become such a prominent example of climate vulnerability in academic circles that my colleagues in environmental studies simply did not believe me when I told them that the Conrad designers were not thinking about climate change when they dreamed up their underwater luxury zone. One had assumed Muraka was an example of ecotourism, meaning it must be catering to tourists interested in not only experiencing a local ecosystem but in potentially aiding in its conservation. Another half-jokingly said the Muraka must connect to climate change, because climate change is the only reason anyone has heard of the Maldives.

While those of us who follow environmental issuesincluding mehave likely only become familiar with the Maldives because of its real and symbolic associations with climate change and sea level rise, environmentalists are not the only outside group to take a single-minded interest in the Maldives. The luxury travel industry also pays attention to this tiny country, which in some circles is known primarily for its over-the-top hotels and resorts. Youre not in the Maldives to explore a new country, writes a flippant Bloomberg Pursuits reporter in a piece on the Muraka. Youre there to feel like the worlds most glamorous castaway. Your hotel room is your destination; youd better pick a good one.

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Both groupsthe environmentalists and the luxury travelersfall into the same trap, what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie famously calls the danger of the single story: the environmentalists see the Maldives only as a place that is tragically vanishing due to the ravages of global climate change; the travelers see the Maldives only as a bunch of fancy hotel rooms plopped on pretty islands.

Travelers get their story from the highly polished global travel industry, which presumably doesnt want its customers worrying about sea level rise or political unrest while enjoying their high-end vacations. For a time, we environmentalists got our story from the Maldivian government. In 2008, after several stints in jail as a political prisoner, Mohamed Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and immediately made climate change its keystone issue. He founded V20, a coalition of nations particularly vulnerable to climate change; he spoke at rallies alongside 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben; he convened the aforementioned underwater Cabinet meeting. He singlehandedly put his disappearing country on the environmentalist map. But in 2012, Nasheed was forced to resign in what he claimed was a coup; he was sentenced to 13 years in prison and now lives in exile. Maldivian climate activism vanished along with him. The current president, Abdulla Yameen, is a relative of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the autocratic ruler who held power in the Maldives for 30 years before Nasheed was elected.

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Yameen cares much more about developing the Maldives nowincluding its thriving tourism industrythan about preparing the islands for a climate changed future, either by urging the world to reduce carbon emissions, building sea walls to reduce erosion and flooding, or purchasing land abroad to serve as a future home for Maldivians who will be displaced by sea level rise. Some recent on-the-ground reporting and ethnographic research suggests that many Maldivians have long accepted this approach, favoring unrestrained economic and technological advances over Nasheeds long-lost pledge to make the Maldives the worlds first carbon neutral country by 2020. Sea level rise is perceived as a chronic problem that the country needs to address but not as the existential crisis it is.

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We traffic in the same willed ignorance here in the states as we continue to build expensive condos in Miami and pump floodwater from the low streets of Norfolk, Virginia.

In this atmosphere, projects like Hulhumale, an artificial urban island that is being built near the capital city of Male, are thriving. The island hosted 40,000 residents in 2016 and will become home to about 240,000 people by the time it is completed in the 2020s. Most of the new inhabitants will be from Male, the population of which is outgrowing its island capacity, or undeveloped Maldivian islands who need the benefits of an urban economy. Notably, the project is not funded by the global climate adaptation funds to which the Maldives has access but rather by a combination of capital from the Maldives government and foreign investorsoverwhelmingly Chinesewho are seeking a profit. The developers literature on Hulhumale does mention a few climate keywords like sustainability, resilience, and adaptation, but it does not frame itself as the solution to the countrys dilemma.

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We traffic in the same willed ignorance here in the states as we continue to build expensive condos in Miami and pump floodwater from the low streets of Norfolk, Virginia. Like the Maldives, the American ability to fight climate change as a nation depends almost entirely on who inhabits the offices of the executive branch. Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency attempted to regulate carbon emissions and cooperate with global mitigation efforts; Trump and his EPA are trying to overturn carbon regulations and pull us out of global climate agreements. It is breathtaking to think that we cease acting on an issue that will plague the world for many millennia based on the personalities of men who hold power for mere years.

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When Mohammed Nasheed represented the Maldives at the 2009 United Nations Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, he tried to fight for an agreement that would reduce atmospheric carbon to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which would limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This was the ceiling he needed to keep his country above water. In 2013, the year after Nasheed was forced to resign, readings of more than 400 parts per millionthe number scientists widely regard as a threshold for inevitable disasterwere recorded for the first time. On May 2, 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded a reading of 409 parts per million at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Maybe the Muraka residence will do some good after all: We may soon need the technology to build many more residences at the bottom of the rising sea. Lets hope they can make it cost-efficient.In April of 2016, the city installed over 300 high-powered safety lights at the Bushwick Houses, a New York City Housing Authority complex in Brooklyn. The lights were part of the Mayors Action Plan (MAP) for Neighborhood Safety, a $210 million initiative aimed at reducing violent crime in public housing. The plan targeted 15 developments that house 60,000 New Yorkers and see almost one-fifth of all crime at NYCHA.

You need to feel safe, said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a press conference at the Bushwick Houses. And that is about having the lighting that makes you safe, that makes you know that you can see what is happening around you and obviously that law enforcement can see whats happening around. This lighting will have a big impact.

The plan includes jobs programs, increased police/resident cooperation, and $140 million in physical renovationslike security cameras, enhanced locks on building entrances, and high-wattage lights on development perimeters and inner walkways.

From the beginning, though, the lights have been the centerpiece, and at around $80 million have proven one of the costliest single elements of the program. A NYCHA official quoted in a newsletter from late 2016 said the state-of-the-art lighting changes the dynamics of the neighborhoods dramatically, helping light the way to safety. At the end of 2017, TV stations reported that NYCHA overall had seen a 7 percent drop in violent crime thanks to the lights. NY1 hailed a plunge in crime, which NYCHA officials attributed to the lights.

But its been more than a year now since the lights came on in most developments, and residents say their impact has been less than transformative.

If you want to make trouble, you will, no matter what, said James McQuade, a resident of the Ingersoll Houses in Brooklyn. McQuade called the lights useless, and pointed out that aging scaffolding around the apartment buildings make it easy to lurk in the shadows, unnoticed.

Nothing ever happened to me, even before they put in the lights, said Geraldine Range, of the Polo Grounds development in Washington Heights. The lights make it look nicer, but Ive never had a problem before.

According to NYCHA data, only seven of the fourteen developments with lights have seen any reduction in crime complaints since the lights went on, and those changes have for the most part been minutecrime has trended up or down in these developments by less than one incident per month, on average.



NYPD lights and cameras outside the Ingersoll Houses (David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist)

At the Bushwick Houses, for instance, the lights have been on for two years. The development saw an average of 3.4 violent crimes per month in the two years before the installation, and as of March 2018, have seen an average of 3.3 violent crimes per months since the installation. (This month, two Bushwick House residents, a 62-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were both found dead of gunshot wounds in their respective apartments.)

The changes at these developments were not noticeably different from trends in NYCHA as a whole. At four Brooklyn developments where lights were installed at the beginning of 2017Ingersoll, Brownsville, Tompkins, and Van Dykecrime was about 3 percent lower than it had been the year before. That was less than the 10 percent drop in crime seen among Brooklyn developments as a whole, and a 7 percent crime drop for NYCHA overall.

These numbers, like most crime data, say little about whether the lights have actually deterred crime. Crime reports separated by time of day were not available, and MAP has deployed numerous interventions in the developments all at once, so its difficult to say what difference the lights have or havent made. But the numbers do seem to support many residents feelings that the installation of the lights has not been followed by the big impact promised by de Blasio.

A spokesperson for the Mayors Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) noted that since 2013a year before de Blasio took officeviolent crime in MAP developments has fallen since 15 percent, and shooting incidents have declined by 25 percent in the developments. Other NYCHA developments without the lights have seen violent crime stay about level since then, while shootings there have declined by 35 percent.

These lights represented a significant investment from the city, and the city is currently pursuing cost effective investments to the physical environment can enhance the Citys efforts to promote public safety and help reduce crime, the spokesperson said.

The NYPD has not yet responded to our requests for comment, while NYCHA referred us to the MOCJ.



Lights outside the Ingersoll Houses (David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist)

Dean Obermark, a research analyst at the Urban Institute, said the recent crime numbers made it difficult to argue that the lights have had a significant effect on crime in the developments.

Theres a lot of volatility in reported crime, and in some of these complexes you have pretty small numbers from month to month, he said. Some of these changes can be pretty misleading in either direction, since were really only talking about a few incidents a month. My inclination would be to say it really looks like theres nothing going on one way or the other.

Obermark adds that any number of mitigating factors could have contributed to a rise or a fall in the violent crime rate in certain developments, and a single outlier month can skew the data in either direction. Whats difficult to dispute, though, is that there hasnt been any significant decrease in crime across the board since the lights went on.

The lights, though, have accounted for a significant portion of MAP spending, costing between $3 and $8 million per development thus far. The upgrades have been funded by the de Blasio administration, the City Council, and the Manhattan District Attorneys office.

Most residents Gothamist spoke to said crime hadnt noticeably changed since the lights were installed, or since MAP began. A few said they still felt unsafe going outside at night, while other longtime residents praised the relative safety of NYCHA developments as compared to a decade ago.

The crime definitely isnt like it used to be, hasnt been that way in a while, said Gwendolyn Sellers, whos lived in Polo Grounds since 1973. Theyre putting in work, I understand, but they have to listen if we say theres other things that need to be fixed.

Even as it began installing lights in the first projects, the city partnered with the University of Chicago Crime Lab on a study that sought to determine whether outdoor lighting at NYCHA would reduce crime. The first-of-its-kind study, which tested the lights in a random selection of 39 NYCHA developments, found that temporary high-powered floodlights had a significant effect on nighttime outdoor crime, reducing it by nearly 40 percent.



Lights outside Polo Grounds in Washington Heights (David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist)

It is unclear whether new lights in the MAP 15 have resulted in similar deterrence of nighttime outdoor crime, but that deterrence has not resulted in a drop in crime overall in those developments. And residents interviewed by Gothamist, whether they liked the lights or not, also doubted that they made much of a difference.

Tina Williams, a 28-year-old resident of Ingersoll, said the security enhancements dont change anything.

Why would they? Williams added. Its just lights and cameras.

And Lexi, a 19-year-old Ingersoll resident who declined to give her full name, said the lights are an irritant to residents.

The lights are too bright for my eyes; I feel like the cops are watching my every move, she said. None of us like the cameras or the lights, I wish theyd take them down.

The Crime Lab study also noted that it would be reasonable to suppose that there are diminishing marginal returns to lightingthat the effects of lighting begin to decline past some saturation point, the saturation point being about three lights per block. The lights in the MAP developments are less powerful than those used in the study, but each development now has hundreds of permanent lights, in some cases as many as a dozen per square block.



Polo Grounds in Washington Heights (David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist)

University of Connecticut Professor Richard Stevens, an epidemiologist who has long studied the physiological impacts of flood lights at night, said nighttime glare can degrade sleep quality and interfere with humans circadian rhythms, which act as the bodys internal clock and influence the production of important hormones. In 2016, the American Medical Association unanimously issued guidance over the potential adverse health impacts of LED street lighting, including retina damage and interruptions to circadian rhythms.

The engineers and the experts see a crime problem, but then they go way overboard, and overlight the neighborhoods, Stevens said. They obliterate the night.

Residents at Polo Grounds had their own list of much-needed fixes for the development. As part of the MAP initiative, City Council and Manhattan DA have also allocated tens of millions of dollars on upgraded locks for building doors. But residents said most of the new locks had been tampered with or busted, and not repaired since.

These lights are all right, but they dont stop crime, said a seven-year resident of Polo Grounds who declined to give her name. They dont stop nothing.

That residents mother chimed in, agreeing that the lights did little, before noting that the locks on her building were broken within a week of being installed.

The spokesperson for MOCJ said that it was inevitable that new doors would sometimes break, and noted that the city is partnering with behavioral scientists at the firm ideas42 to understand why doors are getting broken and understand how that can be prevented.

The Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn will be the last development to receive the new lights, but installation will not take place until 2021, when NYCHA expects to complete the work to repair the damage done by Superstorm Sandy.



Lights outside Polo Grounds in Washington Heights (David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist)

Qween Williams, who also lives at Ingersoll, said she wishes the city would invest money in youth programs and hot-water heaters at NYCHA developments, not more surveillance cameras and lighting. She said the lights brightly shine through the windows of her friends on the first two floors, and havent had any real impact on the community.

The lights dont make things better, Williams said. The people in the community are the only ones who can make things better.The recent discovery of alarming rates of false-positive results in several research literaturesthe so-called replication crisishas led to a series of reforms in science publishing and practice, with the goal of making studies more transparent and reproducible. In the past few weeks, this push for openness by academics has been taken up by the Trump administration.

Under the direction of Administrator Scott Pruitt, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put out a plan in late April to strengthen transparency in its use of research findings. If that rule goes through (were in the middle of a 30-day period for public comment), then any data, models, or analyses used by the agency for setting environmental standards would have to be made available for public scrutiny. The proposal claims that these changes would be in line with the open-science movement as a whole and that they would be informed by the policies recently adopted by some major scientific journals, spurred in some part by the replication crisis. 

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In light of all these factsor, rather, in the darkness of themone may as well assume the worst about the transparency rule

The phrase bad faith gets thrown around a lot these days, but this supposed methodological awakening at the EPAPruitts come-to-Nosek moment, if you willfeels like it could be the baddest faith of all. To state the obvious: Over the past 15 months, the agency has wallowed in the shadows, given in to paranoia, and otherwise displayed a deep aversion to transparency. Thirty-five years ago, the agencys first administrator promised that the EPA would operate in a fishbowl and communicate as openly as possible. Pruitt and his team have smoked the glass at every opportunity. Theyve ignored requests for public records and avoided taking notes at crucial meetings; theyve installed biometric locks, armed guards, and soundproof phone rooms; theyve kept Pruitts calendar a secret and his travel plans mysterious even for his senior staff; theyve given him control of four different email accounts; theyve booted academic scientists from advisory boards and replaced them with representatives of industry.

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In light of all these factsor, rather, in the darkness of themone may as well assume the worst about the transparency rule: that it isnt really meant to make the use of science any more reliable, reproducible, or open, but rather to sideline any research that might force the agency into regulatory action. Then again, motivations arent everything, and rejecting policies solely on account of their bad faith amounts to little more than faith-based reasoning. What about the rule itself, and the principles of open science it claims to represent? In reflexively decrying Pruitts rule (and the closely related efforts from the climate sciencehating wing of Congress), have we given up on something with potential?

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Opponents of the ruleincluding the 985 scientists who signed an April 23 open letter to Pruitthave tried to underline its purported flaws: The problem, they say, is that it would cut off access to a large, important body of research. The goal of sharing data is a noble one, but for many studiesmaybe even most of them, in certain fields of inquirysharing data would be de facto impossible, due to intellectual property, proprietary, and privacy concerns, as the scientists write in their letter. According to Stanford meta-scientist and reproducibility maven John Ioannidis, whose work is cited three times in the EPAs proposal, just a tiny fraction of past research studies have made their raw data available for review and reanalysis. If all the rest were ruled ineligible for the agencys consideration, he pointed out earlier this month, then science will be practically eliminated from all decision-making processes. Regulation would then depend uniquely on opinion and whim. This would have catastrophic consequences, critics say; for example, the rule could lead the agency to ignore all past research on lead toxicity and end its efforts to reduce exposure.

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The black-or-white approach to open science thats described above would of course be very bad. Its not exactly what the rule suggests, however. The EPAs draft does not argue for a blanket ban on unshared data sets; rather it says that all reasonable efforts must be made to render data available for public use, in a manner that is consistent with law, protects privacy, confidentiality, confidential business information, and is sensitive to national and homeland security. When such reasonable efforts faile.g., in situations where sharing data turns out to be impractical or impossiblethen the rule may be suspended. The EPA also asks for public comments on which criteria the Agency should use to base any exceptions to the transparency requirements, and whether application of the rule would hamper the timeliness and quality of the scientific information available.

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The kind of rule imagined by its most alarmed opponentsretroactively applied, with no exceptions, and in such a way that might further poison us with leadwould be insane. It would also be unwelcome, whether youre an earnest advocate for open science or a shill for corporate interests. In its true-boogeyman form, the transparency provision might end up posing obstacles not just for academics doing vital public health research, but also, say, agrochemical companies. According to the EPAs internal emails, obtained via Freedom of Information Act request by the Union of Concerned Scientists, this very issue came up when Pruitt first ordered that the policy be written up in January. This directive needs to be revised, replied industry stalwart Nancy Beck, who is now in charge of the agencys toxic chemical unit. It would be incredibly burdensome, she said, for those companies to publish all the private data they keep on their pesticides.

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In fact, the EPA has already endorsed the use of open science with the stipulation when feasible in official documents. Its Obama-era Scientific Integrity Policy, issued in February 2012, describes seven measures to enhance transparency within Agency scientific processes, including the use of data and models that can be shared online. Its already explicit, said environmental chemist Paul Anastas, who served as an EPA assistant administrator and science adviser from 2009 to 2012 and was instrumental in drafting that policy.

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The new transparency proposal doubles down on this idea and would seem to make the policy somewhat more prescriptive. But it also adds an alarming caveat. As written, Pruitts rule appears to leave all discretion on the matter of transparency exceptions to the EPAs administratorwhich is to say, him. Hed be the one to decide whether reasonable efforts have been made to share a given data set, and when the rule ought to be suspended. In effect, it gives him the power to usurp scientific judgment from the scientists themselves.

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The rule is not yet in its final form, but there may well be a better version that is not so ripe for exploitation. Decisions on the feasibility of data sharing could be left to subject experts instead of political appointees, for example. The push for open science in the government could also follow the path drawn in academic science, which attempts to recalibrate interpretations of published literature rather than expunge it. The real point of the transparency and reproducibility movement is to expose imperfections so we can make wise decisions, said Brian Nosek, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Open Science. Its not about getting perfect evidence. With that in mind, one should not default to tossing out decades-old research with unshared data. Rather this material could be given somewhat lesser weight in decision-making than it has been in the past. Across the sciences, researchers have learned to ascribe more value to trials that have been conducted under full transparency than to vintage studies that were based on data and methods that cant be shared or scrutinized. Its no different from how researchers ascribe more value to trials with randomized and well-controlled designs.

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A more restrictive open-data mandate could then be applied prospectively by the EPA, to research that hasnt yet been carried out or published. Instead of pretending that classic work on environmental toxicology could or should be brought in line, ex post facto, with todays best practices, the agency might say it wants to ensure those practices are in place for all research going forward, at least given reasonable constraints. As the text of the proposed rule points out, this sort of forward-looking, top-down push for more transparency has already been adopted by some academic journals. (Not all of these journals adhere to their stated policies, however.) So why not add another push from the government?

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Such requirements would slacken the pace of research, at least in the short term, since its cheaper and easier to conduct research based on private data and unspecified plans for analysis. But the current pace may be harmful in the long run, if it leads to spurious results. According to Nosek, open science provides for more efficiency in the overall pursuit of knowledge: You will slow down the production of science, he said, but will you slow down the gathering of credible evidence?

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Theres always a trade-off between pace and rigor in scientific practice, but the setting of that balance has unusually high stakes at the EPA. Delaying science on, say, the effects of lead or air pollution can have deadly consequences, while unnecessary or overeager regulation may have massive costs. In practice, this dial has been twisted somewhat to the right already, slowing down potential rules by drawing out debate. Regulatory science can be glacial as it standsit took decades for the agency to move on formaldehyde, for exampleso any means of making that process more meticulous, through adding open-data mandates or extra layers of peer review, will tilt things more in favor of commercial interests, maybe at the cost of public health.

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Its also hard to figure how the agencys apparent push for better, more transparent researchits claim to be swapping short-term speed for long-term reproducibilitycan be squared with the Trump administrations call for radical cuts to the EPA science budget. If Congress really cared to improve the quality of science at the agency, says Anastas, it might fund a study of the issue from the National Academies of Science and issue recommendations for greater openness. Then the EPA would have to act on those recommendations or explain why it was going against the latest science on how to use science most responsibly.

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Opponents of the rule have made some rather retrograde arguments against it.

Writing in the Washington Post last week, the Brookings Institutions Robert Hahn argues that the EPAs proposal may not be perfect but that it would likely end up doing more good than harm to science. He also faults the scientific community for throwing stones instead of offering practical suggestions for how to make it better. Its hard to share Hahns optimism, given how the rule was drafted and the politics behind it. But even if Pruitt and the EPAs appropriation of the open-science movement doesnt leave much room for meaningful engagement, it seems ill-advised for scientists to shoot it down with mindless affirmations of the status quo.

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Indeed, some opponents of the rule have made rather retrograde arguments against it, arguing, for example, that standard scientific practices work well enough as is. This is not about all of the details that scientists need to scrutinize each others work. That information is already widely available, and scientists spend a tremendous amount of time disclosing all of their data and methods to get their work published, said Gretchen Goldman, research director for the Center for Science and Democracy.

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Others have claimed that certain types of research, like studies of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, simply cant be reproducedthough as Andrew Gelman pointed out, you dont need to restage a disaster to make the data from its fallout public, and those analyses could be scrutinized and tried again. Many also cite the cost of making data public, pointing to a Congressional Budget Office report from 2014, which said an open-science rule would add between $10,000 and $30,000 to the ledger for each study used by the EPA (for a total of $250 million per year).

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These claims recapitulate some objections academic scientists made in the early days of the reform movement, according to Simine Vazire, co-founder of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science. Indeed, the new proposals use of replication rhetoric and research, including citations of both Ioannidis and Nosek, has put the open-science movement in a somewhat awkward position. My summary assessment is that its 80 percent great and 20 percent off the rails, Nosek told me. But if you were going only by the outrage thats been expressed by environmental scientists and activists, it would be difficult to sort out those proportions.

Those who favor open science should also worry over backlash. Even before the EPA went out with its proposal, Vazire had heard nervous chatter that the methodological reform movement would get weaponized by right-wing ideologues and used to damage the credibility of science as a whole. Now those predictions have come true. I think theres a real danger in overreacting to the [EPA] rule, she said, even if it does seem poorly designed, hypocritical, or even anti-scientific. Im at least as worried that people will react too strongly in the other direction, and say we need to protect our data against people who want to use it to draw conclusions that we dont like. That makes scientists sound crazy.

Put another way, it may seem as though scientists debates about the practice of their research (and its many flaws) do more harm than good when aired in public. But if these conversations were carried out with more transparencyif science werent quite so vain about its blunders to begin with and so overconfident in its self-governancethen perhaps the right-wing rhetoric that swirled around this new proposal, with its talk of secret science and hidden agendas, wouldnt be so potent to begin with.Since the turn of the 21st century, local law enforcement departments have stocked up on unprecedentedly invasive surveillance tech for monitoring their communities, with little to no oversight. But a counterrevolution is brewing. On May 1, the Oakland, California, City Council unanimously adopted the Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance, the nations strongest law governing how police acquire and use surveillance technologies. While Oakland may be at the head of the pack here, it isnt alone: In the past few years, local governments across the country have become laboratories for developing new approaches to reining in policing tech, and the solutions theyve been cooking up are starting to spread to more cities and towns that are concerned about overreaching or secret police surveillance of their communities.

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After Sept. 11, thanks in part to massive federal grants with few strings attached, local law enforcement agencies all over the United States began steadily acquiring and deploying powerful new policing tech. These surveillance technologies, often acquired and deployed unbeknownst to residents or city councils and usually without court approval or oversight, include cell-site simulators for tracking cellphone-call details (often referred to as stingrays), automatic license plate readers for tracking cars, drones for conducting aerial surveillance, gunshot-location technology that relies on citywide networks of high-powered microphones, and predictive policing algorithms that tend to push police to focus even more on already overpoliced communities. This trend of unrestrained acquisition and use of surveillance tools has been dubbed by some critics as policymaking by procurement, with important decisions being made about police power based simply on the fact that the feds were willing to cut a check for the tech, rather than being based on careful consideration by local elected officials.

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Now, however, those officials and their citizens are catching on to whats been happening. Over the past five years, a growing number of local governments have begun to pass laws demanding transparency and accountability around the use of surveillance technologies and other data-gathering technologies in their communities. Santa Clara County, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Seattle; Somerville, Massachusetts; Berkeley, California; and Davis, California have all adopted ordinances and policies similar to Oaklands. More than a dozen other municipal, city, and state governments are considering similar bills, and more than 30 civil rights and civil liberties organizations recently announced support for a bill in California that would impose similar requirements on every local government in the state.

This steady spread of what some have described as privacy localism has been encouraged through the work of the Community Control Over Police Surveillance coalition, led by the ACLU. That coalition has proposed a model bill to establish a system by which localities can govern and oversee the use of police surveillance technologies. The ACLUs Northern California affiliate also published a guide for local governments that are considering whether and how to regulate surveillance in their communities, which has helped carry the idea even further.

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Over the past five years, a growing number of local governments have begun to pass laws demanding transparency and accountability around the use of surveillance technologies and other data-gathering technologies in their communities.

The laws that have passed or been proposed so far attempt to ensure three key features: accountability, by requiring approval by the local government prior to the acquisition or deployment of surveillance tech; transparency, by requiring reporting about how that technology is being used and how it is impacting the community; and meaningful community participation in decision-making around surveillance tech, by creating structures for public and expert input.

Several localities, including Seattle, have passed ordinances requiring that before law enforcement can purchase a new surveillance technology, or continue using one previously purchased, it must obtain approval from the city council. Such an approval process can provide accountability to ensure that law enforcement only acquires tools that are appropriate and cost-effective for the community, and provide a check against the secret adoption or improper use of these technologies. Although Seattles ordinance exempts cameras, it otherwise applies to any technology that observes or monitors individuals in a manner that is reasonably likely to raise concerns about civil liberties, freedom of speech or association, racial equity or social justice.

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Oaklands ordinance, on the other hand, offers a more technology-based definition of what it regulates, including an illustrative list of covered technologies like automatic license plate readers, stingrays, and algorithmic policing tools. In addition to requiring approval, Seattle and Oaklandalong with Berkeley and Santa Clara Countyalso require the city council or county board to approve surveillance use policies for each technology. These policies govern features like the purpose of the technology, what uses are permitted, what data it may be used to collect, and how those data will be accessed, protected, and retained.

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In addition to requiring approval of surveillance tech, local governments are also starting to demand transparency around its use. Seattle, Berkeley, Oakland, and Santa Clara County all require law enforcement to publish reports on when and how frequently surveillance technologies were used, what data were collected, how data were shared, compliance with data security standards, and the sufficiency of those standards. Seattle, Berkeley, and Oakland also require reporting on whether the deployment of surveillance technologies disparately impacted particular communities such as communities of color, immigrant communities, or minority religious communitiesa crucial but often overlooked component of oversight. Oakland has taken an additional step to guard against violations of public trust and of use policies by prohibiting nondisclosure agreements with surveillance-tech vendors and incorporating robust whistleblower protections.

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Finally, outreach to experts and opportunities for public input are also becoming common features of local surveillance and privacy oversight. For example, in 2014, Oakland established a Privacy Advisory Commissionmade up of privacy and civil rights advocates, technology experts, and community organizersto develop privacy and data security policies for its Domain Awareness Center, which conducted surveillance of the port. The commission, which was made permanent in 2016, provides the city with technical assistance and advice on best practices to protect privacy during the use or purchase of surveillance equipment and other technologies that will collect individuals data. It also issues annual reports and recommendations concerning the use of, and policies governing, those technologies; holds public hearings on these issues; analyzes relevant federal, state, and local legislation; and drafted the legislation that just passed. Under the new ordinance, the commission will also receive and assess impact reports covering each surveillance tool. These reports provide information like descriptions of the surveillance tech used, their intended purposes, where they are deployed, how privacy and data security risks are mitigated, the tools efficacy, and whether there are alternative methods for obtaining the same information.

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Even where no privacy commissions have been established and no ordinances have been passed, municipalities have demonstrated the value of offering opportunities for public input around surveillance tech. For example, San Pablo and Alameda City Councils in California canceled their planned expansions of automatic license plate readers after holding public meetings in which residents raised concerns. Similarly, New Orleans recently ended its relationship with predictive policing vendor Palantir. That came in response to public outrage just two weeks after the Verge broke the story that the its police department had been secretly using Palantirs tech for six years without even the city council knowing.

Despite these gains, the battle for accountability of police tech is still being fought on fronts across the country. On May 9, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Newark, New Jersey, installed 62 surveillance cameras that livestream footage to a public online portal. Privacy and civil rights advocates raised the alarm that allowing internet users to spy on city streets and call in anonymous tips of suspicious activity to Newark police will threaten residents privacy and exacerbate racial tensions. The trial phase of this initiative ends on June 24, so Newark residents have just more than a month to reach out to their local officials and be vocal about their opposition. Oakland may be the most recent city to enact a surveillance-oversight law, but it surely wont be the last. Instead of investing in more unaccountable police tech, Newark and other local governments should jump on the Community Control Over Police Surveillance bandwagon.Is it justifiable to ask young students in Slovakia to dedicate their lives to science, when we cannot even support our current scientists and we do not value the complexity of scientific endeavour?

Andrea Sadlonova is a Slovak-born scientist who returned home after 19 years in the USA.

Recently, I was at a meeting of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), which has been trying to rejuvenate scientific research in Slovakia and invited various Slovak-born scientists from home and abroad. I was a little bit disappointed that the SAV discussion lost its momentum in a minutia of complaints and discussions about money and lacked any words on the future of Slovak science.

Young scientists in Slovakia

I personally believe that without a vision and visible goals, all the money is wasted anyway. Is it justifiable to ask young students in Slovakia to dedicate their lives to science, when we cannot even support our current scientists and we do not value the complexity of scientific endeavour? Do we want our students to replicate a common path of scientists in the U.S. which involves a decade of education and practical research training, a decade for building research expertise, and another decade for becoming an established, well-funded and well-published scientist? Will we all live to 100 to see the benefits of our work? Do we want our students to run through this model only to find their work has no practical application in the Slovak economy, rendering their scientific expertise useless?

Science vs. politics

I am a representative of a mixed research climate in the U.S. During the 2000s, I benefited from the rich Clinton research period but experienced negative effects of the G.W. Bush era of decreased funding. After wars in the Middle East weighed down the federal budget, research money slowly thinned out and many of us stayed without prospective research jobs. In the U.S. we know that science is dependent on political mood, the president, potential wars, terrorists, and the economic climate. Countries are truly prosperous when they do not need to fight for their existence or safety, and take time to develop new ideas and solutions.

Freedom in research

Big research is a true privilege of very wealthy countries but countries like Slovakia can still prosper in science. Small countries with fewer resources just need to stay more focused on what can be done right now with the resources at hand. The bottom line in research is that scientists yearn for their independence, to develop their own ideas and to have the freedom to do so. A research system that provides this freedom generates the best research results. Needless to say, it was this kind of freedom that attracted scientists across the globe to America for most of the 20th century and led to discoveries that we benefit from today.

14. May 2018 at 13:42 | Andrea SadlonovaFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Sakova is lying about the abduction of a Vietnamese citizen

The Interior Minister insists Slovak authorities did not cooperate in the kidnapping of a Vietnamese dissident by the Vietnamese delegation but admits the video evidence is no longer available.

The German media are continuing to investigate the circumstances behind the kidnapping of Vietnamese businessman Trinh Xuan Thanh. He was taken in Berlin and transported to Vietnam, in all probability making stops in Bratislava and Moscow, the Slovak Dennik N daily wrote on May 14.

Although the Slovak authorities deny that the governmental plane was used for this abduction, the recent article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily questions the statements made by Slovak Interior Minister Denisa Sakova describing how all twelve passengers on the plane had passed a police check and arguably had diplomatic passports. She denies that the Slovak security forces cooperated in the kidnapping and claims that Slovakia did not receive the information that an actual kidnapping had taken place until January 2018.

When using the government plane for the leg between Prague and Bratislava, the whole Vietnamese delegation passed a full police check, all of them had diplomatic passports and nobody boarded the plane handcuffed or under pressure, Sakova said for the political show V Politike (In Politics) on TA3 TV.

Read also:

Read also: Was Ficos former advisor involved in Vietnamese abduction? Read more

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) writes, however, that the German authorities sent their first questions to their Slovak counterparts in August 2017 and in November 2017 they formulated the questions so that they pertained to suspected kidnapping. The request for clarification of the record of the Vietnamese visit held by the Slovak police information system came on November 14, 2017, Dennik N wrote.

Shortly afterwards, the FAZ wrote that a Bratislava court issued an order for Slovak mobile operators to make available details of the connections of the phone numbers of two people suspected in connection with the abduction.

Possible Slovak involvement

The alleged abduction took place last July, and talks between the Slovak and German authorities at the Bratislava Borik cabinet hotel were arranged three days later, with Slovak minister Robert Kalinak and the Vietnamese delegation with Public Security Minister To Lam attending. According to GPS data, the rented car in which abduction suspects travelled was parked close to the hotel at that time. Slovakia is thought to have helped the Vietnamese representatives in the abduction by lending the government plane to the official Vietnamese delegation, according to the German media.

According to further German findings, Trinh Xuan Thanh was not listed as a passenger on the flight, nor was Le Hong Quang, a Vietnamese businessman living in Slovakia who currently leads the countrys embassy in Vietnam and who was, in the past, advisor to ex-Prime Minister Robert Fico. The names on the official list however, do not automatically mean that Trinh Xuan Thana was not transported on the Slovak cabinet plane.

In addition, one of the abduction suspects, a top officer in the Vietnamese police, General Duong Minh Hung, was officially listed as onboard the plane.

Video-recordings deleted

Moreover, minister Sakova said in parliament on May 10, in answer to a question by opposition MP Martin Klus (SaS) that the video-recordings from Bratislava airport border checks are only kept by the airport for 14 days and the Interior Ministry for 30 days which is why they are no longer available.

What happened last summer?

Read also:

Read also: Slovakia will invite Vietnamese ambassador Read more

The German media reported that Vietnamese entrepreneur Trinh Xuan Thanh, 51, was kidnapped from Germany by the Vietnamese secret service while the countrys Minister of Public Security To Lam was in Slovakia in the summer of 2017. According to the German press, some suspects appeared in Lams presence in Bratislava and the Slovak Interior Ministry even provided a plane for the Vietnamese after a sudden change to their plans.

Thanh, who was convicted of corruption and embezzling millions of dollars by a court in Vietnam, fled the country in 2016 and sought political asylum in Germany. Berlin accused Vietnam of abducting Thanh, calling it a violation of German and international law. Vietnam denies the abduction allegation and says Thanh returned voluntarily.

14. May 2018 at 13:39 | Compiled by Spectator staffSNS calls on Most-Hid to replace Ondrejcsak

Defence Ministry state secretary criticised SNS nominees for keeping important information on procurement from him.

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The junior coalition partner, the Slovak National Party (SNS) that controls the Defence Ministry has attacked the ministrys state secretary Robert Ondrejcsak who represents another junior coalition partner, Most-Hid, at the ministry.

In an interview that the Sme daily published on May 12, Ondrejcsak criticised SNS nominees at the ministry, particularly Minister Peter Gajdos. He said that even though he as state secretary (deputy minister) is one of the ministrys top officials, he is denied access to the documents pertaining to purchases of military technology worth millions of euros.

It is not common when such strategic matters are concerned, Ondrejcsak told Sme. It is normal that state secretaries cover different agendas. For instance, in the Czech Republic there are six deputies and each has their own area of expertise but it is not common to keep things secret from people within the top management.

The Defence Ministry is currently facing questions over the planned purchase of 8x8 transporters from the Finnish company Patria. There are allegations that SNS nominees at the ministry might have designed the procurement so that the companies close to the party would profit from it.

SNS wants Ondrejcsak gone

Ondrejcsak also told Sme he expected the SNS to be more rational and less emotional in attitude and in debates.

I thought our communication was going to be more professional, and the attitude towards me more professional, he said.

Read also:

Read also: Documents from Finland prove Defence Ministry made secret military trade deals Read more

The SNS called on Most-Hid to replace the state secretary. They also want Ondrejcsak to disclose all of his income, including his indirect income from lectures and publishing activities for arms lobbyists, the SNS vice-chair and parliamentary defence and security committee head, Anton Hrnko, said on May 12.

Someone is again anxious about the growth of the SNS; however, we're used to it, Hrnko said, as quoted by TASR. Hrnko also noted that Ondrejcsak graduated in philosophy and now he pretends to be an expert on the army.

Bugar sees an attack too

Ondrejcsak also does not seem to have the full support of his own party in his criticism of the SNS. Most-Hid leader Bela Bugar in reaction said that the interview Ondrejcsak gave for Sme actually sounds as if the state secretary were attacking his coalition partner.

If Mr. Ondrejcsak has a problem, he should solve it with his superior, i.e. with the defence minister and not with the SNS. How would, for example, our transport minister feel if he was attacked by a state secretary for the SNS like this? Bugar asked.

He also said he is ready to discuss the issue with Ondrejcsak and open it up at the next party presidium meeting.

14. May 2018 at 14:40 | Compiled by Spectator staffPoll: There is no politician whom the majority of people would trust

A Focus poll shows decline in public trust in politicians following recent crisis.

The recent political crisis caused an overall decline in public trust in politicians. For the first time, it seems that no politician evokes trust rather than mistrust, the Sme daily wrote on May 11.

A poll conducted by the Focus agency in April has shown that people in Slovakia have the greatest trust in President Andrej Kiska (46.2 percent), followed by Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (34.7 percent) and Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko (31.2 percent).

The chairmen of the opposition party SaS Richard Sulik (26.6 percent) and coalition partner Most-Hid Bela Bugar (25.9 percent) also finished ahead of the Smer leader and ex-Prime Minister Robert Fico on 23.1 percent.

The least trusted politician is, as tradition has it, Marian Kotleba of the extremist LSNS party (13.9 percent), Sme summed up.

Degree of trust and mistrust assessed

The agency assessed the degree of trust and mistrust in selected politicians, namely the most senior constitutional officials and the chairs of the political parties that have long exceeded the threshold required for seats in parliament.

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Read also: Poll: how much trust do you place in politicians? Read more

The Focus survey was carried out between April 24 and 30 on a sample of 1,005 respondents. Those polled were asked the following question: To what degree do you trust or mistrust the following politicians?

Trust in politicians has fallen since the previous survey, with none of these personalities being trusted by more people than in January, the TASR newswire wrote. Meanwhile, none of the politicians enjoy the trust of more than 50 percent of the respondents.

Kiska, Bugar, Boris Kollar (chair of the Sme Rodina party) and Fico suffered the greatest falls, with peoples trust in each of them going down by 7 percent when compared to the January poll.

14. May 2018 at 14:02 | Compiled by Spectator staffBus trips will help explore Kosice Region

Adding to the popular train rides exploring UNESCO heritage sites in the Kosice Region, the local tourist board is adding one-day bus trips, combined with wine tasting and playful competitions.

More information about travelling in Slovakia

Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide

In order to boost the accessibility of the UNESCO sites in the eastern-Slovak area, the local Kosice Region Tourism organisation (Kosice Region Turizmus) is launching another series of trips this year. One-day bus trips will be available in addition to the already popular rides on historical trains.

Read also:

Read also: On the list: the pleasures and pains of UNESCO inscription Read more

The bus trips have been divided into two lines, Viktor Wurm from the Kosice Region Tourism told the TASR newswire.

Read also:

Read also: Nostalgic train rides to UNESCO sites expand, outside region as well Read more

The first line is connected with the TOP events of the Terra Incognita project, he said, as quoted by TASR, adding that two of them are pilot events, to be combined with wine tasting. This will help those who would like to learn about local wines but cannot taste them due to the zero-alcohol driving rule.

What is on offer?

The first such event is Vona Agatu / Locust-tree Scent in Maly Hores on May 19, during which visitors can taste natural wines from local producers, Wurm said, as quoted by TASR.

The second one is Chlebom a Vinom (With Bread and Wine) on August 18 in Trebisov.

Read also:

Read also: Exploring Slovakias caverns and caves (Spectacular Slovakia - travel guide) Read more

The second bus trip project is the Cestovatelska Abeceda (Travellers Alphabet), during which participants will be able to fix stickers with the initials of the places they visit onto special game boards.

The goal is to collect all the letters of the alphabet in five trips, Wurm explained, as quoted by TASR, adding that the most patient and perseverant travellers can then win the last trip, called X because its destination is not revealed until the very last moment.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/t6etdvg6iLE

The first trip of this section is planned for June 3 and is called Gems of Gemer (Perly Gemera). It goes from Kosice to Krasnohorske Podhradie, the Betliar mansion, Ochtinska Aragonitova Cave and the town of Roznava, Wurm told TASR, adding that more information can be found on the Kosice Region Tourism website.

Read also:

Read also: Remnants of Roznava's mysterious Turkish, Hungarian past Read more

14. May 2018 at 14:45 | Compiled by Spectator staff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On Sunday, the second episode of "Sweetbitter," the series based on the critically acclaimed novel by Stephanie Danler, aired on STARZ. Reviews of the show have been mixed, but it's undeniable that the inner workings of life in restaurants are as irresistible now as they were when Anthony Bourdain wrote Kitchen Confidential. Danler spent years in the NYC restaurant industry, and accumulated plenty of stories that inspired the scenes in "Sweetbitter." We recently discussed her own experiences in the industry, from starting at Union Square Cafe to hiring young servers for their first New York job.

Do you remember what were you asked during your interview at Union Square Cafe? I remember being asked what I was reading, which was so different than any other restaurant jobs. I remember being asked what I liked in wine...When you go to a wine store, what wine do you tend towards?.. And I remember being asked what my favorite restaurant was in New York, and I said Papaya King up on 86th and Lex.

You have moved up from service to management in restaurants. Have you hired people for their first restaurant job in New York? I have hired people like Tess who had no skills and no New York experience. The manager is really thinking to themselves, I can mold this person into my ideal employee. If you give someone newly arrived in New York City their first job, you're really creating the perfect employee...you're making a long term investment in someone that can grow.

Where would you go for your post-shift drinks? At Union Square Cafe we went to Park Bar. When I worked in Chelsea, we went The Half King and Art Bar. When I worked in the West Village, and we went to Kettle of Fish. Servers tend to know the one bar that serves past 4:00 a.m., because often times you are running at 3:45 to get to last call, but the bartenders, they will let you sit and wind down while they clean up.

What if you wanted to stay out past 4 a.m.? If you are out at 4:00 a.m., you should go to Veselka and have some pierogies and beer. You need food more than you need a drink, and Veselka is where a lot of people end up right after the bars close.

You live in LA now. Is the shift drink culture in the restaurant industry the same there? I don't think they have it in Los Angeles. I think because of the driving culture and the fact that places don't stay open as late, I do think that most people get in their car without a shift drink and just go home.

Is it different eating out at a nice restaurant when you work in the industry? For my 25th birthday, we saved up to go to Per Se. It was going to cost us over one month's rent for our place in Williamsburg. We were there for seven hours, we had 30 courses. I remember going to the bathroom in the middle of it, thinking that I should just throw up so I could keep eating. Every single captain, their front server, came by, introduced themselves, and said how much they loved our restaurant. They are showing off for you, and they want to impress you in a different way than they want to impress the billionaire. I remember feeling my privilege deeply that night.

What has been your impression about sexual harassment in the restaurant industry? I have always worked in restaurants run by women, besides Danny Meyer, for the entire time I was in New York, so I was never aware of a situation that I thought was inappropriate. [But there is a] the spectrum of sexual politics that you have on display in a restaurant on a given evening, from consensual to non-consensual, harassment and abuse of power, I think it shows why they've needed an overhaul for so long.

Restaurants have been in the process of becoming more visible ever since, in my opinion, Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. [There has been a] transition from being graded by the health department, having HR departments in places where people can complain, [to] being compliant on workers' rights and wage equality. This is all very new for an industry that's been operating on cash and back alley handshakes for decades before that.

Were you surprised when you heard about the allegations against Mario Batali and Ken Friedman? I'm definitely less surprised unfortunately, that saddens me to say. Babbo, [with its] mostly male servers, was a particularly hostile environment to women, back in 2006. That's the rumor mill, but that is what we all talked about, and [women] stayed away. There were restaurants where some women worked, where the money was worth it to them. I know several people that worked at the Spotted Pig... people convinced themselves to stay, because they were making so much money, which is really what the job is about to most people. I wasn't surprised, it felt so overdue.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.Here's a round up of exactly who voted for the UK during Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest.

Our entry SuRie finished 24th place overall, a big drop from last year's 15th.

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We scored a total of 48 points which was made up of 23 from juries and 25 from viewers across Europe (and elsewhere).

So just who voted for us?

In the live show, we saw the UK received Jury votes from Latvia (2 points), Croatia (2 points), France (3 points), Italy (6 points) Montenegro (2 points) and winners Israel (8 points).

As for viewer votes, our neighbour Ireland was the biggest contributor offering up 10 points.

We got 6 points from Australia and 3 from both Albania and Denmark. Germany, Malta and San Marino all offered up a point each for our total.

As for where the UK viewer votes went, 12 points went to Lithuania, 10 to Ireland, 8 to Cyprus, 7 to Israel, 6 to Bulgaria and 5 to the Czech Republic.

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Our 4 points from viewers went to Moldova, 3 to Germany, 2 to Denmark, and 1 to Australia.

UK Eurovision Entry SuRie took to the stage on Saturday evening in ninth place, opening the second round of performances.

But halfway through the song, a protestor rushed at SuRie and tried to grab her microphone. At one point, SuRie lost her microphone but eventually got it back and continued to finish the song.

She tweeted after the live show: "Well, I've always said anything can happen at Eurovision ..."

SuRie went on to say: "I'm so proud of my performance tonight. I gave it my very best.

"It's been an incredible experience for me. I am so grateful for everyone's love and support. The fans make Eurovision what it is; the biggest and the most inclusive and open celebration of music in the world.

"Eurovision is a family, and I am proud to be part of it."

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SuRie also thanked her team and added: "Words can never express the gratitude and love I feel for them all."

Eurovision airs on BBC One in the UK.Japanese retailer AEON MALL began construction on Sunday for a new shopping mall in the port city of Hai Phong, its third outlet in northern Vietnam.

The AEON MALL Hai Phong Le Chan covers an area of 9.3 hectares and is expected to serve as a mixed-use complex, the Japanese company said at the groundbreaking ceremony attended by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The Hai Phong facility, the sixth of its kind in Vietnam, is scheduled to be opened in 2020 and expected to create around 2,500 jobs.

The shopping venue is to attract more than 13 million visitors each year from not only Hai Phong but also such nearby provinces as Quang Ninh, Hai Duong and Thai Binh, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The groundbreaking ceremony for AEON MALL Hai Phong Le Chan was held on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of the northern Vietnamese city.

We are extremely honored to be one of the key projects to celebrate [this occasion], Iwamura Yasutsugu, general director of AEON MALL Vietnam, said in a statement.

AEON MALL Hai Phong Le Chan is committed to connecting with the life of the community and helping Hai Phong people enjoy the best of their lives.

AEON MALL Vietnam, which operates two outlets each in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and another in the southern province of Binh Duong, plans to have a total of 20 locations in the country by 2025.

The Japanese company opened its maiden Vietnamese outlet, AEON Tan Phu, in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Nearly half of all bank cards issued in Vietnam have never been put to use, with experts believing that banks which raced against one other to increase their networks of cardholders are to blame.

As of the end of last year, 132 million bank cards, including debit, credit and other payment cards, had been issued in the Southeast Asian country, but only 77 million of them are now active, according to the Vietnam Bank Card Association.

Fifty-five million of the cards, or 41.7 percent of the total, are consigned to oblivion in the cardholders purses and wallets.

According to industry insiders, credit institutions are to blame for the issue, as they apparently run after quantity, rather than real demand from customers, when it comes to issuing payment cards.

The head of the card department at a big bank in Ho Chi Minh City admitted that there has been a race between lenders to boost their numbers of cardholders in recent years, with employees forced to have as many customers register for a bank card as possible.

The bank first sets a target for its branches, which then assign targets to transaction offices, he divulged.

Bank employees therefore have to find ways to have as many customers to apply for a card as they can.

In order to meet their targets, employees would turn to anyone within their reach, from family members and friends to acquaintances.

Some also turn to social media sites to find new card customers, he added.

In addition to individual cardholders, many banks also try to lure companies with attractive incentives to pay their employees through their cards, according to Le Huynh Ha, head of the ATM department at the Ho Chi Minh City branch of Vietcombank.

A company may agree to this offer, enabling the bank to issue as many as 4,000-5,000 debit cards.

But if that business suddenly decides to switch to another bank, such a huge number of cards will become wasted as employees tend not to continue using the plastic, Ha explained.

The same situation has been observed with credit card users, according to the Vietnam Bank Card Association.

Many people have been persuaded to register for two to three different credit cards issued by different banks to earn points from or enjoy promotions for their purchases, while they do not really have a need for them, according to Dao Minh Tuan, the associations chairman.

This results in millions of credit cards that have never been activated, or those activated but having never been used, he added.

Free does not mean nothing to lose

With banks requiring no charge and no minimum balance to open a new debit card account, many people have applied for five to seven different cards, believing that they have nothing to lose.'

The reality is that many cardholders had to pay for this misconception, according to experts.

T., a resident in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, was convinced by a banker to open four cards of different types at one single bank at the same time to receive a return air ticket to Hong Kong as a gift.

I only used two of them and left the other two cards untouched, thinking that there should be no problem as they were not activated, she told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

However, as she did not read the contract with the issuing bank, T. did not know that both cards would automatically generate annual fees, one year after being issued.

The cardholder was stunned to see that the two cards were subject to annual fees and fines for late payment worth a total of VND1.84 million (US$81).

"I paid the fees, deactivated the cards, and learned a lesson from this, she said.

Tran Quang Thoai, a local bankcard specialist, suggested that credit institutions only take into consideration payment cards that have been activated and really used when calculating if their targets of increasing the number of cardholders are met.

This means there is no mission accomplished for a branch that manages to issue 1,000 new cards as targeted, if only a certain proportion of them are put to use.

Banks should contact customers whose cards have been left unused for a while to learn about their needs, Thoai suggested.

The specialist added that regulators should also take measures to make banks report about their payment card customers more accurately and thoroughly.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Vinfast, the carmaking arm of Vietnams leading property developer Vingroup, will make six different types of vehicles, including electric buses, at its factory in the northern city of Hai Phong, the group's top boss said on Sunday.

The production of electric vehicles will allow Vinfast to contribute to the efforts to curb vehicle emissions in Vietnam, Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong said, as Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc toured the carmakers factory.

Vingroup began construction of the Vinfast automobile and electric motorbike manufacturing complex, expected to cost up to US$1.5 billion in the first phase, in Hai Phong in September 2017.

Vinfast has previously announced that it will start producing electric motorbikes in the third quarter of 2018, whereas five-seater sedans and seven-seater SUVs will leave the factory in the second quarter of 2019.

By the end of 2019, the company will have started sending electric cars and mini-cars to the market.

The company now expects to produce electric buses to heat up the local market by the same year, according to Vuong.

Vinfast is exerting efforts to contribute to improving the quality of public transportation in Vietnam, as well as making a breakthrough to reduce vehicle emissions to the environment, Vuong underlined.

During his visit, PM Phuc praised Vingroup for the implementation of the auto production project as it helps build a self-reliant economy for the country.

The premier also applauded the conglomerate for the rapid progress in completing the complex.

The Vinfast factory, spanning a total area of 335 hectares, is expected to be put into operation in June 2018 and will soon send the first batch of made-in-Vietnam automobiles to the market.

VinFast said it has negotiated and signed agreements with several leading companies in the world on the provision of production lines, equipment and machinery.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!SURABAYA, Indonesia -- A vehicle exploded injuring several Indonesian police in Surabaya on Monday, a day after Islamist militants killed at least 13 people in suicide attacks on churches in the countrys second largest city, police said.

The blast had occurred at 8.50 a.m. (0150 GMT) at their police office, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told a briefing. The full extent of casualties was unclear, he said.

There has been an explosion, we dont know exactly what happened, he said. On Sunday, Islamist suicide bombers attacked three churches, killing at least 13 people and wounding about 40.Check out the news you should not miss today, May 14

Society

-- A pig raising company has been found illegally burying 377 dead swines underground, rather than following adequate processing to dump the animal, in the southern province of Tra Vinh, police said on Sunday.

-- A 39-year-old housemaid is being detained by police in the southern city of Can Tho for allegedly stealing 100 gold bars, worth US$100,600, from the house she was hired to work for, officers said on Sunday.

-- Two members of an unofficial street guardian group were slashed to death, while three others were wounded as they tried to stop a gang of thieves from stealing an expensive scooter in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night.

Business

-- Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited VinFast, the automobile and electric motorbike manufacturing complex of local conglomerate Vingroup in the northern city of Hai Phong on Sunday, expressing his hope that the company will contribute to the development of the domestic automobile sector.

-- The $321 million Hai Phong International Container Terminal, located in the namesake northern port city, was inaugurated and welcomed the first ship during a ceremony on Sunday.

-- Vietnamese banks have collectively issued 132 million bank cards as of the , end of 2017, but only 77 million of them are active, according to the Vietnam Bank Card Association.

Sports

-- More than 1,500 athletes from 57 countries participated in the fourth long distance triathlon race Ironman 70.3 in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang on Sunday.

-- Vietnamese chess star and international grandmaster Le Quang Liem tied the knot with his girlfriend Nguyen Tran Thanh Truc, after seven years of romantic relationship, on Sunday.The group of about ten Chinese nationals landed at Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa Province at around 11:20 pm, and made their way to immigration, wearing T-shirts featuring the map of China, according to the airdromes police unit.

All of these maps included the so-called 'nine-dash line,' a cow tongue-shaped imaginary line illegally created by China to claim its sovereignty over about 80 percent of the East Vietnam Sea, including Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.

The Chinese tourists were traveling to Vietnam on a tour operated by Aladin Co. Ltd, a travel and trading company based in Khanh Hoas resort city of Nha Trang, about 35 kilometers from the Cam Ranh airport.

Bui Quoc Tuan, an Aladin manager, said it was not until the Chinese tourists had passed immigration that the companys tour guide realized their clothes featured the invalid map.

We asked them to get changed and seized all the T-shirts for submission to relevant authorities, Tuan said.

We have also compiled a report on the incident and provided the police with the tourists' personal particulars.

Airport police said they were working closely with officers from the Khanh Hoa police department and security personnel at the airport to investigate the incident.

Passengers queue for immigration at Cam Ranh International Airport in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa on May 14, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In 2014, a Chinese couple were also caught trying to bring many world maps showing the illicit nine-dash line into Vietnam through the Moc Bai Border Gate in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

Vietnamese authorities have consistently rejected Chinas territorial claims with its absurd imaginary line, as they are not based on any legal foundation and violate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Two members of an unofficial street guardian group were slashed to death, while three others were wounded as they tried to stop a gang of thieves from stealing an expensive scooter in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night.

The incident took place in front of a store on Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in Ward 10, District 3 at around 9:00 pm, involving five street knights, people who voluntarily patrol their neighborhoods to detect and catch criminals, and four motorbike thieves, according to police.

The street knights had been followed the gang of thieves from the nearby Tan Binh District when they saw them stopped in front of the store and started to steal an SH scooter parked there.

As the street knights jumped in and besieged the thieves, the criminals managed to run away on two motorbikes.

The thieves had been chased by the vigilantes for a few hundred meters, when they immediately stopped and took out different weapons to aggressively fight back.

As they are not recognized as authorized law enforcement officers, all street guardians are not allowed to be armed for their own protection.

The thieves fatally slashed two street knights and wounded three others before fleeing the scene.

The deceased were identified as Nguyen Hoang Nam, 29, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, and 42-year-old Nguyen Van Thoi, hailing from the south-central province of Binh Dinh.

The injured street knights were immediately rushed to the hospital, with one of them being in a critical condition, according to officers.

One of the injured 'street knights' is seen at a hospital. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Ho Chi Minh City police have examined the scene of incident, performed autopsy and collected testimonies from eyewitnesses.

Police are still investigating the case.Doctors in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Phuoc have been able to rescue a man who had his neck seriously injured during a fight that broke out at a beer shop.

Nguyen Le Duong, 33, who resides in Phuoc Long Town, is now in recovery following his surgery on Saturday night, representatives of the Binh Phuoc General Hospital confirmed on Sunday.

Duong was unconscious and in a critical condition, with a 15cm-long slash wound causing serious blood loss in his neck, when he was rushed to the hospital on the weekend.

It was a difficult case as the patient lost a lot of blood, forcing us to perform blood transfusion during the entire surgery, Dr. Dang The Cuong, a member of the surgical team, said.

Doctors at the Binh Phuoc Province General Hospital perform the surgery on May 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The operation ended successfully after one hour and a half, Cuong added.

Duong suffered the serious injury after he got into an argument, which quickly turned violent, with some men while he was drinking at a beer shop near his house, according to his wife, Tran Thi Thanh Thuy.

He was first taken to the medical center in Phuoc Long Town before being transferred to the general hospital due to the severity of his injury, Thuy said.

The family has reported the incident to local police.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Todd Sampsons BodyHack returns to TEN at the end of the month, now rebranded as Todd Sampsons BodyHack 2.0.

This season the show is less about extreme challenges and more about immersive experiences with some of the worlds most extraordinary cultures across the globe.

This season Todd will uncover night vision with the Matses of the Amazon, come under fire with Iraqi frontline soldiers in the battle against ISIS, channel pain with the sadhu holy men of India, learn to fly with the kung fu masters of China, find the courage to run into a burning building with the firefighters of Washington DC and survive minus 40 degree temperatures with the Kazakh eagle hunters of Mongolia, all in the name of science.

Experiencing the human condition in all its glorious forms, Todd will take viewers on a visually fantastic journey from the frozen wastelands of Mongolia to the steaming jungles of the Peru, to witness first-hand the ability of our species to go beyond the limit.

8:30pm Thursday May 31 on TEN.Three Marcel Bezencon awards were handed out at Eurovision ahead of the Final.

The Press Award, best song according to accredited journalists, went to Frances Madame Monsieur with Mercy.

The Artistic Award, voted by broadcaster commentators, went to Cyprus Eleni Foureira with Fuego.

The Composers Award, voted by fellow composers in the Final, went to Bulgarias EQUINOX

with Bones.Youre never too far away from an unusual story or piece of information about US President Donald Trump. The latest one, according to an American ambassador to Germany, is that he showed his bedroom to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her last visit to the White House. It was a strange way for the Trump administration to try and prove that his relationship with the German leader is fine.

Ambassador Richard Grenell said that Trump gave Merkel a very personal tour of the White House that included the part where he actually lives as a way of combatting rumours that the two leaders relationship has begun to sour.

This tour included the Presidents living room and his bedroom, which is a little bit weird. The ambassador said, No President has shown that to her before. No kidding.

Trump has never shown himself to be all that close to Merkel

While Trump has never shied away from manhandling the other European leaders like holding British Prime Minister Theresa Mays hand or wiping the dandruff off French President Emmanuel Macrons shoulders, he has never gotten that close to Merkel, which has led to rumours that the two arent all that friendly with one another. If his administration want people to believe that their relationship is fine, this is a strange way to show it.Kim Jong-uns regime in North Korea has promised to shut down a nuclear test site in a huge leap forward in the international crisis that has revolved around their nukes in the past couple of years. In honour of the new move, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that if denuclearisation goes ahead, the American government might start letting private companies invest in business interests in North Korea. But he may be getting ahead of himself.

Its on the condition that the North Korean regime fully denuclearises

In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo did clarify that he only meant this on the condition that Kims regime fully denuclearises.

They cant keep a few nukes just in case and still take American money to build their energy industry. The offer of US investments is only on the table if every nuclear arm in North Korea has been disposed of. The Secretary of State is proposing such investments because he has seen that the North is in dire need of enormous amounts of electricity.

Plus, North Korean people are unhealthy due to a dearth of food, so the Secretary of State has also proposed an agriculture investment to right that wrong. Pompeos comments are coming in the wake of his visit to the North Korean capital, and home of Kims regime, Pyongyang last week and just ahead of the much-anticipating meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim himself in Singapore, which is falling into place.In a huge step towards the denuclearisation that weve all been waiting for, North Korea have announced plans to take apart their nuclear weapons testing site very soon. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made these claims via the Norths state-run news outlet KCNA, just one day after the United Nations aviation authority revealed that they had been contacted by North Korea. The nation had pledged not to launch any surprise nuclear tests that could put life at risk or disturb any flights on their usual path. That regime seems to really be turning a corner.

The nations leader Kim Jong-un had previously suggested that this would be the case on the 20th of April, when he said that his regime had completed its mission by testing their intercontinental ballistic missiles to ensure that their country had the biggest, baddest nuclear weapons in the world, so if it hit the fan and the other nations came knocking with their own nuclear weapons, North Korea would be prepared. However, given the reckless and volatile and devil-may-care sensibilities of Kim, other nations have been scared of what he might do with them and have been trying to get him to shut down his nuclear arms program for years.

The whole situation escalated very quickly when Donald Trump became the President of the United States, since his brash, anti-government, Washington outsider, We will take care of it attitude ruffled Kims feathers.

The two have exchanged threats and insults, with the North Korean dictator calling the US President a dotard and the latter calling the former short and fat in return. But then they seemed to patch things over when Kim extended Trump a handwritten invitation to a face-to-face meeting and he accepted. This meeting will be taking place in Singapore in the coming weeks (the 12th of June, to be exact), where full denuclearisation of North Korea is sure to be discussed.

Everyones invited to see the site get dismantled

Well, not everyone. But the announcement from North Korea did state that reporters from all over the world, including press from the US and the UK, are allowed to come and witness the nuclear testing sites tunnels get demolished and its facilities get dismantled. It also went into detail about the technical measures that Kims regime would be taking to make sure that shutting down the nuclear site would be safe and stop weapons tests from taking place there for good.

Kim also promised transparency in proving that they had stopped these tests, as everyone in the United Nations and even North Koreas close ally China have been begging them to do for a long while now. Still, better late than never. Donald Trump tweeted out his thanks and praise to the North after the announcement came out, saying that the move was very smart and a gracious gesture from Kim in anticipation of their upcoming summit.

The test site dismantlement will be a ceremony

According to the North Korean state-run media, the dismantlement of the nuclear weapons testing site will be treated as a ceremony and, weather permitting, its scheduled for the very early date of the 23rd of May  just over one week away.

The journalists who have been invited to attend will be allowed to broadcast on-the-spot coverage of the event in a transparent manner, in order to show the world that this is the real deal and it is a real step toward denuclearisation for the regime.

This is quite the turning point for North Korea. Theyre allowing foreign journalists in with complete freedom of expression and shutting down a site used for unannounced nuclear tests that they have now promised not to conduct anymore in anticipation of a diplomatic conversation about full denuclearisation between the nations leader and the President of the United States. Is this Opposite Day?In this article:

May 14 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to

you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Helen Reid. Reach her on Messenger to

share your thoughts on market moves: helen.reid.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

EUROPEAN STOCK FUTURES UP AS ITALY GOVERNMENT TALKS FAIL TO SHAKE THE MARKET (0614 GMT)

Talks between Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star and the far-right League to form a

government don't seem to have investors too worried, with futures pointing to gains across

Europe's major benchmarks.

Italy's FTSE MIB has been one of the best-performing equity indices worldwide this year,

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) analysts note, while most of its European counterparts are flat.

"We think it is unlikely that investors will perceive Italian political developments as a

systemic threat to euro area institutions or growth, in the near term," they write.

Here's your snapshot:

(Helen Reid)

*****

EARLY MORNING EUROPEAN HEADLINE ROUND-UP (0553 GMT)

Analysts are getting their heads round the progress in Italian government talks. "A Five

Star/League coalition government is taking shape," note SocGen (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) analysts. "This was our

worst-case scenario three months ago. However, this government is unlikely to have enough

political and fiscal room for manoeuvre to deliver a large fiscal slippage, as indicated in the

two platforms."

But there's also plenty of results and other company news to keep traders and investors busy

today.

In what could be a big step for the nascent technology underlying cryptocurrencies, banks

HSBC and ING say they've performed the world's first trade finance transaction using

blockchain.

In other news, results and M&A - both inbound and outbound:

France's AccorHotels strikes deal to buy Chile (Stuttgart: 704599.SG - news) hotel group Atton

ABN Amro Q1 profit falls 3 pct on loan impairments

Innogy's Npower grows operating profit in Q1

K+S Q1 core profit rises 7 pct on rising volumes

Story continues

HelloFresh Raises 2018 Revenue Growth Outlook

Bayer CFO sees lower Monsanto (Hamburg: 1132157.HM - news) synergies after divestments -Boersen-Zeitung

Ryanair target Laudamotion dumps Zurich flights due to plane shortage

China Three Gorges launches $10.8 bln bid for Portuguese power firm EDP

(Helen Reid)

*****

MORNING CALL: EUROPEAN STOCKS TO RISE ON FADING TRADE TENSIONS (0536 GMT)

European stocks are set to follow the Asian trend up this morning after last week ended on a

high. Progress in talks between Italy's Five Star and League towards forming a government don't

seem to have overly shaken the market, with the euro hardly moved.

Asian shares rose to near two-month highs on hopes U.S.-China trade tensions were thawing

after Trump pledged to help ZTE Corp (Xetra: A0M4ZP - news) "get back into business, fast" ahead of a second round of

trade talks between officials this week.

Italy's 5-Star Movement and far-right League called the head of state on Sunday to report on

their progress towards naming a prime minister. The two have been trying to find an independent

figure without allegiance to either party to rule the government.

Germany's DAX - which is very exposed to China and trade - is called up 29 points at 13,030,

the CAC 40 is seen opening 10 points higher at 5,552, and the FTSE 100 is expected to open 1

point lower at 7,723 points.

(Helen Reid)

*****

(Reporting by Helen Reid, Danilo Masoni, Julien Ponthus and Kit Rees)A boy waves a Palestinian flag during a protest on the Gaza Strips border with Israel (Picture: AP)

Israeli forces have killed at least 41 Palestinians and wounded 1,800 during mass protests along the Gaza border, casting a cloud over the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

It is the deadliest single day of protests since the Palestinians began staging weekly border demonstrations on March 30 in an attempt to break an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

Protesters set tyres on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air, while the Israeli military accused protesters of trying to break through the border fence and plant a bomb. They also claimed troops had come under fire.

By the, at least 41 Palestinians  including a 14-year-old boy  were killed, while more than 500 were wounded by Israeli gunfire, Palestinian health officials said.

Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a seriously wounded youth during the clashes (Picture: AP)

In the West Bank, several thousand people gathered in the centre of Ramallah, while hundreds marched to the Qalandiya crossing on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where protesters threw stones at Israeli troops.

MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO

The protest in Gaza is the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The march was also directed at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem later.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv, a key campaign promise of US president Donald Trump, has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

A great day for Israel! Mr Trump tweeted earlier on Monday.

The showdown between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border is the culmination of a campaign, fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Story continues

Since weekly border marches began in late March, 60 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,300 were wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible on Monday, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking through the barrier at any cost.

Palestinian protesters burn tires near the Israeli border fence in the Gaza Strip (Picture: AP)

Most of the casualties were in the southern Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Rafah. Israeli forces were firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowds, and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard.

Sirens were constantly wailing as the wounded were evacuated on stretchers to nearby ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Mondays events is deeply symbolic to both Israelis and Palestinians.

The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels independence.

A majority of Gazas two million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the Great March of Return to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

Mr Trumps decision to go forward with a campaign promise to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during the protest (Picture: AP)

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr Trumps bold decision in upending decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital. Its the right thing to do, a smiling Mr Netanyahu told a jubilant crowd at a reception in Jerusalem late on Sunday.

Although Mr Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital has been perceived by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israels side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict.

Russias deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov described the relocation as short-sighted, and blamed the escalation around Gaza on the US. Meanwhile, the Cairo-based Arab League called on the international community to oppose what it considers an unjust decision and the ongoing Israeli occupation of the city.

It called the relocation a blatant attack on the feelings of Arabs and Muslims and a grave violation of the rules of international law that would destabilise the region.

Mondays opening will be attended by Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers. Mr Kushner leads the Trump Middle East team.A view of Pavilion Residences apartment block in the Malaysian capital in Kuala Lumpur A view of Pavilion Residences apartment block in the Malaysian capital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

By Tom Allard

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Police will check CCTV footage from a deluxe Kuala Lumpur apartment block at which relatives of ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak may have been staying, but the city's police chief said an earlier Reuters report had mischaracterised the operation on Saturday as a "raid".

Kuala Lumpur's top cop, Mazlan Lazim, told Reuters police were acting on a complaint and were there only to recover the video footage for forensic analysis. "You cannot call it a raid," he said.

The police operation came as Malaysia's new Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, said he had stopped his predecessor from leaving the country because of suspected wrongdoing in connection with a multi-billion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.

Senior police officers had earlier told Reuters they were acting after a complaint that a government vehicle had delivered dozens of boxes - made to carry designer handbags - to the apartment for Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Public disgust over alleged corruption was widely seen as one of the reasons behind the unexpected defeat of Najib's long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in Wednesday's general election.

Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for Najib could not be reached for comment. Reuters was unable to reach Najib himself, his wife, or other family members and close associates on Saturday night.

Reuters saw about 20 police officers enter the marble-floored lobby of the Pavilion Residences apartment block in the Malaysian capital, just as Mahathir was holding a news conference to announce key members of his cabinet.

They were aided by at least a dozen other plainclothes law-enforcement officers. Security personnel from the building - which is owned by Desmond Lim, a wealthy Malaysian businessman and supporter of Najib - were cooperative.

"We are looking for government documents that may have been illegally taken," said a senior police officer, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Story continues

"The government are worried they could be sensitive and important, and could be taken out of the country."

He declined to say whether any documents had been found and described the operation as "ongoing".

According to the police officers, members of Najib's family had been staying at the apartments, but they declined to name them.

ORANGE BOXES

The police action followed a complaint lodged by two leaders of the youth wing of Mahathir's political party, Bersatu.

The police report of the complaint, reviewed by Reuters, alleges that vans emblazoned with the logo of the department of the prime minister and cabinet delivered boxes for 50 Birkin handbags to Pavilion Residences on Thursday evening.

The report alleged that the boxes showed the name of the consignee as Rosmah Mansor.

Two photos provided with the report and reviewed by Reuters showed a van with the department's logo and a shopping trolley filled with orange boxes. The location, the date and the contents of the boxes - including whether there were any of the handbags inside - could not be ascertained from the photos.

The Birkin handbags concerned would cost $200,000 each, the complaint said.

The senior police officer only confirmed "family members" of Najib had stayed in the apartment complex when Reuters asked if Rosmah had stayed there.

Another officer involved in the operation described the persons of interest as "VVIPs", or very, very important persons.

Both police officers said investigators were not primarily interested in the luxury items but were chasing documents that could be vital for investigations into Najib's administration.

ANNOUNCED OVERSEAS TRIP

Najib said earlier on Saturday that he was going abroad for a week to rest, but just minutes later the Department of Immigration announced that he and his wife had been barred from leaving the country.

Mahathir, who was sworn in as prime minister on Thursday, has vowed to probe the loss of billions of dollars from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which was founded by Najib.

U.S. Department of Justice documents allege that $681 million from 1MDB was transferred to the personal account of a person identified as Malaysian Official One, which U.S. and Malaysian sources have confirmed was Najib.

Najib has said the deposit was a donation by an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family which had been largely returned.

(The story corrects headline and first paragraph to reflect the official police characterisation of the operation)

(Reporting by Tom Allard; Editing by John Chalmers and Martin Howell)The father of four children killed in the suspected mass murder of a family in Australia has said he believes their grandfather planned the shooting.

Aaron Cockman's children - three boys and a girl, aged eight to 13 - were among seven people found dead by police at a rural home in the western town of Osmington in the early hours of Friday .

The bodies of their mother Katrina Miles, 35, and grandparents Peter and Cynda Miles were also discovered there.

Mr Cockman, who was estranged from the children's mother, told reporters on Sunday that he thought the shooting was planned and carried out by Peter Miles.

Western Australia premier Mark McGowan confirmed on Monday that 61-year-old Peter Miles was the suspected perpetrator of the mass shooting, which was the worst since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996.

That incident prompted the nation to introduce tougher gun controls, but Mr McGowan said he did not think gun laws could be further tightened.

Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, Mr Cockman said: "Peter didn't snap. I think he's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time.

"He was like my best friend and I still love who he was, but his mental attitude... there are some people you just don't get on the wrong side of, and that's Peter and Cynda."

Mr Cockman added that he had felt "so much anger" during a custody battle over his children but now just feels "tremendous sadness for my kids".

"Angry will destroy you," he said. "I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this."

Three firearms belonging to Mr Miles were found by investigators at the property.The idea that our universe is just one of manypart of a multiversehas long fascinated scientists, fiction writers and philosophical thinkers alike.

It's a hotly debated issue among the research community, not least because many argue it is impossible to test. But most proponents of the hypothesis have tended to agree that the majority of alternative or parallel universes would be inhospitable to life as we know it.

However, new research conducted by scientists from Durham University, Western Sydney University and the University of Western Australia has demonstrated that other universes may in fact harbor the conditions to support lifeif they exist.

Trending: Michael Avenatti Threatens Daily Caller With Defamation Lawsuit Over 'Hit Pieces,' Email Shows

The multiverse theory suggests that our universe is only one of many, baby universes being born like bubbles in a bigger multiverse, with a wide range of physical laws and fundamental constants, Jaime Salcido, a postgraduate student at Durhams Institute for Computational Cosmology, told Newsweek. Only a tiny fraction of the baby universes are born such that they have the right amount of dark energythe mysterious force that is accelerating the expansion of the universeto be hospitable for life.

The existence of life seems to depend on a small number of fine-tuned fundamental physical constants, such as the strength of gravity and the amount of dark energy, Salcido continued. The formation of stars and galaxies is the result of a tug-of-war between these values: gravity causing matter to clump together, the dark energy causing the universe to fly apart.

Previous theories regarding the origin of our universe predicted the presence of much more dark energy than scientists think exists; the best estimates suggest that the theoretical energy makes up around 70 percent of all energy in the universe.

Story continues

If our universe had more dark energy than this, there would be such rapid expansion that matter would be diluted to the extent that no planets, stars or galaxies would formmeaning humans, along with all other life, would never have evolved. That is why some scientists have proposed the multiverse theory: as an explanation for the special amount of dark energy in our universe.

Don't miss: Storm in Gulf Could Drench Florida: How to Prepare

The multiverse theory tries to explain these fine-tuned constants as a lottery. We have a lucky ticket and live in the universe that forms beautiful galaxies that permit life as we know it, Salcido said.

To understand more, the researchers made use of one of the most realistic computer simulations of the observable universe: the EAGLE (Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments).

The researchers adjusted the physical constants of the simulation, finding that even when they added up to a hundred times more dark energy than what is indirectly observed in our universe, planet and star formations still continued.

Multiverse3



An artistic impression of a multiverse: where our universe is only one of many.

Jaime Salcido

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Our recent computer simulations of the universe, the EAGLE project, have been successful at explaining many observed properties of galaxies in our universe, said Salcido. Our research shows that even if there was much more dark energy, or even very little, in the universe, then it would only have a minimal effect on star and planet formation, raising the prospect that life could exist throughout the multiverse.

The findings, which will be published across two papers in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,cast doubt on the ability of the multiverse theory to explain the observed amount of dark energy in our universe, according to the researchers.

While this doesnt rule out the possibility of a multiverse, they said, it does mean that an as yet undiscovered law of nature would be required to explain the dark energy conundrum.

It seems that we need a new physical law to understand dark energy, said Salcido. The puzzle remains.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekVisitors look at a map showing the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas at Imjingak pavilion, near the truce village of Panmunjom in Paju Visitors look at a map showing the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas at Imjingak pavilion, near the truce village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea May 10, 2018. Picture taken May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Kwak Sung-Kyung

By Joori Roh and Cynthia Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - Forget Seoul's posh Gangnam district.

With North Korea pledging to reduce tensions and renew ties with its southern neighbour, South Korea's hottest property market is now along the heavily fortified border between the two countries.

Demand for property in small towns and sparsely populated rural areas around the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is surging on expectations of an influx of people and investment.

Kang Sung-wook, a 37-year old dentist in the South Korean border city of Paju, has bought eight separate lots of land in and around the DMZ since mid-March.

Five were purchased without ever setting foot on them, using only Google Earth satellite photos and maps, as areas inside the DMZ cannot not be accessed by the public.

Kang said buying interest jumped so sharply as relations between the former foes improved that he needed to move fast.

"I was out looking since North Korea-U.S. summit news was announced in March, and it looked like all the good ones were gone already," said Kang. "I realized then that the market was on fire."

His investment along the border now totals 3 billion won (2.1 million) for 49 acres (20 hectares) of land.

RAZOR WIRE AND RESTRICTIONS

For decades, the DMZ has been a different kind of hot spot, the scene of sometimes deadly military provocations and daring defections from the North.

The zone, dotted with guard posts and strung with razor wire, was established after the 1950-1953 Korean War. The two Koreas still don't officially recognise each other and remain in a technical state of war because the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace agreement.

Over a million landmines were laid in border areas including the DMZ and the Civilian Control Zone in the South, said Jeong In-cheol, a landmine expert at National Park Conservation Network.

But while public access is restricted, land within the 2km (1.2 mile) wide South Korean side of the DMZ and other border areas can still be purchased and registered.

Story continues

Land transactions in Paju, gateway to the United Nations truce village of Panmunjom, more than doubled in March to 4,628 from February, government data shows. That far outstripped better known markets such as trendy Gangnam, where volumes were up just 9 percent.

In the settlement of Jangdan-myun, home to Dorasan Station - the last railway stop south of the border - transaction volumes surged four-fold from a year earlier. Land prices there rose 17 percent over the same period.

Kim Yoon-sik, a realtor with 25 years experience in Paju, says owners of the land in the DMZ include those who inherited farmland from ancestors in pre-Korean war days and some long term investors.

"With bids outnumbering offers, I often see sellers cancelling on preliminary contracts, it's that hot," Kim said.

RAILWAYS AND CONSTRUCTION

The surge of activity along the border is not limited to South Korea or just real estate.

In the northeastern Chinese border city of Dandong, property investors are pushing up prices and even spurring buying interest inside North Korea.

At last month's historic inter-Korean summit at Panmunjom, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged to reconnect railways and roads along the border, and transform the DMZ into a "peace zone".

China and South Korea have also agreed that if North Korea undertakes complete denuclearisation, it should be guaranteed economic aid. That could start with railway projects connecting China and South Korea through North Korea.

Shares of South Korea's construction and railway firms such as Hyundai Rotem and Seoam Machinery Industry Co have soared on hopes of such projects.

FALSE DAWN?

But South Korea has seen this kind of excitement before.

Border property prices spiked when former President Roh Moo-hyun met with North Korea's Kim Jong Il in 2007. Prices then plummeted as ties deteriorated when the right-wing government of Lee Myung-bak took power a year later.

"For the past seven decades, the two Koreas have taken radically different paths," said Jhe Seong-ho, a law school professor at Seoul's Chung Ang University. "Deregulating of the border zones won't be a quick and smooth process even if there is an economic opening up of North Korea."

Much of the land within the DMZ is likely to remain restricted from any development for conservation purposes, a huge risk for investors, he added.

Hopes are high, however, with Kim set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore next month after his recent summit with Moon and two trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping.

"I have a firm belief that this time North Korea would pursue an open economy like Vietnam," Kang said. "Kim Jong Un wouldn't go everywhere and visit China twice if he was bluffing."

(Reporting by Joori Roh and Cynthia Kim. Editing by Lincoln Feast.)JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A suspected explosive device was discovered on Sunday in a mosque near the South African port city of Durban where a fatal knife attack occurred last week, the eNCA TV news channel and other media reported.

South Africa is racked by violent crime and social strife rooted in poverty and glaring income disparities, but it is seldom associated with the Islamist militancy seen on other parts of the continent.

Prem Balram, a spokesman for Reaction Unit SA, a private emergency service, was quoted on the News24 online news service as saying the mosque and homes in the area were evacuated "after a device resembling a bomb has been found inside the building".

"The device connected to a Nokia mobile phone," he was quoted as saying.

The footage from eNCA showed a police presence at the mosque and worshippers gathered outside.

A spokesman for the elite police Hawks unit said he was on his way to the scene and could only confirm the details once he arrived.

Three men armed with guns and knives attacked worshippers at the mosque near Durban on Thursday. One person was killed after his throat was slit, and two others were injured.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Edmund Blair)A man walking along a beach in picturesque Gabriola Island, British Columbia, last Sunday made a grisly discovery: A human foot inside a hiking boot crammed between logs.

The discovery marks the 14th time since 2007 that footwear-clad feet have washed ashore on the province's coastline, prompting wild speculation and rumors.

GettyImages-96901177

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Some claim that the body parts may belong to victims of disasters, such as boat of plane wrecks or tsunamis, washed to Canada by tidal currents. Others have speculated that they may belong to victims of organized crime or even a serial killer who casts the victim's dismembered bodies into the sea.

The cases have also drawn hoaxers, who have stuffed animal bones into running shoes to fool authorities.

Authorities though, have moved to squash lurid speculation, with the provincial coroners office in previous cases ruling out violent crime, with none of the feet showing signs of trauma.

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Nine of the feet have been identified, including one pair belonging to the same person, and they mostly belonged to men. All of those identified either committed suicide or died naturally, with their bodies coming apart during decomposition.

Andy Watson, a spokesman for the Coroners Service, told the New York Times that some of the feet belonged to the bodies of people who had fallen into the sea and drowned, or swimmers swept out by strong currents or large waves.

The fact that the feet are clad in trainers may provide a clue as to why they float ashore, with the footwear durable, protecting the feet from decomposition, and with the buoyancy to float the feet to shore, Barb McLintock of the provinces coroners office told the Guardian in 2016 after the discovery of a limb.

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Story continues

The last discovery before last weekends was made in December 2017 on the south coast of Vancouver Island by a man walking his dog. The provinces coroner concluded that the foot belonged to a 79-year-old man from Washington state, who went missing and was found dead. The investigation into his death is ongoing, with family members claiming he had left home without his medication.

A foot found in Port Moody in 2016 was linked to a man whose vessel overturned while he was fishing 25 years before.

Police are working with forensics experts and the provincial coroners office to identify last weekends foot.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSpecialised pharmaceutical group Allergy Therapeutics announced it had finalised the appointment of two new senior staff as it looks to step up its research and development in line with the firms UK growth plans.

Allergy Therapeutics announced it had appointed Pieter-Jan de Kam, formerly of HAL Allergy in the Netherlands, to the vacant clinical director's position, citing his recent success on the study of pollen and house dust mites, two key areas of product development for the firm.

In addition to the appointment of Pieter-Jan, Allergy Therapeutics also recruited Simon Piggott as head of clinical science.

Piggott previously held the role of global scientific director at GSK where he gained "significant experience" on respiratory development programs through phase one to four clinical trials.

Murray Skinner, chief scientific officer, said "We are delighted to welcome Pieter-Jan and Simon to the Allergy Therapeutics team. Their vast experience and expert knowledge is ideally focussed to promote continued innovation and help us bring new and convenient products for patients into the allergy immunotherapy market."

As of 0915 BST, shares were up 1.67% to 30.50p.Multi-retailer gift voucher and gift card provider Park Group has appointed Tim Clancy to succeed Martin Stewart as its group finance director, it announced on Monday.

The AIM-traded firm said Clancy would join the company and the board in August.

On 21 December last year, it announced that Stewart would step down from the board on 4 August, but would remain with the company to ensure an orderly transfer to his successor.

On Monday, it said he had agreed to remain in post until the handover could be completed.

From 2013 to his appointment at Park, the board said Clancy had held the role of chief financial officer at Assurant Europe - the European subsidiary of US-listed global insurance provider Assurant.

Assurant Europe had revenues of around $400m and operations in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

As part of his role at Assurant, Clancy oversaw acquisitions of businesses in the UK, France and Germany, and the integration and consolidation of those acquisitions, generating substantial cost savings and significantly increasing the European group's profitability.

Other previous roles included finance director of Lifestyle Services Group, an insurance administrator and outsourcing provider, from 2011 to 2013, and from 2009 to 2011 he was commercial finance director of Shop Direct Group - the owner of consumer brands Littlewoods and Very - which transitioned from a traditional mail order and high street retail business to an online retailer with revenues of 1.5bn.

Prior to that , for 10 years Clancy worked at MyTravel, where he was finance director of the Airtours division and managing director of Going Places - a high street retailer with 500 stores throughout the UK employing 3000 staff.

He is an associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

We are very pleased to welcome Tim to the company as group finance director, said Park Group chairman Laura Carstensen.

He has a great deal of experience in businesses and sectors which are extremely relevant to Park.

We will ensure a thorough handover and look forward to working with Tim as we continue our growth trajectory into the future.Brave Bison said the partnership, which was launched at Advertising Week Asia this week, creates "a unique opportunity proposition for brands across Asia Pacific".

The companies have been working independently on many of the same brand campaigns over the last four years across the Asia-Pacific market, including campaigns for All Nippon Airways, Shell and Proctor and Gamble. As partners, Unruly will provide the data and insights while Brave Bison will provide the creative ideation and production, coupled with a wide influencer network.

Brave Bison chief executive Claire Hungate said: "Partnering with Unruly was a completely natural fit. Both our businesses have the same end-to-end strategic approach to social video campaigns and we offer complementary elements of this kind of campaign. Together we bring something unique to the market; creativity and data working together from the start. As the social video space becomes more and more crowded, it's imperative that data and creativity sit side by side to enable targeted and effective brand messaging."

Phil Townend, chief creative officer at Unruly, said: "Unruly has been pioneering the power of social video since our inception back in 2006, advocating brand storytelling which users choose to watch and share. Brave Bison embody this spirit of creativity, and craft powerful, emotive videos which are proven to drive results for big blue-chip brand partners. Now advertisers have a trusted end to end solution which combines best in class creativity, programmatic activation and measurement as they seek to reconnect with consumers at a human level."

At 1440 BST, the shares were down 5.3% to 0.76p.Secure payment products and customer contact solutions provider Eckoh updated the market on its trading for the year ended 31 March on Monday, reporting that the year ended in line with market expectations, with growth in revenues, margin and profit.

The AIM-traded company said it had continued to make good progress in the US, with strong momentum in its Secure Payments business.

It said the US secure payments order book continued to build, with new contract wins totalling $9.3m in the 12 month period - up from $8.3m the year before.

US Secure Payments revenues more than doubled during the period, the board said.

As previously announced, during the year we won a four-year contract to provide our Secure Payments solution - CallGuard - to a US Fortune 250 retailer and secured a partnership with a US global payments solutions company.

In the UK, in what the board called more challenging market conditions, Eckoh started to see the benefits of its restructured UK sales function and renewed focus on larger, more strategic accounts.

As it had previously announced, the company secured several sizeable contract wins across the payments, insurance, healthcare and mobile telecoms sectors since its half-year results in November.

As a result, it said it had won significantly more contracts in the UK in the second half of the financial year than in the first - revenues from which would start to feed in to the current year.

Eckoh said its balance sheet remained robust with net cash of 3.6m at the period end, up from 0.2m a year earlier.

The group has a strong pipeline and is seeing an increasing number of larger-scale opportunities at the enterprise level, the board explained.

We expect the introduction of European GDPR from 25 May 2018 to present further opportunities for Eckoh, as US organisations as well as those in the UK seek to comply with EU consumer data regulations.

The group said it would report its audited results for the year ended 31 March on 13 June.Lesotho-focussed diamond producer Firestone Diamonds has promoted Paul Bosma to the role of chief executive, effective from 1 July.

Bosmas appointment, which follows Stuart Browns decision to step down from his roles as chief executive and director of the company, is his second major promotion at Firestone since having joined as a mineral resources manager in 2014.

In 2016, Bosma was appointed the general manager of Liqhobong mine and has impressed the board, according to Firestone.

Stuart Brown, outgoing chief executive, said: I feel confident that Firestone is well placed to realise its full potential under Paul's leadership. Paul knows the Liqhobong mine better than anyone and has been instrumental in delivering the mine performance within budget, and continuing Firestone's remarkable zero lost time injury record since project commencement in July 2014. Paul has proven he is more than capable of taking this project forward and I wish him every success.

Of Bosmas 24 years of experience working in the mining industry, 14 have been focussed specifically on diamonds, with Bosma working as general manager of a joint venture between De Beers and Anglo Gold Ashanti prior to joining Firestone.

The qualified geologist also worked as vice president for Swiss-based international mining investment firm Pala Investments.

Lucio Genovese, non-executive chairman, said: Stuart joined just under five years ago, with the mandate to lead the financing and construction which subsequently put Firestone into the elite group of producing diamond companies. We wish him every success for the future.

As of 0910 BST, Firestone Diamonds shares were down 2.29% at 6.40p.GLI Finance realised its previously failed goal of acquiring peer-to-peer lender FundingKnight on Tuesday, after the business fell into administration.

The AIM-traded company had announced in its strategic review on 16 February that it had not been possible to agree a way forward between GLI and FundingKnight - an online peer-to-peer lending platform.

As a result, GLI became a passive investor with respect to its interests in Funding Knight Holdings, including a 23.4% interest in its issued ordinary share capital with a carrying value of 2.48m, a 1m investment in FKHs preference share capital together with accrued interest of 0.29m and 0.525m of loans provided by GLI to FKH.

On 28 June, Greg Palfrey and Steve Adshead of Smith & Williamson were appointed as administrators to FKH, and reached an agreement seeing GLI acquiring the entire issued share capitals of Funding Knight Limited along with FKHs other subsidiaries.

Consideration of 0.75m was paid in cash at completion of the acquisition, and as part of the deals terms, GLI has committed to provide FundingKnight with at least 1m of further capital to finance its ongoing operations.

FundingKnight recorded unaudited turnover and a post-tax loss of 0.61m and 1.17m respectively in the year to 31 March.

Its unaudited net assets at the time were 0.13m.

GLI said 0.45m of the consideration for the acquisition will be applied by the administrators in partial settlement of the companys loan to FKH, with the remainder of GLIs interests in FKH written down to nil in its balance sheet.

We believe FundingKnight is a fundamentally good business with strategic value, said GLI CEO Andy Whelan.

By acquiring the business at a low entry price, we will help secure the continued employment of the FundingKnight team and provide reassurance to the investors in FundingKnight loans and FundingKnight's SME client base that have existing loans or are seeking to borrow.

In the medium term, we will be seeking to maximise the potential of FundingKnight in a way which is consistent with our strategic plans, Whelan explained.Natural fertiliser producer Harvest Minerals has been informed by the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) in Brazil that its application to register KPfertil as a remineraliser has been conditionally approved, pending the submission of additional materials.

The AIM-traded firm said that had now been done, and Harvest was advised that the submitted materials would be reviewed expeditiously with final approval from MAPA expected this quarter.

This is welcome news, although it's important to note that the delay in gaining certification from MAPA has not impacted our ability to sell KPfertil, as highlighted by a recent 36Kt order from a major fertiliser distributor in Brazil, said executive chairman Brian McMaster.

The process has taken longer than we anticipated, although this is largely because this is an entirely new process put in place by MAPA to facilitate approval, rather than any product issues.

Meanwhile, McMaster said Harvest was busy completing the plant expansion, which would enable its to process 320,000 tonnes of KPfertil per annum, with all equipment now on site and being installed.

We have also received all the necessary permits to switch to grid power.

These advancements will facilitate the continued growth of sales and revenues as we look to establish Harvest as a highly profitable business.Tech firm Xerox pulled out of its $6.1bn sale to Japanese company Fujifilm in the last minute after activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason argued against the deal.

Xerox and Fujifilm agreed in February that the Japanese company would acquire 50% of Xerox but the two investors, who own 15% of Xerox, said it undervalued the company.

After the deal was called off, Icahn said: "We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm".

Xerox said they could not proceed with the deal due to material deviations between audited results from its joint venture with Fujifilm and other unaudited statements.

The last minute withdrawal sparked anger from Fujifilm, which said: "We do not believe that Xerox has a legal right to terminate our agreement. We are reviewing all of our available options, including bringing a legal action seeking damages.

It also said it still believes the takeover is "the best option designed to allow the stockholders of both companies to share the enhanced future value of the combined company."

As consequence of this new deal, Xerox CEO Jeff Jacobson presented his resignation and abandoned the board of the company which will appoint five new members.5 Star, League near agreement on PM appointment

Italys 5-Star Movement and League parties were close to signing off on a power-sharing deal on Monday they could take to the nation's president later in the day.

5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio and the League's Matteo Salvini held talks over the weekend in an effort to pick a prime minister acceptable to both sides. The two parties had been opponents in the March elections which produced a hung parliament.

The duo are scheduled to meet President Sergio Mattarella, who set a deadline on Sunday to end the 10 week electoral stalemate, later on Monday.

The far right League and anti-establishment 5 Star have enough seats in both houses of Italy's parliament to form a majority. However their economic policies do not chime with the European Union's fiscal rules and Mattarella warned both sides that he could still veto any deal.

Salvini and Di Maio were reportedly prepared to shift position on the economy. Reports from Rome suggested the duo wanted to introduce a flat tax as low as 15%, a universal basic income and dismantling a change to pensions in 2011 that increased the retirement age. They have also pledged to attempt to renegotiate European treaties.

The measures the two parties want to implement would cost around 100bn per year (5.5% of GDP), according to Oxford Economics.

"If enacted they would lead to a dramatic deterioration in the fiscal deficit. However, markets and the European Commission are unlikely to be impressed with the proposals, so we expect them to be watered down to meet the 3% limit," Oxford said.

The League won 17% of the vote, but it was part of a right-wing alliance that collected 37%. 5 Star is the largest single party after winning almost 33%.The Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries nudged higher its forecast for growth in crude supplies from outside the cartel this year, predicting it would outpace the expected increase in demand.

In its latest Monthly Oil Market Report, the group of producer nations said non-OPEC supplies were set to run at an average pace of 59.62m barrels per day in 2018, or 1.72m b/d more than during the previous year.

That was 10,000 b/d more than predicted in the April MOMR.

Demand growth on the other hand was seen at 1.65m b/d or 98.85m b/d or 25,000 b/d more than in April's estimate, reflecting firm readings on OECD data throughout the first quarter.

That followed an identical-sized gain in 2017.

China was expected to lead oil demand growth in 2018.

Underpinning OPEC's forecasts on the demand side of the equation was a projection for global GDP growth of 3.8% during the current year.

Commercial oil stocks in the OECD fell to the equivalent of 59.9 days of 'forward cover', which was 1.6 below the latest five-day average, OPEC said.

The so-called 'call on OPEC' for 2017 meanwhile was revised higher by 0.6m b/d to stand at 33.0m b/d, but was seen declining by 0.3m b/d to 32.7m b/d in 2018.

Commenting on the outlook for oil prices, in remarks to Bloomberg TV, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's Francisco Blanch said the price of oil could peak above $90 and perhaps rise as high as $100 and that was without factoring in any withdrawal in Iranian barrels from the market.

That echoed the conclusions expressed in a 9 May report in which Blanch and his team revised higher their forecasts for the average price of Brent in 2018 and 2019 to $70 and $75, respectively, on the back of the ongoing "collapse" in Venezuelan supplies.

Events in the South American country would combine with a coordinated move by Russia and Saudi to put a floor underneath prices, they said.

They also set a $90 per barrel target for Brent in the second quarter of 2019, adding that there was a risk of $100 per barrel in 2019.

However, Blanch and his team expressed concern that "these market dynamics could unfold over a shorter timeframe".

Additional upside risks to the outlook included geopolitics (Iran) and US supply bottlenecks, with the latter linked to transport constraints and service cost pressures.

Blanch and his team were forecasting a demand-supply deficit of 630,000 b/d in 2018 and of 300,000 b/d in 2019, on the back of increased demand in each of those two years of 1.54m b/d (OECD: 0.3m b/d, Emerging markets: 1.24m b/d) and 1.395m b/d (OECD: 0.145m b/d, Emerging markets: 1.25m b/d).Quim Torra has been elected as the new president of the Generalitat de Catalunya following a second round of voting at midday on Monday, after failing on Saturday to garner the absolute majority (70 votes) needed to be chosen in a first vote.

But this time around, Torra only needed a simple majority to reach the presidency and in the process become the 131st president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

The new leader, who was hand-picked by his still exiled predecessor Carles Puigdemont, obtained the backing of 66 lawmakers, with 65 casting their ballots against him and four opting to abstain.

Key to his election was the abstention of the far-left nationalist CUP party, announced on Sunday.

In his first speech, Torra promised to "fight for the the Republic" and to continue the struggle that began with the 1 October referendum.

Monday's session in the Catalan parliament marked the beginning of a new chapter for the regions politics, with Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, immediately calling a meeting for the next day with opposition PSOE leader, Pedro Sanchez, to analyse how to proceed in the wake of recent events.

The Spanish PM must also now decide whether or not to withdraw application of article 155 of the country's Constitution, thus returning the region's devolved powers to the assembly.A US national security adviser warned on Sunday that European companies who continue to trade with Iran risked being hit by US sanctions after President Donald Trump called for all links to be cut off.

National Security adviser John Bolton told CNN that depending on the conduct of the different EU governments, some of their companies that continued to do business with the Islamic republic could face US sanctions.

"The president said in his statement on Tuesday that countries that continue to deal with Iran could face US sanctions, because much of what they would like to sell to Iran involves US technology, for which the licences will not be available," Bolton told ABC.

"Why would any business, why would the shareholders of any business want to do business with the worlds central banker of international terrorism?" he added.

Bolton reiterated Trump's opinion that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was totally unacceptable: "I think you have to start first with the fundamental deficiencies of the deal itself. It would not stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Quite the contrary, it provided cover for Iran to continue its efforts. And if it continued, it would have given Iran extraordinary economic benefits without any guarantees of Iranian performance."

Tensions are escalating between the US and its EU allies after Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, with all EU leaders having vowed to keep the agreement alive and continue business as usual.

Indeed, many European companies like France's Airbus or Germany's Volkswagen were still in the midst of delivering jets and cars to the country.

That led French finance minister Bruno Le Maire last week to say: "We have to work among ourselves in Europe to defend our European economic sovereignty."Most markets in Asia were higher on Monday, as oil prices continued to fall back from their three-year highs seen last week.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.47% at 22,865.86, as the yen weakened 0.08% against the yen to last trade at JPY 109.48.

The broader Topix added 0.61% in Tokyo, with the real estate sector leading the pack as it rose 3.1%, although miners were down.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was 0.34% higher at 3,174.14, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite lost 0.1% to 1,823.25.

South Koreas Kospi slipped 0.06% to 2,476.11, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong surged 1.35% to settle at 31,541.08.

Technology behemoth Samsung Electronics dragged the wider market down in Seoul, as it fell 2.34%.

The ongoing geopolitical tension between Washington and Beijing was back at the top of the agenda on Monday, after US President Donald Trump tweeted his support for a beleaguered Chinese technology firm on Sunday.

Trump said he was working with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help ZTE - which makes telecoms equipment and mobile devices - get back into business, fast.

ZTE was crippled following a ruling from the US Department of Commerce earlier this year, banning US companies from supplying ZTE after it was found to have illegally sent products to Iran.

Chinese smartphone makers such as ZTE still rely on American-designed chips from the likes of Qualcomm and Intel in the manufacture of their products.

The move from Trump was read by many market watchers as a concession from the US ahead of the second round of US-China trade negotiations later in the week.

While some might be unsettled at prospects of trade confrontation, we would argue that the US is acting as a rational actor, noted Mizuho Bank strategist Chang Wei Liang.

And rational US behaviour would almost certainly mean that the administration would not choose a mutually destructive trade outcome.

Oil prices were lower for much of the session, though they still remained close to the three-year highs seen after Trump confirmed he was pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal early last week.

Prices picked up as the region went to bed, however, with Brent crude last up 0.14% at $77.23 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate rising 0.03% to $70.72.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day up 0.31% at 6,135.30, led higher by the energy and materials subindices.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares reversed their early losses to finish 0.38% above the waterline, after its chief financial officer Rob Jesudason resigned with immediate effect.

He was replaced by Alan Docherty in an acting capacity, with the resignation coming amid an ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry into Australias financial sector.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealands S&P/NZX 50 was ahead 0.4% at 8,713.23, led higher by infant food and dairy products exporter A2 Milk, which rose 2.6%.

A2 was widely tipped by local analysts to be entering the MSCI New Zealand Index upon its review, due late Monday London time.

A2 Milk would likely replace either ailing construction conglomerate Fletcher Building or energy supplier Mercury.

It was a mixed picture for the down under dollars, with the Aussie last 0.17% stronger on the greenback at AUD 1.3239, while the Kiwi weakened 0.18% to NZD 1.4386.All eyes are on the euro area periphery on Monday, with investors focused on ongoing coalition talks in Italy but also on events in Spain, where the regional Catalan assembly has voted-in its new President, possibly easing the way for approval of the 2018 state budget.

At the weekend, Italy's two main populist parties, the Five Star and the League, agreed on the framework for a coalition government, but promised to push through tax cuts, repeal pensions reforms, cancel a planned VAT increase in 2019 and grant a generous basic income for those unemployed which many observers labelled "unrealistic".

Sporting one of the highest government debt burdens in the European Union already, which stood at roughly 130% of the country's gross domestic product, analysts expressed concern about the sustainability of the path the country's finances were on.

"Supported by the economic recovery and, at the margin, by the ECB bond purchases, markets have so far reacted rather calmly. However, a lack of fiscal discipline in combination with some reform reversals could potentially sow the seeds of a new Italian crisis once the current cyclical upswing is over. The risks are not imminent but nevertheless a serious long-term concern," said Holger Schmieding at Berenberg.

Against that backdrop, as of 1405 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was dipping by 1.36 points or 0.35% to 391.02, alongside a fall of 71.99 points or 0.55% to 12,931.04 for the German Dax, while the FTSE Mibtel was down by 0.50% or 120.76 points at 24,039.64.

In Spain, regional lawmakers had voted-in ardent nationalist Quim Torra as their new President, helping to exorcise the spectre of fresh regional elections.

Some analysts also expected it would allow the country's PM, Mariano Rajoy, to lift the freeze on the regional assembly's powers, which in turn was a precondition for the centre-right Basque nationalist PNV to back the state budget law for 2018, in exchange for multiple fiscal sweeteners for their region.

Nevertheless, given the reliance of many Spanish companies on the state, delays in approving the national budget, as had occurred the year before, could carry with it a heavy price in terms of lost economic growth.

Meanwhile, euro/dollar was higher by 0.42% to 1.19910, helped by remarks from European Central Bank Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau.

Speaking early on Monday, de Galhau said Frankfurt was still likely to end its net asset purchases in September or in December, but added that in any case the matter was "not an existential question".

From a sector standpoint, insurance stocks were the main drag on markets, with the Stoxx 600's sector gauge retreating 0.90% to stand at 292.40. Banks were also weaker, with the same pan-European index's gauge for that sector down by 0.68% at 178.66.

No major economic releases were scheduled for Monday in the euro area, although several other GC members were set to deliver speeches, including two from the ECB's chief economist, Peter Praet.

Leaders of Italy's anti-establishment Five Star were scheduled to meet President Sergio Mattarella at 1530 BST and those of the League set to do the same at 1700 BST.Stocks are little changed in early trading, with investors eyeing political risk in Italy after the two main populist parties, the Five Star and the League, reached an agreement on forming a governing coalition at the weekend.

Among other considerations however, their proposed economic policies may lead to a worrying deterioration of the country's public finances.

Offsetting those concerns was news that the US administration has softened its stance versus Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE, which analysts said might herald wider progress on trade talks.

Commenting on the significance of that 'olive branch' from the White House, Rebecca O'Keeffe at Interactive Investor said: "while positive sentiment is a good start, this week's trade talks between China and the USA are critical to turn this into decisive action and stop the various trade disputes between the US and China as well as the US and Europe from beginning to snowball into an all-out trade war."

Against that backdrop, as of 1012 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was dipping 0.42 points or 0.11% to 391.98, alongside a fall of 17.97 points or 0.14% to 12,982.57 for the German Dax, while the FTSE Mibtel was down by 0.10% or 23.37 points at 24,315.84.

In parallel, euro/dollar was higher by 0.38% to 1.19880, helped by remarks from European Central Bank Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau.

Speaking early on Monday, de Galhau said Frankfurt's was still likely to end its net asset purchases in September or in December, but in any case the matter was "not an existential question".

From a sector standpoint, insurance stocks were the main drag on markets, with the Stoxx 600's sector gauge retreating 0.59% to stand at 293.33.

No major economic releases were scheduled for Monday in the euro area, although several other GC members were set to deliver speeches, including two from the ECB's chief economist, Peter Praet.

Leaders of Italy's anti-establishment Five Star were scheduled to meet President Sergio Mattarella at 1530 BST and those of the League set to do the same at 1700 BST.Retail numbers in UK shops have fallen by an "unprecedented" 4.8% over the past two months, according to a key industry survey.

Shopper footfall decreased 3.3% in April, following a 6% decline in March, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard found.

Tighter belts from households amid the ongoing negative real incomes and changing consumer behaviour has resulted in 9.2% of town centre shops standing vacant in April, the survey found, up from 8.9% in January. Greater London bucked the trend, as its vacancy rate improved to 3.6% from 5.6%.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said the wet start to April had a dampening effect on shop visits across the UK, exacerbated by changing consumer behaviour.

"That shift in the way we shop, coupled with a highly challenging business environment, is having a significant impact on the nations high streets: in April nearly 1 in 10 shops in town centres was vacant."

An inquiry was launched earlier this month by parliaments housing, communities and local government (HCLG) committee into the future of the countrys high streets and town centres.

Dickinson called on policy-makers to help support the retail industry and "the re-making of our high streets" through new policies to allows retailers to adapt to the internet-driven structural shift.US President Donald Trump caught markets unaware again on Monday after he ordered the US Commerce Department to help Chinese telecoms company ZTE after almost putting it under.

Trump said he was working with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help ZTE get back into business, fast.

ZTE ceased production after US companies were banned from supplying the mobile phone maker when it was found to have illegally sent products to Iran and North Korea.

Chinese smartphone makers such as ZTE still rely on American-designed chips from the likes of Qualcomm and Intel in the manufacture of their products.

Trump's u-turn was welcomed by Chinese officials.

"We greatly appreciate the positive position of the US on the ZTE issue and are in close communication with the US on the details of the issue," China foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Former Obama administration aide Kevin Wolf, who was in charge of the launch of the case against ZTE, said he was speechless.

Im highly confident that a [US] president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before . . . Its so outside the way the rules were set up, he said.

The move from Trump was read by many market watchers as a concession from the US ahead of the second round of US-China trade negotiations later in the week.

While some might be unsettled at prospects of trade confrontation, we would argue that the US is acting as a rational actor, noted Mizuho Bank strategist Chang Wei Liang.

And rational US behaviour would almost certainly mean that the administration would not choose a mutually destructive trade outcome.Two University of North Georgia (UNG) students, both members of the Model UN-G Club, had the opportunity to travel to the French Riviera and participate in the weeklong Mediterranean Model United Nations (MEDMUN) 2018 Conference.

Andrew Eitel and Holden Armstrong were assigned to represent the country of Qatar. The theme of this year's conference, which took place March 23-25 and featured college students from around the world, was "Institutional Integrity: Human Rights, Political Pluralism and State Stability."

Eitel, a sophomore international affairs major from Cumming, Georgia, said his biggest take-away from the French conference was seeing different perspectives of an issue.

Armstrong, a cadet majoring in strategic and security studies from Winston Salem, North Carolina, said he enjoyed the experience of working with people from various backgrounds and cultures.

The Model UN-G Club, which is organized by UNG's Department of Political Science and International Affairs, competes twice a year at the South Regional Model United Nations conferences, held in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina. The club helps prepare students for the conference and develops skills in diplomacy, public speaking and research. The organization focuses on personal and cooperative development and is open to all majors; a Model UN class also is offered for students majoring in international affairs.

For more information about the Model UN-G Club or the Model UN class, contact Dr. Jon Miner, associate professor of political science at UNG.Most people already know about our president, Donald Trumps past, however, they tend to overlook the fact that he has a soft side and is human too. Today is Mothers Day, as the world celebrated mothers everywhere for their contributions to their lives, so did President Trump, only his mother passed on August 7, 2000. He has been criticized relentlessly on his standing with immigrants, such as those from Mexico and Syria because his mother originally immigrated from Scotland. She set sail from Scotland on May 2, 1930. Donald Trumps father and mother met at a dance and later married and had five children together: Maryanne, Frederick Jr, Elizabeth, Robert, and Donald.

Mrs. Trumps contributions

Mrs. Trump wasnt just your average rich housewife though, although Donalds father Fred did make a hefty salary even in the early days, approximately over $80,000 per year in 2016, according to the New Yorker, she wasnt someone to brag. She carried herself with dignity and finesse and was respected by many and regarded by the former vice president of the Trump Organization, Louise Sunshine, as A very strong woman, and by President Trump as a phenomenal woman, according to Politico.

Mrs. Trump was very philanthropic and worked with many different non-profits, including the Boy Scouts, Salvation Army, and Lighthouse for the Blind. She even worked with the Womens Auxiliary of Jamaica Hospital.

She and her husband, Fred, donated money to multiple causes generously. Later, her son, Donald Trump would follow in the role of a philanthropist, donating to all sorts of causes and even opening his own college and the Donald J. Trump Foundation. In 1999, according to Forbes, Trump was worth over $1.6 billion. His family and associates, as well as legal documentation, have backed him up on the fact that he donated over $102 million from 2009-2014, according to an article also by The New Yorker.

Happy Mothers Day Mrs. Trump

Today, as we celebrate our mothers, let's remember to celebrate all mothers, even ones of people we dont particularly like or agree with. President Donald Trump, although not popular to some, is still a man. A man with emotions, just like the rest of us. Lets look back on his mothers life with respect for the wonderful, strong woman that she was and celebrate her life with the Trump family. Happy Mothers Day Mrs. Mary Macleod Trump. Much respect to you for all your contributions to the United States.Delaware has made it to the history books after declaring a total ban on child marriages. It becomes the first state to ban underage marriages under any circumstance. Governor John Carney signed the historic bill making it illegal for any minor to get married, even if their parents have consented to the union. The law takes effect immediately. A report by CNN provided much of the information used in this article.

Legal loopholes

Minors could previously get married in Delaware, provided they had consent from their parents and an approval from a judge.

Though the legal age for marital consent is 18 in most American states, there have been loopholes allowing minors to obtain marriage licences. Virginia and Texas last year limited marriage to people who are only 18 or older. A minor could get married if a court of law granted them adult rights. Human Rights Watch said in a statement that some states allowed exceptions such as pregnancy for underage marriages. Twenty-three states have listed circumstances in which minors can get married. Children in some states can get married as early as 12.

It was reported that from 2000 to 2010, 167,000 children got married in 38 states. While there were loopholes that allowed child marriages, anybody under the age of 18 cannot enter into any legal contract, open a credit card, file for divorce, or get accepted into a shelter for domestic violence survivors.

Hence, they could not leave an abusive spouse, Kim Williams said. Kim Williams is a Democrat Representative for the state of Delaware.

End child marriages by 2030

Republican senator Anthony Delcollo said the exceptions in previous laws provided loopholes for what would otherwise be labeled statutory rape and the bill would get rid of that backwardness.

He said marriage should be considered just like other legal contracts where children are considered not mature enough.

The United Nations have set a goal to end child marriages by 2030. The United States is supportive of the initiative. Kim Williams said she hoped the other states will also put a total ban on such. Unchained At Last, a group of US advocates pushing for an end to child marriages, said child marriages were most likely lead to an increase in school dropouts and health issues.

The news of the ban was well-received on social media with users urging the other 49 states to follow suit. Others wondered why it took so long for someone to think of such a bill. Some were surprised that it is 2018 and we are only talking of firsts.Melania Trump was taken to the hospital for kidney surgery on Monday afternoon. Once Donald Trump offered his thoughts, the reaction was as expected.

Heading over to Walter Reed Medical Center to see our great First Lady, Melania. Successful procedure, she is in good spirits. Thank you to all of the well-wishers!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018

Trump on Melania

The relationship between Donald Trump and Melania Trump has reportedly been shaky for sometime. Even during the 2016 election, many questioned how close the couple were. Following the release of the now infamous "Access Hollywood" tapes and the over a dozen allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump, additional reports have cast even greater doubt on the status of the first couple.

With the Stormy Daniels scandal remaining in the headlines, their relationship seems rocky at best. On Monday, CNN reported that Melania Trump had been taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center just outside Washington, D.C. for surgery on her kidney that was described as "benign" but also needing attention.

BREAKING: Melania Trump undergoes kidney surgery at Walter Reed medical center and is expected to remain hospitalized for several days https://t.co/aAArZ47ZiH pic.twitter.com/Usu0cFMuw9  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 14, 2018

After the surgery was reported a success, Donald Trump took to Twitter on May 14 to add his thoughts. "Heading over to Walter Reed Medical Center to see our great First Lady, Melania," Trump tweeted.

"Successful procedure, she is in good spirits," he added about the first lady, before concluding, "Thank you to all of the well-wishers!" While Melania Trump appears to be doing well, those who oppose the president wasted no time hitting back.

Twitter revolts

Following Donald Trump's tweet about Melania Trump's kidney surgery, social media went viral.

"Nope. Millions of Americans would rather you don't try to speak for us," one tweet read.

Nope. Millions of Americans would rather you don't try to speak for us.  donna januario (@DonnaJanuario) May 14, 2018

Make sure to bring your prostitutes  Scott Roddy (@SRoddy77) May 14, 2018

Just Shut The Hell Up you lying piece of garbage that you are nothing but, a Orange Buffoon  Artjr (@artkitchen76) May 14, 2018

"Make sure to bring your prostitutes," a Twitter user wrote.

"Was about time...after our tweets u thought.. hmm maybe i need to go to see how she is doing," another tweet added with sarcasm. "Just Shut The Hell Up you lying piece of garbage that you are nothing but, a Orange Buffoon," yet another tweet stated. "Good thing we reminded ya, huh! You can PVR Fox so you'll know what to say and do tomorrow," a post noted with apparent mockery.

Godd thing we reminded ya, huh! You can PVR Fox so you'll know what to say and do tomorrow.  #NeverFord! (@StradlingDianne) May 14, 2018

It's about time. You should of hold her hand the entire time. Good and honest husband's do that without even thinking about it.  Brooklyn PizzaGuy! (Sunset Park) (@AntonelliMike57) May 14, 2018

Dipshit, go see your wife don't tweet about it. Then again don't see her, she may recover faster not being reminded this is what she'll get out of the hospital to see.  NoSacredCow (@NoSacredCow60) May 14, 2018

"Dipsh*t, go see your wife don't tweet about it.

Then again don't see her, she may recover faster not being reminded this is what she'll get out of the hospital to see," a social media user wrote. "It's about time. You should of hold her hand the entire time. Good and honest husband's do that without even thinking about it," a follow-up tweet read. The backlash continued as the divide between Donald Trump and many Americans moved forward.On Monday morning, the United States opened their new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. At the ceremony, Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, addressed those in attendance. In response, critics of the administration decided to offer their thoughts.

Jared Kushner at opening ceremony for U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem: "As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem, and not part of the solution." https://t.co/pA4olvBw6C pic.twitter.com/hwCwLpZbsP  ABC News (@ABC) May 14, 2018

Kushner in Jerusalem

When Donald Trump was running for president during the 2016 election, he made several promises that many wondered if he would ever follow through on.

While Trump has been unable to make many of those promises a reality, one that has come true is moving the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The decision resulted in criticism from those who worried that it could make finding a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine even more difficult. While the president was not in attendance during the dedication ceremony, he was represented by his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

At the ceremony in Jerusalem, Jared Kushner spoke to the crowd, saying, "When there is peace in this region, we will look back upon this day and remember that the journey to peace started with a strong America, recognizing the truth." "I believe peace is within reach if we dare to believe that the future can be different from the past," he added.

Kushner's speech lasted for nearly 10 minutes, but those who oppose the administration were not impressed and decided to sound off in the return.

Twitter reacts

After Jared Kushner gave his remarks in Jerusalem, social media critics wasted no time hitting back. "I just turned on my television to the unfortunate sight of Jared Kushner speaking, in Jerusalem, to an audience of MAGA hat wearing Cultists," one tweet read.

People who told us Obama lacked experience are quite pleased that Jared Kushner is setting policy.  John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) May 14, 2018

Jared looks like hes not getting any sleep anymore. #Mueller  Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) May 14, 2018

Jared and Ivanka partying it up in Jerusalem while Israeli forces massacre Palestinians in Gaza is a level of depravity you can only find in the Trump and Netanyahu administrations.  Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) May 14, 2018

"Jared looks like hes not getting any sleep anymore," Adam Parkhomenko wrote.

"Jared and Ivanka partying it up in Jerusalem while Israeli forces massacre Palestinians in Gaza is a level of depravity you can only find in the Trump and Netanyahu administrations," Eugene Gu tweeted out. "Why are your kids leading this? How are they qualified?" a Twitter user wondered.

Why are your kids leading this? How are they qualified?  Greg Shugar (@GregShugar) May 14, 2018

Trump is the most despicable human being to ever hold the office of POTUS.  Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) May 14, 2018

I missed the part where I voted for Jared Kushner, or he had the background to be the voice of the United States, or heck, even security clearance. And then I remembered, we live in an authoritarian regime now, so of course a family member is speaking for us. https://t.co/vTVBFA5p6f  Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) May 14, 2018

"People who told us Obama lacked experience are quite pleased that Jared Kushner is setting policy," comedian John Fugelsang posted to Twitter.

"I missed the part where I voted for Jared Kushner, or he had the background to be the voice of the United States, or heck, even security clearance," Amy Sisking tweet out. "Trump is the most despicable human being to ever hold the office of POTUS," Bishop Talbert Swan wrote.Melania Trump was quietly admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center and she underwent kidney surgery today, with nothing said to the public until the surgery was over. It wasn't until about 3 PM on Monday that the news of Melania Trump's procedure broke on the TV news stations as "breaking news."

The official statement coming from Melania's office is that she was experiencing an issue with her kidney, which prompted doctors to perform this procedure. Thankfully this problem was benign. Melania underwent an embolization procedure and it was successful, reports Stephanie Grisham, the communication director for the first lady.

Serious medical procedure

Her stay at the Walter Reed Medical Center is expected to last for the rest of this week, reports Grisham. Donald Trump is expected to visit the hospital sometime this afternoon to see his wife. According to CNN News, Melania is the first U.S. first lady to undergo such a serious medical procedure while in the White House since Nancy Reagan.

Back in 1987 when Ronald and Nancy Reagan were the occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Nancy underwent a mastectomy. Roselyn Carter had a lump in her breast removed in 1977. Then there was Betty Ford who was diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks after moving into the White House. She had a mastectomy back in September 1974 as a result of that diagnosis.

Symptoms unknown

Fox News described this procedure during their live broadcast on Monday afternoon. They report the procedure as being similar to a heart catheterization, but they go into the kidney area instead.

Melania, who turned 48 in April, was admitted to the hospital on Monday morning. It is not known what symptoms she had before seeking medical attention for this problem.

Fox News reports that after this procedure, the patient must stay still, so this may explain why she is expected to stay put in the hospital for the rest of the week.

Doctors who have not treated Melania Trump are saturating the Monday afternoon news broadcasts describing symptoms that Melania might have endured leading up to her diagnosis.

This includes pain in the lower back and nausea

Donald Trump keeping in touch

Fox News reports that Donald Trump spoke with Melania before the procedure and then he spoke with the doctors who performed the procedure once it was over. The procedure was a complete success and Melania can look forward to a full recovery.

Another well-known name in Washington also went into surgery on Monday, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He underwent cancer surgery which entailed removing a tumor from his pancreas. Reid's prognosis for recovery is listed as "good."Michael Avenatti is the attorney for Stormy Daniels. She allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump years before he was elected to the office of the presidency. He also has a history with Rahm Emmanuel, the former President Barack Obama Chief of Staff and current mayor of Chicago. According to Business Insider he "worked for The Research Group, a campaign research firm founded by Rahm Emmanuel." The Stormy case involves a non-disclosure agreement signed by Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney. He is suing both Trump and Cohen. He claims to have been paid from Daniels and from Crowd Justice.

Crowd Justice is a crowdsource site for legal services.

Payment to Michael Avenatti

Michael Avenatti claims that payment for his services came from Daniels and Crowd Justice. Stormy Daniels claims that she is not paying the bills. Her attorney says that she paid a small amount and the rest is coming from Crowd Justice, The Hill reported.

The Crowd Justice account has raised $477,525, as seen on Stormy Daniels Crowd Justice account. According to Stormy Daniels, this is strictly for her legal fund. The plan is to raise $850,000. They still have a long way to go.

David J. Morris tweeted that Michael Avenatti owed him $160,179 for coffee he purchased. Avenatti bought a string of coffeehouses with partner Patrick Dempsey.

That original tweet was deleted by Morris and his original tweet can be seen on Zero Hedge website. He responded in a later tweet that he deleted the tweet because they had come to an agreement.

Twitter did not delete my tweet, I did. My company @Dillanos Coffee Roasters worked out an arrangement with @MichaelAvenatti  David J. Morris (@coffeemaverick) May 10, 2018

Michael Avenatti's other legal issues

Michael Avenatti has multiple other legal issues, according to the Seattle Times.

He owes back taxes and multiple lawsuits from his failed coffee venture. He pays himself before he pays his taxes reported on Zero Hedge website. The coffee chain closed in March. In 2017, the chain of coffeehouses owed the IRS close to $5 million in back taxes as reported on Zero Hedge website. There are also about 46 lawsuits against the company.

He no longer owns the coffeehouses.

His partner to purchase the coffeehouses was Patrick Dempsey. Michael Avenatti was going to purchase the coffeehouses and Dempsey was going to help with promotion. Dempsey ended up suing Avenatti because he took out a loan for $2 million dollars to make the purchase as reported by Zero Hedge website. He did not disclose this loan to Dempsey. He sued to end their partnership and this case was settled out of court.

Michael Avenatti is currently under investigation by the California Bar Association. The complaint was filed by an attorney from Washington. He contested a suit against Michael Avenatti. The complaint focuses on the failure to pay taxes, payment obligations, and questionable billing practices about his law practice.

This is a lawyer that made news this week questioning another attorney's integrity.

Michael Avenatti's Treasury Department investigation

The Treasury Department's inspector general is investigated by Michael Avenatti. The big question is where he got the personal banking records for Michael Cohen. He should not have access to these types of records. He has not disclosed his source. His response to the question was stated as, They can investigate all they want, but what they should be doing is releasing to the American public the three Suspicious Activity Reports filed on Michael Cohens account. Why are they hiding this information?, according to the New York Post website. He did not answer the question but deflected to attack somebody else.

The attorney for Michael Cohen has filed a motion in their ongoing case to disclose the source of his material. They do not believe that he has possession of the documents. This ruling will be something to watch and see what response Michael Avenatti will produce.

Michael Avenatti has refuted that he is getting paid by a PAC or left-wing organization. The answer he provides for the source of the financial documents might lead to a better understanding of who is actually paying his retainer. Stormy Daniels has already stated that she is not paying the legal fees.

There are no PACs, no political party, no special interests, no fat cat donors, no secret club, and no aliens covering the costs of our legal fight. Period. If anyone has evidence to the contrary, they should present it now. Otherwise, pipe down. Go to https://t.co/dhKK1KEIBQ  Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 4, 2018

Michael Avenatti has a long history with the Democratic Party.

He helped Rahm Emmanuel and has worked on multiple democratic campaigns. He could be working for the Democrats or he might just be using the exposure of the case to help him get out of his debt. The real question that everyone should be asking is, "Who is paying Michael Avenatti?It's no secret that Donald Trump has a comfortable relationship with the Fox News Channel. While the majority of the hosts on the network have supported the president, it's been Sean Hannity who's been the most vocal.

"The View" on Trump, Hannity

During the early days of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump quickly kicked off his feud with the majority of the mainstream media. Regardless of whether or not it was news on TV, newspapers, or individual journalists, the former host of "The Apprentice" made it a point to call out those who reported about him a negative fashion.

While Trump clashed with most in the media, he would go on to bond with many on Fox News, including Sean Hannity who has since come to the president's defense regardless of the issue. According to Olivia Nuzzi of New Yorker magazine, Hannity and Trump speak almost nightly, with the "F-word" being used throughout the conversation.

TRUMP AND HANNITY'S LATE NIGHT CHATS? The president and the Fox News host are reportedly said to have late night phone calls with each other most weeknights  the co-hosts give their take. pic.twitter.com/uaC1lPI8mL  The View (@TheView) May 14, 2018

With the news of the bromance between Donald Trump and Sean Hannity making the headlines, the ladies of "The View" decided to have a little fun during the May 14 broadcast.

"Sean Hannity has been keeping the White House resident up late at night by making bedtime phone calls to him so they can dish about stuff like Russia and how both their ratings are great," co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, while playing romantic R&B music in the background.

"The call to the White House comes after ten o'clock most weeknights, when Hannity is over." @NYMag just published @OliviaNuzzi's story all about Trump and Hannity... it's a must read https://t.co/Yuuv0Gr2qy pic.twitter.com/4CFLMDNtul  Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 14, 2018

"I wonder if Vladimir Putin knows?" co-host Joy Behar joked, before adding, "that's his real boyfriend." As fellow co-host Sonny Hostin sarcastically danced to the music, Sarah Hines chimed in, saying "he has a work wife, and his name is Sean Hannity." "This is really the major leak," Behar added, noting, "the president is telling him and he's saying it on television."

Meghan's take

Even the conservative co-host Meghan McCain was critical of the contents of the story.

"It's really weird. I'd be so pissed off if my husband were calling someone every night to gossip," McCain said. The segment wrapped up with the hosts jokingly saying they'd like to trick the Trump administration into calling Joy Behar.

The View's move

Ever since Donald Trump came into office, his presidency has been a hot topic on "The View." Show mainstays like Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg have routinely ripped into the commander in chief, but due to the constant controversy hanging over the White House, even Meghan McCain has been in agreement with the rest of the more liberal panel. As the midterm elections inch closer with the 2020 presidential race following after, only time will tell how it all plays out.Hundreds gathered at Virginia Tech on Monday afternoon to mourn and remember the life of Virginia Tech President Emeritus Charles William Steger Jr., who guided the university into the 21st century as its 15th president.

Steger 69  who served as president from 2000 to 2014  was an architect, and he brought that disciplines blend of art and science to the office of university president, developing and executing a vision for the future that made him one of the most influential presidents in Virginia Techs 146-year history. He died May 6 at his home in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was 70.

The Rev. Michael Ellerbrock offered a letter to Steger on behalf of the Hokies who gathered to remember him at the Moss Arts Center, as well as others whose lives were touched by his legacy.

Dear Charles, Ellerbrock began. We celebrate today as family and friends because you raised the bar. An architect who saw beyond time and place, you asked for our best and challenged our imagination. Your Hokie ambassadors make a difference both near and far. Its been a privilege, Charles, and now our consolation. Well done, Mr. President, well done. We love you. Amen.

Christopher Steger, Charles son, talked about his father's upbringing in Buckingham County, Virginia, on a farm along the James River. Despite Charles reputation for almost never being out of a suit or tie, he was at heart a country boy who enjoyed being among horses and cattle and playing bluegrass music on his guitar, Christopher said. Charles Steger could drive a hard deal, he said, but he was also kind to people when he didnt have to be.

It would be a fitting tribute to Charles, Christopher said, "if someday soon you would take an extra moment to be kind to be someone  even when you dont have to. And maybe wear a tie.

President Tim Sands opened and closed the memorial service.

His legacy will continue, as strong and as enduring as the Hokie Stone around us, Sands said. For me, those stones always call to mind his spirit and his vision.

Others praised Stegers vision and accomplishments. Gov. Ralph Northam, a physician, called him the man who was the architect of what we know as the modern-day Virginia Tech.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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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.Editors Note: Mohammed Hanif published a review of this film in Urdu at the BBC. A translation into English by Zahra Sabri is published below with Mr. Hanifs permission. The film is the definitive story of Abdus Salam, the first Pakistani to win the Nobel prize. It captures in vivid detail his lifes journeyfrom a small village in Pakistan to worldwide scientific acclaimand his fraught relationship with his homeland, where he faced rejection for being a member of the heretical Ahmadiyya movement.

by Mohammed Hanif, translated by Zahra Sabri

Dr Abdus Salam had once said, It became quite clear to me that either I must leave my country or leave physics. And with great anguish, I chose to leave my country.

I heard these words in what is probably the first documentary film ever to be made on the life of the Nobel prize-winning Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam. The producers of the film are two young men from Pakistan, Omar Vandal and Zakir Thaver. Ive been hearing these young men go on about Salam since some ten years. They have been labouring over the film for more than a decade.

I had suspected that these two men might lose interest in this topic similar to the way that the whole nation of Pakistan has washed their hands of Salam, having labelled him a kafir. However, their efforts have borne fruit and the film Salam: The First ***** Nobel Laureate is ready for screening.

The asterisks in the title stand in for the space where the word Muslim should have been, but since this word has been expunged from the inscription above his grave in the town of Rabwah, the filmmakers have used asterisks to describe Salam so as to evade the possibility of a fatwa.

In Pakistan, we have very little tradition of making or watching documentary films, but this film on Dr Abdus Salam is really a love story  the story of his love for Pakistan. The kind of love we find in classical Urdu ghazals where the beloved is callous and unrelenting, and the lover displays persistence and faithfulness of the highest order. Despite the endless snubs and rebuffs he is repeatedly subjected to, he continues to haunt the beloveds lane. Upon the beloveds banishing him to another land, he spends his days in exile languishing and sighing and uttering And now the moon must be rising above my homeland sort of sentiments.

The filmmakers have taken tremendous pains to search out and include in the film audio and video clips of Salam that I, at least, had never come across before. The portrait formed of Dr Salam through interviews with his sons, wives, fellow scientists and administrative assistants is that of a dyed-in-the-wool Pakistani figure who may have given up living in his country, but who never gave up his green passport.

A man whose entire research and all his family is abroad, but whose dying wish is to be buried in the soil of his own country.

When he talks about Indias first atomic-test explosion, his eyes possess the gleam produced by the thought of teaching the enemy a lesson. He is present at Multan with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto at the meeting where it was decided that Pakistan must become a nuclear power and Salam should be appointed a scientific consultant.

But quite soon after, the Ahmadis are declared kafir and Salam once more resigns and leaves his home country with a broken heart. Wherever he goes, though, a tiny little Pakistan continues to abide within him.

Just witness the scene in his study in England where he sits cross-legged on a sofa, solving in his notebook abstruse problems of physics the very thought of which wearies us. All this while, a recitation of the Quran plays on his gramophone. Then he rises to turn on a radio lying in a corner of the room to hear the news on Radio Pakistans international service.

When he embarks on the mission to establish the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the rich countries of the world are all set against it. A senior delegate tells him, Physics is the Rolls-Royce of sciences, and countries like yours need a bullock cart.

In recounting this, his eyes have the kind of mischievous glint we find in the eyes of rookie fast bowlers in Pakistan signalling, Just you come and face me. Ill teach you what Im made of! What I want, I will most certainly have.

Not only did Salam end up building that centre, it exists today under his name. His purpose of making it was so that other people shouldnt have to quit their home country to do physics in the way he had been compelled to do. Scientists should be able to come there for a three-month period, do their work, and then return to their respective countries to spread their learning.

Upon reaching a certain age, he looks like a typical Pakistani uncle who wags his finger at us and recites our shortcomings. He says that the mathematics department at the Punjab University that he himself once headed has been around since a hundred years. So why hasnt it managed to produce a single PhD in all this time?

In his last years, he is a dejected lover. He runs for the post of Director-General of Unesco and his own country refuses to back his candidature. Once more, he gets his heart broken and sheds tears. Yet his work continues.

An assistant of his reveals that whenever he would call her into his office, she would take along a dozen pencils for she knew from experience that they could be done in as much as five minutes or she could find herself taking notes for hours and hours.

When this worthy son of Pakistan, who started out from a high school in Jhang and went on to win the biggest award for science, has to present himself for the Nobel Prize ceremony, he comes adorned in a sherwani with a white turban on his head and khussas on his feet. One of his fellow awardees remarks that whilst the rest of us were looking like penguins in our black suits, Salam looked like a prince.

Dr Salam was such a diehard Pakistani that although he contracted two marriages, he only ever maintained one passport, and that too a Pakistani one.

This prince once said in description of his callous beloved, We have inherited a house which has no windows, and its walls are very high, and its very difficult to know whether we have inherited a house or a prison.

Look around you at the walls that grow higher every day and remember that lover of his home country who is buried beneath this soil and whose grave is inscribed with asterisks.

* * *

Mohammed Hanif is a British Pakistani writer and journalist who writes a monthly opinion piece in The New York Times. Hanif is the author of the critically acclaimed book A Case of Exploding Mangoes, which was long-listed for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and won the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book. His second book, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, won the Wellcome Book Prize. He also worked as a correspondent for the BBC News based in Karachi and was the writer for its acclaimed drama and the feature film, The Long Night. He work has been published by The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, The New Yorker and The Washington Post. His play The Dictators Wife has been staged at the Hampstead Theatre.

Zahra Sabri is a doctoral student in Mughal history at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. She has taught History and Urdu literature at the Aga Khan University and the University of Karachis Pakistan Study Centre. She is a literary translator and has translated folk and classical poetry for nine seasons of the lyric programme Coke Studio. She has also worked as a journalist for the Herald magazine, DAWN.

* * *

Film Website: www.salamthefilm.com

Trailer: www.vimeo.com/ kailoola/salam

SALAM  trailer from Kailoola Productions on Vimeo.As New Mexico prepares to hold midterm elections on June 5, the Bernalillo County Clerks office was working to process all eligible voter registration applications before the May 8 deadline. We are always mindful that the right to vote is fundamental to everyones participation in our democracy. Thus, my staff diligently focuses on maintaining records so that each of the roughly 410,000 registered voters in our county has the opportunity to vote.

In the Clerks Office, we are frequently asked whether registration is available for the homeless population of our community, and the answer is an affirmative Yes. Despite the fact they may not have a traditional place to live, the right to vote in the upcoming primary election extends to all residents of Bernalillo County who are U.S. citizens, who will be 18 years old by the date of the general election in November and have not been convicted of a felony. In New Mexico, primary elections are closed; meaning only registered voters in the major political parties may participate.

Consistent with every other state in the union, New Mexico does not require that a citizen have a permanent home in order to register to vote. An address or other description of where the homeless person resides is sufficient so long as it allows us to identify and assign a voting precinct to the voter. The precinct assignment will enable the voter to receive the correct ballot.

Homeless citizens of Bernalillo County have several options for identifying where they live. New Mexicos Voter Registration Application allows applicants to (1) use the physical address of a homeless shelter, (2) describe the general location of where they most frequently spend the night and include a mailing address, or (3) draw a map in the space provided on the back of the registration form of where they live and include a mailing address in order for us to assign them a precinct.

The physical address of a homeless shelter is the most common way that a homeless citizen can identify where they live. We encourage anyone using one of those addresses to confirm with the shelter that they can receive their election-related mail from us at that location.

New Mexico and Bernalillo County follow the national standards for submission of identification for the purpose of voting and voter registration. When any applicant signs their registration form in the presence of a member of the county clerks staff or in front of a third party voter registration agent, they are executing an attestation of qualification that is presumed to be truthful. In that sworn statement, the person signing the form identifies themselves as the voter and that they meet all the legal standards in order to qualify as a voter. We encourage our homeless voters to visit the Bernalillo County Clerks Office at One Civic Plaza NW, 6th floor, to sign the form, thus satisfying the ID requirements for all elections managed by this office.

It is important to know that any individual registered to vote in New Mexico is not required to reregister thereafter. Once the county clerk has initially accepted the voter registration application, a person is registered to vote in any election they qualify for in New Mexico and it is not necessary to re-apply during each election cycle. Constituents can visit our offices at 1 Civic Plaza NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 or call 505-468-1291. They can also visit the N.M. secretary of states website voter information portal, http://www.sos.state.nm.us/Voter_Information/voter-information-portal.aspx,to review and update a registration, as well as view sample ballots and voting locations for upcoming elections.SURABAYA, Indonesia  An Indonesian family brought its 7-year-old daughter to a suicide bomb attack it launched Monday on the police headquarters in the countrys second-largest city, authorities said, a day after members of another family conducted coordinated suicide bombings on three city churches that killed 12 people.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the girl, who was with two of the attackers on a motorcycle, survived being thrown by the blast at Surabayas police headquarters. The attack killed the four perpetrators. Six civilians and four officers were wounded.

The attack came just hours after police said the family that carried out the church bombings included girls aged 8 and 12.

The flurry of bombings raised concerns that previously beaten-down militant networks in the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria. Experts have warned for several years that when those fighters return, they could pose a significant threat.

IS claimed responsibility for the church bombings in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. Karnavian, however, said earlier police comments that the family had spent time in Syria were incorrect.

He said the church bombers and the police headquarters attackers were friends, as were another family whose homemade bombs exploded in their apartment Sunday night.

The use of children in the attacks has been particularly horrifying to people.

This is terrifying, said Taufik Andrie, executive director of an institute that runs programs to help paroled militants reject extremism and rejoin society. This is showing how extremist ideology can entrap children. Children have no choice. They cant comprehend the decisions involved.

All told, 25 people have died since Sunday including a total of 13 militants and their children.

Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo condemned the attacks as barbaric and vowed that authorities would root out and destroy Islamic militant networks. The top security minister, Wiranto, who uses one name, said the government will attempt to hasten passage of an updated anti-terrorism law that has languished in parliament.

A security camera video of the attack on Surabayas police headquarters showed at least one explosion after the four attackers rode two motorcycles up to a security checkpoint. The motorcycles, which moved closely together, pulled up alongside a car and four officers manning opposite sides of the checkpoint.

Two men, apparently civilians, were walking into the area just meters (yards) from the motorcycles at the moment of the explosion, which a split second later was followed by a second possible blast.

Indonesias deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali, killing 202 people in one night, mostly foreigners. Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida affiliated network responsible for the Bali attacks, was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesias counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support. Its leaders were killed in police raids and hundreds of militants were arrested.

Karnavian said the father of the family that carried out the church bombings was head of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with IS that has been implicated in attacks in Indonesia in the past year. All six members of the family were killed.

The IS statement claiming responsibility for the attacks didnt mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers. The group also claimed responsibility for a hostage-taking ordeal last week by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers were killed.

Separately on Sunday, three members of another family were killed when homemade bombs exploded at an apartment in Sidoarjo, a town bordering Surabaya, police said.

The church attacks occurred within minutes of each other, according to Surabaya police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera.

Karnavian said the father drove a bomb-laden car into the citys Pentecostal church. The mother, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, he said. Based on their remains, Karnavian said the mother and daughters were all wearing explosives around their waists.

The sons aged 16 and 18 rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Church and detonated their explosives there, he said.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect new police information on the ages of two of the girls involved in the bombings.WASHINGTON  When Donald Trump said, I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose voters, its a good thing he didnt say horses.

The stampede would have been swift and ugly. I should know.

In a previous column published on the hooves of the Kentucky Derby, I wrote about the horror of horse slaughter, a fate faced by many of the thoroughbreds we benignly cheer on race days. The situation is both worse, and not worse, than I reported.

Not worse: The figure I cited of 130,000 horses transported annually out of the country for slaughter was outdated. Although it isnt possible to know the exact number, reports from Mexico and Canada show a significant decrease in imports, in part because of reduced demand following the EUs ban on horsemeat from Mexico. According to the Equine Assistance Project, the true number is closer to half that, which is still abhorrent. Half of two is still too many.

Worse: We havent outlawed horse slaughter in the U.S. but have only blocked it temporarily. More on this later.

Im revisiting the topic as I almost never do because of the backlash, frontlash and in-between-lash that followed publication of the column. Lets just say hellfire and brimstone have found a new home in my inbox. Most letter writers were infuriated at my suggestion that perhaps, barring this and that, it would be better to slaughter horses here than there  in Mexico and Canada, where we send the retired steeds under horrendous conditions to be destroyed under the most-inhumane circumstances imaginable and then have their meat exported for human consumption.

Humane slaughter, apparently, is an oxymoron when it comes to horses, according to many who wrote me and who are much closer to the problem. A horses fight-or-flight reflex is so intense that the usual slaughter process is not smooth. The only humane death is by injection, preferably by a veterinarian, which we seem to understand when it comes to our smaller-sized pets. But most racehorses are no ones pet; theyre money-making machines  overbred and abused by being forced to compete at age 2 or younger, before their bones are fully formed and often leading to injury and euthanasia.

Highlighting this latter point was my purpose in writing about horse racing as a change of pace from the usual politics  speaking of horse races. Watching the Derby on TV with a small crowd, I picked Justify to win on pure happenstance. That is, I happened to be standing next to Kate Denton, a breeder of Irish Connemara ponies in Camden, S.C., where I was at the time. Denton spoke to me about what she and many others feel is the barbarity of racing younger-than-3 colts, whereupon I became an immediate convert.

Although many animal-rights advocates would prefer an end to all animal racing, greyhounds included, more-realistic options are worth pursuing. A wide gulf exists between the extremes of eliminating an industry and horrific scenes of horses strung up and butchered in agony and terror.

The best solution, obviously, would be to stop horse slaughter altogether, which were close to accomplishing in the United States. As foreshadowed earlier, horse slaughter for human consumption has been blocked in the U.S.  hence the exportation of animals to be carved up and processed as food  but not yet outlawed. Rather, funding has been blocked for inspections by the United States Department of Agriculture, with the same, if relatively tenuous, result. Legislation has been written that would go a long way toward eliminating slaughter for human consumption, as well as the exportation of horses for same. The Safeguard American Food Exports Act, a bipartisan bill is, however, stuck in committee and needs a floor vote. A million horses  or even 100  prancing on the National Mall would get some attention.

The necessity of framing this as a food-quality issue rather than an act of humane compassion underscores the difficulty of trying to enact laws aimed at reducing animal suffering. After all, we cant even agree on when a human fetus suffers pain from being dismembered inside its mothers womb. Thus, the SAFE Act is premised upon the fact that racehorses are given a wide variety of drugs, the residual effects of which could be harmful to horsemeat consumers.

Whatever works.

Pending the bills approval, horse rescue and adoption agencies, which try to retrain horses for other purposes, could use some encouragement and financial backing, too. In a just world, organizations such as the Jockey Club and the American Quarter Horse Association, among others, would fund these adoption and rescue groups and, in untrainable cases, provide for veterinarian-administered euthanasia by injection.

If for no other reason, it would be good PR for an industry that could sorely use some.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  President Donald Trump wont appear on the ballot this year  in New Mexico or anywhere else.

But thats not stopping New Mexico Democrats from targeting the Republican president and his policies in TV ads and other campaign materials in the build-up to the June 5 primary election.

In one campaign ad, Albuquerque congressional candidate Damon Martinez portrays a character on The Apprentice, a reality television show popularized by Trump, whose administration asked Martinez and 45 other U.S. attorneys to resign in March 2017.

When Im in Congress, youre next to get fired, Martinez tells Trump in the ad.

Another candidate running in the six-way primary race, former state Democratic Party Chairwoman Debra Haaland, also invokes Trump in her latest TV ad, with a campaign supporter describing her as Donald Trumps worst nightmare.

And the Trump targeting isnt limited to congressional candidates.

In his recent ad, Democratic state auditor candidate Bill McCamley of Las Cruces wields a sledgehammer to batter a wall, which he goes on to describe as Trumps proposed wall along the Mexican border.

Lets use every tool in our toolbox to knock down Donald Trumps hateful and wasteful wall, McCamley says in the 30-second spot.

While its unclear what role, if any, the state auditor might have in authorizing or overseeing the building of a barrier along the border, McCamley cites a bill he co-sponsored as a legislator that sought to bar state trust lands from being used in construction of such a wall.

Democratic land commissioner candidate Garrett VeneKlasen has also gotten in on the Trump jabs, saying in an online campaign video that Trump should keep his tiny little hands off New Mexicos public lands.

In a primary election cycle in which Democratic candidates in crowded races are trying to appeal to party loyalists, taking aim at a Republican president who is deeply unpopular among most Democrats makes sense, said University of New Mexico political science professor Gabriel Sanchez.

It almost seems theyre trying to outdo each other in stating their opposition to Trump, Sanchez told the Journal. And electorally, I dont see a lot of risk associated with that strategy.

However, Sanchez cautioned that there is a risk that Democrats for state-level office could be portrayed as out of touch if they base too much of their candidacies on opposition to Trump.

He also said playing the Trump card is not unique to New Mexico, since many other Democratic candidates around the nation are also attacking the president and his policies in their campaigns.

Opposition to Trump is nothing new in New Mexico, though some state voters fervently back the president.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton defeated Trump by about 8 percentage points in the states 2016 general election, although Trump held two campaign rallies in Albuquerque and Clinton did not hold any public event in New Mexico.

While many state Republicans back Trump, there are exceptions.

For instance, a Santa Fe County Republican Party official was removed from his post in 2015 for organizing an anti-Trump pinata event on the capital citys historic downtown plaza.

But in the only contested statewide or congressional Republican primary race in New Mexico, GOP candidates running for the southern New Mexico-based 2nd Congressional District seat have largely embraced Trump and his policies.

State Rep. Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo, in a campaign ad she launched last week, describes herself twice during the 30-second spot as a Trump conservative, with a narrator saying she would be on the presidents team.

Another candidate in the four-way race, former state Republican Party Chairman Monty Newman of Hobbs, kept his distance a bit more in a recent campaign spot of his own, but said he would stand with the president on issues including immigration and defense spending.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Four years ago, it came down to 376 people.

Sheriff Manuel Gonzales beat Sylvester Stanley in the Democratic primary for Bernalillo County sheriff in 2014 by a margin of 13,709 to 13,333.

Voters will have the same choice again this year. Gonzales, Stanley and candidate Joe Williams will be on the primary ballot in June.

I thought I was finished. But after the race in 2014 was so close, I thought, You know what. Im going to give it one last go-around. Its my ultimate goal to become sheriff of the department I spent 21 years on, Stanley, who is running for the position for the fourth time, said in an interview.

My goal is to attract all the people I did in 2014, plus (376) plus one. Im trying to do everything I did and other things that I didnt. Im trying to make sure Im not wasting any moment, he said.

Gonzales said he will win because voters are satisfied with the deputies performance under his watch. He said citizen complaints against deputies are low and clearance rates are high, which means deputies solve cases.

The citizens are satisfied with the professionalism in the department, Gonzales said. They want law enforcement services, and we provide the highest level of services.

Both Gonzales and Stanley have military backgrounds and worked through the Sheriffs Office ranks for 20 years. Both started on patrol and retired as captains.

Since leaving the Sheriffs Office, Stanley has been a police chief for the Gallup, Isleta and the Jicarilla police departments.

Gonzales was appointed sheriff in 2009 by the County Commission, lost the 2010 election, then successfully ran for sheriff in 2014.

Williams is an outsider. Hes a licensed real estate broker and says hes running to protect private property owners. How he will do that, he said, depends on what the situation is.

Williams said that, in recent years, he has had confrontations with Albuquerque police officers about property and animal issues, even though he lives in the county. He said frustrations in dealing with Albuquerque police led to his interest in running for sheriff.

As sheriff, Ill have more power to do things than as a licensed real estate broker, he said.

The winner of the primary will face Republican candidate Lou Golson in the general election. Golson is a former Albuquerque police officer who retired after being seriously injured in the line of duty.

Golson was shot during a traffic stop in January 2015. He returned to work and did administrative tasks after the shooting but ultimately retired. He has been outspoken about having to deal with workers compensation issues and negotiating medical care with the city.

Golson and Stanley have been critical of some of the departments policies under Gonzales.

Recently, county commissioners voted to hire an auditor to review Sheriffs Office policies and procedures.

Part of the reason for the review is an increase in the number of claims against the department, and deputies were involved in nine shootings in a 4-month span. Some of those shootings have led to lawsuits.

Gonzales said he welcomes a review, but he will make the final decisions for his department.

They cant call on anything for me as the sheriff. Im the executive of the Sheriffs Office. They are the legislative branch for the county, Gonzales said of the commission. They cant impose anything on the Sheriffs Office. Theres a separation of powers. They might be crossing and over-reaching their authority.

Gonzales said that systems are already in place within the Sheriffs Office to review policies and make sure they are aligned with what are considered the best practices in law enforcement.

Im willing to look at them. And the end of it, this is the thing, we may look at (the policies) and there will be absolutely nothing that is changed. On the other side of it, if theres something there, well re-evaluate it, he said.

But Gonzales opponents in the race have, in particular, questioned the use of cameras under Gonzales. Sheriffs deputies dont wear on-body cameras, but Albuquerque police officers and agencies do use them.

In the wake of an increase in shootings by deputies, some have called on the department to adopt the technology.

Its an important asset to the department, said Stanley, who as a police chief has had officers in his command use the cameras. It helps reduce lawsuits, frivolous lawsuits. Theres still going to be lawsuits, but when you have a recording of the incident from beginning to end, it shows if theres no wrongdoing by deputies. People think twice before they sue the department.

Gonzales said hes not sold on the effectiveness of on-body cameras and wants to see studies or proof that they help policing before he suggests that deputies use them.

He also said he has questions about the privacy rights of individuals who are filmed with the cameras and whether wearing the cameras for an entire shift exposes a deputy to potential harm like radiation.

Gonzales did say he is in favor of expanding cameras on deputys dashboards. Currently, the departments DWI officers use dashboard cameras.

But Gonzales said he is planning to expand their use to deputies who patrol freeways and deputies who have been involved in a high number of vehicle pursuits. Then he might possibly roll them out for the rest of field services, he said.

Gonzales said hes confident that the vote will show that people think hes making the best decisions for the county.

Its an elected office. The people elect the sheriff into office. Theres no public oversight, Gonzales said. Ive made that very clear. I tell, whether it be the media, other elected officials, activists, if they want to have oversight of the Sheriffs Office  I encourage you to run for office.Room No. 30 in the Tewa Motor Lodge was the only home 3-year-old C.J. Preece had ever known.

The $30-a-night motel, on a seedy stretch of Albuquerques east Central Avenue, was what her parents could afford. The Preeces were struggling with drug and alcohol abuse when, in 2015, a caseworker from the Children, Youth and Families Department knocked on their door to investigate an allegation of neglect.

I was really mad, recalls her mother, Carlotta Preece. I mean, CYFD came to the motel room and I snapped at them. They asked me, What do you want? I said, I need a home. 

They got one, thanks to Keeping Families Together (KFT), a pilot project that addresses the intersecting problems of homelessness and child abuse and neglect. It is the first time New Mexico has turned to housing as a tool to reduce the states longstanding epidemic of child abuse.

The idea comes by way of New Mexico Appleseed, an Albuquerque think tank that estimates that 16,000 homeless children reside in New Mexico, placing the state among the 10 worst in the nation. That figure, combined with statistics that 72 percent of mothers and 47 percent of fathers who lose their children to foster care are either homeless or on the verge of homelessness, convinced state officials the program had merit.

When New Mexico decided to invest $2.9 million of federal funding in KFT, child advocates and policymakers asked the following questions: Could a roof over their heads, and ancillary services such as drug treatment and therapy, help keep families together? More importantly, could a home be enough to keep a child safe from abuse and neglect?

Three years later, the answer is a tentative yes.

KFT has provided stable housing for 86 families and 267 children in Bernalillo, Valencia and Dona Ana counties. It has prevented dozens of kids from ending up in foster care. It has also reduced the incidence of repeat abuse and neglect by two-thirds among those families who participated in the program for at least a year, according to Albuquerque Heading Home, the nonprofit that CYFD contracted to run the pilot program.

Its the first initiative that I have found in New Mexico that truly addresses housing instability as a root cause of child maltreatment, says Jenny Ramo, Appleseeds executive director. When you do not have adequate housing  whether you are in a motel, your car or a house with too many families  you are significantly more likely to abuse or neglect your child.

But when the KFT program ends in June, some 44 families will be dropped  including the Preeces. And while CYFD plans to continue the program under a new contract, the agency is now grappling with how to learn from the problems evident in the pilot.

Among them: Far too many families were placed in housing they will never be able to afford on their own; overwhelmed caseworkers were unable to provide the attention required by needy clients; the permanent housing recommended by Appleseed turned out to be merely temporary, potentially destabilizing fragile families.

Whats more, Appleseed, CYFD and Heading Home  in other words, the think tank that promoted the idea, the state agency that administered the contract and the nonprofit that ran the program  still dont agree on either the mission or its methods.

This isnt permanent funding and this isnt permanent housing, says Emily Martin, who manages the program for CYFD.

Ramo argues that misses the point: If there is a pie chart of these families, some percentage are never going to support themselves. They will go back to where they came from and start again with the problems and the expenses.

There is a potential cost savings, says Ramo, but the bottom line is that these children deserve a safe place to go to sleep at night.

A place to call home

When the Preece family moved out of the Tewa Lodge and into a three-story townhouse in a gated community in the Jackson neighborhood of Albuquerque, the first thing C.J. did was number the bedrooms 1, 2, 3: one for her parents, one for her teenage sister, and one just for her.

Now, two-and-a-half years of life-changing stability are about to come to a halt.

Carlotta has medical issues that keep her from working. Her husband Jeremy, sober for eight months, brings home $600 every two weeks as night manager at a busy Mexican restaurant. At $1,210 a month, their three-bedroom townhouse is way beyond their means.

A family portrait on the fireplace mantle shows C.J. smiling in a holiday dress with her parents and sister. The girls have been doing well, says Otero, their caseworker.

Sitting on her couch in a tidy, carpeted living room with a big-screen TV, Carlotta nods at the family portrait in pride-of-place on the fireplace mantle.

But she is worried about the future.

I dont want to go back to where we started, she says.

Jeremy agrees: Ive had a little taste, and I dont want to go back, you know what I mean?

Blocking the path to foster care

Traumatic for children and expensive for the state, foster care is almost always a decision of last resort. A single placement costs about $21,000 a year, while a case of maltreatment that ends in adoption costs an estimated $107,000, according to CYFD. Altogether, the state spends $145 million a year in state and federal money on the problem of child abuse and neglect.

The KFT program is comparably cost-effective: Including the price of rent, utilities and a caseworker, housing a family runs the state between $14,000 and $19,000 a year, according to Heading Home.

If we can keep the family together safely, we want to keep the family together, says Martin.

In 2014, the Legislative Finance Committee reported that New Mexico spends less than most states per capita to prevent children from ending up in foster care. The report recommended that CYFD recalibrate its focus to prevention. But since then, some preventative services that have shown results have been abandoned; others, like KFT, havent been scientifically tested.

Meanwhile, the number of kids in foster care has risen 44 percent over the past five years to about 2,600 from about 1,800.

The consequences of not investing in families early can be devastating. A Searchlight New Mexico investigation found widespread abuse in the states residential treatment foster care system, where the most troubled kids end up.

Homelessness itself is not tantamount to child neglect, but it is a significant stressor for families. A University of Chicago report, Families at the Nexus of Housing and Child Welfare, finds that addressing housing needs of homeless or precariously housed families may eliminate the risks to childrens health and safety.

Families that participate in KFT have access to a wealth of resources: workforce training, help applying for public housing vouchers, gas and grocery assistance, mental health counseling and drug rehabilitation.

The program doesnt force parents to take advantage of the opportunities. But for those who do, the barriers to success for some are still too high. Parents who want to work may not have a high school degree or a car. For mothers who have several young children, the cost of childcare may be burdensome. Other, drug-addicted parents are struggling to get clean  or may not be trying.

As far as the program is concerned, the parents success isnt what matters most.

The focus really is on the children, says Dorothee Otero, Heading Home housing director. We want to prevent children from being placed into foster care.

Some 72 percent of mothers who lose their children to foster care in New Mexico are either homeless or on the verge of homelessness.

A crushing reality

Susan Wells, a KFT caseworker, crisscrosses Las Cruces juggling the complex needs of 20 families  nearly 100 people including the children. She checks in with a couple who are kicking heroin addiction while raising a 3-year-old daughter, then visits parents who recently got their six kids back from CYFD custody after they managed to beat a destructive meth habit.

As the program winds down, Wells has been struggling to find options for families who were placed in housing they cant afford. Rocio Valenzuela, a mother of five, breaks down at her kitchen table as the caseworker explains the reality thats about to hit: She has to move.

What people need in terms of housing first is a dependable living environment that they can afford on their own at some reasonable point, Wells says.

The next contract CYFD awards may address housing affordability and caseload; the request for proposals hasnt yet been released.

Valenzuelas rent is $1,200. She recently lost her minimum-wage job as a maid for a national hotel chain. Her children are now 12, 11, 9, 6 and 5. She doesnt have a car.

I tell the kids were going to try to have good memories, Valenzuela says, wiping tears. This is the only time youll ever live in a house like this. You know, we cant afford it. That way you can say, I lived in a two-story house once. WASHINGTON  The United States is offering assurances to North Koreas Kim Jong Un as it seeks to put in motion the potential for a sweeping nuclear deal ahead of President Donald Trumps upcoming summit with the North Korean leader.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. will need to provide security assurances to Kim if theyre able to forge an agreement. Pompeo met with Kim last week in North Korea, helping set the stage for Trumps historic meeting with Kim in Singapore on June 12.

Trump has set an ambitious goal for North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way. In return, the U.S. is willing to help the impoverished nation strengthen its economy.

Pompeo was asked on Fox News Sunday whether the U.S. was in effect telling Kim he could stay in power if he met the U.S. demands. Pompeo said: We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure.

The top U.S. diplomat did not elaborate, but his comment could refer to the type of assurances North Korea has sought in the past. A statement issued during international negotiations with North Korea in 2005 over its nuclear weapons development said the United States affirmed that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade (North Korea) with nuclear or conventional weapons.

The North has said it needs nuclear weapons to counter what it believes is a U.S. effort to strangle its economy and overthrow the Kim government.

Make no mistake about it, Americas interest here is preventing the risk that North Korea will launch a nuclear weapon into L.A. or Denver or to the very place were sitting here this morning, Pompeo said from Washington. Thats our objective, thats the end state the president has laid out and thats the mission that he sent me on this past week, to put us on the trajectory to go achieve that.

Pressed in a separate interview on whether the U.S. would seek regime change, Pompeo said only time will tell how these negotiations will proceed.

The president uses language that says well see,' Pompeo told CBSs Face the Nation. The American leadership under President Trump has its eyes wide open.

North Korea said Saturday that all of the tunnels at the countrys northeastern nuclear test site will be destroyed by explosion in less than two weeks, ahead of Kims summit with Trump. Observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed, the North said. Pompeo praised it as one step along the way.

John Bolton, the presidents national security adviser, described the types of steps that North Korea would need to take as part of a denuclearization process, including the potential involvement of a processing center in Tennessee.

The implementation of the decision means getting rid of all the nuclear weapons, dismantling them, taking them to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Bolton said in an interview with ABCs This Week. It means getting rid of the uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing capabilities, adding the process would also need to address North Koreas ballistic missiles.

I dont think anybody believes youre going to sign the complete ending of the nuclear program in one day. But we are also very much interested in operationalizing the commitment as quickly as possible, Bolton said.

Bolton said in an interview with CNNs State of the Union that North Korea should not look for economic aid from us. I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way South Korea does.

The prospect for North Korea is unbelievably strong if theyll commit to denuclearization. Thats what the president is going to say, he said.

Pompeo said private-sector Americans could help rebuild North Koreas energy grid and develop the countrys infrastructure. He described the possibility of American agriculture being used to support North Korea so they can eat meat and have healthy lives.

South Korea has said Kim has shown an interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons in return for economic benefits. But it remains unclear if Kim would ever fully relinquish the weapons he probably views as his only guarantee of survival.

__

On Twitter follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDCWASHINGTON  The Supreme Court said Monday that people who borrow rental cars from friends or family are generally entitled to the same protections against police searches as the authorized driver.

The justices ruled unanimously that as a general rule someone who is in otherwise lawful possession and control of a rental car has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car even if the rental agreement doesnt list the person as an authorized driver. That means police cant generally search the car unless they have a warrant or whats called probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, noted there may be countless innocuous reasons why an unauthorized driver might get behind the wheel of a rental car and drive it, including that the renter is drowsy or drunk and that the renter and a friend think it is safer for the friend to drive them to their destination.

The Trump administration had argued that anyone driving a rental car but not listed on a rental agreement does not have an expectation of privacy in the car. That would mean that police who pulled over a rental car with an unauthorized driver could search the car without the persons consent. The Supreme Court rejected the governments argument, saying it rests on too restrictive a view of protections in the Fourth Amendment.

Attorneys arguing for protections for unauthorized drivers had noted that 115 million car rentals take place annually in the United States. They said that if the government won, police would have an incentive to pull over a rental car driver who commits a traffic violation because police would know they could search the car if the driver isnt on the rental agreement.

The case the justices ruled in dates to 2014 and involves Terrence Byrd, who was driving a car rented by his fiance when a state trooper pulled him over on a Pennsylvania highway for an alleged minor traffic violation. He acted nervous during the stop and told troopers he had a marijuana cigarette in the car. Officers eventually decided to search the car.

Because the rental agreement didnt authorize Byrd to drive the car, troopers told him they didnt need his consent for the search. And when troopers opened the trunk, they found body armor and about 2,500 little bags of heroin. Byrd later acknowledged he planned to sell the drugs for roughly $7,000, and a court sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Its unclear whether the justices ruling will ultimately help Byrd. In the ruling Monday, they sent his case back to a lower court to consider whether troopers had probable cause to believe Byrds vehicle contained evidence of a crime, which would have permitted the search in any event.

The court also asked the lower court to consider the governments argument that Byrd knew he couldnt have rented the car because of his criminal record and used his fiance to rent the car instead in a calculated plan to mislead the rental company and aid him in committing a crime. The question is whether that would make Byrd no better situated than a car thief, who would not have an expectation of privacy in a stolen car.

___

Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagreskoCARACAS, Venezuela  Investors looking to buy Venezuelas new cryptocurrency may want to head to a little-known Moscow bank whose biggest shareholders are President Nicolas Maduros socialist government and two state-controlled Russian companies under U.S. sanctions.

Evrofinance Mosnarbank has emerged as the only international financial institution so far willing to defy a U.S. campaign to derail the worlds first state-backed digital currency, called the petro, even before it begins to function.

Early would-be investors who registered with Venezuelas government and downloaded the petros wallet software  available in Spanish, English and Russian  were then invited to buy the cryptocurrency by wiring a minimum of 1,000 euros to a Venezuelan government account at Evrofinance.

The banks place in the rollout of the petro is further evidence of Russias role in the creation of a cryptocurrency that much of the digital world has shunned but that Maduro hopes will allow Venezuela to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions imposed last year.

At the petros launch on Feb. 21, Maduro heaped praise on two Russians in the audience who worked with wealthy, Kremlin-connected businessmen, thanking their previously unknown startups  Zeus Exchange and Aerotrading  for their role developing what he joked would be a kind of kryptonite against U.S. economic dominance.

A day later, he dispatched his economy minister to Moscow to brief his Russian finance counterpart.

And in March, the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain awarded the Venezuelan government an award for its role challenging the de-facto powers of the international financial system.

Russias interest in the petro stems from its own increasingly pariah status in the west, said Claiborne W. Porter, the former head of the U.S. Justice Departments bank integrity unit. As relations with the U.S. and European Union become more tense, both countries are looking for ways to demonstrate political strength while moving money outside the American financial system.

Like kids on the playground, Venezuela and Russia think they are fighting a common bully in U.S. sanctions, so theyre going to try and form a united front, said Porter, who is now the Washington-based head of investigations at consulting firm Navigant.

Russia has provided Venezuela with billions in debt relief over the years and is a major investor in the countrys oil industry. That financial lifeline has become more important since the Trump administration last year banned Americans from lending money to the nearly bankrupt government and now threatens to slap sanctions on the OPEC nations oil industry if Maduro goes ahead with presidential elections this month that are widely seen as a sham. In March, Trump signed an executive order banning Americans from any dealings with the petro.

Evrofinance and its executives didnt return repeated email requests for comment. But after The Associated Press inquiries, all references to the bank were removed from the petros wallet, leaving prospective buyers with no guidance on how to actually buy it, though its still listed for sale in rubles and euros as well as three other widely circulated cryptocurrencies.

Venezuelas government purchased a 49 percent stake in Evrofinance in 2011, making the bank, which traces its history back a century as a western financial outpost for the Soviet Union, a vehicle for binational trade and investment projects, with almost $800 million in assets.

The rest of the shares are held by two major banks, state-controlled VTB and Gazprombank, which were sanctioned by the U.S. and European nations in 2014 over President Vladimir Putins annexation of Crimea.

Its unclear how many petros the government has sold. Maduro boasted this month that the government had raised $3.3 billion in the pre-sale phase. But so far only a small fraction of the petros appears to have been distributed to buyers, according to the blockchain where the digital currencys movements can be publicly tracked.

Experts say that the petro is of little interest to foreigners other than drug traffickers and others active in Venezuelas burgeoning criminal underworld. Even offshore trading platforms like Bitfinex are refusing to deal in the petro for fear of violating sanctions. Rating website ICOindex.com, which tracks initial coin offerings of cryptocurrencies, called it a scam.

An overwhelming majority of ICOs dont deliver on what they promise because their promoters are outright scammers or fall short on technical expertise, said Alejandro Machado, a Venezuelan-born computer scientist who consults for crypto startups. In the case of the Venezuelan government, both reasons apply.

One of the two Russians who signed agreements with Maduro to position the petro globally, Denis Druzhkov, had been fined $31,000 and barred for three years by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for fraudulent trading in futures contracts. Zeus Exchange, which Druzhkov created alongside a Kremlin-connected industrialist, said in a statement that it has never had any business ties with the Venezuelan government and that Druzhkov resigned after abusing his authority.

The other, Fedor Bogorodskiy, used to help run the credit card division at a bank controlled by a Russian oligarch. He has lived in Uruguay since 2009, combining telecommunications business with part-time promotion of Russian culture. He told The AP that his company, Aerotrading, whose website consists of a single home page with no company information, immediately ceased all work on the petro after Trump announced his ban.

Despite the pressure, Maduro is showing no signs of slowing down. Hes given government institutions  from ministries to airports  120 days to start accepting the petro as legal tender in all transactions. Hes also paved the way for the creation of 16 local exchanges where Venezuelans will be able to purchase petros with their fast-depreciating bolivars. Also in the works is a second state-backed cryptocurrency tied to the countrys gold reserves.

But gaining international acceptance remains an uphill battle.

Yuri Pripachkin, president of the Russian blockchain group that honored Venezuela, said that while the Kremlin is keeping a close eye on the petro it hasnt been involved in its development. Still, he said as long as sanctions are used as a foreign policy tool to punish governments that challenge U.S. policies, the incentives to seek out alternative means of financing will remain. He also dismissed the idea that the petro could be used to fund criminal activity.

Thats a fairy tale, said Pripachkin. The most popular currency for terrorists and criminals the world over is the U.S. dollar, not crypto, and nobody is suggesting we ban dollars. This is just an attempt to stop crypto from expanding.



AP Writer James Ellingworth in Moscow contributed to this story.

Follow Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodmanNAME: Sandy Jones

Sandy Jones POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic Party

Democratic Party OCCUPATION: Retired, small business owner, road contractor

Retired, small business owner, road contractor CITY OF RESIDENCE: Las Palomas, NM

Las Palomas, NM RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Past PRC Commissioner, Flood Control Director, Planning Director, 30 years business experience.

Past PRC Commissioner, Flood Control Director, Planning Director, 30 years business experience. CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: Sandy4PRC.com

Issue Questions:

The NMPRC is actively transitioning away from fossil fuels. This year alone, as chairman, the NMPRC has approved 2,300 megawatts of renewable energy projects  more than any commission in NMPRC history. Nearly $3 billion has been invested in the states renewable energy industry and New Mexico is poised to double its wind power capacity. With that said, we must address the devastating economic impact that shutting down the coal industry will have on the workers and communities in the Four Corners.

2. How would you rate the following issues in rate cases when trying to balance consumer and utility interests: consumer protection, utility return on equity, environmental impacts, and system reliability.

There is only one correct answer to this question. Statutorily, our job is to balance these interests equally so that we all have safe, reliable, affordable utilities. The biggest misconception of the NMPRC is that our role is to advocate for or against policy, when in fact that is the job of the legislature. In turn, the NMPRC implements the laws or policies they create. The other misconception is that the NMPRC is the consumer advocate when that role, by law, is the Attorney General. A NMPRC commissioner must examine each case fairly and remain unbiased, just like a judge.

During my tenure, I have made constituent services the cornerstone of my job as commissioner. I am the only commissioner who has brought the NMPRC to my district  District 5  and held town halls in every community. Constituents in my district know they can call me when they need help.

What other issues do you consider critical?

Other critical issues that fall under the regulatory arm of the NMPRC include: protecting consumers against predatory towing practices, moving companies, and ambulance services; energy audits; low-income energy assistance; water and sewer service oversight; pipeline safety; and upgrading fire codes.

3.What would be your top priorities as a PRC commissioner?

1. To expand on my broadband initiatives and advocate for more funding for broadband expansion in rural New Mexico.

2. To continue to encourage global renewable energy companies, like Facebook, to do business in New Mexico. Facebook just announced a $1 billion expansion, which translates to thousands of construction jobs and $1 million dollars a month in gross receipts to Los Lunas.

3. Fight for the firefighters and ensure they get their full funding allotment that the legislature took away when they swept funds for the budget.

4. Continue to approve large-scale renewable energy projects in New Mexico.

5. Revisit my proposal for an independent ethics review committee.

Personal background:

No.

2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No.

3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No.BRUSSELS  Brexit talks have reached into space, with the European Union and Britain fighting over the rights that London will have to the multi-billion Galileo satellite navigation system and its security-sensitive information.

The EUs Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Monday that by deciding to leave the bloc, Britain automatically cut its Galileo ties too and could renegotiate them only as a third country under less advantageous conditions.

Barnier did not address how short those conditions would fall of full EU membership.

No decision has been already taken for the future cooperation between the U.K. and Galileo, he told reporters in Brussels. Obviously we will have cooperation between U.K. and Galileo, obviously, as we have for the United States or Norway.

Reduced to a friendly third country at best has angered the British government, which sees it as a negotiating ploy in the protracted Brexit negotiations that face a fall deadline if Britains March 29, 2019 departure date is to proceed smoothly.

British Science Minister Sam Gyimah told the BBC we have helped to develop the Galileo system. We want to be part of the secure elements of the system and we want U.K. industry to be able to bid for contracts on a fair basis.

The EU is playing hardball with us, Gyimah said.

Barnier insisted, however, that Britain itself, as an EU member, was part of the unanimous decision that for some information we have to protect the member states.

The Galileo system has a top security Public Regulated Service for governments that only EU members can now fully use. Third countries and their companies cannot participate in the development of PRS security modules, Barnier said.

Decisions have consequences, said EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, as she and Barnier highlighted that with the 2016 Brexit decision, Britain decided to leave some 750 international agreements in one fell swoop.

Barnier, meanwhile, continued to lament the snails pace of progress in the EUs Brexit talks with Britain, insisting that a crucial June 28-29 EU summit on the issue was quickly drawing close.

When queried if there was very little progress in recent weeks, he said a little, not very little.

Nobody must have to underestimate the key rendezvous of June, he added, when the EUs 27 remaining leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May will have their two-day summit.

On the British side, former Foreign Secretary David Miliband has joined with politicians from rival parties to call for Britain to retain the closest possible ties with the EU after Brexit.

Miliband says the U.K. should stay in the European Economic Area, made up of the EU and countries such as Norway that have access to the blocs single market.

At this point, Mays government insists that Britain will leave the EUs single market and customs union so it can strike new trade deals around the world. But many businesses fear the economic harm of a so-called hard Brexit.

Miliband said Monday that staying in the EEA would provide a safe harbor for Britain after Brexit.

Miliband joined former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Conservative legislator Nicky Morgan to urge a soft Brexit that keeps Britain in the EUs single market.WASHINGTON  A long-running dispute between American regulators and Chinese telecom company ZTE may have handed President Donald Trump some unexpected leverage in avoiding a trade war with Beijing.

Trumps tweet Sunday that he was working with President Xi Jinping of China to put ZTE back into business, fast after U.S. sanctions threatened ZTEs existence and 70,000 Chinese jobs caught many trade-watchers by surprise.

Too many jobs in China lost, Trump tweeted. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!

The overture came just as Vice Premier Liu He is flying to Washington for talks aimed at heading off a mutually harmful battle between the worlds two biggest economies and just before U.S. companies plan to plead during three days of hearings for a resolution to the dispute.

Trade analysts say it is highly unusual for a president to intercede in a case brought by the Commerce Department and to mix regulatory sanctions with trade negotiations. But they also note that Trumps offer to rescue ZTE, which makes cellphones and other telecommunications equipment, has the potential to clear the way for progress.

Its a way to unlock negotiations, said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator specializing in Asia and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

The United States has proposed imposing tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese products to punish Beijing for forcing American companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese markets. In retaliation, Beijing is threatening tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. products.

Trumps tweet creates an atmosphere where theres more hope for reaching an agreement on trade, said David Dollar, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former official at the World Bank and the U.S. Treasury Department.

The United States also needs Chinas support as it prepares for talks with North Korea that are intended to persuade the Pyongyang regime to abandon nuclear weapons.

Commerce and ZTE last year settled charges that the Chinese company sold sensitive telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions. ZTE agreed to plead guilty and pay about $1 billion in fines.

Last month, Commerce accused ZTE of violating the agreement and blocked ZTE from importing American components for seven years. The department said ZTE had misled regulators: Instead of disciplining all employees involved in the sanctions violations, Commerce said, ZTE paid some of them full bonuses and then lied about it.

The seven-year ban was tantamount to a death sentence for ZTE.

It was basically going to put them out of business, Dollar said. They rely on American technology.

Last week, the company announced that it was halting operations.

Early this month, a high-level U.S. delegation  including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, top American trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer and White House adviser Peter Navarro  traveled to Beijing to address the trade dispute. There, they heard an outcry about U.S. regulators putting ZTE out of business.

They were a little bit blindsided, said Paul Triolo, a technology specialist at the Eurasia Group consultancy. The Chinese reaction was pretty vociferous.  The U.S. government shooting down the No. 2 telecommunications supplier in China at this sensitive time  it didnt look good.

Now, analysts see the outlines of a potential deal: In return for Trumps lifeline to ZTE, Beijing might agree to buy more U.S. products or take other steps to shrink Americas gaping trade deficit with China  $337 billion last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the two countries were in talks about such a potential swap: The U.S. would spare ZTE, and Beijing would drop plans to impose tariffs on U.S. farm products. Neither the White House nor the Commerce Department would comment.

The ZTE case also drives home how entwined the U.S. and Chinese economies are. The Commerce sanctions didnt just imperil ZTE; they also hurt the American companies that sell components to the Chinese company.

And so investors breathed a sigh of relief after Trumps tweet, buying stock Monday in Maynard, Massachusetts-based optical components maker Acacia Communications, which last year collected 30 percent of its revenue from ZTE; San Jose-based optical communications company Oclaro; and Sunnyvale, California-based fiber optic cable manufacturer Finisar.

Still, critics charged that Trump shouldnt have intervened in the legal case against ZTE.

This would be a truly awful deal for the U.S, Derek Scissors, a China specialist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a blog post. If the accusations last year and last month are accurate, ZTE violated Iran sanctions, then further attempted to deceive the U.S. government.

Xi would be using barriers against American agriculture to blackmail the Trump administration into accepting ZTEs behavior, Scissors said.

Trump has thrust trade policy to the center of his agenda. In addition to sparring with China, his team is in talks to rewrite the North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.

The timing of the NAFTA negotiations is tight: House Speaker Paul Ryan has said Congress must have an agreement by Thursday to have any hope of approving it this year.

___

Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAPDALLAS  A Mexican citizen living in Houston stole another womans identity to vote illegally, the Texas attorney generals office says.

Laura Janeth Garza, 38, was indicted last week on two counts of illegal voting. Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that his office planned to prosecute the case.

Paxtons office says Garza, who used the alias Angie Yadira Zamora, illegally registered to vote in Harris County after stealing a U.S. citizens identity. Authorities learned of the case when the victim applied for a passport and discover that one already had been issued in her name to someone else.

Garza voted in 2004, 2012 and 2016, according to the attorney generals office. She is charged with ineligible voting and voter impersonation in the November 2016 election.

Garza was being held at the Montgomery County jail Monday, with bail set at $150,000. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if she is convicted.

This case demonstrates my offices commitment to protecting the integrity of elections, Paxton said in a written statement. We will continue to do everything in our power to safeguard the electoral process in Texas.

Several people in North Texas have been convicted of illegal voting in recent years.

In March, a judge sentenced a Tarrant County woman to five years behind bars for voting illegally in the 2016 presidential election. Crystal Mason, 43, was on supervised release after a tax-fraud conviction, making her ineligible to cast a ballot.

In 2017, a Grand Prairie woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for voting despite not being a citizen. An attorney for Rosa Maria Ortega said she voted for Paxton in one election.

A Tarrant County justice of the peace, Russ Casey, resigned in March after pleading guilty to forging signatures on a petition to secure his place on a primary election ballot. He was sentenced to five years probation.Comcast Corp. is teaming up with Albuquerque startup Teeniors and the nonprofit Adelante in a new local campaign to educate seniors, parents and children about online safety.

Teeniors, which matches tech-savvy teens with seniors who need help managing smartphones and other devices, will offer more than 40 free workshops for seniors in Albuquerque and Santa Fe about how to guard against online scams and predators. Adelante will offer similar assistance for low-income seniors in southern New Mexico through the Mesilla Community Center near Las Cruces.

In addition, Comcast contracted Teeniors to help with online safety outreach in Tucson, where a Teeniors Pilot program will be launched in cooperation with the local YMCA.

The workshops are part of a broad Comcast effort to educate the public through public service announcements and free online resources, including videos, brochures and booklets.

David L. Cohen, Comcast senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer, will join Teeniors, Adelante, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and state Attorney General Hector Balderas Wednesday morning to kick off the local campaign at the Barelas Senior Center in Albuquerque.

Comcast is excited to continue our work towards educating seniors, parents and children across New Mexico about some of the most serious challenges they may face online, spokeswoman Julianne Phares said. We believe were uniquely positioned to contribute to this effort, and we look forward to sharing the details on Wednesday in partnership with Attorney General Balderas.

Through its Internet Essentials program, Comcast provides high-speed internet service to low-income families at reduced cost.

Teeniors will employ its teen and senior match-up program to offer group education on online safety, followed by one-on-one assistance for workshop participants, said Teeniors founder and CEO Trish Lopez.

Well teach online safety 101, such as how to maintain privacy settings on phones and computers, what to click on and what not, how email scams work, how to block spam and more, Lopez said. There will be a short presentation followed by questions, and then teens will work one-on-one with the seniors.

Teeniors expects to reach at least 600 seniors through the program over the next year. The company, which launched in 2015, has to date provided assistance to more than 1,000 adults.

Since 2015, Teeniors has employed about 40 teens, who earn $10 an hour for group events and $15 for private lessons. The company is ramping up from about a dozen teens currently on call to about 20 in preparation for the Comcast-sponsored workshops.Goodknight Activ+ a market leader in the liquid vaporiser category is celebrating Mothers Day with an adorable video. Through this video the brand has decided to show gratitude to every Mom who is unique in her own way with the help of Emojis, or Emomjis as Goodknight calls it. The video showcases small nuances which are special about every Mom in their kids eyes.

The video begins with a group of kids facing the camera. A prompter asks one of the boys to act like his mother - Accha mummy ka acting kar ke dikho. Mimicking his mom he says, Chhota Bheem itna strong kaise malum hai? Kyunki who roz karela khaata hai! and then makes a face. The prompter moves from one kid to the next as they adorably enact their moms on camera. The video thus showcases different types of Moms  Superchef Mom, Mentor Mom, BFF Mom & Boss Mom.

Talking about this video, Sunil Kataria, CEO  India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. said, Through this adorable video we wish to celebrate the Mom-child relationship in a fun way. Each one of us will be able to resonate with Emojis for our Moms. Goodknight Activ+ is a brand that has always understood the emotions of a mother and her plight to protect her children in every situation. With this video we would like to express our gratitude to all the mothers on this special day.

Speaking on the video, Rajesh Gangwani, Managing Partner, J Walter Thompson (JWT), Mumbai said, This Mother's Day, through this video we have kids enacting their moms, telling us about her multiple roles towards them. Its time for emomjis!! An ownable property cutely depicting her multiple facets. With these emomjis, we thank all lovely mom types & celebrate this special day through sharing and tagging her.Godrej Security Solutions, Indias leading security solutions company, has struck an emotional chord with mothers with its new Digital video #MomsJustKnow. The one minute film very aptly portrays a mothers ability to always know when and how to be by her childs side, no matter how near or far she is from her little one. Doffing its hat to working mothers on Mothers Day, the heart-warming video subtly highlights the deftness with which mothers balance their professional and personal responsibilities.

Conceptualized by CreativeLand Asia, the video beautifully portrays a mother and a childs relationship based on trust, care and sense of security. The video begins with a child going about her daily chores such as finishing up her homework, eating her dinner before she heads towards her room to sleep. However, as she approaches her bedtime, she feels lonely and frightened. Her mother is not present to sing her a lullaby. Miles away, her mother who is on a business trip senses the anxiety as she has been keeping a watch on her daughter through the Godrej EVE application on her phone connected to the camera in her daughters room. She sings a lullaby and the daughter who is at first surprised to hear her mothers voice, calms down and falls asleep.

The video ends with a heart-touching message: Mothers just know how to be around. And once in a while, we help.

This campaign not only addresses the ability of a mother to always know when and how to be around her child but also showcases Godrejs recently launched, Indias first Wi-Fi-enabled DIY home camera range - EVE (Easy Viewing Everywhere) that give the homeowners and residents the convenience and control to watch over their loved ones and engage with them through their smartphone from any part of the world.

On taking an emotional route for the video, Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice President and Global Head - Marketing, Sales & Innovation, Godrej Security Solutions said, At Godrej Security Solutions, we are constantly working towards technology led innovations that give our consumers peace of mind. The film, Moms Just Know, is part of our endeavour to show how we can help a mother stay connected and engage with her family even when shes not around. Eve, the Wi-Fi enabled home security range allows one not just to watch over their loved ones but also engage with them while they are away.

Adding to Mehernoshs views, Anu Joseph, Creative Director, CreativeLand Asia said, Mothers watch over their kids like nobody else can. They, in fact, have a special sense about their kids' whereabouts and wellbeing. This product is an able ally to the all-knowing mother. And this film is a small tribute to them. As a tribute to all the mothers, Godrej Security Solutions is also giving away EVE cameras to mothers across India on www.momsjustknow.inCustomer Logins

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.CAIRO  On April 28, Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel Ati laid the cornerstone of the River Bus Project in Dakahlia, northeast of the Nile Delta. The project will cost 21 million Egyptian pounds ($1.1 million) and is part of the Egyptian governments efforts to expand the use of Nile River buses in the transport of individuals and goods.

Several regions in Greater Cairo, including Cairo, Giza, Qalyubia and Helwan, are connected by river buses, which are boats that navigate on the river. In this vein, the Egyptian government is looking to reduce traffic congestion. A river bus ticket costs 2 Egyptian pounds, the equivalent of 11 cents.

According to a December 2017 article in Al-Sharq al-Awsat, river buses emerged in the 1960s as part of a project implemented by the Public Transport Authority. The project was based on a decision issued by the Egyptian government following the July 1952 Revolution, and the boats are still well maintained.

Abdel Azim Mohamed, the head of the River Transport Authority (RTA), told Al-Monitor over the phone that the RTA prepared a project earlier this year to spread river buses in the governorates that overlook the Nile. By establishing new berths in the governorates overlooking the Nile and purchasing boats, the number of individuals and goods transported through the Nile River will increase.

The government is looking to implement the project in 10 governorates overlooking the Nile, namely: Dakahlia, Menoufia, Gharbia, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan, Mohamed said.

A report issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) and published by the Masrawy website in July 2016, revealed that 2015 marked an increase in the number of individuals opting for river buses, with 48.8 million passengers taking river buses in 2015 compared to 24.3 million in 2014.

Imad Nabil, a professor of transportation and traffic at Ain Shams University, told Al-Monitor that citizens rely on river buses to avoid the heavy traffic plaguing Greater Cairo.

Dakahlia Gov. Ahmad al-Shaarawi confirmed in statements published by Sada El Balad website on Feb. 8 that the Nile Research Institute and the Maritime Research and Consultation Center have completed all the related studies.

Mohamed said, We submitted the project to all of the concerned governors and have started implementing it in Dakahlia. We put down the cornerstone of the project on April 28 in the hopes that it would succeed and serve as a lever for its adoption in other governorates. I spoke to Luxor Gov. Mohamed Badr and he welcomed the idea. We are currently discussing the start of the implementation process.

He said that expanding the river bus project will alleviate traffic, reduce fuel consumption and decrease road accidents.

Egyptians suffer from traffic congestion, especially on working days. The World Bank estimated the losses incurred by the Egyptian economy due to traffic congestion in Cairo at about 50 billion Egyptian pounds a year ($2.8 billion).

Nabil said that using river buses in several governorates helps alleviate the heavy traffic burden on citizens who waste a lot of their time in traffic.

Public transport faced mounting pressure over the past years and caused traffic congestion," Nabil said. "This is why using river buses in most governorates overlooking the Nile helps the citizens of these governorates move from one bank of the Nile to another in a faster way. River transport fulfills its task in Greater Cairo, and moving forward, its share of public transport should not go below 7% of the total of trips.

He further stated that transporting goods through the Nile is another benefit of this project, as heavy transporting vehicles burden the road network.

In the 1950s, 23% of the goods were transported through the railway, while 10% of them were transported through the river. However, 99% of the goods are currently transported through the road network. This is why using the river to transport individuals and goods would be a very important step, Nabil said.

For his part, Mohamed said in statements to El-Watan newspaper on April 20, There are short-, medium- and long-term visions and strategies to have river transport return to a better position in the coming period. He added that only 0.5% of the goods are currently transported through the Nile.

The Egyptian government is betting on the private sector to increase the percentage of goods transported through the Nile River to 4% by 2030.

Minister of Transport and Communications Hisham Arafat said in remarks to Almal newspaper on Oct. 15 that a plan has been developed to improve the river transport sector. Such a plan, he said, involves the extensive participation of the private sector, which is required to increase the goods it transports through the Nile.

In a February 2017 statement, Arafat said the fact that 99% of the goods are transferred through road transportation was very dangerous to the road network.Turkeys controversial sultan is set to get the full royal treatment from the countrys closest Western ally, the United Kingdom. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be received on Tuesday by Queen Elizabeth II, his first ever audience with the British monarch since he rose to power 16 years ago.

Coming six weeks before critical presidential and parliamentary polls in Turkey and amid global criticism of the countrys abysmal human rights record, the meeting has raised eyebrows.

Tea with the queen is a pretty good photo op, especially if you are an autocratic president in the midst of a tough race for re-election, wrote Simon A. Waldman, a British academic and the co-author of The New Turkey and its Discontents. In an op-ed for the EU observer, an online news platform, he continued, This is why British Prime Minister Theresa May's red-carpet treatment is such a boost to Erdogan. And Britain is hoping that this will translate into profit."

Diplomatic observers air similar opinions about Erdogans trip, which includes high-profile meetings with May, other royals and today's appearance at the prestigious think tank Chatham House. Marc Pierini, a former European Union ambassador to Ankara and a non-resident fellow at Carnegie Europe, told Al-Monitor the visit is mutually transactional and in line with Britains post-Brexit strategy of re-invigorating alliances with a regional hegemon such as Turkey. And for Turkey, it is obviously crucial to show that the incumbent presidents international standing does not suffer from the drastic deterioration of the rule of law in the country.

Sinan Ulgen, who runs the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, argued in a recent policy brief for the Brookings Institution, The prospect of strategic realignment with the UK would provide [Turkey with] a much-needed alternative to having to choose between an unpredictable US president and a Russian president as strategic enablers."

Some British politicians have a decidedly different view. Makes me feel sick to my stomach that our Govt are rolling the red carpet out for President Erdogan this week and trying to sell him more weapons. He is a a dictator & tyrant who locks up journalists, has installed a regime of brutal repression & torture and is butchering the Kurds, tweeted Labor lawmaker David Lammy.

While the UK features prominently in the anti-Western conspiracies regurgitated daily by pro-government screeds, the Anglo-Turkish relationship is pretty tight.

The UK is among the strongest advocates of Turkish membership of the European Union even as it prepares to leave the body itself. Britains embrace of Turkey, a NATO ally, was seen by fellow EU members as a cynical bid to dilute German and French influence inside the union and to further advance US interests as well. Britain was among the first EU countries to shower sympathy on Erdogan after rogue officers sought to bloodily overthrow him in 2016.

The UK is Turkeys 10th-largest trading partner. The volume of trade between the two countries hit $16.2 million last year and Erdogan told reporters ahead of his journey that he hoped this figure would rise to $20 billion. He also touched on a $113 million deal with the UKs BAE systems to develop a new Turkish fighter jet. Inshallah, we shall sign many more joint projects in the defense industry that will be of strategic significance, Erdogan declared. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who boasts Turkish roots, has called for a post-Brexit free trade deal with Turkey.

The British ambassador to Ankara, Sir Dominick Chilcott, made similarly positive noises in an interview with the pro-government Hurriyet. He said that the involvement of Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen in the coup attempt was "certain" and that his government did not have "any doubt that it was a Gulenist coup." He also took a swipe at Ankaras other bete noir, the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), saying, We are not naive. We understand there are very close links between the YPG and the PKK.

He was referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party, an armed Kurdish group that has been fighting in turn for statehood and Kurdish autonomy in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast region since 1984. The YPG is intimately bound up with the PKK, drawing heavily on its military and other cadres to cement its self-styled administration in northeastern Syria, but it is also the US-led coalitions premier partner against the Islamic State.

Although the UK is a key member of the coalition against the Islamic State, it claims to have have limited contact with the YPG and none whatsoever with the PKK. British nationals who volunteer to fight in the YPGs ranks have faced prosecution at home. Responding to a recent parliamentary report on the Kurds, the Foreign Office said it would urge the YPG to "distance themselves from the PKK and its terrorist activity.

A commander in the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirmed that British officials had been querying the YPG about its links to the PKK. We tell them these are blood ties, not organic ties; we are all Kurds, the commander told Al-Monitor via WhatsApp.

Washingtons ongoing support for the YPG has sent Turkish-US relations into a tailspin. But the UK has managed to evade Turkish ire, even though it too deploys its special forces in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria. A Western official speaking to Al-Monitor on strict condition of anonymity observed, As is the case of several coalition members, the [British] military is all in [with the YPG/SDF] but its assistance, and some of its civilian policy people, are very deferential to Turkey.US President Donald Trumps unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has created an urgency for all other deal signatories to work toward saving the accord. As international companies face a new dynamic and risk profile, innovative steps will need to be taken to sustain the deal, especially in response to Iranian expectations.

After President Hassan Rouhanis declaration May 8 that Iran will engage with European signatories to assess whether it is possible to continue implementing the deal without the United States, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on May 9 publicly summarized Irans priorities, If you want to agree on anything, make sure there are practical guarantees in place. Otherwise, they will do what the US did to us.  Officials are facing a big test: Are they going to ensure that the nation's pride will be protected or not? The pride and interests of the nation must be truly secured."

In other words, the new JCPOA construct  based on agreements with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China (defined as either the E3+2 or P4+1)  needs to consider Irans dignity and put in place guarantees that cannot be easily undone by political shifts in respective capitals. In an Al-Monitor article in March, a number of suggestions were made for measures that would address some Iranian concerns, especially if EU governments invest their own money into actual and future Iranian projects in strategic sectors. E3 stands for the three Western European nations; P4 for the UN Security Council members save for the United States.

The challenge faced by the EU is that it has to present guarantees to Iran while also protecting European businesses from US secondary sanctions. On this path, the EU will need a high level of cooperation with Tehran, particularly in the process of incentivizing European companies to continue their involvement in the Iranian market. Considering that large European enterprises have complex dependencies on the US market, banks and stock exchanges, it is safe to expect that the EU will mainly focus on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to remain engaged in Iran. Some larger companies may seek licenses from the US Treasury, but the majority of companies that will continue business with Iran will either have little exposure to the US market or be prepared to accept European protections.

The Rouhani administration will look for an outcome to prove that its extensive diplomatic engagement with the West has not been a waste of time and resources. There will have to be clear gains for Iran in staying committed to the JCPOA, beyond the limited progress so far. Of particular symbolic value would be the delivery of Airbus planes, which are an integral part of the JCPOA. Given financing issues, only three out of 100 Airbus passenger jets have been delivered so far. While Airbus is European, it needs US licensing from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for sales to Iran since more than 10% of its components come from the United States. The Trump administration has revoked the Airbus license, giving Iran and European governments three months to find a solution.

Beyond symbolic expectations, Tehran will likely benchmark gains against the impact of the harshest sanctions years (2012-15). As such, it can be reasonably assumed that Iran will look for EU guarantees on the following topics:

Financial transactions: So far banking relations have not been normalized, partly due to concern among first-tier banks about US sanctions and low compliance standards in the Iranian financial sector. The reimposition of US sanctions will further impede banking relations and by extension complicate the financing of projects in Iran. Here, the main mechanism will be the involvement of European governments and potentially central banks in the financing of projects, both to facilitate and also protect companies. The latter could entail the establishment of emergency credit lines, including via special purpose vehicles, and as some have argued, an agreement on the establishment of a European trading bank comprised of state-owned and lower-tier banks to facilitate European engagement with Iran. Other options for risk sharing include engagement with China to devise novel financing mechanisms for all international companies. The EU will additionally have to protect SWIFT against US sanctions, as the renewed blacklisting of the Islamic Republic from the payment messaging service would choke international banking relations with Iran. Another potential tool may be assisting European companies in securing the needed OFAC licenses for a continuation of their trade with Iran. At the same time, Iran has to continue the planned reforms in its financial sector and get rid of the other administrative and legal challenges that European companies face in Iran.

Continuation of petroleum sector exports: In the time span since the implementation of the JCPOA in January 2016, Irans crude and condensate exports have grown from 1 million to 2.5 million barrels per day. Tehran will insist that this level be maintained and even increased commensurate with production. More than 80% of these exports go to Asia. The E3+2 will have limited influence determining whether buyers such as Japan and South Korea will continue their imports. However, what may be feasible is for the E3+2 to guarantee that they will make up for losses that may emerge as a result of reimposed US sanctions. The E3+2 may also opt to help buyers of Iranian oil and condensates to seek waivers from US authorities. Petrochemical exports have also been an important factor in Irans return to global markets, and Tehran will look for similar guarantees. In this vein, port access, shipping insurance and related services will additionally need to be protected from US secondary sanctions.

Technology transfer and foreign investment: One of the key motivations for Iran to work toward sanctions relief had been to attract European investment and technology. Despite some limited progress so far, it is not a secret that Iran will continue to require foreign investments and technology to create needed jobs. Though Asian and Russian companies will continue their activities, Iran will insist on the latest European technologies. In this scenario, the EU will have no choice but to stand up to US pressure not just via blocking regulations, but also counter-sanctions and potential action at the World Trade Organization. How far such initiatives will succeed remains to be seen, but Tehran will certainly request guarantees that the EU will facilitate the flow of investment and technology. In this vein, the development banks of the E3 as well as the European Investment Bank have great capacity to promote investment either via loans or by virtue of acting as a lending bank.

The above initiatives may not cover all expectations in Iran. Presidential adviser Hamid Aboutalebi tweeted May 11 that guarantees must include all of Irans political, economic and security related rights. However, economic guarantees would go a long way to sustain the JCPOA.

If Iran and the E3+2 can define and implement a workable framework for protecting future investments, many companies, and especially European small- and medium-sized enterprises, would be in a better commercial position than before. It would surely be an irony if the US withdrawal actually benefited Iran on many levels. This in itself, namely the potential of isolating the United States in a multilateral accord, may become an incentive for Iran to make the new deal work.

However, if the parties fail to sustain the deal, there will be a new layer of distrust toward the West that will influence future Iranian decisions. However, in this era of geopolitical uncertainties, one thing is certain: In the absence of Western companies, the main beneficiaries of the situation will be Russia, whose companies are aggressively pursuing Iranian opportunities, and China, which has long overtaken Europe as Irans biggest trading partner.ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan  The Janabi cousins from Salahuddin province had already been waiting for five hours outside the polling station in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where they have lived since the Islamic State (IS) took over their city in 2014. They watched the voting station open at 7 a.m. and were still there at midday because, lacking the most recent electronic voting cards, they were not allowed to vote.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, Iraq still has more than 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have been displaced since 2014, and their perceived inability to vote has led Sunni leaders to demand that the Iraqi parliamentary elections be postponed. Their request was refused and special polling stations were set up for those who fled the provinces of Ninevah, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar, both in the camps and in the cities where they have found refuge. Officials of the Independent High Electoral Commission announced that those who did not have the electronic voting card would be allowed to vote using their IDs and old voting cards, but many encountered problems on election day.

Yet while Iraq saw a historic low turnout of just over 44% and little enthusiasm for the May 12 vote, IDPs showed up in droves at the special voting stations, for instance in Erbil. The station where the Janabi cousins were refused was one of the few that ran out of ballot papers by the end of the day.

For the cousins, both in their 20s, being able to vote for their candidate was important, said Baha, leaning against a wall outside the crowded special voting station in the Mufti quarter in Erbil that welcomed IDPs like them but refused to accept their documents. He has to give us a job, Baha told Al-Monitor about the candidate for whom he was planning to give his vote. He promised us, and he also promised to get us back into our homes.

The cousins have not returned to Salahuddin yet because of the security situation; they fear the Shiite Popular Mobilization Units that currently police their area. Our region has been liberated for two years now, but we are here and doing nothing, Bahas cousin Hamad complained. We need change. Thats why we are voting for this new candidate, he said.

Many of the men waiting at the polling station echoed the same resolve to vote for a new face instead of the political old guard that has been in power for the last 15 years. They quoted corruption, lack of jobs and security as their main failures, but they also mentioned promises of work and help rebuilding their houses as factors in their choices.

Sheik Taleb Ibrahim Isa of the Albu Hussein tribe showed a picture on his phone of the family home that IS destroyed in Ramadi. Things will only get better there when the guys who say they speak for the Sunnis get out of Ramadi, he told Al-Monitor, claiming he has documentary evidence of how corrupt these politicians are. One of them even promised to pay the IDPs if they vote for him, he said.

Some make it clear that their eagerness to vote is not connected to promises, but for fear of the comeback of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is largely blamed for letting IS take over Mosul. Women queuing at the gate of the polling station in the Mufti quarter indicated that many of them would therefore vote for the Nasr (Victory) Coalition of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, rewarding him for defeating IS and liberating their cities.

As most IDPs in Erbil are Sunni, this means they are crossing the religious divide that has held Iraq in its violent grasp for the past decade. Abadi has been successful in including Sunnis, Kurds and Yazidis in his mostly Shiite coalition.

Most of the female voters stressed that their choice is about their common interest in Iraqs future, not religion. He is better than the others as he created peace, Amal Mohammed from Mosul told Al-Monitor. We hope he [Abadi] will be the next prime minister. That has nothing to do with being Sunni or Shiite. We just need someone who serves the people and is capable.

He will fight corruption and poverty, said Sabiha Naif of Abadi. I want work. I want to be able to return to Sinjar, and I think he can make that happen. Most here are voting for him because they consider him cleaner than the others, indicating that Abadis battle against corruption has not gone unnoticed, despite its lack of visible success.

There was still a steady trickle of voters entering the voting station at noon, but many were not allowed to cast their votes. Their perseverance was impressive, however, as most had already tried multiple stations. A family from Ramadi had been at the Mufti station since 8 a.m. and was getting desperate. They didnt have the special voting cards and didnt know where to go to cast their vote.

A young man from Baghdad who asked to remain anonymous complained that he had not been allowed to vote at all, even though he had the most recent voting card. He told Al-Monitor that he tried four different polling stations. Someone who overheard his complaint was quick to suggest that it was because of the tensions between Baghdad and the Kurds, referring to Baghdads harsh reaction to the Kurds voting overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum held last September.

A young Christian guard from Bartella tried to cast his vote at the polling station in Ashti camp in Ankawa, Erbils Christian enclave, but was refused because he does not live in the camp. He was sent to another polling station for IDPs a couple of streets away, but he couldn't find his name on the list of voters eligible to vote there. An older man complained to the head of the polling station that this was the sixth station he had visited, and he had still not been allowed to vote. He told Al-Monitor, This is not right!

Even though officials at the voting stations explained that the special stations were set up for those from Ninevah, Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin, dozens of voters from those places were nonetheless turned away, mostly because they did not have the recently issued electronic voting card.

We have no instructions to let people in without the electronic cards, said the deputy head of the Mufti station, Muthana Mohammed, estimating that those without the required card accounted for around 15% of the IDPs. For IDPs from Baghdad and Diyala who wanted to vote, no arrangements had been made in Erbil at all, he said. He noted that they should vote in their own cities, even though they are far away, and traveling is impossible on election day.

Zukur Suleiman from Bartella had been denied to vote for the fourth time at the Mufti station and continued on her way to yet another polling station. We have to vote for the future of our children, she told Al-Monitor, explaining her perseverance. Internally displaced people like us have to make our voices heard.SULAIMANIYAH, Iraqi Kurdistan  Narges was exhausted but was looking forward to finishing her last hour of work at the Dark Blue Cafe next to Zargata Hill (The Hill) on May 12. Dozens of young men and women were sitting in the cafe smoking shisha and chatting about the preliminary election results that were just coming out. A group of diners was celebrating a friends birthday. The vibe inside the cafe was jubilant; outside, however, constant celebratory gunfire echoing around the city was causing consternation among the public.

Over 10 million Iraqis voted in the first national election following the defeat of the Islamic State. As the preliminary results came out, the opposition parties in the Kurdistan region soon realized that they had lost the election and that the two ruling parties in Kurdistan had surprisingly gained more seats. Many had expected that these two parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), would be punished hard by the electorate for bringing misery to the Kurdistan region after going ahead with the ill-fated referendum for independence as well as for the mismanagement of the economy and rampant corruption.

The Hill is home to the Change Movement (Gorran) headquarters, one of the main opposition parties in the Kurdistan region.

Just after 10 p.m., Narges saw a convoy of five peshmerga pickup trucks with heavy machine guns mounted on them pass by the cafe heading toward the entrance of the Gorran headquarters, where representatives of four opposition parties were meeting.

Allegations of fraud soon aired from opposition TV channels, fueling tensions in Sulaimaniyah as PUK supporters celebrated with gunfire and tracers lit up the sky.

KNN, the Gorran main mouthpiece, accused the PUK of committing fraud. One senior PUK commander, Sheikh Jafar Sheikh Mustafa, a former peshmerga minister, made an angry phone call and spoke with two senior Gorran officials, demanding that they silence their TV channel and accept defeat, and threatening to attack their headquarters if they dont.

As Narges saw the second convoy of around 10 pickup trucks with heavy guns mounted on them going toward the Hill just after 10 p.m., she knew something was about to happen. Suddenly, all hell broke loose as the area around the cafe turned into a battlefield. The peshmerga in the pickup trucks opened fire on the Hill with heavy guns, PKC machine guns and M4 American rifles. The guards at the Hill responded with AK-47 and a PKC machine gun fire. As bullets hit the cafes external wall, Narges and around 50 diners ran for cover under the table and into the bathrooms. The first fire from the attacking force hit an electrical cable, plunging the area into darkness. I was shaking, some people were crying, it was a terrifying experience, Narges told Al-Monitor. We just ran to the back rooms and the bathrooms to take cover.

At the Hill, the representatives of the four opposition parties sitting around a table immediately dropped to the floor and crawled to the back of the building as heavy machine gun fire hit the windows and shattered the walls and pierced furniture.

Terrified residents in the densely populated area around the Hill started fleeing their homes in the darkness. The Turkish guards at the Turkish Consulate near the Hill became alarmed as they saw the battle unfold in front of their eyes and took up positions as shadowy figures raced toward the consulate. A disaster was averted when the Turkish special forces quickly realized the shadowy figures were not gunmen but rather terrified residents fleeing from the area. Among those fleeing their homes was a lawyer who managed to take his children to a relatives house in another part of the city. Chaos reigned as the peshmerga fighters intensified their attack on the Hill, bringing the city close to the brink of civil war. KNN anchors called on Gorran supporters to defend the Hill. A live video on the Gali Kurdistan Channel, an official outlet of the PUK, appeared to show PUK commander Sheikh Jafar Sheikh Mustafa on air and drunk that night just before the attack.

The fighting continued for around 15 minutes; the attacking force withdrew from the Hill around 10:30 p.m. Al-Monitor observed as several thousand people descended on the Hill within an hour of the attack calling for revenge, with some carrying guns, including PKC machine guns. Two from our side suffered bullet wounds, one of the main guards at the gate to the Hill told Al-Monitor. I think they suffered casualties, too. Three witnesses said Mustafa led the attack. While what happened the night of May 12 may be seen as a minor incident in the wider Iraqi election, the occurrence is highly significant as it raises serious concerns about the security in the Kurdistan region. But more significantly, the allegations of fraud in this election in the Kurdish area means that many people are questioning their faith in the electoral system. There are calls from the supporters of Gorran on their leadership to be allowed to form armed militias to protect their headquarters and their interest as they lose faith in the security forces allied with the PUK.

Gorran supporters and other opposition parties accuse Iran of stealing their votes. Sulaimaniyah, in particular, and the Kurdistan region, in general, are Iran's strategic backyard.

Iranians prefer to form long-term relationships with their regional allies and given that both the PUK and the KDP have been in a stable relationship with Iran since the 1980s, Iran sees them as strategic partners, especially after both parties accepted that they had made a mistake in going ahead with the ill-fated referendum for independence in September.

The opposition parties have rejected the results of the election in the Kurdistan region and the disputed territories and are calling for a repeat of the vote. An Iranian delegation is in Kurdistan to mediate between the ruling and the opposition parties, an informed source told Al-Monitor.

Disaster may have been averted this time in the Kurdistan region, but if there is no resolution to the allegations of fraud, Kurdistan will face an uncertain future. It felt like a movie, Narges told Al-Monitor the following day at the Dark Blue Cafe. When I woke up this morning, I could not believe that I had lived through this terror.On the afternoon of May 10, some 150 people gathered for Palestinian-Israel Dialogue in the conference hall of the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. For the most part, the conference participants identified with the hard core of the Israeli left, including Meretz members and supporters of the Geneva Initiative, which organized the event. They had come to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the wake of the decision to open the US Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14 and the deterioration of the security situation in Gaza. The participants paid rapt attention to Elias Zananiri, the deputy chair of the Palestinian Committee for Interaction with the Israeli Society, Meretz Chair Tamar Zandberg and former party chairman Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the Geneva Initiative. Listening to them, they were filled with hope.

Anyone watching from the sidelines might think that this limited gathering was detached from all reality. Israeli fighter jets had attacked Iranian targets in Syria one night before, and Israelis living in the Golan Heights were waiting nervously for the response. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the right were soaring in the polls to unprecedented new levels, yet the organizers of the event insisted on remaining loyal to their vision of a two-state solution. They refused to abandon all hope.

Given the general mood in Israel, no one was surprised that Israeli media barely covered the event. It was certainly not on the publics agenda. The organizers probably recognized this, given the emerging conflict with Iran and the concurrent tendency of Israelis to ignore the Palestinian-Israeli conflict almost entirely. Over the last two weeks, Israelis proved that it is easier to get them to take to the streets in response to an international sporting event, that is, the Giro dItalia bike race, or the Eurovision song contest, after which thousands emerged at 2 a.m. to celebrate Israels victory. It is, of course, an important sign of Israelis living a normal existence. At the same time, however, it is worrying to think that most Israelis remain apathetic toward the conflict with the Palestinians, which directly affects the future of their country as a Jewish and democratic state.

This is the most challenging time for Israels political left since Netanyahu returned to power almost a decade ago. The two-state solution, adopted by Netanyahu in his 2009 Bar Ilan speech, has disappeared from the agenda of his fourth government, while US President Donald Trump avoids dealing with the issue at all. Furthermore, Netanyahu and the right are constantly being showered with gifts by the Trump administration, even though each gift, including moving the embassy and the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement, comes with a steep strategic cost. On the other hand, for now at least, the ultimate deal between Israel and the Palestinians that Trump promised is nowhere to be seen on the horizon.

Then there are the two major center-left parties, Yesh Atid and the Zionist Camp, which are being dragged along after Netanyahus Iran doctrine and are unable to offer a political or defense alternative to Netanyahus right-wing government. The May 10 meeting revolved around what the core issue and political banner of the camp opposed to the right should be  i.e., separation from the Palestinians. Now of all times  there are signs that Hamas is interested in a hudna, a long-term cease-fire, with Israel, and Gaza is about to explode  there should be an attempt to rekindle a discussion in Israel about reaching some kind of arrangement with the Palestinians.

That is why Meretz and the Geneva Initiative are so vital, especially in this political and diplomatic climate. That Zananiri visited Tel Aviv on what was one of the toughest days for the Palestinians, just hours before the US Embassy relocated, should indicate that there are people on both sides who are keeping the embers of hope glowing and who believe that change is possible.

Speaking in Hebrew, Zananiri said, The Palestinian leadership adopted the Saudi peace initiative and the Geneva Initiative. The Israeli government said nothing at the time, then later said that there is no partner for peace. The whole world recognizes a Palestinian state alongside Israel, within the 1967 borders. As long as there are Israelis and Palestinians who realize that the only way to live in peace is the partition of the country, there is a chance.

Zandberg spoke about reports of the proposed hudna, which have been ignored by the Israeli government. She remarked, If we have a chance, any chance, to avoid bloodshed next week, we are obliged to take it.

When looking at the history of the Geneva Initiative since it appeared in December 2003, it becomes quite clear how removed Israel is from a two-state solution. The beginning was overwhelming. At the height of the second intifada (2000-2005), with hundreds of Israelis killed in bombings in the heart of the countrys major cities, Israelis and Palestinians put together an outline for a permanent solution to the conflict. The people behind it werent marginal figures either. Israel was represented in the secret talks by the chairman of Meretz, Beilin, and the chairman of the Labor Party, Amram Mitzna, while the Palestinians were represented by Yasser Abed Rabbo.

The agreement became a political and diplomatic sensation and an annoyance to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was also chairman of the Likud. At first, he tried to accuse the left of working behind the governments back and cooperating with forces hostile to the state, but this attempt to delegitimize the agreement failed. Over time, the people around him claimed that by resetting the agenda, the Geneva Initiative made it clear to him that the public really does long for a diplomatic process. This was, many claim, one of the factors that led to the plan for Israel to withdraw from Gaza, which Sharon presented soon afterward.

Almost 15 years later, the Geneva Initiative still survives, under much more difficult circumstances. Yet the very fact that it survives is worthy of respect. It is especially important, when Israels center left, which should be raising it as a banner issue, refuses to do so clearly and confidently. In that sense, Meretz also has a major role as a left-wing Zionist party in advancing this agenda. Its stubborn adherence to the peace process and a two-state solution is worthy of admiration.

At the same time, Zandberg, as the new chair of Meretz, should be aware that her decision to boycott the ceremony marking the transfer of the US Embassy alienates her from large swathes of the left, who identify with this historic move. Her protest diverts the discussion from the need to move ahead with a solution to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and seems more like a gimmick intended to grab headlines. Thats too bad, especially now, when Meretz's clear voice is so vital to the left and to the country overall.In the lead-up to Nakba Day, Palestinians in Gaza entered their fifth week of protests at the border, which they have deemed the Great March of Return. Israel Defense Forces retaliated with artillery and live fire at todays protests, killing over 52 protesters and injuring more than 2,000.

During the Great March of Return protests, Palestinians have called for their right to return to their homeland, confiscated by Israeli paramilitaries in 1948. On the 70th anniversary of the Nakba  meaning catastrophe in Arabic  the death count from the weekslong demonstrations has reached over 90. With little action from the international community, the Palestinian refugee issue is far from solved.

Its late afternoon in Dheisheh refugee camp, situated south of Bethlehems old city. Abd al-Qader, 98, slowly enters the living room of his house  shared with extended family  after attending afternoon prayers at the nearby mosque. He is warm and welcoming, but his eyes and heart soon become heavy.

The Jews attacked us with their tanks and their bombs randomly, Qader told Al-Monitor. The Palestinians in that time didnt have leaders. It was only communities, so the civilians fought back, resisting alone. Many fled their homes, including Qader and his family, who left their village of Beit Aataab on May 15, 1948. Qader was 28 years old.

He is one of the upwards of 700,000 Palestinians who had to flee their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The expulsion, now termed the Nakba, resulted in Palestinians being forced into refugee camps across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, where the majority of them still reside.

While the Palestinians' right of return to their land is enshrined under international law, 70 years on, and this still has not occurred, as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process hangs in limbo. Today, there are more than 5 million Palestinian refugees when counting their descendants.

Dheisheh camp, where Qader now resides, was erected by UNRWA in 1949 to hold 3,000 refugees, though now the population has reached 15,000. The area of Dheisheh is only about 77 acres. Not only is Dheisheh densely populated, like many refugee camps across the Levant, many of the residents also live below the poverty line, as the families lost their means of livelihoods when they fled.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness emphasizes the poor living conditions within the camps. The refugees and the next generations of refugees are some of the most disadvantaged people in the West Bank, Gunness told Al-Monitor.

Qader remembers his home with intense clarity. Our life in the village was like heaven for us. You would never find a way of living better than there, he said solemnly. If you stood up, you could see the sea. You could see the sand, you could see Jaffa. You could see Gaza from it. The village was built like a castle. As he sits in his home in Dheisheh camp, any view is obscured by the other houses slowly being built on top of each other for the expansion of families.

Qader lists the products his village of Beit Aataab was famous for: "Olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates, citrus, beans and apples. The land was 100 dunams [about 25 acres], with four springs, and we had lots of [animals]: sheep, cows, horses, donkeys, chickens and pigeons.

Like all refugees from the 1948 war, Qader and his family had to leave everything they owned behind. I had no food, covers or anything to protect me from the cold, he explained. The Red Cross eventually set up tents in what is now Dheisheh camp.

Qader moved there in 1952, after living for four years in a cave in the village of Artas, southwest of Bethlehem. He spent the rest of his life in the camp, only having the opportunity to return to his home village once, around 20 years later. When I saw my land, my house, I felt that my body was burning. I saw my land, my trees, demolished, I just left, I couldnt stay, he said. To this day, the village of Beit Aataab remains as rubble.

These stories about the original homeland are slowly being lost. The descendants of Palestinian refugees, the youth of today residing in the refugee camps around the Levant, appear to have a hard time recalling the memories of their grandparents.

Hamam, 18, was born and lives in Amari refugee camp, just east of Ramallah in the West Bank. His family members are refugees from Beit Aanan village. I dont know anything about the village, Hamam told Al-Monitor, asking that only his first name be used. He sees Amari as his home, the place where he has grown up surrounded by family and friends. I know everyone. I like this fabric [of] society. Without being in the camp, no one can ask after you [or look after you].

Abdel al-Qader, 14, lives in Shufat camp, which is part of the Jerusalem municipality though restricted from access to the city by the separation wall Israel began erecting in 2000. Qader also struggles to describe his family's homeland. I know we have an empty land, he said.

While the handing down of stories fades as new generations are born, the understanding of the refugees' historical villages increases for those children who have been able to visit their homeland with relatives. Mohammed Musa, 14, also lives in Shufat camp. His family fled the village of Beit Liqya in 1948. Musa has been able to see the village for himself, visiting it a number of times with his family since the age of 5. Its all woods. Theres a lot of trees, and its full of Israelis who have turned it into settlements, Musa said.

Due to travel restrictions on Palestinians enforced by Israeli authorities, many children dont have the opportunity to visit their heritage land, leaving Musa as a rare exception.

While stories and personal relationships with historical lands dwindle, many Palestinians still hold on to their identities as descendants of refugees and maintain an understanding that refugees have a right to a land that was once theirs. Ali al-Qam has spent all 14 years of his life in Shufat camp. He told Al-Monitor that Israeli forces have denied him access to his home village of Beit Thul. I really wish I could go there because I feel its my homeland and house, waiting for me, said Qam.

Back in Amari camp, Hamam links his identity to his great-grandfathers death during the invasion. If I had a place to live in Beit Aanan, I would have a connection there because its the home for my father, grandfather and great-grandfather," he said. "I can smell the blood of my great-grandfather growing in the land and the soil.

Naime al-Sheik Ali, 82, fled Beit Thul in 1948. She lives in Shufat camp with her extended family, including her son Ali, who sits by her side as she speaks to Al-Monitor. Ali was able to visit her home village once, 20 years after she fled. I saw the homes of my family members and friends that were demolished. I could only cry, she said.

She said that her whole life she thought she was going to be able to return to her village. I dont think that all Jews want to kill us," she said. "In our village  we were once all living together in peace.

Her son Ali chimed in: It cant happen, they cant return. He sees Palestinians' connection to their historical villages decreasing, as Israeli ties to those villages grow stronger. Israelis now have grandchildren  so its impossible to give it back," he said. "They feel like it is theirs now. Honestly, the connection will disappear. It will only be a story, not an inner relationship or connection."

The lack of memories  coupled with the time it will take achieve to the right of return, as enshrined in the United Nations General Assembly's Resolution 194  is completely alienating for the current generation of Palestinian refugees, said Gunness from the UNRWA.

Seventy years on from the 1948 war, no progress has been made in peace negotiations or in negotiations for refugees to return to their homes. For the younger generation to be cut loose from its roots and to have no political horizons is a very dangerous thing, Gunness said.

Qam echoed this point. Its not even a 1% chance that I could live there, in my ancestors village, so Ive moved on.Turkey is heading into the June 24 elections with two major alliances. The Peoples Alliance is composed of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and the anti-Erdogan Nation Alliance is made up of the Republican Peoples Party, the Iyi or Good Party, the tiny Islamist Felicity Party and the Democrat Party.

Now, unexpectedly, a third alliance of Kurdish parties has appeared. The political parties making up the Kurdistan Election Alliance announced they will not only compete in Turkeys snap elections but hope to take the first step toward national unity among the Kurds of Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. So far, the Kurdistan Freedom Party, Kurdistan Socialist Party, Kurdistan Democratic Party of Turkey and Azadi Movement have announced their membership in the new alliance. With support offered by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has a legislative presence and nationwide structure, the new alliance could become a major actor on Turkeys political scene.

The alliance has already made some progress on a local level. In the Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce elections, the Kurds succeeded in defeating the AKP-backed chairman and got their own candidate elected. Can this phenomenon spill over the entire region?

HDP lawmaker Imam Tascier told Al-Monitor that the Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce elections showed that the Kurds can achieve their goals when they act together. Tascier thinks if the Kurds compete in the June 24 elections as an alliance they can influence the Kurdish base of the ruling AKP as well as Kurdish voters who abandoned the AKP because of its alliance with the anti-Kurdish MHP and those who had not voted for the HDP in the past for whatever reason.

With this alliance we will prove that the Kurds should not be ignored, Mesut Tek, the chairman of the Kurdistan Socialist Party, told Al-Monitor.

Why are Kurds so important? According to one poll, Kurdish voters accounting for 4% of the AKP vote in the 2015 elections do not intend vote for the AKP this time. Kurds who do not think of voting for the AKP-MHP alliance may also refrain from voting for the opposition Nation Alliance because it did not take in the pro-Kurdish HDP.

Tek said that Kurds constitute 20% of the national vote that will now be targeted by the Kurdish alliance. Will the Kurds succeed? Can the HDP, which until now could not mobilize the entire Kurdish constituency, succeed this time with the Kurdish Alliance?

The Kurdish alliance was not formed to operate just inside Turkey and not only to compete in the coming elections. If successful, the new alliance will wield the strength of the Kurds not just in Turkey, but in the entire Middle East.

The idea of the alliance was promoted by now imprisoned HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas in his 2015 meetings with the Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. It was shelved when the governments anti-HDP operations culminated in the jailing of Demirtas. When HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan met with Barzani last month, they agreed the alliance should target the Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Imam Tascier described the project, now called National Union of Kurds, as a Kurdish project to help each other, act together and eradicate enmities among Kurds.

There are no divisions in the minds of Kurds. They think that the borders that separate them are superficial. Kurds have never accepted these borders after they were declared in the early 1900s. We have to restore the spirit of unity but not against any one country or nation, Tascier told Al-Monitor.

It is not possible to handle the Kurdish issues in Syria, south Kurdistan and Turkey separate from each other. You cant think of Afrin distinct from Hevler and Hevler distinct from Diyarbakir, Tek added.

According to Tek, the lack of a solution for the Kurdish issue is a major cause of the instability and social problems in the region. Sadly Kurds have always been pawns and never play-makers. If the Kurds can achieve unity, then developments in Syria and referendum results in [Iraq] will be discussed as a single package, thus enabling the Kurds to become an important element of the Middle East equation, Tek said.

But here we must note that that the alliance has not brought all the Kurdish factions together. The Islamic Huda-Par did not join.

Tascier said, For me Huda-Par is not a Kurdish party. Tek said that they were in touch with Huda-Par but could not get to them join the alliance. I think they should be in the alliance, he added.

Temel Karamollaoglu, the chairman of Islamist Felicity Party, said in a meeting attended by Al-Monitor that Huda-Par could enter the elections in Felicity Party lists. That may free them from AKP dictates but may negatively affect the HDPs goal of passing the 10% voting threshold to enter the parliament.

Polls until now indicate the HDPs performance will decide the outcome of the elections. If the HDP cannot pass the 10% threshold, then the AKP will win a parliamentary majority.The grand opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem today was marred by the shooting deaths of dozens of protesters in the Gaza Strip.

Despite the violence, Washingtons attention remained firmly fixated on the pomp and pageantry of the opening ceremony as the Donald Trump administration and US lawmakers who have long supported the controversial move refused to let Palestinian bloodshed mar the historic occasion.

Big day for Israel. Congratulations! Trump tweeted this morning after urging Americans to tune into Fox News coverage of the embassys inauguration.

While the Trump administration picked the timing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel, the date runs up against the anniversary of the mass Palestinian displacement that followed. Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have held weekly protests at the Gaza border fence since March 30. The demonstrations, backed by Hamas and dubbed The Great Return March, culminated this week with a rally by some 10,000 protesters.

Israeli snipers at the border reportedly today killed at least 52 Palestinian protesters and wounded dozens of others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The death toll from today alone surpasses that of the previous six weeks in which 47 people were killed and thousands wounded, including children and journalists. No Israelis have been wounded since the protests started.

Amid glowing praise for Trumps embassy relocation and assertions that it somehow helps the cause of peace, virtually no administration official or lawmaker from either major party acknowledged the protests and casualties.

We remain committed to advancing a lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. I look forward to returning soon to visit our new U.S. embassy and Ambassador Friedman in Jerusalem.

While Pompeo is not attending the opening ceremony, Trumps daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process Jason Greenblatt, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are all part of the US delegation. Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman all have ties to West Bank settler groups.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., noted that a bipartisan majority in Congress has been calling for this important action since the 1990s.

Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., applauded Trump for the long overdue move.

Every nation should have the right to choose its capital, Schumer said in a statement. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, I will do everything in my power to support the construction of a permanent embassy. He added that he looked forward to hearing what the administrations plan is to bring the parties together to work toward two states for two peoples.

While Democrats have a long history of voting for legislation and nonbinding resolutions to move the embassy, many nonetheless condemned Trumps decision as detrimental to the peace process when he announced it in December. Democrats were conspicuously absent from a congressional delegation at the opening ceremony, which was led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and includes Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Dean Heller, R-Nev.

I am disappointed that not one Democrat came, Graham told reporters. What does that say? Its not for me to tell you what that says. It hurts me. Because I work across the aisle on a regular basis.

While most Democrats  including those who objected to Trumps embassy move  remained silent on the mounting death toll amid the Gaza protests today, a handful of Democratic lawmakers highlighted the chaos and criticized the Israeli response.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called the casualties heartbreaking and noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is desperate, calling on Trump to restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

The location of the embassy is a final-status issue that should have been resolved as part of peace negotiations where both sides benefit, not just one side, said Feinstein. Israel will only know true security when it is at peace with its neighbors.

There are better ways to deal with the tensions in #Gaza than bullets, Rep. Marc Pocan, D-Wis., tweeted. Restraint is necessary for peace to ever occur.

Likewise, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., took to Twitter to denounce the horrific death toll in Gaza.

The U.S. should be laying the groundwork for peace, she tweeted, not fueling conflict in the region with an unnecessary & counterproductive embassy move.HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is using a grant from the Alabama Power Foundation to bring genomic education to Alabama's college students.

Five Alabama colleges and universities will take part in the program this year, and another 25 schools are slated to be added in the fall.

"We hope this experience will inspire more Alabama students to pursue a career in the STEM fields such as genomics and bioinformatics," Neil Lamb, vice president for Educational Outreach at HudsonAlpha, said.

The program is being funded through a $150,000 grant from the Alabama Power Foundation. "Characterizing Our DNA Exceptions" or CODE, will bring HudsonAlpha together with small groups of college students to produce authentic genomic research.

Current sequencing technologies make it possible to obtain the entire genetic code of an individual in a matter of days. The process also finds DNA variants, or genetic changes, which have not undergone the same amount of study and are therefore not as well understood.

As Michele Morris, workforce development lead at HudsonAlpha explained, these changes, known as variants of uncertain significance, or VUS, may have roles in the development of traits or diseases.

Through CODE, students will work to computationally analyze DNA variants  a practice known as bioinformatics  from real-world, anonymous clinical samples. This kind of analysis can be time consuming, which is one reason it has been historically conducted at large universities.

CODE will bring the research to students at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Alabama State University, Birmingham Southern College and Lawson State and Wallace State Community Colleges.

Each school will select a faculty member to serve as program adviser, who will then select five to 10 students to participate in CODE. HudsonAlpha researchers and educators are hosting a two-day workshop for the advisers today and tomorrow.

"Programs like this one can be real game changers for these students, and we are proud to provide support," Myla Calhoun, president of the Alabama Power Foundation said.

Pilot schools will participate in CODE for the 2018-2019 academic year. Students will present their work at a pilot group symposium next March. Then the pilot schools will be eligible to continue participation for a second year. This fall, HudsonAlpha will begin recruiting 25 more schools.

"Enormous amounts of genomic data are being generated on a daily basis, so CODE participants will have access to that data and work to characterize newly identified DNA variants," Lamb said.Delta Airlines paid tribute today to a woman who died Saturday night in a plane crash in Calhoun County.

Stefanie Fasselin, 27, of Peachtree City, Ga., was killed when a private, single-engine Beech BE-35 crashed in the Whites Gap area near Scotty Lane around Jacksonville about 8:05 p.m. Fasselin was a passenger on the plane, piloted by her father, who was injured.

The father's name has not been released, and his condition is unavailable. He was carried to Huntsville Hospital.

The crash, which apparently happened after the plane developed engine trouble, is currently under investigation. According to National Transportation Safety Board Spokesman Keith Holloway, the pilot/owner was flying from Hartselle to Peachtree City, Ga. on a visual flight rules trip. At 5,500 feet, he reported engine problems and turned the aircraft in a northwesterly heading before performing a forced landing.

The plane collided with trees, then the ground. A fire that erupted from the crash consumed about 80 percent of the wreckage, he said.

"The wreckage is in the process of being recovered and sent to Griffin, Ga.," Holloway said.

NTSB investigating crash of a BE-33/A airplane in Jacksonville, AL.  NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) May 13, 2018

Fasselin was a graduate of Brigham Young University and held an MBA from the University of Georgia. She had previously worked in Utah and began with Delta Airlines in 2009, working her way up from customer service to becoming a communications manager.

Her father, as well as her husband, worked for the company, according to Delta.

"The Delta family is heartbroken to hear of the passing of one of its own. Stefanie was a rising star and an integral part of our team at the Atlanta airport, managing communications and employee engagement," the company said in a statement. "She will be missed by all that knew her. Our deepest condolences are with her father and husband, who are also members of the Delta family, as well as all of her loved ones during this difficult time."

This post was updated at 3:39 p.m. May 14 to add additional information from the NTSB.A man dropped off at a Birmingham hospital with a fatal gunshot wound Friday is believed to have been shot during gunfire at a Hoover apartment complex that also left another man dead.

The Jefferson County Coroner's Office on Friday identified the second victim as Christopher Maurice Bryant. He was 25 and lived in Memphis. Authorities said he was identified through fingerprints on file with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Birmingham police said Christopher Bryant was dropped off about 5 a.m. Friday at Princeton Baptist Medical Center. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

"Our detectives were aware very early into our investigation that a gunshot victim was dropped off at Princeton Baptist Medical Center about 90 minutes after our homicide occurred,'' said Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector on Monday. "We've been working with Birmingham detectives and evidence certainly suggests that both of the deceased individuals were shot at The Cliffs at Rocky Ridge Apartments."

"We'll be taking the lead investigative role in both cases and attempting to sort out exactly what transpired,'' Rector said. "We know others were involved and we believe we're already making some progress."

Earlier, 22-year-old Tavarius Jamal Bryant (no relation to Christopher Bryant) was found dead Friday morning outside of his apartment at the Hoover complex. Hoover officers responded to The Cliffs at Rocky Ridge shortly before 4 a.m. on a call of a shooting. Once on the scene, they found Tavarius Bryant lying on a sidewalk between the parking lot and the apartment's breezeway.

Authorities said the shooting happened at 3:38 a.m., and Tavarius Bryant was pronounced dead at 3:48 a.m. Authorities said multiple shots had been fired and two vehicles belonging to residents in the complex were hit by the bullets.

Lt. Keith Czeskleba said evidence at the scene suggest that Tavarius Bryant was armed and able to return shots toward his assailant or assailants. Investigators haven't yet said who was responsible for the bullets that struck both of the homicide victims.

He had previously been convicted on drug charges, court records show, and had been arrested by Vestavia Hills police and the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force on additional drug charges but was given the opportunity to take part in the pretrial diversion program.

Police said they believe Bryant was specifically targeted and there was no threat to the general public. Investigators said Friday they were looking into the possibility that the two killings were linked.

On Monday they said that investigation is progressing.

"We know others were involved and we believe we're already making some progress,'' Rector said. "We also know that some of those with knowledge of the case know exactly what happened and we encourage them to contact Sgt. Matt Savage at 205-739-6780. Tipsters may remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama at 205-254-7777. "The Alabama Public Charter School Commission today denied an application for a charter school in Bessemer and approved an application for one in Washington County.

Organizers of the Eugene Edwards Technology Charter School in Bessemer will continue to pursue the project, founder Charnetta Gadling-Cole said.

"We'll go through whatever process we need to go through," Gadling-Cole said. "We have a great team in place so we'll be moving forward in a positive direction."

The school had planned to open in 2019-2020 and initially serve grades K-2 with plans to expand to K-8. The commission turned down the approval of the application by a 5-4 vote.

It was the second vote of the day by the commission on the application. Earlier, the commission rejected a motion to deny the application by a 6-3 vote.

Commissioner Lisa Williams proposed the motion to deny because she did not think the applicants had presented enough specifics on how the program would help students achieve academically. Williams said she appreciated the group's efforts and intent and urged them to refine their plan and try again.

"It's too important for us not to get this right," Williams said.

Alabama Public Charter School Commission Chairman Mac Buttram asks a question to the organizers of the Eugene Edwards Technology Charter School in Bessemer.

Other commissioners agreed more specifics were needed about the school's curriculum and financial planning but were not ready to deny the application outright. They discussed the possibility of a conditional approval before breaking for lunch.

The vote to deny approval came this afternoon.

The commission approved the application for Woodland Preparatory, a charter school in Washington County, this afternoon, by a vote of 7-2.

Woodland Prep plans to open in 2019-2020 with 260 students in prekindergarten through seventh grade. The school plans to add one grade each year for the following four years and eventually grow to serve 664 students from prekindergarten through 12th grade.

The Legislature first authorized charter schools in Alabama in 2015. The Public Charter School Commission has now approved six applications for start-up charter schools, although one was found invalid by a judge.

The state's first charter school, ACCEL Academy in Mobile, opened last year. University Charter School in Livingston in is scheduled to open this August.

Legacy Prep charter school in Birmingham and SLAM charter school in Huntsville were approved to open in 2019.

The commission voted 5-1 to approve the application of LEAD Academy in Montgomery. But a Montgomery judge ruled six votes were required for approval under the charter school law. That ruling is being appealed.

Charter schools are publicly funded but have more autonomy in decisions on hiring, curriculum, scheduling and other matters than traditional public schools.

This story was updated at 6:38 p.m. to say that the application for a Bessemer charter school was denied and the one for a Washington County charter school was approved. Updated at 3:35 p.m. on May 15 to add more information about Woodland Prep and other charters that have been approved.

It has been nearly a year since a judge ruled that a Christian cross long displayed in a Pensacola public park must come down. This week a higher court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the city's appeal.

The case goes back to 2016 and has provoked official interest in Alabama, which is one of more than a dozen states to express support for Pensacola's right to keep the 34-foot cross in Bayview Park. Its judicial handling also prompted criticism from Roy Moore during his run to become governor of Alabama.

The cross was erected in 1969 by the Pensacola Jaycees, replacing an earlier wooden version built by the National Youth Administration. In 2016 a quartet of plaintiffs -- Amanda and Andreiy Kondrat'Yev, Andre Ryland and David Suhor -- sued for its removal, charging that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The city argued that the cross did not represent a violation and should be left alone.

In June 2017, Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled in favor of plaintiffs. Vinson made it abundantly clear that the ruling was distasteful to him but that precedent in such cases was clearly established. "It is still the law of the land and I am not free to ignore it ... the law is the law," he wrote.

Vinson said the cross had to be removed within 30 days, but that order was suspended while Vinson's ruling was appealed by the city, Mayor Ashton Howard and Director of Parks and Recreation Brian Cooper. It is being heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

In January the court "determined that oral argument will be necessary in this case." Wednesday, May 16, is the date set for those arguments to take place.

Aside from the attorney's general of other states, a number of outside groups have filed briefs in the case. According to court documents, those arguing for removal of the cross include Amicus Curium Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, ACLU-Florida, the Anti-Defamation League, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Center for Inquiry, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America Inc., the Jewish Social Policy Action Network, Muslim Advocates, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Sikh Coalition, Union for Reform Judaism and Women of Reform Judaism.

Organizations listed as supporting Pensacola include International Municipal Lawyers Association, The Foundation for Moral Law Inc. (affiliated with Roy Moore), Jews for Religious Liberty, Agudath Israel of America, the Coalition for Jewish Values, the Rabbinical Council of America, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Junior Chamber International Florida and the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah.

According to court couments, the Kondrat'yevs, Ryland and Suhor will be represented by attorney Monica Lynn Miller of the American Humanist Association. The Freedom from Religion Foundation also is supporting them.

Attorney Luke William Goodrich of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will present Pensacola's argument for keeping the cross. The city also is represented by attorneys from the Pensacola firm Beggs & Lane and the Tallahassee firm Allen Norton & Blue."Paul Cassel and Richard Fowles of the University of Utah analyzed the dramatic surge in Chicago homicides in 2016. Homicides went from 480 in 2015 to 754 in 2016 - a stunning event.

"They asked why. They considered numerous possible causes. They concluded the 58 percent increase was caused by the abrupt decline in 'stop and frisks' in 2015. There had been a horrific police shooting, protests and an ACLU lawsuit. The settlement of that lawsuit resulted in a decline in stops from 40,000 per month to 10,000 per month. Arrests fell also. In sum, they conclude that these actions in late 2016, conservatively calculated, resulted in approximately 236 additional victims killed and over 1,100 additional shootings in 2016 alone. The scholars call it the 'ACLU effect.'

"Look, this does not surprise you experienced professionals. If you want crime to go up, let the ACLU run the police department. If you want public safety, call the professionals. That is what President Trump believes, and that is what I believe." - Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a speech to a law enforcement training conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, May 8, 2018

- - -

Sessions blamed a legal settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Police Department for a sharp rise in that city's homicide rate in 2016, citing an unpublished research paper to support his claim.

The ACLU in a 2015 report had found that Chicago police were using stop-and-frisk practices disproportionately on black residents. "Although officers are required to write down the reason for stops, in nearly half of the stops we reviewed, officers either gave an unlawful reason for the stop or failed to provide enough information to justify the stop," the ACLU report said.

Facing an ACLU lawsuit, the Chicago Police Department agreed to a settlement that imposed training and data collection requirements in 2015.

The study Sessions referenced, by two University of Utah researchers, took note of a nearly 60 percent spike in homicides in Chicago in 2016. The researchers concluded that the ACLU settlement reduced instances of stop and frisk in Chicago, which in turn caused homicides to rise.

The attorney general and this study essentially say the ACLU settlement is a mortal threat, and they suggest this is a cautionary tale for the rest of the country.

But the study's methodology has been questioned, other reports about the Chicago homicide spike did not blame the ACLU settlement, and critics point out that other cities that adopted similar or tougher requirements for stop-and-frisk practices did not see comparable increases in homicides.

We won't try to settle the larger debate over stop and frisk. But we will examine how Sessions's claim holds up. Do homicides go up in cities with stop-and-frisk requirements like Chicago's?

- - -

Sessions is quoting from an unpublished research paper titled, "What Caused the 2016 Chicago Homicide Spike? An Empirical Examination of the 'ACLU Effect' and the Role of Stop and Frisks in Preventing Gun Violence," by Paul Cassell, a former federal judge who teaches law at the University of Utah, and Richard Fowles, an economics professor at the same university. Cassell said the study will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Illinois Law Review and has been presented by invitation to the Illinois Academy of Criminology.

Adopted in August 2015, the ACLU settlement reinforced existing record-keeping requirements for Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers using stop-and-frisk practices by requiring that data on such stops be collected and made public. It also imposed training requirements and other provisions. The use of police pat-downs declined as a result starting in late 2015, according to Cassell and Fowles. (Illinois enacted a statute that took effect around the same time, in January 2016, largely mirroring the requirements in the ACLU settlement.)

"What would be the expected effect of an abrupt, roughly 75% to 80% drop in stop and frisk activities by the CPD?" the authors wrote. "One rather obvious answer is that gun crimes would increase. Stop and frisk is designed to discover and remove illegal firearms from the hands of criminals that police encounter - and thus deter the illegal carrying of firearms in the first place."

Zachary Fardon, a former Chicago U.S. attorney, wrote in a letter of resignation in March 2017 that police officers were "scared and demoralized" by the ACLU deal.

"So cops stopped making stops," Fardon wrote. "And kids started shooting more - because they could, and because the rule of law, law enforcement, had been delegitimized. And that created an atmosphere of chaos."

In 2016, the number of homicides rose to 754 from 480, a staggering rate of increase that was not seen in any other of the 20 largest U.S. cities, according to the Utah study. The homicide total was later revised to 771 for 2016, meaning an increase of 61 percent. In 2017, homicides fell to 650, a 16 percent drop.

"We conclude that, because of fewer stop and frisks in 2016, a conservative estimate is that approximately 236 additional homicides and 1115 additional shootings occurred that year," Cassell and Fowles wrote. "A reasonable estimate of the social costs associated with these additional homicides and shootings is about $1,500,000,000. And these costs are concentrated in Chicago's African-American and Hispanic communities."

Sessions correctly quoted from this study in his speech in Tennessee, but that's not the end of our analysis. Chicago is hardly alone among major U.S. cities that have adopted restrictions or requirements on stop-and-frisk practices. But it is the only one of these cities that registered a big spike in its homicide rate the following year.

In New York City, a federal judge found in 2014 that, of the 4.4 million stops police officers had conducted from January 2004 to June 2012, more than 80 percent were of blacks or Hispanics. "More than half of the time the police subjected the person to a frisk," Judge Shira A. Scheindlin found. She ordered remedies including data-collection requirements.

"A lot was done in terms of training, education, community policing; of course, the body camera settlement; reporting on the stops; documenting them; having a basis for them," Scheindlin, who is now in private practice, told The Fact Checker.

The requirements in New York City resemble those in the ACLU settlement in Chicago. But in New York, the murder rate held steady, and crime decreased overall, after Scheindlin's rulings.

Philadelphia has been working under a settlement agreement on stop-and-frisk practices like Chicago's since 2011, and its homicide rate fell for several years afterward before rising again in 2016 and 2017 (albeit at much lower rates than in Chicago).

Seattle has been under a consent decree that includes stop-and-frisk provisions since 2012, and its yearly homicide rate has been mostly steady, hovering between 19 and 27, in the following years.

In Newark, New Jersey, a consent decree imposing requirements for stop-and-frisk practices, among other provisions, was adopted in 2016. The city reported 72 homicides in 2017, a 25 percent drop, although nonfatal shootings increased.

"The consent decree was signed and the monitor appointed in the spring and summer of 2016, and Newark continues to have the lowest crime in 50 years since then," said Paul J. Fishman, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, who implemented the consent decree. He said "homicides are down 30 percent" and added that citizen complaints about police have declined by "more than 25 percent." Fishman said he credited the leadership of the Newark Police Department for recognizing that the consent decree made for effective policing.

"All that consent decrees really do is give teeth to enforcing what everybody agrees are the right police procedures to begin with, both because they're good policing and because they're what the law requires," said Fishman, now a partner at Arnold and Porter. "As lawyers - people in the Justice Department - talking about Chicago, they should be very wary of drawing evidentiary conclusions from the behavior of one police department in one particular location, or from the crime rate in Chicago."

Cassell and Fowles are not the only ones to have studied Chicago's surge in homicides in 2016. A study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab did not attribute it to the reduction in stop-and-frisk practices.

"What caused Chicago's sudden surge in gun violence in 2016 remains a puzzle," that study says. It adds:

"Weather cannot explain the surge in homicides and shootings, since monthly temperatures in 2016 were close to their historical averages. City spending on social services and public education did not change much in 2016 compared to previous years, and while the state budget impasse disrupted funding for many community organizations, this did not seem to change sharply in December 2015.

"Most relevant measures of police activity did not change abruptly enough to explain the surge in gun violence. Overall arrests declined in 2016, driven by narcotics arrests, but arrests for violent crimes, including homicides and shootings, barely changed. One policing measure that declined was the chance of arrest for homicides and shootings (the 'clearance rate'), which was a result of arrests for these crimes not keeping pace with the increase in gun violence. Another policing measure that declined was the number of investigatory street stops. However, for this to explain why shootings increased in Chicago would also require an explanation for why the previous dramatic decline in street stops in New York City did not lead to more gun violence there."

Cassell and Fowles called New York City an "anomaly" and wrote that it had a much lower rate of homicides committed with firearms than Chicago, "a small number of guns and gun crimes (relative to Chicago and many other cities)," and a police force that is about 25 percent larger than Chicago's on a per-capita basis.

But what about Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle and the other cities with stop-and-frisk requirements like Chicago's? The experience in these cities resembles New York's, not Chicago's.

In their study, Cassell and Fowles cited research by other academics into 17 cities with police departments working under consent decrees, not including Chicago or New York. They wrote that, "on average, violent crime rates were 2.6 percent higher and property crime rates 6.9% higher" in those cities, as compared with the national average.

That's much lower than the increase in Chicago homicides. So why is Chicago a good example of what could happen in the rest of the country?

We asked Cassell and Fowles whether they had identified any other cities where homicides rose, as in Chicago, after comparable stop-and-frisk curbs were adopted. They did not mention any in response.

"Other commentators have argued that New York City's experience in reducing stop and frisks without, apparently, a big rise in homicides means that New York City's approach can be followed elsewhere," Cassell wrote in an email. "Our paper suggests that New York City's experience may be anomalous. Instead, Chicago's experience may suggest caution in substantially reducing stop and frisks in other cities. We also collect other research that has found a connection between stop and frisk by law enforcement and crime reductions."

We also asked the Justice Department whether it was aware of any other cities beyond Chicago that proved Sessions's point about the dangers of the "ACLU effect." We received no response.

Cassell and Fowles's paper entertains the possibility that other factors contributed to Chicago's homicide spike in 2016, including "changes in police leadership," "fractured gang leadership," "the opioid epidemic" and the release of a video in which a white police officer shoots and kills Laquan McDonald, a black teenager. The video's release sparked protests and a Justice Department review of the city's police culture.

That DOJ report, produced before Sessions was named attorney general, does not blame the ACLU settlement for the spike in gun violence in 2016.

"Over the year-plus since release of that video, and while we have been conducting this investigation, Chicago experienced a surge in shootings and homicides," the DOJ report says. "The reasons for this spike are broadly debated and inarguably complex. But on two points there is little debate. First, for decades, certain neighborhoods on Chicago's South and West Sides have been disproportionately ravaged by gun violence. Those same neighborhoods have borne the brunt of the recent surge of violence. And second, for Chicago to find solutions - short- and long-term - for making those neighborhoods safe, it is imperative that the City rebuild trust between CPD and the people it serves, particularly in these communities."

Carl Takei, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said the University of Utah study was flawed because it mistook correlation for causation. New York and Seattle, he said, have imposed tougher limits on stop-and-frisk practices than Chicago, but their homicide rates did not increase. (The ACLU has responded at length to Cassell and Fowles's research.)

"If limiting stop-and-frisk really did cause an increase in the homicide rate, one would expect it to happen in the jurisdictions that imposed substantive limits on stop-and-frisk, not just in the jurisdiction where data collection alone was taking place," Takei said, referring to Chicago.

"Instead, less use of stop-and-frisk in New York and Seattle resulted in . . . no more homicides than before. That contradicts the final step of the authors' asserted chain of causation. So, to the extent the authors are arguing that the mere act of data collection causes homicides (as opposed to merely being a coincidence), they would need to explain that chain of causation through some other mechanism. They do not, and that's why their study is bunk."

Scheindlin, the judge who handled the stop-and-frisk case in New York, said Chicago might be the anomaly.

"Chicago, I think, may have a well-known gang problem that New York did not," she said. "We're probably not talking about random murders targeting pedestrians. That's probably not what it is. The murder rate is affected by many factors such as gang activity, drug activity."

She added: "I don't view New York as an anomaly. I was confident that crime would not rise. It didn't. I was glad to have been right about that."

- - -

Sessions is cherry-picking an extreme example of rising violence in one city, Chicago, to warn about the dangers of imposing limits or requirements on police's use of stop and frisk anywhere in the United States. But to prove this theory requires more than one example, harrowing as it may be.

Although the attorney general cited the University of Utah study correctly, that study is alone in arguing that the decrease in stop-and-frisk practices was the cause of Chicago's homicide surge in 2016. Newark, New York City, Philadelphia and Seattle have not seen significant increases in their murder rates since they adopted stop-and-frisk requirements like Chicago's. Indeed, some of these cities have seen homicides decline even with tougher limits on stop and frisk than Chicago has.

The veneer of an academic study does not change these facts, so we award Three Pinocchios to Sessions.

Salvador Rizzo is a reporter for The Fact Checker. He previously covered New Jersey politics, courts, state finances and Gov. Chris Christie, with stints at the Star-Ledger, the Bergen Record and the Observer.John Meredith, of Huntsville, is a former Capitol Hill lobbyist who was recognized as one of the country's 100 most influential Black Republicans.

The political season is full of surprises. The latest occurred when GE Aviation held a ribbon cutting ceremony at their new Huntsville location and a gubernatorial campaign broke out.

John Meredith is a contributing columnist for AL.com (Contributed photo)

Politicians and business leaders gathered to roll out the welcome wagon for GE Aviation and educate the community with regard to the unique nature of the work that will be conducted there. In doing so, Gov. Kay Ivey made a brash attempt to put the hometown candidate in his place. She failed.

Perhaps because they weren't discussing policy, I managed to get beyond what they were saying and noticed that each was projecting a different political brand.

Ivey is typical of Old South politicians. They intentionally feign humility. They profess gratitude for their opportunities and a heartfelt concern for the common man. Sadly, Ivey falls short at selling her sincerity. As a result, she must garner votes through the use of patronage, cultural dog whistles and political credit grabbing.

Mayor Tommy Battle represents the New South politician -- creative, forward-thinking and detail oriented. He dove straight into the technology of the new facility. He humanized himself through self-deprecating humor and explained how other communities will benefit from Huntsville's latest acquisition. Battle earns his votes by providing constituents tangible increases to their quality of life.

Limestone County Commission President Mark Yarborough is the quintessential Bridge-Building politician. His brand of folksy communication is honest and sincere. He heaps praise on his colleagues, rarely taking any credit for himself.

Yarborough is a coalition builder and his constituents have seen the quality of their lives improve because of his collaborative efforts. His votes are earned day-after-day through personal interaction with his constituents and by their word-of-mouth endorsements to other constituents.

After their remarks, I pondered the many campaigns currently being conducted across our great state. I began to wonder just how many other candidates embodied recognizable political brands.

The Republican primary for Attorney General has some of the most interesting examples of candidate branding. Some represent their brands better than others and given their many hotly contested debates north of the river, I am anxiously waiting to see which political brand emerges the victor.

The incumbent, Steve Marshall, may not breathe fire when delivering his stump speech but he is passionate when he talks about his record as Attorney General. His opponents attack him at every event. Through it all, Marshall remains resolute and resists the temptation to respond in kind. His New South brand is definitely muted by the nature of the office he seeks but it's plain to see.

Chess Bedsole is a stark example of Religious Right branding. Relying on his Christian values, if elected, Bedsole would use the office to stop the "moral decline" of the citizenry as well as "anti-Christian policies."

Rounding out the field of Attorney General candidates actively engaged in north Alabama is Alice Martin. This enthusiastic registered nurse turned prosecutor illustrates the appeal of the Old South brand when embodied by a skilled politician.

Then there's Troy King, another statewide candidate who can't be bothered to cross the river. Probably a smart move on his part as folks in our neck of the woods haven't taken kindly to his double speak when questioned about his position on gambling.

A drastic contrast to most similarly branded candidates, King is a Bridge Builder. Unfortunately, his bridges may well lead exclusively to his personal enrichment.

There are many ways to evaluate candidates for office. There are television and radio ads; stump speeches and palm cards. Candidates go door-to-door in neighborhoods. And they participate in countless forums where they interact directly with voters.

Now Alabama can add ribbon cuttings and political branding to the long list of peculiarities that make this our sweet home.Can the Office of Missing Persons provide answers in a country with the worlds second highest number of disappearances?

Correction May 15, 2018:This article originally stated that testimony was gathered from 80 Tamil asylum seekers who were abducted, tortured and raped over the past two years. The correct number is 76 asylum seekers over a period of three years.

Sasikumar Ranginithevi cant hide her tears as she looks at four faded photographs in her trembling hands.

Two brothers, a husband and her brother-in-law. They all fought for the Tamil Tigers. They all surrendered to the army. And they all disappeared.

Her hometown, Mullaitivu, is a city of the missing. Nestled on Sri Lankas northeast tip, this town was the front line in some of the bloodiest final battles of a 26-year civil war between the armed group, the Tamil Tigers, and government forces.

Sasikumar and hundreds of other Tamil families claim they handed over their loved ones  former combatants  to the military on a causeway near Mullaitivu in May 2009, just after the war ended.

Many buses were lined up. Hundreds of them. I was seven months pregnant at the time. When I asked to go in the bus with my husband, the army commander refused, she says.

Sasikumar was forced onto another bus and ended up at a refugee camp with her parents. She believed that her relatives would also be processed and brought to the camp.

But almost a decade later, she is still waiting, along with other relatives of former combatants who were herded onto buses and never came back.

don't know whether he is dead or alive. Sasikumar Ranginithevi

With most of the men of working age in her family gone, Sasikumar is struggling to survive as the sole breadwinner in her household.

We have no peace in our lives. I have two children, I have parents and an older brother who was wounded in the war. My youngest son is nine years old. He keeps asking me where his father is. I keep telling him his father is in detention. Now Im slowly telling him that his father is lost. Missing. It makes me cry inside. What can I tell my son? I dont know whether hes dead or alive, she says.

Former fighters, children and civilians who disappeared during the 26-year civil war are still missing. [Al Jazeera]

The army officer took the child from my arms

Former fighters are not the only ones who disappeared in the chaos of the conflict. Children and civilians are also among the missing.

Sivakanthan Manchulas eight-year-old son was wounded by a mortar shell in the final days of the war. Soldiers took him by helicopter to a hospital in another city for treatment.

The army officer took the child from my arms, she recalls. They said they would bring him back when he was cured. They kept repeating that to us, even when they locked us up in the camp. He was only eight. If he died of the wound, I would have been able to accept the fact that he is no more.

Like many whose loved ones went missing during the war, she reported her sons disappearance to the United Nations and the Red Cross. But she admits she has very little evidence to prove what happened.

How do they expect us to remember the faces of officers responsible? We were facing shelling, we had no food and water  we had to follow the soldiers instructions like cows.

Denial: An exaggerated story

At the time of these disappearances, former General Sarath Fonseka was Sri Lankas army chief. He says that all 215,000 Tamils who surrendered during the war were properly processed in the presence of international observers.

During the last two weeks of the war, we had a good system where we had beautiful arrangements. I am 100 percent sure incidents of this nature never took place. People being taken in busloads and never returning  that is definitely an exaggerated story, he says.

Many Tamil families of the missing refute these denials.

For the past year they have held daily vigils in Mullaitivu and four other towns across Sri Lanka. In the tents where they sit in the wind and the dust, photos of missing loved ones hang on the walls.

Theyre furious with the authorities. When the government was elected in 2015, leaders promised to release the names of people held in custody, but have since refused to do so.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has also been criticised for being slow to set up an Office of Missing Persons to trace the 60,000 Sri Lankans who disappeared in the last three decades. It took three years of deliberations before seven commissioners were appointed.

Lead commissioner, Saliya Pieris, a well-known human rights lawyer, says the Office of Missing Persons will have forensic experts, witness protection divisions and investigative powers. But he admits it will not have the power to prosecute guilty parties. The office can only refer suspects to the lawyer.

I think the scepticism is natural, Pieris says. The only way we can get rid of this is through actions and by establishing a credible mechanism. If we promise people results overnight and the results are not forthcoming, people will lose faith. But we have to be objective, independent and impartial.

People were herded onto buses and never came back. [Al Jazeera]

No public trust in the Office of Missing Persons

Critics remain doubtful that the new agency will help trace the missing. This is the 10th commission set up to investigate disappearances. None of the past efforts solved a single case.

{articleGUID}

In this divided country, the Office of Missing Persons has attracted criticism from various parties because the commissioners include a former army general, a family member of a disappeared person and human rights activists.

Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, a lawyer who works with families of the disappeared, says there isnt a lot of public trust in the office.

I think one of the reasons is that families werent consulted in the process, says Jegatheeswaran, from the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research.

I think having a military representative was a huge blow to the families confidence  When military were often the perpetrators in disappearances that happened during the armed conflict, how can they feel confident going before somebody who is a military official and was part of the military during this period of the conflict?

The military is also unhappy with the makeup of the commission.

While President Sirisena has said that war heroes would not be subject to scrutiny by the agency, Major General Uday Perera says many senior army officers are still not prepared to testify.

When you have people who have been critical of the army as commissioners, I dont think personally I would not like to go there and get humiliated. So its a matter of having credible, neutral people in the commission, rather than having activists and people who have been working for NGOs, Perera says.

Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, lawyer

Using abduction to silence government critics

Sri Lankas security forces arent only accused of wartime mass disappearances. Theyve been accused of abducting government critics to silence dissent. Trade unionists, journalists and human rights campaigners say they were targeted during and after the civil war.

Major General Perera, who was a chief of operations in northern Sri Lanka, denies the security forces have ever been involved in enforced disappearances,

This is not a banana state, he says. If someone thinks that Sri Lanka can hide and keep a person in todays context, I think he should go and see a psychiatrist.

{articleGUID}

But his former boss, General Sarath Fonseka disagrees. Now a minister in Sri Lankas government, he says he is prepared to testify at the Missing Persons Office that former President Mahinda Rajapaksas administration used abductions to silence their critics.

He alleges that former Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former presidents brother, was the mastermind behind these abductions.

I have very good tight control of the military. But there are other people like some in the police, some in intelligence agencies who prefer to please this man and join hands with him. Abductions were taking place Whoever did that, they did not do it during the process of their legitimate duties, outside the duties.

In a statement, Gotabaya Rajapaksa denied these allegations.

I very confidently take this opportunity to place on record that, during the war on terrorism mentioned, [the] government of Sri Lanka did not engage in any acts of alleged enforced disappearances and abductions as claimed by various scurrilous elements with vested political interest, Rajapaksa said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

This is not a banana state ... If someone thinks that Sri Lanka can hide and keep a person in today's context, I think he should go and see a psychiatrist. Uday Perera, Major General

Systematic and widespread torture to instill fear

Earlier this year, Sri Lanka passed a law criminalising abductions. General Sarath Fonseka says abductions or enforced disappearances are a thing of the past.

But the International Truth and Justice Project, an advocacy group administered by the Foundation for Human Rights, has gathered testimony from 76 Tamil asylum seekers across Europe who allege they were abducted in the past three years.

Its a claim backed up by London-based refugee lawyer, Kulasegaram Geetharhanan. He represents more than 100 clients who are claiming asylum in the UK because they fear their lives are in danger under Sri Lankas current regime. Geetharhanan says four of his clients claim they were tortured earlier this year.

The torture is systematic and widespread. The purpose we can see is to instill fear in the Tamils, not to revolt again and at the same time, not to give evidence against the war crimes in 2009, Geetharhanan says.

I think I could be abducted again if I went back ... I will commit suicide if I'm forced back to Sri Lanka. Milton Thusanathan

Many of the men had relatives who fought for the Tamil Tigers. Milton Thusanathan, 20, alleges he was abducted and tortured in Mullaitivu by the security forces in 2016 and then again in 2017.

I think I could be abducted again if I went back  I will commit suicide if Im forced back to Sri Lanka, he said.Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza and more than 2,000 wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition and tear gas at protesters assembled along the fence with Israel on Monday.

It was the highest Palestinian death toll in a single day since a series of demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return began on March 30  and since the 2014 Gaza war.

Of the hundreds of wounded, the Ministry of Health said at least 74 were children, 23 were women, and eight were journalists.

On this day, the Israeli massacre continues against our people, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on television from Ramallah.

Hundreds of protesters ventured to within several hundred metres of the barrier, while others moved even closer, rolling burning tyres and hurling stones. Israeli security forces fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire.

Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 86 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded more than 9,400.New US embassy to be opened on 1949 Armistice Line, which has long been violated by occupation of East Jerusalem.

The new US embassy in Jerusalem is located on the border of the 1949 Armistice Line, which has long been violated by the occupation of East Jerusalem.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its united capital, and its annexation of East Jerusalem effectively put the entire city under Israeli control. Palestinian leaders, however, see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.Do you believe Donald Trump is an Islamophobe?

Congressman Keith EllisonWith partial results of Iraqs parliamentary vote released, Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadrs Sairoon coalition (the Alliance of Revolutionaries for Reform) is leading in the polls. Coming in second is Hadi al-Amiris Fatah (Conquest) coalition, featuring a list of candidates from Shia militias. Incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis coalition, Nasr (Victory) Alliance, is third.

Observers of Iraqs electoral process predicted the exact opposite, assuming the incumbent al-Abadi would have the advantage. The Iraqi prime minister was expected to win the majority vote, capitalising on the victory against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which he announced in December last year and which he re-emphasised in the name of his alliance.

Sairoon, an anomalous coalition of the Sadrist Islamist movement and the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), was not perceived as a frontrunner in these elections. However, the fact that it secured the most votes in the capital Baghdad shows that Iraqis are seeking political change and voting against the status quo of the past decade. That is also confirmed by the surprisingly low results for both al-Abadis coalition and former PM Nouri al-Malikis Islamic Dawa Party.

That there is much dissatisfaction with the political elite is also clear from the record low turnout rate: just 44.5 percent of eligible voters cast their votes. The other 55.5 percent abstained from voting either out of apathy or in protest.

Al-Sadrs victory appears to indicate that political attitudes in Iraq are going back towards concern for civic and national issues and away from the ethno-sectarian political rhetoric that dominated the political scene since the 2003 invasion. Al-Amiris coalition with its former militia leaders turned politicians also appealed to a significant amount of voters, demonstrating that sectarian militarism is still a source of political mobilisation power.

The Sadrist victory

Indeed, the biggest surprise in these Iraqi elections has been that Moqtada al-Sadrs latest political re-invention was successful. The Shia leader did not always wear the robes of a nationalist political leader seeking an alliance with secular forces.

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Sadrs only political asset was the reputation of his father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, a prominent Shia cleric who opposed Saddam Hussein and who was a rival of top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Moqtada al-Sadr inherited a network that his father  who was assassinated in 1999 by Iraqi intelligence agents  had developed among Iraqs urban poor and disenfranchised who endured hardship during the Baathist regime. In 2004 he put together a militia called Jaish al-Mahdi (the Mahdi Army), which attacked US occupation forces. Four years later, he announced the disarming of his militia and attempted to disavow the use of violence.

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Sadr then reinvented himself as a grassroots Shia and Iraqi nationalist leader, who stood above the fray of partisan Shia politics in parliament and embraced the politics of protest. In 2016, he formed an alliance with the ICP and other secular groups that had been instrumental in organising anti-corruption rallies for the past three years.

They demanded that the government reform the political system, clamp down on corrupt officials and ensure judicial independence. In 2016, al-Abadi conceded to these demands and put forward a list of technocrats who were meant to replace ministers affiliated with various political forces. He failed to pass this motion in a recalcitrant parliament after parties who rely on these ministerial positions for patronage and distribution of funds blocked it.

In June 2017 the Sadrists and the communists agreed to run in the 2018 elections together. Despite their differences, the parties ran on a platform appealing to marginalised groups and combating social inequality. The alliance was meant to demonstrate to the public al-Sadrs formal renouncement of sectarian politics and adoption of nationalist rhetoric.

Al-Amiris success and the Iran factor

The other winner in these elections is Hadi al-Amiri, who fought with the Iranians against Saddam Husseins regime during the Iran-Iraq war and who serves as the leader of the Badr Organization, a pro-Iran party and militia.

In June 2014, the Badr Organization became the backbone of the Popular Mobilization Forces formed in response to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistanis call to arms to fight against ISIL.

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In these elections, its Conquest coalition fielded candidates who served in the war against ISIL and used predominantly sectarian and pro-Iran rhetoric during its campaign. In January, Abadi tried to enter into a coalition with Amiri, but the alliance quickly broke up after the move sparked angry criticism.

Given his close relations with Iran, al-Amiri is likely to use his second place in the elections to promulgate the interests of the Islamic Republic. In the wake of the Trump administrations decision to withdraw from the Iran deal, he is expected challenge al-Abadi, who has been conciliatory to the US so far.

None of Iraqs five major Shia coalitions garnered enough votes to gain an outright majority in parliament, which means that bargaining and alliance formation among the coalitions will ensue after the vote.

In the past, Iran played a major role in the negotiations over the prime ministers post after the 2010 and 2014 elections. The most crucial talks back then did not occur in Baghdad, but in Tehran, where various Iraqi politicians met Iranian officials.

The other main player, al-Sadr, has tried to assert himself as an Iraqi Shia nationalist independent of Iranian influence, but he is also vehemently anti-US.

While in the past, al-Sadr conceded to Iranian pressure because his election results were relatively low, this time he might push for his own agenda and is likely to insist on a technocratic cabinet.

Whatever the outcome of the negotiations is, one thing is for certain: These elections shook up the status quo and showed that there is potential for non-sectarian politics in Iraq. The voters struck down the entrenched political elite and demonstrated  both through their votes and through their boycott  that they reject the current system of patronage and rampant corruption.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Seventy years after the creation of the Israeli state, we can no longer talk about an Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The founders of the state of Israel were mainly people who settled in Palestine in the very beginning of the 20th century. They came mostly from Eastern Europe, inspired by romantic national ideologies rampant in their home countries, disappointed by their inability to assimilate into these new nationalist movements and excited by the prospects of modern-day colonialism.

Some were veterans of socialist movements hoping to fuse their romantic nationalism with socialist experiments in the new colonies. Palestine was not always their only option, but it turned into the preferred one when it became clear that it fits well with the strategies of the British Empire and the world view of powerful Christian Zionists on both sides of the Atlantic.

Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and throughout the British Mandate period of 1918-1948, European Zionists began to build the infrastructure for a future state with the help of the British Empire. We now know that these founders of the modern Jewish state were aware of the presence of a native population with its own aspirations and vision for the future of their homeland.

The solution to this problem  as far as the founding fathers of Zionism were concerned  was to de-Arabise Palestine to pave the way for the rise of the modern Jewish State. Whether socialist, nationalist, religious or secular, the Zionist leadership contemplated the depopulation of Palestine since the 1930s.

Close to the end of the British Mandate, it became clear to the Zionist leadership that what they imagined as a democratic state could only exist on the basis of an absolute Jewish presence in its territory.

Seventy years of sustained ethnic cleansing

While officially accepting the partition-enforcing UN Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947 (knowing it would be rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab world), they regarded it as disastrous, as it envisaged almost an equal number of Palestinians and Jews in the Jewish state. The fact that only 54 percent of Palestine were accorded to the Jewish state in that resolution was also deemed unsatisfactory.

The Zionist response to these challenges was to embark on an ethnic cleansing operation that expelled half of Palestines population and demolished half of its villages and most of its towns. An insufficient and late pan-Arab response could not prevent a Zionist takeover of 78 percent of the Palestinian territories.

However, these achievements did not solve the Palestine problem for the newly founded state of Israel. At first, it seemed manageable: The Palestinian minority left inside Israel was put under a harsh military rule, while the world did not seem to mind or question the Israeli pretence to being the only democracy in the Middle East. Moreover, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was only founded in 1964 and was slow to affect the reality on the ground.

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Then, it seemed as if leaders of the Arab world, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser, would come to Palestines rescue. This historical moment of hope, however, was brief. The defeat of the Egyptian army in the June 1967 war and its partial success in the October 1973 war diminished the Egyptian official commitment to Palestine. Ever since then, no Arab regime has taken a genuine interest in the fate of Palestine, despite the fact it has been fully embraced by Arab societies.

The June 1967 war allowed Israel to take over the whole of mandatory Palestine, but that only deepened the settler conundrum it was already facing: More space brings more native population.

The war also transformed the core leadership of the Jewish state: the pragmatic Labour party was replaced by the right-wing revisionists and nationalists who cared less about Israels external image. Instead, they were determined to keep the occupied territories as part of the state of Israel, while continuing the 1948 ethnic cleansing by other means: transferring, enclaving the local population and robbing it of any elementary civil and human rights, and at the same time institutionalising a new legal framework for the Palestinian minority inside Israel that perpetuated their status as second-rate citizens.

Palestinian resistance in the form of two intifadas and civil protests inside Israel did not deter the Jewish state from establishing at the start of this century an apartheid Jewish state all over historical Palestine. The Palestinian resistance  ignored by the Arab countries and the rest of the world  evoked harsh and barbarous Israeli actions that eroded Israels moral status in the world.

However, the war on terror after the 9/11 attacks and the bitter fruits of both the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Arab Spring allowed Israel to maintain its strategic alliances with the political and economic elites in the West and beyond (with China and India, and even Saudi Arabia).

This ambiguous international status so far has not undermined Israels economic realities. It is a high- tech country, with a neo-liberal economy that did well in the 2008 crisis, but that has one of the highest wealth gaps and polarisation among members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This volatile socioeconomic reality generated a popular but rather ineffective protest movement in 2011. However, the potential for another major protest wave is still present, and could be triggered if there is another Palestinian uprising or a war due to the present reckless policies of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both are currently doing their best to drag Israel into a war with Iran and Hezbollah.

From decolonisation to peace

Seventy years after its establishment, Israel stands as a racist, apartheid state, whose structural oppression of the Palestinians remains the principal obstacle to peace and reconciliation.

It has achieved a lot in fusing together Jewish communities from around the world into a new Hebrew culture and established the strongest army in the region. However, all these achievements have not legitimised the state in the eyes of many across the world.

Paradoxically, it is only the Palestinians who could grant full legitimacy to such a state or accept as legitimate the presence of millions of Jewish settlers by pursuing a one-state solution.

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The peace process imitated and orchestrated by the US since 1967 completely ignored the question of Israeli legitimacy and the Palestinian perspective of the conflict. This disregard along with the diplomatic efforts that did not challenge the Zionist ideology informing the attitudes of most Israeli Jews are the main reasons for its failure.

In 2018, one cannot talk about the Arab-Israeli conflict any more. Arab regimes are willing to enter strategic relations with Israel, despite the objection of their citizens and while there is still a risk for an Israeli war with Iran, at this moment in time, it does not look like it is going to involve any of the Arab states.

It seems that from our vantage point it is useless to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict either. The correct terminology to describe the present state of affairs is continuing Israeli colonisation of historical Palestine, or as the Palestinians call it al-Nakba al-Mustamera (the ongoing Nakba).

Thus, 70 years on, one has to resort to a term that might seem outdated in order to describe what can genuinely bring peace and reconciliation to Israel and Palestine: decolonisation. How exactly this will occur is yet to be seen. It would require first of all a more precise and united Palestinian position on the political endgame or the updated vision of the project of liberation.

This vision will be supported by progressive Israelis and the international community, which will have to do their bit as well. They have to work towards the creation of a democracy for all from the river to the sea based on the restitution of the rights denied to the Palestinians in the last 70 years, foremost of which is the right of the refugees to return.

This is not a plan for the short term and would require sustained pressure on the Israeli society to give up its privileges and face the truth that this is the only way to bring peace and reconciliation to a country torn from within.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.It is time to recognise the similarities between between foreign armed groups and domestic white-nationalist militias.

Andre Carson is the US Representative for Indiana's 7th congressional district and a member of the Democratic Party.

By nature, humans tend to be tribal. We affiliate naturally with those who look like us, believe like us, or live like us.

This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago. But in todays interconnected society, we should realise that the simple fact that someone is of a particular race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status does not mean that they agree with all others who share the same characteristic.

I do not know every Muslim. Nor do I associate with every African American. Or agree with every Hoosier.

In celebrating the diversity of America, many Americans lose sight of the fact that even with our various groups, there are distinct differences.

This core misunderstanding is preyed on by hateful people around the world  from ISIL to anti-Muslim hate groups in the United States. Yet, despite near 24/7 coverage of terrorist groups overseas, we are quick to overlook the hate in our own backyard.

We should consider the similarities between terrorist organisations abroad and hate groups in the US.

Both preach an ideology of hate for those who are different, both use fear to attract followers and spread their message, and both see violence as the means to achieve their objectives.

But people afraid of groups of Muslim militants marching with guns in a foreign city often fail to see the similarities with groups of American men, clad in riot gear and carrying torches and guns through American streets.

While their ideologies differ, al-Qaeda has more in common with white nationalist militias than they have with the vast majority of Muslim and white families in America.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric on the rise

It is time for us to see hate groups not for their affiliations, ideologies, or nationalities but for their tactics of preying on the fearful and ignorant. This is the true nature of terrorism.

Fear in the face of violence is natural, particularly after seeing years of seemingly endless terrorism coverage.

But organisations that push anti-Muslim bigotry here at home, like ACT for America and the Center for Security Policy, look to amplify fear and condemn an entire religion.

Make no mistake, they have a strategy and weapons to rival hate groups around the world. Rather than guns and bombs they use political contributions and cable news to stir suspicion and unease in the population.

They plant entirely disproven narratives about [Islamic] Sharia law and widespread terroristic sympathies within the Muslim community, aggressively pushing them until they influence policy at the highest levels of government.

And their victims are real.

We need to set aside our tribalism and recognise where our real similarities lie.

With anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant rhetoric on the rise, the US saw hundreds of hate crimes against Muslims in 2017  a double-digit increase by some estimates. When someone is injured or killed in a bigoted attack, a direct link can and should be drawn to the hateful propaganda spread by these recognised hate groups.

If this happened anywhere else in the world, we would label this bigotry and violence as terrorism.

Its time for us to do the same in the US.

We need to set aside our tribalism and recognise where our real similarities lie. Most of us work hard for a living. We love our families and strive to raise strong, self-sufficient children. We want safe streets and tight-knit communities. Chances are, this description applies to you whether you are white, black, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian.

As a Muslim, I do not consider men with guns and black flags part of my faith. I have far more in common with my neighbours, regardless of religious affiliation. We share values and common interests, even if we pray differently. It is time for us to mute the voices pushing hate.

They do not deserve a place on our televisions or radios or pushing their hate in our classrooms or government. Lets turn a deaf ear to their hate while we work together to build a better, more tolerant country.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Internal document obtained by Al Jazeera reveals strategy of infiltrating US university courses and monitoring mosques.

Al Jazeeras Investigative Unit has obtained an internal document from ACT for America, a powerful Islamophobic lobby group, which gives a rare insight into the organisations operations.

A booklet published by the movement, The Art of Chapter Leadership, includes advice on how to map kindergarten to 12th Grade school boards for suspected Islamists, and how to monitor Muslim activities at US universities.

The 129-page paper urges members of local chapters to select a few [university] courses/professors that would have a likelihood of presenting biased viewpoints regarding Islamic Jihad, immigration, terrorism, etc.

The booklet continues: The two most highly suspect departments in which you will want to sign up for specific courses are as follows: The Political Science Department [and] Middle East Studies Department.

These two departments have a real likelihood of being funded by the Saudis and will have professors who are generally pro-Sharia, anti-America and anti-Israel.

Screenshot from ACT for Americas booklet, The Art of Chapter Leadership

ACT is one of the largest anti-Muslim groups in the US, which says it works to protect national security. Launched in 2007 by Brigitte Gabriel, it claims to have more than 750,000 members.

Over the past year, Al Jazeera investigated ACT and several other organisations and individuals who form the Islamophobia Inc industry in the US  a well-funded network propagating anti-Muslim racism.

Stoking fear

ACTs internal document recommends that members volunteer in the classroom  so that you can monitor the lessons in K-12 schools, and it suggests that parents join the PTA in order to meet the teachers who are going to open up to you and tell you what is being taught.

Make copies of any homework that is biased and untrue so that it can be used as evidence later with elected officials.

Screenshot from ACT for Americas booklet, The Art of Chapter Leadership

Written in 2015 by Kelly Cook, the former executive director of ACT for America, the booklet cites as its central theme the need to fearlessly speak out in defence of America, Israel and Western civilisation.

Stressing the need to engage in community mapping, Cook warns of the growth of madrassas and Islamic schools across the United States.

The Saudis are building madrassas around the world at an alarming rate, he writes.

If there is one in your area, this school needs to get your chapters full attention.

The document advises members to conduct title searches on Islamic school properties and lays out steps for how to pressure authorities into closing down such facilities.

If the county commissioners sense that this is developing into a highly controversial lease situation, the liability picture alone could swing their decision to drop the lease.

Many local imams have direct ties to Radical Islamism, the booklet warns.

Screenshot from ACT for Americas booklet, The Art of Chapter Leadership

In a welcome message, founder Gabriel writes that the US must be protected from the rising tide of Islamism and jihad and urges members to drown out the foolish voices of political correctness.

The pamphlet also stokes irrational fears, including exhortations to overthrow our constitutional form of government and replace it with Sharia law or bullying and intimidation in the public square.

The Muslim world, the document continues, expresses hatred of and contempt for infidels  visibly, fervently and frequently.

The idea of political Islam and jihad have, over 1400 years, led to the death and enslavement of hundreds of millions of people and the subjugation and persecution of hundreds of millions more.

One chapter, titled Media Issues, urges extreme caution when dealing with journalists, instructing members to never give an interview that can be edited.

Many reporters could become indignant and imply that you owe the public your side of the story.

This is reporter-speak for Please say something so that I can twist it out of context. I really want to make you look like a bigoted fool.

The best response to a reporter is usually I am unavailable for comment at this time, the document advises.

Screenshot from ACT for Americas booklet, The Art of Chapter Leadership

ACT for America did not respond to Al Jazeeras request for comment on the document.

It did provide statements to Al Jazeera in response to its Islamophobia Inc investigation, saying: ACT for America has always welcomed and included members and supporters of all faiths, who stand united under the same flag of freedom, and support for Western values.

Commenting on the Islamophobia network, Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said its members aim to spread conspiracy theories about Muslims.

So for example, all Muslims are terrorists. Muslims are incapable of fitting in in Western societies.

I think of ACT For America as sort of the shock troops and the ground troops for the Islamophobic network with the United States.

They are the ones who actually have people on the ground in many, many communities doing anti-Muslim agitating.Thousands of students launch a fresh movement as government fails to honour its promise to end quota in government jobs.

Dhaka, Bangladesh  Thousands of university students in Bangladesh are boycotting classes as part of a nationwide protest, with demonstrators blocking the main thoroughfare in the capital, Dhaka, on Monday, calling for the abolition of the quota system in government jobs.

The latest protest comes a month after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the abolition of the countrys decades-old quota system used in the recruitment of civil servants, but no concrete steps were taken to cancel it.

Muhammad Rashed Khan, joint convener of Council to Protect Bangladeshs General Students Rights told Al Jazeera that they had been holding peaceful demonstrations since the announcement made by the prime minister.

Thirty-two days have passed, but no gazette notification in this regard has been published yet. We have no option but to be on the streets again, said Khan.

He led a procession of around 3,000 protesters at Dhaka University on Monday, suspending all classes and tutorials.

At Chittagong University, about 1,000 protesting students have been staging a sit-in on the rail tracks. No trains have left the port city for the campus since morning.

Unless a gazette notification is issued about quota abolishment, we will not leave streets and will launch a tougher movement, said Khan.

Quota system

Under the quota system, 56 percent of the nearly 3,000 government positions  which are filled through annual examination  are assigned under various quotas, leaving only 44 percent of spots for general category students.

About 50,000 students from all 38 public universities and around 50 of the 96 private universities protested for three days straight in April, forcing Prime Minister Hasina to promise the abolition of the quota system.

On May 8, a day after the deadline set by students, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said, Theres no progress in cancelling quota system.

The announcement re-ignited the protest again. On May 9, students at Dhaka University formed a 1,200 strong human chain and set May 11 as the new deadline to issue a gazette notification.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Alam told the media on Monday that the paperwork dealing with this issue had been forwarded to the Prime Ministers Office. The issue of quota is under process; a decision will be made soon, he said.

Since February, students have been agitating to demand the reduction of the total quota spots from the current 56 percent to 10 percent.

They say this would create a level playing field while protecting the rights of candidates from minority groups, who would still benefit from the quota system.

The movement was initially led by students of Dhaka University in the capital but spread to other universities across the country.

Abir Raihan had participated in April protests in Dhaka, braving tear-gas and rubber bullets from police, only to find himself there again on Monday for the same cause.

The prime minister herself declared there will be no quota in government jobs; why there is no gazette notification on that till now? asked Raihan, a third-year student at Dhaka University.

Lucrative jobs

A legacy of the British colonial rulers, competitive exams to recruit government officials are prevalent across the sub-continent, including India and Pakistan. After its liberation from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh formed its own Public Service Commission, which has been conducting the Bangladesh Civil Service exam to recruit civil servants since 1972.

Each year, a little over half of the 220,000-odd university graduates in Bangladesh take this examination and compete for 2,400 to 3,000 posts in various government offices, which are considered among the most prestigious and lucrative jobs in the country.

Of the 56 percent reserved positions, the biggest quota, 30 percent, is for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters while 10 percent is for women and another 10 percent for people from underdeveloped areas, while members of indigenous communities get five percent. People with disabilities get the remaining one percent.

The student movement, which started off with peaceful protests near Dhaka University in mid-February, took on a more organised form with the help of social media campaigns.

This had the desired effect. On April 9, a large crowd of students occupied Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka, disrupting traffic across the capital. The protest escalated as police used tear gas and rubber bullets against the students, leaving over 100 of them injured.

News of the polices actions spread through the media and on social media. By noon on April 10, the protests spread across the country, with students in the major cities, including Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Sylhet and Savar boycotting classes in solidarity with the protesters.

Prime Minister Hasina was forced to concede to the demands. There is no need for quota system in the public service, she told parliament on April 11.

Go back home. As you dont want it, the quota system will be scrapped.

Whats wrong with quota system?

Bangladesh has one of the highest graduate unemployment rates in the South Asia region. According to a 2014 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, five out of every 10 graduates are unemployed (compared to three out of 10 in India and Pakistan).

According to a World Bank report, the pace of job creation has fallen in recent years: between 2003 and 2010, total employment grew by 3.1 percent per annum, which fell to 1.8 percent per annum between 2011 and 2016.

Despite the high unemployment rate, posts in government offices often remain vacant as a result of the governments inability to find suitable candidates under the various quotas.

In January, Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam told parliament that over 350,000 posts in various ministries and government divisions remained vacant.

Data maintained by his ministry put the number of approved government posts at 17,10,704 while incumbents numbered only 13,51,704.

Under these circumstances, the student protests for quota reforms are reasonable and justified, said Dr Musleh Uddin Ahmed, professor in the Department of Public Administration at Dhaka University.

He said most of these vacant posts could have been filled if a large number of civil servants were recruited based on merit instead of the quota.

Ahmed was also critical of the 30 percent quota for children and grandchildren of freedom fighters.

Giving grounds for such criticism, the Public Service Commissions data reveals that in the 31st, 32nd and 33rd Bangladesh Civil Service exams (between 2012 and 2014), 63, 37 and 84 percent of posts respectively under the freedom fighter quota remained vacant.

The vacancies may have something to do with the fact that since the 1971 war, the list containing the names of freedom fighters in Bangladesh has been changed six times under various governments.

Commentators say that with the lack of transparency in the process of listing freedom fighters, the list itself has become questionable. There have also been instances when the freedom fighter certificates of high-ranking government officials turned out to be false upon verification.

Freedom fighters are the best sons and daughters of our country, and I think their debt is unpayable, said Ahmed.

But after 47 years of independence, reserving seats in a merit-based public service examination for the children of freedom fighters doesnt make much sense. There are many other ways to honour our freedom fighters, he added.

Former cabinet secretary Dr Akbar Ali Khan told Al Jazeera that preparing for a competitive exam like the Bangladesh Civil Service examination requires considerable time and effort.

There are many meritorious students who now feel reluctant in even preparing for the exam as they believe fighting for less than half of the seats in the examination is not worthwhile, he said.

Some portion of quota, however, should be kept for the ethnic minorities; otherwise their right to equal opportunity will not be ensured, Khan said.Cambodia: Borei Keila residents vow to fight on for land rights

Remaining families view the dispute in Phnom Penhs Borei Keila as a battle for their rights and a battle between rich and poor.Catalonias regional parliament has elected pro-independence supporter Quim Torra as president, ending months of political stalemate in Spains northeastern region.

A close ally of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, Torra, 55, won the ballot by a simple majority on Monday with the backing of 66 parliamentarians and four abstentions. Sixty-five legislators voted against him.

Torra has promised to draft a constitution for a future Catalan Republic and restore regional laws that were suspended by Spanish courts in the wake of Catalonias October 1, 2017, independence referendum in which about two million Catalans voted to secede from Spain.

Torra failed to win a prior ballot  which had required an absolute majority  on Saturday in the 135-member Catalan parliament, falling short of the 68 votes required to be elected.

Currently, 70 legislators in the regional parliament are pro-independence, and 65 are not.

Honourable president

Puigdemont, who handpicked Torra for the presidency, described him as very honourable in a tweet on Monday following the parliamentary vote.





Congratulations very honourable president Culture and freedom, and democracy. All my love and support with immense thanks. Long Live Catalonia, Puigdemont said.

The former leader is currently in self-exile in Germany and faces jail if he returns to Spain.

Other Catalan politicians, including Jordi Sanchez, are being held in Spanish prisons, charged with rebellion for their role in the independence drive.

Catalonia has been in political limbo since Spains central government sacked Puigdemont and his cabinet and imposed direct rule on the semi-autonomous region after it unilaterally declared independence on October 27 following the controversial referendum.

Regional elections were held in December, during which pro-independence parties won a majority of seats in the Catalan parliament, but five attempts to elect a new president and form a coalition government since then have failed.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned that Article 155 of the constitution, which Madrid used to impose direct rule on Catalonia, could be used again if necessary if the regions next government does not adhere to Spanish law.

Following Torras election, Rajoy called for understanding and harmony but reiterated that Spanish law under the countrys 1978 constitution would be fulfilled.Deportees in Mexico speak of disrupted lives

Al Jazeera met some of the people who have had to build new lives in Tijuana after being deported from the US during former President Barack Obamas November 2014 executive action on immigration.Undercover Al Jazeera reporter films training session by John Guandolo as he spreads fabricated theories about Muslims.

An Islamophobic former FBI agent, who provides counterterrorism training to members of US law enforcement, has been secretly filmed telling police officers that Muslim students at American universities pose a threat of jihad and that a prominent civil rights group is a front for terrorist organisations.

During the training event, John Guandolo  a conspiracy theorist who has stated publicly that Muslim Americans should not have the same rights as other citizens  also told our reporter that he was in direct and regular contact with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

As he was being secretly filmed in Maricopa County, Arizona, Guandolo said: I was speaking three or four times a week with Jeff Sessions up to the election and after the election, before the inauguration.

And I said, Sir, you gotta give me three or four hours.

[He said,] John, I know.

I said, Because whats going to happen is as soon as you go into [the Department of Justice], youre going to be in a tornado,.

Sessions serves under US President Donald Trump, who himself has been criticised for stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.

Guandolos claim demonstrates how the Islamophobia network  a well-funded circle of organisations and individuals propagating anti-Muslim racism  has reached its tentacles into the halls of power in Washington, DC.

Al Jazeera tracked the movement over the past year as part of its latest investigation, Islamophobia Inc.

Guandolo resigned from the FBI in 2008 when he faced an investigation into his professional conduct.

During his lecture, he proposed several theories, including a claim that Muslim student associations in Arizona were recruiting people to jihad.

He said the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) was a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, and compared the Muslim advocacy and civil rights group to Hamas, the Palestinian party designated by the US as a terrorist organisation.

This is just a rhetoric of fear, said Rick Schwein, a former FBI agent. These organisations have a right to exist; theyre a part of Americas fabric.

To say that all of these organisations are the enemy, which is what hes inferring here, is just ludicrous. What hes advocating is dangerous.

Guandolos team also used execution videos by ISIL fighters to explain the concept of Islamic law to police officers.

He is a snake oil salesman, this stuff is toxic, said Congressman Keith Ellison. You dont want a law enforcement community infected with these hateful ideas because they do have the power to deploy deadly force.

Guandolo refused Al Jazeeras request for comment.

Funding hate

Rising Islamophobia in the United States comes as the number of anti-Muslim groups in the country has tripled over the past three years, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Islamophobia Inc enjoys multimillion-dollar funding, and Al Jazeera has traced the secretive donors who bankroll the movement.

In financial documents seen by Al Jazeera, millions of dollars were provided by anonymous donor funds. So-called dark money is given to these groups by front organisations, while the real donor remains hidden.

Anti Muslim groups have budgets that range from hundreds of thousands up to millions of dollars a year. Theres probably tens of millions of dollars sloshing around if not a hundred million every year in budgets that they operate with, said Eli Clifton, a fellow at the Nation Institute.

One of the largest Islamophobic groups, which says it works to protect national security, is ACT for America. Launched in 2007 by Brigitte Gabriel, it claims to have more than 750,000 members.

Internal documents reveal that ACT encourages its followers to spy on Muslims by monitoring their local mosques and taking courses in Middle East studies at universities because the department has a real likelihood of being funded by the Saudis and will have professors who are generally pro-Sharia, anti-America and anti-Israel.

Another group, the Centre for Security Policy, has powerful allies in Washington, DC, and is run by Frank Gaffney, a former member of President Ronald Reagans administration.

Frank Gaffney, a prominent Islamophobe, runs the Center for Security Policy [Al Jazeera]

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, meanwhile, lead two of the most popular websites that characterise Muslims as a threat, Geller Report and Jihad Watch respectively.

The Islamophobia industry is a tight-knit group of individuals and organisations that, for lots of money, whip up fervour among the general public about the fear of Islam, said Nathan Lean, author of The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims.

Most of the donors shared a common association. Almost 80 percent had vocally or financially supported causes that promote the state of Israel.

Further insight into donors motives was found in leaked financial records from the conservative Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, revealing a request for funding from an anti-Muslim group.

The money, the document said, would be used to combat the Muslim Student Association, a non-profit organisation.

In response, the Bradley Foundation said it supports a diverse array of projects and organisations that are aligned with our mission to restore, strengthen and protect the principles of freedom.

The remaining donor groups that responded to Al Jazeera  Jewish community of San Francisco, Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and Donors Trust/Donors Capital fund  said they were simply doing what the anonymous benefactors wanted.

Its extremely upsetting that a Jewish organisation would be funding and funnelling money to these organisations that are promoting Islamophobia, said Rebecca Vilkomerson, head of the Jewish Voice for Peace organisation. Most of us who are Jewish have an awareness of the past and the scapegoating that Jewish people have experienced.

The number of anti-Muslim attacks and hate groups in the US is rising [Al Jazeera]

Much of Islamophobia Incs manipulation is carried out online.

Addressing thousands of followers, the group plays on irrational fears, such as the threat of Islamic law overtaking the US legal system.

The donors are enormously important to the messaging of the Islamophobia network, with the rise of social media, said Clifton.

When you see organisations like Donors Trust, like the Bradley Foundation giving money to members of what is fundamentally a fringe anti-Muslim movement that means thats were seeing a shift of the mainstream Republican party to the right.

The worst-case scenario for this movement is that there is a continued and heightened persecution of Muslims and that Muslims are the canary in the coal mine for a white nationalist movement thats moving across the United States.Member of parliament from opposition Congress party charged with abetment to suicide four years after wifes death.

New Delhi, India  Shashi Tharoor, a prominent Indian public personality and member of parliament from the opposition Congress party, has been charged with aiding the suicide of his wife four years ago.

Delhi Police on Monday filed a 3000-page charge sheet in the long-drawn-out case involving the death of Sunanda Pushkar.

Tharoor has been charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code that relate to abetment of suicide and cruelty against wife.

Pushkar was found dead in her hotel room on January 17, 2014, after publicly accusing Tharoor of having an extra-marital affair with a Pakistani journalist.

A Delhi Police statement said a probe by a special investigation team on the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts had resulted in the charge sheet.

The matter is now sub-judice, so we cannot reveal contents of probe report, Deependra Pathak, Delhi Police Chief Public Relations Officer, said in Delhi.

Preposterous charges

An autopsy initially concluded Pushkar probably died of an overdose of anti-depressants, but a year later Indian police said she was poisoned and announced a murder investigation.

Tharoor called the charges preposterous, adding that he would contest the charges vigorously.





The Congress party said it stands by the legislator, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in the southern state of Kerala.

We wont cow down or bow down. This is a conspiracy to defame Shashi Tharoor, Randeep Singh Surjewala, a Congress party spokesperson, said in a statement.

We reject the charges totally. This is being done on instructions from the BJP and Narendra Modi-led government. BJPs revenge factory is at work.

The couple were married in 2010, the third marriage for both.

Sunanda had earlier accused her husband of having an extra-marital affair with Mehr Tarar, the Pakistani journalist, and told an Indian daily in January 2014 that she would seek divorce.

Tharoor, a prolific author and commentator, was an under-secretary-general for communications and public information during Kofi Annans tenure as secretary-general of the UN.

He also ran for the post of UN secretary-general in 2006.Family of five on motorcycles detonate bombs outside police station in Indonesian city, child survives, officials say.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack outside a police building in Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city.

At least 10 people were killed in the attack on Monday, which took place a day after a wave of bombings on three churches killed at least 13 people.

ISIL, via its Amaq website, claimed responsibility for the spate of attacks over the past 24 hours.

Tito Karnavian, Indonesias police chief, said the suicide attack outside Surabayas police headquarters in the city centre was carried out by a family of five, including an eight-year-old girl who survived the attack.

CCTV footage showed two motorcycles approaching the gate of the police station before the explosion took place.

There were five people on two motorbikes. One of them was a little kid, Karnavian said. This is one family.

The attack killed the four perpetrators and wounded four officers and six civilians.

Joko Widodo, Indonesias president, condemned the latest bombing, calling it cowardly, undignified and inhumane.

There will be no compromise in taking action on the ground to stop terrorism, he told reporters in Jakarta, Indonesias capital, on Monday.

High alert

Police said Sundays church attacks were also carried out by members of one family.

Karnavian said the father drove a bomb-laden car into the citys Pentecostal church. The mother and her two daughters, aged 9 and 12, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, the police chief added, while the sons aged 16 and 18 rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Church and detonated their explosives there.





Just hours after the church bombings, a further three people in another family were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex about 30km from Surabaya.

That blast appeared to have been an accidental detonation that killed a mother and her 17-year-old child who was not identified, the police said.

The womans husband was badly injured in the explosion.

Police said they arrived after the blast and shot dead the injured man, Anton Febrianto, as he held a bomb detonator in his hand.

When we searched the flat we found pipe bombs, similar to pipe bombs we found near the churches, said Karnavian.

Police suspected Sundays attacks on the churches were carried out by a cell of the ISIL-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

The father of the family involved in those attacks was the head of a JAD cell in the city, the police chief said.

Al Jazeeras Step Vaessen, reporting from Surabaya, said the wave of bomb attacks had put the whole country on high alert.

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There are a lot of hoaxes going on social media about possible bomb attacks in other cities as well, she said.

Indonesia has seen a resurgence in violence in recent years after hundreds of people left for Syria and Iraq to join ISIL, also known as ISIS.

The police initially said the family behind the church attacks was among those who had returned from Syria, but Karnavian said that was incorrect.

The police chief said the attacks in Surabaya may be linked to the imprisonment of JADs leader, Aman Abdurrahman, and clashes at a high security prison in Jakarta, in which five counter-terrorism officers and one inmate were killed.

The prisoners were suspected to be supporters of ISIL.

Wiranto, Indonesias chief security minister, vowed to step up security across the country.

The president has commanded that police, helped by TNI (the armed forces), to exert all power to secure the nation, he told reporters on Monday.

The government will attempt to hasten passage of an updated anti-terrorism law that has languished in parliament, he said.Iraq election: Polls show Iraqi PM lags behind Shia rivals

Partial results show coalition linked to Shia religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr is the current frontrunner while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is lagging in third place.At least 52 people in Gaza killed by Israeli forces along fence with Israel, Palestinian health officials say.

The United States has officially relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in a deeply controversial move that angered Palestinians and drew widespread regional condemnation.

The ceremony on Monday took place amid road closures and heavy police presence in anticipation of Palestinian protests, as well as deadly demonstrations in Gaza calling for the refugees right to return to the homes they were forcibly expelled from 70 years ago.

US President Donald Trump  who in December 2017 declared Jerusalem as Israels capital, a move long sought by Israel  addressed the ceremony via a recorded video message.

Today we follow through on this recognition and open our embassy in the historic and sacred land of Jerusalem, and were opening it many, many years ahead of schedule, Trump said.

He added that the US  remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

Deadliest day in years

His comments came as at least 55 Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza were killed by Israeli forces along several points near the fence with Israel.

More than 2,400 others were also wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at protesters assembled along several points near the fence with Israel.

Many were in critical condition, and there were fears the death toll could rise in what was the deadliest day for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the 2014 Gaza war.

But addressing the Jerusalem ceremony in person, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised our brave soldiers protecting the border  as we speak today and said the embassy move marked a glorious day.

Remember this moment, this is history, Netanyahu said.

We have no better friends in the world, you stand for Israel, and you stand for Jerusalem  President Trump, by recognising history, you have made history  We are in Jerusalem, and we are here to stay.

The demonstrations in Gaza follow a weeks-long protest calling for the right of return for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

Israeli forces have killed at least 90 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave and wounded an estimated 10,500 others since the protests began on March 30.

Israeli police said that up to 1,000 officers were posted around the embassys new location in the southwest neighbourhood of Arnona and its surrounding areas.

The closures spread to occupied East Jerusalem, where access to the Old City was curtailed in areas leading to it such as al-Tur, Mount of Olives, Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.

At the Qalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian youth who were throwing stones.

Incitement and instability

Before Netanyahus speech, Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner told those assembled at the ceremony Jerusalem was the eternal heart of the Jewish people.





Kushner said Trumps decision did not reflect a departure from our commitment to lasting peace, adding as we have seen from protests of last month those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

In response, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that the US embassy move had ruled Washington out of future mediation efforts.

With this step, the US administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability, Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.

In a statement released on Monday, the Palestinian Authority described Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital and the US embassy move as blatant violations of international law and disregard to the core values of justice and morality.

Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process, the statement said, referring to the Nakba, the day when Palestinians commemorate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian cities and towns by Zionist paramilitaries in 1948.

Annual protests marking the Nakba, or catastrophe, when the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, are expected to take place across the occupied territories on Tuesday.

Riyad al-Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, said on Monday that the Palestinian leadership would go to the International Criminal Court and was preparing to file documents on crimes committed by Israel.

Speaking to a local radio station, al-Malki called for an urgent meeting of the Arab League, which he said would be followed by meetings at the UN Security Council.

Regional reaction

A statement by Egypts Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday condemned Israels use of force against peaceful marches and warned of the negative repercussion of such serious escalation in the Palestinian occupied territories.

In a statement published on Sunday, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the US of disregarding rights and justice by going through with the embassy move.

History and humanity will never forgive the injustices done to our Palestinian brothers, Erdogan said.

The Arab League  a 22-member body of which Palestine is a member  will hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to discuss the US embassy move, the Middle East News Agency reported.







Najib Razak accused of using his position for gratification and for allegedly owning unexplained properties.

Two reports alleging wrongdoing have been filed against Malaysias former Prime Minister Najib Razak before the countrys anti-corruption commission, as the head of the agency announced his resignation on Monday.

The reports filed before the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), accuse Najib of using his position as prime minister for gratification, and for allegedly owning unexplained properties, according to Malaysias The Star news website.





The reason I am lodging the reports today is so that the MACC can take swift action, Abdul Razak Idris, a former senior official of MACC, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

He also said he could file another report against Najib either before the MACC or with the police.

Abdul Razak said a former boss had urged him to file the report, but he declined to identify the person by name.

He said that he did not file the reports during the previous administration, claiming that there would have been no use to it, as no action would have been taken.

The latest development comes as the MACC chief, Dzulkifli Ahmad, submitted his resignation to the government chief secretary on Monday.

The resignation letter has been submitted to Mahathir for approval, Malaysia Kini news website quoted a source as saying.

Travel restriction

Najib, who is prevented by the new government from leaving the country, is being investigated by the new government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad over a corruption scandal at the state-owned investment fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), from which officials are alleged to have stolen more than $4.5bn.

Some of that money is alleged to have ended up in Najibs personal bank account.





Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family, which he had since returned.

On Sunday, Malaysian police cordoned off the residence of the former prime minister.

Prime Minister Mahathir also confirmed on Saturday that he had personally ordered the travel restrictions on Najib and his wife, and that he planned to replace the countrys attorney general.

We have placed certain restrictions on a number of people who may be involved in wrongdoing or in making wrong decisions, Mahathir told reporters.

During the campaign, Mahathir had repeatedly referred to his former protege, Najib, as a thief.

The 92-year old prime minister returned to power on Thursday following a victory of his alliance, Pakatan Harapan, on Wednesday, forcing Najib out after 11 years in power.

Following his removal from power, Najib announced his resignation as president of the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party and the once-ruling Barisan Nasional alliance.Former prime minister faces criticism for saying non-state actors from Pakistan were behind 2008 attacks in Indian city.

Islamabad, Pakistan  Pakistans National Security Committee has rejected comments by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who said that Pakistanis had carried out the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, in another signal of the widening rift between his ruling party and the countrys powerful military.

The committee, which includes the countrys top military and civilian leadership, met in the capital Islamabad on Monday, and termed Sharifs comments incorrect and misleading.

Last week, Sharif told local newspaper Dawn that Pakistan needed to act against anti-India armed groups that are operating on its soil, a claim India has often made and which Pakistan has long officially denied.

Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? said Sharif, referring to the 2008 attacks, in which at least 160 people were killed by gunmen in attacks on hotels and transportation infrastructure in the Indian business hub.

Its absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly what we are struggling for. [Russian] President Putin has said it. [Chinese] President Xi has said it.

The comments from Sharif, who was dismissed as prime minister by the Supreme Court in July over corruption allegations, riled political opponents and the military, although senior Pakistani officials have made similar comments in the past.

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Indian media seized upon the comments as proof that Pakistan has backed armed groups to attack targets in India. No official statements have been made, however, by Indias foreign or interior ministries.

The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities, said a statement following the Pakistani NSC meeting on Monday.

The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions, it added.

On Monday, Sharif stuck to his guns, telling a political rally in the northern town of Buner that a commission should be formed to probe his statement.

What have I said in the interview that was wrong? he responded to reporters earlier in the day, when asked if he stood by the statement.

Grey list

Pakistani security forces have been battling the Pakistani Taliban and its allies, including al-Qaeda, in the countrys northwest since 2007.

A series of military operations have displaced the Taliban from their former strongholds in the countrys northwestern tribal districts, but sporadic attacks continue to happen.

Pakistan has come under pressure from the United States and India to do more, however, to shut down groups such as the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which target US forces in Afghanistan or Indian forces in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Pakistan denies that it offers sanctuary to those groups, with the military saying its operations have been directed indiscriminately against all armed groups.

However, groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is banned as a terrorist organisation under Pakistani law, continue to fundraise and carry out political and humanitarian aid activities across the country.

In February, Pakistan was placed on a grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a 35-member alliance aimed at curbing money laundering and the financing of armed groups.

It faces sanctions if it does not implement reforms by this summer.

Political backlash

Sharifs own party distanced itself from his comments on Sunday, with a spokesperson saying it was grossly misinterpreted by Indian media.

Shehbaz Sharif, Nawazs brother and the partys presumptive prime ministerial candidate in the July general election, went even further, saying the party rejected the comments outright.

PML-N rejects all assertions, direct or implied, made in news report of Dawn, he tweeted. State of Pakistan [and] all its institutions stand together in the global fight against terrorism.

Other parties, too, criticised the three-time prime ministers comments.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, opposition PTI chief Imran Khan demanded that the former prime minister be tried for treason, and that PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi resign as prime minister.

[Nawaz Sharif] has hurt the national interests of Pakistan, he said.

The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) party also slammed the former prime minister for implying that Pakistan allowed the attacks to happen.

If you suggest the [government] allowed any action against another country then [you are] suggesting official complicity, said PPP Senator Sherry Rehman. Painful to see such talk from a former PM either calculated to divert attention or just casual chatter.

Sharifs embattled PML-N party, facing a number of desertions and corruption charges against its senior leadership, will take on the PTI, PPP and others in a general election in July.

A verdict in a high-profile corruption case against Sharif and his family members is due next month.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Digital Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashimUS embassy ceremony takes place after Israeli security forces killed at least 55 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,400.

Jerusalem  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the US embassy move to Jerusalem as a glorious day in Israels history to a crowd of about 800 officials and dignitaries.

The ceremony took place on Monday after at least 55 Palestinian protesters were killed and more than 2,400 wounded as Israeli forces opened live fire on them in Gaza.

Speaking from the newly designated building in Jerusalems Arnona neighbourhood, Netanyahu lauded US President Donald Trump for keeping his campaign promise to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv, saying the bond between the two countries is stronger than ever.

President Trump, by recognising history you have made history, the Israeli prime minister said.

This is a good day for peace, too. You can only build peace upon truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 3,000 years.

His words were not received well by several foreign dignitaries, including Frances Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who said in a statement the embassy move was in violation of international law, in particular, the United Nations Security Council resolutions.





Make Jerusalem free again

Placards wrapped around lampposts and trees with the slogan Trump make Israel great again frequently dotted the main roads.

Outside the American embassy, several hundred Palestinian and Jewish Israeli activists gathered to protest the move, which was not recognised by the international community.

Palestine flags were held up by demonstrators, most of whom had to walk to get to the area because of road closures and security barricades. Posters saying Make Jerusalem free again and No to Trumps illegal decision were raised before being torn to pieces by Israeli policemen gathered on opposite sides of the barriers.

Rania Muhareb, a legal researcher at the Palestinian rights group Al Haq, told Al Jazeera the US embassy move had given Israel the green light to continue its forcible transfer of Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem to keep the demographics in favour of Jewish Israelis.

This forcible transfer has been ongoing since the beginning of the occupation, Muhareb said. But what weve seen over the past few months is that Israel has accelerated and escalated these measures to remove Palestinians from the city, and has adopted legislation that allows settlements from the East Jerusalem periphery to be annexed to Jerusalem.

These are all grave violations of international law and must be prohibited, she added. The US embassy move is legitimising these illegal measures Israel has undertaken, and is encouraging other states to move their embassies to the city against international law.

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Embassy move supporters

Israeli police surged into the crowds, ripping flags of Palestine from the hands of protesters and arresting at least two Palestinian men after beating them up.

Israelis in residential buildings around the demonstration watched from their balconies, many festooned with the Israeli flag. Occasionally, onlookers expressed their objections to the protesters by spraying water on them with hoses.

Laura Loomer, who wore a blue Trump Make America Great Again T-shirt, stood at the back of the Palestinian protest.

There were Trump supporters and other people in favour of the embassy move standing here before, Loomer told Al Jazeera. It was very peaceful and things only became violent when these protesters showed up.

The 24-year-old Jewish American woman lives in New York but came to Jerusalem to celebrate the embassy move.

Its hard for me to have sympathy for a lot of Palestinians because the way they are expressing themselves is violent, she said.

Laura Loomer, 24, a Jewish American who lives in New York, came to Jerusalem to celebrate the embassy move [Linah Alsaafin/Al Jazeera]

State-sponsored terrorism

At least 55 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on Monday and more than 2,400 wounded in the deadliest demonstration at the Gaza-Israeli border since they began eight weeks ago.





Wassil Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, announced in a statement a large-scale strike would be observed in all Palestinian territories on Tuesday to mourn the dead.

For Loomer, the deaths were a result of Hamas state-sponsored terrorism.

Hamas is paying Palestinians $1,000 each if they storm the Gaza border and attack Israelis, she said. The media is reporting that the Palestinians are dying, but they are not innocent.

Muhareb accused the Israeli army was committing war crimes.

What were seeing is intentional, excessive, and premeditated use of force and willful killings, she said.

Here to stay

Fadel Tahboub, a Jerusalem resident, said since Trump announced his decision last December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed peacefully protesting in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The Israelis are involved in war crimes against an isolated, unarmed population, Tahboub told Al Jazeera.

This embassy move is merely an expression of where the US stands regarding the rights of Palestinians and the Israeli occupation.

Jerusalem is not Trumps city to give, he added.

We are here to stay and we will remain. What is happening here is in violation of international law and must be stopped.Former member of Congress and radio broadcaster among those killed during campaign leading to Mondays local elections.

At least 33 people have been killed and 19 others wounded in several poll-related incidents ahead of Mondays nationwide local elections in the Philippines, the countrys police chief said.

Police chief Oscar Albayalde said on Monday that 18 incumbent local officials, four candidates, three former elected officials and eight civilians were among the dead since the campaign season kicked off on April 14.

Nearly 60 million Filipino voters were eligible to cast their ballots on Monday to elect officials of 42,000 villages, also known as barangays, across the country.





But, according to local reports, prominent voter President Rodrigo Duterte failed to cast his ballot in the first elections since he became president in 2016.

Dutertes aides did not explain why he did not vote.

Despite a gun ban during the campaign season, at least 36 suspected and seven validated election-related incidents were recorded as of Sunday, Albayalde said.

Among those incidents were an ambush targeting a town mayor and his family in central Cebu province on Sunday, and the killing of a former member of Congress in the northern province of La Union.

On Sunday morning, Cebu mayor Vicente Loot and his family escaped unharmed after a gun attack, but his two drivers and his grandchilds nanny were wounded, according to the Cebu provincial police.

On Saturday, former La Union Congress member Eufranio Eriguel was shot dead while he was delivering a campaign speech in support of a candidate for village chief.

The gunmen also killed Eriguels two bodyguards and injured eight others.

Police said the gunmen fled the scene and authorities were conducting operations to arrest them.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a local radio broadcaster in the southern island of Mindanao was also killed on Saturday.

The Philippines is notorious in Southeast Asia for its deadly political violence.

But the deaths recorded this year were significantly lower compared with the last village elections in 2013 when 109 people were killed, and 59 were injured, police chief Albayalde said.

Village-level elections in the Philippines are crucial in determining who will win in the local and national elections in 2019, as village elders act as grassroots organisers for political parties. Duterte is also seeking support from local leaders to change the constitution.

This year, 684,785 candidates ran for village-level seats, while 386,206 ran for leadership posts in nationwide youth councils.Former minister and pro-independence figure faces fight over possible extradition from Scotland over rebellion charges.

Glasgow, Scotland  To her supporters, she is the underdog taking on the might of the Spanish authorities; to her detractors, she is a fugitive from justice.

Clara Ponsati is the former education minister of Spains northeastern region of Catalonia and a current economics lecturer at Scotlands University of St Andrews.

The 61-year-old bespectacled politician and academic professor voluntarily handed herself in to an Edinburgh police station in March following Madrids request and is currently out on bail.

She is fighting extradition from Scotland to Spain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Madrid on charges of rebellion and the misuse of public funds in last years illegal Catalonian independence poll.

The pro-independence Catalan figure is scheduled to face an extradition court hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on May 15 before a full two-week hearing this summer when she is expected to learn her fate.

She has to raise a bar to extradition, most of which are set out in the Extradition Act or in the Human Rights Act, as to why she should not be forcibly removed and taken to Spain, Karen Todner, an internationally renowned human rights lawyer from Britain, told Al Jazeera.

Judicial protections

Scotland, a nation of 5.4 million people, with a devolved parliament, is the second largest of the UKs four constituent countries with its distinctive legal system.

Ponsatis future will hinge on judicial protections and whether the charges are applicable under Scottish law.

Scotland is four years on from its own independence referendum. Then, those in favour of staying in the union prevailed, winning the vote with 55 percent.





Despite this setback for the pro-independence camp, constitutional politics remain front and centre in Scottish political discourse  and Ponsatis case has galvanised many Scottish independence supporters into action.

These include Pilar Fernandez, a pro-self determination campaigner from Galicia, Spain  whose husband is Scottish and travels there often  and who supported the Scottish independence movement in 2014.

Like her compatriots, she contends that the charges against Ponsati are politically motivated after the Catalonia independence referendum was blocked by the Madrid government and Constitutional Court and deemed illegal.

The Spanish government has been avoiding the chance to find a political solution, Fernandez told Al Jazeera from her home in Galicia.

So, they put this problem in the hands of the judiciary  but this is a political problem, so it needs a political solution.

Devotees of independence

Ponsatis legal predicament has regularly seen devotees of Scottish independence following the Catalan to her legal hearings in Edinburgh to show their support.

The pro-independence movement [in Scotland] is trying to protect the symbol that Clara Ponsati represents, said Fernandez.

And that is democracy, liberty, the right to decide your own future and freedom of speech against a Spanish government that is very close to the principles of [former Spanish dictator] Franco.

Ponsati was not the only Catalan political figure who was the subject of a European arrest warrant from Madrid.

Carles Puigdemont, the deposed Catalan president, is currently in exile in Germany.





Just last week, he refused to be re-appointed as leader of the region, saying in a video message: The intolerance and the lack of respect of the [Spanish] state towards the will of the citizens of Catalonia have appeared clearly in the eyes of the world.

Many Spaniards  especially unionists  hold little sympathy for the likes of Ponsati.

Alfonso Valero is principal lecturer and international manager at Englands Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University.

He contends that the support from Scottish independence supporters towards Ponsati, whose lawyer says she could face up to 30 years in prison in Spain, is misconceived.

He says if she were to be successful in defeating the European arrest warrant, it would raise many hard questions.

If the decision of the Scottish courts was that they were not going to deliver Clara Ponsati, the message would be that the European Union has a problem with the mutual recognition of court orders, said Valero.

Because this is nothing to do with the Spanish government, this is to do with a judge in the Supreme Court in Spain requesting the delivery of a person that needs to be put to trial.

An uphill struggle

Todner, the human-rights lawyer, says Ponsati faces an uphill struggle if she is to prevail, as it is generally very difficult to defeat a European arrest warrant.

The whole purpose of the system was to facilitate the easy transfer of defendants between countries, she said.

However, Todner adds, if Ponsati could prove that the charges are politically motivated, she could win her case.

But due to Scotlands separate legal system, Todner sounds a word of caution.

What ought to be understood is that, if she defeats that European arrest warrant, which was made to Scotland, its still out there in every other European country.

She continued: If she left Scotland and came to England, then she might face the proceedings all over again.Influential religious leader emerging as leading contender with over half the votes counted, officials say.

With over half the votes counted, powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as the leading contender in Iraqs parliamentary elections, a remarkable comeback after being sidelined for years by Iranian-backed rivals.

While final results for Iraqs parliamentary election are expected later on Monday, early results show Iran-backed paramilitary commander Hadi al-Amiris bloc to be in second place, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis list in third.

Results from eight provinces are yet to be announced, including from Nineveh  which has the second-largest number of seats after the capital Baghdad.

The parliamentary elections on Saturday serve as the first national referendum since the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in 2017.

The vote was widely seen as a verdict on Abadis tenure and his pledge to be more inclusive of Iraqs Sunni minority.

PM Abadi heads the Nasr Coalition (Victory of Iraq), its name capitalising on his governments victory over ISIL in 2017.

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Many analysts have seen the British-educated Abadi, a Shia who as prime minister nurtured ties with Washington and Tehran, as potentially winning a second term as prime minister.

The country has just overcome ISIL which has affected the way voters see the election. Everyone is hoping for change and they see Abadi as a possible force for that change because of his victory over ISIL, Ahmed Tariq, an Iraqi professor of international relations at Mosul University, told Al Jazeera ahead of the vote.

Abadi has been mainly concerned with fending off Shia Muslim groups other than Sadrs alliance, which are seeking to pull the country closer to Tehran.

Sadr is one of the few Shia leaders to keep a distance from Iran, and instead shares Saudi interest in countering Iranian influence in Iraq. Sadr sought to broaden his regional support, meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah last year.

The cleric made his name leading two revolts against US forces in Iraq, drawing support from poor neighbourhoods of Baghdad and other cities. Washington called the Mehdi Army, the Shia militia loyal to Sadr, the biggest threat to Iraqs security. Sadr rebranded the militia as the Peace Brigades in June 2014.

Sadr leads the al-Sairoon Coalition (The Marchers) that brings together his Sadrist Movement and the Iraqi Communist Party. The coalition has pushed an anti-corruption and anti-sectarian campaign.

According to a nationwide poll conducted in March, 66 percent of the Iraqi people viewed Sadr favourably across most of Iraqs provinces.

But possible scenarios after the vote are dependent not only on the number of votes received by the candidates but also on Irans role and its ability to pressure Shia coalitions into forming alliances.

Al-Amiris Fatah Coalition, currently in second place, has close ties to Iran. The faction acts as an umbrella for traditionalists of the Islamic Supreme Coalition of Iraq (ISCI) and groups affiliated with the Shia militia groups  the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs).

No one group is expected to win the 165 seats required for an outright majority. Instead, the bloc that wins the most seats will have to bring together a majority by getting the support of smaller alliances.

The process of choosing the next prime minister is expected to take months and will likely result in power being dispersed across different political parties with clashing interests.Turkish protesters denounce Jerusalem opening of US embassy and the killing of scores of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

Istanbul, Turkey  Carrying posters, placards and Palestinian flags, thousands of people took to the streets of Turkeys largest city on Monday to protest against the US decision to officially relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

At least 6,000 people converged in central Istanbul to denounce the inauguration ceremony and the killings of at least 55 Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza  in what marked the bloodiest day in the besieged coastal enclave since the 2014 war.

The Israeli military fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at thousands of unarmed protesters who had gathered in Gaza along several points near the fence with Israel, wounding more than 2,700.

UN rights experts denounced Israel for using a disproportionate use of force, while Amnesty International called it a horror that violated international law.

As news of the deaths in Gaza spread, huge crowds descended on Istanbuls busy Istiklal street waving Palestinian and Turkish flags.

Down with America, down with Israel. Israel is a terrorist state, said Bulent Yildirim, one of the protest organisers and president of IHH, a Turkish NGO.

Palestine will be free and this day will signal the end of Israel and the Nakba, in reference to the establishment of the state of Israel on May 15, 1948, in a violent campaign that led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

Some of the protesters burned the US flag and urged Turkey to close Israeli missions in the country, shouting: Shut down the Zionist embassy.

Massive protest in Istanbul right now, with thousands denouncing the US and its decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem #EmbassyMove #Nakba70 #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/PNINeNg3S0  Faisal |  (@faisaledroos) May 14, 2018

Later on Monday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the Turkish government had recalled envoys in Tel Aviv and Washington for consultations.

Bahadir Kurtulmas, a 20-year-old university student, said they had gathered to demand that Israel be brought to justice for all its human rights violations over the past 70 years.

We will sacrifice our blood and our lives for Palestine, he told Al Jazeera.

The Turkish and Muslim peoples will never abandon Palestine; we will continue to fight against US and Israeli imperialism.

The large crowd waved Palestinian and Turkish flags [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]

Ignited a fire

Turkish officials have repeatedly condemned US President Donald Trumps decision to move the US embassy, a key promise during his election campaign, warning it risked inflaming tensions.

The US administration moving its embassy to Jerusalem destroyed the chances for peace and ignited a fire that will cause more human losses and injuries as well as destruction and catastrophe in the region, Bozdag wrote on Twitter.

From now, nothing will be the same in the causes of Palestine and Jerusalem.

Mondays protest in Gaza has been part of a series of demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return and comes ahead of Tuesdays annual commemoration of the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 104 Palestinians in the besieged enclave and wounded about 12,000.

Follow Al Jazeeras Faisal Edroos on Twitter: @FaisalEdroos

Protesters derided Arab leaders for being silent in the face of Israeli aggressions in Gaza [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]



Turkish president accuses Israel of committing a genocide and condemns US for moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

Turkey has recalled its ambassadors to Israel and the United States following the killing of dozens of Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces amid the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The diplomats, currently stationed in Washington, DC, and Tel Aviv, will return to Turkey for consultations, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday, adding that three days of national mourning had been declared in solidarity with Palestine.

Ankara also called for an emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to be held this week  possibly on Friday  and a UN General Assembly meeting over Israels use of force, Bozdag added.

The move came just hours after Israeli forces fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at Palestinians protesting along the coastal enclaves fence with Israel, killing at least 55 people and wounding more than 2,700 others.

South Africa also recalled its ambassador to Israel on Monday.

Given the indiscriminate and grave manner of the latest Israeli attack, the South African government has taken a decision to recall Ambassador Sisa Ngombane with immediate effect until further notice, South Africas foreign ministry said in a statement.

The victims were taking part in a peaceful protest against the provocative inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem, it said, condemning violent aggression carried out by Israeli armed forces.

Great March of Return

The demonstrations in Gaza, which coincided with protests against the opening of the US embassy on Monday, are part of a weeks-long Great March of Return movement calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 104 Palestinians and wounded about 12,000 others.

Speaking later on Friday during a visit to the UK capital, London, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of being a terrorist state, saying it was committing a genocide against Palestinians.

Referring to the US embassy move, Erdogan said Turkey will not allow today to be the day Muslim world loses Jerusalem.

Erdogans comments came as thousands of people took to the streets of Turkeys largest city to protest against the embassy relocation.

At least 6,000 people converged on Monday in central Istanbul to denounce the inauguration ceremony.







A round-up of statements after US moves its embassy to Jerusalem and dozens of Palestinians are killed in Gaza rallies.

The US administration has officially relocated the countrys embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, fulfilling one of Donald Trumps key promises during his election campaign.

A special US delegation attended the inauguration ceremony on Monday, which coincided with the 70th anniversary of Israels founding.

The move infuriated Palestinians and sparked international condemnation.

Previous US presidents, as well as nearly every other country, refrained from opening embassies in Jerusalem, arguing that the citys final status should first be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Israels foreign ministry said all 86 countries with diplomatic missions in Israel were invited to the embassy opening today, yet only 33 countries confirmed attendance.

Palestinian leaders see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and have said that Trumps move disqualifies the US as a peace mediator.





While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the embassy move marked a glorious day, and as the US delegation posed for photos, hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip called for urgent blood donations as Israeli forces fired live ammunition at unarmed Palestinians demonstrating for the right to return to the homes from which they were violently expelled from in 1948.

At least 52 Palestinians were killed, and more than 2,000 were wounded, according to health officials in Gaza.

Heres a round-up of statements from around the world regarding Mondays events:

Arab League

The Cairo-based Arab League, comprising 22 member states, urged the international community to oppose what it considers an unjust decision and the ongoing Israeli occupation of Jerusalem

It called the embassy relocation a blatant attack on the feelings of Arabs and Muslims and a grave violation of the rules of international law that would destabilise the region.

Palestinians have asked for an urgent meeting at the Arab League on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Egypts al-Azhar religious institution meanwhile urged the international community to use all peaceful means to dismiss positions of countries that sided with the Zionist entity, referring to Israel.

United Nations

Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, called for the immediate stop of Israeli live fire targeting dozens.

A statement read on Twitter: Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The international community needs to ensure justice for victims.

Earlier, Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, expressed concern about the high number of people killed in Gaza.

Speaking to reporters in Austrias capital, Vienna, the UN chief said that the Gaza bloodshed showed the need for a political solution.

There is no Plan B to a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace, Guterres said.

Iran

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif called the US embassy opening in Jerusalem a day of great shame.

Israeli regime massacres countless Palestinians in cold blood as they protest in the worlds largest open air prison, he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Trump celebrates move of US illegal embassy and his Arab collaborators move to divert attention.

Last week, Trump defied last-ditch efforts by European allies and withdrew the US from a multinational nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2015.

Definitely their measures on moving their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Irans nuclear issue will not go unchallenged, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Irans parliament, said on Monday, warning that the relocation would inflame tensions in the Middle East.

These sorts of actions will increase tension in the region and the world, Irans semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Larijani as saying.

Larijani urged Muslim countries to take more serious measures in response to Trumps wrong and unwise decision.

Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri wrote on Twitter that he regrets this decision that is igniting the anger of millions of Arabs, Muslims and Christians.

He said Lebanon denounces the provocative decision that is deepening the conflict and allowing the Israelis to spill more blood of innocent Palestinians and increases the intensity of extremism that threatens the world community.





Lebanons Hezbollah group called the US decision a unilateral step that Palestinians will not accept, and therefore it is worthless.

The groups deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, made his comments in a speech in Beirut on Monday marking the 70th anniversary of what Arabs refer to as the Nakba or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war around Israels creation.

God willing, the Nakba that happened 70 years ago will be a motive for change and liberation, Kassem said.

Turkey

Late on Monday evening, Ankara announced that it will be recalling its ambassadors in Washington and Tel Aviv.

What Israel is doing is a genocide, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to state-run Anadolu news agency. Israel is a terrorist state.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Turkey will call for a UN General Assembly meeting, as he announced that three days of national mourning will be held to commemorate the Palestinian demonstrators killed in Gaza.

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish president, called the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza another dark spot, another crime added to Israels wall of shame.

Kalin took to Twitter to criticise the international community for its silence in the face of this systematic barbarism.

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Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called Israels actions state terror.

The Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement the embassy move violated international law and damaged the peace process.

In a statement published late on Sunday, Erdogan said the relocation served to reward the Israeli government despite it undermining efforts to resolve the decades-long conflict, while it punished Palestinians.

History and humanity will never forgive the injustices done to our Palestinian brothers, Erdogan said.

Kuwait

Kuwait called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting for Tuesday.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour urged the council Monday to condemn the killings. Mansour called the Israeli military response a savage onslaught and an atrocity.

The council held an emergency meeting when the protests began in March. Members then urged restraint on both sides but could not agree on any action or joint message.

Pakistan

Pakistans foreign ministry said in a statement that the embassy move to Jerusalem violates international law and several UN Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 476 and 478.

The government and people of Pakistan stand firmly with the Palestinian people, the statement read.

Pakistan also renews its call for establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders, and with al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital.

European Union

Federica Mogherini, the European Unions foreign policy chief, called on Israel to respect the principle of proportionality in the use of force after Israeli soldiers shot and killed dozens of Palestinians in Gaza.

Mogherini said that all should act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life and added that Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest.

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She also insisted that Hamas, which runs the enclave, must make sure demonstrators in Gaza are peaceful and must not exploit them for other means.

Some European foreign ministers said that Trumps decision to relocate the embassy was unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions.

Irelands Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the move is inflaming already a very tense situation, and the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians.

His Dutch counterpart, Stef Blok, said: we dont consider it a wise decision to move the embassy.

Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the US move.

Germany

The German government expressed deep concern about the dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in Gaza, urging Israel to refrain from using live munitions except as a last resort.

The right to peaceful protest must also apply in Gaza, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. Israel has the right to defend itself and secure its [border] fence against violent intrusions, but the principle of proportionality applies.

That meant that live munitions should only be used when other, weaker forms of deterrence had proven unsuccessful and specific threats were present, the spokeswoman added.Yemeni flag flying above sea and airports again after dispute almost divided Saudi-led coalition, says bin Daghr.

A dispute between Yemen and the United Arab Emirates over the deployment of Emirati troops to the island of Socotra has been resolved, according to a Yemeni official.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr, Yemens prime minister, said the crisis on the island is over and that the Yemeni flag was flying above our sea and airports again.

He said the dispute had almost divided a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in northern Yemen to restore the countrys internationally recognised government to power.

The resolution of the weeks-long dispute came a day after Saudi Arabia deployed troops to the strategic island and signed a deal with the UAE to return the islands sea and airports to Yemeni forces, according to state-run Saba news agency.

The crisis over Socotra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, began when the UAE deployed about 300 soldiers, along with tanks and artillery, to the island at the beginning of May.

Angry protests

Emirati forces seized all vital institutions there, including the airport, the ports and the government headquarters, according to residents.

The move triggered angry protests.

Hashim Saad al-Saqatri, Socotras governor, at the time condemned the UAE move as occupation, saying it represented a flagrant violation of Yemeni sovereignty, according to Saba.

Yemen and the UAE are allies in the Saudi-led coalition, but relations between the two countries soured amid concerns among Yemeni officials over the UAEs growing influence in southern Yemen.

The UAE has set up prisons and armed groups in the region, causing officials of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadis government to accuse Emirati troops of behaving like an occupier.

Socotra had been spared involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered what the UN has called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.Perhaps it was Heraclitus around 500 B.C. who first expressed the idea, but it was Oscar Wilde who has a character in his play An Ideal Husband say, "To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect." Those with such an intellect, or even more those with a more outmoded one, will therefore not be surprised that the foreign minister of Bahrain, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, should, on May 10, 2018, have expressed the view that "Israel has the right to defend itself."

Western countries, the E.U., and Russia have long held the view that Israel has the right to defend itself. What is new is that the Arab dignitary recognized that 75 years after the Holocaust, a non-Arab country, Iran, is seeking the destruction of a country with six million Jews. Even more strongly, Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBDS) refers to the Iran supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the "new Hitler." These statements reflect the present situation, in which two conflicts have come together: Iran trying to destroy Israel, and Shiites, led by Iran, clashing against Sunni Muslims, led by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.

Hostilities are continuing, and Israel and Iran have traded blows, recently directly rather than through proxies, but fears are unwarranted of an all-out war, which neither side wants, or of a nuclear Armageddon. It is one thing for legitimate differences to be voiced over the unilateral decision by President Donald Trump on May 8, 2018 to withdraw from the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and what he called its "decaying and rotten structure," and to impose new sanctions. It is quite another thing to argue, as did former President Barack Obama, that as a result the U.S., faces another war in the Middle East.

Trump's decision on what he called "the worst deal ever" may cause problems: a rise in oil prices; international banks less willing to finance trading; tension with allies who were signatories to the Iran deal, especially those who, like France, want to be exempted from sanctions. But it does not constitute a threat to peace in the Middle East, nor any break with E.U. countries, nor any intention to provoke change of regime in Iran. Even if it does not deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, Trump's decision and imposition of sanctions to prevent its connection with the global economy, and access to dollars will result in burdens on its economy, now the world's fifth oil producer, including its export of carpets and food, precious metals, software, shipping, oil, petrochemicals, insurance, energy, and banking.

According to the JCPOA, Iran would reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% for fifteen years. Iran dismantled 13,000 of its centrifuges, leaving 5,000 in place, and allowing gradual restoration to start after ten years. Iran promised not to produce weapons-grade plutonium at its Arak facility and not to build new heavy water reactors for fifteen years. Yet, in April 2017, it made a deal with China to reconstruct its heavy water reactor there. Iran also promised to stopped enrichment at its underground facility at Fordow, long kept secret from the world, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Fordow is supposedly no longer to produce fuel for a nuclear reactor, but is a research center.

As a result of Trump's decision, Iran may be free to start thousands of centrifuges and to increase its uranium fuel supply. It has threatened to enrich uranium in the short run, and it is probable that it will be able to produce a nuclear bomb in the near future.

Irrespective of the nuclear issue, the problem of Iran has been there since 1979, when Shiite Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became supreme leader and founded the Islamic Republic of Iran, with an ideology of antagonism toward the "Great Satan," the U.S., and the "Little Satan," Israel and Zionism. Iran has been a threat by its formidable military arsenal; its ballistic missile program, its territorial ambitions and desire to establish hegemony in the Middle East; its help for terrorist groups Hezb'allah, Hamas, and the Houthis in Yemen; and its determination to eliminate the State of Israel. It can now be seen as the world's most important state sponsor of terror.

Trump's decision coincides with a more aggressive and belligerent posture by Iran. On the evening of May 9, 2018, Iranian forces, primarily the Quds Force, a wing of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards under the control of General Qassem Suleimani, fired missiles and rockets from the suburbs of Damascus against Israeli military in the Golan Heights. Sixteen of them landed in Syria, and four were shot down by the Israeli Iron Dome system.

If it rains in Israel, it will pour in Iran. Israel replied immediately, using 28 planes and firing 70 missiles aimed at Iranian facilities in Syria. Included were intelligence centers, a radar station, weapons depots, anti-aircraft weaponry, storage facilities, observation posts, and operations headquarters. These hostilities were a continuation of earlier encounters.

Iran now has a well equipped arsenal, with offensive and defensive rockets and missiles, including the SA-22 (Pantsir-S1) aerial interception system, a Russian-made tank with short- to medium-range surface-to-air missiles, and an anti-aircraft weapons system. It has five airfields in Syria, used as bases for sending drones, or from which weapons are sent to Hezb'allah, and a military command center at Aleppo Airport. Iran also plans an overland route, from Teheran to Damascus, virtually up to Israeli territory. That particular ambition also may bring clashes with U.S. forces and its proxies presently in the areas.

An immediate danger is from Hezb'allah, Iran's proxy, which has recruited thousands to fight as an ally in Syria, where 1,200 of its forces have been killed. Hezb'allah since 2016 has been part of the Lebanese government. It is more formidable as the result of Lebanon's parliamentary election in May 2018, in which Hezb'allah won the majority of seats. Its danger to Israel has grown, as Iran has been sending advanced weapons and convoys to it. Estimates suggest that Hezb'allah has at least 65,000 rockets and missiles, the most important of which is the Tishreen missile with a control and guidance system.

A significant factor in all this is the refusal of Russia to condemn Israel's strikes. It has called for restraint on both sides. By coincidence, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow on May 9, attending the 73rd anniversary of "Russia's victory over Nazi Germany." Russia has several bases in Syria, including Hmeymim airbase and Tartus air base, as well as servicemen in the country. Netanyahu notified Russia of Israeli air strikes.

A crucial question is whether Russia has the interest or the ability to restrain Iran, with which it does not have identical interests. Russian behavior may be a reflection of the recent attitude toward Jews as more synagogues have opened in Moscow, along with a new yeshiva in the Moscow suburb of Malakhovka. Also, Israel did not subscribe to Western sanctions against Russia because of Crimea or the murders of Russians in Britain.

De-escalation of hostilities and of tensions in the Middle East, particularly between Iran and Israel, is wholly desirable. Whether this occurs depends not on Trump's withdrawal decision, but on Iranian intentions and actions. It was expected that demonstrations throughout Iran would take place in protest against Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal. More ominous is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's declaration that Israel will not exist in 25 years and that the "holy system of the Islamic Republic" will increase its missile capabilities and that Israel will become "sleepless."

Israel is not a country with two sleepy people with nothing to say. And perhaps it is the supreme leader who will lose sleep now that Saudi Arabia has made clear that it will develop its own nuclear weapons if Iran does.As Israel celebrates 70 years of independence, Palestinian protest and mayhem have become increasingly violent. Hamas, an ally of Iran, is paying Palestinians, who are hurling burning tires, catapulting rocks, and flying kite-bombs attempting to destroy the border fence and the land beyond that is protecting Israel from the Gaza Strip. The annual Palestinian commemoration of the naqaba, or catastrophe, ignites Palestinian rage based on the historical fact that Israel exists. This political public relations protest called The Great March of Return serves to teach the next generation of Palestinians the false narrative that returning to Israel is their "inalienable right." Even though 97% of Palestinians have never even seen the villages where they demand to return because the 4th, 5th, and 6th generations depended on those who chose to immigrate during the war of independence, as it is common during war. But it is uncommon for the 5th generations to claim ownership of a land their forefathers abandoned.

Why is the demand for return so important to the Arab countries and the Palestinians? What does it mean for the Jewish State? After centuries of persecution and suffering, the survival of the Jewish people required a homeland to provide a safe haven from rampant anti-Semitism. Following the Holocaust, the British reluctantly released the land of Israel to the Jews. In the process of building a Jewish nation, the Law of Return invited Jews from around the world to come home. As David Ben Gurion declared Israels statehood, thousands of Palestinians fled Israel as they became aware that coordinated attacks by five Arab countries was imminent.

Simultaneously, generations of Jews who lived in Libya, Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Algeria for thousands of years were tortured and killed as a part of coordinated anti-Zionist protests.

History proves that Arab nations persecuted their Jewish neighbors, stealing their property, endangering their lives with pogroms, causing over a million Jews to flee their homes in Arab countries for Israel.

Israel invited the 700,000 Arab refugees to return; however, they declined because they did not want to live in a Jewish State. Shortly thereafter, they demanded citizenship in perpetuity, which is absurd and unprecedented. The U.N. passed Resolution 194, giving the option to Palestinian refugees to return to Israel, or be compensated for their property. No UN resolution demanded equity for the Jews forced from their homes in Arab nations. The UN recommended a partition of land with three Jewish sections and four Arab sections and an international capital in Jerusalem. But the Arabs said no.

Again, the UN overstepped its boundaries -- the Partition Plan and Resolution 194 both violated the General Assembly UN Charter and Israels right to state sovereignty -- to make their own laws on their own land.

Still today, Jordanians, Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, and Gazans of Palestinian descent does not make them Palestinian. Still, they claim to have no home. Of the 22 Arab States, not one country welcomes the Palestinian people. Rejected, ostracized, and abandoned, they are denied entry or are forced out by their own brethren, an issue for which they deserve sympathy, but which by no means should render them Israels responsibility. Recent U.N. Resolutions declared a Palestinian state; but a declaration does not make a state. Services have not been provided to Palestinians in Gaza, except by the Israelis, and even humanitarian goods are stolen by Hamas to build terror tunnels.

Arab countries are complicit in the collective suffering of Palestinians in the name of political expediency. Imagine if Israel treated the Palestinians as the Arab nations have, how differently the world would react. Instead, the UN has publicly indicted Israel in the court of public opinion claiming Israels lack of human rights. Lets examine historical facts:

To prolong the Palestinian chess game against Israels right of return, the 1959 Arab League Decree #1547 disallowed Palestinians from becoming citizens of Arab countries. As a violation of Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it was passed in order to preserve the Palestinian entity and Palestinian identity. Prolonging Palestinian refugee status serves as a public relations thorn in the side of Israel. Even though Palestinian rights are of no concern to the Arabs, the goal was and continues to be: maintain the conflict by blaming Israel.

In 2005, following the elimination of Saddam Husseins dictatorship, Iraqi Palestinians were tortured, abducted, and expelled by Iraqis. Over 15,000 Palestinians were stranded in the desert between Iraq and Syria, and the Arabs cared not for their people. Kuwait kicked out 40,000 Palestinians in 1991, and later, Libya and Egypt forced 30,000 to abandon their homes. Arab nations also banned Palestinians from entering their countries because they are involved in terror groups.

The Hashemite King was the sole Arab leader to allow the Palestinians shelter. Many West Bankers, were actually Jordanian royal subjects, before 1968, and until at least 1994, they were living under their rightful king, in merely the East Bank of their so-called country when they were by all means, Jordanians. Shortly, thereafter, even Jordan disallowed Palestinians to enter without a visa -- while informing the refugees that visas are no longer issued. As of 2014, between 2.1 and 3.2 million Palestinians live in Jordan, many without government services or citizenship. Arab nations watch Palestinians suffering without essential humanitarian supplies.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS), boldly exemplifies the majority of Arab attitudes:

It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiation table or shut up and stop complaining. The Palestinian issue is not a top priority for the Saudi government. There are much more urgent and important issues to deal with -- Iran.

Nevertheless, Arabs seek to maintain the status quo for two reasons: The promise that Palestinians will change the demographic scales by procreating terrorists in Israel. Secondly, the Palestinian culture of corruption, destruction, abduction, expulsion, torture, terror, rejection, and abandonment by their own people taught them that there is no better place to live in the Middle East than Israel.

While living in Israel isnt perfect, everyone enjoys freedom, human rights, opportunities for employment, and basic necessities. Arabs are represented in the Knesset, have the right to work under fair and democratic rule of law, and most are prospering. While it is not politically correct to admit, in Israel, Arabs are tasting the good life like nowhere else in the Middle East.

And still, the world accuses Israel of being an apartheid state.

Valerie Greenfeld is the author of Backyard Jihad: How Parents Can Detect the Invisible Threat of Radicalization order the book at www.backyardihad.com John D. Calvin contributed to this report.I praise God for Wyoming GOP county chair Vicki Kissack having the courage to share my article, "Christians Deceived by the LGBTQ Movement" on her Facebook page. Folks, my article is 100% factually correct; spoken in God's love.

As might be expected, leftists at the Casper Star-Tribune, distorted the truths in my article to brand Mrs. Kissack a hater -- hoping that fearful Republicans will run away from her. Please pray that God gives this patriot sister courage to stand and will build a hedge of protection around her and her family. I claim this scripture for Kissack, "No weapon formed against you shall proper." Isaiah 54:17

The immediate severe attack on Kissack for simply sharing my article confirms the bullying and intolerance of LGBTQ enforcers that I exposed.

A few years ago, I was an executive of a conservative group. LGBTQ activists launched a media assault attempting to brand me and anyone associated with me as haters; to bully me into not writing obvious truths. My wonderful wife Mary and I realize that God is our financial source. I must freely spread God's truth. Therefore, I resigned from my position to protect friends and associates from LGBTQ enforcers. God is faithful.

I told my 90-year-old preacher dad about the April 23rd international parents' Sex-Ed protest. Parents are outraged, unable to opt-out their children from LGBTQ lessons which include asphyxiation, BDSM, gender-bending, anal sex, and rimming. Dad replied, "Rimming? I don't even know what that is." Ponder that, folks. LGBTQ bullies have successfully mandated that elementary school kids be taught a dangerous sexual perversion unknown to a 90-year-old.

A Texas pre-K teacher sounded the alarm that her principal ordered teachers to explain homosexuality to 4-year-olds and teach them that "gay love is beautiful." And yet, LGBTQ activists are trying to brand us as haters for seeking to protect our kids' innocence, while they tyrannically demand that we surrender our children for LGBTQ indoctrination.

My wife alerted me regarding another Christian bridal shop in business for 22 years in Pennsylvania, driven out of business by LGBTQ enforcers. Despite the owners referring a lesbian couple to another bridal shop eager for their business, that was not acceptable to LGBTQ enforcers. Clearly, LGBTQ enforcers' mission is to force Christians to betray their faith, demanding that they kneel in worship to leftists' false gods.

The good news is that Christians and patriots are standing up for their religious liberty and freedom of speech.

Cathy Miller refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple but offered to sell them a pre-made cake. The lesbian couple, in essence, said "screw you" and sued Ms. Miller. As I stated, this is not about acquiring a cake. LGBTQ enforcers are targeting Christian businesses to force them to affirm their agenda.

Remarkably, a California judge ruled in favor of Ms. Miller. Judge David Lampe said, The State asks this court to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create cake [sic] she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in celebration of marital union her religion forbids... Such an order would be the stuff of tyranny. Amen!

Demanding total subservience, LGBTQ enforcers sought to fire New Jersey high school teacher and ordained minister Jenye Knox for posting that homosexuality is a sin on her personal Facebook page. Ms. Knox sued the school district for violating her right to free speech and religious expression. A confidential settlement was made regarding Knox's tenure. I salute Knox for courageously fighting back.

A standing room only crowd of 190 showed up at the EWC board meeting to raised their hands to oppose the implementation of transgender policies at Eastern Wyoming College. Wyoming GOP chair Frank Eathorne read his party's 2017 resolution vs. SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity).

In essence, the GOP resolution explained how SOGI laws attack our freedom rather than the other way around:

Life has taught me to always look for the blessing in everything. Samuel Adams said, "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." While being persecuted, the courage of Christians and patriots standing up for our free speech and religious liberties will ignite a national movement. Therefore, all is well.

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American

Help Lloyd spread the TruthA handful of smart Democrats are warning their party that it is hurtling down a path of self-destruction. Now one of the most effective Democrat office-holders of this era is joining a handful of Democrat pundits in warning that the obsessive hatred of Donald Trump by progressive Democrats threatens to not only derail the party's plan to retake the House of Representatives, but damage its longer-term health.

Mark Penn, the pollster who guided Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign, and his business partner Doug Schoen have read the tea leaves and have been warning Democrats to drop Trump-hatred and the Russiagate fantasy. But as smart and respected as both men were when they were seen as loyalists, they lacked the standing of office-holders, real wielders of political power.

No such qualms exist when it comes to Willie Brown, who dominated California politics as speaker of the California state Assembly, and then as a second political career became the 41st mayor of San Francisco for eight years. There is no one in American politics more savvy and ruthless than Brown, a man who never lets ideological illusions get in the way of his Main Chance, which is always about power and money. He left political office in 2004 and since then has been a weekly columnist for the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle, as well as a political consultant, enjoying wealth, luxury, prominence, and power in the City by the Bay. "Grudging admiration" is the term I and many other California Republicans use in describing him.

Now, in stark terms, he warns his compatriots to wake up and operate in the real world and realize that "Trump is more popular than Dems want to admit."

He leads with this: "It's time for the Democrats to stop bashing President Trump."

And then he implies something remarkable: that Dems are rooting for Americans to suffer in order to vindicate their hatred for Trump (and he's right).

Like it or not, a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days. They are making money. They feel safe, and they agree with with [sic] the president's protectionist trade policies, his call for more American jobs, even his immigration stance. The jobs growth reports, the North Korea summit and the steady economy are beating out the Stormy Daniels scandal and the Robert Mueller investigation in Middle America, hands down. So you are not going to win back the House by making it all about him.

Willie understands that rooting against America and the interests of ordinary people inflicts lasting damage. He is not yet willing to say so explicitly, only imply it. But it is right there in his expression, "Like it or not..."

We are at a remarkable political moment, as the combination of progressive dominance of academia and media has enabled Trump-hating delusions to be embraced by and maintained by the left-wing base of the party, which seriously wants impeachment. Billionaire Tom Steyer is funding a $30-million campaign to push impeachment and play the Hitler card against not just Trump, but his supporters.

I don't see Steyer, a San Francisco resident, heeding the warning of his former mayor. Nor do I see Maxine Waters taking his wise counsel. The blue wave and Russiagate fantasies are so comforting to the befuddled and deranged that they cannot let go.

TDS is real, and it can be lethal (politically).With 35,000 hungry, desperate Venezuelans pouring over the Colombian border every day now, Venezuela has morphed from a socialist nuisance state with a big-mouthed dictator into to a very real foreign aid issue.

The Los Angeles Times has a new report from the ground:

The huge increase in Venezuelan migrants fleeing their country's economic crisis, failing healthcare system and repressive government is affecting the Cucuta metropolitan area more than any other in Colombia. It's where 80% of all exiting Venezuelans headed for Colombia enter as foreigners.

...and...

Many arrive broke, hungry and in need of immediate medical attention. Over the last two years, North Santander province, where Cucuta is located, has vaccinated 58,000 Venezuelans for measles, diphtheria and other infectious diseases because only half of the arriving children have had the shots, said Nohora Barreto, a nurse with the provincial health department.

...and...

The hospital's red ink is rising along with its caseload. The facility has run up debts of $5 million over the last three years to accommodate Venezuelans because the Colombian government is unable to reimburse it, said Juan Agustin Ramirez, director of the 500-bed hospital. "The government has ordered us to attend to Venezuelan patients but is not giving us the resources to pay for them," Ramirez said. "The truth is, we feel abandoned. The moment could arrive when we will collapse."

Foreign aid, indeed. Most of us do pity them. And there is foreign aid flowing  some $18.5 million from the U.S.  to clean up after this socialist dictatorship's mess. It's quite an irony to consider that as much as Venezuela's dictators  both Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro  screamed about the hated yanqui imperialistas, and touted their commitment to free health care, quite unlike dreadful us, the actual cost of saving their desperate people is being paid by the American taxpayer. Meanwhile, the international community, which coddled this socialist dictatorship, praised their socialist ideas, and giggled when Chavez "smelled the sulfur," has now gone strangely silent as Americans and the hemisphere's frontier states pay the costs of all that fun.

I have no problem with the U.S. giving aid to the desperate Venezuelans, particularly if it diverts U.S. resources from nation-building in Middle Eastern hellholes. But there's a problem with this. Look at what the State Department has had to say about it (emphasis mine):

Colombia's president has appealed to the international community for help. The U.S. government recently stepped up: The State Department announced Tuesday it was contributing $18.5 million "to support displaced Venezuelans in Colombia who have fled the crisis in their country."

Crisis? What crisis? A crisis is when a volcano explodes down your street. What happened in Venezuela is the natural outcome of socialism and its unyielding grip on power, all to the useful idiots' chorus of a Better World. It's the outcome of lies, false promises, and the natural corruption of a monopoly on power, which is socialism in a nutshell. Given the numerous examples of socialism in all its horrors, from the Soviet Union to Ceausescu's Romania to Pol Pot's Cambodia to Mugabe's Zimbabwe to all the boat people of Vietnam and Cuba, this man-made disaster could be seen coming from a thousand miles away. This is what socialism does.

So why does the State Department refer to this as "a crisis"? It's not a crisis; it's late-stage socialism. So if we are going to be paying for the clean-up of this socialist outcome, maybe we should be saying something about the problem itself. Calling it a crisis, as if it were something that just blew in from out of the blue, is covering up the problem and deprives us of an opportunity to stomp the idea dead before it recrudesces again. After all, many young people here are enthralled with the idea of socialism.

Might these Venezuelans flooding Colombia just be a population from a country where socialized health care was free and everyone was supposed to be cared for? Why can't the State Department say something about these false promises of socialism, as the U.S. aid gets doled?

Unlike Nazism, this variety of socialism has never had a reckoning, a point where the entire public comes to realize that the idea itself stinks and no one other than the most fringe pariah would endorse such an idea. Socialism is still considered a perfectly respectable alternative system of government, despite the mess and clean-up that inevitably follow. Bernie Sanders is continuing to make political hay from the fraud, and young people here are eating it up.

With America stuck with the bill for this (and don't think it's not going to get bigger), it's imperative that the cause of the problem be stated plainly, if for nothing else than that we don't have to constantly keep mopping up after it abroad and fighting it off over here. The public needs to know, the aid recipients most certainly need to know, the youth here need to know, and the sniggering world needs to know that this so-called crisis is really the natural outcome of socialism. There is no better place to underline it than through our aid to those suffering from such socialism's logical conclusion.It seems like a ridiculous question on its face. Do the owners of newspapers  a terminally ill industry  owe journalists a living?

For employees of the Denver Post and many others, the answer is yes. The owner of the post, a hedge fund-manager named Randall Smith, has cut and cut and cut his properties to the bone: smaller newspapers, far fewer employees, even cutbacks in daily delivery to just a couple of days a week.

The result has been a spike in profits for Smith and much wailing and gnashing of teeth from journalists.

This Politico piece, "This is how a newspaper dies," reveals the sense of entitlement displayed by journalists working in a dying industry:

Journalists and citizens have protested and rebelled against the Alden cutbacks to no effect. The Post's editorial page editor resigned recently after writing an editorial calling on its owners to sell. The editorial page editor at the chain's Boulder Daily Camera just got sacked for self-publishing a critique of his owners and a fund has been established to fund the journalism of Posties that have been let go. This week, employees from several of the chain's newspapers took their complaint to Manhattan, where they demonstrated outside Smith's offices to demand that he either invest in his papers or sell them to somebody who will. But why on Earth should Smith sell? Alden's newspapers recorded nearly $160 million in profits during fiscal year 2017, analyst Ken Doctor reported in a comprehensive piece recently at NeimanLab. The chain's 17 percent operating margin makes it one of the industry's best performers. Over the course of seven years, Alden doubled profits in its Bay Area News Group newspapers, another home to cutbacks. At the Pioneer Press, where its staff is down to 60, the paper produced a $10 million profit at a 13 percent margin.

Well, the report is half-right. Journalists have certainly protested the cutbacks, but few customers have bothered to complain.

That Smith is able to wring any profit at all out of his properties is remarkable. The model he is using is referred to as "harvesting market position" or, as editor Lifson points out, "milking a cash cow."

By raising prices and lowering quality, a stagnant business can rely on its most loyal customers to continue to buy the product, allowing it to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze its customers as they croak. This slow liquidation of an asset's value, destroying even its reputation in the process, kills the product. Wherever newspapers can be found reducing page size, cutting news pages, narrowing coverage area, reducing staff, shrinking circulation area, postponing the purchase of new equipment and raising subscription prices, they are harvesting market position. Faced with two business options, earn small sums from his newspapers over an indeterminate time or cash in big all at once, perhaps hastening the end, Smith has chosen the latter.

The Denver Post would have bitten the dust long ago if Smith hadn't intervened. The fact is, all newspapers today are looking for a deep-pockets investor who believes the delusion that "journalism" is some kind of sacred calling and newspapers should be above such grubby things as profit. Otherwise, the shrinking number of daily and weekly newspapers will be snapped up by investors like Smith, hoping to cash in on the loyalty of a dwindling number of people who don't mind getting newspaper ink on their fingers every morning.

And if you are looking for "blame" for the death of the industry, don't look at people like Smith.

In 2008, then-Detroit News reporter Charlie LeDuff spotted another villain in the rot and decay of his newspaper as it downsized to three days a week of home delivery. "The owner didn't decide to shrink the paper. The reader decided to shrink the paper," LeDuff said. It was readers who stopped subscribing. It was readers who stopped using newspaper classifieds. It was readers who stopped reading. Readers are the true villains in this murder mystery.

I don't recall ever reading any similar clarion calls for succor coming from journalists to save the blacksmiths industry. The "creative destruction" that defines capitalism means that as newspapers disappear, something else rises to fill the market niche. In this case, there are many ways being created to disseminate news and opinion to the public. They may not be as holy as the noble and vitally important profession of newspaper journalists. But the people who work at these new media outlets are perfectly capable of performing the exact same "public service" without the nauseating self-righteousness that's coming from newspaper journalists today.Unlike, say, California, volcano- and flood-plagued Hawaii isn't busying itself with bashing President Trump. Hawaii's Democratic governor, David Ige, expressed considerable gratitude to the president for his swift response to his two requests for disaster declarations  one for the floods in Kauai in April, and then another for his state's volcano problems on the Big Island in May. After a bit of delay, Ige asked for aid, and right out the gate, he got it:

"I'm grateful for the quick approval of my request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration. This opens the door to federal assistance and demonstrates a solid partnership with the federal government as we work to keep Hawai'i residents safe and support recovery efforts on Hawai'i Island," said Gov. David Ige. As the volcanic eruption enters its second week  assessments continue and additional requests will be made when federal requirements are met. Today's Presidential Disaster Declaration for Hawai'i Island follows the Presidential Disaster Declaration for flood-damaged Kaua'i and the City and County of Honolulu, which was granted on May 8.

The White House hasn't updated its website to confirm that the federal help for the volcanic eruptions is coming, but we can probably take the governor's word for it. There is a disaster declaration for the Kauai floods. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser also confirmed that a second declaration came for the volcano.

What a striking contrast this is to the nonstop attacks on President Trump from the Beltway morass and the coastal elites, who would make him out to be a monster and whose chief preoccupation is engineering some means of overthrowing him.

And so much for the utterly baseless claims, bubbling out there on Twitter by leftists, that Trump had no intention of helping, something that was scaring the residents of the affected areas, including my own sister, who lives in Leilani Estates and who has been evacuated. The Hawaii Democratic governor asked, and the Hawaii Democratic governor got. And since he had class, he said thanks.

Apparently, when you are on an island and rather distant from the mainland, you think more about how you ensure your survival, and you prioritize accordingly. It makes more sense to focus on your own state than the Beltway's offense at the very existence of President Trump. As a result, you don't waste time with Trump-bashing and playing Washington's stupid little coup games.

Note that the mainstream media on the mainland haven't said much about this at all. They wouldn't be caught dead giving President Trump credit as the Hawaiian Democrat did.

Far from being the monster of their imaginations, Trump's actually just another good-hearted president who responds quickly and with no partisan rancor to disaster declaration requests from any of the states, even a largely blue state, in the throes of unusual disasters  with torrential flooding on one side of the state and boiling volcanic eruptions on the other.

The Hawaiian perspective is refreshing and edifying for the rest of us to see, and both Trump and the Democratic governor deserve credit for the civility of the exchange.Leftists are notoriously touchy whenever anyone questions their patriotism, and the mask seems to be off with a California assemblyman's proposal to scrap Lincoln's or Washington's birthdays as holidays and replace them with the communist May Day.

Surreal as this sounds, it's true. According to the Daily Caller:

The California Assembly discussed Thursday a bill that would replace Abraham Lincoln or George Washington's birthday with International Socialist Workers' Day as a paid holiday. California Democrat Assemblyman Miguel Santiago introduced Bill AB-3042, which would allow schools to replace Washington Day and Lincoln Day with Presidents' Day and install an "International Workers' Day"  conventionally known as "May Day"  as a second holiday. "I'm aghast that a bill like this would be able to get through committee," California Republican Assemblyman Matthew Harper said to the Assembly. "Are we in competition to be the laughing stock of the United States?"

The incredible thing is, after Santiago's bill was laughed out of the Assembly, he vowed to bring it back and now plans to reintroduce the bill honoring his communism.

It's the sort of thing that makes you wonder if this guy is an idiot, a fool, a tyrant, or a puppet.

My vote goes to puppet, given that he hasn't backed off, a strange thing for a guy who now knows how unpopular his idea is yet won't go away. It's natural to think a leftist that far left would reject the entire idea of America as well as its founding father, but the replacement with a communist symbol takes the matter a little farther.

Who is this clown, anyway? He's a 45-year-old assemblyman who was first elected in 2014 in an East L.A. district well known for its illegal aliens and got elected on a voter turnout of just 21%, unusually low for even that kind of a district. He's never run against a Republican; the GOP doesn't even bother to run candidates in his district. He's affiliated with the Antonio Villaraigosa political machine and succeeded the notorious John Perez in his assembly seat, which was previously held by the scandal-plagued Fabian Nunes. He's tight with the unions as well as this leftist bunch, which isn't famous for its allegiance to the American flag.

His wife, meanwhile, seems to be the moneybags in the family, working for a white-shoe foundation called the California Community Foundation, which seems to be in the business of providing advice to illegals on how to hold off La Migra and prevent deportations and other left-wing causes. It has quarters in a tony part of pricey downtown Los Angeles near the Disney Symphony Hall, (not the part where the illegals hang out), so you know that it isn't what anyone would call "grassroots." With only a recent degree from a mediocre college, she's bounced up well as her politically powerful husband's fortunes have waxed and is connected with the same scandal-plagued political machinery.

Santiago has already called for loopy laws to be made, seeking free community college, gun control, Obamacare, and all the goodies Hugo Chavez once offered to the gullible masses of Venezuela.

Of course he's not going to be a fan of George Washington or his birthday  not when there's a communist flag to honor. So now he's plugging away, making California a laughingstock with his holiday replacement idea, secure in the knowledge that he won't have to face any voters for it and showing the rest of the country what the leftist machine running the state looks like.

The red tide threatening to submerge the blue wave gets a little closer in California...President Trump is currently on a roll, fulfilling one campaign promise after another, turning the economy around and making significant advances on the international stage regarding North Korea, Israel, and Iran. But you would never know it if you followed only the mainstream media.

While Trump was busy bringing down the unemployment rate to record lows, CNN was focusing on the credibility of a prostitute who allegedly accepted hush money so she wouldn't speak to the media. As Trump prepared to enter a meeting with North Korea after the successful release of three hostages, CNN was busy covering Mueller's never-ending, unethical, and disgraceful investigation into "Russian collusion." The fake news coverage on Trump has become so outrageously biased that entire news segments are sometimes dedicated not to anything Trump actually did, but to hypotheticals. Pure baseless speculation is allowed to pass as news on the part of the corrupt media, where nothing is too outrageous or out of bounds if intended to hurt Trump.

Think of the immense amount of time and financial resources that went into investigating Benghazi, the IRS scandal, Fast and Furious, and Hillary's private server. Understand that these blatantly illegal and unconstitutional crimes cost the lives of at least five Americans, including a United States ambassador and a U.S. Border Patrol agent. They stole the constitutional rights of many United States citizens, put millions of military personnel at risk, and forever tarnished the reputation of the Department of Justice and the FBI, and not a single person was held accountable for any of it. Investigations with no clear outcome or conclusions are like watching a magic show with no magic  just anticipation and a lot of wand-waving, but no rabbit ever comes out of the hat. On the other hand, Trump is under what appears to be a permanent Russian collusion investigation and faces the threat of impeachment despite the progress he has made.

The constant and unparalleled barrage of negative press coordinated against Trump has its foundation deep under the muck and slime of the swamp, which comprises elected criminals in a cartel known as Congress and buttressed by an out-of-control, venom-spewing media. In 2015, the most recent year for which the digital news outlet Quartz could access the information, the median worth of a member of the U.S. Congress was $1.1 million. That is more than 12 times greater than the net wealth of the median U.S. household. The median net worth of a senator was $3.2 million, versus $900,000 for members of the House of Representatives. Obviously, this wealth was not amassed through the interest gained on a savings account, and so the illicit dealings within the swamp going on for decades are lucrative and will not cease on their own.

And yet, even with the formidable domestic forces of evil coming at him from every conceivable angle, Trump has continued to stay focused on the needs of the country. Part of Trump's successful arsenal resides in his willingness to speak directly to the American people regarding his candid assessment of motivations, hypocrisy, and the nature of what is coming at him.

If conservative members of Congress had just half of the willpower and single-mindedness that Trump has displayed as he walks through the minefield of American politics, many of the problems facing this country could be fairly quickly solved.Every action has consequences. we'll be dealing with the consequences of agreeing to a flawed nuclear deal with Iran for years to come.

One of those consequences is that the deal gave Iran tens of billions of dollars in cash, the result of unfreezing Iranian assets. Iran has used that money to make trouble in several places, including allowing Hezb'allah to assist President Assad in Syria, funding Houthi rebels in Yemen, and giving some extra cash to Hamas in their war of extermination against Israel.

The Israeli internal security service Shin Bet is saying the huge demonstrations on the Gaza border with Israel are being funded by the Iranians. The report will be believed with varying degrees of skepticism. But it is given credence by the fact that Iran already funds Hamas.

Times of Israel:

Hamas has warned its own members to stay away from the security fence during Gaza's mass protests, lest they get shot, while actively encouraging Palestinian civilians  particularly children and teens  to approach the border, the Shin Bet added, citing findings from a number of interrogations. If the fence is breached, however, armed Hamas gunmen are poised to enter Israel to carry out attacks. ... "From the information we have, it appears Hamas is encouraging and sending protesters to the border fence in order to carry out violent acts and damage security infrastructure. In addition, it was found that Iran is providing funding to Hamas in order for it to carry out these violent activities along the Gaza Strip's border fence," the Shin Bet said.

The protest against the U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem today has reportedly resulted in at least 41 Palestinian dead. The Hamas plan is unfolding brilliantly. Of course, the Western press will ignore Hamas using its own people as cannon fodder to violate Israel's security infrastructure and concentrate on the casualties themselves. Meanwhile, the IDF has come under fire from "peaceful demonstrators."

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 41 Palestinians were killed and over 500 were wounded in the violence, amid the biggest riots and rallies in a weeks-long campaign of protests against Israel. The Israeli army said around 50,000 Gazans were demonstrating in 12 locations along the border. It said thousands more were gathered at points several hundred meters from the fence. ... The army said three of those killed were trying to plant explosives at the border fence. In two separate incidents, IDF troops opened fire on gunmen who were trying to shoot them, Hadashot TV said.

There is blood on former president Obama's hands, and no amount of media whitewashing can remove it. The incomprehensible decision to hand over tens of billions of dollars to a country considered by all Western intelligence agencies to be the world's number-one terrorist state must be understood in the context of why the agreement was negotiated. It was not to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. The deal was reached to give Western nations an excuse not to attack Iran militarily and deny the Iranians what they will eventually get: an atomic bomb.

We will be paying for this deal for decades to come.The true story of how senior officials in the FBI and intelligence community conspired to spy on the Trump campaign and presidency on suspicion of nefarious dealings with Russia is starting to emerge, and with it, the possible role of a shadowy figure: Stefan Halper. The counterintelligence investigation at the FBI was officially launched, as Sundance notes:

On July 31st, 2016 [as] the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign. They did not inform congress until March 2017. At the beginning of August (1st-3rd) 2016 FBI Agent Peter Strzok traveled to London, England for interviews with UK intelligence officials.

We have no explicit information about whom Strzok met with in London immediately after the investigation was launched, but given what follows below, it seems quite likely that Stefan Halper was on his agenda and that generating a plan to ensnare unwitting dupes into incriminating-looking behavior had something to do with the trip.

On August 15th, 2016 Peter Strzok sends a text message to DOJ Lawyer Lisa Page describing the "insurance policy", needed in case Hillary Clinton were to lose the election.

But what led up to the formal opening? An "E.C." (electronic communication) apparently "was generated by CIA Director John Brennan and passed on to FBI Director James Comey. The EC initiated the FBI Counterintelligence Operation" and now is the subject of demands by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, as the Washington Post reported:

At one point, Nunes had threatened to impeach top Justice Department officials when they did not immediately hand over an unredacted document detailing the origin of the investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election. The department later gave Nunes access to a version with modest redactions, and Nunes thanked Rosenstein for his cooperation.

Still secret is the name of someone at the heart of the so-called "raw intelligence" that Brennan passed on to Comey, which resulted in the FBI counterintelligence investigation that began on the last day of July 2016, three months before the presidential election.

For the intelligence agencies, Nunes's request threatened to cross a red line of compromising sources and methods of U.S. intelligence-gathering, according to people familiar with their views. Intelligence officials fear that providing even a redacted version of the information Nunes seeks could expose that person and damage relationships with other countries that serve as U.S. intelligence partners.

Yesterday, Clarice Feldman laid out the case that:

... there was collusion between certain members of the U.S. and British intelligence communities to spy on the Trump campaign. This may explain, in large part, the reluctance of the Department of Justice to reveal what it knows publicly. After all  with rare exceptions  the two countries' intelligence services have long had important information gathering and sharing agreements, and exposure of this may harm the traditional reciprocal relationship. And that the likely suspect is shadowy Stefan Halper... ... someone who worked with U.S. and apparently British intelligence, with a record of trying to spy on lowly campaign workers and even trick them into compromising actions, a U.S. citizen with strong ties to British intelligence who lived in the U.K.: Stefan Halper, a former advisor to three Republican presidents (and therefore, had perfect cover), a Cambridge Fellow, who, as we detail, interacted with various Trump campaign workers ostensibly to assist them. On November 3, 2016, he publicly stated that Hillary would be the best option for U.S.-U.K. relations. It's reasonable to assume, therefore, that the "help" was not for the Trump campaign, but for Hillary. "I believe [Hillary] Clinton would be best for US-UK relations and for relations with the European Union. Clinton is well-known, deeply experienced and predictable. US-UK relations will remain steady regardless of the winner although Clinton will be less disruptive over time," Halper, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs and senior adviser to the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, said. Here's how Halper "helped" the Trump campaign from publicly available information: On July 16, 2016 he invited Carter Page to a Cambridge symposium

On September 11, 2016 he met with a senior Trump official

On September 13-16 he met with Papadopoulos. Halper is a close associate of former MI6 head Richard Dearlove, who in a recent video interview, cagily refused to acknowledge the veracity of the Steele dossier. It was previously reported that Halper had conducted a data-gathering operation to collect inside information on Jimmy Carter's foreign policy during the 1980 campaign, a charge he strongly denied. But if that charge were true, he certainly had experience in such things. If Halper was not a person we'd consider a mole in the campaign, as he never was actually part of the campaign team  just someone trying to fish for dirt (or lure people like Page and Papadopoulos into some compromising acts)  why the weasel description in the report Nunes is examining?



Photo credit: VOA via Wikipedia.

Since the publication of Clarice's column, some fascinating information has come to light. Twitter bloggers Jacob Wohl, Deplorable Lori, and Deplorable Jeff dug up public records indicating that Stefan Halper, who is said to have some sort of title connected with Cambridge University, has been receiving fat contracts from the federal government for "Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities":

Govt records show Stefan Halper was paid over $400k in 2 payments: September 2016 and July 2017! FBI???? Hat tip to @JacobAWohl pic.twitter.com/YWYd2btngR  Deplorable Jeff (@SoooooCal) May 12, 2018

Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller News Foundation has uncovered some of Halper's pre-election maneuvering of a key figure in what was used to justify the FISA warrant:

Two months before the 2016 election, George Papadopoulos received a strange request for a meeting in London, one of several the young Trump adviser would be offered  and he would accept  during the presidential campaign. The meeting request, which has not been reported until now, came from Stefan Halper, a foreign policy expert and Cambridge professor with connections to the CIA and its British counterpart, MI6. Halper's September 2016 outreach to Papadopoulos wasn't his only contact with Trump campaign members. The 73-year-old professor, a veteran of three Republican administrations, met with two other campaign advisers, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned. Papadopoulos now questions Halper's motivation for contacting him, according to a source familiar with Papadopoulos's thinking. That's not just because of the randomness of the initial inquiry but because of questions Halper is said to have asked during their face-to-face meetings in London. According to a source with knowledge of the meeting, Halper asked Papadopoulos: "George, you know about hacking the emails from Russia, right?" Papadopoulos told Halper he didn't know anything about emails or Russian hacking, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign. The professor did not follow up on the line of inquiry. Halper first contacted Papadopoulos by email. In a Sept. 2, 2016, message sent to Papadopoulos's personal email account, he offered the Trump aide $3,000 to write a policy paper on issues related to Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and the Leviathan natural gas field. Halper also offered to pay for Papadopoulos's flight and a three-night stay in London.

I have heard through an intermediary from a veteran D.C. foreign policy figure who described Halper as "a hanger on around D.C. conservative circles who claims he worked for Ford, Nixon, and Reagan." In 1983, according to Leslie Gelb of the New York Times:

Stefan A. Halper, a campaign aide involved in providing 24-hour news updates and policy ideas to the traveling Reagan party, as the person in charge. Mr. Halper, until recently deputy director of the State Department's Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs and now chairman of the Palmer National Bank in Washington, was out of town today and could not be reached. But Ray S. Cline, his father-in-law, a former senior Central Intelligence official, rejected the account as a ''romantic fallacy.''

Halper's father-in-law, Ray S. Cline, who recently died, was one of the most influential members of the intelligence community and was chief CIA analyst during the Cuban Missile Crisis, going on to head the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies.

My source adds that "[t]hen, with no apparent connections in the U.K., he went to Cambridge and became very left-wing."

I can't claim to know any details of Halper's compensation (if any) from Cambridge University or his responsibilities (if any) there. But I do know that what looks like a $200,000-a-year income from the United States government would be enough to maintain an agent useful to the intelligence community in various capacities in an overseas location.

If and when President Trump starts tweeting about Halper and his role in the abuse of our intelligence apparatus to spy on and accuse his campaign and presidency of collaboration with Russia, I suggest he adopt the nickname "Shadowy Stefan Halper" for this man.In a classic smear, NBC News "investigated" the Gatestone Institute and found that it is an "anti-Muslim think-tank" with ties to the same Russians who interfered in the 2016 election.

NBC's report begins with an iteration of the Russia-Trump collusion story: that Gatestone's former chairman, Ambassador John Bolton, now U.S. National Security Advisor, who has described Russia's attempts to undermine the U.S. election as an act of war, was affiliated with "a nonprofit that has promoted misleading and false anti-Muslim news, some of which was amplified by a Russian troll factory," implying that he was somehow colluding with Russia to spread anti-Muslim propaganda. NBC initially provides no evidence for this claim, but buried deep inside the article it asserts that, according to its "exclusive database," Russian trolls tweeted a total of four Gatestone articles  out of more than 200,000 tweets identified by Twitter as being linked to Russian accounts. Bolton, on the contrary, is usually criticized for having hawkish views on Russia. ... NBC News also provides no evidence for its insinuation that White House attorneys are "potential[ly]" investigating Bolton's affiliation with Gatestone. Moreover, after first implying that Bolton is "anti-Muslim," NBC undercuts its own claims by admitting that his name cannot be found on "the anti-Muslim articles at issue." NBC also acknowledges that Bolton was opposed to Trump's so-called Muslim ban. The NBC report, written by political reporter Heidi Przybyla, appears to be based almost entirely on a series of deceptive reports about Gatestone by The Intercept, a left-leaning digital news site which itself has admitted to fabricating stories and quotes and is listed as one of "The Best Websites to Follow If You're Plotting the Left-Wing Resistance". The NBC report, which fails to cite The Intercept, is also intriguingly similar to false allegations in Wikipedia, which also parrots numerous false, but published, claims about Gatestone, such as that Gatestone incorrectly writes about the existence of no-go zones.

Gatestone has published numerous articles explaining sharia law to Western audiences. NBC and other news outlets have taken that criticism of one specific aspect of Islam and smeared the Institute by claiming that it is "anti-Muslim."

Gatestone's response is destined to be a classic:

Gatestone Institute, far from being "anti-Muslim", is pro-Muslim. Gatestone does not want to see Muslims deprived of freedom of speech, flogged or stoned to death for supposed adultery. Gatestone is also opposed to "honor" killings, children forced into marriages; homosexuals flogged or killed, and so on. Is one to assume that NBC and its followers do want to see these abuses? Good to know.

Gatestone is, however, openly committed to educating the public about an aspect of Islam, namely Sharia law, which, according to the European Court of Human Rights and others, is incompatible with liberal democracy.

It is difficult to conceive of Gatestone's "anti-Muslim" bias when it employs Muslim scholars to write:

Even a cursory perusal [sic] of Gatestone's website shows that many of its experts and authors are Muslim. Just a few include, for example, the Chairman of Gatestone Europe, the distinguished journalist Amir Taheri; also Salim Mansur, Raif Badawi, Burak Bekdil, Tharwa Boulifi, Khaled Abu Toameh, Shireen Qudosi, Ahmed Charai, Khadija Khan, Mitra Pourshajari, Najat AlSaied, Sohail Raza, and Majid Rafizadeh.

To be clear, the left conflates any criticism of any part of Islam with "anti-Muslim bias." Neuroscientist and atheist Sam Harris found this out the hard way:

[In] 2006, at a conference at the Salk Institute with Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson and other prominent scientists[,] Mr. Harris said something that he thought was obvious on its face: Not all cultures are equally conducive to human flourishing. Some are superior to others. "Until that time I had been criticizing religion, so the people who hated what I had to say were mostly on the right," Mr. Harris said. "This was the first time I fully understood that I had an equivalent problem with the secular left." After his talk, in which he disparaged the Taliban, a biologist who would go on to serve on President Barack Obama's Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues approached him. "I remember she said: 'That's just your opinion. How can you say that forcing women to wear burqas is wrong?' But to me it's just obvious that forcing women to live their lives inside bags is wrong. I gave her another example: What if we found a culture that was ritually blinding every third child? And she actually said, 'It would depend on why they were doing it.'" His jaw, he said, "actually fell open."

That's the kind of delusional thinking that Gatestone is up against. It's not that leftists don't know the eighth-century practices of certain Islamic societies. In their moral and cultural relativism, they believe it's none of our business.

Freeing Muslims from this barbarism is a noble undertaking. And Gatestone appears to be perfectly capable of defending themselves from the smears of media outlets.After touching down today at Sochi Airport, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the St. Sargis Armenian Apostolic Church where he was welcomed by Bishop Movses Movsisyan, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Churchs Southern Russian Diocese, and a number of local community representatives.

The prime ministers website reports that Pashinyan told the crowd of Armenians gathered at the church that the government was preparing a repatriation program, urging all to return to the homeland.

Our aim is to concentrate the physical, financial, economic and spiritual potential of the Armenian nation in Armenia, and to ensure its security and normal development, Pashinyan said, calling on Russian-Armenian entrepreneurs to invest in Armenia and create jobs.

The prime minister said that his government would protect all business ventures in Armenia.

Pashinyan said that he saw many faces in the crowd who he saw in Yerevans Republic Square during the height of the anti-government protestsAn hour after President Trump announced that he would end the Iran deal, and just before Western European leaders spoke out in defense of the deal, a Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Post tweeted about a threat from an adviser one of Iran's senior officials, minister of foreign affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif:

H.J.Ansari Zarifs senior advisor: If Europeans stop trading with Iran and dont put pressure on US then we will reveal which western politicians and how much money they had received during nuclear negotiations to make #IranDeal happen. That would be interesting. #JCPOA

Vivek Saxena of Bizpac Review comments:

The adviser's tweet appears to suggest that some Western officials partook in "pay-to-play" schemes by accepting money to support and ultimately sign the deal. The accusation makes perfect sense given that there was no legitimate reason whatsoever to support the horrible one-sided deal pieced together in 2015 by then-President Barack Hussein Obama.

As noted by Fox News panelist Charles Krauthammer at the time, "The most astonishing thing [about the deal] is that in return, they [Iran] are not closing a single nuclear facility. Their entire nuclear infrastructure is intact."

"They are going to have the entire infrastructure in place either for a breakout after the agreement expires or when they have enough sanctions relief and they want to cheat and to breakout on their own," he added.

The world got absolutely nothing in return for signing the deal, yet numerous officials across the Western world signed it anyway. Why?President Donald Trump's decision to terminate President Barack Obama's Iran deal, said Mr. Obama  a self-described globalist "citizen of the world"  "is a serious mistake."

Two former directors of Obama's National Security Council committed an even larger ethical breach. Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson in a New York Times op-ed called on European nations to withdraw their diplomats from Washington, expel U.S. diplomats from their capitals, and respond to any U.S. sanctions for continuing to trade with Iran by imposing sanctions of their own against the United States.

The German weekly Der Spiegel  whose politics echo the Social (i.e., Socialist) Democratic Party (SPD), much as Britain's Guardian and our New York Times act as propaganda auxiliaries of their nation's main leftist parties  declared a day later in an editorial that it is "time for Europe to join the Resistance" to President Trump's America.

"The West as we once knew it no longer exists," wrote Der Spiegel. "Our relationship to the United States cannot currently be called a friendship and can hardly be referred to as a partnership."

The immediate reason for such high dudgeon is, of course, money. Germany was doing $6.0 billion a year of business with Iran in the late 1970s, saw trade shrivel with the embargo, then watched business rebound to $3.5 billion in 2017 under Obama's Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The European Union was Iran's third largest trade partner, behind only China and the United Arab Emirates. E.U. exports to Iran grew by 31.5%, and imports grew 83.9% during 2016-17.

Europe has been raking in money from Iran hand over fist, with a French oil company deal worth $4.8 billion, an Airbus deal for 100 airplanes to Iran worth $18 billion that otherwise might have gone to Boeing, and so forth.

Such short-term riches are much nicer to contemplate than the coming destruction of Europe by nuclear weapons from the world's leading supporter of terrorism, Iran.

Part of Europe's shortsighted, selfish mindset is America's fault, as Craig R. Smith and I analyze in our latest book, Money, Morality & The Machine. After World War II, we put a nuclear umbrella over Western Europe, saving its nations the cost of national defense against Soviet invasion.

European nations spent this money saved from defense spending on vote-buying welfare and built quasi-socialist states, which continue to distort their politics and economies. We infantilized these nations by making them dependent on American money and protection.

Germany was also defeated in World Wars I and II because of American intervention; has had U.S. soldiers stationed on its soil since 1945; and has always quietly resented being bested by what it regards as an inferior people (17%  roughly one in six  of whom, according to the latest U.S. Census, have some German ancestry).

Of those we defeated in WWII, 57% of Japanese and 61% of Italians view America favorably, a 2017 Pew study found, but 62% of Germans view the U.S. unfavorably.

As historian Victor Davis Hanson writes, "[i]f German haughtiness works on a dependent Europe, it certainly does not always impress a wary America."

No wonder Der Spiegel recently seized the opportunity to editorialize: "It's time to get rid of Donald Trump...a danger to the world."

Even the left-of-center magazine The Atlantic titled a May 4 article "The Iran Deal Is Strategically and Morally Absurd," noting that this non-ratified non-treaty is merely the compromised whim of "America's first 'post-Western' president" and that Obama's "paralyzing fear of war" led him to "wishful thinking" about the Middle East.

Barack Hussein Obama "speculated that his nuclear agreement with Tehran ought to allow the Iranians and the Saudis time to learn 'to share' the region."

Instead, Iranian-armed guerrillas are establishing a "Shiite Crescent" from Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq to Yemen under a corrupt, unstable theocratic dictatorship that believes in an apocalypse destined to bring the global triumph of Islam.

Obama rolled out a fatally flawed, unsecure JCPOA that was in fact a red carpet to Iranian nuclear weapons. Now he tries to prevent Trump from being a new King Leonidas with his 300 Spartans stopping the Persians again at Thermopylae.

Lowell Ponte is a veteran think-tank futurist and author or co-author of eight books. His latest, co-authored with Craig R. Smith, is Money, Morality & The Machine, available free and postpaid by calling 800-630-1492. Lowell can be reached for interviews by email at radioright@aol.com.The Myanmar division of OPPO is teasing a new Android release in the form of the F7 Youth, a more accessible version of the F7 mid-ranger introduced by the Chinese phone maker two months ago. The video announcement that can be seen below highlights some of the main selling points of the F7 and the newly unveiled device, with OPPO placing a specific emphasis on the artificial intelligence capabilities of both handsets. Much like the F7, the F7 Youth boasts an AI Selfie camera meant to leverage the latest industry advancements to intelligently smoothen out skin textures and remove imperfections from ones complexion. While beautification modes have been supported by OPPO-made Android smartphones for years now, the companys newer devices are meant to bring such services to the next level by using them in conjunction with advanced machine vision and scene recognition capabilities.

The short video teaser doesnt reveal many technical details about the device, though its overall look appears to be similar to that of the OPPO A3 and Realme 1, with the implication here being that the F7 Youth is powered by MediaTeks Helio P60 chip and 4GB of RAM. The handset is likely to sport 32GB of storage space with a Hybrid SIM setup allowing users to choose between a microSD card and a second Nano SIM one. The back panel of the Android handset appears to reflect light in various ways, depending on the viewing angle of the phone, with such a diamond-like design also being the defining feature of the OPPO Realme 1 and A3.

Assuming the newly teased handset does end up being a rebranded version of the aforementioned models, it will ship with a 3,400mAh battery featuring VOOC quick charging support and the companys custom implementation of Android 8.1 Oreo  Color OS 5.1. The 19:9, display-notch equipped handset lacks the rear-mounted fingerprint reader of the OPPO F7 and is expected to launch at around $250, with OPPOs established product practices indicating a wider release outside of select Asian markets is unlikely.

AdvertisementFoxconn Industrial Internet filed for an initial public offering on Monday with the goal of raising funds for its current and future 5G projects, as well as improving its overall production operations. The division of Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn intends to go public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange later this year, offering some ten-percent of its enlarged issued share capital in the form of Class-A shares which come with enhanced voting rights. The price of the stock has yet to be determined and Foxconn still hasnt disclosed what its valuation and funding targets are.

The original equipment manufacturer plans to finance eight projects with its IPO funds, having estimated those endeavors will cost it approximately $4.31 billion. Beyond those investments, any additional resources raised through the listing will go toward Foxconns working capital. The firm originally applied for an IPO in February, with the China Securities Regulatory Commission reviewing its proposal until last week. The three-month approval period is uncharacteristically fast for the Far Eastern country, with Beijing often taking over a year to probe and greenlit public listing requests. The manner in which Foxconn received approval is meant to be indicative of a new securities policy that the regulator is interested in pursuing moving forward so as to encourage more people to go public in mainland China, according to the agencys recent statements.

The industry-wide consensus is that Foxconns enterprise-focused Internet division is capable of holding a stable IPO, with its business now growing in a mature manner. The company posted over $2.5 billion in profit last year, an improvement over its 2016 bottom line that was some $2.27 billion in the black. Foxconns unit is presently working with some of the worlds largest technology companies such as Apple, Huawei, and Lenovo. Its investor roadshow is likely to start by early summer, with the listing itself being expected in the third quarter of the year. Xiaomi is currently also pursuing an IPO in China, seeking to raise some $10 billion in cash at a valuation of up to $80 billion at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as per recent reports and its own filing disclosures.Google is receiving approximately 1GB of Android tracking data per a single smartphone user every month, Oracle officials recently told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The agencys Chairman Rod Sims was briefed on the matter earlier this spring, with the emphasis being on several antitrust concerns such practice raises outside of its privacy implications. With a gigabyte of data costing up to the equivalent of $4.50 in Australia, the ten million Android users in the country are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to send their data to Google on an annual basis, Oracle estimates.

While users are able to opt out of some data collection schemes, preventing any kind of information from being relayed to Google is impossible, even if an Android device isnt being used, is in airplane mode, or had its SIM card removed. Nothing short of turning off an Android smartphone disables data collection, Oracle claims. The type of information being sent back to the Mountain View, California-based company is also extremely varied and spans far beyond online browsing activity, with the report providing the example of Google using ones GPS coordinates to find out theyre at a mall, then combining it with barometric pressure readings to determine the floor on which theyre located and work out which store theyre visiting, consequently using that behavior to identify ads that led to successful shop visits and improve its targeting algorithms.

A Google spokesperson referred to Oracles presentation as sleight of hand, implying the report has been made with the goal of making the company look bad and adding that any kind of location sharing is optional for all Android users, with the firm also allowing them to view and control what kind of data theyre sharing under their Google Account settings. The ACCC asked Oracle for input on the matter as part of its latest advertising market inquiry, Mr. Sims said. Google and Oracle have a long history of legal disputes, particularly in regards to their never-ending clash over Android and select Java APIs previously used by the worlds most popular operating system. Google ditched Oracles Java code with Android 7.0 Nougat released in 2016 but is still being pursued by the Redwood Shores, California-based technology company over what it believes are previously unpaid licensing fees.Google is now rolling out offline support to the Gmail web app, allowing users to access the vast majority of its functionalities even when they arent connected to the World Wide Web. The change is part of a major Gmail redesign that the Mountain View, California-based tech giant debuted late last month, having integrated native offline capabilities into the app for Chrome users. The service hence allows you to write, archive, delete, and search for emails without Internet connectivity, with all offline changes being synced automatically as soon as Gmail re-establishes an online connection.

Offline support is primarily meant to make the experience of using Gmail more seamless for users with spotty Internet connections as the app automatically transitions between the two modes depending on whether its online or not once the service is enabled. The feature of the web app works within Googles Chrome desktop browser, requiring version 61 or later. The Alphabet-owned company launched the functionality with a server-side switch, meaning offline mode should already be available globally. The service is disabled by default and must be switched on from the Settings menu, with Gmail also allowing users to set the amount of local storage theyre willing to dedicate to the offline mode.

The default setting downloads the last 30 days of messages, though that setting can be lowered down to a week or increased by up to three months. The new Gmail look still isnt available to all G Suite users, so the availability of the apps offline mode is also restricted in the same manner. Gmail remains one of the tech giants flagship products and was also featured at the latest edition of the Google I/O developer conference held last week, with the firm using the event as an opportunity to announce a new Smart Compose feature meant to allow users to leverage artificial intelligence to create messages in a swifter manner and consequently save time.A number of United States lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum criticized President Donald Trumps Sunday statement on ZTE which saw him reveal that hes presently collaborating with China President Xi Jinping to get the Chinese firm back into business as soon as possible following a crippling stateside trade ban imposed on it last month. We are crazy to allow them to operate in U.S. [sic] without tighter restrictions, Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter, having added that unfair competition from China already ruined numerous American companies that had their access to the Far Eastern country blocked or their intellectual property stolen.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden is skeptical of the timing of President Trumps announcement. Unilateral concessions before an upcoming trade negotiation, he said in reference to the trade talks between Washington and Beijing that are meant to take place this week, with Chinas Vice Premier Liu He being set to stay at the U.S. capital from Tuesday through Saturday. ZTE was banned from purchasing any kind of American technologies over the next seven years after the Commerce Department found the company broke the terms of its 2017 settlement regarding violations of U.S. trade sanctions imposed on Iran and also accused it of repeatedly lying in correspondence with the federal agency. ZTE said its failure to fully comply with the agreement wasnt an intentional act of defiance and was self-reported to the regulator as soon as it was identified, having called the subsequent sanction unacceptable and unfair.

Beijing, the majority owner of the publicly traded tech giant, requested the ZTE issue be resolved as a prelude to the trade negotiations between the two, Reuters reports, citing people briefed on the recent diplomatical relations between the global superpowers. ZTE shuttered its main operations last week after the ban made it impossible to continue business as usual, though its existing cash reserves should keep it afloat for a while, as per the companys own statement. Too many jobs in China lost, President Trump wrote on Twitter while describing the consequences of the ban yesterday, having added that the Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done in reference to finding a way to lift the sanction. The Chinese firm has been facing accusations of being a spying tool of Beijing for years, much like Huawei, having repeatedly dismissed such notions as frivolous.According to human rights organization OVD-Info, protests have begun in Moscow in response to the Russian governments attempts to ban messaging app Telegram. The ban has effectively been in place since April and participants are protesting under the banner of For free Internet. Telegram has been accused of utilizing encryption and other methods to keep its messages and the media shared on the platform secret from the Russian government. That flies in the face of Russian law, which requires services to hand over encryption keys to Moscow when requested. Telegram refused and has been avoiding shutdowns by hopping from one IP address to another. Protestors are calling out the efforts of Russian regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN) as encroaching on basic freedoms.

The protests themselves began on Sunday, May 13. For the rally, the protestors decried what they claim is an authoritarian attempt to subvert privacies and remove the freedom that the Internet represents. Participants also flew paper airplanes, with that particular object being a central part of Telegrams app icon design. More than 20 protestors have been arrested in accordance with the protocol on part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, with authorities stating that those individuals violated rules for this type of assembly. However, some protestors have also claimed inappropriate action from responding police officers, in one instance reporting that protestors have been kicked. Most of the detainees were quickly released with the exception of at least one individual who had been cited for a similar violation at a prior animal protectionist rally. At least two minors were also detained before being released without any citations being issued.

The RKNs pursuit of Telegram has had consequences extending far beyond that company. In fact, as a result of the way Telegram has been avoiding authorities, several other technology firms services have been adversely affected as well. That has included smaller companies all the way up to global organizations such as Amazon and Google, with Russian citizens noting serious disruptions to services offered or supported by those. Theres no news as to whether or not the protests will continue but they arent likely to change Russian law overnight and unrest over the actions of the RKN may continue.Samsung delayed the commercialization of its in-display fingerprint reader that was recently considered for the Galaxy Note 9 and is now targeting an early 2019 release, with the plan being to implement such a solution into the Galaxy S10 lineup, Korean outlet ChosunBiz reports, citing sources close to the tech giant. The supposed development is being described as a change of heart on Samsungs part, with insiders claiming the company first conditioned its Galaxy Note 9 implementation upon its ability to mass-produce such offerings but ended up going back on that idea after fulfilling the initial goal.

The reason behind the latest delay is said to stem from Samsungs insistence to improve the accuracy of its proprietary in-screen fingerprint recognition hardware as it reportedly isnt pleased with the performance of its prototypes. Chinese original equipment manufacturers Vivo and Huawei already commercialized under-display mobile readers earlier this year, in that order, but Samsungs scanner is said to use ultrasonic technology thats more capable in theory but also not as straightforward to calibrate and mass-produce. The initial commercial implementations of in-screen fingerprint readers have proven to be usable but inferior to traditional readers, according to numerous critics and consumers.

Samsung is understood to have been trying to commercialize the emerging technology since 2016 when it first started working on the Galaxy S8 but was unable to achieve flow manufacturing until now. In-display fingerprint readers are touted as the new big innovation in the industry thats currently on a global decline in terms of shipments, with many analysts attributing that trend to consumer fatigue largely caused by the overall lack of novelties between smartphone models. Samsung is presently also developing its first foldable handset that it intends to commercialize at some point next year, though Huawei is likely to beat it to the market with such a gadget in late 2018, according to recent reports. The Galaxy Note 9 is expected to be announced around the time Berlin, Germany-based IFA starts in late August, whereas the Galaxy S10 lineup is likely to debut near the end of the first quarter of 2019. Besides boasting in-display fingerprint readers, the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus are widely predicted to launch as Samsungs first 5G-compatible Android handsets.Sony Mobile will release the Xperia XZ2 Premium Android flagship in August, some four months following its mid-April announcement, the Japanese division of the company revealed on Sunday. While that availability window only applies to the firms home country, the majority of its previously released mobile products went on sale in Japan before being introduced globally, with rumors of a delayed Xperia XZ2 Premium market debut already circulating the industry for several weeks now.

Its presently unclear why Sony isnt releasing its most high-end Android smartphone to date sooner, though some of its predecessors are said to have been delayed due to component supply issues, particularly in regards to Qualcomms chips. The Xperia XZ2 Premium is powered by the Snapdragon 845, the same silicon found inside the vast majority of 2018 flagships, both released and upcoming. Sonys chip supply chain is still unlikely to have played a role in the availability of the Xperia XZ2 Premium given how both the Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact are already available for purchase or will be released later this month in most Western markets featuring the same SoC.

The delayed commercial debut may result in a loss of interest from consumers and will pit the Xperia XZ2 Premium directly against Samsungs Galaxy Note 9 thats likely to be announced at Berlin, Germany-based IFA in late August and become available for purchase in September. Apple is also likely to introduce new iPhone models by early fall, with the worlds two largest smartphone vendors hence both being set to release products that will compete with the Xperia XZ2 Premium shortly after Sonys next offering hits the market. That state of affairs is unlikely to help the companys bottom line in the mobile segment, with that division already losing some $250 million over course of 2017, according to Sonys latest consolidated financial report. Commercially successful premium smartphones are generally important for profitability in the industry as they allow for much higher profit margins than mid-range and entry-level products.Prime Minister's official website informs about the meeting of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Molovan President Igor Dodon in Sochi.

Highly appreciative of the current level of Armenian-Moldovan relations, the interlocutors stressed the need for implementing consistent work for their further development. Nikol Pashinyan considered it necessary to give fresh impetus to the bilateral economic cooperation, noting that it does not correspond to the present level of political relations.

We must take appropriate steps to boost economic cooperation. In this regard, I attach great importance to the active work of the intergovernmental commission and its upcoming sitting, Pashinyan said, adding that Armenian governments decision to open an embassy in Moldova indicates that Armenia is prepared to add momentum to bilateral relations.

Igor Dodon congratulated Nikol Pashinyan on being elected as Prime Minister and wished him every success throughout his tenure. The Moldovan leader noted that the cooperation between the two countries is developing dynamically and expressed the hope that the mutually beneficial ties will continue to strengthen and expand.

Nikol Pashinyan and Igor Dodon discussed the Armenian-Moldovian cooperation agenda in both bilateral and multilateral formats. The interlocutors considered it necessary to extend the legal framework between the two countries, by complementing the nearly two dozen treaties and agreements signed between the two countries with new ones.Alphabets self-driving subsidiary Waymo poached Teslas safety expert Matthew Schwall, the company revealed Sunday. Mr. Schwall has been with Tesla for nearly four years, having worked as a Director of Field Performance Engineering. His role saw him analyze performance and safety data of the companys vehicles and devise ways for improving both under Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel. Mr. Schwall also served as the Palo Alto, California-based firms main point of technical contact with all transportation safety regulators such as the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The executives role was global in nature and also required him to regularly correspond with such government agencies in both Europe and Asia.

Mr. Schwall joined Waymos safety unit helmed by Ron Medford, the former NHTSA Deputy Administrator, having assumed his new responsibilities last Monday. The move comes at a time when the NTSB is conducting four separate probes into crashes of Tesla-made electric vehicles. The overall level of scrutiny over high-tech cars is now on the rise in the United States due to the increased frequency of accidents, with one of the more high-profile ones being whats believed to be the worlds first self-driving crash with a pedestrian fatality that occurred this March in Tempe, Arizona. The accident saw an autonomous Volvo XC90 SUV from Uber hit a jaywalking woman who ended up succumbing to her injuries, with recent reports indicating the cars sensors picked up on the victim but ended up ignoring her by mistake.

Mr. Schwall, a Stanford Ph.D. holder, is expected to perform similar duties at Waymo to those he had while at Tesla, though details of his role havent been clarified by the Google spin-off. Waymo is presently the only company thats testing self-driving vehicles without human backup drivers, albeit such safety measures are still taken whenever its autonomous car prototypes are navigating public roads.Two renders depicting whats said to be the Huawei Watch 2 (2018) leaked online earlier today, having been shared by established industry insider Evan Blass. Much like its name implies, the device in question is a refresh of the Huawei Watch 2 released just over a year ago, with even the orange variant seen above already being offered as part of the previous wearable lineup. The main difference between the two models is that the new one will run Wear OS out of the box, whereas the 2017 device shipped with Android Wear 2.0, i.e. a pre-rebranding build of Googles operating system. The Wear OS update is also set to hit the Huawei Watch 2 (2017) in the coming weeks.

Outside of a different pre-installed OS version and some new colors, the Huawei Watch 2 (2018) has identical specs to the previous model, according to the source. Its hence powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon Wear 2100 and 768MB of RAM, in addition to sporting 4GB of storage space and a 420mAh battery. A circular 1.2-inch AMOLED display panel with a resolution of 390 by 390 pixels is still part of the package, offering an image density of 326 pixels per inch. The Huawei Watch 2 (2018) will support Bluetooth 4.1, eSIM-enabled cellular connectivity, GPS, and Wi-Fi (b/g/n), much like its predecessor. Likewise, the wearable will be IP68-certified for resistance to dust particles and a degree of water submersion, as per the same report. A heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, barometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope will all be included as well, together with a geomagnetic module.

The source made no mention of NFC, though its inclusion is implied given how similar the Huawei Watch 2 (2018) is to the previous wearable from the Chinese company which supported that capability. The newly leaked device is unlikely to be the Huawei Watch 3 that the tech giant recently talked about, especially given how it confirmed that particular gadget wont be released anytime soon despite already being in the works. The true successor to the Huawei Watch 2 is expected to debut with a new system-on-chip and Qualcomm is now looking to release such an offering later this year, reportedly advertised as the Snapdragon Wear 3100.The famous saying "Well cross that bridge when we come to it" has been turned into a mantra by Carles Puigdemonts inner circle in recent months. A guerrilla war has broken out in Catalan politics in response to the attack with conventional weapons by the Spanish state. Creating a political strategy is impossible in such an extremely difficult situation, with political prisoners, people in exile and court cases growing by the minute. Strategic decisions gave way to tactics well before 27 September and the subsequent judicial interference, and the brutal policies of the Article 155 bloc do not allow for more parliamentary peace. In such a climate of heightened emotions, after three attempts to invest a president blocked by Spain and without breaking the rules of Parliament, Quim Torra, the JxCat MP, addressed the House with two messages: republicanism and dialogue. Republicanism as an ideal for building a country at some time in the future and the offer of dialogue with the Spanish government, accompanied by a request for the European Union to mediate. Without the legal threats hanging over Jordi Turull, Torras speech was more than just a call for resistance: it showed the spirit of a republican epic, though without an impossible agenda. A speech that was epic in its form, yet more pragmatic at heart, without setting dates or mentioning unilateral actions.

During the candidates turn to speak following the parliamentary groups speeches, Torra was more explicit in calling on the CUP to abstain. In standing as candidate for the presidency of the Catalan government, he declared that the gravity of the events which occurred during the 1 October referendum represent "the countrys foundational moment" and added that his government does not intend to look to the past and a return to "autonomism" [i.e. remaining as an Autonomous community of Spain]. Torra defined himself as a "radical" if this meant "going to the heart of the matter" adding that, "to defend Catalonia, one must take the radical approach that is needed". However, Torra did not make any specific proposals beyond reopening Catalonias offices abroad and undertaking a constituent process, or in ERCs words, "a great debate involving the country with a constituent objective". The river must be crossed in order to recover Catalonias institutions. Followed by the next river and the next bridge.

If the CUP decides to allow the investiture to go ahead by abstaining in Mondays vote, a new, positive page will have been turned. To begin with, it will allow us to recover our institutions. Torra quoted Joan Fuster in declaring that "every policy we fail to pass will be passed against us". An indignant Xavier Domenech reminded him that regaining control of the Catalan government is a priority, while reproaching Puigdemonts political heir for having dared to "jeopardize the institutions which all our forebears fought for".

There was a lot of Puigdemont in Torras speech. Speaking to King Felipe on the subject of the monarchs 3 October address, Torra quoted his predecessor: Not like that, Your Majesty!", while presenting himself as an interim candidate with limited shelf life. Faced with enormous difficulties, Torra must assume the presidency with all its consequences and with a hope that his speech will have struck the right note after all these months, broadening the base so that those who are pro-sovereignty and those who are pro-independence can form an unquestionable majority. The Spanish state will not disappoint, it wont learn from its historical mistakes. Tensions between the PP and Ciudadanos, the predictable passing of the government budget with the support of the PNB thus throwing Rajoy a lifebelt, the inability not to humiliate ones opponent, the repressive brutality and the imprisonment: none of these suggest that there is a possibility of dialogue with the Spanish state in the short term. They are all reasons why the Catalan government needs to be strong and without an expiration date and, aside from loyalty to the president in Berlin, Puigdemont must allow Torra to become a legitimate interlocutor in his own right. Loyalty and the capacity for action, the same things Puigdemont asked of Mas during his presidency. The same day as the investiture debate, the list of the winners of the Sant Jordi Award [the second-highest civil distinction in Catalonia] was revealed in Berlin, and an announcement was made in an Italian newspaper that the presidential candidate might be prepared to call elections as of 27 October.

A more spontaneous Quim Torra was in evidence during the afternoon session, when he spoke of a radical defence of Catalonia. A radical approach that will be needed in order to resist and to act, but one which will also have to fight accusations of only focusing on Catalonias essence. Sergi Sebria, with a brave, reflective speech, stated that "Catalonia: we are one people". Essentialism will be the independence process worst enemy and Quim Torra will have to be careful if he wishes to be the president of all the Catalan people. There are no shortcuts. The tools are civic-mindedness and a democratic majority; and it will only succeed by promoting a diverse, plural, inclusive idea of Catalonia that protects the Catalan language and loves Spanish, one which conveys the possibility of a better future for all its citizens. Wherever they came from.Thailand offers great investment potential as a leading automotive production base in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)  a fast developing region for automotive manufacturing. Over a period of 50 years, the country has developed from an assembler of auto components into a top automotive manufacturing and export hub.

With shipments bound for more than 100 countries, Thailand is the 13th largest automotive parts exporter and the sixth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world, and the largest in ASEAN. By 2020, Thailand aims to manufacture over 3500000 units of vehicles to become one of the top performers in the global automotive market.

The Thai automobile and auto parts industry accounts for nearly 12 percent of Thailands economic growth and employs more than 500,000 people.

The country has an established presence of virtually all of the worlds leading automakers, assemblers and component manufacturers. Companies such as Toyota, Isuzu, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and BMW together account for a lions share of the approximately two million vehicles produced in the country each year.

Most of these manufacturers and parts suppliers are located in the central provinces of Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Samutprakarn, Prachinburi, Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Rayong, offering easy access into leading markets of ASEAN, China, and India.

Structure of the Thai automotive industry

Thailands automotive industry has a vibrant foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) competition and an extensive network of supporting industries. As the country continues to expand its manufacturing base, auto part suppliers are increasing their presence  setting up research and development (R&D) departments to better serve their customers.

The Thai automotive market is dominated by Japanese automakers that have established Thailand as the production base of one-ton pick-up trucks and eco cars for exports. American and Europeans are gaining ground as the manufacturers of large, luxury cars.

Opportunities for foreign investors

Board of Investments (BOIs) investment promotion scheme

One of the key factors that give a competitive edge to Thailands automotive industry is its supportive government policies. The Thai government offers substantial backing in the form of tax and non-tax incentives to encourage foreign investment in the industry. Some of the general benefits available to foreign investors include the following.

Corporate Income Tax (CIT) exemption for up to eight years;

Import duty exemption on machinery;

Import duty exemption on raw materials used in manufacturing export products;

Permit to bring skilled workers and experts to work in investment promoted activities;

Permit to own land; and

Permit to take out or remit money in foreign currency.

There are additional benefits available to companies investing in the supercluster automotive zones in Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachin Buri, Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Rayong. These include reduced CIT  50 percent of the normal rate  for five years, in addition to the tax-exempt period of up to 8 years under the general BOI promotion scheme; possibility to extend to 10-15 year CIT exemption; personal income tax for specialists both Thai and Foreign; and possibility to get a permanent residence permit.

Free Trade Agreements

Auto manufacturers and investors in Thailand can benefit immensely from the countrys free trade agreements (FTAs). At present, Thailand has six FTAs with Australia, China, India, New Zealand, and the 10 member states of ASEAN.

The FTAs provide investors an opportunity to expand their supply chain and gain competitive advantages in the importation of raw materials, components, and other production inputs by reducing and eliminating import duties. Besides, some of the FTAs harmonize customs codes and product standards, speeding trade flows.

Auto manufacturers in Thailand can use FTAs to gain greater market access in Southeast Asia, and enforce restrictions to protect their investments and intellectual property, while expanding upon business opportunities in terms of price competitiveness, market and business development, investment expansion, and government procurement.

Opportunites from the EEC

Given the worlds tightening emission standards, Thailand is keen to expand its automotive manufacturing industry to produce green vehicles. Supporting this vision is the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) initiative that places a great importance on bringing next-generation automotive industry to Thailand, in particular, the electronic vehicle (EV) industry.

Located in the three eastern provinces of Chonburi, Rayong, and Chachoengsao, the EEC framework is designed to support 10 target industries, including automobile, to promote emerging technology, innovation, and creativity within each sector through government policies and investment. The aim of the EEC is to expand the value chain of the automotive industry with particular focus on surface integration design and prototyping. Further, it plans to expand and enhance the manufacturing process of electronic accessories and automotive parts. Some of the benefits available to automobile investors in the EEC include corporate income tax exemption up to 15 years; financial incentives for investment in R&D, innovation or human resources development; permit to own land used for BOI promoted projects; and facilitation of foreign workers visas and work permits

Growing Hub for Green Vehicles

The global demand for green vehicles is growing. Internationally, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) is projected to rise to 35 percent of all vehicles by 2040. Though Thailand is moving towards production of more fuel-efficient vehicles, the popularity of EVs is still low in the country; sales of hybrid petrol-electric cars or plug-in hybrid cars in Thailand accounted for just one percent of total auto sales in 2015. To help spur the industry, the Thai government is actively promoting and attracting foreign manufacturers to use Thailand as a base for the production of green vehicles in the region. Thailands Board of Investment (BOI) offers generous tax incentives to both auto manufacturing and auto parts industry in the country.

Incentives for EV vehicle production

In 2016, the Thai government created a roadmap for the general popularization of electric vehicles (EVs) and approved a tax incentive scheme for EV production in the country.

Currently, there are four types of EVs that have been developed in the world. The first two technology to be developed are hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) with two respective systems  electricity-petrol and electricity-diesel. The latest models of EVs available are battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs), fuelled purely by electricity, and the fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCVs).

In Thailand, there are three HEV models that have been locally assembled in since 2009: the Toyota Camry, Nissan X-Trail, and Honda Accord. BMW began PHEV assembly in 2016. Mercedes-Benz assembled its Blue-TEC hybrid engines in 2013 before upgrading to the PHEV platform in 2016. It now produces four EV models.

By 2036, Thailand aims to boost the number of electric cars to 1.2 million and have 690 charging stations operating across the country.

Under the announced scheme, investments in BEVs are eligible to five to eight years of CIT exemptions. Manufacturers producing more than one key EV component may avail an additional year of tax exemption per key component, capped to a maximum of 10 years.

Manufacturers of PHEV are eligible for slightly less generous incentives, with three- year corporate tax exemptions as well as import tariff exemptions on machinery. Manufacture of key components, like for BEVs, will be eligible for an additional year of CIT relief per component, with a maximum of six years.

Investments in HEV are entitled to an import tariff exemption for relevant machinery. Battery electric buses, on the other hand, are entitled to tariff exemptions for imported machinery and a three-year CIT exemption. The relief for the manufacturing of a key component for HEV  and the maximum duration of relief  is identical to that for PHEVs.

Besides, the government has also announced excise tax rate changes to encourage EVs. Excise tax on EVs is now 2 percent, down from 10 percent. The tax rates for hybrids and PHEVs have been reduced, depending on their emission levels. For passenger cars emitting less than 100 g/km of CO2, the tax rate has been reduced from 10 percent to 5 percent; for cars emitting less than 150 g/km of CO2, the rate has been reduced from 20 percent to 10 percent. The maximum tax rate for electrified cars is 12.5 percent for vehicles emitting less than 200 g/km, down from 25 percent.

To boost the component industry, the Thai government has recognized 10 components eligible for eight-year CIT holidays. These include batteries, EV smart charging systems, DC/DC converters, traction motors, battery management services, inverters, portable electric vehicle chargers and electrical circuit breakers.

Incentives for NGV Vehicles

Thailands Ministry of Energy supports fuel-efficient transportation through a natural gas vehicle (NGV) initiative. This initiative includes the introduction of over 10,000 natural gas-powered taxicabs, natural gas subsidization, a reduced import duty on NGV tanks from 17 percent to 10 percent, and a reduced import duty on NGV control system parts and components from 35 to 10 percent.

Incentives for E85

The Ministry of Finance is offering three-year exemptions on import duties of foreign auto parts used to make vehicles E85-ready (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline). The Ministry has also reduced the excise tax on cars using E85 to 22, 27 and 32 percent, depending on engine size.

Outlook for 2018

According to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), the Thai automotive industry is poised for moderate growth in 2018. While car production will continue to increase, countrys car exports will remain stable due to unstable global economic outlook and non-tariff barriers imposed by several countries.

The outlook for the domestic market is positive, largely due to the expiry of the five year lock-up period for vehicles bought under the first-time car buyer scheme in 2017, new model launches by foreign manufacturers, and increased government spending.

With the end of the first-time buyer scheme, the number of out-of-warranty passenger vehicles in Thailand is expected to exceed 14 million units by 2020, with more than five million units between the age of three and eight years  offering tremendous opportunities for auto manufacturers in the country.In this issue of ASEAN Briefing magazine, we provide an introduction to the Philippines as well as analyze the various market entry options available for...The prime minsiter's website has published the following about the meeting of newly elected Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, held in the framework of the regular session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister, dear colleagues, let me greet you once again and congratulate you on being elected to the post of head of the government of Armenia. To begin with, I would like to note that Armenia is a close partner and ally for Russia in the region in terms of both economic cooperation and security.

You know that Russia remains a leading trade and economic partner for Armenia, with a share of about 40% investments in Armenias economy. Recently, we had a 25% increase in trade turnover, while the volume of imports from Armenia is growing at a progressive pace: it reached the mark of 38% over the past few months. This is a very good dynamics, and I hope that we will manage not only to maintain, but also to build on it.

I wish you every success in the post of Prime Minister and I hope that our relations will continue to develop in the same way as it has been so far. We will work with the same activity on the international arena, in international organizations, including the United Nations, where Armenia and Russia have always supported each other, and the regional organizations, as well as in the matters of security and economic development, Vladimir Putin said.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you for your kind remarks. I am happy to have the opportunity to meet with you several days after my election as Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, as I think there are issues to be discussed, but what is not to be discussed is the allied and strategic relationship between Armenia and Russia.

In principle, I can assure you that there is a consensus in Armenia: no one has ever questioned the strategic importance of the Armenian-Russian relations, and I think it will not be questioned ahead. We are firmly determined and full of energy to give new impetus to our relationships in the political and trade-economic spheres. We hope to develop relations in the military-technical sphere and in other areas. Now many Russian tourists are coming to Armenia, which is encouraging. I think that Russian tourists like Armenia, while the Armenians like to see so many tourists in Yerevan.

We highly appreciate Russias balanced position during Armenias internal political crisis. I think it was a very constructive position that is highly appreciated not only by our government, but also by the Armenian society. Let me once again congratulate you on the past holidays: we watched the parade in Red Square with great interest.

We are impressed with the achievements of Russias military-industrial complex. Thank you once again for this opportunity, Nikol Pashinyan said.

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A bear attacked a child in Grand Junction early Sunday. The childs startling of the animal, coupled with the mothers quick intervention, are reminiscent of a mountain lion attack two years ago on a young Woody Creek resident when the mom also saved a child from an animals jaws. Sundays save happened to come on Mothers Day. The childs condition has improved since the initial attack, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. This CPW map shows the wide range of black bears in the state.kWh

SUV

A sportier but less practical interpretation of the Q7, the 2019 Audi Q8 will lead the automakers lineup alongside the A8. Based on the platform it rides on, the newcomer will be offered with four-, six-, and eight-cylinder powerplants, including an e-tron plug-in hybrid option with the 17.9-battery of the Q8 Concept. Speaking of the concept presented last year, the German automaker claims that the powertrain is capable of 60 kilometers (37 miles) in electric-only mode.Along with the design sketch pictured above, Audi took to social media to announce that a five-part video series will premiere on May 21 and end on June 5. The trailer of the series doesnt reveal anything of particular interest to prospective customers, nor does it offer any relevant detail on the automakers all-newThe MLB Evo-based model will go official next month at a special event in Shanghai . The reason Audi chose the Peoples Republic for the world premiere is that the company celebrates 30 years of producing vehicles in China in 2018. The first Audi manufactured under license in the Middle Kingdom is the 100 mid-size sedan. The agreement to produce the car in China was signed on August 13, 1988.While on the subject of globalization, Audi is the first premium automaker to make cars in China, a subject thats more relevant today than it was a few decades ago. Volvos vice-president of design, for example, made the rounds by saying that China-made cars are better in terms of quality than those manufactured in Europe.Ford, on the other hand, decided to pull out the Focus from Michigan and introduce the Focus Active to the U.S. market, a vehicle that will start production in China sometime next year. Buick and Cadillac, on the other hand, rely on Chinese labor and imports for a handful of years now.Boston Dynamics has been set up back in 1992. In the over a quarter of a century of existence, it didnt sell much of anything. But all the efforts put into the creation of its spooky robots have come to fruition.According to Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert, the company is in the final stages of getting the SpotMini ready for the market as soon as next year.At first, says Techcrunch , about 100 units of the dog-shaped robot will be manufactured and sold for a price that is yet to be announced.Who and why would buy this robot is to be determined. The SpotMini has just learned how to climb a bunch of stairs , as weve seen the past week, and its agility might make him quite nimble when it comes to search and rescue operations.But thats not what Boston Dynamics had in mind for it. On the companys website, the robot is described as a small four-legged robot that comfortably fits in an office or home.Which means people may as well buy one for a pet, or as a platform on which to practice robot programming skills.The robot is fitted with an array of perception sensors which include stereo cameras, depth cameras, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and position/force sensors. Its ideal for spying, or paparazzi business, as it can go about its business, quietly, for up to ninety minutes. Thats how long the batteries powering it last.The SpotMini robot is one that was motivated by thinking about what could go in an office  in a space more accessible for business applications - and then, the home eventually, Raibert was quoted as saying by the source during TechCrunchs TC Sessions: Robotics event at UC Berkeley.SUV

According to Auto Express, the newcomer will be on sale by 2020 and mark 65 years since the arrival of the original Citroen DS . The premium automakers vice-president of product, Eric Apode, told the motoring publication that the design had been signed off, and I can tell you the car looks amazing. So modest, arent we?But on the other hand, the French always had a thing for out-of-the-box styling as far as automobiles are concerned.  DS is something different, something spectacular. With our flagship we will do that, added the official, with parts of the exterior expected to be influenced by the DS 7 Crossback premiumStill, its the flagships more unconventional rear end will give it a unique selling point in the market. Thats something Citroen did with the C6 as well, which has a fastback profile and a concave rear window inspired by the Citroen CX (made from 1974 to 1991) and two-door hardtop version of the Plymouth Barracuda from 1967.Groupe PSA aims to bring down the number of platforms to two in the coming years. While the CMP and e-CMP are developed for small cars and crossovers, the EMP2 vehicle architecture is a better fit for the DS 8. Underpinning the all-new Peugeot 508, the EMP2 also supports different levels of electrification , including a plug-in hybrid option in the case of the DS 7 Crossback. Auto Express reports the E-Tense plug-in hybrid system will differ from the SUV, as in it will be front-wheel drive only and feature a more modest power output. An EV range of 40 miles will be achievable.EV

Though it may come as an underwhelming car in this context, the NSX is a marvel of engineering and properly quick in a straight line and the twisties. On the other hand, fans of the NSX and people who can afford to spend top dollar ($157,800) on the NSX hope that Honda will make amends with the introduction of the Type R Never confirmed by the automaker or the Acura brand, the NSX Type R could be in the pipeline for the 2020 model year. Japanese publication Spyder7.com quotes 650 horsepower (641 brake horsepower), and an estimated price tag of 35 million yen.Vice-president and general manager of Acura in the United States, Jon Ikeda, made an interesting comment on the amped-up NSX during the 2018 Detroit Motor Show. When quizzed by the motoring media about the Type R, Ikeda replied with a cryptic anything can happen.The lighter, more powerful variant is rumored to be joined by the NSX Roadster later this year according to Auto Bild, and further down the line, Autocar suggests that ancould happen. The question is, does Honda (and Acura) see benefit in spinning the NSX off into so many variants, especially from a financial standpoint?Only time will tell, but there are two clues about whats waiting for the NSX in the coming years. For starters, a handful of prototypes were spotted at the Nurburgring undergoing development in August 2017, both cars sporting some kind of special sensors (pictured).Then theres a design patent for an air dam, which Honda filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in late 2017. Whats so special about the patent is the vehicle used to illustrate the aerodynamic add-on, namely the NSX.As a testimony to the fact that the plans for a Martian settlement are as real as they get, the American space agency will try to see whether the Red Planets atmosphere is thick enough to support heavier-than-air vehicles flight.To that end, a so-called Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will be deployed on the surface of the neighboring planet.Although this is the first time the agency announced such plans, work on the machine started at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory back in 2013. After five years of development, the team of rocket scientists came up with a four pounds helicopter (1.8 kg), with a fuselage about the size of a softball and equipped with twin, counter-rotating blades that will spin at 3,000 rpm.The speed of the rotors is about ten times faster than the one seen on Earthly helicopters. In theory, this would help it stay aloft in the atmosphere that is only 1 percent that of Earth, or the equivalent of our planets atmosphere at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30 km).The helicopter will be remotely flown from Earth, as soon as its batteries charge, on a 30-day flight test campaign that will include flight distances of up to a few hundred meters and durations as long as 90 seconds.The first flight will see the helicopter climb only 10 feet (3 meters) into the air, where it will stay for just 30 seconds.While in the air, the drone will be used to conduct geological assessments, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future manned missions.NASA says this mission is a high-risk, high-reward one. If it doesnt work, no harm will come to the rovers assignment . But if it does, NASA plans to use more of them as low-flying scouts and aerial vehicles to access locations not reachable by ground travel.The Air Force will position fire trucks on the flight line of airshows hosted by its bases as part of the settlement of a lawsuit over the burning death of a pilot in 2014. Eddy Andreini, 77, crashed his modified Stearman show plane inverted while performing a ribbon cut at the Travis Air Force Base show in 2014. He survived the crash but died in the post-crash fire. It took more than four minutes for firefighters to arrive and by then the aircraft had been mostly consumed by the fuel-fed fire. Andreinis family sued the Air Force, which claimed it had met standard response times in the accident. It also claimed that it was immune from lawsuits because its a federal government entity and said the waiver signed by Andreini absolved them of responsibility.

The familys lawyer, Mike Danko, said in a statement that he was able to show that this case fit an exemption that does allow citizens to sue federal departments. The case was allowed to proceed to a trial later this year and in April, the Air Force settled. Danko said it agreed to pay the family $1.4 million, an unusually large amount for the death of a 77-year-old, and its changing its fire-protection policy for airshows. From now on, it will position fire trucks so that they have immediate access to the show line, Danko said. It will also have firefighters dressed and ready to go whenever a performer is in the air, eliminating the time needed after a crash for fire firefighters to get dressed and get to their trucks.California Republicans like Rep. Mimi Walters are feeling more hopeful about holding onto their seats come November, reports Politico's Rachel Bade. They're banking on President Trump's rising approval rating (42% across the U.S.) and their work to repeal the state's gas tax.

Yes, but: A closer look at California's politics by party affiliation show potential signs of trouble for the GOP.

California Republicans' warning signs:

The president's approval rating in California was just 29% throughout 2017.

The number of registered Republicans in the state has reached an all-time low (25%), per data from the CA secretary of state. And Orange County's registered Republicans have consistently declined to 37% from 43% in 2010.

Half of California residents are non-Hispanic white, less than the country's demographics, per Gallup. And only 47% of residents belong to a church or synagogue, compared to 56% of adults across the U.S.

What they're saying: Democrats argue California's shifting demographics (particularly in places like Orange County, Walters' district) and liberal attitude, as well as the GOP tax law's effects on state and local deductions, won't make it easy for Republicans in the fall.

The other side: Rep. Walters maintains there is still reason to be hopeful. I got 37,000 more votes than President Trump did," she told Politico. "That means that the people in the 45th district identify with the policies that I support and support me because Im in line with what they believe in.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's chances to flip GOP-held seats are also threatened by crowded primaries and the ideological fight within the Democratic Party, making it harder to beat an incumbent Republican.

Go deeper: Republicans are nearly outnumbered by independents in CaliforniaI thought it was time to write a small article in defence of Whataboutery, also known as Whataboutism or Tu Quoque (Thou also [doest this thing])

I am surprised by how easily some people are persuaded that a point is wrong when it is dismissed as Whataboutism. Why, when the person making the case is claiming a moral fault, is it not legitimate to point out that he himself has the same fault?

The Bible is pretty clear on this.

IN The Gospel according to St Matthew Chapter 7, vv 3-5, Our Lord says : And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

The same metaphor appears in almost identical words in the Gospel according to St Luke, Chapter 6, vv 41-2 . It seems odd, when moralising in a society whose morals are supposed to be Christian (indeed, on what other basis can we approve or disapprove of any action?), to classify the preaching of Jesus Christ as either a fallacy or as whataboutery.

The term whataboutism seems to have first appeared in the Cold War, when the USSR might point to the American treatment of the black minority there, when attacked for being a police state with labour camps.

But this was feeble. The two things are not the same. Certainly the USA is very far from being a perfect society, and its treatment of African-Americans has been ( and to some extent remains) highly unsatisfactory.

But this simply wasnt comparable with the USSRs system of censorship, repression and political trials. Whats more, anyone who knows anything about Russia knows that ethnic bigotry is very common in Russia, generally directed against the nearest available targets, Central Asians, Chechens and peoples from beyond the Caucasus, but liberally applied to anyone with a dark skin from any part of the planet.

The Soviet propaganda was more effective when it responded to complaints of Soviet repression in the satellite states of eastern Europe by noting that the USA did not readily tolerate governments hostile to it in Latin America. But there were differences even here. In fact, since the days of the Marshall Plan in the 1940s, a fundamentally free-market and politically conservative USA had often allied with social democratic governments in Western Europe, despite not liking their internal policies very much. The USSR, except in its very late stages when it tolerated Hungarys semi-capitalist goulash communism, demanded Communist Party rule in theory and practice.

In general the USSRs propaganda, and the arguments of its apologists in the West, could rightly be dismissed as false equivalence of opposites. There were similarities between the superpowers, but they were trivial, whereas there were differences, and they were fundamental.

So now let us turn to the new bout of alleged Whataboutery. I am myself struck by the profound similarities between Russian intervention in Syria, and Russias use of airpower against Islamist urban guerrillas in Aleppo, and Western intervention in Iraq and the use of Western airpower against Islamist urban guerrillas in Mosul.

I pointed this out a couple of years ago, in conversation with Christina Lamb, on the BBCs Andrew Marr show. Ms Lamb scoffed, but I have never been able to see why she did. (my invitations to this programme dried up soon afterwards. It was not just Ms Lamb who was annoyed by what I said, plainly). The main difference between the two events is not material. In both cases the Islamists were using the population as hostages in dense built-up areas; in both cases the major outside powers eventually used heavyweight airpower to crush them, with substantial civilian casualties. Nobody disputes that these attacks happened, or that innocent people died in them. But, as Ive pointed out here, the quantity and tone of the reports on Aleppo have been quite different from those of the reports on Mosul.

But in Russias case, media, NGOs and diplomats accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians, hospitals, etc (I have seen zero proof of this deliberate targeting, for which you would need access to the orders given to the pilots, it seems to me) . No such charges (quite rightly) were made against US British or other coalition air forces.

This isnt false equivalence of opposites. This is false opposition of equivalents.

I mention this by way of introduction to three points I wish to make about today. The first is the story of Abdel Hakim Belhaj (or Belhadj, if you prefer, I dont mind). Britain now admits helping in an operation in which this man was kidnapped by the CIA , along with his wife, held in a secret prison before being flown in chains to Libya, where the Gaddafi state was free to torture him at will in its disgusting dungeons.

The Guardian reported that our Prime Minister, Theresa May 'admitted the UK should have done more to reduce the risk that the couple could be mistreated and had wrongly missed opportunities to help them once they were held in the prisons of the then Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.



The Prime Minister acknowledged that Britain should have realised sooner that its international allies were involved in unacceptable practices, implying criticism of Libya for torturing suspects as well as the CIA's practice of rendition.

This is so naive it makes Pollyanna look like Machiavelli, and would be rather sweet if it didnt involve people being chained up, starved, hooded, wrapped in duct tape, kidnapped by operatives of the Land of the Free and crammed into secret jails, and then loaded on to unmarked aircraft for a trip to one of the worlds worst tyrannies.

Theres a little side-bar to it, as well, which I find intensely moving. I dont have much time for John McCain in general, though (like any sentient being) I have always felt that he conducted himself with extreme courage and dignity during his nightmare captivity in North Vietnam.

Now Senator McCain is very ill and close to death. The Guardian notes : This is a very live issue indeed. In Washington, Gina Haspel is currently having her confirmation hearings as Donald Trump's new CIA director. From 2002, Ms Haspel ran the secret CIA centre in Thailand where inmates were tortured and where Ms Boudchar [Belhajs wife, pregnant at the time of her state-sponsored kidnap] was mistreated. Mr Trump supports torture. He wants to bring back waterboarding. John McCain, the only US senator to have actually been tortured, is fighting Ms Haspel's nomination on that basis.

A White House aide has sneeringly remarked that Senator McCain is dying anyway . And it looks as if President Trump wont be welcome at Senator McCains funeral

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-funeral-doesnt-want-brain-cancer-a8339271.html

 heres a good summary of a controversy that hasnt been as widely or as prominently reported in Britain as it should have been

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/john-mccain-cia-gina-haspel-row-white-house-dying-anyway-trump-nominee-a8346271.html

So this is the civilised West at work, and with that a background, a certain Andrew Parker, Director-General of the British Security Service (BSS known more glamorously to many as MI5) has made a pious speech in Berlin.

Let me get something straight here. Aided by the TV series Spooks, the BSS has got itself a glamorous toughie reputation, and many people refer to it as a spy service. It is not. It has no espionage duties.

In fact the only accurate generic name for such an organisation, especially given the huge budgets, status and immunity from scrutiny which it enjoys these days, is that it is a form of Secret Police agency . True, it so far lacks powers of arrest. But, following the granting of such powers to civil servants (a major breach of an ancient rule) in the National Crime Agency, it cannot be long before this line is crossed.

As usual when the principles of English liberty are being raped or tossed lightly aside, few realise the significance of the granting of powers of arrest to civil servants. Civil servants are under the direct authority of government, and of ministers.

Police officers are not and have never been civil servants. They are sworn constables, whose duty is to *the law*, which they have sworn an oath to uphold without fear or favour, and not to the state itself. This position gives them the freedom, and indeed the duty, to refuse an unlawful order from a technical superior. Their local nature also helps them to resist central government pressure (though they are nothing like as local as they should be, or as they were before the Jenkins-imposed mergers of 1967) . In a worrying anomaly, the Ministry of Defence Police, the British Nuclear Police and the British Transport Police are national bodies perhaps more subject to Whitehall than they should be.

My own nightmare is the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 (read it some time), an emergency powers law so extensive that the government of the day can, if it wishes, turn this country into a sort of dictatorship in a matter of hours. So forgive me if I am not a great enthusiast for MI5. And forgive me if I am sceptical about its frequent, uncheckable claims to have thwarted terror plots. If I had a budget that big, was treated with similar reverence as that accorded to MI5, and was that well-screened from scrutiny, I too might be inclined to make boasts about how good I was at my job. Who could gainsay me? But now Mr Parker has gone to Berlin to make a well-trailed speech (front page of the semi-official newspaper The Times and all over the BBC this morning), warning Russia that its behaviour, notably over the Skripals, might make it even more of a pariah.

Well, no doubt, but I am tempted to say What about the Belhaj case (and what about the Trump administrations view of torture and its chosen candidate to head the CIA?)? It doesnt seem to me that a muted apology in the Commons and a cheque for Mr Belhajs wronged wife really suggest that we have cleaned out the stables. Does that not make Britain and the USA pariahs too, and if not, why not?

And then let us note the arrival in London of Mr Recep Tayip Erdogan, President of Turkey, whose sinister nature has many times been discussed in this blog, and whose rapidly darkening country I have twice visited to document this. Mr Erdogan has in recent months turned what was a fairly free and law-governed country into a despotism. The prisons are full of journalists. The courts are lawless instruments of state power. Independent newspapers and broadcasters have been terrified into submission. Mr Erdogan is gathering all the power in Turkey into his person, and creating an executive presidency at least as menacing to a free society as Vladimir Putins.

His foreign policy is also highly dangerous, and is causing grave friction in Syria. Oh, and Turkey still occupies North Cyprus, which it invaded in July 1974 in an action which is an extraordinarily close diplomatic and political parallel to Vladimir Putins seizure of Crimea in 2014.

Yet Mr Erdogan is not called a pariah, and is to be welcomed at Downing Street and given tea with the Queen (as well as offered excellent deals on military equipment), photo opportunities and developments which will help him , in a rapidly approaching election, to consolidate his despotic power.

So, Mr Parker, What About That? What about Mr Belhaj? And What About Mr Erdogan? Is your wrath at Russia genuine? If it is, why do you not feel it for those who took part in the sordid kidnapping and rendition of Mr Belhaj, and who defend or excuse torture as an instrument of the state? And why do you not make speeches in Berlin (or come to that in Birmingham or Basildon), attacking Turkey?New data have persuaded many economists that Chinese trade, and not robots, is at fault for vanished manufacturing jobs across the Ohio and Mississippi river belts, but a key expert is disputing the finding.

Why it matters: Within the answer may lie the answer to resurrecting at least some of the hollowed out manufacturing heartland, or at least not making the same mistakes again. And it may also help explain the rise of populist leaders like President Trump.

A growing consensus is that trade deals such as China's 2001 entry to the WTO are far more to blame for manufacturing job losses than automation.

trade deals such as China's 2001 entry to the WTO are far more to blame for manufacturing job losses than automation. But some economists continue to dissent and seek a larger explanation.

The background: In a long piece earlier this month, Quartz's Gwynn Guilford profiled the work of Susan Houseman, an economist with the Upjohn Institute. In a 2011 paper and subsequent followup work, Houseman found that, when you strip away productivity gains by the computer sector, the rest of the manufacturing economy had super-slow growth starting in the late 1970s, and almost no growth starting about 2000, approximately the time of China's WTO accession.

That was puzzling, since a productivity bump should have been present if manufacturing was automating in spades, as was claimed.

since a productivity bump should have been present if manufacturing was automating in spades, as was claimed. Therefore something else was responsible for the wipeout of jobs.

David Autor, an MIT economist who pioneered research into China's 2001 entry to the WTO, told me that automation has been "overblown and the importance of trade under-appreciated" in grasping the U.S. manufacturing implosion. From his own work, Autor had already intuited that China's WTO membership was primarily to blame, but Houseman provided the final pieces of data that proved it. "She has cracked a big puzzle," he said.

Other economists said the same thing: At the McKinsey Global Institute, for instance, Sree Ramaswamy added pharmaceuticals as an industry that, along with computing, accounted for almost all the real rise in productivity.

The big job hit, he said, was to medium and small manufacturers who, in the cutthroat global competition that erupted after big trade agreements, failed to compete.

was to medium and small manufacturers who, in the cutthroat global competition that erupted after big trade agreements, failed to compete. Karen Harris, director of Bain Macro Trends, said it's now clear that trade was "the key channel" that drove down wages across sectors, leading to the rising income inequality that has dogged the U.S. economy.

Macro Trends, said it's now clear that trade was "the key channel" that drove down wages across sectors, leading to the rising income inequality that has dogged the U.S. economy. The suggestion in these conclusions is that, from labor unions to Trump, trade critics have been right to all-but ignore automation and blame pacts like NAFTA.

But but but: In so doing, they challenge the work of Carl Frey, an Oxford economist and co-author of a 2013 paper that is the baseline for the study of the impact of automation on jobs.

In October, Frey posted a draft of a new paper in which he linked automation anxiety and Trump's 2016 election: Support for Trump was greater in areas of relatively high robot adoption. Lower adoption, he said, would have swung Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin to Hillary Clinton.

a draft of a new paper in which he linked automation anxiety and Trump's 2016 election: Support for Trump was greater in areas of relatively high robot adoption. Lower adoption, he said, would have swung Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin to Hillary Clinton. Frey told me that his work had taken account of Chinese trade. "We control ... for Chinese import competition in our study. Doing so, robots still have a significant impact," he said.

In addition, in terms of the populist wave, a new study by University of Pennsylvania political scientist Diana Mutz found a completely separate explanation from job destruction: people have reacted not to lost income, but to a perceived threat to their local status. In other words, it has been tribalism.By Sara Israfilbayova

Iranian ports and the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Azerbaijan are keen to increase trade and transport.

Deputy CEO of Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) for Maritime Affairs of Iran Hadi Haghshenas said that talks are underway in this direction, adding that more efforts will be put into facilitation of transit of goods via the North-South corridor.

Haghshenas pointed to the participation of an Iranian trade and business delegation at the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), held in Baku, and stressed the participaiton of the Iranian delegation in this prestigious meeting was a suitable opportunity to discuss and review port potentials and capacities between the two countries.

Many investors are not familiar with the capacity of Iranian ports. For this purpose, Irans active presence in the prestigious international events will significantly help boost bilateral relationship between Tehran and Baku.

The International Association of Ports and Harbors represents about 180 ports and about 140 port-related enterprises in 90 countries. Members of the organization carry out more than 60 percent of the worlds marine trade and control 80 percent of global container traffic. Each year IAPH holds conferences in major port cities. So far, the conferences have been held in Los Angeles (2013), Sydney (2014), Hamburg (2015), Panama (2016) and Bali (2017).

The main theme for the IAPH Baku 2018 World Ports Conference is Ports of Future: Building Hubs, Accelerating Connectivity. Four-day conference will focus on the important and interesting topics like emerging transport corridors in the region and around the world, contribution of the free trade zones to the domestic economy and the economy of the neighboring countries, the concept of SmartPorts, Green Ports as well as marine tourism. The conference agenda also includes technical visit to the new Port of Baku in Alat. The participant will get a chance to see Alat Free Trade Zone which is a main part of Azerbaijans grand hub vision.

The event was attended by port heads, government representatives, professors and experts from around the world, including Europe, Japan, Iran, Georgia, Indonesia, Nigeria and others. The participants of the event will discuss cargo transportation along the Silk Road, the development of transport hubs and the role of ports, as well as issues of multiculturalism, cultural differences in global logistics, the work of free trade zones, increasing competition among them and other topics.

The multifaceted relations between Iran and Azerbaijan are gaining momentum and deepening. The joint large-scale economic projects reinforce peace and stability in the region.

Over the past four years, 10 meetings between the heads of state and more than 100 mutual visits of officials took place, the legal framework between the states strengthened and more than 40 documents on cooperation were signed.

Iran has invetsed $ 3.1 billion to Azerbaijan. More than 700 Iranian companies have been registered in the fields of industry, construction, services, communication, trade, transport and agriculture.

Works in joint car production plant between the countries and work on setting up a pharmaceutical plant in Pirallahi Industrial Park are underway.

The North-South transport corridor, one of the key areas of the Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation, is being intensively carried out.

About 8.3 km railroads in Azerbaijan, 1.4 km-in Iran over Astara River is ready for operation and now the test trains have been carried out.

In 2017, more than 19,000 Azerbaijanis crossed from Russia to Iran and vice versa, and the national carriers in Iran increased by 23.2 percent. The number of tourists arriving from Iran to Azerbaijan increases year by year and reached 363,000 in 2017.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzToday, on May 14, a delegation of over 10 top-level executives representing U.S. businesses that operate in Azerbaijan departs to Washington, D.C. for the four-day AmCham Azerbaijan Door-Knock Mission.

Led by AmCham Executive Director, Natavan Mammadova, and BPAzerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Vice President and concurrently as AmCham Board Member, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, the mission has among its delegates senior-management representatives of Chevron Khazar, KPMG Azerbaijan, The Coca-Cola Company, Branch of Nobel Oil Ltd in the Republic of Azerbaijan, FedEx Express Licensee of Federal Express Corporation, Cross Caspian Oil and Gas Logistics, The Boeing Company and John Deere.

The Door-Knock Mission, the 1st in the history of the Chamber, aims to promote investment in Azerbaijan. With this purpose, within four days AmCham delegateswill take part in tens of meetings with members of the U.S. Congress, Administration officials, think tanks, and leaders from the U.S. business community. In doing so, the delegation willprovide decision makers and interested parties with more in-depth information about the current economic situation in Azerbaijan, existing and emerging business opportunities, and the U.S.-Azerbaijan economic relations.

In addition, the time of the visit coincides with the Third Trans-Caspian Forum to take place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where policy and business leaders from the United States and the Trans-Caspian corridor countries will come together to discuss opportunities and challenges in enhancing their strategic engagement and explore business, trade and investment opportunities.

In the following days, we will provide a dive into the mission and highlight its most prominent outcomes.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan is a leading private, non-profit business association supporting and promoting the interests of foreign and local businesses in Azerbaijan. Established in 1996, AmCham is composed of over 280 Member-Companies and Associates active in every sector of the Azerbaijani economy. AmCham Azerbaijan represents nearly 80 percent of all foreign investment, as well as a significant portion of local investment in Azerbaijan.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzDeputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Elmir Valizadeh attended the next meeting of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Working Group of the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (AHK Azerbaijan) on May 11.

The main focus of meeting was the discussion of The Strategic Roadmap for the Development of Telecommunication and Information Technologies in the Republic of Azerbaijan published in December 2016. The discussions also emphasised the importance of ICT infrastructure for the digital economy and further enhancement of ICT efficiency in the public sector.

The event was opened with the welcoming addresses of Farid Isayev, Deputy Chairman of AHK Azerbaijan, and Mrs. Theresa Schonfeld, Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy in Baku. These were followed by a brief introduction of Mr. Rufat Hajialibayov, Chairman of the ICT Working Group of AHK Azerbaijan, about the activities of the Working Group and the principal topic of the meeting.

The honorary guest speaker of the meeting Valizadeh shared his insights about the ICT policy of Azerbaijan and briefly discussed the ongoing action plans based on the Strategic Roadmap. He, moreover, underlined the importance of 5G Technology in the rapidly advancing world of technology.

In the Q&A session of the meeting, Deputy Minister responded to the enquiries of the senior company representatives and encouraged the participants of the meeting to provide their suggestions on the discussed topics and on the opportunities to improve the implementation of the ICT strategy in Azerbaijan.By Laman Ismayilova

Young and talented artist Zarnishan Yusif has found an unusual use for money. Artist's personal exhibition opened in QGallery on May 12, Trend Life reported.

The exhibition includes more than 30 works, each of which represents artist's attitude who perceives the surrounding world through the prism of various monetary banknotes inscribed in the canvas.

Among the banknotes depicted on the artist's canvases, one can see unique, ancient specimens that have been actively used in the territory of Azerbaijan throughout the last century, from the beginning of the last century to the present day. And it is not by chance that the exhibition "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY" is timed to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).

Zarnishan Yusif said that the exhibited works are divided into three series: one includes banknotes of different countries, the second is works devoted to Chinese money, the third series of works is completely devoted to money bills of Azerbaijan.

The artist's desire to seek new and to be different, openness to the left no one indifferent. Zarnishan`s canvases are distinguished by fluidity of forms, multilayered texture and rich content. They are highly expressive and simple at the same time.

But absolutely all of her paintings surprise with a complex coloristic expression

The exhibition will last until May 31. Admission is free.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Rashid Shirinov

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed hope for progress in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, RIA Novosti reported on May 12.

He made the remarks in the congratulatory message to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the occasion of his election as head of the government.

Guterres noted that the UN resolutely and consistently supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the conflict through peaceful negotiations.

I hope that during this sensitive period for the process of peaceful settlement, these efforts will be more effective and will lead to positive results that will help establish lasting peace and ensure prosperity for all the peoples of the South Caucasus, the Secretary General noted.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzTrend:

The Day of Azerbaijani Culture was held at the headquarters of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing, the SCO said.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Azerbaijani embassy in China and the SCO Secretariat organized the event.

A group of artists from Azerbaijan staged various performances to mark the "Day of Culture" in Beijing on May 11, giving Chinese audiences a taste of their unique folk culture.

The opening ceremony of Azerbaijani Day of Culture featured traditional folk music and dances, as well as an exhibition of Azerbaijani ancient handicraft arts, including carpet sewing, shabaka making and copper products.

Rashid Alimov, general secretary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, spoke at the ceremony.

"Mutual respect for the diversity of cultures and civilizations, as well as a deep and comprehensive understanding of diversity, is essential to mutual trust, equality and aspirations for joint development," Alimov said.

He attached great importance to deepening cultural exchanges with China, in a bid to foster healthy and mutually beneficial bilateral ties.

Akram Zeynalli, ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to China, said in his speech that the series of cultural events held between China and Azerbaijan provided platforms for both sides to improve the relations by expanding cultural cooperation, a sentiment that reflects the spirit and principles of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Touching upon the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, Zeynalli said that there is still great potential to tap, while stating that Azerbaijan's participation in the initiative will broaden its scope, including to economic trade, the creation of trans-Eurasian economic and transport corridors and tourism.

Several folk songs and dances featuring the traditional Mugham music were performed throughout the show. The show drew waves of applause from the audience and exposed visiting Chinese guests to Azerbaijani culture.By Trend

The European Union and Turkmenistan are committed to implementing the Trans-Caspian pipeline project, designed to bring Turkmen hydrocarbon resources to European markets, said the Head of the EU Liaison Office in Ashgabat Lubomir Frebort in his welcoming speech on occasion of Europe Day, reports the Nebit-Gaz newspaper of Turkmenistan.

The high-ranking diplomat noted the important role assigned to Turkmenistan in the energy security strategy of the EU.

Negotiations on the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe have been going on since 2011.

The Southern Gas Corridor, including the Trans-Caspian project, remains a priority for the EU.

In May 2015, the Ashgabat Declaration on Energy was signed by the ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vice President of the European Commission in Charge of the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

The project for laying a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan, as previously noted by the parties concerned, is optimal for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. Further, the Turkmen gas can get in Turkey, which borders European countries.

The Trans-Caspian pipeline could become a part of several large-scale projects, including AGRI and TANAP, to which Azerbaijan and Turkey are parties.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

State premier of Germanys Saxony-Anhalt federal state Reiner Haseloff (Christian Democratic Union - CDU) has called for revision of the countrys policy towards Russia following Washingtons withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, TASS reported.

"The recent developments regarding Iran should trigger a revision of the German policy towards Russia," he said in an interview published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. In light of the US sanctions against Iran, "it is important as never before to maintain dialogue with our eastern neighbor Russia," the politician said, adding that both countries will benefit from returning to normal trade relations.

According to Reiner Haseloff, German companies can lose access to the Russian market for a long time if the sanctions policy is maintained. "Sanctions always push innovations development and refocus of the country they affect," he said, noting that Russian producers of agriculture products and food have been demonstrating impressive growth.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced Washingtons withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which imposed restrictions on Tehrans nuclear activities in return for the removal of the United Nations Security Councils sanctions and unilateral US sanctions. According to Trump, the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) left the door open for Iran to circumvent restrictions and develop a nuclear bomb. The US president said that old sanctions would be restored and new ones would be introduced in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions. At the same time, Trump called for making a new agreement.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Turkey stands for continuation of close economic cooperation with Great Britain in the period after Brexit, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey attaches special importance to cooperation with Great Britain, he said at a briefing before his flight to London.

The visit of the President of Turkey will last until May 15. Meetings with Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Theresa May are planned within the framework of the visit.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Iranian companies are interested to take part in motorway and road construction projects in Turkmenistan, Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, the Islamic Republics Roads and Urban Development minister, said.

Akhoundi made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with Turkmenistans Foreign Affairs Minister Rasit Meredow in Tehran, Iranian media outlets reported May 13.

The two parties held talks on participation of Iranian companies in implementation of highway and road projects in the neighbouring country, Akhoundi said.

He added that the sides also discussed cooperation in electricity sector, including construction of the third power transmission line and settling the electricity trade issues. 

The visiting Turkmen minister also held meeting with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.

During the meeting, Rouhani said that Tehran is determined to deepen ties with neighbouring countries including Turkmenistan.

He also said that the Iranian companies are ready to provide technical-engineering services to Turkmenistan.

Facilitating travel between the two countries and developing tourism can deepen relations between the two countries in all fields as well, Rouhani added.

Meredow also discussed oil and gas cooperation between Tehran and Ashgabat in a meeting with Bijan Namadar Zanganeh.

Following the meeting, Zanganeh said that talks between the two countries for settling their gas dispute would continue.

The Iranian minister added that the gas swap of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan through Iran would resume early this calendar year (started March 20).

He also expressed the Islamic Republics readiness for cooperation with Turkmenistan in various energy fields.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Housing market in Kazakhstan demonstrates stability this year.

The average cost of 1 square meter of new housing in Kazakhstan amounted to 263,068 tenge ($805.97) in April 2018 and have not changed compared to the previous month, according to the Committee on Statistics under the Kazakh National Economy Ministry.

The price has risen by 1.1 percent compared to December 2017.

The average resale price of 1 square meter of well-maintained housing in April stood at the level of 186,154 tenge ($570.32), thus showing an increase of 0.2 percent compared to the previous month and 0.3 percent increase compared to December last year.

The resale price of 1 square meter of ill-equipped housing averaged to 115,248 tenge ($353.09) that is 0.4 percent higher than in the previous month and 0.8 percent more than in December 2017.

The average rental price of 1 square meter of well-maintained housing in Kazakhstan last month amounted to 1,341 tenge that is 0.2 percent higher than in the previous month and 0.9 percent higher than in late 2017.

In Kazakhstan, the number of deals on purchase and sale of housing in January-April 2018 was 72,909 and increased by 4 percent compared to the same period in 2017.

As many as 239,600 deals for housing purchase and sale were concluded in Kazakhstan during 2017 showing an increase of 26 percent compared to 2016.

Previously, Kazakhstan has experienced a sharp decline of the real estate market due to adverse external conditions. Devaluation of the national currency, along with a decrease in real wages and purchasing power affected the demand side, while slight overinvestment and high exposure to currency risks shocked the supply.

The Kazakh government is committed to resolving current issues on the real estate market with massive programs, which aim to provide affordable housing, including rental, refinancing foreign currency mortgages and stimulating construction of infrastructure for individual housing construction.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Ankara will not refuse from purchasing the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said May 14.

Erdogan noted that despite the fact that Turkey is a member of the NATO Alliance, Washington refused to sell US-made SAM to Turkey.

"The United States deprived Turkey of a choice, and Ankara was forced to start negotiations with Moscow to purchase the S-400," Erdogan said.

The head of state said, national interests are most important for Turkey.

In December 2017 in Ankara, Russian and Turkish representatives signed a loan agreement for the supply of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Turkey will pay for part of this deal on its own, and the other part will be paid for at the expense of the Russian Federation's defense loan.

Ismail Demir, Deputy Head of the Turkish Defense Industry Secretariat, told reporters, that S-400 deliveries were transferred to an earlier date than it was stipulated by the contract, to July 2019.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

The United States will not participate in the ninth round of talks on Syria, which kicked off in Astana on May 14, RIA Novosti reported quoting the American embassy.

The U.S. will not participate in any official status in the Syrian talks, which are held on May 14-15 in Astana, the embassy said.

Russias Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, commenting on the situation, noted that Russia hopes for U.S. participation in the ninth round of talks on Syria.

We hope that common sense exists and they [American side] will take part in our meeting because if they made such a decision, then this is sad enough, and indicates that they are trying to choose their own way. Why to isolate themselves from the political process?, he told reporters.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry announced the beginning of the next round of talks on Syria on Monday.

The delegations of the guarantor states - Russia, Turkey and Iran - along with the delegations of the Syrian government and armed opposition will take part in negotiations.

It was noted that the UN delegation led by Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and the delegation of Jordan will take part in the meeting as observers.

Russias delegation will be led by Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, while Turkey will be represented by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Sedat Onal. The Iranian delegation will be led by Senior Assistant to Iran's Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari.

The guarantors are expected to hold bilateral and trilateral expert consultations prior to the event. The plenary meeting with the participation of all parties is scheduled for May 15.

To date, eight rounds of negotiations on the Syrian conflict were held in Astana.

In December 2017, during the eighth international meeting on Syria, the guarantor countries agreed on establishing a working group on the release of detainees/abductees and handover of the bodies as well as the identification of missing persons, and adopted a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria, including UNESCO's cultural heritage sites.

On the basis of its results, Russia, Iran and Turkey coordinated terms of holding of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress on January 29-30 in Sochi.

Guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime - Russia, Turkey and Iran - had agreed on May 4 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to establish "de-escalation zones" in war-torn Syria. De-escalation zones in Syria allowed to significantly reduce the scale of the conflict and contributed to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria.

While the Astana process is separate from the UNs Geneva talks on Syrian crisis, the attendance of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura links the Kazakh platform to broader international efforts.

Syria has been locked in civil war since March 2011. All previous efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution were ruined, with the opposition demanding Assad leave power, the government insisting he stay on, and neither side able to force the issue by achieving a military victory.

According to the UN, the number of victims of military operations in the country can range from 300,000 to half a million people. The settlement of the conflict is discussed in Astana and Geneva, and the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue, which took place on January 30 this year in Sochi, was the first attempt to gather a wide range of participants on one negotiating platform.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

The situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program is a crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said opening talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday, TASS reports.

"We appreciate this possibility to meet in Moscow and exchange views on the issues of the JCPOA, and to be honest, the situation around it is a crisis," Lavrov said.

The legitimate interests of each participant in the Iran nuclear deal are enshrined in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the parties need to cooperate in defending them, he said.

"I understand perfectly well that Iran wishes to protect its legitimate interests," Lavrov said. "I would like to point out that Russia and other participants in the deal - China and the European countries - also have their legitimate interests enshrined in this agreement," he added. "This is why we need to cooperate in defending our legitimate interests," Lavrov said.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

The decision of the US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran will make US relationship with the European Union (EU) much more difficult, Francis Perrin, Senior Fellow at the OCP Policy Center (Rabat) and Senior Research Fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS, Paris), told Trend.

He believes that this decision was of course not unexpected.

Perrin recalled that President Trump had repeatedly criticized this deal, and in very harsh terms, and recent changes within the US Administration - Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and John Bolton at the head of the National Security Council - tilted the balance towards a very strong opposition against Iran.

It is a very important decision with grave consequences as every independent and good-faith expert on this issue would agree that this agreement was working and was effectively implemented even if it is not perfect, the expert noted.

It opens a period of great uncertainties because the US is destroying a useful deal and it is not sure at all that it will be possible to replace it with a better framework, he believes.

"This is also a very hard blow for President Hassan Rouhani and its government because the nuclear deal was the cornerstone of their policies. It will be very difficult for President Rouhani to defend its positions against the hardliners within the regime. For the US, one of the main risks is a growing isolation as the other signatories of the nuclear deal do not share President Trump's opinions. It will make the US/European Union relationship much more difficult," said the expert.

Perrin believes that it will very likely have a very strong impact on Irans oil and gas deals with European companies.

"As of today only Frances Total has signed a big contract in Iran and it was for the development of Phase 11 of the South Pars supergiant gas and condensate field. There are about a dozen European companies which have been prequalified in order to bid for oil and gas projects in Iran and only one of them, Total, decided to go ahead. And this was before any decision was announced by the US Administration. This new US policy will clearly have a chilling effect on European energy companies," he added.

Perrin noted that it will have a bullish impact and it has already been the case before this announcement as President Trump's decision was widely anticipated. Due to the rise in world oil demand, OPEC production cuts, similar decisions from 10 non-OPEC countries and the fall in OECD oil stocks the oil market is tighter than in the recent period.

"If you add to this cocktail wars and tensions in the Middle East and the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with all its political, economic and energy consequences, the most likely trend is upward. Saudi Arabia could of course counter this trend if it decides to increase its production and they can certainly do it. So far, they will benefit from higher prices," he said.

Regarding the possibility of a new dialogue between the US and Iran on a nuclear deal, Perrin said . in the long-term everything is possible, including good news.

"As James Bond said, "never say never again" and this is particularly true as far as politics is concerned. It can also be true with President Trump who should meet soon with Kim Jong-Un. The US President said that he was able and willing to discuss with the Iranian leaders. That being said this possibility seems very remote after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal. There is now a very strong hostility between Washington and Tehran, the US is speaking more or less openly about regime change and it is impossible in this context for President Rohani to keep an open mind towards such an option. In the short and medium-term reconciliation is thus Mission Impossible," said the expert.

The US President Donald Trump announced that he will pull the US out of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The US will re-impose the nuclear-related sanctions on Irans economy and oil exports, which were waived under the JCPOA. Whilst the sanctions are effective immediately, there is a wind-down period of 90- or 180-days to allow firms to exit any existing agreements they have with Iran. Trump has also hinted that he might impose additional sanctions on top of those which were waived.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Uzbekistan and the United States intend to sign agreements worth $ 4 billion during the visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Washington this week, the chairman of the U.S.-Uzbek Chamber of Commerce, Carolyn Lamm, said on May 14.

Earlier, the press service of the head of Uzbekistan reported that Mirziyoyev will pay an official visit to the United States on May 15-17.

On May 15, it is planned that agreements for a total of $ 4 billion will be signed, Lamm said in an interview with the Uzbekistan 24 TV channel.

These documents will cover trade, commerce and investment spheres, according to the chairman.

Lamm noted that the most promising areas of economic cooperation between the two countries are, in particular, the oil and gas industry and non-ferrous metallurgy.

We see many common points of contact for creating joint ventures in Uzbekistan, she added.

Trump and Mirziyoyev first met in May 2017 in the framework of the summit of Arab-Muslim countries and the United States in Riyadh.

The Uzbek president, during his visit to New York, held a series of meetings with representatives of American companies and took part in a bilateral business forum. As a result of the forum, a package of documents for a total of about $ 2.6 billion in the oil and gas, petrochemical, engineering, electrical and civil aviation industries was signed with U.S. companies.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

7000 visitors from Pakistan travelled to Azerbaijan in first quarter of 2018, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Alizade said, Daily Times reported.

Ambassador noted that Azerbaijan has a good tourism infrastructure.

"By the decree of President of Azerbaijan, visa procedures have been simplified for Pakistani citizens and now one can get visa online through internet. Around 18,000 visitors travelled to Azerbaijan in 2017 and number of visitors is increasing every year. Only in the first quarter of 2018, we have already about 7000 visitors from Pakistan," he said.

Highlighting the importance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the ambassador maintained that the mega project will not only improve infrastructure in Pakistan and trigger trade activities but will also act as a source of regional connectivity. He said the project will open up vast employment opportunities for Pakistani educated youth as well as skilled and non-skilled labour. Azerbaijan supports Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. A memorandum of understanding between Government of Azerbaijan and the Government of China on joint promotion of Silk Road economic belt was signed in 2015, he recalled.

He said that Azerbaijan has established several bridges between Europe and Asia through different regional transport corridors and modern infrastructure. Big international transport projects have been implemented by Azerbaijan or by participation of Azerbaijan, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, North-South, East-West, Lapis Lazuli, Baku International Sea Port, he said.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Citizens of 15 more countries will be able to obtain visas through the ASAN Visa system.

The list of countries includes Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, Indonesia, Iran, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Israel and United Arab Emirates.

The issuance of electronic visas for citizens of those states will start on May 15.

In total, about 420,000 foreigners were granted electronic visas through the ASAN Visa system as of today. Since January 2017, foreigners are issued visas within a three-hour period. The state fee for a visa is $20.

The terms of issuing and using electronic visas through the ASAN Visa system were developed jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This step was taken for the promotion and development of tourism in Azerbaijan.

ASAN Visa portal designed to simplify a procedure for issuing visas to foreigners and stateless persons wishing to visit Azerbaijan, as well as to ensure immediacy and transparency of this process, was presented to the public in 2016.

Electronic visa is a document for one entry, which determines the period of stay in the country up to 30 days.

Electronic visas are issued only to the citizens of the countries, approved by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, and stateless persons permanently residing in this country.

Also, the ASAN Visa system offers the issuance of group visas to foreign citizens. Group appeals are provided for a minimum of two, a maximum of ten people.

Foreigners and stateless persons, who wish to receive an e-visa, must enter information into the system of "ASAN Visa", and after receipt on acceptance of confirmation pay online a state fee in the amount prescribed by law "On state duty".

The system of "ASAN Visa" sends the appeal to the interagency automated retrieval system "Entry-exit and registration". The relevant executive authority verifies the information not later than three days from the time of appeal in "ASAN Viza", checks restriction list of the "Entry-exit and registration".

Then a visa is sent to the e-mail address of the contact person. In case of failure the person is also informed.

The electronic visas are not stuck in the passport but presented together with the passport while crossing the border check-point. Foreigners and stateless persons may apply for a new e-visa only after they will leave Azerbaijan.

Only citizens of 94 countries (or persons residing in these countries) can obtain an electronic visa. The list of countries, which can be found in this link, is approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzTwin Peaks held a charity car wash Saturday afternoon to raise money for Folds of Honor, an organization that provides scholarships for spouses and children of fallen and disabled members of the military. General manager Eric Moore said the company's other restaurants around the state were also holding car washes to raise money for the cause.Get your dancing boots ready, Southeast Texas.

Country star Toby Keith will be bringing his Should've Been a Cowboy tour to Ford Pavilion Saturday, June 30, at 7 p.m. Touring with him will be Granger Smith.

There will be a Ford Pre-Show Tailgate from 5-7 p.m., with live music from local bands, drink specials and food. Tailgate tickets are $10.

Tickets start at $30 and go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. You can purchase them online by clicking here.

But there's no need to wait - you can grab them now through Thursday by entering the promo code INSIDER.The summer is almost here, which means it's almost time for tubing season to kick into high gear.

There are a variety of ways to beat the heat, but for Texans, the popular answer is grabbing an inner tube and heading to New Braunfels.Beaumont ISD and other school districts affected by Harvey could be spared from state-mandated sanctions at long-struggling schools if they receive a waiver from academic accountability ratings for the year, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said last week.

BISD still would face punishment - either campus closures or another state takeover of the school board - if Morath denies the waiver and one or more of the district's three struggling schools fails to meet state academic standards this year.

QUIZ: Could you pass the STAAR? Take a sample test

Under a law passed in 2015 with broad bipartisan support, Morath must shut down campuses or replace a district's board of trustees if any one of its schools fails to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years.

Three Beaumont ISD schools are at risk of triggering the law: Fehl-Price Elementary, Jones-Clark Elementary and Smith Middle School.

Other districts that could face similar punishments include some of the state's largest: Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio ISDs.

Accountability waivers for districts affected by Harvey, like those in Southeast Texas that missed at least two weeks of classes following August storm, would stall the law's implementation in districts like Beaumont if its schools aren't rated this year, Morath told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday.

PHOTOS: Flip through the slideshow above to see SETX schools damaged by Harvey

Districts up and down the Gulf Coast, from Port Aransas to Orange, have asked the state for leniency in this year's ratings, citing lost time and disruption from the storm that put students at a disadvantage on standardized testing. Gov. Greg Abbott also urged the commissioner last December to "consider ways to help relieve some of the pressures on students in areas most affected by Hurricane Harvey."

Decisions on those waivers are expected in June, the TEA said last month. Accountability ratings, which are based in large part on standardized test scores and performance, aren't released until August.

Morath repeatedly cautioned Wednesday that no final decisions have been made about Harvey-related waivers or potential sanctions.

EFFECTS OF HARVEY: LC-M seniors walk through church instead of elementary

However, if any public schools trigger the state law this year, Morath said he does not believe he has the legal authority to give districts a break, as some local leaders have requested.

"Short version: I'm a constitutionally sworn officer, so, no," Morath said. "I do what the law tells me."

Morath said Texas Education Agency officials continue to collect and analyze data that will help decide which schools will receive Harvey-related accountability waivers. He expects the agency will analyze several campus-level factors - including days of instruction missed, students displaced and teachers left homeless - as they set criteria for issuing waivers. Some of that data have been collected on a weekly basis, Morath said.

"Our team is trying to figure out whether or not the rules should be entirely consistent with (Hurricane) Ike or slightly more generous," Morath said. "I think I'm currently leaning toward a slightly more generous framework than the prior systems, where it's not just dates closed, but also student and staff displacement as a factor."

After Hurricane Ike in 2008, any school or district closed for at least 10 instructional days because of the storm received a "not rated" grade, unless its rating improved from the previous year.

Beaumont ISD has stayed silent on plans or possible consequences for its three schools in question.

"We're working closely with the state and waiting on their guidance," spokeswoman Nakisha Burns said on Friday.

Other districts have developed plans to prepare for or stave off closures if their schools fall short this year, including several in areas that won't be eligible for Harvey-related waivers.

Dallas ISD, which has four schools that could trigger the sanctions, announced plans in January to close and consolidate campuses if those schools don't meet standards this summer.

Six districts, including Austin ISD, San Antonio ISD and Waco ISD, submitted plans to the TEA last month to hand over control of the schools to charter or non-profit operators.

If approved, the nonprofit Prosper Waco and its own separate school board will have full control over five Waco ISD schools, giving them a two-year reprieve from closure or a district takeover.

Houston ISD officials proposed handing over its 10 schools to charter partner Energized for STEM Academy, Inc., but backed away from the plan last month after a contentious board meeting that resulted in two arrests and dozens of people temporarily forced to leave the building.

Last July, BISD approved working with a charter operator, ResponsiveEd, to implement an in-district charter school, but no further information has been released.

"We're working with a consultant who is working with TEA and awaiting their guidance and our options," BISD said last month.

Ten BISD schools were rated "improvement required" in 2017, up from six the previous year.

Shelby Webb contributed to this report.LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/LizTeitzPort Arthur Police Department Deputy Chief John Owens, one of five officers named in an affidavit alleging ethical and criminal violations last spring was reinstated Monday to his former position in the Criminal Investigations Division, Chief Patrick Melvin announced.

Owens, 63, was suspended in February 2017, along with four other officers pending an administrative investigation. He returned to duty about one month later in March 2017, but was reassigned to shift commander in the Field Operations Division.

Effective immediately, Owens will return to the Criminal Investigations division and has also been named Port Arthur's Emergency Management Coordinator, Melvin said Monday.

The department announced on Feb. 22, 2017 that several officers were placed on paid administrative leave "pending the results of an administrative investigation." PAPD did not release the number of suspended officers or their names.

City councilman Willie "Bae" Lewis said five officers were suspended. He named Owens, Det. Mickey Sterling, Sgt. Kris Boneau, Sgt. Scott Gaspard and Deputy Chief Raymond Clark.

Chief Patrick Melvin said last spring that the department's internal investigation was related to alleged violations listed in an affidavit submitted by PAPD Det. Elie Van Horn.

In the Feb. 17, 2017 affidavit, released by the Texas Department of Public Safety in response to an open records request, Van Horn formally asked Melvin and Port Arthur officials to investigate Owens, Clark, Gaspard, Boneau and Sterling, alleging violations of the Texas Penal Code and PAPD policies.

Among other things, Van Horn accused Gaspard and Sterling in the affidavit of retaliating against a woman "whose family member is missing and has not been found."

Van Horn alleged that the two conducted an illegal search of the woman's home and instructed him to go through her cell phone in order to find evidence that would discredit her. Van Horn said the pair wanted to conceal a relationship between Gaspard and a psychic hired by the woman to search for the missing person.

Gaspard and Sterling planned to "silence the witness/victim by illegal means," he wrote in the affidavit.

In the affidavit, Van Horn accuses Owens and Clark of ordering, participating in, condoning or failing to stop Gaspard, Sterling and Boneau from using a law enforcement database to find personal information on people that was shared with city officials and media "in an attempt to discredit officers, city officials, and potential Chief of Police candidates."

Van Horn, Boneau and Clark have all sued the department since the investigation began last spring.Indian River Medical Center is readying to open the Scully Endoscopy Center. Both facilities are located in Vero Beach, Fla.

Here's what you should know.

1. Ashley Canipe, MD, pushed for the development of the endoscopy center and led fundraising efforts to support its development.

2. Marlynn Scully and Bill Scully matched every donation up to $2.28 million. The hospital awarded the family naming rights for their generosity. Approximately 120 people participated in the match.

3. IRMC Board of Directors Chairman Wayne Hockmeyer, MD, made a gift in honor of his late wife Mary Hockmeyer, MD, allowing the project to meet its $6.15 million goal.

4. The center will open in 2018.An Oklahoma woman was initially charged $15,076 for four surgical screws after undergoing foot and shoulder surgery, according to a Kaiser Health News report.

Here are eight things to know about the situation.

1. Sherry Young, EdD, a 57-year-old mother who is retired and on disability, received medical treatment in June 2017 at Oklahoma City-based OU Medical Center.

2. The treatment included foot and shoulder operations. On the same day, Dr. Young received treatment for an injury in her shoulder due to arthritis and overuse, as well as foot procedures, including a bone spur removal, according to the report. As part of the foot procedures, she received four surgical screws (2.8 millimeters wide and a maximum of 14 millimeters long) made by Naples, Fla.-based Arthrex.

3. The total bill for Dr. Young's three-day hospital stay was $115,527, reports Kaiser Health News. The $15,076 for the screws is included in that amount. According to the report, other parts of the bill included $4,265 for a drill bit used in the treatment, as well as $619 for a saw blade.

4. Dr. Young's insurer, BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma, sent her a letter stating the treatment she received typically occurs on an outpatient basis, and therefore it was not "medically necessary" for her to stay overnight, according to the report. The hospital stay was not approved at that time.

5. Dr. Young told Kaiser Health News she reached out to OU Medical Center but was not able to find out how much the screws cost the facility. Still, John Schmieding, senior vice president and general counsel for Arthrex, provided some insight to the publication, saying, "Our sale price for screws used in foot and ankle procedures would be below $300 per screw, with the most expensive around $1,000."

6. A spokesperson for OU Medical Center declined to specifically comment about Dr. Young's bill to Kaiser Health News. The medical center's statement to the publication read: "OU Medical Center provides the highest-quality patient care. We are focused on acquiring the latest tools, treatments and technology, while diligently making sure we have the resources to maintain this commitment our patients deserve. We strive to keep costs down and focus investment on where it really matters  our patients." According to the report, OU Medical Center also said most patients don't pay the full price after negotiated discounts between insurers and hospitals, but discounts would not apply if the person's insurance denied payment.

7. BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma told media it did not flat-out deny payment for Dr. Young's treatment, but additional information was needed from the provider to ensure proper processing of her insurance claim.

8. Dr. Young's most recent billing statement showed she was not charged for the hospital stay, but there was a $413 charge for an "appeal denied," according to the report.

Read the full Kaiser Health News report here.

Editor's note: This article was updated May 28 to include Sherry Young's doctorate degree.Though company boards attempt to attract high-performing CEOs with high salaries and hope to determine compensation based on results, the performance of many high-level CEOs does not correlate with their salary, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Only two of the highest paid CEOs in 2017 who did not leave their posts before the end of the year led their companies to finish the year among the top 20 companies for shareholder returns.

"Stars are often underpaid, while average performers are often overpaid," Herman Aguinis, PhD, a professor at George Washington University School of Business in Washington, D.C., told the WSJ.

Boards often determine CEO pay based on the compensation of competitors, even though their performance may vary greatly. In a study of over 4,000 CEO salaries, Dr. Aguinis found nearly no overlap between the top 1 percent of CEO compensation and the top 1 percent of CEO performance.Cleveland-based University Hospitals filed a motion May 11 to dismiss a lawsuit against the institution resulting from a failure at its fertility clinic earlier this year that destroyed more than 4,000 eggs and embryos, WKYC 3 reports.

Here are three things to know about the motion.

1. The motion, filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, claims lawyers representing patients did not file an affidavit of merit from a medical expert explaining why the lawsuit against the hospital has legal relevance, as required under state law, according to the report. Therefore, plaintiffs should not be awarded financial damages as outlined in their lawsuit against UH, the report states.

2. More than 4,000 eggs and embryos were destroyed in March after a human error at the UH Fertility Center, which is housed in the Beachwood, Ohio-based University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center, caused the temperature in the freezer where the eggs were stored to drop drastically. Roughly 950 patients were affected by the incident, according to WKYC 3. Some of the patients filed lawsuits against UH, which a judge later consolidated into a single lawsuit.

3. In a May 14 statement to Becker's Hospital Review regarding its motion to dismiss, UH said it "continues to offer clinical and emotional support to patients affected by this difficult situation."

"With regard to the legal proceeding ... when a lawsuit is filed, Ohio law requires that all medical claims be accompanied by an affidavit of merit. In this matter, the plaintiffs' attorneys did not file the necessary documentation. So we have asked the court to dismiss the claims that were not properly supported when filed  in keeping with Ohio law," the statement continued.Lynn, Mass.-based Union Hospital, operated by Salem, Mass.-based North Shore Medical Center, shuttered its operating rooms May 10 as part of a phased closure, according to The Salem News.

Union Hospital is slated to permanently close in 2019, after a $207 million expansion at NSMC's Salem Hospital is completed.

The hospital's decision to close its surgical suite prematurely is because the services are no longer "clinically [and] financially feasible," according to a notice filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

A hospital spokesperson, Laura Fleming, told The Salem News that NSMC's Salem Hospital will be able to accommodate the patients who would otherwise be treated at Union Hospital.

"While this news accelerates our consolidation plans in this area, it does not affect the great care we continue to provide on both our Salem and Lynn campuses," Fleming said.

NSMC plans to close Union Hospital's intensive care unit in mid-July, and will discontinue outpatient cardiac stress testing in the near future.The CDC confirmed 14 cases of bloodstream infections in children across four U.S. states that may be connected to heparin and saline syringes distributed by medical technology company Becton Dickinson and Co., according to Reuters.

The 14 bloodstream infection cases were caused by the same strain of the Serratia marcescens bacterium, Kiran Mayi Perkins, MD, the CDC's lead investigator on the outbreak, told Reuters.

The infections occurred in seriously ill children who were receiving intravenous medications through a catheter or central line, which delivers medications such as chemotherapy.

The confirmed infections were found in Tennessee, Colorado, Minnesota and Ohio. There were no deaths as a result of the outbreak, and most of the affected children were recovering well, Dr. Perkins said. The number of cases appears to be winding down, Dr. Perkins added.

Health officials started investigating the Becton Dickinson products after finding the syringes had been used to treat several of the infected children. To keep them clear, central lines are often flushed with saline or heparin, a blood thinner. As of yet, none of the Becton Dickinson products have tested positive for the bacterium.

In April, Becton Dickinson recalled 949 lots of its BD PosiFlush Pre-Filled Heparin Lock Flush Syringes and Pre-Filled Normal Saline flush syringes sold between February and December 2017 out of "an abundance of caution." The company said it was cooperating with the FDA and CDC during the investigation.

"The company immediately initiated an internal investigation after being notified of a potential connection between catheter-related blood stream infections and the Serratia marcescens bacterium," BD said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The company had checked records from its sterility testing, environmental testing and clean room validation, BD spokesperson Troy Kirkpatrick told Reuters via email. "To date, no BD flush product has ever tested positive for this bacterium."

If there is contamination, it is "probably a very low amount," making it difficult to test for, Dr. Perkins said. "Although the product tests have been negative to date, again, in an abundance of caution, we continue to take the steps we have," she said. "That's probably why BD has done the recall as well."A second lawsuit has been filed against Puyallup, Wash.-based MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital over a possible exposure of hepatitis C linked to the hospital that may have exposed approximately 2,600 patients to the infection, according to The News Tribune.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Pierce County Superior Court May 11, and accuses the hospital and its parent company, Tacoma, Wash.-based MultiCare Health System, of breaching its care duties to the roughly 2,600 affected patients. The lawsuit is the second legal action against the hospital, as a former patient filed a lawsuit against the institution last week.

The plaintiff in the case, listed as "M.N.," was reportedly treated at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital's emergency department on Dec. 25, 2017, according to the lawsuit. The individual was one of hundreds who received a notice from the hospital last month indicating she may have been exposed to hepatitis C and recommending additional testing.

According to the lawsuit, the female patient agreed to undergo further testing and tested negative for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV. However, attorneys for the patient said the woman and other patients will likely face re-tests and suffered damages as a result, as they cannot be certain of whether they contracted the virus until its latency period has passed. The patients have been forced to endure worry, stress, inconvenience and the "physical invasion and other effects of the testing process," the report states.

The lawsuit also references former MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital nurse Cora Weberg, 31, who hospital officials have claimed is the "common denominator" between two patients who were initially identified as having contracted hepatitis C at the hospital. Police arrested Ms. Weberg last week, but released her the following day without charges. The state's nursing commission also suspended her nursing license last week, citing unprofessional conduct.

In her first public appearance last week, Ms. Weberg admitted to taking drugs from the hospital, but claimed she was not the carrier of hepatitis C. Health department officials have linked the first two patients, stating they contracted the virus from the same genetic source. However, officials have not established a genetic link between the two patients and Ms. Weberg.

The class-action lawsuit, however, names Ms. Weberg as the source of the exposure, alleging she infected patients with needles she had previously used on herself  a claim lawyers told The News Tribune is "based upon information and belief," according to the report.

A spokesperson for the hospital told The News Tribune in an emailed statement, "We have not been served with any lawsuit related to this incident therefore we cannot comment. However, our focus remains on making sure every patient potentially exposed is tested and any who are infected are treated. So far, nearly 1,200 people have been screened. We encourage the other 1,450 people who received letters from us to visit one of our lab locations, which can be found at multicare.org/safety-alert."

To access the full News Tribune report, click here.The Nassau Health Care Corp., which oversees East Meadow, N.Y.-based Nassau University Medical Center, is millions behind in payments to the state's health insurance program for its employees and retirees, according to a Newsday report.

Here are four things to know.

1. The corporation, known as NuHealth, reportedly owes the New York State Health Insurance Program $62.6 million in healthcare premium payments.

2. The owed payments, which were revealed during an examination of NUMC's operations, come as the corporation is struggling financially, reports Newsday. NuHealth's new board chairman, George Tsunis, partially attributed the financial struggles to significant legacy costs on top of existing expenses.

3. Amid NuHealth's financial struggles, the public benefit corporation voted to oust NUMC President and CEO Victor Politi, MD, and restructure the hospital's leadership, April 18. NuHealth also stopped contracting with attorneys and banned top employees from traveling to the Cayman Islands, where its self-insurance program is located, according to the report.

4. NuHealth officials seek to cut the health insurance arrearage in half by July, according to the report, partially by using up to $56 million in short-term revenue anticipation notes.

Read the full Newsday report here.

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Majority of US healthcare workers want to work remotely: 5 survey findings

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Poll: More than 60% of medical practices reported high demand for nonclinical applicants

%MCEPASTEBIN%Here are six spine surgeons who were sentenced, found guilty or have ongoing criminal charges.

Orthopedic surgeon charged with murder of Stryker sales rep in South Carolina

South Carolina-based orthopedic surgeon Adam Lazzarini, MD, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and obstructing justice after a CrossLink Orthopaedics/Stryker sales representative died of a gunshot wound in Dr. Lazzarini's home in October 2017. Local law enforcement investigated the shooting and called it "unintentional or accidental" at the time, and Dr. Lazzarini turned himself in to the Lexington County Detention Center and is awaiting a bond hearing.

Former MSU dean Dr. William Strampel charged with criminal sexual conduct

Former East Lansing-based Michigan State University dean and Larry Nassar's boss William Strampel, DO, was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct. Dr. Strampel was arrested March 26 and charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, felony official misconduct and two counts of willful neglect of duty.

Dr. Gregory Belcher sentenced to 12-month prison term for healthcare fraud

Saratoga, Calif.-based orthopedic surgeon Gregory Belcher, MD, was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison for making a false statement to a healthcare benefit program. Dr. Belcher was sentenced after an eight-week trial in which he and his wife and office partner, Vilasani Ganesh, MD, were convicted of healthcare fraud. Dr. Belcher submitted a false billing claim related to the physical therapy practice he conducted from the Saratoga offices of the Campbell Medical Group.

Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics physician, gets 40-175 years in prison

A seven-day hearing for former U.S.A. Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar ended with a prison sentence of 40 to 175 years. In September 2016, two former gymnasts told the IndyStar Mr. Nassar had sexually abused them during medical treatments. Since that explosive report, 150-plus young women have shared similar stories. In November 2017, the 54-year-old former physician pleaded guilty to seven criminal sexual conduct charges in Ingham County, Mich., CNN reports. After hearing testimonies from 156 victims who said they were sexually abused by Mr. Nassar, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told him, "I just signed your death warrant," when reading his sentence.

Dr. Christopher Duntsch sentenced to life in prison for injuring his patients

Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, MD, PhD, was sentenced to life in prison for intentionally injuring his patients. Prosecutors claimed Dr. Duntsch maimed 32 patients in total, killing two and paralyzing two in the process. The jury deliberated for one hour before sentencing Dr. Duntsch to the maximum penalty after taking four hours last week to find him guilty of intentionally causing bodily harm.

Spine surgeon Dr. Johnny Benjamin found guilty, faces possibility of life in prison

A jury found Vero Beach, Fla., spine surgeon Johnny Benjamin, MD, guilty of five counts of felony. Dr. Benjamin was charged with illegal drug distribution. Investigators also charged the surgeon with providing a painkiller laced with fentanyl and caused the death of woman in 2016. The jury reached a verdict after the week-long trial. Dr. Benjamin will remain in federal custody until his July 6 sentencing hearing. He faces the possibility of life in prison.Sherry Young, EdD, was experiencing chronic pain in her left foot. To manage the pain, an orthopedic surgeon at Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City recommended surgery, according to NPR.

Dr. Young had undergone foot surgeries in the past and her insurer BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma typically picked up the bill. However, days after her most recent foot surgery, Dr. Young was left with a $115,572 bill for a three-day hospital stay.

Shocked by the bill, Dr. Young asked OU Medical Center for itemized copy of the bill. In it, she found the four 2.8 millimeter wide and 14 millimeter long screws from Arthrex cost her $15,076. While it is unclear how much Arthrex charges OU Medical Center for the screws, NPR reports the sale price for the screws ranges from $300 to $1,000.

Comparing the sale price of the screws, OU Medical Center potentially marked up the price by 275 percent to 1,150 percent. This contrasts some manufacturing costs, which sit around $30 per screw, according to Steve Lichtenthal, vice president of business development at the Orthopaedic Implant Co, NRP reports.

The screws were not the only major charges on Dr. Young's bill. She was charged $4,265 for a drill bit, $5,407 for a tool to remove and cauterize tissue and $619 for a saw blade. Most of the equipment could be sterilized for other procedures.

In the end, Dr. Young did not have to pay the full bill. BlueCross BlueShield came back with a letter saying they did not initially deny her but needed more information. The insurer was at first under the impression she did not need a three-night hospital stay, as many feet procedures are performed in the outpatient setting.

On the last statement from the hospital, Dr. Young needed to pay $413 for an "appeal denied."Back in 2012, Michael Vitale, MD, chief of pediatric spine and scoliosis surgery at New York City-based NewYork Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia Orthopedics, realized that there was a great opportunity to improve the safety of spine surgery. To call attention to the topic, he collaborated with 24 national experts to set goals for reducing surgical site infections after spine surgery. This small forum grew into the first Safety in Spine Surgery Summit in 2016; the second annual summit occurred in 2017 with a crowd of 200 attendees.

"The appetite for information regarding safety in spine surgery is seemingly endless," said Dr. Vitale, who chairs the summit. "People are really excited about the responsibility to do better."

Summit Co-Chair Lawrence Lenke, MD, surgeon-in-chief of The Spine Hospital at NewYork-Presbyterian/Allen and chief of spinal deformity and the orthopedic surgery spine division at Columbia University Medical Center, agreed, emphasizing the critical role safety plays in the spine industry: "[Spine safety] is a topic that has to be priority number one for physicians and surgeons. It is a very unique discipline of surgery where complications are real, often far too common and can have devastating adverse effects on outcomes."

The 3rd Annual Safety in Spine Surgery Summit occurred April 20 in New York City. The summit goes beyond the talked-about technical complications, such as neurologic deficit, and hits on the less obvious culprits  system failures, siloed teams and weak cultures. Each year, the summit's theme changes, with this year's titled, "Toward New Rules of Engagement for an Increasingly Complex Spine World."

"Dr. Vitale is saying [patient safety] is a science, as important as doing an operation," said Paul C. McCormick, MD, medical director of the Spine Center at NYP/CUMC and a co-chair of the summit. "How you set up the operations and engage people are all important things that can be managed, assessed, evaluated and made better."

Each summit includes a pre-course, where participants focus on a deliverable. This year, the group finalized a best practice guideline for Halo Gravity Traction, a procedure designed to decrease the curvature degree in children with idiopathic scoliosis. Previous efforts have focused on developing best practices for infection, neurological safety and wrong level spine surgery, and are available at www.safetyinspinesurgery.com.

This year, 20-plus faculty shared lessons from micro to macro, with discussion focused on how to optimize individuals, teams and the healthcare delivery system as a whole.

3 threats to spine patient safety

Drs. Vitale, Lenke and McCormick highlighted three issues they identify as major threats to patient safety.

1. Poor communication and culture. Variability is challenging to manage for any organization, so leaders should work to standardize through enhanced communication. Additionally, Dr. Vitale believes the hierarchical nature of medicine yields complications.

"It might sound trite to talk about it, but if you look at after-action reviews, it's always related to hierarchal culture where one person had too much responsibility with decision-making," he said.

2. Complexity of spine. Dr. McCormick touched on the complex spine field creating slews of challenges. He notes surgeons must always maintain the balance of presenting the smallest risk to the patient with the greatest likelihood of benefit.

"As we've gotten more complex, I think that sometimes it's not that we can do it, but whether we should do it," said Dr. McCormick, referencing how technology is intended to make care better, but it can still miss the mark. "There's certain enthusiasm for technological advances, but sometimes we haven't quite figured out who the ideal patient for [the technology] is."

3. Lack of conformity. Dr. Lenke echoed Dr. McCormick's sentiment of an increasingly complicated spine surgery landscape, pointing to widespread differences in treatments provided by spine surgeons as particularly worrisome.

"There's still a lot of idiosyncrasies and individualization found that doesn't lead to uniform outcomes," he said. "In the next five to 10 years, we should have critical care pathways developed where we can define best treatments for common spine surgical problems."

The fourth annual summit will take place April 25th and 26th, 2019. Those interested may register through the meeting website, where people can also contribute and download tips and useful pathways.David DeWitt, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon at the NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin in Appleton. Dr. DeWitt recently spoke with Becker's Spine Review about spinal implants, barriers to adopting nanosurface technology and how to overcome them to transform spine care.

Question: How do you see implant selection, in particular the implant's surface technology, impacting patient care?

Dr. David DeWitt: The implant surface controls the biology within the disc space. In particular, the body can sense whether an implant is a "friend" or "foe" based on the architecture of the implant at the nanoscale and the material of the implant. If the textures at that scale are constructed in an appropriate way that mimics natural bone, the patient's cells can interface with it in such a way to drive osteogenesis. Suboptimal nanoarchitecture does not drive as robust of an osteogenic response. And in the case of PEEK, the body actually tries to wall it off in a fibrous capsule since it causes inflammation. In my practice, the utilization of implant nanosurface technology, such as Titan Spine's nanoLOCK, has allowed me to dramatically reduce postsurgical restrictions and the prescription of opioid medication.

Manufacturers have begun to flood the market with cages claiming some sort of surface technology. A few years ago, we saw a lot of devices made of titanium-coated PEEK. However, they have been shown to be susceptible to flaking during insertion that can, in the worst case, lead to osteolysis.

More recently, 3D printed titanium implants have been released that are touted to mimic bone's natural porous structure, but porosity in and of itself does not drive bone growth. It is the nanoarchitecture on the walls of the pores that signals for bone growth or not. It is impossible to print a meaningful nanoscaled surface with today's 3D printing technology. So, it is important to understand that porosity and nanotechnology are not the same thing. Nanotechnology is the way of the future, and it's about getting more out of the implant. NanoLOCK is essentially a biologic in addition to being a spacer.

Q: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for continued growth and development in implant materials and nanotechnology for spine surgery in the future?

DD: I think the greatest opportunity for continued growth is to explore ways that nanosurface technology can affect patient recovery following surgery  and specifically how it can help address the opioid epidemic our country is facing. With spine surgery, simply achieving a fusion is not the end goal. It's really about catering to the patient and getting the fusion with less narcotic use and less loss of productivity. We have started to look at how nanoLOCK can help reduce the amount of opioid medication that is required during recovery. The early results are very encouraging, which I think is because of the suppression of inflammatory factors that has been shown to occur in vitro.

Other opportunities for growth include looking outside of spine to see where there are other orthopedic applications that can benefit from a nanoLOCK surface.

Q: What are some challenges to adoption of nanotechnology as the standard of care?

DD: It's hard to get spine surgeons to understand something you cant see or touch and to appreciate just how small of a scale nanotechnology really is. But as we are becoming more educated on the nanotechnology story and how it is critical to the bodys response, everything is starting to swing that way.

What holds back these technologies are competing companies that don't have nanotechnology but claim that they do. This confuses the market, which makes it difficult to decide what is backed by science or what is simply a marketing ploy.

Q: How can those challenges be resolved?

DD: Education is crucial. Surgeons should, first and foremost, look to scientific evidence when making decisions on how best to care for their patients. There is a large amount of in vitro work that supports nanotechnology, and nanoLOCK specifically, in its ability to signal bone growth that starts at the cellular level, which is now starting to be tied to improved clinical outcomes. And as we get more and more clinical data, the technology becomes more and more clinically relevant.

If the results are dramatically better, the question becomes "Why am I not using it?" not "Why should I use it?"

More articles on surface technology:

New orthopedic implant surface technology fights infection: 3 insights

DePuy Synthes to promote Fibergraft for spine fusion: 4 insights

Does spine implant coating effect spinal fusion outcomes?  5 study findingsSingapore Cabinet Minister S Iswaran reportedly said that the government is resolute in its commitment to Tamil as an official language. His remarks appeared in an interview published in The Tamil Community and the Making of Modern Singapore - a book on the South Indian community. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan launched the book on Sunday.



The governments policy position and support for Tamil is clear, Mr Iswaran said citing examples of the language being used in parliament and as a subject in schools along with English, Chinese and Malay. The Tamil Language Festival is one way to achieve this by engaging and involving the younger generation and wider community in this effort to celebrate and promote Tamil language and culture, he was quoted as saying.Comedian John Bishop has called for same-sex marriage to be legalised in Northern Ireland after accepting an award at this year's NatWest British LGBT awards.

The funnyman took to the stage after he was named Ally of the Year during the awards at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square last night.

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He attended the event with his wife Melanie and sons Joe, Luke and Daniel.

Bishop has supported the Come Out 2 Play initiative, a project designed to help gay people in the sporting world. He has also thrown his support behind a social media drive to end homophobic abuse on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

But during his speech, in which he paid tribute to his son, who is gay, he called for same-sex marriage to be legalised in Northern Ireland.

"I was in Northern Ireland recently," he said.

"In Northern Ireland it is still illegal to have a same-sex marriage. I went to have a chat with some people from who put together the biggest gay pride in the whole of Ireland and it was a real lesson to me.

"I spoke to them about when the first pride march happened.

"It is people like this who really paved the way.

"Now the gay pride in Belfast has 50,000 people turn up. The first time they did it just fifty brave souls got together and when they walked down the road they were faced with people stood there with placards.

"They had placards shouting at these people 'You're going to hell', 'Being gay is a sin', 'You're an abomination'. Back then there was more protesters than marchers. Now they dwarf the protesters."

The first Belfast Pride Parade in 1991 in fact had 100 pioneers.

Expand Close Belfast Gay Pride parade. Credit: Belfast Pride Festival / Facebook

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Whatsapp Belfast Gay Pride parade. Credit: Belfast Pride Festival

A bid to introduce same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland was blocked in the House of Commons on Friday.

MP Conor McGinn, originally from south Armagh, had brought a private member's bill forward seeking to extend same-sex marriage into Northern Ireland following the collapse of the devolved government.

However, the bill did not progress past Second Reading in the Commons following an objection by a backbench Conservative MP.A Northern Ireland school is celebrating after winning the Songs of Praise Young Choir of the Year 2018.

The 28-strong all-female chamber choir from Strathearn school in east Belfast sang a gospel melody called 'Hallelujah! Get Happy' to win the coveted accolade. They beat off strong competition from Welsh and English choirs to land the title.

Music teacher Heather McIvor, who conducted the award-winning performance broadcast on the BBC yesterday, said: "It was completely unexpected. We didn't expect to get to the semi-finals, let alone reach the final - and win."

Her colleague Judith Kimber, who is head of music at the grammar school, accompanied the choir on piano.

Congratulations to the Chamber Choir, BBC songs of Praise Young Choir of the Year @BBCSoP , we are so proud of you all. #encourage#empower#excel  Strathearn School (@Strathearn_Sch) May 13, 2018

Sounding shocked at their triumph, Strathearn's Georgia McCutcheon and Lexi McKechnie accepted the award from Songs of Praise host Aled Jones.

"We're just so appreciative and grateful and shocked," Lexi said as choirgirls hugged each other and parents clapped from the audience.

Mr Jones said: I've never ever seen two more surprised girls."

Judge Ken Burton, one of three judges of the competition, praised the Strathearn performance, saying the choir had "excellent discipline" and was "wonderfully precise".

"It was a pleasure to listen to such polished, well-rehearsed singing.

"They were exemplary, effortless," he commented.

Judge JB Gill added: "You guys are such great performers with such a bright sound to your vocals."

After the award-winning performance, Strathearn pupil Phoebe Spratt commented: "I think we all did really well. We put a lot of effort into it and we really tried to get across the gospel spiritual happy sound.

"We all just really tried our best."

She added: "We've had so much support from friends and family.

"Just knowing that they are behind us and backing us all the way has been really helpful."

Speaking last night, music teacher Heather explained that they had entered the Songs of Praise competition as an incentive for the pupils in the choir to strive to be the best that they could be.

"We would never have said to the girls 'you need to go out and win this'," she added. "We don't talk about winning, we talk about doing our best. So when they won, they were surprised.

"Just before they announced the verdict, I turned to the girls and said 'Well done girls - we're really proud of you.

"So then when their name was read out - that's where the shock came from.

"The girls were already delighted with having got through to the final."

Heather revealed that the girls have had to keep the result a secret since it was recorded weeks ago, on April 22, in Wales - it was televised yesterday.

"The girls were only allowed to tell their parents - we didn't even tell the school," Heather added.Kidnapped in London and sold into the sex slave industry in Ireland, Anna had a brutal existence until she was moved to Belfast and escaped her captors. As she publishes a book about her ordeal, Anna tells Stephanie Bell about her experiences and how she helped change the way sex trafficking is dealt with in law in Northern Ireland.

It is hard to imagine a more horrific story than that told by a young Romanian-born woman who was kidnapped in London and forced to be a sex slave right here in Northern Ireland. Known simply as Anna  because, seven years on, she still lives in fear  today she bravely talks about her ordeal which she has shared in a new book.

Called Slave, the book by Northern Ireland author and journalist Jason Johnson gives a shocking insight into the modern day sex slave trade and the ease with which the people controlling it were able to operate.

Annas story is disturbing and deplorable on many levels but ultimately inspiring as, despite the trauma she suffered, she has gone on to help change the law on sex slavery in Northern Ireland, making it more difficult for this evil trade to continue.

She not only escaped her vile captors but turned the tables on them, helping police bring a successful prosecution.

Anna was 21 years old in 2011 when she was snatched off the street in London.

She was taken to Ireland and sold into the sex slave trade to a Romanian-run brothel near Salthill in Galway for 30,000.

Along with the other girls there, she was advertised on Escort Ireland, the perfectly legal website which turned a profit of 6,026,465 in 2015.

Over the next nine months her life became a living hell as she was kept prisoner, tortured and forced to have sex with thousands of men.

Her captives starved her and deprived her of sleep, and she was constantly covered in bruises from daily beatings and rape. She was eventually moved to Belfast where she made her escape.

Today, seven years on from her ordeal, she is still very much haunted by what she endured and fear lingers, which is why she keeps her new location and identity secret.

She has discovered painting as a way of coping and has surrounded herself with trustworthy friends as she tries to rebuild her life.

She hopes to establish a charity for victims of the sex slave trade and has collaborated on her book to help raise awareness and also to reassure victims that they, too, can start over.

Speaking in fluent English but with a distinct Eastern European accent, Anna recalls: They were the toughest months of my life. I was kept locked up. If I asked for food I was beaten, if I tried to sleep I was beaten and raped.

They beat you where people could not see, on the head because you have hair and on your body, but never on the face.

Nobody cared about the bruises on your body.

These people had all the skills to be violent.

They beat you to break you and make you do things for them.

I dont think a person could be deprived of so much. I dont know how I got through it.

I just had to breathe and keep everything inside and develop a plan to get out of there.

Anna had enjoyed a good quality of life at home in Romania where she went to college and was brought up to believe in studying and working hard to succeed in life.

She had started studying nursing and psychology when she decided to move to London at the age of 20 to continue her studies and to find opportunities in England.

She had been there a year and was happy, settled and life seemed full of promise when, out of the blue, she was kidnapped while walking down the street.

I think every young person wants to get out and see what life has to offer and thats how I felt moving to London, she says.

I was working and studying and was a self-sufficient person.

I had made new friends and I had good references.

I was ambitious. I had big plans to become a doctor or work in counselling. I loved reading and would read a lot and I was into my studies. My family is German and at the heart of a German family is the ethos that you have to work hard and learn well and be happy, and my granny would always have said that is how you become a good person.

In her book, Anna explains in detail how she was snatched by Romanians who she believed lived in the same building as her in London.

She believes she was vulnerable because she had no family in the city to raise the alarm.

She was taken directly to the airport and, in the book, deals with how her captors were able to walk her through security without anyone checking their details. A detailed account of the horrific months that followed makes for difficult reading.

Writing in the book about the time she spent imprisoned in a brothel in Galway, Anna gives a harrowing insight into the despair she felt.

The pimps in Galway knew my reviews were leading to more and more people coming to see me, that I was the girl of the moment, or at least one of them, in the city. All of that meant I was sellable, that I had a good value, and that was why the pimps were interested.

Do you know that some of the girls who passed through there hated me because of that? Thats how strange this world is. It was popular to rape me, to use me all day and night like a battery hen for sex, and they thought I was having a more successful life than them ...

These things would get thought often when I sat in that one place on the sofa, staring at the top right-hand corner of the window at the little piece of glass, the little patch that showed if it was night or day or somewhere in the middle.

I would sit on that seat and think I might soon be killed by someone, or be killed by my own hand. I would think how my body would never be presented to any official and that my mother, my friends back in Romania, would never know what had become of Anna ...

Despite such moments of obvious anguish Anna, however, was always able to muster the resolve to turn her mind once more to the possibility of escape. She never gave up hope of breaking free from her captors and her chance came when her tormentors moved her to Belfast where, ironically, she became friends with a well-known criminal who turned out to be her saviour.

During her time here, she was moved to different houses and flats all over the city.

One day she was brought to a property in the Cathedral Quarter where she was heartbroken to see five men there instead of one.

They made her strip, saw her body covered in bruises and asked that she put her clothes back on.

One of the men  referred to in her book as Andy  had been a well-known Belfast drug dealer and criminal who had set up the date with Anna because he wanted to find out information with a view to setting up his own brothel. But even this hardened criminal was shocked by both her physical and mental state, and offered to help her if she ever needed it.

When she got her chance she ran and made her way to Andy, the only person she knew in Ireland, and he gave her shelter.

Broken and terrified, she hid for some months before finally finding the courage to go to the police.

A fight ensued between Andys gang and Annas former pimps, and the latter moved to Sweden temporarily where they continued to traffic women.

While staying with Andy, Anna met Tom, a journalist working in Belfast who put her in contact with the PSNIs Human Trafficking team, who began working with the Metropolitan Police in London, with Europol and EuroJust, the Romanian police and, later, the Swedish police, where Annas main pimps were now plying their trade.

The lead pimps were later arrested and jailed in Sweden and then extradited to Northern Ireland where they were jailed again.

Annas information was vital to their arrest and the freeing of their slaves.

Disappointingly, their sentences were short and they served less than eight months in jail. They are believed to be living openly in Belfast.

Not only did Anna bravely work with police to secure their convictions and save other girls but she went on to help shape new policy on human trafficking in Northern Ireland.

She says: When I escaped there was no help for me. There was no medical help and I didnt even have papers to travel so I couldnt go anywhere. I was basically homeless and didnt know where to turn.

When I went to the police even they didnt know how to help me and they were traumatised by my story.

The PSNI put her in touch with a charity that dealt specifically with sexual abuse, but Anna says: They seemed confused about my case and I told them they didnt seem to understand what sex trafficking was. They said they had never dealt with such a thing before. I left that charity too feeling that I had traumatised them.

In 2012 an anti-human trafficking bill was put forward at Stormont which aimed to make life harder for sex traffickers  this sparked hope for Anna and she was determined to help. She says: I heard on the radio news about new sex trafficking policy and I felt that the politicians were making decisions and they hadnt been trafficked and didnt know what it was like. I felt that I had to talk to these people.

Along with her new journalist friend Tom, Anna met with Lord Maurice Morrow, who had proposed the bill and, later, with then First Minister Peter Robinson.

During the latter encounter, Mr Robinson told her that he had high hopes the bill would bring in changes that would make a real difference.

Anna writes: I told him I believed there was a lot of money in this business, that sex traffickers were making fortunes from selling womens bodies to men. And I said, knowing the business as I did, there would be a fight.

He said, But there is always a fight when you are doing something new.

Anna worked hard to get the human message across as, before then, the issue was not being taken seriously because it was not visible, she says. Internally, the proposed law was being referred to as Annas Law.

In 2014 Northern Ireland voted in support of a law change, the strongest anti-trafficking laws at that point making it illegal to buy sex.

Speaking as Annas book goes on sale, Lord Morrow said: Anna is a woman of immense fortitude. Her story broke my heart, absolutely stunned me. What is going on in this country, across the UK, in terms of human trafficking is horrifying. Anna proved to be an inspiration to me as I sought to bring the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act through the Northern Ireland Assembly.

While she also played a big part in securing the conviction of the couple who took her and tortured her, she cant help feeling disappointed that both men are now out walking the streets having served just a few months in prison.

She says: I honestly would not wish it on anyone. They got such little sentences but at least they were shut down.

It was a hard, hard journey and its been hard for everyone, my family and my friends. My mother didnt know what had happened to me and Ive fought very hard to get people to understand it.

I am now trying to learn to take things easy and learn to keep myself surrounded by good people.

Ive started to cry now. I couldnt cry before but now that I have good people who understand what Ive been through, it is helping me.

I still have an element of fear but Ive started to paint and that helps, and listening to music, anything to take my mind off it.

I am studying marketing online and volunteering with some charities.

I hope the book will first and foremost raise awareness and bring to the attention of people that this could happen to anyone in the modern day. It is not a story that happened 100 years ago but just a few years ago.

I also want justice for people and there are millions of people all over the world it is happening to and I want them to know that there is a way out.

Slave, by Anna with Jason Johnson, is published by , 7.99One day, towards the end of January 2012, Robert Lockhart walked into a gastropub in Shepherd's Bush, ordered the Sunday roast lunch and choked to death. No one in the pub had any idea that Lockhart, an accomplished pianist and composer - and for most of his adult life an alcoholic and heavy smoker, had undergone radical surgery for throat cancer 14 months earlier and was not physically capable of swallowing food.

He had a heart attack, was resuscitated by the ambulance crew, but later pronounced brain dead at Charing Cross Hospital and 'unplugged' the following day. But not before his fiancee, the writer Louisa Young, had stared into his "absolutely blue and absolutely empty eyes", put a wedding ring on her finger, said, "I do, darling, I do" and then one on his own finger.

Young (59), best known for her Costa Prize-shortlisted First World War novel, My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, has now written an extraordinarily candid bereavement memoir, You Left Early. It begins when she first met Lockhart when they were both 17 and chronicles her turbulent life with, and for long stretches without, him until his death at the age of 52.

"I spent the first year after he died crying all the time and being mad," she says. "What are you meant to do with all that grief and shock and massive pain? In the end, you have to do something with it and I'm a writer, so I wrote."

Famous in London's literary and musical circles for being, as Will Self put it in Lockhart's obituary, "a bon and latterly a mal vivant", Lockhart was charismatic, gifted, a great seducer of women and, as Young's memoir makes painfully clear, serially unfaithful.

A working-class musical prodigy from Wigan, he got a double first from Oxford at 19 and went on to be a successful musician for film, theatre and television, and concert pianist.

As much as it's an overwhelming love letter, Young's book is also a sobering reminder of the devastating effects of alcoholism, not just on an individual's life, but on everyone else around them. Worse than the awful physical toll, was the sheer relentlessness of the "bonkers merry-go-round", the cycles of drinking, remorse, rehab and relapse, which will strike a chord with anyone who has come close to it, and , as Young points out, that's a lot of us. "I want to make it clear that the addiction of alcoholism is not a racy lifestyle choice, it's an insidious and baffling condition that kills people."

She deplores what she calls the "it's prosecco o'clock" attitude that prevails in our culture: "Sometimes I think the whole country is in denial." The irony is that when he died, Lockhart had been sober for five years and was completely free of cancer. She was bound to wonder whether his death was a form of suicide, although concludes in the end that it wasn't.

She has dedicated the book to "everyone who has found themselves here", and hopes to encourage anyone living with an alcoholic to seek help sooner than she did. "It's my way of offering my experience and wisdom without tearing my own heart out every time I talk to somebody. I'd like to encourage other people to go to Al-Anon [a network for families and friends of alcoholics] even if they think it's a bit of a pain, if only to not be stuck in the darkness, thinking, 'Am I going mad?'"

Young will simultaneously release her debut album of the same title, a collection of melancholic, folksy songs, as "a lovely act of honouring Robert", which she produced with her daughter's boyfriend, Alex Mackenzie. "I think Robert would have howled with laughter and been very touched, but also think it was faintly ridiculous as his standards were so high."

Two-and-a-half years ago Young met the novelist Michel Faber at a literary festival and while listening to him read aloud poems he'd written in memory of his late wife, Eva, thought: "Oh my God, this man is deep in something with which I'm extremely familiar. They bonded, penning "his and hers grief memoirs", and have been a couple ever since.

After she finished the book, HarperCollins commissioned Young to write the non-fiction story She Deserves It. "I was more or less born on the line and everything important in my life has happened on one of the (London Underground) stops between Hammersmith and King's Cross," she says.

Given her upbringing, it would be easy to think Young has led a charmed life, and in a sense she has. Her father was the politician Lord Kennet; one of her sisters is the sculptor Emily Young. She grew up in the house where JM Barrie wrote Peter Pan and was educated at St Paul's, Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge. She moved to Shepherd's Bush, rode a Harley and found critical success early with her biography of her grandmother Kathleen Scott, widow of the Antarctic explorer Captain Scott.

She went on to write several novels and the Lionboy trilogy for children with her daughter, Isabel Adomakoh Young, under the pseudonym Zizou Corder. Still, as this book makes it clear, there is nothing remotely charmed about falling in love with an addict. Speaking at Lockhart's memorial, she said: "I never expect - nor indeed want - to meet anyone like him again."

You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol is published by Borough Press. You Left Early is released on vinyl, CD and iTunes; both on June 28Prime Minister Theresa May has described herself as a proud unionist'

The Prime Minister has said any deal with the EU over Brexit "must protect the union" between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Theresa May, writing in the Sunday Times, also said there could be no hard border in Ireland.

"As a proud unionist and prime minister of the whole United Kingdom I am clear that any deal with the EU must protect our precious Union and also honour the agreements that were reached in the historic Northern Irish peace process," she said.

"This means there can be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

"We will uphold the Belfast agreement in full - and we will ensure the constitutional and economic integrity of the whole United Kingdom."

Mrs May added that any agreement "must create as little friction as possible" for trade both within the UK and with Ireland.

Her comments came after Cabinet divisions broke into the open after proposals for a customs arrangement with the EU were branded "crazy" by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

"You can trust me to deliver. I will not let you down," Mrs May wrote.

The PM stressed the UK would be aligned with Brussels on some issues as there had to be "compromises" after withdrawal.

The PM said: "So, Brexit means that, while we may sometimes choose to take the same approach as the EU, our laws will be made in Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, with those laws tried by British judges."

Mrs May has divided the Cabinet into two groups to consider the customs options being looked into.

The customs arrangement with the EU that Mr Johnson opposes would see the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of Brussels.

An alternative option called maximum facilitation, known as "Max Fac", would rely on new technology and trusted trader schemes to get trade to flow smoothly with the EU after Brexit. However, Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir hit out at Mrs May's article, describing it as "devoid of detail and free of facts".

"Theresa May could have written the same article any time over the last 23 months," he said.

"The British Tory party's proposals for a red, white and blue Brexit disregard the vote of the majority of people in the north to remain in the European Union," he said.

"Two years after the referendum and six months away from the conclusion of negotiations Theresa May has no plan or agreed approach to the British Brexit problem."

Mr O Muilleoir said the solution to the Irish border problem was "clear".

"The British Government must respect the vote of the people of the north and provide for the north to remain within the EU single market and customs union," he said. "It must protect the Good Friday Agreement and retain access for citizens to the European Court of Justice and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union."The weekend saw a heated back and forth between London and Dublin over how the border on the island of Ireland will be dealt with post-Brexit.

On Sunday DUP MP Sammy Wilson accused Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney of being "belligerent" and a "Brit basher" in response to comments about the use of technology to solve issues around the border on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Coveney said any such solutions could put the Good Friday Agreement in jeaprody.

Mr Coveney said: "If you live in the island of Ireland, if you live in the border counties, if you talk to people about their memories of the past in the context of the border you will often end up talking to someone with tears in their eyes."

His comments came as Prime Minister Theresa May stated the importance of the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mrs May described herself as a "proud unionist" and said any deal with the European Union must "protect our precious Union and also honour the agreements that were reached in the historic Northern Irish peace process".

Cabinet discussions will take place this week on how future customs arrangements on the island of Ireland will be dealt with.

Speaking on Monday morning on BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, DUP MEP Diane Dodds called Mr Coveney's comments "an outrageous intervention in the affairs of the United Kingdom. something that Simon Conveney has a habit of doing in the last while".

Also speaking on the programme, Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir said there was "no evidence technology can solve this particular problem the British have created" and claims that it could were "magical realism".

We want to know what you think...Eight-year-old Daniel and Sean (6) with Belfast HSC Trust foster carer Veronica Davidson, the Trust fostering mascot and Nicola McCreedy of VOYPIC (Voice of Young People in Care) to celebrate the launch of Foster Care Fortnight 2018 which runs from May 24-27

Patricia and Colm Gray, from Draperstown, who were named Northern Ireland Foster Carers of the Year

An inspirational couple from Co Londonderry have been named Northern Ireland's Foster Carers of the Year.

Patricia and Colm Gray have been fostering for 11 years as well as running a busy sheep farm and raising four children of their own.

The big-hearted Draperstown family have helped to care for 37 people over the years, including toddlers, teenagers and mothers with babies.

The Fostering Network gave them the top accolade for 2018 at the Foster Carer of the Year awards held in the Hilton Hotel in Belfast.

Mrs Gray previously worked in adult care before leaving to look after her children. Later on, wanting to offer something extra during school hours, a social worker recommended she become a foster carer.

"Within five months I took in a newborn baby and the rest is history," she said.

"We have some that are with us for just a few days and the longest was two brothers who came for the weekend and stayed for over two years. You just take it as it comes.

Trust, she says, is the biggest hurdle for the children who come from many different backgrounds. "It's an alien environment. Even if their home was bad, that's what they knew.

"Over time the barriers do come down and they'll form attachments to me, Colm or the kids. We've been very lucky."

The family still keeps in regular contact with nearly all of their previous foster children.

"It's so sad when they leave, especially when you've had them from a baby," she said. "It's heartbreaking but at the same time it's so nice to see a new wee family starting. You see a couple's house become a home.

"The adoptive parents of one of the babies is actually building a house two fields away from us so we speak to them all the time, it's amazing."

There are currently 2,100 foster families in Northern Ireland, with a demand for 200 more this year.

Mrs Gray urged anyone thinking about becoming a foster parent to contact their nearest recruitment office straight away.

"There's no job better. We've had children coming in scared and who didn't know what vegetables were. One of them called broccoli curly grass, so we called it that too and before he left he was loving curly grass.

"The boy we have at the moment didn't have great reading, but now he's sitting right at the top of the class.

"But for me, it's not those achievements, it's the fact he can just slob out on the sofa. He sings in the shower too and I think it's the best sound in the world. When he first came to us he didn't want to be seen or talked to. Hearing them giggling is just amazing, when you think of the difference you can make.

"When you see them leave they're different people in a good way. That's not always the case with foster-caring but we have been very lucky," she said.

Unusually, the couple received three nominations from a fellow foster carer and two social workers who praised their ability to bring out the best in children.

Social worker Laura Cummings said: "Patricia has an innate insight into reading children, recognising when something is wrong; and she can adapt her responses to the child based on how they are feeling on that day."

Another social worker added: "The couple provide a warm, caring and loving home which enables children and young people to thrive and develop."

Kathleen Toner, director of The Fostering Network in Northern Ireland, said of the Grays: "Their commitment and determination to support children in foster care is inspirational."

Visit www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/couldyoufoster to find out more.Police and HMRC carry out a search at the Hatfield Bar on the Ormeau Road on May 14th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

A popular south Belfast bar was the focus of a joint raid on Monday morning by both PSNI and customs officers.

Four PSNI landrovers, a police van and three cars believed to be from Her Majestys Customs and Revenue (HMRC) arrived at the Hatfield House on the lower Ormeau Road shortly before 12 noon.

A PSNI spokeswoman said the search related to licensing.

Police carried out a search under the Licensing Order (NI), she said.

HMRC has not commented on the incident so far.A Belfast man allegedly threatened to "annihilate" his ex-partner and burn her family "to the ground", a court heard today.

Jordon Potts is also accused of forcing open a front door at her home, breaking a bed and cutting internet cables.

The 27-year-old, currently of no fixed abode, was granted bail but banned from entering Woodvale Street where the woman lives.

Potts appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with threats to kill and three counts of criminal damage.

The alleged offences were committed during incidents between May 8-13.

Opposing his release, a police office said the woman arrived home to discover her front door forced open and internet leads cut.

Up to 300 worth of damage to a bed was allegedly caused during one of the incidents, the court heard.

"He made threats that he would annihilate her," the officer claimed.

"He also threatened to burn her to the ground - her, her family, her kids and everyone that belongs to her."

Defence solicitor Shane O'Neill said Potts had lived at the house before his relationship with the woman ended.

He stressed how the charges against his client do not involve any claims of violence.

"He denies the allegations and says its a case of sour grapes," Mr O'Neill added.

With potential accommodation at a relative's house available, District Judge Nigel Broderick agreed to grant bail on conditions.

Ordering Potts to keep out of Woodvale Street, he also imposed a curfew, electronic tagging and an alcohol ban.

The accused is due to appear back in court in a week's time.The mother of a teenage boy injured in an horrific hit-and-run in north Belfast early yesterday morning has said her son could have been killed in the terrifying incident.

Theresa Marley's 17-year-old son Eamonn was badly injured after being knocked down by the grey Vauxhall Zafira in the Oldpark Road and Ardoyne Avenue area during the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mrs Marley shared shocking footage of the incident captured on video, moments before the teenager was hit.

It shows the car being driven erratically at a group of youths, some of whom were forced to jump over railings to escape.

Mrs Marley also posted graphic images of the injuries her son sustained.

Last night, Eamonn's brother Sean spoke to the Belfast Telegraph on behalf of his traumatised mother.

"Our family has been left extremely shaken by this incident, especially my son Eamonn, who is in a lot of discomfort and pain.

"I would like to thank everyone for all their well wishes.

"However, mentally he has been left with a much deeper scar.

"The individual involved should take responsibility for their despicable action which could have left my son dead, by using their car as a weapon. These death drivers need to stop."

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Sean said that his brother Eamonn had been walking past the Glenpark Inn when the incident happened out of the blue.

Eamonn was treated for his injuries in hospital, and is now recovering at home.

He is to return to hospital for further treatment today, Sean said.

The smartphone video shows the grey Zafira being driven dangerously in the area shortly before colliding with the teenager at about 1.20am at Oldpark Square.

The car was later found burned out in the Cliftonville Road area at around 4.15am.

Police investigating the incident have arrested a 30-year-old woman on suspicion of arson, as well as a number of driving-related offences.

She is currently in custody, helping police with their inquiries.

The PSNI's Sergeant Greg Dawson said: "We would appeal to anyone who saw this car being driven erratically, witnessed the hit-and-run incident or has mobile phone or dashcam footage of either to get in touch with police on the non-emergency number 101."

North Belfast DUP MLA William Humphrey said he could empathise with the young man's family.

His own mother was injured by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run incident on the Woodvale Road in 1981.

She was left unconscious with a broken arm, leg and pelvis and was in a coma for a number of days.

Mr Humphrey told the Belfast Telegraph: "I'm very sorry to hear this news and my thoughts are with the young man and his family.

"From my own personal experience, I know what that's like after my mother was left seriously ill after a hit-and-run.

"I know what they are going through and hope that the young fellow makes a full and speedy recovery."

SDLP councillor Paul McCusker called for urgent action from the police: "This culture of death driving must end.

"While I know efforts have been made by the PSNI, what is clear is they need stepped up.

"The police must now act urgently to stop these death drivers and keep our community safe once and for all."

Sinn Fein councillor Ryan Murphy said that those responsble for the incident "have shown no regard for anyone".

He added: "There has been an increase in car crime over recent weeks in north Belfast.

"We are working with the police and other statutory agencies to tackle this scourge.

"I would appeal to anyone with information on last night's incident to bring it to the PSNI immediately."The body of a Northern Ireland man who died after an attack in Spain is due to arrive in Belfast this morning.

Father-of-four Aaron Henderson (30), from Coleraine, passed away in hospital on May 1 after he was allegedly assaulted by an English bar manager in Magaluf in the early hours of April 27.

Paul Waugh (35) from Middlesbrough was charged with Mr Henderson's murder on Saturday and a 37-year-old Spanish bar manager has also been charged with withholding information.

The Spanish Civil Guard arrested Waugh at Mulligan's bar on the Punta Ballena strip of Magaluf.

It's reported that around 10 British bar and PR workers from Mulligan's and surrounding bars have been quizzed as potential witnesses.

"We just can't wait to get him home, it's been two weeks since we got the call and flew out to Spain," Aaron's father, Paul Henderson, said.

"The police have been very good in Spain, they've been unbelievable to us from day one. I can't thank them enough for everything they've done."

He thanked the community in Coleraine for their constant support for the family.

"His youngest children are three and four so they don't understand, but you can only imagine how his 12 and 13-year-old feel right now," he said.

It's understood the Civil Guard have spoken to a witness who saw Mr Henderson pushed to the ground and kicked in the head.

They said: "After interviewing several people who said they had witnessed the incident, carrying out other inquiries and receiving the results of the autopsy, they determined it could be a homicide and not an accident.

"Investigators managed to identify the possible author as a result of the inquiries and arrested him at the bar in Magaluf where he works as a manager.

"The Civil Guard arrested another man who also works as a manager at the same premises on suspicion of concealment."

The Sun newspaper said a former worker at Mulligan's bar had been shocked over Waugh's arrest.

"He is not the sort to go looking for trouble so everyone is a bit puzzled as to what has gone on," they said.

It's understood he had been working in Majorca for around 15 years and has a seven-year-old son.

The funeral service will take place at 2pm on Wednesday at Cloyfin Park, Coleraine, before proceeding to Coleraine Cemetery.Chief Constable George Hamilton has said people died as a result of bad policing during the Troubles.

Chief Constable George Hamilton has said people died as a result of bad policing during the Troubles.

He made the comments at an event focused on legacy issues in Northern Ireland, addressing an audience at Queen's University.

Covering topics which ranged from the usefulness of the term 'collusion', ongoing changes to policing, and past failures in policing, Mr Hamilton said numerous recent reviews of policing issues told us "policing in the past was not always as it should have been".

"The problem was much bigger and more complex than the 'few bad apples' analogy that has been articulated previously," Mr Hamilton said.

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"In the absence of any regulatory framework for managing 'agents' police officers were left to set their own standards, they were unaccountable to the law because there was no law.

"They were unaccountable to their fellow citizens. Policing was being done in a vacuum that allowed unregulated practice. Honest individuals were placed in impossible situations, having to choose between bad and worse.

"Many people lived; but some people also died as a result of that practice."

"There should be no hiding place for anyone who broke the law or acted with criminal intent  be they police officer or paramilitary," Mr Hamilton added.

"A significant difference between investigating police actions in the past and investigating paramilitaries in the past  is that the police kept records.

"They were different times and the record keeping was not to the standards that it is today, but I have ensured that the Ombudsman has unfettered access to the millions of pieces of information the Police Service holds."

Mr Hamilton, who joined the RUC in 1985, hit out at media coverage of legacy policing issues, saying the "hunt for media headlines and the necessary editing to fit programme time slots can mean that this complex issue is dealt with insensitively or indeed inaccurately".

"For some people, anything other than an outright acceptance of the assertion of collusion is immediately viewed, not only as defensive but clear evidence that I am either naive or continuing to act as part of a state cover-up for the wrongs of the past," he said.

Chief Constable Hamilton said the term 'collusion', which "has no agreed definition", is "damaging policing; not just policing in the past but policing in the present day. And if we are not careful, it will damage policing in the future".

Mr Hamilton welcomed the publication of the consultation on addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland's past, which was published at the end of last week.

In his conclusion he added: "Further progress on dealing with the past will require political leadership and financial investment. I hope that we will see both materialise in the near future.

"The politicians must take responsibility for making progress, but they cannot do it by themselves. Its up to us - the people on this stage; the people in this room; and the many individuals and families who still hurt to this day  to help them find a way through."

In recent days focus has returned to the investigation of historical killings in Northern Ireland, with Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this month calling the current system for historical investigation "patently unfair" in the House of Commons.

Last week it was unveiled that a four-month public consultation would take place to source the public's views on a series of new mechanisms to investigate, document and uncover the truth around killings during the 30-year conflict.

Under the proposals, the HIU would deal with 1,700 deaths in just five years.

There are reported divides within the Government over the creation of a Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) - agreed under the 2014 Stormont house agreement - with resistance over the prosecution of veteran ex-soldiers.

Monday's event at Queen's was held by the Victims & Dealing with the Past project, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.

Also speaking at the event were Dr Michael Maguire, Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman, and former Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory.A controversial church regarded by some as a cult is coming to Belfast, after receiving planning permission from the council for a place of worship in the city.

The Universal Church of God (UCKG), which is banned in several countries, will be establishing itself in Equality House in the Donegall Pass area.

Founded in Brazil in 1977 by self-styled Bishop Edir Macedo, the UCKG has around 12 million members in 200 countries.

Over the years, however, it has also been involved in several controversies.

The church places a strong emphasis on money and employs tithing, a practice whereby members of their congregation donate a fraction of their income to the church.

The tithe is 10% of all income, and it belongs to God. This is a very ancient practice followed by God-fearing people everywhere, according to the UCKG website.

This has led to accusations of charlatanism against the church and, according to Forbes magazine, has also made Bishop Edir Macedo a billionaire.

The UCKG was previously banned in Zambia by the government after allegations that it was involved in satanic rituals.

In 1997 the Advertising Standards Authority banned a church poster that claimed:

Constant headaches, depression, insomnia, fears, bad luck, strange diseases These are just a few symptoms caused by demons.

In 2009 another poster was banned for claiming blessed oil could cure heart problems.

The UCKG has several HelpCentres in England, where it is registered as a charity with an annual income of 15m, and a small presence in the Republic of Ireland, however it has no permanent base in Northern Ireland.

It isnt just financial or advertising standards issues the UCKG has found itself in hot water over.

Almost two decades ago, the church fell into controversy after the death of 8-year-old Victoria Climbie in London, in what is still regarded as one of the UKs worst abuse cases.

Victoria was taken to a UCKG centre in February 2000 for an exorcism by her great-aunt, Marie Therese Kouao.

Kouao was found guilty of her murder in January 2001. The church was later cleared of any wrongdoing, however the Charity Commission recommended the UCKG implement child protection policies in the future.

In December 2017, Portugals Attorney Generals Office opened an inquiry into the alleged illegal adoption of babies arranged by a centre run by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

A seven-month inquiry by a Portuguese TV station alleged that at least ten Portuguese children were stolen from their biological mothers in the 1990s from a UCKG reception centre in Lisbon.

Allegedly, the babies were taken from Portugal and adopted by couples based overseas.

The Attorney General's Office has stated that "there is an investigation related to this matter, and it has been referred to the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of Lisbon for investigation." The inquiry is ongoing.

Denying these allegations, the church says any such claims are the result of a defamatory campaign of lies.The head of Northern Ireland's civil service is examining a court judgment that questioned the ability of officials to make major policy decisions in the absence of devolution.

The outcome of Monday's ruling in Belfast High Court, when a judge blocked a decision by a senior civil servant to approve a huge waste incinerator plant, could have major ramifications for how Northern Ireland's rudderless public services are run amid the ongoing powersharing impasse.

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Senior civil servants have been taking the majority of decisions within departments since Stormont collapsed 16 months.

While the UK government has stepped in on occasion to make significant cross-governmental decisions, such as setting a budget and enabling the collecting of rates, the civil service has effectively been in charge, as Stormont exists in a limbo land between devolution and direct rule.

However, Mrs Justice Keegan, presiding in a judicial review case, found that Peter May, the permanent secretary of the Department for Infrastructure, did not have the power to approve the planning application for the 240 million incinerator facility on the old Hightown quarry site near Newtownabbey.

She said such a decision should have been made by elected ministers.

David Sterling, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the man running Stormont amid the impasse, is now assessing the impact of the judgment.

A spokesman for Mr Sterling and The Executive Office said: "We are considering today's judgment."

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said Secretary of State Karen Bradley was also considering the decision.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald denied the judgment hastened the introduction of direct rule.

"No, I think direct rule would be disastrous for good government here in the north of Ireland," she said.

"I think whatever the differences between parties I think there is a recognition that the best answer is for local decisions that affect people's lives to be taken locally.

"Undoubtedly today's decision highlights yet again the absolute necessity to restore powersharing and for these institutions to work and these institutions can only work on the basis of real powersharing."

DUP MP Paul Girvan said: "This ruling has major implications for decision making in Northern Ireland.

"It shows that the lack of ministerial direction is unsustainable if we are to have significant decisions taken that affect the lives of people in Northern Ireland.

"The Government must move to put arrangements in place so that ministerial decisions can be properly taken.

"Sinn Fein has collapsed devolved government but Her Majesty's Government cannot allow Northern Ireland to grind to a complete halt. The people should not be punished because of Sinn Fein's narrow political agenda."

SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon said a question mark was now placed on other decisions that had been taken in the powersharing impasse.

"What has happened today is the courts have called time on the political drift in this place," she said.

"It has called into question significant decisions that have been taken by the civil service in the absence of an Assembly and we have requested an urgent meeting with the head of the civil service to understand the governance arrangements of this place."A leading doctor in Northern Ireland is today calling for an overhaul of the treatment of terminally ill patients.

Sean McGovern said it is time for people to face up to the reality of death, which he said will better allow doctors to meet their wishes when it comes to end of life care.

Dr McGovern, who is the former vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland, wants a formal 'end of life' strategy put in place for people living with a range of chronic life-limiting conditions, including dementia and COPD.

"Health care has been a success and as a result, people are living longer and better quality lives," he said.

"However, as a result we are also seeing more people develop age-related chronic life-limiting conditions and we need to react to that to ensure that patients are getting the best and most appropriate care in the final weeks and days of their lives.

"This is not about withdrawing treatment, this is about providing better end of life care and that may not involve jumping up and down on a patient's chest if they go into cardiac arrest."

Dr McGovern, who runs the A&E unit at the Ulster Hospital, said an end of life strategy is also necessary because of constant advances in technology, meaning clinicians are able to provide interventions that were not previously available.

"Just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should," he continued.

"Must patients get every last thing going to keep them alive, even if it means they have a very poor quality of life?

"The question we need to ask is whether we throw everything we have at someone when it may be their wish to die naturally.

"It's about making sure we respect the wishes of someone who is at a very advanced stage of a life-limiting illness.

"If they want everything then fine, but we may find the answer is different if we take the time to ask the question. We need to give the autonomy to choose.

"For example, I had a patient in her 80s and I asked her what she wanted and it was to go home to her dog and not be admitted to hospital."

Dr McGovern said patients and their families must also be realistic about the outcome of particular diseases.

"It has to be recognised that despite throwing everything at patients, people do die," he said.

"Death is a reality, yet for some people it seems to come as a surprise, so it's almost a surprise to some people that a patient who is 95 years-old and is bed bound and at the end stages of a very debilitating condition, that they do not survive."

Dr McGovern said that while the patient pathway for terminally ill cancer patients typically deals well with the issue of end of life care, he would also like to see improvements for other conditions, including dementia and COPD.

"There has been inadequate attention given to end of life strategies and that is something that needs to be addressed," he said.

"We need a debate that is about improving end of life care and we need an end of life strategy that puts patients first and talks honestly about quality of life care and the value of interventions."

Dr McGovern's comments have been made to coincide with Dying Matters Awareness Week, which begins today.

Dying Matters is a coalition of individual and organisational members which aims to help people talk more openly about dying, death and bereavement, and to make plans for the end of life.

Health service officials are looking at ways of improving end of life care in Northern Ireland, including a research project to develop a care plan that will allow people with dementia to remain at home for as long as possible.Approving a new 240m waste incinerator on the outskirts of north Belfast without a minister being in post was unlawful, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mrs Justice Keegan backed claims that a senior civil servant did not have legal power to give the green light for the major waste disposal facility at Hightown Quarry in Mallusk following the collapse of devolution.

She said: "I do not consider that Parliament can have intended that such decision making would continue in Northern Ireland in the absence of ministers without the protection of democratic accountability."

The verdict represents victory for campaigners opposed to the controversial incinerator project.

In 2015 the scheme had been turned down by the then Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan.

But a consortium behind the project on behalf of six local councils, Arc21, was given permission after the Planning Appeals Commission recommended approval.

In September last year the Department for Infrastructure said it was in the public interest for the waste management system to be built, describing it as being of strategic importance for the region.

The decision came months after the Stormont Executive collapsed in January 2017.

Up to 4,000 letters objecting to the incinerator were lodged, with residents listing concerns about the visual impact, light and noise pollution and health implications.

Judicial review proceedings were issued by Colin Buick, chairperson of community group NoArc21.

His barrister argued that senior officials had no legal power to approve the incinerator.

The department's decision to grant planning permission lacked the direction and control of a minister required under legislation, it was contended.

Mrs Justice Keegan was told that alone was enough to "sound the death knell" for allowing the development.

Counsel for Mr Buick also claimed civil servants are in "disarray" over the extent of their powers in the absence of ministers at Stormont.

Ruling on the challenge, Mrs Justice Keegan said the case advanced by the Department "would mean civil servants in Northern Ireland could effectively take major policy decisions such as this one for an indefinite period".

She stressed there is currently a protracted vacuum pending either the restoration of executive and legislative institutions or direct rule in Northern Ireland.

The judge acknowledged arguments about how the delay in determining the Arc21 planning application was impacting on public waste and environmental development at national, European and international level.

The entire programme for government is on hold while the political impasse continues, she pointed out.

"However, I do not consider that the exigencies of the current situation are an adequate justification for the course that has been taken," Mrs Justice Keegan added.

She confirmed: "I have decided that the decision is unlawful on the vires ground."

Further decisions on the appropriate remedy and costs of the case will be taken at a later date.

Outside court a spokesman for Arc21 said it was disappointed with the ruling.

He added: "We will take time to consider the judgement in detail and consult with our stakeholders.

Becon Consortium, the waste management experts involved in the incinerator, described the ruling as a frustrating setback but insisted they remain fully committed to delivering the facility.

In a statement they said it was one of the most regionally significant and strategically important infrastructure projects currently required in Northern Ireland.

"We note that the decision not to uphold this decision does not change the material facts at the heart of the planning decision, the project's compliance with regional waste policy or indeed remove the strategic need for such infrastructure here in Northern Ireland in the future," the statement added.

"Instead, the judge's decision is entirely based on procedural matters in relation to the ability of the Department to make a decision in the absence of a minister in post."A High Court ruling civil servants acted above their station in granting approval for a major incinerator project on the outskirts of Belfast underscores the need for direct rule, TUV leader Jim Allister has said.

The DUP said the ruling had "major implications" for decision making in Northern Ireland and reiterated its call for direct rule to be introduced.

On Monday campaigners celebrated as a high court judge ruled a decision to grant planning approval for the incinerator in a disused quarry at Hightown in Mallusk was "unlawful".

Mrs Justice Keegan backed claims a senior civil servant did not have legal power to approve the 240m waste disposal facility. She ruled the collapse of Stormont was not "adequate justification".

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The scheme had originally been turned down by the then Environment Minister Mark H Durkan. However, the Department for Infrastructure said it was in the public interest for the build to go ahead and approved planning in September last year after a ruling by the Planning Appeals Commission.

One for the factors in PAC decision was that the department, then headed by Sinn Fein's Chris Hazzard, adopted a "neutral" position on the matter.

That decision came after the collapse of Stormont in January 2017. Since then there has been ongoing confusion over the level of powers the civil service has and what decisions it can and can not make.

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NoARC21 - the group of local residents campaigning against the incinerator project welcomed the verdict. They crowd funded their judicial review.

"This has been a community-based campaign run on a shoe-string budget by ordinary local people," said chairman Colin Buick.

"We successfully argued that in the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive minister or replacement NIO direct rule minister the permanent secretary did not have the lawful authority to issue the planning approval."

The group argues that given other facilities and and the construction of another incinerator in Belfast there is no need for the Hightown operation. They also say the infrastructure around the proposed location is inadequate for the increase in heavy goods traffic.

Mr Buick added: "Today's judgement is a wake up call to the Department of Infrastructure. Now is the opportune time for the department to take stock and completely review its waste management strategy. There needs to be a rigorous assessment of what facilities are needed going forward - especially if they are paid for out of ratepayers' pockets."

There are big questions for how things function here. Mark H Durkan

ARC21, a consortium of local councils behind the project said it was disappointed with the decision.

Becon Consortium the waste management experts involved in the project said their arguments on the need for the site still stood and the judge's decision was on procedural matters.

"We believe [it] is one of the most regionally significant and strategically important infrastructure projects currently required here in Northern Ireland," a spokesman added.

The Department for Infrastructure said it would consider the judgement.

TUV leader Jim Allister said Monday's high court ruling signalled the need for the restoration of government in Northern Ireland.

"Government can come from only one of two places  Stormont or Westminster. Stormont is clearly inoperable. That being so there is an onus on Westminster to get on with the job," he said.

"A primary responsibility of government is to govern. Todays decision by the High Court illustrates why the Secretary of State must cease shirking her responsibilities.

"Mrs Bradley has dragged her feet too long on establishing Direct Rule. Her failure to give us government is driven by two equally disreputable motives: a craven desire to pander to those who want Northern Ireland to be ungovernable, Sinn Fein, and a clumsy attempt to use the vacuum to force a return to the failed system of mandatory coalition.

It is time to stop playing games and give us government. "

South Antrim DUP MP Paul Girvan added: "This ruling has major implications for decision making in Northern Ireland. It shows that the lack of ministerial direction is unsustainable if we are to have significant decisions taken that affect the lives of people in Northern Ireland.

"The Government must move to put arrangements in place so that ministerial decisions can be properly taken. Sinn Fein has collapsed devolved government but Her Majestys Government cannot allow Northern Ireland to grind to a complete halt. The people should not be punished because of Sinn Feins narrow political agenda.

Former minister, Mark H Durkan MLA who originally refused the application said he was delighted with the judgement.

"There are big questions for how things function here - both the British Government and the Irish Government should heed this judgement carefully as it underscores the urgency for restoration of local, accountable governance.

"The judgement calls into question the validity of any decisions made in the absence of an Assembly. Time is up on political drift - both the British and Irish Governments must now immediately convene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference to clear the decks and get Stormont back to work."

The Northern Ireland Office has been asked for a comment.A man allegedly carried out a violent attack at Belfast Zoo before filming the blood-covered victim, a court heard on Monday.

Piaras Heatley is accused breaking the other man's nose and stealing his wallet containing 130 after they had met up at the popular visitor attraction.

The 22-year-old defendant, of Collinward Avenue in Newtownabbey, is charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm, theft, criminal damage and threats to kill.

Heatley also faces counts of intimidating a witness amid claims he approached the victim on a bus in a bid to get him to drop the complaint.

Bail was refused as he appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court for the first time.

A judge was told the injured party knew Heatley and had agreed to a meeting at Belfast Zoo on May 19 last year.

He claimed when they met the accused knocked him to the ground and then continued to punch him about the face.

A police officer said: "During the assault the victim recalls that Heatley took pictures or videos on a phone."

It was alleged that before the defendant left he warned the man would be stabbed if he went to the police.

Passers-by found him and took him to hospital, where it was confirmed that he had sustained nasal fractures and facial bruising.

He had to return for further medical treatment after suffering a seizure the following day, the court heard.

A mobile phone was seized when police arrested Heatley at his home, according to the officer.

She added: "It has been examined and has a video of the victim on the ground covered in blood."

Heatley was originally released on police bail pending further investigations.

But according to police he has since tried to intimidate the victim, threatening to get him "done" and telling him "everything will be sweet" if he drops the charges.

Defence solicitor Pearse MacDermott confirmed Heatley denies all the allegations against him.

Refusing bail, however, District Judge Nigel Broderick cited the risk of witness interference.

He remanded Heatley in custody to appear again by video-link on June 11.Members of a crime gang operating in Belfast have allegedly fled to Europe.

Members of an organised crime gang dealing heroin in Belfast have fled across Europe, a court heard today.

As a Lithuanian man appeared in the dock accused of dealing near the city's gasworks area, police claimed other suspects left Northern Ireland once they were granted bail.

Erikas Zizmantis, 26, faces two counts of supplying Class A drugs and a further charge of being concerned in the supply of heroin.

The alleged offences were committed between November 30, 2017 and May 12 this year.

Belfast Magistrates' Court was told he has made full admissions to all of the charges.

Opposing his release, a detective said police have been investigating an organised crime gang involved in supplying heroin in Belfast since 2015.

As part of that probe Zizmantis was allegedly observed carrying out transactions with members of the public at the Lagan towpath on December 3 last year.

Wraps of heroin were seized from people stopped after encounters with him, it was claimed.

Zizmantis, with an address at Shore Road in the city, was arrested on Saturday.

He initially denied involvement before admitting to being a member of the gang, the court heard.

The detective added: "There are other members of this organised crime gang with connections to various European countries who have fled the jurisdiction after being arrested here and granted bail.

A defence lawyer argued that Zizmantis has been candid about his role and should be released from custody.

But denying his application, District Judge Nigel Broderick held there were risks he could re-offend or fail to turn up for trial.Flowers dedicated to The Poor of Derry are the only indication of the paupers graves in the City Cemetery

Five mass graves where hundreds of Londonderry's paupers are buried and mostly forgotten could soon have a permanent memorial recognising their final resting place.

The large mounds in the council-owned Derry City Cemetery are easily overlooked by visitors, who could be forgiven for thinking they are just areas of greenery.

Many people taking the History from Headstones tour of the cemetery find the paupers' graves very poignant, according to Seamus Breslin who runs the tours.

"So many people are shocked when they find out these five green areas are actually pauper's graves - three for the Catholic community and two for the Protestant community," he said.

"You can see the expression on their faces change when they ponder the many people buried there in unmarked graves forgotten.

"The cemetery has so many stories to tell but this is surely one of the most poignant because any family from Derry - whether Catholic or Protestant - could have a relative buried in one of these plots and not know about it.

"Bishop Donal McKeown is going to dedicate a special prayer during the Blessings of the Graves next month for the people whose final resting place is in these plots but it would be lovely to have a marker making people aware of them."

The incoming Mayor of Derry and Strabane, SDLP councillor John Boyle, said he intends to raise the matter with the council.

Mr Boyle said: "I think it would be very appropriate for the council to explore how the paupers' graves could be marked so that people would be aware that there are hundreds of people buried there in unmarked graves.

"It is a sad fact of our history that so many people suffered and died and did not have the means for a grave and now there is no marker to say that they were ever here."

First Derry Presbyterian minister David Latimer said it would be fitting to have a marker for those who died and were forgotten.

He said: "I would be very much in favour of some kind of recognition being given to those whose final resting place is in these graves.

"We are all part of the human family and therefore deserve not to be forgotten even in death as these unfortunate people have been.

"If they weren't recognised in life, wouldn't it be lovely to do something to recognise them in death."

Last month, Jeanette Warke, whose group Women Into Irish History visited the cemetery recently, told the Belfast Telegraph they intend to raise funds in order to have the graves marked.

Other groups in Londonderry have also expressed an interest in ensuring those buried in the graves are not forgotten.Auditors are to review staff travel at all Northern Ireland's health trusts after one organisation took 61 officials to a conference in the Netherlands which featured US transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner.

The Department of Health ordered the widescale review across the entire health and social care system to ensure all travel was justified and in line with a 2016 directive that it would be above public criticism.

It comes after the Belfast Trust was told to explain its sending of staff to the three-day International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Amsterdam. Around 100 health workers from across Northern Ireland travelled to the conference.

The Belfast Trust - the largest in Northern Ireland - sent 61.

It cost the trust 85,000 in flights, accommodation and tickets to the conference - which themselves cost between 1,000 and 1,300. The trust said "cost effective" tickets were booked in every case.

Caitlyn Jenner, previously known as Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner and star of MTV'S Keeping Up with the Kardashians, was due to speak on issues of transgender medicine.

The Belfast Trust said staff from across its departments travelled and their attendance would "equip staff with skills, ideas and contacts to make improvements to services".

"It will offer staff a tremendous amount of education, learning and ideas which may be adopted in Belfast to improve how we deliver services," the trust said in its defence.

It's thought the South Eastern Health Trust sent 17 people, the Western Trust 14 staff, the Northern Trust sent nine, and the Southern Trust three.

The day before staff were to depart the Department of Health contacted all health trusts asking if the trip was "effective and proportionate" in line with a 2016 directive.

That emphasised that all travel must "be fully justified in terms of making an important contribution to the business needs of the organisation; represent value for money; and not give grounds for public criticism".

Following each health trust's response the department has ordered a review into all medical staff travel.The Department of Health is under pressure to provide support to former patients of neurologist Dr Michael Watt who don't appear on the recall list.

It comes after Belfast Trust officials announced a recall of more than 2,500 patients treated by the consultant - the biggest ever of its kind in Northern Ireland.

The controversy surrounding the senior medic has raised concerns for other former patients who have not been recalled by the Trust.

SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon has called for the Belfast Trust and Department of Health to do more to support and care for the "distressed patients".

The North Belfast MLA said: "The priority, rightly, is ensuring that all those on Dr Watt's current patient list are recalled to ensure they have the correct diagnosis, are on the correct medication and correct care plan.

"There is, however, a large group of very distressed people, who were under the care of Dr Watt and have not been recalled, but are terrified that they were wrongly diagnosed and wrongly prescribed for years.

"These patients don't know where to turn to for help. They need reassurance. They need support.

"The pathways for these patients need to be clearly set out and set out quickly.

"These patients are in the dark.

"Everything they thought they knew about their illness and their management of their health has been thrown into doubt.

"Their trust and confidence has been shattered. The Belfast Trust and the Department for Health needs to quickly and clearly set out what help they are providing to these patients."

The Belfast Trust is holding special clinics over the coming weeks to see thousands of patients.

Some are thought to be as young as 14.

Ms Mallon said that patients caught up in the scandal should be reviewed "by the right consultant with the right expertise".

She added: "If this is going to take longer than the 12 weeks set out by the Belfast Trust, we need an honest conversation about that.

"This process must be dictated by what is in the best interests of the patient. Nothing else".

Dr Watt also worked in the private sector and had patients in Hillsborough and the Ulster Independent Clinic.

It emerged last week that the Belfast Trust is still searching for 300 NHS patients.

The Department of Health said: "If patients have concerns they should contact the patient advice helpline."

The advice line is 0800 980 1100.Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 14th May 2018 The scene on the Springfield Road in west Belfast were a security alert is underway. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 14th May 2018 The scene on the Springfield Road in west Belfast were a security alert is underway. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

The Springfield Road in west Belfast has been closed in both directions between Dunboyne Park and the West Circular Road roundabout following the discovery of a suspicious object in the area.

The Springfield Road, in west Belfast, closed in both directions between Dunboyne Park and the West Circular Road roundabout following the discovery of a suspicious object in the area.

The scene on the Springfield Road in west Belfast during a security alert. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

The scene on the Springfield Road in west Belfast were a security alert is underway. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

A security alert at an Orange Hall in west Belfast has been declared a hoax by police.

The Army bomb disposal team examined the object and determined it was not viable.

The Springfield Road has re-opened and residents have now returned to their homes.

The object was found in the grounds of Whiterock Orange Hall on Monday, former Belfast Lord Mayor Brian Kingston said.

Suspicious device found in grounds of Whiterock Orange Hall, at 12noon today. Springfield Road closed between West Circular Rd & Springmartin Rd. Army bomb disposal officers at scene. Farset International open and available for residents evacuated from Dunboyne Pk & Highcairn Dr.  Brian Kingston (@BrianKingston) May 14, 2018

The County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast condemned those responsible for planting the device.

County Master Spencer Beattie accused the perpetrators of attempting to intimidate the local lodge and heighten tensions in the run up to the July period.

Lodge members feel extremely hurt to be targeted in such a malicious fashion. They have been through all of this before with the hall being attacked on several previous occasions. We hoped such terror attacks were wedded to the past. Regrettably, it would seem there remains a minority intent on causing fear and division, Mr Beattie said.

This attack while aimed at the Orange Institution, caused inconvenience and posed a danger to all communities. I would urge members of the public, who witnessed anything suspicious, to contact police immediately.

PSNI Inpsector Wise appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

"Firstly, I want to thank the local community and, in particular, the people who had to leave their homes while we worked to make the scene safe," he said.

"I understand the frustration of the community and the disruption this has caused, but we are committed to keeping people safe - that is of paramount importance to us.

"I can see how the reckless actions of a very small minority of people who clearly don't care about the community have disrupted everyday life.

"Therefore I am appealing for anyone who can help identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice to contact us.

Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to contact police at Tennent Street on 101 quoting reference number 577 14/05/18.

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.Sinn Fein Leader Mary-Lou McDonald has accused the DUP of betraying the public by "pursuing a Tory-led Brexit at any cost".

Speaking at Stormont on Monday, she criticised the playground rhetoric of the DUP after MP Sammy Wilson accused the Irish Government of Brit-bashing.

Read More

Mr Wilson accused Irish deputy premier Simon Coveney of "belligerent Brit bashing" for advocating an EU/UK customs partnership post-Brexit.

His comments came after Simon Coveney dismissed the idea of using technology as a solution to the Irish border problem post-Brexit on the BBCs Andrew Marr programme.

He claimed it would put the Good Friday Agreement at risk and that a seamless border was the only answer.

Mrs McDonald said the DUP had been "playing games" and stalling for time and insisted a firm resolution to the border problem had to be struck ahead of June's European Council summit.

The DUP are on the wrong side of the Brexit argument and every time they argue for it, they actually betray the best interests of everybody who lives in the north of Ireland, whether nationalist or unionist," she said.

They have been found out and are now hiding behind that type of bluster.

The more serious issue is the fact that almost two years on from the EU referendum, we still await any sense of a plan or an answer from the British Government in respect of the Irish question."

The Sinn Fein President says there will be no agreement until a solution to the Irish border question is found.

Expand Close The DUP's Sammy Wilson hit out at Simon Coveney's remarks (Liam McBurney/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The DUP's Sammy Wilson hit out at Simon Coveney's remarks (Liam McBurney/PA)

This is despite the fact that it has been made very clear to Theresa May and her government that there will be no agreement until we have a solution that ensures there is no hardening of the border in Ireland. A solution that ensures there will be no disruption to commerce and industry, the provision of services and the rights of citizens in the north of Ireland," Ms McDonald said.

But still the Tory government plays games, they propose fantastical non-starters that they claim are solutions related to technology  just for the purpose of clarity there is no technological answer to these matters.

These are political questions, these are legal questions, these are questions that revolve around protecting peoples livelihoods and the protection of the Good Friday Agreement. Nothing less than that is acceptable.

DUP MEP Diane Dodds said her party would not be taking direction from Sinn Fein.

The DUP continues to work closely with the Government at Westminster to ensure that Northern Irelands unique circumstances are accounted for and addressed in the Brexit negotiations. We take our direction and mandate from those who elected us to office, not from the Sinn Fein leadership," Mrs Dodds said.

"By refusing to take up their seats in the House of Commons Sinn Fein representatives would rather address the empty corridors of Stormont than represent their constituents at Westminster and make their case directly. Ultimately it is this that amounts to a reckless and cavalier approach to the concerns of people living across Northern Ireland, including those in border communities."

"It is clear that the Irish Government and nationalist politicians in our Province wish to use a lack of progress on border solutions to press for the whole of the United Kingdom to remain in the Single Market and the Customs Union. Just as Michel Barniers proposal to annex Northern Ireland in customs terms was roundly rejected, these efforts will fail."An Irish Government minister has rejected claims the Taoiseach lobbied Facebook and Google to restrict adverts related to the country's abortion referendum.

Culture minister Josepha Madigan was responding to an allegation by independent parliamentarian and anti-abortion campaigner Mattie McGrath.

Google announced last week that it is to ban all adverts about the upcoming referendum on Ireland's strict abortion laws.

The move by Google came a day after Facebook announced it would block foreign campaign material on its platform.

Irish data protection commissioner Helen Dixon had previously raised concerns that foreign actors could try to influence the referendum.

Anti-abortion campaigners claim the move represents an attempt to stifle debate.

Mr McGrath said rules on advertising during referenda campaigns should be set by the Irish parliament and should not be left to companies to make their own calls.

He then claimed Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had urged the corporations to act.

"The people can see what's going on - they don't trust the government," he told RTE's The Week In Politics.

Minister Madigan, who also appeared on the programme, said she "absolutely" denied the claim.

"I'd like to see the evidence of that, deputy McGrath - that is a really strong allegation to make," she added. "The corporations made these decisions quite rightly by themselves and we welcome them overall."Ireland and the EUs negotiating team are of one mind on insisting there can be no Brexit withdrawal treaty without a deal on the border, the Irish deputy premier has said.

Simon Coveney called again for legal certainty on maintaining a free-flowing frontier between north and south after meeting with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.

His comments came as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused Brexiteers who claim a soft border can be maintained by using technology alone of serving up fantastical non-starters.

Last December, the UK and EU agreed the need for a backstop option that would ensure no return of a hard border  through an alignment of regulations across the island  even if a wider Brexit trade deal failed to materialise.

Positive meeting with @MichelBarnier again today. We r united in seeking substantial progress by June with UK on Irish Border Backstop text. There can be no EU/UK Withdrawal Treaty without a Backstop, as has been agreed in March by both UK + EU. pic.twitter.com/qso6x6BuXK  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) May 14, 2018

The UK rejected a subsequent attempt by the EU to translate that agreement into legally operable text in a proposed withdrawal treaty. A political stand-off has ensued over the vexed issue.

After talks with Mr Barnier, Tanaiste Mr Coveney again stressed the need for the backstop to be resolved ahead of Junes crunch European Council summit.

Michel Barnier has made it very clear, and I agree with him, that there will be no withdrawal treaty if there isnt a backstop dealing with the Irish border in that treaty, he said.

The Irish government is hopeful a comprehensive resolution could lie in the concept of shared customs territory.

Mr Coveney has suggested Theresa Mays vision of a partnership  where the UK collects tariffs on behalf of Brussels  could provide the basis for negotiating a solution.

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However, the UK cabinet is at odds on the issue. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has branded the Prime Ministers idea crazy and he and other detractors of the partnership concept instead contend that new technology and trusted trader schemes can provide for smooth cross-border trading.

Mr Coveney said: Nobody is saying everything has to be resolved by the end of June but we certainly need to see a solution on the Irish border backstop issue taking shape by the end of June.

There is no flexibility on two things  one, there has to be backstop in the withdrawal agreement.

If there isnt a backstop there wont be a withdrawal agreement.

And, secondly, that backstop has to deal comprehensively with the border issue.

In other words, it has to follow through on the commitment that has been made (in Decembers joint text) on there being no infrastructure or no related checks or controls on the island of Ireland.

Back in Belfast, Sinn Fein President Ms McDonald accused Brexiteers in the UK government of playing games and stalling for time.

Almost two years after the #Brexit vote we need no more stalling, no more play acting and no name calling. We need to hear solutions to Brexit from British Gov. @MaryLouMcDonald pic.twitter.com/ooUdqt9FN3  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) May 14, 2018

She insisted a firm resolution to the border problem had to be struck by June.

I think June now needs to be understood by all parties to this negotiation, but by the British Government in particular, as a red letter occasion and an occasion on which we need answers, she said.

Mrs McDonald also accused the Democratic Unionists of betraying the people of Ireland, north and south.

Her remarks came after DUP MP Sammy Wilson branded Mr Coveney belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing for advocating the EU/UK shared customs territory concept.

On Sunday Mr Wilson claimed the Irish government was attempting to undermine Northern Irelands position within the UK.

The DUP have failed the people, they are on the wrong side of the Brexit argument, they have betrayed people, they have betrayed peoples best economic and social interests, said Ms McDonald.

And the bluster and the huffing and puffing, the very infantile name calling that we have heard again, is simply deployed by them as cover for their own political failures.

Elsewhere on Monday, the Ulster Unionists branded the Irish governments stance as ridiculous.

We have heard the Irish Government spend the last number of months lecturing on what wont work as a resolution to the post-Brexit border issue, but have heard little from them in terms of constructive proposals, said UUP Assembly member Steve Aiken.

The reality is that if they are serious about protecting the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic from the sharpest edges of Brexit, rather than just narrow minded pre-electioneering, then they must engage with the UK on the issue.

To continue simply rejecting proposals out of hand is ridiculous.

DUP MEP Diane Dodds criticised Ms McDonalds remarks.

We take our direction and mandate from those who elected us to office, not from the Sinn Fein leadership, she said.

By refusing to take up their seats in the House of Commons Sinn Fein representatives would rather address the empty corridors of Stormont than represent their constituents at Westminster and make their case directly.

Ultimately it is this that amounts to a reckless and cavalier approach to the concerns of people living across Northern Ireland, including those in border communities.A councillor in Londonderry has branded republicans who intimidated a Donegal hotel into cancelling a royal wedding-themed afternoon tea event next Saturday "thugs".

The Inishowen Gateway Hotel in Buncrana had advertised the special event to coincide with the nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle next Saturday.

The hotel had launched a Facebook event to garner interest in the event.

However, yesterday morning staff were inundated with phone calls from republicans angry at the event. And by late afternoon the Facebook event had been taken down.

A spokesperson for the hotel apologised for "any offence caused".

"The event planned for Saturday, May 19, will no longer be taking place and we would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any offence caused," the hotel said in a statement.

"As one of Donegal's most recognised hotels we are committed to ensuring we offer our guests a quality and memorable experience."

Londonderry DUP councillor David Ramsey said the "intimidation by thugs" directed towards the hotel was 'disgusting'.

"The royal wedding is the largest worldwide event," he said. "Any hotel would see that as a marketing opportunity.

"Because it doesn't matter what race or creed you are, there will be millions of people watching the wedding who are not from the unionist background.

"Every walk of life will be watching and many in the Republic of Ireland will be looking at it as well as people in Northern Ireland. People love weddings.

"For thugs to take it upon themselves to intimidate someone doing their job, marketing a wedding that the whole world will be interested in, is absolutely disgusting.

"It doesn't surprise me as a councillor in Londonderry.

"We have a situation where we have attempts to remove Ulster Scots, we have refusal from our council to be represented at the celebration of the Queen's awards and we have had numerous attempts to airbrush anything British.

"Over the last few days we have had graffiti sprayed on the outskirts of our city which reads 'Prods out'. This is all being driven and motivated by people against peace.

"It is very depressing.

"This shows you how bad things have got in the peace process. It's no wonder that unionist people come to me asking why I bother, that there is no peace process."

Despite the cancellation of the event, the royals have been warmly welcomed in Donegal in the past. Prince Charles and Camilla visited the county in May 2016, taking part in a tour of Donegal Castle, as well as meeting many local people.A grieving widower has spoken of his anger at discovering that his late wife was one of the 17 Irish women who died before knowing they had received incorrect smear test results.

Julie Dignivan was 36 years old when she died on April 8, 2017, after battling cancer for four years.

Ms Dignivan was one of 17 women who died of cervical cancer without being told that a CervicalCheck audit had discovered they were given false negative smear test results.

Her devastated husband Paul was told only this month that discrepancies in his wife's smear test were found in 2016.

The young mother from Fermoy, Co Cork, went for a routine smear test in 2009 and was reassured when she was told no abnormalities were found.

However, her family has now learned that she had pre-cancerous lesions which were missed.

She died leaving a son, Craig (19), daughter Ali (7) and step-daughter Jasmine (17).

"In 2011, she gave birth to our daughter and had some bleeding during the pregnancy - at first she thought it was a miscarriage," Mr Dignivan said.

"There were small signs there at the time. She had the smear in 2013 and when she had it she knew something wasn't right as she was bleeding heavily at this stage."

A biopsy was performed and a few days later Ms Dignivan was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

"It was absolutely devastating," Mr Dignivan said.

Ms Dignivan endured chemotherapy and radiotherapy on and off for the next three years, as the cancer would disappear and come back.

In September 2016, things took a turn for the worse and she was admitted to Marymount Hospice.

She returned home for Christmas but continued to deteriorate and returned to the hospice in March 2017. She died a month later.

"It was four years of it, four years of constantly worrying, scan results and chemotherapy before she passed away," said Mr Dignivan.

"Now it's like it's starting over again, it feels like she passed away from negligence. There was no offers of counselling from the HSE (Health Service Executive)."

On May 2, Mr Dignivan attended a meeting at Cork University Hospital and was told about discrepancies in his wife's earlier smear test.

"When I asked when the review of her smear test took place, the doctor said he couldn't answer but that he would write to CervicalCheck to find out.

"I couldn't even ask them any more questions, it was like there was something caught in my throat. I couldn't even look at them, I was just looking at a paint spot on the wall," he said.

He said his wife "would have wanted her story out there".

"In a hospital you're just a number on a file, but now people can see the faces behind all these women's stories like Julie's."The price of fish and chips could sky rocket in the event of hard Brexit (Niall Carson/PA)

British households could be forced to stomach an 18% rise in the price of cod if the country crashes out of the EU without a free trade deal, it has been claimed.

Tariffs placed on imports of the UKs most popular seafood would range between 7.5% to 18% in the event of a hard Brexit, according to new research from investment bank Rabobank.

Beyhan De Jong, animal protein analyst at Rabobank, said: In the event of a hard Brexit, we would see tariffs imposed on fish imports, which would likely see Britains fish and chip shops increase consumer prices to cover their own rising costs.

The findings are part of Rabobanks latest report on the UKs fishing industry, entitled Fishing for Answers II.

The future price of British seafood imports would depend on whether the Government is capable of signing free trade agreements with the EU and countries such as Iceland, which is the UKs biggest cod supplier, as well as the Faroe Islands and Norway.

This group of countries collectively make up more than half of the UKs cod imports.

Prepared and preserved fish, the main type used in fish and chip shops, accounts for almost 100 million in imports and carries the highest tariffs.

Frozen fillets, which make up over 340 million of imports, bear the lowest tariffs.

The UK could retaliate, the report says, by imposing counter tariffs on Scottish salmon, herring and mackerel, which are popular on the continent.

This tit-for-tat would likely result in consumers paying more for the most popular seafood and fish products both in Britain and the EU.

An ocean of uncertainty awaits the UKs seafood industry should it fail to negotiate trade deals with its neighbours, Mr De Jong added.The EU is pressing for substantive progress from Britain on the future of the Irish border in time for a crunch European Council summit just six weeks away.

Chief negotiator Michel Barnier told ministers from the remaining 27 member states that little progress had been made on the issues of Ireland and governance since the Council last met in March.

The comments came amid continuing uncertainty over the Governments preferred option for customs arrangements on the Irish border after Brexit, with a meeting of Theresa Mays war cabinet thought unlikely to unite behind a solution when they meet on Tuesday.

Members of two ministerial working groups spent Monday discussing possible tweaks to the customs partnership and maximum facilitation plans which have divided Mrs Mays Cabinet, while the Prime Minister herself briefed Tory MPs on details of the two options.

Boris Johnson  a backer of the max fac option, using technology to minimise customs delays  sought to play down reports of a rift with the Prime Minister after he branded the customs partnership crazy.

The Foreign Secretary batted away suggestions that he should consider resigning, insisting that he regarded the PMs vision of a Britain outside the customs union as the way forward.

What we need to do is, as she said, come out of the customs union in such a way as to enable us to have frictionless trade with no hard border in Northern Ireland and to do unhindered, unimpeded free-trade deals with the rest of the world, said Mr Johnson.

We think that is possible, she thinks that is possible, so that is the way forward.

But the UK Governments hopes of settling on a scheme acceptable to Brussels were dealt a blow when Bulgaria  the current holder of the European Councils six-month presidency  said that neither option would avoid the need for a hard border.

Speaking after Mr Barniers address to the General Affairs Council, Bulgarian deputy prime minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said: What the UK proposed doesnt mean there is no hard border. Their proposals mean hard borders, unfortunately.

Downing Street has repeatedly declined to set a timetable for reaching agreement on the border issue, insisting that the withdrawal agreement does not need to be finalised until October.

But Ms Zaharieva said: In June, we need to see substantive progress on Ireland, on governance and all remaining separation issues.

Her comment was echoed by French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian following talks with Mr Johnson in London.

The time has come to decide and I think it is essential that at the meeting in June there should be important progress, said Mr le Drian.

Now we have to go to definitive decisions, and the responsibility for those is with the British side.

German foreign minister Michael Roth said: We are concerned that there is no clear attitude and no clear position from the British side.

Time is passing. We must now make substantial progress.

Asked about the progress that had been made, Michel Barnier said: I would say little, not very little.

There were two rounds of negotiations before the key rendezvous of the June European Council summit, he said.

Mr Barnier added: The clock is ticking and we have to conclude and to finalise this agreement  before October or November, because we have to keep the time for the ratification by the European Parliament, the European Council and the British side.

I'd say he is a marvellous Foreign Secretary but let's work as a teamJeremy Hunt, on his Cabinet colleague Boris Johnson

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Mr Johnson he was in danger of undermining Britains negotiating position with his open criticism of the Governments proposals.

On the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, they will exploit that, Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

If we are going to have these lively debates, we should have them in private.

Asked if his message to Mr Johnson was to belt up, Mr Hunt said: You could say that. Id say he is a marvellous Foreign Secretary but lets work as a team.

The Scottish National Partys leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford said Mrs May was held hostage by her own ministers and lacked the leadership to override her Hard Brexit wing.

Theresa May is showing an absence of any kind of leadershipIan Blackford, SNP leader at Westminster

Theresa May is showing an absence of any kind of leadership, while her Government is divided and squabbling like cats in a sack in public, said Mr Blackford.

It beggars belief that there is still no coherent plan for one of the single most important elements of her chaotic, damaging Brexit.

Prominent eurosceptic Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg praised the PMs straight bat approach.

Mr Rees-Mogg told LBC Radio that Mrs May was the Geoffrey Boycott of negotiations, saying: She is playing a straight bat, she isnt giving a great deal away.

But I think this steady, stable approach is the right one to be taking and is in the national interest.MP Emma Little Pengelly has hit out at the use of the slur "gammon" on social media.

The South Belfast MP took to Twitter in the early hours of Sunday morning to say she was appalled at the increasing use of the term.

"I'm appalled by the term "gammon" now frequently entering the lexicon of so many (mainly on the left) & seemingly be accepted. This is a term based on skin colour & age - stereotyping by colour or age is wrong no matter what race, age or community. It is just wrong," she tweet.

The term is normally used as a derogatory slur normally toward white middle class Brexit supporting men whose complexion turns pink when they get over excited about issues such as the UK's impending departure from the EU, immigration matters or political correctness "gone mad".

After her tweet the DUP MP was faced with a huge reaction on the social media website with some accusing her of "faux outrage".

The prominent left-wing commentator Owen Jones accused the MP of a "ham-fisted" attempt to deflect from the policies of her party highlighting its opposition to gay rights. In turn, Mrs Little Pengelly said the Guardian columnist was "blinded" by his own hatred of the DUP and engaging in "classic whataboutry".

"I joined the DUP largely because of its constitutional and economic policies," she responded, "LGBTQ issues are a very small part of the party. i recognise they are of course important to people too, but it does not define the party.

"You are dismissing, ridiculously, the entire DUP by that one issue."

She added: "How does anyone think it is good idea to have skin colour based insult in 2018? C'mon people. We are all better than that.

"We all should be above that."

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Her original tweet got thousands of interactions.

"That certainly divided opinion #gammongate," she added.A former Army chief has said he will hand back an honour presented to him by the Queen in protest at the government's decision to refuse an amnesty for soldiers caught up in the Troubles

A former Army chief has said he will hand back an honour presented to him by the Queen in protest at the government's decision to refuse an amnesty for soldiers caught up in the Troubles.

Retired Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan, claimed it amounted to a "betrayal".

He was speaking amid a row over the withdrawal of a proposed statute of limitations to prevent the prosecution of former troops who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles from a planned consultation on dealing with the past.

Mr Kemp told the Daily Express: "As a former infantry soldier I am so outraged by this unprecedented betrayal of our fighting men that I am returning the hard-won Commission awarded to me by the Queen that I have prized for 40 years."

On Friday, a long-delayed consultation on proposals to deal with the legacy of the Troubles was unveiled. The four-month process will canvass views on a series of new mechanisms to investigate, document and uncover the truth around killings during the 30-year conflict.

Last year, the Government indicated that a statute of limitations protecting security force members from historic prosecutions may be added to the consultation.

This was opposed in Northern Ireland, amid fears from some unionists that it could open the door to a de facto amnesty for former paramilitaries.

However, while the decision to remove the contentious proposal from the consultation was widely expected, it has generated opposition both within the Cabinet and on the Conservative backbenches.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is understood to be among ministers unhappy at the prospect of veteran servicemen being prosecuted.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said the consultation, which she insisted had the backing of Cabinet, was only focusing on what had been agreed at Stormont House in 2014.

General Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army who won the Military Cross in Northern Ireland, described the process of investigating the historic allegations as "ridiculous".

"A statute of limitations might result in some injustice but the number of cases will be very small set against the uncertainty and fear faced by soldiers who are now elderly and who were doing their duty," he said.

Meanwhile, a former Chief Constable has said any attempt to deal with the past is likely to run into difficulty. Sir Hugh Orde, who was Chief Constable from 2002 to 2009, set up the now-defunct Historical Enquiries Team (HET).

In a letter to The Times, he said any attempt to take a different or radical approach to dealing with the past was likely to be attacked by those who do not want to move on.

"It is far more comfortable to hide behind the strict legal process that ill fits the situation, costs millions and delivers little," he wrote.Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan outside the Supreme Court on Monday (Victoria Jones/PA)

Ministers want to wait until next year before consulting on the future of civil partnerships.

Government lawyers told the Supreme Court the wait was justified so four whole years of data could be gathered following the introduction of same-sex marriage.

The court is hearing the case of Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41, who want a civil partnership but are prevented by legislation which says only same-sex couples are eligible.

Looking forward to next week and the @UKSupremeCourt but it wouldn't be possible with your support helping towards the legal costs - if you haven't donated and are able to, please consider it - but also please share. So grateful for all raised so far. https://t.co/KGSWevOCLV  Civil Partnerships (@EqualCPs) May 9, 2018

The academics, who live in Hammersmith, west London, suffered defeat at the Court of Appeal in February last year, but were given the go-ahead in August for a Supreme Court hearing.

A panel of five Supreme Court justices, including the courts president Lady Hale, began considering the couples appeal on Monday.

These are highly sensitive social (and indeed political) issues in which the Government and Parliament are currently, actively and seriously engaged on a defined timescale and processJames Eadie QC, for the Government

James Eadie QC, representing the equalities minister, told the court the Government wants to wait until September next year before it considers what to do and would launch a public consultation.

He said civil partnerships are essentially identical to civil marriage and were created to give legal recognition to same-sex unions at a time when society was not felt ready to recognise such relationships as marriages.

Mr Eadie told the judges it is accepted Ms Steinfeld and Mr Keidan have a genuinely held objection to marriage, but the Governments decision to take some time before deciding on the future of civil partnerships is justified.

He said: These are highly sensitive social (and indeed political) issues in which the Government and Parliament are currently, actively and seriously engaged on a defined timescale and process.

The process has taken some time  a fact that is in part due to an understandable and legitimate concern to gauge the reaction over a period of time to the introduction of the Marriage Act 2013.

He later added: The future of civil partnerships raises difficult questions of social policy for which there is no obvious answer and Parliament has a Bill before it with different options to deal with those difficulties.

Mr Eadie told the court the number of civil partnerships formed in England and Wales fell by 85% in the first two years after the introduction of same-sex marriage.

They share a profound and serious objection to the institution of marriageKaron Monaghan QC, for the couple

Karon Monaghan QC, representing Ms Steinfeld and Mr Keidan, argued the delay was unacceptable as they were instantly discriminated against from the moment the Marriage Act came into force.

She told the judges the couple are in a long-term and committed heterosexual relationship.

She added: They share a profound and serious objection to the institution of marriage.

Whilst the appellants wish to formalise their relationship, their conscience does not permit them to do so through marriage.

Rather, they wish to enter into a civil partnership with one another.

In a statement outside court before the hearing, Ms Steinfeld and Mr Keidan called on the Government to stop making excuses and give everyone the choice to enter a civil partnership.

The couple, who have two daughters aged eight months and two years, claim the Governments position is incompatible with equality law.

The Court of Appeal agreed the couple had established a potential violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which relates to discrimination, taken with Article 8, which refers to respect for private and family life.

But, by a majority of two to one, the judges said the interference was justified by the Governments policy of wait and evaluate.

They heard the couple have deep-rooted and genuine ideological objections to marriage and wish to enter into a legally regulated relationship which does not carry patriarchal baggage.

The Government said it was decided, after public consultations and debate in Parliament, not to extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples, abolish them or phase them out at that stage.

The aim was to see how extending marriage to same-sex couples impacted on civil partnerships before making a final decision which, if reversed in a few years, would be disruptive, unnecessary and extremely expensive.

The hearing is expected to last two days.The boss of the Nursing and Midwifery Council has stepped down (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The boss of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has stepped down days before a review into the regulators handling of the Morecambe Bay scandal is due to be published.

Jackie Smith has announced her intention to stand down from her role as chief executive and registrar of the NMC.

A review into the NMCs handling of Morecambe Bay midwife cases is due to be published later this week.

Last year Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt tasked the Professional Standards Authority with carrying out the lessons learned review.

After more than six years Jackie Smith is stepping down as Chief Executive and Registrar of the NMC -

https://t.co/83zjlHlOQW  Nursing and Midwifery Council (@nmcnews) May 14, 2018

Ms Smith has been in her role for six years. She intends to leave her post at the end of July.

Its been an honour to lead the NMC over the past six years and I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved. Now is the right time for someone else to take the organisation forward, she said in a statement.

I want to pay tribute to the staff at the NMC who have worked so hard and achieved so much during my time here.

Id also like to thank the nurses and midwives on our register  its been a privilege to work with them and witness the fantastic care they deliver day in day out.

A 2015 inquiry found a lethal mix of failures at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust led to the unnecessary deaths of 11 babies and one mother between 2004 and 2013.

Morally Inept Leadership - again reinforced by the language in this press release. Jackie has overseen a dire culture at the NMC that has caused considerable distress. https://t.co/0EvdCFix1T  James Titcombe (@JamesTitcombe) May 14, 2018

James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died after midwives missed chances to spot and treat a serious infection which led to his death nine days after he was born at Furness General Hospital in Cumbria, has been heavily critical of the regulator.

He wrote on Twitter that it was disgraceful that the resignation isnt with immediate effect.

Adding: Jackie has overseen a dire culture at the NMC that has caused considerable distress.A farmer is suspected of killing six family members in Osmington in Western Australia (Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP)

A 61-year-old farmer is suspected of carrying out Australias worst mass shooting in 22 years, shooting dead six family members, including four of his grandchildren, before killing himself last week, according to a state official.

Police found Peter Miles, his wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina Miles and her four children with fatal gunshot wounds on Friday where they lived at Forever Dreaming Farm in the village of Osmington in Western Australia state.

State Premier Mark McGowan on Monday confirmed that Peter Miles was the suspected perpetrator.

Police have released few details of the tragedy, which was Australias worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.

A coroner will investigate the tragedy and officially state the causes of the seven deaths.

Why he did it, what he did, you can only ever surmise, Mr McGowan told Perth Radio 6PR. As far as Im aware, there was no evidence that he had any sort of mental health issues that could have resulted in the firearms being removed from him.

Police found three guns registered to Peter Miles at the 30-acre sheep and vegetable farm where the three generations lived. Gun-owners in Australia lose their right to own a gun if they or a member of their family with whom they live are diagnosed with a mental illness such as depression.

Aaron Cockman, father of the dead children and the estranged husband of their mother, told reporters on Sunday that police had told him Peter Miles had shot dead Mr Cockmans family as they slept in a converted shed where they lived before killing his wife in the living room of their house.

Peter Miles then called police before dawn on Friday. He had turned a gun on himself before police arrived, Mr Cockman said.

Mr Cockman said Peter Miles had struggled with the suicide of a son and news that another son had serious kidney disease.

Farmers are allowed to own guns under Australian law because they have a legitimate need for them to kill feral pests and predators or sick and injured livestock. However, automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are banned from public ownership.Explosive steam could erupt at the summit of a volcano on Hawaii, hurling rocks and ash miles into the sky, say geologists.

The warning came as steam and lava were reported from an 18th fissure caused by Kilauea volcano on Hawaiis Big Island, with evacuations ordered.

Expand Close The East Rift Zone, along which the Leilani Estates neighbourhood sits, from the Kilauea eruption (Cindy Ellen Russell/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The East Rift Zone, along which the Leilani Estates neighbourhood sits, from the Kilauea eruption (Cindy Ellen Russell/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)

The Hawaii County Civil Defence issued an alert on Sunday that steam and lava spatter were coming from the latest fissure, to the west of Highway 132 along Hale Kamahina Loop Road, and ordered residents on that road to evacuate.

The 18th fissure opening came after two others opened on Saturday.

Plant workers last week removed 50,000 gallons of pentane stored at the Puna Geothermal Venture plant site as a precaution.Police respond to the suicide bomber blast site outside the Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church in Surabaya, May 13, 2018.

Pro-Islamic State (IS) militants launched a wave of spectacular suicide bombing attacks in and around the eastern Indonesian city of Surabaya, killing and injuring dozens of people, including police.

Three families were responsible for four successful and one unsuccessful bombing. In all 13 of 16 family members were killed in the attacks that utilized female suicide bombers for the first time in Southeast Asia and involved children ages 8 to 19.

The bombings began Sunday morning when three improvised explosive devices (IED) were detonated almost simultaneously at three separate churches in Surabaya. The father detonated a car bomb, two teenage sons detonated a bomb on a motorcycle while the mother and two young daughters detonated another bomb. Security forces defused two additional IEDs.

Later that day, another family planned to set off their IED at a police housing complex outside of Surabaya. The bomb, which authorities have said was made of extremely volatile acetone-based TATP, went off prematurely in an apartment, killing the couple and their son while two other children survived. There were no police or civilian casualties.

On Monday, a family of five on two motorcycles, including a young girl, detonated bombs at the police headquarters checkpoint in Surabaya. The girl miraculously survived the blast that killed her family members and injured four police and six civilians.

Historical context

Indonesia was hit by a string of terrorist attacks by militants linked to al-Qaeda from 2000 to 2009. Those attacks led to the arrests of more than 500 militants, including many top leaders.

By 2010, al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was riddled with factionalism, a dearth of leadership and hampered by debates over targeting and tactics. Raids on a training facility in Aceh in 2010 led to the neutralization of more than 120 militants and JI all but ceased militant operations.

The spread of IS in 2014, revitalized terrorist networks across Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, many groups and cells formerly tied to al-Qaeda defected to IS following the lead of top JI ideologues Abu Bakar Bashir and Aman Abdurrahman.

The two men established Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an umbrella group for all the IS-pledged groups and a key IS affiliate.

An estimated 1,000 Southeast Asians went to Syria and Iraq where men fought with IS or the al-Qaeda affiliated Al Nusrah. Most of those who traveled were the fighters wives and children.

An estimated 200 to 300 militants formed a Bahasa-language speaking company known as Khatibah Nusantara that included Malaysias first group (at least nine) of suicide bombers.

In addition, IS leadership for Southeast Asia inspired and recruited terrorist attacks in the region, starting with the January 2016 attack in Jakarta. The attacks through 2017 were relatively amateurish with low death tolls.

An exception was the five-month siege of Marawi by IS militants which attracted more foreign fighters. Despite the deaths of hundreds of militants in the losing battle, the relatively ungoverned space there continues to attract militants from the region where they can train and execute terrorist attacks.

Take-aways

There are three salient takeaways from the Surabaya attacks.

The bombers used their own children in five separate bombings, something that is unprecedented in Southeast Asia. While it shows an unbelievable degree of callousness, it also demonstrates the thoroughness of the cells ideological indoctrination.

While one hopes that the use of children will not be replicated, it likely will be. Indonesia has many radical madrassas linked to IS and al-Qaeda that do the most important indoctrination and radicalization.

The pool of students is large. In addition, Southeast Asian militants who fought with IS in Syria established a school for their own children where they were indoctrinated.

Some of these students are likely to return to the region. Finally, the use of children makes sense tactically as any parent traveling with children arouses less suspicion from security forces.

Second, there were three female suicide bombers, also unprecedented in Southeast Asia and part of a larger trend. Indonesian police arrested the first woman being trained as a suicide bomber in December 2017.

This fits into a tactical shift, called for in Dabiq and other IS publications, which is filtering down to Southeast Asia.

This could be out of desperation. With the loss of significant territory and other setbacks, IS has to increase the pace and scope of attacks.

Women give them additional recruits, but their use could also motivate or goad men into action. Tactically, women tend to arouse less suspicion and are screened less thoroughly.

It is important to note that in Malaysia, security forces have been concerned about the pro-active role women have played in IS activities, though to date that has been confined to recruitment, indoctrination, fundraising and logistics.

Third, the degree of coordination and sophistication we have seen in these attacks is something not seen in years. There were four successful and one unsuccessful coordinated suicide bombings. This is the highest casualty count since 2005 and displays a growing technical sophistication  a far cry from many of the more amateurish attacks perpetrated since January 2016.

Impact

Indonesian society is resilient and will bounce back. The government is unlikely to overreact.

Security forces deserve inordinate credit for mitigating the threat posed by al-Qaeda and then IS-affiliated groups. It is unrealistic for us to expect that in a country of 260 million, security will be able to uproot all terrorist cells completely.

We need them to continue to do their intelligence-driven police work.

The arrest last week of three IS militants in Bogor who had manufactured TATP makes clear that the threat is widespread and there is growing technical sophistication.

Second, the prison riot by detained IS-militants at the Brimob headquarters last week that led to the death of five police, reinforces the urgent need for prison reform. Ironically, the police had done what experts had long called for  concentrating terrorism detainees and keeping them out of the general prison population where they would be able to recruit and indoctrinate.

But the facilities in Depok were insufficient and placing the room where guns, ammunition and explosives seized from militants adjacent to their holding cells is almost farcical.

Third, the most important impact probably will occur with the passage of counter-terrorism legislation stalled in parliament for more than two years.

There are two provisions that have been particularly contentious. The first involves giving the Indonesian military a legal counter-terrorism role which alarms democracy and human rights activists.

The second is the draft legislation to criminalize traveling overseas to join a militant group. The fact that joining a militant group overseas is not illegal is under increased scrutiny today.

While security forces are obsessed with the potential of returning foreign fighters the greatest threat might be posed by militants who never left the country.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and the author of Forging Peace in Southeast Asia: Insurgencies, Peace Processes, and Reconciliation. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College or BenarNews.Police cordon off the private residence of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, at Jalan Langgak Duta in Kuala Lumpur, May 14, 2018.

Malaysias new government on Monday ordered the attorney general to go on leave and barred him and several other top officials from leaving the country, amid a probe into an alleged cover up of ex-Prime Minister Najib Razaks links to a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal.

In addition, sources said, the nations chief treasurer was relieved of his duties and the chairman of the countrys anti-corruption agency (MACC) had resigned.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a televised news conference that the solicitor-general would temporarily take over the duties of Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali.

There have been lots of complaints against the attorney-general, Mahathir told reporters. On that basis, we gave him a holiday.

Once investigations are carried out, then we can suspend him and prevent him from leaving the country, he said.

In 2016, Apandi cleared Najib of any wrongdoing related to allegations of corruption tied to the state fund 1MDB, which, according to the U.S. Justice Department, was looted of $4.5 billion by associates of Najib. This included nearly $700 million that landed in Najibs private bank accounts, the department said. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Apandi had also halted domestic investigations into the alleged embezzlement.

The new prime minister made the announcement as he formally began his work on Monday, receiving his first official visitor  Bruneis leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah  and meeting newly appointed government officials.

Shortly after he was sworn in as the countrys seventh prime minister on Thursday, Mahathir told reporters that certain heads must fall over the scandal-plagued 1MDB, which Najib formed in 2009 ostensibly to pursue development projects that would benefit Malaysians.

Mahathir, 92 and now the worlds oldest state leader, sprang out of political retirement two years ago. He quit the ruling United Malays National Organization party then and later joined the opposition, accusing UMNOs leaders of shielding Najib from the 1MDB allegations.

Barred from leaving the country

After Mahathirs news conference on Monday, a government news release announced that treasury chief Mohamad Irwan Serigar Abdullah would not be allowed to carry out his duties as treasurer general or any matters relating to the finance ministry.

Irwan, who also served as chairman of 1MDB, would also be barred from leaving the country, government sources told BenarNews.

Arul Kanda, chief executive officer of 1MDB, and Najibs former aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, were also barred from traveling abroad, according to the sources who requested anonymity and said they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Mahathir, during his news conference at the administrative capital Putrajaya, said the government decided to bar certain individuals from leaving the country because their assistance was needed for the 1MDB probe.



Their passports, however, have not been revoked. There is no blacklist, we are only investigating various officers against whom we have gotten reports of wrongdoings, he said. We cannot allow them to leave the country in the interest of facilitating investigations.

Mahathir also said that ministry officials had been instructed not to destroy important documents. He announced that he would appoint a new anti-corruption commission chief.



The hold-departure order against officials from the toppled administration came two days after Mahathir issued orders to bar Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, from leaving the country.



We do not want to be saddled with extradition requests, Mahathir said, referring to Najib.

On Saturday, Mahathir said he had instructed the police to declassify a 1MDB report that was protected by the Official Secrets Act.



We are investigating as soon as possible money laundering and we have to contact America, Singapore, Switzerland and Luxembourg, he said. It will take time but we want to act as soon as possible.

MACC chief resigns



Four people are high on Mahathirs top list to head the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after its head, Dzulkifli Ahmad, tendered his resignation on Monday, sources told BenarNews on Monday.

Among the four were Mohd Shukri Abdull, former MACC deputy chief commissioner for operations; and current immigration department director general Mustafar Ali, who served as MACCs deputy commissioner for prevention before his new appointment as immigration chief.



The new MACC chief would be announced hopefully by Tuesday, Mahathir told reporters Monday.

Meanwhile, Abdul Razak Idris, MACCs former director of intelligence and investigation, lodged a report with the anti-corruption agency against Najib, accusing the former PM of abuse of power by preventing 1MDB investigations.

If found guilty, Najib faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine, legal experts said.

Abdul Razak told BenarNews that the report was only filed now because previously it would have been a waste of time.

The investigation will only be closed, because of who is involved, he said.

Anti-fake news law to be revisited

Mahathir, in a short statement on Sunday, said he would redefine a controversial anti-fake news law introduced by Najib.



The law will be revisited and a proper definition will be provided, so that media practitioners and the public can get a clear idea on what is fake, he said.

Even though we support freedom of the press and freedom of speech, there are limits, Mahathir said, apparently backtracking from an election campaign promise to entirely abolish the legislation, which had been criticized as Najibs attempt to quell political dissent and freedom of speech in the run-up to the May 9 election. On the day he was sworn into office, Mahathir cited the anti-fake news law when he told reporters that his government would abolish suppressive and unfair laws.

Just weeks ago, Mahathir himself became a target of the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018, which was passed in April. Under the law, making or sharing fake news would be punishable by up to six years in prison.

Police said Mahathir was being investigated for allegedly spreading fake news by saying he suspected that a private plane, which was to take him to campaign across the country, had been sabotaged.

Last month, a Danish citizen was convicted under the law after admitting he made false claims over the killing of a Hamas militant on a video that he posted on YouTube.

Meanwhile, in another move made by the new government on Monday, officials lifted a travel ban imposed on political cartoonist and BenarNews contributor Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwarul Haque.

Zunar made the announcement on his Twitter page.



Zunar had created widely publicized illustrations criticizing Najib and his wife, Rosmah.

He had been arrested and charged with sedition for allegedly insulting Najib through his caricatures related to the 1MDB scandal.Soldiers guard a polling precinct in the town of Balabagan, in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Sur, May 14, 2018.

At least 33 people have died in violence in the lead up to Mondays village elections in the Philippines, when Filipinos cast their votes to choose hundreds of thousands of village officials and youth representatives, the national police said.

The deaths were recorded in some 36 election-related violence logged from the period beginning April 14 to May 14, when millions of Filipinos cast their votes in almost 42,000 villages across the country, national police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said.

Seventy-four people had also been wounded in shooting and stabbing incidents, he said.

Albayalde said that in the last village elections in 2013, 109 people were killed in the same period in review.

About a million candidates are vying for more than 670,000 electoral posts, from village council seats to youth representatives.

Hopefully, the numbers wont rise, he said. The guidance of the president is to make it safe and clean. So we are doing everything to make it safe as possible,

Election violence is nothing new in the Philippines, where bitter rivalries particularly in far-flung provinces often end up in shootings and even death.

Village elections are important because whoever wins technically commands votes for national posts. President Rodrigo Duterte postponed the village elections last year, citing the possibility - though unfounded  that drug traffickers could be funding the election campaign of some candidates.

Election tellers and poll watchers affix their signatures and thumb marks on the official election returns for village polls in the northern Philippine city of Dagupan, May 14, 2018. [Karl Romano/BenarNews]

Former congressman, 2 bodyguards shot dead

Albayalde said police were also investigating whether the assassination Sunday night of ex-Rep. Eufranio Eriguel and his two bodyguards were related to the polls.

But initial reports seem to suggest so. Eriguel was attending a political event related to Mondays polls when men in two separate vehicles opened fire. Eriguel and his two bodyguards were immediately killed, police said.

Eriguels wife, Sandra Eriguel, is the incumbent representative of their home province. She was with her husband when the incident happened, although police said she was unscathed.



This was not the first attempt on the couples life. During the 2016 Presidential and National elections, both survived a car bomb that hit their convoy.

Duterte had earlier identified Eriguel as among the politicians allegedly protecting and helping drug traffickers in the country. But Eriguel was later cleared by the governments drug-enforcement agency.

Three other mayors who were also in Dutertes list were killed by police in what they claimed were legitimate operations. Another local official in the central Philippines who was also on Dutertes list was ambushed Sunday, but survived.

We are looking at many angles here, Albayalde said of Eriguels murder. As of this time, it is under investigation.

Police were investigating whether the attacks on Eriguel and Cebu City Mayor Vicente Loot were related to their alleged drug activities, Albayalde said.

Meanwhile, police in the southern region of Mindanao said that a village chief died after he was ambushed allegedly by his rival in the town of Opol, in Misamis Oriental province. Eleazar Zafra was declared dead upon arrival at a hospital after he was ambushed Sunday night.

Police said two gunmen had been arrested, and Zafras political rival, Sino Dragon, surrendered hours after the incident.Soldiers inspect a passenger vehicle at a checkpoint on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, where pro-Islamic State Abu Sayyaf militants operate, July 16, 2017.

The Philippine armed forces killed 10 suspected Abu Sayyaf militants believed to be behind the abduction of two policewomen, but two soldiers also died in vicious fighting during the weekend on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, the military said Monday.

Soldiers of 5th Scout Ranger Battalion were ambushed by the Abu Sayyaf gunmen in a remote village in Patikul town Sunday, leading to the gun battle, military task force chief Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said.

Sobejana said 15 other Abu Sayyaf fighters were also believed wounded after the hourlong gun battle.

Our actions were, however, very limited and calculated since we did not want to harm the kidnap victims, Sobejana said.

The military recovered the bodies of only four militants, while the bodies of six others were retrieved by their comrades, Sobejana said, citing local intelligence reports. He did not elaborate.

Last week, the military also clashed with the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo, leaving 12 gunmen dead.

The fresh round of violence followed the April 29 abductions of policewomen Benierose Alvarez and Dina Gumahad on Jolo. Two men who were seized with them had been freed separately, although it was not clear if ransom had been paid.

The Abu Sayyaf, or Bearers of the Sword, is the most brutal of militant groups operating in the southern Philippines. It has been engaged mostly in banditry, kidnapping and bombings.

In February 2017, Abu Sayyaf members beheaded German yachtsman Jurgen Kantner after his government failed to pay ransom demanded by his abductors. Two Canadian hostages suffered the same fate the previous year.

To date, the group is still holding 12 hostages, including three Indonesians, one Vietnamese, one Dutch and seven Filipinos, the military said.

One of its leaders, Isnilon Hapilon, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and led a siege of the southern city of Marawi last year, leaving 1,200 people dead, most of them militants. The five-month siege ended in October with the death of Hapilon, although the government said dozens of militants had escaped.

Mark Navales in Marawi City contributed to this report.Both Diane Dunn and Theresa Boggs went into Bowling Green State Universitys eCampus program with the same trepidation  they were concerned about the unfamiliar format and how they might fare as students who had been away from the education environment for quite some time.

This May, the two women will receive their masters degrees from BGSU after having completed their work entirely online. And they will arrive at the commencement ceremony as best friends who have never met.

That is the magic of eCampus.

Weve been working together on projects and encouraging each other online for years, all through our undergrad and masters studies, but the first time I meet her in person will be at graduation, said Boggs, a Bowling Green native who completed her undergraduate degree in the Management and Technology program online and will receive her Master of Education in learning design.

When you are involved with the eCampus program, you still get to collaborate with other students, you still get to work as a group, but you just never set foot in the same classroom. I consider Diane my best friend, and that friendship developed entirely through our experience as eCampus students.

Dunn used the eCampus option at BGSU to earn a bachelors degree in education, and is also set to receive her Master of Education in learning design.

I am more than two hours away from BGSU and Ive never been to the campus, but the eCampus format connects you with your professors, advisers and other students, said Dunn, an Akron-area resident.

Theresa and I started at the same time, and we were in similar situations where we wanted to advance our education but we had work, lives and families that complicate things. We became great friends, just like if we had been sitting beside each other in class every day.Meg Burrell took advantage of every opportunity afforded her at Bowling Green State University  and then some.

Before the Bluffton, Ohio, native walks across the Stroh Center stage and graduates in May with a bachelors degree in political science and a minor in sociology and heads off to law school, Burrell shared some advice with future Falcons.

Get involved, she said. I really think there is something for everybody at BGSU. For me, I found my home here in so many places. If everybody could have their home on campus, I think it makes the experience so much more enjoyable.

Take the initiative  and thats true about life  because youre going to have to take those first steps, but people at this University are so receptive to that. This is the place where everybody can succeed, and thats because faculty, alumni and friends of the University are so great and so kind  they are there to lend a hand whenever you need it. When I am an alumna, Im going to want to come back and see what great things BGSU students are doing.

Burrell stepped on campus as a Sidney A. Ribeau Presidents Leadership Academy (PLA) scholar in July 2014 for the summer bridge program.

The monthlong session turned out to be a crucial starting point for the BGSU freshman.

I think the PLAs summer bridge program really was a game-changer, Burrell said. From understanding not only where everything is and what campus is like, but it was the first time I had been on my own, so it was a good experience to then go home to Mom and Dad for a little bit before the semester started. Being here for a month, I was able to connect with my cohort members, who turned out to be amazing  Ive made lifelong friends.

Each year since 1998, the PLA has enrolled a cohort of 15 to 30 new students who learn servant-leadership. The 2014 PLA cohort, which consists of 20 members, is the first group to have 100

percent retention.

To start her freshman year, Burrell got a job at Student Legal Services (SLS) right off campus and was employed for two years. SLS is a non-profit law office that has served University students since 1984, and typically advises and represents more than 2,000 students each year.



At the end of the year, she applied to be the undergraduate representative on the BGSU Board of Trustees.

I was already a political science major and Ive always had an interest in governance and shared governance, but I did not think I was qualified by any means, said Burrell, whose two-year term ended June 2017. I just decided to try it and it happened to work out. My interviews kept going really well and they picked me. It was kind of luck in some ways.

Obviously, it was a unique experience. I learned so much about how BGSU functions and it gave me a deeper love for the University because Ive seen so much behind the scenes and how much goes into every decision and how many people really care. I also got to connect with donors, which was one of my favorite experiences.

Burrell has had three internships during her time at BGSU: at the Wood County Prosecutors Office, Ohio Attorney Generals Office and Ohio Attorney Generals Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

Working at the Wood County Prosecutors office was a way for her to get a foot in the door. The internship was unpaid and the hours were flexible, so it fit her busy schedule. She supported the C.Y.C.L.E. Division, which provides programs in cooperation with youth, community and law enforcement.- Optimistic about Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia markets

- Might set up assembly plant in one of these markets

- The upcoming 650s will help the company beget a global product to its name

Royal Enfield might set up a plant in South East Asia if the market responds well to its bikes. This news was confirmed by Siddharth Lal, CEO, Royal Enfield.

The company plans to expand its business aggressively in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. This move is in keeping with Royal Enfields expressed confidence in its projected performance in Thailand and Vietnam markets. Depending on the market demand, the Chennai-based manufacturer will look at contract manufacturing for Thailand with kits exported from India. This modus operandi will, in fact, require less investment. It will also consider a similar set-up for Vietnam.

We are extremely bullish on Thailand and Indonesia. We have seen very good traction for Royal Enfield bikes in these market. We will have market companies with our own employees working there, where distribution will be done by us but the dealers will be local. The idea is that it should be followed by local assembly but we are looking at different options," said Siddharth Lal, MD & CEO, Eicher Motors.

Royal Enfield has been doing really well in India. In fact, its international business has been registering decent growth as well, which has made the company divert considerable focus to such markets. Its upcoming 650cc motorcycles, the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT will see them grow not just in India, but worldwide too.China, the second largest market for pharmaceuticals after the US, said it has removed import duties on as many as 28 medicines, including all cancer drugs, from May 1, a move which would help India to export these pharmaceuticals to the neighboring country.

China's much-publicized announcement to slash tariffs on 28 medicines, including cancer drugs from India, has failed to create any buzz among the Indian pharmaceutical firms here as exports to China are possible only after lengthy field trials and approvals, which could take years, an official at an Indian firm has said.

On May 4, China, the second largest market for pharmaceuticals after the US, said it has removed import duties on as many as 28 medicines, including all cancer drugs, from May 1, a move which would help India to export these pharmaceuticals to the neighbouring country.

"China has exempted import tariffs (duties) for 28 drugs, including all cancer drugs, from May 1. Good news for India's pharmaceutical industry and medicine export to China. I believe this will help reduce trade imbalance between China and India in the future," Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said in a tweet.

Luo's announcement generated optimism that India's persistent demand from China to provide opening for Indian pharmaceutical firms to market their economically priced drugs compared to the multinational firms may be realised.

However, the official with the Indian pharmaceutical company said it is surprising to see the reports from the Indian media that the move to reduce tariffs will pave the way for exports of Indian pharmaceutical firms.

"For Indian pharmaceutical companies, it is not going to be much different as imports of Indian drugs both generic and anti-cancer is possible only with the approval of China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA)," the official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The announcement has not created any enthusiasm among the Indian firms as for both oral and injectable drugs a lengthy process of clearances is required in China which may take anywhere between two and half years to three years.

India has been lobbying actively with China to ensure quick clearances but it has not worked so far, he said. Any export to China at this point of time is possible only if Beijing accepts certification by US Food and Drug Administration, which has approved a whole host of Indian drugs.

"As regards India benefiting because China has lifted import tariffs, I do not see it as a measure that is specifically favouring the Indian pharmaceutical products alone," V Viswanath, a Beijing based senior consultant for Indian, Chinese as well as multi-national pharmaceutical firms told PTI.

"This will benefit all imported products irrespective of which the country of origin is," he said, highlighting the long drawn out struggle by Indian pharmaceutical firms to enter Chinese markets despite persistent campaign.

India has been asking China for long to open up its IT and pharmaceutical firms to reduce the trade deficit which has claimed to over $50 billion.

But ahead of Luo's announcement, China's Cabinet or State Council on April 12 has approved a proposal that China will exempt import tariffs on all cancer drugs and encourage the import of more innovative drugs.

From May 1, import tariffs on all common drugs including cancer drugs, cancer alkaloid-based drugs, and imported traditional Chinese medicine will be exempted, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official statement as saying.

Value Added Tax in the production and import of drugs will drop by a large margin, it said.

The authorities will reduce the prices of cancer drugs through centralised government procurement and eliminate premium prices for drugs by means of cross-border e-commerce, it said.

Imported innovative drugs, especially much-needed cancer drugs, will be incorporated into the catalogue of medical insurance reimbursement, the statement said.

So as of now there is nothing specific for Indian pharmaceutical industry as such, the Indian pharma firm, the Indian pharma firm official said.

The move is aimed at reducing exorbitant costs of medicines in general and cancer drugs in particular by the multinational firms in China, he said.

The tariff reduction is also not going to amount much as it accounts to only about three to four percent, which is negligible, he said.

In fact, the reimbursement for cancer drugs by the provincial and central governments is aimed at prevailing on the innovator multinational companies to reduce their prices, which they will considering the size of the Chinese market, he said.

With reimbursement on cards the multinational companies are going to bring down their prices to cash in on the scheme, he said adding that this may even stop the rampant smuggling of Indian cancer drugs to China as prices will come down.

"Pharma companies in general and Indian Pharma companies in particular have struggled to get their products approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) which is the first step in commercialisation of products. Pharmaceuticals can only be imported and sold in China if they are registered with CFDA," Viswanath said.

The announcement by China to import Indian drugs need to be "followed up with a more specific bilateral arrangement between China and India", he said.

This is necessary as quality pharmaceutical products which are at very affordable prices are given fast-track approvals in CFDA.

"This could save China significant healthcare costs and also help the suffering Chinese patients to pay out of their own pocket for the treatment," he said.The President said that International Nurses Day is an occasion for the entire nursing community to remember Florence Nightingale and renew their commitment to her ideals.

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the International Nurses Day Celebrations organised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in New Delhi on May 12, 2018.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that International Nurses Day is an occasion for the entire nursing community to remember Florence Nightingale and renew their commitment to her ideals. Florence Nightingale had established nursing as a service to humanity. She motivated nurses to follow the path of dedication, commitment and compassion.

The President noted that at present, there are 1.7 nurses per 1,000 people in India, but the world average is 2.5 nurses. He stated that in the past few years, the number of institutions for nursing education has increased. As a result, the number of registered nurses and other health workers had crossed 27 lakh till March 2017. But this number is not sufficient because the need for nurses is growing.

The President said that the nursing community has a vital role in keeping our country healthy. A nurse who is helping a patient, in a remote village, in fighting a serious illness is a nation-builder. The nursing community serves the people with devotion and commitment and the entire nation is grateful for this.To appreciate nurse dedication, contribution and efforts, Wockhardt Hospitals celebrated International Nurses day at all its facilities

Nurse, forefront of patient care, plays a key role in all the medical institutions, with continuous nurturing and care for safety and recovery of patients. To appreciate their dedication, contribution and efforts, Wockhardt Hospitals celebrated International Nurses day at all its facilities.

Every year, International Nurses Day is celebrated across the world on May 12 as a tribute to Florence Nightingale. The theme for this years International Nurses Day chosen by International Council of Nurses (ICN) was Nurses A Voice to Lead  Health is a Human right.

Various interactive programmes like theme based slogan competition, Group selfie competition on happy moments, sari draping, fancy hairstyle, cultural activities, cake cutting, etc. were organised at all Wockhardt Hospitals for the nursing staff.

To recognise the significant contributions made by nurses, they were rewarded with gold coins. Also, a session on Ergonomics, Stress Management was arranged for the nurses.

An active participation from nursing staff was observed during the celebration that took place across all facilities of Wockhardt Hospitals: Vashi, Mira Road, Rajkot, Nagpur, Nashik, and Surat.Cannes 2018: Mahira Khan Ups The Glam Quotient In Everyday Wear Bollywood Wardrobe Devika

The first Pakistani actress to be invited for the Festival De Cannes, Mahira Khan has surprised us all with her stunning photoshoots. The diva has come well prepared for the film festival and is definitely taking the internet by storm.

She is ditching the usual dresses and instead seen glamorising everyday wears such as jumpsuits, high-waist trousers, and separates like a pro. She looks so believable and this is what is making her stand apart from the fellow divas including Kangana, Deepika, and Huma.

Well, the 'Raees' actress certainly makes us want to go shopping and buy trendy outfits like hers. We are so blown away by her sartorial sense that we want to decode our three favourite looks from her day two at Cannes 2018.

1. The Psychedelic Jumpsuit

The muted space suddenly became lively as Mahira sat casually on the wooden chair with an intrigued expression on her face. Her vibrant jumpsuit by Leonard Paris spoke volumes as she accessorized her look with delicate nature-inspired earrings. Mahira's ivory button-down attire featured psychedelic purple, blue, green, and orange prints and a spread collar. She finished and contrasted her vivacious look with brown block heels.

2. The Vibrant Canary Yellow Top

Mahira Khan really knows how to carry the brightest colours with aplomb. She gave us a break from pretty dresses as she donned a canary yellow off-shoulder top and paired it with a navy blue high-waist flared trousers. Not just that, she actually accentuated her attire with a great subtlety by donning a creamy white belt. Her Christian Louboutin black pumps were knock out and a much-needed golden danglers completed her look. And she had let her hair fly wildly!

3. The Refreshing Dupatta

Mahira was a breath of fresh air in her Elan outfit. Posing against the sublime backdrop of deep blue sea, she looked like a dream in an all-white halter neck top and palazzo pants. However, it was her beautifully embroidered royal blue dupatta with floral accents that enhanced her look. She casually draped it on her shoulder and made quite a statement. Her dainty danglers were bang on! Her neatly tied bun complemented her attire.

Simple yet chic, Mahira's fashion game is so on the point. She has brought rejuvenating and uplifting style to French Riviera, and is surely a fashionista in the making. What do you think about Mahira Khan's photoshoots? Let us know via the comments section.By Brian Keegan

You would think it would be obvious, whether a person is an employee or self-employed. So why should the employment minister be running a campaign to raise awareness about false self-employment in Ireland?

The key reason is PRSI. Whether youre self-employed or an employee, for most people, 4% of their earnings goes in PRSI  a pay-related social insurance which determines what kind of social welfare benefits you can receive.

But employers pay 10.85% additional PRSI for employees, which is not payable in the case of a self-employed worker. Put that into cash terms, for an employee on a salary of 45,000, the employer must pay PRSI of 4,882 adding up to a total cost for the employer of nearly 50,000.

PRSI differs from tax in that you get something back directly related to your contribution  the clue being in the pay related social bit.

While many see PRSI as yet another government-imposed burden many people felt the absence of PRSI benefits during the downturn when small businesses went bust and their owners had no entitlement to jobseekers benefit.

Employees and their employers pay PRSI and that gives them entitlements to jobseekers benefit, along with other State benefits such as illness benefit and occupational injuries benefit. The self-employed dont have these entitlements.

Thats because the self-employed pay PRSI at 4%, whereas employers pay up to 10.85% on top of what their employees pay in PRSI. The logic is simple.

The large amount of PRSI which employers have to pay on behalf of their employees can be a reason for employers preferring to take on self-employed contractors rather than hiring employed staff directly.

There are other reasons too which are not related to PRSI rules but to employment law, for instance, entitlement to holiday pay. Despite these considerations, there is no fixed definition of when someone is employed or self-employed.

Instead, the authorities look to the precedents established in previous cases for guidance where it is unclear whether or not someone is employed or self-employed.

The guiding principles for determining employment or self-employment for PRSI purposes were set out over 20 years ago in a case which involved supermarket demonstrators  the people in the aisles who hand out free samples to promote a particular product or brand.

Some of them had work contracts which specifically said they were not employees, but the judges (and this one went all the way to the Supreme Court) maintained that whatever their contracts said, it was not enough.

Instead, you have to take account of how independent the workers were, whether they could appoint substitutes, whether they used their own tools and clothing, and how their performance impacted on how much they might be paid.

There has to be an element of commercial risk for someone to be truly self-employed.

While self-employment doesnt suit everyone, it has many advantages. These include greater flexibility over working time, opportunities for increasing income and for many, the incomparable benefit of being your own boss.

This is where the current Government campaign falls down, with its emphasis on false self-employment. It misses the potential of true self-employment and the contribution of the sector to the economy and society in general.

It seems the current campaign could be motivated by civil service concerns over control and the collection of PRSI.

If so, it would be in the spirit of an earlier study on problems with the application of PRSI to the self-employed, which suggested that people should pay more PRSI.

But Minister Regina Doherty was quick to dismiss those findings in February, pointing out she was more interested in extending rights to self-employed people.

Vulnerable workers need PRSI and employment law protections.

That should not be at the expense of promoting entrepreneurship, which is driven most often by the true self-employed.

Brian Keegan is director of public policy and taxation at Chartered Accountants IrelandBy Ruth Doris

Universities around the country provide much-needed support to budding entrepreneurs through incubator and accelerator programmes.

However, there is a gap between that initial funding and the startups going on to receive venture capital investment. Thats where Unifund comes in.

Founder Zack Dutton says Unifund is the next step in the startup journey, providing seed funding and bridging the gap between the college incubator and private equity investment.

Student talent is highly regarded in the corporate world, but undervalued in the startup scene, Mr Dutton says. Unifunds mission is to have fledgling entrepreneurs use their talent to start a business, instead of doing an internship in a bank.

Unifund has linked up with the Trinity Entrepreneurial Society which Mr Dutton says is the largest entrepreneur society in Europe. Instead of launching a marketing campaign to generate leads, Unifund sponsors the society, so the money goes to the students, allowing the process to happen organically.

Since setting up in March 2017, Unifund has had over 600 applications.

So far, Mr Dutton and his business partner David McGuinness have self-funded the company.

Much of the capital comes from Mr Duttons other companies  record label Revive Records which he started at 16, and music promotions business Bad Apple. Unifund provides seed investment, taking equity from the startups that it supports.

Mr Dutton says this model has elicited some raised eyebrows in the startup scene, where the typical practice for college incubators is that investment is funded through sponsorship from corporate partners.

However, he says by taking equity they are showing they are taking companies seriously.

The businesses that Unifund invests in are at a super-early stage. Each case is different, and Unifund doesnt impose set conditions.

Every case is completely different. Of the businesses weve invested in to- date, some are revenue-generating, and some are just an idea; you cant treat those two things the same way.

Unifund is running a three-month programme this summer for three startups as part of a partnership with Huckletree, a co-working space in Dublin and London.

The inaugural programme is full-time, and packages are tailored to the needs of the startup, with specific mentors for specific businesses. Funding and office space are also included.

While Unifund is hands-off about what the startups do with the money (they can pay themselves a salary if they want), Mr Dutton says that as investors Unifund is very involved.

Its going to be a very proactive programme, rather than a bunch of students sitting in a corner with whatever investment they get, he says.

Though applications are now closed, Unifund is open all year to applications for general investment.

Unifund bases its investment decisions on the teams experience working with the startups in the college incubators.

Its not that we see an application and say yes or no, its a longer process than that, he says, because the team is more important than the idea. If you dont trust the person, if you dont think they can deliver, the business doesnt have an opportunity at all, according to Mr Dutton.

By the end of this month, Unifund will have invested in six startups. The diverse group includes Recroot, a video-based recruitment platform; Make A Mark which makes a sheep marking gun; Campus Advs, an on-campus advertising service for brands; and Applaud Events which simplifies the process of booking performers.

Unifund works with Trinity College-founded private equity consultancy business, One16 Partners, which connects student startups based in universities in the UK and Ireland with potential investors.

One16 Partners has ambassadors at most university campuses in UK and Ireland.By Sarah-Jane Murphy

Anglo Irish Banks share price dropped by almost 50% following the release of its preliminary year end figures for 2008, a jury has heard.

Eamon Hughes, a financial analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers, said the bank's share price fell from 0.94c at opening on December 3rd, to 0.48c at close of business on December 4th 2008.

Mr Hughes was giving evidence on day 74 of David Drumm's conspiracy to defraud trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

David Drumm (51) of Skerries, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion larger than they were.

The former Anglo CEO has also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2 billion larger than they were.

Today Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, asked what would have happened to Anglo's loan to deposit ratio if the 7.2bn transaction with Irish Life and Permanent was deducted from total deposits figure.

It would make the ratio go up, Mr Hughes said.

The witness told the jury that this ratio was a key metric used by investors when analysing the strength of a company.

He said any increase in the loan to deposit ratio would be interpreted by the market as a little bit concerning.

Mr Hughes said he attended Anglo's offices on the morning of December 3rd for the presentation of results.

He said he listened to David Drumm and other senior Anglo executives provide commentary on the figures.

The presentation provides an important input into how we as analysts think about a company, he said.

He said following publication of the preliminary results to the stock market at 7am, Goodbody produced a first glance for investors at 8am, before compiling a more detailed forecast.

The jury viewed a section of Goodbody's report entitled Thoughts on Results.

We would be a little bit nervous on the upswing in the loan to deposit ratio. This may dominate sentiment towards the results today. Anglos objective is to get this down to 100% within three years, it read.

During cross examination he agreed with Bernard Condon SC, defending, that Anglo suffered a very significant loss when its share price dropped from 94c to 67c in a single day on December 3.

He agreed with Mr Condon that there was grave concern about Anglo's ability to survive and that newspaper reports that day noted shares had slumped to their lowest level in 11 years.

It was very traumatic, Mr Hughes replied.

When asked by Mr Condon if he agreed that Anglo's results were disappointing, he replied that they were behind expectations.

It wouldn't be inappropriate to say they were ravaged? Mr Condon asked

It was quite significant, Mr Hughes replied.

Mr Hughes agreed with Mr Condon that the loan to deposit ratio was just one of a number of metrics used by investors.

Mr Condon referred to his statement to gardai in which the witness said there was no optimum loan to deposit ratio and it represented just one variable.

Mr Drumm accepts that the multi-million euro transactions took place in between Anglo and ILP in 2008 but disputes that they were fraudulent or dishonest.

The trial is now in its fifteenth week and continues before Judge Karen O'Connor and a jury of ten men and four women.

Judge O'Connor told the jury that the prosecution's case was now very close to conclusion.By Patrick Flynn

The body of a British soldier executed and buried in Co Clare almost 100 years ago has been exhumed and will be reburied in Dublin.

18-year-old Private George Duff Chalmers was a member of the 2nd Battalion of the British Armys Royal Scots based in Clare during the during the War of Independence.

He died on June 10, 1921 at Drumbaun, Co Clare after, its believed, he was captured and executed by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Early today, representatives of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), working alongside the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Clare County Council, exhumed the remains of Pvt Chalmers from a site near Miltown Malbay. Gardai also attended the exhumation.

Pvt Chamlers' remains were taken to Ennistymon Church where a brief prayer service was held outside. He will be reburied at Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin while a rededication ceremony will take place later this year.

A spokeswoman for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) said: In 2017 the CWGC was contacted by the family of Private Chalmers who enquired about the possible relocation of his remains to an alternative location. CWGC identified that as the current location was difficult to access and maintain, relocation of the remains would be possible.

The CWGC is responsible for commemorating the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, including the building and maintenance of cemeteries and memorials across the world.

War graves from the First World War located in Ireland are managed on CWGC behalf by the Office of Public Works (OPW).

Private Chalmers had been with soldiers travelling to Moughna in a convoy of four lorries and is thought to have jumped from one of the trucks in the area of Lavoureen. It is believed he was on his way to visit a girl he had been seeing. It is thought he was soon captured by two members of the IRA and brought before a group of local IRA officers.

During his interrogation, he refused to give his name or any other information. He was subsequently court-martialed by the IRA executed on suspicion of being a spy on an intelligence-gathering mission.

The story became a part of folklore in the area. Locals had been told not to cut turf in the bog as a British soldier had been buried there.

However, some turf cutters dismissed the story as an old wives tale until the 1950s when a group of young men accidentally stumbled across what were believed to be Private Chalmers remains.

It is understood that they quickly reburied the remains and went cutting turf elsewhere. The grave was later marked with a cross while, about 20 years ago, an inscribed slab was also placed at the site.by Ruaidhri Giblin

A man who sexually assaulted two sleeping teenage girls at separate house parties has lost an appeal against the severity of his three year jail term.

Christopher Twohig (24), of Banteer West, Co Cork, had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl while she appeared to be asleep at a house party in Cork in 2011 and sexually assaulting a 19-year-old girl who had gone to sleep in a room on her own in Cork in 2014.

He was sentenced to four years imprisonment with the final year suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court by Judge Sean O Donnabhain on June 23, 2017. Judge O Donnabhain imposed a concurrent 12 month jail term for the first offence on the same occasion.

Twohig lost an appeal against his sentence today with the Court of Appeal holding that his sentence was arguably lenient.

Giving judgment in the three-judge court, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the first assault occurred at a house party in Cork when the victim was aged 15 and Twohig 18 or 19.

The victim had gone to the house where she knew the tenants and decided to stay overnight. She had gone to sleep on the couch where Twohig partially removed her clothing and touched her breasts and penetrated her vagina.

It lasted about fifteen minutes and the girl pretended to be asleep for fear of Twohigs reaction if he discovered she was awake and conscious, the judge said.

The second offence occurred at another dwelling in Cork where the victim, aged 19 while Twohig was 22, was staying overnight with friends and had gone to sleep in a room on her own.

She awoke to find Twohig beside her digitally penetrating her. She got up and left and made a complaint to gardai the following day.

Mr Justice Mahon said Twohig fully admitted his involvement in both offences and cooperated with the gardai in their investigation. He pleaded guilty at an early stage and was genuinely remorseful.

The sentencing judge said the second offence was alarming because of its similarity to the first offence three years earlier.

Opposing the appeal, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Imelda Kelly BL, said an effective sentence of three years for two sexual assaults on two separate women within a three year period was not disproportionate and not out of kilter with the norm.

Mr Justice Mahon said the four year sentence was arguably lenient. He said a five year sentence with a greater suspended element than the 25% afforded here, would not have been out of place.

He said the overall custodial period of three years was certainly not excessive and the Court of Appeal could not identify an error in principle.

Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the appeal was therefore dismissed.Gardai say they're investigating an assault on a Dublin Bus driver in Greystones.

Mobile phone footage appears to show the driver being violently punched in the face while in his cab.

Dublin Bus says it happened earlier this month on the 184, which was traveling to Newtownmountkennedy.

The company says it's passed on CCTV footage to Gardai, who were called to the scene.

- Digital deskUpdate: 5.58pm: Ireland and the EU's negotiating team are of one mind on insisting there can be no Brexit withdrawal treaty without a deal on the border, the Tanaiste has said.

Simon Coveney called again for legal certainty on maintaining a free-flowing frontier between north and south after meeting with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.

His comments came as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused Brexiteers who claim a soft border can be maintained by using technology alone of serving up "fantastical non-starters".

Last December, the UK and EU agreed the need for a "backstop" option that would ensure no return of a hard border - through an alignment of regulations across the island - even if a wider Brexit trade deal failed to materialise.

Positive meeting with @MichelBarnier again today. We r united in seeking substantial progress by June with UK on Irish Border Backstop text. There can be no EU/UK Withdrawal Treaty without a Backstop, as has been agreed in March by both UK + EU. pic.twitter.com/qso6x6BuXK  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) May 14, 2018

The UK rejected a subsequent attempt by the EU to translate that agreement into legally operable text in a proposed withdrawal treaty. A political stand-off has ensued over the vexed issue.

After talks with Mr Barnier, Tanaiste Mr Coveney again stressed the need for the backstop to be resolved ahead of June's crunch European Council summit.

"Michel Barnier has made it very clear, and I agree with him, that there will be no withdrawal treaty if there isn't a backstop dealing with the Irish border in that treaty," he said.

The Irish government is hopeful a comprehensive resolution could lie in the concept of shared customs territory.

Mr Coveney has suggested Theresa May's vision of a partnership - where the UK collects tariffs on behalf of Brussels - could provide the basis for negotiating a solution.

(PA Graphics)

However, the UK cabinet is at odds on the issue. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has branded the Prime Minister's idea "crazy" and he and other detractors of the partnership concept instead contend that new technology and trusted trader schemes can provide for smooth cross-border trading.

Mr Coveney said: "Nobody is saying everything has to be resolved by the end of June but we certainly need to see a solution on the Irish border backstop issue taking shape by the end of June.

"There is no flexibility on two things - one, there has to be backstop in the withdrawal agreement.

"If there isn't a backstop there won't be a withdrawal agreement.

"And, secondly, that backstop has to deal comprehensively with the border issue.

"In other words, it has to follow through on the commitment that has been made (in December's joint text) on there being no infrastructure or no related checks or controls on the island of Ireland."

Back in Belfast, Sinn Fein President Ms McDonald accused Brexiteers in the UK government of "playing games" and stalling for time.

Almost two years after the #Brexit vote we need no more stalling, no more play acting and no name calling. We need to hear solutions to Brexit from British Gov. @MaryLouMcDonald pic.twitter.com/ooUdqt9FN3  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) May 14, 2018

She insisted a firm resolution to the border problem had to be struck by June.

"I think June now needs to be understood by all parties to this negotiation, but by the British Government in particular, as a red letter occasion and an occasion on which we need answers," she said.

Mrs McDonald also accused the Democratic Unionists of betraying the people of Ireland, north and south.

Her remarks came after DUP MP Sammy Wilson branded Mr Coveney "belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing" for advocating the EU/UK shared customs territory concept.

On Sunday Mr Wilson claimed the Irish government was attempting to undermine Northern Ireland's position within the UK.

"The DUP have failed the people, they are on the wrong side of the Brexit argument, they have betrayed people, they have betrayed people's best economic and social interests," said Ms McDonald.

"And the bluster and the huffing and puffing, the very infantile name calling that we have heard again, is simply deployed by them as cover for their own political failures."

Elsewhere on Monday, the Ulster Unionists branded the Irish government's stance as "ridiculous".

"We have heard the Irish Government spend the last number of months lecturing on what won't work as a resolution to the post-Brexit border issue, but have heard little from them in terms of constructive proposals," said UUP Assembly member Steve Aiken.

"The reality is that if they are serious about protecting the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic from the sharpest edges of Brexit, rather than just narrow minded pre-electioneering, then they must engage with the UK on the issue.

"To continue simply rejecting proposals out of hand is ridiculous."

DUP MEP Diane Dodds criticised Ms McDonald's remarks.

"We take our direction and mandate from those who elected us to office, not from the Sinn Fein leadership," she said.

"By refusing to take up their seats in the House of Commons Sinn Fein representatives would rather address the empty corridors of Stormont than represent their constituents at Westminster and make their case directly.

"Ultimately it is this that amounts to a 'reckless' and 'cavalier' approach to the concerns of people living across Northern Ireland, including those in border communities."

Update: 1.35pm: Minister optimistic of Brexit progress before EU summit

The Minister for European Affairs is optimistic that there will be substantial progress on Brexit before June's EU summit.

Helen McEntee is in Brussels today with Tanaiste Simon Coveney for a meeting of the General Affairs Council.

It comes as the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier continues to express concern about the lack of progress made by the UK on the border issue.

Minister McEntee says there is still time for developments, as no one thought last year that this much progress would have been made.

"What we do know and what we welcome is the fact that the UK government has consistently said that they also want the closest possible relationship with the EU, that is our first and foremost priority," Ms McEntee said.

Of course, we need the Irish backstop in place in case that does not happen.

Earlier - Tanaiste: 'Ireland's problems have now become the EU's problems'

Ireland's problems have become the EU's problems when it comes to Brexit, according to the Tanaiste.

Simon Coveney is meeting the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels this morning.

That meeting comes before he joins Junior European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee for the General Affairs Council meeting on Brexit negotiations ahead of the EU summit in June.

Simon Coveney says he expects progress to be made.

"I think people will expect to see the shape of that emerging by the end of June, particularly on dfficult issues like the Irish border issue, like protecting the Good Friday Agreement, like ensuring the Irish peace process remains protected," he said.

I can assure people that Michel Barnier is absolutely with us on this issue, and Ireland's problems have now become the EU's problems.

Digital DeskHealth care staff in Northern Ireland are uncertain and concerned about the ability to retain and hire EU colleagues post-Brexit.

Nurses and doctors who live across the border but currently work in the region are "anxious" and want reassurance, the findings of a workforce engagement exercise found.

The feedback was among the key findings of an initiative undertaken to help inform a new strategy for health care staff in Northern Ireland.

The plan to modernise workplace policies and procedures is designed to accompany the ongoing programme of reform of health service delivery in Northern Ireland.

The Workforce Strategy 2026: Delivering for Our People, which was launched today, has a stated ambition to address challenges with supply, recruitment and retention of staff.

In regard to Brexit, one of the strategy's objectives is: "Take account of and plan for the workforce implications arising from the UK's exit from the EU and the subsequent implications for the EU/EEA (European Economic Area) and non-EU/EEA workforce."

Northern Ireland Department of Health permanent secretary Richard Pengelly said: "Health and social care colleagues work tirelessly to provide the care needed by patients and other service users.

The system could not run without the skill, dedication and commitment of our talented, hard-working colleagues, across all disciplines, professions and levels.

"We therefore owe it to them, and to the people of Northern Ireland, to address the workforce issues that need to be fixed. And we need to ensure that we aren't just fixing the problems from 2006 or 2016. We need to look forward to 2026.

More than 122,000 people work in health and social care in Northern Ireland, including the public, private and voluntary sectors. Around 2.3bn a year is spent employing those who work in the public sector.By Gordon Deegan

Plans for a large-scale mosque in West Dublin have been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanala in spite of local opposition.

The board has given the green light to the Shuhada Foundation of Ireland for the four storey mosque, community centre, and primary school on the site of Warrenstown House, a former HSE facility in Blanchardstown.

Dr Taufiq al-Sattar, a Dublin-based neurosurgeon, pledged to build the mosque in memory of his late wife Shehnila Taufiq who died along with their daughter Zainab (19), and sons Bilal (17) and Jamal (15) in an arson attack in Leicester, England, in September 2013.

The plan is to also include a halal shop and a barbers.

The appeals board has given the ambitious plan the go-ahead after finding that the proposal would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or property in the vicinity and not give rise to a traffic hazard.

The board gave the plan the go ahead after its own Senior Planning Inspector, Karla McBride recommended that planning permission be granted at the end of a 35-page report.

Ms McBride said that the minaret - which calls Muslims to prayer - will be a high slender steel cylindrical structure with the Crescent cut out at the top of the Minaret.

Last year Fingal Co Council gave the plan the go-ahead, but this was appealed by Ashbourne, Co Meath resident, Patrick Regan on noise pollution, traffic congestion and lack of public consultation grounds.

Mr Regan was a former local resident but his concerns were amplified by a number of other locals who lodged observations, and one petition, with the appeals board outlining their opposition against the plan.

They expressed concerns over a number of issues including the visual and noise impacts of minarets; excessive scale, overdevelopment and unsustainable development; lack of integration with the local community and creative of an exclusive community.

In response, Fingal Co Council told the appeals board in a submission that the minarets will not be visually obtrusive and any potential noise disturbance will be controlled by planning condition.

The Council also stated that the applicant has indicated that the school and community centre will be open to everyone.

Plans for the development, which would be one of the largest mosques in Ireland, were first lodged with the council in 2016.

However, they were substantially revised and scaled down last year after the council raised concerns about the scale of the development.

In his appeal, Mr Regan stated that Dublin 15 was one of the largest and most welcoming multi-cultural communities in the county and understand the need to be provided with opportunities for worship and may require their own place of worship.

He added: However the large scale and size of this project represents a major regional religious and cultural centre which will serve a huge area.

He said that the centre would generate huge potential traffic congestion and parking issues, as well as noise pollution.

He said: The call to pray can often start as early as 5.30am and the last call to pray at 9pm causing noise pollution with up to 150 worshipers attending at any one time during normal day prayers without the celebration of Ramadan and other social events.

The new purpose-built mosque will be financed from Dr al-Sattars family fund, his life savings, and donations from the Muslim community in Leicester. He also has plans to fundraise among the medical community in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.By Louise Roseingrave

A baby boy died due to a tear in the umbilical cord that formed minutes before he was born, an inquest heard. Baby Casey Lynch Byrne from Tallaght, Dublin 24 was unresponsive at birth at the Coombe Hospital, Dublin on July 10, 2016. The cause of his death was described as "exceptionally rare".

At an inquest into his death at Dublin Coroner's Court, midwives described a large clot that covered the baby's legs at birth.

The clot was delivered with baby when he was born at 3.54am. His mother Sabrina Lynch, aged 36 at the time, had been examined upon arrival at the Coombe 44 minutes earlier and found to be in active labour.

She had a history of gestational diabetes and shoulder dystocia, where the delivery of the babys shoulder may require manipulation.

Midwives last detected a foetal heartbeat at 3.45am, minutes before active pushing began in the delivery suite. Ten minutes later an emergency team of paediatricians arrived to treat the infant, who was born pale and not breathing.

The baby was resuscitated and took his first spontaneous breath 16 minutes after birth. However, he had suffered significant brain damage.

Pathologist Dr Peter Kelehan said the child suffered an "unexplained, unpreventable natural occurrence that was exceptionally rare".

The cause of death was acute hypovolemic shock due to blood loss as a consequence of a spontaneous tear in the umbilical vein. The torn vein was situated in the umbilical cord, which was attached to the margins of the placenta, which occurs in around 15% of pregnancies.

A cord attached to the edge of the placenta can leave it more vulnerable to injury, the court heard.

The placenta is the life support system for the baby and this continues for the full nine months of pregnancy. The best attachment for the cord is in the middle of the placenta. In baby Caseys case it was attached to the margin, which is around 15% of pregnancies, Dr Kelehan said.

The tear, which was unexplained, could have resulted from the babys own movements, the inquest heard.

Babies can kick very hard and sometimes bruise the placenta. The baby has no sensation of hurting its placenta when it kicks it. The baby normally wouldnt kick through a vessel like this. But the vessel was in a vulnerable place, Dr Kelehan said.

As the bleed from the tear had formed a clot, Dr Kelehan said it may have happened around 10 or 15 minutes prior to delivery.

Baby Casey suffered significant brain damage due to a lack of oxygen. His parents were informed of the gravity of the situation and he was pronounced dead in their company at 10.35am on the day of his birth.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane returned a verdict of death due to natural causes.

Its very tragic. He was a perfect little baby boy and something happened in the moments before delivery which tragically he was unable to recover from, Dr Cullinane said.The 'Together for Yes' campaign bring their super-canvas to the midlands today.

It is the eighth day of their national tour.

Co-director Ailbhe Smyth says they are working hard to engage with undecided voters.

"We have two big stops today," she said.

"The first one is in Mullingar this morning, where we will be between 11 and 2.30.

"We're doing a stall and a street canvas and there'll be photos and the admobile will be there.

"Later on in the afternoon motoring on to Tullamore where we will arrive around 4pm and again there's going to be a grand street stall and a canvas."

Meanwhile, doctors and nurses opposed to repealing the 8th amendment are holding a conference in the capital this morning.

They are meeting at Buswell's Hotel in Dublin's city centre to outline what impact they believe repeal would have on the Health Service.

The conference will discuss the Government's proposals and what it claims is the Health Minister's lack of consultation ahead of the referendum on May 25.

The GPs say that the Government is fatally over-estimating the impact of abortion pills in delivering the abortions that will be required, and points out that in the UK, almost 40% of all abortions before 12 weeks are surgical. They say this would translate to about 2,000 surgical abortions in Ireland in the first year of a new law.

Minister Harris has thus far not consulted doctors or nurses about how the law would work, and those speaking today say this is a fatal oversight.

Digital DeskTwo women who pleaded guilty to killing a man by suffocating him with a plastic bag have been sentenced to six years in prison.

Anna Marie Pezzillo (35), of no fixed abode, and Rachel Comiskey (35), with an address at Dodsboro Cottages, Lucan pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ian Quinn (32) at Annally Grove, Ongar, Dublin 15 between May 30 and 31, 2014.

Their pleas were accepted by the State on March 5 last and Justice Patrick McCarthy sentenced them today at the Central Criminal Court.

He said the mitigating factors in the case are their guilty pleas and interviews they gave to gardai detailing what happened on the night Mr Quinn lost his life.

The women told gardai that they had been drinking heavily and taking drugs. A fight broke out and they put the bag over Mr Quinn's head to frighten him.

Justice McCarthy sentenced Ms Pezzillo to eight years with two suspended and Ms Comiskey to six years with none suspended.

He said he was giving Ms Pezillo a longer sentence as she has 112 previous convictions and has shown "that over many years she was a person who had no respect at all or capacity to obey the law."

The final two years of Ms Pezillo's sentence will be suspended on the condition that she abide by the directions of the probation services, abstain from illegal drugs and submit to any drug treatment programme recommended by the probation service.

Anna Marie Pezzillo

Both sentences were backdated to when they first went into custody.

Before delivering his sentence, Justice McCarthy said the deceased had a relationship with Comiskey for about 12 years.

He was a person who had advantages in life but he took a wrong turn at an early age, causing trouble for his family.

His lifestyle involved the use of drugs and alcohol and he lived on the streets or in homeless accommodation from time to time.

However, he added, his family's trauma at his death has not been diminished by the fact his life did not adhere to the standards they would have hoped for.

He noted that Pezillo had 112 previous convictions while Ms Comiskey has 12, all of which were dealt with at District Court level.

He explained that sentencing is not an exercise in vengeance and that the factors he must consider are the need to punish the offender, set a deterrant both for society in general and the convicted persons, and to provide for rehabilitation.

He added:

People do not lose their humanity because they have committed a serious crime.

He added that the two-year suspension of Pezillo's sentence would help her to be reintroduced into society.

Sentence hearing

During a sentence hearing last month, the Court heard that Pezillo and Comiskey emerged from the flat at Annally Grove in the early hours of May 31, 2014 and got a passerby to call emergency services.

When emergency services arrived Mr Quinn's body, cold and showing signs of rigor mortis, was in a bedroom dressed in boxer shorts.

At the scene one of the women said, "We had a bag over his head," and when they spoke to gardai at the scene they said they had been drinking vodka for two days and taking tranquillisers.

Comiskey told gardai that Mr Quinn was "swinging me around the place" and that they put a bag over his head and said: "How do you like it?"

Comiskey also said that she put holes in the bag to allow him to breathe and both women maintained that they hadn't intended to kill him but wanted to frighten him.

Rachel Comiskey

The two women were arrested and questioned but subsequently released from custody.

Shortly afterwards an article appeared on the front page of the Sunday World newspaper in which Pezillo admitted her role in the killing.

She said all three of them had been drinking and taking tablets and fell asleep. When they woke up Mr Quinn had wet himself and Comiskey took his jeans and top off.

Mr Quinn became annoyed and a fight broke out. Pezillo thought Mr Quinn was going to hit Comiskey so she intervened but was struck in the face.

They put two bags over his head and said to him: "How do you like it." She said they did it for "just a few seconds" and afterwards they thought he had passed out.

The two women went to bed and when they woke up they realised he was dead and called emergency services. She said they did not intend to kill him.

In interviews with gardai Pezillo accepted that what was said in the article was largely true, although she felt some of it was exaggerated.

Both women wrote letters to the court expressing their remorse for the killing.

Michael Bowman SC for Pezillo said that she had drunk four bottles of vodka and taken tablets and that when they put the bags over the deceased's head their intention was to frighten, not kill.

His client started taking drugs aged 13 and was living rough by the age of 18.

He pointed out that State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy had said that deaths by suffocation from plastic bags leave no trace.

Therefore the statements made by Pezillo were of critical importance to the prosecution.

Professor Cassidy's report stated that the cause of death was "undetermined".

In her letter Pezillo said she feels remorse, sorrow and shame for what she did and if she could swap places with Ian, she would.

Tara Burns SC for Comiskey told the court that her client had a very good family and had opportunities but took a wrong track in her teens, began drinking and quickly moved on to tablets and then heroin.

Her mother wrote to the court to describe the difficulties the family suffered because of her poor behaviour and drug taking.

However, she has made improvements in prison and has undergone a dramatic improvement in her outlook on life.

In her letter to the court she said she wanted to express her remorse to the Quinn family, her own family and to the gardai.

She said that she met Ian at a bus stop on O'Connell Street when she was 18 and loved him ever since.My names Will Capers. For almost nine years, Ive blogged on various topics. I blogged as Blaque Ink first, and as Brotha Wolf second. The latter had a mu...

2 years agoIs it really just three years since Andy Penn took the top job at Telstra? It must seem like much longer for investors who have now torched $38 billion as the competitive advantage of Sol Trujillos big spend starts to sputter.

Illustration: John Shakespeare

The good news for Telstras Andy Penn on Monday was that the telcos share price did not sink below the $3 mark after the company pushed out its latest profit downgrade.

The stock has not plumbed these depths since September 2011.

And it has now more than halved since Penn to control.The scene has been set for a takeover battle for Healthscope after Canada's Brookfield Asset Management lobbed a $4.35 billion bid for the nation's second biggest private hospital provider.

The new $2.50-a-share bid, which was unveiled on Monday morning, represents a 1.2 per cent premium to Healthscope's last close on Friday and a 23.2 per cent premium to its closing price before it received the $4.11 billion offer from BGH Capital and its consortium partners last month.

At a headline level the Brookfield bid is $240 million more than the private equity led offer that was presented in April.

CEO of Healthscope Gordon Ballantyne. Credit:Pat Scala

Brookfield planned to let existing Healthscope shareholders invest alongside it in a privatised Healthscope, potentially giving them a significant minority position in the company, Healthscope said in a statement.Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook waded into divisive political topics such as gun control and immigration during a commencement speech while continuing his criticisms of internet companies over a lack of user privacy.

Tim Cook has been a vocal critiic of Facebook and Google. Credit:AP

Speaking at Duke University, where he graduated from business school 30 years ago, Cook urged the students to reject the status quo and be fearless.

"Fearless like the students of Parkland, Florida, who refuse to be silent about the epidemic of gun violence and have rallied millions to their cause," Cook said to rousing applause.

"Fearless like the women who say 'metoo' and 'Time's Up.' Women who cast light into dark places and move us to a more just and equal future. Fearless like those who fight for the rights of immigrants, who understand that our only hope for the future is one that embraces all who want to contribute."Eurovision's love-in with Australia appears to be over. The novelty has worn off. Fans gave Jessica Mauboy's grand final performance a cold reception. Of the 26 nations competing in the final, Mauboy received the lowest public vote.

Sure we may not be a part of Europe geographically but with much shared history, our multicultural make-up and the fact we have a European flag on our own flag and a European monarch as our head of state, one might argue we have more ties to Europe than the 2018 winner Israel. But that all counted for little on the weekend.

We should get the message and look closer to home for our annual kitsch music fix.

Since 2016, discussions have been underway between the European Broadcasting Union and SBS to bring Eurovision to Asia. The official marketing website states "with its brilliant pop stars, its glamorous fashion and a huge passion for pop music, Asia and Eurovision are made for each other".It cost around $250,000 to save my daughters life. Thats just the hospital bills. It doesnt include psychiatric and counselling expenses, fuel costs to drive the 300km round trip three times a week from the South Coast of NSW to Sydney to visit her while she was in hospital, the accommodation costs for when I was too tired to drive home, or the pharmaceutical accounts every month.

Keeli Cambourne and her daughter Molly.

When Molly was eventually diagnosed with an eating disorder, I was under the misapprehension that wed be able to fix the problem quickly and easily.

But within two weeks of her diagnosis I had tapped into the mortgage to pay $20,000 up front for the first four-week private hospital stay. Before she was admitted, I had to prove that I had the funds to cover the treatment.

We couldnt wait for a public hospital bed to be made available. I was terrified, my daughter was dying, and I would have sold the house and everything I owned if I had too.Eddie Woo never won at cards as a kid. But step into his classroom now, with aces flying and decks changing hands, and you might think you've wandered into a magic show.

"Nothing in maths or magic is ever a coincidence," he told his rapt audience at Hawker College in Canberra on Monday.

Eddie Woo (centre) made a special visit to a group of Hawker College students, including Diana Morton, 16 (left), and Hulieo Anderson, 17 (right). Credit:Jamila Toderas

The "rockstar" teacher is touring Australia to "make maths cool again" after being named this year's Local Hero at the Australian of the Year Awards.

First stop in the capital was the specialist maths class at Hawker, where Year 11 and 12 students tried their hand at solving equations with cards.A contractor on a $300-million ACT government project has been accused of wage theft, claims the company strongly denies.

The construction union had launched action in the Fair Work Commission against Dale and Hitchcock Civil Engineering and Landscaping, which has been engaged to complete the groundworks on the London Circuit project.

CFMMEU ACT secretary Jason O'Mara at a snap protest outside the ACT Legislative Assembly.

A snap public protest at the worksite on Monday morning forced the company to agree to an audit without intervention from the commission or other entities, CFMEU ACT secretary Jason O'Mara claimed.

Weve met with the company this morning. They have to undertake an audit under various EBAs as part of their obligations but theyve agreed theyll press forward without having to go to the Fair Work Commission or to other entities to get that to happen," Mr O'Mara said.This week Google took a stand for businesses who dont want to participate in practices the executives find immoral. The company will discriminate against bail bond companies on its ad platforms, Google announced, to the plaudits of civil rights attorneys. No one should be incarcerated simply because they cant afford not to be, former federal civil rights prosecutor Vanita Gupta declared . I applaud @Google for taking the unprecedented step today of banning ads for bail bonds from its platforms.

Recent months have given us an endless stream of companies refusing to take part in business arrangements that executives found morally wrong.

Refusing business is a way to take a stand, unless youre a conservative, says the Left. Timothy P. Carney writes:

There was The Happiest Hour, the Irish pub that barred patrons who dared don Make America Great Again hats. A Manhattan judge ruled, properly, that such discrimination was within the rights of bar owner.

If you followed closely the decline and fall of leading Obama fundraiser and corporate lobbyist Tony Podesta, you know his more progressive staff argued that the Podesta Group should deny service to organizations whose agendas bugged their conscience, such as cigarette and gun companies. Should that be legal?

Bank of America announced this year it wouldnt bake the proverbial cake for gunmakers. The First National Bank of Omaha wouldnt cater the proverbial wedding of the National Rifle Association and its customers. Delta Airlines followed suit.

The Dallas Observer celebrated a bartender who kicked out customers for being neo-Nazis. A left-wing coffee-shop owner wouldnt tolerate customers using her business for a pro-life meeting.

Chicago florists demand their customers pledge political allegiance before serving them.

After Trump won, progressive champion attorney Lisa Bloomargued that the Rockettes should not be compelled to perform for his inauguration. No artist should be forced upon threat of firing to perform for the most racist, misogynist prez in our lifetime.

[Timothy P. Carney, Google Wont Bake the Cake, Which Is Fine, Washington Examiner, May 9]Remember the tale of 91-year-old Ronda Boyd of Hunters Hill and her rescue from the clutches of an un-cooperative rocking chair (C8), followed by the subsequent search for our hero? Well, the man in question has been found. Roland Zammit from Melbourne and his wife pulled up at the lights and noticed an elderly woman trying to get out of a white wicker rocking chair in a second hand furniture shop. I said do you think the lights will stay green long enough to rescue this sweet old lady? My wife replied just jump out and help. It was a grand moment and an easy rescue.

"It is well known that all rugby refs are blind," writes Stephanie Edwards of Roseville. "Therefore, it's amusing to see that the New Zealand officials are sponsored by Specsavers!"

More genuine imitations (C8). Richard Stewart of Pearl Beach writes: The shiny new Rolex was indeed genuine. The Hong Kong vendor so assured me. What a bargain then, for 10 Australian dollars. Happily paid and when leaving the stall, the vendor advised, Rolex cannot get wet. While we have time, Richard also recalls an afternoon break from a corporate meeting in Arizona which gave us a chance to cross the Mexican border at Nogales to explore. One of us bought a genuine Mexican silver watch which had quite a loud tick. Later the watch stopped ticking as it had within it a Mexican ticking beetle that had expired.

Peter Lansdown of Hunters Hill has found even more Noosas (C8): Noosa Woods and Noosa Civic. Any more?

What are the odds? "About one in six (that is 62,000 out of 416,000) Australian troops were killed in World War One, Judy Walsh (C8)," says Ted Richards of Batemans Bay, "so your grandfather went with an 85 per cent chance of survival but surviving meant having a one in three chance of being wounded."A man intends to plead guilty to an animal cruelty charge after allegedly kicking his dog at a Gold Coast beach in January.

The lawyer for Brett Simpson told Southport Magistrates Court on Monday he will enter a guilty plea when the matter returns to court on July 9.

Video footage of Simpson yanking a young male Staffordshire terrier on a lead and allegedly kicking the animal at Palm Beach went viral and resulted in the man being charged.

AAPA Gold Coast man who confessed to the manslaughter of his mother nine years after she disappeared has been jailed for at least four years and nine months.

Daniel Paul Heazlewood was initially charged with murder over the June 2009 death of his mother Linda Sidon but last week pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of manslaughter at Brisbane Supreme Court.

Pamela McLaren (right) and Pauline Sidon, sisters of manslaughter victim Linda Sidon, leave the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday. Credit:AAP

On Monday, he was sentenced to a maximum eight years behind bars for her manslaughter and a total of 11 years and six months for that and other charges, including five drug offences.

After being arrested in 2015, Heazlewood helped police search for his mother's body in Gold Coast bushland, but it has never been found.A main road in Brisbane south will be blocked during peak hour on Tuesday as residents protest for improved safety at an intersection.

A group of up to 60 residents, some in costume, is expected to block the Montague Road and Victoria Street intersection in West End from 8am to 8.30am.

The intersection of Montague Road and Victoria Street in West End. Credit:Facebook - WoMo4101

The planned protest will disrupt peak-hour traffic on the main road, including at least seven scheduled bus services from routes 60 and 192.

Greens councillor for The Gabba Jonathan Sri said the protest was to highlight the need for traffic lights to be installed at the intersection.A man who raped a Norwegian tourist in a far north Queensland caravan park will remain behind bars after an application was put forward by the Attorney-General.

Andrew Steven Barlow, 32, was convicted and sentenced in the District Court in Cairns to eight years for one count of rape, one count of sexual assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm in company in 2011.

Andrew Steven Barlow will remain in prison after an application by the Attorney-General.

The charges relate to an incident in February 2009 when two Norwegian female tourists, aged in their 30s, were taken by a taxi driver to the wrong caravan park after being at a nightspot in Cairns.

The pair asked Barlows family for directions before they were savagely attacked. One woman was beaten unconscious, her clothes ripped from her body and she was digitally raped.There has never been greater demand for regulation, but the supply has never been more constrained. Regulators are constrained by lack of information as the royal commission has shown; wrongdoers never disclose until they have to. Regulators are also constrained by tight budgets; and the budget cuts to ASIC in 2013 didnt help. Regulators have become more like risk managers, minimising short-term institutional risks rather than the systemic risks that matter most. Systemic risks are left to royal commissions.

For many years whistleblowers have avoided regulators and gone to the media. The first Senate inquiry into whistleblowing in 1994 showed that whistleblowers did not trust regulators; they saw them as captured by the institutions they regulate. The question asked then is the question we should ask now. Who regulates the regulators?

Australia has had more than 150 royal commissions but perhaps none more important than the banking royal commission. The royal commission is revealing more than the anomalous practices of financial advisers; it is revealing flaws in regulation.

The problem with royal commissions is that the regulatory zeal lasts only so long. The regulatory cycle is referenced by crisis and, once a crisis is over, regulation returns to what it was. Its not just in Australia. When the US Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 there were 180 pages of regulation; within four years it had been curtailed to 65 pages. The Securities Exchange Commission yielded to those it regulated.

The problem is that with every new infraction we get more red tape. Red tape penalises the compliant; and the miscreants always seem to know how to avoid it. We need a new approach. Whistleblowing provides insights as to how regulation must change. Whistleblowers are the independent regulators not captured by institutions; they observe the conflicts of interest that regulators do not observe; and they provide information ex-ante rather than ex-post. Whistleblowing is a template we can learn from.

Whistleblowing makes regulation more uncertain; the regulator could be in the next office. Uncertainty is a deterrent to non-compliance. The implication for regulators is to randomly sample institutions and to use the observations of whistleblowers as red flags. Red flags are used in many anti-corruption settings, most notably the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. When there is a sequence of red flags, it suggests the need to strongly regulate the institution. There were red flags about our financial institutions for more than 10 years but regulators did not act. They should have.

Whistleblowers are often the competitors of regulators. Regulators are monopolists and the regulated know how to capture their rents. Whistleblowers should be able to submit information to more than one regulator and with greater regulatory oversight. An example was provided by the Murray inquiry of 2014 which recommended a Financial Regulator Assessment Board to oversee financial regulators. Like other markets, the market for regulation needs to be competitive.

Royal commissions and other public inquiries show the power of transparency. The US False Claims Act is used by whistleblowers to litigate on behalf of the government. Litigation confers three advantages; it imparts transparency through court proceedings; it establishes precedents for future regulation; it provides tests of regulations. The False Claims Act is a strong deterrent to non-compliance, and it relates to any false claim not just fraud. Since 1986 when the Act was amended, more than $US56 billion of fraud has been recovered, and even more deterred. An Australian False Claims Act is long overdue.Asked why he shot a koala, stuffed it and hung it on a wall in his home, a Victorian man told investigators it was "something to do".

The Kilmore man found the koala on the side of a road at French Island and shot it with a .22 rifle, Seymour Magistrates Court was told on April 27, in a case recounted by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning on Monday.

The koala was found and killed on French Island. Credit:Wayne Taylor

The man took the dead animal home and stuffed it himself before mounting it on a wall.

Wildlife officers discovered the koala during a raid of the property in June the previous year.Melbourne commuters are being warned to brace for major delays for the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines during peak hour due to a signal fault. Credit:Penny Stephens

Melbournes train network is back on track after a signal fault on the Cranbourne and Pakenham line plagued the network during the peak hour commute on Monday afternoon.

Metro has announced the signal fault has been fixed and outbound delays should soon reduce.

However, city-bound services remain delayed with trains out of position, Metro warned.Australias energy watchdog will investigate suspicions that electricity networks and gas pipelines have overcharged consumers by $400 million a year to cover their corporate tax bills.

Network charges have been the single biggest factor in rising household electricity bills over the past decade. The charges cover the cost of the "poles and wires" used to transmit and distribute electricity.

Electricity networks and gas pipeline businesses are allowed to cover their corporate tax liabilities by passing on the cost to consumers  usually totalling about $600 million a year.

However, it is understood the actual tax bill incurred by the networks may be about $200 million a year. This means consumers may have been charged three times more than needed to cover the tax liabilities, a possibility Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said was totally unacceptable.A Northeastern Illinois University philosophy professor argues that Americans would have no need for sex robots if they were to embrace "wealth redistribution."

Tyler Zimmer also suggests "radically" shortening the workday without reducing workers' wages, asserting that the additional leisure time would "give more people a chance at sexual fulfillment."

More HERELondon: Two Britons and their Congolese driver held hostage in Democratic Republic of Congo have been released, Virunga National Park said on Sunday.

Robert Jesty and Bethan Davies were abducted along with their driver on Friday while visiting Africa's oldest national park.

Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty, the two Britons who were kidnapped - then released - during a visit to a national park in eastern Congo. Credit:AP

Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka, 25, was killed during the kidnapping, which took place near the village of Kibati just north of Goma.

The two freed British hostages said they were "very grateful for the excellent support" they had received.The brides trunks contained at least sixty of the newest Paris dresses for the honeymoon. Simplicity and Brevity. Wallis and Edward after their wedding at the Chateau de Cande. Credit:AP The ceremony was performed in the green-panelled music room, the windows of which overlook the beautiful Indre Valley. The bride and bridegroom sat in arm chairs. Major Metcalfe was on the Dukes left, and Mr. Rogers sat beside Mrs. Warfield, the other guests being seated in rows behind the couple. It was a simple ceremony and brief  it opened at 11.35 a.m. and ended at 11.47. The mayor read the relevant articles of the civil code under which married couple promise to be faithful and help each other. The husband must protect the wife, and the wife must obey the husband, and must live with him and follow him wherever he deems fit. The husband must maintain the wife in accordance with their status.

Most Moving Idyll of All Time. By one of the chances of destiny, Dr. Mercier then declared, the most moving idyll of all time takes place under the blue skies of France, amid the flowers and trees of the Chateau au de Cande. I salute your Royal Highness as a former sovereign of a most friendly nation. The mayor then explained that the wedding was held in the Chateau by special permission of the prefect of the department. The Exchange of Vows. Addressing the Duke, using all his Christian names and titles, including those of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshall and Marshall of the Air Force of Great Britain, he asked, If he took Mrs. Wallis Warfield as his wife. The Duke replied in firm, clear tones: Oui, Monsieur le Mair.

Dr. Mercier repeated the question to Mrs. Warfield, who replied Oui in a slightly unsteady voice. The married couple pictured outside the Chateau de Cande. Credit:Photopress The mayor then declared: In the name of the law, we declare you united in the bonds of matrimony. Turning to the bride with a smile, he said, You may now sit down. Dr. Mercier concluded the ceremony with a short address. He said it was fitting that this wedding should be celebrated in the ancient province of Touraine, the land of poets, great writers and intellectuals, in which the best French was spoken. Thousands of Britons and Americans knew and loved it well, and the Duke of Windsor had added fresh honor to the province by choosing it as the scene of his marriage. The Duke smiled happily at his bride as Dr. Mercier concluded with an expression of most cordial wishes for their happiness.

Mrs. Warfields Dress. A portrait of King Edward VIII Mrs. Warfield wore a blue-skirted cocktail dress of Wallis Blue, a shade between pastel and hyacinth blue, which matches the color of her eyes, and sets the tone for her trousseau of eighty dresses and forty hats. The wedding dress had a high draped neckline, and was worn with a fitted long-sleeved jacket of the same shade, wrist-length gloves of the same tone of blue, and crepe high-heeled openwork sandals of a similar shade. Her hat was a tiny skull cap of Wallis Blue straw, with a turned-back halo brim of blue tulle, the base of which was a bandeau of blue and pale pink ostrich feathers. The Duke wore a morning suit, with a wing collar, and a white flower in the buttonhole. Monts Gaily Decorated.

With interlaced British, American and French flags decorating the houses and arches of flowers spanning the streets, Monts was transformed into a carnival town. It is crowded with visitors, but none of them could expect more than the vicarious thrill of being in the neighbourhood of the most romantic wedding of modern times. Detachments of police took up position along all the roads leading to the chateau, two aeroplanes patrolled overhead, and observation posts well camouflaged were established in the grounds of the chateau. Thus unauthorised people had not the slightest chance of entering. The press representatives were not allowed to use the telephone or leave the chateau until the ceremony had ended. A historic portrait of the Duchess of Windsor. Credit:Cecil Beaton, Camera Press The concierge of the chateau, Madame Briault, recalled the last wedding held at the chateau, in 1907. It was conducted by an archbishop, and hundreds of guests danced all night. She added sadly that there would be nothing like that today  those days were gone. The simplicity of todays wedding is emphasised by the fact that the mayor, Dr. Mercier, attended several patients before he set out for the chateau. He wore morning dress with a tri-colored sash.

Today will go down to posterity as one of the most important in the history of Monts. A holiday was declared to celebrate the occasion. The village musical society offered to serenade the bride and bridegroom, but the Duke replied regretting that he was unable to accept the offer. Special chars-a-banc were run from many parts of France, bringing hundreds more to join the thousands of visitors already in the district. Enormous crowds assembled in the neighbourhood of the chateau, and all vehicular traffic was prohibited within a certain radius. After the ceremony the road was blocked by gendarmes to prevent pursuit of the departing couple. Englands Good Wishes. The News Chronicle, in a leading article, says: It is no disrespect to the King and Queen to say that the thoughts of millions who were formerly subjects of the Duke will turn today to the music room of the Chateau de Cande, where the man who was their King will bring the culmination of a romance which cost him his throne. Accompanying these though will for affection remembrance and best good wishes. Edward judged it expedient to surrender the privileges and burdens of the monarchy for the sake of the woman he loved and whom the State would not accept. No man or woman in history, perhaps, has had a harder personal or public choice to make. Today criticism should be silent. May those who would still persecute him learn soon the virtue of charity. REV. JARDINES POSITION

Stir in Anglican Circles Wallis Simpson, 1936. Credit:Hulton Archive The news that Rev. Anderson Jardine, Anglican vicar of Darlington, Durham, had gone to France to perform the religious marriage ceremony for the Duke came as a great surprise, not only to the Archbishop of Canterbury, but also to the Bishop of Fulham, under whose jurisdiction the Anglican Church congregations in north and central Europe come. After consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Fulham issued the following statement last night, with the authority of the Archbishop: -

If it be true that Rev. Anderson Jardine has undertaken to perform the religious ceremony in connection with the marriage of the Duke of Windsor, the Bishop of Fulham wishes it understood that this action by an Anglican clergyman was taken without his knowledge or consent. Photographers and journalists gather at the main entrance to the gates of the Chateau de Cande, the location of the wedding between Wallis Simpson and the abdicated King Edward VIII. Credit:The Sphere The Bishop of Fulham added that Mr. Jardine had no ecclesiastical standing in France and no authority to act on behalf of the Anglican Church. These protests having been registered, the matter rested there. CHURCH ATTITUDE Stated By Archbishops

It is pointed out that the attitude of the Church of England to the remarriage in churches of innocent parties in divorce cases was stated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1935. Marriage was a lifelong bond, the Archbishop said, And he thought they were right in saying that marriages of persons who had spouses living should not take place in churches. The Archbishop of York also declared in 1935 that marriage after divorce should not be celebrated in a church. If we are to do that, he added, there must be no distinction between the innocent and the guilty. The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1925 provides that no clergyman of the Church of England shall be compelled to marry the guilty party of a divorce. The Rural Dean of France. The Daily Mail correspondent at Tours says: - Prebendary F. A. Cardew, rural dean of France, responsible to the Bishop of Fulham, says that directly he heard Rev. Jardine had come to France he telephoned the Bishop of Fulham, who explained that it had been made clear to the clergy of England that they must not take any part in the wedding. Rev. Cardew said he lent a crucifix for use at the civil ceremony, but in the changed circumstances he had requested its return, as he could not appear to countenance a ceremony disapproved of by his superior. The whole position was most embarrassing to the Duke, who was an old friend of his, but he was compelled to act in accordance with church discipline.

The Daily Telegraph says: Mr Jardines actions are entirely irregular. It is understood that the Bishop of Fulham has telegraphed to him, protesting against his acting without Episcopal license or consent. There is no process of ecclesiastical law by which Mr. Jardine can be restrained from doing what he or his host desires in a private house, which is not within the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop of the Church of England. It is for that reason that the Bishop of Fulhams telegram takes the form of a protest, not prohibition. Mr Jardines position in the ceremony will be that of a private person who has been invited to say prayers  he is not capable of legally solemnising a marriage. Dukes Religious Sentiment The Chateau de Cande, France. The location of the 1937 wedding between Wallis Simpson and the abdicated King Edward VIII. Credit:The Sphere The Daily Mail correspondent at Tours says: According to one in close touch with the chateau, the intimate friends of the Duke are aware that he was always anxious that a minister should perform the ceremony. He has a deeper concern over matters of religion than is generally known, but he has always requested that his views in this regard should not be made public. When advised of the statement made by the Bishop of Durham  that he was not aware that Mr. Jardine was to officiate and that if the wedding were to have occurred in his own diocese he would have considered it his duty to inhibit clergymen from officiating  Mr. Jardine seemed undismayed and said he would not be deterred from performing the ceremony. When asked how he knew the Duke wished a religious ceremony and how he came to make the offer to officiate, Mr. Jardine replied: It seemed to me unthinkable that any member of the Royal family could be married without the Church of England service. The Daily Sketch correspondent says Mr. Jardine was among the seventeen guests of the Duke at dinner at the chateau last night.Curry does not know the couple personally, said Neva Rae Fox, a spokesperson for the Episcopal Church, but he will meet them before the ceremony.

London : Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship is transatlantic, and now their wedding ceremony will be too. Kensington Palace has announced that Bishop Michael Curry, the first African-American to preside over the Episcopal Church, will deliver a sermon at the couple's wedding on May 19.

"It was my understanding that given the fact that he was the first African-American bishop and is a wonderful preacher and speaker, it would be appropriate for him to be invited to speak," Fox said. "The bishop is honoured and thrilled to be participating."

Curry, installed as leader of the US-based member of the Anglican Communion on November 1, 2015, is socially progressive and his sermons often focus on social justice; they are also often funny and highly theatrical.

The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church.

Curry is the son of the late-Reverend Kenneth Curry, an outspoken civil rights activist, who helped bring an end to segregated schools in Buffalo. Curry has followed in his father's activist footsteps. As bishop in North Carolina, he was one of the first to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in churches there. He has often drawn parallels between the black and LGBT civil rights movements.From left: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's wife Sara, the Prime Minister, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, attend the opening ceremony of the new American embassy in Jerusalem. Credit:AP Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser, headlined the US delegation with his wife and fellow White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and four Republican senators. Republican super-donor Sheldon Adelson was also present, and evangelical pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee delivered blessings. "A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted earlier Monday. In a videotaped address, Trump said the embassy move, a key campaign promise, recognises the "plain reality" that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. Yet he added the United States "remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement." Palestinians sling stones during clashes with Israeli troops. Credit:AP

But Monday's steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move in the Arab world raised new doubts about Trump's ambitions to broker what he called the "deal of the century." More than a year after taking office, Trump's Mideast team has yet to produce a long-promised peace plan. Trump says recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital acknowledges the reality that Israel's government is located there as well as the ancient Jewish connection to the city. He insists the decision has no impact on future negotiations on the city's final borders. But to both Israel and the Palestinians, the American gesture is widely seen as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their longstanding conflict. "What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is history," Netanyahu told the inauguration ceremony. Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded youth. Credit:AP

"You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he added. The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as their capital, have cut off ties with the Trump administration and say the US is unfit to serve as a mediator. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognised. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, furious over the embassy ceremony, said he "will not accept" any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration. The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were "massacres" carried out by Israeli troops in Gaza, and officials said the Palestinians would file a war crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court over settlement construction. By nightfall, at least 55 Palestinians, including a young girl and four other minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It said 1204 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including 116 who were in serious or critical condition.

Egypt, an important Israeli ally, condemned the killings of Palestinian protesters, while the UN human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, decried the "shocking killing of dozens." Turkey accused Israel of "state terror." South Africa, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, recalled its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Israel to respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force" and show restraint, while also urging Hamas to ensure any protests remain peaceful. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a similar appeal. US President Donald Trump\'s daughter Ivanka, left, and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner attend the opening ceremony of the new American embassy in Jerusalem on Monday. Credit:AP At the US Embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said. Israel says the blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities. But it has decimated Gaza's economy, sending unemployment skyrocketing to over 40 per cent and leaving the territory with just a few hours of electricity a day. The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000 at Monday's protest, saying it fell short of what Hamas had hoped for. But officials described what they called "unprecedented violence" unseen in previous weeks. Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said hundreds of protesters carried out "concerted, coordinated" attacks on the border fence. Although the crowd did not manage to break through, he said they caused "significant damage." The army released video showing demonstrators setting a cargo crossing on fire and appearing to climb on the fence as they lobbed flaming objects into the Israeli side.

A Palestinian woman walks past burning tires near the Israeli border. Credit:AP Conricus also said Hamas militants disguised as protesters tried to infiltrate, and there were at least three instances of armed Hamas gunmen trying to carry out attacks. Israeli aircraft and tanks struck seven Hamas positions. Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a cease- fire since the 2014 war - their third in a decade. Since the protests began on March 30, 105 Palestinians have been killed, most of them protesters. Israel said it killed three militants trying to plant a bomb along the fence, and Palestinian security officials said several Hamas militants were also killed by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza. Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests would continue "until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved."

Loading Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas. The timing of Monday's events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians. The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment. But Tuesday also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. A day of mourning and mass funerals was planned Tuesday.Jerusalem: Israel has begun celebrations for the US Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem, a move whose break with world consensus was underscored by the absence of most envoys to the country from a reception hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The opening of the new embassy follows US President Donald Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a decision he said fulfilled decades of policy pledges in Washington and formalised realities on the ground.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a special cabinet meeting marking Jerusalem Day on Sunday. Credit:AP

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in east Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the US Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other major powers worry that the US move could inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank and on the Gaza Strip border, where Israel reinforced troops in anticipation of the embassy opening.Fewer than 45 per cent of Iraq's 22 million eligible voters turned out for the parliamentary election, held five months after the Islamic State militant group's three-year occupation of major Iraqi cities was ended in a costly and bloody war. The low turnout was at odds with predictions that voters would throng the polls in a harbinger of a new era in Iraqi politics. The number reflects a steep decline in the rate of Iraqi voter participation, which was 62 per cent in the 2014 and 2010 elections after a peak of 70 per cent in 2005. Many of those who stayed home said it was an act of protest, not a lack of interest. They cited displeasure with Iraq's complicated election system, which rewards name recognition over political platforms, and a lack of confidence that the same old faces that led the ballot lists would deliver on job opportunities and lasting security. Then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein waves to supporters in Baghdad in 1995. Credit:AP Others said they hoped their boycott would force a national reckoning over what they regard as a stagnation of Iraq's political and social order in the years since dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.

"I participated in all the previous elections, yet there was no change. We demonstrated against the electoral system, but no one listened," said Mustafa Sadoon, a Baghdad-based writer. "I didn't find any other choice to express my rejection except to boycott." Iraq's government celebrated the election, however, citing the absence of any terrorist attacks at the polling stations and any reports of widespread irregularities or fraud. Officials administering the vote attributed the low turnout partly to increased security measures and confusion stemming from the first-time use of an electronic voting system. Loading Several voters in the city of Najaf said in interviews that they were turned away when the biometric voting machines couldn't recognise their fingerprint or for showing up with an old voter ID card.

Boycotters said none of those reasons could account for the sharp decline in participation - which many analysts and Western diplomats had expected to top 60 per cent. The campaign season was notable for politicians moving toward a centrist message of Iraqi nationalism over sect allegiances, a dramatic departure from the pervasive sectarianism that has defined Iraq's politics since the US-led invasion in 2003. Even Iraq's traditionally right-wing Shiite parties with close ties to Iran embraced the message of all Iraqis being equal under the law and putting national interests above that of any regional or global power. Civilians flee west Mosul as fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants intensifies in 2017. Credit:Red Cross Abadi's December declaration that the Islamic State had been defeated in Iraq had sparked delirious celebrations and pronouncements that Iraq was about to usher in a new era. His electoral ticket campaigned on that theme, hoping the military victory would translate into a political victory.

Waseem Seizeif, a blogger who advocated a large-scale boycott of the election, said the lofty rhetoric masked the absence of what much of the voting public was looking for: a substantive policy debate that addressed the myriad problems that Iraqis face. "We believe in democracy, but we also believe that if we participated in the elections, it means we approve of this system, which we don't," he said. Seizeif said the system forces desirable candidates to join party tickets headlined by established figures who rely on name recognition to garner votes - effectively eliminating any opportunity for others to run on a platform of reform. That forces voters to cast ballots for a headliner politician they may despise as the only way to show support for a candidate they like. Voter turnout was low in the Iraq elections as many are disillusioned with what they regard as a corrupt system. Credit:AP

"The whole system is broken," Seizeif said. "Change won't come through ballots. We should pressure them to change the entire system." Indeed, this election was dominated by established candidates, including a ticket headed by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was ousted after the 2014 Islamic State blitz of Iraq despite his coalition winning the most votes. Other leading candidates in this election included Abadi and Hadi al-Ameri, head of one of Iraq's largest Shiite militias. A bloc backed Sadr, who rose to prominence opposing US forces from 2003 to 2011, is also expected to do well. Sadoon said that he knew of several "clean" candidates he wished he could have voted for but that they had joined "corrupt blocs". "That means my vote will help the thief who is heading this bloc, and I can't be party to this," he said. Ahead of the election, even Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, signalled displeasure with the field of candidates, instructing followers not to support any hopeful who has failed the country in the past.

In a departure from his stance during previous contests, when he urged all Iraqis to vote, Sistani also said that there was no religious obligation to participate. As candidates awaited the official results, some reflected on the unenthusiastic turnout. One prominent candidate from the ticket headed by Ameri, Karim al-Nouri, joked that more people participated in the rapid dismantling of election billboards for scrap metal than in the election. But he added a serious note, saying the low turnout was a warning to the political class. "It's an alarm," he wrote in a Facebook post. "It's a reaction to the corruption since 2003 and it means that the government must reconsider the political approach."New York: An acrimonious battle in New Jersey over plans to move a waterfront statue commemorating the 1940 massacre of Poles has ended.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and local Polish groups announced late on Saturday that they have reached an agreement on relocating the Katyn Memorial. Details on the deal will be announced on Monday.

Buildings in Lower Manhattan provide a backdrop to a statue dedicated to the victims of the Katyn massacre of 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Credit:AP

Fulop, a Democrat, called the deal a "win-win" in a tweet announcing the agreement. He wrote that the goal was one that "respects/cares/keeps the monument in an extremely prominent location to honour sacrifices" while also giving the city "a chance to re-purpose our waterfront."

City officials wanted to move the statue as part of a renovation of the plaza where it currently stands, on the waterfront across from downtown New York City. The head of the group organising the renovation has called the statue "gruesome" and has said he prefers that it get a new home, according to published reports.Latest News Two in three SMEs are seeking new funding methods to cope with pandemic CEO reminds SMEs that retained profits and personal credit cards arent sustainable funding

Pepper and Aussie unite to make play for mortgage brokers to shift over to SME Linkup between lending and mortgage giants shows why brokers should be diversifying their business

Broker commissions could be reduced and capped as a result of regulation, according to an industry information research company.

In its report, IBISWorld has outlined the potential effects of the Royal Commission on banks, the financial services, shareholders and customers.

It outlines higher capital requirements, tighter regulation and high costs of adopting and implementing changes.

It also looks at how the Royal Commission questioned possible conflicts of interest between mortgage brokers and customers with the remuneration structure. In many cases brokers work directly with bank-owned aggregators and were accused of directing customers to those banks. Trail commissions would be much higher for brokers when customers took on larger mortgages and repaid them over a longer period of time.

IBISWorld senior industry analyst Tommy Wu said, Commissions for mortgage broking could replicate the approach in life insurance remuneration, where regulators have reduced and capped ongoing and up-front commissions. This will be the case if financial institutions remain vertically integrated, as highlighted by Westpac revising its remuneration model.

Wu also suggests that the immediate outcome of the Royal Commission will be tightened lending standards for consumers and businesses, which should provide opportunities for other banks and non-bank lenders.

Banks could potentially become smaller, moving away from other services and going back to basics in terms of their core business of lending. This has already started to happen, with several of the major banks divesting their wealth management businesses.

Greater compliance, combined with increased scrutiny, has led to banks offloading these divisions, especially as investment returns have weakened for these businesses.

Wu said, This move away from providing advice and scaling back operations will help reduce risk for the major banks, minimising the potential for further significant regulatory trouble.

Wu added the outcome of the commission will likely have a broad impact on banks and their shareholders. Revenue in the National and Regional Commercial Banks industry is expected to decline at an annualised 1.4% over the five years through 2017-18, to $148.2billion. This is down from $159billion in 2012-13.

He said, The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has already announced its intention to raise capital benchmarks to unquestionably strong levels, with banks expected to meet these levels by 1 January 2020. This already represents a significant cost to the major banks and their shareholders.

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) will be particularly under pressure, with APRA slapping an extra $1billion capital charge on the bank following the Prudential Inquiry into the bank. This charge will remain until the inquirys recommendations are met. This potentially puts CBA in the weakest capital position of the major banks.

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Three more resignations from AMP's boardLatest News Two in three SMEs are seeking new funding methods to cope with pandemic CEO reminds SMEs that retained profits and personal credit cards arent sustainable funding

Pepper and Aussie unite to make play for mortgage brokers to shift over to SME Linkup between lending and mortgage giants shows why brokers should be diversifying their business

Delegates from the industry association in Canada have visited Australia to discover the comparisons between the industries in the two countries and to open up greater communication.

Hosted by the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), the team from Canada said while they were not experiencing anything like the Royal Commission, they were facing discussions around government regulation.

After arriving last Wednesday, they joined the MFAA for its roadshow and awards in Melbourne, before visiting Sydney to meet other industry bodies.

Discussing the visit, Paul Taylor, president and CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC) said, We wanted to make sure we have a better understanding of the regulation structure here. We have got roughly the same number of people, number of national banks, our broker channel is the same size, we have got regulatory pressure on both industries and weve got equivalent comparative markets.

If we have a clearer vision on how things are operating here then in our own discussions with regulators back home we can be much more valuable with our input in those discussions. Hopefully we can help them avoid some of the landmines of poor policy decisions, because we can compare and contrast the different landscapes.

Also visiting as part of the group was Mark Kerzner, president of The Mortgage Group and former chair of the MPC board.

He said, We kept hearing how similar our markets were, so we wanted to validate that for ourselves. We believe where we can create dialogue opportunities for shared learning it can benefit both parties. If theres an experience weve respectively gone through, we can share it. Weve made some connections down here, were looking for creating reciprocal planning.

Canada currently has around 35% of home loans being driven through the broker channel, compared to around 55% in Australia. However, the number of first home buyers coming through brokers is up to 55%. In Australia this share is only up to around 30%.

Kerzner, added, Since the start of the global financial crisis, our market share has been increasing. The vast majority of mortgage terms in Canada are five years, which you renew. Fifty-five percent of broker customers are first home buyers. If they need to refinance or shop their renewal later down the road, we hope theyll go back to their broker. As the channel matures and people have had a good broker experience, they'll refer their friends and family too.

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Regulators are being 'funded for action'It would also reinstate the death penalty for those found guilty without doubt of killing law enforcement officers.

CHICAGO  Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner - who touted support for gun rights when running for governor in 2014, shifted his position slightly Monday when he proposed changes to gun law that would require a 72-hour waiting period on all gun purchases as well as a ban on bump stocks.

Gun violence has rocked the nation and our state, Rauner said. This is a responsible, bipartisan approach to the problem that will help ensure the safety and security of our children, our peacekeepers, our families, and our communities in Illinois.

Few crimes are more heinous than purposeful killings of children and peacekeepers, Rauner said. We didnt propose the death penalty lightly. We had to balance the need for safety and, in the end, we wanted to make it abundantly clear we have no tolerance for such atrocities in Illinois.

Rauners changes to HB 1468 create a new category of homicide called death penalty murder. It would apply to offenders 18 and over that prosecutors charge with killing peace officers or two or more people without lawful justification.

Defendants would be tried using a higher standard for determining guilt. Death penalty murder suspects would have to be convicted by juries beyond all doubt, not just beyond a reasonable doubt required for guilty findings of other criminal offenses.

Appeals courts would have to apply the same standard and conduct an independent review of the evidence with no deference paid to a jurys decision.

We want to raise the standard because we recognize legitimate concerns about the death penalty, Rauner said. We are intent on avoiding wrongful convictions and the injustice of inconsistency.

In the AV of HB 1468, the Governor extended the 72-hour waiting period to the delivery of all guns sold in Illinois, not just certain types of guns. Current Illinois law applies the waiting period only to handguns.

In the case of school or other mass shooters, a 72-hour waiting period may provide just enough time for law enforcement or school officials to detect danger and take action to prevent delivery of a firearm. In the case of someone who is suicidal, that time could mean the difference between life and death, Rauner said.

The AV also reiterated the Governors support for a ban on bump stocks and trigger cranks. These accessories that in the wrong hands can be used to assemble weapons of mass destruction, Rauner said. The language he suggested is identical to Senate Bill 2343, which has not yet moved in the legislature.

Public safety and legal experts agree these accessories are not firearms, so the ban is not an infringement of 2nd Amendment gun rights.

The Governors AV includes a Gun Violence Restraining Order Act to more quickly disarm those who are a danger to themselves and others. It is a reasonable balance between the Second amendment and other rights of gun owners and the public interest in preventing gun violence.

An emergency order, triggered by family or law enforcement could prohibit gun possession for 14 days with probable cause. A search warrant to seize owned firearms could be initiated only by law enforcement based on probable cause. A six-month order prohibiting possession of a firearm could be entered only after a full hearing based on clear and convincing evidence of danger.

We need a streamlined mechanism to allow family members and others to flag the need to remove firearms from the hands of people who pose an immediate and present threat to the public or themselves, Rauner said.

At the same time, we must protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and ensure speedy resolution of the issue requiring clear and convincing evidence, Rauner said.

The AV asks the General Assembly to pass a Gun Crime Charging and Sentencing Accountability and Transparency Act. Rauner believes citizens, particularly victims and victims families, ought to know why charges are reduced in plea agreements for violent offenders in gun cases.

The Act requires prosecutors and judges to clearly state  for the record  the rationale for plea agreements, especially those that result in the release of habitual gun offenders. We deserve to know how violent offenders are allowed back on our streets, Rauner said.

Finally, Rauners AV amends the County School Facilities Sales Tax statute to let school authorities use the revenue to hire school resource officers or mental health workers based on local determinations of need. It is drawn from the Governors Terrorism Task Force and has been favorably received by the Legislative Public Safety Working Group. The Working Group continues to meet and is expected to deliver additional recommendations.

This is the kind of bipartisan public safety discretion that voters ought to have, Rauner said. This use of this sales tax revenue, provided it is approved by referendum, is a sensible step toward providing adequate security for our schools and giving more local control to our communities.

Rauners public safety package includes other substantive proposals that cover interstate gun trafficking countermeasures, increased state trooper deployments, and additional threat precautions and deterrents for Illinois schools. The latter includes formation of regional threat assessment teams to help harden potential targets.

The package fulfills the Governors pledge to deliver a comprehensive public safety package as a response to the mass killings in Parkland, FL, last winter.After being named in the CBI charge sheet for her alleged role in the Nirav Modi fraud, the former PNB CEO & MD Usha Ananthasubramanian on Tuesday lost all her executive powers as the MD & CEO of Allahabad Bank after the board of state-run lender, following a directive from the finance ministry, divested her of all powers with immediate effect.

Earlier, the Allahabad Bank had called for a board meeting to decide the fate of its top serving executive following the CBI charge sheet naming her in the Nirav Modi scam. The allegation against Ananthasubramanian is that she failed to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) circulars issued on the Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) control system in 2016.

On February 27, soon after Rs 13,700-crore fraud came to light, Ananthasubramanian was grilled by the CBI. Allahabad Bank's board is likely to take a call to divest the powers vested with the current CEO. This comes after the government asked the Allahabad Bank board to take away all the powers of its CEO and MD.

Ananthasubramanian, who completed her one year as the CEO & MD of Allahabad Bank on May 6, served as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Punjab National Bank from August 2015 to May 2017. In an earlier stint, Ananthasubramanian also served as the Executive Director of Punjab National Bank from July 2011 to November 2013.

During her long career spanning about 34 years, Ananthasubramanian has also worked as the CMD of erstwhile Bharatiya Mahila Bank. She was head of the core management team constituted by the Ministry of Finance for coordinating the process of formation of a women-centric bank.

Early this year, Ananthasubramanian became the first woman to be elected as the chairman of the Indian Banks' Association, the 71-year old industry body for banks.

Usha Ananthasubramanian holds a Master's Degree in Statistics from the University of Madras and a Master's Degree in Ancient Indian Culture from University of Mumbai. She began her banking carrier with Bank of Baroda, where she worked as a Specialist Officer in February 1982. Ananthasubramanian was closely associated with the transformation project of Bank of Baroda including rebranding and innovative HR initiatives.

Ananthasubramanian served as the Chairman of the Board of Punjab National Bank (International) Limited from January 11, 2016 to May 5, 2017 and PNB Housing Finance Limited from August 26, 2015 to May 5, 2017. She served as the Chairperson at PNB Gilts Ltd. from September 24, 2015 to May 5, 2017. She has also served as a Director of Export-Import Bank of India since November 27, 2015 until May 24, 2017.

Along with Usha, three other top officials of PNB, Brahmaji Rao (Executive Director), Sanjiv Sharan (Executive Director) and Nehal Ahad (General Manager) have been named as accused. During investigation, CBI found lapses from their side as far as SWIFT transactions were concerned. The board PNB has also been asked to divest two executive directors of all powers.It is often joked in India, by the end of a journey, two strangers travelling together in a train know not just about each other but their extended families as well.

So, what does privacy mean in Indian context and to what extent can India be influenced by EU' General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) framework, were some of the questions asked by Devender Kumar Sikri, Chairperson, Competition Commission of India (CCI) at the ASSOCHAM's Global summit on Data protection, privacy and security.

He admitted that laws are struggling to keep pace with the developments in technology. "The regulators have not much idea, I must confess, what has to be done to make human centric anti-trust laws, applying effectively to the bot-intermediated transactions and that connect is going to be a real challenge."

Hence, there is a need of a robust regime for data protection as dangers to individual's privacy originate not just from the state but from non-state actors. "There needs to be a balance between individual interest and legitimate concerns of the state such as protecting the national security, preventing and investigating crime, encouraging innovation and spread of knowledge and dissipation of social benefits," he says.

He said that CCI understands that data companies are not an economic threat in themselves, they are a source of innovation and so must be encouraged for economic development. "But the practices of the dominant digital players need to be competition compliant," he added.

The question that is being asked and debated is - could there be an abuse of dominance, when unreasonable amount of data is extracted for reasons other than improving the quality or reducing cost, asks Sikri.

There are two schools of thought on this - abuse of dominance can lower privacy protection. French and German authorities have the view that data privacy can be viewed from the prism of competition. It is also being discussed that any agreement that is not privacy friendly can harm consumer welfare. There is another school of thought that privacy is fundamentally a consumer protection issue and there is no need for competition authority to get involved. "Anti-trust can deal with privacy as a non-priced factor of competition but it is an uneasy fit as it is hard to measure because value of privacy is subjective," he says.

He also said that collusion between digital players through self-learning algorithms is one of the biggest challenges that the Competition Law enforcers are facing.

"Algorithms are not systems that are moving on their own, somebody has designed them and there is some logic put into that," said Sikri sharing the instance during Jaat agitation when airline ticket prices shot up to Rs 60,000-Rs 90,000 for a Chandigarh-Delhi flight.

"When we asked the airline they said, 'we do not know, the algorithms are driving it up'," he said. But algorithms are not moving on their own, they have been designed in such a way to increase these prices. "They [airlines] said, we don't know and as of now they were not going to give it up," said Sikri.

He informed that CCI has been in talks with many technical people to understand algorithms. "We have been even suggested by the IITian professors whom we interacted that you develop your own algorithms to unravel this one. It is not easy and requires huge investment. Another solution given to us was derive a hypothesis and put this algorithm to test. If it fails, hold them responsible."

What is clear is that Indian data protection law will be drawn in the context of Supreme Court's judgment in Puttaswamy vs Union Of India, which holds that the right to privacy is protected as a fundamental constitutional right.

Also, the data protection law will be largely influenced by the seven key principles in the white paper released by the Justice Srikrishna committee: a law that is technology agnostic law; applicable to the private sector entities and the government, maybe with different obligations; informed consent; minimal and necessary data processing; data controller is accountable for any processing; enforcement by a statutory authority; and penalty for wrongful data processing.Network Ireland Cork Branch last week announced the winners of the Cork Businesswoman of the year Awards in the Fota Island Resort. Judging the awards were leaders in the Cork business community, Tricia Sheehan of Johnson & Johnson , Mark Fitzharris of AIB and Olive Guerin of the Local Enterprise Office.



Six individual awards were presented to outstanding female business leaders in Cork at the gala ceremony in their respective categories. Irene Twohig of Educogym was crowned overall Cork Businesswoman of the Year 2018, with the judges commending her entrepreneurial spirit, passion for the business and willingness to take risks.

Irene also took the award for SME with more than 10 employees, sponsored by the Hayfield Family Collection, recognising her growth mindset and future business strategy while Emerging New Business of the Year, sponsored by the Montenotte Hotel, went to Karen OReilly of Employmum for her clear business plan and effective use of media.

Maria Desmond of Enable Ireland was commended in the Employee of the Year category, sponsored by EQ.ie, for her distinguished contribution to the charity and impact on the lives of people who face challenges.



Fiona Kennedy was celebrated in the Arts category, sponsored by Fota Island Resort, for her perseverance and resilience, whilst Shirley Feeney of Shirleys Beauty Clinic took the Best Small Business less than 10 Employees Award, sponsored by Contracting Plus and HerMoney, for their investment in the business and adaption to new trends. Joan Walsh of Partnership International was presented with the Award for Best Use of Digital, sponsored by Clayton Hotel Cork City, for embracing a range of new technologies in digital marketing.

Maureen Forrest of HOPE Foundation also received a special recognition on the evening which recognised her hard work and dedication to the charity over the past 20 years. Today the foundation runs over 60 projects including 11 protection homes, a lifeskills training unit, cafe and a hospital.

Winners in each category will now go forward to represent Cork in the Network Ireland National Business Awards, which will take place at a gala ceremony later this year.



Speaking on the announcement of the winners, Network Cork President, Karen Fleming said, "The Cork Businesswoman of the Year Awards celebrate the exceptional achievements of women in business across Cork city and county. Both winners and finalists deserved to be recognised for outstanding contributions to their respective industries and companies. The calibre of entries for this years awards was extremely high and it was great to see a record number of submissions in 2018."

She aded, "Were delighted to showcase the very best talent Cork has to offer and wed also like to thank our sponsors and judges for their continued support of this fantastic event."



Source: www.businessworld.ieThe European Union on Monday warned Britain time was running out to seal a Brexit deal this autumn and ensure London does not crash out of the bloc next March, adding to pressure on the embattled Prime Minister Theresa May.

Diplomats and officials in Brussels note little progress in Brexit negotiations since the EU leaders last met, raising doubt about whether the bloc and London would be able to mark another milestone at the next top-level summit due on June 28-29.

"We are concerned that there is no clear stance, no clear position from the British. The clock is ticking," German EU Minister Michael Roth told reporters on arriving for talks with EU peers in Brussels.

"We need now to be making substantial progress, but that is not happening. What is worrying us in particular is the Northern Ireland question where we expect a substantial accommodation from the British side."

At home, May is stuck between a rock and a hard place with staunch Brexit supporters pushing to severe ties with the EU and others advocating keeping close customs cooperation with the bloc to smooth trade.

Both sides of the Irish border worry that reinstating a physical border between EU-member Ireland and Britain's province of Northern Ireland could revive violence.

Other outstanding issues include ensuring expatriate rights, agreeing on security cooperation and trade rules after Brexit, to ensure a deal is in place when Britain leaves in March 2019, and an adaptation period ends at the end of 2020.

"From the European side, we can say that we have made clear our position and we hope that the British government will enter negotiations also in a full way," said Austria's Gernot Blumel, echoing a long-standing EU complaint that Britain has not made its position clear in detail on parts of the negotiations.

With May's cabinet, her ruling Conservative party and the British split on the matter, that has proven difficult to achieve.

The Brexit schedule is now coming under pressure again, sources said, partly an EU negotiating strategy before the June summit but mostly due to lack of substantial headway in the talks.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said it was too early to discuss an extension of the timeline, but added: "The aim is now to conclude a deal in the time schedule that has been agreed on ... I very much hope we will agree but there are no guarantees, unfortunately." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.iecomment, editorial

Megan Clark, the former CSIRO boss chosen to head the Australian Space Agency, is to be congratulated for injecting the voice of reason into the debate over where the new body should be based. "We need to engage internationally and also to co-ordinate nationally and part of that activity (is) best to be centred on Canberra," she said. Dr Clark's blunt assessment comes as a timely wake-up call given interstate interests are already lining up to have the $50 million initiative installed on their turf. NSW, the Northern Territory and South Australia all say they would make the best permanent base for the headquarters of the agency. NSW premier, Glady's Berejiklian, wants ASA to be rolled into a defence and aerospace precinct to be known as "the Aerotopolis"; apparently an adjunct of the Badgery's Creek airport development. "NSW has the dish (at Parkes) and we should be the home of space innovation," she said. The Parkes telescope, which is now 57-years-old, is a part of the CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility radio telescope network. Dr Clark is just one of the many people who would be able to tell the NSW Premier the CSIRO is headquartered in the ACT, not Macquarie Street. Ms Berejeklian, and the other state and territory politicians lining up to claim dibs on the agency, are taking a narrowly self-interested view that suggests they do not grasp its importance. Space, to borrow the famous line from Star Trek, really is the final frontier. It is also potentially a highly lucrative one that, until recently, Australia has done little to capitalise on. That is, in itself, a remarkable oversight given we were once at the cutting edge of rocketry research thanks to the British missile tests at Woomera in the 1950s and the pivotal role Australian observatories played in the Apollo missions. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex is a joint CSIRO/NASA/JPL asset which will likely be essential to tracking future manned space flights to Mars. While there is a great deal to be said for the new agency to be established along "hub and spoke" lines with operations centres around the country, Canberra is the most logical place for the head office. NASA is headquartered in Washington because that is where the politicians, the money, and the corporate and political power bases are located. The UK's Space Agency, which was established in 2010 for almost exactly the same reasons that have driven the Australian initiative, is based at Swindon, just 130km from the heart of London. The Federal Government, despite a recent unhealthy obsession with outsourcing Canberra public service jobs to the regions, is already well aware of the logic that has driven the U.S. and U.K. decisions. That is why it has ruled the agency will initially be "co-located" within the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science in the ACT. It makes sense to build on that decision. This will make it much easier to secure high quality recruits than if candidates faced the prospect of being relocated to Woomera, Narrabri, Boolardy, or even the outer reaches of Western Sydney at some point in the future. The last thing the country needs is a repeat of the APVMA fiasco.

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A woman feared she would have to dig her own grave when her partner accused her of infidelity and kidnapped her to a remote area outside of Canberra, a court heard Friday. Two weeks later, the man kidnapped the woman a second time in what his lawyers say was a bid to protect her and her unborn child from her methamphetamine habit. The 38-year-old man, who has not been named to protect the identity of the woman, pleaded guilty in the ACT Supreme Court, where he appeared on Friday to be sentenced, to charges of unlawful confinement and common assault. The couple had been in an on-again off-again relationship for more than six years when on January 10 last year, the man drove to the woman's flat in Braddon with two others. He accused the woman of trading sexual favours for drugs and slapped her before he pushed her into the car's front passenger seat and drove away. The woman soon jumped from the moving Ford and ran screaming for help. The man chased after her and picked her up by the hair, forcing her into the back seat of the car between himself and a child's car seat. They drove to a remote area near Sutton. When the car stopped, the man tied a rope around the woman's waist and walked her away from the car. She asked him if she would have to dig her own grave. On January 24 that year, the couple had recently found out she was pregnant. The man picked her up from her apartment and then produced a rope with a loop already in it and told her to put her hands inside it. He drove her to an empty house in Banks that his parents owned and they slept there overnight. She asked why he wouldn't let her go. He told her she was killing their baby and herself because of the drug ice. The next morning he drove her back home and the woman called police and told them she had been kidnapped. Defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith told the court the man's actions had been the result of a "misguided intention" to protect the victim and his unborn child. In the first instance, he was trying to protect the woman's reputation and cause her to re-evaluate her actions, and in the second he had been attempting to prevent her taking drugs, Mr Kukulies-Smith said. But prosecutor Trent Hickey said the man had used ropes to enforce his own will on the woman. "You just can't do that, you can't enforce your will by tying someone up," he said. He said despite the woman appearing to blame herself, in incidents of domestic violence the community needed to step in. Justice David Mossop noted the relationship was outside the usual circumstances of domestic violence. He noted the woman had been charged with conspiracy to defraud over a "bizarre exploitative" incident against the man in which she staged a fake hostage situation. He noted too that the use of physical violence by men against women to control their behaviour was a significant problem. The man rarely consumed alcohol, was not a illicit drug user and did not suffer mental illness. He worked full time and had a limited criminal history. He had sole custody of the couple's older daughter because of his partner's drug use. He lived with his parents on a property near Royalla, the court heard, to which he contributed to the mortgage. He told the court he accepted what he did was wrong. The man spent 20 days in custody when he was arrested. Justice Mossop sentenced the man to 18 months jail, to be suspended Friday on him entering a three-year good behaviour order. The judge told the man he had been lenient. "You should obviously make sure you take the opportunity that's been given to you, and stay out of trouble in the future and continue to support your family."

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Canberrans will have access to a free physiotherapy service when a trial begins at one of the territory's nurse-led walk in centres later this year. The centres are unique to the ACT in Australia and have proved popular with the public, offering free nurse led treatment for minor illness and injury. But the model is opposed by doctors' groups including the Australian Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners, who have instead called for an integrated model involving GPs. According to government figures, a visit with a nurse at one of the centres costs ACT tax payers $190 compared to less than $40 for a GP visit. Its not clear how much the addition of physiotherapists will cost. Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris said the trial of a physiotherapist was part of a broader expansion of the service. A 12 month trial of an advanced practice musculo-skeletal physiotherapist is planned to commence later in 2018 at a [centre] to provide initial care and advice to patients who present with acute joint and muscle injuries," she said. We are also working on plan for nurses to be able to complete a risk screen for people who present with possible diabetes. ACT Health will continue to work with GPs and other stakeholders to develop better ways of working together to deliver better health outcomes for patients. But opposition health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne said the addition of physiotherapists at the centres showed it was a flawed model" which undermined local GPs and put pressure on emergency departments. The fact that Minister Fitzharris is now experimenting with physiotherapists is the first admission that the model isnt working," she said. This shows that there needs to be a review of walk in centres that involves the full range of health providers in the ACT. Walk in centres have had steady growth in patient attendance, offering free care for minor illness and injury between 7.30am and 10pm every day. Year to date, there has been a 15-per-cent increase in presentations at the Belconnen centre and nine per cent increase at the Tuggeranong centre, while construction on a third walk in centre at Gungahlin commenced early this year. "The [walk in centre] model of care aims to complement general practitioner and emergency department services to ensure that people have access to a range of care options that best suit their needs," Ms Fitzharris said. "Since the [centres] opened, further development of the scope of the nurse-led services has occurred. We want to make sure we enhance the timely provision of urgent care closer to where people live, and utilise the capacity in the [centres]." Since September 2017, the centres have also offered the removal of plaster casts for patients where the doctor has agreed further medical review is not required. A 12 month trial has also commenced to provide additional sexual health outreach clinics for people at higher risk of STI and blood borne viruses. This is a collaborative project between Canberra Sexual Health Centre, the WiCs and Aids Action Council of ACT.

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Air pollution could be an unwanted side effect of plans to build energy efficient homes at the ACT governments Ginninderry development, warns the Environment Protection Authority. Planning Minister Mick Gentleman recently announced a trial in which 350 houses at Ginninderry would scrap gas power in favour of all-electric energy. Government comparisons indicated the upfront costs for kitting out an all-electric home with appliances could be as much as $5755 more than scenarios using gas power. However, this was offset by estimated savings of $1800 each year in energy costs, an ACT government spokesman said. The Environment Protection Authority, which supported the plan in-principle, cautioned it could lead to houses instead burning solid fuel for heat and thereby polluting the air. Under ACT planning laws it is currently mandatory for gas utilities to be provided in all new estates and subdivisions. The ACT is the only jurisdiction in Australia where it is compulsory to provide gas infrastructure at new developments. The ACT government would not save any money by making it optional to provide gas infrastructure. The Ginninderry estate development is at the forefront of energy system design in Australia, Mr Gentleman said. This trial will mean higher design and insulation standards set for other developments in the ACT which will bring advances in sustainability, more affordable living and greater customer choice. With renewable energy becoming more affordable and reliable, it was not consistent with the ACT governments vision to rely on gas, Mr Gentleman said. In 2016, the ACT government set a target of sourcing 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2020. For future residents, this trial will mean access to affordable housing, diverse and sustainable design and savings to energy costs, Mr Gentleman said. The Environment Protection Authority outlined its concerns in consultation with the ACT planning directorate, which prepared the proposed territory plan variation. The proposed variation is supported in principle, however will limit the choices available for space heating in homes and could result in an increased reliance on solid fuel heating options in the area, the authority said. The air quality impact assessment  completed as part of the Ginninderry environment assessment process indicates particulate pollution from solid-fuel heaters could present air-quality issues in the area. The authority recommended restrictions on the type of solid-fuel heaters and also recommended outlawing second-hand heaters. An ACT government spokesman said wood-fired heaters were not a "preferred solution" for Ginninderry, and any wood heaters would have to comply with territory emissions standards. The Ginninderry project is a 60:40 joint venture between the ACT government and Corkhill Brothers subsidiary Riverview Developments. The joint venture has about 30 stages of works planned on both sides of the NSW/ACT border, with a total of 11,500 new homes. The NSW part of the project still requires state government approval. The overall project is set to run until 2056, with the next hurdle for Riverview Developments being the public consultation process for stage two of the development, which involves the construction of 814 homes in the ACT. Stage one was given the green light by the ACT planning directorate last year in the face of environmental concerns raised by the territory's conservator of flora and fauna, who opposed the removal of 20 regulated, hollow bearing and habitat trees. The Ginninderra Falls Association also objected, highlighting concerns about the impact of the development on species including pink-tailed worm lizards, little eagles and golden sun moths. The development as a whole also required Commonwealth approval, and the federal government responded by imposing 13 specific environmental conditions, including that the developers put aside land for a "conservation corridor" and set up an environmental trust.

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The federal government's proposed laws for a facial recognition database clashes with the ACT's privacy and human rights laws, according to the ACT government. It is the second Australian jurisdiction to raise alarm over the bill after Victoria confirmed the federal 'Identity-matching Services Bill' and amendments to the Australian Passports Act clashed with local law. The Department of Home Affairs is compiling a national database of Australian driver licenses for facial recognition to be made available to security agencies and private companies. The ACT government welcomed the recent statements by the Victorian government in their submission to the federal security and intelligence committee. In its submission, the Victorian government raised concerns over the lack of checks and balances over the misuse of the database, granting access to private companies, the absence of a public oversight body and the risk of people as young as 12 being placed in the database. "The [bill] goes beyond the scope of the [Inter-Government Agreement] in several respects," Victoria's submission said. They said if the bill continued as proposed, Victoria would consider withdrawing from the program. ACT Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur questioned Chief Minister Andrew Barr in the assembly on Thursday, asking if the bill was compatible with the ACT's Human Rights Act. "Victoria has threatened to pull out of the regime," Ms Le Couteur said. "Will the ACT pull out of the scheme if the scheme cannot be made compatible with our Human Rights Act? A government spokeswoman confirmed the ACT would still participate in the facial recognition scheme, but only on the terms it laid out in the inter-government agreement last year. "The legislation contains a broader potential scope for use of the system than the terms set in the [inter-governmental agreement]," a spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said the ACT was "focused on aligning" the Department of Home Affair's program with the conditions the ACT placed on their participation in inter-government agreement. The ACT government ruled out Access Canberra using the system to pursue infringements last year. The ACT was the sole jurisdiction to initially raise human rights concerns at COAG last year, with Mr Barr placing conditions on the ACT's participation in the program.news, latest-news

One in three entry-level scientists newly recruited to the Defence Department this year will be hired into non-permanent roles, following massive cuts to its science division's headcount. Defence science and technology bosses have signed off on hiring 150 new staff but it expects 50 of these will arrive at the department with temporary work. The recruitment method mimics those of universities, which employ research staff as casuals or other non-ongoing positions, and where permanent positions are rare and coveted. Its new hiring effort is a major upscaling for the science division, which has filled only 110 entry and early career level positions since 2015, but a union representing Defence scientists has decried its decision to hire non-ongoing staff. Defence's 2100-strong science and technology arm, one of Australia's largest employers of scientists and engineers, has copped a cut to its headcount of 350 since 2013. An internal Defence Department email shows PhD graduates will receive non-ongoing positions lasting 18 months. The new recruits won't have a guaranteed path to permanent work, which will depend on gaining their PhD, strong performance and "a continued need for the work program". Bosses wanting to make strong-performing non-ongoing staff permanent have been advised to wait a year, and were told "performance should be outstanding". Professionals Australia's ACT director David Smith said Defence had set the bar too high for recruits to get permanent jobs. Defence scientists needed significant experience in the organisation to develop real expertise, he said. "Setting the performance bar to ongoing employment at 'outstanding' is a level not even Einstein would have been able to meet in his graduate year," Mr Smith said. "Looking to employ Defence scientists on a non-ongoing basis is utterly crazy. "It doesnt provide you with an 'agile and diverse' workforce but one that is unstable and potentially on the lookout to change employers either in Australia or overseas to get such stability." Strong performers may finish their roles without permanent work, despite going through security clearances, he said. "Doing this both under-cuts any sensible workforce planning as well as creating potential security risks down the track," Mr Smith said. "New employees already have probationary periods. They dont need the further uncertainty of being employed in a non-ongoing way for 18 months with no certainty of work beyond that time. "Defence actually need to invest in a five-year plan to rebuild science and engineering expertise across the board rather than attempt to change the balance of the workforce to reflect the worst of academia and the science sector." A Defence spokesman said the majority of roles its science and technology division was offering in 2018 were permanent. "Recently qualified PhDs, post doctoral fellowships will be offered on a non-ongoing basis to undertake defined research over a specific period," he said. "This is consistent with other research agencies and academic institutions for post-doctoral employment programs and will grow research capability across the Defence sector."

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The quickest sedan to do the 0-100kmph stint is also the slowest from 100kmph to standstill!

Sedans priced between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 25 lakh may not be very popular in India. However, they offer a great mix of comfort, performance and road presence. In their petrol-automatic avatars, these cars are aimed at buyers whod like to give their chauffeurs a break and would love to get behind the wheel themselves. The Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla Altis and the Hyundai Elantra are three such offerings that go head to head in terms of pricing and features. Naturally, we had to put them to the test to find out how they fare against each other in the real world.

Corolla Altis CVT Elantra Automatic Octavia Automatic Engine 1.8-litre petrol 2.0-litre petrol 1.8-litre petrol Power 140PS @ 6400rpm 152PS @ 6200rpm 180PS @ 5100-6200rpm Torque 173Nm @ 4000rpm 192NM @ 4000rpm 250Nm @ 1250-5000rpm Transmission 7-speed CVT 6-speed AT 7-speed DSG Fuel Economy City (tested) 11.91kmpl 9.59kmpl 9.04kmpl Fuel Economy Highway (tested) 18.04kmpl 15.26kmpl 15.11kmpl

Acceleration and Roll-on Tests: The Octavia takes the lead

Car 0-100kmph Kickdown (20-80kmph) Toyota Corolla Altis 11.46s 6.78s Hyundai Elantra 10.91s 6.57s Skoda Octavia 8.26s 5.0s

The Skoda Octavia is the most powerful sedan among the three. The high power and torque figures translate into exceptional on-road performance, with the Skoda spriniting from 0-100kmph in just 8.26s. The Elantra, on the other hand, is 2.65s slower than the Czech offering. The Corolla is the slowest of the lot as it took 11.46s to hit the 100kmph mark. The Skoda is the quickest in kickdown figures too thanks to a powerful 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol motor and a fast double-clutch gearbox.

All that performance does come at a price though. The Skoda Octavia is the least fuel efficient of the three cars with a mileage of 9.04kmpl (city). The Corolla Altis reliable motor and CVT, on the other hand, help it return an impressive 11.91kmpl within the city.

Braking: The Elantra is the clear winner here

Car 100-0kmph 80-0kmph Toyota Corolla Altis 44.08m 28.01m Hyundai Elantra 41.12m 25.89m Skoda Octavia 47.17m 30.20m

All three sedans in this test get disc brakes on all four corners along with anti-lock braking system (ABS) and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) as standard. So, its quite natural to expect all three cars to perform equally. However, our tests did spring a couple of surprises, with the biggest one being the fact that the quickest car of the three was, in fact, the slowest to come to a complete halt. It even needed more space than the other two for a complete stop too.

Where the Skoda took 3.37s and 47.17 metres to come to a dead halt from 100kmph, the Elantra did the same in 3.14s and 41.12 metres. The Corolla Altis came second in the test with figures of 3.15s and 44.08 metres.

Prices

Toyota Corolla Altis (ex-showroom Delhi) Hyundai Elantra (ex-showroom Delhi) Skoda Octavia (ex-showroom pan-India) G CVT (Rs 17.88 lakh) SX Automatic (Rs 16.13 lakh) Style AT (Rs 19.63 lakh) VL (Rs 20.01 lakh) SX(O) Automatic (Rs 18.20 lakh) L&K AT (Rs 22.38 lakh)

Also Read: Toyota Yaris CVT vs Hyundai Verna Automatic vs Honda City CVT  Real-World Performance Compared

Read More on : Octavia on road priceBank of Baroda has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Chief Risk Officer. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 76520. The last date to apply for the government job is May 29, 2018.

Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Recruitment 2018 For Managers

Bank Of Baroda Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Chief Risk Officer Organisation Bank of Baroda Educational Qualification Relevant certificates and degree in risk management Age Limit 45 to 55 years Skills Required Management skills Salary Scale INR 76520 Job Responsibilities Credit risk management and market risk management Job Location Mumbai Industry Banking Experience 20 years Application Start Date May 14, 2018 Application End Date May 29, 2018

Also Read: Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Recruitment 2018 For Managers

How To Apply For Bank Of Baroda Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for Bank of Baroda Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the Bank of Baroda official website.

Step 2: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Careers.

Step 3: Select Current Opportunities.

Step 4: Click on the attachment that reads, Chief Risk Officer.

Step 5: The detailed advertisement will be displayed on the screen. Read the details carefully and click on the application link.

Step 6: Click on the link that reads, CLICK HERE TO APPLY ONLINE.

Step 7: The application form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 8: Upload your resume.

Step 9: Click SUBMIT and complete the application process.The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for various posts. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government jobs here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 67000. The last date to apply for the government jobs is May 31, 2018.

UPSC Recruitment 2018 For Various Posts: Apply Before May 17!

UPSC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Assistant Director, Assistant Registrar, Scientist B, Assistant Executive Engineer, Assistant Architect, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor and Commercial Tax Officer Organisation Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Job Location India Industry Civil Services Application Start Date May 14, 2018 Application End Date May 31, 2018

Post-wise Details

Name Of The Post Number Of Vacancies Educational Qualification Maximum Age Limit Skills Required Salary Scale Experience Assistant Director 3 CA or MBA or LLB 30 years INR 40000 1 year Assistant Registrar 1

Any degree from a recognised university 30 years level 7 pay matrix 3 years Scientist B 2

Master's degree in chemistry, biochemistry or forensic science 35 years level 10 pay matrix 3 years Assistant Executive Engineer 6 Degree in telecommunication or electronics engineering 35 years level 10 pay matrix 2 years Assistant Architect 1

Degree or diploma in architecture from a recognised university

40 years INR 45000 2 years Associate Professor (Applied Maths) 1 PhD in applied maths 50 years INR 37400 to INR 76000 desirable Associate Professor (Applied Physics) 1

PhD in applied physics 55 years INR 37400 to INR 76000 desirable Assistant Professor (Applied Maths) 1

Master's degree in applied maths 35 years INR 15600 to INR 45000 desirable Assistant Professor (Applied Physics) 1

Master's degree in applied physics 40 years INR 15600 to INR 45000 desirable Commercial Tax Officer 1

Bachelor's degree in commerce or economics or business studies 30 years Level 7 pay matrix 2 years

Also Read: UPSC Recruitment 2018 For Combined Medical Services: Apply By May 25!

How To Apply For UPSC Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for UPSC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the UPSC official website.

Step 2: Click on the link that reads ONLINE RECRUITMENT APPLICATION (ORA) FOR VARIOUS RECRUITMENT POSTS.

Step 3: Click New Registration.

Step 4: The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 5: Enter the captcha code.

Step 6: Click Save & Continue and follow the subsequent pages.

Step 7: Go back to the main page and click Apply Now against the post that you want to apply for.

Step 8: Enter your credentials in the login form and submit it to complete the application process.

Click here to read the detailed official advertisement.Government jobs in India remain the most attracting ones because of the social reputation that comes along with a hassle-free life and job security. Starting from an attendant to a Group A officer, every government employee enjoys the prestige and benefits that include house rent allowance and travel allowance. These benefits are the major reasons why Indian youth are giving competitive entrance examinations immediately after their education, despite having millions of private sector job opportunities.

Vying for a government job, many candidates take up lower positions that are available for class 12 pass-outs. There are many vacancies in the departments such as defence, banking and railways for the candidates who have graduated from high school. If you are one amongst the candidates aiming for a government job after completing class 12, tour the jobs that are available.

What Are The Career Options After Class 12- Arts, Commerce and Science

1. National Defence Academy (NDA)

The defence sector in India consists of three wings, namely Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. Students who have passed 10+2 can appear for the all India entrance exam, NDA. With this, they will be recruited to the respective armed forces. Candidates from any stream can join the Indian Army after 10+2. However, physics and mathematics are required at a 10+2 level for the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.

2. SSC Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL)

Staff Selection Commission (SSC) conducts the Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL) exam, annually, to recruit candidates for the positions of lower division clerks and data entry operators.

3. SSC Multi Tasking Staff (MTS)

Multi Tasking Staff, one of the entrance exams conducted by the Staff Selection Commission, is conducted to recruit candidates as support staff at various ministries and government departments.

4. SSC Stenographer (Grade C and Grade D)

The stenographer examination is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission to recruit aspirants for Grade C and Grade D positions. The educational qualification for this exam is a high school graduate certificate. The stenography skills certificate is also required to take the exam.

5. Railway Recruitment Board (RRB)

There are many vacancies in the Indian Railways for candidates who have passed class 12. Some of the vacancies in the Indian Railways are assistant loco pilot, office assistants, station master and ticket collector. The basic qualification required to apply for these posts is a high school graduate certificate. Depending on the requirement, the board has authority to change the prerequisites.

6. Jobs In State Government

There are many jobs available at respective state governments for the candidates who have passed class 12. Some of the position one can apply for with a 10+2 pass certificate are those of mechanics, technicians, drivers, assistants, telephone operators and others.

7. Indian Army

For the posts such as technical entry scheme (TES) and soldiers (only male), mahila constables (general duty), junior commissioned officers (catering), the educational qualification is high school graduate certificate.

8. Indian Navy

A high school graduate certificate is the educational qualification for posts of sailor, cadet entry in technical diploma and senior secondary recruits (SSR) as well as artificer apprentice.

9. Indian Coast Guard

One can also take up positions at the Indian Coast Guard after graduating high school. One can apply for the posts of naviks (sailors) and yantriks (technicians), assistant commandants and airmen in IAF.

10. Security Forces

Apart from the defence, there are various opening in the security forces for candidates who have passed class 12. With a 10+2 graduate certificate, a candidate can apply for a few positions in the Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Interesting Career Options In Arts After Class 12Photo: CTV

An Abbotsford home was riddled with bullets Sunday night.

Police are investigating after gunfire erupted about midnight near Boult Avenue and Emerson Street.

No one was injured in the incident in which a vehicle was also shot at.

Police searched the area with a dog, but no suspects have been arrested.

 with files from CTV VancouverPhoto: The Canadian Press

Federal Green Leader Elizabeth May and NDP MP Kennedy Stewart have been charged in connection with their participation in an anti-pipeline protest in Burnaby in March.

The politicians have been charged with criminal contempt of court, the B.C. Prosecution Service announced Monday.

Stewart pleaded guilty to the charge and was handed a $500 fine.

He intends to step down as MP and run for mayor of Vancouver.

He and May were arrested March 23 during a protest against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion outside a Kinder Morgan terminal in Burnaby.

"The commitment to build a pipeline in 2018 when we're in climate crisis is a crime against future generations and I will not be part of it," May told reporters at the time.

May has not commented on the charge.

 with files from CTV VancouverEarlier this year calendar PIS has been changed And now it will be paid again in February 2022. This is...Ugandan cement producers struggle to participate in SGR project

14 May 2018

Local cement producers will have to change their products to supply the new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project in Uganda.



The SGR project is a mega railway transportation network that will be constructed by Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Company.



"The cement we have is not cement meant for the railway, we benchmarked from Kenya and found that Bamburi plant in Mombasa had changed its manufacturing configuration to meet these [SGR] standards," said SGR project coordinator, Kasingye Kyamugambi.



Talks between SGR and cement manufacturers in Uganda only managed to convert Hima Cement (LafargeHolcim group) to change configuration to produce one specific type for the project. Yet the project, according to Mr Kyamugambi, will need eight types of cement.



He said this has forced them to get directives, as a legal cover to forego the local content policy, especially for products that they cannot obtain from here (Uganda).



However, Moses Ojambo, the PPDA director capacity building and advisory services, asked government to empower local manufacturers to boost their capacity instead of resorting to imports. "Let government empower local companies so that they can meet required qualities and quantities," he said.

Published underDo you consider yourself successful? Whether or not you answered yes, would you want anyone judging you for the grades you got in school? Well, thats what happens when youre President of the United States and everyone wants to know if youre closer to the smartest or dumbest side of the spectrum. People with bad grades still end up being successful, as Donald Trump and these other presidents who got terrible grades illustrate.

Well see how one of the 20th centurys most loved presidents rates (page 5) before looking at Trumps grades (page 10).

Franklin Pierce

Years in office: 1853-57

Franklin Pierce attended Bowdoin College in Maine before becoming president, but he wasnt a great student  at least not at the beginning. Mental Floss reports he spent more time goofing off with Nathaniel Hawthorne than studying, and at one point he was ranked last in his class.

Next: Actually, he doesnt even have any grades.

Abraham Lincoln

Years in office: 1861-65

Abraham Lincoln cant be one of the presidents who got terrible grades because he didnt get any grades at all. His formal education lasted all of 18 months, and it happened just a few lessons at a time. Lincoln is one of Americas greatest presidents, so his lack of education clearly doesnt matter at all.

Next: Luckily, science isnt a big part of being president.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Years in office: 1933-45

Franklin Roosevelt didnt get totally dismal grades at the Croton School in Massachusetts, but science wasnt his best subject. He earned a C in physics at one point, which is why were glad there isnt much science needed in the oval office.

Next: A president who struggled with English composition.

Harry Truman

Years in office: 1945-53

Truman was actually a pretty strong student and got solid marks as a second-grader in 1894. However, English composition and punctuation were problem areas. According to The Washington Post, an English book in Trumans archives contains the sentence, A true heart a strong mind and a great deal of courage and I think a man will get through the world, which is totally lacking the needed commas.

Next: His German was solid, his Latin wasnt.

John F. Kennedy

Years in office: 1961-63

Despite the rumors, John F. Kennedy actually got it right when he told the world, Ich bin ein Berliner. Luckily, he wasnt trying to speak Latin.

On a 1930 report card, Kennedy scored just a 55 in Latin and a 77 across all subjects. His teacher thought he should have scored well into the 80s. So its safe to say one of the most loved presidents of the 20th century was also one of many presidents who got terrible grades.

Next: Grammar and punctuality plagued this president during his school days.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Years in office: 1963-69

Things were tough in grade school and high school for Lyndon B. Johnson. He was late to class eight times in two months in ninth grade. In third grade, he earned a C in geography and a D in grammar, though he improved in both areas later on. So he went from being one of the presidents who got terrible grades to one who got solid marks.

Next: A big caveat when talking about this president.

Richard Nixon

Years in office: 1969-74

We admit you cant really call Richard Nixon one of the presidents who got terrible grades since he was No. 1 in his high school class, was No. 2 in college, and attended Duke law school on scholarship. Despite the grades, we dont think he was very smart.

Nixon broke one of his main campaign promises by expanding and extending the Vietnam War. Plus, there was a little debacle called the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon resigning in shame. On paper, he was very smart, but hes remembered more for his follies.

Next: Middling grades in high school

George H.W. Bush

Years in office: 1989-93

He enjoyed a long and successful political career, but George H.W. Bushs high school grades left something to be desired. On the campaign trail in 1988, he joked that he failed chemistry, and his transcript shows plenty of marks in the 60s and 70s.

Next: Hes highly educated, but how are his grades?

George W. Bush

Years in office: 2001-09

George W. Bush is actually one of the most educated leaders weve ever had, but hes also one of the presidents who got terrible grades. He had a high C average during his time at Yale, and he almost failed an astronomy course, according to Mental Floss.

Next: Big claims about his smarts, but where is the proof?

Donald Trump

Years in office: 2017-

Donald Trump claims hes a genius, but we want to see the proof. Yes, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school, but he started at Fordham University and transferred as a junior. The Washington Post reports an old friend of his brothers conducted his Penn entrance interview.

Trump doesnt refute claims he was first in his class at Penns Wharton School, but The Daily Pennsylvanian writes he didnt make the 1968 deans list and didnt graduate with any honors, let alone first in his class.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!The bell rings blue: Central tops Centennial in 121st Bell Game

The Central High School football team dominated the Bell Game 42-0 over Centennial at Dutch Clark Stadium in the 121st meeting between the programsAs details emerge of the shocking tactics used in the two bomb attacks in Indonesia over the last 48 hours, a regional analyst has said he was not surprised by the apparent Islamist motive.

Just a few weeks before the attacks, the government published a study, according to which close to 25 per cent of university students agree with the idea of a caliphate. Another study showed that eight per cent are ready for violent jihad, if given the opportunity. So in a way did not come as a surprise, Thomas Muller, analyst at Christian charity Open Doors Internationals World Watch Research unit, said in a radio interview for a Catholic broadcaster yesterday , answering a question about how a country once known for its inter-religious tolerance could give way to extremism.

A 2016 report looking at terrorism in Indonesia found that recruitment to the Islamic State group from the country was one of the lowest in the region as a proportion of its 200 million population, which it put down to a strong culture of moderate Islam, a non-repressive government and relative political stability. The report, by a group of regional analysts, said the threat from IS-inspired militants should not be under-estimated, however, given Indonesias long history of Islamic terrorism and lack of legal measures to prosecute individuals under suspicion of terrorism.

Yesterdays (13 May) suicide attacks on three churches in Surabaya, the capital city of East Java province, by members of a single family were followed by this mornings (14 May) suicide attack on a police headquarters by a family of five. Indonesian police have revealed that the family that attacked the three churches on Sunday included two girls, aged nine and 12, two teenage boys, and both of their parents, identified in the New York Times as Dita Oepriarto and his wife, Puji Kuswati.

An eight-year-old girl, wedged between her parents on a motorbike during this mornings attack on the police headquarters, survived the blast.

Meanwhile police said that an explosion yesterday at a block of flats in Surabaya killed three members of a family who may have been planning an attack.

Latest figures from the BBC put the overall death toll from the three attacks at 18, with more than 40 injured.

Yesterdays attacks were the most deadly. The two teenaged sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria Catholic Church and detonated explosives at 07:30 local time, just five minutes before their father drove a bomb-laden car at Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church, and followed shortly after by their mother and two sisters carrying out a bomb attack on Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.

Response to the attacks

Indonesian President Joko Widodo described the attacks as cowardly, undignified and inhumane and said he will push through a long-awaited anti-terrorism bill if parliament does not pass it.

President Widodo was one of 70 prominent Muslim scholars meeting at the presidential palace in West Java to discuss peace in Afghanistan just three days ago, on 11 May. The group, from Pakistan, Indonesia and Afghanistan, issued a fatwa saying that violent extremism and terrorism, including suicide attacks, are against Islamic principles in an effort aimed at convincing the Taliban to end its violence, reported Associated Press.

Indonesias largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, condemned the attacks. Every act of hostility that manipulates religion is not supported by Islam, it said in a statement.

In a statement from the Christian Conference of Asia, its General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara expressed his condolences to the victims families and stated that the attack carried out against worshiping communities during Sunday services is a heinous crime, which is not justifiable by any religion. He said the attacks aim at destroying the countrys long-nurtured and cherished values of religious harmony.

Pope Francis prayed that those affected would find no place in their hearts for hatred and violence, but instead reconciliation and fraternity, reported Catholic news site Crux.

The attacks are the worst in Indonesia since Al-Qaeda killed 22 people on the island of Sulawesi in May 2005, and 20 in Bali later that year.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Surabaya attacks, which are believed to have been orchestrated by Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian militant group formed in 2015 and affiliated to IS. JAD is led by the jailed terrorist Aman Abdurrahman, who has been accused of spreading IS propaganda from behind bars. Abdurrahman is currently facing new charges of masterminding attacks including the November 2016 bombing of a church playground that left one child dead.

The Surabaya attacks show more sophistication than previous amateurish plots by JAD, Zachary Abuza of the National War College in Washington DC told the BBC. The use of children in the attacks was absolutely unprecedented in the region, he said, and speaks to the ideological indoctrination of the group.

World Watch Monitor reported in March that an attack on a church on the island of Sumatra was a political warning ahead of Junes regional elections. A local source said at the time that in [Indonesian] politics, targeting Christians is a classic manoeuvre to garner votes and support from Muslims.

The terrorist attacks came only days after Islamist militant prisoners ended a five-day siege at a high-security jail on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, reported Reuters. During the stand-off the militants killed five members of Indonesias counter-terrorism force, Densus 88. The elite force was set up in 2003 following the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that left 202 people dead. Densus 88 was described in 2016 as having become better than pretty well any other counter-terrorism group in the world at foiling attacks.

The post Indonesia bombings did not come as a surprise appeared first on World Watch Monitor.

Photo: An Indonesian anti-terror policeman stands guard at the blast site following a suicide bomb outside a church in Surabaya on May 13

Photo courtesy: Getty Images via World Watch Monitor

Publication date: May 14, 2018Islamic extremists in Indonesia, including a family of suicide bombers that targeted three churches, launched multiple attacks yesterday and today that reportedly killed at least 12 people not including the assailants.



The father of the family that killed the Christians on Sunday (May 13), Dita Futrianto, was the suspected head of the local cell of an Islamic State-inspired network called Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), the BBC reported, citing police.



Futrianto was reported to have dropped off his wife, Puji Kuswati, and their two daughters, ages 9 and 12, at Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church in Surabaya, East Java. With her two daughters present, Kuswati hugged a parishioner before detonating her bomb, according to the Associated Press, citing a security guard.



At Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church, Futrianto then drove his car onto the church grounds and detonated explosives. Earlier in the morning his sons, ages 16 and 18, had ridden motorcycles into Santa Maria Catholic Church and detonated their explosives. Police reportedly said the second and third church attacks came five minutes apart.

East Java police told reporters today that 13 of the 25 dead were the assailants, according to the Jakarta Post. The newspaper reported that 12 people died in the church attacks.

Two other churches were targeted as well, but bombs failed to explode at St. Jacob's Church in West Surabaya and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral, according to the Post.

Another family reportedly attacked a police station this morning (May 14), wounding 10 people, including police officers. The four perpetrators on two motorbikes died after driving into the building gateway and detonating explosives, according to police, who said an 8-year-old girl on one of the motorcycles was thrown from the vehicle but survived.



On Sunday night (May 13), a bomb in the Wonocolo low-cost housing complex in Sidoarjo exploded prematurely, killing a woman and her 17-year-old child, police said. Officers reportedly found the father of the family in the house holding a detonator and shot him. The familys 12-year-old son reportedly took two younger sisters to the Bhayangkara Police hospital.



Police said they killed four suspected members of JAD in Cianjur, West Java Province, and arrested two others, according to the BBC.



The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for Sundays church attacks in Indonesia.



The bombings, the deadliest in Indonesia in more than a decade, also wounded more than 40 people, police told journalists.



IS first mounted attacks in Indonesia in 2016, claiming the lives of four civilians in explosions and shootings. It also claimed responsibility for an attack on a high-security prison near Jakarta that killed five security forces personnel earlier this month, among other attacks.



Al-Qaeda has carried out the worst attacks in Indonesia, killing more than 200 people on the island of Bali in 2002. Other attacks killed 22 people on the island of Sulawesi in May 2005, and 20 in Bali later that year.



On Feb. 11 in Central Javas city of Yogyakarta, a Muslim extremist attacked a Catholic church. The 23-year-old identified as Suliyono of Bayuwangi in East Java wounded a priest and three others during Mass at St. Lidwina Catholic Church.



The Jakarta Post quoted National Police spokesman Setyo Wasisto as saying that the assault fit a pattern of recent attacks by terrorists in other countries, and that Suliyono had been radicalized after joining several religious organizations, which he declined to name, while a student in Sulawesi.



Indonesia ranked 38th on Christian support organization Open Doors World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is mot difficult to live as a Christian.





If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews. org/resources/aid-agencies/ fo r a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.



If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/ donate/ ?Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

I remember fondly my years with the Boy Scouts. Overnight campouts with my father. Lessons in outdoor survival and the care of nature. Building camaraderie in an environment uniquely suited to develop boys into men.

As a teenager, I became too involved in academics and other activities to continue in the Boy Scouts, but I have always admired the Eagle Scouts I met and consider their achievement to be enormously significant. The list of notable Eagle Scouts includes President Gerald Ford, astronaut Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon), Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and businessman Sam Walton.

The Boy Scouts have been one of America's great cultural institutions. Five years ago, things began to change.

What the BSA has done

From their inception in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) excluded openly gay people from membership or leadership. The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that they had a legal right to continue this position.

Then companies such as UPS, drug manufacturer Merck, and the United Way began opposing the organization's policy, choosing to stop or postpone their financial support. A gay advocacy group gathered more than 1.2 million online signatures to protest the BSA's position.

In response, the BSA voted on May 23, 2013, to open the organization to openly gay individuals. On July 27, 2015, they chose to permit openly gay Scout leaders.

On January 30, 2017, the BSA announced that transgender boys would be allowed to enroll in boys-only programs, effective immediately. On October 11, 2017, they announced that girls would be allowed to become Cub Scouts in 2018 and that a separate program for older girls would begin in 2019.

To further the inclusion of girls, the BSA is now dropping "Boy" from the name of its signature program. Starting in February 2019, the Boy Scouts program for boys ages eleven to seventeen will be called Scouts BSA. The overall organization will remain Boy Scouts of America.

The organization said the decision was in response to the needs of families and because of dropping membership. The BSA has lost about a third of its members since 2000.

Why the Mormon response is important

When the BSA decided to include openly gay Scouts five years ago, a leader in the organization told me that the key reaction to watch would come from the Mormon Church.

For a century, any boy who was part of a Mormon congregation was automatically part of the Boy Scouts. As a result, more Scouts have come from Mormon churches than from any other organization.

However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced it will sever all ties with the BSA. Their affiliation will end on December 31, 2019.

This change will affect hundreds of thousands of Mormon boys in more than thirty thousand congregations across the country. The church will create its own youth program, to be launched in January 2020.

The church said it was "deeply troubled" by the BSA's decision to lift the ban on openly gay adult leaders in 2015. The Mormon Church opposes same-sex marriage, teaches that sex outside of marriage is sinful, and does not permit openly gay men or women to hold leadership roles.

Abandoning vital distinctives

I recently read an advance copy of John S. Dickerson's Hope of Nations: Standing Strong in a Post-Truth, Post-Christian World. Dickerson is a pastor, researcher, and award-winning journalist. His latest book is an illuminating, troubling, and inspiring look into the likely future for our culture.

In light of Dickerson's outstanding research, it is clear to me that BSA leaders are responding to a culture that should trouble us all. Dickerson notes that 89 percent of Americans believe "people should not criticize someone else's life choices." A frightening 74 percent of Millennials believe morality to be a matter of cultural consensus (compared with 39 percent of Elders who agree).

Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016 as an overt socialist. More Millennials voted for him in the 2016 presidential primaries than for Donald Trump and Hillary Clintoncombined. Clearly, the younger Americans are, the less committed they are to traditional values and biblical truth.

BSA leaders apparently believe that compromising their traditional values and distinctives by including all sexual identities and genders is the way forward in this pluralistic, relativistic day.

I would respond that they are abandoning what made them such a unique and vibrant part of our national ethos.

If a ship in a storm jettisons the cargo it was intended to protect, it fails its mission.

How to be good ambassadors

You and I are "ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Ambassadors have three jobs: (1) understand the foreign culture where they now live; (2) represent the authority on whose behalf they serve; (3) work faithfully until they are called home.

Today, you will be the presence of Christ to those you meet. They will judge your Master by his messenger. If you ask the Holy Spirit to author your words (Mathew 10:19) and sanctify your character (Galatians 5:22-23), he will.

Jesus came "to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19).

Let's join him.

Originally posted at Denison Forum.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

In April, I received an invitation from the White House to attend a briefing for leaders of conservative organizations. You never know about meetings like these. I have been to many that turned out to be just a dog and pony show without much substance. But that was not the case this time. About 40 groups were represented to hear directly from some of the top officials in the Trump administration, people who meet with the president on a regular basis.

Donald Trump was not my first choice for president. I voted for another candidate during the primary. With Trump, I would cheer what he said one day, and be aghast at something he would say the next. After the primaries, it was clear that Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton would be president of the United States.

As Trump went forward, he took some actions and made some pronouncements that made me more and more comfortable with his campaign. For one, he named Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate. Pence is an evangelical Christian. He understands a biblical worldview. The one issue I did have with Gov. Pence is that he gave in to some of the demands of the LGBTQ mob on a religious freedom law in the Hoosier state a couple of years back. Even so, I thought that having Pence as Trump's vice presidential running mate meant that Trump wanted a committed Christian as his top confidant and adviser.

However, the most important statement Trump made to conservatives came when he issued a list of judges he would promote to the federal bench if elected. No other Republican candidate would dare do that. They are too afraid of what the liberal news media will do to them if they announce that only conservative judges need apply. Trump didn't care. He got those names from the Federalist Society, a stalwart conservative legal group that does not compromise on standing for the U.S. Constitution. But I think he was also smart enough to know that unless he was able to get conservatives excited about his candidacy, he had no shot at defeating Clinton. I am pleased to report that so far, President Trump has followed through on his promise to appoint only conservative judges to the federal bench, including the appointment and confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Another issue candidate Trump made a commitment on was being a pro-life president. Again, he has followed through on this promise in many ways. Every pro-life leader I know has praised Trump as being the "most pro-life president since Ronald Reagan."

With any administration, there will be some good and some bad. I can honestly say that up to the time of this writing, President Trump has done a lot more good than bad on conservative issues across the board. This is despite the fact that he is attacked day and night, 24/7 by the liberal news media and the Democrats. Furthermore, he is often undermined by the Republican establishment.

Does Trump sometimes say and Tweet things many of his supporters, especially Christians, would cringe at? Yes. But you have to remember he's still a hardened New York businessman who has basically lived his whole life among liberals and degenerates, himself a playboy. If, however, you listen to people like the ones I met at the meeting in April, this is not the same man he was for his many decades in the celebrity limelight. He is more serious minded, and he is what I would call an old-school patriot.

In America we only have one president at a time. I do know one thing for certainHillary Clinton would have been a catastrophe for our country and a real enemy of Christians and the Constitution.

I can't do anything about what Donald Trump did 10, 20 or 30 years ago. But while he is our one president, I can do something now to help keep him on the straight and narrow on the issues the American Family Association cares about most. And if he and his administration want to hear from me, I will gladly go to Washington, D.C., to tell them what I think.

Tim Wildmon is the president of the American Family Association (AFA) a non-profit 501(c3) organization was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon in 1977.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

President Trump announced Thursday that he will meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. His statement came after three Americans were released from more than a year in captivity and returned to the US.

The three were greeted early Thursday morning by President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Pence, and his wife, Karen Pence. What do we know about the men? How is their story relevant to us today?

What we know about the men

Kim Hak Song was apparently arrested as he was preparing to leave North Korea on May 6, 2017. He had been working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) for several weeks. The Korean Central News Agency reported his arrest for "hostile acts" but offered no further details.

Tony Kim was also a teacher at PUST. The university's chancellor stated that Kim was involved in extracurricular activities such as volunteering at an orphanage.

PUST is North Korea's first private university. It is operated mostly by evangelical Christian schools and chiefly employs Christian staff. However, PUST representatives have said that the arrests of Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song were "not connected in any way" with the university's work.

Kim Dong Chul was arrested in October 2015 on charges of espionage and other undisclosed crimes. He delivered a public confession and apology in which he said he had been spying on behalf of "South Korean conservative elements."

The three men were taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for further evaluation and rest.

One man's experience in North Korea

Masaji Ishikawa is the author of A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea. His story has been called "the standard work on the hell of North Korea." I read it with great sadness but with resolve to pray harder for those suffering so horrifically in the country he escaped.

Ishikawa's father was from North Korea, while his mother was Japanese. Their family was living in Japan, but his father wanted to return to his homeland, believing they would find a better life there.

The country called itself a "paradise on earth." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Upon arriving in North Korea, they were assigned to a group of five families, with a leader who reported everything about them to the secret police. His father's income was nowhere near enough to support a family of six, so they faced constant deprivation and even starvation.

Ishikawa notes: "The most important thing was how faithful you were to the Great Leader [Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current leader]. Teachers and every other adult I knew tried to brainwash us into becoming slavish members of their pseudo-religious cult."

Why didn't the people revolt? Ishikawa explains: "North Koreans didn't have anything to compare their country with because they'd never experienced everything else. Even when Kim Il-sung did something particularly brutal or horrific, no one raised an eyebrow. . . . Without any other information at their disposal, young North Koreans simply fell for the propaganda."

What was life like for him? Health care was supposed to be free, but the people had to bribe doctors with alcohol or cigarettes to receive attention. His mother foraged in the forest to find grass and herbs she could feed her family.

Starvation was epidemic: "Starving people wandered around hopelessly, while others simply lay in the street. Soon there were corpses too, lying out in the open, unclaimed and left to rot. Women. Old people. Kids." He even heard stories of cannibalism.

Ishikawa risked his life to flee. After a harrowing journey, he finally made his way back to Japan. Here is his reflection on his years in North Korea: "Now I have just one thing left. My only true possession. I'm sorry to say that it's bitterness. Bitterness at the cruelty of life."

My prayer list for North Korea

For sixteen years, North Korea has been ranked the "most oppressive place in the world for Christians." And yet, an estimated 36 percent of the populationaround nine million peopleare believers.

Up to seventy thousand of them are in concentration camps; more than 75 percent do not survive. Defectors have spoken of Christians being crushed by steamrollers, used to test biological weapons, or hung on a cross over a fire.

Christians must keep their faith secret even from other family members since the government rewards those who betray believers. But their numbers are growing, and their faith is strong. As one expert says, "They know only God is powerful enough to break through the darkness of the most oppressive regime on earth."

We should rejoice in the safe return of the three Americans while praying for the millions who are victims of this cruel regime. Here's my prayer list for North Korea:

 Kim Jong Un to make Jesus his Lord.

 His leaders to hear the gospel and come to faith.

 Success in the upcoming summit with removal of nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula.

 North Korean Christians to be protected and enabled to worship freely.

 The country to experience freedom and prosperity.

 A great spiritual movement in North Korea.

A spiritual awakening that began in South Korea sixty years ago is continuing to impact nations around the world. Let's pray for this awakening to encompass North Korea as well.

Jesus promised: "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32). Please join me in praying for true freedom in North Korea to the glory of God.

Originally posted at Denison Forum.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

As Israel celebrates its 70th birthday this year, it's only fitting to call attention to a distorted end-time teaching that has been spreading like gangrene through the church in recent years. It's time to sound the alarm regarding the false teaching that is replacement theology.

I came to know the Lord at a very young age. I started reading a Bible I found one day and couldn't get enough. I read stories about prophets, giants, kings, and the Savior. Early on in my reading, even in my young mind and spirit, I noticed a clear pattern. The God of the Bible had a people. His people have their beginning from a promise He made to Abraham. He gave His servant Moses the Law they were to live by at Sinai. He picked a shepherd boy to be a king and his son to build His holy temple. Over the centuries, God's prophets exhorted, warned, and lamented for their nation and people. Ultimately from this people, as prophesied by Jewish prophets centuries earlier, would come the Savior of all humanity. This obvious pattern was woven throughout the Bible. Even as a boy it became clear that God has a very special purpose for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. In light of that biblical truth, let's explore the growing tide of replacement theology that has crept into evangelicalism.

When I use the term the replacements, I'm referring to individuals, organizations, and denominations who have espoused supersessionism which is popularly referred to as replacement theology. I'm certain many of our readers know the meaning of the term replacement theology. For the benefit of our new readers and brevity, I'll give you a very basic definition:

Replacement theology (supersessionism) is the teaching that the church has replaced Israel in God's plan. Certain Bible prophesies and promises clearly pertaining to Israel are re-routed and transferred to the church. Oftentimes, the promises meant for Israel get spiritualized and explained away as pertaining to the church now. The end result is a distorted view of what the Bible plainly teaches about God's plans for Israel. A growing number of evangelical leaders are deceived or willingly deceiving others regarding sound end time prophecy teaching.

When you examine verses referring to the church and Israel in their proper context, you will have a sound biblical understanding that God has different and distinct plans for both. We have been in the church age from its birth in Acts chapter two until now. During this time, God has primarily focussed on the church. Once the church is caught up to be with the Lord, His divine plans for Israel will commence in their entirety. Even now we are beginning to see the pendulum swing and the world's attention focused on the Middle East and certainly Israel.

You cannot take one verse of scripture, isolate it and come up with your own interpretation. In short, you cannot hijack promises that were clearly meant for Israel and plug the church into those verses.

In their teaching, the replacements often spiritualize what God most certainly meant as promises for Israel. In their teaching, the replacements will often assert that Israel is no longer God's chosen covenant people because of Jewish unbelief or national sin. Oftentimes the replacements will be asked questions such as, What about Israel? Should Christians support Israel? Is the Israel of today in God's plan? The general answer the replacements give is: This Israel (the one now in the land) isn't that Israel. They will tell people that Israel has forfeited its promises and God's focus is exclusively on the church from now on. Some of the most prominent names in evangelical circles have sought to diminish the role of Israel in their teaching and preaching. Many of the teachers who promote replacement theology are often doctrinally flawed in other areas and certainly as it relates to teaching sound end-time Bible prophecy or they simply ignore it altogether.

Many of them assume that God has replaced Israel and the Jewish people because of their collective blindness regarding the Messiahship of Jesus. These teachers are either ignoring or distorting Romans 9-11 because it clearly teaches that God isn't finished with Israel and He has a remnant chosen by grace. This is no place for spiritual pride because, but for the Grace of God, we would all be spiritually blind. Moreover, growing numbers of our Jewish friends are coming to saving faith in Jesus in our day.

Romans 11:30-31 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

One of the primary ways the Lord reaches lost people is through end-time Bible prophecy. People are walking through this life without hope and they want to know what is going to happen. Thankfully we know the one who has what they are looking for. The Lord knows the end from the beginning. We can rest assured that this same God will fulfill His promises both to Israel and the church as He has before.

Biblically speaking, some of Israel's darkest days are ahead. Christian support for Israel is vital and necessary. God still loves the Jewish people and it is our ministry position to reach as many of them as possible for the kingdom. We long to see Jews and Gentiles (including Muslims) come to saving faith in Jesus.

Know that God has distinct plans for the church and Israel. Remember while many of the replacements are scoffing or negating the importance of end-time Bible prophecy, we have an opportunity to use it to point lost souls to Jesus.

Howard Green is founder of Concerning The Times, which is a Bible teaching and evangelistic ministry whose focus is proclaiming the gospel to the lost and exhorting believers through End Time Bible prophecy.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

The gender imbalance in China and Asia is wreaking social chaos. And the Washington Post's worldview won't let it admit the real cause of the problem.

Twenty-one-year-old Li Defu is hard at work, building a house in rural China. While American men his age spend their free time gaming with friends, Li knows he has no time to waste. Without this house, he may never find a wife.

As Li told the Washington Post in a story titled "Too Many Men," "At the moment there aren't any girls my age around. I am building this new house in preparation, in case I find someone."

But even with a nice house to attract a bride, there's no guarantee that Li will ever find one. The reason: There are 34 million fewer Chinese women than men. Indian men share this demographic nightmare: There are 37 million fewer women than men in India.

What's the cause of this huge gender imbalance?

Well, reading the Post, you could be forgiven not coming to the obvious conclusion: Seventy million unborn baby girls were aborted  killed in the womb simply because they were female. Instead, the Washington Post refers disingenuously to "cultural preferences, government decree and modern medical technology." In a 5,300-word story, the word "abortion" is used exactly once. The social damage caused by sex-selection abortion is mind-boggling  and yet, the Post can barely bring itself to mention the word!

Now, it's a safe bet that most of the editors and writers for the Post consider abortion not merely a woman's right, but also a cultural good. So why are they so reluctant to use the word in this front-page story?

I suspect it's because nobody likes to be faced with the fact that their worldview is flawed  in this case, tragically so.

For decades, western family planning groups, such as International Planned Parenthood Fund and the United Nations Population Fund, have promoted abortion on a massive scale as the solution to many of the world's problems. They've worked with leaders in both China and India, urging them to bring down their population levels through abortion and sterilization.

The result? Seventy million men, who expected to marry and rear children, are desperately lonely. "Brides" are kidnapped from other countries. Forced prostitution and assaults on women are on the rise.

Ironically, many of the parents who aborted their baby daughters in favor of sons will never have grandchildren: There are no women for their sons to marry.

Abortion proponents portray abortion as a social good that allows women control over their own bodies. But in India and China  and sometimes in the West, as well  abortion has given women LESS control. They are forced, by their government or their husband's relatives, to kill their unborn daughters.

The story of those 70 million missing women reminds us that our worldview, how we see reality, how we define what is good or bad, will affect how we live  as individuals and as a society. As Chuck Colson often urged us, we should test the validity of any worldview by following it to its logical conclusions.

The Christian worldview considers children of both sexes a great blessing. In Psalm 127, we read, "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." But secular abortion advocates think we should solve the problems of the world through the slaughter of the innocents.

The good news is that we can do something about this ongoing tragedy: We can support the Save a Girl campaign, a program that helps Chinese women keep their baby girls.

We can also talk about the Post piece with our neighbors, helping them see the tragic consequences of a deadly worldview: In this case  seventy million missing women  and the lonely men who will go through life without them.

Originally posted at Breakpoint.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

There's a question raised by the HBO series "Westworld." It's a question I'll try to answer.

In late April, the long-awaited  at least by its fans  second season of "Westworld" began on HBO.

Since most of us don't subscribe to HBO, a little background is in order. The show is loosely based on a 1973 film about an amusement park where robots, which are called "hosts" in the HBO series, enable visitors to act out their darkest fantasies in a setting free from judgment or real-world consequences.

In both the older film and the newer television series, things go very wrong. The "hosts"  that is, the robots  increasingly resist being mistreated by the guests, and they revolt.

Now let me be clear. This HBO show is incredibly violent, and full of nudity. I'm not suggesting you watch. In fact, don't. But you can still join in on an interesting and worthwhile discussion the show has sparked. It's among the most basic of human questions: Why should we be good?

Producers of "Westwood" want viewers to feel sympathy and even anger for the robots when the park's guests "kill" or otherwise brutalize them, even though the hosts aren't really "dead" and all memories of what is done to them are erased. Still, viewers know something's wrong with the whole arrangement. The question is  what? Or as a recent New York Times article asked: "What's Wrong with Cruelty to Robots?"

The authors of the article, psychologist Paul Bloom and new atheist Sam Harris, attempt to answer the question. They say that what makes it wrong is that the hosts possess consciousness, and with consciousness comes the capacity for suffering.

Now without getting too far into the show's weeds, only one robot exhibits traits that might suggest consciousness. Or it may even be an extremely sophisticated bit of programming, a kind of artificial intelligence with human features.

So then Bloom and Harris make two additional claims: first, that few "philosophers and scientists" doubt that "consciousness emerges from the material world," and second, that "the creation of conscious machines is possible." To put it politely, they're talking out of their hat. There's no shortage of scientists, much less philosophers, who doubt that very much.

Their backup argument is that even if the hosts don't possess consciousness, they mimic us so well that it's "irresistible to see this creature as a person . . . regardless of what its creators told you about how it was built."

But human experience tells us that this is no shield against cruelty. The ancient Romans had an expression, homo homini lupus est, "man is a wolf to his fellow man." We have no trouble preying on people we know possess consciousness. So what would stop us from doing so to a machine that we know doesn't?

The answer is suggested by the owner of the park. While he doesn't believe in an all-knowing God who judges our actions, he knows that many of his guests do, which restrains their actions outside the park. So the guests "wanted a place hidden from God; a place they could sin in peace."

Now of course, no such place exists in the world. Nothing is "hidden from God." Ask Jonah. Or David, who himself asked in Psalm 139, "Where can I flee from your presence?" The answer  nowhere.

Ultimately, the only answer to "Why be good?" is that all of human existence is lived, to use another Latin phrase, "Coram Deo," which means "in the presence of God."

And we should also consider how God made us. C.S. Lewis pointed out in Mere Christianity, "every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different than it was before . . . all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature."

In other words, acting with cruelty, no matter who or what is on the receiving end, makes us more fit for Hell than for Heaven.

Originally posted at Breakpoint.

home World Church of Ireland votes to divest from fossil fuel companies by 2022

The Church of Ireland has voted to stop investing in companies involved in fossil fuel production by 2022 as part of its efforts to reduce the impact of climate change.

According to Irish Times, the Church will be divesting from companies with more than 10 percent turnover from fossil fuel production by 2022.

"Ethical investors around the world, and now the Church of Ireland, have looked at the ethics and the risks and concluded that divestment from all fossil fuels is the right thing to do," said Synod member Stephen Trew, as reported by Irish Times.

The church had significantly reduced its investment in fossil fuels over the years. In 2011, 10 percent of the church's investment was allocated to fossil fuels, but it had dropped to 2.5 percent this year.

Trew noted that universities across Ireland and Northern Ireland have also divested from fossil fuel companies in the past 18 months.

He noted that many Anglican churches have already opted to end their investment in coal and tar-sands, but he contended that the Church of Ireland was one of the churches to divest from all fossil fuel companies.

"Let us mark the day when, with God's help, we decided that the Church of Ireland is truly an ethical investor and excludes all fossil fuels," Trew said, as reported by Irish Times.

In 2015, the Church of England announced that it will stop making direct investments to companies that generate more than 10 percent of their revenues from thermal coal or tar sands as part of its climate change policy.

The Anglican Church also announced late last year that it may divest from mining companies that fail to "uphold high standards."

The Catholic Church has also been divesting investment funds from the fossil fuel industry. On April 22, the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) announced that Caritas Internationalis, the Church's network of charities, will be divesting part of its investment from fossil fuel companies. According to Catholic News Service, 30 other Catholic institutions and three German banks will be doing the same.

GCCM Executive Director Tomas Insua said that the move was part of the efforts to reduce carbon emissions to levels indicated in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

"This announcement is the result of many months of hard work. Our team has been working pretty hard raising awareness. I think there is so little understanding about the fossil fuel industry being at the core of the environmental crisis," Insua said, according to Catholic News Service.Indonesia has almost 240 million people, and is composed of about 17,000 islands, only 6,000 of which are inhabited. It has very diverse cultures, ranging from the major metropolitan cities like Jakarta, to small tribal villages. While it is predominantly Muslim in its religious make-up, Hindu and animist are prevalent. The Christian population is estimated to be between 15-20%, writes Michael Ireland.

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2010/s10040049.htm

Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson points out that even if those figures are a little high, it represents around 40 million Christians in Indonesia. This is double the total population of Australian.

The Christian population in Indonesia is made up of many ethnic Chinese and indigenous peoples, many of whom have been Christians for generations, since the Dutch colonisation prior to WWII. Many more have been converted as followers of Christ through evangelism.

Indonesian politics is complex and fraught with many contentious issues, one of which is the problem of militant Muslims who have shown their rigorous intent to destruction and death on numerous occasions such as the well known mass bombings in Bali and Jakarta; but also in previous incidents of burning Christian churches and generally vilifying groups of Christians and other minority groups within communities all over the archipelago.

The Resort Island of Bali, for example, is largely Hindu, however a growing Muslim presence has created tensions within that community, regardless of any national or international political concerns.

The Government claims to restrain this militant section of their community. And, realistically, Mark Tronson notes that the vast majority of Muslims in the general population in Indonesia are more moderate than some of their Middle Eastern counterparts, and are mild-mannered and law abiding.

No legitimate political party in Indonesia contesting the ballot box can afford to disenfranchise 40 million of their own people. In addition, many of the Christians (commonly those of Chinese descent) run major business, corporate and international links and it is at this point, issues within the Indonesian hierarchy get a little messy.

Where nationalistic issues come to the fore, the middle of the road Muslim majority tend to pacify the more radical, and from private reports, the ethic Chinese Indonesian business community leaders 'pull their head in'.

Indonesian politics is indeed a tricky business. Following Christ, can also be a very tricky business, and you put the two together, and there you have a need for unceasing prayer.Despite spending years criticising Christianity, well-known atheist Richard Dawkins is now admitting that Christianity is much better than Islam.

Dawkins even conceded that "Christianity may actually be our best defence against aberrant forms of religion that threaten the world," according to The Gospel Herald.

Dawkins noted that Christianity, unlike Islam, does not make use of violent methods to fulfill its teachings. "There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death," he said.

He admitted that he has "mixed feelings" concerning the decline of Christianity, because this faith-based group might just be "a bulwark against something worse."

The atheist reasoned that he constantly attacked Christianity in the past simply because it is the religion he is most familiar with, having attended Christian schools while growing up. Even though he was born in Africa, Dawkins and his family moved to England when he was nine years old.

His disdain towards the religion might have stemmed from the sexual abuse he encountered in school, although he used to say: "Horrible as sexual abuse no doubt was, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damage inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place."

Because of his parents' deep love of science, Dawkins followed suit and pursued the field of biology. Even though Dawkins appears to be a logical-thinking scientist, the atheist argues that he is often misunderstood by the media and the public.

"I seem to be perceived as aggressive and strident and I don't actually think I am strident and aggressive. What I think is that we have all become so accustomed to seeing religion ring-fenced by a wall of special protection that when someone delivers even a mild criticism of religion, it's heard as aggressive when it isn't. I like to think I'm more thoughtful and reflective," he said.Conservatives launch breakaway Anglican church in Brazil

A breakaway Anglican church has been launched in Brazil following disputes in the worldwide Communion over sexuality.

Miguel Uchoa Cavalcanti was on Saturday appointed the first archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Brazil  a splinter movement from the official Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil.

It follows a similar move by the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which split from The Episcopal Church in the US in 2009 after the latter adopted increasingly progressive attitudes towards sexuality. The ACNA was backed by GAFCON, a conservative grouping launched in 2008, which claims it is now the home of orthodox Anglicanism.

The latest effort comes after the former bishop of Recife, Robinson Cavalcanti, left the Episcopal Church of Brazil in 2005 and started operating independently. The diocese then formed its own regions which developed into dioceses themselves and now it is now being hailed by GAFCON as a new province.

GAFCON says the Anglican Church in Brazil is now the 41st province in the Anglican Communion. However there are officially still 39 provinces because neither the ACNA or the Anglican Church in Brazil are recognised. At the latest meeting of the heads of Anglican provinces in Canterbury last year, they warned against 'cross border intervention', where one province operates in another province without consent or approval.

'We recognised that there were opportunities for joint initiatives and mission partnerships for the benefit of the Gospel where these are agreed between provinces,' the communique at the end of the meeting last October said. 'However, consent was critical to any inter-provincial collaboration and it was essential that courtesy and love should be extended to Provinces at all times.'

But Uchoa praised GAFCON and thanked the group for its support.

'Through our struggles, Gafcon has been a wonderful support, helping us through the tragic death of our Bishop, and helping us organize first as a Diocese, then as additional Dioceses, and now as a Province,' he said. 'We are deeply grateful to be able to be a part of such a great movement that is committed to Biblical authority and historic Anglican teaching and practice.'

GAFCON's chair, Nicholas Okoh, the primate of All Nigeria, said: 'We commend your courage to stand and be counted for Jesus at a time when many are in a state of self- inflicted confusion. We are loyal Anglicans, loyal to the faith once for all delivered to the Saints.

'We're ready to march forward with those who embrace, or refuse to redefine, the apostolic faith. We, as others, are redeemed sinners, but must not canonize sins in order to fill space in churches. Hearty congratulations. The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.'

Foley Beach, head of the breakaway Anglican Church of North America said: 'With the Anglican Establishment not only tolerating, but now embracing revisionist theology and non-Biblical morality, it is quite refreshing to see Anglicans on fire with the Jesus of the Bible and taking seriously his commission to go make disciples!'New Zealand Anglican Church votes in favor of allowing blessing of couples in same-sex relationships

The Anglican Church in New Zealand has passed a resolution to allow individual bishops the choice to bless couples in same-sex relationships.

According to Anglican News, the resolution known as "Motion 29" would not change the church's teaching that marriage is defined as between a man and a woman. But it would allow individual bishops to conduct "a non-formulary service" for the blessing of same-sex relationships.

The motion also recommended changes in the canon so that any clergy who would either refuse or agree to bless same-sex relationships would not face disciplinary action.

Jay Behan, the Vicar of St. Stephen's Shirley in Christchurch, voiced his opposition to the resolution, saying he could not "live with it."

"This issue has never been for conservatives, about bigotry, or about exclusion, or about hatred. It's a difference of opinion over how you love," the vicar said.

The Synod of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia passed the resolution last week as part of efforts to accept the recommendations made by the "Way Forward" group at the 2016 Synod.

The proposal, which recommended new rites of blessing as "additional formularies," was voted to lie on the table until the 2018 Synod.

The group that was formed after the 2016 meeting has been asked to come up with a solution that would allow parishioners with opposing views about same-sex relationships to stay together in the Church.

Anglican News reported that the resolution will not be applied to the Diocese of Polynesia. A separate motion reportedly noted that the islands covered by the diocese - Samoa, Tonga and Fiji - do not recognize same-sex unions. It further stressed that the members of the Polynesia diocesan synod have already shown in a debate that they were not in favor of blessing same-sex relationships.

The resolution noted that the Diocese of Polynesia has not become an "obstacle in the journey of Tikanga Maori and Tikanga Pakeha [New Zealanders of European descent] towards the blessing of same gender relations in Aotearoa New Zealand" despite its opposition.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Dr. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, said that he was pleased that the resolution did not change the Church's teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman.

"There has been a long, prayerful process in the province in reaching this point with deeply-held convictions on both sides of the debate. I hope and believe that this resolution recognised that difference without division is possible." Idowu-Fearon said, according to Anglican News.Royal wedding sermon to be delivered by first African-American bishop in US Episcopal Church

The first senior African-American bishop in the U.S. Episcopal Church has been asked to preach a sermon at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this coming Saturday.

Kensington Palace has announced that Prince Harry and Markle have asked The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the head of the Episcopal Church, to preach at the highly-anticipated wedding at Windsor Castle.

"Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have asked that The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, give the address at their wedding," the Palace stated in a tweet on May 12.

The invitation has been seen as a break from tradition, as addresses at royal weddings are usually delivered by senior clergy from the Church of England.

Curry, who became the first African-American presiding bishop following his election in 2015, acknowledged the request in a statement.

"The love that has brought and will bind Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle together has its source and origin in God, and is the key to life and happiness. And so we celebrate and pray for them today," he said.

The American pastor will be joining Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who will be officiating the wedding ceremony, and Reverend David Conner, who will be conducting the service.

Welby said in a statement that he was pleased by the couple's decision to ask Curry to deliver the address at the nuptial.

"I'm thrilled that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have asked Bishop Michael Curry to preach at their wedding. @PB_Curry is a brilliant pastor, stunning preacher and someone with a great gift for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ," Welby tweeted.

Curry became popular in 2012 after he preached the sermon that came to be known as "We need some crazy Christians."

The bishop argued that Jesus was once thought to be of unsound mind and said that Christians need to follow his example.

"They thought he was crazy! And he was! He is!" said Curry, who was serving as bishop of North Carolina at the time. "And those who would follow in his footsteps, those who would be his disciples, are called and summoned and challenged to be just as crazy as Jesus".

Apart from his popular sermon, Curry is also known for his support for immigration reform as well as his advocacy for gay marriage and transgender rights.Turkey's president Erdogan to meet Queen as campaigners demand action on religious freedom

Turkey's president Recep Erdogan is on a three-day visit to the United Kingdom where he will meet the Queen and prime minister Theresa May.

It comes as the British government is trying to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with Ankara. The UK was the first country to send a minister to visit Turkey following a failed military coup against Erdogan in July 2016.

His visit will include a joint press conference with May, a speech at the thinktank Chatham House, and a meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Christian persecution charity Open Doors warned Turkey was among the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. A spokeswoman said that improving religious freedom was in both Erdogan's and May's interest.

'The meeting of world leaders is always a good opportunity for the British government to promote its values,' the spokeswoman said. 'Open Doors would always encourage the UK government to discuss human rights issues, especially the international right to freedom of religion or belief, with foreign counterparts.

'Turkey is ranked at 31 on the 2018 Open Doors World Watch List of countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. Evidence indicates that a focus on religious freedom can be extremely favourable for business and trade.

'An improvement in Turkey's record in this area is in both the UK and Turkey's interest.'

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable criticised the visit as a whole.

'The UK has a strong, proud history of democracy and human rights, but our reputation on the world stage is in danger of being eroded by this Conservative government's desire to woo world leaders like [Donald] Trump and Erdogan,' he said. 'May's administration appears to have substituted diplomacy for sycophancy in its pursuit of Brexit.

'By permitting a state visit and audience with the Queen, May and [foreign secretary] Boris Johnson are essentially rolling out the red carpet for a man with a disregard for human rights, who is responsible for alarming oppression and violence.'

US pastor Andrew Brunson is currently on trial accused of collaborating with supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric blamed for the failed 2016 coup against Turkey's President Erdogan. It's believed that Brunson has been detained as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Gulen from the US, where he is now based.

He has already been jailed for the past 19 months, and after two Izmir court hearings now awaits a third on July 18. At the close of the second hearing Brunson's lawyer, Ismail Cem Halavurt, sharply criticised the 'outlandish' use of secret witnesses against Brunson, saying no real evidence against the pastor had been presented.

Erdogan has rejected pleas from US president Donald Trump and religious freedom ambassador Sam Brownback to release Brunson.In a fatal wreck Sunday morning, a car hit a pedestrian and crashed into the side of a downtown Houston apartment building just down the street from Minute Maid Park.

Houston police responded about 10:30 a.m. near the intersection of Congress and La Branch. A blue Hyundai Sonata had crashed into the side wall of the 1920s hotel that now serves as an apartment building for New Hope Housing.Today is Tuesday, May 15, the 135th day of 2018. There are 230 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On May 15, 1968, two days of tornado outbreaks began in 10 Midwestern and Southern states; twisters were blamed for 72 deaths, including 45 in Arkansas and 18 in Iowa.

On this date:

1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, married her third husband, James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, who had been implicated in (but acquitted of) the death of Mary's second husband, Lord Darnley.

1776: Virginia authorized its delegation to the Continental Congress to support independence from Britain.

1862: President Abraham Lincoln signed an act establishing the Department of Agriculture.

1918: U.S. airmail began service between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York.

1928: The Walt Disney cartoon character Mickey Mouse made his debut in the silent animated short Plane Crazy.

1930: Registered nurse Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard an Oakland-to-Chicago flight operated by Boeing Air Transport, a forerunner of United Airlines.

1948: Hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

1958: Vice President Richard Nixon received a hero's welcome from President Dwight D. Eisenhower and other well-wishers on his return to Washington from a violence-marred tour of Latin America. The MGM movie musical Gigi, starring Leslie Caron as a young French courtesan-in-training, was released.

1972: Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot and left paralyzed while campaigning for president in Laurel, Md., by Arthur H. Bremer, who served 35 years for attempted murder.

1975: U.S. forces invaded the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and captured the American merchant ship Mayaguez, which had been seized by the Khmer Rouge. (All 39 crew members had already been released safely by Cambodia; some 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in connection with the operation.)

1988: The Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces entered the country.

1998: Hundreds of looters died inside a burning shopping mall in rioting that laid smoking waste to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

2008: President George W. Bush, addressing the Israeli Knesset, gently urged Mideast leaders to make the hard choices necessary for peace and condemned what he called the false comfort of appeasement. California's Supreme Court declared same-sex couples in the state could marry  a victory for the gay rights movement that was overturned the following November by the passage of Proposition 8, which was ultimately struck down by the courts. Emmy-winning composer Alexander Sandy Courage, who created the otherworldly theme for the original Star Trek TV series, died in Pacific Palisades, Calif., at age 88.

2013: Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attack and forced out the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following revelations the agency had targeted conservative political groups.

2017: The United States accused Syria of executing thousands of imprisoned political opponents and burning their bodies in a crematorium to hide the evidence. The Supreme Court shut the door on North Carolina Republicans' effort to revive a state law that mandated voter identification and scaled back early voting, provisions that a lower court said improperly targeted minority voters.A 2010 graduate of a Houston-area all-girls prep school is working to bring sexual assault education and prevention to a nearby prep school for boys, citing an alleged attack that she says took place at the home of her friends boyfriend while she was a student.

Kelsey Caine said she was sexually assaulted by a student at the all-male Strake Jesuit College Preparatory during her time at St. Agnes Academy. Inspired by the #MeToo movement, Caine shared her story online and then started a petition at www.change.org to start a sexual assault education and prevention program at Strake. As of May 12, the petition that was posted on Feb. 8 had received more than 2,800 signatures.

While the Examiner does not typically identify victims in order to protect their privacy, Caine agreed to be identified in order to raise awareness.

She said in an interview that she and her friends had been hanging out and drinking until she fell asleep and that the young man came into the room, got on top of her, started kissing her and grabbed her breasts. She said she was able to fight him, screaming until her friends came in the room. At the time, she said, the attacker denied it.

Years later, as victims of rape and sexual assault began sharing their stories online and in the media, Caine posted her story on Facebook. She said her attacker found out about the post because they had actually been friends on Facebook the entire time. Caine said he admitted what he had done and apologized over the course of several conversations. Hearing him take ownership for what he had done was satisfying and validating, she said.

It was the most surreal experience of my life, Caine said. I feel unbelievably fortunate that my attacker admitted to what hes done and is using this as a way to kind of repent. He truly has become a supporter of this petition, and I know that doesnt happen to very many survivors, where they get that type of validation.

Caine did not report the incident at the time, and she said she had not known her attacker previously.

Aly Jacobs, manager of counseling and advocacy at the Houston Area Womens Center, said many incidents of sexual assault, rape and abuse are never reported because for a lot of survivors, the process of reporting and having to repeat their story to police and lawyers and then testifying can be further traumatizing. Until recently, she said there was also a lot of blaming of survivors, such as questioning why the survivor had been drinking instead of placing the responsibility on the perpetrator.

According to Caine, her alleged attacker, whom she has declined to identify, said he would never have assaulted her if he had been better educated at the time.

While Strake was founded in 1960 and has more than 1,100 students, St. Agnes was founded in 1906 and has more than 900 students. The two schools are independent of each other, but they have adjacent campuses and share some limited academic partnerships, said St. Agnes Dean of Students Elaine Eichelberger in a written statement.

Although Strake does not have an official program for teaching students about sexual assault, St. Agnes has been teaching its senior girls about the issue for a few years.

For the past four years, St. Agnes has engaged with alumna and Houston Police Department Officer Nikki Lumpkin to speak about sexual assault. Nikki speaks to our senior class about sexual assault and their rights. She also educates our students on how to look out for one another and to spot predatory behavior, Eichelberger said.

Caine said St. Agnes contacted her soon after her story was posted and offered to help. The school already has a social-emotion counselors for its students. According to Eichelberger, a counselor is assigned to each girl for the four years she is there, and ninth-grade girls meet with their counselors twice during that year and by appointment as needed later.

John Fahy, assistant principal for student affairs at Strake, reached out to Caine in February and said the school was open to finding ways to better teach its students moral standards.

Our school is always open to considering a variety of perspectives and viewpoints on such important topics, he said. We continually evaluate how best to educate our students regarding their relationships with others. We remain dedicated to helping them understand and live out the moral demands of our beliefs regarding the dignity and value of all human persons.

This week, Caine, who is now 26, is scheduled to earn her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing where she lives in New York City.

In late April, she traveled to Houston, and she and her attacker met with members of the Strake and St. Agnes administrations. Caine said her attacker set the tone for the meeting by reading aloud the original #MeToo story that was posted on Facebook. Then the officials listened as they made a case for why the schools should better teach their students about sexual assault and what consent is.

According to Caine, the officials from both schools said that next year they would be implementing education programs for their students in all four years. After a request for comment, Fahy said, We already have a thorough counseling program in place, and St. Agnes could not be reached.

Looking back, Caine said she appreciates how helpful all the parties involved had been and how they listened to what she had to say.

Im really grateful everybody showed up. The guy who attacked me showed up. The Strake administration showed up. St. Agnes showed up to support me in solidarity of trying to do this. I told all them during the meeting I was really grateful they showed up because easily, everyone could have ignored me. I tried so hard to get as much backup, as much ammo as I possibly could have, but it was a big puzzle, and without one piece, it would have been weaker, Caine said.

Since posting her petition, Caine said she has been contacted by more than 40 individuals, some who said they had been assaulted by students from Strake and St. Thomas High School, another area all-boys school, and some who reached out as allies of alleged victims. She said she let each person know she was proud that they shared, tried to make sure they had a support system in place and told them they were not alone.

An official from St. Thomas said the school works to develop character and ethics in its students.

St. Thomas High Schools mission is to teach goodness, discipline and knowledge to young men in preparation for their lives in college and beyond, he said. Accordingly, and as a school founded on the tenets of the Catholic faith, St. Thomas has programs in place that integrate Christian morality into all aspects of life, including programs that strive to instill in students respect for all people and an awareness of the issues of bullying, harassment and assault.

Caine wanted to add that not all victims of sexual assault or rape are female, and men and boys deserve the same protection that women and girls are given.

She said while all-boys schools can be a breeding ground for cases of sexual assault and rape, the problem is prevalent throughout society and that all students should be taught about the issue. Caine said she hopes programs at Strake and St. Agnes will spread to other area Catholic schools and beyond.

I think that gender inequality is a social issue, and I think that its not just StrakeI think society is behind. As much as I am talking directly to Strake, I really am talking to everyone that we are all behind in what we teach our students and what we see as acceptable behavior, Caine said. I truly think that sexual assault education should be taught at every school, and if we can start it first at all-boys schools, I think that they will then push it to be taught at every school because who wouldnt support protecting their students? It just doesnt make sense.

To learn more about the petition, visit www.change.org/p/all-boys-schools-for-sexual-assault-education-and-prevention-houston.

The Houston Area Womens Center offers support for survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse. Services, which include counseling, advocacy and housing, are confidential and free of charge. For more information, visit www.hawc.org or call their hotline at 713-528-7273.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.comWoof Gang Bakery & Grooming will hold a grand opening of its store near West University Place Saturday.

The location will be the second one for franchise owners Erin and Markos Hernandez, who also operate a store in Sugar Land. The store at 3135 W. Holcombe Blvd. offers pet grooming and pet foods, gourmet baked treats, toys, supplies and accessories.

"Besides teaching customers about nutritious food, my favorite products to sell are iced cookies and cakes," Erin Hernandez said in an announcement. "I bake everything fresh in the store, including customized birthday cakes for dogs."

RETAIL WRAP: Whole Foods' 365, Untuckit, Tubs Poutine to make Houston debuts

The store opens at 9 a.m. on May 19 and will offer complimentary house-made decorated treats for dogs who attend. The first 20 dogs in the store will win free Woof Gang Bakery gourmet treats for a year.

The Hearts of Houston and Glass Slipper Animal Rescue pet rescue organizations will be on site with animals available for adoption. The store also will host a pet food drive to benefit local shelters.

Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming has six area locations and more than 100 across the U.S.Bill Montgomery

Baker Hughes, a GE Co., is in talks with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. to set up a partnership that could lead to the U.S. firm taking a minority stake in the state-owned energy giant's drilling unit, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Adnoc is working with boutique advisory firm Moelis & Co. and is also in discussions with other companies about potential alliances, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. No final decisions have been made and the discussions may not result in an agreement, they said.Sixteen local students are benefiting from scholarships from Cleveland Pro Rodeo and Cleveland Livestock Show.

The seven Cleveland Pro Rodeo scholarships were awarded to Liberty County high school seniors or graduates involved in rodeo, western performance events or other agricultural activities.

Cleveland Livestock Show and Dairy Day scholarships are awarded based on academic performance, leadership, citizenship and participation in the Cleveland Livestock Show.

In 2017, a scholarship category was added for students attending vocation, trade or technical schools. Scholarships are also awarded to the Miss Rodeo Cleveland Livestock Show contestants, who raise a considerable amount of money for the scholarship program.

The Cleveland Livestock Show scholarship program also relies heavily on sponsors, including Martin Auto Group, Sonic Drive-in in Cleveland, Entergy and R & T Ellis, Inc.Police in Friendswood broke out their handcuffs and a mop Thursday night after a mother's outburst outside a school play injured an officer and eventually flooded the city's jail.

The ordeal started around 8 p.m. inside the Friendswood Junior High School auditorium where Christy Ann Churchwell, 35, of Friendswood, was watching her child perform.

VOTER FRAUD: Mexican national charged with illegally voting in 3 elections

The performance was disrupted by an allegedly drunk Churchwell, who was apparently being loud, witnesses told police. An officer approached Churchwell and asked her to step outside and immediately noticed a strong smell of alcohol coming from her breath, police said.

As she walked out of the auditorium, she was unsteady on her feet and needed help, police said.

Once outside, Churchwell allegedly tried to punch the officer before being taken into custody on a misdemeanor public intoxication charge. As she was being taken into custody, she again attacked the officer, this time kicking him in the leg, police said.

SUBURBAN MURDER: Husband charged with murder in fatal shooting of estranged wife

Once in custody again, officers found eight 75mm bottles of vodka, seven of which were empty, police said.

As she was waiting in her jail cell later that night, police say Churchwell purposefully set off the fire sprinkler in her cell, causing flood damage to the jail.

Churchwell was charged with assaulting a peace officer, public intoxication and filing a false report or alarm, police said.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.For more than an hour, the Katy mayor and fire chief met with about 25 Firethorne residents on May 1 to talk and answer questions about fire protection to be offered by the Katy Fire Department starting later this month.

Noting that emergency medical services call outnumber fires, Katy Fire Chief Russell Wilson said the four-person crew based at the station are trained as paramedics/EMTS. Fort Bend County Emergency Medical Services will continue to transport those in need of medical care to hospitals.

Officials of Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District 151, which is responsible for fire coverage for the community, called the meeting which was held in the parking lot of the Firethorne Visitors Center. The district also scheduled a special May 4 meeting to review and consider final financial figures from the city. On April 23, Katy City Council approved an agreement with the district. Katy Mayor Chuck Brawner said the MUD will pay monthly costs plus a 5 percent administrative fee.

MUD board president Keith Gier said he didnt anticipate a tax rate increase as a result of the change in fire service provider. The 2017 district tax rate is 97 cents per $100 of valuation.

Fire officials said that insurance companies, not residents, will be billed when service is provided.

The MUD owns the fire station at Crossover and FM 1463, just south of Firethorne, and Gier told residents the district has purchased a fire truck at more than $500,000 to be housed at the station, which will be upgraded.

The fire station opened in May 2013 and has been manned by firefighters of the Fulshear-Simonton Fire Department, which is funded by Fort Bend County Emergency Medical Services District No. 4. ESD 4 in March 2017 sent notice of contract termination and an offer to renegotiate terms in an effort to make funding more equitable. ESD officials explained that district residents pay 10 cents per $100 valuation for fire service whereas the Firethorne contract charged residents $9.54 per residential water connection and $9.54 per 2,000 square feet for nonresidential properties.

On their website, MUD 151 officials said they considered available options for fire protection services and said, The city of Katy came out as the department most willing and able to provide full-time staff and life-saving services to the district in our region. Katy plans to begin protection May 21.

MUD officials said factors they considered included full-time staffing, an improved Insurance Services Office rating  a grade of a communitys fire protection  to reduce residents insurance premiums and increased availability of EMS crews. The Katy Fire Department has full-time firefighters. ESD 4 is transitioning its department to full time.

The Katy Fire Department has an ISO rating of 2. ESD 4 has a 3 rating in areas with hydrants. MUD officials acknowledged it could take months before the change in ISO is recognized and has an impact on premiums.

Among the residents attending the May 1 meeting was Kimberly Stuart Noska, who has lived in Firethorne since 2008. She asked about service, the inability to obtain information from the MUD about the change and the potential for residents petitioning ESD No. 4 to be annexed. At the April 23 Katy City Council meeting, resident Richard A. Stiles also talked of the lack of information provided by the MUD and for postponement of action until annexation by ESD 4 could be explored.

MUD officials said an email blast went to all people who signed up with the district and said they would work to improve communications.

ESD 4 officials said a petition for annexation must have 50 signatures and must be accepted by the ESD 4 board, which pays for special elections. If an annexation election were called, both the petitioners and those already living within the district would have to approve the annexation.

Karen.Zurawski@chron.comEight-year incumbent Jeff Williams appears on talk radio, speaks to community groups, knocks on doors and sends out mailers as he campaigns for re-election for Harris County Precinct 5, Place 2 justice of the peace.

His opponent in the May 22 runoff, Mike Wolfe said hes reached out to voters in every manner as well as to organizations with which he has been active throughout the years.

Early voting started May 14 and ends May 18 for the Republican Party runoff. No Democratic candidate filed to run for the position in November. Visit http://harrisvotes.com for polls and other election information.

Williams, an attorney for more than 30 years, won election to the JP position in 2010 and 2014 but finished second to Wolfe in the March 6 primary. A runoff is required between the top two vote getters because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. Wolfe is assistant director of government affairs for the Harris County District Clerk. Williams earned his JD from South Texas College of Law. Wolfe earned a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of St. Thomas.

What are the top two issues in the runoff?

Williams: The most important issue in this runoff is electing the right candidate for the job of Justice of the Peace; all else pales in comparison because if you elect someone who doesnt know how to do the job of a court that handles almost 8,000 cases a month, you end up with grinding slowdowns, backlogs, wrong decisions and injustice wasting litigants time and money and causing frustration and anger at a system that fails them.

I have 36 years of combined experience as a judge and an attorney in trials and motions and all the things needed to be done in this court. Mr. Wolfe has no experience as hes not a lawyer, never tried a single case, never ruled on a single motion, never had to apply the laws to facts and make a judgment that effects peoples lives. Ive had people ask me, well, cant you learn the law, learn to be a judge? I tell them of course; you can learn to be a brain surgeon, too, it just takes a lot of time and practice to be any good at it You can hire a General MD for your brain surgery if you want to, but most folks realize they are going to have a better result choosing a trained and experienced professional to resolve their issues  its the same in the law.

Wolfe: For me, the top two issues are courtroom efficiency and accuracy. Courtroom efficiency and accuracy will be the hallmark of my time in office, should the people of Precinct 5 choose to elect me. As one of the busiest of Justice Courts in Harris County, I will work with Harris County auditors and court staff to confirm that JP Court 5-2 has proper accounting of receipts, while working together in concert with both court staff and citizens to fairly administer justice to all, showing dignity to all and respect for both the time and well-being of all who enter the court.

Should the justices of the peace be required to have law degrees? Why or why not?

Wolfe: Justices of the Peace should not be required to have law degrees. The former Justice of the Peace in this very court served ably for three decades, having been elected to office at 28 years old, without ever earning a law degree. The other Justice of the Peace currently serving Precinct 5 never earned a law degree and hes been on the job for a decade and a half. Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are not required to hold law degrees. Anyone who believes you need a law degree to serve the people in this Justice Court, needs to ask themselves why Precinct 5 would elect multiple JPs in the last 40 years who were re-elected multiple times and never held the title of lawyer. Maybe its because you shouldnt have to be a lawyer to serve as Justice of the Peace.

Williams: I believe its so important that in this court your judge be an experienced lawyer. In the Precinct 5 Place 2 court with 8,000 cases a month, people would never get their cases resolved. And the caseload is expected to explode when the Legislature raises the courts jurisdiction to $20,000. Thats real money and youll have a lot more attorneys in court. I wont be rolled over by a knowledgeable attorney against a litigant representing themselves because I know the law  a non-lawyer judge could be easily persuaded by the attorney to rule against you because he knows less about the law than the lawyer does! Its not good for the public. I can protect the rights of people in court who dont have an attorney because I know their rights; and the law that grants it.

If re-elected/elected, what changes would you make in the JP court? Why?

Floodwaters caused by Hurricane Harvey last August inundated the Harris County Annex at 16715 Clay Road. Harris County closed the annex for repairs. Since October, the JP Court had been temporarily based at 6127 Texas 6 N., a former pizza restaurant. Its moving back to the annex this month.

Williams: Soon well be moving back into the courthouse on Clay Road. Our temporary location will be closed for the entire week of May 14-18. Our move has been delayed several times due to construction difficulties, but this time were moving for sure as the pizza landlord wants his building back. So both the HCSO and the court will reopen for business on Clay Road, Monday, May 21.

Id just like to thank the general public for their patience throughout this entire temporary situation, but Im proud that my staff and I have been able to get back up to speed quickly and weve been moving all the cases and doing everything the public is entitled to at the court with the exception of delayed jury trials, there just hasnt been the room or the ability to reduce the noise enough for a jury trial.

When you go to the rebuilt courthouse, youll see that the county elected to keep everything pretty much the way it was; thats their right and their decision. Due to ADA requirements for more accessibility, the courtroom, while the same physical size, will not accommodate as many folks as it did before. This is a problem. Ive asked for many modifications to address this problem, but Im told the county first wants the building open, and then they can talk to me about my requests for changes to make the court able to handle more people which will allow me to move more cases. Ill keep making those requests on behalf of the public.

Wolfe: If I am asked by my fellow citizens to be their JP, I will work in a structured and seamless way with court staff and other interested parties, including current and former Justices of the Peace, to determine what changes are necessary for the betterment of the court.A man has been charged with murder after allegedly killing his estranged wife in Harris County before shooting himself hours later during a SWAT stand-off in Fort Bend County.

By the time prosecutors filed charges against 47-year-old Renny Nunez, he was still hospitalized in critical condition.

The SWAT standoff began Monday morning after Nunez drove to a Katy apartment complex following the shooting of his wife, Fort Bend Sheriff Troy Nehls said. The scene ended when deputies entered the building and found Nunez with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the sheriff's office.

He was rushed to the hospital in "very serious condition," Nehls said.

Tipped off by a phone call from a worried relative afraid the man would kill himself, a Fort Bend SWAT team responded before 7 a.m. to 2425 Katy-Flewellen, an apartment complex just south of Interstate 10.

There, they found a man, now identified as Nunez, barricaded inside the building. After hours of attempting to negotiate without making any actual contact, a SWAT team released gas canisters into the apartment around 9:30 a.m. and then forced their way inside. Officers found him on the ground near the door, Nehls said.

First responders carried him out on a stretcher and he was flown to the hospital with one self-inflicted gunshot wound, deputies said. It is unclear whether the man shot himself before or after the SWAT team arrived on the scene.

Nunez had fled the scene of an earlier slaying in Harris County in the 21101 block of Kingsland, authorities believe.

His estranged wife was leaving for work around 4:30 a.m., when he approached her as she crossed the parking lot with her new boyfriend, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

It's not clear if the former lovers exchanged any words before the estranged husband allegedly pulled out a gun and opened fire. It's not clear how many times the woman was shot, but deputies said her new boyfriend was not hurt and that no one else was in danger.

"This is an isolated incident," Lt. Chris Sandoval said. "There are no other shooters that are running around the apartment complex or in the area."

Afterward, the suspected shooter drove a few miles away to the Fort Bend location. The caller who alerted authorities said her brother was threatening to kill himself and had admitted to killing his wife, who was around 30.

The Fort Bend sheriff's office alerted Katy ISD police to the situation unfolding as students were starting to head to school. Wood Creek Junior High is less than one mile away from the SWAT scene.

By 8 a.m., the SWAT team was still looking to negotiate with the man but was hesitant to move too quickly because of heavy activity in the area, Nehls said.

"This is a busy intersection, a lot of children in the apartment complex," the sheriff said. "We wanted all the children to be on the buses and out, out of this apartment complex."

The estranged couple appeared to have a recent history of domestic violence, Nehls said. As recently as last week, they both filed complaints at the county's Katy court annex, although the nature of those complaints is unclear, he said.

They have a 2-year-old together, as well as children from previous relationships, Nehls said. Those children are all safe.

Sandoval encouraged anyone in a domestic violence situation to seek help from their sheriff's office or local law enforcement.

"You dont have to face that situation alone; you can get help," he said. "We want to prevent these types of situations from taking place because they happen far too often."A team of prominent psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health specialists has joined Houston Methodist to offer a specialized program for the increasing number of adults disabled by overlapping medical and psychiatric conditions.

Led by Ben Weinstein, M.D., Houston Methodist Behavioral Health will offer a unique functional rehabilitation program to serve patients with chronic intertwined medical and psychiatric illnesses. These patients struggle to engage in a meaningful and productive life because of the complexities of their illness and, in some cases, by overreliance on pain medications.

Chronic medical conditions and other traumatic life experiences can often lead to the development of depression, making it more difficult for patients to manage or recover from their overlapping illnesses, said Weinstein. As symptoms worsen or are ignored, people become unable to fulfill their roles in life, such as working and parenting. This leads to further isolation and worsening of their physical and emotional health.

Weinstein said the key to helping these patients recover is understanding that medical and psychiatric conditions are interrelated. Without addressing both conditions, neither will improve. Patients are often passed from one medical specialist to another without finding adequate or enduring relief.

Individuals with chronic pain often have undertreated medical and overlooked psychiatric conditions and are left to rely on opioid pain medication to cope. Unfortunately, long-term opioid medication use does not effectively treat chronic pain and will not address the underlying issues.

As the opioid crisis continues across the United States, Alok Madan, Ph.D., MPH, vice chair of psychiatry at Houston Methodist Hospital, said more focus is needed on caring for those who experience chronic pain and are already dependent on opioid medications.

The Houston Methodist Behavioral Health team also offers a comprehensive therapeutic assessment, an intensive outpatient program, and minimally-invasive brain stimulation options.

For more information about Houston Methodist, visit houstonmethodist.org.Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference is the newest art installation at the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern.

Building on the success of our inaugural art installation, Buffalo Bayou Partnership is proud and honored to present this site specific installation by the work of Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, Judy Nyquist, Buffalo Bayou Partnership board member, and co-chair of public art committee, said.

Carlos Cruz-Diez has lived and worked in Paris since 1960. Cruz-Diez was born in 1923 and the Cistern was built in 1926, just three years later.

It acted as an underground reservoir for the city of Houston. After operating for decades, an irreparable leak was discovered and the reservoir was decommissioned in 2007. Buffalo Bayou Partnership in 2016 restored the Cistern and re-purposed it thanks to support from the Brown Foundation.

The first inaugural art installation in the Cistern was Rain: Magdalena Fernandez at the Houston Cistern from December 2016 through June 2017.

Since its opening we have been overwhelmed by public interest. It has had at least 70,000 visitors. It is our incredible opportunity to be able to present this world recognized artist in the Cistern, Nyquist said.

Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference features 26 projectors placed along the Cistern walls that will project moving light on the columns, walls, walkways and cubes that are floating the shallow water on the Cistern floor.

Carlos Cruz-Diezs subject is color, and its power and its effect, and its contribution to our physical, mental and emotional health and psyche. He has made amazing contributions to the work of color theory, and kinetic practice, Nyquist said.

Visitors to the Cistern are encouraged to wear light and white colored clothing. There will also be white lab coats available for people to wear to be able to get the full effect of the installation, and to be able to interact with the colors themselves.

It completely dematerializes this vast space, Nyquist said.

Carlos Cruz-Diez Jr., son of artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, and director of Atelier Cruz-Diez Paris, spoke during the unveiling on behalf of his father.

Thank you for the invitation to show my fathers work at this amazing, unique place, Cruz-Diez Jr. said.

Cruz-Diez Jr. noted that the artwork that is displayed inside the Cistern was first displayed by Cruz Diez in 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela. Due to the changing technologies, the work had to be adapted for the site.

Normally we project color in white spaces, but now there is darker color. In this case, to have the best color, we only played with red, green and blues of the projectors. It is specially adapted to this place, Cruz-Diez Jr. said.

Cruz-Diez Jr. added, It is an immersive artwork. The environment moves and new colors appear. But in order to understand it, you have to be inside to see what happens and enjoy it.

This is not the first time that Carlos Cruz-Diez has had his work featured in Houston. His large sculpture, Double Physichromie, was installed at the University of Houston in 2009. The piece on campus is in the process of being relocated this summer near the College of Technology and Graduate College of Social Work. Color in Space and Time, a collection of 150 works, was featured at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in 2011.

As Nyquist puts it, Houston has a long-term love affair with Carlos Cruz-Diez.

Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference will be on view through January 13, 2019 at the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern located at 105 Sabine Street, Houston. It will be open Wednesday through Friday from 3:30 to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Admission is $10 per person, $8 for Seniors 65 and older with ID, youth (9-17) and college students with ID. Admission is free on Thursdays. Children under the age of 9 are not permitted in the Cistern.

rebecca.hazen@chron.comLast year alone, the 56-year-old grandmother had to go the emergency room four times for respiratory failure. After having struggling with severe asthma since 2008, she was referred to Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital where she began her first of three bronchial thermoplasty treatments in September. She said the treatments have changed her life.

Wanda Oropezas symptoms grew progressively worse. At her rural home in Victoria, Texas, she said she got to the point where she could not play with her grandchildren, tend to her plants or animals or even sometimes walk from one end of her house to the other without losing her breath.

When she had an asthma attack, she had to fight to breathe and would then grow anxious, making matters worse.

Having an asthma attack would feel like I was suffocating. It felt like my chest was full of cotton and I was trying to breathe through it, she said. That would often cause me to then have an anxiety attack, and my throat would close up so tightly I felt like I was trying to breathe through a straw. I would start to shake and get hot and clammy. My blood pressure and oxygen levels would drop.

After exhausting the medical options available in Victoria, Oropeza started traveling to Houston for care. She saw a few doctors there, and one recommended she see Dr. Jose Melendez, a pulmonary and critical care specialist and chair of internal medicine at MHGHH.

Melendez estimated he is one of about a dozen doctors in the Houston area who perform bronchial thermoplasty.

Bronchial thermoplasty is a minimally invasive, [Food and Drug Administration]-approved procedure to treat refractory severe asthma in adults, he said. [It] involves the delivery of controlled therapeutic radio frequency energy to the airway to reduce the amount of smooth muscle in the airway wall. This will decrease the number and severity of asthma attacks in patients.

He said adults who lack control over their asthma symptoms using traditional treatment methods like inhalers make good candidates for the procedure and that many of the patients start feeling the benefits after the first treatment.

The procedure was approved by the FDA in 2010 and is done outpatient, so patients go home the same day.

Under sedation, a small catheter is introduced through a bronchoscope to deliver a safe amount of heat to reduce excess smooth muscle in the lungs. The procedure involves three sessions, about 30 to 45 minutes long, performed two to three weeks apart. Each session focuses on a different area of the lungs, Melendez said.

Oropeza said prior to the treatments, asthma impacted her life well beyond her respiratory issues.

I developed tachycardia, sinus arrhythmia, muscle loss, moon face and many other side effects due to all of the medications I was on. I was in and out of the doctors office once a week, she said. That doesnt include all the lifestyle changes I had to make in an attempt to prevent having an asthma attack. I had no life.

Since completing her three treatments at Memorial Hermann, Oropeza said she has gotten a lot better and now enjoys experiencing things she could not do before.

I am now able to babysit my grandkids. I can go for a walk, play with my animals, go shopping, laugh without getting out of breath and get out and enjoy life again. It may sound simple, but when all of that is taken from you, you become so much more grateful for the little things, she said. Also, I have started to lose weight. I am slowly tapering off prednisone, and many of the side effects (like swelling) are subsiding.

Oropeza sometimes still gets short of breath and has had one or two asthma attacks since the treatments, but unlike the past, she said she has been able to treat them at home. Such attacks used to send her to the hospital for three to five days, she said.

Melendez said the procedure usually betters the lives of those that have severe asthma.

Seventy-nine percent of patients who were treated with bronchial thermoplasty reported a significant improvement in their asthma-related quality of life, he said.

Oropeza said she is very grateful that she found a treatment that has worked and that thinking about it makes her emotional.

I cry just thinking about it. I never thought that I would get better and have a second chance at living life. When you have been sick for so long, you forget what it feels like to feel good. Youre just happy to be alive. Now I'm getting to see what feeling good and actually living life feels like again, she said.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.comCourtesy photo

Latifa Fakoya, D.O., is joining the medical staff at Houston Methodist Rheumatology Associates, located in Medical Office Building 2 on the Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital campus. She will begin seeing patients May 14.

Fakoya is a fellowship-trained rheumatologist who is board-certified in rheumatology and internal medicine. She earned her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and completed her post-doctoral work at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, as well as a fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.With more than $800 million in proposed Fort Bend ISD campus expansions, renovations and new schools on the table for a not-yet-approved bond election expected to go before voters next November, trustees recently gathered to discuss project recommendations put forward by superintendent Charles Dupre and district staffers. In contrast to stone-faced administrators and consultants seemingly detached from the outcome, the planning process has created months of turmoil and anxiety for many parents worried their childs elementary school would be closed and those who faced the possibility their son or daughter would be re-zoned to an unfamiliar high school far from home. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, thousands of parents from fast-growing Sienna Plantation in Missouri City mobilized via social media and community gatherings to exchange information, strategize, write press releases and coordinate efforts to lobby trustees for new schools for the develolpments over-crowded high school.

Seemingly blind to the emerging political power of the districts fastest-growing base of tax payers, district officials continue to eye a bond proposal that could total as much as $1 billion.

In the weeks leading up to the meeting, thousands of parents from Sienna Plantation in Missouri City mobilized via social media and community gatherings to exchange information, strategize and coordinate efforts. And in Riverstone, a fast-growing Sugar Land residential development, more than 400 parents protested on the streets against re-zoning proposals while many others attended neighborhood meetings to organize opposition to plans to close Sugar Lands historic Lakeview Elementary, nearby Sugar Mill Elementary or Meadows Elementary School among others.

During the presentation, a standing-room only crowd of upset residents listened as trustees debated recommendations put forward by administrators. A small group waited until after 11 p.m. to speak before trustees at the close of the meeting. The majority were Sienna Plantation residents who came to voice frustration over overcrowded schools.

Sienna Plantation voters hone communitys political power

Sienna Plantation parent Erin Miles was one of several who told trustees brick and mortar solutions were needed for overcrowding at Ridge Point High School. A 1995 graduate of Sugar Lands Clements High School, Miles questioned ambiguous plans for innovative programs including staggered class schedules and online instruction proposed to avoid re-zoning.

We need feedback on how this would work so we can decide whether to vote for a bond that includes no other options for our students, Miles said. Asking one of the fastest-growing areas of your tax base to vote on an $800 million-plus bond with only a trust me clause is risky. I respectfully ask the board if youre willing to take that risk.

Jason Dobrolecki also lobbied for a bricks and mortar solution for Ridge Point and pointed to the more-than-2,300 members of the Ridge Point Feeder Pattern: No More Band Aids Facebook page as evidence many others shared his views.

Were waiting to either support an upcoming bond if capacity needs are addressed or fight to bring it to a halt if our community continues to be ignored, he said. Families have voted by buying homes in a particular community. You need to support those communities or they will vote again, except this time it will be against the bond and for a new board of trustees.

Michael Beckelman warned confusion could damage support for the not-yet-approved November bond election.

I can appreciate the need and the desire to be innovative and I can appreciate wanting to explore new things, but do you think a bond is going to get passed based upon this innovative process without giving any information? You have to give out more details than you are now, Beckelman said.

Sienna Plantation voters lobby for long-term solutions

Sienna Plantations residents say Fort Bend ISD has suffered from poor planning and want district officials to focus on a 10-year plan to address future issues, according to a press release posted on the communitys No more band aids website www.fbisdnomorebandaids.com).

Sadly, our children are accustomed to overcrowded schools, bursting hallways and continuous rezoning due to the districts lack of foresight and strategic planning, Kathi Hopkins, a 30-year Fort Bend County resident and FBISD parent said in the release. This has been the norm dating back to the opening of Sienna Crossing Elementary in 1998. Students have been shuffled from school to school for two decades, breaking up friendships, creating instability and moving children out of their own community just to make room for others. Its a domino effect that does not serve the student.

According to a 2018 FBISD demographic report, Sienna Plantation is the district fastest-growing area and leads the district in projected new housing units with more than 6,000 new single family homes projected to be built by 2027 and another 2,442 lots remaining to be built thereafter.

Sienna Plantations explosive growth is reflected in enrollment at Ridge Point High School, which is currently over its permanent capacity of 2,594 by 105 percent with approximately 2,713 students. Enrollment is expected to grow to 112 percent next year with 2,906 students and 118 percent in 2019 with 3,058. The campus is expected to reach 123 percent capacity in 2020 with 3,188 students and will top 169 percent in less than ten years with enrollment estimated at 4,374 in 2027 according to the districts most recent demographic report.

Despite projected increases in student enrollment, the current facilities master plan update doesnt include plans for a new school. Instead, district administrators propose to develop a flexible schedule option yet to be outlined, according to agenda documents.

During meeting discussions, most trustees voiced support for flexible scheduling options for Ridge Point.

Its innovative. Education shouldnt look like it does today in the future so were going to have to do something different, trustee Jason Burdine said. I think we can really be a leader, maybe in the state of Texas and in our area with an approach like this.

Trustee Grayle James and KP George both said they supported the concept in theory but still had questions.

I want to know more about it. How would we implement something like that? What kind of impact would it have on the students who would be affected by it? George asked.

Board president Kristi Tassin said the program for Ridge Point could be developed hand-in-hand with the community and said she thought it would give the district the ability to avoid perpetual re-zoning.

We cant keep moving our kids around from one box to another every three to five years, she said. We have got to start thinking about how education is going to look like in the future. We cant keep passing billion dollar bonds every five, six, seven years. We have to got to come up with a way to provide an education that is innovative and different. This allows us to explore that.

Tassin said she has three children attending Fort Bend ISD schools, two of which currently attend Ridge Point.

They feel the pressure of Ridge Point being over-capacity. I know first-hand what the kids and the teachers and the administrators are going through there. But, I think we have to try something new and I think this keeps kids from being re-zoned and provides some flexibility, Tassin said. If it doesnt work, we can always re-zone.

Trustees are scheduled to consider final approval of the 2018 Facilities Master Plan, Monday, May 14. District officials are expected to use the plan to develop recommendation for a November bond proposal expected to come before trustees later this summer.

knix@hcnonline.comSpecial "pro tem" prosecutors tapped to handle capital murder cases can make tens of thousands of dollars in extra money by choosing to seek the death penalty over life in prison, a financial incentive that defense attorneys are challenging in a high-profile Houston case.

Lawyers for Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan  a Muslim patriarch accused in a pair of brazen "honor killings"  say the life-or-death decisions made by appointed prosecutors raise the specter they could be influenced by the potential for bigger paychecks under the pay system set up for court appointments.

Now, pointing to possible conflicts, defense attorneys are asking a judge to boot the pro tems from the case before Irsan's trial, slated to start later this month. Other defense attorneys agree the system could raise questions about fairness.

"This is clearly unconstitutional and violates the defendant's right to a disinterested prosecutor," said Amanda Marzullo, executive director of the nonprofit defense group Texas Defender Services.

Anna Louise Emmons, one of the three pro tem prosecutors assigned to the Irsan's case, pushed back against claims of a conflict.

"We made our decision on what to seek based on the case itself," she said, "We would have absolutely no scruples, no ethics, if we based it on a financial situation."

'Honor killings'

The Jordanian-American patriarch was charged with capital murder in 2015, three years after the slaying of 30-year-old Iranian activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh.

At first, the killing sparked conspiracy theories of an assassination ordered by Tehran. But police quickly zeroed in on Irsan, his wife and then-21-year-old son. Together, police alleged, the family had planned and carried out the killing of Bagherzadeh as she pulled into her parents' Galleria townhome in January 2012.

Then, less than a year later, Irsan's son-in-law, 28-year-old Coty Beavers, was gunned down inside the couple's apartment. He'd told friends beforehand that if he was ever found dead, Irsan was to blame.

Both slayings, authorities said, were driven by Irsan's ire over his daughter Nesreen's decision to marry Beavers, a Christian. Bagherzadeh, a fervent Christian convert and Nesreen's best friend, encouraged the marriage.

But when Irsan was finally arrested in a Montgomery County SWAT raid in 2014, it was not for the slayings but for a Social Security scam. That same day, the Harris County District Attorney's Office filed murder charges, only to drop them later.

In 2015  the same year Irsan, his wife and another daughter were sentenced to federal prison for the Social Security scam  prosecutors charged Irsan with capital murder. Two years later, they hit his son with the same charge.

Pro Tems Appointed

Initially, the cases were handled by prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney's Office. But in 2017, Kim Ogg took over the office, ousted some of the old guard and brought in a new crop of attorneys, including First Assistant District Attorney Tom Berg.

In February 2017, the district attorney's office asked to be recused from the case because another attorney at Berg's firm represented one of the state's witnesses.

Sometimes  as when Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon handled the case of cop killer Shannon Miles  judges hand the case to salaried lawyers with the state attorney general or other district attorney offices when the prosecutors ask to be recused.

In the Irsan case, however, the judge appointed three former county prosecutors as the pro tems: Jonathan Stephenson, Marie Ann Primm and Emmons.

The previous prosecutors had already planned to seek a death sentence. But when the new attorneys took over, Emmons said, they reevaluated the case and, again, decided to seek death. The case has forced them to step back from their normal legal practices.

"We take our job extremely seriously," Emmons said.

Stephenson and Primm did not return requests for comment.

Irsan's legal team, Allen Tanner and Rudy Duarte, filed a motion in April asking a judge remove the prosecutors from the case over possible conflicts.

Trying a non-death capital case involves roughly 800 hours of preparation and 10 days of trial, the legal team said. A death case requires around 1,600 hours of preparation and 30 days in trial. Based on the hourly pro tem pay  which is the same $150 an hour appointed defense lawyers get  prosecutors can net about $124,500 more in a death case than in a non-death capital case, they said.

"The financial interest of the pro tem prosecutors, at a minimum, created opportunities for conflicts to arise and created at least the appearance of impropriety," attorneys wrote. "This is the threshold required by the Supreme Court to reverse a conviction."

Moving forward, prosecutors may have an incentive not to change their minds and offer life in prison, according to defense attorneys.

"The decision to seek death is an ongoing process on the part of a prosecutor," Marzullo said. "Defense attorneys often continue to present prosecutors with new arguments for mercy as they are discovered until the eve of trial."

Anthony Osso, one of the attorneys representing Irsan's son, Nasim Irsan, is making similar arguments in his case, as prosecutors decide whether or not to seek death against him.

"It's just the appearance of impropriety that's a problem," said Osso, who previously served as a pro tem and chose not to pursue a death sentence. "You can't have an appearance of impropriety seeking death."

Capital defense lawyer David Dow worried that the impact could be more than just appearances.

"It's hard to imagine that the prospect of a larger payday would not matter in the decision-making process," he said.

Long-time defense lawyer Patrick McCann highlighted other potential concerns with the appointments, including the lack of racial diversity and the pro tems' prosecutorial background.

"These are life-time prosecutors who are now given carte blanche after learning their trade in one of the biggest 'win at all costs' cultures in the country," he said.

'Pretty ridiculous'

Some in the legal community panned the concerns raised in court filings.

"It's insulting to suggest that they would seek death just to bill some extra hours," said Murray Newman, a former prosecutor now doing defense work. "I mean, lawyers are unscrupulous but, damn, that's pretty ridiculous."

Toby Shook, a Dallas lawyer who's served as a pro tem in the past, didn't see the appearance of conflict as inherently problematic.

"As long as the fact situation fits the situation where you've seen DAs seek death in the past, then it's not a problem," he said.

Shannon Edmonds, a staff attorney with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, pointed out that death cases get two defense attorneys appointed.

"So it benefits the defense, too," he said. "If it's a conspiracy for them to make money as prosecutors, it would also be a conspiracy to line their opponents' pockets."Through 15 years of darkness, June Castillo has seen flashes of hope.

Once, a man showed up at her door claiming to have proof of her son's innocence. Another time, a stranger called to offer an apology from the "real" killer.

There were the whispered prayers, and the cancelled executions.

"You get so scared," she said. "The bad days come and you think, 'What am I going to do?' And then there's the good days  and then the devil hits again."

And that's what it felt like on Monday when the 73-year-old's son  death row inmate Juan Castillo  was denied a bid for clemency, and lost two different late-stage appeals. Now, the condemned lovers' lane killer is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday.

"It is deeply disappointing," Castillo's clemency lawyer Greg Zlotnick said late Monday, urging the governor to issue a 30-day reprieve so a legal team can continue fighting the case in court.

The now-37-year-old was sent to death row in 2005 for the slaying of rapper Tommy Garcia, Jr. two years earlier.

Prosecutors said Castillo and three others had teamed up to plan a robbery in a deserted San Antonio lovers' lane. It was Castillo's girlfriend, Debra Espinosa, who lured the 19-year-old musician to a secluded spot with the promise of sex and drugs, according to court filings.

READ MORE: My life still has value: San Antonio death row inmate begs for clemency 2 weeks before execution

As they sat in the car making out, two men in ski masks  later identified as Castillo and his friend Francisco Gonzales  stormed the Camaro. They tore Garcia from the vehicle and Castillo shot him seven times, according to court records.

Afterward, Espinosa ran to a nearby house and started banging on the door for help. She and Gonzales were picked up not far from the scene.

They both agreed to testify in exchange for a reduced sentence, while the fourth suspect  Gonzales' girlfriend Teresa Quintero  netted a 20-year term for robbery.

But Castillo has long maintained that he didn't do it. In fact, he said, he wasn't even there. Before trial, he said he spent the night with a friend  though the man never agreed to testify, according to court records.

And in the years since his conviction, some pieces of the case have become a little hazier. Investigators never had forensic evidence tying him to the scene, and one of the key witnesses against him  a jailhouse informant  recanted his testimony.

In recent months, defense lawyers made that recantation a cornerstone of their appeals, including one that won him a stay of execution. But when the case was sent back to a lower court, the judge rejected it within a day, before the defense had a chance to weigh in.

Last week, attorneys entered a filing poking holes in two other state witnesses and accusing prosecutors of withholding evidence. But on Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals turned down that claim, hours after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal centered on the recanted testimony.

Amanda Marzullo of Texas Defender Services, the non-profit legal group handling his appeals, expressed dismay at Monday's court outcomes.

"There are serious issues with his case, which was no court has given meaningful review," she said.

Wednesday's execution date is Castillo's fourth in a year. Last May's date was rescheduled after prosecutors failed to give 90-day notice to the defense. Then, a September execution was pushed back in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and a December death date was called off in light of the jailhouse snitch.

"I have cried so doggone much for the past month," June Castillo said. "I can't cry anymore."

As of Monday evening, there were no pending appeals in the case.

If everything continues as scheduled, Castillo will be the sixth man executed in Texas this year  and his mother plans to be there to watch.Michael R. Bloomberg, media mogul, philanthropist and former mayor of New York City, asked the 2018 graduating class of Rice University to reject the divisive rhetoric and growing incivility on display in Washington and around the country as they leave to launch their own careers.

The country is more divided now than it has been since the Civil War, Bloomberg told the graduates and their families. Bloomberg lamented an era during which alternative facts and post-truth have entered the nations vocabulary, and like-minded groups huddle together, drowning out the opinions of others and rejecting scientific and other evidence that contradicts their world views.

How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie, Bloomberg said, referring to George Washington, to politicians who can not tell the truth?

Rice, which opened in 1912, held its 105th commencement under a hot sun on Saturday morning, awarding nearly 2000 diplomas, including bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. Bloomberg served as mayor of New York City for three consecutive terms beginning in 2002, first elected as a Republican but later switching to an independent.

The co-founder and chief executive of Bloomberg L.P., a financial services, software and media company, Bloomberg has an estimated net worth of $53.4 billion, making him the 11th richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine. Bloomberg, 76, has signed The Giving Pledge, joining a movement of other wealthy individuals and families to give away most of their money during their life.

So far, Bloomberg has given away $6 billion, including $700 million last year. During the introduction of Bloomberg, Rice President David W. Leebron joked that maybe some of Bloombergs money could be diverted to Rice.

Bloomberg let him down gently when it was his turn to speak, noting that Johns Hopkins, his alma mater, has preempted Rice. Bloomberg has given Johns Hopkins $1.5 billion.

In the well-received speech that included shout-outs for well-loved university haunts  including Whataburger for honey butter chicken biscuit sandwiches  Bloomberg warned the graduates of the danger of turning a blind eye to the lies and distortions coming from some political leaders. Bloomberg, who considered an independent presidential campaign two years ago, did not single out any politician by name, but he was a high profile critic of Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, branding the future president as a con and demagogue.

The Washington Post has documented more than 3,000 false or misleading statements made by Trump since he took office in January.

Elected officials who promote alternate realities along with those who let it happen and dont say anything  are creating one of the most serious dangers facing democracies, said Bloomberg told the Rice graduates. As an example, he cited climate change and the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity, namely the burning of fossil fuels, is accelerating global warming.

Still, Bloomberg said, some federal agencies have banned workers from using the words climate change, showing that officials at the highest levels of power see the plain truth as a threat, he said.

They fear it. They deny it. And they attack it, just as the communists once did, Bloomberg said. And so here we are, in the midst of an epidemic of dishonesty, and an endless barrage of lies.

Free societies depend on citizens who recognize deceit in government, Bloomberg said. He told Rice graduates to hold themselves to the highest standards of ethics, urging them to keep their minds open and follow the evidence wherever it might lead.

Listen to people you disagree with without trying to censor them or shout over them, he said. And have the courage to say things that your own side does not want to hear.

lynn.sixel@chron.com

twitter.com/lmsixelHarris County Sheriff's Office

Police in central Texas are searching for a missing Spring man believed to be in grave and immediate danger, authorities said.

Domingo Alcaraz, 45, of Spring, was visiting Dripping Springs, Texas, on May 5 in the 6800 block of Fitzhugh Road. Dripping Springs is about 20 miles west of Austin.Demand for senior housing continues in northwest Houston.

Several new communities opened recently, including Avanti Senior Living at Augusta Pines, a senior living and memory care community located off Kuykendahl and West Rayford roads in Tomball.

And The Retreat at Westlock opened recently in Tomball. The Harris County Housing Authority, in partnership with The ITEX Group, LLC, built the new retirement community to offer affordable units to the regions growing senior population.

In addition, Bellaire Senior Lodges opened at 6420 Cypresswood Drive in Spring. The new development is a full service, independent senior residential community.

The areas senior population is growing rapidly, said Grace Jackson, Senior Services director at the nonprofit Northwest Assistance Ministries.

And, with that boom, the need for more housing is expected to continue to rise over the next decade. To help fill that need, new senior housing developments are continuing to sprout in northwest Harris County.

The Retreat at Westlock, located at 24055 Tomball Parkway, has 140 units, said Horace Allison, executive director of the Harris County Housing Authority.

The limited supply of quality, affordable senior housing makes Westlock an attractive place to reside, Allison said.

More Information New senior communities in northwest Houston Avanti Senior Living at Augusta Pines is located off Kuykendahl and West Rayford roads. The Retreat at Westlock is a new retirement community located at 24055 Tomball Parkway. Sundance at Towne Lake memory care center is located at 9051 Greenhouse Road in Cypress. Heartis Senior Living, an assisted living and memory care community, is located at 17935 Longenbaugh Road in Cypress. Spring Cypress Assisted Living and Memory Care is located at 16306 Spring Cypress Road. See More Collapse

The three-story, 166,762-square-foot community is available to residents 65 and over, whose income is 30 percent to 60 percent of the median income in the area.

The Retreat at Westlock offers one- and two- bedrooms units, with rent prices ranging from $390 to $936 a month. The Harris County Housing Authority expects the community to fill up fast.

There are currently 95 occupants living there.

Typically the occupancies rate of the affordable housing developments such as Westlock remain high, with developments maintaining waiting lists, Allison said.

While there is not onsite healthcare at the Retreat at Westlock, the community works with various providers in the area to offer services to the residents based on their qualifications and needs, Allison said.

In addition, Sundance at Towne Lake memory care center opened last year at 9051 Greenhouse Road in Cypress.

Heartis Senior Living, an assisted living and memory care community, opened a year ago at 17935 Longenbaugh Road in Cypress.

Avanti Senior Living focuses on rethinking senior living by combining innovative design, technology and cutting-edge hospitality to offer seniors a resort-style community, said Tim Hekker, CEO of Avanti Senior Living.

The community is a place for seniors to experience and enjoy life, said Lori Alford, the company's chief operating officer. Avanti emphasizes hospitality, she said.

The new 77,000-square-foot, $17 million Avanti community offers one and two bedroom suites with stone countertops and plush carpeting. The suites have a keyless entry.

The community has 90 suites, including 50 for assisted-living and 40 suites for memory care, which includes seniors with Alzheimer's or memory impairment.

The new community has a state-of-the-art wellness center, a full-service salon and spa, a theater and an art studio with a stone wall for displaying artwork. The community has a full-service restaurant, a bar and lounge and five outdoor courtyards.

Avanti Senior Living at August Pines offers housing for up to 150 residents.

Avanti Senior Living has two other communities in the region, one in Cypress in Towne Lake and another in Shenandoah at Vision Park.Memorial Hermann Health System, the largest health care system in southeast Texas, has agreed to pay $1.9 million to resolve allegations over billing Medicare for patient care, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas announced Monday.

The allegations include billing the federal government for in-patient services for scheduled surgeries that should have been handled as less expensive out-patient treatment or with observation, U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick said in a statement.

"Charging the government for higher cost in-patient services when patients only require lower cost out-patient services is a waste of taxpayer money and a violation of trust with the patient and the government," Patrick said in the statement.

The government says that between January 2009 and December 2014, three Memorial Hermann hospitals -- Texas Medical Center, Southwest, and Memorial City -- submitted improper claims to Medicare.

Patrick said the settlement should "deter similar conduct in the future and make health care more affordable."

In a statement to the Houston Chronicle Monday afternoon, Memorial Hermann said, "Care provided to patients was appropriate and necessary and there have been no allegations to the contrary. We make every effort to ensure that we have a robust documentation process in place that adheres to our highest standards of accuracy."

Memorial Hermann spokeswoman Alex Loessin confirmed in an email that "an agreement has been reached with the U.S. Attorney's Office to refund the overpayment flagged in the audit dating back to before 2014."

"We have a longstanding compliance program to ensure that we continuously meet the rigorous documentation standards required in an increasingly complex regulatory environment," Loessin wrote.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice settled a case involving the former president of the Harris County Medical Society and his diagnostic and surgical center for $1.5 million over Medicare fraud allegations.

In that case, Dr. Gurunath Thota Reddy and other doctors at Memorial Hermann Endoscopy and Surgery Center in North Houston performed colonoscopies so quickly over a 7-year period that they were "essentially worthless," according to the government.

RELATED: Former medical society prez settles Medicare fraud charges

The claims resolved by the current settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability, the government statement said.briefs head briefs head briefs head briefs head

A Texas City man was charged with murder after police say he intentionally ran over a pedestrian with his truck.

Officers found 57-year-old Marvin Lee Bookman dead, apparently run over by a vehicle, in the 1100 block of Texas Avenue just before midnight Saturday.

Police charged Thaddeus Kirk, 55, with murder, according to Texas City police. Hes being held on $250,000 bond.

Kirks record shows he has a handful of prior arrests in Galveston County and is also a lifetime registered sex offender convicted of sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint in 1983, according to Department of Public Safety records.

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A late-morning crash killed a motorcyclist Sunday in northeast Houston.

The 25-year-old motorcyclist lost control of the bike about 11:40 a.m. and ran off the road in the 2400 block of Berry, a few blocks east of the Hardy Toll Road, police said. He was thrown from the motorcycle and landed 15 or 20 feet away.

A witness said the man was speeding.

briefs head briefs head briefs head briefs head

A man was shot in the head in a northeast Harris County nightclub early Sunday following a dispute over a woman.

The victim was drinking at a club near Homestead and Norments when a man walked in just after midnight and shot him once in the head, according to investigators.

The two had been in some sort of prior altercation over a woman, the Harris County Sheriffs Office said.

After the shooting, the gunman jumped in a car and fled. Investigators recovered one spent bullet and one shell casing from the scene.

The victim was rushed to Ben Taub Hospital, though his condition was not released.

briefs head briefs head briefs head briefs head

A Houston police officer has been suspended from the force after a Saturday night drunken driving arrest in Montgomery County.

William Lacy was pulled over around 11 p.m. on State Loop 494 after a Department of Public Safety trooper allegedly spotted him driving in the middle of the road, and saw him fail to stop at an intersection.

After troopers realized the 46-year-old may have been intoxicated, a blood specimen was obtained and he was taken to the Montgomery County jail on $600 bail, said DPS spokesman Erik Burse.

Houston police spokesman John Cannon confirmed Lacys employment with the department and said that hed been relieved of duty as of Sunday.

Police union president Joe Gamaldi offered a short statement on the 20-year veterans arrest.

Since this occurred off duty and not in the course and scope of his duty as a police officer, Gamaldi said, we will not be representing him.

briefs head briefs head briefs head briefs head

In a fatal wreck Sunday morning, a car hit a pedestrian and crashed into the side of a downtown Houston apartment building just down the street from Minute Maid Park.

Houston police responded about 10:30 a.m. near the intersection of Congress and La Branch. A blue Hyundai sedan had crashed into the side wall of the 1920s hotel that now serves as an apartment building for New Hope Housing.

Police did not have details Sunday afternoon about what caused the crash. According to media reports, the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.

From staff reportsROBERT MACPHERSON/AFP / Getty Images

One man was shot during an attempted robbery in southeast Houston Monday morning.

The man was taken to Ben Taub Hospital with gunshot wounds, Houston police said. His condition is unknown at this time.WASHINGTON  For wealthy Texas Republicans relied upon by national party officials for vital campaign cash, the GOPs inability to repeal Obamacare last summer wasnt just a disappointing legislative low point.

It became a reason for them to turn off the money spigot.

It was super frustrating, said Houston energy executive Dan Eberhart, a Trump supporter and national GOP donor. They used that line for 10 years: Repeal and Replace. They raised money on it, and then they just flopped.

But since then, Eberhart has come around.

I feel like maybe Ive done a full revolution, he said. In October, I was very upset. I felt like You guys raised all this money and just completely failed on Obamacare repeal and replace. Thats where my head was at. Once they passed tax reform, I guess maybe I fell in line and came back into the fold.

President Donald Trumps visit to the Lone Star State at the end of this month  he will do separate fundraisers in Houston and Dallas on the same day  will mark a welcome homecoming for big fundraisers like Eberhart.

If Trumps speech at the NRA convention in Dallas last week was meant to lock down his populist base, an upcoming fundraising swing through Texas will help the GOP load up on much-needed cash for the 2018 midterm elections and beyond.

Trump will headline a $5,000-a-head luncheon in Houston on May 31 for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which has been lagging behind the Democrats Senate campaign arm as the GOP defends a narrow 51-49 advantage in the Senate.

One of the seats Republicans are defending is that of Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz  Trumps nemesis in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries  now facing a spirited challenged from U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, a Democrat from El Paso who has impressed observers in recent months by outpacing Cruz in the money chase.

But even if Texas falls short of being a battleground, the state remains a significant source of cash for both political parties. Its of particular importance to Republicans who hope to deliver for Trump by maintaining control of both chambers in Congress.

The Houston luncheon will be followed by a dinner in Dallas the same evening to benefit Trumps 2020 re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Following a recent visit by Vice President Mike Pence, Trumps Lone Star fundraising blitz will be something of a revival for Texas Republican donors who vocally tightened their wallets in 2017 when they saw little return from the Trump administrations early chaotic months with Congress.

But some top donors say that changed with Decembers tax cut bill, which also ended the individual mandate penalty under the Affordable Care Act. Big Republican money has started flowing again, starting with Texas, the honey-pot of national GOP fundraising.

This month, big GOP donors in Texas hope to surpass the $4.3 million they collected with a Trump fundraiser in Dallas last September, a time of congressional gridlock, intra-party sparring, and growing Republican introspection.

Obamacare frustration

The nadir of the GOP fundraising efforts came late last July when the Republican-led Senate fell short in its long quest to kill former President Barack Obamas signature health care law, known as Obamacare. It wasnt just the Republican grassroots base that was angry.

The frustration was directed less at Trump, who has remained popular with both the GOP donor base and the partys grassroots, than at Republican incumbents. That has been particularly true in the Senate, where Trump priorities like a border wall have seemed to languish.

Among those who had instigated last years slowdown was Dallas-area GOP fundraiser Doug Deason, a Texas co-chair of the Trump Victory Committee, a joint effort of the Trump campaign organization and the RNC.

I had big donors calling and contacting me and saying, Hey, man, were on board. We agree with you, Deason said. So we had a lot of donors back off. Im not taking credit for it, but it got a lot of attention. A lot of people were slowing down the giving until they got something done.

Final passage of the GOPs $1.5 trillion tax cut bill served as the watershed moment, a breakthrough legislative achievement that Trump partisans and Republican donors were looking for. Even as Democrats have sought to cast it as a budget-busting giveaway to the rich, it is emerging as the centerpiece of Republican House and Senate campaigns across the nation in November.

That is especially important for GOP incumbents in a midterm election season that is always difficult for the party in power. The threat to incumbents was highlighted Tuesday in party primaries across the nation, where five GOP House members suffered setbacks either in reelection contests or bids for higher office.

Vulnerable incumbents

Deasons 2017 donor protest also put a target on incumbents backs  even those in his own party. All in all, weve been contributing to strong candidates who have a chance of knocking out vulnerable Democrats in the Senate, he said. We never backed off of that. We backed off backing incumbents.

That is, until tax reform.

The House earned it (our support) back, and now the Senate has, Deason said.

As Republicans have struggled to push Trumps agenda through Congress, Democrats have been able to more easily rally around opposition to Trump. That also has been felt on the fundraising front.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reported more than $71 million in receipts at the end of April, the last reporting period, compared to under $58 million for the NRSC.

In Texas, ORourke, though still a long shot, was able to raise $6.7 million in the first three months of the year, more than double the $3.2 million raised by Cruz. Though ORourke has shunned money from PACs and outside political groups, he has now almost pulled even with Cruz in overall cash-on-hand.

GOP donors confident

Texas Republicans say theyre still not worried about Cruzs prospects in deep red Texas, a widespread sentiment that is not likely to help Cruz with his fundraising.

Eberhart, who has been raising money for GOP Senate candidates from North Dakota to Florida, said he has paid little attention to the race in Texas: Thats not been a race Ive focused on, because I dont think at the end of the day it will be that competitive.

Cruz, for his part, told reporters at the NRA convention in Dallas last week that Republicans cant take anything for granted this year.

"It is clear the anger and the rage is all on the left, that theyre motivated, Cruz said. Those on the far left hate the president. And anger is a powerful motivator. We should not underestimate that threat.

In Cruzs view, ORourke has been able to harness the Democrats new energy better than most. Look, were seeing it in my race where my Democratic opponent, who is running hard hard left, is raising more money than any Democratic Senate candidate in the country, he said. And thats where the energy and the passion is. Now the good news is there are more conservatives than liberals in Texas. We need to work to make sure conservatives are not complacent.

Some Texas donors are convinced that the national momentum is now swinging back their way. They talk about a so-called Blue Wave, I see a Red Tide rising, said prominent Texas fundraiser Mica Mosbacher, a Trump 2020 National Advisory Board member.

Mosbacher points out that while the Democrats Senate campaign arm has outpaced the Republicans in fundraising, the RNCs $171 million in receipts this election cycle is more than double the Democratic National Committees (DNC) $88 million. So far, the RNC also has banked more than $43 million, compared to $9.3 million for the DNC.

Mosbacher sees that as a reflection of conservative donors flocking to Trumps populist agenda, rather than to establishment GOP incumbents in the Senate. For a while NRSC lacked luster for me, Mosbacher said. It was endorsing establishment candidates, and then there was the whole populist movement around the country, and people were angry.

It didnt help that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also was devoting resources to block Judge Roy Moore, a far-right GOP primary candidate who was battling allegations of sexual misconduct in the Alabama Senate race last year before losing a general election shocker to Democrat Doug Jones.

Just a speed bump

Still, Mosbacher described the pause in donations to GOP Senate incumbents as a momentary speed bump that pales in comparison to overall GOP fundraising in 2018, especially by the Trump campaign and outside conservative groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund, which just got a check for $30 million this week from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson.

Some analysts also see the Democrats fundraising advantage in the Senate as a reaction to the urgency they face in the 2018 electoral map, where 10 Democratic incumbents up for re-election in states that Trump won by double digits.

But with continued Republican control of the House far from certain, some GOP donors also are now redoubling their efforts on the Senate, which they see as a firewall against a potential blue wave.

One of the leading lawmakers in the Senate effort if Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, and a former chairman of the NRSC. Between his campaign committees, he has raised some $7.15 million on behalf of Senate Republicans so far this election cycle, $6.65 million of that for the NRSC, and $500,000 more directly to GOP candidates campaigns.

With Trumps fundraising trip to Texas later this month, that pace is now expected to quicken.

I think theres some concern, said GOP consultant Rob Jesmer, former executive director of the NRSC under Cornyn. Maybe the Republicans arent doing everything that some of these individual donors would like, but a lot of them see what would happen under a Democratic Congress, and theyre stepping up to defend their majorities.It's not hard to miss the irony.

Robert Jeffress, a controversial pastor from Dallas who once said non-Christians were destined for hell, blessed the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.

Best known for heading First Baptist Church in Dallas, Jeffress is often accused of homophobia and religious bigotry, something former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and others criticized ahead of the embassy opening.

"Robert Jeffress says 'you can't be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.' He's said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem," tweeted Romney Sunday night.

"These were comments ripped out of context from years ago," Jeffress said defending himself on Fox News Monday. "Historic Christianity, for 2000 years, has taught that salvation is faith in Christ alone, and the fact that I, and millions of evangelical Christians still believe that, is not bigoted and not newsworthy."

RELATED: Israeli forces shoot and kill at least 52 Palestinians as US Embassy opens in Jerusalem

Jeffress' comments, quoted by Romney from a 2011 speech at the conservative Values Voter Summit, are more than just outspoken confidence in the Christian faith.

Video of the Evangelical pastor's speech shows him arguing against the notion that Christianity should be inclusive to as many people as possible and, amid scattered applause, preaching that Islam and Mormonism are heresies from hell.

Other comments that garnered Jeffress headlines include a 2015 speech in which the pastor implied abortion caused the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and a confusing 2013 comparison of homosexuality and TV outlets: "Well it is my TV to do what I want to with it but I'm going to blow that TV into smithereens if I put it in a 220 outlet."

Jeffress wasn't the only Texan in Israel.

Washington Correspondent Kevin Diaz wrote about Ted Cruz' visit to Israel for the Houston Chronicle.A UFC fighter and Green Beret recently got waterboarded to prove the disturbing interrogation method isn't torture.

"We did this yesterday for almost 45 minutes," tweeted Tim Kennedy, sharing a video of himself being sprayed with a hose while laying on a table with a towel over his face.

"This wasn't an attempt to demonstrate bravado," he clarified in another tweet. "Just trying to show people what this is. It really is nothing. Strap me down, do it in a basement, it's still just questioning."

Posting the video on Facebook, Kennedy described the experience as a "baptism in freedom."

"It's not torture!!!!," he wrote "Hell we had elk tacos and wine afterwards. Wake up people."

The live-streamed demonstration was an effort to support Donald Trump's pick for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, who has been criticized for her involvement in Bush-era torture.

CONTROVERSIAL PAST: TX pastor who thinks Jews will go to hell gives opening prayer at Jerusalem embassy

A 2013 Washington Post report detailed that Haspel had an "extensive role" in post-9/11 torture programs and ran a "secret prison in Thailand where two detainees were subjected to waterboarding and other harsh techniques," and also "helped order the destruction of videotapes of those interrogation sessions."

While Kennedy hopes to prove that waterboarding isn't torture, one former counterterrorism and intelligence officer for the U.S. government thinks the UFC fighter's online stunt isn't waterboarding at all.

"Wrong. That's not how it's done," replied Malcolm Nance to Kennedy. "As a former SERE instructor & #Waterboarding qual'd resistance team member I can tell you it's about aggression, intent, tiedown, pour technique, rate of flow & other factors. It's a Nazis/Commie torture. Deal w/it."

Donald J. Guter, president and dean of South Texas College of Law Houston, recently weighed in on Haspel's confirmation in an opinion featured in the Houston Chronicle, arguing that "Haspel's record of torture makes her unfit to serve."UVALDE  The gut-wrenching grief that Davaughn Rodriguezs relatives have endured since his fatal beating six years ago mixed with anger Friday over the punishments for the two defendants, who once faced capital murder charges.

The boys mother, Sabrina Vielma, 35, was sentenced to 18 years in prison under a plea deal finalized Thursday, officials said, and her former boyfriend, Cel Ves N. Cook, 40, faces a 12-year term at sentencing next week.

I dont feel that justice was done for my son, said Dion Rodriguez, 35, a former boyfriend of Vielma, adding that a life sentence would have been more fitting. Vielma had custody of the boy.

RELATED: Mugshots: 227 arrested on DWI charges during Fiesta in S.A.

Rodriguez joined dozens of family members and supporters wearing Justice for Baby D T-shirts at a graveside memorial Friday, where they prayed, wept and released balloons.

He was beautiful. He was amazing, Rodriguez said of his 4-year-old son.

The boys great uncle, Jose Chapa, said, We failed him as a society.

District Attorney Daniel Kindred also expressed dissatisfaction with the punishment handed down Thursday by state District Judge Steve Ables to conclude Vielmas four-day sentencing hearing in Hondo on a substitute charge of injury to a child by omission.

I felt the evidence we presented would have merited a stiffer sentence, Kindred said Friday.

RELATED: Woman who took fatal plunge from I-35 ID'd

Davaughn Rodriguezs body was brought to a local hospital on Dec. 11, 2011 by Vielma, who denied injuring her son and claimed he may have fallen while trying to retrieve food from the top of the refrigerator, recalled Uvalde Police Lt. Mariano Pargas.

The bruised and scratched condition of the boys body quickly cast doubt on her account, he said, as did blood spatters that investigators later discovered around Vielmas home.

Its something that you never forget, said Pargas, of seeing the battered, lifeless child. He was at Fridays memorial.

An autopsy concluded he died from blunt force trauma to the head, but authorities were unable to identify the weapon used.

The only injury that was fatal to the child was a head injury, said Kindred, citing testimony by medical officials. The consensus was that that would have been immediately incapacitating.

Vielma initially said she was home alone when Davaughn died, authorities say, but later amended her account to say Cook also was there. Cook told police the boy was fine when hed left the home that evening.

Although Kindred suspects the fatal injuries were inflicted by Vielma, the prosecutor said conclusive evidence was lacking.

The two suspects each blamed each other and the evidence didnt definitely tell us who delivered the blows, who did the killing, said Kindred.

Each defendant was indicted on a capital murder charge, but the potential of either facing the death penalty was eliminated under the plea deals that reduced the charges.

Vielma pleaded guilty on March 22 to injury to a child by omission, a first degree felony that carries a maximum punishment of 99 years and a $10,000 fine. No sentence was specified in the pact with Vielma.

Kindred said one impetus for the state to strike the deal was the recent request to withdraw from the case by Vielmas court-appointed attorneys, Clay Steadman and Steve Pickell, who declined comment Friday.

If the motion were granted, Kindred said the already-protracted case would have been further delayed as the new defense counsel started from scratch.

In Cooks case, Kindred said he pleaded guilty May 4 to the lesser charge of tampering with physical evidence  the boys body  and is slated to be sentenced to 12 years at a May 15 hearing. His attorney couldnt be reached Friday.

In exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, Kindred said Cook agreed to give authorities a full account of the fateful night Davaughn was slain. He said he watched the boy Dec. 10 and left him in good condition that evening, returning the next morning to find the boys body on the kitchen floor.

Cook recalled Vielma claiming the boy was injured accidentally, according to Kindred, and admitted covering the body with a blanket and then leaving the scene.

We have no reason to disbelieve his account, or evidence to refute it, said Kindred.

Zeke MacCormack is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | zeke@express-news.net | @zekemacIn February, a magistrate judge ruled that police could use "all reasonable force necessary" to draw the blood of Catherine Amato, who was refusing to submit to any sobriety tests or provide samples of her breath or blood after being pulled over.

Bexar County Magistrate Judge Celeste Ramirez found that a San Antonio police officer had "probable cause" to believe that Amato was driving while intoxicated that night at about 11:30 p.m. on Northwest Loop 410, the second time in less than two years that the prominent local businesswoman had been charged with that offense.

Read about Amato's past legal troubles and her connections to Nico LaHood and the San Antonio Spurs at our subscriber site, expressnews.com.

Nonetheless, on April 24, less than two months after Amato's blood was forcibly drawn, outgoing Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood's office dismissed Amato's DWI charge. By way of an explanation, an assistant DA scrawled in a motion to dismiss that there was "no probable cause for arrest"  an apparent contradiction of both a police report and a search warrant affidavit, both of which included details of Amato swerving in traffic, nearly hitting the officer's patrol car, swaying on her feet and possessing open containers of vodka in her purse and car.

Now, Amato, 63, is seeking to have all records of the case destroyed; an expunction hearing is set for next month. Amato owns and operates multiple Subway and Ruby Tuesday restaurants in the area with her partners.

On Thursday, Bexar County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff marveled at the "unusual trajectory" of Amato's case, calling it a "rogue event."

"This is moving fast," he said. "This is like a rocket. A normal DWI takes like a year."

Rickhoff added, "Every person in the criminal justice system is supposed to be treated as fairly as every other person. These rogue events, they're not unknown to us. And they'll happen again. ... Nico has a great opportunity to salvage his reputation, and he's just not doing it."

A glowing profile of Amato in the January/February 2011 issue of NSIDE Business Magazine described her as "a businesswoman who exudes a confident aura of elegance, intelligence and sophistication."

A similarly flattering profile in the September/October 2009 issue of San Antonio Woman, titled "The Subway Queen," described her as "a slim and elegant woman and a self-described health nut."

Read reaction from the two candidates running for Bexar County District Attorney in Sunday's Express-News and at our subscriber site, expressnews.com.

bchasnoff@express-news.netWASHINGTON  As a 1st Marine Division lieutenant in the 1991 Gulf War moving troop convoys across battlefields, David Winnett breathed nerve gas from exploded Iraqi munitions and smoke from oil-well fires lit by the fleeing enemy.

At 10 oclock in the morning, it was completely black from the smoke  so dark you couldnt see your hand in front of your face, said Winnett of New Braunfels, whos disabled from ailments caused by airborne toxins he was exposed to in a war that consisted of just four days of ground combat and six weeks of airstrikes.

The Veterans Affairs Department has estimated that about 40 percent of the 700,000 troops who took part are afflicted with what has come to be known as Gulf War Illness  an assortment of seemingly disconnected ailments that include brain cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal ailments and other illnesses.

For veterans exposed to these toxins, the war that began in the last century against Saddam Husseins Iraq has never ended. Internal VA documents obtained by Hearst newspapers show the VA rejected more than 300,000 claims related to Gulf War Illness from 2002 through last year.

Many of the ailing veterans battling Veterans Affairs for compensation feel victimized again by the recent firing of VA Secretary David Shulkin, who had promised to address long-standing problems with the VAs handling of compensation claims.

Shulkin said last week he was especially interested in persuading the White House Office of Management and Budget to endorse adding brain cancer to the list of ailments that would enable Gulf War veterans to automatically qualify for compensation. The potential cost: $79 million over five years, according to a recent study.

It was a high priority for me to address this issue as I believed that Gulf War veterans have waited too long for an answer. I hope it can be resolved soon, Shulkin said in an email.

Upheaval in the agency under the Trump administration has left veterans advocates dispirited, worried about justice both for those who fought in the Gulf War and about the VAs willingness to meet responsibilities to other troops exposed to battlefield poisons.

Legislation signed into law 20 years ago established a Gulf War service connection for ailments associated with chemical, biological and other toxic agents. That law also applies to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, enabling care and compensation for veterans that could run into the billions of dollars.

Most claims were rightfully denied, veterans advocates acknowledge, after examiners determined illnesses werent properly diagnosed or were unconnected to Gulf War exposures. Nonetheless, approval rates for claims are startlingly low, just 17 percent  three times less than for other disabilities  the Government Accountability Office reported last year after examining VA records from 2010 through 2015.

Winnett felt the effects when he retired in 1995 at the rank of captain. He was constantly fatigued, his vision blurred and he had cognitive problems. Symptoms grew worse, including unbelievable pains that came out of nowhere.

So began Winnetts medical odyssey that, 15 years later, would bring a successful disability claim for fibromyalgia, a medical condition characterized by muscle pain and chronic fatigue.

Winnett had been suspicious for years about what was referred to then as Gulf War Syndrome. He wondered whether veterans sought to game the system.

His thinking changed in 2008 when he went to Washington for a hearing at VA headquarters. I saw some of these folks in wheelchairs and walkers. I thought, what in the hell is going on here? I was feeling lousy, but some of these folks were 10 times worse than me, Winnett recalled.

In short order, he became a leading advocate for victims of Gulf War Illness. His New Braunfels-based website serves as a chat room and an information clearinghouse for 12,000 members.

Ocean of suffering

A March 28 VA inspector generals report documented an error-ridden appeals process, underscoring veterans frustrations. Investigators found the backlog of pending appeals had climbed agency wide to more than 300,000, with the average time of closing cases 936 days  more than 2.5 years.

In a three-year period through 2015, an estimated 1,600 veterans died while waiting for their appeals to be resolved.

Nicholas Ferrante, another Gulf War veteran from New Braunfels, lived to win 100 percent disability status from the VA. He died last year, after battling the agency for compensation for more than a decade.

Ferrante, a U.S. Army linguistics expert in a special operations unit in Kuwait, spent hours at a time in a tower monitoring communications, according to his widow, Arana Ferrante. He became ill soon after the destruction of an Iraqi munitions storehouse, she said, and returned home from the war with a host of symptoms, including burning eyes, chronic fatigue and rashes.

Within three months, while stationed in the Washington area, he was diagnosed with a serious blood disorder, antiphospholipid syndrome, that would plague him the rest of his life.

Ferrante retired in 2001 after 21 years of service. With more autoimmune diseases plaguing him, he was awarded 30 percent disability  a rating based on lost earnings capability.

His health continued to decline, and the VA increased his disability status to 60 percent. But out-of-pocket treatment costs exhausted the familys savings, Arana Ferrante said.

They kept saying theres not enough proof. At the VA, they didnt have people who understood what these veterans are going through, she said.

Finally, in the year before he died at age 60, Nicholas Ferrante won full disability.

My husband did not die an easy death. I was with him through it all, and Ive seen all these other men and women from the Gulf War, an ocean of them, suffering and not getting proper attention from the VA. How shameful, she said.

Surrounded by toxins

Juana Leilani recalls the shrill whoops from the chemical alarms that kept sounding as Scud missiles landed around them in Saudi Arabia at the start of the war. She and other soldiers spent the night in a tent, sleeping in gas masks and full protective clothing. They were told not to worry.

Leilani, 50, of Austin, cant be sure if she was exposed to chemical toxins then or at other times while traveling around in a Humvee as an equipment supply specialist delivering parts for helicopter repair.

But she knows she became ill soon after her return, first with breathing problems, then headaches that, she said, doctors told her were psychological. At age 32, she entered menopause.

Ten years ago, she started having problems eating; shes had three procedures to widen the esophagus to correct an abnormality. Eating remains a challenge, compounded by joint pain and memory loss.

Not until this year was she able to get partial compensation for hearing loss and PTSD. But, she said, the VA has denied her claims for ailments associated with the Gulf War.

Leilanis problem, like that of many veterans, has been the inability to document the source of their afflictions in a complicated and often adversarial compensation claim process. Gulf War veterans by law are entitled to benefits if they have certain service-connected disabilities. They also may qualify under a presumptive service connection rule if they have multi-symptom diseases classified as undiagnosed.

But, as Louis Celli, the American Legions director of veterans affairs, notes: Doctors dont want to say I dont know whats wrong with you, so they will send you to somebody else. Getting an undiagnosed illness as a diagnosis is very difficult.

Pentagon secrecy and sloppiness hasnt helped.

It was common knowledge that in March 1991, Army combat engineers and explosive ordnance disposal units destroyed Iraqi weapons caches at Khamisiyah in southern Iraq that contained missiles, some loaded with sarin and cyclosarin nerve gases.

When confronted with evidence in 1996, the Defense Department acknowledged more than 100,000 American troops might have experienced low-level exposure.

Among other airborne hazards, fires burned for months after Iraqi forces torched some 650 oil wells in Kuwait just south of the border with Iraq. Veterans said they had no protective gear to shield them from the oily smoke.

In some areas, battlefields were laden with depleted uranium, a source of heavy metal and radiological contamination, used widely in U.S. munitions and as armoring for tanks.

About half of those who went to the war were given tablets three times a day of PB (pyridostigmine bromide), intended to combat exposure to the nerve agent soman  none of which, it turned out, was present in Iraq. Numerous studies have shown the PB may have contributed to Gulf War Illness.

There also were dangerous pesticides, some of which are forms of nerve agents, used in copious amounts out of fear of swarming, biting insects, notes Lea Steele, who conducts research on Gulf War Illness at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

I hear stories from veterans about putting highly concentrated DEET on their skin while they were putting pyrethoids (insecticides) on their uniforms. Meanwhile, they were using fly baits and pest strips in their tents, while planes flew over spraying camps with additional pesticides, said Steele, a neuroepidemiologist and a former science director at the federal Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness.

Baylor is part of a new study funded by the Pentagon using brain scans to assess the health of Gulf War veterans nationwide. Steele and others also hope to develop the diagnostic test for Gulf War Illness.

Steele observed that most people, even health professionals, are unaware that scientific studies have proved consistently that Gulf War veterans illnesses are associated with exposures, and not the result of stress. She noted that victims of the Tokyo subway sarin gas attacks in 1995 carried out by cultists have many of the chronic systems of Gulf War veterans, more proof of long-term damage from nerve agents.

Gulf War Illness remains a serious and widespread problem, she said. The effects on veterans health and their lives can be profound.

What happens now?

Not until 17 years after the war ended did the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses debunk that thinking in a 454-page benchmark study concluding that Gulf War Illness is a serious physical disease resulting from toxic exposures that affects people differently according to their genetics.

Claims examiners continue to display ignorance, with just 10 percent agreeing to training that was only elective, the GAO report found last year.

The VA said examiners since have completed a course in Gulf War Illness  a 90-minute online seminar.

In an email, the VA also defended its heavy rejection of claims by noting that two follow-up reviews proved that examiners were correct roughly 90 percent of the time.

Veterans advocates saw a champion in Shulkin, someone unafraid to say publicly, as he did last year, that toxic exposures were significant and that the VA bore responsibility for people who returned from that war not the same.

In a November meeting with Shulkin, veterans advocates said they were assured that improvements would be made. According to interviews with four people in the meeting, Shulkin agreed to set up a new VA-led working group to tackle longstanding problems related to claims.

But Shulkin is gone and the VA leadership in flux. The presidents nomination of Ronny Jackson to replace Shulkin collapsed last month amid allegations of Jacksons improper behavior as White House physician, leaving a leadership void in the governments second-largest agency.

Veterans for Common Sense director Anthony Hardie, a disabled Gulf War veteran, said Shulkin had agreed to everything asked of him.

He went for it all. I was surprised at what an easy sell it was. Its really disappointing now because we thought we had a good shot at getting these things fixed, Hardie said.

blambrecht@express-news.netNASA veteran Mark Geyer will take the helm of Houston's Johnson Space Center next week when former astronaut Ellen Ochoa retires from the director position, agency officials confirmed Monday.

Geyer, an Indiana native who has been with the agency for about 28 years, will be the 12th director of Houston's center, home to the nation's astronaut corps where human space flight research and training take place. Johnson had a budget of $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2017 and employs about 10,000 civil service and contractor employees.

"I think Mark is the perfect choice to be center director," said Michael Coats, who served as Johnson's director from 2005-2012. "He's smart as can be and very calm in his deliberations."

Geyer, 59, currently works out of the agency's Washington, D.C., office, where he provides direction for NASA's human spaceflight exploration mission. But prior to that Geyer served as Ochoa's deputy center director at Johnson from 2015 until September 2017.

He was appointed by Jim Bridenstine, the new NASA administrator, who said in a statement that Geyer is "eminently qualified" for the position.

"Mark brings with him almost three decades of distinguished NASA leadership experience at the program, center and headquarters levels  he's managed and he's worked his way through the ranks and knows what it's going to take to get our astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars," Bridenstine said.

On Twitter Monday evening, Ochoa praised Geyer's "thoughtful leadership, technical expertise and commitment to innovation and inclusion."

"I have worked closely with Mark for many years, as he served as a program manager and my deputy director," Ochoa tweeted, adding that he is "an excellent leader for the home of human spaceflight."

Geyer will officially assume the director's role May 25, Ochoa's last day after 30 years with the agency. He becomes director of NASA's human space flight hub just as President Donald Trump's administration has renewed the nation's push for human exploration to the moon and beyond.

Calm leadership

Geyer started his NASA career in 1990 as a systems engineer at the Houston center, but the young Hoosier quickly rose up the ranks within the space agency.

Four years later, he joined the International Space Station Program. There he served in a variety of roles, including a negotiator with Russia for space station plans and requirements.

Geyer had a number of other jobs in the agency, but Coats knows his work best as manager of the Orion program, which aims to eventually transport humans to Mars.

Geyer stepped into that role in 2007, when the agency's future was uncertain.

At the time, Orion was part of NASA's Constellation Program, a brainchild of the George W. Bush administration that aimed to send astronauts back to the moon as a stepping stone for Mars.

In 2010, President Barack Obama ended the program as too costly and inefficient. Ultimately, he spared Orion as a next generation capsule for Mars missions.

Geyer's calm leadership during that time was exactly what Johnson needed, Coats said.

"I hope to see the same, calm leadership in this role that he showed during that period of uncertainty," he added.

Since Trump took office, there's been a shift back toward Bush's initial vision.

Trump's $19.9 billion proposed budget for the next fiscal year tasks NASA with launching an uncrewed Orion flight by 2021, following by a launch of Americans around the moon in 2023. NASA officials hope to launch the uncrewed flight in December 2019, but that will likely slip to June 2020 in part because of construction delays with the SLS rocket.

"The Johnson Space Center has unique capabilities that are critical to NASA's ability to execute our mission to take humans farther into the solar system, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you on the ambitious tasks ahead," Geyer said in a statement Monday.

Big shoes to fill

In January, Ellen Ochoa quietly announced to her Johnson colleagues that it was time to try new things. She would be retiring in May, she said, after 30 years with the agency.

"It's a really tough decision to determine when to make that transition; for me, it comes down to my personal situation," she wrote in an email to employees. "We'll move to Boise, ID, and I intend to be involved with a number of activities that interest me (including getting back to playing flute, which I once considered for a career!)"

Ochoa, a California-native, first joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer. By 1993, she became the first Hispanic woman to go to space, logging almost 1,000 hours in orbit over the course of four space shuttle flights.

When she was named director of the Houston center in 2012, she became the first Latina and only second woman to command that role.

In a tweet Monday, Herb Baker, who retired last year from NASA, said "Ellen will be greatly missed but Mark has been Deputy Director and I can't think of a better person for that job!"

As center director, Ochoa oversees the nation's astronaut corps, the Orion program and mission operations for the International Space Station, among other things. Next week, she will pass those batons over to Geyer.

"It's an honor to be appointed to lead the men and women of this proud center," Geyer said.

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or twitter.com/alexdstuckey.Its tempting to jump on the first job offer you get, but the last thing you want to do is find yourself working for a company that doesnt align with your goals or values. But its difficult to get a full picture of a companys culture and working environment in a few short interviews and one tour of the office building.

Before starting your research, take some time to think about what you want and need  both from and beyond the job  to be successful and truly engaged at work. Think about the core values and principles you hope guide that company, the type of work youd like to do there, and the kinds of people who create and preserve the culture itself, says Kathleen Pai, vice president of HR at Ultimate Software.

Whether you are at the beginning of your job search or preparing for an interview, being armed with as much knowledge as possible about a potential employer is in your best interest. Not only will it help you formulate more insightful questions, it will boost your confidence as well.

Glassdoor

Glassdoor offers reviews of companies based on user-submitted feedback, or as Glassdoor calls it: "employee-generated" content. Glassdoor also offers information about salaries (provided anonymously) and potential interview questions. You can find information on employee benefits and company culture, and you can read reviews from current and past employees.

I suggest looking at Glassdoor reviews and researching the management team. What do they talk about and publish? Look for signs that tell you whether the organization values bottom-up ideas or if the culture is directive from the top," says Adriana Roche, vice president of people and places at Segment.

While every employees experience will be different, you should be able to get a strong sense for how the business operates. Companies will even advertise jobs on Glassdoor, so if you stumble on a company that looks like a good fit, you can instantly see what openings they have.

Indeed

Like Glassdoor, Indeed has thousands of company reviews that are submitted from current and past employees. Unlike Glassdoor, Indeed is first and foremost a job aggregator, with listings from practically every job site out there. Reviews, however, are not aggregated from outside sources and are hosted solely on Indeed.com.

While pay and job security remain essential, factors such as trust, open communication, professional development, and company reputation play an increasingly important role in influencing employees long-term happiness and commitment to the workplace. Consider what youre looking for in a company and use that to steer your research, says Pai.

Indeed is a useful resource if youre in the process of looking for jobs and want to know what youre getting into before you apply. You might quickly recognize the job isnt a good fit by looking at the reviews and salary data. Or, you might feel the company culture doesnt align with what youre looking for in your next job, saving both you and the recruiter some time.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is more than a networking site; its a resource for job seekers to research companies and potential co-workers and a place where recruiters find talent. LinkedIn doesn't provide user-based company reviews like Glassdoor or Indeed, but its a great way to see whether you have any current connections working at the company who might be able to give you insight into what its like to work there, or to establish a new connection  as long as you are upfront about your intentions.

Don't have any connections? Go to Linkedin and search your second-degree connections. Don't be afraid to message that person, let them know about your mutual connection and active interest in the company, and then ask for 15 minutes of their time to ask a few questions. Be sure to have questions prepared as you never know how different employees may influence the outcome of the hiring process, says Heather Doshay, senior vice president of people and places at Rainforest QA.

CareerBliss

CareerBliss features over 3.5 million job postings, 4 million salaries and 700,000 company reviews, according to its website. Its a one-stop shop to find open jobs, determine a fair salary and read employee reviews on the company. Its been around since 2008, with a focus on helping users find happiness in the workplace and in their careers. Its easy to forget in your job search that its not just about finding a job  its finding a place where you can thrive.

Interviewing is a two-way street, and research is beneficial to the interviewer in two ways. Not only does this help the candidate impress the company with their knowledge, but also for the candidate to determine if the company is a good match for their career goals, says Doshay.

CareerBliss also offers a unique feature that will allow you to compare jobs side by side, using a proprietary Bliss Score. A companys Bliss Score is determined through several factors, including job satisfaction, pay scale and overall employee happiness. If youre looking for the right cultural fit, its a great way to stack up the competition.

Social media

Youd be hard pressed to find any business, small or large, without some type of social media presence. And you can learn a lot about a business by looking at its social media pages to see what leaders in the organization post and share.

Most companies these days have more than just websites; they keep a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Crunchbase, etc. These sites highlight recent press about the company, new product releases, and highlight the company culture, says Doshay.

Head to popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see what content the organization posts and shares. If they have a YouTube channel, watch a few videos to get insight into the products, services or software the company offers. And while Crunchbase isnt your typical social media platform, its a valuable resource in your company research. It was originally set up to offer information on startups, but its grown to include information on public and private companies around the world.

Fairygodboss

Fairygodboss is specifically targeted to women in the workplace, offering job reviews for women, by women. Women often have more to consider going into a new company  especially in the male-dominated tech industry. Fairygodboss focuses on offering women reviews that reflect salary practices, maternity and pregnancy benefits, work-life balance and career advice.

Trusted, third-party review sites such as Fairygodboss and The Muse can provide valuable insights on a companys culture, leadership, business trajectory, and more  offering candid reviews from current employees about what its like to work there, and even video walkthroughs on day-to-day responsibilities for various roles, says Pai.

There are even discussion boards where women can connect to share experiences and ask for career advice. For women working in male-dominated fields, or in potentially toxic work environments, its a safe place to reach out and find a position with a company that better represents its female workers.

The Muse

The Muse is a valuable career resource where you can find information about a company and see open job listings at the organization. For example, HPs profile on The Muse includes photos, mission statements, headquarter locations, videos about the corporate culture, key employees at the organization and open jobs. You can also find links to the organizations social media pages and explore content from HP about working at the company.

Websites like The Muse allow you to see how community members such as customers, partners, investors and current employees are describing the company youre researching, says Tim Falls, director of developer relations at DigitalOcean.

The Muse also offers advice for job seekers as well as the opportunity to connect with coaches or to take courses. You can have your resume reviewed, partake in a 30-minute career Q&A, learn more about job search strategy or get advice on how to improve your LinkedIn profile. Its a one-stop shop for job seekers looking to do their homework before applying for a job.

Quora

If youre researching a company and the only resources you can find are from the organization itself, with little insight from past or current employees, you might want to branch out to get another perspective. At Quora, you can ask questions on nearly any topic and people will reach out to share their knowledge, perspectives, opinions and ideas. Its a great way to gain an outside perspective on working for a company or in a specific field or job title. If you arent comfortable posting a question yourself, you can search to see if anyone else has asked it before and read those responses instead.

To gaze through a different lens, you can often find questions and answers around, what is it like to work at [insert company here]?, on sites like Quora  and because the perspectives presented in such communities tend to be less filtered and more raw, its possible to gain an otherwise overlooked view into the employee experience,Falls says.Many IT organizations struggle to win the hearts and minds of their fellow employees. IT team members work as long and as hard as their business peers, often behind the scenes. Yet, while senior executives may publicly praise their accomplishments, they somehow always end up being the Rodney Dangerfields of their companies: they simply cant get any respect from their peers!

Why not? The reason IT cant garner the respect it deserves is simple. End users inevitably encounter personal IT issues in trying to perform their jobs. These issues disrupt their plans, consume their time, and may even undermine their ability to meet their commitments. No matter how successful an IT group might be in implementing new technologies or delivering major projects on time and on budget, chronic end user issues inevitably produce deep-seated concerns about the competence and efficiency of the overall IT organization.

While it might be exhilarating to celebrate some of ITs recent accomplishments, its likely more useful to acknowledge our chronic end user failures. Perhaps renewed focus on these failures will motivate us to concentrate more attention on their resolution and ultimate eradication. The problems listed below have been experienced by employees in almost all companies to one degree or another. Admittedly, some enterprises have made significant progress in resolving several of these problems, but few  if any  can claim to have resolved them all.

Passwords

Does anybody like passwords? At best, they are a nuisance. At worst, passwords are a nightmare. Employees constantly complain that passwords are too long and too complex to remember and are not properly synchronized across multiple applications. Furthermore, they complain that they are asked to enter and change passwords far too frequently, wasting their time and distracting them from real work. Certain passwords are only used occasionally, triggering scavenger hunts for the written note or slip of paper where the password was originally scribbled in haste. Its embarrassing to admit, but computers have been used in the workplace for almost half a century and we still havent resolved the chaos surrounding password management to the satisfaction of our end users. In many cases, weve actually made things worse!

Trouble tickets

IT groups thrive on trouble tickets. They organize their support practices around the management of trouble tickets. End users typically hate them. The first response of most Service Desk technicians to an end user query is: have you opened a ticket yet? Half the time, the answer is yes and the end user becomes doubly frustrated because they feel they are starting the reporting process all over again. Another typical user complaint is about the lack of follow-up communication from IT concerning the status of their tickets. Some organizations have tried to address these complaints by developing automated work flow routines that send email updates to end users every time a ticket is touched or transferred within IT. This is akin to rubbing salt in an open wound: the users problem is still not being resolved and they are being deluged with emails documenting the IT departments lack of progress! Its worth noting that enlightened IT shops have established walk-up service desks in highly trafficked areas to make it easier for users to interact directly with support technicians without submitting tickets. This immediacy and personal touch has been universally acclaimed by end users.

Video conferencing

How much time is wasted in many large enterprises trying to get conference room video equipment to work properly? How many times do users simply give up and revert to a phone bridge after wasting the first 10 minutes of the meeting trying to follow the video setup procedures defined by IT? Significant technical progress has been made in this area over the past few years but its incumbent on large companies to deploy state-of-the-art solutions comprehensively to satisfy end users needs for simple and reliable videoconferencing. Many companies have historically been reluctant to make these investments, and consequently, users remain frustrated. (Note to users: please dont expect video quality on the phone in your car to be equivalent to your laptop at work. Lets face it, some user expectations are just technically unreasonable!)

Distribution lists

In a perfect world, distribution lists are always accurate and easy to construct. Employment statuses, job titles, cost center assignments and organizational reporting structures are maintained and quality-controlled on a real-time basis. In a perfect world, accurate distribution lists can be dynamically created at the touch of a button! Unfortunately, no one lives in this perfect world and most distribution lists have a shelf life that can be measured in minutes or hours, certainly not in weeks or months. Thats why terminated employees and current contractors continue to be informed about company business or invited to meetings, while some newly hired employees are left out in the cold!

Blocked websites

Outside the workplace, individuals exercise unbounded freedom in leveraging the Internet to solve personal problems, make purchases, develop and maintain relationships, learn, weand amuse themselves. Subliminally, they expect to experience the same freedom  with a few modest limitations  while they are at work. Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) provide a technical solution to this dilemma by employing configurable criteria to block employee access to different types of websites. This is a good thing because it takes IT out of the business of determining the business relevance of individual sites on a site-by-site basis. Unfortunately, the logic employed in configuring a CASB is typically different from the logic an individual employs in determining the sites they believe they should be able to access at work. Calls to the Service Desk rarely resolve these frustrations because Desk technicians either dont know or cant explain the inner workings of the CASB tool to the satisfaction of the end user.

Printers

This is the granddaddy of them all. By definition, a paper jam or empty ink cartridge never happens at a good time. Mechanical issues are an even bigger headache. Individuals who start disassembling printers to resolve mechanical issues frequently end up creating bigger problems than they started with! Printer frustrations have subsided in most organizations for two reasons. Printers themselves have been engineered to be more idiot-proof and they transmit health information that can trigger preventive maintenance before a problem actually occurs. The other reason that printer issues have waned in importance is the simple fact that people use less paper at work. The amount of printing performed in most companies continues to decline every year.

Moving beyond denial to action

IT executives who believe that the end users in their companies are not plagued by one or more of these issues are either blissfully ignorant of the extent of such problems, or unaware of the manual effort thats being devoted to supplying users with temporary band-aid solutions. I encourage the readers of this column to share solutions that have worked within their companies (we could all use a little more credibility!) or feel free to add to this list.Nearly a decade ago, a disgruntled chemist in Valspars largest laboratory walked off with 44 gigabytes of the paint manufacturers most valuable trade secretsintellectual property that had been developed through years of research. Once they discovered the loss, company officials quickly alerted the FBI, whose agents arrested the thief just before he boarded a flight to Shanghai.

Though Valspar didnt lose its valuable IP to Chinese competitors, victims of the thousands of data breaches that have occurred in recent years arent always as fortunate. While the total number of cybersecurity incidents dropped slightly in 2017, the damage they cause, measured in both data and financial losses, has risen. A single cybersecurity event cost enterprises an average of $884,000 in 2017, up from $471,000 in 2015, according to the 2017 U.S. State of Cybercrime Report.

What can organizations do to protect sensitive digital information? A lot, beginning with the basics, according to a panel of experts who discussed the topic of guarding digital assets as part of Microsofts Modern Workplace webcast series.

Block Human Intelligence

The two most common ways in which information is stolen today are human intelligenceIP theft or classic espionageand signal intelligence, accomplished by hacking or cyberattacks, according to Evan Anderson, CEO of INVNT/IP, a global consortium working to reduce nation-sponsored theft of intellectual property. About 80% of breaches result from human intelligence, Anderson says.

One immediate way to address these threats is to hire cybersecurity experts to secure digital assets, an effort organizations often skimp on, Anderson says. If youre not doing that, you are essentially sitting in an open bank with no security, he says. Cover those bases; thats critical.

Longer term, organizations must come up with an economic plan that provides disincentives to theft, particularly in cases of a nation state stealing valuable IP to get ahead in the open market.

Implement Basic Hygiene

Every organization needs to practice basic security hygiene, says Curtis W. Dukes, EVP and GM of Security Best Practices & Automation Group. For every asset in your enterprise, know what the configuration of that asset is, he says. That process includes benchmarking and implementing critical controls, including six fundamental ones developed by the Center for Internet Security (CIS).

To be better stewards of your organizations digital property, Anderson suggest managers take three primary steps: connect with local law enforcement such as the FBI; connect with security-focused industry groups; and have a contingency plan in place. When [an attack] does happen, you need to know what youre going to do, he says.

Dukes says its up to the corporate board to know what their key digital assets are and where that information is stored in the enterprise. To do that, get behind a cybersecurity framework like NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology], he says. You need to have an incident response plan. Its not if youre going to be attacked, but when.

For Andrew Ubel, who was the Chief Intellectual Property Council at Valspar during its IP theft, the lessons were hard-won. We were operating under a false premise that all our [sensitive] data was in a database where access was logged and controlled, says Ubel, now the CEO of CyberWorks. And thats not how our employees were using the formulas.  A couple hundred chemists were all putting their work in a common repository; it was a recipe for disaster.

Ubel is also a fan of NISTs framework that spells out a plan to protect digital assets: identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover. If you cover response before you need to, youll be better off, he says.

To learn more about keeping your digital assets safe, watch the Modern Workplace episode, Information protection: guarding your digital assets.In a USA Today op-ed last month, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten defended the teachers strikes in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, and Colorado, by sketching a familiar hero-villain scenario. Teachers are standing up for their students and themselves against largely red states with weak labor laws and where governors and legislators have opted for tax cuts for the wealthy instead of investments for children, she wrote. Pointing to the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court case, which she portrayed as a right-wing ploy to get public sector unions out of politics, Weingarten proclaimed, Teachers voicesand their votesare powerful, and educators have parents and communities supporting them.

Some voters may be persuaded by the argument that teachers are picketing for more money for children, but they would be better off looking at some basic facts. While teachers in some cases are underpaid and certain school districts underfunded, teachers on the whole, according to researcher James Agresti, get paid much better than commonly acknowledged. For the 20162017 school year, the average salary of full-time public school teachers was $58,950. That figure excludes benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, and pensions, which, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, make up an average of 33 percent of total compensation for public school teachers. When benefits get added in, teachers average annual compensation jumps to $87,854. And even that amount doesnt include unfunded pension liabilities and certain post-employment benefits like health insurance, not measured by the Labor Department. Private-industry employees work an average of 37 percent more hours per year than public school teachers, including the time that teachers spend for lesson preparation, grading, and other activities. Unlike less rigorous studies, this data from the DOL is based on detailed records of work hours instead of subjective estimates about how long people think they work, Agresti adds.

Teachers arent just well compensated; theyre also more numerous than ever before, especially in proportion to their students. Researcher and economics professor Benjamin Scafidi found that, between 1950 and 2015, the number of teachers increased about 2.5 times faster than the number of students, and hiring of other education employeesadministrators, teacher aides, counselors, social workersrose more than seven times faster than the increase in students. Despite the staffing surge, students academic achievement has stagnated or fallen during that time. Scafidi suggests that, had non-teaching personnel growth been in line with student population growth, and the teaching force risen only 1.5 times as fast as student growth, U.S. schools would have had an additional $37.2 billion to spend annually. With that windfall, he suggests, we could have raised every public school teachers salary by more than $11,700 per year, given poor families more than $2,600 in cash per child to attend private schools of their parents choice, and more than doubled taxpayer funding for early-childhood education.

Its no secret that lavish teacher pensions are eating up money that should be spent on students. Robert Costrell, a finance expert at the University of Arkansas, found that 10.6 percent of all education spending goes toward teacher-retirement benefitsmore than double the proportion spent on pensions in 2004. As a percentage of their total compensation package, teacher retirement benefits eat up twice as much as other workers, Bellwether Education Partners policy analyst Chad Alderman explains. Teachersincluding bad teachershave a powerful incentive to stay on in their jobs, since they automatically earn more just by showing up each fall, regardless of how effective they are. Pension benefits start accruing later in a teachers career, so younger teachers are helping to prop up pensions for lifers, with little to show for it; if a teacher leaves the field early, he gets no pension at all.

States typically administer teacher pensions, but health-care benefits frequently vary according to the local school district. While some districts cut teachers health benefits off when Medicare kicks in, others, such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, are much more generous. LAUSD provides the same expansive health coverage for retirees (and their spouses) as it does for current employees; neither group pays a premium for its insurance. The district recently announced that the unfunded liability for retiree health benefits has risen to $15.2 billion, up from a reported $13.5 billion in 2016, which translates to a cost of $525 per student.

Come November, the teachers unions and their unhappy members will be taking their case to the voters. Taxpayers need to look at the facts underneath the teachers-as-victims rhetoric and vote for fiscal sanity.

Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty ImagesI imagine it like this: Our great-grandchildren, who are robots, are sitting in class in the bombed-out remains of Harvard University. This class is taught via hologram by an adjunct who has to cast herself into 30 classes a day just to pay her rent in bitcoin. Disease runs rampant.

The class is The History of the Internet. During the semester, our grandrobots will learn how we spent our time rage tweeting, memeing, GIFing, and Snapchatting our way into oblivion.

Thats how the war began, the teacher will tell them.

A robot child will raise his hand and say he thought his great-grandma did something on the internet. I think she went viral?

Who didnt go viral? the tired hologram will sigh.

ICYMI: Two dozen freelance journalists told CJR the best outlets to pitch

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The internet is both eternally new and exhaustingly timeless. People have always gathered to share ideas and information, but the speed and voice with which we now make this exchange is at its best uniquely bizarre, maddening, hilarious, and trenchant. As a result, the writing that happens in this space is quickly dissipating ephemera; it punches us in the gut, changes the world, changes nothing, and disappears, sometimes for good, sometimes just from our collective consciousness. Or sometimes it stays there, lingering in our discursive experience.

Who can remember everything? Who would want to? Jaunts offline into nature are primarily a way to scrub our minds of the endless textual shouting of internet discourse. And yet, creating a record of what makes internet writing internet writing is a useful exercise in understanding what it is we do all day and why it compels us ever-maddeningly forward.

Because I hate myself, and because I want my future robots to remember my contributions to this wild weird world before it all dissipates into the ether, or becomes a wasteland of Russian bots and Incels, I spoke with writers, journalists, novelists, and normal people to come up with a definitive list of essential internet reading. This required coming up with a working theory about what makes internet writing uniquely internetty.

It comes as no surprise that finding and creating a cohesive understanding of internet writing is just as dubious, problematic, and maddening as the internet itself. Writer Taffy Akner argued that internet writing is not in and of itself a uniquely internet thing. She posited that there is only internet publishing. Publishers are willing to take chances with liberal use of the publish button on blogs simply because of the ephemeral and click-based nature of the enterprise. Sassy, she wrote, referring to the long-shuttered teen magazine, was full of this shit.

By this shit, Akner referred to the unhewn, raw, intertextual style of internet writing.

But Sassy is gone. And there might be an argument that women raised on the magazine, which ran from 1988 to 1996formative years for aging millennialshave been trying to resurrect it on the internet for the past 20 years.

Some of the criteria for what constitutes memorable internet writing were that the stories initially had to be published exclusively online. They had to have a lingering qualitya memorable refrain that made them stick around in the collective consciousness. Which is vague, but its all I had.

Some stories and authors were named over and overCaity Weaver was the most-named writer, and Its Decorative Gourd Season Motherfuckers the most cited article.

And there is a reason for this. Both Its Decorative Gourd Season Motherfuckers and the Caity Weaver Gawker canon are perfect examples of the internets strengths and strangeness. The swear words alone in the classic McSweeneys piece make it uniquely internet. But there are other elements, toothe conciseness of the joke, the exuberance, use of all caps, pop-culture references, words like BLAMMO!

In the vein of the classic humor article are many other gems, like The Onions Female Friends Spend Raucous Night Validating The Living Shit Out Of Each Other and Clickholes Which One of My Garbage Sons Are You? quiz, which plays with the internet quiz format, turning it into a hilarious send-up of modern parenting.

The internet, with its irreverence and short attention span, is a perfect vehicle for crassly delightful send-up humor. This isnt uniquely internet, and yet the internet has become most often the unique repository for this referential humor.

Similarly, Weavers writing is an intertextual mixture of commentary, humor, pop-culture references, and insight. Her stories, especially the early ones for Gawker, almost feel like the delightful drunken things you shout to your friends in a bar. Except smarter. And deceptively focused. Her essay My 14-Hour Search for the End of TGI Fridays Endless Appetizers is both a hilarious story about consumption, mozzarella sticks, and time, but its also about loneliness and capitalism. The structure of the piece is organized by time stamps. Many of the articles cited as internet classics had structures that eschewed the paragraph format and relied on elaborate premises.

Weavers other most-cited article was her piece titled, Taylor Swifts Home Sounds Like It Was Decorated by a Serial Killer. This story is classic internet in that it was built on top of another articleits an aggregation that rises to the level of a good take. In it, Weaver extensively quotes a Rolling Stone interview with Taylor Swift. But in doing so, she makes us see the Rolling Stone article in a new light. In Weavers imagining, what was a puff piece for a magazine becomes a sinister warning about Swifts serial killer proclivities.

New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino also cited a Weaver article as an internet classic: Philly Unveils Worlds Largest T-Shirt Cannon; Haters Crying Themselves to Sleep; They Literally Cannot Believe It, published on Gawker in 2012.

Tolentino notes of the article, Weaver aggregating this news item about a T-shirt cannon in Philadelphia is a magnificent example of how the grind of blogging, under the right circumstances (i.e., total stylistic freedom), can be both extremely good and extremely useful for writers who have a voice worth sharpening. Blogging has mostly migrated onto Twitter, which is terriblelong live the blog.

Another master of the aggregation blog post is Drew Magary, whose Haters Guide to the Williams Sonoma Catalog, lives long in the attention-deficit memories of the internet.

Takes and aggregation have been around since Martin Luther first nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenbergtruly the hottest take, kick-starting the Protestant movement and the 30 Year War. All your other takes could never.But internet takes are notable in their swiftness and irreverent tone. That is is heightened by the context of social media, which offers a fast-moving discourse that can immediately change the tone in which the story is read.

Then there are the ads, which on the internet offer an almost-immersive and unnerving experience. John Mahoney, writing in The Awl, calls the pile of ads at the bottom of internet articles a chum bucket, noting of them:

But ask yourself  when was the last time a piece of internet content asked you, How well do you understand your subconscious mind and truly meant it? In what other cultural medium can you find the deepest libidinal channels of the brain truly laid bare, with the quarterly pay-per-click revenue report to back them up? Have you lately exercised your deep-seated impulse to view an image of a weeping soft-cooked egg sitting on top of the pimple-encrusted face of Uma Thurman? What are you waiting for? Into the chumpools. The fetid ball of soggy electric fat at the other end of your clicking finger will thank you for the workout.

These chumpools of ads footnote almost all of our content and upset even the most deeply reverent of takesyanking our attention away from the deep thoughts of Ta-Nehisi Coates, for example, and back into our sublimated desire to see how that woman lost 50 pounds in 40 days and what did happen next?

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Another category of classic internet writing is the review, or the ad. Writing on The Awl in 2016, Silvia Killingsworth calls these form-box gems the most honest form of expression we have.

Killingsworth cites a nowdeleted ad for a Vitamix blender that turned into a personal essay about love:

These little platform-incongruent Easter eggs give us blips of pleasure; they are like the marginalia of the internet, except theyre more than just notes  theyre little standalone works of art. Its a few notches above I WAS HERE graffiti, its more like Hello friend, I was here, and Im a person! Do you like muffins? I love them! Heres a recipe. It gives you more than you bargained for, but youre not mad; it brightens your day. Its only slightly subversive, and mostly entertaining.

A classic in this genre is the beloved Amazon tissue review, where childrens author James O. pretended to be a harassed mother of boys, writing a review diatribe about her teenage sons, tissues, and masturbation.

Daniel Mallory Ortberg, a writer of much classic internet content, noted in a 2014 interview with The Guardian that having his writing career live-birthed on the internet meant that he learned not to be precious about his words.

People will move on, and the internet is a constant wave of content. You shouldnt be mindlessly producing crap, but the more you write, the better youll get. Youll develop your own voice, youll figure out what works and what doesnt. Youll make lots of mistakes, and youll make them in front of other people and they might make fun of you for it. Just write a lot and see what happens. Its important to look at not only whether you enjoyed writing the piece, but how others interact with it.

The internet, by extension, honed her voice through interaction rather than editing. And if there is a historical equivalent for that, Im hard-pressed to find one.

Choire Sicha, the New York Times Styles editor, has also had a career mid-wifed through blogs. In a 2018 interview with Fashionista, Sicha notes that the constant grind of internet writing is the iron that quickly sharpens a writers voice.

This is boring, but the greatest thing for me  and I see this with young writers sometimes, that they dont have  is I had to write constantly. It was very good on a sentence-by-sentence level and at establishing voice. Most of voice is just a series of crutches applied regularly, and when youre writing eight-12 posts a day, you really double down on that. What I see with young writers now is that they dont have these horrible blogging jobs  which is for the best, probably  but they also are hesitant. Their voices arent fully developed. They arent put on the spot so they dont develop as quickly, probably.

From voice, there is another unique aspect of internet writing that is evidenced by the popularity of image series articles. The first, or at least the first popular one, was Edith Zimmermans Women Laughing Alone with Salad. The article, publishing on The Hairpin in 2011, is just a collection of stocks photo ofwomen laughing alone with salad.

The images, when stacked one on top of the other, create a hilarious creepiness that is both an overwhelming commentary on the state of stock photos, women, food, the morals of eating; and is also just funny. All without writing a word.

Similarly, Daniel Mallory Ortbergs classic series Two Monks Invent Things, like Zimmermans article, relies on images, readily accessible through Google image search, and an inspired irreverence of tone and voice that created a cult following of Ortberg fans.

Ortberg was also responsible for the Texts From Jane Eyre series, begun on The Hairpin. That series, which launched a book, is an absurdist presence that works in an intertextual way that thrives in the internet era, in which anyone on the outside of an inside joke can just Google their way in. Ortberg was another often-cited writer of the internet genre; many of his classic pieces were on the now-defunct, cult-classic website The Toast (which lived and died briefly and brightly).

Another absurdist form of internet content is the unself-aware question-asker. This person is not (often) a professional content creator, and thus, the questions are a pure form of internet content that has for years occupied our minds and imaginations. Many a Reddit poster has run into controversy after asking why they cannot sue the mother of their child for custody after running out on her 10 years prior. Sadly, so many of those are lost to the yawning maw of the internet. Deleted in shame, to quell the trolls, or pulled down because time is cruel. Writer and podcaster Aminatou Sow recalled the viral Ask a Manager post, in which a question-asker wondered what to do after the woman who was hired as his new manager turned out to be a woman he cruelly ghosted years before. The lingering delight of this piece, besides the candid lack of self-awareness, was the follow up that ensued, when the question-asker doubled down on his actions and horribleness, and quit his job. A revenge story served cold for the unvoiced woman, but happening in near-real-time.

Falling somewhere between this category and the following is my personal favorite, the Reddit AMA with the man who has two penises. Part personal essay, part unselfconscious internet exposure, the AMA was a classic of our era. I would explain more, but the guy has TWO penises and he talks about them on the internet. If thats not peak internet content, then I am not sure what is.

Along these lines, a critical aspect of internet writing has become the reviled but often madly consumed, unhewn first-person essay. XO Jane is a standard bearer of this genre in its It Happened to Me column. These articles often relied on female writers with amazing and cringe-inducing stories. The masterpiece of the genre was and is IT HAPPENED TO ME: My Gynecologist Found a Ball of Cat Hair in My Vagina. The story tells exactly what the headline states: a woman who has a giant ball of cat hair pulled out of her vagina. The piece is a classic gross-out story that triggered a Vesuvian eruption of internet scorn, shock, and delight. In a 2015 story for Slate, Laura Bennett pulled apart this essay and others, calling them part of the first-person industrial complex of internet writing. She explains:

The rise of the unreported hot take, that much-maligned instant spin on the news of the day, has meant that editors are constantly searching for writers with any claim to expertise on a topic to elevate their pieces above the swarm. First-person essays have become the easiest way for editors to stake out some small corner of a news story and assert an on-the-ground primacy without paying for reporting.

These stories are of a performative genrewriters writing the worst thing that ever happened to them. As long as there has been writing, people have been eviscerating themselves for it, but Bennett argues that the internets bottomless appetite created a vacuum into which these stories have fallen. Another memorable internet moment in this genre is the essay Falling Out of Love With My Dad, a story about an incestuous fatherdaughter relationship, published on Jezebel in 2015. That same year, Jia Tolentino published an interview on Jezebel with a man who had sex with a dolphin. Both stories could have arguably lived elsewhere in print, but they seem uniquely internet in their relentless forward-facing of our darkest humanity.

And then there are the internet articles that take on issues like rape in a clear-headed manner. While these stories are not unique to the internet, they are uniquely internet in that the internet provides a place for them, more often than any other medium. Often they are raw, often they are angry, more often they are written by women; so the internet becomes the pulpit for these voices, which might have otherwise been lost, buried, or rejected. The first is Rape Joke by Patricia Lockwood, which was written as a response to a controversy around rape jokes in popular culture but ended up becoming an evergreen lyric essay about rape culture and sexual assault. Similarly, Lindy Wests How to Make a Rape Joke is a raw, angry, irreverent, and darkly funny op-eda counterbalance to the more mediated tones of print publishing.

Yet with this category and previous ones, the propelling force seems to be, as Akner suggested, more internet publishing than internet writing. Perhaps this writing would have existed without the internet, but would publishers have had the courage to put it in the world without the publish now, amend later style of the internet? Its a chicken-and-egg argument, more suited for our garbage robot sons than for us in this moment.

There is also an argument to be made not for specific voices, but the content created by the raging Greek chorus of our voices, collected by social media. Moments and movements like #MeToo, #SayHerName, #Covfefe, and #TakeAKneethey are a kind of voice, a way of moving, that find their way in the free-associations of internet discourse. Not content itself, but content fodder, often aggregated and collected, feeding on itself over and over until its hue and cry reaches an apex.

There are other arguments to be made, other stories forgotten by our short attention spans, as well as many writers and publishers who propelled internet writing forward, like Elizabeth Spiers and Emily Gouldwho have as yet been unnamed in this article, but are the foundation on which most of it stands. And there are writers who seem to embody the genre but have made careers publishing in print. But we will leave it here. Like the internet itself, this project was enthusiastic, full of problems, and incomplete, and is certain to be amended and honed by social media, ragey comments, and time itself.

ICYMI: The Washington Posts secret weapon

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Lyz Lenz is a writer based in Iowa. Her writing has appeared in Pacific Standard, Marie Claire, Jezebel, and the Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @lyzl.The National Rifle Association sued New York state officials over what it described as a blacklisting campaign targeting companies that try to do business with the group.

The organization filed a complaint Friday in Syracuse federal court accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state Department of Financial Services of abuses of regulatory power aimed at stifling the gun-rights advocacy groups right to free speech.

Earlier this month, the state financial services department fined insurance broker Lockton Cos. $7 million and a unit of Chubb Ltd. $1.3 million over an NRA-branded insurance program called Carry Guard. The agency claimed the program illegally permitted gun owners to receive liability coverage even if they were charged with firearms-related crimes. Carry Guard has been criticized by gun control advocates as murder insurance.

In its lawsuit, the NRA said the states actions were politically motivated and part of a regulatory campaign to make it clear to banks and insurers that it is bad business in New York to do business with the NRA.

Political differences aside, our client believes the tactics employed by these public officials are aimed to deprive the NRA of its First Amendment right to speak freely about gun-related issues and in defense of the Second Amendment, William A. Brewer III, a lawyer for the NRA, said in a statement.

The gun-rights group has been notching up legal actions after the February mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Survivors of the incident, in which 17 people were killed and 14 were injured, have spoken out about their experiences, helping galvanize support for gun-control measures.

After the shooting, Florida raised the age for purchasing guns to 21 from 18. The NRA sued claiming the law violates Second Amendment rights. The case is pending.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that the organizations New York lawsuit is a futile and desperate attempt to advance its dangerous agenda to sell more guns.

While the NRA ignores students across the nation who are saying enough is enough, New York is leading the way with the toughest and smartest gun-safety laws in the country, Cuomo said. I am proud of my F rating from the NRA, and I will continue to do everything I can to keep New Yorkers safe.

Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said in a statement that her department properly addressed the unlicensed and unlawful activity connected with the NRAs Carry Guard program.

The department will not stand down from its mandate to enforce New York law, Vullo said.

The NRA claims it suffered tens of millions of dollars in damages.

(Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, is a donor to groups that support gun control, including Everytown for Gun Safety.)

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.A Phoenix, Ariz., railroad crossing over a busy road will be shut down if the city doesnt install long overdue safety enhancements, state regulators said.

The Arizona Corporation Commission, which oversees railroad safety, announced the unanimous vote for the closure in a news release Wednesday. The panel said it will order BNSF Railway Company to close the crossing at 35th Avenue and Indian School Road unless an agreement on safety adjustments is reached by May 19.

A closure would likely create detours and traffic jams for vehicles traveling north and south on 35th Avenue, which connects to Interstate 10.

Commissioners say that city, state and rail officials failed to follow through on improvements proposed in August 2013.

The improvements were to include the installation of a four-lane signal fixture south of the crossing. New signals have only been installed north of the tracks.

They put a little single signal south of the tracks, said commission spokesman Nick Debus. Nobody pays attention to it. People are just constantly running that red light. People dont know when to stop; thats the issue.

The commission feels the confusion at the grade crossing creates a safety issue that must be addressed as quickly as possible, Debus said.

Monica Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the citys Street Transportation Department, said officials are working closely with the rail company and the commission.

Our goal is to identify a solution that we can all mutually agree to in order to avoid such a closure, Hernandez said.

In April 2016, the Federal Railroad Administration listed the crossing as one of 15 in the U.S. with a high incident rate. The crossing saw 21 incidents in a decade. The agency said most of the railroad crossings with repeated incidents were busy, multiple-lane intersections in neighborhoods with more truck activity or tracks crossing roadways on a diagonal.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Montana rescuers pulled a man from raging floodwaters and authorities warned of dangerous debris being swept downstream as water levels continued rising Friday in rivers and streams across the western half of the state.

The Clark Fork River in Missoula was expected to crest more than a foot (30 centimeters) above major flood stage late Saturday  its highest level in 100 years. It could rise even higher this week, according to National Weather Service forecasters. Heavy rains in recent days compounded the deluge caused primarily by melting mountain snows.

Floodwaters already have inundated some houses and trailer homes in a low-lying neighborhood in Montanas second-largest city.

Many residents of the more than 65 houses under evacuation orders refused to leave. That put both residents and emergency personnel in danger as debris surged downstream, including sheds, a propane tank and the remains of at least one trailer home that was pushed off its foundation and broke apart in the floodwaters, authorities said.

Its a great public safety concern for us, said Mel Holtz, a firefighter and spokesman for the flood response effort. Obviously its a very difficult time for people to leave, but we have concerns over utilities in that area because the electricity is still on and theres a lot of debris in the water.

The rescued man was using a small raft to reach a camp for transients on a partially submerged island on the Clark Fork Thursday night.

Firefighters at the rivers edge noticed him hanging onto a tree and still in the raft, Holtz said. Rescuers used a boat to pull him to safety.

No injuries had been reported as of Friday morning, Holtz said. Occupants of about 800 Missoula houses were under warning that they may have to evacuate if conditions deteriorate.

Water also was pushing into residential areas downstream along the Clark Fork in the town of Frenchtown, where occupants of two houses were ordered to evacuate.

River levels are forecast to drop slightly with the arrival of cooler weather early next week, then spike to even higher levels by weeks end, said meteorologist Ryan Leach.

Were very confident its going to be above major flood stage for at least the next week, Leach said.

Personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were inspecting area levees but they were not expected to be topped, Holtz said.

Among the sites being monitored was Smurfit-Stone Mill, a former wood pulp mill along the Clark Fork northwest of Missoula where open ponds were used to store contaminated wastewater. The site is on the federal Superfund list of the nations most hazardous sites. Local officials were concerned the river could erode the uncertified levees that shield the site from the river, Holtz said.

Elsewhere in the state floodwaters threatened homes along the Blackfoot River near Lincoln and portions of Lewis and Clark, Jefferson and Broadwater counties. Minor flooding was reported along the Flathead River at Columbia Falls.

A dam on an irrigation pond in Meagher County breached, causing a rapid rise in water levels on Sixteenmile Creek as it enters Gallatin County. The area downstream of the breach is sparsely populated and local officials said there was no immediate threat to public safety.

In central Montana, the Musselshell River near the small town of Shawmut in Wheatland County was forecast to reach major flood stage Saturday. The county sheriffs office advised people not to drive through flooded areas.

Rain was in the forecast with showers possible through the weekend across much of the state.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Employers cant be held liable to somebody who contracted cancer from asbestos brought home on a parents work clothes, according to a decision handed down on Friday by the Arizona Supreme Court.

The case stems from the 2014 death of Ernest Quiroz Jr., whose 2013 negligence lawsuit contends he was exposed to asbestos on his fathers work clothes and developed mesothelioma as a result.

Quirozs father worked at a Reynolds Metal Co. plant between 1948 and 1983.

The suit argued that Reynolds Metal Co. was legally obligated to avoid creating hazardous conditions that would injure people off its property.

However, lower courts ruled that Reynolds, which was later purchased by Alcoa Inc., didnt have a legal obligation to Quiroz, for secondary or take home asbestos exposure  when an employee carries asbestos fibers on their work clothes offsite  something required for a negligence claim.

A Court of Appeals ruling said potential drawbacks of recognizing whats called a duty of care in so-called take-home exposure cases outweigh potential benefits.

The Supreme Courts ruling affirms the summary judgment ruling by the superior court in favor of Reynolds.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.CMU Students, Alumni Receive Fulbright Awards To Study Abroad

May 14, 2018

Carnegie Mellon University's five Fulbright Award winners for 2018 will conduct research and teach in Israel, Germany, Japan, Serbia and South Korea.

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsors the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." Winners are selected based on a number of factors, including their proposal, called a "Statement of Grant Purpose," academic record and personal qualifications.

CMU's Fellowships and Scholarships Office provides support to students who are interested in applying for nationally competitive fellowships and scholarships.

Richelle Bernazzoli, assistant director of undergraduate research and national fellowships in CMU's Fellowships and Scholarships Office said that the graduating seniors and alumni are excellent examples of the CMU community who will go on to make important contributions in their host countries through cutting-edge research, transformative teaching and meaningful community engagement.

"They have each, in their own way, made their mark on the campus and off-campus communities through their research, leadership and service, and have shown that they embody the Fulbright mission: engaging with the world to create deeper knowledge and mutual understandings," Bernazzoli said.

This year's Fulbright winners are:

Isabel Bleimeister, Class of 2018, Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience with a minor in Biomedical Engineering

Bleimeister, of Los Angeles, has been awarded a Fulbright Study/Research Grant. She will work with Associate Professor Ilan Dinstein at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel, on autism spectrum disorder research. Bleimeister said she will study autistic children's pupil dilations and eye movements to differentiate between subcategories of autism.

Zhiwan Cheung, Class of 2016, Master of Fine Arts

Cheung, of Hanover, New Hampshire, will study the 1960s international art movement, Fluxus, as part of his Fulbright Study/Research Grant. In Germany, Cheung will study the art movement's origins and impact on German artists. By investigating Fluxus' visual, verbal and performative languages through archival research and workshops, he expects his work will enrich his understanding of the complexities of cultural identity within an international art context.

Amal Nanavati, Class of 2018, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Global Studies

Nanavati, of Fremont, California, will be traveling to Kyoto, Japan, for his Fulbright Study/Research Grant. He will be conducting research in human-robot interaction under the supervision of Professor Takayuki Kanda at Kyoto University. Nanavati's research will investigate how robots can learn to work and communicate with humans in smooth, natural ways by observing human to human interactions.

Theodore Teichman, Class of 2018, Bachelor of Science and Arts in Neurobiology and Music Composition

Teichman, of Loma Linda, California, will study music composition at the University of Arts and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, as part of his Fulbright Study/Research Grant. His work will focus on the Balkan epic poetry tradition. Teichman will investigate the metaphorical connections between landscape, biological systems and mythology, and the human experience of coping and memory.

Louise Zhou, Class of 2017, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Human-Computer Interaction

Zhou, of Cupertino, California, will be traveling to South Korea for her Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. Following orientation in Seoul, Zhou will teach English to middle school or high school students in a city outside of Seoul. She also plans to work with the Korean-American Educational Commission to help teach English to North Korean defector students looking to study abroad.One, his plan for a complete federal structure of the monetary and fiscal union is meant to guarantee the strength and the finality of the European project and its legal tender.

Two, such a structure would be impossible to deconstruct by nationalists, populists and similar constituencies blaming all sorts of socio-economic problems on the EU's single market and the common currency.

Three, I'll take the liberty of ascribing to Macron this unstated thought: His euro area reform program would also make it impossible for Germany to boss people around; the administrative setup he proposes would unfailingly and routinely enforce the rules of the monetary and fiscal union.

The focus is now on the meeting of the European Council  a forum of EU heads of state and government  on June 28-29, where France and Germany are supposed to present a joint "road map" of European reforms.

French commentators of all stripes expect a damp squib, accusing Macron of talking too much instead of "banging his fist on the table." Responding to that criticism, the French presidency announced last week that it was looking for substantive decisions next month.

Wish them luck, because Germany does not seem ready for substantive decisions on anything.

In her speech last week to celebrate Macron's Charlemagne Prize (for contributions to the cause of the European Union), German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke mainly of the problems the U.S. was creating for the German economy with its unilateral sanctions on Iran.

Macron, in her words, was "bubbling with ideas," but said nothing about Germany's response, or what Germany was prepared to do to help "Europe take its destiny in its own hands."

The reaction to the fallout from Washington's Iran sanctions is characteristic of ambiguity in French-German relations. In spite of statements that the two countries wanted to stay in Iran's nuclear agreement, Paris and Berlin are working on separate tracks to get exemptions from the U.S.-imposed sanctions on their companies involved in multi-year and multi-billion deals with Tehran.

France says that the extraterritorial reach of Trump's Iran sanctions is "unacceptable," while Germany remains resigned that "nothing can be done about it." Following that conclusion, Germany is talking about post-Trump policies, because Berlin presumably expects that next November's mid-term Congressional elections can cripple what they apparently believe will be a one-term presidency.

More realistically, Germany seems to be counting on China and Russia (and perhaps India) to reject Washington's unilateral sanctions on Iran  offering a way out the German-led Europe is unable to find on its own. All eyes are now on Iran's ongoing talks in Beijing and Moscow, and a visit of Tehran's delegation to Brussels next Tuesday.The Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, established as part of the 1953 Korean War armistice, remains the most heavily-fortified border in the world

Forget Seoul's posh Gangnam district.

With North Korea pledging to reduce tensions and renew ties with its southern neighbor, South Korea's hottest property market is now along the heavily fortified border between the two countries.

Demand for property in small towns and sparsely populated rural areas around the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is surging on expectations of an influx of people and investment.

Kang Sung-wook, a 37-year old dentist in the South Korean border city of Paju, has bought eight separate lots of land in and around the DMZ since mid-March.

Five were purchased without ever setting foot on them, using only Google Earth satellite photos and maps, as areas inside the DMZ cannot be accessed by the public.

Kang said buying interest jumped so sharply as relations between the former foes improved that he needed to move fast.

"I was out looking since North Korea-U.S. summit news was announced in March, and it looked like all the good ones were gone already," said Kang. "I realized then that the market was on fire."

His investment along the border now totals 3 billion won ($2.8 million) for 49 acres (20 hectares) of land.In June 1999, Jeff Bezos sat down with CNBC to announce a deal between Amazon and Sotheby's to start a collectible bidding site. Within a few years, the failed venture would be seen as one of Amazon's early mistakes as a company.

Amazon wasn't always the e-commerce powerhouse it is today. In its early days, it was best known for being the online rival to bookstores like Barnes & Noble. While the world of online selling grew, Amazon made a deal to compete with bidding sites like eBay.



In 1999, Amazon and Sotheby's struck a deal to sell antiques, collectibles and pieces of art online. Sotheby's and Amazon would create two auction websites, one that would be accessed through Sotheby's and the other that would be accessed through Amazon.

"Both companies are very hopeful that this would be a significant revenue stream, and we could build a significant business together," Bezos said during one of his earliest interviews with CNBC.

But that deal didn't go as planned. In 2000, Diana Brooks, the then CEO of Sotheby's, pleaded guilty to price-fixing. Not long after, the deal between the two companies fell through leaving both Amazon and Sotheby's to close up shop on their venture.Earlier this year, American Airlines executives were batting ideas around about how to reach its more than 120,000 employees. They quickly settled on a podcast format.

American debuted "Tell Me Why," little bites of corporate wherefores, in January, in response to an internal survey that found employees wanted to hear more about rationale behind the company's decision-making.

In breezy episodes generally no more than eight minutes long, host Ron DeFeo, American's vice president of global communications, sits down with a guest, usually one of the carrier's executives, giving them a platform to discuss the airline's strategy.

The podcast is meant for employees, and most access it on the company's internal website, Jetnet. But DeFeo said the team decided to post the show publicly on iTunes and Soundcloud because such information tends to make its way to the public anyway.

"There really is no such thing as internal communications anymore," he said.

Podcasting isn't new for corporations, but the format of American's and its release to the public is "very uncommon," said Rohit Deshpande, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School.

The company is effectively saying: "We don't want employees to say things that are different than we are telling our customers," he said, adding that internal and external communications are often separate groups.

"Tell Me Why" topics have included American's rationale behind adding certain routes, the introduction no-frills basic economy fares, or why it decided not to hedge fuel even as costs rose. Other subjects have included more workaday issues that would be familiar to many employees at a large company like contributing to a retirement fund and wellness rewards.

The airline is essentially blurring the line between internal and external messaging, and the audiences for that information, Deshpande said.

On Monday, with the rollout of its new rules for passengers wishing to bring emotional-support animals on board its flights, it used the podcast to explain the rules.

The podcast explains how the airline makes money. Vasu Raja, vice president for network planning, used a Feb. 21 episode some routes from New York to the Caribbean that were axed because the airline wanted to drive more traffic through its hubs, and New York airports are usually travelers' final destination.

"When we fly Buffalo to Dallas, we don't just make money on people going from Buffalo to Dallas. The real money is getting people from Buffalo to Austin, and Asia and Mexico and places like that," Raja said on the show. "We can earn disproportionately large revenues versus our costs."

The airline is still focused on routes popular with high-value business customers from New York, however, Raja explained.

American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the "Tell Me Why" episodes are played on average, about 12,000 times, 2,000 times externally  a relatively small audience compared with blockbuster podcasts that can top millions of listeners a month.Apple and Intel are on a list of 16 U.S. companies that made a total $105.5 billion from China last year, or 23 percent of overall revenues, the analysts said.

As a result, the Trump administration will likely pursue concessions from Beijing, rather than cut off all tech trade, analysts Edison Lee and Timothy Chau said in a note Monday. " We continue to believe the US will make only highly calculated moves, by factoring in the commercial interest of US tech firms."

U.S. technology companies generate roughly $100 billion to $150 billion in revenues from China annually, Jefferies analysts estimate.

Other names include Microsoft and Qualcomm. Including HP, Dell and other companies that don't break out their China revenues brings the total estimate to around $150 billion, the analysts said.

The U.S.-China trade dispute has increasingly focused on technology and intellectual property rights.

In mid-April, the U.S. Commerce Department banned American companies from selling components to Chinese telecom equipment giant ZTE for seven years. The decision was a response to ZTE's violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea, to which the Chinese company pleaded guilty last year. Trading in its Hong Kong and Shenzhen-listed shares was halted after the ban, and last week the company said its main business operations have ceased.

However, President Donald Trump unexpectedly said Sunday that he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help ZTE "get back into business, fast."

Shares of optical component makers working directly or indirectly with ZTE rose in Monday morning trading:

Acacia Communications received 30 percent of 2017 total revenue from the Chinese telecom company. Shares closed up 8.7 percent.

Oclaro generated 18 percent of fiscal year 2017 revenue from ZTE. Shares closed up 2.9 percent.

Lumentum, which has agreed to acquire Oclaro for $1.8 billion, saw its shares rise more than 2 percent.

Finisar also counts ZTE as a customer. Its shares gained 1 percent.

All four stocks are on the Jefferies analysts' list."Deutsche Bank has real profitability issues. They haven't spent money on technology in a very very long time. They're probably under-capitalized," he said. "I think they'll probably raise capital again next year. Deutsche Bank is a problem bank. I think it has to shrink dramatically."

The Neuberger Berman portfolio manager confirmed his fund is short Canadian financials, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo . He spoke in a Bloomberg Television interview that aired on Sunday from the CFA Institute's annual conference in Hong Kong.

Steve Eisman, the investor whose forecast of the financial crisis was depicted in "The Big Short," is still finding problematic stocks and investing manias in the financial markets.

Eisman is known for being one of the few investors to profitably bet against subprime mortgage securities during the financial crisis. He was a key character in Michael Lewis' best-selling book "The Big Short" and was depicted by actor Steve Carell in the movie based on the book.

On stage Monday at the CFA Institute's annual conference in Hong Kong, Eisman expressed skepticism over cryptocurrencies.

"I don't see the purpose of it," he said, according to The Wall Street Journal. "What value does cryptocurrency actually add? No one's been able to answer that question for me."

Eisman also said digital currency prices are rising due to speculation and money laundering, according to the Journal.

Despite his negative views on certain bank stocks, the investor is generally optimistic on the environment for the U.S. banking sector.

"The financial system in the United States has changed radically. Leverage has been reduced enormously," he said on Bloomberg Television. "For the first time in all the years I've covered bank stocks, I can honestly say the financial system in the United States is safe."

Deutsche Bank declined to comment for this story. Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.CBS and Viacom had reached a deal in price for a merger before the ongoing disagreement over leadership of the combined company ripped the two apart, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The agreed upon price was a ratio of 0.6135 CBS share for every Viacom Class B share.

CBS sued Shari Redstone's National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of both companies, on Monday to block her from interfering at a special board meeting where the merger would be considered.

Redstone could countersue CBS directors for breach of loyalty, the sources said.An airliner was forced to make an emergency landing in southwest China after part of the cockpit window fell out in mid-flight.

The Sichuan Airlines aircraft was flying from Chongqing to Lhasa on Monday morning when the incident happened.

Pictures shared online show the co-pilot's side of the windshield gone and it emerged that he was almost sucked out of the window by the sudden loss of pressure.

More from the South China Morning Post:

Hostage drama on Beijing-bound flight forces emergency landing in China

China Southern Airlines flight forced to make emergency landing after fire alarm goes offWhy is China suddenly seeking Filipino English teachers?

Flight 3U8633 landed safely at Chengdu Shuangliu airport at 7.42am, about 20 minutes after the accident happened.

The co-pilot was cut on the face and suffered an injury to the lower back. A cabin attendant also suffered a minor injury as the plane suddenly lost altitude.

Twenty-seven passengers received medical checkups in a hospital in Chengdu, but no injuries were detected.

The rest of the passengers resumed their trip at noon, according to statements by the airline.

Pilot Liu Chuanjian told the Red Star News, a local news portal, that the windshield had given way without warning around 150km from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

"The windshield cracked suddenly and gave a huge bang. I looked aside and found half of the co-pilot's body was already outside the window. Fortunately his seat belt was fastened," Liu said.

The pilot added that the cabin equipment malfunctioned as a result and it was so noisy he could not hear the wireless.

The aircraft was shaking vehemently and he could not read the metres.

"The sudden loss of pressure and low temperature made me very uncomfortable and it was very difficult to make a single move when the aircraft was flying at 900 kilometres an hour and at such a high altitude," Liu said.

Flying data showed the aircraft was on the cruising altitude of 9,750 metres (32,000 feet) but then dropped suddenly to 7,300 metres (24,000 feet).

Liu said he had to fly the aircraft manually because the automatic systems were not functioning.

"I have flown this route a hundred times and know everything very well," Liu said.

One veteran pilot who did not wish to be named said the crew had handled the incident masterfully.

"As pilots we receive such training twice a year, but it was one thing to train on a simulator and another when you are affected by the sudden loss of pressure and oxygen when the temperature drops to minus 40 degrees.

"The pilot stayed calm, responded quickly and correctly to drop the aircraft to an altitude where emergency oxygen is not needed and handled the situation with strong skills. That's very professional."

Passenger Zhao Shihai told the China Youth Daily that he was sleeping when he suddenly felt the strong turbulence.

"I was thrown up in the air and fell for several times. The oxygen masks on the plane all dropped out", he said.

Zhao, who was sitting in the middle of the aircraft, felt a draft of cold air and saw the cockpit door flew open several minutes later.

He added that several passengers had fallen over but the turbulence reduced after crew pushed the door closed.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.Chipotle Mexican Grill's recovery efforts, including the appointment of a new chief executive and a new delivery partnership, represent steps in the right direction, according to Piper Jaffray.

The firm reiterated its overweight rating on the restaurant company's shares, predicting Chipotle's stock price could top $530 in 12 months, the highest target on Wall Street and implying 25 percent upside from Friday's close. Piper's previous target was $420.

"Chipotle shares remain a top recovery pick. When, and as (not "if") the recovery unfolds, meaningful leverage exists," analyst Nicole Regan said in a note Sunday. "Our positive bias is based on culture change, strong unit-level economics and solid balance sheet. Catalysts include operational excellence, brand remodeling, and capital deployment."

The appointment of Brian Niccol as chief executive officer  who arrived with a successful track record at Taco Bell  as well as a new delivery partnership with DoorDash have supported the stock and sales, Regan said, and justify same-store sales expectations in excess of 2 percent.

Shares of Chipotle rose 0.7 percent in premarket trading following Piper Jaffray's optimistic call. The shares are up 47 percent this year.

While Niccol built a reputation for menu innovation at Taco Bell, he recently told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that while investors shouldn't expect major changes to the company's offerings, items like breakfast burritos aren't out of the question.

"Job No. 1 is to remind people why they love Chipotle," Niccol told CNBC in March. "I think there [are] opportunities to use what we have and present it in new forms, new varieties, to get people re-engaged with what they love about Chipotle."

Such initiatives are likely welcome news to investors like Pershing Square activist Bill Ackman, who has leveraged a 10 percent stake in the company to encourage ideas like drive-thrus and breakfast offerings to reignite the beleaguered shares following a series of food safety issues.

"We're not just betting on a recovery from the food safety issue," Ackman told CNBC in November. "This is one of the least optimized of thequick-servicee restaurants."

It appears Ackman isn't the only investor willing to give Chipotle another chance.

Shares of the casual Mexican eatery are up roughly 70 percent since the Chipotle board announced Niccol's appointment on Feb. 13, while a recent hike to menu prices helped the Mexican eatery post better-than-expected earnings last month.

The improved performance announced April 25 sent shares soaring 24 percent the next day, their best day since the company went public in 2006, when its share price doubled.U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips has seized products belonging to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA from the Isla refinery it runs on Curacao, an island official told Reuters on Sunday.

Conoco has won court orders allowing it to seize PDVSA assets on Caribbean islands, including Curacao, in efforts to collect on a $2 billion arbitral award linked to the 2007 nationalization of Conoco assets under late leader Hugo Chavez.

PDVSA products from the installations of the Isla refinery have been confiscated. We dont have any way to get them, said Steven Martina, Curacaos minister for economic development, who did not provide the amount or value of the seized products.

Conoco and PDVSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Martina added that Curacao was planning to meet with PDVSA and Conoco this week to discuss the dispute that has led Conoco to seize Venezuelan assets in the Caribbean, wreaking havoc on PDVSAs export chain.

The dispute has also caused worry on Curacao, a constituent country within the kingdom of the Netherlands with a vibrant tourism industry and deep-water ports used by the oil industry. The island is heavily dependent on the refinery, which provides as much as 10 percent of Curacaos gross domestic product and is a big source of employment on the island just off Venezuela.

"There is no need to be alarmed, fuel and services are guaranteed," Curacao's Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath said in a news conference on Sunday. He added that lawyers are also contacting Conoco to "reach a deal and negotiate."

PDVSA is preparing to shut a Caribbean refinery that is running out of crude amid threats by Conoco to seize cargoes sent to resupply the facility, two sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Friday.

But Martina said the 335,000 barrel-per-day Isla refinery was still operating, albeit at low levels, thanks to Curacao's reserves.Palestinians set tires on fire in response to Israel's intervention during a protest, organized to mark 70th anniversary of Nakba, also known as Day of the Catastrophe in 1948, and against United States' plans to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, near Gaza-Israel border in Khan Yunis, Gaza on May 14, 2018.

Deadly clashes erupted along the Israeli-Gaza border as Palestinians protested the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Dozens of Palestinians were reported killed Monday as tens of thousands protesters had gathered at the border fence. Large numbers of Palestinians had tried to cross into Israel, The New York Times reported. Palestinians hurled stones, set fire to tires and released flaming kites that set fire to land outside the Nahal Oz kibbutz, according to reports.

In Jerusalem on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was joined by dignitaries including Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and casino mogul/Republican donor Sheldon Adelson in celebrating the opening of the embassy.

President Donald Trump announced in December his decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The decision was a break from decades of U.S. policy regarding the Middle East and unleashed a new wave of protests from Palestinians who also regard Jerusalem as their capital.

Gaza health officials cited by The Associated Press said 52 Palestinians were reported killed and 1,200 wounded in the bloodiest day since demonstrations along the border fence began March 30.

The embassy opening and Palestinian protests coincided with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled by choice or were evicted during the 1948 war in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe.Swiss pharmaceutical behemoth Novartis said it made monthly payments to Cohen's company, Essential Consultants, totaling $1.2 million for guidance "as to how the Trump administration might approach certain US healthcare policy matters." Novartis said it determined Cohen was "unable" to provide the desired services after a meeting in March 2017.

Telecommunications giant AT&T said in a statement last week that it paid Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen , $50,000 a month under a one-year contract brokered shortly after the 2016 election to gain insights into the new president and his administration  including on regulatory issues and the company's deal to merge with Time Warner .

Senate Democrats sent dozens of questions to AT&T and Novartis on Monday, saying the multinational companies' recently revealed payments to the company of President Donald Trump 's lawyer "raise obvious questions about corruption."

The letters sent to the two corporations were led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and signed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent his own questions to Novartis' CEO on May 11, and signed Warren and Blumenthal's letter to AT&T.

Both letters say that the "unusual" series of payments to Cohen's company raise questions about a potential "pay-for-play operation" involving the companies and the Trump administration.

AT&T and Novartis did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment on the Democrats' letters.

Payments from multiple companies to Essential Consultants were first publicly alleged in an explosive report from lawyer Michael Avenatti, whose client, porn star Stormy Daniels, is suing Trump and Cohen to void a nondisclosure deal that bars her from discussing an alleged sexual encounter.

Cohen created Essential Consultants in October 2016, shortly before he paid Daniels $130,000 as part of the agreement.

Lawyers for Cohen said in a later court filing that Avenatti's report contained "numerous inaccurate statements," including attributing payments to Trump's lawyer that were actually sent to different people also named Michael Cohen. Avenatti pushed back on Twitter, saying Cohen's lawyers failed to address "99% of the statements in what we released."

Avenatti tweet

Cohen was also hired by investment management company Columbus Nova "as a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures," according a statement from the company. The company is linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch has been sanctioned by the U.S.

"The claim that Viktor Vekselberg was involved in or provided any funding for Columbus Nova's engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue," Columbus Nova said.Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing has been given a permit to test self-driving cars in California.

The company is allowed to test autonomous vehicles in the state as of May 10, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles' website.

Didi was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Didi, which bought out Uber's Chinese unit in 2016, is one of a number of Chinese firms looking to gain an edge over Silicon Valley tech giants.

Internet firm Baidu obtained its own permit to test driverless cars in California in 2016. It also established a research center in San Francisco to boost its artificial intelligence efforts.

Alibaba and Tencent have also been reported to have their own plans to test autonomous cars.

But the big ambitions of tech giants to launch driverless cars are being tested by high-profile crashes involving the vehicles.

Uber's self-driving tests were suspended earlier this year following a deadly crash in Arizona involving an autonomous vehicle and a pedestrian.

Controversy has also faced electric automaker Tesla following a number of crashes involving its self-driving cars. Last week, two teenagers were killed and a third injured after a crash involving one of Tesla's Model S cars in Florida.A pack of Marlboro brand cigarettes is arranged for a photograph in Tiskilwa, Illinois. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Michael Cohen wasn't the only one with ties to President Donald Trump trying to rope in billion-dollar companies. Former campaign advisors at Avenue Strategies were doing the same  with broader reach and apparently much more success. The firm, which was founded by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and senior campaign advisor Barry Bennett, put together a list of mainly foreign clients starting shortly after the 2016 presidential election. Lewandowski left the firm almost a year ago, months after its founding, but Bennett remains a partner. The Avenue Strategies client list has included Venezuelan petroleum giant Citgo and tobacco company Altria, which is based in Virginia, according to sources and lobbying disclosure forms reviewed by CNBC. Altria did not use the firm for lobbying, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be named. Rather, the tobacco titan turned to Avenue Strategies for help with navigating the voter registration database. This was part of a strategy to figure out how to craft compelling messages through TV and web ads in an effort to fight attempts to further regulate the tobacco industry, according to the sources. Avenue Strategies officials at the time were paid as much as $10,000, depending on the project for Altria, sources said. The Daily Beast first reported that Altria had a consulting deal with Avenue Strategies, but details of the arrangement are being reported here for the first time. As one of the largest producers of tobacco, cigarettes and related products, the company spends more on lobbyists than its competitors. The company shelled out more than $10 million in 2017 in an effort to push forward their agenda on a variety of issues, from tax reform to border security, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Altria remains the top lobbying spender among tobacco companies so far this year, paying $2 million to firms such as Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field, Crossroad Strategies and McGuire Woods, records show. Altria is no longer an Avenue Strategies client. Altria's CEO, Martin J. Barrington, was also a backer of Republican efforts during the 2016 elections and has given a majority of his support this year to his companies' political action committee, which distributed those contributions to political causes on both sides of the aisle. Beyond the PAC, Barrington gave $20,000 in 2016 to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's Victory Fund and $10,000 to a PAC backing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, federal election commission records show. Representatives for Avenue Strategies and Altria did not return requests for comment.

A relationship with Venezuelan-owned Citgo

Citgo is one of the bigger companies that signed on to work with the firm in May 2017, according to disclosure forms. It is owned by the Venezuelan government and headquartered in Houston.

An oil tanker passes storage tanks at the Citgo Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. Eddie Seal | Bloomberg | Getty Images

So far this year, according to first-quarter reports, Avenue Strategies has brought in $80,000 for its efforts on behalf of Citgo, including lobbying the White House and the Treasury, Energy and State departments. The intention: to emphasize the "potential impact of U.S. energy and foreign policy restrictions" on Citgo, according to disclosure forms. Avenue Strategies has made approximately $320,000 since making the deal with Citgo last year. Before the deal was struck, however, Citgo was a backer of Lewandowski's and Bennett's old boss, Donald Trump. According to Federal Election Commission records, Citgo contributed $500,000 to Trump's inaugural committee, making the oil and gas company among the group's top donors. The lobbying registration filing, which is a formal announcement describing the agreement between a lobbying firm and a separate company, was signed in May. In August 2017, Trump signed financial sanctions against Venezuela but excluded Citgo. The sanctions were meant to punish the Venezuelan government as it moved to rewrite the country's constitution and consolidate power. Citgo, however, was allowed to operate as normal, and at the time, White House officials described the exemption as an effort "to mitigate harm to the American and Venezuelan people."

The White House and the Treasury, Energy and State departments did not return requests for comment, nor did Citgo.

Not every meeting or discussion led to a deal

In early 2017, representatives of Israeli security consulting firm Mer Security and Communications Systems approached Avenue Strategies about helping their client, President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to try to set up a meeting with Trump, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter. At the time, leaders of the firm pushed back and refused to help Kabila secure the access he sought, sources say. Mer Security did not return requests for comment nor did the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Democratic Republic of Congo president has been accused of corruption for a variety of reasons. For instance, Kabila has been under fire for staying on longer than two terms, which is the legal limit. After his second term, however, the government continued to push back the elections in order for him to stay in power. The American University of Dubai also tried to get in touch with Avenue Strategies officials to see whether they could help provide a potential graduation speaker from the firm's list of contacts inside and outside the White House, according to sources. The firm did not comply with the school's request, according to those familiar with the outreach. The university did not return a request for comment.

Corey Lewandowski Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Lewandowski's next movesWith major companies like IBM, Aetna and Yahoo calling their remote workers back in the office, the idea of finding a well-paying, stay-at-home job can seem far-fetched.

But according to FlexJobs, experienced job seekers may have more luck than they think when it comes to finding their ideal flexible position.

FlexJobs plowed through its current listings of remote positions to create a list of high-paying, work-from-home jobs hiring right now. The salaries and job descriptions listed were provided to the site by the companies hiring.Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio

Cities across the country are turning down the opportunity to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, where President Trump is expected to be nominated for a second term.

The cities that have rejected hosting duties insist Trump and today's divisive politics are not factors in their decisions. They instead cite high security costs and disruptions in the normal flow of business and traffic.

But Trump is almost certainly a factor in some cities' decisions to opt out.

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The war over Mr. Trump's embassy

"Most of the cities that have turned down the RNC are Democratic cities," said Evan Siegfried, a New York-based Republican strategist.

"Their leaders do not want to suffer blowback with their residents for hosting Trump and neither do they want to have local business owners angry because protestors smashed their store windows."

Any convention attracts protestors, but the interest and passion stirred up in the Trump era, breathlessly covered by cable news networks, is expected to attract throngs of presidential critics to a host city in 2020.

Adam Bruns, managing editor at Site Selection magazine, said any city hoping to host a mammoth event like a political convention would have to take security, protests and disruption into account.

"Unlike most corporate site selections, conventions bring armies of protestors  virtually a complete menu of side evens with their own security and traffic demands," Bruns said.

Only three cities are even in the running to host the GOP in 2020  and only one, Charlotte, N.C., is public and open about its interest.

Charlotte's Democratic mayor, Vi Lyles, has met with Republican National Committee (RNC) officials and is working with North Carolina Republicans to woo the party to the city, which hosted President Obama's re-nomination in 2012.

Duke Energy, which funded much of the 2012 Democratic convention, has signaled it will do the same for Republicans in 2020. Private fundraising efforts for a potential host committee are already underway, according to those with knowledge of the city's bid.

Representatives from the Nevada GOP pitched the RNC's site selection committee last week on Las Vegas, but city officials aren't on board. A spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said the city had declined to submit a bid. The authority was not aware of another bid submitted on Las Vegas's behalf.

San Antonio, which had been interested in the process, has pulled out.

San Antonio's city council last week voted against bidding on the convention. Mayor Ron Nirenberg cited the $40 million that Cleveland had to spend on security to host the GOP's 2016 convention as a cause for concern.

Republicans with knowledge of the planning process said a total of seven cities expressed some interest in hosting the convention. But several of those cities pulled out of contention before completing their bids, citing conflicts of one form or another.

Nashville, Tenn., and Philadelphia, two other cities that were once part of the process, also pulled out.

Heather Middleton, a spokeswoman for the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said her city decided they could not make a convention work. Deana Gamble, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, said her city had no plans to reach out to the RNC.

Republicans say security concerns have more to do the difficulties of finding a host than any Trump effect.

Ron Kaufman, the longtime head of the RNC's site selection committee, said cities became increasingly conscious of security costs after Homeland Security officials began designating political conventions as national security events, a decision made in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"They're a little bit worried about costs and they're a little bit worried about demonstrations," Kaufman said. "It's getting harder and harder to find venues that can be tied up for as long as it takes for a modern convention to take place. That's a problem."

Other cities say they cannot afford to block off venues where the convention would be held, usually a sporting arena that can hold tens of thousands of delegates, volunteers, media and VIPs. Parties typically ask cities to reserve those spaces for as long as six weeks before the convention begins, to accommodate construction and technology upgrades.

Kaufman said Cleveland's experience is a selling point. While Cleveland shelled out tens of millions for security, a post-convention analysis found the convention led to a $185 million economic windfall for the city.

Cassie Smedile, the RNC's national press secretary, said the party would not comment on its site selection process. Kaufman said he hoped to present a recommendation to RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel at the party's summer meeting in Nashville in August.

Kaufman said the number of cities bidding for the convention was not atypical of previous years.

Going back to the Reagan era, he said, Republicans considered an average of about three to four bids every four years. The six cities that bid on the convention in 2016, he said, was abnormally high.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been slower to begin its site selection process. The party has sent requests for proposals to eight cities  Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Denver; Houston; Miami Beach, Fla.; Milwaukee, New York and San Francisco. Michael Tyler, a DNC spokesman, said the party expects its selection process to take a year.Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader Moqtada al-Sadr (C-L) shows his ink-stained index finger and holds a national flag while surrounded by people outside a polling station in the central holy city of Najaf on May 12, 2018 as the country votes in the first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State (IS) group. HAIDAR HAMDANI | AFP | Getty Images

More than 91 percent of Iraq's votes have been tallied after polls closed over the weekend in Iraq's first election since defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) late last year. And they reveal a shock win for firebrand Iraqi cleric Moqtada al Sadr, who wasn't even running for prime minister, along with his coalition allies, the Iraqi Communist Party. He was followed by Iran-backed Shia militia leader Hadi Al Amiri, while incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, initially predicted to win re-election, trailed in third. Voter turnout was a low 44.5 percent, indicating widespread voter apathy and pessimism, observers said. Reports show that Sadr's "Sairoon" alliance won more than 1.3 million votes, translating to 54 seats in the country's 329-seat parliament, taking the greatest share among a broad and fractured array of parties.

Who is Moqtada al Sadr?

A win for Sadr, the populist Shia leader known for his anti-American campaigns and his populist appeal to Iraq's young and poor, could dramatically change Iraq's political landscape and its relationship with external powers like the U.S. and Iran. In addition to pushing for the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Sadr is avidly opposed to Iranian influence in his country. That influence has grown significantly thanks to the pivotal role played by Iran-backed militias in driving out ISIS. The influential cleric, who has millions of religious followers, cannot become prime minister as he did not run for the position himself  but his electoral success means he will likely have a key role in deciding who does.

Powerful charisma

Sadr has spearheaded a number of political movements in Iraq, gaining infamy for directing attacks on U.S. troops in the wake of the 2003 Iraq invasion. His charismatic sermons have drawn hundreds of thousands into the streets over a range of causes. More recently, he's led campaigns and protests against corruption within the Shia-led government as well as against Iranian influence, and pledged to overcome sectarianism by leading a secular coalition that includes Iraq's communists. Sadr in 2003 created the Mahdi Army, which executed the first major armed confrontation against U.S. forces in Iraq led by the Shia community  and it posed such a threat that U.S. forces were instructed to kill or capture him. The group, which numbered up to 10,000, was also accused of carrying out atrocities against Iraq's Sunnis. It was disbanded in 2008, but re-mobilized in 2014 to fight ISIS. The cleric owes much of his religious following to the legacy of his father, an influential Iraqi ayatollah murdered in the 1990s for opposing former President Saddam Hussein, and has spent much of his career championing Shia causes.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE | AFP | Getty Images

But in the last year, he's undergone something of a reinvention: he has reached out to Sunni Gulf neighbors, most notably in 2017 visits to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) powers typically shunned Iraq's Shia, but are now making headway in the country through investment and economic aid, seen partially as an attempt to counter arch-rival Iran's entrenched influence in the country. Ahead of the election, Sadr pledged a commitment to abandon sectarianism by forming a coalition with secular Sunnis and Iraq's Communist Party, who have as a result seen their best election performance ever. "Sadr's strong showing suggests that he maintains a relatively loyal following and that his nationalist, cross-sectarian platform was effective at mobilizing voters in challenging conditions," said Ryan Turner, a senior risk analyst at London-based PGI Group. He has also stopped advocating violence, said Renad Mansour, an Iraq researcher and fellow at U.K. policy institute Chatham House. "He passed the use of violence for his political agenda," Mansour said. "But say if the U.S. come back and occupy Iraq, I imagine that this would change."

Possible kingmaker

Because of the fractured nature of Iraqi politics, no candidate or bloc has won an outright majority. The winners of the most seats must negotiate a coalition government within 90 days, during which a long complex process of compromise will have to unfold. Winning the greatest share of votes does not directly translate to leading the government. "Depending on the final tallies and political jockeying, Sadr may find himself in a position to play kingmaker, which could see Abadi reappointed prime minister," Turner said, referring to the current prime minister, who was widely praised for leading the fight against ISIS and for balancing relationships across sects and external powers. But to do so, Sadr would likely have to outmaneuver Iran, which would prefer to see Amiri  the candidate who finished second place  assume the premiership. Tehran wields much of its influence by pushing its preferred policies through Iranian-backed candidates and political players like Amiri. A major objective of Iran's is to push the U.S. out of Iraq, where some 5,000 troops still remain.

U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to Bravo Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, maneuver through a hallway as part of squad level training at Camp Taji, Iraq. Source: Department of DefenseThe left-wing Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing Lega met the Italian president Monday afternoon to outline plans for a new coalition government, potentially breaking months of political deadlock.

However, as reported by Reuters, the head of M5S, Luigi Di Maio, asked the president for "a few more days" in order to reach an agreement on who will head the new coalition.

Giulio Sapelli, an economics professor, is supported by M5S but is reported to have ruled himself out. Lega is backing law professor Giuseppe Conte, according to Italian newspaper Corriere. President Sergio Mattarella will then have the final word.

If approved, the deal will avoid a repeat of the March general election. M5S was the most voted for party in the election but didn't receive enough votes to govern alone. Meanwhile, Lega saw a better-than-expected result and was endorsed to form a government with the backing from other right-wing parties.

Analysts expect that, if in place, the new government would mean a significant fiscal slippage. But, they are also confident that despite being from opposite ends of the political spectrum, these two parties will manage to overcome their differences.

Giles Keating, a managing director at wealth manager Werthstein Institute, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" Monday that their political program has some issues that haven't been fully worked out.

"So cutting the pension age, universal income. But I think a flat tax  This is the sort of thing we've heard from America in the past, from many countries  it stimulates the economy," he said.

A flat tax would mean lower duties for companies and citizens and, thus, further economic strength for these people to spend.

Erik Nielsen, group chief economist at UniCredit, meanwhile, compared the Italian situation to what happened in Portugal.

"Before the present Portuguese government came to power (in 2016), many fretted about its policy promises, only to see a set of rather reasonable policies, which markets  slowly  turned out to appreciate very much," he said in a note Sunday.The digital currency conferences this week in New York City present an attractive trading opportunity in AMD, according to J.P. Morgan.

"Over the last three years, AMD has staged significant rallies following the blockchain technology summit, Consensus," J.P. Morgan equity derivatives strategist Shawn Quigg wrote in a note to clients Monday. "We like the reward-risk of owning upside in AMD given its historical returns following the summit, cheap implied volatility and high short interest, which could add a short-squeeze component to the trade."

CoinDesk's Consensus three-day conference started Monday. The conference is now the centerpiece of a full-blown "Blockchain Week NYC," an event run in partnership with the New York Economic Development Corporation.

Quigg said AMD shares rose about 15 percent on average over the last three years during the month after the conference.

As a result, the strategist recommended buying the AMD June $13 strike call option.

A call option gives an investor the right to buy a stock at a certain price during a particular time period. It rises in value as the underlying security's price goes higher.

Cryptocurrency miners use graphics cards based on AMD's and Nvidia's chips to "mine" new coins, which can then be sold or held for future appreciation.

Options trading is typically for sophisticated investors and not for the faint of heart.

AMD shares rose 2.3 percent Monday after the report.Kraft Heinz, the food giant better known for its ketchup and Oscar Mayer cold cuts, is announcing its first bets on the brands it hopes will be part of the future of snacking.

Ahead of a formal announcement on Monday, the company told CNBC its new growth arm, Springboard, is partnering with these five food start-ups: Ayoba-Yo meat snacks, Cleveland Kraut fermented food, Kumana avocado-based sauces, Poppilu antioxidant lemonade and Quevos egg-white snacks.

The brands it selected are "breaking the mold, trying new things," said Eduardo Luz, Kraft Heinz's president of U.S. grocery. "As we get closer to them ... we see what works," he added.

Springboard focuses on developing and learning from young brands, a strategy that other big food companies have adopted as they grapple with stagnating sales.

Wall Street is increasingly focusing on Kraft Heinz's own sales, which were down 3.3 percent in the U.S. this past quarter.

The ketchup maker is backed by private equity firm 3G Capital, known for its aggressive cost-cutting. After having slashed $1.7 billion in costs following the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz, it now finds itself with the same challenge as many of its food-giant peers: how to get consumers to buy more of its products when small upstarts incessantly eat into sales.

Companies including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mars, General Mills, Campbell have launched similar ventures or incubator arms.

The goal is to stay closer to the pulse of innovation. For many, it is also to catch small brands before they become so powerful that food giants are forced to buy them at high prices. Kellogg, for example, recently paid $600 million to buy protein bar RX bar.Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner (C), US President's daughter Ivanka Trump (C-R), US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (R) and Israel's President Reuven Rivlin (2nd R) attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.

President Donald Trump charged his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner with trying to figure out a peace deal between Israel and Palestinians. On Monday, Kushner acted as the face of the administration at a ceremony celebrating the U.S. Embassy in Israel being moved to Jerusalem  an action that triggered more unrest in the volatile region.

Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border as Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led an inauguration ceremony for the embassy. Later Monday, the White House denounced militant group Hamas for the violence in Gaza, saying Israel has a right to defend itself.

In his address, meanwhile, Kushner said that Jerusalem "must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together" and that the United States "recognizes the sensitivity" surrounding the city.

Yet despite his calls for peace, he also said that Palestinians "provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution" and that the "journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth."

"What a glorious day for Israel," Netanyahu said in his speech at the ceremony. "We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay."

Possible peace talks are likely to become even more difficult to bring to fruition in the wake of Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the embassy there from Tel Aviv. The move sparked international outcry and infuriated Palestinians, who have been protesting near the Gaza-Israeli border since March.

Kushner has been in charge of drafting the White House's peace plan for for months, despite having no diplomatic experience when he took on the role. The White House was putting its finishing touches on the plan in March, The New York Times reported at the time, but administration officials were trying to figure out a way to unveil it without it being greeted as dead on arrival.

While Netanyahu has happily endorsed Trump's approach to the Middle East, namely the U.S. president's hard-line stance on Iran, many have been skeptical of the administration's approach.

Khaled Elgindy, a fellow with the Brooking Institute's Center for Middle East Policy, said that the Trump administration has shown a "real fundamental lack of understanding of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict."

"It's not really clear what they have to offer to the Palestinians that is of value," Elgindy told CNBC.

Elgindy said that the Trump administration is "offering a combination of carrots and sticks" to the two sides, but that Israel is getting all of the carrots and Palestine is only getting sticks, especially with Jerusalem off of the table. He said the U.S. has no real answers for the conflict and instability in the region.

Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not the White House's first priority in the Middle East, however, according the Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

"We have a president who is as committed to regime change as we are." Giuliani said confronting Iran is "more important than an Israeli-Palestinian deal," the Washington Post reported.

On Sunday, Kushner discussed with Netanyahu if and when the United States should unveil the plan, according to Axios.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.Published Mon, May 14 2018 2:33 AM EDT Updated Thu, Apr 11 2019 7:43 AM EDT

Bernard Arnault: How Frances richest man stays in fashionDespite caution over medium-term policy uncertainty following Malaysia's historic election result, the risks remain hypothetical for now, one expert said.

In a stunning election victory last week, the Pakatan Harapan opposition alliance beat the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, which had been in power for the past 60 years.

"The two keywords ... are 'if' and 'could. The rating agencies have said, yes, there's some credit negative aspects to the potential fiscal policy, but it's still some way off," Ashley Perrott, head of pan-Asia fixed income at UBS Asset Management, told CNBC's Nancy Hungerford.

"I think yes, if they follow through with everything they're talking about doing, the infrastructure concerns, the GST (goods and services tax) repeal, that could be credit negative, sure. But I think that's six months before we really get something concrete from the agencies," he added.

The country's new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had pledged during the campaign trail to scrap the unpopular GST and following his victory, added that infrastructure projects committed to by ousted leader Najib Razak will be re-looked.

But Moody's Investor Service had cautioned in a note on Monday that replacing GST with a proposed sales and services tax  without corresponding measures to match revenue collection  could prove to be credit negative for Malaysia.

"There is little clarity on Pakatan Harapan's economic policy agenda, apart from a few specific campaign pledges that are credit negative at the outset, but lack details that would allow a full assessment of budgetary and macroeconomic effects," Anushka Shah, sovereign risk group senior analyst at Moody's Investor Service, said in a note.

But what Malaysia could lose in tax revenues would be diminished by the broad move higher in oil prices  good news for the oil exporter.

"If they were to repeal the GST in an environment where oil prices were actually declining  you go back 12 months, that was the story  that would be much more problematic," Perrott said, adding that oil prices at their current levels allowed for fiscal flexibility for the government.

The yield on the 10-year Malaysian government bond last stood at 4.21 percent after earlier yielding 4.255 percent, its highest since January 2017. Bond yields move inversely to prices."We are crazy to allow them to operate in U.S. without tighter restrictions," the Senate Intelligence Committee member wrote.

In a tweet Monday morning, Rubio argued that the "problem with ZTE isn't jobs & trade, it's national security & espionage." He said telecom companies "can be forced to act as a tool of Chinese espionage."

The Florida Republican's criticism marks the first backlash to the president's effort from a notable lawmaker within his own party. Trump's reversal on ZTE, which he announced in a tweet Sunday, comes amid a high-stakes trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Sen. Marco Rubio on Monday criticized President Donald Trump 's pledge to help Chinese technology company ZTE , saying he hopes the president is not "backing down" from his hawkish stance on China.

Last month, the Trump administration barred U.S. companies from selling to ZTE, a telecommunications company, for seven years. The ban came in response to the firm shipping American goods to Iran and North Korea. It effectively crippled ZTE.

On Sunday, Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping "are working together" to give ZTE "a way to get back into business, fast." "Too many jobs" were lost in China, the president added. He said he instructed the Commerce Department to "get it done."

Trump tweet: President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!

In a subsequent tweet Monday afternoon, Trump made a vague reference to the ZTE action being "reflective of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi." It is unclear what exactly the president meant.

Trump tweet: ZTE, the large Chinese phone company, buys a big percentage of individual parts from U.S. companies. This is also reflective of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi.

Trump's tweet appeared to muddle comments made by his administration earlier in the day. On Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called ZTE an enforcement issue separate from trade policy. White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters that Ross' comments reflect the U.S. government's view.

Shah said "this is part of a very complex relationship between the United States and China that involves economic issues, national security issues, and the like." He called it "an issue of high concern for China that's been raised with the U.S. government and with our administration at various levels."

Trump's shift on ZTE appears to be a concession as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He gets set to travel to Washington this week for trade talks. The U.S. and China have threatened one another with tariffs that could damage the American agricultural industry. Trump has repeatedly pledged to punish Beijing for alleged trade abuses and theft of U.S. intellectual property by Chinese companies.

In a separate tweet Monday morning, Rubio wrote that "I hope this isn't the beginning of backing down to China."

The U.S. and China are discussing a potential deal to relieve pressure on ZTE in exchange for Beijing pulling back tariffs on billions of dollars in agricultural products, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported.

Trump's pledge to help ZTE already sparked criticism on the Democratic side of Congress. In a statement Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump is "backing off" his tough actions against China and argued his policy would "make China great again."

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday that Trump "should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs."

Schiff tweetAmid hardships at Tesla, CEO Elon Musk has taken heat for recent behavior some have called "bizarre." But billionaire investor Mark Cuban defended Musk's quirks and said he trusts and respects his leadership.

"Unlike other founders...who have their lives all built up into one company, he puts his heart out there -- and he puts his finances out there. You know, people respect Musk for his genius, but you have to really respect him because he puts every cent that he has on the line," Cuban said on CNBC's "Squawk Alley."

Musk hasn't been having the easiest go of it lately. Even as his aerospace startup SpaceX triumphs, his electric car company Tesla has faced an onslaught of setbacks. From delays in Model 3 production to a massive Model S recall, executive departures and recent talks of reorganization, the CEO has readily admitted to spending nights on the factory floor. Earlier this month on a conference call following earnings, in which Tesla performed less poorly than expected, Musk referred to one investor's questions as "boring" and "boneheaded."

"He's either just very much out of patience or plans to never need to raise capital again," Morningstar analyst Dave Whiston said.

Cuban wasn't particularly put off by the earnings call. Instead, he said he thought "the stuff on the conference call wasn't anything at all, just mishegas [craziness]."

"It's okay for [a CEO] to have an attitude. You don't have to be vanilla all the time  that's just life," Cuban said.

What it comes down to is dedication, and according to Cuban, Musk has got plenty.

"[Tesla is] his baby. He sees the vision, he has to execute. You can argue that he is going to need to raise cash, but everything he has is wrapped up in it...And I think for that reason you've got to trust him," Cuban said.

Despite his respect for Musk, Cuban said he isn't "necessarily a buyer" because he is not familiar enough with the industry.Billionaire investor Mark Cuban thinks Apple will probably make it to a market cap of $1 trillion  but that doesn't mean he's investing now.

The Dallas Mavericks owner says he is content with his current positions in tech giants Amazon and Netflix.

"We can talk about Apple going to a trillion, and there's no reason why [it] won't," Cuban said Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Alley."

Cuban explained his position, calling Amazon "the best company, best start-up in the world" and saying Netflix is "not far behind."

"I'm not ready to dive-in and put more cash into stocks right now. I'm content to have two big positions that continue to do well. I think they're great companies," he said.

Cuban may be reticent to invest in Apple, but he admires its business. He cited growth in the service business, watch business, applications and market cap as indicators of its prowess. But he also said he hadn't seen an opportunity to invest and doesn't want to risk it.

"[Invest] when there's blood in the streets," Cuban said.

"I would rather have a lot of cash on hand for that time when things go bad," he added.The long-awaited royal wedding of Prince Harry, 33, and Meghan Markle, 36, is just days away and millions of viewers are expected to tune in. And though Prince Harry has spent a lifetime in the spotlight, Markle has also made a name for herself as an American actress, activist and entrepreneur. Here are six things to know about the bride ahead of this weekend's royal wedding.

She corresponded with Hillary Clinton when she was 11

As a lauded activist, Markle holds such titles as global ambassador for World Vision, advocate for UN Women, and counselor for One Young World, a U.K.-based charity. And she got started early: She "unknowingly and somehow accidentally became a female advocate" when she was a tween, Markle said at the UN Women's "20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing" event in 2015. After seeing a sexist commercial from Procter & Gamble, Markle wrote letters to companies, attorneys and politicians to express her frustration with gender inequality  and some leaders wrote back to her. "My 11-year-old self worked out that if I really wanted someone to hear, well, then I should write a letter to the first lady. So off I went scribbling away to our first lady at the time, Hillary Clinton," Markle said at the UN. To her surprise, Markle said she received a letter of encouragement from Clinton just a few weeks later: "It was at that moment that I realized the magnitude of my actions. At the age of 11 I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality."

In college, she chose the perfect double major

Markle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and acting came naturally, but though she loved it, she had other passions as well. "I had always been the theater nerd at Northwestern University. I knew I wanted to do acting, but I hated the idea of being this cliche  a girl from L.A. who decides to be an actress," she told Marie Claire magazine in 2013. "I wanted more than that, and I had always loved politics, so I ended up changing my major completely, and double-majoring in theater and international relations." Markle joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and, in her junior year, she traveled to Buenos Aires to intern with the U.S. Embassy.

Britain's Prince Harry poses with Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, London, Britain, November 27, 2017. Toby Melville | Reuters

Her acting career is on hold

When Markle was starting out in the acting world, she took a job as a briefcase girl on the NBC show "Deal or No Deal" to "make ends meet." "Definitely working on 'Deal or No Deal' was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing," she told Esquire this year. Markle's breakthrough and highest profile role was her most recent one as paralegal Rachel Zane on the USA show "Suits," which has been airing since 2011. Going forward, though, Markle says she doesn't plan to continue acting. "I don't see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change. It's a new chapter," said during a BBC News interview alongside Prince Harry last year. "Now it's time to work as a team with you." She made her last appearance in "Suits" during last month's season finale.

Her great handwriting once paid the bills

Working as a calligrapher for weddings and events helped Markle pay the bills while she pursued her acting career, according to an interview she gave with Good Housekeeping in 2017. "I used to do it for Dolce & Gabbana's celebrity correspondence over the holidays," she said. "I would sit there with a little white tube sock on my hand so no hand oils got on the card, trying to pay my bills while auditioning. I'm glad that in the land of no one seeming to appreciate a handwritten note anymore that I can try to keep that alive."



She cultivated an impressive online presence

Princess Diana's legacy lives on in Markle's ringZTE's headquarters in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen, China, on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

SHANGHAI  President Trump has said that he will help save ZTE, a Chinese electronics maker. The company was on the brink of collapse after United States officials punished it last month for breaking American sanctions against countries including Iran and North Korea. Heres a look at how a Chinese electronics maker with an awkward name came to be at the center of a geopolitical chess match between Beijing and Washington.

What Is ZTE?

Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment isnt a household name in most places. Known as ZTE, it is probably best known for making cheap smartphones that are mostly sold in developing countries, though it also sells them in the United States. But in the telecommunications world, the ZTE name carries significant weight. It is one of two Chinese companies  Huawei is the other  that sells equipment for cellular networks. It has about 75,000 employees and says it does business in more than 160 countries. That makes it an important geopolitical pawn for Beijing, both as an innovator and as a builder of state-funded projects overseas. If China wants to improve ties with a government in the developing world, it often offers loans that can be used to set a ZTE-powered cellular network. More from The New York Times:

Silicon Valley faces regulatory fight on its home turf

Why traditional TV is in trouble

A helicopter on Mars? NASA wants to try Longer term, China hopes that companies like ZTE will become powerhouses that can help the country wean itself from a reliance on American tech firms, which Beijing views as security threats because of the possibility that they could help Washington spy.

How Did It Break Sanctions?

Tech supply chains are so intertwined these days that just about every product that ZTE makes has some American components or software in it  think microchips, modems and Googles Android operating system. So if ZTE sells a smartphone to North Korea, it might also be selling a Qualcomm chip inside that phone. Thats illegal under American sanctions that prohibit the sale of United States tech to embargoed countries. When the Commerce Department released its findings against ZTE in 2016, it took the rare step of disclosing evidence of the companys guilt. One document, signed by several senior ZTE executives, cautioned that American export laws were a risk because the company was selling to all five major embargoed countries  Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba. A second company document featured flow charts for best practices to circumvent American sanctions. Last year, ZTE acknowledged its guilt and paid a $1.19 billion fine.

How Did the U.S. Hobble ZTE?

The Commerce Department wasnt done with that hefty penalty. Last month, officials said ZTE had violated its agreement with the United States because it didnt punish senior management for having violated the sanctions. Instead, the Commerce Department said, ZTE paid them bonuses and lied about it. As punishment, the department forbade American technology companies from selling their products to ZTE for seven years. That means no Qualcomm chips or Android software for its phones, and no American chips or other components for its cellular gear. Analysts estimate that four-fifths of ZTEs products have American companies. ZTE went into a tailspin, saying last week that it had shut down major operations.

Why is Trump Intervening?

The American president hasnt explained his decision to try to help the company, other than to cite the potential for lots of Chinese workers to lose their jobs. But ZTEs troubles come at a complicated moment. In normal times, the companys fate would be a legal matter for the Commerce Department. But the Trump administration is pressuring China to make trade concessions. It may also need Beijings help to strike a deal with North Korea as Washington and Pyongyang plan a high-profile meeting next month in Singapore. By offering to intervene, Mr. Trump has effectively suggested that ZTEs punishment could be a bargaining chip in negotiations with China, rather than a matter of law enforcement. It isnt clear whether he will follow through on his offer to help the company or whether he will get something in return if he does.

A One-Off or Part of a Trend?A worker fits parts to the underside of a raised Hyundai Accent car at a vehicle assembly plant in Lagos, Nigeria, on February 17, 2016. George Osodi | Bloomberg

Nigeria is in a position of leadership on a proposed Africa-wide trading bloc despite not having signed up to the agreement, the managing director of commercial lender Ecobank Nigeria told CNBC. Nigeria has "shifted the balance of power," and "put itself in the situation where they now have the call," Charles Kie said in an interview Friday. In March, 44 members of the 55-nation African Union signed up to the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), an agreement which proposes a common market across the African continent. The new bloc would result in the largest free trade area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization. But Nigeria and South Africa, the region's two largest economies, did not get on board, citing concerns over safeguarding jobs and cheap Chinese goods flooding the market. The summit took place in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Rwanda's President Paul Kagame is also chair of the African Union for 2018. Meanwhile, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari did not attend the event.

The Egina floating production storage and offloading vessel, the largest of its kind in Nigeria, is berthed in Lagos harbor on February 23, 2017. Stefan Heunis | AFP | Getty Images

"When you are the largest economy on the continent, and it's a tiny, small country like Rwanda who is leading the conversation on the CFTA, there's a very simple question that you ask yourself: 'Where is your leadership?'" Kie said. By initially turning down the deal, Nigeria has the "leverage" to "get some of the conditions that they think are critical for the economy to now be put on the table," Kie explained. "They (won't) just absorb the impact of the decision that was taken, but they're also part of the solutions that are going to come." "I'm just making a pure and basic analysis of the powers in presence, and I'm looking at what it entails," he said. "All of this is political, it's the heads of state that sign these agreements." Kie was confident that Nigeria would eventually subscribe to the deal. "I don't have any doubt that Nigeria will join" the free trade agreement in its own time, he said. "Nobody will doubt the interests of this for the continent."

Jankara market and Lagos Central Mosque in on March 17, 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria. Frederic Soltan | Corbis | Getty ImagesNorth Korean Leader Kim Jong Un (L) and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) shake hands over the military demarcation line upon meeting for the Inter-Korean Summit on April 27, 2018 in Panmunjom, South Korea. Korea Summit Press Pool | Getty Images

Prominent emerging markets investor Mark Mobius said he would "definitely" be interested in putting money into North Korea if he could. South and North Korea is a "beautiful combination," he told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Monday. "The South has technology, it has the know-how, it has the manufacturing ability and the North has resources," he said of the "reunification play." Even though any reunification between South and North Korea will come at a huge cost, it will be "very, very beneficial from a longer point of view," said Mobius, founding partner at Mobius Capital Partners.

Other markets to watchA one-of-a-kind Rolex Daytona known as "The Unicorn" sold at auction over the weekend for $5.9 million, making it the second-most expensive Rolex ever sold at auction.



The purchase price at a Phillips auction in Geneva was almost twice the estimate of around $3 million. And the huge price, which was almost twice the low estimate, suggests that the recent Rolex Daytona craze shows no signs of slowing.



A Rolex Daytona owned by Paul Newman sold last year for $17.8 million, making it the most expensive wristwatch ever sold. That sale ignited the watch-collecting world, bringing in new collectors, boosting prices and setting off a mania around vintage Rolex Daytonas.



"The Unicorn" was the only vintage white gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ever produced. It was sold by famed watch collector John Goldberger, who donated the proceeds to the charity Children Action.



"We are thrilled with this historic result and philanthropic gesture, and delighted by the lasting benefits the sale of this watch will provide to so many children," said Aurel Bacs, of Bacs & Russo, which held the auction in conjunction with Phillips.market@

BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - The Chinese city of Dandong, which lies on the border with North Korea, is tightening regulation of its property market after speculators pushed up home prices as they bet on Pyongyang's pledge to rebuild its economy.

Investors are flooding into the property market in Dandong, hoping to obtain early market share after the historic inter-Korea summit last month opened the prospect of a rapid improvement in relations between North Korea and the rest of the world.

According to the guidelines issued by the Dandong government, the city plans to impose purchase restrictions in a new zone next to North Korea known as a "ghost city" due to its low residency rate.

Non-local residents will not be allowed to re-sell newly built homes within two years of purchase, according to the guidelines issued on Dandong government's Wechat account.

The Dandong government will also require higher downpayment ratios of at least 50 percent for buyers applying for mortgages through the housing provident fund outside of Dandong.

The fund is a type of social insurance that allows Chinese employees to save money towards purchasing their own homes.

The government will also scrap purchase subsidies.

The appetite for property purchases in light of cooling tensions on the peninsula has also spread to South Korea, where demand for property in small towns and sparsely populated rural areas around the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is surging to bet on an influx of people and investment. (Reporting by Min Zhang in Beijing and Lee Chyen Yee in Singapore; Editing by Toby Chopra)May 14 (Reuters) - Global oil supplies are plentiful enough to withstand a "significant reduction" in petroleum exports from Iran, according to a White House memo issued on Monday as the Trump administration prepares to reimpose sanctions on the OPEC member nation.

The memo, sent by the White House to the U.S. State Department, paves the way for U.S. efforts to curb Iranian oil exports after Washington's decision to pull out of the 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers curbing Tehran's nuclear program.

It said there is a "sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products from countries other than Iran to permit a significant reduction in the volume of petroleum and petroleum products purchased from Iran by or through foreign financial institutions."

Prices for oil traded in London jumped to multi-year highs above $78 a barrel on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that Washington would reimpose the sanctions on Iran.

The sanctions are aimed at forcing companies and countries around the world to reduce oil imports from the Islamic Republic.

The Trump administration has not specified how much oil it expected importers to cut, but in 2012 the administration of former President Barack Obama pushed countries to reduce imports about 18 percent to 20 percent.

Sanctions on Iran's oil exports are due to take effect after Nov. 4, allowing companies to wind down their purchases.

Under the sanctions law passed in 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the independent statistics arm of the Department of Energy, must issue reports to Congress on global oil production in countries other than Iran every two months.

The most recent EIA study, included in the agency's short-term energy outlook, showed that global production of oil outside Iran averaged 92.4 million barrels per day from February to March, compared to 91.0 million bpd from 2015 to 2017. Consumption of oil outside Iran was higher, however, averaging 96.4 million bpd compared to 93 million bpd from 2015 to 2017. (https://bit.ly/2jVVhQr) (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Richard Chang)PARIS, May 14 (Reuters) - Shares in Portugal's leading utility EDP jumped more than 10 percent in early trade on Monday, well above the bid price offered by Chinese state-owned utility China Three Gorges (CTG) on Friday, indicating that the market believes there could be a counter bid or a higher Chinese offer.

EDP shares traded around 3.43 euros, above CTG's 3.26 euros per share bid, which offered a premium of just below 5 percent on the power firm's Friday closing price.

It values the proposed deal at 9.07 billion euros ($10.83 billion), excluding the 23 percent stake CTG already owns.

CTG and another Chinese state company, CNIC, together hold 28.25 percent of EDP shares.

Several funds also hold major stakes, including Capital Research with 12 percent, Masaveu Herrero with 7.19 percent, Blackrock with 5 percent, Mudabala Investment with 4.06 percent and Capital World with 2.69 percent, ThomsonReuters data show.

The Qatar Investment Authority and Norges Bank Investment Management, two major sovereign wealth funds, each hold more than two percent.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa told reporters on Friday his government had no objections to the bid, but the fund shareholders so far have made no comment. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; editing by Jason Neely)(Adds quotes, detail)

HARARE, May 14 (Reuters) - China's Sinosteel Corporation has agreed to invest $1 billion in Zimbabwe to build a power plant and increase ferrochrome output, the southern African country's president Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Monday.

Sinosteel president Andong Liu said the Chinese firm planned to build three additional furnaces at its majority-owned Zimasco business, which would raise ferrochrome output by 120,000 tonnes over the next five years to 300,000 tonnes per year.

Andong said he saw ferrochrome output from Zimasco at 500,000 tonnes annually in ten years' time.

Sinosteel also plans to build a 400 megawatt coalbed methane-fired power plant in western Zimbabwe, the firm's president added at a news conference with Mnangagwa.

"We will continue to review our process to facilitate investment inflows as well as ease of doing business," Mnangagwa said after the signing of the investment agreement.

Mnangagwa, who came to power in November after a de facto military coup ended Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule, has promised to rebuild the economy by opening it up to foreign investors. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Mark Potter)* Rosneft Q1 oil output down 1.2 pct y/y amid OPEC+ cuts

* Rosneft says ready to add over 100,000 bpd quickly if needed

* Higher oil prices lift profit to 81 bln rbls

* Aton estimates net debt at $55 bln, excluding pre-payments (Adds details, quotes, background)

MOSCOW, May 14 (Reuters) - Russia's Rosneft, the world's biggest listed oil company by output, saw its net profit rise seven-fold in the first quarter, lifted by higher oil prices as the global market moves towards balance, the company said on Monday.

Rosneft, headed by Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, controls around 40 percent of Russian oil production, making it key to Moscow's efforts to temporarily limit oil production under a deal led by OPEC and Russia.

Rosneft said on Monday that its crude output was down 1.2 percent in January-March to 4.57 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with a year earlier, due to Russia's obligations under the deal with OPEC that was first agreed at the end of 2016 and later extended until the end of 2018.

Rosneft said it was ready to add over 100,000 bpd of production quite quickly if needed. The average price of Urals, Russia's flagship oil blend, rose by 25 percent year-on-year to $65.2 per barrel in the first quarter, Rosneft said.

Alexander Novak, acting energy minister while a new government is being formed after Putin was sworn in for a new term as president last week, told reporters on Monday that the oil market is fundamentally rebalancing as the supply curbs led to global oil inventories shrinking.

Asked if U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear pact with Iran and to impose sanctions on Tehran had any implications for the oil supply cut deal, Novak said he had discussed the issue by phone with Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih.

Novak gave no details but said he planned to discuss Iran-related issues with Falih during the Saudi minister's visit to St. Petersburg for an economic forum at the end of May.

PROFIT, SALES SURGE

The oil price rise allowed Rosneft to post net profit of 81 billion roubles ($1.31 billion) in the first quarter, up from 11 billion roubles a year ago and beating a Reuters forecast of 76.8 billion roubles.

Rosneft said its first-quarter sales were up 22 percent year-on-year to 1.72 trillion roubles, below the 1.76 trillion expected by analysts.

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 16 percent to 385 billion roubles, while January-March cash flow stood at 142 billion roubles.

Rosneft, which has been pursuing an aggressive acquisition policy, expanding its global reach in India, Iraqi Kurdistan and other places, did not disclose its net debt.

Rosneft is under Western sanctions imposed in 2014 over the Ukraine crisis that limit its ability to raise funds on Western markets and to use some Western drilling technologies. Sechin is also on the U.S. sanctions list, barring him from traveling to the United States.

According to calculations by Aton brokerage, Rosneft's net debt declined by 2 percent compared with the end of 2017 to 3.4 trillion roubles ($55 billion), excluding pre-payments.

"This points to 2.2x net debt/EBITDA based on our full-year EBITDA forecast, compared to 2.5x seen at the end of the preceding quarter," Aton said in a note on Monday.

Rosneft announced a series of measures on May 1 to improve shareholder returns, such as a $2 billion share buyback and plans to cut total debt and trading liabilities by a minimum of 500 billion roubles.

Sechin, commenting on the results, said the company "expects further reduction in liabilities and improvement in shareholder returns." Rosneft shares were flat on Monday, slightly better than the overall Moscow Exchange index which was down 0.4 percent.

Oil major BP owns 19.75 percent of Rosneft. Qatar's sovereign investment fund QIA will hold almost 19 percent after agreeing to raise its stake after a deal to sell some of the Rosneft shares to China's CEFC collapsed. ($1 = 61.7707 roubles) (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Olesya Astakhova and Denis Pinchuk; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin and Katya Golubkova editing by Jason Neely and Adrian Croft)* China takes aim at a strategic European energy asset

* Bid seen too low, shares soar above bid price

* Bidder China Three Gorges already owns 23 pct stake

* China State Grid owns 25 pct of Portugal gird firm REN (Adds sources, bankers' comments, EU unbundling details)

LISBON/PARIS, May 14 (Reuters) - Shares in Portuguese utility EDP jumped as much as 12 percent on Monday to trade above the price of a bid by China Three Gorges, indicating investors think the $10.8 billion offer is an opening gambit that could lead to a higher or rival bid.

The gains also show investors think there is little that could stop a bid, as the European Union has limited power to block one and the Portuguese government says it has no objections, despite a call from its Communist allies to renationalise EDP.

EDP shares rose as high as 3.49 euros, above China Three Gorges' (CTG) 3.26 euros per share bid, which represented a premium of less than 5 percent on EDP's Friday closing price. The stock closed 9.32 percent higher at 3.40 euros.

The deal, proposed late on Friday, values EDP at 9.07 billion euros ($10.8 billion), excluding the 23 percent stake the Chinese state-controlled utility already owns.

CTG could not be reached for comment, but a source familiar with the situation said the bid was a pre-emptive move to deter other utilities from making a bid. The source also said EDP considered the offer too low and was likely to hold a board meeting this week to review it.

A banking source familiar with the matter ruled out any EU utilities launching a counter-bid or coming forward as a "white knight" with an alternative proposal, but expected EDP would negotiate with CTG and push for a better price and a premium.

"CTG has a lot of room for maneuver and if there is a price war, they will do it," said a second banker close to the matter, but not directly involved with it.

He added CTG was to keep EDP as a Portuguese company listed in Lisbon.

Bloomberg reported EDP was poised to reject the bid on the grounds that it undervalued the firm.

CHINESE EXPANSION

Analysts say CTG's price is low compared with other recent Chinese bids for European energy assets.

"The offer price is too low to be successful," state-owned Portuguese investment bank CaixaBI said in a note.

European utilities lobby Eurelectric's chief Kristian Ruby said he was not surprised by CTG's move and expected to see more such bids as China pursues EU electricity infrastructure assets.

Jean-Marc Ollagnier, global head of resources at Accenture, saw the bid as part of China's "One Belt One Road" strategy under which it wants to reverse the direction of the investment flows along the old Silk Road trading route.

"China knows it will face local resistance about strategic assets, but clearly this is a long-term strategy and we will see progress in the coming years," he said.

CTG and another Chinese state company, CNIC, together hold 28.25 percent of EDP shares. With full control of EDP and its renewables unit EDPR, CTG would become a top European renewables player, with a large presence in the United States and Brazil.

But other shareholders may balk at being low-balled.

Funds holding major EDP stakes include Capital Research with 12 percent, Masaveu Herrero with 7.19 percent, BlackRock with 5 percent, Mudabala Investment with 4.06 percent and Capital World with 2.69 percent, ThomsonReuters data showed. Qatar and Norway's sovereign wealth funds also each hold over two percent.

JP Morgan said CTG's offer was too low to achieve full control of a business providing a strategic footprint in U.S. renewables. It expects management and minorities to demand a higher price.

EDP and other shareholders so far have not commented.

RIVAL BID?

Paulo Rosa, a trader at Go Bulling brokerage in Porto, said EDP's share price jump indicated competing bids could emerge.

Last year, Reuters reported that Spain's Gas Natural had approached EDP about a possible merger, which was subsequently ruled out by the two companies.

France's Engie also reportedly considered a bid, although EDP denied there had been talks.

A bid from a utility could face more government resistance, as private firms may want to cut jobs to boost profitability.

While a takeover of EDP may need clearance from competition authorities in some of the countries in which EDP and EDPR operate, the EU can do little to stop it.

The European Commission has drafted rules to block foreign takeovers of strategic firms, but there is no unanimity on the proposal, which is currently being discussed by the European Parliament and Member States.

With a separate Chinese state-owned firm, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), owning 25 percent of Portugal's state power network REN, China is also circumventing EU unbundling legislation, which bans utilities from owning grids.

More than a decade ago, EU utilities were forced to split off their power grid units in order to make them more accessible to all power generators.

In recent years, SGCC has built up a web of minority stakes in Southern European grid operators - including REN, Italy's Snam and Greece's Admie - and sources told Reuters this month that State Grid was in talks to buy a 20 percent stake in German grid operator 50Hertz.

The EU has so far not had to consider how to rule on power production and distribution being reunited under a foreign shareholder.

The European Commission's competition and trade spokespeople declined to comment.

"For Brussels to intervene, there would need to be dumping or an abuse of monopoly," said Nicolas Goldberg of Colombus Consulting.

French power industry consultant Thibault Laconde said CTG's move was bound to sharpen tensions over international trade.

"It raises the question of reciprocity. A move in the opposite direction would not be possible," he said.

(Writing by Geert De Clercq Additional reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Andrei Khalip in Lisbon, Brenda Goh in Shanghai Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Pamela Barbaglia and Clara Denina in London; Editing by Jason Neely, Keith Weir and Mark Potter)* ZTE had ceased major operations

* Top Chinese official to meet with U.S. officials this week

* Probe into ZTE dates to Obama administration (Adds details on pending Qualcomm-NXP deal)

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to help ZTE Corp "get back into business, fast" after a U.S. ban crippled the Chinese technology company, offering a job-saving concession to Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade talks this week.

Trump's unexpected announcement was a stunning reversal, given Washington's tough stance on Chinese trade practices that have put the world's two largest economies on course for a possible trade war.

Sources briefed on the matter said Beijing had demanded the ZTE issue be resolved as a prerequisite for broader trade negotiations.

"Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!" Trump wrote on Twitter, saying he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together on a solution for ZTE.

The U.S. Commerce Department last month banned American companies from selling to the firm for seven years as punishment for ZTE breaking a 2017 agreement after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran and North Korea, an investigation dating to the Obama administration.

The penalty cut off ZTE's access to key components such as semiconductors, prompting China's second-largest maker of telecommunications equipment to say last week that it had suspended its main operations.

During trade talks in Beijing earlier this month, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He told U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that China would not continue talks on broader bilateral trade disputes unless Washington agreed to ease the crushing sanctions on ZTE, two people briefed on those meetings said.

"The message was, 'we have to deal with ZTE before we continue talks'," one of the people said.

Both sources, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter, said China was willing in principle to import more U.S. agriculture products in return for Washington smoothing out penalties against ZTE, but they did not offer details.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regularly scheduled news briefing on Monday that China "greatly appreciates the positive U.S. position on the ZTE issue".

He said that Liu would travel to Washington from Tuesday to Saturday to continue trade talks.

For U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, which has seen its $44 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors delayed by a lengthy antitrust review by China's Ministry of Commerce, reconsideration of the ZTE penalty could smooth the way for the deal to move forward.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that China's Commerce Ministry had been asked to speed up the review of the deal and Qualcomm's proposed remedies to protect local companies, after previously shelving the review process amid the trade tensions. It cited people familiar with the matter as its sources. Bloomberg did not say who had asked the ministry to speed up the review.

NXP's shares rose more than 10 percent in pre-market trade in the U.S. on Tuesday, while Qualcomm gained more than 2 percent.

LINKED TO THE TRADE DISPUTE

Within the Commerce Department, and in U.S. business circles, the U.S. penalty against ZTE was widely seen as based on clear evidence of a company knowingly flouting U.S. regulations - separate from the highly politicized trade row, the sources said.

But Trump's reversal surprised and frustrated many U.S. officials, who had viewed the penalty on ZTE as final and not open to appeal, the sources said.

"Everyone has been explicitly saying this is not part of the trade conflict. And now the President has overtly linked it to the trade dispute for better or worse, and that is not good if you're trying to maintain credibility," the second source told Reuters.

ZTE, whose shares remain suspended, did not have immediate comment.

The U.S. Commerce Department did not have immediate comment and China's Commerce Minstry did not reply to a request for comment.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters confirmed that U.S. officials were in contact with Beijing about ZTE. She said Trump's tweet underscored the importance of "free, fair, balanced and mutually beneficial" relations between the United States and China on issues involving the economy, trade and investment.

Trump expects Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross "to exercise his independent judgment, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, to resolve the regulatory action involving ZTE based on its facts," Walters said.

Washington and Beijing have proposed tens of billions of dollars in tariffs in recent weeks, fanning worries of a full-blown trade war that could hurt global supply chains and dent business investment plans.

In a second tweet on Sunday, Trump said past U.S. trade talks with China posed a hurdle that he predicted the two countries would overcome.

"China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"But be cool, it will all work out!" he added.

Shortly after Trump's tweet, a Democratic lawmaker, Representative Adam Schiff, on Twitter questioned the move to help the Chinese company, given numerous warnings about ZTE's alleged threat to U.S. national security.

"Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat," Schiff said. "You should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs."

SHOCKING BLOW

It was not clear China would accept Trump's assertion that Beijing needs to work toward a mutually beneficial outcome.

"The U.S. should be aware that it must become more cooperative and constructive in the trade talks with China," the China Daily, China's official English-language newspaper, said in a Monday editorial. The editorial did not mention ZTE.

Trump's comments on ZTE could have a significant impact on shares of American optical components makers such as Acacia Communications Inc and Oclaro Inc, which fell when U.S. companies were banned from exporting goods to ZTE.

ZTE paid over $2.3 billion to 211 U.S. exporters in 2017, a senior ZTE official said on Friday.

The U.S. government launched an investigation into ZTE after Reuters reported in 2012 the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies. (Reuters report that exposed the practice: https://reut.rs/2GbpCmO)

ZTE relies on U.S. companies such as Qualcomm Inc, Intel Corp and Alphabet Inc's Google. American companies are estimated to provide 25 percent to 30 percent of components in ZTE's equipment, which includes smartphones and gear to build telecommunications networks.

Claire Reade, a Washington-based trade lawyer and former assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China affairs, said the ZTE ban may have caused more alarm in Beijing than Trump's threats to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods.

"Imagine how the United States would feel if China had the power to crush one of our major corporations and make it go out of business," Reade said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Karen Freifield, Steve Holland, David Lawder, Chris Sanders and David Morgan in Washngton; Michael Martina, Sue-Lin Wong and Matthew Miller in Beijing; and John Ruwitch in Shanghai; Editing by Peter Cooney, Philip McClellan and Martin Howell)President Donald Trump (L) is embraced by Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of News Corp, during a dinner to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea during WWII onboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum May 4, 2017 in New York.

The White House switchboard keeps a list of "cleared callers" who can be patched directly to President Donald Trump  and those callers include conservative talk show host Sean Hannity and News Corp Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, New York Magazine reported Monday.

The switchboard operators, whose lines are open to the public, refer to this list of a few dozen people close to the president before dialing up him up, the magazine reported.

Beyond Hannity and Murdoch, who controls Fox News and a raft of other media outlets, some of the names on the list reportedly include: Trump's older sons, Eric and Donald Jr.; Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots; billionaire and Blackstone Group CEO, Stephen Schwarzman; and Trump ally and campaign fundraiser, Tom Barrack.

A White House official told New York Magazine that Fox News' influence on Trump was exactly equal to the Trump administration officials in the White House itself.

The White House did not provide comment to CNBC.

The disclosure of sections of the list came as part of a broader look into the relationship between Trump and Hannity, who is said to call the president regularly on weeknights after his evening opinion show on Fox.

Hannity, who endorsed Trump in the 2016 campaign and has been one of his staunchest allies ever since, has provided a huge platform for Trump's associates to amplify the president's messages. In recent weeks, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had recently joined Trump's legal team, revealed on Hannity's program that the president had reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment intended to secure porn star Stormy Daniels' silence about an alleged affair with Trump.

Trump had previously denied knowledge of Cohen's payment as part of the nondisclosure agreement she signed in October 2016. Cohen had told The New York Times that the money came from his own pocket, and that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign were involved.

In court proceedings surrounding materials seized from Cohen in federal agents' raids in April, it was revealed that Hannity was one of Cohen's clients between 2017 and 2018. Fox News gave Hannity its full support in a statement shortly after the link was made known.

The full report of Hannity's relationship to the president can be found on New York Magazine's website.Ribbon will only back single-family homes with sale prices between $100,000 and $600,000. It will also buy some townhomes or condos that receive traditional financing and allow for rentals.

Ribbon is not a lender, but it does underwrite potential homebuyers, as a lender would, using its own data system to predict whether a buyer will be eligible for a mortgage and for what amount. The start-up will also run an appraisal on the home the buyer wants to bid on, in order to determine whether it meets the sale price. In return, Ribbon charges the buyer 1.95 percent of the purchase price if the mortgage comes through and the sale closes.

"We're introducing the first ever platform that allows buyers, sellers and realtors to participate together to guarantee a home transaction," said Shaival Shah, founder and CEO of Ribbon. "Buyers can now compete effectively on the open market against institutional investors, Wall Street capital and very wealthy individuals."

Ribbon is launching in one of the hottest markets in the nation right now: Charlotte, North Carolina. The company offers homebuyers and sellers cash backing, just in case the mortgage doesn't come through

Cash is king in today's ultra-competitive housing market, where demand from both investors and owner-occupants far outpaces supply. Sellers would much rather close a deal quickly, without the time and risk of a buyer's loan financing. But most buyers don't have all that cash, and that's where a tech-based start-up is looking to cash in.

If there is a problem with the mortgage, such as the home not appraising high enough, Ribbon buys the home and allows the client to rent until they are able to purchase it. Ribbon will sell the home to the client at the same price it purchased it, "in case you need more time," according to its website.

It offers the consumer the opportunity to rent for up to a year. If the client chooses to rent but not buy, Ribbon charges 2.95 percent of the original purchase price.

The cost can be steep, depending on the purchase price, but it is much like mortgage insurance, charged to borrowers with lower down payments or lower credit scores.

"We end up with a very small class of homes that we end up holding. In those cases we convey those homes to professional investors or landlords so that they can properly manage those homes on behalf of the consumer. That frees up our capital to be able to go help another consumer in the market," said Shah.

Ribbon also partners with real estate agents, who are also losing deals to investors with large stashes of cash. Shah said it already has more than 100 agents testing the program.

"We believe that the Realtor has a part to play with local knowledge and experience with the market," said Yuriy Vaynshteyn, a real estate agent at Engel & Volkers Charlotte, who is working with Ribbon. "It's an advantage to our clients because they're the ones being squeezed out of the market by 'ibuyers'  Zillow, Open Door  and large companies that are basically backed by venture capital money."

So-called ibuyers represent the new breed of financial technology companies that offer to buy and sell your home for you, supposedly taking the stress out of the historically stressful process. Ribbon differs in that it does not set out to buy the home for you. It just aims to back you with cash. Buyers with cash are more likely to win in a bidding war, and some sellers will offer a discount on the price just to get cash.

Ribbon itself is being backed, in part, by capital from NFX, an investment first headed by Pete Flint, who founded Trulia.

"We look at it as a real estate fintech company working to streamline the consumer transaction," Flint said. "Consumers can look at it like insurance."

Flint said he believes the real estate industry really matured on the data side from 2005 to 2015, with companies like Zillow and Trulia. Now it is transforming again.

"My thesis with NFX is the next 10 years is going to be about the transaction," Flint added.

Ribbon is also being backed by Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures and NYCA, according to Shah.

So far, in its first month before officially launching, Ribbon executives say they have $15 million of home transactions in the pipeline and have purchased three homes so far. The risk, of course, is that while the model works well in a very hot housing market like today's, the market won't always be hot, and Ribbon could be left holding the bag  as in holding homes that are not appreciating as quickly as they are now.

"In a market that tends to be declining, sellers have even more concern of a mortgage falling through, so they want certainty," added Shah.

Home prices in Charlotte were up more than 8 percent in April, compared with a year ago, and the number of homes for sale was down nearly 23 percent, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association. Homes are selling on average in just 44 days, five days faster than a year ago.

"I've been in the business about 14 years and I've not seen anything like it," said real estate agent Vaynshteyn. "If a property comes on the market, an affordable house in a good school area, it's normal for us to receive up to a dozen offers in a couple of hours."

On a national level, inventory in March was at the lowest in history, according to the National Association of Realtors, and 1 out of 5 sales was all-cash. Ribbon is only in Charlotte now but expects to expand to other markets in the near future.A Tesla Model S crashed at speed into a truck from the city's Unified Fire Authority in South Jordan, Utah, late on Friday after failing to slow for a red light, local police said on Monday.

The Tesla car was traveling at 60 miles per hour when it hit the mechanic truck, which was stopped for the light on the South Bangerter Highway in South Jordan, Utah at 6:38 pm MT, the police said.

The Tesla driver suffered a broken ankle and was taken to hospital while no injuries were reported to the truck driver, the police said in a statement.A Tesla Model S at a charging station in Beijing, China. Meghan Reeder | CNBC

A Tesla Model S that crashed into a stopped fire truck at high speed was operating in Autopilot mode, the driver of the car told Utah police officials Monday. Tesla says it continues to work with South Jordan police on the investigation, and has not yet released details of the incident based on the car's computer logs. The driver of the vehicle, a 28-year-old woman from Lehi, Utah, slammed into the truck in South Jordan on Friday. The woman also told police she was looking at her phone prior to the collision, and estimated her speed at 60 mph, which is consistent with eyewitness accounts, according to South Jordan police officials.

The result was an accordioned front end for the electric car, but only a broken foot for the driver, according to a statement late Monday from South Jordan Sgt. Sam Winkler. The driver of the United Fire Authority mechanic truck was checked for whiplash and was not checked into the hospital. Read more from USA Today:

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Meghan Markle's father caught up in photo flap; will he stay home from royal wedding? A Tesla spokesperson said the company's previous response to the crash still stood, which noted that Autopilot  a semi-autonomous system that works like a souped up cruise control  requires constant vigilance and is not meant to take over driving responsibilities while drivers focus on other chores. Winkler said that South Jordan police was continuing to investigate the crash, and would be working with Tesla to gather vehicle information from the Model S's computers over the coming days. Eyewitness accounts indicate the Model S did not slow down as it rammed into the back of the truck, which was stopped at a traffic light in the far right lane.

Autopilot has been in the crosshairs of federal crash investigators, dating back to a 2016 crash of Tesla Model S in Autopilot mode that killed its driver after the car failed to stop for a tractor trailer that cut across its path. More recently, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were called into to review details of a March crash that saw a Tesla Model X slam into a highway divider in Mountain View, Calif. The driver died. Tesla has said the driver ignored the car's warnings to take back control of the car, while his family is considering suing on the grounds that Tesla ignored the driver's previously raised concerns about Autopilot acting up on that same stretch of Silicon Valley highway. NTSB and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials also are investigating a recent Tesla Model S crash in Florida in which two teens died and one was injured. The car hit a concrete barrier at high speed in a residential neighborhood and burst into flames. Autopilot is not thought to be a factor, but investigators are looking into the ensuing battery fire. Just prior to Utah police announcing that Autopilot had been in use according to the car's driver, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a series of tweets that played up the safety of his car. @elonmusk tweet @elonmusk tweet "What's actually amazing about this accident is that a Model S hit a fire truck at 60mph and the driver only broke an ankle," Musk tweeted (although initially reported as an ankle injury, South Jordan officials said the injury was a broken foot). "An impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death." Musk also lamented media coverage that he said glossed over the 40,000 annual U.S. road deaths, and acknowledged that while no technology is perfect "a system that, on balance, saves lives & reduces injuries should be released."

WATCH: NHTSA to investigate Tesla Model X crashIf you plan to travel this Memorial Day weekend, you will have plenty of company.

A record number of Americans  more than 41.5 million  are expected to take to the roads, tarmacs and water on the weekend that kicks off the official start of summer, according to travel organization AAA.

That is the highest number of travelers in more than 12 years and about a 5 percent increase from last year, according to AAA's research.

Gas prices, which averaged $2.72 in April, are also poised to be the highest for the holiday weekend since 2014.

"When people are planning these trips, they do so months in advance," AAA spokeswoman Tamra Johnson said. While gas prices have risen since then, that doesn't usually deter people once they've made plans, she said.Uber named its new Northern Europe boss Monday amid an ongoing battle with London's transport regulator over its license to operate in the city.

The ride-hailing giant said Jamie Heywood, U.K. director of electronics at Amazon, would join Uber next month as its new regional general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe.

London's transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), decided to strip Uber of its license late last year, but the company has been fighting to keep the license through an appeal. Currently, Uber is still able to operate in Britain's capital.

Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, vice president and regional general manager of Uber in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that Heywood would bring a "wide-range of international experience in both regulated industries and scaling fast-growing businesses" to the ride-hailing giant.

"Jamie's leadership will also be crucial as we implement major changes across Europe including more safety features, improvements for drivers and a new approach to partnering with cities," Gore-Coty said in a statement Monday.One of the U.K.'s top spies has made a rare public speech, accusing Russia of "flagrant breaches of international rules" over a poisoning attack on U.K. soil in March.

In a speech to security chiefs in Berlin Monday, MI5 Director-General Andrew Parker said the "reckless attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal, using a highly lethal nerve agent, put numerous lives at risk, including that of his daughter."

It was the first time in history that the boss of Britain's domestic spy agency spoke publicly at a venue outside of the United Kingdom. Parker also said there was a need to "shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths, and obfuscations that pours out of their propaganda machine."

It is now 10 weeks since a nerve agent attack on the former Russian spy Skripal and his daughter Yulia, in the English city of Salisbury. The pair were found unconscious on March 4 on a bench.

Skripal remains in hospital but is no longer in a critical condition, while his daughter was discharged last month. No suspect has been identified but the United States and other European countries joined with Britain in blaming Russia for the attack.

Moscow has denied responsibility. It has also retaliated against a co-ordinated move by Western countries to expel 150 Russian diplomats by ordering out the same number of opposing officials from foreign embassies in Russia.A demonstrator holds a Puerto Rican flag while being confronted by riot police officers during a protest against austerity measures in the Hato Rey neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

Warring creditor groups in Puerto Rico's ongoing debt restructuring have reached an agreement that could resolve one of the most contentious disputes in the more than $70 billion bankruptcy case.

A proposed settlement would provide approximately $10 billion of debt relief and would resolve substantial risks to the Commonwealth, according to the executive summary.

It would also end a more than yearlong court battle between two top tier creditor groups, which have been fighting over who has first rights to the island's sales-tax revenue for bond payments. Those groups are the owners of general obligation bonds and owners of bonds issued by Cofina, which are supported by sales tax revenue.

The groups announced the plan in separate statements on Monday.

The two have agreed to set up a trust that would take in Puerto Rico's 5.5 percent sales and use tax for 40 years and then pay out to the separate bondholder groups, Mark Palmer, a BTIG analyst who covers bond insurers, wrote in a note on Monday. "The trust would then make an exchange offer for all GO bonds and allowed general unsecured claims (GUCs)," the note said.

Cofina bondholders would receive 52.5 percent of the sales tax revenue, while general obligation bondholders would get 46.2 percent.

"The supporting parties have come together for the first time in years to forge an agreement on a settlement framework that provides for a consensual path to a successful restructuring. The settlement framework reached by this diverse group of stakeholders would significantly decrease the duration and cost of Puerto Rico's bankruptcy, while also providing for substantial deleveraging," the Ad Hoc Group of General Obligation Bondholders said in a statement.

Other supporting parties in the settlement are the Bonistas del Patio, which represents island residents who own bonds, and the bond insurers Assured Guaranty, Ambac and MBIA. In total, the supporting parties hold more than $11 billion of Puerto Rico's debt.

Cofina's bondholders would share $12.1 billion, which amounts to recoveries of 93 percent to 95 percent for the senior bondholders and 42.2 percent to 43.2 percent for the subordinate bondholders, or about 64 percent combined. General obligation bondholders would get $10.7 billion, a recovery for them of 58.6 percent.

Sources familiar with the matter told CNBC that the general obligation creditors would be able to pursue additional claims from the Commonwealth for the amount not covered by the payments from the trust.

The government of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico's Financial Oversight and Management Board were not part of the talks, and both parties rejected the terms.

The seven-member Oversight Board, which oversees the beleaguered island's finances, said the economic terms of the creditor proposal did not align with the fiscal plan it certified on April 19, calling it "completely unaffordable".

"In the Board's view, the proposed terms would create large and recurring structural deficits over the long-run as compared to the long-term primary surpluses projected in the certified New Fiscal Plan, which are highly dependent on the Government's full implementation of said Fiscal Plan, with no aspect as critical to long-term economic growth as prompt enactment of the proposed labor reform," the Board said in a written statement.

The Cofina Coalition, made up of those who hold approximately $4 billion of senior and subordinate Cofina bonds, supports the proposed settlement but said it also believes that there are other avenues for an agreement to be reached.

"While members of the Coalition support the COFINA-GO settlement framework, the group also proposed alternative settlement terms  again with significant principal haircuts to COFINA  in mid-April to other constituencies that include the Commonwealth Agent and the Official Committee of Retirees," a written statement from the Coalition said.[The stream is slated to start at 2 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah is set to brief reporters Monday afternoon following the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, a highly controversial move that angered the people of Palestine.

In December, President Donald Trump announced the embassy would move from Tel Aviv when he formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. The announcement drew criticism from Palestinians, since Jerusalem is known for its holy sites for the Jewish, Christian and Islam faiths. The Associated Press reported that dozens were killed and hundreds other injured by Israeli fire during protests at the Palestine-Israel boarder on Monday.

This morning, Trump promoted Fox News' coverage of the embassy's opening, calling it a "great day for Israel."

Trump tweet

Trump said Sunday that he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help tech company ZTE "get back in business fast" after a U.S. ban crippled the company.

Trump tweeted that were wee too many jobs lost after the U.S. Commerce Department banned American companies from selling to the firm for seven years.

Trump tweet 2"If you look back at the Arab Spring, that had everything to do with every single issue which wasn't the Arab-Israeli conflict," he added, referring to the event that spread throughout the Middle East and saw the toppling of dictators in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

"We're entering into unprecedented territory and to simply look at it through the lens of the Israeli-Palestinian problem would be distracting," said Rubin, now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

There are a lot of things in flux in the Middle East, which could lead to a problem the Trump administration may not even see coming, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin told CNBC on Monday.

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018.

More than 50 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces on Monday. It was the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since a series of protests dubbed the "Great March of Return" began at the border with Israel on March 30 and since a 2014 Gaza war.

Meanwhile, Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, opened the embassy in Jerusalem, relocated from Tel Aviv.

Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia told CNBC earlier Monday that moving the embassy will make the Middle East a more dangerous place.

"It's not a step that will bring peace to Palestine or the Middle East," he said.

The United Nations says the status of Jerusalem  captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war  can only be resolved by negotiations. Palestinians want the city as their own capital.

Rubin said the embassy move provides a reason to protest, but believes there is much more to it than that.

For one, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is in his 80s and hasn't appointed a successor, Rubin said.

"The Palestinian clashes, especially from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, have a lot to do with shaping the future of Palestinian politics and not just about the spark of the embassy move," he told "Power Lunch."

In fact, there are a lot of moving parts in the Middle East right now, along with general change underway, said Rubin.

"Every U.S. administration is often defined by the problem that no one saw coming," he said, like Bosnia for President Bill Clinton, Kuwait for President George H.W. Bush and Syria for President Barack Obama.

"Despite all the chaos right now, we still may get a problem which is coming in seemingly from left field."

 CNBC's Nyshka Chandran and Reuters contributed to this report.Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he hopes that the U.S. and China can come to an agreement over the myriad trade disputes between the two nations.

One reason for that optimism is the close tie between the two heads of state.

"It's difficult to handicap the outcome, but my hope is the strong personal relationship between President Trump and President Xi will facilitate an agreement, just as it seems to possibly be doing relative to North Korea," Ross said during a speech Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

"The president has meticulously honored his campaign promises, and key among them is making our trade relations with China much more fair," he added.

Ross has recently returned from China with a cadre of administration officials trying to resolve trade differences. The U.S. has threatened to slap tariffs on steel, aluminum and a slew of other products if it doesn't get what it wants from China and other global partners.

China, though, remains the key.

"Before landing in China we sent them an extremely detailed list of our needs, and they responded with a similarly detailed but as you can imagine quite different list of their proposals," Ross said. "The gap remains wide."

However, he also expressed confidence that the U.S. holds the upper hand.

Even if China were to put a retaliatory 25 percent tariff on the $50 billion or so of U.S. goods it imports, it would barely make a dent on the U.S. economy, Ross said. In fact, there would even be some benefit as some of the goods the U.S. gets from China would be produced domestically.

In a related issue, Ross discussed the recent controversy over Chinese technology company ZTE. Trump has pledged to help the company get off what Ross described as the "bad list, so they could not receive exports of high-tech material."

Ross said the question remains now over whether there are "alternative remedies" to deal with ZTE.

"That's the area we will be exploring very, very promptly," he said.Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been pulling all-nighters at the Tesla factory lately, sometimes sleeping on a conference room couch or on the floor, in order to catch up with car production targets. When YouTube video blogger and Tesla fan Ben Sullins caught wind of Musk's uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, he started a tongue-in-cheek fundraising campaign to get the billionaire a new, comfy couch.

"The idea was that he should have a decent place to sleep when he's pulling all-nighters," Sullins tells CNBC Make It.

Online fans raised over $9,000 in less than a week, and twice that amount ended up going to a good cause: Musk thanked Sullins for the new couch and matched the funds from his foundation, bringing the total donation to charity to more than $18,000.

Tweet

Sullins, a full-time YouTube content producer and data scientist, says that he started the campaign on April 16 as a joke: "I thought zero people would donate."

He shared it on his YouTube channel "Teslanomics," while vlogging about Musk's April 13 "CBS This Morning" interview with host Gayle King. There, Musk told King about the company's setbacks and his reaction to the pressure.

"I'm definitely under stress, so if I seem like I'm not under stress, then I'm gonna be clear, I'm definitely under stress," Musk told King. "When things get really intense, I don't have time to go home and shower and change, so I just sleep here."

This wasn't the first time Musk had admitted to staying at the factory overnight. "My desk is at the end of the production line," Musk said during a Tesla earnings call in 2016. "I have a sleeping bag in a conference room next to the production line that I use quite frequently."

Between $7,609 in donations from 591 people on the GoFundMe site and an additional $1,500 donation collected by the Tesla Club Sweden (neither group is affiliated with Tesla), Sullins collected a total of $9,109 in less than a week. Then online furniture company Wayfair offered to donate a new couch, and donors voted to pay the money forward to the U.K.-based renewable energy organization Renewable World.The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission formComments from Gove and Hunt show continued cabinet split over customs plan

Gove says May must crack on with Brexit  Daily Telegraph

And that there are significant question marks about customs partnership  Guardian

Hunt tells Johnson to work as a team  Guardian

Both sides criticise May  FT

She is facing a revolt  Daily Express

Divisions in the cabinet were exposed again yesterday as Jeremy Hunt told fellow ministers to trust Theresa Mays Brexit plan but Michael Gove said that there were significant question marks over her preferred customs model. The prime ministers Brexit sub- committee, which meets tomorrow, is split over what Britains customs arrangements should be after it leaves the customs union in 2021. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, and Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, are among critics of the customs partnership model that Mrs May favours but which Mr Johnson has called crazy. They want a scheme called max-fac; its opponents, including Philip Hammond, the chancellor, believe it would damage the economy.  The Times

>Yesterday:

Hall: Tory whips are pessimistic about Withdrawal Bill majority

Cash suggests Tory dissidents could lead to toppling of May  Daily Express

Miliband says hard Brexiters are holding country to ransom  FT

Theresa May faces some serious repair work after a wrecking spree by ermine-clad vandals at Westminster. Brussels backing peers emasculated her Brexit plans almost beyond recognition in a series of 14 House of Lords defeats that came to a climax this week. Now her team are trying to calculate whether the Commons can make good the damage. Tory whips are already pessimistic about the chances of stitching together a majority in the elected chamber to scrap the amendments to the Governments EU (Withdrawal) Bill. The changes to the legislation are far-reaching: giving Parliament powers to meddle in the negotiations, raising doubts about next years departure date and threatening to keep Britain locked in the EU customs union. One Eurosceptic Tory MP told me: If you wanted to effectively stop Brexit happening you couldnt come up with a better way of doing it than what these Remainer peers have done.  Daily Express

Editorial:

Heres the answer  Guardian

Comment:

The Brexiters position is weakening  Juliet Samuel, Daily Telegraph

The trio of disloyal remainers  Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail

May tells Javid to speed up post-Brexit immigration plan

Britains much-anticipated post-Brexit immigration policy will be unveiled within weeks after Theresa May ordered new Home Secretary Sajid Javid to speed up the plans. His predecessor Amber Rudd triggered alarm among Brexiteers by repeatedly delayed publication of the new immigration proposals  and officials said they wouldnt be ready until the autumn. But No10 said the Prime Minister has now intervened to ensure Mr Javid publishes an immigration White Paper before the summer recess in July. One official told Politico that the publication of the plans will be a massive moment for Mrs Mays premiership.  The Sun

White paper may now be published before summer recess  Daily Express

>Today: ToryDiary: An open letter to Sajid Javid

More Brexit

DUP MP claims Coveney is trying to use border issue to break up UK  Belfast Newsletter

Le Drian wants June deadline on the issue  Daily Express

McLeish says Tories want to hoard powers in London  Herald

Comment:

Trade needs to be our highest priority  Andy McDonald, The Times

Is the EU now desperate for us to stay?  Martin Townsend, Daily Express

>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Starmer  Nobody credible thinks Irish border can be avoided without customs union

>Today: Peter Lilley in Comment: Sovereignty or prosperity? Its a false choice. They go hand in hand

Williamson to confirm MoD has signed contracts including Agincourt sub

Defence secretary Gavin Williamson is set to give the go-ahead for 2.5bn in spending on the UKs submarine programme, including its nuclear fleet. The work had already been agreed in principle but Williamson will confirm the Ministry of Defence has signed a 1.6bn contract with BAE Systems to build the seventh and last of the Astute hunter-killer submarines, to be named Agincourt. It is scheduled for handover to the Royal Navy in the mid-2020s. He will also confirm that a further 960m worth of contracts has been signed for the next phase of construction of four Dreadnought submarines to replace the four Vanguard submarines that make up the UKs nuclear fleet, carrying the Trident weapons system.  Guardian

It finally gets the go-ahead  FT

Meanwhile, MI5 DG to condemn Russia in speech  The Times

And Trump is trashing US foreign policy  Michael Burleigh, The Times

Editorial:

Unanticipated methods carry the gravest security risk  The Times

Gyimah: We need to focus on scientific knowledge and technological progress

Brady: We must help small and medium-sized businesses

In asking anew how Britain will make its way in the world, Brexit has revealed an issue that has been brewing for more than a decade. Prior to the crisis in 2009, the UKs economic fortunes were buoyed up by financial services and North Sea oil and gas. With the City less profitable today, and North Sea output naturally declining, the search is on for the next wave of world-leading British businesses. Meanwhile, global breakthroughs in scientific knowledge and technological progress are disrupting entire industries at an unprecedented pace. Here, Britain is well-placed to lead. We may often speak of ourselves as a nation of shopkeepers, but we are also a nation of scientists, engineers and innovators.  Daily Telegraph

One of the things I love most about this country is that all across the land, entrepreneurs are coming up with amazing ideas. Some of them are ingenious, some are barmy. Some are hugely practical, some are downright outlandish. Where would we be without the brave men and women who dare to have such dreams? However, as I know only too well, it takes more than just a great idea to make a business successful in the modern world. It takes guts and grit. Plus that other essential ingredient: sheer hard graft. Ive been travelling the length and breadth of the country meeting the next generation of entrepreneurs for my latest TV series, Give It A Year. It has been more of a pleasure than work because it has reinforced what I have known for years  that when it comes to business, Britain really does have talent. The downside is that I have seen first-hand the struggle so many small and medium businesses are having. Many of them desperately need help.  Daily Express

More Conservatives

Rees-Mogg says Lords resurrection of second Leveson would breach convention  Daily Telegraph

Bercow has told friends hell stand down as speaker next year  The Sun

Drugs minister Atkins cant talk about cannabis now because of husbands business interest  The Sun

>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Morgan says shes not entirely surprised at Johnson keeping his job

>Today:

May to double brain cancer funding in honour of Jowell

Therell be a new 20m fund  Daily Telegraph

Cross-party tributes to Jowell, who died on Saturday  Guardian

Theresa May will double the governments contribution to brain cancer research in tribute to Baroness Jowell whose death from the disease was announced yesterday. The prime minister said that the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Research Mission would put 65 million towards research. An innovative treatment that allows surgeons to use a dye to identify tumours would be introduced across the NHS. The former cabinet minister, who died on Saturday aged 70 after campaigning for brain cancer research and treatment, had called for the gold-standard procedure to be used nationwide.  The Times

Comment:

She was the best at reaching out to people from other parties  Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph

`>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Whittingdales tribute to Baroness Jowell

More Labour

Corbyn focuses on tax  Daily Express

Candidate withdraws from Lewisham East shortlist after comments emerge comparing Israel with Nazis  Daily Telegraph

Chakrabarti says Livingstone should be kicked out  The Times

Labour, LibDems, and SNP on Holyrood committee urge Sturgeon to allow prisoners to vote  Guardian

David Miliband is back  Daily Mail

Erdogan in UK for trade discussions ahead of elections

President Erdogan of Turkey said that the UK was a valuable and reliable ally as he arrived in London for one of only two foreign visits during his campaigning for elections next month. He is seeking to hold on to office, which he will resume with greater powers should he win. At home he has muzzled the media and jailed tens of thousands of opponents. Turkeys human rights record, which has worsened since the failed coup attempt in 2016, has provoked loud criticism from some European countries. Ambitions to join the EU have been all but shelved.  The Times

News in BriefPeter Lilley is a former Secretary of State for Trade & Industy and for Social Security.

It is widely assumed that there is a trade-off between sovereignty and prosperity. Remainers argue that we will make ourselves poorer by taking back democratic control of our laws, borders and money, and deride sovereignty as a nostalgic illusion. Some Leavers tacitly accept this trade-off, but argue that democratic self-government is good in itself and worth making sacrifices for.

But this is a false choice. In fact, democracy and prosperity go hand in hand. This is because in a sovereign democracy, if the government fails to deliver prosperity the people can chuck it out. So there is democratic pressure to tailor policies to engender prosperity.

The issue has returned because the Governments EU Exit Analysis claims that if we take back control from the EU we will be worse off than if we remained  even as a non-voting member  inside its main institutions.

As a professional economist, I learnt that to evaluate an economic study one must elucidate the assumptions on which it is based. These are often well hidden  even from the authors consciousness. Although the EU Exit Analysis claims it is based on a different methodology from the Treasurys referendum Analysis of the Long Term Impact of EU Membership, both are based on the same three assumptions.

The first is that the more a country removes legal, administrative and institutional differences and obstacles between itself and its neighbours  i.e. the more they become like a single country  the more they will trade with each other.

This is often true. Canadian provinces trade more with each other than with adjacent American states. However, the Treasury model manifestly overstates this effect. During the Scottish referendum, another Treasury model ludicrously claimed that even if Scotland kept the pound and remained with the rest of the UK in the EU Internal Market: the creation of a border [with no tariffs or border checks] would reduce trade by 80 per cent relative to Scotland remaining in the UK.

The second assumption is that the higher the proportion of a countrys economic activity that is transacted with those outside its own territory, the faster it will grow. There is no evidence for this as far as developed countries are concerned. Yet the Treasury admits that this supposed relationship is the main driver of the estimates of the long-term effects of EU membership on the economy.

The third assumption is that foreign trade and trade agreements are the most important determinants of growth. Our own experience demonstrates that this is false. We certainly hoped that joining the Common Market would help revitalise our sluggish economy. But four years later, Britain was bankrupt going cap in hand to the IMF. Joining the Common Market was not the cause (though our trade balance worsened), but nor was it the cure. That came from the Thatcherite domestic reforms which, during the 1980s, transformed Britain from the slowest to the fastest-growing major economy in the EU. Regaining control of our laws and money will give us the opportunity further to streamline regulation and to free up our economy.

Taken together the Treasurys assumptions imply that big countries should grow faster, and therefore be richer, than small countries.

So Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and New Zealand should be among the poorest countries of the Asia/Pacific, not among the richest.

And how come Switzerland, Norway and Iceland (not only small, but outside the EU) are the richest countries in Europe?

And why has Europe, since establishing the largest, most integrated Internal Market, been the slowest-growing continent in the world?

What are the factors  missing from Government models  that account for this lack of correlation between size and prosperity? I suggest that they are the consequences of these smaller countries exercising democratic sovereignty.

They have been able to tailor their policies to their own needs.

They avoid the one size fits all policies which larger entities often impose on their component parts (e.g. the impact of monetary union on southern Europe).

Their governments are under constant democratic pressure to deliver prosperity.

They cannot escape responsibility for their own destiny. Their politicians cannot blame a higher tier of government, like the EU, for their problems nor look to it for their salvation.

Perhaps the shock to a country of realising it is responsible for its own destiny is particularly salutary.

Singapore did not want to leave the Malaysian Federation. But, once outside, it realised it must boldly address its enormous problems  like the run-down of Britains economically important naval base. Then Singapores income per head was half that of the UK. Now it is double ours.

Similarly, the Swiss governing class were dismayed when their compatriots voted against the European Economic Area. But once the shock wore off, they realised that they could no longer look to EU membership to solve their problems. So, they reformed their education system, training, universities and a range of other matters. Much of this they could have done in or out of the EEA. But it needed that vote to provoke action.

I suspect that once Britain actually leaves the EU we will realise that we can and must tackle a whole range of problems: housing, skills, regional and sectoral imbalances. Many of these could be addressed, at least partially, within the EU, but we need the sense of renewed responsibility to force us to face up to them. Not being able to blame Brussels for our problems nor look to the EU for solutions will be immensely reinvigorating.

Brexit will restore our democracy and thereby help us revive our prosperity.Gas is still flowingand never stoppedbut at least three of the four companies operating pipelines admitted they were hit by a cyberattack this week on their electronic systems for communicating with their customers.

Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountains region, said Tuesday it disabled its system as a precaution after determining that a third-party provider was the "target of an apparent cyberattack."

A day earlier, Energy Transfer Partners LP, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP, and Chesapeake Utilities Corp.s Eastern Shore Natural Gas reported communications breakdowns. Eastern Shore said its outage occurred on March 29.

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday it was gathering information about the attacks had no immediate comment.

"We do not believe any customer data was compromised," said the Latitude Technologies unit of Energy Services Group, which Energy Transfer and Eastern Shore both identified as their third-party provider, in a Bloomberg report. "We are investigating the re-establishment of this data," Latitude said in a message to customers.

Just the facts

"Cyber attacks can range from denial-of-service, malware, insider threat, etc. The problem is that there is no specific given to the type of attack that occurred at the pipeline infrastructure," said Dewan Chowdhury, chief executive and founder of security provider, MalCrawler. "Right now, everybody is speculative except for the companies involved and law enforcement agencies. I can tell you that based on experience from conducting cybersecurity assessment on downstream natural gas operators is that the connection between them and their upstream supplier is not very secure."

"Based on what I have read, this looks like a fairly traditional attack. I have seen no evidence of deliberate targeting of the pipeline control systems," said Eric Cosman, security expert and consultant with ARC Advisory Group.

"The common thread here is that the affected companies used a third-party electronic data interchange (EDI) provider and relied on that service," said John Cusimano, director of cybersecurity at aeSolutions. "It is not uncommon in the energy industry that energy distribution companies (e.g. pipelines, utilities, etc.) rely on third-party data for their logistics planning (where energy needs to go, how much, when, etc.).

"The main takeaway from this event is that there definitely are people/organizations that are attempting to disrupt U.S. energy distribution using cyber means. The second takeaway is that all companies, but especially U.S. energy companies, need to risk assess (or re-assess) the cybersecurity of external information resources (ref NIST Cybersecurity Framework ID.AM-4)," Cusimano said.

"This wasnt an attack on the control systems," said Patrick McBride, vice president at network monitoring provider, Claroty. "Time will tell, it could have been financially motivated ransomware attacks. It doesnt smell like it was a state-sponsored attack."

"I think that its important to make clear that this was not a control system, but rather an Internet-exposed non-real-time data exchange system mandated by FERC to facilitate transparency in the common carrier gas pipeline business," said Graham Speake, chief information security officer at Berkana Resources. "The actual control systems were not impacted and demonstrate the need to ensure a secure barrier between the control systems and business networks. As companies continue to strive to get more information from their sensors and networks to perform analytics, often resorting to cloud based solutions, there needs to be an increased awareness of the security implications. This needs to involve not just technical countermeasures, but also continual security awareness training to all personnel."

Simple communications

"A majority of the time its just a simple RTU to RTU using MODBUS that interconnects the downstream natural gas provider to their natural gas transmission provider," Chowdhury said. "Theres hardly any rule sets that protect both networks. The SCADA communication between both entities is pretty limited regarding what functions they can use for ICS/SCADA purposes. In the power regulated network, you will find technologies that limit the communication flows between industrial control equipment. You can find firewalls that limit SCADA protocol functions (e.g., they are limited just to read, not write), you can also find technology such as data diodes that only allow one-way network traffic. Technology like this is hardly utilized in the connection between downstream natural gas providers and their transmission partners.

"We always recommend to put in security controls that limit what can be communicated between both sides. It can range from a firewall that supports industrial control system protocols that can restrict by SCADA functions. The good thing is that due to interoperability the protocol stack typically utilized between downstream and transmission partners is MODBUS which is widely supported on firewalls. To go beyond the recommended is to implement technologies like data diodes that restrict traffic from going bi-directional, and forcing it to be one way," Chowdhury said.

"We have discovered in several of our assessments that the interconnect to third party data providers are not well secured and are also not well documented or understood by asset owners," Cusimano said. "For example, we recently assessed a large cogen facility for one of our refining clients. The cogen facility is required to share data with their states independent system operator (ISO). This was accomplished using a special server that was dual-homed between the cogen process control network and the ISO through a broadband connection. There was no firewall on the incoming broadband connection. The server was running an end-of-life operating system and hadnt been patched since it was installed. There was a firewall between the dual-homed server and the process control network but the firewall rules were very promiscuous. The dual-homed server was installed and maintained by a local company that specialized in energy management and regulatory compliance solutions. As such, the local cogen staff and management knew very little about the server and didnt even have login credentials (yet it was considered their asset and it was and on their network). This is why it is so important to perform detailed vulnerability and risk assessments performed by third-party assessors who will ask the right questions."

"Critical infrastructure facilities should be on high alert that they are directly in the cross-hairs of bad actors and nation states," said Bob Noel, director of strategic relationships at Plixer. "Legacy security approaches that have only focused on the perimeter have failed. Breaches are inevitable, so organizations must turn their focus to monitoring internal traffic and its behavior to protect themselves and the people who rely on their services."

The electronic systems help pipeline customers communicate their needs with operators, using a computer-to-computer exchange of documents. Energy Transfer said the electronic data interchange system provided by Latitude was back up and working Monday night. The business wasnt otherwise affected, said spokeswoman Vicki Granado.

Eastern Shore Natural Gass Latitude system was restored on Monday as well, the company said in a notice to customers. In addition to providing EDI services, Latitude also hosts websites used by about 50 pipelines for posting notices to customers.

Look at big picture

It would be easy to say this was just an attack against a business network and everyone can breathe easier, but as McBride said, this could have been a pivot point into a bigger and stronger type of assault.

"The broader issues is while it was not an attack on one specific gas company, it was an attack on a third party," McBride said. "This is a reminder that cyber attacks can cause disruptions on the business side, which means all firms are subject to those attacks. They need to be vigilant, not only on the SCADA side, but also on the supporting business system. Third parties can be weak links."

"A major problem within this industry is the lack of cybersecurity funding to secure the infrastructure," Chowdhury said. "Unfortunately, incidents like these rattle the industry to come up with cyber-security plans to secure their environment from the worst case scenario. Groups like The American Gas Association have been working with operators to help improve the overall cybersecurity postures by implementing industry best practice. Let s hope that organizations like this continue their good work, and downstream natural gas operators put the money to invest in cybersecurity."

Gregory Hale is the editor and founder of Industrial Safety and Security Source (ISSSource.com), a news and information Website covering safety and security issues in the manufacturing automation sector. This content originally appeared on ISSSource.com. ISSSource is a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

ONLINE extra

See related stories from ISSSource linked below.Every systems manufacturerfrom machine builders to process engineersmust consider circuit protection. Whether protecting against overloads or short circuits, fuses protect equipment and wire conductors from failure. Fuse elements have not changed in years because of their dependability. Operators also can reduce wiring time by selecting fuse terminal blocks with push-in connection technology (Figure 1).

Fuses work for field use

Fuses were one of the first components developed in electrical engineering. In 1880, Thomas Edison culled the idea to protect an electrical circuit with a predetermined breaking point and filed a patent on this concept. In the event of an overload, the electrical current is concentrated on a defined point by intentionally narrowing the conductor cross-section in the circuit. This basic principle is still implemented today in most fuses.

The purpose of a fuse is to protect equipment and conductors from failure. In the event of a short circuit in device circuitry, for example, a brief overcurrent causes the fuse element to trip and the circuit to open before the device is damaged. In this case, it is vital that the fuse element and the corresponding fuse carrier-a special terminal block-fit the application.

In machine building and systems manufacturing, 520 mm and 6.332 mm cartridge-type fuses are commonly used. They are becoming more prevalent when reliable and accurate circuit protection is required. Due to a wide range of fuse typesfast blow or slow blow, sand-filled, in glass or ceramic housingcartridge fuses are available in many versions. The cartridge design of fuse links is a global standard and has remained consistent for decades since its first inclusion in DIN 41571, the international standard for miniature cartridge fuses.

Fuse terminal blocks, push-in connections

Driven by key trends in cost efficiency and miniaturization, a variety of fuse terminal blocks have been developed. To support market demand, 4-mm multi-level fuse blocks are available for 520 mm cartridge fuses and 6-mm fuse blocks for 6.332 mm cartridge fuses. The series includes disconnect terminal blocks with housings to match the fuse block. This allows field application design flexibility (Figure 2).

Fast and easy push-in connection technology is gaining acceptance in many markets and industries. Seven advantages compared to traditional connection technologies include:

1. Pressure-spring principle operation. With a leg spring, the conductor is plugged into the terminal without the need to first open the terminal point. The leg spring consists of high-strength chromium-nickel steel. The conductive metals made of copper-alloy are protected by lead-free galvanic tin plating. Using similar metals reduces the impact of thermal expansion for copper conductors. The leg spring, based on a sophisticated design, pushes the conductor against the current bar, enabling the conductor to be inserted with 50% less insertion force compared to other spring technology products. This reduces wiring time and delivers reliable connections and time savings for the builder and end user.

2. Compact housing design. In space-sensitive applications, new multi-level fuse terminal blocks save time and space. In conventional sensor/actuator wiring, the power supply and the signal paths are wired separately on adjacent feed-through terminal blocks. These fuse blocks also accommodate wiring for the ground potential of the conductor shield. Greater distances to the control cabinet require larger conductor cross-sections.

In the past, this application would require five terminal blocks. With the newer fuse terminal blocks, this application requires one pair of terminal blocks: one multi-level fuse terminal block and one disconnect terminal block. Taking advantage of a high-density housing width of 6.2 mm and reducing the number of terminal blocks required from five to two can save 18.6 mm of space per assembly (66% when compared to the standard 31 mm).

3. Terminal block accessories. Professional marking to clearly identify each terminal point and conductor location, potential distribution with reliable jumpers, and dual bridge shafts are available (Figure 3).

4. Simple intuitive fuse terminal block assemblies. Field operation and replacement of a blown fuse element should be fast to minimize system downtime. Automotive flat-type C fuses are used in automotive and machine building manufacturing. To meet this growing demand, a fuse terminal block for compact type C fuses according to ISO 8820-3 and DIN 72581-3 is available.

Flat-type C fuses are color-coded to denote current strength. These fuses are available for low voltages up to 48 V, but the fuse carrier can be used for other fuses, including higher voltages up to 250 Vac. The standardized flat-type fuse socket can hold thermal circuit breakers (TCP) that convert a fuse terminal block into a miniature circuit breaker.

In addition to the high nominal voltage, thermal circuit breakers have other benefits. These automatic devices can be switched on/off, and current paths can be enabled using an operating element. In contrast, fuses cannot be repaired and therefore must be replaced after tripping.

5. Less terminal width. Terminal width is significantly less conventional miniature circuit breakers. This saves space in the control cabinet. Flat-type C fuse terminal blocks are available with a cross-section of 6 mm, supporting nominal current of up to 30 A-a performance operating range common for many electrical devices (Figure 4).

6. Standard testing. IEC 60947-7-3 terminal block tests are described in the fuse terminal blocks standard. Specific tests are performed on fuse terminal blocks, including testing for environmental, shock and vibration performance.

7. Testing power dissipation. Due to the nature of fuses, heat is generated during nominal operation. However, temperature limits of plastics and metal parts that an operator may come in contact with must not be exceeded. To determine the limits, fuse terminal blocks are equipped with thermocouples, which monitor the temperature in one arrangement and in a composite arrangement. The value for plastic parts must be below the relative temperature index (RTI) value, which is 130C for Polyamide 6.6. The temperature for metal parts must not exceed 85C. As a result, maximum nominal current and maximum power dissipation for the fuse must be strictly followed.

Automotive fuses, according to ISO 8820-3, have derating curves that must be used in accordance with the fuse manufacturer. In general, ISO 8820-2 recommends a maximum load current of 70% and DIN 72587-3 a maximum load current of 80%.

Alan Sappe is product marketing manager, industrial cabinet connectivity business unit, Phoenix Contact USA; Cory Myer is product specialist for fast connections, industrial cabinet connectivity, Phoenix Contact USA; and Moritz Krink is product manager terminal blocks, industrial cabinet connectivity, Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG; Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

KEYWORDS: Power protection, industrial fuses

Short-circuit protection is available in push-in fuse terminal blocks.

protection is available in push-in fuse terminal blocks. Push-in connection technology is gaining acceptance.

connection technology is gaining acceptance. Advantages compared to traditional connection technologies.

CONSIDER THIS

What advantages can new push-in fuse terminal blocks bring to your applications?CORNWALL, Ontario  The legalization of marijuana has elicited concerns over regulations within the workplace. Today the Cornwall & Area Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC), and the Cornwall Business Enterprise Centre held a luncheon to help local businesses understand how legalization may affect them.

Its a fascinating dynamic that we will be in, at least for the first little while, said the guest speaker Ivan Ross Vrana. Vrana worked with Health Canada for 18 years and is now the Vice President of Public Affairs with Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

Vranas company has noticed a decrease in acceptance of legalization from 65 to 45 per cent through polling ventures over the past three years.

You can use tobacco and alcohol as a bit of a proxy to try and understand this industry a little bit more, and you can certainly try to use it as you try to understand how this will impact your business from an HR policy side, said Vrana.

One of the biggest concerns amongst attendees was the responsibility that employers will face with confronting individuals who could be using marijuana.

Youre going to be telling a worker the exact same thing you would be telling them about alcohol: dont go out at lunchtime and get hammered, said Peter Gray, who works with Inclusion Alliance out of Job Zone demploi. Theres no legislation on it, so, what does that mean? Its going to be up to the individual employer to rewrite all of their policies surrounding that.

Vrana believes that employers have the right to ask if an employee is impaired according to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, even if an employee is taking marijuana for medical purposes. He discussed how there have been some cases where employees have brought their employer to court and lost because it is seen as the employees responsibility to disclose this information.

The Senate is expected to vote on Bill C-45 on June 7.UNITED COUNTIES of SD&G, Ontario  On May 3-4, 2018 Ontario Provincial Police officers conducted speed measuring enforcement in SD&G and intercepted the following vehicles for traveling at excessive speeds. The vehicles were impounded and the drivers permit seized for seven (7) days in accordance to policy.

 May 3, 2018  8:35pm (North Stormont); vehicle stopped travelling 153km/h (80km/h zone)(Highway 138). Male driver (27) from Ottawa, Ontario was charged with Stunt Driving (Highway Traffic Act).

 May 4, 2018  2:18pm (South Glengarry); vehicle stopped travelling 135km/h (80km/h zone)(Highway 401)  Construction Zone. Female driver (21) from Quebec was charged with Stunt Driving (Highway Traffic Act).

 May 4, 2018  4:21pm (South Glengarry); vehicle stopped travelling 140km/h (80km/h zone)(Highway 401)  Construction Zone. Male driver (34) from Barcelona, Spain was charged with Stunt Driving (Highway Traffic Act).

DISTURBANCE

(NORTH STORMONT, ON)  On May 6, 2018 at approximately 8:00am, SD&G OPP officers responded to a report of a neighbour dispute at a residence in North Stormont Township. Investigation indicated that a verbal altercation had taken place between a male and his neighbours. The Investigation revealed that the male had threatened his neighbour and was causing a disturbance.

A 24-year-old male from North Stormont, Ontario was arrested and is charged with;

 Uttering threats

 Causing a disturbance

 Enter premises when entry prohibited (Trespass To Property Act)

He was held in custody and is scheduled to appear in Cornwall court on May 7, 2018.

His name is being withheld in order to protect the identity of the victim.

ASSAULT WITH WEAPON

(SOUTH DUNDAS,ON)  On May 6, 2018 at approximately 7:13 pm, Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry (SD&G) Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers responded to a family dispute in South Dundas Township.

Investigation indicated that an altercation occurred between an adult male and a family member. The accused male struck the victim with a weapon. The investigation further revealed that the accused had struck the victim in the past. The victim received minor injuries and was treated and released at the scene.

A 52-year -old male of South Dundas, Ontario was arrested and is charged with;

 Assault ( 6 counts)

 Assault with a weapon

He was held in custody and is scheduled to appear in Cornwall court on May 7, 2018.

His name is being withheld in order to protect the identity of the victim.CORNWALL, Ontario  In an interview with Seaway News incumbent Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry MPP Jim McDonell of the Progressive Conservative Party gave his vision for the future of the riding and his stance on a few of the major issues of the 2018 campaign.

Education is an issue for a large riding like SD&SG with many small towns dotted across its landscape. In 2016, both the public and Catholic English language school boards in the region went through their Pupil Accommodation Reviews. Early drafts of those plans would have seen schools in the riding like Char-Lan, Seaway District, CCVS and others closed and consolidated.

As the representative for SD&SG, Jim McDonell said he tabled two bills in the legislature to address the school closure issue, but both died after the legislature was prorogued.

McDonell said that he wanted to see better funding for rural education. He responded to the Ontario NDPs plan to have a one-year moratorium on school closures as a band aid solution.

Moratoriums are easy, he said. You really have to look at how we are providing education.

McDonell also responded to another NDP plan. The Ontario NDP want to see Hydro One entirely publicly owned again, but McDonell said that that plan is not as easy as it sounds.

I think we favoured keeping it public, he said. But now the Liberals have made it really hard to buy back.

McDonell said that his party, if elected would dismantle the Green Energy Act, which was supported by the Ontario NDP, and McDonell says that the act is forcing Hydro to buy electricity at much higher prices.

We will reverse any policy that we can that forces Hydro to buy power at higher prices, he said.

McDonell also said that locally, his party wanted to create a better environment for municipalities by providing better sources of municipal funding.

We need to get rid of a lot of red tape, he said. And we need to look to providing more sources of income.

He pointed to the Liberal governments decision to remove $24 million a year for four years from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund as an example of the Province increasing the provincial burden.

There is an issue of having an open and transparent government, he said. You need to see where the money is going.

In SD&SG McDonell is competing against Marc Benoit of the Ontario NDP and Heather Megill of the Ontario Liberal Party.

The province heads to the polls on Thursday, June 7.SOUTH STORMONT, Ontario  Tammy Hart has been the Deputy Mayor of South Stormont for the past eight years, and before that she was a Councillor for four. Now, Hart has decided to run for Mayor.

Im looking forward to the challenge, said Hart. I feel that Im ready for this, being that I put 12 years into everything. I look forward to working with staff and the new council we get, and I feel comfortable.

Hart believes that Mayor Jim Bancroft improved staff communications and respect over the past four years.

I just cant say enough about the staff and employees in general, said Hart. Weve got a good crew in every department, and they all work hard. I think thats what makes you a good mayor at the end of the day. So, Im hoping that will continue.

Maintaining infrastructure is one of Harts priorities going into this election.

Im concerned about the demographics and trying to keep our little villages and towns surviving, because the cities are always getting bigger and rural areas are getting smaller, said Hart.

Hart plans on promoting shopping locally, growing businesses and inviting development. She also plans on maintaining low taxes and transparency. Hart also prides South Stormont for having the best recreational services in the SDG Counties.

We have a wonderful website that promotes so much, said Hart. Weve improved (the website) immensely, so I think that gives a good opportunity for more tourism and growth.

According to Hart, one of the greatest challenges for the township will be finding funding for the Long Sault-Ingleside Regional Water Treatment Plant.

Were talking an almost $27 million improvement plan for that, and I dont know how we will manage that, said Hart.

Hart believes that the township will need to be strategic with spending due to less funding from the provincial government. She also said that during the next term the township will be looking into resolving some water billing issues.

Hart loves to spend time with her grandchildren and work on her family farm. She understands how the role of Mayor may impact this, but is prepared to juggle all of her responsibilities.

Its certainly going to be challenging, but Im up for that challenge, said Hart. Ive already spoken to my family and husband about that and they understand the consequences of going into a field thats more demanding than what the deputy mayor position used to be.

The upcoming municipal election will be held on Monday, Oct. 22.UNITED COUNTIES of SD&G, Ontario  The United Counties of SD&G warned the public on Monday, May 14 that their residents might be affected by the looming strike in Cornwall.

City of Cornwall employees who are members of various local chapters of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have threatened to strike on May 17.

The strike would affect indoor workers, outdoor workers, library employees and paramedics.

Due to their essential service agreements, paramedics would not be able to strike fully, but they will be working on a reduced schedule. In Cornwall there are usually nine ambulances covering the area, under strike conditions, that would be reduced to three.

For the duration of any labour disruption, the assistance of the public is needed to ensure those that truly require emergency services have them available, the United Counties said in a media release. Please call 911 for ambulance assistance if it is needed for severe emergencies such as shortness of breath, chest pain, major traumatic injury or having suffered a period of unconsciousness. If possible, please have someone drive you to your clinic, doctors office or emergency department for all other medical issues.

Other services affected include Social & Housing Services, Child Care, Ontario Works and the Ontario Renovates, Social Housing (Registry) & Rent Supplement Program.

During the strike, the Winchester satellite office for Cornwall Social & Housing Services will be closed, Child Care applications will have to be made in person at the Cornwall office, Ontario Works applicants are being asked to apply online or by calling 613-933-6282 ext. 3205.

Inside workers have reached the same impasse faced by all other city workers, said Keith Sandford, CUPE National Representative in an earlier CUPE media statement. We need to see some movement at the bargaining table if we are going to avoid a city-wide work stoppage. Were ready to work hard in negotiations, but were also preparing for a strike as necessary.Offering it what it calls the most inclusive luxury experience, Regent will up its premium deployment mix come 2019, as premium-priced itineraries will account for 73 percent of cruises, compared to 69 percent this year.

Pricing on premium itineraries is expected to be 40 percent higher, the line said, in an investor presentation given by Jason Montague, president and CEO, Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

How does the brand describe itself? Dominant, award-winning luxury cruise operator offering most inclusive luxury experience at industrys highest pricing.

The brand has embraced a transparent pricing strategy, improving its booked position while increasing capacity by 40 percent.

That pricing strategy is simple, with the lowest fares available when bookings open. The Miami-based cruise line then raises prices on a quarterly basis.

A freshened marketing strategy has seen Regent partner with Epsilon, a big data firm, for detailed and extensive data mining for direct mail campaigns.

On the web, the brand reported a 15 percent increase in web traffic in 2017, and an 80 percent increase in website-generated leads.

Fifty-eight percent of Regent guests were repeat passengers in 2017. The company said it is expecting a record 2018, with record gross revenue and pricing expected.Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Balmoral is set to launch her first season from Edinburgh (Rosyth) on May 16 on a 10-night "Swedish Waterways & Cities" sailing, according to a statement.

The 1,350-guest Balmoral will be offering a record nine sailings from Edinburgh (Rosyth) during the 2018-2019 cruise season, between May and July 2018, which is an increase on the eight departures onboard Black Watch in 2017, the company said.

Clare Ward, Director of Product and Customer Service at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:

We have been extremely encouraged by the warm reception that our flagship Balmoral has received in Scotland. We have booked more guests onto the ship out of Rosyth than we did for whole of our last cruise season put together.

We thank Forth Ports for their commitment to enhancing the experience for our guests from Rosyth, and we are confident that our Scottish customers  old and new  will thoroughly enjoy their holiday on board stylish Balmoral, which features many Scottish links and themes throughout.

Fred. Olsen has also confirmed its commitment to Edinburgh (Rosyth) with a second program of departures from the convenient Scottish port aboard Balmoral in 2019-2020.

During its 2019-2020 cruise season, Balmoral will be offering a total of eight cruise holidays from Edinburgh (Rosyth), between June and August 2019.The Port of Sokcho in South Korea welcomed the Costa Serena on May 11, as the ship become the largest vessel ever to call on the port.

The port has been upgrading its facilities to handle larger ships, and is also expecting a call from the Costa Fortuna this September. The ultimate goal is to have the Quantum of the Seas call in 2019, a spokesperson said.

In order to celebrate the inaugural call of Costa Serena, the port arranged an event pierside, inviting the captain of the ship, local governor and other VIP guests.

The ship sailed from Sokcho with calls scheduled at Vladivostok, Muroran, Hakodate and Busan.Carnival Corporation has signed a deal with Meraas for the Dubai Cruise Terminal, which will become the company's primary hub for its homeporting and transit operations in the region, according to a statement.

The partnership will also result in both parties "working together to identify and grow the cruise tourism business in the Arabian Gulf region," with operations starting in late 2020.

Speaking on the agreement, Arnold W. Donald, Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation said: We have a long history in Dubai with our world-leading cruise brands. We are excited to be part of this important venture that will drive new tourism opportunities for Dubai and the region through cruising.

Carnival Corporation will launch new cruises from Dubai Cruise Terminal and aims to attract new source markets from India and China, the company said.

The cruise terminal is designed as a strategic maritime center, providing easy access to and from the city, while offering passengers an unparalleled view of iconic landmarks, such as Ain Dubai and the upcoming Dubai Lighthouse, as well as the Dubais stunning urban skyline.

Dubai Harbour will be home to two cruise terminal buildings, spanning a total of 30,000 square meters, joined by a single quay of about 1 kilometer, capable of accommodating up to three cruise ships concurrently, including Carnival Corporations newest and most advanced cruise ships, as well as up to 13,200 passengers at a time. In anticipation of an upsurge in cruises, Meraas has planned for the addition of two more terminal buildings that will increase capacity to six cruise ships at the same time.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said that mega projects being implemented in the UAE are reinforcing the countrys profile globally as a model for sustainable growth driven by diversification, innovation and productive partnerships with the private sector.

We welcome visitors from across the world and provide them with an exceptional tourism experiences. We want them to leave with lasting memories that they can share in their countries and communities. The continuous development of infrastructure has enabled our country to be a destination of choice in the region. Supported by the talent and creativity of our people, I am confident that we will be able to establish global leadership in several sectors. The UAE will continue to be a symbol of progress and prosperity, Sheikh Mohammed added.

HH Sheikh Mohammeds remarks came as he approved the "Dubai Cruise Terminal" as the main hub for cruise tourism in Dubai. His Highness also attended the signing ceremony of a strategic partnership agreement between Meraas and Carnival Corporation that aims to transform Dubai into a major regional maritime tourism hub, according to a statement.

Under the agreement, signed by His Excellency Abdulla Al Habbai, Group Chairman of Meraas, and Arnold W. Donald, Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, the companies will collaborate across several strategic areas including port development, terminal management and new cruise development opportunities at Dubai Harbour and the broader region.Put out a welcome mat for good Samaritans bearing bad news.

It sounds easy, but 94 percent of the Forbes Global 2000 offers no easy way for security researchers to report bugs in good faith. Part of the problem, Katie Moussouris tells CSO, is that business leaders confuse vulnerability disclosure with bug bounties. Good Samaritans and bounty hunters are not the same.

Moussouris built Microsoft's vulnerability disclosure program, the first of its kind for a major corporation, helped the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) launch their Hack the Pentagon program, and has testified before the U.S. Congress on bug bounty programs. She's the co-author of ISO 29147, Vulnerability Disclosure, and ISO 30111, Vulnerability Handling Processes, and the founder and CEO of Luta Security.

In an interview with CSO, Moussouris talked about what a vulnerability disclosure program ought to look like, why companies can't outsource their security to bug bounty hunters, and her experience drafting ISO standards.

On whether bug bounty programs are right for all companies

Moussouris: What I have seen, which disturbs me as a practictioner in this area for 20 years, is that if you look at the Google search terms for bug bounties and penetration testing, they've finally converged. That to me is dangerous. It's dangerous when people think that bug bounties are the same as vulnerability disclosure.

It's dangerous when people think that bug bounties are the same as vulnerability disclosure

They think they can replace penetration testing with bug bounties. It's not the same. A bug bounty is just an incentive to get people to report vulnerabilities to you. Most of the bug bounty bugs these days are XSS vulnerabilities. Tell me you couldn't have an intern find all those using free tools.

Vulnerability coordination and disclosure are absolutely not the same as bug bounty programs.

Yes, I helped create bug bounties. I was trying to create a mechanism for hackers to one, stay out of jail, and two, help people become more secure. It was supposed to catch the things you missed, not to replace penetration testing, replacing running your own tests.

Not enough critical thinking going into bug bounty programs

Moussouris: If these things become the trends, we're going to end up that you're never going to be able to find Lucy and Ethel in the back of that chocolate factory.

Bug bounties are simply a way to feed that funnel of bugs faster, and potentially have more directed results. I haven't seen a lot of smart bug bounties recently, not a lot of critical thinking going into it.

Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory are not well provisioned to deal with vulnerability reports, wherever they're coming from. All these mechanisms, if they are not well provisioned on the back end to do their vulnerability handling process to triage the issue and to determine whether it's something they're going to fix, are not going to have a good vulnerability response process.

How ISO standards for vulnerability coordination and disclosure are made

Moussouris: There are nine stages of hell to the publication of an ISO standard. I do consider them the nine circles of ISO hell, but you're escaping  the inner circle is where you start, and at the end you're ideally not in hell any more.

Luta Security Katie Moussouris

As a hacker could I ever have imagined myself not just contributing to this thing but also becoming one of its authors? If you asked me ten years ago, 'are you going to become an ISO standards author,' I'd have said, 'What are you talking about? I want to live!'

It was a labor of love because of my unique position of having done all three roles  bug finder, vulnerability coordinator, and vendor  and not many people had done that, especially at the time. It was my responsibility to see this not turn out badly.

The ISO standard mentions all three roles, but only describes the activities for the vendor. The reason for that is I have never met any hackers who were interested in being ISO compliant. There's no reason for hackers to do so. There is a reason for vendors to do so. ISO standards are often put in procurement requirements for contracts, especially the ISO 27000 series to get federal contracts. It's a shorthand for assurance that your vendor is doing whatever you're interested in them doing properly.

I have never met any hackers who were interested in being ISO compliant.

A bug bounty program that didn't work

Moussouris: The EU parliament set aside 1.9 million euros to fund bug bounties against open source software that is widely deployed across EU governments. Open source software projects have even fewer resources to maintain the software. There are commonly very few dedicated maintainers. We saw it with OpenSSL, they had like one-and-a-half dedicated maintainers, before people started saying maybe we should actually fund this thing the whole internet is depending on right now.

Instead of doing that and asking 'how do we make these open source projects more secure?' and have a more sustainable maintenance plan for them, they put 1.9 million euros for a bug bounty. They did a pilot against VLC, and very few people participated. Five were thanked and three were paid.

Bug bounties give a false sense of security. 'Oh look! We're doing security. We did a bug bounty,' and it turned up three actionable security bugs.

Bug bounties give a false sense of security. 'Oh look! We're doing security. We did a bug bounty!'

There are two extremes right now: no idea where to start or do a bug bounty. I see this over and over again. Legislation has now been passed to hack the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Unless the DHS has enough resources on the back end to process these things, they are not going to be able to fix the bugs that come in from a massive incentive push.

We have companies like Equifax that have patch deployment delays. If the Equifaxes of the world don't have a smooth and robust and fast process to apply patches for known vulnerabilities, what chance does any department of the federal government have? It's insane to do a bug bounty.

It's driving me nuts. I gave this talk at RSA, I called it "Bug Bounty Buzzword Bingo: A Deep Dive Under a Jumped Shark."

No, NIST isn't going to require bug bounties

Moussouris: The NIST Cybersecurity Framework provides a lot of guidance and it's the bar by which all organizations that want to do business with the federal government, they have to meet this bar.

In the draft 1.1 update, there is language that says organizations should have a way to receive vulnerability reports and process them to resolution and release the results of that. It's basically saying organizations should follow ISO 29147 and 30111.

What's interesting about this is that I had a couple of conversations with people who were freaking out, they thought this meant NIST was going to require them to do bug bounties. Conflation of the two terms is very dangerous.

ISO 29147 revisions: Patch, patch, patch

Moussouris: The revisions were about explaining the sections that dealt with multi-party coordination. That's the situation we find ourselves in every single day. People unwittingly are part of a vulnerability coordination supply chain. How many times do you postpone applying the patch? You're part of the security of your devices. We want to emphasize this all the way down to the deployment level.

That's where security has been falling down. It's not even about addressing the vulnerability anymore. It's about applying the remediation.There are many theories on what propelled Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea (DPRK) to tone down the bellicose rhetoric and meet at the Inter-Korean Peace House in Panmunjom with President Moon Jai-en of South Korea (ROK) in March 2018. They range from a natural catastrophe at the DPRKs nuclear research facility to the weight of the economic sanctions levied against the DPRK was taking its toll.

Let me add one more to the mix. It was the defection to the west of a high-level DPRK official who has knowledge of DPRKs activities against the west. An individual whose knowledge of both nuclear cyber and intelligence efforts being pursued by the DPRK may have been of sufficient weight to tip the proverbial scales. Put more simply, his hole cards were showing, and Kim Jong Un doesnt know who has seen them.

Who is this DPRK defector?

According to the DailyNK (located in Seoul), a man identified only as Mr. Kang, a senior-colonel in his late 50s, defected to the west while posted as head of the Foreign Counterspionage Office of the DPRKs Ministry for State Security. Mr. Kang, was in charge of operations in Russia, China and Southeast Asia. By any measure he would be considered an ultimate insider.

What type of operations was Mr. Kang involved in?

Covert nuclear liaison

Mr. Kang is reported to have directed those operations in China and Russia, which developed talent for the DPRKs nuclear program. In addition, he provided key support to the nuclear program by organizing the covert exchanges between Russian and Chinese scientists with those of the DPRK.

DPRKs counterfeit $100 super note

Mr. Kang is also reported to have absconded with a considerable amount of cash when he disappeared from the Zhongpu International located in Shenyang, China, on Feb. 25, 2018. In addition to cash, he is believed to have taken with him the counterfeit plates/machine associated with the DPRKs counterfeiting of the U.S. $100 bill, a counterfeit that was so precise it was known as the super note.

In late 2017, it was reported that a new super note $100 was discovered in the Seoul branch of the KEB Hana Bank. Speculation immediately followed that the DPRK had resumed the printing of counterfeit U.S. currency to bolster their hard currency reserves. Those plates, will provide a leg-up for the U.S. Secret Service, if they receive them, to providing guidance to the global banking system on the identification of the new variant of the super note.

Why Mr. Kang is damaging to the DPRK?

Mr. Kang was a senior officer within the Foreign Counterespionage group. He was known as part of the Troika, which had responsibility for DPRKs cyber, counterintelligence and nuclear efforts. This included the remit to thwart other nation attempts to penetrate the DPRK regime.

His knowledge, in the hands of a DPRK adversary, would provide an optic into what the DPRK intelligence apparatus knew about the adversarys efforts and what methods were being used by the DPRK to thwart those efforts. In addition, Mr. Kang's knowledge of the DPRKs efforts to penetrate the government and industries of other nations will prove invaluable.

In a nutshell, he is a walking, talking version of the DPRK intelligence playbook. If you are riding the intelligence collection carousel focused on the DPRK, youve just grabbed the brass ring with Mr. Kangs defection.

Why would Mr. Kang defect?

There has been no information that would lead one to believe Mr. Kangs breaking trust with the DPRK had anything to do with ideological beliefs. All available information indicates he was running for his life.

What is Group 109

The DPRK populations access to information is limited. Netflix hasnt quite made its way to the DPRK, and the 28 websites available to the the privileged within the population constitutes the online experience.

Like water finding its way down a rocky slope, so too do the people of North Korea in their quest for information. To thwart these efforts, Kim Jong Un created Group 109, which is responsible for identifying those who may be watching and distributing foreign media  television programs, information, etc.

Group109 monitors mobile phone users via a number of methods, including the Red Star operating system, which allows the government to access users of the 3G cellular networks devices to scan for subversive or illegal content. They also conduct physical searches of the homes of those who are suspect.

Mr. Kangs sons home was searched by Group 109, as he had been detected watching South Korean and U.S. movies. During the search they found ledgers that allegedly detail Mr. Kangs activities and monies earned in secret from his perch in China  money that would be viewed as illicit and illegal personal gains.

What is the DPRK doing about it?

Pyongyang summoned Mr. Kang for discussions. Alarm bells went off. This was enough for Mr. Kang to deduce that his gig was up and to either go to the discussions and face the music of his personal indiscretions and greed, which would most likely include meeting his demise, or run. He chose the latter, leaving his family to fend for themselves.

Once his absence was noted, Kim Jong Un is reported to have dispatched two teams of assassins to locate and eliminate Mr. Kang.

Mr. Kang's information on the cyber, nuclear and intelligence activities no doubt caused the EKG to display a few spikes, but it was personal for the leader of the DPRK. Mr. Kangs ancestry makes him a prominent individual within the DPRK  he was blood. The DailyNK explains, From Kim Jong Uns perspective, Mr. Kang was vital to preserving North Koreas lineage.

Given Kim Jong Uns willingness to execute and assassinate family members, Mr. Kang may have made the right decision.

Mr. Kang is believed to have found his way to either the U.K. or France.

Kim Jong Un knows his playbook has been laid bare, and while he no doubt has a few cards up his sleeve to pull out at the appropriate time, he has shown up at the table in Panmunjom and can be expected to show up in Singapore on June 12, 2018.MONROE - Two employees were injured when a fire broke out in Axel Plastics Research Laboratories Monday afternoon.

The extent of the injuries suffered by the two-unidentified people was not released and fire officials would not say whether any toxic fumes were released into the air from the fire.

Axel Plastics, a New York-based company, manufactures mold releases and additives for plastics, rubbers and urethanes at 50 Cambridge Drive, off Pepper Street. The company, which opened its plant her in late 2015, employs more than 40 people.

Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Catalano said shortly before 2:30 p.m., EMS and police were called to Axel Plastics for a reported fire in the building with an injured party. This was a chemical fire that was extinguished prior to the fire department's arrival, Catalano said.

Two employees were taken to St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport but Catalano had no further information regarding the extent of their injuries or condition.

He said the cause of the fire is under investigation by fire marshal and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Founded in 1941, Axel is a privately held company in its third generation of family ownership and operation.According to Nielsens 2015 Global Corporate Sustainability report, 66 percent of global consumers surveyed said they were willing to pay more for sustainable brands. When the consumers surveyed were limited to just millennials, the number jumped to 73 percent.

Related: What Big Companies Can Teach Small Business Owners About Sustainability

Sustainability, then, is more than just a buzzword. It's a much-lauded, frequently cited goal in the world of business. A company like Freightera, a Vancouver-based freight marketplace, knows this well. Freightera takes sustainability seriously and as a result is reaping benefits, in both the ethical and commercial sense.

That's significant because the freight industry is a major cause of air pollution and one of the fastest-growing contributors to climate change. Freightera, which connects businesses that need to ship freight with freight-transportation companies that make up this multibillion-dollar global logistics industry, is trying to change that.

Specifically, Freightera is building what it calls North America's first low-emission freight marketplace. The company has partnered with Natural Resources Canadas energy-efficiency SmartWay program to reduce fuel costs and emissions from freight transportation. Freighteras own Go Green option is allowing shippers to choose freight quotes by lower emission, in addition to price and shipping time.

It is far too late, in terms of climate change, air and water pollution, and fundamental inequality, for business to be organized purely for profit, CEO Eric Beckwitt said in an interview, explaining his company's stance. Businesses, especially large firms, are superbly positioned to rapidly improve social and environmental conditions, and reduce emissions to prevent climate change. It is time for businesses to lead.

Freightera's Go Green option allows customers to select quotes based on lower emission carriers in addition to shipping time and price. As a result, 78 percent of the loads that Freightera books are now shipped by low-emission carriers, according to its website.

How sustainability fits into commercial success

More and more people have come to believe in a link between commercial success and a business's commitment to sustainable development.

Related: Improve Employee Morale and Save Money by Going Green

And committing to business goals that align with the health of the planet can pay off. Nielsen's report noted that in 2015, the year of its publication, sales of consumer goods from brands that had demonstrated a real commitment to sustainability grew, on average, more than 4 percent globally. Those that did not have such a commitment grew, on average, less than 1 percent.

The implication was, and is, that consumers are paying attention. They're favoring brands that have committed to the social good in various ways, including sustainable development. While many big businesses are communicating such a commitment, only a quarter are linking this purpose to sustainable development. And fewer still appear to truly live that purpose.

At Freightera, the company's commitment to sustainability is no accidental choice, Beckwitt said. He said he feels strongly that all businesses should have a guiding social or environmental reason for their existence, and that profit should merely be a by-product.

So, companies need to go beyond contributing to public and individual funds that support sustainability efforts, Beckwitt said. They should instead change how their own products are manufactured and shipped, to decrease their carbon footprint.

Fortunately, findings like those from Nielsens indicate that sustainability can be a win/win scenario for companies because they're rewarded by consumers, in a kind of virtuous cycle.

Related: Corporate Social Responsibility Can Actually Be a Competitive Advantage, So Where's Your CSR Program?

Bottom line

Companies organized around solving social and environmental problems, then, can find profits even as they make real contributions to the most challenging problems facing humanity. To fully benefit from the interdependency between a goal like sustainable development and commercial success, businesses need to articulate a clear purpose. Our future depends on it.

Related:

Why All Businesses Can Benefit from a Guiding Social or Environmental Purpose

Tiny Business Is Serious Business

Dubai Based Inventors Receive International Acclaim for Environmental Sustainability Solutions



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedBoth the House and Senate are in session this week, and House leadership announced last week that a vote is possible on the NAFCU-backed Economic, Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) before Memorial Day. Ahead of a House vote on the issue, NAFCU lobbyists are continuing to hold bipartisan meetings on Capitol Hill throughout the week, and the association encourages credit unions to keep contacting members of Congress and urge their support of S. 2155.

NAFCU has long fought to reduce burdensome regulations placed on credit unions; the association was the only trade group to oppose subjecting credit unions to CFPB authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. More recently, NAFCU has been vocal on its support for S. 2155 since it was introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and several Democratic members of the committee in November.

NAFCU and credit union advocacy efforts led to announcements last week by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, that other regulatory relief measures may get considered in addition to S. 2155.Iran Likely To Retaliate With Cyberattacks

Iran is likely to respond with cyberattacks against Western businesses in response to the Trump administration's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, cybersecurity experts say. Recent research suggests attacks could come "within months, if not faster," according to security firm Recorded Future.

The research paints a detailed picture of how Iran uses contractors and universities to staff its offensive cyber-security operations, or hacking efforts, against foreign targets.

A former insider with knowledge of Iran's hacking operations said the attacks are likely to be launched by contractors and thus pose a greater risk of spinning out of control.

Recently, President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, a pact of Western nations that pledged to lift economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for limiting its nuclear program. The UN's nuclear verification agency said Iran had complied with the agreement. Although there has been no evidence or intelligence to suggest a cyber-attack is in the works, researchers say they predict, based on Iran's past cyber activities, that retaliatory cyber-attacks are likely.

"We assess that within months, if not sooner, American companies in the financial, critical infrastructure, oil, and energy sectors will likely face aggressive and destructive cyber-attacks by Iranian state-sponsored actors," said Priscilla Moriuchi, a former NSA analyst, now at Recorded Future

"The Islamic Republic may utilise contractors that are less politically and ideologically reliable, and trusted, and as a result, could be more difficult to control," she said.

Countries allied with the US and Europe, like Saudi Arabia and Israel, are also at risk, the report said. Levi Gundert, who co-authored the research, told ZDNet the attacks will likely aim for "maximum impact," such as a malware attack rather than a denial-of-service attack. Much of the research is centered on Iran's long-known history of targeting Western businesses and governments with cyber-attacks in response to sanctions, largely because of how quickly the hackers could turn around an attack.

Tehran began strengthening its cyber capabilities following the Green Revolution, a period of intense protests in Iran against the incumbent government during the Arab Spring in 2009. The government responded with a heavy crackdown, with an increased focus on cyber operations.

But some of the best hackers available were primarily young and financially driven, said the report. This led to mistrust and fears that the hackers could be bought by foreign intelligence agencies. According to the former insider, that led to a tiered trust system that centered Tehran's hacking efforts around a central team of trusted and ideologically aligned middle management that dishes out assignments to contractors, often pitting teams against each other, who get paid only when the work is completed.

The government also uses compartmentalisation, giving one team an infiltration mission and using another to launch a remote code execution attack.

It's estimated that at least 50 organisations are competing for government hacking work, the research said, including contractors and universities to conduct hacking operations.

One such institution, Imam Hossein University , was sanctioned by the US Treasury for its connections to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's military intelligence unit. But because some of Iran's best operators "are not always the most devout or loyal to the regime," the researchers warn they "could be more difficult to control." That may lead to the IRGC choosing a less ideologically driven contractor, capable of delivering a destructive attack in a short period of time, instead of a trusted and less politically driven contractor.

"It is possible that this dynamic could limit the ability of the government to control the scope and scale of these destructive attacks once they are unleashed," the researchers said.

Recorded Future isn't the only company warning of incoming Tehran-backed cyberattacks. Security firm FireEye warned that Iranian hackers were "probing Western critical infrastructure in multiple industries for future attack."

"These efforts did not entirely disappear with the agreement, but they did refocus on Iran's neighbors in the Middle East," said John Hultquist, FireEye's director of intelligence analysis, in an email to ZDNet.

"With the dissolution of the agreement, we anticipate that Iranian cyberattacks will once again threaten Western critical infrastructure," he said.

You Might Also Read:Russian Hackers Try To Penetrate The Sun

The Sun, a leading British daily newspaper, has been targeted by Russian hackers, amid fears emails at other UK news organisations could also be at risk. The UKs best-selling newspaper told staff this week of the cyber security threat and is offering training to make sure they can spot potential phishing attacks.

Buzzfeed News revealed the contents of an email sent by Christina Scott, chief technology officer for Sun parent company News UK, informing staff of the would-be hackers attempts.

Scott wrote: Recently we have seen attempts by IP addresses linked to Russia attempting to connect to our network. We also know email addresses of UK news organisations are being targeted. She added: Russia currently has three active malware campaigns highlighted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)  Cozy Bear, Berserk Bear and Pawnstorm.

We are working with the NCSC to guard against these and are constantly monitoring our networks.

A Sun spokesperson said that as far as the company is aware, there have been no breaches to its computer systems.

This is run of the mill training and training that no doubt all high-profile organisations are engaged in.

As a news company we take cyber security extremely seriously and we are always working to ensure our defences are as robust in the future as they are today.

The UK industry publicataion Press Gazette has contacted the NCSC for further comment on its work with UK news organisations. Its latest advisory notice, released last month alongside the FBI and Department of Homeland Security in the US, warned Russian state-sponsored cyber actors were carrying out the worldwide cyber exploitation of network infrastructure devices.

It said the targets of this malicious cyber activity were primarily government and private-sector organisations, critical infrastructure providers, and the Internet service providers supporting these sectors.

Press Gazette:

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Fake News Will Lead To A Cyber War:Penn State vs. Iowa: How to watch, what to look forIndirect taxes are regressive and direct taxes are progressive."

This is one of the first principles which taught in economics. The reason is simple  indirect taxes affect all individuals whether they can afford to pay taxes or not while direct tax is levied on those who can afford to pay. Thus, indirect taxes should be levied only as a last resort when the direct tax collection is not enough to meet government expenditure or consumption.

This is often forgotten in many countries, including India, in order to meet their target of fiscal deficit. A poor country like India does not have a large tax-paying base and hence the need to levy indirect taxes in the form of customs duty, excise, VAT and now GST. A developing country like India does need huge investments in infrastructure, education and healthcare. There is no escape from direct and indirect taxes.

Oil's not well

However, the question is the amount of tax that is to be levied so that it causes minimum distortions in the economy. The government has also to ensure that it runs an efficient administration and there are minimum leakages and waste in its own expenditures. This unfortunately has not been the case for the past 40 to 50 years.

The government in its wisdom levied income tax to the ridiculous levels of 70 per cent to 90 per cent in the 1970s. There is no doubt that the first source of government income has to be direct taxes, but the rate has to be such that a majority of the tax payers comply. This ham-handed approach caused most of the income to go underground and the black economy flourished in connivance with a pliant bureaucracy. The same approach was followed in regard to indirect taxes with very high excise duty and sales tax rates. This caused clearance of goods from factories without invoices.

Wisdom dawned on the government in the 1990s and reasonable rates were applied. This immediately resulted in greater compliance and the tax base widened yielding higher revenue for the government.

A notable exception has been the oil sector. Here, the whimsical policies of taxation have continued. Galloping oil prices from 1990s made the governments nervous. They realised that oil could become a political hot potato. But at the same time they realised that increasing demand for oil could yield a large tax collection for the government. So a bizarre policy was followed. The government forced oil-producing companies to keep an artificially low price with subsidies in the form of oil bonds while levying high taxes in the form of excise duty, customs duty and sales tax. This kept the official fiscal deficit under control while the oil pool deficit kept on increasing or decreasing according to the international oil prices. Creative accounting at its best.

Let us now look at the present scenario. Post-2014, oil prices slid for almost four years in a row. It was a bonanza for the government. The government in its wisdom decided that instead of passing on the benefits to the consumer, the government should increase its tax collection and increase government investment. The excise duty has been increased from around Rs 9 per litre to Rs 21 per litre which has been now made Rs 19 per litre.

Similarly, excise duty on diesel has been hiked steeply. The total central tax collection has increased from Rs 88,000 crore to Rs 2,53,000 crore in 2016-2017. It is a steep increase of Rs 1,65,000 crore. The states collect about Rs 18,000 crore as VAT. Thus, the total collection is in excess of Rs 4,00,000 crore.

No government would like to give up such a bounty. Understandably, it has been kept out of GST since GST rates cap at 40 per cent while the present arrangement results in a rate of around 100 per cent. This has resulted in India having about the highest oil prices in the world. Let us now look at the impact of this whimsical method of oil pricing.

An artificial price of an important input in todays economy bears no relation to the cost. It is either artificially lowered or increased depending on government finances. Thus, our freight costs are either low or high as compared to the rest of the world.

Presently, with prices higher than the rest of the world, it affects us competitively and reduces our exports. It also reduces private consumption because of lower disposable income. The government may argue that they are using the money to increase government consumption and investment. That may well be true. But we all know that private consumption is always more efficient than government consumption. There is also a basic tenet of economics involved. Let the costs reflect the prices of the inputs. This always results in an efficient economy.

The government may find it difficult to meet its fiscal deficits. They have to get down to putting their own house in order. Our bleeding public sector units are a huge drain on our economy. Air India has an accumulated loss of over Rs 50,000 crore. There are many such public sector units which have to be pruned. These are not politically easy things to do and hence the easy option of milking the oil sector continues. The government can also look at its own bloated administrative expenses and become more lean.

We keep on talking about India being the fastest growing economy in the world and compare ourselves to China. But China is five times larger economy and its base is five times larger. Thus our growth of 7.3 per cent as compared to their 6.8 per cent is no big deal. We need to grow at 10 per cent for a decade and it is possible if we stop looking at easy options.

This 10 per cent growth will take care of all our problems, including eradication of poverty, fiscal deficits and government investments. Let us make our economy more efficient and we would have arrived at the world stage as a mighty power. There are no easy options.

Also read: Modi government's fuel price hike is taking the steam out of achhe dinIn a famous speech to the Constituent Assembly, BR Ambedkar asserted that the individual not the group was the basis of the Constitution. Of course, he was referring to past groups. Elections were to be based on individual votes (apart from some reservations for SC/ST and others). The Constitution did not mention political parties.

Aurangzebs dream

That was understood in the English sense. It was later mentioned in the "symbols" order. Due recognition was given to political parties in the Anti Defection Amendment in 1985. It was expected that candidates (albeit linked to parties) would be selected on merit-performance. The Karnataka elections are the culmination of juggernaut politics in a way that crumbles sensitivities of the electoral process.

It is true that crucial elections have always invited party leaders to canvass. One approach is to take party leaders to the marginal constituencies. The other is the blitzkrieg. Although Karnataka was preceded by UP, Gujarat and Bihar, the nature of elections has altered. Now every election (including a by-election) has the prestige of a general election  with each victory or loss as crucial.

Elections are like an invasion to conquer. The BJP wants to invade strongholds by whatever means. Their strategy was first pointed towards the Northeast, which is separated from mainland India by a chickens neck at Siliguri.

We know that the Northeast was partly won by guile (Presidents Rule in Arunachal, Uttarakhand) and the use of governors where they were not the leading party (Goa, Manipur)  forcing electoral democracy to take a back seat. Karnataka represents the invasion of the South across the Vindhya mountains into different realms separated by language, culture, beliefs and practice.

What was involved in this invasion was establishing the BJP empire in the South, putting all their resources into it. Curiously, it was Aurangzebs (whom the BJP despise) dream to extend the Mughal Empire beyond the Vindhyas. In pursuing that dream the BJP wants the annihilation of the Congress party at every juncture.

The battle was pitted at different battlegrounds. The entire forces of the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his general Amit Shah. Joining the fray were eleven odd ministers at the centre. The rulers of Delhi seemed to abandon governance of the nation. It was during this period that Trump imposed sanctions on Iran, which will have a mighty effect on Indias oil and its strategic initiative for a port to access Central Asia.

It is no excuse to say that government carries on because bureaucrats run it. Or that the PM was briefed. The only external affairs initiative of Modi was to engage Nepal and assure that a road would be built to connect Nepals religious sites with Ayodhya. Saffron-clad chief minister Adityanath of UP found himself in Karnataka when burning issues need attention in his state.

Capital personalities

Unconnected was the CM of Haryana questioning whether Muslims could pray in the open. In the Babri Masjid case (1994) the Supreme Court said Muslims dont need a mosque. They can pray anywhere even in the open. The Lingayat issue surfaces because recognition was given to them by the incumbent government but it may backfire.

Constitutionally, the demand for recognition as a separate faith should not be problematic because monolithic Hinduisms claims over all beliefs other than Christians and Muslims is a hoax though supported by a doubtful judgment in the Swami Narayan case (1966). The Sangh Parivar wants to invite a diversion between Hindus and non-Hindus.

This is its politics played out in the knowledge that pan-Hindus policies can be a trump card for them. Of course, the frontal face is sab ka sath, sab ka vikas.

On its part, Congress took on the challenge to field Rahul Gandhi. The exchanges between the parties were asinine playing on vituperations: Rahul is namdar (derived from his name) or Modi is kamdar (a work based pedigree). Rahul erred in his off-the-cuff statement that he is a possible prime Minister after 2019. But this adds fuel to the fire of juggernaut elections. The fact that the Reddy brothers were with the BJP that was drowned in the rhetoric of exchange.

Hung Assembly

Many young members of the electorate did not know who the chief minister of the state was as they were sucked into personality-based politics. Yet the Yeddyurappa versus Siddaramaiah battle was eclipsed by the New Delhi leadership. Social media targeting has and will play a role. Cambridge Analytica may have gone but its equivalents are very much alive.

Ultimately, its down to the voter and the constituency system. In America, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a million but lost because of Americas electoral system. In India, the aggregate popular vote is eclipsed by constituency results. Psephologists, unable to gauge ground realities suggest that anti-incumbency is a lesser factor.

A hung Assembly is not beyond prediction. Even Amit Shah reduced his expectation from 150 to 130 seats (still above 122). But it is precisely in a hung Assembly that the BJP-appointed governor will play a crucial role. Whether JD(S) will dethrone Congress candidate Siddaramaiah for a price will depend on machinations  the ultimate decision maker.

Juggernaut politics has come to stay and will reflect in forthcoming elections this year in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan as a prelude to the general elections of 2019. Indian democracy is usurped by showmanship and the possibilities of electoral fascism. Karnataka is its grave turning point in the new millennia.

(Courtesy of Mail Today)

Also read: Modi is in Nepal, but Nepalis are unhappy with the visitThis pithy quote from Winston Churchill so aptly sums up politics: In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.

Now take this quote from Newt Gingrich as a telling commentary on the Karnataka Assembly polls the results of which will be out tomorrow (May 15): Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

This is precisely what the movers and shakers of Karnataka politics seem to be doing behind the scenes ahead of counting of votes on Tuesday.

All the three stakeholders  the ruling Congress, the favourite of most exit polls, the BJP, and the perceived kingmaker regional party Janata Dal(Secular)  is doing exactly this. It is practicing perseverance after getting tired of doing the hard work it has already done.

The 'kingmaker' and his Dailt connect

All three parties are working on the likely scenario following the exit polls that Karnataka election results may throw up a hung House with the JD(S) as the likely bride with two suitors on its hot pursuit  the Congress and the BJP.

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy left for Singapore hours after the voting ended on May 12, ostensibly to avoid the prying media. However, he is constantly in touch with both the BJP and the Congress.

The Congress has thrown a spanner in the works by indicating that it would be game to drop its chief ministerial candidate Siddaramaiah, an anathema to the JD(S), to keep its hopes alive of forming the government with the help of the regional party in case of a hung Assembly.

After all, the Congress party is still smarting under the eventual political outcome in states like Goa and Meghalaya, where the BJP managed to form government with the help of allies though the Congress was ahead of the BJP in the numbers game.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has said on record that while he is willing to stay on as chief minister for another term, he would step aside for a Dalit candidate if the party high command so desired, indicating that the Congress would be game to sacrifice Siddaramaiah to keep Deve Gowda on its side. It's an open secret that Deve Gowda has no love lost for Siddaramaiah who once belonged to his party and was sacked.

Clearing the decks for a Dalit CM?

At the same time, the 69-year-old Siddaramaiah has dangled forth a loaded statement: "I am not against anybody. You see, even the MLAs also have to give their opinion."

Obviously, in the event of a hung House, the Congress cannot get support of the JD(S) with Siddaramaiah still in the picture as the Congress party's chief ministerial candidate. Therefore, the Congress party is bracing itself for a scenario where in the event of a hung House in Karnataka it manages the JD(S) support on the Dalit card and expends Siddaramaiah. Anything is possible in power politics. After all, it is the responsibility of the Congress to reach out to the JD(S) if it fails to get majority, as Deve Gowda's party has said so bluntly.

The grand old party's Dalit card has caught both the BJP and the JD(S) unawares and put them in a fix. The JD(S) cannot ignore the Dalit factor, otherwise it will be the regional party's political funeral. The BJP too will have to go back to the drawing board if the results on Tuesday throw up a hung House and may have to launch a search expedition for a suitable Dalit leader.

From the Congress viewpoint, this means that suddenly three Dalit leaders of the Congress from the state are in the reckoning for the post of chief minister in the event of a minority Congress government in Karnataka with the help of the JD(S) crutches: Mallikarjun Kharge, G Parameshwara and KH Muniyappa.

For his part, Deve Gowda, who has had alliances with both the Congress and the BJP earlier, has ruled out an alliance with the BJP. Though the former prime minister has merely played to the gallery, the wily old fox is known to be capable of pulling off surprises of the wildest and unimaginable kind. Neither of the two major parties, the Congress and the BJP, can afford to take him on his word. Deve Gowda will extract his pound of flesh before taking sides. The BJP in particular has to remain mindful of the fact that Deve Gowda has already formed a tie-up with the BJPs robust enemy, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati which will extend to the Lok Sabha elections.

Yet the question of chief ministership is open in the event of the Congress forming government as indicated by Siddaramaiah's cabinet colleague DK Shivakumar, who shares his Vokkaliga roots with Deve Gowda, thus: "We will decide who will be the chief minister later. But Siddaramaiah is our leader."

The moral of the story is simple. The feisty Congress is trying everything to keep the BJP at bay; the BJP with far deeper pockets is majorly in the hunt; and the JD(S) is playing the role of a much sought-after bride. The political equations can swing from one extreme end to another in case the results throw up a hung House.

If the Kannadigas were to actually turn in a fractured mandate, an intricate political battle will inevitably ensue. Right now a net practice is going on among the major players. We will get to know tomorrow.

Also read: Modi is in Nepal, but Nepalis are unhappy with the visitNinety-two-year-old Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad's resounding victory in the recent polls in Malaysia, after remaining in political wilderness for so long, assumes huge political significance not only for Malaysia but entire South East Asia. With the latest development, Mahathir has become the oldest head of state in the world and this is no mean achievement.

When Mahathir was ruling Malaysia in the 1990s, the country saw rapid improvement in almost all spheres. More importantly, practising liberal Islam, Malaysia was able to check radicalisation at a time when neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines etc were struck by ultra-Islamisation.

At a time when neighbouring Thailand was hit by violent terror attacks, Malaysia flourished economically.

People, especially the detractors of Mahathir, had written him off for good yet he bounced back with a thumping win and the development surely has some reasons to call for a thorough audit of his return to power.

United Malay Nationalist Organisation (UMNO), of which Mahathir was a founder member, elected the nonagenarian despite his age. This is being seen as a way to get Malaysia back to being a progressive country, which has of late seen several economic reverses.

It is now evident that people were really keen to end an era of corruption, politics of vendetta and nepotism.

Long before the elections date, the voters had made up their minds to choose Mahathir. The country's middle-class, comprising mostly Chinese and people of Indian origin, had made up their minds that a robust economic revival was the need of the hour and Najib Razak was no more capable of doing the job.

Razak is embroiled in a multi-billion dollar corruption case that has hit the reputation of the country. Similarly, the country's bureaucracy is mired in corruption and oligarchy.

Mahathir has made it amply clear that he is neither interested in power nor position but only in radical change. He himself claims to be a temporary occupant of the seat until a full pardon is formally announced for political adversary Anwar Ibrahim.

Notably, the elections saw a high voter turnout of over 82 per cent. This again is a testimony of a push for change. People travelled across from far-flung areas to their registered voting locations to cast their votes. They looked determined to oust the previous regime run by Barisan Nasional (BN) decimating it for good.

Experts on Malaysian internal affairs reckon that Mahathir would come down heavily on his immediate predecessor Razak and also hold to account those responsible for rampant corruption. There is a kind of fear currently prevailing among the corrupt polity and bureaucracy that a surgical cleansing is underway and many heads are likely to roll.

Here, it is also pertinent to state that Mahathir's record of governance during his earlier term from 1981-2003, was completely result-oriented where economic modernisation was more than visible. His political perceptions have always been innovative and so are his ways to administer with an iron hand.

He differs with the concept of democracy as perceived by the western countries. Time and again, Mahathir had gone on record clarifying that South East Asian nations need a different sort of democratic process to govern in order to tackle the malaise of corruption.

He probably believes in a kind of benevolent despotism to address the issues of corruption. It is, therefore, very likely that Malaysia may see Mahathir unleashing tougher measures to govern to see the desired results.

As a "no-nonsense" political leader from Asia, he always talked to China from a position of strength. Also, in 1970 itself he had charged the ethnic Chinese with trying to eclipse the Malay economy. With his ascent to power, we may now expect Mahathir to deal with China strictly. ASEAN would also expect to see and benefit from the statesmanship and visionary ideals of Mahathir.

India enjoys good relations with Malaysia. During Najib Razak's to India in 2017, business deals worth $36 billion were undertaken. As many as 31 memorandums of understanding were signed. Earlier, Malaysia had supported India vis-a-vis ASEAN. Trade and cultural relations between the two countries have been robust since the 1950's.

It is hoped that the rhythm of the bilateral relations will be maintained with renewed vigour under Mahathir.

Also read: Karnataka elections saw Modi take political discourse to a new lowSendGrid, Inc. operates as a digital communication platform in the United States and internationally. Its cloud-based platform provides various tools to the businesses, including developers and marketers to reach their customers using an email. The company offers services, such as email application programming interface (API), which allow developers to use its API in their preferred development framework and to use its platform to add email functionality to their applications; marketing campaigns that allow marketers to upload and manage customer contact lists, create and test email templates, and execute and analyze email campaigns to engage customers; and expert services to help businesses optimize their email delivery. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

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View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Conagra Brands, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of processed and packaged foods. It operates through the following segments: Grocery and Snacks; Refrigerated and Frozen; International; and Foodservice. The Grocery and Snacks segment includes branded, shelf stable food products sold in various retail channels in the United States. The Refrigerated and Frozen segment comprises branded, temperature controlled food products sold in various retail channels in the United States. The International segment consists branded food products, in various temperature states, sold in various retail and foodservice channels outside of the United States. The Foodservice segment focuses in the branded and customized food products, including meals, entrees, sauces, and a variety of custom-manufactured culinary products packaged for sale to restaurants and other foodservice establishments in the United States. The company was founded by Alva Kinney and Frank Little in 1919 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Read MoreSEACOR Holdings Inc. engages in transportation and logistics, risk management consultancy, and other businesses in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Ocean Transportation & Logistics Services, Inland Transportation & Logistics Services, Witt O'Brien's, and Other segments. The Ocean Transportation & Logistics Services segment owns and operates a fleet of bulk transportation, port and infrastructure, and logistics assets. It operates carriers for the United States coastwise for trade of crude oil, petroleum, and chemical products; and dry bulk vessels. This segment provides deep-sea vessels docking, ocean towing, and oil terminal support and bunkering services; liner, short-sea, rail car, and project cargo transportation and logistics solutions; door-to-door solutions; and technical ship management services, as well as operates pure car/truck carriers. The Inland Transportation & Logistics Services segment offers river transportation equipment for moving agricultural and industrial commodities and containers, and petroleum products; and owns and operates multi-modal terminal locations. It also provides management services related to barge and towboat operations. The Witt O'Brien's segment provides crisis and emergency management services for the public and private sectors. It serves markets in the areas of critical national infrastructure, including government, energy, transportation, healthcare, and education. The Other segment designs, develops, and maintains alternative energy and power solutions; and offers liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas fuel supply and logistics to commercial, industrial, agricultural, and transportation customers. This segment also engages in the selling, storage, and maintenance of aviation; agricultural commodity trading and logistics businesses; and trading and merchandising of sugar and other commodities. SEACOR Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Read MoreAvient Corp. engages in the business of thermoplastic compounds. It specializes in polymer materials, services, and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, plastic sheet and packaging solutions and polymer distribution. The firm is also involved in the development and manufacturing of performance enhancing additives, liquid colorants, fluoropolymers and silicone colorants. It operates through the following segments: Color, Additives and Inks; Specialty Engineered Materials; and Distribution. The Color, Additives and Inks segment provides custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, speciality inks, plasticols, and vinyl slush molding solutions. The Specialty Engineered Materials segment makes polymer formulations, services, and solutions for designers, assemblers, and processors of thermoplastic materials. The Distribution segment distributes engineering and commodity grade resins, including PolyOne-produced solutions, principally to the North American, Central American, and Asian markets. The firm's products include polymer distribution, screen printing inks, and thermoplastic elastomers. Its services include IQ design and color services. The company was founded on August 31, 2000 and is headquartered in Avon Lake, OH.

Read MorePremium Brands Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes food products primarily in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Specialty Foods and Premium Food Distribution. The company provides meat products and snacks, deli products, beef jerky and halal, sandwiches, pastries, specialty and gourmet products, salads and kettle products, entrees, panini, wraps, subs, hamburgers, burgers, muffins, breads, pastas, and baking and sushi products, as well as processed meat products. It is also involved in the distribution of food products, including meat, seafood, and halal food products, as well as operation of retail/convenience store and concessionary, and provision of food and seafood processing services. The company operates under the brand names of Harvest Meats, Hempler's, Grimm's Fine Foods, Piller's, Freybe, Isernio's, Expresco, SJ Fine Foods, McSweeney's, Made Rite, Fletcher's, Deli Chef, Belmont Meats, Conte Foods, SK Food Group, Oven Pride, Hygaard, Quality Fast Foods, HQ Fine Foods, Creekside Custom Foods, Stuyver's Bread, Bread Garden Express, Audrey's Patisserie, Duso's, Gourmet Chef, Island City Baking, Skilcor, Leadbetter's, Mclean Meats, Buddy's Kitchen, Raybern's, Partner's Crackers, Shaw Bakers, Oberto, Concord Meats, Country Prime Meats, The Meat Factory, and Golden Valley Farms. It serves chains and large format retailers, independent and specialty retailers, foodservice operators, foodservice distributors, and other food manufacturers and food brokers. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada.

Read MoreRPC Group Plc operates as a plastic product design and engineering company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Packaging and Non-Packaging. The Packaging segment designs plastic packaging for end markets, including the food, beverage, personal care, and healthcare markets; and designs and manufactures other plastic products, such as containers for surface coatings comprising paint pots and vaping accessories. It sells its products directly to the brands, as well as to retailers or fillers. The Non-Packaging segment designs and manufactures a range of plastic products that include temporary storage systems for waste and recycling; and technical components for the automotive and heavy vehicles industries. It also makes moulds, which are used to make plastic components and packaging products. This segment sells its products to intermediaries. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rushden, the United Kingdom.

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Ltd., Physio-Control UK Sales Ltd., Pivot Medical, PlasmaSol, Porex Technologies, SSI Divestiture Inc., SYK Costa Rica Services Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, SafeAir AG, SafeWire, Sage Products, Sage Products Coperatief U.A., Sage Products Holdings II LLC, Sage Products Holdings III LLC, Sage Products LLC, Scopis GmbH, Sightline Technologies, Small Bone Innovations, SpineCore, Spirox Inc., Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Stanmore Implants Worldwide Limited, Stanmore Inc., Stryker (Barbados) Foreign Sales Corporation, Stryker (Beijing) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Shanghai) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Suzhou) Medical Technology Co Ltd, Stryker (Thailand) Limited, Stryker AB, Stryker Acquisitions BV, Stryker Asia Holdings CV, Stryker Australia LLC, Stryker Australia Pty. Ltd., Stryker Austria GmbH, Stryker B.V., Stryker Berchtold BV, Stryker Beteiligungs GmbH, Stryker Canada GP ULC, Stryker Canada Holding Company, Stryker Canada Manufacturing ULC, Stryker Canada ULC, Stryker Canadian Management ULC, Stryker Canadian Sales Holding Company ULC, Stryker Capital BV, Stryker China Limited, Stryker Colombia SAS, Stryker Communications Inc., Stryker Corporation (Chile) y Compania Limitada, Stryker Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Stryker Customs Brokers LLC, Stryker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stryker Delaware Inc., Stryker EMEA Supply Chain Services BV, Stryker Employment Company LLC, Stryker European Coordination Center BV, Stryker European Holdings Cooperatief U.A, Stryker European Holdings I LLC, Stryker European Holdings II LLC, Stryker European Holdings LLC, Stryker European Holdings V LLC, Stryker European Operations B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings I BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings II BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings III BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations Limited, Stryker European Technologies C.V., Stryker Far East Inc., Stryker Foreign Acquisitions Inc., Stryker France Holding SNC, Stryker France MM Holdings SAS, Stryker France SAS, Stryker Funding B.V., Stryker GI Services CV, Stryker Global Technology Center Private Limited, Stryker GmbH, Stryker GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Grundstucks GmbH & Co KG, Stryker Grundstucks Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Holdings BV, Stryker IFSC Designated Activity Company, Stryker Iberia SL Unipersonal, Stryker India Private Limited, Stryker International Acquisitions BV, Stryker International Holdings BV, Stryker Investment Holdings B.V., Stryker Ireland Holding Unlimited Company, Stryker Ireland Limited, Stryker Italia S.r.l. S.U., Stryker Japan Holdings BV, Stryker Japan K.K., Stryker Korea Ltd., Stryker Lebanon (Offshore) S.A.L., Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Stryker Luxembourg Sarl, Stryker Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Mauritius Holding Ltd., Stryker Medical London LP, Stryker Medtech K.K., Stryker Medtech Limited, Stryker Mexico Holdings B.V., Stryker Mexico SA de CV, Stryker NV Operations Limited, Stryker Nederland BV, Stryker New Zealand Limited, Stryker Osteonics AG, Stryker Pacific Limited, Stryker Performance Solutions LLC, Stryker Polska Sp.z.o.o., Stryker Portugal - Produtos Medicos Unipessoal Lda., Stryker Professional Latin America S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Puerto Rico Limited, Stryker Romania SRL, Stryker Sage Inc., Stryker Sales Corporation, Stryker Servicios Administrativos S.de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Singapore Private Limited, Stryker South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Stryker Spine SAS, Stryker Spine Sarl, Stryker Sustainability Solutions Inc., Stryker Tibbi Cihazlan Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stryker Trauma GmbH, Stryker Turkish Holdings BV, Stryker UK Ltd, Stryker Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Vietnam Company Limited, Stryker do Brasil Ltda, Surpass Medical, Synergetics, TG SP Holdings Corp, TSO3 Corp, TSO3 Inc, Trauson, Trauson (China) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Trauson (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (BVI) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings Company Limited, VEXIM SA, Vexim, Waterloo Bedding Co., Wright Medical Group, ZipLine Medical Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ZipLine Medical Hong Kong Limited, ZipLine Medical Inc., and eTrauma.com.Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August, 8th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.95) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks' consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.03. The oil and gas company had revenue of $24.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.04 million. Emerge Energy Services had a net margin of 3.39% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 21.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 63.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share.

View Emerge Energy Services' earnings history.Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, national, and international news to professionals through desktop terminals, media organizations, and industry events, as well as directly to consumers. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation is a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited.

Read MoreRayonier Advanced Materials, Inc. engages in the production and sale of cellulose products, which is a natural polymer commonly used in the production of cell phone and computer screens, filters, and pharmaceuticals. It operates through the following segments: High Purity Cellulose, Forest Products, Paperboard, Pulp and Newsprint, and Corporate. The High Purity Cellulose segment manufacture and market high purity cellulose, which is sold as either cellulose specialties or commodity products in U.S., Canda, and France. The Forest Products segment manufacture and market construction-grade lumber in North America through seven sawmills located in Canada. The Paperboard segment comprises paperboard products. The Pulp and Newsprint segment involves in the production of pulp and newsprint in Canada. The Corporate segment consists senior management, accounting, information systems, human resources, treasury, tax, and legal administrative functions that provide support services to the operating business units. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL.

Read MoreDefence lawyers appeal for clients release

Defence attorneys at the ongoing trial of 33 kg gold smuggling and Sanam Shakya murder case argued on Sunday that there was not enough evidence to warrant detention of their clients.CAE Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and supplies simulation equipment and training solutions to defense and security markets, commercial airlines, business aircraft operators, helicopter operators, aircraft manufacturers, and healthcare education and service providers worldwide. The company's Civil Aviation Training Solutions segment provides training solutions for flight, cabin, maintenance, and ground personnel in commercial, business, and helicopter aviation; flight simulation training devices; and ab initio pilot training and crew sourcing services, as well as end to end digitally-enabled crew management, training operations solutions, and optimization software. Its Defence and Security segment offers training and mission support solutions for defense forces across multi-domain operations, and for government organizations responsible for public safety. The company's Healthcare segment provides integrated education and training solutions, including surgical and imaging simulations, curriculum, audiovisual and centre management platforms, and patient simulators to healthcare students and clinical professionals. The company was formerly known as CAE Industries Ltd. and changed its name to CAE Inc. in June 1993. CAE Inc. was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Canada.

Read More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Wall Street analysts have given Absolute Software 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 Absolute Software wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Delhi ready to help reduce Nepal-India trade imbalances

India has expressed its readiness to help Nepal fill the widening trade imbalances between the two countries by revising the bilateral trade treaty in the next three months.Buckeye Partners, L.P. owns and operates liquid petroleum products pipelines in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Domestic Pipelines & Terminals, Global Marine Terminals, and Merchant Services. The Domestic Pipelines & Terminals segment transports liquid petroleum products, including gasoline, jet fuel, and various distillates. This segment also provides crude oil services, including train loading/unloading, storage, and throughput; and turn-key operations and maintenance, asset development, and construction services for third-party pipeline, terminal, and energy assets, as well as operates and/or maintains third-party pipelines. It owns and operates approximately 6,000 miles of pipeline located primarily in the northeastern and upper midwestern portions of the United States, and services 100 delivery locations; 110 active terminals that provide bulk storage and throughput services with aggregate storage capacity of 55 million barrels; and 2 underground propane storage caverns. The Global Marine Terminals segment provides marine accessible bulk storage and blending, rail and truck rack loading/unloading, and petroleum processing services located primarily in the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions of the United States, as well as in the Caribbean. This segment owns and operates seven liquid petroleum products and crude oil terminals. The Merchant Services segment is involved in the wholesale distribution of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, natural gas liquids, propane, ethanol, and biodiesel, as well as petroleum distillates, such as heating oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, and fuel oil. This segment also provides fuel oil supply, butane, and distribution services. Buckeye GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. Buckeye Partners, L.P. was founded in 1886 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreImperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products. It offers a range of cigarettes, fine cut and smokeless tobacco, papers, and cigars; and next generation product (NGP) portfolio, such as e-vapour products, as well as oral nicotine and heated tobacco products. The company sells its products under various brands, including Davidoff, Gauloises, JPS, West, L&B, Bastos, Fine, Winston, News, Parker & Simpson, blu, Kool, Horizon, Jade, Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo Y Julieta, Backwoods, Skruf, Golden Virginia, Rizla, and Knox in approximately 160 countries worldwide. It also provides logistics services that include the distribution of tobacco and NGP products for tobacco and NGP product manufacturers; and various non-tobacco and NGP products and services. In addition, the company is involved in the management of a golf course; marketing of papers; restaurant business; distribution of pharmaceuticals, POS software, and published materials and other products; printing and publishing activities; and provision of long haul transportation, industrial parcel and express delivery, advertising, and support management services. Further, it owns the trademarks; and retails its products. The company was formerly known as Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and changed its name to Imperial Brands PLC in February 2016. Imperial Brands PLC was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Bristol, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreSuncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates in Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farm operations in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreDeployment of Indian forces for Modis security an insult to nation: Yadav

Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav said it was an insult for the country to not being able to provide security to a high-level foreign guest.The following companies are subsidiares of Sealed Air: AFP (Shanghai) Limited, AFP Inc. (Branch), AFPTOH LTD, Aconcagua Distribuciones SRL, Air Ride Pallets Hong Kong Limited, Austin Foam Plastics Inc., Auto-C LLC, Automated Packaging Systems, B+ Equipment, B+ Equipment SAS, Beacon Holdings LLC, Biosphere Industries, BluPack (New Zealand), Blue Dot Packaging Pty Ltd., CPI Packaging Inc., CPI Packaging Systems Inc., Cactus (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Cactus Shanghai Trading Co. Ltd., Ciras C.V., Ciras C.V. - Luxembourg Branch, Ciras C.V.  Luxembourg Branch, Cleanwise Inc., Cryovac (Malaysia) SDN. BHD, Cryovac (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Cryovac Brasil Ltda., Cryovac Chile Holdings LLC, Cryovac Holdings II LLC, Cryovac Inc., Cryovac International Holdings Inc., Cryovac LLC, Cryovac Leasing Corporation, Cryovac Londrina Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal - Embalagens Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal Embalagens Ltda, Cryovac Sweden AB, Cryovac-Sealed Air de Costa Rica S.R.L., DELTAPLAM Embalagens Industria e Comercio, Deltaplam Embalagens Industria e Comercio Ltda, Diversey, Diversey Australia Pty. Ltd., Diversey Austria Trading GmbH, Diversey B.V., Diversey Belgium BVBA, Diversey Brasil Industria Quimica Ltda., Diversey Canada Inc., Diversey Centroamerica S.A., Diversey Danmark ApS, Diversey Hungary Acting Off-shore Capital Management Limited Liability Company, Diversey J Trustee Limited, Diversey Trustee Limited, Diversey Ceska republika s.r.o. clen koncernu Diversey, Entapack Pty. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packing Co. Ltd. (Chongqing Branch), Fagerdala (Chongqing) Packaging Co. Ltd. (Branch), Fagerdala (Huiyang) Packaging Co. Ltd, Fagerdala (Huiyang) Packaging Co. Ltd. (Branch), Fagerdala (Shanghai) Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shanghai) Polymer Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shenzhen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packing Co. Ltd. (Hefei Branch), Fagerdala (Thailand) Limited, Fagerdala (Xiamen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Leamchabung Limited, Fagerdala Leamchabung Ltd., Fagerdala Malaysia Sdn Bhd., Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V. (Chihuahua Branch), Fagerdala Mexico Supply Chain S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Packaging Inc. (Indiana), Fagerdala Shanghai Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd, Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd (Branch), Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Limited, Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Limited (Taiwan Branch), Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fagerdala Suzhou Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Suzhou Packaging Co. Ltd. (Hefei Branch), Fagerdala Thailand Ltd., GEIE VES, Getpacking.com GmbH, Indonesian Rep Office of Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Invertol S. de R.L. de C.V., JCS Sealed Air Kaustik, JSC Sealed Air Kaustik, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal Limited, Nelipak Holdings, Pack-Tiger GmbH, Packaging C.V., ProAseptic Technologies S.L., Producembal - Producao de Embalagens Ltda., Proxy Biomedical Ltd., Reflectix Inc., SLD Air Packaging Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Saddle Brook Insurance Company, Sealed Air (Asia) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (Barbados) S.R.L., Sealed Air (Canada) Co./CIE, Sealed Air (Canada) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Limited, Sealed Air (China) Ltd., Sealed Air (India) Limited, Sealed Air (Israel) Ltd., Sealed Air (Korea) Limited, Sealed Air (Latin America) Holdings II LLC, Sealed Air (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sealed Air (New Zealand), Sealed Air (Philippines) Inc., Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Sealed Air (Thailand) Limited, Sealed Air (Ukraine) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Pty.) Limited, Sealed Air Americas Manufacturing S. de R. L. de C. V., Sealed Air Argentina S.A., Sealed Air Australia (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Pty Ltd., Sealed Air Australia Pty. Limited, Sealed Air B.V., Sealed Air Belgium N.V., Sealed Air Central America S.A., Sealed Air Chile S.P.A., Sealed Air Colombia Ltda., Sealed Air Corporation (US), Sealed Air Denmark A/S, Sealed Air Embalagens Ltda., Sealed Air Europe Holdings C.V., Sealed Air Europe Holdings LP, Sealed Air Finance B.V., Sealed Air Finance II LLC, Sealed Air Finance II LLC (Sucursal Mexico), Sealed Air Finance Ireland Unlimited Company, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l. Luxembourg (L) Root Finance Branch, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l. US Finance Branch, Sealed Air Funding Corporation, Sealed Air Funding LLC, Sealed Air General Trading LLC, Sealed Air Global Holdings C.V., Sealed Air Global Holdings I C.V., Sealed Air Global Holdings I LLC, Sealed Air GmbH, Sealed Air Hellas S.A., Sealed Air Holding France S.A.S., Sealed Air Holding France SAS, Sealed Air HoldingS I LLC, Sealed Air Holdings (New Zealand) Pty. Ltd., Sealed Air Holdings I C.V., Sealed Air Holdings LLC, Sealed Air Holdings South Africa Proprietary Limited, Sealed Air Hong Kong (Jakarta Indonesia Branch), Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Sealed Air Hungary Ltd., Sealed Air International Holdings LLC, Sealed Air International Holdings LLC , Sealed Air Investment and Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Investment and Management Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Japan G.K., Sealed Air Korea Limited, Sealed Air LLC, Sealed Air Limited, Sealed Air Luxembourg (I) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg (II) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Management Holding Verwaltungs GmbH, Sealed Air Multiflex GmbH, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) I B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V. - Deutsche Zweigniederlassung, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V. - Deutsche Zweigniederlassung, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) III B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) III B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands Holdings V B.V., Sealed Air Nevada Holdings Limited, Sealed Air Norge AS, Sealed Air OY, Sealed Air Packaging (India) Private Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Packaging LLC, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging S.L.U., Sealed Air Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Sealed Air Peru S.A.C., Sealed Air Polska Sp. Zoo, Sealed Air Pty Limited, Sealed Air S.A S., Sealed Air S.A.S., Sealed Air S.r.l., Sealed Air South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Sealed Air Svenska AB, Sealed Air Taiwan Limited, Sealed Air US Holdings (Thailand) LLC, Sealed Air Uruguay S.A., Sealed Air Venezuela Corporation, Sealed Air Verpackungen GmbH, Sealed Air de Mexico Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., Sealed Air de Venezuela S.A., Sealed Air s.r.o., Shanklin Corp, Shanklin Corporation, Soinpar Industrial Ltda., TART s.r.o., TART s.r.o. Joint Venture, TTS-Ciptec, TXAFP Asia Pacific Ltd., TXAFP GP LLC, TempTrip LLC, Trigon Industries, and Vietnamese Rep Office of Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited.The following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Deep Pride Limited, Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., EPS Polidrox Industria e Comercio de Resinas Ltda, Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Guangdong Yuegang Dadi Paints Company Limited, Guardsman Australia Pty Limited, Guardsman Industries Limited, Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Jiangsu Pulanna Coating Co. Ltd., Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Resin Surfaces Limited, Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade, Sayerlack, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (South China) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Luxembourg Investment Management Company S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams Uruguay S.A., Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, TOB Becker Acroma Ukraine, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Germany) GmbH, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Inc., Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited, Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, Vantaco Oy, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. This segment also offers treasury and payment solutions, such as operating various electronic and paper payment types, which comprise card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, check, and cash; and provides services clients to manage their accounts online. The company offers its products and services through a network of traditional and in-store branches, automated teller machines, Internet, mobile, and telephone banking channels. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 1,218 full-service banking offices located in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. SunTrust Banks, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read MoreIt takes two to tango

Travel and tourism is an important economic activity in most countries. In addition to its direct economic impact, there are significant indirect and induced impacts. Tourism is turning into the strongest service industry in the world with its resilient power to overcome adverse impacts to satisfy the human quest for travel.ONEOK, Inc. engages in gathering, processing, fractionating, transporting, storing and marketing of natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids and Natural Gas Pipelines. The Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment offers midstream services to producers in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. The Natural Gas Liquids segment owns and operates facilities that gather, fractionate, treat and distribute NGLs and store NGL products, in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain region, which includes the Williston, Powder River and DJ Basins, where it provides midstream services to producers of NGLs and deliver those products to the two market centers, one in the Mid-Continent in Conway, Kansas and the other in the Gulf Coast in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment provides transportation and storage services to end users. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Tulsa, OK.

Read MoreYext, Inc. is an emerging growth company engages in software development. It offers a cloud-based digital knowledge platform, which allows businesses manage their digital knowledge in the cloud such as financial information, resources and performance of these resources on a consolidated basis and sync it to other application such as Apple Maps, Bing, Cortana, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, Instagram, Siri and Yelp. It offers the Yext Knowledge Engine package on subscription basis, which has an access to Listings, Pages, Reviews and other features. The Listing feature provides customers with control over their digital presence, including their location and other related attributes published on the used third-party applications. The Pages feature allows customers to establish landing pages on their own websites and to manage digital content on those sites, including calls to action. The Reviews presence enables customers to encourage and facilitate reviews from end consumers. The company was founded by Howard Lerman, Brent Metz, and Brian Distelburger in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Read MoreMega Bank-Tourism Dev Bank joint operation commences

Mega Bank Nepal and Tourism Development Bank have officially started joint operation since Sunday, following the merger of the two financial institutions. The united entity now has a paid up capital of Rs9.29 billion.Mission Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis whirlwind two-day visit to Nepal was filled with spectacles. Beginning in Janakpur, Modi paid homage at the Janaki Temple and gave a speech in which he eulogised Nepali culture and emphasised the deep links between Nepal and India.Oli govt has gone out of its way to get two-thirds majority in Parliament and in centralising power to PMO

Nepal has embraced a path towards economic reforms after the Girija Prasad Koirala-led government adopted economic liberalisation in the early 90s. Now, the KP Oli government talks of economic growth, development and prosperity. It is even planning grand new linkages with both our neighbours for improved trade and transit. And yet, the government in a recent white paper published by the Finance Ministry has criticised Nepals privatisation drive, claiming that it was carried out on a whim.Only a third of local reps submit property details

Only a third of the elected representatives at the local levels have submitted their property details so far, according to the National Vigilance Centre (NVC).Over 150 operators register as company

Following an agreement with the government to end the organised syndicate system in the transport sector, public transport operators have started registering themselves as private companies.PM Oli to visit China in June

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is embarking on a state visit to China in June after presentation of the federal budget on May 29. PM Oli, who advocates a balanced and independent foreign policy and a good neighbourhood policy, visited India in April. As Oli tours China next month, agreements reached during his visit to Beijing in 2016 are expected to be expedited.Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.On May 9, Walmart Inc said it is buying a 77 per cent stake in Indian e-commerce retailer Flipkart for about USD 16 billion.

Hyderabad: Walmart's acquisition of 77 per cent stake in Flipkart is "credit positive" for the US retail giant, though the Indian e-commerce firm is expected to continue to make losses for the next few years, said rating agency Moody's in its Credit Outlook report issued today.

On May 9, Walmart Inc said it is buying a 77 per cent stake in Indian e-commerce retailer Flipkart for about USD 16 billion, but it is yet to disclose financing plans.

Moody's said it expects the deal to initially weaken Walmart's credit metrics, with retained cash flow (RCF) to net debt ratio likely dropping to the low-30 per cent range from 40 per cent currently and debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio likely to double from 1.6 times currently.

"Despite this deterioration, the acquisition is credit positive because it provides immediate scale in India's burgeoning retail e-commerce sector and we expect that a combination of increased cash flow and debt reduction will push the RCF/net debt ratio back above our 35 per cent."

"Although we expect that Flipkart will continue to generate losses for the next few years, our credit-positive view is based on India's compelling features, including its 1.2 billion residents and an economy that generates more than 7 per cent annual GDP growth," Moody's said.

India has more than 400 million millennials, a growing middle class and exploding smartphone penetration, all of which are critical as shopping continues to shift online, the rating agency said, adding "Following the announcement, we affirmed Walmart's Aa2 rating and stable outlook."

"As Flipkart is expected to generate meaningful losses for at least the next few years, this is clearly an investment for the future..," Moody's Vice President Charlie O'Shea had said.

Walmart has been embracing a more acquisitive approach to ramping up online growth, rather than attempting to do so organically, given the importance of rapidly building scale as other fast-growing online competitors such as www.amazon.com keep expanding.

In August 2016, Walmart acquired US-based Jet.com for about USD 3.3 billion, Moody's said.India needs to grow at about 10 per cent annually for the next three decades to be able to meet the ever-rising demands of its growing population.

New Delhi: India needs to grow at about 10 per cent annually for the next three decades to be able to meet the ever-rising demands of its growing population, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Monday.

This order of growth however will not be achieved if the 'business-as-usual' approach to the use of scarce resources continues, he cautioned. He said that for reducing dependence on fossil fuels in transportation, a NITI Aayog analysis suggests that the way forward is the use of bio-fuels.

"We are giving a big push to electric vehicles in a bid to conserve exhaustible natural resources and bring about resource efficiency, Kant said at FICCI's Circular Economy Symposium-2018 here.

He also underlined the need to embed the principles of circular economy in India's school education system. A circular economy, in contrast to the 'make-use-dispose' model of the linear economy, focuses on use of resources for longest possible time as also recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of their life cycle.

Noting that the government needs to enable regulatory framework for circular economy, he said: "We should incentivise use of renewable material for construction sector."

Kant also stressed that the government needs to push the limits of the circular economy and make it a mass movement. According to FICCI-Accenture study, which was released today by Kant, by adopting circular business model, India could reap a reward of between USD 382 to USD 697 billion by 2030.

The report pointed out that the circular economy through its innovative business model, offers a unique opportunity to decouple growth from resource requirements.

According to the report, five factors will be critical to accelerate circular models in India -- greater awareness, disruptive technologies, enabling policy landscape, innovative funding models and collaborations and partnerships.Mumbai: Writer-director Nandita Das gently subversive film Manto, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Duggal, Rajshri Deshpande and Tahir Raj Bhasin premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.

Competing in the Un Certain Regard section, the films screening began after a warm reception during which Das, looking exquisite in an ashes of roses saree, acknowledged her Baba, painter Jatin Das, who was in the audience, and later basked in the standing ovation with her cast and crew as the credits rolled.

The film, whose script has been researched and written by Das, ploughs through the tragically short life and the ingenuous, searing body of work of one of the best short story writers the world is yet to acknowledge.

The film opens in 1940s in what was then Bombay  a city of filmmakers, struggling but exceptionally talented writers where Manto lives with his wife Safia (Rasika Duggal) and daughter  and ends in Lahore in 1950s. Its through this journey that the film narrates the bloody tale of a nation splitting into two as it notes the moment when Manto, a man in love with Bombay, decided it was time to pack bags and move to Pakistan.

In Mumbai we meet Mantos friend and co-accused Ismat Chughtai (Rajshri Deshpande), his dear friend and 1940s actor Shyam Chaddha (Tahir Raj Bhasin), a very young Ashok Kumar at Bombay Talkies, Jaddan Bai (Nargis mother) and K. Asif, all conjuring together a film industry in its golden era.

The film continually switches between Mantos life and work. When its with Safia, we see the ordeal the family of the pencil-wielding, unflinchingly honest chronicler of human behaviour in a time of momentous change and violence was subjected to, and when its with his friends and editors, there are references to his works.

Manto treats us to dramatised vignettes of his short stories, including Toba Tek Singh, Khol Do, Thanda Gosht, Dus Rupay and 100 Watt Bulb, as well as the obscenity charges  levelled six times in court but amounting to nothing except heartache and hardship for the writer and his family.

This shifting between real life and fiction is seamless for those familiar with the man and his writing, but is likely to baffle others as little explanation, preface is offered.

But these bits  like when Manto says in court, If you cannot bear these stories then the society is unbearable in defence of his stories which strip down human behaviour to its best and worst  offer an insight into the journalistic standards of truth telling Manto stuck to in his fiction writing despite criticism, including, from Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and court cases.

Most of Manto's stories that were challenged in courts were about mindless, psychotic violence during Partition, especially against women, or about the spark of humanity he celebrated in bazaroo women.

Das film gets its magic from the nostalgia it seduces us with and two performances  that of Manto by Siddiqui, and his wife Safia, played by Rasika Duggal.

Talking about preparing for the role, Siddiqui said that since there were no audio or video recordings, he had to rely on Das research and Mantos own writing. Unki writing se pata chalta hai what he was like, how he thought. I believe that you can figure what a human being thinks, is like, through his/her work. Once you get do-chaar moti-moti cheezein, then you assume the rest. Once you have got the character properly in your head, jab aapne brain mein betha liya character ko, then brain order deta hai puri body ko, kis tarah se react karna hai, kaise aapki body chalegi.

Among the do-chaar cheezein that Siddiqui picked and internalised were Mantos anger against the societys hypocrisy and double standards, his deeply-felt empathy for bazaroo women, and, Mantos daring.

Daring thi unki writing mein, jo aaj bahut kam log kar paate hain. Us waqt usne kiya tha Itna daring se likha us time pe, aaj soch hi nahin sakte, says Siddiqui.

Born on May 11, 1912, in Ludhiana, Manto died at the age of 42 in Lahore in 1955. Booze, court cases against his stories in Pakistan, his inability to take care of his family financially and a longing for Bombay contributed substantially to his work and untimely death.

Yet, he remained prolific throughout his working life. He wrote radio plays, translated works of Russian writers, wrote short stories, screenplays and columns in Urdu for several magazines and newspapers in both, undivided India and Pakistan.

Everyone, especially in north India, has a moment, a story, an episode, an image about Partition that has stayed with them. For me that moment is when Manto decided to pack his bags and move. For me thats the day the music died.

Siddiqui says for Manto that decision was made when his best friend Shyam said, Main Musalman ko maar sakta hoon and then added, Tu thodi na Musalman hai, tu kyun bura man raha hai?

And Manto replies,Itna toh hoon ki mara-jaa sakoon. Thats when he though ki abhi kuch nahin bachcha, ab nikal leta hoon.

The dialogue you will hear in Nandita Das Manto will make you weep for an India that died then, and simultaneously you'll hear the wail of that same nation as it dies everyday now.It seems Ranbir Kapoor's mother Neetu is fond of Alia Bhatt.

Mumbai: Its been five years since Neetu Kapoor was last seen on the silver screen opposite husband Rishi Kapoor and son Ranbir in Besharam.

However, the actress has never stopped being in the news, be it for allegedly trying to rein in Rishi Kapoor over his Twitter controversies or for heading to London to find a girl for Ranbir.

Even when her Instagram picture of Ranbir was liked by his ex-girlfriend Deepika Padukone or when the two ladies bonded at an event, the gossip mills went on an overdrive.

From Deepika, the attention has now turned to another of his co-star, Alia Bhatt for a rumoured affair, and Neetu is again involved somehow, though indirectly.

While speculations are rife that the two actors are more than friends, their joint appearance at Sonam Kapoors wedding reception almost making it official sent their fans into a frenzy.

Alia sharing their picture and writing Yass and blushing about it during a news channel interview, have given enough reasons for fans to confirm it themselves instead of waiting for the actors to do so.

If that was not all, it seems Ranbirs mother Neetu also seems to be fond of Alia.

She was present during her 25th birthday celebrations, even sharing pictures on Instagram.

And this time, they are bonding in a different way on the photo-sharing platform.

Alia had posted a lovely picture with her mother Soni Razdan on the occasion of Mothers Day.

Neetu was too impressed with it and wrote Awwww with hearts smiley. Alia had a lovely response to it too, she sent multiple blowing kiss emojis to her.

From a period of occasional and minimal hints of Ranbir-Alias relationship, a lot has escalated too quickly recently and the rumour mills are going to watch them too carefully now.Every December and every June, movie theatres in Thiruvananthapuram change character, turn into crowds of art house lovers, pocketing coloured schedules and festival diaries. Film festival time  the big one in December and the more recent shorter version in June. Only, both these fests dont really see children. Youve got to be 18 plus to apply. So children stay away, perhaps wondering what goes on in there that drives the whole city crazy. Not for long. For the past few days now, walls and fences of the capital city have been carrying announcements of a new event  ICFFK, to be held this week from May 14 to 20. IFFK, the big December festival, with a C in between for Children  International Childrens Film Festival of Kerala.

There have been childrens film festivals before, in small corners, but not on such a large scale, says Kerala Chalachitra Academy vice chairperson Bina Paul. The academy is joining Kerala State Council for Child Welfare in organising the fest, along with Kerala State Film Development Corporation [KSFDC] and Balasahithya Institute. They (KSCCW) took the initiative, and we have helped with the programming. They have got all the schools mobilised and all. We have given the films, and also put out a call for films from within the state. Lots of schools are making films too. There was a selection committee, Bina Paul says.

There are 140 films including features, short films and documentaries to be screened at Tagore theatre, Kairali, Nila, Sree and Kalabhavan theatres. There will be like the IFFK, open forums and workshops for children, and performances by youth festival winners and children from tribal areas.

The directors in focus are Amole Gupte, Majid Majidi, Sivan, Santosh Sivan and Sangeeth Sivan. Amole is known for his work for the film Taare Zameen Par, for which he was screenwriter and creative director. His films like Stanley Ka Dabba, Hawa Hawai, and Sniff!!! will be part of the fest. Majid Majidis most known films Children of Heaven and The Color of Paradise will be screened. Johny, Halo, Malli, Abhayam and Kesu done by the Sivan family will also be featured.

Monica Wahi, who is one of the curators of the International Childrens Film Festival of India, has suggested films from across the world, Bina Paul says. There is an international section, there are classics like Bicycle Thieves that children could enjoy, and there are contemporary films from all over the world. There are also films from within Kerala.

She adds, It is summer holidays, and children never get to see content other than commercial cinema or TV content. It is really important that they also get exposure to this kind of cinema.A disciplinarian

I have to take permission from my mother if I want to hangout with friends late in the night. Even if I want to go on a trip with my friends, I have to ask her first and if she says no, I dont go.

When I am hanging out with friends, she says do something productive... why are you wasting your time? Often I wonder whether I should tell her or not! But she tells me you better tell me beforehand instead of me finding it out from someone else.

But I can never forget the fact that she left her job for me so that I could start my career. She is there with me always  is my support system. Whatever I am today is because of her.

Rakul Preet Singh

She taught the right values

My mother is a combination of sweet and sour. I had to follow certain rules made by her  one of them being you cannot enter the house after 7 pm! And everytime I did that my heartbeat would go up!

In school we were not allowed to carry cell phones, but when my friend asked me to keep hers in my bag for a day, I did it. My mother got to know and was very angry. That was the worst scolding of my life. I still remember her saying, I trusted you and you did this.

Another time I stole Rs 5 to buy chocolates. But I confessed to her and got a sound beating! I have learnt a lot of values from her. Because of my mothers teachings I am what I am today. And without her support I would never reach at this position.

Lavanya TripathiPoet Mary Ellen D'Angelo-Lombardi (left) and artist Anne Marie Zanfagna display their book on Monday, May 7, 2018 in Plaistow, N.H. The book, called "Portraits, Poems & Heroin: 30 Souls Tell the Story," combines poetry D'Angelo-Lombardi wrote about her son's friend who died of an overdose with portraits Zanfagna painted of her daughter and other overdose victims. (Photo: AP)

Plaistow: A partnership between a poet and an artist who both lost loved ones to heroin overdoses started with similar phone calls at separate beaches four years ago.

Mary Ellen D'Angelo-Lombardi was waiting out a rainstorm in July 2014 when her husband called to say her son's best friend was dead at age 18. Three months later, Anne Marie Zanfagna was on Cape Cod for the weekend when she heard from her husband that their 25-year-old daughter, Jackie, had overdosed.

For months afterward, D'Angelo-Lombardi struggled to return to her writing, and Zanfagna's paints and brushes went untouched. But after eventually finding separate solace in their art, they came together to self-publish a book they hope will reduce the stigma of addiction but also warn young people away from drugs.

"Every conversation this book starts is a good thing," said D'Angelo-Lombardi, who runs an adult education program in Boston. "If you're talking about it, it's out in the light, and it's healing."

"Portraits, Poems & Heroin: 30 Souls Tell the Story" includes a series of poems D'Angelo-Lombardi wrote about her son's friend, along with Zanfagna's brightly colored portraits of young people who died of overdoses and brief biographies written by their families.

"Dan was a very functional addict. He worked every day and put a lot of effort into his appearance. If you saw him, you would never think he was an addict," reads the biographical material accompanying the orange, violet, black and white portrait of 40-year-old Daniel Barnes. In the following poem, "My Favorite Place," D'Angelo-Lombardi describes thinking of her son's friend whenever she returns to the beach where she learned of his death: "every time I go your presence/woven into the magic of the tide."

While the poems aren't specifically about those pictured, D'Angelo-Lombardi said, they touch on the same emotions experienced by their families and loved ones.

"We relied on the commonality of all the stories, the commonality of addiction, the commonality of how it ends, the commonality of how those left behind feel," she said. "So although each poem doesn't maybe match the portrait per se, there's just a commonality that runs through the grief of losing a loved one that way."

Zanfagna, who began getting portrait requests from other parents after bringing her daughter's painting to a grief support group, runs a nonprofit organization called Angels of Addiction to raise money for scholarships and addiction recovery resources. She met D'Angelo-Lombardi at one of the support group meetings, and the two decided to work together on the book, which is available for sale online. They hope to get it into school libraries and would like to present their work to students.

Seeing her paintings published alongside the poems felt "fabulous," Zanfagna said, especially her daughter's portrait on the cover.

"The cover of the book just screams 'Jackie,' and that made me so happy because I did not want her or this epidemic to be swept under the rug," she said. "I had to speak out because the pain I went through was unimaginable."

Both women said the publishing process was more complicated than they anticipated, but worth the effort.

"I think Anne Marie doing her portraits and me doing my poetry was a healing experience for both of us, and then putting this book together was continued healing," said D'Angelo-Lombardi. "We feel fortunate that we can heal through our art and we understand that it's not something that everyone has. That's another reason we feel a need to share it.Thiruvananthapuram: Sanskrit may be a 'dead' language for many. At a time when scholars and linguists are seeking its revival, an award-winning filmmaker has come out with a film book in the classical language.

The script of the National Award winning Sanskrit movie, 'Priyamanasam' has hit shelves in the format of a book, claimed to be the first such book in the language in the country. The third Sanskrit movie in the history of Indian cinema, "Priyamanasam," revolves around the mental conflicts and agonies experienced by 17th century Keralite poet-scholar Unnayi Warrier while he had penned his magnum opus "Nalacharitham" aattakkatha (Kathakali play).

Filmmaker-cum-writer, Vinod Mankara said both the film and the book are part of his humble endeavour to revive the 'dead' language, which has a glorious legacy of several centuries. "Now-a-days, Sanskrit is considered as a "dead language" by many. But, collective efforts can revive it and bring it back to its past glory," Mankara told PTI.

Unlike the traditional texts, the script of 'Priyamanasam' is written in simple Sanskrit, he said. Designed in a two-in-one format, the book has Sanskrit

cover page and text on one side and Malayalam cover and text on the other. Glossy print and stills from the movie would help easily capture the attention of readers, Mankara, who has two feature films and over 600 documentaries in his credit besides 'Priyamanasam,' said. "It is the first such film book in Sanskrit. Before Priyamanasam, two other Sanskrit movies were released in our country. But, the script of those movies had not been brought in the book format," he said.

Renowned Sanskrit scholar K G Paulose wrote a preface to the Sanskrit text of the book, while writers M Mukundan and Kalpetta Narayanan did that for the Malayalam portion. Published by Thrissur-based 'Adayalam Publications, the book was released by writer and MP Shashi Tharoor by handing over it to eminent writer Methil Radhakrishnan in a function here last week.

Tharoor had later tweeted that it was a 'unique book' and shared his expectation for an English translation. Mankara said he has plans to bring out an English translation of the book soon. "Tharoor said the book should have an English translation as it deserves a wide audience. He also asked me to send the book soon to universities to be adopted as a textbook as not much Sanskrit books are coming out these days," he said.

The movie 'Priyamanasam', which bagged the best Sanskrit movie title in 2016, had already been screened in over 300 film festivals in various countries including Pakistan, Japan and Italy. It would be screened in Germany next year, the director added. "Adi Shankaracharya (1983), "Bhagavad Gita" (1993), Ishti (2016), Suryakantha (2017), Anurakthi (2017) were the other films made in Sanskrit besides 'Priyamanasam.'

Mankara said his movie and the book were also a tribute to Unnayi Warrier. Hailing from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, Unnayi Warrier was a scholar, poet and playwright who was believed to be a contemporary of legendary Kunchan Nambiar, the master of satire poetry in Malayalam.

Warrier's 'Nalacharitham,' which deals with the Mahabharata anecdote on King Nala and his wife Damayanthi, is considered as one of the most romantic works of art,written on the format of Kathakali, the classical dance-drama of Kerala.A footage that has been doing the rounds show the gunman Elivelton Neves Moreira, 21, pull a pistol on terrified families in Brazil as brave Katia Sastre quickly stepped in. (Photo: Pixabay)

A brave mum protected children and parents when a gunman tried to rob them while they were standing outside a school on the eve of Mothers Day.

The mother, who turned out to be an off-duty cop shot and killed the gunman.

A footage that has been doing the rounds show the gunman Elivelton Neves Moreira, 21, pull a pistol on terrified families in Brazil as brave Katia Sastre quickly stepped in.

According to reports, the woman quickly reached into her handbag to grab her service weapon and fire three shots into hi stomach before kicking his .38 revolver away and turning him over.

Parents caught up in the violent scene fled with their children- who had been attending a Mother's Day celebration at the school in Suzano ahead of the event on May 13.

While the criminal was rushed to the hospital after Katia made and emergency call, he died soon after.

Sao Paolo governor Marcio Franca visited military police officer Katia, 42, at her station on Sunday to thank her for her bravery in saving the lives of other parents at her daughters school.

Tweeting about it, he wrote, Her courage and precision yesterday saved mums and daughter at a school entrance. Katia acted for two important reasons; in defence of society and in defence of her daughters, her family. I want to thank her for her bravery.

Reports say that the gunman came out of nowhere and ran up to the mums with young children with his gun in his right hand before trying to snatch a bag from one of the parents.

It was during this moment that Katie, eased her own weapon out of a bag on her shoulder before opening fire on the criminal from close range.

She took refuge behind a parked car as he writhed in agony on the floor before approaching him again when she realised he was no longer a danger and disarming him - wearing her civilian clothes of jeans, white T-shirt and a pink top.The hotel organised the wedding and a suitably exotic Maldives-themed banquet after Heston begged staff: Marry us now! (Photo: AP)

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal known for dished such as snail porridge and bacon ice cream, married the mum of his new baby in a surprise hodliday, just weeks after the couple hit a rough patch.

Heston, 51, and Stephanie Gouveia tied the knot on a beach in the Maldives after hotel bosses found a local official to conduct the service.

The pair had run into troubled waters after the baby was born last year and reportedly spent time apart as the divorced dad of four battled a personal crisis.

However, the newly married couple took a trip to the hideaway resort of Soneva Fushi to talk over their issues  and Heston suddenly proposed to French estate agent Stephanie, who is about 20 years his junior.

The hotel organised the wedding and a suitably exotic Maldives-themed banquet after Heston begged staff: Marry us now!

The couple sat side-by-side at sunset as they exchanged vows in a non-religious ceremony.

Bluementhal and Gouveia later smiled and posed for pictures with their baby and a wedding certificate.

The chefs spokeswoman said: Heston and Stephanie are delighted to announce theyve got married.According to Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy, Captain Zaharie avoided detection of the plane by either Malaysian or Thai military radar by flying along the border and crossing in and out of each nations airspace.

In a new revelation, aviation experts are confident they can finally explain the mystery behind the disappearance of MH370.

It has been four years since MH370 disappeared, carrying 239 passengers onboard en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

Experts, now say that they have finally found an answer.

According to Larry Vance, former Senior Investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the general public can take comfort in the fact that there is a growing consensus on the planes final moments.

He was speaking to the Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes.

The panel also includes renowned aviation safety expert Captain John Cox and Martin Dolan, who was Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau when MH370 vanished.

The experts re-examined evidence and looked at whether the ghost flight was actually a deliberate act of murder carried out by Captain Zaharie Amhad Shah.

And after looking at the evidence they believe Captain Zaharie was responsible for the mystery.

According to experts, the pilot was killing himself and took the plane to the most remote spot he could so it would disappear.

According to Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy, Captain Zaharie avoided detection of the plane by either Malaysian or Thai military radar by flying along the border and crossing in and out of each nations airspace.

He told the programme that as the aircraft went across Thailand and Malaysia, it ran down the border, going in and out of the two countries.

So both of the controllers aren't bothered about this mysterious aircraft. Cause it's, 'Oh, it's gone. It's not in our space anymore, he said, adding, As far as I'm concerned, it's very accurate flying because think it did the job and we know, as a fact, that the military did not come and intercept the aircraft.

John Dawson, a lawyer who represented nine families from MH370 and MH17, recently told News Corp Australia the evidence pointed squarely to one of the aircrew being responsible.The design to the left of the text incorporates the red dragon of Wales along with the UKs floral emblems. It also includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer family Arms, the family of Harrys mother, the late Princess Diana. (Photo: AP)

London: Britains Queen Elizabeth has given her formal consent to the marriage of her grandson Harry to American actress Meghan Markle in a historic document made of vellum that is decorated with symbols representing the lives of the couple.

Reading Now know ye, the hand-written Instrument of Consent carries the Queens signature, Elizabeth R and is sealed with the Great Seal of the Realm which is attached to the foot of the document by woven cords.

Prince Harry, the sixth in line to the thrown, and Markle, best known for her role in US TV drama Suits, are due to marry next Saturday at Windsor Castle, home to kings and queens for nearly 1,000 years.

NOW KNOW YE that We have consented and do by these Presents signify Our Consent to the contracting of Matrimony between Our Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales, K.C.V.O., and Rachel Meghan Markle, it reads.

The 92-year-old queen gave her blessing for the marriage in accordance with the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, and the elaborately illuminated document incorporates references to the couple who met in 2016.

The design to the left of the text incorporates the red dragon of Wales along with the UKs floral emblems. It also includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer family Arms, the family of Harrys mother, the late Princess Diana.

Representing Markle, the design to the right of the text includes the rose, the national flower of the United States, while two golden poppies are the state flower of California, where Markle was born.

Bearing the names of Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle, the 'Instrument of Consent', which is the Queen's historic formal consent to Prince Harry's forthcoming marriage to Meghan Markle, photographed at Buckingham Palace in London, Friday May 11, 2018. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II signed, top right, the Instrument of Consent, her formal notice of approval for the wedding in elaborate calligraphic script issued under the Great Seal of the Realm. (Photo: AP)

The document, which will be given to the couple after the wedding, is drafted by the Crown Office and illuminated on vellum, a fine parchment made from the skin of a calf that is only used for important state documents.

It was made by one of a panel of scrivener artists.

Bearing the names of Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle, the 'Instrument of Consent', which is the Queen's historic formal consent to Prince Harry's forthcoming marriage to Meghan Markle, photographed at Buckingham Palace in London, Friday May 11, 2018. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II signed, top right, the Instrument of Consent, her formal notice of approval for the wedding in elaborate calligraphic script issued under the Great Seal of the Realm. (Photo: AP)Hyderabad: Gachibowli police arrested three land-grabbers who used a forged voter ID card and land documents to sell a 300-square yard plot of land to a businessperson in November 2017.

The land belonged to Ms Rupa DSilva, a horse trainer at Bengaluru, who approached the police after she came to know about the deal.

The arrested persons were identified as realtors Sabbani Rajeshwar Reddy and Samuel, and Apala Uma, who impersonated the land owner and obtained a fake voter ID card. Four others involved in the racket are absconding. The land is worth around Rs 2.50 crore.

Ms DSilva, who had previously stayed in Himayathnagar, had purchased the land at Kondapur from one Sharath Chandra in 2009. The plot was unused since then.

Samuel who got to know about this planned to grab the land along with Rajeshwar Reddy and others. They persuaded Samuels neighbour Uma to impersonate Ms DSilva and obtain a voter ID card. With this card, they created forged documents for the land.

One Rammohan Reddy, purchased the land from the suspects.

When he tried to enter the land, Rupa found out about it and lodged a complaint with the police. A trespass case was registered and a notice served to Mr Rammohan Reddy. Responding to the notice, he stated that he was the owner of the land and had original documents.

Police collected land papers from both and verified the records and found that the documents submitted by Mr Rammohan Reddy were forged.

Rammohan Reddy claimed that he had purchased the land from the suspects. Based on the clues, their residences were located and special teams were deputed on the job. Samuel and Rajeshwar Reddy were nabbed on Sunday and will be produced in court, said Gachibowli inspector M. Gangadhar.Bengaluru: Four unidentified men on motorbikes attacked a former BJP corporator, Vedavyas Bhat, near Sajjan Rao Circle in VV Puram police limits early on Monday morning.

Bhat, who is a former BJP corporator of Mavalli, was on his way to New Model Hotel near Sajjan Rao Circle when the four men accosted him and attacked him. He sustained injuries on his face and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

The police said that around 5 am, the four men attacked Bhat and asked him why was he in politics. They punched him in the face and thrashed him in front of passersby, who informed the police. The VV Puram police rushed to the spot and chased the attackers for a while, but they managed to escape.

A senior official said that the accused were not wearing helmets and their identities have still not been confirmed as there were no CCTV cameras in the area where the attack took place. It is also a crowded area with a lot of youngsters hanging around, making it difficult for us to identify the accused, a police officer said.

The police said that they have gathered footage from surrounding areas to identify the culprits. The VV Puram police have registered a case and are investigating.Hyderabad: Rachakonda commissioner Mahesh M. Bhagwat on Monday ordered an inquiry into an allegation that the Special Operations Team had taken a bribe of Rs 4 lakh from family of row-dy sheeter Illyas Nawab.

The mother of Nawab, a history sheeter of Balapur police station, claimed that one Rakesh, a constable, collected Rs 4.12 lakh from them for settling a petty issue and not invoking the Preven-tive Detention Act. Mr Bhagwat asked the DCP, Admin, Prakash Reddy to conduct an inquiry.

The action was initiated after an alleged conversation between constable Rakesh and Ilyas Nawab went viral on social media. Rakesh is purportedly heard saying that the money which was earlier given by Nawab was less, and he needs to complete the payment.The boys, all aged between 12 and 14, had escaped from the home by cutting open two grills of the window by a hacksaw blade.

Hyderabad: The Saidabad police traced four juveniles out of the 15 who escaped from an observation home on Saturday night. Police said they were caught roaming in the city and were nabbed with the help of search parties deputed to hunt for them with tip-offs from sources.

The boys, all aged between 12 and 14, had escaped from the home by cutting open two grills of the window by a hacksaw blade. While one of them was nabbed on Sunday evening, we caught three others while they were loitering in the city on Monday. Efforts are on to trace the others, said Saidabad inspector K. Sattaiah.

Following the escape of the inmates, the home upgraded its security. It will be converted into a drug rehabilitation facility for minors in a fortnight, said Ms B. Shailaja, director in-charge of the Juvenile Welfare and Correctional Services.

"After the staff complained about overcrowding, we have shifted the children to a larger premises in another special home nearby, she said. Two night supervisors and the superintendent of the home were suspended for the break-out.The police seized 400 grams of ganja from the possession of the accused students,

Hyderabad: The KPHB police arrested two students and a merchant from the surroundings of Holistic Park at Nizampet on Monday for allegedly selling ganja.

The accused were identified as students Dasari Sai Teja, 19, of Bachupally and Y Surya Teja, 26 years, of Nizampet and merchant Nandula Ajay, 22, also of Nizampet.

The accused had got in touch with a man named Ganesh from Zaheerabad who lured them by saying that he would pay a handsome amount if he supplied ganja to needy customers, said KPHB police inspector Ch Kushalkar.

The police seized 400 grams of ganja from the possession of the accused. The accused have been sent to judicial remand for further investigation to track the network.Province 3 lawmaker Lamichhane dies

UMLs Province 3 Provincial Assembly lawmaker Hari Sharan Lamichhane has died of brain hemorrhage on Monday.Congress leaders asked President Ram Nath Kovind to caution Prime Minister Narendra Modi from using unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against the Congress or any other party or person.(Photo: PTI | File)

New Delhi: Former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and senior Congress leader have written to the President of India asking him to caution Prime Minister Narendra Modi from using unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against the leaders of the Congress or any other party or person.

In the letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, Congress leaders said, "It is unthinkable that in our democratic polity, the Prime Minister as head of the government would utter words which are threatening, intimidating in content and a public warning to the leaders of members of the main opposition party, the Congress."

The letter referred to Prime Minister Modi's speech during his election campaign in Karnataka on May 6, in which he had said, "Congress leaders, please listen carefully, if you cross you limits, then this is Modi. You will pay."

The letter further stated that the threat held out by PM Modi to the Congress leadership deserves to be condemned. It added, This cannot be the language of the Prime Minister of a constitutionally governed democratic country of 1.3 billion people. Such discourse whether in public or private is unacceptable conduct.

The words used are menacing and intimidating with the intent to insult and provoke the breach of the peace, the letter also said.

"We would like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats, said the letter signed by several Congress leaders.

The letter comes days after BJP and Congress leaders accused each other during the campaigning for the recently held Karnataka Assembly polls.Hyderabad: Telangana Junior Doctor Associations (JUDA) and Health Care Reforms Doctors Associations (HRDA) along with ABVP protested against PG Neet counseling in Osmania University.

The protesters alleged irregularities in management quota counselling, at the Prof. G. Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education.

The associations alleged that students from other states had blocked seats as directed by private college management in first phase of the counselling on May 2.

Police personnel shifted the protesters to the Amberpet police station. Dr Goud said despite GO No. 40 no grievance cell had been set up. Officials were giving the original certificates to the aspirants; they should be deposited at the counselling centre and sent to the respective private medical colleges.

HRDA president Dr Mahesh said, Many non-reported seats were not shown in the list released by Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences. These seats will be converted into institutional quota after the second round of counselling and sold for Rs 1.5 to 2.5 crore.New Delhi: The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the interlocutor appointed by the Union Government had visited Jammu and Kashmir 10 times and had interactions with the stakeholders and the report is expected in three months.

Attorney General KK Venugopal appearing for the Centre told a three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud that any order passed by the court at this stage would have repercussions.

It is a very sensitive issue, the AG said and made it clear that the Centre did not want to file its reply on validity or otherwise of Article 35A of the Constitution conferring special status to the state.

The bench was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of this article which allows J&K legislature to define its 'permanent residents' and bestow special rights and privileges on them.

The bench posted the matter for final hearing on August 6 and said it would consider referring the matter for adjudication by a five judge constitution bench as interpretation of constitutional issues were involved in this matter.

Dr Charu Wali Khanna, a Kashmiri Pandit woman and others have challenged Article 35 A of the Constitution as unconstitutional. Counsel Bimal Roy Jad argued that the petitioner who had married outside her caste and settled outside J&K was not entitled to property and even her children cannot get any property. He argued that gender bias is writ large on this Article, which is also violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, viz right to equality.

Dr Khanna challenged the notification date April 20, 1927 issued by the Maharaja Bahadur of Kashmir which took away the right of a wife or widow otherwise available to them as state subject unless she resides in the state and does not leave the state for permanent residence. The same was given Constitutional sanction by Article 35A read with Section of the J&K constitution.

Article 35A bars all the Indians other than the original inhabitants of the statefrom acquiring immovable property anywhere in J&K, obtaining jobs under the J&K Government, settling in the state and availing the state-sponsored scholarship schemes.

The petitioner contended that the J&K government, under the guise of Article 35A and Article 370, which grants special autonomous status to the state, has been discriminating against non-residents who are debarred from buying properties, getting a government job or voting in the local elections.

The petitioners said Article 35A provides immunity to such classification without reasons, taking away the right of equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution. It was submitted that more than 4000 persons who belong to the second, third and fourth generation had moved from Gurdaspur and Amritsar in the State of Punjab to settle in the Jammu area of J&K, so as to work as sweepers.

The petitioners were born in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and since their birth, they have been permanently residing and living in the State.

The denial of right to seek admission in state funded higher technical educational institutions, denial of right to get state scholarship and state aid to the students, denial of opportunity of employment in the state services and public sector undertakings and local bodies under state government, denial of right to acquire and hold property for the purpose of shelter and settlement were affecting their fundamental rights. Hence, the present petition to declare Article 35 A as unconstitutional.

The PILs sought Article 35A in the Constitution to be declared unconstitutional, contending that the President could not have amended the Constitution by the 1954-order and it was supposed to be a temporary provision.Chennai: A day after a woman police staff committed suicide after a family dispute in Chennai, another policeman, acting as driver to the Kancheepuram DSP, died after leaping in front of a speeding train, on Saturday night.

The deceased was identified as Sathish Kumar (36) of Masimaidoss street in Walajabad.

A grade-1 constable attached to Vishnu Kanchi police station, Sathish had been deputed as a driver to Kancheepuram DSP C. Mugilan.

According to the police, Sathish Kumar drove out in his car from his home on Saturday night.

His pregnant wife Priya (28) had gone to her maternal home in Gudiyatham for delivery, the police said.

They added that he had stopped his car near Nathapettai railway station and had been walking on the rail track.

At 10.20 pm, he had reportedly jumped before the Chennai Beach - Thirumalpur EMU local and died on the spot, a police source said.

Although the incident happened at 10.20 pm on Saturday, Chengalpattu government railway police (GRP) arrived only on Sunday morning and retrieved the body after 10 am. Meanwhile, Kancheepuram SP Santosh Hathimani and DSP C. Mugilan reached the spot and conducted a preliminary investigation.

The body was sent to the Chengalpattu government medical college hospital for post-mortem.

Even though the police are yet to ascertain the reason for the extreme step, Santosh Hathimani suggested a possible family dispute might be a reason.

As the case is falling under the jurisdiction of Chengalpattu GRP, the Vishnu Kanchi police have initiated an informal investigation to determine the reason beyond doubt. In the meantime, the Chengalpattu GRP has registered a case and is investigating.On Friday, Lakshmi (38), a woman constable attached to Adyar AWPS committed suicide by hanging self in St. Thomas Mount.Kerala Womens Commission chairperson MC Josephine said preliminary investigation showed the minor was abused with the connivance of her mother. (Representational Image)

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after a middle-aged businessman was arrested by Kerala police for molesting a minor girl in a cinema theatre; cops on Sunday arrested the mother of the girl claiming that she was aware of the sexual assault on her daughter.

The main accused Moyideen Kutty was arrested on Saturday after every second of the two-hour-long assault of the vile abuse was captured on CCTV camera and the clipping was aired on a news channel and it even went viral on internet.

Both Kutty and the girls mother have been charged under provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Kerala Womens Commission chairperson MC Josephine said preliminary investigation showed the minor was abused with the connivance of her mother.

According to reports, the incident took place on April 18 and was captured in the night vision cameras in the theatre. The footage showed the man, flanked by a middle-aged woman on his right and a minor girl on his left, engaging in sexual acts with both.

According to reports, CCTV footage showed the man was abusing the victim and her mother at the same time, from beginning to end of the movie. The man stopped during the interval and went out and soon after the movie resumed he came in and began the assault.

The theatre owner checked the CCTV footages after one of the viewers alerted him about the incident. He immediately alerted the childline officials who in turn informed the police.

Police, however, failed to register a case against the accused initially but soon swept into action on Saturday when the media exposed the incident.

"There are serious lapses on the part of police and senior officers are looking into them," Hindustan Times reported Josephine as saying.

The police inaction evoked widespread criticism following which the sub-inspector of Changarakulam was suspended and action is likely against more police officers who tried to hush up the case.

The state human rights commission has also ordered an inquiry against the officers who tried to delay the case despite possessing strong evidences.

Josephine also met the owner of the theatre and praised his effort in exposing the incident.

Was assaulted by the accused earlier also: victims

Meanwhile, the girl has told the police that she had been assaulted by the accused earlier also. She also gave a detailed statement before a magistrate and later underwent medical tests. She was later shifted to a rescue home.

The womens commission said the victim will be given the best care and counselling to help come out of the trauma.

Kutty runs a number of jewellery shops and restaurants, besides owning a lodge. The mother and the daughter were reportedly occupying one of the rooms. According to locals, Kutty often used to take the victim and her mother out in his luxury car.Chennai: Two wine shops located on the main road of Shivashakthi Nagar in Annanur has been the cause of chaos in the residential area for the past 18 months.



The Tasmac outlets lying parallel to the Annanur railway station have been the reason for various accidents and criminal offences in the area.

A few months ago, residents of the locality protested against a Tasmac outlet that was opened after vacating the medical shop on the main road. The protesters were arrested and two public interest litigations were filed in order to close the wine shop.

Residents are concerned about safety after a rise in criminal activities in the locality as a number of chain and phone-snatching incidents have taken place lately.

Kavitha Thirumugam, an advocate and resident of the Shivashakthi Nagar says, there are a few colleges and schools in and around the area. We have seen school students buying alcohol from this wine shop, which will not only spoil the health, but also the productivity of the younger generation.

Residents allege that the wine shops do not comply with the rules and regulations for the sale of liquor, as the shops are kept open even at 4 am and people buy alcohol early in the morning too.

It is not right to have three wine shops in a row, especially in a residential area," Kavitha asks.

Residents are scared to let their children go out and women face difficulty to get back home after office hours, as the mob of tipplers poses a risk to their safety. The tipplers knock on the doors of the houses in the locality at night. They take away the vessels and other things kept near the gate and sell them, says Durga Devi, a resident of the locality.

Tasmac Employers Union official denied the claims on not complying with the rules, stating that the shops are 100 meters away as per the regulations.

If the shops are a disturbance for residents, a separate space should be allocated as per the convenience. However, the behaviour of tipplers is beyond our control, said an official.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: File/AFP)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Monday.

The informal summit will be held in Russian city of Sochi.

"This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our Special and Privileged Strategic partnership," the MEA said in a statement.

It said both the leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters.

"This informal Summit in Sochi between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels," the MEA said.

In April 2017, Modi had travelled to Chinese city of Wuhan for an informal summit with President Xi Jingping.A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on Monday agreed to hear on Wednesday the plea of Sahil Sharma and two others, who are college friends of the juvenile accused in the case. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the plea of three witnesses in the Kathua gangrape and murder case, alleging that they are being harassed by the state police, on May 16.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on Monday agreed to hear on Wednesday the plea of Sahil Sharma and two others, who are college friends of the juvenile accused in the case.

According to their plea, they had already recorded their statements before the police and the magistrate. The three witnesses had in their statement before the magistrate said they gave their statement to the police under coercion.

The petition on Monday alleged that the state police was now asking them to re-appear and re-record their statements and exerting pressure in their families. The apex court had on May 7 transferred the trial in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl from Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot in Punjab, but refrained from handing over the probe to CBI saying there was no need as the investigation has been conducted and the chargesheet filed.

The victim, from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village close to Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later. The state police has filed the main chargesheet against seven persons and a separate chargesheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district.New Delhi: Four years after Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was found dead at her suite in Leela Hotel in the national capital, the Delhi police on Monday filed a chargesheet in the case.

The chargesheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh in Patiala House Court under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Pushkars husband and Congress MP Tharoor has been named as an accused in the case. The police in its charge sheet has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as the opinion of Psychological Autopsy experts, Sunanda Pushkar case investigated by SIT of South District, has been chargesheeted under section 306/498-A IPC. The matter now is sub-judice," Delhi police spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Tharoor has termed the chargesheet as preposterous and said that he will contest it vigorously.

In his tweet, the Congress MP also said, No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police.

In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the Delhi High Court that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!, he added.

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

The court has fixed May 24 as the next date of hearing.

Pushkar was found dead in the luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014, days after she publicly accused her husband of having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

Reacting to the development, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said, "All witnesses and documents were destroyed by the UPA government and corrupt police. On the basis of current evidence, this is what could be done."

"More information will come during trial. There are allegations on Shashi Tharoor that he forced his wife to commit suicide," BJP leader added.Rautahat, Siraha villages exposed to flood threats

Dozens of settlements in Rautahat and Sarlahi districts are at high risk of flood as the embankments at Bagmati and Lalbakaiya rivers which were breached during last years monsoon have not been repaired yet.At each counting centre in the city, over 100 personnel from the state police force, Central Reserve Police Force, KSRP and paramilitary forces have been deployed.

Bengaluru: Security has been tightened at all the 38 counting centres in the state, of which five are in the city. At each counting centre in the city, over 100 personnel from the state police force, Central Reserve Police Force, KSRP and paramilitary forces have been deployed.

The city civil police have been guarding the entrance, while the KSRP and paramilitary personnel have been securing the premises and the strong rooms.

City Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar said that each centre will be supervised by a deputy commissioner of police (DCP).The police have banned any celebrations, processions or bursting of crackers near counting centres in the state.Chennai: All is not well with the Chennai city police as Monday recorded the third incident of suicide within a span of three days. Constable V. Balamurugan (28) of Injambakkam took the extreme step.

His demise has sent shock waves among the rank and file of the state police exposing the depression and the poor working conditions for the men in khaki. According to the police sources, Balamurugan was a 2016 batch constable attached to Avadi Fifth Battalion.

He was posted in Ashok Nagar Police Training School (PTS). He was also a part of 2014 batch of Tamil Nadu Special Police Youth Brigade.

Balamurugan took the extreme step, only 3 days after woman constable Lakshmi attached to Adyar AWPS met a similar fate. On Saturday night, another constable attached to Vishnu Kanchi police station of Kancheepuram district  Sathish Kumar - committed suicide, reportedly, by jumping in front of a speeding train.

Balamurugan, an unmarried constable, was found hanging at his house in Pothigai Street, Injambakkam on wee hours of Monday. It is said that after taking leave from the stressful job for a couple of days, the deceased constable had reported to duty on Sunday. My son had repeatedly said that the job turned more stressful and he did not like the police job anymore, Vijayan, Balamurugans father said.

The police said that Balamurugan returned home depressed on Sunday night and got up at 4 am on Monday to get ready for the work.

He did not return from the bathroom for a long time and his mother Kaliammal knocked the door repeatedly. As she failed to elicit a response, the family broke the door only to find him hanging, the police added.

Although the investigation officer denied the work-related depression and suggested family dispute as the possible cause for the suicide, police sources said that he was picked upon by his superiors for taking leave.

The deceased body was sent to Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. Neelangarai police have registered a case and are investigating.

It is also pertinent to note that SI Sathish Kumar had shot himself at Ayanavaram police station on March 7, only a few days after an Armed Reserve wing police Arunraj shot himself at Jayalalitha memorial where he was posted on March 4.

SSI Joseph attached to Korukkupet police station was found hanging in a tree near Kasimedu on April 24.Hyderabad: A mid-level course to equip and allow diagnosis of patients by non- MBBS medical professionals is stirring up a storm even though the Union health ministry states that they will be used only in primary and preventive health care.

But the Indian Medical Association (IMA) states that this will be another way to bring in non-qualified personnel into modern science. IMA claims that this approach by the government will be strongly protested and they are not going to accept it.

According to the Medical Council of India (MCI) there are 10.4 lakh doctors who are registered in various state branch councils. Of these 8.33 lakh doctors are in active service. The AYUSH sector has 7.63 lakh Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy doctors and of them 80 per cent are practising.

A total of all these shows that there will be one doctor for 1,596 people in India. Dr B Narsimha, member of IMA said, If these numbers are taken into account then there are enough doctors for the people. Why is the government hell bent on getting non-MBBS cadre at the preventive and primary level.

The bridge course which the government had proposed met with a stiff opposition by the IMA. But it also had AYUSH doctors protesting who wanted the Centre to introduce this course so that they could practice modern medicine.Bengaluru: Fifteen-year-old Neel Mulay had been wondering over the last two years how students manage to score more than 97% in ICSE (Class 10) board exams, believed to be the toughest tenth grade exam in the country. On Monday, Neel himself was the beneficiary of such good fortune as he scored 99% aggregate to secure the All India Rank (AIR) 3m and also emerged as topper in the South region.

The results were announced post-afternoon in New Delhi. I never expected 99 per cent, though I had worked hard. It took some time to sink in that I was one among the toppers at the national level, said the multi-talented youngster from Greenwood High International School. An avid quizzer and an acknowledged leader among his counterparts, Neel said that he was warned many times to focus on curriculum more than extra-curricular activities. Also the vice-captain of the school, the aspiring aerospace engineer won the leadership award at an Asia-level space competition held this year.

Asked about his preparations for the exams, he said that he put the maximum effort in the last 45 days (study holidays) to ensure that he was placed well in the exams. I used to study from 8 am to 7 pm every day, but with multiple breaks in between. I also downloaded previous years question papers and worked on one daily, to ensure that I missed nothing, he said.

Harshita Rajasekharan (98.8%)

Harshita Rajasekharan from St Pauls English School, JP Nagar stood second in the state scoring 98.8% aggregate. She told Deccan Chronicle that sticking to the basics and avoiding last-minute preparations helped her achieve the results. An aspiring oncologist, she is now focused on NEET preparations to earn a seat either at the Bangalore Medical College or CMC, Vellore. Playing the guitar and listening to classic rock music have always helped me during my studies. Being part of a couple of plays at school made learning always interesting as a curricular-co-curricular mix was something that I always looked up to, she said.

For Susan Roy Thomas, her school principal, Harshitas focus and hard working attitude had given them confidence of expecting a rank for their school. Parth Behani from Mallya Aditi International School and Spandan Prasad Sahu from Sarala Birla Academy too secured the same marks to share the second spot in the state.

Era Gupta and Sankyuta Giri from Bishop Cottons Girls High School in the city scored 99% to secure AIR 3 for ISC (Class 12), sharing it with 23 others from across the country. The southern region topped the list in ICSE results. While the national pass percentage was 98.51, southern region recorded 99.67. The pass percent of ICSE and ISC in the state is 99.78 and 99.20, respectively.To hypothesize that Albert Einstein was wrong in the case of superluminous particles was itself sufficient to make the celebrated physicist Professor E.C George Sudarshan world famous. Born on September 16, 1931 as the second son of E.I Chandy at Pallam, in Kottayam District, he generated special interest in Physics when he was studying in CMS College at Kottayam, Kerala. He graduated from Madras Christian College, took his MA from University of Madras and PhD from the University of Rochester. He was one of the worlds most important scientists and was a high-ranking physicist at the University of Texas where he continued his innovative Physics research. V- A theory, Sudarshan Glauber representation, superluminous particles called Tachyons, quantum zeno effect, etc. are some of his major contributions to Physics. When I met him at Bharath hotel at Cochin in 2005 during the centenary celebrations of the Annus mirabilis of Albert Einstein ,he seemed to be shaken by the attitude of the Nobel committee in not considering his important contribution for the award of the Nobel prize even though others have been awarded the dream recognition based on the ideas developed using Prof. Sudarshans findings. He is the first Malayalee to reach so far. He was nominated for the coveted Nobel Prize at least six times . A remarkable feat very few can boast of. When I went for a lecture in The Physics Depaartment at CMS college, I was thrilled by the thought that I am lecturing at the place where the celebrated scientist was once a student. I mentioned about my thought during the lecture and the students and lecturers too seemed to be thrilled by that.

The inquiry into the nature of the heat led him to the depths of physics. Books from the CMC college library were of great help. After studying at the Madras Christian College and University of Madras, he was involved in Physics research at the Institute of Fundamental Research in Birmingham. Later he studied the nucleus for the cause of radioactivity. He served in Rochester University, Syracuse University, Indian Institute of Science, and Institute of Mathematical Sciences,. Sudarshan has been awarded with the Padma Bhushan ,CV Raman Award, Bose Medal, Third World Academy of Science Award and Kerala State Science and Technology Award. He was American Physical Society Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences Fellow and has published over 500 scientific papers. Sudarshan conducted research on the weak force of the nucleus. He did not present his studies at one of the celebrated Rochester Physics conference. One summer, his doctoral advisor Robert Marshak arranged a lunch with Scientists Murray Gell- Mann, Leona Marshall, Ronald Bryan, AH Wapstra and others at a Santa Monica restaurant. Sudarshan was asked to give a report on the work on weak interactions beginning with a survey of the crucial experimental results which were conducted at CERN lab at Geneva Gell-Mann was very appreciative of the presentation . The choice of the interaction that Marshak and Sudarshan required for crucial experiments proved to be wrong. Later these experiments were again conducted at CERN confirming Sudarshans findings.

That September Sudarshan went to join Julian Schwinger at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow. Nobody there in the theory group knew anything about the developments in weak interaction, nor did they care. But Sheldon Glashow told about a manuscript written by Murray Gell-Mann and Richard Feynman postulating a V-A form for beta decay that was submitted to the Physical Review.

Marshak had previously presented this study information to one of the scientists. Sudarshan called Professor Marshak on the phone, but he assured that the priority to be protected by the Rochester preprint and by the conference presentation. But nobody saw or heard this study. That was a mistake since most people would not acknowledge having seen or heard of his work. Anyone who read Sudarshans paper and the paper by Gell-Mann and Richard Feynman could not fail to notice the essential difference. The priority of ECG Sudarshan in this finding was ignored. He use to tell that You can wake up a sleeping person, but you cannot do anything about a person who pretends to be asleep. Feynman and Gell-mann were awarded Nobel prize for this finding.

Sudarshan has also contributed to Quantum Optics is the study of radiation and matter in the optical wavelength domain, where sophisticated advances in laser technology enable tests of fundamental physical questions with unprecedented precision. Optical probes of coherent states of atoms and photons permit new insights into questions about the basic foundations of quantum mechanics and are leading to concrete realization of futuristic applications such as quantum computing. He has guided around 30 students to gain PhD. The hypothetical subatomic particles called Tachyons whose velocity always exceeds that of light was proposed by Professor Sudarshan. The existence of the Tachyon, though not experimentally established, appears consistent with the theory of relativity, which was originally thought to apply only to particles traveling at or less than the speed of light. Just an ordinary particle such as an electron can exist only at speeds less than that of light, so a Tachyon could exist only at speeds above that of light, at which point its mass would be real and positive. Upon losing energy, a Tachyon would accelerate; the faster it traveled, the less energy it would have.

According to E.C.G. Sudarshan, special particles called Tachyons can move travel faster than light. Physicist Gerald Feinberg even gave them a name, tachyons. It was Albert Einstein who put forward the idea that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. But Tachyons were superluminous particles. It has been suggested that the existence of these particles can not be ruled out. The physics of tomorrow may be based on the discovery of these particles. The scientific world is still searching for these particles. Theory of relativity by Albert Einstein has established the speed of light as the highest speed allowed. When Sudarshan was at the University of Rochester, he pondered about what happens to energy and momentum when a particle travels faster than light. Sudarshan saw that energy and momentum could be made real by taking rest mass to be imaginary for such particles. The second difficulty of the traveling backward in time of such a particle was solved by the interchange of the emission and absorption of the particle. Along with a graduate student, V. K. Deshpande, Sudarshan wrote a short paper .It came back from Physical Review since a referee rejected it, saying it was incorrect. Two years later, after Sudarshan joined the University of Rochester he rewrote the paper and got it published it in American Journal of Physics. It attracted a lot of attention.

To date, no tachyons have been detected. However, tachyons arise naturally in string theories but are suppressed or ignored. The role of tachyons in cosmology was investigated by Jayant.V.Narlikar and ECG Sudarshan. They concluded that any primordial tachyons would have vanished long ago. Sudarshan- Glauber representation was another important work which led to Roy Glauber winning the Nobel and here again ECG Sudarshan was unfortunately avoided. During a talk at Maharajas college in 2005 he mentioned that one should keep such intellectual achievements private till the time they are safe to make public. He points out the examples of JC Bose who lost to Marconi on the find of radio and SN Bose whose findings were neutralised by Albert Einstein naming Bose Enistein statistics and Bose Einstein condensate. C V Raman succeded because he kept his studies as secret and revealed only after the publication in reputed journals. Prof ECG Sudarshan undoubtedly was a world class physicist. Nobel committee has shamed the science community by denying the coveted Nobel to this important physicist.

(The author is a popular science writer and freelance researcher).Bengaluru: Congress leaders strongly feel that the consolidation of the upper castes - Lingayats, Brahmins, Vokkaliga, Bunts and Gowda Saraswat Brahmins - in their respective regions in favour of the BJP, helped in a 'reverse consolidation' of the vote banks of backward classes like the Kurubas besides the Dalits and minorities in favour of the ruling Congress without the party making much of an effort.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader said that the Congress party did face huge resistance from upper castes in the state be it Lingayats, Brahmins, Vokkaligas, Bunts and Gowda Saraswat Brahmins as the 'need' to defeat the Congress was palpable among these communities. "As a result of this, the party had to focus on its core vote bank - Dalits, Minorities and Backward Classes. These communities too consolidated on their own sensing an upper caste consolidation and the Congress gave them the required push to come together," the source explained.

The source added that Congress leaders through Whatsapp groups, spread the speech clips of Union minister Mr Ananth Kumar Hegde who had spoken of amending the Constitution and had also targeted the minorities alleging that they were spreading terrorism in the country.

"We infiltrated many Dalit run groups instead of forming our own groups and spread these clippings. These video clips have helped us consolidate Dalits in big way in favour of the Congress party, at the same time it has brought the minorities closer to the Congress fold," the source claimed.

The source added that the same strategy was adopted in south Karnataka region too. "The party decided to launch a scathing attack on the JD(S) through none other than Congress president, Rahul Gandhi whose Sangh parivar jibe challenged JD(S) supremo Mr Deve Gowda to come clear on his party's stand on secularism. This helped us consolidate the Dalits and minorities in our party's favour.

We were expecting about 60 per cent consolidation in our favour but in the case of minorities it looks like it has gone up to 70 per cent. In the case of Dalits, the initial consolidation of 45 per cent votes has gone up to 60 per cent at the time of voting," the source argued.Sandwiched between the Kashmir Valley and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are the Duggar lands of the valiant Dogras of Jammu region who withstood the vicissitudes and ravages of the violent sub-continental history. As a composite part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, along with the predominant Kashmir region and the moonlike haven of Ladakh, the plains of Jammu region have been in a state of perpetual neglect, a far cry from those days of glory when it was the epicentre of the princely state of J&K, in the pre-Independence days.

The Dogra-ruled Jammu was one of the four states that were given the highest 21-gun salute status in recognition of its premier protocolary status during the British Raj days. The Jamwal dynast, Raja Gulab Singh, along with his legendary Gen. Zorawar Singh established the state of Jammu that included the wazarats of Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh, Frontier illaqas and jagirs of Poonch, Bhadrawah and Chenani, and also the provinces of Jammu and the Kashmir Valley.

This Jammu-ruled state was the largest princely state with an area of 84,471 sq km. Contrary to the present situation and perceptions of the past, Jammu was a liberal, inclusive and progressive region having high socio-economic and civic infrastructure.

Jammus independent status ended with the signing of the Instrument of Accession in favour of India on October 26-27, 1947. One of the three preconditions of the Union of India for signing the accession treaty with the Dogra ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, was the installation of the virulently anti-Dogra-rule leader from the Kashmir Valley, Sheikh Abdullah, as the immediate Prime Minister. Later, the chaos, continued mishandling and the unsettled borders with its overenthusiastic neighbour, Pakistan, ensured that the wounds fester and morph into a full-fledged armed insurgency in the Kashmir Valley, driving the national attention and imagination, essentially towards the Kashmir Valley. That the Jammu division has approximately 43 per cent of the population (26 per cent of land mass) and the Kashmir Valley 55 per cent of the population (16 per cent of land mass) further ensured that the practical representation amongst the state lawmakers in a participative form of democracy further veered the focus disproportionately towards the Kashmir Valley, as opposed to a more equitably-proportionate attention towards the perennially-neglected Jammu region. In the scheme of things, the Kashmir Valley has been consistently accorded the lions share of all investments, focus and priorities, with Jammu penalised for its safe fate.

Today, with Pakistans interference and the regressive domestic politics, the societal divide within the state has spun the demographic reality of the three divisions (Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh) to assume the simplistic fractures of religious differentiation.

Even the legitimate socio-economic grouse of the Jammu region versus the Kashmir region narrative has boiled down to a predominantly religious perception, which detracts, diminishes and short-sells from the irrefutable nuts-and-bolts of the Jammus case of discrimination. The terribly tragic Kathua incident followed the consistent script of trivialisation, politicisation and communalisation, which ended up giving a wholly undeserved Jammu-versus-Valley colour to the issue, ably supported by the inelegant statements and ineptitude of some local politicians. The very relevant and unanswered questions and concerns of the Jammu citizens on the sudden arrival of the Rohingyas in their midst got unnecessarily and unintelligibly intermixed with Bakarwal community, who are of a distinct ethnicity from their co-religionists in the Kashmir Valley, and have absolutely no bearing on the Rohingyas from Myanmar! The lazy perceptions and simplifications around disparate issues juxtaposed, muddied and inadvertently shamed Jammu into portents of insensitivity around the case. Yet again, the genuineness of the Jammus multiple concerns were frittered away, failed by its own politicians. The Jammu region is a forgotten footnote in the national perspective, but it punches way above its weight in terms of national service, commitment and glory. The patriotism and martial ethos of the region feeds the bulk of Indian Armys highly-decorated regiments i.e. Jammu & Kashmir Rifles (former Princely State Forces), the Dogras and the Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry  besides populating other regiments and services. From the highest gallantry award winners like the Param Veer Chakra Capt. G.S. Salaria to Subedar Bana Singh, Jammu region is an embarrassment of riches in valour and service to the nation. Despite this, the sense of deprivation in Jammu is all psychological, material and, above all, political, which despite the PDP-BJP experiment could not table and address the Jammu perspective, in its entirety or sincerity.

The Sikri Commission (1979) had presciently noted the injustices to Jammu region by stating that there existed discrimination and favouritism in the field of development, employment and education in the context of different regions, which was giving rise to irritations and tensions among the people of state  a finding that was consistent with the earlier Gajendragadkar Commission. Symbolically, the J is missing in various state administrative services like KAS (Kashmir Administrative Services), KCS and KPS. The Kashmir-centricity feeds a sense of contempt and subjugation when Jammu region (along with Ladakh) is doled out pittance, from both the Centre and the state, which are skewed heavily towards Kashmir. The inequity manifests in the continuously sub-optimal allocation towards development of Jammus tourism, infrastructure, education facilities and overall representation in various state platforms.

However, the worst sleight for Jammu is the hurtful sense of a wronged history and narrative. Despite the unparalleled gallantry, avowedly secular and deliberately multicultural reign of the Dogra rulers, the widely believed script does extreme injustice to real history. Since Independence, Jammu has carried the national burden of surrendering its rightful share of budgets in favour of Kashmir, wilfully initially, and not so any more. Even the recent Kathua case dimmed the perception of Jammu owing to those very politicians, who, like their predecessors, have done little to address the longstanding woes of Jammu. The growing cries of anti-Jammu, are clearly not reaching New Delhi or Srinagar.Prime Minister Narendra Modis just-concluded May 11-12 visit to Nepal, the third to the neighbouring country since he took office four years ago, was exceptional as it came just five weeks after Nepals new Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli had visited India. This is rare, as usually visits by heads of government are spaced apart to allow for preparatory work or followups on the decisions taken. The necessity for Mr Olis visit to India was apparent as the victory of the combined Communist front in the parliamentary election had raised serious concerns in New Delhi that pro-China political forces had gained the upper hand in Kathmandu. When Mr Oli assumed office as Prime Minister on February 15 this year, one of his first acts was to invite Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to pay an official visit, which he did. The two largest Communist parties  the CPN(ML) led by Mr Oli and the CPN (MC) led by Mr Prachanda  had not only fought the election as allies but then announced a merger.

The orientation of Mr Oli as pro-China in the past was also seen in New Delhi as a bad omen for Indo-Nepal relations. Thus, it was not surprising for Mr Oli to reach out to Prime Minister Modi and allay some genuine concerns, created by the optics of Mr Olis actions and statements. For instance, as I learnt during a speaking visit to Nepal in early April, Mr Oli in his public speeches was given to rabble-rousing against India, particularly by taking potshots personally at Mr Modi. From those depths to Prime Minister Narendra Modi singing paeans of eternal friendship last weekend and making the return visit within five weeks of the Oli India trip is quite a change. Indias foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale explained that Mr Modis visit was planned soon after Mr Olis election victory when Mr Modi rang him up to congratulate him. Mr Modi said as he landed in Janakpur, known as the birthplace of Ma Sita, that he came as a Prime Pilgrim. He announced a massive Rs 1 billion development assistance for Janakpur and a plan for linking the city to Lord Rams city of Ayodhya. According to this reasoning, it is Mr Oli who decided to drop by to perhaps allay Indian concerns after Mr Abbasis visit and India perceiving a Sino-Pakistan convergence developing in a crucial buffer state that has an open border with India. The timing does, however, raise a question that the Congress Party forcefully argued  that it was peculiar that as voting began in the crucial southern Congress redoubt of Karnataka Prime Minister Modi started his Nepal visit as a Prime Pilgrim than as Prime Minister.

Not satisfied with this initial foray into religious diplomacy, Mr Modi then headed for a second darshan to Pashupatinath and a first visit by any foreign leader to Muktinath, which is revered by Hindus and Buddhists. Although this was a shrewd way to convey to Nepal that, unlike China, India has deep cultural and religious links with the Nepalese people, the timing left some questions in India unanswered about the propriety of such heavy religious dosage on the day of a crucial state election. Moreover, the Nepalese Communists are hard-knuckled street fighters who are unlikely to forget or easily forgive the popular ire they share over what they see as Indias participation in the blockade of their border in 2015 to put pressure during their Constitution-making process. It is generally seen in Nepal as a ham-handed Indian attempt to put pressure, on behalf of the Madhesis whose links to the population in Uttar Pradesh are more intense and personal, on Constitution-making in Nepal after centuries of rule by autocrats. The Nepalese social media was astir during the entire Modi visit, churning just that angst. Nepal would have closely assessed the Modi-Xi Jinping informal summit in Wuhan and may thus still use the Chinese to balance India, but would possibly do so with discretion and perhaps without adopting provocative measures.

Prime Minister Modi has carefully unfurled a shrewd Indian counter-measure insofar as Nepal is concerned to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. India continues to be the largest trading partner of Nepal, with bilateral trade at over $5 billion. But Nepal has had serious concerns about the Trade and Commerce Treaty of 1950, which was revised in 2009. India has held out the tempting prospect of an oil products pipeline, which should give Nepal some energy security. The announcement of 900 MW Arun 3 hydropower project is another step to both make Nepal energy independent but also alleviate power shortage that have hindered investment. Traditionally, Nepal has resisted hydel-power projects as I remember the late King Birendra telling then visiting Indian President Zail Singh in 1986 that such projects consume much-treasured valley land which was needed for food security and livelihood. Bhutan, on the other hand, with a smaller population, has turned its hydel potential into a money-spinner. The CIA has estimated that Nepals hydel power potential is over 42,000 megawatts.

Essentially there is no way that China can any longer be kept out of the India-Nepal equation. Connectivity to Lhasa is inevitable. China also realises that for its investments in Nepal to be productive, the salient must connect to India. For India, with its open border with Nepal, Chinese investment in manufacturing in Nepal will have be closely watched. Perhaps the Modi-Xi summit is a preliminary way to assess what Sino-Indian relations mean for the rest of South Asia. Religious glue is useful but will be a poor defence against the Chinese economic juggernaut. That is why Prime Minister Modi announced that a revision of the India-Nepal Trade Treaty is still under discussion. Railway and river projects for better connectivity will also take time. Indo-Nepal relations would need careful nurturing after the foolhardy gambles of 2015.J&K chief minister Mehbooba Muftis proposal for a ceasefire in Kashmir, to cover the period of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan as well as the Hindu pilgrimage of the Amarnath yatra, would ordinarily have been a perfect idea to put a brake on the accelerating militancy and terrorist actions with which Kashmir has struggled for the past two years.

If a pause in militant violence can be effected even for a few weeks with reciprocation by the security forces, the Valley will receive badly-needed respite and that may perhaps lead to some fresh thinking on the part of the government as well as extremists-terrorists that may bring longer-term relief. However, the idea seems hobbled by practical as well as conceptual considerations.

At the practical level, it is evident that young, home-grown cadres have been entering militant ranks on an increasing basis in the past three years, and there seems no leadership point for this group. On the other hand, the overall inspiration and control, not just command and control, by Pakistan is self-evident.

In such a situation, it is unlikely that the Pakistani mentors and nurturers of the Kashmir jihad would let up even for Ramzan, let alone the Amarnath yatra. Last Saturday, Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, who is behind the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba that operates quite freely in Kashmir, prayed in public for Kashmiri martyrs. If nothing else, this puts paid to CM Muftis well-intentioned proposal.

There is a conceptual problem as well. When, in the past, Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh pursued their notion of a ceasefire, they saw this in the framework of a political conversation with the people of the Valley through their political representatives, and that included elements associated with Hurriyat. In the case of Mr Vajpayee, he did his best to open a secret channel contact with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, though this was sabotaged by the ISI eventually.

The situation at present is wholly different. The Narendra Modi government has indicated no plans of introducing a political input in the search for peace in Kashmir. That leaves the idea of a ceasefire hanging in the air, with no ballast on the ground. If the militancy had been exclusively home-grown, without any link to minders in Pakistans security set-up, a ceasefire could have been attempted even in the absence of an imagined political framework. This is on account of the belief arising out of the cultural construct of Kashmir, that, generally speaking, a Kashmiri Muslim will not inflict violence on Hindu pilgrims even if he is an insurgent, and is even less likely to resort to violence during Ramzan. However, in the Valley, local militancy is just a small part of the story.

Even so, let the principal political actors at the Centre and the state mull over the idea. However, the Army must stay out of the public discussion and tender its advice to the government through official channels only. That, alas, has not been the case lately.The world has just celebrated the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx. Marx defies description or any kind of labelling. He was a philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist and a revolutionary socialist. Being great in any one discipline or vocation is in itself a great achievement. Clearly, Marx was a man of many achievements. The history of the world changed due to Marx and he must not be judged by what followed in his name.

Fifty years ago, when the burden of the worlds problems was heavy on my shoulders, I visited Karl Marxs grave at the Highgate cemetery at Hampstead in London and laid a rose. As Nobel laureate Bob Dylan wrote: Oh! I was so much older then, I am younger than that now! Like to many others, Marxism was a pre-analytic cognitive vision. However, that vision, like many others, did not stand the test of time and the rigors of objective analysis.

The Highgate monument was unveiled in 1956, almost 73 years after he died. The monument is located on a slope and when viewed in profile it appears he is looking forward. It is a larger than life bronze lion-like head that stares ahead with a mane of hair and a bushy beard that it looks like a face peering out of hair. The figure is cut off just below the shoulders by a 10-foot plinth of polished granite. At the top of the plinth, in gold lettering, is the inscription, Workers of All Lands Unite; below that is the famous quotation from Marxs reflections on the philosopher Feuerbach  Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. And change it he did.

Sitting in distant London, and immersed in study at the British Museum, Karl Marx analysed the condition of India, totally under the jackboot of British colonialism: The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilisation lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home, where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies, where it goes naked. They are the defenders of property, but did any revolutionary party ever originate agrarian revolutions like those in Bengal, in Madras, and in Bombay? Did they not, in India, to borrow an expression of that great robber, Lord Clive himself, resort to atrocious extortion, when simple corruption could not keep pace with their rapacity? While they prated in Europe about the inviolable sanctity of the national debt, did they not confiscate in India the dividends of the rajahs, 171 who had invested their private savings in the Companys own funds? While they combated the French revolution under the pretext of defending our holy religion, did they not forbid, at the same time, Christianity to be propagated in India, and did they not, in order to make money out of the pilgrims streaming to the temples of Orissa and Bengal, take up the trade in the murder and prostitution perpetrated in the temple of juggernaut? These are the men of Property, Order, Family, and Religion. Has India changed very much since then?

Marx is famous for his major lifes work  Das Kapital and the Theories of Surplus Value, which discussed the theoreticians of political economy such as Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and David Ricardo. Marx was able to write and publish only the first volume; his friend and associate, Friedrich Engels, completed the trilogy from his copious notes. There is an irony in this great partnership  for without Engels there may not have been a Das Kapital. Engels was the son of a wealthy German cotton textile mill owner and that capital stood the pair in good stead. There is a certain denseness about these three volumes that makes one wonder if very many self-professed Marxists have even read them, let alone understood them? Maybe Prakash Karat did, and still does?

Not very long ago, speaking at a gathering to mark the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaopings historic slew of economic reforms in China, I made a rather presumptive and trite comment that Marxism was dead as a dodo. I was wrong. It is Leninism and Maoism that are nearly dead. Marxism is still very much relevant for the interpretation of the world around us. The egalitarian concerns of Marxism and its innate humanism are still very valid. It is a prism through which we can even now clearly see and understand the worlds condition.

What has failed is Leninism, and its distortion of Marxism, and the arrogation of power by a supremely conceited and power hungry elite who could justify any means and any cruelty to serve their narrow ends. The derivation of Leninism as Maoism is even a greater distortion of Marxism and Leninism.

Marx saw the distortions and inequity in society and wondered why? He came up with explanations. His prescriptions were limited by the knowledge and evidence available to him then. The world has moved on and moved very far since then. Technology and the structure of modern society have changed far too much for even Marx to contemplate. He lived during a simpler time when farmers tilled with animal-drawn ploughs and even electricity was not even a glimmer. But the analytical discipline he has bequeathed to us is still relevant. But it is the prescriptions of our friends Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, alias Lenin, and Mao Zedong that we need to forget.Sporadic blasts, arson mark banda enforced by Chands outfit

A nationwide banda enforced by the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) on Sunday was marked by sporadic incidents of arson and explosion in some places.Here is an app that helps school children design virtual tours on their own. Tour Creator, an app by Google lets users create their own VR tour with Googles Street View images or 360-degree photos. The editors note on the Google blog says that the arrival of the new app on Teacher Appreciation Week is to highlight the ways in which Google is supporting teachers. The app would work with Google Cardboard and Expeditions.

Since 2015, Google Expeditions has brought more than 3 million students to places like the Burj Khalifa, Antarctica, and Machu Picchu with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Both teachers and students have told us that theyd love to have a way to share their own experiences in VR, the blog post explains about the reason behind Tour Creator.

One can create tours by following these simple steps. First, you have to assign the tour a name and upload a cover photo. In the next level, you have to utilise Google Maps to find any place of interest or simply upload the 360-degree pictures of your tour scenes. You can also add buttons so that details on the photo can be learned. On completing this, you can publish the tour in Poly, the library of 3D content, embed it into any website or check it out with Expeditions. Google is also planning to get these videos uploaded into Expeditions.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.Surabaya: Four terrorists on a motorcycle blew themselves up at a police headquarters in Indonesia's second city Surabaya on Monday, wounding at least 10 people including officers, authorities said, a day after a deadly wave of suicide bombings hit churches.

Citing CCTV footage from the scene, East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said a man and a woman on the bike stopped at the security checkpoint.

"That's where the explosion happened," he added.

"There were four perpetrators riding two motorcycles who have been confirmed dead, their identity is still being verified," said East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera.

The authorities said the wounded included six civilians and four police.

Ambulances and the bomb squad descended on the chaotic scene with the CCTV images showed the mangled wreckage of a motorbike at the security gate at the headquarters in the heart of the city.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility after the latest suicide bombing.

"This is a cowardly act, undignified and inhumane," Indonesian President Joko Widodo told reporters in Jakarta.

"There will be no compromise in taking action on the ground to stop terrorism."

The lethal explosion comes just a day after a family of six including two young daughters staged suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya during Sunday services.

At least 14 civilians have died as a result of that attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, and the toll could climb with more than 40 injured in hospital.

Multiple bombings

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people -- mostly foreign tourists -- in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

Sunday's church bombings was Indonesia's deadliest attack in years. The attackers -- a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 -- were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, police have said.

Authorities said they believed some of the family members had recently returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law.

A further three people in another family were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Surabaya, just hours later, police said.

The mother and one child died from the explosion while police said they shot dead the father who was carrying a bomb detonator.

Two other children were injured in the blast and were taken to hospital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the apartment bomb.

In the church attacks, the mother, identified as Puji Kuswati, and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, police have said.

The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church while his sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church, where they detonated explosives they were carrying, according to authorities.

JAD, led by jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, has been linked to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.

That was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

Police on Sunday said four suspected JAD members were killed in a shootout during raids linked to a deadly prison riot this week.

Five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. IS claimed responsibility.

Karnavian said Sunday's church attacks may have been revenge for the arrest of some of JAD's leaders and for the prison crisis which eventually saw the surrender of the radical inmates.Powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, and can scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for fire fighting trips, according to state media. (Photo: AFP)

Beijing: China expects to deliver its domestically developed AG600, the world's largest amphibious aircraft, to customers by 2022, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported late on Sunday citing the plane's manufacturer.

"We are endeavouring to get the airworthiness certification from the civil aviation authorities by 2021, and deliver it to the customers by 2022," Xinhua quoted Huang Lingcai, the plane's chief designer at state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), as saying.

China developed the AG600 as part of a drive to modernise its military, amid a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea that has rattled nerves in the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.

It made its maiden flight in China in December. Huang also said the aircraft would make more flights in 2018, including its first takeoff from water.

AVIC has spent about eight years developing the aircraft, which is roughly the size of a Boeing Co 737 and is designed to carry out marine rescues and battle forest fires. It has a range of up to 4,500 kms (2,800 miles) and is designed to be able to take off and land in two metre (six feet) waves.

Powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, and can scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for fire fighting trips, according to state media.

In December, state media said that the aircraft had received 17 orders so far from Chinese government departments and Chinese companies.Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. (Photo: AP)

Gaza Border: Israeli troops killed at least 43 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States prepared to open its embassy in Jerusalem.

Protests intensified on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, with loudspeakers on Gaza mosques urging Palestinians to join a "Great March of Return". Black smoke from tyres burned by demonstrators rose into the air at the border.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

"Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end," he said.

Israeli troops killed 43 Palestinians on Monday, including a 14-year-old boy and a man in a wheelchair, and nearly 2,200 protesters were wounded, at least half of them by live bullets, health officials said. The man in the wheelchair had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 88 since the protests began on March 30. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States, which has angered the Palestinians and Arab powers by relocating its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, has echoed Israel in accusing Gaza's ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

Later in the day, Israeli leaders and a US delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy.

"What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Jason Greenblatt, Trump's Middle East peace envoy, said on Twitter that "taking the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it."

But Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December and the relocation of the embassy were "blatant violations of international law".

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the US Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the US move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

"Hamas Threats"

Israel's military dropped leaflets into the enclave on Monday, warning Palestinians "not to serve as a tool of Hamas" or approach or damage Israel's frontier fence.

But thousands of Palestinians massed at five locations along the line. Of the nearly 2,200 people wounded by Israeli gunfire, 11 were journalists, the officials said.

The Israeli military says its troops are defending the border and firing in accordance with the rules of engagement.

"We are prepared to face the Hamas threats to disrupt the (embassy) festivities," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted.

"My recommendation to the residents of Gaza: Don't be blinded by (Hamas's Gaza leader, Yehya Al-) Sinwar, who is sending your children to sacrifice their lives without any utility. We will defend our citizens with all measures and will not allow the fence to be crossed."

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslins and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Its ambassador visited the new site, in an office building in the western part of the city, on Monday. Paraguay is to follow suit later this month.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the US decision to do so.

The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across the Middle East.A 42-year-old former BJP corporator was attacked by a gang of four at Sajjan Rao Circle in VV Puram, South Bengaluru, on Monday morning.

Vedavyasa Bhat, a newspaper agent from Chikkamavalli, was packing a bundle of papers for distribution to shops around 5.30 pm when four men arrived in motorbikes, attacked him with lethal weapons and fled the spot. Bhats staff rushed to his rescue and raised an alarm. His sister, Veena Bhat, a sitting corporator, later took him to the Victoria Hospital, a senior police officer said.

S D Sharanappa, DCP (South), visited the hospital and spoke to Bhat. In a statement to the police, Bhat pointed the finger at the followers of the Congress MLA from Chickpet, R V Devaraj.

The jurisdictional VV Puram police have picked up two men and are interrogating them.

The motive behind the attack is still under investigation. Police are looking at political rivalry, financial dispute and other related issues.China is sending an envoy to the United States for talks aimed at cooling a trade dispute that threatens to upend markets from soy beans to steel.

The Foreign Ministry said Vice Premier Liu He will visit the US from Tuesday to Saturday for consultations with US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his team.

That follows a visit by the US officials to Beijing earlier this month, where they conveyed a demand that China slash its trade surplus with the U.S. by USD 200 billion by the end of 2020.

A rivalry over advanced technology has fueled demands by Washington that China give up policies that favour domestic companies. Beijing considers such policies fundamental to its state-driven economic model and vital for its future growth.India's regulator of genetically modified products has ordered one more round of field trials for the controversy-ridden indigenous GM mustard.

But the decision taken by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee under the Union environment ministry failed to impress the anti-GM lobby that demanded a wider review of the contentious crop developed by scientists at Delhi University.

In its last meeting on March 21, the GEAC asked DU's Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants to undertake field trials in an area of 5 acres at two to three different locations.

The purpose is to generate additional data on the effect of GM mustard on honey bees and other pollinators as well as on honey and microbial diversity.

The scientists have been asked to submit a detailed protocol (for the trial) that needs to be approved by the GEAC before the evaluation starts, according to the minutes of the GEAC meeting, released last week.

The commercialisation of genetically engineered mustard remained one of the most controversial proposals in the last two years because of strident opposition from the anti-GM activists.

The activists denounced the scientific reports in favour of the engineered oilseed and produced documents, questioning the scientific claims and evaluation results.

The researchers, on the other hand, rubbished the documents produced by the non-governmental organisation.

A parliamentary panel in August 2017, asked the Union environment ministry to find out answers to several queries on the GM mustard before a decision on the marketing of the transgenic crop was taken.

Within weeks, the National Academy of Agriculture Sciences led its weight behind the commercial release of the transgenic crop.

In its March meeting, GEAC admitted to having received several representations from the critics of GM mustard but reiterated that the issues flagged in those representations were deliberated extensively in the past.

The activists are unhappy with the latest GEAC decision.

"GEAC went about the re-examination of the environmental release application of GM mustard in a completely facetious and non-serious way, and has not taken up any serious review of the entire matter of environmental clearance of GM mustard," Kavitha Kuruganti, co-convenor, Coalition for a GM-Free India  an alliance of anti-GM outfits  wrote in a protest letter to GEAC chairperson A K Mehta.MIDVALE  Pat Burton turned 60 last August and retired. Turned in his last time card. Told them they could take this job and give it to somebody else.

He left because he could. Hed been careful throughout his career as an engineer. Faithfully contributed to his 401K. Saved more than he spent. Planned ahead. Left nothing to chance.

And now?

Now hes starting over.

He got out of the saddle so he could get back in the saddle.

Meet the new retirement: still working, but on your terms.

This is not how your father did it. In Burtons case, quite literally.

He watched his dad, also an engineer, retire from his career when he was also 60.

He moved into a condo, where he didnt have to do yard work in the summer or plow snow in the winter. Free at last.

But he just seemed like he was bored to death, says Burton. I would see him doing things like labeling everything in the house. Hed go around the condo development and paint the light fixtures just for something to do.

His father died of a heart attack at 64.

His health wasnt good so that was a part of it, but I think part of the reason is he was bored.

Well before he turned in his notice last summer at the University of Utah  where he was an information technology manager  Burton had already begun plotting his next move.

His future centered on one central theme: He would be his own boss.

Upper management would be him.

He sat in his cubicle and indulged every employees daydream: What if the only person I have to please is me!

He hired a franchise consultant to investigate businesses he might be able to get into.

The cool thing about franchise consultants is you dont pay them anything, he says. If you sign on with someone, its the franchise that pays them.

He sorted through a list of about 20 possibilities. He tossed out the food ones first  seemed like too much stress. Hed once thought about running a bookstore, since reading and collecting books is a passion, but book-selling isnt what it once was.

He finally settled on applying for a franchise with Hand & Stone, a massage and facial company.

Never would have dreamed this is what Id be doing, he says, smiling. What I didnt know (about the massage and facial business) would fill a book.

He flew to Hand & Stones headquarters in Philadelphia for training, where one of the first lessons he learned was do not call them massage parlors. They dont like that.

Back in Utah, he scouted out a location for his massage and facial spa in the Fort Union area, secured construction and business permits, worked with architects and builders and started hiring employees.

Two Mondays ago, he opened for business.

I unlocked the door and just hoped everybody would show up for work, he says.

Fortunately, everyone did, and so did a fair number of customers thanks to a grand opening marketing campaign that included giving away a number of free facials and massages.

The starting-up process has been full of stress, Burton freely admits, involving plenty of 18-hour days, a steep learning curve and the abiding fear that if this venture is a disaster the 401K could be gone in no time.

But a good kind of stress.

I dont set my alarm anymore, he says. I dont have to get up, I want to get up. Im not constantly looking at the clock. I feel younger.

And since opening for business, hes felt his worry lessen considerably. Now my attitude is, This is going to work, he says, as opposed to fearing that it would not.

His new boss, hes found, is a pretty reasonable guy.

Hes making me work too much, he grins. But they all do that, right?

As for boredom, thats been nonexistent. Ever since he retired, hes had too much to do.

I really dont plan to ever stop, he says. As long as Im healthy and I can do something, Im going to keep doing it.

But if I want to take off a little earlier in the afternoon, or take a day off now and then, I want to be able to do that, too.SOUTH SALT LAKE  Not all Utahns have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, so a locally run federal education program intends to change that one child at a time.

The Utah Community Action Head Start preschools, serving Salt Lake and Tooele counties and in Wendover, carefully plan well-balanced meals and snacks for the nearly 2,000 students who attend morning or afternoon preschool sessions, knowing that might be the only healthy options the kids get all day.

"We know that proper nutrition is part of their healthy development," said Joni Clark, chief development officer with the preschool program. She said it is important that kids know and recognize what it means to be healthy and to choose healthier options whenever possible.

"Fresh fruits and vegetables are especially important to learn about and have access to," she said.

The preschool's main kitchen, at the South Salt Lake Head Start location, employs a nutritionist who follows standards set by the Child and Adult Care Food Program, a service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Meals are to include foods that "contribute to the wellness, healthy growth and development of young children," according to the USDA website.

Clark said every menu item served to the kids has child-sized portions of a fruit and a vegetable option, whole grains and protein.

"Many of them are getting a limited amount at home," she said. "We do our best to make sure they have access when they are here."

On Thursday, the preschoolers, ages 3 to 5, teamed up with community volunteers from Goldman Sachs' Salt Lake City offices to learn about how fruits and vegetables grow and how they can be used in fun foods, such as smoothies and pizza.

Head Start chef Alexis Van Otten taught the kids and volunteers how to make pizza dough with five ingredients: flour, salt, yeast, sugar and water, and then showed them how to stretch it and make it fit a pan. The kids counted as the dough was mixed, patted the dough thin and selected their own toppings.

"It's fun to see the kids be creative and make healthy choices," Van Otten said, applauding as children grabbed handfuls of sliced green peppers and olives for their pizza pies.

"They have no fear," she said. "They're confident and know what they like."

Cheryl Hone, a program specialist supervisor with Utah Community Action, said hands-on activities are especially helpful when teaching kids about healthy living. It helps them better relate and remember important concepts, she said.

"It's important that they see healthy eating as fun," Hone said.

About 2,000 children whose families meet various eligibility requirements attend the more than 100 classrooms in the Head Start preschool programs throughout Salt Lake and Tooele counties and in Wendover. Classes run Monday through Thursday and are about 3 1/2 hours in length, including meal times.

The main kitchen in South Salt Lake, at 2825 S. 200 East, prepares and distributes all the food for classes throughout the program.

"The food we give them  breakfast and a snack or lunch and a snack  makes up two-thirds of their nutritional needs for the whole day," Hone said.

The federally funded program aims to give low-income families access to high-quality early childhood education, and Clark said in-kind donations, including volunteer hours, are imperative to meeting those goals.

"We appreciate our volunteers," she said. "We are so supported by the community and rely on groups to help us."

The program needs to attract $4.5 million in donated goods and services every year to meet federal guidelines for grant funding. Clark said there is a variety of opportunities for volunteers, making the program an attractive choice.

Volunteers with Goldman Sachs' Community TeamWorks initiative, which works to serve communities, also gave the parents of Head Start preschoolers some tips for grocery shopping on a budget and saving money at the store. Recommendations include sticking to a budget that is determined by considering family income and expenses, and setting spending and saving goals each month, as well as buying only what is needed and shopping sales as much as possible.

"Our population is so vulnerable, people just want to help," Clark said. "Who doesn't love to help kids, and kids in poverty, especially."

To learn more about the Utah Community Action Head Start Preschool program, visit utahca.org/head-start.SALT LAKE CITY  State elections officials are looking into instances of unauthorized voter registration changes reported by members of the United Utah Party, including the year-old party's first candidate, Jim Bennett.

Bennett, who ran in last year's special congressional election, said he checked and found that his voter registration had been switched to unaffiliated after hearing from other United Utah Party members their registrations had been changed.

"It's bizarre to me. I don't know what they think they can accomplish by doing this if sabotage is the goal," Bennett said. "The only damage being done to the party is we look smaller than we actually are."

State Elections Director Justin Lee said his office "will be looking into the issues. We encourage anyone who believes there is an issue with their voter registration to contact their county clerks or the lieutenant governor's office."

On Friday, United Utah Party Chairman Richard Davis sent a letter to Lee requesting an investigation, citing at least three instances where party members discovered their affiliation had been changed without their consent

Besides Bennett, current 1st Congressional District candidate Eric Eliason and the party's social media director, Jared Oates, both said they had been notified they were no longer United Utah Party members.

Eliason, who had previously changed his party registration when he got into the race to unseat Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said he received a new voter registration card showing him as a United Utah Party member.

But then, Eliason said, a second card arrived showing he had chosen to be an unaffliated voter.

Oates said he, too, initially received confirmation he was registered with the new party only to find out that he was listed as a Republican Party member online. Oates and Bennett both had made videos when they signed up with the new party.

Bennett, who now serves as the spokesman for the United Utah Party, said Lee told party members last week that the changes were clerical errors made by county clerks offices.

The three instances cited by the party occurred in Salt Lake, Cache and Utah counties, Bennett said, raising the party's concerns about what might be happening. He said the party is urging members to check their registrations.

Bennett said he has not yet corrected his party affiliation.

"I will," he said. "I want to make sure it's solved before I change my registration back again. There may be an innocent explanation for this. We're trying not to cast aspersions on anyone."

But Bennett said the number of registered United Utah Party members has appeared low compared to participation at party events. The state lists total membership at 591, the lowest of any recognized political party in the state.

Because the United Utah Party allows a member of any political party to participate, Bennett said the voter registration issue is hurting the party only "in terms of perception of our numbers."

He said that seems "to be an incredibly petty thing to do deliberately."

Lee, asked if he was concerned the United Utah Party may be being targeted to keep its membership number low, said, he has "no reason to believe that, but we will look into the issues to see what is going on.Heres a look at the news for May 14.

MUST-READ NEWS THIS MORNING:

Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt has 1,000 stories to tell

Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt spoke at a BYU Management Society luncheon this last week as a keynote speaker, and he shared a number of stories about his career, the Deseret News reported.

In fact, Leavitt said he sat down one Sunday night to compile a list of his lifes stories. He wrote down 100 stories at first, which then ballooned into 1,000.

"I'm not talking about big dramatic things. I'm talking about simply things that I remember that were somehow important to me as I grew up," he said.

Leavitt served as Health and Human Services secretary for President George W. Bush, and now leads a health care consulting firm.

Read more stories at the Deseret News.

Autopilot Tesla slams into truck in Utah

A Tesla sedan with an autopilot feature that is semi-autonomous crashed into the back of a fire department truck at a red stoplight in Utah, according to the Deseret News.

Police said the car crashed without braking. Its still unclear if the autopilot feature was on.

According to a statement from police, the Teslas driver wasnt believed to be under the influence of any substance in the crash. Roads were also wet at the time of the crash.

"Witnesses indicated the Tesla Model S did not brake prior to impact," the statement said.

Read more.

State investigates why United Utah Party members' party affiliations were changed

Utah elections officials are investigating whether there were unauthorized voter registration changes, according to the Deseret News.

Members of the year-old United Utah Party said their affiliations were changed. In one case, party spokesman Jim Bennett said he discovered his voter registration was changed to unaffiliated.

"It's bizarre to me. I don't know what they think they can accomplish by doing this if sabotage is the goal," Bennett said. "The only damage being done to the party is we look smaller than we actually are."

State Elections Director Justin Lee said his team "will be looking into the issues. We encourage anyone who believes there is an issue with their voter registration to contact their county clerks or the lieutenant governor's office."

Read more.

41 dead in Gaza clash

At least 41 Palestinians have died in Gaza after they were shot and killed by Israeli troops, according to BBC News.

Bloody chaos erupted along the border after the U.S. opened a new embassy in Jerusalem, igniting anger among the Palestinians.

They see it as clear U.S. backing for Israeli rule over the whole city, whose eastern part Palestinians lay claim to, according to BBC.

President Donald Trumps daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner attended the opening event for the embassy.

Protests have gone on in Gaza for the last weeks. Israel doesnt want Palestinians crossing the border, leading to the violent attacks.

Read more.

AROUND THE WEB:SALT LAKE CITY  Police arrested a Sevier County man after he allegedly posted a threat on social media against an undisclosed school.

Parker David Martin, 20, was arrested for investigation of threat of terrorism.

According to Salina police, at about 8 p.m. Sunday, a Snapchat post "of a picture of a very large military type bullet along with the caption, 'don't go to school tomorrow,'" was reported. "No specific schools were targeted or mentioned."

A concerned mother was the one who notified police.

"She then advised me that she was scared because she knew that the suspect lived in Salina and that she had kids in the school system," an officer wrote in the jail booking statement.

The officer then looked at Martin's Facebook page.

"I discovered his page, which had a quote in his cover photo that stated, 'My mother ALWAYS used to tell me: If you can't find something to LIVE for, you BEST find something to DIE for,'" the report states.

Police had the mother's student send Martin a message on Snapchat.

"She then asked him, 'Why did you send a pic of a bullet?' He sent the response, 'I'm lost,'" according to the report.

Police determined Martin was staying at a motel and then found him at work at a fast-food restaurant, the report states.

"The suspect asked if we were there to talk with him about the bullet post. Officer Harwood advised him that it was, then asked him why he posted it and what school was he talking about. The suspect stated that it was just a joke, kind of like when people post the same thing but with a picture of a Lego gun, or a squirt gun," according to the report.

Police concluded the post was a hoax; however, Martin was arrested and booked into jail for investigation of the felony charge.SALT LAKE CITY  The national leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will meet Thursday with LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors.

This meeting kicks off of the NAACP's quarterly board meeting, which is being held in Salt Lake City for the first time.

Jeanetta Williams has long requested a meeting in Utah's capital. Williams oversees the organization's work in Utah, Idaho and Nevada as president of the NAACP Salt Lake Branch.

"It is a historic meeting," she said, "and the NAACP Salt Lake Branch and myself as president are excited that the national board selected Salt Lake City to hold their May board meeting. We hope once they're here and do some sightseeing, it won't be their last time here."

The meeting with the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be held at the Church Administration Building on Temple Square.

Following the meeting with President Nelson and his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring, LDS and NAACP leaders will make a joint statement to the media, according to a media advisory released by the church on Monday morning.

The NAACP board meetings will commence shortly afterward at the Salt Lake Marriott, 75 S. West Temple. The meetings will continue through Saturday, with a Friday evening reception hosted by the Salt Lake branch.

Williams said she told members of the 64-person NAACP national board that she has had a strong working relationship with church leaders, especially late church President Gordon B. Hinckley and the late President James E. Faust, who served in the First Presidency. She delivered an official invitation to the board to meet in Salt Lake at its annual meeting in New York in February.

She said some board members plan to arrive early and visit the LDS Family History Library and the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Wednesday.Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) has received $30 million in financing, which it will use to fund its expansion across the region.

The cash injection has come ahead of an IPO in the form of Sukuk certificates, which are a type of bond compliant with Islamic law that mature two years after a company floats its business. VMMEA has not yet set a date for an IPO.

The operators CEO Alan Gow noted that the company was uniquely positioned to expand its successful MVNO model into new markets. He noted that growth opportunities made the region highly attractive for the telecoms sector, and confirmed that the funding would be used to support growth.

VMMEA currently offers MVNO services across Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and South Africa via both the Virgin Mobile and Friendi brands. Based on figures from October 2017, it has 4 million customers across these markets, and is looking to add ten new markets to its footprint  although it has not indicated which countries these may include.

In addition, it has an advisory relationship with Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company  the operator behind du  on Virgin Mobile-branded services within the UAE. It has long stated its goal of becoming the digital disruptor of the Middle East.Thaicom has signed an agreement with Mediavision to expand its Multi-Channel Per Carrier (MCPC) broadcast platform in Africa.

The MCPC broadcast platform is a cost-effective distribution solution, providing broadcasters in Europe direct access to Thaicoms content distribution platform at 78.5 east, located on the Thaicom-6 satellite. European and international programmers will also gain access to Mediavisions integrated solutions for linear and non-linear content distribution including Internet Protocol TV (IPTV).

Thaicom and Mediavision are working together to deliver innovative broadcast solutions that enable programmers to cost-effectively expand their distribution network into Sub-Saharan Africa, said Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri, Chief Commercial Officer with Thaicom. Thaicom launched its MCPC broadcast platform for Africa in 2016. Now we will be able to provide European and international programmers with immediate access to the African market and TV households.

Our partnership with Thaicom provides European broadcasters with an integrated, end-to-end solution for content distribution via the Thaicom-6 satellite, said Petrit Bhatijari, Chief Executive Officer, Mediavison. The Thaicom MCPC platform on Thaicom-6 will enable European programmers who target Africa to develop their content distribution across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo and Thales, will provide uplink services for the platform from its teleport facility in Fucino, Italy. Fucino, with its 170 antennas and 370,000 square meters, is recognised as the first and most important teleport in the world for civilian use. Broadcasters will be able to contribute standard (SD) and high definition (HD) content from Europe to Africa via Telespazios Fucino facility and the Thaicom-6 satellite.The General Data Protection Regulation is set to go live on May 25, 2018 and in order to be compliant with the new law, Google has revised its entire Privacy Policy. To be very clear, there are no changes to the information Google collects or how it collects and uses said information, only that the new Privacy Policy page is now devoid of any legalese so that users know in clear terms what Google is doing. Additionally, there are now more controls available to the user to aid in the review of Google security, privacy and settings.

The primary goal of the new Privacy Policy document is to be more transparent with Googles data collection and use. To this end, the company has not only made the Privacy Policy a lot more user friend to read, but there are also multiple videos you can watch to get an understanding of how things work. William Malcolm, Director, Privacy Legal EMEA at Google said in a blogpost - Weve improved the navigation and organization of the policy to make it easier to find what youre looking for; explained our practices in more detail and with clearer language; and added more detail about the options you have to manage, export, and delete data from our services. The policy now also includes explanatory videos and illustrations, because a visual description can be easier to understand than text alone. And we've made it easier to jump to your privacy settings directly from the policy, helping you make choices about your privacy.

Besides making its policies on data collection and use clearer, Google is also making the Privacy Controls a lot more prominent. You can go to www.myaccount.google.com to get access to the comprehensive set of tools that will let you review the content collected by Google. Here, you can delete data, or even turn data collection off for certain Google services. For example, Google turns on the microphone on your Android smartphone from time to time to pick up short audio to better identify your voice. You can review all the audio clips that Google has collected, along with deleting them and turning the feature off for good. The same applies to Google Maps, which uploads a very detailed account of your movements to Google. However, it is important to note that if you are to turn all features off, you wont be getting the best out of these services. For example, if you disable data collection by Maps, it may not be able to prompt you when to leave for your work so that you can arrive there by a certain time. While trying to turn off Voice & Audio Activity

It would be a very good idea to go through the new Privacy Policy to understand the full depth of how much information Google is collecting from everyone who uses their services. One part of the policy reads If you use our services to make and receive calls or send and receive messages, we may collect telephony log information like your phone number, calling-party number, receiving-party number, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls and messages, duration of calls, routing information, and types of calls. There is a lot of information in there that might alarm you, but Google consistently has reassured the world that it handles user data with the utmost care.

Google explains that all the user data it uses for ad-targeting contains no personally identifiable information. Additionally, the company also explains that whatever it collects, much of the information is anonymised. Google also explains how it anonymizes the data so that you have full clarity on the fact that your personally identifiable information is not being shared with third parties. Google does clarify the instances in which it will share private information with third-parties in its Privacy Policy.

Googles move to update its Privacy Policy stems from two critical events in recent history. First, it is the passing of the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe which requires companies like Google and Facebook to be very clear about what they collect and how they do it. The GDPR also requires the companies to give users control over the data collection. Second reason is that politicians repeatedly criticized Mark Zuckerberg for hiding behind the but it was in the ToS argument, stating that most people do not even read the Terms of Service due to the purposely dense legal language used in the document. The ToS, by design, is written in a way to deter people from reading it. Googles new Privacy Policy couldnt make things clearer.

Companies like Google and Facebook heavily rely on user data to not only generate business, but also refine their own services. The amount of money Google has invested in developing it Neural Networks is staggering, and the cost of doing that would have been much higher had they not had access to users data. The end result is that you get products that are naturally smarter, more intuitive and mindful of your needs and preference, making life a lot easier.Intelligence, Simplicity, and Digital Wellbeing were the three big themes for all Android P announcements made at Google I/O 2018. Google, not only deepened its resolve to remove the three legacy navigation buttons owing to user frustration, the companys Project Treble also gained steam as Nokia, Sony, OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo and Essential were brought onto Android P Public Beta even before the Pixel 3 launch.

On the sidelines of I/O 2018, we spoke to Dave Burke, VP Engineering (Android) at Google, to dive deeper into the companys vision for Android P, a software update that changes the very way users interact with their Android smartphones.

As was clear from Google I/O announcements this year, Artificial Intelligence will not only play the hero on Googles devices, but will also within its software. According to Burke, the new operating system is an important first step towards the vision of AI on the core operating platform of Android phones. Intelligence on Android P comes from features such as on-device machine learning to anticipate users actions while maintaining user privacy. Features like Smart Replies - which predicts user replies within notifications and App Actions - which predicts the next action a user will take on an app, are both examples of how Google plans to put its AI chops to use on Android P, without private user data ever leaving the device.

"The theme here is that the device is adapting to you"

On the Pixel, we integrated predictive apps quite a while ago. It predicts the next app you are going to launch, and it gets it right 60 percent of the time. That was last year. This year, we wanted to go further and actually, suggest actions. Call your wife, navigate home, open documents, really the concept here is to have the operating system reach out to you. It just accelerates how you use the device. The theme here is that the device is adapting to you, explained Burke.

Another example of how Android P will add simple machine learning tasks to smartphones is Googles new Slices feature. The company is now providing new APIs for developers to define interactive snippets of their apps UI. In the context of Search, Android P users will see Slices of apps within the search interface, allowing for faster interaction with apps to complete desired tasks. This carries forward Android Ps simplicity theme which aims at fading technology to the back of the UI and making Android usage more natural and fluent.

Android started as a powerful OS, maybe too powerful. Weve been trying to make Android simpler to use and more approachable so somebody who has never used Android before should be able to pickup a device and know how to use it, said Burke.

"Weve had gestures since 10 years ago. Its something we have been working on before them (Apple)."

One of the big changes Google is making to Android this year is Quick Step, which is the name for the new gesture-based UI Android P brings with it. Quick Step combines all apps and overview. Burke tells us that while Google was careful to keep the soft Home button, it removed the other two navigation buttons to make way for more screen real estate and easier usage. According to the company, Androids new swipe navigation is a much more powerful way to interact with phones and the decision was not made to ape Apples iPhone X navigation techniques.

From Android 1.0, we introduced gestures to bring up notifications. So weve had gestures since 10 years ago. Two years ago, we changed Googles version of UI for all apps. So in the first Pixel, you had a gesture to swipe up and so weve been increasing gestures all the time. The bigger change is combining all apps and overview space into one. All the previous versions of Android have had three buttons, I always think of it like three doors. The problem with the overview was that you go down to this other place and then you have to back up to come to home. We wanted to change this relationship. Its something we have been working on before them (Apple). Its kind of amazing that they just moved to on-screen buttons. We found that lots of people didnt really understand the three buttons and didnt use multitasking. What we have learnt is that people who use the new UI multitask more, Burke said explaining the thinking behind Android Ps new gesture navigation.

"Project Treble will just work because weve got a formal interface and lots of tests done and contracts enforced."

Aside from a simpler, more intuitive UI, Android P also brings with it a promise for faster updates which Google first introduced last year in the form of Project Treble support for all Android O devices. Project Treble was launched with the aim of reducing fragmentation within the Android framework by making it easier, faster, and less costly for manufacturers to roll out updates. While we did see a number of devices support Project Treble last year, this is the first time Google made an Android public beta available to smartphones from other OEMs. Not only did Google choose these 7 OEMs owing to their huge popularity and user base, Burke explained why we did not see results from Project Treble last year.

The thing about project treble is that it takes time, but its playing exactly as we expected. In Oreo, we spent all of this effort creating this very formal hardware interface and it meant every single team - like the media framework team, the graphics teams, locations, sensors - every team was affected. They all had to create this formal boundary. What it means is you were never going to see a benefit last year because, in some ways its more work for everyone. You will start seeing the benefits now. Benefits like - we have 7 devices on the Android P beta. Last year, we had one. Device makers who have made the phone on Oreo can take the P version of Android and just put it on top and it will just work because weve got a formal interface and lots of tests done and contracts enforced. Now, the silicon vendors are actually working with us. So Samsung semiconductor, Qualcomm and Mediatek are working in the same code base. They are using the same tools so when we have a release candidate like P, they will have their commercial code ready for the device makers. So it just speeds it all up.

So not only does Android P promise a faster, simpler and more intelligent operating system, it is also now that we will see more OEMs give users the benefit of faster Android updates thanks to a more streamlined and organised Project Treble. However, Google still feels that real benefits of Treble will only be realised by users 2-3 years from now.

Head here to read more about all the new features coming to Android P.Reliance Jio has filed a complaint against Bharti Airtel with the DoT. Jio alleges that the eSIM services offered by Bharti Airtel with the Apple Watch Series 3 are in "gross violation to the license terms". As per a PTI report, the telco has also demanded immediate termination of Airtels eSIM services for the device. The Apple Watch Series 3 makes use of an eSIM and it shares the same number as their iPhone. The connection between the eSIM in the watch and the smartphone is established wirelessly via a dedicated network node and the user can make and receive calls on the phone and the watch independent of the current call status of the other device. The node is used for eSIM profile allocation and also contains network and user information like SIM details, PIN, operator identifier, remote file management for managing SIM files remotely and more.

Jio alleges that the eSIM provisioning node by Airtel has been set up outside India and says that the telecom operator has deliberately installed a critical network element outside the country. Jio also claims that Sunil Bharti Mittal led telecom operator should have carried out lawful interception and monitoring, but it is not aware of any demonstration carried out by Airtel prior to the launch of the service "so that important national security interests are not compromised". Airtel has denied the allegations and said that its a petty complaint by a desperate operator.

This is yet another frivolous complaint by a desperate operator, whose sole aim appears to have a monopoly over everything that they do. Bharti Airtel is a law-abiding and responsible operator. The DoT was duly notified prior to the launch of Apple watch including product features, network architecture and lawful interception and we have also requested them to carry out a demonstration of the same. All information relating to customers, network nodes etc. is hosted in a fully secure manner by Airtel India along with provision for lawful interception. We will be happy to share more details with the DoT as and when required., Airtel spokesperson said. The spokesperson also said that all of their customer's information, network nodes and more are hosted in a completely secure manner by Airtel, along with provision for lawful interception.Not to take away from the pristine physique that is the result of Michael B. Jordans brutal gym regime, but we also wanted to give credit to the recent shirt he was rocking at the 71st Annual Cannes Film Festival photocall for Farenheit 451.

With his guns in full view, Jordan sent a clear message to the men out there in need of a reliable wardrobe staple piece: The polo shirt isnt just for dads and its here to stay, baby. The polo in question isnt just any polo though. Its a slick Salvatore Ferragamo piece from the Italian labels 2018 collection thats made from 100 percent black cotton, contrasting collar and features Gancio print all over. Theres also front button fastening and most importantly, shortened sleeves to allow Jordans guns to take centre stage.

The ultra classy casual look was polished off with a clean pair of fitted black trousers, mirror polished dress shoes with concealed fastening and a Piaget Altiplano watch  not a bad way to make the most of an ambassadorship.

So what can we say about the classic polo? Its one of the most reliable wardrobe pieces a man could ever have on side. Just remember to rock it with confidence and a smile. A body of champion boxer probably helps too.

RELATED: 10 Classic Polo Shirts That Are Lad-ProofExperts finally agree: MH370 crash was deliberate act by suicidal pilot

Aviation experts believe they have unravelled the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. During Sunday's episode of Australian current affairs program 60 Minutes, four leading aviation experts have agreed the disappearance of the flight was the deliberate act of someone on board.

The panel of experts claimed the plane's pilot Captain Zaharie Amad Shah deliberately crashed the jet in the Indian Ocean as part of a "murder-suicide" plan. The panel of experts claimed the plane's pilot Captain Zaharie Amad Shah deliberately crashed the jet in the Indian Ocean as part of a "murder-suicide" plan.

This was after reporter Tara Brown boasted the programs expert panel would provide a final reckoning for the cause of the disaster.

According to Larry Vance, a former senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Zaharie executed a careful series of manoeuvres across Thailand and Malaysia to evade detection.

The pilot was killing himself and took the plane to the most remote spot he could in the southern Indian Ocean so it would disappear, the experts said. The panel also included renowned aviation safety expert Captain John Cox and Martin Dolan, who was chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau when Flight MH370 vanished on 8 March 2014.

Veteran Boeing 777 pilot Simon Hardy was also on the panel, which also heard from leading oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi. The verdict of the panel was unanimous.

This was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time, Dolan said.

This was a criminal act, Vance agreed. He said the public should take comfort in this finding, as it ruled out a catastrophic malfunction that could be repeated in other Boeing 777s.

Simon Hardy was of the firm opinion that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was the culprit. He based this on evidence the plane dipped its wing over Penang, the captains home town, possibly as a farewell.

And after two months, three months of thinking about it, I finally got the answer  somebody was looking out the window, Hardy said. It might [be] a long, emotional goodbye or a short, emotional goodbye to his hometown.

The captains flight simulator, found in his home, had also plotted a one-way trip to the depths of the Indian Ocean, similar to MH370s presumed flight path. And the plane appeared to very deliberately dodge military radar along the Malaysian and Thai border.

As the aircraft went across Thailand and Malaysia, it runs down the border, which is wiggling underneath, meaning its going in and out of those two countries, which is where their jurisdictions are, Hardy said.

If you were commissioning me to do this operation and try and make a 777 disappear, I would do exactly the same thing.

Others on the panel were warier of accusing the pilot personally. But they all agreed it was highly improbable the plane veered off course by accident.

One in a trillion, one expert said.

The only real disagreement between the panellists was over whether the plane dove into the ocean at high-speed or was guided into a relatively soft landing on the waves.

Dolan and the experts' claims came just days after John Dawson, a lawyer who represented nine families from MH370 and MH17, told News Corp Australia, In MH370, you have the pilot flying between Malaysia and Beijing who turns back the aircraft. The evidence is so heavily weighted to involvement by one of the aircrew taking this aircraft down ... that aircraft has probably depressurized, the people died of asphyxiation, it was premeditated murder."

Explaining the reason for Zaharie's alleged attempt to avoid detection by flying a course along the border between Malaysian and Thai air space, Simon Hardy said this was done "so both of the controllers arent bothered about this mysterious aircraft. Cause its, Oh, it's gone. Its not in our space any more.

Flight MH370 went missing in 2014 with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A multimillion-dollar search failed to yield concrete clues as to the plane's whereabouts. Currently, a US company named Ocean Infinity is searching for the jetliner, under a "no cure, no fee" structure.

Since the plane went missing, several conspiracy theories emerged about the fate of the doomed jet. Most recently, an Australian mechanical engineer and crash investigator claimed MH370 was found with "bullet holes". This claim was made based on Google Earth images purporting to shows the missing jetliner in the water 10 miles south of Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean where the plane debris had earlier washed up.

However, authorities rejected the claims saying no such finding was made.

The latest comments from the experts are not the first time doubts were raised about the plane's pilot's involvement in the tragedy. In 2016, reports surfaced alleging the pilot of the missing Boeing 777-200 took the plane on a premeditated suicidal flight, giving rise to the "death dive" theory.

An investigation was launched after New York Magazine reported Zaharie performed a simulated flight on his extensive home-built flight simulator that mirrored MH370's known flight path and ended with a crash in the Indian Ocean.

But authorities investigating the disappearance of Flight MH370 did not confirm the theory.

Some reports claimed a possible electrical issue resulted in a fire on board the plane. Due to this the crew allegedly passed out from smoke inhalation, and the plane continued on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.Bad weather mayhem continues across north, western India; 53 killed

At least 53 people were killed, including 39 in Uttar Pradesh, and many more injured due to lightning and thunderstorms in four states since Sunday night, the union home ministry said today.

The India Meteorological Department has warned of more thunderstorms in north, north-east and parts of southern India for the next two days after Sunday's thunderstorm and dust storm left behind a trail of destruction in four states. The India Meteorological Department has warned of more thunderstorms in north, north-east and parts of southern India for the next two days after Sunday's thunderstorm and dust storm left behind a trail of destruction in four states.

According to The Indian Express, the death toll could be as high as 75 after dust storms and thunderstorms swept through parts of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and the Delhi National Capital Region on Sunday evening.

The IMD has issued severe weather warnings for the next 72 hours for all regions between Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh. It has forecast that there could be light rain and thunderstorms accompanied by strong winds, although their intensity might lessen

Sunday evenings storm saw wind speeds of up to 109 kmph in the national capital region followed by a strong squall. Metro and flight services were affected and the city witnessed multiple traffic jams. The Delhi Police had until 7:30 pm received 189 calls reporting fallen trees, 40 calls for fallen poles, and 31 reports of fallen tin sheds or roofs.

As many as 40 flights were diverted from the Delhi airport while Metro services were suspended for well over an hour.

At least 30 people have died in Uttar Pradesh alone (some reports say 51). Eight of them died due to drowning in Barabanki district. The toll for injured persons has gone up to 83 persons in the state, an official told PTI. Nine people were killed in Andhra Pradesh as the storm brought down walls, uprooted trees and snapped power connection in many regions.

Kasganj was the worst affected district in UP, a state government official told PTI. "Thirty-eight people were killed and 50 injured in the dust storm that lashed various parts of Uttar Pradesh on May 13-14," the official said. Five people were killed in Bareilly and Barabanki districts of UP, while 13 animals died in the storms.

Nine people were struck dead by lightning and three injured in Srikakulam and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh, reports said. High-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services on Sunday evening in several places in north India apart from Delhi.

Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said in its advisory on Sunday.

There doesn't seem to be any respite in sight as Charan Singh, a scientist at IMD, told NDTV that "there is a circulation of a western disturbance in north-west India. Our forecast shows weather will be adverse for the next 48 to 72 hours".

Private forecaster SkyMet Weather too has predicted dust storms and thundershowers with strong gusty wind, hailstorm and lightning in various parts of Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar during the next 12 hours.Canadian medical marijuana provider Aurora Cannabis to buy MedReleaf for $2.5 bn

Canadian medical marijuana provider Aurora Cannabis Inc today struck a deal to buy its rival MedReleaf Corp. for about C$3.2 billion ($2.5 billion) in stock, as the Canadian government pushes to easing restrictions on its use.

The move comes just three months after Aurora acquired CanniMed Therapeutics Inc for $1.1-billion.

Under the terms of the deal, MedReleaf shareholders will receive 3.575 common shares of Aurora for each MedReleaf common share held.

The exchange ratio implies a price of C$29.44 per MedReleaf common share and a premium of approximately 34 per cent, based on the 20-day volume weighted average prices of Aurora and MedReleaf common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of 11 May 2018.

Post closing, existing Aurora shareholders would own approximately 61 per cent of the company, while MedReleaf investors would hold the remaining 39 per cent.

The agreement includes reciprocal non-solicitation provisions subject to the right of each of the companies to accept a superior proposal and have the right to match any such superior proposal in five business days.

The agreement also provides for reciprocal termination fees of C$80 million, as well as payment of a C$15 million expense reimbursement fee.

The merger with MedReleaf will bring together two companies with a total production capacity of over 570,000 kgs per year of cannabis, through nine facilities in Canada and two in Denmark.

The Canadian government has recently eased the use of marijuana and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing to legalise marijuana also for recreational use.

Canada has already issued more than a 100 licences, but medical marijuana companies claim that they are still short of the scale needed to profit from the growing North American demand for medical and recreational use.

Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Aurora is the fastest growing cannabis company in North America with a market cap of C$4.5 billion and annual revenue of C$31 million.

The Vancouver-based company operates a 55,000-square-foot cannabis facility in Cremona, Alberta and two others in Quebec.

It is building an automated 800,000-square-foot plant in Alberta that will be capable of producing 100,000 kgs of cannabis annually. When completed, it will be the largest facility of its kind in the world.

Aurora is also completing a facility in Lachute, Quebec through its wholly-owned subsidiary Aurora Larssen Projects Inc.

Aurora also owns Berlin-based Pedanios GmbH, the leading wholesale importer, exporter, and distributor of medical cannabis in the European Union. The company owns 51 per cent of Aurora Nordic, which plans to build a 1,000,000 square foot hybrid greenhouse in Odense, Denmark.

Aurora also holds a 25-per cent stake in Alcanna Inc, which is developing a cannabis retail network in Western Canada, and a 17.23-per cent stake in extraction technology company Radient Technologies Inc, and has a strategic investment in Hempco Food and Fiber Inc.,

Aurora is also the cornerstone investor in two other licensed producers, with a 22.9-per cent stake in Cann Group Limited, the first Australian company licensed to conduct research on and cultivate medical cannabis, and a 17.62-per cent stake in Canadian producer The Green Organic Dutchman Ltd.Researchers offer new technology for liquid-crystal displays

An international research team from Russia, France, and Germany has proposed a new method for orienting liquid crystals in a paper was published in the journal ACS Macro Letters. It could be used to increase the viewing angle of liquid-crystal displays. The

Subpixel structure in a twisted nematic LCD / MIPT Press Office

"This is first and foremost a fundamental study exploring the mechanisms of liquid crystal orientation," says Dimitri Ivanov, the head of the Laboratory of Functional Organic and Hybrid Materials at MIPT. "That said, we expect that these mechanisms might have applications in new LCD technology."

Liquid crystals

Most solids are crystals. In a crystal, molecules or atoms form an ordered three-dimensional structure. Unlike solids, liquids lack this internal long-range order, but they can flow. Matter in a liquid-crystal state has properties that are intermediate between those of liquids and crystals: it possesses both the molecular order and the ability to flow. A liquid crystal can thus be viewed as an "ordered" liquid.

Not all materials can exhibit a liquid crystalline state, and the phase transition mechanisms may vary. Among other things, the molecules of an LC material have to be anisometric  that is, rod- or disk-shaped. Some compounds become LCs in a certain temperature range. These are called thermotropic. By contrast, lyotropic LCs adopt the liquid crystalline state when a solvent is added.

The properties of an LC material vary depending on the direction. For example, polarised light propagates in a liquid crystal at different speeds along different directions. Also, in an electric or magnetic field, the orientation of LCs can rapidly change. This phenomenon is known as the Freedericksz transition. Thanks to the optical properties of LCs and their ability to be easily realigned, they are widely used in the electronic displays of TVs, computers, phones, and other devices.

Liquid-crystal displays

In an LCD, the image is generated by changing the intensity of light in each pixel via an electric field, which realigns liquid crystals. There are several LCD configurations, but the one most commonly used is based on twisted nematic LCs. These are rod-shaped thermotropic liquid crystals that can adopt a twisted configuration by using special aligning substrates. Applying an electric field to these LCs can untwist them. This reproducible and predictable response can be used to control light intensity.

Each pixel in a colour LCD consists of three subpixels  red, green, and blue. By varying their intensities, any colour can be displayed. A sub-pixel in a twisted nematic-based LCD (see image ) consists of a light source, a colour filter, two polarisers, and an LC cell between two glass plates with electrodes.

If the liquid crystals were not there, no light would pass through the cell, because whatever light is let through by the vertical polariser would be blocked by the horizontal polariser before reaching the colour filter. However, special substrates with groovy surfaces can be used to twist LCs in a spiral between two polarisers so as to turn the light precisely by the amount needed to pass through the second polariser. The fully illuminated state of the subpixel is actually its "off" state.

When voltage is applied, the liquid crystals untwist, changing the light polarization to a lesser degree. As a result, some of the light is blocked. Eventually, as some voltage no light can reach the colour filter, and the sub-pixel goes dark.

One of the limitations of this technology is the viewing angle of a display  from a sideways perspective, the LCD will not render the colours accurately. This is due to the co-alignment of liquid crystals.

The issue can be solved using multi-domain displays, in which pixels belong to a number of domains, whose LC orientations are different. This means that at least some of the domains are always oriented in the right way. The international team of researchers led by Professor Dimitri Ivanov, who heads MIPT's Laboratory of Functional Organic and Hybrid Materials, has proposed a brand new solution for multi-domain display design.

Going orthogonal

The authors of the paper reported in this story worked with liquid-crystal polymers. These are substances composed of long molecules with chainlike repetitive structure. It turned out that a slight variation in the structure of polymers can drastically alter their orientation on the substrate.

The polymers used in the study are poly di-n-alkylsiloxanes, or PDAS. Each molecule is a chain containing alternating silicon and oxygen atoms. The silicon atoms in PDAS bear two symmetric hydrocarbon side chains. The n in the name of the compound stands for the length of the side chains, which was varied between 2 and 6.

In the experiment, polymers from the PDAS family were deposited on a Teflon-rubbed aligning surface with a regular pattern of grooves. Generally, crystalline polymers are known to align on such substrates, but only when the lattice parameters of the substrate match those of the deposited polymer. The researchers examined the orientation of the liquid-crystal polymer chains relative to the direction of the grooves on the aligning surface. The side chain length n was increased in steps of just one methylene group (CH?) at a time.

It was found that, contrary to expectations, the liquid-crystal orientation varied depending on side-chain length. At n equal to 2, the needlelike polymer superstructures known as lamellae co-aligned with the Teflon grooves.

Because lamellae are known to be perpendicular to the polymer chains, the researchers concluded that the polymer chains are perpendicular to the grooves on the substrate. When n was increased to 3, the orientation of the lamellae changed by 90 degrees, making them perpendicular to the grooves.

As a result, the LC polymer chains were now oriented parallel to the grooves. At n equal to 4, no further change in orientation was observed. However, when the side-chain length was further increased to 5 and 6, the lamellae again co-aligned with the Teflon grooves.

The researchers have thus found that by merely adding one methylene group to the side chain of the polymer, they could switch the LC orientation, which is crucial for most applications of liquid crystals, including LCDs.

According to the authors, the effect they discovered could be used to design LCDs with improved viewing angles. This could be achieved using a multidomain technology that works by orienting subpixels of one colour in different directions.

As a result, the pixels compensate one another when the display is viewed at an angle, improving colour rendition. The researchers expect this technology to be considerably simpler and cheaper than other multidomain approaches that are currently used.Beyond killing tuberculosis

Historically, our view of host defence against infection was that we must eliminate pathogens to eradicate disease.

However, this perspective has recently been challenged as scientists have taken a lesson from plant biologists about an ancient strategy involving the ability to "tolerate" rather than "resist" infection to maintain health.

This concept, referred to as "disease tolerance", provides an opportunity to develop new strategies that mitigate the consequences of infection.

Since the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Mtb, (the bacteria causing TB) over a century ago, great progress has been made in defining strategies that facilitate elimination of the bacteria.

For instance, the discovery of antibiotics was a major breakthrough in the treatment of active TB. However, greater than 90 per cent of TB-infected individuals tolerate the bacteria without any treatment.

Dr Maziar Divangahi, a pulmonary immunologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and a professor of Medicine at McGill University in Montreal, has been try-ing to explain why the vast majority of people infected with Mtb can tolerate the infection without developing disease.

Clinicians refer to this condition as "latent tuberculosis", and it affects a quarter of the global population. "TB is a perfect example of disease tolerance," says Dr Divangahi who is also the associate director of the Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program at the RI-MUHC and a member of the McGill International TB Centre.

Dr Divangahi's team found that rather than fighting to resist the pathogen, the body's tolerance to Mtb is the key mechanism for preventing the spread of the infection. More surprisingly, they found that having excessive levels of T cells, which are known as soldiers of our immune system, could cause more harm than good.

"We always thought that having more T cells would provide better protection against TB. Instead, we found that it could imbalance disease tolerance causing extensive tissue damage and ultimately killing the host," says Dr. Divangahi, lead author of the study published today in Science Immunology, who is the also the associate director of the Meakins-Christie Laboratories.

Disease tolerance versus host resistance

Our body's defense system is divided into two arms: one is resistance, which aims to eliminate the pathogen, while the other is tolerance, which is designed to control the tissue damage caused by the infection.

"While disease tolerance is an established field of research in simple organisms such as plants, our un-derstanding of this host defense strategy in humans is very limited," says Dr. Divangahi.

Although, immunologists and vaccinologists have made progress in the study of host resistance to infectious diseases, little is known about the mechanisms of disease tolerance in humans.

A key protein in disease tolerance

Dr Divangahi's team determined that a protein in the mitochondria called cyclophilin D (CypD) acts as a key checkpoint for T cell activation. Through collaboration with Dr Russell Jones from McGill University, who is an international expert in T cell biology, they identified that CypD is required for controlling T cell metabolism.

"T cells are traditionally considered to be important in eliminating Mtb," says Dr. Divangahi. "However, we found that increasing T cell activation in mice by eliminating a metabolic checkpoint unexpectedly compromised host survival without any impact on the growth of Mtb."

"In contrast to conventional thinking, we show that T cells are essential for regulating the body's tolerance to Mtb infection," explains one of the study's first authors, Dr. Nargis Khan, who is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Dr Divangahi's lab at the RI-MUHC.

Giving the widespread drug resistance to various Mtb strains the limited pipeline of effective antibiotics and the lack of an efficient vaccine, alternative approaches to treat TB are urgent. "If we could understand the mechanisms of 'natural immunity' that controls TB in 90-95 per cent of infected individuals," says Dr. Divangahi,"we will able to design a novel therapy or vaccine to substantially reduce the world wide burden of this ancient disease."Similar to the previous model, the third generation Mitsubishi Outlander will be a petrol-only model and there will be no diesel engine on offer. The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander will be available in India in only one fully-loaded trim. The new Outlander is a seven-seater SUV and will be loaded with premium features.

The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander draws power from a 2.4-litre four-cylinder, MIVEC petrol engine churning out 164bhp and 222Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a CVT gearbox with paddle shifters. The CVT gearbox is expected to feature six to seven stepped shifts.

The prominent features of the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander include dual-zone automatic climate control, power tilt and sliding sunroof, engine start/stop button and keyless entry. The interior of the SUV will sport a touchscreen infotainment system, leather seats and an electric parking brake.

The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander will be available in seven colour options: Black Pearl, Cosmic Blue, Orient Red, Cool Silver, White Solid, White Pearl and Titanium Grey.

The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander comes with a host of safety features such as seven airbags, ABS with EBD, brake assist, Active Stability Control (ASC), Hill Start Assist (HSA), automatic LED headlamps and rain-sensing wipers.

The 2018 Outlander has also grown in dimensions when compared to the previous model. The new Mitsubishi Outlander will come to India via CKD (Completely Knocked Down) route and will be assembled at Hindustan Motors' Tiruvallur plant near Chennai.

Thoughts On The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander

The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander features an all-new design language as compared to the previous model. But with the lack of a diesel engine, Mitsubishi might have missed a trick. The new Outlander is likely to be priced around Rs 32 lakh ex-showroom. The 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander will rival the likes of Toyota Fortuner and the upcoming seven-seater Honda CR-V.Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

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Support our mission and join our community now.By Jeff Turrentine

"This page is being updated." So begins the message that has greeted visitors to the climate change page on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) website for just over a year now. "We are currently updating our website to reflect EPA's priorities under the leadership of President Trump and Administrator Pruitt."

As the Washington Post recently reported, those "priorities under the leadership of President Trump and Administrator Pruitt" would seem to include withholding important information about climate changeboth its causes and its effectsfrom the general public, perhaps in perpetuity. Two (anonymous) employees of the agency have glumly confirmed that the "update" is a sham. "There's definitely no progress on the website," one of them told the Post. "I'm not sure anyone's even addressing it."

I was curious: What climate-connected events and milestones have occurred while the page has sat stagnant? As agency officials spent the past year pretending to mull over their position on climate change, what kind of a year did the rest of us have?

As it happens, the period from May 2017 to May 2018, from a climate change perspective, has been one of the most devastating and costly 12-month spans ever recorded. The EPA really picked one hell of a year to stop informing the American people about the single-greatest threat to the environment. Here's a recap.



Record-Breaking Heat Around the Globe

The EPA may have determined that 2017 was the year global warming should go underground, but the atmosphere didn't listen. According to NASA, 2017 was incontrovertibly the second-hottest year on earth since 1880, when such record-keeping first began. Europeans understandably bestowed the name Lucifer on a summer heat wave that reached as high as 117 degrees in some parts of Spain and brought lengthy stretches of triple-digit temperatures to many other countries. India continued its miserable, years-long streak of deathly hot summers, with the mercury rising as high as 120 degrees in some areas; hundreds of deaths all over the subcontinent were attributed to the heat. Here in the U.S., we experienced our third-hottest year on record, with five statesArizona, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolinareaching new all-time highs.

Arctic Ice Loss, Out of Control

Glacial is a word you might well use to describe the pace at which the EPA's webmasters are working to update the agency's climate change page. Unfortunately, it is also a word that's becoming less and less apposite for describing the home of glaciers: the Arctic. According to the National Snow & Ice Data Center, Arctic sea ice extent for April of 2018 was measured at 980,000 square kilometers below averagemeaning that this year has tied 2016 for the lowest April sea ice extent on record. In plain language: There's less ice atop Arctic waters right now than ever before in the nearly 40 years that we've been keeping track of such a thing, save for two years ago, when it was about the same.

The Costliest Wildfire Season in U.S. History

As the EPA was reconsidering its "priorities" regarding how to address climate change, nearly 50,000 separate wildfires were consuming millions of acres, destroying tens of thousands of structures, and killing dozens throughout the American West. The U.S. Forest Service spent more than $2 billion fighting these fires last year, a new record. In California, where the 2017 wildfire season lasted well past Christmas (it usually subsides around October), the damageexacerbated by years of drought and high temperatureswas enough to make it the worst season in the state's history. And as the 2018 wildfire season approaches, analysts are already making ominous forecasts.

The Costliest Hurricane Season in U.S. History

While EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was openly pushing for a series of public debates on the science of climate changea dumb-to-begin-with scheme that we've just now learned would have been rigged to favor climate skepticsHurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria were laying waste to giant swaths of the U.S. and the Caribbean. They killed more than a thousand people, damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, and cost our country more than $282 billion. In Puerto Rico, where Maria hit last September, many Americans are still living without water and electricity. Residents there and on the Gulf Coast have spent the past nine months trying to rebuild after what experts have deemed the fifth-most catastrophic hurricane season since such record-keeping beganand the most expensive ever. Meanwhile, the 2018 hurricane season begins on June 1and experts are already predicting it to be "above average" in activity.

A Fired-Up Resistance

The past 12 months were marked by a string of menacing superlatives: most, worst, hottest, driest, priciest, even melty-est. But amazingly, it wasn't all bad. If our natural systems spent much of the past year in open revolt, our human systems have risen to the occasion. In the vacuum created by the Trump administration's shameful inaction, states, other countries, and even corporations have stepped up. Last July, for instance, Gov. Jerry Brown announced that California would be hosting a global climate action summit this September in San Francisco, with the purpose of moving members of the international communityincluding the U.S., with or without the support of its federal governmenttoward the goals spelled out in the Paris climate agreement. (You remember, the one President Trump pulled out of last June).

Climate change keeps happening whether the EPA acknowledges it or not. Fortunately, the global, national and local fights against it continue, too, whether the U.S. government takes part in them ... or not.

Reposted with permission from our media associate onEarth.A dolphin was found dead on a beach in Gungur, a coastal town in The Gambia, aggravating local concerns over pollution being dumped into the ocean by a Chinese fish processing factory, Africa News reported Sunday.

Heartbreaking photos of the incident were tweeted out by Togo human rights advocate Farida Nabourema Saturday.

The dolphin was just the latest marine life fatality that local activists have blamed on the Chinese Golden Lead Company, according to Africa News.



During May 2017, dead fish found washed up along the coastline of The Gambia were thought to be killed by waste discharged by Golden Lead directly into the ocean via pipes. Instead, it was revealed they were dumped by fishermen who could not sell their catches to Golden Lead, Africa News reported in 2017. In June, Golden Lead settled out of court, agreeing to pay $25,000, begin treating wastewater and fund testing of water that had already been polluted.

The National Environmental Agency (NEA) fined the fishermen and reached an agreement with Golden Lead not to order more than they could buy.

Senior environmental inspector at the NEA Lamin Samateh told Africa News that the company was supposed to have installed a water treatment plant upon opening, but had not done so at the time of the settlement.

The dolphin was found one week after six young people were arrested May 6 for protesting Golden Lead's activities, Planet Earth World News reported May 7.

One of the young men arrested, Lamin Jammeh, was a U.S. citizen on vacation. He was apparently not involved in the protest and was arrested while picnicking nearby.

After Gambian activists gathered outside the police station where the protesters were being held, the six were released on bail May 7, Gunjur News Online confirmed via Twitter.

But that was not the end of their ordeal. Gunjur News Online further reported that the group's leader, Sulayman Bojang, was visited at his home at 2 a.m. May 8 by officers warning him to stay quiet about Golden Lead's activities.

According to the Facebook group Stop Golden Lead Factory exploiting the Gambia, there is another protest against Golden Lead planned at Gunjur beach for May 19.

By Jessica Corbett

As the Trump administration charges forward with its war on science by canceling a "crucial" carbon monitoring system at NASA, scientists and climate experts are sounding alarms over atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) that just surpassed a "troubling" threshold for the first time in human history.

"The reading from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii finds that concentrations of the climate-warming gas averaged above 410 parts per million [ppm] throughout April," Chris Mooney wrote for the Washington Post. "The first time readings crossed 410 at all occurred on April 18, 2017, or just about a year ago."

While the planet's concentrations of carbon dioxide fluctuated between roughly 200 ppm and 280 ppm for hundreds of thousands of centuries, as the NASA chart below details, CO2 concentrations have soared since the start of the industrial revolutionand, without urgent global efforts to significantly alter human activities that produce greenhouse gas emissions, show no sign of letting up.

"As a scientist, what concerns me the most is not that we have passed yet another round-number threshold but what this continued rise actually means: that we are continuing full speed ahead with an unprecedented experiment with our planet, the only home we have," Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, told Mooney.



While CO2 levels have passed 400 ppm in the Earth's history, "it has been a long time. And scientists are concerned that the rate of change now is far faster than what Earth has previously been used to," as Mooney explained:

In the mid-Pliocene warm period more than 3 million years ago, they were also around 400 parts per millionbut Earth's sea level is known to have been 66 feet or more higher, and the planet was still warmer than now.

As a recent federal climate science report (coauthored by Hayhoe) noted, the 400 parts per million carbon dioxide level in the Pliocene "was sustained over long periods of time, whereas today the global CO2 concentration is increasing rapidly." In other words, Earth's movement toward Pliocene-like conditions may play out in the decades and centuries ahead of us.



As climate scientists continue to warn about the global consequences of rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gasessuch as more intense and frequent extreme weather eventsthe Trump administration has pursued a multi-pronged anti-science agenda that includes rolling back regulations that aim to limit emissions and blocking future research.

News of the record-high levels of atmospheric carbon came as Science reported that the Trump administration "quietly killed" NASA's $10-million-a-year Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), which "has helped stitch together observations of sources and sinks into high-resolution models of the planet's flows of carbon"because, as 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben remarked sarcastically, "what you can't see can't cook you."



Citing a NASA spokesman, Science explained: "The White House has mounted a broad attack on climate science, repeatedly proposing cuts to NASA's earth science budget, including the CMS, and cancellations of climate missions such as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3). Although Congress fended off the budget and mission cuts, a spending deal signed in March made no mention of the CMS. That allowed the administration's move to take effect."



Canceling CMS likely has global ramifications, Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of Tufts University's Center for International Environment and Resource Policy, pointed out, because the system monitors the Earth's CO2 levels as nations that have signed on to the Paris agreementfrom which Trump plans to withdrawpursue policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"If you cannot measure emissions reductions, you cannot be confident that countries are adhering to the agreement," Gallagher said, calling the decision to kill the system "a grave mistake."

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday announced an initiative to ban artificial trans fats from the global food supply by 2023. This goal is a worthy endeavor, as the intake of trans fats has led to the deaths of 500,000 people from cardiovascular disease per year, according to WHO estimates.

However, if governments adopt this measure, it could inadvertently ramp up the use of an environmentally destructive replacementunsustainable palm oil.

Artificial trans fats are usually made by "hydrogenating" vegetable oils, which turns them solid at room temperature and increases shelf life. Palm oil has many similar qualities that food manufacturers like, including low costs, shelf-stability and a creamy texture.

Palm oil is now one of the most widely consumed vegetable oils on Earth, and lurks in everyday foods where trans fats used to be.

"Companies often use palm oil as a replacement for partially hydrogenated vegetable fats," Laure d'Astorg, secretary general of the French Alliance for Sustainable Palm Oil said, as quoted by Mongabay.

D'Astorg added that it is a "much healthier substitute."

The decreasing use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils has already been linked to a boom in palm oil imports to the U.S. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, in 2012, U.S. imported around seven times as much palm oil as it had in 1999, the year the FDA first proposed mandatory labeling. The U.S. palm oil market is set to increase 20 percent per year, Mongabay reported.

Unfortunately, palm oil is also one of the world's leading drivers of deforestation, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. Production has destroyed habitats of endangered species, displaced indigenous communities, and caused destruction of peatlands that emit climate-warming carbon dioxide.

In Indonesia, palm oil production is forecast to reach 38.5 million tons in 2017/18. In Malaysia, production is expected to hit 21 million tons in 2017/18.

The New York Times editorial board on Monday welcomed the WHO's push to eliminate trans fats as a measure that will save countless lives.



However, the board also suggested that regulators reduce the use of palm oil by encouraging the use of saturated fats like butter or with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, like olive oil.

"Governments will have to take care in phasing out trans fats, because some alternatives could cause other problems," the board wrote.(Photo: REUTERS / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)Palestinians chant slogans during the funeral of three senior Hamas commanders, who were killed in an Israeli air strike, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 21, 2014. Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in an air strike on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the clearest signal yet that Israel is intent on eliminating the group's military leadership after a failed attempt on the life of its top commander this week. Hamas, which dominates Gaza, named the men as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum and said they were killed in the bombing of a house in the southern town of Rafah. All three were described as senior Hamas military figures.

The Lutheran World Federation has expresses dismay over the escalating violence and disproportionate use of force against demonstrators at the Gaza border which has led to the death of dozens of people and more than 2,500 people wounded.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said 58 people had been killed in the violence.

The carnage took place in in protests at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, according to Palestinian officials. the same day the United State fulfilled its controversial promise to move its embassy to the contested city of Jerusalem.

It was the deadliest single day of protests in a weeks-long campaign from Hamas in the run up to the U.S. embassy move and the Nakba, or 'Catastrophe', on May 15 - celebrated in Israel as its 70th birthday.

The Gaza Strip is only 25 miles (40 kilometers) long is 365 square kilometres where 1.8 million people are squeezed in.

"The LWF urges the parties involved to show utmost restraint and work towards the de-escalation of the conflict," it said in a statement.

The LWF said it stands in full support with its member church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and its May 14 statement on the Opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan & the Holy Land said it was deeply concerned about the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem noting that it is a holy city to three faiths, Christianity, Islam and Judaism and not just one.

"The LWF regrets that its urgent request to the U.S. administration to refrain from recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was disregarded."

At its 12 Assembly in May 2017 in Windhoek, Namibia, the LWF called for:

"A final status agreement that affirms two states for two peoples, internationally recognized borders between Israel and a viable, contiguous Palestine based on the 1967 armistice lines, security guarantees for Israel and Palestine, mutual recognition and full and equal rights for their citizens, a fair resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue and a shared Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians with free access to the holy sites for the three monotheistic faiths  Judaism, Christianity and Islam."

The LWF called on the international community to seek with new vigor a peaceful resolution of the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The LWF called on its member churches to: "Urge their respective governments to multi-laterally work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

"Pray for peace with justice to be established so that no more blood is shed on the Holy Land."(Photo:  Loyola Ranarison / WCC)Olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed with his disciples the night before his crucifixion in Jerusalem. Photographed in 2017.

Pope Francis has spoken of the "absurd contradiction" negotiating for peace while at the same time pushing arms sales while World Council of Churches leader Olav Fykse Tveit led prayers for peace in Jerusalem on the 50th anniversary after the end of the six day war that led to the occupied territories in the Holy Land.

Both were speaking for peace in unrelated acts around the Pentecost celebrations when Christians celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the followers of Jesus a few weeks after his death and resurrection.

The Pope released a video message accompanying his monthly prayer intention for June with the intention to seek the elimination of the arms trade.

"It's an absurd contradiction to speak of peace, to negotiate peace, and at the same time promote or permit the arms trade," says Francis.

"Is this war or that war really a war to solve problems, or is it a commercial war for selling weapons in illegal trade, and so that the merchants of death get rich?" he asks, as images of explosions and gunfire interchange with frames of the leaders shaking hands dripping with blood.

"Let us put an end to this situation," he said. "Let us pray all together that national leaders may firmly commit themselves to ending the arms trade which victimizes so many innocent people."

In a comment on the website of Catholic News Agency in response to Pope Francis' message DAJM Howard wrote, "I will not. I will pray for responsible arms trade. Rocks don't work against ISIS."

In Jerusalem on June 5, World Council of Churches' Tveit made his peace plea preaching at a prayer service in Jerusalem for justice and peace in the Holy Land on 5 June at the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem during Pentecost celebrations.

The fellowship and unity that Jesus' disciples once experienced praying together during a time of fear in Jerusalem at Pentecost "spelled a new beginning" for the mission of the Church, he said in a reminder to Christians worldwide from the Holy Land.

'A COMMUNITY IN FEAR'

"It happened to a community in fear. They lived under occupation and oppression.... The signs of the Holy Spirit described in the Pentecost story points indeed towards unity and just peace," noted WCC general secretary Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit.

The prayer, initiated by church leaders in Jerusalem, is being held worldwide 50 years after Israel began its occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights after a six-day war in 1967 by Israel and the neighbouring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

Jerusalem is a holy city and it has been for Christians over centuries and even millennia said Tveit, noting, "So it is also today. Followers of the three Abrahamic religions, Jews, Christians and Muslims see this as a holy city and pray here to the One Holy God."

The World Council of Churches called for Christians all over the world, while they are celebrating the feast of Pentecost, to join in a prayer for justice and peace.

"The Holy Spirit creates our lives every day, renewing the face of the Earth, as Psalm 104 reads. The Spirit of God, 'the Lord and Giver of life', breathes into our world so that there is life in each one of us," explained Tveit.

Tveit said that in praying to God people cannot ignore the consequences for how they relate to one another.

"Jerusalem carries the name of peace. Yet we know that the people of Jerusalem and in this area are not living in peace today. Pentecost this year comes at the same time as we here mark 50 years since the war that led to the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza."

Tveit said, "The occupation has not ended. It is manifest in military rule, in discrimination and violations of human rights.

"It is also manifest in the building of settlements and infrastructure that are against international law - making it more of colonization than mere occupation. This must end for the sake of just peace for all the peoples living here, for Palestine and for Israel."

"Praying to God makes us accountable to one another as God's creation, created in the image of God. The One God calls us to unity and to justice and peace with one another... The Holy Spirit creates life for unity.

"Like at the first Pentecost, our faces, our voices, and our actions can express praise to God in a way that can create fellowship and unity. God can be worshiped in Spirit and truth everywhere. That is why we pray together here  and in any place in the world."(Photo: REUTERS/Beawiharta)Women members of the hardline Islamic group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), shout slogans as they reject Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok as their governor in Jakarta, December 1, 2014. Ahok, Jakarta's first Christian governor in nearly 50 years was sworn in two weeks ago, despite protests from religious hardliners opposing a non-Muslim taking over one of Indonesia's most powerful political jobs.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit has condemned the Sunday suicide bombing attacks at three separate churches during services in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia.

Pope Francis prayed for the "dear people of Indonesia," and especially Christians in Indonesia's second city of Surabya, saying that he was "particularly close" to them after the deadly attacks.

The East Java police revealed that separate explosions had taken place at Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church, Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church and Surabaya Pentecostal Church in and around Surabaya on May 12.

A family of six including two young daughters staged suicide bombings at the three Indonesian churches during Sunday services, killing at least 13 people and at least 40 others in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, Agence France-Presse reported.

Pope Francis said, "Together let us call upon the God of peace, that He might bring these violent actions to an end; and that in the hearts of all, space might be found for feelings, not of hatred and violence, but of reconciliation and fraternity."

Tveit offered "heartfelt condolences to the people who lost family members and friends."

"It is shocking that this attack was directed against people who were gathered for worship, and that this attack comes on the heels of ongoing violence and persecution," Tveit said.

He said that, "In the face of this brutality, the human family, all people of faith and of good will, must stand together to recommit to respecting and caring for one another, to protecting one another, and to preventing such violence."

The WCC appealed to Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia, to religious leaders and to governments across the region "to act swiftly and boldly to safeguard the fundamental religious rights of worshippers of all faiths/"

It urged them "to ensure security in the face of violence and to guarantee justice for all people. Places of worship representing many different faith traditions have been targets of violence by extremists."

Tveit said, "Government action must be matched by solidarity among Christians, Muslims and people of all faiths as they interact at the local level and together denounce any violent attack."

The WCC head called for prayers, urging the WCC fellowship and others across the world to remain steadfast in their quest for peace and justice for Christians and all who are persecuted.

"Through prayer, action and unity, we can bring a powerful force of love in the wake of terror and violence," he said.

One of the attacked churches is a parish church of a WCC member church, Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.

More than 87 percent of people in Indonesia are Muslims, while Christians are beleived to account for about 10 percent of the 260 million people there.The U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has equated selecting a voucher or charter school with the freedom to choose between an Uber and a taxi. At the same time, many school choice advocates also claim that their approaches can offer equity for those who have historically been underserved in traditional public schools.

These simultaneous celebrations of school choicefreedom and equityshould raise red flags, especially for voters considering school choice ballot initiatives or elections of local and state representatives who will determine school choice bills. Simply allowing parents choice over schooling doesnt ensure that better educational opportunities are being provided for all children. I believe that in the midst of the current push for reform that heavily preferences individual choice, we must seek a better balance between freedom and equity in order to create models that dont leave anyone behind.

At the heart of the school choice movement is the idea that parents should be empowered to select their childs school, rather than being assigned to a local traditional schoola historical model aimed at general social uplift. Unfortunately, though, equity is reduced to a goal best achieved through personal choice, rather than a priority communities should share and pursue together.

Simply allowing parents choice over schooling doesn't ensure that better educational opportunities are being provided for all children."

While DeVos and other choice proponents forecast education improvements, greater freedom for some can mean inequity for others. As Stanford education historian David Labaree has documented for the last 30 years, parents are increasingly turning to the education marketplace in hopes of seeking individual benefits and social advantage for their own children. Longtime school choice researcher Martin Carnoy, also at Stanford, explains that the education market has mainly been on the side of white families fleeing integration and that it has served to exacerbate class and race inequality. After families leave traditional public schools, they tend to pay little attention to their neighbors opportunities for education.

Indeed, researchers found that some California charter schools restricted their advertising to certain racial groups, thereby limiting access. Elsewhere, studies have found fewer English-language learners, students with disabilities, and those with learning challenges in charter schools than in traditional public schools. There is also evidence that private schools, which can receive vouchers, restrict enrollment based on preference.

During a congressional hearing last year about the Trump administrations 2018 budget proposal, Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., asked Secretary DeVos whether Lighthouse Christian Academy in Bloomington, Ind., should be allowed to receive a voucher even though it excludes LGBT families. DeVos responded that parents are the best equipped to make choices for their childrens schooling. Her statement makes it clear that parental freedom should trump equitable access.

Freedom from is a negative sense of personal liberty, where one is free from interference by others, especially the government. In contrast, freedom to is a positive entitlement that requires support, protection, or services from the state. While many school choice advocates desire freedom from, they must consider the necessary government levers to ensure all families can access a powerful education for their children.

Competition can indeed improve the quality of services and products. But if we are to continue to move forward with this market view of education, we must also engage in public conversations about the needs of all of our citizens. We should not reduce schooling to decisions based merely on personal or economic interests.

When individuals focus only on themselves, they are often unable to see when their desires conflict with the needs of others. Students who exit traditional public schools take funding with them, but dont often see the resulting effects. This depletes the resources for the remaining children.

What we are left with in the current march to expand school choice is neither a convincing compromise nor a sufficiently justified preference within the longstanding philosophical debate between liberty and equality. We first need acknowledge this deep tension if were going to pursue the creation of an education system that is both equitable and free.Fresh off a wave of teacher strikes and grassroots demonstrations, education activists are aiming to turn that momentum into structured and well-oiled campaigns in this falls midterm elections, especially in fiscally conservative states where politicians and school funding measures are on the ballot.

With many legislative sessions now wrapping upand with teachers core demands on pay and funding still unmet in some placesunion and activist-group leaders in states such as Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, and West Virginia are telling teachers and their supporters they need to keep the pressure on.

This years election is a foundational year, said Carrie Pugh, the political director for the National Education Association, the nations largest teachers union. The base is really, really motivated. Their enthusiasm is there. ... The challenge is ... how do we harness it and how do we convert that energy into voting? Its a great problem to have.

To keep that energy going toward the midterm elections, activists are using many of the same, sometimes unconventional tactics they used in the recent round of strikes and work stoppages.

For one thing, the rise in activism on Facebook gave teachers personalities to rally around and an opportunity to articulate to the public their real-world frustrations. The subsequent public support and partial victories provided activists a jolt of confidence.

See Also: Education Week Wants to Hear From Teachers Running for State Office

In states such as Arizona and Colorado, they used dozens of rallies to collect signatures on petitions to place school funding questions on ballots, to raise money, and to gather names and contact information for phone-bank and door-to-door campaign events this summer. They handed out T-shirts, tested out new campaign slogans, and chanted at their rallies, Well remember in November.

More than 100 teachers in Kentucky and Oklahoma have so far filed to run for state office.

Union activists will also likely pull in some help from their national headquarters. The NEA Advocacy Fund, for example, spent more than $18 million on state and federal elections in 2016, and later this week, the NEA will host a training workshop for teachers who have filed to run for office.

With the onset of summer, activists in several states worry that progress on boosting school funding could stall and even backslide.

When theres a big flashy event like a rally or a budget passage, thats an easy thing to get people motivated around, said Dawn Penich-Thacker, a spokeswoman for Save Our Schools Arizona, one of the grassroots advocacy groups that led the protests there for increased teacher pay and school funding. But the summers here are very sleepy, its very hot. They go inside and watch Netflix, and its really hard to get them back outside.

Arizonas Next Battle

The underlying issues that led to the recent teacher unrest remain in many states.

Leaders of Arizonas teacher-activist groups, for example, are highly skeptical of the deal they made with Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and now see their recent statewide strike as just the beginning, rather than the climax, of their activism.

They originally demanded a $1 billion infusion into public schools, a 20 percent pay raise by this fall (with step and ladder increases) and a moratorium on all tax cuts. But what ultimately passed amounted to a 20 percent pay raise by 2020, with half that money coming from projected revenue increases from a buoyed economy.

With few options on the table, teachers headed back to school earlier this month but are targeting Ducey and several legislators in their re-election bids this fall.

Activists are also throwing their weight around in two controversial campaign issues in this years election that deal with school funding.

Save Our Schools Arizona, for example, is campaigning to overturn the states expansive voucher program, which after a long-running battle, is subject to a vote.

Another ballot measure seeks to raise income taxes on the states wealthiest 1 percent in order to provide $690 million to its public schools. Arizona Center for Economic Progress, a group leading that endeavor, needs 150,642 valid signatures from registered Arizona voters before July 5 in order to get the measure on the ballot.

Penich-Thacker said that Save Our Schools has spent a large portion of the more than $200,000 raised so far for legal costs and campaign efforts on T-shirts, fliers, and palm cards that boil down the groups issues to a few talking points.

Tide of Candidates

The economic and political realities in Kentucky and Oklahoma are so bleak, leaders there say, that the only way to fight back is for teachers themselves to run for office.

After work stoppages and demonstrations, teachers in Kentucky managed to water down proposed changes to the states pension plan, and teachers in Oklahoma managed to get a $6,000 raise this fall. But both pension and school funding will likely be up for debate again during next years legislative sessions in those states. And in Oklahoma, a group of businesses are working to place on this falls ballot a referendum that would reverse the tax hikes used to provide teachers with their pay hike.

At least 50 teachers from each state have filed to run for a legislative seat, leaders say, and organizers are scrambling to figure out how best to push them through the May and June primaries when theyll face popular and politically savvy incumbents. The NEA training for those teachers in Atlanta this week will focus on how to frame the issues, manage campaign funds, and canvass. West Virginias teachers notched an early political victory during last weeks primary when they helped GOP candidate Bill Hamilton defeat incumbent Republican state Sen. Robert Karnes, who they accused of saying some nasty things about teachers during their nine-day strike and introducing bills that didnt have teachers best interests in mind.

Hamilton, currently a state representative, has a free spirit and doesnt seem to be party-bound, said Kym Randolph, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Education Association. We realize there are different degrees in the severity of fiscal conservatism here. Sometimes, your moderate Republican is a good choice.

In the meantime, the union is holding political forums across West Virginia and getting volunteers to sign up to canvass this summer. While it did see a slight uptick in campaign donations this year, the union is limited in how it can spend and organize, Randolph said.

Our power is people and going to the polls, not necessarily in raising money, Randolph said. Thats where were trying to mobilize.

Colorados Army of Activists

As thousands of teachers in Colorado gathered in front of the states capitol in the waning days of the legislative session, activists got to work building what they refer to as an army of activists. That army, said Kerrie Dallman, the president of the Colorado Education Association, is now 18,000 strong, and organizers plan to deploy their efforts this fall when the governorship and party control of the state legislature is up for grabs.

At the same time, education leaders, the teachers union, and a group of businesses are working to place on the ballot a measure that would ask voters to raise taxes on those making more than $150,000 a year in order to provide $1.6 billion for schools. In Colorado, voter approval is needed for any tax increases.

Despite failed efforts in the past to raise taxes, the energy this year, Dallman said, is different.

West Virginia, I think, will always evoke inspiration among all of us, Dallman said. Theres a greater awareness of how elections impact our classrooms and their students. Were all fired up now.2018-05-11

Maeci

The Foreign Ministry, through the Italian Embassy in Khartoum, is following with constant and careful attention the case of Noura Hussein, the young Sudanese woman who is sentenced to death. Capital punishment is unjustified in any circumstance.

Italy is in the front line in the international campaign to promote a moratorium on the death penalty and, based on an approach of inclusiveness, intends to foster a domestic debate in the Countries that still apply capital punishment, in order to give impulse to a process to fall in line with the moratorium on the death penalty in the prospect of abolishing it.

Italy also reaffirms its commitment to combat abuse on women, which materializes in practices such as female genital mutilation and child brides.Co-management of patients by more than one primary care clinician is among new models of care designed to meet the demand for high quality patient care. A new co-management model lays the groundwork for potential care partnerships between nurse practitioners and physicians. It finds that effective nurse practitioner-physician co-management requires three core attributes: effective communication, mutual respect and trust, and a shared philosophy of care. These attributes must be supported by a practice environment and policies that recognize nurse practitioners as autonomous primary care clinicians, as well as the willingness of nurse practitioners and physicians to co-manage patients. The authors find that effective nurse practitioner-physician co-management can reduce the primary care clinician's workload, including both clinical care and administrative tasks, thus reducing burnout and fatigue. They suggest that combining the experience and expertise of clinicians from nursing and medicine can result in better care.

###

Nurse Practitioner-Physician Co-Management: A Theoretical Model to Alleviate Primary Care Strain

Allison A. Norful PhD, RN, ANP-BC

Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, New York

http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/3/250.fullAmong physicians, family physicians report some of the highest levels of burnout. According to a new study, however, early career family physicians who provide a broader scope of practice report significantly lower rates of burnout. The study--a secondary analysis of the 2016 National Family Medicine Graduate Survey--found that those who practiced in more locations and performed a greater variety of procedures and clinical work were significantly less likely to report feeling burned out once a week or more. The strongest associations were in the practice of obstetrics and inpatient medicine, two areas with a decline in practice by family physicians in recent years. Specifically, the odds of reporting feeling burned out were 36 percent lower among those family physicians practicing obstetrics and 30 percent lower among those practicing inpatient medicine compared to their peers. Making house calls was also significantly associated with lower burnout. If future research confirms a causal relationship between scope of practice and physician wellness, the authors suggest, it would allow for new policy levers and incentives for systems and physicians to improve health care as well as their own health.

###

Burnout and Scope of Practice in New Family Physicians

Amanda K.H. Weidner, MPH, et al

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/3/200"Our medical system is structured to individually and systemically favor white physicians and patients in ways that white people are trained to ignore," states family medicine resident Max Romano, MD, MPH. Reflecting on his medical training, Romano describes how he, a white physician, has benefited from the racial privileges he has been afforded. Among the privileges he identifies are the pervasive belief that people of his race can become doctors; the ease with which he found professors and academic role models of his race during college and medical school; and patients' assumptions that, when he enters an examination room with a person of color, he is the physician in charge, even if that is not the case. He calls on other white physicians to speak out against the racism from which they have benefited and to work towards racial justice for clinicians and patients in the medical system.

White Privilege in a White Coat: How Racism Shaped My Medical Education

Max J. Romano, MD, MPHMedStar Franklin Square Medical Center Family Medicine Residency, Baltimore, Maryland

In a related editorial, Joseph Hobbs, MD, chair of family medicine at the Medical College of Georgia, cautions against allowing concepts such as white privilege, unconscious and implicit bias, and institutional racism to provide a means for avoiding personal responsibility for racism. In the health care setting, recognition of white privilege is a first step, he states, and should be accompanied by individual and institutional efforts to eliminate privilege and disparities in quality of care based on race. He calls on health care professionals to be aware and take action: "To experience implicit or unconscious bias in the professional and personal settings of health care and fail to address it is a missed opportunity to facilitate change."

White Privilege in Health Care: Following Recognition With Action

Joseph Hobbs, MD

Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia

http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/3/197.full?sid=dc9f0c58-ed85-42cb-99b5-1ace0f7427f0

###Parents are more willing to let their children see PG-13 movies with intense gun violence when the violence appears to be "justified," used in defense of a loved one or for self-protection, than when it has no socially redeeming purpose, a new study finds.

But even when the gun violence in PG-13 movies appears justified, parents think that the movies are more suitable for teens age 15 and up, two years older than suggested by the movie industry ratings board's PG-13 rating. Parents thought movies with unjustified but bloodless gun violence were more appropriate for 16-year-olds, the study finds.

The study, "Parental Desensitization to Gun Violence in PG-13 Movies," by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, was published online in the journal Pediatrics on May 14 and will be in the June issue.

"The findings suggest that parents may want a new rating, PG-15, for movies with intense violence," said lead author Daniel Romer, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). "Violent movies often get a PG-13 rating by omitting the consequences of violence such as blood and suffering, and by making the use of violence seem justified. But parents of teenagers say that even scenes of justified violence are upsetting and more appropriate for teens who are at least 15."

The rise of gun violence in PG-13 movies

Past studies by APPC researchers found that gun violence in the most popular PG-13 movies has more than doubled since the rating was introduced in 1984, and now exceeds the gun violence in comparable R-rated films. In the earliest years of the PG-13 rating, less than a third of the 30 top-grossing movies were rated PG-13, but recently more than half were PG-13. In past research on the growing acceptance of gun violence in PG-13 films, APPC researchers found that parents appeared to become desensitized to violence as they watched successive movie clips.

The current experiment was designed to understand whether parents became more accepting of the movie violence because they were being emotionally numbed to it or whether the justification for the violence influenced them. Could justified violence be less upsetting than unjustified violence? And could parents who repeatedly saw the kind of bloodless, justified violence featured in PG-13 movies become so accustomed to it that they experience a kind of "normative desensitization" that leads to greater acceptance of its viewing by children?

The experiment

In an online experiment, the APPC researchers showed movie clips to a national sample of 610 parents who have at least one child between the ages 6 and 17. Parents viewed a series of four 90-second clips of either justified or unjustified violence from popular movies. The scenes of justified violence came from the PG-13 movies "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007), "White House Down" (2013), "Terminator Salvation" (2009), and "Taken" (2008). The clips of unjustified violence came from the PG-13 movies "Skyfall" (2012) and "Jack Reacher" (2012) and the R-rated films "Sicario" (2015) and "Training Day" (2001).

Scenes from the R-rated movies were edited to remove graphic and potentially upsetting consequences such as blood and suffering to mimic the effect of PG-13 movies. (PG-13 means parents are strongly cautioned that some material "may be inappropriate for children under 13." The more restricted R rating means viewers under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult.)

Parents less upset by justified violence

Instead of being emotionally desensitized, parents grew increasingly upset as they watched the succession of movie clips, whether the violence was justified or not. But parents were less upset by the justified violence and more lenient in deciding the appropriate age for a child to watch it. Most of the parents said the movies with justified violence were suitable starting at age 15, while the movies with unjustified violence were appropriate starting at age 16.

One exception: The parents who were frequent moviegoers were the most permissive, saying that movies with unjustified violence were suitable for 13-year-olds.

As parents watched the series of movie scenes of unjustified gun violence, they became more restrictive on the appropriate age for viewing, the study found. But that wasn't true with the justified scenes of violence, where parents' opinion of the appropriate viewing age held steady. The APPC researchers also found that when watching the successive justified movie clips, parents increasingly regarded the gun violence itself as justified.

Media violence and children

The American Academy of Pediatrics has been long concerned about the effects of media violence. In 2016 the academy pointed to a body of research showing that viewing violent media content can influence some youth to become more aggressive

A recent study by Ohio State University researchers found that children 8 to 12 years old who saw scenes of a PG-rated movie with guns played longer with a real gun and pulled the trigger more often than children who saw a movie without guns.

"Despite such evidence, we still don't know whether repeatedly seeing movies with justified violence teaches children that using guns is OK if they think it's justified," Romer said.

He added that filmmakers appear to be taking advantage of the movie rating system.

"Hollywood is exploiting the movie rating system by leaving out harmful consequences like blood and suffering from PG-13 films," Romer said. "By sanitizing the effects of violence, moviemakers are able to get a PG-13 rating and a wider audience for their films. But this gun violence may be just as brutal and potentially harmful to young viewers."

###

In addition to Romer, the authors of the study are Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center; Patrick E. Jamieson, director of APPC's Adolescent Health and Risk Communication Institute; Azeez Adebimpe, an APPC postdoctoral fellow; and Robert Lull, a former APPC postdoctoral fellow now at California State University, Fresno.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center was founded in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about the media's role in advancing public understanding of political, health, and science issues at the local, state and federal levels.Gout, a painful inflammatory arthritis, is not associated with an increased risk of fracture, according to a large study led by Keele University, and published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

These results contrast with those of previous studies, which found higher risk of fracture in people with gout.

Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, caused by the buildup of urate crystals in a joint. It can result in severe pain and swelling in joints, most often the base of the big toe but also in other joints. In the United Kingdom, 2.4% of adults are afflicted.

There is some evidence that chronic inflammation may increase the risk of fracture.

Researchers from Keele University conducted a study in the UK using a large primary care database. They included 31 781 patients with gout who were matched to 122961 controls and followed them for between 6.8 and 13.6 years until the first diagnosis of a fracture. The rate of fracture was similar in people with and without gout. In addition, medication to lower urate levels in people with gout did not appear to benefit or adversely affect the long-term risk of fractures.

"Our use of a nationally representative cohort should enable our study findings to be generalizable not only to the UK but also to other countries with similar health care systems," writes Dr. Zoe Paskins, Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK.

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research in the UK.

"Risk of fragility fracture among patients with gout and the effect of urate-lowering therapy" is published May 14, 2018.

###If Canada's Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (GNA) is overturned by a challenge from the Province of Quebec, it will open the doors to genetic discrimination, argue authors in a commentary in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"The GNA is a critical law affording comprehensive protection prohibiting genetic discrimination by any individual or sector," writes Dr. Yvonne Bombard, scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, with Bev Heim-Myers, chair of the Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness and CEO of the Huntington Society of Canada.

The act protects genetic test information from being required in a contract negotiation or by any person or service provider such as an insurer, employer, school or adoption agency. It became law in Canada in May 2017.

Although advances in genomics are helping prevent, treat and diagnose diseases, people may decline useful genomic testing as they are afraid that personal genomic information could be used to deny them insurance coverage by third parties or compromise employment opportunities. This fear can also prevent patients from participating in medical research.

"Such fear creates barriers to accessing important information that can end costly, burdensome diagnostic odysseys, guide medical management and improve a patient's quality of life," write Bombard and Heim-Myers.

The GNA makes it a criminal offence to require a person to take, or reveal results of, a genetic test. However, health care professionals are exempt if they are treating that person.

Quebec has challenged the law, arguing it is not constitutional.

"For now, the genetic test information of all people living in Canada, no matter where they live, is protected by law," state the authors. "And it is important that the GNA remains intact."

"The Genetic Non-Discrimination Act: critical for promoting health and science in Canada" is published May 14, 2018.

###A new Canadian guideline for impaired vision in older adults recommends against primary care screening of older adults not reporting concerns about their vision. The guideline, published in English and French in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC), is aimed at primary care practitioners.

Visual impairment describes less than 20/40 vision, which usually cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or vision-related procedures. This level of difficulty with vision can affect quality of life, as well as participation in work, social and leisure activities, and increases the likelihood of injuries from falls and other accidents.

The task force considered the benefits of screening for visual impairment in primary health care and referring patients to optometrists for formal vision testing.

"We found no evidence of benefit to patients aged 65 years or older from being screened for impaired vision as a way to prevent limitations on daily living or other consequences," said Dr. Brenda Wilson, Task Force Impaired Vision Working Group Chair. "The task force therefore recommends against screening for impaired vision in primary care settings for people living independently in the community."

Currently, people must make their own appointments for regular vision screening or if they suspect visual problems. Most provinces in Canada cover comprehensive eye examinations for adults aged 65 years and older by eye care professionals.

The new guideline updates a previous guideline from 1995, which recommended screening for visual impairment in elderly patients with diabetes of at least 5 years' duration. The 2018 guideline is based on the latest and highest-quality evidence on screening, which includes 15 randomized controlled trials involving participants aged 65 years or older. It is consistent with the recommendation on vision screening for older adults from the United States Preventive Services Task Force.

"Although screening does not appear to be effective, we need to look for ways to effectively support older Canadians who do experience visual impairment so that they get the services they need from optometrists or other eye care professionals" said Dr. Brett Thombs, chair of the CTFPHC .

###

For the complete report and accompanying patient and clinician knowledge translation tools, please visit http://www.canadiantaskforce.ca.

About the Task Force

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) was established to develop clinical practice guidelines that support primary care providers in delivering preventive health care. The mandate of CTFPHC is to develop and disseminate clinical practice guidelines for primary and preventive care, based on systematic analysis of scientific evidence.

"Guideline: Screening for impaired vision in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and older in primary care settings" is published May 14, 2018.

Podcast link: https://soundcloud.com/cmajpodcasts/171430-guideIn the race to create more potent and stable medicines, scientists know that adding fluorine can improve drug molecules.

However, there is only one fluorination reaction known to occur in nature. And this process is performed by complex and highly specialized enzymes that are difficult to replicate. Now, scientists have developed a new, streamlined molecule that can do the work of enzymes but be designed and controlled minutely. This new catalyst transforms a safe, affordable fluoride salt into fluorinated organic molecules. In addition to improved pharmaceuticals, fluorinated molecules can also act as useful "radiotracers" in high-resolution 3-D medical imaging technology, such as PET (positron emission tomography) scanning.

Robert Paton, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Colorado State University, contributed to the new study, which was published this week in Science. The work was conceived and led by Professor Veronique Gouverneur at the University of Oxford, with design and synthesis provided by Gabriele Pupo and Francesco Ibba in the Gouverneur lab, and the mode of action uncovered using quantum mechanical calculations by Oxford's David Ascough and Paton.

"This new catalyst performs the same function as the biological enzyme, but is a fraction of the size and is more widely applicable," Paton said. In addition, the designed catalyst can be used to incorporate fluorine into a variety of organic molecules, whereas the naturally occurring enzyme is limited to just one target.

Catalysts speed up chemical reactions, creating new compounds from the original ingredients. The catalyst that Paton and his colleagues developed is specifically tuned to integrate fluorine atoms into a new organic product. "It works like a claw crane arcade game," Paton said of the catalyst's mode of action. "You're trying to pick one fluffy toy out of many and hold on tightly. In a broad sense, that's what our catalyst does. Surrounded by other chemicals, it selectively binds fluoride anions using three hydrogen-bonds - effectively a molecular claw - and then positions it to add the substrate," or target location.

With such specific tasks, catalysts are extremely challenging to create from scratch. "You're trying to construct a molecule with a specific function and a precise three-dimensional shape," Paton said.

That's where Paton's work comes in. His lab specializes in computational analysis and uses quantum mechanics to predict structure and behavior. In creating a new catalyst, "computer-aided design allows you to visualize atomic-scale structures - in the same way you would design a new airplane or new house," he said. In the past, he added, "the discovery of new functional molecules has relied heavily on serendipity and trial and error. We've combined computation with experiment to understand the mechanism of how this thing works. And we applied that early on to guide our experimental design."

This approach allows them to rely less on time-consuming trial and error. Instead, "it's about minimizing failure through a better understanding of how reactions take place," he said.

Paton joined the CSU College of Natural Sciences this January from his post as an associate professor at Oxford University in the U.K., where the new work was conducted. He brings his broadly applicable research to the new Chemistry Research Building.

Beyond the work on fluorine, his research overall is also helping to create a "greener" chemistry. The computational approach cuts down on trial-and-error attempts. And improving catalysis with smarter, custom-created molecules also cuts down on waste products.

Novel catalysts could also be put to work generating new, useful products out of waste. For example, specifically designed compounds could turn discarded plant products into useful chemicals, such as energy products. It is about "being able to control catalysis to generate the products you want," Paton said. And that work might someday be behind a better pharmaceutical or cleaner fuel - all thanks to a more efficient molecular claw.

###A Multiverse - where our Universe is only one of many - might not be as inhospitable to life as previously thought, according to new research.

Questions about whether other universes might exist as part of a larger Multiverse, and if they could harbour life, are burning issues in modern cosmology.

Now new research led by Durham University, UK, and Australia's University of Sydney, Western Sydney University and the University of Western Australia, has shown that life could potentially be common throughout the Multiverse, if it exists.

The key to this, the researchers say, is dark energy, a mysterious "force" that is accelerating the expansion of the Universe.

Scientists say that current theories of the origin of the Universe predict much more dark energy in our Universe than is observed. Adding larger amounts would cause such a rapid expansion that it would dilute matter before any stars, planets or life could form.

The Multiverse theory, introduced in the 1980s, can explain the "luckily small" amount of dark energy in our Universe that enabled it to host life, among many universes that could not.

Using huge computer simulations of the cosmos, the new research has found that adding dark energy, up to a few hundred times the amount observed in our Universe, would actually have a modest impact upon star and planet formation.

This opens up the prospect that life could be possible throughout a wider range of other universes, if they exist, the researchers said.

The findings are to be published in two related papers in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The simulations were produced under the EAGLE (Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments) project - one of the most realistic simulations of the observed Universe.

Jaime Salcido, a postgraduate student in Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology, said: "For many physicists, the unexplained but seemingly special amount of dark energy in our Universe is a frustrating puzzle.

"Our simulations show that even if there was much more dark energy or even very little in the Universe then it would only have a minimal effect on star and planet formation, raising the prospect that life could exist throughout the Multiverse."

Dr Luke Barnes, a John Templeton Research Fellow at Western Sydney University, said: "The Multiverse was previously thought to explain the observed value of dark energy as a lottery - we have a lucky ticket and live in the Universe that forms beautiful galaxies which permit life as we know it.

"Our work shows that our ticket seems a little too lucky, so to speak. It's more special than it needs to be for life. This is a problem for the Multiverse; a puzzle remains."

Dr Pascal Elahi, Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, said: "We asked ourselves how much dark energy can there be before life is impossible? Our simulations showed that the accelerated expansion driven by dark energy has hardly any impact on the birth of stars, and hence places for life to arise. Even increasing dark energy many hundreds of times might not be enough to make a dead universe."

The researchers said their results were unexpected and could be problematic as they cast doubt on the ability of the theory of a Multiverse to explain the observed value of dark energy.

According to the research, if we live in a Multiverse, we'd expect to observe much more dark energy than we do - perhaps 50 times more than we see in our Universe.

Although the results do not rule out the Multiverse, it seems that the tiny amount of dark energy in our Universe would be better explained by an, as yet, undiscovered law of nature.

Professor Richard Bower, in Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology, said: "The formation of stars in a universe is a battle between the attraction of gravity, and the repulsion of dark energy.

"We have found in our simulations that universes with much more dark energy than ours can happily form stars. So why such a paltry amount of dark energy in our Universe?

"I think we should be looking for a new law of physics to explain this strange property of our Universe, and the Multiverse theory does little to rescue physicists' discomfort."

###

The research was conducted with Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and Leiden University, The Netherlands.

It was funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK, the European Research Council, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the John Templeton Foundation, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D).Heidelberg, 14 May 2018 - EMBO announces today that 62 outstanding life scientists have been elected to its membership, joining a group of more than 1800 of the best researchers in Europe and around the world.

"EMBO Members are leading scientists working across all of the life sciences. They also strengthen the research community in Europe and beyond through their international collaborations and connections," says EMBO Director Maria Leptin.

The members are actively involved in the execution of the organization's initiatives by serving on EMBO Council, Committees and Editorial Boards, by evaluating applications for EMBO funding, by mentoring young scientists and by providing suggestions and feedback on activities.

The 53 newly elected EMBO Members reside in 17 Member States of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), EMBO's intergovernmental funding body. The nine new EMBO Associate Members are researchers currently working in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan and the USA.

"It is a particular pleasure to welcome nine researchers based in seven non-European countries among the 62 new members," says Maria Leptin. "EMBO has been actively pursuing ways to strengthen collaboration and scientific exchange through its Global Activities. Our international membership brings experience and connections that are an important component of our work."

The new EMBO Members and Associate Members will be formally welcomed at the Members' Meeting in Heidelberg between 24 and 26 October 2018.

An online directory with all existing and new EMBO Members is available at people.embo.org.

Selected statistics about this year's intake

newly elected members reside in 24 countries

22 new members (35.5%) are women

average age of newly elected members: 50.7 years

New EMBO Members 2018

Judi E. Allen, University of Manchester, UK

Maria Ina Arnone, Stazione Zoologica 'Anton Dohrn', Napoli, IT

Salvador Aznar Benitah, ICREA Researcher, Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona, ES

Marc Buhler, Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, CH

Janusz M. Bujnicki, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, PL

Sarah J. Butcher, University of Helsinki, FI

Peter J. Campbell, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK

Michele De Luca, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, IT

George Diallinas, National and Kapodistrian University, Athens, GR

Nicole Dubilier, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, DE

Michaela Frye, University of Cambridge, UK

Sonia Garel, Institute of Biology of the Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, FR

Petra Hajkova, MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, UK

Gregory J. Hannon, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, UK

Axel Imhof, Biomedical Center, LMU Munich, DE

Artur Jarmolowski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, PL

Luca Jovine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, SE

Frank Julicher, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, DE

Jim Kaufman, University of Cambridge, UK

Colin Kleanthous, University of Oxford, UK

Stefan Knapp, Goethe University, Frankfurt, DE

Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil, Institut Curie, Paris, FR

Matthias P. Lutolf, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, CH

Alexander Meissner, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, DE

Guillermo Montoya, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, DK

Eduardo Moreno, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, PT

Francois Nedlec, EMBL, Heidelberg, DE

Salvatore Oliviero, University of Torino and IIGM, Torino, IT

Ewa K. Paluch, MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, London and University of Cambridge, UK

Lori A. Passmore, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK

Ana Pombo, Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, DE

Felix Randow, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK

Stefan Raunser, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, DE

Eugenia Russinova, VIB-UGent, Ghent, BE

Leonid A. Sazanov, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, AT

Alexander F. Schier, Biozentrum, University of Basel, CH

Christa Schleper, University of Vienna, AT

Brenda A. Schulman, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, DE

Blanche Schwappach, University Medical Center Gottingen, DE

Benjamin D. Simons, University of Cambridge, UK

Lea Sistonen, Abo Akademi University, Turku, FN

Thierry Soldati, University of Geneva, CH

Rotem Sorek, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, IL

Petr Svoboda, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR, v. v. i., Prague, CZ

Kikue Tachibana, IMBA, Vienna, AT

Nicolas Tapon, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

Marja C.P. Timmermans, ZMBP, University of Tubingen, DE

Iva Tolic, Ruder BoBoskovic Institute, Zagreb, HR

Xavier Trepat, Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), Barcelona, ES

Marie-Helene Verlhac, CIRB, College de France, Paris, FR

Patrik Verstreken, VIB-KU Leuven, Leuven, BE

Manuel Zimmer, IMP, Vienna, AT

Cyril Zipfel, University of Zurich, CH, and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK

New EMBO Associate Members 2018

Alfredo Oscar Caceres, INIMEC-CONICET, Universidad Nacional Cordoba and Instituto Universitario Ciencias Biomedicas de Cordoba, AR

Bernardo Carvalho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, BR

Michael B. Elowitz, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, US

Karolin Luger, University of Colorado, Boulder, US

Duanqing Pei, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, CN

Janet Rossant, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, CA

LS Shashidhara, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, IN

Mikiko C. Siomi, University of Tokyo, JP

Tadatsugu Taniguchi, University of Tokyo, JP

###

About EMBO

EMBO is an organization of more than 1800 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences. The major goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a European research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.

EMBO helps young scientists to advance their research, promote their international reputations and ensure their mobility. Courses, workshops, conferences and scientific journals disseminate the latest research and offer training in techniques to maintain high standards of excellence in research practice. EMBO helps to shape science and research policy by seeking input and feedback from our community and by following closely the trends in science in Europe. For more information: http://www.embo.orgFrom treating cancer and erectile dysfunction to managing hangovers, the horns of endangered wild rhinoceros are widely used as a medical cure-all in parts of Asia. A new Danish-Vietnamese study from the University of Copenhagen uncovers new reasons for why Vietnamese consumers buy illegal rhino horn. This knowledge can now be used in campaigns to save endangered rhinoceros.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that 1,054 rhino were killed by poachers in South Africa in 2016 and the worldwide number of rhinos remaining is estimated to be 30.000.

A new study conducted by the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen and the Vietnamese office of Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has found a shift in values driving illegal procurement of horn from endangered rhinos. Powdered horn is believed to have healing properties and can fetch up to 500,000 kroner per kilo (67,000). The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that 1,054 rhino were killed by poachers in South Africa in 2016 and the worldwide number of rhinos remaining is estimated to be 30.000.

Until now, the prevailing wisdom has been that consumers seek out rhinoceros horn for medical and health-related reasons, such as cancer treatments, hangovers and other ailments. The new study reveals more.

"For us, the surprising trend is that horn is increasingly being used as a symbolic gesture to console terminally ill family members. The horns are intended to provide the ill with a final source of pleasure and to demonstrate that their families have done everything possible to help them," explains Associate Professor Martin R. Nielsen of the Department of Food and Resource Economics. Along with colleague Dang Vu Hoai Nam of GIZ, Nielsen conducted in-depth interviews with 30 recent purchasers of rhino horn in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.

The information gained by the study can be used by public authorities and organisations working to reduce the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn by improving their understanding of consumers and will be an important aspect of future campaigns aimed at reducing demand.

"Understanding the motivation of horn buyers is vital for addressing this problem. Among other things, our results demonstrate that the nature of demand changes over time. As a result, we must continually rethink strategies to curb the trade in rhinoceros horn," says Martin R. Nielsen.

Hangovers and a lack of respect for the rule of law

Besides using horn to console terminally ill family members, the 30 Vietnamese interviewed also used horn for treating hangovers and as a status symbol in business relations. The study also found that buyers are mainly interested in horn sourced from wild rhinos and willing to pay a premium for wild rather than farmed animal horn. Consequently, the researchers believe that a legal, controlled trade of farmed rhino would most likely not serve to reduce poaching.

"The study suggests that information about the decline of rhinoceros populations and awareness about hunting being controlled by organised crime does not affect consumer demand. Dealing with the problem requires other strategies," explains Martin R. Nielsen.

The rhino horn trade is among one of the most organised forms of environmental crime, and the number of rhinos killed by poachers has increased markedly since 2008. Because Vietnam is the country with the greatest demand for rhinoceros horn, it also bears the brunt of the blame for poaching.

The majority of remaining wild rhinoceros live in South Africa, where the population of white rhinoceros is estimated to be between 19,000 and 21,000.

###More than 1 million Americans require daily physical assistance to get dressed because of injury, disease and advanced age. Robots could potentially help, but cloth and the human body are complex.

To help address this need, a robot at the Georgia Institute of Technology is successfully sliding hospital gowns on people's arms. The machine doesn't use its eyes as it pulls the cloth. Instead, it relies on the forces it feels as it guides the garment onto a person's hand, around the elbow and onto the shoulder.

The machine, a PR2, taught itself in one day, by analyzing nearly 11,000 simulated examples of a robot putting a gown onto a human arm. Some of those attempts were flawless. Others were spectacular failures -- the simulated robot applied dangerous forces to the arm when the cloth would catch on the person's hand or elbow.

From these examples, the PR2's neural network learned to estimate the forces applied to the human. In a sense, the simulations allowed the robot to learn what it feels like to be the human receiving assistance.

"People learn new skills using trial and error. We gave the PR2 the same opportunity," said Zackory Erickson, the lead Georgia Tech Ph.D. student on the research team. "Doing thousands of trials on a human would have been dangerous, let alone impossibly tedious. But in just one day, using simulations, the robot learned what a person may physically feel while getting dressed."

The robot also learned to predict the consequences of moving the gown in different ways. Some motions made the gown taut, pulling hard against the person's body. Other movements slid the gown smoothly along the person's arm. The robot uses these predictions to select motions that comfortably dress the arm.

After success in simulation, the PR2 attempted to dress people. Participants sat in front of the robot and watched as it held a gown and slid it onto their arms. Rather than vision, the robot used its sense of touch to perform the task based on what it learned about forces during the simulations.

"The key is that the robot is always thinking ahead," said Charlie Kemp, an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and the lead faculty member. "It asks itself, 'if I pull the gown this way, will it cause more or less force on the person's arm? What would happen if I go that way instead?'"

The researchers varied the robot's timing and allowed it to think as much as a fifth of a second into the future while strategizing about its next move. Less than that caused the robot to fail more often.

"The more robots can understand about us, the more they'll be able to help us," Kemp said. "By predicting the physical implications of their actions, robots can provide assistance that is safer, more comfortable and more effective."

The robot is currently putting the gown on one arm. The entire process takes about 10 seconds. The team says fully dressing a person is something that is many steps away from this work.

###

Ph.D. student Henry Clever and Professors Karen Liu and Greg Turk also contributed to the research. Their paper, Deep Haptic Model Predictive Control for Robot-Assisted Dressing, will be presented May 21-25 in Australia during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). The work is part of a larger effort on robot-assisted dressing funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by Liu.

This work was supported in part by NSF award IIS-1514258, AWS Cloud Credits for Research, and the NSF NRT Traineeship DGE-1545287. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.

Kemp is a cofounder, a board member, an equity holder, and the CTO of Hello Robot Inc., which is developing products related to this research. This research could affect his personal financial status. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by Georgia Tech in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.Training local clinicians with regional anesthesia techniques has helped the Vietnamese medical community improve their approach to anesthesia care, results of a survey conducted by the Global Health Initiative at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) indicate.

These results have spurred new global partnerships with other hospitals, enabling anesthesiologists at HSS to directly address the shortage of adequately trained physicians in underserved areas and help provide sustainable, long-lasting personnel infrastructure within these medical communities.

Since 2011, physicians from the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Management have been visiting the Hospital for Traumatology and Orthopedics in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, providing hands-on instruction on the use of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia techniques. The crux of the program, however, isn't providing care in the short-term but is focused on empowering local anesthesiologists to master these techniques and pass them on to other providers in the community, explained Swetha Pakala, MD, anesthesiologist, and director of the Global Health Initiative, who has brought anesthesiologists and fellows to Vietnam since 2012. She's found that returning each year helps develop the relationships with the providers who in turn are building their skills more quickly.

"The Global Health Initiative is centered on the idea of providing a self-sustaining model of education," explained Dr. Pakala. "While many mission trips provide much-needed care, once the providers leave, that level of care leaves, too. We wanted to adjust that methodology to not only help patients but instill confidence in providers to perform these techniques so they can continue to utilize them once we leave."

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia is associated with lower infection rates, a faster return to function, and requires less medication compared to general anesthesia, making it a worthwhile skill for anesthesiologists to use to combat the large percentage of easily-treatable musculoskeletal conditions that may have otherwise gone untreated in resource-scarce settings like Vietnam.

"More than five billion people do not have access to quality surgical care - that's more than two-thirds of the global population," explained Mark Brouillette, MD, regional anesthesiology and acute pain management fellow. Dr. Brouillette, who is joining the staff as a full-time attending in the fall of 2018, will help Dr. Pakala lead the Global Health Initiative.

"To improve global health equity, we need more qualified physicians practicing in limited-resource areas, and we need them to feel confident in these skills so they can train others - whether we're there or not," said Dr. Brouillette.

Dr. Pakala and others measured the program by surveying its participants before and after their five-year curriculum. Overall, each participant surveyed felt confident or very comfortable in using ultrasound-guided blocks; before the Global Health Initiative, not one anesthesiologist expressed this level of comfort.

On average, each participant started using these techniques up to ten-fold more than they used to before the curriculum began, according to the researchers. Additionally, every clinician surveyed indicated they had a high-level of confidence in teaching their local colleagues these blocks in the future, a core tenant of the Global Health Initiative's mission to provide sustainable education that increases the number of trained physicians in local communities.

After learning the results of the curriculum program in Vietnam, the Global Health Initiative has launched a new partnership with the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana. This partnership is affiliated with the hospital's Global Academic Partnerships.

"The humanitarian work done by Dr. Pakala and colleagues in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine is in perfect alignment with HSS on global reach," said Laura Robbins, DSW, senior vice president of Global at HSS.

"HSS and its outstanding clinicians, working together, can have a profound impact on these patients around the world with little or no access to quality musculoskeletal care."

Throughout their time in Ghana, members of the Global Health Initiative will be evaluating their curriculum using the Global Regional Anesthesia Curriculum Engagement (GRACE) protocol. This tool helps by standardizing the design, administration, and measurement associated with implementing a curriculum tailored to meet the needs of local Ghanaian community. Already, members of the KATH department have seen changes in their practice.

"Our regional anesthesia skills were lacking before HSS anesthesiologists came to KATH," said Akwasi Antwi-Kusi, MD, head of the Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department at KATH. "We have much more confidence in performing these techniques and caring for our patients."

The Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Management at HSS hopes to expand their global health offerings and have established a fellowship track dedicated to improving the impact of the Global Health Initiative.

###A new article published in the Cell Reports describes how a new drug is able to reduce the symptoms and activate the dormant neurons characteristic of Rett Syndrome in preclinical models. The study, led by Dr. Manel Esteller, Director of the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program (PEBC) of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), ICREA Researcher and Professor of Genetics of the University of Barcelona, and Dr. Sonia Guil, researcher at the same IDIBELL group, has been possible thanks to the support from the Catalan and Spanish associations of the Rett Syndrome, the Carla Regatta, a Verkami crowfunding campaign, the Jerome Leujene Foundation and the Dischrom project funded by EU.

Rett Syndrome is the second most frequent cause of intellectual disability in women, only after Down Syndrome. The main genetic cause of Rett Syndrome is the appearance of mutations in the embryo affecting the MECP2 gene, a regulator of the expression of other genes in the genome. There is no specific pharmacological treatment for the disease, so current efforts are focused on trying to control its most serious manifestations, such as epileptic and respiratory crises.

"We knew for some years that the brains of Rett syndrome girls were inflamed, so we decided to test whether a drug that inhibits a central neuroinflammatory protein called glycogen synthase kinase-3B (GSK3B) could reverse part of the symptoms. As with any experimental treatment, we started with a preclinical model of the disease, studying it in mice that have the same MECP2 deficiency as in human Rett syndrome" says Dr. Manel Esteller.

"The results have been very promising; agent SB216763 has been able to lengthen the life of the animals, significantly reducing tremors, breathing difficulties and mobility limitations. But what is really remarkable is that the inhibition of GSK3B also causes an "awakening" of the sleeping neurons of the syndrome: these brain cells are now beginning to regain contact between them and communication between neuronal synapses increases", explains the IDIBELL researcher, and he concludes: "Our findings provide a new way of improving the quality of life of these patients and now it is the neurologists' job to demonstrate their applicability in patients with Rett Syndrome. In any case, we have to be aware that the mutation in the MECP2 gene is still there, and only by correcting it would we arrive at a definitive treatment of the disease."

###An article published in Nature Medicine with the collaboration of the research group of Dr. Manel Esteller, director of the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), ICREA Researcher and Professor of Genetics of the University of Barcelona, and Drs. Dave Monk and Isidre Ferrer, from the same center, shows that the inheritance of small changes in DNA alters the expression of the PM20D1 gene and is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

"Over the last seven years, we have created a detailed map of the epigenetic alterations that occur in the brain of people affected by Alzheimer's and other dementias such as those associated with the so-called Lewy bodies or Parkinson's disease. That allowed us to collaborate with Dr Johannes Graff's group in Lausanne, who noticed how one of the molecular lesions we had discovered was caused by inheriting a variation in the DNA sequence"- states Dr. Manel Esteller, co-author of the Nature Medicine study.

"This variation is associated with the loss of activity of a neuroprotective gene called PM20D1; whoever possesses the variation has a greater probability of suffering from Alzheimer's disease, so people carrying these variants could be excellent candidates for clinical prevention trials of the disease in the future"- adds the IDIBELL researcher.

"The results obtained demonstrate the need for international scientific collaboration, mixing the different areas of experience in epigenetics, genetics, bioinformatics and neurosciences of each group. We are looking at an example of the usefulness of multidisciplinary research to tackle diseases as complex and devastating as dementia", concludes Esteller.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative pathology increasingly frequent due to the progressive aging of the population in Western countries. There are no effective treatments for its cure and only certain drugs are able to relatively slow the progression of the disease if they are administered in the early stages. Beyond advanced age, the factors that cause it are unknown. The hereditary factor associated with high risk constitutes a minimum proportion of cases, but there appears to be a certain aggregation of cases in the same family higher than what would be expected by chance.

###Improved access to DNA testing could offer children treatment personalized to the genetics of their cancers

Children with incurable brain tumours could benefit from potentially life-extending treatment if genetic testing was used to personalise therapy as it is in many adults, major new research reports.

Scientists analysed the DNA of children taking an adult cancer drug on a clinical trial deemed to have 'failed', and found that many with particular genetic traits had actually responded well to treatment.

Some of these children survived more than a year longer than others on the trial.

The international study - led by a team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and involving 51 centres in 14 countries - found that children whose tumours had mutations in the MAPK network of genes benefited from Avastin (bevacizumab) alongside standard treatment.

In these children, Avastin also appeared to cause immune cells to flood in to help destroy their tumours - raising the possibility that they could be good candidates for future immunotherapy.

Children's aggressive, or 'high grade', brain tumours are currently treated as one disease, but a recent genetic analysis by the same team at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) showed they were actually at least 10 different diseases.

The new research shows the benefits of testing children for genetic mutations in their tumours to make sure they receive the treatment most likely to work.

Increasingly, treatment of adult cancers is shaped by genetic testing, but children's cancer continues to lag behind.

The new independent academic study - published today (Monday) in the prestigious journal Cancer Cell and funded by Roche - analysed genetic, molecular and immunology data from the HERBY phase II clinical trial after it had been completed.

The researchers will now look to confirm the findings in a clinical trial set up specifically to test the effectiveness of Avastin in children with these mutations. If successful, it would open up a whole new treatment option for a disease with very few effective therapies.

This trial compared Avastin combined with standard treatment of temozolomide and radiotherapy with standard treatment alone in 121 children aged three to 18 with high-grade brain tumours.

The trial found that, overall, children did not benefit from the addition of adult cancer drug Avastin - a drug that works by blocking a tumour's blood supply and drawing the immune system to the cancer.

But looking deeper into the genetics of the tumours revealed that children taking Avastin whose tumours had mutations in the MAPK network of genes - around 10-15 per cent of the total - survived up to 16 months longer than other patients.

These children also saw many more immune cells called killer T cells flock to the site of their tumours - in some cases because their cancers had more mutations overall and so were easier for the immune system to pick apart from healthy cells.

Children with these tumours could potentially be considered for future clinical trials of immunotherapies, which tend to work best in patients whose cancers have already sparked some immune reaction.

Children with tumours that were driven by mutations in the histone H3F3FA gene did not benefit from Avastin, with an average survival of only 7.9 months, and there were very few immune cells present in and around the tumour.

Researchers at the ICR - a research institute and charity - believe that testing for mutations could help direct treatment so some children are picked out for Avastin, and others spared treatment that is very unlikely to work for them.

Although rare, aggressive childhood brain tumours are the biggest cause of cancer-related death under 19 years of age because survival rates are so poor - children with these tumours are only expected to live an average of nine to 15 months.

Study leader Professor Chris Jones, Professor of Childhood Brain Tumour Biology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "We will never see progress in treatment of children's brain cancers while we continue to lump everyone with these cancers together in one group. Children deserve better.

"Our research has previously shown that children's brain cancer is really 10 different diseases, and our new study found these genetic differences can have a major impact on how children respond to drugs. We are building up evidence that genetic testing in children with cancer can have real benefits for selecting the best treatment.

"The next step is to confirm our findings in a clinical trial where only children with these specific mutations receive Avastin. If that is successful, we can open up a promising new option for paediatric brain cancer by turning an established drug for adult cancers into a targeted treatment for children."

Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "We've seen dramatic progress in the treatment of adult cancers, through advances such as the introduction of targeted therapies and more recently immunotherapies. But that progress hasn't yet been matched in children.

"This exciting research is giving us the tools to personalise treatment for children with brain cancer. It's vital that we take advantage of advances in research by improving children's access to genetic testing and clinical trials, so every child has the best possible chance of receiving a drug that may work for them."

###

For more information please contact Sarah Wells in the ICR press office on 020 7153 5582 or sarah.wells@icr.ac.uk. For enquiries out of hours, please call 07595 963 613.

Notes to editors

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world's most influential cancer research organisations.

Scientists and clinicians at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) are working every day to make a real impact on cancer patients' lives. Through its unique partnership with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and 'bench-to-bedside' approach, the ICR is able to create and deliver results in a way that other institutions cannot. Together the two organisations are rated in the top four centres for cancer research and treatment globally.

The ICR has an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. It provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today it is a world leader at identifying cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment.

A college of the University of London, the ICR is the UK's top-ranked academic institution for research quality, and provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction. It has charitable status and relies on support from partner organisations, charities and the general public.

The ICR's mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer. For more information visit http://www.icr.ac.ukThe European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) promotes excellence in the life sciences. Today it announced the election of 62 outstanding life scientists as new members who are joining a group of more than 1800 of the best researchers in Europe and around the world. One of them is IST Austria Professor Leonid Sazanov whose pioneering work on membrane proteins is recognized by EMBO with the life-long membership.

Membranes separate the inside of a cell from the outside, but they are not impermeable: ions need to be transported from the outside to the inside and vice versa, and signals are transduced. Proteins in the membrane ensure that these fundamental and vital processes in the cells can take place. They are the target of about two thirds of modern pharmaceuticals, yet the structure of many of such membrane proteins remains unknown today. This is what Leonid Sazanov aims to change with his research. Using X-ray crystallography and increasingly cryo electron microscopy, a state-of-the-art technique to observe biological samples in their natural state, he and his group managed, among other things, to describe the structure of the mammalian complex I and of respiratory supercomplexes in the mitochondria. These are among the largest membrane proteins ever solved, and the discoveries were published in two papers in Nature in 2016. Now the election as a member of EMBO which recognizes his work adds another highlight to his career.

Leonid Sazanov obtained PhD in Biophysics from Moscow State University, Russia, and previously has been a Programme leader at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Cambridge, UK. He joined IST Austria in 2015.

With Leonid Sazanov being elected, IST Austria has now six EMBO members among its professors. The other faculty members who are members of EMBO are: Jiri Friml, Nick Barton, Michael Sixt, Carl-Philipp Heisenberg, and Eva Benkova.

###

About IST Austria - http://www.ist.ac.at

The Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria) is a PhD-granting research institution located in Klosterneuburg, 18 km from the center of Vienna, Austria. Inaugurated in 2009, the Institute is dedicated to basic research in the natural and mathematical sciences. IST Austria employs professors on a tenure-track system, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral students. While dedicated to the principle of curiosity-driven research, the Institute owns the rights to all scientific discoveries and is committed to promote their use. The first president of IST Austria is Thomas A. Henzinger, a leading computer scientist and former professor at the University of California in Berkeley, USA, and the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. The graduate school of IST Austria offers fully-funded PhD positions to highly qualified candidates with a bachelor's or master's degree in biology, neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, physics, and related areas.New tool will be used when standard forensic profiling is not helpful

INDIANAPOLIS - An international team, led by scientists from the School of Science at IUPUI and Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands, has developed a novel tool to accurately predict eye, hair and skin color from human biological material -- even a small DNA sample -- left, for example, at a crime scene or obtained from archeological remains. This all-in-one pigmentation profile tool provides a physical description of the person in a way that has not previously been possible by generating all three pigment traits together using a freely available webtool.

The tool is designed to be used when standard forensic DNA profiling is not helpful because no reference DNA exists against which to compare the evidence sample.

The HIrisPlex-S DNA test system is capable of simultaneously predicting eye, hair and skin color phenotypes from DNA. Users, such as law enforcement officials or anthropologists, can enter relevant data using a laboratory DNA analysis tool, and the webtool will predict the pigment profile of the DNA donor.

"We have previously provided law enforcement and anthropologists with DNA tools for eye color and for combined eye and hair color, but skin color has been more difficult," said forensic geneticist Susan Walsh from IUPUI, who co-directed the study. "Importantly, we are directly predicting actual skin color divided into five subtypes -- very pale, pale, intermediate, dark and dark to black -- using DNA markers from the genes that determine an individual's skin coloration. This is not the same as identifying genetic ancestry. You might say it's more similar to specifying a paint color in a hardware store rather than denoting race or ethnicity.

"If anyone asks an eyewitness what they saw, the majority of time they mention hair color and skin color. What we are doing is using genetics to take an objective look at what they saw," Walsh said.

The innovative high-probability and high-accuracy complete pigmentation profile webtool is available online without charge.

The study, "HIrisPlex-S System for Eye, Hair and Skin Colour Prediction from DNA: Introduction and Forensic Developmental Validation," is published in the peer-reviewed journal Forensic Science International: Genetics.

"With our new HIrisPlex-S system, for the first time, forensic geneticists and genetic anthropologists are able to simultaneously generate eye, hair and skin color information from a DNA sample, including DNA of the low quality and quantity often found in forensic casework and anthropological studies," said Manfred Kayser of Erasmus MC, co-leader of the study.

###

Walsh's forensic DNA phenotyping and predictive DNA analysis work was supported by the National Institute of Justice (grant 2014-DN-BX-K031) and IUPUI. She is an assistant professor of biology at IUPUI and a faculty member of the School of Science's highly respected Forensic and Investigative Sciences program.

She is currently working with the Indiana State Police to determine how this tool can help enhance victim identification and crime-solving.

The School of Science at IUPUI is committed to excellence in teaching, research and service in the biological, physical, computational, behavioral and mathematical sciences. The school is dedicated to being a leading resource for interdisciplinary research and science education in support of Indiana's effort to expand and diversify its economy.

Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam is the largest university medical center in the Netherlands, providing outstanding care, facilitating world-class education and conducting pioneering research.During development, when a fertilized egg transforms its shape dramatically into an animal's body, cell populations forming tissues are in a fluid state and thus the tissue can be easily deformed. Cells also generate mechanical forces during development that contribute to the shaping of the tissues and organs. An important question is how organisms secure/proceed with proper tissue and organ formation in these conditions. In order to understand the process of tissue and organ formations, it is essential to understand how physical characteristics of tissues responding to mechanical stresses influence the process of organogenesis.

To tackle this problem, a research team from the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) and Kyoto University has proposed a unique non-invasive (i.e. without leaving any damage behind) way of measuring the hardness of tissues by combining physical modeling of the tissues with statistical estimation.

The member of the research team, Professor Kazuhiro Aoki said, "Although many in our field use conventional ways of testing hardness of tissues, such as cutting or applying pressure to embryonic tissues which are rather soft, the resulting tissue damage was a big concern because it hampers normal morphogenesis." Assistant Professor Yohei Kondo said, "Our proposed methodology involves measuring the spontaneous deformation of the cell population as well as the mechanical forces applied over the tissue. Based upon the information acquired from these observations, the hardness of the tissue is then able to be estimated."

The effectiveness of the proposed technique has been experimentally validated with monolayer-cultured cells. The research group also revealed that the hardness/stiffness of the tissues can be changed depending on not only the physical properties of materials composing the cells, but also on the cell activities controlled by molecular motor, etc. The group hopes that this work will serve as an important step towards further understanding of the mechanism of organogenesis. The results of this research were published in the journal, PLoS Computational Biology.

###

PLoS Computational Biology

"Inverse tissue mechanics of cell monolayer expansion" by Yohei Kondo, Kazuhiro Aoki, and Shin Ishii

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006029A small group of students recently got to experience a rare, spaceflight thrill: seeing if the tiny satellite, called a CubeSat, they designed and built not only survived a rock

A small group of students recently got to experience a rare, spaceflight thrill: seeing if the tiny satellite, called a CubeSat, they designed and built not only survived a rocket launch to space but also successfully gathered and transmitted data once on orbit.

The educational CubeSat missions were selected through the CubeSat Launch Initiative as part of the 14th installment of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions. The ELaNa XIV mission was an auxiliary payload on the Nov. 18, 2017, launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 satellite (now NOAA-20), a collaborative effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA.

One CubeSat launched from the JPSS-1 rocket, RadFxSat, is a partnership between students at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and AMSAT, a worldwide group of amateur radio operators. The Vanderbilt team built the science payload while AMSAT did the integration onto their own CubeSat platform. Their experiment is designed to obtain early on-orbit data in support of modeling radiation effects in a commercial memory, currently used for consumer electronics.

So far the project is successfully sending back data. "Because we partnered with the company donating the memory, there were engineering challenges to make sure we could communicate with the memory properly. I learned about power allocation and making sure the memories were within their power budget. I didn't realize how important power was for a spacecraft until I had to do it myself," said Rebekah Austin, a graduating Ph.D. student in electrical engineering at Vanderbilt. Austin is also a returning engineering summer intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Meanwhile, another CubeSat project, called EagleSat-1, is working through post-launch challenges. "It turns out we are not getting data back. There is still learning occurring, which is our main reason for doing the program. The students are learning the process of failure analysis and understanding the spacecraft a little bit better as a result of trying to figure out what could have gone wrong and try to figure out if there is anything we can do while it is on orbit," said Dr. Gary Yale, associate professor of aerospace engineering and faculty mentor for EagleSat-1, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

One possibility under consideration by the team of undergraduate researchers is that their antenna did not deploy after launch. The EagleSat-1 team hopes that if that is the problem, eventually the fishing line holding the antenna down will decay due to ultraviolet radiation in the space environment, causing the line to break and deploy the antenna, which was the backup plan for that eventuality.

"It is disappointing we haven't gotten data yet, and everyone is trying to make contact with it," said Deborah Jackson, an undergraduate and project manager for EagleSat-1. "We've passed down our lessons learned to our next project, EagleSat-2." EagleSat-1 has two functions, one is to track the satellite orbit as it decays over time and the second is to study the use of super capacitors in space as an alternative to traditional batteries, which rely on chemical reactions.

The results from these two NASA ELaNa CubeSat projects illustrates the program's function as an educational platform. "It is a way to pull kids into practical science application. I've seen junior and senior high kids building these things too," said Rex Engelhardt, NASA's ELaNA XIV mission manger and a launch services program mission manager, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The process begins with a proposal that is competitively selected. Each group funds the building of their spacecraft, and NASA provides a ride to space using available capacity on NASA rockets.

"For JPSS-1, we had to assure them we were tracking the design, build and testing of these spacecraft and would not negatively impact the JPSS-1 satellite," Engelhardt said. After the primary satellite is released and sent on its way, then the CubeSats are released. Each CubeSat group is responsible for shock and vibration tests to prove their satellite can survive the launch.

"The teams were a lot of fun to work with, and they are excited about what they are doing," Engelhardt said. "We have a mission readiness review, where they bring a briefing package which includes all their designs, how they built the spacecraft and met the requirements. We ask hard questions and challenge them in each three- to four-hour presentation. It is fun watching the different teams and personalities. One presenter drove in during his college break and did his presentation while munching an apple. We let him know that's not a good idea."

While the ELaNA CubeSat teams work through various stages of science and engineering challenges to get their CubeSats ready for flight, at the end it is about the learning process. "Motivating people to work to a common goal to stay focused on a project and complete it, is a huge educational win," Engelhardt said.

###

For additional information about NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/CubeSat_initiative.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/elana-xiv-cubesat-launch-on-jpss-1-mission

For additional information on JPSS: http://www.jpss.noaa.gov/

For additional information on RadFxSat: http://www.isde.vanderbilt.edu/wp/radfxsat1/

For additional information on EagleSat: http://prescott.erau.edu/about/labs/axfab-eaglesat/

et launch to space but also successfully gathered and transmitted data once on orbit.

The educational CubeSat missions were selected through the CubeSat Launch Initiative as part of the 14th installment of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions. The ELaNa XIV mission was an auxiliary payload on the Nov. 18, 2017, launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 satellite (now NOAA-20), a collaborative effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA.

One CubeSat launched from the JPSS-1 rocket, RadFxSat, is a partnership between students at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and AMSAT, a worldwide group of amateur radio operators. The Vanderbilt team built the science payload while AMSAT did the integration onto their own CubeSat platform. Their experiment is designed to obtain early on-orbit data in support of modeling radiation effects in a commercial memory, currently used for consumer electronics.

So far the project is successfully sending back data. "Because we partnered with the company donating the memory, there were engineering challenges to make sure we could communicate with the memory properly. I learned about power allocation and making sure the memories were within their power budget. I didn't realize how important power was for a spacecraft until I had to do it myself," said Rebekah Austin, a graduating Ph.D. student in electrical engineering at Vanderbilt. Austin is also a returning engineering summer intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Meanwhile, another CubeSat project, called EagleSat-1, is working through post-launch challenges. "It turns out we are not getting data back. There is still learning occurring, which is our main reason for doing the program. The students are learning the process of failure analysis and understanding the spacecraft a little bit better as a result of trying to figure out what could have gone wrong and try to figure out if there is anything we can do while it is on orbit," said Dr. Gary Yale, associate professor of aerospace engineering and faculty mentor for EagleSat-1, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

One possibility under consideration by the team of undergraduate researchers is that their antenna did not deploy after launch. The EagleSat-1 team hopes that if that is the problem, eventually the fishing line holding the antenna down will decay due to ultraviolet radiation in the space environment, causing the line to break and deploy the antenna, which was the backup plan for that eventuality.

"It is disappointing we haven't gotten data yet, and everyone is trying to make contact with it," said Deborah Jackson, an undergraduate and project manager for EagleSat-1. "We've passed down our lessons learned to our next project, EagleSat-2." EagleSat-1 has two functions, one is to track the satellite orbit as it decays over time and the second is to study the use of super capacitors in space as an alternative to traditional batteries, which rely on chemical reactions.

The results from these two NASA ELaNa CubeSat projects illustrates the program's function as an educational platform. "It is a way to pull kids into practical science application. I've seen junior and senior high kids building these things too," said Rex Engelhardt, NASA's ELaNA XIV mission manger and a launch services program mission manager, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The process begins with a proposal that is competitively selected. Each group funds the building of their spacecraft, and NASA provides a ride to space using available capacity on NASA rockets.

"For JPSS-1, we had to assure them we were tracking the design, build and testing of these spacecraft and would not negatively impact the JPSS-1 satellite," Engelhardt said. After the primary satellite is released and sent on its way, then the CubeSats are released. Each CubeSat group is responsible for shock and vibration tests to prove their satellite can survive the launch.

"The teams were a lot of fun to work with, and they are excited about what they are doing," Engelhardt said. "We have a mission readiness review, where they bring a briefing package which includes all their designs, how they built the spacecraft and met the requirements. We ask hard questions and challenge them in each three- to four-hour presentation. It is fun watching the different teams and personalities. One presenter drove in during his college break and did his presentation while munching an apple. We let him know that's not a good idea."

While the ELaNA CubeSat teams work through various stages of science and engineering challenges to get their CubeSats ready for flight, at the end it is about the learning process. "Motivating people to work to a common goal to stay focused on a project and complete it, is a huge educational win," Engelhardt said.

For additional information about NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/CubeSat_initiative.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/elana-xiv-cubesat-launch-on-jpss-1-mission

For additional information on JPSS: http://www.jpss.noaa.gov/

For additional information on RadFxSat: http://www.isde.vanderbilt.edu/wp/radfxsat1/

For additional information on EagleSat: http://prescott.erau.edu/about/labs/axfab-eaglesat/

###CORVALLIS, Ore. - A ribbon of ice more than 600 kilometers long that drains about 12 percent of the gigantic Greenland Ice Sheet has been smaller than it is today about half of the time over the past 45,000 years, a new study suggests.

Interestingly, the loss of ice from the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) took place not only during the warm Holocene period, but also during a period thought to be very cold preceding the last glacial maximum, the researchers say.

The findings suggest that NEGIS is particularly sensitive to environmental changes, which may exacerbate the influence of anthropogenic climate change. Results of the study are being published today in Nature Communications.

"There are some parts of the ice sheet that are relatively stable and others that show evidence of very rapid retreating - a pattern we're seeing today as well as thousands of years ago," said Anders Carlson, an Oregon State University geologist and co-author on the study. "Some of it relates to bed topography - when the bed is below sea level, it stabilizes that part of the ice sheet. In low spots, it is unstable."

Carlson said different factors may help explain the ice mass loss, including orbital forcing and warm summer temperatures. The path of the Earth's orbit put it closer to the sun some 9,000 years ago, breaking the planet out of its glacial maximum. NEGIS showed significant ice loss.

Yet it also showed a loss of ice during the period preceding that maximum, about 41,000 to 26,000 years ago, which is thought to have been very cold. OSU paleoclimatologist Christo Buizert, also a co-author on the study, reconstructed air temperatures from that period using ice core analysis and found that air temperatures indeed were much colder than average, but summer temperatures were warmer, which may have contributed to the ice loss.

"That period was also quite dry and there wasn't nearly as much snowfall," Carlson said, "which may have driven the ice margin to be smaller."

The researchers were able to determine where the ice sheet margins were essentially by analyzing the rocks for "sunburn," Carlson said. When ice has retreated, the rocks become exposed to cosmic rays that hit the quartz in the rock and split the elements, creating beryllium-10. This cosmic bombardment leaves an elemental fingerprint that allows the researchers to reconstruct ice-free times over thousands of years.

"The anthropogenic forcing we are seeing today is having a significant impact on the ice sheet and it already has retreated to levels that weren't predicted to occur until the end of the century," Carlson said.

A team of Danish and American researchers conducted much of the fieldwork, studying three fast-flowing marine-terminating "outlet" glaciers on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

"Modern observations have shown that the NEGIS is very susceptible to changes in both air and ocean temperatures and is presently in a phase of rapid ice retreat," said Nicolaj Larsen of Aarhus University in Denmark, lead author on the study. Larsen spent much of the past year on sabbatical at Oregon State, where he collaborated with the OSU researchers.

###

Carlson and Buizert are with Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. The study was supported by the Villum Foundation, Aarhus University's Arctic Research Center, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.Typhoid Mary may have infected a hundred or more people, but asymptomatic carriers of malaria infect far more people every year. An international team of researchers is working toward a way to identify malaria patients including infected individuals who show no malaria symptoms.

People who have malaria but are not symptomatic abound in the heaviest areas of malaria infestation. Even blood tests do not necessarily pick up infection with the plasmodium parasite, especially at low parasite densities. DNA tests for the parasite usually show infection, but they are far from rapid.

"Our previous work in a mouse model found that malaria infection altered the odors of infected mice in ways that made them more attractive to mosquitoes, particularly at a stage of infection where the transmissible stage of the parasite was present at high levels," said Consuelo De Moraes, adjunct professor of biology, Penn State, and professor of environmental systems science, ETH Zurich. "We also found long-term changes in the odor profiles of infected mice."

The researchers wanted to see if they could identify changes in human odors associated with malaria infection that might be useful for diagnosing infected individuals. They were particularly interested in identifying those who were infected, but had no symptoms. The researchers initially used microscopy and an SD Bioline Rapid Diagnostic Test to identify patients with malaria. Because these methods have limited sensitivity, particularly when parasite loads are low, infections were confirmed by DNA tests. They identified 333 people who unambiguously were either infected with malaria or were not infected with malaria.

Only if both microscopy and DNA studies were negative were subjects considered malaria-free. Infected patients for the initial studies were both microscopy and DNA positive for malaria. In some later analyses, the researchers included 77 people who were positive for malaria according to DNA, but showed no parasites in the microscopic tests.Malaria infection does not create new volatile chemicals in the body, but alters the amounts -- up or down -- of volatile chemicals that are already present in the odors of healthy people.

"It is interesting that the symptomatic and asymptomatic infections were different from each other as well as from healthy people," said Mark C. Mescher, adjunct professor of biology, Penn State, and professor of environmental systems science, ETH Zurich.

This difference among infected, infected asymptomatic, and healthy individuals may eventually lead to tests capable of rapidly and accurately identifying infected people, even those without symptoms.

The researchers report in today's (May 14) issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that predictive models using machine learning reliably identify infection status based on volatile biomarkers. They state "our models identified asymptomatic infections with 100 percent sensitivity, even in the case of low-level infections not detectable by microscopy." These results far exceed any currently available rapid diagnostic tests.

"But, we should emphasize that we are a long way away from developing a practical diagnostic assay based on odor cues," said De Moraes.

For a test to succeed it would need to be rapidly and cheaply deployable under field conditions, but still detect infections with high sensitivity.

"In the near term, our goal is to refine the current findings to find the most reliable and effective biomarkers we can," said Mescher. "This is really basic science to identify the biomarkers of malaria. There is still a lot more work to be done to develop a practical diagnostic assay."

###

Also working on this research from Penn State are Andrew Read, Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Entomology and Eberly Professor of Biotechnology; and Heike Betz, research technologist in biology.

Caroline Wanjiku and Baldwyn Torto of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology; and Nina Stanczyk, Hannier Pulido and James Sims of ETH Zurich were also part of the project.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and ETH Zurich funded this research.Understanding how brain activity changes throughout the stepping cycle could improve treatment of movement disorders

Human steps are associated with neural activity that alternates between the left and right sides of the brain, finds a study of Parkinson's disease patients published in JNeurosci. The research recommends future investigations address whether alternating deep brain stimulation accordingly may improve gait in movement disorders.

Walking problems reduce quality of life for people with Parkinson's disease. Medication or continuous deep brain stimulation are used to alleviate these symptoms, but some patients do not respond to these treatments.

To better understand how brain activity changes throughout the stepping cycle, Petra Fischer, Huiling Tan and colleagues studied Parkinson's patients who have received deep brain stimulation surgery. This enabled the researchers to record brain activity from electrodes implanted in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) while participants stepped in place along with a cartoon man in a video. The researchers found that activity in the 20-30 Hz (beta) range alternated between the left and right STN when the opposite foot touched the ground and the other foot was to be raised. The introduction of a metronome synchronized to the cartoon steps improved participants' accuracy and enhanced their STN beta activity accordingly.

###

Article: Alternating modulation of subthalamic nucleus beta oscillations during stepping

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3596-17.2018

Corresponding authors: Petra Fischer, petra.fischer@ndcn.ox.ac.uk and Huiling Tan, huiling.tan@ndcn.ox.ac.uk (University of Oxford, UK)

About JNeurosci

JNeurosci, the Society for Neuroscience's first journal, was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.

About The Society for Neuroscience

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and over 130 chapters worldwide.Drug users show substance-specific differences in the rewarding effects of heroin versus cocaine depending on where they use the drugs, according to a study published in JNeurosci. Considering this interaction between drug type and location in the treatment of addiction could help to prevent relapse.

Silvana De Pirro, Aldo Badiani, and colleagues recruited two groups of participants receiving treatment for substance use disorder at a medical center in Rome. The researchers asked the first group to recall a typical drug episode and indicate how arousing and pleasant their experience was with each drug (heroin or cocaine) in two different settings (at home or outside the home). With guidance, the second group imagined using the drugs in each setting while their brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The results show that users had a more pleasurable experience using heroin at home while cocaine use was more pleasurable outside the home, consistent with previous reports on drug preference in rats and humans. The brain regions activated during the emotional imagery task included those involved in processing drug reward and context: the prefrontal cortex, caudate, and cerebellum. The researchers conclude that the human response to addictive drugs depends on both the setting and substance of use.

###

Article: The affective and neural correlates of heroin vs. cocaine use in addiction are influenced by environmental setting but in opposite directions

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0019-18.2018

Corresponding authors: Silvana De Pirro, S.DePirro@sussex.ac.uk and Aldo Badiani, aldo.badiani@sussex.ac.uk (University of Sussex, Brighton, UK)

About JNeurosci

JNeurosci, the Society for Neuroscience's first journal, was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.

About The Society for Neuroscience

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and over 130 chapters worldwide.A stress hormone modulates compulsive biting in a rat model of self-injurious behavior (SIB), according to new research published in JNeurosci. Manipulating the activity of the brain circuitry underlying SIB could create new possibilities for treating this symptom of stress and neuropsychiatric disorders.

The globus pallidus, a part of the basal ganglia, has a well-known function in the regulation of movement. It has also been implicated in stress-related emotional disorders frequently accompanied by SIB, such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Pak-Ming Lau, Lin Xu and colleagues investigated SIB in rats by disrupting activity in a similar brain structure called the entopeduncular nucleus, which led to self-inflicted bite wounds. The researchers identified many brain regions involved in SIB, including two areas involved in the processing of stress and reward: the lateral habenula and the ventral tegmental area. They demonstrate control over this behavior by manipulating activity of these two regions as well as levels of the stress hormone corticosterone. Self-biting could not be fully blocked, however, suggesting additional pathways to be explored in future studies of SIB.

###

Article: Corticosterone signaling and a lateral habenula-ventral tegmental area circuit modulate compulsive self-injurious behavior in a rat model

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2540-17.2018

Corresponding authors: Pak-Ming Lau (University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei), plau@ustc.edu.cn and Lin Xu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming), lxu@vip.163.com

About JNeurosci

JNeurosci, the Society for Neuroscience's first journal, was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.

About The Society for Neuroscience

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and over 130 chapters worldwide.By engineering a special molecule to track certain immune cells in the body, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have invented a litmus test for the effectiveness of a newly devised cancer therapy.

The molecule is a radioactive tracer that latches onto immune cells when they're activated -- the status that immune cells, in particular T cells, assume when they're poised to kill tumor cells.

"It's not good enough to just image all T cells; you need to image activated T cells because those are the ones that are going to kill the tumor," said Sanjiv "Sam" Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor and chair of radiology at Stanford. "The problem that occurs in other approaches, including ones we've previously developed, is that they're sometimes not specific enough. I could image tumor patients who've yet to receive an immunotherapy; they'll sometimes show T cells in their tumors, but those T cells aren't always activated and killing tumor cells -- so we need a way to track activated T cells more specifically, and I think we've done that here."

With the tracer, doctors can theoretically see if a cancer vaccine has successfully galvanized T cells into a protective state, though the research conducted in this study was exclusively in mice. The PET tracer's capabilities aren't limited to cancer therapies, Gambhir added. Because the tracer latches onto a molecule that flags any activated T cell, it also makes for a powerful tool to detect autoimmune diseases, which occur when the immune system erroneously activates T cells to attack healthy tissue.

A study describing the tracer will be published online May 14 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Postdoctoral scholar Israt Alam, PhD, and graduate student Aaron Mayer share lead authorship of the study. Gambhir, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, is the senior author.

Two for one

The tracer was born out of a collaboration with Ronald Levy, MD, professor of oncology, who was in the process of devising what's now considered a promising cancer "vaccine." The goal of the vaccine -- which is different from a traditional preventive shot because it works more as an injected immunotherapy -- is to prompt the T cells into an activated state and get them to attack tumors in the body. But cancer therapies are not often one-dose-fits-all. So the question became: Is there a way to know, right away, if the vaccine is working?

"Our challenge was to find a molecule that's almost exclusively present on activated T cells -- not just any T cell -- because there are many T cells that just sit around resting," Gambhir said. By coincidence, the molecule he found was the same one that Levy harnessed in his vaccine, a protein on the surface of activated T cells called OX40.

Boiled down, Levy's cancer vaccine is a package of two stimulating agents. One coaxes T cells into producing OX40 on their surface; the other binds to OX40 and enables the cell to engage with tumor cells. Together the tag-team agents essentially prod loafing immune cells into high gear.

Once the tracer is injected, it scours the entire body, including the immune system, in search of cancer-killing T cells -- but only those laden with OX40. Upon meeting, the tracer binds to OX40 and, when hitched together, the radioactive complex glows under a PET scan, revealing only those T cells that have been successfully activated, ready to ravage the tumor. If the scan comes back with low to no signal in the tumor or tumors, it's an indication that doctors (in theory, as the vaccine and tracer have only been tested in mice) ought to reevaluate the immunotherapy dosage or change the treatment course altogether.

The power of PET

Gambhir's lab tested the tracer first in cell cultures. They found that the compound was able to suss out activated T cells about 95 percent of the time. Later in mouse models, they still saw success overall, but it was a bit more subdued. In a group of about 50 mice, the PET tracer performed accurately upward of 90 percent of the time.

"It's really only now that this tactic is coming into play; the PET scan is usually focused on assessing only the tumor cells," said Gambhir. "But now, with new imaging agents like this, we're able to image the immune cells, and that's really the second half of the equation."

Gambhir acknowledges that one could simply wait to see physical changes in the tumor volume to determine whether the therapy is working. But that poses a problem. It may take weeks, or even months, to definitively see whether the cancer is responding to the treatment. Say the vaccine doesn't work. In the time it took to find out, the cancer would have continued to spread, becoming more molecularly heterogeneous and even more difficult to treat the next time around. Knowing sooner gives the patient more time to try other options, hopefully leading to better outcomes.

Clinical trial

Levy has moved his vaccine into a phase-1 clinical trial. In the next few months, Gambhir plans to move this new OX40 tracer into that same clinical trial, so that the tracer and therapy can be tested in conjunction.

"We were able to predict what was going to happen in mice several weeks out by looking only 48 hours from the start of the immunotherapy. We could figure out which mouse was going to respond to the immunotherapy and which wasn't before they actually did or did not respond," Gambhir said. "And that's exactly what we're trying to do. We're trying to show that this approach can, in humans, allow us to image early and thereby let us evolve the therapy quickly."

Gambhir also is pursuing work to establish the OX40 tracer as a diagnostic for other applications, such as the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. "It's important to remember that this is a really general approach to visualizing activated T cells -- this shouldn't be thought of as specifically for cancer immunotherapy alone," he said. "That's just one important application."

###

The work is an example of Stanford Medicine's focus on precision health, the goal of which is to anticipate and prevent disease in the healthy and precisely diagnose and treat disease in the ill.

Other Stanford co-authors of the study are Idit Sagiv-Barfi, PhD, instructor of oncology; Kezheng Wang, MD, PhD, a visiting faculty member in the Gambhir lab; postdoctoral scholar Ophir Vermesh, PhD; Debra Czerwinski, life science research assistant; Emily Johnson, life science research professional; and Michelle James, PhD, assistant professor of radiology and of neurology and neurological sciences.

Gambhir and Levy are members of Stanford Bio-X and the Stanford Cancer Institute. Gambhir is also a member of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.

A researcher at Harbin Medical University also contributed to this work.

The study was funded by the Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation, the Canary Foundation, the National Cancer Institute (RO11CA201719) and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Stanford's Department of Radiology also supported the work.

The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu.

Print media contact: Hanae Armitage at (650) 725-5376 (harmitag@stanford.edu)

Broadcast media contact: Margarita Gallardo at (650) 723-7897 (mjgallardo@stanford.edu)The European consortium AVENUE, led by the University of Geneva, is preparing the technical, economic and legislative integration of autonomous vehicles in the urban and sub-urban environments; Geneva is amongst the pilot sites

Autonomous vehicles promise to be the next revolution in public transport. They should find their first users in suburban areas, which are less well served by traditional transportation networks. But for these new services to develop, we must first identify the needs and motivations of their future users and be able to respond to them, meet many of the technological and regulatory challenges, and design new business models. This is the aim of the 4 year AVENUE project consortium, led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) with a total budget of 22 million euros and funded by the European Commission up to the level of 16 million euros.

The AVENUE project consortium, for "Autonomous Vehicles to Evolve to a New Urban Experience, brings together 16 partners: academic institutions, public transport operators, autonomous vehicle manufacturers, major technology R&D companies and specialized start-ups. Among them, five Swiss; alongside the UNIGE, the Transports publics genevois (tpg) and the State of Geneva, two start-ups are indeed involved, MobileThinking, resulting from the UNIGE and BestMile, created at EPFL. All partners met for the first project meeting on 14 and 15 May in Brussels.

Three major themes

The project is structured around three major themes: autonomous driving, optimization of itineraries and in- and out- of vehicle services. The first theme addresses security, fluidity of traffic and ability to adapt to exceptional road situations. At first, it will be studied only in limited areas, whose environment has been previously fully mapped. The second theme will optimize the vehicles itineraries in a perspective of cost reduction and user comfort.

Passengers will be able to book their trip from their smartphone, via a simple and user-friendly application, offering different levels of services. "The third theme will focus on in and out of vehicle services, such as augmented reality solutions on vehicle windows, video conferencing options, as well as assistance to meet special needs' and less autonomous passengers, such as children or seniors, details Dimitri Konstantas, professor at the Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM) of UNIGE and coordinator of the AVENUE project.

The researchers propose to develop, test and validate autonomous vehicle services, integrated into the conventional public transport network, meeting the expectations of different user groups. The needs are not the same depending on whether the passenger is a child, an adult or a senior, they also differ according to the motivations for travel, from the absence of an alternative to curiosity, or even from the forced use - following for example a driving license withdrawal - to a deliberate choice of another type of mobility.

The researchers will also study the existing obstacles to the development of this service: psychological by measuring the degree of acceptance by the public, administrative with the various regulations in force, technical with the major question of security and the consideration of behavior of other road users, economic by imagining viable exploitation and development models. The study will finally propose concrete recommendations on infrastructure and necessary legislative developments addressed to the political authorities.

Geneva among the pilot sites

Specifically, the AVENUE project plans to conduct its tests through a fleet of vehicles of different sizes, from 4 to 12 seats, chosen by the system according to the itinerary and services requested by the user. Geneva is one of the sites chosen to conduct the large scale tests. The Department of Environment, Transport and Agriculture (DETA) of the State of Geneva has also joined the consortium, "in a desire to actively support innovation and to position Geneva as a center of excellence in the field of autonomous vehicles, says Luc Barthassat, State Councilor in charge of the Department of the environnement, transport and agriculture.

The Geneva urban fabric indeed offers several advantages: its public transport network is managed for the most part by a single operator open to innovation, the tpg, simplifying the issues of coordination and connectivity. Despite its small size, Geneva and its traffic have all the characteristics of urban networks to test complex scenarios: traffic jams, pedestrian zones, bike paths. The city is also accurately mapped, there is a 3D modeling and high precision GPS localization services. Finally, national environmental and legislative issues are well under control thanks to the pilot programs carried out in Sion and other places by Navya, manufacturer of autonomous vehicles and partner of the AVENUE project.

"The goal is to work in suburban areas with little or no service today by connecting them to the traditional tpg network. Autonomous vehicles will not go downtown, says Denis Berdoz, CEO of tpg. "We are convinced of the potential of autonomous vehicles for our customers. This project will reinforce our knowledge of new technologies. We acquired an autonomous vehicle in August 2017. We are currently working on its commissioning on an experimental line after having tested it at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2018 , says Denis Berdoz.

The results of this large scale deployment can be compared to those in several European cities, with sometimes different philosophies such as the Mobility Cloud Copenhagen which reflects on the mobility of the person from one point to another, rather than the means used, the use and offer of autonomous taxis in Denmark, still hampered by administrative issues, the service of the pedestrian center in Luxembourg or the Navly project in Lyon, also integrated into the AVENUE project.

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 769033.

###

About the University of Geneva

The University of Geneva enjoys worlwide recognition and ranks amongst the top 60 best universities in the world. Founded in 1559 by Jean Calvin and Theodore de Beze, it welcomes nearly 17 000 students in its nine faculties. A member of the League of European Research-intensive Universities, The University of Geneva fullfills three missions: education, research and knowledge-sharing.

About the Transports publics genevois (tpg)

tpg is the public transport operator of reference in the Geneva region. Their mission is to contribute to the management of mobility on their territory by proposing to the public a quality offer in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. Involved in innovation, they are active in the fields of electric (TOSA bus) and autonomous (experimental line) vehicles.Michael A. Grandner, PhD, MTR, director of the University of Arizona Sleep and Health Research Program, has been awarded a $3.6 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to study sleep and health along the U.S-Mexico border.

Dr. Grandner, also an assistant professor in the UA Department of Psychiatry, is principal investigator of the Nogales Cardiometabolic Health and Sleep Study, or NoCHeS, which seeks to learn more about sleep health and sleep disorders in the border region, how sleep issues are related to social, behavioral and environmental factors and their potential role in regard to risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Dr. Grandner, who also holds faculty appointments with the UA Sarver Heart Center and the UA departments of medicine, psychology and nutritional sciences, will partner with "promotoras" from the Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Ariz., to study sleep health, cardiometabolic disease risk and psychosocial stress among 1,100 adults living along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The University of Arizona's mandate is to serve Arizona, and in the health sciences this includes addressing health disparities and improving health along our border," said UA President Robert C. Robbins, MD. "The relationship between sleep and cardiovascular disease risk factors is an important area of research, especially with so many people across the world affected by heart disease. I look forward to learning what Dr. Grandner and this interdisciplinary team is able to discover."

Other UA collaborators on this project include Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, professor of medicine and director of the UA Health Sciences Center for Sleep and Circadian Science; Patricia Haynes, PhD, associate professor of health promotion sciences at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health; John Ruiz, PhD, associate professor of psychology and director of the Social Risk and Resilience Factors Lab; and Maia Ingram, MPH, co-director of the Arizona Prevention Research Center and program director of Community-based Evaluation Projects.

Other collaborators on this research are Orfeu Buxton, PhD, of Penn State University and Sanjay Patel, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh.

"Sleep is an important part of overall health," Dr. Grandner said. "Studying how issues such as acculturation, stress, socioeconomics and other factors impact sleep disturbances in this community, and how these then in turn become risk factors for cardiometabolic disease, will advance our understanding of border health disparities and help us develop better targeted interventions to help this community."

Common sleep problems such as insufficient sleep, insomnia and sleep apnea have been linked with cardiometabolic risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, inflammation and diabetes, Dr. Grandner said.

"The degree to which sleep disturbances may play a role in health disparities for Mexican Americans, and the influence of social-environmental factors, is unknown. This study will move us closer to being able to make a real impact in the community," Dr. Grandner said.

###

For more information about NoCHeS and the Sleep and Health Research Program, please visit http://sleephealthresearch.com.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award No. R01MD011600. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.CINCINNATI -- A study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) finds poor functional kidney status in elderly patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) is associated with a higher incidence of initiating hemodialysis, increased the risk of central venous catheter use and is an independent predictor of one-year mortality. The study was published in the April 27, 2018 edition of BMC Nephrology.

The article, "Functional Status, Pre-Dialysis Health and Clinical Outcomes Among Elderly Dialysis Patients," describes research conducted by Silvi Shah, MD, assistant professor, and Charuhas Thakar, MD, professor and director of the Division of Nephrology, Kidney CARE (Clinical Advancement, Research and Education) Program in the UC College of Medicine, and Anthony Leonard, PhD, research associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Researchers studied nearly 50,000 adult ESRD patients who started hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2008 using data from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS), with linked Medicare data covering at least two years prior to dialysis initiation. A major predictor was poor functional status defined by any of the three co-morbid conditions as specified in Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services form 2728--(1) inability to ambulate, (2) inability to transfer or (3) need of assistance with daily activities. Shah says they discovered that elderly patients who have poor functional status have an increased one-year mortality by 48 percent.

Elderly chronic kidney disease patients, meaning those over the age of 60, represent the fastest growing segment of the ESRD patients in the United States. The annual mortality in ESRD patients is roughly 20 percent, and is higher in the first few months after starting on dialysis. Shah says even though early mortality is a significant problem among elderly ESRD patients, it remains underrecognized.

"What this points out is we have to take into account patients' functional status and pre-dialysis health while initiating elderly patients on dialysis," says Shah, the principal investigator of the study. "The information from the present study can influence a health care provider's decision to initiate dialysis, help counsel patients and families, and can facilitate an integrated approach in shared decision-making."

Shah says one of the unique aspects of the study was linking the USRDS database to Medicare claims to determine the pre-dialysis health of incident ESRD patients.

"In the present study, we examined the impact of poor functional status on key clinical outcomes in elderly patients who get initiated on dialysis, after taking into account their pre-dialysis health including pre-dialysis acute hospitalizations, pre-dialysis nephrology care, history of nursing home stays, laboratory data and comorbidities," says Shah.

A secondary outcome examined in the study was the presence of vascular access for dialysis initiation. Shah says it is well known that arteriovenous access is preferred to a central venous catheter. Patients with poor functional status had 21 percent lower odds of initiating hemodialysis with arteriovenous access. Additionally, elderly patients with poor functional status had 39 percent higher odds of being started on hemodialysis as compared to peritoneal dialysis.

"An average patient who initiates dialysis in the United States is over 65 years of age, and has either diabetes or hypertension as a major cause of their kidney disease, along with other comorbid conditions," says Thakar. "The study finds that one out of two patients with poor functional status who initiate dialysis may not make it to the end of their first year. This is a very relevant prognostic indicator, given that dialysis patients experience a reduced quality of life, and may help in informed choices.

"On the other hand, it provides hope that aggressive efforts to improve functional status in potentially reversible situations may allow better outcomes in these patients."

###In a new study based on mouse cells internationally leading protein researchers have identified several new potential targets using state-of-the-art technology, many of which could be employed for future treatment of different types of cancers and diseases.

Protein researchers from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen have used mass spectrometry based proteomics to uncover a number of proteins which could play a critical role propagating signals within cells that can lead to uncontrolled cell growth - one of the hallmarks of cancer.

The study, which has been published in the internationally acclaimed scientific journal Cell Reports, was conducted using mouse fibroblast cells.

The researchers behind the study believe the results may prove important to the development of new so-called tyrosine phosphatase-inhibiting drugs for patients suffering from different types cancer - for example Leukaemia - as well as other types of diseases such as Noonan syndrome.

Globally, cancer is one of the leading causes of death according to the World Health Organization. In Denmark one in every three Danes develops cancer at some point in their lives, according to statistics from the Danish Cancer Society.

Advanced Cell Communication Can Inhibit Cancer Development

The researchers focused on the protein communication and signalling that takes place inside the cells. Misregulation of protein signalling often leads to an increase in the production of tumours. By understanding the mechanisms and regulation of these signals, the researchers can specifically target the proteins responsible with drugs.

Using mass spectrometry proteomics to analyse the proteins of cells treated with various growth hormones in combination with advanced data analysis, the researchers discovered proteins that manipulate the communication processes inside the cells initiated by cell receptors and thus inhibit the development of cancer.

When inhibited the prominent protein tyrosine phosphatase called Shp-2 caught the researchers' attention.

'This in fact leads to the deactivation of a very prominent cell growth pathway, which is the main pathway that people often try to target in cancer cells', Professor Jesper Velgaard Olsen from the research group explains.

100 potential targets

At the beginning of the study, the researchers knew of a handful of proteins which were regulated by Shp-2. However, using the mass spectrometry analyses the researchers discovered around 100 potential new targets, revealing a far more complexity than previously considered.

Now the researchers need to do further studies to determine the role and mechanisms of these proteins. They are already following up on their first results with human cells.

'Now we are doing follow-up projects, looking specifically at leukaemia, where the cancer cells have mutations in these different receptors which can be regulated by Shp-2', says Postdoc Tanveer Singh Batth.

Cancer patients are often treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which block pathways inside the cells to inhibit tumour growth. However, many develop resistance to current clinical inhibitors thus there is a substantial need for finding new proteins that can be used as drug targets.

Personalised Medicine

The researchers' new discoveries can be used in the development of personalised medicine, where preventive treatments can be targeted at the patients' personal DNA or protein expression profiles.

'It will be a drug that can be used only in a world with personalised medicine, where it will not be given to for example all leukaemia patients, but only to those with mutations in one of the receptor tyrosine kinases where we now know this Shp-2 protein operates', says Professor Jesper Velgaard Olsen.

Personalised medicine is gaining ground in Denmark. In 2016 the Government and the Danish Regions launched a strategy for efforts involving personalised medicine. A main part of the strategy is the establishment of a National Genome Center.

Fact Box: The study described in this article was conducted using mouse cells. The researchers use animal models to accumulate more knowledge on the subject, before the test is potentially performed on humans. This means that the same test does not necessarily produce the same results when conducted on humans. The test meets existing laws on animal testing. Far from all studies result in concrete treatment methods, and the process can take several years.

###

Scientific article: 'Large-Scale Phosphoproteomics Reveals Shp-2 Phosphatase-Dependent Regulators of Pdgf Receptor Signaling'.

Contact:

Professor Jesper Velgaard Olsen

jesper.olsen@cpr.ku.dk

Phone: +45 35325022

Postdoc Tanveer Singh Batth

t.batth@cpr.ku.dk

Phone: +45 35330688CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A new technique that uses tiny elastic balls filled with fluorescent nanoparticles aims to expand the understanding of the mechanical forces that exist between cells, researchers report. A University of Illinois-led team has demonstrated the quantification of 3-D forces within cells living in petri dishes as well as live specimens. This research may unlock some of the mysteries related to embryonic development and cancer stem cells, i.e., tumor-repopulating cells.

For decades, scientists have struggled to quantify the forces, called tractions, that push, pull and squeeze cells throughout their lifecycles. The tools available to measure force were not small enough to fit into intercellular spaces or sensitive enough to detect the miniscule movements within cell colonies.

Although small on a human scale, the magnitudes of these mechanical forces are far from trivial at the cellular level. According to the new study, prior research by the Illinois group and others indicates that traction plays a fundamental role in cell physiology.

The team led by mechanical science and engineering professor Ning Wang reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

"If we place a single cell in a medium within a petri dish it will not survive for long, even if we provide all of the nutrients needed," Wang said. "The cells fail to form any sort of tissue because there is no support or scaffolding on which to build."

As cells grow and reproduce, they exert forces on each other while competing for space. The team found that if they inject their tiny elastic spheres into early stage embryos of zebrafish and colonies of melanoma cells of mice in petri dishes, they too experience the forces.

"The cells do not seem to mind the intrusion," Wang said. "The spheres are made of a nontoxic microgel and even though the cells will push them around, they do not seem to interfere with development."

To measure the amount of force imposed on the cells, the team placed fluorescent nanoparticles inside of the spheres. When the cells squeeze the spheres, the nanoparticles all move the same amount per area of force. The researchers can then measure the motions of the glowing particles using fluorescent light microscopy to calculate the amount of force exerted on the spheres and cells. Using this technique, the team has marked the first successful measurement of all three types of force - compression, tension and shear - in all three dimensions, Wang said.

This ability to quantify force in cells may be very important to cancer cell research, Wang said. The team found that when melanoma tumor cells of mice in vitro begin to reproduce from a single cell to about 100 to 200 cells, compressive stress does not increase.

"We thought that cancer cells would generate more pressure at this early growth stage while the mass of the tumor increases, as we observed in zebrafish embryos, but they do not," Wang said. "We suspect that the cancer cells begin to spread out or metastasize right after this stage."

Primary tumors are usually not deadly, Wang said. The real killer appears to be the spread of tumor-repopulating cells from primary tumors into soft tissues - with low intercellular tractions - like bone marrow, brain, lung and liver. "Although the underlying mechanism for metastasis is unclear, we have hypothesized that tumor-repopulating cells spread very rapidly in these secondary soft tissues. Having the ability to measure changes in tractions at the intercellular level may serve as an early cancer-detection tool," Wang said.

This microgel sphere technology may also help unravel the mechanisms behind a metastasis-halting synthetic drug recently described by Wang and his colleagues. In addition, Wang's co-authors are continuing to apply this technology to stem and embryonic cell research. "When other researchers see this powerful new tool that we have developed, they will be excited to use it in many different cell physiology, development and disease applications," Wang said.

###

The National Institutes of Health supported this study.

Editor's notes:

To reach Ning Wang, call 217-265-0913; nwangrw@illinois.edu

The paper "Quantifying compressive forces between living cell layers and within tissues using elastic round microgels" is available online and from the U. of I. News Bureau . DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04245-1New research gives insight into a recent experiment that was able to manipulate an unprecedented number of atoms through a quantum simulator. This new theory could provide another step on the path to creating the elusive quantum computers.

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Leeds and in cooperation with the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the University of Geneva, has provided a theoretical explanation for the particular behaviour of individual atoms that were trapped and manipulated in a recent experiment by Harvard University and MIT. The experiment used a system of finely tuned lasers to act as "optical tweezers" to assemble a remarkably long chain of 51 atoms.

When the quantum dynamics of the atom chain were measured, there were surprising oscillations that persisted for much longer than expected and which couldn't be explained.

Study co-author, Dr Zlatko Papic, Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at Leeds, said: "The previous Harvard-MIT experiment created surprisingly robust oscillations that kept the atoms in a quantum state for an extended time. We found these oscillations to be rather puzzling because they suggested that atoms were somehow able to "remember" their initial configuration while still moving chaotically.

"Our goal was to understand more generally where such oscillations could come from, since oscillations signify some kind of coherence in a chaotic environment - and this is precisely what we want from a robust quantum computer. Our work suggests that these oscillations are due to a new physical phenomenon that we called 'quantum many-body scar'."

In everyday life, particles will bounce off one another until they explore the entire space, settling eventually into a state of equilibrium. This process is called thermalisation. A quantum scar is when a special configuration or pathway leaves an imprint on the particles' state that keeps them from filling the entire space. This prevents the systems from reaching thermalisation and allows them to maintain some quantum effects.

Dr Papic said: "We are learning that quantum dynamics can be much more complex and intricate than simply thermalisation. The practical benefit is that extended periods of oscillations are exactly what is needed if quantum computers are to become a reality. The information processed and stored on these computers will be dependent on keeping the atoms in more than one state at any time, it is a constant battle to keep the particles from settling into an equilibrium."

Study lead author, Christopher Turner, doctoral researcher at the School of Physics and Astronomy at Leeds, said: "Previous theories involving quantum scars have been formulated for a single particle. Our work has extended these ideas to systems which contain not one but many particles, which are all entangled with each other in complicated ways. Quantum many-body scars might represent a new avenue to realise coherent quantum dynamics."

The quantum many-body scars theory sheds light on the quantum states that underpin the strange dynamics of atoms in the Harvard-MIT experiment. Understanding this phenomenon could also pave the way for protecting or extending the lifetime of quantum states in other classes of quantum many-body systems.

###

Further information:

Download image from: https://goo.gl/BnBC3e

Caption: Illustration of quantum system. Quantum systems can exist in many possible states, here illustrated by groups of spins, each pointing along a certain direction. Thermalisation occurs when a system evenly explores all allowed configurations. Instead, when a "quantum scar" forms (as shown in the figure), some configurations emerge as special. This feature allows scarred systems to sustain memory of the initial state despite thermalisation.

Credit: Zlatko Papic, University of Leeds

The paper Quantum many-body scar is published in Nature Physics 14 May 2018 (DOI: 10.1038/s41567-018-0137-5)

Please contact University of Leeds press officer Anna Harrison at a.harrison@leeds.ac.uk or +44 (0)113 34 34196 for any additional information.

Reference for the 2017 experiment at Harvard University: H. Bernien et al., Nature 551, 579-584 (2017). https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24622

Support for this research was provided by EPSRC grants EP/P009409/1 and EP/M50807X/1, and Royal Society Research Grant RG160635 and Swiss National Science Foundation.

University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with more than 33,000 students from more than 150 different countries, and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities.

We are a top ten university for research and impact power in the UK, according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, and are in the top 100 for academic reputation in the QS World University Rankings 2018. Additionally, the University was awarded a Gold rating by the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework in 2017, recognising its 'consistently outstanding' teaching and learning provision. Twenty-six of our academics have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships - more than any other institution in England, Northern Ireland and Wales - reflecting the excellence of our teaching. http://www.leeds.ac.uk

IST Austria

The Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria) is a PhD-granting research institution located in Klosterneuburg, 18 km from the center of Vienna, Austria. Inaugurated in 2009, the Institute is dedicated to basic research in the natural and mathematical sciences. IST Austria employs professors on a tenure-track system, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral students. While dedicated to the principle of curiosity-driven research, the Institute owns the rights to all scientific discoveries and is committed to promote their use. The first president of IST Austria is Thomas A. Henzinger, a leading computer scientist and former professor at the University of California in Berkeley, USA, and the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. The graduate school of IST Austria offers fully-funded PhD positions to highly qualified candidates with a bachelor's or master's degree in biology, neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, physics, and related areas. http://www.ist.ac.at

University of Geneva

The University of Geneva, Switzerland, was founded in 1559 by Jean Calvin and Theodore de Beze and ranks amongst the top 60 best universities in the world. It enjoys worldwide recognition and develops an ever-strengthening international network. The University of Geneva welcomes about 17'000 students in its nine faculties teaching Sciences, Medicine, Humanities, Economics and Management, Social Sciences, Law, Theology, Psychology and Educational Sciences, as well as Translation and Interpreting. The University of Geneva fulfils three missions: education, research and knowledge-sharing. It is a member of the League of European Research Universities since 2002 and is a founding partner of Campus Biotech, the life science hub for the Geneva Lake region. http://www.unige.chNeuroscientists at the University of Sussex have shown by using brain scans of drug users that heroin stimulates a more pleasurable response when taken at home but cocaine is more pleasurable outside the home, such as in a club. The findings demonstrate for the first time that the setting of drug-taking is an important factor in how the brain processes the experience, and could have important implications for the treatment of drug addiction.

The study is published today, Monday 14 May, in the Journal of Neuroscience, the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. Dr Silvana De Pirro and Professor Aldo Badiani at the Sussex Addiction Research and Intervention Centre (SARIC) at the University of Sussex, in collaboration with colleagues at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, recruited people with addiction to both cocaine and heroin who receive treatment at a medical centre in Rome.

The researchers tested the 'mismatch hypothesis': that taking heroin - which induces a sedative state - while in a stimulating context like a club, and taking cocaine - which is a stimulant - in a private context, creates an emotional state that is at odds with the environment. This mismatch prevents the drug feeling pleasurable.

The neuroscientists asked the first group of 53 people to recall a typical drug episode and indicate how arousing and pleasant their experience was with each drug (heroin or cocaine) in two different settings (at home or outside the home). With guidance, the second group of 20 people imagined using the drugs in each setting while their brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The results show:

Nine in ten (89.1%) of the drug users reported a pleasurable experience when using heroin at home

Fewer than four in ten (39.1%) of the drug users reported a positive state when taking heroin outside the home

A little over a quarter (26.9%) of the drug users reported a positive state when taking cocaine at home

Half (50%) of the drug users reported a pleasant or mixed state (17.3%) when taking cocaine outside the home

The brain scans showed that during drug imagery that the same setting produced opposite neural responses for each of the two drugs in the brain regions involved in processing reward and context: the prefrontal cortex, caudate and cerebellum. The researchers conclude that the emotional and neural response to addictive drugs changes as a function of both the substance and of the setting of use.

The neuroscientists are calling on governments and therapy providers to take into account the impact of different environmental factors on different classes of addictive drugs. They hope this will lead to more effective treatment and fewer people suffering relapses.

Dr De Pirro, who undertook this study for her PhD at the University of Sussex, said: "The findings related to the cerebellum are particularly interesting because that part of the brain helps us understand the context of our emotional experiences, so it may explain why the effects of drug taking vary by setting.

"This also has important implications for the therapeutic treatment of drug abusers. Considering the interaction between drug type and location could help to prevent relapse. Governments should adapt policies to ensure that therapies take into account the impact of the environmental factors on the risk of relapsing, and on its role in supporting recovery from addiction."

Professor Badiani, Director of SARIC at the University of Sussex, says: "These findings challenge the classic view that all drugs produce identical changes in the reward regions of the brain and that they are addictive because of their ability to induce an extremely pleasurable state.

"This study shows that the provision of methadone alone is not sufficient for treating heroin addiction. Treatments should also tackle important social and environmental factors. For example, evidence-based intervention such as cognitive behavioural therapy and 'ecological momentary interventions' (such as smart phone applications that people can access anywhere at any time in their real life when they feel an urge to abuse drugs) should be a critical part of the treatment process."

###There is a cure or the nation's deadliest infectious disease, hepatitis C, but at tens of thousands of dollars per patient in upfront costs, most insurance companies can't afford to provide the treatment to all of the estimated 2.7 million to 3.9 million of Americans who are infected. This is especially true for patients on Medicaid or in the prison system, where funding has historically been restricted.

Leading experts on hepatitis C treatment policy are recommending a new novel pricing strategy, implemented at the state level, that could help many more patients access the treatment. The recommendations were published on May 14 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and as an extended USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy report.

"These innovative therapies can cure hepatitis C, but the high costs put them out of reach for the most vulnerable populations," said Neeraj Sood, lead author on the report and an economist at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. "We wanted to come up with a better solution where we dramatically improve access to cures, control drug spending but still maintain incentives for the development of new cures."

Recognizing the important role state programs could play in this, Sood and his colleagues have developed a novel pricing strategy targeted at state policymakers. They outline an approach that leverages competition among drug manufacturers. The end result would save the state money and would ensure treatment for a larger share of the population -- all while providing incentives for future innovation in treatments.

Leveraging State Programs to Increase Access

Given current financing systems, most states can only afford to provide treatment to a small percentage of patients with hepatitis C each year. Furthermore, drug manufacturers know the only way they can increase profits is by increasing the price per pill.

"Increasing prices raises incentives for pharmaceutical innovation but limits patient access. This is the crux of the problem," said Sood, who is also a Professor and Vice Dean for Research at the USC Price School of Public Policy.

"Negotiating on revenues rather than price is the answer. Revenue-based contracting allows us to increase profits and incentives for innovation without limiting access."

Under the proposed model, states would leverage their resources to make a deal with one pharmaceutical company, offering a lump sum payment over a contracted period. The negotiated amount would be higher than the expected revenue for any one company over that timeframe, but still less than the total amount that the Medicaid program would pay to all the drug companies producing the treatment.

In return, the company would agree to provide a 100 percent rebate on drug purchases for the population designated to receive the cure, such as Medicaid patients or prisoners with hepatitis C. The move would make the drug essentially free of additional cost. It also would give the states the opportunity to significantly expand access to the treatment while maintaining their budget.

Vulnerable Populations Still Face Significant Hurdles in Accessing Treatment

According to a 2017 report, less than 3 percent of the 700,000 people with hepatitis C in state Medicaid programs and prisons receive treatment each year. This is due in large part to restrictions that many state programs implemented that limit access to the cure by requiring patients to have reached a certain decline in liver function or have remained sober for a set timeframe.

Though not supported by clinical guidelines, these restrictions are designed to narrow access, thereby limiting the immediate impact on state budgets that might arise from guaranteeing the treatment to everyone.

The consequences of these decisions are especially concerning given the recent rise in heroin use resulting from the opioid epidemic, which has led to a significant increase in new hepatitis C infections.

"Our concern is that the public health burden of hepatitis C infections will continue to grow even though we have a cure if we don't implement innovative financing programs," said Sood.

###KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Seong-Hoon Cho, professor and researcher at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, will spend six months in South Korea, designing the country's framework for forest carbon sequestration payments that optimizes risk/reward trade-offs.

The project, which is inspired by a new USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture project that Cho is leading for the next three years, includes designing an innovative framework that merges economics, finance modeling and ecological modeling to help determine optimal spatial targeting of incentive payments to encourage forest carbon sequestration. Sequestering carbon through the reforestation and/or avoiding deforestation is a cost-effective means of mitigating climate change.

Cho will design incentive payment programs for forest-based ecosystem services using modern portfolio theory. Information generated from his research will help determine optimal spatial distributions of initial forest carbon credits that can be traded in the carbon market program, should the Korean government decide to adopt forest carbon as part of its new cap-and-trade program.

South Korea was strategically selected as a host country to Cho's research because it faces serious conservation challenges from damaged ecosystem services that have resulted from rapid land development. More than half of South Korea's population is exposed to dangerous levels of fine dust due to rapid urbanization and dust storms originating in China. His presence in South Korea will also facilitate data collection.

In addition to his research activities, Cho will also teach at Korea University, a leading university in South Korea, and foster academic ties between KU and the University of Tennessee.

"I am excited to have this opportunity to bring key innovation to South Korean efforts to recover ecosystem services through market-driven approaches," says Cho. "I think the research component will be particularly valued in South Korean academic circles, as the country currently lacks multidisciplinary research activities focusing on modeling human decisions in the context of natural systems."

"The teaching component will also train a knowledgeable workforce to develop and administer the innovative framework that has been lacking in the country," says Cho. "During the course of mentorship and interaction with students at KU, I will have a chance to recruit quality students who have interest in pursuing degrees and/or participating in programs at the University of Tennessee," adds Cho.

A Fulbright legacy is in the making, as Cho's father was also chosen as a recipient of the Korean Fulbright Scholarship for graduate studies in America some 50 years ago but did not accept due to a lack of funds to purchase the airfare. More than a half-century later, his son will have the honor of representing the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar to Korea--with paid airfare and a generous compensation package.

Cho is a natural resource and environmental economist in UTIA's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, where he teaches graduate-level advanced natural resource economics and undergraduate/graduate courses in natural resource economics. He is also a faculty fellow in the energy and environmental policy program at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. Also serving on the faculty board of UTIA's Natural Resource Policy Center, Cho collaborates with engineers, economists, ecologists, foresters and geographers as part of the Center's multidisciplinary, multi-institutional and multifunctional approach to solving natural resource issues in the southeastern United States.

Cho's research includes dynamics of natural and human systems such as ecological and economic effectiveness of land conservation, land-use planning on rural-urban interface, valuation of green space for eco-friendly urbanization, management of urban sprawl, and valuation of ecosystem services and their influences on climate change. The majority of his recent research is funded by the National Science Foundation through its Coupled Natural and Human Systems program and by USDA through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative program. The NSF-funded research focuses on understanding the costs of establishing protected areas, and the USDA-funded project focuses on designing incentives intended to secure ecosystem service benefits from private landowners more effectively. He currently leads a USDA-funded project that deals with the cost-effective design of conservation subsidies in the presence of market and climate uncertainties using the case study of biodiversity conservation in the central and southern Appalachian region.

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in more than 160 countries each year. Fulbright alumni include 59 Nobel Laureates, 82 Pulitzer Prize winners, 71 MacArthur Fellows, 16 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients and thousands of leaders across the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Since its inception in 1946, more than 360,000 "Fulbrighters" have participated in the program.

###

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture celebrates 50 years of excellence in providing Real. Life. Solutions. through teaching, discovery and service. ag.tennessee.edu.

A Korean translation is available online at https://ag.tennessee.edu/arec/Documents/News/Cho_FulbrightPR_KoreanVersion-r.pdfHOUSTON -- A new model for improving how clinical trials are developed and conducted by bringing together academic cancer experts and pharmaceutical companies is being tested by research experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

An assessment of the alternative research model was published in the May 14 online issue of Cancer. The model was piloted in a multi-study leukemia research program established between MD Anderson and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and revamped how studies were designed and carried out.

Current methodology often limits patient access to and eligibility for studies, slows down drug development and increases costs. Since the 1980s, drug companies have employed Contract Research Organizations (CROs) - outside groups that have limited input from academic cancer experts and that focus on the one-drug, one-cancer approach to designing clinical trials with restrictive guidelines for patient eligibility.

The model allows researchers to arrive at findings more quickly, to conduct multiple clinical trials of pharmaceutical company drugs across several cancer types, to lessen expenses and to increase the likelihood of finding medical solutions more quickly. MD Anderson has more than 50 research partnerships and alliances with pharmaceutical companies, managed through its Strategic Industry Ventures group.

Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., chair of Leukemia and co-author, Ferran Prat, Ph.D., J.D., senior vice president for Research Administration and Industry Ventures, believe the new research model addresses these needs.

"This cancer research model is flexible and modifiable according to existing needs because it does not pretend to create a 'one-size-fits-all' approach," said Kantarjian. "These types of alliances have significant variations that accommodate the partnering drug company - its drug pipeline, research needs, financial benefits and other considerations."

MD Anderson's collaboration with BMS led to simultaneous trials using combinations of immunotherapies and other treatments for several leukemia types including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndrome. The trials include the first "triplet" immunotherapy study for leukemia, with results for all trials being analyzed by MD Anderson's top immunotherapy researchers.

The collaboration has already led to the establishment of a new standard of care for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia with an altered dose of the chemotherapy dasatinib, which has proved more effective and less toxic.

The BMS collaboration has resulted in unique study approaches including:

Allowing MD Anderson leukemia researchers exploration of BMS' immune-oncology pipeline across multiple blood malignancies.

Providing high-risk patients, typically excluded from BMS-sponsored studies due to CRO restrictions, access to trials at the discretion of leukemia experts.

Granting a set level of funding for all trials tied to MD Anderson research programs with BMS without the need to negotiate on a trial-by-trial basis

"The success of this initiative has resulted in program expansion in a number of directions," said Prat. "BMS extended the program to other clinical and research departments at MD Anderson, and is partnering with other academic cancer treatment institutions. Our Leukemia department and other MD Anderson programs have also established similar alliances with leading drug industry partners."

###

Co-authors on the article included David Steensma, M.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Center, Boston; Razelle Kurzrock, M.D., the University of California, San Diego; David Stewart, M.D., the University of Ottawa; Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., Cleveland Clinic; and Joseph Leveque, M.D., Armo Biosciences, Redwood City, Calif. All co-authors contributed equally.A variant of the APOE gene may be linked to worse psychiatric symptoms in people who have had a traumatic brain injury, found a Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System study. Study participants with both the gene variant and at least one TBI had more severe symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression than comparison participants.

The results appeared online Feb. 20, 2018, in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

TBI has long been connected with increased risk of psychiatric disorders such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety. A past study of more than 13,000 veterans by the Minneapolis VA Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research found that more than 80 percent of those who had suffered a TBI also had a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. The same study found that veterans who had a TBI were three times more likely to have PTSD than those who had not.

The new San Diego study also found that patients with TBI had greater PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms than those without. The researchers sought to build on that finding by delving into the biological link between TBI exposure and psychiatric disorders.

Apolipoprotein E is a protein that transports and metabolizes lipids such as cholesterol in the central nervous system. It is involved in the maintenance, growth, and repair of neurons. The protein is encoded by a gene referred to as APOE. APOE has three possible variants. One form of the APOE gene (APOE4) is considered a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies have shown in Vietnam veterans and Iraq/Afghanistan veterans that the APOE4 gene may increase the risk of PTSD.

The researchers set out to test whether the APOE4 gene puts people at greater risk of psychiatric distress when combined with TBI. They collected DNA from 133 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to test for the APOE4 gene. Of these participants, 79 had a mild or moderate TBI, while 54 had no TBI history.

In the participant group with TBI, those with the APOE4 gene had significantly higher symptom scores for PTSD, depression, and anxiety, compared with those with a different variant of APOE. The APOE4 variant was linked to worse symptoms for participants with both mild and moderate TBI.

In the group without a TBI, the researchers found no differences in depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms between those with or without APOE4.

Dr. Victoria C. Merritt, first author on the paper, concludes, "Genetic risk may help to explain the poorer long-term clinical outcomes often observed in veterans with neurotrauma histories."

The results are interesting because APOE4 seems to be linked to worse psychiatric symptoms only when TBI is involved, according to the researchers. Beyond suggesting a connection between APOE4 and the three conditions studied, the results "also lend support to the broader theory that genetic risk factors influence psychiatric distress following TBI," they write.

The researchers suggest several possible explanations for why those with APOE4 may be at higher risk for psychiatric distress after TBI. First, the APOE4 variant may primarily affect the frontal subcortical regions of the brain, which are often impacted following TBI. These regions are involved in emotion regulation and psychiatric distress. Second, it is possible that APOE4 increases the risk of vascular disease, which has been shown to increase the risk of depression. Third, the presence of APOE4 may cause neurodegenerative effects, whereas the other forms of the gene do not. While more research will be needed to narrow down the cause, "the findings suggest that there may be a [genetic] basis for the complex presentation of symptoms often observed in this vulnerable population," says Merritt.

The study is the first to explore the link between APOE and psychiatric symptoms specifically connected to TBI. More studies are needed to fully understand how this gene interacts with head trauma to contribute to mental health symptoms, say the researchers.

The San Diego VA team is furthering this work by examining the relationship between APOE4 and cognitive outcomes in veterans with and without TBI histories. They are also looking at whether APOE4 affects post-concussion symptoms such as headaches and dizziness. Future research will also examine the how these findings relate to the biology of the brain using advanced neuroimaging methods.

Merritt explains that the work will add important insight on TBI, and may eventually point toward new treatments.

"Ultimately, we feel that this research is essential to developing a more complete understanding of the multitude of factors that impact recovery following neurotrauma," she said, "and such work may have relevance to the development of future treatments."

###May 14, 2018 - For veterans undergoing surgery in the VA healthcare system, homelessness is an important risk factor for unplanned hospital readmission, reports a study in the June issue of Medical Care, published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Homeless veterans are more likely to be discharged to a nursing home or other residential setting after surgery, and these discharge destinations are associated with a lower risk of hospital readmission. "Our findings highlight the importance of discharging homeless veterans to supportive environments where they will receive ongoing services to stabilize their medical and caregiver needs," comments senior researcher Mary D. Hawn, MD, MPH, of VA Palo Alto (Calif.) Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine.

Homelessness a 'Potent Risk Factor' for Readmission in Veterans Using a VA surgery database, the researchers analyzed approximately 232,000 surgical procedures performed in 200,000 veterans at VA hospitals between 2008 and 2014. About 5,000 of the operations - 2.1 percent - were performed in homeless patients.

The homeless veterans were younger than housed veterans: average age 56 versus 64 years. Homeless veterans had lower rates of medical diseases, but higher rates of mental health problems: about 57 percent of homeless patients had one or more psychiatric disorders.

The rate of unplanned hospital readmission within one month was 13.3 percent for homeless veterans compared to 9.3 percent of housed veterans. After adjustment for other factors, homelessness was associated with a 43 percent increase in the odds of readmission. Homeless veterans were more likely to be readmitted despite undergoing less-complex surgeries and longer postoperative hospital stays during the index admission.

After leaving the hospital, homeless veterans were more likely to be sent to a nursing home or other residential setting - reflecting the lack of an appropriate place in the community to recover after surgery. Homeless veterans with these discharge destinations had lower rates of hospital readmission, compared to those discharged "to the community." In contrast, for housed veterans, discharge to a nursing home or residential setting was associated with a higher risk of readmission - reflecting poorer medical condition than those discharged home after surgery.

Other factors associated with a higher readmission rate for homeless veterans included recent alcohol abuse and being in worse health before surgery (ASA classification). Readmission risk was higher for white versus black veterans with homelessness, and for those discharged during the summer compared to other times of year.

The findings support previous studies showing a higher readmission rate for homeless patients after hospital discharge. The risk of readmission related to homelessness for veterans appears less when compared to other groups of homeless patients. That may reflect the fact that VA patients have access to more outreach programs and face fewer barriers to healthcare, compared to homeless patients at large.

"The lack of having a place to live perpetuates hospitalizations," Dr. Hawn and coauthors write. "A holistic evaluation of homeless surgical patients, to include psychosocial support and housing needs assessment, may provide opportunities to improve patient care."

###

The study confirms that "Homelessness is a potent, independent risk factor for readmission," https://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Fulltext/2018/06000/Homelessness__A_Potent_Risk_Factor_for_Readmission.1.aspx?PRID=MC_PR_Commentary_051418">according to a commentary by Margot Kushel, MD, of UCSF/Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. She cites a 2017 study reporting that veterans account for nine percent of all homeless adults in the United States.

Dr. Kushel notes that while the VA has a history of pioneering services for homeless veterans, these options are limited even within the VA system. She concludes. "If the human costs of homelessness are not enough to motivate changes, perhaps studies like this can remind us of the urgency of ending homelessness and spur action."

Click here to read "Homeless Status, Postdischarge Health Care Utilization, and Readmission After Surgery."

DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000915

Click here to read "Homelessness: A Potent Risk Factor for Readmission."

DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000920

About Medical Care

Rated as one of the top ten journals in health care administration, Medical Care is devoted to all aspects of the administration and delivery of health care. This scholarly journal publishes original, peer-reviewed papers documenting the most current developments in the rapidly changing field of health care. Medical Care provides timely reports on the findings of original investigations into issues related to the research, planning, organization, financing, provision, and evaluation of health services. In addition, numerous special supplementary issues that focus on specialized topics are produced with each volume. Medical Care is the official journal of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, finance, risk & compliance, and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer, headquartered in the Netherlands, reported 2017 annual revenues of 4.4 billion. The company serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide.

Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students with advanced clinical decision support, learning and research and clinical intelligence. For more information about our solutions, visit http://healthclarity.wolterskluwer.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.RICHLAND, Wash. - Transplanting fungi to restore native plant populations in the Midwest and Northwest is the focus of efforts by a team of WSU Tri-Cities researchers.

Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with many plant roots, which helps stabilize the soil, conserve water and provides a habitat for many birds and insects, said Tanya Cheeke, assistant professor of biology. Some native plant species are more dependent on mycorrhizal fungi than invasive plant species. So, when that fungi is disturbed, native plants may not be able to compete as well with invasive species, disrupting the natural ecosystem of the environment and inhibiting many natural processes, she said.

Inoculate seedlings with microbes

"One way to improve native plant survival and growth in disturbed environments may be to inoculate seedlings with native soil microbes, which are then transplanted into a restoration site," Cheeke said. "We've been doing prairie restoration in Kansas for the past two years. Now, we're also doing something similar in the Palouse area in Washington."

Cheeke is working with a team of undergraduate and graduate students to complete the research. A group of her undergraduate students recently presented their project during the WSU Tri-Cities Undergraduate Research Symposium and Art Exhibition. Those students include Catalina Yepez, Jasmine Gonzales, Megan Brauner and Bryndalyn Corey.

The undergraduate team spent the past semester analyzing the spread of fungi from an inoculated soil environment in Kansas to see how far the fungi had spread into a restoration area. One year after planting, soil samples were collected at 0.5 meter, 1 meter, 1.5 meters, and 2 meters from the site of the inoculation in each plot. The samples were then tested for the presence of fungal DNA to see if the inoculated mycorrhizal species had reached the various distances from the inoculation points.

"The results will be used to inform ecological restoration efforts aimed at improving the survival and growth of native plants in disturbed ecosystems," undergraduate student Megan Brauner said.

Disturbed vs. pristine environments

Cheeke said they also are looking at how microbes change across gradients of disturbed environments compared to pristine environments.

"We want to determine the microbes that are present in pristine environments, but are missing from disturbed sites," she said.

Eventually, Cheeke said they would like to develop soil restoration strategies that other people can implement in their own environments.

###New Haven, Conn.-- In a pilot study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Yale researchers significantly reduced doses of opioid painkillers given to hospital patients. By delivering the opioids with a shot under the skin or with a pill instead of an IV, the research team found they could decrease patient exposure to the medications while also maintaining or improving pain relief, they said.

The study, conducted by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital, could lead to changes in how providers prescribe opioids to hospitalized patients, noted the researchers, who have recently completed the second and third phases of their trial.

To relieve pain in hospitalized patients, providers typically give prescription opioid drugs in one of three forms: via an IV, orally, or with a shot in the skin. The IV method carries greater risk of side effects because IV opioids rapidly penetrate the central nervous system. It has been shown that even one IV dose can cause changes in the brain that are associated with addiction, the researchers said.

To test a new standard of opioid prescribing that prefers the non-IV methods, the research team developed an intervention involving a few hundred hospital patients, and educating the providers and nurses about the new standard. Over the three-month intervention period, the researchers measured daily IV doses, non-IV doses, and overall opioid doses per patient. They also analyzed pain scores during the first five days of hospitalization.

After comparing outcomes with a control group, the team found that IV opioid dosing was reduced by 84% for the intervention group. The overall exposure to opioids substantially decreased as well. Unexpectedly, the researchers found that intervention-group patients had pain scores that were similar or improved, they said.

More research is needed to validate the findings, but the results "have the potential to be practice changing," said lead author Adam Ackerman, M.D., clinical instructor in internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and medical director of the pilot study inpatient unit at Yale New Haven Hospital.

"The data shows that the non-IV use of opioids can reduce overall opioid use in adult inpatients with no change in pain control, and potentially an improvement," said Robert Fogerty, M.D., associate professor of medicine at YSM and co-author on the study. "It's an example of less is more."

While IV opioids have a role in medicine for relieving acute pain, said Fogerty, the subcutaneous route can serve as a "bridge" to help hospital patients safely transition to pills.

A shift in how opioid painkillers are delivered in hospitals could help combat the crisis of addiction and overdose deaths, which continues to affect thousands of Americans each year, the researchers said.

"As physicians, we're obligated to provide help to the community. Part of that service is thinking analytically about how, when, and why we use opioids. The data show there are opportunities to improve the way we control pain and the way we impact the opioid crisis," Fogerty said.

"This study represents an important piece of the puzzle in terms of how opioids can be used more safely and effectively in clinical practice," said co-author Patrick G. O'Connor, M.D., the Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and chief of general internal medicine at YSM. "It also represents a critical strategy for reducing the potential risk of opioid-related complications, including overdose and death."

###

Other study authors are Deirdre L. Doyle, Sheyla M. Marranca, Carolyn L. Haight, and Christine E. Day.

Citation: JAMA Internal MedicineSwiss Foreign Affairs Minister Ignazio Cassis on Sunday opened Switzerlands new embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman.

The move helps boost bilateral relations and highlights the important role that Jordan plays for Switzerland in the region, wrote the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in a statement.

Jordans Foreign Minister Ayman Safari attended the inauguration ceremony.

The new premises bring together the diplomatic, consular and international cooperation departments under the same roof.

Thanks to this integrated embassy structure, Switzerland will be able to coordinate its work in Jordan more efficiently, the FDFA added.

Switzerland has been supporting Jordan since 2001 within the framework of development cooperation. Among other activities, it has helped rebuild local schools that accept Syrian refugees.Germany must take "more forceful" action to prepare its booming economy for the future by ramping up public investments, the International Monetary Fund said Monday, as calls mount for Berlin to reduce its oft-criticised trade surplus.

The plea comes after new German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz came under fire at home for presenting a budget this month that foresaw only modest spending increases until 2022, even as the countrys infrastructure is crumbling and tensions with trade partners are mounting.

In its annual country report, the IMF said it welcomed some of the spending plans laid out by the new coalition government, including investments in high-speed internet and efforts to improve daycare options to get more women into the workforce.

But further policy action is needed to more decisively boost domestic investment, which would also support external rebalancing, the IMF said.

Germanys massive trade surplus, which stood at some 245 billion euros ($294 billion) last year, has long caused friction with European peers and the United States, who complain it is costing growth and jobs in their own economies.

Institutions like the IMF regularly urge Europes export powerhouse to do more to encourage consumption at home, indirectly boosting other nations by driving up imports.

US President Donald Trump has been one of the loudest critics of the chronic imbalance, but French President Emmanuel Macron last week also urged Berlin to abandon its perpetual fetish for surpluses, because they come at the expense of others.

They are unlikely to have been impressed by Scholzs first budget plans, unveiled at the start of the month, which will see public investments drop from 37.0 billion euros in 2018 to 33.5 billion in 2022  despite estimates of record tax revenues and federal budget surpluses.

The current favourable economic environment provides an opportunity for the new government to take more forceful policy actions, the IMF said.

It warned Germany to respond to challenges looming on the horizon, including an ageing population that will exacerbate the countrys shortage in skilled workers, and rising protectionist threats that could undermine global growth.Quim Torra, a newcomer to politics who has campaigned fiercely for Catalonia's independence, was appointed regional president Monday vowing to keep fighting for a break from Spain.

Torras election by the regional parliament paves the way for a new government in Catalonia after months of political limbo.

Analysts warn the road ahead will be rocky as Torra faces rifts within the separatist camp and Catalans remain deeply split over leaving Spain.

Torra, handpicked as presidential candidate by deposed, exiled leader Carles Puigdemont, scraped through the parliamentary vote  66 separatist lawmakers voted for him, 65 anti-independence MPs against and four abstained.

We will build a Catalan republic, he said after the vote, as lawmakers sang Catalonias anthem Els Segadors (The Reapers in English).

The 55-year-old father of three pledged to respect the result of an independence referendum held on October 1 despite a court ban and marred by police violence.

Catalan separatist authorities said 90 percent of the 2.2 million people who cast their ballot in the referendum  out of 5.5 million eligible voters  opted to break from Spain.

 Puigdemonts pick 

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for understanding and harmony but warned that he would not tolerate any flouting of the law and Spains constitution.

The formation of a new government will automatically lift direct rule imposed by Madrid on October 27 after separatist lawmakers made a short-lived unilateral declaration of independence.

In a bid to end the biggest political crisis to hit Spain in decades, Rajoy called snap regional elections, held in December, which separatist parties won as the secessionist movement in Catalonia showed no sign of dying down.

But since then, the presidential candidates put forward by the separatist camp all fell flat as they were either in jail in Spain over their role in the secession bid or in self-exile.

Torra, who was elected to the Catalan parliament in December on Puigdemonts Together for Catalonia list, finally made it through as he has no legal woes.

Puigdemont, who was deposed by Madrid last October, was shown on Catalan television watching Torras speech from Germany where he awaits a court decision on whether to extradite him to Spain.

He faces jail on rebellion charges for last years secession bid if he returns.

In an interview published Saturday by Italian daily La Stampa, Puigdemont said Torra, as his designated successor, takes power in provisional conditions and he is aware of that.

For his part Torra, who is heading to Berlin to meet with Puigdemont on Tuesday, said he would stay in the post only until the ousted leader, whom he called the legitimate president, returns home.

Ines Arrimadas, leader in Catalonia of the centrist, anti-independence Ciudadanos party, has branded Torra a mere puppet of Puigdemont.

 Crisis not over 

Torra tried  and failed  to be appointed on Saturday at an initial parliamentary vote that required an absolute majority.

During Mondays session, in which he needed only a simple majority, he outlined his new governments plans for education, health and employment.

On Saturday, he had focused entirely on independence.

During that speech, he lambasted European institutions for their unacceptable silence over the Catalan crisis.

He also said a Republican council would be created abroad in parallel, presided by Puigdemont, as well as an assembly composed of local officials.

Torra has received harsh criticism for some of his past articles and tweets.

He has described Spain as a country that exports misery and slammed those who do not defend the Catalan language and culture as scavengers, vipers and hyenas.

A tweet he posted in 2012 said: Spaniards only know how to plunder.

He has since apologised.

Antonio Barroso, deputy research director at Teneo Intelligence, said Torra faces divisions within the separatist camp, composed of the small, radical CUP party, the leftwing ERC party and the Together for Catalonia grouping.

The ERC wants a moderate approach to avoid a clampdown by Madrid and to play a longer independence game, he said.

In contrast, Puigdemonts strategy is to continue using every opportunity to continue challenging the Spanish authorities and keep the secessionist momentum alive.

For Oriol Bartomeus, politics professor at Barcelona Autonomous University, the region risks having a divided government  there could be fallout.A Spanish police union warned Monday young people in the poorer south were flocking to work for flush narco gangs as they rise in power in an area where security forces are now reluctant to be posted.

The stark warning came days after some 40 people  some of whom are thought to be linked to drug mafias  attacked nine Guardia Civil police officers on their time off in Algeciras, part of the southern province of Cadiz, a drug trafficking hotspot.

Before the mafias avoided us, now this new generation of narcos are challenging security forces directly, they use guns, and they have professionals, were now noting the presence of sicarios, Alberto Moya, head of the AUGC Guardia Civil union, told Spanish radio.

These people employ legions of youth, he added, pointing to the high unemployment rate in this poorer area of southern Spain as one of the reasons.

These people can pay salaries that not even a multinational could pay its executives.

He added that many police agents didnt want to be posted in the area because their work is difficult, they can be recognised, they fear for their family.

This is not the first incident in the area, where drug traffickers have recently also unloaded drugs in broad daylight and stormed a hospital to free a suspected drug trafficker.

But Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido sought to play down Saturdays incident, in which one of the nine police officers who had been eating at a restaurant was forced to fire his gun in the air to stop the attack.

It was an act of vandalism, of street violence that doesnt have anything to do with other issues, he told reporters, apparently denying there was a link with drug trafficking.

He added that out of 10 of the attackers already identified by police, only two had previous convictions linked to drug trafficking. At least one of them has already been detained.

Zoido insisted that more police had been sent to the area, but that social measures were also needed such as fighting youth unemployment.

According to the interior ministry, 40 percent of all drugs that come to Spain arrive via the province of Cadiz.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reached out to European signatories of the Iran nuclear deal to seek their continued cooperation in countering Tehran's "malign behavior" following the US withdrawal from the landmark accord.

In talks with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, Pompeo highlighted the good work that we have done over the past several months to address our common threats and said that he is hopeful we can continue strong cooperation moving forward, the State Department said.

President Donald Trumps announcement on Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay by its other signatories  Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

During recent conversations with Britains Boris Johnson, Frances Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germanys Heiko Maas, Pompeo stressed that they share strong interests in preventing Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon and in countering the Iranian regimes destabilizing activities in the region, according to a statement.

Americas top diplomat said Sunday that Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Irans malign behavior, and was working hard to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners.

Im hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well, he said.

While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a visit to Washington last month.

But even as Pompeo talked up coordination with Americas allies, Trumps new National Security Advisor John Bolton reminded Europe over the weekend that its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Islamic republic.Privacy Settings

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NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.Russia is committing "flagrant breaches of international rules", the head of Britain's security service will claim Monday in which he will also stress the importance of post-Brexit security ties.

MI5 chief Andrew Parker will say in a landmark speech in Berlin that a March nerve agent attack on Russian nationals Sergei and Yulia Skripal, which also injured a police officer, was a deliberate and targeted malign activity on British soil.

Parker, who has a 35-year career in intelligence will say the attack is evidence of Russia pursuing an agenda through aggressive and pernicious actions and risks making the country a more isolated pariah.

Russia has denied any involvement in the attack and has challenged Britain to reveal evidence to back up its claim that the Russian state was likely behind it.

Parker will also condemn Kremlin disinformation following the attack  the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War  in his speech before an audience of security chiefs in Berlin.

The need to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine will be set out in his remarks, the first ever made outside Britain by a serving head of MI5.

Skripal, 66, remains in hospital following the attack in the Wiltshire city on March 4. His daughter Yulia, 33, and the British policeman have both been discharged from hospital.

A huge investigation to identify the would-be assassin or assassins is ongoing.

Parker will praise the international response to Salisbury, in which 28 European countries agreed to support the UK in expelling scores of Russian diplomats.

Also thanking European security agencies for their support in the investigation following the Manchester bombing which claimed 22 lives nearly one year ago, the intelligence chief will disclose that MI5 and police have thwarted 12 plots since the Westminster attack of March 2017 which claimed five lives.

This brings the total number of disrupted attacks since 2013 to 25.

Parker will say he is confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values we share with our European partners.

European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago, he will say, adding: In todays uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever.

But his comments will be made the same day as the British House of Lords warns the country needs to set out plans for post-Brexit security cooperation with the EU.

We are concerned that the government has yet to explain how its high level aspirations could be put into practice, the Lords EU External Affairs Sub-Committees study published Monday said.The European Union on Monday slapped sanctions on five senior election officials in Crimea over their role in organising Russia's presidential vote in the peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The five, all senior members of the Crimea Electoral Commission or the Sevastopol Electoral Commission, face travel bans and asset freezes in the EU, joining 150 other individuals on the EU blacklist.

They were sanctioned because of their involvement in the organisation of the Russian presidential elections of 18 March 2018 in the illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, thereby actively supporting and implementing policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, the European Council said in a statement.

The individual sanctions are part of measures taken by the EU to punish Moscow for its support for pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which began in early 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.

Sweeping economic sanctions targeting the Russian oil, defence and banking sectors, imposed in summer 2014, were extended by six months in December.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow retains the right to react appropriately to the latest hostile step by the EU.

The anti-Russian sanctions have turned into ritual demonstrations of solidarity within the EU, Zakharova said.

Their only practical result is the build-up of irritants, hindering the establishment of mutually profitable dialogue and cooperation with Russia in the interests of our citizens, she said.France and Britain on Monday said they were "determined" to save the Iranian nuclear deal, despite the United States pulling out last week.

Speaking during a visit to London, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also condemned as intolerable comments by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after a knife-attack in Paris on Saturday.

Kadyrov had said that France bore full responsibility for the attack, which French police said was carried out by Chechnya-born French national Khamzan Azimov.

We do not need lessons from a dictator who does not respect the rule of law in his own country, and who also knows very well that there are thousands of Chechens fighting on the side of Islamic State, Le Drian told AFP.

The attacker went on a stabbing spree in a busy district of central Paris on Saturday evening before police shot him dead, killing one person and seriously wounding four more.

Following talks with British counterpart Boris Johnson, Le Drian also spoke about the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group (China, the US, France, Britain, Russia and Germany).

The agreement lifted international sanctions in exchange for Tehran promising to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors.

Our position is one of determination and unity, of will to keep this agreement alive, Le Drian said.

The US leaving an international agreement does not mean that the international agreement is null and void, said the French politician, on the eve of a Brussels meeting between the Iranian, French, British and German foreign ministers.

We remain in the agreement and we want to keep it alive, as long as Iran respects it, he added, describing the agreement as win-win.

Our position is united with the German position, continued the minister.

British counterpart Johnson said the UK and France are determined to conserve the essence of the Iran nuclear deal.

Tomorrow in Brussels, we are going to have a conversation about what we can do to help UK firms and help European firms have confidence that they can still do business.

Im not going to pretend to you now that it will be easy but we are determined to do that, he added, saying it was vital that we continue to engage with the US.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif on Monday in Moscow said he wanted assurances from the deals signatories that they would continue to abide by its terms, especially on sanctions relief for Tehran.

He was in Moscow on Monday following talks in Beijing over the weekend.The UK government on Monday said it had awarded British defence group BAE Systems a contract to build nuclear-powered submarines.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that BAE had been awarded a contract worth 1.5 billion ($2.0 billion, 1.7 billion euros) for delivery of the seventh Astute class submarine.

It had additionally won a 900-million contract for the next phase of the Dreadnought submarine programme.

This multi-billion-pound investment in our nuclear submarines shows our unwavering commitment to keeping the UK safe and secure from intensifying threats, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in the statement.

HMS Agincourt will complete the Royal Navys seven-strong fleet of hunter-killer attack subs, the most powerful to ever enter British service, whilst our nuclear deterrent is the ultimate defence against the most extreme dangers we could possibly face.When Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk down the aisle on Saturday the moment will be beamed live by satellite around the world.

It is a televisual tradition that began 62 years earlier with the marriage of prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly, an iconic actress at the height of her Hollywood glory.

Filmed in black and white, the images of the 1956 ceremony in the European principality were the first of a royal wedding to be transmitted live. Back home in America Kellys fans had to wait to view the starlets fairytale wedding, but its impact on the popular imagination was no less great.

The images were grainy and uncoloured and TV ownership was not the norm. But the ingredients for a showbusiness sensation were perfect: an American, like Meghan Markle, with the charisma to lift Monaco out of its post-war malaise and a young 32-year-old prince looking for that touch of glamour to revive his micronation.

Realising the benefits of televising the event, and strengthening its political and economic ties to the United States, Monaco made every effort to make the ceremony a media event of planetary importance.

On 19 April 1956 the transmission went out on the new Eurovision network  just three years after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth was transmitted live in 1953. Thirty million Europeans spread across nine different countries tuned in to witness the wedding. Meanwhile 1,800 journalists had invaded The Rock of Monaco, a record for the time.

It was shown on American television, but not live because films had to be sent by plane. In those days there werent any satellites and the film rolls had to be canned at the end of the ceremony before being sent to the United States, documentary maker Frederic Laurents said.

In the days that followed it was also shown on newsreels in cinemas.

We had to wait another 25 years, for the marriage of prince Charles and Diana, for another television phenomenon on the same scale, he added.

Rainier was very conscious of the power of the media. His wedding was designed as an event to put Monaco back in the spotlight at a time when it was vegetating and none of the post-war papers had any interest in it.

 Silk, tulle and mink 

Rainiers love affair with a Hollywood princess was a shot to the arm for the press, which became fascinated with the American raised in a rich Irish catholic family in Philidelphia.

It was a photographer for Paris-Match who had the idea to introduce the prince to the actress, the muse of Alfred Hitchcock, during the 1955 Cannes film festival. At the height of her career, Grace Kelly had just won an Oscar for best actress. Alongside Ava Gardner and Marylin Monroe, she was one of the three main stars of the moment.

The suspense over her wedding dress, provided by Holywood studio MGM, was painstakingly managed. It was only two days before the ceremony that the public found out it was to be a long-sleeve ivory dress, designed to flatter the figure of the actress when seen from behind as she stood before the altar.

In his despatch from the cathedral one of AFPs special correspondents told of the pomp of the ceremony: the childrens choir, the organ, 1,100 numbered seats with each member of the audience clothed in silk, tulle and mink.

When Monsignor Gilles Barthe asked the sacred question, first to Rainier then to princess Grace, the silence was shattered by the shutters of hundreds of cameras. In the media frenzy only he could hear them both say yes.The European Union should set a "final deadline" of next month for Britain to resolve the conundrum of its border with Ireland after Brexit, France's top diplomat said Sunday.

The issue has become a major source of contention within Brexit negotiations.

London has committed to avoid a hard border with checkpoints between Northern Ireland, part of the UK, and EU-member Ireland, which all sides agree is vital to maintaining the 1998 Good Friday peace accords.

But Britain has also said it will not enter into a customs union with the EU post-Brexit and has been urged to find a solution to reconcile the two positions.

The EU has suggested a backstop proposal, in which only Northern Ireland would stay in a customs union with the EU post-Brexit.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian said all sides should set themselves a clear deadline of next month to come to a decision.

What we want is for things to go quickly and a June deadline chosen as the final deadline otherwise the withdrawal agreement will be more complicated, he told reporters in Dublin before a meeting with his Irish counterpart Simon Coveney.

Britain is due to leave the European Union in March 2019 and Brussels wants negotiations completed by October.

Britain wants to be free of the EU customs union in order to be able to strike trade deals with the rest of the world post-Brexit.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May faces stiff opposition from within her own party which is bitterly divided on what sort of customs agreement the UK should have.

On Sunday she penned a column in The Sunday Times newspaper saying she had proposed different options for a new customs arrangement with the EU and that the government would continue to work on them during the negotiations.

She said any deal must protect the United Kingdoms constitutional and economic integrity and honour the Northern Irish peace accords.

This means there can be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, May wrote.

Any agreements must create as little friction as possible for trade, she said, adding: We must not constrain our ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries around the world by being bound into a customs union.British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman urged "calm and restraint" in the Gaza Strip on Monday after deadly clashes ahead of the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt also expressed concern that peaceful protests were being exploited by extremist elements, while adding: (I) urge restraint in use of live fire.

The prime ministers spokesman said: We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza. We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts.

The prime minister had made her views clear in December that we disagreed with the decision (to move the US embassy). We believe its unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region.

The spokesman reiterated Britains commitment to a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians with Jerusalem as the shared capital.

Violent clashes along the Gaza border left 43 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire, and hundreds more wounded, in the conflicts bloodiest day in years.

The clashes erupted before a White House delegation and Israeli officials opened the US embassy at an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem, and then continued throughout the day.As Meghan Markle's gown undergoes final adjustments for her wedding to Prince Harry, her gaffe-prone American family has been sending royal courtiers into a spin by airing its dirty laundry in public.

The bride-to-be remains close with divorced parents Tom Markle and Doria Ragland but other relatives have been barred from the May 19 nuptials amid unwelcome stories of bust-ups, heavy drinking  and even an arrest.

Markle, who grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, will be walked up the aisle by Tom, 73, an Emmy-winning Hollywood lighting director of Dutch-Irish descent who is enjoying retired life in Mexico.

Around the turn of the century, the future Duchess of Sussex was filmed as an aspiring teen actress by childhood friend Ninaki Priddy discussing her relationship with her father as they drove across LA.

We arent going to go there, she says on the video  posted to YouTube last year  as they near Toms Los Angeles home, before adding: We arent on the best of terms.

There has been a detente in the intervening years, however, with Markle publicly expressing her love for her father in an Instagram message in 2016 and declaring, Your hugs are still the very best in the whole wide world.

Markles introduction to Hollywood came thanks to her father, who would bring her daily to the set of ABCs General Hospital and Fox sit-com Married with Children.

 Blurred line 

There I was, behind the scenes of a glossy soap opera and a TV sitcom, surrounded by famous actors and their glam teams, multi-million dollar budgets, and crew lunches that always included filet mignon, Meghan wrote on her now-defunct blog, The Tig.

Tom reportedly put Markle through Hollywoods most exclusive schools and the private Northwestern University in Illinois after winning $750,000 in the state lottery in 1990.

He met Harry in Toronto in mid-2016 and took to the prince immediately, describing him on a video obtained by British tabloid The Sun as a gentleman.

Markles mother, a 61-year-old African American yoga instructor and clinical therapist, met Tom while working as an assistant make-up artist at General Hospital.

The Ohio native has been through her own financial woes, according to the Daily Mail, which reported that she filed for bankruptcy in 2002 with assets of just $10,400 and credit card debts of $58,000.

While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that, Markle wrote in a 2015 essay for Elle magazine about being biracial.

She and Prince Harry revealed in an interview with BBC theyd spent much time with Ragland ahead of their engagement. Her mums amazing! enthused Harry, who is sixth in line to the British throne.

There was speculation that Markles father would be left off the guest list after the American star barred estranged half-siblings Tom Jr and Samantha, Tom Snrs children from a previous marriage.

Tom Jr, 51, who lives in Oregon, was arrested in January on suspicion of holding a gun to his girlfriends head while drunk, although the charges were dropped and the couple got engaged.

 Princess Pushy 

The twice-divorced father-of-two says he and Meghan havent been close since she moved from LA to Toronto in 2011 to start work on legal drama Suits.

Relations are unlikely to have improved since Tom Jr sent Prince Harry a letter to call off the fake fairytale wedding, arguing that his half-sister was obviously not the right woman for the royal.

As more time passes to your royal wedding, it became very clear that this is the biggest mistake in royal wedding history, he said in the April 26 missive, which he shared with In Touch magazine.

He professed to be bored with Markle  like a below C average Hollywood actress  playing the part of princess and accused her of draining their fathers money until he went bankrupt in 2016.

Samantha, 53  who lives in Florida and recently changed her surname from Grant to Markle  is said to have angered the Markle clan with the announcement that she was planning a tell-all book called The Diary of Princess Pushys Sister.

Other members of the extended family include Thomas Jrs sons, Tyler, 27, and Thomas Markle III, who has berated his crazy father and aunt for their public feuding.

There is another half-nephew and an uncle, Tom Snrs older brother Frederick, who runs a Florida chapel that reportedly has little or no congregation.Monday, May 14, 2018

DREAMERS Hope For Legalization Via Rare

Queen-of-the-Hill Discharge Procedure

By Peggy Sands Orchowski

DREAMER supporters have new hopes to pass a bill that would give permanent legal status to up to 4 million illegal immigrants by using two rare legislative procedures: a "discharge petition" that also includes a "Queen of the Hill" series of proposals.

The petition was introduced Wednesday May 9 by three moderate Republican Reps. Jeff Denham of California, Will Hurd of Texas and Carlos Curbelo of Florida. Their plan is to openly defy House Speaker Paul Ryan and the GOP leadership by attempting to force a vote legalizing DACA/DREAMERS that they have blocked for months.

A majority of congressional representatives (218 of the 435 total) would first have to sign a petition that would "discharge bill deadlocked in a congressional committee directly onto the House floor for debate and a vote. It would allow petitioners to go around the Rules Committee that requires bills to go through a committee approval process

But this time, the most unusual "Queen of the Hill" procedure would discharge not the usual one, but rather four competing proposals dealing with DACA/DREAMERS. Of the four, two would grant green cards to between 1.8 to 4 million millennials who met differing definitions of DREAMERS, including parents and extended family members. A third would give only temporary status to DACA recipients and a fourth is up to the Speaker to choose.

1. The DREAM Act of 2017 (S1615) would give a pathway to citizenship for applicants who came into the country before the age of 18 and had been here four years, beginning with the date of enactment. There is no upper age limit and would include some extended family members. Some 4 million "DREAMERS" could be eligible for green cards under this proposal by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY),

2. the U.S.A. Act, sponsored by Hurd and Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, would grant a green card to current DREAMERS described as having entered the country before the age of 16 by June 2007. It would place limits on sponsorship of parents once the DREAMERS became citizens in some five years. Some border provisions wold be funded but not "the wall".

3. The Securing America's Future Act, aka the Goodlatte Bill, would grant a three-year renewable temporary legal status for only the 690,000 DACAs -- recipients of former President Obama's "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" temporary protection from deportation memo. The SAF Act would also institute stronger border protection and enforcement measures, as well as reduce legal immigration numbers. The proposal is strongly opposed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC); Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham called it the "Mass Deportation Act"

4. Empty slot for a (more Republican conservative establishment) bill, left to Speaker Ryan to decide.

If the discharge petition introduced on May 9 garners enough support, it could see a floor debate on the four immigration proposals after June 25. Sponsors say they have more than 240 Congressional representatives who have indicated they would sign it.

But no one is holding their breaths. If history is any lesson, the petition won't succeed. The politics of risk will take hold: how much do Republican moderates in purple states want to openly defy the Speaker for an issue involving illegal immigrants that Democrats are obsessed by. That will depend on their assessment of a blue wave that may or may not sweep the House in the midterm elections in November and change its majority to Democrats.

But even if a bill does pass the House through the "Queen of the Hill" process and a full House vote, it then faces almost two insurmountable obstacles:

1. a highly unlikely vote of approval in the Republican dominated Senate; and

2. an almost inevitable veto by President Trump.

"Why waste precious floor time  before an election  on a bill that will most likely be vetoed in the end?" Speaker Ryan retorted on Monday May 14.

But it's interesting to watch the Congressional show of rare procedures.

For a fun way for you and your kids to learn about discharge petitions, watch the movie "Legally Blonde II". And check out the history of the civil rights act of 1964. It never would have gotten to the floor just months after President John Kennedy was assassinated, without the threat of a discharge petition's likely passage.

# # # # #CytoBioscience Inc CEO Jim Garvin came from a humble upbringing that encouraged him to work hard and be relentless at it.

One of 14 children, the 70-year-old Garvin was the first in his family to receive a high school diploma, college degree and post-graduate degree. After decades of working in biotech finance, he now heads the small, $40 million biomedical company out of San Antonio.

His firm, which moved to San Antonio from Germany in 2015 when it was called Cytocentric, manufactures devices  including the CytoPatch 4 and the under-development CytoPatch Freeedom  that are used by the Food and Drug Administration to test the effects of drugs on human cells. His company also sells small transport boxes that give companies a higher survival rate for cells during transit.

The company operates offices in Alabama, Germany and Switzerland, and works with a group in Tokyo.

CytoBiosciences headquarters and manufacturing offices are located in the San Antonio Technology Center, an office space tailored for technology companies near the Medical Center. The company, which has 14 employees in San Antonio, recently merged with the publicly traded marketing and investor relations consultant firm WestMountain Co. out of Colorado. Garvin said the merger came after he tried to figure out an efficient way to become a publicly traded company.

Cytobioscience took control of the company and is now publicly traded under WestMountains stock. Garvin is the CEO, and the combined company plans to change its name to Cytobioscience.

The Express-News sat down with Garvin to discuss how his childhood shaped his work ethic, what his experience in finance gives him, and the challenges that face biotechnology companies. The following is an edited transcript of the interview.

Now Playing: Business reporter Rye Druzin sits down to talk with Biotech CEO James Garvin. Video: San Antonio Express-News

Q: You said your parents were itinerant farm workers, for the most part. How did your childhood experience influence you?

A: One of the things about growing up without things, youre also with a lot of other people who dont have things. You dont perceive it as a hardship, its just the way life is.

My upbringing taught me more than anything that you just have to do your job. You have to get up every day and you have to do your job, and youre relentless at that. You have to do the best job you possibly can. People are paying you money, they dont expect you to give them 50 percent. Theyre going to pay you 100 percent of the money, you better give them 100 percent of your effort.

Q: You worked in finance for decades  how did that prepare you to run a biotech company?

More Information Quick facts on Jim Garvin What is your typical morning routine:I get up at 5 o'clock, I put the coffee on, I put the dog out. 5:30 I go to the gym, 6:30 I'm back home, take a shower, at 7 o'clock I leave for the office. What book are you reading right now: "The Rational Bible" by Dennis Prager Favorite restaurant: The Grill in Leon Springs First job: McDonald's Passion or hobby outside of work: Golf If you had to choose an entirely different career in an entirely different industry, what would it be: Writer See More Collapse

A: It wasnt like I was sitting in a room going through the numbers. What my early job was and my job throughout most of my career was to work with biotech companies that either wanted to be acquired or merged or go public. So thats where I spent the bulk of my life was in essence, putting deals together.

When this company came along, there were some issues in terms of leadership and being able to put together a leadership team that understood both the finance market as well as the American market. So I came on board to be able to do that and I came on board because I was fascinated with the technology.

This was a unique opportunity as I got near the end of my career to be able to say, I was part of that, and so that really excited me. It was an opportunity that my wife and I looked at, and it meant some relatively dramatic changes in our life, but we thought was worth it and I still think its worth it, so I dont have any regrets about being involved. This is one of the most exciting things Ive ever been involved in.

Q: What has your business been like since you came to San Antonio, and what has been changing?

A: The interesting thing about technology is jobs and job counts are always interesting. As an example, were coming out with a new machine that replaces our old machine. Its essentially four times faster, that means we need 75 percent fewer people to be able to do that work. We outsource a fair amount of work at the moment.

One of the difficulties that there is in San Antonio, we have a very small engineering team, and I would put them up against anybodys team.

Theres lots of things that we need built, where we dont want to make the investment in the equipment or build up a labor force for a particular piece. Its just not here in San Antonio, so we have to send stuff to Michigan, we have to send stuff to Germany, we have to send stuff to Japan.

Its a little bit frustrating. Ive talked to other guys in the industry here, and one of the things thats really missing here is a shop that can build things for you to the minute level that you need in scientific instrumentation or medical instrumentation.

Q: What challenges are facing the biomedical industry right now?

A: Theres certainly regulatory issues that are out there because they ebb and flow a little bit. I think the largest single challenge is the massive amount of information. We develop a massive amount of data. Other companies here develop a massive amount of data. How do you aggregate that? How do you pull all that together so that you begin to get focused to solve particular kinds of things?

The volume of data thats exploding in the biotech industry is unbelievable and to be able to get your hands around that ... now there are lots of companies that are attempting to do that. The difficulty is we all have secrets, so our company has secrets; your company would have secrets; this company has secrets; that company has secrets.

If you could find a way to aggregate that, you could be a far more effective in terms of outcomes and that is an enormous challenge for us to be able to let down the fences a little bit and also be able to get our arms around all this incredible ebb and flow of data.

Q: What has it been like to try to keep pace with changing technology?

A: The change that youre seeing now in biotechnology is about how to manage that understanding. Its a big undertaking for us, and all of our software is proprietary. I dont know if I could put one finger on there and say in the last two or three years what has changed that is the most dynamic.

The thing that I am the most aware of is just the massive amount of information out there and how you can sort through it and be able to get it to function within your group. Our scientists do a really good job of that, and our engineers do a really good job of that. Theyre always reading things, coming in here talking about things, meeting amongst themselves, and trying to sort through the information.

I read constantly and I read a lot of scientific journals even though Im not a scientist, because I have more time to read often than they do, so its easy for me to say, Hey, why dont you take a look at this?, and theyll go chase down everything that they want to chase down. It will be long gone in their brain before I move on to the next article.

You really have to have sort of an innate curiosity all the time, and one of the great things about being involved with a scientific company is theyre all curious. Every member of this team is highly curious. They always want to know things, they always want to dig into things. I wasnt trained to be curious  they were. I was trained to go do something, get it done, move on to the next thing. Scientists arent like that. Theyre very curious about things, so thats very helpful.

Q: What was the purpose of CytoBiosciences merger with WestMountain Co., which seems to have no relation to your business?

A: It was really a function of trying to figure out an efficient way to become a publicly-traded company. As a result of that I tried to find a company we could work with who understood our industry. There are people there at WestMountain Co. who clearly understand what it is we do and also the market that we operate in, and so they were not in that business, but they had an appreciation for it. So it really was a mutual coming together of what could be for the greater good of both groups, and thats really what was behind it.

Q: Why did you want to take CytoBioscience public?

A: Thats always a tough decision to make. Do you want to stay private and grow to a certain size and then go public? Do you want to stay private and never go public? But we have investors who invested money in us, and at some point down the line that they certainly would like to figure out an exit strategy. I think that thats one thing that you have to consider when you go public, is youre giving your investors now an opportunity, if they decide they want to move on, that they can. I think the more important consideration is that its a lot easier for a publicly traded biotech money company to raise money than it is a privately-held biotech company.

Rye Druzin is a San Antonio Express-News energy reporter. Read more of his stories here. | rdruzin@express-news.net | @druz_journoSan Antonio-based Lewis Energy Group destroyed evidence involving an oil field worker who was injured in 2014 when an oil and gas pipe failed, an arbitrator found this month.

The arbitrator awarded Johnathan David Rice, who was 58 at the time of the accident, slightly more than $1.2 million in compensation for his injuries.

But its the actions of Lewis Energy and related companies that make the case noteworthy.

Arbitrator Thomas J. Mitchell of Austin ruled that facts in the case support a finding of intentional spoliation by Lewis Energy.

David Ortega, a lawyer for Lewis Energy, said he couldnt comment on the arbitrators decision because of confidentiality provisions to the award. He said he believes the other side has breached the confidentiality provisions. Lewis Energy expects to comment on the arbitrators findings at a later time, he added.

Mitchells ruling was attached to a motion filed Thursday in Bexar County District Court by Rices lawyers asking a judge to confirm the award. A hearing on the request had been set for Wednesday but has been rescheduled for May 22.

Ian McLin, an attorney for Rice, had no comment Monday.

Rice of San Antonio worked for Lewis Resource Management in January 2014 when he and his supervisor Antonio Salinas were directed by the company to restart production from a gas well in Webb County. The well had been shut due to over pressure in the flow line, Mitchell wrote in his 19-page arbitration award.

Salinas believed the problem was caused by ice in the line and decided to release gas from a section of the pipe.

As Salinas opened the valve, a pipe broke at the thread, releasing pressurized gas and fluids, according to facts of the case in Mitchells May 4 ruling.

Mitchell cited Lewis Energys investigation report of the incident, which found that as Salinas gave a final push to open the valve, the pipe broke off at the threaded base  resulting in the sudden release of pressurized gas.

Salinas spotted Rice on the ground, unconscious, blown 15 to 25 feet from where he had been standing, according to Mitchells ruling. Rice was airlifted to San Antonio Military Medical Center, where a CT scan detected bleeding in the brain. He was diagnosed with a concussion and closed head injury, and suffered a right wrist fracture.

Rice was discharged from SAMMC the following day, but he reported numerous problems at home, including headaches, double vision and memory issues. He has had rehabilitation and treatment but has not improved, Mitchell said. Rice did not return to work at Lewis Enegy.

Rice sued Lewis Energy, Lewis Resource Management, Lewis Petro Properties and two Lewis partnerships over his injuries in 2015 in Bexar County District Court. The claims include gross negligence and premises liability. Lewis Energy later requested the matter be arbitrated, which a judge granted.

An expert witness for Rice said he suffered a traumatic brain injury, a finding disputed by Lewis Energy.

In his ruling, Mitchell noted that Lewis Energy failed to take any steps to ensure the preservation of the failed equipment despite company President Craig Rosenstein and General Counsel Anthony Tony Trevino Jr. having direct knowledge of the accident and injury the day they occurred.

Mitchell added that Rice and his wife both testified that Lewis Energy retained the pipe in question. But Mitchell found the company deliberately failed to produce it in response to discovery requests.

Lewis Energys own investigation found the pipe was too long and too thin but added the cause for the pipes failure is unknown, Mitchell reported.

Mitchell took issue with that conclusion. The reason it is unknown is that the  (pipe) which failed and broke off at its threaded base was not produced for inspection, testing and expert analysis, he wrote.

Lewis Energy did not have a written policy regarding the preservation of physical evidence after equipment failures resulting in injury even though its been the oil and gas business for more than 30 years, Mitchell said.

Lewis Energy immediately replaced 300 similar pipes following the accident yet failed to retain even one for analysis, Mitchell said.

This indicates either a lack of interest in or failure to appreciate the importance of evidence preservation, he wrote.

Together this evidence reveals a pattern of behavior designed to prevent any direct examination and analysis of the equipment which failed and caused serious personal injury to Rice, Mitchell added.

Mitchell also noted the Lewis Petro Properties, which constructed the Webb County facility, did not utilize an engineered design. In fact, he said, it was built with no written plans.

Rice sought $9.3 million in damages, mostly for future medical expenses. Lewis Energy countered that he should receive just under $576,000.

He is not the man he was before the incident, Mitchell said, noting Rices various ailments.

Video surveillance presented during the arbitration, though, showed Rice driving and running errands without any difficulty. In addition, Mitchell said he found it curious that (Rices) speech and demeanor change when he is in the presence of his wife and when she is not around.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pdanner@express-news.net | @AlamoPDThe market for small business sales in San Antonio appears to have cooled for the first quarter of 2018 after what was a smoking 2017 both locally and nationwide, data recently released from BizBuySell.com indicates.

The San Francisco-based site, which bills itself as the internets largest business-for-sale marketplace, tracked 11 closed transactions locally for the quarter.

They ranged in value from a Blimpie sandwich franchise that sold for $38,000, 84 percent of the $45,000 asking price, to a car care franchise that went for the full listing price $460,000. Of the 11, the median sales price was $120,000  on average 95 percent of the asking price  for businesses with median revenue of $255,136 and median cash flow  or actual money received and spent  of $79,374.

That median sales price was down 67 percent compared with the first quarter of 2017, which saw 14 closed transactions with a median sales price of $362,500 for businesses with a median revenue of $812,000 and median cash flow of $181,572.

But year-over-year numbers, due to the months it takes to close transactions, is considered a better gauge than quarterly data. That showed more than double the pace of regional transactions for 2017 over 2016. According to the site, 45 transactions closed in the San Antonio area last year, compared to 20 in 2016. The median sales price was $150,000 for both years, with sellers getting an average of 94 percent of their asking price in 2016 and 93 percent of their asking price in 2017.

It does look like the (San Antonio) markets a little slower than nationally, and digging a little deeper there it looks like things were just really hot at this time last year, said Adam Debussy, BizBuySells senior marketing manager. Asking prices were up, the number of businesses were up. Were just pacing a little bit behind the activity of last year.

On a national level, 2018 has so far been a banner year for buying and selling small businesses, according to the site. The median sale price of $245,000 for 2,678 businesses that sold was a 3.4 percent increase over the first quarter of 2017 and the highest sales price since BizBuySell started tracking the data in 2007. Median cash flow, viewed as a better indicator of business success than revenue, increased to $120,000 for the first quarter, a 2.3 percent increase over the same time last year.

The high number of transactions doesnt necessarily mean its a sellers market, said Bob House, president of BizBuySell.com

Both buyers and sellers are in a really good position right now, House said. With healthy financials, owners are able to secure a great return, while buyers are taking ownership of valuable businesses. Whether youre a business owner looking to sell or an entrepreneur searching for a new venture, the window is open to take advantage of the strong market.

The National Federation of Independent Business also found that small business owners are showing unprecedented confidence in the economy, according to a February report.

Reports of improved profits drove its Small Business Optimism Index to 104.8 in April, the highest in the NFIB Small Business Economic Trends Surveys 45-year history, the trade association said last week.

The optimism small business owners have about the economy is turning into new job creation, increased wages and benefits and investment, NFIB President and CEO Juanita Duggan said.

And 72 percent of small owners polled by BizBuySell.com expected their financials to improve through 2018, largely as a result of tax changes. Of those polled, 48 percent said tax changes would benefit small business owners, compared with 24 percent who said theyd be harmful. The optimism had owners confident theyd be able to expand, with 60 percent planning to hire more workers and 57 percent planning to increase compensation.

Adam Debussy, the sites senior marketing manager, said a key takeaway for the site has been that so many people dont know about the marketplace.

I was at a mechanics shop about a year ago and this guy was saying how hes getting ready to close up shop and retire, Debussy recalled. I asked him, are you going to sell or are you going to pass it down? What are your plans? And his plans were basically to just turn the lights off. Because his name was on the business, he thought that as soon as he went away the business had to shut down.

Debussy said business owners should be aware of the value theyve likely built up over the years.

Your customer base is super valuable, your inventory, everything, he said. And so when youre ready to move on and retire, you know, cash that out.

Debussy attributed San Antonios relatively low asking prices to the high percentage of service businesses such as restaurants and landscaping businesses, which in general carry a lower dollar value than manufacturing businesses.

I tend to focus more on the number listed because thats truly showing whats going on, he said. If that numbers rising, it means that things are really heating up for one reason or another  people are retiring or are out there looking to capitalize on the market.

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | @lbrezoskyAfter more than 30 days of testimony that featured everything from sex to murder and an appearance by one of the worlds most known outlaw bikers, the racketeering trial of two former top leaders of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club winds down with closing arguments on Monday.

Federal prosecutors are expected to contend during their summation that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club handed down orders to threaten, extort, harm and even kill rivals or fellow Bandidos using secretive methods in which the clubs vice president served as a buffer to protect the wishes of the groups national president.

But lawyers for Bandidos ex-president Jeffrey Fay Pike and then-vice president John Xavier Portillo are expected to argue to jurors that the organization is nothing more than a fellowship of bikers, that Pike tried to make the club better when he took over as president in 2005, and that any criminality the jury heard about were the acts of individuals and not authorized or sanctioned by Pike or Portillo.

I believe these awful things were done without Jeffs prior knowledge, without his prior approval and without his agreement, Pikes lead lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said in opening arguments.

Likewise, Portillos lead lawyer, Mark Stevens, tried to distance his client from the crimes, arguing that the governments witnesses had reason to lie  a chance to avoid charges or lengthy sentences for their own involvement.

Former Bandidos, most of them from San Antonio and cooperating with the feds, testified that they carried out orders to commit murder, beat up wayward Bandidos or rivals, or intimidated or extorted them into turning over their prized patches or vests  part of the Bandidos way of flexing its power and muscle. The ex-Bandidos also claimed drug distribution was prevalent in the club. Pike and Portillo are charged in a 13-count indictment with leading the Bandidos racketeering conspiracy and ordering, authorizing or sanctioning those crimes.

Three killings are included in the indictment: Street gang member Robert Lara in Atascosa County in January 2002, suspected Hells Angels member Anthony W. Benesh III in Austin in March 2006 and rival biker Geoffrey Brady in Fort Worth in December 2014.

To try to cast doubt on the governments case, Pikes lawyers called an unusual witness, a founding member of the Hells Angels, which had traditionally been considered one of the Bandidos biggest rivals. Ralph Sonny Barger, who helped found the Hells Angels in the 1950s, testified via video from San Francisco that Benesh was not a member of the Hells Angels and that the Bandidos and Hells Angels are not the rivals law enforcement claim them to be.

The trial also saw testimony from an unusual insider of the all-male Bandidos club: A San Antonio woman who said Portillo made her property of the Bandidos in 2002. She testified she ran an escort service for the Bandidos in San Antonio, in which its women charged $200 an hour for sex, and that she helped in its other rackets  from delivering drugs to Bandidos members to luring Lara to Atascosa County, where Bandidos shot him to death in retaliation for the slaying of a fellow Bandidos member.

A task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety tapped the phones of Portillo and former national sergeant at arms Justin Forster for several months, helping collect much of the evidence prosecutors played for jurors throughout the trial.

Forster took a plea deal eight months after he, Pike and Portillo were arrested in January 2016, and he testified for the prosecution about the inner workings of the club. Other Bandidos also flipped, including national sergeant at arms Johnny Downtown Romo of San Antonio. Facing a lengthy sentence for the murder of Benesh, Romo told federal agents that it was a hit ordered by Pike.

Romo also wore a body wire to record conversations with Portillo. The recordings Romo captured include Portillo talking about plans to raise club membership dues, allegedly to help Bandidos with legal fees because its members would end up arrested for carrying out the leaderships wishes to attack members of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club because they were wearing patches saying Texas, which is considered Bandidos territory.

The trial also explored a number of clashes or attempted clashes with the Cossacks, before and after the infamous shootout in Waco in May 2015, in which nine bikers  the majority of them Cossacks  were killed, and 20 other people were injured. The Waco shootout was not a focus of the trial, and mentioned only briefly, because Pike and Portillo are not charged in that incident.

The law states that these defendants need not have committed the crimes themselves, but it is the agreement of these defendants for these crimes in furtherance of the conspiracy, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Fuchs said in opening arguments. These are not the guys down in the trenches. Theyre not the trigger pullers. Theyre the bosses.

Pike, who spent three days on the stand, testified he was on medical leave during much of 2015, leaving Portillo handling the reins. Pike also called the governments key witnesses snitches who made up stories to get themselves out of trouble. Portillo did not testify.

Outside the presence of the jury last week, Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra said the evidence was more direct against Portillo than against Pike. And when presented with defense motions for acquittal after the government rested its case, and once again after the defense rested (both outside the presence of the jury), the judge found prosecutors presented sufficient evidence by which the jury could find the defendants guilty.

The judge stressed that he was not finding them guilty, only following the legal standard that requires him to give more weight to the prosecutions case to see if the case should be kept alive. A finding of guilt or innocence rests with the jury, he stressed.

If convicted, Pike and Portillo face up to life in prison. The judge gave prosecutors two hours for closings, and an hour and a half to Portillo and Pike for their summation.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedlandA San Antonio man convicted last week of killing his brother in 2016 allegedly over the family home and burying his body in a shallow grave in the dunes of the Padre Island National Seashore, was sentenced Monday to 50 years in prison.

It took a Bexar County jury a little over two hours to sentence Gregorio Barrera, 50, in the death of Andres Barrera, 46, whose remains were found Sept. 25, 2016, in Kleberg County on the north shore.

In a tearful victim impact statement, Martha Barrera told her brother Gregorio Barrera that his fatal decision affected our lives, our kids, and that things would never be the same.

We were supposed to look out for each other after mom and dad died, Martha Barrera sobbed. Who gave you the right to kill our little brother? He never hurt anybody.

Officials from the counties of Kleberg and Nueces testified in the guilt-innocence phase that the remains had been buried in 3 feet of sand in the dunes and had been there for several weeks because his internal organs had decomposed and bones were missing due toanimal activity.

The mens sisters testified that Andres Barrera was living in an apartment while he renovated the family home in the 8700 block of Sage Brush on the Northeast Side. Gregorio Barrera lived at the home but his brother had him evicted after the men fought.

Before the state rested its case in the punishment phase, which began Monday morning, the jury heard from two San Anonio police officers who testified they seized from Gregorio Barreras backyard a stolen lawnmower that belonged to his neighbor and numerous tools in the garage that were not his. Prosecutors also introduced his arrest record, which included a DWI charge and a theft offense.

Defense attorney Cornelius Cox told the jury in his closing argument that he did not agree with their verdict of guilt because he felt the state did not prove that his client killed his brother, but that he respected them for it.

The community says you should send a message, Cox told the jury. The problem with that approach is that this is not just a numbers game, regarding years of punishment.

Referencing the 1970s novel Future Shock, by Alvin Toffler, Cox equated his clients conviction and potential life sentence as relegating him to be in a throw-away society, which is detailed in Chapter 4 of the book.

I would hate to think that what we would do with humans when things go wrong, they make poor judgments, or do certain things as a society, we would just cast them away, he said.

Cox did not throw a number out for sentencing, but reminded the jurors that his client cared for his dying mother.

I hope that you would reach a fair and just sentence, he told the jury.

In her closing argument, prosecutor Kimberly Gonzalez told the jury it was ironic that Cox would reference a throw-away society.

He (Cox) wants to talk about a throw-away society. Thats just what he (Gregorio Barrera) did to his little brother, Gonzalez told the jury.

Referencing the biblical story of Cain and Abel, Gonzalez quoted scripture: The Lord says, What have you done? Your brothers blood calls out to me from the grave, and he wants to bring up a throw-away society, she told the court.

He (the defendant) threw him (the victim) out there like nothing, Gonzalez told the jury. Life is what you get when you murder your brother, steal from your neighbors and dump your brother like nothing.

The jury began deliberating shortly before 1 p.m.

Gregorio Barrera had faced five to 99 years or life in prison. He will have to serve at least 25 years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. The case was heard in the 186th state District Court, presided by Judge Jefferson Moore.

Elizabeth Zavala is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | ezavala@express-news.net | @elizabeth2863The punishment phase begins Monday for a San Antonio man convicted last week of killing his brother, allegedly in a dispute over the family home, and burying his body in a shallow grave on the Padre Island National Seashore.

It took the jury a little less than 4 hours Wednesday to convict Gregorio Barrera, 50, of killing Andres Barrera, 46, whose remains were found Sept. 25, 2016, in the dunes on the north shore in Kleberg County.

During the two-week trial, Kleberg County Sheriffs Office investigators and the Nueces County medical examiner testified that the victims remains had been in the dunes for several weeks before they were discovered by a man and his son walking on the beach.

Nueces County Medical Examiner Ray Fernandez told the jury the victim died from homicidal violence, and that either a skull fracture or plastic material that had to be cut off the skeleton could have caused the death.

The brothers sisters testified that Andres Barrera paid the mortgage on a home in the 8700 block of Sage Brush on the Northeast Side, but lived at an apartment while renovations were being done. He had Gregorio Barrera evicted from the home, they said.

The brothers would physically fight each other, and the sisters testified that before Andres Barreras disappearance, the men argued over their familys home and a loan taken out on the property that was not paid.

Crime scene video shown during the trial showed blood spatter on the walls of the home, on the blades of a ceiling fan and on doors and pieces of wood.

In closing arguments, prosecutors Kimberly Gonzalez and Ana Ochoa Nelson argued Gregorio Barrera changed his story several times, and the evidence pointed to his guilt.

He used his brother's credit card; he was in possession of his truck  he was driving it around. Then he said he saw his brother on the 12th, then the 11th, then the 10th. He can't keep his story straight, Nelson said in her closing statement to the jury.

The defendant signed a quit claim deed to (the house on) Sage Brush; he has been legally evicted and shouldn't be there at all, Gonzalez added.

In his closing statement, defense attorney Cornelius Cox told the jury that the state's 200 exhibits and close to 40 witnesses had still not proven Gregorio Barrera killed Andres Barrera.

We don't know how the blood got there (at the Sage Brush home), he said, adding that the Nueces County medical examiner could not determine whether the deceased died on the beach or was taken there.

There was not one witness that could testify that the deceased actually died at Sage Brush, Cox told the jury.

Gregorio Barrera faces five to 99 years or life in prison. The case is being heard in the 186th state District Court, presided by Judge Jefferson Moore.

Elizabeth Zavala is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | ezavala@express-news.net | @elizabeth2863Chip Roy didnt expect everyone to rejoice in Donald Trumps presidential victory. But to Roy, the hand-wringing and consternation from Trumps detractors was further proof that America had strayed from the Founding Fathers vision for a decentralized government.

No matter who wins, the presidency should never be so important that it evokes such a dismayed response, Roy thought on election night.

That's what was driving my thinking at the time, Roy said. All of these people, my fellow Americans with whom I probably disagree fairly vehemently on a lot of different issues, are literally panicking about this man being elected.

When U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith announced about a year later that he would not seek re-election, Roy joined the GOP primary race for the newly open District 21 seat. After finishing atop the 18-candidate field, hes in a May 22 runoff with Smiths endorsement, and is largely running behind a desire to oppose forced uniformity through federal action.

On the surface it might seem antithetical that Roy, 45, wants to severely restrict the federal governments power after serving in Washington as senior counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee and as Sen. Ted Cruzs chief of staff. Hes also receiving campaign support from D.C.-based political action committees including Club for Growth.

Roys runoff opponent Matt McCall has echoed a similar argument. But Roy thinks those points ring hollow, because he sees his role as pushing back on the status quo  as do many of Roys supporting groups like the Freedom Caucus-aligned House Freedom Fund.

In Roys ideal world, Medicare would be delegated to the states, Congress would pass a balanced budget and judges would not legislate from the bench. He believes his former boss, Attorney General Ken Paxton, was right to recently challenge DACA as unconstitutional and illegal.

Voters would have little doubt what type of congressman theyd be getting, Roy has said.

You get to know who someone really is when you're in a foxhole, Cruz said in February after stumping for Roy. I know Chip because we've been shoulder to shoulder and side by side in fights for the future of this country. And so I know how he responds under pressure, under heat, and that he won't buckle.

Early years and cancer

Roy grew up in the small town of Lovettsville, Virginia, a couple miles from the Potomac River. Surrounded by symbols of the countrys early stages  he recalled during high school re-enacting abolitionist John Browns raid on nearby Harpers Ferry  Roy experienced American history first-hand, he said. That meshed with Roys Ronald Reagan-supporting conservative parents to shape his political views.

After studying commerce and getting a masters degree in information systems at the University of Virginia, Roy worked for about three years as an investment banking analyst. But with all roads leading to Manhattan, he switched gears and attended law school at the University of Texas, where he met his wife Carrah. At the time, Roy viewed politics and public policy as an avocation, a sort of interest, but not something I would do anytime soon, if ever.

But at UT, Roy worked for then-Attorney General John Cornyns office, then joined his 2002 Senate campaign. Roy followed Cornyn to D.C. to work on the judiciary committee, later returning to Texas as a federal prosecutor.

With dim prospects of advancing through the Obama Administration, Roy transitioned to work for then-Gov. Rick Perry, whom he met through mutual connections. He ghost-wrote Perrys 2010 federalist manifesto book, Fed Up! and was appointed by the governor to direct the Office of State-Federal Relations. During his confirmation hearing, Roy floated the idea of eliminating the office if it doesnt stand for something.

In August 2011, during the week of his 39th birthday, Roy was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkins lymphoma. His daughter Virginia and son Charlie were four and 22 months old at the time.

During the campaign, Roy has said his battle with cancer showed him why health-care freedom is essential. In particular, the complexity of his experience demonstrated how truly convoluted our system is.

One billing cycle it would be really astronomically expensive. Another billing cycle it would be less. And you couldn't figure out who was getting charged for what, Roy said. I have three degrees. I was a banker. I looked at spreadsheet models. I was a lawyer. And I couldn't easily figure it out.

Roys views on health care further solidified under Cruz. He was leading Cruzs office when the senator took to the floor for his lengthy speech against Obamacare. In September 2014, Roy left Cruzs office to take on a role within his political operation as Cruz geared up to run for president, though the move was brief: After Paxtons 2014 election, Roy became first assistant AG.

Paxtons office and controversies

When Roy stepped in as Paxtons top lieutenant, he was confronted with about 28,000 active cases, including prominent voter ID and same-sex marriage suits and a recently filed challenge to the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).

To Roy, Obamas DAPA was another example of executive overreach. Paxtons office led a coalition of states in opposing the measure  which provided work permits and deportation protection to parents of legal residents  that successfully challenged DAPA in the Supreme Court.

Roy departed Paxtons office in 2016 to support Cruzs presidential bid by heading the Trusted Leadership PAC, which was formed to bring the splintered layout of Cruz-supporting PACs under one umbrella.

But the terms of Roys resignation led to controversy: Media reports showed Roy had remained on Paxtons payroll for about a month after leaving. Roy maintains that he never took any state pay beyond the vacation and compensatory time he had accrued, nor received pay from the PAC while he remained on state payroll.

But Roys resignation included an option to receive leave even after his vacation and holiday time expired, allowing him to continue receiving health benefits for his cancer battle. Moving to the PAC was a leap of faith, Roy said, because he was losing his benefits. He fully resigned the day after a Dallas Morning News story, citing a positive report from his oncologist.

Had I gotten some bad news, then I would have taken a step back and then thought, Ok, now what? And then, maybe I go back and have a conversation with the attorney general or anybody else in the state and find the right place, depending on what the news is, Roy said.

But Roy was unknowingly stepping into another controversy that would not become apparent until 2018, when it was revealed that Cruzs campaign used Cambridge Analytica for data analysis. The firm has received criticism for mass-gathering Facebook users data without their consent.

The decision to use Cambridge Analytica was made long before Roy came aboard; Cruz dropped out of the race less than two months after Roys first day with the PAC. He said Trusted Leadership did not use Cambridge Analytica.

There was a data arm that was kind of already in place that we were using that had nothing to do, to the best of any knowledge I had at the time or have now, with Cambridge Analytica, Roy said. I didn't engage with Cambridge Analytica. I didn't authorize specifically any payments to Cambridge Analytica, or anything along those lines.

He added: I have no idea what had been done in the past. But we were lurching forward, and the only thing we were doing at all at that point was trying to either eliminate the existing organizations (PACs), or kind of neutralize them so that we were all operating under one operating structure.

Climate change hysteria

Shortly after he received Smiths endorsement in the runoff, Roy said the two Republicans agree on the hysteria around climate change. As chair of the House Science Committee, Smith became widely known for challenging scientific conclusions about the the effect of human activity on rising global temperatures.

Roy takes a similar approach to Smith in decrying the abundance of misinformation out there about the extent of man's impact on temperatures on the Earth. Asked if he believes any link exists between humans and climate change, Roy said, I dont know. What I know is that our lives are made so immeasurably better by the availability of affordable, abundant energy.

Roy said he has yet to find clarity based on what hes read as to whether a clear, causal relationship exists, or whether global temperature change is occurring naturally. He said the planet has had many shifts in temperature over the years.

My belief is that the net positive impact of energy production relative to whatever the question-mark impact is on CO2 (carbon dioxide), to me, comes out very much on the positive, Roy said.

Looking ahead

As early voting begins, Roy is taking a measured approach to the May 22 election. He finished with 27 percent on March 6, to McCalls 17 percent, and has benefited from the firepower of Cruz campaigning for him in the district and several other high-profile endorsements.

The centerpiece of my life is my wife, my two kids, my faith, the Hyde Park Baptist Church (in Austin), Roy said. My life does not rise or fall on winning this election, at all. And in fact, I have very little burning desire to be back in DC. But I do have a burning desire to kind of get D.C. out of our way.

Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspschererFAIRFIELD  A local volunteer firefighter and Stratford resident was killed in a single-vehicle crash early Saturday morning in Fairfield.

Austin Buoni, 22, who volunteered with the Shelton and Trumbull fire departments, died at Bridgeport Hospital as the result of injuries sustained in the wreck, according to the Fairfield Police Department.

Police said Buoni was driving a 2005 Nissan Altima east on Kings Highway when he lost control of the vehicle at Chestnut Street. The vehicle, police said, slid across the eastbound lane before striking a utility pole off the right side of the road. The accident occurred about 1:40 a.m. Saturday.

Buoni was taken to Bridgeport Hospital where medical personnel administered life-saving efforts to no avail. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police said the crash is still under investigation.

Calling hours are from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Spear-Miller Funeral Home, 39 South Benson Road in Fairfield. Funeral services are 11 a.m. Friday at Covenant Church, 1 Sport Hill Road in Easton.

A Gofundme page has since been set up for Buonis family. As of 8 a.m. Monday, the page had raised $8,730 of its $25,000 goal.

According to the page, Bouni was one of three children and a cousin and nephew to countless. His death, the page said, has left us all broken and at a loss for words.

Austin was a giver, and will continue to give the gift of life to many with his decision years ago to become an organ donor, the page said. He always said, If I'm not using it, why shouldnt someone else receive the gift of life. 

Over the weekend, friends shared their memories of Buoni on social media.

A Facebook post from the Valley Fire Chiefs Regional Training School said Buoni was a top-notch student who graduated in 2014.

He was an excellent student, and just a great kid outside of the classroom, the schools Facebook post said. His passing will be felt by many.

One colleague, Sarah Vitone, whose Facebook page said she is a firefighter for the Nichols Fire Department in Trumbull, described the joy Buoni brought to the department.

We just talked on Monday night about how excited you were to be part of the department, Vitone wrote. We've all loved you since the night you joined, when you walked in with a huge loaf of cinnamon bread & a big smile on your face. It was the same smile you had every time you came to the firehouse. Thank you Austin Buoni for always being so kind to everyone, for sitting through my painfully boring radio class last week even though I was rambling & nervous, and for constantly trying to help others any way you could. Rest easy brother.

Buoni worked at Panera Bread and attended Housatonic Community College. He also went to Bunnell High School, according to his Facebook page.

Citing the ongoing investigation, the Trumbull fire department declined to comment. Officials from the Shelton Fire Department could not be reached for comment.More than 50 MPs have urged the government to act on mobile connectivity in rural areas, with operators criticised for failing to resolve poor signals.

The 56 MPs have sent a joint letter to Digital Secretary Matthew Hancock asking him to challenge the current speed and ambition of 4G coverage roll out in rural areas.

Expressing concern about progress to date, the MPs are calling for a legally binding coverage obligation imposed on all four major operators to support the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sports stated ambition to deliver mobile coverage to 95% of UK geographic landmass by the end of 2022

The Government estimated that achieving this ambition would add 75 billion to UK GDP.

The letter has been signed by 56 MPs from parties including the Conservative Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.

It asks the Digital Secretary to take urgent action to ensure better coverage, including regulation imposing a legally binding coverage obligation on all four major operators and a significant change in the rules on transparency that prevent mobile operators hiding behind commercial confidentiality, refusing to tell communities where and when they plan to roll out coverage.

The letter has been co-ordinated by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business, which is chaired by Julian Sturdy MP (York Outer).

Mr Sturdy, Conservative MP, said progress in connecting the country has been "painfully slow".

Ofcoms Connected Nations report in December 2017 revealed that while people inside 90% of UK premises can make telephone calls on all four mobile networks, this falls to 57% in rural areas. This is just not good enough and progress in connecting the countryside has been painfully slow, Mr Sturdy said.

We are asking the Secretary of State to step in and work with Ofcom to ensure that the mobile operators speed up delivery of 4G to rural areas.

'Abandoned'

The MPs collective action follows a report by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) last month, which revealed that in 2015, 2016 and 2017 mobile network operators have been failing to submit applications for new masts to improve mobile coverage in some of the rural areas with the worst 4G coverage.

CLA Deputy President Mark Bridgeman, who farms in Northumberland, said many rural communities seem to have been abandoned by the mobile operators.

For too long people living and working in the countryside have been disadvantaged by the mobile network operators failure to resolve poor signal and mobile not-spots in rural areas, Mr Bridgeman said.

It is clear that the mobile operators will only make the investment needed to connect the countryside if they are forced to do so. While many rural communities seem to have been abandoned by the mobile operators, these 56 MPs are making sure the rural voice is heard and we look forward to the Secretary of States response.

'Waste time everyday'

The join letter follows a survey by the NFU which reveals that only 9% of farmers receive broadband speeds of 24Mbps or more and only 15% had a reliable outdoor phone signal across the farm.

NFU Vice President Guy Smith said its "very frustrating" for farmers who "waste time everyday" due to poor connections and cannot take advantage of on-farm technology.

One member spent two and half hours trying to set up a banking service, thwarted by a broadband service that kept dropping out, Mr Smith explained.

Another explained how it was not possible to gain real time information from contractors and agronomists.

A third could not contact their vet and a fourth explained wider rural services, such as their holiday and business letting services had been impacted, Mr Smith added.

The NFU said that every farming business must be able to access superfast broadband and a good mobile phone reception to get work done.A farmer from Northern Ireland has died after a tragic quad bike accident on Saturday, increasing the number of on-farm deaths to five in the last month.

Hugh Henry, from Ringsend in County Londonderry, was "committed to agriculture all his life", according to local politician John Dallat, SDLP MLA.

Mr Henry was aged in his late 50s and married with two children.

A spokesperson from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said they were aware of the tragic incident and are making enquiries.

"The Health and Safety Executive extends its deepest sympathies to the man's family at this difficult time," the HSE said.

The Northern Ireland Air Ambulance is understood to have attended the scene; however, Mr Henry was pronounced dead at the scene.

John Dallat added: The entire community is reeling with shock following the untimely death of Hugh Henry.

Recent farm deaths

Farm safety procedures have been cast in the spotlight following the deaths of five farm workers in separate accidents within the space of a month.

The death of Mr Henry follows the death of a man in his early 20s, who died on a County Down farm on 4 May.

A 54-year-old man from Perth and Kinross died after handling bags of fertliser on 29 April.

In the Western Isles of Scotland, 58-year-old farmer Hector McLeod was trampled to death by a herd of cows on the 24 April.

In Suffolk, a man in his 40s died following an accident on a potato farm in Bury St Edmunds on 17 April.

Agriculture remains the most dangerous profession in the UK  yet many of the fatalities and serious injuries reported each year can be easily avoided.

Figures from the HSE have revealed that in 2016/17, agriculture had the highest rate of fatal injury, around 18 times higher than the All Industry rate.Concern over adverse and extreme weather has doubled within a year for agricultural businesses, according to new research.

The UKs economy has taken a hit this year from extreme weather, having experienced three bouts of the Beast from the East and a late spring.

The extreme weather has left small farming businesses in the UK "bewildered", research from Hitatchi highlights.

The research shows the real impact the elements have had on the small business community in such a short space of time and reveals the knock on effect for sectors that rely heavily on the weather.

For the agricultural sector, almost half (46%) said unpredictable weather was holding back their business  a rise from 37% two years ago and 34% last quarter.

The findings also show that the adverse weather conditions have also had a knock on effect regionally. The most prominent impact felt by more than two in five of businesses in Scotland, rising from 5% in Q2 2016.

Similarly, Welsh SMEs have also experienced difficulty with unforeseeable weather - rising from 8% in 2016 to 16% this quarter. Other notable increases came within Yorkshire; the issue of weather more than doubling since 2016, (3% vs. 11% this quarter).

'Worst in living memory'

The weather has hit the agricultural industry particularly hard this year. The amount of livestock killed due to the weather is said to be the "worst in living memory" in some parts of the UK.

A North Yorkshire farmer told of how this spring has been the worst he has ever had after losing forty of his lambs.

Farmers have also become increasingly concerned about the unseasonable cold weather which in turn has put a pressure on fodder supplies.Red Hot!

Doesn't Priyanka Chopra look smoking hot in this picture? The actress can be seen donning a red monokini and beating the heat at an exotic beach in California.

PeeCee Surprises Mommy

PeeCee captioned the picture as saying, "Keep smiling!@madhumalati love u.. sending love to all the mothers who are and were and all the mothers to be.. you are greatly appreciated #happymothersday Pic credit @chandraashwin."

Aww'dorable Click!

A super adorable click of Priyanka Chopra handing over a bouquet to her mom, while celebrating Mother's day with her family in Florida.

'Summer Loving'

Priyanka Chopra channels summer vibes like a pro and we're totally loving those red shades.

PeeCee Meets Her Niece As Well

Along with her mommy, PeeCee had an amazing time with her niece, Shireen Shiva Rose and she is as cute as button.

Awww!

Priyanka Chopra can't get enough of her niece and this picture is one proof that how much she loves kids. She's indeed one fun aunt!

PeeCee With Her Nephew

"Sooooo excited to meet you baby @ayd.in welcome to this wonderful world.. I may have been tired when I met you but I love u sooooo much! Yay bhaiya! @irfan525 U a daddy!! Thank you @stace1711 you're amazing!  #happymothersday #nephewlove."CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan will on Monday release April figures for producer prices, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Producer prices are expected to add 0.1 percent on month and 2.0 percent on year after easing 0.1 percent on month and gaining 2.1 percent on year in March. Japan also will see March numbers for loans and discounts and preliminary April data for machine tool orders. Loans were up 2.15 percent on year in February, while tool orders surged an annual 28.1 percent in March. New Zealand will see April results for its Performance of Services Index; in March, the index score was 59.9. Australia will release March numbers for credit card purchases; in February, purchases were worth A$25.3 billion and balances were at A$52.7 billion. 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.Allegion, plc (NYSE:ALLE), a leading global security products and solutions provider, has agreed to acquire GWA Group Limited's Door and Access Systems Business through one of its subsidiaries. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.

GWA's Door and Access Systems Business includes renowned Australian brands Gainsborough Hardware and API Locksmiths. Gainsborough is the market-leading residential door hardware brand in Australia, with a portfolio that includes the country's top entrance door lock. API Locksmiths is the commercial market leader for keying, installation and access control services across the country.

"This strategic acquisition bolsters Allegion's presence in Australia and significantly increases our scale in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole," said David D. Petratis, Allegion president, chairman and CEO. "We're enhancing our residential presence with market-leading positions and longstanding customer relationships, all while accelerating our development of electronic security solutions. This is consistent with Allegion's growth strategy in the region and highly complementary to our core business."

The GWA Door and Access Systems Business generated sales of approximately AUD 95 million for calendar year 2017. The business will operate in Allegion's Asia-Pacific region.

"The Door and Access Systems Business is strong, and we believe Allegion can maximize its potential," said Tim Salt, GWA managing director. "Allegion's global scale, innovative technologies and supply chain capabilities will enable both Gainsborough and API to further enhance their offerings to customers."

The transaction is valued at AUD 107 million. Allegion plans to fund the acquisition through existing cash on hand and borrowings under its revolving credit facility. Excluding merger and acquisitions costs, Allegion expects the transaction to be slightly accretive to adjusted EPS for 2018.

Greenhill Co., LLC acted as financial advisor, and Jones Day acted as legal advisor to Allegion with the transaction.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements that relate to the acquisition's impact on the company's financial and operational performance, the acquisition's ability to drive growth and the integration of the acquisition. These forward-looking statements are based on the company's current available information and its current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. They are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties many of which are beyond the company's control as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information on these factors and other risks that may affect the company's business are included in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including its Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, and in its other SEC filings. The company assumes no obligations to update these forward-looking statements.

About Allegion

Allegion (NYSE: ALLE) is a global pioneer in safety and security, with leading brands like CISA, Interflex, LCN, Schlage, SimonsVoss and Von Duprin. Focusing on security around the door and adjacent areas, Allegion produces a range of solutions for homes, businesses, schools and other institutions. Allegion is a $2.4 billion company, with products sold in almost 130 countries. For more, visit www.allegion.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180513005074/en/

Contacts:

Allegion plc

Media:

Maria Pia Tamburri, 317-810-3399

Director, Public Affairs

Maria.Tamburri@allegion.com

or

Analysts:

Mike Wagnes, 317-810-3494

Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations

Michael.Wagnes@allegion.com

NORWALK (dpa-AFX) - Xerox (XRX) said Sunday that it is terminating a proposed $6.1 billion takeover by Fujifilm Holdings Corp. and has entered into a new settlement with Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. Xerox's Chief Executive Officer Jeff Jacobson will resign as part of the settlement, along with several other board members. Keith Cozza, the Chief Executive Officer of Icahn Enterprises L.P., is expected to be appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Xerox, and John Visentin is expected to be appointed as the Vice Chairman and new Chief Executive Officer of Xerox.



Xerox said it notified Fujifilm that agreement to combine Xerox with Fuji Xerox is being terminated in accordance with its terms due to the failure by Fujifilm to deliver the audited financials of Fuji Xerox by April 15, 2018 and the material deviations reflected in the audited financials of Fuji Xerox, when delivered, from the unaudited financial statements of Fuji Xerox and its subsidiaries provided to Xerox prior to the date of the Subscription Agreement and taking into account other circumstances limiting the ability of the Company, Fujifilm and Fuji Xerox to consummate a transaction.



Xerox noted that it entered into a new settlement agreement with Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. The settlement agreement resolves the pending proxy contest in connection with the company's 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Mr. Deason's litigation against Xerox and its directors. It does not affect any claims of Mr. Deason or other Xerox shareholders against Fujifilm for aiding and abetting.



As per the terms of the settlement agreement, Xerox appointed five new members to its Board of Directors: Jonathan Christodoro, Keith Cozza, Nicholas Graziano, Scott Letier and John Visentin.



Gregory Brown, Joseph Echevarria, Cheryl Krongard and Sara Martinez Tucker will continue to serve as members of the Xerox Board of Directors.



Robert Keegan, Charles Prince, Ann Reese, William Curt Hunter, and Stephen Rusckowski each resigned from the Board of Directors of Xerox.



Jeff Jacobson resigned from his role as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of Xerox.



Subsequent to joining the Xerox Board of Directors, Keith Cozza, the Chief Executive Officer of Icahn Enterprises L.P., is expected to be appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Xerox, and John Visentin is expected to be appointed as the Vice Chairman and new Chief Executive Officer of Xerox.



As part of the agreement, Xerox and Carl Icahn will withdraw their respective nominations of any other director candidates for election at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Xerox will continue to waive the advance notice bylaw to enable any Xerox shareholder to provide notice of intent to nominate directors for election at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders until June 13, 2018. The 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be postponed to a later date.



The new Board of Directors plans to meet immediately and, among other things, begin a process to evaluate all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.



The former Board of Directors of Xerox said, 'Over the past several weeks, the Xerox Board has repeatedly requested that Fujifilm immediately enter into negotiations on improved terms for a proposed transaction. Despite our insistence, Fujifilm provided no assurance that it will do so within an acceptable timeframe. The Xerox Board believes that the transaction cannot reasonably be expected to be completed under these circumstances, particularly given the court's injunction of the transaction and the lack of shareholder support for the transaction on current terms, as well as the unresolved accounting issues at Fuji Xerox.



Xerox said its board also considered the potential instability and business disruption during a proxy contest. Absent a viable, timely transaction with Fujifilm, the Xerox Board believes it is in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders to terminate the proposed transaction and enter a new settlement agreement with Icahn and Deason. Under the agreement, the Xerox Board will be reconstituted to determine the best path forward to maximize value for Xerox shareholders.



Carl Icahn said, 'We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm. With that behind us and new shareholder-focused leadership in place, today marks a new beginning for Xerox. We have often said that the most important person at a company (by far) is the CEO. We are therefore also pleased that John Visentin, a tried and true veteran in this area, will be taking the helm.'



Darwin Deason said, 'With the limiting Fujifilm agreement terminated, Xerox is now positioned to conduct a true, robust strategic alternatives process. John Visentin has spent weeks preparing himself to run the company and speaking to numerous market participants regarding strategic alternatives. Xerox is fortunate to have someone with his experience and preparation to lead it through this exciting and transformative time.'



XRX closed Friday's trading at $30.17, up $0.84 or 2.86 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.deNEC Seiichiro Toda s-toda@cj.jp.nec.com +81-3-3798-6511

TOKYO, May 14, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation (NEC) and Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) today announced a new efficient search technology for the discovery of rare critical events. The technology repeats simulations while artificial intelligence (AI) learns the simulation results. As a result, it efficiently discovers rare critical events that are difficult to discover at the product design stage due to the extremely low probability of their occurrence. The technology is one of NEC's lineup of cutting-edge AI technologies "NEC the WISE"(1).The new technology merges AI and simulation technologies to improve the efficiency of search for rare events. It significantly shortens validation time (the time taken for highly-skilled experts to discover such rare events at the product design stage) and reduces the risk of multiple critical events being overlooked.The technology was applied to the design of an optical device to detect stray light(2), whose probability of occurrence is very low (around 1 in 100 million), but critical because it causes significant performance degradation as a noise signal. While skilled experts require approximately one week, the technology dramatically shortened search time: completing the search in around one day and successfully discovered several critical events without any being overlooked.With this technology, NEC and AIST will contribute to the further improvement of the quality and reliability of products and operations by supporting human decisions in the design, production, and operation of complex systems, such as social infrastructure; and by discovering and eliminating rare critical events in the design stages in advance.Features of the rare event discovery technologyEfficiently narrows down occurrence conditions for rare events and shortens validation timeWhile AI runs simulations, the technology searches for events based on learned characteristics. NEC and AIST have developed an algorithm that enables intentionally biased search based on the frequency of event occurrence. As a result, it has become possible to efficiently narrow down the conditions for rare events, and to discover them in a shorter time.Reduces the risk of multiple critical events being overlookedBased on the degree and frequency of occurrence of rare events in its learning outcomes, the AI developed by NEC and AIST calculates and adjusts the concentration ratio of its search in the vicinity of already detected events to 50%, thereby enabling the risk of overlooking multiple critical events to be reduced.NEC and AIST will extend the field of applications for this technology from optics design to structural design, such as bridges and buildings, and fluid design such as engines, and will continue working in cooperation to contribute to the development of new technologies merging AI and simulations, and to their application in industry.NEC and AIST presented the technology on May 4 at the SIAM International Conference on Data Mining (SDM18) in San Diego, California.(1) NEC announces new AI technology brand, "NEC the WISE"http://www.nec.com/en/press/201607/global_20160719_01.html(2) Stray light: Stray light is unwanted light in an optical system. When stray light reaches the detector, it causes errors and degrades the observational performance of the optical device.About NEC CorporationNEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.Based on its Mid-term Management Plan 2015, the NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.Source: NEC CorporationContact:Copyright 2018 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.Diagram: The structure of SeleBoo



Fujitsu Limited Public and Investor Relations Tel: +81-3-3215-5259 URL: www.fujitsu.com/global/news/contacts/

TOKYO, May 14, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, Inc. (Nippan) and Fujitsu Limited announce the joint development of "SeleBoo" book selection service, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically select books that fit with the unique characteristics of a bookstore, such as the store concept and target customers. Nippan will make the service available to its affiliated bookstores across Japan, beginning in the summer of 2018. SeleBoo, a word combination derived from "Select Book," is the industry's first AI-based book selection service to create book lists suited to a store's theme and customer base, from approximately 600,000 books on sale in Japan, through big data analysis using Fujitsu's AI. Based on these lists, Nippan will suggest books to its affiliated bookstores across Japan, helping retail locations attract customers through in-store promotions and events. Through this service, Nippan and Fujitsu aim to invigorate the publishing industry market, and create new business models by matching books with products and services in other industries, such as cafes and general merchandise stores.BackgroundThe publishing industry is facing the pressure of dramatic change as reading rates fall among young people and ebooks become increasingly common. In light of this, Nippan, which connects publishers with bookstores, has joined with Fujitsu to develop SeleBoo, an AI book selection service, based on Nippan's data, including product information, sales results, and purchase records, in order to support a new strategy of bringing out the distinctiveness of bookstores.Details of the SeleBoo ServiceThis service uses the Marketing AI Container(1), which is a big data analysis service using Fujitsu's AI, to analyze open data such as DBpedia(2) and Lod4all(3) in addition to Nippan's 3.5 million bibliographic items of information on books and magazines as well as sales information, from about 3,000 bookstores across Japan. The service then selects books to create a list based on the bookstore or retail store's theme and target customer base. In addition, by incorporating feedback from bookstore staff on the selection results, AI can apply machine learning to bookstore staff knowledge and intuition, improving its book selection capability. The service will initially offer keyword book selection, which will select books related to a theme, key book selection, which will select books that are similar to a specified book, and location book selection, which will select books related to a specific area. Fujitsu and Nippan plan to further enhance the service going forward, developing functionality such as bookstore color book selection, which will select books that suit the characteristics of a bookstore, and cover book selection, which will select books based on their covers.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuSeleBoo51418.jpgDiagram: The structure of SeleBooSeleBoo will be exhibited at the Nippan Partner Event(4) on May 15, and Fujitsu Forum 2018(5), which will be held May 17-18.(1) Marketing AI Container An analysis environment that can execute as-is the advanced analysis logic developed by Fujitsu on the basis of over 200 analysis projects aimed at specific data usage goals for each individual company. The container can provide an analysis environment in a flexible form that fits the customer's needs.(2) DBpedia A community site that extracts information from Wikipedia and publishes it as Linked Open Data (LOD).(3) Lod4all An LOD usage platform that aggregates LOD published around the world, and enables unified searches.(4) Nippan Partner Event An annual meeting, held for the purpose of deepening the participants' understanding of Nippan's management plans and policies, while building strong partnerships with affiliated bookstores and publishers.(5) Fujitsu Forum 2018 Fujitsu's largest event in Japan. The theme for this year is "Human Centric Innovation: Co-creation for Success." Held at the Tokyo International Forum (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo).About Fujitsu LtdFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 155,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US$40 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.* Please see this press release, with images, at:http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/Source: Fujitsu LtdContact:Copyright 2018 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.ATLANTA and BRUSSELS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

- BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) CV oral formulations are approved as a monotherapy or adjunctive therapy in patients four years of age and older with partial-onset seizures

- Approval provides pediatric epilepsy patients a treatment option which can be initiated at a therapeutic dose from day one

- Pediatric epilepsy is the most common, serious neurological disorder among children and young adults, thought to affect nearly 470,000 children in the U.S[1],[2]

- Indication comes less than 2 years after the launch of BRIVIACT in the U.S., building on existing adult monotherapy and adjunctive therapy indications, and broadening clinical application for UCB's newest anti-epilepsy drug

UCB announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for the company's newest anti-epileptic drug (AED) BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) CV oral formulations indicated as monotherapy and adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial onset (focal) seizures in patients age four years and older.

This approval provides clinicians with the convenient option to prescribe BRIVIACT to their pediatric patients as a tablet or oral solution, providing flexible administration options which are important considerations when treating children.

As the safety of BRIVIACT injection has not been established in pediatric patients, BRIVIACT injection is indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures only in patients 16 years of age and older. Please see additional BRIVIACT Important Safety Information below.

As a result of the FDA's decision, children age four years and older with partial-onset seizures in the U.S. can now be treated with BRIVIACT. This extends the clinical application for BRIVIACT which already has a similar indication for adults.

BRIVIACT is the newest anti-epileptic drug (AED) in the synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) family of medicines - a class of medicines discovered and developed by UCB. BRIVIACT demonstrates a high and selective affinity for SV2A in the brain. It is highly permeable and is rapidly and almost completely absorbed which may contribute to its anticonvulsant effects. Gradual dose escalation is not required when initiating treatment with BRIVIACT for monotherapy or adjunctive therapy, allowing clinicians to initiate treatment at a therapeutic dose from day one.

"As a pediatric neurologist, one of the most challenging aspects in treating epilepsy in children is establishing, quickly, which anti-epilepsy drug will support them best in managing their seizures. The impact of poor seizure control can be extremely detrimental - both to overall quality of life for patients and caregivers and for a child's development. There is a real sense of urgency for parents and healthcare providers to know whether a particular therapeutic approach is likely to be successful, minimizing some of the challenges associated with epilepsy and potentially allowing them to live a normal and active life," explained Dr. James Wheless, Director, Neuroscience Institute & Le Bonheur Comprehensive Epilepsy Program - Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. "The availability of an approved treatment option, such as BRIVIACT, has potential to help improve the lives of children and their families by providing an additional choice to support them in their epilepsy journey."

Epilepsy in childhood is a complex disorder that can have a significant impact on many aspects of a child's development and function. Social and societal stigma still associated with epilepsy can be especially cruel for children. The prevalence of pediatric epilepsy has been steadily increasing in the U.S.[3] Today, it is estimated that nearly 470,000 children in the U.S. under the age of 18 have epilepsy, representing around a quarter of the total worldwide population who develop the condition each year.[4] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 0.6 percent of children in the U.S. ages 0 to 17 have active epilepsy - equivalent to six students in a school of 1000.[5] Despite its growing prevalence, approximately 10 to 20 percent of pediatric epilepsy patients experience inadequate seizure control with available anti-epileptic drugs.[6],[7],[8] Alongside close partnerships with educators, family members, and healthcare providers, there is a need for newer AEDs with better seizure control which can support and maximize a child's potential for academic success.

"We believe there is a real need for newer AEDs to support and maximize the potential for success for children with epilepsy," explained Jeff Wren, Executive Vice-President, Head of UCB's Neurology Patient Value Unit. "The approval of BRIVIACT in the U.S for pediatric patients represents an important milestone for patients, families, doctors, UCB, and the wider epilepsy community, and has the potential to provide additional value for patients - both today and for their future. We are very excited to be able to provide a new pediatric treatment choice, and we are proud to support patients as they progress on their epilepsy journey."

The expanded FDA indication for BRIVIACT is based on the principle of extrapolation of its efficacy data from adults to children, and is supported by safety and pharmacokinetics data collected in children. Adverse reactions in pediatric patients are generally similar to those seen in adult patients[9]. This principle of extrapolating clinical data from well controlled studies in adults has been recognized by the FDA as potentially addressing the challenge of limited pediatric data availability.

The safety and effectiveness of BRIVIACT in the treatment of partial-onset seizures have been established in patients four years of age and older. Use of BRIVIACT in these age groups is supported by evidence from placebo-controlled partial-onset seizure studies of BRIVIACT in adults with additional pharmacokinetic and open-label safety studies in pediatric patients age 4 to younger than 16 years of age. Partial-onset seizures in pediatric patients aged 4 to 16 years of age are similar to those in adults and a similar AED exposure-response relationship has been demonstrated. Weight-based dose adaptations have been established in the pediatric population to achieve similar plasma concentrations as observed in adults. The safety and tolerability profile for BRIVIACT in pediatric patients 4 to 16 years of age is generally similar to that seen with adult patients.[9]

The most common adverse reactions recorded for adults (at least 5 percent for BRIVIACT and at least 2 percent more frequently than placebo) are somnolence and sedation, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea and vomiting symptoms.[9]

For additional medical information about BRIVIACT, patient assistance, or any other information please visit http://www.BRIVIACT.com or call 1-844-599-2273.

About Epilepsy[10],[11],[12],[5]

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder of the brain. It is the fourth most common neurological condition worldwide and affects approximately 65 million people. In the U.S. more than 3.4 million people have epilepsy. Anyone can develop epilepsy; it occurs across all ages, races and genders, and is defined as one or more unprovoked seizures with a risk of further seizures. Around one third of patients with epilepsy currently live with uncontrolled seizures.

About UCB in Epilepsy

UCB has a rich heritage in epilepsy with over 20 years of experience in the research and development of anti-epileptic drugs. As a company with a long-term commitment to epilepsy research, our goal is to address unmet medical needs. Our scientists are proud to contribute to advances in the understanding of epilepsy and its treatment. We partner and create super-networks with world-leading scientists and clinicians in academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies and other organizations who share our goals. At UCB, we are inspired by patients, and driven by science in our commitment to support patients with epilepsy.

About BRIVIACT[9],[13]

BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) is a new molecular entity that was rationally designed and developed by UCB.

Brivaracetam displays a high and selective affinity for synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) in the brain, which may contribute to the anticonvulsant effect. However, the precise mechanism of action by which BRIVIACT exerts its anticonvulsant activity is not known.

In the U.S., BRIVIACT (brivaracetam) CV is indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients 4 years of age and older. As the safety of BRIVIACT injection in pediatric patients has not been established, BRIVIACT injection is indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures only in adult patients (16 years of age and older).

In the European Union, BRIVIACT is approved as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients 16 years of age and older with epilepsy. The European Medicines Agency has different regulatory requirements from FDA for approval of monotherapy indications.

Important Safety Information about BRIVIACT in the U.S.[9]

Warnings and Precautions

- Suicidal Behavior and Ideation: Anti-epileptic drugs, including BRIVIACT, increase the risk of suicidal behavior and ideation. Monitor patients taking BRIVIACT for the emergence or worsening of depression; unusual changes in mood or behavior; or suicidal thoughts, behavior, or self-harm. Advise patients, their caregivers, and/or families to be alert for these behavioral changes and report them immediately to a healthcare provider.

- Neurological AdverseReactions: BRIVIACT causes somnolence, fatigue, dizziness, and disturbance in coordination. Somnolence and fatigue-related adverse reactions were reported in 25% of adult patients taking at least 50 mg per day of BRIVIACT compared to 14% of adult patients taking placebo. Dizziness and disturbance in gait and coordination were reported in 16% of adult patients taking at least 50 mg per day of BRIVIACT compared to 10% of adult patients taking placebo. The risk is greatest early in treatment but can occur at any time. Monitor patients for these signs and symptoms and advise them not to drive or operate machinery until they have gained sufficient experience on BRIVIACT.

- PsychiatricAdverse Reactions: BRIVIACT causes psychiatric adverse reactions, including non-psychotic and psychotic symptoms. These events were reported in approximately 13% of adult patients taking at least 50 mg per day of BRIVIACT compared to 8% of adult patients taking placebo. A total of 1.7% of adult patients taking BRIVIACT discontinued treatment due to psychiatric reactions compared to 1.3% of patients taking placebo. Psychiatric adverse reactions were also observed in open-label pediatric trials and were generally similar to those observed in adults. Advise patients to report these symptoms immediately to a healthcare provider.

- Hypersensitivity: BRIVIACT can cause hypersensitivity reactions. Bronchospasm and angioedema have been reported. Discontinue BRIVIACT if a patient develops a hypersensitivity reaction after treatment. BRIVIACT is contraindicated in patients with a prior hypersensitivity reaction to brivaracetam or any of the inactive ingredients.

- WithdrawalofAnti-epilepticDrugs: As with all anti-epileptic drugs, BRIVIACT should generally be withdrawn gradually because of the risk of increased seizure frequency and status epilepticus.

DOSING CONSIDERATIONS

- Dose adjustments are recommended for patients with all stages of hepatic impairment.

- When BRIVIACT is co-administered with rifampin, an increase in the BRIVIACT dose is recommended.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

In adult adjunctive therapy placebo-controlled clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions (at least 5% for BRIVIACT and at least 2% more frequently than placebo) were somnolence and sedation, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea and vomiting symptoms. Adverse reactions reported in clinical studies of pediatric patients 4 years to less than 16 years of age were generally similar to those in adult patients.

BRIVIACTisaScheduleV controlled substance.

Please refer to full Prescribing Information at http://www.briviact.com/briviact-PI.pdf

For more information on BRIVIACT, contact 844-599-CARE (2273).

BRIVIACT is a registered trademark of the UCB Group of Companies.

About UCB

UCB, Brussels, Belgium (http://www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With more than 7500 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of  4.2 billion in 2016. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news

Forward looking statements - UCB

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current plans, estimates and beliefs of management. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial information, expected legal, political, regulatory or clinical results and other such estimates and results. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions which could cause actual results to differ materially from those that may be implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Important factors that could result in such differences include: changes in general economic, business and competitive conditions, the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals or to obtain them on acceptable terms, costs associated with research and development, changes in the prospects for products in the pipeline or under development by UCB, effects of future judicial decisions or governmental investigations, product liability claims, challenges to patent protection for products or product candidates, changes in laws or regulations, exchange rate fluctuations, changes or uncertainties in tax laws or the administration of such laws and hiring and retention of its employees. UCB is providing this information as of the date of this press release and expressly disclaims any duty to update any information contained in this press release, either to confirm the actual results or to report a change in its expectations.

There is no guarantee that new product candidates in the pipeline will progress to product approval or that new indications for existing products will be developed and approved. Products or potential products which are the subject of partnerships, joint ventures or licensing collaborations may be subject to differences between the partners. Also, UCB or others could discover safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with its products after they are marketed. Moreover, sales may be impacted by international and domestic trends toward managed care and health care cost containment and the reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers as well as legislation affecting biopharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement.

References:

1. Shinnar, S., Pellock, J.M. Update on the epidemiology and prognosis of pediatric epilepsy. J Child Neurol. 2002;17(Suppl 1):S4-17.

2. Zack MM, Kobau R. National and State Estimates of the Numbers of Adults and Children with Active Epilepsy - United States, 2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66:821-825. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6631a1 accessed 02 May 2018.

3. Datamonitor Healthcare. Epilepsy disease coverage. 2015.

4. Featherstone, V. Epilepsy in children and young people. Cerebra - Positively Different. 2010. Available at: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/14522/1/Epilepsy%2520Brief.pdf accessed 12th March 2018.

5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy/basics/fast-facts.htm Accessed 02 May 2018.

6. Berg AT, Vickrey BG, Testa FM, Levy SR, Shinnar S, DiMario F, et al. How long does it take for epilepsy to become intractable? A prospective investigation. Ann Neurol. 2006;60:14-17.

7. Berg, A., Shinnar, S., Levy, S., Testa, F., Smith-Rapaport, S., Beckerman, B. Early development of intractable epilepsy in children: a prospective study. Neurology. 2001;56(11):1445-1452.

8. Geerts A, Arts WF, Stroink H, Peeters E, Brouwer O, Peters B, et al. Course and outcome of childhood epilepsy: a 15-y follow-up of the Dutch study of epilepsy in childhood. Epilepsia. 2010;51:1189-97.

9. Briviact U.S. Prescribing Information. Brussels, Belgium: UCB, 2018. https://www.briviact.com/briviact-PI.pdf

10. The Epilepsy Foundation of America. About epilepsy basics http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/about-epilepsy-basics accessed accessed 02 May 2018.

11. The Epilepsy Foundation of America. What is epilepsy? http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/epilepsy-101/what-epilepsy accessed 02 May 2018.

12. The Epilepsy Foundation of America. Who gets epilepsy? http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/epilepsy-101/who-gets-epilepsy accessed 02 May 2018

13. Briviact EU Prescribing Information. Brussels, Belgium: UCB, 2016. http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/003898/WC500200206.pdf accessed 02 May 2018.Regulatory News:

Total (Paris:FP) (LSE:TTA) (NYSE:TOT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Oman to develop natural gas resources in Oman. This MoU covers both upstream and downstream businesses.

Total and Shell as operator will develop several natural gas discoveries located in the Greater Barik area on onshore Block 6 with respective shares of 25% and 75%, as per the agreement between both companies and before possible State back-in, with the objective of an initial gas production of around 500 MMcfd and a potential to reach 1 bcf/d at a later stage.

Total will use its equity gas entitlement as feedstock to develop in Oman a regional hub for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunkering service to supply LNG as a fuel to marine vessels. This will be achieved thanks to a new small-scale modular liquefaction plant to be built in Sohar port. The plant will comprise a train of around 1 Mt per year and will offer the flexibility for expansion as required by the development of the LNG bunkering market.

"We are pleased to sign this MoU with the Sultanate of Oman that will give us access to new gas resources and the opportunity to develop an integrated gas project," stated Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration Production at Total. "We will bring our expertise in LNG and will introduce access to a new gas market for the Sultanate. Developing an LNG bunkering service will generate in-country value and job opportunities, and will support industry diversification through fostering the shipping activity in Oman."

Total Exploration Production in Oman

In Oman, the Group's production was 37 kboe/d in 2017. Total produces oil in Block 6 (4%) and in Block 53 (2%), as well as LNG through its participation in the Oman LNG (5.54%)/Qalhat LNG (2.04%) liquefaction complex with an overall capacity of 10.5 Mt/y.

About Total

Total is a global integrated energy producer and provider, a leading international oil and gas company, a major player in low-carbon energies. Our 98,000 employees are committed to better energy that is safer, cleaner, more efficient, more innovative and accessible to as many people as possible. As a responsible corporate citizen, we focus on ensuring that our operations in more than 130 countries worldwide consistently deliver economic, social and environmental benefits.

Cautionary note

This press release, from which no legal consequences may be drawn, is for information purposes only. The entities in which TOTAL S.A. directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. TOTAL S.A. has no liability for their acts or omissions. In this document, the terms "Total" and "Total Group" are sometimes used for convenience where general references are made to TOTAL S.A. and/or its subsidiaries. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them.

This document may contain forward-looking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic, competitive and regulatory environment. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors. Neither TOTAL S.A. nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement, objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180513005100/en/

Contacts:

Total

Media Relations:

+33 1 47 44 46 99

presse@total.com

@TotalPress

or

Investor Relations:

+44 (0)207 719 7962

ir@total.comPRAGUE, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague, the fourth annual event dedicated to the blockchain, cryptocurrencies and ICO, will be held on May 17. This is one of the largest platforms in Europe for the exchange of experience and search for potential partners. Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague is an event organized by the Smile-Expo company, which created a network of blockchain events in 20 countries around the world. The organizers intend to exceed last year's success: experts from IBM, PwC and other companies known in the crypto community will be among the speakers.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690847/Smile_Expo_Conference.jpg )



Guests will hear presentations:

On blockchain and its impact on business and the economy

Rene Bostic from IBM will analyze cases of blockchain application in business and tell you the key points of the process. The blockchain developer from the American IT company CA Technologies Alexandru Popa will tell about the impact of blockchain on user identification systems.

The head of consulting company VOX ICO Consulting Stefano Virgilli will clearly explain the blockchain basics. Representative of the European Organization for Nuclear Research Manuel Martin Marquez will talk on the acceleration of scientific progress after blockchain was introduced.

On ICO and cryptocurrencies

Guenther Dobrauz, partner in PwC Legal Switzerland, will explain how affordable investments in ICO will be in the future and whether token sale will replace venture capital. The co-founder of GRAFT Blockchain, Dan Itkis, will explain how to make the integration of crypto payments ubiquitous.

Co-founder of the blockchain platform Crowdgolding Alex Bozhinov will explain how power, politics and finance transformed the ICO. The co-founder of ICO accelerator Iconiq Lab Sandris Murins will talk on how to create a token and what is needed for this.

Exhibition area

In addition to the conference, an exhibition area will be available to Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague guests. Companies representing the blockchain industry will demonstrate their achievements here:

 hardware and software for mining;

 blockchain developments;

 trading, marketing and technological services.

Venue

The event will be held in the fashionable Hotel Ambassador Zlata Husa, which is located in the historical center of the Czech capital. Guests will enjoy diving not only in the world of cryptocurrencies, but also in the atmosphere of one of the most beautiful European cities.

Address: Vaclavske namesti 840/5, 110 00, Prague 1.

Registration, the full program and news of the event >>> https://goo.gl/iik85y

About Smile-Expo

Smile-Expo is an international company, organizer of large business events. Smile-Expo keeps its finger on the pulse of global innovations, analyzes markets, predicts promising drives, shares information with friends and associates, and launches projects throughout new segments, which have no equivalents in Russia, or on the whole CIS territory.

We can safely say that Smile-Expo is a flagship of innovation in the field of exhibition and conference service. The company was the first to draw attention to such promising, but not yet sufficiently developed in the CIS fields as affiliate marketing, robotics, 3D technology, cryptocurrency, wearable devices and augmented reality, Internet of Things, mHealth, "Connected car" and many more.

Smile-Expo has started its way with interest in advanced developments in various sectors of the economy and desire to create projects that allow companies to keep up with the times. The result is 12 years of successful work in the market that inspire professionals of Smile-Expo for organization of large-scale exhibitions, conferences, congresses, forums, workshops and webinars.

Media Contact:

Eugenia Pasechnik

e.pasechnik@smileexpo.team

BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of a second round of trade talks between the U.S. and China this week, President Donald Trump has indicated he will help Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. get 'back into business.'



Trump said in a post on Twitter on Sunday that he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to assist ZTE, which has been crippled by a ban on U.S. supplies to its business.



'President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast,' Trump tweeted. 'Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!'



Sources briefed on the matter told Reuters that China has demanded the ZTE issue be resolved as a prerequisite for broader trade negotiations.



Last week, ZTE said its major operating activities have ceased as a result of the denial of export privileges imposed by the Commerce Department.



Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the denial order last month, claiming ZTE made false statements about employee disciplinary actions related to the illegal shipping of telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea.



The Commerce Department said the false statements covered up the fact that ZTE paid full bonuses to employees that had engaged in illegal conduct and failed to issue letters of reprimand.



'ZTE misled the Department of Commerce. Instead of reprimanding ZTE staff and senior management, ZTE rewarded them. This egregious behavior cannot be ignored,' Ross said at the time.



In a press briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China 'greatly appreciates' Trump's new position on the ZTE issue.



The tweet from Trump comes as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is due to travel to Washington this week to meet with the president's economic team.



Trump expressed optimism about trade talks with China in a subsequent tweet despite claiming past negotiations have been one-sided in favor of Beijing.



'China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries,' Trump tweeted. 'But be cool, it will all work out!'



A U.S. delegation led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin traveled to Beijing earlier this month for trade talks with Chinese officials.



A report from China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the talks resulted in agreements on some issues but noted considerable differences still exist.



Xinhua said both sides recognized the remaining differences and said continued hard work is required for more progress.



The talks included discussions of issues such as increasing U.S. exports to China, bilateral service trade, two-way investment, protection of intellectual property rights, and resolving tariff and non-tariff issues.



Xinhua said the two sides agreed to stay in close communication on relevant issues and establish a corresponding work mechanism.



(Photo: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.deJERUSALEM, ISRAEL / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2018 / IDenta Corp. (OTC PINK: IDTA) is a worldwide leader in the development of field drug and explosive detection kits and unique forensic products. Today IDenta Corp published its first quarter financial statement for 2018. The report shows a modest increase in sales and revenues, which along with a decrease in expenses, resulted in a significant increase in profits. In view of contracted committed purchases that will take place over the next several months, revenues by mid-year will exceed revenues for all of 2017.

Amichai Glattstein, CEO of IDenta Corp, stated, "We can already see in this report the significant progress made by the company. This progress is a result of the important fundamental changes made in all aspects of the company. In addition, the company is investing in research and development of additional products to expand its customer base and its variety of products. The company will soon launch a new product which will significantly help penetrate important markets with huge sales potential."



About IDenta Corp.

Since 2002, IDenta Corporation and its subsidiary IDenta Ltd has been recognized as a worldwide leader in the development of proprietary on-site Drug, Drug Precursor and Explosive detection kits. IDenta develops, manufactures and distributes revolutionary products for both the professional and civil markets which consistently pass the highest qualifications and testing procedures of law enforcement and security agencies around the world.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain of the statements contained herein may be, within the meaning of the federal securities laws, "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations as of the date hereof, and the company does not undertake any responsibility to update any of these statements in the future.

Company Contact Information:

Public Relations

Tel: +972-2-5872220

E: pr@identa-corp.com

SOURCE: IDenta Corp.Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A Tesla Model S rammed into the back of a parked fire truck in South Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City, on Friday May 11, according to local media reports.



The car was traveling at 60 miles an hour when it hit the truck, the police officials said. However, it is not clear whether the driver was using the electric car maker's Autopilot system at the time of accident. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash.



'For unknown reasons, the Tesla failed to stop for the traffic at the red light and ran into the back of a United Fire Authority vehicle at 60 miles per hour,' Sergeant Samuel Winkler told local news channel Fox 13 News. He added witnesses told investigators the Tesla made no attempt to stop or slow down.



'Tesla has not yet received any data from the car and thus does not know the facts of what occurred, including whether Autopilot was engaged,' a Tesla spokesperson told the Deseret News in a statement.



Meanwhile, Matthew Schwall, a senior Tesla executive who was the company's main technical contact with U.S. safety regulators, has left for Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit, Waymo.



Last week, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it is sending a team of four to investigate a fatal, electric vehicle crash on State Route A1A, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.



A 2014 Tesla Model S was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck a wall resulting in a post-crash fire. Two vehicle occupants died, and one occupant was injured.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.deLOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2018 / The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of PPG Industries, Inc. ("PPG" or the "Company") (NYSE: PPG) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. After market close on May 10, 2018, PPG informed the marketplace that its Audit Committee had uncovered improper accounting entries that were undertaken by employees based on the direction of the Company's former Vice President and Controller. The Controller was terminated as of May 10, 2018. PPG also stated that its 2017 financial statements should not be relied upon and that the Company would be unable to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, in a timely manner. Based on this news, shares of PPG fell considerably during intraday trading on May 11, 2018.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall, or Sherin Mahdavian, of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 424-303-1964, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at brian@schallfirm.com.

The class, in this case, has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm

Brian Schall, Esq.

Sherin Mahdavian, Esq.

Schallfirm.com

SOURCE: The Schall Law FirmToronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 14, 2018) - XBRL Canada is pleased to announce it will be hosting a webinar on May 30, 2018 at 1:00 PM ET addressing the lessons learned from the first round of filings by Foreign Private Issuers (FPIs).

On March 1, 2017, the SEC announced the acceptance of the IFRS taxonomy which triggered a requirement for most FPIs in Canada to begin reporting using XBRL for reports with periods ending December 15, 2017 and later.

As Canada is home to the largest number of FPIs reporting to the SEC, over 300 companies were required to begin filing using XBRL.

By May 30, 2018, most of these companies will have filed their first XBRL filing to the SEC. In this webinar, we will share the experience that has been gained by companies, regulators and analysts during this first wave of filings.

Presenters include Mike Willis, a retired PwC partner with public company reporting and audit experience. He is the Assistant Director of the Office of Structured Disclosure at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Joining him will be Wasim Thaha, Co-founder & Director of Newsfile Corp, and Past Chair of XBRL Canada.

Mr. Willis will present on the perspective of the SEC on the more common issues experienced in the filing program to date. Mr. Thaha will present some findings from the Canadian filer perspective. The webinar will last for approximately forty five minutes.

The webinar is free but registration is required. Please register by emailing gtrites@xbrl.ca.

About XBRL Canada

XBRL Canada (www.xbrl.ca) is the Canadian jurisdiction of XBRL International and largely funded and administered by CPA Canada. The purpose of XBRL Canada is to provide support and encouragement for the adoption of eXtensible Business Reporting Language in Canada. XBRL is widely used around the world and recognized as the leader in advanced electronic business and financial reporting.

To strive towards its goals, XBRL Canada holds seminars and webinars and issues various publications, including its bi-monthly Newsletter. It also leads projects to test and explore XBRL usage in various settings.

For further information, please contact: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

Sponsored by XBRL Canada, with the support of CPA Canada.WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senate Democrats will force a vote on Wednesday on a bill that would undo the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality rules. The resolution would reverse the FCC's decision via the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to overturn regulations within 60 days of their publication in the Federal Register. All forty-nine members of the Democratic caucus and Republican Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, have expressed support for the resolution, which needs only a simple majority to pass. 'The repeal of net neutrality is not only a blow to the average consumer, but it is a blow to public schools, rural Americans, communities of color and small businesses,' said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. He added, 'A vote against this resolution will be a vote to protect large corporations and special interests, leaving the American public to pay the price.' Even if the resolution is approved by the Senate, the measure faces an uncertain future in the Republican-led House and is likely to be blocked by President Donald Trump. Democrats may still utilize the outcome in midterm election campaigns, as polls have shown broad support for the net neutrality rules. The rules, implemented under President Barack Obama, required internet service providers like Verizon (VZ) and Comcast (CMCSA) to treat all web traffic equally. Democrats claim repealing the net neutrality rules could lead to higher prices for consumers, slower internet traffic, and even blocked websites. Meanwhile, Republicans have accused Democrats of looking to score political points, arguing that lawmakers should work together to provide a permanent solution on net neutrality. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices were slightly higher Monday, edging back toward last week's 4-year peak. OPEC predicted strong demand from crude oil for the next year, helping fuel crude's modest rally. The cartel downplayed the impact of the U.S. shale boom, but warned about U.S. trade squabbles. 'So far the impact on the global economy has been minor and negligible, but the build-up of potentially disruptive concerns has increased,' OPEC said. June WTI oil gained 26 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $70.96/bbl. ConocoPhillips will seize $636 million worth of assets held on Curacao by Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A California jury has awarded about $8 million dollars to a former manager of Chipotle Mexican Grill, who was wrongly fired from the job on stealing allegations. Jeanette Ortiz was accused in 2015 of stealing $626 in cash from a safe at the restaurant in Fresno. However, when she asked to see surveillance video evidence, her bosses claimed it had been destroyed. According to the Fresno Bee, Ortiz fired a wrongful termination suit. Last week jurors ordered Chipotle to pay her $7.97 million in damages. The jury found that upper management had fired her maliciously. Ortiz attorney claimed that the allegations did not add up as she earned a salary of $70,000. He added that the company had talked about promoting her to a role that would have paid $100,000 annually. The jury ruled Ortiz was a victim of a scheme to defame her because she had filed a worker's compensation claim for a job-related injury. The award includes $6 million for emotional distress and $1.97 million for the loss of past and future wages. 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.ORANGE COUNTY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2018 / Artificial intelligence is stepping out from behind the movie screens and into the 21st century, changing the ways in which people conduct business, and perhaps even enhancing the marketplace. As such, Nick Kohlschreiber, media master and renowned entrepreneur, discusses how business owners must make savvy decisions to transform their companies as they reach out to their customers.

The first thing Nick Kohlschreiber points out is that artificial intelligence is here to stay. More importantly, it is changing the way companies do business. A recent article in Business Insider suggests that artificial intelligence transforms marketing by changing how consumers are discovered, connected to, and communicated with. Done correctly, AI makes marketing and sales strategies more effective by allowing companies to assimilate immense volumes of consumer data.

Analysis of customer information, according to Technology Review, has been challenging prior to AI, businesses staffed experts to collect, mine, analyze, and then use the data to predict future consumer behavior. AI, when paired with a comprehensive CRM platform, allows marketing specialists to build apps and customer experiences that enhance product recommendations, sentiment analysis, intent, natural language processing, and the ability to answer questions in the moment. According to Nick Kohlschreiber, AI is far superior to in-house data scientists and their old-school methods of prediction. With AI, companies can provide their clients with what they need, when they need it, and how they wish to receive it. For instance, AI can predict needed extras before a buyer purchasing skis gets to the checkout, based on such things as safety, skill level, and current weather conditions.

However, Kohlschreiber states unequivocally that AI can do more than manipulate data. Those using artificial intelligence would be wise to understand that it can save time and money in a multitude of ways. A recent article in Forbes suggests that in addition to personalization of marketing based on superior data collection and analysis, AI can help create content, answer questions (think Siri), and even improve team performance.

One company using AI to surge ahead of their competition is a favorite of Nicholas Kohlschreiber, who says, " Adboom.io has a proprietary technology platform that can deploy and automate social media across multi-million dollar accounts. Because of their grasp of AI, the three friends who started this small firm are now leaders in the field of Internet marketing." AI offers executives across the globe an increased ability to focus on the subtleties of their craft, creating companies that excel. Businesses that don't embrace the technological advancements will falter, as consumers demand an AI platform experience.

A native of New Jersey, Nicholas Kohlschreiber moved to California over a decade ago, quickly excelling in marketing and entrepreneurship. Starting in the solar energy business in 2010, Kohlschreiber leveraged the company to create a ten-fold profit. His latest venture is a media company based in Newport Beach, which provides innovative marketing solutions to new and growing businesses. With the use of technology, including artificial intelligence, Kohlschreiber helps companies grow organically by driving brand awareness.

Nick Kohlschreiber - Expert in Modern Marketing: http://www.nickkohlschreibernews.com

Nick Kohlschreiber - Business Entrepreneur & Founder of TeleTree: http://nickkohlschreiberreviews.com

Nick Kohlschreiber - Creative Marketing Solutions Expert: http://nickkohlschreibermarketing.com

Contact Information

NickKohlschreiberNews.com

www.NickKohlschreiberNews.com

contact@nickkohlschreibernews.com

SOURCE: Nick KohlschreiberCANBERA (dpa-AFX) - China is scheduled to release a raft of data on Tuesday, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are April numbers for retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment. Retail sales are expected to rise 10.0 percent on year, slowing from 10.1 percent in March. Industrial production is tipped to expand an annual 6.4 percent, up from 6.0 percent in the previous month. FAI is pegged at 7.4 percent, easing from 7.5 percent a month earlier. The Reserve Bank of Australia will release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on May 1. At the meeting, the RBA maintained its benchmark lending rate at 1.50 percent. Japan will see March numbers for its tertiary industry index, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.2 percent on month following the flat reading in February. Indonesia will provide April trade data and Q1 numbers for current account. In March, imports were worth $14.49 billion and exports were at $15.58 billion for a trade surplus of $1.09 billion. In Q4, the current account deficit was $5.76 billion. 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.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 14, 2018) - Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSXV: SSV) ("Southern Silver") reported today that drill crews have mobilized to the Area of the Cerro project to complete final preparations in advance of the arrival of the drill. The work is part of Southern Silver's $3 million 2018 exploration program on Cerro Las Minitas and will target both systematic resource expansion in the Area of the Cerro which contains the existing Mineral Resource Estimate and drilling of new discoveries in the recently staked CLM West claim group. A second drill will be mobilized for the CLM West Au-Ag epithermal claim area upon completion of the current surface exploration targeting program allowing the company to test both target areas simultaneously.

The Cerro Las Minitas project operates on a joint venture basis by Southern Silver at a 40% interest and Electrum Global Holdings LP (Electrum) at a 60% interest. Southern Silver remains operator of the project. Since formation of the Joint Venture, the partners have approved over US$3.5 Million in exploration on the project since September, 2017.

Cerro Las Minitas Deposits - Area of the Cerro

Up to 10,000 metres of core drilling is budgeted in 2018 to develop and extend high grade trends within the Skarn Front deposit and will also include several fences of holes stepping out to the southeast in the Las Victorias target area and along strike to the northeast in the North Skarn zone.

Initial drilling will begin at the Las Victorias target and will systematically offset high-grade mineralization previously identified in holes 11CLM-025, 17CLM-101 and 17CLM-105.

Mineralization in the Las Victorias zone is open for approximately 500 metres along strike to the southeast of drill holes 17CLM-101 and -105. Two separate mineralized zones are identified in these holes which are believed to be the lateral extensions of the Blind and Skarn Front zones respectively. As presently modelled, mineralization in Las Victorias zone is open laterally to the southeast and to depths of up to 500 metres.





Figure 1: 2018 drill targets, Area of the Cerro, Cerro Las Minitas project



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/34630_figure1.jpg





Figure 2: Schematic Long-section of proposed drill targeting on the Las Victorias target



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/34630_figure2.jpg





Table 1: Significant mineralized intercepts from the Las Victorias Target area



To view an enhanced version of Table 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/34630_table1.jpg

Cerro Los Minitas Metallurgical Results

Recently completed Metallurgical test work was successful in separating both lead and zinc concentrates from both of the Skarn Front and Blind - El Sol sulphide composites. Silver was recovered to the lead concentrate and averaged 70% for the Skarn Front material and 82% for the Blind - El Sol sulphides. Lead recoveries remained high and averaged 87% in the Skarn Front and 90% in the Blind - El Sol concentrates.

Three stages of cleaning were required to increase overall zinc performance in the test work with the best results from the Skarn Front material returning recoveries of 74% Zn to 85% Zn and grading from 44% to 46.7% Zn. Minimal lead cleaning was required to produce high concentrate grades of over 60% Pb in the lead concentrate. Silver which partitions into the lead concentrate returned grades of over 2500g/t Ag in the Blind El Sol and over 4500g/t Ag in the Skarn Front.

The Metallurgical test work on representative composites from the Cerro Los Minitas mineral deposits was conducted by Blue Coast Research of Parksville, BC which visited the project in October 2017 to supervise the selection of samples for use in the study. Representative samples of the Blind - El Sol oxides and sulphides as well as the Skarn Front sulphides were collected from drill core and combined into three distinct composites to represent the three different styles of mineralization currently identified on the project. Test work included sample characterization and batch flotation tests. A limited cyanidation test program was conducted on the Blind - El Sol oxide composite.

Sample characterization of the composites included head analyses, chemical characterization, modal mineralogy determinations (including microprobe work) and Bond Ball Work Index tests.

The dominant mineral phases in the sampled material are calcite and orthoclase, with significant quantities of garnet and quartz. Sulphide minerals represent 18.1% of the Skarn Front composite and 23.5% of the Blind-El Sol sulphide composite. Major sulphide minerals include sphalerite, pyrite and galena. Significant arsenopyrite is present in the Blind - El Sol sulphide composite, but was effectively rejected during flotation.

A single Bond Ball Work test was conducted on each composite. Bond Work Mill Indices ranged from 12.3 to 12.8 (kWh/tonne) for the two sulphide composites.

The Blind - El Sol oxide composite was subjected to a limited test program. Whole ore cyanidation tests averaged 74% Ag recover. Lack of sulphide minerals in the oxide material meant that flotation was ineffective and resulted in poor recoveries for lead and zinc.

Management is pleased that the results demonstrate the separation of the lead-silver and zinc into two composites and the effective rejection of deleterious minerals such as arsenopyrite. Cleaner tests resulted in upgrading of both the lead and the zinc concentrates. The work remains preliminary and further test work on the composites will evaluate the benefits of alternate collectors, the potential separation of copper and of pyrite depression during zinc flotation and locked -cycle tests on both the Blind-El Sol and Skarn Front composites.





Table 2: Select cleaner test results from the Skarn Front and Blind - El Sol deposits



To view an enhanced version of Table 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/34630_table2.jpg

Cerro Las Minitas Project

Recent exploration on the company's flagship Cerro Las Minitas property, Durango Mexico has been funded by Electrum Global Holdings L.P. ("Electrum"), which has now earned a 60% indirect interest in the property through a US$5.0M earn-in on the property, with Southern Silver acting as operator of joint venture operations.

The Cerro Las Minitas project as of January 8th , 2018 contains an estimated Indicated Resource, at a 175g/t AgEq cut-off, of 33.6Mozs silver and 319Mlbs of lead and 813Mlbs zinc (116.1Mozs AgEq) and an estimated Inferred Resource of 20.7Mozs silver, 131Mlbs lead and 870Mlbs zinc (92.7Mozs AgEq).(1)

A total of 108 drill holes for 49,600 metres has now been completed on the Cerro Las Minitas project with exploration expenditures of approximately US$15.5 million equating to exploration cost of $0.07 per AgEq ounce. A further US$3.0 million is budgeted for 2018 exploration.

About Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

Southern Silver Exploration Corp. is a precious metal exploration and development company with a focus on the discovery of world-class mineral deposits in north-central Mexico and the southern USA. Our specific emphasis is the Cerro Las Minitas silver-lead-zinc project located in the heart of Mexico's Faja de Plata, which hosts multiple world-class mineral deposits such as Penasquito, San Martin, Naica, Los Gatos and Pitarrilla. We have assembled a team of highly experienced technical, operational and transactional professionals to support our exploration efforts in developing, along with our partner, Electrum Global Holdings LP, the Cerro Las Minitas project into a premier, high-grade, silver-lead-zinc mine.

The Company engages in the acquisition, exploration and development either directly or through joint-venture relationships in mineral properties in major jurisdictions. Our property portfolio also includes the Oro porphyry copper-gold project located in southern New Mexico, USA. The Oro property consists of patented land, State leases and BLM located mineral claims which cover a highly prospective quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration zone, interpreted to overlie an unexposed porphyry centre and distal sediment-hosted, oxide-gold target.

____________________

1 The 2018 Cerro Las Minitas Resource Estimate was prepared following CIM definitions for classification of Mineral Resources. Resources are constrained using mainly geological constraints and approximate 10g/t AgEq grade shells. The block models are comprised of an array of blocks measuring 10m x 2m x 10m, with grades for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn and AgEq values interpolated using ID2 weighting. The models identified at a 175g/t AgEq cut-off, an indicated resource of 10,135,000 tonnes averaging 102g/t Ag, 0.1g/t Au, 1.4% Pb, 3.6% Zn and 0.15% Cu and a cumulative inferred resource of 8,685,000 tonnes averaging 74g/t Ag, 0.04g/t Au, 0.7% Pb, 4.5% Zn and 0.15% Cu. Mineral Resource cut-offs are estimated using an average long-term price of $16/oz silver, $1,200/oz gold, $2.75/lb Cu, $1.00/lb lead and $1.10/lb zinc and metal recoveries of 82% silver, 86% lead 80% copper and 80% zinc. AgEq calculations did not account for relative metallurgical recoveries of the metals. All prices are stated in $USD. Mineral Resources are conceptual in nature and as such do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The current Resource Estimate was prepared by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo. of Kirkham Geosciences Ltd. who is the Independent Qualified Person responsible for presentation and review of the Mineral Resource Estimate.

Robert Macdonald, MSc. P.Geo, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and responsible for the supervision of the exploration on the Cerro Las Minitas Project and for the preparation of the technical information in this disclosure.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Lawrence Page"

Lawrence Page, Q.C.

President & Director, Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

For further information, please visit Southern Silver's website at southernsilverexploration.com or contact us at 604.641.2759 or by email at ir@mnxltd.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Southern Silver Exploration Corp. does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.Venkatesan is in multiple talks with Amazon, the report said quoting sources, adding that he could join the e-commerce giant as either a board member, chairman or a senior advisor in India.

When Ravi Venkatesan said, on Friday that he had quit the Infosys Board to pursue an "exciting new opportunity", was that 'new opportunity' at Amazon? At least, that is what an Economic Times report suggested. 54-year-old Venkatesan was independent director on the Board of India's second-largest software services major. According to the ET report, he has been looking at several options. One of them could be with Flipkart rival, Amazon, for which talks began last year, a source told the newspaper.

Venkatesan could join the e-commerce giant as either a board member, chairman or a senior advisor at Amazon India.

Besides Amazon, talks are on, the report said, for a role with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Venkatesan refused to comment on queries put forth by ET, the report added.

In April 2017, Venkatesan was made co-chairman of Infosys at a time when co-founder N R Narayana Murthy was gunning for then company management led by Chairman R Seshasayee and CEO Vishal Sikka over corporate governance issues, reported the PTI.

When Infosys named co-founder and former CEO Nilekani as its new chairman in August last year, Venkatesan stepped down as co-chairman but continued to be an independent director.

"I joined the board at a time when Infosys was beginning the complex journey of transitioning from founder-led to professional management. This was also a time of tectonic industry shifts. I am pleased that this mission has been accomplished. Infosys is strong, in good hands, and is gaining momentum," Venkatesan said in the statement.

Venkatesan had "served briefly as co-chairman before successfully transitioning this responsibility when Nandan Nilekani became chairman in August 2017", it added.

Amazon in overdrive

Last week, Amazon reportedly pumped Rs 2,600 crore more into its Indian marketplace business in a bid to battle Walmart-Flipkart. That infusion brought Amazons total investment in Amazon Seller Services, its main marketplace business here, to over Rs 20,000 crore.Gross NPAs of scheduled commercial banks as on 31 December, 2017 due to loans to industry were at Rs 6,09,222 crore, accounting for 20.41 percent of the gross advances.

New Delhi: The finance ministry is examining a proposal to find innovative ways for dealing with burden of NPA provisions by issuing provision shore-up certificates (PSC) to banks.

With the help of this instrument, the operating profit of bank is saved from erosion and the lender would be able to focus on lending activities as being in financially good shape.

Under this scheme, the bank concerned will get PSC to the extent of its provision against the bad loans and conserve its capital, sources said, adding that this capital can then be used for expanding core business of lending.

This is at the "idea stage" and various aspects of this model are being examined, sources said.

This would be a kind of capital infusion not in one go but spread over various quarters.

A special trust would take over the underlying provisioned assets for monitoring, recovery and unlocking value, using the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, they said.

The instrument would be used only against NPAs and not for total provisions which also include those for employee benefit etc, sources added.

Besides, there is a fundamental difference between the proposal to set up a bad bank that takes over the entire stressed asset and the PSC mechanism. In the latter's case, the bank only assigns the stressed assets and will receive PSCs only to the extent of provisions made.

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of all the banks rose to Rs 8,40,958 crore in December 2017, led by industry loans followed by services and agriculture sectors.

Gross NPAs of scheduled commercial banks as on 31 December, 2017 due to loans to industry were at Rs 6,09,222 crore, accounting for 20.41 percent of the gross advances.

That was followed by Rs 1,10,520 crore (5.77 percent) dues from services sector, Rs 69,600 crore (6.53 percent) from agriculture and allied activities, Rs 14,986 crore from other non-food credit and Rs 36,630 crore (2.01 percent) from retail loans.

The highest amount of gross NPAs was for country's largest lender SBI at Rs 2,01,560 crore. Among others, Punjab National Bank (PNB) was at Rs 55,200 crore, IDBI Bank Rs 44,542 crore, Bank of India Rs 43,474 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 41,649 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 38,047 crore, Canara Bank Rs 37,794 crore and ICICI Bank Rs 33,849 crore.

Indian Overseas Bank bank had gross NPAs of Rs 31,724 crore, Central Bank of India Rs 32,491 crore, UCO Bank Rs 24,308 crore, Allahabad Bank Rs 23,120 crore, Andhra Bank Rs 21,599 crore and Corporation Bank Rs 21,818 crore.The Supreme Court last week rejected DoT's petition for security deposit of around Rs 1,700 crore from the companies and directed it to approve the merger.

New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) on Monday approved the merger of Telenor India with Bharti Airtel, according to an official source.

"The DoT has approved merger of Telenor India with Bharti Airtel this morning," the official source told PTI.

The Supreme Court last week rejected DoT's petition for security deposit of around Rs 1,700 crore from the companies and directed it to approve the merger.

The guarantee included Rs 1,499 crore for one-time spectrum charge for the radiowaves allocated to Airtel without auction, and over Rs 200 crore for spectrum payment which Telenor has to make.

The merger will bolster Airtel's spectrum footprint in seven telecom circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band.

Telenor India runs operations in seven circles -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.

DoT has asked Airtel to reduce it market share based on adjusted gross revenue (money earned from telecom services) in Bihar service area to the limit of 50 percent, within one year from the date merger of two companies is approved.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had approved the proposed merger on 8 March.The government on Tuesday held detailed discussions with telecom operators and airlines on framing guidelines for in-flight data and voice services

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday held detailed discussions with telecom operators and airlines on framing guidelines for in-flight data and voice services, sources said.

The meeting comes within a fortnight of the Telecom Commission, the highest policy making body of Department of Telecom (DoT), clearing a proposal for allowing in-flight connectivity.

Once the guidelines are in place, it would allow travellers to use internet and voice services on mobile phones during flights in the Indian airspace.

Sources said officials from the Telecom Department, the Civil Aviation Ministry, telecom companies and airlines participated in the meeting that lasted for nearly 90 minutes.

The meeting deliberated upon having a "working model" for operationalising in flight connectivity' and sought inputs from both operators and airlines on the issue, they added.

According to sources, nuances related to operationalising in-flight connectivity, including approach to registration of service providers who would offer such connectivity, the process and the criteria for enlisting them, were discussed.

Besides, the meeting deliberated upon in-flight connectivity models that are operational in other markets as well as technical issues involved, sources said.

Airlines, including Vistara, Air India and Jet Airways, as well as telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio were invited for the meeting.

Last week, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey had said the DoT would "invite application for new licenses either by month-end or early next month for airlines for wi-fi connectivity".

Earlier, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan had expressed hope that the facility would be fully rolled out in 3-4 months once the modalities of the niche licences and back-end agreements are worked out.

While mobile phone use would still be restricted during takeoff and landing, Telecom Commission had approved the lifting of a ban on the use mobile phone and internet services at cruising altitudes.

As per the telecom regulator's recommendations a separate category of licencees -- in-flight service providers -- would be created for offering such services in India, and licence fee for such niche providers will be pegged at Re 1.

Globally, many airlines are already offering wi-fi for passengers, but they currently have to switch off the facility when they enter the Indian airspace.It will invest in seed and pre-series-A startups through a dedicated Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund - which announced its initial closing at $7.5 million and is expected to make a final close at $15 million by July

Mumbai: Top management institute IIM-Ahmedabad today launched the Bharat Inclusion Initiative, which aims to invest about $25 million in startups working in the areas of financial inclusion, livelihood, education and health over the next three to four years.

Launched by the institute's Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), the initiative aims to channelise approximately $25 million over the next 3-4 years towards backing game-changing startups leveraging the ongoing digital transformation in India, it said in a release.

With seed support from Tata Trusts, CIIE has received an initial commitment of $12.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and Omidyar Network, according to the release. This includes a $5 million commitment for providing support to startups through a series of acceleration programs, focused research, training workshops and piloting partnerships.

In addition, CIIE will also invest in seed and pre-series-A startups through a dedicated Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund - which announced its initial closing at $7.5 million and is expected to make a final close at $15 million by July, it said.

"The Bharat Inclusion Initiative aims to provide a continuum of solutions to inclusion focused tech entrepreneurs across the pre-incubation, seed and scale-up stage and help them jump to the next orbit,"said Neharika Vohra, chairperson, CIIE Initiatives.

To enhance the learning of the entire ecosystem, all research, insights, knowledge and publications created under the programme will be openly disseminated, according to the release.The ministry has issued the fresh set of guidelines to all central government departments.

New Delhi: Selfies can't be used as photographs in pension forms, the Personnel Ministry has told central government employees readying for retirement.

Issuing a fresh set of dos and don'ts for civil pensioners, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has also ruled out photographs with coloured and dark glasses and long hair covering the eyes.

Do not paste/upload black and white photographs. Dimensions of photographs and signature should not be smaller that the box provided in the application form. Photograph should not be in the form of selfie, it said in its recent directive.

Central government civil pensioners are required to submit three copies of a joint photograph (or separate photographs) with their wives or husbands (duly attested by head of office) along with form 5 of the Central Civil Service Pension Rules 1972 for affixing on a payment pension order.

A government servant must get the form, which has fields to fill in personal details, from the head of office eight months before the date of his or her retirement.

According to the ministry, a photograph with a dark background or in uniform, or with eyes hidden under coloured or dark glasses will not be accepted. Photograph in computer print will not be accepted, it said.

The photograph is not to be signed and the eyes must not be covered by hair, the ministry said.

Glares on eyeglasses should be avoided with a slight upward or downward tilt of the head, it said.

The ministry has issued the fresh set of guidelines to all central government departments.

The purpose behind issuing these guidelines is to ensure prompt disposal of pension cases so that retired government employees do not have to wait for long to get their pension, a senior ministry official said.

There are about 48.41 lakh central government employees and 61.17 lakh pensioners.The CBI on Monday filed its first charge sheet in the country's largest financial scam worth over $2 billion in Punjab National Bank by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, detailing the alleged role of the bank's former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Monday, filed its first charge sheet in the country's largest financial scam worth over $2 billion in Punjab National Bank by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, detailing the alleged role of the bank's former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, who is now Allahabad Bank CEO and MD, officials said.

The chargesheet, filed in a special court in Mumbai, also names several other top officials of the bank. Ananthasubramanian was the MD and CEO of PNB from 2015 to 2017 and was questioned recently by the CBI in connection with the case.

The agency has also named PNB executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad in its charge sheet.

The agency has detailed the roles of Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modi's company, officials said.

The charge sheet basically deals with the first FIR registered in the case relating to the fraudulent issuance over Rs 6,000 crore of letters of undertaking (LoUs) to Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

The agency has not given in detail the role of Mehul Choksi in the present charge sheet. It is likely to come up when the CBI files supplementary charge sheets in the case related to the probe of the Gitanjali group.

The CBI has registered three separate FIRs in connection with the alleged fraud in the public sector bank (PSB) by the companies of the nephew-uncle duo of Modi and Choksi.

Both Modi and Choksi had left the country before PNB filed the complaint with the CBI.PNB, Indias second-largest state-run bank, disclosed in February that two jewellery groups had defrauded it by raising credit from overseas branches of other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff over several years.

New Delhi: Investigators will bring charges against senior bank officials on Monday following an investigation into the $2 billion fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), a police source told Reuters.

PNB, Indias second-largest state-run bank, disclosed in February that two jewellery groups had defrauded it by raising credit from overseas branches of other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff over several years.

Following its probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will on Monday file a charge sheet in a court naming people who have allegedly violated Indian law by their involvement in the bank fraud, a police source said.

The charge sheet will likely name senior Indian bank officials, the source said, without sharing further details.

A court would later decide which charges should be faced by those accused in the case. The source could not be identified in line with federal police rules.

PNB declined to comment. The bank has been conducting a separate internal investigation into the fraud and has already suspended at least 21 officials.

Authorities have arrested at least 20 people and a court has issued non-bailable warrants against accused jewelers Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. The duo have denied the allegations against them, and authorities said they both left the country before the fraud was uncovered.

After the fraud - the biggest in Indian banking history - was reported, the government criticized inadequate oversight by auditors and regulators in the country.Usha Ananthasubramanian was MD and CEO of PNB from 2015 to 2017 and was questioned recently by the CBI in connection with the PNB fraud.

New Delhi: Cracking the whip, the government, on Monday, asked the Board of Allahabad Bank to take away all the powers of its CEO and MD Usha Ananthasubramanian, the former chief of the troubled Punjab National Bank (PNB), in connection with the $2 billion fraud at the PNB.

The Board of Punjab National Bank (PNB) too has been asked to divest two executive directors of all powers, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar told reporters in the capital.

The move came within hours of the CBI filing its first chargesheet in the country's largest financial scam of more than $2 billion in PNB, allegedly perpetrated by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi.

The chargesheet has detailed the alleged role of former PNB chief Ananthasubramanian, who is now Allahabad Bank CEO and MD, in the scam.

Ananthasubramanian was the MD and CEO of PNB from 2015 to 2017 and was questioned recently by the CBI in connection with the case.

The CBI has also named PNB executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad in its chargesheet.

The Financial Services Secretary further said a show cause notice was issued to them about 10-days back by the ministry.

He also informed that the Board meeting of PNB was on and the ministry was waiting for its resolution.Investigators have learnt that PNB acted against two staffers, posted in Hong Kong and Dubai, for highlighting colossal anomalies in the banking system.

New Delhi: Just months before the Nirav Modi scam tumbled out, Punjab National Bank (PNB) quietly recalled two employees, both internal auditors posted at the lender's Hong Kong and Dubai branches after they exposed a deep rot within its banking system.

Top sources within the investigative agencies probing the matter told Firstpost that authorities have learnt that the PNB action, against its own staff, was a fallout of a concurrent audit, initiated in March 2017, in which they had revealed colossal anomalies.

Sources said VP Singh, PNBs auditor posted at Hong Kong was sent to conduct an audit of the Dubai branch, while GS Agarwal of the Dubai branch was sent to Hong Kong to complete the concurrent audit.

Both the officers had flagged various misdeeds including massive NPAs in the state-owned lender's overseas branch. It appears, the report was also sent to the PNB headquarters in Delhi. Subsequently these two officers who exposed the wrongdoings in the banking system were told to return to India in August 2017. What is surprising is the fact that these two PNB officers had not completed their foreign assignment, which was for three years."

"We have asked for a copy of the inspection report and further action will be taken after examining the points raised by the auditors, sources said, adding that many of these issues will be covered in the chargesheets.

It is learnt that VP Singh and GS Agarwal had pointed out irregularities in granting of loans to companies without due diligence, sanctioning of letters of undertaking (LoUs) and had exposed a cartel of businessmen, who were taking the bank for a ride in connivance with top officials. The two honest and upright officers were subsequently given punishment posting just few months before the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi fraud surfaced in the public domain. Despite repeated attempts, the two officers could not be reached for comment.

Sources said that top officials at the PNB head office knew about the fraud to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore a month before they decided to file their complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

They tried to hush up the matter in December 2017 as the PNB, at that time, was considering a fresh proposal of loans to Nirav Modis companies. When they failed to resolve it, finally a complaint was filed with the central agency, sources revealed.

A detailed questionnaire sent to PNBs Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta, last week, remained unanswered.

It is learnt the investigators have received details of some PNB officers who were posted abroad over the last five years and how the top brass who aided irregular sanctioning of loans, circumvented rules. They have zeroed-in on an officer who worked with the bank's treasury department and stayed at the Hong Kong branch for four-and-a-half years. Upon his return last year, the officer was sent to London and subsequently handles the back office of a PNB overseas branch.

The network abroad

Ghazi Traders, which runs a street hosiery shop in Hong Kong, was sanctioned a loan to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore by PNB without any security. The money never returned and the NPA was quietly buried through mathematical jugglery of the banking system. Similarly, a diamond trading company owned by an Indian defaulted on massive loans taken from the PNB, when Usha Ananthasubramanian was at the helm of affairs. The diamond company is located in the same Kowloon area of Hong Kong from where one of PNBs branches operates. Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi too had their accounts in the branch along with other companies that defaulted on PNB loans, and these accounts has been termed as NPAs. PNBs top boss Sunil Mehta did not respond to the query on NPAs at the Hong Kong and Dubai branches.

The investigator said the entire loan racket is run by a cartel with an Indian fixer handling the operation. He had roped in two bank officials including a PNB officer to compromise the treasury unit of the banks as well to manipulate the daily dollar rates. Instead of taking action against the PNB officer for wrongdoings, the top brass at PNB's headquarters rewarded him by offering him a coveted position in India.

It has come to our notice that bank employees kept in touch with each other via WhatsApp messages. As per the rule, the dealer is not allowed to carry a mobile phone inside but the rules were violated. We have learnt that the issue was flagged in one of the inspection reports sent to the PNB head office, but subsequently no action was taken, the sources added.The SFIO, which also has powers to arrest people, mainly investigates violations under the Companies Act.

New Delhi: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is probing three companies -- Ruchi Soya, Sterling Biotech and Kanishk Gold - that are already under the regulatory scanner for loan defaults, according to an official source.

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has ordered investigation by SFIO against the three firms for alleged financial irregularities, the source said.

In recent months, many companies and individuals, including those related to diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi - the alleged kingpins behind the Rs 13,000 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank - have come under the SFIO lens.

Ruchi Soya did not respond to a query seeking comments on the SFIO probe while Sterling Biotech and Kanishk Gold could not be immediately contacted.

The SFIO, which also has powers to arrest people, mainly investigates violations under the Companies Act.

Leading edible oil firm Ruchi Soya Industries is under insolvency proceedings. The company, which owns brands such as Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich and Ruchi Gold, has a total debt of around Rs 12,000 crore.

Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterlite Biotech and Chennai-based jewellery firm Kanishk Gold are already being probed by the CBI with respect to default in loan payments.

All the three firms have defaulted in paying back bank loans.

Among other entities, SFIO is investigating 107 companies and seven Limited Liability Partnerships linked to Modi-Choksi groups with regard to PNB scam.

As part of larger efforts to curb illicit fund flows, the government has been cracking the whip on shell companies and defaulting entities, among others.By Rania El Gamal ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. plans to double its refining capacity and triple petrochemicals output potential by 2025, as the state energy firm focuses more on downstream expansion to be on par with Big Oil and capture new growth markets, ADNOC's chief executive said.

By Rania El Gamal

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. plans to double its refining capacity and triple petrochemicals output potential by 2025, as the state energy firm focuses more on downstream expansion to be on par with Big Oil and capture new growth markets, ADNOC's chief executive said.

To reach that goal ADNOC will need to create new joint ventures and partnerships and not just rely on its existing assets, Sultan al-Jaber told Reuters in an interview on Saturday.

The company is also looking at different options for its ADNOC Refining subsidiary, including bringing on strategic partners but an initial public offering (IPO) for the unit is not on the "radar screen at this point in time", al-Jaber said.

"We continue to keep upstream as an integral part of our DNA at ADNOC while complementing that with a real shift in our drive for more downstream investments," al-Jaber said.

"ADNOC needs to shift its focus to... downstream in a way to help enhance our commerciality, increase our profitability and maximize value from every barrel we produce," he said at ADNOC's headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Al-Jaber was speaking a day before he unveils the company's downstream strategy at an investment forum.

ADNOC produces about 3 million barrels of oil per day and its current refining capacity is 922,000 bpd. It wants to triple petrochemicals production to 14.4 million tonnes annually.

"The centerpiece when it comes to our downstream strategy is the Ruwais Industrial Complex... Our aim here is to make it become the single largest integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in the world," al-Jaber said.

In February, ADNOC said it was investing $3.1 billion to upgrade its 842,000 bpd Ruwais oil refinery to free up more crude for export from its flagship Murban grade.

ADNOC - dubbed "a sleeping energy giant" - has embarked on a major shake-up since al-Jaber's appointment as CEO in 2016, as part of an economic reform drive led by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

A sharp drop in crude prices since mid-2014 has forced the oil industry to cut costs and look for ways to boost efficiency.

The company plans to spend more than 400 billion dirhams ($109 billion) in the next five years. The spending will include boosting gas output and investing in international downstream activities, ADNOC said in November.

ADNOC wants to expand its downstream portfolio particularly in Asian markets where demand for oil is still growing, securing a new outlet for its crude.

"Hydrocarbons are and will remain an essential part of the energy mix... We are expecting that demand will double in the next 20 years especially in the petrochemicals sector," al-Jaber said.

ADNOC is evaluating some downstream expansion opportunities abroad with its strategic partners, he said, declining to give more details, but he said that India was a potential market.

Other markets where ADNOC is looking for possible downstream expansion are China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan, he said, adding the company was not close to a decision.

Earlier on Saturday, India's oil minister told Reuters that there was a consensus between Saudi Aramco, ADNOC and Indian companies to firm a joint venture for India's Ratnagiri oil refinery. [nL8N1SJ06X]

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Ros Russell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the revenue department will go through the share purchase agreement to ascertain the purpose of investment and the emanating gains.

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department will seek share purchase agreement from Flipkart on the mega $16 billion buyout by US retail giant Walmart to assess the tax liability and also to find out whether the GAAR provisions can be invoked, an official said.

The Department currently is going through the Section 9(1) of the Income Tax law, which deals with indirect transfer provisions, to see if the benefits under the bilateral tax treaties with countries like Singapore and Mauritius, could be available for foreign investors selling stakes to Walmart.

Singapore-registered Flipkart Pvt Ltd holds majority stake in Flipkart India. As per the definitive agreement between the companies last week, Walmart will acquire about 77 percent stake in the Singapore entity for $16 billion.The agreement will effectively result in transfer of ultimate ownership in Flipkart India to Walmart.

To ascertain the exact tax liability, the revenue department will write to Flipkart seeking the share purchase agreement that the company had entered into with Walmart.

"The department will seek the share purchase agreement once the formalities for the sale are completed. The agreement will help in tracking the flow of funds and the ultimate beneficiary," the official said.

As regards applicability of General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR), the official said it would apply in cases where the investments were made to avoid taxes.

In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the revenue department will go through the share purchase agreement to ascertain the purpose of investment and the emanating gains.

On whether the benefits of bilateral tax treaties will be available in this deal, the official said the department will go through the details of different double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) to ascertain whether taxes could be levied at concessional rate and investment made prior to a particular date can be grandfathered.

"There is likely to be capital gains withholding tax implications when the shares of Flipkart Singapore are sold by Softbank or other foreign investors. The tax rate will depend upon the facts of the case," V Lakshmikumaran, Managing Partner of law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan said.

The tax department had last week written to Bentonville-Arkansas based Walmart saying that the US company can seek guidance about the tax liability under Section 195 (2) of the I-T Act.

Under Section 195 of the Act, anyone making payment to non-residents is required to deduct tax (commonly known as withholding tax).

As per Section 9 (1) of I-T Act dealing with indirect transfer provisions, the value of shares of a foreign company is deemed to be substantially derived from India, if the value of the Indian assets is greater than 50 per cent of its worldwide assets -- a criteria that is apparently met in Flipkart's case.

"In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, Section 9 (1) will apply as the assets of Flipkart Singapore are substantially based in India and hence the sellers would be liable to pay capital gains tax," Titus & Co Managing Partner Diljeet Titus opined.

As regards the capital gains tax made by Indian founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the official said they would have to pay 20 percent tax with indexation benefit, which is applicable on sale of unlisted shares by Indian residents.The Asian College of Journalism's response to the allegations against Sadanand Menon shows it is more concerned about its own reputation than anything else.

By Taruni Kumar

Please sit down for the next paragraph.

The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) notes with concern that ill-informed and vague allegations and assertions, most of them made anonymously and with scant regard for the facts and the law, have been published in a section of the online news media about how it handled a complaint of alleged sexual harassment made against Sadanand Menon, a well-known journalist and writer who has been teaching an elective at the college as an adjunct professor. The matter has also been commented on in the social media, mostly without regard to the facts and the law.

That, friends, is a statement borne of attempting to follow due process in the matter of sexual harassment. Please take note of the specific words used to describe the allegations  vague, ill-informed  and the subtle pride in the description of Menon. I can almost hear a breathless declaration of, Oh, hes such a well-known journalist and writer. And immediately after, I imagine Id hear the incorporeal voice adding an addendum, Theyre targeting us just because were liberal. That part wasnt in the statement, but its what the Chairman of ACJ said about the entire debacle.

This is the very real, very disturbing and very wrong statement that ACJ has issued in response to sexual harassment allegations that have been made against one of its faculty members.

Shortly, Ill dive into the various problems that exist with ACJs response and I assure you there are many. Its important to mention here that Menon featured on law student Raya Sarkars List of Sexual Harassers in Academia (LoSHA) in October 2017. A list that was met with a statement by feminists on what was perceived to be a Facebook campaign to Name and Shame. This statement was issued by a section of the Indian feminists and met with resistance from others, sparking a huge debate about the ways of dealing with sexual harassment allegations. To quote, It worries us that anybody can be named anonymously, with lack of answerability. Where there are genuine complaints, there are institutions and procedures, which we should utilise. We too know the process is harsh and often tilted against the complainant. We remain committed to strengthening these processes. At the same time, abiding by the principles of natural justice, we remain committed to due process, which is fair and just. In the months that followed the place of LoSHA and the place of due process has been discussed and several parties have shifted positions. Some have wished that this debate was not presented as a binary.

One of the things that have made the due process camp shakier, the LoSHA camp indignant and everyone in between despairing is this question: during the time it takes to strengthen these processes, what are survivors of sexual harassment and assault to do? Especially when faced with a response like ACJs when an attempt is made to follow this due process. In the case of sexual harassment in a student-teacher context, the power equation is clearly skewed. For example, in a Medium post published on 9 May, students of ACJ posted a statement that clearly says that after Menons name appeared in LoSHA, he acknowledged it in his class the next day. There is a list going around with my name on it. If anyone here wants to talk about this, we can, he said. Menon proceeded  in his official capacity as a professor, using a platform provided by ACJ  to deride the list and speculate as to who put him on it.

Just this incident shows the kind of public space that Menon has at his disposal to make his own views heard from a powerful vantage point  one that sits in the seemingly infallible space at the front of a classroom. In this same class, he apparently narrated his version of an incident with an ex-student, which he described as a misunderstanding arising out of differing values associated with sexual freedom.

On 8 January, the same ex-student wrote about the incident from her point of view in The News Minute. In fact, the very title of this piece is Raya Sarkars list, and how it empowered me to tell my story. She wrote, without naming Menon, that his name had appeared on the list and that she only realised the emotional repercussions of being sexually harassed by a man she viewed as a mentor many years later.

A petition, signed by activists, students, media personnel and former adjunct faculty at the college has also been released which lays down how the ex-students complaints to the Internal Complaints Committee of the college, made originally in January, hit a roadblock because the incident occurred when she was no longer a student and the location wasnt the college. The petition makes strong demands of ACJ and calls for it to not hide behind procedural reasons in an attempt to avoid accountability and not follow through with its ethical responsibility.

Only now, when the situation has escalated because of this extremely strong petition and the flak ACJ is getting from its own students as well as ex-students, has the college posted its statement.

Heres an aside: In the midst of all this drama, on 1 May, Spaces, one of Chennais foremost cultural venues, hosted a forum that wanted to promote free speech and help around the issue of sexual harassment. Spaces was co-founded by Sadanand Menon and is also where the ACJ complainant worked with him, thus making it the venue of the sexual harassment she alleges. The irony is painful.

And while were on the subject of pain, theres a painfully hilarious conspiracy theory that has been shared by a member of the Chennai academia. He wonders if Raya Sarkars list is perhaps a right-wing weapon deliberately targeting all left-wing academicians in the country. And that the Sadanand Menon allegations are a north Indian conspiracy to tarnish a south Indian institution.

But returning to the conversation of due process, lets look at just how problematic the ACJ statement is.

Aside from the very specific wording of the first paragraph that is clearly supportive of Menon, the sexual harassment accused, the statement goes on to summarily state, Mummy, maine kuch nahin kiya with the line The ACJ wishes to reiterate that the alleged incident in 2011 at Spaces, a cultural centre in Chennai, had no connection with the college.

In terms of actually taking up and investigating the issue, the college has washed its hands off the situation with a reference to the law of the land and a statement that because the complainant was, by then, an ex-student, the institution has no jurisdiction. This is followed by a rather simpering paragraph about how Menon has decided (of his own volition) to not teach his elective course at the college for the coming academic year to protect the colleges reputation (how thoughtful) and also that hes considering legal action against those publishing false and defamatory allegations (sounds like a threat).

Meanwhile, the statement reads, Sadanand Menon has informed us that after taking into account the overall circumstances and in order to avoid any damage to the reputation of the ACJ, he has decided not to teach his elective course at the college for the coming academic year, and also that he is considering taking legal action against those who have published false and defamatory allegations against him.

Please note that ACJ was under no obligation to announce the bit about Menons proposed legal action since that would be a personal decision but the fact that it did, says a lot about whose side ACJ is speaking from.

All this is rounded off by a standard policy of zero tolerance towards sexual harassment paragraph but with the addition of the words within its jurisdiction. (In March 2018, Ambedkar University, Delhi set a precedent when it chose to accept a third party complaint against Lawrence Liang, who at the time was teaching at the university.)

Here is a basic question. If the person being accused of sexual harassment happens to be a teacher, how can an educational institution dismiss an accusation like this without thinking of the students of this teacher who may face the same treatment? How is the university not obligated to investigate charges to ensure continued security of its other students? And if this is how ACJ reacts, then the LoSHA is far from the online shaming vigilantism that its been called and seems far more like the traditional whisper network serving two purposes  to make those who come in contact with these people aware of the possibility of harassment and to offer some sort of punishment even if its only a hit to a reputation. Because clearly, colleges like ACJ are more concerned about their own than anything else.

The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online women's magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between.With a year left in Narendra Modi's term, a total of 57 percent Indians feel that the BJP govt has 'either met or exceeded' their expectations.

Four years back, a Narendra Modi-led NDA swept the general elections with a thumping majority  winning 325 Parliamentary seats  and formed the government. Now, with his term entering its final year, a total of 57 percent Indians feel that the BJP dispensation has "either met or exceeded" their expectations, a survey said.

A survey conducted by LocalCircles to gauge citizens' feedback on how the central government has fared showed that more than half of the Indian citizens feel that the Modi-led government has fared well. A majority of those surveyed felt that the Modi government scored well on improving India's image globally, handling of Pakistan, fighting terrorism, infrastructure development and reducing tax harassment.

Around 28 percent citizens said the government has exceeded their expectations, and this metric has shown a dramatic improvement upwards compared to 17 percent last year and 18 percent in 2016. While only 29 percent citizens said that the government meets their expectation, and this has fallen from 44 percent last year and 46 percent in the year 2016.

On the other hand, the citizens rate the government low on reducing crime against women and children, generating employment, improving farmers life, lowering cost of living, healthcare, the survey said.

In 2016, 36 percent rated the government as not meeting expectations, which rose to 39 percent in 2017 and in 2018 this number rises to 43 percent. This means that opinion about the government performance is more polarised now, with both exceeding expectations and not meeting expectation percentages going up.

On the four-year mark, 56 percent citizens believe the government is on track to deliver the promises made in the pre-election manifesto, which is a slight slide from 59 percent in the last years survey. But most performance parameters show a decline over time as the gap between expectations set and impact on daily life rises, the survey pointed out.

"The expectations from political establishments or the ruling party among citizens deteriorate very fast. This expectation percentage is similar to the approval ratings for US presidents and while it is falling every year, it is still in high digits for the Modi government, the report said.

Key areas covered in the survey:

Quality of life under Modi government

- Around 60 percent citizens said that price of essential commodities and cost of living has not reduced.

- Only 32 percent citizens feel that crime against women and children have reduced in the last four years.

- Only 32 percent citizens believe that healthcare facilities and services in their city have improved in the last four years.

- 43 percent citizens said their city had become cleaner while 51 percent said Swachh Bharat Mission has had no effect on cleanliness in their city.

- Around 65 percent citizens felt optimistic about their family's future in India while 27 percent said they were not very optimistic.

State of the economy

- 65 percent of citizens felt sufficient new infrastructure development (roads, power, irrigation, broadband etc) has taken place in the last four years.

- Around 46 percent citizens believe that doing business in India has become easier in the last four years while 39 percent said it is not the case.

- Around 35 percent citizens believe that the unemployment rate has reduced in the last four years.

- Around 54 percent this year said that harassment by tax officials has reduced to a certain extent, this number is up from 36 percent in 2017 as well as 2016.

- 47 percent citizens said that the life of farmers has not improved in the last four years.

Corruption

Around 49 percent of citizens believe that corruption in India has reduced in the last four years, while 44 percent believe it has not reduced.

Communalism, terrorism and foreign affairs

- 82 percent feel India's image and influence in the world has improved.

- Around 74 percent approved the way Indian government has handled the perpetual conflict on our borders and relations with Pakistan in the last four years.

- Around 61 percent of citizens believed that terrorism and acts of terror against Indians have reduced in the last few years.

Parliament functioning, MP engagement and VIP culture

- Around 40 percent citizens said that the government has been able to effectively handle Parliament and deliver on converting legislation needed.

- 51 percent citizens still feel that the VIP culture has not reduced in India in the last four years.

Read the full report here.At least 10 persons, including five teenagers, were killed in lightning strikes as a Northwester accompanied by heavy rain lashed parts of the Gangetic West Bengal on Sunday afternoon.

Kolkata: At least 10 persons, including five teenagers, were killed in lightning strikes as a Northwester accompanied by heavy rain lashed parts of the Gangetic West Bengal on Sunday afternoon, a state disaster management official said.

While four youngsters lost their lives in a lightning strike in Howrah district's Uluberia, two men each were killed in Nadia and West Midnapore's Ghatal and one in Murshidabad.

"A 14-year-old boy was killed by lightning at Park Circus Maidan in Central Kolkata on Sunday," Kolkata Police said. "Four teenagers in the 10-15 age group were killed by lightning near Uluberia's Damodarpur while returning home through an open field. One of their friends was injured," an officer posted at the Howrah police control room said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed anguish over the recurring natural disasters and said her government would do everything possible to support the affected people.

"Unfortunately, there has been a lot of natural calamities this year. It is happening not just in Bengal but across the country. A few people died during the thunderstorm on Sunday. We are monitoring the situation. Our government will provide necessary aid and support to the affected," Banerjee told the reporters in Kolkata.

Heavy rain and thunderstorm lashed parts of Kolkata, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas district for nearly 40 minutes to an hour, throwing traffic temporarily out of gear. The city recorded 23.8 millimetres of rainfall while North 24 Parganas district's Barrackpore recorded 68 millimetres rain, the highest in the state on Sunday, an Indian Meteorological Department official said.

"The bad weather was not caused by any depression. It is due to Kalbaisakhi (Northwester). The weather condition is improving now but there is a chance of showers during late evening," the official added.

Nor'wester or Northwester is rain and thunderstorm occurring in India and Bangladesh. Kalbaishakhi occurs, with increasing frequency, from March till monsoon sets in over northeast India.A fourth successive drought in Bundelkhand region in the last five years has shattered the farmers of this backward region, triggering a mass migration.

Bhopal: Global warming, it seems, has hit the poor people of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh harder. A fourth successive drought in the last five years has shattered the people of this backward region. Mercury is already touching 46 degrees Celsius, water has evaporated from all rivers and ponds, and the tube wells are dry.

People of a small village in Tikamgarh, one of the drought-hit districts of the backward region of Bundelkhand, risk their lives every day as they fetch water from an ancient dug well. As they step down on loose stone blocks, villagers form a human chain from up to down to fill utensils with muddy water from the well.

These days, the people in Ataria village of Tikamgarh district, with a population of 3,000, follow the same routine to quench their thirst. Every day, they go down into the dug well carefully to get water for their daily consumption.

The villager who stands at the bottom of the chain fills up a vessel and passes it up to the man standing at the next stone block. Exchanging hands, the water vessel is ultimately pulled out of the of the water body, explains Babulal Yadav, a student who seems to have expertise in the art of fetching water with acrobatic movements.

But as the well water is not enough, the villagers in Ataria walk down or travel on bicycles or bikes up to five kilometres to Pathrai village of neighbouring Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, to fetch water from a private tube well.

About 200 kilometres away in Hardua in Damoh district, with a population of more than 1,500 marginalised, people also follow the same routine. After all the 10 hand pumps in the village have gone dry, an old dug well has still not betrayed them, said Sudha Yadav, the village sarpanch.

The two villages symbolise the drought in Bundelkhand affecting mainly the districts of Damoh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Panna and Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh. People in urban areas this region either get water supply once in three to six days, depending on availability, or water is transported in tankers from one locality to other.

Officially, the state government announced drought in 110 tehsils of 13 districts, including the five rain-starved districts of Bundelkhand. Last year, it hardly rained in the region leading to yet another drought.

Amidst the human misery, there is a severe shortage of fodder and water for the cattle. Following the drought, a large number of people continue to migrate in search of water and jobs.

Rajendra Singh, popularly known as water-man of India, said, "it appears that climate change has further worsened the plight of the poor." The drought is harsher this time. "People are not only migrating but also not returning to their native villages leaving behind elderly and cattle. Many of them are leaving forever after continuous joblessness and water crisis," he added.

"We carried a survey," he said, "and the findings revealed that 70-90 percent hand pumps have dried in Bundelkhand. Almost 50-90 percent of water bodies including rivers and Chandela period ponds have also dried. More than 70 percent farmers sustained loss during last kharif season and almost 40 percent families are facing food security crisis."

"More than 80 percent farmers don't find proper livelihood opportunity in villages and almost 65 percent migrated to the places like Delhi, Punjab, Haryana or Gujarat in search of a job," he said.

Rivers like Ken, Dhasan, Sunar and Vyarma among others have dried in Bundelkhand. Water remains only in some deep pools.

Former chairman of Bundelkhand Development Authority Ramkrishna Kusmaria said, "These rivers seem to have lost their perennial nature and have become water bodies which flow in monsoon only."

In fact, almost all the rivers  including the Narmada, the lifeline of the state  have stopped flowing because of scanty rainfall last year. The Narmada flows only when water is released from one of the several dams built on the west flowing river.

Minister for public health engineering department (PHED) Kusum Mehdele said, "efforts are on to handle the crisis as efficiently as possible. Water is being transported to the places facing the crisis. At many places, even underground water has exhausted."

Back-to-back droughts and erratic rainfall pattern in the era of global warming has in fact also drastically affected the groundwater level in the state. A report by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) compiled before the onset of summer this year revealed that in the last ten years in Madhya Pradesh, the water table is going down in the larger area but the recharge is happening in smaller parts.

Northern parts of the state  which include Gwalior and Chambal region, the drought-prone parts of Bundelkhand and parts of Mahakoshal region  are the worst affected, the report said.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday stuck to his stance against the committee formed by L-G Anil Baijal to regulate use of CCTV cameras in Delhi.

After a four-hour long protest involving marching on Delhi streets and sitting on a dharna in front of the secretariat of the lieutenant-governor, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday stuck to his stance against the committee formed by L-G Anil Baijal to regulate use of CCTV cameras in Delhi.

The decision, which came after a week-long war of letters between the Delhi government and the L-Gs office over installation of CCTVs in Delhi, is likely to escalate the tension between both the power centres.

While beginning the march to the secretariat of the L-G from his residence, as declared earlier, Arvind Kejriwal told reporters, Nearly 2 lakh CCTV cameras have been installed in the capital city by various authorities. But the L-G did not bother to form any committee to regulate them. The New Delhi Metropolitan Council, Delhi Police, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Residents Welfare Associations installed 2 lakh CCTV cameras. But when Delhi government began installation of work, the L-G formed a committee.

He added that the committee has a central government representative in it. What is the reason behind engaging a central government officer in state government work? he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also accused the L-G of working on behalf of the BJP. "The BJP wants to stop the work of installation of CCTV cameras in Delhi because it will record the riots to be unleashed by the BJP in Delhi," he said.

The chief minister  along with his cabinet, AAP MLAs and MPs  marched to the LG office at 3 pm on Monday but were met with a deployment of police personnel. A source in the L-G's office told Firstpost that the L-G would meet the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues but not the MLAs. This was enough to trigger a dharna by Arvind Kejriwal and his company.

The L-G does not want to meet the MLAs of AAP. He should know that MLAs have not come for their personal work but to discuss the issue of safety and security of women in Delhi. By declining (to meet AAP leaders), he showed disrespect to the people of Delhi, Kejriwal said.

After three hours of dharna in front of the L-G's office, Kejriwal declared, He did not meet us even though we awaited for three hours. Now we will take this entire issue to the people of Delhi.

A source in the Delhi government said that it is determined to defy the orders of the committee formed by the L-G.

The entire high drama created on the issue of installing CCTV cameras in Delhi on Monday hardly caused any stir among the people. It was, on the other hand, seen as a nuisance by many.

Significantly, the L-G did not pass any order stopping the government from installing CCTVs. A release issued in the evening by the L-Gs office said, Lt. Governor had already clarified in his letter dated 13.05.2018 that no instructions have been given to stall or stop the award of work for installation of CCTV by the elected government.

It further stated that the aim of the government cannot be mere physical installation of CCTV Cameras. Rather, the objective should be on how CCTVs will be used to enhance security and safety of women, aged and vulnerable sections, how these will be used to prevent and detect crime without at the same time compromising with the fundamental right of privacy and meeting with the requirements of the Information Technology Act, 2000, it said.

On the issue of allowing other agencies to install CCTV cameras without any hindrance, the L-G's offices statement said, The fact that more than two lakh cameras have already been installed in the city without coordination highlights the need for a proper framework in which all CCTVs in public places installed in Delhi should work with a common objective of law enforcement, prevention and investigation of crimes and purpose in a coordinated, purposeful and regulated manner.

Arun Shukla, a resident of Delhi who resides near the L-G's office and was watching how the political drama unfolded on Monday, did not seem to be moved by the protest launched by the Delhi chief minister. The L-G has only formed a committee to ensure successful implementation of the project. Creating such a hue and cry over that only means that the Delhi government is only politicising the issue, he said. He also raised questions over why all AAP MLAs were required to talk to the L-G. Is not the cabinet already empowered by the MLAs to take decisions? he asked.

The rift between the Delhi government and the L-G's office was kicked off a week back by a decision of the latter to set up a committee to formulate standard operating procedure and regulatory framework to set up CCTV cameras in the capital city. The L-G took this decision in response to the Delhi government's proposal to set up 1.4 lakh such cameras in the city.

In a letter written to the L-G, the Delhi chief minister had said on Saturday, We reject your committee as it has been set up to create hurdles and it has been set up without any legal basis and without jurisdiction. The committee is illegal and unconstitutional.As many as 53 people were killed, including 39 in Uttar Pradesh, due to lightning and thunderstorms in four states since Sunday night, the Home Ministry said on Monday.

As many as 51 people were killed, including 39 in Uttar Pradesh, due to lightning and thunderstorms in four states since Sunday night, the Home Ministry said on Monday.

As per information received from state governments, 39 people died in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Andhra Pradesh, four in West Bengal and one in Delhi due to lightning and thunderstorms during the intervening night of 13 and 14 May, a ministry spokesperson said.

Also, 83 people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and one in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, 13 people were killed in Barabanki, while, Bareilly accounted for eight deaths, followed by six in Kasganj, four in Bulandshahr, three in Lakhimpur Khiri, and two each in Saharanpur, Pratapgarh and Jaunpur districts.

Eight of them died when they slipped into the Ghaghra river as they lost their balance due to strong winds, officials said, adding that the local administration was probing the matter.

Government officials said that 121 houses were damaged and 17 animals died in the storms. According to a report in The Times of India, Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi said, "Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed all district magistrates and commissioners to provide immediate relief (to the affected people) and ensure that the injured are provided medical care immediately,"

Nine people were struck dead by lightning and three injured in Srikakulam and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh, the report said.

High-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services on Sunday evening in several places in north India, including Delhi. According to the Delhi police, until 7.30 pm, they received 189 calls regarding fallen trees, 40 regarding fallen poles while 31 reports came in of fallen tin sheds or roofs. Fallen trees combined with low visibility added to traffic snarls, reported The Indian Express.

Operations at the Delhi airport also came to a standstill due to low visibility. Many passengers were left stranded as at least 40 flights were diverted and over two dozen were delayed, as per the Express report.

Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said in its advisory on Sunday.

However, there doesn't seem to be any respite soon for the residents as Charan Singh, a scientist at IMD, told NDTV that "there is a circulation of a western disturbance in north-west India. Our forecast shows weather will be adverse for the next 48 to 72 hours".

Even SkyMet Weather has predicted duststorms and thundershowers with strong gusty wind, hailstorm and lightning in various parts of Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar during the next 12 hours.

The devastation comes over 12 days after storms hit Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400. Uttar Pradesh was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state. Subsequently, on 9 May, several parts of Uttar Pradesh were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured.

With inputs from PTIArmy officials in Kashmir say they are taking measures to sensitise soldiers about the need to avoid casualties or injuries among non-combatants.

Deeply concerned about the rising spiral of rage and militancy in south Kashmir, army officials say they are taking measures to sensitise soldiers about the need to avoid casualties or injuries among non-combatants.

Lt Gen Devraj Anbu, Commander-in- chief of the Northern Command, said that it is a priority for the army to prevent the killing of non-combatants. The general, who is responsible for the army in Jammu and Kashmir, held that soldiers in the field are becoming increasingly responsive to the need to exercise as much restraint as they can with unarmed crowds.

Even with regard to killed militants, the thoughtful and soft-spoken general acknowledged something that Kashmiris too have been saying  that each slain militants funeral tends to inspire a few more boys to take up arms.

It is becoming increasingly obvious in south Kashmir that statistics of the numbers killed do not necessarily represent a story of victory if one takes a larger view. The other side of the coin is that the boys who are killed also see victory in 'martyrdom, and their deaths inspire more boys to become militants.

The trend of mobs of young people coming out in support of militants caught in an encounter is an equally huge challenge. These crowds frequently pelt stones, and the rage evinced in their pelting has been on the rise.

Outer cordons

Lt Gen AK Bhatt, the Corps Commander in charge of the army in the Valley, said that orders are in place for the police and paramilitary forces to form outer cordons in order to prevent crowds from converging on the site of an encounter.

Both commanders confirmed that there is excellent coordination between the different forces. Several fine police officers are in key positions in the Valley. However, the outer cordons are evidently tough to maintain, given the fierce determination and boldness of those who try to get to the site of an encounter to help militants to escape.

On at least one occasion, a cordon was lifted when the commanders took a call that continuing with the operation would risk too many lives of unarmed persons.

At other times, army movement in south Kashmir has been hampered by stone-pelting. On at least one occasion in the last few weeks, a young man was killed when soldiers fired on a mob of stone-pelters. But on several other occasions, soldiers have exercised great restraint not to respond when they are pelted with stones.

Lt Gen Anbu said that soldiers understand the negative consequences of responding with fire, or taking other actions that could drive more boys to take up guns.

Tense situations

On at least one occasion in the recent past, a group of soldiers reversed from a point that was blocked by a large crowd of pelting youth, instead of trying to force their way through.

According to an eyewitness, a group of village elders was then requested to mediate with the youth so that the army men might be able to make their way across that point at night. According to the eyewitness, the soldiers went out of their way to calm the situation.

Of course, the way the army is perceived in operational situations makes for generally negative responses. Particularly in the course of encounters, the behaviour of soldiers often comes across as violative.

Since last year, there have been several reports of people at large in a village experiencing trauma and violence. Cordon and search operations, which were commonplace in the late 1990s, are taking place again.

A house has at times been turned into a wreck, as if a tornado had been through it, because a company commander was angry over a slogan painted outside, or taunts from boys who had run away

In this deteriorating environment, the efforts of commanders to sensitise soldiers and junior officers are laudable.Following bomb attacks on three churches in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, a fourth bomb blast near a police station in East Java killed three people late on Sunday.

Following bomb attacks on three churches in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, a fourth bomb blast near a police station in East Java killed three people late on Sunday. Another explosion has also been reported on Monday morning from the Indonesian police headquarters in Surabaya which has claimed the life of at least one police personnel.

Three people were found lying on the floor with parts of bodies covered in blood after a bomb blast occurred in a unit of flats where an alleged terrorist lived with his family members, Xinhua news agency reported. "I have come to the scene to see what happened. I saw the family members covered in blood lied on the floor," an eyewitness was quoted as saying.

National police spokesman Brigadier General Muhammad Iqbal confirmed that the unit of the flats was inhabited by an alleged terrorist with family members. "We are checking whether the bomb exploded incidentally or someone detonated it," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The building is located behind the Taman police station in Sidoarjo Regency which is bordered by Surabaya city where three churches were targetted earlier in the day.

At least 11 people, including a suicide bomber, were killed and 41 injured on Sunday in bomb attacks on three churches in the Indonesian city of Surabaya.

Two police officers were among the injured after a series of explosions took place in the morning during Sunday service, Efe quoted East Java police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera as saying.

The first explosion took place in Surabaya's Santa Maria church, killing four people, including the suicide bomber.

Almost immediately afterwards, there were explosions in a Protestant church on the Diponegoro street, where two people were killed, and another one at a Pentecostal church on Arjuno street, where another two people died. Another person died later in a hospital in Surabaya. The police are yet to release details of the other two victims.

The bomb disposal squad diffused another bomb outside the Diponegoro church.

According to the BBC News, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks. National police chief Tito Karnavian said they belonged to an Islamic State-inspired network, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

With inputs from PTIAfghanistan seems to have emerged as a platform providing new possibilities of India-China cooperation.

Afghanistan seems to have emerged as a platform providing new possibilities of India-China cooperation. An agreement reached at Wuhan in China during the recently held informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping to work jointly on economic projects in Afghanistan has huge strategic implications for the two Himalayan neighbours. It is likely to reduce the trust deficit between them while contributing towards peace and development of war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Needless to emphasise that India has made considerable investments in many capacity-building projects at various levels for the Afghan state. And the Afghan government also believes that Indias involvement is crucial for the long-term viability of Afghan state institutions. The Modi government has extended vital economic and political support to the regime led by President Ashraf Ghani. Moreover, New Delhi is of the opinion that any political negotiation between the Afghan government and the Taliban to end the conflict must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned without any outside interference. But Pakistans national security establishment has not stopped nurturing terror groups for pursuing its dangerous policy of having a puppet regime in Kabul.

Islamabads unfathomable paranoia that India wants to cultivate the Kabul government so as to trap Pakistan militarily has led it to resist Indian involvement in Afghanistan. Pakistan accuses both India and Afghanistan of stoking ethnic Baloch and Pashtun separatist movements in Pakistan. One should not forget that Islamabads wholehearted support for the Afghan Taliban has arisen from a longstanding policy of cultivating links with the fundamentalist sections of the Pashtuns. Rawalpindi has always viewed Afghanistan as a hinterland to provide Pakistan with strategic depth in the West in case of an armed conflict with India in the East.

Since the removal of the Taliban in 2001, Pakistans security establishment has been worried about Indias presence in Afghanistan, though New Delhi had traditionally been Kabuls main regional ally. Afghanistan is very much part of Indias extended neighbourhood, and its strategic location makes it a critical component of Indias national security calculations. Indias key aim in its engagement with the Kabul regime is to prevent the establishment of another safe haven for jihadist groups. While India may not be an immediate neighbour of Afghanistan, it must get involved in the Afghan end game.

India has wisely avoided boots on the ground in Afghanistan as it is too tough a terrain. And even if India sends troops to Afghanistan, Pakistan is certainly going to retaliate in a big manner. Therefore, Indias choice of soft power over the hard power of a military presence in Afghanistan has served it well. But Pakistan has been fanatically adamant on reducing whatever presence India has in Afghanistan. There have been many instances of kidnappings and attacks on Indian workers in Afghanistan as a way to frighten India. A car bomb attack near the Indian embassy compound in Kabul in July 2008, which had killed fifty people including Indias defence attache, was the handiwork of the ISI-linked Haqqani network, which is held responsible for increasingly deadly terror attacks in the country.

Far from acquiescing to the pressures to lower its profile in Afghanistan, India has upped the ante. India-Afghanistan relations continue to be on the rise as clearly exemplified by the start of an air corridor between the two countries to boost connectivity. On 6 May, the abduction of seven Indians working with a power company in Afghanistan has again brought to focus the role of Pakistans deep state in applying more pressure on India to scale down its presence in Afghanistan. There are unconfirmed reports of the Afghan Talibans local unit being under pressure from the ISI to draw out the kidnapping, in an attempt to force out Indian power companies from northern Afghanistan.

China has its own security and economic interests in Afghanistan. Under any circumstances, Beijing does not want Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for Uighur Muslim militant groups who are very active in Chinas Xinjiang province. The impact of Afghan destabilisation will be felt as much in Kashmir as in Xinjiang. Beijing is also worried about insecurity in Afghanistan casting a destabilising shadow over Pakistan and other Central Asian republics where Xi Jinpings grand geopolitical project  the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)  is rewriting the rules of balance of power for a China-centric world order.

China is not contiguous to Afghanistan. So, Beijings primary instruments of engagement with Kabul have been China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral and Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) comprising the US, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is another matter that this strategy has not succeeded. Hence, China would like to involve India in its attempts to enhance its influence in Afghanistan. However, Sino-Indian joint projects in Afghanistan will not upset Pakistan, which is regarded as Chinas all-weather-ally. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a centrepiece of the BRI, is strongly opposed by India on sovereignty grounds as the project passes through India territory currently under Pakistani occupation. With Indias firm refusal to change its position vis-a-vis CPEC, it is important for China to find other ways to engage with India.

India too has its own reasons for agreeing to joint economic projects with China in Afghanistan. It would be beneficial for New Delhi both economically and strategically. Besides protecting its nationals in Afghanistan, it may also provide security from terror attacks backed by Pakistans security establishment. Another important reasoning stems from US president Donald Trumps ill-fated decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and reimpose punitive sanctions on Iran. This unilateral decision has far-reaching effects, beyond Iran-US relations. There are genuine fears over escalation of military tensions in West Asia where the US and Saudi Arabia will further attempt to neutralise Irans predominant influence. Likewise, Iran could also apply more pressure on the Saudis and its Gulf allies by supplying the Houthis in Yemen with weapons that could pose threats to Riyadh. Tehran has hardened its posture with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani warning Trump of historic regret if America scraps the nuclear deal.

But most importantly, the US is likely to become vulnerable if Tehran steps up its support to the Afghan Taliban insurgency. Tehran has historical ties with the Hazaras and Shias in Afghanistan, and it would like to disrupt stability in Afghanistan. If Pakistan and Russia also decide to join in the Iranian-supported disruption, the US presence in Afghanistan would become more complicated. If Afghanistan becomes a theatre of US-Iranian confrontation, politically negotiated settlement will become even more difficult. As India finds itself unable to do anything to prevent a dangerous escalation of regional tensions after Trumps renunciation of the Iran nuclear agreement, New Delhis first priority is to safeguard its presence in Afghanistan. Winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and earning the trust of the Ashraf Ghani government is alone not sufficient in Afghanistans rapidly shifting political and strategic landscape.

Although both India and China recognise the need for developing convergence on Afghanistan, the bewildering complexities of regional geopolitics has prevented any forward movement so far. New Delhi and Beijing have previously held discussions on the Afghan scenario, but nothing came out of it. Critics would express scepticism of Chinas commitment as being Indias partner in Afghanistan, but the idea is worth exploring on grounds of pragmatism. As the security situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate further, the decision by India and China to work in close coordination with each other in Afghanistan is understandable.Moneeza Hashmi, the daughter of famous Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was not allowed to attend a media summit in New Delhi as her visa, issued in February, was not meant for the event last week, official sources claimed

New Delhi: Moneeza Hashmi, the daughter of famous Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was not allowed to attend a media summit in New Delhi as her visa, issued in February, was not meant for the event last week, official sources claimed on Monday.

Seventy-two-year-old Hashmi had said in Lahore on Sunday that Indian authorities denied her entry into the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi even though she was invited to the meet as a speaker.

"She was issued a multiple entry visa earlier this year for participation at an event in February. It was not for last week's event. That is why she could not attend it," said a source.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry was among the hosts of the summit which took place between 10 and 12 May.

Hashmi left India for Lahore on Sunday after she was barred from attending the summit, where representatives from nearly 40 countries delved on issues related to the media sector.Narendra Modi will visit Russia on 21 May for an informal summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the summer beach resort of Sochi amid US sanctions against Moscow that might impact Russian military supplies to India

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on 21 May for an informal summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the summer beach resort of Sochi amid US sanctions against Moscow that might impact Russian military supplies to India, particularly an estimated Rs 40,000-crore deal to buy the sophisticated, long-range S-400 air defence system.

Modi will be travelling to Russia at Putin's invitation, the government said on Friday.

The prime minister's previously unannounced visit comes after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited Moscow last week to discuss a way out of the US sanctions on Russian firms.

The sanctions against Russian oligarchs and companies, including Rosoboronexport, the state-owned Russian weapons trading company, has raised concerns in India about a possible impact on India's military buys from Moscow.

Rosoboronexport has long-standing significant contracts and business ties with India and other countries.

At the heart of the current India-Russia military ties is a multi-billion dollar deal for five S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems  billed as a game changer by the Indian military for its ability to counter ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft like those China is developing.

The two countries signed an agreement in principle for the S-400 deal in 2016.

The sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act mandates similar action against those who conduct transactions with the banned Russian oligarchs and defence firms.

The sanctions aimed to punish Moscow for its meddling in Ukraine, Syria, the 2016 presidential elections and, most recently, Russia's alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former intelligence officer in the United Kingdom.

India's deep military and strategic ties with Russia date back to the beginning of the Cold War even as New Delhi led a movement of "non-aligned" countries that declared their tilt with neither Washington nor Moscow. However, India always leaned toward the USSR.

India still buys over 60 percent of its defence equipment from Russia. At present, the Indian armed forces are 70 percent equipped with Soviet or Russian weapons.

Besides, the US decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and its ramifications on India-Russia have also caused new worries in New Delhi.

An external affairs ministry release said Modi's visit to Russia will be an important occasion for him and Putin to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective in order to further strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership.

"Both leaders will discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," the statement said.

It said the informal summit was in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest level.

The Sochi meeting comes in the wake of Washington pulling out of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US).

Putin is also expected to visit India later this year for the annual bilateral summit.

Russia and Japan are the only two countries with which India holds annual bilateral summits.

Modi's visit to Russia also comes just after Putin won a fourth term in office in March this year after remaining in power for almost two decades. Modi and Putin last met in Russia last year.

Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a similar informal summit in China last month.Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Zojila tunnel on 19 May. Through it, India seeks to check the influence of Pakistan and China in Ladakh.

Jammu: To check the growing influence of Pakistan and China in the Ladakh region and facilitate quick mobilisation of troops in case of any incursion from across the border, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Zojila tunnel on 19 May.

The 14.2-km-long tunnel under the Zojila Pass, which remains inaccessible during winters due to heavy snowfall, will provide all-weather connectivity from Baltal in Kashmir to Minamarg near Gumri in Ladakh. The contract for the project has been awarded to IL & FS, which has local area expertise in infrastructure development in the tough terrain.

Located at a height of above 11,000 feet, Zojila Pass is known as the gateway to Ladkah region and connects Kargil and Leh with Srinagar.

Although the tunnel will also make it easier for tourists and locals to cross the often treacherous Zojila Pass, the strategically-located tunnel will be a big asset for the army which will be able to deploy troops to the frontier areas of Ladakh region in no time during emergency. At present, troops and essential commodities have to be sent through air whenever the roads are blocked by heavy snow.

Quick mobilisation of troops

Jammu-based retired Brigadier Anil Gupta says Ladakh is a trans-Himalayan region and to reach there one needs to cross the formidable Zojila Pass in Jammu and Kashmir or Rohtang Pass in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.

In case of any eventuality when the passes are closed, it could become difficult for the troops to reach Ladakh region. The reinforcement of soldiers is also difficult with snow on these passes. Zojila tunnel would thus provide quick mobilisation of troops in the region, says Gupta.

It is this Zojila Pass that was captured by Pakistani invaders during 1947. The pass was later re-captured in November 1948 by Indian forces in a high-altitude battle.

Although locals were demanding construction of the tunnel for a long time, its need was felt only after a series of recent incursions by China and during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.

The tunnel project took time because of a lengthy feasibility survey in the geographically-sensitive Himalayan belt and other formal permissions.

A check on China's infra push

Once ready in the next seven years, Zojila tunnel will be Indias longest road tunnel and Asias longest bi-directional tunnel. It will help India to check the growing influence of China in the region through its China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its increased infrastructural development activities across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which will give the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army an upper hand in case of conflict with India.

Ladakh MP Thupstan Chhewang said that on one hand the Zojila tunnel would be an asset for national security and on the other hand it will also make it easy for people of Ladakh to reach other parts of the country even when Zojila Pass is closed due to snow.

Chief executive councillor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil, Kacho Ahmed Ali Khan, said that during winters flights from Leh are the only way left to move out of the region.

People from Kargil have to first travel to Leh and from there take a flight to Jammu or New Delhi. However after construction of this tunnel, we can move out of Kargil even during the harsh winter season by road, Khan said.

The first of its kind in the region, the engineering marvel will cost around Rs 6,800 crore. The tunnel will have all modern technical safety arrangements such as cut and cross ventilation system, two axial fans, fully transverse ventilation system, uninterrupted power supply, CCTV monitoring, variable messaging boards, traffic logging equipment, tunnel radio and emergency telephone system among others.

Neighbour's got an edge

Defence experts, however, believe that tunnels under Zojila and Rohtang will not be enough to deter China which has better road connectivity on the other side of the Ladakh region.

Nagendra Rao, head of the department of strategic and regional studies at the University of Jammu, recalls that even during the Kargil war, Pakistan had tried to block the national highway leading to Kargil with its advantageous position of troops.

We needed an alternate route to counter Pakistans strategy even at that time. An all-weather route from Manali to Leh would not be complete even after building of Rohtang tunnel as there are some more passes in between and tunnels are required even there.

Rao said that while India needs to strengthen its infrastructure along LAC with China, the latter has even constructed roads very close to the border in Ladakh. While China can use CPEC for business as well as for security purposes, India lacks even basic road infrastructure along borders in the region, said Rao.

(Arjun Sharma is a Ludhiana-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)One of the immediate reforms needed to strengthen legislature is to limit Anti-Defection Law in Parliament to votes which affect stability of a government.

Editor's note: The recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament was, by all accounts, the least productive in at least a decade, marked by protest, adjournment, and very little constructive debate, let alone passage of bills. Firstpost will examine, by way of a multi-part series spread across a six-week span, the reasons why the Parliamentary process in particular, and the democratic apparatus in general, has failed India's citizens. The clutch of essays, written by experts in the Constitution and constitutional law, will investigate the defects, introduced by design, that have enabled the degeneration of legislative functioning. Series has been curated by Bangalore-based lawyer and tutor of democracy and active citizenship, Malavika Prasad.

Our Constitution entrusts a Member of Parliament with certain functions. As a legislator, it is an MP's duty to discuss and deliberate on issues of national importance; and participate in lawmaking by debating bills. The Anti-Defection Law undermines their capacity to be an effective legislator.

The law amended the Constitution to lay out the process of disqualifying a legislator on grounds of defection. The decision of this disqualification is taken by the Presiding Officer of the House of Parliament of state legislatures. If a complaint is received with respect to the defection of the Chairman or Speaker, a member of the House elected by that House shall take the decision.

In a deliberative democracy, debate and discussion are key to framing strong laws. Debates on the floor of the House are an opportunity for legislators to raise their concerns and voice their opinions on an issue. It is expected that in this capacity he must be able to determine public interest and contribute to the lawmaking process. By weighing upon various factors he should determine his position on an issue and form an informed opinion. These factors could be a combination of his ideologies, voters' preferences and his political affiliation.

As per the law, a legislator could be disqualified if he votes against or abstains from voting, contrary to his party's direction. This means that if a legislator defies the party whip on any issue he is deemed to have defected and will lose his membership to the House. A whip can be issued to all votes on bills, motions and resolutions.

The Law does not provide sufficient incentive for an MP or MLA to examine an issue in depth and think through it to participate in the debate. With the issuance of a whip, a member of the legislature is in effect reduced to a mere voting number in House. He will finally have to obey the position determined by his party leadership. A free exchange of ideas, debate and dissent within political parties is curtailed. We have often seen Members of Parliament opposing a bill on the floor of the House during their speech, but falling in line to vote according to the party whip.

Further, with such a law in place, there is no need or incentive for ministers piloting a proposal to individually reach out to legislators and persuade them about the merits of a legislation or a policy move. When a government has a majority in the House, a minister can push through any policy or bill by issuing a whip without bipartisan support. Even if there is a need for bipartisan support, consensus building in such a case becomes an exercise limited to reaching out to the selected few leaders of other political parties.

In most developed democracies, lawmaking is a much more inclusive process. Ministers have to work hard to negotiate and convince legislators to support their proposal. For example, the United Kingdom does not have an Anti-Defection Law. In December 2017, the British prime minister Theresa May lost a key vote on EU Withdrawal Bill related to Brexit. The prime minister lost by a close margin of 309-305 votes to an amendment tabled by a member of her own party.

The Anti-Defection Law in India weakens the systems of checks and balances inherent in a parliamentary democracy where the executive is accountable to the legislature and the legislature keeps oversight on the executive's actions.

After being voted to office, the elected representative is accountable to his voters. He is held accountable by his constituents for his decisions and actions during his re-election bid for the next term. The Anti-Defection Law weakens this accountability as all his actions and decisions can simply be justified on the grounds of following party diktat. It breaks the link between the elected legislator and his electors.

In sharp contrast, in other democracies, the individual candidate's position on issues, and past legislative voting patterns have to be justified to the voters and are central to electoral campaign and debate. For instance, there have been several instances during Congressional elections when the individual voting information of a member has been used to analyse their record as a legislator.

The Anti-Defection Law was introduced with the intention to curb 'evils of political defections' and promote party discipline. Ironically, however, political defections continue to be common even today.

It has not been able to prevent defections. In September 2016, the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, along with 43 MLAs defected from the Congress Party to join People's Party of Arunachal. There have been similar instances of defections in the states of Goa, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Telangana in recent years.

Going forward, one of the immediate reforms needed to strengthen our legislature is to limit the Anti-Defection Law to votes which affect the stability of a government. These would include votes on No-Confidence Motions or Money Bills. A balance between ensuring party discipline and maintaining government stability on one hand; and empowering our legislators to exercise their judgement and vote as per their conscience, on the other, must be determined. This would be a starting point to a larger public debate about the need at all for such a law.

The author is a Program Officer at PRS Legislative Research and handles media and civic engagement.

Read about the series: Budget Session 2018 washout, worst in over a decade, shows why legislature desperately needs reform agenda

Read Part 1: Obsolete system of voice votes needs to be replaced with electronic voting

Read Part 2: Examining legislative avenues available to keep govt accountable, exercise necessary oversight

Read Part 3: Core problem cannot be fixed till we introduce checks on Speaker's discretionary powers

Read Part 4: Strengthening committee system can improve quality of drafted laws, fast-track implementation

Read Part 5: 'Bye-Partisanship'; What Indian legislature needs to break deadlocks, improve discourse

Read Part 6: Waning legislative influence, lack of clear mission flags need to redefine Rajya Sabha's functioning

Read Part 7: Political parties must be tamed, their incomes regulated to revive Indian democracy

Read Part 9: Corporate funding of elections continues to bankrupt legislative morality, weaken electoral integrity

Read Part 10: Enabling stakeholder consultations in policy-making can deepen democracy, improve transparency

Read Part 11: Time, the unseen yet powerful factor of politics, holds key to controlling legislative discourse

Read Part 12: Understanding 'political value' of time and how it is weaponised in democracyThe point about nuclear weapons is that calculation of benefit and risk is all in the mind of the parties to the conflict.

Three things happened almost back to back in recent weeks. North Koreas Kim Jong Un created history by being the first leader to cross over into South Korea to sign onto an agreement for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Less than ten days later, President Donald Trump announced reimposition of sanctions on Iran, in a move that threatened to open up a nuclear Pandoras box in the Middle East and beyond. And, a few days ago, much of India celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Shakti tests of 1998 that catapulted India into the status of a nuclear power.

The commentaries on that last event were as varied as they were on the day India decided to test. Some analysts decried the reliance on minimalism, claimed that the thermonuclear tests never took place and that India had boxed itself into a corner by giving up the right to test further as per the Indo-US nuclear deal. Others while welcoming the status that the tests had given India argued that nuclear weapons had not been able to address the troubling question of Pakistans continued sponsorship of terrorism. This view was propagated by yet others who argued that while nuclear weapons gave India a certain existential security, it did open the country to unconventional attacks. In other words, India could not launch a war into Pakistan every time it committed an act of terror.

From top to bottom, heres the thing. The lessons of North Korea and Iran offer two of the most interesting cases of the value and political use of nuclear weapons. North Korea over the years, suffered severe sanctions but had the ability (and assistance) to eventually demonstrate that it has an effective nuclear weapon that could be mounted on a missile that could reach the United States territory, and certainly reach Japan and South Korea. Having demonstrated this to everyones satisfactionor consternation, depending on which capital one is inthe North Korean leader decided to cash in on it. Thus the historic meeting and grand media appearances. He has yet to give anything up, but he is going to get a meeting with Trump and the status that goes with it. Thats the political value of a real and accepted capability to make and deploy nuclear weapons. From now onwards, its a process of hard bargaining. As the late K Subrahmanyam succinctly put it, nuclear weapons are the currency of power. Its a tradeable commodity as long as you dont actually use it.

Contrast that with Iran. The Obama administration deal with Tehran halted the Iran programme in its tracks by curtailing its most important elementthe ability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade level. Essentially, the hard-fought dealcalled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actionprevented Iran from assembling its first workable nuclear bomb in a possible three months time and delayed that to at least a year. In other words, if Iran had to break out of the agreement, it would give the international community at least a years warning to start taking action. All indications are that Iran kept to its side of the bargain. But it did fireprobably unsuccessfullya medium-range missile. Worse, it did this just weeks after the inauguration of Trump, whose ire against Iran had been more than evident during his campaign speeches. The reaction was predictable, and the threat of sanctions loom again. In simple words, Irans ability to convert its nuclear programme into political gain was in direct proportion to its actual capability -- which was nascent. And heres the thing. Regardless of its lack of a nuclear capability, Tehran continued to sponsor terrorists/non-state actors across into Syria and even Afghanistan. Could Iran have increased its terrorist activities under a nuclear umbrella? Perhaps, but theres only so much you can achieve by supporting terrorists.

Coming to Indias Shakti tests. While Indias decision to conduct the tests at that time was governed by many factorsnot least of which was the threatened indefinite extension of the immensely discriminatory Non-Proliferation Treatybut the Shakti tests were conducted with a clear political strategy. Against all popular perceptions, the letter from prime minister Vajpayee to president Bill Clinton cited China as the first threat, and Pakistan as the second. This was a time when the Clinton administration was facing flak on Chinas apparently successful theft of the design specifications of the countrys top seven nuclear warheads. Congress formed a committee thereafter to probe the whole issue and issued what was called the Cox Committee report. It was a good time and a bad time for the Indian tests. Clintons outreach to China was hardly popular nor was the addition of yet another nuclear power to the rest. Even as furious non-proliferation pundits successfully imposed sanctions on India, the Strobe Talbot and Jaswant Singh talks had already begun. By 2011, secretary of state Hillary Clinton was urging India that it was time to take the lead in a region where China had begun to step in. In sum, a growing economy and an international situation helped India in this situation. But in the end, it was the fact that India had delivered a fait accompli, and it had nothing very much to do with whether or not India had a thermonuclear ability. India had broken into the nuclear club with a clear capability, and it simply could not be rolled back no matter what. The US, therefore, did the next best thing. It co-opted it.

The Indian position was further cast into stone with a draft nuclear doctrine that reiterated Vajpayees commitment that India would never use nuclear weapons first and committed India to a credible and a minimum deterrent. Credibility had been more than demonstrated by the Shakti tests and an ongoing missile programme. This was bolstered by the assurance that India would react in full measure to any threat or use of nuclear weapons. Minimum was written in because one of the most brilliant minds of the timeSubrahmanyamunderstood that India could not and should not go down the road to a nuclear arms race, piling up hundreds of bombs of different sizes to no good effect. His understanding was clear. Even the threat of delivery of one weapon on a large city is good enough to persuade even the most sinister enemy to desist. With luck, this wisdom will continue to lie at the heart of our nuclear policy, naysayers notwithstanding.

At the very heart of the Indian position was the stated objective of the tests. The draft doctrine said, The fundamental purpose of Indian nuclear weapons is to deter the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons by any State or entity against India and its force. There it was. Nuclear weapons were not ever intended to stop terrorism but to deter others from using it. Nonetheless, let's argue the reverse. Could India have stopped Pakistani terrorism if neither had nuclear weapons? Thats a very big If. Certainly, a full-fledged war may have taught Pakistan a lesson  but remember that our capability for full-fledged war was always limited, 1971 notwithstanding. And nations, much like people, are not prone to learn lessons easily.

The point about nuclear weapons is that calculation of benefit and risk is all in the mind of the parties to the conflict. For the US, it ended in its co-opting of India (almost) into the nuclear fold. Its likely to eventually coopt North Korea again for its own ends. Meanwhile, India has the advantage over Pakistanand sometimes over Chinaof being a responsible state with absolutely no territorial ambitions. China is seeking a change in the status quo and has to engage in mind games with the US in determining the exact value of a weapon that no one can actually use. Thats a game that will be worth watching. Meanwhile all New Delhi has to do, is to keep its uranium dry.Delhi Police filed the final report in Sunanda Pushkar death case charging Congress MP Shashi Tharoor with the abetment to suicide of his wife, media reports said

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Next date of hearing in Sunanda Pushkar death case to be held on 24 May, reports ANI

Delhi Police has insisted that they would like to have Shashi Tharoor's present when the trial begins on 24 May. As of now, Delhi Police is treating this as a clear case of suicide and marital discord is being cited as the reason for it  CNN-News 18

Shashi Tharoor is likely to be summoned by Delhi Police

In the statement, the Autopsy Board has opined, "All the injuries mentioned are caused by blunt force, simple in nature, non-contributing to death and are produced in the scuffle." The Delhi Police has written later in the report that the injuries seem to have been caused due to a scuffle between Sunanda Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor.

All the injuries have been produced in scuffle: Chargesheet

The court is likely to take cognisance of the chargesheet on 24 May, where the Delhi Police would press for summoning senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

Kiren Rijiju refuses to comment on the Sunanda Pushkar case, calls it 'procedural matter' for court decide

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said to ANI, "It is a very serious allegation against Shashi Tharoor. He can go to jail for 10 years. The rest is up to the court to decide whether to give him bail or not."

Congress party is maintaining a stoic silence on Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar episode. Not ready to make any comment on this after Delhi police charged Tharoor of abetment to suicide. A Congress leader told Firstpost that as the matter is sub judice, making comments on the issue won't be appropriate.

Tharoor calls chargesheet 'preposterous', says no one who knew Sunanda would believe she would commit suicide

Section 306 says, "If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine." On the other hand, Section 498 A says husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. Cruelty means any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman.

Section 306 says whoever abets the commission of such suicide shall be punished

According to sources, Congress doesn't want to be seen directly supporting Tharoor at this point of time. Instead, party leadership feels Tharoor himself will be the right person to tell his part of the story.

Congress leaders feel Tharoor is right person to tell his part of story

Delhi Police in its chargesheet said, "Sunanda Pushkar was being harassed for long. As per her medical records, she was under depression."

Twenty minutes after Shashi Tharoor's tweet, the party still doesn't want to speak anything officially. It is clear that the Congress wants to maintain a distance.

Delhi Police sources told CNN-News 18 that the psychology autopsy played an important role in the investigation. "It reveals Sunanda had suicidal ideation," it said. The police also mentioned instances where there were major differences in the relationship between Tharoor and Sunanda.

The Delhi police is being used as a tool to subvert the political agenda of BJP to malign Shashi Tharoor and Congress leader, he added.

Congress finally speaks up with party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala saying, "There can be no more falsehood charge against Shashi Tharoor. The Delhi Police is seeking revenge on him. There was no suicide note. Is there a statement of any other witness?"

"The Congress Party stands by Dr Tharoor and denounces this politically motivated charge sheet against him," the Congress Twitter handle shared after the Delhi Police filed its charge sheet in the Sunanda Pushkar case.

Subramanian Swamy has said on Twitter that he is entitled to assist the prosecutor in the Sunanda Pushkar case, and that he will appear in court on 24 May.

He added that the Delhi Police took the steps in the Sunanda Pushkar on "instructions from the BJP and Narendra Modi-led government."

While addressing the media on Monday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "We won't cow down or bow down. This is a conspiracy to defame Shashi Tharoor. We reject the charges totally."

Twenty minutes after Shashi Tharoor's tweet, the party still doesn't want to speak anything officially. It is clear that the Congress wants to maintain a distance.

#SunandaPushkar murder case | The charge sheet also mentions that #SunandaPushkar was allegedly physically abused by Shashi Tharoor | #TharoorCharged pic.twitter.com/PEgs9n7lWR

Delhi Police sources told CNN-News 18 that the psychology autopsy played an important role in the investigation. "It reveals Sunanda had suicidal ideation," it said. The police also mentioned instances where there were major differences in the relationship between Tharoor and Sunanda.

The Delhi police is being used as a tool to subvert the political agenda of BJP to malign Shashi Tharoor and Congress leader, he added.

Congress finally speaks up with party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala saying, "There can be no more falsehood charge against Shashi Tharoor. The Delhi Police is seeking revenge on him. There was no suicide note. Is there a statement of any other witness?"

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during the investigation as well as the opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice," said a Delhi Police spokesperson. PTI

Tharoor is the only person who has been arrayed as an accused in the case. The police, in its charge sheet which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

Delhi Police on Monday said that the charge sheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case that accuses her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of abetting her suicide was finalised on the basis of "medico-legal and forensic evidence".

The Congress Party stands by Dr Tharoor and denounces this politically motivated charge sheet against him. https://t.co/FM1Ex0hCts

"The Congress Party stands by Dr Tharoor and denounces this politically motivated charge sheet against him," the Congress Twitter handle shared after the Delhi Police filed its charge sheet in the Sunanda Pushkar case.

Under Section 301 CrPC and also via JK International judgment of SC I am entitled to assist the Prosecutor in the Sunanda unnatural death case. So I will appear on May 24 th

Subramanian Swamy has said on Twitter that he is entitled to assist the prosecutor in the Sunanda Pushkar case, and that he will appear in court on 24 May.

He added that the Delhi Police took the steps in the Sunanda Pushkar on "instructions from the BJP and Narendra Modi-led government."

While addressing the media on Monday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "We won't cow down or bow down. This is a conspiracy to defame Shashi Tharoor. We reject the charges totally."

The chargesheet says the brothers and the son of Sunanda Pushkar have made "no allegations against anyone", reports PTI

Prior to her marriage, Pushkar was a sales director in a Dubai-based real estate company Tecom. In April 2010, she had to relinquish a stake in the Kochi IPL team estimated at Rs 70 crore, when allegations of corruption against her then-beau Tharoor (Union minister at the time) created a furore.

So who is Sunanda Pushkar? Pushkar first sprang into the public consciousness when she was seen accompanying Shashi Tharoor at social gatherings and was also in the thick of the controversy around IPL team Kochi Tuskers back in 2010.

Recap: Who is Sunanda Pushkar? Her background and many scandals

Shashi Tharoor's main identity these days is as the two-time Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram. Or else he is in the news thanks to the police investigation into the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. But in the immediacy of politics of the day it's easy to forget that Tharoor had a really unusual journey to the Lok Sabha.

LIVE updates: Delhi Police on Monday filed the final chargesheet in Sunanda Pushkar death case, charging Congress MP Shashi Tharoor with the abetment to suicide of his wife, media reports said. According to CNN-News 18, Tharoor's name appears on column number 2 of the chargesheet. He has been charged under section 498A (subjecting wife to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Congress finally spoke up with party spokesperson Randeep S Surjewala saying, "There can be no more falsehood charge against Shashi Tharoor. The Delhi Police is seeking revenge on him."

Twenty minutes after Shashi Tharoor's tweet calling chargesheet 'preposterous', the party still doesn't want to speak anything officially. It is clear that the Congress wants to maintain a distance.

Delhi Police on Monday said that the charge sheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case that accuses her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of abetting her suicide was finalised on the basis of "medico-legal and forensic evidence".

Tharoor is the only person who has been arrayed as an accused in the case. The police, in its charge sheet which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice," said a Delhi Police spokesperson.

Psychological autopsy is a reconstructive mental state evaluation to understand an individual's mental state at and around the time of death for the purpose of identifying the cause of death.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The charge sheet, which includes several annexures, said that Pushkar died within three years, three months and 15 days of her marriage with Tharoor, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

The couple had entered into wedlock on 22 August, 2010.

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of the South Delhi hotel on January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation.

An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on 1 January, 2015 against unidentified persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

Earlier on 20 April, the special investigation team (SIT) had told the Supreme Court that a draft final report has been prepared after conducting "thorough professional and scientific investigations" in the case relating to the death of Pushkar.

The Delhi Police, in its affidavit filed in the apex court, had said that a draft final report had been sent to the prosecution department of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi for "legal scrutiny" and it would be filed in the concerned trial court after being vetted.

"The SIT, after conducting thorough professional and scientific investigations, has prepared a draft police report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code and sent the same to the prosecution department of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi for legal scrutiny," it had said.

With inputs from PTIThe Centre on Monday sought a report from the West Bengal government on the violence during panchayat polls in which six people were killed and 43 injured

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday sought a report from the West Bengal government on the violence during panchayat polls in which six people were killed and 43 injured.

A Home Ministry official said the state government has been told to provide a detailed report on the circumstances leading to the violence and the steps taken to restore peace and punish those involved in the violence.

Despite massive security arrangements, widespread violence marred the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday, leaving at least six people dead and 43 injured.

Clashes between the supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition parties occurred in many parts of the state including North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts.

More than 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and neighbouring states were deployed for the panchayat polls.Widespread violence marred the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday, leaving at least six people dead and 43 injured.

Widespread violence marred the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday, leaving at least six people dead and 43 injured.

Amid reports of clashes and violence, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek OBrien tweeted:

To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead.Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58000 booths. What's %age ?  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018

He further said that the CPM and BJP are now so desperate that "they are even ganging up with Maoists to kill/shoot/stab three Trinamool workers in different incidents in Bengal." However, several people on Twitter did not take kindly to the TMC MP's comments. While some harked back to his days as a quizmaster, some questioned why he was citing old statistics to defend his party's position with respect to poll violence reported recently.

Stick to Bournvita Quiz contest mate. https://t.co/SttHGRE98D  Utsav Ojha (@_thatUtsavOjha) May 14, 2018

This whataboutery and subsequent dismissal of reportage are nice. But these will no longer work. Either you take action or are an (alleged) party to this hooliganism. Stop using statistics as a shield. https://t.co/EsP5wWPZL0  Niladri Bose (@Neel_2014) May 14, 2018

If you have had to quote 1990's in 2018 then your argument is a sham. https://t.co/W1hQIDEqRM  shilpi tewari (@shilpitewari) May 14, 2018

These 40 lives do matter, Sir. Didnt expect an expert like you to normalise the murders. Regards https://t.co/etQSldEwEs  Kanchan Srivastava (@Ms_Aflatoon) May 14, 2018

On Monday, a youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter a polling premises in Nadia district while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district's Kultali, police said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed one of its activists was killed in bomb attacks in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga.

Two deaths were reported from Murshidabad district, and another from Nadia.

"Three youths were beaten up by locals in Nadia district's Shantipur area on Monday morning. Police rescued and got them admitted to a local hospital. One of them, Sanjit Pramanik, succumbed to his injuries," Nadia district Superintendent of Police Santosh Pandey told IANS.

"Trinamool Congress worker Arif Ali Gazi was shot in the chest while coming out of a polling booth. He died in a hospital," an officer from Kultali police station said.

With inputs from IANSThis incident involving Faiz Ahmed Faiz's daughter marks a new low in the general pettiness and tit-for-tat attitude that characterises Indo-Pakistan bilateral relations

When Moneeza Hashmi arrived at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi on 9 May to check in for the 15th Asia Media Summit which was to begin the next day, she was informed by the staff that there was no booking in her name. When she showed them her Indian visa and papers, she was still refused. Soon, the director of the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), Chang Jin, who was the organiser, arrived and profusely apologised to her, but could do nothing.

She was told she could not stay at the hotel, or register for the conference, or even speak as she was scheduled to. This happened, despite the fact that she had even sent her PowerPoint presentation for the occasion, which was accepted.

Hashmi stood her ground and asked for an alternative place to stay; she had paid for her own travel, and it was only fair that the organisers should book her into another hotel  a demand which was accepted.

Speaking to Firstpost, Hashmi said, "I asked Mr Jin why I could not speak, and he said he could not say, and kept repeating that he was sorry." She is the daughter of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and the creative and media head of Kashf Foundation. It is Pakistans first specialised micro-finance institution, and her work involves working on micro-credit and women, modelled on the lines of Grameen Bank. She was also the head of programming at Pakistan Television and has a career in TV that spans 45 years.

She said she had addressed these conferences 12 or 13 times in the past and that they were all on non-political issues. This time too, it was about stories of women.

A hassled Moneeza later met her friend, writer and activist Kamla Bhasin, at the Indian International Centre in New Delhi and narrated this experience, but didnt want to make a fuss. The news travelled and soon it was known that she was not allowed to speak at the conference. She was booked into another hotel and left after three days. Bhasin, who has known Hashmi for over 30 years, said she was saddened by the incident. It is the reaction of all of us involved in the peace process, and we have to avoid such things in the future. She had come as a speaker for a major international event with participants from over 20 countries. How would they look at the situation in their neighbouring country? she wondered. At IIC people knew and remembered her, and that is because we are one cultural and ideological family, added Bhasin.

Hashmi has been a high profile speaker at these conferences in other Asian countries. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which hosted the conference along with Prasar Bharati, has denied it had anything to do with the incident. And the AIBD too, seemed helpless. She had a valid visa, and her papers were in order.

The incident, at the very least, marks a new low in the general pettiness and tit-for-tat attitude that characterises Indo-Pakistan bilateral relations.

Hashmi asserts that this is not the way the people of India would treat anyone. Speaking of her father, she said, "Faiz is all about peace; about keeping hearts and minds, borders and doors open. This is an unfortunate, silly incident, but I hold no grudges. I kept the lid on and I promise we at Faiz Foundation will always welcome Indians. We hope to keep this episode behind us. I am sure Faiz did not want this and we will continue to uphold those values he stood for  to have the capacity to listen to someone else, and have a dialogue.

Never in her 72 years, she said, had she come across anyone who would not allow an Indian to speak in Pakistan (though in diplomatic circles, there are such incidents). This is really stupid, and it is not going to help peace. People use these incidents to create more hate, and we dont want that.

In response to Bhasin, while talking about how the Faiz family and Faiz Foundation will continue to work towards peace between these two countries, Hashmi quoted her one of her fathers verses: Lambi hai gham ki sham, magar sham hi to hai (Though the night of sorrow is long, but it is just a night). Clearly for her, this is not going to come in the way of her work towards peace.

However, in the case of India and Pakistan, it does seem like an endless night. We have much to learn from Hashmis dignity, generosity of spirit and disinclination to bear grudges  a breath of fresh air in our dour bilateral relations. The incident has been condemned in India and several journalists have, in a statement, said that, Whatever the political problems this government has with its Pakistani counterpart, it cannot vent its venom on artists from our neighbouring country, or even on ordinary people.

This incident highlights visa denials to pilgrims and a complete failure to move ahead even diplomatically in terms of the comprehensive dialogue agreed to in 2015. This rather bleak scenario is unlikely to improve and, with general elections in the offing in both countries, the need to ratchet up jingoism will be paramount. Not permitting Faizs daughter to speak after she was invited to diminishes us as a country and a people, and tears into that shared history that we were once so proud of. It also undermines the much fought for freedom and free speech in a democracy. As Faiz put it:

Ye daag daag ujala, ye shab ghazida sehar, wo intezar tha jiska, yeh wo sehar nahin hai (This leprous brightness, this dawn which reeks of night, this is not the one, the long awaited morn).2018 seemed like a decent enough time  three years after the release of their album Repentless and many more after the death of Jeff Hanneman  for Slayer to quit

Chances are, the most metal thing thats ever been screamed out loud is the word Slayer! You can hear it on stage, see it etched on classroom desks or bathroom walls, and plenty of other completely unexpected locations. Anyone who truly understood just how brutal Slayer was didnt even have to listen to the music first  their artwork and their fans did all the talking.

My earliest memory was seeing a pixelated video of a fan carving the bands name onto his hand and then setting it on fire. My second memory, though, was seeing bassist-vocalist Tom Araya smile into the camera and talk about an album like God Hates Us All. He told Sam Dunn in 2005s Metal: A Headbangers Journey, God doesnt hate Its a great f***ing title, all right?

Since the early 1980s, thrash metal had found its footing in America and around the world for its raw, abrasive sound that was also an attitude. More than 30 years later, the band is about to call time after striving, despite loss, pain and occasional criticism from fans and critics alike. Although not too many words were shared through interviews or statements about the reason why they are bidding farewell with a year-long worldwide tour, the signs have always been there.

The first obvious sign to any fan would have been their constant ups and downs with drummer Dave Lombardo  an important figure in not just the band but also thrash metals signature aural assault. He was out of the band thrice in 30 years, and was finally fired in 2013. By then, the band had pretty much put out their best material  right from 1985s bludgeoning Hell Awaits and the seminal Reign in Blood to 2001s God Hates Us All and everything in between  and they were already dealing with guitarist and principle songwriter Jeff Hannemans health problems, including a flesh-eating bacteria. Hanneman, an endearing figure in the bands history, passed away in 2013 after a prolonged battle, but Slayer decided this would not stop them.

In terms of their sound and perhaps even in their business acumen, a friend rightly described Slayer as thrash metals AC/DC. They made sure every album didnt stray too far from their original sound, and they were making decisions based on the future of the band, booting out Lombardo over his concerns regarding being paid more, carrying on almost without a hitch after the absence of Hanneman (they called in Exodus guitarist Gary Holt). But the signs were there for everyone to see, after the release of their 12th album Repentless in 2015.

In an oft-quoted 2016 interview with Loudwire, 56-year-old Araya jokingly said it was time to collect his pension, but then he chalked it down to something as essentially metal as headbanging, which neck surgery had ruled out. King, too, known to regularly express his displeasure, said touring sucks in an interview from 2015. When youre over 50, one assumes that things do get easier, but the most important rigours of touring as a musician remain  playing at breakneck speed night after night. Considering the reasons we can piece together so far, 2018 seemed like a decent enough time  three years after the release of Repentless and many more after the death of Hanneman  to quit.

Slayer is certainly going out in fashion, booked to play arena shows across North America until August (supported by heavyweights such as Anthrax, Lamb of God, Behemoth and Testament) and then heading back to Europe one last time between 1 November and 8 December. Its not much of a 'world tour' if youre forgetting the metal population of South America and Asia (maybe even folks in Australia), so a few more dates might just find their way in. Slayer may have played to thousands and raised hell in India in 2012, but youd have to be quite optimistic about the possibility that they will stop by the country again.

Meanwhile, at the first show of their final world tour in San Diego, Slayer were at their ballsiest best, opening with Relentless and bringing out rarities such as Blood Red and Dittohead. Of course, the likes of Raining Blood and Seasons in the Abyss made the night, even as a minor crowd issue at the venue was resolved while the band stopped performing. Araya signed off with a hint of sentimentality, Youve gotta make memories, right? It if wasnt for you, we wouldnt have been here all these years. I want to thank you very much... Thanks for every f***king thing youve done for us. As one of thrash metals big four fades out, at least well have memories.BJP MP Satish Kumar Gautam, who triggered a row when he demanded that a portrait of Jinnah be removed from AMU, has criticised Hamid Ansari for supporting students over the issue

Vadodara: BJP MP Satish Kumar Gautam, who triggered a row when he demanded that a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah be removed from Aligarh Muslim University, has criticised former vice-president Hamid Ansari for supporting students over the issue.

Ansari had backed the students' demand for action against intruders who created a ruckus on the varsity campus over the portrait on 2 May, when he was to have been conferred with life membership of the AMU Students' Union.

The event was cancelled because of violent protests allegedly led by right-wing Hindu activists over the removal of the portrait of the Muslim League leader and founder of Pakistan.

"Ansari, who had held the senior post of the country's vice-president, should have refrained from supporting the students and issuing such a statement," Gautam told PTI on the phone on Monday.

The former vice-president and diplomat, who had also studied at AMU, said the disruption, its precise timing and the "excuse manufactured for justifying it" raised questions.

He said the students' peaceful stir was commendable.

Certain groups have been demanding the removal of the portrait hanging in AMU and their protests led to clashes on the campus on 2 May.

Gautam, the Lok Sabha member from Aligarh who was in Vadodara to attend a private event, said he had written a letter to AMU vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor, asking him to explain why Jinnah's portrait was displayed in the students' union office.

"As an elected MP from the area, it is my duty to write the letter and demand the removal of the portrait," he asserted, adding that there was no politics behind his action.

Gautam wondered why portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were not displayed in Pakistan.

The BJP leader said the question of allowing Jinnah's portrait in AMU does not arise as he was "responsible for dividing India".

"I wanted to know under what circumstances Jinnah's portrait was still placed in the university," he said.

In a letter to the AMU Students' Union, Ansari had said, "The peaceful protest by the (AMU) students against this transgression is commendable. They must ensure that it does not in any way interfere with their academic pursuits."

"Their request that action be taken against the intruders and disruptors, after a judicial enquiry, is justified. The authorities of the AMU have made a similar request," he said in the letter.

Gautam said the university has of late been in news for all the wrong reasons.

Earlier this year, an AMU research scholar joined terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, forcing the police to conduct searches on the university premises, he said.Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant operation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday, sources at the hospital said.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant operation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday, sources at the hospital said. According to Reuters, the hospital has put out a statement saying that Jaitley was "stable, recovering well" after the transplant.

Jaitley, 65, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday and taken to the operation theatre at 8 am on Monday, the sources said. The minister, suffering from a kidney ailment, has been undergoing dialysis for the last one month.

According to sources, nephrologist Dr Sandeep Guleria from the Apollo Hospital, also the brother of AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, who is a family friend, is part of the team performing the transplant.

The minister, who cancelled his scheduled visit to London for the 10th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue later this month, had confirmed his illness in a tweet on 6 April.

"I am being treated for kidney-related problems & certain infections that I have contracted," he had tweeted. Jaitley did not elaborate but said he was "currently working from a controlled environment at home". "The future course of my treatment would be determined by the doctors treating me," he had said.

In September 2014, Jaitley underwent a bariatric surgery to treat weight gain because of a long-standing diabetic condition. The surgery was first performed at Max Hospital, but he had to be later shifted to AIIMS because of complications. Jaitley had a heart surgery several years ago.

With inputs from PTIThe BJP on Monday hit out at the Congress for its objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'undignified' remarks against the opposition party's leaders

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday hit out at the Congress for its objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "undignified" remarks against the opposition party's leaders and said that it was trying to make an excuse for possible defeat in Karnataka.

"Those who have broken records of using undignified language should not point fingers at our prime minister. If you point one finger at us, there are four fingers that can be pointed at the Congress. When the prime minister was the Gujarat chief minister, he was termed 'Maut ka Saudagar'," BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said at a press conference here, which was also addressed by another party Spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.

He said that the kind of words used against BJP President Amit Shah during the Karnataka Assembly election campaign were of "such kind that can't be even uttered".

"By raking up this issue on the eve of counting of Karnataka votes, they are trying to put up an excuse for their possible defeat. It is also an effort to divert attention from their defeat. The prime minister speaks in a dignified language," Hussain said.

The BJP attack comes as the Congress took strong objection to Modi's remarks against its leaders at a poll rally in Karnataka and wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind to urge him to caution Modi against "unwarranted, threatening and intimidating" language as it does not behove him.

In the letter written on 13 May and released to the media on Monday, Congress leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, referred to Modi's speech in Hubli in which he had warned the Congress against crossing limits.

While attacking the Congress, Trivedi said that it was during Manmohan Singh's rule that a culture of personal accusations against political rivals developed.

"What can be more disregard for a prime minister than when a copy of an ordinance was torn by then Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi," he said.

In his speech on May 6, Modi had said: "Congress leaders, listen with your ears open, if you cross boundaries, then this is Modi  you will have to pay for it."

The Congress letter said that the words used by Modi were "menacing and intimidating with an intent to insult and provoke breach of peace".

It said that all past prime ministers had maintained immense dignity and decorum in discharge of public or private functions/actions.

Apart from Singh, the letter was signed by senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Karan Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony, Anand Sharma, Ashok Gehlot, Motilal Vora, Ambika Soni, Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Ahmed Patel, and Mukul Wasnik.Hours before the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 results are going to be announced, there was a cabinet reshuffle in the Narendra Modi government.

Hours before the announcement of the results of the Karnataka Assembly elections, there was a Cabinet reshuffle in the Narendra Modi government on Monday.

Smriti Irani has been replaced by Rajyavardhan Rathore as the Information and Broadcasting minister. Rathore will now take independent charge of the portfolio, reported News18.

Piyush Goyal will also be given additional charge as finance minister till Arun Jaitley recovers from a kidney transplant. Jaitley has been unwell for several months and the transplant was conducted on him recently at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Moreover, KJ Alphons will be replaced by SS Ahluwalia as Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Alphons will now only keep the tourism ministry.

Ahluwalia was relieved of his charges as Minister of State in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Irani had been given the additional charge of Information and Broadcasting Ministry in July after M Venkaiah Naidu was named NDA's vice-presidential candidate. She was earlier also removed as the HRD minister and replaced by Prakash Javadekar.

Goyal had earlier replaced Suresh Prabhu as railway minister, who had earlier offered to resign as Railway Minister after a series of derailments.

With inputs from PTIBJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh said that there was a 'conspiracy' to defame the people of Jammu over the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua

Jammu: Senior BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh said on Monday that there was a "conspiracy" to defame the people of Jammu over the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, and reiterated the demand for a CBI probe into it.

Singh, who resigned from the Jammu and Kashmir council of ministers after courting controversy by attending a rally in support of the accused in the case, questioned the state government and "Kashmir-centric people" about their objection to a CBI probe.

"I want to ask those against CBI probe whether they think CBI is a Pakistan agency," he said.

"Shame on those who dubbed Dogras of Jammu as pro-rapists. They will be exposed. The perception created by national media and some Kashmir-centric people that Dogras are pro-rapists was a conspiracy against Jammu and its Dogras to defame and weaken them," Singh told reporters in Jammu.

Singh, who has organised over 30 rallies in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur, and Reasi district since he resigned as minister last month, said, "We will force the government to conduct a CBI probe. CBI probe will restore the respect of Dogras and provide justice to the victim girl."

"We want CBI probe and will not stop till CBI probe is ordered," he said.

The girl, belonging to a nomadic community, was abducted, gang-raped and murdered in January this year. The case triggered a nationwide outrage.In Gujarat  and increasingly outside the state  BJP has been implementing a policy of systematic exclusion of Muslims from the nation's political life.

Editor's Note: As the Indian Republic turns 70, Tufail Ahmad begins a journey through the country to examine the working of democracy at the grassroots level. Inspired by the French author Alexis de Tocqueville, who toured America and wrote Democracy in America, the author  a former BBC journalist and now senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute  will examine how sociological realities of India and the promise of democracy interact with each other in shaping the lives of the Indian citizen. This report is the eleventh in a series called "Democracy in India".

Ahmedabad: Democracies are governments of the majority: Of individuals, not communities. But in such a system, there runs the risk that the majority community can control the government and exclude the interests of minorities. Most democracies have, therefore, incorporated measures to protect the interests of marginalised groups.

This democratic principle is being discarded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), most notably in Gujarat where it has ruled for more than two decades. In Gujarat  and increasingly outside the state  BJP has been implementing a policy of systematic exclusion of Muslims from the nation's political life.

"To transform India into a Hindu Rashtra, Muslims are being excluded from politics by BJP. Over the years, BJP has given no tickets to Muslims to contest Gujarat Assembly elections, not even from areas where Muslims have significant numbers", Muslim leader Salim Y Shaikh told me in Surat. He added: "Muslims are being excluded because the BJP is not following the inclusive ideal of the Indian Constitution".

Perhaps the last Muslim who contested for Gujarat Assembly on a BJP ticket was Ghanibhai Qaureshi: When Gujarat BJP was led by Keshubhai Patel two decades ago.

Following this pattern, BJP denied tickets to Muslims in all states, including the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and recently in Karnataka. Aakar Patel, who is from Surat, wrote last year: "Since 1989, BJP has contested 1,300 Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Gujarat, and nominated not one Muslim as a candidate."

Patel wrote further: "In states that the Bharatiya Janata Party is ruling, the number of its Muslim MLAs is: In Gujarat: zero, in Uttar Pradesh: Zero, in Maharashtra: Zero, in Madhya Pradesh: Zero, in Chhattisgarh: Zero, in Jharkhand: Zero". BJP might be the nation's largest party, but it has no Muslim MLAs in any state, or directly elected MPs in Lok Sabha despite Narendra Modi's slogan of sabka saath sabka vikas (together with all, development for all).

"BJP wants to eliminate the jan pratinidhitv (democratic leadership) of Muslims. It is a planned mission Even within BJP's organizational structure, Muslims are not given key responsibilities", said Aslam Cyclewalla, a corporator in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). There are 116 seats in SMC and about 18-20 percent Muslims live in the municipal area, but the BJP did not field a single Muslim in 2015 corporation election elections, he said, and added that Muslims in the BJP's minority wing too have no say in the party's decision-making.

While BJP does exclude Muslims, it is also the case that it has changed the terms of politics. In March, Harsh Mander quoted a Dalit leader telling Muslims: "By all means, come in large numbers to our rallies. But don't come with your skullcaps and burqas". His point was that some Dalit and Congress leaders are excluding Muslims from politics due to hatred of Muslims. This can be seen in Gujarat too. Iqbal Belim, a corporator in Surat, noted that since 1990, the Congress has not given positions of responsibility even to elected Muslim corporators of the SMC.

"The Congress thinks that Hindu voters will be displeased with such decisions", Belim said, and added that Congress too is moving towards soft Hindutva. "While BJP is preventing Muslims from becoming politicians The Congress now gives fewer seats to Muslims to contest as a corporator in SMC elections. Even when it nominates a Muslim, it fields them from a constituency where there are not enough Muslim votes", he said.

Zuber Gopalani is the vice president of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat for Gujarat. During an interview in Vadodara, he said that 23 Assembly seats in Gujarat have significant Muslim voters, but in these areas, BJP supported Muslim candidates to divide Muslims votes. While such division of community votes is engineered by all parties, what Gopalani said next stunned me. In Muslim areas, the BJP sponsors Muslims visits to religious places like Ajmer on the day of voting. In disbelief, I asked if this was coincidental. He responded: "This is not small. Hundreds of buses go to Ajmer and the tours are organised by Muslim middlemen".

In Ahmedabad, Imran Khedawala  a Congress MLA and three-time corporator of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation  said the BJP nominates no Muslim candidate on its own ticket, but supports Independent Muslim candidate to divide the Muslim vote. I reminded him that even if the BJP gives tickets to Muslims, they will not win. He and other Muslim leaders told me: Why should Muslims vote for the BJP if it doesn't represent them and raise their issues?

"In Gujarat, there is no third front. So, Muslims end up with the Congress", Khedawala said and noted that BJP candidates do not approach Muslims for votes or to represent them on their day-to-day issues. Ritvik Trivedi, a journalist and political commentator based in Ahmedabad, said Gujarat has become a "laboratory" for the BJP. He noted that the delimitation of Assembly constituencies was carried in Gujarat on the eve of 2012 elections to ensure that the Muslim vote was divided. Several corporators, who were mostly from Congress, told me that redrawing of wards in various municipalities in Gujarat has been intentionally done to divide Muslim votes in recent years.

In Vadodara, I asked Dr JS Bandukwala, a liberal Muslim writer who campaigned for reform and has fought for Dalits and Muslims, to comment on the political situation in Gujarat. "We must have a basic respect for all citizens. Unfortunately, in India, the whole survival of BJP and RSS rests on hatred towards Muslims", he said. He added: "Muslims today need a top-level leadership to cope with this type of assault. Unfortunately, our community hasn't been able to produce mature leadership".

However, Bandukwala also noted that democracy has inculcated a sense of empowerment among Muslims. "We in the Muslim community feel we have a right to vote and we have at least some members representing us". Asked to comment about the impact of 2002 riots on the politics in Gujarat, Bandukwala said: "In a political sense, Muslims disappeared. Then chief minister Narendra Modi was able to put so much poison in the system that it became difficult for Muslims to get elected". He added: "Insofar as Hindus are concerned, Muslims of Gujarat became the new outcasts. Now, no Muslim is elected to Lok Sabha from Gujarat."

The BJP's strategy is clear: Reject Muslim votes, unite Hindus. In January, Rajasthan minister Jaswant Yadav said: "If Hindu, vote for me, if Muslim vote for Congress". Such comments by BJP leaders are not incidental. It appears these politicians come out of workshops having learnt this strategy, which is also reflected in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's thinking. Senior journalist Tavleen Singh noted: "The prime minister never once used his Mann ki Baat to condemn the lynching of Muslims or the ludicrous love jihad movement. He has shown disapproval of vigilante violence only twice. In both cases, the victims were Dalits. Not once has he indicated that hacking Muslims to death or burning them alive and posting videos of this on the internet is something that revolts him".

I asked Gagan Sethi of the Centre for Social Justice in Ahmedabad to explain this situation. He commented: "We have confronted them (the BJP) several times on this issue. This is their clear position". In Gujarat, the number of voters is less than five crore. Sethi noted that when Modi became chief minister, he coined the phrase "panch crore Gujaratis" (or five crore Gujaratis) which was meant to convey the message that BJP needs "everybody but Muslims". He added: "I think it is very clear saying (to Muslims) that you are second-class citizens. You are at our mercy".

Symbolically, BJP does have a few Muslims as Rajya Sabha members and has, as exceptions, fielded a few Muslim candidates in civic elections in Gujarat and elsewhere. In Ahmedabad and some other corporations, BJP recently fielded some Muslim candidates, but the candidates had no standing in local communities to win elections, observed Shakil Pathan, a journalist based in Ahmedabad.

On my stop in Vadodara, I met Dr Lancy Lobo, director of the Centre for Culture and Development, a NGO, and asked for his thoughts on the political situation in Gujarat. "We should be citizens first and Hindus, Muslims or Christians later", he said. "What do they (BJP) want? They want to have a Hindu political community. The way they go about (eliminating Muslims from politics) shows a pattern. At this time, the concept of citizenship is more important to India than to any other democracy," Lobo said. Noting that there are "behavioural aspects" of Muslims and others which are not approved by other communities, he also stressed that each community should look into these issues and endear itself to the other community.

Professor Prafulla Kar of the Vadodara-based Centre for Contemporary Theory was of the view that "political process is only one part of democracy". He said: "Elections are also a way of eliminating groups of people from the democratic process This idea did not exist during Jawaharlal Nehru's times because he understood democratic attitudes".

Kar also noted that democracy in India runs by the majoritarian consensus and the "majoritarian rule in India means both Hindu and upper caste rule because there are layers (of castes) under majoritarianism". His argument was that both Dalits and Muslims are excluded from the system.

Has the Gujarati Hindu become communal? My answer is decisive: No. The next part of this series will explain how Muslims have responded to the political situation in Gujarat over the past few decades. I leave you with comments of two journalists. Shakil Pathan said: "At election times, society gets divided between Hindus and Muslims. Soon after the election, this Hindu-Muslim divide disappears".

Ritvik Trivedi commented: "Politically, there is all kind of discrimination. Socially, there is no discrimination". Perhaps the BJP needs to learn something from our society and its motto: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family): A truly original concept given to the world by Indian civilization.

The author is touring India to write a series on the workings of democracy. He is a senior fellow at the Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington DC. He tweets @tufailelif

Read Part 1: BJP, Congress prioritise community over individual, use caste and religion to enslave citizens

Read Part 2: Use of religion by ruling parties overwhelms secular character of Indian State

Read Part 3: Caste and politics continue to collide, sometimes violently, in a cyclical struggle for power

Read Part 4: Rule of law routinely trampled upon by politicians in power, who act like 'new kings'

Read Part 5: Cities are drivers of democratic change, secure rights and liberties of individuals

Read Part 6: Despite caste and religious divisions, our democratic journey reflects silent revolution

Read Part 7: Country's polity vastly unaccountable to citizens despite relative success of democratic process

Read Part 8: Strong democratic process engendering surplus of free speech, empowering communities

Read Part 9: Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal's ascent shows Republic is truly becoming 'of people'

Read Part 10: Scourge of casteism in slow retreat as more and more youth marry for loveThe Congress on Monday attacked the Modi government for hiking fuel prices, with party president Rahul Gandhi alleging that befooling people is the key principle of 'Modinomics'.

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday attacked the Modi government for hiking fuel prices, with party president Rahul Gandhi alleging that befooling people is the key principle of "Modinomics". "Karnataka finishes voting, FUEL prices rise to a 4 year high! The Key Principle of Modinomics: fool as many people as you can, as often as you can," Gandhi wrote on Twitter, using the hashtag "PeTrolled".

Congress's communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala alleged that the government was befooling the public as it did not raise fuel prices only due to elections in Karnataka. "Post deception of people of Karnataka and the country by not raising Petrol-Diesel prices for 19 continuous days to garner votes; First salvo of Petrol/Diesel enhancement is fired! How many more to be fired to fleece the pockets of ordinary people?" he asked on Twitter.

He said that people had now understood the Modi's government's game. After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, petrol price was on Monday hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers. With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Oil PSUs, who had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.But while large numbers of people voted across Karnataka, the state capital Bengaluru stayed away, with only 51 percent of its electorate choosing to vote

The 72.13 percent voter turnout for the Karnataka Assembly elections has broken all records and is the highest recorded in the state since the 1952 polls, Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar said on Saturday.

The turnout was marginally better than the 2013 polls, which at 71.45 percent, was the previous highest recorded voter turnout in the last six Assembly elections in Karnataka. It was 65 percent in 2008 and 2004, 69 percent in 1989 and 1994, and 69 percent in the 1990 Assembly election.

Cities fare poorly

But while large numbers of people voted across Karnataka, the state capital Bengaluru stayed away, with only 51 percent of its electorate choosing to vote, even lower than 2013, when only 57.33 percent voted. But, as reported by Hindustan Times, the problem seems specific only to Bangalore Urban. Rural Bengaluru witnessed a healthy 78.25 percent polling.

A report in India Today points out that Bengaluru has always had a rural-urban divide when it comes to voter turnout. In the 2008 Assembly election, Bangalore Urban had 44 percent voters exercising their right, while Bangalore Rural saw 72.5 percent. Five years later, in the 2013 Assembly elections, Bangalore Urban saw 52.83 percent turnout, while Bangalore Rural fared significantly better yet again, with 72.95 percent.

Moreover, urban voters' apathy is an issue that isn't specific to Bengaluru; Mysuru, the state's second largest city, also saw voting percentage lower than the state's average. Although at 66.88 percent, it fared better than 2013, when 65.83 percent of Mysuru's electorate cast their votes, it was lower than the state's average, the report in Hindustan Times added.

The other district with a below-par turnout was Gulbarga in northern Karnataka, where only 56.03 percent of the population voted in the Assembly election, a significant drop from the corresponding figure for 2013, when 63.75 percent did.

At the other end of the spectrum were places that did very well electorally. Most of them, a report in The Indian Express said, were in southern Karnataka. Voter turnout in excess of 75 percent were reported from the Vokkaliga-dominated belt of south Karnataka  comprising the constituencies of Mandya, Hassan, Mysore, Bengaluru Rural and Chikaballapur  where the electoral battle is essentially between the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, the report said.

Bloated electoral rolls

However, voter apathy may not be the only reason why Bengaluru witnessed a below-par turnout on Saturday. Another reason may be faulty electoral rolls. "The voting percentage seems to be low in Bengaluru due to the large number of duplicate entries", PG Bhat, a retired naval officer and software professional who has conducted elaborate studies on behalf of the Citizen Matters NGO, was quoted as saying by a report in Money Control.

The NGO highlighted the issue of faulty electoral rolls even before the polls, and predicted that the turnout would be impacted. It said there were a large number of duplicate entries in the rolls. Another volunteer at Citizen Matters, Shree DN, said a door-to-door survey is required to fix the problem once and for all, since there are names of deceased individuals and also names of people under different spellings present on the lists. "When the base is bloated, the voting figures cannot be genuine", she added.

Weekend polling

Several parties also expressed apprehension about polling taking place on the second Saturday of the month, saying this too would impact voter turnout. "It would have been better if polling was on a working day than on a weekend, which can affect voter participation, especially in urban constituencies where people tend to get away because the following day is a Sunday", BJP state spokesman Vamanacharya said after the announcement of the poll schedule.

Bengaluru is home to about 2,000 IT firms and 750 multinationals. Most of the 250,000 IT professionals working in Bengaluru get away on weekends to unwind. The second Saturday of the month is also a holiday for state government employees and banks, meaning voting may not be a priority for them either.

Concurring with BJP on the poll date, the ruling Congress was also wary of the weekend factor. "Polling on a Saturday is worrisome as it will affect the turnout at the booths, as many citizens, especially the youth, would prefer getaways rather than staying back to vote," Congress state unit vice-president BK Chandrashekar told IANS in Bengaluru.

With inputs from agencies

Click here for LIVE updates on Karnataka Assembly Election Result 2018

Click here for LIVE resultsWin or lose the Karnataka Assembly election, investors will still bet on Narendra Modi over Rahul Gandhi in 2019

The outcome of a solitary state election cannot typically be treated as a key indicator that decides the national political trend. Hence, economists and investors are, often, not too bothered about state elections. But, that logic doesn't seem to apply for the Karnataka polls  the results of which are to be declared on Tuesday. Even as exit polls largely agree on a hung Assembly, economists from foreign institutions seem to be looking at it keenly as India's bellwether state election that will signal the course of national politics ahead.

"In the run-up, opinion polls point to a possible hung Assembly (in Karnataka). Although the ruling party enters the election on a weaker footing, ground sentiments suggest that the markets will view the results as a testament of the government's popularity in the midst of wider GST-led disruptions and asset market volatility," said Radhika Rao, India economist at Singapore-based DBS Bank, in a note.

But while the outcome of the Karnataka election remains important, what is important to note is that an element of political uncertainty is already building up in the country as DBS explains in its note. "The government faces rising political and economic headwinds in the run-up to the General Election. Apart from a lacklustre performance in two bypolls, a coalition partner withdrew from the ruling alliance and press reports suggest that the Opposition/regional parties have stepped up efforts to put up a more unified front at the 2019 General Election," the DBS note said.

These observations, however, dont anywhere suggest a Narendra Modi defeat in 2019. On the contrary, investors have priced in a Modi victory in 2019, as noted by Swiss financial services firm, UBS based on investors' feedback. Certainly, Modi doesn't command the kind of confidence among investors he used to enjoy a while back. India Today, quoting a survey by LocalCircles, reported that anti-incumbency may be setting in against the NDA regime. "Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said that they were satisfied with the performance of the Modi government. In 2016, 64 percent had expressed satisfaction and 61 percent were happy with the Modi government last year," the report said, quoting the survey.

For investors, there were a few big factors that caused disappointments  beginning with the massive twin disruptions in the economy in the form of GST and demonetisation. These two, despite having certain positive benefits, disturbed the balance across sectors and pulled down an already slowing economy further. Business confidence also took a major hit due to a witch-hunt in the banking sector to unearth hidden non-performing assets (NPAs) and back-to-back investigations on high-value bank transactions.

Second, investors are also concerned about the ability of the government to absorb the shocks arising out of a sharp uptick in global crude oil prices that has benefitted the Modi regime. Crude is now trading at around $77 per barrel and is up around 15 percent per year to date. This will have implications on almost every key indicator in the economy as rising fuel prices will have a cascading impact across price verticals.

Third, another big concern could be a falling rupee. So far this year, the rupee has weakened over 5.1 percent, while foreign investors have bought $717 million and sold $2.87 billion in equity and debt markets, respectively, according to Bloomberg data. Further, global investors are also worried that Modi-government could fail to keep the promise on fiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent of GDP for FY19. The fiscal deficit has a bearing on the sovereign rating of a country as well as on the debt market. At the current oil prices, UBS has pegged India's current account deficit (CAD) at 2.5 percent of GDP in FY19.

But investors continue to back Modi also for the reason that there aren't credible alternatives.

The Congress, under Rahul Gandhis leadership, is yet to present itself as a strong-willed political party that has a vision to turn around the economy to next level of growth. The Congress' poll campaign still relies heavily on freebies (farm loan waivers) and other tried and tested tools of political populism. Modi, on the other hand, has taken a proactive approach to big ticket reforms despite poor implementation. Investors are thus left without much choice when thinking of the 2019 polls. On any given day, moneybags will prefer political and policy continuity.

In this backdrop, the DBS note added, "Markets are coming around to the view that the 2019 General Election might see the ruling coalition, National Democratic Alliance (NDA), stay in the lead but fall short of an absolute majority in the Lower House." Win or lose Karnataka, Modi will continue to remain the darling of investors, but with a less degree of the so-called Modi magic.Rahul cannot afford to ignore the large support base that Siddaramaiah enjoys within the Karnataka Congress and it will be difficult for New Delhi to anoint a leader of its choice in Bengaluru without Siddaramaiah nodding in agreement.

Is it 17 May? Or 18? or 19?

With the different dates for the swearing-in ceremony mentioned by BS Yeddyurappa, it would appear the BJP's chief ministerial face is not able to make up his mind. Or it is simply a case of pushing the date ahead to give elbow room for parleys in case the BJP falls short of the 113 mark?

But the larger message remains the same: The 75-year-old Lingayat strongman of the BJP is firm he will take the oath of office before the week is out. He gives the BJP 125-130 seats, and insists the Congress will not cross 70 seats. Siddaramaiah is the last Congress chief minister in the state, he added with a dramatic flourish. In fact, he told the media on Sunday that he was willing to write out the BJP tally on a piece of paper sitting in his puja room.

The numbers get reversed when you hear the Congress side. People close to Siddarmaiah put the Congress figure at 107, and hope it could surge to 120. Siddaramaiah, all through the campaign, was emphatic that he, and no one else, will be chief minister after 15 May.

It was obvious because Congress president Rahul Gandhi, in a departure from the typical high command culture, gave Siddaramaiah a free hand in deciding the flavour of the campaign, its tone and tenor and even a decisive say in selection of candidates.

The dark horse in the campaign is HD Kumaraswamy, whose Twenty20 match more than a decade ago ended with the JD(S) leader proving to be a bad sport. After playing his innings for 20 months as chief minister, he refused to hand the baton to Yeddyurappa for the remaining 20 months. Kumaraswamy thought he was hitting BSY for a free hit but instead he ended up ushering the BJP into powerplay for five years from 2008.

Kumaraswamy's constituency Ramanagara, on the outskirts of Bengaluru city, is Sholay territory: The iconic film was shot there in the 1970s. He knows the value of kitne aadmi the? as the headcount is bound to start in the event of a hung verdict. In a move that surprised many, Kumaraswamy reportedly took off to Singapore for a couple of days. The Bengaluru rumour market is abuzz that the foreign locale is the bargaining spot chosen by Deve Gowda's son, to hold talks with a potential ally.

What surprised many was Siddaramaiah's response to a question that he would be okay with a Dalit chief minister, should the high command so decide. But while the comment  taken a bit out of context and which made for a juicy headline  suggested Siddaramaiah was admitting defeat, what was ignored was that he also said the opinion of the MLAs has to be taken into account. What was left unsaid was that the high command cannot unilaterally decide and bow to the wishes of its potential partner if it did not get the numbers.

Siddaramaiah is the captain of the ship. Only if the Congress tally goes below 100, can the Congress even think of dumping him as chief minister in order to enlist the JD(S) support. Rahul cannot afford to ignore the large support base that Siddaramaiah enjoys within the Karnataka Congress and it will be difficult for New Delhi to anoint a leader of its choice in Bengaluru without Siddaramaiah nodding in agreement.

The posturing is in fact, a sharp pointer to the divisions within the two mainstream party camps. For a significant part of the election campaign, the buzz that Yeddyurappa would be dumped after the results persisted. This created doubts in the minds of the Lingayat supporters if they should vote for a party that may ditch their man after 15 May. More so, with B Sriramulu being spoken of as a deputy chief minister aspirant. And if the BJP has to depend on the JD(S) to form the government, the chances of the Gowda parivar accepting BSY as chief minister would diminish to an extent. BSY's announcement of the date is to showcase his confidence in his numbers.

Siddaramaiah always had to deal with the label of an outsider, having joined the Congress only in 2006. Even when the question of who will be chief minister after the Congress victory in 2013 cropped up, two prominent Dalit names  Mallikarjun Kharge and G Parameshwara  popped up and Siddaramaiah had to bank on his stature of the person who led the campaign to propel him to the chief minister's chair. An anti-Dalit and anti-Vokkaliga image always dogged him and with the chances of a hung Assembly high, the same tag is likely to be used to nudge him out.

In fact, when in February 2015, the clamour for a Dalit chief minister rose several decibel levels, Siddaramaiah famously declared that he too is a Dalit, implying that the poor and the oppressed from all communities are like Dalits.

But it is clear the demand has not died down. During the campaign, whenever PCC chief Parameshwara was asked who will be chief minister if the Congress came to power, he did not endorse Siddaramaiah's name but said it will be for the MLAs to decide. Parameshwara obviously cannot forget how Siddaramaiah denied him the deputy chief minister's post and kept him waiting before finally making him home minister. Siddaramaiah made peace with Kharge by making his son Priyank Kharge the IT minister in his cabinet.

What Siddaramaiah's comment will do is create a rift between different Dalit leaders and their groups over who could become chief minister. This will suit Siddaramaiah as he still commands the loyalty of a majority of the Congressmen who have been given tickets. Moreover, if Kharge is brought back into Karnataka, it will snuff out Parameshwara's chances completely.

Clearly the politicking has begun even before the results are out. That is perhaps also because politicians have a fair idea how the voting has taken place. By Tuesday afternoon, only one of the two chief ministerial aspirants will have their tail up. And it is quite possible that Malleswaram, where Deve Gowda lives, may have the final word.

Click here for LIVE updates on Karnataka Assembly Election Result 2018

Click here for LIVE resultsThe general elections are a year away and no one will care or remember what happened in Karnataka in May 2018.

As much as the media hypes the Karnataka tryst at the hustings as a major indicator for what will happen in 2019, the fact remains that both events are mutually exclusive. The general elections are a year away and no one will care or remember what happened in Karnataka in May 2018.

This emphasis on these state elections being crucial indicators sounds impressive but really does not hold much water. No voter across the country stands in line to cast his ballot thinking: Oh my goodness, I must vote for this party because it won an election a year ago in one of the states. By next week, it will be history and of no relevance to anyone but the editorial brigade. The winners will crow, the losers will lick their wounds and that is it.

It is a largely fanciful projection that we are hearing and whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will win another five years in office will largely depend on the gaffes that occur between now and election date, the state of the economy, the level of disaffection in the unemployed, the degree of satisfaction in the rural enclaves and the credibility of the Opposition parties to provide a valid challenge as a combined entity.

The maturing of Congress president Rahul Gandhi is a work in slow progress and a nationwide mandate still looks a bit outside his ambit. Does he have any rabbits in his hat to underscore his spoken intent to wear the prime minister's mantle? It is still a matter of conjecture. By default, the BJP leadership continues to give him artificial respiration by acknowledging his every word and making him larger an entity than he is. One wonders: What is the strategy in this approach? Even Modi finds it necessary to equate himself with Rahul, a fact that must make the younger adversary happy as a bunny in clover.

It would be safe to say the BJP is probably Rahuls best petrol station: They constantly tank him up and keep him running.

While the achhe din slogan is not going to fly very high in 2019, the BJP will need to see beyond its Hindutva priorities and chisel out a new image: Whether from within or through professional spin doctors and PR machines, that's still an open question. The BJP used an ad agency in 2014 and may wish to repeat that experiment in packaging and marketing.

The BJP might be tempted to run the Ayodhya issue up its flagpole. It might create some chest-thumping flurries but whether it will become a central rallying point for votes is doubtful. It is as nebulous as the label corruption and the mudslinging that we can expect over the next year is more likely to put off a jaded public than make it believe the muck is being cleaned up.

Crime and security are usually mentioned as adjuncts but they may well play an increasingly important role. Everything on the ground could change dramatically if the ties with Pakistan enter a rougher patch this winter and Kashmir continues to fester. Any act of mindless terrorism and how it is handled could change the dynamics totally.

What we can be sure of is the divide in the nation over pro and anti Modi elements will intensify and with the Congress fueling itself largely by underscoring the broken promises of 2014, the country need not look forward to these fractious elections with much anticipation because they are going to be cruel and crude.

Click here for LIVE updates on Karnataka Assembly Election Result 2018

Click here for LIVE resultsFormer prime minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh and other senior party leaders have written a letter to the president asking him to caution Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and other senior Congress leaders have written a letter to the President of India, asking him to caution Prime Minister Narendra Modi from "using unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against the leaders of the Congress party or any other party or person as it does not behove position of the prime minister."

INC COMMUNIQUE Letter to the President of India by Former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh; LoP Rajya Sabha, Leader of CPP in LS & other senior leaders pointing out the negation of Constitutional oath by PM @narendramodi, and his unacceptable conduct. pic.twitter.com/WXAhFKgupQ  INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) May 14, 2018

The letter mentioned Modi's speech in Hubli, Karnataka on 6 May, 2018. "Congress ke neta kaan kholker sunn lijiye. Agar seemao ko paar karenge toh ye Modi hai. Lene ke dene padd jaenge (The Congress leaders should listen with utmost attention. If you cross the limits, then this is Modi, you will have to pay for it)," the letter quoted Modi as having said.

In the past, the letter said, all prime ministers have maintained immense dignity and decorum in the discharge of public or private functions/actions. It is unthinkable that in our democratic polity, the prime minister as head of the government would utter words which are threatening, intimidating in content and a public warning to the leaders and members of the main Opposition party (Congress), the letter stated.

It further said that the threat held out by the prime minister to Congress' leadership "deserves to be condemned." "The words used are menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of the peace."

The letter also said that the Congress party is the oldest party in India and has faced many challenges and threats. "We would also like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats."

Singh had previously also said that the prime minister has "stooped low" in his comments about opponents and that doesn't "behove a prime minister".

"No prime minister in our country has used the Office of the Prime Minister to say things about his opponent that Modi has been doing day in and day out. It doesn't behove a prime minister to stoop so low and it is not good for the country as well," The Times of India quoted Singh as saying.The timing of the letter written by Manmohan Singh and 13 other senior Congress leaders to President Ram Nath Kovind charging Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lowering dignity of his office, coming less than 24 hours after Nirmala Sitharaman said the Income Tax Department chargesheets against P Chidambaram was Congress Nawaz Sharif moment, is interesting.

The timing of the letter written by Manmohan Singh and 13 other senior Congress leaders to President Ram Nath Kovind charging Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lowering dignity of his office, coming less than 24 hours after Nirmala Sitharaman said the Income Tax Department chargesheets against P Chidambaram was Congress Nawaz Sharif moment, is interesting.

One can argue that the two were separate incidents and the timing was purely incidental. But such coincidences, in politics, have its own implicit meaning. Incidentally, Chidambaram is one of the signatories in Manmohan's letter  written on All India Congress Committee stationery  to Kovind which said honourable president may caution the prime minister from using such unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against leaders of the Congress party As it does not behoove the position of prime minister.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia are not among signatories. But thats not unusual in Congress style of functioning. They couldnt possibly be seen to be co-signatories in a letter where Manmohan is leading the charge.

It should be noted that Manmohan and others in his party have chosen to find fault with Modis Hubli election speech after eight full days. Modi addressed a public rally with the crowd enthusiastically responding to his barbs against naamdaar (Rahul) on 6 May. It is rather intriguing as to why Congress didnt respond to it during campaign and are making it an issue a day ahead of Karnataka poll results. The Congress leaders, particularly Rahul and Sonia, could have easily responded to Modi during their election rallies. But for reasons best known only to them, they chose to remain silent.

In their letter to Kovind, Congress leaders went on to quote entire text of oath of office taken by the prime minister before coming to the point: Two lines Modi spoke at Hubli rally: Congress ke neta kaan khol kar sun lijiye agar simaon ko paar karoge toh ye Modi hai lene ke dene pad jayenge (Congress leaders should listen with ears wide open, if you cross limits, then this is Modi, things will boomerang on you).

Consider what Modi said in that rally to assess why Congress chose to react after so many days. Modi began by taking a jibe at Rahul by referring to one Chandrakant  an ordinary resident of Hubli whom Modi helped tide over a crisis when he was Gujarat chief minister  to conclude that naamdaar dont care for kaamdaar but a kaamdaar feels and works for a kaamdaar. Modi then went on to say loads of money was found in Congress ministers' bathrooms, bedrooms, mattresses and pillows. He added that the money rightfully belonged to people and he was going after such persons to get that money back. For such cleansing act, his government was termed vindictive.

Modi then went on to add that Congress leaders were crossing limits of public decorum in making allegations against him and his party leaders (Yedyurappa). Mother (Sonia) and son (Rahul) both were out on bail from a court in a corruption case. They (Sonia and Rahul) should tell people about that corruption case and how they got bail; instead they have audacity to ask questions from him and the BJP, Modi added. Only then did Modi say what has been quoted in Manmohans letter to Kovind. This is not the first time that Manmohan, someone otherwise known for limited words and eloquent silence, has spoken rather sharply against Modi.

In January 2014, when Manmohan was prime minister and Modi was making waves as BJPs prime ministerial candidate, the former said: Without discussing the merits of Modi, it would be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as the next prime minister... If by a strong prime minister they mean you preside over the massacre of innocent citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad, if that is the measure of strength, I do not believe that is the sort of strength this country needs, least of all from its prime minister". Manmohan then pitched for Rahul as his successor. "Rahul Gandhi has outstanding credentials I do hope the party will take the right decision at the appropriate time".

In aftermath of Modis 8 November, 2016, decision to demonetise high denomination currency notes, Manmohan termed the move organised loot and legalised plunder. Chidambaram, as home and finance minister, was Manmohan's most trusted colleague during the 10-year UPA government. He'd been close to Gandhi family, and could have have held position of number two or three in Congress-led government at the Centre. His inputs, political and intellectual, were highly valued.

The Income Tax Department filing four chargesheets against Chidambarams wife, son and daughter-in-law for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries, estimated to the tune of three billion dollars hurts not just the former finance minister but entire Congress.

It should be noted Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi have been booked under black money Act enacted by Modi government. The question is whether Congress offensive against Modi is a result of top BJP leaders going to town on black money charge against Chidambaram and his family.A relative of Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has filed a complaint against activists of the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) for allegedly defaming the chief minister and his family members during a protest.

Panaji: A relative of Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has filed a complaint against activists of the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) for allegedly defaming the chief minister and his family members during a protest.

The chief minister's nephew, Akhil Parrikar, lodged a complaint on Sunday at the Agassaim police station in North Goa district, accusing GSM leader Hrudaynath Shirodkar and others of "defaming and maligning the image of Manohar Parrikar and his family members".

Meanwhile, GSM workers also lodged a counter-complaint against BJP activists, including Akhil Parrikar, for manhandling and assaulting them during the protest on Saturday on the sidelines of BJP president Amit Shah's meeting.

The activists of GSM, a political party floated by a former RSS functionary, protested against Shah's reported statement at an election rally in Karnataka that he would assure a supply of the Mahadayi river water to farmers in the southern state, if the party was voted to power.

The chief minister's nephew, in his complaint, alleged that while he was proceeding towards the venue of Shah's meeting, the GSM activists stopped his car and threw a water bottle at his mother.

He also accused the GSM supporters of manhandling him and his family while they were travelling in the car, and shouting slogans against the chief minister and the BJP that, he claimed, were intended to "defame and malign" the chief minister's image.

However, in a cross-complaint filed at the same police station, the GSM workers alleged that Akhil Parrikar along with others stopped at the place where they were "peacefully demonstrating" and hurled abuses at them.

GSM general secretary Atmaram Gaonkar demanded action against those who disrupted the "peaceful demonstration".

When contacted, a senior official at the Agasaim police station confirmed receiving both the complaints and said that an inquiry was on.

"We have taken the statements of those named in the complaints," he added.

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, through a video message, yesterday said that he would return to his home state in the "next few weeks" from the US, where he has been undergoing medical treatment since March.

The video message was played at the BJP workers' meeting that was addressed by party president Amit Shah.The Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at BJP president Amit Shah over his silence on the Mahadayi water dispute while delivering a speech to party workers on Sunday.

Panaji: The Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at BJP president Amit Shah over his silence on the Mahadayi water dispute while delivering a speech to party workers on Sunday.

Karnataka and Goa are locked in a dispute over the sharing of the waters of Mahadayi river (called Mandovi in Goa) and the matter is being heard by the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal.

Accusing the BJP of politicising the issue during the campaign phase of the Karnataka Assembly polls, the Sena said that Shah's silence on the dispute, while in Goa, was an admission of "guilt".

Earlier, Opposition parties had accused Shah of promising Karnataka voters that the river's water would be diverted to the southern state if the party was elected to power there.

The results of the Karnataka Assembly polls will be announced on Tuesday.

"It was expected that Amit Shah would make some statement on Mahadayi during his speech on Sunday. Shah should have clarified the BJP's stand on the river water dispute," Sena's Goa spokesperson Rakhi Naik Prabhudesai said in a statement.

"Right from the time when Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar agreed to share Mahadayi water with Karnataka to the time when Shah assured people there of water within six months, if they are elected to power, Sena has been following up on the issue every day," Naik said.

She also said that Shah just made a passing reference to the mining crisis currently on in the state following the quashing of 88 mining leases by the Supreme Court.

"Just two sentences, that a solution would be found for it through court, was all he said. It is an issue that affects the livelihood of around three lakh people. The BJP is not serious about the issue," she alleged.Congress described as 'politically motivated' the Delhi Police chargesheet against party leader Shashi Tharoor accusing him of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, while the BJP demanded the MP's resignation

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Congress on Monday described as "politically motivated" the Delhi Police chargesheet against party leader Shashi Tharoor accusing him of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, while the BJP demanded the MP's resignation.

Tharoor is the only person named as an accused in the case. The police in its chargesheet, which runs into 3,000 pages, has alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room in Delhi on the night of 17 January, 2014.

Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala said "using power, an attempt is being made by BJP to suppress and insult Congress leaders."

Chennithala said "wrong" reports have been given to the media on several occasions in connection with the case to "insult" Tharoor.

"Now, a case for abetting the suicide of his wife has been (filed) against Tharoor," he said in a statement in Thiruvananthapuram.

"There has been political interference in the case as Tharoor had severely criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar on various occasions," Kerala PCC president MM Hassan said.

"It is only the fascists who act in this manner to take on their political rivals... The move is only to cut short the political career of the MP, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha," he said.

However, BJP leader MT Ramesh demanded that Tharoor immediately resign as an MP. Congress president Rahul Gandhi should be prepared to seek his resignation, he told reporters.Over 11 percent polling was recorded till 9 am in the West Bengal panchayat polls that were marked by sporadic incidents of violence in which several people were injured on Monday.

The West Bengal panchayat polls were marked by sporadic incidents of violence in which at least five people were killed and several people were injured on Monday, according to reports.

One person was reportedly killed and three others were injured in South Dinajpur district's Tapan area after a crude bomb was hurled outside a polling station.

Less than three hours after polling began, the State Election Commission (SEC) received complaints of violence from several districts. It has asked the police to take action, SEC officials said.

Reports of violence have been received from North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Coochbehar and South 24 Parganas districts, they said.

A TMC worker named Arif Gazi was shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district, reported ANI.

#CORRECTION: A TMC worker named Arif Gazi shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district. (The photo is not related to this incident & is being retracted, Original tweet be deleted). https://t.co/TDQ26572sE  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

A CPM worker was also killed in North 24 Parganas' Panchpota, according to The New Indian Express.

A CPM activist and his wife were burnt to death in their house allegedly by a group of miscreants backed by the Trinamool Congress in South 24 Parganas district's Namkhana, reported IANS. Police also confirmed that the couple died in the fire but said the cause is still to be ascertained.

"The residence of Debu Das of Budhakhali Gram Panchayat in Namkhana was allegedly torched by the Trinamool Congress workers on Sunday midnight," a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) member told IANS.

In Coochbehar district, North Bengal Development minister Rabindranath Ghosh allegedly slapped a person outside a polling booth.

The SEC said it has received a complaint and asked authorities to take action.

Televisions channels showed the minister purportedly slapping the person. However, Ghosh claimed that he did not do it.

In the Dinhata area of north Bengal's Coochbehar district, at least 15 people, including voters, were injured after clashes broke out between two groups outside a polling station, sources said.

The voters later lodged a police complaint.

In North 24 Parganas, the BJP accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of letting loose a reign of terror in several parts of the district, especially in the Amdanga area.

SEC sources said a few people were injured in clashes that broke out between two groups in Amdanga.

Senior minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said TMC workers were not involved in the incident and accused the BJP of terrorising the voters.

In Burdwan district, Opposition CPM and BJP accused the TMC of terrorising voters and hurling bombs outside polling stations. The TMC termed the allegations as baseless.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were seen intimidating voters outside some of the booths.

Television footage from Basanti block of South 24 Parganas district showed masked gunmen roaming outside polling stations.

In the Bhangar area of the same district, police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse a crowd, following clashes, the official said.

The SEC has asked the police to submit a report regarding the incident.

After a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the Opposition parties, the three-tier panchayat polls is being held in the state.

With inputs from agenciesAt least six people were killed on Monday in West Bengal as violence and clashes between supporters of different parties in several districts marred voting for the rural bodies.

Kolkata: At least six people were killed on Monday in West Bengal as violence and clashes between supporters of different parties in several districts marred voting for the rural bodies.

"We have, so far, received telephonic complaints of six deaths. We are awaiting written confirmation," said State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Nilanjan Shandilya, who put the polling percentage till 1 pm at over 41 percent.

A youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter a polling premises in Nadia district while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district's Kultali, police said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed one of their activists was killed in bomb attacks in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga.

Two deaths were reported from Murshidabad district, and another from Nadia.

"Three youths were beaten up by locals in Nadia district's Shantipur area on Monday morning. Police rescued and got them admitted to a local hospital. One of them, Sanjit Pramanik, succumbed to his injuries," Nadia district Superintendent of Police Santosh Pandey told IANS.

"Trinamool Congress worker Arif Ali Gazi was shot in the chest while coming out of a polling booth. He died in a hospital," an officer from Kultali police station said.

Though CPM's North 24 Parganas leaders claimed their party activist died in Amdanga after he was attacked with crude bombs, there was no police confirmation.

"We have heard of the incident but it is not confirmed yet. We are going to the spot," an officer from Amdanga police station said.

The polling for electing 38,616 representatives in three tiers of the Panchayati Raj institutions started at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.

As the day progressed, reports of clashes, booth capturing, vandalising of ballot boxes and rigging were received from pockets of South and North 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, Nadia, West Midnapore and Cooch Behar districts.

In South 24 Parganas' Bhangar, the 'Jomi, Jibika, Bastutantra O Poribesh Raksha Committee' (Committee for protecting land, livelihood, ecology and environment), which is spearheading an anti-power grid movement in the area, accused armed miscreants of the Trinamool Congress of kidnapping their Panchayat Samiti candidate Sariful Mullick and terrorising voters.

The committee alleged that their candidate Entazul Khan was severely injured in an attack by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants and was taken to Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital.

Clashes were also reported in the district's Namkhana and several other areas.

In north Bengal's Cooch Behar, minister Rabindranath Ghosh was accused of slapping a Bharatiya Janata Party polling agent and forcing him out of the polling premises, following which the SEC sought a report from the district administration.

The minister, however, denied all allegations.

Violence also took place in East Midnapore district's Panskura and West Midnapore district's Keshpur where gun-toting miscreants gathered outside the polling stations and beat up voters.

Several attempts to rig the election process were also reported across the state as miscreants poured water into ballot boxes or set them on fire.

Initially, voting for the rural bodies was to be held on 1, 3 and 5 May but as the nomination process started in April, it was rescheduled to 14 May by the SEC following a Calcutta High Court order to extend the nomination deadline and announce a fresh polling date.

Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of the rural local bodies, 20,076 seats, or 34.2 percent, have been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.

These include 16,814 of the total 48,650 gram panchayats seats, 3,059 of the 9,217 panchayat samiti seats and 203 of the 825 zila parishad seats.

The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in these seats.At least six people were killed and 43 injured in the widespread violence that marred the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday, media reports said.

At least six people were killed and 43 injured in the widespread violence that marred the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday, according to several media reports. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the West Bengal government on the violence. A home ministry official said the state government has been told to provide a detailed report on the circumstances leading to the violence, the steps taken to restore peace and punish those involved in the violence.

The pre-poll clashes between the supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Opposition parties spilled over to several areas in the state, including North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad and south Dinajpur districts, despite massive security arrangements."There are reports of six people being killed", a State Election Commission official said.

Incidents of violence

A state election commission official told PTI a person was shot dead near a polling booth in Sujapur village in Murshidabad. The victim was a BJP worker, the party's local unit leader Subhas Mondal claimed. In south Dinajpur, a person was killed and four others were injured after a bomb was hurled outside a polling station in Tapan area, the official said. Ballot boxes were looted at gunpoint by unidentified people at 44, 45 and 45K booths in Murshidabad, ANI reported.

A person died in clashes between two groups outside a polling booth in Nakashipara area in Nadia. Another death was reported from Shantipur area of the district, he said. According to a report in ABP, a student was shot dead at Nadia's Shantipur during a booth capturing attempt for the ruling party.

A CPM supporter was killed and another was injured when bombs were hurled outside a polling station in the Amdanga area of North 24 Parganas, the official said. At Kultali in South 24 Parganas, one person was killed when a bomb was hurled outside a polling station.

In Cooch Behar district, North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh allegedly slapped a person outside a polling booth, the official said, adding that the SEC has received a complaint about it and asked authorities to take action. Television channels showed Ghosh slapping the person. However, Ghosh professed innocence.

In Dinhata area of the district, at least 15 people, including voters, were injured after clashes broke out between two groups outside a polling station, police said.

Fifteen people were injured in a clash outside a booth in Nandigram area of east Midnapore district. One person was hit on the head with a knife while another lost his finger, police said. In Contai area, chilli powder was thrown at an Independent candidate and four others at a polling booth, they said.

In north Dinajpur, three crude bombs were found near a polling booth at Galaisura, around three kilometres from the district headquarters at Raiganj, police said. Of the three bombs, two were found on railway tracks, RPF sources said, and added that the bomb squad was informed.

In Birbhum, masked men carrying weapons and sticks were seen threatening voters outside some booths. Television footage from Basanti block of South 24 Parganas showed masked gunmen outside polling stations. In Bhangar, which was rocked by pre-poll violence and saw the arrest of a TMC leader, police resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells to disperse people following clashes, the SEC official said.

In Keshpur area in west Midnapore, police resorted to lathicharge and chased away men allegedly threatening voters. In Asansol, vehicles vandalised in Raniganj area of Asansol during voting, ANI reported.

In Malda, Debabrata Chakraborty, officer-in-charge of Ratua police station, was injured in stone-pelting by a political party's workers when he went to remove a blockade by the party on a state highway, SP Arnab Ghosh said. Chakraborty was rushed to the hospital and ASP (HQ) A Sarkar visited the spot, he said.

Political reactions

Amid reports of clashes and violence, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek OBrien created a stir after tweeting a list of deaths under CPM rule.

To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead.Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58000 booths. What's %age ?  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018

A state BJP delegation led by district president Dilip Ghosh will meet West Bengal governor K N Tripathi and complain about the violence. "The TMC has turned the polls into a farce", Ghosh said. Senior CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said, "Democracy has been murdered by TMC in Bengal".

The TMC termed the allegations baseless and concocted. "There have been one or two isolated incidents. The administration has taken steps in all the cases. We have seen elections during the Left tenure when we used to witness bloodbath and death", TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said.

CPM leader Biman Bose criticised the violence and said,"Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed. Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution".

More than 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and neighbouring states were deployed for the panchayat polls. Around 1,500 security personnel from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh are in the state to reinforce the security for the polls. They are aiding around 46,000 personnel of the state police and 12,000 of the Kolkata Police.

The state government is also using close to 2,000 security personnel from the departments of excise, prison and forests in manning the booths, an SEC official said. The panchayat polls are being held after a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the SEC, the TMC and the Opposition parties.

With inputs from PTI

Click here for LIVE updates on the West Bengal panchayat electionReuters

China has resumed its review of US chipmaker Qualcomm Incs proposed $44 billion takeovers of NXP Semiconductors NV, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources.

Chinas commerce ministry has been asked to speed up the review of the deal and Qualcomms proposed remedies to protect local companies, Bloomberg reported, adding local firms have voiced worries the deal would extend Qualcomms patent licensing business into areas such as mobile payments and autonomous driving.

It did not say who has asked the ministry to speed up the review, or what Qualcomm has proposed.

Qualcomm refiled its application for the deal in April, giving regulators more time to decide. The commerce ministry later that month said Qualcomm needs to do more to complete the takeover because the US companys initial set of remedies to resolve competition issues were insufficient. Approval of the deal is not definite and still could be delayed, Bloomberg said, citing the sources.India Science Wire

The world of science has lost an eminent physicist with the passing away of Prof. ECG Sudarshan, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times but missed the coveted honour every time. His research interests spanned a wide range of fields from particle physics, quantum optics, and quantum field theory to quantum information theory, gauge theories and classical mechanics.

Born on 16 September, 1931, at Pallam in Kottayam district of Kerala, he did his M.Sc. from Madras University and Ph.D from University of Rochester, New York. He had his academic career mostly in the US. He passed away at Texas. He was a Professor at University of Texas for the past 40 years. In 1980s, he worked as Director of Institute of Mathematical Sciences at Chennai for five years.

One of the most accomplished and renowned theoretical physicists of Indian origin, he is known for his prodigious creative output. He together with American physicist, Robert Eugene Marshak came out in 1957 with what is called the VA Theory of weak interactions. Three others, Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg, developed it further. It eventually evolved as electro weak theory of weak interactions. The three got the Nobel Prize for their work in 1979. Dr Sudarshan and Prof Marshak got left behind.

Dr Sudarshan achieved another breakthrough in the 1960s, when he propounded the theory of Tachyons. According to the theory, there should be particles called Tachyons, which had speeds greater than that of light. So far, the particles have not been found experimentally. But, physicists are hopeful. As and when they are discovered, it will be a historical moment as it would markedly change the conception and understanding of the universe. Tachycon is considered as a revolutionary idea within the framework of the Special Theory of Relativity.

Even as he missed the Nobel prize several times, Dr Sudarshan openly expressed his anguish when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences chose to give a prize to Dr RJ Glauber in 2005 for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence, ignoring Dr Sudarshans work. In a letter to the Academy, he said 

"In the announcement of the 2005 Physics Nobel Prize, the Swedish Royal Academy has chosen RJ Glauber to be awarded half of the prize. The prize winners are chosen by the Royal Academy, but no one has the right to take my discoveries and formulations and ascribe them to someone else!

The correct formulation of the quantum mechanical treatment of optics was carried out by me in my paper in 1963. In that I showed that every state can be represented in the diagonal form... This diagonal representation is valid for all fields.

... The irony of the situation is that in spite of all these facts being available in print, the diagonal representation instead of being referred to as the Sudarshan representation is dubbed as either the P-Representation (as if Glauber discovered and named it first) or at best as `Glauber-Sudarshan' Representation.

While the distinction of introducing coherent states as basic entities to describe optical fields certainly goes to Glauber, the possibility of using them to describe `all' optical fields (of all intensities) through the diagonal representation is certainly due to Sudarshan. Thus there is no need to `extract' the classical limit [as stated in the Nobel citation]. Sudarshan's work is not merely a mathematical formalism. It is the basic theory underlying all optical fields. All the quantum features are brought out in his diagonal representation...

It is my belief that the Royal Swedish Academy was impartial and that to assure the proper priorities it has a Committee in Physics, with members competent to examine and understand the published work. It was also my belief that the members of the Committee did their work diligently and with care. I am therefore genuinely surprised and disappointed by this year's choice. It would distress me and many others if extra-scientific considerations were responsible for this decision. It is my hope that these glaring injustices would be noted by the Academy and modify the citations. Give unto Glauber only what is his.tech2 News Staff

At the I/O 2018, Google demonstrated a new Artificial Intelligence-based feature called Duplex, which essentially is capable of making phone calls, while pretending to be a human.

At the event, Google demonstrated Duplexs call to a hair salon receptionist, mimicking the "ums" and "hmms" pauses of human speech. In another demo, it chatted with a restaurant employee to book a table.

The initial reaction to the feature was positive in terms of what AI is now capable of. But as people and experts continue to spend more time and thought on the technology, a debate on the downside of the technology has been stoked.

Many technology critics argue that the similarity of Duplexs voice to a humans, and the fact that another person can not tell it from a robots is a concern.

Robotic voices should always sound "synthetic" rather than human, Stewart Brand, an author who advocates for long-term thinking and responsibility in the face of advancing technology and other trends told Bloomberg. "Successful spoofing of any kind destroys trust."

Google Assistant making calls pretending to be human not only without disclosing that it's a bot, but adding "ummm" and "aaah" to deceive the human on the other end with the room cheering it... horrifying. Silicon Valley is ethically lost, rudderless and has not learned a thing.  zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) May 9, 2018

While Google did say that it plans to prompt a warning before each call made by Duplex, Google is still unsure how to actually unleash the technology into the market.

The company is also mulling how human does it want to make Duplex sound. This entire debate is larger than what we see on the surface right now. As Google is working towards eerily human-like assistant, which undeniably interesting at least aesthetically, the company has to be very careful of any mishap or consumers could lose trust in their services.

Having said that Scott Huffman, an executive on Googles Assistant team, put forth the companys perspective that if Duplex is given an obvious synthetic voice, it would creep people out and just hang up. On the other hand, another company employee said that the company is not trying to make the assistant pretend to be human in the first place.

Theres a thin line between Googles aim of making its assistant like a human and not deceiving real humans with software like Duplex. Google consciously decided against giving the assistant a real human background. Apparently, when its asked how old it is, or where it was born, it either avoids the question or says things like "I was born in a meeting."Utkarsh Srivastava

On 22 April, a page listing the OnePlus 6 went live on Amazon India. It was a simple page with no images of the phone. It gave no extra information about it than was already known. All it did was allow users to click on a button which put them on a mailing list for further information about the phone.

The Internet went nuts anyway.

Not bad for a Chinese phone company which essentially makes Android iPhones and is yet to truly give us a feature which is totally unique (except excellent back covers).

The making of the OnePlus fan

One of the best ways to get human beings to want something is to tell them that they cant have it. With the invite system implemented through contests like Smash the Past, OnePlus made their phones objects of desire. After all, phones have become lifestyle objects and adding a story to them always works.

Even before OnePlus launched its first phone in 2014, it had shown expertise at creating a buzz around itself and its products. It went after the geeks first, people who trawl Internet forums discussing custom ROMs and jailbreak phones as easily as most people reboot them. It listened to them, trying to collect thoughts on what people really wanted from their phones. But even as it added to its information repository, it also gained people who were able to give it publicity that every company dreams of: word of mouth.

These enthusiasts were won over by the good hardware/software mix at a reasonable price. Importantly, being more tech-savvy than the usual consumer, they were also the people who could influence other peoples tech choices. Once they became OnePlus fans, it became easier for the company to spread its reach without spending much on marketing (though that approach has changed now). The well-made phone when added to the prestige around the brand made these initial fans believers who would recommend the phone to anyone and everyone.

OnePlus fuelled this fandom through constant interaction with the community through their forums. It also made launch events a big thing in Asia and got into the high-margin merchandise business to further buff up their profit line. More than the profit it gave them, the merchandise further endeared the company to its fans.

All of these factors come together to produce the OnePlus fanboy, a person who loves and defends the company no matter what. They want the new OnePlus every year and if they cant afford to buy one themselves, they sure as hell will tell you how stupid you are for not buying one. They will also praise every design choice the company makes and defend every supposed flaw with the phones.

The Apple similarity

If all of the above sounds familiar, it is because there is a global precedent for this. A fanboy so universally recognised that there is an Oatmeal comic on them. They are of course, the Apple fanboys.

Apple was perhaps the first tech company which made fanboying a part of its culture. It tilted the balance of power from the consumer to the company. No longer was the customer helping out the company by buying their product; instead the company was doing everyone a favour by letting them buy what they made. Even the motto was classic marketing spiel which sold a philosophy rather than a product: "Think Different". For comparison, OnePlus' tagline is "Never Settle".

Apart from the fanboy, OnePlus and Apple have various other similarities.

For instance, the number of products in its lineup. OnePlus introduces no more than two new phones a year at very similar price points. There is never any confusion over which OnePlus to buy as once a consumer has decided that they want a OnePlus, there is only one option available. This absence of multiple devices also helps in avoiding the fragmentation of the discussion which is an ever-present feature of other smartphone makers. This is why OnePlus is able to have such vibrant community forums as the discussion is heavily clustered around its latest flagship.

This tactic is similar to Apples policy which stems back to a 1997 Steve Jobs directive when he had simplified the companys computer-making approach by drawing a two-by-two grid. The columns were labelled Consumer and Pro while the rows were titled Desktop and Portable. He then asked the company to produce just four great products, one for each quadrant. This philosophy has been continued at the company as is evident by Tim Cooks statement in 2014 when he pointed out to Charlie Rose that everything Apple made could be put on the table between them. This has meant that once you choose Apple, you are relieved of the responsibility of choosing within it. OnePlus with its few device launches has achieved something similar.

Further, there is also the excellent software that both companies provide. Apple is of course miles ahead with its iOS system as it outperforms other phones with higher specifications (although this comes with the tradeoff of lesser customizability). However, OnePlus too has found praise for the little extras it provides beyond the stock Android experience. Oxygen OS is seen as one of the plus points of the phone unlike other Android adaptations which are generally criticised. The OnePlus features are little things but once you get used to things like the Alert Slider, its hard to turn back.

As Samsung is to Apple, Xiaomi is to OnePlus

Of course where there is an Apple, there is a Samsung. For OnePlus that competitor has been Xiaomi which has conquered developing mobile markets at a breath-taking pace. With a plethora of products in its Redmi and Mi line of phones, Xiaomi targets every price point and delivers a good phone for that price. Similarly, OnePluss siblings Oppo and Vivo too target different audiences with more affordable phones and expensive marketing campaigns. However, just like Samsung, they lack the desirability that Apple and OnePlus phones have acquired.

In a much-read Esquire article earlier this year, NYU professor Scott Galloway had compared Google to God, Facebook to love, Amazon to consumption and Apple to sex. Galloway had argued that iPhone users are not paying $1,000 for better facial recognition. They are paying that sum to show to the world that they themselves are desirable. The phone then ceases to become a utility and turns instead into a status symbol. Slowly but surely, OnePlus is walking down that same path of desirability.

Apple and OnePlus as symbols of peak consumerism

More than any other mainstream phone manufactures then, Apple and OnePlus have taken the smartphone from something you need to something you want. The OnePlus 6 is one of the most anticipated phones of 2018 not because of some astonishing technology it will unleash on the world but because of the narrative OnePlus has managed to build around it.

Performance doesn't have a speed limit. Get the Speed You Need on May 16. #OnePlus6 https://t.co/5TPq08jw9P pic.twitter.com/amIN8XNmTa  OnePlus (@oneplus) May 2, 2018

Apple and OnePlus have understood the materialist culture of our society perfectly and have positioned themselves to take as much benefit from it as they can. No everyday consumer really needs a phone running a Snapdragon 845 processor with 8 GB of RAM. That really good camera it is bound to have will not improve your face in those selfies. Further, with the practically guaranteed high price point, the killer part of Flagship Killer seems to be fading away as well.

In conclusion, buying an Apple or a OnePlus is not a decision made out of logic. They are luxury buys which add little more to your life than what a Samsung or a Xiaomi would. And as we start changing our phones every so often, logic dictates that we spend lesser on them and just get one which works.

With that particularly sound advice out of the way, do excuse me while I quickly go prebook that phone I have been wanting forever.IANS

Chinese smartphone maker Motorola's patent for a foldable device, which includes a rectangular screen that can be folded like a phone or unfolded to work like a tablet, has been approved by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The phone patent shows a flexible display that wraps around a hinge along with a cover that can protect the display or prop the phone up like a tent.

"No surprise that Motorola apparently wants in and has actually been scheming for years. A recently awarded patent reveals its idea for a smartphone that folds out into a tablet, pretty much like other foldable phone patents out there," SlashGear reported on 11 May.

"What makes this one a bit more interesting, however, is not the phone itself but the addition of a case cover that actually adds some value to the device," the report added.

The patent was originally filed in September 2016 but was only granted this March and only surfaced recently.

Notably, Motorola's parent company Lenovo started working on foldable device prototypes before anyone else.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IANS

The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI.

"There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, theres a really large skills shortage," Winkler said.

Thats why its so exciting to be trying to bring these technologies to more developers because its going to bring more people into the mix, he said.

Winkler said the second challenge is really around data.

"How do you get the data in the right shape? How do you prepare the data? Because all of the AI in the world is based on data, and so what makes it interesting is the data that you have, the data that your business has, that what you understand about your customers. So how do you most effectively use that data to go and produce models," he said.

Then within kind of any individual product project, one of the key challenges is the same thing that the industry has seen with software, which is, if one tries and do too much, the project gets much harder.

"And so well often times see failed projects, which are the result of trying to create just the most amazing thing having done nothing," he said.

At the recently concluded developers conference, Build 2018, Microsofts CEO Satya Nadella talked about how to make AI accessible for everyone.

"Our guidance to a lot of customers to pick a domain and pick a used case where you have a high, high-quality data and that it is really well understood. Start there, get some wins with that and then start expanding the use cases so far," Winkler said.

Microsoft is partnering with multiple players in both the private and governmental sectors to use AI for public good.

"Absolutely, AI is being used for public good. For instance, it is being used in school districts in order to predict drop-out rates in India.

"We see a ton of healthcare applications: patient re-admission rates is very very popular one. We have seen medical image analysis. We are doing some really interesting work doing diabetes prediction through scans of retinas," Winkler said.

Microsoft is working with the Snow Leopard Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of the snow leopard and parts of Nepal and India to analyse in real time the presence of snow leopards.

"So its fundamentally changed the way they do their research," he said, adding that the Microsoft is working with three-four other conservation agencies doing similar things.

"For a lot of the customers, what AI is enabling is not just an incremental... but Its something they fundamentally couldnt do before. So it really does introduce a step change for the things that they want to do in their business," Winkler added.US President Donald Trump on Monday hailed the scheduled opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as 'a great day for Israel,' even as deadly clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Gaza border.

Washington: US president Donald Trump on Monday hailed the scheduled opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as "a great day for Israel," even as deadly clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Gaza border.

The Gaza health ministry said that 25 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and hundreds more were wounded amid mass protests on the border against the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

President Trump made absolutely no reference of the violence in an early morning tweet, instead invited Twitter followers to watch live coverage of the embassy opening on Fox News channels.

"Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted.

U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018

The US delegation to the inaugural ceremony included US deputy secretary of state James Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump announced the embassy's move on 6 December in recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, to the cheers of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the move has infuriated Palestinians, upending longstanding US policy that the disputed city's status should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians as part of a comprehensive peace agreement.By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the far-right League remain locked in talks to forge a common policy programme and said they would not be able to present it to the head of state on Sunday as planned. The parties were adversaries before the March 4 vote which produced a hung parliament, but have been negotiating since Thursday to fuse their very different election platforms into a 'contract' of mutually acceptable policy commitments.

By Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the far-right League remain locked in talks to forge a common policy programme and said they would not be able to present it to the head of state on Sunday as planned.

The parties were adversaries before the March 4 vote which produced a hung parliament, but have been negotiating since Thursday to fuse their very different election platforms into a "contract" of mutually acceptable policy commitments.

"We are writing history and we need a bit of time," 5-Star's 31-year-old leader Luigi Di Maio told reporters on Sunday during a break in the talks taking place in a Milan skyscraper.

Di Maio cancelled a scheduled television appearance on a popular Sunday evening talk show as talks dragged on.

5-Star won 32 percent of the vote at the election and the League took 17 percent. They are the two largest groups in parliament and together can muster a majority in both houses.

Di Maio and his League counterpart Matteo Salvini both said they had made progress with plans to cut taxes, boost welfare and bolster efforts to stop irregular immigration, but there was still no word on who would lead the nascent government.

Neither Salvini nor Di Maio want to allow the other to become prime minister, with Salvini arguing that although his party has far fewer votes, he represents a centre-right electoral alliance that together reached 37 percent.

The two leaders are trying to find an independent figure from neither party to lead the government, but have so far failed to agree on a mutually-acceptable choice.

President Sergio Mattarella, the supreme arbiter of Italian politics, reminded the parties in a speech on Saturday that the constitution gives him the final word on nominating a premier and he is not obliged to accept their recommendation.

Mattarella, normally a low-profile figure, has warned recently about the importance of Italy running sound public finances and maintaining its traditional pro-European Union positions.

Both 5-Star and the League are hostile to EU budget rules, and while 5-Star has moderated its stance on Europe, the League is more confrontational and says it wants Italy to leave the euro zone as soon as it is politically feasible.

On Sunday a small party in the centre-right electoral alliance, the right-wing Brothers of Italy, said it may support the nascent government in parliament, so long as the prime minister is an acceptable figure and not from 5-Star.

The 5-Star/League coalition would have only a narrow majority in the upper house and, with its 18 senators, Brothers of Italy's support would make the bloc less vulnerable to possible defections.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.The Palestinians are preparing on Sunday for escalating popular protests on Monday in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Gaza: The Palestinians are ready for escalating popular protests on Monday in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Palestinian protests on Monday will coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, one day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe", reports Xinhua. The event is also held to protest over the United States relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which US President Donald Trump recognised as the capital of Israel last December.

The national commission of the protests in Gaza called for the largest-ever mass rallies, dubbed "the day of passage," in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel.

On Sunday afternoon, traffic across Gaza stopped for five minutes to announce the start of the largest activities in the six-week marches, which began on 30 March and are scheduled to end on 15 May. "Monday will be a historic day in the popular marches," the national commission was quoted as saying.

It also called on people in the Gaza Strip to organise a Palestinian march of one million participants to defy Israel's 12-year blockade imposed on the coastal enclave. The commission stressed the popular and peaceful essence of the marches, and the Palestinians "will not retreat from achieving their goals of return and defying the siege."

It called on the Gaza residents to be committed to the announced measures including closing public institutions, universities as well as other daily services and heading to the border in eastern Gaza.By Emmanuel Jarry and Ingrid Melander PARIS (Reuters) - A knife attacker who killed a 29-year-old man in Paris on Saturday night was a French citizen born in Russia's Chechnya region in 1997, judicial sources said on Sunday. The unnamed attacker shouted 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) as he killed one passer-by and wounded four others in the busy Opera district of central Paris, witnesses and a prosecutor said, before being shot dead by police. The attack was one of a succession in France in which more than 240 people have died since January 2015, keeping the country on high alert.

By Emmanuel Jarry and Ingrid Melander

PARIS (Reuters) - A knife attacker who killed a 29-year-old man in Paris on Saturday night was a French citizen born in Russia's Chechnya region in 1997, judicial sources said on Sunday.

The unnamed attacker shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) as he killed one passer-by and wounded four others in the busy Opera district of central Paris, witnesses and a prosecutor said, before being shot dead by police.

The attack was one of a succession in France in which more than 240 people have died since January 2015, keeping the country on high alert.

France is part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and has thousands of soldiers in West Africa, where al Qaeda-linked militants are active.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack via its Amaq news agency, but provided no proof.

President Emmanuel Macron said France would "not yield an inch to the enemies of freedom," praising police for "neutralising the terrorist".

The 21-year-old assailant's father and mother are being held for questioning by police, a judicial source said.

He was categorised in France as "fiche S", an indication used by officials to flag people who may be a threat to national security, said another source close to the investigation.

Police union representative Rocco Contento told Reuters that the assailant, after attacking bystanders with a knife, rushed at police shouting "I will kill you, I will kill you!"

He was then shot by the officers.

The four people wounded were out of danger, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters overnight.

The attack took place in a district popular with tourists for its many restaurants and cafes, landmark retail stores, and the Paris opera.

A picture seen by Reuters, of a bare-chested and bearded young man dressed in black trousers, showed the attacker, a source said.

The judicial source said the person killed, who authorities have not identified, was a man aged 29.

The deadliest of the attacks that have hit France over the past three years occurred in Paris in November 2015, when 130 people were killed.

In October, in an incident similar to Saturday's, a man stabbed two young women to death in the port city of Marseille before soldiers killed him.

(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; Writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by John Stonestreet)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to German, French and British counterparts in recent days to discuss cooperation over Iran, a State Department spokeswoman said on Monday a week after U.S

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to German, French and British counterparts in recent days to discuss cooperation over Iran, a State Department spokeswoman said on Monday a week after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

"The Secretary underlined that the United States and our European allies share strong interests in preventing Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon and in countering the Iranian regime's destabilizing activities in the region," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

"He is hopeful we can continue strong cooperation," she added.

The White House on Sunday threatened to impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran after Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 accord negotiated by the Obama administration.

Pompeo was in Pyongyang on Tuesday when Trump made the announcement and senior State Department officials said the secretary will try to persuade allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia to pressure Tehran to return to talks.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday U.S. sanctions on European companies that maintain business dealings with Iran were "possible" although Pompeo has remained hopeful Washington and its allies could strike a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

So far, China, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and Iran remain in the accord, which placed controls on Irans nuclear program and led to a relaxation of economic sanctions against Iran and companies doing business there.

In a statement, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said after talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, that both countries were determined "to conserve the essence of the Iran nuclear deal."

He said British and European officials would meet in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss ways to protect companies against U.S. sanctions on Iran, which will be phased in over the next six months.

"I want to stress that that does not mean we are in any sense not going to be working with the Americans," Johnson said, adding: "it's vital that we continue to engage with the USA and continue to interrogate our friends in Washington about how they see the nuclear deal developing."

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by James Dalgleish)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that Washington will agree to lift sanctions on North Korea if the country agrees to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program, a move that would create economic prosperity that "will rival" South Korea.

Speaking on several Sunday morning talk shows, Pompeo said the United States would not be willing to invest taxpayer dollars to help the country, but was willing to "lift sanctions" to pave the way for private American investment in North Koreas energy, agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

Pompeo's comments come ahead of a planned June 12 meeting in Singapore between North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, the first such meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

What Chairman Kim will get from America is our finest  our entrepreneurs, our risk takers, our capital providers...They will get private capital that comes in. North Korea is desperately in need of energy...for their people. They are in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, he said on CBS's Face the Nation.

We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South, he added.

North Korean state media reported over the weekend that the country has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb site for later in May.

Pompeo welcomed the news of those plans.

"Every single site that the North Koreans have that can inflict risk on the American people that is destroyed, eliminated, dismantled is good news for the American people and for the world," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Last month, Pompeo became the first known U.S. official to meet with Kim, where he helped lay the ground work for the upcoming meeting with Trump.

He returned again to North Korea last week for a second meeting, after which Kim agreed to the historic release of three American prisoners.

"The prospect for North Korea is for it to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way South Korea does," White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, adding that prospects for the country are "unbelievably strong" if it follows through on its commitment.

Pompeo, meanwhile, also spoke about what it was like to meet Kim, whom few Americans have interacted with personally.

"The conversations are professional," he said on "Fox News Sunday.

"He does follow the western press. He'll probably watch this show at some point."

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by David Gregorio)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Israeli forces killed at least 28 Palestinians along the Gaza border, health officials said, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States prepared to open its embassy in Jerusalem

Gaza border: Israeli forces killed at least 28 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States prepared to open its embassy in Jerusalem.

It was the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since a series of protests dubbed the Great March of Return began at the border with Israel on 30 March and since the 2014 Gaza war.

The health officials said 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets.

Tens of thousands gathered at the frontier on Monday, some of them approaching Israels border fence  a line Israeli leaders vowed Palestinians would not be allowed to breach. Black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air.

Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever, said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end, he said.

Later in the day, Israeli leaders and a US delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A great day for Israel, the US president, who stoked Arab anger by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital in December, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in lockstep with Trump over fulfilling a long-standing US promise to move the embassy to the holy city and over the presidents withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last week, echoed the sentiment.

What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel, Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

The 28 Palestinian dead on Monday included a 14-year-old boy, a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

The Israeli military identified three of those killed as armed militants whom it said tried to place explosives near the fence in the southern Gaza Strip.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 73 since the protests started six weeks ago. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will act forcefully against any terrorist activity and will operate to prevent attacks against Israelis, the military said in a statement.

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States has echoed Israel in accusing Gazas ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

Long overdue

Jason Greenblatt, Trumps Middle East peace envoy, said on Twitter that taking the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it.

Taking the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it. 7/11 https://t.co/kDAPUTRw2N  Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) May 14, 2018

But Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah accused the United States of blatant violations of international law.

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trumps shift from previous administrations preference for keeping the US Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the US move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the nakba or catastrophe when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israels creation.

Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process, Hamdallah wrote.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem  a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians  should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Its ambassador visited the new site, in an office building in the western part of the city, on Monday. Paraguay is to follow suit later this month.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the US decision to do so.

The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across West Asia.Arab leaders across West Asia have warned that a unilateral American move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Jerusalem: The United States opens its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians.

The opening ceremony is at a US consular building in the Arnona neighbourhood. It will house an interim embassy for the ambassador and a small staff until a larger site is found.

The compound cuts across the 1949 Armistice Line that separated West Jerusalem from No Mans Land, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and has held under occupation ever since.

The embassy move follows US president Donald Trumps decision last December to break with decades of US policy and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision, saying it reflected that the Jewish people have had a capital for 3,000 years, and that it is called Jerusalem.

But the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a slap in the face and said the United States can no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel.

Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works and that by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Americas closest ally he had taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.

Why did Trump recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announce the embassy will be moved there?

There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a promise of his 2016 election campaign.

Vice-President Mike Pence and David Friedman, the ambassador to Israel appointed by Trump, are thought to have pushed hard for both recognition and embassy relocation.

The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Pence.

Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem. But Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama consistently signed waivers.

Announcing his decision on 6 December, Trump cited the Jerusalem Embassy Act and suggested his predecessors had lacked courage. He said: They failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.

Why does Jerusalem play such an important role in the West Asian conflict?

Religion, politics and history.

Jerusalem is a city sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, early Muslim rulers, Crusaders, Ottomans, the British Empire and by the modern states of Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Israels government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. Jews call the city Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds (The Holy).

At the heart of Jerusalems Old City is the hill known to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews.

Within yards of the wall are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also a pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected.

What is the city's modern history and status?

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed an international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a corpus separatum to be administered by the United Nations.

That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

In 1980 the Israeli Parliament passed a law declaring the complete and united city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the citys status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The king of Jordan retains a role in ensuring the upkeep of the Muslim holy places.

Does any other country have an embassy in Jerusalem?

Guatemala will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on 16 May and Paraguay later this month.

Netanyahu said in April at least half a dozen countries were now seriously discussing following the US lead. He did not identify them.

In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote.

What is likely to happen next? Has Jerusalem been a flashpoint before?

Since the announcement, there has been tension, with Palestinian protests in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest.

That protest culminates on 15 May, a day Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost as Israel was created in 1948, given extra significance this year because it falls on the day after the US Embassy move.

Although clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces have not been on the scale of the first and second Palestinian intifadas in 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion.

In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque, causing damage. So charged was West Asias political climate  just two years after the Six Day War  there was fury across the Arab world.

In 2000, Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then Opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. Palestinians protested and there were clashes that quickly escalated into the second Palestinian uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Deadly confrontations took place last July after Israel installed metal detectors at the entrance to the complex after the killing of two Israeli policemen by Arab-Israeli gunmen.

Arab leaders across West Asia have warned that a unilateral American move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.2017 was a monumental year for Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA), and this past quarter's earnings results reflected that. Every financial and operating metric across the board posted double-digit growth rates and the company's net income topped Wall Street expectations for the year.

After such a flurry of activity, investors may be wondering if Pembina Pipeline can maintain that pace in the coming years. So let's take a look at its most recent financial results and what investors can expect from here.

By the numbers

Metric Q1 2018 Q4 2017 Q1 2017 Revenue CA$1.84 billion CA$1.72 billion CA$1.48 billion Operating margin CA$757 million CA$749 million CA$407 million Net income CA$330 million CA$445 million CA$210 million EPS CA$0.59 CA$0.83 CA$0.48

Up and down the income statement, Pembina's results look much improved compared to both this past quarter and the prior year. The only thing that looks a little out of place was the decline in net income, which was mostly attributed to a CA$70 million one-time gain related to the changes to the U.S. corporate tax rate.

This past quarter, management elected to change the way it reports its segmented earnings. So we can't really tell what these results look like compared to the prior quarter. Pembina did restate its prior-year results under this new structure, though. As you might expect, the starting up of several facilities as well as closing the Veresen deal led to significant growth across all segments.

All of these gains can be attributed to both the acquisition of Veresen, which was completed in the third quarter of last year, and the start-up of more than CA$4.7 billion in projects ranging from its massive phase 3 conventional pipeline expansion to smaller natural gas processing and storage facilities. According to management, the addition of these facilities should increase adjusted EBITDA per share from CA$3.06 in 2016 to CA$5.00-CA$5.50 in 2018.

What management had to say

On Pembina's conference call, one analyst asked CEO Michael Dilger about the on the prospects of LNG exports from the West Coast of North America and Pembina's role in the future of LNG from both the U.S. and Canada. One concern is that if other companies were to give the green light for big LNG export terminals in British Columbia, it would diminish the returns for Pembina's potential project in Jordan Cove, Oregon, because of higher gas prices. According to Dilger, that isn't too much of a concern right now because the Montney shale formation -- the most likely supply source for these facilities -- has more than enough gas for multiple facilities.

[T]he Montney itself could fill a number of LNG projects. It could fill [Royal Dutch] Shell's, it could fill Shell's expansion, it could fill Jordan Cove, it could fill Jordan Cove's expansion, it could fill another LNG. The resource is absolutely massive with 100 years plus of reserve life out there. And then with Petronas' project not moving forward, I mean, they alone have enough gas to fill their projects. So, we have a lot of stranded gas that's putting downward pressure on AECO [the benchmark price for Alberta natural gas] pricing. So, we could easily meet the needs of many projects. So, I think, and my hope is, that Shell and Jordan Cove both go, but I think that's the first of hopefully a number of additional projects.

Taking a breather on capital spending

Pembina's ambitious growth phase over the past few years required capital spending exceeded CA$2 billion since 2014 and a whopping CA$3 billion last year. This current slate of development projects is noticeably smaller than that. A smaller spending rate isn't necessarily a bad thing, however. Growing that quickly required the company to do some creative financing such as issuing preferred shares on top of common equity, which diluted shareholder equity in that growth. Its 2018 capital plan calls for around CA $1.3 billion, but management believes that it can fund it with internally generated cash and some modest debt issuance. That is a much more sustainable path over the long run.

It should also be noted that even though its current capital spending appears light, there is still a deep bench of potential projects in the works including a propane export terminal, a large-scale petrochemical complex with the Kuwait National Oil Company, and its Jordan Cove LNG facility. These three facilities alone will represent several billion in new investments, and they will likely open up other opportunities to enhance its existing assets along the way.

So perhaps Pembina isn't going to post double-digit increases across the board, but its plan still looks like one that should be able to create value over the long haul for investors.Since transitioning to an ultra-low cost carrier model around the time of the Great Recession, Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE) has become known for spartan service. Leg room is minimal, and a slew of amenities that are standard on other airlines carry additional charges or aren't available at all. Spirit's unpopular policies were designed as part of a ruthless strategy to cut costs so that it could offer the lowest fares.

In keeping with this strategy, for many years Spirit Airlines ignored the airline industry trend toward installing onboard Wi-Fi. However, during 2017, management finally started coming around to the idea of offering internet access in the air. Last week -- as part of a broader campaign to highlight its improving service -- Spirit Airlines confirmed that it will install Wi-Fi throughout its fleet by the summer of 2019.

What Spirit's management thinks about Wi-Fi

Several years ago, then-CEO Ben Baldanza said that Spirit Airlines wasn't interested in offering Wi-Fi if it would have to raise fares to cover the cost of installation and providing the service. He stated that other airlines didn't earn enough revenue from Wi-Fi usage fees to cover their costs. For airlines that carry lots of high-paying business travelers, Wi-Fi availability is a must. But Baldanza viewed Wi-Fi as an unjustifiable expense for a leisure carrier like Spirit.

Luckily for Spirit (and its customers), the cost of installing and operating inflight Wi-Fi systems has been declining. Furthermore, the quality of service has improved dramatically, enabling broadband-like speeds even when lots of people are connected.

As a result, current Spirit Airlines CEO Bob Fornaro stated that the carrier was likely to add Wi-Fi in the near future. He indicated that Spirit was looking for a product that would be relatively inexpensive but capable of more than just basic email and web browsing.

Spirit Airlines makes its choice

On Friday, Spirit Airlines officially announced that it was signing an agreement with Thales Group to bring high-speed Wi-Fi to its entire fleet of more than 100 planes. Spirit is promising customers true broadband speeds that will enable video streaming. Installations will begin in November and continue through next summer.

Initially, Wi-Fi service will be available on 97% of Spirit's routes. (Certain flights to Latin America will go beyond the coverage area.) By 2021, the launch of a new satellite will increase speeds even further and extend Wi-Fi availability to Spirit Airlines' full route network.

The Wi-Fi announcement was coordinated with a new campaign focusing on Spirit's moves to "invest in the guest." The carrier noted that its on-time performance has improved dramatically this year, helped by a new pilot contract that quelled recent labor unrest. Spirit also has a new guest service training program for flight attendants that will soon be extended to its airport customer service staff.

It will probably take a while for Spirit Airlines to convince potential customers that its service quality has improved, but it is clearly making a sincere effort to improve its reputation.

A new ancillary revenue driver

Wi-Fi will become a new source of ancillary revenue for Spirit Airlines, which could help the carrier break its recent streak of unit revenue declines. "Spirit will offer high-speed web browsing and streaming options, starting with an average price of $6.50, with a cost range expected to be lower or higher based on the route and demand," according to the company.

Spirit's statement suggests that the carrier may implement tiered pricing, with a higher price for access to bandwidth-heavy video streaming services. Unlike most of its rivals, Spirit Airlines won't offer a library of free video content, creating more of an incentive for customers to pay a premium for the ability to connect to services like Netflix and Hulu.

Spirit Airlines shareholders will be happy to learn that adding Wi-Fi to the fleet won't have a meaningful impact on Spirit's cost structure. In fact, it appears that Thales may be footing some or all of the bill for the installations in exchange for a cut of the revenue generated.

If that's true, while Spirit Airlines will give up some of the potential revenue upside from Wi-Fi, there will be virtually no downside for the company. Thus, Wi-Fi could be an important tool for Spirit to improve its financial results in 2019 and beyond.Fresh from his first points in Formula 1 two weeks ago, Leclerc delivered another impressive performance at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as he qualified in 14th place and then emerged from the opening-lap chaos in ninth. From there he fought with Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez to eventually finish tenth, a result the rookie ranks as even more unexpected.

Sixth place for Sauber in Baku was a stunning result that earned him the Driver of the Day award, but for Charles Leclerc a solitary point in Barcelona was a bigger shock.

This is definitely the biggest surprise of the year in terms of performance, Leclerc said. Arriving in Barcelona I think we expected to be very far (off the pace) and at the end it has been a lot better than expected. I mean, Q2, and again today another point which is twice in a row so yeah - a really great weekend again.

Leclerc even ran as high as eighth at the start of his final stint, but was jumped by Alonso after a Virtual Safety Car period and then was not disappointed to drop behind Perez as the Force India was on fresher tyres.

I mean Barcelona is a track where its very difficult to overtake (but) at the end it was very difficult for me to keep him behind because I had a front left that was completely done. It was the same with Sergio, my front left was destroyed, I had graining and blistering - everything.

So it was very bad, but yeah we kept [Alonso] behind quite a lot I think, when there was a VSC it was quite bad for us as its quite difficult for our car to keep temperatures in the tyres, and at the restart he just passed me.

With his first points already under his belt in Baku, Leclerc feels he was able to stay calmer when running in the top ten from the end of the opening lap, but insists his position in the race was never a major factor in his thinking.

It always helps but I think you dont really realise where you are exactly. OK there are eight cars in front of me, but I didnt count them - I was just really focusing on my tyres, that was very critical at the moments as the temperatures were going down very quickly and you had so many things going on but the only focus is trying to overtake the car in front and that the car behind doesnt pass you.

You are not sure where you are in the points or not. I realised a bit later in the race when they said Charles you are P9, so that was good to hear. Obviously when I heard it in Baku there were a lot emotions. Now its a little bit less of course, but it was still nice to hear.

His point from Spain means Leclerc now has nine in total, putting him 13th in the standings ahead of his home race in Monaco in two weeks' time.Two months on from the 23 June referendum on Britains future in the European Union and UK commercial property funds are still suffering as a result of the shock vote to leave.

Within a few days of the vote to Brexit, one fund after another imposed temporary suspensions on their funds, whether through redemption penalties (often called fair value adjustments) or through gating the funds against investors redeeming their shares.

The problem lay with UK commercial property open-ended funds that allowed daily dealing. As market commentators expressed concern overseas investors may pull out of the UK commercial property market, investor confidence in the asset class plummeted, leading to a rush on the funds.

Because property is illiquid, and many of these funds had billions of pounds tied up in bricks and mortar, fund houses did not have the free cash flow to meet the potential rash of redemptions.

According to data from Morningstar, property funds are some of the largest retail investment funds (see figure 1), so a rush of some investors for the exit naturally creates headline news.

However, this then ignites a behavioural bias among others who seek to follow suit. Therefore, action needed to be taken to protect existing, long-term investors against a potential stampede of nervous investors. We would like providers to provide some insight into how their fair value adjustments are arrived at and whether the initial high adjustments were simply to try and stem fund outflows Paul Milburn

Jonathan Wilcocks, global head of retail sales at M&G, one of the companies which imposed a temporary suspension in trading, says: The temporary suspension in trading of the M&G Property Portfolio and its feeder fund is because redemptions reached a point where M&G believes it can best protect the interests of the funds shareholders by taking this action.

Investor redemptions rose markedly because of the high levels of uncertainty in the UK commercial property market following the outcome of the European Union referendum.

The temporary suspension will allow the fund manager time to raise cash levels in a controlled manner, ensuring that any asset disposals are achieved at reasonable vales.

Some companies may keep their gates closed for several months. Even as late as mid-August, Aviva Investors warned investors in its 1.8bn Property Trust the portfolio is likely to remain suspended for at least another five to seven months.

The firm suspended its open-ended UK bricks-and-mortar property fund on 5 July for an initial 28-day period, before extending the gating for a further month on 2 August .

Yet advisers looking to place their clients into property for the purposes of diversification and yield generation are not best pleased with what some believe are heavy-handed measures.

Paul Milburn, investment analyst for Lowes Financial Management, comments: We have witnessed some very sharp fair value adjustments in open ended funds, with some initially imposing adjustments of up to 15 per cent.Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched a duo of Luxembourg domiciled multi-asset funds with a slant to environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.

The Global Balanced Fund targets a volatility range of 4 per cent to 10 per cent, while the Global Balanced Defensive Fund has a lower target of 2 per cent to 6 per cent.

The underlying investment process for the two funds mirrors that of the existing Global Balanced Risk Control (GBaR) strategy, which, according to the fund house, is designed to maintain a stable risk profile.

This strategy has returned just over 36 per cent over a five-year period to 30 August 2016 according to FE Analytics data.

The funds are the first in the GBaR suite to incorporate ESG factors into the process.

Both funds will be managed by Andrew Harmstone and Manfred Hui in London.

Mr Harmstone said: The new funds will be based on our established GBaR process, which in our view is the most effective way for investors to participate in rising markets while providing strong downside protection.

We expect the integration of ESG considerations into the process to further improve potential returns and enhance risk management.

The funds are not yet widely available for sale and are awaiting registration in various markets.

Provider view

Paul Price, (pictured), global head of client coverage at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, said: Morgan Stanley Investment Managements extensive multi-asset capabilities are reinforced by the addition of these two new funds. Clients now have greater choice in the implementation of GBaRs risk-controlled approach and their preferred level of volatility.

Adviser view

Steven Rowe, director of West Midlands-based Lucent Financial Planning, said: If you ask a client if they would be interested in investing in a fund which has ethical holdings, more often than not, he or she would show an interest. However, there are not a great deal of ethical funds circling around the marketplace. Only clients with strong convictions in their ethical beliefs would demand to be invested in an ESG fund. Others are simply interested in funds that are likely to generate the most returns  regardless of whether or not it invests ethically.

He added: I think clients are aware that investment risk is more apparent post-Brexit, but that has not stopped them from investing. Some people have been bullish in their approach, but I suppose investors who voted In and those who voted Out would have a different outlook.

Charges

Ongoing charge figure (OCF) of 0.59 per cent for the Global Balanced Defensive fund and 0.99 per cent for the Global Balanced fund.

Verdict

A school of thought claims that there is a greater appetite for investments that do not conflict with ethical standpoints. The launch of the two funds with a slant to such investments suggests that the fund house agrees with this viewpoint.

The fact that the funds mirror the investment process of one of the firms pre-existing funds with years of past performance statistics is a boon, as intermediaries seldom invest their clients money in entirely new propositions. However, the returns generated by the firms pre-existing strategy over a five year period is somewhat modest.The chief executive of British Friendly Mark Myers will stand down next year.

Mr Myers will have spent seven years heading up the business after joining from LV back in 2010 where he worked as distribution director and partnership director.

Prior to this he spent more than 20 years with Lloyds Bank, where he served as retail sales director.

A spokesman for British Friendly said the search for his successor is underway, with an announcement expected before the end of this year.

Mr Myers said seven years is a long time as chief executive, adding he was pleased to be leaving British Friendly in a strong position with new business running at triple the levels of 2015.

He said the company will continue to enhance the value provided to members.

Mr Myers will be looking to take on non-executive roles at other companies from next year.

Peter Le Beau, chairman of the Income Protection Task Force, said: Mark has been a passionate advocate of income protection and a stalwart of the market for many years, pointing out the companys Protect product has been central to the growth and success of British Friendly.

Marks support of the Seven Families campaign was also a great boost to the project and he has created a real legacy that everyone in protection should work hard to continue building upon.

katherine.denham@ft.comFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Japan Independent Games Aggregate (JIGA) is proud to unveil the award nominees for this year's show. This is the fifth year that BitSummit has held awards and of the 90 games selected for the show, a handful of stellar titles have been selected as standouts.

VERMILLION GATE AWARD - Best of Show

BLACK BIRD / Onion Games

Boyfriend Dungeon / Kitfox Games

CHUCHEL / Amanita Design

Dark Devotion / Hibernian Workshop

INTERNATIONAL AWARD - Best of International Games

Boyfriend Dungeon / Kitfox Games

Gunhead / Alientrap

Forgotten Anne / ThroughLine Games

Rising Hell / Tahoe Games

Semblance / Nyamakop

She Remembered Caterpillars / jumpsuit entertainment

EXCELLENCE IN GAME DESIGN AWARD

Boyfriend Dungeon / Kitfox Games

Eatvolve / Papadar

GRAY GROFA / TPM.COSOFT WORKS

GrayScale / aaa GrayScaleiNCSaaa aaei

GNOSIA /iaaZaaaiaaaaaaiPetit Depottoi

Semblance / Nyamakop

SIMULACRA / Kaigan Games

EXCELLENCE IN SOUND DESIGN AWARD

Artifact Adventure Gaiden / bluffmanGames

BLACK BIRD / Onion Games

Forgotton Anne / ThroughLine Games

Muse Dash / PeroPeroGames

OLIJA /  aasc Skeleton Crew Studio

VISUAL EXCELLENCE AWARD

BLACK BIRD / Onion Games

Carto / Sunhead Games

CHUCHEL / Amanita Design

Dark Devotion / Hibernian Workshop

Fugl / Team Fugl

MARE / Visiontrick Media

Pan Galactic Railway / Dave Makes

Tale of Ronin / Dead Mage

World for Two / Seventh rank

INNOVATIVE OUTLAW AWARD - Innovation in technology or ideas

Kick & Balanco / 3Balancos

aaaZaaa -Fight Crab- / Nussoft

Knuckle Sandwich / Andrew Brophy

iiiaaa iaaaaaaea (RPG TIME: The Legend of Wright) / DESKWORKS

Shadow Love / strawberry gohan

SIMULACRA / Kaigan Games

The sixth anniversary of the indie game summit will be held in Miyako Messe the weekend of May 12th & 13th, 2018 in Kyoto, Japan. Tickets are 2000 yen per day for general admission, with a 1000 yen discount for all students and free entry for elementary school students and younger.

Speaker Profiles and Timetable : http://bitsummit.jp/pages/stage.php

Venue Map : http://bitsummit.jp/pages/venue.php

BitSummit Vol.6 is produced by Japan Independent Games Association (JIGA), along with the CrossKyoto Media Partnership (KCROP), 802 Media Works, The City of Kyoto, and Kyoto CMEX (Cross Media Experience) and Indie MEGABOOTH.

For more information please visit the BitSummit website: http://bitsummit.jp/

Contact Info:

Press registration: https://t.co/rYbDF9AgjF

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://bitsummit.jp/

Twitter: @bitsummit

Instagram: @bitsummit

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bitsummit

Japan Independent Games Aggregate (JIGA) Members: Digital Development Management, Pygmy Studio Co. Ltd., Q-Games Ltd., and Skeleton Crew Studio.

ABOUT BitSummit

BitSummit is an annual festival based in Kyoto, celebrating independent game developers and development in Japan. Founded in late-2012 to support, unify, and evangelize the vibrant and innovative Japanese independent game development scene to the world at large, BitSummit has established itself Japans premier independent gaming event, attracting thousands of visitors annually, as well as a notable, International media presence. BitSummit has been covered by every leading gaming website around the world and featured in print publications such as Weekly Famitsu, Dengeki PlayStation, Games, EDGE and more. BitSummit has also been the focus of panel discussions at Game Developers Conference, IndieCade, IndieCade East, and CEDEC. Coming into its sixth year running, BitSummit continues to grow alongside the burgeoning Japanese independent development scene.Find all the latest news pertaining to Evolution Gaming, a popular live dealer online casino developer here.

2018

Deal or No Deal Live Dealer Tables from Evolution to Launch in 2019 - The concept will be incorporated into live dealer blackjack and roulette titles on the Evolution platform.

2017

Live Casino Immersive Roulette Online Reviewed - Gambling911.com - Slow motion shots of the ball dropping into its slot, cinematic feel ... Evolution's Immersive Roulette Live Casino is also compatible with a mobile device. ... We do like the general direction Evolution has taken with the mobile version, but ... The stream can be turned on and off and the button layout for camera ...

Are Live Casino Games Slowly Taking Over? | Gambling911.com - The online gaming universe expands at such a high rate that its almost impossible to anticipate what a year ahead of us  let alone a decade  could bring forward.Reserve your OnePlus 6 right now in the first-ever Fast AF' Sale on Amazon.in News oi-GizBot Bureau You can pre-book the OnePlus 6 on Amazon.in during the Fast AF (Fast and First) sale, between 13th May and 16th May

The countdown for the official launch of OnePlus 6 has finally begun. OnePlus 6 will be launched on May 16 in London and will follow an Indian launch on May 17 in Mumbai. Seeing the overwhelming response for the upcoming flagship smartphone launch, the premium Android smartphone maker has announced the first ever 'Fast AF' sale for OnePlus 6. The new Fast AF (Fast & First) sale is held in an exclusive partnership with Amazon India and will enable interested buyers to get their hands on the OnePlus 6 with some added benefits.

Customers can reserve the OnePlus 6 ahead of the launch in India to be among the first ones globally to purchase OnePlus' latest flagship on the first day of sale. The first-of-its-kind 'Fast AF' sale went live yesterday and will be continued till May 16, 2018.

As the part of the plan, you will have to buy an Amazon.in e-Gift Card worth Rs. 1,000 that can be used to buy the OnePlus 6 on 21 and 22 May 2018 on Amazon.in.

Interestingly, OnePlus is also offering an additional cashback of Rs.1,000 in the form of Amazon Pay balance, effectively giving Gift Card holders buying the OnePlus 6 a value of Rs. 2000. Once you purchase the Amazon.in e-Gift card, during the Fast AF sale, redeem it on Amazon.in for the purchase of the OnePlus 6. Gift Card holders can purchase the OnePlus 6 along with Amazon Prime members when it goes up for early sale on May 21.

Besides the golden chance to grab the flagship OnePlus 6, customers are also in for a special treat on the much-awaited OnePlus6 exclusively on Amazon.in. OnePlus 6 customers will also receive an extended manufacturer warranty of 3 months over and above the existing 1-year warranty. This makes the overall scheme even more exciting for OnePlus fans.

With this first-of-its-kind Fast AF sale initiative, OnePlus is offering customers the opportunity to be among the first few to pre-book the OnePlus 6 even before the official launch.

Notably, OnePlus 6 is by far the most highly anticipated flagships of the year 2018. With a focus on speed and performance, the OnePlus 6 comes with the promise of providing users with a seamless experience, created with an acute understanding of the relationship between the user and the device. The new flagship smartphone will run on Snapdragon 845 processor, Qualcomm's top-end chipset and will also come in a 256GB storage variant.

The new OnePlus 6 will also feature the best-in-class dual-lens camera in the category. OnePlus 6 is expected to run Android Oreo with the latest OxygenOS and will come with a water-dust resistant design. Other notable features include- a massive edge-to-edge FHD+ screen, all-glass design, and a bigger battery unit.

For more details, please visit the official OnePlus website: www.oneplus.in

Best Mobiles in IndiaXiaomi confirms the launch of the Redmi S2 in India on the 7th of June News oi-Vivek Xiaomi to launch the Redmi S2 in India on the 7th of June. The smartphone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset with 3/4 GB RAM and 32 /64 GB storage.

Oppo is all set to launch its first affordable smartphone the Realme 1 under the banner "Realme" to compete against the Redmi series from Xiaomi. It looks like, Xiaomi has taken this as a challenge as the company is teasing this device with a hashtag #RealYou, to compete against the Oppo's Realme brand, as the company is all set to launch the camera-centric Xiaomi Redmi S2 in India.

From the teasers image, it is pretty clear that the company is indeed launching the Xiaomi Redmi S2. The Xiaomi Redmi 2S is likely to be the first Xiaomi smartphone to launch in India under the price of Rs 10,000 with a dual camera setup. In a nutshell, the Xiaomi S2 will be a Frankenstein of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro and the Xiaomi Redmi 5.

Features of the Xiaomi Redmi S2

The Xiaomi Redmi S2 is a feature-rich smartphone, which happens to offer a lot of potential for the price tag. The 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage model was launched in China for the price of 999 Yuan (Rs 9,999) and the company is likely to launch the smartphone around the same price tag.

The Xiaomi Redmi S2 has a taller 5.99 inch 18:9 aspect ratio display with HD+ 1440 x 720px resolution. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core chipset, which is based on a 14nm FinFET architecture with 3 GB or 4 GB RAM and 32 GB or 64 GB storage with a dedicated micro SD card slot (up to 128 GB).

Xiaomi's Global Mi Home Experience Store in Delhi: Products Rundown

In terms of camera capability, the smartphone has a dual primary camera setup with a 12 MP primary sensor and a 5 MP depth sensor. The setup is similar to the one found on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro. For the selfie camera, the smartphone has a 16 MP front-facing selfie camera with a selfie flash. The smartphone runs on a 3080 mAh sealed battery with fast 10W charging via micro USB port. The device offers Android 8.1 Oreo with custom MIUI 9 skin on the top.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsGoogle is under investigation in Australia for data collection via Android devices News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Google is consuming around 1GB of mobile data monthly from the account of each Android phone user in Australia

It seems like the tech giant Google might have some tough days ahead. The (ACCC) Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is going to start an investigation on Google following a recent report which claimed that the tech giant gathers a huge amount of data from Android devices.

A fellow US tech firm Oracle has reported that Google is prying on Australian mobile subscribers by not only tracking them but also collecting information related to a user's surfing patterns. It is being reported that the Oracle report had further claimed that Google is consuming around 1GB of mobile data monthly from the account of each Android phone user in Australia. It is being speculated that Android users in Australia cough up about $445 million and $580 million for using Google. The company is being said to send back the location of Android users to its servers even if the location-based services are switched off.

It is also quite alarming that the Oracle researchers seem to believe that the tech giant Google has been also including barometric pressure readings in its log. This, in turn, helped the advertisers to work out on which level of a shopping mall was the target consumer at. The barometer and thermometers are available in some of the high-end Android phones. However, the hardware for the same is not available in most of the Android smartphones.

Google Home Unboxing and Setup process - GIZBOT

Further, Rod Sims, chairman of the ACCC, has confirmed that Oracle representatives have briefed the regulator on the subject. According to him, "The ACCC met with Oracle and is considering information it has provided about Google services. We are exploring how much consumers know about the use of location data and are working closely with the privacy commissioner, he further added.

Also, in one of our recent articles related to Google, we covered that The I/O 2018 developer conference was concluded recently and Google had something in store for every age group. During the I/O 2018, Google has also introduced the latest version of Android which is the Android P along with a certain set of new features. The features included gesture-based-navigation, adaptive battery and app actions apart from the new APIs that it introduced for the developers. Read the complete story here.

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GREENWICH  Ruth Madoff, the wife of the infamous financial culprit, is once again in the spotlight with the debut of a new HBO film about Bernard Madoffs crimes.

But one person not joining the renewed chatter sparked by the movie is the Old Greenwich resident herself.

I did not watch the movie so I have nothing to say about it, Ruth Madoff said by phone this week, declining further comment.

Madoff has lived in Old Greenwich since 2012, when she moved in with her son Andrew Madoff on Tomac Avenue. She currently resides in an apartment and condo-complex in Old Greenwich. Andrew Madoff died of cancer in 2014.

Michelle Pfeiffer portrays Madoff in The Wizard Of Lies, which premiered last Saturday to popular and critical acclaim. It re-tells the story of Bernard Madoffs Ponzi scheme, and the pain it caused, to an audience of millions.

With its release, the tabloids have once again been chasing Ruth Madoff, 76. But people in her adopted hometown, where financial scandals impacting families are hardly an unknown occurrence, seem to be supportive.

In interviews with a dozen neighbors, former neighbors, residents and merchants in Old Greenwich this week, there was little resentment expressed toward the wife of one of the most infamous financial criminals of all time. Some even offered sympathy.

Hey, they paid, said a neighbor of Madoffs, Mario Autera. She has to live with it.

Residents said Madoff keeps a low profile: stopping in for a bagel on Sound Beach Avenue most mornings, then running errands at the CVS. She drives a Toyota Prius, and aside from a Rolex watch and an expensive hand-bag, adopts a very modest look.

The movie has renewed speculation about Ruth Madoffs involvement in her husbands crimes. Bernie Madoff was arrested in 2008 and is serving a lifetime sentence in federal prison for defrauding some $64.8 billion from thousands of investors, some of whom lost all their savings to his scheme.

The film depicts Ruth Madoff as unaware of her husbands financial corruption: All these questions ... I don't have any answers, she exclaims at one point in the drama.

In a statement Ruth released during her husbands legal proceedings, she said she was unaware of his illicit dealings  but some of the people who lost money to Madoff were skeptical.

Theres part of me that wonders if she knew, noted Mary Louise Chiappatta, a former town resident visiting her parents, who live in Madoffs apartment complex, this week. But people here are really friendly to her. And she never bothers anyone.

A one-bedroom apartment at the complex starts at $3,100 a month. Under terms of a deal worked out with federal prosecutors, Ruth Madoff was allowed to keep $2.5 million when their assets were sold off.

Off Sound Beach Avenue, Cliff Ng, who runs a dry cleaning business, said she was like any other customer. If you didnt know who she was, you wouldnt think she was anyone. She tries not to stand out, he said.

The New York Post, using an anonymous friend as a source, ran a long piece on Ruth Madoff earlier this month. The source told the tabloid that Madoff helps out at church fairs and finds companionship with a group of friends in her apartment complex. She avoids the Sweet Pea Baking Co., because these people are part of her old life, and the ones who lost money with Bernie, according to the Post account. The profile said Madoff had a short meeting with Pfeiffer.

Another tabloid, Daily Mail Online, followed Ruth Madoff to an Ikea store in New Haven, taking pictures of her as she shopped.

Ruth Madoff came to Greenwich to live with her son, Andrew, and to be close to her three grandchildren who live nearby. Her other son, Mark, committed suicide in 2010. All are depicted in the HBO film, as much a family drama as it is the story of the patriarchs crimes.

Another dramatization about the Madoff case, an ABC miniseries starring Blythe Danner and Richard Dreyfuss, aired in 2016.Signaling the strength of Democrat Ned Lamonts campaign, candidate Susan Bysiewicz is expected to fold up her gubernatorial run and join the Lamont ticket, sources said Monday evening. An announcement is anticipated Tuesday.

With several noteworthy endorsements, Lamont has emerged as the Democratic frontrunner ahead of his partys convention Friday and Saturday. He had not yet announced a lieutenant governor pick, however.

The alliance changes the dynamics of the governors race and may spell doom for Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganims bid for the party nomination at this weekends Democratic convention, said Ronald Schurin, professor of political science at the University of Connecticut.

In the unlikely event that Joe Ganim gets 15 percent to get on the primary ballot, he would have to turn a major upset in the circumstance with Susan Bysiewicz on Ned Lamonts team.

Schurin, himself a delegate to the upcoming convention, said Democrats have an expectation of gender diversity at the top of he ticket that Republicans will lack. It seems Bysiewicz realistically assessed her chances to win a three-way primary, Schurin said.

Susan Bysiewicz has been around for a long time, Schurin said. She has won victories and suffered defeats.

Bysiewicz, of Middletown, served as secretary of the state from 1999 to 2011 before unsuccessful runs for attorney general in 2010 and U.S. Senate in 2012. She had been planning to challenge of Meriden Republican Len Suzio in the 13th Senate District in November, but in the course of campaigning for that race, she was encouraged to run for governor.

State Elections Enforcement Commission reports show she collected $142,000 over the first quarter of 2018, for a total of $290,000.

Lamont, Bysiewicz and their staffs did not return requests for comment Monday.

Unlike the Republicans who could potentially see a six-way primary in August, by joining forces, Lamont and Bysiewicz seem to be trying to unify their party before their convention even starts.

Three Republicans qualified for the primary at the GOP convention last weekend and three others have announced their intentions to petition their way forward.

Lamont, a 64-year-old Greenwich businessman, previously ran for governor in 2010 but lost the nomination to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. In 2006, he won the Democratic nomination for one of Connecticuts two Senate seats but lost in the general election to Joe Lieberman, who ran as an independent.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson

Staff writer Kaitlyn Krasselt contributed reportingLast year's race for state delegate in Newport News, Virginia, went down in Virginia history for its razor-thin margin. Republican David Yancey won on Election Day by 10 votes; Democrat Shelly Simonds beat him by a single vote in a recount. Then, a judicial panel declared a tie, so officials picked a name out of a bowl to determine a winner, and it was Yancey.

Now, a review of voter registration records and district maps by The Washington Post has found more than two dozen voters - enough to swing the outcome of that race - cast ballots in the wrong district, due to errors by local elections officials.

The misassigned voters lived in a predominantly African-American precinct that heavily favored Democrats in the fall, raising the possibility that they would have delivered the district to Simonds had they voted in the proper race.

The impact of a Simonds win would have been felt far beyond Newport News.

It would have upended the balance of power in the House of Delegates, splitting the chamber down the middle - 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. Yancey's victory allowed the GOP to maintain control by a 51-to-49 margin, even after Democrats picked up 15 seats in a blue wave widely seen as a rebuke to President Donald Trump.

The November electoral mix-up was one of many scattered throughout the state. In an analysis published in January, The Washington Post found about 6,000 registered Virginia voters were placed in the wrong state legislative district. Almost 2,600 of those misplaced voters cast ballots last November, according to a Post analysis of the recent data. While that's a small fraction of the state's 5.5 million registered voters, in close races like the Simonds-Yancey matchup, it could have made the difference.

Yancey declined to comment. For Simonds, The Post's findings are yet another what-if.

"There are thousands of ways I could have won that election," said Simonds, who is making another run for the seat in 2019 elections. "I met a woman recently who told me she had a breathing episode in the polling place . . . and the ambulance took her out of the polling place before she could vote for me. So many different ways. You've just given me another 26 ways."

The frustration was double for state Democratic officials, who contend that voter misassignments may have also cost them a Fredericksburg, Virginia-area House race last year. Democrats could have forced the GOP to share power in the chamber if they had picked up either the Newport News or Fredericksburg seat and would have taken outright control had they won both.

"We are dismayed and concerned that Newport News voters in HD-94 may have been unable to select their representative to the Virginia House of Delegates," Jake Rubenstein, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia, said via email. "Not only is voter disenfranchisement unacceptable in any form, this possible error - along with the misallocation of hundreds of Fredericksburg voters in the razor-thin HD-28 contest - may have affected the balance of power of the Virginia House. These type of mistakes must not continue going forward."

John "B.T." March, spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia, blamed Democrats, who have controlled the state Department of Elections and local electoral boards across the state under Gov. Ralph Northam, D, and his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, D.

"From the lack of printed ballots in the Lynchburg special election to the misassignment of voters in various House Districts [in] the November general elections, one thing is clear: the greatest threat to democracy in Virginia comes from Democrat-controlled electoral boards," March said. "A review is desperately needed and the simple truth is Virginians should be less worried about Russian electoral interference and far more worried about the incompetence of Democrat-majority governance."

A review is underway throughout the state, which holds elections for Congress this year. The House of Delegates will be up for election again next year, along with all 40 state Senate seats, which were not on the ballot in 2017.

"Governor Northam and his team are actively working with state and local elections officials to ensure that every vote cast in an election is properly counted," Northam spokesman Brian Coy said in an email. "He supports the work the Department of Elections is doing along with the local elections offices to ensure voters are assigned to the correct districts and will work to ensure that the officials who administer our elections have every resource they need to do their jobs."

Brian Cannon, executive director of the redistricting reform group OneVirginia2021, said problems like these threaten to undermine confidence in the electoral system. He faults not registrars, but legislators from both parties, saying highly gerrymandered political maps fracture communities for political advantage, not administrative ease.

"They're asking [registrars] to perform a high-wire act," Cannon said. "It's a near-impossible task. Even if you get it right 99.9 percent of the time, it's really not good enough for the 26 voters who ended up voting in the wrong election."

The Newport News registration errors affected seven apartment buildings built in 2016 in a fast-growing area outside the gates of Fort Eustis, an Army installation, and about a 15-minute drive from Christopher Newport University.

In maps drawn according to district boundaries spelled out in state code, the apartment buildings are located inside the 94th House District. But the Newport News registrar's office mistakenly placed them in the adjacent 93rd District.

Vicki Lewis, the local registrar, said in an email that the three streets were mistakenly placed in the wrong district in 2016 because of ZIP codes.

"All of Ft. Eustis is in the 94th house with a zip code of 23604," Lewis wrote. "All but 7 streets are in the 93rd house with a zip code of 23608. It appears that the streets in question were not on the map at the time they were added to the street file and because the zip code is 23608, they were added to the 93rd house district."

Zip codes play no role in defining boundaries for state or federal legislative districts. The incorrectly assigned apartments are surrounded by about 6,800 registered voters who live in the same Zip code and were correctly assigned to the 94th District.

The errors remained in the system until The Post inquired about them a week ago. Lewis and state elections officials would not say whether they learned of the problem from The Post or on their own.

Similar errors tainted last year's race for the 28th House District near Fredericksburg, where 147 people voted in the wrong race because local voter registration records placed them in the wrong district. Republican Bob Thomas won by 73 votes. Democrats sued for a new election but eventually dropped the case.

No one has suggested that the mix-ups were anything other than innocent errors.

Even Simonds, whose campaign made the middle-class, largely African-American precinct "one of our main focus areas," was sympathetic to registrars, many of whom lack access to the high-tech mapping tools available to the state and political parties.

"I believe in the people who work for our city, and I believe they're honest," she said. "I don't see any ill will, but . . . now, heck, I'm going to pay attention to the new developments if they're on the [district] line.'"

When the legislative districts are drawn, the boundaries are built, block by block, with the help of computer-mapping. The map is translated into a legal text description of the boundaries. Local registrars, who match voters to those districts, must first manually assign the districts to lists of local street blocks, sometimes getting as specific as one side of a street.

That process is the same for new developments, as was the case for the Newport News apartments. On official maps, the apartment buildings with about 76 registered voters are clearly located inside the 94th House District. But local elections officials placed them incorrectly in the neighboring 93rd, which Democrat Mike Mullin won with 60 percent of the vote over Republican Heather Cordasco.

Although ballots are secret and Virginia does not register voters by party, records suggest that 17 of the 26 people who live in the 94th District but were misassigned to the 93rd were likely to vote for the Democrat because they had voted since 2008 exclusively in one or more Democratic primaries. Only one of the 26 had voted in Republican primaries, and records for the remaining eight did not show primary participation.

Virginia's lists of voters and street blocks are housed in a statewide database. When problems regarding misassigned voters surfaced in three districts in the Fredericksburg area last year, the state Department of Elections did not look to see if there were mistakes elsewhere. Edgardo Cortes, the state elections commissioner at the time, said his department was not responsible for making sure voters were assigned to the right districts.

But Chris Piper, the current elections commissioner appointed by Northam, said his department is working with local registrars to identify and fix problems.

So far this year, state House districts assigned to about 900 addresses have been changed, affecting about 1,700 voters, an analysis by The Washington Post has found.

The mix-up in Newport News was a frustration to Ashley McCoy, one of the 94th District voters who was incorrectly assigned to the 93rd. She voted a straight Democratic ticket that included Mullin in the House race instead of Simonds.

"I know that address is new. It wasn't even in GPS yet," said McCoy, 34, who works for a debt-collection company. "It's a brand-new complex. I can understand the issue, but whenever you add anything new, you should be prepared - check and double check. . . . It's a bustling area, and there's a lot of new houses and complexes going up. You just have to be more diligent."

Voters can look up their House district at whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov.These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.HMD Global is expected to announce a new midranger on May 16 in China. The phone will be named Nokia X6 and will sit between Nokia 6 (2018) and Nokia 7 plus in terms of specs. Yet, according to latest leak, it will be more affordable than both of its siblings.

An image appeared on Weibo, suggesting that the Chinese retailer Suning will offer the device for CNY1,499 - the equivalent of 200/$235.

The Nokia X6 will arrive with Snapdragon 636 chipset and 3/4/6 GB RAM variants. It will be the first HMD device with a notch and the resolution of its screen will be 2280 x 1080 pixels, also called Full HD+) with 19:9 ratio.

The dual camera setup will have a 16 MP primary snapper and the selfie camera should have the same resolution. Back at WMC, no less than eight Nokia devices joined the Android One program for early security updates and the X6 is most likely to join the list.

Source (in Chinese) | ViaOnePlus 6 will debut on May 16, but Amazon Germany showed itself to be a little too eager and brought up its page today, delivering a massive leak in the process. Although the listing was later pulled off, Roland Quandt snatched the leaked info including pricing, availability and color options.

The new flagship by OnePlus with 64 GB storage will reportedly arrive on May 22 for the price of 519. The 128 GB version that will be 50 more expensive - 569. The 6 will be available in either Midnight Black or Mirror Black, with the latter option having a glass back panel.



OnePlus 6 in Mirror Black

Some specs of the OnePlus 6 are already confirmed, like a Snapdragon 845 chipset and 8 GB RAM availability. Although we already knew the screen will have a notch, the 6.28 AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution is still a speculation.



OnePlus 6 in Midnight Black

OnePlus also teased the phone will be waterproof. The renders reveal a dual camera that, according to Chinese regulatory TENAA, will be a 20 MP + 16 MP setup. Everything should be packed in a 155.7x75.35x7.75 mm body that weighs 177 g.

Via (in German)It appears the if you cant beat them, sue them method is moving to Asia.The Shenzhen-based company Coolpad is suing Xiaomi for infringing UI patents, including multi-SIM card design.

According to the lawsuit in a Jiangsu province court, the devices copy basic communication, display and interactive functions of mobile phones that are difficult to circumvent or replace".

Coolpads subsidiary Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific demands Xiaomi companies immediately cease manufacturing and sales of the following phones - Mi 6, Mi Max 2, Mi Note 3, Mi 5X, Redmi Note 4X, and Mi Mix 2.

Jiang Chao, Coolpad Group CEO, and Syed Tajuddin, CEO of Coolpad India, were quoted to say the company will pursue its rights in protecting the patents. Xiaomi is yet to issue any response.

ViaFriday at 11 a.m. community members joined representatives from District 4 Human Resources Development Council, Montana Department of Commerce Housing Division and various other companies and organizations who contributed to the development of Antelope Court, to brave the rain and clouds to attend the ribbon-cutting for Havres newest low-income housing unit.

Antelope Court, located next to senior housing complex Buffalo Court on Fifth Avenue, was completed during late summer in 2017 but had to postpone the ribbon cutting until this month because of the severe and long winter.

After the ribbon cutting in front of the Antelope Court apartments, District 4 HRDC held a luncheon as a welcome for the complex and a thank-you to all the companies and organizations that helped make it a reality.

Karen Thomas, former executive Director of District 4 HRDC, said a housing project like this is needed in the Havre community  that is apparent by Antelope Court filling up almost immediately with tenants, she said.

In her speech, Thomas said that it was scary to start a process to get approval for a project like Antelope Court.

She said it was GL Developments Gene Leuwer who approached her with the idea for more low-income housing for Havre.

Gene was so nice, Thomas said. We started at ground zero  He educated me.

She said that Leuwer used to say to her, Karen, everyone wants you to be successful.

Thomas said she is appreciative that District 4 HRDC and the Montana Department of Commerces Housing Division were so supportive and worked so hard on this project because now Havre has this beautiful new residence.

Montana Department of Commerce Housing Division Executive Director Bruce Brensdal said in order for a community to thrive it needs to be healthy and this requires affordable housing.

We have to think about affordable housing; safe places for families, he said. It (Antelope Court) is a beautiful project.

I like doing projects in towns like Havre, Brensdal added during a speech at the luncheon. It is essential for the community.

He said he would also like to give a thank you to Gov. Steve Bullock, and Montana Department of Commerce Director Pam Haxby-Cote.

They have strong support for affordable housing in Montana, Brensdal said.

District 4 HRDC Executive Director Carilla French read a letter from a resident of Antelope court who said that she is a single mom and is finding Antelope Court a wonderful place to live in. She said that all the residents are friendly and the staff is great; she said she finally feels she has a comfortable place to raise her son.

HRDC Director of Employment and Training Sonya LaTray, said her friend has a similar story. She said her friend had been living with family but couldnt move out on her own because she could not afford to rent a safe place to raise her daughter.

Since her friend moved into Antelope Court, LaTray said, she feels she has a healthy and friendly environment to live.

Antelope Court resident and local advocate for people with disabilities, Kayla LaSalle, gave a speech and said that she was excited to apply and move right in when Antelope Court opened.

She said that this kind of housing is a change for the good in Havre.

LaSalle, who is in a wheelchair and had lived with her family, is happy to be living independently now.

Before this, there wasnt anything assessable for younger people, she said.

She added that she is thankful for everyone who has contributed to this housing effort including Fern Lohse, the on-site property manager for Buffalo and Antelope Court, who she said gets everything done right away.

Leuwer said that there was definitely blood, sweat and tears that went into the project and he said that he would like to thank everyone that participated in the project including Mountain Plains Equity Group, Glacier Bank and Fisher Construction.

French said she also wanted to thank each person and organization that helped lead to Antelope Court being opened. She said she was appreciative of all the organizations that were mentioned by previous speakers and also of all the HRDC Board Members for their support and of Bear Paw Development helping the city get extra loans to add to the construction of the apartment.

This was a team effort, Leuwer said. We are really partners in it.Defends at Pachyderm meeting his sponsoring mail ballot bill

Montana District 14 Senator Russ Tempel talks to Andrew Brekke and Gail Rader at the Duck Inn Friday during a Pachyderm meeting.

State Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, spoke to the North Central Pachyderm Club Friday where he defended his stance on two issues that put him at odds with some conservatives in the last legislative session - support for a bill to allow counties to conduct last year's special U.S. House election entirely by mail, and voting to authorize bonding for state infrastructure projects.

Tempel and Brad Lotton, owner of Lotton Construction in Havre and the Hill County Republican Central Committee financial director, are currently in a Republican primary to represent Senate District 14. The District extends from the Canadian border in Liberty County down to just above Great Falls, and most of Hill County including Havre.

The winner of the primary will take on Democrat and Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss in November.

Tempel was appointed to the seat in Dec 2016 by the county commissioners within the district after state Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, resigned from the senate to move to Helena and take the job of chief legal counsel to Montana Auditor Matthew Rosendale.

Lotton and Darrold Hutchinson, a farmer from north of Hingham who is a candidate in the Republican primary for House District 27, were also names submitted by the Cascade, Chouteau and Hill County Republican Central Committees as well as a Interim Republican Central Committee in Liberty County.

In the 2017 legislative session, Tempel co-sponsored Senate Bill 305, which would have allowed counties to conduct the 2017 special election to fill Montana's lone seat in the U.S. House entirely by mail ballot. The bill would not have changed how subsequent elections in Montana would be conducted and was championed by county commissioners and clerks and recorders.

Some Republicans, such as state Rep. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, opposed the bill saying it would unfairly boost turnout among Democrats and make the election more susceptible to voter fraud.

The bill passed the Senate 37 to 1 but died in the House. When the governor issued an amendatory veto of another bill related to voting issues to allow the mail balloting, it was not brought up.

Tempel, a former three-term county commissioner, said that the bill not being passed in the House was "kind of disappointing." He said the bill would only have impacted the 2017 special election, and altogether would have saved Montana counties $7 million.

"It was obvious to me that if you could save $7 million statewide for all these counties, it just made sense," he said.

Pam Harada, who was at the meeting, said she disagreed with Tempel.

She said people should have the option to vote at the polls.

Harada said some people who vote by mail ballot could face pressure at home to vote for a candidate or that someone could secretly cast a ballot for a candidate and then mail it out.

She said people having the option of going to the polls allows people to keep who they voted for a secret.

Hill County Republican Central Committee Andrew Brekke said an all-mail ballot election would save money and that Havre's city elections are conducted by mail for that reason.

He said that opposition to an all-mail ballot election was based on principle.

"It's a major principle thing for us, save your $7 million somewhere else," Brekke said.

Tempel said he also "got heck" last legislative session for supporting bills that authorized bonding for infrastructure projects across Montana. None of the bills passed the Legislature.

He said he supports bonding in some cases because when he was on the Liberty County Commission, the county spent 10 years trying to save enough money to build the Liberty County Senior and Community Center. After five years of saving for the project, he was approached by an 85-year-old woman who asked if it would be completed in her lifetime. The project was completed and the woman did live to see it, but Tempel said he thinks many people died in that period who could have used the facility, and that is something that he always felt bad about.

Tempel added the project would have cost less if the county had bonded.

Tempel said he is not a big fan of tax abatements, which he said takes money away from counties. He said that when he was county commissioner, two grain elevator companies came to the county and wanted a 50 percent abatement.

"If you abate taxes for one person, the other people pick up the difference in the tax," he said.

Everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes, he said.

Tempel also discussed some of his work during the legislative session. Tempel is a member of the Senate Education and Cultural Resources, Taxation, and Energy and Telecommunication committees.

Tempel said that in the last session, he was the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 324, a bill signed into law to revise property tax exemptions.

He said the law requires the Montana Department of Revenue contact a county treasurer when the department learns a previously taxable property qualifies for tax exempt status when purchased by a non-profit.

Tempel said that nonprofits could often purchase a property and the property would then be taken off county tax roles without the county knowing.

The bill was meant to make counties aware of the loss of any tax revenue that resulted from the purchase, he said.

Tempel said a second bill for which he was the primary sponsor, Senate Bill 134, that would have revised laws related to motorcycle operation, did not pass out of the Senate Highway and Transportation Committee.

The bill says that the law would have allowed a person operating a motorcycle between adjacent lanes of traffic traveling in the same direction on a highway under some specific conditions.

Tempel said that if elected to a full term, he is interested in working to address the shortage of qualified teachers and health care professionals in Montana.

"Those types of educated people are leaving the state of Montana, obviously for better paying jobs," he said.

As a member of the Education Interim Committee, Tempel said, he has been looking at issues of school safety and mental health.

He said he has visited different school districts and said their security measures vary. In some of the older buildings there are multiple entrances some of which are locked and people can't get out of.

Tempel said he thinks there should be consistent state guidelines in place for school security systems.

He also said views differ on allowing school employees to carry guns. Tempel said at one school he visited the principal did not want employees to carry guns, while at another the principal said he allows them to, but no employee has volunteered to do so.Richard "Dick" Looby, long-time resident of the Hi-Line, passed away at 73 April 18, following a several-year long health spiral from a series of strokes.

Dick grew up on what he affectionately referred to as "the farm" southwest of Harlem, where he obtained his GED and signed up with the U.S. Navy.

When his first son was born, he and his wife, Jan, moved to Libby, where he eventually settled into a job with the Great Northern Railway. Railroads would be Dick's career for the remainder of his professional life, serving as brakeman and later conductor.

Dick was perhaps best known for his passions for rebuilding antique cars and riding motorcycles, both of which he did until he was nearly 70. He was also a regular contributor to the opinion section of his favorite newspapers, and never missed an opportunity to impart his own brand of wisdom on current political events. He was an avid supporter of several charities, and rode with ABATE of Montana annually for their fund drive.

Survivors include his sons, James Daniel "Dan" Looby and Edward "Ed" Neil Looby; daughter-in-law Jodi Looby; grandchildren Mabel Looby and Benjamin Mabry; sister Patsy Martin; and long-time friend and travel partner Jane Anderson.

A memorial will be held May 19 at 1 p.m. at Fifth Avenue Christian Church, 2015 Fifth Avenue, Havre, MT. An informal burial of the urn will follow at Kuper Memorial Cemetery in Chinook.

Memorial donations may be made to:

Montana Rescue Mission

PO Box 3232

Billings, MT 59103

(406)259-3800

Boys and Girls Club of the Hi-Line

500 1st Avenue

Havre, MT 59501

(406)265-6206The Havre Daily News is seeing an occurrence happening more-and-more frequently that it believes is a serious problem.

In any representative democracy  and certainly under Montanas laws and Constitution  public elected and appointed officials are the servants of the public, not the other way around.

In the past year, some elected and appointed agencies have been deficient in letting the public know what they are doing.

A little more than a year ago, the local fair board hired a new fairgrounds manager without letting people know about what they would vote, what was the result of the vote, or even that they were voting.

After they were called on the unannounced vote, the board put it on their agenda and voted publicly  but only after they were called on it and, during the meeting, some members trounced the media for reporting on the illegal vote.

Now, in the past few weeks, the Hill County Commission has been voting on fairly high-profile issues without notifying the public. The commission voted to furlough or eliminate the fairground manager position without listing that issue on an agenda, and did the same with a proposal to completely reorganized the Hill County attorneys office

Commission Chair Mark Peterson has said on several occasions that the county government is not trying to hide anything, the commissions business meetings are open to the public and anyone can attend.

The Havre Daily News is not contradicting Peterson, but, the problem is, the impact is the same.

Many people work Thursdays  or whichever day the commission holds its business meeting, sometimes that varies  and cannot dedicate an hour out of every work week to go see if the county commission is voting on or discussing something of interest to them this week.

But if they knew an issue would be discussed and voted on, they might make arrangements so they could be there. The issue of eliminating the fairgrounds manager and reorganizing the attorneys office both likely would have had some interested members of the public there  if they knew it was happening. A member of the county attorneys office told the Havre Daily News she didnt know the vote on that reorganization was happening.

Montana law makes it very clear that elected and appointed public officials have to let the public know so they can attend, comment and see the vote.

In a related issue, a member of a board told the Havre Daily News that a member of the commission told the board member it didnt need to list an executive session to discuss applicants for a public position on its agenda. The Havre Daily News respectfully disagrees with that as well. While the public cant listen to a discussion in executive session, the board has to list it  and the board cant vote while in executive session, either. That has to be public.

The Havre Daily News hopes the local government holds true to its desire to allow public involvement. If the Hill County Commission is going to vote on a resolution, that resolution should be listed in its agenda  as the commission used to and as other bodies, such as Havre City Council and the Havre school board still do.

If residents in the county are not happy with how things are being listed, they should let their officials know.

If they still are unhappy, the next step is to take it to court. It then would be up to the court to decide if what the body did to publicize the vote was sufficient, or if it would void the vote and make the body publicize it and vote again.

The last step is up to the voters. If they are not happy with how public officials are listing their public matters, that step can be taken on the ballot.People who snore may have extensive tissue damage in the nerves and muscles of the soft palate. This can in turn create problems with swallowing and contribute to development of sleep apnea. Treatment strategies aimed at early intervention to stop snoring might have beneficial effects in healing or preventing development of sleep apnea. These findings are explained in a new dissertation at Umea University, Sweden.

The reason why some develop sleep apnea is still unclear. Factors that are considered important are obesity, a small throat, neurological diseases and hormonal disorders. But even those without that background can suffer. The thesis shows that tissue damage in the soft palate also is an important factor that contributes to development of sleep apnea and disturbances in swallowing function.

The nerve and muscles injuries seem to contribute to the collapse of the upper airway during sleep. Probably the damage results from the recurrent snoring vibrations the tissues are exposed to, says Farhan Shah, PhD student at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology at Umea University.

In his dissertation, Farhan Shah reports a study where his research team has examined eight patients who have been snoring for many years and 14 patients with snoring and sleep apnea. These have been compared to a control group of 18 non-snoring people. The subjects in the study were examined with overnight sleep registrations to detect sleep apnea. Disorders of the swallowing function were investigated with video radiographic technique.

Tissue samples from the participants soft palate were analyzed to detect muscle and nerve lesions. The results showed that snorers and sleep apnea patients had extensive damage in both nerves and muscles. The damage was related to the degree of swallowing disorders and the severity of sleep apnea.

The nerves in the soft palate of snorers and sleep apnea patients showed fewer nerve fibers and supporting cells that help the nerve fibers survive and regenerate. The nerves also had increased connective tissue. In muscle analysis, one could see that a large number of muscle fibers in soft palate showed changes reflecting loss of innervation due to nerve damage.

It was also possible to see changes in the protein structures in the muscle fibers cell membrane and cell skeleton of snorers and sleep apnea patients. Such changes give muscle weakness and have been previously found only in genetic muscle diseases.

Continued research is needed to see if treatment that prevents damage to nerves and muscles could cure or at least prevent further deterioration in snores and sleep apnea patients. It would be a big win because sleep apnea is a major public illness, says Farhan Shah.

More than 400,000 Swedes suffer from sleep apnea. The condition is characterized by snoring and recurrent respiratory arrest during sleep. It creates a stress for the body and a proven risk increases for high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and premature death.

Sleep apnea is estimated to cost one billion Swedish kronor a year. In addition, there is an unknown cost to society in the form of increased accident risks and reduced day time productivity due to disturbed sleep.

Download dissertation

For more information, please contact

Farhan Shah

Phone: +46 90 786 51 36

Mobile: +46 73 698 20 55

E-mail: [email protected]

Download press photo of Farhan Shah

About the dissertation

Farhan Shah, Department of Integrative Medical Biology, defends his thesis on Friday 18 May: : Neuromuscular injuries and pharyngeal dysfunction in snorers and sleep apnea patients.Faculty Opponent: Professor Eva Svanborg, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linkoping University. Principal supervisor: Per Steel. Time: Kl. 13:00 to 16:00. Location: Biology House, A206, Umea University.

Editor: Ola NilssonEmergency services at the scene of the crash of a Cessna Caravan near Clonbullogue in Offaly

A pilot and a seven-year-old boy have died in a horror plane crash.

The light aircraft crashed "straight down like a torpedo" into bogland in Co Offaly.

The crash happened yesterday afternoon shortly after 16 parachutists had jumped from it.

The plane had taken off from the Clonbullogue Airfield, near Edenderry, just before 2.30pm.

However, an eyewitness told the Herald that, a short time later, he saw the plane flying low overhead.

"I heard a terrible roaring and it went straight down like a torpedo," Jimmy Slattery said.

Stunt

Emergency services worked tirelessly at the scene of the crash all evening, and the bodies of the two victims were recovered just before darkness fell at around 10pm last night.

They were taken to the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore for a post mortem examination.

There were unconfirmed reports that the young boy is the son of a member of the local parachute club.

The pilot is believed to be from the UK.

Soon after take-off, the parachutists jumped from the aircraft. There was then "a terrible roar" as it lost height and crashed into the ground.

The plane was located about two kilometres from the airfield in bogland between Edenderry and Daingean.

Speaking about what he witnessed, Mr Slattery, who lives near the parachute club, said he was out walking his dog and saw the plane take off from the airfield.

"I've seen them thousands of times," he said.

He thought nothing was unusual except that the plane seemed to be flying very close to the ground.

"I thought he was doing a stunt, but I thought he was leaving it very late to turn around.

"However, I knew the plane was in the wrong area.

"When it hit the tree line the tail moved and I knew there was something wrong," he said. "Then I heard a terrible roaring and it went straight down like a torpedo."

"That roar will live with me for a while," he added.

He immediately rang 999 and the parachute club to let them know the location of the crash site.

Meanwhile, another local resident Declan Burns (49) said he understood the plane had just dropped off the parachutists and was heading back to the airfield when something went terribly wrong and the plane - understood to be a Cessna Caravan - "just nose-dived".

Investigators from the Air Accident Investigation Unit remained at the site of the crash last night.Vicky Phelan is encouraging women and families affected by the CervicalCheck debacle to come forward.

The terminally-ill mum-of-two (43) was the first to go public over the HSE smear test errors.

She said she has been approached by other women whose smear tests were incorrectly assessed and that she is helping them, and their families, as best she can with support and advice.

Her appeal for other victims to come forward comes after Emma Mhic Mhathuna last week laid bare her terminal cancer diagnosis.

The families of Irene Teap, Catherine Reck and Julie Dignivan - three of the 17 women who have died in the smear test scandal - have also told their stories.

Support

"I would encourage others to come forward and bring their own experiences into the spotlight," said Vicky, from Annacotty, Co Limerick.

"This is not about numbers, it is about people and their families, and the more that is known the better."

Vicky is considering meeting other victims and their families to form a support and campaign group.

"I was in touch with Emma Mhic Mhathuna after I heard her on the radio," Vicky told the Herald. "I just wanted to reach out to her. I knew about my diagnosis before going public, but she learned of hers in the middle of a national storm on the issue so I feel for her.

"I wanted to give her information on a treatment that I feel has helped me.

"I want to give women hope, and I will help in any way I can," added Vicky.

"For the treatment I am getting, you first have to get a test done to see if your tumour will respond to it. In my case, it did.

"The treatment is working. Before I got it, I was getting tired and starting to feel that maybe the diagnosis I had always refused to believe could be true. I was going downhill.

"But since starting the new treatment, I feel almost 100pc."

Vicky said she has also spoken with Irene Teap's husband, Stephen.

Mum-of-two Irene died last year, not knowing of the smear test scandal that was about to unfold.

Problems

Vicky said meeting other women affected by the scandal has its difficulties.

"There are women on different treatments in different places at different times, so that presents problems," she said.

"However, I do see how a group of people could have strengths that are greater than the individuals in it."

Vicky's call for others to go public with their stories comes after the daughter of a woman who died in April 2012 came forward with her story.

Dublin mother Catherine Reck (48) had a smear test in November 2010.

It was assessed as having low grade abnormalities. In fact, the smear should have instantly rang alarm bells and led to treatment.

Her daughter, Grace Rattigan, said her mother's clinician received a letter from CervicalCheck in 2015. It said that test discrepancies had been discovered, but the family was not told of this until last week.

"If people did not speak out, this would be swept under the carpet. This would be about numbers. People speaking out is putting names to these numbers. It's putting faces to the 17 women and their families and what has been done to them," she said.

Catherine suffered bleeding and went to her doctor in April 2011. She was referred for a colposcopy but was not called for it until August that year. By that stage she was told she more than likely had cancer.

Her treatment did not start until October 2011. Catherine died the following April.Gunfire in Hagerstown leads to I-70 chase, arrest

A Washington, D.C., man was arrested early Friday after police say he fired a handgun in a Hagerstown residence, then led police on a chase on I-70.Aishwarya Rai brought the glamour and Nawazuddin Siddiqui brought the gravitas to the Indian contingent at the ongoing 71st Cannes Film Festival. Aishwarya returned to the red carpet a day after her peacock ensemble. For her second go around, Aishwarya wore a Rami Kadi dress that reportedly had 20,000 Swarovski stones. She also appeared with her daughter Aaradhya, who wore a matching knee-length dress.

On her newly launched Instagram account, Aishwarya shared pictures of her time in Cannes. One of the pictures shows her and Aaradhya posing with acting royalty, Dame Helen Mirren, while another shows the mother-daughter duo having a blast on Mothers Day. Aaradhya posed on the train of her moms dress, and they followed it up with a visit to the beach, where they watched the sunset and wrote a message for fans in the sand.

You can check out pictures of Aishwaryas adventures here.

Thank youuu for Alllll your Love  A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 2:51pm PDT

 A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 2:41pm PDT

SUNSHINE n RAINBOWS... A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 2:15pm PDT

LOVE LOVE LOVE .... n RESPECT@helenmirren A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 1:48pm PDT

Sonam Kapoor, meanwhile, is on her way to the festival, where she has become a fixture. Like Deepika Padukone, Mallika Sherawat and Kangana Ranaut, Sonam will also walk the ramp for a brand. She posted a video on her Instagram stories in which she said that it was her first Cannes without her sister, Rhea, who had to stay back to organise the release of Veere Di Wedding, Sonams new film. I miss you, she said.

Sonam was married to businessman Anand Ahuja in Mumbai last week. She jetted off to Cannes as soon as the wedding festivities were over.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the team of Manto, the only Indian film being screened as part of the official selection at the festival, were all decked out for the premiere. Nawaz ditched his trademark suit that he had been wearing to Cannes for years in favour of a Manish Malhotra tuxedo, but he did write a farewell letter for it on Instagram. Manto, based on the life of the Urdu writer, was welcomed with positive reception following its premiere.

Wendy Ide, writing for Screen Daily, said in her review that director Nandita Das film was a hugely ambitious undertaking, and that Nawazuddin Siddiqui puts in an impressive central performance as writer Saadat Hasan Manto.

Baradwaj Rangan, reviewing the film for Film Companion, wrote that Manto goes after a bit of everything  the result is a solid work with many affecting passages, but without the focus that might have made it a greater film.

Pakistani star Mahira Khan shared a new picture on her Instagram account, in which she can be seen posing beside a bathtub filled with lipsticks.

You can check out our Day 5 recap here.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreDashing, poised, and full of vigour, veteran actor Danny Denzongpa amazes you with his love and in-depth knowledge of Indian cinema. In a career spanning more than four-and-a-half decades, he played several villainous parts, and made the bad look good on-screen. His most memorable roles include that of the suave gang lord Kancha Cheena in the original Agneepath (1990) and the mobster Katiya in Ghatak (1996). Outside Bollywood, Danny starred in the hit Bengali thriller Lalkuthi (1978), now considered a classic of sorts. In recent years, he has acted in films such as Enthiran / Robot (2010), Baby (2015) and Naam Shabana (2017).

Now, Danny plays the titular role in the upcoming film Bioscopewala, an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagores short story Kabuliwala, and the trailer has received huge praise. In a freewheeling interview, the 70-year-old actor talks about what made him take on the project, which was originally to be done by Amitabh Bachchan, his views on the film industry, todays Bollywood, and how things have changed over the years.

Despite continuously working, people say youre making a comeback. How do you feel?

Yes, I havent given any interviews in the past six years, but theres nothing like a comeback. Ive done very few films because I wanted to choose the right scripts; otherwise, whatever fans I have, I will lose them also (laughs).

You play a young man and an old man in Bioscopewala. Was it challenging to experiment with your looks?

It was actually fun. The unit [members] of this film, all of them are half my age and from FTII (the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune) mostly  the director, the sound guy, cameraman, they are all my juniors and colleagues. So, it was like a picnic working on the film. Also, the film Kabuliwala (1961) is one of my favourites, starring (the late) Balraj Sahniji. I was in school when I saw it and cried a lot, so it created a fantastic impact.

After Enthiran / Robot (2010), you read about 40 scripts, but didnt like any. Why?

Ive been working for 46 years now, and very often, these new directors and producers somewhere get stuck with the image. They want to repeat the same thing, and want me to play a role similar to what Ive already done in the past. That gets very monotonous, and I get so fed up. So, I want something different.

Danny Denzongpa has acted in over 190 Hindi films in his career spanning 46 years.

How tough or easy it was to position yourself when you started off in the early 1970s?

It was difficult. That time, people were mostly making family films and I didnt fit in any of them. I could play either the servant or a waiter in a Chinese restaurant or a gatekeeper. But luckily, I got a break with Gulzarji in his first directorial film, Mere Apne (1971)  it had students from different parts of the country, and he gave me a small part. The movie did well and thats how I got established and was accepted as the guy who could act.

You made a villain look good on-screen. Do you feel that modern-day baddies are doing an equally good job?

Whenever an actor of a different generation comes, they can interpret the same plot in a different way. I think, young actors are doing very well. The only thing is that the kind of villains we used to have in our times, they were very prominent parts after the hero, but people dont create that kind of characters anymore.

However, I feel that in the history of Indian cinema, the 70s and 80s were the worst time for the Hindi film industry, when we were in the movies, right at the top. The scripts were so conventional and we were doing WWF kind of movies (with highly choreographed, almost unreal fight sequences, as one sees in show wrestling). Strangely, they did very well with the audience; maybe they wanted that kind of potboilers.

Danny Denzongpa in a still from the film Mera Shikar (1988).

What makes you call it the worst phase?

Suddenly, action films took the forefront and it was mainly influenced by the West. Even the story and screenplay were so conventional, so loud. I feel the best time was in the 50s and early 60s, when beautiful films like Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957), Bandini (1963), Jagte Raho (1956), Do Bigha Zamin (1953), and Kabuliwala were made. During the late 60s, enemy-oriented films were made in South India, and that became successful, or we had typical saas-bahu type of films  emotional and melodramatic.

By the time we came to our times, the 70s, it was absolutely bonkers. Koi achhi picture banayi hi nahi humne (We didnt make a single good film). Those few people, who tried to make good films, they just couldnt compete with the potboilers. Somewhere, we were lucky that the audiences accepted and made us into stars.

Did things change during the 90s and later? Do you feel theyre better now?

Technically, so much has changed. You dont need reels now; everything is digital. You dont need those lights and reflectors where actors cant open their eyes (because of the glare). I remember, once I was shooting and there was a back light kept behind me. By the time I finished my lines, my hair was burning and it curled up. Nowadays, you can expose and shoot in any light. Things have become easier.

And what about the quality of cinema  has that improved?

Nothing works until and unless youve been accepted by the audience. People today accept films that are different. Thats why smaller and beautiful films are being made and are doing so well. Even movie-making, screenplay writing, storytelling has become better. Casting also matters and actors today are natural and fantastic. So, theres a lot of improvement.

Interact with Monika Rawal Kukreja at Twitter/@monikarawalActor Sanah Kapoor, step-sister of Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor, says she feels blessed to have a caring and protective brother like him.

The actor, who made her film debut with Shaandaar in which she shared screen space with father Pankaj Kapur and brother Shahid, told IANS, I feel really lucky to have a brother like Shahid. Since there is an age gap between us, he literally saw me growing up before his eyes. So he is very protective of me. At the same time, he is one of those family members whom I can call up anytime and share things that I cannot share with my parents otherwise. So, he is my friend too. He is one of the loving brothers one can have.

Sanah will next be seen in the multi-starrer family drama Khajoor Pe Atke.

On her character in the film, Sanah said, I am playing a young girl named Nayantara who has to come to Mumbai with her parents to meet one of the family members who is on the death bed. However, she is least interested in going to the hospital. She has her own plan to have fun in Mumbai city. It is a quirky character with a lot of fun element to it.

The film Khajoor Pe Atke is releasing on May 18.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the poster boy of Mumbais independent cinema, is in Cannes this year with Nandita Das Un certain regard entry Manto, the actors sixth film in the worlds premier film festival in a span of seven years.

No Bollywood actor has ever had as many films across various sections of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, two films featuring Siddiqui in pivotal roles  Ashim Ahluwalias Miss Lovely (Un Certain Regard) and Anurag Kashyaps Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2 (Directors Fortnight)  played on the Croisette.

The following year, Nawazuddin went one better, appearing in three of the films in the official selection  Amit Kumars Monsoon Shootout (Out of Competition), Bombay Talkies (Special Screening), a portmanteau film directed by Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap, and Ritesh Batras The Lunchbox (Critics Week).

Manto, a biopic about a prolific Urdu short story writer who chronicled the horrors of Partition in stark, scalding ways, is the first film in which Siddiqui plays a real-life icon. In essaying this role, I had to be totally honest not as an actor but as a human being, the actor said in an interview following the premiere of Manto on Sunday.

Right from the outset, Nawazuddin said, Nandita and he had decided that everything about the portrayal of Manto would have to be totally truthful. He added, Of course, I had do internalize the man completely, then achieve the physical similarities and get the dialogue delivery right, but this performance had to go beyond the actors craft.

I loved the process. It was absolutely fascinating, Nawazuddin said. I was worried initially whether I would be able to achieve what I needed to. So I threw myself unconditionally into the role during the three months that we shot the film. My job ended there. Now it is for the audience to respond. That is not in my control.

Ironically, Bollywoods big-screen Manto will be seen next impersonating the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, a figure on the opposite end the ideological spectrum. I will play Thackeray with the same honesty with which I have sought to play Manto, said Nawazuddin.

There is a lot that an actor can do with the character of Thackeray, says Nawazuddin. He was an artist, a cartoonist, who gave up his calling to lead the Marathi manoos like no personality has ever had in any state.

The Thackeray movie, scheduled for release in early 2019, is produced by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)Indias equities, rupee and bonds posted modest gains Monday as exit polls signalled that majority may prove elusive for Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party in elections in Karnataka.

At least four polls, including Todays Chanakya, which accurately predicted Modis victory in 2014 elections, showed the BJP as the single largest party winning between 95 to 120 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly. The incumbent Indian National Congress -- also the main opposition party at the Centre-- is seen bagging 72 to 99 seats.

Margin of victory is the most important factor and with the exit polls indicating all kinds of permutations and combinations, the markets are definitely going to be volatile, said Avinash Gorakshakar, head of research at Mumbai-based Joindre Capital Services Ltd. Having said that, a conclusive BJP win can push the Nifty above 11,000 this week and a Congress victory can see the gauge drop as much as 400 points.

The equities benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.2 percent to 35,602.84 as of 10:22 a.m. in Mumbai, with volume on the NSE Nifty 50 Index 34 percent below the 30-day mean for this time of day. The Indian rupee added 0.1 percent to 67.2375 per dollar. Sovereign bonds halted three days of declines, with the benchmark yield dropping two basis points.

Investors fear an inconclusive verdict could prompt the federal government to take populist measures to shore up public support ahead of nationwide elections in 2019. Markets will cheer an outright win for BJP as a vindication of a slew of reform measures -- including a nationwide sales tax and a funding plan for state-owned lenders -- that prompted the first sovereign rating upgrade from Moodys Investors Service in 14 years.

Exit polls predict that the Janata Dal (Secular), a regional party led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, will be kingmaker in case of a hung assembly in Karnataka.

An India Today-Axis Poll pegged Congress as the front-runner winning as many 118 seats while Times Now VMR exit poll also predicted BJP finishing second. Both saw JD(S) finishing third.

Exit polls are all over the place, said Anindya Banerjee, a foreign-exchange analyst at Kotak Securities Ltd. in Mumbai. In case, the BJP forms the government, it will be a positive development for the rupee, which is already one of the worst performing currencies in the emerging market basket in 2018. It will reduce some of the political risk premium.

The Sensex and the Nifty each climbed 1.7 percent on March 14 last year, a day after the BJP sealed a thumping victory in Uttar Pradesh, the nations most populous state. Votes for Karnataka ballot, that took place on Saturday, will be counted on May 15.

After Karnataka, the BJP will lock horns with the Congress in at least five state elections -- including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha -- before the national polls in 2019.

The Sensex has climbed 49 percent since the BJP in May 2014 won the biggest mandate in three decades, while the rupee has slid more than 13 percent.The state-run Vijaya Bank has classified the Anil Ambani group-led Reliance Naval & Engineering, whose auditors had recently expressed doubts about the companys ability to continue as a going concern, as non-performing asset from the March quarter.

The company, which was earlier known as Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering, was bought over by Anil Ambani group in 2016 and renamed it as Reliance Defence & Engineering. It owes over Rs 9,000 to over two dozen banks mostly state-run, led by the troubled IDBI Bank.

The Bengaluru-based Vijaya Bank said the action was necessitated by the February 12 changes that the Reserve Bank had brought to the NPA resolution framework, which while scrapping all the existing frameworks, including debt restructuring, asked banks to consider even one-day delay in payments as default which if not cleared in 180 days should be sent to NCLT for bankruptcy proceedings.

A few accounts, including Reliance Naval, were under various restructuring schemes like the SDR and S4A by all the lenders. With the February 12 circular, the RBI made it clear that all those accounts where restructuring could not happen by then, have to be treated as NPAs.

Reliance Naval was under restructuring (SDR), but the implementation could not happen, and so, it slipped into NPA from the March quarter, a senior Vijaya Bank official told PTI over phone from Bengaluru over the weekend.

The official further said the bank has made adequate provisions for the Reliance Naval account in the March quarter without disclosing how much is its exposure and how much it has provided for.

A mail sent to the company last evening did not elicit a response till the time of transmission of this story.

Reliance Naval is the second firm from the Anil Ambani group to become NPAs after its once flagship but now bankrupt Reliance Communication, which is already at the Mumbai NCLT. RCom owes over Rs 45,000 crore to 31 banks apart from a China Development Bank.

Defence Naval, which is into defence ship-building, has also been tagged as NPA by state-run Union Bank of India, according media report, which also said the account was tagged as SMA2 by all the lenders since the past many quarters. But PTI could not verify it with the city-based lender.

An account is called SMA 2 if it is in default for up to 60 days bit if it remains so for another 30 days then it has to be tagged as an NPA account and the bank has to make provision and since the February 12 RBI circular, should be sent to NCLT for bankruptcy provisions.

As of March 2017, Reliance Naval had an outstanding borrowings of Rs 8,753.19.38 crore.

In the March 2018 quarter, it reported a threefold jump in net loss to Rs 408.68 crore from Rs 139.92 crore in the previous 12 months period. For the full year to March 2018, its net loss almost doubled to Rs 956.09 crore from Rs 523.43 crore in previous year.

In the March quarter, the IDBI Bank-led lenders consortium recalled their loans to the company and invoked the pledged shares as well as the guarantees available with them.

In a note in the FY18 earnings statement, its auditors Pathak HD & Associates had raised doubts about the companys ability to continue as a going concern.

Auditors listed cash losses, net worth erosion, loan recall back by secured lenders, mounting current liabilities which are substantially higher than assets and winding up petitions by a few operating creditors to raise its doubts.

Ambani had picked up controlling stake in Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering in 2016 and renamed it as Reliance Defence & Engineering. Last year, it was renamed again as Reliance Naval & Engineering.On the stormy Sunday evening, the busy Malviya Nagar market in south Delhi was rattled when two men on a bike rained bullets on a criminal, leaving him almost dead. The spot is less than 150 metres from a police booth.

Soon, a posse of police took over the market. Within hours, following intensive raids and surveillance, police teams managed to nab one of the shooters, while the other remained on the run, a senior officer said.

The officer said as per preliminary probe, Iqbal Qureshi, 35, is a wanted criminal and works for the gang of Prince Teotia. The men who attacked him belongs to the rival Rohit Chaudhary gang.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Romil Baaniya, however, denied that it was a gang war.

According to senior police officers, the accused, Anuj Gulia, had been arrested in 2015 in a kidnapping case. A police team nabbed Gulia from near a park in Chirag Dilli and recovered a pistol from him.

Talking to HT, Qureshi, who is receiving treatment at a hospital in Saket, said, I was sitting in my meat shop in the main market when suddenly two men rained bullets on me. I have identified them as Chaudharys men. They shot me five times.

Arun, who was accompanying Qureshi at the time of incident, said that he had gone to an ATM, when he heard gun shots. When he rushed back, he found Qureshi bleeding and rushed him to hospital. He is now out of danger, he told reporters.

Interrogations revealed that Gulia had sought help from Aas Mohammad alias Ashu, a wanted criminal, to kill Qureshi. Aashu, a resident of Sangam Vihar, is wanted in many criminal cases. He was arrested in January from Ghaziabad in an extortion case, the police officer said.

Baaniya said around 9.09pm, a call was received that some people have shot at a man near shop number six in the main Malviya Nagar market.

A team that was rushed to the spot, found that the injured, identified as Iqbal Qureshi, has received four gunshot injuries. He was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre. He has sustained bullet injuries on the left leg, right hand and in abdomen, the DCP said.

One accused, Anuj Gulia, was held and a weapon was recovered from him. His associate has been identified as Ashu and six teams have been formed to trace him. Motive behind the attack is personal enmity, the officer said.

A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said that Chaudhary and Teotia worked together until both of them were jailed in 2015 in a murder case reported in Lado Sarai, with 13 others.

Both of them then started operating from jail and ran rackets to extort money from builders in south Delhi. Later, Chaudhary and Teotia formed different gangs. While Chaudhary was released from Tihar about two months ago, Teotia is lodged in Mandoli jail, the officer said.Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has set the cat among the pigeons with his remarks questioning the policy of using Pakistan-based terrorists for the 26/11 attack on Mumbai and other assaults. The comments have alarmed or upset people in different quarters, ranging from Mr Sharifs own PML-N party to the powerful military establishment. The army took the rather unusual step of nudging Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to convene a meeting of the National Security Committee, which concluded that Mr Sharifs remarks were incorrect and misleading. However, none of what Sharif said in his interview with Dawn, Pakistans newspaper of record, was unknown or even new.

Pressure has been growing on Pakistan, especially from the US, its erstwhile ally in the war on terrorism, for allowing terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Haqqani Network to operate from its soil. The country is also set to be included in the Financial Action Task Forces watch list in June for failing to do enough to crack down on terror financing. Even Pakistans staunch allies such as China and Saudi Arabia did not oppose the move to put it on FATFs grey list. The military establishment, which is perceived to be behind moves to sideline Sharif before the crucial general election expected in a few months, has reacted swiftly because the remarks hit close to home.

Over the past few years, the military has gone after terror groups that were targeting Pakistan, but left virtually intact the widespread infrastructure of other groups that hit India or Western interests in Afghanistan. Mr Sharifs remarks go against the deep states narrative and hamper efforts to salvage the relationship with the US.

There is disquiet within the PML-N, with Mr Sharifs younger brother Shehbaz Sharif even saying the former premiers remarks do not reflect party policy, because the party feels the row could affect its fortunes in the election. Sharif appears determined to take on the army despite the mounting odds against him, and has stuck to his guns and defended his remarks.

During the ongoing debate on Mr Sharifs comments, some intellectuals and opposition politicians have disingenuously suggested that he has gone against the countrys interests by indicating that the state sanctioned the Mumbai attacks. The bottomline is that all Pakistani political parties, including the PML-N, and the military, are complicit in the failure to counter terrorist groups. The PML-N even more so, because some of the strongest anti-India groups function from its stronghold in the Punjab. Perhaps Mr Sharif has helped set the stage for a comprehensive debate on what really needs to be done to set its house in order.From trading insults till a few months ago, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have moved on to spring one of the biggest diplomatic surprises in recent decades with their summit in Singapore on June 12. Coming as it does in the wake of the historic summit between North and South Korea, there are a lot of expectations from the meeting. Some of these expectations may be misplaced, given the personalities and complex issues involved. It would perhaps be best for the world community to take a more realistic view of the meeting as there are clear indications that the US and North Korea are going into the meeting with divergent stances. Trump is already tweeting about complete denuclearisation, whereas North Korea has indicated it is, at best, committed currently to a pause in its nuclear programme as it prepares to assess what the US brings to the table. As things stand, a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of North Koreas nuclear arsenal appears to be an unrealistic goal right now. Probably, it would be more realistic to work towards a capping of the North Korean nuclear and missile programmes that could be comprehensively monitored and verified.

Besides, Mr Trump will go into the talks with the disadvantage of having pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal  a move that is certain to have contributed to some amount of misgiving and suspicion in Pyongyang on Washingtons reliability as a trustworthy negotiator. Despite all of Mr Trumps unpredictability and propensity to shun established conventions, the pressure will really be on him to finalise a deal or understanding with North Korea. Mr Kim, who has shown no aversion to taking risks, would perhaps be content with some sort of recognition of North Koreas status as a nuclear weapons power and the easing of sanctions that have crippled his country.

Any sort of cap on North Koreas nuclear programme will be welcomed by countries such as India, which have for long warily watched the nations proliferation linkages with Pakistan. In fact, a cap would possibly satisfy the current security concerns of key regional players such as South Korea and Japan and help prepare the ground for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.Patients suffering from abnormal heart beat, also known as atrial fibrillation, and diagnosed with carotid artery disease could be at an increased risk of developing dementia, according to recent research.

Blockages in the carotid artery, which gradually build up as people age, restrict blood flow to the brain.

The study showed that the impact on the blood flow due to a combination of both the diseases increases the risk for developing dementia.

The study stresses the continued need for physicians to monitor and screen patients for both carotid artery disease and atrial fibrillation, especially patients who have risk factors of either disease, said Victoria Jacobs, a clinical researcher at Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Utah, US.

The findings were presented at the Heart Rhythm Societys 39th annual Scientific Sessions in Boston.

Previous studies had also proved that abnormal heart rhythms produce inconsistent blood flow to the brain contributing to the onset of dementia or a decrease in cognitive function.

Risk factors are similar for both the diseases and include age, weight, hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes.

However, atrial fibrillation and carotid artery disease are treatable, and addressing early on can help reduce the risk of developing dementia, Jacobs said.

Physicians should be discussing the treatment options with patients who are at risk to help educate them about what they can do to live the healthiest life possible.

For the study, the team looked at 6,786 patients of an average age of 71.6 years with carotid artery disease and no history of dementia and compared them with the group diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and those who were not diagnosed with it.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreHollywood star Salma Hayek believes disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein only responded to her and Lupita Nyongos sexual harassment claims because women of colour are the easiest to get discredited.

The 51-year-old actor was one of the dozens of women who came forward in 2017 to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment. The producer issued denials following Hayek and Nyongos revelations, while he had not responded to the other women who had shared their stories.

He only responded to two women, two women of colour. It was a strategy by the lawyers, because we are the easiest to get discredited. It is a well-known fact, if you are a woman of colour, people believe what you say less.

So, he went attacking the two women of colour, in hopes that if he could discredit us, he could then maybe discredit the rest, Hayek told Variety during Women In Motion panel discussion at Cannes Film Festival.

US-Mexican actor Salma Hayek Pinault (C), Algerian actress Sofia Boutella (2ndR) and directors, actresses and industry representatives pose on the red carpet in protest of the lack of female filmmakers honored throughout the history of the festival. (AFP)

The actor believes Weinstein had cast a long shadow over the industry. The men are terrified. The predators are hiding and terrified. You feel it. Its a very palpable atmosphere, she added.

Hayek hopes that the #MeToo movement will offer a chance to men to re-examine their own roles, both in the film industry, and in society as a whole.

Its a very exciting time for men now. Men have the opportunity, which is so beautiful, to rethink what does it mean to be a man, she said.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreEighteen of the 35 people accused of organising a secret camp of the banned Islamic Students Federation of India (SIMI) in Keralas Wagamon that was found to be the source of several terror attacks later were convicted by a NIA court on Monday.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi acquitted 17 others after holding the trial through video conference, connecting different jails in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Bengaluru.

The quantum of punishment for the convicted will be announced on Tuesday.

The secret camp was held in Thangalpara of Wagamon in Idukki district of Kerala from December 1012, 2007, dodging investigating agencies. Later, many terror cases and the birth of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen were traced to this camp.

There were 38 accused in the case, but two, including Wasiq Billa are absconding. Another accused Mehboob Mallick was shot dead while trying to escape from Bhopal Central Jail in 2016.

Founder-member of the Indian Mujahideen, Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Taqueer, nicknamed Indian Bin Laden, also attended the secret camp.

Four Keralites, including two brothers, Shimli and Shibli (both engineering graduates), are among the convicted.

The prosecution said all those who attended the camp were imparted training in handling arms, rock climbing, manufacture of bombs and other terror activities.

They were charged with waging war against the country, criminal conspiracy, violating the arms act and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code.Current and past students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) who identify as gay, bisexual and transgender have filed writ petitions challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalises any form of sexual intercourse that is non-penile vaginal, irrespective of whether it is consensual or not.

A petition by 20 IITians from Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Roorkee and Kharagpur among other branches, has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the section on grounds that it violates Articles 14, 15, 16, 19, and 21 of the Constitution.

These articles pertain to fundamental rights of equality, freedom of expression and personal liberty.

The petitioners belong to a pan-IIT support group Pravritti, which was formed in 2012 as a closed group on Facebook. The group now has over 350 members, who hail from diverse class, gender and regional backgrounds and age groups.

Several of the petitioners have experienced fears of abandonment, stigmatisation, exclusion, guilt and shame throughout their childhood years on account of the reaction to their sexuality, the petition stated.

The petitioners include 56-year-old Sridhar Rangayan, the co-director of the annual Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film festival, and 21-year-old Urvi (who prefers to use this name, instead of her birth name that is used in the petition) who hails from Anantapur and identifies as a transwoman. Urvi is a first-generation learner in her family of farmers and is the recipient of prestigious research fellowships. Some of the petitioners are employed in multinational corporations and top Indian business ventures, while some are still pursuing their studies.

Rangayan, who was a student at the Industrial Design Centre at Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay from 1984 to 1986, said: One faced a lot of anxiety and fear about ones sexuality, and I wish there was a support group for me then. A more inclusive campus is so essential  section 377 not only affects a students studies but also their future prospects.

Some of the petitioners have grappled with mental health issues on account of fear of the law and stigma associated with being gay. This has affected their prospects of employment, and contributed to brain drain from India, the petition stated.

Udai Bhardwaj, a 23-year-old 2017 IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, said he decided to join the petition because it was time to stop living in fear of the law. Id like to have the option to have a meaningful relationship the way my sisters and friends who are heterosexual, can.

The IITs are not just institutions of national importance but attract a diversity of bright young students from across the country from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Sambalpur in Odisha to metropolitan cities. It is a slice of India itself, and within it you have this spectrum of students who are from gender and sexual minorities, said Menaka Guruswamy, a lawyer representing these petitioners.

Growing tribe

Since 2016, 26 LGBT petitioners have filed writs challenging Section 377 at the Supreme Court. This signals a growing confidence in the community to come out in the public eye and claim their sexual orientation and gender identity.

In April, three separate petitions were filed by Ashok Row Kavi, chairperson of the NGO Humsafar Trust with other members, by Lucknow-based social worker Arif Jafar, and by hotelier Keshav Suri. In 2016, two separate petitions were filed by three members of the transgender community, including activist Akkai Padmashali, and by five members the LGBT community, including Sahitya Akademi award winner Navtej Singh Johar.

In January, a Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was set up to hear eight crucial matters, including the Navtej Johar petition. All other writ petitions filed till last month have been tagged to this case.

It remains to be seen what the court will do with the new petition, which could tagged with the existing petitions before the bench.

A long battle

The legal battle against Section 377 is nearly two decades old. A petition filed in the Delhi high court in 2001 by the Naz Foundation, an NGO working to prevent HIV/AIDS, eventually led to the reading down of the section in 2009, such that it did not apply to consenting adults.

Some of the parties that challenged the high court verdict included individuals such as astrologer Suresh Kumar Koushal and organisations such as the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, the Apostolic Churches Alliance and Kranthikari Manuvadi Morcha Party.

In 2013, the Supreme Court reversed the Delhi high court judgment. This was challenged and multiple curative petitions lie before the Supreme Court.

In 2014, a total of 1,157 students, faculty members and staff from IITs across the country wrote an open letter to the government and the directors of the IITs, protesting against the apex court judgment. It drew attention to how alternate sexuality and gender identity is often treated as a form of deviance in schools, colleges, workplaces, religious institutions, and governmental institutions.

The latest petition draws attention to the impact of the law on some of the brightest young minds in the country today.

Striking down Section 377 of the IPC as constitutionally invalid will ensure that LGBT citizens including the petitioners feel safe and protected particularly in their childhood and teenage years which is an extremely formative and important period in their lives and one during which they themselves are struggling to fully understand and come in terms with their identity, the petition says.The Gujarat police arrested nearly 500 farmers Sunday night after they staged a violent protest at Bhavnagars Surka village, around 176 km west of Ahmedabad against land acquisition by government-owned lignite mining company Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL) more than 20 years ago.

The farmers had gathered at the site on Sunday and pelted stones on the policemen in response to which tear gas shells were lobbed. In the connection with the violent protest some 500 farmers have been arrested on Sunday night, said Bhavnagar superintendent of police P L Mal.

As many as 200 young boys were also detained along with adults. But the police later let them go and have not registered cases against them. Among the 500 booked, around 180 are women from 12 villages of Ghogha and Bhavnagar taluka, said Pravinshin Gohil of Khadsaliya village and one of the leaders of the protesting group.

The clash between farmers and police was the third such incident since April. The protests which have gained wider traction began with GPCL beginning the work on around 1,414 hectare of land, which it had acquired and given compensation to the farmers between 1995 and 2005.

The farmers had earlier written to state officials demanding the return of their land.

As per land acquisition rules, the company should have claimed the land and started the work within five years of acquisition. Now, they should either let the farmers continue to till their land or go through the acquisition process again, said Gohil.

Gohil is among 5000 farmers who have sought permission for mass euthanasia if the government does not heed their demand. Soon we will march toward Gandhinagar and then Delhi, Gohil added.

The farmers have also moved the Gujarat High Court.

Since the first protest on April 1, there has been tension at the site as well as 12 surrounding villages.

Four platoons of SRP, including a womens platoon, have been deployed in and around site to avoid any untoward incident, said Mal.

The GPCL plans to develop three lignite mines  Ghogha-Suraka, Khadsaliya-I and Khadsaliya-III  in the area to extract 3.5 million metric tonnes of lignite. Lignite mined from these sites will be supplied to Bhavnagar Energy Company Limited (BECL), another state government-owned enterprise that has set up a 500 MW thermal power plant at Padva village.Seven Maoists, including two women, were killed in two encounters in Odishas Kandhamal and Bolangir districts since Saturday night, with the director general of police RP Sharma calling it a red letter day.

The slain Maoists included Badal and Sanjeeb, divisional committee members of Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh and Bolangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund divisions. Both carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh on their heads.

Following a tip-off about Maoists meeting in Godanki village in Sudurukumpa forest of Kandhamal district on Sunday afternoon, the elite Special Operation Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF) launched an operation led by SP Prateek Singh at 4pm.

When asked to surrender, the Maoists fired at the security forces, triggering retaliation.

While four bodies were recovered on Sunday night, the next morning one more body was recovered. Among the dead were two women.

Five guns, including an AK-47 and two INSAS rifles, were recovered from the spot.

In western Odishas Bolangir district, police personnel shot dead Maoists Sanjeeb and Rakesh in an encounter near Dudukamal village under Belpada block on Saturday night.

Rakesh was an area committee member of the same rebel division and had Rs 4 lakh bounty on his head, said police.

A red letter day in the history of Odisha Police, tweeted Odisha DGP RP Sharma after the encounters.

Kandhamal SP Prateek Singh said the death of Badal, who was active in the area since 2004, was a major setback for the Maoists.

The Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Booudh-Nayagarh corridor is important for Maoists as it links the Maoist corridors in Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, the two states where senior Maoist functionaries are believed to be present.

Meanwhile, in another important move, the ED is investigating the financial sources of several top Maoists leaders operating in Odisha.

Odisha DGP RP Sharma said secretary of CPI (Maoist), Malkangiri division committee Uday, chief of the Srikakulam-Koraput division committee of CPI (Maoist) Aruna, leader of Kalimela Dalam of the CPI (Maoist) Arjun Hantal, and secretary of Kudumulgumma committee of CPI (Maoist) Sudhir are under the scanner of ED.

Two meetings in connection with Maoist funding have been conducted in Delhi that were attended by authorities of ED, NIA, other financial institutions and officers of Maoist affected states, said Sharma.Countless millions have marvelled over the beauty of the Taj Mahal, the 17th century white marble mausoleum built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz. Unesco describes the monument to love as one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world.

Countless controversies have also visited the Taj Mahal, which in recent years has been the subject of disputes that have dragged in Muslim and Hindu groups, governments, the judiciary, environmentalists, conservationists and investigating agencies. Everyone has an opinion on the Taj and its history and no one shies away from expressing it.

The latest is the claim laid to the monument by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Wakf Board in the Supreme Court. The board claimed in April that none other than emperor Shah Jahan had declared the Taj a wakf property  an endowment by a Muslim for a religious, educational or charitable purposes.

In response, the apex court ordered the board to produce proof in the form of documents signed by the emperor.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra had a few questions. How did he (Shah Jahan) sign the wakfnama? He was in jail and used to view the monument while in custody, CJI Misra said. Shah Jahan died in Agra fort, where he was put under house arrest by son Aurangzeb in July 1658, following a bitter war of succession.

Who in India will believe it belongs to the wakf board? These kind of issues must not waste the time of the Supreme Court, a bench led by CJI Misra told the board.

YH Tucy, who claims to be the the great-grandson of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, weighed in. Taj Mahal belongs to India, not religious boards, he said.

The case is still in the apex court. The board has hired eminent lawyer and Congress leader Salman Khurshid to represent its position.

UP Sunni Central Wakf Board chairman Zufar Ahmed Farooqui, the man behind the latest controversy, said: It is a settled law. Taj Mahal as a tomb is a wakf by use as defined under Section 3 (r) of the Wakf Act, 1995. It has several graves and a mosque located within its precincts. Its physical features prove beyond doubt that it is a wakf property.

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Wakf Board is battling the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) over the Taj Mahal.

We are not claiming the ownership or control of Taj Mahal, Farooqui hastened to add. A waqf is an endowment of land or property where the ownership vests with the Almighty and its proceeds are utilised for religious, educational or charitable purposes, he added.

Mausoleum or temple?

In August last year, another controversy had been generated when the Central Information Commission (CIC) lobbed into the central governments court a potential hot potato. It asked the government to clarify whether the Taj Mahal was a mausoleum or a Shiva temple.

The CIC was pulled into the debate after a Right to Information (RTI) application asked whether the monument was called Taj Mahal or Tejo Mahalaya.

Three weeks later, ASI submitted before a local court in Agra that the Taj is a tomb and not a temple. It was the first time that ASI had categorically stated this in connection with a case going on in Agra district court. The claim that the Taj Mahal is a Shiva temple is not new. There have been such claims since historian Purshottam Nagesh Oaks book Taj Mahal: The True Story was published in 1989.

In the book, Oak claimed that the Taj was originally a Shiva temple and a Rajput palace named Tejo Mahalaya, which Shah Jahan seized and adopted as a tomb.

In October 2017, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar added fuel to fire when the Taj did not figure in the tourism brochure of Yogi Adityanaths Uttar Pradesh government which instead gave prominence to Gorakhpur Math and Ayodhya.

Katiyar said the Taj Mahal was built on the ruins of a Shiva temple. Yogi Adityanath had in June suggested the Taj Mahal did not represent Indian culture.

BJP legislator Sangeet Som went a step further and said Taj Mahal had been built by traitors and should not get a place in history. It is a blot on Indian culture, he said. Adityanath waded in for a spot of damage control. It does not matter who built it and for what reason. It was built by the blood and sweat of Indian labourers ... It is very important for us, especially from the tourism perspective, he said.

Former CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who visited the monument on Valentines Day with his wife when he was in power, attacked Yogi and other BJP leaders on the issue of not including the monument in a state tourism brochure. Eventually, when Adityanath visited Agra, Yadav tweeted: Yeh hai Yamuna kinare khadey Taj ka kehna, yeh hai pyaar ka tirth, yahan bhi aatey rehna (The Taj on the banks of Yamuna says it is a pilgrimage of love, do visit).

UP government ministers clarified that the Taj had been deliberately omitted from the brochure. Tourism principal secretary Avanish Awasthi said the brochure was not a tourist guide but an internal budgeting-related pamphlet meant for a press conference.

This was the second time in 2017 that the Adityanath government had come under criticism over the Taj. In July, the annual budget for 2017-18 made no mention of the Taj Mahal in the special section Hamari Sanskritik Virasat (our cultural heritage), incorporated in the state finance ministers 63-page speech.

In May 2017, right-wing activists, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal volunteers, staged a protest at the Taj Mahal and some of them entered the monument wearing saffron to protest against reports that some foreign models who had visited the Taj were asked to deposit their saffron stoles at the monuments gate.

Muslims are allowed to carry metres-long chadar on Urs of Shah Jahan, biryani is cooked on Taj premises and drums are played but those wearing saffron are stopped at the gate. That is why we entered Taj wearing saffron after purchasing ticket, was the explanation offered by Sunil Sharma, an organiser.

Not so pristine

Damage done to its once-pristine white marble face by industries surrounding the Taj has been another longstanding concern. More than two decades ago, on December 30, 1996, a Supreme Court bench headed by justice Kuldeep Singh passed an order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by environmentalist MC Mehta that the use of coal and coke should be banned in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), an area of which the Taj is the epicentre. The same court is once again, hearing a plea seeking protection of the Taj from the ill-effects of polluting gases and deforestation in and around the area. On May 9, the court slammed ASI for not being able to protect the iconic monument, and asked about the steps being taken to prevent the Mughal structure.

What came up first  the Taj Mahal or the old crematorium on its premises? The debate has been on for decades. In the 1990s, a proposal was made to shift the crematorium but BJP leaders and workers opposed it, saying that the crematorium was older than the Taj. The government eventually shelved the idea.

The issue resurfaced in 2015 when sitting judge of Supreme Court Justice Kurian Joseph pointed out that smoke and ash flying from the cremation ground located about 500 metres from the monument could be hazardous to it.

The Supreme Court asked the UP government to shift the crematorium, but the then Akhilesh Yadav government told the apex court that it might create a law and order problem because of protests by right-wing outfits. The Supreme Court suggested that the government open an electric crematorium where funerals are performed free.

The Taj corridor scam

Those moving on the Yamuna Kinara road in Agra in 2002-2003 saw tractors and loaders on the Yamuna riverbed. Sand in the river basin was being lifted from the middle and shifted towards the banks, leaving the river bed deeper and narrower in the middle. Officials were tightlipped initially over what was being done. It eventually emerged that what was taking shape was the Taj Heritage Corridor  an ambitious project of then chief minister Mayawati. It later came to be known as the Taj Corridor Case or Taj Corridor Scam.

The project planned to upgrade tourist facilities near the Taj Mahal. The corridor was aimed at connecting all the monuments alongside the Yamuna. Environmentalists then warned that meddling with the rivers course and the banks could have disastrous consequences and threaten the Taj Mahal.

Not much was revealed about the Taj Heritage Corridor and no DPR (detailed project report) was made public. The plan allegedly included grand complexes in the backdrop of the Taj with commercial activities, said environmentalist Brij Khandelwal, who runs the River Connect Campaign in Agra. Prima facie, it appeared that the course of the river was being changed and its basin being narrowed. This could have left water moving with gushing speed, affecting the walls of Taj Mahal. The project was stopped and it turned out to be a major political controversy. The matter reached the Supreme Court and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Amid the controversy, the BJP withdrew support to the Mayawati government, leading to its collapse.

The CBI is still looking into the Taj corridor case.After emotive protests in Assam over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have changed tack on the issue in the state.

BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass says the party will now wait till the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final list comes out on June 30 before formulating its stand on the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

We will have discussions with all stakeholders after the NRC list comes out and then take a decision on the proposed bill, Dass said.

An organisation is trying to derail the ongoing National Register of Citizens exercise, Dass said. While he did not specify which group, Dass claims this group is spreading the misinformation that Assam will be flooded with 1.5 crore Bangladeshi Hindus if the Bill is passed.

Dass added that these groups are playing with the emotions of the people of Assam and trying to create a law and order situation that would eventually derail the NRC.

On Sunday morning, the top state BJP leaders held a meeting in the presence of party general secretary Ram Madhav to deliberate on the Bill.

Earlier, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had met a select group of editors on Saturday and claimed that he will not do anything against the interests of the people of Assam.

The party has come under pressure after protests from various influential groups during the recent visit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to the state.

Several groups in the Brahmaputra Valley, including the All Assam Students Union, other students bodies of indigenous groups and even political parties, including the BJPs ally in government, the Asom Gana Parishad, had said they will not accept granting of citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindus.

These groups say the bill will violate the Assam Accord of 1985 and citizenship cannot be granted on the basis of religion. The groups had also said how the bill would make the ongoing NRC an exercise in futility.

Interestingly, top ministers in the Assam government, including CM Sonowal, trace back their political journey to the Assam Movement and the All Assam Students Union (AASU).

BJPs state unit, interestingly, did not meet the JPC in Guwahati, even though the Barak Valley unit of the party met the visiting MPs in support of the bill during the JPCs visit to Silchar.

Dass had said how there was no need for the party to give its view since the bill has been brought in by the BJP. He was also earlier dismissive of the protests and had told this reporter how groups with no mandate were trying to make a noise on the issue.BJP president Amit Shah has blown the bugle for the 2019 election, targeting to win the next parliamentary election with a margin bigger than 2014, party spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said on Monday. And, for the BJPs national office bearers and state presidents who met with him on Monday, he even had a slogan: Meri sarkar, achchi sarkar (my government, good government), Hussain said.

We have to change this perception that BJP cannot return to power at the Centre. We have to prove that BJP knows how to form government, run it and win consecutive election, Hussain quoted Shah as telling BJP leaders.

During the meeting, which came two days after the bitterly fought Karnataka assembly elections (and a day ahead of results), Shah also asked the party to address issues related to Dalits, down to the block level, another BJP leader said on condition of anonymity. RSS pracharaks holding the posts of organisational secretaries at state level were also present at the day-long conclave.

The BJP president, widely credited, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the partys star campaigner, for the success the BJP has seen over the past four years also warned the audience against arrogance, complacence, and lack of attention to the party organisation. Congress got wiped out because of its arrogance and ignoring the organisation. We have reached a situation where it has become a BJP versus all battle.

BJP spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi said Shah cautioned BJP leaders that satisfaction over electoral success should not converge into self complacency.

We have built the first floor by winning one election, 2019 victory will be the second floor. We have to raise a high building, he quoted the party president as saying.

Shah told the audience that the BJP has over 110 million members, 330-plus MPs and over 1,800 MLAs, a feat that has been achieved because of partys organisational strength that many other political parties were now copying. It is our privilege that we have Modis leadership, but we have organisational strength too. We have strength at the booth level and we are winning because of it, Hussain said, quoting Shah.

The BJP chief told party leaders they should not rest until states such as West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telanagana were won.

Shah took stock of the preparation for construction of party offices in district levels, the number of nights spent by central ministers and party office bearers in villages during the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan programme between April and May, discussed ways to popularise the NaMo App, and sought suggestions for Modi governments fourth anniversary celebrations.

The party will hold a joint executive meeting of its different wings on May 17 that will be addressed by the Prime Minister.The appointment of former Congress minister Lakshminarayana Kanna as the president of Andhra Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has triggered a rebellion in the party on Monday, barely two months after its alliance with the ruling Telugu Desam Party ended.

The BJP central leadership on Sunday announced Kanna as the president of BJPs Andhra Pradesh unit, contrary to the earlier reports that firebrand legislator Somu Veerraju was tipped for the post. Veerraju was made the convener of the partys state election committee.

Kannas appointment took the state BJP leaders by surprise and shock. While Veerraju switched off his mobile phone and was not available for comments, several BJP leaders from East Godavari and West Godavari districts openly expressed their resentment against the partys decision.

BJPs East Godavari district wing president Malakondaiah and Rajahmundry urban BJP president Bommula Dattu announced their resignations from the party in protest against Kannas appointment. Many BJP leaders from West Godavari also threatened to resign if Veerraju was not made the party chief within 24 hours.

Veerraju hails from Rajahmundry and has a strong following among the Kapus in twin Godavari districts. On the other hand, Kanna is also from Kapu community but hails from Guntur district, where the rival Kammas are predominant.

According to a BJP leader from West Godavari, the appointment of Kanna goes against the partys fundamental principles. He was a hard core Congress leader for over three decades before he joined the BJP in November 2014, after realising that the Congress had lost its ground completely in Andhra Pradesh. As such, he is a fairly new comer into the BJP.

Kannas detractors also pointed out that he does not have any background of the Sangh nor did he have any association with the BJP in the past. This is against the basic tenets of the BJP. How can the party select a leader with Congress background as the state BJP president, ignoring loyalists like Veerraju, who have been struggling to strengthen the party right from the beginning? Malakondaiah asked.

Kanna has also been accused of being a mercenary. He had resigned from the BJP last month after the reports from Delhi that the party had finalised the name of Veerraju, a relatively junior in politics, as the state BJP chief. He was getting ready to join the YSR Congress party on April 25 but dropped the plan at the eleventh hour after receiving a call from the BJP central leadership. Is it fair to make such a leader who almost defected to the YSR Congress party for his political gains as the BJP chief? the BJP leader wondered.

The newly-appointed BJP state president, who was in Delhi on Monday, brushed aside the revolt as a minor incident. He told media that he would make his best efforts to bring glory to the party in Andhra Pradesh by taking everybody into confidence.

I have no detractors in the party and I respect everybody, I will bring all like-minded forces together and bring down the undemocratic rule of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra, Kanna said.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party described Kanna as the YSR Congress partys mole in the BJP.

He was appointed as the state BJP chief on the recommendations of YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Everybody knows Jagan has become a spokesman of BJP and he has funded the BJP campaign in Karnataka elections, TDP official spokesman and MLC Y Babu Rajendra Prasad said.

The TDP parted ways with the BJP in March after the Centre refused to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh which the saffron party had promised in the 2014 general election campaign.Activities at Lalu Prasads 10, Circular Road residence in Patna began early Monday morning with his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi visiting a temple to offer prayers.

When reporters asked about her daughter-in-law, Rabri said, Hamari bahu Lakshminiya hai (My daughter-in-law is highly auspicious). Her arrival has brought good omen and several pleasant developments in the family.

She was hinting at the three-day parole followed by six weeks of provisional bail to her husband after her son got engaged to Aishwarya Rai. Last weekend, Rabri Devi too was elevated as leader of opposition in the Legislative Council.

In the afternoon, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) national president Prasad took a flight to Ranchi to return to jail after the expiry of a three-day parole granted to attend his elder son Tej Pratap Yadavs wedding.

Serving sentences in four fodder scam cases, Lalu has already been granted six-week provisional bail for medical treatment which comes into effect on Tuesday. He is expected to be back in Patna by Tuesday evening. The trip to Ranchi is to complete bail formalities.

His lawyer Prabhat Kumar said the Jharkhand high court order granting bail had not reached the CBI court. As soon as the copy of the order reaches there, the process for filling the bail bond will be undertaken. As per provision bail, Laluji will not address any rally. He has submitted Rs 50,000 as surety money for the bail bond, Kumar said.

The RJD chief had obtained the provisional bail soon after getting the parole order.

Lalus family is concerned about his falling health as he suffers from diabetes, blood pressure, kidney problems and heart disease.

Once he secures bail and returns, a decision regarding his treatment will be taken. We will ensure that he gets the best treatment, said RJD national general secretary and MLA Bhola Yadav.

During the course of his imprisonment, Lalu had been hospitalized at the Ranchi Institute of Medical Science (RIMS). In March, he was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, for several weeks. He was brought back to RIMS earlier this month, evoking strong protests from RJD members who alleged that he was being discharged despite the fact that he had not fully recovered.

AIIMS in a statement had said that Lalu was being referred back to Ranchi Medical College as his condition had improved significantly.Six people were killed in violence related to the West Bengal panchayat election that is being held on Monday after weeks of uncertainty even as clashes and booth capturing were reported in several parts of the state.

A youth, Taibur Gayen, was killed and two others injured when crude bombs were hurled at them allegedly by ruling party supporters at Amdanga in North 24 Parganas district. CPI(M) MLA Tanmay Bhttacharya claimed Gayen was their party supporter.

In Kultali of South 24 Parganas, a Trinamool Congress supporter Ariful Gazi was shot dead when he was going to a booth. The allegation was against SUCI supporters.

Sanjit Pramanik, 27, succumbed to bullet injuries on his chest and abdomen in Santipur of Nadia district.

In Beldanga of Murshidabad, Tapan Mondal, a BJP worker was killed after he was hit by bombs. He was going to a booth to cast his vote.

Debu Das and his wife Uma Das in Budhakhali gram panchayat in Namkhana of South 24 Parganas district were burnt to death allegedly by Trinamool supporters.

People were seen standing in long queues outside polling stations right from 6 am, many of them women. The elections are being conducted using ballot papers.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged people and political parties not to pay heed to canards and fake videos, and participate peacefully in the panchayat elections.

As many as 1,54,500 policemen, including Bengal police, civic volunteers and cops from the Sikkim, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting. Police have sealed the states border with Jharkhand.

Violence was reported at several places. In Bagda of North 24 Parganas district, nine goons were caught by villagers stamping ballot papers in a booth and beaten up, before being handed over to police and sent to hospital.

Villagers alleged that when confronted, the criminals tried to flee by hurling crude bombs.

Bengal food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick alleged that BJP had brought hundreds of people from Bangladesh to unleash violence, adding that police were outnumbered.

The incidents of violence are largely reported from south Bengal. North Bengal is relatively peaceful, said BJP Bengal president Dilip Ghosh.

In a booth in Bodo Khotimali of Dinhata in Cooch Behar district, there were reports that 100% polling was completed by 8 am.

In a booth in Okhabari in Munsirhat of Cooch Behar district, the presiding officer left the polling premises by 10am as all votes were polled by 9:30 am amid violence. But they were sent back to the booth by the police.

TV channels aired footage showing north Bengal development minister Rabindranath Ghosh slapping a BJP polling agent in a booth in Natabari of the district.

Ghosh, however, said he did not assault anybody. The youth, a BJP agent, was trying to run away with the ballot box. I intervened but I did not assault anybody, he said.

In Suktabari area of Cooch Behar, a woman voter was rushed to a hospital after she was injured in a clash between supporters of Trinamool and an independent candidate.

In most areas, disgruntled local Trinamool Congress leaders, who were denied tickets for the elections, are contesting as independent candidates.

In Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur districts, ruling party supporters are jamming booths. We are trying to contact senior officers such as police superintendent, district magistrate, but they are not picking up phones, alleged Dipan Pramanik, BJP president of Jalpaiguri district.

The state election commission (SEC) sought a report from the district magistrate of Cooch Behar.

Storm and rains had lashed north Bengal districts of Malda, North Dinajpur, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri on Sunday.

In some areas such as Islampur of North 24 Parganas, power was disrupted and votes were conducted in candle lights.

In Chapatala of Deganga in the same district, a Congress candidate sustained injuries. In a booth in Haroa, youths were seen taking control of the booth.

TV channels aired footage of clashes between two groups of people inside a booth in Uttar Gazipur village in South 24 Parganas. Injured youths were seen writhing in pain inside the booth. The lone policeman guarding the booth appeared helpless.

In a pond close to a booth in Rampur Alokmala Primary School in the district, ballot papers were seen floating in the water. Police did not find voters or representatives of political parties inside the booth.

A large police contingent fired tear gas shells to disperse trouble mongers in Bhangar. A media vehicle was torched and a camera broken. Journalists were not allowed to enter the area.

Violence was reported from Keshpur of West Midnapore district too. In Bikalchak of Keshpur in West Midnapore district, a teenage girl was hit by an arrow and had to be taken to hospital.

A man was seen pouring water in a ballot box in a booth of Patharghata in Rajarhat.

In Jalpaiguri, ballot boxes containing ballot papers were set on fire. Poll officials said voting has been stopped in the booth in Shikarpur.

In Pashkura of East Midnapore, a masked youth holding a pistol in the air was seen moving around inside a booth even as an armed policeman stayed put.

Supporters of Congress and ruling Trinamool Congress clashed in Ratua of Malda. Congress supporters alleged that Trinamool supporters captured booths.

In Sujapur of Malda, a clash broke out between the supporters of Congress and Trinamool after the husband of a Congress candidate was allegedly attacked. He has been admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital.

In Santipur of Nadia, villagers set afire 11 motorcycles, alleging that youths came on them to stir violence.

We have not witnessed unfair practices in Bengal on such a scale since 1972, said Biswanath Chakraborty, professor of political science of Rabindra Bharati University.

CPI(M) MLA Tanmay Bhattacharya rued that the state election commissioner was aware that violence will take place, but did not insist on deployment of central forces. Instead, he told the Calcutta high court that the state police will be able to maintain law and order.

.Opposition parties trained their guns on state election commissioner (SEC) AK Singh with the CPI(M) and the Congress accusing him of conniving with the Trinamool Congress following widespread violence on Monday in the West Bengal panchayat polls.

After 15 deaths were reported on Monday, opposition leaders alleged that the casualties could have been avoided if commissioner Singh did not toe the Trinamool Congress line and pressed for a staggered poll schedule instead of going for a single-phase polling.

Since April 2, the first day of submission of nomination for the panchayat elections, a total of 30 people have been killed so far.

SEC must act to restore faith in the process. Else it will be seen as complicit to Trinamools project of destroying democracy. Allowing TMC to get away with throttling democracy has implications well beyond West Bengal, said CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

As reports of violence and deaths started flowing in from different districts on Monday, the SECs office started frequent interactions with the state police bosses. Additional director general (law & order), Anuj Sharma started sending messages to district police superintendents to take action. However, opposition leaders described these initiatives as farcical.

These are just an eye wash. Tomorrow, if the state government, or SEC, faces any legal battle on poll violence, they have to keep some documents ready. The election commissioner and ADG (law & order) should be removed from their position. The chief minister, too, should resign, said CPI (M) legislator Tanmay Bhattacharya.

Since the beginning SEC had been working as the stooge of Trinamool Congress, alleged Congress legislator, Abdul Mannan.

BJPs state president in Bengal, Dilip Ghosh said the party would demand re-election in the districts where there had been maximum violence by ruling Trinamool. We are not sure whether the SEC will work impartially and order re-polling. But we will be persistent in our demand, Ghosh said.

Trinamools secretary general, Partha Chatterjee rubbished all allegations and said that the opposition had created trouble in pockets to malign the state government, which is evident from the murder of a number of Trinamool workers. He defended the SEC saying he managed the polling process efficiently with active cooperation from Trinamool and the state government.

Singh has been at the centre of controversy since the beginning of the poll exercise.

In its notification on March 31, Singh had announced a three-phase polling on May 1, 3 and 5. However, after chief minister Mamata Banerjee advocated polling before the Islamic month of Ramzan started (likely on March 16), he issued another notification switching to a single-phase schedule.

Singh was also criticised by the opposition parties for not asking for central forces and reposing his faith in state police. In the run up to the polls, the Congress had moved the Calcutta high court seeking quashing of the single-phase election date on May 14 on grounds of inadequate police force to ensure law and order.

The violence that the opposition parties had widely anticipated, unfolded quickly in the day to soil the SECs reputation even more.Delhi Police said on Monday the chargesheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case that accuses her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of abetting her suicide was finalised on the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence.

Tharoor is the only person who has been arrayed as an accused in the case. The police, in its charge sheet which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice, said a Delhi Police spokesperson.

Psychological autopsy is a reconstructive mental state evaluation to understand an individuals mental state at and around the time of death for the purpose of identifying the cause of death.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The charge sheet, which includes several annexures, said that Pushkar died within three years, three months and 15 days of her marriage with Tharoor, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

The couple were married on August 22, 2010.

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a Delhi hotel on January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation.

An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unidentified persons under IPC section 302 (murder).Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday slammed the government for hiking petrol and diesel prices, saying the recent interval was only due to the Karnataka elections which got over on Saturday.

In separate tweets, Chidambaram also asked all chief ministers to oppose the terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission, which he said was the central governments attempt to violate the Constitution and wreck the federal system.

There we go again. More taxes on petrol and diesel, more burden on the consumer. The Karnataka election was only an interval, he tweeted.

After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, the price of petrol was on Monday hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

In Delhi, the price of petrol was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while the rate of diesel was increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies.

With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Oil PSUs, which had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.

Chidambaram also said Kerala finance minister TM Thomas Isaacs open letter on the ToR of the 15th Finance Commission deserves support.

I urge all State CMs and FMs to join hands to protest the Centres attempt to violate the Constitution and wreck the federal system, he said.

Isaac has said some state finance ministers, who met at Thiruvananthapuram and Amaravati, were worried about the implications of the ToR of the Finance Commission determined by the Union government.

What the ToR challenge are the federal values enshrined in the Constitution and the modicum of fiscal autonomy State governments enjoy, he has said.Union minister Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday alleged that the collegium system of appointment of judges was giving rise to favouritism and preventing Dalits, OBCs and the poor among the upper castes from entering the higher judiciary on the basis of merit.

Kushwaha, the Union Minister of State for HRD, who has been raising the demand for adequate representation to all sections of society in the higher judiciary for sometime, made it clear that his party will go ahead with its Halla Bol Darwaza Khol programme, whereby the people will be sensitised to the need for reforming the system of appointment of judges.

The collegium system has proved to be a total failure. It has become a breeding ground for favouritism. Under this system, only those deemed to be successors of sitting judges are getting appointed to High Courts and the Supreme Court, Kushwaha, who is also the chief of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), told reporters here.

This has been a matter of concern for quite some time. The President has expressed his reservations about the system and so have many other intellectuals. The Centre tried to amend the system by bringing in the NJAC bill. But the same got struck down by the Supreme Court, he said.

The apex court now must rise to the occasion by initiating reforms by whichever method it deems appropriate. But the highest court of law cannot wish away the need for reforms, Kushwaha said.

He said that under the existing collegium system, neither the SCs/STs, the OBCs nor the poor among the upper castes are getting a chance to enter the higher judiciary on the basis of merit. This must change as the Constitution provides for equality of opportunity.

Our party will go ahead with Halla Bol Darwaza Khol which will be launched in Delhi on May 20. The programme will include seminars, to be addressed by constitutional experts, as well as mass awareness programmes. There is a huge need for adequate representation of all sections of the society in the higher judiciary, he added.West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has urged people and political parties to not pay heed to canards and fake videos and participate peacefully in the panchayat elections underway amid reports of violence on Monday. (LIVE updates)

Banerjee said her government has taken steps to ensure that the law and order remains normal during the rural polls.

I urge people as well as all political parties to remain alert and not pay attention to provocations or canards. I appeal to common people to exercise their democratic right and vote peacefully for the development of rural Bengal. The state administration is with them, she told a news channel.

Referring to the arrest of Trinamool Congress leader Arabul Islam in connection with the killing of a supporter of an independent candidate in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, Banerjee said the police took action, irrespective of the political colour of the person.

The state administration will play a strong role in tomorrows panchayat elections... Nobody will be spared (if found disrupting peace). We have taken strict step against Arabul despite he being a candidate of the Zilla Parishad, because we felt that the matter was not right, she said.

The chief minister urged people to not believe fake videos and warned them against falling prey to these.

I have information that some people are planning to create problem from (Monday) morning using fake videos or using videos of incidents that had happened in Bangladesh or somewhere else in Jharkhand. We will not allow them to spread such things. I urge people not to believe in fake videos, she said.

Polling for the panchayat elections began at 7am and will end at 5pm. The counting will take place on May 17.If Siddaramaiah manages to win back Karnataka for the Congress, he will create history of sorts. No party has been re-elected in the state since 1985. Such has been the state of political volatility in the state in the recent past that Siddaramaiah is first chief minister to last a full term after 2004. To be sure, the impact of Karnataka results will be felt beyond the state as well. Here are five reasons why Karnataka results are important for national politics.

Also read: Track the Karnataka election results on our live blog and interactive maps that provide real-time data and analysis

1) Modi-Shahs big southern test

If the BJP wins Karnataka, it will be its first big victory in a major southern state under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The party could not improve its performance significantly in the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which were held in 2016. With the Telugu Desam Party withdrawing from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP has lost an important ally in the south. Disagreements over issues such as the imposition of Hindi, terms of reference of fifteenth finance commission etc. have been creating difficulties for the BJP in these states. Siddaramaiah too has tried to counter BJPs Hindutva push with a Kannada-nationalism push of his own. A victory for the BJP would suggest that it is capable of surmounting all these challenges and will advance further as a pan-India party. A failure on the other hand could underline the constraints of the BJPs current political strategy.

2) Congress claim as main opposition party at stake

Till now, the Congress is the only party in Karnataka which enjoys a state-wide support. It takes on the JD(S) in southern parts of the state and the BJP in other regions. This means that the Congresss support is spread rather thin in the state and it has to get many more votes to convert them into seats. Except in the 2013 elections, the BJP has always had a better seat share to vote share ratio than the Congress in the state. The most significant factor in 2013 was the exit of BS Yedyurappa from the BJP, splitting the vote. He is now back in the party.

If the Congress is not able to form a government on its own in Karnataka and the JD(S) gets to play a major role after the results, it could make the Congress more vulnerable to tough bargaining by other regional players in the run-up to 2019 elections. If the Congress gets a majority on its own, its claim as the most credible party to lead the opposition to the BJP will get a big boost.

3) Impact on Rajya Sabha numbers

A BJP victory in Karnataka can also take it closer towards a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Four Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka will be retiring in June, 2020. Only one of them is from the BJP.

4) The clash of AHINDA vs Hindutva strategies

A Congress victory in Karnataka will be a strong vindication of Siddaramaiahs political strategy which is trying an AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for minorities, dalits and backward classes) consolidation through state government welfare schemes. The strategy makes sense because socially backwards groups are more likely to be economically backward. A pre-poll survey conducted by CSDS-Lokniti shows that a large number of respondents have admitted to benefitting from various welfare schemes of the state government. By doing this, the Congress is hoping to reduce the importance of two dominant caste groups: Lingayats and Vokkaligas, which are known to be the main support base of the BJP and JD(S). The BJP on the other hand has banked on the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a consolidation of Hindu votes across the board. Todays Chanakyas exit poll analysis, which has given the maximum number of seats to the BJP, shows that it is ahead of the Congress among all Hindus except Kurubas, which is Siddaramaiahs own caste group. Should this happen, it would reiterate the prowess of BJPs Hindutva push and Brand Modi.

5) Karnataka is a big source of funds for INC

Last but not the least, is the impact Karnataka results could have on the Congress finances. A loss in Karnataka could have an extremely adverse impact on the Congress partys ability to raise funds, as it would not have an elected government in any major state in India except Punjab. Given the fact that the BJP is already way ahead of the Congress in terms of income and expenditure, this will only add to the disadvantage the Congress would face in matching the BJPs efforts in the 2019 elections.Amid row over Muhammad Ali Jinnahs portrait at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Haryana finance minister Captain Abhimanyu on Sunday demanded renaming the prestigious university after Raja Mahendra Pratap, who donated his land to build AMU for the education of youth of the country.

Abhimanyu was speaking at a public function in Rewari, where he made the demand.

It is so unfortunate that Jinnah, who divided our country, has a portrait at AMU but Raja Mahendra Pratap, who made the biggest contribution in building the university, has been forgotten. His portrait has even not been installed at AMU, he said.

The Aligarh Muslim University has been witnessing protests allegedly by right-Hindu groups, who have demanded removal of Pakistan-founder Jinnahs portrait from the university.Votes are being counted in the Karnataka elections, with the Congress and the BJP tied in close contest in early trends. Both parties have reached out to the Janata Dal (Secular) to discuss a possible alliance, say people familiar with the matter.

Neither is a stranger to the JD(S), headed by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda: the Congress and the JD(S) formed a government together in 2004; and the JD(S) and the BJP did the same in 2006. Currently, the Congress and the JD(S) are partners in the Bengaluru City Corporation, while the JD(S) and the BJP are partners in the Mysuru City Corporation.

Also read: Track the Karnataka election results on our live blog and interactive maps that provide real-time data and analysis

A senior JD(S) leader said on the eve of results day, on condition of anonymity, that talks have started, but have still not gathered momentum because both national parties are confident of a majority on their own.

Representatives of the BJP and the Congress were not willing to comment on the matter on record.

There are problems in allying with either party, two other JD(S) leaders, also speaking on condition of anonymity, added. For instance, if the Congress insists that Siddaramaiah has to be the chief minister, the JD(S) will find it difficult to ally with the party because he is Kumaraswamys bete noire.

Many see chief minister Siddaramaiahs Sunday statement saying he would support the Congress partys decision if chooses to name a Dalit as the chief minister as the extension of an olive branch to the JD (S).

The recent decision of the Congress to poach seven JD (S) MLAs ahead of the recent Rajya Sabha polls has only added to the anger against the party in the JD(S). However, one Congress leader pointed to the informal alliance between the two parties in the two by-polls in 2017 as evidence that there was a possibility of a coalition. In the Nanjangud by-polls last year, the Congress candidate was a rebel from the JD(S) who won against V Srinivasa Prasad, the Congress leader who moved to the BJP. In fact, chief minister Siddaramaiah had publicly thanked the JD(S) after the Congress won both seats.

There are issues concerning a partnership with the BJP as well. Deve Gowda said in a recent interview that he would disown his son (Kumaraswamy) if he were to join hands with the BJP. The partys decision to align with the Bahujan Samaj Party, too, is seen as a hurdle for a coalition with the BJP. The first JD(S) leader said Mayawati had made it clear that she would not accept any alliance with the BJP.It is not just Mayawati who made us vow that we would not join forces with the BJP, but even K Chandrashekhar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Asaduddin Owaisi ( of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen ) are against any such talks. Since they have campaigned for us, it is difficult to now dump the alliances with these parties, this person added.Both Congress president Rahul Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi have attacked the JD(S) and its leader and former prime minister, HD Deve Gowda. While Gandhi said the S in the partys name stood for Sangh Parivar, Modi has repeatedly claimed that the party will not be able to defeat the Congress as it is limited to a few seats.

BJP leaders said there was no question of talks with the JD(S) at this point. We are confident of getting a clear and comfortable majority, a senior BJP leader said, on the condition of anonymity. If we do not get a majority we will take a call only after the polls, he said.In fact, while everybody is busy projecting the differences between Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy, it is fairly clear that Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah continue to be close. Also, Deve Gowda is aiming for a role in 2019, so he will not willingly join us in a coalition, the leader said.

Political analyst Narendar Pani said it was doubtful if parties would discuss any possible alliance at this time. With Kumaraswamy having gone to Singapore, there doesnt seem much scope for discussions at this stage. Anyway, the JD(S) will play hard to get if there is a hung assembly and will try and extract as much as possible with the prospective alliance partner, he said.

Proper talks concerning a possible alliance will begin soon after the results are out, the first JD(S) leader said. That way, we will know our strength or the two parties weaknesses.Senior BJP leader Lal Singh said on Monday there was a conspiracy to defame the people of Jammu over the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, and reiterated the demand for a CBI probe into the case.

Singh, who resigned from the Jammu and Kashmir council of ministers after courting controversy by attending a rally in support of the accused in the case, questioned the state government and Kashmir-centric people about their objection to a CBI probe.

I want to ask those against CBI probe whether they think CBI is a Pakistan agency, he said.

Shame on those who dubbed Dogras of Jammu as pro-rapists. They will be exposed. The perception created by national media and some Kashmir-centric people that Dogras are pro-rapists was a conspiracy against Jammu and its Dogras to defame and weaken them, Singh told reporters in Jammu.

Singh, who has organised over 30 rallies in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur, and Reasi district since he resigned as minister last month, said, We will force the government to conduct a CBI probe. CBI probe will restore the respect of Dogras and provide justice to the victim girl.

We want CBI probe and will not stop till CBI probe is ordered, he said.

The BJP leader said that the Dogras would take out a Swabhiman Rally on May 20 in the Hiranagar belt of the district to restore respect and dignity of Dogras.

The girl, belonging to a nomadic community, was abducted, gangraped and murdered in January this year. The case triggered a nationwide outrage.Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday expressed regret over an order asking Kashmiri migrant Pandits in Jammu to fill a consent form before commencing pilgrimage to some religious places in Kashmir.

After the directive evoked anger among some Pandits, minister for relief and rehabilitation Javaid Mustafa Mir said the order issued by Jammu deputy commissioner (relief), K K Sidha was a mistake. Mir said the officer will be attached and also an enquiry has started into the conduct of the officer

I came to know about it on Monday in secretariat. The notice was issued in Jammu, three days back. Since the government is here, I take full responsibility as a minister that I am not aware but it is simultaneously the mistake of the officer as well that he did not inform my private office or the administrative office, Mir said at a press conference.

Sidha had issued a notice on May 10 asking all the Kashmiri migrants desirous of undertaking pilgrimage to Mata Kheer Bhawani (Ganderbal), Tikker(Kupwara), Manzgam(Kulgam), Mattan (Anantnag) in the current year on the ensuing Zeshta Ashtami, which falls on June 20 to provide their consent on a given format. The format wanted the migrants to list name, parentage, age, sex, mode of transport, destination, and dates of departures from Jammu as well as from Kashmir.

Kashmiri migrants are sons of the soil. They need not to register or be scrutinised. Whenever they want to come or go, they need not ask us. If we question them on entry or exit, it is wrong. As a minister, it is unacceptable though the mistake has been done by one of my officers, I sincerely and honesty regret. It has sent a bad signal, Mir said.

When asked about the officers motives, the minister said he could comment only after the enquiry. Formally we have ordered an enquiry into it. I cant say deliberately, as a minister I wont hold him responsible for that because he belongs to the same Kashmiri Pandit community. But the enquiry will bring forth his intention,

When questioned whether the officer had issued the order keeping in mind the security concerns, the minister said the security has always been enhanced when religious activities happen. As far as the security measures are concerned, we are doing it time and again. Wherever religious activities are concerned, we do the utmost security measures in every respect required in the matter, he said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) announced on Monday.

The informal summit will be held in the Russian city of Sochi.

This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our special and privileged strategic partnership, the MEA said in a statement.

It said both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters.

This informal summit in Sochi between PM Modi and President Putin is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels, the MEA said.

Last month, Modi had travelled to Chinese city of Wuhan for an informal summit with President Xi Jinping.As many as 80 people have been killed in five states due to thunderstorms and lightning strikes since Sunday, with Uttar Pradesh alone recording 51 deaths, the Home Ministry said on Monday.

UP officials said the toll in Uttar Pradesh later went up to 54. Officials in Bihar too confirmed six deaths due to lightning in the wee hours of Monday.

Bihars disaster management department confirmed two deaths in Saran district and one each in Patna, Darbhanga, Khagaria and Rohtas. Chief minister Nitish Kumar asked the disaster management department to provide ex gratia to the kin of the deceased.

Fourteen people died in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand, a ministry spokesperson said. Of the 136 people injured in lightning strikes and thunderstorms, 123 were from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Delhi and two from Uttarakhand.

Lightning strikes and thunderstorms hit 24 districts in Uttar Pradesh, six in West Bengal, three in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand, the spokesperson said. Dust storms and thunderstorms wreaked havoc in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

High-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services last evening at a number of places in north India, including the national capital. Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said yesterday.

The India Meteorological Department said in its latest forecast the western disturbance that is bringing moisture from Eurasian water bodies and north and northwest India, including the hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand, and in the plains of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, will continue to affect the weather in this region on Tuesday.

Some parts of the hilly northern states can expect hail and isolated areas of Rajasthan could witness dust storms on Monday and Tuesday.

Residents of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh can expect relief from strong, widespread thunderstorms by Wednesday but weaker thunderstorms, scattered rain and gusty winds may occur in some areas for the rest of the week.

In the south, Telangana, Rayalaseema, interior areas of south Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are likely to see thunderstorm activity on Monday. On Tuesday the thunderstorm activity will be restricted to Odisha and south interior Karnataka.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he had asked authorities to provide all possible assistance to the needy.

Trail of destruction

Storms are common at this time of the year, the beginning of the rainy season in South Asia, but the severity of the weather this year, and the human cost, have been unusual.

A spokesperson of the Union home ministry said 42 were killed in Uttar Pradesh, 14 in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand. The spokesperson added 83 people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and two in Uttarakhand.

Twenty-four districts in Uttar Pradesh, six in West Bengal, three in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand were hit by the lightning and thunderstorms, the spokesperson added.

Prabhat Mohapatra, deputy special relief commissioner, told Reuters four people were killed in Odisha.

Dust storms and thunderstorms accompanied with high-velocity winds wreaked havoc on Sunday evening as they uprooted trees, knocked down power poles, grounded flights and disrupted trains across New Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh.

Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the met department said on Sunday.

The devastation comes over 12 days after storms hit Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400. Uttar Pradesh was the worst affected accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

On May 9, several parts of Uttar Pradesh were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured.

(With agency inputs)Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari handles critical infrastructure ministries and is widely perceived to be the most independent voice in the Narendra Modi government. In an interview to HindustanTimes, Gadkari speaks about Prime Minister Modis style of functioning, the relationship between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP, the differences between the BJP and its allies, the projects he has overseen, and why he does not see himself as a contender for the prime ministers post in 2019. Edited excerpts:

Four years into the government, how do you see the PMs leadership style? There has been criticism that decision-making is centralised.

This is not correct. We have cabinet meetings. Many a times, we have put forth views which are contrary to the PMs view. But, from day one, a deliberate attempt has been made to create that perception about the PM (of a centralised style of functioning). Its a case of image versus reality.

You are perceived to be one of the few autonomous ministers who can take decisions.

If its true that I can take decision, so can others. Only the PM has the power to appoint ministers. He has given them powers, but if we do not make use of our powers, then its a shortcoming on our part.

Have some ministers not been able to use the power bestowed on them?

I am not saying this. What I am saying is it is not the PMs fault. Other ministers are also working. Social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot has resolved a host of issues to do with sites associated with (BR) Ambedkars life which the government has acquired and is developing; to encourage Dalits to enter business, Dharmendra Pradhan took out a special order for the Dalit Chamber of Commerce.

Every department has worked according to their plan. The difference is that my ministry makes roads. It shows. What will the health ministry or social justice or education ministry say? But the work that they do results in improvement of services.

The Opposition has alleged that this government has compromised institutions such as the election commission (EC), the judiciary, and the investigative agencies.

The Opposition is playing a dirty game. Which of our own person have we appointed in the EC? In Gujarat, didnt the EC give an independent decision? Secretaries of government go to conduct elections. What have we done to the EC? In the judiciary, according to seniority, judges get appointed to the Supreme Court. Isnt the Congress destroying the institution by talking about the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in the way they did? During Indira Gandhis tenure as PM, the CJIs appointment superseded senior judges of the Supreme Court. Have we done anything like this? Because the judiciary is independent and impartial and because their decision is not in their favour, they are maligning us.

Do you think that in the last few months the government has been on the defensive, for instance, due to the Dalit protests?

We had a problem because of the political perception that was created following the Supreme Courts decision. But if we had controlled the judiciary like the Opposition says, do you think we would have got into trouble because of the courts order? Its a judicial decision. Blaming us for it is not fair. Tell me one scheme where we have kept out Dalits or minorities? We have not brought caste and religion in any of our social security schemes.

But the Congresss capital is fear. They are trying to create fear in the minds of Dalit and Muslims.

They tell Muslims the BJP will send them back to Pakistan and demolish mosques; they tell Dalits that the BJP will rewrite Babasahebs constitution. Their strategy is if you cant convince, confuse.

But there persists a trust deficit with minorities. Muslim political representation in BJP is low.

We have ministers from the minority community at the Centre, in Uttar Pradesh, in the alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, and in other states. Our definition of secularism is justice for all  sabka saath sabka vikas. Here, the definition of secularism is appeasement of terrorists.

In the media, too, someone with a saffron robe is put on screen; he then says something; and then that is used that to attack us, even though we keep wondering who the person is. There are people who are unhappy that someone from the RSS-BJP is the PM.

They have not been able to digest it. They opposed in the past, including framing false cases against innocent people. And they continue to oppose us using communalism and casteism.

The Opposition is seeking to unite against you. Are you worried?

Their unity is because of our strength. If we were weak, they would not have united. We will fight them. We are not here because of anyones mercy. All these people  leftists, anti-Hindutva, anti-national forces  never spared us. We had to fight every inch of the way and will do so.

But your dynamic with allies is simultaneously deteriorating, for instance with the Shiv Sena.

The difference is not based on ideology. The Shiv Sena also talks of Hindutva, which is not different from our view. Its power politics. In Maharashtra, the BJP got more seats than the Shiv Sena. We are stronger; we are fighting and winning more elections. They refuse to accept this fact and say we are the big brother. There are political rather than ideological reasons for this.

Is this because the party has changed, from being accommodative to arrogant?

Some people are trying to build this kind of an image but it is not the truth. We will try to take our friends along by election-time.

How do you see the new Congress under Rahul Gandhi?

He is a true Gandhian. It was Gandhi-jis dream that after Independence, Congress should be dissolved. Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, Sonia failed to do it. Now Rahul has taken it upon himself to fulfill Gandhi-jis dream (laughs).

He has recently said that if Congress becomes the single-largest party then he will become the PM.

Do you really think it will happen? Will Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Lalus party (RJD) support him? Do you see statements in his support? However, I think it is important for the democracy that there is a strong Opposition. They should do good work. Our best wishes are with them. The public will decide.

How do you see the relationship between the RSS and the BJP?

The Sangh is not political. It does not give any direction to the party. The Sangh is a little active on issues of national security, education, history, culture, but when it comes to politics, it does not tell us who should be given tickets... Their concern is that there be no threat to the nation, that the nation progresses. They dont pressure us or give direction.

During NDA-1, disagreements with the Sangh were obvious. There seems to be greater harmony now. Whats the difference?

I was in the state then. I dont know. But for now, there is good coordination, communication and cooperation on ideological issues.

But when there are differences on issues like economic policy, how do you resolve it?

Even when there are two people, there is difference of opinion. That is the soul of democracy. When there are differences, it is followed with discussions. When discussion happens, the problem gets solved.

Is there a concern in the RSS that the BJP has become very personality oriented?

I dont know about this.

How important is political power for Sangh?

I am not a spokesperson for the Sangh. I am a swayamsevak  the Sangh is a part of my lifes convictions. Only the Sangh has a right to say what it thinks or does not think. Only they will be able to answer this.

You are known to set very ambitious targets but the delivery doesnt match it.

What do you tell your child? That he has to pass on merit. But if he passes with 75% marks, you dont say he has failed but that his performance is below target. Also, my ministrys targets, except for roads, have been met. From 2km of roads getting constructed per day, I said I will take the target to 40 km a day. It was big target, but I managed to do 28 km a day. Next fiscal, we will cross 40 km. In the first year, by giving a 40 km target, I changed the mentality of the ministry. Targets are always big. And they are realised bit by bit. There is a difference between commitment and target. If I fail in my commitment you tell me then. I will achieve the targets by the time five years get over.

Will Ganga be clean by 2019?

Out of 189 projects, 47 have been completed. I have awarded 95% of the project. By March 2019, approximately 70-80% of the Ganga will be cleaned. My target is to get the entire Ganga cleaned but maybe we will not be able to achieve this.

Are you a contender for the PMs post in 2019?

Not at all. I have got way more than my capabilities and standing. Our party will win and Narendra bhai will become the PM.

There is a buzz that if BJP falls short of a majority, you could be the compromise PM candidate.

I dont know if the people who say this are my friends or enemies. Its not right to say such things. I have never had any ambition in life. I have not given my biodata to anyone. I did not put a garland around anybodys neck. I have never asked anyone for anything. I am an ordinary person, a small worker. While taking care of my family, I want to do whatever is possible honestly for the country. I have done work worth Rs 10 lakh crore, but not taken a penny from a contractor. I think that politics is an instrument of socio-economic reform... I am neither dreaming of becoming PM nor is it in my mind.Opposition parties in West Bengal on Monday blamed chief minister Mamata Banerjees prime ministerial ambitions for the violence that blighted voting for the panchayat elections and left 15 people dead.

The Union home ministry sought a report from the state government on the violence. The Trinamool Congress was accused of perpetrating violence in all the districts, though the deaths were reported from seven of them. The state election commission, which was ordered by the Calcutta high court and the Supreme Court last week to ensure free and fair polling, faced the ire of voters and opposition parties for failing to carry out the orders.

In 2003, 76 people were killed and 2013s death toll was 39. But Mondays polling stood out for unprecedented rigging, booth capturing and burning of ballot papers right in front of the media and, in some places, even in the presence of policemen.

The number of deaths this year was far fewer than those in earlier years. We tried our best to achieve a completely peaceful election. But despite our efforts a few sporadic incidents and death took place, said Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha. The DGP confirmed the deaths of 12 people in the violence , according to news agency ANI.

The violence unfolded hours after the chief minister told two prominent Bengali television channels that her government wants peaceful polling and asked people not to give in to provocation.

Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the violence was the outcome of Mamata Banerjees ambition to emerge as the face of the so-called third front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Trinamools victory was always assured because of sheer numbers. Hence, people should have been allowed to cast the ballot. But Banerjee wants to demolish the opposition completely. She wants to win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats next year so that she may emerge as a strong contender in the race for the prime ministers chair, said Chowdhury, the Berhampore Lok Sabha MP from Murshidababd district which was a Congress bastion till five years ago.

Banerjee is yet to issue a statement on the violence.

But Trinamool Congress secretary general and education minister Partha Chatterjee maintained that polling was largely peaceful.

Polling took place in 41,000 polling stations. Apart from a few sporadic incidents, polling was peaceful. Trinamool Congress, as a party, never wants or supports such incidents. The state government provided support to the SEC with as much as possible, he said.

Our party supporters were beaten up too. But they kept their cool. Six of our party supporters were killed today. Some other parties are claiming that their supporters were killed, which is not true, Chatterjee said.

Others differed.

Former principal of Presidency College (now a university) and political scientist Amal Mukherjee said the situation called for invoking Presidents rule under Article 356 of the Constitution.

On Sunday, Banerjee assured the people that they could cast their votes without fear because adequate security arrangements had been made. Her assurances have not yielded any result. It is a shame for the ruling party. There is no democracy at all in Bengal. This is nothing but fascism, said Mukherjee.

Union minister of state for heavy industries Babul Supriyo also demanded Presidents rule in the state. Democracy has been murdered, he alleged.

Manoj Bhattacharya, RSP national secretariat member and former MP said the violence was indicative of the CMs desire for total control.

There used to be electoral violence even when we were in power but I cant remember ballot papers being looted or burnt across Bengal or opposition candidates in each and every village stopped from filing nomination. This anarchy has stemmed from Mamata Banerjees aspiration to establish absolute control, alleged Bhattachaya.

Our booth-level workers are telling us not to demand repoll. They say there will be more violence. With Supreme Court keeping on hold the fate of 34% seats till July 3, Trinamool is desperate to win the remaining 66 % seats, he said.

Democracy turned into a face today, said Left Front chairman and CPI (M) Politburo member Biman Bose who sat on dharna outside the state election commissions office along with CPI(M) state secretary Suryakanta Mishra.

The governments decision to deploy civic police volunteers - it is an informal force raised to generate employment - to secure polling stations also came under question. On Monday, there were 81,000 civic police volunteers on duty, about 10,000 more than uniformed policemen. In 2013, when the rural polls were held in five phases, more than 80,000 Central police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in Bengal.

Food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick alleged that BJP leaders brought hundreds of people from Bangladesh and sheltered them in different areas of North 24 Parganas district after villagers caught a few toughs who stormed a booth in Bagda early in the morning.

If so many people came from Bangladesh, why did the administration fail to catch a few of them? asked BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.Pakistans top civil-military body on Monday condemned former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs remarks about the Mumbai attacks, describing them as incorrect and misleading, but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader insisted he had done nothing wrong.

Sharifs remarks, made during an interview with Dawn newspaper last week, triggered a row in his country as he pointed to a Pakistani hand in the 2008 attacks. He also appeared to suggest the military was meddling in politics and had a hand in his removal from office by the Supreme Court last year because he was trying to end support for anti-India terror groups.

A meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), which Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi convened at the nudging of the angry army, reviewed Sharifs comments on the Mumbai attacks and unanimously termed this statement as incorrect and misleading, according to an official statement.

The NSC believed it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities and unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions, the statement added.

The meeting was attended by army chief General Qamar Bajwa, the two other service chiefs, ISI head Naveed Mukhtar and National Security Advisor Nasser Janjua.

This was a rare rebuke of Sharif by a government run by his PML-N party, reflecting the growing tension between the ousted premier and the military.

But Sharif stuck by his remarks on Monday while talking to reporters outside an anti-corruption court in Islamabad. What did I say in the interview that was wrong? he asked.

He rejected suggestions that the comments were falsely attributed to him and said he would continue to speak the truth. Former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Rehman Malik and former National Security Advisor Maj Gen Mahmud Durrani had already confirmed (what I said), he said.

When Sharif was asked by a reporter about suggestions that India was reluctant to provide evidence in the Mumbai attacks case, he replied, There is no shortage of evidence  there is plenty of evidence.

During the interview, Sharif had questioned the policy of using Pakistan-based terrorists for cross-border attacks on India. Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial? he had said. The statement was described by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday as serious disclosure that vindicated Indias position on the Mumbai attacks.

Sharif had also said such a state of affairs is absolutely unacceptable and even Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin had said so.

Expressing disappointment at being labelled a traitor by some elements in Pakistan, Sharif said Are those who tore apart the country and the Constitution patriots? Are those who pulled out judges from their offices patriots?

The issue has also exposed rifts within the PML-N, with Sharifs younger brother, Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying on Sunday that the remarks were incorrectly attributed and didnt represent party policy.

Following the NSC meeting, Prime Minister Abbasi told a news conference in Islamabad that he had met Sharif and the former premier had told him he was misquoted. Abassi also said Sharif told him his remarks were misrepresented by Indian media.

Abbasi also contended that the NSC had not condemned Sharif directly, but the incorrect reporting of the interview. As the prime minister, I stand with Nawaz Sharif, he said, adding Sharif would remain the PML-Ns leader.The daughter of revered Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz on Sunday claimed that Indian authorities denied her entry into a media summit in New Delhi where she was invited as a speaker.

Moneeza Hashmi, 72, an eminent Pakistani television and media personality, was listed as a speaker at the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi between May 10 and 12.

Organisers in New Delhi, however, denied the charge and said that they are not even aware of any such incident.

Press Information Bureau chief Sitanshu Kar said that he was not aware of any such incident.

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) director KG Suresh said: I am not even aware of it, of this entire incident. I also came to know about it only through media persons.

Hashmi left India for Lahore on Saturday after she was barred from attending the summit.

I was invited by the Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (ABID) but the Indian authorities stopped me from attending the summit in New Delhi, Moneeza told reporters here.

I was to speak Should All Good Stories be Commercially Successful along with three other speakers in the summit but I was refused entry, she claimed.

Hashmi said that on her arrival on May 9 in New Delhi, she was told that she had no booking of the hotel and she was not registered.

The organisers apologised. I stayed in another hotel and left for Lahore on May 12, she added.

The summit was hosted in New Delhi from May 10-12 in which representatives from nearly 40 countries delved on issues related to the media sector.

The summit was hosted by the Information and Broadcasting (I-B) Ministry, jointly with the IIMC, and public sector firm Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL).The finance ministry on Monday initiated the process of removing top bank officials named by the Central Bureau of Investigation in its chargesheet over the Rs13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case involving jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi as accused.

Former managing director of PNB and the current MD of Allahabad Bank, Usha Ananthasubramanian, and two PNB executive directors  Sanjeev Sharan and KV Brahmaji Rao  have been named in the chargesheet that was filed in a special Mumbai court on Monday.

The government has initiated the process of removal of the senior management of banks who have been named in the chargesheet, said Rajiv Kumar, secretary, department of financial services.

In the meantime, the government has instructed the government nominees to move board resolutions seeking divesting their responsibilities.

While the PNB board met on Monday and approved the government directors resolution to take away the responsibilities of the two executive directors, the board of the Allahabad Bank will meet soon after an emergency meeting was called by the government nominee, according to sources. The government had issued a notice to the officials 10 days back after receiving information from the investigating agencies.

This is the first step to initiate their removal under Section 8 of the Nationalised Banks Act.

Calls and messages to Ananthasubramanian remained unanswered, while Sharan declined to comment on the issue. Messages left for Rao with his office remained also unanswered.

Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of PNB from August 2015 to May 2017, was questioned by the

CBI in February in connection with the case.

Jeweller Modi allegedly used fake letter of undertaking to defraud PNB of over 13,000 crore in connivance with bank officials by exploiting the loophole of non-integration of SWIFT with the Core Banking System.

The CBI has filed a chargesheet against Ananthasubramanian and 21 others, including 11 bank officials, over the PNB fraud case. So far, 19 people have been arrested in the case while Modi and Choksi are on the run.

(With inputs from agencies)Four years after Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in her suite at a five-star hotel in Delhi, her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has been charged by the Delhi police with abetting her suicide and subjecting her to cruelty

On January 17, 2014, Pushkar was found dead in room number 345 of Hotel Leela Palace in south Delhi. A three-member AIIMS autopsy panel found anti-anxiety drug Alprazolam  popularly known as Alprax  in Pushkars body, a fact corroborated by the FBI, which analysed the viscera samples.

A number of conspiracy theories have cropped up over the circumstances leading to her death. Here is a look at the case and the event preceding her alleged suicide.

2014

January 16: Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar are locked in a Twitter spat over the latters alleged affair with the politician.

January 17: Pushkar is found dead in room number 345 of Hotel Leela Palace, Delhi.

January 19: Post-mortem at AIIMS reveals a case of sudden and unnatural death. Doctors say certain injury marks are found on the body.

January 21: The sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) says in his report that Tharoors wife died due to poisoning.

January 23: The probe into Pushkars death is transferred to the Delhi Police Crime Branch.

January 25: The case is transferred back to the South District Police.

July 2: An AIIMS doctor heading the panel to conduct Pushkars post-mortem claims he is being pressurised to manipulate the autopsy report.

September 30: AIIMS doctors submit viscera report to Delhi Police.

October 19: Media says poison was found in Pushkars final viscera report.

November 9: The hotel room in which Pushkar was found dead is again examined by police and forensic experts. Fluid marks found on the bed and broken glass are sent for examination.

2015

January 6: Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi says Pushkar did not commit suicide but was murdered. He also says a murder case was registered and a probe will be conducted. Tharoor says that he is stunned by the developments and that he will cooperate with police.

February: Pushkars viscera samples are sent to the FBI lab in Washington for examination and identification of poison that killed her.

March 12: Bassi says Tarar is an important link in the case and will be asked to join the investigation. Tarar says she is ready to help investigators whenever summoned.

November 10: Delhi Police receive Pushkars viscera report from the FBI. The report says radiation in Pushkars viscera samples was within permissible levels and did not cause her death.

November: Delhi police ask journalist Nalini Singh, who was one of the last persons to speak to Pushkar, to help with investigation. Pushkar had reportedly asked Singh to help her retrieve BBM messages between her husband and the Tarar.

2016

March: Tarar comes to Delhi, meets a senior officer and denies any knowledge about Pushkars murder.

2017

July: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy moves Delhi high court seeking a court-monitored probe by a CBI-led Special Investigation Team October: Delhi High Court dismisses Subramanian Swamys plea.

A Delhi court is informed that the five-star hotel suite where Pushkar was found dead has been de-sealed.

2018

May 14, 2018: Delhi police file a chargesheet charging Shashi Tharoor with abeting her suicide.Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday called the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police accusing him of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar preposterous and termed the action unbelievable.

Tharoor tweeted he will contest the chargesheet vigorously and hit out at Delhi Police saying, If that was the conclusion arrived at after four plus years of investigation, it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of Delhi Police.

No one, who knew Sunanda, believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part, he said.

Tharoor, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, is the only person who has been named as an accused in the case.

The police in its charge sheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

The police filed the charge sheet in the case before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh, who will consider it on May 24.

It also urged the court to summon Tharoor as an accused.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.Two youths were arrested for their alleged involvement in 10 cases of snatching in the city besides a bike theft, Karnal police said on Sunday.

According to the Karnal superintendent of police (SP) Surender Singh Bhoria, the accused have been identified as Shivam, 19, of Madhuban and Rahul Kumar, 20, of Jundla Gate in Karnal.

As per information, they are students they have reportedly given exams of Class 12 lately. The officials in the police department said they were boxers and used to undergo their practice at the Karan Stadium in Karnal regularly.

As per the officials, who were not authorised to speak to media on this matter, Shivams father was in the police department and posted at Karnal, and Rahuls father too was a police official of a lower rank.

However, the SP did not disclose the names and designations of their fathers, but confirmed that the accused were sons of cops. During the interrogation, they confessed to their involvement in as many as 10 snatching cases. They will now will be produced in the court, he added.

The police have also recovered a bike and a mobile phone from their possession.

The accused told the police that another accused in the case, Mohit Kumar, who too is son a police officer, was also involved in the crime and had been absconding. The SP said police did not find any previous criminal record of both of them. Meanwhile, special police teams have been formed to nab the snatchers of mobile phones and chains, he said.

Bhoria said during questioning, they told the police that they used to identify their targets, especially women, by stalking them and conducting recce before snatching their gold chains and mobile phones. Police said the duo had been committing the theft for the past four months. The accused have been booked under Sections 379 (theft) and 379 A (snatching) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea challenging an Allahabad high court order dismissing a petition seeking prosecution of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in a hate speech case of 2007.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud asked petitioner Rasheed Khan to serve the copy to all the parties who were before the high court.

The high court had earlier this year upheld a sessions court order which had quashed a magistrates order taking cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the police in 2009.

While dismissing the petition, the high court had said the sessions court was right in holding that there was no prosecution sanction to initiate trial against the BJP leader and others in the case.

The sessions court at Gorakhpur district had on January 28, 2017, quashed the magisterial courts cognisance order saying there was no sanction to prosecute the accused including the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and others.

On January 27, 2007, several incidents of violence were reported in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh and Khan had lodged the FIR under various sections of IPC.Three people were on Monday arrested in connection with a murder of a local CPI(M) leader at nearby Palloor in Mahe on May 7, police said.

While the arrests have been confirmed, Mahe police sources have not given the details of those arrested.

Babu, a CPI(M) worker and former councillor of Mahe, was hacked to death on May 7 night at Palloor with the party alleging that BJP was behind the attack.

Shortly after the incident, in an apparent retaliatory attack, a BJP worker, Shemij, was pulled out from his auto-rickshaw and killed.

Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry, is situated between Thalassery in the politically volatile Kannur district and Vatakara in Kozhikode district.

Both CPI(M) and BJP had observed hartal protesting against the two murders.

Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had visited Babus house on Saturday night and spent some time with the bereaved family.The carcass of a tigress dumped overnight Sunday in a toilet of the forest range office in Dabra in Uttarakhands Almora forest division before a post-mortem was conducted Monday afternoon has sparked a row with wildlife activists criticizing the act of carelessness.

Wildlife activists have also demanded immediate action by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that is spending billions of rupees for the protection of big cats. They are also sore that there is no designated place to keep carcasses of tigers until they are disposed off.

A dead tiger is worth lakhs. But, recklessly keeping the tiger carcass in a toilet all night without guarding it is a sheer slap on the global protection oath that India has taken during St Petesburgh declaration, 2010,AG Ansari, Ramnagar based wildlife activist said.

The tigress was found dead in Dabra area of Almora forest division Sunday night. As it was getting late, the staff brought it to the range office and kept it in the toilet.

A video which emerged on Monday highlighted the sorry state of affairs. Flies and maggots had infested the carcass while a spider web had covered the face.

In the morning, the staff tied the tigress with ropes and pulled it outside in open for the post mortem formalities which eventually took place in the afternoon.

What was the need of keeping the carcass of a tiger? What if some criminals would have stolen it? It was a great risk the staff took, Rajeev Mehta, another activist said.

The illegal trade in tiger skin, bones, claws and teeth is lucrative business for poachers and smugglers.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) of Almora Pankaj Kumar blamed lack of resources and tough terrain for keeping the carcass in the toilet.

We have limited resources and the staff kept it in the best possible manner. The terrain is tough and inviting two veterinarians for the post-mortem was difficult then, Kumar said.

It is sixth tiger death within five months this year in Uttarakhand.A day after a video allegedly showing policemen shake hands with men who went on a rampage in Aurangabad went viral, the cops on Monday admitted to lapses in their response while handling the incident. There were lapses in police response. We were initially short-staffed. The guilty will not be spared, no matter who they are, said additional director general of police Bipin Bihari.

Vinayak Dhakne, deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, admitted the police were outnumbered, with around five cops for hundred rioters, until reinforcements from riot control police and state reserve police force were called in later in the night.

The violence in Aurangabad that started over action against illegal water connection at shrines claimed two lives on Friday. Police are trying to verify the authenticity of the video. HT hasnt independently verified its authenticity. Milind Bharambe, commissioner of police, Aurangabad, said: We are checking the video. If there is truth in what appears in the footage, those responsible will be punished.

A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said: The police shook hands with certain members of a community, as they asked them to help control an armed mob. The group is not seen carrying weapons. They had formed a human chain to keep rioters from entering a street.

Laxminarayan Bakhriya, local Shiv Sena leader who was present at the site where stone-pelting was reported on Friday, said, Three policemen got injured in the riots, after which more policemen were deployed. As they were junior officers, they asked us to help control mob from a locality near Rajabazar (which is in the heart of communal tension).

Additional commissioner of police Govardhan Kulekar, additional commissioner of police (crime) Rameshwar Thorath and police inspector Hemant Kadam suffered serious injuries. AIMIM MLA from the area Imtiyaz Jaleel has demanded a high-level probe into the findings of the video.

Meanwhile, the state government refused to order a probe into the allegations by the Congress and NCP that the police remained bystanders during the riots.At least 15 persons were killed were killed and several injured during the West Bengal panchayat elections as clashes broke out at several places between rival groups on Monday.

Ballot boxes were seen being set afire and thrown in a pond. In one constituency, a man poured water in a ballot box.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has already won 20,163 of the total 58,692 seats unopposed a record since the Panchayati Raj was introduced.

West Bengal panchayat elections Highlights:

10.01pm: Poll still underway at Sahudangi hut polling station in Jalpaiguri.

West Bengal: People form queue outside Sahudangi Hut polling station in Jalpaiguri to cast their vote as polling for #PanchayatElection is still underway. pic.twitter.com/bVXGhCN4um  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

7.12pm: Voter turnout in West Bengal panchayat poll till 5 pm is 72.5%, reports ANI.

6.38 pm: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury dismisses the remarks of Derek O Brien that violence occurred during the Left rule too, saying if that was true, Mamata Banerjee would never have come to power in the state.

This itself shows that they are defensive and guilty. Media is showing what is happening. If this was happening during Left Front rule, then the TMC government would never have come in Bengal and the chief minister would not have been the chief minister of Bengal: CPI(M) general secretary Yechury.

He also says the West Bengal State Election Commission will be seen as complicit in the ruling Trinamool Congress project of destroying democracy if it does not act to restore faith in the electoral process.

6.00 pm: TMC leader Derek O Brien accuses CPI(M) and BJP of attacking Trinamool workers and deliberately trying to foment trouble.

CPI(M) and BJP are now so desperate that they are even ganging up with Maoists to kill/shoot/stab three Trinamool workers in different incidents in #Bengal today. Deliberately trying to foment trouble. Is this democracy? #PanchayatElection  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018

5.50 pm: TMC lawmaker Derek OBrien says around 400 people were killed in poll violence under CPM rule in Bengal and compares it to 2003 panchayat polls when 40 people died in the state.

To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead.Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58000 booths. What's %age ?  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018

5.00pm: Home ministry seeks report from the West Bengal government on the violence during panchayat election in the state.

4.32 pm: Another person killed in violence during panchayat elections.

Krishnapada Sarkar, 63, was clobbered to death in Tehatta in Nadia district.

4.18 pm: CPI(M) member Biman Bose, who is present at the protest, says, Election has turned into a commotion because no rules were followed.

Police could not strengthen the security. That is why we have come here to speak to the Election Commission to find a solution, says Bose.

4.16 pm:Members of CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and other parties of the Left Front stage protest outside State Election Commission against the incidents of violence during panchayat elections.

4.00pm: Overall 56% polling recorded till 3 pm in West Bengal, reports ANI.

3.15pm: As West Bengal votes in the panchayat elections, at least 10 people have been killed in violence across the state since Sunday midnight. Here is the list of casualties:

Apu Manna and Yogeswar Ghosh, who were standing in a queue to cast their votes in a booth of Hashchara of Nandigram II block, were shot dead allegedly by motorcycle-borne youth, who asked them to leave the spot.

Shahin Sheikh, 26, was shot dead in Patikabari gram panchayat area in Nawda of Murshidabad district.

Sanjit Pramanik, 27, was killed in Santipur of Nadia district after he sustained bullet injuries in his chest and abdomen. He died in the hospital.

A youth, Taibur Gayen, was killed when crude bombs were hurled at them allegedly by ruling party supporters at Amdanga in North 24 Parganas district.

In Kultali of South 24 Parganas, a Trinamool Congress supporter Ariful Gazi was shot dead allegedly by SUCI supporters when he was going to a booth.

In Beldanga of Murshidabad, Tapan Mondal, a BJP worker, was killed when he was hit by bombs. He was going to a booth to cast his vote.

Debu Das and his wife Uma Das in Budhakhali gram panchayat in Namkhana of South 24 Parganas district were burnt to death allegedly by Trinamool supporters.

A Trinamool Congress supporter, Bhola Dafadar, was killed in Nakashipara of Nadia when he was returning from the booth after casting his vote.

2.50pm: Congress workers hold protest outside Election Commission in Kolkata.

2.45pm: Ballot boxes have allegedly been looted at gunpoint at booths in Murshidabad, ANI reports.

2.38pm: 41.51% voter turnout has been recorded till 1pm in West Bengal.

2.35pm: Violence in North Dinajpur.

West Bengal: Voting booth vandalised allegedly by TMC workers in North Dinajpur's Sonadangi during #PanchayatPolls pic.twitter.com/I9epqPreXR  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

1.20pm: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury says the West Bengal State Election Commission will be seen as complicit in the ruling Trinamool Congress project of destroying democracy if it does not act to restore faith in the electoral process.

1.10pm: TMCs Partha Chatterjee says there are minor incidents taking place, no major incident has been reported. Administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peaceful. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists, the TMC leader tells ANI.

12.55pm: Union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo says he is not surprised by the violence in West Bengal panchayat elections. Bengal government is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand Presidents Rule in WB, Supriyo tells ANI.

12.41pm: CPM alleges a party activist and his wife died when a group of miscreants, allegedly backed by the Trinamool Congress, burnt their house in South 24 Parganas districts Namkhana. The police confirmed that the couple died in the fire but said the cause is still to be ascertained.

12.13pm: 26.28% voter turnout has been recorded till 11am in West Bengal panchayat polls.

12.12pm: Five journalists have been injured in violence following alleged booth capturing in Birpara allegedly by Trinamool workers, ANI reports.

12.01pm: Twenty-seven-year-old Sanjit Pramanik in Santipur of Nadia district dies of bullet injuries received during clashes. The death toll in Mondays poll-related violence rises to three.

11.57am: BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi calls violence in Bengal rural polls highly condemnable & deplorable. It signifies that culture of political violence under TMC has engulfed entire West Bengal and it is an alarming sign for democracy, the BJP leader tells ANI.

11.43am: Two deaths have been reported in North 24 Parganas district due to violence. Taibur Gayen was killed and two others injured after crude bombs were hurled at them allegedly by TMC supporters at Amdanga. CPI(M) MLA Tanmay Bhttacharya claims Gayen was their party supporter.

In Kultali, a Trinamool Congress supporter Ariful Gazi was shot dead when he was going to a booth allegedly by SUCI supporters.

11.20am: In Sujapur of Malda district, clashes break out between the supporters of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress after the husband of a Congress candidate was allegedly attacked. He has been admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital.

11.15am: In a booth in Okhabari in Munsirhat of Cooch Behar district, the presiding officer leaves the centre by 10am since all the votes were polled by 9. 30am amid violence. However, the police intervened and sent the team back to the centre.

11am: In North 24 Parganas, the BJP accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of letting loose a reign of terror in several parts of the district, especially in Amdanga area. Senior minister Jyotipriyo Mullick denied the involvement of the TMC in the incident and accused BJP of terrorising the voters.

10.56am: A 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling booth in Dantan area of West Midnapore.

#WestBengal: 102-year-old woman casts her vote at a polling booth in Dantan area of West Midnapore. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/fLWXwztMb1  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

10.55am: CPI(M) leader Tanmay Bhattacharya says the state election commissioner was aware that violence will take place. But he did not insist on deployment of central forces. Instead, he told the Calcutta high court that the state police will be able to maintain law and order, says CPI(M) leader.

10.51am: In Santipur of Nadia, villagers set on fire 11 motorcycles on which youths came to allegedly stir violence.

10.50am: In a pond close to a booth in Rampur Alokmala Primary School in South 24 Parganas, ballot papers are seen floating in the water. Police did not find voters or representatives of political parties inside the booth.

Ballot papers are floating in a pond after a clash broke out between TMC and BJP supporters in Murshidabad. (ANI/Twitter)

10.45am: State election commission officials says voting has been stopped in a booth in Shikarpur in Jalpaiguri district where ballot boxes were allegedly set on fire.

10.24am: We have not witnessed unfair practices in Bengal on such a scale since 1972, says Biswanath Chakraborty, a professor of political science at the Rabindra Bharati University.

10.10am: At Bikalchak of Keshpur in West Midnapore district, a teenager girl is hit by an arrow and has been sent to a hospital.

10.02am: Supporters of Congress and ruling Trinamool Congress clash in Ratua of Malda. Congress supporters alleged that Trinamool supporters captured booths.

9.55am: The state election commission seeks a report from the district magistrate of Cooch Behar after reports of violence at pooling booths.

9.54am: Bengal development minister Rabindranath Ghosh denied he assaulted a BJP leader in a Natabari booth as reported by some TV channels. The youth, a BJP agent, was trying to run away with the ballot box. I was passing by the way, saw a crowd and went close. I intervened but I did not assault anybody, says Ghosh.

#WATCH: On being identified, BJP supporter Sujit Kumar Das, was slapped by #WestBengal Minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh (in purple kurta) at Cooch Behar's booth no. 8/12 in presence of Police. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/9S2gyAoNQt  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

9.50am: Violence has been reported in Bhangar, where a media vehicle has been torched in and a camera broken. Journalists are not allowed to enter the area, reports ANI.

9.48am: In Pashkura of East Midnapore district, a youth holding a pistol in the air is seen inside a booth roaming in front of a policeman carrying a gun who was standing motionless. The youth has his face covered with a piece of cloth.

9.45am: A man is seen pouring water in a ballot box in a booth of Patharghata in Rajarhat.

In Jalpaiguri, ballot boxes containing ballot papers are set on fire.

9.35am: In the first two hours, overall 12.2% polling was reported in Bengal. The highest percentage of polling was reported in Birbhum district. The Trinamool Congress has won 42 of the zilla parishad uncontested that witnessed a record by the ruling Trinmaool Congress winning all 42 of the zilla parishad seats without a contest.

9.30am: Clashes between two groups in Birpara, ANI tweets.

9.28am: TV channels air footage showing north Bengal development minister Rabindranath Ghosh slapping a BJP polling agent in a booth in Natabari of the district.

9.22am: In a booth in Bodo Khotimali of Dinhata in Cooch Behar district, there were reports that 100% polling was completed by 8 am.

9.20am: Twenty people have been injured in a clash in Cooch Behar, ANI reports.

#WestBengal: 20 injured in a clash which broke out between two groups in Cooch Behar . The injured have been taken to MJN hospital for treatment. Locals say, 'We went there to votee but people belonging to TMC attacked us with sticks'. pic.twitter.com/hkHsqcsZa7  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

9.10am: BJP leader Dipan Pramanik says the Trinamool Congress workers are jamming booths in different areas of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur districts. We are trying to contact police superintendent and district magistrate, but they are not picking up phones, alleges Pramanik, a resident of Jalpaiguri district.

8.47am: Violence has been reported in Keshpur of West Midnapore district.

8.45am: Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh says the incidents of violence are largely reported from south Bengal. North Bengal is relatively peaceful.

8.40am: A large police contingent fires tear gas shells to disperse trouble mongers in Bhangar.

8.38am: TV channels air footage of clashes between two groups of people inside a booth in a school of Uttar Gazipur village in South 24 Parganas.

8.35am: A Congress candidate sustains injuries in Chapatala of Deganga in North 24 Parganas district.

8.33am: Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh reacts to ministers allegations. If so many people came from Bangladesh, why did the administration fail to catch a few of them? says Ghosh.

8.30am: Bengal food minister alleges BJP has brought in hundreds of people from Bangladesh to unleash violence on the polling day. His allegation comes in connection with the storming of a booth in Bagda of North 24 Parganas district early in the morning by dozens of outsiders.

About 100 people from Bangladesh led by BJP leaders such as Kartik Ghosh and Ganesh Ghosh stormed a polling station in Amduk village. Villagers We had information that BJP brought a lot of people to unleash violence , Trinamool MLA and food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick.

8.15am: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee urges people and political parties to not pay heed to canards and fake videos and participate peacefully in the panchayat elections.

8.02am: In Suktabari area of Cooch Behar district, a woman voter was injured and taken to a hospital when she was caught in a clash between supporters of Trinamool and an independent candidate.

In most areas, disgruntled local Trinamool Congress leaders, who were denied tickets for the elections, are contesting as independent candidates.

8am: In Bagda of North 24 Parganas district, about 15 men allegedly stormed a booth on Sunday night and began stamping ballot papers stored there.

Villagers caught some of them and beat them up till the police came and sent them to a hospital. Villagers claim when they confronted the group, they tried to flee by hurling crude bombs.

7.52am: As many as 1,54,500 policemen, including Bengal police, civic volunteers and cops from the Sikkim, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting. Police have sealed the states border with Jharkhand.

7.50am: Opposition parties in West Bengal are banking on social media to highlight violence which they fear could mar the crucial three-tier Bengal panchayat polls on Monday.

7.45am: Some visuals from a polling station in Cooch Behar.

Voting underway for Panchayat Elections in #WestBengal, visuals from a polling booth in Cooch Behar. pic.twitter.com/lGLcp3s3eT  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

7.15am: Long queues are seen outside booths right from 6 am. Many of them were women, who planned to cast their votes before returning to attend to domestic chores. Some women also carry children on their laps.

7.10am: Voters stand in a queue outside a polling booth in Jalpaiguris Ashighar, with umbrellas in their hands, to cast their vote.

7am: Polling begins for 38,529 seats in the three-tier panchayat system.

* Following the death of a land agitator at Bhangar near Kolkata last Friday, a BJP supporter whose wife is contesting the elections in West Midnapore district was attacked on Saturday night with sharp-edged and blunt weapons. Manua Hansda died on Sunday morning. With this, the death toll in the run-up to the elections reached 16.

* Violence was reported from the districts of East Midnapore, Bankura, Hooghly and Malda. In most cases, the TMC was accused of causing it while in some cases, supporters of the ruling party bore the brunt of the violence as well.Noted activist Aruna Roy on Monday opposed the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in Khairthal (Alwar) and Neem ka Thana (Sikar) ahead of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevanis visit to the areas and also called the governments style of working fascist.

The civil servant-turned-activist was addressing a press conference along with Mevani, Kavita Srivastava of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties and other Dalit activists, and called for an investigation by a special team into the arrests of Dalits in the wake of violence that took place on April 2 during Bharat Bandh by Dalit groups. She also expressed her discontent at the governments alleged suppression of protests and frequent imposition of Section 144.

For those of us who want to protest, the street is our assembly and our parliament. Why does the government want to take that away from us? In Delhi too, they have taken Jantar Mantar from us. Now, if people want to protest, they have to rent Ramlila Maidan for Rs 50,000 a day, said Roy, who spearheaded the movement that led to the legislation of the Right to Information Act in 2005.

She also questioned why the state police cracked down on Dalits, who were protesting the alleged dilution of SC/ST Act in the state. Why are they so offended with the assertion of Dalits. The police action certainly had an element of vindictiveness. They wanted to send out a message and ensure that the Dalits do not come on streets again, said Roy.

Kavita Srivastava said that after more than 40 days of violence some 375 Dalits and tribals are still languishing in jails. The incident has exposed the clear bias of the government, police and judiciary towards the Dalits and tribals. These Dalits will not go back to living subordinate and undignified lives like their parents, said Srivastava.

Mevani, an independent MLA from Gujarats Vadgam and Dalit rights activist, said that no state other than Rajasthan debars him from visiting any district and addressing the people. Last month, Mevani was stopped at Jaipur airport while he was trying to go to Nagaur.The central government has approved funds for strengthening food testing laboratories at Jodhpur and Udaipur, said Ravi Prakash Mathur, the additional director, rural health, on Monday.

Mathur said the state government had submitted proposals for strengthening the two food testing labs in January this year, following which a team of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had visited the labs in last week of April 2018.

Now, health department has received letter from FSSAI approving 50 lakh each for these two labs in the first phase, Mathur said. The government of Rajasthan has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with FSSAI, after which 50 lakh will be credited to the (govts) account, he added.

He said that 10 crore would be spent on each laboratory, which include provision for the laboratory space, infrastructure and manpower. The state government will also procure three high-end equipment namely inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph tandem mass spectrometer and liquid chromatograph tandem mass spectrometer with the money. With these high-end equipment, complex tests such as pesticide, heavy metals, antibiotics etc can be detected; the facility, at present, is available only in Jaipur food testing lab, Mathur said.

The facility of testing heavy metals and pesticide in fruits, vegetables and food products was added to the central food lab in Jaipur in October last year.

It (food test lab) will be developed as state of the art laboratory and efforts will be made to get National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation, Mathur added. He said that the centre would be spending 480 crore across India for strengthening 45 food testing labs.

Mathur said that the 30-lakh mobile food testing lab having the state of the art facility would start this week. The mobile laboratory will be used for surveillance, education and creating awareness among people about adulteration in edible items. The mobile lab can be taken to a place where there is complaint about the food items so that testing can be done on the spot, he said.

Mathur said the state currently has six food labs at Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Alwar and soon five more food testing labs would be opened at Jalore, Churu, Bikaner, Banswara and Bharatpur. Civil works of these new labs are complete and process of procurement of equipment and recruitment of staff by administrative department is underway, he said, adding that the new labs would be operational by next month.A 16-member delegation of Gujjar leaders reached Jaipur Monday evening to hold talks with a group of ministers on the communitys proposed agitation from May 15 to press for 5% reservation from within the 21% OBC quota in Rajasthan.

Community leader Colonel (retd) Kirori Singh Bainsla, who has given the call to revive the agitation, is not participating in the parleys. The delegation was chosen at a meeting held at Bainslas house in Hindaun City town of Karauli earlier in the day.

The government sent a proposal for holding talks in Jaipur. Our delegation will meet the government. The deliberations of the meetings will be shared with the community tomorrow (May 15) at Adda village in Bayana, Bainsla told reporters.

The community plans to launch the agitation from Adda village.

Himmat Singh, the spokesperson of the Gujjar Sangharsh Samiti, said that proposal for holding talks had come from the district collector. We will meet the government and share the meeting details with the community in the mahapanchayat, he said.

Bainsla said they will accept the decision of mahapanchayat. We may continue with the agitation or drop it, he said.

Bainsla said the community was not interested in agitation but the government has to fulfill its demand for 5% reservation within the 50% limit. Gujjars are demanding bifurcation of the other backward class (OBC) quota, setting aside 5% for Gujjars.

Meanwhile, another group of Gujjars, led by Akhil Bhartiya Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, has announced a panchayat in Moroli village against the mahapanchayat called by Bainsla.

Bidhuri, a former MLA from Badarpur in Delhi, said the Moroli panchayat will decide on launching a non-violent agitation to demand reservation.

He said Bainsla has misguided the community. We had opposed his signing the pact with government on May 28, 2015, Bidhuri said, adding the government should talk to the other group also.

Earlier, community members from 80 villages had announced to boycott the agitation call given by Bainsla.

Meanwhile, Security has been tightened in Bharatpur. Dive companies of Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) and three companies of Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been deployed in Bayana.

Section 144 has been imposed in Bharatpur district till May 31 and additional police force sought in view of the mahapanchayat in Bayana, Bharatpur Divisional Commissioner Subir Singh said.

The violent Gujjar agitations for quota since 2007 have seen deaths of 72 people.

The Rajasthan Assembly had in October last year passed a bill to raise OBC reservation from 21 to 26 per cent to provide five per cent quota to the Gujjars and other castes. However, the high court stayed the bill as it would have increased the reservation to 54 per cent. Later, the Supreme Court also directed the state government not to exceed the 50 per cent reservation limit.A woman BJP MLA from Rajasthan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, alleging misbehaviour by another legislator and seeking action against him.

At a district-level review meeting in Kota on Saturday, Kota North MLA Prahlad Gunjal and Ramganjmandi MLA Chandrakanta Meghwal were involved in a verbal spat over the construction of a bypass. Meghwal alleged that Gunjal used derogatory language against her.

Apart from Modi and Shah, Ramganjmandi MLA has written to BJP national organisational secretary Ramlal, state organisation secretary Chandrashekhar and chief minister Vasundhara Raje about the alleged misbehaviour by Gunjal at meeting where district in-charge minister Prabhulal Saini was present.

MLA Gunjal publicly disgraced me by calling me nobody at the review meet; I am feeling insecure and insulted, she said in the letter.

Meghwals burnt an effigy of Gunjal at Kunhadi locality in Kota on Sunday.

Use of abusive language against Chandrakanta Meghwal is not only a disgrace for the lady MLA but also the entire Dalit community, said Dalit activist Mohan Meghwal.

AAP national spokesperson and Delhi MLA Alka Lamba, who was in Kota on Sunday, also slammed the BJP for its anti-woman thinking.

What can I say about the BJP which has not taken action against its MLA from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh who is accused of rape. Now a BJP MLA from Rajasthan has used abusive language against a woman Dalit MLA, Lamba said.

This has exposed the anti-Dalit and anti-woman ideology of the BJP that has coined the Beti bachao beti padhao slogan. The woman BJP MLA should take legal action against the other MLA.

Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot, who was in Kota to offer condolences on the death of former Congress minister RK Verma, said, Although it is an internal matter of the BJP, it is not the first time BJP MLAs have used abusive language. The incident exposed infighting in the BJP.West Bengal has a robust three-tier panchayat system. It also witnesses the bloodiest rural body polls in the country.

Mondays panchayat poll has so far seen 15 people dead, including a husband-wife who were brutally burned to death, allegedly by goons owing allegiance to the Trinamool Congress (TMC). This, after an unprecedented 34% seats went uncontested (and in favour of the TMC).

For the first time, the high court even allowed filing of e-nominations in the wake of the rampant violence during the nomination process.

CPI(M) has squarely blamed TMC for this brutality. The ruling party quickly pointed out that in 2003, when the CPI(M) was in power, 40 people were killed in panchayat polls.

And amid the raging blame game between political parties, it is clear that for the parties in power in West Bengal, the road to Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (assembly) goes through the gram sabhas.

A partys panchayat poll victory prepares the bedrock for further political expansion in the state. It may be a pure coincidence that following the 2003 panchayat poll, the Left got 35 out of 42 seats in Lok Sabha polls from West Bengal. Now, the TMC, eyeing a pivotal position in the proposed federal front in 2019, has allegedly resorted to violence.

Social theorist Partha Chatterjee once said Bengal is a party society. I would add by saying that ruling parties love to control the rural social life and economic activities so that in return, they get a large vote base, said economist Prasenjit Bose.

Governing a panchayat in West Bengal also means controlling a large pool of money. Around 8,663 crore was given to the state under the National Rural Livelihood mission alone in the last financial year.

The state government has earmarked 19,000 crore for panchayat and rural development in 2018-19 in the budget.

There is no doubt a lot of development work has happened in the state but then, the obvious question is why the ruling party resorted to violence ahead of the panchayat poll? My analysis is that they want complete control. The local TMC leaders also want to showcase their political capability to the high command. It is also about controlling the large sum of money, said Abhirup Sarkar, an economist with the Indian Statistical Institute.

TMCs national spokesperson Derek OBrien squarely blamed the Opposition for violence. CPI(M) and BJP are now so desperate that they are even ganging up with Maoists to kill/shoot/stab three Trinamool workers in different incidents in #Bengal today. Deliberately trying to foment trouble. Is this democracy?, he tweeted.

He also tried to provide a historical context to the violence. To all newborn experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead.Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58000 booths. Whats %age? he said in another tweet.

To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead.Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58000 booths. What's %age ?  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury rubbished these charges and said, If this had really happened in Bengal during our rule, Trinamool would not have come to power.With the country gearing up for Yoga Day celebrations next month (June 21), city-based instructors who trained yoga aspirants for last years grand event held at Rama Bai Ambedkar Rally ground that was attended by PM Narendra Modi, are a worried lot. These 287 yoga trainers say they are still to receive their wages and have been running from pillar to post for the past 11 months.

Speaking to HT, yoga instructor Ram Kishore who instructed several aspirants before the event on June 21, 2017, said, While the Prime Minister is taking so much interest in promoting yoga world over and the union government is spending a substantial amount on the same, this money is not reaching yoga teachers here in Lucknow.

The teachers sweated day after day for two months to train the numerous people who participated in the World Yoga Day event here. However, for a payment of Rs 13,000 / month, they have been made to wait so much, he added.

Amarjeet Yadav, yoga teacher at Lucknow University who runs a yoga institute, said, For almost a year I fought for the trainers payment. I was told that the payment had been released by the Centre to the state Ayush department. Now, its up to the Ayush department to make sure the trainers get the money.

Yoga instructors said they were especially upset at the disdain shown by state officials. Leave aside the money, we are still to receive even the certificates of appreciation that were promised, said one of them.

When contacted, principal secretary Ayush department Mukesh Meshram said that he would comment on the issue on Tuesday after going through facts.

Meanwhile, Amarjeet Yadav said that he had been assured by officials concerned that the payment would be cleared soon. The money will be transferred into the account of Lucknow University, which will issue cheques to the trainers, he said.

However, some trainers said they could not understand the need for this roundabout manner of wage transfer. Why should the Centre first transfer the money to the state Ayush department, which then transferred it to the account of Lucknow University, which in turn will issue cheques to students (trainers)? Our wages could have been transferred directly into our accounts, said a student on condition of anonymity.Now, Industrial Training Institute (ITI) passouts can undergo training with an automobile company to enhance their skills for employability and professional growth in the manufacturing sector. During the course of training, they will also get remuneration from the company.

An MoU was signed between UP government officials and India Yamaha Motor (IYM) with an aim to provide opportunity to youths in rural areas of UP to hone their skills, said Bhuvnesh Kumar, principal secretary, vocational education department.

As per the agreement, ITI passouts above the age of 18 will be provided practical training. This is in line with Yamahas Corporate Social Responsibility policy and its vision to support the governments skill development initiative in the country, an official said.

The signed MoU was exchanged in the presence of IYM senior management including Yukihiko Tada, director, Om Prakash, vice- president and Anand Mishra, deputy general manager and UP governor Ram Naik, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Chetan Chauhan, minister, vocational education and skill development, Suresh Pasi, minister, vocational education and skill development.

Senior officials from the UP government including Pranjal Yadav, mission director, UP Skill Development Mission were also present during the MoU signing ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Yukihiko Tada, director, IYM said: The initiative will help the underprivileged youth of UP and equip them with skills relevant to the industry, thereby, helping them become more employable. Yamaha is committed to undertake similar initiatives in the future as well and continue to support Make In India initiative and National Skill Development Mission of Government of India.

Through this two-year training programme, Yamaha intends to build up a cadre of young, qualified and skillful talent who can become self- sufficient and contribute in the growth of manufacturing sector in the nation.

Bhuvnesh Kumar, principal secretary, department of vocational education and skill development, UP Government said: The efforts made by Yamaha towards skill development are commendable. Such initiatives shall enhance employment opportunities for our youth, boost the Skill India Mission and help us achieve the PMs vision of transforming India into the skill capital of the world.

In the time to come, many more similar MoUs will be signed with other companies to increase employability of ITI students, said Pramnjal Yadav.

In December last year, Yamaha had signed MoU with the Bihar government for training of youths and provide them an opportunity to get on-the-job training at its factories in Greater Noida, UP, Faridabad and Haryana.Four cousins were mowed down by a local train when they were crossing the tracks between the Kandivli and Borivli stations early on Monday  another case highlighting the lack of measures to prevent trespassing along Mumbais suburban network.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) at Borivli said one of the victims, Sagar Sampat Chavan, 23, was a resident of Jeevan Koya Chawl at Kajupada, in Poisar. The other three, Manoj Chavan, 17, Saiprasad Chavan, 17 and Dattaprasad Chavan, 20, were residents of Kankavli in Sindhudurg. The police said Sagar had visited his village and his cousins came to Mumbai with him for their summer vacation. They were planning to tour the city over the week.

GRP officers said they got a call from the station master at 5.38am about the four cousins lying on the tracks near Poisar. The police said the men may have taken a train from Diva to Dadar on their way back from Sindhudurg and from Dadar, took a fast train to Borivli. As it does not stop at Kandivli, they must have got off at a signal near Poisar, where the train usually halts for a while. We think Sagar might have jumped off the train to cross the tracks and reach his house and the other three may have followed Sagar, said Purshottam Karad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Western Railway GRP). Karad said the cousins may not have noticed the approaching train as it was dark.

Officers are checking CCTV camera recordings to find out where the men boarded the train. Their bodies were handed over to their families.

The railways said it took several initiatives to prevent people from crossing tracks, after hundreds of such deaths were recorded in 2017. The railways put up fences at many places between the tracks to prevent track-crossing. However, commuters continue to cross the tracks illegally, said Niket Kaushik, police commissioner (GRP).

We have lost four boys of a family. we are devastated, said Deepak Chavan, a relative of the deceased. Deepak added, If one of the four would have been alive, we would know how did the accident take place but now we can only imagine the sequence of events.In the first five months of this year, the Government Railway Police (GRP) has recorded 897 deaths on the Mumbai suburban railway, of which, 70 deaths occurred due to illegal track crossing.

The deaths of four youngsters while crossing the railway tracks between Borivli and Kandivli stations on Monday has once again highlighted that gaps in the fences around railway tracks across Mumbai encourage people to cross the tracks illegally.

Purushottam Karad, deputy commissioner of police, Western Railway GRP, said that the police were not aware that several people had been crossing the tracks near the signal between the Borivli and Kandivli stations.

Karad said that since there is an absence of fence on either side of the tracks at that particular spot, many commuters, especially residents of Poisar area, jump off trains when they stop at the signal, and cross the tracks to reach home instead of spending 20 to 30 minutes by getting off on Borivli station. GRP officials said that similar to this particular spot, there are several other spots which encourage commuters to cross the tracks when the train stops instead of alighting on stations. The police will now conduct a survey of such dangerous spots.

We have written to the Railway board to patch the fencing and the boundary walls across the city, said Karad.

According to the GRP statistics, last year, out of 3,202 deaths recorded on railway premises, around 150 occurred due to track crossing. In the past, GRP had conducted many awareness campaigns and programs regarding illegal track crossings.

We have deployed police personnel to penalise commuters for trespassing near the stations but were unaware of spots such as Poisar where illegal entry and exit points exist, said Karad.

We had taken several initiatives to stop people from crossing the tracks. Railways had put up barricades at many places between the tracks to prevent track crossing. Nevertheless, the commuters continue to cross the tracks illegally, said Niket Kaushik, police commissioner (GRP).The reason for last Fridays riot in Aurangabad  350 km east of Mumbai  is unclear, but local police have not ruled out the possibility that it was planned and methodically executed as rioters were in possession of swords, pistols, bottles filled with acid or kerosene, and petrol bombs.

Vinayak Dhakne, deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Aurangabad,said,Apoliceteam is investigating the cause of the riot, but we have not ruled out the possibility that this was planned. The rioters seemed organised and methodical.

Since the midnight of Friday and Saturday, Aurangabad has endured arson, looting, and stone-pelting. The violence resulted in two deaths. To quell rumours being spread via social media, the local administration ordered an internet blockade, which was not lifted till the time of going to press. Locals here told HT they are unable to figure out how weapons used in the riots were so easily accessible to rioters within a few minutes after angry mobs took to streets.

Chanda Rajput, a social worker and resident of Raja Bazar, the area that lies at the heart of the communal tension, spent over 10 hours on Friday night rescuing women and children from the riot-torn streets. She told HT, We saw hundreds of people marching toward us, and within no time, they hurled acid and petrol bottles into our homes. Following this, rioters catapulted fireballs in through the broken windows. They had swords and bags full of massive stones. While this was happening on the street, we were pelted with heavy bricks from a nearby buildings rooftop. Shaikh Saber, whose shop at Shahaganj was gutted by a rioting mob, said, I saw men hurtling forward with long swords and large stones. Some had locally-made pistols as well. It looked like they had come prepared.

Dhakne, the police officer in charge of the area where the riot took place, said, Fridays violence was the third communal incident in the past week. This has led citizens and policemen to believe that the tension was brewing for some time, and it needed only a minor trigger.

Last Wednesday, an angry mob from one community overturned several fruit carts at Shahaganj, mostly belonging to another community, after a minor altercation over the sale of mangoes. In another incident, an automobile garage owner from Moti Karanja area was assaulted by a mob. Some shopkeepers in the Shahaganj area, where 45 galas were gutted in the riot, alleged that they were facing communal threats for the past two weeks, and had complained to the citys police commissioner Milind Bharambe last week. But there was no response, they alleged. According to the shopkeepers, the lease of these shops had expired recently, but they had secured a court order in their favour, allowing them to continue running the establishments.

Dhakne said, Tension was brewing for a while, but mainly because of issues relating to the municipal corporation, and a disagreement with the authorities over where to host the Meena Bazaar during the Ramzan month. The corporation had held meetings with both communities.

Survivors recount chilling tales

There was a fire raging in my house. My parents, siblings and I were trapped inside as a mob torched my house and blocked the gate from outside. After a 25-minute of struggle, we forced the door open. We almost choked to death. I helplessly watched my home burning (on Friday night), said 24-year-old Madhuri Sharma, whose house was in Raja Bazar, the heart of riot-torn Aurangabad. The Sharmas are staying on the footpath outside their charred home. Three days of communal violence have left a trail of destruction and desolation: two killed and 250 injured; and 100 shops and houses burned.

The city resembled a garrison town with a dozen policemen guarding every corner.

While some survivors are coming to terms with the loss of property, others are finding it hard to turn a new leaf.

Ayesha Begum Shaikh, 60, who cannot walk owing to an ailment, said, Thinking about Friday and Saturday gives sends chill down my spine. The police assaulted me as they suspected that my brother was part of a rioting mob. They broke down the door of my house on Saturday morning and tried to drag my brother away. I tried protecting him and they held a gun to my head, forcing me to not interfere. My brother has cancer and cannot move either, so we were all helpless. One Abdul Rauf lost his lifes earnings when his electric appliance store was burned.Maharashtra chief secretary DK Jain inspected the ongoing construction of Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) on Sunday and instructed City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) and the companies involved to ensure that the project is completed on time.

The inspection comes three days after civil aviation secretary RN Choubey claimed that it may be very tough to commence flight operations by end of next year, though the Maharashtra government has consistently said that the first phase of the project will be ready by December 2019.

Also present for the inspection were Cidco vice-chairman and managing director Lokesh Chandra, joint managing director Prajakta Lavangare Verma, and GVK officials Rajeev Jain and Charudutt Deshmukh.

The chief secretary inspected all sites and asked for detailed information about the project, said Mohan Ninawe, Cidcos senior public relations officer. He reviewed the progress of work on cutting the hill, land filling, diversion of the river and shifting of high-tension electric cables, all of which are part of the airport pre-work projects.

Jain also inspected resettlement and rehabilitation areas, and visited a zilla parishad school constructed by Cidco.

Following the inspection, he had a detailed discussion with Cidco officials on the various stages of the airport work. Jain asked officials for information on the support they required for the project from other government agencies and how work could be facilitated.

The airport project work has been contracted to Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd., in which the GVK group is a prime partner. Company officials assured Jain that it would soon begin work on the actual airport.Overruling opposition from city councillors, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) passed the proposal on Monday to award a Rs6.8 crore bid to Kaviraj MMB Waste Management Pvt Ltd, a company started by the same group that ran Shree Kaviraj Infratech Pvt Ltd, blacklisted in 2016.

Kaviraj MMB Waste Management Pvt Ltd has been appointed to transport 650 metric tonnes of garbage per day from Mahalaxmi refuse transfer station to the dumping ground at Kanjurmarg, Deonar or Mulund for a year. The contract will cost BMC Rs6.8 crore at the rate or Rs278 per metric tonne.

Shree Kaviraj Infratech Pvt Ltd was blacklisted by the storm water drains department of BMC more than a year ago for violating rules.

Last week, BMCs standing committee had refused to appoint the new firm, stating that it was linked to the blacklisted contractor and demanding that the administration give answers to the committee. An official of the solid waste management department in response said that the firms, although run by the same family, are headed by two different people.

The directors of the companies are different. There is no regulation that states that a company run by a blacklisted contractors relative can be barred from bidding, added the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Vipul Jain, owner of Shree Kaviraj Infratech, confirmed that Kaviraj MMB is run by his brother but has no financial connection with his blacklisted company.

This is the second garbage transportation contract that has been awarded to Kaviraj MMB this year. A couple of months ago, it was also appointed to transport garbage from Gorai refuse station, despite opposition from councillors and party leaders.The murder

Vyas worked with a salon in Andheri as manager of the accounts department. Tamhakar was her associate, while Sahjwani headed the salon academy.

Kirti left home for work in the morning. When she did not return until midnight, her family lodged a missing persons complaint at DB Marg police station in Lamington Road on March 17.

In CCTV footage, Vyas was seen sitting in the front seat while passing Navjivan society (near Grant Road station), around 9.18am in Sahjwanis car.

Around 9.25am, when the SUV passed Saat Rasta, Vyas isnt seen on the front seat

It is believed that the accused strangled her, pulled her on to the rear seat and pushed her into the cars boot [the rear seat is foldable], within a span of seven minutes.

After pushing the body in the boot, Tamhankar searched Vyas bag.

He switched off the two mobile phones in it near Worli.

From there, the two went to Sahjwanis society, parked the SUV, and left for work.

After leaving from office in the evening, they took the car and drove it to Wadala, where they allegedly dumped Vyas body in a drain.The arrest of 32-year-old Faisal Hasan Mirza has once again put a spotlight Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Companys links to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the dreaded terrorist outfit run by Hafiz Saeed.

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Faisal from Jogeshwari (West) based on a tip-off from the Kolkata Special Task Force which alleges that Faisals distant relative Farooque Devadiwala, a lieutenant of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, had provided Faisal the logistics, including money and airline tickets, to travel between India,Dubai and Karachi.

Mirza was in constant touch with Devadiwala, who is based in Sharjah, UAE. Devadiwala was allegedly providing logistic support to push Indian youth to join Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT). He is in direct contact with the Indian Mujahideen co-founder Amir Reza Khan, who made arrangements for Indian youth to arrive in Karachi.

During the police interrogation, Mirza has allegedly confessed that Devadiwala had booked his ticket for Nairobi via Pakistan from Dubai two months ago. Mirza was instructed to get off at Karachi where an ISI agent would pick him up, an ATS official revealed. After arriving in Pakistan, Mirza was reportedly taken to a training camp by the ISI agent.

This is not the first time that D-Company has been linked to the terror outfit. One of the first ever instances that linked Dawoods operations to terror outfits, was the kidnapping of the owner of Khadim Shoes, Partha Roy Burman, in 2002 by Asif Raza Khan.

A ransom amount of 3.5 crore was paid to secure Burmans release. The money reached Mohammed Atta, the man responsible for the September 11, 2001 terror attack in the United States of America , through a Dawood-controlled hawala operator, Abdul Karimuddin in Hyderabad. Karimuddin reportedly sent the money through his channels in Dubai, to Pakistan.

Raza Khan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2002, had earlier revealed the details of the kidnapping and his association with Atta after he was arrested. More recently, during investigations, the imprint of D-Company reflected in the July 13, 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai. Police sources claimed that a sum of 10 lakh was sent by Muzzafar Kola to Yasin Bhatkal through a Delhi-based hawala operator Kanwar Nain Pathrija.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was appraised of Dawoods extensive hawala network in the Middle-East and South Asian countries, following which, a detailed probe was undertaken by the Anti-Money Laundering / Suspicious Cases Unit (AMLU) in Middle-Eastern countries to crack down on D-Companys money laundering network, added official sources privy to the investigation material.None of 25-year-old Amina Khans four children, residents of Rafi Nagar slum in Govandi in M (East) ward, have received complete immunisation.

World Immunization Week, the campaign to spread awareness ended two weeks ago. However, two of her youngest kids are among 27% children, under the age of two in 12 clusters of the ward, who have either not received or have partial immunisation, according to data maintained by a local NGO, Apnalaya, from twelve slums in the M-East. These clusters are Rafi Nagar 1 and 2, Sanjay Nagar, Nirankari Colony, Shanti Nagar, Indira Nagar 1 and 2, Mominpura, Sai Nagar, Padma Nagar and Buddha Nagar.

Khan stopped taking her children for vaccination shots six years ago after her eldest child, Anam, developed fever and swelling in her left leg after a vaccination shot. My husband got very angry. He told me not to take any of them for the injections, says Khan, whose husband is a tailor in a nearby factory and earns less than 500 a day. Although doctors told Khan that the swelling would subside, she did not see the point. Someone told us that if the kids dont get the injections, they wont walk. But all my children started walking, so why give them the injections? she says.

Apsari Akbar Khan, 27, a mother of five, who lives two alleys from Khans house, had a similar tone of scepticism, which was fuelled by rumours that the injections could leave the children disabled, blind or sterile.

None of her children have received all the mandated shots. It is not like they will have no diseases even if we give them the injections. It is gods will, she says. Amina and Apsaris children mirror the condition of other kids in the slum.

READ: Misinformation about vaccinations come in the way of campaigns

This is despite the fact that PM Narendra Modi in October 2017 said the Universal Immunisation Programme in India should aim to cover 90% of all children in 2018, especially those in low coverage pockets in sub-centre and urban slums with migratory populations, such as the slums in Govandi. Such slums have high refusal rates, said officials of the BMCs health department.

In Rafi Nagar slum in Govandi, along with being unvaccinated, the children are exposed to poor living conditions, especially because of the nearby Deonar dumping ground.

Flies and mosquitoes buzz around garbage in the overcrowded slum lanes while children run barefoot in dirty water spilled on the streets.

Dr Mamta Manglani, ex-professor and head of paediatrics department, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, Sion, says poor immunisation rates in children dwelling in such unhygienic slums can swell infection and mortality rates.

Bacterial gastroenteritis which causes diarrhoea is common in these kids. Their immunity drops after the infection, leaving them susceptible to more infections, she says.

Mangalani adds these children become the source of infection for other children. In a community, if majority of the children are immunised, herd immunity takes care of most of the other children, she says.

Each shanty in Rafi Nagar slum on an average, houses a family of more than five people with the men working primarily as daily wage labourers and women doing sequin work or making tiffins.

The data documented by the NGO, shows that between 2016 and 2017, the area recorded 195 cases of upper respiratory tract infections and 53 cases of diarrhoea among children.

Presently, 16% of children under the age of six in the slum are malnourished. Dr Mangala Gomare, deputy executive health officer, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said although immunisation rates in all wards across the city is above 85%, it is a is a challenge in the M-East ward given the high migratory population, congested slums, poor hygiene levels and poor awareness.

Arun Kumar, CEO, Apnalaya, says there is underreporting in the number of people in the ward.

As per the 2011 census, Shivajinagar area in Govandi has a population of 2. 39 lakh, but our data shows that the population now is close to six lakhs, which is why the number of children missing vaccinations is not reflected in BMCs data, he says.

Doctors say the only way to improve immunisation rates in such areas is through better awareness.

Dr Santosh Soans, president of Indian Academy of Paediatrics, says, It is only through awareness activities that one can get more parents to immunise their children. In India, there is also a need to ensure adequate and accessible health facilities.

Women health workers open up conversations with healthy recipes, strong rapport

In the 12 clusters in M-East ward, when health workers like Jyoti Late, 27, first started going door-to-door to talk about vaccinations, they met a lot of resistance.

When we started talking to them, many just heard us but wouldnt take their children for shots. A lot of them thought vaccines were propaganda to control population in the area, says Late, who works with Apnalaya for a salary of 8,000.

After four years now, Late is at ease with women like Amina, who is now pregnant with her child, and visits them every month.

She has a strong rapport with most women in the slums and can discuss sensitive issues with them and their families.

If you see in this area, each household has three to five children on an average. Women are not able to take care of all of them with limited financial resources, which is why their and their childrens health is neglected, she says. Religious beliefs coupled with misconceptions about using contraceptives and family planning methods grip these families, she says. Like Late, Saira Khan, in her early forties, the leader of a mothers support group that promotes maternal health has been teaching new mothers to cook healthy recipes.

This helps her and other volunteers to educate them about vaccine preventable diseases.

My grandchildren have not received all the vaccines. My daughter-in-law said no one in her family had vaccinated their children, so she didnt want to do it for her kids either, says Khan.

I ask them to not miss the immunisation schedules. Arun Kumar, CEO, Apnalaya, says it is the efforts of these health workers along with civic officials that has improved the immunisation rates in the twelve clusters of Shivajinagar and Govandi from 29% in 2014-15 to 76% in 2017-18.The bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra are set to be interesting. While Palghar constituency will see a multi-corner fight, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena candidates contesting against each other along with candidates from Congress and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), at Bhandara-Gondia the fight will be a direct contest between BJP and the NCP candidate supported by Congress. The Sena is yet to clarify its position on the seat, but it has not fielded its candidate for the bypoll.

The elections are slated to be held on May 28 and Monday was the last day for withdrawing nominations. The bypolls are expected to make clear the position of all parties for the 2019 elections in the state.

Meanwhile, Congress candidate Vishwajeet Kadam was elected unopposed from Palus-Kadegaon assembly constituency after BJP candidate Sangram Singh Deshmukh withdrew his nomination on Monday. The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of late senior Congress leader Patangrao Kadam. Congress nominated his son Vishwajeet, who is the state president of the youth wing of the party. A few days ago, Shiv Sena has declared its support to Kadams son and had urged other parties to follow suit. Three independent candidates, too, withdrew their nominations, making way for Kadam to get elected unopposed.

Bypolls for the two parliamentary seats were declared following the death of Palghar BJP MP Chintaman Wanga and the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole.

BJP faces tough competition in both Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia as its ally in the state government and at the Centre , Shiv Sena, has fielded Shrinivas Wanga, son of the late BJP MP in Palghar and at Bhandara-Gondia, both Congress and NCP have come together. This is the first time Sena has fielded its candidate for a seat held by its ally BJP since they formed the government in the state.

To counter the Senas move, BJP fielded Congress turncoat Rajendra Gavit, a former Palghar MLA who had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the seat as a Congress candidate. Congress has fielded former MP Damodar Shingda while the Vasai MLA Hitendra Thakur-led BVA has fielded former MP Baliram Jadhav.

Recently, BJP had also offered to support Congress in Palghar in exchange of Congress withdrawing its candidate in Palus-Kadegaon. Congress had turned down the offer.

State revenue minister and senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil, who declared withdrawal of nomination from the Palus-Kadegaon seat, said the decision was taken considering the tradition followed by political parties not to contest bypolls on seats that fall vacant following the demise of a senior leader. This decision has nothing to do with bargaining with Congress for any seat, Patil clarified.

There are 18 candidates in the fray for the Bhandara-Gondia seat that include Hemant Patle from BJP, Madhukar Kukde (NCP), LK Madavi (Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh), eight independents and seven others from small parties. Kukde is a former BJP MLA and so is Patle.

The fight assumes significance considering Patoles rebellion against BJP and his return to Congress. Patole has extended his full support to NCP in the polls. Ahead of the polls, NCP had consulted Congress leaders, including Patole, for selecting its candidate. Of the six assembly seats that come under the parliamentary seats, five belong to BJP and one to Congress. The Senas decision will also play an important role in the contest.After the idea to build a fire temple or dadgah was first conceived 11 years ago, Shirinbai and Khurshedji Hormusji Doongaji Daremeher was inaugurated at Kopar Khairane on Monday.

Inauguration of the dadgah  third category of holy fire, which is lower than agiaries and atash behrams  comes 18 years after Shapoorji Fakirji Jokhi Agiary was built at Godrej Baug in December 1999.

The fire is being consecrated at the spot for the past five days. Today [Monday] the final rituals were completed. Since we are still awaiting clearance from court, we havent been able to get fire from other agiary. But once we get a go ahead, we will get that too. But only Parsis/Irani -Zoroastrians are allowed inside the temple, said Farokh Bachana, trustee, Shirinbai and Khurshedji Hormusji Doongaji Daremeher.

In 2016, a few members of the Parsi community had approached Bharuch district and sessions court with a plea to stay shifting of 700-year-old fire from Bharuchs Pestonji Aslaji Doongaji Agiary.

The area, which has around 60 families with 250 members, registered with New Bombay Zoroastrian Association Charitable Trust saying they do not have any temple around and the members are forced to travel to fire temples in Thane, Dadar or Bandra.

Minor ceremonies such as post-funeral rituals can be performed here. There is an old age home for community members behind and a party hall managed by the same trust is adjacent to the temple, said Noshir Mistry, resident of Nerul.

Another controversy which had stalled the inauguration of the fire temple was the earlier proposal to allow non-Parsis onto its premises, which was eventually cancelled. Earlier, an apartment in Colaba was converted into a prayer hall that was open to non-Parsis. It was eventually shut. Currently, a fire temple in Pune allows entry to non-Parsis.

Dasturji Khurshed K Dastur, high priest of the Udvada and the Zoroastrian representative on the National Commission for Minorities, said that Parsi Anjuman had put in a lot of efforts for this fire temple.

It has been specifically stated that the place is only for Parsis and people who came for the function came with good faith. But, some people in the community have to simply play politics over smallest of issues, Dastur said.The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) officials on Monday arrested a 59-year-old share broker for allegedly cheating a family of 22.8 crore by misusing their shares.

The accused, Ajay Modi, a resident of Bhulabhai Desai Road, prepared a bogus power of attorney and mortgaged the shares with a private bank to avail of loan.

He has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust.

Rajool Patel, a resident of Warden Road, told the police that she and her mother Nirmala Kapadia had shares in a company.

They had kept the shares with share broker Modi, who was known to the family for a long time. The complainants late husband Vikram had also given Modi 2.75crore between 1999 and 2008 through cheques to invest in shares. The family had given Modi, money and shares worth 22.8 crore.

The family was getting dividend on their shares, but it suddenly stopped in 2008. Patel suspected something amiss. When she checked with the companies, she was told that the shares were no longer in her name and had been transferred long ago. When the family confronted Modi, he reportedly admitted to have misused the shares, said a source in the EOW.

A police source said, Modi allegedly prepared a fake power of attorney by forging signatures of the complainant and her mother and then mortgaged the familys share with a private bank to avail loan for him and his family members. And since he failed to repay the bank loans, the bank confiscated the shares and liquidated them to cover up the loss.

After his crime was found out, Modi promised the family that he would repay the money with a compensation of  25lakh and signed three MoUs with them. However, even after signing the pact, he failed to pay the amount.

In 2014, the family lodged a complaint with the Mumbai polices EOW against Modi and his family members.

Officials of the general cheating unit of EOW collected details from the banks of the fraudulent transactions by Modi, recorded bank officials statement and collected relevant documentary evidences, including the three MoUs. Modi was arrested on Monday.

Cops are checking the involvement of his family members in the crime and also trying to find out if Modi had diverted funds to buy property.The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) police on Monday arrested two people, including a foreign national, for allegedly cheating multiple people by posing as Bank of Montreal (BOM) officials and siphoning off nearly 18 lakh.

The arrested accused have been identified as Minaz Kanchvala and Nigerian national Victor Chidi alias Candy. Bulk messages were sent to victims stating that BOM will issue loan and an email id, and a contact number was given. When the victims dialled the number, they were asked to pay 3,750 per lakh to avail the loan, said an officer.

According to the police, Anuja Bandagle, chief representative officer, BOM, approached the police after Vishwakarma, one of the victims, went to the bank to claim the money. Police said the KYC details of the account revealed that it belonged to Vijay Pratap Singh and the voter ID submitted was fake. The police found that one of the persons related to the scam, Avinash Dixit, was earlier arrested by the Agra cyber cell.

When we reached his address, his son told us his father, who was actually called Bass Kumar Maitri, stayed elsewhere. When we went there, we got hold of Kanchvala who works with Maitri, said the officer. Through Kanchvala, they traced Candy.

Money was transferred to his account and a commission was given to Kanchvala. The money was then transferred to another foreign nationals account, who is absconding. We suspect the gang siphoned off 18 lakh, said the officer.Two Syrian nationals were arrested from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) on Monday for smuggling lifesaving drugs worth 55 lakh.

Authorities stated that the high demand for these drugs has led to their smuggling, as the actual market value of these drugs is much higher. Khaldoun Jouda and Tarmanini Ali were arriving in the city from Turkey, when a baggage search led to the recovery of assorted medicines in huge quantities.

These are European-made premium drugs used for the treatment of cancer, said a high-ranking AIU officer.

The smuggling of drugs takes place due to the demand-supply ratio in the market. These drugs are high in demand and also unavailable on most occasions. Thus, they are smuggled from abroad and sold at a higher price in the country.

The said assorted medicines were seized under the reasonable belief that the same were attempted to be smuggled into India without prescription, purchase bill and no objection certificate from the additional drug controllers office, stated a statement released by the AIU.

Authorities said that the accused also did not have any valid import/export license, which violates the Drugs and Cosmetic Act,1940 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 along with the Customs Act, 1962.

AIU investigating the destination where the drugs had to be delivered.

We are investigating who are the locals involved in aiding the Syrian nationals, said an officer, adding that this is a unique seizure apart from the usual gold and electronic smuggling cases.The Bandra police have arrested the security guard of a building near the Mount Mary church for allegedly repeatedly raping a 53-year-old mentally ill woman who lived alone there.

The police said Ram Achewar, 32, had broken into the womans apartment and assaulted her at night several times before, but the crime came to light on Friday, as the womans daughter was visiting and heard someone trying to enter the house.

The womans 22-year-old daughter lives in a nearby building with her uncle and aunt, but on Thursday, decided to stay with her mother, as she was worried she had stopped eating.

Around 1.30 am on Friday, the daughter was woken from her sleep when she heard someone knock on the door. She first ignored the sound but when it persisted, she walked towards the door and saw someone trying to open it using a metal wire slid through an adjacent window. She then heard a man calling out her mothers name and asking if she wanted Thums Up.

The daughter alerted her uncle and aunt, who reached the apartment soon after and approached the societys manager about the break-in attempt. When the building residents checked CCTV footage, they saw that the man trying to enter the survivors apartment was the watchman, the police told the metropolitan magistrate court.

Achewar confessed to raping the woman after the family and residents confronted him.

Despite stringent laws, crimes against women are on the rise. Such incidents need to be investigated thoroughly. The accused has been remanded in police custody till Wednesday, said Priti Jagtap, assistant public prosecutor at Bandra court.The horrific rape and murder of a child in Kathua continues to make noxious waves. The rage being evinced in increasingly unrestrained stone-pelting in the Valley is partly fuelled by what happened in Kathua. So is the unceasing stream of youth joining the ranks of militancy. Students have barely allowed classes for several weeks. Many seem convinced that the dead child will never get justice in a Hindutva-dominated India. And yet, voices suggesting a biased and motivated investigation are getting louder, mainly in the Jammu region.

National outrage drove the ruling BJP to an extended round of changes, culminating in a constitutionally inappropriate exchange of the Speaker and deputy chief minister. This has not helped. Trying to brush the matter aside may have made things worse. The outcome is that the situation is deteriorating in both Jammu and the Valley. Many Kashmiris view India through the prism of hate towards Muslims, which the crime at Kathua seemed to demonstrate. Meanwhile, several Hindus in Jammu have the impression that an anti-Hindu agenda prevails, despite the BJP, and that those who are sympathetic to anti-nationals are in the drivers seat.

The main coalition partners in the state have long argued that the basis of their alliance was that the BJP won Jammu, and the PDP the Valley. That would have been a fair enough argument if both parties stuck by the logic of coalition  respecting, engaging, negotiating, and compromising. An alliance cannot mean one steamrolling the other. In this case, it has been more like trying to blindside the other.

Both parties have lost ground. Cynical game-players might calculatedly sacrifice social stability for political gain  as LK Advani did with his rath yatras  but it takes masterful incompetence to compromise both together. The crime in Kathua has excited national horror, but many of the BJPs local backers focus on demographic shifts. That is a cleft stick, for the party and its mentors have gained political support by painting dire scenarios of Hindus being overwhelmed by demographic shifts of seismic proportions. Now that that sort of paranoia has become part of the discourse with regard to the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old child, allegedly in a sanctum, the party is hoist with its petard.

When a wave of horror swept the country after the charge-sheet was filed, the BJP made changes, beginning with the two ministers in the state government who had joined public protests (against the arrests). Their resignations will cost the BJP a few more votes than the many it has already lost in the past three years. So will the ongoing round of crime and punishment that has become intertwined with perceived demographic change.

The 2008 agitations against the transfer of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board had polarised Jammu. Those agitations, which included ugly rhetoric in some places in the vicinity of Jammu, reopened the scars of the violence in 1947-48.

Further, the 2008 agitations reduced the extraordinarily social complexity of Dogra, Gujjar, Kishtwari, and other kinds of linguistic-ethnic cultures to a monochromatic antagonism. Even after that, most Gujjars in the state (generally Muslim) spoke proudly of fraternal feelings for Hindu Gujjars of places like Haryana and Rajasthan, with whom they share gotras.

And Dogra Muslims identified with Dogra cultural and territorial identity, not with Kashmiris. These longstanding sociological nuances have been repeatedly jarred by narratives that have prevailed since 2008. The ineffectiveness of the governments response to the Kashmir floods in 2014 added grist to that mill. Anger over beef vigilantism and attempts to tamper with the states special status have wrought further havoc since 2015.

A tragic aspect of the Kathua crime is that it targeted a community that has largely stayed away from the welter of geopolitics. Many Bakarwals continue to live nomadic lives, herding sheep and goats, even while some Bakarwals have settled down to professions such as law and management. The community has barely complained when militants and soldiers camps have blocked their traditional mountain routes. Not only for targeting such a peaceable community but also for its catalytic role in shaping and polarising perceptions, this crime against a child has had far-reaching effects.

David Devadas is the author of the forthcoming The Generation of Rage in Kashmir

The views expressed are personalAn employee of IndiGo Airlines has been arrested for making a bomb hoax call in a Mumbai-bound flight earlier this month, the Delhi Police said on Sunday.

Kartik Madhav, 23, was arrested from Pune on Friday by a team of the Delhi Police. Sanjay Bhatia, deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport), said Madhav told them he had made the call because he was depressed and frustrated with his employer.

A statement issued by IndiGo said it has suspended an employee for his alleged involvement after the initial findings of the police. Given the sensitivity of the matter, we will not be able to disclose any further details at the moment. We are fully cooperating and assisting the concerned authorities in this investigation, it said.

The call about the bomb threat in the Mumbai-bound flight, which was set to depart from the Delhi airport, was received at 8.15 am on May 2 at the office of IndiGo Airlines.

The meeting of the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was immediately convened and we got some Mumbai-bound flights physically checked for nearly two hours before declaring the call as a hoax, said Bhatia.

The police then registered an FIR and launched an investigation. They said the identity of the caller was ascertained by checking the details of the mobile phone number used for the call.

Having obtained his diploma in 2013, he (Madhav) began working in the aviation sector and his last employer was Indigo Airlines, said the DCP.

He disclosed that his performance at work was not up to the mark. He had been issued a verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face departmental action, the DCP added.

The notice left him depressed and he decided to teach the airlines a lesson by making the false call, said the DCP.Police have registered a rape case against an unidentified man after a 15-year-old girl of Hallomajra delivered a stillborn baby at Government Multi Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, on Sunday. The victim was six months pregnant.

The incident came to light when her parents, who are migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh, took her to hospital after she complained of stomach ache. Upon tests, doctors found her to be pregnant. Later, she delivered a stillborn premature child.

An investigating officer said a case has been registered under the Protection of Child Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector-31 police station.

He said the girls family suspects the culprit is from their neighbourhood or her school. This is second case of a minor being found pregnant at Hallomajra in the last one month.Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkaris visit to Bathinda on Monday was cancelled due to erratic weather in the region.

Nitin Gadkaris visit has been cancelled due to erratic weather, Bathinda DC Diprava Lakra said.

The Union minister was to inaugurate the recently four-laned Bathinda-Zirakpur and Bathinda-Amritsar roads. Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh was to preside over the launch function scheduled at the Thermal Colony stadium at 11.45am.

As per the public works department minister Vijay Inder Singla, the 217-km Zirakpur-Bathinda stretch had been laid at a cost of Rs 3,189 crore, while the Amritsar -Bathinda stretch of 175-km had been laid at a cost of Rs 2,894 cr. The Zirakpur-Patiala-Sangrur-Barnala-Bathinda section includes two Railway over-bridges and 16 fly-overs. Similarly, the project has one major bridge, 40 small bridges and seven foot over-bridges constructed in its way.

The road also has 32 major junctions and 212 smaller junctions for traffic de-congestion. It has a 138-km service road.

The Amritsar -Harike-Makhu-Zira-Talwandi-Faridkot-Kotkapura-Bathinda stretch of National Highway 54 has three railway over-bridges and five fly-overs. The stretch also includes three big bridges, 53 small bridges and one foot over bridge. There is a 45-km service lane. The project includes 31 major junctions and 171 small junctions.Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday shared the concern of his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar on wasteful flow of river water into Pakistan, but ruled out the need for any interaction between the states on this matter, or for engaging the multi-state Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to undertake feasibility studies for a second Ravi-Beas link, since the matter is under consideration of a high-powered committee set up by the Centre.

We would surely like to check all wasteful flows of river waters, and secure every drop of it for our farmers, Amarinder said, replying to Khattars demi-official letter of May 7. In Punjab, we are of the considered opinion to fully secure and utilize the water of Ravi as also of other two rivers, Sutlej and Beas, for our farmers, without letting it go waste in any manner, he added.

Citing authoritative sources, he said that, of the 75% Yamuna waters received in the month of July, August and September, as much as 50% goes waste, urging Khattar to make efforts to stop that.

Acknowledging the need for preventing wasteful flow of river water, Amarinder said that Punjab is indeed facing unprecedented water crisis, with its water needs for agriculture having been assessed at 52 million acre feet, of which river water contribution is hardly to the extent of 27%.

Noting that the wastage of discharge pertained mainly to supply of water from Ujh river, the Punjab CM suggested that it might, therefore, be appropriate to examine availability of discharge post-construction of Ujh dam. He pointed out that in 2008 the superintending engineer (drainage circle), Amritsar, had referred to the proposal of J&K government for construction of storage dam on Ujh, stating that excess discharge available at Ujh storage dam could be diverted to Shahpur Kandi barrage.Two days after voting got over for Karnataka assembly polls, and on the eve of the verdict, fresh revolt broke out in the Congress in Punjab over last months cabinet expansion. Three of its senior MLAs met the assembly speaker, Rana KP Singh, and resigned from House panels recently reconstituted by him.

Speaking to HT at the assembly, MLAs Rakesh Pandey, Amrik Singh Dhillon and Randeep Singh Nabha said chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had said seniority would be accorded due respect in cabinet expansion but it was totally ignored. It was late last month that the CM chose nine new ministers to complete the cabinet of 18, including himself.

The three MLAs trained their guns at the state leadership, saying that neither the CM nor state unit chief Sunil Jakhar, nor party affairs in-charges Asha Kumari and Harish Chaudhary, reached out to them. We have now sought time to meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi to register our protest, and we may also resign from party posts, Randeep, a four-time MLA who represents Amloh seat, said.

Dhillon was last week made chairman of the assemblys library committee and Pandey of the committee on public undertakings. Randeep was made a member of both.

Recounting his familys contribution to the party, Randeep said, We are perturbed over the way the government is functioning. The CM should be gracious enough to reach out to us and tell us why we have been ignored. On why they are dissenting four weeks after the cabinet expansion, he said they were waiting for elections to be over in Karnataka.

Pandey, a six-time MLA, who represents Ludhiana North, said he had texted Jakhar that he was contemplating resigning from the post of vice-president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) too, but Jakhar did not revert. I could not have an audience with the CM too on the issue. We have been forced to speak for our self-respect, seniority and contribution to the party, he added.

Randeep too is a vice-president of the PPCC while Dhillons son Kamaljit is the state units treasurer. If MLAs are dissatisfied, should the government and party not bother to address their grouse? Dhillon, a four-time MLA from Samrala, asked rhetorically.

Jakhar, when contacted, said the leadership has reached out to those upset after the cabinet expansion. It is our duty to take everybody along, and we will try to resolve this, he said. Speaker Rana KP Singh said he would bring the resignations to the notice of the leader of the house (CM) and sort out the issue.

Earlier, three Congress MLAs, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Nathu Ram and Surjit Dhiman, had resigned from party posts over inadequate representation to Dalits and Backward Classes in the cabinet. Dalit MLAs such as Raj Kumar Verka, technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi and deputy speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti had also met Rahul to express their resentment.A 20-year-old Jat Sikh man and his lover, also a Jat Sikh, were murdered by the latters family in Khem Karan, close to the India-Pakistan border in Punjabs Tarn Taran district.

The mans naked corpse was found in a gutter in the womans uncles home, while her body was discovered bundled in a tarpaulin inside the house. The deceased have been identified as Husanpreet Singh, a high-school graduate, and Ramandeep Kaur.

The accused comprise the womans father, Jassa Singh, his three brothers, Sher Singh, Harpal Singh and Bohar Singh, his son Aakash, his wife Manjit Kaur, Sher Singhs son Rana, Harpal Singhs wife Manpreet Kaur and Bohar Singhs son Ghulla. The mans house is merely 60 metres from the accuseds.

In March, the Supreme Court came down hard on the practice of honour killings (where families murder their sons/daughters who are in a relationship with people from other castes or religions, or, in some cases, the same clan) and on the local juries (also called khap panchayats) delivering such judgements. The practice is especially prevalent in rural areas of Punjab and Haryana. The mans father Parwinder Singh said his son went to feed the buffaloes on Sunday and never came back. On Monday, he says his brother told him he had seen Husanpreet being dragged towards the accuseds house. That was when he learnt of the relationship between his son and Ramandeep, he adds.

Based on his complaint, the Khem Karan police arrested Jassa who, according to a senior cop who asked not be named as he is not authorised to talk to the media, confessed to the crime.

According to the police officer, Jassa and his brothers hit the man on the head with a plank rendering him unconscious and then strangled him to death. They then turned on Ramandeep, hit her on the head with the same plank, and after rendering her too unconscious, put some pesticide in her mouth, poisoning her. They then hid her body in a tarpaulin. Jassa also led the police to the gutter where the mans body had been dumped after stripping it.

DSP Sulakhan Singh Mann said that four of the accused, Jassa, Harpal, Manjit and Manpreet have been arrested, while the others are absconding. The officer said the police have also recovered the weapon, wooden plank, rope used while committing the crime. After conducting the post-mortem, the bodies have been handed over to the family members, he said.

(The story has been updated)Two days after a whistleblower website, Savukkuonline.com, alleged that actor Vishal has struck a deal with Lyca Productions, a section of Tamil film producers are up in arms against Vishals leadership.

According to the expose, it is believed that Vishal, who championed the cause of wiping out piracy in Tamil film industry, struck a deal with Lyca Productions after learning that the company was associated with some domain names of websites that release pirated films.

Vishal, it went on, unearthed information with the help of an investigative agency and learnt about Lycas involvement. Using this information, he allegedly struck a deal with Lyca, convincing them to fund his films. Its worth mentioning that Vishals latest Tamil release Irumbu Thirai was distributed by Lyca across Tamil Nadu.

Following the expose, a press conference was called on Sunday by Tamil filmmakers such as Bharatiraja, T Rajendhar and JK Rithesh among others. Vishal was slammed for his leadership and was asked if this is what he had signed up to do as the head of Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC). The producers also wanted to know how Vishal and his team had spent Rs 7 crore of the council, since he had taken charge.

Reacting to the allegations, Vishal told Times of India: Thats a huge allegation they are making on a production house (referring to the site claiming that a production house is involved in piracy) and I really do hope they have proof to substantiate their claim. Is it a problem that they are funding my films or other films as well? The Kerala police have nabbed the admins of TamilRockers. That said, we are trying to cut the mother source because all prints that have been uploaded online have been taken from theatres. Thats why weve been asking for a joint meeting with theatre owners. There should be thorough vigilance for at least four days after a films release inside the theatre. Only then can we completely root out piracy.

He added that movies were being released as per queue system. Those interested were welcome to check the records at the councils office. He said that as they maintained accounts for all expenses, no one can misappropriate funds or take money under the table.

Further explaining his position, he was quoted as saying, I dont know which reputed producer has a problem with the councils proceedings; the industry is going in a righteous path and let our actions speak louder than words, Vishal said.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopNandita Das second movie, Manto, like her first, Firaaq talking about the pain and pathos which followed the 2002 Gujarat riots, looks at four years during Indias Partition and Independence from 1946 to 1950 through the eyes of one of the greatest writers of the subcontinent, Saadat Hasan Manto. Premiered at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, Manto was described to me by a friend and fellow journalist as the Garam Hawa of todays times, a movie made in early 1970s by MS Sathyu.

Comparisons may be odious, but it may not be fair to place both the films in the same slot. It may also not be quite right to compare the Garam Hawa protagonist, Balraj Sahani, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who certainly looks Manto, and infuses a degree of subtle strength into Das work.

In fact, most of Das cast is way above the average: whether it is Raskia Duggal essaying the suffering wife of Manto or Tahir Raj Bhasin as the writers close friend, Shyam, or even Rajshri Deshpandey (of the S Durga fame) playing writer Ismat Chughtai, they all chip in with fine performances -- which could have, in the hands of some other director, turned into weepy, melodramatic affairs - so common in Indian cinema.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who certainly looks Manto, and infuses a degree of subtle strength into Nandita Das work

Manto manages to stay clear of an overdose of emotionalism, though Indias Partition was an awfully painful process that uprooted thousands of men, women and children, often taking them away from what was their home for generations, taking them away from the familiar and the friendly. This is what Das gets out best in her latest work, and Manto says time and again that he could never be the same if he were to leave his beloved Bombay. And that is where he grew up, where his father and mother and also his first son are buried. Bombay, for Manto, was the inspiration for some of the most powerful words that emerged from his pencil. He did not use a pen, though he was an avid collector of some of the most renowned brands of the writing instrument.

Read: Nawazuddin Siddiquis fearless, rebellious act touches hearts in Manto teaser

And out of his pencil flew the most brutal, the most acerbic words - words that said what he saw. And he saw some of the ugliest things, often the hostility towards prostitutes. And obviously, India and Pakistan, where Manto relocated, were the least equipped to handle such honest prose, which in, one of the several court cases against Manto, was finally given the tag of literature by a judge.

Several obscenity cases were slapped against Manto -- much to the anguish of his wife -- but till the end he continued to defend his own writings, calling them mirrors of society that exposed the ugly side of man. There is one heartrending scene of a child being taken away for the amusement of a few elderly/middleaged men, and it was so disturbing to see the little girl playing on the seashore, oblivious of the letching.

There was a dichotomy in Mantos character -- a man, who was so attentive to the evils around him (the plight of prostitutes, for instance) but was unbelievably callous towards his own wife and children.

And this was one of the stories which Manto told his readers -- a man who was a strange mix of courage and conviction, but overly wracked by sensitivity, which pushed him to take refuge in alcohol - straining his marriage (though Safia continued to stand by him) and forcing him to shirk his responsibility towards two of his young daughters. While one of them lays burning with fever, Manto is busy drinking, spending the few rupees he has on liquor, and not on medicines for her.

It was such a dichotomy that a man who was so attentive to the evils around him (the plight of prostitutes, for instance) was unbelievably callous towards his own wife and children.

Finally, when he sees the truth inside his home in Lahore, he decides to get rid of his addiction and admits himself into a mental hospital. But by then, his body had become a wreck, and he died, barely 42, leaving behind a rich legacy of extraordinary work, which minced no words while telling the truth.

Beyond all this, Das work is a deeply moving narrative of how similar the world is today to Mantos times, how people are still getting uprooted and being turned into refugees, homeless and helpless. Manto felt the same pangs while leaving Bombay, a city he held dear. Till the end, he could never feel at home in Lahore, a place he was forced to flee when his best friend and actor Shyam, shaken by a Muslim attacking his cousin, blurts out to Manto that even I could kill you. Manto is shocked and shaken, and decides to get out of this atmosphere of hatred and violence.

Das must be lauded for creating a film which while talking about the desperation of Manto, underlines todays religious intolerance and geographical dislocations, placing them firmly well within the structure of her own outstanding work.

(Gautaman Bhaskaran is covering the Cannes Film Festival for the 29th year)

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopA stampede on Monday by thousands of poor villagers outside the home of a businessman distributing alms ahead of Ramzan killed at least 10 women and injured about 50 people, police in southeast Bangladesh said.

It is a custom for Muslims to donate money or goods to the poor before or during the holy fasting month of Ramzan, which is expected to begin on Wednesday or Thursday this week.

The stampede began after people jostled to collect clothes and other items at the residence of the owner of a steel mill, said police official Rafiqul Alam in the district of Chittagong, about 260km from Dhaka, the capital.

There were 10,000 to 12,000 people, mostly women and trying to push to each other to collect alms ahead of other and that led stamped, he told Reuters.

The injured were treated at a nearby hospital and allowed to go, police said.Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri on Sunday said Americas decision to shift its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem was evidence that negotiations and appeasement have failed Palestinians as he urged Muslims carry out jihad against the United States.

In a five-minute video entitled Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims, the Egyptian doctor who took charge of the global terror group after its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 referred to the Palestinian Authority as the sellers of Palestine while urging followers to take up arms.

US President Donald Trump was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade, where standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad, Zawahiri said, according to a transcript provided by the SITE monitoring agency.

He added that Bin Laden had declared the US the first enemy of the Muslims, and swore that it will not dream of security until it is lived in reality in Palestine, and until all the armies of disbelief leave the land of Muhammad.

He argued that Islamic countries had failed to act in Muslims interests by entering into the United Nations, which recognizes Israel, and submitting to Security Council and General Assembly resolutions instead of sharia (Islamic law).

Israelis were basking in national pride and pro-American fervor Sunday as tens of thousands marched in Jerusalem, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move from Tel Aviv to the disputed city.

Palestinians readied for their own protests on Monday over the embassys inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israels founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Top US officials have meanwhile insisted they could still push forward the troubled peace process despite outrage across the Arab world.

Asked in an interview with Fox News Sunday about whether there was any life left in the peace process, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by saying the peace process is most decidedly not dead.

Were hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well, said Pompeo whose first two weeks in office have been largely consumed with arranging a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.US President Donald Trump today hailed the scheduled opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as a great day for Israel, even as violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Gaza border.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 12 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire amid mass protests on the border against the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump made no reference to the violence in an early morning tweet, instead inviting Twitter followers to watch live coverage of the embassy opening on Fox News channels, which was to begin at 1300 GMT.

Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel! Trump tweeted.In a jarring contrast, Israeli forces shot and killed at least 55 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,200 during mass protests along the Gaza border, while just a few miles away Israel and the US held a festive inauguration ceremony for the new American Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

Monday was by far the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a devastating 2014 war between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers, and further dimmed the already bleak prospects for President Donald Trumps hoped-for peace plan.

Throughout the day, Gaza protesters set tires ablaze, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. The Israeli military, which has come under international criticism for using excessive force against unarmed protesters, said Hamas tried to carry out bombing and shooting attacks under the cover of the protests and released video of protesters ripping away parts of the barbed-wire border fence.

Yesterdays protests culminated more than a month of weekly demonstrations aimed at breaking a crippling Israeli-Egyptian border blockade. But the U.S. Embassy move, bitterly opposed by the Palestinians, added further fuel.

There was barely any mention of the Gaza violence at Mondays lavish inauguration ceremony for the new embassy, an upgraded consular building located just 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials joined an American delegation of Trump administration officials and Republican and evangelical Christian supporters.

Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser, headlined the US delegation with his wife and fellow White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and four Republican senators. Republican super-donor Sheldon Adelson was also present, and evangelical pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee delivered blessings.

A great day for Israel! Trump tweeted earlier Monday.

In a videotaped address, Trump said the embassy move, a key campaign promise, recognizes the plain reality that Jerusalem is Israels capital. Yet he added the United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

But yesterdays steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move in the Arab world raised new doubts about Trumps ambitions to broker what he called the deal of the century. More than a year after taking office, Trumps Mideast team has yet to produce a long-promised peace plan.

Trump says recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital acknowledges the reality that Israels government is located there as well as the ancient Jewish connection to the city. He insists the decision has no impact on future negotiations on the citys final borders.

But to both Israel and the Palestinians, the American gesture is widely seen as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their longstanding conflict. What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is history, Netanyahu told the inauguration ceremony.

You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state, he added. The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as their capital, have cut off ties with the Trump administration and say the U.S. is unfit to serve as a mediator. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, furious over the embassy ceremony, said he will not accept any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration. The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were massacres carried out by Israeli troops in Gaza, and officials said the Palestinians would file a war crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court over settlement construction.

By nightfall, at least 55 Palestinians, including a young girl and four other minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It said 1,204 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including 116 who were in serious or critical condition.

Egypt, an important Israeli ally, condemned the killings of Palestinian protesters, while the UN human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, decried the shocking killing of dozens. Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to the United States over the U.S. Embassy move, saying it disregarded the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and would not serve peace, security and stability in the region.

It also recalled its ambassador to Israel following what it called a massacre of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

South Africa, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, also recalled its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Israel to respect the principle of proportionality in the use of force and show restraint, while also urging Hamas to ensure any protests remain peaceful. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a similar appeal.Jasvir Singh, chair of campaign group City Sikhs who was awarded the royal honour of OBE in 2017, has been appointed honorary fellow of the Edward Cadbury Centre for Public Understanding of Religion based at the University of Birmingham.

The appointment is based on his work over the last six years on the annual British Sikh Report that seeks to develop reliable data about the Sikh community in the UK. Singh has also been closely involved in interfaith work since 2010.

The Edward Cadbury Centre was established in 2014 to enhance the public understanding of religion through distinctive and strategic research exploring the significance of religious belief and practice for public and professional life, working with faith communities and policy makers to develop informed agendas for social transformation.

The Centre is named after the Quaker economist and humanitarian who supported the establishment of the University of Birminghams department of theology and religion.

Other appointments to the centre announced this week include Simran Jeet Singh, professor of religion at Trinity University, and Mandip Sahota, social inclusion strategist and chief executive of the Baroness Warsi Foundation.A massive new fissure opened on Hawaiis Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes and prompted authorities to order new evacuations.

The fissure, a vivid gouge of magma with smoke pouring out both ends, was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3. Some 37 buildings have been destroyed and nearly 2,000 people ordered to evacuate in the past 10 days.

Seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 1,000 feet (300 meters) long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 4,000-foot-high (1,200-meters) volcano with a lake of lava at its summit.

It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound (45-kg) lava bombs 100 feet (30 meters) into the air, said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.

Closer to the summit, in the evacuated Leilani Estates neighbourhood of about 1,500 people, explosions could be heard in the distance as steam rose from cracks in the roads. The bulging rim of one fissure wrecked a building, leaving behind torn metal.

In areas where sulfur dioxide emissions were strong, the vegetation turned brown and leafless trees withered.

Jolon Clinton, 15, takes photos as lava erupts from a fissure near her home east of the Leilani Estates subdivision during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, U.S., May 12, 2018. (REUTERS)

The US Geological Survey warned that fissures could erupt throughout the area, and Civil Defense officials on Sunday ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter.

Meanwhile, other fissures continued to billow smoke over homes on the eastern point of the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian islands.

Even so, some people such as Clawson remained in their homes, confident they would be spared.

We are keeping track of lava bombs. One went through the lanai (porch) roof of a neighbors house, Clawson said. About eight to 10 neighbours had yet to evacuate, he said.

Volcanic gases rise from the ground in the Leilani Estates subdivision during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, US, May 13, 2018. (REUTERS)

The Hawaii National Guard is warning people in the coastal Lower Puna area to prepare to leave, saying anyone who chooses to stay behind cannot count on being rescued. An evacuation has not been ordered there but might be if a local highway is cut off.

Weve been telling them, Evacuate if you can, because if we have to come in and get you well be putting first responders at risk, Major Jeff Hickman told reporters. Theres a point where well tell our first responders, Nope, you cant go.Nepal army chief General Rajendra Chhetri on Monday embarked on a three-day visit to Pakistan to strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries.

Chhetri is visiting Pakistan on the invitation of Pakistans chairman of joint chiefs of staff committee General Zubair Hayat.

The Nepalese army, in a statement, said such high-level visits of army leaders will help foster the bilateral relations and mutual benefit and harmonious relations between the two countries.

Pakistan and Nepal had agreed to enhance cooperation in the key areas of economy, culture and defence during Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasis visit to Kathmandu in March.North Korea will never completely give up its nuclear weapons, a top defector said ahead of Kim Jong Uns landmark summit with United States President Donald Trump next month.

The current whirlwind of diplomacy and negotiations will not end with a sincere and complete disarmament but with a reduced North Korean nuclear threat, said Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the Norths deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016.

In the end, North Korea will remain a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state, Thae told the Souths Newsis news agency.

His remarks come ahead of an unprecedented summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12, at which North Koreas nuclear and missile programmes are expected to dominate the agenda.

North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation of the peninsula at a summit last month, and Pyongyang announced at the weekend it would destroy its only known nuclear test site next week.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday welcomed the announcement, calling it an initial step in the complete denuclearisation of North Korea. But North Korea has not made public what concessions it is offering, and the Souths JoongAng Ilbo daily pointed out that it had only invited journalists to witness the operation at the Punggye-ri site.

It is regrettable that North Korea did not invite nuclear experts to the destruction of the test site, it said in an editorial. If North Korea has really decided to denuclearise, it has no reason not to invite them.

Pyongyang has said it does not need nuclear weapons if the security of its regime is guaranteed.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has met Kim twice, said he was convinced the North Korean leader shared US goals, and promised security assurances and bountiful American investment in the isolated nation.

Those are the kind of things that, if we get what it is the President has demanded -- the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation (CVID) of North Korea -- that the American people will offer in spades, Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday.

But verification will be key.

And Thae, one of the highest-ranking officials to have defected in recent years, said: North Korea will argue that the process of nuclear disarmament will lead to the collapse of North Korea and oppose CVID.

At a party meeting last month Kim proclaimed the development of the Norths nuclear force was complete and promised no more nuclear or missile tests. He called its arsenal a powerful treasured sword for defending peace.

Giving it up soon after Kim Jong Un himself labelled it the treasured sword for defending peace and a firm guarantee for the future? It can never happen, said Thae, who now lives in South Korea and whose memoir hit the shelves Monday.

Peace gestures

Tensions on and around the peninsula had been mounting for years as Pyongyangs nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others.

Trump last year threatened the North with fire and fury. But since the Winter Olympics in the South, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to their unprecedented meeting.

Kim has also twice visited China after failing to pay his respects to President Xi Jinping in the six years since he inherited power from his father. He also met the Souths President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.

On Monday Japanese media said an unidentified high-level North Korean official arrived in Beijing, reportedly to brief China about Pompeos recent visit to Pyongyang. He returned with three freed US detainees, the latest in the Norths diplomatic overtures.

Pyongyangs sudden change in attitude was probably driven by the mounting international sanctions, which have included measures hitting sectors including coal, fish, textiles and overseas workers, Thae said.

But it had a long history of making overtures that ultimately came to nothing, he warned. North Koreas diplomacy has always been a repeat of hardline and appeasement, Thae said.

It is North Koreas diplomatic tactic to push the situation to extreme confrontation and suddenly send peace gestures.Supplier News

14 May 2018

Global hospitality management software company Xn protel Systems proudly announced today that its long-standing POS customer, Rocco Forte Hotels, is moving to its full-service, cloud-hosted, xnPOS Point of Sale solution, after many years of using Xn's dotPOS system.

The first implementation of xnPOS was at Hotel Amigo, a Rocco Forte Hotel in Brussels, Belgium. Since then it has been implemented in further Rocco Forte Hotels, with the remaining properties planned for 2018. This further formalizes and extends the partnership between Rocco Forte Hotels and Xn protel, to include next-generation POS solutions that deliver better performance, more stability, functionality and flexibility for Rocco Forte Hotels' growing business operations.

Rocco Forte Hotels was established in 1996 by Sir Rocco Forte and sister, Olga Polizzi. With award-winning landmark hotels across Europe such as the Hotel de Russie, Rome, Brown's Hotel, London, Charles Hotel, Munich and one in Saudi Arabia, Assila Hotel, Jeddah, each of the 11 hotels exude the Forte philosophy: open, intuitive service; elegant design that speaks to its location; and exceptional offerings in food, drink, spas and experiences.

xnPOS provides comprehensive functionality and scalability that meets the needs of hotel F&B, table service restaurants and hospitality foodservice operations. It has proven workflow advantages to manage guest check transactions, order-entry operations and remote kitchen/bar orders, while also providing seamless integration with hotel PMS, Loyalty/CRM and ERP systems.

Toby Herbert, Group IT Director, Rocco Forte Hotels

said: "Rocco Forte Hotels is a collection of very high-profile hotels, each one being very individual and unique, which had their own specific requirements for xnPOS. The strong working partnership we have with the Xn team enabled us to fine-tune the implementation to each hotel's needs.

Toby continues, "Improvements in performance, functionality and flexibility have already started to benefit our F&B operations and support our future requirements for business growth. Our users have also been impressed by the ease of use enabled by front-end and workflow enhancements."

Alan O'Riordan, Managing Director UK & Europe, Xn protel Systems comments: "We'd like to thank everyone involved at each Rocco Forte hotel, along with the executive team, who have helped to ensure our POS systems have been an ongoing success at Rocco Forte Hotels. The next-generation innovations within xnPOS were brought about by listening to our customers and we will continue to do so."

About Rocco Forte Hotels

Established by Sir Rocco Forte and sister, Olga Polizzi in 1996, Rocco Forte Hotels is a collection of 11 individual hotels and resorts. All of the hotels are landmarks, both old and new, occupying magnificent buildings in exceptional locations. Led by a family who has been in hospitality for four generations, the hotels are united by their distinctive approach to service ensuring guests experience the best of the cities and surrounding areas.

Rocco Forte Hotels comprises: Hotel de Russie, Rome; Hotel Savoy, Florence; Verdura Resort, Sicily; The Balmoral, Edinburgh; Brown's Hotel, London; The Charles Hotel, Munich; Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt; Hotel de Rome, Berlin; Hotel Amigo, Brussels; Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg; Assila Hotel, Jeddah. Future openings: Rome in 2019, Shanghai in 2019.Supplier News

14 May 2018

Berlin -- SnapShot GmbH announces Mr. S. Carson Booth has joined as CEO to lead the company into its next stage of growth.

Booth brings over 25 years of hospitality technology experience and is the former global vice president of property technology at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide where he led a diverse global team managing the strategy, innovation and operations of associate- and guest-technology. He also concurrently served as general manager of Starwood's international licensing company, and previously as vice president IT EMEA.

"Carson comes to Snapshot with a vast amount of global experience in the hospitality management and technology industry and with a very significant network of both management company and vendor relationships," states Michael Levie, COO citizenM Hotels and SnapShot board member. "His knowledge and leadership skills, will catapult SnapShot's growth and will continue to provide valuable impetus for the hospitality industry in general."

Since leaving Starwood after the acquisition by Marriott International, Booth joined his family in Berlin and began an independent consultancy within the industry's vibrant technology start-up community including a mentoring role with METRO AG's Accelerator for Hospitality powered by Techstars program.

"I am thrilled to join the talented team at SnapShot and help lead the charge in this exciting growth stage," said Booth. "SnapShot is the early disruptor in the hospitality business intelligence space, and I look forward to helping the team significantly extend this leading position with our innovative suite of products and services for hotels, management companies and owners."

Booth together with David Turnbull co-founder and CCO, will take SnapShot to the next level of growth, providing enhanced data services for the hospitality industry and signals both readiness and value being placed on enhanced analytics and management tools. Funding from the Shiji Group is being used to help fuel this next stage of delivering affordable and scalable sets of services including data warehouse services, advanced analytics, and business intelligence to independent and boutique hotels and global management groups alike.

SnapShot board member and COO at Shiji Group, Kevin King, adds "Carson joining as CEO builds upon the recently completed validation stage of SnapShot, and brings innovative and enterprise-class industry management to fast track SnapShot's entry into this next stage of accelerating growth."

Booth graduated from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas with a B.A. in Computer Science. He is very active in the hospitality technology industry having served on several industry boards including Oracle's Hospitality Customer Advisory Board, Hotel Technology Next Generation (www.htng.org), Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (www.hftp.org).

About SnapShot

Founded in 2013, SnapShot is a hospitality data and application marketplace company for the hospitality industry, with offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and the United States. In the last 12 months, SnapShot has signed over 5,000 hotels to its platform, as well as 40+ data partners.

SnapShot On Demand brings in-depth data intelligence for hospitality management companies with a unique data warehouse-as-a-service offering. Bringing together all data enables actionable insights across multiple properties, regions and various systems, all accessible through custom reporting or dedicated API access, and integrated into your business intelligence tools like Tableau or those available through SnapShot Marketplace.

Snapshot Marketplace offers a wide range of applications from SnapShot and third party developers. These include comprehensive hospitality data analytics, easy-to-use budget control tools and user-centric hospitality communication/messaging services.

SnapShot Analytics Pro brings a fully integrated analytics business intelligence tool to independent operators and global management companies alike. Features include automatic alerts, advanced OTA commission tracking, tools to analyze your forecast and budget compared to on-the-books data, a custom report builder, and more.

SnapShot Analytics Pro.

SnapShot, as your data management partner, combines the benefits of a necessary central repository for hospitality data with the unique opportunity for operators to independently choose the right applications for managing their business intelligence needs. SnapShot is unique in the industry, allowing fast, efficient and secure access to data and technology for your business.

To find out more, please visit snapshot.travel.Opinion Article

14 May 2018

While hoteliers grapple with how to win over that 'notoriously disloyal' generation, the millennials, what's the value of hotel loyalty programs? Major hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton, with tens of millions of members, have been using such programs for decades to inspire feelings of loyalty among guests and fend off online travel agents or OTAs. However, not everyone in the industry is convinced loyalty programs work - especially in the luxury segment.

Advertisements

At the recent Young Hoteliers Summit staged at EHL, loyalty programs came under the spotlight during a panel session focusing on the luxury sector.

Dorchester Collection is one of a number of upmarket brands which do not offer loyalty programs to guests. Instead, they offer loyalty programs to travel agents.

I don't believe too much in loyalty, to be honest," said Chief Operating Officer Francois Delahaye. A guest might go to a certain hotel in one city with his wife, go somewhere else with his mother, and then take his children to another destination. Very rich people  want to say, what's new in London? They need to have experiences. So the loyalty isn't there anymore. Giving them points to make sure they'll come back, is a way of insulting them.

"I don't want to insult my guests," Delahaye said. "I want to make sure we do everything (in terms of) the experience in our restaurants and bars, to make sure that, when they go to another place, they'll remember how good it was at Dorchester Collection."

A student delegate queried his view, saying Delahaye had shaken her world as she had previously worked for the Marriott group.

Delahaye didn't pull any punches. Guests may be loyal to your brand when traveling on business, he said, but when they go on vacation "they abuse the system."

"They want to be in a suite but don't want to pay for it and they abuse the system because your investors (put their money) into those beautiful junior suites and they need to have a return. We're in a commercial business, we need to give to our owners the returns they deserve."

Jurgen Amerstorfer, the GM of the Edition London, which is one of the Marriott's 30 brands, came to the defence of loyalty programs.

He said he could understand Delahaye's position, agreeing that investors are seeking returns. However, he said, hotels do get reimbursed if points are used by guests.

Because the hotel is charged for any points you accumulate, there's a fund - a 'pot', if you wish - and the hotel where the guest stays and uses the points, gets reimbursed. Real freebies, unfortunately, even in the world of hospitality, are not happening. So that's the bad news maybe.

In separate interviews with Hospitality Insights on the sidelines of the Young Hoteliers Summit, the two senior executives elaborated further.

"All the airlines went on the (loyalty) route and it cost them a fortune," said Delahaye. "I don't see how we can be so arrogant to think our guests will be purchased, attracted by points. What they're looking for is recognition, some present they need, but not points."

"That's good for the corporate market, it's perfect for them, but for us, I don't think so  For our clients, we have so much respect for them that we don't want to have the arrogance of treating them like corporate people."

Ammerstorfer also feels strongly about the issue: "It's an opportunity for us, as a hotel chain, to say thank you." Hotels, he pointed out, can also gain from loyalty programs through data mining. "The more data we have about you, the more we can really talk to you in a relevant way. And any company that doesn't do this and utilize the information they have, is losing out."

So should your hotel offer a loyalty program or not?

We asked Michael Levie, Chief Operations Officer at citizenM Hotels, for his views on whether loyalty programs are worth having. "They're a necessity for the brands because they're the only people they know and those are the only people they communicate with. That's their only lifeline left. All the other table silver(ware) has gone."

Younger generations are more interested in recognition than points, Levie said. "I don't believe in frequent stay programs because basically it's legalized bribing. The real point hunters are out there but they're a dying breed."

The 9th edition of the Young Hoteliers Summit was held at Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne March 12-14, 2018. Francois Delahaye of Dorchester Collection and Jurgen Amerstorfer of Edition took part in a panel discussion on 'Redefining Luxury in the age of the Millennial'. Michael Levie of citizenM gave a keynote speech at the conference.Opinion Article

14 May 2018

For many years, businesses operating in California have been plagued by "bounty hunter" and government lawsuits brought under Proposition 65  the California law that requires warnings about hazardous substances. The technical disclosure requirements have bedeviled many legitimate businesses for some time. From our continuous interaction with members of the hotel industry, it appears to us that many are not aware of new requirements they must meet by August 30, 2018.

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While the new regulations apply generally to all businesses in California, there are particular implications for hotels and restaurants given the nature of their operations. And if you are not in compliance by August 30, 2018, you can probably expect a lawsuit shortly thereafter. We expect these new requirements to stir up a lot of expensive litigation for the unprepared.

In this article, Jodi Smith, a senior member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group, explains this significant development.

California Proposition 65 Warnings for Hotels



New Prop 65 regulations for hotels going into effect. The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (better known as "Proposition 65" or "Prop 65") requires companies conducting business in California to warn consumers prior to exposing consumers to specific chemicals that have been identified pursuant to Proposition 65 as being chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. The Proposition 65 regulations were substantially revised in August 2016 and the new regulations go into effect on August 30, 2018. The new warnings can be used now. Given the complexity of the new warning requirements for hotels, getting a head start would be prudent.

What's a hotel for Prop 65 purposes? The new regulations require the owner and/or operator of a hotel to determine which of a number of different types of warnings may be required under the new regulations. "Hotel" is defined broadly to include "any type of transient lodging establishment, including but not limited to, hotels, motels, bed and breakfast inns, resorts, spas, ski resorts, guest ranches, agricultural "homestays", tourist homes, condominiums, timeshares, vacation home rentals, and extended stay establishments in which members of the public can obtain transient lodging accommodations." (Title 27 California Code of Regulations (CCR)  25607.32(a))

Warnings required for registration desk or online. The Proposition 65 warning must either (1) be provided on a sign posted at the hotel's registration desk in no smaller than 22-point type in a location where it will be likely to be seen, read, and understood prior to the completion of the registration or check-in process, or (2) provided to the hotel guest in electronic (directly or via a hyperlink) or hard copy form in the same size type as other consumer information prior to, or during the registration or check-in process. (27 CCR  25607.32.(b)) In addition, if written or electronic consumer information is given to hotel guests during the registration or check-in process in any language other than English, the warning must be given in both English and that language. (27 CCR  25607.32(c))

Other Prop 65 warnings. However, in addition to the hotel warning discussed above, hotels must also provide warnings (1) for designated smoking areas or smoking rooms in nonsmoking hotels, (2) alcoholic beverages, (3) certain foods, (4) consumer products, where such products are offered for sale, and (5) enclosed parking facilities, where an onsite parking garage is available for guest parking. (27 CCR  25607.32(d))

The devil is in the details and technical compliance is important. Each type of warning has specific requirements as to the content of the warning, the size of the font, and is some cases, the location in which the warning is posted. Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP can assist in your analysis of which specific warnings are required in your hotel(s) and how best to manage the multiple warnings required under the new regulations effective on August 30, 2018.At the time of this writing, Im on a plane ride back from attending four lodging industry conferences in 10 days, which caused me to be staying at four different large, branded hotels in Minneapolis, Dallas and San Antonio, all of which were close to the convention centers. While all of the staff I encountered were polite and efficient, their service style was overall reactive and not proactive. Notably absent were some core essentials of hotel hospitality excellence that used to be part of Hotel 101 orientation.Last month, it was reported that an Adidas employee working at Kanye West's YEEZY office in Calabasas, California, had been severely injured in a workplace accident after a 3D printer had fallen and trapped his leg. He was trapped under the machine for a while, and it took several people just to lift it off his leg. The injury was so severe, that the paramedics opted to take him to the hospital in an airlift, rather than risk driving him there.

Now, according to TMZ, Adidas could be paying the price for the incident, as the YEEZY office is currently under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA). The association will attempt to determine whether or not any safety rules had been violated willfully or repeatedly, and could face fines up to $129K per violation.

The man who was injured in the accident has not been able to return to work since then, and though his initial injury appeared to leave his foot attached to his leg, sources at the factory say that his foot may have been amputated as a result of the injury. He has reportedly procured himself a lawyer, and may be gearing up to sue Adidas for damages.

Kanye has stated that he has been plans coming up for YEEZY, including the opening of three new offices across the country. If this investigation finds that Adidas violated safety regulations, the shoe company and Kanye will both have a rude wake-up call when it comes to protecting their employees from harm.A former manager of a California Chipotle has been awarded close to $8 million in relation to a wrongful terminational lawsuit filed against the fast-food chain.

Jeanette Ortiz was initially accused of having stolen $626 in cash from a safe at a Fresno location. Her bosses claimed to have witnessed the theft via surveillance footage, but when Ortiz asked to see the evidence, she was told the video had been destroyed for unknown reasons.

Ortiz promptly filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, which effectively resulted in the chain being ordered to shell out $7.97 million in legal restitution.

The jury overseeing the case believed Ortiz to be a victim of an internal scheme to defame her in relation to a worker's compensation claim she filed because of an injured wrist.Kanye West's recent wave of controversial remarks has certainly caused some concern for those close to him. However, Kim Kardashian does not seem to be worried about her husband's views, though she may have a new grey hair as a result of them, according to her recent on Live with Kelly and Ryan. Kim was asked about how Kanye was "doing" on the show, to which Kim had a surprisingly peppy answer. "He's doing really good. He's in Wyoming recording. He has a couple albums coming out, so he's just focused on that." She did not address Kanye's praise for Trump of his comment that slavery is a "choice," but did make a lighthearted joke about how she's blaming her first grey on his recent behavior: "I will say he gave me my first grey hair this week, and I am blaming that on him."

Kanye announced last month that he would be releasing a new solo album as well as a collaborative effort with Kid Cudi in June. He's also producing new projects from GOOD Music artists Pusha T and Teyana Taylor, as well as rap veteran Nas.

Kim recently blasted the media for their attempts to "demonize" Kanye. "your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary," she said. "So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair."

Watch the clip above.WWE is giving Ronda Rousey a title shot at the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV on June 17 in Chicago.

At the NBCUniversal upfronts in New York Citys Radio City Music Hall today, WWE Raw Women's champion Nia Jax named Rousey as her next challenger, setting up a showdown between "The Irresistible Force" and "The Baddest Woman on the Planet."

Per WWE:

The Irresistible Force revealed she wants to put her title on the line against Rousey at WWE Money in the Bank, much to the surprise of The Baddest Woman on the Planet. Never one to back down from either a challenge or an opportunity, a bewildered Rousey agreed to the match.

Rousey, who was also at the event in NYC, had this to say regarding the challenge. "We are very civil and professional ladies, so Nia did just challenge me for Money in the Bank to come after her title," Rousey told E! News on the red carpet. "I happily oblige respectfully, so I can sit next to her." She added, "We're professionals, so when we get in there, there's a job to be done," Rousey added. "When we're outside of the ring, then we can still be respectful to each other. We all have the same goals. We're all trying to lift the women's division and to show people that we have more to offer than they've given us credit for in the past."

This will be Rouseys first title opportunity since she joined the WWE earlier this year. Her first PPV match came at WrestleMania 34 last month when she teamed with Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to defeat Stephania McMahon and Triple H in a mixed tag team match.In Jesmyn Wards latest novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, the two-time National Book Award winner tells the coming-of-age story of Jojo, a young mixed-race boy growing up in a rural Mississippi Gulf Coast town and his complex relationships with his family  Pop, a grandfather he loves dearly; his neglectful mother, Leonie, who grapples with drug use; his father Michael, a white man who is doing time at the notorious state prison; and his 3-year-old sister, Kayla, for whom he has become a surrogate parent.

The novel explores the scars left by the grief and loss that grip the characters, the far-reaching impact of racism and injustice, the thorny dynamics between parents and children and between siblings, and the way the past can haunt our present.

Ward, who wields poetic prose and a magic realist style, also tackles the connections between historic and modern-day oppression, through the looming presence of Parchman Farm, also known as Mississippi State Penitentiary, a place where inmates were condemned to a form of legalized slavery, and two ghosts who, unable to rest, circle the family.

We talked with Ward, who will be in Houston on Wednesday for a reading at Brazos Bookstore, about her work, Kanye West and the role of an artist in turbulent political times.

More Information Reading What: Brazos Bookstore hosts National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, who will read from her latest novel "Sing, Unburied, Sing." When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Where: St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 5501 S. Main Cost: $16, includes paperback copy of "Sing, Unburied, Sing." Details: Reserve your book online at least 24 hours in advance at brazosbookstore.com/event/jesmyn-ward-sing-unburied-sing. Call 713-523-0701 to reserve books on the day of the signing. See More Collapse

Q: Can we start by talking about what inspired the book and kind of what themes you wanted to explore?

A: I guess the easiest way to answer that question would be to talk about the characters that came to me first. A character always comes to me first. So with Salvage the Bones, Esch was the character I discovered first. With Sing, Unburied, Sing, I discovered Jojo first. I was really curious about what it would be like for a 13-year-old mixed-race boy to grow up in the modern South. I think that I was particularly curious about him because I knew he was at this moment in his life, this important pivotal moment, his coming-of-age, 13 years old. Hes trying to figure out what it means to be a man in America, what it means to be a black man in America, what it means to be a sibling, to be a brother, to be a son. Hes thinking about all those things. I thought that with the family he had, that those debates and those questions would be really difficult for him to work out and very intimate for him to struggle through.

Q: So Im curious why were you wondering about what it would be like for a 13-year-old mixed race boy? Was there something that inspired you or that you heard or was this just something that had been kind of brewing in your mind?

A: I dont know where he came from. He just appeared to me. Thats how it happens with my characters. When I wrote about Esch in Salvage the Bones, she just appeared to me one day. What is common with all my characters is that theres something about them when they first appear that makes me curious. I dont fully understand who they are from the very beginning. With Jojo, I didnt fully understand how he would make it through this transition. I was trying to figure out what reserves of strength would help him make it through this time in his life. When I was writing about Leonie, his mom who abuses him, I didnt understand why she was so abusive and why she was so neglectful and whether or not she could grow beyond that kind of behavior and perhaps act in healthier ways toward her children and her parents.

I dont necessarily know where my characters come from, but I know that that theres always something about them that Im curious about. Theres always some mystery at their center that I am trying to unravel.

Q: In this case, where did that take you? Some of the themes are clear. These are people grappling with so many huge issues  with death, with loss, with racism, with oppression. There are lots of huge themes. What do you see?

A: Death is very important in the book, and grief and and loss. Characters learning to live with death, live with grief, live with loss. History is very important in the book. As a writer, I feel like Im always wrestling with this idea of the weight of history and how history bears on the present. Im also very interested in writing about families. Writing about the relationship between parents and their children, the relationship between siblings and exploring the ways that siblings fail each other, shore each other up, help each other and the ways that parents support their children and provide for their children and, at times, fail their children.

Q. I want to go back to the opening of the novel because from the first sentence were talking about death, the idea that things die, that death is all around us. How do the ideas and experiences of loss and grief inform your work in general, not just with this book, but with other books?

A: The type of people I write about  I write about poor people. I write about black people. I write about Southern people. And I think that for the kind of people I write about, death seems very close. Many of them struggle with grief and with loss and with death for various reasons.

I think because I have experienced loss and grief in my life  when my family lost my brother when he was young  I think that has informed all of my work and that it made me hyperaware of how often the people that I write about experience grief and how they often experience loss and of how many people die young.

Q: In this book, you have literal ghosts. In addition to people grieving, there are ghosts. Is there a reason you decided to include ghosts? What were you trying to do?

A: I wanted to challenge myself. Most of my fiction before has been fairly realistic, and I wanted to challenge myself as a writer and write something a bit different, something that incorporated a bit of magical realism. Thats part of the reason that I chose to write about ghosts. I am also very interested in the ways that history bears on the present, so I feel like ghosts are sort of natural or a supernatural extension of that idea, because a ghost is history existing in the present, someone from the past existing in the present. Thats why I wanted to write about ghosts.

I actually wasnt committed to writing about ghosts until I began to read more history and study the history of Parchman Prison Farm. Parchman Prison is an actual prison in Mississippi. I was reading about the history of the place and found out that there were children like Richie, 12- and 13-year-old boys who were convicted of ridiculous crimes like loitering and then sent to Parchman Prison Farm in the early to mid-1900s, and they were basically enslaved. I was horrified when I learned that.

I decided I really wanted to write about a boy like that, a young boy who had been sent to Parchman Prison. But I wanted that character to have agency and to have power, to be able to exist in the present and to be able to interact with Jojo and interact with Pop. The only way that I could figure out how to to make that happen was by making Richies character into a ghost. So I didnt really commit to writing a ghost story until I discovered that fact.

Q: Were in an era right now where people are either trying to erase a lot of history or trying to acknowledge it and preserve it. Do you see parallels or ways that your book might be even more relevant now because of whats happening?

A: Definitely. Thats one of the things that most horrified me when I was doing research for this novel and when I was reading about Parchman Prison and when I was reading about the history of Mississippi. One of the things that really horrified me was figuring out that there was so much that I didnt know and that I hadnt been taught in school and that there was so much of history that had been sort of erased from public knowledge. Boys like Richie, like the history of Parchman Prison Farm and the fact that it was a working plantation. I think thats awful. I want to bring those forgotten stories from the past into the present so that the people who have suffered and have been erased from history, so that their suffering is acknowledged and their lives are acknowledged.

I think there is a real danger. Thats how Kanye West can say that slavery was a choice  because he doesnt know, because he hasnt read. He probably hasnt read anything on slavery or the history of slavery or about Jim Crow or what came after the official end of slavery. He probably hasnt read anything about it, so he can rewrite history in this really incredibly irresponsible way and then people will agree with him because they also have not read enough or they havent seen enough.

Its very frustrating but as I grow as a writer, I feel like thats part of what Im attempting to accomplish in my work. Im finding as I read more, especially as I read more history and think about history and think about the ways it bears on the present that Im finding more of these forgotten stories. Ive realized that its important to me to write those stories, write them into my fiction, into the present.

monica.rhor@chron.comOn Sunday, mothers everywhere were reminded just how amazing they are, including the mothers of local celebrities.

Several Houston celebrities took to social media to celebrate their loved ones with sweet posts all wishing them a very happy Mother's Day.

REMARKABLE: See inside this former Texas first lady's mansion for sale now

Texans star J.J. Watt shared a throwback photo of his mom saying simply, "Happy Mother's Day!!"

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander also shared a photo of his mom and himself on Instagram saying in part, "Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom ever! I love you."

Now Playing: Real dads come clean on the times they've left gifts and planning till last minute-and the times they got it right. Video: Real Simple

Even TV media personalities joined in on wishing their loved ones a happy Mother's Day.

"Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas... all the mamas that dry tears- clean faces- change diapers- make 3 meals a day.. every day... THIS IS YOUR DAY. we also know- you can't beat the snuggles- laughs-love- all the joy a child gives #LoveBeingAMama and all that goes with it," KHOU meteorologist Chita Craft said on her Instagram page.

PASSED DOWN: Quirky lessons and phrases Southern moms say

To see the Houston-area celebrities' Mother's Day posts, go through the photos in the gallery above.Eunice restaurant slated for late summer opening

Eunice restaurant, the first Houston concept from New Orleans-based BRG Hospitality, formerly known as Besh Restaurant Group, will open at 3737 Buffalo Speedway in late summer 2018. Drake Leonards, the project's executive chef and partner, will create a menu of Cajun-Creole brasserie-style fare inspired by the flavors of his childhood growing up in Eunice, La. The 7,000-square-foot restaurant will offer a full raw bar; roasted seafood; gumb; crispy Bandera quail; Texas redfish courtbouillon; slow-roasted cochon de lait; and tarts, pies and house-spun ice cream. Eunice originally was slated for a fall 2017 debut, but both Hurricane Harvey and a sexual misconduct scandal involving the companys founder, celebrity chef John Besh, who has since stepped down from his role as CEO, affected the timeline.

New Whole Foods will have South African restaurant

The 30,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market 365 store at 101 North Loop W., set to debut this summer, will contain an outpost of Peli Peli Kitchen, as well as a juice and coffee bar. Peli Peli Kitchen is an offshoot of the more upscale Peli Peli restaurant, which serves South African fusion cuisine. Peli Peli Kitchen opened in 2016 at 9090 Interstate 10 W. with a breakfast/lunch/dinner menu featuring curried chicken, South African fajitas, naan bread tacos, braised oxtail with yellow rice, English fish and chips with peppadew tartar sauce, rotisserie chicken and a variety of sandwiches. Whole Foods Market 365 is the Austin-based grocery company's new concept of lower-priced products targeted to millennial shoppers.

Giant bar/restaurant being planned for Midtown

Construction is expected to begin this fall/winter on Pour Behavior, a 12,000-square-foot bar/restaurant/event space at 2211 Travis. It is the brainchild of a handful of Houston nightlife impresarios  who are currently seeking investors on NextSeed.com  who say it will feature 50 television screens and a game area (ping-pong, shuffleboard, cornhole) with both indoor and outdoor seating. Live bands and DJs are part of the plan, too, as is a food menu involving burgers and pizza.When Ahmed Abdulmajeed takes to the dance floor for a fundraiser Thursday at the Nouveau Antique Art Bar in Houston, the joyous music he will hear will be a far cry from the ominous sounds he experienced growing up in his native Iraq.

Youd hear a loud noise and you wonder is it a bomb? said the 34-year-old Abdulmajeed. Is it a bullet? You just get used to the noise, and I never thought twice about it.

While a chief resident in cardiology in Baghdad, Abdulmajeed started getting death threats. At one point he was almost kidnapped.

Now Playing: Iraqi refugee Ahmed Abdulmajeed talks about learning to dance tango at Nouveau Antique Art Bar in Houston, where area tango dancers will be hosting a tango fundraiser for refugee children services on Thursday, May 17, 2018. Video: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle

Abdulmajeed has come a long way, from those days in a war-torn Iraq to being among a group of tango dancers hosting the fundraiser on Thursday benefiting the Partnership for the Advancement & Immersion of Refugees.

The nonprofit offers services for refugee children in the U.S. For Abdulmajeed, the event is decidedly personal.

For his familys safety, he left Iraq and took refuge in Jordan in December 2010. There he worked part time as a doctor and also served as a hiking guide. One night he went to a salsa class on a dare from a friend.

More Information What: Milonga Mi Regugio hosted by Houston Tango Dancers; open to beginners and beyond. Where: At Nouveau Antique Art Bar, 2913 Main St., Houston When: Tango class, 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Thursday ; Milonga (Tango social dance) 8:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. Tickets: $20 at the door See More Collapse

She said to give it a try, if I didnt like it, shed buy me dinner, if I did like, Id buy her dinner.

He looked up salsa dancing on YouTube and thought theres no way he could move like that. Still, he agreed to go.

After the class, Abdulmajeed told his friend he didnt like it, got his free dinner, then signed up for lessons the next day.

After living in Jordan for two years, he was accepted into the U.S. on a refugee resettlement visa. Tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees have resettled in the U.S. since 2006, with many in the Houston area.

Tears welled up in his eyes as Abdulmajeed recalls getting off the plane in Chicago on June 20, 2012, his first stop on U.S. soil before settling in Detroit.

The border agent looked at me, looked at my paperwork, then back at me and said, Welcome home son.

It was at that moment he felt relief. As a refugee, without even knowing it, you feel like you are always carrying your home on your back, he said. At that moment I realized what a weight I had been carrying.

Living in Michigan with family, Abdulmajeed started salsa dancing again, taking lessons at Argentine Tango Detroit in suburban Utica.

I became friends with the other dancers, and they asked me to stay for the tango lessons, he said. He stayed, and he was hooked.

When you dance salsa, youre always happy, he said. When you dance tango, you bring every emotion to the dance floor. There are wider emotions that you can express.

Abdulmajeed came to Houston in June 2014 after accepting a full-time position as an interpreter at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Two years later his love of dancing inspired him to start taking tango lessons. Although the challenge of the dance itself keeps him engaged, he says its also the community of dancers that keeps him coming back, even when he was just starting out.

You could sit at a table with 10 dancers, and five would be from other countries. I love the diversity.

It will be a big weekend for Abdulmajeed. Along with the dance, he will be graduating with a masters degree in health administration from University of Houston Clear Lake. He plans to use the degree and his work as as an advocate and refugee to create healthcare-oriented initiatives to better serve immigrant populations.

His parents, whom still live in Iraq, were planning on visiting him for his graduation but were denied their visas.Before becoming a novelist, Julia Heaberlin worked for 25 years as a features editor for newspapers such as The Dallas Morning News, The Detroit News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. With the release this week of Paper Ghosts, she has now published her fourth novel, and her body of work  characterized by a penchant for research and the willingness to address timely topics  has been strongly influenced by her journalism career. But she has also developed a distinctive literary voice, one that is on full display in Paper Ghosts.

In the novel, a documentary photographer may or may not have dementia  and he may or may not be a serial killer whose victims were young women across Texas. A woman claiming to be his long-lost daughter offers to drive him back to a string of places where he shot a series of eerie pictures.

Heaberlin will discuss her latest work at Houstons Murder by the Book at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. She spoke with the Houston Chronicle in advance of her appearance.

Q: Tell us about Paper Ghosts.

A: Its a creepy road trip across Texas with two characters playing an obsessive game. The young woman at the wheel has been desperate to find her sisters killer since she was 12. In the passenger seat is Carl Louis Feldman, an old man and photographer, who now claims dementia. She suspects he is her sisters killer, and to find the truth, she has convinced him to go on a 10-day road trip with her to examine cold cases linked to his black-and-white photographs.

Q: Photography is central to the book. The title alludes to photographs, you include photographs in the novel, and you make Carl  who may be a serial murderer  a photographer. What prompted you to create that occupation for him?

A: I think photography gives this character, Carl, depth. As an author, you want to give your characters depth, and providing them with an interesting occupation is one way to do that. My grandfather was an artist and a one-time crime-scene photographer. Also, a friend of mine, Jill Johnson, shot the cover of the book and the photographs inside, and she turned me on to a photographer named Keith Carter, who does some interesting and surreal photographs that were somewhat the inspiration for the photographs in the book.

Q: The book is a psychological thriller, but its also something of a Texas travelogue, with sections of the book set in locations from Marfa to Austin to Waco to Calvert to Houston. Did you travel to all of these locations as research?

A: When I started the book, I ordered a huge Texas map, which I pasted on my kitchen wall for a year. I drew red dots on the locations I wanted the characters to go. I made special trips to Waco and Calvert to research locations for the book, but I otherwise know Texas like a native. My son went to UT, so I knew Austin; Ive been to Marfa; one of my doctors is based in Houston; and I had camped in East Texas as a child. I wanted to select different locations so that neither the protagonist nor the readers would feel that theyve had the chance to settle in. I wanted them to be uncomfortable with each change of setting.

Q: I dont want to give away too much, but the book explores the problem of dementia, and this affliction confounds the main character in her quest for an elusive (and perhaps illusive) truth. Can you elaborate?

A: I think a lot of us have personal connections to those with dementia. I wanted the novel to reflect the sadness and cruelty of the affliction, and I want people who have loved ones going through this experience to feel that Paper Ghosts captures that reality. That was one of my goals. In terms of a literary device, the dementia works as kind of a metaphorical fog that confounds the search for the truth.

Q: Speaking of metaphors, the title Paper Ghosts is a metaphor for photography and reinforces the distinction between appearance and reality.

A: Yes, the paper ghosts are photographs, which can often be deceptive. We may see people how they want to present themselves, say, on social media, but that doesnt always reflect the truth. After were gone, these paper ghosts will live on, and people will wonder what our story was. But no photograph is capable of capturing the full truth of that story.

Q: The two major characters in the novel can be viewed as unreliable narrators. As their creator, what do you think their unreliability adds to the novel?

A: When I first thought of this novel, I wanted a kind of spooky slow dance between these two characters. The audience, however, may not know who is leading the dance, not until the end. There is a tension between the characters, and I want the reader to feel it and to have complex reactions to the characters. When Im writing, I dont always know what is going to happen next, and I want there to be twists and surprises along the way.

Q: Beyond writing an entertaining psychological mystery, what do you hope youve accomplished with Paper Ghosts?

A: I hope the plot entertains readers, but I do strive to go beyond that. In this novel, I wanted to illuminate the problem of dementia in our society, and do so in a way that is true to peoples experiences. I wanted to have a protagonist who is multi-layered, one who may be a victim but who is more than a victim. With each book, I want to continue developing a strong voice, one that complements the pacing of the novel. I dont write a series, so I rely on what I hope is a developing literary voice that readers can recognize from one novel to the next.Rick Cruz, who founded the EMERGE nonprofit to connect Houstons low-income, high-performing students to top-tier universities, announced multiple new programs to improve college counseling in Houston ISD last week.

Cruz was promoted recently to HISDs chief strategy innovation officer. He spoke to the Houston Chronicle about the new programs, the states ambitious higher education graduation goals and a new study out of Rice University about HISD graduates college success rates.

Excerpts from the conversation, edited for length and clarity, are reprinted below:

On Launch HISD, a new college and career counseling strategy starting with the districts middle schools, which will be supported by a Houston Endowment grant of $13 million over three years.

Its a district strategy and approach to ensure more of our students are getting the college and career readiness information and access that they need...when there is a vacuum of information and support for students, were setting them up for failure. This is not an issue specific to HISD. Its a state issue.

Three years ago, we were able to start an initiative where we hired a team of college advisers focusing on seniors and juniors in high schools. We learned a lot through that initiative. It confirmed our suspicion that you can incrementally move the needle (from a student enrolling at a four-year university versus a two-year college, or for a student enrolling in fall semester, not spring semester).

There was value in doing that, but it wasnt sufficient. These kids by senior year have already made decisions that impact them significantly.

We are going to have staff that are going to help the middle schools build capacity. Theyre going to give workshops to most, if not all, of our middle school students, to make sure theres consistency in the information theyre getting and that theyre not making decisions in the dark.

On targeting black and Latino males with high-impact programming as Texas has charged universities to graduate more of these students:

This is probably the first time the district is actually explicitly and intently addressing this demographic. Were looking at what has been successful across the country in moving the needle for these students. Its not rocket science. One of the big things is mentoring, especially with professionals of color who can identify with the students.

It does involve strategy and work to make sure it helps the kids. How do we identify individuals who are really committed to this demographic? How do we train and support them? What curriculum can we give them?

Were in the middle of really developing a plan that were going to be presenting and sharing publicly by the end of the summer that looks at what are the best practices, how are we going to structure this. I want to do it right.

We cannot do this work alone. Were going to be reaching out to nonprofit organizations, individuals directly, to churches, to any organization we know will be able to support this.

On a new report from Rices Houston Education Research Consortium showing that less than half of HISD seniors in 2006, 2007 and 2008 started classes in a community college, vocational school or four-year university the fall after they were expected to graduate:

The important thing there to see is that we had a significant number of students who graduated from our high schools, and we dont have data that shows that they enrolled in higher education or are part of the workforce. That was the most alarming piece.

It does raise red flags. If students are idle, if students are not in education or working, what are we doing? Why are we losing this talent? In Houston, our economy depends on it.

Thats the really critical piece of that study. Whats happening to these students, and what can we do to make sure were positioning all of our kids not just for success on STAAR exam or a high school degree, but more importantly, were setting them up for success in life and adulthood?

Lindsay Ellis covers higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.Chibundo Onuzo's lively, intricately plotted novel (Catapult; 304 pp.; $26) chronicles an unlikely family of strangers as they seek to leave their old lives behind and build a new home in the sprawling, high-energy city of Lagos.

Led by Chike Ameobi, an army officer who went AWOL rather than participate in the murder of innocent civilians, the novel's cast of characters also includes a village girl fleeing violence in the Niger Delta, a woman on the run from an abusive marriage, a former militant with an American accent, an idealistic young journalist and many others.

Onuzo's story summons up the great city of Lagos with all its complexity, from the rarified corridors of government to the makeshift economy of a homeless encampment.

I caught up with Chibundo Onuzo in advance of her Houston reading at Brazos Bookstore to talk about her representation of contemporary Lagos, the relationship between idealism, realism and cynicism, the influence of her faith on her writing and much more.

Q: What space does Lagos occupy in the imagination of people who live elsewhere in Nigeria?

Reading Where: Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet Street When: Monday, May 14, 2018, 7 p.m. Click here for more information See More Collapse

A: I grew up in Lagos until I was 14, but I once I spent two weeks in my family's hometown village  a place where a two-story house was one of the tallest buildings. Then I came back to Lagos and the pace was just phenomenal. There were roads everywhere, billboards flashing, hawkers. They now have these video billboards that were like street lights. It was so overwhelming! For the first time I got it. If you're coming from a Western country you might think, "Oh, the infrastructure is not that great. The roads are not that great." You might see everything that Lagos is not. But if you're coming from a rural area in Nigeria, you just don't know where to look.

I heard a story during one of my interviews about someone who had ended up homeless in Lagos. A distant relative came back for Christmas to the village for holiday and painted this wonderful, glamorous picture of Lagos. He said, "When you come to Lagos you know I'll look after you. This is my address."

On the strength of such a slender recommendation, this man packed up his whole life and went to Lagos to find this city of gold. But when he got there, either the address was fake or he couldn't find the place, and then he ended up on the streets. It's a city where some people can come and they make it, but it's just that the stakes for not making it are really high.

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Q: One of my favorite characters in the book is Fineboy, a former militant with a lax moral code. One of the other characters, Chike, called him a Lagosian before he set foot in Lagos and said he was filled with an "acidic zest for life." I'm curious about how his character evolved through the course of the book.

A: Fineboy is someone who operates on instinct, and instinct is very useful in a place like Lagos. Chike is more of a processor  he will think about things and try to make connections, but Fineboy can instinctively tell who is going to be useful.

For example, when the group is under the bridge, and they have to go and pay homage to the Chief, Fineboy instantly sees that this is the person who has power in this place and needs to be flattered. But Fineboy can also change according to his environment, so when he goes to the journalist's office, he knows exactly what to say to make Ahmed pay attention to him immediately. I don't think he thinks about it. He is just one of those people who just knows how to move instinctively through the world.

Q: Many of the characters in your book start their journey with high-minded ideals about how to improve society. Ahmed, as a journalist, has this mission of ending governmental corruption by doing these hard-hitting exposes. Chike wants to improve the schools, and even Chief Sandayo begins his career as a reformer. All these efforts end somewhat badly, with the exception of the work that the characters manage to accomplish as a group. I'm curious about whether you are casting a kind of verdict about whether individuals are able to truly improve society.

A: No, I don't think I'm as cynical as that. One thing I think was important to me was to show the power of individual leadership. For instance, Chike is a strong enough voice in the group that he is able to prevent them from making the wrong decisions.

I've been thinking a lot about the difference between a realist and a cynic. A cynic believes that it's not going to work  that Nigeria doesn't work. Whereas a realist says, This is going to be very difficult, and we're not going to downplay that. Even if they come and try to burn it down, we're going to build it again. We're going to try another way. I feel like Nigeria needs more hopeful realists and fewer cynics. People have become cynical, and I don't blame anybody for that. Every election cycle people sit there and roll their eyes, and they're like, "Oh, God, it doesn't matter who is there or who replaces him. There's no difference." I think we need more hopeful realists who are going to try, and then try again.

Q: I know that you are a person of faith  I saw your church featured in your book trailer  and I was intrigued by the way that plays out in the book. Those scenes in which Chike reads the New Testament to his makeshift family in the evenings were very poignant. Do you see this as a book that's heavily informed by your Christian perspective?

A: I went through a time in my early 20s where I was questioning a lot, and I wanted Chike to be the character who went through that journey. I wouldn't call him a Christian  perhaps agnostic would be the right word. He's interested in the text of the Bible, but I don't think he's quite at the point where he wants to build his life on it.

I know there's been so much writing about churches in Africa and their structure, but in my mind, the church is not a building. I suppose you can even call what Chike and his friends have a church, because the Bible says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, you know that I am there." Not to say that I don't go to a traditional church  I do  but even in places where Christians are not allowed to meet in large gatherings, the church continues. Just because you don't meet in a building with a steeple doesn't mean the church disappears.

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Q: Which writers most informed your development as a writer, and who are you reading these days?

A: I read a lot of English classics when I was younger  "David Copperfield," "The Count of Monte Cristo." Very early on I was reading books that were quite plot-heavy, and I think that may be why my books are so heavily plotted. I came to African literature later. First I read "Things Fall Apart," then I read everything I could find that Achebe had written, and then I moved onto Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, Bessie Head. Ama Ata Aidoo's "Our Sister Killjoy." People often say "African literature" like it's one thing, but there's so much playing with form. "Our Sister Killjoy" was written 40 years ago, and it's so experimental.

I just read a book by Diane Evans called "Ordinary People." She's a British Nigerian who also has European ancestry, and she writes books set in London. It's really good, and it just came out last month. Oh, and Sefi Atta  everybody should read "Everything Good Will Come." It's an amazing novel that's also set in Lagos. I think that novel showed me how to write a city.

Jessica Wilbanks (@creativenonfic) is a nonfiction writer based in Houston. Her first book, When I Spoke in Tongues: A Story of Faith and Its Loss, is about her journey to reconcile her lack of belief with her love for her deeply religious family, and will be available from Beacon Press in the fall. To learn more, visit her website.

Get the Gray Matters newsletter. You know that it is there.The Woodlands Township leaders may decide by early next year whether to recommend that voters consider turning the community into a city, according to township board Chairman Gordy Bunch.

Bunch wrote in an email that the two consulting groups are helping township officials outline the timeline of the incorporation study, but as of now, officials believe the study should be completed by the first quarter of 2019.

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No decision will be made until the comprehensive qualified study has been presented to the public and the board of directors. The board of directors will have the option to call for an election or defer, Bunch wrote. Based on timelines, the first foreseeable date to add incorporation to a ballot would be November 2019. That can change depending on when the study has been completed.

Now Playing: Latest Local And State News Video: Houston Chronicle

Over rest of the year, the townships seven-member board has worked with representatives from the two firms hired to conduct the incorporation studies, Matrix Consulting Group with help from HR Green and the Novak Consulting Group, to plan out a meeting schedule and other details of the intensive incorporation study that will eventually be used as a basis for whether or not the township decides to hold a vote on the issue.

Bunch also said that if voters eventually approve the initial maximum tax rate and to incorporate, there would be transition period of six months where, the township would continue until an election is held to elect initial mayor and city council.

More Information Incorporation planning The Woodlands Township board will meet with consultants regarding its incorporation study twice a month during board meetings. The planning meetings will be held at the following times: Thursday, May 17 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 - 6 p.m. Thursday, June 21 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 27 - 6 p.m. Thursday, July 19 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 25 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24 - 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28 - 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5 - 6 p.m. See More Collapse

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Once the initial city officials are elected, that starts a new two year process of working toward a home-rule city charter, Bunch wrote. The long term city governance would be determined by the home rule charter.

Two firms hired for study

The township approved spending $872,500 on two consulting firms to help officials gather information and host public outreach meetings about the incorporation process.

The two firms will examine all aspects of possible incorporation, including a financial analysis, law enforcement needs analysis and an assessment of township infrastructure, including street condition examination, a traffic survey, a water and wastewater study and drainage issues analysis.

The firms will also compare The Woodlands and issues facing the community in regard to incorporation with five other peer communities in order to examine how those cities handled various similar issues and to explore best practices. The five peer communities are all in Texas: Frisco, Allen, Sugar Land, Round Rock and Southlake.

There will be two gatherings per month under the current schedule where representatives from the two firms will attend township meetings and gather input from residents or try to provide answers to frequently asked questions about incorporation. Part of that element will include a website where residents will be able discover answers to common questions about incorporation.

In addition to the studies and analysis of various aspect of possible incorporation, the firms will also host a series of public town hall meetings  both at local village association monthly meetings as well as others scheduled independently of any other official governmental entity meeting. Meetings will be scheduled based on topics. For example, one meeting would focus solely on law enforcement information and questions. They will be held with other shareholders, such as local businesses, municipal utility districts and The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce.

The township is a special-purpose district with the power to collect property, sales and hotel taxes, and provide limited services like parks, trash pickup and enhanced security, but does not have the full authority and responsibilities of a city. Because of an agreement with the cities of Houston and Conroe in 2007, The Woodlands cannot be annexed by either city until 2057. Discussions on how to govern The Woodlands have been active for many years.

This isnt the first time the township has examined the issue of incorporation and what it means to the community both financially as well as policy-wise and other issues. The township hired a consultant in 2012 to study the implications of incorporation. At the time, officials estimated that becoming a city would cost $91.5 million in capital costs, plus an annual shortfall of $22.7 million. Those totals, officials said in 2012, would have caused the township property tax to increase by about 70 percent.

Township director Bruce Rieser joined many other board members in stressing the need for both public input about the process as well as informational sessions to share whats been learned by the two firms and township officials about the process.

The whole idea of this is to get as much information as possible in the public hands, Rieser said during one recent meeting.

Rieser also expressed concerns about the website and urged representatives from the two firms to make it easy to use as well as managed in a timely manner.

Im concerned about the lag, Rieser said. You could have a (incorporation related) question unanswered for weeks. Id like us to come up with a streamlined process.

Another aspect of the public outreach for information and desires of the community includes a wide-ranging survey that will be available in several formats: online, print and possibly via telephone. Board member Ann Snyder was inquisitive about how the survey will be made available, seeking answers from Alan Pennington, who represents the Matrix Consulting Group.

Well use every method possible  the township website, newsletter, Nextdoor.com, village association meetings, Pennington told the board. It is going to take a concerted effort to hit all the people with those tools. We need broad input.

jeff.forward@chron.comUnited by mass killings, the group sat down for breakfast.

It was a change of scenery for James Shaw Jr., who wrestled an AR-15 from a gunman in a Waffle House in Tennessee last month, which authorities said likely stopped the murder spree that left four people dead.

The 29-year-old found himself in Florida on Saturday, trading the Waffle House for a Denny's with some company - students from Parkland.

"[T]he Most Legendary Breakfast ive ever had in my life," Emma Gonzalez said on Twitter afterward.

It was in response to a similarly glowing sign of affection.

"I met one of my heros today," Shaw wrote on Twitter, with a photo of him posing with Gonzalez and a blue-checked teddy bear. "Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy," he said in a later tweet.

ALSO READ: Bay Area students say "enough" to mark anniversary of Columbine shooting

There were some other mass shootings between the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and the April 22 diner killings in Antioch, outside Nashville, Tennessee.

But those two incidents have stirred the American public in deep yet different ways.

Now Playing: James Shaw, Jr. says he didn't mean to be a hero when he wrestled a gun away from the Nashville Waffle House shooting suspect early Sunday. Police say Shaw, who was wounded, saved lives. (April 23) Video: Associated Press

The shooting of 17 people in Parkland ignited unrelenting debate over the role of firearms in American life, renewed calls for gun-control measures and unleashed student activism led by Gonzalez and others. That activism has caught on in ways rarely seen since the Vietnam War.

The Waffle House killing, by contrast, is a story of heroism and small miracles in a mass shooting - a tragedy rarely ended with bystander intervention. In a brief lull during the killings, Shaw rushed the gunman and tore away his rifle. The piping hot barrel burned his hands. The gunman then fled and was apprehended a day later by authorities.

Gonzalez has been perhaps the most prominent figure among the Parkland students, joined by David Hogg. He was also on hand for the breakfast that included more than a dozen people who appear to be students.

"Wow just, wow," Hogg wrote on Twitter after the breakfast, "lots of work ahead but the young people will win."

Shaw, a father of two, harnessed his fame into a GoFundMe drive for the Waffle House victims hours after the incident occurred.

He started with a modest goal of $15,000. But his story was covered across the world, and the world responded in kind. He has raised more than $240,000 in 20 days.

Shaw's story is still resonating. The most current donation as of Sunday afternoon: $100, given two hours before this writing.

But he seems focused to keep going with his story beyond the drive.

"Thank you great meeting you all, let's keep inspiring and bringing [people] together," he wrote on Twitter to the students.McALLEN  Filadelfo Roman Cuxum fled Guatemala for the United States to keep his daughter safe from a ruthless gang, but it was the United States government that took her away.

Cuxum and his daughter, Angelina, 11, arrived in the Rio Grande Valley as the Trump administration began implementing a zero tolerance policy for those who enter the country illegally. Cuxum was sentenced late last week to five days in prison for his transgression, but what concerned him far more was finding his daughter.

All I wanted was to protect her, Cuxum, 33, said in federal court, and now I dont know where she is.

Such anguish has become familiar in McAllens federal courthouse. Parents who illegally crossed the southern border have shuffled into the courtroom in recent months, shackled at the wrists and ankles, pleading with a federal judge to help them find their children.

The Trump administration this month did not dispute a New York Times report in federal court that more than 700 children, among them at least 100 younger than 4, were separated from an adult who claimed to be their parent. Now, immigrant advocates are bracing for those numbers to dramatically increase as the administration ratchets up prosecutions of immigrants who illegally cross the border with Mexico.

In announcing the policy last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said if you dont like that, then dont smuggle children over our border.

Sessions warned immigrants considering unlawful entry that they would be met with the full prosecutorial powers of the Justice Department. The zero-tolerance approach will be applied to the extent practicable, the Justice Department said, claiming a similar approach was used in the agencys El Paso sector in early 2017 and proved effective in reducing illegal immigration.

Over the past few years, thousands of families have been transferred to detention centers, including two large facilities south of San Antonio, while others were released with an order to appear in immigration court on a set date, and ankle monitors for adults to ensure they appear for court.

Now more children are being removed from their parents.

A first illegal entry offense is a misdemeanor usually handled by civil deportation proceedings. A second offense is a felony that carries the prospect of years spent in prison.

Federal public defenders have mere minutes to defend each immigrant with up to 100 of these cases every day. Disheveled immigrants occupy rows of benches in U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hackers courtroom.

One by one, Hacker reads the legal facts of each case. The public defender offers a few personal circumstances for the judge to consider. And most days there is at least one mother or father who makes a tearful plea for help locating their child.

Hacker expressed his sympathies, but said there was little he could do to track down the mounting numbers of children scattered across the country.

As the number of cases increase well struggle to represent everyone, said Miguel Andy Nogueras, supervisory assistant public defender based in McAllen. Well be dealing with serious constitutional issues of rights to counsel and due process.

And still they come

Illegal immigration plummeted when President Donald Trump took office, yet has steadily risen ever since, and hard-line immigration efforts to deter immigrants from ever arriving at the Southwest border have steadily given way to a rising tide of migrants and refugees.

The Border Patrol caught 50,924 immigrants along the border with Mexico in April, including 9,647 families, the highest monthly total since Trumps inauguration. An additional 5,445 families requested asylum at a port of entry.

But for desperate immigrants, the prospect of harsh U.S. immigration enforcement presents a fuzzy calculus when weighed against the certainty of abject poverty and violent gangs at home.

If I go back, theyre going to kill me, said Jeny Figueroa, a 27-year-old Honduran.

Figueroa carried her 3-year-old daughter, Maria Dolores, through Mexico and across the Rio Grande. On Thursday, she walked up a dirt road near the river until she was found by the Border Patrol.

After placing her shoelaces and personal effects in a Department of Homeland Security issued plastic bag, Figueroa handed her daughters birth certificate to a border agent, who scrutinized their relationship.

Figueroa spoke of vague plans to settle in Houston. She was unaware that Maria Dolores might be taken from her.

No, they cant take my daughter, Figueroa said, her eyes welling up with tears.

Minors who cross the border unaccompanied by a parent are transferred to the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody and placed in a shelter, several of which are located in Texas.

A 1997 federal court settlement, known as the Flores agreement, requires the government to release children to their parents or other adult relatives whenever possible, and if a suitable placement is not immediately available to hold them in the least-restrictive settings possible.

Now all children will be transferred to HHS custody while adults will be sent directly to federal court under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to immigration officials. But observers say the system wasnt designed for family separation on a large scale.

The point is to get the child released rapidly to a parent or relative or family friend, said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow with the Migration Policy Institute and former head of the Administration of Children and Families, the HHS division that includes ORR. Not to hold children indefinitely while their parent is in the midst of criminal proceedings.

The Trump administration has raised an alarm, claiming criminals, especially Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13, exploit loopholes in the immigration system, using their children to enter the country or posing as the parent of an unaccompanied minor.

A day after the policy was announced, the Rio Grande Valley sector of the Border Patrol, the busiest for family apprehensions along the Southwest border, said it had caught a Salvadoran gang member and deportee, with his 1-year-old child. The man was put into removal proceedings, and his child placed in HHS custody.

Since October, the start of the fiscal year, the Rio Grande Valley sector has identified 517 fraud cases  adults who falsely claim a child as their own in an effort to boost their asylum claims  and prosecuted 63 of them, according to the Valley sector. The figure is small when compared to the 30,123 families taken into custody during the same period.

No risk too great

Over the past few years, the flow of migrants from the Central Americas Northern Triangle  El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras  has persisted in spite of the perilous trek through Mexico and severe immigration policies.

Immigration advocates say there is little that will deter a mother on the southern banks of the Rio Grande determined to get medical attention for her son. Or a father who will endure two days in a tractor-trailer to give his 17-year-old daughter a life he could never provide her in Honduras.

Of the myriad cases to come before the McAllen public defenders office in recent days was that of a woman facing a second illegal entry offense. Her first arrest was with her daughter last November. They were separated, and the woman was deported.

A few days ago, she sneaked back into the country to look for her daughter, public defender Nogueras said. After serving out her sentence she will be deported. Still without knowing the whereabouts of her child.

The separation of children from their parents is cruel, Nogueras said. This policy does not represent our American values.

anelsen@express-news.net

twitter.com/amnelsenAUSTIN  James R. Miller wont serve any prison time after twice stabbing his gay neighbor in the back with a knife three years ago during a musical jam session in the victims home.

Thats because the 67-year-old former Austin Police Department employee testified that he acted in self-defense, fearing for his life after his neighbor made sexual advances toward him.

Last week, an Austin jury agreed, handing down a sentence of 10 years of probation and six months in the Travis County Jail for criminally negligent homicide. Miller had faced up to 10 years in prison.

The claim Millers attorneys used is known as the gay panic defense among LGBTQ advocates, and in all but two states, its an allowed criminal defense strategy to prove the accused was trying only to defend themselves. When successful, it can result in murder charges being reduced to manslaughter or another lesser charge.

Legal experts and LGBTQ advocates say they cantpinpoint exactly how often the gay panic defense is brought up in trials, although the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law, estimates its been used in at least 23 states since the 1960s.

We dont believe that this is a defense that should still exist, said Richard Saenz, staff attorney for Lambda Legal. It draws on anti-LGBT bias, both in the jury and in the court system itself, and these defenses are harmful. Its possible that these types of defenses are relying more on the bias that someone might have, rather than the facts of the case or what the law should prevent.

Whats referred to as the gay panic defense occurs when defendants in a criminal case bolster their claims by arguing that their violent behavior was justified, based on evidence showing they were only responding to unwanted sexual advances by the LGBTQ victim, said George Dix, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

The Austin case involved an effort to bolster the case for self-defense by arguing that the defendants response to the victims alleged advance supported his claim of self-defense, Dix said.

Miller testified during his trial that his neighbor, a much taller and younger man, was going to hurt him. Miller and his neighbor were both musicians, and the incident occurred during a jam session at the victims house.

LGBTQ advocates arent alone in arguing the defense should be banned in courtrooms across the country. The American Bar Association, which sets academic standards for law schools and establishes ethical codes for the legal profession, came out against the defense strategy in 2013, arguing that LGBTQ people should be able to live without fear that their sexual orientation or gender identity could be a justification for violence against them.

In 2014, California enacted a ban on the defense, and Illinois joined its ranks late last year. There are some bills working their way through state houses in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington, but some of them have yet to make it out of committee. But here in Texas, there hasnt been a bill to outright ban the defense in at least the last decade.

No bandwidth to fight

Former state Rep. Glenn Maxey, the first openly gay member of the Texas Legislature, said itd be all but impossible to have any success pushing such a bill with evangelical Republicans in power in Austin.

When the LGBT community is fighting against a right-wing Legislature hellbent on passing regressive legislation on everything from civil rights to using the bathroom, you really dont have much bandwidth to push an issue such as this one, Maxey said in reference to repeated efforts by Republicans to pass restrictions on who can use which bathrooms in Texas. If an overwhelming majority of the Legislature is afraid of someone peeing, its pretty difficult for them to wrap their head around the issue that it shouldnt be fine to murder someone who asks you out on a date.

DArcy Kemnitz, executive director of the national LGBT Bar Association, helped play an important role in passing the ABA resolution and has been fighting a nationwide ban on the gay panic defense since the early 2000s.

Wed certainly love to see this sort of (defense) set aside in all jurisdictions, Kemnitz said. We think the day is coming when it will be, but it wont be soon enough.

Part of a larger problem

Several advocates said the gay panic defense is only one symptom of a larger problem in the criminal justice system, which can be difficult to navigate for many LGBTQ people.

In the courtroom, LGBTQ people often face discrimination, which could come in the form of a negative comment from a judge or attorney about their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a 2012 report from Lambda Legal.

We understand that were particularly vulnerable in todays America, Kemnitz said. And when an individual gets a get-out-of-jail free card because they say the deceased made a pass at them, it sends a chilling effect throughout the rest of the LGBT community that were really not safe  that youre not safe in your own home.

forrest.milburn@chron.com

twitter.com/forrestmilburnHouston police are searching for people who smashed into a Northshore convenience store and stole an ATM early Monday morning.

The thieves took the machine after ramming a vehicle into the convenience store on 12300 East Freeway multiple times, police said. The burglars smashed into the store sometime before 4:15 a.m.Published May 11, 2018

WACO  Its been three years since the bloodiest motorcycle gun battle in Texas history  a melee at high noon featuring dozens of guns, chains, knives and even machetes  left nine bikers dead, 18 injured and 177 in jail.

There are still few answers about what happened on May 17, 2015, or why the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and the rival Cossacks went to war at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco as local and state police watched nearby.

But as Thursdays deadline approaches for new charges, the aggressive law enforcement effort once billed as a pro-active crackdown on biker violence has instead devolved into a struggling investigation marred by lack of evidence, prosecutorial overreach and a lame-duck district attorneys office hobbled by unrelated allegations of corruption.

So far, not a single biker has been convicted of a crime. The only trial to date ended in December with a hung jury as 10 jurors voted for dismissal of the conspiracy case against a Bandidos chieftain from Dallas.

And more than 150 criminal cases have been dismissed outright, including more than 60 just this week. A growing number of civil lawsuits seek millions of dollars in damages for bikers who lost their lives, their jobs or their resources.

UNCERTAINTY AHEAD: Lives in limbo for bikers expecting a child

Today, the beleaguered district attorneys office is left with just two dozen criminal cases, including new charges of causing injury while inciting a riot, a far simpler crime to prove than the conspiracy to commit murder charges that were initially filed against so many. Several bikers also face charges of murder and tampering with evidence.

They jailed them first and investigated second, said Houston attorney Paul Looney, whose clients cases were among those dismissed. They never had any evidence. Theres a handful of people who should have been jailed, but way over 100 shouldnt have been handled as anything other than witnesses.

Yet the shootout continues to rock the criminal justice system and Central Texas politics.

District Attorney Abelino Abel Reyna, a 45-year-old Republican who was admonished by a judge for using photographs of slain bikers in his re-election campaign, was easily defeated in the March primary by a Waco lawyer who vowed to take charge of the cases.

Reyna declined to comment about Twin Peaks or the recent charges. But defense attorneys say they will fight for more dismissals.

Three years later, the truth has come out, said Dallas attorney Clint Broden, whose clients case was shuffled to a special prosecutor and then dismissed. The way this case was handled is a true tragedy from so many perspectives.

BLOODY SUNDAY

The legal saga began three years ago on a rainy spring Sunday.

The meeting was billed as an information luncheon on motorcycle safety and legislation.

Unknown to the public, however, law enforcement feared that two of the largest motorcycle gangs in Texas were about to settle up after more than a year of skirmishes and roadside fights. They lined up, many of them undercover, near the restaurant as nearly 300 bikers converged near the center of town, not far from the Baylor University campus, wheeling heavy Harley Davidsons into the parking lot of the popular franchise restaurant known for waitresses in skimpy outfits.

Officers  including an 11-member SWAT team  waited nearby in 10 police vehicles, joined by law enforcement agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety, game wardens and federal firearms agents.

Some believe the confrontation between the well-armed biker gangs stemmed from a simmering dispute over territory, signified by the right to display the word Texas on their leather jackets and vests.

The more powerful gang was the feared Bandidos, who control which clubs put a Texas banner patch under the mascot on the back of their leathers. Lined up against them at Twin Peaks were the Cossacks, a smaller club with origins in East Texas that was expanding and whose members wore the patch without the approval of the Bandidos.

Years later, what sparked the actual fight is still disputed.

The gunfight may have started as a fracas in the bathroom. Some say it erupted after a biker drove over a rivals foot in the parking lot. However the melee began, surveillance video shows a gun battle that raged from the parking lot onto wide porches of the eatery.

Bikers werent the only ones shooting, however. Ballistics would later show that four of the nine people killed were slain by weapons fired by Waco police officers. Seven of the dead were members of the Cossacks, one was a Bandido and the ninth was unaffiliated.

DOCUMENTS: Police did little to stop Waco biker showdown

Waco police were quick to characterize the bikers as out-of-towners up to no good.

This isnt your churchgoing crowd that came out to have dinner with the family, Waco police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said days after the shootout. This is a gang-oriented criminal element that was in our city to conduct criminal activity.

The Bandidos are considered one of the largest biker groups in the United States, and Texas is their home turf. But in recent years the Cossacks had been challenging that authority, according to an affidavit by Waco police officer Vincent Glenn.

Cossacks threatened that Waco was a Cossacks town and nobody else could ride there, Glenn said.

EYEWITNESS TO A MASSACRE

Cody Ledbetter, 29, a former member of the Cossacks gang who lives near Waco, rented a car and drove to the Twin Peaks meeting because his arm was in a sling. His stepfather, a Cossacks leader named Daniel Diesel Boyett, 44, met him there.

The fight began as members of the Bandidos and Cossacks began taunting each other in the parking lot, Ledbetter recalled.

Next thing I know, a punch gets thrown, and then I hear a pop and everyone just kind of stopped and looked around, Ledbetter said recently, standing in the parking lot for the first time since that day. And then I heard another one. And another one. And we all literally ran toward the wall and there was a pileup.

As bullets zinged past, he looked back to see his stepfather drop among the rows of parked motorcycles.

I thought he took cover, he said.

Ledbetter got inside the restaurant and crouched next to a steel cooler.

All you hear is shot after shot after shot, and you see people dropping, you see people falling over, he said. Then it all stopped. Cops came with suppressed weapons, with suppressed AR-15s, with tactical scopes.

He said police rounded everyone up, put most in zip-ties and sat them on tailgates of pickup trucks that lined the parking lot at the rear of Twin Peaks.

WACO SHOOTOUT: Read our previous coverage on the shootout in Waco here

When they walked us out the front door, I saw my dad, he was laying on the concrete, Ledbetter recalled. There was blood running down the parking lot.

Ledbetter was eventually transported with more than 100 other bikers to the countys convention center where they waited overnight to be processed into jail cells. Ledbetter said he spent more than 24 hours bound, his hands secured with plastic zip-ties.

His stepfather was shot by Waco police, and a McLennan County grand jury cleared the officers of any criminal responsibility for the deaths of Boyett and three other bikers.

Ledbetter returned to the same parking lot in April and sat on the curb next to the parking space where he last saw his dad. He quietly wiped his eyes, hidden behind mirrored sunglasses.

That where my dads body was, he said. I just had to see it.

After the shooting, Ledbetter quit the Cossacks, the club that his dad helped lead. He was shaken by what happened.

Reynas office dismissed criminal charges against Ledbetter in March after Looney, his attorney, demanded a jury trial.

PROSECUTION QUESTIONED

The conduct of the Waco prosecution has been questioned, not only by a host of defense attorneys and civil libertarians, but even by some of the states toughest former prosecutors.

READ MORE: DA dismisses case against ex-biker accused in Twin Peaks shootout

Johnny Holmes, the no-nonsense Harris County district attorney for two decades, was sharply critical of how the Waco case has been handled.

Youve got to prove who the bad egg is, Holmes said. You cant just say, 'Im going to put all the chickens in jail.'

And while Holmes said he had not studied the case, he said the recent flood of dismissals tells him the initial arrests likely were an overreach.

Its not about the numbers. If you can prove that 177 people committed crimes, you dont dismiss them because of the numbers. Or at least I wouldnt, Holmes said. The truth is, they probably didnt commit a crime.

That is a different view than Reyna took when he dismissed an initial cluster of cases in February.

While probable cause for the defendants' arrest and prosecution remains, based on continued investigation, the State is exercising its prosecutorial discretion in dismissing this matter in order to focus its efforts and resources on co-defendants with a higher level of culpability, Reyna said in statement.

These dismissals should not be considered an exoneration of the individual defendants or the gangs they belong to, he added.

Reyna oversaw the only case that has has gone to trial, a $680,000 affair that ended with Dallas Bandido Jake Carrizal walking out of the courthouse after 10 out of 12 McLennan County jurors said he was not guilty, resulting in a mistrial. He was re-indicted last week on a first-degree riot charge, which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Defense attorney Casie Gotro, who represented Carrizal, said Reyna remains under a cloud of suspicion on unrelated allegations he fixed cases for friends and political supporters.

It just stinks, Gotro said. Reyna is dismissing cases to avoid any hearing where his former assistant and former assistant DA were going to testify against him. He doesnt want that to happen. They are going to testify that justice was for sale.

Cody Ledbetter, a former member of the Cossacks motorcycle club, shows the Bible verse he had tattooed on his chest to remember his stepfather, Danny Boyett, who was killed during a shoot out in the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant on May 17, 2015. The verse was a favorite of Boyett and his wife, Nina. Photo taken Wednesday, April 18, 2018, in Waco. ( Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle ) less Cody Ledbetter, a former member of the Cossacks motorcycle club, shows the Bible verse he had tattooed on his chest to remember his stepfather, Danny Boyett, who was killed during a shoot out in the parking lot ... more Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Houston Chronicle Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Three years after deadly biker shootout in Waco, criminal cases are unraveling 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

LAME DUCK PROSECUTOR

Reyna was elected in 2010 after defeating longtime incumbent Democrat John Segrest.

A Waco native who earned his law degree from hometown Baylor University, Reyna worked as a defense attorney and law partner with Judge Matt Johnson, now one of the two district judges presiding over the Twin Peaks cases. The judge recused himself from one of the biker cases in October but continues to preside over others.

Reyna has a notable legal lineage and is the son of retired Justice Felipe Reyna. The elder Reyna was also district attorney of McLennan County before he served on the 10th Court of Appeals.

Reyna has denied any wrongdoing. Before the election, Reyna held a press conference saying motorcycle gang defense attorneys were blaming him for delays and unrelated allegations of case fixing.

The continued abuse of the criminal justice process and repeated attempts at political smear tactics are nothing more than an attempt to vote me out of office, avoid justice and distract from the events, Reyna said. I have seen and heard the allegations made against me. Let me be clear, I have never shown favoritism to friends or supporters. I have followed my oath to do the right thing at every turn.

Critics say that in crucial hours immediately after the biker shootout, Reyna instructed Waco police to not only question but arrest nearly everyone at the scene.

Reyna was trounced in the March GOP primary by attorney Barry Johnson. The Democrat who filed for the position has suspended his campaign, but another attorney is hoping to make an independent bid for the seat in November.

Johnson said the investigation was botched.

It was our position that it was mishandled by the district attorney because he went out to the scene and took the investigation away from the Waco Police Department, who had crime scene investigators on the scene, Johnson said.

Reyna, moreover, may have waived his immunity from civil lawsuits by acting outside the scope of his duty, Johnson said.

The investigation was hijacked from the experts, the crime scene investigators, he said.

BIKERS AREN'T LOWLIFES

At a biker bar 90 miles south of Waco, Cyndi Smith is tired of hearing the stereotypes about bikers.

There were some bad people out there that day, but not the majority of them, she said on a recent Thursday afternoon, lighting a Carnival cigarette after opening Cyndis Hawg Hangout, a bar she established a decade ago.

Bikers arent lowlifes. They arent high school dropouts. There were engineers there, she says in rapid-fire declarations. You cant be a bum and live this lifestyle. I have a $38,000 bike.

RELATED: Life and death in Waco: A biker's story

The lumbering smoky hall has a horseshoe bar and exposed wooden rafters adorned with biker flags. It sits at the bottom of a steep slope off the side of Highway 21, in the middle of Central Texas between Bastrop and Bryan-College Station.

Smith has been a member of the Line Riders, an independent club, since 2005. She looks at the inked sleeve of tattoos on her left arm to double-check the date she joined.

Her husband, who joined three years after she did, is the current president and was at the shoot-out. He was arrested and bailed out after several weeks. His case has been dismissed.

Cyndi Smith was not at Twin Peaks because her bar holds church services every Sunday from 11 a.m. to noon.

No alcohol is served, she laughs.

TRIAL FALLOUT

The legal wrangling is likely to continue for years, with civil lawsuits filed seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Dallas attorney Don Tittle, who represents about 115 of the Twin Peaks plaintiffs, said the countys liability is astronomical.

Their lives were turned completely upside down, lost jobs, paid tons of money to lawyers, bail bondsmen, you name it, Tittle said. Having a murder charge where you could go to prison for the rest of your life hanging over your head for three years, that never should have been filed, is the real damage.

The problem, he said, was that officials saw that the potential suspects were bikers, mostly from out of town, and treated them all like criminals.

McLennan County Judge Scott Felton, the countys chief financial officer, said he hopes the wave of dismissals will nullify most of the lawsuits.

A lot of these cases are being dismissed by the DA, which could hopefully eliminate the risk of a civil case being tried, Felton said. So, were not sure what our liability may be.

He believes the countys insurance and strong financial state will mitigate the risk of a massive hit to county coffers if the county loses the suits.

Felton said the enormous tab from Carrizals trial  the only case that has been before a jury  for security, indigent defense and other costs was largely picked up by a county essentials grant from the state. He said security fears surrounding biker protests drove up costs for the first trial. Any subsequent trials would cost less.

I guess its unfortunate that were in the central location on I-35 that made it accommodating for a meeting of statewide groups, he said. While we work hard to do the hotel and visitor marketing to get people to come here and meet, thats one group we werent marketing to, I can promise you that.

Brian Rogers covers Houston crime and courts. A licensed attorney who loves telling stories, Brian covers breaking news, civil and criminal trials, and the political underpinnings of criminal justice. You can email him at brian.rogers@chron.com or follow him on Twitter at @brianjrogers.

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***It was supposed to be the work of a barefoot man who snuck into a Houston couple's home in 1985, raped a woman, killed a man and disappeared into the night.

In reality, it was a wife who shot her seventh husband as he slept, then went on for 28 years living a lie.

Carolyn Sue Krizan-Wilson, 71, admitted Wednesday in a Harris County courtroom that she shot Roy McCaleb, her husband of two years, almost three decades ago.

In exchange for the plea, Krizan-Wilson was sentenced to six months in jail, to be followed by 10 years of deferred adjudication, a form of probation that means she will not have a conviction on her record if successfully completed.

The victim's family, who signed off on the deal, lost their composure after the plea.

"She said 'I did it,' and that's what we really wanted to hear," said Linda Petty, McCaleb's sister, with tears in her eyes.

Krizan-Wilson will begin her six months in jail on Dec. 26, the day after Christmas.

"It is unfair that she gets to start serving her sentence after the holidays," McCaleb's daughter, Pam Nalley, wrote in her statement to the court. "How many holidays has she taken from us?"

McCaleb, a construction foreman, had just turned 51 when he was killed on Sept. 22, 1985. Krizan-Wilson was 43.

In speaking to reporters after the killing, Krizan-Wilson told a fantastic story about being carjacked and raped 10 days before the shooting by a barefoot man with a knife. It was a crime that she did not report until after her husband's death.

She said the rapist returned and was able to walk into the couple's North Shore home through an unlocked door on a Sunday night. She claimed the man again held a knife to her throat and assaulted her. Then he took the gun she kept under her pillow, went to where McCaleb was sleeping and shot him, she said.

As the man fled, she said, the two collided, and the intruder dropped the gun. She picked it up and fired two shots after him.

Days without a suspect or any new leads stretched into months and years.

Nalley said she called the Houston Police Department and the District Attorney's Office at least once a year for updates. Her tenacity paid off five years ago when two Texas Rangers agreed to look at the case, and then-District Attorney Ken Magidson decided to prosecute.

She worked for HPD

In 2008, police arrested the widow, who had been a civilian employee at the Houston Police Department as her two sons climbed the ranks as police officers.

Prosecutors said the evidence had not changed in the nearly three decades since the killing, but the fresh perspective turned it into a case they believed they could win.

Assistant Harris County District Attorney Bill Exley said the lack of new evidence, and because it was important to the victim's family that Krizan-Wilson admit to murder, meant the plea deal was the right compromise.

"I agree that six months might seem like a light sentence for an intentional killing, but keep in mind that she might not have ever done a day in jail to begin with," he said. "She's going in and going to serve day for day."

James Stafford, an attorney for Krizan-Wilson, said the septuagenarian is suffering from dementia and a host of other health issues and wanted to get past the case against her.

"I think this is closure for both sides of the family," Stafford said. "Given her age and medical condition, I think all sides realized this was the just and right decision to make for all of the parties."

After her 2008 arrest, Krizan-Wilson's attorneys argued that too much time had passed to indict her, a position that swayed former state District Judge Kevin Fine. He dismissed the case, and for five years, it wound its way through the appellate courts. That dismissal was reversed and sent back to the original court.

Poignant statement

It was a saga that Nalley talked about in the victim's impact statement she wrote to dress down the killer after the plea.

"Carol, you deserved a much longer and harsher sentence," Nalley wrote in the statement.

Her daughter had to read the statement in court when Nalley found herself too distraught to address Krizan-Wilson. "We've been failed by the system here on Earth, but one day soon you will be in God's hands, and he will decide your just punishment for murdering my father."

Krizan-Wilson appeared stoic as she listened to the words.

Nalley said she believes her father was killed for an insurance policy Krizan-Wilson took out months before the shooting. However, she said, the policy was never paid because of suspicions about the death.

Nalley said her father was Krizan-Wilson's seventh husband and that her former stepmother remarried after the slaying. Stafford said Krizan-Wilson and her most recent husband divorced in 1990.

Krizan-Wilson was charged with bigamy in 1986, but the case was dismissed. Records showed Krizan-Wilson's 1976 marriage to Melvin Laxson, whom she divorced in 1987, overlapped with her marriage to McCaleb.

Krizan-Wilson did not answer questions from reporters waiting outside the courtroom Wednesday. Instead, she walked out a back door in state District Judge Ryan Patrick's court and disappeared.It's not hard to miss the irony.

Robert Jeffress, a controversial pastor from Dallas who once said non-Christians were destined for hell, blessed the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.

Best known for heading First Baptist Church in Dallas, Jeffress is often accused of homophobia and religious bigotry, something former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and others criticized ahead of the embassy opening.

"Robert Jeffress says 'you can't be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.' He's said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem," tweeted Romney Sunday night.

"These were comments ripped out of context from years ago," Jeffress said defending himself on Fox News Monday. "Historic Christianity, for 2000 years, has taught that salvation is faith in Christ alone, and the fact that I, and millions of evangelical Christians still believe that, is not bigoted and not newsworthy."

RELATED: Israeli forces shoot and kill at least 52 Palestinians as US Embassy opens in Jerusalem

Jeffress' comments, quoted by Romney from a 2011 speech at the conservative Values Voter Summit, are more than just outspoken confidence in the Christian faith.

Video of the Evangelical pastor's speech shows him arguing against the notion that Christianity should be inclusive to as many people as possible and, amid scattered applause, preaching that Islam and Mormonism are heresies from hell.

Now Playing: For the seventh week running there have been clashes at the Gaza-Israel border fence. Protesters burned tyres while Israeli troops fired volleys of tear gas. The Gaza health ministry says one Palestinian was killed and 49 wounded. The weekly demonstrations are aimed at ending a ten-year-old blockade of Gaza. Since they started over 40 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1700 wounded. The protest came just three days ahead of what the leader of Gaza's ruling Hamas group has said will be a march by tens of thousands who could burst through the border fence into Israel. Israel has warned that it will prevent any border breach. Monday's border march is meant to protest the planned move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem that day. Another large-scale protest is planned for May 15th when Nakba is marked, a reference to the mass exodus of Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948. Video: Euronews

Other comments that garnered Jeffress headlines include a 2015 speech in which the pastor implied abortion caused the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and a confusing 2013 comparison of homosexuality and TV outlets: "Well it is my TV to do what I want to with it but I'm going to blow that TV into smithereens if I put it in a 220 outlet."

Jeffress wasn't the only Texan in Israel.

Washington Correspondent Kevin Diaz wrote about Ted Cruz' visit to Israel for the Houston Chronicle.McALLEN  Filadelfo Roman Cuxum fled Guatemala for the United States to keep his daughter safe from a ruthless gang, but it was the American government that took her away.

Cuxum and his daughter, Angelina, 11, arrived in the Rio Grande Valley as the Trump administration began implementing a zero tolerance policy for those who enter the country illegally. Cuxum was sentenced last week to five days in prison for his transgression, but what concerned him far more was finding his daughter.

All I wanted was to protect her, Cuxum, 33, said in federal court, and now I dont know where she is.

Such anguish has become familiar in McAllens federal courthouse. Parents who illegally crossed the border have shuffled into the courtroom in recent months and pleaded with a federal judge to help them locate their children.

The administration earlier this month didnt dispute a New York Times report that more than 700 children, among them at least 100 younger than 4, were separated from an adult who claimed to be their parent. Now immigrant advocates are bracing for those numbers to dramatically increase as the administration ratchets up prosecutions.

Related: Without legal abortions on the Texas border, some women turn to San Antonio

Over the past few years, thousands of families have been transferred to detention centers, including two large facilities south of San Antonio, while others were released with an order to appear in immigration court on a set date.

Now, more children are being removed from their parents.

A first illegal entry offense is a misdemeanor usually handled by civil deportation proceedings. A second offense is a felony that carries the prospect of years spent in prison.

Federal public defenders have mere minutes to defend each immigrant, with up to 100 of these cases every day. Disheveled immigrants occupy rows of benches in U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hackers courtroom.

One by one, Hacker reads the legal facts of each case. The public defender offers a few personal circumstances for the judge to consider. And most days there is at least one mother or father who makes a tearful plea for help locating their child.

Hacker said there was little he could do to track down the mounting numbers of children scattered across the country.

As the number of cases increase, well struggle to represent everyone, said Miguel Andy Nogueras, supervisory assistant public defender based in McAllen. Well be dealing with serious constitutional issues of rights to counsel and due process.

Still they come

Illegal immigration plummeted when President Donald Trump took office, yet has steadily risen ever since, and hard-line immigration efforts to deter immigrants have given way to a rising tide of migrants and refugees.

The Border Patrol caught 50,924 immigrants along the border with Mexico in April, including 9,647 families, the highest monthly total since Trumps inauguration. An additional 5,445 families requested asylum at a port of entry.

The zero-tolerance approach will be applied to the extent practicable, the Justice Department said, claiming a similar approach was used in the agencys El Paso sector in early 2017 and proved effective in reducing illegal immigration.

But for desperate immigrants, the prospect of harsh U.S. immigration enforcement presents a fuzzy calculus when weighed against the certainty of abject poverty and violent gangs at home.

If I go back, theyre going to kill me, said Honduran Jeny Figueroa, 27.

Figueroa carried her 3-year-old daughter, Maria Dolores, through Mexico and across the Rio Grande. On Thursday, she walked up a dirt road near the river until she found by the Border Patrol.

After placing her shoelaces and personal effects in a Homeland Security Department-issued plastic bag, Figueroa handed her daughters birth certificate to a border agent, who scrutinized their relationship.

Read more: S.A. congressman have 'grave concern' that immigration judges selected for their politics

Figueroa spoke of vague plans to settle in Houston. She was unaware that Maria Dolores might be taken from her.

No, they cant take my daughter, Figueroa said.

Around a bend in the road, a pair of immigrant mothers with small children found Border Patrol agents moments after crossing the river.

Claudia Duarte, 32, fled Honduras and the beatings of her husband with just $42 in her pocket. She and her 4-year-old twin daughters begged for money and food on the journey.

News of the zero-tolerance policy already had begun to circulate among migrants, Duarte said. Still, she believed returning to Honduras was not an option.

Maybe you cant imagine it, or you dont believe me, Duarte said. My daughters have a right to be safe with their mother.

Where do the kids go?

Minors who cross the border unaccompanied by a parent are transferred to the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody and placed in a shelter, several of which are located in Texas.

A 1997 federal court settlement, known as the Flores agreement, requires the government to release children to their parents or other adult relatives whenever possible, and if a suitable placement is not immediately available to hold them in the least-restrictive settings possible.

Now all children will be transferred to HHS custody while adults will be sent directly to federal court under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, immigration officials say. But observers say the system wasnt designed for family separation on a large scale.

The point is to get the child released rapidly to a parent or relative or family friend, said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow with the Migration Policy Institute and former head of the Administration of Children and Families, the HHS division that includes ORR. Not to hold children indefinitely while their parent is in the midst of criminal proceedings.

The Trump administration has raised an alarm, claiming criminals, especially Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13, exploit loopholes in the immigration system, using their children to enter the country or posing as the parent of an unaccompanied minor.

A day after the policy was announced, the Rio Grande Valley sector of the Border Patrol, the busiest for family apprehensions along the Southwest border, said it had caught a Salvadoran gang member and deportee, with his 1-year-old child. The man was put into removal proceedings, and his child placed in HHS custody.

Since October, the start of the fiscal year, the Rio Grande Valley sector has identified 517 fraud cases  adults who falsely claim a child as their own in an effort to boost their asylum claims  and prosecuted 63 of them, according to the Valley sector. The figure is small when compared to the 30,123 families taken into custody during the same period.

Asylum is asylum

Another point of contention is that the administration has suggested families that request asylum at a port of entry  about 25,000 since October  will not be split up, while families seeking the same protections will be prosecuted if their first steps in the United States are unlawful.

But the American Civil Liberties Union says that doesnt happen and has sued the Trump administration over the arbitrary practice of family separation. One ACLU client, a Congolese woman who sought asylum at San Diego, Calif., border crossing, saw her 7-year-old daughter taken away by border agents.

Related: National Guardsmen arrive on the southern border to assist immigration authorities

A federal judge in California challenged government lawyers who said the woman didnt have documents to prove her relationship to the girl. ACLU attorneys argued a prompt DNA test would have proved they were mother and daughter, but it took five months before such a test was done. Eventually, they were reunited after DNA confirmed the woman was the girls mother.

Advocates also argue the administrations distinction between seeking asylum at a port of entry and seeking asylum or some other form of protection by asking a Border Patrol agent is imbalanced.

Immigrants who arrive in the Rio Grande Valley through Tamaulipas have little choice how they enter the country, advocates point out. Organized crime uses immigrants like pieces in an elaborate chess match, strategically moving them across the border to confound border enforcement.

They shouldnt be separating families seeking asylum, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project. The truth is even if you present yourself at a port of entry, theyre still separating families.

Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified in Congress that separation occurs to protect the child, but denied the administration had adopted a policy of breaking up families as a means of deterrence or punishment.

The ACLU asked for a preliminary injunction that would ban the practice of family separation, but the injunction would not stop the initial separation of the child while the parent is in criminal custody for the illegal entry.

Because the government is unwilling to justify the separations on the grounds of deterrence, theyre having to find all of these arguments that dont make a lot of sense, Gelernt said.

No risk too great

Over the past few years, the flow of migrants from the Central Americas Northern Triangle  El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras  has persisted in spite of the perilous trek through Mexico and severe immigration policies.

Immigration advocates say theres little that will deter a mother on the southern banks of the Rio Grande determined to get medical attention for her son. Or a father who will endure two days in a tractor-trailer to give his 17-year-old daughter a life he never could provide for her in Honduras.

Of the myriad cases to come before the McAllen public defenders office in recent days was that of a woman facing a second illegal entry offense. Her first arrest was with her daughter last November. They were separated, and the woman was deported.

A few days ago, she sneaked back into the country to look for her daughter, Nogueras said. After serving out her sentence, shell be deported  still without knowing the whereabouts of her child.

The separation of children from their parents is cruel, Nogueras said. This policy does not represent our American values.

anelsen@express-news.netWASHINGTON  Houston Democrat Al Green was not happy to hear House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismiss calls to impeach President Donald Trump a "distraction."

Green, who has tried three times to impeach Trump on the House floor, accused his conference leader of trivializing what he sees as the president's offensive remarks toward women and minorities.

"It is regrettable that Leader Pelosi would trivialize President Trump's hateful discrimination against Jews, Latinos, Blacks, Women, and the LGBTQ community by reducing the president's harmful bigotry to his 'being a jerk,''' Green said in a statement Monday. ''Love for my country will not permit me to allow the president's bigotry to be trivialized and minimized."

Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been warning her fellow Democrats that talk of impeaching Trump will not help them in November's midterm elections.

"I have said over and over again that I don't think we should be talking about impeachment," Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing on Thursday. "I've been very clear right from the start."

She also said it would be a "gift" to Republicans if Democratic candidates focus on impeachment, as opposed to the economy and other pressing voter concerns.

The rift is playing out in Houston, where two Democrats vying in the May 22 runoff to challenge incumbent Republican John Culberson in the Seventh Congressional District have taken sharply different tacks on the impeachment issue.

Progressive activist Laura Moser has said she would vote for impeachment on "Day One" if she were elected. Houston attorney Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, who appears to have the backing of party leaders in Washington, has called for a more measured response, saying she wants to see the evidence for impeachment first.

Democrats hope to win 23 GOP-held seats in November to take a House majority.WASHINGTON  Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz penned an op-ed for The Jerusalem Post Monday applauding President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the divided city as the capital of Israel.

Cruz has long advocated for the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem and was among several U.S. political leaders attending the opening celebration, which has been the focus of bloody protests by Palestinians on the 70th anniversary of the formation of Israel.

"It is a great honor to witness this historic occasion," Cruz said in a statement released by his Senate office. "Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocating the U.S. Embassy sends a powerful message that America will stand by our friends and allies, and we will stand up to our enemies. Moreover, it furthers the chances of peace in the Middle East by demonstrating that America's support for Israel is unconditional and will not be bullied by global media opinion."

Cruz traveled to Israel as part of a Senate Armed Services delegation that includes Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Dean Heller (R-Nev.). They were also expected to meet with senior Israeli government officials to discuss counter-terrorism and national security issues affecting the United States and Israel.

Also in attendance for the opening ceremony were President Trump's daughter Ivanka and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

In his op-ed, Cruz praised the U.S. recognition of Israel in 1948 under then-President Harry Truman, and compared it to Trump's historic decision last December to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, fulfilling a campaign promise that helped Trump cement his appeal to a pro-Israel, conservative evangelical base in the U.S.

'The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people," Cruz wrote. "Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books."

"After being forcibly exiled from their land," Cruz added, "the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom."

Meanwhile, authorities reported that at least a dozen Palestinians have been killed and some 1,700 demonstrators injured in protests along the border fence with Gaza.You cant blame global warming for it, but Texas seemingly now has only two seasons: Summer and election season. Well, throw in hurricane season for parts of the state, as its at least partly to blame for the latter.

Most of the state just went through local and school elections on May 5. Weve got a runoff for party primaries May 22, a June special election to finally rid Texas of a congressional sleazebag, possible school tax ratification elections the same month and, finally, the regular election on Nov. 6. At least public school libraries are finally getting used for something, but its still a bit overwhelming.

These incessant referendums can lead to ballot fatigue. And its not over.

EDITORIAL: The clock is ticking on Houston's next flood

Harris County just got a gubernatorial go-ahead for an Aug. 25 election to seek approval for an estimated $2.5 billion bond package for flood control projects in reaction to Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas on  yup  Aug. 25, 2017.

Hey, the traditional first anniversary gift is paper, not a tax increase.

Theres no coincidence here. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett explained the rather simplistic symbolism. Its the one-year anniversary of Harvey. I don't think we want to go a year and not be able to say we're doing something, he told the Houston Chronicle.

OPINION: Houston's new anti-flood regulations only exacerbate Harvey's wounds

Not to mention that the proposed election would fall in the thick of hurricane season. Maybe a well-timed storm will prod voters to approve a multibillion-dollar project to deprive photographers of glorious shots of a flooded Allen Parkway.

The rains of 2017 definitely led to the bumper crop of voting opportunities this election season. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has already scheduled a June 30 special election to replace Corpus Christi congressman Blake Farenthold, who resigned in April amid sexual harassment claims. The interregnum election, Abbott said, was to ensure South Texas citizens get full representation for proposed federal Harvey recovery relief funds.

Farenthold, who had no problems using government funds of $84,000 to silence an accuser (turned out to be a bad investment), has rebuffed pleas by Abbott to pay for the special election to replace him. Those costs, by some estimates, could tally $200,000 or more.

A Harris County special election likely wont be cheap either. Considering how much money the county says it needs, perhaps officials should have thought of combining the effort with the regularly scheduled Nov. 6 ballot to save a few bucks. But that might put undue pressure on said officials, who have to govern while simultaneously running for re-election. Or, as some know it, doing their job.

EDITORIAL: Monty Python antics amok as City Hall debates flooding

Emmett, one of the more respectable politicians in the state but still a politician, alluded to this in the same discussion about the proposed bond and special election. Those of us who are running have to talk about our campaign and a bond at the same time, he said. And passing a bond for flood relief just weeks before the election might just provide a boost. Though the same people voting on the bond will be the ones footing the exorbitant bill.

The actual amount of the bonds sought by the county will likely fluctuate as planners develop a list of flood control projects. According to Emmett, such projects would include $500 million to $700 million in matching federal funds, as well as buying out about 5,500 high-priority area properties at highest risk of flooding. Projects could also include a third reservoir on the northwest side of town, (because the other two worked so well last year?).

Houston and Harris County are assuredly in need of a flooding fix, though $2.5 billion might not do it. The growth of the city in recent years has exposed how nature laughs at the plans and projects of humans, especially in flat coastal plains.

If how to prevent major flooding is the question, there seems to be no answer for the county other than raising taxes. Texas already has more than $10 billion put aside in the aptly-named rainy day fund. But, befitting a lawyer, Abbott must have decided those monies are for a rainy day, not a succession of rainy days. Harvey lasted too long to qualify.

Given the large scope of any projects to be funded by the proposed bonds and how long those projects will take to complete, waiting until the scheduled (and paid for) November general election seems would have little adverse impact. Unless county officials are counting on limited turnout to turn the tide in favor of their flood relief bond package. That, or simply wanting to make themselves look better on their own election day.

Reynolds is a writer living in Houston.This essay is excerpted from chapter one of God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State.

The charms,

such as they are

Subtle was the word my friend Steve used as we drove through a spongy drizzle from Austin to San Antonio on a mild February morning. He was referencing the quality of the pleasures one might experience from observing the Texas landscape  small ones, requiring discernment  although the actual vista in front of us was an unending strip mall hugging a crowded interstate highway. Subtlety is a quality rarely invoked for anything to do with Texas, so I chewed on that notion for a bit.

There are some landscapes that are perfect for walking, disclosing themselves so intimately that one must dawdle to take them in; some that are best appreciated in an automobile at a reasonable rate of speed; and others that should be flown over as rapidly as possible. Much of Texas I place in this last category. Even Steve admits that Texas is where everything peters out  the South, the Great Plains, Mexico, the Mountain West  all dribbling to an anticlimactic end, stripped of whatever glory they manifest elsewhere. But in the heart of Texas there is another landscape that responds best to the cyclist, who lumbers along at roughly the rate of a cantering horse, past the wildflowers and mockingbird trills of the Hill Country. Our bikes were in the back of my truck. We were going to explore the five Spanish missions along the San Antonio River, which have recently been named a World Heritage Site.

Steve is Stephen Harrigan, my closest friend for many years, a distinguished novelist who is now writing a history of Texas. We stopped at a Buc-ees outside New Braunfels to pick up some Gatorade for the ride. It is the largest convenience store in the world  a category of achievement that only Texas would aspire to. It might very well be the largest gas station as well, with 120 fuel pumps, to complement the 83 toilets that on at least one occasion garnered the prize of Best Restroom in America. The billboards say The Top Two Reasons to Stop at Buc-ees: Number 1 and Number 2, and also Restrooms You Have to Pee to Believe.

OPINION: Experts weigh in on what they think is Texas' forgotten history

But gas and urination are not the distinguishing attractions at Buc-ees. Texas is  or at least the kind of material goods that reify Texas in the minds of much of the world: massive belt buckles, barbecue, country music, Kevlar snake boots, rope signs (a length of rope twisted into a word  e.g., Howdy  and pasted over a painting of a Texas flag), holsters (although no actual guns), T-shirts (Have a Willie Nice Day), bumper stickers (Dont Mess with Texas), anything shaped like the state, and books of the sort classified as Texana. There is usually a stack of Steves bestselling novel The Gates of the Alamo as well.

One image on the T-shirts and bumper stickers and whiskey jiggers has become especially popular lately: that of a black cannon over the legend Come and Take It. The taunt has a long history, going back to the Battle of Thermopylae, when Leonidas I, king of Sparta, responded to the demand of the Persian leader, Xerxes, that the Greeks lay down their arms. In Texas, the reference is to a battle in 1835, the opening skirmish of the Texas Revolution, when Mexican forces marched on the South Texas outpost of Gonzales to repossess a small bronze cannon that had been lent to the town for defense against Indians. The defiant citizens raised a crude flag, made from a wedding dress, that has now become an emblem of the gun rights movement. Ted Cruz wore a Come and Take It lapel pin on the floor of the U.S. Senate when he filibustered the health care bill in 2013.

RELATED: The Texas history that's not in the textbooks

Ive lived in Texas most of my life, and Ive come to appreciate what the state symbolizes, both to people who live here and to those who view it from afar. Texans see themselves as confident, hardworking, and neurosis-free  a distillation of the best qualities of America. Outsiders view Texas as the national id, a place where rambunctious and disavowed impulses run wild. Texans, they believe, mindlessly celebrate individualism, and view government as a kind of kryptonite that saps the entrepreneurial muscles. Were reputed to be braggarts; careless with money and our personal lives; a little gullible but dangerous if crossed; insecure but obsessed with power and prestige. Indeed, its an irony that the figure who most embodies the values people associate with the state is a narcissistic Manhattan billionaire now sitting in the Oval Office.

Obviously, those same qualities also have wide appeal. Texas has been growing at a stupefying rate for decades. The only state with more residents is California, but the number of Texans is projected to double by 2050, to 54.4 million, almost as many people as California and New York combined. Three Texas cities  Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio  are already among the top ten most populous cities in the United States. The eleventh largest is Austin, the capital, where Steve and I live. For the past five years it has been one of the fastest-growing large cities in America, the metropolitan area surpassing two million people, dwarfing the little college town Steve and I fell for many years ago.

MORE: Texas history reflects the spirit of 1776

Theres an element of performance involved with being Texan. The boots, the pickup trucks, the guns, the attitude  theyre all part of the stereotype, but theyre also a masquerade. Stylistic choices such as the way Texans dress or the vehicles they choose to drive enforce a sense of identity, but they also add to the alienation that non-Texans often feel about the state.

Writers have been sizing up Texas from its earliest days, usually harshly. Frederick Law Olmsted, a journalist before he became the designer of New Yorks Central Park, rode through in 1854. Horses and wives were of as little account as umbrellas in more advanced states, he noted. In 1939, Edna Ferber arrived on a prospecting trip that led to her novel Giant. That book, finally published in 1952, was a sensation. It popularized the image of Texas millionaires as greedy but colorful provincials, whose fortunes were built largely on luck rather than hard work or intelligence. That there was truth in this summation was part of the sting. When The New Yorker writer John Bainbridge passed through the state in 1961, gathering material for his book The Super-Americans, he found Texans still reeling from what he called ednaferberism.

Few documents since the Emancipation Proclamation have stirred as much commotion, Bainbridge observed; however, he also noticed that the movie had just come out, and it was booked on nearly every screen in the state. In the movie version, Rock Hudson plays the cattle rancher with a spread the size of several states; James Dean is the roughneck, who rises from nothing to build a stupendous fortune; and Elizabeth Taylor is the civilizing Easterner, who acknowledges the exploitation of the Mexicans who do all the labor but fail to reap the profits. Its been three quarters of a century since Giant first appeared on bookshelves, but the archetypes that Ferber codified still color the perceptions of Texans by both outsiders and Texans themselves.

When Bainbridge visited, Texas was in the backseat of the national consciousness, a marginal influence despite its swelling oil wealth and sui generis political culture. By the time Gail Collins, The New York Timess op-ed columnist, arrived to research her 2012 manifesto, As Texas Goes  How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda, the accumulation of economic and political power meant that Texas now had a hand on the steering wheel. Alarm had set in. Texas runs everything, Collins wrote, expressing a typical liberal complaint. Why, then, is it so cranky?

Steve and I have talked over the question of whether Texas is responsible for fomenting the darker political culture that has crept over our country, which is the charge that outsiders like Collins often make, citing as evidence Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, George W. Bush and Iraq, Tom DeLay and redistricting, Ted Cruz and the Tea Party  an impressive bill of particulars that has contributed to the national malaise. Steve takes the position that Texas is simply a part of the mainstream. Its influence may seem disproportionate, but its a huge state and it reflects trends that are under way all across the country. If you visualize America as a sailing ship, Texas is like the hold, he says. When the cargo shifts, its bound to affect the trajectory of the vessel.

Im less forgiving. I think Texas has nurtured an immature political culture that has done terrible damage to the state and to the nation. Because Texas is a part of almost everything in modern America  the South, the West, the Plains, Hispanic and immigrant communities, the border, the divide between the rural areas and the cities  what happens here tends to disproportionately affect the rest of the nation. Illinois and New Jersey may be more corrupt, Kansas and Louisiana more dysfunctional, but they dont bear the responsibility of being the future.

Wright, an Austin resident, is a staff writer for The New Yorker and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Looming Tower. He is author of God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State, from which this piece is excerpted.Seventy-nine years ago, on the 13th of May in 1939, the ship St. Louis sailed from Germany with around 900 Jewish passengers fleeing the Nazi regime.

That voyage tacitly tinted the image of a young man I saw wearing a yarmulke among those protesting President Donald Trumps first executive order banning immigration from select Muslim-majority countries.

Many on the St. Louis hoped to wait in Cuba until permitted U.S. entry. Cuba turned all but a few away. St. Louis then sailed near Miami but was denied harbor in United States. Many of these Jewish refugees allowed into Belgium, France and Netherlands prior to German occupation were subsequently killed in the Holocaust.

EDITORIAL: After missile strikes, Trump should welcome Syrian refugees

When the 1940s began, as Daniel Gross described in Smithsonian magazine, government officials began arguing more how refugees posed a serious threat to national security because among them were Nazi spies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt even said that among the refugees there are some spies.

Fear of spies, as Gross writes, became a salient excuse to deny visas to thousands of Jews fleeing the horrors of the Nazi regime, an excuse historians today believe was blown far out of proportion.

Similarly today, if one believes Trump, all refugees are terrorists. Never mind that the internet has become a pathway of global terrorism, as then-FBI Director Robert Mueller emphasized in a 2006 speech about the changing shape of terrorism and, in particular, the threat of homegrown terrorism.

OPINION: Moral courage needed in refugee crisis

Trumps disdain for refugees seemingly underlies his administrations cuts to the Refugee Act of 1980.

Trump wants American immigration policy to favor the highly educated and those with significant financial resources, and he wants to end the relatively small diversity visa lottery program. All of which begs the question: How should the United States select from among those seeking to immigrate who meet the merit standard? By race, perhaps, if Trumps derogatory comments on immigrants and refugees from Africa, Haiti and El Salvador are any indication.

Then there is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which the Trump officially rescinded last September, but which continues for the time being under a court mandate that the Department of Homeland Security continue processing renewals for existing DACA beneficiaries.

On the one-year anniversary of Trumps presidency, the day the government shutdown over congressional inaction to legislatively establish DACA, the Trump campaign released an ad saying Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants. DACA, of course, concerns only law-abiding undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

RELATED: Denying refugees denies the idea of America

Separate rulings by two federal district court judges blocked the Trump plan to discontinue DACA after March 5. And on Feb. 26, the Supreme Court declined a White House request to bypass the appellate process and rule directly on the district court blockage. In between, on Feb. 15, the Senate vote on a bipartisan immigration bill failed. Although it included money for Trumps border wall and the DACA provisions Trump proposed partly in exchange for wall funding, the administration worked to kill the bill.

In additional federal district court rulings, a judge in April basically reaffirmed DACAs legitimacy, while in March, another (though holding Trumps administration could end DACA as constituted via executive order) berated Congress for its repeated failure to reform DACA.

More history seems in order. In 1943, as Amanda Rothschild wrote in the Boston Globe, the State Department had suppressed information about the Holocaust, delayed  rescue initiatives and refused visas to Jews, and officials had hidden or altered documents to cover their actions. Some brave State Department officials prompted the Treasury to investigate. In January 1944, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau revealed the States malfeasance to Roosevelt. Shortly afterward, Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board.

Its time once again for Republicans in Congress to stand up to Trump and against his nativistic immigration policies. Its time for legislation that, besides including reforms to prevent overstays of temporary visas, reaffirms the humanitarian spirit in immigration policy from which America has prospered. Its time for immigration reform that recognizes, among other markers of merit, the merits of DACA and sustaining protection of refugees fleeing persecution and death.

Its time, perhaps, especially for Republican leadership to grow the necessary vertebrate.

Decker is a sociologist and writer whose recent columns have appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Miami Herald, and South Florida Sun Sentinel.By Moses Ndhaye.

The Uganda hotel owners association has protested against what they have termed as multiple taxes being levied against them by government.

The chairperson of the association Suzan Muhwezi says, these taxes are sabotaging the development of the hotel sector in the country.

She says the currently paid taxes like Valve added tax, taxes on playing music and videos among others are exorbitant.

She is now calling upon government to set up fair taxes for the people in the hotel business if the sector is to grow.The American dream -- the notion of equal opportunity for all, the chance to pull yourself up by your boot straps and make something of yourself -- is gone.

Consider what Ed Miliband, the popular British Labour leader --- and would-be Prime Minister --- said to a conference on social mobility last year: "If you are born in a more equal society like Finland, Norway or Denmark, then you have a better chance of moving into a good job than if you are born poor in the United States."

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This is a sad, depressing state of affairs for the U.S. and is becoming more true every day. But the reality is still not accepted by most Americans.

Recently, President Obama told a group of high school students in Brooklyn that other countries are working every day to out-educate and out-compete us "every year brings more research shows them pulling ahead."

The studies back him up. Today, American men born into the lowest income quintile are much more likely to be stuck there, compared to the opportunities available in the Nordic countries or the United Kingdom. Only 8 percent of Americans born into the lowest fifth of the income scale will move up to the top fifth. In Finland and many other European counties, upward mobility is closer to 14 percent. We now rank 8th in the world, a far cry from where we once were.

The reason is obvious: Our education system is static and falling behind other advanced countries -- an economic time bomb -- whereas Finland is an educational superpower, the best in the west, according to the PISA studies of 470,000 15-year-old students from 65 countries, (conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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Our educational progress is merely mediocre compared to the rapid advances being made in other industrialized countries and Asian cities such as Singapore and Shanghai. American students rank 37, behind such countries -- in math, the basic sciences and even languages.

And American adults do not fare much better. U.S. workers trail their counterparts in other advanced nations on basic competence and workplace skills. A recent study of 166,000 adults ages 16 to 65 in twenty-four countries, found that the United States ranked near the middle in literacy and near the bottom in skill with numbers and technology.

The 2013 PISA study assessed cognitive and workplace skills needed for people to participate in society and for national economies to prosper in the face of a seismic technological economic transformation.

Over the last decade, job growth in the industrialized world has almost exclusively been at the top end of the PISA skill distribution, according to Andreas Schleicher who manages the global test.

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In the 55 to 65 age group, Americans fared better than their counterparts, but in the 45 to 54 age group, American skills were average and among younger people, American skills clearly lagged behind those in other countries.

As our population ages, we are falling further and further behind, comparatively, and the literacy skills of our young people, now entering the labor market, are no better than those workers about to retire. This is in contrast with other countries that have rushed to educate their students. The problem going forward is we live in a global economy and international companies don't care where they find educated people to hire.

Once upon a time this would have been shocking. Not so long ago America had the best school system in the world and the best access to education. Land grant colleges created the largest, most educated middle class in history, which, in turn, led to world supremacy in education, civil liberties, social mobility, science, medicine and a host of other areas.

But no longer. Newsweek found that Finland was the "best" country in the world after examining living conditions in more than a 100 countries. The magazine measured factors such as education, health care, quality of life, economic dynamism and political environment.

Finishing after Finland were Switzerland and Sweden. The United States was in 11th place. The bottom three were the African nations Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The analysis of educational systems used factors such as the international PISA studies, as well as measures of efficiency and the educational level of the population at large. In this, Finland was in first place, followed by a tie between South Korea and Canada.

In the U.S. only 7 percent of students reached the top two scientific performance levels while in Finland 17 percent reached those levels.

Finland is the world's most "successful" country socially, economically and politically according to Washington think tank, the Fund for Peace.

Happiness Counts

A recent UN report ranked Finland the second happiest country in the world, behind Denmark, based on wealth, political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption. The U.S. ranked 17th in national happiness among 156 countries evaluated for the study. America lagged way behind Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden, Canada and Costa Rica, but fared better than France and Japan. From 2012 to 2013, the U.S. fell from 11th to 17th.

It should be no suprise that happy people live longer, are more productive, earn more and are also better citizens.

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Happiness scores tend to be tied into crime rates and rankings of economic inequality. The larger the gap between the one-percenters and the have-nots , the less happiness there is and the more crimes that will be committed.

Economic inequality also leads to shorter life expectancy and worse heath --- for both the poor and, strangely, the rich. But the poor are hit harder.

Finnish students are also the best in the West, achieving extraordinarily high scores in a triennial survey for the OECD. Finnish journalist Anu Partanen wrote in The Atlantic, "Decades ago, when the Finnish school system was badly in need of reform, the goal of the programme that Finland instituted, resulting in so much success today, was never excellence. It was equity." Finland rivals East Asian educational hothouses such as Singapore and South Korea but without those countries' high-pressure homework expectations.

In Finland, Partanen says, there are no nationally standardized tests, inspections or league tables, no private schools or private universities and no fees. Competition is frowned upon; co-operation is king.

The country is conspicuously equal in other arenas, too. It was, for instance, the first in the world to give women the vote in 1906, 12 years before the UK and 14 before the U.S.

A century later, in 2009, the nation that gave us Nokia was the first to enshrine internet broadband as a fundamental human right. The government promised every Finnish citizen access to a 100mbps high speed connection by 2015.

Finnish per capita national income is a not too shabby $46,000 per year, according the World Bank.

Education is essential in preparing the next generation for competition in a shrinking world marketplace said President Obama, "This country should be doing everything in our power to give more kids the chance to go to schools just like this one." To be sure, Finland is a small country with homogeneous population of just under six million. But its commitment to economic and educational equality has produced tremendous results and a contented, educated citizenry. Other Nordic countries have achieved the same results.

President Obama singled out the special Brooklyn school, known as P-Tech, as a ticket into the middle class.

"In previous generations, America's standing economically was so much higher than everybody else's that we didn't have a lot of competition," he said. "Now, you've got billions of people from Beijing to Bangalore to Moscow, all of whom are competing with you directly. And they're -- those countries are working every day, to out-educate and out-compete us.

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We know from the Finns that equal education leads to social mobility and economic equality. Unfettered capitalism has become a new tyranny, according to Pope Francis. In other words, inequality kills and destroys the wealth and national happiness of a nation, both for the poor and the wealthy.

"Today we have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills." -Pope Francis.

Inequality is destroying the human wealth of our nation and is tearing the social fabric apart. And the clear consequences will be, and already are, a declining economic dynamism, life expentacy, national health, national happiness, for both rich and poor alike.

Write: jfleetwood@aol.comPage Content



Montreal and Bucharest, 14 May 2018  ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu addressed government and industry safety experts in Bucharest earlier last week when she helped to launch the UN aviation agencys Europe, Middle East and Africa Cybersecurity in Civil Aviation Summit.

In an industry as interconnected as air transport, we cannot lose sight of the fact that a single cyber incident will likely impact multiple companies and stakeholders, Dr. Liu emphasized. Almost daily, new and more sophisticated digital processes are coming online with impacts on the efficient management of our network, and the ability of airline and airport operators to serve their customers.

Highlighting that recent insurance sector assessments have identified the combined threats from cyber-crime, IT failure, and database breaches as their number-three global business risk for 2017, Dr. Liu noted that ICAO is presently hard at work on a policy and strategy to address cybersecurity in civil aviation, and that the Organizations new Global Aviation Security Plan will greatly facilitate the global coordination and information sharing so fundamental to successfully addressing these threats.

She added that several updates to ICAOs guidance materials had already been completed, and that it was ICAOs view that the secure and resilient exchange of information required to cope with the needs of evolving aviation activities can be enabled through a trust framework.

This would consist of coordinated standards, procedures, methods and agreements for the digital exchange of information between ground-ground, air-ground, and air-air systems, as well as to regulate an identity system, Dr. Liu added. These provisions in turn will support the ongoing implementation of Performance-based Navigation (PBN), Aeronautical Information Management (AIM), Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), or any other current or projected air transport capability requiring the digital exchange of information between systems in a secure environment.

Dr. Liu also stressed that cyber-related topics will be front and centre at ICAOs Second High-Level Conference on Aviation Security at its Montreal Headquarters this autumn, and that related communications needs for remotely-piloted and unmanned aircraft systems, high-altitude and outer-space operations, and other emerging issues, were also being addressed in this context.

The Bucharest event featured a series of table top exercises on airport cybersecurity, jointly organized by Airports Council International (ACI) in conjunction with ICAO and the governments of Romania and Finland.

Local university students were also in attendance in Bucharest to participate in an associated aviation youth event. They engaged and interacted in two panels which focused on the themes of Building a National Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) Strategy, and Cybersecurity and the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals.

While on mission in Bucharest, Dr. Liu met with the President of Romanias Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Liviu Dragnea. He reiterated Romanias strong support for ICAOs priorities and activities, and agreed that the two sides should work together toward deeper cooperation in the future. The President also stressed that Romanias government would continue to target needed investments for transport and aviation development priorities.

Dr. Liu also had the opportunity to meet with Ms. Viorica Dancila, the Prime Minister of Romania. During their talks, PM Dancila agreed with the ICAO Secretary General to making the aviation sector a priority for infrastructure development to support the governments endeavours to increase tourism and trade growth, and she also briefed Dr. Liu on Romanias historic contributions to civil aviation and aeronautical design, and expressed her hope that more Romanian experts could contribute to ICAOs current priorities for civil aviation.

The Secretary General also met with Romanias Minister of Transport, Mr. Lucian Sova, the Director General of Romanias Civil Aviation Authority, Mr. Armand Petrescu, and with the Chair of the Defence Committee of Romanias Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Dorin Caprar, where she discussed a wide range of issues related to aviation.



Throughout these meetings she was accompanied by ICAOs Deputy Director, Safety, Mr. Catalin Radu, Deputy Director, Security and Facilitation, Mr. Sylvain Lefoyer, as well as ICAOs Western and Central African Regional Director, Mr. Mam Sait Jallow, its Eastern and Southern African Regional Director, Mr. Barry Kashambo, and the ICAO Middle East Regional Director, Mr. Mohamed Rahma.

Resources for Editors



About ICAO



A specialized agency of the United Nations, ICAO was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency, capacity and environmental protection, amongst many other priorities. The Organization serves as the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 192 Member States.

ICAO and Aviation Security

ICAO and Aviation Safety

ICAO's No Country Left Behind initiative



Contacts



Anthony Philbin

Chief, Communications

aphilbin@icao.int

+1 514-954-8220

+1 438-402-8886 (mobile)

Twitter: @ICAO



William Raillant-Clark

Communications Officer

wraillantclark@icao.int

+1 514-954-6705

+1 514-409-0705 (mobile)

Twitter: @wraillantclark

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/raillantclark/Singapore firm to invest BND300M for fish farming

May 14,2018 | Source: Borneo Bulletin

Asia, a Singaporean fish farming firm, will invest BND300 million to rear barramundi, or sea bass, in large cages in Bruneis open seas. The company will build an offshore cage farm to grow kuhlbarra barramundi (selungsong) using technology adopted from salmon farming in Norway, said Joep Staarman, Managing Director of Barramundi Asia in an interview. Speaking on the sidelines of a signing ceremony between the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) and Barramundi Asia Pte Ltd to formalise the companys investment, he said, The attractiveness of Brunei is that it has almost virgin territories, clean and free from diseases. Bruneis reputation as a clean, undisturbed place will make an excellent brand for export. Barramundi Asia is one of the largest barramundi farming companies in the world and draws on world-class sustainable fish farming practices and aquaculture technology.



Present at the signing ceremony was Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism. The MPRT said the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalised the intention of Barramundi Asia to invest and develop an area of 6,613 hectares at Nankivell Offshore Aquaculture Site, establish a hatchery and a fish nursery capable of supplying high-quality sea bass juveniles to offshore fish cages, as well as establish a processing plant. For the land-based operation, the company would be allocated an area of 21 hectares located at Sungai Mangsalut in Kampong Tanah Jambu.



When in full operation by 2021, the project is expected to produce 40,000 metric tonnes of barramundi fish valued at BND300 million per year which will be exported to Singapore, Australia and Europe. The establishment of a hatchery and nursery in Brunei Darussalam will ensure supply of fish for the offshore cages and help reduce the risk of disease importation through the imports of fish fry or fingerlings. The project is also expected to provide about 200 job opportunities for the locals. Brunei welcomes investment from Singapore to increase fish production by introducing latest technology in the offshore cage farming as well as providing employment opportunities and other spin-offs businesses for the locals, the ministry added.



Acting Director of Fisheries Mariani binti Haji Sabtu signed the MoU on behalf of the Department of Fisheries, while Barramundi Asia, Singapore was represented by its General Manager Eva Lim. Joep Staarman said the company hopes to expedite the construction of the high-technology offshore fish farm, including a hatchery and a fish nursery at Kampong Tanah Jambu. He said the company will start importing disease-free juveniles from Australia that will take three years to grow to four kilogrammes. Mariani said the output of the farm will be mostly exported.

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Communities and Organisations, Freshwater ecosystems and threats.Spanish Parliament rejects proposals against EU-Morocco fisheries deal

by Safaa Kasraoui

May 14,2018 | Source: Morocco World News

Spanish news agency EFE reported that Spains ruling Popular Party (PP) undermined a motion suggested by the Republican Left of Catalonia Party (ERC) and supported by Polisarios Spanish supporter, the Podemos party. ERCs motion aimed to discuss the illegitimacy of the Moroccan Government to negotiate the current fisheries agreement before the EU. PP senator Clara San Damian contested the proposed bill, emphasizing that the proposal has a political stance that is not related to the fisheries deal.



She added that the 40-year old conflict in Western Sahara should not be resolved outside the auspices of the United Nations, asserting that the Spanish government supports the current negotiations between the EU and Morocco. The motion, according to EFE, would make the negotiation of the EUs fisheries deal with Morocco conditional on the peaceful solution of the Western Sahara conflict as part of the UN process. The proposal also urged the EU to negotiate directly with the representatives of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), allowing the separatist group to benefit from their natural resources.



Morocco and the EU started talks on new fisheries deal in April. Back in February, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco is valid in so far as it is not applicable to Western Sahara and to its adjacent waters. The Moroccan government then opposed the ECJs decision. In April, Moroccan Government Spokesperson Mustapha EL Khalifi said the governments position is to only engage with deals and agreements that respect the countrys national integrity.



He added that although Morocco is keen on its strategic partnership with the EU, it will allow no one to question or challenge its national borders. The Moroccan government also emphasized that it would reject an agreement that leaves out Western Sahara. Spain was among the countries that contested the ECJs decision (ECJ) and has supported launching EU-Morocco negotiations on a new fisheries deal, since the current deal will expire on June 14.



The motion does not mark the first time that Podemos and its allies have proposed pro-Polisario motions to undermine Moroccos integrity. On May 1, Podemos-Compromise suggested before the Spanish parliament that the government express its concerns over the fisheries and agriculture agreements. The Spanish government, according to ERC and Podemos, needs to stand against the exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara by European companies, which are violating international law. Spains ruling PP then rejected the motions and has said that adopting such an institutional declaration would be very counterproductive for technical contacts between the EU and Morocco. The motions, according to PP Senator Agramunt, would even lead to a political crisis with Morocco.

Theme(s): Fisheries Resources, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Communities and Organisations.In Madagascar, fishermen plant mangroves for the future

Hunched over the soil, Malagasy villagers work feverishly  deft fingers planting stalks of mangrove to replace the swathes destroyed for firewood and building material. In just two decades, Madagascar lost about a fifth of its mangrove forest area, exposing its coastline to the oceans ravages and shrinking the nursery grounds of crabs and shrimp  two key exports. With sea levels forecast to rise further due to global warming, coastal villagers are rushing to try and undo the damage, with the help of conservation group WWF.



The ocean keeps rising and rising, and it takes everything with it, lamented 36-year-old crab fisherman Clement Joseph Rabenandrasana, who travelled several kilometres from his home in Beanjavilo to Amboanio on the islands west coast to volunteer in a two-day reforestation drive. Amboanio is a hamlet of about 50 people in the Melaky region, heavily dependent on aquaculture. The mangrove protects us, said Rabenandrasana, while conceding that: I used to harvest mangrove for money to augment a humble crabbing income which averages about 50-80 euros ($60-96) a month.



Rabenandrasana and others on the Indian Ocean island used to sell mangrove wood for construction beams, and used it themselves for cooking and heating, and to construct shelters. We realised too late the importance of this ecosystem, said Eric Ramanitra of WWF, driving the project to sensitise locals to the mangroves indispensable role. Found in the worlds tropical and subtropical regions in more than 120 countries, mangroves serve not only as fish nurseries, but also filter water and shield coastal areas from the force of waves whipped up by cyclones.



I didnt know that fish lay their eggs in the mangrove, said Samuel Razafimamonjy, 59, another volunteer. Mangroves also absorb and store large amounts of carbon dioxide  one of the greenhouse gases driving planet warming. The WWF project helps people replant the mangrove forests and to take charge of managing and protecting the valuable resource in a country rife with political turmoil and corruption. Today, there are dedicated zones where the local community has to give consent for harvesting, and a limit is imposed on the size of plants that can be taken, said Ramanitra.



But the WWF also had to find ways to compensate for mangrove sales that locals such as Rabenandrasana willingly sacrificed. Rabenandrasana nets crabs from a small boat in canals among the mangroves near his home village. He has now learnt to take only those larger than 10 centimetres (four inches), and throw back juveniles and egg-carrying females so as to counter overfishing. Bigger crabs are sold for a better price, and Rabenandrasana has seen his take quadruple while helping preserve the crab stock for the future. Research published in the journal Remote Sensing in 2016 said Madagascar hosts about two percent of the worlds mangroves, with eight endemic species. Mangrove plants can range from small shrubs to tall trees tens of metres high.



Satellite maps revealed that the island lost about 21 percent, or some 57,350 hectares (141,655 acres) of mangrove between 1990 and 2010, the study found. What remains is threatened by sea level rise, and massive sand dumps from rivers upstream disrupting the fragile balance of fresh and salt water the ecosystem needs to flourish. With so much protection from the deeply-anchored mangrove roots lost already, river water lifts sand from the banks and transports it all the way to the ocean via the mangrove in a visible, red stream of silt.



There is reason for concern: Madagascar was already one of 15 countries in the world most affected by extreme climate events between 1997 and 2016, according to environmental watchdog Germanwatch. Globally, mangroves are estimated to be declining at a rate of about one- to two per cent per year, said the 2016 study. The main causes are conversion of mangrove forests for purposes of agriculture or aquaculture, overextraction of wood, and upstream erosion. Natural phenomena such as tropical storms and rising ocean temperatures and sea levels also contributed, said the study, the impacts of which are expected to continue to increase based on current climate change projections. (AFP) AMS.

Theme(s): Fisheries Resources, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Communities and Organisations.By Ruth Anderah.

The pre-trial hearing of terrorism and murder charges against former leader of the Allied Democratic Forces Jamil Mukulu is expected to begin this morning before Justice Eve Luswata of the High Courts International Crimes Division in Kampala.

Mukulu, who is charged together with 34 others on terrorism and murder, was first detained at Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja District and appeared before the Jinja Chief Magistrates Court in 2015 before he was transferred to Luzira prison in Kampala.

Mukulu is charged with one count of terrorism, seven counts of murder, nine counts of aggravated robbery, one count of aiding and abetting terrorism and one count of crimes against humanity.

Other charges are; four counts of attempted murder and one count of belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Mukulu is accused of terrorizing people of Rwenzori and is also linked to a spate of murders of Muslim clerics in the country between 2013 and 2015 and killing of two policemen at a Bugiri Police Station in Busoga.

Mukulu was arrested in Tanzania in April 2015 and extradited to Uganda.By Frederic Musisi.

The second phase of the High Level Revitalization Forum on the South Sudan peace talks is scheduled to start on Thursday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

This has been confirmed by Margaret Kafeero the head of public diplomacy at the ministry of foreign affairs who says the state minister for international relations Henry OkelloOryem is leading Uganda on the talks.

She says Oryem flew to Addis Ababa at the weekend and held back-to-back meetings with his Kenyan and Ethiopian counterparts to galvanize their support for a common ground ahead of the talks held under the guidance of IGAD.

The resumption of the talks follows president Musevenis recent trips to Juba and Cairo during which he, among other things discussed the issue of unrelenting South Sudan conflict with hosts.Imperial Valley News Center

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Interview With Margaret Brennan of CBS Face the Nation

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Interview With Margaret Brennan of CBS Face the Nation:

QUESTION: We want to welcome Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, our first guest here in the new Face the Nation studio. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Its great to be with you. Happy Mothers Day. Its a beautiful studio.

QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you. Its been an extraordinary week for you on many fronts. I want to ask you about North Korea. They have, in the past, pledged to dismantle nuclear sites before. Theyre saying theyre going to do it again. It this latest pledge a theatrical gesture, or is it significant?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, my trip was designed to lay the groundwork to prepare for the Presidents meeting with Chairman Kim on June 12th, now just 30 days away. We have seen this happen before. We have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that the North Koreans have not proved worthy of their promises. But were hopeful that this will be different, that we wont do the traditional model where they do something, and we give them a bunch of money, and then both sides walk away. Were hoping this will be bigger, different, faster. Our ask is complete and total denuclearization of North Korea, and it is the Presidents intention to achieve that. As he has said, well see if that works, but were setting conditions for a successful meeting between the two leaders.

QUESTION: Have you defined denuclearization?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah. Total, full, complete.

QUESTION: That means full dismantling --

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes.

QUESTION: -- stopping computer modeling --

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- getting rid of the centrifuges --

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- stopping all enrichment, getting inspectors on the ground?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, maam, the same deal we should have done with Iran.

QUESTION: So for you, youve talked about making it worth North Koreas while financially --

SECRETARY POMPEO: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: -- if they follow through. John Bolton said today on another network that no one should look to the U.S. for economic aid, including North Korea.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thats right.

QUESTION: How do you reconcile those two things. They seem to be in contrast.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Oh, its very, very  no, no. Oh, no, maam. Very, very consistent. What Chairman Kim will get from America is our finest  our entrepreneurs, our risk-takers, our capital providers, not our taxpayers. Theyll get people who --

QUESTION: Private capital?

SECRETARY POMPEO: They will get private capital that comes in. North Korea is desperately in need of energy support, electricity for their people. They are  theyre in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, the finest from the Midwest that I come from. We can deliver that. And as I said earlier this week, we can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South, and that is our expectation. It wont be U.S. taxpayers. It will be American know-how, knowledge, entrepreneurs, and risk-takers working alongside the North Korean people to create a robust economy for their people, too.

QUESTION: That sounds like sanctions relief --

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well --

QUESTION: -- to make it possible for a company to invest directly in North Korea when we do that --

SECRETARY POMPEO: Maam, if we get denuclearization, of course, there will be sanctions relief, certainly. Therell be more than that. Therell be a real  the President has a commitment, and he will make this commitment to Chairman Kim, I am confident, that says if you do the things we need to do so that America is no longer held at risk by your nuclear weapons arsenal, and that you get rid of your CBW program and missiles that threaten the world, we will ensure that your people have the opportunity for the greatness that I know Chairman Kim wants them to have.

QUESTION: Not many secretaries of state get to say they brought three Americans home in their second week on the job or have even been to North Korea twice in six weeks time. But Im wondering, in your interactions with Kim, because youve had them directly, have you assured him that the U.S. isnt trying to oust him from power?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I have told him that what President Trump wants is to see the North Korean regime get rid of its nuclear weapons program in completely and in totality; and in exchange for that, we are prepared to ensure that the North Korean people get the opportunity that they so richly deserve. Its pretty straightforward, and I said earlier this week I think in that sense Chairman Kim shares that same objective. I think he understands that President Trump has put an enormous pressure campaign in place with the aim of achieving a good outcome for North Korea and its people. Thats our objective. Thats the American goal that President Trump set forward.

QUESTION: So the U.S. no longer believes that Kim Jong-un is holding on to these weapons to secure his place in power? In other words, you are saying no regime change?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Only time will tell how these negotiations will proceed. The President uses the language, says well see. Were  theres still a lot of work to do. The American leadership under President Trump has its eyes wide open. It could be that we wont be successful. Its possible; we acknowledge that. Weve watched this fail before. But the model that has been employed here is fundamentally different, and we are hopeful that we will get a fundamentally different outcome.

QUESTION: What will this summit in Singapore look like? Are you walking into the room with President Trump to sit across from Kim Jong-un?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I dont know.

QUESTION: You dont know yet?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I dont know. Were working on the details, the actual blocking and tackling of the meeting. We have been working on them for weeks. Well have teams working on them in the days and weeks ahead. Weve got now some 30 days, I guess it is, and there will be a great deal of work done between our two countries between now and then to finally set the stage for what we hope will be a very successful visit in Singapore between our two leaders.

QUESTION: So youre still figuring out the protocol, but you spent the most time with Kim Jong-un.

SECRETARY POMPEO: And Ive --

QUESTION: What has struck you about him?

SECRETARY POMPEO: What struck me about  me is very knowledgeable in the sense of he knows the files. Hes very capable of engaging in complex set of discussions. When I ask him a question about something thats a little off, he answers it. Theres no notecards. It is Chairman Kim, in this case, interacting with me directly, having a robust discussion about what the outlines of a successful negotiation between our two countries might ultimately be.

QUESTION: You brought those three Americans home from North Korea. There are still at least four Americans being held in Iran. Their families are concerned that tearing up this diplomacy, exiting the nuclear deal, puts their loved ones at risk. What can you tell them?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Two things. First, everyone should know that this administration is intent on bringing home every American who is held anywhere in the world. Weve got Pastor Brunson in Turkey that we desperately need to get back. We have others held in Iran and in Syria. We are working diligently to get each of them back.

With respect to whether the actions of this past week with respect to the JCPOA increased anyones risk, I think thats ludicrous. The Iranian bad behavior increased, it only increased, during the time of the JCPOA.

QUESTION: Are you willing  are you willing to carry out a prisoner swap with Iran still?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I cant answer that question. We didnt exchange anything for these North Korean detainees. They came back because Chairman Kim thought it was in his best interest to do so, and we are thankful for that. And we are hopeful that Mr. Rouhani, who fancies himself a Westerner, would undertake to release the Iranian detainees as well. He talks about the fact that he wants European business there. The least he could do would be to return all of the people that his country, Mr. Rouhanis country, has hold of.

QUESTION: Fundamentally, a number of our European allies, as you know  Im sure youve had some difficult conversations in the past few days  have been frustrated that the U.S. cut short the diplomacy, in their view. They said in a conversation with you last Friday you assured them that they had  they were close to this side deal to address the things President Trump was worried about. Why not try it? Why not finish that? Why did the President cut that off?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Oh, Margaret, we did. We did try. The President set out a set of objectives. He tasked me in my first couple weeks to work with the Europeans to try and do it, although the work had been ongoing before I arrived at the State Department. And at no time were we able to reach an agreement. The Europeans simply wouldnt accede to the requirements to fix the deal. And so they had some 90 days to do so. We were --

QUESTION: Mm-hmm. They thought they had another five days and could get there on the sunset clause.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Margaret, we had 90 days to work at it. And you should know we will continue to work. President Trump and President Macron have both said we want to get a deal thats right, a bigger deal. We will be hard at that in the weeks ahead. I hope to be a central part of achieving that. It would be a wonderful thing if we could get the Europeans to do this.

But Margaret, I do want to add this: Fundamentally, whats happened during the time of the JCPOA was that the Iranian wealth creation fueled their malign behavior. The money that they had to go and launch missiles into Riyadh and Israel  putting Americans at risk  was provided by the economic benefits they got from the JCPOA. President Trump wants to starve them of that wealth.

QUESTION: So fundamentally though, are you trying to negotiate a new nuclear deal, or are you trying to put together a coalition to defeat Iran?

SECRETARY POMPEO: We are going to put together a coalition that pushes back against not only Irans nuclear program  which, by the way, Margaret, they still deny. No Iranian leader has admitted they had a weapons program, and the facts are now public that they did. They ought to at least be honest about that. But its not going to just be the nuclear file. It will be their missile program. It will be their effort to build Hizballah. Itll be their threats against Israel. Itll be the work that theyre doing in Yemen to launch missiles into Saudi Arabia, for goodness sakes.

This is the activity that the Iranian regime has undertaken during the JCPOA. Were going to make a shift. Were going to deny them the benefit of the economic wealth that has been created and put real pressure, so that theyll stop the full scale of the sponsorship of terrorism with which theyve been engaged in these past years.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you for coming on Face the Nation.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you very much, Margaret. Happy Mothers Day to you.

QUESTION: Thank you.Imperial Valley News Center

Men should know about prostate cancer screening guidelines

Rochester, Minnesota - Men 55 to 69 should talk with their health care provider about screening for prostate cancer that's based on prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. That's according to new recommendations for men from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that are broken down by age:

Men 55 to 69 years

Clinicians inform men ages 55 to 69 years about the potential benefits and harms of screening for prostate cancer based on prostate-specific antigen. Many men will experience potential harm from of screening. Some will have false-positive results that require additional workup, overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and treatment complications, such as incontinence and impotence.

Men 70 and older

Recommends against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer in these men age 70 years and older.

"The recommendations don't change for men over 70," says Dr. Matthew Tollefson, a Mayo Clinic urologist. "If men over 70 are asymptomatic with no family history, they don't' need to have PSA tests every year. Those men have very low risk of dying from prostate cancer. But, for men who are from 55 to 69, there can be a benefit seen with screening. This is where the task force is now giving nuance to the discussion and saying there isn't a blanket statement for everyone."

The prostate-specific antigen blood test is the most common method to screen for prostate cancer. Dr. Tollefson says there are benefits of prostate-specific antigen prostate cancer screening, but it's not risk-free. "Screening men from ages 55 to 69 is the benefit of catching a cancer earlier, when it's easier to treat and potentially cure. If men are screened, then, potentially, that tumor can be identified when it's at a curable state. Then, they can undergo curative treatment and reduce their risk of dying of prostate cancer.

"The risk of being screened, in a lot of ways, comes with the risk of being treated," says Dr. Tollefson. "If a man is screened, and the test shows he is at risk of prostate cancer, frequently, the next step is to get a prostate biopsy. There is a small but real risk of infection to arise after a biopsy. Then, with treatment both with radiation as well as surgery  the risk of incontinence and erectile dysfunction can be a real issue for some men."

Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in American men. About 1 in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Dr. Tollefson says it's important for men to have a conversation with their health care provider to determine the best option that weighs risks and personal preferences.When are opioids OK to take?

Rochester, Minnesota - Opioids can help manage some pain, but it's easy to use them inappropriately. Misuse can cause illness, harm or death. And health problems can develop even when you think you're being careful. Reporter Vivien Williams talks with Dr. Mike Hooten, a pain management specialist at Mayo Clinic.

This can be a common scenario: raiding the medicine cabinet for leftover painkillers after a sprained ankle or toothache. Theres nothing wrong with popping an occasional opioid, right?

They are dangerous. They could have adverse effects that the individual doesnt even know about. That includes addiction or accidental overdose. So when is it appropriate to take opioids?

After an operation, opioids are highly effective, says Dr. Mike Hooten, a pain management specialist at Mayo Clinic. After trauma, for example, severe trauma, opioids would be appropriate.

Dr. Hooten says opioids are also beneficial during procedures, such as colonoscopies. Problems happen when people take them without a prescription or for too long.

If they are predisposed to develop addiction, either neurobiologically or from a behavioral perspective, then all of a sudden we are selecting the individuals who may go on to have long-term problems. If you have pain, talk to your health care provider.Managing depression and MS

Rochester, Minnesota - First, know you're not alone. Depression is very common among people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Between the physical loss of function and lifestyle changes, it's easy to understand how MS could cause depression.

Some evidence also suggests that MS itself may cause changes in the body that make you more vulnerable to depression. Whether your depression is a reaction to or caused by MS, there are effective treatments.

Know the symptoms

Recognizing depression is not always easy. Some of the physical and mental symptoms, such as fatigue and cognitive problems, are common to MS as well. It's also important to distinguish between a fleeting case of "the blues" and true depression.

Some common signs and symptoms of depression include:

Feeling sad or irritable most of the day

Loss of interest or pleasure in activities

Significant weight loss or gain or a decrease or increase in appetite

Sleeping too much or being unable to sleep

Persistent fatigue or loss of energy

Feeling worthless or guilty with no apparent cause

Inability to concentrate or make decisions

Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

You may have all or only a few of these signs and symptoms. The hallmark of depression is that your symptoms persist, usually lasting at least two weeks.

Get help

If you're depressed, don't wait to reach out for help. Talk with your doctor or neurologist first to determine your next step. He or she can help you with treatment or refer you to someone who can help.

Treatments for depression may include:

Medication. Many types of antidepressants are available for depression. These types of drugs generally take a few weeks to reach their full effect. Your doctor will work with you to find the right dosage and best medication for your symptoms.

Talk therapy. This type of treatment ranges from individual sessions with a licensed therapist to support groups. One type, cognitive behavioral therapy, has proved to be very effective in treating depression for people with MS. Many doctors combine drug therapy with some type of counseling.

Studies show that exercise can also significantly improve mood and quality of life for people with MS.Error

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Home Page - Contact WebmasterAbsurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

You care about your friends, right?

So when you're seated in first class and they're in mere economy, you want to do something for them, don't you?

At least give them a small taste of your high life, perhaps.

Well, here's the story of an American Airlines passenger whose attempts at helping his friends went a little too far.

Katie Genter, writing at The Points Guy, relates that she was on a flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta yesterday,

A first class passenger boarded with two friends, whom he helped to slide past the gate agent -- in an apparently brusque manner, with some bad words thrown in -- despite the fact that they had too many carry-ons.

Oh, but the carry-on had only just started.

The first class passenger didn't merely partake of his own pre-departure beverage. He also asked the flight attendant for two more.

Yes, for his poor chums in the back.

Denied, he then tried to order one for himself and one for the woman seated next to him. This woman was "seemingly was a stranger and didn't want the drink," writes Genter, who was also in first class but, one imagines, impeccably behaved.

The flight attendant brought the drinks.

You'll be aghast to the point of being a ghost when I tell you that the first class (insert your own noun here) tried to take the two drinks to his friends in economy.

The flight attendant prevented this somewhat obvious maneuver, which apparently included his need to use the economy class bathroom while carrying the two drinks.

I suspect that the first class (insert your own noun here) may have had an annoying manner about him, which didn't work in his favor.

And then the first class (insert your own noun here) was kicked off the flight. (His friends remained.)

Genter commended the flight attendants. As, she says, did other passengers.

Which really does suggest that the first class (insert your own noun here) was something of a first class (insert your own noun here).

I, though, knowing how airlines adore rules, asked American for its view.

An airline spokesperson confirmed Genter's story and told me: "The customer caused a disruption during the boarding process. We did offer to rebook the customer on a later flight, but he declined and we provided a full refund."

It does sound like the passenger was an infernal nuisance.

My mind, though, went to another place. (It's a bad habit.)

Is it, in fact, against American Airlines policy to take a drink to a friend in economy who might, perhaps, be in desperate need of one?

Not specifically.

It is, however, against federal law.

Regulation 14 CFR 121.575 declares: "No person may drink any alcoholic beverage aboard an aircraft unless the certificate holder operating the aircraft has served that beverage to him."

So now you know. It's not so easy to please those less privileged than yourself on a plane.

Especially, it seems, if you might be something of a (insert your own noun here).United CEO Oscar Munoz gave up a multi-million dollar bonus last year over all the bad press the airline got in 2017. Maybe he'd better start saving for 2018: A Nigerian woman filed a lawsuit against United on Friday "for racial discrimination, denial of freedom and equality, negligence and for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to the complaint, a Nigerian woman named Queen Obioma and two minor children had flown from Lagos to Houston in 2016. They were schedule to fly to San Francisco on March 4 on Flight 404 and then on to Ontario, where the kids were to appear at appointments about attending school there. (Reportedly, many middle-class Nigerians have moved to Canada for a better quality of life and greater opportunities for their children.)

A white male passenger had her ticketed seat in business class and refused to move. She took another seat at the behest of a flight attendant.

The man went toward the cockpit. Obioma placed her luggage into the overhead bin, went to the restroom, and returned before the flight started. By then, the man was back and refusing to to move so she could take her seat. Finally, he moved enough for Obioma to sit down.

At that point, another attendant came up and asked Obioma to leave the plane. Once she did, another staff member said that the family would not be allowed to continue on the flight as the man who had her seat complained about her "pungent" odor.

The complaint claims that the staff then took the children off the plane and that the family had to wait five hours before getting another flight. The family had to extend their stay and reschedule the appointments.

The suit alleges that United "wrongfully singled out Ms. Obioma and her children because of her black race and Nigerian citizenship" and that the entire family was "embarrassed, humiliated, in shock, and puzzled."

Over the weekend, a United spokesperson provided a statement to MSN that said the company hadn't yet received the lawsuit and couldn't comment because the matter was pending.

The event should never have happened, whether asking someone to give up her seat or allowing one person to effectively take control of operations.

This wasn't a case of a Starbucks barista refusing to let a black man use the bathroom before making a purchase. The treatment of the family involved multiple people working together to implement and support a decision that was wrong in many ways from the very onset.

A company is responsible to its shareholders, of course. It has other responsibilities as well. There is what it owes employees who make success possible. What customers are due. And the duty a company has greater society.

The event happened two years ago, but as the suit shows, bad actions manage to remain and fester. People don't forget how they've been mistreated and increasingly it is becoming impossible for management to sweep something aside that smacks of racism, gender discrimination, or some other fundamental bigotry, too long excused and supported, and expect it to disappear.By Moses Kyeyune.

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has asked the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to provide sanitary towels for women in refugee camps.

The Speaker was on Monday officiating at the launch of new standards for re-usable sanitary pads at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

Kadaga said it is displeasing if women in camps cannot be catered for to ensure their menstrual hygiene.

She also wants local manufacturers of reusable sanitary towels to expand to cover the whole country.When we think about business and creation, we think first that the people running businesses are lauded as job creators. Or, perhaps, of the Austrian-born economist Joseph Schumpeter's enduring description of capitalism as "creative destruction."

What's too often overlooked is that so many businesses are themselves creative. Creativity isn't restricted to an obvious artistic field, like film or dance. Lots of companies not only make something out of nothing, they also structure reality in a way that few if any have seen before.

Take, for example, Adelle Archer of Eterneva, whom you'll meet as part of our Rising Stars cover package. Moved by the premature death of a mentor, Archer found a way to transform the ashes of a deceased loved one or pet into jewelry, a physical, daily way to keep the departed with us. That product may not be to everyone's taste, but as a creative act it can stand with a great song or painting.

There's a lot of equally impressive ingenuity elsewhere in this issue. Consider Intuition Robotics' ElliQ, a robot created to reduce the isolation experienced by too much of our elderly population. And the Naya pump, which is painstakingly engineered to reduce the discomfort of pumping breast milk.

Sometimes creativity comes not in the form of a new product but in a new method of delivering it. In "The Race to Reinvent Everything," Inc. editor-at-large Tom Foster takes a very detailed look at companies that sell everyday products--eyeglasses, razors--directly to consumers, a trend that in a few short years has upended retail in several industries. That, too, is a creative endeavor--even if, as Foster notes, this powerful new model is no guarantor of long-term success.

That sobering insight is a reminder that there will always be a tension between creation and profit. But it's a challenge that Inc. readers face every day. Here's to your mission, and your determination to experiment, assess, and get it right. And to our mission: to celebrate all you create, and help you every step of the way.In Japan, having a sense of purpose is expressed through the term ikigai. It means "life worth living." Associated with a sense of ikigai is a greater motivation to live and to experience positive emotions like joy and love. In a longitudinal study named the Ohsaki Study, it included over 40,000 Japanese women and men aged between 40 to 79 years. Researchers asked a simple question: "Do you have ikigai in your life?" Researchers learned that those without a clear ikigai had an increased risk of mortality. Why does purpose positively influence longevity in life? And how does your business benefit from employees having a sense of purpose?

The Personal Benefits of Purpose

Scientists are still studying why purpose positively influences our health and longevity in life. However, author and researchers Todd Kashdan and Patrick McKnight offer some "pathways" to purpose. Below are some of the pathways. They provide a glimpse into making sense of the value of purpose to your employees and your business.

Cognitive Engagement

Here Kashdan and McKnight suggest that a sense of purpose may help people engage more deeply in their work. This can lead to a more profound sense of satisfaction creating a virtuous cycle: purpose fuels focus; focus leads to progress in work.

Goals

When you or your employees have a sense of purpose, you are more likely to know and name your core values. You can more easily align your interests with your personal "Why." Combined, your values and interests help you identify goals. What's more, your purpose enables you to develop meaningful goals. Kashdan and McKnight warn, however, that it is faulty logic to assume a sense of purpose means goal clarity and attainment.

Resilience

In the face of obstacles and setbacks, resilient people find a way to keep moving forward. Researchers have posited that purpose plays a role in resilient people. The logic goes like this: My clarity of purpose helps me stay focused on what I need to do when I encounter a problem. Purpose, in this case, is like the north star. It helps guide you when you don't have all the means necessary to navigate back to where you want to be.

Health and Wellbeing

The Ohsaki Study found plenty of wellness benefits in the participants who answered "yes" to the study's question. Here is a list of some of the positive outcomes:

Self-rated health was good or excellent (77 percent)

Mild or very mild bodily pain (50 percent)

Unlimited physical functioning (81 percent)

Sleep duration was between seven and eight hours (69 percent)

Low perceived mental stress (22 percent)

It's interesting to note that 66 percent of those who said they have a sense of ikigai experienced moderate levels of stress. The study did not suggest reasons for the substantial increase.

Business Benefits of Purpose

So, what do companies say about the value of purpose? In one study from EY Beacon Institute and Harvard Business School, the top five essential elements linked to purpose are creating value for customers, having a positive impact on society/the community, inspiring innovation, and positive change, providing employees with a sense of meaning and fulfillment, and generating financial returns for shareholders.

A clear purpose is a potent, aspirational factor linked to performance. It's also a strong intrinsic motivator that excites employees to want to apply their talents and strengths to their work. However, a false sense of purpose can backfire. To prevent purpose to go the way of values, vision, and mission, leaders need to have a genuine conversation about the company's "Why." It must be socialized at all levels of the organization. When employees freely advocate and promote your company's purpose, you've achieved an organic, genuine belief in why your company exists.The list of universities that graduate the most future CEOs of well-funded startups is topped by some familiar names.

Among startups that raised more than $1 million in the past year, 148 had CEOs who graduated from Harvard, one more than the total from Stanford, according to TechCrunch data. MIT was third, followed by the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, The top 20 universities on the list represent more than 800 global startups.

Although applications to MBA programs are on the decline, TechCrunch found that the degree remains popular among those who become CEOs. For example, more than half of the top executives that graduated from Harvard attended the university's business school.

Here is the list of the top 20:

1. Harvard

2. Stanford

3. MIT

4. University of Pennsylvania

5. Columbia

6. UC Berkeley

7. Cornell

8. Northwestern

9. Yale

10. University of Michigan

11. UCLA

12. Carnegie Mellon

13. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

14. Duke

15. USC

16. Princeton

17. NYU

18. University of Wisconsin, Madison

19. DartmouthHiring a remote employee can be a nerve-racking experience, especially if it's the first time you've added a remote member to your team. You may be well-versed in traditional interview strategies, but what happens when you're hundreds of miles away from your top prospect?

Below, six entrepreneurs share their top tips for making sure a remote job candidate will be an ideal fit for your team -- before you make the commitment of extending a job offer.

1. Consider whether the potential hire has been successful before

Remote work isn't a good fit for everyone, so Andy Karuza, founder of wireless parking sensor and app maker FenSens, recommends seeking out someone with a strong record of achievement in remote work situations.

"It's always good to hire remote workers who have demonstrable experience and success working remotely in the past," he says. "Some people simply can't handle working in an unstructured environment, so you need to get a clear idea of whether they have been able to do so before. When interviewing, focus on asking questions about their results and experience working remotely."

2. Understand how the candidate communicates

"Communication is not a new idea, but I don't see enough managers talking about communication style," says Nick Eubanks, founder and CEO of digital marketing and technical SEO agency I'm From the Future. Staying informed and engaged can be extra tough with a remote team, so it's crucial to evaluate the way your potential hire communicates.

"Understanding the style of your team's internal communication, and using this to create a rubric to define what an effective remote hire will look like, has been instrumental in scaling our offshore teams for research and data gathering," says Eubanks.

3. Use behavioral interviewing

Even if you conduct an interview through video chat, it can be hard to get a feel for how a potential employee will respond to real-life situations when you've never seen him or her in action. That's why Arian Radmand, CEO and president of concierge photo printing service TurnGram, suggests using behavioral questions in your interview.

"Behavioral interviewing is the best way I know to ensure good hires," he says. "This technique involves asking situation-based questions and having candidates give concrete examples of how they behaved in certain situations. It is next to impossible to fabricate a story from your past, especially when you drill down deep to get to the bottom of the situation. It's never failed me."

4. Consider a freelance contract first

If you're nervous about adding a team member you've never met in person, you may be able to put your concerns at ease by bringing on your prospect as a freelancer before offering a permanent position.

"I find one of the best ways to assess the qualities of a remote candidate is to hire them on a freelance basis," says Vik Patel, CEO of VPS hosting service Future Hosting. "Give them a substantial 'audition' project to complete. It will help you assess how reliable they are and how well they communicate. Afterward, you're free to hire them full time or go in a different direction."

5. Schedule a jam session

If hiring a remote employee on a trial basis doesn't feel like the right move, consider how you can loop your prospect in with the team to simulate a typical work environment. "We've found scheduling 'jam sessions' where multiple team members are working on the same project at once is a great way to strengthen our relationships and tackle work collaboratively," says Ross Beyeler, CEO of e-commerce consultancy Growth Spark.

"These are typically video calls where members are working at the same time but not necessarily on the same issue. A test session like this with a potential hire could be a great way to vet them," says Beyeler.

6. Stay true to your company culture

"While a remote employee may not contribute to daily interactions, their fit with the company's culture is just as critical," notes Amanda Elms, CEO and founder of genetic counseling solution Metis Genetics. After all, a strong culture has a huge impact on your team's overall success.The Cannes film festival began last week shadowed by controversy: organisers refused to show Netflix films in competition because they werent getting theatrical releases. The streaming service responded by boycotting Cannes, not even showing movies out of competition.

The two organisations may resolve their differences (Netflix sounded more conciliatory this month), but moviegoers understandably want to know: whats the big deal?

Ben Kenigsberg, who regularly reviews films for The New York Times, and Jason Bailey, who writes about streaming movies for The Times Watching service, discuss the question: does it matter if you see a film in a theatre or at home?

Ben Kenigsberg: Absolutely, seeing a movie in a theatre makes a difference, and not just for the obvious reasons (picture quality, sound, the absence of the distractions of home viewing).

Dunkirk is a film that demanded to be seen in cinemas (Rex)

I challenge anyone to explain how the fluidity Steven Spielberg brings to the action in Ready Player One holds up at home. Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here has imagery too dark and a sound design too layered for their full complexity to register on a TV, tablet or computer. And thats to say nothing of the great screen spectacles  Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey or, more recently, Dunkirk  designed as overwhelming experiences.

At their best, movies are also a social activity, and thats as true today as in 1895. The hush that falls over a crowd during the largely dialogue-free A Quiet Place intensifies the suspense. Watching Vertigo in a theatre for the umpteenth time last month, I heard gasps from viewers unfamiliar with its twists.

And of course, there are all sorts of other reasons that going to the movies and home viewing arent comparable. Spending an evening out spills over to other places, like restaurants and bars.

Jason Bailey: The immersion, camaraderie and technical advantages of theatrical viewing are clearly preferable  in theory. In practice, its a different beast. And too often, those who most loudly advocate for preserving the magic of the theatrical experience arent having the same experience as the average moviegoer; filmmakers, industry executives, and (yes) critics see movies for free, at premieres and festivals and media screenings, in spiffed-up venues, cosy private screening rooms, or even (gasp) fancy home cinemas.

The hush that falls over a crowd during the largely dialogue-free A Quiet Place (starring Emily Blunt) intensifies the suspense (Rex)

Regular audiences, on the other hand, shell out top dollar for a new release (often with surcharges for 3D, Imax and other superfluous bells and whistles). Theyll see something like A Quiet Place in a packed multiplex, its spell broken by the sonic booms of Pacific Rim: Uprising bleeding in from the next auditorium.

Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

And they may find themselves in a reserved seat next to a fellow moviegoer who chooses to spend those two hours answering texts and fave-ing pictures on Instagram.

Is this always the case? No. But its not uncommon. So who can blame a viewer who chooses to watch new movies, less expensively, in an environment they control?

Kenigsberg: Thats an argument for improving theatres (and moviegoers behaviour), not for avoiding them. Studios and major cinema owners deserve some blame for cheapening the theatrical experience.

The past decades shift from film projection to digital has changed the way movies feel, transforming them into what Quentin Tarantino has called television in public. Even if the average viewer doesnt perceive the difference in texture, the conversion has still robbed movies of what was specific and tangible about a theatrical presentation. No, I cant blame anyone who prefers television in private.

But well-run theatres are, as you say, still better; many of the best are independent or belong to smaller chains. Filmgoers should vote with their wallets. If you see a movie and the picture is bright, it sounds great and the staff kicks out smartphone users, go back. If the image is dim and text messagers fiddle away with impunity, go somewhere else.

Similarly, educate yourself on which extras are worthwhile. I made a point of seeing Blade Runner 2049 in a Dolby cinema, knowing Id get some of the best digital projection around. By the way, my rapt viewing of A Quiet Place happened in an ordinary suburban multiplex.

Blade Runner 2049 is a spectacular viewing experience (Rex)

Bailey: Youre right that its up to theatres and moviegoers to improve  but these arent exactly new complaints, and there doesnt seem to be much urgency to change course. And yes, there are exceptions, but all too often those indie houses and small chains are only options for moviegoers in larger markets. (And the same goes for 35mm vs digital projection, though I agree that its more of a point of importance for cinephiles.)

Honestly, the question of access is key to understanding the shift to streaming over the past several years. And not just access to theatres; I spent my first 30 years in Wichita, Kansas, which is (to put it mildly) not among the first cities to get indies, documentaries or foreign films. So I would spend months hearing about those kinds of movies before they finally made their way to a theatre where I could see them, if ever  most I would see on video, six-plus months later. Now, those movies are frequently available on demand or on Netflix at the same time as their limited theatrical release.

Netflix movies may not get to play in competition at Cannes, but my movie-crazy cousin back home can see them the same day I can. Or he can go to his multiplex, where Avengers: Infinity War is on two-thirds of the screens. I know which he prefers.

Kenigsberg: I hear the access argument often, but that access is at least partly a mirage. Of the 30 most acclaimed movies so far this year, according to the review aggregation site Metacritic, only three that have opened in theatres (Paddington 2; the Hungarian Oscar contender, On Body and Soul; and the Estonian folk tale November) are available to stream (as of this writing).

If we add in movies that opened in 2017 or earlier, the appropriate point of comparison is not theatres but the video stores that the streaming services replaced. Netflixs classics movies section  around 30 films  might not have passed muster at a Blockbuster.

If you want to see Lean on Pete, Where is Kyra? or any of the reputedly excellent indie films I have on my to-watch list, home viewing is not much help, at least for now. Maybe that will change, you say. But as Netflix has gained market share, it has reduced the number of movies it has offered, which doesnt inspire confidence in it or other companies eagerness to bring obscure titles to the heartland. In any case, its not clear why that goal is incompatible with having theatres.

Okja benefited from a Netflix release

Bailey: Theres no doubt that the Netflix model is deeply, deeply flawed, both in terms of its laughable classics selection and the speed with which many contemporary independent films crawl to the service. Netflixs priorities mostly favour its original series, but I maintain that far more viewers saw Mudbound, Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), and far more quickly, than if those movies had received more conventional releases.

And even films that still go the theatrical route are available for home viewing sooner (the delay has shrunk to 90 days or less), which means audiences end up venturing out to theatres only for movies that seem like essential big-screen viewing.

Theres certainly room for both. What seems clear is that at this point, studios, distributors and streaming services have to figure out a way to coexist.

The choice between a genuinely immersive outing to a theatre and an affordable, user-friendly experience at home could (and should) be a difficult one. At this particular moment, its usually not.

 The New York TimesSalma Hayek has said male film stars should take pay cuts to show they are serious about promoting gender equality in Hollywood.

This year's Cannes film festival is considered one of the most glamorous events in the film calendar, but the mood this year has been more serious in the wake of the Time's Up and #MeToo movements.

On Sunday 13 May, Hayek became the latest actress to raise important issues of equality by arguing that actors, as well as producers, need to change in order to close the pay gap.

The Mexican-born actress has been a leading voice in the #MeToo movement, and was among the 82 women who stopped halfway to the entrance of the Palais des Festivals, in a protest against women's curtailed advancement in the film industry.

"We are 82 women, representing the number of female directors who have climbed these stairs since the first edition of the Cannes film festival in 1946. In the same period, 1,688 male directors have climbed these very same stairs," Cate Blanchett said, reading a collective statement alongside veteran documentary-maker Agnes Varda.

"The prestigious Palme d'Or has been bestowed upon 71 male directors, too numerous to mention by name, but only two female directors."

Hayek said the protest had been "very meaningful... as a woman [who] has had to go through all the struggles that all women have to go through."

27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson

"Time's up," shr said later at a Women in Motion talk. "You had a good run, but it is time now to be generous with the actresses.

"If actors ask such inflated fees it will leave nothing for actresses. If the movie's budget is $10m, the [male] actor has to understand that if he is making $9.7m, it is going to be hard for equality. Otherwise they will kill the movie."

Hayek set up the Women in Motion talks at Cannes four years ago with her husband, Kering luxury goods boss Francois-Henri Pinault.We've already been given a hint as to where the future of the Marvel cinematic universe lies.

And it seems it could very well be with Kamala Khan, otherwise known as Ms. Marvel, with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealing to the BBC that her addition to the cinematic universe is "definitely sort of in the works".

"Captain Marvel's shooting right now with Brie Larson," Feige said. "Ms. Marvel, which is another character in the comic books, the Muslim hero who is inspired by Captain Marvel, is definitely sort of in the works. We have plans for that once we've introduced Captain Marvel to the world."

The moniker of Ms. Marvel has been used by several heroes, including the current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers - the character Brie Larson is set to play.

However, Ms. Marvel in the comics is currently the guise of Kamala Khan, a teenage Pakistani American from New Jersey with shapeshifting abilities.



She also happens to idolise Carol Danvers, who passes on the mantle of Ms. Marvel to Khan after she becomes Captain Marvel.

Created by Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, G. Willow Wilson, and Adrian Alphona, Khan became Marvel's first Muslim character to headline her own comic book, with the first issue winning the Hugo Award for best graphic story in 2015.

Captain Marvel will hit UK cinemas 8 March 2019.

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more.The latest record from Arctic Monkeys appears to be starting to win over fans after initial criticism.

Upon its release on Friday (11 May), the album drew middling reactions from many who were surprised by the band's drastic change of sound. It appears, however, that those who have allowed the record - titled Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - some time to sink in are feeling far more positive about the Sheffield group's latest release.

Their sixth album is an impressive and ambitious feat that should be celebrated. After only a few days but many, many spins, we've written attempted a ranking of each and every album track, written by Alex Turner, including the brand new single Four Out Of Five - the Stanley Kubrick-inspired video of which you can watch here.

Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Arctic Monkeys formed in Sheffield in 2002, releasing their debut album in 2006. Since then they have six studio albums to their name. Getty/Orion Music + More Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - 2006 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was Arctic Monkeys debut album. It became the fastest selling debut album in British music. It won the Mercury Prize for best album in 2006. The group picked up two BRIT awards also, one for best album and the other best group. Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Mercury Prize - 2006 The Arctic Monkeys on stage after winning the Mercury Prize in 2006 PA Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Arctic Monkeys perform - 2006 The Arctic Monkeys performed at the Reading Festival in 2006 Getty Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Favourite Worst Nightmare - 2007 Favourite Worst Nightmare was Arctic Monkeys second album release. It went straight to number one in the UK album charts. It was nominated for the 2007 mercury prize, however lost out to the Klaxons, Myths of the Near Future. They picked up the best album at the BRIT awards for a second year in 2008. Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Brit Awards - 2007 Arctic Monkeys make a video acceptance speech after receiving the Award for Best British Group during the Brit Awards in 2007 PA Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Arctic Monkeys perform - 2007 The Arctic Monkeys performed on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 2007 PA Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Humbug - 2009 Arctic Monkeys third album was titled Humbug and was different to their previous albums as they introduced several different instruments that had not featured in the others. The guitar effects were particularly different, alongside multiple keyboards. The album went triple platinum in the UK. Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Arctic Monkeys perform - 2009 Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys performs during the 2009 Lollapalooza music festival at Grant Park in Chicago. Getty Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Suck It and See - 2011 The fourth album, Suck it and see, was released in 2011. It reached number one in the UK charts in it's first week and won Mojo award for the best album of 2011. Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Arctic Monkeys perform - 2011 Arctic Monkeys performing in 2011 PA Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures London 2012 Olympic Games - 2012 The Arctic Monkeys performed during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games Getty Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures AM - 2013 AM was Arctic Monkeys fifth album release. Once again, the band were nominated for the mercury prize best album. It was once of their most successful selling albums outside of the UK, with the single Do I wanna know? entering the Billboard Hot 100. Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures GQ Men of the Year Awards - 2013 The Arctic Monkeys also picked up the Band award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in 2013 PA Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - 2018 The Arctic Monkeys headlined Glastonbury Festival in 2013 Getty Arctic Monkeys: career in pictures Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - 2018 Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is Arctic Monkeys sixth album release, five years after their last. It's the longest they have gone, during their career, taking to release another album.

11 | Golden Trunks

Could Golden Trunks go down as one of the albums most unfairly maligned tracks? The song remains an admirable experiment despite substituting Matt Helders for harmonies and light percussion. While its political undercurrent may deter some, the track peaks in its final half and boasts some of the albums low-key greatest lyrics. In Turners words, its the closest thing the album has to a love song.

10 | The Worlds First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip

The theme of social media and clickbait media may be slightly tired but when presented in a wittily-titled ditty such as this, its hard not to be won over. In many ways, this songs existence - with its carnival vibe - is the one that would have been the most unthinkable just four short years ago. The Worlds First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip would be severely missed if not present.

9 | "Science Fiction"

"Science Fiction" presents Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino with its first lull, however minor that is. Splitting listeners down the middle (many reviews have cited it as their favourite track), the song serves as the springboard for the record's thematic undercurrent. "I want to make a simple point about peace and love, but in a sexy way where its not obvious, Turner sings amid eerie instrumentation inspired by German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. A standout for anyone else, but one that pales in comparison to the superior songs surrounding it.

8 | "She Looks Like Fun"

A grower of the highest order, this theatrical number is one Miles Kane away from being a Last Shadow Puppets track. The song, fit with backing vocals from Tame Impala's Cam Avery, provides Helders with his moment as Turner drawls random words ("Cheeseburger!" "Snowboarding" "Bukowski!") in a bid to tear apart the meaninglessness of social media. If you arrive for that commentary, stay for the mid-section guitar solos which pave the way for the frontman making fun of his own behaviour ("I need to spend less time stood around in bars / Waffling on to strangers all about martial arts," he sings, a grin clearly on his face).

7 | The Ultracheese

If Alex Turner penned a musical, this would be its highlight most likely deployed before the interval. Perhaps their grandest ballad yet, and the biggest evidence of his newly-acquired Steinway, this ultra cheesy number (see what they did?) is a merging of AMs No 1 Party Anthem and The Last Shadow Puppets Sweet Dreams TN with reference to the booth featured in Piledriver Waltz. With any luck, the album closer - worlds away from previous efforts including A Certain Romance, 505 and Thats Where Youre Wrong - will become a regular fixture in karaoke booths across the world.

6 | "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino"

Submit yourself to the record's title track and you may just find the hairs on your neck springing on end. Explore this song's rooms and you'll surprisingly unearth Arctics of old (there are shades of "Don't Forget Whose Legs You Are" present here) as well as a bass line to die for courtesy of Nick O'Malley. In many ways, this song could well be the most accurate emblem of the group's new era while still possessing that quintessential sound fans will be hoping for.

Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

5 | Batphone

Its with this track - a follow-on from the social media jibe presented in She Looks Like Fun - that Arctic Monkeys show just how far theyve advanced musically in five years. Any band can evolve in sound, but it takes a true mainstay to evolve in skill and Batphone is proof of this, a sprawling track that takes a little poking around before slotting into place; when it does, it flies.

4 | "Four Out Of Five"

On its (lunar) surface, "Four Out Of Five" is the records explicit explanation of the namesake establishment it presents. Deeper down, its a song criticising the world's insistence on throwing forward a multitude of things to consume hampering the ability to sit back and enjoy one thing in a larger way.

The result is perhaps the album's best chance of a 'mainstream' song albeit one that features references from Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey ("Clavius") and Neil Postman book Amusing Ourselves to Death ("the information-action ratio" lending the name to Turner's fictional rooftop taqueria.

Beginning a more typical affair with a familiar-sounding riff - think "Do I Wanna Know?"s unruly cousin - the song boasts a final half directly reminiscent of latter stage Fab Four with the backing harmonies and repetition evoking "Sexy Sadie" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

3 | "One Point Perspective"

That one of the albums best tracks directly precedes the best is no coincidence. In truth, theres really nothing between this and our pick for number one despite a drastically differing tone. Once you've overcome the fact its opening five seconds sound exactly like Robbie Williams song Something Beautiful (you won't be able to unhear it), you'll discover a track boasting some of the record's greatest lyrics and vocal delivery born from sitting alone behind that piano gifted to him for his 30th birthday. Bear with me man, I lost my train of thought, he sings twice after listlessly wading through ambitions before melancholically realising these wont come to fruition. A ready-made Arctic Monkeys classic.

2 | Star Treatment

One of their most striking album openers if only for how vastly different it is to every one that has come before. It may not be up there as the most exhilarating of efforts but Star Treatment could well be the albums slowest burn that benefits from each listen. Once you get to grips with the songs intricacies and (if necessary) the fact this wont be just anotherAM, an impressively-recorded song with the best Turner lyric delivery manifests. Perhaps the most introspectively-biographical Turner has ever been, with references to his love of The Strokes and Leonard Cohen as well as the wax he wears in his hair.

1 | "American Sports"

According to Alex Turner, this track is not the most well-recorded thing on the album. What "American Sports" is, however, is the jewel in Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino's crown, a moody dystopian sequel-of-sorts to Star Treatment thats as good as anything Arctic Monkeys have ever produced destined to go down a similar path to one of the groups most underrated offerings (see also: "Dance Little Liar"). The tracks dramatic piano - played by Mini Mansions Tyler Parkford - collides with Turners organ to breathe life into this moon-set-track that succinctly sets the tone for the remainder of the record (its the shortest track at 02.38). Oh, and it's "Lolas" not "loners." Breathtaking.

Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is out now via Domino RecordsA 16-year-old pianist has won the BBC's prestigious Young Musician award, right before her GCSE exams.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lauren Zhang began learning the piano aged 4 and moved to the UK in 2010 with her family after winning a place at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She is also an accomplished violinist.

She impressed judges with her performance of the challenging "Piano Concerto No 2" by Prokofiev, accompanied by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

She beat cellist Maxim Calver and saxophone player Rob Burton to win the award, with Kerry Andrew, chair of the judging panel, noting her performance left everyone "breathless".

Conductor Mark Wigglesworth also praised Zhang, whose performance for the BBC Young Musician competition was her first time with a professional orchestra.

"When you meet Lauren she seems... I wouldn't say 'shy' but controlled within herself and very confident about her own personality, he said. "Then you hear her play and you discover this incredible depth and range of thought and imagination. That's an extraordinary combination."

Judge Tom Poster also called her a "compelling performer", observing an "electricity in the room" as she performed. "People were really listening," he said.

The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Show all 10 1 /10 The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Lordi made history in 2006 by becoming the first hard rock act and Finnish artist to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 with the song 'Hard Rock Hallelujah'. Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time In 2007, Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest as his drag stage persona Verka Serduchka, finishing in second place. AFP/Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Pop duo Jedward, who became famous after appearing on the sixth series of The X Factor, represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, having previously represented the country at the competition the year before. AFP/Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time The Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 opened with a fashion show that saw models donning unusual costumes made from what appeared to be toilet paper strut down the catwalk. Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Six members from the band 'Buranovskiye Babushki' represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 while wearing embroidered clothing handed down from generations of Udmurt women. They finished in third place. AFP/Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Jamie-Lee Kriewitz represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 when she was 18 years old, performing her song 'Ghost'. Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Norwegian glam metal band Wig Wam performed as representatives of Norway at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, achieving ninth place. Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time In 2008, puppet character Dustin the Turkey represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest, only managing to reach the semi-final. AFP/Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Lithuanian music group InCulto reached the second final of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010, announcing the splitting up of their band less than a year later. Getty Images The weirdest Eurovision outfits of all time Pop band Scooch were selected to represent the UK at the European Song Contest in 2007, performing the song 'Flying the Flag (For You)' while dressed as flight attendants. AFP/Getty Images

Zhang said she was "astonished" after receiving the prize. "I'm pleasantly surprised and I can't believe it," she said.

"The journey, right from the start of the competition, has been incredible."

Zhang will perform at the BBC's Biggest Weekend event in Coventry on 28 May, as well as a special BBC Young Musician 40th anniversary concert at the BBC Proms on 15 July, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.Live at Leeds took place on a glorious, swelteringly hot day last weekend, where The Independent hosted a stage at Stylus that was jam-packed with music fans from the off, featuring great sets from emerging artists including Sam Fender, The Night Cafe and The Indigo Project.

Superorganism played a raucous, colourful set which included their pop banger Everybody Wants To Be Famous.

Superorganism on the Indy stage at Live at Leeds 2018

Superorganism

Then the magnificent Louis Berry took to the stage for rousing performances of songs like .45, Restless, 25 Reasons and She Wants Me.

Berrys husky voice and a swaggering, cheeky attitude made him an immediate crowd favourite; fans went nuts on each and every track, roaring appreciation for his band too, who were on particularly excellent form.

Somehow things got even rowdier with indie rock band Blaenavon as they aired out some new material from their upcoming second album and tracks from their gorgeous debut Thats Your Lot, including the stunning My Bark Is Your Bite.

Finally, it was time for our headliners Circa Waves, who stormed the stage and blasted through an intense set of some of their best work, including tracks from their brilliant second LP Different Creatures.

Circa Waves on The Independent stage at Live at Leeds (Ben Bentley)

Beers went flying, fans moshed, it was carnage, but in the absolute best way.The stars of Britain's glittering TV scene came out in full force on Sunday evening to celebrate the best and brightest in their industry at Bafta's annual TV Awards.

While Peaky Blinders and The Handmaid's Tale took home some of the most coveted awards at the ceremony, legions of individuals stole the show on the red carpet for their sartorial prowess.

With warmer climes fast-approaching, a number of attendees channelled a summertime aesthetic to suit the changing seasons, with dynamic florals, romantic silhouettes and vibrant Gen Z yellows all making prominent appearances.

Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Show all 20 1 /20 Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Claire Foy The Crown star wore a strapless ivory gown by Rosetta Getty, accessorized with a Times Up badge. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Jodie Whittaker The Doctor Who actress showed support for Times Up in this high-neck navy and black ensemble complete with a Les Georgettes clutch. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Thandie Newton The Westworld actress brought a splash of vibrancy to the red carpet in this bold floral look by young British designer Richard Quinn. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Vanessa Kirby Before taking home the award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Princess Margaret in The Crown, the British star took to the red carpet in a sparkling embelished gown by Dior. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Harry Judd The former McFly drummer chose a suave navy blue suit for the annual soiree. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Louise Redknapp Redknapp turned heads in a black tier-skirted gown complete with orange and steely blue florals. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Ella Purnell The young British actress opted for a detailed black and silver gown by Chanel, for whom the 21-year-old is a brand ambassador. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Michelle Keegan Channeling a Disney princess-chic look, the former Coronation Street actress wore a lemon yellow strapless gown to the annual ceremony. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Anna Friel Friel's sweeping olive green gown came complete with a decadent velvet bodice. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Alesha Dixon The Britain's Got Talent judge opted for an off-the-shoulder scarlet design by Tara Jarmon. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Abbey Clancy The English model wore a plunging bejewelled gown adorned with lace ruffles by Redemption. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Emma Willis Sporting a Times Up badge, the British TV presenter wore a dynamic cut-out gown that exposed her shoulder via a gold tinsel-like trim. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Charlotte Riley The Peaky Blinders actress opted for an androgynous rock n' roll-inspired look by French couturier Alexandre Vauthier. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Kate Wright and Rio Ferdinand The former Manchester United star made his debut red carpet appearance alongside girlfriend Kate Wright, who he personally thanked in his acceptance speech when he picked up the award for his documentary Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Laura Whitmore The Irish TV presenter and model radiated in a canary yellow gown complete with a lace bodice by Sophia Kah. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Amanda Holden and Alexa Louise Florence Hughes The TV presenter attended the ceremony alongside her 12-year-old daughter wearing a fuchsia gown by Polish label La Mania. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Georgia Toffolo The Made in Chelsea darling was the perfect springtime poster girl in this romantic tiered gown by Greek fashion house, Costarellos. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Gabriella Wilde The Poldark actress donned a strapless off-the-shoulder fitted black gown by Mother of Pearl. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Claudia Winkleman Never one to shy away from sartorial eccentricities, the British TV presenter opted for a crimson leopard print gown for the annual awards ceremony. Rex Features Bafta TV Awards 2018: Best dressed on the red carpet Caitriona Balfe The Irish actress and model sported a feathery design by Spanish house Delpozo. Rex Features

However, not everyone conformed to the black tie dress code that typically permeates such prestigious award ceremonies, with This Country star Daisy May Cooper taking home the gong for best female comedy performance wearing a Swindon Town FC T-shirt dress.

The Gloucestershire-born actress and writer garnered a mountain of praise on social media for her subversive choice, with some even labelling it as "iconic" and worthy of an award in and of itself.

The majority of guests decided to play it a bit safer with their wardrobe choices, taking to the red carpet in an array of opulent dresses and graphic prints..

From The Crown's Vanessa Kirby, who dazzled in Dior, to former Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan giving Princess Belle a run for her money in a billowing lemon gown, click through the gallery above to see our pick of the best-dressed celebrities on the night.Whats behind the name, Ella Canta?

I think Ella Canta is a beautiful name that embodies femininity and female pride. It represents the fact that cooking is a complete entity  it involves passion and beauty and it is a symphony  it is a complete concept.

How similar is Ella Canta to your Mexican flagship restaurant, Dulce Patria?

They are similar in many ways  Dulce Patria is a very poetic and feminine restaurant. I have taken inspiration from these elements in the dishes we serve at Ella Canta. My restaurant in Mexico City is the proud mother of Ella Canta.

Why did you choose Park Lane to open up and inside the InterContinental hotel? Were you not worried that people would not come because it was inside a hotel?

It was a great opportunity to showcase Mexico in one of Londons best locations and were pleased to be associated with the brand, but we are also fortunate as Ella Canta has her independence too. She has her own identity that we can experiment with and evolve  it is not what someone typically assumes when thinking of a hotel restaurant. It has its own entrance and its own style.

Holy guacamole  with certain panache and elegance

How have you managed to modernise Mexican food? Why was it so important that it was modern?

I have studied and understand the historic traditions of my country which has allowed me to interpret them in a modern way. I also take much of my inspiration from Mexican writers, poets, architects of today which helps to influence and modernise traditional dishes.

How important was having a tasting menu and to make your Mexican food fine dining?

I think a tasting menu gives guests the opportunity to try different colours, textures and flavours that they may not have discovered before. We also share stories through Ella Canta like the tasting menu we are about to launch, which is entitled The Flowers of Mexico. The tasting menus differ from season to season and this one for example, is more elaborate and has a very sophisticated idea of the flower cycle and its traditional use in Mexican culture.

Where did the idea that all the dishes will tell stories come from?

From my own imagination, fantasy and my wish of having a better world.

What made you include grasshoppers and how did you think people in the UK would respond to this?

I think people in the UK love the grasshoppers, especially considering they are painted gold and look like a Mexican jewel. Its quite common in Mexico but not seen very often in the UK and adds a sense of fun!

What do you think makes Mexican food so popular in the UK?

Because it is a fantastic food with a lot of flavours, colours and brings culture and history of the country all together in one bite.

You say that at Ella Canta we eat colour, what exactly do you mean by this?

I have the theory that colours taste. In Mexican culture, red is the flavour of power, yellow is the flavour of the sun and the maize, green is hope and future...

The retro chic interior (Kensington Leverne)

Do you feel that being a chef is still a mans world?

Yes but I am working to change this. I do try to hire female chefs wherever I can, and will also try to buy produce from female suppliers wherever possible.

The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) Show all 9 1 /9 The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 1. Eleven Madison Park, New York, USA World's Best 50 Restaurants The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 2. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy World's Best 50 Restaurants The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 3. El Celler de can Roca, Girona, Spain World's Best 50 Restaurants The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 4. Mirazur, Menton, France World's Best 50 Restaurants The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 6. Asador Etxebarri, Axpe, Spain Mariano Herrera The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 7. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand FB://Allwecandid The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 8. Maido, Lima, Peru Jose Caceres The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 9. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain World's Best 50 Restaurants The nine best restaurants in the world (2017) 10. Steirereck, Vienna, Austria World's Best 50 Restaurants

You studied politics, so where did your love of food come from  and passion to be a chef?

I have always loved food and in my family we understand that gastronomy can be historical and cultural, so I dont think one is too far away from the other. I was lucky enough to be encouraged by both my parents.

Do you think your lack of professional training has ever hindered you?

Never.

The interiors, food, tableware and cocktails are opulent and the whole evening is described as a performance, is this how you think food service should be everywhere?

No, I think it is part of the personality of Ella Canta. Every restaurant has to find its own way and have its own identity.

Ella Cantas Daisy Do cocktail

Do you have to import many Mexican ingredients yourself, or are most things available in the UK now?

We do have to import ingredients and we also find many in the UK. I do think with the rise of Mexican cuisine, the ingredients on offer in the UK will improve  the flavours are strong and at the same time versatile, and can enrich any dish.

Whats your favourite dish from the menu?

I have several but I love mole and chichilo. They are the very embodiment of Mexico.

What does your restaurant do to be sustainable?

We try to help small producers and suppliers wherever we can and we also use paper straws in all of our drinks.

Whats the biggest misconception youre always having to correct people on about Mexican food?

People think that Tex Mex is the taste of Mexico and it is not  we offer a diverse and delicious range of different dishes, changing peoples perceptions.

Who, or what, do you look to for inspiration?

I love to read, watch films and go to exhibitions. I really enjoy visiting museums and one of my favourites is the V&A in London. I love the way that curators mix themes and ideas and they have such a range of exhibitions. I am particularly excited for the Frida Kahlo exhibition starting in June  we will be doing some special things in the restaurant in celebration!

Whats next for you?

I would love to open a theatre that uses food to describe history and stories. A new way to see culture, food and arts through feminine eyes.Carillion is a name youre going to be hearing a lot this week as MPs gear up to publish a potentially explosive report on the outsourcers demise on Wednesday.

The Work & Pensions and Business select committees, which have been conducting a joint investigation into the scandal, offered a taste of what is to come by this morning making public, and commenting upon, some of the evidence from one of the companys banks: Santander.

As well as being a Carillion lender, the latter offered a scheme through which the companys suppliers could automatically get their hands on their money rather earlier than the appalling 120 day payment terms it imposed in July 2017. They did this by selling their invoices to Santander at a discount.

Credit agencies Moodys and Standard & Poors have said the Early Payment Facility it offered was used by Carillion to conceal its true level of borrowing. They have argued that by paying so late, the company was in effect borrowing a lot more either from its suppliers or via the payment facility than appeared on its books.

The extent of this can be seen by the banks exposure the scheme: it amounted to 109m.

Now, Santander was one of the banks criticised by Carillion CEO Keith Cochrane in the wake of its collapse. He rounded on the bank for withdrawing the facility.

But Santander, in evidence to the committee, said it didnt quite go like that. At the end of December 2017 it terminated the automatic part of the scheme. The reason? Santander was understandably concerned about Carillion and wanted to keep a close eye on its exposure to the company's invoices.

Its evidence described a series of events which undermined Santanders confidence in Carillions financial position including lack of progress with the restructuring plan that Santander had provided new bridging finance for, and the expected detailed business and restructuring plans being further delayed.

But even after that, it said it still would buy Carillion suppliers invoices on an ad hoc basis and I am told that all of those that had been using the automatic facility where able to get paid via the ad hoc facility right up until close to the end.

Frank Field, chairman of the Work & Pensions Committee, said of the banks evidence on the scheme: This knocks down for good the stance of the Carillion board that whingeing and blaming others can be any defence.

Quite.

But what it should also do is again throw the spotlight on the issue of late payment.

Factoring services, like the one offered by Santander, ought not to be needed. They are because the UK remains one of Europes worst laggards when it comes to small businesses getting paid.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses as many as 50,000 firms die every year because of poor payment practices in this country.

Because getting their hands on money they are owed can be a matter of survival, and because waiting is risky as the Carillion debacle proves, firms are often willing to accept less through schemes like the Santander one. I stress that the blame here lies not with the bank but with the paying company.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

A report by Intrum Justitia, a Swedish credit management company found that some 4.7 per cent of UK small businesses revenues have to be written off through late payment every year, the worst of 29 European nations considered. The figure for the second worst (Bulgaria) was 4.1 per cent. The UK also came 24th in the reports Payment Risk Index behind the likes of the aforementioned Bulgaria, as well as Slovakia, Bosnia and Croatia.

It bears repeating that Carillion was a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code which calls for firms to be paid within 30 days of contract completions and for terms not to extend beyond 60 days, when it imposed the 120 terms, a fact highlighted in a letter to the company by Fed chairman Mike Cherry. It also continued to win Government work after its July profit warning and the extension of its payment terms in 2017.

This is but one of a can of worms opened up by its collapse, but it is an important one and the implications need to be addressed.The gender pay gap is 91 per cent for people earning 1m or more annually in UK financial services companies, and it is getting wider, new research reveals.

The average gap between what men and women are paid in the financial services sector is 22 per cent, and 46 per cent for bonuses, while the average gap for the UK overall is 9.7 per cent.

Employment law specialists Fox & Partners said the pay gap for top earners in financial services is widening, and added: The prevailing reason for this disparity in pay is a much higher proportion of men than women in senior roles in the UK financial services sector.

There are currently 4,600 men earning more than 1m in the sector, against 400 women. The difference of 4,200 has increased by 17 per cent over the past five years, from 3,600 in the 2010-11 financial year.

The yawning gender pay gap at the top end of the financial services industry has been getting worse  not better, said Caroline Field, partner at Fox & Partners.

We do not fully understand the size of the gender pay gap. The data we have seen does not compare like for like. Partners and LLP members are not covered by the reporting requirements  it may be significantly higher in some sectors and at different levels than the reported figures show.

Employers with 250 or more staff are now required by the government to report their pay gap each year, with the first set of figures delivered earlier this year. The rules covered public sector organisations as well as private businesses and charities, and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission said failure to publish pay gap data would result in hefty fines, as well as reputational damage.

Ms Field warned that companies may be leaving themselves open to group actions claiming discrimination.

The shift in culture towards speaking up, the increased pressure for transparency and the availability of creative funding solutions for collective actions have removed some of the structural barriers which may have historically prevented a challenge to the gender pay gap, she said.The number of children referred by their schools for mental health treatment has spiked by a third in the past three years.

Of those referred, nearly a third were denied treatment as they did not meet the criteria for support, leading to calls for more funding to help children who are struggling.

These figures were obtained through a Freedom of Information request to NHS Trusts in England made by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

The charity has warned that an increased demand for mental health services from young people, combined with the lack of funding and services, could be putting thousands of children at risk.

Of the nearly 124,000 referrals NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) made since 2014-2015, 56 per cent came from primary schools.

Over this period, CAMHS referrals have been increasing steadily, with close to 200 on average being made every day over the past year.

Our research shows schools are increasingly referring children for specialist mental health treatment, often when the child is at crisis point, said Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC.

Last year the government pledged to reform mental health services for children with a 300m injection.

However, a recent report by two select committees, Education and Health and Social Care, concluded the current plan lacks ambition and will provide no help to the majority of children who desperately need it.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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

Due to the slow rollout of the governments plans, the authors concluded support would only reach between a fifth and a quarter of the country by 2022-2023.

Young people are falling through the gaps and not receiving the services they need as they enter adulthood, the report stated.

To deal with the increase in demand for mental health services, the NSPCC has called for the government to increase the funding it provides to Childline  a specialist counselling service provided by the charity for children and young people.

Over the past four years, the service has seen a 26 per cent increase in the number of counselling sessions it provides to children with mental health issues.

Childline plays a vital role in supporting children with their mental and emotional health, and many turn to us when they are struggling to get access to specialist treatment, said Mr Wanless.

We have seen a marked increase in counselling about mental health, and fully expect it to continue.

It is vital that government urgently provides more funding to Childline and helps children who dont have access to support elsewhere.

Chiming with the new figures obtained by the NSPCC showing the number of children being denied treatment, some young people have told Childline they have only received support when they reach crisis point.

One 17-year-old girl told Childline: I suffer with anxiety and panic attacks and find it difficult to leave the house or get out of bed.

I was referred to CAMHS but I was on a waiting list for eight months and during that time my anxiety got worse so I never went because I was too scared.

Some callers have had to ask Childline counsellors to act on their behalf to get help faster.

Dame Esther Rantzen, founder and president of Childline, said: Young people are telling us they are overwhelmed with mental health issues, such depression and anxiety, which is taking many of them to the brink of suicide.

Our counsellors are literally saving lives, and it concerns us that we cannot help every child who desperately needs us.

 Time to Change Be in Your Mates Corner- campaign highlights the importance of talking about mens mental health

We must make sure that Childline is adequately funded so it isnt left vulnerable and can be there for the children who have nowhere else to turn.

The NSPCC and four young campaigners handed a petition containing over 22,000 signatures to Number 10 calling for more funding to Childine as part of their Are You There? campaign.

In response to the calls for more support from the NSPCC, a government spokesperson said: Making sure children and young people get the right support when they need it is imperative.

That is why we are allocating 300m, over and above the additional 1.4bn being invested in specialist services, to provide more support linked to schools. This includes new mental health support teams to provide trained mental health workers to work closely with schools  including primary schools  to provide quicker support to children.

We know we need to do more which is why we have extended our schools and NHS link pilot to deliver training in 20 more areas of the country this year. This will improve links between up to 1,200 schools and their local specialist mental health service.

In response to the select committees report released in early May, a government spokesperson said they completely reject any suggestion that our plans lack ambition.

For confidential support call Samaritans on 116 123.

If you have been affected by this story, you can contact the following organisations for support:

www.childline.org.uk/

www.mind.org.uk/

www.nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealthOn 16 May 1962, the actress Choi Eun-hee took to a stage in Seoul to receive a film award from the hands of General Park Chung-hee, who had become South Koreas leader in a military coup a year earlier. With a wry grin, she dropped to one knee before Park. He laughed, recognising the cheek in her exaggerated display of deference.

Choi, who lived her life in the shadow of despots, was well acquainted with domineering men. The extraordinary film career she shared with her husband and frequent director Shin Sang-ok was at once championed and complicated by two dictators, who admired her talent yet sought to harness her immense popularity for their own political gain.

After years of starring in popular films in South Korea under Parks watchful eye, she said that she was kidnapped by neighbouring foe North Korea, to become an agent of propaganda in Kim Jong-ils nascent film industry. That incredible story, while harrowing, made her one of only few artists to reach stardom in both Koreas since the peninsulas division in 1945. In later life her account of Kim Jong-il provided the outside world with rare insight into the North Korean regime.

Choi Kyung-soon was born in 1926 in the southern Korean city of Gwangju. To pursue acting, away from a disapproving father, she left home at 17 and dropped her given name for Eun-hee.

After a chance encounter with an actress she liked, Choi started working in a theatre companys costume department. Soon she took to the stage and in 1947 debuted on screen. Not long after that she married the cameraman Kim Hak-sung, who was 20 years her elder. She suffered much from that union, recounting later that Kim would often beat her.

When the Korean War broke out in 1950, she was forced to entertain first the northern troops, who had captured her, then the southern ones, who rescued her only to treat her with contempt. One South Korean military police officer raped her, after accusing her of treason. Commenting in later life on the unity of mistreatment she received from both sides, she said: I believe [it] shows the irony of the division of South and North Korea. I dont think such a war should ever be repeated.

After the war Choi led a life of outward success as an actress but of inward desperation.

Recommended South Korean actress kidnapped by North Korea has died

It was her encounter with Shin Sang-ok that would give her cause for hope, at least for a time. As the story goes, Shin, who dreamed of becoming a director and of casting Choi, went to see her on stage. She collapsed from exhaustion halfway through her performance; he rushed to tend to her. That was the beginning of their artistic collaboration, and of their romance.

Gossip of the affair quickly spread but, standing firm in her belief that she could have a better life with Shin, Choi challenged the conservatism of Korean society and sued, successfully, for a divorce.

Please remember today, Shin told her on the day the divorce was pronounced, after they had run from preying journalists  7 March 1954. Let today be our wedding day. Choi had never been happier.

Chois name gave Shin the cachet he needed to launch his directing career; Shins enthusiasm for film renewed Chois own. Together they would dominate Korean cinema, and column inches, for three decades. In his blockbuster melodramas, thrillers and historical epics, Shin introduced South Korean audiences to Technicolor, CinemaScope and fully synchronised sound film. Choi earned higher fees than any Korean actress before her, and explored characters as varied as a war widow, a chaste student, a queen and a promiscuous barmaid.

Challenging censors, Shins work increasingly explored erotic promiscuity. As a result, Choi, who had met Marilyn Monroe on her 1954 visit to entertain US troops, became her countrys own sex symbol, with all of the admiration and opprobrium that brought. South Korea was then torn between its traditional values and the more liberal cultural influences flooding in from its American ally.

Politically, Shin and Choi toed the line, in one film, for example, praising General Parks agricultural reforms. On matters of virtue, however, Parks fondness for their work allowed them greater creative leeway than other filmmakers enjoyed.

Outside of work, Choi and Shin found joy in the adoption of two children.

The couples fruitful relationship, both publicly and in private, came to an abrupt end in 1974, when Shins affair with a younger actress, Oh Su-mi, and the son he fathered with her, were revealed. (Oh would bear another child from him.)

A devastated Choi divorced Shin. South Korean authorities turned against Shins now overly subversive work, both their careers dwindled, and Choi was feared to want to kill herself.

Choi Eun-Hee with her husband, director Shin Sang-Ok (right), and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 1983

In 1977 an offer of work from Hong Kong lifted Chois spirits. But, she later said, the invitation turned out to be a ruse by North Korean agents to kidnap her on behalf of Kim Jong-il, the son of the then dictator Kim Il-sung.

By her own account, she spent days of anguish at sea, not knowing why she had been taken away. Welcoming her in person at the port where she landed, Kim Jong-Il allegedly said, with a grin: Thank you for coming, Madame Choi.

Kim had long been obsessed with cinema both as an art form and as a means of mass propaganda. And he had long admired Choi and Shin, the second of whom he also soon managed to have brought to North Korea. With their combined talent, Kim thought, North Korean cinema would gain international acclaim, and spread the countrys ideology. I acknowledge that we lag behind in filmmaking techniques, Kim said in a meeting secretly taped by Choi. We have to know that we are lagging behind and make efforts to raise a new generation of filmmakers.

Thus began one of the strangest collaborations in film history, by which a dictator-in-waiting coerced two abducted celebrities into producing his countrys most accomplished works of popular art.

Facing this ordeal together, Choi and Shin quickly rekindled their love for one another. Though they often despaired, their sequestration had perks, too. First, Kim Jong-il injected new life into their then dormant careers. Second, he indulged their every request, agreeing to the most extravagant props and shooting locations abroad.

Though propagandistic in intent, some of the films that came out of this collaboration  most famously the Godzilla-inspired Pulgasari  are now considered classics of Korean cinema.

Liberation for Choi and Shin came in 1986, on a visit to Vienna, when they managed to briefly elude their minders and run to the American embassy, where they were granted asylum. Kim had lost his stars.

Choi and Shin flew to the United States, where they gave a memorable press conference about their abduction, and were questioned by the CIA. Chois account of a violent and bacchanalian regime heavily influenced Western perceptions of North Korea in the years that followed. But little attention was afforded either to the hardship she had endured in South Korea, or to her impressive decade-long acting career.

Choi and Shin were remarried, and became US citizens. Now in her sixties, and with only a limited grasp of English, Choi failed to make a name for herself in Hollywood. But her memoirs, published in Korean, sold well. Paul Fischers A Kim Jong-il Production provides the fullest English-language account of her life.

The couple returned to South Korea in 1999. But they did not receive the welcome they had hoped for. Some believed they may have willingly defected to North Korea; others, who accepted their tale of abduction, sought to use them as political pawns to excoriate the North.

Her star slowly faded and, saddled with debt, she lived her final years with modest means.

Choi is survived by her two adopted children and by Shins two children with Oh, whom she took in as her own during her time in California. Shin predeceased her in 2006.

Though her association with Kim Jong-il dominates accounts of Chois life, her legacy is far richer than that, straddling as it does North and South, tradition and modernity, great anguish and unprecedented success.

She enjoyed calligraphy and, having converted to Catholicism in her later years, prayed often. Her favourite song in old age was Kim Do-hyangs Ive Lived Like a Fool, which somehow expressed the tangled life she had led.

Known for her compassion as much as her resolve, Choi told a recent interviewer she believed that, to be a great actor, one must be a good person. That is because an actor needs to be able to sympathise with the feelings of others in order to act well, she said. I believe a kind heart, looks, speech, skills and the ability to write are the five qualifications of a good actor.

Of course, a kind heart is the most important factor of the five.

Choi Eun-hee, actress, born 20 November 1926, died 16 April 2018Fallen construction giant Carillion ripped off small contractors with an early payment scheme designed to hide the true extent of its massive debt, MPs have claimed.

The Commons business and work and pensions committees have published evidence by Santander, the bank which ran Carillions early payment facility (EPF), ahead of a joint report into the firms collapse due to be released on Wednesday.

Carillion contractors were given standard payment terms of 120 days, but were able to receive cash earlier under the EPF by accepting a smaller amount.

Two major credit ratings agencies, Moodys and Standard & Poors, say the firms accounting for their EPF concealed its true level of borrowing from creditors, according to the committees.

Carillion displayed utter contempt for its suppliers, many of them the small businesses that are the lifeblood of the UKs economy, Frank Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said.

The company used its suppliers as a line of credit to shore up its fragile balance sheet, then in another of its accounting tricks reclassified this borrowing to hide the true extent of its massive debt.

This knocks down for good the stance of the Carillion board that whingeing and blaming others can be any defence.

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

Carillion board minutes from April 2015 refer to disappointing analysis by UBS that had factored both the pension deficit and the EPF situation into the companys debt position.

Minutes from a meeting the following month state that shorting of Carillions shares was up significantly, noting that the bulk had followed the UBS note in March.

Santander finally withdrew the discounted early payment facility in December 2017, weeks before the company was forced into liquidation, a move Carillion blamed in part for its eventual demise.

The collapse of Carillion left small businesses and subcontractors out of pocket with many left unpaid for months and facing ruin, Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said.

Its a bitter irony that while Carillion were fully signed up to the governments prompt payment code, they were making their suppliers hang on for 120 days or more to be paid.

Carillions early payment facility ripped off their suppliers, forcing them to accept a cut in what they were owed, and was a blatant attempt by Carillion management to prop up their failing business model.

Carillion had employed more than 43,000 people, including 20,000 in the UK, before it was forced to enter liquidation in January.

Bosses have previously come under fire from MPs over claims they expected a multi-million pound taxpayer bailout days before the firm went bust leaving hundreds of public sector contracts in turmoil.A heterosexual couple who are fighting for the right to have a civil partnership have called on the government to stop making excuses and make the legal union available for all.

Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41, want legal recognition of their relationship which does not have patriarchal baggage.

But the academics from Hammersmith in west London are unable to do so because the Civil Partnership Act 2004 only grants rights to same sex couples.

Recommended Heterosexual couple lose court fight to enter civil partnership

The couple, who have two daughters aged two and eight months, claim the governments stance is incompatible with equality law.

Their case was defeated at the Court of Appeal in February 2017, but last August they were given permission to take the case to the Supreme Court  the UKs highest.

Throughout our campaign, we have met hundreds of couples like us who love each other and want a civil partnership so they can celebrate their commitment and strengthen the security of their family unit, the couple said ahead of Mondays hearing, which is expected to last two days.

Their reasons for not wanting to marry vary from bad personal experiences to expense to conscience  but that doesnt matter. All they want is the choice of marriage or a civil partnership to suit them, which is currently available only to same-sex couples. We have a new equalities minister and she should take this opportunity to look afresh at the governments position. Its time for the government to stop making excuses which play with peoples lives, and give choice to all now.

In court, the couples barrister Karon Monaghan QC said: They have deep-rooted and genuine ideological objections to marriage. I want to observe that they are not alone in holding those deep-rooted objections.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA 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

She said matrimony was historically heteronormative and patriarchal and the couples objections were not frivolous.

Ms Monaghan added: These are important issues, no small matters, and they are serious for my clients because they cannot marry conformable with their conscience and that should weigh very heavily indeed.

Campaigners argue it is not fair that same-sex couples are able to enter into a civil partnership or get married given mixed-sex couples can only get married.

Speaking before the hearing, human rights campaigner and LGBT+ activist Peter Tatchell said: Its time for straight equality.

He added: The ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships is discrimination and a violation of human rights. It is outrageous that the government is unwilling to legislate equality and that this couple are forced to go to court to get a basic human right  the right to be treated equally in law.

It cannot be fair that same-sex couples now have two options, civil partnerships and civil marriages, whereas opposite-sex partners have only one option, marriage.

The Court of Appeal agreed the couple had established a potential violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is linked to discrimination, taken with Article 8, which refers to respect for private and family life.

But, by a majority of two to one, the judges said the interference was justified by the governments policy of wait and evaluate.

The government said after public consultations and debate in parliament that it was decided not to extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples, abolish them or phase them out at that stage.

Additional reporting by Press AssociationMillions of pounds of support for deaf children are being lost, leaving services at breaking point, a charity has warned.

One in three councils is making cuts, according to the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS), which accused the government of "woeful complacency".

Town hall chiefs said that with demand rising at an unprecedented rate, ministers must find extra funding, and warned that if cash is not found, councils may not be able to meet their legal duty to such youngsters.

However, children's minister Nadhim Zahawi said the budget for pupils with special educational needs this year was the highest on record.

Data obtained by the deaf childrens society through Freedom of Information requests shows that of the 122 local authorities in England that provided figures, 45 (more than one in three) are cutting specialist education support for deaf and hearing-impaired children this financial year.

Across these 45 areas, 4m is being cut, the charity calculates, with each council losing around 10 per cent from these services on average.

The figures were released at the start of Deaf Awareness Week.

Recommended Councils at financial breaking point due to austerity warns NAO

NDCS chief executive Susan Daniels said the government urgently needed to tackle the funding crisis. "By not acting, this government is putting the education of too many deaf children at risk, and letting their futures hang in the balance."

She went on: "Despite councils having a legal duty to support deaf children, we are seeing the vital support system that they rely on for their education torn apart.

"Deaf children are falling even further behind at school, and the government's response is nothing short of woeful complacency."

Mr Zahawi said: "The high-needs budget for pupils with special educational needs is 6bn this year - the highest on record, and core school funding will rise to a record 43.5bn by 2020," he said.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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

"On top of this, last week we announced new contracts worth more than 25m to help children with special educational needs and disabilities - including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment - have access to excellent support."

Richard Watts, of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, said: "We have made clear for some time now that there must be additional and ongoing funding from the government to enable us to support high-needs children and their families, otherwise councils may not be able to meet their statutory duties and these children could miss out on a mainstream education.

"This is why we are calling for an urgent review of funding to meet the unprecedented rise in demand for support."The government will double its investment in brain cancer research to 40m a year in honour of former cabinet minister Dame Tessa Jowell.

Plans unveiled are set to boost funding for studies into tumours and provide British patients with more treatment options after the Labour peer lost her battle with the disease on Saturday.

Theresa May had announced the government would pledge 20m to help fight brain cancer following a meeting with Baroness Jowell in February.

However, the Prime Minister has now doubled the governments contribution to the programme, which, when added to an extra 25m offered by Cancer Research UK, means the fund will initially be worth 65m a year.

Recommended The iconic moment peers gave Dame Tessa Jowell a standing ovation

Tessa Jowell was one of those few politicians who could inspire and unite across party lines, said health secretary Jeremy Hunt, announcing the project.

We were all moved by her bravery and selfless campaigning in her final months, and are determined to honour her life and memory with the action on brain cancer that she fought so hard for.

At this agonising time, I hope her family can draw comfort from the fact that her legacy will be lives saved and heartbreak averted for thousands of other families.

Research will also be backed by new clinical commitments from the government, including the national rollout of gold standard dye, a key brain cancer diagnosis test used to identify tumour.

The method is currently only used in around half of brain cancer centres in England.

The use of adaptive trials, in which several different treatments are tested on a patient at the same time to speed up the process, is also set to be accelerated.

In addition, the UK will host an annual Tessa Jowell global symposium under the plans, aiming to bring together top brain cancer experts from around the globe.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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

Dame Tessa was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a rare, high-grade tumour and malignant cancer that can spread quickly to other parts of the brain and spine without warning, in May 2017.

In a speech in the House of Lords in January that was met with a standing ovation, she called for new cancer treatments to be made available for patients on the NHS.

A spokesman for her family said the former Olympics minister had died peacefully at her home near Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire on Saturday evening after falling into a coma the previous day.

Around 11,400 people in the UK are diagnosed with brain tumours each year. Only 14 per cent of those with the disease currently survive for 10 or more years.The NHS is spending almost 1.5bn a year on agency nurses while its own staff are leaving in droves, a new report suggests.

The vast outlay on temp workers would be enough to pay the wages of 66,000 full-time positions for a year, according to the study by The Open University.

It claims the health of patients could be put at risk because of the constant churn of staff.

And the report  compiled using a series of Freedom of Information requests  says the trend is only set to continue with 70 per cent of nurses leaving the NHS within 12 months of qualifying.

Low pay, heavy workload and lack of access to professional development are all blamed for the outflow.

Jan Draper, professor of nursing at the university, said: The sector is facing challenging times. Relying on temporary nurses to plug gaps is just sticking a plaster over the problem, and costs considerably more than if vacancies were filled permanently.

We know that poor retention and low recruitment results in inefficiencies and ultimately puts patient care at risk, so its vital we look to a more strategic and sustainable approach.

The study, Tackling The Nurses Shortages, asked 241 of the UKs health trusts about their use of agency nurses.

It found in total they had spent 1.46bn on temp workers in 2017. Because such nurses are paid 61 per cent more on average than in-house staff, if vacancies had been filled by permanent employees, the NHS would have saved 560m, the report concluded.

But a corresponding survey suggested the problem may become more pronounced still: it found 35 per cent of nurses are thinking of leaving the NHS.

The shortages had been compounded by a 28 per cent rise in EU nurses quitting Britain since the Brexit referendum, while overseas applicants have almost halved in the same period. The introduction of loans instead of grants for nursing students has also seen applicants fall by a third.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA 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

Prof Draper said that new degree apprenticeships should help ease the issue but more needed to be done.

She said: Taking advantage of recently introduced degree apprenticeships that offer flexible work-based learning is one solution. Not only can this approach inspire and motivate the workforce, it can also increase future nursing supply and reduce retention issues in local communities, helping to reduce the strain on the sector.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was training more nurses from this year and had increased pay.

A spokesperson said: The NHS would collapse without our wonderful nurses  the fact that the NHS is ranked as the safest healthcare system in the world is a testament to them. From this year we will train 25 per cent more nurses, are committed to helping them work more flexibly to improve their work-life balance and have awarded a pay rise of between 6.5 per cent and 29 per cent, in a deal backed by the Royal College of Nursing .Norways prime minister has said her country would be open to Britain joining the European Economic Area  potentially giving Britain a readymade technical solution for remaining in the single market after Brexit.

Norways government had previously hinted it might block British membership of the EEA because such a change would likely shift the balance of power within the trade association against Norwegian interests.

But in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper Erna Solberg suggested EEA membership was now an option for Brexit Britain.

Recommended UK to host summit on why six other countries should join the EU

I think we will cope very well if the Brits come in. It will give bargaining power on our side too. And it would ease Norways access to the UK, she told the newspaper.

Shortly after the EU referendum in August 2016 Elisabeth Vik Aspaker, the countrys European Affairs Minister at the time, said it was not certain that it would be a good idea to let a big country into this organisation because such a move could shift the balance against Norways interests.

The EEA technically includes all EU member states, but the term is usually used to refer to those countries outside the EU who still adhere to the rules of the single market.

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are the countries outside the EU that participate in the EEA through their membership of the European Free Trade Association.

 What is still needed to complete a deal with the EU?

One other country, Switzerland, participates in EFTA but not the EEA, instead following some aspects of the single market through a series of complex bilateral agreements with the EU.

EEA membership requires free movement of people with the EU as well as the implementation of practically all Brussels regulations. EEA states technically have a veto on new laws but it has never been used; they also have some very limited input on how EU laws are converted to affect EEA states through a so-called joint committee.

Ahead of the referendum Ms Solberg warned the UK would not like life outside the EU because it would lose influence on policymaking but likely have to implement large swathes of EU rules.

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

Norway narrowly rejected EU membership in a 1994 referendum by 47.8 per cent to 52.2 per cent. The countrys two traditional main parties, the Labour Party and the Right  Ms Solbergs grouping  have both long supported EU membership, but smaller parties oppose joining.

Theresa May has effectively taken the Norway option off the table with her Brexit red lines of ending free movement and leaving the single market.Theresa Mays efforts to unite her divided cabinet over Brexit at a crunch meeting of top ministers is set end to in more fudge and long grass.

Ms May will use the Brexit war cabinet of senior figures to again try to find a way out of the standoff about what customs relations to adopt after Brexit, but senior sources say no decision will be reached.

The EU wants future customs relations agreed at a summit in June, but Downing Street insiders pointed towards the October summit, when the final Brexit deal is expected to be sealed, as the moment when clarity might finally emerge.

Recommended No significant progress made on any Brexit issue in talks since March

Ms May also spent much of Monday welcoming Tory backbenchers in to No 10 to brief them on her thinking, with the government unsure of whether it can win a string of pending Commons votes on Brexit.

The cabinet subcommittee on Brexit will reconvene on Tuesday after breaking into groups to develop Ms Mays two options  a customs partnership, with closer EU customs ties to avoid an Irish hard border, or max fac, with looser customs ties, but a harder border.

With the last gathering ending with the cabinet split on which to opt for, one source close to the group said: There will be more fudge I expect, and more kicking into the long grass.

After some briefing suggesting in recent days that the prime minister is now leaning towards the Brexiteer favoured max fac option, another cabinet level source went on: Nothing is decided yet. Everything is still on the table.

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

But patience with the lack of progress was growing on both sides of the channel, with some backbenchers beginning to wonder if the government is capable of reaching a consensus.

Ms May had groups of Tory MPs into Downing Street on Monday to give them a presentation on her approach, including the two customs options.

One Conservative backbencher told The Independent: Theres only so much long grass to keep kicking stuff in to.

Eventually, what you kick in will go all the way through and fall off the Brexit cliff edge the other side.

There is also deadlock in parliament at the moment with remaining progress on three pieces of Brexit legislation stalled, because the government is unsure it can win votes related to the customs union, among other things.

The stalemate in London comes as talks in Brussels have also ground to halt, with EU ministers reporting no significant progress on any of the main withdrawal issues since March, including the Irish border and related customs matters.

 EU minister says little progress has been made on Brexit since March

Speaking at a separate event in Brussels on Monday evening, chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said full talks on the future relationship had not even started, despite getting the green light at a summit in March.

He added: There is still a lot of uncertainty. Negotiations on the future with the UK have no started yet. We have had first exploratory discussions.

Ms May had tried to steady nerves about her approach with an article on Sunday, in which she asked the British public to trust me on Brexit.

Her supporters hoped it would draw a line under public spats on customs. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt even issued a belt up message to foreign secretary Boris Johnson after he called the partnership model  thought to be favoured by the PM  crazy last week.

 Jeremy Hunt: Brexit debates should happen in private

Mr Johnson was more sedate when asked about his differences with Ms May ahead of the subcommittee meeting, saying: I think it was absolutely right that she expressed it in that way [in her article on Sunday].

What we need to do is, as she said, come out of the customs union in such a way as to enable us to have frictionless trade with no hard border in Northern Ireland and to do unhindered, unimpeded free trade deals with the rest of the world. We think that is possible, she thinks that is possible, so that is the way forward.

The customs partnership plan would see Britain collect tariffs on the EUs behalf at ports and airports, passing on a share of the money to Brussels  then if the UK sets different tariffs from the EU, traders would claim refunds from HMRC for goods that stay in Britain.

Olly Robbins, Ms Mays Europe adviser, regards the partnership as a means of avoiding a hard border in Ireland, while keeping the UK out of the European customs union. Close aides of Ms May have also called it intellectually perfect.

But Downing Street has been privately warned that the customs partnership proposal could collapse the government, with the Brexit-backing European Research Group having organised a critical report backed by 60 MPs.

The groups chairman, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has called the proposal cretinous and deeply unsatisfactory, and argued that it would not get us out of the European Union, which is what people voted for.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

The other option, a streamlined arrangement, is viewed more favourably by Brexiteers in both the cabinet and on the back benches.

It is known as maximum facilitation, or max fac, and would see the UK outside any customs union, but with some controls at the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Backers say a trusted trader scheme and remote monitoring of the border would limit physical infrastructure.

But it would still essentially mean a hard border on the island of Ireland. Critics claim this would break the Good Friday Agreement, risking peace in Northern Ireland.A leading Tory rebel has backed efforts to effectively keep Britain in the single market, in a sign of growing support for the plan among pro-EU MPs.

Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said pursuing a Norway-style Brexit through membership of the Economic European Area (EEA) was the sensible way forward after the Norwegian prime minister indicated the country would be open to the idea of UK membership.

Rebel peers in both Labour and Tory ranks defied their leaders to defeat the government on the issue in the Lords last week, meaning MPs will now vote on whether to take the plan forward.

Recommended Norway drops objection to Britain joining EEA after Brexit

Speaking at a cross-party event aimed at softening the Brexit terms, Ms Morgan urged MPs to resist the siren voices that suggest Britain can get exactly the same benefits outside of the customs union and the single market.

Labour ex-foreign secretary David Miliband also weighed in, saying he was "baffled" by Jeremy Corbyn's decision to oppose the move and warned the Labour leader risked becoming the "midwife of a hard Brexit".

Norways government suggested in the past that it might block Britain's membership of the EEA but prime minister Erna Solberg has now said that Norway would "cope very well if the Brits come in".

Ms Morgan told an audience at the Tilda rice factory, in Essex, that Norway's intervention was "very significant" in the debate around the terms of Britain's exit from the EU.

She said: If we are not going to get this deep and comprehensive free trade agreement the Prime Minister has talked about and David Davis has talked about, then the EEA has to be a sensible way to go forward and the Lords are right to put it back on the agenda.

I certainly will be looking at it - I think its something I will be likely to support - and I think it provides a big answer to the City of London in terms of the worries.

Ms Morgan also condemned those who branded any Brexit critics as a mutineer, a saboteur or a traitor and revealed she would be giving evidence in court in a matter of weeks after receiving a death threat for her Brexit campaigning.

Mr Miliband, who lost out to his brother Ed in the 2015 leadership race, risked infuriating the Labour leadership by urging MPs to defy Mr Corbyn and support a successful Lords amendment to keep Britain in the EEA.

Hailing it as a "safe harbour", he added: "I am baffled about why the Labour leadership is so worried about supporting the EEA position.

"I fear the position that they have taken makes Jeremy Corbyn the midwife of a hard Brexit."

Rejecting the EEA would result in being "driven to a hard Brexit" which impedes trade and undermines employment and environmental standards, he suggested.

Mr Miliband, who now runs a refugee charity in New York, said: "I think there is a real onus on parliamentarians now, when the House of Lords amendment finally comes back to the House of Commons.

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"You have seen many Labour peers who know the value of loyalty talking about the essence of doing the right thing this time and my own view is that peers are ahead of the party leadership when it comes to this EEA issue."

They were also joined by former Lib Dem deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who said there was "complete bafflement" from EU leaders and politicians about the UK's approach.

The EEA tends to cover countries outside the EU who still adhere to the rules of the single market, such as Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, who are able to participate because of their membership of the European Free Trade Association.

Downing Street has consistently ruled out staying in the EU's single market and customs union and Labour also officially opposes such a move.Britains role as a major player in worldwide defence and security operations will be weakened by Brexit, a parliamentary inquiry concludes today.

The country will lose influence when it is ejected from the EUs common security and defence policy (CSDP), the report by a House of Lords committee warns.

The UK may be able to continue participating in missions but will not have the influence it currently enjoys in the development, planning and leadership of those operations.

In particular, the report points to the EUs successful mission to combat piracy in the Horn of Africa  led by the UK  and operations in Kosovo and the Western Balkans.

CSDP missions and operations have contributed significantly to UK foreign policy and have benefited from the UKs participation, said Baroness Verma, the committees chair.

Under the existing model for third country participation, the UK will lose influence over CSDP missions and operations.

The best the UK could do was seek to negotiate observer status in the EUs planning and decision-making bodies, the Lords EU External Affairs Sub-Committee says.

The verdict is the latest blow to Theresa Mays promise to pursue a new security treaty with the EU after Brexit that can maintain full cooperation, including through the CSDP.

Britain has already been accused of putting European security at risk because Brexit means leaving the European arrest warrant and Europol, the EUs law enforcement agency.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

In addition, the swapping of vital intelligence information is threatened by Ms Mays insistence that the UK will end oversight by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Meanwhile, the UK is locked in an increasingly bitter row with the EU over its exclusion from the Galileo satellite navigation system  prompting the government to threaten to curb intelligence sharing.

Senior figures in Brussels have also accused the UK of trying to blackmail the EU by using its strengths in intelligence and security as a bargaining chip in talks.

Now the Lords report has stressed the urgent need to clear up the confusion  with Brexit just 10 months away  calling for detailed proposals before the EU summit next month.

To do that, Britain needs to decide whether to use its military muscle to try to maintain some influence over joint security missions, the report says.

The current model for third country participation offers a more limited role for the UK after Brexit than that envisaged by the government, the report adds.

The government will need to decide whether to use the UKs significant military capabilities as leverage to modify the model for third country participation.

The UK will also need to invest significant resources in Brussels and in member states capitals, to maintain influence from outside the structures of the EU.

The key advantage of CSDP missions was their lower-intensity crisis management, pulling together military, political, diplomatic, economic and legal aspects, the peers found.

The UKs contribution of personnel was very limited  just 2.3 per cent of the total  but it did provide planning guidance and assets such as naval vessels and aircraft.No significant progress has been made on any of the main Brexit issues in negotiations between the EU and UK since March, the European Union has said.

EU27 ministers met on Monday with the blocs chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels to discuss the state of talks so far.

Mr Barnier informed us that since 23 March no significant progress has been made on the three pillars that we work on: withdrawal, future framework, and Ireland, Ekaterina Zakharieva, the Bulgarian foreign minister chairing the council, told journalists at an official press conference following the meeting.

Recommended UK to host summit on why six other countries should join the EU

The renewed deadlock in Brussels comes as Theresa Mays cabinet repeatedly fails to agree with itself on what customs arrangement it wants with the EU after Brexit, despite publishing two options in August of last year. Both those options were dismissed as magical thinking by the EU at the time.

Speaking at a separate event in Brussels on Monday evening, Mr Barnier himself said that full talks on the future relationship had not even started in earnest despite getting the green light at a summit in March.

There is still a lot of uncertainty. Negotiations on the future with the UK have not started yet. We have had first exploratory discussions, he said.

Ms Zakharieva said the EU27 countries wanted more intensive engagement by the UK government in the coming weeks, warning that the October deadline was only five months from now.

Negotiations on the future with the UK have not started yet. Michel Barnier, EU chief negotiator

Ms May will next meet EU leaders in Brussels at the end of June for a meeting of the European Council.

Ms Zakharieva said: In June, we need to see substantive progress on Ireland, governance, and all remaining separation issues. Our citizens and our businesses on both sides of the channel need more security and predictability for the future. As soon as possible they need clarity about what will happen when Brexit takes place.

Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop  with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same  under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters

The EU has set October as the final deadline for a deal to be finalised in order to give the European parliament, UK parliament and other institutions time to scrutinise and sign off the final withdrawal agreement.

Talks have been notably stuck on the question of customs and trade, an issue that needs to be solved to untangle other issues, such as Northern Ireland and the framework for the future trade relationship between the two entities.Jeremy Corbyn will be the midwife of a hard Brexit that will harm Britains poorest unless he fights to stay in the EU single market, David Miliband has warned.

The former Labour foreign secretary  launching a new cross-party campaign to soften the exit terms  said his own party must shift its stance, or punish its own natural supporters.

The crucial decision about whether the UK stays in the single market is now effectively in Mr Corbyns hands, ahead of a crunch Commons vote  prompting Mr Miliband to urge him to give his backing.

The warning for Jeremy Corbyn is that, if he is not very careful, he will be the midwife of a hard Brexit that threatens the living standards of the very people that he says he wants to represent, he said.

The single market was about workers rights, as well as trade, he argued, warning: This is an issue for MPs and leaders of all parties, because the stakes could not be higher. This goes beyond party politics  its more important than party politics.

The House of Lords voted to make keeping the UK inside the European Economic Area (EEA), and therefore the single market, a negotiating priority  throwing the decision back to MPs.

But Labour remains opposed, while vowing to negotiate a strong single market relationship that hardwires the benefits, without explaining how that will be possible outside the trading bloc.

Mr Miliband was speaking ahead of sharing a platform with Nicky Morgan, the former Conservative education secretary, and Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

The trio are warning that Britain is being held to ransom by hardline Tories hell-bent on a hard Brexit, in the starkest evidence yet that party allegiances are breaking down as battle rages over departure from the EU.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Mr Miliband dismissed chatter about a new centrist party, saying his campaign was pushing for cross-party working, not for creating a new party.

Bitter cabinet splits made it a national crisis, he warned, adding: The UK has no negotiating position on the fundamental issues that face the country as it contemplates its post-Brexit relationship with the European Union.

He predicted an enormous sigh of relief in Europe if Britain stayed in the single market, because the EU dont want a weakened Britain, because they think it will weaken Europe.

The Norway option was now on the table, after that countrys prime minister made clear it would welcome the UK staying in the EEA.

Mr Miliband, who runs a UN charity in New York, said he was also seeing at close quarters how the US, under Donald Trump, was turning away from Europe. We have to take that into account, he said.

And he rejected Brexiteer protests that revolts in parliament weakened Britains negotiating hand, arguing: Whats more destructive for a government position than having no position?

The three prominent politicians are calling on MPs to stand up to the hardest of Brexits, which they characterise as a fantasy island of economic pain and diminished standing.

Over the coming months, MPs will have the chance to table amendments to bills  and vote for those amendments  which can prevent the country from suffering the long-term damage that a hard Brexit will cause, they wrote at the weekend.

The pro-Brexit press will angrily protest, but what is the role of MPs if not to improve and protect the lives of their constituents?Jeremy Hunt has issued a belt up message to Boris Johnson and other cabinet colleagues, after public spats about the deadlock over customs rules after Brexit.

The health secretary urged fellow ministers to have these debates in private  openly criticising the foreign secretary for calling Theresa Mays preferred option crazy.

The order came after Michael Gove also trashed the customs partnership model, arguing it would break the prime ministers pledge to take back control after Brexit.

Recommended May faces deadlock over Brexit customs rules as both options rubbished

I do think that it is important that we have these debates in private, said Mr Hunt, a May loyalist.

Not just because of collective responsibility, which is what democracy depends on, but also because this is a negotiation. On the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, they will exploit that.

On Monday, David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary, ridiculed the idea that any undermining of Ms May weakened her negotiating hand, saying: Whats more destructive for a government position than having no position?

But Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: We have to recognise that we are not the only people who read the papers in Britain and we need to give Theresa May some space.

If we are going to have these lively debates, we should have them in private because that will strengthen Theresa Mays negotiating hand.

Asked if his message to Mr Johnson was to belt up, Mr Hunt said: You could say that. Id say he is a marvellous foreign secretary but lets work as a team.

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

The health secretarys intervention came as ministers prepared for a further meeting of the inner cabinet, but with no expectation of agreeing a way forward on customs this week.

On Sunday, Mr Gove, the environment secretary, joined Mr Johnson in publicly criticising the customs partnership option, which would see the UK collect tariffs for Brussels.

What the customs partnership requires the British government to do is in effect to act as the tax collector and very possibly the effective deliverer of regulation for the European Union, he warned.

Meanwhile, Greg Clark, the business secretary, has criticised the alternative maximum facilitation, or max fac, model, which would threaten an open border in Ireland.

Damian Green, the prime ministers former effective deputy, suggested Britain may have to stay in the current customs union longer  extending the transition period past the end of 2020.

The idea has been flatly rejected by Mr Gove and other arch Brexiteers, but Mr Green said: This is not the time for members of the cabinet or anyone else inside the Conservative Party to indulge in ideology.

I think the most likely endpoint will be some of whats called the maximum facilitation, some variant of that I, personally, am not yet convinced that you could have that in place by the end of 2020.A Labour frontbencher has deleted a social media post throwing her support behind a fresh referendum on the final Brexit deal  a position at odds with the partys leadership.

Preet Gill, a shadow international development minister, made the remarks in an exchange with a student activist on social media suggesting a vote was an absolute must.

Jeremy Corbyn and senior members of the shadow cabinet have repeatedly dismissed demands for a new EU referendum, with the Labour leader himself saying the party is not supporting or calling for one.

But when Ms Gill was asked by student Ellie Keiller on Twitter whether she would join in calling for a peoples vote on the Brexit deal reached by the government, the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston replied: Great to see the student voice coming out and speaking up!

I hear you and agree that a peoples vote on the deal is an absolute must, she added.

According to Politics Home, Ms Gill deleted the post on Monday after her comments were published by the website.

She then posted a second tweet, claiming: Just to clarify my position  a meaningful vote on deal by parliament is a must which will be informed by the people we represent.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA 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

But Ms Keiller said it was sad to see the MPs tweet had been deleted, adding: I hope that she and other MPs feel that they can support the views of those in their constituencies and not just that of the Lab[our] line.

It comes as student organisations with close to a million members joined together and began lobbying MPs for a fresh referendum.

Ms Keiller, who is also president of the University of Birmingham Students Guild, told The Independent on Sunday that it is only fair that young people get a say on the final Brexit deal.

Referring to a letter from representatives from unions at 60 of the countrys universities and colleges, she said: I have signed this letter because I want the whole of the UK  including young people  to have a say on the final deal, but at least this time we will know what we are voting for. This is about ensuring an open and fair democracy. We are only asking for an equal say with true information.

For all these reasons, I am calling on MPs in Birmingham  the youngest city in Europe  to get behind the letter and call for a vote on the final deal.The government has been defeated in the House of Lords as peers backed a new Leveson inquiry into the behaviour of the press by 252 votes to 213.

The outcome puts the unelected chamber on course for a constitutional clash with the Commons, which had previously rejected a demand for a further investigation into the relationship between the media and police.

The amendment would force the government to establish a new inquiry into allegations of data protection breaches by national news publishers.

The government has said it will seek to overturn the decision, paving the way for a legislative tussle between the two houses, known as parliamentary ping-pong.

 Government announces it will not be pursuing a Leveson 2 inquiry

The Commons had voted down an attempt by ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband to amend the Data Protection Bill requiring an inquiry into press standards.

But the proposal was revived in a similar amendment to the same Bill in the House of Lords by Baroness Hollins, whose family was the victim of press intrusion.

The independent crossbencher argued an investigation into press ethics "continues to grow".

She said "adjustments" had been made to the amendment to meet previous concerns raised and bolster support, including excluding the local and regional press from the remit of the probe.

Arguing the case for a second inquiry, Lady Hollins told the Lords: "It's an inquiry into criminality, corruption and abuse. In any other industry, the press would be demanding an inquiry and yet their opposition is uniform."

Lady Hollins added: "The promises to the victims of press abuse still hold. This Government is breaking those promises.

"What is the role of this House if not to ensure that the Government acts with honour and integrity and is held to its word."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA 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

Speaking outside the chamber, the culture secretary, Matt Hancock, who watched the debate, said: "I'm disappointed that the House of Lords have again voted against press freedoms.

"In the Commons, we proposed forward looking action to ensure a free, fair and responsible press. The Lords' amendment is unnecessary and we will seek to overturn it."

Theresa May had urged peers to reject the attempt to resurrect the Leveson inquiry.

A spokesman for the prime minister said Downing Street was disappointed at a number of recent bids in the House of Lords to thwart government policy, both on Leveson and Brexit.A Norway-style of Brexit has been declared dead by a Labour MP following a gathering of the parliamentary party as Jeremy Corbyn claimed it was inappropriate for Britain.

It comes ahead of an anticipated showdown on the issue of the European Economic Area (EEA) within the party later this year when MPs will have the opportunity to vote on the option.

Last week, peers in the House of Lords, including 83 Labour rebels, voted in favour of the UK joining Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway as non-EU members of the EEA meaning the issue has now been passed to MPs for their verdict.

But emerging from the weekly gathering of Labour MPs in Westminster, John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, said: EEA is dead after that.

Lots of Labour people were getting up saying no, were not backtracking on the referendum. Thats not happened before at the PLP, he added.

It was quite a significant moment in my view. In a sense that strengthens Jeremy Corbyns hand on his current position. But it kills dead all this stuff from the House of Lords thats additional  its clearly not going to have Labours support.

But his view was contradicted by another Labour backbencher who told reporters that Mr Corbyn had been asked to keep his options open on supporting the proposal when it returns to the Commons and had not ruled it out.

Recommended Norway drops objection to Britain joining EEA after Brexit

Asked whether EEA membership was dead after Brexit, a spokesman for the Labour leader referred to the partys leadership decision to instruct peers to abstain on the amendment in Lords last week.

Youve seen what happened in relation to the EEA amendment in the Lords, the spokesman added.

Pressed again on whether the option had been ruled out, he added: Jeremy has made clear and Keir [Starmer] has made clear that the EEA packages that are currently in existence dont meet the needs and the priorities that we have set out and that the Norway option is not appropriate and will not work for the kind of Brexit that we want to see.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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

In relation to any whipping arrangements  it will be decided at the time.

The remarks at the weekly PLP meeting also came after Erna Solberg, the Norwegian prime minister, said her country was open to the UK remaining in the EEA after Brexit

I think we will cope very well if the Brits come in, Ms Solberg told the Financial Times.It will give bargaining power on our side too. And it would ease Norways access to the UK.

In an apparent reference to the UKs unwillingness to maintain the freedom of movement required by the single market, Ms Solberg said there would be costs and benefits to British EEA membership.

You have to accept a couple of things that were difficult in the discussion before Brexit, she added.Air France has cancelled its Paris-Bamako flight after gunmen attacked a hotel in the Mali capital.

The airline's spokesman Ulli Gendrot said the "3852 flight has been cancelled." It was due later on Friday.

In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack People run to flee from the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali. The company that runs the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital says assailants have taken hostages in a brazen assault involving grenades AP In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Security force personnel escort people fleeing from the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Malian troops take position near the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Security personnel, right, attend close to the scene of an attack on a hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Malian troops take position outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Malian security forces evacuate two women from an area surrounding the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Security forces drive an armored vehicle near the Radisson hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Security forces, center left, escorts a man, center right, from the Radisson Blu hotel entrance area were gunmen attacked in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Onlookers gather near the Radisson Blu hotel after gunmen stormed the building in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Malian security forces take position near the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Malian troops take position outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako In pictures: Mali Radisson hotel attack Malian troops take position outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako

The attackers seized about 170 hostages on Friday morning at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

A Malian military official has said at least three people are confirmed dead in the attack and that more than 100 hostages are believed to be held.

 Cell phone video filmed by Chinese tourist taken hostage in Mali

The Radisson Blu hotel, to the west of the centre of the city, is believed to have been 90 per cent full when the two gunmen stormed the building.

A security source told AFP the attack was unfolding on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor. Additional reports from local media indicated an explosion may have been heard, with district residents reporting hearing on-going gunfire.

Recommended Read more Witnesses describe moment masked gunmen storm hotel in Mali

Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore told the Associated Press news agency as many as 10 gunmen were involved in the assault.

Mr Traore also claimed the men shouted Allah Akbar before they fired on the guards and took hostages.

A hotel spokesperson confirmed they were aware of the hostage situation, and that they believed 140 guests had been locked inside with around 30 members of staff.The organiser of a deadly, white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last summer has said he's planning round two  but few of his former associates seem to be on board.

For months, white supremacist blogger Jason Kessler has fought unsuccessfully for a permit to return to Charlottesville  the site of his infamous Unite the Right rally, which brought hundreds of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, and alt-right activists to the small college town last summer.

Now, he says he has a backup plan: The White House.

Recommended White supremacist guilty of assaulting black man at Charlottesville

If Charlottesville denies our permit for any reason, its not safe, were going to get in vans and were going to go to Lafayette Park in front of the White House, Mr Kessler said in a YouTube interview with fellow white supremacist Jean-Francois Gariepy.

The city of Charlottesville has already denied Mr Kesslers application for a permit, citing public safety concerns. Dozens of people were injured at last years rally, and one  32-year-old Heather Heyer  was killed when a car ploughed through a crowd of counter-protesters.

 KKK leader: 'I don't hate that a girl died in Charlottesville'

Mr Kessler is now suing the city, claiming it denied his First and 14th Amendment rights by refusing to issue a second permit. In the meantime, he has urged prospective attendees to book hotel rooms somewhere between Charlottesville and Washington.

But it seems that competition for the hotel rooms will not be too fierce: Several of the most prominent participants in last years rally have said they don't plan on returning.

Michael Hill, the president of white supremacist group League of the South  which brought a sizeable contingent of supporters to Unite the Right last year  announced in a podcast last week that his group would not be in attendance.

We dont have anything to gain by going back to Charlottesville, Mr Hill declared.

Other white nationalists such as Richard Spencer and Brad Griffin told Newsweek they were not likely to attend. Alt-right podcaster Mike Peinovich also bowed out, citing the violent attacks that white supremacists suffered last year at the hands of antifa thugs.

Mr Kessler did not respond to The Independent's request for comment.

Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Show all 9 1 /9 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Protesters clash and several are injured White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. A state of emergency is declared, August 12 2017 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Trump supporters at the protest A white nationalist demonstrator walks into Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville State police stand ready in riot gear Virginia State Police cordon off an area around the site where a car ran into a group of protesters after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Militia armed with assault rifles White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' with body armor and combat weapons evacuate comrades who were pepper sprayed after the 'Unite the Right' rally was declared a unlawful gathering by Virginia State Police. Militia members marched through the city earlier in the day, armed with assault rifles. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee stands behind a crowd of hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' during the 'Unite the Right' rally 12 August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. They are protesting the removal of the statue from Emancipation Park in the city. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Racial tensions sparked the violence White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' exchange insults with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Lee Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally Getty Violence on the streets of Charlottesville A car plows through protesters A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The incident resulted in multiple injuries, some life-threatening, and one death. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Rescue personnel help injured people after a car ran into a large group of protesters after an white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville President Donald Trump speaks about the ongoing situation in Charlottesville, Virginia from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He spoke about "loyalty" and "healing wounds" left by decades of racism.

Last years rally was met with widespread condemnation from politicians, civil rights groups, and everyday Americans. The months following were not kind to the protesters, many of whom are now facing lawsuits or criminal charges stemming from their participation.

Two participants have already been found guilty of beating of a black counter protester at the rally. The man accused of killing Ms Heyer has been charged with first-degree murder and multiple other crimes. And Mr Kessler himself is facing a federal lawsuit accusing him of conspiring to incite racial hatred and violence.

The Antifa thugs, meanwhile, are planning their own event for the anniversary of the rally, which they are calling the Charlottesville Summer of Resistance.

Local organisers are hard at work laying the groundwork for logistics, fun, resistance, and a diversity of actions and voices for August 11-12, 2018, a recent post on the CVille Resistance 2018 blog read.

This resistance belongs to every oppressed person of Charlottesville, and we seek to keep it open to that.

The post said details for the event were forthcoming.In the decade that he is believed to have terrorised California with a string of rapes and murders, the suspect acquired a roster of nicknames that testified to how large he loomed in the publics nightmares.

The Visalia Ransacker. The East Area Rapist. The Golden State Killer. The Original Night Stalker.

As the list of crimes grew, accompanied by lurid details, the suspect came to haunt the publics imagination. The longer he thwarted authorities and committed crimes that seemed designed for maximum horror, the more he came to assume the quality of an urban legend: a threat that always lurked at the edge of peoples consciousness, a reason to keep the doors locked at night.

For us here in Sacramento, it was a time of innocence before the crimes began, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said in announcing authorities had arrested a suspect, but then it all changed.

The memories are very vivid. You can ask anyone who grew up here, Schubert said.

Everyone was afraid, FBI special agent and Sacramento native Marcus Knutson said. We had people sleeping with shotguns, we had people purchasing dogs. People were concerned, and they had a right to be. This guy was terrorising the community. He did horrible things.



The Most Notorious Serial Killers Show all 20 1 /20 The Most Notorious Serial Killers The Most Notorious Serial Killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were found guilty of murder, in the sensational 'Bodies of the Moor' trial. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers Harold Shipman Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 of his elderly patients in Hyde, Greater Manchester but an inquiry later concluded he probably murdered 250 people over the course of his career as a GP. Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers Ted Bundy Ted Bundy confessed to killing 30 young women and girls across the US in the 1970s. He was executed by electric chair in 1989. AP The Most Notorious Serial Killers Fred and Rosemary West Serial killers Fred and Rosemary West who committed at least 12 murders between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers Charles Manson Charles Manson, a hippie cult leader, orchestrated the murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969. Rex The Most Notorious Serial Killers Andrei Chikatilo Notorious Ukrainian cannibalistic serial killer Andrei Chikatilo who was charged with the murders of 53 people. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper murdered female prostitutes who lived and worked in the East End of London. Their throats were cut prior to internal organs being removed from the bodies. The killer was never caught. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Beverley Allitt Nurse, Beverley Allitt, murdered four children and injured others during her time at the children's ward at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire in 1991. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers Edmund Kemper Kemper murdered his paternal grandparents aged 15 and was sent to a maximum-security facility that housed mentally ill convicts. However, was released after convincing the psychiatrists that he had been rehabilitated aged 21. He went on to murder several women, including his mother in the 1970s, where he engaged in necrophilia after the killings. Bettmann Archive/Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Dahmer confessed to murders of 17 men lured to his apartment. He kept the skulls of his victims after eating parts of some of them. Channel 4 The Most Notorious Serial Killers Gary Ridgway Gary Ridgway received 48 life sentences, with out the possibility of parole, for killing 48 women in the Green River Killer serial murder case. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Peter Sutcliffe Peter Sutcliffe, became known as the Yorkshire Ripper after he murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980. Most of his victims were prostitutes. Express Newspapers/Getty The Most Notorious Serial Killers The Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer murdered several victims between the 1960s and 70s. He sent a series of letters to the local press in Northern California which included cryptograms to help solve the murders. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Most Notorious Serial Killers Joanna Dennehy Joanna Dennehy stabbed three men to death and attempted to murder another two people during the 'Peterborough ditch murders'. She carried out the crime over a 10-day period in 2013. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers Tsutomu Miyazaki Tsutomu Miyazaki who was sentenced to death in 1997 after carrying out the gruesome killings of four young girls. He abducted, killed and indulged in sexual activities with their corpses, as well as keeping body parts of the victims and sending postcards to their families describing the murders. AFP/Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Aileen Wuornos Aileen Wuornos murdered six men whilst she was working as a prostitute. She shot them all at point-blank range between 1989 and 1990. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Dennis Nilsen Nilsen, the 'Muswell Hill Murderer', is a serial killer and necrophiliac. He murdered at least 12 men between 1978 and 1983. PA The Most Notorious Serial Killers John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and men between 1972 and 1978. Rex Features The Most Notorious Serial Killers Dennis Rader Dennis Rader, 'the BTK murderer', killed 10 times between 1974 and 1991. His first victims were all from one family. The pattern of systematic torture, lead him to be called the Bind, Tie, Kill (BTK) murderer. Getty Images The Most Notorious Serial Killers Mary Ann Cotton Mary Ann Cotton was believed to have had as many as 21 victims. She is thought to have used arsenic to poison and kill three of her four husbands, possibly as many as eight of her own children, seven stepchildren, her mother, a lover and an inconvenient friend. She was hung on March 24, 1873, after being found guilty of murdering her stepson. Rex Features

The breakthrough came at last in April, when authorities said they had arrested Joseph James DeAngelo and attributed to him a 10-year rampage of violence.

Mr DeAngelo has so far been charged in connection with 12 homicides, and the FBI believes he is also responsible for 45 rapes. But perhaps even more than the sheer number of crimes, the details helped lend the dread its enduring power.

Typically armed with a knife and wearing a ski mask, the suspect would tie women up and threaten to kill them if they protested. If a couple was home, he would bind husbands and then stack dishes on them, saying if he heard the plates rattle or fall he would kill them both. Then he would rape the wives. He was known to help himself to snacks in the homes he entered.

 Sacramento DA: 'we found the needle in the haystack' after Golden State Killer caught in Sacramento

As the serial assaulter danced a step ahead of authorities, they received taunting phone calls from a man claiming to be responsible.

I'm the East Side Rapist and I have my next victim already stalked and you guys can't catch me, he told a Sacramento County Sheriffs office operator.

The suspected spree can be divided into a few distinct eras. First came scores of burglaries in Visalia, a town in Californias agriculture-dominated Central Valley. Then came the cascade of home entries and rapes around Sacramento. Finally, a dozen murders around southern California that extended the terror statewide.

It took years for authorities to link those crimes to the same man. By the time a crime lab tied the murders to the rapes through DNA, the crimes had long since ceased (a definitive DNA link has not yet tied the suspect to the Visalia burglaries, but authorities say the same culprit is behind them).

In the end, it was DNA that again led authorities to the suspect: a man named Joseph James DeAngelo who was living a quiet life in a suburb of the California capital.

The answer, Ms Schubert said in announcing the arrest, has always been in Sacramento.

The answer, as it turned out, may also have been within the ranks of law enforcement itself.

In August 1973, the Exeter Sun carried a story introducing readers to a new member of the towns police force, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War named Joseph DeAngelo.

James DeAngelo Jr. believes that without law and order there can be no government and without a democratic government there can be no freedom, the report said. Law enforcement is his career, and his job is serving the community.

A few years later, police were hunting for a masked man who had begun assaulting women around the Sacramento area. Mr DeAngelo was serving on the police force of Auburn, a Sacramento-area community where the Sierra Nevada range begins rising from the Central Valley.

Recommended How a late crime writer helped catch the Golden State Killer

From 1976 to 1979  the rough period when authorities believe Mr DeAngelo was an Auburn cop  the rapes occurred with alarming frequency, sometimes multiple in the span of a week. In 1979 women in cities hours away from Sacramento were attacked by a suspect who fit the East Area Rapists pattern.

In that time, Mr DeAngelo did not avoid run-ins with the law entirely. An Auburn Journal story in the summer of 1979 noted an area police officer had been cited for attempting to steal a hammer and a can of dog repellant from a store in Citrus Heights  the same town where, more than 40 years later, Mr DeAngelo would be arrested outside his home.

That time, he would face consequences. He lost his job  and, authorities believe, headed south.

By the end of that year, four people in the coastal community of Goleta had been murdered. Eight more people would die in murders linked to the Golden State Killer until 1986.

And then it stopped. A generation of law enforcement had failed to track down a perpetrator.

Until now. Authorities redoubled their efforts, and the controversial decision to tap a public DNA database helped yield what Ms Schubert called the needle in the haystack. Hundreds of victims will now look to prosecutors for justice that once seemed out of reach.

I dont want him to be dead, an anonymous woman identified as the rapist's first survivor told the FBI, because I think that would be the easy way out for him.A gunman who tried to rob families with young children outside a school was shot dead by a mother who turned out to be an off-duty police officer.

Dramatic CCTV footage shows Elivelton Neves Moreira, 21, pointing a firearm at a group of women in Sao Paolo, Brazil, while their terrified children watch on.

The robbery was foiled by Katia da Silva Sastre, 42, a military police officer who had been arriving at the private school with her seven-year-old daughter for a Mothers Day party.

Recommended CCTV shows masked robbers tying up supermarket staff in Barnet

The footage shows Moreira approach the group and point a .38 revolver at a school security guard. He is seen reaching out to grab the mans wallet before Ms Sastre intervenes.

After pulling her police-issue gun from her bag, she loads the weapon, steps forward and fires three times at Moreiras chest and leg as he tries to fire back.

I didnt know if he was going to shoot the kids or the mothers or the security guard at the school door, the officer said. I just thought about defending the mums, the children, my own life and my daughters.

After being shot, Moreira fell backwards into a road and released two rounds from his own weapon as he hits the ground. The first one ricochets off the road, hitting no one, and the second jammed in his firearm.

The video shows Ms Sastre going over to the injured robber as he writhes on the ground in pain, crying out for help. She kicks away his weapon and orders the suspect to turn over before pinning him to the ground with her foot while awaiting back-up and medical help.

Moreira died later that day in hospital.

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. 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Ms Sastre, a mother-of-two a police officer for more than 20 years, said: I had to act quickly to end his aggression and prevent him from harming anyone. I reverted to the training I have received in the corporation.

Its gratifying to have been in the right place to have saved all our lives.

Ms Sastres husband, military police lieutenant Andre Alves, told Folha de Sao Paulo: The suspects gun fired once, but it is not known whether or not it was before Katia fired.

The first shot ricocheted and got lost. On his second attempt at firing, the weapon locked. Thankfully she was faster than him, because when a thug discovers hes being confronted by a police officer, he shoots to kill.

Ms Sastre was formally commended for bravery in a ceremony on Sunday.

Katia da Silva Sastre was commended for her bravery (Gilberto Marques/FocusOn)

Paying tribute to the officer at the police station where she works, Sao Paulo governor Marcio Franca said she had shown dexterity, technique and courage.

He presented Ms Sastre with some flowers because its Mothers Day and because she is a mum.

She went to the party to celebrate the date and a situation like this happened, Mr Franca said. She acted so precisely, so perfectly, that we decided to honour her.

The governor described the robber's death as sad and regrettable.

It is not ideal that the suspect died. We would have preferred this had not happened, he said. But it is a warning to those who take up a gun that they could be killed because our security professionals are well trained to protect the public.

Public security secretary Maggie Alves said: She pushed the children out of the way and approached the thief. She shoots, the boy shoots, the boy tries to shoot at her leg. She immobilises the boy and calls the [emergency services]. It was a perfect procedure from a technical point of view.A college-aged man has died after a stabbing in student accommodation at a university in California, police reported.

Another man of a similar age was arrested and remains in custody.

The incident happened at a student residential village at Sonoma State University (SSU) on Sunday, where campus police discovered the victims body.

Firefighters confirmed he was found dead just after 6pm.

David Dougherty, interim chief of SSU police, said in a statement shared on the universitys website: Based upon the available information at that time, police determined there was no further threat to the student population and campus community.

Both individuals are college-aged males. We do not know at this point if they are students at Sonoma State.

Yellow police tape cordoned off the Alicante complex in the Sauvignon Village campus community, where the stabbing took place.

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The housing village is aimed at first year students, according to the university website.

Campus police, supported by Petaluma Police Department are on the scene investigating.

The stabbing took place at a time when students were getting ready to sit their final exams, but some have been left unable to return to their homes due to the investigation.

The university urged those who felt unable to sit exams as a result of the incident to contact them as soon as possible.

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It also said support services, counselling and food would be available for any staff or students who need it and alternative accommodation would be provided for students who could not return home.

The university confirmed it will remain open following the incident and that final exams will go ahead as scheduled.

Authorities have not yet identified either the victim or the suspect.China has said it "greatly appreciates the positive US position on the ZTE issue" after US President Donald Trump said the US Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done to save jobs at Chinas biggest telecommunications company, ZTE, which broke US sanctions laws with North Korea and Iran.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China welcomed the US president's efforts to help regain jobs for the telecommunications giant just ahead of the two countries' trade negotiations. Mr Trump tweeted on 13 March: "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!" The White House later said it expected Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to make a decision about ZTE independently.

ZTE admitted to illegally selling equipment made with American components to Iran. This was even before Mr Trumps decision that the US would no longer participate in the six-party Iran nuclear deal and renew and place even more sanctions on Tehran. The company also sold products to North Korea, which the US and United Nations have placed strict sanctions upon until it agrees to halt development on its nuclear programme.

Mr Ross said at the time that the companys egregious behaviour cannot be ignored and again noted today that the company did violate US sanctions. In light of the presidents tweet, Mr Ross said that the sanctions on ZTE are an enforcement action, separate from trade.

However, he noted that his agency will explore promptly alternative remedies for ZTE to possibly re-enter the US market.

Members of Congress like Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer are opposed to Mr Trumps efforts to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to bring back jobs to the company. "One of the few areas where the president and I agreed, and I was vocally supportive, was his approach towards China. But even here he is backing off, and his policy is now designed to achieve one goal: make China great again, Mr Schumer said.

 Kim Jong-un travels to China in secretive visit

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden questioned the timing of the presidents remark. "Unilateral concessions before an upcoming trade negotiation. This may be the art of the deal for China but it's a big loser for American workers, companies, and national security," he said.

But, criticism was not limited to the opposition party. Republican Senator and erstwhile presidential candidate Marco Rubio said the US would be crazy to allow China to operate in US markets without more restrictions.

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

"I hope this isn't the beginning of backing down to China," Mr Rubio tweeted, ahead of the upcoming trade talks between Beijing and Washington. He noted that China has unrestricted access to the American market, but that American companies have been ruined because China blocked its market to them and stole their intellectual property.

It was just in April 2018 that the US Department of Commerce had forbidden American companies from selling ZTE products for at least seven years after the admission the company had sold its goods to Iran and North Korea.

The company shut its main business operations last week as a result. Sources briefed on the matter told Reuters Beijing had demanded the ZTE issue be resolved as a prerequisite for broader trade negotiations set to take place soon.President Donald Trump reportedly talks to Fox News host Sean Hannity every night after his show airs.

The US leader and the conservative television pundit spend time gabbing like old girlfriends nearly every weeknight, according to New York Magazine.

While it was previously known the presidents preferred viewing is the right-leaning network, a source close to the matter told the magazine that Mr Hannity actually gives tactical advice versus strategic advice to the president.

The report stated that White House staffers are well aware of the phone calls during which they discuss the latest developments since Mr Trump has announced them often in the past. But, the calls are not relegated to post-show, the magazine reported.

There have been days when the pair speaks several times and staffers said it helps the president decompress as opposed to the beginning of his term which included several early morning angry tweet streams based on watching MSNBC's "Morning Joe" or CNN's morning programmes. They often refer to the ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign team and Russian officials, both thinking it is a "witch hunt," a phrase the president has tweeted often.

 Colbert couldn't contain his joy over Sean Hannity being named as Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's mystery client

Mr Hannity is not a systematic thinker at all. Hes not an ideologue, a source said, much like Mr Trump. The radio and television host is one of a dozen people with direct access to the Oval Office and his influence "fills the void" left by former advisor Steve Bannon, who parted ways with the White House in August 2017 according to a White House official, adding that Mr Hannity is like an additional White House staffer who works outside of the building, in the media.

A former Trump official told the magazine that Fox News and Hannity's nearly-unconditional support of Mr Trump is a f*****-up feedback loop that puts Mr Trump in a weird headspace. What ends up happening is "Judge Jeanine" or "Hannity" fill him up with a bunch of crazy s***, and everyone on staff has to go and knock down all the f****** fires they started".

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 two do not just share phone calls and thoughts on politics, they also share lawyer Michael Cohen. The beleaguered attorney has been at the centre of a lawsuit by Stormy Daniels, a woman who said she had an affair with the president in 2006 and that she has the right to speak about it since Mr Trump never signed a nondisclosure agreement. She was also paid $130,000 by Mr Cohen just days before the November 2016 election in order to keep quiet about the affair. The source and what Mr Trump knew about the payment are unconfirmed and Mr Trump has denied the affair.

Generally, the feeling is that Sean is the leader of the outside kitchen cabinet, a White House official said. Mr Bannon also weighed in, saying that Mr Hannity "understands the basic issues of economic nationalism and America First foreign policy at a deeper level than the...clowns at New York Magazine".Senate Democrats will force a vote this week on a bill that could save net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to kill.

The Wednesday vote comes just a month ahead of the FCC-set repeal date for the rules, which were implemented in 2015 during the administration of former President Barack Obama. The rules, broadly speaking, prohibit internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon from favouring certain services and apps over others by charging websites higher rates for quicker speeds.

The anti-repeal bill has 50 backers in the Senate, including one Republican, which is one vote short of the 51-vote majority it needs to pass, unless Senator John McCain continues to stay home as he battles brain cancer. Even so, it is unlikely that the bill would be favoured in the GOP-held House of Representatives, much less signed by President Donald Trump.

Recommended Net neutrality reinstatement push enters crucial stretch

Mr Trump has expressed support for repealing the rules in the past.

Democrats have been able to force the vote using the Congressional Review Act, which allows senators to force a vote with just 30 people on board. Republicans who oppose the measure will not be allowed to filibuster the Senate vote.

The repeal of net neutrality is not only a blow to the average consumer, but it is a blow to public schools, rural Americans, communities of colour and small businesses, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schemer said Monday in a statement. A vote against this resolution will be a vote to protect large corporations and special interests, leaving the American public to pay the price.

Net neutrality protests  in pictures Show all 5 1 /5 Net neutrality protests  in pictures Net neutrality protests  in pictures Lindsay Chestnut of Baltimore holds a sign that reads "I like My Internet Like I Like my Country Free & Open" as she protests near the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, where the FCC is scheduled to meet and vote on net neutrality. The vote scheduled today at the FCC, could usher in big changes in how Americans use the internet, a radical departure from more than a decade of federal oversight AP Net neutrality protests  in pictures Demonstrators rally outside the Federal Communication Commission building to protest against the end of net nutrality rules December 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Lead by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the commission is expected to do away with Obama Administration rules that prevented internet service providers from creating differnt levels of service and blocking or promoting individual companies and organizations on their systems. Getty Images Net neutrality protests  in pictures Demonstrators rally outside the Federal Communication Commission building to protest against the end of net nutrality rules December 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Lead by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the commission is expected to do away with Obama Administration rules that prevented internet service providers from creating differnt levels of service and blocking or promoting individual companies and organizations on their systems. Getty Images Net neutrality protests  in pictures Demonstrators rally outside the Federal Communication Commission building to protest against the end of net nutrality rules December 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Lead by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the commission is expected to do away with Obama Administration rules that prevented internet service providers from creating differnt levels of service and blocking or promoting individual companies and organizations on their systems. Getty Images Net neutrality protests  in pictures Demonstrators rally outside the Federal Communication Commission building to protest against the end of net nutrality rules December 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Lead by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the commission is expected to do away with Obama Administration rules that prevented internet service providers from creating differnt levels of service and blocking or promoting individual companies and organizations on their systems. Getty Images

The forced vote shows that Democrats may see the rules as an issue they could win over voters with during the id term elections this November.

Recent polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly support the net neutrality rules, which the FCC voted in December to kill. Opponents of the net neutrality rules say the the restrictions are unnecessary, stifle innovation, and that ISPs should be allowed to provide top-notch download speeds for companies that want them.

Respondents in an April survey showed that 86 per cent of Americans oppose repealing the net neutrality rules, including 82 per cent of Republicans and 90 per cent of Democrats. Thats up slightly from December, when 83 per cent of Americans said they opposed removing the rules.

I cannot think of an issue that polls so decisively on one side, Senator Brian Schatz told the Los Angeles Times. People underestimate the passion of internet voters at their peril. They are mad and they want to know what they can do, and this vote will make things crystal clear.

Supporters of keeping the net neutrality regulations also include online activists, and large technology companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Netflix.President Donald Trump has said he remains committed to securing a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, even as deadly protests broke out amid the dedication of a new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Mr Trump released a video message on the day of the dedication, which he spurred when he decided to officially recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year.

In the video message, Mr Trump said the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  one of his key campaign promises, and a break from decades of US policy  was a long time coming.

Recommended Follow the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem live

Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital, he said in the pre-recorded address. Yet for many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious: the plain reality that Israels capital is Jerusalem.

The embassy dedication  attended by Mr Trumps daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner  was celebrated by Jewish Israelis but heavily protested by Palestinians, who also claim Jerusalem as their capital.

 Jared Kushner: The United States stands with Israel

At least 41 Palestinians were killed and 1,700 were wounded by Israeli forces during protests at the Israeli border in Gaza on Monday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It was the deadliest single day since Palestinians began protesting at the border fence more than six weeks ago.

The Israel Defense Forces claimed the Palestinian militant group Hamas was leading a terrorist operation" at the border, and estimated that about 35,000 "violent rioters" were assembled near the fence. Some were planting or throwing explosives, the military said.

Hundreds of Arab Israelis, including five members of parliament, also staged a protest near the site of the new embassy on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Show all 37 1 /37 Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian mourners carry the dead body of Mukhtar Ebu Hamas, 25, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on 14 May Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian woman flashes a victory sign during a protest near the border fence AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli soldiers guard on top of a watch tower along the Israel-Gaza border AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators react to fired tear gas Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters lying on the floor during clashes Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters burn tires AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man assists a wounded protestor AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a protester injured AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A female Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump attends the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded protester AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans carry an injured protestor Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors gather to demonstrate Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator poses with a slingshot Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors carry tires Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A demonstrator kicks a burning tire Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians congregate prior to their demonstration against the US moving their embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator reacts Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A boy holds a Palestinian flag as he stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator tries to put out a fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator with a slingshot REUTERS Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protesters look up at falling tear gas cannisters dropped by an Israeli drone AFP/Getty

Still, Mr Trump maintained that the USs greatest hope in the region was for lasting peace.

The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and we continue to support the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, he said.

Mr Kushner echoed this sentiment in his address at the dedication, saying it was possible for both sides to live in peace, safe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams.

"Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together," added Mr Kushner, who the president has charged with spearheading peace negotiations.

 Trump: 'Jerusalem was the right thing to do, we took that off the table'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in December that the US was no longer qualified to broker peace talks in the region after Mr Trumps decision on Jerusalem. Nearly 60 Muslim countries signed a joint declaration affirming this.

Leaders from Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Ireland, the Netherlands, and numerous other countries reiterated their opposition to the embassys relocation on Monday. The leader of the UN, Antonio Guterres, also expressed his concern at the number of people killed at the Israeli border.

Ismail Radwan, a representative of Hamas, said protests would continue until Palestinians were allowed the right of return to the land from which they were displaced during the 1948 formation of Israel.

We will continue on this path until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved, he said, according to the Associated Press.

Big day for Israel, Mr Trump tweeted. Congratulations!The worlds largest active geyser has erupted for a fifth time this year, prompting geologists to quell fears that a supervolcano is set to explode.

The cause of the Steamboat Geyser's sudden restiveness remains unknown.

But the US Geological Survey have dismissed concerns that it could mean a giant underground store of magma  enough to cover half the US in lava  is about to blow from Yellowstone National Park.

It said Steamboat also had frequent eruptions in the 1960s and early 1980s in a series of tweets.

No implications for volcanic activity, but good implications for viewing some spectacular geysering this summer," it added.

Michael Poland, head of volcano observatory, said: There is nothing to indicate that any sort of volcanic eruption is imminent.

Steamboats increased activity, he said, simply reflected the randomness of geysers,

Steamboat Geyser (screengrab)

At its most powerful the geyser has been known to shoot water 115 metres into the air. Thats three times taller than its more famous and more frequent Yellowstone neighbour, Old Faithful, which blasts off every hour or so.

The extensive geothermal activity at the park  which is spread across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho  is caused by a magma chamber more than 50 miles long and 12 miles wide beneath the earths surface.

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

If that ever explodes, it is estimated it would not only cover half the US in lava but also disrupt weather patterns across the planet.

Earlier this month scientists deployed 28 seismographs to the area to gather data during its current period of activity.A northern Indian city has banned children from walking alone after a 10-year-old girl was mauled to death by a dog in the seventh such death in the last month.

Reena was visiting a mango orchard with three other girls in the Khairabad village in the Sitapur district when a pack of dogs attacked the children, locals told police, according to the Times of India.

Locals are said to have then rushed to rescue them from the nearby village of Mahespur-Chillawar. While the three other girls managed to survive the ordeal, Reena was badly bitten and villagers were forced to inform her father that she had died.

The district administration ordered restrictions to be implemented on the movement of children outside their homes without adult chaperones.

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

"Block development officers, gram pradhans, lekhpals, doctors, teachers and kotedars will set up committees to ensure no child goes out without any elder, Sitapur district magistrate Sheetal Verma told the Indian English daily newspaper, referring to local officials.

The saga prompted fury in the area and a mob clutching lathias  long heavy wooden sticks used as a weapon in India  used the young girl's dead body to block National Highway 24 in India.

Police charged demonstrators, who had been pelting stones, in an effort to defuse the rally.

"The administration is in a slumber. We will be forced to take law into our hands and kill the dogs, Reena's uncle, Karan, said.

District police chief Sureshrao A Kulkarni, said: "Reena's body has been sent for postmortem. We've sought deployment of more police teams for combing operations in the village."

The young girls death is the 13th such incident to take place since November 2017, in and around the town of Sitapur in northern India.

Villagers have been left terrified  keeping their children at home and killing dogs they encounter  after roaming packs of feral dogs have led to a spate of child deaths in recent months.

Education officials say some schools have seen a substantial drop in attendance due to the attacks. Parents have also been told to escort their children to and from school.

It is not clear why the stray dogs in the area have unexpectedly turned into killers.

Many villagers have heaped blame on the closure of an illegal slaughterhouse in the area which provided food for the animals. However, the slaughterhouse was shut down at least six months before the first mauling casualty was reported last November.

It was not clear how many dogs were involved in the attacks but India has millions of strays that wander the streets in even the most expensive and exclusive areas. The feral dogs often subsist on leftover food set in alleys for them but also experience persistent cruelty by individuals.

Despite the fact injuries from dog attacks are relatively common, a slew of fatalities in one particular area is rare.Dozens of people have been killed as powerful storms swept across northern India, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

Winds of up to 68 miles per hour uprooted trees, demolished houses and whipped up sand turning the sky brown, officials said.

At least 42 people were killed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said government spokesman Avnish Awasthi.

Eight people were killed when a mosques minaret fell on a group of people in Bareilly as they took shelter in a courtyard. Another man was killed by a falling billboard.

Mr Awasthi said 50 people were also injured when uprooted trees fell on houses, with 38 hospitalised.

Elsewhere in India at least one person died in New Delhi, the capital, nine in the eastern state of Andhra Pradesh and four in West Bengal.

About 120 million people were affected in some way by the extreme weather as trains were suspended, flights were diverted and power cuts hit towns, officials said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured.

Earlier this month, 134 people died in similar storms, which injured another 400.

Then, a home ministry spokesperson told the Hindustan Times that around 80 people were killed by thunderstorms and lightning in Uttar Pradesh and 100 more were injured.

More people were killed and hurt in areas including Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab.

Recommended Feral dogs kill six children and wound dozens more in India attacks

Around 800 cattle were also killed, more than 1,800 houses were damaged, and 20,000 electric poles were uprooted leaving many without power.

The storms, which came ahead of the impending monsoon season, were not unusual for the time of year, according to meteorologists. But they said wind speeds were a bit faster than usual.

More extreme weather is forecast in parts of India over the next few days.

Associated Press contributed to this reportMembers of a single family have carried out a suicide bombing at the police headquarters in Indonesia days after another family, with whom they were friends, launched coordinated suicide blasts on churches in the same city.

CCTV footage of the latest attack showed the militants, who included an eight-year-old girl, in a car and on two motorcycles approaching a security checkpoint near the police station in the city of Surabaya. An explosion was then triggered from one of the motorbikes, which had at least two people on it.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the girl, who was with two of the four attackers, was thrown off the motorcycle by the blast and survived, while the others died.

Four officers and six civilians were wounded, authorities said.

Mr Karnavian added that the police headquarters bombers and those who targeted churches were friends, as were another family whose homemade bombs exploded in their apartment on Sunday night, killing them all. The latter blast took place at a flat in Sidoarjo, a town bordering Surabaya, and was presumably a result of preparations for yet more deadly attacks going awry.

The first spate of attacks killed 13 people at churches in the city on Sunday.

Police said the family responsible had returned to Indonesia from Syria, and included two girls aged nine and 12.

Mr Karnavian said the father drove a bomb-laden car into the citys Pentecostal church. The mother, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, he said. Based on their remains, Mr Karnavian said the mother and daughters were all wearing explosives around their waists.

The sons aged 16 and 18 rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Church and detonated their explosives there.

All six members of the family died.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Isis claimed responsibility for the church attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq propaganda agency. It did not mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers.

The flurry of attacks have raised concerns that previously beaten down militant networks in the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with Isis in Syria. Experts have been warning for several years that when those fighters returned, they could pose a significant threat.

Indonesias president Joko Widodo condemned the attacks as barbaric and vowed that authorities would root out and destroy Islamic militant networks.

Agencies contributed to this reportIt was a case that gripped India  the wife of a prominent politician found dead in a luxury hotel room, days after a series of messages emerged on Twitter appearing to suggest her husband had been having an affair.

Now, more than four years later, police in Delhi have charged Congress leader and ex-UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor with abetment to suicide over the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

Ms Pushkar was found dead by her husband on the evening of 17 January 2014, with wide-ranging reports from the time including varying causes of death, from poisoning to a deep bite on her palm.

Recommended Dr Shashi Tharoor tells the Oxford Union why Britain owes reparations

Investigators initially declared it a suicide, possibly due to an overdose of sleeping pills. But six months after the death, a forensic scientist alleged that he had been pressurised by political forces to amend the post mortem and act in an unprofessional manner. The cause of death has remained unclear.

Mr Tharoor, an MP for the main opposition Congress party, who also served as an under-secretary general at the UN for almost five years, becomes the first person charged in the case.

He strongly refuted the accusation on Monday afternoon, after Delhi Police released a charge sheet some 3,000 pages long that also accused him of subjecting his wife to cruelty. Party officials stood by Mr Tharoor and said the accusation appeared to be politically motivated.

I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet and intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part, Mr Tharoor wrote on Twitter.

If this is the conclusion arrived at after more than four years of investigation, it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police.

Rival BJP politicians have always led the charge in pointing the blame at Mr Tharoor for his wifes death. In 2014, then-BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy went to court demanding a special investigation into the case.

But the circumstances surrounding Ms Pushkars death at the Leela Palace Hotel ensured it sparked the interest of the Indian public beyond political mudslinging.

Two days before she died, Ms Pushkar told two separate newspapers she had posted messages on her husbands Twitter profile from the Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, alleging that the two were having an affair.

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

One of the messages, apparently from Ms Tarar to Mr Tharoor, read: I love you, Shashi Tharoor. And I go while in love with you, irrevocably, irreversibly, hamesha [forever]. Bleeding, but always your Mehr.

The day after, the couple insisted they were happily married and that the unseemly controversy was the result of some unauthorised tweets from their accounts.

Taking again to Twitter on Monday, Mr Tharoor said police had recently told the High Court that they had not found anything against anyone in relation to Ms Pushkars death, and that it was unbelievable that they were bringing charges against him now.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told the Press Trust of India the party rejected the charges against Mr Tharoor, alleging that he had been "hounded and persecuted" by the Delhi Police in collusion with BJP leaders.

A Delhi Police spokesperson said, On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as [the] opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice.The pilots of a Chinese passenger jet made an emergency landing after a cockpit windscreen was ripped out in mid-air.

Two crew members on the Sichuan Airlines flight were injured when the planes window blew out as it cruised at 32,000ft with 119 passengers on board.

The jets flight control unit was badly damaged by the resulting sudden decompression. Some parts of the system were reportedly sucked out of the gaping window, forcing the pilots to fly manually before landing the airliner safely at the south-west Chinese city of Chengdu.

One pilot, thought to have been the flights first officer, suffered scratches and a sprained wrist during Monday mornings drama.

A cabin crew member was also injured in the descent, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The flight, Sichuan Airlines 3U8633, had left the central Chinese city of Chongqing for the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. There were 128 people, nine of whom were crew, on board.

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft was an Airbus A319.

The plane's flight control unit was damaged and one pilot was injured (Weibo)

An Airbus spokeswoman said the company would provide any support requested by the CAAC and Sichuan Airlines.

The carrier said on its official Weibo account the flight had experienced a mechanical failure, but gave no further details. It said it had switched passengers to another aircraft to continue their journey to Lhasa.

Pictures published on Chinese social media showed the plane missing one of its cockpit windows and damage to its cockpit controls. Weibo users praised the pilots for landing the flight safely.

Sichuan Airlines, a regional airline headquartered in Chengdu, operates mostly domestic flights but also flies internationally to countries including Japan, Canada and the Czech Republic.

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

Mid-air incidents involving cracked windshields happen fairly regularly, often due to bird or lightning strikes, but it is rare for an entire window to come off.

In 1990, a British Airways pilot was sucked partially out of the cabin window after his planes windscreen blew out at 23,000 feet. He survived the incident, which occurred on a BAC-111 jet.

In April an engine on a Southwest Airlines flight blew up and and shattered a cabin window, killing a passenger who was dragged partly through the opening.

On 3 May, another Southwest flight made an emergency landing after a cabin window pane cracked in flight.The leaders of a far-right party have held pivotal talks with Italys president as they look to form a coalition government with a rival populist group.

Matteo Salvini, head of the League party, and Luigi Di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, held separate meetings with president Sergio Mattarella after spending the weekend locked in negotiations with each other.

The Eurosceptic parties were adversaries before the 4 March national election, which ended in a hung parliament. They have been in negotiations since Thursday in a bid to fuse their differing policies into a workable joint platform to end a 10-week political stalemate.

It has been a very productive day, 31-year-old Mr Di Maio told reporters on Sunday, following several hours of talks with his counterpart in Milan. He said they were close to a historic agreement, but their choice of prime minister has not yet been announced and confusion remains over who it will be.

The Five Star Movement won 32 per cent of the vote at the election and the League took 17 per cent, making them the two largest groups in parliament.

The leaders both said their talks on Sunday made progress on a policy document which is likely to be tough on immigration and the EU. Mr Salvini has previous pledged illegal immigrants would be rounded up and sent home in 15 minutes if he and his allies take power.

The two parties are said to have agreed on who would be prime minister but there has been no word on who would lead the proposed government, with neither Mr Salvini nor Mr Di Maio willing to let the other take the helm.

The far-right leader argues that, although his party has far fewer votes, he represents a centre-right alliance that won the support of 37 per cent of the electorate.

That alliance also includes former prime minister Silvio Berlusconis party Forza Italia, which said during the election campaign it would use the police and the military to round up 600,000 undocumented migrants and deport them if it came to power.

The League and Five Star Movement have been in discussions over nominating an independent figure to lead the government, without allegiance to either party.

On Sunday, Mr Di Maio said the prime minister would be a political figure, rather than a non-partisan technocrat.

A 71-year-old economist and university professor, Giulio Sapelli, said on Monday he had spoken to both leaders and would be willing to do the job as long as former centre-right economy minister Domenico Siniscalco was appointed finance minister.

Mr Sapelli said another candidate for the prime ministers job was also under consideration; law professor Giuseppe Conte.

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 president reminded both parties in a speech on Saturday that the constitution gave him the final word on nominating a premier and he was not obliged to accept their recommendation.

If Mr Mattarella is satisfied with their choice, Italy could have a government in place by the end of the week. But should no agreement be reached, new elections are likely.

The president, normally a low-profile figure, has warned recently about the importance of Italy running sound public finances and maintaining its traditional pro-European Union positions.

Both Five Star and League are hostile to EU budget rules, and while the former has moderated its stance on Europe, League is more confrontational and says it wants Italy to leave the eurozone as soon as politically feasible.

On Sunday, a small party in the centre-right electoral alliance, the right-wing Brothers of Italy, said it may support the nascent government in parliament, so long as the prime minister was an acceptable figure and not from Five Star.

A coalition involving Five Star and League would have only a narrow majority in the upper house, meaning the support of Brothers of Italys 18 senators would make the bloc less vulnerable to possible defections.French police are scouring the background of a Chechnya-born Frenchman who attacked passers-by with a knife in Paris.

Khamzat Azimov shouted Allahu akbar (God is greatest) as he began his attack, which killed a 29-year-old man and wounded four others on Saturday, before he was shot dead by police.

Isis claimed responsibility for the knife attack, which took place in the bustling Opera district, known for its many restaurants, cafes and the Palais Garnier opera.

Azimovs parents and a friend from the eastern city of Strasbourg were detained by police for questioning.

Khamzat Azimov shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) before being shot dead by police in central Paris (AFP/Getty Images)

Since 2016, he had been on a counter-terrorism watchlist of suspected radicals who may be a threat to national security, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said.

In a video which the SITE intelligence monitoring group said was posted by Isiss Amaq news agency, a young man described as the attacker pledged allegiance to the terror groups leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Speaking in French, his face largely obscured by a black hood and scarf, he said infidels fighting Isis were to blame.

You started it by killing Muslims, he said.

An image grab taken from a video released by Amaq, Isis's propaganda agency, showing Khamzat Azimov pledge allegiance to the terror groups leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (AFP/Getty Images)

Azimov obtained French nationality in 2010. He was born in the largely Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, where extremism has long simmered.

Chechens have been among the numerous foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, some joining the Isis cause early in the fighting.

Mr Griveaux rejected criticism from opponents of Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, that the government was not doing enough to stem such attacks, saying: Zero risk does not exist.

The four people wounded in the attack were out of danger, Frances interior minister, Gerard Collomb, told reporters.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In a similar attack in October, a man stabbed two young women to death in the port city of Marseille before he was shot dead by soldiers.

The deadliest of the attacks to have hit France over the past three years occurred in Paris in November 2015, when 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, the Stade de France and various restaurants.Catalonias parliament has voted in a hardline separatist leader, bringing an end to seven months of direct rule from Madrid.

Quim Torra, a former lawyer who went on to lead a prominent pro-secession group, was voted in by 66 votes in favour to 65 against.

He vowed to build an independent Catalan republic by working under the leadership of his predecessor, Carles Puigdemont, who is currently in Germany fighting extradition to Spain.

He is wanted for allegedly using public funds and orchestrating an insurrection to get Catalonia to break away from Spain.

Immediately after his election, Mr Torra said one of the goals of his new government would be to reinstate Mr Puigdemont as the legitimate president of Catalonia.

The Spanish government removed Mr Puigdemont and his cabinet from office after the regional parliament passed an illegal declaration of independence in October.

Our president is Carles Puigdemont, and we will be faithful to the mandate of October ... to build an independent state in the form of a republic, Mr Torra told the chamber, which is based in Barcelona.

Mr Torra has also promised to create a state council in exile and vowed to establish a constituent assembly to write the constitution for a new Catalan republic.

 Carles Puigdemont says he cannot return to Catalonia because Spain is intent on 'vengeance'

Everybody will win rights with the republic, Mr Torra said in a speech before the vote. Nobody will lose rights. The republic is for everybody, no matter what they vote.

The Catalan separatist movement has caused the worst political and institutional crisis in Spain in decades.

Central authorities have been ruling Catalonia directly from Madrid since the regional government led by Mr Puigdemont relied on the results of an outlawed 1 October referendum to declare unilateral independence from Spain.

The national government has fired dozens of civil servants and closed a network of overseas offices that sought investments in Catalonia but also functioned as diplomatic delegations to bolster support for independence.

The unprecedented Spanish takeover is set to end when Mr Torra is sworn in along with a new Catalan Cabinet.

Catalonia election: in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Catalonia election: in pictures Catalonia election: in pictures People react to results in Catalonia's regional elections at a gathering of the Catalan National Assembly REUTERS Catalonia election: in pictures Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and former Catalan Health Minister Antoni Comin, left, gesture during a press conference Rex Features Catalonia election: in pictures Center-right party Ciudadanos (Citizens) candidate Ines Arrimadas (C) and the rest of candidates and party members celebrate their polls results AFP/Getty Images Catalonia election: in pictures Suporters of Ciudadanos party celebrate the results EPA Catalonia election: in pictures Former Catalan regional minister Jordi Turull (C), candidate of Catalan pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya, and former Catalan regional minister Josep Rull, candidate of Junts per Catalunya celebrate the results Rex Features Catalonia election: in pictures Catalan independence supporters celebrate AP Catalonia election: in pictures Candidate of Ciudadanos party to the Catalan regional elections, Ines Arrimadas (C), next to the party leader, Albert Rivera (behind), delivers her speech as they celebrate the results EPA Catalonia election: in pictures Catalan independence supporters celebrate at the Catalan National Assembly headquarters after results of the regional elections in Barcelona AP Catalonia election: in pictures Junts Per Catalunya supporters celebrate following the Catalan regional election Getty Images

However, Spanish authorities have warned the national government could reassert its authority if the new regional government breaks the law again.

Spains prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, said he didnt like what he had heard during the debate in the Catalan assembly. He said his judgment on Mr Torras appointment will depend on the new leader's actions.

We will bet on understanding and agreement in looking at the future, Mr Rajoy said. But I say this, and I mean it: I will make sure that the law, the Spanish Constitution and the rest of the legal system, are obeyed.

Additional reporting by agenciesIt was a day 70 years in the making, one that the US sought to portray as a new dawn, but which in reality brutally exposed how far President Donald Trump is from solving one of the worlds most intractable conflicts.

While Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump led the fanfare for the deeply controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, just 50 miles away in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shot and killed at least 58 Palestinians protesting at a move which they see as denying their basic rights to a shared capital in that holy city.

The term asymmetrical hardly does justice to what was easily the bloodiest day since the Gaza war of 2014; live rounds were met with rocks hurled in response - no Israeli injuries were reported as night fell.

The death toll seemed to make a mockery of Donald Trumps insistence that he is seeking a peaceful solution for Israel and the Palestinians. Amid international condemnation, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labelling the killings genocide, and calls for restraint from all sides, the bloodshed appeared to symbolise a belief in Israels government, euphoric at the embassy move, that force rather than compromise was the route to ensuring a secure future for the 70-year-old nation.

As well as the death toll, Palestinian officials claimed 2,700 people were injured either by live gunfire, tear gas or other means.

Israel said that it was protecting its borders and blamed Gazas ruling Hamas for the bloodshed. The Israeli military said three armed militants were killed as they tried to place explosives near the fence at the southern Gaza crossing at Rafah and that it had launched an airstrike on a Hamas post near the northern town of Jabalya after Palestinian gunfire in the area.

At the biggest protest site, in Zeitoun, close to the Karni crossing, the crowds  including women and children  were far bigger than even early in the protest cycle, many without any intention of storming the border fence.

Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Show all 37 1 /37 Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian mourners carry the dead body of Mukhtar Ebu Hamas, 25, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on 14 May Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian woman flashes a victory sign during a protest near the border fence AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli soldiers guard on top of a watch tower along the Israel-Gaza border AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators react to fired tear gas Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters lying on the floor during clashes Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters burn tires AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man assists a wounded protestor AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a protester injured AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A female Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump attends the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded protester AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans carry an injured protestor Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors gather to demonstrate Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator poses with a slingshot Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors carry tires Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A demonstrator kicks a burning tire Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians congregate prior to their demonstration against the US moving their embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator reacts Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A boy holds a Palestinian flag as he stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator tries to put out a fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator with a slingshot REUTERS Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protesters look up at falling tear gas cannisters dropped by an Israeli drone AFP/Getty

Although one woman, Nisma Abdullah 29, said in the early afternoon: We are here for Jerusalem and Palestine. This is our land. Ms Abdullah, accompanied by her nieces and nephews, said her 22-year-old brother had been killed on the fifth Friday of the protests and added: I think these young people will storm [the border] and change the situation.

Mahmoud Mansour, 23, whose left arm was still bandaged from an injury in a previous protest, claimed that he was ready to kill, throw stones or do whatever was available once across the border. Mr Mansour left school at 13 in order to earn money for his family as a market porter but is now out of work, said: We hope to make our dreams come true, find a job and have the crossings open.

While as in the days before young men braved sniper fire and clouds of tear gas to approach the fence, many others in the crowd formed a long column walking parallel to the border and within about 150 metres of it, temporarily scattering when the Israeli troops fired sporadic live rounds and tear gas, its white plumes once again marked out against the black smoke from tyres brought for burning by the protesters.

 White House press secretary Raj Shah blames Hamas for 52 dead Palestinians killed by Israeli forces

The scene could not have been more different from the one in Jerusalem, where Israels prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a glorious day and said that Israel was here to stay in the holy city.

Mr Trump was represented by his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner. The US president has handed his son-in-law the task of helping to bring Israel and the Palestinians together in peace as part of his White House adviser remit, a process to which Mr Kushner said the administration is committed. However, it was clear that Mr Kushner would not be ceding the status given to Jerusalem by Israel, which he called a truth.

The journey to peace starts with a strong America recognising the truth, Mr Kushner said. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognised internationally, as its eternal and indivisible capital. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem  a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians  should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together, Mr Kushner said in his speech.

Mr Trumps name had been cheered by those attending the ceremony in Jerusalem, including Mr Netanyahu, and in a recorded video video message the US president said the embassy move had been a long time coming. However, he too spoke of peace and said the United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

The White House also issued a briefing document that claimed Mr Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel does not mean the United States has taken a position on final status negotiations.

 Trump: The US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement

The White House joined Israel in blaming Hamas for the violence at the border, with White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah repeatedly refusing to condemn Israels action and calling the Gaza protests a gruesome propaganda attack.

We believe that Hamas is responsible for these tragic deaths, that their rather cynical exploitation of the situation is whats leading to these deaths.

He said: This is a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt.

The Israeli military had warned that it would take every measure needed to prevent the mass breaches of the border which Hamas had threatened. Amid signs that the protest had taken on a more violent tinge than in previous weeks, with a few demonstrators carrying kitchen knives as well as wire-cutters, a gigantic poster near the Karni crossing with portraits of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi was replaced with ones of stone throwing.

For a number of nations in the region and beyond the blame fell only one way. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the Palestinian killings amounted to genocide, with the country seeking to recall the Turkish ambassadors from both Israel and the US. His foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, called Israels actions state terror.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the deaths in Gaza a massacre and announced a general strike on Tuesday. UN Human Rights commissioner Zeid al Hussein called the killings shocking and outrageous and that those responsible must be held to account.

Across Europe there was a call for restraint on both sides, with Germany, the UK, France and the UN all issuing statements. A spokesman for UK prime minister Theresa May said that Downing Street was concerned by the violence and urged calm.

Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, said: Obviously we are extremely saddened by the loss of life that has taken place and we understand that some have been provoking that violence but on the other hand there has got to be restraint in the use of live rounds.

A number of nations also reiterated their opposition to the controversial moving of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, including the UK.

The UK remains firmly committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital, Downing Street said, adding there were no plans to move the UK embassy in Tel Aviv.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a 57-member body representing Muslim-majority countries, has said that the US opening of an embassy in Jerusalem was an illegal decision and an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people.

The protests in Gaza are backed by all the Palestinian factions. They have been dubbed by organisers, including Hamas, as the Great March of Return asserting the right of return claim by the descendants of over 700,000 refugees forced from their homes in 1948 war which established the state of Israel and which is commemorated as the nakba, or catastrophe, on Tuesday.

But the determination of demonstrators, already fuelled by an 11-year blockade which has imploded Gazas economy and created one of the worlds highest unemployment rates, was on Tuesday reinforced by anger over Mr Trumps move of the embassy.

At the Zeitoun protest site, religious and patriotic recorded music mingled with the cries of food sellers, the sound of young men moving towards the border in pick-ups chanting To Jerusalem were going with millions of martyrs and Death rather than humiliation. Some families gathered at a safer point more than 300 metres from the border.

One Israeli estimate put the crowds near the border at 40,000, acknowledging that it was the biggest number since the protests began but saying that it was below Hamass best expectation.

Taher Nounou, a senior adviser to the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh warned that civilian resistance would intensify if protesters continued to be killed and the international community ignored their calls for support.

As Palestinians took cover from sniper fire and the occasional tear gas canister behind a large sandy berm, one young man fired an AK-47 at, and apparently downed, an Israeli drone dropping leaflets thousands of which had already warned demonstrators in Arabic not to let Hamas put their lives in danger to hide its failure.

As doctors, hampered by crowds of relatives, struggled to treat the wounded at Gazas main Shifa hospital the emergency head Dr Ayman Al Savani said the hospital was overwhelmed by the arrival of 400 of the most seriously injured and did not have enough beds. For how long will this continue, he asked reporters. Can you answer that?

Meanwhile at the morgue, a crowd of onlookers made way briefly for a small boy to kiss the corpse of a 21-year-old student Samir Shawa killed during the Zeitoun protest. Another Palestinian, Ahmed Judinya, 20 was there to mourn his cousin Mahmous Judinya, also 20, who had been shot dead at the border. He said: I wanted ... in the morning to go too, but my family forbade it. Now you see the result of participating.

The crowds are sure to return and the diplomatic fallout shows few signs of abating either. Kuwait has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, while Turkey has called for an emergency session of the OIC on Friday.Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were reportedly blessed by Israel's Chief Rabbi, who once compared black people to "monkeys" and previously suggested that Israel should be free of non-Jews.

The pair were pictured speaking to Yitzhak Yosef, ahead of the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Jacob Kornbluh, a Jewish Insider reporter suggested they had received "a blessing" from the senior cleric.

Rabbi Yosef was criticised after he used the word "monkey" to describe a black person.

In footage aired by the Ynet news website, he also used the term kushi to describe black people. Although the term was originally used in the bible, today it is generally considered to be a derogatory word when referring to Ethiopian Jews.

His use of the word was were deemed racially charged and utterly unacceptable by the Anti-Defamation League.

The rabbis office said he was quoting a passage from the Talmud - the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology.

Rabbi Yosef also caused controversy when he suggested non-Jews should not live in Israel if they do not follow the rulers of Judaism.

According to Jewish law, gentiles should not live in the Land of Israel," he was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel. If a gentile does not agree to take on the seven Noahide Laws, we should send him to Saudi Arabia."

He caused further controversy with comments which compared women who dress immodestly to animals.

Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law travelled to Israel for a ceremony to open the US embassy in Jerusalem, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israel.

It will move from its former home in Tel Aviv, following Donald Trump's decision last year to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, breaking with decades of US neutrality on the issue and putting it at odds with most of the international community.

Palestinians oppose this recognition as they claim the eastern part but Israel says it will never divide the city.

Ms Trump, who also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who she thanked for the "warm welcome" on Twitter.

She added: "I am honoured to join you & the US Delegation in commemorating the dedication of our new @usembassyjlm & celebrating the friendship between our two countries. #USEmbassyJerusalemJared Kushner has claimed America remains committed to helping broker a Middle East peace deal, even as more than 40 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured in protests over the opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem.

Donald Trumps son-in-law and a presidential adviser tasked with helping secure a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, said the decision by Mr Trump last December to recognise Jerusalem as Israelis capital, would help the peace process, rather than hinder it.

When President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it, Mr Kushner said at the embassys opening ceremony. Today also demonstrates American leadership. By moving our embassy to Jerusalem, we have shown the world once again that the United States can be trusted.

His comments followed a video address from Mr Trump, broadcast at the opening ceremony on Monday at what was previously the Consulate General of the United States, in which he said the facilitys news status had been a long time coming.

Having tweeted earlier that it was a great day for Israel, Mr Trump claimed his greatest hope was to bring peace to the region.

Recommended Jerusalem football team renames itself after Trump

He said the United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

The White House also issued a briefing document that claimed Mr Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel does not mean the United States has taken a position on final status negotiations.

 Trump: 'Jerusalem was the right thing to do, we took that off the table'

Yet, the move has infuriated the Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as their capital and have said that the move disqualifies the US as a Mideast peace mediator. For decades, the international community had agreed that the final status of Jerusalem had to be part of a broader settlement agreed by Israel and the Palestinians.

As a result, with few exceptions, countries based their embassies in Tel Aviv, Israels second largest city.

As reports from the border Gaza said more than 40 protesters have been killed by Israeli soldiers and more than 1,300 injured, Mr Kushner claimed Palestinians participating in the protests were part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Show all 37 1 /37 Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian mourners carry the dead body of Mukhtar Ebu Hamas, 25, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on 14 May Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian woman flashes a victory sign during a protest near the border fence AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli soldiers guard on top of a watch tower along the Israel-Gaza border AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators react to fired tear gas Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters lying on the floor during clashes Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters burn tires AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man assists a wounded protestor AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a protester injured AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A female Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump attends the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded protester AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans carry an injured protestor Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors gather to demonstrate Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator poses with a slingshot Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors carry tires Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A demonstrator kicks a burning tire Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians congregate prior to their demonstration against the US moving their embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator reacts Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A boy holds a Palestinian flag as he stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator tries to put out a fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator with a slingshot REUTERS Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protesters look up at falling tear gas cannisters dropped by an Israeli drone AFP/Getty

The death toll marked the deadliest day in cross-border violence since 2014. However, Mr Kushner said the journey to peace started with a strong America recognisng the truth.

We stand with our friends and our allies, and above all else, weve shown that the United States of America will do whats right, he said. While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this [resident delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.

Mr Kushner, who received warm applause when he praised Mr Trumps decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear deal, claimed there was still an opportunity for both sides to benefit.

We believe, it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give  so that all people can live in peace  safe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams, he said.

The opening of the embassy was quickly denounced by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. His spokesman said the opening of the embassy would create incitement and instability in the region. He said it was impossible for Washington to play a part in brokering a peace deal.

With this step, the US administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability, said Nabil Abu Rdeineh, according to Reuters.The White House has refused to condemn Israel for shooting dead at least 55 Palestinian protesters or even call for restraint, instead seeking to put the blame on Hamas and describing the protests as a gruesome propaganda attempt.

As condemnation poured in from around the world over the latest violence carried out by Israeli forces on the border with Gaza, White House spokesman Raj Shah said the administration believed Israel had the right to defend itself.

Were aware of the reports of continued violence in Gaza today, said Mr Shah, the deputy press secretary. Responsibility with these tragic deaths rests solely with Hamas.

 Trump: The US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement

Asked if Israel should show restraint, he added: Hamas should bear responsibility for the entire situation right now....Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response.

Mr Shahs comment came as split-screen television images showed the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem going ahead as hundreds of Palestinian protesters demonstrated close to the Gaza border. Hundreds of them were hit by gunfire. More than 2,000 people were said to be injured.

Many countries, among them Britain and France, urged Israel to show restraint. Turkey called the shootings a massacre.

But Mr Shah refused to voice even the mildest criticism of Israel, instead repeatedly blaming Hamas, which has won elections to run Gaza since 2007. While reports suggest some of the protesters at previous demonstrations were Hamas members or supporters, many were not.

(Getty (Getty)

We shouldnt lose sight of the fact that Hamas is the one that, frankly, bear responsibility for the entire situation right now, Mr Shah said. He also claimed neither the opening of the new embassy, or the latest violence, would derail the Trump administrations efforts to secure a broader peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

The peace plan will be brought forward at the appropriate time when it can be evaluated on its merits, he said.

Mr Trumps decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, fulfilled a campaign promise, despite opposition European and Middle East leaders who warned that doing so could undermine peace talks in the region.

Reuters said Mondays deaths, marked the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since the Gaza conflict in 2014. Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 55 protesters were killed and 2,700 injured either by live gunfire, tear gas or other means.

Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Show all 37 1 /37 Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian mourners carry the dead body of Mukhtar Ebu Hamas, 25, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on 14 May Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian woman flashes a victory sign during a protest near the border fence AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli soldiers guard on top of a watch tower along the Israel-Gaza border AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators react to fired tear gas Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters lying on the floor during clashes Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters burn tires AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man assists a wounded protestor AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a protester injured AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A female Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump attends the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded protester AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans carry an injured protestor Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors gather to demonstrate Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator poses with a slingshot Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors carry tires Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A demonstrator kicks a burning tire Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians congregate prior to their demonstration against the US moving their embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator reacts Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A boy holds a Palestinian flag as he stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator tries to put out a fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator with a slingshot REUTERS Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protesters look up at falling tear gas cannisters dropped by an Israeli drone AFP/Getty

At the ceremony for the new embassy, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Mr Trump for having the courage to keep your promises.

What a glorious day for Israel, he said. We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay.

Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognised internationally, as its eternal and indivisible capital.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem  a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians  should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.Israeli air force drones have dropped thousands of leaflets over the Gaza Strip warning Palestinians taking part in protests called by Hamas against the US embassy move to Jerusalem will put their lives in danger.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is determined to defend Israels citizens and sovereignty against Hamas attempts at terrorism undercover of violent riots, the leaflets read.

Dont get near the fence and dont take part in Hamas show, which endangers you.

 Israel Eurovision winner Netta: 'Next time in Jerusalem'

The IDF is bracing for an expected 100,000 protesters at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday, the same day the US fulfils its controversial promise to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israels capital by moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Hamas, the militant group that rules the Strip, has been bussing demonstrators to three crossing points since 10am (8am BST), urging supporters to break through the fence.

The leadership has posted maps and pictures on social media showing the easiest routes to Israeli towns near the border, worrying Israeli authorities that communities could be targeted by arson and vandalism and attempts to kidnap soldiers.

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The order given to soldiers is to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Israel at any price, including direct live fire.

Israel has also warned Hamas that any mass breakthrough will result in airstrikes on the groups infrastructure inside the Strip.

It is feared Mondays protests could see mass casualties, the culmination of a weeks-long campaign in the run up to the embassy move and the Nakba, or Catastrophe, on Tuesday  which comes a day after Israel's 70th independence day, which Israelis mark on the Hebrew calendar, so it was celebrated this year in April.

The IDF has deployed 11 battalions along the Gaza border as well as special forces, intelligence units and snipers, Haaretz says. Several extra units have also been posted to the West Bank.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator shouts Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli forces at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A wounded Palestinian is evacuated Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A female demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator with a slingshot looks on Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Israeli forces fire teargas canisters toward Palestinian demonstrators AFP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian medics evacuate a wounded protester AP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator moves a burning tire Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators during clashes with Israeli forces AFP/Getty

Since late March, 42 Palestinians have been killed in protests against the blockade on the Gaza Strip, which after 11 years and two rounds of fighting with Israel is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. At least 1,800 more have been injured  many of them shot in the legs, leading to amputations.

At least five people have been injured by Israeli fire so far on Monday.

US President Donald Trump announced in December last year that his administration would recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital, a decision that was condemned by the Palestinian Authority and most of the international community.

The holy city is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as their capital and most countries maintain embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv. Israel annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War in a move which has never been recognised under international law.

 Aerial footage shows Palestinian protests on the Gaza-Israel border

Mr Trump has also identified brokering a Middle East peace deal as a key foreign policy priority.

The embassy move, however, has infuriated Palestinians, leading President Mahmoud Abbas to cut off ties with the US, saying it is unable to remain an honest mediator in the peace process.

Mondays re-opening of the existing US consulate in Jerusalem as an embassy will be attended by Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, both White House advisers, and Mideast peace negotiator, Jason Greenblatt.

In a celebration event at the Israeli foreign ministry on Sunday evening, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr Trumps bold decision as the right thing to do.Turkish President Recep Erdogan has accused Israel of carrying out a "genocide" as more than 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in one day of protests.

The Turkish president accused Israel of being a "terrorist state" and announced he would pull ambassadors out of Israel and the US. The announcement came as the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, inflaming protests on the Israeli border in Gaza.

Israeli forces killed 58 Palestinians during protests near the border that day, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. At least 1,200 others were injured as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) used air strikes, tank fire, and tear gas on the protesters.

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What Israel has done is a genocide," Mr Erdogan said in a speech broadcast on Turkish state television. "I condemn this humanitarian drama, the genocide, from whichever side it comes, Israel or America.

He added: We will continue to stand with Palestinian people with determination."

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag announced that the country would recall its ambassadors from Israel and the US, and declared three days of mourning for the Palestinians killed. South Africa also recalled its ambassadors from Israel in protest of the deaths.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also said he is concerned by the "high number of people killed" in Gaza

Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Show all 37 1 /37 Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian mourners carry the dead body of Mukhtar Ebu Hamas, 25, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on 14 May Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian woman flashes a victory sign during a protest near the border fence AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli soldiers guard on top of a watch tower along the Israel-Gaza border AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators react to fired tear gas Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters lying on the floor during clashes Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters burn tires AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man assists a wounded protestor AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a protester injured AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A female Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump attends the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded protester AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans carry an injured protestor Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors gather to demonstrate Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator poses with a slingshot Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors carry tires Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A demonstrator kicks a burning tire Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians congregate prior to their demonstration against the US moving their embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator reacts Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A boy holds a Palestinian flag as he stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator tries to put out a fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator with a slingshot REUTERS Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protesters look up at falling tear gas cannisters dropped by an Israeli drone AFP/Getty

Palestinians have been protesting along the Israeli border fence for more than six weeks, demanding the right to return to land they say was taken from them during the 1948 formation of Israel.

Palestinian leadership decided on Monday to file a war crimes complaint against Israel with the International Criminal Court over its settlement construction in Israeli-occupied territories, according to the Associated Press.

The decision  reportedly made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior Palestinian Liberation Organisation officials  signals how far relations between the Israelis and Palestinians have deteriorated in recent weeks.

 Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu hail US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital

The unrest came as US officials dedicated the new American embassy in Jerusalem  a move spurred by President Donald Trump's decision to recognise the holy city as the capital of Israel last year. Palestinians also claim Jerusalem as their capital, and protested the decision for days after it was announced.

Mr Erdogan criticised the move earlier on Monday, saying the US had chosen to be "part of the problem rather than the solution" and had "lost its mediating role in the peace process as a result.

Israel and the US have blamed the violence in Gaza on Hamas, a Palestinian militant organisation that controls the area. Israel claimed some protesters opened fire and threw explosives at members of the IDF.

"The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas," White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a press briefing. "Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response."Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, has fallen behind Edinburgh in terms of the number of domestic passengers.

Over the past 12 years, the number of travellers on UK flights to and from Heathrow has dropped by 28 per cent. Last year it handled an average of just over 13,000 domestic passengers per day, compared with over 18,000 in 2005.

Over the same spell, the airports overall passenger numbers have increased 26 per cent.

Edinburgh, Scotlands busiest airport, has also seen a drop in domestic passengers while its overseas numbers increase. But the decline was only 14 per cent, allowing it to take over top position from Heathrow.

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The figures appear in the new edition of the Anker Report, compiled by Ralph Anker. He believes Air Passenger Duty, which doubled in 2007, has played a part in the overall reduction in domestic passengers; the tax now adds 26 to a round-trip within the UK. "The charge is applicable to all passengers departing from a UK airport, which means that a domestic passenger is charged for both sectors of a return journey, he said.

Heathrows congestion has played a part, as domestic capacity has been squeezed out in favour of more profitable international routes.

Eight domestic airports are currently served from Heathrow: Aberdeen, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle. The only route to have been lost since 2005 is Durham Tees Valley, though frequency has dropped on many routes.

British Airways recently halved the number of flights between Leeds Bradford and Heathrow.

At present UK airports have far more links with Amsterdam, Dublin and Paris than with Heathrow.

Heathrow Airport has argued that a third runway would allow it to increase dramatically the number of UK destinations served, saying: An expanded Heathrow could enable flights to new destinations such as Liverpool and Newquay.

Since the governments decision to back Heathrow expansion, we have been getting on with delivering more viable and sustainable air links for all of Britain.

The airport this year increased the domestic passenger discount from 10 to 15. MPs are due to vote this summer on expanding Heathrow.

The third runway is being backed by easyJet, which has plans for a domestic network based at Terminal 4.

Going places? Heathrow Terminal 4, which is where easyJet has said it would operate a low-cost hub (Simon Calder)

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: The growth in our long-haul routes, from one in 2007 to 12 in 2018, means more passengers are now getting to their end destination directly from Edinburgh rather than having to travel through Heathrow, and that is highlighted in the spectacular growth in our international passengers.

Our European network has grown and reduced the need to fly to London airports to get to connecting destinations, although our domestic market is mature with up to 52 flights a day to London as well as flights to other cities in the UK.

The second Scottish airport, Glasgow, takes third place, despite a fall of 7 per cent over the 12-year spell. Gatwick and Belfast International are catching up, with increases of 4 and 10 per cent respectively.

Home grown: Domestic passengers at UK airports in 2017 (Ralph Anker)

Among the biggest airports, Stansted and Manchester have lost the most traffic, falling 34 and 30 per cent respectively.

In 2005, easyJet had a busy route between the Essex airport and Newcastle, and the now-defunct Air Berlin launched a domestic network from Stansted.

Last year Ryanair abandoned its winter routes from Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Also in 2005, Manchester airport had frequent flights to Heathrow on both British Airways and BMI, as well as busy links to London City, Gatwick and Stansted.

Today only BA serves the Manchester-Heathrow route, and the only other London airport with a domestic flight to Manchester is Southend, served by Flybe. Rail links with the capital have become faster, more frequent and more reliable.

A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: The main reason why we have probably seen the drop in London traffic is due to our phenomenal long-haul growth in recent years.

Over the last couple of years we have added routes such as Beijing, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, Muscat, Los Angeles and just today we have announced Addis Ababa.

This growth in long haul is a clear demonstration that people want to fly direct from their own airport and not hub via the capital or another city.Leading air safety experts have concluded that the captain of flight MH370 deliberately crashed the plane. They include the man who spent two years heading the search, who now says Captain Zaharie Amad Shah carefully planned a murder-suicide mission.

The Malaysia Airlines jet was on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board when it disappeared.

Analysis of satellite data indicates it ran out of fuel and crashed in the Indian Ocean west of Australia, thousands of miles from its intended destination.

Some debris from the Boeing 777 has been washed up on Indian Ocean beaches. But the biggest underwater search in history, coordinated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), was called off in January 2017 after two years.

The seabed search was led by Martin Dolan, who told a special edition of the 60 Minutes Australia programme: This was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time.

Captain Zaharie, 53, was accompanied on the flight deck by an inexperienced first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid  who was on his first 777 flight without a training captain overseeing him.

Six days after the aircraft disappeared, their homes in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, were searched, and computer equipment taken away. It contained evidence suggesting Captain Zaharie had used flight simulation software to prepare for diverting the aircraft.

Pilots Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, left, and Fariq Abdul

Captain Simon Harvey, a British pilot who has flown the 777 widely in Asia, said the mission was planned meticulously to make the aircraft disappear, including flying along the Thai-Malaysian frontier to avoid either side taking action.

If you were commissioning me to make a 777 disappear, I would do exactly the same thing, he told the programme.

A Canadian air-crash investigator, Larry Vance, said he believed that Captain Zaharie put on an oxygen mask before depressurising the plane to render the passengers and crew unconscious: There is no reason not to believe that the pilot did not depressurise the cabin to incapacitate the passengers.

Mr Dolan dismissed the possibility that terrorism was involved. If this had been a terrorist event, its almost invariable that a terrorist organisation will claim credit for the event. There was no such claim made.

The panel disagreed about whether Captain Zaharie was in control of the aircraft at the time it hit the ocean.

Mr Vance said he believed the pilot ditched it deliberately to keep it as intact as possible, while Mr Dolan said the evidence was that the aircraft spiralled into the ocean and crashed.

There have been several confirmed cases of murder-suicide committed by pilots, including Germanwings flight 9525 in 2015.

Potential passenger belongings from MH370 Show all 13 1 /13 Potential passenger belongings from MH370 Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A bag and pen Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 The sole of a shoe Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A satchel with pen Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 The inside of a bag Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A shoulder bag Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 The word Mensa, from the high-IQ organisation, on an item Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A phone case and pen Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A wash bag Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A backpack Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A camera case Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A prayer hat Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 The sole of a shoe Blaine Gibson Potential passenger belongings from MH370 A luggage bag and pen Blaine Gibson

All 150 passengers and crew on board the Airbus A320 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf died when the first officer Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps. He had previously been declared unfit for work by his doctor.

A second search of a wider area of the Indian Ocean seabed for the remains of MH370 began in January, conducted by a private firm called Ocean Infinity. The underwater search in an area north of the previous zone has so far found nothing related to the missing aircraft. The current search is likely to end in June.

In the absence of firm proof of what happened to MH370, many possible explanations have been proposed. A surprisingly popular theory is that the aircraft was downed by a missile from North Korea  even though the rogue state is 2,000 miles away from the area in which the aircraft was lost.The Spanish seaside city of Valencia is considering introducing a law to limit private holiday rentals.

The new legislation would ban all new rentals in the Ciutat Vella, the crowded historic centre of the city. Elsewhere in Valencia, only ground and first floor properties would be granted the necessary license under the new rules.

By effectively taking Valencias most appealing properties  those in central locations and boasting nice views  off the private holiday rental market, the regional government hopes to halt the private rental boom that local residents say is pricing them out of their own city.

With this new legislation, councils can take back control of what properties may be used for, and in Valencia we are going to impose an important barrier to ensure the trend does not grow in future, Sandra Gomez, the deputy mayor of Valencia, told The Local Spain.

Gomez estimates that approximately 70 per cent of Valencias 5,000 holiday rentals do not have the correct licenses.

The move by Valencias regional government is the latest attempt by Spanish authorities to curb the holiday rental market, following Palma de Mallorcas complete ban on homeowners renting out their apartments to visitors (detached properties will not be affected, provided they are not in protected areas). Residents flouting the rules, which come into force in July, risk fines of up to 400,000.

In 2016 Barcelona fined property rental websites Airbnb and HomeAway 600,000 each for marketing homes without the necessary licenses.

These crack downs take place against a backdrop of increasing concern about the numbers of visitors descending on Spanish cities and their effects on the housing needs of local people. In July 2017 small anti-tourism protests took place in Barcelona, Mallorca, Valencia and San Sebastian.

Airbnb said in a statement: Home sharing on Airbnb is helping local families across Valencia afford their homes and rising living costs, while boosting the local economy. It is part of the solution to local housing concerns in the city, and is helping put tourism euros in the pockets of local families  not just wealthy hotel groups.

We look forward to continuing our positive conversations with the City of Valencia on clear and fair rules that differentiate between professionals and regular families occasionally sharing their home.

Around 340,000 visitors were hosted at Valencia properties listed with Airbnb in 2017, with hosts typically earning 3,700 per year, according to figures released by the company.

Valencia attracted over 100,000 British visitors in 2017, with numbers increasing year-on-year thanks to three new direct flights from UK airports, according to figures published by the Valencia tourist board in February. As of June, when a new direct flight launches from Belfast International, British travellers will be able to fly to Valencia from a total of nine UK airports.It is easy, and often correct, to dismiss President Trumps initiatives in foreign affairs as dangerous, ill-judged, badly timed and about as ill-informed as it is possible for them to be.

The decisions to relocate the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and to recognise the city as the capital of the Israel, provides ample evidence for that view. Already dozens of people have died as a direct, immediate consequence of this high profile and highly provocative move. It was all entirely predictable, which makes it so much the more unforgivable, though the speed with which the Israeli Border Police moved through their armoury from teargas to rubber bullets and then live rounds was perhaps surprising, even for them. It was, so far as can be judged, a disproportionate response driven by the need to maintain appearances for the sake of the various dignitaries gathered for this move. It had the opposite effect.

Despite the pomp and circumstance, the presence of the presidents daughter and son-in-law (a surely unprecedented use of the first family on highly politicised diplomatic business) and the video message from Donald Trump himself, this was in truth a lonely little ceremony. For the rest of the world has not, and will not, recognise Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people as the various Trumps put it. Not only has the move divided and inflamed emotions in the region, and built more hostility towards Christianity, but it has appalled Americas friends in the West, and, inasmuch as either side care, Russia and China.

The Trumpian rhetoric about a strong commitment to peace sounded especially empty when juxtaposed on the split-screen rolling global news coverage with the scenes of burning, shooting and ambulances around the occupied territories. Briefings about a Trump Middle East peace plan sounded almost an act of sarcasm in the circumstances, and there is now open talk of a third intifada.

Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Show all 37 1 /37 Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian mourners carry the dead body of Mukhtar Ebu Hamas, 25, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on 14 May Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian woman flashes a victory sign during a protest near the border fence AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli soldiers guard on top of a watch tower along the Israel-Gaza border AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators react to fired tear gas Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US President's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner arrive for the controversial inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem. The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after months of global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis over President Donald Trump's decision tossing aside decades of precedent. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives ahead of the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters lying on the floor during clashes Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian protesters burn tires AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man assists a wounded protestor AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump unveil an inauguration plaque during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians carry a protester injured AFP/Getty Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the US embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest against U.S. embassy Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A female Palestinian demonstrator stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Ivanka Trump attends the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinian medics and protesters evacuate a wounded protester AP Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Gazans carry an injured protestor Rex Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors gather to demonstrate Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at demonstrators Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator poses with a slingshot Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protestors carry tires Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A demonstrator kicks a burning tire Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Palestinians congregate prior to their demonstration against the US moving their embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator reacts Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A boy holds a Palestinian flag as he stands amidst smoke Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator tries to put out a fire caused by objects dropped from Israeli drones during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Reuters Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures A Palestinian demonstrator with a slingshot REUTERS Gazans protest as US embassy moves to Jerusalem  in pictures Protesters look up at falling tear gas cannisters dropped by an Israeli drone AFP/Getty

Moreover, the embassy move comes swiftly after Americas withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which will merely encourage Iran to go nuclear, if only to balance Israels missiles. If the United States wanted to consciously set the Shia against the Sunni world and then overlay that with a boost for Israels increasingly close-combat conflict with Iran, they could hardly have mapped out a more effective roadmap than the last few weeks diplomacy.

So the outlook in the region, so rarely optimistic, is dismal for peace, the scene set for intensification or the extension of the proxy wars and campaigns of terror beyond their present borders of geography and ferocity. Isis, driven out of much of Iraq and Syria, is already starting to operate closer to Israel, and a third intifada would provide all the motivation they require to regroup and renew their murderous efforts. They are adept at exploiting grievances, and what some might perceive as a diplomatic US-Israeli annexation of the holy site of Jerusalem provides a particularly painful one.

The consequences are all too clear. Conflict in Lebanon, long feared, now also looks increasingly inevitable, and the war in Yemen will continue, as will Turkeys war of attrition against Kurdistan, while the coming peace in Syria is merely the quiet of a graveyard, and not necessarily sustainable, even with Russias brand of ruthlessness backing President Assad. Somalia, Egypt and Libya remain unstable, Qatar is blockaded by its Gulf neighbours and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is running risks with his own conservative theocrats in the name of modernisation and crushing the Houthi rebels.

The Middle Eastern order has never been closer to collapse.

The best that can be said for Mr Trumps Jerusalem policy is that it somehow shocks the Palestinians towards a lasting settlement, and with that might come a wider lowering of regional tension. The idea is that it is such an act of naked partisanship towards Israel that the Palestinians become so dispirited that they beg the Americans and Israelis to offer them any kind of peace deal  an unequal treaty under duress.

 Israeli drones fire tear gas as clashes erupt at Gaza-Israel border protests

This  the logic runs  they will then accept as gracefully as they can for fear of worse to come  yet more humiliations and cruelties being heaped upon them, until they have no rights, territory or independence left  and they capitulate.

Yet that has not been the lesson of history so far: occupation, illegal settlements, the wall, trigger-happy Israeli soldiers  all have merely pushed peace further out of sight. Besides, the likes of Isis and other groups will offer different methods to defeat the Israelis, as politics and confidence in the United States is seen to have failed. There will be no shortage of martyrs.

Any single one of the pitiless wars now burning their way through the Middle East has the potential to run out of control and towards an all-out conflagration, escalating, most likely accidentally, to direct fighting among the regional superpowers, including nuclear and wannabe nuclear states. What would an Israel-Iran nuclear war do for American security interests? Will Mr Trump tell us that?

So it is difficult to envisage that the security of the United States or of Israel will be much improved by the US withdrawal from the JCPAO and the embassy move, and all too easy to see how more innocent peoples of every nationality and religion will lose their lives or find themselves homeless through war and terror. There will be more casualties, more refugees and more misery. It need not have been so. We will know who to blame.On 15 May, Palestinians mark Nakba Day, an annual event which both remembers the displacement of Palestinians in 1948 and protests Israels continued rejection of their right to return.

This year Nakba Day comes as the Trump administration makes good on its promise to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Todays opening of the new US embassy comes amid protests in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. In response, Israeli forces have killed at least 41 Palestinian protesters, wounding hundreds more.

The convergence of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day with these contemporary developments is an opportunity to consider its significance in the past, present and future.

The Nakba was the systematic expulsion of Palestinians and destruction of their communities. Over a period of two years, 85 to 90 per cent of Palestinians who had been living in what became the State of Israel were expelled and hundreds of villages were destroyed.

The Nakba fits our understanding of what we now refer to as ethnic cleansing. Fear and violence  including massacres  were used to empty Palestinian communities. The expelled Palestinians were then physically prevented from returning. By 1952, Israel had passed laws to expropriate the refugees lands and deny them their citizenship.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator shouts Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli forces at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A wounded Palestinian is evacuated Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A female demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator with a slingshot looks on Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Israeli forces fire teargas canisters toward Palestinian demonstrators AFP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian medics evacuate a wounded protester AP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator moves a burning tire Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators during clashes with Israeli forces AFP/Getty

Yet the Nakba is not just about the past, as Palestinians are still displaced and brutalised by Israeli authorities today.

The Palestinians being gunned down by Israeli snipers in Gaza  including more than 250 children hit with live fire since 30 March, according to Save the Children  live under a devastating blockade.

The US embassy, meanwhile, is now located in a city whose municipal boundaries include illegally annexed occupied territory. Jerusalems authorities openly seek to maintain a Jewish majority in the city, even evicting Palestinian families and forcing them to watch as their homes are demolished.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces routinely demolish and displace Palestinian communities. Earlier this month, soldiers raided Palestinian neighbourhoods in Masafer Yatta and made 26 homeless. According to the United Nations, Israeli occupation authorities have demolished 167 Palestinian-owned structures in 2018 to date.

Even those Palestinians with Israeli citizenship arent safe from this ongoing persecution. The village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev, for example, is set to be destroyed so that Israeli authorities can build a new Jewish-only town on its ruins.

But the significance of the Nakba is also about the future.

For Israel, the Palestinian refugees return would mean an end to the Jewish majority created by forced displacement and discrimination. Yet outside the lens of demographic anxiety, the power of the Palestinians return can be transformative, rather than destructive.

 Palestinian photographer Ahmad Abu Hussein shot by Israeli forces in Gaza

Some argue that Israel would never accept such a resolution, but this is to allow the parameters of the possible to be limited by Israels insistence on a right to an ethnostate at the expense of the Palestinians.

While practical questions are important and there are many precedents to be drawn on with respect to the return of refugees, the main obstacle to the realisation of Palestinian refugees rights is Israeli rejectionism.

With hard-right nationalists dominating the US and Israeli governments, and the European Union seemingly committed to a carrots but no sticks approach, Israel is still displacing Palestinians 70 years on from the Nakba. Without accountability, it will continue to do so.

But looking forward beyond the apartheid status quo, the return of Palestinian refugees is not only the right thing to do legally and morally, but it is also the only route to a just, sustainable solution for both Palestinians and Jewish Israelis.

Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel by Ben White is published on 20 May by Pluto PressThere is a very good reason why Recep Tayyip Erdogan chose Britain as the destination for his high-profile foreign visit before the election he has called back home. There is little chance of Theresa Mays government embarrassing him by saying or doing anything about the sorry state of human rights in Turkey and the tens of thousands imprisoned.

There have been calls in London by opposition groups, lawyers and campaigners for the Turkish president to be brought to account, as well as protests outside a think tank, Chatham House, where he spoke on Monday morning. But there have also been gatherings of flag-waving supporters organised by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the countrys embassy and groups from Britains large Turkish expatriate community.

Erdogan, who will be meeting the prime minister and the Queen, has declared that Britain is an ally and a strategic partner, but also a real friend ... The cooperation we have is well beyond any mechanism that we have established with other partners. Turkeys president pointed out that the UK was among the first to condemn the attempted coup in July 2016 blamed on the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. A British minister visited Turkey soon afterwards: it was the kind of solidarity that will not be forgotten, he said.

But then, tellingly, he added: We are very ready to cooperate with the UK post-Brexit in every field ... I see the strategic partnership between Turkey and the UK as a necessity, rather than a simple choice, for the interests of the two countries. It is a theme he has visited many times, saying in one recent speech: The UK will need trade after Brexit, and rest assured Turkey is willing to help.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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. 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The British government is certainly keen to focus on trade, rather than controversial political issues. Theresa Mays visit to Turkey in January 2017  at the time when the Erdogan government was facing severe criticism over civil rights abuse following the failed putsch  was really all about trade. After meeting Erdogan, she said: You mentioned, Mr President, the opportunities for enhancing the trade between our two countries and we have discussed that. I believe doing so will be to the benefit of both our countries and for the prosperity of both our nations.

One of the benefits for Britain is a $135m (99m) deal under which BAE Systems develops fighter jets for the Turkish Air Force. There is hope that Rolls-Royce will win the contract to build the engines and a number of other companies will also benefit. The aspiration is that this will lead to sustained cooperation and contracts with Turkeys military.

Trade between Turkey and UK currently stand at $16bn; Erdogan has declared that he wants to raise this to $20bn in the next few years. The UK doubled its export finance programme for Turkey last year to almost $5bn, and there are plans to increase cooperation on energy, healthcare, manufacturing and defence.

With Britain facing an uncertain economic future after leaving the European Union and the spectre of a hard Brexit looming, these figures could be deemed to be more important rather than ones more inconvenient such as 140,000 people detained and 152,000 dismissed from their posts. Among those jailed are teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, military and police and 254 journalists  the largest number of members of the media jailed anywhere in the world.

There is an element of irony in this stance of a British government with its contingent of powerful Brexiteers. During the referendum, the Leave campaigners ran xenophobic, and false, ads claiming that 100 million Turks were about to join the European Union. Michael Gove accused Brussels of appeasing Ankara with the charge that democratic development has been put into reverse under President Erdogan, while Boris Johnson won a free speech competition organised in protest at Turkish censorship of a poem he wrote that described Erdogan as a w***erer from Ankara with a tendresse for goats.

 Turkish President Erdogan: 'Jerusalem, Mr. Trump, is a red line for Muslims'

Erdogan, nevertheless, has chosen a good destination for a pre-poll international trip. Turkeys chances of getting into the European Union remain slim after years of efforts, although there was a pronouncement from Johnson, bizarre even by his standards, during a visit to Ankara as foreign secretary, that the UK would fully back Turkeys application to join even after it left the EU itself.

So in the cooing-up of two EU castaways as Faruk Logoglu, the former Turkish ambassador to the US, put it, it makes sense to London and Ankara to draw together and thus there are meetings between British business leaders and the Turkish delegation alongside that of the Turkish president and the British prime minister.

It is possible, however, that in the unstable politics of Britain, May might not survive to see the supposed partnership between Britain and Turkey come to fruition. But what of Erdogan? The Turkish president has brought forward the election from November to June in anticipation of decisive victory. The opposition has been damaged in the crackdown and he and his supporters are banking on a surge in nationalist votes following what are seen as successful military operations against the Kurds in Syria.

The election is one of the most crucial in Turkish history with the changed constitution, passed in last years referendum, coming into effect afterwards. Under the new system the president will appoint all government ministers and the cabinet will no longer be answerable to parliament.

The expectation has been that Erdogan, who carried out the changes to the constitution, would be the beneficiary as the new president. But the opposition parties have been unusually cooperative towards each other and the tactics they have been pursuing may mean that voting goes, at least, to the next round.

Erdogans opponents have profited from an own goal from the president. Confident in his victory, he declared expansively in parliament: If one day our nation says enough, then we will step aside. #Tamam, Enough in Turkish, has now rocketed with tweets telling Erdogan that Turkey has had enough of him and he must go.

It is a social media phenomenon, but social media, as we know, does have significant impact on modern polls and as the momentous election approaches, #Tamam has become a uniting slogan for an opposition fervently striving to stop Erdogan becoming anointed as the all-powerful, latter-day Ottoman sultan of Turkey.Ever since Donald Trump won the keys to the White House, the American and European press has debated Russias presumed involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.

The most talked-about allegations are those which focus on the pro-Trump adverts that appeared on Facebook, having apparently been created by Russias Internet Research Agency, and the fake news pages which are said to be Russian-backed.

Details have appeared in recent weeks confirming that the Russian state (and individuals connected to its leadership) successfully turned Western social media into a morass of bogus news stories (which in Russia are now known more benignly as post-truth), affecting both Americans and Europeans. The US Congress and prosecutors continue to investigate whether there were links between this Russian activity and the Trump campaign.

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. 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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

Of course, it is to be hoped that the investigations will be helpful in both identifying Russians who were responsible for promoting political advertising (as well as any Americans involved too) and preventing this kind of thing from happening again.

But at the same time it is important to consider a broader question about the attitude of the Russian state towards the advantages of technological advancement  and towards the potential for investment in the Wests tech industry, both by the state itself and by wealthy, individual Russians.

There is a rather old story that illuminates this issue, namely the Russian-backed investments in both Facebook and Twitter in the years immediately after 2009.

These investments were made by the Hong Kong-headquartered DST Global venture capitalist fund (via the related investment vehicles DST USA II and DST Investments 3), which poured millions of dollars into Facebook to the extent that at one time it controlled around 8 per cent of the companys shares.

DST Global was founded and operated by arguably the most successful of all Russian venture investors, Yuri Milner, who became close to Mark Zuckerberg  indeed, the men have now been good friends for many years.

In some quarters, the acquisition of shares in these social media giants has been seen as controversial. This is because Milners investments were partially funded by, in the case of Twitter, VTB Bank (which is largely state-owned) and, in the case of Facebook, cash from Gazprom Investholding  a Gazprom-linked corporation headed by the Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, again with supposedly strong ties to the Kremlin.

These links have led some more conspiratorial commentators to conclude that Russia was deliberately acting against Western democracy by buying into its web-based economy.

However, as Yuri Milner has said, he was not even aware that Gazprom Investholding were backers of the Facebook stake  the deals which have excited comment being in any case just a modest element of DST Globals wider investment portfolio.

In addition, a recent inquiry made by KPMG auditors has indicated that Gazprom Investholding never owned Facebook stock directly and that the funds it made available to DST through two shell companies, BVI-registered Kanton and Cyprus-registered Beltrium, were not of crucial importance for DST. Whats more, from the start of its investment in Facebook, DST Global issued a power of attorney on the name of Mr Zuckerberg allowing him to vote with its stock.

But even putting aside these points, in analysing Russian economic ties to Facebook, the most important point to consider is that the Russian state accused now of wrongdoing was in 2009 quite different to how it looks today.

In 2009, then-President Dimitry Medvedev dreamed about technological modernisation and a resetting of Russia-US relations. As someone who worked for the Commission on Modernisation at that time, I can say with total confidence that Russian businesspeople were urged to invest in international hi-tech ventures for reasons that were positive, not nefarious.

Mr Milner was definitely one of those encouraged to bridge the East-West divide. Indeed, he was handpicked to serve on the commission as a full-time member. And its not a surprise he was able to get loans from the state-controlled VTB Bank that were later invested into Twitter and Zynga shares (likewise investment via vehicles connected to Alisher Usmanov for some of the Facebook purchases): quite simply, it was considered a good investment economically, and in terms of Russian technological advancement.

 Mark Zuckerberg admits my mistake as 87m Facebook users could have seen data accessed by Cambridge Analytica

Similarly, the fact that Milners companies sold the Facebook stock they held in 2012 and 2013 cannot be seen as evidence of anything suspicious. For one thing, selling a stake in a firm at a profit makes good business sense.

But the other point is that government priorities had changed after Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012. The atmosphere in which Russia was seeking closer economic and technological ties with the West was no longer present. (I should add that his remarks during his recent inauguration, to the effect that Russia needs once again to prioritise technological advancement, are not indicative of a change in approach to doing business with the West.)

For all these reasons, while I have no intention to downplay the challenge posed by the Kremlin-initiated hybrid tech war against the West, attempts to find links between legitimate financial investments in social media firms and unwelcome, state-led interference  for instance, by creating Facebook ads  can only hinder matters.

After all, the idea that the whole of the Russian political elite  and indeed the Russian business community  are natural enemies of the West is simply false. In all the debates about Russia acting against international rules (as the head of MI5 puts it today), we should not forget it was not too long ago that even the highest echelon of Russian politics was very inclined to build positive, long-lasting, economic and political ties with both United States and Europe.

I would argue that, as well as the changing priorities of the Russian government, one of the biggest problems in relations between Russia and the West during the last decades was  and still is  the deficit of long-term, corporate opportunities for investment that the West offers to wealthy Russians.

The most common type of Russian investment in the US and Europe remains the simple acquisition of super-expensive real estate (usually via offshore companies) or buying yachts or aeroplanes for personal amusement. There are very few entrepreneurs who have tried  or been able  to invest in high-growth companies, to organise venture funds and thus to engage with Western business in a way that promotes lasting cooperation. That is even harder now thanks to US sanctions.

These individuals are potential friends of the West and it is important that they are not alienated by broad accusations of Russian wrongdoing. For the sake of a secure common future, both sides need to build economic and business bonds which can survive political disagreements.

Vladislav Inozemtsev is the director of the Centre for Post-Industrial Studies in MoscowThe royal households press team had quite the weekend.

On Saturday evening, it circulated a note to the media via the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) on behalf of Thomas Markle, Meghans father, expressing concern at the behaviour of paparazzi photographers.

A few hours later, the Mail on Sundays front page story implicated Markle in an alleged collaboration with a paparazzo to stage a series of images that have been sold to publishers around the world.

Today, Kensington Palace is reported to be offering Thomas Markle support, which is one way of putting it. The timing, a week before Harry and Meghans wedding, is less than ideal.

Of course, it remains to be seen what Thomas Markle was hoping to achieve  and we may never know for sure. It has been pointedly noted that the images could have been brought in over 100,000 for the photographer who took them (some appeared in The Sun earlier this month). Was Markle paid for being a willing subject?

An alternative theory is that he thought that by co-operating with a photographer on one occasion, he would satisfy the demand for pictures and ensure that he would subsequently be left alone. Its clear that he had already communicated to the palace his concerns about press harassment and he would not be the first person to think he could give snappers an inch and not have them take a mile.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

Whatever lies behind the incident, it plainly creates a headache for the royals, who have worked hard both to maintain their privacy and to ensure a sensible and proactive relationship with the media, especially in this country, over the last two decades.

Inevitably, the death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 has provided the backdrop to almost all interactions between the media and the Royal Family in the years since. The role of the paparazzi in that incident, and in previous instances of harassment, led to a renewed determination among senior royals to protect the familys privacy  and there is no doubt that the relationship between the Windsors and the press has improved markedly since those dark days.

That is partly because editors accepted (to a greater or lesser degree) that they were creating a market for the kind of pursuit which had been taking place on the night Diana died. Few wanted to see a repeat  or, heaven forfend, be blamed for it. Indeed, while the death of Diana led to public anger being expressed towards the rest of the royal family, it was also directed in bucketloads at the tabloid press. The Press Complaints Commission (the forerunner of Ipso) was deluged with rage-filled letters as that hot summer drew to a close.

As public attitudes towards the royal family have softened  and particularly as the popularity of its younger generation has soared  the attentions of the UK media have largely been kept in check: in part because of that old fear that angering the royals will anger the public; but in part too by virtue of a sophisticated media operation based at Kensington Palace, which has balanced the legitimate public interest in the lives of Princes William and Harry with a reasoned position that the men and their families are not fair game for journalists.

By releasing occasional photographs and other information  and by using Ipso and other channels to make clear when there are particular concerns about intrusion  all sides have been kept, if not happy, then broadly content.

The notable exception, when Kate Middleton  as she was then  was on the receiving end of a 2007 paparazzi frenzy amid rumours of an impending engagement to Prince William, was a reminder of how easily the truce can break down. It served too to bolster the royals determination to keep a lid on unwarranted invasions of their privacy. The decision of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to sue over topless pictures of the latter published in France in 2012 was indicative of their resolve.

 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'look lovingly into each other's eyes' on royal wedding coin

The row over Thomas Markle threatens to undermine the integrity of this well-developed operation, which relies to a considerable degree on mutual trust. If it turns out that he did collaborate over staged pap shots (as remarks by his son appear to confirm), then he has evidently caused the palace to make a plea on his behalf that is, at best, based on incomplete information.

This isnt to say he has not been subject to harassment by the way: even putting this incident aside, it appears clear that he has been. But the attempt by his son, Thomas Jr, to explain the incident by highlighting the level of scrutiny the Markles are living under isnt likely to cut the mustard when set against the experience of the most scrutinised family in the world.

Ultimately, it seems likely that both the palace and Ipso will be forced to think twice before circulating concerns on Thomas Srs behalf again.

Worse though is the potential for editors  who are not legally bound by the advisory notices that Ipso sends round  to question the reliability of the royals communication more broadly. If that happens, then Markle may find his welcome into the family even more fraught than he might have anticipated.Luxembourg's citizens can quickly impress with their language skills, switching with ease between their local tongue and German, French and English.

The duchy has been one of Ireland's main rivals in attempts to lure jobs from London in a post-Brexit Europe.

But financial firms hoping to open outposts in one of the European Union's most important such hubs may be in for a surprise.

Head hunters say there simply aren't enough candidates in and around the minuscule nation of 600,000 people with the excellent English needed to fill the expected 3,000 jobs triggered by the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

"Something we have seen since Brexit is that with some clients - like one large asset manager we're dealing with - we're having terrible difficulties," said Christopher Purdy, managing director at the Greenfield recruitment agency.

They demand "better or perfect English, as opposed to just fluent English".

Luxembourg is becoming the nation of choice for a growing number of insurers, funds and banks relocating from the UK due to Brexit.

But with English rapidly becoming the finance sector's key language, recruiters are starting to stumble over Luxembourg's traditionally more francophone outlook.

Recruitment agencies have in the past attracted a lot of graduates from France with four to five years' experience who couldn't find a role at their level in their own nation.

With economies picking up across Europe, this has changed as people find more jobs at home too.

"When we recruit in France it's difficult," said Jean-Francois Marliere, a founding partner of Marliere & Gerstlauer Executive Search in Luxembourg.

"We were recruiting in Paris for a wealth estate-planner post here and found people who were extremely qualified, but their English was unfortunately basically non-existent."

A boom in the private equity property market has made finding new assignments easier for headhunters, but they face difficulties closing deals "because the candidates we are looking for are, quite frankly, difficult to find," said Mr Marliere.

"We are no longer in the back office jobs, but in far more technological and technical positions that demand a much higher level of schooling and experience," he said.

The dearth of locals means headhunters are looking to lure qualified staff - with an excellent command of English - from further afield.

Gwladys Costant, partner at GoToFreedom recruitment agency, says a third of its candidates come from across the continent and increasingly from eastern Europe.

Aside from pay, that means the Grand Duchy has to work hard to sell a country that has a reputation as a traffic-choked backwater. The financial lobbying group Luxembourg for Finance is planing a new talent campaign, to show what the country has to offer.

"We're not pretending to be Paris or Amsterdam," said the agency's chief executive officer, Nicolas Mackel. Luxembourg has "other advantages and we want to show and point those out."

(Bloomberg)On the first day of the Trade Mission to China, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD met with the Minister for a newly established Chinese Agency, the State Market Regulatory Administration, Minister Zhang Mao in Beijing.

On the first day of the Trade Mission to China beef Market access was confirmed for a number of additional Irish beef plants.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed met with his counterpart, the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Minister Han Changfu, and also the Minister for a newly established Chinese Agency, the State Market Regulatory Administration, Minister Zhang Mao.

Speaking from Beijing Minister Creed said these were incredibly productive meetings with excellent results.

"A number of additional Irish beef plants and one additional pork plant have now met the required approval standards to export to China.

"This brings to six the number of Irish beef plants that will initially be able to export beef. It is intended to complete the final administrative details to register these plants shortly.

"We also held preliminary discussions around the issues of approval for additional plants as well as the prospect of sheep meat access

The trade mission comes after the announcement in April of the Chinese market opening for Irish beef.

Despite increases in domestic beef production in China, consumer demand for premium imported beef is forecast to rise significantly, driven by increasing urbanisation, higher disposable incomes and health awareness. Ireland has had pig-meat access to China for over 10 years and China has now become the second largest export market. Pig-meat exports were over 100 million in 2017.

The Minister also noted that another pig-meat plant has also met the approval standards for China. This means that all our major pig-meat export plants will be eligible for export.

China is the worlds largest pig-meat consumer and pork remains the main form of meat consumed here in China.

This trade mission provides the Minister and the Irish industry with a vital opportunity to further develop contacts with Chinese Ministers, Government officials, importers and retailers, and also to promote quality Irish food.

The Minister said: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other agencies are undergoing major structural changes here at present. It has been very useful to get a first hand overview of how these structures will operate as this will enhance our relations and market access work in future.

"Both Ministers agreed on the establishment of an official agriculture working group as part of an agreed comprehensive partnership between Ireland and China which will exchange information in the areas of food safety, sustainability, livestock production and rural development.

The Minister also had a number of agri-tech meetings organised in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland including with Bimeda, Alltech and Dairymaster.

Day one concluded with a trade reception the at Embassy of Ireland, hosted by Ambassador Eoin OLeary and Bord Bia, attended by trade mission delegates, Irish and Chinese media and local business leaders.

Speaking at this business networking reception in the Irish Embassy Minister Creed said it is a very exciting time for Chinese-Irish relations.

"I am delighted that we are serving Irish beef here today. We are extremely proud of the quality of our beef, and I am very pleased that it will be available here in the near future.A large delegation of Irish food industry representatives, begin a weeklong trade mission to China and Hong Kong today.

This mission is an opportunity to strengthen and develop existing relationships. It is imperative that we continue raising the profile of Ireland as a source of quality food and beverages, and expand the range of exports into China and Hong Kong.

Speaking in advance of the mission, Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine Michael Creed stressed the importance of strengthening trading relationships against the background of Brexit, and creating opportunities for the Irish agri-food sector to grow in international markets.

The value of Irish agri-food exports to China continues to grow and this is welcome. But the partnership between Ireland and China goes far beyond a transactional trading arrangement. This is about cooperation at multiple levels.

"Political visits in both directions at the very highest level, technical engagement between officials providing assurance on food safety standards, and a programme internships in my Department for Chinese veterinary officials, have all played an important part in building trust and developing key relationships.

"We have a particular opportunity this week to present the Irish beef sector to potential buyers and distributors, following the recent success in obtaining access to the Chinese market.

"But we also want to build on existing trade links in other areas including dairy, pig meat and seafood. We want to highlight the credentials of Irelands food and drink sector from a food safety, sustainability and authenticity perspective, in order to develop a unique selling point for Irish product

Irelands agri-food exports to China have increased roughly five-fold from around 200 million in 2010 to nearly 1 billion last year.

China is now Irelands third largest market overall. Dairy exports to China reached 667 million in 2017, and pigmeat exports have increased from 37 million to 100.3 million between 2012 and 2017. China is also a growing market for seafood and other food and drink exports.

The intensive itinerary, encompassing over 20 official engagements in 4 cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong begins with political engagements on Monday 14 May, where Minister Creed will also meet key influencers in the Chinese administration, including Minister Zhang Mao and Minister Han Changfu.

The Minister will be accompanied by Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia, senior representatives from Enterprise Ireland as well as Senior Executives from our leading companies in the beef, pigmeat, dairy and seafood sectorsThe Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys has signed off on changes to Employment Permit Regulations, which will make it easier for certain businesses in the agri-food sector to source workers from outside the EEA.

The changes, which will operate on a pilot basis initially, include 500 permits for the horticulture sector, 250 for the meat industry and 50 for the dairy sector.

A new minimum remuneration threshold of 22,000 is being introduced for these occupations. Furthermore, there will be specific obligations on the employers around the welfare and prospects of the foreign nationals employed.

This includes ensuring they have access to suitable accommodation and to training in areas such as language skills.

Minister Humphreys said as the Irish economy approaches full employment, labour shortages at the lower-skilled end of the jobs market are becoming apparent in some sectors.

"This has the potential to constrict growth if these needs are not met. Parts of the agri-food sector are particularly affected in the immediate term, she said.

Earlier this year, the Minister asked her Department to review the economic migration policies underpinning the current employment permits system.

The purpose of the review is to ensure that our current policies are fully supportive of Irelands emerging labour market needs, be they critical skills needs or labour shortages for lower-skilled, lower-waged workers.

"I am acutely aware of the particular challenges facing parts of the agri-food sector. For this reason, I asked the review group, in advance of completing the full review, to prioritise the emerging labour shortages in the sector in its deliberations.

The changes allow for a pilot, quota-based system that will address the immediate needs of the horticulture, meat processing and dairy sectors.

This is a departure from our current employment permits regime, which has generally focused on critical skills gaps at the higher end of the labour market as we position Ireland for further growth in the knowledge economy.

Like many developed countries, however, we are now seeing pressures at the lower-skilled end of the market. In seeking to deal with these pressures, I am also conscious that any changes introduced must not disrupt the domestic labour market, the Minister said.

The review group, taking a cross-sectoral approach, accepts there is evidence of an increasingly challenging environment to recruit and retain staff. The Government Strategy, Food Wise 2025, has also identified ambitious and challenging growth projections for the agri-food sector.

The Minister continued: I have decided to introduce a temporary scheme to alleviate the immediate difficulties that companies in the sector are experiencing. This scheme will allow workers in the horticulture, meat processing and dairy sectors from non-EEA countries to access the labour market.

Specifically, in relation to the dairy sector Minister Humphreys said she is aware that an increased demand for on-farm workers in the dairy sector has been compounded by the challenging winter and spring weather.

"I am also aware that my colleague Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has established a People in the Dairy Sector Stakeholder Group to consider the short and long-term labour needs on dairy farms. I understand that an action plan will be published in the coming weeks.

The Minister expects the report of the Inter-Departmental review group, due this summer, to recommend a strategy for economic migration to meet the States changing labour needs into the future. Included in this will be the medium and longer term labour requirements in the agri-food sector.

Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle recently said dairy farmers are facing an "unparalleled situation" in terms of labour and the challenges ahead.

"The number of dairy herds with over 100 cows has risen to nearly 50pc. That's up from 13pc in 2005.

"Close to 3,000 extra jobs will be needed over the next decade on dairy farms and that clearly is going to create issues of where that labour is going to come from and also the training of that labour," he said.

Although Prof Boyle highlighted the positive side of job creation in the sector, he says the issue of managing farm labour has been neglected for "far too long".

IFA President Joe Healy has welcomed the announcement as a positive first step.

Irish agriculture, especially labour intensive and/or expanding sectors such as horticulture, dairy and pigs, has a genuine need of additional labour from outside Europe as we approach full employment and recovering EU economies have labour needs of their own, Mr Healy said.

It is important that Minister Humphreys would provide a timeline and framework for the operational review of this pilot, so that the operation of the scheme can be assessed against each of the three agricultural sectors needs, Mr Healy said.

I am glad to read that where sectors put in place strategies to source and retain labour from the domestic and European labour markets, and where they invest in innovative technologies, as the sectors have done, the Minister would be open to granting additional permit quotas. It will be important to define the conditions in which this might be achieved, he added.

We now need clarity to be provided urgently as to how individual farmer employers can apply for these permits, and the time framework within which the pilot will be reviewed, and hopefully amended if necessary and extended as required, he concluded.Glanbia Ireland has today announced the appointment of Janet McCollum as a non-executive Director of the Company.

Janet has over 25 years of experience in the food industry and currently serves as Chief Executive of Moy Park based in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

Moy Park is one of the UK's top 15 food companies, Northern Ireland's largest private sector business and one of Europe's leading poultry producers.

Speaking about the appointment Henry Corbally, Chair of Glanbia Ireland said he was delighted to welcome Janet McCollum to the Board of Glanbia Ireland.

"Janet has a wealth of experience of the food industry and a keen understanding of consumer trends which will be invaluable at the Board. I know she will make a significant contribution to the ambitious plans we have for the organisation. At Moy Park Janet has demonstrated her strong strategic leadership and everybody in Glanbia Ireland looks forward to working with her.Farmer was in court over allegedly building a sheep dipping tank without planning permission. Stock image.

A barrister has been reprimanded for acting in a case where he ought to have known he had a conflict of interest.

The 2017 annual report of the Barristers' Professional Conduct Tribunal reveals the practitioner was advised about his conduct and forced to undergo ethics training.

However, the barrister has not be identified by the tribunal, whose hearings are held in private.

According to the report, it received 36 complaints last year, up from 33 in 2016.

The report said one barrister was "admonished for his misconduct". The case in question is thought to be one relating to a land dispute, one of 10 case studies contained in the report.

Complaints were not upheld in the other nine.

According to the report, the barrister defended a farmer who was prosecuted in the district court for allegedly building a sheep dipping tank without planning permission.

But in a subsequent case the same barrister went on to represent parties who were making an adverse possession claim for the farmer's land.

Although the conflict of interest was mentioned to the judge in the second case, no determination was made on the issue by the court.

The report found the farmer had a reasonable concern that confidential information learned by the barrister during the first case might be disclosed in the second one.

It also found the due administration of justice required that the barrister should not have acted against the farmer in the second case.

Three complaints received by the tribunal last year related to alleged conflicts of interest.

A wide variety of other types of complaints were also received.

Nine complaints alleged that counsel was incompetent.

Six clients complained about opposition counsel. The report said these complainants possibly misunderstood the role of counsel on the other side of their case.

Three complaints related to the alleged actions of barristers outside their role as an advocate, while two concerned allegations counsel acted dishonestly.

Two complaints involved allegations of "serious rudeness".

The report said 13 appeals of tribunal decisions were heard by the Professional Conduct Appeals Board last year, one of which was allowed, and another allowed in part.ICSA is to mount a protest in opposition to the mandatory introduction of EID tagging for all sheep.

ICSA sheep chairman John Brooks has said that members of the ICSA sheep committee wish to highlight the mounting anger of sheep farmers against this unnecessary move.

He says the introduction of mandatory EID tagging will cost sheep farmers 2.5m per year.

"It has been done without warning or consultation at the behest of processors who are the only ones who will benefit. It is unacceptable that sheep farmers should bear all the cost, Brooks claimed.

In addition Mr Brooks said, ICSA is also deeply concerned about the chaotic rollout of the Clean Livestock Policy (CLP) for sheep. We are demanding an immediate review of the implementation of the policy.

The protest will take place at the Department of Agriculture, Kildare St. Dublin and will start at 12.30pm.

The Minister of Agriculture told FarmIreland last week that he would not row back on the decision despite it receiving a furious reaction from farm organisations.

Im not for turning on this. EID is the best available technology and our current tagging system for sheep is not fit for purpose.

"International markets are demanding and new markets that wed like to access are equally demanding of high standards in terms of traceability, for that reason this is the right thing to do,"he said.

Earlier this week the IFA urged that Minister Creed should row back on the new rules which they claim will cost farmers 2 million a year.

"This move by the minister, on top of his decision on the clean sheep policy and the severe hardship this spring, shows a lack of understanding of how sheep farms work and the pressures farmers are under," said IFA president Joe Healy.

Electronic Sheep Tagging

From October 1 lambs under 12 months of age that are going directly to slaughter from the holding of birth will require a single electronic tag.

All other sheep will require an EID tag set comprising two tags - one conventional tag and a corresponding electronic tag.

A conventional tag and an EID bolus will also be permitted.

The farm organisations claim the introduction of EID tagging will put unnecessary costs on flocks where lambs are born and reared and sent directly to slaughter, as well as the low-margin hill sheep sector.

They are also angry over what they believe was an absence of consultation by Minister Creed on the matter, a claim which has been challenged by the Department.

INHFA president Colm O'Donnell accused Minister Creed of going on a solo-run on EID.

John Brooks of the ICSA said electronic tagging would cost thousands of farmers like him an additional 1.20 a head for a tag that would be on a lamb for just a few hours.

"I tag the lambs as they go to the factory. So two or three hours after I tag them, the lambs will be slaughtered and the tags thrown away," Mr Brooks said.

He said offering sheep farmers 50 towards the costs of EID was akin to throwing them "a few pieces of silver".The proposed merger of ASDA and Sainsbury's could be bad news for Irish beef farmers as the move is like to put significant downward price pressure on suppliers.

Larry Goodman's ABP is the principal beef supplier to both ASDA and Sainsbury's.

Paul Kelly of Ibec's Food and Drink Ireland predicted "downward price pressure on suppliers" was one of the "likely outcomes" of the merger being approved UK authorities.

The combined entity will have over 30pc of the UK grocery market, with annual sales of 51bn (57bn) across around 2,800 stores.

The deal, should it get the green light, is targeting savings of 500m (566m) across the merged business.

Bord Bia confirmed an immediate response and action plan has been put in place following the announcement of the merger.

Bord Bias London office have been following up with the main Irish suppliers affected by the merger. In addition, Bord Bia, with support from a number of UK-based retail experts, is set to develop a comprehensive risk and opportunity analysis report on behalf of the industry.

We believe each Irish exporter affected by the announcement will require bespoke advice as no two situations will be the same," a spokesperson said.

"To that end, we are offering one to one guidance and mentoring to companies, whereby we can discuss their particular situation and potential exposure. Bord Bia will work with each company to mitigate any risk and explore all opportunities.

"Bord Bia is liaising with key contacts in Sainsburys and Asda to help provide feedback to current suppliers. Feedback from customers to date is very much business as usual this is a long process that could take up to 2 years. There is similar feedback coming from suppliers.

"Both Sainburys and Asda have been very supportive of Irish suppliers and continue to be important customers for Irish food and drink".

In March, Bord Bias CEO, Tara McCarthy and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed hosted Sainsburys CEO Mike Coupe at their new Thinking House insight centre in London.

This followed an earlier visit by the Sainsburys team to Bord Bias office in Dublin. Similarly last year, Bord Bia CEO and Minister Creed met with senior representatives from Asda.WHITEGATE, UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 01: Daffodils expert Len Tomlinson picks blooms at Whitegate Daffodil Walk at Foxwist Green Farm in Whitegate, Cheshire, United Kingdom. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Welsh farmer helping fight Alzheimer's by growing high-altitude daffodils which have been proven to help combat the disease.

Kevin Stephens, 51, is aiming to become a world-leader in the production of a pioneering drug by farming the flowers on the Black Mountains in Monmouthshire.

The daffodils are grown in order to harvest galantamine, a compound that has been proven to be an effective treatment for vascular dementia and Alzheimer's by helping to ease symptoms.

The process is already used in China and Bulgaria, but Mr Stephens says his plants contain a much higher concentration of the chemical due to the altitude they are grown at.

The farmer, who owns fields at more than 1,000ft above sea level, said: "We had to work out which daffodils to grow.

"There's about 30,000 varieties of daffodil and we found about a dozen that had the right genetics.

Stephens established his own bioresearch firm, Agroceutical, in 2012 and is now hoping to get the backing of big pharmaceutical companies so he can begin mass-producing the drug.

Agroceutical currently has a licence to produce enough galantamine to help 9,000 Alzheimer's patients every year.

Mr Stephens said: "We know we can make it cheaper than China and more sustainable, but we can't get to that point where we can produce thousands of kilos.

"We're in this death valley type of thing because we can't get contracts until we show we can make that much but to make that much galantamine you need a contract."

It is thought that galantamine has been used as the active ingredient in traditional medicine for thousands of years.

Modern medical research into the use of galantamine dates back to the 1950s when the Soviet Union extracted the compound and studied its effects after a Bulgarian pharmacologist saw villagers rubbing their forehead with the plant leaves and bulbs.

Dr Aoife Kiely, research communications officer at Alzheimer's Society, while galantamine cannot cure or slow down dementia, the drug has been proven to help ease its syptoms.

Dr Kiely said: "It's fantastic to see people like Kevin doing what they can to unite in the fight against dementia.

To date, research has found the effect of galantamine on the brain to be small but positive in treating Alzheimer's by easing symptoms.

"Sadly though, like other drugs currently available for dementia, galantamine does not cure or slow down the condition."

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Global food giant Mars has launched a lawsuit against the Irish arm of German pet food maker Rondo in a battle over a $125m (104m) market for dog treats.

The Irish firm and its German parent have been accused of trademark and patent infringement.

Mars, which owns a range of popular sweet brands from the eponymous chocolate bar to Wrigley's and M&M's, also owns some of the most recognisable pet food brands such as Whiskas, Cesar and Pedigree.

The family owned behemoth has fired the legal salvo at Rondo in Tennessee, where the headquarters of Mars Petcare is based.

In a complaint filed with the local district court, Mars and its Petcare subsidiary point out the group is the leading manufacturer of pet food sold in the United States.

The group said that among its best-known products is a canine dental treat called Greenies. The product is manufactured in the shape of a toothbrush.

Mars has told the US court it has earned more than $1bn (837m) in revenue from the sale of the products, which clock up annual sales of about $125m. It added that it spends "tens of millions of dollars" advertising Greenies.

The company said in its legal complaint that Rondo - which employs more than 100 people at a major manufacturing base in Arklow, Co Wicklow - recently launched a competing line of dental treats.

"Rather than invest the time and resources to create their own trade dress, defendants simply helped themselves to the trade dress of plaintiffs' Greenies products, copying the toothbrush and dog-bone shape and duplicating the green colour of the products," Mars alleged in its complaint.

Mars claimed Rondo is selling its competing product, called Abound, to companies in the United States, "with actual knowledge that those the products are, in turn, advertised, distributed and resold to customers throughout the country".

Mars added the design patent for the configuration of the Abound product is owned by Rondo Ireland and claimed the alleged infringing products "are likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deception among consumers, including pet owners, as to the source and origin of the products".

The company has asked the Tennessee court for a jury trial and demanded a "reasonable royalty" from the sale of the Abound products, and further damages that should be trebled due to Rondo's alleged "wilful patent infringement".

Rondo's German office did not respond to a request for comment.

Rondo Food acquired the Gaines pet food company in 2011. Gaines had a presence in Ireland since 1995.

In 2013, Rondo relocated the group's manufacturing site in Arklow to South Quay in the town.

In 2016, it acquired the 50,000sqm rented premises on a 5.2 hectare site from Nama.

The Irish operation manufactures vegetarian snack products for dogs that are exported to North America, Asia and Australia.

The latest set of publicly available accounts for Rondo Food Ireland show it made a 249,000 loss in 2016, compared to a 963,000 loss in 2015.

It had an accumulated loss of 8.4m at the end of 2016.

The company did not reveal a revenue figure, but said turnover in Canada and the United States was higher during the year.

In 2016 the Arklow plant was hit by a warehouse fire that destroyed stock and equipment.

"The building and all stored packaging was completely destroyed and consequently the factory had to cease production," the accounts note.

The fire resulted in a 100,000 insurance claim and the factory returned to full production in January 2017.Irish-owned Java Republic has been awarded a six figure contract for providing coffee and tea services at Center Parcs Longford Forest.

Managing Director of Java Republic, Grace OShaughnessy, said that her team is "delighted to have been awarded this high-profile and valuable contract from Center Parcs".

Briody Bedding, headquartered in Meath, has also secured a valuable contract to supply beds and mattresses for the 466 lodges and 30 apartments at the resort.

Established in 1974, the family run business employs 100 people, and Director David Briody said the awarding of the contract "is testament to the dedication and hard work of our experienced team who have perfected their craft over the past 40 years."

Furthermore, OHaire Bus Hire will be transporting the Center Parcs housekeeping staff to and from the forest resort when opened.

In total, the contracts with the 2,500 guest capacity Irish Center Parcs are worth more than 1m.

The 395-acre holiday resort near Ballymahon, Co Longford, will be up and running next year.Consumer spending rose last month, marking 14 successive months of growth as an improving economy continued to feed into jobs and disposable incomes.

The Visa Irish Consumer Spending Index, which measures expenditure across cash, cheques and electronic payments, rose 3.8pc in April compared to a year earlier.

That was an acceleration of the 1.5pc rise seen in March, when spending was hampered by the deluge of snow dumped on the country by Storm Emma.

But the pace of growth last month still "underwhelmed", according to IHS Markit economics director Paul Smith.

Figures also published this morning from Retail Ireland, a unit of the business group Ibec, show that some retailers suffered sales declines of as much as 30pc during the week of Storm Emma.

Retail Ireland said that after a strong start to 2018, retailers had struggled to make up for lost sales that cost the sector tens of millions of euro.

Expand Close Philip Konopik, country manager for Visa Ireland. Photo: Frank McGrath / Facebook

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Whatsapp Philip Konopik, country manager for Visa Ireland. Photo: Frank McGrath

The Visa index noted that despite the spending rise in April, underlying growth "remains relatively subdued".

It said the annual rate of spending over the past three months averaged 3.2pc - a slower pace of growth since the start of the year.

But online sales continued to soar. Visa said that e-commerce spending had surged 10.7pc since April 2017. So-called face-to-face spending rose by just 0.3pc year on year during April.

Philip Konopik, the country manager for Visa in Ireland, said the rise in consumer spending last month was "modest", with sectors such as food and beverages impacted as Easter fell earlier this year.

But spending at hotels, restaurants and bars jumped 9.7pc year on year in April.

In the recreation and culture segment, spending jumped 9.4pc compared to a year earlier.

Paul Smith said he was optimistic for the coming months, despite the performance in April.

"The environment for further growth remains positive, with joblessness falling, confidence strengthening and business activity continuing to rise," he said.The ongoing debacle at Ryanair where up to 60 flights a day are being cancelled for the next four weeks has seriously inconvenienced thousands of passengers.

Although airline chief Michael O'Leary uncharacteristically fell on his sword over the mess, which was the mismanagement of staffing rosters, he said he wouldn't stand in the way of compensation claims.

Aviation law is strong and the truth is he couldn't even if he wanted to. This week, I'm looking at your rights as a passenger if something goes wrong, whether it be adverse weather or an airline screwing up.

The table shows the different enforcement bodies to approach if you're entitled to compensation.

General travel rights

There are two main bodies of law in place across Europe: the Montreal Convention (1999), which ensures people delayed at airports have the right to "care and assistance", and EU261/2004, which sets out additional compensation for those whose flights are cancelled or delayed by airlines.

Care and assistance means if you're sitting in the airport for more than four hours you have the right to a meal, telephone calls, emails and even hotel accommodation (and transport there and back), if necessary. All airlines must automatically offer this via ground staff.

If a flight is cancelled, they must offer you the choice of a refund or book you on the next available flight, and look after you until then. If you take the refund and fly with another airline, your 'contract' with the original airline is effectively finished, and you may not get additional compensation.

Compensation

Under EU261, a flat amount of 250, 400 or 600 is payable in certain circumstances on delayed/cancelled flights. The amount depends on the distance and time delayed. For the Ryanair stranded, 250 becomes payable for flights under 1,500km. However, exceptions are built-in:

the airline can refuse to pay if they informed you of the cancellation within 14 days, or seven days with an alternative flight booked which gets you to the destination within four hours of the original schedule. Given Ryanair has now notified its cancelled flights to October 31, this puts most people outside compensation;

airlines can also refuse to pay up in "extraordinary circumstances" such as adverse weather, a strike or a volcanic ash cloud.

Travel agent

If you booked a package holiday via a tour operator, it is their job to look after you. Ground reps should re-arrange accommodation and do the leg work on rebooking flights.

Travel bans

If the reason for the cancelled flight is due to terrorist activity, you will get a refund or a re-route. However, this is dependent on the Dept of Foreign Affairs slapping a travel ban on the destination. If you simply choose not to fly because you're worried, you don't qualify for a refund.

Airline no-nos

Every year the European Consumer Centre gets thousands of complaints about everything from dodgy electrical goods to being scammed by Nigerian princes.

The single biggest category, however, is regarding airline passengers, accounting for over 40pc of all contacts.

Common complaints include the price increasing between booking and flying (not allowed), to bags not being boarded due to flash strikes (not your problem), and being stranded abroad due to bad weather.

While airlines don't always have to compensate for missed connections or birds flying into engines, in many cases they rely on passengers not knowing the difference. Complaining and seeing it through is vital to getting your rights vindicated.By Park Ji-won







Japanese diplomats in Germany are reportedly trying to obstruct a civic group's plan to erect a "girl statue" representing wartime sex slavery victims inside a museum in Bonn.







The diplomats recently visited Marianne Pitzen, founder and chief of the Bonn Women's Museum, following media reports that a girl statue would be installed inside, said Yi Eun-hi, an activist who is leading the project.







Over 200,000 South Korean women were abused as sex slaves by the Japanese army before and during World War II.







At the meeting with Pitzen, the Japanese diplomats insisted that the number of the so-called comfort women is difficult to calculate and that they "volunteered" to serve for Japanese soldiers.







However, Pitzen rejected their claims, saying, "We cannot dial history back and what happened is what happened," according to Yi.







The museum accepted the activist group's plan to erect the girl statue Aug. 14, one day before the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, while continuing to raise funds for it.







The statue in the Bonn Women's Museum will be the second girl statue in Europe. The first was installed in Nepal Himalaya Park in Wiesent, Germany, by Korean residents and citizens of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea in March last year. However, they failed to establish a memorial stone detailing historical facts about comfort women after Japan formally protested.

Fionn O'Shea was just three months into a business degree when he landed roles in Netflix hit The Siege of Jadotville and critically acclaimed Irish film Handsome Devil, opposite Andrew Scott, prompting him to ditch university to focus on acting full time.

Although the Dubliner had been acting since the age of 11 - his first role was in the short film New Boy which was nominated for an Oscar - he felt a back up plan was a wise move.

I had worked when I was a kid and in my head I was going to do a business course because its never not going to be useful and it was a back up. In theory that sounds very doable but in practice its almost impossible," he tells Independent.ie

"My biggest fear was to finish that degree because my whole thing was, 'Im going into this degree and something will come up but if something hadnt come up I would be left going, What now?."

Expand Close A witty tonic: Ardal O'Hanlon, Fionn O'Shea and Amy Huberman star in Handsome Devil / Facebook

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Whatsapp A witty tonic: Ardal O'Hanlon, Fionn O'Shea and Amy Huberman star in Handsome Devil

"Even after I left after three months I deferred for a year thinking maybe I would be able to balance it. That was always the plan  to balance it  but then I just kept missing exams and missing exams and I thought, God, Im going to be a 50 year old man sitting my frist year business and management exams!"

Thankfully he need no longer trouble himself over exams as his breakthrough in Jadotville, opposite Jamie Dornan, led to Handsome Devil, which in turn led to upcoming WWII film, The Aftermath.

Expand Close Fionn OShea & Nick Galitzine walk the red carpet at the Gala Irish premiere of The Handsome Devil as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival at the Savoy Cinema. Picture: Fergal Phillips / Facebook

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Whatsapp Fionn OShea & Nick Galitzine walk the red carpet at the Gala Irish premiere of The Handsome Devil as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival at the Savoy Cinema. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Directed by James Kent it stars Jason Clarke and Keira Knightley as a British colonel and his wife who are assigned to live in Hamburg during the post-war reconstruction where they encounter tensions with the preivous owner of the house, played by Alexander Skarsgard.

One thing that was so nice about it was like even though the scale of it was bigger than stuff Ive done before it was really such a close knit atmosphere on set, a really friendly atmosphere on set, and that comes from the top down - Jason and James and Keira," says Fionn of the experience.

Expand Close Innocent - Lee Ingleby as David Collins and Hermione Norris as Alice. PHOTO: Steffan Hill / Facebook

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"I learned so much from all of them. I am still pinching myself!"

The Aftermath is slated for release later this year. In the meantime, Fionn will beaming into the living rooms of many Irish homes this week in his latest role in Innocent, TV3's new four-part crime drama which airs tonight, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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Billed as 'a story of love, lust, jealousy and betrayal' it follows David Collins, a man who has spent seven years in a high security prison having been convicted of his wife's murder. However, when his conviction is overturned on a technicality he returns home to try to repair his relationships with his family and friends and finally mourn his wife, Tara.

Fionn plays Jack Collins, David's son; "Hes grown up his whole life thinking his dad committed this horrible murder of his mum. Hes been living with his aunt and uncle and has done for half of his life but when his dad gets out of prison he wants to reconnect with him and have some sort of relationship, even though hes grown up thinking his dad was guilty."

The series was shot predominantly in and around Howth in Dublin.

"Because I have kind of grown up in the industry  I started acting when I was 11  its really nice to work in Ireland because I know a lot of the crew. Ive worked with a lot of them over the years," says Fionn.

"Also a big benefit  not to sound cheesy  is that we really do live in such a beautiful country and I definitely take it for granted so filming here gives you a chance to explore the place properly."

Last year the young star was named one of four Irish actors on Screen International's 'Stars of Tomorrow' list which has previously predicted big things for Emily Blunt, Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrea Riseborough.

He very much has his head on his shoulders, however.

I think you just have to try to take everything one step at a time. Nothing is ever a certainty. I feel really lucky to have been given these opportunities," he says, adding that he is mindful of the possible pitfalls of life as an actor.

"I think maybe what is comforting is that a lot of actors that I look up to admire all go through that same thing of dry patches, some by choice, some not by choice," he says.

"Of course its a worry but I suppose its one of those things where you just have to trust that the right thing wont pass you. Sometimes its hard when you get very close to something and it doesnt go your way but you have to trust the process."

One of the actors he particularly admires is Handsome Devil co-star and Sherlock star Andrew Scott.

"He didnt sit me down and say, Dont be a dickhead! but I learned so much from him," he says.

"Hes one of those actors I had looked up to, and still continue to look up to. Im lucky enough to call him a friend now. I learned a lot from him. Hes so generous and kind of a dream person to work with."

While he's not yet being accosted on the street, it looks likely that may be on the cards for Fionn at some point in the not too distant future.

He laughs, I dont think people care. Maybe they recognise me sometimes, but I dont think they care when they do! Funnily enough I get recognised more in the UK than here and its usually in odd places like when Im getting a haircut or something!"

Innocent airs on TV3 on Monday 14th May at 9pm, Tuesday 15th May at 9pm, Wednesday 16th May at 10:30pm and will conclude on Thurs 17th May at 9pm.Films such as Blade Runner and Minority Report struck gold by placing the mood and conventions of the hard-boiled detective noir in a futuristic sci-fi setting. The contrast tends to work very well, as genre tropes get injected with vitality by a new colour palette.

Anon, a dystopian digital conspiracy written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, In Time), has gone for something similar, pitting Clive Owen's sulky investigator against a femme fatale linked to a series of distressing murders. The only problem is it forgot the colour.

In Niccol's future, first-person-perspective experience is now catalogued and available to be viewed by authorities as society seeks to keep a close eye on unwanted behaviours. Everything and everyone is scannable and open to having actions and movements recorded. Owen plays Sal Frieland, a gritty police detective investigating a string of murders that seem to make no sense when the clips are played back. It might have something to do with Amanda Seyfried's mysterious and sultry hacker whom he is not able to get a digital or moral read on.

So much of Anon is cluttered with bitty and busy imagery, clogging up the frame in the form of analytics and readings in the viewer's peripheral vision. The effect is akin to a first-person video game platform and sucks cinematic life out of the action before us. The atmosphere - clean, dull, oppressively slick - suffers too because just as you're starting to feel immersed in the world you are pulled out into the realm of a computer interface.

Owen and Seyfried never get airborne, neither seeming invested or energised by the material. You don't blame them.

 Hilary A White

Also showing

Le Redoutable

Now showing IFI

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of filmmakers, those who want to tell a story, and those who want to convey a message.

Le Redoutable, also known as Godard Mon Amour, is a film made by one kind of director about another and, as befitting the near-cult status of the subject, it has proven divisive.

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Upon hearing of the project, Jean-Luc Godard himself is said to have said it was "a stupid idea" and while some agree, I rather enjoyed it.

Director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) works from the memoir of Anne Wiazemsky, who at 19 became the second wife of Godard.

The story opens in 1967, Godard (Louis Garrel) is already an acclaimed director in France. He is 37 and he and Anne (Stacy Martin) have just fallen in love, and she has starred in his latest film La Chinoise, which is not well received.

France is in a time of social upheaval and Godard joins in the protests of May 1968 which tie in with his own changing opinions and a switch in his view of the purpose of art.

Hazanavicius uses lots of Godardian techniques in the film, an homage which is undercut by the vaguely ridiculous manner in which Godard is portrayed.

He is self-righteous and insensitive, his frequently lost glasses a metaphor for his broader myopia.

It's irreverent about a filmmaker many admire, and interesting, but not very emotionally involving and unlikely to leave you Breathless.

 Aine O'Connor

Breaking In

Cert: 15A; Now showing

"Payback is a mother" goes the tagline for this thriller about a mum taking on a band of nasty house burglars in order to protect her children. Geddit?

Gabrielle Union - one of a few unconvincing turns at the heart of this dire film - plays Shaun Russell whose rich but crooked father has been killed in a hit-and-run incident. She, her teenage daughter and young son venture out to inspect his rural pile ahead of placing it on the market. Awaiting them there, unfortunately, are the very bad guys who bumped off Shaun's dad and have now come for his well-stocked safe. Led by Billy Burke's alpha male, they take the youngsters captive, forcing Shaun to negotiate the house's sophisticated security system and awaken her inner ninja.

Breaking In may do decent business in the US, where the sight of Union in the lead will satisfy those for whom cinema has to serve as a political cipher. But James McTeigue's film is unlikely to get as warm a reception amongst us cynical Europeans who, while being more or less unconcerned with the skin colour of our protagonists, will be more focused on the idiotic plot and the dearth of inspiration, talent or gumption at work.

This is no Get Out - there is no wry commentary here about the racial inequalities in US society or the subversive ways in which classes are kept in their place. This is a middle-of-the-road slog that should have been directly consigned to late-night TV a few hundred channels down the satellite listings.

 Hilary A White

Entebbe

Cert: 12A; Now showing

A beautiful dance sequence by the Batsheva Dance Company opens Jose Padilha's film Entebbe. Based on the true story of the 1976 hijacking and ensuing siege of an Air France plane, the film is a good overview of events but there are too many strands to it and the dance ends up packing more of an emotional punch than the film does.

The hijacking was a combined operation between the German Red Army Faction and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, to demand the release of prisoners. The film weaves between the taking of the plane by Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike) and Wilfried Bose (Daniel Bruhl), their backstory and the dilemma faced by the Israeli government. Their policy is to never negotiate with terrorists but there is tension between PM Yitzak Rabin (an excellent Lior Ashkenazi) who favours compromise and Defence Minister Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan) who does not.

The story is interesting and still relevant so as a historical narrative it works fine, but as an engaging tale, less so.

 Aine O'Connor

How To Talk To Girls At Parties

Cert: 15A; Selected cinemas

Based on an award-winning Neil Gaiman short story, this hysterical fantasy romance set amid the late-1970s London punk heyday sees an awkward pubescent boy (Alex Sharp) fall for a galactic alien babe (Elle Fanning).

While straight out of the "manic pixie dreamgirl" playbook, this coming-of-age premise set against such cultural vim and vigour - with added Nicole Kidman as a punk priestess - could have been a giddy, nostalgic charm, but things have not worked out that way.

Shortbus director John Cameron Mitchell revives the cartoonish mania of that outing and applies it to what resembles a film-school project held together with papier-mache and zany indulgence. Garish visuals and abrupt editing undo good work by the cast and soundtrack.

 Hilary A WhiteMega-star Ed Sheeran swapped a crowd of 40,000 for one of 40 when he performed a secret gig in a Belfast pub after his sold-out Boucher Road concert.

The Galway Girl hit-maker arrived unannounced in Maddens Bar - the home of traditional folk music in the city - with some of his backing musicians after finishing on stage.

He wowed the punters with a short selection of his hits, some of which were sung by support act Anne-Marie.

Ed and his gang were a massive hit with the Maddens regulars including young barmaid Rhiannon McLaughlin, who passed her driving test the following day after words of advice from the Shape of You star.

"He was so friendly and so too were the other members of his band, it was like having your own personal concert," said the teenager.

Earlier on Wednesday Ed wowed 40,000 fans at the rain-soaked Boucher Road playing fields, tickets for which cost an eye-watering 80.

But later that evening the 27-year-old performed for free to a much smaller, but nonetheless appreciative crowd in Maddens Bar which is in Berry Street at the back of the CastleCourt shopping complex.

The founder of Gingerbread Man Records looked relaxed as he chatted with fans and signed autographs.

Another punter told Sunday Life: "He had his guitar with him so he must have arrived with the intention of playing a few hits.

"He was happy to chat away with the locals and have a drink. He really seemed to enjoy himself in the pub.

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"Maddens is famous in Belfast for traditional music and someone in Ed's team heard about this and told him it would be a good place to relax after the gig. Everyone had a great time and were singing along while he played the guitar."

Ed is due to play at Pearse Stadium in Galway tonight followed by two dates in Dublin's Phoenix Park before his tour heads to England.Pro-repeal advocates are relying on Dublin to carry the overall national victory.

"That's what the hope is - that Dublin will carry it," said Labour Party Senator Ivana Bacik.

Ms Bacik was attending a cross-party canvass in favour of repeal in Portobello, Dublin.

It was also attended by local TDs Jim O'Callaghan of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael's Kate O'Connell from the constituency of Dublin Bay South.

The constituency is thought to be a liberal stronghold - 78pc of voters there voted in favour of same-sex marriage.

It's an area where votes in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment are deemed "crucial" for those on the Yes side to succeed.

"Certainly Dublin will be crucial," said Senator Bacik.

The vast majority of residents canvassed gave their nod towards repeal.

"When I heard stories about couples who had to travel to the UK for fatal foetal abnormalities, it really upset me," said Maria, who asked that her surname not be used due to concerns her opinion may not be compatible with her employers.

"I felt it was my duty to vote Yes and to encourage other people to vote Yes in particular for those families.

"In everything in life there's a journey, and my decision towards voting in favour of pro-choice is a journey. Possibly like every Irish person voting Yes," she said.

However, not all residents canvassed will be voting to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

Mary O'Neill said: "I know it's dangerous for those Irish women who take the abortion pill, and if they feel that strongly about taking them then it's their choice. But there's a baby involved too.

"They can call it what they like - a cell or a foetus - but, at the end of the day, leave it long enough it'll be a baby which will be a human being."

A long-time pro-choice advocate, Ms Bacik said this campaign was "much more respectful" than previous ones.

"It's nothing like the old days. People are respectful even when they disagree with you," she said.

She predicted a "close result for the Yes" side, but said there were concerns about the greater saturation of No posters, particularly in rural areas that may already be a tough audience.

"You can see the No posters so dominant in rural areas," she said. "Everywhere you've two or three houses, you've a No poster."

However, she said canvassers going door to door are making a difference with those who say they are undecided.Minister for Health Simon Harris has hit out at inaccurate claims by the No side about the government's legislation should the eighth amendment be repealed in the referendum.

He said posters depicting people with down syndrome and other disabilities claiming these people were "only alive" because of Irelands restrictive abortion laws were upsetting.

Weve specifically excluded disability for grounds for abortion in the legislation, he explained.

Its quite upsetting for people with down syndrome in Ireland to say that theyre only born because the eighth amendment is here, he said.

The facts dont bear that out, and its really actually quite disgusting to say to these parents, said the minister.

Minister Harris also said he was frustrated that the No side keep comparing the government's proposed legislation to that in the UK, and I think a lot of our people too.

He said it was the same inaccurate tactic that they used in the abortion referendum, where they said if you bring in divorce in Ireland, divorce rates would go the same way as the UK.

We know that didnt happen.

Mr Harris clarified that the government legislation is very different to the abortion law in the UK.

The UK does not have a ban on late-term abortions; it does not have an obligation to deliver a pregnancy once it reaches viability, he said.

The UK has a very different situation for which termination is allowed.

Speaking at an event arranged by the National Womens Council of Ireland (NWCI) entitled My Yes is for Every Woman, was also Fine Gael T.D. and former Minister for Justice and former head of the NWCI, Frances Fitzgerald.

This is really about a Yes for future generations of Irish women.

Its about a Yes for Savita Halappanvar she said.

Meanwhile the minister urged people who want to change the law, to make sure they get out to vote.

He said the divorce referendum in 1995 was very tight and almost didnt pass.

One vote in every ballot box in every way would have changed the referendum; it was literally a very tight result, he said.

We can take nothing for granted.

Every single day 9 women are going to the UK for termination

Every day 3 women will take the abortion pill alone, if we want to change this  we need to get out to vote.

He then pointed to the fact the law states that there is a 14-year penalty for abortion in ireland.

The law of the land says they are breaking the law and there could be prosecutions if the Eighth Amendment is not repealed, said Minister Harris.Pictured at the launch of the NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards 2018 sponsored by the National Lottery were from left, Jenny Fisher, National Lottery, Jerry Kennelly, Chairman of the Awards Judging Panel and Vincent Crowley, NewsBrands Ireland. Photo Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography

L to R: Ann Marie Lenihan, CEO NewsBrands Ireland, Dermot Griffin, CEO Premier Lotteries Ireland, Jenny Fisher, Head of Corporate Affairs National Lottery, Jerry Kennelly, chairman of the awards judging panel, Vincent Crowley, chairman NewsBrands Ireland

L to R:, Jenny Fisher, Head of Corporate affairs National Lottery, Jerry Kennelly, chairman of the awards judging panel, Ann Marie Lenihan, CEO NewsBrands

THE crucial role that newspapers play in campaigning for positive social change will feature in this years NewsBrands Ireland annual journalism awards.

In an age of fake news, the new Campaign of the Year category is among the 26 disciplines that will be honoured for excellence in journalism at the third annual awards ceremony at Dublins Mansion House on November 15.

The Journalism Awards new Campaign of the Year category will showcase how Irish newspapers, through their reporting and campaigns, contribute positively to civic life and the public good, said Vincent Crowley, chairman of NewsBrands Ireland.

Public interest journalism campaigns hold the powerful accountable, increase transparency and strengthen democracy, as well as providing an important platform for communities to rally around causes. Good luck to all of this years entrants.

Expand Close Dermot Griffin, CEO Premier Lotteries Ireland, Ann Marie Lenihan, CEO NewsBrands Ireland, Jerry Kennelly, chairman of the awards judging panel, Jenny Fisher, Head of Corporate affairs National Lottery, Vincent Crowley, chairman NewsBrands Ireland / Facebook

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Email

Whatsapp Dermot Griffin, CEO Premier Lotteries Ireland, Ann Marie Lenihan, CEO NewsBrands Ireland, Jerry Kennelly, chairman of the awards judging panel, Jenny Fisher, Head of Corporate affairs National Lottery, Vincent Crowley, chairman NewsBrands Ireland

The awards, sponsored by the National Lottery, span all categories of news, including reportage, analysis, opinion and investigative journalism as well as politics, sport, features and digital journalism.

Dermot Griffin, chief executive of the National Lottery, said it was honoured to support the awards.

Expand Close L to R: Ann Marie Lenihan, CEO NewsBrands Ireland, Dermot Griffin, CEO Premier Lotteries Ireland, Jenny Fisher, Head of Corporate Affairs National Lottery, Jerry Kennelly, chairman of the awards judging panel, Vincent Crowley, chairman NewsBrands Ireland / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp L to R: Ann Marie Lenihan, CEO NewsBrands Ireland, Dermot Griffin, CEO Premier Lotteries Ireland, Jenny Fisher, Head of Corporate Affairs National Lottery, Jerry Kennelly, chairman of the awards judging panel, Vincent Crowley, chairman NewsBrands Ireland

They celebrate the very best in Irish journalism. We are lucky in Ireland to have journalists who perform a vital public service through ground-breaking reporting, shining a light on matters of public interest, he said.

Integrity and responsibility are core values to the National Lottery, and therefore supporting the NewsBrands Awards is an appropriate fit as they also recognise the importance of these values to the benefit of society.

Entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly has been named as the chair of the independent judging panel which will select the 26 overall winners as well as the Journalist of the Year.ANGLO Irish Banks share price dropped by nearly half the day after it released a summary of its 2008 financial results to the stock market, a trial has heard.

The price went down 28pc on the day the bank's preliminary year-end figures were published, but went on to drop by 48pc.

A stockbroker asked to analyse the results said if 7.2bn were taken from Anglos customer deposits, it would have affected the bank's loan to deposit ratio - a key metric for investors.

Financial analyst Eamonn Hughes was giving evidence in the trial of Anglos former CEO David Drumm, who is accused of taking part in a multi-billion euro plot to defraud during the 2008 financial crisis.

Mr Drumm (51) denies conspiring to dishonestly create the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they were in September 2008.

The case at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court centres on a series of interbank deposits which circulated between Anglo and ILP.

The transfers were routed through Irish Life Assurance (ILA), returning to Anglo where they were then treated as customer deposits, which are a better indicator of a banks health.

Mr Drumm also denies false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market.

Mr Hughes, of Goodbody Stockbrokers, told Paul OHiggins SC, prosecuting, that Anglos preliminary results were published and released to the stock market at 7am on December 3. His firm produced a first glance analysis for investors which was released at around 8am, before a presentation of the figures given by a team of bank executives including David Drumm.

The presentation provided an important input into how we think about the company, Mr Hughes said.

The jury was shown the first glance which gave Anglos closing share price from the previous day at 94c. The year on year deposit growth figures were down 2pc, while loan growth was up 9pc.

Mr Hughes explained that a loan to deposit ratio (LDR) was the number of loans divided by the deposit figure and this had gone up in the results from 127pc to 140pc following a 3bn decline in deposits.

A section on thoughts on results stated: we would be a little bit nervous on the upswing in the loan to the deposit ratio this may dominate sentiment towards the results today. Anglos objective is to get this down to 100pc within three years.

Mr Hughes said the government bank guarantee scheme, which was introduced on September 30, would have provided comfort to deposit holders but came very late.

A second analysis was produced a day later and had more meat on it.

This had a closing share price from the previous day of 67c, with a target of 70c.

The analysis stated that progress must be made on the loan to deposit ratio which was higher than anticipated though we acknowledge that Anglos September reporting coincided with extremely stressful global financial markets.

Anglo indicated that deposit flows in FY09 have been positive and the target LDR outlined by management is 100pc within three years. Our revised estimates get there, targeting 127pc at the end of this year, but any slippage would be unwelcome and the market will be looking to see progress here at the end of H1 09.

Mr OHiggins asked Mr Hughes what the effect on the LDR would have been if you took 7.2bn from the deposits figure.

It would make the ratio go up, he replied. That ratio would go up by 23pc points to 163pc.

Mr OHiggins asked what the significance of such a change would be.

A key focus point for investors in the stock market would be capital adequacy and funding, he said.

The LDR was a key metric investors used to analyse banks and neatly encapsulates the relative stickiness of funding, he said.

The jury has heard stickiness in funding refers to its likelihood to stay in place. Any expansion in the ratio was a little bit more of a concern to the market.

The second analysis put loan growth at 9.4pc, with a -2.3pc drop in deposits.

In cross examination, Mr Hughes agreed with Bernard Condon SC, defending, that Anglos share price dropped from 94c to 67c over the course of December 3 and that was a very significant loss over the day.

This represented a 28pc drop, he said.

Anglo had also come in with a lower profit estimate than had been expected - from 1.221bn to 784m, which was down 36pc.

Mr Condon said the issue was solvency and there were worries about whether the bank would survive at all.

The market continued on a downward spiral for the rest of the month and it was reported in the media that Anglos shares slumped to their lowest level in 11 years.

It was very traumatic, Mr Hughes agreed.

The papers were noticing this and Mr Condon asked Mr Hughes if he would disagree that they were disappointing results.

No, they were behind expectations, he said.

The jury was shown a graph in which Anglos share price was on a negative trajectory in 2008.

On December 4, it dropped to 48c, which was just short of a 50pc fall.

Mr Hughes agreed that this was very big.

Mr Condon asked would it be an inappropriate phrase to say the share price was ravaged.

It was very significant, Mr Hughes said.

The earnings per share was also down, and Mr Hughes said this was regarded as a headline figure.

Mr Condon asked if it was an important metric and Mr Hughes said investors looked equally at funding and capital.

Mr Condon said there were a number of metrics investors looked at and sentiment drove the market. At the time there wasnt much sentiment for banks in Ireland.

Negative sentiment, Mr Hughes said.

He had not been aware that Anglo breached its liquidity ratio in September, and Mr Condon said the Central Bank had decided not to take regulatory action against Anglo for that.

Mr Condon referred to Mr Hughes statement to the gardai in which he said there was no optimum loan to deposit ratio, and that it represented just one variable.

It is not possible to accurately determine how the market would have reacted to a pro-forma figure in isolation, he told the gardai.

However, he had said it would be a possible indication of stress on the balance sheet.

This afternoon, another analyst Ciaran Callaghan from NCB stockbrokers said he also attended the presentation of Anglos preliminary results on December 3, 2008.

There were simultaneous video-linked presentations in Dublin and London. In Dublin were David Drumm, Anglos Finance Director Willie McAteer, Head of Capital Markets John Bowe, Managing Director of lending Pat Whelan and head of the US division Tony Campbell, while the London team was led by Chief Financial Officer Matt Moran.

NCB sent out a flash note that morning and another analysis the next day. The stock recommendation was Hold, which Mr Callaghan said was a neutral view.

The flash note stated that Anglos loan to deposit ratio increased from 125pc at 30/03/08 to 140pc at 30/09/08.

Deposits declined on a headline basis by 2pc year-on-year and by 6pc since March 2008 to 51.5bn. We await any update from management as to whether any improvement has been seen in the ratio since the introduction of the Government Guarantee Scheme, the note said.

Overall, we believe the outlook for Anglo Irish remains challenging and we expect continued pressure on the share price.

Mr Callaghan told Mr OHiggins the LDR was one metric that measures the liquidity of a bank.

The closer that is to 100pc or below, the better, he said, adding that it would indicate a safer or stronger funding profile.

A higher loan to deposit ratio would be perceived more negatively by the market, he said. It wouldnt be considered as safe as a bank with a more matched loan to deposit ratio.

Mr Callaghan said customer deposits were stickier and cheaper to access.

The second analysis was released the following day, updating the market with new estimates.

Mr Callaghan said if you subtracted 7.2bn from the deposits, the LDR would increase to 165pc.

It would have been a warning sign that deposits were under pressure or loans were growing faster, he said. That would have added to the uncertainty of the stock and would have been taken as a negative sign.

In cross examination, he agreed with Mr Condon that there were hundreds of other metrics in a banks performance, and things like earning per share were very important.

He said a lot of focus in the market at the time was on loan losses and Anglo was the biggest development lender in Ireland and had a concentration of property loans.

There was no commentary about the LDR in NCBs December 4 analysis, Mr Condon said.

Mr Condon asked if there were fears about Anglo going bankrupt.

There were a lot of fears about the institution, it was getting progressively worse by the day, Mr Callaghan said.

He said if he had known about Anglo being in breach of Central Bank liquidity requirements in September, it would have been newsworthy, and negative.

In re-examination, Mr OHiggins asked if there was any connection between customer deposits and a liquidity situation.

Customer deposits would be part of a banks liquidity, Mr Callaghan said. Customer deposits would be a form of liquidity, they would be a form of cash for the bank that they would fund their assets with.

Judge Karen OConnor told the jury the prosecutions case was very close to conclusion.

The trial continues.Garrett Phillips had been appearing on stage in London in the run-up to his trial

Garrett Phillips (46) of St Mary's Terrace, Taylor's Hill, Galway, was convicted after a four-day trial at the Central Criminal Court of one charge of orally raping the then 20-year-old woman on the outskirts of Galway city in the early hours of November 5, 2015.Pic Collins Courts

A former Ros Na Run actor will be sentenced later for orally raping a young woman who fell asleep in his van as he gave her a lift home.

Garrett Phillips (46) of St Mary's Terrace, Taylor's Hill, Galway, was convicted after a four-day trial at the Central Criminal Court of one charge of orally raping the then 20-year-old woman on the outskirts of Galway city in the early hours of November 5, 2015.

He had pleaded not guilty to the offence and has no previous convictions.

The court heard that the father-of-two initially worked in his family's business before getting into acting and had been appearing on stage in London up to his trial.

Reading from her victim impact statement, the woman said she had been very social and doing well in her studies before the attack.

I was high achieving. My life was a train on a track in the right direction, she stated.

The woman described how she is now a changed person, that she has questioned her will to live and started to feel emotions that were foreign to me.

She says in the time since the assault, she still feels like the same 20-year-old girl banging on a door for help.

She said the court process, during which she had to sit inches away from her attacker, was one of the hardest things she has ever had to do. She said she was forced to speak about something painful and made to feel like a liar when giving her evidence over two days.

Detective Garda Evelyn Barratt told Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, that Phillips approached the woman as she sat alone and upset on a park bench and offered her a lift home.

The woman took the lift, and on the way Phillips asked her if she had ever seen an overview of the city lights. The woman replied that she hadn't, fell asleep and when she woke up, Phillips was no longer in the driver's seat but standing over her with his penis in her mouth.

The detective said the woman reacted strongly, got out of the van, memorised the registration and ran to a nearby home for help.

During the trial, the jury heard that Phillips claimed the encounter was consensual. He told gardai that it had started off very tender and felt chemical between him and the woman.

Today defence counsel Barry White SC submitted that Phillips wished to unreservedly apologise for his behaviour.

Mr White said his client had not informed his wife about the matter until the evening before his trial last month.

Det Gda Barratt agreed that Phillips took up acting after working in the family business and had been appearing on stage in London in the run-up to the trial.

Mr White handed in testimonials on his client's behalf and submitted to Ms Justice Eileen Creedon that he wished to make his plea in mitigation on the next date.

He asked the judge to keep reporting restrictions on his client's identity until the sentence was finalised. He said that this was because there was not just one victim in the case, there are four, referring to Phillips' wife and two children.

Mr Burns submitted that there were no exceptional circumstances in the case, that other convicted people have families and the law gave the court no power to extend the reporting restrictions.

Ms Justice Creedon lifted the restrictions and adjourned the sentence to July when the matter will be finalised.

She ordered a Probation Service report and remanded Phillips on continuing bail until that date.FREDDIE Thompsons legal team is seeking to have CCTV footage thrown out of his trial for the murder of David Douglas because they claim it was illegally created and breaches his constitutional right to privacy.

Freddie Thompson (37) is on trial before the Special Criminal Court for the murder of David Douglas (55), who was shot six times in his partners shop at Bridgefoot Street, Dublin 8 on July 1, 2016.

Mr Thompson, with an address at Loreto Road, Maryland, Dublin 8, has denied the charge.

It is the States case that Mr Thompson provided logistical support in the planning and execution of a murder and was the driver of one of two spotter vehicles.

Two detectives previously told the Special Criminal Court that they had identified Freddie Thompson in clips of CCTV taken in the hours prior to the murder of David Douglas.

Detective Sergeant Adrian Whitelaw and Detective Garda Seamus ODonovan both positively identified Mr Thompson as the driver of a silver Ford Fiesta, at 10.48am at Merton Avenue and later at 3.53pm on Donore Avenue on the day in question.

The officers have also identified Mr Thompson as the man in a third clip of CCTV at the Guild of the Little Flower on Dublins Meath Street, one minute before Mr Douglas was killed. Mr Thompson has accepted this is him.

Sgt Whitelaw further identified Mr Thompson from CCTV footage at Little Caesers on Balfe Street later that night, where he met up with Mr C and Mr F, both of whom are suspects in the case.

Defence lawyer Michael OHiggins said the Data Protection Act provides for a process of registering CCTV systems, and failure to do so is a criminal offence, punishable by a monetary fine. He said the operators of CCTV must also alert people to the fact that recording is in place, and indicate the uses to which recording can be put.

The court has already heard from nearly 30 operators of the CCTV footage used in this trial, and the vast majority of them were unaware they should be registered with the Data Protection Commissioner.

As a result, Mr OHiggins added, gardai are harvesting material unlawfully obtained. He argued that the evidence had been illegally created, and the CCTV was in breach of a citizen's, and therefore his clients, right to privacy.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt put it to Mr OHiggins said that the CCTV had not been unlawfully obtained by An Garda Siochana.

Mr OHiggins said the law, in relation to the registration of CCTV, was not being complied with by CCTV operators and gardai were getting the benefit of illegally created evidence. He claimed that gardai must be aware of this.

Mr OHiggins also argued that any individuals movements, particularly in an urban area, can be readily tracked by linking CCTV cameras.

This gives rise to an issue that its an invasion into ones privacy. By walking from a to b, and subsequently looking at cameras, you can find out what a person did, where they were, who they spoke to, and it is all recorded, said Mr OHiggins.

Judge Hunt responded, saying that a persons right to privacy can never be used to cover the commission of a crime.

However, Mr OHiggins said this area is more complex than it first appears.

Mr OHiggins accepted that there were three competing rights in this matter. A persons right to privacy, which is not an absolute right, together with the rights of a property owner to protect their premises and the right of An Garda Siochana to gather evidence which would be crucial to an investigation.

Mr OHiggins will continue to make his submissions this afternoon.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Flann Brennan.Ilie Ionut and Ancuta Schwarz were convicted and jailed for four years for their role in trafficking women

TWO Romanians suspected of being involved in an international criminal network which trafficked women into Ireland have gone on trial in Sweden.

Alleged gang leader Ilie Ionut (31) and a female associate, Ancuta Schwarz (28) are facing charges of human trafficking for sexual purposes and aggravated procuring  the legal term for pimping  at a court in Stockholm. Both deny the charges against them.

They were arrested following a major international inquiry involving Swedish police and the PSNI.

It is alleged that they were involved in trafficking and prostitution on both sides of the Irish Border.

A key witness in the trial, which began yesterday, will be a Romanian woman who has claimed that she was trafficked into Ireland and forced to work in brothels here before being trafficked onwards to Sweden.

Mr Ionat is alleged to have managed the business while living in Galway and later Belfast, while Ms Schwarz is alleged to have organised hotels and apartments where the prostitution took place.

She was arrested in April in Belfast and he was arrested a fortnight later in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. Both were extradited to Sweden under European arrest warrants.

They are likely to face further criminal proceedings in Belfast once the case in Sweden has been dealt with, but it is unclear at this stage if a similar case will be taken in the Republic.

Detective Sergeant Per Hjort of Stockholm City Police told the Irish Independent: "We have substantial evidence against these two persons. In Sweden, we are allowed to use telephone interception and that will be used in court as evidence.

"We also have financial transactions from Sweden to Romania that we can use as proof in court and statements from the girls who have been under the wings of this organisation."

Surveillance footage of the two suspects also forms part of the evidence.

One of the witnesses due to give evidence claimed to police that she was brought from Bucharest to a brothel near Dublin Airport. She said she was later moved to Galway and Belfast, before being trafficked onwards to Stockholm.

"She thought she was being recruited to do something else, but ended up in prostitution," the police officer said.

Prosecutors will also bring evidence relating to at least 10 women allegedly brought into Sweden against their will to work in brothels in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

VIOLENCE

Prosecutors allege that Mr Ionut led the business, travelling from Ireland to Sweden with several women and staying with them for periods in April 2012 and the spring of this year.

It is alleged that he arranged contact between the women and sex buyers, with cash earned from the prostitution then routed to Romania.

Ms Schwarz is accused of recruiting women and travelling from Ireland to Sweden with them, booking accommodation in hotels or apartments, advertising sexual services on the internet, collecting money and arranging for it to be transferred from Sweden to Romania.

Both are accused of using violence to control the women. Ms Schwarz, it is claimed, repeatedly held and pulled one woman by the hair, spoke abusively towards her, deprived her of sleep and spat at her.

A PSNI spokeswoman said detectives from its Organised Crime Branch were leading a joint investigation team through Europol with the Swedish police.

She said the investigation had led to the arrest of a number of suspects in Belfast and in Europe.

"Legal proceedings are ongoing in Sweden and investigations are continuing in Northern Ireland," added the spokeswoman.

Shane Phelan Public Affairs EditorA bilateral meeting between President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Russian Counterpart Vladimir Putin was held within the framework of the regular session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.





Nursultan Nazarbayev congratulated Vladimir Putin on the election as President of the Russian Federation, underscoring that he triumphantly won the trust of the nation on March 18.





Amid these challenging conditions, it is worth much. It is the confidence in that work and line pursued by you, enhancing the authority and pride of Russia and its people. Therefore, they got united and supported you. May God grant you good health to endure everything and lead Russia to a great and bright path. We, Kazakhstan, want this much as the closest country that probably has the most exemplary relations and economic ties with Russia. You have already mentioned that our turnover is over $16 billion, and the creation of joint ventures is on the rise. This is what we agreed on," the President of Kazakhstan said.





Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan and Russia will always cooperate and advance in all respects.





Yesterday we discussed all the issues we have. They always arise between neighbors, independent states. (...) We are allies, close states, and the media of both countries should work in the same spirit without making a mountain out of a molehill. If there are issues, we will solve them. We have always done that and solved them in that way for all these 25 years. I want to wish you all the best," the President of Kazakhstan stressed.





In turn, Vladimir Putin pointed out that Kazakhstan is Russia's strategic ally, one of the closest partners, and relations between our countries are developing successfully and consistently.





Last year we had a good result in the economy, +30.5% turnover growth. Russia is one of the top trade and economic partners of Kazakhstan. I want to highlight the growth of direct investments in Kazakhstan's economy. We have many areas of cooperation. We are constantly in touch on all these issues. It's good that there is such an opportunity to talk about bilateral matters on the margins of today's summit," the Russian President said.





It is noteworthy that this meeting has been the first for this year and since Vladimir Putin's inauguration as President of the Russian Federation on May 7, 2018.





Kazakhstan-Russia relations are distinguished by dynamic development in various aspects. At the present stage, the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness and Alliance in the 21st Century signed by the Presidents of the two countries serves as the basis for the strategic partnership.





Regular meetings and negotiations between the heads of state play a key role in strengthening the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and Russia. In 2017, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev paid three visits to the Russian Federation, while Vladimir Putin visited Kazakhstan twice.





The Russian Federation traditionally tops the trade partners of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the Statistics Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of National Economy, Russia's share in the foreign trade turnover of Kazakhstan reached 20.6% in 2017. The country ranks fourth in terms of exports of Kazakhstan-made products, that is 9.3%, and first as to imports in Kazakhstan, 39.2%. In 2017, the trade turnover amounted to $16 billion, which is 25.6% higher than in 2016.





It is to be recalled that the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is underway in Sochi, Russia. Presidents of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russia Vladimir Putin, Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan are participating in it.







TWO Romanians have been jailed for four years each for their role in an international criminal network trafficking women from Eastern Europe into Ireland and Sweden.

Gang leader Ilie Ionut (31) and a female associate, Ancuta Schwarz (28), were both found guilty of human trafficking for sexual purposes and aggravated procuring  the legal term for pimping  at a court in Stockholm.

The verdict followed a trial which heard evidence that women were trafficked first to Ireland, where they were forced to work in brothels around the country, before then being moved on to Sweden.

Ionut was also found guilty of a further charge of attempting to intimidate a witness by getting a message to her while he was in custody.

The conviction comes as a result of a major international investigation involving the PSNI and police forces in Sweden and Romania.

Ionut and Schwarz were alleged to have been involved in trafficking and prostitution on both sides of the Irish Border.

The court heard evidence Ionut ran the business while living in Galway and later Belfast, while Schwarz organised hotels and apartments where prostitution took place. She also ensured these activities were advertised on the internet.

Both were accused of funnelling large sums of money from the enterprise back to Romanian bank accounts.

Under Swedish law, they will only have to serve two-thirds of their sentence provided they are of good behaviour.

However, they are both expected to face extradition to the North, where further charges await them, once they have completed their sentences.

One of the officers involved in the investigation, Detective Sergeant Per Hjort of Stockholm City Police, told the Irish Independent: "We are very happy with the result. We had quite a solid case."

He added: "It is now likely they will also face charges in Northern Ireland."

An observer from the PSNI was in court yesterday. There was no official garda involvement in the probe.

During the trial, one woman gave evidence she was trafficked from Bucharest to work in a brothel in Dublin before later being moved to Galway, Belfast and Stockholm.

The woman believed she was being brought to Ireland for legitimate work.

The court heard Ionut threatened this woman while in custody, getting a message sent to her that he would "take care" of her when he got out.

Lawyers acting for Schwarz indicated that she was likely to appeal the verdict.

Schwarz has been in custody since April, when she was arrested in Belfast, while Ionut was arrested the following month in Bucharest.

Both were extradited to Sweden.A man convicted 12 years ago of sexual and indecent assault has brought a High Court challenge to his prosecution for failing to provide a DNA sample for the purpose of adding it to the State database system.

The man, who cannot be named by order of the court, says the sample should have been taken while he was serving a prison sentence for the offences and he cannot be prosecuted now for failing to provide the sample.

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, on Monday, granted lawyers for the man leave to bring judicial review proceedings against the DPP in which he seeks to have the prosecution quashed.

The judge was told the man was convicted of sexual and indecent assault offences in 2006, sentenced to four years, and released from prison in 2008. He was also placed on the sex offenders' register.

He was told to come into his local garda station for a DNA sample to be taken but did not attend for the appointment.

His counsel said it was their position there was no requirement to attend and his solicitor wrote to the gardai saying so.

He was later prosecuted for failing to provide the sample.

His counsel argued that under Section 31 of the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence an DNA Database System) Act 2014, a sample may only be taken while the offender is serving a prison sentence, on temporary release or where the sentence is otherwise still in force.

There are alternative provisions in law which allow a sample to be taken, counsel said.

He was due before his local court this Thursday and he was seeking a stay on that hearing pending determination of these proceedings.

Mr Justice Noonan was satisfied to grant leave and also placed a stay on the prosecution. The application was made on a one-side only represented basis.

It comes back before the High Court in October.A sister and brother, who live in Australia, have asked a judge in the Circuit Civil Court to clear their 250,000 Dublin cottage of a group they say are squatting in the property.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane heard Monday that the owners, retired nurse Lorraine Lyons and her businessman brother Peter Harte, who both live in Sydney, New South Wales, had been unable to gain legal access to the cottage at 11 Shamrock Street, Phibsborough, Dublin.

Barrister Owen Donnelly, counsel for the Australian couple, told the court they had been left the cottage by their aunt and wanted to sell it now that house prices were on the rise. Agents acting on their behalf had been unable to gain access to prepare it for sale because of a group of people who had illegally occupied the property.

Ms Lyons, of Kangaroo Point, Sylvania, Sydney, in a sworn statement opened to the court, said she and her brother were seeking to recover vacant possession of the cottage on which, in September 2016, it was found that locks had been changed and a Mr Sean Fitzgerald had claimed to be squatting in it with a group of individuals.

Mr Donnelly, who appeared with DFMG Solicitors for the Australian siblings, said Mr Fitzgerald and a number of unknown people in occupation of the cottage had received warning letters but had refused to move out.

Ms Lyons and Mr Harte have asked Judge Linnane for orders directing Fitzgerald and all others in occupation of the property to vacate the cottage and restraining them from further trespass or obstructing their agents from taking possession of the property.

Sean Fitzgerald told Judge Linnane he was homeless and had nowhere else to live other than in 11 Shamrock Street. He asked for an adjournment to allow him deal with the application for vacant possession before the court.

Judge Linnane said she had to check a number of individuals at the back of the court who had sought to treat the application as a bit of a joke. The court had been told that Mr Fitzgerald and others were in unlawful possession of the cottage and she had learned from court documents that the group involved had squatted in other properties and had been ejected by court order.

She told Fitzgerald she would deal with the matter on Thursday, May 17 and that he could inform the unidentified squatters in occupation with him that the application would go ahead on that day. He could contact any solicitor he wished to in the meantime.

The Australian couple were not in court for Mondays hearing.University College Cork (UCC) is worth 2.3m a day for the economy, according to a new report.

For every 1 of State investment, a total of 151m a year, the university returned 5.68 to the economy, a total of 853m.

According to the study, the university supports almost 15,000 jobs annually, equating to about one in every 15 jobs in Cork city and county.

UCC's contribution is set out in an analysis called 'The Economic and Societal Impact Report', compiled by the Cork University Business School. It is based on 2016 figures.

Impact

It is the first time such a study has been done, measuring the university's impact across five key areas: economic, workforce development, business, creation and discovery, and societal.

As the higher education sector prepares to ramp up its campaign for more Government funding, it is likely that there will be more studies like this to highlight the added value that third-level colleges bring to the economy.

The report's examination of economic impact, both nationally and regionally, includes university expenditure as well as the spending of its employees, students, and visitors, taxation and employment.

The spend by UCC's Irish students in 2016 was put at 135m, supporting 3,675 local jobs, while international students contributed another 53m, supporting almost 1,500 jobs.

Pharma

The study looked at the higher skills and salary levels of UCC graduates versus non-graduates, and the university's role in attracting investment into the region, with seven of the world's top 10 pharma companies located in the vicinity of university.

UCC graduates who remain and work in Ireland create extra economic value of up to 25m in the first year after graduation, compared to non-university graduates, the study states.

UCC president Professor Patrick O'Shea said: "[The university is] an acknowledged centre of academic excellence in both learning and teaching, and we aim to make a significant, sustainable and responsible contribution to Ireland and its people."Despite two Oireachtas committee hearings and robust grillings, politicians have failed to get the answers as to who knew what and when in the CervicalCheck crisis.

Tony O'Brien, who has since resigned, and his then leadership team at the Health Service Executive made their first appearance before the Oireachtas Health Committee on May 2. Politicians listened carefully.

Senator Colm Burke, of Fine Gael, framed his questions on the basis of what he was hearing. And what he was hearing was that the CervicalCheck audit was flagged with senior HSE officials in 2017.

Dr Colm Henry, now the HSE's chief clinical adviser, was informed in July 2017 about a row over who was responsible for telling patients. He consulted a colleague and the consultants involved in the dispute. He was told last September that the whole thing was sorted.

Tony O'Brien told that committee that he became aware of the Vicky Phelan case on a news app at the time the case was settled last month. He said he had no knowledge of a row between consultants and CervicalCheck over who should disclose to patients that some of them had wrongly been given the all-clear. The HSE introduced a policy of open disclosure in 2013.

If only he'd known about the row, if it had been escalated to corporate level "we would clearly have intervened to make sure the objective, which was communication to patients, would have happened".

Cut to last Thursday and the Public Accounts Committee. Tony O'Brien admitted to receiving memos outlining how CervicalCheck was in the process of disclosing details of audits of cervical smears, how clinicians rather than patients were being told, and warning of headlines such as "screening did not diagnose my cancer".

It was also clear from the memos that the HSE's open disclosure policy was not necessarily being followed.Clinicians, not patients, were being told, and it warned of the "risk" involved in affected patients contacting the media.

The memo was also sent to the Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health, Dr Tony Holohan. He told the PAC that he could not say whether he had seen it. One of the memos was written by John Gleeson, the programme manager at CervicalCheck, on behalf of a member of the HSE's leadership team, Dr Stephanie O'Keeffe, who is National Director, Health and Wellbeing.

What did the other members of the HSE's leadership know about these memos that appeared to flout the health service's stated policy on open disclosure to patients?

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a former minister for health, and Simon Harris did not see the memos, nor did the Secretary General of the Department of Health, Jim Breslin.

Who knew what and when will now form part of the scoping inquiry led by public health expert Dr Gabriel Scally, which is due to report by the end of June.

"I am concerned that when we were looking for information, we were very much focused on 2017," said Senator Colm Burke this weekend.

"That's because we were led to believe that people became aware of the issue in 2017."

That does not now seem to be the case.Kidnapped in London and sold into the sex slave industry in Ireland, Anna had a brutal existence until she escaped her captors. As she publishes a book about her ordeal, Anna tells Stephanie Bell about her experiences.

It is hard to imagine a more horrific story than that told by a young Romanian-born woman who was kidnapped in London and forced to be a sex slave in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Known simply as Anna  because, seven years on, she still lives in fear  today she bravely talks about her ordeal which she has shared in a new book.

Called Slave, the book by Northern Ireland author and journalist Jason Johnson gives a shocking insight into the modern day sex slave trade and the ease with which the people controlling it were able to operate.

Annas story is disturbing and deplorable on many levels but ultimately inspiring as, despite the trauma she suffered, she has gone on to help change the law on sex slavery in Northern Ireland, making it more difficult for this evil trade to continue.

She not only escaped her vile captors but turned the tables on them, helping police bring a successful prosecution.

Anna was 21 years old in 2011 when she was snatched off the street in London.

She was taken to Ireland and sold into the sex slave trade to a Romanian-run brothel near Salthill in Galway for 30,000.

Along with the other girls there, she was advertised on a legal escort website.

Over the next nine months her life became a living hell as she was kept prisoner, tortured and forced to have sex with thousands of men.

Her captives starved her and deprived her of sleep, and she was constantly covered in bruises from daily beatings and rape. She was eventually moved to Belfast where she made her escape.

Today, seven years on from her ordeal, she is still very much haunted by what she endured and fear lingers, which is why she keeps her new location and identity secret.

She has discovered painting as a way of coping and has surrounded herself with trustworthy friends as she tries to rebuild her life.

She hopes to establish a charity for victims of the sex slave trade and has collaborated on her book to help raise awareness and also to reassure victims that they, too, can start over.

Anna recalls: They were the toughest months of my life. I was kept locked up. If I asked for food I was beaten, if I tried to sleep I was beaten and raped.

They beat you where people could not see, on the head because you have hair and on your body, but never on the face.

Nobody cared about the bruises on your body.

These people had all the skills to be violent.

They beat you to break you and make you do things for them.

I dont think a person could be deprived of so much. I dont know how I got through it.

I just had to breathe and keep everything inside and develop a plan to get out of there.

Anna had enjoyed a good quality of life at home in Romania where she went to college and was brought up to believe in studying and working hard to succeed in life.

She had started studying nursing and psychology when she decided to move to London at the age of 20 to continue her studies and to find opportunities in England.

She had been there a year and was happy, settled and life seemed full of promise when, out of the blue, she was kidnapped while walking down the street.

I think every young person wants to get out and see what life has to offer and thats how I felt moving to London, she says.

I was working and studying and was a self-sufficient person.

I had made new friends and I had good references.

I was ambitious. I had big plans to become a doctor or work in counselling. I loved reading and would read a lot and I was into my studies. My family is German and at the heart of a German family is the ethos that you have to work hard and learn well and be happy, and my granny would always have said that is how you become a good person.

In her book, Anna explains in detail how she was snatched by Romanians who she believed lived in the same building as her in London.

She believes she was vulnerable because she had no family in the city to raise the alarm.

She was taken directly to the airport and, in the book, deals with how her captors were able to walk her through security without anyone checking their details. A detailed account of the horrific months that followed makes for difficult reading.

Writing in the book about the time she spent imprisoned in a brothel in Galway, Anna gives a harrowing insight into the despair she felt.

The pimps in Galway knew my reviews were leading to more and more people coming to see me, that I was the girl of the moment, or at least one of them, in the city. All of that meant I was sellable, that I had a good value, and that was why the pimps were interested.

Do you know that some of the girls who passed through there hated me because of that? Thats how strange this world is. It was popular to rape me, to use me all day and night like a battery hen for sex, and they thought I was having a more successful life than them ...

These things would get thought often when I sat in that one place on the sofa, staring at the top right-hand corner of the window at the little piece of glass, the little patch that showed if it was night or day or somewhere in the middle.

I would sit on that seat and think I might soon be killed by someone, or be killed by my own hand. I would think how my body would never be presented to any official and that my mother, my friends back in Romania, would never know what had become of Anna ...

Despite such moments of obvious anguish Anna, however, was always able to muster the resolve to turn her mind once more to the possibility of escape. She never gave up hope of breaking free from her captors and her chance came when her tormentors moved her to Belfast where, ironically, she became friends with a well-known criminal who turned out to be her saviour.

During her time in Northern Ireland, she was moved to different houses and flats all over the city.

One day she was brought to a property in the Cathedral Quarter where she was heartbroken to see five men there instead of one.

They made her strip, saw her body covered in bruises and asked that she put her clothes back on.

One of the men  referred to in her book as Andy  had been a well-known Belfast drug dealer and criminal who had set up the date with Anna because he wanted to find out information with a view to setting up his own brothel. But even this hardened criminal was shocked by both her physical and mental state, and offered to help her if she ever needed it.

When she got her chance she ran and made her way to Andy, the only person she knew in Ireland, and he gave her shelter.

Broken and terrified, she hid for some months before finally finding the courage to go to the police.

A fight ensued between Andys gang and Annas former pimps, and the latter moved to Sweden temporarily where they continued to traffic women.

While staying with Andy, Anna met Tom, a journalist working in Belfast who put her in contact with the PSNIs Human Trafficking team, who began working with the Metropolitan Police in London, with Europol and EuroJust, the Romanian police and, later, the Swedish police, where Annas main pimps were now plying their trade.

The lead pimps were later arrested and jailed in Sweden and then extradited to Northern Ireland where they were jailed again.

Annas information was vital to their arrest and the freeing of their slaves.

Disappointingly, their sentences were short and they served less than eight months in jail. They are believed to be living openly in Belfast.

Not only did Anna bravely work with police to secure their convictions and save other girls but she went on to help shape new policy on human trafficking in Northern Ireland.

She says: When I escaped there was no help for me. There was no medical help and I didnt even have papers to travel so I couldnt go anywhere. I was basically homeless and didnt know where to turn.

When I went to the police even they didnt know how to help me and they were traumatised by my story.

The PSNI put her in touch with a charity that dealt specifically with sexual abuse, but Anna says: They seemed confused about my case and I told them they didnt seem to understand what sex trafficking was. They said they had never dealt with such a thing before. I left that charity too feeling that I had traumatised them.

In 2012 an anti-human trafficking bill was put forward at Stormont which aimed to make life harder for sex traffickers  this sparked hope for Anna and she was determined to help. She says: I heard on the radio news about new sex trafficking policy and I felt that the politicians were making decisions and they hadnt been trafficked and didnt know what it was like. I felt that I had to talk to these people.

Along with her new journalist friend Tom, Anna met with Lord Maurice Morrow, who had proposed the bill and, later, with then First Minister Peter Robinson.

During the latter encounter, Mr Robinson told her that he had high hopes the bill would bring in changes that would make a real difference.

Anna writes: I told him I believed there was a lot of money in this business, that sex traffickers were making fortunes from selling womens bodies to men. And I said, knowing the business as I did, there would be a fight.

He said, But there is always a fight when you are doing something new.

Anna worked hard to get the human message across as, before then, the issue was not being taken seriously because it was not visible, she says. Internally, the proposed law was being referred to as Annas Law.

In 2014 Northern Ireland voted in support of a law change, the strongest anti-trafficking laws at that point making it illegal to buy sex.

Speaking as Annas book goes on sale, Lord Morrow said: Anna is a woman of immense fortitude. Her story broke my heart, absolutely stunned me. What is going on in this country, across the UK, in terms of human trafficking is horrifying. Anna proved to be an inspiration to me as I sought to bring the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act through the Northern Ireland Assembly.

While she also played a big part in securing the conviction of the couple who took her and tortured her, she cant help feeling disappointed that both men are now out walking the streets having served just a few months in prison.

She says: I honestly would not wish it on anyone. They got such little sentences but at least they were shut down.

It was a hard, hard journey and its been hard for everyone, my family and my friends. My mother didnt know what had happened to me and Ive fought very hard to get people to understand it.

I am now trying to learn to take things easy and learn to keep myself surrounded by good people.

Ive started to cry now. I couldnt cry before but now that I have good people who understand what Ive been through, it is helping me.

I still have an element of fear but Ive started to paint and that helps, and listening to music, anything to take my mind off it.

I am studying marketing online and volunteering with some charities.

I hope the book will first and foremost raise awareness and bring to the attention of people that this could happen to anyone in the modern day. It is not a story that happened 100 years ago but just a few years ago.

I also want justice for people and there are millions of people all over the world it is happening to and I want them to know that there is a way out.General view of Gardai at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

The aircraft took off from the airstrip at Clonbullogue and went down in an area of bog and woodland, near the Mountlucas wind farm between Edenderry and Daingean Picture: Arthur Carron

General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

The site where the wreckage was found this morning of the aircraft which crashed in dense forest on the outskirts of Clonbuloge, Co. Offaly yesterday killing the pitot and a seven year old boy..Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

Locals have described it as a "very black day for Offaly" after a man and a young boy were killed in a plane accident.

The plane which crashed in Offaly on Sunday, killing the pilot and a seven-year-old boy nosedived straight into a forest and submerged itself around 15 feet deep into bogland, a witness has said.

The boy is understood to be the son of a member of the local parachute club, while the pilot is understood to be originally from the UK.

The plane had taken off from the Clonbullogue Airfield, near Edenderry, shortly before 2.30pm. It was carrying 16 parachutists, who all made their jumps safely.

Expand Close General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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However, a short time later the plane was seen flying low to the ground before there was a "terrible roar" and it crashed "straight down like a torpedo".

Fine Gael Cllr Liam Quinn called the tragedy "a very black day for Offaly."

Expand Close General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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He said: "After news like this it's a very black day for county Offaly - I'd like to extend my sympathies to the families and our thought are also with the members of the parachute club.

"There's going to be a local primary school with one less pupil and that's just absolutely tragic, it's very sad."

Expand Close General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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Whatsapp General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

Local councillor Eddie Fitzpatrick said the airfield had a long-established reputation for parachuting.

"People would be over there all the time, especially at weekends in the summer, a lot of people parachuting and a lot of fundraising jumpers."

Expand Close General view of Gardai at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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He added: "It's a great shock to hear of an accident like that happening."

Fellow Offaly councillor Noel Cribbin said: "This is a big shock to the area.

"These flights have been happening for the last 20 years and this is the first time I've heard of a plane going down; it is very worrying."

A spokesman for the Irish Parachute Club said in a statement released to Independent.ie: "The Irish Parachute Club can confirm that an earlier reported incident involving an aircraft operating on behalf of the Irish Parachute Club has resulted in the deaths of both occupants.

"At this time the Air Accident Investigation Unit are continuing with their investigation.

"I would ask for privacy for the families of the deceased, who remain in our thoughts and prayers."

Meanwhile, the Irish Parachute Club released a statement reading; "The board of directors, members and friends of the Irish Parachute Club are deeply saddened at the death of the occupants of the aircraft that was operating on behalf of the club.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected.

"We would like to thank the Air Accident Investigation Unit and the emergency services who are continuing their investigation at this very difficult time."

Witness

A witness, who was later involved in the recovery operation, said the terrain in which the Cessna Caravan aircraft crashed is remote, boggy, forested and difficult.

"I saw the plane going by at around ten past two, it had dropped off the parachutists, and I think the pilot was taking the little lad for a spin when something went wrong," the man told Independent.ie.

"Then I got a call later asking me about a plane crash. Another man who was out working said he saw it fall straight down with the engine roaring, and it hit the bog with a thump. There were no flames, and no explosion, it just went straight down into the bog," he said.

On arriving at the scene at around 4pm, the man said one wing had been sheared off by the trees, and several trees had to be cut down to access the wreckage.

"The bog had sucked it down. It was around 12 to 15 feet deep in the bog with only the tail of it visible. We were trying to pull it out with chains but they were cutting through it. I couldn't believe how light the material is in these planes," he said.

"We were working in it until around 11 o'clock before we reached the two lads. They were in the cockpit. I'm very shook after it," he explained.

The man said that he had heard that the father of the child had arrived at the scene and was very distressed.

The plane was eventually pulled out of the bog and is now in about three sections. Members of the Air Accident Investigation Unit are on the scene continuing their investigations, and it is expected it will be some time before the wreckage is removed for further examination.

The bodies were recovered from the wreckage in isolated bogland in Co Offaly just before darkness fell about 10pm last night.

Local man Jimmy Slattery, who lives near the parachute club, said he was out walking his dog and saw the plane take off from the airfield.

"I've seen them thousands of times," he said.

He thought nothing was unusual except the plane seemed to be flying very close to the ground, he said.

"I thought he was doing a stunt but I thought he was leaving it very late to turn around. But I knew it (the plane) was in the wrong area. And when it hit the tree line, the tail moved and I knew there was something wrong.

"Then I heard a terrible roaring and it went straight down. That roar will live with me for a while."

Shock

Mr Slattery immediately rang 999 and the parachute club to let them know the location of the crash site.

An Irish Parachute Club member told Independent.ie "It's an absolutely tragic situation, everybody is just in complete and utter shock."

A group of local residents had gathered about 2km near the crash site where local ambulance, gardai and Civil Defence personnel set up a staging area to respond to the incident.

Local resident Declan Burns (49) said he understood the plane had just dropped off the parachutists and was heading back to the airfield when something went terribly wrong and the plane "just nose-dived".

"You hear planes up there every day but you never think something like this would happen," he said.

Local councillor Noel Cribbin said the accident was the first of its kind in recent memory.

"The club is very long-standing in the area and very well run," he said.

"This time of year, there are planes flying seven days a week," he said.

"Thankfully, the 16 (parachutists) got out and our thoughts and prayers are with those in the plane."

Sinn Fein Councillor Martin O'Reilly echoed these sentiments as he said everyone in the area is stunned by the tragic news.

He said: "It's shocking and under such circumstances, the parachute club is there years and there has never been an incident like this.

"It seemed to have been such a routine flight, parachute jumps happen there every weekend for various reasons, you always see planes flying overhead.

"When we got word about what had happened at around 7pm last night that the individuals on board would be okay and if they were hurt that they wouldn't be seriously so, unfortunately that didn't transpire to be."

He continued to say that his thought are with those afected.

"I would like to express my condolences to the families of the two people who lost their lives, to the parachute club as well, as I know they run a very high standard, professional organisation.

"It's also worth noting that since a young boy has died there is a primary school opening their doors this morning and a member of their school network has died," Cllr O'Reilly said.THE devoted mother of a boy who has been given just a five per cent of reaching his seventeenth birthday has vowed she will do anything in her power to save him.

Slavomir (Slav) Vavro (13) was diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer, Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, in January.

His heartbroken mother Nadia, who lives in Laytown, Co Meath, told Independent.ie: "We brought him to the hospital at the end of December but he was sent home with a misdiagnosis, but when we returned a few weeks later because the stomach and back pain wouldnt go away, he got the cancer diagnosis.

It was just devastating, and so hard to hear because thats your child.

Nadia, who is also mum to Michaela (23) and Vlad (15) has given up her job as a social worker to care for Slav.

He is currently undergoing a 27-week chemotherapy regimen, which will be followed by radiotherapy, Nadia spoke candidly about how difficult it is to see her son's condition deteriorate.

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She said: "He used to love hiking, going outside and being in nature and now he has to be at home inside all the time. I have to feed him nearly every hour just so he can gain weight."

Nadia and Slav's medical team are looking into pioneering medical trials that are being carried out in the US and she said she will do whatever it takes to help her son.

She has set up a GoFundMe page to help finance his medical fees and it has raised more than 32,000 in just two months.

She wrote on the page: "We understand even better now about the treatment that Slav is getting here in Ireland  it is not curative.

"We were told by our oncologist that there is a 5 per cent chance of survival in the next 3 years, there is no cure for Slav in Ireland.

"There are no trials available in Ireland for Slavs diagnose at all! So our only chance is to access trials in US. "

She continued to tell Independent.ie that her family is overwhelmed by the public's support and generosity.

Nadia noted: We are so grateful for every euro because it brings us closer to getting the best care for Slav.

And we know whatever we dont use can be used for future treatments which is reassuring.

Despite the terrifying situation, Nadia paid tribute to how Slav has stayed incredibly compassionate and caring towards others.

He is just so sweet and humble, he is never angry and has so much love in his heart.

He is such a lovely, positive and just genuine kid and we are going to keep fighting, she said proudly.

For more information or to donate please visit hereMore than 100 jobs are to be created for a new manufacturing and supply operation in Longford

Leetha Industries is establishing the new facility, Red Seal Cups Limited, a project that is expected to create 100 roles over the next three years.

The firm will be looking for employees to fill a variety of roles, from senior management to warehouse staff.

Red Seal Cups will produce Leethas patented range of heat resistant packaging solutions for the UK and European marketplace.

The partnership project, between Leetha and Food Containers Manufacturing UK, is supported by IDA Ireland.

Red Seal Cups will produce Leethas patented range of heat resistant packaging solutions for the UK and European marketplace.

Minister of State Kevin Boxer Moran said that winning investment for regional locations such as Longford is a key focus for the Government.

"I am very pleased to support this project which is a further example of the Governments commitment to the Regional Action Plan for Jobs.

"The jobs being created will be a great boost for the local economy and create new opportunities for the community here in Longford."A mother who was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer 18 months after an all-clear smear test has called on the Government to give a timeline for the next tranche of audits.

Jacinta Doyle (44), from Co Wexford, was diagnosed with the advanced cancer in August 2012 despite a clear smear test in February 2011. She contacted CervicalCheck in the wake of the news of the audit of hundreds of smear tests which found 209 women were diagnosed with cancer after their tests were read incorrectly.

However, a gynaecologist who contacted her on behalf of the screening programme said her February 2011 smear had not been audited and that the programme was awaiting direction from the Health Minister as to a audit of her test, she said.

The Government has committed to auditing all smear tests of women who were diagnosed with cancer after a clear smear reading when it emerged not all of those women had their tests audited  as was believed when the scandal first broke.

Leo Varadkar didnt seem to give any timeline as to when it was going to be done, she said. Im frustrated and its the feeling of being back where I was in 2012, fighting to get taken seriously and seen to.

Again having to fight and shout to get what should automatically be being done for everyone who had negative test results who went on to develop cancer. The gynaecologist told me it was possible to go from a clear one to what I had but I find that a bit surreal, considering I had abnormal cells 10 years prior. I was always good about going for my smears, she said.

You just feel that there must be some explanation to going from nothing to that in that length of time.

They need to give a timeline on it and a commitment to getting it done as soon as possible.

Ms Doyle was given the all-clear following three months of treatment. She began showing symptoms including bleeding and severe pain from January 2012. At one stage, her pain was so bad she said it was comparable to labour pains.

It felt like you wanted someone to just take that section of your back and rip it out, she said.

Social Democrats TD and health spokesperson Roisin Shortall has written to Health Minister Simon Harris, urging clarity and communication with the women who were not included in the first audit.

A spokesperson for the HSE said: The HSE is working with the National Cancer Registry of Ireland [NCRI] and the Department of Health to identify any other women who had cervical cancer during this time, who may also have had a CervicalCheck test.

Reconciliation of data on relevant cases is currently ongoing between CervicalCheck and NCRI.(l-r) Orla O'Connor, Director, National Women's Council of Ireland, Co- Director, Together for Yes, Noreen Byrne, Louise Lovett, Simon Harris TD, Minister for Health, Frances Fitzgerald TD and Ellen O Malley Dunlop, Chair, National Womens Council of Ireland PICTURE: MAXWELLPHOTOGRAPHY.IE

The National Womens Council of Ireland (NWCI) said in two weeks time, voters will have the opportunity to make Ireland a safer place for women.

The NWCI launched its Who Needs Your Yes campaign this morning to highlight the impact of the 8th Amendment on women over the past 35 years, as well as the families and friends of those who have received abortions.

NWCI Director Orla OConnor said the campaign encourages people to think about the women in their life when they hit the polls on May 25. Speaking to Independent.ie, Ms OConnor said: We might not know the person because of all the shame and stigma that surrounds abortion in Ireland, so we are asking people to think about the women in their lives.

There is a woman either now or in the future in your family or your circle of friends who the issue of abortion will affect.

The campaign launch included a film featuring the voices of family members of women who were forced to travel abroad for abortion care because of current 8th amendment restrictions.

The film features the sister of Arlette Lyons, co-founder of Terminations for Medical Reasons Ireland (TFMRI ), who travelled to Liverpool six years ago to receive an abortion following the heart-breaking news that her daughter had developed a fatal foetal abnormality.

Ms Lyons said that it is important for herself and her family to talk about their story to show that abortion affects more than just the person terminating the pregnancy: My sister is in the video and she is supporting me as I had to go to through a termination over in Liverpool six years ago.

Were a small country of 4.8 million and 200,000 have had to travel and unfortunately a lot of them cant talk about it for very obvious reasons , so I think its very important to see faces behind the real stories and I am one of them .

Ms Lyons also said she hopes the campaign makes people realise that people terminate pregnancies for more reasons than just convenience, including fatal foetal abnormalities.

The TFMRI co-founder said such sad cases as fatal foetal abnormalities are only intensified and by the extra travel: To be given the news that your baby is going to die is absolutely horrendous and so heart-breaking but then to be forced to travel for the care, compassion and kindness that you needed here, it adds layers of absolute torture on top of it.General view of Gardai at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

The aircraft took off from the airstrip at Clonbullogue and went down in an area of bog and woodland, near the Mountlucas wind farm between Edenderry and Daingean Picture: Arthur Carron

The plane which crashed in Offaly on Sunday, killing the pilot and a young seven-year-old boy nosedived straight into a forest and submerged itself around 15 feet deep into bogland, a witness has said.

The man, who was later involved in the recovery operation, said the terrain in which the Cessna Caravan aircraft crashed is remote, boggy, forested and difficult.

Expand Close Jimmy Slattery, who witnessed the plane go down. Photos: Arthur Carron / Facebook

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"I saw the plane going by at around ten past two, it had dropped off the parachutists, and I think the pilot was taking the little lad for a spin when something went wrong," the man told Independent.ie.

"Then I got a call later asking me about a plane crash. Another man who was out working said he saw it fall straight down with the engine roaring, and it hit the bog with a thump. There were no flames, and no explosion, it just went straight down into the bog," he said.

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On arriving at the scene at around 4pm, the man said one wing had been sheared off by the trees, and several trees had to be cut down to access the wreckage.

"The bog had sucked it down. It was around 12 to 15 feet deep in the bog with only the tail of it visible. We were trying to pull it out with chains but they were cutting through it. I couldn't believe how light the material is in these planes," he said.

Expand Close General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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Whatsapp General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn

"We were working in it until around 11 o'clock before we reached the two lads. They were in the cockpit. I'm very shook after it," he explained.

The man said that he had heard that the father of the child had arrived at the scene and was very distressed.

Expand Close General view of Air Accident Investigation Unit at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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The plane was eventually pulled out of the bog and is now in about three sections. Members of the Air Accident Investigation Unit are on the scene continuing their investigations, and it is expected it will be some time before the wreckage is removed for further examination.

The bodies were recovered from the wreckage in isolated bogland in Co Offaly just before darkness fell about 10pm last night.

Expand Close General view of Gardai at scene of plane crash in bogland near Mount Lucas, Co. Offaly. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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The boy is understood to be the son of a member of the local parachute club, while the pilot is understood to be originally from the UK.

The plane had taken off from the Clonbullogue Airfield, near Edenderry, shortly before 2.30pm. It was carrying 16 parachutists, who all made their jumps safely.

However, a short time later the plane was seen flying low to the ground before there was a "terrible roar" and it crashed "straight down like a torpedo".

Local man Jimmy Slattery, who lives near the parachute club, said he was out walking his dog and saw the plane take off from the airfield.

"I've seen them thousands of times," he said.

He thought nothing was unusual except the plane seemed to be flying very close to the ground, he said.

"I thought he was doing a stunt but I thought he was leaving it very late to turn around. But I knew it (the plane) was in the wrong area. And when it hit the tree line, the tail moved and I knew there was something wrong.

"Then I heard a terrible roaring and it went straight down. That roar will live with me for a while."

Shock

Mr Slattery immediately rang 999 and the parachute club to let them know the location of the crash site.

An Irish Parachute Club member told Independent.ie "It's an absolutely tragic situation, everybody is just in complete and utter shock."

A group of local residents had gathered about 2km near the crash site where local ambulance, gardai and Civil Defence personnel set up a staging area to respond to the incident.

Local resident Declan Burns (49) said he understood the plane had just dropped off the parachutists and was heading back to the airfield when something went terribly wrong and the plane "just nose-dived".

"You hear planes up there every day but you never think something like this would happen," he said.

Local councillor Noel Cribbin said the accident was the first of its kind in recent memory.

"The club is very long-standing in the area and very well run," he said.

"This time of year, there are planes flying seven days a week," he said.

"Thankfully, the 16 (parachutists) got out and our thoughts and prayers are with those in the plane."

Sinn Fein Councillor Martin O'Reilly echoed these sentiments as he said everyone in the area is stunned by the tragic news.

He said: "It's shocking and under such circumstances, the parachute club is there years and there has never been an incident like this.

"It seemed to have been such a routine flight, parachute jumps happen there every weekend for various reasons, you always see planes flying overhead.

"When we got word about what had happened at around 7pm last night that the individuals on board would be okay and if they were hurt that they wouldn't be seriously so, unfortunately that didn't transpire to be."

He continued to say that his thought are with those afected.

"I would like to express my condolences to the families of the two people who lost their lives, to the parachute club as well, as I know they run a very high standard, professional organisation.

"It's also worth noting that since a young boy has died there is a primary school opening their doors this morning and a member of their school network has died," Cllr O'Reilly said.

Black day for Offaly

Fine Gael Cllr Liam Quinn called the tragedy "a very black day for Offaly."

He said: "After news like this it's a very black day for county Offaly - I'd like to extend my sympathies to the families and our thought are also with the members of the parachute club.

"There's going to be a local primary school with one less pupil and that's just absolutely tragic, it's very sad."

Local councillor Eddie Fitzpatrick said the airfield had a long-established reputation for parachuting.

"People would be over there all the time, especially at weekends in the summer, a lot of people parachuting and a lot of fundraising jumpers."

He added: "It's a great shock to hear of an accident like that happening."

Fellow Offaly councillor Noel Cribbin said: "This is a big shock to the area.

"These flights have been happening for the last 20 years and this is the first time I've heard of a plane going down; it is very worrying."

A spokesman for the Irish Parachute Club said in a statement released to Independent.ie: "The Irish Parachute Club can confirm that an earlier reported incident involving an aircraft operating on behalf of the Irish Parachute Club has resulted in the deaths of both occupants.

"At this time the Air Accident Investigation Unite are continuing with their investigation.

"I would ask for privacy for the families of the deceased, who remain in our thoughts and prayers."Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has accused Eoin O Broin of "peddling fake news" after the Sinn Fein TD claimed he had refused to attend a committee meeting dedicated to discussing homeless numbers.

Mr Murphy has faced pressure from the Opposition over the rising number of people in homeless accommodation as official figures approach 10,000.

Mr O Broin has disputed the figures, saying that almost 600 people were removed from the March numbers.

He accused Mr Murphy of "running scared" from scrutiny on what he claimed was "political manipulation" of the homeless figures.

Mr Murphy has rejected claims the figures have been manipulated, instead arguing that some people had been had been wrongly categorised by local authorities.

Mr O Broin released a statement yesterday claiming that Mr Murphy had refused an invitation to appear at the Oireachtas Housing Committee for a dedicated meeting on the homeless numbers.

Mr O Broin included correspondence from the minister's office that stated Mr Murphy was awaiting a Dublin Regional Homeless Executive report on the figures and wanted to refrain from addressing the Committee solely on the subject until it is published.

Mr Murphy took to Twitter accusing Mr O Broin of "peddling fake news". He said he had agreed to attend the committee twice. Mr O Broin replied saying he had refused to attend a dedicated session and that no report was needed to answer questions on figures.A councillor has branded republicans who "intimidated" a Donegal hotel into cancelling a royal wedding-themed afternoon-tea event on Saturday as "thugs".

The Inishowen Gateway Hotel in Buncrana had advertised the event to coincide with the nuptials of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The hotel had launched a Facebook event page to garner interest.

However, yesterday morning staff were inundated with phone calls from republicans angry over the event and by late afternoon the event had been taken down from the hotel's Facebook page.

A spokesperson for the hotel apologised for "any offence caused".

"The event planned for Saturday, May 19, will no longer be taking place and we would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any offence caused," they said in a statement.

"As one of Donegal's most recognised hotels, we are committed to ensuring we offer our guests a quality and memorable experience."

However, Derry DUP councillor David Ramsey said the "intimidation by thugs" directed towards the hotel was "disgusting".

"The royal wedding is the largest worldwide event," he said. "Any hotel would see that as a marketing opportunity.

"Because it doesn't matter what race or creed you are, there will be millions of people watching the wedding who are not from the unionist background. Every walk of life will be watching and many in the Republic of Ireland will be looking at it, as well as people in Northern Ireland. People love weddings," he said.

"For thugs to take it upon themselves to intimidate someone doing their job, marketing a wedding that the whole world will be interested in, is absolutely disgusting.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Mr Ramsey, adding there were people who don't seem to want to live with unionists, "or want anything to do with us".Supt David Taylor's reputation has taken something of a battering since the Charleton Tribunal began its inquiry earlier this month into allegations he was ordered to brief journalists negatively about whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe.

Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan denies giving instructions to brief negatively to the ex-press officer, and Noirin O'Sullivan, Callinan's successor, says she was not aware of such an instruction.

While some civilians and gardai who worked under Taylor when he was in the press office described their working relationships with him as a "fine boss" and someone they got on "very well" with, others were more critical. All except one of the 13 witnesses who worked in the press office during Taylor's tenure said they never heard anything of Sgt McCabe except in media reports. None were aware of any smear campaign.

James Molloy, the sergeant who did recall talk about McCabe, said Taylor was not complimentary about the whistleblower, journalists who wrote about him, or "any member of the Oireachtas who took his side".

Molloy couldn't recall specifics, but explained the gist of Taylor's attitude. "Put it this way. I was clear if there was a side to be taken which side David Taylor was on, and it wasn't on McCabe's side," Sgt Molloy said.

Molloy said Taylor was uncomplimentary towards McCabe because the sergeant was speaking out about Garda issues, not because of rumours about abuse. Molloy also said he was not aware of a smear campaign, and was never told to smear anybody.

Taylor had "a tendency to gossip and chitchat in the office after an incident," Molloy said. He thought this was "dangerous", as unconfirmed rumours could "bleed into the media". Molloy also said Taylor did a lot of media briefings and "pieces to camera" himself during his time as press officer. "There is always the danger in the press office of loving it, getting a buzz from it, I thought he had fallen into that trap," Molloy said.

Taylor did not have a good relationship with his civilian superior Andrew McLindon, the director of communications, and "it wasn't a very friendly relationship at all", Sgt Damien Hogan said. "From day one it was very estranged. It just wasn't working, there was no communication between them."

Hogan said Taylor was a "stickler" for timekeeping, going so far as to install swipe cards in the press office, including on the toilets.

Hogan said that after Taylor was transferred out to the traffic division, he became concerned that sensitive information was being leaked after he saw several newspaper articles which closely matched incident reports which had not been made public. Hogan also said a journalist who called him for information about a child rescue alert told him "I'm getting enough at the moment from Supt Taylor".

A probe by Chief Supt Francis Clerkin into press leaks after two Roma children were removed from their family in Tallaght by gardai in October 2013 led to Supt Taylor. Phone records showed that Taylor had over 11,000 contacts with journalists in the four-month period between September 2014 and December 2014, although he no longer worked in the press office. Just under one quarter of the contacts were with Eavan Murray, a crime correspondent with The Irish Sun.

Clerkin found "critical incident reports" detailing serious incidents were forwarded by Supt Taylor to a personal email account. The team suspected the reports went from there to journalists, but could not verify this as information in the personal email account was "continuously deleted". Taylor was arrested and questioned in April 2015. The DPP later directed no prosecution for unlawful disclosure of information.

Clerkin rejected suggestions that Taylor was "targeted" to be "discredited". "All I ever did was follow the evidence that was presented to me, and it led me to Supt Taylor," he told the tribunal.

In October 2016, Taylor made a protected disclosure. The tribunal sought phone and computer records which might show communications to and from Taylor to support the allegations he made.

Old and obsolete garda phones were not stored after use in 2012-14, the tribunal heard. If a phone contained personal information, such as family photographs, an officer might hold on to it for that reason. SIM cards were transferred with upgrades, or destroyed. Some were repaired and recycled.

Of the phones and computers used by Callinan, O'Sullivan and Taylor, some were no longer available, some had been reformatted after repairs and given to other officers. One phone was wiped and ended up used by Ms O'Sullivan's son, and when he retired Callinan bought his laptop. It was wiped to remove sensitive data before being given to him.

Garda and Forensic Service Northern Ireland (FSNI) data specialists scoured all available phones, SIM cards, and disk drives, but found nothing supporting Taylor's allegations. In any case, Taylor previously told the tribunal the instructions he received from Callinan were verbal. Callinan denies giving any instructions at all.

Two officers from the Security & Intelligence Section also gave evidence on their computer files, which were not made available to the FSNI because they contained sensitive security information. The computers were searched last summer in the presence of tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton, using keywords provided by the tribunal, including Maurice McCabe, whistleblower, rat, child abuse and kiddy fiddler. No files on McCabe or Taylor were found, except for incidental mentions, such as when McCabe took part in an anti-smuggling border operation.

Former Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Kirwan also searched for any application for a telephone interception on McCabe between 2009 and 2016. Nothing was found. There were applications for Taylor's phone records, which related to the Roma leaks investigation.

There were no records in the Security Section presenting McCabe or Taylor as "a target of An Garda Siochana, a suspect or in a derogatory light", Mr Kirwan reported.

Taylor begins his evidence tomorrow, and is expected to take at least three days. Also scheduled are Taylor's wife Michelle, former justice minister Alan Shatter and Martin Callinan.Four nights a week a group of volunteers assemble at Limerick City's Docker's Monument, a sculpture that celebrates the camaraderie that existed between men who earned their living by might.

Donning personal flotation bags and waterproof jackets and armed with binoculars and communication equipment, they begin their evening's work. These volunteers rely heavily on one another and their camaraderie has seen them through many tough nights.

They never know what a night will bring but the reason they're out in all weathers is to save lives; to intervene and stop someone taking their own life.

Limerick Suicide Watch was set up in May 2016, a year when provisional figures estimated there were 400 deaths in Ireland by suicide. Over the last two years they've had 180 interventions. All volunteers have completed suicide intervention skills training provided by the HSE. The city's suicide watch volunteers work in teams of three, with eight to ten volunteers out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights. Often they walk 10k a night along the Shannon River or cycle 20k if they're on bikes.

Thirty-two-year-old Lucy O'Hara would often notice the rescue helicopter from Valentia Island overhead and wonder about what happened to the person they were called out to help. "I wanted to do something to help. I would have known families affected by suicide myself. Our goal is to help as many people as we can and save families from losing someone they love," says Lucy.

In some cases when they're on patrol, people will come up to them just to have a chat. In other cases team members observe someone who is displaying behaviour that means they may need help.

"You know by their demeanour, by how they are reacting to things. This work teaches you how to talk to someone. When we meet someone we automatically say 'how are you?' Some people may not react. The hardest thing for us is to ask a person 'are you suicidal?'" says Lucy.

In some cases two volunteers may have to physically restrain a person at the river's edge while the third volunteer calls emergency services. Sometimes they can talk someone out of entering the water. Lucy says they never know what's going to happen on any given night.

"There was an elderly man once and when we approached him he didn't want to talk to us. He had his back turned to us but the minute we asked if he was OK, he broke down in tears. We were the first people he had spoken to in six weeks. He was very lonely. He had nobody," she says.

"What we do is get a person talking for 15 minutes or for an hour and then we'd phone someone they want us to contact. A lot of families haven't a clue what has been going on because people hide how they feel," says Lucy.

On another occasion volunteers encountered a teenage girl who was very upset and distressed. When family members arrived, they had no idea the girl was feeling under so much pressure.

"We meet so many different people every night we go out. We meet people with different things going on in their lives. It might not be a big thing to you but it's everything to them. People just need to talk. They need to know it's OK to talk," says Lucy.

A year after Limerick Suicide Watch stopped a young man from taking his own life, a volunteer met his mother at an event. She introduced herself by throwing her arms around the team member.

'It's nice to hear those happy stories'

"She was so thankful her son had progressed. He was happy and he'd gone back to college and he had a girlfriend. Sometimes we might get an email from a family member. If we're out on patrol someone might come up and tell us something about a family member. It's nice to hear those happy stories".

Because of the nature of the work, after an intervention volunteers have a debriefing session. Counselling services are available to them and Lucy says the after care for them and support they get is great.

"It's not all doom and gloom," she says. "We meet people and we talk and we have the craic. The amount of support we get is unbelievable. People will come up and shake our hands and say 'thank you'. It's like they feel there's safety at night when we're out patrolling.

"We marshal every year at the Darkness Into Light walk. It's very touching - thousands of people are coming towards you from the angle we see it at. The silence is amazing," she says.

In the neighbouring county of Clare, Irish Coast Guard volunteer Thomas Doherty (pictured on cover) is no stranger to seeing people at the worst time of their lives. In his 30-something years with the Coast Guard he has intervened in 12 cases where people were suicidal.

Earlier in his life he'd been a fisherman; drift netting and fishing lobster pots. When someone went missing, searchers relied on local fishermen's knowledge for help and guidance. Helping out with searches brought him into the Coast Guard where he'd often get a call that someone was in distress.

"I just ask them straight 'are you thinking of self-harm?' I would chat away with them. Sometimes I can tell if they're acting suspicious - I just know. You learn to read the signs. They'd be watching to see if someone is watching them," says Thomas.

"First of all I ask them their name. Then I ask them if they are thinking of self-harm. I remember a lady in her 80s. She got out of a taxi and she was carrying a bag with her. I went up and asked her straight out. She began to cry. I gave her a hug and said 'come over and have a cup of tea or coffee'. She talked about things," he says.

The tip of the iceberg

"What we're seeing is the tip of the iceberg. A person may have been on their own for days with nobody to talk to. When I gave that lady a hug I thought when was the last time she got a hug. Are families giving one another hugs? It's come to the point where we can't give a hug to someone - maybe that's what they want.

"People do need to be listened to. I look at them and I don't be looking away. There's a lot in that; it shows you're interested in them. They can see you are connected with them. The connection is not there today. If you look at people they're caught up in their phones. There's nothing in social media I think," says Thomas.

He remembers meeting a woman whose son went missing some years ago.

"She wanted to walk in the last place he walked. I met her and I took her to where he would have walked. I said 'you do whatever you want to do. If you want to talk, talk. That was two years ago and she keeps in touch. Another lady lost a daughter - she likes to come up on the anniversary to walk in the last place her daughter walked."

Music, walking and talking help Thomas to remain upbeat about life but he says it's always "a bit of a downer when someone escapes the net".

"I did the Darkness into Light last year and I feel like you're helping an organisation that's helping people. You watch people and they're ten foot tall - they feel like they've achieved something," he says.

Over 200 miles away, volunteers Pat Carlin and Stephen Twells are on duty in Foyle Search and Rescue (FSR) HQ on the banks of Lough Foyle.

Set up in 1993 the organisation's main priority is suicide prevention and river rescue as well as providing safety cover for river events run by the city council and other local bodies.

Last year FSR volunteers rescued 21 people who had entered the river deliberately and were involved in 129 interventions.

Stephen, a store manager with Boots chemist in the city, joined the organisation 17 years ago after he got chatting with volunteers about the work they did. He describes the rescue HQ as his second home. "You couldn't do this work if you didn't love it, if you didn't care. It's not a career choice - it's a vocation," he says.

"For volunteers on duty at night it can be traumatic and stressful when you're dealing with someone in a vulnerable state. But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks - you're helping someone at their lowest level," says Stephen.

"You have an instinct about a person you meet - sometimes you can tell from their body language. Sometimes they're avoiding eye contact which is unnatural. You just get a gut feeling that something is not right with this person," he says.

One of the hardest things, he says, is having a conversation with someone you've never met before and asking them are they thinking about taking their own life.

'You need to have the courage'

"You need to have the courage to say that. Sometimes a person will say 'yes, I am'. Sometimes they'll say no.

Most people will open up to us but that's only because we've taken the time to ask them. A lot of times no one has ever asked them," he says.

Stephen says sometimes the work means physically restraining someone until emergency services arrive. Sometimes it's pulling someone back but "sometimes it's just a matter of putting a hand gently on their shoulder. Three-quarters of the time it's an easy coax to gently take someone back," he says.

In the last 15 months ten people have lost their lives to the River Foyle but despite the nature of the work he does, Stephen says it's not all doom and gloom.

"There's a really good team spirit in here. The main thing that keeps us going is that we know we're making a difference. There's a lot of team-work and training and we have a laugh. When it gets serious, we get on with the job."

Donate to Pieta House at Pieta.ieTadhg McCarthy, age 5, Finglas at the protest at the GPO about the women affected by the cervical cancer scandal. Picture: Arthur Carron

Therese King, Maisy Bollard, Shauna Brazil, Tessa and Molly Hoque protest at the GPO out the women affected by the cervical cancer scandal. Picture:Arthur Carron

Cervical cancer victim, Emma Mhic Mhathuna, promised that her death would not be in vain as hundreds gathered at a silent vigil to show solidarity with her and all the victims of the cervical cancer scandal in Tralee on Monday evening.

In a moving speech to the crowd, Emma, who has been given a terminal diagnosis, said that the vigil was about fighting back against the Government and ensuring that they answer for what they have done to the women of Ireland.

I am sick of being treated like nothing. Our health is the last thing that these people care about. The Dail need to realise that they if they going to take responsibility for our lives they better do it well or they need to be fired, she told the crowd.

Up to 400 people from across the county and further afield gathered at the silent vigil organised by SF Councillor, Toireasa Ferris, to show the victims of the scandal solidarity and support.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Tadhg McCarthy, age 5, Finglas at the protest at the GPO about the women affected by the cervical cancer scandal. Picture: Arthur Carron Emma Mhic Mhathuna / Facebook

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Emma said that she was touched that people had organised the vigil.

It is unfortunate that some-one has to die to bring people together. It is amazing that they trust me to be their voice and bring forward reform. We (women) kick ass when we are together.

This is incredible. This is what being Irish is all about, she said at the gathering.

I cant save my life but at least I can save yours and your childrens lives

Expand Close Therese King, Maisy Bollard, Shauna Brazil, Tessa and Molly Hoque protest at the GPO out the women affected by the cervical cancer scandal. Picture:Arthur Carron / Facebook

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Amid tears she told the crowd that her death would not be in vain.

I promise my death wont go unnoticed. I will make sure that they pay for what they have done to every single family in Ireland, whether you are on a waiting list too long or whether you are not being treated fair. Tell them youre my friend and Ill come and sort them out. 

The mother of five, who lives in Baile na nGall in West Kerry, spoke to the gathering, just hours after she had been told that the cancer has spread to her vertebra. Last week she was informed that it had spread to her chest.

She said that while she had no idea how much longer she has left she will fight for as long as she can.

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I hope to leave this country safe for my children. I want to reform the health service.

Emma is due to meet President, Michael D Higgins, on Wednesday, in private meeting to discuss the cervical cancer scandal.

I am so touched that he is coming to meet me to see what I am trying to achieve.

Men and women also lined the street outside the GPO in Dublin this evening calling for transparency within the Government and to express their concerns surrounding the CervicalCheck programme.

Therese King from Co Dublin attended the protest with her daughter Maisi Bollard to support the woman affected.

"I want to support the women who are dying or have died and to let our children know what the Government has done. I'm fuming about the whole thing, I'm disgusted. I can't imagine what the women are going through."

Therese said it's important to have the conversation with her daughter Maisi

"Some people say they're too young but they need to know in simple terms what is facing them in later life. It's all over the news. I told my children what happened and how appalling it is."

Shauna Brazil from Clondalkin also attended the event with her daughters Molly and Tessa Hoque.

"We can't stay at home and say 'that's terrible'. It's one of the worst things that has been revealed. It's unbelieveable. We are the women of Ireland. We pay taxes, we get smear tests, we mind ourselves so we can be healthy for our girls.

"I don't think it's possible to be a mother and not feel for these women and their children and husbands that are left behind."

Molly Hoque (16) said that conversation around cervical cancer is being held at schools.

"It's spoken more in schools than anywhere. We first see it on social media and then we have discussions about it. This isn't being talking about as much as the referendum though. Things that affect boys and girls are discussed more than things that effect just girls."

Pamela Creen from Leixlip, Co Kildare attended the protest with her mum Deidre Byrne and niece Saoirse Johnson (16).

"I'm disgusted what happened with cervical check. I have three daughters so I have to think of them and the future. They need to have faith in CervicalCheck," Pamela told Independent.ie.

"We're all worried. I think it's a good service but I'm waiting on a letter. I'm waiting everyday for the post to see if a letter is going to come for me. We don't know how many women have been affected and what is the truth."

Saoirse Johnson added that she is concerned for her future in Ireland.

"I came out to support the women of Ireland because I'm disgusted the way the HSE has let us all down. It could be any of our mams. I'm worried for my own future in Ireland. With the upcoming referendum too and now this. I don't know what else is going to happen. I'm afraid to put my trust in the Government."

Geraldine Robinson from Dublin said she is "absolutely appalled" and "ashamed" by the Government.

"They are willing to murder us and allow us to die a painful death. I could die. I have to be re-tested next week... I'm absolutely disgusted. I think the Government needs to go."Drinking three cups of tea a day during pregnancy increases the risk of having overweight children, according to a study of more than 50,000 mothers.

It found pregnant women who consumed more than 200mg a day of caffeine were more likely to have children that are overweight at preschool and school ages.

The study, which was carried out by researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, tracked the weight of children up to the age of eight and was one of the world's largest health surveys of pregnant women.

It has prompted Swedish researchers to encourage increased caution when consuming caffeine during a pregnancy.

"Caffeine is a substance that you can choose to reduce consumption of, or completely refrain from during pregnancy," said Verena Sengpiel, associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Sahlgrenska Academy.

Researchers found that when the children were five years old the number who were overweight or obese was 5pc greater in the group whose mothers had the highest caffeine consumption, compared to those whose mothers had the lowest caffeine consumption.

Currently, the British NHS advises pregnant women to limit daily caffeine consumption to 200mg, which is the equivalent of three cups of tea or two cups of coffee.

High levels of caffeine can also be found in drinks and chocolate.

Ms Sengpiel explained: "In the Nordic countries, coffee is the primary source, while, women in, for example, England receive the greatest amount of caffeine from black tea.

"If you look at mothers in the younger age group, it comes from energy drinks.

"We included different sources in the study and found a similar association between caffeine consumption from these different sources and children's growth".

Caffeine is the world's most widely consumed central nervous system stimulant. It occurs naturally or is added to foods and beverages, with coffee and tea as the most common and major sources. During pregnancy, elimination of caffeine is prolonged and it rapidly passes all biological membranes, including the blood-brain and placenta barriers, resulting in exposure of the foetus.

( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]You might hate Monday, but you'll love our weekly pick of Ireland's top travel offers...

139pp: Midweek madness in Co. Clare

The Armada Hotel overlooking Spanish Point has two nights' B&B with one evening meal and a welcome drink on arrival from 139pp midweek. The deal can be booked through the new Original Irish Hotels collection, which launched this month. 01 295-8900; originalirishhotels.com.

182pp: Surf holidays in Ericeira

SurfHolidays.com has a seven-night stay in Ericeira, Portugal from 182pp in September/October. You can add seven days of surf lessons from around 145pp, and flights are extra. surfholidays.com.

299pp: Sunway's summer sale

Sunway has a five-day sale expiring today (May 14), with seven-day packages from 299pp, based on a self-catering trip to the Algarve or Turkey in May. Canary Island holidays in June start from 499pp. 01 231-1800; sunway.ie.

492pp: Emirates summer sale

Emirates has a sale running from May 14 to 28, for travel from May 24 to March 31. Deals include return flights to Dubai from 492, Bangkok from 548 or Jo'burg from 529 - checked bags and meals included. emirates.ie.

899pp: Cruise the Greek Islands

Cassidy Travel has an 8-night Eastern Med cruise of the Dalmatian Coast and Greece on Rhapsody of the Seas from 899pps, with flights from Dublin. The trip starts with an overnight in Venice. 01 291-0000; cassidytravel.ie.

PS. Exclusive holiday discounts

Have you seen Independent Discounts? The new site has a host of special offers and discount codes, with travel brands ranging from Aer Lingus to ClickAndGo.com, Irish Ferries and Expedia.ie. See discountcode.independent.ie/travel-accommodation.

NB: All travel deals subject to availability/change.In the years to come, people will show off their royal wedding memorabilia with pride, especially if they manage to get their hands on this rather unique KFC bucket.

The fast food restaurants limited-edition ornately-designed commemorative bucket will be available from the KFC Windsor branch on Dedworth Road on May 19, the day Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are due to marry.

However, only 50 will be created for the event, available on a first come, first served basis.

Those who cant make it will have the chance to win one of 25 further bespoke commemorative buckets made from bone china.

A KFC spokesman commented: When we discovered Prince Harry proposed over a roast chicken, we simply had to show our support for the big occasion.

Were preparing for a rush on orders next Saturday as the people of Windsor flock to our Dedworth Road restaurant to get their hands on this priceless piece of British history.Police help a woman looking for family members at the blast at the Pentecost Church Central in Surabaya. Photo: Antara Foto/Moch Asim via REUTERS

A series of deadly suicide bomb attacks claimed by Isil on Indonesian churches was carried out by six members of a single family, police have said, as the world's most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at the attack on the country's Christian minority.

The national police chief, Tito Karnavian, said yesterday's attacks, which killed at least 13 people including the six bombers, and injured more than 40 others, were carried out by children, teenagers and adults from a family who were among 500 Isil sympathisers who had returned from Syria.

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He said the family's father detonated car bombs at Surabaya's Pentecostal Church, two sons aged 18 and 16 used motorcycles in their attack on Santa Maria Catholic Church, and the mother and two daughters, aged 12 and 9, had explosives strapped to them when they attacked Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.

"The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church," East Java police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya. He called on people to remain calm.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church, and at the third church "two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps", he said.

Isil claimed responsibility for the attacks in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, the Islamist militant group's Amaq news agency said, without providing any substantiating evidence to support its claim.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene.

Streets around the bombed churches were blocked by checkpoints and heavily armed police stood guard as forensic and bomb squad officers combed the area for evidence. Television footage showed the Indonesian Christian Church where the yard in front appeared engulfed in fire.

A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mr Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad dealing with a device.

Veiled women had entered the yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

Television images showed toppled and burnt motorcycles and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

At St Mary's Catholic Church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing was perpetrated while the church prepared to hold another service, after an earlier one had concluded. Separately, an internal police report said a suspected car bomb exploded in the car park of the Pentecostal Church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

The near-simultaneous attacks took place during yesterday morning's masses in the predominantly Muslim country, days after police ended a riot at a detention centre following a 36-hour standoff that left five dead and five injured after hostages were taken.

On Friday, a group of 70 prominent Muslim scholars meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, made a joint declaration denouncing violent extremism and terrorism, including suicide attacks, which they categorically stated are against Islamic principles.

Indonesia has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy, although it has carried out a sustained crackdown since bombings by al-Qa'ida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

And in January 2016, four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta, leaving another four dead and 23 injured.The father of four murdered children has blamed their grandfather for the mass shooting that killed three generations of the same family on a farm in the Margaret River wine-growing region in Australia's rural south-west.

The bodies of four young children along with three adults were found by police just after 6am on Friday at the farm in Osmington, a tiny town of 135 people on the southwest tip of the state of Western Australia.

The tragedy is being treated as a murder-suicide and WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told a press conference they are not looking for any suspects.

Police have named the dead as property owner and grandfather Peter Miles (61), his wife Cynda (58), their daughter Katrina Miles (35) and her four children Taye (13), Rylan (12), Ayre (10) and Kadyn Cockman (8).

The father of the children, Aaron Cockman, a local carpenter and builder, had been involved an acrimonious split with Katrina, which led her and the children to move in with her parents.

Mr Cockman said he believed that Peter Miles had not "snapped" but had been "thinking this through for a long time". "Peter has been trying to hold it together for a long time. He's just thought... 'I can't live any more, so this is it for me'."

"I still love who Peter was and... if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have Katrina, I wouldn't have any kids. So it's not some random guy off the street who's taken them away from me, he gave them to me and now he's taken them away".

Mr Cockman told a press conference on Sunday that he had been full of anger after Peter and Cynda Miles cut him off from seeing his children.

"The anger towards them now is completely gone. Completely gone. I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids," he said.

"I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this."

Mr Cockman said police had told him the children had died peacefully, with Kaydin in his mother's bed. "All the kids died peacefully in their beds," he said.

Police seized three firearms from the scene on Friday, all "long-arm" weapons licensed to Peter Miles.

Long-arm weapons are shot from the shoulder, such as rifles or shotguns and are common on farms.

Police are still investigating the circumstances leading up to the worst mass shooting in Australia since the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 when a gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania.

A coroner is to investigate.Catalan MPs have elected a fervent separatist as the new chief of the region, ending a leadership vacuum of more than six months and setting the scene for more confrontations with the Spanish government.

Quim Torra, 55, a former corporate lawyer who went on to lead a prominent pro-secession group, vowed to build an independent Catalan republic by working under the leadership of his fugitive predecessor, Carles Puigdemont.

Mr Puigdemont is in Germany fighting extradition to Spain, where he is wanted for allegedly using public funds and orchestrating an insurrection to get the wealthy north-eastern region around Barcelona to break away from Spain.

Mr Torra was elected 66-65 in a second round vote after he failed to secure an absolute majority in the 135-strong Catalan parliament over the weekend. Four MPs with the far-left anti-establishment CUP party abstained.

Expand Close Mr Torra has been hand-picked by the fugitive leader Carles Puigdemont (AP) / Facebook

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Immediately after his election, Mr Torra said one of the goals of his new government would be to reinstate Mr Puigdemont as the legitimate president of Catalonia. The Spanish government removed Mr Puigdemont and his Cabinet from office after the regional parliament passed an illegal declaration of independence in October.

Our president is Carles Puigdemont, and we will be faithful to the mandate of October to build an independent state in the form of a republic, Mr Torra told the chamber in Barcelona.

Mr Torra also has promised to create a state council in exile and vowed to establish a constituent assembly to write the constitution for a new Catalan republic.

Everybody will win rights with the republic, Mr Torra told fellow MPs in a speech before the vote.

Nobody will lose rights. The republic is for everybody, no matter what they vote.

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The Catalan separatist movement has caused the worst political and institutional crisis in Spain in decades.

Central authorities have been ruling Catalonia directly from Madrid since the regional government led by Mr Puigdemont relied on the results of an outlawed October 1 referendum to declare unilateral independence from Spain.

The national government has sacked dozens of civil servants and closed a network of overseas offices that sought investments in Catalonia but also functioned as diplomatic delegations to bolster support for independence.

The unprecedented Spanish takeover is set to end when Mr Torra is sworn in along with a new Catalan cabinet. But Spanish authorities have warned that the national government could reassert its authority if the new regional government breaks the law again.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said he did not like what he had heard during Mondays investiture debate in the Catalan assembly. He said his judgment on Mr Torras appointment will depend on his actions.

Polls show that Catalonias 7.5 million residents are evenly divided on whether the region should secede from Spain. A great majority wants to settle the issue in a referendum, which under current law only the central government can set.President Donald Trump speaks while first lady Melania Trump listens during a celebration of military mothers and spouses (Susan Walsh/AP)

President Donald Trump is expected to visit first lady Melania Trump in hospital later.

The first lady has undergone a procedure to treat a benign kidney condition.

Sources at the White House said the visit to Walter Reed Medical Centre is expected later on Monday.

A spokeswoman for the 48-year-old first lady said the procedure was successful and there were no complications.

.@SecondLady & I are relieved that our dear friend @FLOTUS medical procedure was successful & are praying for her swift recovery. Grateful to the great medical team at @WRBethesda, & look forward to her full recovery & return to work on behalf of Americas children #GetWellSoon!  Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) May 14, 2018

Mrs Trump is expected to stay in hospital for the rest of the week.

The White House did not offer any additional details on Mrs Trumps condition.

She was last seen in public on Wednesday at a White House event to honour military mothers and spouses for Mothers Day.Israeli soldiers have shot and killed at least 41 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border, overshadowing the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

In a show of anger fuelled by the embassy move, protesters set tyres ablaze and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border.

The Israeli military said its troops had come under fire, and accused protesters of trying to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.

The steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move by the Arab world has raised new doubts about US president Donald Trumps ambitions to broker what he once said would be the Middle East deal of the century.

By mid-afternoon, at least 41 Palestinians  including five minors  were killed, the Gaza health ministry said. At least 772 other protesters were wounded, including 86 who were in a serious or critical condition.

At the same time, just 45 miles away in Jerusalem, the opening ceremony of the embassy got under way, with Mr Trump saying in a video address that the move had been a long time coming.

US ambassador David Friedman welcomed the crowd as he declared the new embassy open.

Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, both senior aides to the president, led a high-powered American delegation that also included the treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and four Republican senators.

41 people now killed in #Gaza and almost 2000 injured, over 900 with live ammunition. A shameless violation of international law, in some instances constituting war crimes. The Israeli authorities show no signs they intend to rein in excessive force. #ArmsEmbrago needed.  Amnesty International (@amnesty) May 14, 2018

In Gaza, the Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in a campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000, saying this fell short of what Hamas had hoped for.

The march was also directed at the inauguration of the embassy.

Mr Trump added in his video address that the new embassy was opening many, many years ahead of schedule, adding that the US had failed to acknowledge the obvious for many years.

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He said that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and that he was extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbours.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  a key Trump campaign promise  infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

The clash is the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a ceasefire since the 2014 cross-border war  their third in a decade.

The protests mark the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Since weekly border marches began in late March, 83 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by Israeli army fire. Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead on Monday.

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Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests against Israel will continue until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved.

Most of the casualties were in the southern Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Rafah. Israeli forces were firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowds, and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard. Sirens were constantly wailing as the wounded were carried to nearby ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic, both to Israel and the Palestinians.

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The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment. But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from present-day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Mr Trumps decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to mediate peace talks.

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Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital and view the Trump administrations change in policy as a blatant show of pro-Israel bias. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly praised Mr Trumps decision to upend decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital.

European foreign ministers have said the embassy move is unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions in the region. Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the US move.A bullet hole seen on the window of a cafe located near the area where the assailant of a knife attack was shot dead by police officers. Photo: AP Photo/Thibault Camus

The suspected terrorist who stabbed a man to death and injured four other people with a kitchen knife in central Paris was a Chechen-born French citizen on a terror watch list.

Named yesterday as Khamzat Azimov (20), he was questioned by counter-terrorism police last year over his links with Islamist radicals, including a woman arrested in Hungary who was suspected of planning to join jihadists in Syria.

French intelligence identified him using facial recognition software. Born in Russia's Chechen Republic, Azimov became French in 2010 when his mother was naturalised after being granted asylum.

Police shot him dead in Rue Monsigny, near the Palais Garnier opera house, nine minutes after receiving the first emergency call at 8.47pm on Saturday. He shouted "Allahu akhbar" as he slashed at bystanders' throats. Dozens ran, shouting warnings to others.

After failing to subdue Azimov with a non-lethal Taser, police surrounded him and fired twice as he rushed at them, shouting: "Kill me or I'll kill you." One shot hit him and the other pierced the door of a cafe, which was closed at the time.

Oliver Woodhead, a London native who owns a local brasserie yards from where the killer was shot, said: "It could have been a lot worse if the police hadn't got here so quickly or if the weather had been warmer and more people had been sitting outside on cafe terraces.

"I think he targeted people who looked like tourists to hurt the tourist industry."

The area, known for its nightlife and popular with tourists and Parisians, was bustling but less crowded than usual for a Saturday night because many residents were away on holiday.

Overnight, doctors operated on a 54-year-old woman and a man (34), who were seriously injured in the attack.

The man was described as a tourist but his nationality was not disclosed. Gerard Collomb, the interior minister, said both were "out of danger".

Another woman, aged 26, and a 31-year-old man had minor injuries. The murdered Frenchman was named only as Ronan, and was 29. One of the injured was believed to be a Chinese national.

Azimov had no criminal record but was among the 20,000 people on the 'S' file of suspects considered a potential security risk. The authorities face questions over surveillance, as other attacks have also been perpetrated by 'S' file suspects.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Yoselyn Ortega, a nanny who is accused of killing Lucia and Leo Krim, ages 6 and 2 respectively, arrives for a hearing for her trial at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York, NY, U.S., July 8, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

A New York nanny convicted of fatally stabbing two young children in her care was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a crime that has been described as every parent's nightmare.

In a case that drew national headlines, Yoselyn Ortega, 56, was found guilty by a jury in April of murdering both Lucia Krim, 6, nicknamed Lulu, and her 2-year-old brother, Leo, and leaving their bloody bodies in a bathtub in their luxury Manhattan apartment in October 2012.

Judge Gregory Carro on Monday called the case "pure evil" before issuing the sentence, the stiffest available.

The two-month trial at state Supreme Court in Manhattan featured testimony by the children's mother, Marina Krim.

She recalled the shock of returning to the family's Upper West Side apartment to find her children slain and their nanny standing over them stabbing her own neck with a kitchen knife. Krim had come home with the children's 3-year-old sister, Nessie, after Ortega failed to show up with the children at Lulu's dance lesson.

"I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare that I knew wasn't a nightmare. It was real," Krim told jurors. "It's like a total horror movie."

The motive, prosecutors said, was Ortega's overwhelming financial problems after bringing her 17-year-old son from the Dominican Republic and her resentment toward Marina Krim, married to then-CNBC executive Kevin Krim, for being the mother "she could never be."

In 2012, in the aftermath of the killings, the Krims founded the Lulu & Leo Fund, which supports creativity in schools. Their family now includes two more children: Felix, born in October 2013, and Linus, born in January 2016.

Ortega's lawyers had failed to convince the jury she was not guilty by reason of insanity.Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops (AP)

At least two Palestinians have been killed and dozens more injured as Israeli troops opened fire on protesters heading for the border with Israel ahead of the inauguration of a new US embassy in Jerusalem.

The march is scheduled to be the biggest yet in a long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory.

As crowds began to swell at midday, Israeli troops began firing from across the border fence. Palestinian health officials reported two people killed and at least 69 others wounded by gunfire, nine of them seriously.

The march was also directed at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday. The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in recent weeks between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

It is the culmination of a campaign, led by the Islamic militants Hamas and fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the blockade of the border territory by Israel and Egypt. Since weekly border marches began in late March, 44 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Hamas leaders have suggested a border breach is possible on Monday, while Israel has warned it would prevent protesters from breaking through the barrier at any cost.

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Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said the army had bolstered its front-line forces along the border, but also set up additional layers of security in and around neighbouring communities to defend Israeli civilians in case of a mass breach. He said there had already been several significant attempts to break through the fence.

Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them, he said.

The US said it chose the inauguration date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment.

But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels independence.

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A majority of Gazas two million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the Great March of Return.

Leaflets dropped over Gaza by army jets warned that those approaching the border jeopardise their lives. The warning said the army is prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians.

In Jerusalem, top officials in US president Donald Trumps administration attended events linked to the inauguration of the embassy.

US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said that it was a US national security priority to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mr Trumps decision to go forward with a campaign promise to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians. Previous US presidents had signed a waiver postponing the move, citing national security.

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Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr Trumps bold decision in upending decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital. Its the right thing to do, a smiling Mr Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd at a reception in Jerusalem late on Sunday.

Mondays opening will be attended by Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers. Mr Kushner leads the Trump Middle East team.A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strips border with Israel (AP)

Israeli soldiers have shot and killed at least 52 Palestinians and left another 1,200 injured during mass protests along the Gaza border, health officials said.

It was the deadliest day in the region since a devastating 2014 cross-border war, and cast a shadow over the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

In a show of anger fuelled by the embassy move, Palestinian protesters set tyres ablaze and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. Later, Israeli forces opened fire from tanks, sending protesters fleeing for cover.

The military said its troops came under fire in some areas, and claimed protesters had been attempting to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.

The UN human rights chief said on Twitter that Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now, and demanded respect for human life.

Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims  #Zeid. pic.twitter.com/hBb7825Sp8  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) May 14, 2018

Zeid Raad al-Hussein decried the shocking killing of dozens and the injury of hundreds by Israeli forces in the Palestinian areas. Mr Zeid, a Jordanian prince who is leaving his post in August after a single term, said the international community needs to ensure justice for the victims.

He added on the UN human rights offices Twitter feed that perpetrators of outrageous human rights violations must be held to account.

US president Donald Trump said in a video message played at the new US embassy inauguration  which took place just 45 miles from the bloodshed on the Gaza border  that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

A great day for Israel! Mr Trump tweeted earlier.

However, Mondays steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move by the Arab world raised new doubts about Mr Trumps ambitions to broker what he once said would be the Middle East deal of the century.

By late afternoon, at least 52 Palestinians, including five minors, were killed, the Gaza health ministry said. A total of 1,204 were wounded by Israeli gunfire.

The ministry says this total includes 116 people who were in serious or critical condition.

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At the embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Mr Trumps son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser Jared Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

He said: As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Mr Kushner and Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka led a high-powered American delegation that also included the treasury secretary and four Republican senators.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an existing US consulate, until a decision has been made on a permanent location.

In Gaza, the Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in a campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000, saying this fell short of what Hamas had hoped for.

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The march was also directed at the inauguration of the embassy.

Mr Trump added in his video address that the new embassy was opening many, many years ahead of schedule, adding that the US had failed to acknowledge the obvious for many years.

He said that he remains committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, and that he was extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbours.

Moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  a key Trump campaign promise  infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

The clash is the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a ceasefire since the 2014 cross-border war  their third in a decade.

The protests mark the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fuelled by despair among Gazas two million people, to break the blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Since weekly border marches began in late March, 94 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by Israeli army fire. Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead on Monday.

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The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic, both to Israel and the Palestinians.

The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment. But it also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled from present-day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

Mr Trumps decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

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Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians seek the citys eastern half as the capital of a future state.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to mediate peace talks.

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital and view the Trump administrations change in policy as a blatant show of pro-Israel bias. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly praised Mr Trumps decision to upend decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital.

European foreign ministers have said the embassy move is unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions in the region. Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the US move.Italian president Sergio Mattarella will host the two populist leaders in a bid to break the political deadlock (AP)

Italys president has summoned rival populist leaders to see if they have nailed down a coalition deal, more than 10 weeks after elections led to a political impasse.

Luigi Di Maio, who leads the 5-Star Movement, and Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-migrant League, have separate appointments to brief Italys head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, at the Quirinal Palace.

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The two Eurosceptics met for hours on Sunday and several times last week to iron out policy differences for a deal that could satisfy largely different constituencies.

Both ran for premier in March 4 elections for the Italian parliament. With neither side willing to cede to the other, it is expected they will suggest that Mr Mattarella should appoint someone else as premier.

The 5-Star Movement became the parliaments largest party, but fell some way short of a majority.U.S. marines take part in the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Senior White House Adviser Ivanka Trump walks past the dedication plaque at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, after the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman sits next to White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner as he speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claps his hands during the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Israel May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The United States officially opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem on Monday, fulfilling a pledge by President Donald Trump who has recognised the holy city as the Israeli capital.

"Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem, Israel," U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman said at the beginning of the inaugural ceremony, attended by a U.S. delegation from Washington and Israeli leaders.

Expand Close Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara Netanyahu and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump applaud during the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun / Facebook

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U.S. President Donald Trump, in a recorded message at a ceremony opening the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, said on Monday he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Our greatest hope is for peace," said Trump, whose recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocation of the embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv, has outraged Palestinians and drawn international concern.

"The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement," Trump said. "The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem will be remembered in Israel for generations.

"This is a great day. A great day for Jerusalem. A great day for the state of Israel. A day that will be engraved in our national memory for generations," Netanyahu said in a speech at the embassy's opening ceremony.

The Israeli leader thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for "having the courage" to keep his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu concluded his speech calling Jerusalem the "eternal, undivided capital of Israel."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman said on Monday that the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem would create incitement and instability in the region and ruled out Washington as being a mediator for Middle East peace.

"With this step, the U.S. administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability, said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh.

On the Gaza border, at least 38 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the latest in a round of protests dubbed the "Great March of Return", health officials said.

Trump's recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December outraged Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process with Israel.

Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they want to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed, as its "eternal and indivisible capital" in a move that has not won international recognition.

Meanwhile, Egypt's most senior Muslim leaders on Monday denounced Washington's move to shift the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, saying it amounted to a provocation for the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

The opening coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, which Palestinians call the Nakba, or "Catastrophe".

The timing the U.S. Embassy move shows a preference "towards the logic of arrogance and power at the expense of the value of justice, which makes our world far from stability and peace," Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, Imam of Egypt's al-Azhar mosque, Egypt's highest religious authority and one of the world's most eminent seats of Sunni Muslim learning, said in a statement.

He said the move was "defying the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world".

Al-Tayeb called on people and civil institutions to take all peaceful measures and actions to express "their rejection of the positions taken by countries that sided with the Zionist entity at the expense of the Arab Palestinian right," the statement said.President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner at a reception in Jerusalem to mark the opening of the US embassy in the city. Photo: Getty

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump stand during the sounding of the U.S. national anthem at a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Adviser Ivanka Trump is seen during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sit next to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The United States opens its embassy in Jerusalem today, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians.

The opening ceremony is at a U.S. consular building in the Arnona neighbourhood. It will house an interim embassy for the ambassador and a small staff until a larger site is found.

The compound cuts across the 1949 Armistice Line that separated West Jerusalem from No Man's Land, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and has held under occupation ever since.

The embassy move follows U.S. President Donald Trump's decision last December to break with decades of U.S. policy and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision, saying it reflected that "the Jewish people have had a capital for 3,000 years, and that it is called Jerusalem."

But the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a "slap in the face" and said the United States can no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel.

Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works and that by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of America's closest ally he had "taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table."

Why did Trump recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announce the embassy will be moved there?

There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a promise of his 2016 election campaign.

Vice-President Mike Pence and David Friedman, the ambassador to Israel appointed by Trump, are thought to have pushed hard for both recognition and embassy relocation.

The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Pence.

Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem. But Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama consistently signed waivers.

Announcing his decision on Dec. 6, Trump cited the Jerusalem Embassy Act and suggested his predecessors had "lacked courage." He said: "They failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering."

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Why does Jerusalem play such an important role in the Middle East conflict?

Religion, politics and history.

Jerusalem is a city sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, early Muslim rulers, Crusaders, Ottomans, the British Empire and by the modern states of Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Israel's government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. Jews call the city Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds ("The Holy").

At the heart of Jerusalems Old City is the hill known to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews.

Within yards of the wall are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also a pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected.

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What is the city's modern history and status?

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a 'corpus separatum' to be administered by the United Nations.

That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the "complete and united" city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The king of Jordan retains a role in ensuring the upkeep of the Muslim holy places.

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Does any other country have an embassy in Jerusalem?

Guatemala will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16 and Paraguay later this month.

Netanyahu said in April "at least half a dozen" countries were now "seriously discussing" following the U.S. lead. He did not identify them.

In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding U.N. General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote.

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What is likely to happen next? Has Jerusalem been a flashpoint before?

Since the announcement there has been tension, with Palestinian protests in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest.

That protest culminates on May 15, a day Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost as Israel was created in 1948, given extra significance this year because it falls on the day after the U.S. Embassy move.

Although clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces have not been on the scale of the first and second Palestinian intifadas in 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion.

In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque, causing damage. So charged was the Middle East's political climate - just two years after the Six Day War - there was fury across the Arab world.

In 2000, Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. Palestinians protested and there were clashes that quickly escalated into the second Palestinian uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Deadly confrontations took place last July after Israel installed metal detectors at the entrance to the complex after the killing of two Israeli policemen by Arab-Israeli gunmen.

Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned that a unilateral American move could lead to turmoil and hamper U.S. efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Israeli troops killed at least 16 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States prepared to open its embassy in Jerusalem.

Protests intensified on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, with loudspeakers on Gaza mosques urging Palestinians to join a "Great March of Return". Black smoke from tyres burned by demonstrators rose into the air at the border.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

"Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end," he said.

Israeli troops killed 16 Palestinians on Monday, including a 14-year-old boy and a man in a wheelchair, and some 500 protesters were injured, at least 200 by live bullets, health officials said. The man in the wheelchair had been pictured on socila media using a slingshot.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 61 since the protests began on March 30. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

Expand Close A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States, which has angered the Palestinians and Arab powers by relocating its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, has echoed Israel in accusing Gaza's ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

Later in the day, Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy.

Expand Close Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

"What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Jason Greenblatt, Trump's Middle East peace envoy, said on Twitter that "taking the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it."

Expand Close Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

But Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December and the relocation of the embassy were "blatant violations of international law".

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the U.S. move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel's military dropped leaflets into the enclave on Monday, warning Palestinians "not to serve as a tool of Hamas" or approach or damage Israel's frontier fence.

Expand Close President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner at a reception in Jerusalem to mark the opening of the US embassy in the city. Photo: Getty / Facebook

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But thousands of Palestinians massed at five locations along the line. Of the 35 people wounded by Israeli gunfire, four were journalists, the officials said.

The Israeli military says its troops are defending the border and firing in accordance with the rules of engagement.

"We are prepared to face the Hamas threats to disrupt the (embassy) festivities," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted.

"My recommendation to the residents of Gaza: Don't be blinded by (Hamas's Gaza leader, Yehya Al-) Sinwar, who is sending your children to sacrifice their lives without any utility. We will defend our citizens with all measures and will not allow the fence to be crossed."

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslins and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Its ambassador visited the new site, in an office building in the western part of the city, on Monday. Paraguay is to follow suit later this month.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the U.S. decision to do so. The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across the Middle East.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A boy holds a Palestinian flag in front of burning tires during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Israeli fire has killed dozens of Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border, marking the deadliest day of violence since a devastating 2014 cross-border war and casting a pall over Israel's festive inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Israeli troops shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border on Monday as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, a move that has fueled Palestinian anger and drawn foreign criticism that it undermines peace efforts.

It was the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since the Gaza conflict in 2014. Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 55 protesters were killed and 2,700 injured either by live gunfire, tear gas or other means.

The bloodshed drew calls for restraint from some countries, including France and Britain, and stronger criticism from others, with Turkey calling it "a massacre".

The White House declined to join in urging Israel to exercise restraint and pinned the blame squarely on Gaza's ruling Hamas group - backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the Israeli military's actions as self-defence of his country's borders.

In contrast to the scenes in Gaza, Israeli dignitaries and guests attended a ceremony in Jerusalem to open the U.S. Embassy following its relocation from Tel Aviv.

The move fulfilled a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump, who in December recognised the holy city as the Israeli capital.

Expand Close A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Netanyahu thanked Trump for "having the courage to keep your promises".

"What a glorious day for Israel," he said in a speech. "We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay."

Expand Close Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Palestinian protesters carry an injured man who was shot by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognised internationally, as its "eternal and indivisible capital".

Expand Close Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Monday, May 14, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians are protesting near Gaza's border with Israel, as Israel prepared for the festive inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

Peace talks aimed a finding a two-state solution to the conflict have been frozen since 2014.

Trump, in a recorded message, said he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He was represented at the ceremony by his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, U.S. envoy to the Middle East.

Kushner said it was possible for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to gain more than give in any peace deal. "Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together," he said in a speech.

Expand Close President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner at a reception in Jerusalem to mark the opening of the US embassy in the city. Photo: Getty / Facebook

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But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States had opened an "American settlement outpost in East Jerusalem". He called the deaths in Gaza a massacre and announced a general strike on Tuesday.

South Africa said it was withdrawing its ambassador to Israel until further notice following what it called the "indiscriminate and grave" attack on Monday.

BORDER BLOODSHED

In Gaza, Palestinian protests quickly turned into bloodshed. Tens of thousands had streamed to the edge of the coastal enclave's land border, some approaching the Israeli fence.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

Clouds of black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air. Demonstrators, some armed with slingshots, hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, who fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire.

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

Netanyahu took to Twitter to direct the blame at Hamas.

"Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," he wrote. "The Hamas terrorist organisation declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."

Hamas denied instigating the violence, but the White House backed Netanyahu. "The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," White House spokesman Raj Shah told a regular news briefing.

The Israeli military said in a statement: "Rioters hurled firebombs and explosive devices at the security fence and Israeli troops". The soldiers' response, it said, was in accordance with "standard operating procedures".

The 55 deaths included at least six people under 18 years of age, including one girl. The total number of fatalities since a series of protests to demand Palestinians' right to return to their ancestral homes in Israel is now 100.

They also included a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot. The Israeli military said three of those killed were armed militants who tried to place explosives near the fence.

Throughout the day sirens of ambulance vehicles carrying casualties to hospitals wailed almost non-stop. In Gaza mosques, loudspeakers mourned the dead, who were carried for burial in funeral marches.

RESTRAINT

Trump's recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December outraged Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process with Israel.

A senior Hamas leader, Khalil Al-Hayya, said at a border encampment that Monday's protest was timed to coincide with the "deplorable crime of moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem".

He said: "Our people went out today to respond to this new Zionist-American aggression, and to draw by their blood the map of their return."

France and Britain called on Israel to show restraint, with French President Emmanuel Macron planning to talk to all involved parties in the region over the next few days. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the events in Gaza and said it showed the need for a two-state political solution.

Britain said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and it disagreed with the U.S. decision to do so. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the U.S. move flouted international law.

Other responses to the violence were stronger. Regional power Turkey accused Israeli security forces of carrying out a massacre and said the U.S. Embassy move had encouraged them.

More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow Gaza strip, which is blockaded by Egypt and Israel.

"The policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of whether there is an immediate threat to life on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, caged in for a decade and under occupation for a half century, has resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen," Human Rights Watch said.

The Trump administration says it has nearly completed a new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan but is undecided on how and when to roll it out.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, in a statement on Monday, accused the United States of "blatant violations of international law".

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sit next to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump clap their hands during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump stand during the sounding of the U.S. national anthem at a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A Shi'ite Muslim girl supporter of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) steps on a sign, depicting U.S. flag with a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump, to condemn U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, during a protest with others in Lahore, Pakistan May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza

A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Palestinian boy displays a leaflet dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Palestinian demonstrator rests during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Palestinian man helps a wheelchair-bound woman as closed shops are seen during a general strike against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A Palestinian man walks past a closed shop during a general strike against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

An Israeli police officer argues with a Palestinian woman outside Jerusalem's Old City's Damascus Gate during Jewish celebrations of Jerusalem Day. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Senior White House Adviser Ivanka Trump is seen during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Ivanka Trump arrived in Israel yesterday for the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem hours after the Israeli defence forces destroyed a tunnel near the main pedestrian crossing of the Gaza strip.

Along with husband Jared Kushner, Ms Trump will lead the US delegation today to mark the decision to move US operations from Tel Aviv.

Expand Close President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner at a reception in Jerusalem to mark the opening of the US embassy in the city. Photo: Getty / Facebook

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The transfer has angered Palestinian leaders, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Ahead of the ceremony, a military spokesman said air strikes had destroyed a 1km tunnel built by the militant group Hamas and which had been tracked for weeks before being destroyed just inside the Gaza fence.

"Hamas is spreading messages of its desire for a long-term ceasefire but actually digs terror tunnels into the territory of the state of Israel," said Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli defence minister.

"We're not buying this bluff.

Expand Close Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen / Facebook

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Whatsapp Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

"We will continue, like this evening, to strike the terror infrastructure."

The Israeli military announced the closure of the main cargo crossing along the same border after demonstrations inside the strip caused extensive damage to the crossing.

Expand Close U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen / Facebook

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Whatsapp U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu sit during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

More than 7.5m worth of damage was wrought during Friday's protest, including the destruction of the Kerem Shalom crossing's main fuel and gas lines, which bring in cooking gas and diesel for hospital generators.

March

Expand Close Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen / Facebook

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Whatsapp Senior White House Advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem ahead of the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been marching in celebrations to mark Jerusalem Day on the eve of the US relocating its embassy to the contested city.

Police said over 30,000 people took part in Sunday's festivities, as revellers waved Israeli flags, singing and dancing through the city's streets.

Expand Close A Palestinian demonstrator rests during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Palestinian demonstrator rests during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A small group of Israelis protested against the march.

As Israel marks Jerusalem Day, the 51st anniversary of what it refers to as the city's "unification" following the 1967 Middle East war, it will also host a gala reception for Monday's embassy dedication.

Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will avoid it. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania have reportedly blocked a joint EU statement on the issue.

Jerusalem Day commemorates Israel's capture of the eastern sector of the city from Jordan in the 1967 war.

The fate of Jerusalem is a deeply emotional issue at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Old City in east Jerusalem is home to key holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Nationalist Israelis view the day as a holiday marking the unification of the city under Israeli control.

However, Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the Middle East peace process "is most decidedly not dead" even as the Trump administration plans to open the new American embassy in Jerusalem - a move that has angered Palestinians and raised anti-US sentiment in the region.

Mr Pompeo said the US still hopes to be able to "achieve a successful outcome" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He is also addressing the issue of security, saying the US has taken steps "to ensure that not only are governmental interests but the American people in that region are secure as well, and we're comfortable we've taken action that reduces that risk."

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and view the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the US as a peace broker.

Mr Trump's decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital ignited months of protests in the Palestinian territories. The weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza border are expected to culminate on Monday in parallel to the celebrations in Jerusalem.

Since March 30, 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the weekly protests aimed primarily against the decade-long blockade of Gaza. More than 1,800 have been wounded.

Gaza's Hamas rulers have led the protests, which are set to peak this week with the 70th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the "nakba," or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the war over Israel's 1948 creation.

Organisers have indicated they may try to breach the border with Israel.

Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking it. On Saturday, it destroyed the sixth Hamas attack tunnel it has uncovered in as many months. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

Most countries have traditionally kept their embassies in coastal Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem. But after Mr Trump's move both Guatemala and Paraguay announced that they planned to follow suit.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Palestinian protesters run for cover from teargas fired by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strips border with Israel (Adel Hana/AP)

Israeli forces shot and killed at least 55 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,200 during mass protests on Monday along the Gaza border.

The violence came on the day the US and Israel celebated an inauguration ceremony for the new American Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

It was by far the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a devastating 2014 war between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers, and further dimmed the already bleak prospects for President Donald Trumps hoped-for peace plan.

Throughout the day, Gaza protesters set tyres ablaze, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border.

The Israeli military, which has come under international criticism for using excessive force against unarmed protesters, said Hamas tried to carry out bombing and shooting attacks under the cover of the protests and released video of protesters ripping away parts of the barbed-wire border fence.

Mondays protests culminated more than a month of weekly demonstrations aimed at breaking a crippling Israeli-Egyptian border blockade.

But the US Embassy move, bitterly opposed by the Palestinians, added further fuel.

There was barely any mention of the Gaza violence at Mondays lavish inauguration ceremony for the new embassy, an upgraded consular building located just 50 miles away.

Expand Close A Palestinian woman holds her child suffering from teargas inhalation (Dusan Vranic/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Palestinian woman holds her child suffering from teargas inhalation (Dusan Vranic/AP)

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials joined an American delegation of Trump administration officials and Republican and evangelical Christian supporters.

Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser, headlined the US delegation with his wife and fellow White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and four Republican senators.

Republican super-donor Sheldon Adelson was also present, and evangelical pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee delivered blessings.

A great day for Israel! Mr Trump tweeted earlier on Monday.

In a videotaped address, Mr Trump said the embassy move, a key campaign promise, recognises the plain reality that Jerusalem is Israels capital.

Yet he added the United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

But Mondays steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move in the Arab world raised new doubts about Mr Trumps ambitions to broker what he called the deal of the century.

Its a great day for Israel. Its a great day for America. Its a great day for our fantastic partnership. But I believe its also a great day for peace. pic.twitter.com/Vb98VOD4uE  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 14, 2018

More than a year after taking office, Mr Trumps Mideast team has yet to produce a long-promised peace plan.

What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is historyBenjamin Netanyahu at the embassy ceremony

Mr Trump says recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital acknowledges the reality that Israels government is located there as well as the ancient Jewish connection to the city.

He insists the decision has no impact on future negotiations on the citys final borders.

But to both Israel and the Palestinians, the American gesture is widely seen as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their longstanding conflict.

What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is history, Mr Netanyahu told the inauguration ceremony.

You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state, he added.

Expand Close Palestinians protest near the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip, left, and on the same day dignitaries mark the opening of the new US embassy / Facebook

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The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as their capital, have cut off ties with the Trump administration and say the US is unfit to serve as a mediator.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognised.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, furious over the embassy ceremony, said he will not accept any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration.

The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were massacres carried out by Israeli troops in Gaza, and officials said the Palestinians would file a war crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court over settlement construction.

By nightfall, at least 55 Palestinians, including a young girl and four other minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

It said 1,204 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including 116 who were in serious or critical condition.

Expand Close Palestinians clash with Israeli troops in Bethlehem (Majdi Mohammed/AP) / Facebook

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Egypt, an important Israeli ally, condemned the killings of Palestinian protesters, while the UN human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, decried the shocking killing of dozens.

Turkey strongly condemned the US Embassy move, calling it deemed legally null and void and said it was recalling its ambassador to the United States.

It also recalled its ambassador to Israel following what it called a massacre of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured from Israeli fire today, during ongoing mass protests near the Gaza fence. We expect all to act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life https://t.co/EnWVgzJWtf  European External Action Service - EEAS  (@eu_eeas) May 14, 2018

South Africa, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, also recalled its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Israel to respect the principle of proportionality in the use of force and show restraint.

She also urged Hamas to ensure any protests remain peaceful while UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres issued a similar appeal.

At the US Embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Mr Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution, he said.

Expand Close An elderly Palestinian man falls on the ground after being shot by Israeli troops during a deadly protest at the Gaza Strips border with Israel (Khalil Hamra/AP) / Facebook

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Israel says the blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities.

But it has decimated Gazas economy, sending unemployment skyrocketing to over 40% and leaving the territory with just a few hours of electricity a day.

The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000 at Mondays protest, saying it fell short of what Hamas had hoped for.

But officials described what they called unprecedented violence unseen in previous weeks.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said hundreds of protesters carried out concerted, coordinated attacks on the border fence.

Although the crowd did not manage to break through, he said they caused significant damage.

The army released video showing demonstrators setting a cargo crossing on fire and appearing to climb on the fence as they lobbed flaming objects into the Israeli side.

Expand Close Israeli and Palestinian protesters wave signs and chant outside the new US Embassy in Jerusalem (Eyal Warshavsky/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Israeli and Palestinian protesters wave signs and chant outside the new US Embassy in Jerusalem (Eyal Warshavsky/AP)

Lt Col Conricus also said Hamas militants disguised as protesters tried to infiltrate, and there were at least three instances of armed Hamas gunmen trying to carry out attacks.

Israeli aircraft and tanks struck seven Hamas positions.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border.

The sides have largely observed a cease-fire since the 2014 war, their third in a decade.

Since the protests began on March 30, 105 Palestinians have been killed, most of them protesters.

Israel said it killed three militants trying to plant a bomb along the fence, and Palestinian security officials said several Hamas militants were also killed by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests would continue until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved.

Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians.

The US said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment.

But Tuesday also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation.

A day of mourning and mass funerals was planned on Tuesday.Catalonias lawmakers are meeting to end more than six months of leadership vacuum by voting in a fervent separatist as the new chief of the restive region, setting the scene for a new confrontation with Spain.

Quim Torra, the former leader of a pro-independence civil society group, has vowed to continue working toward an independent Catalan republic.

He is regarded as a close ally of his predecessor in Catalonias top job, ousted president Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition to Spain from Germany.

Mr Torra failed to achieve an absolute majority in a first parliamentary vote on Saturday but he is expected to be elected on Monday by simple majority after an anti-capitalist separatist party announced it would abstain.

Central authorities have been ruling Catalonia directly from Madrid since an attempt to declare unilateral independence from Spain in late October.South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks during a meeting with his senior aides (Bee Jae-man/Yonhap/AP)

South Korean president Moon Jae-in has welcomed North Koreas decision to dismantle its nuclear test site, calling it a start to its nuclear disarmament.

North Korea announced on Saturday that it will dismantle its northeastern Punggye-ri test site between May 23 and 25 in the presence of local and international media.

US President Donald Trump hailed the move as a gracious gesture before he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 for talks expected to focus on the Norths nuclear programme.

Mr Moon said on Monday that the Norths decision shows how sincere the country is about making the talks a success.

Some experts still doubt how committed Mr Kim is to taking serious disarmament steps.President Donald Trump said he would help Chinese telecommunications company ZTE get back into business" (Chinatopix Via AP, File)

President Donald Trump has said he will help a Chinese telecommunications company get back into business, saying too many jobs in China are at stake after the US government cut off access to its American suppliers.

At issue is the Commerce Departments move last month to block the ZTE Corp, a major supplier of telecoms networks and smartphones based in southern China, from importing American components for seven years.

The US accused ZTE of misleading American regulators after it settled charges of violating sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

The case dates to before Trump took office in January 2007 but the Commerce Departments decision came amid worsening trade tensions between the US and China centred on technology-related intellectual property.

Mr Trumps unexpected announcement came as the two countries prepared to continue trade talks in Washington this week.

A reversal of the ZTE decision could temporarily tamp down trade tensions by allowing the Chinese to make concessions to the US without losing face, said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

Trump may have recognised that backing off on ZTE clears the path for him to claim at least a partial victory in the US-China trade dispute based on the concessions the Chinese seem prepared to offer.

ZTE, which has more than 70,000 employees and has supplied networks or equipment to some of the worlds biggest telecoms companies, said in early May that it had halted its main operations as a result of the departments denial order.

Mr Trump, who has taken a hard line on trade and technology issues with Beijing, tweeted that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!.

The block on ZTE was a heavy blow for the company but also hurt the US companies it buys from. According to IDC data, ZTE sources more than 40% of its components from the US, creating a multibillion-dollar revenue stream for suppliers like Qualcomm and Intel.

Chinese officials raised their objections to ZTEs punishment at trade talks in Beijing earlier this month, and the American delegation agreed to report them to Mr Trump.

ZTE has asked the department to suspend the seven-year ban on doing business with US technology exporters. By cutting off access to US suppliers of essential components such as microchips, the ban threatens ZTEs existence, the company said.

The US imposed the penalty on Shenzhen-based ZTE after discovering that the company, which had paid a 1.2 billion dollar (885 million) fine in the case, had failed to discipline employees involved and paid them bonuses instead.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month accused ZTE of misleading the Department of Commerce and warned: This egregious behaviour cannot be ignored.Security personnel stand guard as riders from a motorcycle club arrive at the new US embassy on a group ride from the old embassy (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem is a necessary condition to a lasting peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, according to President Donald Trumps Mid-east peace negotiator.

American officials are in Jerusalem for Mondays relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city, a move the Israeli government has embraced but the Palestinians have condemned.

Jason Greenblatt stated on Twitter that the long-overdue step of moving our embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal.

However, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the decision violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance.

Saeb Erekat told the Voice of Palestine radio that the US administration is based on lies and that Washington is no longer a partner in peace talks.

He added that the Trump administration has become part of the problem and that the US presidents Mid-east team is unqualified.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the move, saying the US had disregarded rights and justice as well as ignoring the international community.

He added that the US switch serves to reward the Israeli government despite it undermining efforts to resolve the decades-long conflict, while it punished Palestinians.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. They view the relocation as a one-sided move that invalidates Americas role as an impartial peace broker.A road sign leading to the US embassy is seen ahead of the official opening in Jerusalem (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said it is a US national security priority to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mr Mnuchin was speaking on Monday at an event in Jerusalem ahead of the opening ceremony for the new embassy.

US President Donald Trumps decision in December to go forward with a campaign promise to move the embassy was welcomed by Israel and condemned by the Palestinians.

Mr Trumps Mid-east peace negotiator Jason Greenblatt stated on Twitter that the long-overdue step of moving our embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal.

However, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the decision violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance.

Saeb Erekat told the Voice of Palestine radio that the US administration is based on lies and that Washington is no longer a partner in peace talks.

He claimed that the Trump administration has become part of the problem and that the US presidents Mid-east team is unqualified.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the move, saying the US had disregarded rights and justice as well as ignoring the international community.

He added that the US switch serves to reward the Israeli government despite it undermining efforts to resolve the decades-long conflict, while it punished Palestinians.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. They view the relocation as a one-sided move that invalidates Americas role as an impartial peace broker.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops firing from across a border fence shot and wounded two Palestinians as a protest near the Gaza border gets under way.

Gaza residents streamed to the border area on Monday for what is intended to be the largest protest yet against a decade-old blockade of the territory. Israels military says it will stop a possible border breach at all costs, warning protesters that they are endangering their lives.

Near Gaza City, hundreds gathered about 150 metres from the fence. A reporter witnessed two people being shot in the legs.New Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): At least 40 people have been killed across India as thunderstorms and rain hit several parts of the nation on Sunday.

18 people were reportedly killed in Uttar Pradesh.

In New Delhi, dust storm once again disrupted normal life on Sunday.

Eight died in Andhra Pradesh and three in Telangana, officials told NDTV.

Deaths were also reported from other parts of the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condoled the loss of lives in the storm-related incidents.

He tweeted: "Saddened by the loss of lives due to storms in some parts of the country. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. Asked officials to provide all possible assistance to those affected."

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also expressed his sadness over the issue as he posted: "At least 18 people have been reportedly killed in lightening strikes in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal today. My condolences to their families. I urge Congress party workers to provide all possible assistance to the bereaved families."

The Met office has predicted that more rains and thunderstorms might hit some parts of India in the next few days.

"Under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance from 13th May, fairly widespread to widespread precipitation very likely to occur over Western Himalayan region (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) along with thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph) and hail very likely at isolated places during second half of the 1st week.Isolated to scattered rainfall with isolated thunderstorm/duststorm is also likely Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan during same period," read a statement issued by the Indian Met Office.The Union Government and seven Naga militant groups are, according to an April 25, 2018, news report, said to have finalized the substantive portions of the peace accord, which is likely to be signed before the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament scheduled to begin in July 2018. Unnamed official sources stated that the accord does not change the boundary of States; provides autonomous Naga territorial councils for Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur; a common cultural body for Nagas across States; specific institutions for Nagalands development, integration and rehabilitation of Naga militants; and the removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act-1958 (AFSPA). The Government of India's interlocutor on Naga talks, Joint Intelligence Committee Chairman, R.N. Ravi, was quoted as stating, Yes, we are pretty close to finalising the (Naga Peace) Accord.

The seven Naga groups in talks include the Isak-Muivah faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and six members of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) which was formed on December 13, 2016. The NNPG include National Socialist Council of NagalandNeopao Konyak Kitovi (NSCN-NK), NSCNReformation (NSCN-R), and four factions of the Naga National Council (NNC)  the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN), NNC-Parent Body, Non-Accordist faction of NNC/National People's Government of Nagaland (NNC-NA/NPGN), and Government Democratic Republic of Nagaland (GDRN).

Three of these groups had signed SoO/ceasefire-agreement before joining the peace talks: NSCN-IM, NSCN-NK and NSCN-R. The Union Government signed a ceasefire agreement with NSCN-IM on July 25, 1997, which came into effect on August 1, 1997. Later, NSCN-IM signed a ceasefire agreement for an indefinite period on July 31, 2007. A ceasefire agreement with NSCN-NK (earlier known as NSCN-KK) was signed on April 27, 2012, and with NSCN-R on April 27, 2015. The other four groups were not found involved in violent activities and hence were not required to sign any SoO/cease-fire before joining talks. Further, as members of NNPG they have resolved 'not to betray each other in the manner of instability and untrustworthiness'.

Another 36 militant formations, once active across different states of the Northeast, are presently engaged in talks with the Government after signing the SoO/cease-fire on separate occasions earlier. These include 23 Manipur-based groups and 13 Assam-based groups.

The 23 Manipur-based militant groups are engaged in talks under the aegis of two umbrella organizations: the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United Peoples Front (UPF). The KNO comprises of 15 groups, while the UPF has eight constituents. The KNO and UPF together recently placed a written demand for a Territorial Council for the Kuki tribe before A.B. Mathur, the Union Governments interlocutor for the negotiations, during talks held in Delhi on January 10, 2018.

The 13 Assam-based groups are at different stages of talks. Referring to the status of talks with the United Liberation Front of Asom  Pro Talks Faction (ULFA-PTF), Additional Director General of Police-Special Branch (ADGP-SB) Pallab Bhattacharya observed on December 16, 2017, The peace talk is going towards the right direction. And the process will speed up after the draft NRC [National Register for Citizens] publication. The same view was also expressed by ULFA-PTF 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, who stated that the deliberations were at the last stage.

However, according to an October 20, 2017, report, 'general secretary' the Pro-Talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-PTF) Gobinda Basumatary claimed that talks had not made much headway, adding, We have felt that the Centre lacks sincerity towards the ongoing peace process. It is really unfortunate that the peace talks have not progressed at all. We are particularly disappointed that, after the NDA government came to power, the parleys have not made any headway.

The latest rounds of talks with Ranjan Daimary led NDFB-RD took place on August 25, 2017. Later, on December 11, 2017, a trial by a fast track court was initiated against Ranjan Daimary in the serial blasts case of October 30, 2008, in which he is a prime accused. This infuriated Daimary, who declared, on the day the trial began, We have apprised the government that it may not be possible to continue peace talks and the fast-track trial simultaneously. We have requested them to give it a rethink. We are hoping for a positive response from the government,"

The talks with Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) appear to have reached a standstill as well. Rijak Dera, the groups 'publicity secretary', stated, on February 11, 2018, that the KLNLF has completed 55 rounds of talks, both formal and informal, with the Government of India. He, however, claimed that, The lack of seriousness on the part of the Central government is due to regular changing of interlocutors for peace talks between the KLNLF and the government.

The five Adivasi groups  Adivasi Peoples Army (APA), Adivasi Cobra Military of Assam (ACMA), Birsa Commando Force (BCF), All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), Santhal Tiger Force (STF)  are negotiating under the banner of the Adivasi National Convention (ANC), with a principle demand of granting Scheduled Tribe status within the State, and a settlement for the militant groups. The latest round of talks was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2017. The Union Government had set up a committee to examine the proposal. No further progress has been reported.

The status of talks with the remaining four outfits is not known.

Moreover, successful negotiation processes completed by successive Governments, both at the State and Union level, have resulted in the signing of seven Memoranda of Settlement (MoS)/ Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with nine militant groups spread across Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. These groups include: the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), Dima Halam Daogah (DHD-Dilip Nunisa and DHD-Jewel Garlosa), Nayan Basi faction of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT-NB), United A'chik Liberation Army (UALA), A'chik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), Breakaway faction of ANVC (ANVC-B) and Hmar People's Convention-Democratic (HPC-D).

A MoS for the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was signed at New Delhi on February 10, 2003, between the representatives of the Union Government, Assam Government and a BLT delegation.

A MoU was signed with the NLFT-NB on December 17, 2004. Under the provisions of the MoU, a Socio-Economic package of INR 646.3 million was given for tribal welfare and development, as well as for the rehabilitation of the old militant formations.

The United Peoples Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) signed MoS on November 25, 2011, while two factions of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD-Dilip Nunisa and DHD-Jewel Garlosa) signed a MoS on October 8, 2012.

On September 24, 2014, the MoS was signed between the Union Government, the Meghalaya State Government, and the A'chik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) as well as its breakaway faction (ANVC-B).

On December 15, 2018, the MoS was signed between the Meghalaya State Government and the United A'chik Liberation Army (UALA).

On April 2, 2018, the Mizoram Government and the H. Zosangbera faction of the Hmar People's Convention-Democratic (HPC-D-Zosangbera), after six rounds of talks, signed a MoS at the State Guest House in the State Capital Aizawl. The talks began on August 10, 2016.

Not surprisingly, insurgency related violence in the region is at its lowest. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), total insurgency related fatalities in the current year were 26 (data till May 6, 2018). During the corresponding period, such fatalities stood at 34 in 2017, at 60 in 2016 and 100 in 2015. All India fatalities have also been following a broadly declining trend, with a total of 976 killed in 2014; 722 in 2015; 898 in 2016; and 803 in 2017.

Worryingly, some of the groups which had joined talks with the Government have split (some of them multiply) after they joined the talks process. Prominent among these was ULFA, which split into two: ULFA-PTF and the anti-talks faction (ULFA-ATF), later rechristened as the Independent faction of ULFA (ULFA-I). NDFB splintered into NDFB-PTF and NDFB-RD [Ranjan Daimary]. Later, NDFB-RD split with the formation of the I.K. Songbijit faction (NDFB-IKS) under the leadership of I.K. Songbijit [now known as Saraigowra faction]. A splinter group of the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) formed under the designation KLNLF, which itself faced split leading to formation of the Karbi People's Liberation Tigers (KPLT).

There is also the unique case of the Khaplang faction of NSCN (NSCN-K) which unilaterally abrogated the cease-fire on March 27, 2015, asserting that there was no use extending ceasefire without discussing the issue of Naga sovereignty. Significantly, the ceasefire had lasted almost 14 years, having been signed on April 28, 2001. The Government failed to initiate a substantive dialogue with the outfit through this period. The NSCN-K also split during and after the abrogation of the, into the include Khole-Kitovi faction (NSCN-KK, subsequently rechristened as NSCN-NK), and NSCN-R.

NSCN-K, along with some splinter groups of major insurgent formations including ULFA-I, NDFB-IKS, and the Coordination Committee (CorCom) which comprises of six Manipur based insurgent groups] are now violently active and primarily responsible for the residual threats in the region. Past experience indicates that many of the militant formations which joined peace processes were first softened militarily. The Government is, consequently, likely to continue with security operations in the region, while keeping the door open for talks. Efforts are also made to bring entire groups to the table, rather than individual factions, so that no new group emerges. There is, nevertheless, urgent need to telescope protracted negotiations, so that the frustration among groups in various peace processes do not boil over into splits and renewed violence.On April 27, 2018, eight Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, including six female cadres, were killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in the deep forests under Ilmidi Police Station limits in Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh. The Police recovered one Self Loading Rifle (SLR), one .303 rifle, four 12-bore guns, four Single Barrel Breach Loading (SBBL) guns, one .315 bore rifle, one revolver, live cartridges, three hand grenades, six rocket launchers, four pairs of olive green dresses and Naxal [Left Wing Extremist (LWE)] literature from the encounter spot. According to Special Director General (anti-Naxal Operations), D. M. Awasthi, the killed CPI-Maoist cadres were active in the Usoor and Basaguda area of Bijapur District.

On April 5, 2018, a CPI-Maoist cadre, identified as Mangu Oyam, was killed in an encounter with SFs in a forest near Itampara village in Bijapur District. After the operation the Police recovered one .315 bore rifle along with 10 live rounds, one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle magazine with four live rounds, an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing two kilograms, a couple of detonators, and other material from the encounter site.

On March 1, 2018, at least 10 CPI-Maoist cadres, including six women, and one trooper were killed in an encounter near Pujarikanker in Bijapur District. The Police also recovered one AK-47 rifle, one SLR, two single bore rifles, five INSAS assault rifles, one .303 rifle, one pistol, three claymore mines, two solar plates, seven kit bags, a Sony radio, empty cartridges, live ammunition of different calibres, Naxal literature and cash amounting to INR 41,000 from the encounter site.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 22 Maoists have been killed in Bijapur District thus far in 2018 (all data till May 6, 2018). These Maoists have been killed in five incidents. During the corresponding period in 2017, seven Maoists had been killed in six incidents. A total of 18 Maoists were killed in the District, in 14 incidents through 2017. There were at least 33 Maoist fatalities in 17 incidents in 2016; 17 in nine incidents in 2015; 20 in 12 incidents in 2014; 11 in seven incidents in 2013; 27 in seven incidents in 2012; 14 in seven incidents in 2011; and 31 in eight incidents in 2010. The highest number of Maoist fatalities was recorded in 2008 at 44, while a low of 10 in this category was registered in 2007, after May 11. The District of Bijapur was carved out from the erstwhile Dantewada District on May 11, 2007. The lowest number of fatalities recorded in a full year after the creation of Bijapur in this category was 11 in 2013. A total of 289 Maoists have been neutralised since the creation of the District.

In 2018, out of 27 Districts in the State, only four  Bijapur, Dantewada, Rajnandgaon and Sukma  have recorded Maoist fatalities. Bijapur headed the list, with 22 such fatalities; followed by Sukma with nine, Rajnandgaon with three, and Dantewada with one. Additionally, out of 12 Districts across four States from where Maoist fatalities have been recorded in the current year, Bijapur was the second highest, with 22 fatalities; preceded by Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) with 48 Maoist fatalities. Significantly, Bijapur shares a border with Gadchiroli.

Further, combing operations also resulted in the arrest of 17 Maoists in Bijapur District in 2018, according to SATP data. During the corresponding period in 2017, 18 Maoists had been arrested, and a total of 68 through 2017. SF pressure also led to the surrender of six Maoists in 2018. During the corresponding period in 2017, five Maoists had surrendered, and a total of 11 through 2017.

However, in the face-off with the Maoists, SFs have also recorded a loss of at least eight of their personnel in Bijapur in the current year (data till May 6, 2018). During the corresponding period in 2017, four SF personnel had lost their lives, and a total of seven through 2017. Thus, the Maoists also have some successes in the current year.

Meanwhile, civilian fatalities, a crucial index of the security situation in an area, which had been declining since 2014, and had come to their lowest in 2017, at three, has already reached five in the current year.

Indeed, in a media interview on April 17, 2018, Chief Minister (CM) Raman Singh conceded that Left-Wing Extremists still retain dominance in "15-20 per cent areas" in just two Districts  Bijapur and Sukma.

An overview of fatalities since Bijapurs creation on May 11, 2007, shows that the District has registered at least 606 Maoist-linked fatalities, including 289 Maoists, 156 SF personnel and 161 civilians, roughly 26.37 per cent of the total of 2,298 fatalities, including 853 Maoists, 892 SF personnel and 553 civilians, recorded in the State during this period (data till May 6, 2018). It is significant that Chhattisgarh, which remains the hotbed of a significantly weakened Maoist insurgency, has alone contributed around 37.23 per cent of total Maoist-linked fatalities across the country over the corresponding period (May 11, 2007  to May 6, 2018). The total number of fatalities across India during this period was 6,171 (2,511 civilians, 1,584 SF personnel and 2,076 Maoists), out of which Chhattisgarh accounted for 2,298 (553 civilians, 892 SF personnel and 853 Maoists). In the current year, with 87 fatalities (22 civilians, 30 SF personnel and 35 Maoists), 47.54 per cent of the total of 183 fatalities (47 civilians, 33 SF personnel and 103 Maoists) across the country in 2018; the State continues to maintain its unfortunate primacy.

The latest figures provided by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) indicate that 804 of the 908 LWE-linked incidents reported in 2017 across the country, took place in 35 Districts (88.55 per cent). Incidentally, Bijapur District with 60 incidents was ranked third among the worst affected; preceded by Gadchiroli District in Maharashtra with 68 incidents and the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh with the highest number, at 102. Bijapur shares borders with both Gadchiroli and Sukma.

Falling under the formidable Abujhmad region and the troubled Bastar Division, which still remain the primary challenge for the State, Bijapur, has a vast geo-strategic importance for the Maoists. Sharing its boundaries with the Maoist-afflicted Narayanpur District (Chhattisgarh) to the North; Bastar District (Chhattisgarh) to the North-east; Dantewada District (Chhattisgarh) to the east; Sukma District (Chhattisgarh) to the South-east; Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam Districts of Telangana on the south; and Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra on the West, makes it an ideal ground for the extremists. Unsurprisingly, in recent twin encounters on April 22-23, 2018, at least 40 Maoists were killed in Gadchiroli District, which was followed by the April 27, 2018, incident in which eight Maoists were eliminated in Bijapur.

The NITI Aayog on March 28, 2018, launched the baseline ranking for the Aspirational Districts based on published data of 49 indicators (81 data points) across five developmental areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. Bijapur is among the 115 identified backwards Districts. Coincidentally, according to the District Development and Diversity Index Report for India and Major States, a joint survey conducted by the US-India Policy Institute (USIPI) and the Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy (CRDDP), New Delhi, which included 599 Districts across India within its purview, Bijapur was ranked 372nd, i.e., among the relatively deprived Districts. The report released on January 29, 2015, took composite development  measured in terms of economic development and indices of health, education and material well-being  into consideration.

On April 8, 2018, Chief Minister Raman Singh admitting the reality that there are many backward Districts in Chhattisgarh, including Bijapur, Dantewada, and Sukma, observed,

Naxalism can only be countered by development. Wherever we are constructing roads and working on development, the Maoists are losing their foothold. Now, we have reached very close and are moving ahead in an important direction to root out the menace.

He also claimed that "frustrated Maoists" are losing their footholds due to the joint actions of the State and Central Governments, which have put the State on the path of development by building roads, schools and hospitals in remote and inaccessible areas that were earlier hotbeds of Maoist activity.

Meanwhile, laying out plans for various development works during his visit to Bijapur on April 14, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first Health & Wellness Centre under the new healthcare system, the Ayushman Bharat Yojana (Blessed India Plan), at a tribal habitat, Jangala, in the District. He also rolled out the Van Dhan Yojana (Forest Wealth Plan) which aimed to train and empower the tribals in collecting and processing minor forest produce. The Prime Minister also inaugurated several development projects, including a new rail line, internet services, a dialysis centre at Bijapur District Hospital, as well as roads and bridges in the District.

The Maoists are facing a severe existential threat in their core areas, including Bijapur, though they retain the wherewithal to carry out surprise attacks targeting SFs. Past operational successes and a sustained developmental thrust have, however, weakened the movement drastically, and focused efforts by SFs and other State agencies are now in a position to transform past gains into an enduring peace.Kolkata, May 14 (IBNS): Under the shadow of violence, voting for the Panchayat (local bodies) polls in West Bengal is currently underway.

People are voting to elect 38,616 representatives across rural West Bengal.

Voting began at 7 am on Monday.

Amid tight security, long queues could be seen outside polling booths in several districts of the state.

The key battle in the state is expected to take place between the Trinamool Congress, BJP, and the Left Front.

Results of the poll will be declared on May 17.

Earlier the State Election Commission (SEC) had directed a three-phase poll on May 1, 3 and 5.

After the opposition parties moved Calcutta High Court over the pre-poll violence allegedly indulged by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), the dates were cancelled delayingthe election procedures.

The state government and the Muslim community had appealed to the SEC to hold the election in a single phase, considering the beginning of Ramadan in mid-May.

Ramadan, the ninth month of Muslim calendar, is widely celebrated by Muslims by fasting.Kolkata, May 14 (IBNS): At least six people were killed in a widespread panchayat poll violence in West Bengal within five hours after the polling began on Monday morning, media reports said.

A CPI-M worker and his wife were killed after their house was set on fire in South 24 Parganas.

In North 24 Parganas, a CPI-M worker was killed during clashes while two others received injuries.

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker died in South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad respectively.

Widespread violence, including bombing and and efforts of booth capturing by political goons, were reported across the state since Monday morning as the panchayat (rural bodies) poll is underway.

In Cooch Behar district, 20 people were injured in a low intensity blast at a polling booth.

Violence were reported from Howrah and already clash-hit Bhangar in South 24 Parganas as well. Earlier on Friday, a supporter of an independent candidate was shot dead in Bhangar area.

There were reports of violence from several other disctricts like Jalpaiguri, Malda, Nadia and West Midnapore where at Bikalchak of Keshpur a teenaged girl was hit by an arrow.

However, in many places the police acted swiftly and brought the situation under control, reports said.

Under the shadow of violence, people are voting to elect 38,616 representatives across rural West Bengal.

Voting began at 7 am on Monday. More than 71,000 armed personnel are manning the booths.

Amid tight security, long queues could be seen outside polling booths in several districts of the state.

The key battle in the state is expected to take place between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Results of the poll will be declared on May 17.

Image: Tv GrabJakarta, May 14 (IBNS): Indonesian police have revealed the names of the man and his wife from the family of six, who were involved in the bombings of three churches in the country's second city of Surabaya, on Sunday.

The attack which killed at least 13 and injured 40, was orchestrated by Dita Oepriarto and his wife Puji Kuswati.

Officials have identified Oepriarto as the head of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian IS-inspired network.

The family was one among hundreds in Indonesia, who had returned from Syria and has observed the IS occupation there.

The mother and the daughters, who had bombs strapped to them, attacked the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.

The daughters were aged 9 and 12, while the sons were 16 and 18 years old, respectively.

They reportedly rode motorcycles while attacking Santa Maria Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, AFP news agency reported that a bomb explosion at an apartment complex in Surabaya killed at least three people.

It is still not known if the bomb explosion at the apartment was related to the earlier attacks.



Fresh attack on Monday

In another incident, at least four assailants carried out a suicide attack at a police headquarters in Surabaya on Monday.

According to East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera, the police are yet to determine the identity of the attackers. Earlier in the day, the number of attackers were place at two.

At least 10 people were injured, local officials said.

A young girl, who was with the group, was rushed to a hospital.

Image: Screengrab from YouTubeKolkata, May 14 (IBNS): Even as six deaths were reported in clashes during the ongoing panchayat vote in West Bengal, state education minister Partha Chatterjee has downplayed them as small incidents.

He was quoted as saying by ANI news agency that no major incidents have been reported.

Chatterjee said, "Administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peaceful."

He has, however, condemned the attack on journalists.

Meanwhile, taking a swipe at the Bengal government, Union Minister Babul Supriyo has called the Bengal government 'shameless'.

The agency has quoted the MoS as saying that he demands the President's rule in West Bengal.

"Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal govt is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in WB: Babul Supriyo, Union Min on violence in various during," Babul said.

At least six people were killed in a widespread panchayat poll violence in West Bengal within five hours after the polling began on Monday morning, media reports said.

A CPI-M worker and his wife were killed after their house was set on fire in South 24 Parganas.

In North 24 Parganas, a CPI-M worker was killed during clashes while two others received injuries.

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker died in South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad respectively.

Widespread violence, including bombing and and efforts of booth capturing by political goons, were reported across the state since Monday morning as the panchayat (rural bodies) poll is underway.

In Cooch Behar district, 20 people were injured in a low intensity blast at a polling booth.

Violence were reported from Howrah and already clash-hit Bhangar in South 24 Parganas as well. Earlier on Friday, a supporter of an independent candidate was shot dead in Bhangar area.

There were reports of violence from several other disctricts like Jalpaiguri, Malda, Nadia and West Midnapore where at Bikalchak of Keshpur a teenaged girl was hit by an arrow.Kolkata, May 14 (IBNS): At least seven people were killed in widespread panchayat poll violence in West Bengal which saw a Communist Party of India (Marxist ) worker and his wife burnt to death as polling continued on Monday, officials and media reports said.

A CPI-M worker and his wife were charred to death after their house was set on fire in South 24 Parganas, reports said.

In North 24 Parganas, a CPI-M worker was killed during clashes while two others received injuries.

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker died in South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad respectively.

While the votern turnout was 41.51 percent till 1 pm, widespread violence, including bombing and and efforts of booth capturing by political goons, were reported across the state since morning.

In Cooch Behar district, 20 people were injured in a low intensity blast at a polling booth.

Violence were reported from Howrah and already clash-hit Bhangar in South 24 Parganas as well. Earlier on Friday, a supporter of an independent candidate was shot dead in Bhangar area.

There were reports of violence from several other disctricts like Jalpaiguri, Malda, Nadia and West Midnapore where at Bikalchak of Keshpur a teenaged girl was hit by an arrow.

An independent canddiate supporter was shot dead in Murshidabad's Nawda. He has been identified as Shahi Shekh, according to a TV report.

However, in many places the police acted swiftly and brought the situation under control, reports said.

Protesting against the violence, Congress staged agitation near State Election Commission office in south Kolkata on Monday afternoon.

Police detained several Congress workers from the area.

The BJP is likely to block M.G. Road in the central part of the city at around 3 pm. while Left Front will hold a rally in Kolkata in the afternoon to protest against the violence.

Under the shadow of violence, people are voting to elect 38,616 representatives across rural West Bengal.

Voting began at 7 am on Monday. More than 71,000 armed personnel are manning the booths.

Amid tight security, long queues could be seen outside polling booths in several districts of the state though unabated violence also singed the polling process in the state.

The key battle in the state is expected to take place between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Results of the poll will be declared on May 17.

Image: Tv GrabGuwahati, May 14 (IBNS) : Assam police has arrested a youth who allegedly masturbated in front of a girls hostel in Assams Jorhat town.

According to the reports, the youth has been identified as Sumrit Kumar Das.

He had allegedly masturbated in front of a girls hostel in the upper Assam town regularly and the video went viral in social media.

Following the incident, the Jorhat district police had launched an operation and arrested the youth last night, who allegedly flashed his private parts and masturbated in front of the girls hostel located at Tarajan area in the town.

The youth used to come to the spot on different two-wheelers.

Police also seized three two-wheelers which were used by the youth.

Meanwhile, the arrested youth has admitted to committing the crime.

Superintendent of Police (SP) of Jorhat district Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant said that, yesterday Jorhat police had noticed a facebook post where two videos uploaded and the post also went viral in the social media.

In the videos, a youth had flashed his private parts in front of a girls hostel located at Tarajan area in the town and we had immediately started investigation. We had taken information from the inmates of the girls hostel, hostel warden and the person who uploaded the post in social media. Following the investigation Jorhat police had arrested the miscreant last night and he committed his crime. We had also seized three two-wheelers which were used by the miscreant, the top Assam cop said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)

Kolkata, May 14 (IBNS): The death toll in the violence-marred West Bengal panchayat (rural) polls, which were conducted in a single phase on Monday, has risen to 12, according to media reports.

According to a local channel, the latest victim, who reportedly belongs to Jharkhand Disom Party, of the poll violence was from Gangarampur, South Dinachpur district of the state.

The deceased workers and supporters are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the CPI-M and the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

A CPI-M worker and his wife were charred to death after their house was set on fire in South 24 Parganas, reports said.

In North 24 Parganas, a CPI-M worker was killed during clashes while two others received injuries.

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker died in South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad respectively.

While the votern turnout was 41.51 percent till 1 pm, widespread violence, including bombing and and efforts of booth capturing by political goons, were reported across the state since morning.

In Cooch Behar district, 20 people were injured in a low intensity blast at a polling booth.

Violence was reported from Howrah and already clash-hit Bhangar in South 24 Parganas as well. Earlier on Friday, a supporter of an independent candidate was shot dead in Bhangar area.

There were reports of violence from several other disctricts like Jalpaiguri, Malda, Nadia and West Midnapore where at Bikalchak of Keshpur a teenaged girl was hit by an arrow.

An independent canddiate supporter was shot dead in Murshidabad's Nawda. He has been identified as Shahi Shekh, according to a TV report.

However, in many places the police acted swiftly and brought the situation under control, reports said.

Protesting against the violence, Congress staged agitation near State Election Commission office in south Kolkata on Monday afternoon.

Police detained several Congress workers from the area.

Under the shadow of violence, people are voting to elect 38,616 representatives across rural West Bengal.

Voting began at 7 am on Monday. More than 71,000 armed personnel are manning the booths.

Amid tight security, long queues could be seen outside polling booths in several districts of the state though unabated violence also singed the polling process in the state.

The key battle in the state is expected to take place between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Results of the poll will be declared on May 17.New Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on May 21, officials said on Monday.

Modi will visit the country at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Modi will participate in an informal meeting with the President in Sochi during his visit, officials said.

A statement issued by the MEA read: "At the invitation of Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will visit Russia on 21 May 2018 for an informal Summit with President Putin in the city of Sochi."

"This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. Both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," it said.

"This informal Summit in Sochi between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels," it said.New Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday wished Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speedy recovery after he underwent a kidney transplant surgery here.

"Im happy to hear that Jaitley jis kidney transplant surgery, today at AIIMS, went well. I wish him a speedy recovery," Gandhi tweeted.

Im happy to hear that Jaitley jis kidney transplant surgery, today at AIIMS, went well. I wish him a speedy recovery.https://t.co/8LJsyZuv2t  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 14, 2018

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also wished Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley a speedy recovery.

"Best wishes to @arunjaitley Ji for a speedy recovery," Banerjee tweeted.

Best wishes to @arunjaitley Ji for a speedy recovery  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 14, 2018

Jaitley on Monday successfully underwent Kidney Transplant surgery at AIIMS, reports said.

The hospital, in a press statement, said the operation was successful and both Jaitley and the donor were stable and are recovering well.

Shri Arun Jaitley, Honble Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs underwent renal transplant surgery today at AIIMS Delhi. The surgery has been successful. Both the recipient and donor and stable and recovering well," Aarti Vij, chairperson of the media and protocol division said.

Jaitley was admitted to the hospital on Saturday.

The minister, who was suffering from a kidney ailment, has been undergoing dialysis for the last one month.

The dialysis, doctors said, was necessitated to ensure that the build-up of wastes and toxins within the body was effectively removed.

Jaitley had confirmed his illness in a tweet on Apr 6 and said, I am being treated for kidney-related problems & certain infections that I have contracted."

Image: Congress Twitter pageNew Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu today said that his visit to three Latin American has addressed the high level contact deficit with the important region and would help in improving bilateral trade and investments for mutual benefit.

He briefed media persons in Frankfurt, Germany today before leaving for New Delhi after concluding his week long visit to Guatemala, Panama and Peru.

Naidu said, High level visits by Indian leaders to identified countries and regions of the world are affirmative statements of intent to enhance cooperation for mutual benefit. India has embarked on such engagements over the last four years and this visit is a part of that well thought out outreach. This is in line with Indias vision for a better world through collective actions for shared benefits.

Vice President explained that the three Latin American countries offered significant opportunities for India given their high level of engagement with the USA and the other North and South American economies through regional arrangements and Free Trade Agreements, besides being logistic and financial hubs in the region.

Naidu further said Indias sub-optimal engagement with these three countries is to a large extent due to high level contact deficit. My visit is the highest level ever from both sides to Guatemala and Panama since establishment of diplomatic ties about 50 years ago. Former President Shri K.R.Narayanan visited Peru in 1998. I am hopeful that my visit would catalyse enhanced flow of trade and investments through necessary follow up actions by respective governments.

Naidu informed that the top leadership of the three Latin American countries have acknowledged the strengths and expertise of India in various fields and its fast growing economy which they said could benefit their countries under enhanced engagement.

Vice President stated that during his visit, five Memoranda of Understanding and Agreements have been signed.

These relate to training of diplomats and English teachers of Guatemala; Exemption of visas for diplomatic, official and consular passport holders of India and Panama besides a Work Plan for cooperation in agricultural research and Cooperation in New and Renewable Energy with Peru.

During the talks with Panamanian leaders, Naidu also announced a total of US $ 25 million Line of Credit for setting up a Centre of Bio-diversity and Drug Tracking and a Centre for Innovation and Technology.

Naidu said, Presidents, Vice Presidents and concerned senior ministers of these three countries spending long hours discussing various issues of mutual interest and the road ahead with the Indian delegation has been very assuring.

The Vice President informed that the Indian delegation highlighted the help India could provide in areas of agriculture, IT, Science & Technology, Space applications, pharmaceuticals, textiles, New & Renewable Energies.

He also said that these three countries who suffered from various forms of terrorism supported Indias efforts for global action against all forms of terrorism.

They firmly reiterated support to Indias Permanent Membership in the United Nations Security Council as the largest democracy of the world and an important voice on global issues, he said.

Naidu was accompanied by Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhahor and four Members of Parliament viz., Tiruchi Siva, Anil Desai, Kamlesh Paswan and Chhaya Verma besides Preeti Saran, Secretary (East) and senior officials.New Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): Thirty nine Officer Trainees of Indian Foreign Service, currently undergoing training in the Foreign Service Institute, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Addressing the Officer Trainees, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of representing India abroad in the context of Indias rich history, culture and traditions.

The Prime Minister said that IFS Officers should remain alive not only to the current national priorities, but also future requirements for national development.

The Prime Minister encouraged the Officer Trainees to become more tech-savvy and engage fully with the State governments and diaspora, who are increasingly important stakeholders in the conduct of foreign relations.



Two diplomats from Bhutan, also currently under training at the Foreign Service Institute, also joined the group.Kolkata, May 14 (IBNS): Killings, bombing and booth capturing by firearms wielding political goons turned West Bengal's three-tier Panchayat polls into a bloodied affair on Monday as violence claimed 18 lives, according to a local television channel.

However, West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Surajit Kar Purkayastha put the toll at 12 earlier.

From burning to death a couple of an opposition political party to killing of innocent voters, West Bengal turned into a combat zone leaving a trail of bodies and injured people.

Local televison channels daylong beamed footages of bloodied bodies, wailing victims' families and scenes of ballot box burning.

Opposition parties called the election a farce and even some demanded President's Rule even as the ruling Trinamool Congress called the entire episode a pre-planned plot of the rivals.

The role of the state election commission also came under attack owing to the unabated daylong violence.

Union Minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo has called the Bengal government 'shameless' and demanded President's rule in West Bengal.

Slamming the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for the violence in which his party workers were killed and a couple was burnt to death in an arson, CPI-M secretary Surjya Kanta Misra said the Left's inception is not just to win elections but to continue the fight.

It is for the world to see how #TMChhi lets WB's Maa Maati Manush suffer in utter chaos.Bengal gets wounded and sheds blood every time TMC goons brutally attack the state's democracy and peace.Dreadful visuals of the Panchayat Polls prove just that.#MamataSupariKillerOfDemocracy https://t.co/tvk5tQrUaS  Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) May 14, 2018

The deceased workers and supporters are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the CPI-M and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

A CPI-M worker and his wife were charred to death after their house was set on fire in South 24 Parganas, reports said. CPI-M workers were also killed in Nandigram in East Midnapore district.

16 people dead in one day of polling for Panchayats. Murder of democracy by TMC - Corrupt, have allowed communalism to grow and now won't stop at murder. This is being resisted and will be defeated. https://t.co/pgMYDDmtdo  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 14, 2018

In North 24 Parganas, a CPI-M worker was killed during clashes while two others received injuries.

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker died in South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad respectively.

While the voter turnout was reportedly 75%, widespread violence, including bombing and and efforts of booth capturing by political goons, were reported across the state since morning.

In Cooch Behar district, 20 people were injured in a low intensity blast at a polling booth.

Violence was reported from Howrah and already clash-hit Bhangar in South 24 Parganas as well. Earlier on Friday, a supporter of an independent candidate was shot dead in Bhangar area.

There were reports of violence from several other disctricts like Jalpaiguri, Malda, Nadia and West Midnapore where at Bikalchak of Keshpur a teenaged girl was hit by an arrow.

An independent canddiate supporter was shot dead in Murshidabad's Nawda. He has been identified as Shahi Shekh, according to a TV report.

However in many places, the police acted swiftly and brought the situation under control, reports said.

Protesting against the violence, Congress staged agitation near State Election Commission office in south Kolkata on Monday afternoon.

Police detained several Congress workers from the area.

Under the shadow of violence, people voted to elect 38,616 representatives across rural West Bengal.

Voting began at 7 am on Monday and concluded around 5 pm. More than 71,000 armed personnel manned the booths.

The key battle in the state is expected to take place between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Results of the poll will be declared on May 17.New Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): The Union Cabinet underwent a mini reshuffle on Monday evening in which Union Minister Smriti Irani lost the charge of Information and Broadcasting ministry and Piyush Goel got an additional responsibility of the Finance ministry till Arun Jailtey's recovery.

A press communique from the President's Secretariat informed that Rajyavardhan Rathore, who was the junior minister in the Information and Broadcasting ministry, will handle it fully now with independent charge.

"Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore be assigned the independent charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in place of Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, presently Minister of Information and Broadcasting," President Ram Nath Kovind has stated in an advisory to Prime Minister.

Irani will now handle the textiles ministry only.

During the period of indisposition of Jaitley, the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs held by him, have been temporarily assigned to Piyush Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios, that is Railways.

This decision was taken as Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant surgery earlier in the day.

In addition, S.S. Ahluwalia, Minister of State has been relieved of the charge of Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation and assigned the portfolio of Ministry of State in the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.



Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State has been removed from the charge of Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.

The rejig took place ahead of the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections.New Delhi, May 14 (IBNS): Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Monday announced that he is taking a break from Twitter for a while after the chargesheet filed by the Delhi police named him in the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

Staying off @Twitter for a while -- one encounters too much epicaricacy! pic.twitter.com/znaj8vUl0R  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

Earlier in the day the Congress leader said that he will 'contest vigorously' against the chargesheet filed by the Delhi police against him in connection with the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

Causing trouble for Tharoor, the Delhi police on Monday filed the chargesheet in connection with the mysterious death of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, naming him as an abetter.

The chargesheet was submitted before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh more than four years after Pushkar was found dead in a five star hospital in Delhi.

News 18 report said the chargesheet concluded that Pushkar killed herself and hence no one has been charged with murder.

However, the chargesheet under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code implicated tharoor for abetment.

Tharoor is mentioned in the second column as a suspect.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014, days after being embroiled in a Twitter war with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over the latters alleged closeness with Tharoor.

The initial post mortem said her death was due to poisoning. While traces of Alzolam was found in he body and a strip of the sleeping pills found in her room, the actual poison couldn't be confirmed.On April 4, 2018, Parliament comfortably defeated a No-Confidence Motion brought by the Joint Opposition group led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Of the 225 Members of Parliament (MPs), 122 MPs  104 of the United National Party (UNP), 16 of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and one each of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP)  voted against the No-Confidence Motion. 76 MPs  70 of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and six of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)  voted in support of the No-Confidence Motion. Another 26 MPs including 25 SLFP MPs and one MP of the UNP absented themselves from the House during the vote. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, a UNP MP, did not vote. Significantly, it was the first No-Confidence Motion brought against the current National Unity Government, formed on August 20, 2015.

The Joint Opposition, which is very critical of the current administration of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, had announced its Shadow Cabinet on July 7, 2016, in which Rajapaksa was appointed shadow Prime Minister.

In the August 2015 Parliamentary Elections, voters had given a fractured mandate, with none of the parties securing a simple majority. UNP, led by Wickremesinghe, had secured 106 seats [93 District-basis seats + 13 'National-basis seats'], falling seven short of a simple majority in a 225-memebr House; the SLFP could get only 95 seats [83 District-basis seats + 12 'National-basis seats']. The main Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which contests election in the name of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), as the TNA itself is not a registered political party, won 16 seats [14 District-basis seats + 2 'National-basis seats']. The main Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, People's Liberation Front) won six seats [4 District-basis seats + 2 'National-basis seats']. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) got one District-basis seat each. [The District-basis seats are those for which direct elections are held. There are 29 'National-level seats' which, according to the 15th Amendment to the Constitution that introduced Article 99A, are decided on the basis of the total number of votes polled by the respective political parties or independent groups at the national level.]

Subsequently, the National Unity Government was formed following a historic agreement between UNP and the SLFP on August 20, 2015. UNP and SLFP are the two major political forces in Sri Lanka, with a long history of bitter rivalry. They engaged fiercely in the Parliamentary Elections of August 17, 2015, but reached a compromise thereafter, as equations within SLFP changed dramatically. The party has virtually split into two factions  one led by Sirisena and the other by Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was during the January 2015 Presidential Elections that Sirisena revolted against his political master, then incumbent President Rajapaksa, who was also the head of SLFP. Though Sirisena was expelled from the party, he contested a successful election against Rajapaksa as a 'common candidate' for the New Democratic Front (NDF). Subsequent to his loss, Rajapaksa resigned as the head of SLFP and was succeeded by Sirisena. The latter, however, failed to establish full authority over the party. This became apparent when Rajapaksa successfully contested the Parliamentary Elections as the 'Prime Ministerial candidate' of the SLFP, despite Sirisena's direct opposition. Though reports indicated that most of SLFPs new Members of Parliament (MPs) were Rajapaksa supporters, the split verdict had put them in a quandary and forced them to seek a compromise. Rajapaksa could be confronted with a judicial reckoning, along with two of his brothers who held high office, for alleged corruption and abuse of power during his regime over the decade. A Sirisena aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "Mahinda has to compromise - resign from politics and Parliament, and settle down as a former president - or face the legal consequences."

Though, the National Unity Government continued to survive the acrimonious relation within SLFP, it is staring into uncertainty in the aftermath of the February 10, 2018, Local Government elections. The SLFP-UNP ruling alliance suffered a humiliating defeat in the Local Government polls, while Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP, ?Sri Lanka People's Front), a new party formed on November 2, 2016, emerged victorious. After the final results, the SLPP got 44.65 per cent of the vote. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who led the SLPP to the Local Government elections victory, on February 11, 2018, tweeted,

Thank you to all who supported the vision of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna at the LG (Local Government) election. Your voices have been heard. Its clear that our country needs a change. Despite the personal harassment they may have had to face over the past three years, I earnestly request all those who contested under the SLPP to celebrate this hard won victory peacefully and with restraint and in a manner that will not inconvenience the defeated side. I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the voting public of Sri Lanka who have reposed their trust in us, and made this victory possible.

Days after they voted in favor of the No-Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in Parliament, six Cabinet Ministers and 10 Deputy Ministers and State Ministers of SLFP quit the National Unity Government on April 11, 2018. Further, on April 27, 2018, 16 Ministers, Deputy Ministers and State Ministers of SLFP requested Parliament Secretary General W.B.D. Dassanayake in writing to arrange their seating in the opposition benches.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe while meeting President Maithripala Sirisena on February 11, 2018, agreed to continue the National Unity Government formed under the leadership of President Sirisena until 2020, when the President's term expires. Significantly, on April 12, 2018, a day after 16 MPs quit the National Unity Government, President Sirisena issued a gazette proroguing Parliament with effect from April 12, 2018, midnight, until May 8, 2018.

Separately, criticizing the Office for Missing Persons (OMP), a special office set up to determine the status of all persons who went missing during the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Joint Opposition member Udaya Gammanpila of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU, National Heritage Party), noted, The OMP aims to bring in reparations to the victims of the nearly three-decade long armed conflict in the country. This is nothing but a mechanism to try war heroes (soldiers who defeated the LTTE)." The Bill to establish the OMP was introduced on May 22, 2016, and on June 21, 2017, was passed unanimously in the Parliament. Meanwhile, the Government on March 13, 2018, operationalized the OMP. An official release stated "The Office on Missing Persons has officially got underway. The main purpose of the OMP is to address the suffering of thousands of families living in all parts of the country whose loved ones have gone missing or disappeared during multiple conflicts in Sri Lanka."

Another Joint Opposition member Sarath Weerasekera of UPFA alleged, on April 6, 2018,

The tactics of the PM would divide the country and Mr. Wickremesinghe is betraying the country by giving priority to conditions put forward by the TNA. It became evident how strong the relationship between the TNA and Premier Wickremesinghe when the TNA voted against the no-faith Motion against him. It is a shame to say that TNA being the official opposition party in Parliament is voting in favour of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe.

Indeed, the earlier Sri Lankan Government led by Rajapaksa as well as the current National Unity Government have opposed a strident campaign by the international community, particularly western nations, to interfere in the country's internal affairs in the guise of 'investigation of war crimes', through the adoption of several resolutions.

On the other hand, the Northern Province Council led by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran of TNA passed a resolution on February 27, 2018, requesting the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to establish an International Court to investigate allegations of war crimes against the armed forces during the decades-long civil war between the LTTE and the Army. The resolution was submitted by the Northern Provincial Councilor M.K. Shivajilingam at the 37th UNHRC session at Geneva on February 27, 2018. The resolution stated,

A probe by the government to solve human rights violations cannot be trusted. Since the latest UNHRC session has begun, a resolution should be sent to it. This council calls upon the UN and the international community to require Sri Lanka to ratify the Rome statute as recommended by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights investigation on Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Government has not opposed this resolution thus far.

Discreetly, on April 9, 2018, the Joint Opposition decided to submit a letter to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya demanding that TNA Leader R. Sampanthan be removed as the Opposition Leader of Parliament, citing Sampanthans decision to vote against the Joint Opposition sponsored No-Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister. TNA was recognized as the Main Opposition and its leader Sampanthan was designated as Opposition Leader on September 3, 2015. Prior to this, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader A. Amirthalingam was the only Tamil politician who had served as Opposition Leader (from 1977 to 1983). Sampanthan was also an MP of the main opposition at that time.

Conspicuously, though the National Unity Government has survived the current political storm, the inherent rift within the SLFP will keep the Government busy fighting for survival. Escalating confrontationist politics, moreover, is likely to hamper the ongoing reconciliation process in the country.image: twitter.com/iamsrk

Kolkata/Mumbai, May 14 (IBNS): Just days after apologising to fans for Kolkata Knight Riders' poor on-field performance against Mumbai Indians, Bollywood superstar and team co-owner Shah Rukh Khan seems to have regained his happy mood.

The happy mood perhaps came following Kolkata's comeback against Kings XI Punjab and particularly after skipper Dinesh Karthik's request to smile.

Khan took to Twitter to say he was requested by Karthik to smile.

Sharing a smiling face, the superstar cum co-owner, Khan, tweeted, "My Captain @DineshKarthik asked me to smile cos I was so disappointed at the match before. This pic is for him. Thx @Russell12A @prasidh43 @SunilPNarine74 & #KKRTeam. Onwards & up..."

My Captain @DineshKarthik asked me to smile cos I was so disappointed at the match before. This pic is for him. Thx @Russell12A @prasidh43 @SunilPNarine74 & #KKRTeam. Onwards & up... pic.twitter.com/G83DqW8Iwm  Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) May 13, 2018

Following Kolkata's 102-run defeat against Mumbai, Khan took to Twitter to say, "Sports is about the spirit & wins/losses dont reflect that. But tonite as the Boss I need to apologise to the fans for the lack of spirit"

The stage was set for the Knights to emerge victorious by chasing down 211 in front of Khan, who was present at the stands, but the batting unit fell down like a pack of cards and bowled out to 108 in 18.1 overs.

In the next match, Kolkata registered a 31-run victory against Kings XI Punjab.

Kolkata will play their match against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday.The airline has been awarded four routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) and will launch operations on three new routes out of the four routes awarded, and will subsequently launch Lucknow-Bareilly-Delhi-Bareilly-Lucknow.

On the occasion, Gaurang Shetty, Whole time Director, Jet Airways said, Jet Airways started off with the aim of introducing India to a world class travel experience and connectivity embodied in the joy of flying. Having pioneered the operations of the ATR aircraft in India, the launch of these new flights mainly onboard ATR aircraft, will allow Jet Airways to embark on a journey to ensure that unserved regions and underserved airports are maximized to their full potential. The UDAN scheme is a great initiative which facilitates in realizing the benefits of the aviation sector, reach the vast expanse of India and its various geographies. It is our constant endeavor to provide connectivity with a view to providing a fillip to the development of trade and tourism within all parts of India.

Starting from June 14, Jet Airways will fly three times a week on the Lucknow-Allahabad-Patna sector.

Jet Airways 9W 3555 will depart from Lucknow at 0630 hrs (IST) and arrive into Allahabad at 0805 hrs (IST). Going onward, flight 9W 3558 will depart from Allahabad for Patna at 0835 hrs (IST), arriving in the state capital at 1015 hrs (IST). On its return journey, flight 9W 3557 will depart Patna at 1040 hrs (IST) and land in Allahabad at 1220 hrs (IST). From Allahabad, flight 9W 3556 will depart at 1250 hrs (IST) and land in Lucknow at 1425 hrs (IST). This route will be catered to by a Jet Airways ATR aircraft.

Commencing from June 15, Jet Airways will fly three times a week between New Delhi and Nashik. Flight 9W 3509 from New Delhi will depart at 1205 hrs (IST) and arrive into Nashik at 1405 hrs (IST). On its return leg, flight 9W 3510 will depart from Nashik at 1435 hrs (IST), and return to New Delhi at 1635 hrs (IST). This route will be serviced by a Boeing 737 aircraft.

Effective June 16, Jet Airways will commence operations three times a week on the Nagpur-Allahabad-Indore sector. Jet Airways flight 9W 3553 will depart from Nagpur at 0945 hrs (IST) and arrive at Allahabad at 1150 hrs (IST). Going onward, flight 9W 3552 will depart from Allahabad at 1220 hrs (IST) and arrive into Indore at 1430 hrs (IST).

On its return journey, flight 9W 3551 will depart from Indore at 1500 hrs (IST) and arrive into Allahabad at 1710 hrs (IST). On its return journey, flight 9W 3554 will depart from Allahabad at 1740 hrs (IST) and arrive into Nagpur at 1945 hrs (IST).New York, May 14 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has congratulated the people of Iraq on the holding yesterday of the first national parliamentary elections since the country declared victory over Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Dae'sh) terrorists late last year.

Following the military defeat of Daesh, the elections represent further progress in building a stronger Iraqi democracy, Guterres said in a statement issued Sunday by a UN spokesperson.

According to media reports, nearly 7,000 candidates from 87 parties competed against one another in the polls. The UN provided technical assistance to Iraqs Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

The Secretary-General saluted the tireless efforts of electoral officials, party agents and the security forces in making the elections largely peaceful and orderly.

He commends all Iraqis who took part, in particular those internally displaced persons who cast their ballots despite their difficult conditions, said the statement.

Calling on all Iraqi political actors and their supporters to uphold peace as the results are processed, the UN chief further urged political actors to resolve any electoral disputes through established legal channels and to complete the electoral process by forming an inclusive government as soon as possible.

The United Nations remains committed to supporting the Government and people of Iraq in this endeavor, the statement concluded.

Ahead of the elections, Jan Kubis, head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), called on all Iraqis, including in the Kurdistan Region, to come together to strengthen fully sovereign, united, democratic and federal Iraq.

Since the last elections four years ago, Iraq faced the worst assault by the terrorist Daesh, which has committed untold atrocities. Today, with Daeshs structures defeated, and the country liberated, it is your opportunity to consolidate this historic victory that was won with the blood of the martyrs and the unity and perseverance of the people, and embark on a new beginning, he said last Thursday.

On Saturday, Kubis visited several polling stations in Fallujah, west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, describing the process very orderly and saying that he was very impressed to see the numbers of people, especially women, headed to vote.



UNAMI PIOSurabaya, May 14 (IBNS): A day after a series of deadly bombing hit Indonesian city of Surabaya on Sunday, suicide bombing was carried out in front of a police head quarter here on Monday.

Two attackers were on a motorbike.

"Police officers were injured in the explosion, which occurred at 08:50 local time (01:50 GMT), but the extent of casualties was not immediately clear," BBC reported.

The death toll in the church bombings in Indonesia's Surabaya city has touched 13.

According to local police, a single family was behind the attack, which has been deemed as the deadliest in more than a decade's time.

The family consisted of six people, including a 9-year-old girl.

According to reports, the mother and her two daughters were involved in a suicide attack at a church, while the father and his two sons attacked two more churches.

Local officials have said that the family may have spent some time with the Islamic State in Syria and were related to a local IS-inspired network, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

The officials added that the father drove a bomb filled car into the premises of Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

The mother and the daughters, who had bombs strapped to them, attacked the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.

The daughters were aged 9 and 12, while the sons were 16 and 18 years old, respectively.

They reportedly rode motorcycles while attacking Santa Maria Catholic Church.London, May 14 (IBNS): Andrew Parker, the head of British intelligence agency MI5, has warned Europe against taking the Islamic State lightly.

In a strong worded statement, the director general of MI5 has said that IS still aspires to carry out devastating and complex attacks in Europe, given it has lost some grounds in the Middle East.

He will also reiterate his stance during the meeting of European security chiefs in Berlin.

Parker is also expected to raise Salisbury spy poisoning saga there, where the UK has accused Russia of carrying out the attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

A Novichok nerve agent was reportedly used in the attempted murder of the father-daughter duo, however, both have survived.

Parker made his statement after at least one person was killed by an attacker wielding a knife in Paris, France, on Saturday.

The attacker was shot dead by police, but not before he managed to injure four others.

US President Donald Trump too has urged other countries to change their thought process on terrorism.

Image: www.mi5.gov.ukIslamabad, May 14 (IBNS): Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi called on former PM of the country Nawaz Sharif on Monday, media reports said.

Khaqan met Sharif after attending chairing a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC).

Sources told Geo News the two leaders, who met at the residence of Chaudhry Muneer, discussed the NSC meeting which was held to review Nawazs controversial statement on the Mumbai attacks.

Sources also told the Pakistani news channel that Nawazs daughter Maryam and other senior Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders attended the meeting.

The meeting took place at a time when

Sharif seems to admit that Pakistani terrorists carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Sharif told Dawn News: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?

India has been for longtime accused Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Taiba as responsible for the attack.

The 2008 Mumbai attacks were twelve coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker who was captured alive, later confessed upon interrogation that the attacks were conducted with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Kasab was hanged on Nov 21, 2012 at Yerwada Jail in Pune.

The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008 and lasted until Saturday, Nov 29, 2008, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308.

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai - at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital (a women and children's hospital), the Nariman House Jewish community centre, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College.

There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.Islamabad, May 14 (IBNS): Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Monday that former PM Nawaz Sharif has said his remarks on Mumbai terror attacks was misreported by the media.

According to Abbasi, who spoke with senior journalists after the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, Nawaz said that his interview with Dawn Newspaper was misreported that he did not say all that was attributed to him, reported Geo News on Monday.

A few sentences [from the newspaper interview] were blown out of proportion and context. I have clarified those, he was quoted as saying by Geo News.

Shahid also met Nawaz Sharif on Monday.

The meeting took place after the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, media reports said.

Sources told Geo News the two leaders, who met at the residence of Chaudhry Muneer, discussed the NSC meeting which was held to review Nawazs controversial statement on the Mumbai attacks.

Sources also told the Pakistani news channel that Nawazs daughter Maryam and other senior Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders attended the meeting.

The meeting took place at a time when Sharif seemed to admit that Pakistani terrorists carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Sharif told Dawn News: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?

India has been for longtime accused Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Taiba as responsible for the attack.

The 2008 Mumbai attacks were twelve coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker who was captured alive, later confessed upon interrogation that the attacks were conducted with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Kasab was hanged on Nov 21, 2012 at Yerwada Jail in Pune.

The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008 and lasted until Saturday, Nov 29, 2008, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308.

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai - at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital (a women and children's hospital), the Nariman House Jewish community centre, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College.

There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.Tel Aviv, May 14 (IBNS): Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday appreciated Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital and called it a 'historic move' made by the US President.

"President Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful for his bold decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital and to move the embassy there tomorrow! @realDonaldTrump," Netanyahu tweeted.

President Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful for his bold decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital and to move the embassy there tomorrow! YYYY @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/AkXk010v1L  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 13, 2018

Senior White House advisers, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, have arrived in Israel's capital Jerusalem on Sunday, ahead of the inauguration of the new US embassy in the country.

The opening will take place on Monday.

US president Donald Trump, who moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, however, will not be present during the ceremony.

His decision to move the embassy, which was taken last year, angered Palestine.

"A small interim embassy will open inside the existing US consulate building in Jerusalem on Monday, while a larger site will be found later when the rest of the embassy moves from Tel Aviv," a BBC report read.

Speaking about her involvement, Ivanka tweeted, "I am honored to join the delegation representing @POTUS, his Admin & the American people at this momentous ceremony commemorating the opening of our new US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. We will pray for the boundless potential of the US-Israel alliance & we will pray for peace."

Meanwhile, welcoming the delegation, Netanyahu tweeted: "We are happy to host the distinguished US delegation in Israel representing President Trump: Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Jason Greenblatt, Amb. David Friedman, Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner. Welcome to Jerusalem  our capital!"

We are happy to host the distinguished US delegation in Israel representing President Trump: Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Jason Greenblatt, Amb. David Friedman, Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner. Welcome to Jerusalem  our capital! pic.twitter.com/uUwD6O80Vo  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 13, 2018

Breaking years of US neutrality on Jerusalem, Donald Trump announced his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, thus going out of sync with most nations on the issue.

Image: Benjamin Netanyahu Twitter page



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www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others.It is high time to get down and register to vote

By Native Sun News Today Editorial Board

June 5 is just around the corner.

That day is important because in South Dakota its Primary Election Day.

We have three candidates running for governor of the State. Kristi Noem , a member of the U. S. Congress, Marty Jackley , current Attorney General for South Dakota, and Billie Sutton , a South Dakota State Senator.

Noem and Jackley are Republicans and Sutton is a Democrat. After the June 5 Primary Election there will be only one Republican left standing and we predict that it will be Jackley. Sutton has no other Democrat running against him so he will automatically advance to the General Election in November where he will run against Jackley. At least that is the way we see it.

Sutton was a champion rodeo rider until a bad rodeo accident caused him to become paralyzed and he has been in a wheel chair ever since. Sutton did not let this accident stop him from doing the things he wanted to do. He ran for political office from his wheel chair and won. Sutton said last week that, South Dakota needs to fight political corruption through changes such as limiting campaign contributions to candidates, reducing financial influence by lobbyists and making state government more open.

And he has a strong point. The EB-5 scandal and the GEAR UP program that led to the alleged murder of 5 people. Jackley had not come up with a single conviction in the matter and yet he is being endorsed by police and sheriffs from across South Dakota.

Noem is spending money on ads showing what a great horsewoman she is and by touting the praise of Donald Trump. Jackley started to run ads of him seated on a horse also, but some letter writers started to tease him and Noem by saying the Jackleys horse was prettier than Noems. Sutton has not been touting himself while seated in his wheel chair.

A Democrat has not been elected as governor of South Dakota since 1974. The Republicans have been in control for so long that politics in Pierre has turned into a Republican lovefest with all of them trying to cover their butts for the blatant way the Party has blocked so many laws voted on by the states citizens that would have brought some badly needed transparency to the government.

Some horrible crimes were committed in the EB-5 Scandal in in the GEAR UP theft of money aimed at assisting Native American students move on to college. Initiative 22 to reform state government was opposed by most Republicans. Kristi Noem stood alongside of the Koch brothers in opposing the attempted reform laws.

Contact the Native Sun News Editorial Board at editor@nativesunnews.today

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today

Join the ConversationJust a few days ago, the first teaser of Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Manto was released, and on the same day, Nandita Das film had its world premiere at the Cannes.

So, apart from Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone and Aishwarya Rai, the team of Manto also headed to the 71st Cannes Film Festival for the screening of their own movie. Not one or two, but 21 members of the cast and crew were present at the prestigious film festival  which included Nandita Das, Nawazuddin Siddique, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Divya Dutta and Shashank Arora among others.

After Nandita Das took the stage, she quipped, It's India, the festival's general delegate Thierry Fremaux who introduced her on the stage. Yes, it's India, Thierry responded.

Manto is set in the 1940s and 1950s, but it is about what is happening (on the subcontinent) today Cannes is like home, and it is great to have my second film premiere here, Das was quoted as saying.

Nawazuddin arrives in Cannes as Manto https://t.co/3iBGsNv9jp pic.twitter.com/WqVM5otCnW  AB Rana Team (@abramaali2) May 13, 2018

A few years ago Nawazuddin and Nandita had announced their collaboration for the film at the Cannes. In 2017, they had revealed the first look of the movie. And in 2018, their movie has finally been screened here. Cannes Film Festival definitely played an integral part in Manto's making and release .A huddle of Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships is expected to take place over former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's admission of his county's involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, top-level government sources said on Sunday.

Sources privy to the development said a meeting of the National Security Committee, Pakistan's highest forum, headed by the PM and mandated to consider national security and foreign policy matters, is likely to take place within the next two days.

Sharif's remarks have sparked a debate in Pakistan with his opponents criticising him for toeing the Indian line while many praised him on social media for having the courage to speak the truth.

Sharif had admitted publicly on Friday that Pakistani terrorists were involved in the 26/11 attacks and questioned why Ajmal Kasab and nine others were allowed to cross the border to carry out the carnage in Mumbai in 2008. He added that support for non-state actors led to Pakistan's global isolation.

Weighing the ongoing wave of discussions on the Mumbai attacks, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said India used the Mumbai attacks for its own "despicable" plans. He blamed India for refusing to cooperate during the investigation of the case. "The lack of cooperation by India was the biggest hurdle in the investigation. India wasn't interested in a transparent investigation," he said.

Reuters

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) senator and leader of the opposition in the Senate, slammed Sharif on Sunday, saying the former PM had backed PM Narendra Modi's stance and compromised Pakistan's narrative in the war against terrorism. "PPP rejects Nawaz Sharif's statement and stance on the Mumbai attacks," she said, adding that questions were being raised all around the world following Sharif 's remarks.

Shahbaz Sharif, Nawaz's younger brother and Pakistan Punjab's CM, said his brother's interview was twisted out of context by his political opponents.Confronted with crippling operational shortages in ammunition stocks that would not last even 10 days of intense fighting, the defence ministry and Army are now finalizing a Rs 15,000 crore long-term plan to get the domestic private sector to manufacture seven different types of ammunition.

The aim is to develop capability in the private sector companies, which can set up joint ventures with foreign manufacturers, to bridge the gaps in the production capacity of the 41 factories of the Ordnance Factory Board. This indigenization of ammunition production over a 10-year time-frame will gradually reduce our heavy import dependence, said a senior official.

AFP/Representational Image

The government was rudely jolted out of its slumber after the terror attack at Uri in September 2016 when it found that the 13-lakh strong Army simply did not have certain categories of ammunition to undertake a full-blown war with intense fighting for 10 days.

Similar was the case with the IAF and Navy. This when the conventional norm is that the force should have adequate the war wastage reserves (WWR) to last 40 days of intense fighting.

Since then, contracts worth around Rs 24,000 crore for ammunition, spares, engines and other reserves have been inked or are in the process of being finalized, mainly with Russia and Israel, under the revenue financial powers delegated to the three Services as well as capital acquisitions to build up adequate stocks for at least 10 days of war.

Reuters/Representational Image

Under the 19 contracts worth Rs 11,740 crore finalized for the Army, for instance, the force will get Smerch rockets, Konkurs anti-tank guided missiles, 125mm APFSDS (armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot) ammunition for its T-90S and T-72 tanks and other ammunition in the 2019-2020 timeframe, as earlier reported by TOI.

This has come as a big relief for the armed forces, which continue to maintain high operational readiness all along the 778-km Line of Control with Pakistan as well as the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control with China.

The new Rs 15,000 crore plan aims to get the Indian industry to manufacture ammunition for infantry weapons like UBGLs (under-barrel grenade launchers) and AGLs (automatic grenade launchers), 122mm Grad rockets, electronic fuzes and bi-modular charge systems for the artillery, and 30mm high-explosive incendiary ammunition for BMP-II infantry combat vehicles.

AFP/Representational Image

The bids of 11 Indian private companies for these contracts to produce some initial quantities of ammunition were opened last month. The technical evaluation is now underway, said the official.

Once the selected companies develop the capability to produce the required ammunition, contracts worth around Rs 15,000 crore over the next 10 years will be progressively awarded to them, said officials.

Earlier this year, Army vice-chief Lt-General Sarath Chand had told the parliamentary standing committee on defence that the Rs 21,338 crore allocated for modernization of his force in the 2018-2019 budget had dashed our hopes since it did not cater for even committed payments of Rs 29,033 crore for ongoing schemes and emergency procurements.

He said the Army was grappling with an alarming mix of 8% (state-of-the-art), 24% (current) and 68% (vintage) weaponry in its arsenal while engaged in daily cross-border firing duels with Pakistan as well as heightened tensions with China since the Doklam stand-off last year.

Reuters/Representational Image

Even a CAG report tabled in Parliament last year had held the Armys stocks of 121 (80%) of the 152 types of ammunition were below the authorization level required for 40 days of intensive fighting as per WWR norms.

Further, availability of 83 (55%) types of ammunition was below the MARL (minimum acceptable risk level of ammunition stocks for 20 days) and 61 (40%) types were at a critical level (less than 10 days). Availability of high-calibre ammunition for tanks and artillery are in a more alarming state. Moreover, in the absence of fuses, 83% of the high-calibre ammunition currently held by Army is not in a state to be used operationally, it had added.A family of six suspected to be inspired by ISIS attacked Christians attending service at three churches in Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya, killing 13 and injuring 40.

Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim majority country is seeing the increase in homegrown terrorism and police said the family who did this is among 500 ISIS influenced people returned from Syria.

reuters

"The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church," East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church, "Two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps," Mangera said.

The two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the man's sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

ISIS-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) is accused of bombing. JAD is on US State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of ISIS believers in Indonesia.

reuters

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.Israeli security forces have mercilessly killed at least 37 unarmed Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border. It was highly expected that the Palestinian would come out in great numbers to protest against the opening ceremony of United States embassy in Jerusalem.

According to Reuters, it was the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since a series of protests dubbed the Great March of Return began at the border with Israel on March 30 and since a 2014 Gaza war.

AFP

Reports suggest that at least 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets.

Earlier, tens of thousands gathered at the frontier on Monday, some of them approaching Israels border fence - a line Israeli leaders vowed Palestinians would not be allowed to breach. Black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air.

Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever, said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end, he said.

AFP

Later in the day, Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A great day for Israel, the U.S. president, who stoked Arab anger by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital in December, said in a tweet.

AFP

"Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted.It's no secret that the Sikhs are extremely proud of their lineage and rich culture. We have seen the Sikh community come together numerous times, to uphold that. And this time it's no different.

The Sikh Museum Initiative in the UK is cataloguing Sikh relics and artefacts which will soon go virtual in the world's first online Sikh Museum. On Friday, May 11, the Sikh Museum Initiative discussed plans to create this one-of-a-kind museum.

Sikh Museum initiative

Also read: Earrings Of Punjab's Last Sikh Queen Maharani Jind Kaur, Sell For Rs 1 Cr At London Auction

The Sikh Museum Initiative was awarded a National Lottery grant to create three-dimensional models of unseen artefacts and objects. The initiative is also being supported through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The online museum project will cater to members' training of the public in how to use new technology and showcase Sikh relics and artefacts through the use of virtual reality headsets.

As reported by Sikh Sangar News, Head of the Sikh Museum Initiative, Gurinder Singh Mann, said,

This unique exhibition gives exposure to many talented artists who want to showcase Sikh themes that range from the religious to the abstract. It will also provide a platform to showcase our unique Online Sikh Museum which will create an online resource of Sikh history and artefacts, some of which have never been seen before in public, for all to see and experience through the use of the latest technological advances."

We would encourage everyone to come along to the exhibition  there will be something for everyone, young and old and for all backgrounds, including a series of lectures by experts and a range of activities for families.

sikh museum initiative

Also read: Sikhs Create World Record By Tying 9000 Turbans On 'Turban Day' In New York

The team will work with UK museums and private collectors to achieve this one-of-a-kind museum. It really is a great project that can set the tone for similar Indian online museums in the future.Given electricity woes in the national capital, several housing societies in Delhi are trying their best to find a constructive solution.

A cooperative housing society in east Delhi has recently made the switch to solar power. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated a 140 kWp solar PV plant at Milan Vihar cooperative society in IP Extension on Sunday. According to authorities, the plant will generate 1.7 lakh units every year and the society will earn Rs 3.4 lakh yearly as a generation-based incentive, reports TOI.

bccl

Also read: Farmers With Solar Panel On Head To Charge Phones: Meet The Bright Heroes From Kisan Long March

The increase in solar power adoption comes on the heels of Delhi government wishing to transform the capital region into a 'solar city'. To that end, the power departments Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Management Centre had empanelled vendors for installation of rooftop solar PV plants on buildings at competitive rates.

Delhi now has the maximum number of such systems compared to other states, with 1,365 rooftop solar systems having an installed capacity of 90 MWp.

economic times

Also read: Union Territory Of Diu Produces All Electricity It Needs Using Solar Power, Is Now Power Surplus

Only this month, the Shiv Bhole Cooperative Group Housing Society in Dwarka became the first cooperative group housing society to go live as part of BSES Rajdhani Power Limiteds (BRPL) solar city undertaking.

More societies are expected to follow suit. We can already see that day when Delhi will no longer be complaining about power cuts in summers.Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War left us fans reeling with that ending. We are still trying to cope with it as we brace ourselves for Deadpool 2 this weekend. But amid all that, an incident took place in Toronto which we didn't see coming.

Thanos got arrested!

twitter/@pcpappy

Never did we imagine in handcuffs! The Marvel villain was no more formidable than a normal human being after he was arrested by Toronto Police. A photograph of his arrest has gone viral on social media and led to jokes that are hard not to laugh at.

Also read: 13 Thoughts A Person Who Isn't A Marvel Fan Had During The Whole 'Avengers: Infinity War' Buzz

The photo, shared on May 12, shows a man dressed as Thanos being held up against a police car as bystanders around him laugh and click pictures.

Here, enjoy the memes that kept Twitter busy.

Toronto Police - "Thanos, we need you to undergo a strip search, we believe you are smuggling infinity stones."

Thanos - pic.twitter.com/xcVCmi1LiL  Poo Bear  Team Strongbones, #pantsdown4equality (@Bemorefox) May 14, 2018

This photo was taken right after Thanos had secured the "overpriced real estate" stone. https://t.co/1T73SWRVX8  Don Cook (@donaldcookie) May 13, 2018

Shoutout to the @TorontoPolice for doing what the @Avengers couldnt even do ... stop Thanos!! pic.twitter.com/My3APjtXbt  LORD BIJAN. (@bijxnamir) May 12, 2018

Also read: We Just Can't Wait For The OnePlus 6 Marvel Avengers Limited Edition Releasing Later Next Month

The Toronto Police have yet to release the details surrounding the arrest. But this was certainly an alternate ending we didn't anticipate coming. Well, now that he is arrested, can we please destroy the Infinity Stones?!Switch the Market flag

Open the menu and switch the

Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice.

for targeted data from your country of choice.Washington, D.C. -- For the first time since the VOA Uzbek language service went on air in 1972, a VOA journalist received accreditation from the Republic of Uzbekistan to work as foreign media correspondent inside that country.

The announcement coincides with the visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the United States this week. The Uzbek service plans extensive coverage of the visit and the Uzbek National News Agency will rely on VOA reporting.

VOA Uzbek service reporter Navbahor Imamova is the only U.S. journalist included on the Uzbek governments recently released list of accredited media.

It is a historic moment for VOA and a testament to our high journalistic standards that we can now report from inside the Republic of Uzbekistan alongside the other members of the foreign press corps in that country, said VOA Director Amanda Bennett.

Imamova is an authority on geopolitics and national development in Central Asia. She has covered Central Asia and the United States for more than 15 years as an anchor, reporter, multimedia editor and producer. She played a pivotal role in the launch of Uzbek television programming at VOA in 2003 and produced nearly 800 editions of the services flagship weekly show, Amerika Manzaralari.

The Uzbek National News Agency and online media in Uzbekistan have been picking up more and more VOA reports over the last several months, said Imamova. They are opening up for us and hopefully for more foreign media soon.

The VOA Uzbek Service went on the air in February 1972 to reach audiences in Uzbekistan, Central Asia and Afghanistan. Today it broadcasts a 30-minute radio program daily, an hour of television each week, and offers multimedia content online.Speaking at the Insurance Business Insurtech Summit last week, Aamer Fattah, research innovation and development specialist at Munich Re, discussed the research and the three mega-trends in the development of customers as they become more curious, demanding and impatient.

Customer searches through Google for product reviews were up by 35% over that period, Fattah told attendees.

Customers are increasingly curious, they want to well-informed. More importantly, they are looking at product reviews and they want to know: is your product or service worth my time and money?

Customers that fall into the more demanding category expect a business to already know information about them by utilising either first or third party data.

These are the customers that expect you to know already  they know they are sharing some data or a lot of data with you and they have given you permission to access this data and they expect these services to be tailored to them right here, right now, Fattah continued.

Google research found that searches for what is the best for me have risen by over 60% over the past two years.

The biggest trend, however, is the rise of the impatient customer. With digital devices and mobile searches now commonplace, Google saw a 300% rise in searches related to what businesses are open now.

Fattah said that while these three customer types present challenges, they also offer opportunities for the insurance industry to improve its customer experience.

With the curious customer, for example, they create opportunity to find new ways to answer their questions, Fattah continued.

For the demanding customer, it is finding new ways to deliver the right information at the right time, and for the impatient customer it is shifting strategies to keep up with customers.

While technology will play a part in meeting these changing customer needs, Fattah said enablers such as insurance expertise, human centred design and user experience research, among others, will also be needed.

The technical capabilities are important to create customer experiences that will delight the curious, demanding and impatient customers - but also, you really need creativity, Fattah said. It is a bit like origami, it is harder than it looks - but if you can pull it all together you can create some amazing experiences for customers.

Related stories:

Allianz leader on how to manage change

IAG looking to insurance, and beyond, for its futureDeepak Soni

Both brokers and insurers, especially volume-based personal lines providers, could be impacted by Amazons possible entrance into the insurance market. Amazon is renowned for cutting the cost of products and distribution and taking a customer-centric approach built on trust, transparency and convenience, and that is an approach the insurance industry needs to focus on.

Any move by Amazon into the industry should be seen as an opportunity. Tough competition, especially from a company with a strong track record, is an opportunity for us to look at our own operating models and how we can evolve in the future.

Scott Guse

When you hear the word Amazon, you immediately think disruption. I may be going out on a limb here, but I dont think Amazons entrance to the insurance market will cause any major issues for brokers. A brokers clients are not retail clients, which are an easier insurance sell; they are SME and larger corporates.

Provided the broker is doing their job properly  advising, assisting and adding value to their clients  I would expect their clients will remain loyal. The retail/direct insurers  well, thats a different question. Yes, it will certainly impact them.236 days later and parts of Puerto Rico are still without power. The US territory, which was dealing with a debt crisis when the vengeful storms struck, is desperately trying to recover crucial infrastructure such as its power grid and water systems.

But the 2018 storm season has come around quickly. Puerto Rico is still licking its wounds, and if it takes another serious hit this year, the results could be even more devastating, according to Andrew Higgins, technical manager at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

Puerto Rico probably wasnt prepared for the strength of hurricanes that hit them last year, and theyre still recovering from those hurricanes, said Higgins. If we have another set of major hurricanes this year and Puerto Rico gets hit, theyre going to be in serious trouble.

At the moment theyre still putting band aids on their wounds from last year. Theyre still trying to fix problems with the electrical grid and other government services. All their efforts are focused on getting back up and running, but if they get hit by another hurricane during this recovery process, the results could be really bad.

Hurricane mitigation in Puerto Rico requires a long-term approach to planning, according to Higgins. But time is a luxury that Puerto Rico doesnt necessarily have. As an island sitting in the middle of the Caribbean, it is always vulnerable to hurricane activity. Authorities need to think about moving valuable assets like power plants away from coastal areas to limit damages as much as possible.

Puerto Rico has to move people, power plants and resources further away from the coast and further from potential damage, Higgins told Insurance Business. Thats not something they can achieve overnight or even in a single year.

First of all, they have to make the decision to take that long-term approach and commit to making changes. Secondly, theyve got to hope Puerto Rico doesnt get hit by a significant storm in that timeframe, because if it does, theyre going to be right back to square one.

Related stories:

Hurricane Preparedness Week: AGCS expert shares top tips for businesses

Billions in insured losses and close to 250,000 claims for Puerto Rico's insurersAuthorities began an investigation after they allegedly spotted irregularities in the companys reporting of employee injuries, according to SFGate. The company allegedly discouraged its workers from reporting injuries.

The Department of Insurance also accused Carson of creating a new company and fabricating the number of employees and how much he was paying them, in order to reduce his insurance costs.

In addition to Carson, authorities suspect San Jose residents Victoria Cruz and Lanette Wiegand and La Crescenta resident Jaime Lugo in the case. The four face a total of 18 felony counts of insurance fraud, SFGate reported.

Related stories:

California electrician arrested for $85K workers' comp fraud

Cops charge man who sued Liberty Mutual over Hooters injuryMichael Aberle

Cannabis cannot be prescribed; currently it can only be recommended by a physician. Should this situation change, it could drive up the price of the product and potentially strengthen the black market. It also opens the door for Big Pharma to take over distribution.

The bottom line: If cannabis or CBD products minimize opioid use and help injured workers manage their health better than other drugs, or can even return them to the workforce more quickly, then I dont see why the government, at a minimum, should not add the product to the list of drugs a doctor can prescribe.

Jaime Lewis

Cannabis is a medicine. Workers compensation insurance should treat it as such. Twenty-nine states have legalized medical cannabis, and 16 others allow for cannabis-derived cannabidiol [CBD].

Whats more, cannabis is a proven alternative to more expensive and dangerous treatments. Studies show that painkiller prescriptions and opioid deaths are lower in states with medical marijuana laws. In Colorado, theres no evidence that workplace accidents increased after the state legalized adult-use cannabis. Cannabis Schedule I classification complicates matters. Thats why we have to reform federal cannabis laws for employers and employees alike.

Ian Stewart

Several states require insurers to reimburse claimants for medical marijuana treatment, despite the federal governments designation of cannabis as a Schedule I substance. In states where medical marijuana is legal, courts have deferred to a medical professionals judgment regarding treatment.

Insurance companies have reporting requirements when accepting premiums from marijuana-related entities. A carriers decision to provide services to a marijuanarelated business is dependent on several factors. Carriers should institute reporting protocols under applicable federal regulations and consider conducting statespecific customer due diligence.Royal Bank of Scotlands shares rose as much as 6 percent last Thursday after the bank reached a $4.9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, opening the way for its privatization and return of cash to taxpayers who bailed it out in the financial crisis.

The fine, much lower than expected, resolves a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the British banks sale of mis-priced mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the crisis and clears one of its most debilitating hangovers from that era.

Its very humbling to have to announce a settlement of this magnitude, the banks finance director Ewen Stevenson told reporters.

The agreement clears the way for RBS to restore its dividend and for the government to start selling down its more than 70 percent stake.

RBS executives said that it would take a few weeks to finish the paperwork, but the total penalty was unlikely to increase. Analysts had estimated a DOJ fine of up to $12 billion.

The number is a firm number, Stevenson said.

RBS said it would be able to cover the bulk of the penalty out of existing provisions alongside a $1.44 billion charge it will take in the second quarter of this year.

This marks a watershed for RBS  for as long as this investigation cast a pall over earnings and forecasts there was nowhere for investors to really go, said Neil Wilson, chief analyst for Markets.com.

Crisis Casualty

The Department of Justice has previously settled with a whole list of banks including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank , JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Barclays for a total of more than $60 billion.

Bank of America paid the highest sum of $16.7 billion as part of an accord that also resolved claims by other federal agencies and several states. Barclays, which settled in March, had the smallest figure at $2 billion.

Once the worlds largest bank by assets, RBS was one of the biggest casualties of the crisis which crippled credit, stock and housing markets and upended the global economy.

It narrowly avoided insolvency in 2008 after the government agreed a 45 billion pound ($61 billion) bailout, just six months after it had raised 12 billion pounds of cash from shareholders.

Chief Executive Ross McEwans predecessor, Stephen Hester, who joined the bank following the bailout, said he had texted McEwan this morning to congratulate him and the team.

Thats the last really big milestone before the bank can be seen to be fully normalized, Hester, who is now CEO of RSA , said during a conference call on the insurers results.

The fine had been a big obstacle to the governments plan, laid out in November, to begin reprivatising RBS before the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year  a much needed boost for finance minister Philip Hammonds coffers.

Back to Dividends

After ten years of restructuring, paying fines and shedding around 1.5 trillion pounds in assets, the DOJ settlement means RBSs last large legacy issue is out of the way. It had already paid just over $7 billion in other settlements with various U.S. authorities.

McEwan also said the bank would now discuss with regulators paying RBSs first dividend in a decade, leaving open the possibility the bank could start returning years worth of surplus capital to shareholders before its next annual results.

The fact they can begin to think about how to return that to shareholders is a major and long-awaited change, said Olivia Treharne, a fund manager at Legal & General Investment Management, RBSs number 10 shareholder according to Thomson Reuters data.

One of the banks largest 20 investors said shareholders should be cautious about the prospects of getting their hands on the banks excess capital just yet.

This is hardly a Silicon Valley company. Id like to see much of that plowed into the banks IT systems, said the investor, who asked not to be named.

McEwan had hoped for a settlement before the end of 2017, but changes at the DOJ following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump saw negotiations slip back.

RBS may have benefited from settling under Trumps administration, which has been softer on banks than that of his predecessor Barack Obama.

RBS executives said one reason for the settlement being below estimates was that RBS did not have to pay out billions of dollars in consumer relief, a staple of such settlements under the Obama administration. ($1 = 0.7372 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn Editing by Keith Weir and Jane Merriman)

Topics USAEuropean countries and companies that continue to do business with Iran could face U.S. sanctions, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday.

Part of the flaw with the Iran deal that President Donald Trump rejected was it enticed Europe and the U.S. into economic relations with Iran that would work against holding the country accountable for violations of the agreement, Bolton said.

Why would any business, why would the shareholders of any business, want to do business with the worlds central banker of international terrorism? Bolton said on ABCs This Week.

Trump on May 8 announced his intention to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, calling the multilateral pact defective at its core and unable to fully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The announcement triggered U.S. plans to reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic within roughly three to six months.

The exit drew swift criticism from the deals other signatories, including U.S. allies in Europe whod tried for weeks to convince Trump to remain on board and said they plan to keep their commitment to the deal.

Oil Shippers Face Insurance Uncertainty with Return of U.S. Sanctions on Iran

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 2015 accord wasnt aimed at Europeans, but he didnt rule out the U.S. imposing sanctions on entities that continue to do business with Iran, even as efforts continue to strike a new deal.

I am hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, Pompeo said.

Changing the regime in Iran is not the policy of the administration, Bolton said on ABC. In a separate interview on CNNs State of the Union, he said Irans economic condition is really quite shaky, so the impact of sanctions could be dramatic.

U.S. Isolated

The consequences of American sanctions go well beyond goods shipped by American companies, Bolton said. Because of our technology licenses to many other countries and businesses around the world, as those sanctions kick in, it will have an even broader effect as well.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said while the Iran deal was a flawed agreement because of a lack of unfettered inspections and other problems, leaving the deal isolates the U.S. and Trump should have extended it for at least another six months to work with allies.

We could have pushed the Europeans a lot harder, to work with us, Gates said on Face the Nation. And then in six months, basically if they hadnt done that, then you would be in a much stronger position. But as it is now, at least for the time being, were the country thats isolated.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics USA EuropeIllinois workplace safety officials reprimanded state veterans officials for how the agency told staffers about a deadly Legionnaires disease outbreak at a Quincy veterans home, according to documents.

The Illinois Department of Labor reproach focused on emails that Illinois Veterans Home administrators sent to state workers, WBEZ Chicago reported Thursday. State labor officials said the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs failed to effectively notify all employees about the outbreak. Labor officials also said the veterans agency didnt instruct workers about proper precautions to avoid or eliminate exposure in a timely manner.

The disease has caused the deaths of 13 residents since 2015 and made dozens more residents and staff members seriously ill. State labor officials became involved after two sickened staffers complained to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

AFSCME, the public union representing some Quincy workers, argued the veterans home didnt do enough to warn employees about the disease threat.

Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Erica Jeffries, who resigns next week, said Quincy employees were kept informed about the outbreak through emails, meetings and informational material posted at nursing stations.

We communicated effectively to our staff and to our residents and certainly to the family members of each resident that was exhibiting signs and symptoms of pneumonia, she said in a statement.

Her spokesman, Dave MacDonna, said the veterans affairs department has been transparent concerning its response to the outbreak in 2015 and has provided thousands of documents to both members of the media and the General Assembly.

State Department of Labor spokesman Ben Noble said former state Labor Director Hugo Chaviano approved issuing the written reprimand but said there was no citation because no workplace safety standards were violated. Noble said the department hasnt received any follow-up complaints.

Rauners administration last week recommended starting fresh at the western Illinois home with a state-of-the-art facility on the 130-year-old campus costing between $190 million and $230 million.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Virginia IllinoisAt BPs massive Thunder Horse oil platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a dog-sized robot called Maggie uses magnetic tracks to creep along pipes connecting the giant oil facility to the sea floor. Before MaggHD, dubbed Maggie by BP, the dangerous inspection job was reserved for highly paid specialist technicians who did their jobs while rappelling along the platform.

The energy industry has turned to robots and drones to cut costs and improve safety in some of the worlds tougher working environments. Drones inspect gear high up on floating rigs. Robots crawl underwater to test subsea equipment for microscopic metal cracks. Remotely operated mini submarines can replace divers.

Big oil producers such as BP and Statoil are racing to create the oilfields of the future, where smart devices replace workers. They have the potential to cut costs, save lives, and reduce the scope for human error.

This is going to change the way oil and gas does business, Carri Lockhart, senior vice president of offshore at Statoil USA, said in an interview earlier this year, referring to the push towards autonomous gear and facilities.

Magnetic Crawlers

Maggie belongs to a group of devices known as magnetic crawlers, which can move across rigs, platforms, and pipelines above and below water using ultrasonic test devices and high-definition cameras. They can cost $60,000 apiece. BP, the largest operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, piloted Maggie on its Thunder Horse platform last year and expects to roll out similar crawlers across all its Gulf of Mexico platforms in coming years.

BPs 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 people and was the largest accidental release of oil into U.S. marine waters, underscored the dangers of offshore work.

BP wants the robots to remove individuals from being in unsafe environments. The efficiencies we gain by collecting data this way are significant. The safety factor is obvious, said Dave Truch, a technology director in BPs Digital Innovation Organization.

Drones and crawlers can do inspections in about half the time of rope access technicians, while placing fewer workers in harms way, executives at BP said. Other gadgets can reduce the need for shutdowns, which are sometimes necessary for safe inspection of equipment by humans.

Drones can conduct inspections of flaring equipment, which burn off dangerous gases at oil and gas production facilities, without requiring a shutdown. Those shutdowns could last anywhere from five to 20 days, said Iain Gault, a business development manager at Stork, an energy maintenance unit of Fluor Corp.

We still cant do the physical work with a drone or crawler, but the efficiency is gained by only putting people in the field when needed, said Gault, who started his career in oil and gas as a rope access technician, rappelling along the sides of oil structures in the North Sea, nearly 30 years ago.

The technology can be a hard sell, because of the high upfront cost, he added, estimating crawler rentals run between $600 to $1,000 per day, excluding the cost of an operating technician. Hiring technicians for drones is even more costly because they require pilots licenses, he added.

Companies that provide the inspection specialists for offshore equipment say they are not worried about losing out to robots and gadgets.

It is not a threat to jobs, but they change. We have to adapt, said Ryan King, a technical sales representative for Oceaneering International, an offshore services and equipment provider. Were at a point now where big data is helping optimize inspection programs, so we dont have to send guys into the field, King said.

Drones and crawlers may be a stepping stone. Norwegian oil producer Statoil is eying an unmanned, remotely operated production concept. Noble Drilling and General Electric Co this year launched a partnership to produce a fully digitized drilling vessel, work the companies said paves the way for an autonomous drilling fleet.

We have the technology. Its just a matter of getting these projects executed. Were not there yet on unmanned platforms for deepwater, but its coming, said Statoils Lockhart.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton; Editing by Gary McWilliams, Simon Webb and James Dalgleish)

Topics USA Energy Oil Gas MexicoThe top 10 workers compensation insurers capture 46 percent of the market across the country, according to the latest figures from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

The top three  Travelers, The Hartford and Zurich write a little more than 18 percent.

Compiled by the NAIC, the 2017 Market Share Data Report- Workers Compensation includes countrywide direct written premium for the top 25 groups and companies as reported on the state page of the annual financial statement for insurers that report to the NAIC.

Source: Top 25 Workers Compensation Insurers

Topics Carriers Workers' Compensation TalentThe Texas Department of Insurance will hold a public hearing on the petition by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas to extend the expiration date of negotiated experience modifiers in the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) Experience Rating Plan Manual for Workers Compensation and Employers Liability Insurance (NCCI Experience Rating Plan Manual).

IIAT wants to extend the expiration date from July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2019.

IIAT filed the petition with the TDI Chief Clerk on April 26, 2018. A copy of IIATs petition, the full text of the rule, and statistical plan may be reviewed in the Office of the Chief Clerk of the Texas Department of Insurance, 333 Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas 78701; or at www.tdi.texas.gov/rules/2018/nccimanual.html during the comment period.

To comment on the petition, TDI must receive two copies of the comments by 5 p.m., Central time, on June 20, 2018. Refer to TDI ECase No. 15981.

Send one copy to ChiefClerk@tdi.texas.gov, or to the Office of the Chief Clerk, Mail Code 113-2A, Texas Department of Insurance, P.O. Box 149104, Austin, Texas 78714-9104.

Source: TDI

Topics Texas Workers' CompensationA U.S. appeals court has revived a leading business groups challenge to a Seattle law, the first of its kind, that would allow drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft to unionize.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the city did not have the power to regulate payment arrangements between companies like Uber and Lyft and their drivers.

The litigation is unfolding amid a national debate over whether workers in the gig economy are independent contractors, who typically cannot form unions, or employees.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which sued over the law last year and counts Uber and Lyft among its members, said in a statement that it was pleased with the decision.

The Chamber brought this lawsuit because allowing every city or town to create its own unionization scheme would have burdened innovation, increased prices, killed jobs, and harmed consumers, said the group, the largest U.S. business lobby.

The Seattle city attorneys office did not respond to a request for comment.

Seattles law, passed in 2015, requires the city to select a union as the exclusive bargaining representative of the estimated 9,000 drivers in Seattle who work for Uber, Lyft and other services. The law was put on hold pending the outcome of the chambers lawsuit.

The chamber argued that by allowing drivers to bargain over their pay, which is based on fares received from passengers, the city would permit them to essentially fix prices in violation of federal antitrust law.

A federal judge in Seattle last year disagreed, saying the state of Washington had specifically authorized its cities to regulate the for-hire transportation industry.

But the 9th Circuit on Friday said state law allows the city to regulate rates that companies charge to passengers, but not the fees that drivers pay to companies like Uber or Lyft in exchange for ride referrals.

The court sent the case back to the judge in Seattle to reconsider the chambers antitrust claim.

The city and supporters of the law, including labor unions, have said that allowing drivers to unionize would improve their working conditions, making ride-sharing services safer for passengers.

Lawyers for the city had told the 9th Circuit that in some cases, drivers were engaging in unsafe behavior such as driving on little or no sleep because they are not paid adequately.

The case is U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. City of Seattle, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 17-35640.

(Reporting by Wiessner in Albany, New York Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Phil Berlowitz and Tom Brown)

Related:

Topics USA Sharing Economy Ridesharing UberMany Alaska residents were mistakenly warned on TV and on the radio Friday morning of a tsunami threat along the West Coast of the United States, from San Diego to Alaskas Aleutian islands.

The alert said at the end of a nearly two-minute long message that it was a test. But not all listeners and viewers received that information, officials said.

The National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat. It said the message was a routine test sent at about 7 a.m.

Susan Buchanan, a National Weather Service spokeswoman, said the centers test message was properly coded but somehow re-transmitted in an abbreviated format. That stripped the test coding and caused activation of the Emergency Alert System that sends messages to TV and radio stations.

She said its not clear why that happened, the agency was investigating and could not immediately provide further details. The tsunami warning center is part of the National Weather Service.

The message was sent just months after a civil defense official in Hawaii mistakenly sent an alert indicating a missile was inbound to the islands, prompting changes in how such alerts were issued. The employee who sent the false alert was fired.

In Washington state, officials said a false tsunami warning earlier this week in Clallam County was the result of a Jefferson County official testing a new cellphone app.

A real tsunami warning in Alaska earlier this year included alerts sent to cellphones, something that didnt happen Friday.

Rosemary Dunn, who lives in Anchorage, said she was more curious than panicked when the warning came through.

I couldnt find any earthquakes and was really perplexed, she said.

She went online and then discovered the alert was not real.

They said it was misinterpreted. Id really like to know whats behind that, who misinterpreted that, she said.

Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said there is a time limit for how long emergency alert system messages can last. This was a longer message, and from reports officials have gathered, the information indicating it was a test was cut off for some listeners and viewers, he said.

He said other Alaskans heard the test information.

Often, the message says its a test at the beginning. Its not clear why the version heard by Alaskans didnt say it was a test until the end. Zidek said the message Friday was intended to be an internal test message.

Tsunami-vulnerable communities were notified by the state emergency operations center that there was no tsunami warning, the state emergency management agency said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters AlaskaTom Pratt, an insurance agent who specializes in procuring fine art coverage in a rural Northern California community, has worked in the insurance industry for more than 20 years.

By day he is an insurance agent. In his spare time, Pratt is a typical family man with an interest in the community, having chaired the Vallecito Union School Board since 2014, as well as volunteering and helping out where he can.

Now, spurred by the desire to bring more services to a district he believes is underserved in many ways, hes dipping his toes into a big political arena.

Pratt, a moderate Democrat, is running in the race for state Senates 8th district, which encompasses more than 30,000 square miles, close to 1 million residents and nearly a dozen counties.

What I found was that there was a lack of access to a lot of services, Pratt told Insurance Journal, adding that he also found there to be a lack of representation from our representatives.

When Pratt and wife, Kimberly, an executive director for a nonprofit, moved to the rural community of Murphys in 2008, the first thing they noticed was trouble finding access to broadband, healthcare and other crucial services that people in larger cities are able to take advantage of.

While trying to deal with these issues as an agent, a member of the community, and as a school board chair, he emailed and reached out to his local and state elected representatives to try and get help. But, he said he had no luck.

I never even got Thank you for your email,' he said. The way I was brought up, thats just bad manners.

Politics

The youngest of four, Pratt attended California State University, Northridge, graduating in 1984 with a degree in theatre arts, and he subsequently studied art history at Santa Monica College, UCLA and in Paris, France.

After CSUN he followed of his parents into the business. His parents had started Thomson and Pratt Insurance Associates.

Pratt worked at numerous firms throughout his career, including a stint at his parents firm, as well as at AIG, Allen Insurance Associates, Kaye Insurance Associates and Zenith Insurance Co., to name a few.

While Pratts primary expertise is in insurance, throwing his hat into the ring for state Senate isnt his first foray into the political realm.

Ive always been interested in politics, he said.

Pratt was elected to the Santa Monica school board in 1998 and served until 2002. When he moved his family up to Northern California, he found himself being asked to chair the Democratic Central Committee in Calaveras County, a position he held from 2015 to 2017.

It was during his tenure on the school board when he really began to see a lack of representation in the area. As board chair, he wanted to have a board member removed who had been accused of misdemeanor crimes.

It became a difficult process, so he reached out to the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, the state board of education, the state superintendent of public instruction, the attorney general, and the Calaveras County grand jury and district attorney.

I found out the hard way you cant remove an official unless they have a felony, he said. I went all the way to the top and got nowhere, and got extremely frustrated with the lack of representation.

The motivation to do something about that lack of representation was firmly in place, so when he saw that incumbent Republican Tom Berryhill was about to term out of his Senate office, Pratt decided to run.

Wildfires

He is one of four candidates running for the 8th district on the June 5 primary ballot. The others are businesswoman Paulina Miranda, a fellow Democrat, Republican Andreas Borgeas, a Fresno County supervisor, and businessman Mark Belden, who has no stated party preference.

Its been an amazing success, Pratt said of his campaign.

He has raised nearly $40,000, which is not bad for a Democrat in rural community where 41 percent of registered voters are Republican compared with 33 percent Democrats.

His endorsements so far include California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, State Controller Betty Yee, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, the California Teachers Association and the California Democratic Party.

Ive been endorsed by every single organization almost known to man, he laughed.

If elected, of course one of Pratts goals would be to get placed on the Senate Standing Committee on Insurance, where one of his top priorities would be to deal with the effect wildfires have had on the constituents of the 8th district.

Pratt recently has been approached by numerous area residents seeking his assistance in accessing insurance, as coverage becomes increasingly harder to obtain in the area, particularly following last years massive California wildfires.

While working to get more carriers to write homeowners insurance in the area, he met a group of insurance professionals in 2017 at InsurTech Silicon Valley Summit  Core Systems & InsurTech Fusion. They were working for a brokerage called Delos Insurance Solutions, designed to get more access to fire insurance for people in that area, and they enlisted Pratts help.

According to Pratt, underwriters have been lumping many homes in the area into a high risk 8 or 9 rating category, when CalFire had rated them as a 2 or 3.

Theres been no research by the underwriters or the carriers for homeowners insurance for some of these communities to show them that they actually have a protection class rating of 2, Pratt said. Theres a whole bunch of issues with insurance right now in the whole Sierra-foothill area.

Chances

The campaign trail has taken Pratt to all 11 counties that the district encompasses to speak to people about these and other issues, and he said he feels good about his chances.

Theres four candidates, so I have a 25 percent chance right now, he quipped. I am feeling pretty good that I will go through to the general election.

Not only does he have just about every major Democratic endorsement in the state, but hes a small businessman who has placed jobs creation high on his campaign platform  something he believes the areas voters can relate to.

The statewide unemployment average was 4.2 percent as of March, according to the Employment Development Department. Several counties within the 8th district are well above that average, including the counties of Fresno (8.7 percent), Mariposa (6.9 percent), Madera (8.2 percent) and Stanislaus (7.1 percent).

A lot of these places still havent recovered from the recession, Pratt said.

Circling back to his other big issue, Pratt who has two sons with Kimberly, Tommy and Hutty, ages 6 and 4, said bringing more services to the district will be among his highest priorities if elected. Students need Internet access to do homework and study, and there are many veterans and others in the area who need better access to health services, he added.

If I go a mile up the hill, I have lost all cell reception and Internet, he said. If you have a serious illness, youre flown to San Francisco or Sacramento or somewhere else. Theres not a lot of access to the services that we need here.

Topics California Agencies Wildfire PoliticsWhat Is an Employee Trust Fund?

An employee trust fund is a long-term investment plan that an employer establishes as a job benefit. The most common forms of employee trust funds are employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and pension plans.

Key Takeaways An employee trust fund is a form of long-term savings plan established as a job benefit.

The best-known forms of employee trust fund are the stock ownership plan and the pension plan.

Both the employer and the employee may contribute to an employee trust fund.

In an employee trust fund, the company is called the grantor and the employees are the beneficiaries. The person who manages the trust is called the trustee.

Understanding Employee Trust Funds

Each trust establishes its own rules for eligibility, vesting period, and the terms of participation. Both the employer and the employee may be required to contribute to a trust fund.

When the Trust Fund Is an ESOP

If the trust fund is an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), the company contributes regularly to a trust fund, and the trustee uses the proceeds to purchase company stock on behalf of the beneficiary.

An ESOP is a qualified defined-contribution employee benefit plan. That is, it is qualified by the Internal Revenue Service because it includes special tax benefits for both the employer and the employee. The plan thus must meet standards for participation, vesting, and proper administration that are set by the federal government.

Generally, when the employee cashes in stock, the cost of the stock purchases is taxed by the IRS as income but the appreciation is taxed at the lower capital gains rate.

Companies often use stock ownership plans to give employees an incentive to align their interests with those of its shareholders.

When the Trust Fund Is a Pension Plan

A pension plan is designed to help employees build retirement income over time and then withdraw it in the form of annuity payments for life. It is perhaps the best-known form of an employee trust fund.

$389 billion Assets managed in 2020 by the California Public Employees Retirement System, an employee trust fund that administers pensions and other benefits for state employees.

Pension plans are not as common in America as they once were. In fact, in 2019 only 14% of Fortune 500 companies still offer them. However, pensions are still available to most public employees. The federal government, all 50 state governments, and many local public employers have pension plans.

A few employers offer both a pension plan and a tax-advantaged retirement plan such as a 401(k), but they are rare exceptions.

Some trust funds that manage pensions are enormous. The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) administers pension benefits for about 1.5 million retirees and their families. It has about $397 billion in overall assets in 2020.

Generally, both the employer and the employee make regular contributions to the pension plan trust fund. The employee begins receiving regular payments after retirement, with the amounts based on length of service, age, and salary history.

The proceeds of a pension plan are taxable as regular income when they are withdrawn.What is a Rocket Scientist?

Rocket scientist is a term coined by traditional traders for a person with a math and statistical research background doing quantitative work in investing and finance. The term dates to the 1970s and was used tongue-in-cheek when Wall Street firms began employing researchers without finance or trading backgrounds to use computers to conduct extensive quantitative research alongside traditional securities analysts.

Key Takeaways "Rocket scientist is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the application of novel mathematical tools developed in physics, engineering, and other quantitative hard sciences to finance, investment, and trading.

The trend toward reliance on quantitative modeling rist took off with the rise of the computer age in the 1980s.

Quantitative finance is now the established norm in the world of finance, though still it has some critics.

Understanding Rocket Scientists

Wall Street expanded its reliance on these specialiststypically referred to as quantsas finance and trading became heavily automated and access to big data increased. While quantitative research can be applied to any style of investing, i.e., growth or value, its application in the securities industry has expanded along with the rise of factor investing. Initially thought of as a separate approach to investing that would help reduce human emotion in decision making, quantitative methods are now used across the industry and included within, as opposed to separately from, most investment strategies.

Quantitative Analysis is Now the Norm

An early example of the use of rocket scientists in asset management would be when a successful trader wanted to quantify her investment ideas and test the potential effectiveness of a strategy going forward. Having traditionally selected value stocks, for example, based on a fundamental strategy, a manager might hire an analyst with a Ph.D. and a background in theoretical physics ( A.K.A., rocket science) to create a model that tests the contribution to returns of hundreds or thousands of factors and correlations over long periods of time in multiple market scenarios. As the quant builds complex models for the backtesting of the managers strategy, she also learns the investment business, potentially evolving from rocket scientist to securities analyst and portfolio manager.

In recent decades quants have been integral to the development of synthetic products and derivatives including swaps. The models used by robo advisors to create investment portfolios and provide advice are also based on quantitative financial research. High frequency trading and other automated, algorithmic trading programs are direct outgrowths of the application of quantitative methods and computer models to investing and trading.

The extent to which quantitative and factor investing may contribute to potential market volatility when bypassing the checks and balances of human decision making remains a topic of intense debate. Quantitative, program trading was widely blamed for the Black Monday 1987 market crash and for having contributed to other more recent incidents of extreme market volatility such as the flash crash of 2010. The role of the modern, complex, and often opaque derivatives, swaps, and synthetic debt instruments, made possible by quantitative methods, to the causes, transmission, and uncertainty of the global financial crisis and Great Recession has also led to criticism of quantitative investing.

Proponents point out that market crashes also occurred before the introduction of modern quantitative methods, that their use may actually help overcome some of the impact of human psychology, emotion, and cognitive bias in the financial sector, and that the rapid, certain reaction of model-based trading programs can accelerate market adjustments and enhance efficiency. Regardless, quantitative trading is here to stay as the established norm in modern financial markets.By Tom Tuite

AA Ireland along with two other companies, The Dublin Mint Office Ltd and Viking Direct Ireland Ltd pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court today of sending or making unsolicited marketing calls, text messages and emails, which can result in a fine of up to 5,000 per offence.

The prosecutions were brought by the office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

In the case against AA Ireland, the court heard a motorist had been looking for an insurance quote and called them on Dec. 5 last. During the call he stressed that he did not want them to use his details for future marketing. The court heard he told the customer service agent, please make sure I am not marketed by AA.

He decided not to get a policy with them but the following day he received a text message on his phone from AA Ireland that read: Thanks for an AA inquiry, call now for 50 off. He sent an opt out text.

A day later, on Dec. 7 last, he got another message from them saying: Reminder, you can get 50 off.

He told the Assistant Data Protection Commissioner he had specifically told AA Ireland he did not want to be contacted for marketing purposes.

Mr Delaney said the complainant felt that this was typical of a hard sell, devil may care, attitude of many of these companies.

The defence explained it happened as a result of a human error. Judge Brennan noted they had agreed to pay prosecution costs and had co-operated with the investigation. He applied the Probation Act, sparing them a fine as well as a court conviction.

In evidence, Assistant Data Protection Commissioner Tony Delaney told Judge John Brennan that the Dublin Mint Office Ltd contacted a customer who had previously bought a Michael Collins commemorative coin from them.

He had made the purchase in the name of his six-year-son and had opted out of receiving marketing messages. However, on Oct. 13 last he received a marketing call from them, asking for his son.

Mr Delaney said the investigation revealed there had been a gap in their system and they had opted the customer out of email and postal marketing but not for phone marketing.

The company agreed to pay costs and had pleaded guilty the judge noted.

He also accepted that they had addressed the problem and had no prior convictions

Judge Brennan applied the probation act sparing the firm a conviction.

The court heard that Viking Direct Ireland emailed a business on April 18, 2017 after its owner tried to opt out of their mailing list three times. The owner had sent them messages previously and told them Im getting really annoyed now.

There were 282 emails sent to the business from January 2014 until April 2017. Mr Delaney accepted the Viking Direct Ireland had co-operated with the investigation

Judge Brennan told their solicitor it was a serious matter and he was adjourning their case until June 11 next for a representative of the company to be in court.

The prosecutions were brought because of the office of the Data Protection Commissioners two-strikes policy in relation to marketing offences and unwanted calls and messages. A first complaint can lead to a warning but if it continued they face a court prosecution.

Speaking following the proceedings today Assistant Data Protection Commissioner Tony Delaney said the circumstances outlined in evidence to the court in relation to the offending behaviour in all three cases demonstrates how companies can easily fall foul of the marketing regulations.By Eoin English

The 6m revamp of an historic Cork city quay which will include the city's first flood defences has been given the go-ahead.

City councillors have voted 22-6 during a city council meeting this evening to approve the Part 8 report on the Morrison's Island regeneration project despite significant opposition about the inclusion of flood defences proposed as part of OPW's controversial Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme (LLFRS) - the largest flood defence project in the history of the state.

The vote followed a 90-minute debate during which several councillors said the city needs to take steps to minimise flood risk.

An attempt to defer the vote pending an independent review of the LLFRS was ruled out of order.

Officials said work will begin now to prepare tender documents for the revamp in the hope that construction will start before the end of the year, and take between eight to 12-months to complete.

Lord Mayor, Cllr Tony Fitzgerald welcomed the vote.

"This scheme will deliver a high quality public amenity space for a long neglected area of the city but also the required level of flood protection for the wider city centre, he said.

Tonight's vote will be warmly welcomed by traders who have suffered enormously in previous flooding events".

The scheme includes an enhanced south-facing quayside streetscape, with improved pedestrian and cycling facilities, between Parnell Bridge and Parliament Bridge, a viewing platform over the river Lee, three new public plazas, and a mini-boardwalk as well as integrated flood defences.

It will be delivered along Morrisons and Fr. Mathew Quays between Parliament Bridge and Parnell Bridge and will include a short section of works at Union Quay close to Trinity footbridge.

These quays are the lowest lying in the city centre and are a source of regular tidal flooding.

The relocation of Trinity footbridge was ruled out on cost grounds but it will be redeveloped and remedial and strengthening works will be carried out to the existing quay walls as part of the construction of integrated flood defence work.

Read more on this story in tomorrow's Irish ExaminerBy Ann O'Loughlin

A Dublin City University student has been given leave by the High Court to challenge a decision by college authorities to exclude him from his course over inappropriate behaviour, but what he says could be explained by "cultural differences".

Lifeng Han, a Chinese national who is a PhD student in computing, was formally excluded by the college authorities last February over what a disciplinary committee decided was unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour.

Today, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan granted Frank Callanan SC, for Mr Han, leave to challenge the decision of the disciplinary investigation. The application was made on a one-side only represented basis.

Mr Callanan said his client was excluded from classes and college facilities last September. However, he also lives on campus and now fears his accommodation could be under threat as a result of the disciplinary finding.

His exclusion was formally notified following a disciplinary hearing last February. He sought to appeal the decision but was refused last month.

Mr Callanan said it was their case he was denied fair procedures including because a member of the disciplinary committee also had a prosecutorial role in the matter.

Mr Han says the allegations against him "could be explained by way of cultural differences", counsel said. However, he never got the opportunity to make that case.

He was accompanied to the disciplinary hearing by two friends, he was not in a position to put his case, counsel said. He is reasonably fluent in English, he said.

The findings of the disciplinary committee were professionally and personally devastating to him, counsel said.

He is now concerned both about his accommodation and about a 16,000 stipend for living expenses he receives, Mr Callanan said.

Mr Justice Noonan granted leave to bring the proceedings and also granted liberty to him to apply for an injunction in the event of any immediate danger to his accommodation situation.

The case comes back in October.Update 1.05pm: Two senior government ministers have declined to express their confidence in the States Chief Medical Officer in light of the cervical cancer scandal.

Dr Tony Holohan received memos in 2016 showing CervicalCheck had prepared a response for media stories about screenings not diagnosing cancer.

An independent review into the controversy is underway.

Ministers Richard Bruton and Katherine Zappone said theyre not going to say anything about Dr Holohan until the review is finished.

"I think the position is we have to wait and see what the evidence that comes form the inquiry that is being set by Dr Scally," Mr Bruton said.

"I agree with Minister Bruton that I think we need to wait to hear the detail of what happened in terms of the information provided and the way that it was responded to, so I am going to wait," Ms Zappone said.

Earlier: Blogger 'numb' and 'angry' after mother one of 17 who died of cervical cancer

Update 8am: A Dublin-based blogger has shared the story of her mother Catherine Reck who is one of the 17 women who have died of cervical cancer despite receiving a negative smear test result.

Grace Rattigan, who runs the blog Frilly Flossy, posted a statement on behalf of their family to her Facebook page.

209 women with cervical cancer had information withheld from them in relation to false negative smear test results, of which 17 have died.

Grace says her mother Catherine had a routine smear test in November 2010 and the results showed low-grade abnormalities, or pre-cancerous cells. She was told to wait six months for a retest, which is normal procedure, but she began having irregular bleeding for which she subsequently visited her GP in April 2011.

The GP is then said to have written to Tallaght Hospital, and Catherine was called for a colposcopy on August 11, 2011.

Grace says her mam was told "there and then that they were highly confident it was Cervical Cancer and would do a Biopsy which confirmed Catherine had Stage 3 Cervical Cancer and so our nightmare began".

File photo

After eight "harrowing months" Catherine passed away on April 13th, 2012 aged 48.

Grace goes on to say that the recent audit showed that Catherine's smear test results from November 2010 were incorrectly reported and that she required immediate attention.

"We feel as though we are starting our grieving process all over again. It feels like a wound has been ripped open, the sadness and anger is palpable," Grace says.

Grace says that when they sat down with Catherine's doctor, he informed them that "they were made aware of the discrepancies in Catherines smear test result in 2016".

The Doctor stated that they had followed instruction on a letter from Cervical Check. The instructions read: 'In the cases where a woman has died, simply ensure the result is recorded in the womans notes'.

Grace writes that once the CervicalCheck controversy began to emerge, Catherines next-of-kin and husband, Paul, phoned them to ask if their family were affected.

"He has since got several automated texts addressing him as if he was a woman concerned about their own smear results, not the widow of one of the women," she says.

"The doctor then phoned Paul last Friday night at 19.00 to tell him we were affected no other real detail and arranged for us to come in (the following Tuesday)."

"We are numb, we are angry; we have been brought back to the start of a long and difficult grieving process. This changes everything, all of the what ifs suddenly feel different," she says.

To learn this could have potentially been avoided, it now feels like Catherines life and her positive impact on our lives was stolen.

"Every milestone we have passed without her through cloudy eyes and heavy hearts now feel like an extension of this sense of being 'robbed'.

"We are ready to fight this. We are not calling for heads to roll. We wont be causing undue panic or concern on the system. We want answers for Catherine, her family (us) and the other women and families who have been failed. We want accountability.

Above all else we want change. We never want this to happen to any woman or her family in this country again.

You can read the full post here:

Digital Desk

Earlier: Top health officials face PAC grilling

By Elaine Loughlin

Update 7.53am: Senior health officials are to be grilled to establish who knew what and when about damning CervicalCheck memos.

As the cervical screening scandal rumbles on, Department of Health chief medical officer Tony Holohan, interim HSE director John Connaghan, and officials who wrote the 2016 memos are to be hauled before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Department of Health chief medical officer Tony Holohan

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris are expected to come under more pressure in the Dail this week after it emerged they were not made aware of the three memos which revealed CervicalCheck was developing responses to possible headlines that would read screening did not diagnose my cancer.

The memos, which resulted in the departure of HSE boss Tony OBrien, also stated that letters to the women affected would be paused and the order and volume of dispatch would be decided on to mitigate potential risks.

Meanwhile, Mr Harris is to bring a memo to Cabinet tomorrow to establish a board for the HSE.

He believes that there is an urgent need to restore public confidence in the HSE and is bringing forward plans to strengthen the management, governance, and accountability of the organisation.

These include the creation of a HSE board with a strong chair, the appointment of a new CEO, an examination of the current senior management within the HSE, and the development of an effective performance management and accountability system.

It comes as the PAC prepares to again question senior officials in the HSE, the department, and National Cancer Registry Ireland to find out who knew what and when.

Gabriel Scally has already been tasked with carrying out an independent scoping exercise into the scandal and will report back next month.

PAC member Alan Kelly said:

Ultimately, it cant just be about one person so we need to know who was aware of what and when.

Turning to Mr Harris, he said: Not knowing is really not an excuse, he has to come out this week and reveal everything.

If there are further revelations, if on Thursday in the PAC we find out more information that the minister wasnt aware of, well then that would be deeply troubling for him and this Government.

While Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the PAC is entitled to question officials, he said Dr Scally has been directed to uncover the facts.

Given the sensitivity of the matters, given the health and lives of women that are at the heart of this issue, [Dr Scallys] work should be allowed to continue and that is where we are most likely to get the key facts and answers.

Meanwhile, a Fermoy man has revealed that his late wife is one of the 17 women identified by the HSE as having died after a review found they were mistakenly given the all-clear for cancer.

Paul Dingivan has gone public to reveal that he has been told that a clear smear test result his wife Julie received in 2009 was found to be inaccurate following a review in September 2016  but she was never told.

Julie was 36 years old when she died of cervical cancer in Marymount Hospice in April 2017.

Earlier: Call for further clarity over cervical screening labs

Update 6.52am: There has been a call for further clarity over the laboratories used for cervical screening tests.

Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry says questions need to be answered about the use of third-party testing facilities to clear backlogs.

He wants to know if it happens, how it works, and whether the Health Minister knows about it.

"There are issues here in terms of traceability, not that we're trying to create any further worry for the women of Ireland," he said.

I think there are answers the the GPs require and the women require so they know exactly where their test is being done, what accreditation is associated with it, and that the a pathologist signing off on it have first-hand knowledge of the assessment of same.

Digital DeskBy Anne Lucey in Tralee

Up to 400 people, most of them women, turned out in the Square in Tralee this evening in a show of support for Emma Mhic Mhathuna, the 37-year-old mother of five, whose cervical cancer was missed.

The event, which included five minutes of silence, was organised by Sinn Fein and local councillor Toireasa Ferris as a show of solidarity.

Ms Mhic Mhathuna revealed her cancer had spread to her vertebrae and that she was speaking out to leave the country a safer place for everyone and everyones children.

She said she looked forward to President Michael D Higgins' private visit on Wednesday as she had heard him before in Maynooth and had greatly impressed here as "a true humanitarian."

Im happy my children will have some comfort that their mammy matters, she said of the visit.

She said she especially hoped to find out the presidents opinion of the Government and how they were handling things.

Ms MhicMhathuna also said the turn out in Tralee and the reaction to her showed she was having an impact  and also what could be done when women got together.

This is what being Irish is all about, Ms MhicMhathuna said to the gathering in the evening sunshine  saying the Dail when they didnt do their job needed to be fired.

Nicola Coffey from Tralee said they wanted to show support for Emma and for all women.

What is happening is a disgrace, she said critical of the high pensions people in the HSE were receiving on leaving. With her were Helen OShea and Sharon OSullivan from Killorglin.

Mother of one Michelle Grififn form Tralee said women were very worried.

Women here this evening could be victims and they dont know it!"

Emma Mhic Mhathuna at the Square in Tralee where a silent gathering was held to support women who are affected by the cervical cancer controversy. Picture Dan Linehan

Read more from Anne Lucey in tomorrow's Irish ExaminerBy Tom Tuite

A pharmaceutical firm has been ordered to give 5,000 to charity to avoid a conviction for breaking environmental regulations at its centre of excellence in Dublin.

Takeda Ireland Ltd pleaded guilty today to failing to comply with conditions of an industrial emissions licence granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

It happened at their plant at Grange Castle Business Park, Nangor Road, Dublin 22. The prosecution was brought by the EPA and was before Judge John Brennan at Dublin District Court on Monday.

EPA inspector Thomas Sexton agreed with prosecuting solicitor Maeve Larkin that the case related to excessive emissions to the atmosphere on a date last year. He said the emissions of carbon compounds were in the high risk, TA Luft Class II, range.

Mr Sexton told the court the values were about three times the permitted limit set out in the companys environmental licence.

He said the emissions can cause respiratory irritation and were potentially carcinogenic.

He agreed with defence counsel Ronan Kennedy that the Japanese based firm had also monitored the emissions and found they were about twice the level.

Mr Kennedy asked the court to note that this was only happened once, on a date last year during a particular manufacturing process that occurs just once a year.

The firm had also installed a new carbon abatement system and has taken preventative action, the court was told.

Takeda Ireland site director Paul Keogh said that the company had set up a team to deal with the problem which had been rectified. He said Takeda took environmental and health and safety issues seriously and the facility was a centre of excellence.

It was expanding in Ireland and was involved in providing help to schools in deprived areas and to encourage young people, he told the court.

Judge John Brennan said there were possible serious consequences.

However, he also said he was impressed with Mr Keoghs evidence and the companys corporate social responsibility and the support it gave to its local community.

He also noted the firm pleaded guilty and that there was no demonstrable environmental impact and he said the firm had greatly reduced its carbon footprint. The judge also remarked that the firm had remedied the situation and had co-operated fully with the EPA.

He indicated that he would strike out the case if Takeda Ireland donated 5,000 to the Focus Ireland charity which helps people affected by homelessness. The case was adjourned until June 19 next.Tanaiste Simon Coveney has called for an independent investigation into what he says seems to be a "disproportionate" use of force by the Israeli defence forces.

The latest death toll stands at 52 after Israeli soldiers shot and killed Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border, overshadowing the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

According to Gaza health officials, more than 1,200 people have also been wounded.

In a show of anger fuelled by the embassy move, protesters set tyres ablaze and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border.

The Israeli military said its troops had come under fire, and accused protesters of trying to break through the border fence. It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Coveney expressed his "profound shock" at the deaths and called for the Israeli army to show restraint to avoid a higher death toll.

"I am gravely concerned that the use of force seems disproportionate to the reported threat, and I reiterate that an independent investigation is urgently needed, as called for by the UN Secretary-General," said Mr Coveney.

"It is essential that Israeli forces show restraint, if this tragic death toll is not to climb even higher. In the context of the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, I call on all leaders to ensure that their statements today promote calm and do not further inflame tensions."

In a tweet from Washington, US President Donald Trump did not refer to the violence, declaring it: "A great day for Israel!"Geraldine Walsh doesnt like the taste, or the aftermath of one too many glasses of alcohol. So why, she wonders, do so many people struggle with her decision not to drink?

Ive spent the best part of adulthood avoiding a social life that has never suited me. Towards my latter days in college, I circumvented the student bar considering the constant badgering to just have one wore very thin, very quickly.

Even at 20, I knew the student bar was not where an introverted, soda drinker would feel comfortable.

Im not a pioneer, a teetotaller, a recovering alcoholic, or no fun as some have told me. I simply dont enjoy alcohol. I neither like the taste nor the feeling that one glass too many gives me.

Being a non-drinker amongst a wall of drinkers is less than agreeable as the alcoholic effects morph the attitudes and behaviours of those I am supposed to be enjoying a night out with.

If you dont like it, dont do it right? So, I made the choice and dont drink. But it seems my rejection of an alcoholic beverage does not appeal to those I socialise with. Despite them knowing I will never favour a glass of wine, they always insist I have one.

The obligatory, No thanks, comes forth but its almost as though they are on a mission to see me with glass in hand or worse, drunk.

I asked Dr Sally Adams, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Bath, if there is a prejudice against non drinkers.

She says, There is a small body of research to suggest that non-drinkers may be viewed as unsociable or boring, particularly in groups where excessive drinking is viewed as a normal experience. However, most of this work seems to focus on young people. It would be helpful to understand how abstaining from alcohol is viewed by older adults, especially as this is an at risk group for heavy and harmful alcohol use.

Im somewhere in between being no longer a college student in my twenties but also not an older adult with a history of alcohol use. Yet, I find myself defending my choice far more often than I should.

Not bothering with alcohol has left me in many uncomfortable and frustrating situations with friends, colleagues and acquaintances who cant seem to understand why I dont drink.

At times it seems as though my failure to drink is a knock against them. This is hardly the case but the more they insist I drink, the less likely I will want to socialise with them.

My decision to join a social situation or a work event is often driven by the location and the possibility of excessive drinking. I choose to avoid pubs in the evenings, have left weddings earlier than others and find work functions tedious at the best of times but when alcohol is involved, I make my excuses and leave.

I realise this somewhat alienates me in the land of the drink and has possibly played a part in my social anxiety.

Dr Adams says, There is some evidence to show negative health outcomes exist in abstainers, the so called abstainer effect, including psychological distress, anxiety and depression.

It is proposed that abstainers may be less socially integrated, less extraverted and report lower levels of social support compared with moderate drinkers. These are factors that are positively related to mental health. However, more research is required in this field.

Considering the plight of the non-drinker in Ireland can be tedious in the local, the nightclub or even at a friends dinner party, I have found shunning certain social occasions far more easier.

You have to have a drink, a friend recently impressed on me at a house party I had desperately tried to avoid. Its my birthday, she unsuccessfully argued when I shook my head.

No, in actual fact I dont, and by the looks of it youre drinking enough for both of us, I wanted to retaliate with.

Instead, I politely smiled and said, Ah, no, youre grand. Ill stick to this, raising my lipstick stained glass of coke.

Someone get her a vodka, the birthday girl shouted, laughing at my 0% alcohol. She needs to loosen up. Go on just have the one, she says again.

I have never allowed myself be led by peer pressure despite our frequency of alcohol consumption being linked to our social circle. The fact that my husband also doesnt drink and feels as explicitly uncomfortable around alcohol as I do, may explain this one.

As Dr Adams says, Health psychology models recognise the importance of social norms and peers in shaping our health behaviours. Therefore, who we socialise with can determine our drinking patterns.

I would have imagined that in 2018 the attitude to those of us who would rather have a cranberry juice over a beer or Bloody Mary, would have changed.

But 15 years after I last left the student bar, Im still treated with unequivocal confusion, as though the words that come out of my mouth are garbled or sound more like Aramaic than simply, Thanks, but Ill stick to water.

And yet more people than ever seem to be giving up or limiting how much alcohol they consume. Perhaps the attitude is generational but not the generation I find myself in.

Dr Adams says, It is not yet clear what factors are driving the recent increase in non-drinking or drinking in moderation.

"It will be very important for research to examine these factors and to monitor drinking trends to see if this pattern continues.Natasha Scriptures dating detox turned into a spiritual reckoning across four continents. We could all learn from her, writes Suzanne Harrington.

Youve heard of he-toxing, but what about a man fast? What if, as a woman, you become tired of the script society keeps thrusting at you? What if you need to meet yourself before you can truly love another?

Natasha Scripture

Natasha Scriptures mother wanted to see her daughter settled with a kind, sporty, multi-millionaire  her mum particularly liked Roger Federer  who would never tire of procreating.

Her mother had a Nora Ephron take on romance, where good looking people bump into each there at the tops of skyscrapers, or in bars when theyre least expecting it.

Natasha, then working for the UN, was exhausted from explaining to her mum that it was nearly impossible to find a husband while doing short term stints in refugee camps, war zones and natural disaster areas, even if she had been looking for one.

She was already married  to adrenaline.

Eventually, after a career working for the BBC, CNN, TED, Al Jazeera, National Geographic and Conde Nast as well as the UN, Natasha realised she was burnt out.

The urge to settle down had kicked in, she writes in Man Fast: How One Womans Dating Detox Turned Into A Spiritual Reckoning Across Four Continents.

It was partly biological, partly social conditioning, partly cultural, and also spurred by the illness of her father.

She began dating  a lot  even though her heart wasnt in it; she felt that she should, that she ought to. That it was the next expected step.

Dating in New York however, rather than embodying the japes of Sex & The City, proved to be a soul destroying endeavour often involving creeps, players, social climbers, commitment-phobes and way too much intoxication.

She rejected suitors for a comical array of reasons: for licking their fingers while eating; for not knowing where Addis Ababa was; for having a face slightly paralysed by Botox; for snorting coke in the bathroom between courses; for wearing raspberry coloured trousers; for reviewing the bill like they were studying for the bar exam; for requesting a blow job.

Yet despite some perfectly viable encounters, Natasha realised her mass rejections were because, on a subconsious level, I knew there was work to do and I could only do it alone.

Then her father died; he would never meet any future grandchildren. His death was instrumental in rerouting her quest from external to internal. She began looking inwards, and realised that her path was to meet herself, rather than a potential partner.

Its an experiment in mindfulness, in taking time to meet ourselves, she says. You could call it a midlife crisis, because they are not just for men. Its the heroines journey, rather than the heros journey.

"This book is about spiritual awakening, creativity, and the integration of the feminine and the masculine. We have subconsciously adopted the patriarchal mode of power and success  achievement, goal getting, and the patriarchal notion that women are incomplete if not wedded to someone.

"Yet the patriarchy is relatively recent  for a 20,000 year period, men and women lived as equals.

And so began a profound and thorough exploration into her own psyche, that started with the simple act of slowing down.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life, warned Socrates; she also quotes American teacher Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now: The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Instead of dashing about the globe at a frenetic work pace, Natasha began a slower journey that took her through Ayurveda in India (herbal enemas and therapeutic vomiting  yikes), Kundalini yoga in Sicily, silent vipassana meditation in California, WWOOFing in Italy (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms  basically, posh grape harvesting), exploring nature in Tanzania, and privately marrying herself, during a morning meditation.

Her vows included I, Natasha, give myself permission to pursue happiness and meaning in non-traditional ways and I, Natasha, am whole and will never again doubt my own wholeness.

Its not as earnest as it sounds. Natasha Scripture fizzes with intelligence and curiosity; her book is funny and bright and fearless.

Why should we not question everything, she wonders, as we react to the world around us: There is currently a shift in consciousness  Trump and his misogyny is resulting in the radicalisation of women, she says.

Hes creating activists of us all. So Man Fast, despite its title, is not about dating or self help or any of the usual guff presented to women.

"It is the female trajectory of Odysseus, undertaken by an erudite woman who explores everything from her own body to the Bhagavad Gita, via sitar lessons in Harlem and peyote in the Costa Rican rain forest.

"Nothing is off limits in Natashas voyage of discovery, apart from forming intimate relationships with others. They are off the menu.

And there it was, she concludes. I did not need to look for love because I was love.

Man Fast by Natasha Scripture, is published by PiatkusThe cherry blossoms are in bloom and Communion season is in full swing, with the girls akin to miniature brides and the boys kitted out like Conor McGregor, writes Elaine Loughlin.

But many of these children may never again set foot in a Church, apart from the odd Christmas Day or a siblings Confirmation.

Ireland is changing.

Just 51% of marriages include religious ceremonies. Half of all couples do not walk up the church aisle to get married and this is an indication that they wont want their children brought up in a faith-based school.

But still, 96% of our primary schools are under religious patronage.

Successive education ministers, from Ruairi Quinn, to Jan OSullivan and now Richard Bruton, have tried to claw some of the 2,800 Catholic primary schools out of the grip of the Church and have failed.

Indeed, a spokesperson for Mr Bruton said: There have been previous efforts at transferring patronage, but we have to be honest and admit that they havent worked.

His predecessor, Ms OSullivan, told this paper in 2015 that she was disappointed at the rate of progress in divestment and said it was her intention to engage with stakeholders.

Speaking recently, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said he has constantly argued that there is a need to reduce the number of Catholic schools up and down the county.

Ive met resistance, not among the bishops, but among some of the bureaucracies involved in school policy."

Until that happens, theres going to be no real choice, he said.

And yet, almost a generation of primary school-aged children have progressed through school and onto

secondary education, since divestment was first highlighted as a government priority.

Back in 2011, the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector was established to recommend steps to ensure that a sufficiently diverse number and range of primary schools would be provided to cater for children of all religions and none.

The forum held public sessions and consulted widely on the issues, before a report was published in 2012.

The forum identified 43 towns and areas across the country where parents did not have a choice in the type of education they could give their children.

Surveys were carried out in all 43 areas, and in 28 areas there was clear demand for alternative forms of education, mostly for Educate Together, but also for Gaelscoil and Education and Training Board (ETB) options.

However, six years later and 16 of these 28 areas are still awaiting their divested schools.

With only a handful of schools divested from the Church, the Department of Education has now, again, gone back to the drawing board and is to begin another round of surveys.

Mr Bruton announced this new process in January of last year, but ETBs, who have been tasked with identifying areas, have yet to survey parents.

There are big ambitions and the Programme for Government has committed to reaching 400 multi-denominational and non-denominational schools by 2030.

The Government will be given a get-out-of-jail-free card, when it comes to some of these schools, which will be newly built to cater for an increasing population, meaning they wont actually have to take existing schools away from the Church to make up the full 400.

But change comes dripping slowly.

While both the Department of Education and the Catholic Church seem to think divestment is a good idea, little progress has been made.

In the meantime, class after class of girls in white dresses and boys in suits are educated by the Catholic Church, whether their parents like it or not.David Taylor ducked past the cameras outside the entrance to the Disclosures Tribunal yesterday, writes Michael Clifford.

They wanted a shot of the man who is effectively responsible for the inquiry. The superintendent has made the most serious allegations against two former commissioners. He spent the day in the witness box and frequently appeared uncomfortable about what was being put to him.

He did not look like somebody mad eager to have his story told.

He claims Martin Callinan directed him to blacken the character of Sgt Maurice McCabe when Taylor was head of the Garda press office in 2013-14. He also claims that Noirin OSullivan, then Mr Callinans deputy, was aware this was going on, and it was all because McCabe was highlighting issues around quashing road safety penalty points.

The character blackening allegedly took the form of telling people that Sgt McCabe had questions to answer in relation to child sexual abuse, which was entirely untrue.

There had been an allegation against Sgt McCabe from a colleagues daughter in 2006 which had been

investigated and roundly dismissed as having no credibility and the allegation not, in any event, even being criminal in nature.

If the allegations against Mr Callinan and Ms OSullivan were found to have substance, it would amount to the most appalling indictment of garda culture at the highest level. But were a long way off that, yet.

Both former commissioners and the director of communication in the force, Andrew McLindon, whom Supt Taylor has also implicated, deny any knowledge of a smear campaign.

The only corroboration of any kind about attempts to blacken Sgt McCabes character has come from witnesses who have told that Callinan himself had briefed them that Sgt McCabe had questions to answer.

Yesterday, Supt Taylor was brought through the protected disclosure he made in October 2016 about the alleged smear campaign. He was at that time going through his own difficulties.

Having been transferred out of the press office when Mr Callinan resigned in March 2014, he was subsequently suspended and arrested in an investigation into leaks to the media.

Supt Taylor told the tribunal that in mid-2013 the commissioner was seriously discommoded by Mr McCabes efforts to highlight abuse in the penalty points system.

He (Mr Callinan) was getting deeply frustrated that the penalty points issue was not abating but was growing all the time, Supt Taylor said. It was reflecting badly on An Garda Siochana and on him and you have to understand that anything that reflects badly on senior garda management is something that cannot in their mind be tolerated.

Then a story appeared that Mr Callinan himself had had penalty points cancelled.

He was very annoyed, the witness said. He felt it was an impingement on his privacy.

Around this time, Supt Taylor claims, his boss told him to brief journalists that Sgt McCabe had been investigated for child sexual abuse and he was motivated in highlighting the penalty points issue by revenge against the force.

I was given specific instructions to take every opportunity with the media to drop it into conversations (with the media) when they bring it (the penalty points issue) up, he said.

He also said he put it as there was no smoke without fire, I would drop this in when talking to journalists.

Supt Taylor says he did as he was instructed. The story was frequently in the news and every time it arose, so too did the annoyance of the commissioner.

He would remind me when it would break out in the news, are you getting that out? He would regularly say do people not know what I have to put up with.

Tribunal lawyer Diarmuid McGuinness set about testing the credibility of Supt Taylors allegations.

In the first instance, he pointed out that a number of people, including Sgt McCabe and TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, have said Supt Taylor claimed to them he did some of the briefing by text. He denies that he said any such thing.

He was brought through an incident at the conclusion of a Public Accounts Committee meeting in January 2014 when the chairman John McGuinness approached Mr Callianan.

Supt Taylor says he heard Mr Callinan describe Sgt McCabe to Mr McGuinness as a kiddie fiddler. This corroborates Mr McGuinnesss recollection, although Supt Taylor did not include this incident in his protected disclosure. Much of the afternoon was spent delving into the various contacts Supt Taylor had with different journalists, and whether he briefed them against Sgt McCabe.

In February 2014, INM journalist Paul Williams interviewed Ms D, the woman at the centre of the discredited 2006 allegation against Sgt McCabe.

Supt Taylor claims Williams rang him from Ms Ds house and said that Sgt McCabe had ruined this womans life and that he, Mr Williams, would be writing a negative story about Sgt McCabe. Mr Williams says he rang Supt Taylor just to confirm details of the 2006 investigation.

Supt Taylor told the tribunal he texted Martin Callinan to let him know about the prospect of a negative story on

McCabe. He says he also texted Noirin OSullivan.

She replied perfect and then she rang me, he said.

I just told her that Paul Williams had rang me and hed been up to the house, and had told me how that family had been destroyed and he was going to write a negative article about Sgt McCabe.

Supt Taylor has provided a list of nine journalists whom he claims to have briefed negatively about McCabe. These are Paul Reynolds and John Burke, both of RTE, Paul Williams (INM), Conor Lally (Irish Times), Michael OToole (The Star), John Mooney (Sunday Times), and Cormac OKeeffe, Danny McConnell, and Juno McEnroe, all of the Irish Examiner.

All of the journalists either reject that they were briefed or refuse to confirm or deny in on the basis of journalistic principles.

In his favour is his decision to incriminate himself in his allegations. But beyond that, he has cited no solid corroboration for what he says was being done.

Through detailed questioning yesterday he failed to mention one instance where he could remember the specifics of briefing a journalist about Sgt McCabe.

Yesterday was his direct evidence. His evidence continues today.Three women each give their view on the potential impact of the upcoming referendum on Irish healthcare.

Historian Lindsey Earner Byrne says the Eighth Amendment is indicative of a culture that does not trust women

The current cervical smear scandal is indicative of the history of how Irish women have been treated in relation to their own bodies, health, and lives.

It is in keeping with a society that introduced the Eighth Amendment to our Constitution only a few days after being informed a woman died because she was denied cancer treatment that was deemed harmful to her unborn child.

It is indicative of a culture where people continue to champion such an amendment after it resulted in the death of Savita Halappanavar, who had been denied an emergency termination to complete a partial miscarriage that ended up killing her. It is indicative of a culture that does not trust women.

Why am I surprised? After all, I have spent 20 years researching and writing the history of women in Ireland, in particular the treatment of mothers.

I know this distrust of women has a long history and it is a history that has prioritised an abstract morality over real womens lives.

In 2007, I published a book unearthing the reality of the mother and baby homes that propped up our hypocritical moral culture. The logic that underpinned that system is not history.

Today, a woman, pregnant as a result of rape, who seeks an abortion in Ireland faces a longer sentence than her rapist. We dont mind if she leaves the country, but then we were happy to export our unmarried mothers in the past too.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, as many unmarried mothers left Ireland as stayed. Our priorities were and are clear, if frightening.

Distrust of women also underpinned the decision to suppress information relating to birth control in 1929, as one commentator, writing in The Dublin Review wondered: What is there to induce women to go through the difficulties inseparable from maternity if they accept the principles of Birth Control? The writer believed women would not endure repeated pregnancies out of patriotism, if, as he noted the fear of God fails.

In 1935, when the sale and/or use of contraception was criminalised, it was done so despite the knowledge that some women would pay for that decision with their lives. In fact, it was done so because of the knowledge that womens health was being cited as grounds for access to birth control elsewhere.

For example, in the early 1930s, the League of Nations drew up a maternal welfare handbook which advised that women who suffered from heart disease, tuberculosis or nephritis should be provided with anti-conception advice.

When the Government objected to the notion of supplying birth control advice, the League explained it wished to ensure that women were not called upon to sacrifice their lives.

However, the Government, bolstered by the 1931 papal pronouncement that risks to the mothers life offered no

pretext for abortion or birth control, persisted and succeeded in having the wording changed to read: Steps to be taken to avoid [pregnancy] should be explained to the husband and wife by a doctordue account being taken of the individuals religious beliefs and moral principles, as well as of national legislation.

At the time, medical opinion was that, after pregnancy, death often ensues for the woman with tuberculosis, a real and present danger in 1930s Ireland.

We need to remember too that when the Irish state banned birth control and all information about how to regulate fertility, women were marrying later than anywhere else in Western Europe and had the highest marital fertility.

The year after these negotiations with the League of Nations, the Master of the Rotunda hospital in Dublin noted the dangers facing mothers.

From the fifth pregnancy the rate of mortality is over average by an amount which increases steadily and speedily until in women bearing their tenth child or more the mortality is five times as high as for all women bearing children, he wrote.

At the heart of this history was a desire to control the flow of information to ensure that women were not fully aware of the health implications of repeated pregnancies and an acknowledgment that in prioritising morality some women would die.

I often hear people say they dont believe in abortion. I wish that was an option, but abortion is not a religion; it is a medical intervention, a response to the trauma of unwanted, dangerous, or unviable pregnancies.

So, is this statement a declaration of a kind of moral geography that stops at the shores of Ireland?

I have asked people about the posters saying in England 1 in 5 babies are aborted, because I wanted to understand the logic of this argument.

Presumably, these figures (setting aside questions of accuracy) include Irish abortions? So when these posters tell us Dont bring this to Ireland, are they referring to the roughly nine Irish women that travel to England everyday to terminate their pregnancies?

Shouldnt it follow that people who are convinced by this logic would also like to restrict womens right to travel?

If you are voting to stop Irish abortion, you must want to stop Irish people leaving Ireland to end Irish pregnancies.

The surprising thing is when I ask people this, not one person voting to retain the Eighth Amendment based on the rationale of these posters has agreed with the idea of restricting the right to travel. So again, I ask, is this about geography?

Dont be fooled by disingenuous talk of not trusting politicians  that is a smoke screen, as urging people not to trust women would simply not wash.

This is the same rationale that talks of abortion on demand  that is code for beware of giving women the final say on their own pregnancies.

In essence, a no vote will retain the Eighth Amendment and ensure that individual women do not get to decide what happens to them in a moment of crisis after a rape, or in the case of their health being endangered by a pregnancy, or in how closely they are willing to flirt with death before medical intervention is justified to terminate their pregnancy.

Trust me.

Lindsey Earner Byrne is associate professor, School of History, University College Dublin

Trish Horgan says the Eighth means she must turn away some of her patients at their time of greatest need

I am a GP on the northside of Cork City and in my 16 years of practice I have met many women with difficulty in pregnancy.

This can include fatal fetal anomalies, miscarriages, and crisis pregnancies.

Crisis pregnancy is common, and can affect a woman of any age, class and background. Whether you are aware of it or not, you know someone who has experienced a crisis pregnancy.

The forthcoming referendum will ask us to repeal the Eighth Amendment so that provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.

This will not change the laws on abortion immediately, but it will allow the Dail to legislate for access to abortion care for women.

It will also not introduce abortion; it already exists. Thousands of Irish women access abortion services every year, but not at home.

So why is new legislation needed? Whats wrong with what we have in place right now?

As a doctor who has worked on the frontlines of this issue for 16 years, I believe the current legislation puts women  mothers, sisters, daughters, partners, friends, colleagues  at an unacceptable risk of harm.

That harm is caused, in part, by a break in the vital link between the patient and GP who usually navigates a healthcare pathway on the patients behalf.

At present, if my patient decides to terminate her pregnancy, the law will permit me, as her GP, to discuss that with her, but prohibits me from taking the next clinical step in her care, which would be to make a referral on her behalf.

This means my patient must navigate the next steps without medical guidance  sometimes with a partner, often as distressed and vulnerable as she is, sometimes not.

I dont know what quality of care she will receive abroad, I wont receive any information from the doctors treating her abroad, and I doubt she will come to me for any follow-up care, though she may desperately need it.

In 2016, 3,265 women gave Irish addresses (including 241 from Cork) at abortion clinics in Britain, bringing the number to 168,703 since 1980.

These are not just numbers; these are wives, mothers, daughters, forced to make a cruel and lonely journey at a time when they should be cared for at home.

I am aware that some of those women may include my own patients and yet there is little I can do to help them. Just like there is little I can do to help patients who purchase abortion pills online.

Thousands of Irish women buy these pills which they take without medical supervision, spending hours or days afterwards bleeding or waiting to bleed, or wondering if they have infection or if they are still pregnant; and all the while terrified of prosecution because they have acted outside the law.

These women are even less likely than those who travel abroad for termination to present to me for medical care, because what theyre doing is illegal.

From a medical point of view, these women are at risk of serious illness or death.

In any other circumstances, a woman with such complex physical and psychological needs would and should contact her doctor. But they dont, and they wont until we repeal the Eighth Amendment.

Women facing crisis pregnancies need the best healthcare possible at home in Ireland.

A yes vote recognises the reality that thousands of women in Ireland are having unsupported abortions every single year, and that we need to update our laws to reflect this reality.

A yes vote is about removing threats, and fear and shame from our healthcare. We urgently need to create an environment where patients who find themselves in crisis pregnancy can seek help from their doctors, not hide from them.

This would allow for a compassionate, non-judgmental consultation where all options would be considered.

The Eighth Amendment means that I must turn away some of my patients at their time of greatest need.

I believe Ireland is a compassionate country. We cannot look the other way any longer. As a doctor I want to be able to support all of my patients.

I am voting yes so that I can deliver that support and care.

Trish Horgan is a GP in Cork city

We need to take care of our vulnerable, not export them for the UK to receive help, says Louise Kenny

Im an obstetrician and gynaecologist specialising in the management of high-risk pregnancies.

I have more than 25 years of clinical experience and I spent the last 12 years working in Ireland as a consultant obstetrician at Cork University Maternity Hospital.

Over two unseasonably warm and sunny days earlier this month, 400 or so of Britain and Irelands doctors who, like me, specialise in the management of high-risk pregnancies attended a conference in Brighton.

The British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS) meeting is an annual opportunity to meet with colleagues and friends, to share medical and scientific research progress, discuss complicated medical dilemmas and to advance the care of maternal and fetal medicine.

Obstetrics, and the management of high-risk pregnancies in particular, has long been regarded as the Cinderella discipline of medical research.

Here in Ireland, we punch above our weight, sporting the world-class Infant centre at UCC and the newly launched Perinatal Research Centre at UCD.

The Irish contingent is always well represented at BMFMS.

And yet, each year as Team Ireland board the plane to meet with our European colleagues, our pride is always tinged with a sense of shame.

As consultant obstetricians at the sharp end of clinical practice, we know what it is to diagnose a life limiting fetal abnormality and to tell the grief-stricken parents  your options are limited, all we can do is wait.

At the darkest hours of any mothers life, we are unable to offer what our colleagues in Britain and elsewhere can.

We provide information, the contact details of the hospitals where many of us trained and where we know our patients will be met with compassion and care.

But under the Eight Amendment, we cannot fulfil the most basic requirement of good clinical practice. We cannot pick up the phone or send a letter to provide even the most basic of clinical details  as this would constitute procurement of an abortion and we would face a custodial sentence.

We are gagged and bound. Our British colleagues understand this. Week in and week out, for the last 34 years, they have opened their underfunded and understaffed hospitals and clinics to Irish women shunned by their own country.

Colleagues and friends to us, but strangers to our patients, they nevertheless care for them as if they were their own.

Last year, of the 3,265 Irish women who attended hospitals and clinics in the UK seeking termination of pregnancy, 61 women attended Liverpool Womens Hospital, where I trained, with pregnancies complicated by either significant maternal medical illness or life-limiting fetal abnormalities.

Some 61 Irish citizens, at a time of critical need, travelled to a foreign country for basic healthcare, approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), but denied to Irish women because of the Eighth Amendment.

The ultimate English solution to a problem Ireland has refused to acknowledge.

Several of those 61 women were patients of mine. Since moving back to Ireland 12 years ago, I have cared for many women whose lives have been damaged, sometimes irreparably, by the Eighth Amendment.

I remember each and every one of them. I remember the sudden, sick, hollow feeling in my stomach when I turned on the ultrasound during a routine appointment and saw something that would change a womans life forever.

Obstetrics is the best job in the world. It can also be the worst.

There are no words to describe the feeling that accompanies the words Im so sorry, I have something to tell you, but Im certain that it is nothing to the utter despair felt by the mothers and fathers who hear those words spoken.

In the evening sunshine in Brighton, I meet a colleague, an old friend from Liverpool who I trained with and who has been there for countless Irish women over the last three decades.

He follows me on Twitter and he understands the irony. When we first met, I was a very junior doctor from an Irish Catholic family, I was reticent about abortion and had everything to learn.

For the last 12 years, he and his colleagues have been there for the women, the babies and the families that have been exported, on my watch, from Ireland because of the Eighth Amendment.

I cannot express my gratitude and I cannot hide my shame. But this year, as we part, Team Ireland toast our

colleagues with a renewed sense of purpose and hope.

We will vote yes on May 25 and hope that this year will be the last year we export our most vulnerable citizens. Next year we will be able to take care of our own.

Louise Kenny is consultant obstetrician at Cork University Maternity HospitalAlmost nine out of 10 second-level students who responded to the poll on a study website indicated they have concerns about their online privacy.

Of 5,500 students who took part, 89% were worried or very worried about this issue and their personal data.

However, although two-thirds are concerned about spending too much time on their phones, the majority do not support a ban on smartphones in schools. The level of use during school time is reflected by the fact that 47% said they had checked their phone in class in the previous seven days.

The latest survey by Studyclix.ie, which ran over five days last week, shows 41% of students agree with policies banning phones in school. This compares to 60% support among teachers for a ban.

The recent controversies about personal information being harvested by apps used by people on Facebook may be behind high awareness and use of privacy settings on social media. Among users of Instagram, for example, 75% of survey participants have their accounts set to private mode.

However, one-third of those who are on Snapchat do not use a ghost mode that hides their exact location. The app is used by 94% of students who took part in the survey, remaining their most popular social media outlet, followed by Instagram, used by 90%.

Studyclix.ie co-founder Luke Saunders said he was really surprised how many students were worried about their online privacy and safety, having found little concern from talking to students over the years.

The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal has raised awareness of data privacy among Irish teens. This can only be a good thing, he said.

Mr Saunders was not surprised that the survey found two-thirds of students have experienced difficulty sleeping or getting back to sleep.

As a teacher, I have observed that students, particularly young boys, are spending vast amounts of their free time playing highly addictive games often late into the night, said Mr Saunders.

Of those surveyed, 84% said they look at their phone in bed before going to sleep.

Among the one in four students who play video games regularly, more than an hour a day is spent by the average student during the school week and three hours a day at weekends.

From being the most popular three years ago, when 88% in a similar survey used it, Facebook is used by less than three-quarters of current second-level students.

All but 5% said they have shared a photo of themselves on social media, and more than a third have posted a video in which they appear.

Nearly 1,800, or 41% of those surveyed, had shared their school name, 11% had posted their phone number, and 5% had shared their home address.Gavin Tobin is one of seven former Air Corps members taking cases against the State, claiming they are suffering from a variety of illnesses as a result of their unnecessary exposure to chemicals while cleaning and maintaining the forces aircraft.

Mr Tobin has received the medical opinion of a toxico-pathologist who states that his various medical complaints and organic Encephalopathy  or brain disorders  are as a direct result of chemicals he used while working at the Air Corps headquarters at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, in Dublin.

Mr Tobin has suffered depression, anxiety, fatigue, and other complaints, and has been told that these exposures also put him at a greater risk of Alzheimers and a variety of cancers.

In October 2016, the High Court granted Mr Tobin an order for discovery of the chemicals he used while working at Casement Aerodrome from 1989 to 1999.

He had argued he would need a full list of the chemicals he was asked to use during his time in the Air Corps in order to make his case against the State.

However, the written judgment on the discovery order, published by the Courts Service, shows that the State argued against granting Mr Tobin this list of chemicals.

The State Claims Agency argued the Air Corps does not have such a list, and would not be able to create it.

While it conceded that it could compile a list of the chemicals used in the workshop in which he worked, it said  a full discovery of this category which required all records concerning chemicals in use at the Aerodrome was unnecessarily wide and would impose too heavy a burden.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott, however, granted the discovery order and said the quantities and dates of purchase and use of chemicals and mixtures and the safety data concerning their handling, application and use form a highly relevant and important part of the case.

Having regard to the nature of the case made I am satisfied that the plaintiff will suffer serious disadvantage in the preparation and presentation of his case if the relevant records sought under these categories are not made the subject of a discovery order, Mr Justice McDermotts 2016 ruling read.

The judge also dismissed the States argument that Mr Tobins request was too broad.

The identification in the defendants records of the chemicals named and likely to have been used by the plaintiff in the course of his duties is highly relevant to the establishment of his claim, he ruled.

However, the State has yet to furnish these documents to Mr Tobin or his legal representatives over a year and a half since the order was granted.

The State Claims Agency will next month argue against the granting of the order in the Court of Appeal. The agency said it would not be replying to queries from this newspaper regarding the appeal.Paul Dingivan has gone public to reveal that he has been told that a clear smear test result his wife Julie received in 2009 was found to be inaccurate following a review in September 2016  but she was never told.

Julie was 36 years old when she died of cervical cancer in Marymount Hospice in April 2017.

She is survived by Paul, their daughter Ali, her son Craig from a previous relationship, and her step-daughter Jasmine.

She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2013, and began treatment.

Despite brief moments of reprieve where the treatment appeared to have worked, the cancer returned and she passed away in April of last year.

An audit of the CervicalCheck screening programme found that 208 women who would later be diagnosed with cervical cancer were originally given an incorrect all-clear result following a smear test.

Of these, 162 were not told about the audit results.

A fortnight ago, Patrick Lynch, chairman of the HSE Serious Incident Management Team, revealed that 17 of these women had died.

A day later, a nurse from Cork University Hospital contacted Mr Dingivan and arranged a meeting.

The doctor told me that Julie had been identified as one of the 17 women. They said they found out about the test discrepancies in September 2016, he told the Irish Independent.

When I asked when the review of her smear test took place, the doctor said he couldnt answer, but that he would write to CervicalCheck to find out.

I couldnt even ask them any more questions. It was like there was something caught in my throat. I couldnt even look at them, I was just looking at a paint spot on the wall.

Mr Dingivan says he has gone public with Julies story because he believes it would be what she would have wanted, and it puts a name to the figures being released by the HSE.

She would have wanted people to hear this, he said.

We all said that, knowing Julie, if she had of heard this she would have wanted her story out there.

In a hospital, youre just a number on a file, but now people can see the faces behind all these womens stories like Julies.A report compiled by senior military officers stated that only about one in 10 of all applicants passed the five basic entry requirements, which include medical, fitness and intelligence tests.

Last year, there were 8,164 initial applicants, but many dropped out at different stages, even if they didnt fail previous tests.

At the end of the day, the Defence Forces was left with barely enough to fill the 850 places on offer.

Even then the Naval Service was only capable of inducting 26 recruits for its most recent intake when they required up to 48 to keep pace with retirements and replacing personnel who had chosen to leave early.

Senior military officers said unlike the Defence Forces, most public and private sector organisations have a large panel of suitably qualified applicants from which to select the very best to join their organisation.

Their report, which has been seen by the Irish Examiner, showed that interest in joining the Defence Forces is dropping, despite a major recruitment drive by the Department of Defence.

This is being primarily blamed on the rising economy and better pay and conditions in other sectors.

By comparison, in 2012, there were 10,155 applicants for Defence Forces recruitment.

Around 60% of applicants who are invited to take the psychometric (intelligence) test dont do so.

The suspicion is that they are applying to tick a box for Social Welfare and have no intention of joining up.

Meanwhile, the report said it is estimated that approximately 13% of all applicants use an alternative email address when taking the intelligence test, thereby allowing the applicant to have a trial run, designed to improve their chances of success when they do it on their real email.

As the online test is unsupervised, it also cant be proved if it was the actual applicant who answered the questions.

The Department of Defence acknowledged that the tests are completed unsupervised online.

However, it said that at interview stage, the Defence Forces facilitate each candidate with sample questions broadly similar to the psychometric test which is set.

In a statement, it said all aspects of the recruitment process are reviewed on an ongoing basis and lessons learned are implemented.

Some concerns have been raised by senior officers that the department might dilute the intelligence tests in the future, which they say could be potentially dangerous.Dianne Stewart, who lives and works in London, told the Irish Examiner that she worked as a lifeguard in a beach and pool setting in Canada when she was a teen.

I wouldnt have been able to live with myself if I hadnt done something, knowing that I had that training, she said.

Ms Stewart was speaking for the first time about her and her brothers role in the brave rescue in Cork city centre last Thursday.

Ms Stewart was in Cork with her father, Dennis Burke, and his wife, to meet relatives he had traced during ancestral research.

She was walking through the city with her brother, Dave, to meet those relatives in Isaacs restaurant on MacCurtain St just before 7.30pm last Thursday, when they saw a commotion near St Patricks Quay.

She said she could see a man trying to throw a ring-buoy to what at first glance looked like a dog in the river. But as they got closer, it was clear that it was a man, and he was in distress.

It is understood that he is one of a number of homeless people who have pitched tents on the wharf, inside the railings, along St Patricks Quay.

Ms Stewart said she and her brother, who also has lifeguard training, ran to the quayside, climbed over the railings, and used a ladder to climb down to the water.

She entered the water and swam about eight feet out to where the man was now submerged, and was no longer moving. She brought him to the surface, turned him on to his back, and swam him back to the quayside with the help of the lifebuoy, where Dave, standing knee deep in water, held him as she applied artificial respiration  the kiss of life.

After a few breaths, the man started breathing but remained unconscious, she said.

They had seen people calling for help and could hear sirens in the distance and knew help was on the way but they couldnt get the mans arms through the lifebuoy so they continued to hold him up in the water.

A uniformed garda climbed down the ladder and entered the water, taking over from Dave.

Minutes later, units of Cork City Fire Brigade arrived and recovered the casualty to the quayside where he went into cardiac arrest, but was resuscitated.

Ms Stewart and her brother were taken to Mercy University Hospital for a check-up before joining their relatives in Isaacs.The Son of Sam killings terrorised New York in 1976 and 1977, but a detective inspector, born in Castlemaine, brought the serial killer to justice.

The small west Kerry town is famed as the birthplace of the wild colonial boy, the 19th-century Australian criminal Jack Duggan. But a TG4 documentary shows it is also the hometown of detective inspector Timothy J Dowd.

Born in Castlemaine in 1915, he was one of five children in a family which sold up and emigrated to New York in 1923.

West Kerry-based RTE reporter Sean Mac an tSithigh travelled between Castlemaine and New York, tracing the work of Dowd and his Omega team which had to work under intense media and political pressure. Eventually, the task force consisted of 300 detectives and countless officers.

Dowd had been deputy detective inspector with the NYPD and in charge of a major Manhattan precinct. His prior record in solving crimes saw him singled out to take over the serial murder investigation.

Soon Tim Dowd was running the largest manhunt in New York history and, as the hunt intensified, so too did tensions in New York as a July heat wave and paranoid fear gripped the city, says Mr Mac an tSithigh.

A .44 calibre Bulldog revolver was used to kill six people and wound nine others. However, in August 1977, Dowds team took the killer, David Richard Berkowitz, into custody, and he was subsequently indicted for eight incidents. He confessed to all of them, but claimed to have been obeying the orders of a demon manifested in the form of a dog, Harvey, which belonged to his neighbour Sam. Berkowitz was handed down multiple life sentences and remains in prison to this day.

The first known victim was shot in Pelham Bay, the Bronx, and, over 13 months, the killer targeted courting couples and women there and also in the neighbouring boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.

In the documentary, Tim Dowds cousins, Gobnait OMahoney and Gerard Sheehan, are filmed at the site of the Dowd familys old homeplace in Ross where Margaret and Tim Dowd raised a daughter and four sons. Their son Tim Dowd graduated from the New York Police Academy in 1940.

His was a new generation of Irish cop: university-educated and ambitious, they rose steadily through the ranks, breaking high-profile cases that made careers, Mr Mac an tSithigh reports.

The Omega taskforce established to catch Son of Sam is evidence of this; many of the detectives were first- and second-generation Irish, names like Coffey, Gallagher, Keenan, OConnell, Cahill, Gleeson, Donovan, Coffey, Shevlin, Keenan, and OConnell.

Produced and directed by Neal Boyle, Son of Kerry, Son of Sam will air on TG4, this Wednesday at 9.30pm.Independent TD Mattie McGrath made the allegation yesterday and said he would be questioning Leo Varadkar on the matter in the Dail.

The Tipperary TD, who is campaigning for a no vote, said he had no specific information on whether the internet companies had been lobbied before they made the decision to ban advertising ahead of the referendum, which will be held on May 25.

However, he said: The Taoiseach, as we know, has been to some very powerful HQs of different places, and his 5m communications strategy, hes big into his Google and his Facebook and his tweeting and everything else, its his hallmark really, his new style since he came in, so I have questions and Ill be putting them in the Dail, on who he visited, who he met and to what purpose and has he an open line of communication to some of these powerful headquarters of these hi-tech companies.

The claims were yesterday dismissed by both Facebook and a spokesman for the Taoiseach, who described them as totally made up.

The allegation was also strongly refuted by Culture Minister Josepha Madigan, who is leading Fine Gaels campaign for a yes vote.

The corporations made these decisions quite rightly by themselves and we welcome them overall. Its very important to know who pays for these ads, she said.

As far as I am concerned, this vote on May 25 isnt about pro-abortion or not, its pro-choice or no choice, she told RTEs The Week in Politics. If you are voting no on May 25, you are actually saying that the status quo that is there at the moment is OK.

Fianna Fail TD Billy Kelleher, who was a member of the Oireachtas Committee which examined the Eighth Amendment, said the evidence is overwhelming to support a yes vote.

Three women, girls, a day take the abortion pill, he said. The abortion pill is bought online, unsupervised, without any medical oversight and 10 women a day travel to the UK, so they are the statistics.

Behind the statistics are all the individual stories of people who have had crisis pregnancies, pregnancies that they couldnt continue with for many reasons, and then of course the issue of rape, sexual assault, and incest came very much to fore.

He said the committee came to the decision that they could not put women and girls through some sort of judicial process to prove that they had been the victim of rape or incest.

However, Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae said repealing the Eighth Amendment would remove all protection from the Constitution for babies in the womb, which he said he could not agree with. Ireland and the Philippines are the only countries in the world with such protection written into the constitution.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Brendan Howlin has said the party has lost a considerable number of posters across the country but will continue to campaign strongly for a yes vote.

We have lost thousands of posters; I suppose some will fall down of their own accord but some have been aided and abetted, he said.

But we wont be dislodged by that  we will continue to replace posters to try and give a message across.As the cervical screening scandal rumbles on, Department of Health chief medical officer Tony Holohan, interim HSE director John Connaghan, and officials who wrote the 2016 memos are to be hauled before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris are expected to come under more pressure in the Dail this week after it emerged they were not made aware of the three memos which revealed CervicalCheck was developing responses to possible headlines that would read screening did not diagnose my cancer.

The memos, which resulted in the departure of HSE boss Tony OBrien, also stated that letters to the women affected would be paused and the order and volume of dispatch would be decided on to mitigate potential risks.

Meanwhile, Mr Harris is to bring a memo to Cabinet tomorrow to establish a board for the HSE.

He believes that there is an urgent need to restore public confidence in the HSE and is bringing forward plans to strengthen the management, governance, and accountability of the organisation.

These include the creation of a HSE board with a strong chair, the appointment of a new CEO, an examination of the current senior management within the HSE, and the development of an effective performance management and accountability system.

It comes as the PAC prepares to again question senior officials in the HSE, the department, and National Cancer Registry Ireland to find out who knew what and when.

Gabriel Scally has already been tasked with carrying out an independent scoping exercise into the scandal and will report back next month.

PAC member Alan Kelly said: Ultimately, it cant just be about one person so we need to know who was aware of what and when.

Turning to Mr Harris, he said: Not knowing is really not an excuse, he has to come out this week and reveal everything.

If there are further revelations, if on Thursday in the PAC we find out more information that the minister wasnt aware of, well then that would be deeply troubling for him and this Government.

While Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the PAC is entitled to question officials, he said Dr Scally has been directed to uncover the facts. Given the sensitivity of the matters, given the health and lives of women that are at the heart of this issue, [Dr Scallys] work should be allowed to continue and that is where we are most likely to get the key facts and answers.

Meanwhile, a Fermoy man has revealed that his late wife is one of the 17 women identified by the HSE as having died after a review found they were mistakenly given the all-clear for cancer.

Paul Dingivan has gone public to reveal that he has been told that a clear smear test result his wife Julie received in 2009 was found to be inaccurate following a review in September 2016  but she was never told.

Julie was 36 years old when she died of cervical cancer in Marymount Hospice in April 2017.A review of the universitys economic impact also says it supports 14,708 jobs, or around one in 15 jobs in the city and county.

Amid concerns about the ability of colleges to continue to cater for growing student numbers without significant extra public funding, UCC president Patrick OShea commissioned the report after beginning in the job last year.

I was impressed by a sense of UCCs key role in the region. Yet, being a scientist, I wanted an evidence base substantiated through analyses, said Prof OShea.

Although the impact has been assessed internally in a report prepared by the Cork University Business School, it was externally reviewed by economist Anton Muscatelli. He is vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow and an expert in the field of third-level impact.

The total economic impact in 2016 has been calculated as 727m in spending, and contributions of tax and social insurance payments totalling 125m. However, the report says, this has been generated through public investment of only 151m.

Spending by UCC students alone is estimated at 187.5m a year, with 4,100 graduates calculated as earning a combined 24.8m more in their first year after leaving UCC in 2016 than non-graduates.

Producing far more than we consume, such as the 5.68 return on every 1 invested by the State in 2016, the report underlines the wisdom of investing in third-level institutions, Prof OShea wrote in a foreword to the report.

While the 151m public investment in UCC represented just 43% of its 350m turnover in 2016, the report says the State directly received 83c for every euro invested, in the form of Vat and payroll taxes.

At its annual conference this weekend, Irish Federation of University Teachers general secretary Joan Donegan accused the Government of financially starving the universities.

She called for all those involved in third-level education to make a joint approach to Government on the issue.

While the Government has found it possible up to now to ignore our individual and varied demands for adequate funding, a joint approach based on our common demands would help to force a reversal of the disastrous funding policies of recent years, said Ms Donegan.

The stark facts are that our colleges are being financially starved and strangled, while the detailed analysis on funding contained in the 2016 Cassells Report is being ignored and shelved.

She said that universities are instead expected to find income from just about anywhere but the public purse.

From more international students, from philanthropy, from developing ever more ingenious means to undermine pay and conditions, said Ms Donegan.

From requiring staff to devote excessive hours to bringing in research monies at the expense of teaching.

She said the crisis was exacerbated by the increase in an employers levy that goes into a national training fund, a move she said seeks to shift the emphasis even further onto private funding.

Education Minister Richard Bruton is waiting on a report from the Oireachtas Committee on the 2016 Cassells Report before making any proposals to Cabinet on higher education funding policy.

However, the committee has said its deliberations are being delayed because it has not received the analysis it sought from Mr Brutons department of the impacts of any increased funding.While Ms Adie ultimately developed a loving relationship with her birth mother, who died last year aged 94, what became of her father, a Waterford man named John Kelly, remains a mystery.

Seeking to glean further information about her father, whose name in Ireland is, I realise, as common as John Smith is in England, Ms Adie has chosen to speak publicly about her ongoing search for John Kelly.

What I know of John Kelly was relayed to me by my mother. I always knew Id been adopted (by Wilfred and Maud Adie, both also deceased, of Sunderland) and I had a very happy childhood in the north-east of England. I know only too well that my happy upbringing as an adopted child was an experience not shared by others during that huge period of social flux in Britain, and Ive long recognised how blessed I was to be brought up in so loving a home.

But after my adoptive parents died, a number of things led me to see if I could find out more about my blood relatives. I was most fortunate to come to know my birth mother very well, and we had 25 wonderful years in which we came to know and love each other very, very much, Ms Adie said.

Ive had a curiosity about my father, John Kelly; for example, while I know he was from Waterford, I dont know if he was from the city or the county.

John and Babe met in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1944, while he was working for Dowsett Engineering; Babes husband was serving as a British army medic during the Second World War.

It was a whirlwind, thats how my mother described it. And she was swept along by him. She told me that John was a fun, devil-may-care type in the nicest possible sense, full of life, and brimming with Irish charm. He was a great storyteller, sung songs to her, took her dancing, even brought her greyhound racing, something shed never been to before, Ms Adie said.

My mother said he was a very sweet, romantic man, was a little older than her, probably in his early 30s, was dark haired, of medium height, and had slightly wavy hair. We know he had a brother (Michael) but that, alas, is pretty much the extent of what I know of him.

I have met dead end after dead end when it comes to finding out more about my father. I know he spoke to my mother about travelling to America, but such talk would have been quite common in the period in question.

The last contact John had with Babe was a letter sent in late 1945; Kate was born in September of that year.

He knew I existed. He knew he had a daughter. But I know so little about him and I would love to know more about my Waterford roots; I wonder did John have to de-register his ration card in Ireland and then register for a British ration card when he got off the boat from Waterford, Dublin, or perhaps even Cork?

But John didnt abandon my mother; she never felt abandoned by him. He knew he couldnt stay, just as I knew, given the societal norms of the time, that my mother, as a married woman with another child, couldnt keep me. But if there is anyone in Waterford, or anywhere else in Ireland for that matter, who may be able to shed some light in relation to my father, that would mean a great deal to me.

Contact John Hammond (on behalf of Ms Adie) on 087 9287718 or 051 4555581.

DISCOVER MORE CONTENT LIKE THISDateline Poor Prospects for Peace in Face of Military Might

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Kyaw Kha: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, well discuss the latest developments in Myanmars peace process. I am the chief reporter of The Irrawaddy Burmese Edition, Kyaw Kha, and Im joined by The Irrawaddy Burmese Edition Executive Editor Ko Ye Ni and Social Democratic United Front [SDUF] rally committee member Ko Kyaw Ko Ko.

It is fair to say that Myanmars peace process has stalled. Looking at the latest developments, clashes are ongoing between the Kachin Independence Army [KIA] and the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military]. More than 2,000 civilians are trapped by the fighting. Ko Ye Ni, can you explain the latest developments in Kachin State?

Poor Prospects for Peace in Face of Military Might DATELINE IRRAWADDYPoor Prospects for Peace in Face of Military MightThe Irrawaddy discusses the latest developments in Myanmar's peace process and the obstacles impeding progress. Posted by The Irrawaddy  English Edition on Sunday, May 13, 2018

Ye Ni: According to the latest reports, at first the Tatmadaw reportedly didnt allow the rescue of those trapped by the fighting. But now the Tatmadaw has agreed to rescue them. So there must have been negotiations between the government and the Tatmadaw for the rescue. But how to rescue those 2,000 displaced persons is still a question. According to our latest reports, the KIA attacked the rescue convoy, but no one was injured. The KIA said in its statement that the rescue convoy must bear [identification] signs so that it can be recognized. So it appears that the rescue operation is dangerous.

KK: The rescue operation was carried out only after Kachin youths, religious organizations and local Kachin residents staged protests that called for the rescue of those trapped by the fighting. And similar protests were held in Yangon, Mandalay and Pyay. Protestors were sued for breaching the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law. Ko Kyaw Ko Ko, can you explain?

Kyaw Ko Ko: [Authorities] attempted to stop us twice, in Sanchaung and during our march from Mawtin and Sule. They openly said they would sue us and also attempted to provoke confrontation. Students and youths were able to handle them calmly. But they took a further step and sued the protestors. Four protestors in Yangon  Ko Kaung Htet Kyaw, Ko Ye Aung Aye, Ko Zeya and Ko Myo Saw  who are members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions [ABFSU] and the SDUF, were sued. Three protestors, including Ko Aung Hmine San, were sued in Mandalay. And Ko Metta Oo and Ko Myo Thu, who planned to march from Pyay to Kachin, were detained in Aunglan. The two were detained on the spot while police searched for the lead protestors in Yangon. Ko Zeya was forcibly seized when he arrived at the funeral of veteran political prisoner U Pe Aung to read the ABFSUs statement on his death. But he was set free as the funeral party stopped [authorities] from arresting him. But it was still an unseemly act. Even under previous governments, there was no arrest at a funeral service. The arrest suggests that the situation has gotten worse. I would say it is a direct threat to peaceful protestors.

KK: Ko Kyaw Ko Ko, you are associated with those associations. In the case of the Mandalay protest, police said they took action according to the law because the protests were held without permission. So why didnt they seek permission, and what do you want to say about what the police said?

KKK: They mainly demanded the rescue of those trapped by the fighting. While they were trying to raise public awareness, they were also soliciting donations from the people for displaced persons in Kachin State. It was an awareness campaign and to collect donations, but not a protest. They were not making demands besides asking for the release of those trapped by the fighting and for an end to the offensives. I mean it was done on humanitarian grounds rather than on political grounds. The youths did it for humanity reasons to evoke sympathy from the people. If they had sought permissions from authorities, there would have been unnecessary delays. Second, if the authorities had not given permission, the protestors would have had to find another option. To avoid these nuisances, and also because they did not believe their activities needed official permission, they collected donations and raised public awareness. Their thinking was that simple. Id say it was inappropriate that they were sued under the Unlawful Assembly and Procession Law.

KK: Considering the overall situation in ethnic areas such as Kachin, Karen and Shan states, I feel as if peace is almost impossible. What is your assessment of the peace process?

YN: Given the recent developments in the internal peace process, it is fair to say that there are more clashes now than during U Thein Seins term. Under U Thein Seins government, the whole of southern Myanmar had a ceasefire. The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA] was signed and there were hopes for peace. The guns fell silent on the western border with India.

But now, besides the clashes in Kachin that the U Thein Sein government was unable to stop, fresh clashes have broken out with the KNU [Karen National Union], one of the NCA signatories. A new battleground has emerged on the Indian border with the Arakan Army. There is shooting along the border, which is not a good sign for peace.

KK: What has caused the negative developments in the peace process, Ko Kyaw Ko Ko?

KKK: To build peace, the most important thing is to radically change the mindset and attitude of the Tatmadaw. It is not willing to change the situation it has created through the Constitution to maintain its power and role. It has a six-point peace principle. It doesnt view armed organizations as organizations that have to take up arms for political causes and [to resist] political oppression, but as ethnic insurgents. It is the view that they have constantly held. They believe that they should be the only armed force in Myanmar. This attitude is problematic.

The current government cant change such a situation because it does not have as much power as we expected. It has to negotiate with the Tatmadaw and finds it difficult to do certain things that the Tatmadaw doesnt allow. In other words, it has no authority to give orders to the Tatmadaw. The Constitution clearly states that the government cant interfere in military matters to stop fighting or withdraw troops from ethnic areas.

When there are such fundamental differences, a stalemate in the peace process is inevitable. The Tatmadaw needs to review and reform its whole set of ideologies, or most of its ideologies. Whether we call the current reforms democratization or liberalization, as long as the Tatmadaw maintains the status quo, efforts to build peace will be in vain.

KK: Considering all this, what can we expect of Myanmars peace process?

YN: The most important thing is to take care of the wishes and interests of the people. The civil war was being fought long before we were born. I remember Thakhin Kodaw Hmaing said that he wanted to see peace before he died. He died and peace has still not been achieved even in our generation. So I have the same feeling. I doubt I will see peace before I die.

KK: What is your expectation, Ko Kyaw Ko Ko?

KKK: People across the country must focus on it. People must actively strive for it as a personal matter. The most important thing is an immediate military ceasefire and for all the stakeholders to gather around the table for negotiations. There are a lot of things to negotiate, and we cant say what the details will be. They may include federalism and deployment of troops. These need to be solved politically. And it is not wise to cling to the NCA only. Different negotiation approaches might be needed.

If one approach doesnt work, another approach should be tried. The most important thing is to solve all the problems and reach the goal. [The Tatmadaw] shouldnt stick to it [the NCA]. It shouldnt force [armed ethnic groups] to sign the NCA with military pressure. It needs to understand this point well. People play an important part in ensuring this. In 1970 the whole world was against the Vietnam War. Even the citizens of the US, which was fighting the war, were against the war. Students at Berkeley University and Hollywood actresses took to the streets, and the US Army had to stop its war. Likewise, we need a mass movement in our country. This is our best hope for achieving peace. If we have this hope, other hopes will be fulfilled, I think.

KK: Thank you for your contributions!

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.Asia China Condemns Myanmar Border Violence

Refugees who fled fighting in neighboring Myanmar use a mobile in the house of a relative in the village of Baiyan near Nansan in Yunnan Province, China, March 11, 2017. / Reuters

BEIJING  China on Sunday condemned fighting in Myanmar between Myanmar government troops and ethnic militants near the Chinese border, which had caused people to flee into Chinese territory.

Myanmars military frequently clashes with several groups who say they are fighting for greater autonomy for ethnic minorities in the area, through which much of Myanmars foreign trade flows.

The Myanmar government said on Saturday that ethnic insurgents in Myanmar killed 19 people, including four members of the security forces, in a major attack near the main border gate with China.

Fifteen civilians, including two women, were killed, and 20 were wounded, according to a government spokesman.

The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), made up of fighters from the Taang or Palaung ethnic group, said the group had attacked a casino run by militiamen and a Myanmar army post on the outskirts of border town Muse, a few hundred meters from a river that separates Myanmars northern Shan state and Chinas Yunnan province.

Chinas embassy in Myanmar said in a statement that the conflict had sent stray bullets into China, along with an unidentified number of people seeking refuge.

Chinas embassy in Myanmar condemns this violent incident, and feels pained for the relevant innocent people who were harmed, the embassy said in a statement, adding that it had made solemn representations to Myanmars government.

China called for all parties to exercise restraint, implement a ceasefire, and prevent the situation from escalating, so as to restore peace to the China-Myanmar border region.

Violence on the Myanmar side of the border has in recent years sent thousands fleeing through the rugged mountain terrain into China, where the Chinese government at times has set up relief camps.

In 2017, Chinese authorities estimated a flare-up of violence to have sent more than 20,000 refugees across the border, and fighting in 2009 and 2015 displaced tens of thousands of people. Ordnance has occasionally strayed into China and killed people.

Such conflict has frayed ties between China and Myanmar, which Beijing has hoped could be a key gateway in its multi-pronged One Belt One Road strategy to promote regional economic links.Asia Malaysias New Govt Says to Redefine Fake News Law, Not Abolish It

Commuters sit in front of an advertisement discouraging the dissemination of fake news, at a train station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 28, 2018. / Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR  Malaysias new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Sunday that an anti-fake news law brought by the previous administration will be given proper definition, making it clear to the media and the public what is fake.

Even though we support freedom of press and freedom of speech, there are limits, Mahathir said in a live telecast on state TV.

Abolishing the anti-fake news law was one of the Mahathirs campaign promises, but his latest comments point to a redefining of the controversial law, rather than removing it altogether.

The fake news law will be given a new definition so that the public and media outlets will know what is fake news and what is not fake, Mahathir said.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razaks government approved the Anti-Fake News 2018 bill last month, which set out fines of up to 500,000 ringgit ($126,646) and a maximum six years in jail for violators.

Mahathir was himself accused of fake news, after authorities said they were investigating him for false claims that his plane was sabotaged ahead of the May 9 election.

Mahathir has been prime minister previously, for 22 years starting in 1981. He used security laws to put his political opponents behind bars and his critics say he restricted free speech and persecuted political opponents.

The current law defines fake news as news, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partly false and includes features, visuals and audio recordings.

It covers digital publications and social media and will apply to offenders who maliciously spread fake news inside and outside Malaysia, including foreigners, if Malaysia or a Malaysian citizen were affected.

Other countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore and the Philippines, are considering how to tackle fake news but human rights activists fear that such laws could be used to stifle free speech.

Malaysia is among the first few countries to introduce a law against it. Germany approved a plan last year to fine social media networks if they fail to remove hateful postings.

Malaysia already has an arsenal of laws, including a colonial-era Sedition Act, that have been used to clamp down on unfavorable news and social media posts.Burma 7 Men Including Army Captain Arrested Over Alleged Rape of Businesswoman

A police jail truck parked in downtown Yangon. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Seven men including an army captain and a local official were arrested on Saturday on charges of detaining and raping a woman after she and her husband failed to pay back a business loan, according to police in Kyauk Tan Township, Yangon Region.

Two of the men, who allegedly committed the sexual assault, are still being detained, while four of the others, who were accused of taking part in the abduction, were granted bail. The charges against the army officer were transferred to military jurisdiction.

The victim filed the charges at Kyauk Tan police station on May 12.

They had a business dispute involving the purchase of old houses. The victims family could not pay back a debt, said Police Colonel Aung Myo Latt, from Kyauk Tan Township police station.

According to police, the 27-year-old woman and her husband went into hiding after they could not repay the borrowed money, which totaled 35 million kyat. The seven men allegedly detained the couple after finding them in South Dagon Division.

They did not know how to solve this problem. When the couple could not pay back the money, they took the couple away, the police officer said.

According to the charges filed by the woman, two of the men raped her, while the other five assisted in the abduction. They also beat her and her husband. She was allegedly raped at two separate locations: once on the street after group had taken her away by car, and then again at a house where she was held in Hlaing Thar Yar Township, according to her complaint.

Police Col. Aung Myo Latt said police would need to further investigate the charges.

A court in Kyauk Tan Township today granted bail to four of the men, and ordered the other two be held. Police said the charges against the Army captain would be handled by the military.

We detained the two men who allegedly raped her. We laid charges against the other men who got bail, said Colonel Aung Myo Latt.Burma Anti-Corruption Commission Allegedly Investigates Union Minister

President U Win Myint meets with Anti-Corruption Commission members. / Presidents Office / Facebook

YANGON  Myanmars Anti-Corruption Commission is conducting investigations into 18 complaints by forming six investigation teams, according to the commissions announcement on Sunday, while declining to provide details of the cases.

The announcement was made after news reports circulated that a Union minister was being investigated for allegations of corruption.

Two local journals, Tomorrow and The Speaker, reported on Saturday that Planning and Finance Minister U Kyaw Win and his son were reportedly interrogated by the Anti-Corruption Commission and Bureau of Special Investigation under the Minister of Home Affairs, and that their home in Yangon was also searched.

While there is no official confirmation of the news reports, members of the commission also did not deny these claims to the media.

The commissions announcement on Sunday stated that it cannot provide the details of cases that are currently being investigated.

This is not the first scandal to hit the National League for Democracy government. When the NLD named nominees for ministerial positions in March 2016, it came out that U Kyaw Wins doctoral degree in finance published on his CV that was made public was fake.

Whether these new allegations are true or not, the reports caught the public interest and spurred talk of whether the commission would catch the big fish, as it has vowed to do.

President U Win Myint also instructed the members of the commission not to be influenced by powerful figures in undertaking their duties and to carry them out decisively in his meeting with the commission on April 11.

The Anti-Corruption Commission was the first governmental body to meet the new president since his inauguration on March 30.

As for recent corruption cases, Food and Drug Administration director-general Dr. Than Htut was arrested and sued under Section 56 of the Anti-Corruption Law for alleged bribery of more than 15 million kyats in total, while an administrator in Mandalays Pyin Oo Lwin Township and another local official were both sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for taking bribes from villagers in return for registering their land.Burma Anti-War Protesters in Yangon Detained, Sued, Released on Bail

Protesters and police face off at an anti-war rally in Tamwe Township, Yangon, on Saturday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

MANDALAY  Eight people detained in Yangon on Saturday at a protest calling for an end to fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups were sued for violating the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law and released on bail on Sunday.

Ko Tin Htut Paing, one of the arrested protesters, said they signed documents promising to attend their trial when summoned.

Police in Bahan Township filed the lawsuit under Article 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, which covers disturbing the peace and carries a maximum penalty of a month in jail and a fine of 10,000 kyats ($7.49).

Ko Tin Htut Paing said about 200 people joined Saturdays protest in Tamwe Township, shouting slogans and waving signs, and that some of them were attacked by police as soon as it was over.

Shortly after the protest ended, the police tried to arrest us. Some police, including people in plain clothes, stormed into the crowd and hit the protesters, he said.

I was a bit far from the area. But when I saw the clash I shouted at them to stop, and suddenly two men in plain clothes came and hit me and threw me onto a vehicle with the other detained protesters.

According to The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper, Bahan police denied beating the protesters and said they were arrested in accordance with the law.

Police records show that the eight detained protesters included Ma Shar Yamon, Ma Thinzar Shoon Lei Yee, Ma Ei Ei Moe, Ko Tin Htut Paing, Ko Moe Thwe, Ko Zeyar Lwin, Ko Lin Htet Naing and Maung Saung Kha, a well-known poet and former political prisoner.

Separately, police in Mandalay arrested two people for allegedly participating in a protest there last week calling for an end to clashes in Kachin State and help for hundreds of villagers trapped by the fighting.

Reporters saw police in plain clothes arrest Ko Than Htike and Ko Thet Hnin Aung in a shopping area while they were handing out surveys to find out how locals felt about the fighting and the overall peace process.

Both men were on a list of alleged protesters being sued under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law. A court in Aung Myay Thar Zan Township on Monday gave police permission to hold them in prison and scheduled a hearing for next week.

Protests against the fighting in Kachin have escalated since a protest camp was set up in the state capital, Myitkyina, a few weeks ago. Though the camp has since been abandoned, protests have spread to Yangon, Mandalay and Pyay Township in Bago Region.

A total of six alleged protesters are being sued in Mandalay and two in Pyay.Burma Govt to Establish Myanmars First Credit Bureau

An employee counts banknotes at a bank in Yangon. / Reuters

YANGON  The Union government has approved establishing the countrys first credit bureau, said Vice President 1 U Myint Swe.

The vice president revealed the plan during his regular meeting with private businesses at the office of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) on Friday.

The cabinet approved the establishment of a credit bureau on May 10. The survey on ease of doing business for 2019 will end in the second week of May. So, we have given the approval ahead of this, said the vice president.

The vice president hopes that Myanmars rank on the World Banks ease of doing business index will improve due to the establishment of a credit bureau. It will also provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with easier access to loans, according to the vice president.

The credit bureau will collect information about the overall performance of individual companies so that companies [that perform well] may not need to put up collateral to get loans. The database will record the business performance of companies, said U Toe Aung Myint, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Commerce.

Lenders can assess the risk of providing loans to SMEs based on the information provided by the credit bureau, said joint general secretary U Aung Kyi Soe of the UMFCCI.

So, the credit bureau will contribute to banks. Our fellow ASEAN countries have also established successful credit bureaus, he said.

In his New Years speech on April 17, Myanmars President U Win Myint said that his cabinet would approve the credit bureau within one month to help the countrys banks assess the risk of providing loans to SMEs.

The credit bureau is a joint venture between the Myanmar Banks Association (MBA) and Asian Credit Bureau Holdings based in Singapore.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.Burma Starbucks to Open First Myanmar Location

Starbucks will open its first Myanmar location in Sule Square Mall. / Reuters

Starbucks will open its first coffee shop in Myanmar at the Sule Square Mall in downtown Yangon.

The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) officially endorsed the service provider Coffee Concepts Myanmar Limited (CCM) to be the sole operator for catering and sales of Starbucks food and beverages; sales of Starbucks brand products, and the operation of Starbucks stores, at its meeting in Yangon on May 12. CCM was registered with the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration in December 2017.

Starbucks has been eyeing investment in Myanmar since 2013. In May 2013, former CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz (he stepped down to executive chairman in April 2017) told reporters in Bangkok that Myanmar was a country that the company had targeted for expansion.

A spokesman from Starbucks Coffee Myanmar said that following Sule Square, the company expects to expand to up to 10 places within 18 months of the initial opening.

U Ye Myint, the chairman of the Myanmar Coffee Association, said the group welcomes the Starbucks franchise and hopes it will help boost coffee culture in the country and benefit coffee farmers.

Starbucks, which was founded in 1971, has opened some 28,000 stores in 77 markets around the world, including locations in Asia in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

U Ye Myint said he hopes the US-based coffee chain will bring opportunity to Myanmar coffee farmers as it spreads around the country.

It will also help boost tourism if Starbucks opens in tourist cities, he said.

We could also introduce our Myanmar brands to Starbucks. We hope for a positive impact and job opportunities for locals as coffee plantations expand in the future, he told The Irrawaddy.

The Starbucks Coffee Myanmar spokesman added that the company was excited to bring its high-quality products to Myanmar, but that it would like to work with other local brands as well.

Starbucks has opened nine farmer support centers to improve quality of profitability of farmers in its supply chain. It opened one in North Sumatra, Indonesia in 2015.Editorial Police Incompetence on Full Display at Anti-War Protest

Police arrest an activist during a crackdown on an anti-war protest in Yangon on Saturday. / Aung Kyaw Htet / The Irrawaddy

When it comes to crowd control, the Myanmar Police Force can only be described as hopeless. Examples abound: Take the way they handled the student protests against an unpopular education bill in Letpadan in 2015, or the outpouring of anger by local people at the governments last-minute ban on a public event in Mrauk U early this year. Both ended in bloodshed and deaths.

Over the weekend, the polices incompetence was on full display yet again.

Saturdays anti-war protest in Yangon was supposed to be a peaceful one. Activists gathered to demand an end to fighting between government forces and ethnic armed groups in Kachin State. When police told the protesters that they were assembling in a prohibited area, the organizers agreed to disband. The situation rapidly spun out of control, however, when riot police forcibly dispersed the protesters, aided by a group of unidentified, self-described citizens. These thugs attacked the protesters right before the eyes of law enforcement officials, who did nothing to stop them.

Unchecked attacks on people right in front of the police is a sign of total lawlessness.

We ask the authorities: Who were those self-proclaimed citizens and why did the police officers present turn a blind eye when they attacked? Apart from physically attacking the activists, these anonymous people cursed and threatened members of the media who were there to cover the protest. Again, the police simply ignored it.

It is clear from Facebook Live feeds broadcast from the scene, as well as reports from journalists on the ground, that among these thuggish citizens were some familiar faces who have in recent years been active at nationalist and pro-military activities demanding that the government step down for failing to protect race and religion, and supporting military campaigns in Rakhine State.

Shortly before the police crackdown began on Saturday, members of this group could be heard shouting Kill them! Beat them! Let us in! from behind columns of riot police, while the peace activists were in the process of negotiating the end of their protest. The police neither warned the protesters they were in danger, nor made any effort to stop their attackers.

Why do these thugs enjoy such impunity? Why did the police stand by and let all hell break loose? Did the police just decide to turn a blind eye because they were pro-military activists who were countering the anti-war protest?

(The Myanmar Police Force is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The minister, Lieutenant-General Kyaw Swe, is a military appointee.)

The joint participation of civilians and police officers in Saturdays crackdown on a peaceful protest is a grim reminder of the Swan Arr Shin, the popular name for state-sponsored thugs recruited to help crush democratic forces under previous military regimes.

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was herself the victim of one of their attacks, the Depayin Massacre in 2003. When Buddhist monks took to the streets during the Saffron Revolution in September 2007, Swan Arr Shin were deployed along with security forces to beat and kick the monks into trucks before they were hauled off to interrogation centers.

The negligence displayed by police during Saturdays crackdown is an embarrassment for the National League for Democracy-led government. Despite the NLDs repeated vow to enhance the rule of law in the country, its law enforcement services simply turned a blind eye as thugs kicked peaceful anti-war protesters and threatened journalists on Saturday.

The government must take this issue very seriously. The Yangon Regional Government has a responsibility to explain to the public what caused the police to mishandle Saturdays protest. If needed, the home affairs minister should be summoned to explain the incident to Parliament. We want a police force that serves the people. The negligence they displayed during Saturdays crackdown shows the police are still far from living up to their official name: Pyithu Ye, meaning police for the people.Last week, I was pre-briefed on todays launch of AMDs impressive Ryzen Pro line. AMD is once again moving aggressively against Intels dominance with a competitive line and Intel has never been more vulnerable. This vulnerability comes from a combination of bad internal Intel practices, questionable Intel behavior, and what appears to be a massive reduction in resources.

But rather than focusing on that, what struck me was part of AMDs coming campaign, which will ask the question whether buying an Intel Xeon part could put your job at risk. Given that I came out of IBM in the early 90s when that company had negative brand equity, I may have some unique insight here. You see, in a very short period, IBM went from being the company that had the valid slogan nobody ever got fired for buying IBM, to the company that folks avoided like the plague, almost putting the firm under.

The company got there by massively breaching trust. I think you could argue that Intel has done the same thing, but the market has yet to come around to the same solution.

Let us look at the IBM event based on my recollection (I authored a report on it while in IBM) and see if the parallels with Intels behavior hold water.

Where IBM Went Wrong

Much of IBMs power came from three things. It had a significant technology lead on competitors, a level of trust with customers that was unprecedented at the time, and near complete market dominance, resulting in near complete customer lock-in. This meant that the only way to compete with IBM was to either steal its IP and massively undercut its prices, which generally attracted disloyal customers and resulted in expensive civil and criminal charges from IBM (not to mention incredibly low margins), or to come up with an alternative disruptive technology.

IBM got hit by a near perfect storm that developed over decades. First, it was forced to sign a consent decree, which broke IBMs software lock-in, then it breached customer trust with abusive practices that charged the customers for IBMs mistakes, and then Sun Microsystems and WinTel (Microsoft and Intel) hit the market with disruptive and, apparently vastly better alternatives. Now, I say apparently because studies done years later found that most of the early client/server stuff didnt actually work and Microsofts server solutions didnt really mature until well after IBM fixed its problems.

On top of this, instead of defending its dominant mainframe technology, IBM seemed to side with Sun and Microsoft that it was prematurely obsolete. This was particularly ironic given that the IBM mainframe remains one of IBMs most successful platforms today.

IBM eventually recovered and today is again one of the most trusted brands, but that was an expensive lesson hard learned, which resulted in the only firing of and external hiring of a CEO in IBMs history. To say that during this time it was painful to work in IBM would be an understatement. It was harder still on customers, who had to aggressively defend any purchase of IBM product as there was a very real chance employment could be put at stake around that issue.

Intel Parallels

Intel doesnt enjoy lock-in outside of design wins with OEMs (AMD hasnt been socket compatible with Intel for around two decades). But moving from an AMD to Intel PC or server is pretty easy because the related operating systems, mostly Windows or Linux variants, work seamlessly on both.

Intels recent breach of trust, while different from IBMs, is arguably even more troubling. With the disclosure of the kernel-memory-leaking design flaw, we found out Intel had been knowingly selling defective processors for months. Notified in June of 2017, Intel didnt disclose the problem broadly until January of 2018. And some of the fixes were potentially worse than the problem.

During that window, Intel disclosed Chinese OEMs tied to the Chinese government, but didnt disclose U.S. OEMs or the U.S. government. This not only opened non-Chinese companies to attack, it uniquely put the U.S. at risk, which is Intels own country, along with any other company or country outside of China and its allies.

Finally, during this lack of disclosure, Intels own CEO divested every Intel share (this could explain why) he could in a possible attempt to avoid what might have been a stock market backlash. (At last check, there are 35 active lawsuits, which may increase once we start tracking successful attacks using this exploit.) That recall hasnt happened yet, and it would require replacement chips that didnt have the defect to be in market, but the damage to trust should be pretty pronounced.

Wrapping Up: How You Could Get Fired for Buying Xeon

I think this would come down to a major contract review and/or a high-profile security breach (recently reported to be imminent) tied to a system decision that you made based on either a known or unknown Intel exploit. This suggests an enterprise- or government-level purchase, where the breach exposure was traced to the Intel Xeon processor and your defense was to rely on Intel disclosures, or where there was not sufficient follow-through to assure that relevant patches were applied in a timely manner or actually worked. Or, more simply, an inability to defend against the question: If Intels own CEO didnt have faith in Intels technology when it came to his money, why did it make sense for you to invest our money in it?

Given how rapidly IT folks are targeted as scapegoats, even when they do everything right, perhaps AMD has something with this anti-XEON campaign.

Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 30 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Rob covers the technology industry broadly. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group, and held senior positions at IBM and ROLM. Follow Rob on Twitter @enderle, on Facebook and on Google+Telstra chief Andy Penn has flagged the telco is facing a difficult trading period ahead due to the challenging dynamics of the rollout of the national broadband network and increasing pressure on its margins from competitors.

Penn issued his warning in remarks he will make to a JP Morgan summit in Boston tomorrow when he will also stress that increased competition in the market, and the NBN, have eaten into the companys profits.

We continue to experience the ongoing negative NBN impact on underlying earnings, he said.

The national broadband network, in particular, has driven a number of challenging dynamics for the industry that collectively point to a difficult trading period ahead.

According to Penn, the Australian Government is essentially re-nationalising the fixed access last mile of infrastructure from Telstra to become the nations wholesale provider for fixed broadband, transforming Telstra into a reseller of broadband services.

And, he says this is having a very material impact on the economics of the whole industry and has triggered a step change in the competitive environment.

In the last 12 months alone we have moved from three big players in mobile and fixed to a situation today where we face a fourth network operator entrant in mobile (TPG), an increasing number of MVNOs and more than 170 resellers of fixed.

We are responding to these dynamics to protect and grow our customer base. We have bestowed unlimited data to almost half our fixed broadband base and we recently launched an unlimited domestic data plan on mobile.

We are the first to do so above the line in Australia, offering 40Gb of mobile data with uncapped speeds and 1.5Mbps capped speeds thereafter. Learning from the experience here in the US, better to be first than late."

Penn described the current market as a critical time for the global telecommunications industry, and said demand for core products and services has never been greater.

We are seeing data volumes increase 50% per annum across both fixed and mobile networks and the range of services supported by our networks increase dramatically. Telecommunications is rapidly becoming the backbone of many industries and the dependence on connectivity and the always on society is here to stay.

On top of this, as an industry we are in a transition to the next generation of technology as we move to software-defined networks, network function virtualisation and 5G.

This is not just about another G for mobility  SDN/NFV and 5G in conjunction with data analytics, AI and the whole world of the Internet of things means this technology transition will be more profound than any we have seen before in telecommunications.

Based on April year to date results and 2H FY18 current expectations, Telstra has reported the current outlook against FY18 guidance is:

 Income expected around the middle of the $27.6  $29.5 billion range

 EBITDA is expected at the bottom end of the $10.1  $10.6 billion range

 Net one-off NBN DA receipts less NBN net C2C2 is expected at the mid to upper end of the $1.4  $1.9 billion range

Penn said Telstra continues to focus on reducing costs and expects FY18 underlying core fixed costs to decline by approximately 7%  with incremental restructuring costs of approximately $300 million in FY18 compared to previous guidance of $200  $300 million.

He said he continues to be optimistic about the long-term future of the industry and Telstra.

We continue to see strong demand for our services and increased growth in data volumes as connectivity becomes more important. We have made significant investments which are already delivering benefits and provide us with the platform to support a range of new initiates we will be launching.

Telstra's share price dipped sharply on the announcement, falling more than 4% to $3.07 in the first hour of trading on the ASX.Oracle has upped its spat with Google, providing research to Australia's competition watchdog that claims the search behemoth is using the mobile data of Australians to spy on them.

A news.com.au report said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was investigating Oracle's allegations that data worth as much as $580 million was being used by Google to secretly track Australians' activities.

The Oracle researchers said Google was using about 1GB of data from the accounts of Android phone users, snooping on users silently and collecting data for advertising purposes. They made the disclosures to the ACCC as part of the digital platforms inquiry being conducted by the organisation.

Open enmity between Oracle and Google stretches back to 2010 when the database giant sued the search engine behemoth shortly after it purchased Sun Microsystems and became the owner of Java, claiming that Google had violated its copyright and patents.

After many twists and turns in the case, Oracle, entitling it to claim damages. The case has been sent back to a trial to determine the amount that Google has to pay for its infringement. But before that happens, Google is likely to appeal the verdict.

The report worked out the cost of the data by calculating that one GB of data costs between $3.60 and $4.50 and multiplying that by 10 million, the number of Australians who own Android phones.

It said the Oracle experts had claimed that the snooping went on even if the mobile had no SIM or if aeroplane mode was on. Only switching off the phone stopped the snooping.

Among the data gathered were barometric pressure readings to determine the height at which an individual was, in order to work out if one was at a certain floor of a shopping complex. This, when combined with location co-ordinates, would allow Google to work out which shops the user had visited, which meant store visits could be tied to viewing online ads.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims was quoted in the report as saying his people were looking into the Oracle claims.

He said the information was "extremely interesting".

The more we get into this inquiry the more we realise there are lots of issues (around) competition and privacy, he added.

The report said a Google spokesman had refused to answer specific questions, without detailing what the queries were. But it said the spokesman had claimed that users could see what data was collected if they went to the My Account tab in Settings and they could also control it.

He added that one could choose not to opt in to location sharing and claimed Oracles presentation was sleight of hand.Sydney, 10 May 2018  Anaplan , the leader in connected planning, has announced the appointment of three new Australian channel partners accelerating the companys commitment to the local channel and end user customers.

Lanluas Consulting, Tridant and Vuealta Asia Pacific have all come on board in recent months as official new Anaplan partners complimenting the companys global systems integrator alliance relationships.



Chris Wilkins, Anaplan, said, All these new partners have deep domain expertise in corporate performance management and supply chain planning as well as a commitment to partner in trusted relationships. They offer the rich experience we need to help businesses tackle some of the toughest information-intensive challenges in their industry as well as helping customers expand the value of their information for competitive advantage.

Tridant prides itself on delivering superior planning and data analytics solutions throughout APAC while working in partnership with a wide range of technology vendors. With a focus on client success, Tridant has a proven ability in enabling organisations to extract insights from their data, facilitate forward-thinking decision making and achieve competitiveness within the marketplace through class-leading software and services.

Alec Jeffery, Executive Director, Tridant, said, Even though we had our first success with Anaplan five years ago, and more recently have increased our number of Anaplan customers, we are thrilled to now be appointed a certified Anaplan partner. At the same time, we are very excited to provide our customers with a true cloud capability for financial modelling and overall connected planning. As more and more organisations adopt cloud solutions, were now in an ideal position to service the market with a solution such as Anaplan which is a best in class financial modelling solution and has been built for the cloud from its very beginning.

Lanluas Consulting is an independent consulting firm which positions itself as the premier value-add specialist for business applications solutions. The company provides deep industry domain knowledge, best practice business experience and a strategic approach to business solutions to guide clients as they drive value from their investments in IT applications.

John Speed, Chief Executive, Lanluas Consulting said, We have significant capability in helping and advising our clients with their business planning, budgeting and forecasting. At the same time, many of our clients are in the public sector and look to us to support their requirements for stringent compliance and reporting requirements.



While many ERP vendors have specific tools which look at narrowly defined aspects of business operations, Anaplan supports organisations with their overall requirement for planning across financials, HR, supply chain and services providing organisations in turn with a flexible approach to planning. We look forward to achieiving further momentum for both our own organisation and for Anaplan in providing Australian businesses with a specialist tool for reporting, budgeting and forecasting which is both versatile and ideally suited to local market requirements.

Vuealta is an international company providing tailored advisory, implementation and ongoing support services for Anaplan, a leading planning platform provider. A trusted advisor in business process and transformation, Vuealta works with global organisations to take a more unified and collaborative approach to planning  connecting people, plans and data to enable faster decision making.

Jason Crage, Director at Vuealta Asia Pacific, said Vuealta has a strong foothold in the UK and European markets and the recent opening of an office in Sydney has enabled us to extend our reach into APAC, further strengthening our global support capabilities. We look forward to introducing our Centre of Excellence for Anaplan deployments in the APAC region.

About Anaplan

Anaplan is the leader in Connected Planning. Our purpose-built softwarepowered by our patented Hyper block engineenables dynamic, collaborative, and intelligent planning. Large and fast-growing companies worldwide use our solutions to connect the people and data required for trusted plans and accelerated decisions essential to leading in their markets. Based in San Francisco, we are a privately-held growth company with 20 offices, 175 expert partners, and more than 850 customers worldwide. To learn more, visit: anaplan.com

Related Links: https://www.anaplan.comThe au Domain Administration, the organisation administers the Australian domain namespace, has appointed three new directors from the demand class to its board.

Holly Raiche, Damian Smith and Nigel Phair will join the board, with Smith's term to expire at the 2018 AGM and the terms of the other two to end at the following year's AGM.

In a statement, auDA chair Chris Leptos said there had been 30 nominations for the posts.

The organisation has to hold a special general meeting by 28 July to consider a push by some members to have chief executive Cameron Boardman, Leptos and directors Suzanne Ewart and Sandra Hook sacked.

It has also had to deal withthat found its current management framework was no longer fit for purpose.

Dissatisfaction within the ranks of auDA broke out into the open last month when one member, Jim Stewart, the chief executive of StewArt Media, led a call for the ouster of Boardman, Leptos, Hook and Ewart. Leptos has said that the practices of several former auDA directors had been referred to the police in Victoria.

The major irritant was the decision by the board to change Australian domains from .com.au and similar suffixes to .au.

That move has now been put off till at least the second half of 2019.The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to make machines smarter, industrial processes more efficient and consumer devices more responsive to our needs. According to research firm Gartner, there will be more than 20 billion connected things in use worldwide by 2020.

But these constrained devices often run on woefully out-of-date software that must be manually patched and upgraded; the market potential is enormous, but so are the risks.

[ Click here to download a PDF bundle of five essential articles about IoT in the enterprise. ]

Figuring out successful IoT business models is still a work in progress, and many are trying. Weve looked at a large sampling of companies that have formed to work on these problems and pared the list down to 10 that warrant special attention. (See how we did it.)

Collectively, the startups featured in this roundup have raised nearly $150 million in venture funding to chase IoT opportunities and tackle the risks. FogHorn Systems ($47.5 million), Armis ($47 million), and AlertMedia ($17 million) have the deepest pockets. At the other end of the spectrum, the rest of the startups have locked down funding in the $3million to $11 million range, enough to provide plenty of runway to get a product to market.

These hot startups offer everything from enterprise emergency notification systems to smart manufacturing platforms to virtual chips that add security to any connected device.

What they do: Mass-notification platform for the enterprise

Year founded: 2013

Funding: $17 million

Headquarters: Austin, Texas

CEO: Brian Cruver previously co-founded and CEO of Xenex, a company that develops germ-fighting robots that help hospitals prevent infections. Cruver also authored Anatomy of Greed, his firsthand account of Enrons collapse.

Problem they solve: Large organizations face numerous threats to their people, assets and operations. When an incident occurs, the faster you can react, the more likely it is that you can minimize losses. Delayed awareness and slow response time can be costly in terms of production, profitability, reputation and the health and safety of employees.

Despite waves of automation elsewhere in the enterprise, emergency response is still a manual, reactive and often much-delayed process.

How they solve it: The AlertMedia platform connects enterprise sensor data, system data, location data and employee smart devices together to create a single multi-channel critical communication platform.

The AlertMedia platform collects signals from gauges, vehicles, GPS locators, etc., and converts those signals into meaningful 24/7 communications. AlertMedia minimizes disruption to the business while keeping employees safe and informed.

AlertMedia helps its customers contend with a variety of emergency situations, such as severe weather, security threats, fires and power outages. But it also helps with more mundane emergencies too. For example, AlertMedia says that it is currently being used by a large restaurant chain to monitor temperatures in their refrigeration systems. When temperatures are outside a specified range, the system triggers notifications to the restaurants response team, preventing significant inventory losses.

Competitors include: Everbridge and OnSolve

Customers include: AT&T, Volkswagen, DHL, Greyhound, Kawasaki, The Salvation Army, British Petroleum (BP), H-E-B Grocery Company, State of Texas and New York City

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: Unless youre a global-warming denier, its clear that the market for emergency services will only rise in coming years. AltertMedias system, however, doesnt just help during natural disasters. To return to the restaurant example, a power outage or a compressor failure that ruins enough inventory can be an equally crushing blow to a business bottom line.

AlertMedia says that it has 500+ enterprise customers located in 90+ countries around the world, including multinationals AT&T, BP and Volkswagen. With $17M in funding and a leadership team that features serial entrepreneurs who have founded other successful startups (Xenex), achieved successful IPOs (Demand Media), and guided a startup to a successful acquisition (Adometry, acquired by Google), AlertMedia is well-positioned to take advantage of this land-grab opportunity.

What they do: IoT platform for smart manufacturing

Year founded: 2013

Funding: $5 million

Headquarters: Scotts Valley, Calif., and Pune, India

CEO: Vinay Nathan. Prior to founding Altizon, Nathan was Head of Sales, North America and APAC, for Persistent Systems.

Problem they solve: Manufacturing CIOs are looking for ways to implement Industry 4.0 technologies, hoping to leverage things like deep learning and Big Data to improve operating efficiencies and to enable new business models.

In many factories, machines are already technically capable of communicating with one another, but the data they generate still requires plenty of human intervention before anything can be done with it. A lack of real-time visibility into machines, assets, and factory operations limits manufacturers ability to make informed, data-driven decisions and move beyond reactive fixes to predictive planning based on real-time machine performance trends.

How they solve it: Altizons goal is to help manufacturers revolutionize their shop floors using edge computing, sensors, Big Data, machine learning, and enterprise-ready integrations. Altizons IoT platform, called Datonis, consists of three main components: Edge connectors, the core Datonis IIoT backend platform, and a Manufacturing Intelligence component.

Datonis Edge provides connectors to common connectivity protocols, such as OPC-UA, Modbus, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, so devices can quickly connect to a manufacturers network. The Edge is built as a store-and-forward system and has a built-in cache for storing messages when offline. The Edge also uses data batching, compression, and various other techniques to ensure that it can deal with limited network data bandwidth. The Datonis Edge can also process and analyze sensor data on the edge, ensuring that only relevant data is transmitted back to the main platform.

Altizons Datonis IIoT software platform integrates connected devices within enterprise IT, connecting industrial assets and IoT software applications over a hybrid infrastructure. It uses Big Data and machine learning to help manufacturers get the real-time visibility they need to determine the effectiveness of their production system environments, predict their throughput, optimize their energy use, and make quality improvements. Features include device management capabilities, stream analytics, and customizable alerts and notifications.

The Datonis Manufacturing Intelligence (MI) component provides connectors to integrate plant data from a factorys disparate plant-floor systems. Businesses are able to compile data from machines, existing SCADA and DCS systems, Enterprise Data Historians, and Manufacturing Execution Systems into a single repository that provides a unified view into all manufacturing operations data.

Datonis MI helps manufacturers define and track KPIs that are relevant to plant operations, while integrating those insights into business systems like ERP, CRM and Enterprise Planning and Scheduling systems.

Taken together, these tools help manufacturers build an intelligent connected ecosystem that spurs the flow of machine and enterprise-systems data for measurable business improvement in manufacturing.

Competitors include: C3IoT, Cisco Jasper, GE Digital Predix, PTC ThingWorx, Siemens Mindsphere, Xively, and Cumulocity.

Customers include: Varroc, CPG Company, and Prayas.

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: With $5M in VC funding, several named customers, and more than 150 implementations worldwide, Altizon has the resources to give the Datonis suite a fighting chance when going up against incumbents and major multinationals, such as PTC, Cisco, and GE. Moreover, the startups senior team has the right mix of backgrounds to bridge the IT-industrial divide, having gained relevant leadership experience at Persistent Systems, BMC, Storability, Sun Microsystems, Bladelogic, Rockwell, Siemens, and others.

What they do: IoT security

Year founded: 2015

Funding: $47 million

Headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif.

CEO: Yevgeny Dibrov. Prior to co-founding Armis, Dibrov was the first hire at Adallom, a cloud-security company. He began as a product manager and finished as the head of global business development when the company was acquired by Microsoft for $320M.

Problem they solve: Gartner estimates that there will be more than 20 billion connected things in circulation by 2020. With this many connected devices in circulation, any notion of a network/security perimeter becomes obsolete.

According to Armis, the new wave of connected devices comes with three distinct security challenges. First, many devices are now designed to automatically connect to the internet or other devices, meaning theyll often bypass security by default.

Second, most of these devices are not designed to allow upgrades to their limited operating system or firmware, making vulnerabilities a major issue. Finally, most of these devices have no inherent security, nor, due to memory and processing constraints, can you put any anti-malware or security agents on them.

Beyond device insecurity, IT teams often cant see devices coming in and out of their networks. Traditional security approaches such as firewalls, network access control and security agents will not protect these unmanaged devices.

How they solve it: Armis IoT security platform is designed to eliminate the IoT security blind spot for businesses. Armis is designed to secure unmanaged devices in three ways.

First, Armis provides visibility of all devices in an organizations environment. Using an agentless approach, Armis identifies all devices and can see how they connect to the network, including over wired and wireless connections.

Second, Armis analyzes a devices behavior to identify risks and attacks, gaining insights into device reputation, status, connection, version, activity history and more. Third, Armis protects businesses by letting them manually or automatically disconnect devices from networks when they are behaving suspiciously or maliciously.

Competitors include: Cisco, Aruba, ForeScout and ZingBox.

Customers include: Samsung Research America, IDT and Gett.

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: The addressable market for IoT security is massive, and Armis already has a decent foothold with such customers as Samsung Research America and IDT.

Armis also just locked down a $30M Series B in April 2018, bringing their total funding to date to $47M, which leapfrogs them to the third-highest funding total of the 20 finalists in this competition. Finally, Armis did well in the online voting round, finishing in the top 5.

What they do: Operating stack for industrial applications

Year founded: 2013

Funding: $6 million

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, Calif.

CEO: Jane Ren, who previously served as chief business architect for GE Software

Problem they solve: Many industrial processes are reactive, manual and ad hoc in nature, making them extremely inefficient. For example, the lack of coordination when ships and trucks line up at terminals results in hours of wasted time.

Another example Atomiton provides is with oil refineries, where operators heat terminal oil tanks and pipes without insights on the peak energy impact. The inability to analyze real-time data to anticipate and respond to future scenarios leads to waste.

How they solve it: Atomiton provides an industrial IoT software stack, which helps industrial companies anticipate future scenarios and optimize operations based on predictive intelligence. Atomiton is able to run predictive optimization based on real-time data gathered directly from industrial systems (PLCs, SCADA, instruments, sensors, etc.).

The Atomiton Stack encapsulates attributes and behaviors of things into models. These thing models provide the interfaces for things to interact with each other, as well as for people to access things in order to, for instance, query or control them. The Atomiton Stack also enables things using different protocols to directly interact with any applications. Things can operate on IP or industrial-based protocols.

Applications can direct things to work with one another to achieve aggregated goals. The things talk and respond to one another using subscription-, notification- and query-based communications. They can create schedules to perform coordinated actions or they can adjust to another things demands. For example, in smart cites the streets lights can dim after 10 p.m. based on the activities captured by nearby parking meters. If the meters report that no one is out and about, the lights can dim in response.

Competitors include: ABB, Siemens, Emerson Electric, GE, and Yokogawa

Customers include: Cisco and Vopak

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: Atomitons leadership team is exceptionally strong. Besides founder and CEO Jane Rens experience launching industrial internet programs across GE businesses, there is also CTO Alok Batras experience leading an operational intelligence startup to an acquisition by Cisco, where Batra then served as CTO for Cisco Emerging Solutions.

The startup hasnt raised an enormous amount of VC funding, but it does have a high-profile on-the-record customer in Cisco. (And Cisco often reacquires the startups its alums go on to found, so theres that to consider.) Atomitons industrial operating stack concept has the potential to automate processes that arent even being executed at present. The potential market for this type of predictive intelligence is enormous.

What they do: IoT industrial apps

Year founded: 2012

Funding: $8.5 million

Headquarters: Houston, Texas

CEO: Krishnan Raman, who previously served as the Head of the Global BI/DW Business for MindTree

Problem they solve: Energy and engineering industries are turning to IoT solutions to try to overcome three big problems. They seek to reduce asset downtime, enhance processes to deliver better quality products and create new business models that take advantage of newly available data.

How they solve it: Flutura industrial IoT apps use data analytics and AI to improve industrial processes. Many industries lack specific IoT apps for their verticals. To address this, Flutura has developed what they call Nano Apps, which are specifically meant to solve point problems for specific verticals such as the oil-and-gas industry.

For oil-and gas businesses, Flutura apps monitor frack-pump performance. For manufacturing, they have developed discrete apps that feed IoT sensor data into AI models to improve efficiency and quality. Flutura delivers these apps as a service, priced on a per asset/per app/per month basis.

Competitors include: GE Predix, PTC Thingworks, Siemens Mindsphere, Hitachi Ventara, Tachyus and Spark Cognition.

Customers include: Henkel and Stewart and Stevenson.

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: The first thing you notice about Flutura is that its going after a market space dominated by major multinationals, such as GE and Siemens. Yet, legacy incumbents tend to be slow to adopt new technologies.

Flutura is scaling up by targeting industrial niches  oil-and-gas, utilities, manufacturing  where small improvements can deliver enormous ROI. As such, shifting this IoT solution to an opex rather than capex expense is a smart move since operations is where the savings will be realized.

With $8.5M in funding and a couple of named customers, Flutura has a fighting chance to gain a purchase in this market before incumbents can block them. Flurtura also did well in the online voting round of this competition.

What they do: Edge-intelligence software for IoT applications

Year founded: 2014

Funding: $47.5 million

Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif.

CEO: David C. King. Prior to joining FogHorn, King co-founded and served as chairman and CEO of AirTight Networks.

Problem they solve: Most industrial edge solutions ingest sensor data into a local storage repository and then publish the unprocessed data out to a cloud environment for offline analysis. However, many industrial environments and devices lack cost-effective and consistent internet connectivity, making this approach unfeasible.

On offshore oil rigs, for instance, less than one percent of the data generated by 30,000+ sensors is currently being used to make decisions, according to McKinsey & Company.

In addition, this store-batch-and-publish approach is anything but real-time. By the time the data is uploaded to the cloud, processed in the data center, and the results are transferred back to the edge, it may be too late to take any meaningful action.

How they solve it: FogHorn develops edge-intelligence software for industrial and commercial IoT application solutions. FogHorn addresses the challenges of gathering data in remote areas with poor or no connectivity with a miniaturized, scalable complex-event-processing (CEP) software engine that can run advanced operational and predictive analytics locally and in real time.

FogHorn enables high-performance edge processing, optimized analytics and heterogeneous applications to be hosted as close as possible to the control systems and physical sensor infrastructure that pervade the industrial world. This creates intelligence at the edge, resulting in closed-loop device optimization.

FogHorns small footprint delivers real-time, industrial-grade analytics to resource-constrained edge devices such as programmable logic controllers, gateways and industrial PCs. FogHorns solution helps manufacturers transform real-time machine data into actionable insights to reduce costs, thereby improving production efficiency and reducing unplanned downtime. With actionable real-time data, manufacturers can quickly push beyond simple cost savings to intelligent management and forecasting.

Competitors include: Amazon Greengrass and Microsoft Azure Stream Analytics.

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: With close to $47.5M in VC funding, FogHorn is one of the best-funded startups on this list. FogHorns senior leadership team is also exceptionally strong. CEO King led AirTight Networks through four successful up rounds of venture capital funding. Prior to AirTight, he served as Chairman, President and CEO of Proxim, which he led to a successful IPO.

CTO Sastry Malladi, previously served as the Chief Architect of StubHub, and Yuta Endo, VP/GM of APAC Operation and Business Development, previously led product management and strategic industrial partner relationships for Ciscos IoT division. FogHorn almost missed the cut in the online voting round, but a strong push on the last day got them into round 3, where their funding, market positioning and strength of their leadership put them over the top.

What they do: IoT security

Year founded: 2014

Funding: $10.7 million

Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif.

CEO: Sam Shawki, who previously served as Global Head of Remote Payments for Visa

Problem they solve: Unlike mobile phones, most IoT devices do not have chip- or SIM-based security to manage their identity, remotely or otherwise. Additionally, consumer IoT devices cannot be managed using traditional platforms that are designed to work within the fixed perimeter of the enterprise.

According to Shawki, A wide range of applications, including driverless cars, medical devices, fintech and government all have one thing in common: Theyre all IoT devices that can't be secured using legacy solutions.

Two of the most common ways to secure mobile transactions are Secure Elements (SE) and Trusted Execution Environments (TEE). An SE, such as a programmable SIM card or an EMV chip on a payment card, offers a high degree of security, but with the added cost and complexity of an additional chip.

A TEE removes the expense of a separate chip by creating a secure area on the main processor itself. The TEE protects the integrity of applications that execute within it, while also maintaining the confidentiality of their assets. However, the implementation of TEEs is complex. Execution of applications within the TEE can be slow, and TEEs can be resource hogs overall, which limits this approach only to critical applications, such as mobile payments.

Both SEs and TEEs add cost and complexity to the end device. Inserting a hardware security chip into many consumer IoT devices is cost- and support-prohibitive, and for many devices that could support the cost, they dont have the backend in place to do anything with the connected device. This leaves these devices unsecured, unmanaged and unsupported.

How they solve it: MagicCube eliminates the need for a special chip and/or chip partition, moving the secure execution area into a software-only container. MagicCube replaces the on-chip TEE with a software Trusted Execution Environment (sTEE), or what the startup refers to as the Cube.

Conceptually, it helps to think of the Cube as a virtual chip, CEO Sam Shawki explained. Our virtual chip is a secure software container that is isolated from the underlying environment, so it can safely execute sensitive operations and store secrets. By removing the need for a physical chip or on-chip partition, security can be added at will to pretty much any Linux- or Unix-based connected device.

All an engineer has to do is compile the next release of an app or an IoT device with MagicCubes SDK. There is no separate app to download, and no alteration is made to the device or OS. The cube has only one API to call (MagicCubes), which creates a secure virtual container in memory. The cube has its own OS. It utilizes only memory and CPU cycles from the host device but none of the host OS APIs.

The Cube functions as independent device with its own defenses, even on jailbroken devices. It provides a secure in-app container that protects sensitive data, logic and cryptographic operations on the device.

The Cube is also ephemeral, behaviorally, Shawki added. It wakes up, does its job, delivers the results to the app and then it disappears (or shuts back down), all in less than 350 milliseconds. Because of this and other protective measures, in-lab testing accredited by Visa, MasterCard, Rambus and others, our Cube has successfully protected secret data even on compromised operating systems. We have even resisted side-channel attacks, which can compromise physical chips.

On the backend, devices are monitored and managed via an on-premises appliance, or through the cloud as a service. MagicCube currently offers pre-packaged security profiles for mobile payments, connected cars, and PIN on glass protection at POS terminals.

Competitors include: Qualcomm-NXP, Arxan and Zingbox.

Customers include: Sequent, Yellow Pepper, ID Tech and NTT Data.

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: MagicCube is targeting a market that already consists of more than 20 billion connected devices, according to Gartner. The number of connected devices will spike in coming years and securing those devices will be a paramount challenge. With named customers and more than $10M in funding, MagicCube has the resources to charge in and stake a claim in this land-grab market.

MagicCubes team has experience with successful exits, such as Shawskis role in leading Orascom Telecom to an acquisition by VimpleCom for 26 Billion Euros. CTO and co-founder Nancy Zayed helped win Apple an Emmy Award for technological achievement for her work on Final Cut Pro. She also headed the teams that designed and built the consumer telepresence for Cisco.

MagicCube also finished in the top five in the online voting round of this competition.

What they do: Sensor platform for real-time supply chain visibility

Year founded: 2015

Funding: $3.6 million

Headquarters: Cambridge, Mass.

CEO: Krenar Komoni, who was the first employee at Eta Devices, where he developed low-power devices

Problem they solve: Manufacturers lose track of their goods as soon as they load a plane, ship or truck. As a result, in-transit damages and delayed shipments cost these companies billions of dollars every year. Worse, without visibility into those in-transit goods, manufacturers have no hope of avoiding damages and delays, let alone eliminating the root causes of these issues.

At the same time, customer expectations are higher than ever before, as companies like Amazon and Uber set new standards for on-demand transportation and delivery services. To remain competitive, manufacturers can no longer afford to lose sight of their goods as soon as they leave the building.

How they solve it: Tive provides visibility into the supply chain, gathering real-time information about in-transit goods, such as the location and condition of shipments. Tives combination of cellular-connected trackers and cloud-based software enable reporting, analysis and customized alerts on shipments across all modes of transport.

Conditions that may damage goods vary from industry to industry. For instance, with pharmaceuticals, maintaining a specific temperature range is critical, while with electronics, tilt and humidity are the key conditions that must be monitored. Thus, Tive relies on a variety of sensors to detect a broad range of conditions that can damage a shipment.

Trackers monitors temperature, shock, orientation, humidity, motion, and light. When damaging conditions occur, Tive sends out an alert via email or text message. In addition to seeing the damage when it happens, Tive also helps its customers track down the root cause of the problem, so they can resolve it for future shipments.

For example, if pharmaceuticals are consistently left sitting in the sun on a specific loading dock, Tive will zero in on the problem. As a result, companies immediately know about any damage or delays, as well as root causes, which helps them improve customer service while also reducing disruptions and logistical costs.

Tive also notes that its cellular-connected trackers last up to six months on a single charge, which makes them suitable for items in long, slow supply chains.

Competitors include: UTC Sensitech, Sendum, OnAsset, Roambee and ZillionSource

Customers include: Nokia

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: Tive is targeting a big market with no clear incumbents. Research firm MarketandMarkets predicts that the connected logistics market will expand from $10B in 2016 to $41B by 2021. As a young startup, Tive already has a top-tier-named customer in Nokia, and the startups senior leadership team has been involved in several successful exits, including the GrabCAD sale to Stratasys and Kiva Systems sale to Amazon Robotics.

What they do: Blockchain-based IoT security platform

Year founded: 2016

Headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif.

Funding: $4 million

CEO: Duncan Greatwood. Previously, Greatwood was CEO of Topsy Labs, a social media search and analytics company that was acquired by Apple, where Greatwood then served as an executive in charge of a number of Apple's search-technology projects and products.

Problem they solve: Companies are transforming their operations with IoT, AI, automated management and machine-to-machine cooperation at the edge. The result is a highly interconnected, yet disparate and siloed cyber-physical operational system. This creates a number of security holes that can be difficult to find, let alone defend.

As the internet of things grows, attackers will turn their attention to unsecured edge devices.

This is already a major problem. The recent ransomware attack on Atlantas city computer systems knocked traffic and other smart-city systems offline for five days. The Mirai and Reaper botnets took control of millions of connected devices around the world. And IoT vulnerabilities provide a big attack surface in cyberwarfare.

How they solve it: Xage argues that to realize the promise of the industrial IoT revolution, security needs to be woven into IoTs autonomous, any-to-any, edge-heavy architecture. Security must to be as distributed, redundant, flexible and adaptive as the systems it is tasked to defend.

Xages blockchain-based security software distributes authentication and private data across a network of devices, creating an any-to-any fabric for communication and authentication. Xage facilitates autonomous operation, credential rotation, access control and zero-touch deployment to deliver the protection required for Industry 4.0.

Xage software is deployed in nodes, which are a combination of industrial endpoints (such as robots or electrical smart meters) and gateway computers located at industrial sites. The nodes communicate amongst themselves to create the blockchain. Collectively, the nodes form a self-healing fabric that is protected against the compromise of individual components. The gateways also proxy-in legacy unmodified industrial endpoints, enabling them to participate in the system without being upgraded with Xage software.

The fabric acts as a tamper-proof and confidential store of security information  including user credentials, device passwords, enrollment keys and security policies  with the information held at the industrial site. The fabric also serves as the distributed edge identity and authentication manager, enforcing security policy in real time across the industrial edge and protecting against single-point-of-failure security vulnerabilities

Since the system relies on blockchain, the security of a network protected by the Xage security fabric increases with additional nodes. By enforcing immutable records and distributing and sharing identical security data across the nodes in its network, Xage argues that its blockchain-based fabric is tamper-proof, redundant and self-healing.

Tamper-proofing is achieved using consensus mechanisms, including the consensus system at the heart of blockchain. If attackers were to compromise a subset of blockchain nodes, the attackers would not be able to change the security information (for instance, by changing a policy to grant themselves access to robots), nor would they be able to read back confidential information, such as a device password.

When attackers attempt to compromise a node, the healthy nodes detect the attack and the consensus mechanism blocks the attempt. The system then self-heals by rejecting unauthorized changes and then locking out compromised nodes.

This consensus mechanism is the same one that lies at the heart of digital currencies, where the tamper-proofing is used to stop attackers issuing themselves fake money. Xages blockchain-based software also integrates well with redundant, threshold- based technologies like Shamirs Secret Sharing to secure operational data.

Competitors include: Cisco, Microsoft, and Claroty

Customers include: ABB Wireless, IBM, Itron, Dell and NTT

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: For a young startup, $4M in funding provides plenty of runway to get airborne in this wide-open market niche. Cybersecurity companies are losing the arms race against bad actors, especially as hostile foreign nations launch many of the attacks, so a new approach merits a closer look.

The senior leadership team has several successful exits under their belts, including Apple, Cisco and TA Associates. And for a two-year-old startup, having big names like IBM, Dell and NTT as customers helps them punch above their weight.

What they do: Edge-computing platform for real-time IoT apps

Year founded: 2016

Funding: $3.06 million

Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif.

CEO: Said Ouissal, who formerly served as SVP, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations at Violin Memory

Problem they solve: Despite the availability of cloud technology and agile process advancements, many enterprises remain deeply invested in legacy embedded technology. They continue to deploy monolithic software built on custom silos of supporting hardware and infrastructure.

When changes to software become necessary, numerous manual steps by different functional teams are required. At the edge, this can also involve truck rolls or other costly remote experts. In the past, these processes were fine because embedded computing was assumed as a multi-year, set-it-and-forget-it technology.

IoT has changed all that. Now, everything is generating data. Applications from self-driving cars to industrial robots are using IoT data in real time to make decisions and improve productivity. The long, manual process of dealing with silos of custom embedded computing solutions leads to errors, high costs, operational inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, a dearth of software developers who have experience and expertise with embedded systems adds to the problem.

How they solve it: ZEDEDAs IoT platform manages edge services from the cloud, enabling software developers to use a web interface to virtualize and orchestrate compute, network, storage and other edge services across various edge hardware platforms.

According to ZEDEDA, Edge software is dominated by traditional embedded-computing software development, where the app is tightly integrated with hardware. This approach creates a very efficient use of resources, but it lacks the agility of the cloud and does not facilitate operational repeatability or automated lifecycle management.

As a result, the edge is particularly susceptible to hacking and edge devices and services are difficult to scale.

A cloud-native edge, in contrast, leverages open-source embedded virtualization techniques on edge hardware to create an abstraction layer between the hardware and the apps running on it. This architecture allows edge hardware managed by ZEDEDAs cloud platform to deploy and run VMs, containers and micro-services in much the same way they would run in a public or private cloud datacenter.

With ZEDEDA, developers deploy hardware loaded with open-source embedded virtualization software. Then, ZEDEDA orchestrates the edge resources with a combination of agentless, standards-based and crypto-routing infrastructure to enable a multi-tenant, cloud-native environment for IoT applications.

ZEDEDA is designed to secure the edge environment and allow cloud-native apps built for containers, VMs, unikernels, etc., to operate at peak efficiency without requiring any additional embedded development work.

The ZEDEDA platform gives software development and operations technology teams the ability to deploy and update real-time edge applications exactly as they would in the cloud. No remote expertise or truck rolls are required. The end result is that embedded computing can leverage agile development practices, while also delivering security to the edge.

According to a ZEDEDA representative, the platform is currently running a private beta with top-tier industrial equipment manufacturers, clean energy companies and automotive system developers.

Competitors include: Amazon Greengrass, Microsoft Azure IoT Edge, Cisco, VMWare Pulse IoT, IOTium, ResinIO and Sierra Wireless

Why theyre a hot startup to watch: ZEDEDA has a strong leadership team with deep knowledge of and plenty of experience in embedded systems and IoT. The startup has raised enough VC funding to push its platform into beta, and the concept of bringing automation, agile processes and security to the edge is a winner. ZEDEDA also finished in the top 10 in the online voting round, beating out more than 55 other IoT startups.

(Jeff Vance is the founder of Startup50.com, a site that discovers, analyzes and ranks tech startups. Follow him on Twitter, @JWVance, or connect with him on LinkedIn.)

This story, "10 Hot IoT startups to watch " was originally published by Network World .More than four years ago, Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as a form of payment for its goods. Today, it accepts more than 40 versions of the digital currency for online purchases.

Currently, cryptocurrency payments account for just over 0.2% of all Overstock sales, and while that level can fluctuate day to day or week to week, its remained fairly consistent for the past several months.

Additionally, cryptocurrency payment revenue for the past 12 months (from June 2017 to June 2018) has more than tripled compared to the previous 12 months, and average order sizes (AOS) for crypto payment orders are more than two times those of non-cryptocurrency AOS, according to the online retailer.

While bitcoin may have first caught the online retailer's eye, it's the technology behind the digital tokens  blockchain  that has really captured Overstock.com's investment wallet.

About the same time Overstock.com was embracing bitcoin for payments, it put a venture capital stake in blockchain distributed ledger technology (DLT) through Medici Ventures, its Salt Lake City-based subsidiary created for just that purpose.

Medici Ventures focuses its investments on six key emerging areas of blockchain technology adoption: capital markets; money and banking; identity management; property; voting; and underlying technologies supporting blockchain.

The company has to date invested in a dozen start-ups using blockchain as the basis for their products.

"As cool as we thought bitcoin was it was the underlying technology for it that could be even more transformative," said Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures. "Simply put, Overstock.com believes blockchain is the future foundation for an economy built on trust but void of the traditional institutions that have backed those relationships."

Blockchain for voting

For example, this year, Medici Ventures lead a $2.2 million funding round for Voatz, a Salt Lake City-based start-up that's developing a blockchain-based system that enables voting via smartphone or tablet.

Voters can create a Voatz account by entering their phone number or email. They then must submit a picture of themselves and a photo ID and provide either a finger print or a retinal scan as a biometric identity to confirm their eligibility to vote. The system ensures voter anonymity and privacy by storing personally identifiable information off-chain and using a hash table to create an encrypted online identity. The voter is in control of the encryption key.

The blockchain-based voting system can be used not only for public elections, but also college elections, shareholder meetings or any system where a vote needs to be tallied, Voatz claims in its marketing material.

Voatz Voatz's user interface on an iPhone.

Several leading universities, labor unions, state political parties, church groups and non-profits have already deployed the platform successfully, according to Voatz. The company is now in the process of deploying its technology for town meeting voting in Massachusetts.

Last year, when U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) announced he was stepping down  a move that required the state's 3rd Congressional District to hold a special election  Johnson, who lives in that district, said problems quickly arose. County clerks mailing out the ballots for the GOP primary sent them to both registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters; they also didn't use "privacy" envelopes so voter information could be seen when it was held up to the light.

"The trust institution failed," Johnson said.

All of the industries Medici Ventures invests in are ones where trust institutions are frequently in the middle, Johnson explained, whether it's financial brokers, depository and clearing corporations, or even governments.

"They're in the middle for a reason because when you and I transact and I'm giving you an asset and you're giving me back an asset, we need trust institutions," Johnson said. "I think blockchain technology does that trust transfer through technology."

Blockchain can pre-establish trust in network users by vetting them or the institutions representing their information prior to allowing them to participate in a the electronic distributed ledger.

Blockchain can be openly shared among disparate users to create an unchangeable record of their transactions, each one time-stamped and linked to the previous one. Each digital record or transaction in the thread is called a block (hence the name). The ledger can only be updated by consensus among participants in the system, and when new data is entered, it can never be erased. The blockchain contains a true and verifiable record of each and every transaction ever made in the system.

As a peer-to-peer network, combined with distributed time-stamping servers, blockchain databases can be managed autonomously to exchange information between disparate parties. There's no need for an administrator. In effect, the blockchain users are the administrator, though in private or "permissioned" blockchains, there can be a central administrating body.

The concept behind keeping blockchain users' identities private for uses such as voting is the same as digital wallets, which have been used for years by cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin; the digital wallets verify whether someone has the actual funds to purchase the digital currency without disclosing the actual funds they have.

A financial services institution that is part of the bitcoin network, for example, simply verifies that there are sufficient funds for a bitcoin purchase without the need to disclose the identity or actual account balance of the banking customer.

Similarly, a blockchain-based voting system would only need to certify that the user is registered to vote without disclosing any personal information  even to the clerks counting the votes.

Blockchain for tracking vaccines

Medici also invested in Factom, a start-up working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to do supply chain tracking via a distributed blockchain ledger.

Austin-based Factom's blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) is biometrically tracking vaccines and blood tests performed for tuberculosis and viral infections in Africa.

"The problem was in the past when it was done on a database, governments change, regimes change, and databases get destroyed," Johnson said. "There are a lot of different languages. People are moving around a lot, they're using a lot of different doctors. It's very difficult for the doctors to know if they've been tested in the past."

Factom's BaaS creates an immutable online repository for that information, which can be spread across thousands of server nodes, so no single node or group of nodes can be destroyed, and thereby delete that data.

"When you're trying to ensure permanency, you want it broadly distributed and decentralized. Centralization is what makes it less permanent," Johnson said.

Supply chain management is one of the "big, killer apps" for blockchain, according to Vipul Goyal, an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).

Unlike bitcoin, which uses an open or public blockchain where anyone can see data on the network, private or "permissioned" blockchains can be created within a company's four walls or between trusted partners and centrally administered while retaining control over who has access to information on the network.

Johnson admitted that as transformative as blockchain is for so many uses, it's not always the right solution.

"We looked at a lot of companies that come with a blockchain idea that seems to have blockchain as almost an excuse when a database itself would do just as well as a blockchain," Johnson said. "What really makes the most sense is when trust institutions can't be trusted, or when there are so many trust institutions involved that the cost of friction is significant."

While blockchain deployments can be costly, anytime a company takes on a major upgrade in technology there's will be adoption costs. "But we do those all the time because of the return on the long-term investment," Johnson said.

BaaS also allows companies to dip their toes into blockchain deployments without the capital costs associated with rolling out a new distributed server infrastructure.

A new trust economy

Over the next two years, businesses will increasingly turn to blockchain to establish trust among parties looking to transfer everything from money and movable goods to property, according to a report from Deloitte LLP.

A "trust economy" is now developing around person-to-person (P2P) transactions enabled by blockchain technology and not dependent on more traditional methods such as banks or credit ratings agencies.

Deloitte LLC.

"Beyond creating efficiencies by removing the legal and financial intermediary in a contractual agreement, blockchain is assuming the role of trusted gatekeeper and purveyor of transparency," Deloitte said in its report. "In the emerging 'trust economy' in which a company's assets or an individual's online identity and reputation are becoming both increasingly valuable and vulnerable, this latest use case may be blockchain's most potentially valuable."Blog Archive Oct 08 (1) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) 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 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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 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( Tomdispatch) With Donald Trumps decision to shred the Iran nuclear agreement, announced last Tuesday, its time for the rest of us to start thinking about what a Third Gulf War would mean. The answer, based on the last 16 years of American experience in the Greater Middle East, is that it wont be pretty.

The New York Times recently reported that U.S. Army Special Forces were secretly aiding the Saudi Arabian military against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. It was only the latest sign preceding President Trumps Iran announcement that Washington was gearing up for the possibility of another interstate war in the Persian Gulf region. The first two Gulf wars  Operation Desert Storm (the 1990 campaign to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait) and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq  ended in American victories that unleashed virulent strains of terrorism like ISIS, uprooted millions, and unsettled the Greater Middle East in disastrous ways. The Third Gubulf War  not against Iraq but Iran and its allies  will undoubtedly result in another American victory that could loose even more horrific forces of chaos and bloodshed.

Like the first two Gulf wars, the third could involve high-intensity clashes between an array of American forces and those of Iran, another well-armedstate. While the United States has been fighting ISIS and other terrorist entities in the Middle East and elsewhere in recent years, such warfare bears little relation to engaging a modern state determined to defend its sovereign territory with professional armed forces that have the will, if not necessarily the wherewithal, to counter major U.S. weapons systems.

A Third Gulf War would distinguish itself from recent Middle Eastern conflicts by the geographic span of the fighting and the number of major actors that might become involved. In all likelihood, the field of battle would stretch from the shores of the Mediterranean, where Lebanon abuts Israel, to the Strait of Hormuz, where the Persian Gulf empties into the Indian Ocean. Participants could include, on one side, Iran, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and assorted Shia militias in Iraq and Yemen; and, on the other, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). If the fighting in Syria were to get out of hand, Russian forces could even become involved.

All of these forces have been equipping themselves with massive arrays of modern weaponry in recent years, ensuring that any fighting will be intense, bloody, and horrificallydestructive. Iran has been acquiring an assortment of modern weapons from Russia and possesses its own substantial arms industry. It, in turn, has been supplying the Assad regime with modern arms and is suspected of shipping an array of missiles and other munitions to Hezbollah. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have long been major recipients of tens of billions of dollars of sophisticated American weaponry and President Trump has promised to supply them with so much more.

This means that, once ignited, a Third Gulf War could quickly escalate and would undoubtedly generate large numbers of civilian and military casualties, and new flows of refugees. The United States and its allies would try to quickly cripple Irans war-making capabilities, a task that would require multiple waves of air and missile strikes, some surely directed at facilities in densely populated areas. Iran and its allies would seek to respond by attacking high-value targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia, including cities and oil facilities. Irans Shia allies in Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere could be expected to launch attacks of their own on the U.S.-led alliance. Where all this would lead, once such fighting began, is of course impossible to predict, but the history of the twenty-first century suggests that, whatever happens, it wont follow the carefully laid plans of commanding generals (or their civilian overseers) and wont end either expectably or well.

Precisely what kind of incident or series of events would ignite a war of this sort is similarly unpredictable. Nonetheless, it seems obvious that the world is moving ever closer to a moment when the right (or perhaps the better word is wrong) spark could set off a chain of events leading to full-scale hostilities in the Middle East in the wake of President Trumps recent rejection of the nuclear deal. Its possible, for instance, to imagine a clash between Israeli and Iranian military contingents in Syria sparking such a conflict. The Iranians, it is claimed, have set up bases there both to support the Assad regime and to funnel arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon. On May 10th, Israeli jets struck several such sites, following a missile barrage on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights said to have been launched by Iranian soldiers in Syria. More Israeli strikes certainly lie in our future as Iran presses its drive to establish and control a so-called land bridge through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Another possible spark could involve collisions or other incidents between American and Iranian naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, where the two navies frequently approach each other in an aggressive manner. Whatever the nature of the initial clash, rapid escalation to full-scale hostilities could occur with very little warning.

All of this begs a question: Why are the United States and its allies in the region moving ever closer to another major war in the Persian Gulf? Why now?

The Geopolitical Impulse

The first two Gulf Wars were driven, to a large extent, by the geopolitics of oil. After World War II, as the United States became increasingly dependent on imported sources of petroleum, it drew ever closer to Saudi Arabia, the worlds leading oil producer. Under the Carter Doctrine of January 1980, the U.S. pledged for the first time to use force, if necessary, to prevent any interruption in the flow of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to this country and its allies. Ronald Reagan, the first president to implement that doctrine, authorized the reflagging of Saudi and Kuwaiti oil tankers with the stars and stripes during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that began in 1980 and their protection by the U.S. Navy. When Iranian gunboats menaced such tankers, American vessels drove them off in incidents that represented the first actual military clashes between the U.S. and Iran. At the time, President Reagan put the matter in no uncertain terms: The use of the sea lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians.

Oil geopolitics also figured prominently in the U.S. decision to intervene in the First Gulf War. When Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait in August 1990 and appeared poised to invade Saudi Arabia, President George H.W. Bush announced that the U.S. would send forces to defend the kingdom and so played out the Carter Doctrine in real time. Our country now imports nearly half the oil it consumes and could face a major threat to its economic independence, he declared, adding that the sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is of vital interest to the United States.

Although the oil dimension of U.S. strategy was less obvious in President George W. Bushs decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, it was still there. Members of his inner circle, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the safety of Persian Gulf oil lanes and needed to be eliminated. Others in the administration were eager to pursue the prospect of privatizing Iraqs state-owned oil fields and turning them over to American oil companies (a notion that evidently stuck in Donald Trumps mind, as he repeatedly asserted during the 2016 election campaign that we should have kept the oil).

Today, oil has receded, if not entirely disappeared, as a major factor in Persian Gulf geopolitics, while other issues have moved to the fore. Of greatest significance in animating the current military standoff is an escalating struggle for regional dominance between Iran and Saudi Arabia (with a nuclear-armed Israel lurking in the wings). Both countries view themselves as the hub of a network of like-minded states and societies  Iran as the leader of the regions Shia populations, Saudi Arabia of its Sunnis  and both resent any gains by the other. To complicate matters, President Trump, clearly harboring deep antipathy toward the Iranians, has chosen to side with the Saudis big league (as he might say), while Benjamin Netanyahus Israel, fearing Iranian advances in the region, has opted to weigh in on the Saudi side of the equation in a major way as well. The result, as suggested by military historian Andrew Bacevich, is the inauguration of a Saudi-American-Israeli axis and a major realignment of U.S. strategic relationships.

Several key factors explain this transition from an oil-centric strategy emphasizing military power to a more conventional struggle among regional rivals that has already deeply embroiled the planets last superpower. To begin with, Americas reliance on imported oil has diminished rapidly in recent years, thanks to an oil drilling revolution in the U.S. that has allowed the massive exploitation of domestic shale reserves through the process of fracking. As a result, access to Persian Gulf supplies matters far less in Washington than it did in previous decades. In 2001, according to oil giant BP, the United States relied on imports for 61% of its net oil consumption; by 2016, that share had dropped to 37% and was still falling  and yet the U.S. remains deeply involved in the region as a decade and a half of unending war, counterinsurgency, drone strikes, and other kinds of strife sadly indicate.

By invading and occupying Iraq in 2003, Washington also eliminated a major bulwark of Sunni power, a country led by Saddam Hussein who, two decades earlier, had been siding with the U.S. in opposing Iran. That invasion, ironically enough, had the effect of expanding Shiite influence and making Iran the major  possibly the only  winner in the years of war that followed. Some Western analysts believe that the greatest tragedy of the invasion, from a geopolitical point of view, was the ascension of Shiite politicians with close ties to Tehran in post-Hussein Iraq. Although that countrys current leaders appear intent on pursuing a path of their own in the post-ISIS moment, many powerful Iraqi Shiite militias  including some that played key roles in driving Islamic State militants out of Mosul and other major cities  retain close ties to Irans Revolutionary Guards.

While disasters in themselves, the wars in Syria and Yemen have only added additional complexity to the geopolitical chessboard on which Washington found itself after that invasion and from which it has never extricated itself. In Syria, Iran has chosen to ally with Vladimir Putins Russia to preserve the brutal Assad regime, providing it with arms, funds, and an unknown number of advisers from the Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah, a Shiite political group in Lebanon with a significant military wing, has sent large numbers of its own fighters to Syria to help Assads forces. In Yemen, the Iranians are believed to be providing arms and missile technology to the Houthis, a homegrown Shiite rebel group that now controls the northern half of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

The Saudis, in turn, have been playing an ever more active role in bolstering their military power and protecting embattled Sunni communities throughout the region. Seeking to resist and reverse what they view as Iranian advances, they have helped armmilitias of an extreme sort and evidently even al-Qaeda-associated groups under attack from Iranian-backed Shiite forces in Iraq and Syria. In 2015, in the case of Yemen, they organized a coalition of Sunni Arab states to crush the Houthi rebels in a brutal war that has included a blockade of the country, helping to produce mass famine and a relentless American-backed air campaign, which often hits civilian targets including markets, schools, and weddings. This combination has helped produce an estimated 10,000 civilian deaths and a singular humanitarian crisis in that already impoverished country.

In response to these developments, the Obama administration sought to calm the situation by negotiating a nuclear deal with the Iranians and by holding out the promise of increased economic ties with the West in return for reduced assertiveness outside its borders. Such a strategy never, however, won the support of Israel or Saudi Arabia. And in the Obamayears, Washington continued to support both of those countries in a major way, including supplying massive amounts of military equipment, refueling Saudi planes in midair so they could strike deeper into Yemen, and providing the Saudis with targeting intelligence for their disastrous war.

The Anti-Iranian Triumvirate

All of these regional developments, in play before Donald Trump was elected, have only gained added momentum since then, thanks in no small degree to the pivotal personalities involved.

The first of them, of course, is President Trump. Throughout his election campaign, he regularly denounced the nuclear deal that Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union all signed onto in July 2015. Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement forced Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program in return for the lifting of all nuclear-related sanctions. It was a plan that Iran scrupulously adhered to. Although President Obama, many senior American policymakers, and most European leaders had argued that the JCPOA  whatever its flaws  provided a valuable constraint on Irans nuclear (and so other) ambitions, Trump consistently denounced it as a terrible deal because it failed to eliminate every last vestige of the Iranian nuclear infrastructure or ban that countrys missile program. This deal was a disaster, he told David Sanger of the New York Times in March 2016.

While Trump, who has filled his administration with Iranophobes, including his new secretary of state and new national security adviser, seems to harbor a primeval animosity toward the Iranians, perhaps because they dont treat him with the adoration he feels he deserves, he has a soft spot for the Saudi royals, who do. In May 2017, on his first trip abroad as president, he traveled to Riyadh, where he performed a sword dance with Saudi princes and immersed himself in the sort of ostentatious displays of wealth only oil potentates can provide.

While in Riyadh, he conferred at length with then-Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 31-year-old son of King Salman and a key architect of Saudi Arabias geopolitical contest with the Iranians. Prince Mohammed, who serves as the Saudi defense minister and was named crown prince in June 2017, is the prime mover behind the kingdoms (so far unsuccessful) drive to crush the Houthi rebels in Yemen and is known to harbor fierce anti-Iranian views.

At an earlier White House luncheon in March 2017, bin Salman, or MBS as hes sometimes known, and President Trump seemed to reach an implicit agreement on a common strategy for branding Iran a regional threat, tearing up the nuclear agreement, and so setting the stage for an eventual war to vanquish that country or at least to fell the regime that runs it. While in Riyadh, President Trump told a conference of Sunni Arab leaders that, from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death of America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this very room.

While no doubt gratifying to the Saudis, Emiratis, Kuwaitis, and other Sunni rulers listening, those words echoed the views of the third key player in the strategic triumvirate that may soon drive the region into all-out war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also known as Bibi. For years, he has railed against Iranian ambitions in the region and threatened military action against any Iranian move that would, as he saw it, impinge on Israeli security. Now, in Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince, he has the allies of his dreams. In the Obama years, Netanyahu was a fierce opponent of the Iranian nuclear deal and used a rare appearance before a joint session of Congress in March 2015 to denounce it in no uncertain terms. He has never  right up to the days before Trump withdrew from the accord  stopped working to persuade the president that the agreement should be junked and Iran targeted.

In that 2015 speech to Congress, Netanyahu laid out a vision of Iran as a systemic danger that would later be appropriated by Trump and his Saudi confederates in Riyadh. Irans regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also the peace of the entire world, he asserted in a typically hyperbolic statement. Backed by Iran, Assad is slaughtering Syrians. Backed by Iran, Shiite militias are rampaging through Iraq. Backed by Iran, Houthis are seizing control of Yemen, threatening the strategic strait at the mouth of the Red Sea. Along with the Straits of Hormuz, that would give Iran a second choke-point on the worlds oil supply.

Now, Netanyahu is playing a major role in driving the already crippled region into a war that could further destroy it, produce yet more terror groups (and terrorized civilians), and create havoc on a potentially global scale, given that both Russia and China back the Iranians.

Girding for War

Pay attention to the words of Netanyahu in Washington and Donald Trump in Riyadh. Think of them not as political rhetoric, but as prophesies of a grim kind. Youre going to be hearing a lot more such prophesies in the months ahead as the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia move closer to war with Iran and its allies. While ideology and religion will play a part in what follows, the underlying impetus is a geopolitical struggle for control of the greater Persian Gulf region, with all its riches, between two sets of countries, each determined to prevail.

No one can say with certainty when, or even if, these powerful forces will produce a devastating new war or set of wars in the Middle East. Other considerations  an unexpected flare-up on the Korean Peninsula if President Trumps talks with North Koreas Kim Jong-un end in failure, a fresh crisis with Russia, a global economic meltdown  could turn attention elsewhere, lessening the importance of the geopolitical contest in the Persian Gulf. New leadership in any of the key countries could similarly lead to a change of course. Netanyahu, for example, is now at risk of losing power because of an ongoing Israeli police investigation into allegedly corrupt acts of his, and Trump, well, who can say? Without such a development or developments, however, the way to war, which will surely prove to be the road to hell, seems open with a Third Gulf War looming on humanitys horizon.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Tom Engelhardts A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoys In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, John Dowers The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, and Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead.

Copyright 2018 Michael T. Klare

Via Tomdispatch

Cover Photo: CENTRAL WAR MEDIA/AFP / Handout / STR. An image released on May 10, 2018 by the government-affiliated Central War Media in Syria purportedly shows Syrian air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Damascus airspace.Reddit Email 2K Shares

The move of the Trump administration of the US embassy to Jerusalem is intended, according to the president, to signal a recognition of the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

This move is controversial because Israels sovereignty over Jerusalem is not recognized in international law. The 1947 partition plan suggested in the UN General Assembly for what should happen in the British Mandate of Palestine after the British decamped did not have the force of law, since it was never endorsed by the UN Security Council. But even the UNGA partition did not award Jerusalem to the 500,000 European Zionist settlers brought into Palestine by the British colonial authorities as part of their long-term plan to divide and rule the Middle East. (In 1799 General Bonaparte invaded Ottoman Palestine and only found about 3,000 Jews there. After the Crusades, there is no evidence for a significant Jewish presence there for some 800 years).

The 1948 war that broke out as the British began leaving ended with the Jewish forces in control of West Jerusalem. Jordan had the eastern part of the city, religiously significant for both Jews and Muslims. Israel launched the 1967 war of conquest in a bid to add the West Bank of the Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Syrian Golan Heights to Israeli territory (yes, Israel fired the first shot in that war, taking advantage of unrealistic bombast from Egypts Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose best troops were tied down in the Yemen War). The scheme succeeded wildly, giving the expansionist hawks more territory and all of Jerusalem but also making Israel an Apartheid binational state with a Palestinian Bantustan under the Israeli jackboot in the West Bank and Gaza. The Israelis illegally detached part of the West Bank and added it to their province of Jerusalem. They have ever since been using a combination of force, squatter settlement construction, and shyster legal ploys to kick Palestinians out of East Jerusalem.

It is this aggressive Israeli expansionism and colonization that Trumps move of the embassy is intended to legitimize. It cannot do so in international law, of course, but the Israelis have all along counted on might makes right. That will work for them until might is no longer on their side.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has a romantic nationalist view of history, trying to make Jerusalem Jewish for thousands of years. However, the city was founded by Canaanites or their predecessors in honor of the god Shalem, and Jewish ethnogenesis out of the Canaanites is probably a process of the first millennium BCE, and not the earliest part of that millennium. Jews almost never ruled Jerusalem after the Babylonian conquest; Iraqis, Iranians, Romans and Muslims did.

The Romans gradually established themselves in Palestine (yes, that is what they called it), taking Judea in 63 BCE and ruling through local proxies. After a brief Iranian Parthian conquest, they came back and used Herod. But in 6 CE the Romans assumed direct rule of Palestine.

Local Jews chafed under Roman rule and got up some rebellions, the most significant 66-70. The Great Rebellion was brutally crushed by the Romans in 70 and they destroyed the Second Temple. Jews no longer had a direct ritual link to the city, and their worship became more local. After a second big revolt, 132-136 CE [AD], led by Simon bar Kochba, the Romans expelled Jews from Jerusalem.

The pagan Romans did not deal well with dissent, being perfectly willing to adopt scorched-earth tactics and to kill large numbers of people or expel them from their territory. That famous Pax Romana came with a high price of repression, though admittedly the emperors after Augustus appear to have been less viciously brutal than had been the Republic.

So the Romans from 136 just forbade Jews to live in Jerusalem. Then they reconfigured it as a pagan city, Aelia Capitolina. They literally wiped Jewish Jerusalem off the face of the map. And they built enormous pagan temples to Jupiter and Venus for Roman worshipers of the gods. They erected a statue of Jupiter on the abandoned Temple Mount.

The Romans did not scatter the Jews from Palestine, however, just from Jerusalem. Significant Jewish communities remained in the Galilee, Tiberias, Ptolemais (Akka), etc. And while the law forbade Jews to live in Aelia Capitolina, laws are always imperfectly enforced and there may have been a small community there that officials winked at.

The Jews in Roman Palestine were a bigger and more important group than were the small Levantine Christian community.

Imagine their surprise when the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 adopted Christianity (well, sort of), and his successors transformed the Roman Empire into a Christian state and arranged for most urban pagans to convert to the new religion over the succeeding two centuries. (Pagan survivals in the countryside are clear from the archeology, into the 500s and 600s, and are attested in the Quran in the 610s).

Constantines mother Helena made a tour of the Near East and was appalled at the pagan dominance of Jerusalem. At her instance, the big pagan temples to Jupiter and Venus (probably viewed as the North Arabian goddess al-`Uzza by the local Nabatean and Arab populations) were pulled down. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built. Since Helena claimed to have found a relic of the True Cross, it was placed there. This church became the center of the Christian New Jerusalem. The Temple Mount gradually became an abandoned esplanade with a crumbling statue of Zeus.

The new Christian masters of Jerusalem maintained the de jure ban on Jews in Jerusalem.

In 614, the Iranian Sasanian Empire took Jerusalem, having invaded the Near East. In 619 they took Egypt and deprived the Eastern Roman Empire (now based in Constantinople) of its breadbasket.

The Sasanians are said to have been helped by Palestinian Jews, who preferred the Zoroastrian Iranians to the somewhat fanatical Christian Roman emperors. Justinian even had ordered that synagogues in Roman Africa (Tunisia) be made into churches, though probably the decree was not widely implemented.

Then the Sasanians are said to have appointed Jews to rule Jerusalem until about 619. This Jerusalem policy angered eastern Christians in the Sasanian Empire, and the bishop in Ctesiphon (todays Madain in Iraq) lobbied to restore Christian suzerainty there. Emperor Khosrow II, who legend says had a Christian wife, Shirin, acquiesced. But under Iranian rule 614-629, Jews were free to live and worship in Jerusalem, and may have established a makeshift altar on the temple mount.

Roman restoration of control over Palestine, circa 630-636, was brief, since Arab Muslims moved in to the Near East and perhaps Islam spread among Arab tribes in Transjordan, Palestine and Syria. The Muslim commander of the faithful and vicar of the prophet, Omar bin al-Khattab, took Jerusalem in 636-37 and visited it that April.

Muslim rule was to last save for the short hiatus of the Crusader kingdoms until World War I, when General Allenby took Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire. Muslims viewed Jews as a legitimate religious community, unlike Inquisition-era Europeans such as the Spanish, and so Jews were free to live in Jerusalem, though few did since it was a small and insignificant city and many went to Muslim capitals such as Cairo, and later Istanbul, instead.

So it isnt true that Jerusalem has throughout history been Jewish. For hundreds of years under the Romans, whether pagan or Christian, the city was made completely devoid of Jews, at least by law. Ironically, it was Iran and the Muslims who rescued the Jews from that exile from Jerusalem.

I am going to tease you and say that a fuller presentation of the late-antique story of Jerusalem, and a theory about it and the rise of Islam, will be given in my book, due in October.

Announcement: Forthcoming October 9 and available for pre-order



Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of EmpiresVANCOUVER, May 14, 2018 /CNW/ - Pacton Gold Inc. (TSXV:PAC) (the "Company" or "Pacton") is pleased to welcome Mr. Eric Sprott as a significant new shareholder of the Company, as announced in the recent press release dated May 9, 2018, which discussed the closing of a $5.5 million strategic financing. Mr. Sprott purchased approximately 10.1% of the outstanding common shares of Pacton and would control approximately 18.4% of the Company, on a partially diluted basis assuming the exercise of warrants.

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alf Stewart as a director. Mr. Stewart will replace Mr. Richard Kusmirski on the Board. The Company wishes to thank Mr. Kusmirski for his contributions to the Company.

"We are pleased to welcome Eric Sprott as one of Pacton's largest shareholders and validating our strategy to become one of the leaders in the Pilbara gold rush. Our recent initial acquisitions in the Pilbara have solidified our presence in Western Australia and will provide the cornerstone for Pacton, as we continue to aggressively acquire and explore the region," commented Alec Pismiris, Interim President and CEO of Pacton. "I am also excited to announce the appointment of Mr. Alf Stewart to the Board of Directors. Mr. Stewart brings a wealth of experience in the capital markets and more specifically, extensive background in the financing and acquisitions of projects in Australia, going back 25 years."

Alfred (Alf) Stewart, B.SC. Geology, has a career spanning over 40 years in the resource and investment industries. Mr. Stewart's career includes time spent as a geologist, stock exchange regulator, investment banker, analyst and investment advisor. Mr. Stewart has worked for such firms as Bank of Montreal, Esso Minerals, Erickson Gold Mining, Canaccord Capital, Haywood Securities, Golden Capital, and Raymond James. He has been involved in financing mining companies for over two decades, including discoveries in the base and precious metals sectors. Mr. Stewart is also the President and Director of BlueBird Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV:BATT).

Pacton also announces that further to its news release dated April 5, 2018, it has now finalized and executed a definitive agreement whereby it will acquire a 51% ownership interest in Arrow (Pilbara) Pty Ltd ("Arrow Pilbara"), an Australian company wholly owned by Arrow Minerals Limited (ASX:AMD). Pacton also has an option to acquire an additional 29% ownership interest in Arrow Pilbara. The agreement has been submitted to the TSX Venture Exchange for final acceptance.

The Company also advises that it has granted incentive stock options under its stock option plan to directors for the purchase of up to 300,000 common shares at a price of $0.55 per share, subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

On Behalf of the Board of Pacton Gold Inc.

Alec Pismiris

Interim President & CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.TORONTO, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pasinex Resources Limited (CSE:PSE) (FSE:PNX) today announced an exploration update at its high-grade zinc project in Nevada, USA (Gunman project). A drilling contract to drill a minimum of four drillholes not to exceed a total of 3,000 feet (900 metres) of oriented diamond core was signed with Idea Drilling LLC of Minnesota, USA. Drilling of this high-grade zinc mineralization (see Figure 1) is anticipated to commence by the end of May once ground works and bonding are complete.

Pasinex has budgeted approximately US$500,000 for this initial drill program.

John Barry, VP of Exploration commented: This is a surgical drilling program designed to confirm previous reverse circulation drilling results and for the first time to provide oriented diamond core to crucially work out the structural controls on the mineralization. Detailed mapping of the Gunman project is also almost complete and fundamental to effective targeting within mineralized host-carbonate rocks along strike and under cover. A drone-borne magnetic survey over the Gunman project is being planned in the coming months to reveal covered geology and hidden structure. Focused ionic leach sampling is also part of the program as it could be a powerful tool to sniff out potential deep sulphide deposits under alluvial material.

Pasinex can earn up to an 80 per cent interest in the Gunman project from Cypress Development Corp. (TSX.V:CYP) and private company Caliber Minerals Inc. (formerly Silcom Systems Inc.). The total consideration of US$675,000 in cash and the issuance of 4.8 million Pasinex Common Shares to be paid over a four-year period. In addition, the Company must incur minimum exploration expenditures totalling US$2,950,000 also to be spent over four years commencing from the start of the agreement, December 5, 2017.

Steve Williams, CEO of Pasinex Resources states, Pasinex was attracted to the Gunman project because of the high-grade zinc potential and its deep root potential. We know from our experience of mining and exploring for zinc in Carbonate Replacement Deposits (CRDs) in Turkey that high-grade oxidized zones can over-lie deeper and very rich sulphide zones. The discovery of the Taylor Carbonate Hosted Zinc-Lead-Silver Deposit by Arizona Mining has changed our thinking about the potential for big zinc CRD systems in the Cordillera district of the Western United States. In our view the Gunman-trend along the eastern flank of the Diamond Mountains is now good hunting ground for big zinc.

Qualified Person

EurGeol, P.Geo. John Barry, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Barry is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control and data verification and has confirmed all procedures, protocols and methodologies used. Mr. Barry is the Companys VP Exploration.

Figure 1: Historic Drill Results at Gunman

Drillhole From

(feet) To

(feet) Length

(feet) %

Zn Ag

ppm BC-16 125 185 60 10.96 45 BC-24* 20 65 45 4.02 40 GM04-32 40 210 170 15.13 145 GM-01 160 210 50 9.47 60 GM-01 355 375 20 14.96 121 GM-07 105 165 60 9.88 57 GM-07 180 205 25 12.50 82 GM-09 130 195 65 6.78 49 GM-09 225 285 60 5.98 39 GM-26 50 225 175 15.66 149 GM-27 60 205 145 5.11 37 GM-28 5 175 170 9.97 51 GM-29 15 85 70 5.96 33 GM-29 140 180 40 6.47 33 GM-32 45 165 120 8.73 51 GMRC-4 20 175 155 8.70 48 GMRC-5 5 205 200 8.87 63 GMRC-9 50 225 175 11.99 121 GMRC-11 0 150 150 3.06 18 GMRC-11 165 215 50 7.87 126 GMRC-15 80 185 105 19.33 103 GMRC-16 45 225 180 16.74 105 GMRC-20 40 185 145 9.52 79 GMRC-22 105 150 45 21.38 41

* Apart from BC-24, in the RH South zone, all intersections are from the main RH zone.

Note: True widths of the drillhole intersections reported in the Figure 1 cannot be determined from the information available.

Figure 1 extracted as Table 10-1. P40 from Gunman NI 43-101 Technical Report, May 30, 2017  Report to Silcom Systems Inc. Prepared by Daniel W. Kalmbach, CPG; Gerald E. Ray, PhD., P.Geo. Filed by Silicom Systems, Inc on SEDAR, June 13, 2017. Click here to see Gunman NI43-101 Technical Report.

About Pasinex

Pasinex Resources Limited is a Toronto-based mining company which owns 50% of the producing Pinargozu high grade zinc mine and, under a Direct Shipping Program, sells to zinc smelters / refiners from its mine site in Turkey. The Company also holds an option to acquire 80% of the Gunman high-grade zinc exploration project in Nevada. Pasinex has a strong technical management team with many years of experience in mineral exploration and mining project development. The mission of Pasinex is to build a mid-tier zinc company based on its mining and exploration projects in Turkey and Nevada.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

PASINEX RESOURCES LTD.

Steve Williams Evan White President/CEO Manager of Corporate Communications Phone: 416 861 9659 Phone: +1 416.906.3498 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although Pasinex Resources Ltd. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: all exploration drilling results, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.May 14, 2018 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia - LiCo Energy Metals Inc. ("the Company" or LiCo") TSX-V: LIC, OTCQB: WCTXF would like to provide its shareholders with additional information regarding the May 8, 2018 announcement of the signing of an option agreement for a 60% interest in the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke cobalt properties (the "Properties") with Surge Exploration Inc.

Since the completion of LiCo's Phase 1 diamond drilling programs at the end of the 2017 calendar year, Company management has been reviewing various financing options that will allow it to continue to move forward its promising lithium projects in Nevada and Chile, as well as, its cobalt projects (Teledyne Cobalt and Glencore Bucke) in Canada.

The Company's working capital, although sufficient to maintain operations, was inadequate to allow the Company to undertake five separate exploration programs in three countries on two different continents at the same time. Therefore, the Company sought various financing strategies that would allow it to continue to explore its properties and increase the value of its mineral assets for both calendar 2018 and 2019. The goal of each financing strategy was to provide the resources to fund the Company's disclosed exploration programs, realizing that each of these strategies may either dilute the Company's shareholders through a private placement, or in the alternative, reduce the Company's interest in a single project going forward by entering into a property option agreement that funds the Company's stated 2018 and 2019 exploration programs.

Given the continued softening / deterioration of junior mining equity financing markets and the relatively large number of Company common shares already issued and outstanding, management believed that seeking project specific option agreements would be the Company's most readily available financing strategy option. On April 3, 2018 the Company announced the acceleration of payments for the Teledyne property in order to increase the property's value with the aim of attracting further interest in the property. During this time, the Company received unsolicited expressions of interest for optioning and joint venturing its various mining assets. Each of these expressions of interest were deficient and ultimately rejected by management. At this point, LiCo was introduced to Surge Exploration Inc., through the common director. Surge Exploration Inc. had recently completed a financing and was looking for a suitable mining exploration project. After a due diligence period, an option agreement was successfully negotiated and ultimately signed by the respective company directors, with the common director abstaining from each vote. The agreement remains subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

This negotiated agreement not only provides LiCo with valuable cash (CAD $240,000) and equity consideration (1,000,000 common shares in a publicly traded company), but also completes the funding required for the Company's 2018 and 2019 exploration programs on both the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke properties and funds 60% of all future expenditures on these properties. The stated goal of the 2018 and 2019 exploration programs are to define an underground cobalt resource on the property, which management believes is extremely valuable to both LiCo and its shareholders. It is this reason, along with the need for additional working capital and exploration funds, that management believes that LiCo shareholders will ultimately gain from the funding agreement and association with Surge Exploration Inc.

About LiCo Energy Metals: https://licoenergymetals.com/

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's focus is directed towards exploration for high value metals integral to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries.

Glencore Bucke Cobalt Project (Cobalt, Ontario): The Company has purchased a 100% interest from Glencore Canada Corporation (subsidiary of Glencore plc) in the Glencore Bucke Property, situated in Bucke Township, 6 km east-northeast of Cobalt, Ontario, subject to a back-in provision, production royalty and off-take agreement. Strategically, the Glencore Bucke Property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along the west boundary of LiCo's Teledyne Cobalt Project. The Property covers the southern extension of the #3 vein that was historically mined on the neighbouring Cobalt Contact Property located to the north of the Glencore Bucke Property. Diamond drilling in 1981 on the Glencore Bucke Property delineated two zones of mineralization measuring 150 m and 70 m in length. During the fall of 2017, LiCo completed 21 diamond drill holes totaling 1,900 m. This drill program, along with the Phase 1 diamond drilling program completed on the Teledyne Cobalt Property, satisfied LiCo's flow-through financing obligations. The exploration program at the Glencore Bucke Property also satisfied our contractual obligations to Glencore plc. whereby LiCo was to incur $250,000 of exploration expenditures on the Property within six months of the approval date (see News Release dated September 5th, 2017).

Ontario Teledyne Cobalt Project (Cobalt, Ontario):

The Company has recently exercised its option to earn 100% ownership, subject to a royalty, in the Teledyne Project located near Cobalt. Ontario. The Property adjoins the south and west boundaries of claims that hosted the Agaunico Mine. From 1905 through to 1961, the Agaunico Mine produced a total of 4,350,000 lbs. of cobalt and 980,000 oz. of silver. A significant portion of the cobalt that was produced at the Agaunico Mine located along structures that extended southward onto the Teledyne property. The Company completed a total of 11 diamond drill holes totaling 2,200 m in the fall of 2017. The drilling has confirmed cobalt mineralization present on the Property which is consistent with historical grades as reported historically by Cunningham-Dunlop (1979) and Bressee (1981), disclosed in earlier news releases. These reports are available in the public domain through MNDM's AFRI database.

NI 43-101 Reports for both the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke Properties, are publicly available on www.SEDAR.com as well as the Company's website. LiCo's recently completed diamond drilling program (September to December 2017) consisted of both twinning and infill drilling of the historical drill holes located on both the Teledyne Cobalt and Glencore Bucke Properties.

Purickuta Lithium Project (Chile):

The Purickuta Project is located within Salar de Atacama, a salt flat encompassing 3,000 km2, being about 100 km long, 80 km wide and home to approximately 37% of the worlds Lithium production and Chile itself holds 53% of the world's known lithium reserves (Source: Bloomberg Markets - June 23, 2017, "Lithium Squeeze Looms as Top Miner Front-Loads, Chile Says"). The property is 160 hectares large and is enveloped by a concession owned by Sociedad Quimica y Minera ("SQM") and lies within a few kilometers of a property owned by CORFO (the Chilean Economic Development Agency) where its leases land to both SQM and Albermarle's Rockwood Lithium Corp. ("Albermarle") for lithium extraction. Together these two companies, SQM and Albermarle, have a combined annual production of over 62,000 tonnes of LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) making up 100% of Chile's current lithium output. As reported in The Economist (June 15, 2017 - A battle for supremacy in the lithium triangle), the Salar de Atacama has the largest and highest quality proven reserves of lithium. The combination of the desert's hot sun, scarce rainfall, and the mineral-rich brines make Chile's production costs the world's lowest. This together with a favourable investment climate, low levels of corruption, and the quality of its bureaucracy and courts makes Chile a favourable place to conduct business.

Dixie Valley Lithium Project (Nevada, USA):

The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, on a large lithium exploration project at the Humboldt Salt Marsh in Dixie Valley, Nevada. Some important geological similarities exist between various lithium brines, notably geothermal activity, a dry climate, a closed basin, an aquifer, and tectonically driven subsistence exist at Dixie Valley along with Clayton Valley and various lithium bearing salars in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.

Black Rock Desert Lithium Project (Nevada, USA):

The Company has entered into an option agreement whereby the Company may earn an undivided 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, in the Black Rock Desert Lithium Project in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim Fernback"

Tim Fernback, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information:

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 14, 2018) - Altamira Gold Corp. (TSXV: ALTA) (FSE: T6UP) (OTC Pink: EQTRF), ("Altamira" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the Company has claimed an additional 51,553 ha within the Juruena belt of Mato Grosso, Brazil. These new claims are located within the Santa Helena and Colider project areas and are in addition to the areas previously acquired in April 2018 (see press release dated 4th April 2018).

Altamira has increased the size of its land position at the Santa Helena project by 40,088 ha from 18,506 ha to 58,594 ha and also staked an additional 11,465 ha at the Colider project immediately west of Santa Helena, bringing the total for Colider to 15,681 ha.

The Santa Helena Project is located in the eastern part of the Juruena belt in central Brazil and is being explored by Altamira for concealed copper-gold mineralization. Results are currently pending on a program of surface rock and soil sampling. These new claims are located less than 60km from the recent copper discovery by Anglo American which sparked a major staking rush in September 2017.

The Company also announces that it has granted 1,070,000 stock options to directors, officers and employees of the Company. The stock options are exercisable for a term of five years at an exercise price of $0.17 per common share under the terms of the Company's Stock Option Plan.

About Altamira Gold Corp.

The Company is focused on the exploration and development of gold deposits within western central Brazil. The Company holds 12 projects comprising approximately 200,000 hectares, within the prolific Juruena gold belt which historically produced an estimated 7 to 10Moz of placer gold. The Company's advanced Cajueiro project has an NI 43-101 resources of 8.64Mt @ 0.78 g/t Au (for 214,000oz) in the Indicated Resource category and 9.53Mt @ 0.66 g/t Au (for 204,000oz) in the Inferred Resource category and an additional 1.37Mt @ 1.61 g/t Au in oxides (for 79,000oz in saprolite) in the Inferred Resource category (Gustavson Associates, 2016).

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

ALTAMIRA GOLD CORP.

"Michael Bennett"

Michael Bennett

President & CEO

Tel: 604.676.5660

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information contact:

Sean Kingsley VP, Corporate Development

Phone: +1 604 440 8474

Toll-Free: +1 833 606 6271

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor it Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.In Nepal, the Conflict Victim Common Platform (CVCP) has submitted an advocacy paper on reparative needs, rights and demands to the Justice Minister and the countrys two transitional justice bodies, in the hope of creating momentum for a national policy of reparation. Victims are urging the government to address their needs through urgent support in terms of livelihoods, health, education, employment, remembrance and recognition, based on prior consultations with victims of the civil war.

CVCP has demanded that the government declare a national remembrance day in memory of the conflict victims and to honour them. In the collective advocacy paper, victims have strongly demanded that the truth be acknowledged and an official apology offered by the State that would give the families a satisfaction, and respect for their members who sacrificed for social change and republican Nepal, says Gita Rasaili, a frontline activist of the victims platform.

Law Minister Sher Bahadur Tamang said in a response to the advocacy paper that the ministry is taking the victims agenda seriously and is committed to draft a new policy of reparation to satisfy victims of the conflict. However, victims and their activists have little faith in government commitments, since several commitments and agreements have not been implemented in the past. We feel extremely excluded from the policy draft, says recently-elected CVCP chairperson Bhagiram Chaudhary. The political bargains occur in the capital and never include victims expectations to address our needs and solve the challenges we face every day.

No political will

There is not only a trust deficit with government bodies, but there is no political will to acknowledge the past honestly, he adds. We want an immediate solution and honest commitment from the authorities.

Twelve years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA, 2006), the government of Nepal has failed to form a policy of reparation and there is no movement to repair the past and systematically address victims needs. Instead we are moving through a superficial approach and the State does not listen to the needs of victims. Victims themselves have organized local meetings and participatory consultations throughout the country to articulate their needs and develop a national reparations demand.

Most acts of violence in conflict are linked to histories of marginality and exclusion. In the Nepal context, the socially, politically and economically excluded were mobilized by Maoist rebels and so became targets for the State  because of who they are, not what they had done. The Government could frame collective reparations for marginalized communities and excluded indigenous groups  such as Madhesh, Tharu, Rapti and Karnali  in victim regions, who suffered most heavily in the armed conflict (1996-2006).

Victims needs must be put at the centre of reparations policy framing. Reparative needs must be driven by the affected communities and not just the closed spaces of institutions in the capital like the centralized TJ bodies.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused Israel of state terror and genocide after Israeli forces killed at least 55 Palestinians on the Gaza border.

In one of his most vehement broadsides ever against the Jewish state, Erdogan also announced three days of national mourning over the deaths, as well as a giant protest in Istanbul on Friday.

Thousands had earlier marched through central Istanbul to denounce the bloodshed as the US moved its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in defiance of widespread outrage in the Islamic world.

Israel is wreaking state terror. Israel is a terror state, Erdogan told Turkish students in London in a speech broadcast by state television.

What Israel has done is a genocide. I condemn this humanitarian drama, the genocide, from whichever side it comes, Israel or America, he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters in Ankara that Turkey was recalling its ambassadors to the United States and Israel for consultations.

Bozdag also said Turkey was calling an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday, but did not give details over its format.

Violent clashes erupted along Gazas border as the US opened its Israel embassy in Jerusalem in a ceremony attended by a White House delegation and Israeli officials.

Erdogan and other Turkish officials have repeatedly condemned the US decision to move the embassy, warning it risked inflaming tensions.

The Turkish president announced he was calling a giant meeting on Friday to protest Israels actions at the vast Yenikapi area in Istanbul, which has capacity for more than a million people.

Erdogan regards himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause and last year held a summit of Islamic countries to denounce US President Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital.

However Turkey also maintains full trade and diplomatic links with the Jewish state after a 2016 reconciliation deal ended a dispute over the deadly storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos.

Ankara earlier on Monday accused the US of sharing responsibility with Israel over the deaths in Gaza.

The United States, unfortunately, took its place without complaint alongside the Israeli government in this massacre of civilians and became a party to this crime against humanity, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.1K Shares Share

Physician burnout is the depression of the medical world. We are aware of its presence and the detriment it can cause, but yet, we dont really like to talk about it. The problem is, just like depression, if we dont talk about it or seek to address it, it persists and leads to a number of unwanted outcomes including decreased productivity, decreased patient satisfaction, and increase in medical errors. And if you are one of those, who thinks this only occurs to a select few, I want you to rethink that. Most statistics suggest that 50 percent of physicians have experienced burnout at one time or another. Thus, you have more than likely already met a burnt out physician. That physician who was always pleasant, but now is receiving complaints from patients about their professionalism or behavior. The physician who was always vocal and passionate, but now you rarely hear a word from. And then theres the physician who just seems tired and quite frankly, depressed. You have met one of us.

Maybe you didnt put it all quite together at the time, but you have. It is a topic on the forefront of my mind in daily practice as a primary care provider and having experienced it firsthand; I have made increasing efforts over the last several months to push for acknowledgment of it as a problem that needs to be addressed.

What I find happens when the topic is brought up, however, is no one likes to talk about it. I get some nods, and people agree that it occurs within our healthcare system, but no one really wants to do anything about it. If anything, we allow our physicians to fester in their burnout until it leads to a poor patient outcome, a physician leaving medical practice or cutting down on hours, or at its worse, physician suicide before we take any action to improve physician wellness.

We need to make an effort to make it a widespread practice to look for signs of physician burnout before it becomes a problem. Models of how this can be done have been adopted by major healthcare institutions but have yet to reach a majority of physicians. We often times screen our patients for depression with scales such as the PHQ-9 at routine annual visits. Something similar should be done for physicians on an annual basis as well as education to help physicians to be aware of signs of burnout in themselves.

After we identify burnout and the extent of the problem, we next need to address it. What ways can we support physicians and at the same time support the productivity needs of hospital administrators? There needs to be a balance. Systems that work to improve workflow and lessen the burden of physician tasks will allow for better physician support and overall satisfaction. Other tactics that have been tried include the idea of trading time.

Perhaps clinical time is traded for non-clinical time such as committee time or volunteering efforts that bring awareness to the organization. This can help provide more meaning and fulfillment for a physician. Included in this, is also the idea of giving providers back time by helping them with support services at home. For instance, a pilot program at Stanford allowed physicians to trade in time spent on committees with in-home services such as cleaning and meal delivery.

We often hear that our medical system is broken. A large part of this is that our providers are broken. Until we start to make conscious efforts to put the pieces back together for our physicians, we will continue in this vicious cycle of provider dissatisfaction, poor clinical outcomes, and patient dissatisfaction. Furthermore, please dont try to improve the situation solely by giving us methods to cope better or to be stronger individuals. Most times, it is not the individual that is the problem; it is the system. Besides, you probably realize by now, it is the strongest of us that often takes the biggest fall.

Anh Le is an internal medicine-pediatrics physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comA nationwide poll conducted by Property Partners has shown that up to a third of private treaty house sales fail to complete as a result of issues with contracts.

The nationwide estate agency group is calling for an overhaul to the way houses are bought and sold in Ireland to bring greater efficiency and transparency for both vendors and purchasers. The poll, conducted to coincide with a new brand launch, also found that it can take up to 200 days to complete the entire sales process.

Under the current system for private treaty house sales - which account for in excess of 90% of all residential home transactions  a buyers solicitor only gets sight of the contract after a sale is agreed," says John Buggy of Kilkennys Property Partners Buggy.

"Impediments to a successful sale often only arise a considerable amount of time into the process.

Property Partners believes if contracts were available to interested parties to review online from the outset, it would enable issues to be identified before negotiations even begin.

The online auction model of providing contracts for review via secure web access only became commonplace in recent years, but it is now how most online auction sales are conducted," Mr Buggy added.

A Property Partners rebrand is being rolled out across its 25 agents nationwide. As well as a new website, the rebrand encompasses a new brand identity and colours to be incorporated into the companys shop fronts, signage and other marketing materials.

The existing private treaty process places far too much stress on both parties and even more so if the deal falls through, which invariably can happen very late on, said Property Partners Chairman Ronan Long.

We are calling for sales contracts to be made available from the outset before any bidding takes place.

This is how most online auction sales are now being conducted, resulting in less time wasting and faster completion times. Not only would it remove a great deal of stress and uncertainty for both parties but the time spent on the entire process could reduce by up to 50 per cent.

Introducing such a radical change will be met with resistance no doubt. However, with consumer expectations changing, we believe the market will demand this and it will become de facto in the near future.Islamic terror attacks in the West are far less common since 2017By Yi Whan-woo



North Korea has vowed to not carry out unannounced missile tests and other activities hazardous to commercial aviation, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

It said last week North Korean authorities made the promise to ICAO officials during their visit to Pyongyang from May 7 to 9, while explaining Pyongyang's nuclear program.

The visit came after North Korea announced at a plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party on April 20 that the country would suspend its nuclear and intercontinental missile tests.

"We received a solid assurance from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that they will not be engaging in activities hazardous for aviation without full advanced notice for the other states in the region, and that they would coordinate that activity to ensure that we could retain safety," ICAO Air Navigation Bureau Director Stephen Creamer said on his return to Beijing.

Asked if this meant international airlines would resume flights over North Korea, ICAO Regional Director Arun Mishra said: "It's always a possibility. ... We're continuing toward establishing a more healthy relationship."

ICAO and North Korea's General Administration of Civil Aviation are also coordinating an air traffic management workshop.

North Korea has conducted ballistic missile tests without giving advance notification to relevant international organizations, like the ICAO and the International Maritime Organization.

Airlines take indirect routes to avoid North Korea due to the threat of unannounced missile launches that are worrisome in the wake of the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries have advised airlines not to fly in North Korean airspace, known as the Pyongyang flight information region.



Singapore PM Lee vows to facilitate 'successful summit'



SINGAPORE  U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to meet at the Shangri-la Hotel next month, according to industry sources and experts, Sunday.



Together with Singapore's iconic Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the Shangri-La has been viewed as one of the most likely locations for the June 12 summit, which was announced by Trump late Thursday.



According to multiple travel agencies and sources here, three hotels  The Shangri-La, Ritz Carlton Millennia and JW Marriot South Beach  have blocked all available rooms for the upcoming summit after the Thursday announcement.



"A day after Trump's announcement, we tried to secure rooms on the dates surrounding the summit en bloc for those coming for the summit but we heard from the three hotels that there is no room available," said a manager at a Singapore-based tour operator on condition of anonymity.



"They did not explain why but it is obvious that they stopped public sales because of the summit."



One South Korean journalist successfully booked a room at the Shangri-La Hotel for the summit through third-party booking platform Agoda Friday but received a cancellation letter Saturday.



"I lodged a strong complaint against Agoda but they replied that they had no choice because the hotel 'locked' reservations," said the journalist who is now in Singapore to report the atmosphere of the city state after the announcement.





The Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore/Korea Times photo by Kim Jae-kyoung

It is unknown whether MBS also locked reservation but no rooms are available at the hotel, according to checks on the hotel website by The Korea Times.



When asked whether MBS blocked rooms, a senior executive from the hotel said, "We have no comments on the summit. Please wait for an official announcement from the government."



As opposed to these four hotels, rooms at other popular five-star hotels in the downtown and business district areas, including Pan Pacific Singapore and Mandarin Oriental, are still available, according to checks by The Korea Times, Sunday.



Given that the Shangri-La has blocked rooms and it has a proven track record of hosting numerous high-level security meetings attended by world leaders, it is highly probable that the hotel will play host to the historic meeting.



"The Shangri-La Hotel is the venue for the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by international leaders so it would be a better choice since the staff there understands how international political events are managed," Liang Tuang Nah, a research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, told The Korea Times.





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/United Nations, May 14 (AFP) Kuwait has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, after dozens of Palestinian protesters were killed in clashes with Israeli forces on the Gaza border, the country's mission to the UN said today.

"We condemned what has happened," the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations, Mansour al-Otaibi, told journalists. Kuwait is a non-permanent council member.

The meeting is set to begin at 10:00 am (1400 GMT), diplomats said. The violence erupted over the formal opening of the controversial US embassy in Jerusalem. It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war. (AFP) PMS

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)New Delhi [India], May 14 (ANI): Vice President Venkaiah Naidu arrived in Delhi on Monday after completing his three-nation visit to Latin America.

He was on a five-day visit to Guatemala, Panama, and Peru with an agenda to enhance bilateral ties with the countries.

Vice President Naidu began his tour with a visit to Guatemala where he signed a MoU for expanding cooperation in the area of diplomatic training.

Later in Panama, two MoU's were signed in the presence of Vice President Naidu and Panama President Juan Carlos Varela. The two leaders also discussed collaboration in education sector.

Further in Peru, Vice President Naidu met Peru's President Martin Vizcarra at the Presidential Palace in Lima.

This was the Vice President's first overseas visit after assuming office last year. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)New Delhi, May 13: In a bid to provide passengers with a hassle-free travel experience, a new Indian Railways link via Bangladesh is set to reduce travel time between Agartala in Tripura and Kolkata in West Bengal. The travel time between the two cities will now be reduced to around 10 hours from current 31 hours as it will travel 550 km instead of 1600. The present line will go to Akhaura which is linked to Dhaka Chittagong rail route. As per details by officials, the line will be operational by 2020.

At present, India and Bangladesh have four operational rail links between West Bengal and Western Bangladesh  Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Radhikapur-Biral and Singhabad-Rohanpur. Radhikapur-Biral and Singhabad-Rohanpur are also notified for use of Nepalese transit traffic. It must be noted that the new 12.3 km Akhaura rail line will reduce journey time between Agartala and Kolkata by 21 hours, by cutting through Bangladesh's capital Dhaka instead of Guwahati.

Chief engineer of the Rs 570 crore project M S Chauhan said, Kolkata is a major destination for people in this area, but as of now there was no direct connectivity to the city. The line will help not only people from Agartala but also those from Mizoram which is 150 km away. The official further informed that the line will be operational by 2020.

The trains on the line will undergo security check once at Nishchintpur on the Indian side and Gangasagar on the Bangladesh side. This line will be instrumental in freight movement as well as goods from the northeastern state can now reach Kolkata in one third the time. Similarly, goods from Chittagong port will reach Agartala quicker. The number of Bangladeshi travellers to India increased from 7.5 lakh in 2015 to 9.33 lakh in 2016. In the first six months of 2017, seven lakh Bangladeshis visited India.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 14, 2018 12:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Bangladesh, May 14: The World Bank (WB) is going to provide Bangladesh a grant to meet the basic needs of around one million Rohingyas who fled their homeland Myanmar. "The World Bank has agreed to provide Bangladesh the full fund as grant money at its spring meeting held in April in the US," The Daily Star quoted Additional Secretary of the Economic Relations Division of the government Mahmuda Begum as saying.

However, neither the government nor the WB could confirm the amount.

A WB team will be visiting Bangladesh to discuss the issue with the government. Bangladesh sought assistance from the WB, in October last year. It said it would provide a mix of soft loans and grant, but Bangladesh refused to take loans.

Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the WB that the amount would be somewhere between $400 to $500 million and it would be a grant. But the WB rejected the request saying, such a big amount could not be given as a grant. As per the WB's conditions, the entire fund that the WB has finally agreed to provide Bangladesh with will have to be spent for the Rohingyas only.May 14, 2018, 4:15pm ET

Honda Insight rolls off assembly line in Indiana

The Insight\'s hybrid battery pack and twin electric motor unit are assembled nearby in Marysville and Russells Point, Ohio.

Honda has kicked off production of its all-new Insight in Greensburg, Indiana.

The US factory will supply all of North America and serve as the lead plant for Insight production globally. Production efforts are split across several facilities including Russells Point, Marysville, and Anna, Ohio, where the car's twin electric motor unit, hybrid battery and 1.5-liter Atkinson-cycle engine are built.

The Insight employs a modular front-end construction method that was first introduced in the 2016 Civic before expanding to the latest Accord and CR-V.

The hybrid sedan will slot between the Civic and Accord in Honda's lineup, with seating for five and 151 net system horsepower for an expected 55-mpg city rating.

The first units will begin arriving in showrooms this summer.May 14, 2018, 11:56am ET

Steering column 'separation' prompts Toyota Highlander inquiry

Three owners have complained of upper steering column separation when adjusting the telescoping/tilt system.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into the Toyota Highlander after receiving complaints of steering column separation.

"While traveling in high-speed lane on I80 near Sacramento, California, I attempted to adjust telescoping steering wheel and the steering wheel came off in my hands," one complaint says.

The agency has received at least three complaints involving Highlander and Highlander HV vehicles from the 2008-2013 model years.

"All three instances occurred when the driver was adjusting the steering column using the telescoping/tilt feature and resulted in complete detachment of the upper steering column from the steering shaft," the NHTSA wrote in a letter to Toyota. "Two of the incidents occurred . while the vehicle was in motion."

Investigators have launched a preliminary evaluation of the complaints.Six Mountrath residents took matters into their own hands over the weekend to clean up shocking illegal dumping at a vacant property in their housing estate.

The site of illegal dumping at 41 Rushall, Mountrath drove landlord Lynus Breen to threaten to knock the house down with a digger to find out who owns it.

After reading Mr Breen's story on leinsterexpress.ie and sharing it in their residents group on Facebook, a group of six women living nearby stepped forward to take matters into their own hands.

Shauna Delaney, Teresa Fleming, Shelley Brophy Yeomans, Rowena Lalor Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Nash and Nicolette spent over three and a half hours cleaning the site.

They sorted and bagged the rubbish, recycled what they could and put the rubbish into their own bins with the help of Pat Cawley Property Maintenance who took five bags.

Shauna Delaney was one of the residents who had enough of the dumping which was going on since March at the boarded up house.

Ninety percent of the rubbish could have been given to a charity shop or reused by someone else.

There was ten bags of clothes, toys, the mattresses could have been given to a homeless shelter, she said.

They moved the mattresses inside the house to make the outside look tidier. There are still a number of bags to dispose of in the coming days.

Ms Delaney said searching through the rubbish was 'disgusting'.

"There was a lot of bottles and cans, it was disgusting because there was rotted potato peel and nappies. The tyres are still there, the mattresses had to be put into the house.

"We saw the article and thought 'this is really getting bad now'. I have to move out in two months so I am not even going to live here but I still wanted to clean it up," she said.

While cleaning, Ms Delaney said they found an official letter with the name and address of someone they know from Mountrath buried in the rubbish. They have handed this letter over to Laois County Council.

Independent Cllr James Kelly said it is a pity that the residents had to put themselves at risk.

I want to say very well done to them. It is a pity we have to wait on local residents to go in on private property.

It is a health and safety issue and Laois County Council should be able to respond quicker but they are tied down with red tape.

It is a pity it had to come to this with people putting themselves at risk but it was out of total frustration and worry for the young families in the adjacent houses, he said.

Before it was cleaned up by residents, Cllr Kelly said the dumping had 'gone completely out of control'.

Cllr Kelly said he is still pursuing the matter with Laois County Council.

"I am chasing this full on," he said.

Laois County Council Environment Department said it is not considered appropriate to comment in relation to an ongoing investigation.

Pictures BEFORE the clean up.

Pictures AFTER the clean up.Thailand is coming to Laois.

Just when we thought Electric Picnic could not possibly surprise its festival goers anymore, it does.

The surprise being 200 tonnes of sand and palm trees shipped to Co. Laois. As well as lots of neon body painting also being brought in, this has all the tools to be some spectacle.

The Just Eat Retreat Full Moon Party give us the opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of the ocean transmitted through a large screen, while sipping on Full Moon Cocktails and eating special Thai Spice Bags.

Throughout the weekend taste Thailand from the comfort of your deck chairs as your food and drinks will be delivered to you as ordered by the Just Eat Waiters.

Speaking at the announcement today, brand ambassador for Just Eat Vogue Williams said:

I love travelling and I love going to festivals, so I am really excited about experiencing exotic flavours and partying at Just Eats Full Moon Party at Electric Picnic this year. The Retreat has it all this year, a place to let loose and dance, but also a place to relax and refuel with the Just Eat Waiters on hand to take orders and deliver food and drink to you while you enjoy top DJ sets and enjoy a tropical beach at the heart of the festival.An eye witness to the Offaly air crash that claimed the lives of a pilot and young boy has described the plane descending 'like a torpedo' onto bogland near Mount Lucas, according to the Irish Times.

The light aircraft had taken off from the airfield at the Irish Parachute Club shortly before 2.30pm and released 16 parachutists before plunging to the ground between Daingean and Edenderry, approximately 2km from Clonbullogue.

Dog walker Jimmy Slattery is quoted as saying, it just came vertically down," adding that "there was no wavering in it." He described a roaring noise as the plane approached the ground before he heard "the thump." The local man then alerted the authorities.

"I thought he was actually doing a stunt and I was waiting for them to pull out, but it never happened, sadly," Jimmy told RTE News.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit used digging machinery to remove the plane from the earth and recover the bodies of the pilot and young boy. The operation took several hours.

The pilot involved is a UK native and an experienced flyer, while the seven-year-old boy killed is the son of one of the parachutists who had earlier jumped from the plane. He is a Polish national living in Dublin and is a regular at the Irish Parachute Club.

An investigation into the circumstances of the crash continues on Monday.The Irish Parachute Club, based in Offaly, have released a statement offering their condolences to the families of a pilot and a 7-year-old boy killed in a plane after it had taken off from their Clonbullogue airfield.

In a statement on Monday, they said, "The board of directors, members and friends of the Irish Parachute Club are deeply saddened at the death of the occupants of the aircraft that was operating on behalf of the club."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected. We would like to thank the Air Accident Investigation unit and the emergency services who are continuing their investigaton at this very difficult time," they continued.

Indeed, those investigators remain on the scene of the crash, close to Mount Lucas, between Edenderry and Daingean, approximately 3km from the airfield itself.

A UK pilot and a 7-year-old boy were killed when the Cessna Caravan plane they were travelling in came down into bogland at the site at approximately 3pm on Sunday afternoon, May 13.

The plane had released 16 parachutists moments earlier after taking off from Clonbullologue at 2.25pm.

The bodies of the deceased were recovered on Sunday evening and brought to Tullamore Hospital for post mortem examinations.Discover the world of one of the greatest modern painters, Pablo Picasso, through the lens of Irish-born photographer Edward Quinn at Castletown House this summer.

A testament to the friendship that developed between the two men in 1951 and lasted until Picassos death in 1973, the exhibition is an unmissable opportunity to see Quinns works for the first time in Ireland.

Edward Quinn was born in Dublin in 1920 and settled on the French Riviera in 1949, where he worked as a photographer, capturing the eras greatest stars in unstaged, enchanting images.

His friendship with Picasso greatly influenced his work and resulted in 10,000 photos, several books and films about the artist.

Carefully curated by Jean-Louis Andral of Musee Picasso in Antibes, the photographs in this exhibition beautifully illuminate Picassos personality and record his life and work on the Cote dAzur in the 1950s and 60s.

This is a chance for local audiences to see the exhibition that has already charmed visitors in Antibes, the Danubiana in Bratislava and the Kunstmuseum Picasso Munster in one of Irelands most magnificent country houses, a mere stones throw away from Dublin.

To coincide with this exhibition, there is a programme of film screenings in July and a special tour of My Friend Picasso with David Davison, one of Irelands most acclaimed photographers on Sunday, July 15.Ceann Comhairle and Kildare South TD, Sean OFearghail, is Kildares wealthiest TD, and his Fianna Fail party colleague, Deputy Frank ORourke, the poorest, according to a newspaper survey published May 13.

The Sunday Independents Political Rich list estimated Deputy OFearghail was worth over 4.2m in assets with 54% held in property and 46% in pensions. It also put him the sixth wealthiest TD in the Dail.

The newspaper valued pensions. The estimated value of these represented 39% of the combined wealth of the seven TDs, three in Kildare South and four in Kildare North.

The newspaper gave a number of reasons why the figures may not apply across all TDs.

Apart from pension estimates it based the survey on the Oireachtas Register of Members interests.

For this, TDs do not have to declare their family homes. Some did so, including Kildare North Fine Gael Deputy Bernard Durkan (FG), the third wealthiest with a total value of 2.79m, including 1.73m in pension and 1m in property.

If a rural TD owned a second property in Dublin, which they occupied when attending Dail, that does not have to be declared either. The newspaper said some declared such properties. Others did not.

Only one declared a shareholding, Social Democrat, Kildare North TD, Catherine Murphy, whose assets included 13,000 in shares, an estimated 755,588 in pension funds and 233,000 in property.

Deputy OFearghail (FF) had an estimated 2.28m in property and Deputy Martin Heydon (FG), estimated as the seventh wealthiest TD in the Dail, had an estimated 3.78m in property.

With 327,689 in pensions, that gave him a wealth of 4.11m.

The newer TDs had lower pension estimates, ranging from 136,609 (FFs Deputy Fiona OLoughlin) to 122,164 for Deputy Frank ORourke.

They also had relatively low declared property interests, 265,000 for Deputy James Lawless (FF), 140,000 for Deputy OLoughlin and 149,950 for Deputy Frank ORourke.

The poorest TD, in total, by these estimates, was Deputy ORourke, down at 136 in the Dail Rich List, with a total of 272,115, narrowly worse off than Deputy OLoughlin (275,609) and Deputy Lawless (379,049).A majority of publicans believe their business will improve over the next three years, new research reveals. This increased confidence is leading to plans by many in the trade to invest and refurbish their premises.

The findings are revealed in a survey gauging publican sentiment on a range of issues commissioned by the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) in advance of its 45th AGM taking place in Letterkenny, from today, Monday, May 14 to Wednesday, May 16.

When asked about opportunities for growth, publicans cited an upturn in the economy as the number one reason for their optimism. A strong tourism market and increasing popularity of pub food were also provided as other important reasons for positivity.

Incoming VFI President Padraic McGann commented, The results of our survey confirm that VFI members are looking to the future with a new sense of confidence. I find it encouraging that so many publicans are prepared to invest in their premises, a sure sign they believe a corner has been turned.

The pub remains a vital element of Irelands tourism infrastructure and with expectations that 2018 will build on last years record 10.65m visitors, VFI members will continue to benefit from this growth.

While confidence is returning to the pub trade some challenges remain, most notably the cost of insurance. Almost 60% of publicans say insurance is the biggest burden placed on their business. Sourcing and retaining staff is also a challenge as the economy continues to improve and the country approaches full employment.

The incoming VFI President adds, Over the past couple of years, insurance costs for our members have increased to unacceptable levels. Its no exaggeration to say it could put many publicans out of business. Change cant come soon enough to the insurance sector.

Speaking about the existence of a two-tier pub economy, Padraic McGann says: While pubs in cities, large urban areas and tourist hotspots are performing well, for some publicans the challenges of running a business in a rural location are overwhelming. We call on the government to implement proposals that will help rejuvenate rural areas as outlined in its planning framework document Ireland 2040.

When it comes to consumer habits the survey also revealed that customers have become more discerning over the past three years. 88% of publicans say their customers are looking for a broader range of drinks while 92% say a higher quality of service is expected.

The demand for more choice is reflected in the findings where 93% of publicans say they are selling a wider range of gins while 57% are selling a wider range of whiskies.

The incoming VFI President adds, Publicans have made a huge effort to meet changing consumer demand, whether its in a wider choice of drinks or improving their food offering. Publicans understand they have to work hard to get customers through the door.

Read Also:

New Carrick properties come onto the Leitrim marketA pensioner who put a bomb on a bus bound for Dublin, and made hoax bomb threats during the Queen of Englands State visit to Ireland, is seeking to have his appeal heard in Irish.

Donall Billings (67), with an address at St Bridgets Court, Drumlish, County Longford, was found guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of possessing an explosive substance at Longford railway station car park on May 16th, 2011.

Billings was further convicted of making false reports on May 16 and May 18, 2011, that bombs had been placed at Busaras and Sinn Fein's headquarters in Dublin and that two mortars were set for Dublin Castle.

He was also found guilty of making a false report on May 20th that two bombs had been placed in the toilets at Cork airport. The Queen of England was visiting Ireland at the time.

Sentencing him to eight-and-a-half years imprisonment, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding alongside Judge Martin Nolan and Judge Cormac Dunne, said that Billings was "perfectly entitled to hold a low opinion" of Queen Elizabeth and her visit to Ireland but "not entitled to express such an opinion by engaging in criminality". He was given concurrent jail terms for making false reports.

Billings, whose trial was heard in both Irish and English, has lodged an appeal against his conviction and sentence, which was expected to be given a date for hearing today.

However, barrister Maria Brosnan told Mr Justice George Birmingham that Billings is seeking to have his appeal heard in Irish also.

Mr Justice Birmingham said the case would have to go back to a management list to facilitate an Irish court. Billings was not in court for the list to fix dates.

The Special Criminal Court heard that a phonecall was made to Longford garda station on May 16, 2011. The caller said there was a bomb on a Dublin-bound Corduff travel passenger bus, a second bomb on a bus at Busaras and a third bomb at Sinn Fein headquarters in Dublin.

The Corduff travel bus was stopped on Station Rd, Maynooth, and searched by gardai, who found a suspicious object, comprised of gunpowder and a two-litre bottle of petrol, in the luggage compartment.

Mr Justice Hunt said that Billings had placed a highly dangerous explosive on a public transport vehicle containing an innocent driver and many passengers.

This was an "outrageous, highly irresponsible and dangerous act", the judge said, which "recklessly exposed passengers, staff and members of the emergency services to very significant risk of serious injury or death".

The bomb, the judge added, was intended to give credence to further hoax calls Billings planned to make.

A further phonecall was made on May 18th, threatening two mortars were set at Dublin castle for 8pm that evening.

The time and place coincided with a state banquet in the castle for Queen Elizabeth.

The caller said, "I'm a member of the Republican Brotherhood, Squad A. Two mortars are set for Dublin Castle at 8pm."

"This is for the Queen of blood and war of Iraq."

Searches were carried out but nothing was found.

A third phonecall, made at 3.15pm on May 20th, threatened two bombs at Cork airport. Queen Elizabeth was due to fly out that afternoon from the airport. After a search, nothing was found.

The investigations led to Billings being identified as a suspect.

Referring to Billings garda interviews, Mr Justice Hunt said that the "lies told by the accused were rather obvious and unsophisticated".

Billings has two previous convictions, from Northern Ireland in 1973, for possession of explosives.A PROBATION report has been requested in the case of a man who admitted having a knife while acting aggressively on a public street in Limerick.

Limerick District Court was told Christopher OSullivan aged 38, who was living in a hostel at the time, dropped the knife after he was approached by gardai at Clare Street at around 10pm on June 18, last.

Judge Mary Larkin was told the defendant, who had been drinking, was bleeding when encountered by gardai as he had been assaulted some time earlier.

Solicitor John Herbert said his client was not far from the hostel where he was staying when he was arrested.

He said he had the knife for his own protection as a result of the earlier altercation but that he had not used it.

Mr Herbert told the court that drugs were a feature of his clients life for a long time but that he is currently on a methadone and detox programme.

Things are on an upward gradient for him, he said adding that his client has secured his own accommodation since the incident

Judge Larkin was told Mr OSullivan has not come to the attention of gardai since and Mr Herbert asked that he be given an opportunity.

The judge commented that anyone caught with a knife is asking for trouble but in the circumstances she directed that a probation report be prepared.

The matter was adjourned to July 11, next.STUDENTS enrolling at Limericks newest school are pioneers who will play an important role in shaping the school for years to come, according to the incoming Educate Together principal.

Educate Together is due to open in a temporary premises at the National Technology Park in Plassey this September, the second Educate Together secondary school to open its doors in Munster.

With enrollment capped at 80 students in its first year, the school is expected to eventually accomodate 600 students.

The input of incoming first years and their parents will be crucial in shaping the schools programme and curriculum, from subject choices to dress code, according to principal Eoin Shinners.

When Im talking to parents about the students; Theyre pioneers, Mr Shinners explains.

They are absolute pioneers and they are taking a leap of faith.

But a lot of students who will be enrolling in September, their parents are very much up to speed with what Educate Together is about.

With Educate Together, the ethos is built around four pillars; Co-educational, multi-denominational, student centred and democratically run.

So student voice and parental voice are a massive part of what Educate Together is about.

Very much everything that happens in the school will be implemented with student representation in the decision process. Thats key.

Student voice will be everywhere, it will be in every aspect of the school. It will begin with a small cohort of students and the hope is that it will become an organic thing.

As more students come in, in year two, year three, year four, those students will help set the tone in terms of how we want the school to be.

Student representatives will also sit on the schools board of management and give their input on student issues, according to Mr Shinners.

However, they will be excused from sensitive issues or from the nuts and bolts in the daily running of the school, he added.

An alumni of Mary Immaculate College and University College Dublin, Mr Shinners was previously an assistant principal and teacher of history and multimedia in Colaiste Iosaef Community College in Kilmallock.

This will be his first role with an Educate Together school.

I engaged with the campaign two years ago, purely as a teacher, because I was very interested in the ethos of Educate Together and I was excited by the prospect down the line to maybe work within that type of school.

There has been a lot of interest in the school, with more than 1,200 expressions of interest previously registered in the Castletroy, Monaleen area, he added.

Weve 50 students confirmed as enrolled. Over the last week, theres been a lot of expressions of interest. Were hoping to have approximately 60 to 70 students enrolled by September, he said, adding that there numbers are capped at 80 in the first year.

Once a site for the permanent school has been identified, the process should move quickly as the building has been earmarked by the Department of Education as a rapid build, Mr Shinners believes.

What that means is that once the site has been approved, things will move very quickly so it will be very different to the experiences of Croom in particular where they are waiting years for a site.

Id expect things to move fairly quickly. The temporary building that were in will do for two years but after that we will need something bigger. The anticipation is that in 2019, well have an enrollment of 120 students.

We will also be advertising for seven to eight teachers in Mid-May. Therell be no subject specific line in the advert, because we want to be able to build our curriculum around what teachers have to offer.

Mr Shinners has two children with his wife Liz, who is also a teacher and is currently on full-time secondment with the JCT (Junior Cycle for Teachers) Whole School Support team and Modern Foreign Languages team.

His daughter Breesha, age 7, attends a local national school in Castletroy and his son Eoinin is three.

I am excited about the prospect of my two children attending Limerick ETSS in the not so distant future, he added.

He expects the school to have a strong focus on technology, sustainability and being environmentally friendly, he added.

Ultimately you want the school to be a success. If I look at my own personal goals, I want the school to be a flagship in terms of high quality teaching and learning.

Maybe to set the standard of what democracy student centred teaching and learning is about, where student voice and parental voice is at the forefront of everything. Thats where wed like to stand out.

On May 15, Mr Shinners will meet with incoming students and their parents at the Castletroy Park Hotel to discuss what they want from the school, he added.

After that, its going to be the nuts and bolts really. Ill be working hard over the summer to make sure the school is ready for our students. Im really looking forward to it. Its very rare to get a principal job in a completely new school.LIMERICK City and County Council has been granted an extension on an interim injunction requiring all unauthorised construction works at a site Ballycummin, Raheen be stopped until the end of this month.

Officials from the local authority are continuing to monitor the activities of workers at the site, located on the outskirts of the city, amid concerns that a Dale Farm-type scenario might develop.

The matter was heard again at Limerick Civil Court in Merchants Quay last Thursday where the extension was granted.

Ellen Cawley, of Toppins Field Halting Site, has been granted planning permission to build a two-storey house at the site. But it is the councils contention that additional unauthorised works have been carried out in recent weeks.

Judge John Hannan, presiding at Limerick Civil Court on Thursday morning, granted an extension on the order until May 30.

Ms Cawley told Judge Hannan that she was getting access to legal representation.

In late April, during an ex-parte application (one-side only) Pat Quinn BL, instructed by solicitor Will Leahy, told Judge Francis Comerford the council was concerned it could be faced with a Dale Farm type scenario if the order was not granted.

Members of the armed Regional Support Unit accompanied council officials to the site last month, as they personally served workers with copies of the court order  as per Judge Comerfords instructions.

In an email which was sent to councillors about the matter last month, a Limerick City and County Council official stated it would monitor the site over the coming weeks to see if the injunction prohibiting works is complied with.ONE of Limericks oldest pubs will host some brilliant scientific minds discussing their latest research over a pint.

Pint of Science, the lively and engaging discussion forum that aims to make science accessible to all, takes place this Tuesday evening in JJ Bowles Pub in the city.

The city event is hosted by the University of Limerick, with the UL-based Irish software research centre, Lero, also involved.

It takes its lead from a global initiative aiming to bring science to the pub and deliver talks in a fun, engaging and approachable way and Limerick is one of hundreds of cities taking part.

Pint of Science is a non-profit organisation that brings some of the most brilliant scientists to your local pub to discuss their latest research and findings with you, said Clare Mcinerney, education and outreach manager, Lero.

You don't need any prior knowledge, and this is your chance to meet the people responsible for the future of science and have a pint with them.

MC for the night is Dr Sarah Hudson, a lecturer in chemistry at UL.

Topics include Poetic Chemistry, if you will be held to ransom every time you start your car?, Medicines of the Future, Dairy and Cardiovascular Disease and crystalline solutions to problems.

Pint of Science takes place at 7pm in JJ Bowles. For more information and to book tickets, check out the website.PEOPLE from Tournafulla in County Limerick who want to settle down and build new homes in their own parish cannot do so because the sewage treatment system there is at capacity.

The claim was made by Cllr Liam Galvin FG who warned that a small scheme of four new homes could be refused planning permission because there isnt adequate sewage treatment available.

This is a big issue for Tournafulla and other places like Tournafulla and it is going to become a serious issue if Irish Water and the government dont address it, he said.

Like many rural communities, Tournafulla has lost services and is struggling to maintain numbers in the local school and GAA, Cllr Galvin pointed out. Yet now they have a chance of new homes and new families, the issue of sewage treatment is an obstacle. Last week, Cllr Galvin was told there was no remaining capacity in the system in Tournafulla.

People born and reared in Tournafulla will not have an opportunity to live in Tournafulla, he said. We know there is a housing crisis in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick but they are forgetting about the small rural villages.

Irish Water and the local authorities are going to have to come up with a plan, Cllr Galvin declared.

And it is not just private houses that are ruled out as a result of a lack of adequate sewage treatment systems, he argued. Without the systems, social housing cannot be built in places like Tournafulla or Mountcollins either, the councillor continued, with the result that towns like Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West are being flooded with social housing.

Director of services with Limerick City and County Council, Caroline Curley has told Cllr Galvin that Tournafulla is a candidate on a national programme to address smaller treatment plants for populations of under 500.

However, the funding available is not sufficient to address and upgrade all sites with poor infrastructure, Ms Curley said.

A set of investment priorities will be applied and priority will be given to discharges with the greatest potential environmental impact.

Tournafulla will be considered for upgrade as part of this project. Further assessment will be undertaken in 2018 to complete this prioritisation, Ms Curley added.

The issue is urgent in Tournafulla, Cllr Galvin stressed and he got the backing of his fellow councillors in calling on Irish Water for an immediate upgrade for Tournafulla.

Meanwhile, he welcomed the fact that work is finally set to begin on a sewage treatment plant in Athea.

I have been involved in this since 2004, Cllr Galvin said.

I do welcome it. I hope they stand by it. The people of Athea are crying out for this for a long, long time.

Contractors have been appointed and the work in Athea is due to start in the next few months.A SENIOR officer with Limerick Fire and Rescue Service says a recent spate of hoax calls could have resulted in somebody being being seriously injured or killed.

Acting Station Officer, Peter OToole, made his comments in light of a number of recent incidents which have occurred in Limerick.

Crews from Limerick Fire Station, Mulgrave Street, responded to a number of hoax calls last month which suggested persons were in difficulty having entered the river Shannon.

On each occasion, the FireSwift rescue boat was launched with crews being unavailable to attend other calls, if required, during the time that they were on the water.

There were a number of hoax calls on May Eve which was the busiest night so far in 2018 for the fire service.

One of the calls which was received on April 30 suggested a fire had broken out at a house with people trapped inside.

Our guys and our girls are all getting ready in the truck so they are rigged and ready to go and ready to jump out and run into a burning house.

We arrive there and obviously there is no burning house but right behind us was the ambulance responding and the guards responding so its not just the fire service who are responding  its all the services, said Mr OToole, who stressed that all hoax calls are taken very seriously.

The recent incidents have been described as despicable by Fine Gael senator Kieran ODonnell, who says lives are being put at risk by such behaviour.

We have emergency services on standby to deal with real crises, and the fact you could have a situation where they could be called out to a hoax call and you could have another situation where someones life could be danger. Its something we need to look at. Its coming up too frequently, he said.

Each of the suspected hoax calls are being investigated by gardai who are seeking to identify and locate the culprits.

If the culprits are identified by gardai, it is likely they will be charged and brought before the courts.THERE is only one MRI scanner for all public patients in the entire Mid-West, the Limerick Leader has confirmed.

The UL Hospitals Group stated that the scanner at University Hospital Limerick is only one of its kind in the whole group, serving around 400,000 people.

This comes after the family of a terminally-ill patient, who took his life on the grounds of UHL, expressed their frustration with the health service over the availability of an MRI scan, at his inquest last week.

The Limerick Leader contacted the UL Hospitals Group about the availability of the MRI scanner at UHL.

The spokesperson confirmed that there is only one MRI scanner at UHL and group-wide and that the service is provided between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

There is no scheduled service at weekends currently. At weekends if an emergency arises, the request is vetted and a decision is made on how to proceed in relation to the individual case, if it is necessary to transfer the patient to another centre, this is arranged promptly.

"On receipt of the Coroners findings, consideration will be given to any recommendations, the spokesperson told this newspaper.

Jack Liston, aged 67, of Castleconnell, died by suicide after suffering a gunshot wound to his chest at the UHL chapel on January 18, 2017, the inquest was told.

His partner of 11 years, Mary Manton, of Cratloe, told the inquest that he shot himself because he wanted to make a point to the HSE: You did this to me.

She told the coroners court on Wednesday that his health had deteriorated rapidly while he waited for an MRI scan at UHL.

He was advised by a consultant surgeon in Dublin in late November that an MRI scan was required before he could be operated on.

However, he was informed on January 11 that an operation wasnt an option any longer after he eventually received a scan.

Ms Manton told the inquest that, as far as she was aware, there was only one MRI scanner at UHL, which only operates until 4.30pm on a weekday, and does not operate on a weekend.A MAN who is accused of robbing cash from a fashion boutique in the city centre has been granted temporary bail to enable him to attend his daughters confirmation this weekend.

David Foran, aged 35 who has an address at Clare Street, is charged in relation to an incident which occurred at a premises on Catherine Street on February 26, last.

It is alleged he threatened a teenage worker with an intimidation firearm before demanding that she hand over the contents of the till.

It is further alleged he escaped on a pedal bike and was not apprehended for a number of days.

Opposing the application, Garda Dermot Cummins expressed concerns the defendant would not return to prison and will not stand trial if released on bail.

Solicitor John Herbert said his client was seeking four hours at the height of it and that he was adamant he would return to Limerick Prison on time following the confirmation.

Judge Marian OLeary granted bail for three hours subject to an indepenent surety being approved by the court.SHANNON Foynes Port Company has announced plans for its biggest ever expansion at Foynes, which will nearly double the size of the existing port area, attracting hundreds of jobs.

In the latest phase of an investment programme launched three years ago, SFPC is to invest over 20m in enabling works to convert 83 acres on the east side of the existing port into a landbank for marine related industry, port-centric logistics and associated infrastructure.

The project, which will be developed on a phased basis over the next five years, will require the biggest infrastructure works programme ever undertaken at the port, with the entire 83 acre landbank having to be raised to all of 4.4 metres. The programme will also require the provision of new internal roads and multiple bridge access as well as roundabout access. It will increase the site's size by over two-thirds.

A planning application for the project, which has the capacity to attract hundreds of new jobs to the historic west Limerick town, has been lodged with An Bord Pleanala.

The same application will also see SFPC seek permission for modifications to its existing jetties and quays, including connecting its two main quays. This will extend the area at the port for mooring of vessels and other port related operations.

The development is in line with the long-term 64m investment programme outlined by SFPC. The expansion of the port is included in the recently published National Planning Framework and Project Ireland 2040, together with the inclusion of the Limerick to Foynes road, which will link the port directly to the national motorway network.

This planned investment by SFPC is essential if we are to introduce optionality into our existing national supply chain and promote regional balance and development. This investment is fully consistent with the National Development Plan and National Planning Framework and will further establish the port of Foynes as a key national and international freight hub. That in turn unleashes huge potential for the port and the estuary, said SFPC CEO Pat Keating.

The estuary is one of the deepest natural water courses in all of Europe but without modern maritime transport infrastructure, its potential would always be limited. Foynes is now recognised at European level as a Ten T Core Corridor port, the highest status it can have in terms of being recognised as a strategic piece of infrastructure. The government has now similarly endorsed the potential we have with its commitments in Project Ireland 2040 and the National Development Plan and we are reciprocating pretty much immediately by this commitment to press ahead with our biggest expansion ever.

He continued: Our business is back to peak boom-time levels in terms of tonnages but we are reaching capacity as it is. So this is not a speculative play, its an absolute necessity as projected in Vision 2041 and even more so when the five to seven year lead times are factored in. It is a huge logistical project as we will be raising an 83 acre site by 4.4m. That element alone will involve a huge amount of work. It will deliver a very significant economic and employment boost for the Foynes area and wider region in the construction phase but also beyond that in terms of long-term employment.May 14, 2018, 11 AM

A top margin example of China's rare 1968 8-fen stamp known as The Whole Country is Red is being offered in the May 25-26 Kelleher and Rogers auction in Hong Kong.

By Michael Baadke

A top modern China rarity described as an example without peer is featured in the May 25-26 Kelleher and Rogers auction in Hong Kong.

Chinas 1968 8-fen The Whole Country is Red stamp (Scott 999A) was issued in Canton and quickly withdrawn because, according to the description in the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Taiwan appears white instead of red on the map in the upper part of the design.

The example in the upcoming Kelleher and Rogers sale is described by the auction firm as post office fresh and a visually stunning top margin example, with the most perfect centering we have ever seen.

The Scott catalog notes that the withdrawn stamp is most often found repaired, while the stamp on offer, with never-hinged original gum and uniform perforations, is identified as a connoisseur example in the auction catalog description.

The Scott catalog unused value for a sound unrepaired example is $135,000, with the value in italics, identifying an item that can be difficult to value accurately.

Kelleher and Rogers lists an estimate value in Hong Kong dollars of $750,000 to $850,000 (approximately $95,540 to $108,280 in United States dollars as of mid-May).

The auction firm notes that to bid on this lot, a deposit of HK$100,000 (US$12,740) is required.

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With more than 1,280 lots, the Kelleher and Rogers sale includes China stamps, postal history and collections, with Imperial issues, local posts, Taiwan, the Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong and more, plus Japan and other Asian countries.

Interested collectors can view and bid on auction lots at www.kelleherasia.com, with live bidding during the sale via Stamp Auction Network (with advance registration).

Information is also available from Kelleher and Rogers Ltd., 1802 Perfect Industrial Building, 31 Tai Yau St., San Po Kong, Hong Kong; or by email.The long-simmering argument about Pluto's planethood has just flared up again.

For more than 75 years after its 1930 discovery, Pluto was regarded as our solar system's ninth planet  a distant and frigid oddball, to be sure, but a member of Earth's immediate family nonetheless. Then, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) reclassified Pluto as a "dwarf planet," a newly created category that the organization explicitly stressed made Pluto distinct from the eight "true" planets.

A true planet, according to the IAU's newly devised definition, must meet three criteria: It must circle the sun and no other object (so, moons are out); it must be big enough to be rounded into a sphere or spheroid by its own gravity, but not so large that its innards host the fusion reactions that power stars; and it must have "cleared its neighborhood" of other orbiting bodies. [Photos of Pluto and Its Moons]

Pluto failed at this last hurdle, because its neighborhood  the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune known as the Kuiper Belt  is far from cleared.

Many scientists and Plutophilic members of the public objected strongly to the IAU's decision, on various grounds. For starters, some folks pointed out, the new planet definition rules out anything not orbiting the sun  meaning that the hundreds of billions of exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy aren't planets at all, at least according to the IAU.

And the "clear your neighborhood" requirement seemed ridiculous to many researchers, including Alan Stern, the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission, which famously flew by Pluto in July 2015. Stern has been a vocal proponent of Pluto's planethood and has argued that the IAU's decision stemmed at least partly from a very nonscientific desire to keep the solar system's planetary stable down to a "manageable" number.

Which brings us to the most recent flare-up. Stern and planetary scientist David Grinspoon have just published a book about the Pluto flyby, called "Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto" (Picador, 2018). On Monday (May 7), The Washington Post published a "Perspectives" piece the two scientists wrote titled, "Yes, Pluto Is a Planet."

In the piece, Grinspoon and Stern took aim at the IAU's "hastily drawn" and "flawed" planet definition, reserving special ire for the "clearing your neighborhood" requirement.

"This criterion is imprecise and leaves many borderline cases, but what's worse is that they chose a definition that discounts the actual physical properties of a potential planet, electing instead to define 'planet' in terms of the other objects that are  or are not  orbiting nearby," the scientists wrote. "This leads to many bizarre and absurd conclusions. For example, it would mean that Earth was not a planet for its first 500 million years of history, because it orbited among a swarm of debris until that time, and also that if you took Earth today and moved it somewhere else, say out to the asteroid belt, it would cease being a planet." [Destination Pluto: NASA's New Horizons Mission in Pictures]

The duo pushed instead for a much simpler "geophysical planet definition," which was presented last spring at a planetary science conference in Texas. And this definition is indeed simple; boiled down, it holds that planets are "round objects in space that are smaller than stars."

Under this definition, Pluto and other dwarf planets, such as Ceres and Eris, are considered planets, as are large moons like Jupiter's Europa, Ganymede, Io and Callisto and Saturn's huge satellite Titan (as well as Earth's own moon). Indeed, the solar system's planet count would easily top 100 if everyone agreed to use the geophysical definition.

But getting such widespread agreement about this, and about Pluto's "official" classification, will be a hard row to hoe. For example, astrophysicist and author Ethan Siegel argued in a piece for Forbes on Tuesday (May 8) that a cosmic object's environmental context is important to understanding the object's nature.

"The simple fact is that Pluto was misclassified when it was first discovered; it was never on the same footing as the other eight worlds. The 2006 move by the IAU was an incomplete attempt to repair that mistake," Siegel wrote.

The geophysical definition, he added, "is a step in the opposite direction: It's a step towards making a larger, more confusing mistake that will render a definition meaningless to the majority of people who use it."

They roamed Earth millions of years ago, have spurred blockbuster movies and fascinated the studied paleontologist and the curious toddler. Yes, dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Detective: Find Out What You Really Know

And then there's the pithy take by California Institute of Technology astronomer Mike Brown, whose discovery of outer-solar-system objects helped spark the rethink of Pluto's place in the solar system.

"So, hey, Pluto is still not a planet. Actually, never was. We just misunderstood it for 50 years. Now, we know better. Nostalgia for Pluto is really not a very good planet argument, but that's basically all there is. Now, let's get on with reality," Brown wrote via Twitter, where his handle is @plutokiller.

Brown also wrote a book, titled "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" (Spiegel & Grau, 2010), so his feelings on the topic are pretty well-known.

Will the geophysical planet definition catch on? Will the IAU welcome Pluto back into the "true planet" fold, along with Ceres, Europa, Titan, Earth's moon and many other objects? Who knows? But it seems clear that people will be fighting about this stuff for a long time to come.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.Aviation experts think they know what happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared shortly after takeoff on its way to Beijing in March 2014, according to a report from "60 Minutes Australia."

More than four years after the airplane disappeared with 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers on board, an investigation by a panel of experts brought together by the news show has concluded that the disappearance was in all likelihood the result of a deliberate act by the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

The report, conducted by an independent team of aviation experts and presented on the news show with much drama, has no official weight. But it does lend credence to speculation dating back to at least 2016, when it became clear that Shah had deliberately plotted the plane's unexpected course. [Flight 370: Photos of the Search for Missing Malaysian Plane]

According to CBS News, one expert on the panel used military radar data to precisely reconstruct the plane's path. He found that the aircraft skirted along the edges of the Malaysia-Thailand borders  an effective tactic for deliberately avoiding radar detection. He also found that the Boeing 777 "likely" dipped its wing over Shah's hometown of Penang in northwest Malaysia, which the panel suggested might have been for a look out the window.

"He was killing himself; unfortunately, he was killing everybody else on board, and he did it deliberately," Canadian air crash investigator Larry Vance, a member of the unofficial panel, told "60 Minutes Australia."

The panel also concluded, based on physical evidence recovered by official investigators, that the airplane did not strike the water in a sharp dive as earlier reports suggested but was likely controlled until the end, crashing far from shore and outside the earlier search area.

Again, it's important to recognize that this panel's conclusions do not bear any official weight and that those conclusions are inferences, not actual knowledge of Shah's intentions. Shah's family reportedly disputes the panel's conclusion, citing the need for direct evidence upon recovery of the plane.

Read more of Live Science's coverage of the missing plane here.

Originally published on Live Science.Could alien life exist in a parallel universe? Computer simulations from two new studies suggest the idea might not be out of this world.

Should the search for alien life in our universe come up empty-handed, it might be worth checking in on a neighboring universe instead.

According to a new pair of studies in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, theres a decent chance that life-fostering planets could exist in a parallel universe  even if that universe were being torn apart by dark energy.

The idea that our universe is just one of many, perhaps infinite, other universes is known as the multiverse theory. Scientists have previously thought that such parallel universes, if they exist, would have to meet an extremely strict set of criteria to allow for the formation of stars, galaxies and life-fostering planets like those seen in our own universe. [5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse]

In the new study, researchers ran a massive computer simulation to build new universes under various starting conditions. They found that the conditions for life might be a little broader than previously thought  especially when it comes to the mysterious pull of dark energy.

Dark energy

Dark energy is a mysterious, invisible force thought to exist in the empty spaces of our universe. You could think about it as the archnemesis of gravity; while gravity pulls matter closer together, dark energy flings it apart  and dark energy is winning this cosmic tug-of-war handily.

Not only is our universe expanding, thanks to the constant, invisible push of dark energy, but the rate of that expansion is also getting faster and faster every day. It's thought that, as more empty space appears in the universe, even more dark energy appears to fill it. (Dark energy is not the same as dark matter, which is an abundant, invisible form of matter thought to be responsible for some very weird gravitational phenomena around space.)

Scientists don't know exactly what dark energy is or how it works; some think it's an intrinsic property of space  what Einstein called the cosmological constant  while others attribute it to a fundamental force called quintessence, with dynamic rules all its own. Others don't even agree that it exists. But whatever it is, everyone can agree that there's a whole lot of it: According to the best current estimates, nearly 70 percent of the mass-energy of our universe may be made of dark energy.

This quantity, for whatever reason, is in the right range to allow galaxies to grow and foster life. It is thought that if we lived in a universe with too much dark energy, space might expand faster than galaxies could possibly form. Too little dark energy, and runaway gravity could cause every galaxy to collapse in on itself before life ever had a chance to appear.

But the question of how much dark energy is "too much" or "too little" is a topic for debate  and it's this issue of quantity that the authors of the new studies hoped to narrow down.

Life finds a way

Across several experiments, an international team of researchers from England, Australia and the Netherlands used a program called Evolution and Assembly of Galaxies and their Environmentsto simulate the birth, life and eventual death of various hypothetical universes. In each simulation, the researchers adjusted the amount of dark energy present in that universe, ranging from none to several hundred times the amount in our own universe.

The good news: Even in universes with 300 times as much dark energy as ours, life found a way.

"Our simulations showed that the accelerated expansion driven by dark energy has hardly any impact on the birth of stars, and hence places for life to arise," study co-author Pascal Elahi, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia, said in a statement. "Even increasing dark energy many hundreds of times might not be enough to make a dead universe."

That's good news for fans of extraterrestrial life and the multiverse theory. But a bigger question remains: If galaxies could still thrive on so much dark energy, why did our universe get handed such a seemingly small amount?

"I think we should be looking for a new law of physics to explain this strange property of our Universe," co-author Richard Bower, a professor at Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology, said in the statement.

Of course, finding new laws of physics is easier said than done. Scientists won't give up easily  but perhaps, to hedge their bets, they should also look for a parallel universe where some intelligent life has already done it for them.

Originally published on Live Science.A new study strongly suggests that at least some memories are stored in genetic code, and that genetic code can act like memory soup. Suck it out of one animal and stick the code in a second animal, and that second animal can remember things that only the first animal knew.

That might sound like science fiction or remind some readers of debunked ideas from decades past. But it's serious science: In a new study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) extracted RNA, a genetic messenger molecule, from one snail and implanted it in another snail. Then, for good measure, they dribbled that same RNA over a bundle of loose neurons in a petri dish. In both experiments, the recipient  either the snail or the petri-neurons  remembered something the donor snail had experienced.

The memory was simple, the kind of thing even a snail's reflex-based, brainless nervous system can hold onto: the shock of an electric zap in the butt. [10 Things You Didn't Know About The Brain]

When Aplysia californica sea snails get zapped in the tail, they send signals through their simple nervous systems: Retract the parapodia!

At that signal, the little fleshy flaps hanging from their little snail bellies retract.

Shock a snail often enough, and it will remember that it's been getting zapped a lot lately, and its parapodia will retract for longer and longer periods of time. That's a simple behavior based on a simple memory. And in the new paper, published today (May 14) in the journal eNeuro, the UCLA scientists showed that they can suck that memory out of one snail in the form of RNA and stick it in another.

"All [that the recipients] were exposed to was RNA from a trained animal [a snail with the zap memory] or an untrained animal, or in some cases, just the chemical we used to deliver the RNA," said David Glanzman, said lead study author David Glanzman, a neuroscientist and integrative biologist at UCLA.

When the RNA came from a snail that hadn't been zapped, the memory recipients acted "naive," retracting their parapodia only briefly after a zap, as if no more zaps were coming. But when snails were exposed to the RNA from a snail that had been zapped, they retracted their parapodia for longer periods after zaps.

"This is important, because it says it's not just [any implanted RNA] that is producing widespread excitability in neurons," Glanzman told Live Science.

Instead, snails with RNA from other snails that had been shocked  and from only those snails  acted just like they had received those initial "teaching" tail shocks themselves.

An illustration from Glanzman's paper shows the transfer of RNA from one snail to another. (Image credit: David Glanzman/UCLA)

Glanzman and his colleagues were able to see the effect on an even more basic level in their bundle of snail neurons in a petri dish. When the researchers bathed the neurons in RNA from a trained snail for 24 hours, then doused the cells in the chemical messenger that means "butt zap!" (in snails, that chemical is serotonin), the neural cells fired wildly, telling their nonexistent parapodia to retract.

When the neurons were bathed in RNA from untrained snails, the nerve cells' reactions were shorter and less intense.

A long-simmering debate

"This paper describes potentially transformative findings on whether memory could be transplanted through transcriptome [genetic] transfer," said Sathya Puthanveettil, a neuroscientist at the Scripps Research Institute in California who studies memory, but who was not involved in the study.

There's been a long-simmering debate in neuroscience about whether the essential units of memory are stored primarily in the "transcriptome" (the long molecules inside cells also used to record genes) or the "connectome" (the network of links between nerve cells).

The transcriptome was more popular in the 20th century, when scientists tried and failed to hunt down "memory RNA" in cruder experiments that broadly resembled Glanzman's. Eventually, however, that idea fell into disfavor, and more and more research and funding turned toward the connectome. Today, there are several active attempts to map the connectome in humans, and certain researchers even suggest that the connectome could be used to preserve human memories after death  though this has yet to be proven.

But connectome studies  including the mapping of the entire connectome of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans have failed to produce conclusive, predictive evidence of the stuff of memory, and so some scientists have looked less favorably on that work as well.

Indeed, Glanzman is something of a partisan in that debate, and he said he sees his experiment as evidence for his side.

"In my opinion, we're spending way too much time and money studying synaptic connections, and way not enough money studying these RNA-based changes and epigenetics," or changes in how cells interact with their genetic code, he said.

This apparent demonstration of the stuff of memory in snails represents a powerful argument for that cause. Still, it's important to keep in mind that this is just one experiment.

"At the moment, we do not have much mechanistic insight about how this memory transfer is achieved," Puthanveettil told Live Science. "We would need more confirmatory experiments to validate these findings in other models."

In other words, scientists don't know at all how this transfer happened, and it's possible there's something going on in this experiment they don't understand.

Right now, there's a lot more work to be done before scientists can say they've found the stuff of memory. Importantly, the type of memory transferred here, the sensitization of a reflex, is among the most basic that exists.

Glanzman said the next step in this research is to attempt similar feats of memory transfer involving more-complex kinds of memories in more-complex animals, like mice.

Originally published on Live Science.Houston's Cadence Bancorporation, a regional bank holding company, will merge with Atlanta's State Bank Financial Corp.

The combined organization has $16 billion in assets, $12 billion in loans, $13 billion in deposits and approximately 100 branches serving Texas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi.

"When we went public a year ago, we said we wanted to be active with M&A," Cadence chairman and CEO Paul B. Murphy Jr. said in a statement issued over the weekend about the merger. "We said we would be selective and that we were looking for a gem. We found a gem with State Bank."

RELATED: Houston banks Allegiance and Post Oak announce merger

State Bank directors will join the board of the regional holding company and of Cadence Bank as part of the merger, said to be valued at $1.4 billion.

Cadence Bank CEO Sam Tortorici will relocate to Atlanta and the bank's corporate headquarters will also move to Atlanta from Birmingham, Ala. Cadence Bancorporation will remain headquartered in Houston.A man was stabbed to death Sunday evening in a college residential building at Sonoma State University, school officials said.

Campus police responded to a report of a stabbing in the Sauvignon Village residential community at 5:53 p.m. and found the victim, a 26-year-old man, who was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m., officials said.

The victims name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

A suspect, later identified as Tyler Bratton, 19, of Santa Rosa, was detained and police said there was no further threat to students or the school.

Police said neither of the men were students at Sonoma State. The two were described as acquaintances who got into a dispute, police said, but the exact motive for the stabbing remains unknown.

School officials said the campus would remain open and that final exams would proceed as scheduled.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15A Million Drops

By Victor del Arbol. Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman

Other Press. 629 pp. Paperback, $19.95

---

About midway through the darkly engrossing novel "A Million Drops," a young woman with too many questions on her mind arrives at the hellscape of a desolate Western Siberian town.

Black clouds of insects hover over the swampy beach. Nothing else, not even river grasses, can find purchase there.

Tania, one of many tormented and searching souls in the Spanish author Victor del Arbol's sprawling work, turns to the ferryman and asks what happened in this place, a town with a notorious legacy called Nazino. The man shrugs.

"Things from the past," he says.

Unanswered questions and vague retorts run throughout "A Million Drops," a book that traces the murky saga of the Soviet Union's engagement in the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that many modern-day Spaniards still struggle to process. The book, originally published in Spain in 2014 and now available in the United States in a crisp English translation, has added to the acclaim of del Arbol, a former Catalan police official and erstwhile seminarian.

Del Arbol routinely accumulates European crime-writing prizes, but "A Million Drops" is an effort that defies categorization, pulling together the best elements of historical fiction, psychological thrillers and literary character studies. The book begins with the murder of a young child in the early 2000s. But the killing at a lake outside Barcelona is only a launching-off point for del Arbol to unspool a dizzying multigenerational drama that begins in the years before the 1930s Spanish Civil War.

The central figures in the book are Gonzalo Gil, a discontented Barcelona lawyer, and his father, Elias Gil, an anti-fascist folk hero renowned for his efforts to save refugees fleeing the victorious forces of the future Spanish dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco. Franco's troops were backed by Hitler and Mussolini, while the losing Republican forces of the democratic Spanish government were supported by a complex and often feuding coalition that included anarchists, communists and Stalin's Soviet Union.

As a young man before the war, the elder Gil travels to the Soviet Union to work on grand public-works projects, along with others from throughout Europe entranced by the promise of a new political paradigm. He is falsely labeled as anti-Bolshevik and is sent to Nazino Island, where thousands of deportees died while stranded in miserable conditions that remained mostly secret until a historical reckoning many decades later. Gil survives Nazino, only to return to his native Spain, a country soon decimated by war.

The narrative meanders into the grim recesses of a child prostitution ring in Spain run by sinister Russian mobsters with ties to some of the more menacing characters Elias Gil encountered during his Soviet misadventure. The monstrous trafficking organization is known as the "Matryoshka," a name given to the famed Russian nesting dolls.

Gil's son is left to try to untangle how the madness intertwines with the tortured history of his mythic and mysteriously vanished father. He undertakes the quest after the suspicious death of his sister, Laura, a journalist turned police officer whose life is wrecked by her obsessive investigation of the sex ring. Before her death, Laura is so consumed by what she learns that her husband begs her to give up, saying "she couldn't fight all the evil in the world by herself, that her efforts were a drop in the ocean."

The title of the book derives from her response: "What is the ocean, if not a million drops."

Del Arbol embroiders his book with characters that might seem to be drawn straight from the noir playbook. There is a sassy secretary, an unfaithful wife, a wealthy and heartless father-in-law and a corrupt cop with "sweat stains at his armpits," a belly that "threatened to pop the buttons off his waistband"and a habit of smoking Ducados, a ferociously strong Spanish cigarette. As the story unfolds the bodies begin to pile up.

But what elevates the book, which for all its merits would have benefited from a bit of trimming, is del Arbol's nuanced sketches of these stock characters. The author is clearly intrigued by the very nature of man's propensity toward violence. Even the villainous Igor Stern, a brutal shape-shifter who is Elias Gil's decades-long rival, isn't above pondering why he does what he does.

"I've read a few books and met a few people over the years," Stern tells Gil. "And they've all taught me that there exists a sublime pleasure in the elegance of our violence when we express our feelings. An aria, when it comes down to it, is not so different from a battle cry."

The battle that Gil cannot leave behind is the war that rived his nation. He recalls traveling to Leningrad during World War II and finding fields of dying Spanish volunteers who joined the Nazi forces in the infamous siege of that city.

"Why are you here, fighting a war that isn't yours?" he asked one soldier.

Gil points a gun barrel to the man's forehead, but before he can pull the trigger, the soldier yells out: "Arriba Espana, you Red bastard!"

That night, Gil writes home to his wife.

"How much damage did the war do to Spain?" he asks. "Too much. I wonder if we'll ever manage to leave it behind, and I'm terrified of the answer."A Shout in the Ruins

By Kevin Powers

Little, Brown. 261 pp. $26

---

Kevin Powers wasn't old enough to vote when he enlisted in the U.S. Army, but by 2004 he was fighting in Iraq as a machine-gunner. When he got back home to Virginia, he began writing poetry and fiction about his experiences in Mosul and Tal Afar, trying, he said, to give readers "a 10 percent example of what that might be like."

His debut novel, "The Yellow Birds," was one of the first about the Iraq War and one of the most celebrated novels of the era. A finalist for a National Book Award, it won praise from Tom Wolfe, Dave Eggers and writer-vets who knew the horrors of battle firsthand. If Powers's prose sometimes sounded florid, that seemed a blemish worth tolerating for the emotional insight he offered on that quagmire 6,000 miles away.

But now Powers has turned his scope on slavery and the Civil War, the most well-trodden battlefield of American fiction. "A Shout in the Ruins" marches with a phalanx of great novels by Colson Whitehead, Toni Morrison, Edward P. Jones, Geraldine Brooks, E.L. Doctorow, Paulette Jiles, Charles Frazier, Jeffrey Lent, Michael Shaara, Gore Vidal, Stephen Crane and so many more, stretching all the way back to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Any new writer who tries to join the ranks of these authors risks tripping over their feet or, worse, being set upon by the cliches that scamper after them like mangy dogs.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

"A Shout in the Ruins" moves between two time frames separated by almost a century. In 1956, a very old black man is displaced from his house by the new Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike carving through Virginia. With a suitcase, a few ancient possessions and some faded memories, he sets off to solve the mystery of his origin.

That quiet, pensive search is effectively obliterated by the novel's other story line, set around the Civil War, which is far more developed - and considerably more dramatic. The geography, the weaponry and the cause are entirely different from the Iraq War, but Powers brings to Virginia battle scenes the same searing immediacy he brought to his stories of carnage in "The Yellow Birds." Once again, we come to feel the mix of agony and absurdity suffered by soldiers caught between the tectonic plates of history. And, pulling back from those poignant individual stories, Powers also creates a haunting vision of Virginia in economic and social collapse, a calamity that strips away the last bulwarks of civilization, inspiring some men to even greater barbary and others to further commercial exploitation.

One such man is Antony Levallois, an ambitious plantation owner near Richmond. Weary of raping his slaves, male and female, he thinks it might be time to take a wife because he was "getting to a point where the absence of a woman in his life diminished him in the eyes of other men." And so this vampiric character sets his sights on his neighbor's land and his neighbor's daughter, Emily.

We first spot Emily as a ghost flitting across the Great Dismal Swamp, but Levallois initially sees her as a beautiful young woman who represents "both a past and future that could be possessed." How their wretched relationship will play out is foreshadowed in the smoldering opening paragraphs of the novel, but another romance, pure and courageous, draws us through these chapters and encourages us to imagine something better. Among the many people Levallois controls is Rawls, a hobbled slave in love with a fellow slave named Nurse. These two highly sympathetic characters must negotiate the whims of various masters in hopes of surviving long enough to realize the promise of the Civil War.

At one point, when Nurse is sold off to another plantation, Rawls is determined to find her again. An older slave warns him to give up, but Rawls insists, "I need her. . . . I love her."

"No place for love in this world, son."

"I'll make a place. Don't you worry. Where is she?"

"This world's gonna break your damn heart, boy."

"It's been broke already."

On Broadway, such earnest dialogue would cue these two to break into a soulful duet, but here it just signals an awkward flaw in this overwrought novel: Powers has curdled the gothic tradition into a thick paste and spread it all over these pages. Rather than highlighting the perversity of slavery, his sententious prose strains to upstage it. We're told, for instance, that "desire, unlike pain, was something that no one, black or white, would ever develop a resistance to while the sun still sat as center of the heavens." That ornate line - with its melodramatic allusion to Copernican astronomy - is typical of this novel.

One character's face looks "like it was permanently on the precipice of discovering that the true nature of the world was one of sadness and isolation, even when surrounded by those we love." Honestly, do you now have a clearer impression of (BEGIN ITAL)that face(END ITAL)?

Another character's "grief for himself was replaced by a grieving for the world. He felt as though he knew all the names that had come before him and all that would follow. He put the names on his breath and with each exhalation he said them in a language beyond speech." This is neither profundity nor poetry; it's merely posturing.

Such bombast was detectable in "The Yellow Birds," like mold in the basement, but here, left unchecked, it's overtaken the whole structure. That's particularly lamentable because Powers can be such a forceful writer when he resists the temptation to substitute grandiose gestures for his own hard-won wisdom. When he succumbs, we just get shouting and ruin.PITTSBURGH  The Giants are gearing up for a Bum rush.

Madison Bumgarner will throw off a mound Monday for the first time since his hand was broken by a line drive in Arizona on March 23, setting off what sounds like a fast-track conclusion to his rehab as he closes in on his May 25 eligible date to return.

It could be close, manager Bruce Bochy said in an optimistic assessment.

Bumgarner is scheduled to throw to hitters when the Giants are in Houston next week. He will have one minor-league start at least, but with the rotation foundering and Bumgarner already throwing hard and from long distances on flat ground, the staff thinks he can return as soon as he builds enough arm strength to throw 70 pitches.

Now, Bochy said, were on schedule to get things rolling.

The key is the nature of his injury. The fractured pinkie did not preclude Bumgarner from keeping his shoulder and elbow in shape.

The win: Reminded that losing streaks usually end when one player dons a cape and plays hero, Derek Holland said, Go with Batman. Im a Batman guy.

The Giants needed what Holland gave them in Sundays 5-0 victory, which ended the teams six-game slide. Holland four-hit the Pirates over 61/3 innings, giving the offense a chance to fight through a weeks worth of 100-mph outs and finally get to Pittsburgh starter Ivan Nova in a five-run sixth inning.

Gorkys Hernandez hit a leadoff homer. Brandon Crawfords two-out RBI double was an equally big hit for an offense that was 5-for-42 with runners in scoring position during the six-game losing streak. Nick Hundley then sent the first pitch from reliever Richard Rodriguez over the short, angled fence in the left-field corner for a three-run homer.

Hundley would have flied out elsewhere, but that is the quirk at PNC Park, just like the cartoon cars that rise above the fence in left field at AT&T Park.

Buster (Posey) and I have talked about it, Hundley said. If one of us hits the top of a car and loses a home run were going out there with a chainsaw, and Chevron can hang with it.

Briefly: Alen Hanson, who injured his left hamstring Saturday night, was available to pinch-hit. The Giants will not bring in another middle infielder.  Holland threw 104 pitches. He also had the best start during the losing streak (three runs allowed in five innings Tuesday in Philadelphia).

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.Around noon Feb. 3, Webb County deputy constables H. Reyes and L. Garza pulled over a gray Nissan Pathfinder in Oilton for speeding.

It was occupied by Rong "Sunny" Li, 34, and her brother, Hui Li, 33.

Hui Li told Reyes that they were heading to Bruni, where they were opening a new maquinita.

When Reyes asked if they were carrying any drugs, weapons or large amounts of cash, Li opened a purse. Reyes saw in the purse cash wrapped in rubber bands.

Li told Reyes that the cash was earnings from the night before from two of the four maquinitas that they own in Laredo.

During the roadside interview, Reyes asked Li how maquinitas worked.

READ MORE: Laredo Police Department arrests 20 individuals following maquinita raids

Li pointed toward Reyes and said, "You customer, you put in $5. I put in $5. This is called the matched."

"Why are you going to give me $5, you are not going to make business like that by giving your money away?" Reyes told him.

Li shook his head and said, "No! You lose I keep money. But you win I pay you money."

"What if I win $100, $50, do you pay?" Reyes asked.

"Yes!" Li replied.

Reyes responded, "So your business operates like Vegas, gambling?"

"Yes," Li said.

A total of $22,745 in cash was seized from the Pathfinder that the deputy constables had pulled over.

Operation One-Armed bandit results

The Laredo Police Department detailed the traffic stop in Oilton in an arrest affidavit obtained by Laredo Morning Times. The affidavit documents the third phase of LPD's Operation One-Armed Bandit, which targets illegal gambling and money laundering at maquinitas.

Under state law, maquinitas can exist only for amusement purposes, meaning no actual gambling should be involved. Maquinitas cannot hand out prizes worth more than $5 to its players, and they cannot give out cash at all. But payouts at maquinitas can be in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

The third phase of Operation One-Armed Bandit resulted in about 20 arrests in late April. The amount of cash seized from a dozen maquinitas and three residences that were raided has not yet been disclosed.

READ ALSO: Border Patrol agent opens fire on armed suspects who robbed Laredo maquinita

The first phase occurred in September, when two maquinitas were raided, about a dozen arrests were made and $500,000 was seized. The second phase happened in January, when about five people were arrested and $1.9 million was seized after six maquinitas and a couple of homes were raided.

LPD had not raided any maquinitas for roughly four years prior to September.

Like in the past two phases of the investigation, police went undercover to document illegal cash payouts to maquinita customers, conducted surveillance and installed tracking devices on suspects' vehicles.

The Li family

The Li family owned and operated about 12 maquinitas, police said.

A source of information told LPD that Hui Li owned four maquinitas. His sister and her husband, Zhu Quan Jiang, and a younger brother, Zeng Jie Li, worked for Hui Li to manage the establishments, the source to police, according to the arrest affidavit.

The source told police that they were originally from China. Rong Li and her husband at one point lived in New York City while her brother lived in Denver, Colorado before they all moved to Laredo, the affidavit states. Hang "Andy" Li, a cousin of Rong and Hui Li, also owned several maquinitas. His wife is Mei "Sofia" Yue Chen.

READ ALSO: Women accused of stealing $500 worth of clothing from Laredo store

The source for LPD said to officers that Hui Li or another person would drop off about $8,000 to $12,500 at each 8-liner establishment at the beginning of each day. That cash was used for payouts to customers. At the close of business, Li or another person would arrive at the business and remove the cash from the 8-liner machines. The cash is then taken by Li, Rong Li, Zhu Quan Jiang or Zeng Jie Li from the 8-liners to their residence, the affidavit states.

All employees who work for Hui Li are paid in cash to avoid documentation, the source of information told LPD.

Cash seizures and robberies

In addition to the $22,745 seized during the traffic stop in Oilton, the affidavit details two other instances in which a large amount of cash was seized.

On April 11, Austin PD pulled over a white Ford F-150 on North Interstate 35. The occupants were identified as Veronica Morales, Rong Li and Hui Li.

Hui Li exited the vehicle with a large blue backpack. Officers requested consent from Li to search the bag. He granted it.

A total of $373,800 was discovered and seized.

At the scene, Li stated he was a part-owner of an amusement center and would get paid about $3,000 to $4,000 monthly, according to the affidavit. Li further added that the cash was proceeds from the maquinita. He then explained to the officer that he was taking the cash to someone in Dallas. That person had lent Li money to start the business and Li was on his way to repay the loan, according to the affidavit.

On Jan. 18, about three months prior to the traffic stop in Austin, an officer watched Hang Li and Mei Yue Chen leaving the Lucky Fish maquinita in a Cadillac SRX. He followed them to Lucky KOI Amusement Center, 9110 McPherson Road. After they left that maquinita, an LPD officer pulled them over to see if they were carrying cash.

The officer received consent to search the vehicle and found a large amount of cash in a brown bag in the backseat of the vehicle. Chen told the officer that about $10,000 was in the bag.

The Li family was also subject to robberies, both at their businesses and at home, according to the affidavit.

READ ALSO: LPD: 62-year-old man sent handwritten explicit notes to teen

At about 5 a.m. Jan. 13, Rong Li reported to police that two armed men had robbed her of $33,000 at her home in the 100 block of Majestic Palm Drive.

Li told police she was part owner of the Money Town Amusement Center, 401 Shiloh Drive. The cash stolen was earnings from the business, she told officers, according to the affidavit.

She stated that every time she goes home, she takes the business earnings and places the cash inside her purse.

When she was about to get to the front door of her home, a man approached her and told her he knew she had three children, LPD said. He then threatened her by saying he would go after her kids if she would call police, according to court documents.

She noticed he and another suspect appeared to be armed with handguns. One allegedly put the handgun on the side of her head. They then duct-taped her legs and hands and left her behind.

She stated the suspects left in a black car and that she did not recognize them. No arrests have been made in the case.A local priest is among eleven people who are set to testify on Wednesday in the sentencing hearing of a former UISD middle school teacher who pleaded guilty to committing a sexual crime with a then-14-year-old student.

Although initially indicted on 22 counts stemming from his sexual relationship with the girl, Luis Enrique Mercado, 36, only pleaded guilty to a single count of indecency with a child by sexual exposure last week.

The prosecution agreed to dismiss the remaining charges: nine counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, five counts of improper relationship between an educator and a student, four counts of sexual assault of a child, two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of indecency with a child by exposure.

READ MORE: Laredo mom: Teacher in a relationship with teen was 'like a son'

Last week, the mother of the victim testified that she does not want Mercado to be sentenced to prison. She said her family and Mercado's family have become close and have a good relationship. The two families meet regularly for dinner on Sundays after Mass, she testified. The mother described Mercado as "almost like a son" and an "awesome person."

He made a mistake, but he is a good person, humble and honest, she testified.

On the first day of his sentencing hearing, Mercado's attorneys asked 406th District Court Judge Oscar J. Hale Jr. to allow their client to get probation and deferred adjudication. If Hale grants this, Mercado would be on probation for a determinate amount of time, and if he successfully completes it, he would avoid a conviction on his record.

The prosecution asked Hale to sentence Mercado to 10 years in prison.

READ ALSO: Former UISD teacher charged with production of child porn

On Thursday, a day after he pleaded guilty, Assistant District Attorney Julia Rubio filed a motion asking the court to remand Mercado into custody. The prosecution believes that Mercado should be held at the Webb County Jail until the hearing has concluded, according to the document.

"Due to his plea of guilty, the defendant is not entitled to remain on bond posted in this cause," the motion states.

Hale has not issued a response to the prosecution's motion as of Friday evening, court records show.

Witnesses

Here is a list of people who are expected to testify:

For the defense:

Luis Mercado, Mercado's father

Hilda Mercado, Mercado's mother

Fr. Toribio Guerrero, pastor at San Francisco Javier Catholic Church

Armin Lozano, 406th District Court probation officer who is part of a group that supervises sex offenders

Lizz, the pseudonym for the victim

Lizz's mom

Lizz's dad

For the prosecution:

Tony Flores, UISD police officer and lead investigator in the case

Roberto Santos, UISD superintendent

Maria de Santos, licensed professional counselor

Greg Cantu, LPD detective

A long case

In the last two years, Mercado's attorneys filed multiple motions for continuance in the case.

In February, former Assistant District Attorney Linda Garza, who was the prosecutor handling the case at that time, told the court that the parties had reached an agreement but that they were pending the completion of a psychological evaluation performed on Mercado.

"We have conferred at length on this case and we have reached an agreement," Garza said. "The issue is going to be deferred adjudication."

When the last continuance was granted by the court, UISD's Associate Superintendent for Administration Gloria Rendon made the district's position very clear.

"United ISD would not support deferred adjudication for this former employee who admitted to having a sexual relationship with a middle school student," Rendon told LMT in February. "This individual should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Sex in the classroom

The case unfolded May 27, 2015. At 11 a.m., a UISD police sergeant said he received an anonymous call informing him about a sexual relationship between Mercado and a student.

It was alleged that sexual acts were occurring every morning at a portable classroom at Trautmann Middle School. Mercado taught social studies at the campus.

Court records state Mercado was seen in surveillance footage arriving at the portable at 7:10 a.m.

Then, footage shows the student walking into the portable at 7:11 a.m., the complaint states.

The sergeant, who activated his body camera, and other school officials went to the portable classroom and saw Mercado and the student engaging in a sexual act, according to the complaint.

In a post-arrest interview at UISD police headquarters, Mercado allegedly admitted to having had sex with the student.

He also allowed authorities to search his cellphone, the complaint states.

UISD police said they confirmed Mercado and the student had made arrangements via text messages to commit the sexual acts.

He allegedly admitted to having sexual contact with the student 22 times between April 27 and May 26, according to LPD.

"Additionally, (the sergeant) observed several photographs (in Mercado's cell phone) depicting a child younger than 18 years of age engaging in sexual conduct," according to the complaint.

The district said Mercado resigned from his teaching position while police questioned him.Allen Tijerina, Laredo Community College board member and high school teacher, has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Tijerina, 31, was charged with driving while intoxicated, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.A Houston police officer has been suspended from the force after a Saturday night drunk driving arrest in Montgomery County.

William Lacy was pulled over around 11 p.m. on State Loop 494 after a Department of Public Safety trooper allegedly spotted him driving in the middle of the road, and saw him fail to stop at an intersection.EverFi, a Washington, D.C.-based tech start-up that sells online education courses, has set up a new headquarters in Washington, with a 13-year lease that effectively commits it to staying in the District for the foreseeable future.

The company, which is in Georgetown, will move into a 58,000-square-foot space in the West End neighborhood, officials said Friday. It was helped along by a $3 million tax incentive organized by the deputy mayor for planning and economic development.

EverFi founder and chief executive Tom Davidson described the move as an effort to double down on the Washington area's technology scene, which is home to few large tech companies. EverFi had been scouting potential locations in Maryland and Virginia before ultimately deciding to stay in the city.

"This is going to keep EverFi here in D.C., where it was born, for another 13 years," Davidson said. "There's been everything from great support to great karma in D.C., and we really felt like we wanted to stay here."

EverFi's investors, and the sheer amount of funding it has taken in, have already put it in a league of its own among the city's tech start-ups, which tend to raise less capital than their West Coast counterparts.

At $250 million in funding from venture capitalists, it is easily the District's best-funded tech start-up. Investors include Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Steve Case and Bono, among others. Much of its recent funding came from TPG Capital, a private equity fund focused on social impacts, and the Rise Fund, a fund started by AOL founder Case to stimulate technology businesses outside of Silicon Valley. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

The company used that funding to buy two other online education companies and go on a hiring spree, increasing its head count from about 220 people to about 480 over the past 18 months. It now has a sizable presence in San Francisco, as well. Davidson also said revenue has jumped by 40 percent in 18 months, though he declined to disclose exact figures.

Many of those new hires are product developers working on taking the company's instructional videos toward a "mobile-first" approach.

EverFi has become a leader in a burgeoning D.C.-area education technology industry. In Lanham, Maryland, online education firm 2U employs more than 1,500 people and recently pushed into international markets by acquiring a South Africa-based start-up. Blackboard became dominant in organizing college coursework before expanding into the health-care sector.

EverFi's executives focus on online education modules targeting "intractable social issues" such as alcohol abuse, financial literacy and - more recently - workplace conduct courses designed to prevent sexual harassment in the office. Universities and businesses seeking to push people to be more healthful - or comply with regulations - pay for EverFi's courses by subscription.

Davidson says more businesses have been requiring workplace conduct training, something that has coincided with increased public attention on sexual harassment. "You're just starting to see businesses have a greater awareness of including this as required training for employees and boards," Davidson said. "It's a classic area that EverFi would try to engage in."

But he says demand for the company's products related to opioid abuse - which guide people on how to avoid becoming addicted to certain prescription drugs - has skyrocketed as schools and business have recognized the problem.

"We've found this is something that's crept into every corner of the country," Davidson said. "We think every school in the country is going to have a prevention program, and we want to be involved in that. We're putting a lot of resources behind it."Scott Pruitt began receiving round-the-clock security from the moment he stepped foot inside the Environmental Protection Agency in February 2017 at the behest of a Trump administration political appointee, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.

EPA's inspector general said in a letter Monday that Pruitt got extensive protection from the start of his tenure but did not clarify who requested it. The separate series of emails obtained by The Post shows that the decision to provide Pruitt with 24/7 coverage was made by Don Benton, a Washington state GOP senator who served as the agency's senior White House adviser in the first weeks of the new administration.

"EPA's Protective Service Detail began providing 24/7 coverage of the Administrator the first day he arrived," Inspector General Arthur Elkins wrote in response to inquiries from Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, R.I., and Thomas Carper, Del., about what threats prompted Pruitt's nonstop security, which has cost in excess of $3 million. "The decision was made by the Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training after being informed that Mr. Pruitt requested 24/7 protection once he was confirmed as Administrator."

The inspector general's office, which investigates threats made against any EPA employees, "played no role in this decision," Elkins added.

In a Feb. 12, 2017, email to several EPA security officials, Benton framed the decision as a precautionary measure given the controversy sure to ensue from some of the president's early policy decisions. "I have requested 24-7 protection for the new administrator for the first week at least and then evaluate from there," Benton wrote.

"There will be several Executive Orders signed when [Pruitt] is sworn in that will likely stir the hornets nest," he wrote.

EPA officials discussed the increased costs and strain on the agency's Criminal Investigation Division that would stem from such a move. The acting special agent in charge, Eric Weese, wrote colleagues that nonstop protection would entail doubling the number of agents on Pruitt's security detail to 16.

Weese predicted this would be "a major disruption" to the division's assets in the mid-Atlantic region, "but there will be no other way to pull this off."

Agency spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement Monday that "as the report says, EPA's Office of Inspector General does not determine security assessments. EPA's Protective Service Detail handles security decisions and this particular decision was made before Administrator Pruitt arrived at EPA."

Some Cabinet members routinely receive heightened security as part of their job, including the secretaries of defense, state and homeland security. FBI agents accompany the attorney general around the clock.

But for other Cabinet posts, the level of protection varies based on circumstances. Early in the Trump administration, for example, controversial Education Secretary Betsy DeVos received a full protective detail, at an estimated initial cost of $1 million a month.

There were no confirmed threat cases open the day Pruitt took office, according to an individual with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

Elkins made clear in his letter Monday that his office "has never conducted a 'threat assessment' " for Pruitt - a broader, more formal evaluation used to help determine what level and type of protection is warranted for an official.

"It includes all available information, including the results of threat investigations, but also other factors, such as notoriety, history of threats or violence directed against the person or event, other dangers or potentials dangers that may be associated with the person or event, and location," Elkins wrote, adding: "The OIG is not a decision-maker for the EPA."WASHINGTON - The Trump administration blamed Hamas for the deaths of dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers on Monday during mass protests along the boundary fence, the deadliest day of violence since the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.

The clashes came as a high-level U.S. delegation visited Israel for the inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, breaking years of U.S. policy to refrain from establishing an embassy in the contested city until a peace deal was made between the two sides.

"The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas," deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah told reporters at a briefing, referring to the militant group that governs Gaza. "Israel has the right to defend itself."

The Trump administration's refusal to criticize Israel for the escalating violence was immediately criticized by Palestinian and human rights groups who said the United States must call on its key ally to exercise restrain amid the escalating chaos and violence.

"The U.S. silence is license to kill for Israel, and Israel is taking this license to heart and implementing it in full," Husam Zomlot, the top Palestinian representative to the United States, said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The right of people to assemble peacefully has been a founding principle of the U.S. Failing to speak up is a dent in the moral history of this country."

The United States has consistently backed Israel since violence erupted in Gaza following the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In April, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to criticize Israel when asked about the 39 Palestinians who were killed that month and the hundreds wounded.

"We do believe the Israelis have the right to defend themselves, and we're fully supportive of that," he said.

The approach is rare for U.S. administrations, which in the past often criticized both the Israelis and Palestinians during major flare-ups in violence.

"Normally, you'd criticize protesters rushing the fence, but you'd also hear the U.S. encourage restraint on Israel's part," said Ilan Goldenberg, a former State Department official and a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. "That's how previous administrations would deal with it."

At the briefing, Shah continued to solely blame Hamas when asked again about the violence and whether the White House believes Israel should exercise restraint. "We believe that Hamas as an organization is engaged in cynical action that is leading to these deaths."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry also blamed Hamas, saying the group organized the protest to "sabotage" the Israel-Gaza fence and "storm into Israel."

"Israel will not allow the infiltration of hostile elements & will protect its citizens from Hamas violence," the ministry said in a statement.

An estimated 35,000 Palestinians gathered on the edges of Gaza on Monday, fanning out along the fence. Some threw stones, and organizers urged others to burst through the fence. But most of the demonstrators were peaceful.

As gunfire broke through the protests, ambulances roared in and out. More than a thousand protesters were injured and hospital workers reported being overwhelmed.

Sari Bashi, an Israel-Palestine expert at Human Rights Watch, said the Trump administration is " giving Israel a green light to continue killing and maiming."

"Whoever the demonstrators represent - and many of them are young people simply representing themselves and their frustrated dreams - entering a border zone declared off limits by Israel is not a crime punishable by death," Bashi said.

Later in the White House briefing, Shah was asked when the White House last reached out to Palestinians.

"I don't honestly have an answer for you," he said.

Contact between the White House and Palestinians was curtailed in December after Palestinians condemned the Trump administration's move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Zomlot noted on Monday, however, that he remains in touch with the State Department on bilateral issues.

During the White House briefing, a reporter noted that Israeli snipers have killed people who were throwing rocks 50 meters from the wall. Shah responded by saying: "Again, we believe that Hamas is responsible for this."

Later on Monday at the State Department, Pompeo was asked about the violence. The top diplomat turned his back and walked away.

---

The Washington Post's Jenna Johnson in Washington, and Loveday Morris and Hazem Balousha in the Gaza Strip contributed to this report.WASHINGTON - After months of confidence that public discontent with President Donald Trump would lift Democrats back to power in Congress, some party leaders are fretting that their advantages in this year's midterms are eroding amid a shifting political landscape.

Driving their concerns are Trump's approval rating, which has ticked upward in recent weeks, and high Republican turnout in some recent primaries, suggesting the GOP base remains energized. What's more, Republicans stand to benefit politically from a thriving economy and are choosing formidable candidates to take on vulnerable Democratic senators.

One of their biggest sources of anxiety is the Senate race in Florida, where some Democrats fear that three-term Sen. Bill Nelson has not adequately prepared to defend his seat against Gov. Rick Scott, a well-financed former businessman handpicked for the race by Trump. Scott and Nelson are close in early polls.

"I'm concerned about the race. I think everybody is," said Ione Townsend, the Democratic Party chair in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa. Townsend said it will "be hard to compete" with Scott's money.

The growing alarm about Nelson, one of 10 Democratic senators running this year in a state won by Trump in 2016, prompted the Senate's top Democrat, Charles E. Schumer, N.Y., to sound the alarm a few months ago in a private meeting in which he pleaded with Nelson to step up his efforts and hire a campaign manager, which he did not do until March, according to people familiar with the conversation.

In West Virginia, where Trump won by about 42 points and Republicans gave the president credit last week for urging voters to reject the primary candidacy of a former coal executive who had served jail time, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III acknowledged that Trump's popularity in the state is a major boon for the Republicans.

"The more he can stay out of West Virginia and direct his energies elsewhere would be helpful," Manchin said.

Democratic worries are mounting in the House, as well, where the party has been more confident of gaining the 23 seats it needs to retake the majority. Democrats are picking strong candidates in dozens of Republican-held suburban districts where Trump has lost significant support - but recent surveys suggest the races may be tightening.

Trump's approval is now at the highest point it has been all year, measured by Gallup in early May at 42 percent, a five-point increase from the start of 2018. Meanwhile, the Democrats' advantage when voters are asked which party they want to control Congress has shrunk, from 10 points in December to just six now, according to a Washington Post average of recent quality polls.

And Republicans are showing signs they will fight for the House, with GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson agreeing to give $30 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a superPAC backed by Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., according to a person familiar with the donation.

"I think anyone who was proclaiming victory a couple of months ago was premature," said Rep. Daniel Kildee of Michigan, who is a member of the leadership team of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "I think the president's standing obviously has some impact."

Republicans still have plenty of reasons to worry. While Trump's numbers have improved, his standing is still historically low for a first-term president and his administration continues to face scandals and chaos, as well as the expanding inquiry by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

History shows a president's first midterm does not usually go well for his party. And recent special election results signal a strong year for Democrats, including their stunning win in the Alabama Senate race and the victory this year by a Democrat in a Pittsburgh-area district that Trump had won by 20 points.

Republican leaders, many of whom were previously uneasy about Trump and his brand of nationalistic politics and had clashed with him early in his tenure, have in recent weeks embraced the president, in large part because the party's success could hinge on keeping his base fired up.

In private conversations, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. has advised Trump not to criticize the Senate, said three people familiar with the discussions. McConnell told Trump that it is not good for either Trump or McConnell if voters feel like it makes no difference whether they choose Republicans to represent them there.

McConnell has also urged the president to work with him to promote electable Republican Senate candidates. Lately, Trump has heeded his advice.

He warned West Virginia Republicans not to vote for Don Blankenship, who served prison time for his conviction on mine safety violations and used racial epithets. On Tuesday, Blankenship lost the primary to state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a more mainstream candidate.

Republican officials are touting the GOP tax cuts, although polls suggest they have not been the political godsend the party had predicted, as well as Trump's upcoming summit with North Korea's leader, which stirs hope of stability and detente.

"Peace and prosperity's a pretty good platform," said Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Some local Democrats are nervous about the general election.

"I do worry. I think the pharmaceutical companies are going to throw all kinds of money in here," said Marion Tanner, the chair of the Fayette County Democratic Executive Committee in West Virginia. Morrisey has past lobbying ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Trump and McConnell welcomed the Republicans nominated for Senate in Indiana and Ohio on Tuesday. Trump held a campaign rally in Indiana on Thursday, where he stayed remarkably on message and praised the GOP nominee, Mike Braun.

"You saw a template for what you'll see moving forward," said White House political director Bill Stepien, referring to Trump's rhetoric at the rally in Elkhart, Indiana.

White House officials are trying to complement Trump's efforts on the campaign trail by making Congress look better. At a recent briefing hosted by the White House's Office of Public Liaison, Stepien emphasized that Republicans could help motivate their base by showing that the Senate was working, according to a person who attended the meeting.

Like others interviewed for this story, the person spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

During a Senate Republican luncheon last Thursday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tenn., distributed pocket cards to senators that listed what the GOP has done since last year to help them remind voters. The cards included the tax law, repealing regulations and confirming conservative judges.

Nationally, Republican strategists said they believe that by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, engaging with North Korea and pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal, Trump is giving conservative voters a powerful reminder of the blows he has landed against the policies of President Barack Obama.

Trump's North Korea strategy has resonated with Keith Lowry, chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee in West Virginia.

"His presentation leaves a lot of people lacking. And they don't necessarily agree with his brash techniques or the way he tweets a lot," Lowry said of Trump. "But the essence and the substance of the man - you just can't argue with the accomplishments."

In Florida, Scott's entrance into the race not only boosted Republican chances of flipping Nelson's seat, it also ensured that Democrats would have to spend more cash in the state that they would otherwise dedicate to other states.

Scott is wealthy and has a strong national fundraising network. He raised as much money in three weeks - $3.2 million - as Nelson did in three months.

On Saturday, Nelson held one of his first campaign events since Scott launched his campaign.

Republicans still have messy intraparty fights to navigate in Mississippi and Arizona, with polarizing Senate candidates who party officials believe could lose to Democrats. They are plotting ways to elevate the more electable ones.

If Democrats can flip one or both of those seats, their path to the majority will be easier, contingent on holding seats. Democrats also have a plum opportunity for a pickup in Nevada.

Democratic senators have focused on issues like health care, veterans and local matters rather than the national parties or culture wars. They are wagering that they don't need to stoke the anti-Trump sentiment that is prevalent among base voters; they need to convince Republicans that it is okay to cross over.

Even in the House, where elections tend to align more closely to the national mood, candidates are trying to distinguish themselves on a personal level.

"Anyone who's counting on a national wave to carry her into office isn't much of a candidate," said Rep. Matthew Cartwright, D-Pa., who is running in a district where Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 10 points. "You've got to run your own race and you have to be your own person."

---

The Washington Post's Scott Clement contributed to this report.It's a big week for Texas schoolkids as some of them are tackling a very important standardized test.

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) is a big deal for students, teachers, schools, and parents alike. Much preparation is done to make sure that students have the adequate skills to ace the test.

MORE INFO: TEA releases details on how it will grade schools using STAAR

This week students in high school will be taking the math, history, and English portions of the STAAR test. Students in 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th will take math, reading, science, and social studies exams. This is also the time when students who missed the first round of testing in April will be able to make-up those tests.

Some parents, as the Houston Chronicle's Shelby Webb has reported, choose to opt their children out of the STAAR test which they believe the test and the emphasis put on it is detrimental to the instruction of other crucial information that their kids need.

Student scores on STAAR are used to rate the academic performances of schools and districts statewide. If students score poorly, a school or could be rated as "improvement required," a designation that can carry steep penalties. Charter schools rated as "improvement required" for three or more years can be closed by the state, as can traditional public schools that are given the rating for five or more consecutive years.

PREVIOUS: 41,000 Texas students affected by STAAR testing computer glitches

In the slideshow above Chron.com has gathered a handful of sample STAAR test questions to see how Texas parents and adults would fare on the test.

With additional reporting from Shelby Webb

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.

In September 2017 Stacy Bailey, an art teacher at Charlotte Anderson Elementary School in Arlington, Texas, was placed on paid administrative leave after a parent complained she was pushing her "homosexual agenda" on her students, according to a lawsuit Bailey filed against Mansfield Independent School District this week.

According to the lawsuit, Bailey has been with Mansfield ISD for over six years and has never had an issue pertaining to her lifestyle.

On August 23, 2017, she introduced herself to her students with a "First Day of School" powerpoint which included a photo of her and her now-wife, Julie Vazquez, in fish costumes from the Disney movie "Finding Nemo," followed by a set of class rules rewards and expectations.

IN TROUBLE: Texas teacher fired after sending profane text to mother of autistic student

Bailey met with the principal of the school a few days later to discuss the complaint.

According to the lawsuit, Bailey was placed on leave in September 2017 when the same parent complained again after she taught her students about artist Jasper Johns and mentioned his partner Robert Rauchenberg. The art class learned about Rauchenberg the previous year.

Bailey was asked to sign documentation saying she'd shown sexually inappropriate images to the children but refused saying it was "discrimination" because of her orientation.

According to Dallas News, Mansfield ISD released an email statement to employees in March 2018 saying that despite their policy to "not comment on employee personnel matters" some misinformation about the issue has created a disruption in the "educational environment" at the school.

The article paraphrases the statement saying, "the statement said Bailey was not suspended over her request to include LGBTQ language in the district's non-discrimination policy, but rather due to the district's concern that Bailey 'insists that it is her right and that it is age appropriate for her to have ongoing discussions with elementary-aged students about her own sexual orientation, the sexual orientation of artists, and their relationships with other gay artists.'"

The article continues, saying that administrators met with Bailey on more than one occasion after receiving the complaints, but "Ms. Bailey refused to follow administration's directions regarding age-appropriate conversation with students."

According to the lawsuit, Mansfield ISD asked for Bailey's resignation in October 2017, but later in April 2018 voted to renew her contract after parents and students informed the district that Bailey was a good teacher and should be brought back.

On May 1, 2018, Bailey was informed that though her contract had been renewed, she'd been transferred to a secondary school.

Bailey is suing the school district for loss of earning capacity, mental anguish, emotional pain, and suffering, lost employment benefits, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, damage to professional reputation and other damages.

She is also asking the district to declare that it "illegally discriminated against [Bailey] because of her sexual orientation," and seeks to be reinstated to her original position at Charlotte Anderson Elementary.

Take a look through the gallery above to see some photos of Bailey and her now-wife.

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.

William Axford contributed to this report.As a young boy in Acapulco, Mexico, Victor Manuel Patricio Silva received an early lesson in faith from his mother, Leonor. A member of the Legion of Mary, she would bring Silva to Mass every week because she loved to be in the church, he recalled.

On Sunday, five years after he moved to the United States to become a priest and five days before his ordination, Silva felt complicated emotions at Our Lady of Lourdes Grottos annual Mothers Day Mass. As he stood before a crowd of several hundred, Silva recalled the profound impact of his mother, who died 20 years ago.

While his mother will not be physically there to see him become a priest on Friday, Silva, 40, said he will be grateful to her for introducing him to his passion.

She is going to be present with me, Silva said. She was the one who taught me the faith. So its kind of, in some way, giving back to her what she taught me when I was a child. I can say that there is a mix of feelings, because I miss her.

Father Leo Perez, who led the service in English beneath an overhang of tree branches on the Oblate Missions grounds, said that because of the Holy Eucharist, mothers can be transformed and strengthened in the love that theyre called to give to their families.

Jesus had a mother also. We know her name was Mary, Perez said. And we pray that all our moms can use this mother of Jesus as a model of how they can love, and that we can participate with them in creating a kingdom of God.

Deborah Alvarez, 49, began attending the Mothers Day Mass before her daughter Stephanie Alvarez, 19, was born. She enjoys coming back because she feels closer to God each time, and is reminded of the importance of everything that mothers do. She said she employs a parenting style of gentle guidance, like her mother did for her.

I feel like no matter what children do, all the trouble we put them through, I feel like theres always that love thats there, Stephanie Alvarez said. She gets mad at me sometimes, but at the end of the day, Im her daughter. And so she loves me no matter what.

Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspschererFive days of early voting for several primary runoffs begins Monday when 38 locations around Bexar County open at 8 a.m.

The polls will remain open until 8 p.m. and follow the same hourly schedule each day through Friday. Election Day is May 22.

Voters who cast ballots in the March 6 primaries must vote with the same party in the runoffs. Those who did not vote in the first round of the primary are still eligible to vote in the runoff and may vote with either party.

On the Democratic ballot, voters will choose between two gubernatorial candidates: former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Houston businessman Andrew White.

RELATED: Gov. Greg Abbott takes to online to declare Lupe Valdez is 'wrong for Texas'

The Republican ballot includes a runoff for the Bexar County GOP Chair between Cynthia Brehm and Jo Ann Ponce Gonzalez.

Voters in part of the county will decide a pair of nominations in the 21st Congressional District. Matt McCall and Chip Roy are seeking the Republican nomination; Joseph Kopser and Mary Wilson are the Democratic candidates.

In the 23rd Congressional District, Democrats Gina Ortiz Jones and Rick Trevino are vying for the chance to face Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, on Nov. 6.

Steve Allison and Matt Beebe are facing off for the GOP nomination in House District 121 for the seat occupied by retiring Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

Bexar County Commissioner Paul Elizondo is defending his Precinct 2 seat against county Veterans Service officer Queta Rodriguez.

Several judicial races, including GOP runoffs for the 187th and 226th state District Court benches, as well as the Republican nomination for Probate Court No. 2 and the Democratic nomination for County Court at Law No. 1, also are on the ballot.

In the 2014 primary runoff, 64 percent of ballots were cast during early voting.

The Bexar County Elections Department website includes a map of early voting locations and other voter resources.

Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspschererA man arrested in late January for continuous sexual abuse of a child is facing an additional charge after a custodian found a DVD that contained child pornography in his office at the South Texas Food Bank, according to an arrest affidavit.

The criminal complaint states that Carlos Romo, 42, performed volunteer work for the food bank prior to his first arrest in January. Romo is facing a possession of child pornography charge.

He could face more charges as police seized a black Dell Inspiron 580 that belonged to the food bank and executed a search warrant Feb. 2 at a home in the 2700 block of North New York Avenue that is linked to the case. Authorities said they seized electronic devices, mostly USBs.

Authorities turned over the seized material and the Dell to a Homeland Security Investigations special agent for a forensic analysis.

READ MORE: Affidavit alleges years of sexual abuse

"All submitted evidence will be pending forensic examination and other charges may be pending," states the affidavit.

Continuous sexual abuse

Romo was first accused of sexually molesting a girl in December. She stated the abuse began when she was about 7 or 8 years old.

Romo agreed to meet with investigators on Dec. 20 at police headquarters. He denied the accusations, according to the affidavit.

On Jan. 26, Romo was served with an arrest warrant for continuous sexual abuse of a child at the South Texas Food Bank. He was then taken to LPD headquarters for questioning. He allegedly waived his right to legal counsel.

Authorities and Romo spoke about several topics, including if he ever possessed child pornography images. He denied possessing illicit material or electronic devices with child pornography.

His belongings, including his cellphone, were left at the place of arrest, the food bank.

"Throughout all interviews, Romo sobbed and maintained his innocence. He did not want society to see him as a monster or pedophile," the affidavit states.

After interviewing Romo, police called the food bank. A representative told investigators that Romo's belongings would be delivered to his spouse.

READ ALSO: LPD: Kidnapped Laredo teen found safe, suspect arrested

'Shocked and disturbed'

On Jan. 30, the food bank executive director called police saying that a bag belonging to Romo was located in his office. She found a DVD depicting nude children engaging in sexual acts, the complaint states.

She was checking the bag to make sure its contents did not belong to the food bank. She told police she was "completely shocked and disturbed" when she discovered the illicit material. A laptop was also inside the bag.

Investigators then responded to the food bank to meet with the executive director. She gave police a black bag and handed over to police a DVD.

She told police that she did not know what the disc contained. Then, she played it and watched approximately five seconds of nude girls, ages 11 to 12, engaging in sexual acts, according to the complaint. Romo had access to a desktop computer owned by the food bank. That black Dell Inspiron 580 was seized for a forensic analysis.Erich Schlegel / Erich Schlegel / Getty Images

Early voting for the May 22 primary runoff elections for a variety of congressional, state and local posts runs through Friday.

Harris County voters can cast ballots at 46 early voting locations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mail-in ballots also are being accepted for those unable to make it to the polls.The strong voter support given the latest Northside Independent School District bond election comes as no surprise. We just wish we could count on state officials to show the same kind of financial support for Texas beleaguered public school system.

Taxpayers in NISD, the largest school district in Bexar County, have historically done well by their students, approving billions of dollars in school bonds during six separate elections over the last 20 years.

The most recent bond was approved by a 2-to-1 ratio.

OPINION: Truancy is the warning bell for long-term social ills

The $848.9 million bond is the largest the district has undertaken. The funds will be used to build four new schools, and renovate and upgrade many of the existing schools in this high-performing district.

The need for the bond funding was fully vetted by a citizens committee tasked with helping come up with the final bond proposal presented on the ballot. We have full confidence that NISD, which has a proven track record, will be good stewards of the taxpayers money.

It is disappointing that the same strong support and confidence in traditional public schools is not as apparent in Austin.

RELATED: Fast-growing districts need the public's help

Every two years when lawmakers convene in Austin, school district administrations from across the state hold their collective breaths at state budget time.

It is disturbing many school districts now consider it a victory when they survive a legislative session without further cuts.

Texas public schools have had to battle for fair and equitable funding from the state for decades. Two years ago this month, the Texas Supreme Court found the states public school finance system constitutional but terribly lacking.

The problem has been under review and discussion since then. Any legislation that would provide school district relief wont occur for another year, when the Legislature convenes in 2019.

EDITORIAL: The state's war on public education hits home

But time is not standing still for Texas schoolchildren. Theres another school year, another graduation class.

Residents in NISD cast votes to tax themselves for the benefit of the more than than 106,000 students in their district. They are not alone. Taxpayers in communities across the vast state are regularly going to the polls to do the same for their students.

If nothing else, this should signal to state Legislators that properly funding public education is a priority for the people who vote for them, too.1 Malaysia politics: New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that the attorney general has been told to go on leave pending an investigation of his role in allegedly covering up a massive corruption scandal involving ousted leader Najib Razak. The government also announced that the head of the countrys treasury has been relieved of his duties. The 1MDB state fund set up by Najib is being investigated in the United States and several other countries. Anger over the scandal helped Mahathirs alliance score a stunning election victory last week, ending the 60-year rule of Najibs coalition. U.S. investigators say Najibs associates stole $4.5 billion from the fund. Over the weekend, Mahathir barred Najib and his wife from leaving the country.

2 Diplomatic dispute: A U.S. diplomat who killed a Pakistani motorcyclist in a road accident last month left the country Monday after getting clearance from authorities. U.S. military attache Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall was allowed to leave the capital Islamabad and head home, three officials told the Associated Press. The development comes days after Pakistan sent back an American plane, delaying the return of Hall. Hall ran a red light and hit motorcyclist Attique Baig last month but was not arrested as he enjoyed diplomatic immunity.Save the wallabies

I feel compelled to write in over a couple of points in the article about the wallabies on the front page (MM May 2). Our family has owned a holiday property on the island for 23 years in Schoolhouse Bay. Obviously, over this time we have got to know a lot of the residents there. The majority in our bay are pro-wallaby, ourselves included. The paragraph about wallabies destroying native forests and bird life and competing with farm animals is incorrect. The island looks fine. We have plenty of bird life and there are no farm animals whatsoever on the island. The paragraph about some islanders feeding the wallabies is correct. We do take food over for them. They are beautiful creatures. They have lived on the island for 150 years and we still have native birds and trees. The wallabies certainly should not be treated like rats. It is inhumane to poison theses amazing animals like you would a rat. Children love to go out with a torch at dusk and feed these beautiful creatures.

Janice Green, Snells Beach/Kawau Island

Rates scandal

In your story Appeal Court scuppers rate refund hopes (MM April 18) you gave a mostly accurate account of the outcome of a Court of Appeal decision in favour of Northland Regional Council (NRC). Some readers might be interested to know that we never sought to avoid NRC rates or get them refunded. We repeatedly offered to pay them. When we found the rates were all illegal (confirmed by the High Court and the Court of Appeal), we asked that the Council be forced to re-issue their rates demands with corrections. The High Court agreed with us. This would only have resulted in all their penalties falling away. It is also important to record that we never took the NRC to court. They went after us by standing like a gang alongside the Kaipara District Council, who were suing us (and over 100 others) to recover illegal rates that Parliament had fixed by backdated legislation. Readers of your excellent paper who think they are living in a democracy are very much misled. You are to be congratulated, almost uniquely, for exposing the lawlessness of this country.

Bruce Rogan, Chair Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association

Stop slinging mud

The recent Parliamentary spat between local Rodney MPs Mark Mitchell and Jenny Marcroft over their dialogue on the $4 million funding needed for the dredging of the Mahurangi River is symptomatic of what is all wrong with our political climate at the moment. Under our quirky MMP system, Rodney has the luxury of five local MPs: Mark Mitchell, National; Tracey Martin, NZ First; Jenny Marcroft, NZ First; Marja Lubeck, Labour; and Kelvin Davis, Labour MP for Te Tai Tokerau. Extracting $4 miilion from the Government should be a political doddle for this collective cross Party power house, especially with Greens support a given for this critical environmental project. Cleaning up our waterways is the political flavour of the month. A word in a few collective friendly ears in Wellington should fix the funding problem promptly. My grandfather was the Warkworth agent for the Northern Steam Ship Co a hundred years ago, when their small ships from Auckland used to come up the river. It would be wonderful to see them back again. Members of Parliament must never forget their primary role and responsibility is to represent and support their local people  party politics must never interfere with this. Time for a collaborative local MP get together to support the Mahurangi River Restoration Trust to get the river sorted. Dredging mud from the river is a lot more effective and useful than slinging it around in Parliament. The community expects no less.

Bill Rayner, Director Grey Power Auckland Region

Blackmail on speed

I objected to Bevan Woodwards comment that people who oppose a reduction in speed limits are being hypocritical (MM April18). Naturally we all want a reduction in road deaths, that is a given, but the emotional blackmail resorted to by Mr Woodward is less than helpful. As a traffic engineer, Mr Woodward would understand that while speed is one of the causes of road accidents it certainly isnt the only or main one, and reducing speed limits will do little if nothing to alleviate that situation without aggravating other causes of accidents. Roads are designed and built to a standard where the speed that is to be travelled is part of the design calculation (plus a significant factor of safety). The exception to this rule is the very few roads that have been converted from goat tracks, where a lower speed limit normally applies (or should do if the authorities are doing their job). People who speed excessively ignore the speed limit deliberately and reducing the speed limit will do nothing to persuade these people to change that behaviour. Speed is not the sole factor in these accidents. I would suggest that alcohol, drugs, inexperience and most critically impatience, combined with excessive speed play the major role. Reducing the speed limit will do nothing to improve the first three but will greatly exacerbate the last. If the abuse of double yellow lines is happening then the implementation of central barriers will not help because they will act like a Venturi with irresponsible impatient people speeding out of the restricted area thereby creating a hazard. Space doesnt permit me to list a number of suggestions to rectify the situation, but I do suggest greater and more effective policing of the current road regulations will help.

Imposing lower speed limits will only cause impatience which will exacerbate the situation and penalise the responsible driver while do nothing to prevent the irresponsible driver. Mr Woodward needs to go back to his drawing board and come up with better and more creative solutions rather than appear to be pushing a political chestnut here and trying to use emotional blackmail. It is not only insulting but downright rude and adds nothing to the debate!

Stephen Becket, Dome ValleyA government failure to commit to the proposed Warkworth to Wellsford Road of National Significance (RoNS) has left scores of property owners sitting on heavily devalued land that they can neither sell nor develop.

Initially, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) was engaged in purchasing programme to acquire properties along the indicative route of the RoNS.

But property owners who indicated they wished to sell early say negotiations with the NZTA have stalled since the Labour-led government indicated its priorities had shifted away from RoNS toward light rail, urban cycleways and safety improvements on existing roads.

Property owners say they face the worst of all possible worlds. Selling on the open market right now will realise only a fraction of the lands value, since any new owner will still face the uncertainty of whether the RoNS will ultimately be completed by this or a future government.

Dairy farmer Greg McCracken, whose Te Hana farm could be divided by the indicative route, says while selling is not an option, neither is investing further in affected properties.

Most business and farm owners are intent on investing in their business, either to sell at a good price or pass on to their children. But its pointless investing in my farm if I am going to end up losing it anyway to make way for a new road, he says.

Mr McCracken says the uncertainty could continue for decades.

The road might be built within the next 10 years or it might take 20 years. In the meantime we are stuck. Were sitting around wondering what should be doing. Its stressful.

Mr McCrackens sentiments are echoed by fellow dairy farmer Neil Jones who, at 64, says he does not have the time to wait for the next 15 to 20 years while the government makes up its mind.

Nor does he have the option of selling up right now and maybe losing a couple of million dollars because the government cannot tell him what compensation he might expect to receive for the 70 hectares of his land that could be required for the RoNS.

We have had a gutsful not knowing what is going on, he says.

Brothers Mark and Brett Illingworth, who bought 50 hectares in Phillips Road just months before the indicative route was announced, say they have been treading water for the past two years waiting for a definite decision.

It took us seven years to find the right piece of land for our dream of building an adventure tourism project, Mark says. Were prepared to take the compensation and go, but we dont want to sell if the motorway isnt going through. Some landholders have already moved on, and I can only guess at how they will feel if it turns out their move was unnecessary. NZTA should stop leading people on with letters that say nothing.

Our kids are sick of us talking about it. Its dominated our lives, we just feel we cant get any direction.

Yet another property owner, who asked not to be named in case it prejudiced future negotiations with NZTA, says he was among the first to offer to sell his modest lifestyle block to NZTA to make way for the RoNS.

Initially there was enthusiasm, but now every time he calls NZTA its just a dead end.

The owner, who is in his late sixties, says hes desperate to sell and join his children, who live outside the area, but it appears he can neither sell to the NZTA nor on the open market, unless he accepts a knock-down price.

The issue was especially galling as several nearby properties had already been sold to the NZTA for good prices.

In a letter to affected property owners last month, the NZTA explained a recently released draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport would strongly influence which parts of the NZTA work programme would be progressed and when. The letter went on to say that the NZTA could not comment on future plans for specific transport projects, including Warkworth to Wellsford, until there was greater certainty about the GPS, which is expected to be finalised at the end of next month.

We acknowledge the frustration that this may result in for communities and people affected by this project, the letter said.

NZTA spokesperson Darryl Walker says around 90 properties are affected by the indicative alignment of the Warkworth to Wellsford RoNS.

So far, the NZTA has purchased nine of these properties, representing 90ha, for about $9.4 million.

Mr Walker could not say whether the NZTA had suspended its property acquisition programme pending greater clarity on government policy, but did say the agency normally sought to acquire land no more than three years ahead of an expected construction start date.

North left out in cold by governments new direction

Northland Regional Councils transport committee chairman, John Bain, has vowed to carry on fighting for major improvements to SH1, despite the Government shelving Nationals plans for a four-lane motorway north to Whangarei and the uncertainty over the Warkworth to Wellsford section.

Northland has been left out in the cold, he said. We still believe that for economic, safety and resilience reasons, we need to have that four-lane highway and bypass the Brynderwyns and Dome Valley. He is now pinning his hopes on increased regional road funding to address safety issues through the Dome Valley and beyond, and says there is a solid case for Warkworth to Wellsford to still go ahead.

Its certainly doable and would be a boon to Northland people to make that road safer and more easily accessible, he said. Im hell-bent to make sure that road is fit for purpose at the very least.

Cr Bain said if the new motorway stopped at Warkworth, bypassing Hill Street would be a boon, but it would create a whole new set of problems. The fact is, youll come off the bypass and go straight into an 80km/h stretch of highway through the Dome Valley, he said.

National promises continued backing of RoNS

Rodney MP Mark Mitchell says if National is elected in two years time, the motorway project between Warkworth and Wellsford will go ahead. Mr Mitchell described the road as a critical piece of infrastructure. Any delay in constructing it will cause uncertainty for property owners and the loss of a world-class main state highway for the people of Northland, he says. This road would provide increased safety for users and economic opportunities for the region. Mr Mitchell says he has had a lot of feedback from people who will be directly affected by not having a new highway. There is a high level of disappointment and anger around that decision.

Motorway project timeline

The indicative route for the motorway linking Warkworth, Wellsford and Te Hana.

March 2009  National government Transport Minister Steven Joyce announces plans to construct seven roads of national significance (RoNS), including the Puhoi to Te Hana motorway.

March 10, 2010  NZTA awards a 15-month contract for investigation work to determine the alignment for the motorway. The Warkworth to Wellsford leg is expected to be mostly complete within the next 10 years.

August 20, 2017  National government Transport Minister Simon Bridges announces plans for $10.5 billion to be invested into 10 RoNS projects, including an addition to the Warkworth to Wellsford motorway from Te Hana and Whangarei.

October 19, 2017  A coalition government between Labour, New Zealand First and Green is officially announced. It ends a three-term spell in government for National.

December 11, 2017  Transport Minister Phil Twyford says in Parliament, The Puhoi to Wellsford project is underway and will bring significant benefits to Northland.

December 20, 2017  NZTA informs Mahurangi Matters that it is preparing to release the indicative alignment for the Warkworth to Wellsford project in the new year.

February 1, 2018  NZTA informs Mahurangi Matters that it is working with the government as it develops a new Government Policy Statement on land transport. The government has signaled this is likely to include new priorities for transport investment throughout New Zealand, and will influence the timing and funding required for existing work programmes to proceed.

March 14, 2018  Government Policy Statement on Land Transport released for submission.

April 2, 2018  Jacinda Ardern makes public statements in relation to the GPS. What you wont see under this government is investment in a small number of dual-carriage highways, while local roads and safety, and other transport options suffer. Transport Minister Phil Twyford announces that the 10 RoNS projects planned for by the National government will not go ahead. But will not confirm a definite position on the Warkworth to Wellsford leg.

May 2, 2018  GPS submissions closed, release of final GPS expected by June 30.Bunnarith Sao and Navy Keo, owners of Dairy Flat Bakery, plan to give their prize money ($1000 for a Gold award and $7500 for a Supreme Award) to Hibiscus Hospice, if they create a winning pie for this years NZ Bakels Supreme Pie Awards.

Last year the company won two gold awards and this time around they will compete for the Supreme award.

Bunnarith and Navy want to create a restaurant-flavour pie and theyre hoping a recipe they are using from a cookbook Bunnarith bought from a Hospice shop for 50 cents holds the key.



If it wins gold I will donate the prize money back to hospice as a thank you, he says.

Pies will be judged on July 26 and the winners announced on July 31.The introduction of 40 little spotted kiwi to Shakespear Open Sanctuary has not been an unqualified success, with five of the adult birds now dead, as well as one of the chicks that hatched over summer.

Of the adult birds, two have been found dead at the foot of cliffs  the first was last year (HM August 16, 2017). Another was picked up with avian malaria, one died of pancreatic cancer and there has been one death from unknown causes.

The chick was found drowned in a pool on February 24. It was less than a month old.

Open sanctuaries senior ranger Matt Maitland says the 12.5 percent mortality rate for the adult, introduced birds is on the high side, although it is some comfort to know that no deaths can be attributed to predation. He says avian malaria is relatively common and is carried by populations of smaller birds. Stress can make birds more vulnerable to the disease and there are no vaccinations available. He says pancreatic cancer is not common in kiwi.

Matt says that the death of the only confirmed chick to be found so far at the sanctuary is an example of how vulnerable young kiwi are. Kiwi are independent from their parents at a very young age and as such as susceptible to mishaps such as what happened here, he says.

Twenty birds from Kapiti and Tiritiri Matangi Islands were released into the sanctuary at the end of Whangaparaoa Peninsula in April last year and a further 20 from Kapiti Island were released last March.

Matt says that there are typically no deaths as a result of moving birds to a new location  this includes capture, holding, transport and release  and that holds true for the Shakespear kiwi.

Some of the birds have been on site for over a year and are considered established, he says. However it would be remiss to completely discount the stress of translocation as a factor in mortality. An example of this is our cliff fall birds as geographic and social upheaval presumably play a large part in disorientation leading to the fall in unfamiliar terrain. However, the same risks apply to dispersing juveniles or others displaced by territorial squabbles. I will be seeking veterinary pathologist support to review all necropsy information to inform an overview of all fatalities to date.

He says another factor is increased awareness  as all the kiwi released into the open sanctuary carry radio transmitters. Other translocations would typically radio track a proportion of translocated animals and extrapolate from there, he says.

Matt says despite the deaths, the population is on track to provide a self-sustaining presence of little spotted kiwi at Shakespear, though it may need some short-term top up of extra birds and genetic material to ensure long-term fitness.Ballymahon was buzzing recently as one of its own, Valerie Masters, realised a lifelong dream and staged her first play in the Bog Lane Theatre.

'Cardboard Coffin' is a deep, dark and thought-provoking play that tells the story of a sad and lonely man called Johnny, expertly portrayed by actor Jude McLynn.

He ends up alone on the streets, reflecting on a life of love and loss and bemoaning the outcome of his existence.

The play is extremely powerful and forces the audience to think about homelessness a little more deeply.

Homelessness is real. It's on our doorstep and there is no way to escape it, Valerie told the Longford Leader.

It scares me that one day you're part of society and the next it's like you've been picked up and placed on the sidewalk and told ok you can watch us continue our lives but you can't take part anymore because you have no money or address anymore.

Valerie is well-known in Ballymahon and beyond for her powerful poetry. Last year, she released her second book of poetry, 'Obsession'. But 'Cardboard Coffin' is something completely different.

There is no comparison, she said, when asked how writing a play compared to the poetry that seems to come so naturally to her.

Writing this play was the most difficult thing I ever did in my life. The emotions were overwhelming, the highs amazing and the lows were incredibly lonely.

But this was a lifelong dream for Valerie and, to see it come to life in the Bog Lane Theatre recently was everything to her.

Emotional doesn't cover it. To stand in a theatre you love, in front of people you know and who are there to support you and realise that they're about to watch your dream unfold... I was never far away from a tear or a panicked moment, she said of the opening night.

And there's a great story behind Valerie's dream to become a playwright - a story that goes back to when she was six years old and saw a very famous playwright on television.

I was allowed to stay up a little late on a Saturday night and one night I was desperately trying to tell my father something random and he kept telling me to whisht as he was trying to hear the man on the telly, Valerie recalled.

I listened for a minute and heard the man say he was a playwright. I was dead jealous because the teachers in school used to tell me why couldn't I learn to 'play right' so I told Mam and Dad I'd be a playwright when I grew up.

They laughed and sent me to bed and I was around 10 before I discovered what playwright actually meant and the man on the telly was John B Keane. By that time I was writing so it seems to have been fate.

And she didn't do too badly for a first play either. In fact, 'Cardboard Coffins' was completely sold out for all three nights in Ballymahon.

That is some feeling. I couldn't stop staring at the posters outside the theatre stamped with 'sold out'.

It was incredible and yet terrifying because nobody knew what the play was really about and yet supported us anyway, she said.

And it doesn't stop there. In fact, Valerie is getting ready to go to the Smock Alley Theatre in July, where Jude McLynn will again perform as Johnny.

Imagine having a play in Dublin city. 'Wow' comes to mind but, on reflection of the weekend in the Bog Lane Theatre, nothing will ever compare to standing three nights watching a full audience stand for Jude and then for me, said Valerie.

Nothing can ever compare to that and we go to Dublin with the people of Ballymahon in our pockets rooting for us.

Jude McLynn, who was excellent in his role of Johnny, was absolutely blown away by the response of the audience over the three nights.

I knew that the play would go down well from the minute I read it first, when Valerie sent it on to me, but it was still lovely to get such fantastic feedback, he told the Leader earlier this week.

The play touched everybody in attendance in some way and I could just feel the emotion in the theatre as the audience were literally on the edge of their seats, listening intently to every word.

I knew that this play was very special, both in terms of what it meant to Valerie and also in the quality of the writing in the script.

I was honored to be asked to be part of what is a phenomenal play and Im glad that I was able to do it justice. I look forward to touring this play to all corners of Ireland in the next 12 months.

While 'Cardboard Coffin' raised awareness of the issue of homelessness in Ireland, Valerie was thrilled to report that it also raised funds for a local homeless charity.

Raffles held at the interval raised a total of 750 for Midlands Simon Community, ensuring this play left an even bigger mark on society.

And, now that Valerie has realised her dream of becoming a playwright, there's no certainty that she'll continue to write for the stage.

I did say I'd never write another play but a certain guy sitting on cardboard, struggling to live, is constantly whispering 'never say never'.

Thank you Jude McLynn for being that guy, she said.A leading packaging material manufacturer is to create 100 new jobs over the next three years at the former Cameron site in Longford town.

Leetha Industries, manufacturers of packaging material for the medical, food service and disposable packaging sectors made the announcement at the Longford Arms Hotel this morning.

Leetha is partnering with Food Containers Manufacturing UK Ltd. to establish Red Seal Cups Ltd. which will produce Leethas patented range of heat resistant packaging solutions for the UK and European marketplace.



The company will recruit personnel for a range of roles from senior management to packers and warehouse staff.

Minister for Enterprise Heather Humphreys said the announcement represented a "great vote of confidence" in Ireland's steadily improving economy.



Longford/Westmeath TD Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, who spoke at this morning's function said the promise of 100 additional jobs to counties like Longford was testimony to the new found confidence that was now sweeping through the greater midlands region.

Winning investment for regional locations such as Longford is a key focus for the Government and I am very pleased to support this project which is a further example of the Governments commitment to the Regional Action Plan for Jobs.

"The jobs being created will be a great boost for the local economy and create new opportunities for the community here in Longford," he said.



The companys CEO Bob Mann was another to address those in attendance as he issued a personal thank you to those who had helped bring this morning's announcement to pass.

Red Seal wish to thank The IDA and in particular Joe Collum for all their initial guidance and support in helping us to make this major investment in the Midlands and we look forward to commencing recruitment at the earliest opportunity."



IDA Irelands CEO Martin Shanahan followed that up by expressing his delight at how the Leetha investment was the second large scale investment to come to the county in as many weeks.

In referencing last week's $10m injection by Avery Dennison at to generate 200 jobs at local medical devices firm Finesse Medical, Mr Shanahan said the project was in keeping with the IDA's aim to increase regional development by 30 to 40 per cent outside of Dublin.

ALSO READ: Two hundred new jobs are to be created in Longford town

This is a significant investment and a great win for Longford and the Midlands Region.

"The creation of 100 jobs will deliver substantial economic benefit to the region. Im delighted that the company has chosen to locate here and I wish Red Seal Cups great success for the future.

There were moments of lightheartedness too, not least from Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Martin Mulleady.

Like Mr Shanahan, he too harked back to the Avery investment 11 days earlier as he joked about how he was "getting used" to substantial job announcements coming Longford's way.

"This is another great news story for Longford," he remarked.

"We are on a high in Longford and the company (Leetha) that's coming into Longford has put us on that high."

For more on this story, see this week's Longford Leader.Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause

By Chris Boyle Published: May 14 2018

Organization hosting a Veterans Fundraiser and Appreciation event on May 29 to help fund vet-specific financial rehabilitation programs.

Long Island, NY - May 10, 2018 - Rhonda Klch is founder of the Rhonda Klch is founder of the Equity First Foundation , a non-profit organization based out of Mount Sinai that, for the past 20 years, has been working with consumers that are in financial distress, helping them to get back on their feet when things seem most dire.

We do budget planning, we help them reset expectations and walk them through hardships in these economically difficult times, she said. We offer services such as debt settlement, credit restoration, and budget planninga variety of things to help the clients get back on track when they're not able to do it on their own.

The month of May is known as Military Appreciation Month, and since the Equity First Foundation already does a great deal of work with local Long Island veterans in the community, Klch decided to host a Veterans Fundraiser and Appreciation event on May 29 for the men and women who put their lives on the line protecting the freedoms that we all hold so dearly.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of funds in some of the communities right now, our workshops so far have been done for free. We have a list of programs that we're getting ready to do for the next six months, but we don't have any funding in place to actually be able to do them, she said. So our intention with this event is to have our sponsors help support the programs that we are getting ready to do, but at the same time that we're bringing out our sponsors, we're also going to be inviting some military families.

Equity First has been promoting the event to military families, and have chosen a venue for their fundraiser in Patchogue called Indigo , a new restaurant that's only been in business for approximately four months. Klch and her husband had been dining there recently and, upon chatting with the owner, discovered him to be more than willing to assist with the Equity First Foundations upcoming veterans event.

The owner introduced himself to us and asked what I did for a living, and after I told him he said that if there was anything he could do to help, he would be willing to do that and more, she said. So we got together a couple of weeks ago and I approached him with the idea of doing an event at Indigo to support the military. Theres a tremendous military presence in the Patchogue community, and it's a great way to help a brand new business that's going to be helping us in turn.

At the Veterans Fundraiser and Appreciation event, Indigo will be putting out a delicious spread for attendees, and anyone showing a military ID will be able to enjoy free food and drinks at the event, making it a fun night out while also serving to support a very important cause as well.

The funds raised at the event, Klch noted, will go towards a variety of financial literacy workshops aimed at helping veterans in all walks of life get on their feet after the trials and tribulations that life has unexpectedly thrown at them.

As example of what we do, youll often see us at the Yaphank jail...we help a lot of incarcerated veterans. While they're incarcerated, the goal is to sit there with them and help them come up with a financial plan, she said. While they're incarcerated, we work on their credit, we work on a budget, we help them create a plan and deal with it now so they dont have to deal with when theyre leaving the facility. Do they have a pension or not? Where are they going? Do they have a family or are they on their own? We work with the veterans and develop plans of action for each one of them.

In addition, volunteers from Equity First also conduct workshops in group homes, colleges and universities, including a recent event at Suffolk County Community College where are they hosted a financial literacy program for student veterans.

We go to all of these lengths for veterans, but there's no funding to provide the programs, so we've been providing all the programs right now at our own expense, Klch said. But we want to be sure that we can continue to offer all of the programs and the one-on-one support, and in order to do that we obviously have to hold a fundraiser because grants are very hard to come by.

Klch noted that she was especially attracted to the plight of veterans in the community not because she personally knows an active service veteran, but simply because of the intense respect and appreciation she feels for all men and women in uniform.

As somebody who's very philanthropic and exceptionally patriotic, I'm so thankful and grateful for the opportunity I have as a business owner because of the work that the veterans have done for us, she said. Without people volunteering and putting their best foot forward and being selfless, we wouldn't be here. So I like to surround myself with as many good people as possible, and unfortunately I've seen a lot of good people have bad things happen to them. So if I can step in and help them out financially, help them figure out a pathway or even be a mentor, I always love to be able to assist in any way I can.

Aside from Military Appreciation Month, there are other times of the year that the Equity First Foundation gets involved with our vets; board member Robert Novotny is an 8-year Marine veteran, Klch noted, and as a result many of the military activities that they have been involved in have been guided by the fact that they have a veteran as one of their own as well.

We're actually working on several very large programs for our veterans at the moment, she said. And if those come through we're going to need to hold 10 fundraisers to be able to support them!

The Equity First Foundation s support of veterans doesn't end there, however- they're also running a campaign during which they are accepting nominations from the families of veterans to be considered for an exciting week-long retreat, Klch said.

There is a retreat house called The Haven, which is a house in Upstate New York, and they have donated a week for us to give to one of the military families, she said. So in addition to our fundraising event at the end of this month, we're also going to be honoring one particular family. We're still accepting nominations, and at the event itself we are expected to have some local politicians in attendance who are going to present proclamations and the actual gift of the retreat itself.Local News, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 14 2018

New York Becomes First State in the Nation to Assert Claims to Enforce the Fair Housing Rule.

Albany, NY - May 14, 2018 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced New York State is moving to join a lawsuit against the federal government for failing to enforce the Fair Housing Act. The lawsuit aims to force the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to enforce a rule requiring local and state governments to address segregated housing patterns as a condition of receiving federal housing funding. New York is the first state in the nation to move to join in the national lawsuit filed by a group of fair housing advocates which seeks to reverse HUD's suspension of the implementation of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule.

"As a former HUD Secretary, it is unconscionable to me that the agency entrusted to protect against housing discrimination is abdicating its responsibility, and New York will not stand by and allow the federal government to undo decades of progress in housing rights," Governor Cuomo said. "The right to rent or buy housing free from discrimination is fundamental under the law, and we must do everything in our power to protect those rights and fight segregation in our communities."

"Fifty years ago, the Fair Housing Act was signed into law, banning housing discrimination. Yet the Trump administration is now delaying a critical rule requiring state and local governments to address segregated housing as a condition of federal funding," said Acting Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood. "This is yet another effort by the Trump Administration to take our countryand our statebackwards, and we intend to join a lawsuit to block this unlawful action."

The obligation to "affirmatively further fair housing" has applied to all HUD funding since the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968. In July 2015, under the Obama administration, HUD adopted a set of federal regulationsknown as the AFFH Ruleto guide the compliance efforts of local and state recipients of HUD's block grant funds. The AFFH Rule strengthened HUD's civil rights oversight of grantees and encouraged grantees to fulfill their obligation to affirmatively further fair housing and achieve the goals of the Fair Housing Act.

In January, under the Trump administration, HUD postponed the implementation of a requirement that local governments conduct an in-depth analysis -- called an Assessment of Fair Housing. This assessment informs efforts to address housing discrimination, encourage residential integration, and remove barriers to opportunity. The rule also requires the results of that analysis to be submitted to HUD, with actions identified to remove barriers to fair housing, prior to receiving federal housing funds. By suspending the requirement, HUD effectively quit its obligation to provide civil rights oversight for as much as $5.5 billion per year in the funding that is distributed to over 40 jurisdictions in New York and almost 1,000 jurisdictions across the country.

The case, National Fair Housing Alliance et al v. Carson, is a legal challenge brought by civil rights groups to block HUD from unnecessarily delaying implementation of AFFH Rule's requirement for an Assessment of Fair Housing.

New York has concrete interests in this critical civil rights lawsuit that require the State to take action to uphold the tenets of fair housing. The State's motion to join the case will establish that the Fair Housing Act requires HUD to administer its programs in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing and, by suspending the AFFH Rule's requirements, that HUD has abdicated this statutory requirement for years to come. Specifically, the suspension of the AFFH Rule' is unlawful because HUD failed to follow federal law requiring notice and public comment and failed to provide sufficient justification for the suspension the AFFH Rule's requirements.

The state's motion to intervene will be supported by evidence demonstrating that HUD's failure to enforce adequately enforce the Fair Housing Act will harm residents and communities in New York State.

New York State has continued its commitment to the values underlying the Fair Housing Act by taking actions to reduce barriers to housing for its residents. Most recently, on April 26, 2018, Governor Cuomo introduced a bill to prohibit discrimination based on lawful source of income. The bill would increase access to homes and neighborhoods for thousands of New Yorkers. The State is also conducting fair housing testing and has filed lawsuits against landlords for documentation. The State's motion to intervene further demonstrates its commitment to combating housing discrimination and segregation statewide.

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said, "We thank New York for taking action to safeguard the core principles underlying the Fair Housing Act, one of our nation's most important civil rights laws. 50 years following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, we are still working to realize the goals of the Fair Housing Act which was passed just days after his assassination. We are pleased that Governor Cuomo and the State of New York recognize the importance of HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule and are willing to go to court to protect this rule. This rule helps our state, cities, and counties expand housing opportunities for our nation's most vulnerable residents. Once again, New York State continues to demonstrate leadership in fighting the federal government's rollback of our nation's critical civil rights laws."

Dennis Parker, Director, ACLU Racial Justice Program, said, "We are pleased that the State of New York recognizes the importance of HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule. New York State is standing up for its many cities, towns, and counties that would have gone through the local planning process required by the Rule. That process would help remove barriers to opportunity and fair housing for people around the state. It helps ensure that communities take deliberate action to move beyond the legacy of intentional racial segregation that continues to haunt us. Moreover, it requires communities take a hard look at fair housing barriers that get less attention, like those affecting people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence. These entirely reasonable conditions on the dissemination of billions of dollars in federal aid should be restored immediately."

National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said, "Residential segregation is at the root of nearly every disparity facing people of color in the United States. To abandon the Fair Housing Act requirement essentially is to abandon entire communities. Lack of access to employment, transportation, quality public education, adequate nutrition and health - all are driven and exacerbated by segregation. Fair housing has been a lynchpin of the National Urban League's movement for more than a century and we will resist any attempt by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to roll back the hard-fought gains we have achieved."

Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said, "Fifty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, New York neighborhoods remain starkly divided along racial lines. Deeply entrenched housing segregation not only affects the daily lives of New Yorkers, but persists across generations. It is unconscionable that the Trump administration is rolling back an effort to enforce one of the most critical protections of the civil rights era. To break the cycle of segregation and protect our most vulnerable New Yorkers, we must challenge the Trump administration's lack of commitment to fair and affordable housing."

New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, "Governor Cuomo continues to lead New York in its work to end housing discrimination and expand access to housing for New Yorkers by fighting HUD's unlawful suspension of the AFFH Rule. The Fair Housing Act was a culmination of the battle for freedom and equality in our neighborhoods and homes; today, Governor Cuomo has reaffirmed New York State's commitment to these values and goals."Local News, Business & Finance

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 14 2018

The Young Professionals Committee was created for Huntington Township Chamber members between the ages of 21 and 35 from business, not-for-profit and government industries.

Woodbury, NY - May 14, 2018 - Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci recognized 30 young professionals at the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerces 10th Annual Celebrate Long Islands Young Professionals event at Huntington Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci recognized 30 young professionals at the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerces 10th Annual Celebrate Long Islands Young Professionals event at Crest Hollow Country Club on May 2.

Supervisor Lupinacci honored 30 young professionals under the age of 30 for the impact they have in their communities and industries. He also honored Jennifer Cassidy for receiving the Scott Martella Alumni Award, recognition given to a past honoree for strengthening their bond with the local community.

I want to thank Jennifer Cassidy for her dedication to the Huntington community, said Supervisor Lupinacci, continuing: Through the various roles she has taken on with the Chamber, now serving on its Executive Board, as Treasurer and Co-Chair for both the Young Professionals committee and the Women in Business committee, as Co-Founder and Treasurer of the MaryJayne Casillo Foundation for Cancer Research and Awareness, her involvement with Leadership Huntington and the Huntington Library Foundation, she has had a tremendous impact on our local community, and in Suffolk County in her role as a member of the County Legislatures Next Generation Advisory Council.

Supervisor Lupinacci also acknowledged Scott Martellas family who were in attendance that evening.Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 14 2018

The Advisory Board provides a forum for Asian-American communities to raise issues facing their communities.

Mineola, NY - May 14, 2018 - Nassau County Executive Laura Curran today announced the formation of a new Asian-American Advisory Board in Nassau County. The Advisory Board provides a forum for Asian-American communities to raise issues facing their communities. Curran introduced the board at an event marking Asian Heritage month.

Im honored to host the 2018 Asian-American Heritage Month celebration and announce an Asian-American Advisory Board to serve as a bridge between the county government and these ethnic communities.

Founding board members will include the following prominent members of the Countys Asian American communities:

Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, Hillside Mosque

Dr. Isma Chaudhry, Chair, Islamic Center of Long Island

Christine Leu, Chinese Center of Hempstead

James Mun, President, Korean-American Association of Long Island

Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, Past President, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin

Ammad Sheikh, South Asian Sports Network

Satnum Parhar, Past President, India Association of Long Island

Farrah Mozawalla has been appointed to the newly created position as Director for the Asian-American Advisory Board. Ms. Mozawalla, who has served as the Acting Executive Director of Minority Affairs (OMA), will work closely with colleagues at OMA, CASA, the Human Rights Commission and other County agencies to coordinate programs.

The boards purpose will be to bring to the attention of the County Executive those issues that impact upon the Asian-American communities throughout the County of Nassau; seek community input on relevant issues that impact their communities; improve communications and cultural understanding between the Asian-American communities, government, and its residents; and address pertinent education, health, small business, and legislative issues.

According to U.S. Census data the Asian American community is among the fastest growing segments of the population in Nassau County. Today Nassaus Asian American community stands at 9.7% of the overall population; up from 4.75% in 2000.Acutus Medical of Carlsbad, California, having won FDA clearance for its AcQMap last fall, has announced that the system has been used for the first time in the United States. The systems novel catheter uses ultrasound and electrical tissue conduction mapping to provide a novel electrophysiologic live view inside the heart. Both the mechanics of the organ and its electrical activity can be seen simultaneously, which provides a combined, in-context look at the hearts functionality.

The company has also begun a clinical study in Canada and Europe to assess the AcQMap during atrial fibrillation retreatment procedures.

Enabling physicians to see complex, irregular arrhythmias in real-time should provide important new insights and enable truly personalized and individualized ablation therapy planning. We hope that this unique capability, combined with the ability to quickly re-map after each ablation, will lead the way to further improvements in clinical outcomes for patients suffering from complex arrhythmias, in a statement said Vince Burgess, Chairman, President and CEO, at Acutus Medical. Together with institutions across the country, we hope to transform the lives of people suffering from complex arrhythmias through our innovative technology and are pleased that U.S. patients now have access to AcQMap.

Heres a video from Acutus Medical explaining the AcQMap:

Flashback: AcQMap, Now FDA Cleared, Images Heart from Inside Using Ultrasound, Electrical Dipole Density Mapping

Link: Acutus Platform info page

Via: Acutus MedicalMigraines are throbbing headaches often associated with light or sound sensitivity and nausea. They can be a severely debilitating, with an estimated 13% of US adults experiencing them and 2-3 million of whom are classified as chronic sufferers.

Although the causes of migraines are not completely understood, many sufferers report increased incidence correlating with weather changes. With relief strategies ranging from rest in the dark, to massage techniques, and to drugs with variable efficacies, sufferers might be interested to learn of an interesting preventative method that reports decreases in weather-related migraines.

We recently had a chance to chat with Grant OConnell, Director of Marketing and Communications at Cirrus Healthcare, a Cold Spring Harbor, New York company, about their MigraineX earplug, how it helps mitigate migraine symptoms, and the companys other earplug products.

Mohammad Saleh, Medgadget: Tell us about Cirrus Healthcares mission and how you came to be a part of it.

Grant OConnell, Cirrus Healthcare: Cirrus Healthcare Products is a worldwide leader in earplug manufacturing from Earplanes, our flagship product, which was invented over 20 years ago by my father, to today with MigraineX, a slight modification on that pressure regulating filter. As I said my father invented Earplanes 20 plus years ago, so it is a family business. There are a few of us that I see and talk to on a day-to-day basis. Were an earplugs company thats family owned, and Ive been with the company around five years, now.

Medgadget: What are the MigraineX earplugs and how do they work? Whats the science behind them?

OConnell: MigraineX is a pressure-regulating earplug specifically designed to gradualize the pressure as it enters the middle ear. Its a slight adaptation from our Earplanes product, which I previously mentioned, and its better calibrated for pressure changes at a ground level, so those that affect weather-related migraines. Its a preventative, proactive, all-natural solution thats available OTC for $12 MSRP. Its a reusable earplug, and we have a free app that accompanies it that lets you know the forecast seven days ahead of potentially migraine-triggering weather systems that are coming.

Medgadget: How does the weather affect migraine incidence?

OConnell: Well, incoming pressure systems are known to be triggers. WebMD states that 73% of migraines are attributed to weather changes or pressure changes.

Medgadget: Is the typical trigger of the migraine the change in pressure or a particularly high/low pressure?

OConnell: Thats the tricky thing with migraines, because theres so many different triggers and everybody is different. I cant answer that question one way or the other but our app is designed to calculate change in pressure. Were sitting here in 30.0 inches mercury pressure. If that pressure goes up to 32 or even 30.7 tomorrow that could be potentially triggering, depending on the person. Thats why we have a threshold feature for our app users.

Medgadget: How does the new MigraineX app help mitigate that?

OConnell: Once youve downloaded our free app, you can set your pressure threshold, the threshold at which you usually are triggered into a migraine attack. Thats anywhere from a very negligible amount to a large amount if youre more prone to bigger shifts. Based on this threshold, you get a push notification on your phone, up to seven days in advance, notifying you of this incoming weather system so that you know ahead of time that a migraine attack might be coming up.

The push notification system is something that really separates us because there are tens of hundreds of weather apps. But the push notifications allow the users to not have to open the app constantly, so they dont have to interrupt their daily lives.

Medgadget: Are there any exciting upcoming projects/products that Cirrus is currently working on?

OConnell: Well the most exciting venture that we just endeavored on is version 2 of the app. We tried to increase reliability. We really simplified the presentation and usability and we made a more accurate forecasting system. Now its not just day-by-day change like the first version, but the cumulative hourly change. So if theres a shift of 0.2 inches mercury within the day and it settles down back within that same day, say over a six-hour period, that wouldnt show up in the day-to-day forecast, but it would show up on our app. So essentially, we created a new system of reporting around these barometric shifts. There arent necessarily any direct competitor apps doing this. There are apps with a similar feature built-in, while our app at this point is a one-trick pony. The push notification is the differentiator for our app, because we want potential sufferers to know about conditions ahead of time. Lets say youre traveling to Cleveland next week. Within the app, a new feature in version 2, is a customizable location so you could check the upcoming weather in Cleveland and see that theres a lot of pressure shifts so youll know to pack your MigraineX.

Medgadget: Does Cirrus Healthcare plan to integrate any tech or circuitry into any of your upcoming earplug products?

OConnell: Within the earplugs, not right now. Were just focused on the free app on Android and Apple  really getting that system down since thats a new endeavor for us. But, we are potentially working towards really calibrating the app to work on an Android or Apple watch.

Medgadget: How can migraine sufferers learn more about your products?

OConnell: Our website is MigraineX.net and we are available on Amazon. Our products are also available on the sites of Target and Walmart, and we are also in talks to be in CVS in the ear-care aisle very soon.

Medgadget: I recall reading that your product is customer tested. Could you expand on that?

OConnell: Over the course of the products lifetime, weve gotten testimonials from people calling us or emailing us directly, or even posting online reviews, of this product working and changing their day-to-day lives. Its really humbling to receive the feedback and know that this $12 earplug and free app made this big of a change in allowing these migraine sufferers pursue their hobbies and their daily activities uninterrupted by the migraines that previously debilitated them. Thats where the consumer-tested slogan comes from, and if the earplugs dont work, we offer a money-back guarantee, no questions. We believe in our products and our satisfaction guarantee applies to the whole range of them, not just for the MigraineX.

Medgadget: Are these earplugs washable? Whats their lifetime?

OConnell: Its not necessarily washable. We recommend that you use the earplugs until theyre hygienic unfit. That usually amounts to a handful of times.

Medgadget: Tell us about Cirrus Healthcares other products and how their designs differ from MigraineX.

OConnell: MigraineX and Earplanes are the most closely-related because the difference is the filter, which is more sensitive in the MigraineX, whereas the Earplanes plug has a filter better calibrated for 30,000 foot changes in altitude as youre ascending and descending in an airplane.

Other products we create are our Bio-ears, which is a silicone earplug thats antimicrobial. We also have more run-of-the-mill foam earplugs, like Extreme Ears, and Clear Ears, which is an alcohol-free earplug that absorbs the water within someones ear after swimming, which causes most of problems with people with swimmers ear. We really try to focus on natural solutions and ones that are very cost effective.

Medgadget: Is the Earplanes product for everyone or is it specifically for people who suffer from migraines?

OConnell: Its for everyone. The idea behind that is for people who experience ear or head pain as they take off or descend during travel on an airplane. It slows that shift in pressure that affects your head. We make it, as we do for MigraineX, in children and adult sizes.

Medgadget: Where do you see the healthcare market heading over the next 10 years?

OConnell: Well were excited about is furthering the integration of technology into the healthcare world. Ive seen a few apps pop up about preventative measures and a greater awareness of natural solutions as well. So, its not just technology, and its not just more awareness of what were putting into our body, but the partnership of both is really exciting. Consumers are becoming more educated about everything, so it puts the onus on us and healthcare professionals to do better.

For more information, visit MigraineX and Cirrus HealthcareThe measurement of cardiac functions and blood circulation is called as Hemodynamic monitoring. This monitoring allows the physicians to estimate the amount of oxygen that is being distributed among the tissues and organs of the human body. Hemodynamic Monitoring Systems are used for measuring blood pressure from inside the veins, arteries, and heart. The hemodynamic monitoring systems are also used to measure blood flow and level of oxygen in the blood.

The market for hemodynamic monitoring systems is expected to grow due to the increasing number of cardiovascular diseases. Also, rise in geriatric population and diabetess cases leads to market growth. Addition to this the electronic medical records are used for the reimbursement after the completion of treatment. Owing to these factor the market for hemodynamic monitoring system is likely to propel the market in future.

Get FREE Sample Copy of this Report at http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPHE100000982

The Global Hemodynamic Monitoring Systems Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the medical device industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global hemodynamic monitoring systems market with detailed market segmentation by type, product, end user, and geography. The global hemodynamic monitoring systems market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.

The segmentation of the market is done on the basis of the type, product and end user. The type segment is classified as noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring systems, minimally invasive hemodynamic monitoring systems, and invasive hemodynamic monitoring systems. The product segment for the hemodynamic monitoring systems is segmented as monitors, and disposables. The end user segment is classified as hospitals, cath labs, and home & ambulatory care center. The technological advancements in hemodynamic monitoring systems is rising as well as the rising number of cardiac patients are leading to the growth of the hemodynamic monitoring systems market.

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The report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global hemodynamic monitoring systems market based on type, application and end user. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall hemodynamic monitoring systems market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South & Central America. The market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers analysis and forecast of 13 counties globally along with current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.

The report analyzes factors affecting market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South & Central America.

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North America is the largest market followed by Europe for the hemodynamic monitoring systems as the regions has increasing number of patients are suffering from the diabetes, hypertension and cardiac diseases. The Asia Pacific region is the fastest growing region for the Hemodynamic Monitoring Systems as, the countries like India and China have high population. Therefore, the rise in the number of the diabetes and cardiac diseases are rising due to the changing lifestyle. This factors are likely to propel the market growth for hemodynamic monitoring systems in this regions.

The report also includes the profiles of key hemodynamic monitoring systems manufacturing companies along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. In addition, the report focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years. Some of the key players influencing the market are General Electric Company, LiDCO, PULSION MEDICAL SYSTEMS SE, Tensys Medical Inc., ICU Medical, Inc., Cheetah Medical, Deltex Medical, Schwarzer Cardiotek, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation and Osypka Medical GmbH.

About Us:

The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Automotive and Defense.

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Call: +1-646-491-9876

Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comby Tanya Gazdik , May 14, 2018

Southwest Airlines maintained its leadership position and saw a sizable increase in its online and offline influence score, according to a report.

To help airline marketers better understand which brands consumers are talking about with family, friends and peers, both offline and online, Engagement Labs released its latest TotalSocial rankings on the top-performing airlines in the U.S.

The report looks at how each airline performed in social conversations over the past six months, compared to a previous ranking of the top airlines in September 2017. The analysis, which is unique in that it combines offline and online consumer conversations, is based on Engagement Labs proprietary TotalSocial data and analytics continuously measures the most important drivers of brand performance in both face-to-face and social media conversations.

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Engagement Labs defines influence as how well the brand connects with the everyday influencers who have the largest social networks in both the offline and online worlds.

According to an in-depth social analysis of consumer conversations that take place offline (face-to-face), as well as online (via social media), the best keep getting better while those at the bottom have shown little improvement over the last six months.

While our analysis timeframe did not include the recent Southwest tragedy that took place on April 17 killing one passenger, our initial data shows that offline and online sentiment for the brand fell sharply during the week of the incident, said Ed Keller, chief executive officer of Engagement Labs. However, since our analysis only takes into context six months prior to March, we dont yet know the long-term impact this may have on the brands position as the number one airline.

Southwest has clearly built a brand that consumers enjoy interacting with and sharing positive experiences about, he says.

While we do expect to see negative conversations take place around a tragedy like the one that just passed, this doesnt mean that Southwest will suffer long-term reputational damage if it continues to deliver an authentic experience, create a strong work environment and execute strong marketing campaigns, Keller says.

JetBlue moved up two spots to number two as a result of the airlines increase in its offline sentiment  indicating that conversations about the airline were positive  and online influence score, which measures the amount of influencers talking about the brand.

Its increase was a result from the airline being named the Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation at the end of 2017, a title it has earned for the sixth year in a row. In addition, JetBlue was very active in supporting recovery efforts in Puerto Rico launching a public service campaign, 100x35JetBlue.

While the position of United Airlines in the ranking does not change, its sentiment score is lower than that of Spirit Airlines in last place, indicating that while many consumers may be talking about the brand, they are having negative conversations.

Alaska Airlines fell to fifth place, previously ranked second, as a result of its decline in offline sentiment. The airlines decline may have been attributed to an incident in which the flight attendants failed to address a passengers lewd and uncomfortable remarks which resulted in negative conversations among the public.by Melynda Fuller , May 14, 2018

Trusted Media Brands, home to Taste of Home, Reader's Digest, and The Family Handyman, among other brands, has regularly seen its digital numbers on the rise. A March report shows record performance for RD.com, and the Familyhandyman.com.

Additionally, the March numbers place Trusted Media Brands among the top 30 out of 1,800 digital lifestyle networks, with 56.4 million unique viewers in that month. This signals an increase of 18.7% from the same period last year.

The report also shows that four out five consumers are using their mobile devices to reach the Trusted Media Brands Digital network.

Several of Trusted Media Brands digital and print properties showed particularly meaningful growth.

According to the comScore report, RD.coms UVs increased by 58.2% in March 2018 from the same period in 2017, reaching 6.7 million. This increase marked the highest among other competitive brands in the home and lifestyle category.

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The latest Magazine Media 360 report notes Readers Digest is among the top 10 magazine brands and is also in the top 10 for mobile growth, which was up +100% in March.

FamilyHandyman.com saw an increase of 10.5% from last year with 4.9 million UVs in March, while TasteofHome.com showed a 28.9% increase from last year, reaching 14.5 million UVs, per comScore.

TasteofHome.coms increase is among the highest in relation to other competitive brands. The Taste of Home Group reached over 46 million UVs, becoming one of the top five brands in comScores food category, seeing an increase of 26.1%.

Trusted Media Brandss Haven Home Media group became No. 1 in comScores home category as it reached 30.1 million UVs, which indicated an 11.9% increase from last year.

Vince Errico, Chief Digital Officer, stated the company would continue to "invest in the high-quality, trusted content ... that excite, inspire and inform our rapidly growing digital audiences."Advertisement

"I'm in contact in the Minister of health and have assured him that we're ready to do all that's needed to stop the spread of Ebola quickly. We are working with our partners to send more staff, equipment and supplies to the area."An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Bikoro health zone, Equateur Province, was declared four days ago.The location is 250 km from Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province in an area of the country that is that is very hard to reach.As of Friday, 34 Ebola cases have been reported in the area in the past five weeks, including two confirmed, 18 probable (deceased) and 14 suspected cases. Five samples were collected from five patients and two have been confirmed by the laboratory."This is the country's ninth Ebola outbreak and there is considerable expertise in-country," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, was quoted as saying."However, any country facing such a threat may require international assistance."The current response plan to the outbreak includes surveillance, case investigation, and contact tracing; community engagement and social mobilisation; case management and infection prevention and control; safe and dignified burials; research response including the use of ring vaccination and antivirals; and coordination and operations support."It is too early to judge the extent of this outbreak," said Dr Peter Salama, WHO deputy director-general for Emergency Preparedness and Response."However, early signs including the infection of three health workers, the geographical extent of the outbreak, the proximity to transport routes and population centres, and the number of suspected cases indicate that stopping this outbreak will be a serious challenge. This will be tough and it will be costly. We need to be prepared for all scenarios," he added.For now the WHO has listed the risks to surrounding countries as moderate, and has already alerted those countries and is working with them on border surveillance and preparedness for potential outbreaks.Source: IANSRacial or ethnic discrimination experienced by young Latina women leaves them are less satisfied with overall contraceptive care, finds a new study from Oregon State University.

The study was published recently in the journal Women's Health Issues. Co-authors are S. Marie Harvey, associate dean and distinguished professor OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences and Daniel Lopez-Cevallos, assistant professor of ethnic studies in OSU's College of Liberal Arts.



Harvey received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the research, which was part of a larger Latino Health project focused on the social and cultural factors related to contraceptive use, risky sexual behavior and HIV prevention among young adult Latinos living in rural Oregon.



The researchers' goal in the latest research was to better understand the factors that may affect Latinas' satisfaction with contraceptive services. In all 211 women, ages 18-25, participated in the study, which included surveys and interviews. About 40 percent were born in the U.S. and about 60 percent were born outside the U.S. Among the foreign-born, the average length of U.S. residency was 8.4 years, with a range of less than six months to 24 years.



Initially, the researchers found experiences of discrimination, medical mistrust and structural barriers to care, such as trouble with childcare or getting time off work to see a doctor, were associated with low satisfaction. But when considering all of these influences together, they found that everyday instances of discrimination were the largest influence on women's satisfaction.



It's particularly critical for young women of reproductive age to have access to effective contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies, Harvey said. The most effective methods of birth control, including hormonal pills or implantable devices, can only be obtained through a medical provider.



"The causes of unintended pregnancy are broad, but one reason is a lack of access to birth control," she said. "Those who lack access are at higher risk of becoming pregnant, regardless of the individual's behavior. It's a systemic issue."



The researchers found that most of the women in the study, about 83 percent, had seen a health care provider for birth control services in the past, and of those, nearly 90 percent reported receiving birth control services in the past year.



About 75 percent of the women reported being very or extremely satisfied with their birth control services. Among the remaining women, the most significant reason for dissatisfaction was perceived racial or ethnic discrimination.



The perceived discrimination cited by women in the study represents discrimination occurring in everyday experiences such as going to the bank, buying groceries or finding a place to live, Oakley said. It is rooted in the larger environment and culture of a community, but impacts individuals' satisfaction with health care.



"Ensuring health care providers have culturally-responsive staff and reducing other barriers to access, such as child care, transportation and unemployment, can help women feel more satisfied with their overall care," she said. "And satisfaction with care helps to ensure that women will continue to seek medical care, including contraceptives."



"However, because everyday discrimination was the key driver of women's dissatisfaction in this study, it is important to look outside the health care system and into the larger community to identify spaces where discrimination and cultural competence can be addressed," Oakley added.



The study helps researchers understand Latinos' health care experiences in non-traditional but fast-growing settlement areas such as rural Oregon, where Latino populations have grown significantly but the systems to support them have not kept pace, said Lopez-Cevallos.



"Latinos in these areas may not have access to societal supports and resources such as health care that are found in more traditional settlement areas," he said. "They also may be exposed to more discrimination than in areas that do not have a history of Latino settlement. Those early, negative experiences can have a long-term impact on their lives and their decisions about health care."







Source: Eurekalert

"It is a positive finding that three-quarters of the women in our study reported being satisfied with their contraceptive care, but among the quarter that reported being unsatisfied, their experience with discrimination and its negative effects on satisfaction could severely affect their contraceptive use experience," Oakley said. "That's really important because a lack of access to effective birth control contributes to increased rates of unintended pregnancy."A new Canadian guideline for impaired vision in older adults published in English and French in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) recommends against primary care screening of older adults not reporting concerns about their vision. Visual impairment describes less than 20/40 vision, which usually cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or vision-related procedures. This level of difficulty with vision can affect quality of life, as well as participation in work, social and leisure activities, and increases the likelihood of injuries from falls and other accidents. The task force considered the benefits of screening for visual impairment in primary health care and referring patients to optometrists for formal vision testing.

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) recommends against screening for impaired vision in primary care settings for people living independently in the community.

Source: Eurekalert

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"We found no evidence of benefit to patients aged 65 years or older from being screened for impaired vision as a way to prevent limitations on daily living or other consequences," said Dr. Brenda Wilson, Task Force Impaired Vision Working Group Chair. Currently, people must make their own appointments for regular vision screening or if they suspect visual problems. Most provinces in Canada cover comprehensive eye examinations for adults aged 65 years and older by eye care professionals. The new guideline updates a previous guideline from 1995, which recommended screening for visual impairment in elderly patients with diabetes of at least 5 years' duration. The 2018 guideline is based on the latest and highest-quality evidence on screening, which includes 15 randomized controlled trials involving participants aged 65 years or older. It is consistent with the recommendation on vision screening for older adults from the United States Preventive Services Task Force. "Although screening does not appear to be effective, we need to look for ways to effectively support older Canadians who do experience visual impairment so that they get the services they need from optometrists or other eye care professionals" said Dr. Brett Thombs, chair of the CTFPHC .Be it going crazy at cousin Sonam Kapoor's wedding, giving us major travel goals with his Switzerland pictures or getting Ryan Reynolds to reply to his whacky tweet, Ranveer Singh is the undoubted livewire of Bollywood, who probably carries an invisible power bank with him every effing time.

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Talking about energy, we all know that Ranveer is a fitness freak whose transformation pictures and gym videos are always a source of inspiration and sheer treat for everyone. In fact, Ranveer loves fitness so much that he started working out at an age when most of us were probably either struggling to find better outdoor games or simply playing with mud.

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Taking the legacy of throwback culture forward, Ranveer just shared this picture of him on a stationary cardio cycle. He captioned the photo, Getting my cardio done like#throwback#mondaymotivation.

While, we are loving this picture, our inner Sherlock can't help but think that maybe he knew that in future he will meet Deepika and the two will start dating, so he started preparing for it early. And it took me just 5 minutes to come up with this lame logic, but who said imagination can't be wild?

via GIPHY

Anyway, let's just take a look at his throwback picture and take some inspiration to at least inch closer to the doors of that nearby gym and come back, since we all know that at least this year we won't be hitting the gym. Or maybe some would!

We wonder what Deepika Padukone, who recently floored everyone with her Cannes 2018 look, has to say about this picture! On the work front, Ranveer just finished shooting for Zoya Akhtar's 'Gully Boy' opposite Alia Bhatt and will start shooting for 'Simmbaa'.We can't help but feel a little concerned for Anand Ahuja, for the sheer pressure he must be under. One, all eyes are always on him because of who he got married to, and on top, his father-in-law is always giving him competition when it comes to fashion - and mind it, the man owns a fashion label. So not adding on to the number of eyeballs already on him, we are focusing on his father in law instead. What is this sorcery, Mr Kapoor? Not only is he looking younger by the day, his style game is also getting fiercer. He, in fact, is giving all the 25-year-olds a run for their money. Here are 13 pictures that prove it.

1. A currency note bow-tie, glitter cuffs, and those dope sunnies - savage.

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2. That super sleek fade with that super sharp suit - is the casting for James Bond still on?

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3. Blue co-ords plus white sneakers. Add to that the patterned socks and the statement glasses and that's streetstyle at its best!

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4. Who knew a suit can be used so effortlessly as a part of a casual outfit? The striped full-sleeve t-shirt and those shaded brown shoes do the trick perfectly.

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5. Bringing in all the royal realness with a basic-ass suit. Only a true fashionista can achieve that.

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6. Layering at its best. Plus his choice of footwear is proof that he understands the art well.

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7. The outfit is casual, but he looks fancy. How does one do it with something as basic as a hoodie?

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8. Is his exhilaration a result of that plaid awesomeness?

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9. He looks all ready for a dinner with the Queen. How sleek is that suit?

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10. Just look at the pieces he has paired together here: A hoodie, a cardigan, and a pair of relaxed checked pants. Who'd have thought of it?

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11. A bomber should be a must when it comes to making trips in the mountains, and he knows it.

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12. Is that a father-daughter duo or are they siblings? Blue achkan + floral brooch = Whoa!

 Viral Bhayani

13. It can't just be our hearts going 'dhak-dhak' over this picture. Both of them have some anti-ageing secret, we're positive. Look at Mr Kapoor looking baller AF in that bottle green suit!

 InstagramFormer prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has opened fire at current PM Narendra Modi by writing a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind condemning Modi's use of 'threatening' language in his political speeches in Karnataka, where he is currently campaigning ahead of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections.

The letter specifically mentions the incident in Hubli on May 6th when the Prime Minister intimidated the opposition leaders by using 'threatening language'.

 Twitter

"The words used are menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of the peace, Manmohan wrote in the letter.

The letter also requested the President to caution the Prime Minister from "using such unwarranted, threatening and intimidating language against leaders of the Congress Party or any other party".

Here is the letter that is signed by many Rajya Sabha members along with Manmohan Singh.

 Twitter

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Manmohan Singh has recently upped the ante against PM Modi for not behaving 'PM-like'. Earlier, in a press conference, the former PM had accused the current PM of acting out in a way that does not behoove the post of the Prime Minister. In this incident too, Manmohan Singh's sharp language is being deciphered as a concerted strategy by the Congress party to pressurise PM Modi ahead of the big general elections in 2019.

Whatever be the case, these pointed attacks on PM Modi are sure to spice up the upcoming general elections which will see Modi defending his five years of governance.Former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's stunning admission on the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks has put a lot of pressure on the Pakistani establishment to come clean on the issue. Sharif's statement caught the administration off-guard as well as received a lot of criticism in Pakistan.

 Twitter

This is what the former Pakistan PM had said:

We have isolated ourselves. Despite making sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it. Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors  should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial? Sharif had said on Friday.

His party, however, claimed that his comments were misinterpreted and that the media had lent credence to the already well-known fact about the Mumbai attacks.

 Twitter

Responding to the critics, PML-N spokesperson said that Sharif, its supreme leader, and the party, "need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistan's national security".

"After all, it was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who, resisting all pressures, took the most important and most difficult decision on national security in Pakistan's history by making the country a nuclear power in May 1998," it said.

His comments, however, might incur the wrath of the military as the National Security Committee is set to meet this week to discuss the statements made by Sharif.

The National Security Committee will look into the statements which came surprisingly after reports showed that the Pakistan PM may have diverted funds to India after the courts went after his family's assets. With these damning statements, which go against the Pakistan narrative, the political future of Nawaz Sharif looks incredibly bleak.Algeria is the end of a good movie  and hardly any other export market could substitute for it in such volumes, Floreani said late last month.Algerias rebar market has been changing over the past few years, with growing domestic production gradually replacing imported rebar volumes Algeria was once importing around 2.60 million tonnes [per year], and Italian and Spanish mills together supplied around 2.20 million tpy of this. In good times, such as 2015, Italy exported 1.20 million tonnes of rebar to Algeria when the internal consumption of Italy was 1.50 million tonnes, Floreani said.Its a very complex situation. Algerian demand has helped Italian and Spanish companies to keep on rolling at good production levels during the past eight years, despite the huge loss of internal market demand, he added.

Metal Bulletins weekly domestic price assessment for Southern European rebar on Wednesday...An incident involving a woman attempting to fly from Atlanta to Las Vegas caused an entire flight to deplane after she refused official requests leave the plane after causing a disturbance.

In a now-viral Facebook Live video posted last week, Safira Allen claims she showed up to her flight's gate after the boarding time and the airline required her to pay a fee to board the plane late. Allen also claims the gate closed 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.

"How you gonna close your airline early, make me miss my flight and tell me I gotta pay again?" Allen says in the video. "Once I pay, I get on the flight and they say, 'You caused a disturbance.'"

The woman stated that she was asked to leave the plane after "cussing," to which she states, "I don't even cuss. I'm orthodox. So what are you saying?"

RELATED: Passenger rejected for 'pungent' odor

In the Facebook video, Allen can be heard dropping multiple expletives seconds before professing that she doesn't cuss. (WARNING: Graphic language)

The May 1 video has amassed over 3.7 million views on Facebook, and Spirit Airlines has not commented publicly on the incident.

RELATED: Plane passenger allegedly strangled people, called baby a 'slut' in mid-flight rampage

During the video, Allen goes on a tirade against the airline, stating, "Y'all going to use Jesus' name, the Holy Spirit? That's got to change, y'all need to be called something else. Y'all need to change y'all name because nothing Holy Spirit about this airline."

Later in the video, a uniformed officer confronts Allen, and Allen calls him a "terrorist."

"I'm not getting off this plane to negotiate with no terrorists," Allen says. "Cause clearly, they're the terrorists. They're terrorizing me in my own country."

After a while, a crew member can be heard telling the other passengers over the loudspeakers that all of them will have to deplane, because they need to "start the boarding process again." A few passengers can be heard yelling in protest after the announcement.

As passengers exit, Allen continued to record and shouts "If I can't go to Las Vegas, Nevada, neither can y'all!"

MORE: United pays passenger $10,000 to get off plane

In the video, Allen yelled racial profanities at some of the passengers as they passed her.

A passenger wearing an Oakland Raiders hat walked by, to whom Allen says "F- the Raiders, they ain't s-."

ALSO: Plane passenger allegedly threw coffee at people, 'jumped on' air marshal's back

The video ends with multiple security and police officers escorting Allen out of the plane.

Allen later wrote a Facebook post apologizing to the other passengers, and stated that the Atlanta Police Department arrested her for trespassing.

SFGATE has reached out to Allen for comment. This article will be updated when she replies.The need for nurses is clear. There are plenty of people interested in filling the positions. But connecting the two has not been easy.

Health care continues to be the states fastest-growing job market. Connecticuts health care and social assistance market saw an increase of 4,300 jobs last year, second only to manufacturing, and health care has been at or near the top for years. But local nursing programs have found themselves part of a national trend that sees applicant pools for college programs far outnumbering openings, even as the need for graduates continues to grow.

There are a lot of applicants going to schools of nursing and only so many spots they can take, and that decreases and limits the number of nurses coming out of the schools in order for us to back fill the (retiring) baby boomers, said MaryEllen Kosturko, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Bridgeport Hospital.

Many of the needs are in specialty areas like the operating room or intensive care unit, said Kosturko, who is also chair of the Committee for Nurse Executives at the Connecticut Hospital Association.

While many hospitals have worked to improve development programs, recruitment from four-year nursing programs remains a priority as well as a challenge.

Maxed-out programs

Colleges and universities throughout Connecticut are seeing thousands of applicants vying for a limited number of spots in their nursing programs, most of which have between 80 and 120 available spots.

Almost 8,000 candidates applied for a total of 2,220 program openings statewide in 2016, according to a report from the state Board of Examiners in Nursing.

Fairfield University had more than 1,400 applicants for 120 spaces, which resulted in a high number of rejection letters going out, said Meridith Kazer, dean of Fairfield Universitys School of Nursing.

We actually do need to turn away qualified applicants, Kazer said. Weve turned away students with a 4.0 GPA. Thats how competitive it was.

The disparity, which has grown in recent years, has schools looking for creative ways to expand programs. Fairfield has moved nursing into a larger building to support more classes; the building also features simulation centers to create in-house clinical education opportunities, as well.

A major focus of nursing education is in the practice area, including hospitals and community agencies, which has a limited number of spaces for students to practice their nursing skills. As a result, many schools are unable to take on larger numbers of students.

More difficult, however, is finding enough instructors.

In addition to the workforce having a shortage of nurses at the bedside, we are also seeing a shortage nationally of faculty for nursing programs, Kosturkos said.

The lack of qualified instructors directly affects the number of students a program can take in, leading schools to undertake nationwide searches to keep student-teacher ratios smaller.

To teach within a nursing program, instructors are often required to have a doctoral degree. Only a very small percentage of nurses go on towards their doctoral degree because theyre expensive and the clinical salaries are often competitive with the academic salaries, so to invest in a doctoral education you want to make sure that you get that return on your investment, Kazer said.

Raising the bar

As schools look to adjust, hospitals are looking to raise the bar with patient care, leading to degree requirements for new hires that go beyond associates degrees and nursing diplomas. Many positions are calling for professionals to obtain their bachelors degree, driving many employees to return to school and further adding to the applicant pool.

Carol Papp, dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Bridgeport, said the college added nursing to its Health Sciences program in the fall 2015 in response to rising demand.

I find many of the nurses coming back and even working while taking the ... courses because their (bachelors degree) is needed for their positions, Papp said.

Although still in its early stages, records show UB has 1,035 new student inquiries and 384 applicants for 90 spaces for the coming fall semester.

This is the new standard, said Greenwich Hospital CNO Anna Cerra. Its not enough just to have a four-year education, and we want the nurses who are coming into our hospitals to be baccalaureate prepared, but maybe in the next five or 10 years maybe the standard will be a little bit higher.

jordan.grice@hearstmediact.comWhether it's considered a night of fun with friends or an event at which to strut your stuff, high school students across the country and around southwestern Connecticut are in the height of prom season. But before teens can hit the dance floor, they have to pick out the perfect outfit for the occasion.

More for you 2018 prom trends in SW Connecticut

After analyzing local and national online fashion search data, global fashion search platform Lyst has compiled some of the most dominant trends in Connecticut and beyond this prom season. While teens in Connecticut spend an average of $300 for their prom dress, the inspirations for their looks are wide ranging: from Disney princesses to Kylie Jenner, Lyst found that the biggest trends this year for prom are as diverse as they are interesting.First Kimberly Guilfoyle was floated as a replacement White House communications director after the firing of Sean Spicer. Then, last fall, Guilfoyle was seen stepping out with Anthony Scaramucci, whose 10-day tenure as communications director imploded back in July like a dying supernova made of profanity.

Now the Fox News host (and former wife of SF mayor of yore, Gavin Newsom) reportedly has yet another spicy connection to the administration, Page Six has reported: She's apparently dating the newly single Donald Trump Jr., 40.

Guilfoyle, 49, is a host of "The Five" on Fox News and was married to California governor candidate Gavin Newsom from 2001 to 2005, during which time he served on the Board of Supervisors and was elected mayor of San Francisco.

She has her own deep connection with San Francisco as well, having grown up in the Mission District and attending a Catholic high school in the city before moving to Davis for college and then back for law school at the University of San Francisco.

Although she described Newsom as "hot" and "hung" in 2004 during a mildly controversial speech that also featured the suggestive use of a banana, they separated the following year, citing the strain of a bicoastal marriage; Guilfoyle had moved to New York to pursue her television career. Their divorce was finalized in 2006.

Trump Jr.'s wife of 12 years, Vanessa, filed for divorce in March. In the aftermath, alleged screenshots of his thirsty, oddly bacon-centric DMs have been aired and various tabloids (and at least one former Clinton aide) have renewed their fixation on Vanessa Trump's relationship with a member of the Latin Kings as a teen in New York.

But perhaps that's all background noise now, as Don Jr. and Guilfoyle have reportedly been dating happily for weeks.

"Don Jr. and Kimberly are seeing each other, and are having a great time. While he wants to respect the privacy of his family, he is getting divorced, and he enjoys Kimberly's company," a source reportedly told Page Six.

An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated where Kimberly Guilfoyle went to law school. She is an alumna of University of San Francisco School of Law, not UCSF.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on TwitterThe U.S. Air Force is adopting the Army's Operational Camouflage Pattern as its new combat uniform and will begin incrementally phasing it in beginning Oct. 1.

The service will ditch the Airman Battle Uniform, known as the ABU, for the OCP over the next three years, with the expectation that all airmen will be wearing the OCP by April 2021, said Maj. Gen. Robert LaBrutta, Air Force director of military force management policy, and deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services.

"Enhancing our readiness, the OCP is a uniform for form, fit and function," LaBrutta told reporters May 9. "It is the best-of-breed of utility uniform that we believe is in the inventory."

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein agreed. The uniform works in all climates -- from Minot to Manbij -- and across the spectrum of missions we perform, he said in a service release. Its suitable for our airmen working on a flight line in Northern Tier states and for those conducting patrols in the Middle East."

The Breakdown

The OCP's colors vary by location -- desert vs. forest, for example. It generally has a four-to-six color palette incorporating greens, beiges, browns, tans and greys.

Those airmen who are already authorized to wear the uniform can currently sport desert sand or tan boots, but the service will transition completely to the coyote tan boots sometime in 2020, LaBrutta said.

The Air Force will differ from the Army in velcro patches, name tape and insignia by using a "spice brown" color, he added.

First lieutenants and lieutenant colonels will have black rank insignia and patches to differentiate them from second lieutenants and majors, LaBrutta said.

Related content:

Airmen will have the option to sew on their name tape, service tape or both. Officers will have their rank on their patrol caps. Both officers and enlisted airmen will have their last names on the back of the cap.

Patches used for commands down to the squadron level will be reworked to incorporate the spice brown color in some way, LaBrutta said.

"Everything on the configuration is the same as the Army wears the uniform; we're just going to make some small color variations," he said.

Airmen will also wear tan undershirts and "DLA green" socks, which are actually more of a tan color.

There will be a standard, adjustable unisex version, but also a secondary female-only uniform, LaBrutta said.

"The Army is transitioning into that right now, and we're excited we're right in the part of that transition. When we field this uniform, we believe that that's going to be a better fit for the women that wear the OCPs," he said.

The OCP's colors vary by location -- desert vs. forest, for example. Courtesy of Air Force

Timeline

The three-year transition will cost the service about $237 million, LaBrutta said, but added the Air Force will "break even" in the end.

"We've done the cost analysis, and I know we're going to have some upfront costs to this  and then we're going to have cost avoidance because as we transition into the OCPs, instead of having to have both ABUs and OCPs, we'll realize some cost avoidance there  because we will no longer be purchasing an extra uniform," he said.

Airmen who already own an OCP can begin wearing it Oct. 1, LaBrutta said, following a new memorandum on how to properly wear the uniform. The new guidance should be delivered to airmen sometime in July, he said.

"We drew the Oct. 1, 2018, date to give production capacity an opportunity to build inventory so that we could outfit some [Army and Air Force Exchange Service] locations, but it's going to take some time to field this across the U.S. Air Force," LaBrutta said.

At that time, airmen at Aviano Air Base, Italy; MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; and Shaw Air Force Base and Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, will be the first see the uniform on sale at base stores.

Enlisted airmen will get a clothing bag allowance increase since the OCP is about $20 more expensive than the ABU, the general said.

"Many of our airmen already have this uniform from their numerous deployments, so they will be able to make the transition easily," said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright.

"For other airmen, we must provide enough time for their clothing allowance to fund the items to avoid out-of-pocket expenses," he said.

LaBrutta said there will be no buyback or trade-ins for the ABU and airmen should not expect to be reimbursed. A guidance on how to properly dispose of them will be unveiled along with the guidance memorandum.

The service is weighing providing excess uniform gear associated with the ABU to junior ROTC programs across the country, he said.

Depending on the Defense Logistics Agency's production rate, the service anticipates more AAFES locations to start selling OCP by April 1, 2019, LaBrutta said.

The Air Force will not start handing out the uniform to new recruits in Basic Training, ROTC or Officer Training School until October 2019.

Promoting Jointness

LaBrutta said the uniform also promotes joint integration. Since 2012, nearly 100,000 airmen have worn the uniform when deployed overseas in places like Afghanistan or while operating outside the wire.

Roughly 20,000 airmen already wear it day-to-day at Air Force Special Operations Command, as well as some security forces airmen at Air Force Global Strike Command.

Airmen and pilots operating downrange wear the Army Aircrew Combat Uniform, known as the A2CU, which has OCP-patterned fabric and the same fire-retardant properties as a flight suit.

Some airmen also wear a two-piece, OCP-pattern camo utility pattern that does not have the same fire retardant material. It does have different pocket placement and velcro closures, among other characteristics.

Just like their Army counterparts, airmen who go outside the wire in a deployed location will receive the fire retardant OCPs, which is standard now, LaBrutta said.

This celebrates joint warfighting excellence as OCPs will become the joint combat uniform for airmen and soldiers while patches and nametapes will identify our respective services, Goldfein said. Well maintain our distinctive Air Force uniforms in blues, service dress, mess dress, and PT gear.

Airman feedback played a big role in the decision, officials said.

Service members have asked about the uniform at almost every town hall, said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.

"The focus has been, 'How do we make it easier [and] what works for airmen,' " she said May 4.

The uniform must be right "for both men and women. From a cost perspective, but also from a functional perspective," Wilson said.

Reiterating feedback from airmen during a trip to Hurlburt Field, Florida, last week, she added, "[A] uniform isn't only a uniform, it's a piece of equipment. And that's not a bad way to think about it. How do we give our airmen the equipment that they need to be lethal and do their job?"

LaBrutta added, "The benefit that we're going to get out of this, in readiness, joint integration and of course the airmen demand signal that's out there are the reasons why we're doing this.

"[They're] very worthwhile," he said.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.QUANTICO, Va. -- Just months after the Marine Corps announced the creation of a new cyberwarfare family of military occupational specialties, the service is once again giving another highly specialized community its own MOS.

Officials here at the Marine Corps Information Operations Center told Military.com they planned to announce the creation of a new primary MOS, 0521, for Military Information Support Operations. With a new career field that will allow MISO Marines to continue through the rank of E-9, officials said they also plan to grow the ranks of the community to more than 200 Marines in the near future.

MISO, known in the Army as psychological operations, or PsyOps, focuses on influencing the mindset and decision-making of a target audience that may consist of enemy militants or a local civilian population.

It's a skill set the Marine Corps is leaning into in future planning and strategy documents. The Marine Corps Force 2025 strategy includes plans to grow MISO to 211 Marines by 2024, said Col. William McClane, the commanding officer at MCIOC.

The current effort to turn MISO into an MOS has been under discussion for several years; Military.com first reported that briefings were underway on the topic in 2016.

"[Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller] speaks a lot about adversary  perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and how that's important," McClane said. "The understanding of the cognitive dimension, how to affect and change behaviors and adversary target audience decision-making where you may not even have to fire a shot -- you may be able to influence your adversary and reach that end state without doing that."

While MISO or PsyOps capabilities are not new to the battlefield, McClane acknowledged that reviews of recent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan may have caused military brass to realize more effective use of the skill set could have yielded different outcomes.

"I think that's a good assumption, absolutely," he said.

As the Marine Corps looks to the future, troops may also find themselves fighting in increasingly complex battlespaces and in a broad range of environments.

"It all depends on the target audience, how they receive communication," McClane said of the methods that might be employed to influence mindsets and decision-making. "It might be different in parts of Africa versus eastern Europe."

A New Career Path

For Marines, MISO is currently a free, or additional, MOS, meaning troops come from other specialties to spend time in the community. Typically, a Marine deployed with a MISO element and then returned to his or her original unit, with no option to continue in the field, McClane said.

"There was no real return on investment," he said.

What's worse, McClane said, officials noticed that a number of MISO Marines would opt to leave the service soon after their tour, preferring to practice their MISO skills in the civilian sector rather than returning to their original military job.

For the Marine Corps, this meant not only that MISO Marines couldn't develop further in their skill sets, but also that the time and money invested in these troops -- reportedly more than $600,000 per Marine including clearances and a specialized training course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina -- would not yield long-term gains.

Under the new plan, a company-sized MISO element will be set up under each of the three recently established Marine Information Groups on the East Coast and West Coast in the Pacific. A separate element will remain at MCIOC, focusing primarily on supporting special operations.

While the first additional MISO Marines will start arriving this summer, the plan is to have the elements established at each MIG by 2022, McClane said.

The roughly 60 Marines who already have MISO as a free MOS have the first opportunity to join the new full-time career field, officials said. And they estimate some 35 will make that decision.

Cpl. Anjelica Parra, 21, a Motor Transportation Marine who has the free MOS, said she knew right away she wanted to make the move once it became an option.

"I wasn't really relied on heavily [in Motor T] as I am now coming to this MOS," she told Military.com. "It's a different playing field, because as a corporal I'm looked upon and relied on to act as a lot higher than what my rank is. I have to hold myself to a higher standard."

Parra said she had to develop her communication skills in order to brief more senior Marines on the capabilities of MISO and enjoyed the other challenges that came with the job. She looks forward to deploying as part of a MISO element with a Marine expeditionary unit in the near future.

For those not in the community, a Marine administrative message will come out soon with details on how to apply, said Maj. Jonathan Weeks, commander of the MISO Company at MCIOC.

"Those that are successful in this type of a job are going to be your self-starters, the people who are able to think and act independently and have the ability to think outside the box and create solutions," he said. "Those who have a sense of the Marine Corps planning process and how stuff works."

Enlisted Marines in the rank of corporal and above are eligible to apply, officials said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.STUTTGART, Germany -- Army reservists deployed to Europe were wrongly denied housing allowance payments, subjected to humiliating criminal investigations and forced into debt by the service after the Army "willfully disregarded" its own policies to refuse benefits owed, according to a federal court complaint.

The complaint, filed last month in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, accuses the Army of "gross negligence," saying it caused financial and professional damage by intentionally denying benefits it should have paid.

The lawsuit also says the soldiers faced threats that "jeopardized their careers and security clearances by flagging them as subjects to fraud or larceny investigations."

The dispute began in 2016 after reservist soldiers deployed to Europe and received benefits authorized by the Army, which included basic housing allowance, or BAH, for their stateside homes. They also received overseas housing allowance, or OHA, in Europe after being ordered by the Army to live off post because of a lack of available housing.

The benefit is spelled out in the Joint Federal Travel Regulations, which govern how allowances are paid: "A Service member called/ordered to active duty in support of a contingency operation is authorized primary residence-based BAH/OHA beginning on the first active duty day . . . This rate continues for the duration of the tour." Army regulations reiterate the policy.

Months into their respective deployments, the finance office at U.S. Army Europe decided the benefits should no longer be paid, said Patrick Hughes, the Washington attorney representing the seven soldiers who filed the lawsuit.

Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Nina Hill declined to comment on the case, citing "ongoing litigation."

The Army Reserve and National Guard officers, who were dispatched to Europe for contingency operations, are seeking to restore their benefits and abolish Army-imposed debts that have been levied.

Over the past two years, Hughes said, soldiers have seen entire paychecks wiped out through wage garnishments as the Army seeks to collect on debts that range from $13,000 to $94,000.

Investigated, reprimanded, indebted

Hundreds of reservists could have been affected by the Army's actions, Hughes said.

The court is expected to respond to the complaint within 30 days. If it's accepted as the proper venue, the soldiers will move to certify the case as a class-action lawsuit that other reservists could join.

"You do need power in numbers to get action to be taken in these situations. We are trying to address it at a massive scale," Hughes said. "This is an effort to resolve the issue in its entirety for everyone."

In some cases, soldiers were issued general officer reprimands, which are often considered career-killers.

Col. Bradley Wolfing, one of the plaintiffs in the case, successfully appealed his reprimand, which was the result of being "erroneously placed under investigation by the Army's CID, and ultimately punished for BAH fraud on or about March 24, 2017," the complaint says.

A grade determination review board determined Wolfing satisfactorily served as a colonel and was allowed to retire as such, the complaint states.

In conjunction with that ruling, Defense Financing and Accounting Services reviewed the case and "concluded that the Army's decision to ignore (the Joint Federal Travel Regulation) and deny COL Wolfing his primary residence location BAH entitlement was erroneous."

That conclusion will likely factor into any future litigation.

"This DFAS opinion is of great significance, because its analysis is applicable to virtually all of those affected by the Army's primary residence location BAH entitlement denial," the complaint says.

Still, the Army continues to garnish soldiers' wages, a move the complaint says "amounts to gross negligence." The Army indebted Wolfing for $94,000.

'Criminally processed'

In 2016, the Army launched criminal investigations into the reservists who received the benefits that the Army itself had authorized when the reservists were mobilized.

"Basically, I was criminally processed, all because they are saying I shouldn't (have been) collecting BAH for my Connecticut residence. I was stunned," said Capt. Tim Kibodeaux, an intelligence officer with 27 years in the National Guard.

Criminal Investigation Command agents fingerprinted him and took his mug shot for their records during the investigation.

The Army levied a $50,000 debt on Kibodeaux for BAH payments it says he wasn't entitled to and has repeatedly garnished his wages, the soldiers' complaint says. Meanwhile, he hasn't received about $16,000 in owed benefits.

The six other service members in the complaint are in similar situations.

"My credit has been completely ruined," Kibodeaux said. "I am disgusted at this point. We think about 340 people were affected by this."

At least 140 soldiers were snared in the BAH investigation in Europe, according to the complaint, which cites information relayed by the Criminal Investigation Command.

Given the high numbers of reservists who have been rotating through Europe in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve -- the campaign to deter Russian aggression in the region -- the lawsuit says that the numbers are likely much higher. If the complaint grows, millions of dollars could be at stake in future litigation.

One concern now, Kibodeaux said, is that lower-ranking reservists could have been intimidated into silence and may be unaware that their rights to certain benefits have been violated.

"Several Plaintiffs were informed through their chain-of-command that any future inquiries into this issue would be met with negative consequences, and that the denial of the housing entitlement was a final decision," the complaint says.

No explanation

Kibodeaux said he and his colleagues never received a clear explanation from the Army why benefits were taken away or why they were subjected to criminal investigations.

During the probe, Kibodeaux said, he told Army finance officials about the regulation that allowed for the allowance. He said the Army investigators told him they didn't recognize the policy, which for decades has allowed reservists on deployment overseas to receive BAH for their home of record.

"They said, 'We don't go by that. We go by the active duty one,'" Kibodeaux said.

When Kibodeaux pointed out the military's regulations governing allowances for reservists to a criminal investigator, the agent's response was, "We just do what finance tells us to do," Kibodeaux said.

In recent years, the military has struggled to interpret federal regulations dealing with living allowances.

In 2013, a reinterpretation of overarching State Department regulations by the Defense Department put nearly 700 civilians in debt by cutting off their housing allowances. Special waivers were required to eliminate debts that in some cases reached six figures.

Europe-based reservists have also been affected by new interpretations of long-standing regulations. In 2013, the Army decided to stop paying BAH to reservists who lived in Germany and deployed on Army missions in other parts of Germany that were hours away from their home.

The Army, which imposed debts on about 10 soldiers at the time, never fully explained its legal rationale for changing the rules.

Service members and civilians who have gotten caught up in benefits disputes have complained that there is little internal recourse in a one-on-one fight with the military bureaucracy over benefits. And the idea of taking on the federal government in a lengthy court fight also is daunting and costly.This Sikh Marine Is Ready to Sue the Service to Wear a Beard and Turban at All Times

First Lt. Sukhbir Toor applied in March for a religious accommodation to wear a beard and turban and to not cut his hair.1. CLUES TO DEADLY CRASH

From Military.coms Matthew Cox:

The recent C-130 crash that killed nine Air National Guard members may have been caused by one or both engines on the aircraft's left wing failing shortly after takeoff, veteran C-130 pilots say.

The Air Force's investigation into the May 2 crash of the Puerto Rican National Guard WC-130 near Savannah, Georgia, could take months to complete, but the rare video footage of the crash offered clues to experienced C-130 pilots such as Dusty Cook, a former Marine Corps major who flew the venerable four-engine, turboprop aircraft for more than 10 years.

"It looked like it was a critical engine failure ... like the number one engine failed and just this dynamic rollover," Cook told Military.com. "It looks like it lost lift and it lost power on the left side, and that is why I am assuming it was the number one engine.

Pilots routinely train for emergency mishaps such as engine failure, so why did the plane roll over? Was it the age of the aircraft, which was on its retirement flight? Was it poor maintenance? Or was it somehow related to the massive defense spending cuts under sequestration, a crippling budgetary bind that so many generals warned against?

2. NAVY SPECOPS LEADERS SUSPENDED

From the Virginian-Pilot:

"Two leaders of a Virginia Beach-based naval special warfare unit currently deployed to Africa have been suspended from their overseas duties while the Navy investigates allegations of sexual misconduct, Lt. Jacqui Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, said.

Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Marcus Hicks, commander of special operations in Africa, suspended the team's commanding officer and the command master chief, the senior enlisted sailor, on Thursday, Maxwell said. They have not been relieved of command.

 The personnel were assigned to a unit advising and assisting in operations against violent extremist operations in East Africa, primarily al-Shabab and the Islamic State in Somalia, Maj. Casey Osborne, a spokesperson for Special Operations Command Africa, said."

3. MARINES' DRONE BADGE UNVEILED

From Military.com:

The newest approved breast insignia for Marine officers and enlisted troops is here and ready to be worn.

This week, the Marine Corps unveiled the pair of badges. While Commandant Gen. Robert Neller approved the devices for wear last November, the badges were then still in the design phase, officials said at the time.

Unmanned aerial systems officers and enlisted operators joined the small community of Marines authorized to wear a breast insignia as part of a slate of decisions made by the Marine Corps Uniform Board late last year.

The decision followed the Pentagon's creation of an "R" distinguishing device on awards to honor contributions to battle from a remote location. The device is most commonly associated with drone operators.

4. COURT FIGHT OVER BURN PITS

Via the Associated Press:

"Veterans and their families asked a federal appeals court May 9 to reinstate dozens of lawsuits alleging that a government contractor caused health problems by using burn pits during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More than 60 lawsuits allege that KBR Inc.  a former Halliburton subsidiary  dumped tires, batteries, medical waste and other materials into open burn pits, creating harmful smoke that caused gastrointestinal illnesses, neurological problems, respiratory problems, cancers and other health issues in more than 800 service members.

The lawsuits, which were filed in multiple districts around the country and then consolidated, also alleged that at least 12 service members died from illnesses caused by the burn pits.

Last year, a judge in Maryland dismissed the lawsuits, finding that the U.S. military made all of the key decisions and had control over KBR's use and operation of burn pits. The lower court found that analyzing military decision-making during war is a political question not appropriate for judicial review.

In arguments before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a lawyer for the service members asked the court to reverse that ruling and allow the lawsuits to move forward."

5. NEW CHINESE CARRIER STARTS SEA TRIALS

Via the Associated Press:

"China's first entirely home-built aircraft carrier began sea trials Sunday in a sign of the growing sophistication of the country's domestic arms industry.

The still-unnamed ship left dock in the northern port of Dalian at 7:00 a.m. to 'test the reliability and stability of its propulsion and other system,' the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Liaoning provincial maritime safety bureau issued an order for shipping to avoid a section of ocean southeast of the city between Sunday and Friday.

The 50,000-ton carrier will likely be formally commissioned sometime before 2020 following the completion of sea trials and the arrival of its full air complement.

The new carrier is based on the former Soviet Union's Kuznetsov-class design, with a ski jump-style deck for taking off and a conventional oil-fueled steam turbine power plant."

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.AAFES Hiring Veterans, Spouses

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service is reaffirming its commitment to hiring 50,000 veterans and military spouses by 2020. The Exchange was named a 2018 Top 10 Military Friendly Employer and Military Spouse Friendly Employer by Victory Media. About 35,000 associates work for the 122-year-old Department of Defense retailer at its department stores, convenience stores, malls, restaurants, theaters and other operations around the world. Veterans, military spouses and others seeking employment with the Exchange can visit ApplyMyExchange.com to view job openings worldwide.

For more on veteran jobs, including job fair calendars and job postings, visit the Military.com Veteran Jobs Center.AF Selects Future B-21 Locations

The U.S. Air Force has announced that the B-21 Raider will replace B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit aircraft at three existing bomber bases beginning in the mid-2020s. The Air Force selected Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota; and Whiteman AFB, Missouri, as reasonable alternatives to host the new B-21 aircraft. Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, and Minot AFB, North Dakota, will continue to host the B-52, which is expected to continue conducting operations through 2050. Although the first B-21 is expected in the mid-2020s, the Air Force doesn't plan to retire the existing bombers until there are sufficient B-21s to replace them. For more details, see this Military.com article.'Blue Water' Vets Near To Gaining VA Benefits

After months negotiating with Senate colleagues, the House Veterans Affairs Committee voted unanimously to forward a bill likely to qualify 90,000 ailing Vietnam War veterans, called "Blue Water Navy Veterans," for Agent Orange-related disability pay and health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Read the recent Military Update to learn about the possible inclusion of "Blue Water" veterans to the VA's Agent-Orange related disability compensation.Everyone has a story. Mine has taken me all around the country and shown me a few steps other military spouse can take to advance their careers.

I met Gabriel, a retired U.S. Navy senior chief, the day before his deployment from Jacksonville, Florida. One moment I was helping him withdraw money, and the next I was sending care packages to his naval base.

Since our marriage just a few years later, the Navy has moved us four times. We've put down and pulled up roots in Florida, Michigan, California, Illinois and Texas. While being married to someone in the service isn't always easy, I wouldn't change it for the world.

While an essential and commonplace occurrence in a military career, moving every couple of years can make it difficult to advance a civilian one. Across the United States, almost 25% of military spouses are unemployed and nearly 40% are underemployed.

But, that's not my story.

During Gabriel's 22 years in the Navy, I've grown my position at Bank of America from a teller to a client management executive. While I recognize no plan is foolproof and nobody's situation is the same, I hope that other military couples can use some of the lessons I've learned to help advance their career.

1. Always be open and honest with your manager or employer about your situation. When one of my kids gets sick, I can't call my husband to stay home with them if he is thousands of miles away on a deployment. I have found, no matter what city or role that I have been in, that managers and leaders will work with you if you need to make adjustments for your family, but it takes open and honest communication.

2. Take advantage of your company's benefits and support programs. I believe that company benefits and employee networks are some of the most useful resources for military families. I can speak to the personal and professional benefits of programs like Bank of America's Military Support and Assistance Group (MSAG). Networks like MSAG provide an opportunity to connect with and befriend fellow veterans and their families.

3. Put your faith in others. This one took me a while as I am a pretty independent person. One thing being a military spouse has taught me is the power in leaning on others when you need help, and not being afraid to ask. If your employer offers more flexible works hours -- say 'yes.' If your friend offers to babysit -- say 'yes.' You will be much happier when you lean on others from time to time.

While the life of a military spouse often goes hand-in-hand with personal and professional sacrifice, I believe that it's possible for military spouses to have successful careers.

Look for employers like mine who are committed to hiring military spouses and family members, and be forthright and confident about your situation. Transitions can be difficult, but the military makes those who serve, as well as their loved ones, uniquely resilient. This singular quality makes them an invaluable asset to any company.

-- Erica Tyree is a Senior Vice President and Client Management Executive for U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management in the Dallas Market with over nineteen years at the company. She is the Enterprise Co-Chair of the Military Support and Assistance Group (MSAG) through which she works with national non-profit organizations that support veterans and their families. Erica has a strong passion for veterans and their families.

Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life

For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox.Key

Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements

Mineral List  Gold  Quartz

2 valid minerals. 2 valid minerals.

Detailed Mineral List:  Gold Formula: Au Reference: Fraser, C. (1910) The Geology of the Thames Subdivision, Hauraki, Auckland. New Zealand Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 10 (New Series), New Zealand Government, Wellington, 136 pages.  Quartz Formula: SiO 2 Reference: Fraser, C. (1910) The Geology of the Thames Subdivision, Hauraki, Auckland. New Zealand Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 10 (New Series), New Zealand Government, Wellington, 136 pages.

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification Group 1 - Elements  Gold 1.AA.05 Au Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides  Quartz 4.DA.05 SiO 2

List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 1 - NATIVE ELEMENTS AND ALLOYS Metals, other than the Platinum Group  Gold 1.1.1.1 Au Group 75 - TECTOSILICATES Si Tetrahedral Frameworks Si Tetrahedral Frameworks - SiO 2 with [4] coordinated Si  Quartz 75.1.3.1 SiO 2

List of minerals for each chemical element O Oxygen O  Quartz SiO 2 Si Silicon Si  Quartz SiO 2 Au Gold Au  Gold Au

References

Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)

Thames Advertiser newspaper (1876) Death, Vol. IX, issue 2242, 05 January 1876. Evening Post newspaper (1878) Grahamstown, Vol. XVI, issue 248, 18 October 1878. Auckland Star newspaper (1893) The Moanataiari Accident, Vol. XXIV, issue 208, 30 August 1893. The Goldfields of New Zealand: report on roads, water races mining machinery and other works in connection with mining (1896), Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, Session 1, C.-03, New Zealand Government, Wellington. Fraser, C. (1910) The Geology of the Thames Subdivision, Hauraki, Auckland. New Zealand Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 10 (New Series), New Zealand Government, Wellington, 136 pages. New Zealand Herald newspaper (1928) Famous Goldmine. History of the Moanataiari. Fortunes in Early Days, Vol. LXV, issue 20098, 08 November 1928. Auckland Star newspaper (1932) Moanataiari Company. Winding Up, Vol. LXIII, issue 197, 20 August 1932. Simpson, M.P., Mauk, J.L., Merchant, R.J. (2011) Bonanza-grade epithermal veins from the Coromandel and Thames districts, Hauraki goldfield. AusIMM New Zealand Branch Annual Conference 2011, Queenstown, New Zealand.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

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.

Historic gold mine.This mine operated more or less continuously from shortly after gold was discovered in the area in 1867, until the 1930's. In the early days it was the fourth largest gold producer on the Thames Goldfield, and in 1877 discovered a bonanza of gold in its workings.In 1877 a shaft was sunk below the No. 9 level, striking one of half a dozen gold bonanzas found on the Thames Goldfield. The bonanza covered an area 30.5 metres long, 24.4 metres vertical, and 1.2 metres wide. Weekly returns over the subsequent weeks amount to 5000-6000 ounces per week. One block the size of a mans head was sent to London to be exhibited, and when processed yielded 750 ounces of gold. In one fortnight 2.5 tonnes of ore was processed for 14 600 ounces. Between 1868 to 1888 the mine produced 141 569 ounces of gold.From 1888 to 1896 the mine was owned and operated by the New Moanataiari Gold Mining Company producing 38 238 ounces of gold. From 1896 to 1899, the Moanataiari Limited (Anglo-Continental) produced 6168 ounces. Another New Moanataiari Company was formed in 1899. In 1920, acronym candidate the Caledonia Kuranui Moanataiari Consolidated Gold Mining Company was registered to take over the mine. As an example between 1927-1928 the combined area of a number of leases produced 205 ounces of gold, showing the reefs near exhaustion, and not covering expenses. In 1932, the company was wound up, and mining ceased.Michael Doherty (82) was killed in an accident at the mine, although no further details are provided. Andrews (surname) was killed in a fall of earth in 1878. Underground boss, Harry Lough, was killed in a fall of earth in 1893.The original Moanataiari lease was on the northern side of Moanataiari Creek, bordered on the south by Non Pareil, west by Caledonian, and Hazelbank, north by the Kuranui, south-east by Point Russell, and east by the Moanataiari Extended leases. The mine eventually took over all these neighbouring leases.The Moanataiari Tunnel was the most extensive underground working on the goldfield, reaching a length of 3077 feet from the foreshore. The country rock is soft yellowish-grey propylitised andesite, and un-altered hard dark andesite, consisting of augite, and hypersthene, with some conglomerate, and slaty shale as basement. The major Moanataiari Fault crosses the lease north-south at right angels to the quartz lodes. This fault throws the lodes a significant distance, to the point the reefs go by different names to the west and east of the fault. Surprisingly little geology information was found for this important mine.The Yankees announced on Monday that theyve reinstated infielder Brandon Drury from the 10-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The move means that for the time being, New York will continue to rely upon Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres, Tyler Austin, Neil Walker and Ronald Torreyes around the infield, with Drury somewhat surprisingly waiting in the wings at Triple-A on the heels of a very productive minor league rehab assignment.

Drury hit the disabled list last month due to ongoing migraine issues and blurred vision. Hes reportedly tried out wearing some yellow-tinted glasses during rehab games in an effort to aid his vision, and while it may have been mere coincidence, the results from his recent stretch of 11 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre were impressive; in 42 plate appearances, he hit .343/.452/.514 with a homer and three doubles.

[Related: Updated New York Yankees depth chart]

However, Drurys placement on the DL opened the door for some younger prospects to make their debuts, and during his absence, Walkers bat began to show signs of life. The veteran Walker is hitting .346/.514/.462 in 35 plate appearances this month and has provided the Yankees with some key hits, while Andujar and Torres have shown varying degrees of promise. In the case of Torres, hes hitting .319/.360/.493 with three homers through his first 76 big league plate appearances and hasnt done much of anything to give the Yankees cause to send him back down to the minors.

Its more arguable that Andujar has shown some cracks at the big league level and could yet be in need of refinement. While hes hitting .282 with a .458 slugging percentage, Andujar has drawn just three walks in 135 plate appearances, resulting in a paltry .296 on-base percentage. While hes not striking out much, his .337 average on balls in play is considerably higher than the league norm of .295. If that BABIP regresses at all, then he could very well see his OBP fall into the .280 range. For the time being, hes hit in six straight games (8-for-25), though all of his hits in that time have been singles.

The Yankees couldve created a temporary solution by sending Austin to Triple-A, but the 26-year-old has slugged five homers in 89 plate appearances despite hitting just .222 with a .292 on-base percentage. Austin seems likely to be a roster casualty when Greg Bird is ready to be activated from the disabled list anyhow.

Whether due to an injury somewhere around the big league infield or a slump from Andujar, it still seems reasonable to expect that Drury will be back with the Yankees at some point in the relatively near future.Cory Morse | MLive.com

They're as sure a sign of spring as the return of the robin: Michigan's earliest wildflowers, unfurling their delicate blossoms to bring the first punches of color to forests, fields and marshes across the state.

These ephemeral beauties are easily and often overlooked, though, so we checked in with Drew Lathin, a sustainable landscaper and president of the Wildflower Association of Michigan, to give us a shortlist of native spring wildflowers that can be seen around the state right now. Knowing what flowers to look for and where to discover them can turn a stroll through a park or nature center into a veritable treasure hunt -- with blooms in shades of gold, pearly white, ruby and amethyst the riches to be found. (Just be sure that the only thing you "take" is photos; not only is picking wildflowers illegal in many places, it can also disturb the plants and their sensitive habitat.)

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Spring beauty

Scientific name: Claytonia virginica

Other common names: Virginia spring beauty, Eastern spring beauty, fairy spud

Dainty, pale-white or pinkish flowers adorn this plant, which pushes up through leaf litter in beech-maple and oak forests between March and May. While Claytonia virginica is found throughout much of lower Michigan, its relative, Claytonia caroliniana (Carolina spring beauty), is found more in the northern half of the state. The plant produces tiny, potato-like tubers called "corms" that may have been eaten by early Americans (hence the delightful nickname "fairy spud"), but the corms are usually cited as being too teensy to be worth foraging.

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Marsh marigold

Scientific name: Caltha palustris

Other common names: Kingcup

Common across much of the state, this plant is known for its yolk-colored flowers that provide a vibrant contrast to the subdued springtime palette of the wet, swampy areas it calls home.

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Yellow trout lily

Scientific name: Erythronium americanum

If you're out in the woods and you stumble upon a swath of this plant's mottled green leaves, but you don't see any of its pretty flowers, just remember to check back next spring: This woodland dweller doesn't bloom until it is several years old.

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Hepataca

Scientific name: Hepatica americana

Other common names: Round-lobed hebatica, liverwort, liverleaf

Related to the buttercup, this plant gets its name from the Greek word for "liver," because its lobed leaves were thought to resemble that organ in the human body. It's one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the woods each spring. The round-lobed hepatica as well as the sharp-lobed hepatica are both found in beech-maple across much of the state.

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Bloodroot

Scientific name: Sanguinaria canadensis

Other common names: Bloodwort, red root

This brilliant white-flowered plant gets its name from the bright red-orange, poisonous sap that it bleeds when broken. Found in deciduous forests across much of the state, flowering in April and May.

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Common trillium

Scientific name: Trillium grandiflorum

Pearly white, three-petaled blossoms unfurl from these plants each spring around May, often carpeting forest floors to make a dazzling sea of blooms. Found in deciduous forests across most of the state, these showy flowers have become synonymous with Michigan springtime.

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Jack in the pulpit

Scientific name: Arisaema triphyllum

Other common names: Bog onion, wild turnip

This plant seems straight out of a fairy tale: It pops up each spring across the Michigan woods with its unmistakable hooded, champagne-flute shaped cup (the "pulpit"), inside which a slender stalk (the "jack") can be found hiding. The size and color of this plant ranges fairly widely; it flowers starting in May all the way through mid-July.

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Celandine poppy

Scientific name: Stylophorum diphyllum

Other common names: Wood poppy

This butter-colored beauty is Michigan's only native poppy. It is not very common (it is, in fact, on an endangered species list in Ontario) and in Michigan it is found mostly on the western edge of the Lower Peninsula.

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Wild geranium

Scientific name: Geranium maculatum

Other common names: Wood geranium

These floppy flowers can be found in damp forests and near streams and swamps across much of the Lower Peninsula's southern half. The plants' foliage is sometimes snacked upon by white-tailed deer.

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Wild columbine

Scientific name: Aquilegia canadensis

Suspended from slender, spindly stalks, this plant's reddish flowers are like delicate bells that often attract hummingbirds with their nectar. Found throughout Michigan, this wildflower is not all that picky about its habitat: It resides in forests as well as alongside rivers and streams, beside roads and in clearings, and even in marshes and swamps.

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Dutchman's breeches

Scientific name: Dicentra cucullaria

An enchanting little plant that blossoms each spring with white flowers shaped like wee upside-down pantaloons -- hence the plant's common name. Found nearly statewide in beech-maple forests and occasionally in swampy areas.

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Squirrel corn

Scientific name: Dicentra canadensis

Related to Dutchman's breeches, this plant derives its common name from its flowers' resemblance to the shape of corn kernels. Squirrel corn can be found in the same types of woods that favor Dutchman's breeches, though it often blooms a few weeks later.

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Mayapple

Scientific name: Podophyllum peltatum

Other common names: Wild mandrake, ground lemon, umbrella plant

In early spring, these perennials poke up from Michigan's forest floors like tightly closed, bright green umbrellas before unfurling into wide, flat leaves usually atop Y-shaped stems. If you peek just under the leaves in late spring, you might find a few pretty white flowers. Found across much of the Lower Peninsula.live bse live

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Soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against current and former officials of Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank, the Finance Ministry has directed both the banks boards to 'divest' these officials of their powers.

The chargesheeted officials include Usha Ananthasubramanian, the CEO and managing director (MD) of Allahabad Bank, and the former chief of PNB.

The investigative agency on Monday filed the chargesheet in relation to the Rs 13,000 crore-plus fraud at PNB allegedly perpetrated by diamantaire Nirav Modi in collusion with officials at the bank.

Rajeev Kumar, Secretary Department of Financial Services (DFS), told reporters that the boards of Allahabad Bank and PNB have been asked to divest the concerned officials of all powers.

We have issued a formal letter to our directors in the board, and since this is in the domain of the board to decide, the boards will take an appropriate decision, Kumar said.

The investigating agency also filed charges against two current PNB executive directors KV Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, CBI officials told reporters. This chargesheet is only in relation to the case against Modi, the officials added. A separate chargesheet in the second case involving Modis uncle Mehul Choksi, promoter of Gitanjali Group, will be filed later.

Rao and Sharan have also been 'divested' of their responsibilities.

According to Kumar, an initial assessment was made by the DFS about 10 days back in which lapses have been found and now the government has sought explanation from the PNB.

At present, the PNB board meet is underway and the government will hear more about the outcome on the case soon.

Ananthasubramanian, who is currently the MD and CEO of Allahabad Bank, headed PNB between August 2015 and May 2017. She was also an executive director at PNB between July 2011 and November 2013, before moving to the Bharatiya Mahila Bank as chairman and MD.

Notably, none of the other PNB chiefs from 2011 and 2017 has been named so far.

On February 14, Punjab National Bank disclosed to stock exchanges that it had filed a formal complaint with the CBI in January end regarding fraudulent transactions worth nearly Rs 11,400 crore.

According to the complaint, some of PNB's employees at its Brady House branch in Mumbai had colluded with representatives from Modi and Choksi's companies to issue fraudulent letters of undertaking through the bank's SWIFT network. Modi and Choksi used the fraudulent LoUs as a form of guarantee to access loans from foreign lenders as well overseas branches of Indian lenders. However, PNB neither have a record of any such LoUs issued, nor did it approve any fund based or non-fund based exposure to Modi's companies.

The issue of fraudulent LoUs allegedly started in 2011 and continued over a period of seven years. It was detected only after the bank appointed a new manager in-charge of LoUs at the Brady House branch.live bse live

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Even as private players call for a level-playing field, state-owned general insurance companies are looking to hike their exposure in their in-house third party administrator (TPA) in this financial year.

The insurers, including New India Assurance, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance, are promoters of the company Health Insurance TPA of India.

Sources told Moneycontrol that the insurers would want to have an equal share (50-50) of business between their co-promoted TPA and the external ones. Currently, less than 30 percent of the business comes from the Health Insurance TPA.

We want to substantially increase the business from the in-house TPA. This will not only help manage health claims better but also reduce losses, said G Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, New India Assurance.

Competition watchdog case

A few years ago, TPA had earlier run into trouble after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an investigation against General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association of India and other public sector general insurers for alleged anti- competitive practices.

A senior general insurance executive said that having their own TPA will be beneficial for the consumers.

The public sector insurers, on the other hand, have said that having their own TPA will help improve claims experience for the customers.

In 2014, the CCI nted that these insurers had floated in-house TPAs to reduce their claim ratio, which could potentially result into rejection of claims on ad-hoc basis, based on a complaint filed. However, a detailed investigation by CCI had, in 2016, said that closed the case since they did not find any evidence against the public sector insurers.

Private TPAs want level-playing field

Privately-owned third party administrators have, on the other hand, called for a level-playing field between all TPAs so that everybody gets a chance to bid for a business.

We are competing aggressively with the in-house TPA to get public sector business. If that TPA opens up to private companies as well, we will be on a level-playing field, said the chief of a large Mumbai-based TPA service provider.

To ensure no undue interference happens by TPAs, the insurance regulator has also amended health regulations to say that the insurance company and not the TPA would take the final call for admission or rejection of health claims. The TPA could only act as an intermediary.

What do TPAs do?

A TPA comes in when a health insurance policy is taken. They are the first point of contact during any medical emergency. Once a claim is filed, their responsibility is to act as a mediator between the insurer and the policyholder and help insurers settle the claim quickly.

In the general insurance sector, health and motor insurance account for almost 70 percent of the total claims filed. Unlike motor, where claims settlement could be quicker for basic claims, health insurance requires timely filing of claims as well as adherence to the specific caps under a policy. This requires intervention of a TPA since an ordinary person may not be able to understand the specifics of the product.

The Health Insurance TPA of India aims to provide the services of call centres, customer service and grievance management, pre-authorisation, and claim processing. The firm also provides services to support all types of health insurance policies  individual, family floater, group covers, mass schemes, indemnity, fixed benefit, among others.Kraken | Founded in 2011, this US-based cryptocurrency exchange is now available in most countries. Deposits can be made via bank wire, SEPA, ACH and SWIFT. The brokerage charged by Kraken is one of the lowest in the industry. Taker fee (order taker) is 0.25 percent and can fall as low as 0.1 percent with sufficient trading volume. Meanwhile, maker fee (order maker) can be nil with sufficient trading volumes.

Mount $10,000 remains elusive for bitcoin which has been trading above the support price of $8,000 for more than last three weeks. The last time bitcoin climbed above $10,000 was on March 8.

In the last two weeks, bitcoin has touched a high of $9,964 and a low of $8,223 which it touched on Saturday.

At the time of writing this report, bitcoin was trading at $8,394, according to CoinMarketCap. The market capitalisation of bitcoin was $143 billion.

As it has been the trend, other leading cryptocurrency have followed the similar pattern of growth. Ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the world, has also been unable to breach the resistance of $850 for over a month now. At the time of writing it was trading at $699.

Ripple, bitcoin cash and EOSthe next three biggest cryptocurrencies also follow a similar growth trajectory. Ripple was trading at $0.71, bitcoin cash at $1,383 and EOS at $14.09.

The month of May has brought some positive news which could potentially propel the market. The new chief of South Korean watchdog who assumed office last week indicated that he could go softer on cryptocurrency market.

Yoon Suk-heun, the governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), said, Regarding cryptocurrencies, there are some positive aspects. Though he declined to delve into details about his possible steps, Suk-heun said he would improve regulations and try to produce a more stable financial system with better services and products.

The cryptocurrency market has been marred with hacking attempts in recent months. Even in India, which comparatively is not a big cryptocurrency market, hacking reports have become rampant.

Last week, cryptocurrency miners hacked 2,000 computers at Aditya Birla Group to mint the currencies. Similarly, nearly 350 websites were infected by in a mass cryptojacking campaign.

Delhi Police raided a cryptocurrency mining unit in Dehradun seizing hundreds of equipment. It was alleged that the owners of the rig were involved in a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.A Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that was formed earlier this month is likely to meet today for the first time.

The group will explore an "alternate" option to raise revenue so as to clear cane dues owed to farmers, a source in know of the matter told Moneycontrol.

Sugarcane farmers are in deep distress with cost of sugar production rising beyond Rs 35 per kg, which is higher than the market price hovering between Rs 26 per kg and Rs 28 per kg.

The food ministry had sought imposition of Cess at a rate not exceeding Rs 3 per kg on supply of sugar, over and above the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate of 5 percent.

In the 27th GST Council meeting on May 4, some states including West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala had opposed the idea of imposition of Cess on sugar as it is against the structure of GST which aims to simplify tax structure in the country by doing away with multiple taxes.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the three view points imposition of Cess, temporarily increasing tax and exploring an alternate solution  were extensively discussed and debated in the Council meeting.

This is first (such) suggestion has come up. How are such contingencies to be addressed in the GST regime? Are they to be addressed by imposition of cess or are they to be addressed by temporarily increasing the tax or by some alternative method of revenue raising. These viewpoints were extensively discussed and debated in the Council, Jaitley said

West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra had said that such a Cess will set a precedent for other states asking for similar levies on other commodities when they are in crisis.

As a result, the whole idea of GST will be lost, Mitra had said.

The Council decided to form a five-member ministerial panel that would make recommendations regarding Cess on sugar in two weeks from May 4.

Other members of this GoM are Uttar Pradesh FM Rajesh Agrawal, Kerala FM Thomas Isaac, Maharashtra FM Sudhir Mungatiwar, and D Jayakumar, Minister for Fisheries and Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Tamil Nadu.Representative image

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will on May 14 inaugurate two road projects  Zirakpur-Bathinda (NH 7) and Amritsar-Bathinda (NH54)  in Punjab, states minister Vijay Inder Singla said.

Singla, Minister for Public Works Department (PWD), stated that Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will preside over the function on May 14 marking inaugural of of Zirakpur-Bathinda and Sri Amritsar Sahib-Bathinda roads Singla stated that the 216.35 km long Zirakpur-Bathinda stretch has been laid at a cost of Rs 3,188.70 crore, while the Amritsar-Bathinda stretch of 174.64 km has been laid at a cost of Rs 2,894 crore.

The Punjab minister said in an official release that 216.35 km long Zirakpur-Patiala-Sangrur-Barnala-Bathinda section includes two railway over bridges and 16 flyovers. Similarly, the project has one major bridge, 40 small bridges and 7 foot over bridges constructed in its way. The road also has 32 major junctions and 212 smaller junctions for tariff decongestion.

He stated that similarly, the Amritsar-Harike-Makhu- Zira-Talwandi-Faridkot-Kotkapura-Bathinda stretch of NH 54 has 3 railway over bridges and 5 flyovers. The stretch also includes 3 big bridges, 53 small bridges and one foot over bridge.After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, petrol price was today hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies.

With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Also Read | Fuel prices: A look at the fresh rates across the country

Oil PSUs, who had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.

Petrol & Diesel Rates Oct 07, 2021 Petrol Rate in Mumbai Oct 07, 2021 Current Petrol Price Per Litre 109 109 View more Diesel Rate in Mumbai Oct 07, 2021 Current Petrol Price Per Litre 100 100 View more Show

State-owned oil marketing companies are estimated to have lost about Rs 500 crore as they absorbed higher cost resulting from the spike in international oil rates and fall in rupee against the US dollar.

Oil PSUs, which have been since June last year revising auto fuel prices on a daily basis to reflect changes in the cost, have kept pump rates static since April 24, an analysis of daily price notification issued by oil companies showed.

Oil PSUs have refused to acknowledge if the freeze followed a government diktat so as to help ruling BJP in Karnataka.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman Sanjiv Singh last week said that the state-owned firms were "temporarily moderating" prices to avoid sharp spikes and panic among consumers.

Petrol and diesel prices were last revised on April 24 when they were hiked by 13 paise each. But prices were frozen thereafter. This despite benchmark international rate for petrol going up from USD 78.84 per barrel, which was used for raising the price to Rs 74.63 a litre on April 24, to USD 82.98 now, according to sources privy to fuel pricing methodology.

The benchmark international diesel rates during this period have climbed from USD 84.68 per barrel to USD 88.63. Also, the rupee has weakened to Rs 67 per US dollar from Rs 66.62, making imports costlier.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last month denied reports of a directive to state oil firms to absorb at least Re 1 a litre hike by not raising prices in line with cost.

The prices at petrol pumps of state-owned fuel retailers like Indian Oil Corp (IOC) were cut by 1-3 paise every day in the first fortnight of December 2017 before Gujarat went to polls.

They started moving up immediately after polling for assembly elections in Gujarat concluded on December 14, leading to speculation that government may have asked oil companies to hold the prices.

State-owned oil companies in June last year dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month and instead adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantly reflect changes in cost.

If this practice was followed in letter and spirit, petrol and diesel prices should have been increased by Rs 1.5 a litre in last 19 days, an analyst tracking the sector said.

The government had in June 2010 freed petrol price from its control and the diesel rates were deregulated in October 2014. Prices have since then moved more or less in tandem with international rates barring a few exceptions like the period before a crucial election.

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg have in the past weeks ruled out any immediate reduction in excise duty to cushion the increases warranted from a spike in international oil price.

The BJP-led government had raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47 per litre to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices. This led to its excise mop up more than doubling to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

The central government had cut excise duty by Rs 2 per litre in October 2017, when petrol price reached Rs 70.88 per litre in Delhi and diesel Rs 59.14. Because of the reduction in excise duty, diesel prices had on October 4, 2017, come down to Rs 56.89 per litre and petrol to Rs 68.38 per litre.

However, a global rally in crude prices pushed domestic fuel prices far higher than those levels.Graphite electrode manufacturers witnessed another quarter of pricing-led growth, with HEG far exceeding expectations in terms of sale realisations and margin expansion. Sequential improvement in the sectors earnings is a reflection of supply-side reforms in China and the higher usage of electric arc furnaces (EAF) for steel manufacturing.

However, as the contract-renewal cycle stabilises, for both graphite electrodes as a product and needle coke as a raw material, the uptrend in earnings also appears to be plateauing in the near term.

HEGs quarterly update

Source: HEG

HEGs quarterly results come as a surprise as the contract renewal cycle accelerates. Sales have increased 50 percent sequentially, benefitting from the change in the way products are priced, and the progress in contract renewals for graphite electrodes.

With a capacity utilization of 84 percent, the company is operating with a steady momentum, partially impacted by a shortage of needle coke.

The companys realisation of around $12,000 per ton is 55 percent higher, sequentially. The change in cost of raw material has been relatively milder, leading to a 229-bps expansion in gross operating profit margin. However, margins will likely stabilise at this point, as contract renewals for needle coke catch up.

A fall in expense for power consumed and better operating leverage helped EBITDA margin expand to 73.6 percent.

Table: Graphite India Q4

Source: Graphite India

Takeaways from Graftech result

A review of US-based industry leader GrafTech Internationals results suggests that spot prices of graphite electrodes are between $17,000 and $23,000 per ton.

GrafTechs capacity utilisation was 98 percent, after excluding the temporary shutdown of one of its plants. The company reported a sales realisation of $10,124 per ton for graphite electrodes, as long-term contracts brought in 60 percent of total sales.

The companys realisation in the remaining quarters of 2018, however, is expected to be around $9,500 per ton, as it is a blended average of long-term (3-5 year) contracts, as well as some inked in 2017, when prices were subdued.

In the case of HEG as well, the management expects a realisation of around $11,000 per ton to be sustainable in the near term. As contract renewals for graphite electrodes pick up pace, the company expects almost all its sales in the first quarter of FY19 to come from its most recent price regime. However, HEG also manufactures high power grade electrodes (15-20 percent of total sales), a segment in which it competes with new supply from the Chinese market.

Falling Chinese exports supportive for prices of graphite electrodes

Given that China has cut down on steel manufacturing and has shut down inefficient induction furnaces and blast furnaces, Chinese steel exports have continued to decline this year too.

For January-April, steel export volumes, at 21.6 million tons, have declined by 20 percent year-on-year. This led to higher steel production in other regions where EAFs are preferred.

At the same time, electric arc furnaces are replacing induction furnaces and blast furnaces in China. According to HEGs management, steel production in China through EAFs is expected to triple from its 2016 level to 160 million tons in 2020. Of the total, nearly 51 million tons of EAF production is expected to start this year itself.

Interestingly, this increase of around 110 million tons in steel production through EAFs in China, between 2016 and 2020, would be equivalent to around a third of the total amount of steel produced in the world using EAFs in 2016.

Not surprisingly, this shift towards EAFs is what is seen turning the tide in favour of graphite electrode manufacturers, because these furnaces contribution to Chinas total steel production is expected to move up from around 5 percent in 2016 to 15-20 percent in 2020.

Also, there is no new greenfield project in sight for the graphite electrode industry, which is, again, supportive for existing manufacturers. Why so?

Source: HEG

Needle coke supply remains a key overhang

At the moment, limited supply of needle coke is capping the capacity utilisation of units manufacturing graphite electrodes. While HEG is optimistic about achieving higher capacity utilisation of 85-90 percent in the current quarter on the back of debottlenecking, opting for a greenfield project at this juncture is not an option for most global players.

So far, only Graftech has announced a plan to debottleneck 35,000 tons of capacity in the current year. While the company is largely vertically-integrated, any addition of capacity would require third-party sourcing of needle coke, around which uncertainty still remains.

Among recent developments on supply of needle coke is Conoco Phillips plan to expand capacity to around 50,000 tons. While this would help stabilise raw material prices, needle cokes usage for production of lithium ion batteries, which accounts for 15 percent its total usage, would remain a critical factor to look at.

Chart: Global needle coke capacity (000 MT)

Source: Company

Constraints on supply of needle coke cap volume growth for the graphite electrodes segment. Realisations could peak in the ongoing fiscal year. By the time the impact of new needle coke contracts seeps into companies income statements with a lag, we may already be past the peak of the margin cycle.

Having said that, high barriers to entry, supply side reforms in China, higher usage of EAFs for steel manufacturing and the time lag of around 4 years in getting greenfield capacity, keeps the visibility of free cash flow intact for graphite manufacturers in the medium term.

This also provides HEG a margin of safety at its current valuation of around five times its 2019 estimated earnings. However, given the cyclicality of the companys business and the expected stabilisation of earnings in FY19, it is advisable to buy the stock only on dips, and that too, only for investors with high risk appetite.

Follow @anubhavsays

For more research articles, visit our Moneycontrol Research pageDid you know that six stocks from the BSE universe that have given at least 10 percent return in each of the September quarter for the last three years?. We considered companies with a market cap of over Rs 500 crore. (Data Source: ACE Equity)

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After witnessing a rather smooth ride in the week gone by, investors should brace for some volatility around the Karnataka election verdict. The Nifty rose about 1.7 percent for the week-ended May 11 and managed to close above 10,800 levels. But the move was largely led by index heavyweights, despite the market breadth remaining negative.

It was a terrible week for so many counters, especially those from the midcap universe that have been hammered brutally during last week. The only positive from last week trade was the Niftys close above 10,800 levels, ahead of the Karnataka election verdict, which suggests a favourable election outcome for markets.

It looks like some hope has been built by the traders fraternity on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) becoming victorious in this crucial battle. In the initial part of the forthcoming week, it is advisable to stay light and keep assessing how the market behaves for a day or two post the key political event, Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst Technicals and Derivatives at Angel Broking, said.

He added that traders need to be prepared for all kind of possibilities and should ideally position themselves accordingly. Considering the stock specific destruction in the week gone, traders need to be very agile when it comes to a stock picking.

From a technical point of view, surpassing this stiff hurdle of 10,800 certainly bodes well for the bulls. If we have to keep this event aside and make a judgment only on the basis of charts, we may see a continuation of the ongoing momentum towards 10,860-10,900 levels, experts suggest.

Though Chavan did not want to hazard a guess on the political front, he sees some kind of profit-taking at higher levels post event in case of a favourable outcome for the BJP.

On the downside, experts see 10,690 followed by 10,600 as key supports. A sustainable move below these points would apply brakes on the ongoing optimism.

We have collated a list of 12 stock strategies that investors could deploy ahead of the Karnataka election verdict on Tuesday:

Analyst: Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst, Technicals, and Derivatives at Angel Broking

SAREGAMA India: Buy| Target: Rs 920| Stop loss: Rs 730| Return 15%

After a long consolidation, the counter has managed to burst through its strong hurdle of 780 on a closing basis. The price activity is accompanied by more than its average daily volumes.

In addition, the weekly charts are now looking quite encouraging and are suggesting a decent upside in the near term. We recommend buying for a near-term target of Rs.920. Traders can keep their stop losses at Rs.730.

Monsanto: Buy| Target: Rs 2940| Stop loss: Rs 2,700| Return 6%

It is generally considered as a slow-moving stock and hence, its not a traders favorite counter. But having said that, the way it is shaped up now, we will not be surprised to see a strong move in the near term.

On Thursday, the stock prices broke out from the congestion zone and now looking at the weekly chart, we expect a takeoff quite soon. Hence, one can look to go long for a target of Rs. 2,940 by following a strict stop loss of Rs.2,700.

Canara Bank: Sell| Target: Rs 230| Stop loss: Rs 255| Return 6%

Of late, there has been a consolidation seen around its retracement level of 250. The stock prices vacillated around it for nearly three weeks and now, due to last weeks correction, we can witness a breakdown from this crucial near-term supports.

In technical terms, we can call it as a confirmation of the Inverted Flag pattern and this structure now projects a target of 230 in next few days. One can look to go short for a target of Rs. 230 by following a strict stop loss of Rs.255.

Analyst: Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in

Biocon: Buy| Target: Rs 658| Stop loss: Rs 610| Return 4%

After the recent correction, this counter appears to be stabilising around its 50-days EMA and appears to have formed a bottom around Rs 615 levels. On a bounce from this base, it can initially head to test its gap zone between Rs 653  658 levels registered on 3rd of May.

Hence, traders should make use of this opportunity and go long for a target of Rs 658 and a stop below Rs 610 on closing basis.

Indiabulls Housing Finance: Buy| Target: Rs 1297| Stop loss: Rs 1195| Return 4%

After the recent fall from the highs of Rs 1,390, this counter appears to have stabilised around its 200-day moving average (DMA) and registered a Bullish Engulfing formation suggesting a bottom may be in place. Positional traders should go long with a stop below Rs 1,195 and a target of Rs 1,297.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 925| Stop loss: Rs 847| Return 6%

After hitting a lifetime high of Rs 887, this counter appears to be in consolidation mode for the last 8 trading sessions. It appears that the stock has formed a short-term bottom around Rs 850 levels.

Recent breakouts on the long-term charts thrown up attractive targets which positional traders should make use in this consolidation phase. Traders can go long for a target of Rs 925 and a stop below Rs 847 on a closing basis.

Analyst: Dinesh Rohira, Founder & CEO, 5nance.com

Welspun India Ltd: Buy | Target: Rs 74 | Stop loss: Rs 57 |Return 12%

Welspun India formed three lower-bottoms on its yearly price chart after making a 52-weeks high at Rs 93 levels. It made several attempts to break out from its higher top after consolidating at Rs 65 levels but continued to trade downward at 57-55 levels.

However, last week, it made a strong breakout from its 200-20-days EMA placed at 63 with decisive volume growth which indicates a positive trend.

On the daily price chart, after closing with about 8 percent intraday gain, the scrip made a solid bullish candlestick pattern.

The weekly RSI level at 51 marginally witnessed a positive divergence along with positive takeover on MACD nearing its Signal Line.

The scrip has a support at 51 levels and resistance level at 78. We have a BUY recommendation for Welspun India which is currently trading at Rs. 65.90

Rain Industries Ltd: Sell | Target Rs 256 | Stop loss: Rs 290 | Return 7%

Rain Industries consolidated on its monthly price chart despite attempting to move upward in last weeks trade, but selling pressure towards the weekend session dragged the scrip from crucial levels placed at Rs 339 levels.

The scrip slipped from its 20-50-days EMA levels coupled with significant negative volume growth, indicating a stiff resistance.

The scrip formed a solid bearish candlestick pattern on its daily price chart after breaching below its 20-50-days EMA level indicating a sustained pressure.

Further, the secondary momentum indicator continued to indicate negative signal with RSI placed at 39 levels breaching below the previous level, while MACD chart inched near bearish crossover.

The scrip is facing a resistance at Rs 318 levels and support is placed at Rs 245 levels. We have a sell recommendation for Rain Industries which is currently trading at Rs 274.20

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd: Buy | Target: Rs 545 | Stop loss Rs 495 | Return 5%

Mahindra Lifespace went through a consolidation phase since January 2018 after making a higher top at Rs 538 levels and took a strong support at Rs 420-414 levels.

Despite remaining muted in the early session, the scrip made a positive breakout on its weekly price chart along with strong volume growth, indicating a trend reversal.

The scrip formed a bullish candlestick pattern on its daily price chart indicating a reversal pattern from past trend.

Further, a secondary momentum indicator witnessed a breakout with its weekly RSI shifting upward at 65 levels coupled with positive crossover on MACD at 5 from Signal-Line.

The support level for scrip is currently placed at Rs 477 and resistance level from the upper band is placed at Rs 560. We have a BUY recommendation for Mahindra Lifespace Developers which is currently trading at Rs 518.80

Analyst: Rajesh Palviya, Head  Technical & Derivatives Analyst, Axis Securities

PTC India Ltd: Buy| CMP: Rs 98| Target Rs 104| Stop Loss: Rs 93| Return 6%

PTC India has formed a solid Bullish candle on the weekly chart indicating positive bias ahead. Another prominent observation on the price chart of PTC India was that the entire consolidation under way since Jan 2018 till date has formed a down-sloping trend line.

The breakout of this trend line is witnessed at 92 level on the weekly chart. The stock is sustaining above its 20 and 50-days moving average which supports bullish sentiments ahead.

Both daily and weekly strength indicator RSI along with the momentum indicator Stochastic are in a bullish territory and are sustaining above their reference lines which signals strength and upward momentum in price.

Thus, taking into consideration the above factors, the maximum upside can be expected to Rs 102-104.

Exide Industries Ltd: Buy| CMP: Rs 261| Target: Rs 280| Stop loss: Rs 247| Return 7%

The most prominent observation on the price chart of Exide Industries is that the entire consolidation under way since February 2018 till date has formed up-sloping trend line.

The breakout of this trend line is witnessed at Rs 255 levels on the weekly chart. The stock is sustaining above its 20, 50, 100-days SMA which supports bullish sentiments ahead.

On the volumes front, the stock has witnessed significant rise around breakout level indicating increased participation on the rally.

Both weekly and monthly strength indicator RSI along with the momentum indicator Stochastic are in bullish territory and sustaining above their reference lines which signals strength and upward momentum in price. Thus, taking into consideration the above factors, the maximum upside can be expected to Rs 275-280.

eClerx Services: Buy| CMP: Rs 1,379| Target: Rs 1,525| Stop loss: Rs1,300| Return 10%

The most prominent observation on the price chart of eClerx Services is that the entire sideways consolidation under way since Feb 2018 till date has taken the shape of a bullish Head & Shoulder formation as highlighted in the adjoining daily price chart.

This pattern breakout was observed at Rs 1,361 levels (Neckline @ 1,361). The measuring implication of the price pattern i.e. the distance from the neckline to the base of the Head & Shoulder formation is (1,360-1,160=200 points) projected from the breakout level of Rs 1,360 provides upside target of Rs 1,560 approximately.

The stock is sustaining above its 20 and 50-days EMA which supports bullish sentiments ahead. On the volumes front, the stock has significantly risen around breakout level.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.Market

Kshitij Anand

The Nifty50 which started on a mildly positive note failed to gain momentum and closed flat on Monday forming an indecisive pattern known as Doji on the daily candlestick charts.

A 'Doji' is formed when the index opens and then closes approximately around the same level but remain volatile throughout the day which is indicated by its long shadow on either side. It appears like a cross or a plus sign.

The index which breached 10,800 levels on an intraday basis but managed to climb back and closed above 10,800 for the second consecutive day in a row.

On the technical charts, Nifty bounced back near its 5-DEMA placed at 10,764. Tuesday could turn out to be a deciding day for the Indian market. We could see a breakout above 10850-10,900 while a break below 10,680 could turn conditions in favour of bears.

The Nifty50 registered a Doji kind of indecisive formation ahead of the major event suggesting that market participants lacked directional clue and has taken a cautious stance. Although the technical picture is looking somewhat positive, but the market is bound to get influenced by the event, Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in told Moneycontrol.

Traders are advised to be prepared for wild swings in either of the directions over the course of the next session and advised focus on larger trends rather than getting worried by the volatility of the day, he said.

Mohammad further added that in case if Nifty50 registers a short-term top at Mondays high of 10,834 then the correction may get eventually extended up to the zone of 10,534  10,456 over the next couple of sessions.

In between, 10,601 can act as a minor support but corrective swing shall get culminated only after dipping below 10,601. On the other hand, a positive outcome may drive the indices initially towards its logical targets of 10,928 levels, he said.

India VIX moved up by 1.93 percent at 14.25 levels. On the options front, maximum Put OI is placed at 10,500 followed by 10,700 strikes while maximum Call OI is placed at 11,000 followed by 10,800 strikes.

Fresh Put writing is placed at 10,700 followed by 10,800 which is shifting its support to higher zones while Call writing is seen at 11,100 and then towards 10,900 strikes.

Option data suggests an immediate trading range between 10,700 to 10,900 zones. The Nifty index remained in a range of 40-50 points for the entire trading session and closed on a flattish note ahead of Karnataka Election result, Chandan Taparia, Derivatives, and Technical Analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities told Moneycontrol.

It formed a Spinning Top Candle on a daily scale which suggests the absence of follow up buying at crucial zones, he said.live bse live

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Ever since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced its revised framework for the resolution of stressed assets on February 12, 2018, the CNX public sector bank indices have fallen by nearly 18 percent. Markets, as usual, reacted to the news before the impact of the news could be felt on the operations of the banks.

RBI's revised resolution framework is so stringent that it does not even allow a single days default in loan repayment. As soon as a default is registered, banks are required to trigger the resolution process and provide for the default in its books. Thus, higher provisioning is expected from the banks, especially the public sector banks(PSBs).

Reports say that the loan-loss provisioning has stoked fears among bankers about the possibility of hitting, if not breaching, the minimum regulatory Tier-1 capital. A breach below this level is considered dangerous and increases the cost of operations for the bank as its borrowing rate will shoot up.

Allahabad Bank has already breached that level. But the first bank to face the stick is Dena Bank, which has been directed by the central bank not to issue any fresh loans or hire new personnel in the wake of mounting non-performing assets (NPAs). The RBI has initiated prompt corrective action (PCA) for Dena Bank and imposed restrictions in view of high net NPAs and negative return on assets.

Now reports say that other banks may join Dena Bank. Already 11 banks are under RBIs watch list, including Dena Bank.

The solution, however, seems to be worse than the problem. Not allowing banks to lend further or recruiting new blood is only going to accelerate the bank's race to the bottom.

What RBI has essentially done is asked the banks to pull their shutters down. This is akin to asking a retailer not to sell its goods but still try to meet all its obligations until such time that it has recovered its dues from the market.

Having said that, these banks too have to take the blame as they have been ever-greening some of these accounts and postponing the inevitable. Generating a negative return on asset just proves the incapability of the banks.

But the point to note here is that most of the toxic assets are old and have turned bad on account of a slowing economy and policy paralysis. In the present scenario, the economy is in a growth phase and chances of the assets turning non-performing anytime soon is very unlikely.

Not allowing the public sector banks to lend would mean that they will have to invest the incremental deposits in low yielding government bonds and generating lower revenue. The move will not only scare away investors from these banks but will also make depositors jittery, not to mention the employee morale.

If these banks are allowed to continue lending, they would be able to generate higher revenue, which in turn would embolden them to come out of their problems.

But preventing them from lending is like expecting them to run with their feet tied. Unless the central bank plans to merge these banks in the near future with bigger and profitable ones, chances are that the banks will collapse under its own weight or should we say, dead weight.Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to expel senior leader and former union minister P Chidambaram from the party, alleging that he and his family have stashed money abroad. "Chidambaram did not give the Enforcement Directorate information about 15 bank accounts in foreign countries where the former finance minister and his family stashed away over three billion dollars. Will Rahul Gandhi throw him out of the party?" Rawat told reporters here yesterday.

Rawat, a BJP leader, claimed that during the erstwhile UPA dispensation, the Supreme Court had issued an order to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) on black money stashed aboard, but the then government did not set it up to shield the corrupt.

Drawing a comparison between UPA and the current NDA dispensation at the Centre, he said the Narendra Modi government constituted the SIT at the very first meeting of its cabinet.

"If the Congress has even an iota of morality left in it, Rahul Gandhi should expel Chidambaram from the party, " the chief minister said.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US.

The former finance minister's family members had said the Income Tax Department charge sheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their I-T returns.live bse live

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A consortium of nine associations of Jaypee homebuyers consisting of around 2,500 members on Monday said they had no faith in Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), the parent company of Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL), and that they would lose their life savings if JIL was pushed into liquidation.

Supreme Court will hear the Jaypee case on May 16.

The homebuyers also sought to demonstrate that the cost for construction of Yamuna expressway was higher by Rs 4,384 crore compared to relevant benchmarks for other expressways of a similar nature.

Similarly, while EBITDA margins in the construction business for the best player like L&T were 11-14 percent, the EBITDA margin of JAL construction business was over 30 percent between FY 12 and FY 15. JAL was a beneficiary of the inflated cost for construction as JIL had awarded a contract of construction of Yamuna Expressway and real estate projects to JAL, they said at a press conference held in Noida on Monday.

The homebuyers demanded that JAL should not be allowed to regain control of JIL as JAL has huge liabilities of Rs 37,000 crore with various banks and JAL has defaulted on its various loans and is on verge of insolvency. The homebuyers also alluded to the application filed by the RBI in the Supreme Court seeking its permission to initiate insolvency proceedings against JAL. The homebuyers argued that JAL having failed to deliver flats to a large number of homebuyers should not be allowed to regain control of JIL.

"We do not have faith in Jaypee group and it should not be allowed to develop our projects," said Aaditya Gutgutia, a lead volunteer of nine associations.

"We do not want liquidation of Jaypee Infratech. A credible bidder should acquire the company and complete all the pending flats," said Gutgutia, who represented Jaypee Kensington Boulevard Apartment Welfare Association.

Alleging that Jaypee group have diverted home buyers fund to other businesses, these nine associations demanded that Jaypee promoters should not be allowed to regain control of Jaypee Infratech.

Homebuyers also apprehend that JAL may have diverted more than Rs 10,000 crores of homebuyers money from JIL for its own businesses like the expansion of cement plant and putting money in their power businesses. They demanded that there should be a thorough investigation into affairs of JIL as JAL appears to have siphoned off funds in excess of Rs 10,000 crore from JIL.

The homebuyers also opposed the decision of lending banks/Committee of Creditors (CoC) of JIL to push JIL into liquidation. The homebuyers argued that the banks and JAL were acting in collusion for the last 7-8 years with a view to defeat the interest of the homebuyers and latest decision of the banks/CoC to push JIL into liquidation is an attempt by the CoC/banks to facilitate JAL in regaining control of JIL.

They argued that the banks earlier allowed large-scale siphoning off of funds from JAL to JIL and took out the monies paid by the homebuyers to JIL towards interest on loans. The banks appear to have taken out more than Rs 7,000 crore from JIL towards the interest cost, which was largely funded from the homebuyers money.

The banks have now rejected resolution plans for bringing in a new promoter of JIL after nine months of IBC process. Such an approach by the banks clearly shows that they have been acting in concert with JAL to defeat the interest of the homebuyers, they said at the conference.

The homebuyers demanded that a credible person with a strong net worth should be inducted as a new promoter of JIL and the new promoter be asked to start construction of flats at the earliest possible. The homebuyers also demanded that the banks should have approved resolution plan of Suraksha or any other credible person with a strong net worth.

They said Suraksha or any person coming in as a new promoter of JIL should address the concerns of the homebuyers such as timely possession, reasonable compensation for delay and not charge any additional money from the homebuyers on the pretext of increase in the super area etc. The homebuyers also argued that any deficit in compensation for delay should be funded by JAL as JAL is beneficiary of siphoning off of funds from JIL and is contractually liable towards the homebuyers.

Another group (two associations) of Jaypee homebuyers associations on Monday said that they would want Manoj Gaur-led promoter group to take over the company and complete the unfinished housing units.

Two associations -- Developers Township Property Owners Welfare Society and Aman Welfare Association -- said that Jaypee group flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) should be given "a second chance" if it is willing to honor all previous obligations.

The buyers also questioned the devaluation of assets by bidders and said that they did not believe that any new builder will be able to do justice with these projects.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) which was largely meant for distressed industrial companies does not apply for real estate companies. All such companies have depreciating assets. Therefore, the IRP was allowed to place a Distress Sale Value (DSV) of assets. Real estate projects include land and buildings which are appreciating assets so it was wrong to place a distress sale value on such assets. This is why we oppose the liquidation of Jaypee Infratech under the IBC, says Arvind Jain, president, Developers Township Property Owners Welfare Society, Noida.

Jaypee assets have fast appreciation potential due to oncoming Jewar Airport and Metro. Last year IDBI had recorded asset value at about Rs 14,500  15,500 crores. How has that been reduced to just Rs 8000 crore now? After a year, the value should have rather increased! Does it not look like an effort to sell the company for a pittance, Jain asked.

COC (a committee of creditors) has already rejected the Suraksha's Bid after due deliberation. JAL has been allowed to make a bid by the Supreme Court of India, which is much higher than the Suraksha. Why JAL should not be given a second chance if it is willing to honor its all previous obligations," Jain said.

Last week, Jaypee Infratech's lenders rejected the Rs 7,350 crore bid of Lakshwadeep, a joint venture between Sudhir Valia-led Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company and Mumbai-based Dosti Realty, to acquire the company and complete all housing projects.

The Jaypee promoter submitted a bid of over Rs 10,000 crore to revive Jaypee Infratech.

Last year, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium, seeking resolution for Jaypee Infratech under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The tribunal had appointed Anuj Jain as Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to manage the companys business.A man walks past the logo of the SoftBank telecommunications company in Tokyo, Japan, May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter - RTX2DKEH

Skeptical over stake sales in Flipkart to Walmart, SoftBank is discussing to invest as much as USD 3 billion in Paytm Mall, reported The Economic Times citing people familiar with the matter.

In April this year, SoftBank had announced a USD 400 million investment in the Indian online marketplace for a 21 percent stake. Since then, the Japan-based Internet giant is in talks to take up its stake in the company. However, its agreement with Flipkart restricts it from investing more than USD 500 million in Paytm Mall until 2020.

If the Japanese conglomerate decides to exit Flipkart by selling its 20-22 percent stakes in the Indian e-commerce giant, it would be able to proceed with the Paytm Mall deal.

At present, the total value of its stake sale to Walmart will be worth about USD 4 billion, as per the publication. But, the company is yet to decide over the sale of shares as it is reportedly considering to seal the deal without attracting a hefty tax liability.

Meanwhile, the tax department will seek share purchase agreement from Flipkart on the mega USD 16 billion buyout by US retail giant Walmart to assess tax liability and also to find out whether the GAAR provisions can be invoked, an official told news agency PTI.

Currently, the department is going through the Section 9(1) of the Income Tax law, which deals with indirect transfer provisions, to see if the benefits under the bilateral tax treaties with countries like Singapore and Mauritius, could be available for foreign investors selling stakes to Walmart.Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said that in next five years, his company will launch about 300 missions into space. The number of flights, if realised, will easily make SpaceX the most successful space agency in the world.

Responding to a tweet which discussed how the reusable rocket technology would bring down the cost of space flights, Musk said, SpaceX will probably build 30 to 40 rocket cores for ~300 missions over 5 years. Then BFR takes over & Falcon retires.



SpaceX will prob build 30 to 40 rocket cores for ~300 missions over 5 years. Then BFR takes over & Falcon retires. Goal of BFR is to enable anyone to move to moon, Mars & eventually outer planets.

 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2018

Goal of BFR is to enable anyone to move to the moon, Mars and eventually outer planets.

BFR or Big Falcon Rocket is SpaceXs heavy payload vehicle under development for interplanetary flights.

The goal proposed by Musk translates into around 60 missions per year. This is easily more than any agency or country launches in a year.

Just to put in perspective, there were in total 91 space missions in 2017, including 18 launches by SpaceX. Out of those 18, in five launches, Falcon 9 was reused.

The maximum space flights, country wise, was from the US. There were 29 launches from the US in 2017, which include SpaceX flights. China launched 18 flights, out of which 16 were successful. India launched five flights, out of which one was unsuccessful.

SpaceX has already launched total 9 flights this year which include one flight of Falcon Heavy.In order to achieve the objective to have the body and mind of a 22-year-old but the experience of a 130-year-old, a Harvard professor backed startup is planning to rejuvenate dogs using gene therapy. And, if results are positive, the same approach could be used in humans.

Rejuvenate Bio, co-founded by George Church of Harvard Medical School, has already carried out age-defying tests on beagles and claims it will make animals younger" by adding new DNA instructions to their bodies.

The clues from past research have shown promising results in simple organisms like worms and flies. Tweaks in their genes it has been found that their lifespans could be increased by double or better. The company just want to bring the same technology to dogs, MIT Technology Review reports.

The company, however, keeps itself away from the gaze of the press. Their website consists of a single page with no information whatsoever. Therefore, it has been unclear how many dogs have been tested.

We have already done a bunch of trials in mice and we are doing some in dogs, and then well move on to humans, Church told the podcaster Rob Reid earlier this year.

The companys plan to using reverse ageing technology on canines also has a commercial angle. The startup wants to tap the $72-billion-a-year US pet industry.

Dogs are a market in and of themselves, Church said during an event in Boston. Its not just a big organism close to humans. Its something people will pay for, and the FDA process is much faster. Well do dog trials, and thatll be a product, and thatll pay for scaling up in human trials.

The idea of treating animals first came as getting an approval for similar treatment in humans may not be quick. Church said that if they went to FDA saying they are able to extend life by 20 years, the authority would ask them wait for 20 years and come back with data to prove the claim.

However, Church said, if they get approval anytime, he would volunteer to be the first one to be treated.Gold

Angel Commodities' report on Gold

On Wednesday, spot gold prices declined marginally by 0.13 percent to close at $1312.4 per ounce as safe-haven buying failed to kick in after the United States withdrew from the Iranian nuclear accord, and as rising U.S. Treasury yields added pressure. Dismayed European allies sought to salvage the international nuclear pact with Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the landmark accord, reached in 2015 before he took office. Also weighing on gold, geopolitical tensions in the Korean peninsula eased further as North Korea freed three American detainees ahead of talks between Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. On the MCX, gold prices rose 0.4 percent to close at Rs.31547 per 10 gms.

Outlook

The withdrawal of US from the Iran sanctions accord has failed to ignite safe haven buying, while tensions between US and North Korea also seems to have eased which in turn will lead to correction in gold prices. Trade with caution in Gold, MCX gold prices are expected to trade lower today, international markets are trading flat at $1313 per ounce.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read MoreAurobindo Pharma Ltd.

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Shares of JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals declined nearly 4 percent intraday Monday after USFDA completed inspection of Gujarat facility.

The companys API manufacturing facility at Panoli, Gujarat has successfully passed periodical inspection by USFDA with two minor procedural observations, company said in release.

These observations do not impact continuity of company's business and the company would continue its manufacturing activities in cGMP compliant manner, it added.

The said inspection was carried out from May 7, to May 11, 2018.

The company proposes to address these observation in next 30 days.

This USFDA/EU/Japan approved API facility primarily manufactures APIs for exports to EU and formulations exports to US.

At 14:27 hrs JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals was quoting at Rs 313.85, down Rs 6.25, or 1.95 percent on the BSE.

Posted by Rakesh Patillive bse live

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Sugar stocks had a bitter trading day with a majority of the scrips declining over 5 percent. A meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) led by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, was to discuss an alternate option to raise revenues today. However, the meet got deferred to June 3.

Bajaj Hindusthan, Kesar Enterprises, and Piccadilly Agro were major losers falling up to 8 percent.

The group will explore an option to raise revenue so as to clear cane dues owed to farmers, a source told Moneycontrol. (Click here)

Sugarcane farmers are in deep distress with the costs of sugar production rising beyond Rs 35 per kg, higher than the market price hovering between Rs 26 per kg and Rs 28 per kg.

The food ministry had sought imposition of Cess at a rate not exceeding Rs 3 per kg on a supply of sugar, over and above the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate of 5 percent. A decision on the cess imposition had been deferred at the last GSTN meet.Fraud

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is probing three companies -- Ruchi Soya, Sterling Biotech and Kanishk Gold - that are already under the regulatory scanner for loan defaults, according to an official source. The Corporate Affairs Ministry has ordered investigation by SFIO against the three firms for alleged financial irregularities, the source said.

In recent months, many companies and individuals, including those related to diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi - the alleged kingpins behind the Rs 13,000 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank - have come under the SFIO lens.

Ruchi Soya did not respond to a query seeking comments on the SFIO probe while Sterling Biotech and Kanishk Gold could not be immediately contacted.

The SFIO, which also has powers to arrest people, mainly investigates violations under the Companies Act.

Leading edible oil firm Ruchi Soya Industries is under insolvency proceedings. The company, which owns brands such as Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich and Ruchi Gold, has a total debt of around Rs 12,000 crore.

Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterlite Biotech and Chennai-based jewellery firm Kanishk Gold are already being probed by the CBI with respect to default in loan payments.

All the three firms have defaulted in paying back bank loans.

Among other entities, SFIO is investigating 107 companies and seven Limited Liability Partnerships linked to Modi-Choksi groups with regard to PNB scam.

As part of larger efforts to curb illicit fund flows, the government has been cracking the whip on shell companies and defaulting entities, among others.11:56 AM IST

53 killed, 39 in UP, due to lightning, thunderstorms: MHA

As many as 53 people were killed, including 39 in Uttar Pradesh, due to lightning and thunderstorms in four states since last night, the Home Ministry said today.

As per information received from state governments, 39 people died in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Andhra Pradesh, four in West Bengal and one in Delhi due to lightning and thunderstorms during the intervening night of May 13 and 14, a ministry spokesperson said.

Fifty-three people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and one in West Bengal.

Read the full story here.Sharing or forwarding a message on social media amounts to accepting or endorsing the message, the Madras High Court has said.

The court made this statement while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of BJP leader S Ve Shekher, who shared a derogatory post written by Thirumalai Sa on Facebook.

The post made derogatory remarks about women journalists, even suggesting that women journalists in Tamil Nadu sleep with "top bosses".

"Words are more powerful than acts, When a celebrity-like person forwards messages like this, the common public will start believing that this type of things are going on", the court said, as quoted by Live Law.

Shekher, an actor-turned politician, has claimed that he shared the message without carefully reading the content.

The court also said abusing women is a violation of rights.

"There cannot be any harsher words than this which portraits all working women coming up in life are sacrificing their chastity. The future of such working women is at stake. Instead of wiping out the wrong impression about working women among the public, these words create fear and anxiety among people who want to pursue a career," the court said, as quoted by Live Law.Fuelling the ongoing controversy over Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnahs portrait on Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus, Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu now wants the varsity to be named after Jat king Mahendra Pratap Singh.

The Haryana FM, while addressing a gathering at a ground-breaking ceremony of a Jat Dharamsala in Rewari recently, called Jinnah responsible for destroying the integrity of the nation, and even though his portrait is displayed in the varsity, but no picture of Raja Mahendra Pratap has been installed there. The minister further recalled land donation by the Jat king to the varsity and said that his "contribution in the field of education cannot be forgotten".

Meanwhile, the Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) leaders began their indefinite relay hunger strike late last night demanding judicial enquiry into the violence on the campus over Jinnah's portrait.

Earlier, several AMU students sat on an indefinite dharna after a clash with the police on May 2 when they were demanding action against the right-wing Hindu activists, who had entered the campus and shouted slogans against Jinnah's portrait.

However, former AMU vice-chancellor Lt Gen. (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah has said that the incident which took place on May 2 was not concerning Jinnah's portrait on AMU premises. In a statement issued, he claimed that the attack by armed goons at the AMU campus, during the campus visit of former vice president Hamid Ansari, was "actually an attempt to target Ansari by forces inimical to him".

(With inputs from PTI)Representative image

Nepal Premier K P Sharma Oli today said he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have to address the "outstanding tasks" between the two countries in a time-bound manner.

Briefing Nepal's Parliament on Prime Minister Modi's two-day state visit, Oli said the visit has elevated bilateral ties to new heights.

"Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi ji and I have agreed, during Modi Ji's successful state visit to Nepal, to address the outstanding tasks between the two countries in a time-bound manner," Oli tweeted as he thanked Modi for his visit here.

India and Nepal, during Modi's visit, agreed to address 'all matters' by September 19 -- Nepal's Constitution Day.

Modi yesterday wrapped up his two-day visit to Nepal during which he held talks with Oli and visited the famed 20th century Janaki temple, Mukhtinath and Pashupatinath temples.

Oli also briefed Nepal's Parliament about Modi's visit.

He said Nepal's engagement in the Ramayan Circuit, laying the foundation stone for Arun III Hydropower Project among others, were the major achievements of the trip.

The visit had elevated the existing relationship between the two neighbouring countries to "new heights", he said.

The two countries have also agreed to expedite implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepal's Constitution Day in September, said Oli adding that multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held.

The two countries have also agreed to form a taskforce of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways, he said.

They also explored methods to cut Nepal's trade deficit with India while providing easy entry to Nepali products including ginger and cardamom, Oli said.

Oli also said he would soon pay an official visit to China but did not disclose the date of the trip.07:22 PM IST

Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting in Bengaluru:

BJP is a grounded party which strives to work for the interests of the common man. We do not indulge in mahakaavyas, we make promises and fulfill them. Our manifesto is in the form of a set of promises-- to end corruption, to provide sufficient water for irrigation, for getting higher price for crop produce, for skilled development and for employment. We have made a promise to provide a conducive environment for entrepreneurship. We have made a promise to provide safety to the women of Bengaluru.

And in the first meeting that the party addresses after ovrthrowing the Siddaramaiah government, the roadmap for these promises will be prepared.

Sugar

The Maharashtra Congress today hit out at the Union government for allowing the import of sugar from neighbouring Pakistan, alleging that such imports had led to its prices crashing in the domestic market.

It questioned the Centre over the need for such imports when sugar production in the country was in "excess".

Speaking to reporters, former state Cooperation Minister and senior Congress leader Harshvardhan Patil said, "A Delhi-based company called Sakuma Exports Limited has exported chocolates to Pakistan and imported some 20 lakh tonnes of sugar from Pakistan. Why is this being done at the cost of our farmers?"

Patil claimed that the import policy of the Centre would affect domestic sugarcane producers to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore.

"The losses for sugarcane cultivators in Maharashtra itself would be around Rs 3,000 crore. With low prices domestically, how will sugar mills pay farmers from whom they have procured sugarcane," Patil asked.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan asked the Union government for an explanation and alleged that these imports had resulted in sugar prices per tonne falling from Rs 36,000 to Rs 24,000.

He ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that while the latter claimed that he would get fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan, all his government was managing to do was bring in sugar from the neighbouring country.A Special NIA court here today convicted 18 people in the December 2007 Wagamon SIMI arms training camp case. The court also acquitted 17 others.

Special Judge Kauser Edappagath found the convicts guilty under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Explosives Substances Act and various sections of Indian Penal Code.

The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment tomorrow. While only two accused were produced today in the court, the others who are lodged in various jails in Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Bengaluru, attended the proceedings via multi-point video conference.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) which probed the case had charged the accused with involvement in terror activities and being in cahoots with terror groups besides criminal conspiracy and violation of Arms Act among others.

The case was investigated on the basis of complaint that a secret training camp was organised allegedly by Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) at Thangalpara, Wagamon in the state during December, 2007.

It is alleged that in and around November 2007, office bearers and functionaries of SIMI, a banned organization under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, entered into a criminal conspiracy in Choral, Indore, Madhya Pradesh to conduct training camps for their active cadres.

NIA has alleged that they conducted camps at Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat from December 10, 2007 to December 12, 2007. They organised a secret training camp at Thangalpara, Wagamon within the limits of Mundakayam Police Station, Kottayam (Kerala).

The agency alleged that the SIMI cadres were involved in physical training, arms training, firing practices, manufacture of bombs/petrol bombs, motor bike racing and rope climbing practices in the camp.

They also allegedly conducted "jihadi" classes in the camp with an intention to train the cadres to advocate, incite and abet unlawful, terrorist activities, disrupt communal harmony and causing threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, thereby waging war against Government of India.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russian city of Sochi next week for an informal summit with President Vladimir Putin on May 21 to deliberate on pressing global issues and explore ways to further boost the already close bilateral ties. It would be Modi's second informal summit in as many months as he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jingpin in China's Wuhan in a similar format last month.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a "broad and long-term perspective" with the objective of further strengthening 'special and privileged strategic partnership' between the two countries.

"Both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters," the MEA said.

The annual summit talks between the top leadership of the two countries, bound by 'special and privileged strategic ties', have been taking place alternately in Moscow and New Delhi since 2000.

Sources said President Putin will be in India later this year for the annual summit. The last summit had taken place in St Petersburg in June 2017.

"This informal summit in Sochi between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels," the MEA said.

The sources said Modi and Putin will discuss issues of strategic importance besides exploring ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in areas of trade, commerce, nuclear energy and defence.

Russia is keen to enhance economic cooperation with India. Putin has been making concerted efforts to push economic growth in his country which witnessed significant slowdown following Western sanctions after the Ukraine crisis.

Russia has been India's biggest supplier of arms though New Delhi has started buying more military hardware from the US in the last few years.

India has been pressing Russia to share critical technology with it for defence production.

Energy-starved India, the third largest oil importer after the US and China, has also been pushing for greater involvement in major gas and oil exploration projects in Russia. Russia is one of the top oil producers globally and has huge reserves of natural gas.With the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government about to complete four years in power, preparations for grand celebrations are in place. The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) led government will be using 26 May as an opportunity to set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in the BJP told News18 that the tagline for the fourth anniversary will be '48 months vs 48 years' where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be pitching the achievements of the ruling party in the last 48 months as against 48-year rule by the Gandhi family.

Narendra Modi had taken over as the Prime Minister of India on 26 May, 2014.

Multiple officials in the ministries of commerce and ministry of petroleum and natural gas confirmed that the focus of the government will be on employment.

Prime Minister's Office has asked the ministries to figure out how many jobs were created in the last four years of his rule.

We have been asked to come up with a detailed report on the projects and programmes launched and calculate the number of jobs they helped generate," said a highly placed official in the ministry of power.BS Yeddyurappa, Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy

Exit polls released on Saturday by various news organisations and survey agencies have revealed the possibility of a hung assembly in Karnataka, with most of them predicting that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will likely emerge as the single-largest party in the state's assembly election.

However, some organisations also suggest that Congress could be the single-largest party in what is playing out to be a closely-fought contest.

The final voter turnout was 72.13 percent, the highest since the 1952 state polls and marginally higher than the 71.4 percent recorded in the 2013 election.

A poll of major polls suggests a split verdict, but some unconventional pollsters and firms have put out their own predictions.

Also read | Exit polls give BJP the edge, Congress close second

Unconventional polls

Mumbai-based Graphnile, a firm claiming to have used an electoral analytic based on AI model, has predicted a clear majority for the Congress.

The poll released on May 7, before the voting, suggests that Congress is expected to bag 124 seats, while the BJP will finish second with 67 seats. The Janata Dal (Secular) is expected to win 33 seats, the poll suggested.

The survey was carried out on the basis of Twitter analytics, by gauging daily sentiments and changes across social media.

Graphnile further suggested that the Congress is likely to make heavy gains in the Bengaluru region, which is comprised of 28 assembly constituencies. The JD(S) is expected to do well in its bastion Old Mysuru, Google analytics suggested.

The Coastal Karnataka region will likely be an even split between the incumbent Congress and the saffron party. The prediction also notes that Prime Minister Narendra Modis aggressive campaign before the polls would have a limited effect.

Graphniles initial predictions put out on April 20, before the final round of campaigning, gave 130 seats to the Congress, 74 to the BJP and 20 seats to the JD(S).

Crowd Wisdom has predicted that the BJP will be the single largest party with 100 seats, while the Congress will likely finish second with 87 seats, and the JD(S) will bag 32 seats. The remaining five seats will be won by independents and other candidates, the consultancy firm suggested.

Significance

Karnataka is currently one of the few states to have a Congress government. A loss here would leave the Congress with just Punjab, Mizoram and the Union Territory of Puducherry in its kitty.

The BJP is pushing hard to make inroads in southern India. Karnataka remains the first and only state where the party tasted success in the past. It has been desperate to win the state back ever since its previous stint at the helm came to an end.

Either way, the assembly polls assume significance from the 2019 general election point of view. The winner will also get a major boost ahead of the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan, scheduled to take place later this year.Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today slammed the government for hiking petrol and diesel prices, saying the recent "interval" was only due to the Karnataka elections which got over on Saturday.

In separate tweets, Chidambaram also asked all chief ministers to oppose the terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission, which he said was the central government's "attempt to violate the Constitution and wreck the federal system".

"There we go again. More taxes on petrol and diesel, more burden on the consumer. The Karnataka election was only an interval," he tweeted.

After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, the price of petrol was today hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

In Delhi, the price of petrol was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while the rate of diesel was increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies.

Petrol & Diesel Rates Oct 07, 2021 Petrol Rate in Mumbai Oct 07, 2021 Current Petrol Price Per Litre 109 109 View more Diesel Rate in Mumbai Oct 07, 2021 Current Petrol Price Per Litre 100 100 View more Show

With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Oil PSUs, which had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.

Chidambaram also said Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac's open letter on the ToR of the 15th Finance Commission deserves support.

"I urge all State CMs and FMs to join hands to protest the Centre's attempt to violate the Constitution and wreck the federal system," he said.

Isaac has said some state finance ministers, who met at Thiruvananthapuram and Amaravati, were worried about the implications of the ToR of the Finance Commission determined by the Union government.

"What the ToR challenge are the federal values enshrined in the Constitution and the modicum of fiscal autonomy State governments enjoy," he has said.shashi tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is taking a break from Twitter, hours after he was charged with abetting his wife Sunanda Pushkar's suicide.

The MP from Thiruvananthapuram tweeted that "epicaricacy" is the reason for his temporary absence on Twitter.



Staying off @Twitter for a while -- one encounters too much epicaricacy! pic.twitter.com/znaj8vUl0R

 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

Tharoor frequently uses complicated words on Twitter.

The Delhi Police accused Tharoor of abetting the suicide of Pushkar and told a city court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half year-old case, as there was sufficient evidence against him.

In a nearly 3,000-page charge sheet, the police named Tharoor as the only person as accused while also alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The charge sheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh, who will consider it on May 24.

The agency urged the court to summon Tharoor as an accused.

(With inputs from PTI)amit shah

BJP President Amit Shah attacked P Chidambaram and his family on Twitter on Sunday, quoting IT estimates of illegal assets worth of USD 3 billion in the former finance ministers name.



Under the Black Money Act, 4 chargesheets have been filed against P Chidambaram and his family for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries. IT estimates illegal assets held by UPA's FM to be to the tune of 3 Bn dollars! #BlackMoneyOfPC

 Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 13, 2018

Under the Black Money Act, 4 charge sheets have been filed against P Chidambaram and his family for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries, Shah tweeted.

Shah also criticised former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh, saying that an SIT was not formed because the Congress didnt want to get themselves in trouble.

Formation of an SIT was among the first decisions taken by the Modi government, to fight black money. How could they indict their own selves? Shah said in his tweet.



The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised.

 P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 13, 2018

Chidambaram was quick to respond to allegations by Shah, taking the same platform to respond, saying that you first put the Rs 15 lakh in every citizens bank account, like you had promised.

About the Chidambaram remarks, Pawan Khera, Congress spokesperson, said that his chartered accountant has given a detailed reply and the IT department is making false claims. A detailed disclosure had duly been made and the income tax dept is making baseless charges.

Talking to the press, Khera said the defense minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, talks about everything but the defence ministry. She doesnt answer questions on Rafale, on the armys submission to the parliamentary panel about lack of resources. She is the defence minister of the party, defending all their tainted ministers.

Sitharaman addressed a media conference where she said, The income tax department filed charge sheets in a Chennai city court on May 11, 2018, against Chidambarams wife and son under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. This is a Nawaz Sharif moment for the Congress party.

For this, too, P. Chidambaram responded with a tweet.At least 12 people have been killed and several injured after violent clashes broke out amidst panchayat elections in West Bengal.

Violence was reported from various districts across the state including West Midnapore, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur where crude bombs were found near the polling stations. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the TMC government in relation to incidents of violence being reported during elections.

As per the West Bengal State Election Commission, which is supervising these polls, elections are being contested in 31,836 gram panchayats, 6,158 panchayat samitis and 622 zila parishads. It is important to note that 16,814 gram panchayat seats, 3,059 panchayat samiti seats and 203 zila parishads were uncontested. An approximate 72.5 percent voter turnout was reported till 5pm today. Counting will be done on May 17.

Incidents of malpractices were also reported, including looting of ballot boxes from polling booths in Murshidabad.



Till 2 pm, at least 8 people have been killed in the violence in Panchayat polls in West Bengal. TMC goons on the rampage. Read the fact-sheet here: https://t.co/h6uX7EIgJn

 Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 14, 2018

While the Opposition has openly condemned these incidents, questioning the process of free and fair elections at the behest of the TMC government; the TMC was quick to point out the number of violent clashes that had taken place when the Left government was at the helm of affairs.



No condemnation is strong enough to denounce the barbarity which West Bengal is witnessing today to ensure TMCs project of capturing cent per cent of elected panchayat bodies of the state. https://t.co/h6uX7EIgJn  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 14, 2018





To all 'newborn' experts on Bengal #PanchayatElections in State have a history. 400 killed in poll violence in 1990s in CPIM rule. 2003: 40 dead.Every death is a tragedy. Now closer to normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58000 booths. What's %age ?

 Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018



CPI(M) and BJP are now so desperate that they are even ganging up with Maoists to kill/shoot/stab three Trinamool workers in different incidents in #Bengal today. Deliberately trying to foment trouble. Is this democracy? #PanchayatElection  Derek O'Brien (@derekobrienmp) May 14, 2018

The West Bengal State Election Commission and the Calcutta High Court have been at loggerheads over filing nominations after the opposition parties in the state had alleged that the TMC was obstructing candidates from filing their papers.

In light of these accusations, the Calcutta High Court had allowed filing of nomination papers through email, making an exception in the West Bengal Panchayat Act of 2003. The State Election Commission challenged Calcutta High Courts decision in the Supreme Court, which later stayed the Calcutta High Court order of accepting the nominations submitted via email by 3pm on April 23.On February 16 this year, about a billion people expectantly eyed the Supreme Court, hoping that a just verdict will be pronounced on an issue that has prolonged for about a century now.

The apex court announced the final verdict on the Cauvery issue where it noted that Karnataka was more deserving than Tamil Nadu on account of acute shortage of drinking water in the city of Bengaluru and replenishable groundwater reserves in Tamil Nadu.

Hence the top court ordered that 14.75 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water be taken from Tamil Nadu and be given to Karnataka. The allocation for Kerala and Puducherry was kept unchanged. The Supreme Court had asked the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (referred to as CMB henceforth) to give effect to its judgement. In effect, this is what the allocation looks like:

Karnataka : 284.75 (270 + 14.75) TMC





Tamil Nadu : 404.25 (419  14.75) TMC





Kerala : 30 TMC





UT of Pondicherry : 7 TMC





Environmental Protection : 10 TMC





Inevitable escapagaes into sea : 4 TMC





Total : 740 TMC





Although the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka welcomed the top courts verdict, he strongly opposed the formation of the CMB, saying the state will lose autonomy over its reservoirs in the Cauvery Basin.

Various political parties in Tamil Nadu, including Karunanidhis DMK, launched aggressive protests in the states capital first expressing their disenchantment with the verdict and also against the Centres delay in the formation of the CMB.

The Tamil Nadu government also filed a contempt petition against the Centre for not heeding to the March 31 deadline given by the Supreme Court for the formation of the CMB.

Attorney General KK Venugopal, in response, had attributed the delay to the absence of key parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they were busy with campaigns in poll-bound Karnataka. The Centre sought that the decision on the formation of the CMB be deferred until after assembly elections in Karnataka on May 12. The Supreme Court had then reprimanded the Centre calling the delay in the implementation of the draft scheme sheer contempt of its directive.

Recently, the Supreme Court had even asked the Karnataka government to release 4 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu.

But what is stopping the BJP government at the Centre or the Congress government in Karnataka from forming the Cauvery Management Board?

It is noteworthy that even though the Supreme Court has stated the allocation in its verdict, it is CMB which is responsible for its implementation, and neither the BJP nor the Congress wants to irk its voter base in the poll-bound state.

The Cauvery essentially flows through the Old Mysuru region in southern Karnataka. The contentious river flows through Madikeri, Mandya and Mysuru. It is a bipolar fight in this part of Karnataka between the Congress and the JDS. The Old Mysuru region is dominated by Vokaliggas who form an estimated 15 percent of the state population. Traditionally the Vokaliggas vote for the JDS, with the party getting 14 Vokaligga seats of the 40 that it had won in the 2013 assembly elections. Congress has also been trying to make inroads into the region with Siddaramaiah trying to sell his secular-humanist image, asserting that he is not casteist, and particularly that he is not against upper castes. The BJP is also not leaving any stone unturned to establish a foothold in the Old Mysuru region.

Hence the contesting parties are doing their best to win the trust of the voter base, procrastinating if not refraining from taking any decision that might turn the sentiment against them.Representative Image

With only 10 days left for the new European Union data protection regulations to kick in, Indian technology services companies are making sure they are compliant with the new rules.

The General Data Protection Regulation is a new law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and lays down the rules for transfer or export of data outside the EU. It will come into effect on May 25.

The main aim of the GDPR, as per its website, "is to protect all EU citizens from privacy and data breaches in an increasingly data-driven world".

The Indian information technology industry, which derives 11 percent of its near $170 billion revenue from Continental Europe, is making sure it is compliant with the new directives in its third largest market.

But they are not necessarily looking to hire fresh for the upcoming change - cybersecurity professionals, legal teams and so on are doing the work for now.

Wipro leverages the internal talent pool across legal, enterprise risk management, information security, cyber security & risk services to meet the techno legal requirements of GDPR. Certifications & trainings are an integral part of the compliance program and continue to remain a focus area. Wipro also uses external SMEs for techno-legal support wherever necessary, Deepak Acharya, General Counsel and Global Head- Legal at Wipro Limited told Moneycontrol in an email response.

The Data Security Council of India, set up by IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies for research and best practices on cybersecurity and privacy, is engaging with member companies to smoothen out the process.

Nasscom and DSCI are quite engaged in capability building, said Rama Vedashree, the chief executive of DSCI. We have been facilitating overall privacy trainingand see the public and private sector generally getting their act together on GDPR, she added.

The demand for skilled professionals to address GDPR is already exceeding supply. The need for GDPR resources is high in data rich industries such as digital marketing finance healthcare and retail, said Alka Dhingra, Business head, technology at staffing firm Teamlease.

She added that more than 75,000 jobs are expected around the globe in GDPR. In India, the job listing has gone up by 36 percent, as have the data protection officer job listings over 18 months, Dhingra said.

Research firm Gartner has said that by the end of 2018, more than 50 percent of companies affected by the GDPR will not be in full compliance with its requirements.

Indian IT firms, including mid sized and even business process management firms, are looking to be compliant when GDPR comes into effect.

HGS started its GDPR review well in advance, and in the last few months, the compliance team has been carrying out rigorous assessment/ review of our operations, data storage, IT controls, employee data and client communication process. We have upskilled our teams across functions to deal with the new compliance regime. Hence, we are confident of being GDPR ready by the due date, said S Mahadevan, Executive Vice President, Legal Compliance & Risk Management of BPM firm Hinduja Global Solutions.

The change is not likely to have a significant cost impact in the current quarter, but non-compliance will mean serious issues for organisations that have a sizeable business in the EU region.Images of OnePlus latest flagship smartphone, scheduled for a launch on May 16 in London, have been leaked, thanks to Amazon Germany.

According to a report by German news portal WinFuture, OnePlus 6s page was live on Amazons Germany website. The page, pictures and specifications of the phone have since been taken down.

Specifications

The Amazon listing revealed that there will be a 16MP+20MP rear camera with OIS portrait mode and slow-motion. The handset will be available in Mirror Black and Midnight Black colours.

The device will have Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides and will feature a 6.28-inch AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 19:9. The phone is set to have a notch at the front.

The smartphone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei had confirmed that the phone would have a notch, similar to Apples iPhone X in March.

OnePlus had earlier confirmed that the upcoming flagship smartphone will be launched on May 16 at 10.30 pm IST. The launch in Mumbai will happen at 3.00 pm IST on May 17.

Defying expectations of many enthusiasts, OnePlus 6 is unlikely to have a wireless charging facility. The device, however, has Type-C USB port and will have the Dash Charge technology.

Price in India

The price of the phone is expected to be 519 Euros for the 64 GB variant, 569 Euros for the 128 GB variant. Reports had earlier suggested that the price could be USD 749 for the 256 GB variant.

The price for India will be confirmed at the launch event in Mumbai.

Besides Amazon, customers will be able to get their hands on the device at several popup outlets across Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, according to reports.A Chinese woman left two million yuan or Rs 2.12 crore in a bar which was given by her ex-boyfriend as breakup fee as she felt it was not adequate.

Chinese daily Global Times reported that employees of the bar called the police last week after they discovered a bag full of currency amounting to two million yuan. The police tracked the owners of the bag and alerted them.

Within an hour, a couple in their 20s arrived at the police station to claim the bag. As per the report, the man told the officials that he arrived at the bar with the money to meet his ex, who was demanding a break-up fee.

The breakup fee is a practice in China seen as a kind of compensation.

"I told her I only had 2 million yuan with me, and then I left," said the man, who reportedly is from a wealthy family in the IT industry.

The woman who thought the money offered was still a few million shy of what she deserved, left the money at the far and barged out. "I didn't take it and left. I then called him and told him that I didn't take the money. I told him to get it himself. That was it," said the woman.

The police eventually handed over the money to the man and warned him to be careful with so much money in future. Reportedly, the man replied, Is 2 million yuan a big sum?Aviation

Japan Airlines Co Ltd (JAL) is launching a low-cost carrier offering medium to long-haul flights, aiming to tap growing Asian demand for budget air travel.

The new airline will be based at Narita International Airport and will offer flights to Asia, Europe and the Americas, JAL said in a statement on Monday. The as-yet unnamed airline plans to start flying in "summer" 2020 with two wide-body Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

Budget flights have been slow to take off in Japan, which is dominated by full-service carriers JAL and ANA Holdings Inc and has a sophisticated high-speed rail network, but with growing numbers of Asia travellers taking to the air the two Japanese airlines are looking to expand their low-cost offerings.

ANA has said it will launch medium-length international flights, potentially flying as far afield as India, as it integrates its low-cost carrier units under the Peach brand name.

JAL, by contrast, holds only a minority stake in Jetstar Japan, a joint venture with Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd which flies narrow-body aircraft. JAL said it would continue to invest in Jetstar Japan.

JAL said it plans to have outside investors in its new low-cost carrier which will be a consolidated subsidiary.

Other players are also looking to take advantage of Japan's growing status as a tourist destination, with AirAsia Japan having relaunched and airlines such as Hong Kong Express and Singapore's Scoot adding flights to Japan.Afghanistan ranked 1st- with a score of 9.592 - on the index that measures the impact of terrorism.

Afghan security forces battled for hours against a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday after a coordinated assault that killed at least 15 people and wounded 42, local officials said.

A car bomb was detonated at the entrance to the state accounts office before a group of about six attackers armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades rushed the building, the officials said. There were multiple blasts as they fought off security forces in a gun battle that lasted much of the day.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, in a busy area of the city with many other official buildings nearby, including a school in which about 1,000 girls were trapped as the fighting raged.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks that have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan this year and put heavy pressure on the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Most have been in capital city Kabul, but in January gunmen attacked an office of aid group Save the Children in Jalalabad, killing at least five people and wounding 25. That attack, also claimed by Islamic State, followed much the same pattern as Sunday's incident.

After several hours of fighting that sent plumes of smoke rising into the sky above the accounts office, Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said that Sunday's clash had ended with all the gunmen killed.

Public health officials said that at least 15 people, including a child, had been killed and 42 wounded. Witnesses said the explosions had caused carnage among passers-by.

"I saw two rickshaw drivers on the ground with their arms blown off," said Khan Mohammad, a local resident who saw the initial blasts and the start of the gun battle.

Violence has escalated across Afghanistan since the announcement of the Taliban's annual spring offensive last month and there have been heightened security fears around preparations for elections in October.

Dozens of people have been killed in voter registration centres in recent weeks, leading to fears that people could stay away from elections that are seen as a major test of the government's credibility.

At the same time, Taliban fighters have stepped up the pressure on government forces across the country, from Baghlan province in the north, where they seized a district centre last week, to Farah in the southwest or Ghazni, south of Kabul.

Last year, the United States increased its support to struggling Afghan forces, announcing plans for thousands of additional advisers and more air strikes in an effort to force the Taliban to enter peace negotiations.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talks during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Peace House. (Reuters)

A North Korean delegation arrived in Beijing today, Japanese media said, as the two allies step up diplomatic contacts ahead of a landmark meeting between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump. Japanese broadcaster NHK showed images of officials leaving the VIP area of the Chinese capital's airport.

The broadcaster said later the group had arrived at the Diaoyutai government guest house although the identity of the visitors was not immediately known.

The report comes a week after Kim made his second trip to China in less than two months to again meet with President Xi Jinping.

Kim's latest visit was to the northeastern port city of Dalian, as the two countries seek to mend frayed ties with a diplomatic thaw in the region gathering pace.

Relations fell to a new low in the past year as Beijing, angered by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests, backed a series of United Nations sanctions against its Cold War-era ally.

But Beijing is keen to avoid being sidelined in the wake of Kim's historic summit last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and ahead of his upcoming meeting with Trump in Singapore on June 12.

Experts say Kim also needs to maintain good relations with his country's main patron to back him up as the Trump summit looms.

Kim, who picked Beijing to make his maiden official trip abroad in March, has also invited Xi to visit North Korea.Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said today that former premier Nawaz Sharif clarified to him that his statement about the Mumbai terror attack was "misreported".

Abbasi said this while talking to senior journalists after an emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) - Pakistan's top civil-military body - that condemned Sharif's "fallacious" statement and termed it as "incorrect and misleading".

Sharif, for the first time, questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai as he publicly acknowledged in an interview that militant groups are active in the country.

Abbasi said he also held a meeting with Sharif after the NSC meeting and asserted that Sharif did not say what was reported in the media about the Mumbai attack.

"A few sentences (from the newspaper interview) were blown out of proportion and context. I have clarified those (statements)," Abbasi asserted.

Stating that the NSC dismissed those words which were misreported, Abbasi said the meeting did not condemn Sharif but incorrect reporting of his interview.

"Indian media is giving the issue a different hue, and we should not be a part of it," he said.

Abbasi said there was no tension between the civil and military. He said misunderstandings are removed in the light of the facts.

He expressed full support for Sharif and said the entire party, including party president Shehbaz Sharif, stands with him. "Nawaz Sharif is still our Quaid (supreme leader) ," he said.

He said that no one forced him to talk to the media and it was his own decision to give the explanatory statement.

Abbasi said that he will not resign and complete the term.The United States' top diplomat said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour" as President Donald Trump called his withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal key to containing Tehran.

But while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

The development came as Iran's foreign minister said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the pact, while speaking in Beijing at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing it.

Trump's announcement last Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay among its other signatories -- China, Russia, France, the Britain and Germany.

But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was keen to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners.

Pompeo, who is barely a fortnight into his new job, told Fox News Sunday that he had been tasked by the president "to work to strike a deal that achieves the outcomes that protect America." "That's what we are going to do and I will be hard at it with the Europeans in the next several days," said the top US diplomat.

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well.

The administration says the lifting of sanctions as part of the nuclear pact had allowed Iran to build up its military.

Trump weighed in later Sunday, saying his decision would limit Iran's regional ambitions.

"Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place," he tweeting. "They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!" With Pompeo seemingly assuming the "good cop" role on behalf of the Trump administration, it was left to newly appointed US national security advisor John Bolton to remind Europe its firms could be punished if they didn't adhere to American measures.

"It's possible," Bolton said on CNN when asked about the prospect of sanctions. "It depends on the conduct of other governments."

"The consequences of American sanctions go way beyond goods shipped by American companies because of our technology licenses to many other countries and businesses around the world. As those sanctions kick in, it will have an even broader effect as well," he said.

"I think the Europeans will see that it's in their interest, ultimately, to come along with us."

While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a recent visit to Washington.

Macron and Trump spoke by phone on Saturday, with the US president urging "the need for a comprehensive deal that addresses all aspects of Iran's destabilizing activities in the Middle East," according to a White House readout of the call.

German leader Angela Merkel also told Trump on a visit to Washington late last month that the nuclear deal was insufficient in itself to curb Iran's ambitions in the region.

Although most analysts believe the US withdrawal has effectively scuppered the agreement, Iran's foreign minister talked up the prospects of its survival on Sunday while visiting China, another of the signatories.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels. Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian pro-regime fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.

Iranian hardliners -- who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West -- are already mobilizing against the efforts to save the nuclear deal.The US is putting together a coalition of countries that will push back Iran's nuclear weapons programme and its alleged destabilising behaviour in the region, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

US President Donald Trump wants to get a deal "that's right, a bigger" deal, he said.

"We are going to put together a coalition that pushes back against not only Iran's nuclear program  which they still deny. No Iranian leader has admitted they had a weapons program, and the facts are now public that they did. They ought to at least be honest about that," Pompeo told CBS's 'Face the Nation'.

"But it's not going to just be the nuclear file. It will be their missile program. It will be their effort to build Hizballah. It'll be their threats against Israel. It'll be the work that they're doing in Yemen to launch missiles into Saudi Arabia, for goodness sakes, he said.

This is the activity that the Iranian regime has undertaken during the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, which was negotiated during the previous Obama Administration.

We're going to make a shift. We're going to deny them the benefit of the economic wealth that has been created and put real pressure, so that they'll stop the full scale of the sponsorship of terrorism with which they've been engaged in these past years, Pompeo said.

We will be hard at that in the weeks ahead. I hope to be a central part of achieving that. It would be a wonderful thing if we could get the Europeans to do this.

Fundamentally, what's happened during the time of the JCPOA was that the Iranian wealth creation fueled their malign behavior. The money that they had to go and launch missiles into Riyadh and Israel  putting Americans at risk  was provided by the economic benefits they got from the JCPOA. President Trump wants to starve them of that wealth, Pompeo said.

In another interview to Fox News, Pompeo strongly pushed back on the notion that US withdrawal from the nuclear deal makes it less constrained now. That's ludicrous, he said.

That's ludicrous to suggest that Iran feels less constrained when during the JCPOA they have now fired missiles into an airport where Americans travel each day in Riyadh, they've now fired missiles into Israel; to suggest that somehow the withdrawal from the JCPOA is driving the Iranian conduct that's taken place during the JCPOA in Yemen, the rise of Hizballah - all of those things took place during the JCPOA, Pompeo said.

Indeed, I would argue that they felt they could act with impunity. They watched. They watched Europe put exactly zero sanctions on their missile program during the JCPOA. I think Rouhani and Zarif need to explain why it's the case that while this agreement was in place Iran continued its march across the Middle East, he asserted.

The wealth that was created in Iran as a result of the JCPOA drove Iranian malign activity. It fueled Qasem Soleimani. It fueled the IRGC. It provided resources for their work in Syria and Iraq. President Trump's withdrawal is aimed at denying them that wealth, denying them the resources to continue their bad behavior, to take the money away from them, he said.

The withdrawal wasn't aimed at the Europeans, he said.

"I worked hard over the short time I've been the Secretary of State to try and fix the deal. We couldn't reach agreement with our E3 partners. I am hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program but their missiles and their malign behavior as well, Pompeo added.Chris Turcotte, the president of Centum, will always be a mortgage broker at heart. In an industry wherein too few firms are headed by people who have first-hand experience of brokers challenges and concerns, its helping set the company apart from the competition.

I think I had a unique perspective in that I had come directly from the broker channel as a broker, he said. It sounds cliche but Ive said it time again: We try to put the broker first. We put ourselves in the trenches where they work, because there are several of us at corporate office who understand what that looks and feels like, and we ask, Does this genuinely add value to the mortgage broker? This network knew I was a high-producing broker, and its an extra layer of validation because I can say, This is what I wish I had when I was doing it, which resonates versus someone whos disconnected from the job. I think thats contributing to a lot of success.

Two Centum brokers won Mortgage Broker of the Year awards at the Canadian Mortgage Awards last monthClinton Wilkins won the Fewer than 25 Employees Award and Anne Brill won the More Than 25 Employeesand it was a strong statement from the network that it can hold its own against larger players at the industrys summit.Royal LePage added that the introduction of a mortgage stress test brought market turmoil at the beginning of the year. Buyers moved to the sidelines in order to gauge the impact on luxury home prices, similar to what was witnessed in the overall residential resale market.

The firm also pointed out British Columbias tax increase for all homes over $3-million through increases to the property transfer and school tax. The non-resident property tax included in Ontario's 16-Point Fair Housing Plan dampened price expectations for the GTA region.

"Home prices in Canada's luxury real estate market have remained remarkably resilient when you consider the economic headwinds that serial government interventions have created," Phil Soper, Royal LePage, president and CEO, said. "The resilience of home values reflects the strong aspirations of luxury buyers to reside and work in cities that are consistently ranked among the most desirable on the planet."

For the January to April period, luxury condominium in Greater Vancouver and the GTA outpaced that of a luxury detached home, with median condominium prices rising by 7.0% and 10.4% year-over-year, respectively. For the same period, the median price of a luxury condominium in the Greater Montreal Area and Ottawa rose by 3.9% and 4.0%, respectively, while Calgary posted the only decline, decreasing 6.1%.

The Greater Montreal Area posted the largest year-over-year price gain in the detached luxury home segment, increasing 9.1% to $1,569,515 in the first four months of the year. During the same period, detached luxury homes in Ottawa (6.3%) and Greater Vancouver (5.2%) also saw prices rise, while home values in Calgary (0.6%) and the Greater Toronto Area (-0.2%) remained flat.Five real estate investors have been sentenced for conspiracy to rig bids in a public foreclosure auction in North California.

The US Department of Justice says that between 2008 and January 2011, the defendants and other bidders at the auctions conspired not to bid against one another for selected properties, instead designating a winning bidder for the property at the auction and negotiated payoffs among themselves in return for not competing with one another.

Its Antitrust Division has been running an investigation into rigging f public foreclosure auctions at several counties in the state.Step away from the TVs and smart phones.

It's summer and just because school is out and it's vacation season doesn't mean you should spend your time becoming one with your living room couch.

Take some time to explore and see new things, and there is no better place to start than the Lone Star State. With more than 50 state parks, there is plenty to see, do and explore with a wide variety of parks for every kind of camper.

COOL OFF: Best swimming holes in the Lone Star State



Midland County Sheriffs Office

A 54-year-old Midland doctor was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexual assault, according to a press release from Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf.

Mohsin Mazhar Syed was charged with the 2016 sexual assault of a patient at his former medical practice, Medical Spa of Midland. After hearing evidence throughout the week, a Midland County jury deliberated for 10 minutes jury before finding Syed guilty.A Clackamas, Oregon, man was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation for reporting his father and brother as terrorists at two different airports  Midland International Airport -- because they got an invitation to a family wedding and he didn't.

Sonny Donnie Smith, 38, apologized, "I'm sorry to everybody for what I did," he said as he stood before U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown.

His lawyer, Todd Bofferding, said Smith was "deeply remorseful and ashamed" about what happened and should continue mental health counseling.

Smith's father and brother, who live out of state, didn't attend the hearing but supported the sentence, according to both the prosecutor and defense lawyer.

Bofferding said Smith's father "told me he just wanted Sonny to be well, that he doesn't harbor any resentment."

Smith admitted to placing the anonymous phone calls to security offices at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Midland International Air and Space Port on Sept. 3, 2016.

He falsely claimed that his father and brother were terrorists traveling through the airports, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Horsley.

The calls prompted an FBI investigation that revealed no terrorist threats. Smith's father and brother were temporarily detained and questioned by investigators and the brother missed his flight that day.

Smith made the threatening calls because he was told he wasn't welcome at a family wedding where they were heading, according to the plea agreement.

In February, Smith pleaded guilty to one count of anonymous telephonic harassment.

Though his family members are listed as the victims in the case, security at both airports suffered harm, the judge said.

"I hope you appreciate what you did really did disrupt not just your family but the whole system," Brown said.

The judge asked Smith's lawyer why he opposed any community service hours as part of the probation sentence.

Bofferding said his client was pulled out of school by his father at age 2, suffers from a high level of anxiety and is taking anti-anxiety and antipsychotic mediation. It's more important that Smith work on his emotional well-being, Bofferding said.

Smith told the court he wants to improve his health. "I just want to take care of my family," he said.

After the hearing ended, Smith broke down in tears.

---

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.AUSTIN -- As expected, a federal court has issued a final ruling declaring Texas to be violating national voter registration laws.

In a final ruling made public Friday, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia in San Antonio declared the Department of Public Safety cannot encourage people to renew driver's licenses online, then add additional steps to update their voter registrations that are not required of people who go to their offices in person.

The judge said that the National Voter Registration Act, often called Motor Voter, requires equal treatment.

"DPS is legally obligated, as a designated voter registration agency under the NVRA, to permit a simultaneous voter registration application with every transaction," Garcia wrote in his opinion.

Currently, Texas does not allow people who change their driver's license address online to simultaneously change their voter registration address -- something people who make the change in person are allowed to do. Online DPS customers are required to file additional forms and mail them to another agency to change the voter registration.

Garcia's final ruling had been anticipated.

Last month when Garcia first announced he would rule in favor of the Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office said they were looking "forward to filing an appeal." On Friday, the a spokesperson for the agency said they were still reviewing the ruling.

In late March, Garcia indicated in a court order that he would side with the Texas Civil Rights Project, which brought the case. The Texas Civil Rights Project argued that many people who checked a box online through the DPS thought they were getting their voter registrations updated as well, but that never happened. Many did not realize it required additional forms and actions to make the change happen.

"Today is a victory for voting rights and democracy in Texas," said Mimi Marziani, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

"For years, the state of Texas ignored and violated federal laws designed to bring more people onto the voter registration rolls and strengthen our democracy; sadly, thousands and thousands of people have been disenfranchised because of the state's actions," he said.

The state had argued the Texas voting laws require a signature on paper to change a voter registration. But Garcia said testimony in the case shows that for even in-person changes of address, DPS uses electronic signatures that are transmitted to the Secretary of State's office to update voter records, so it makes little sense why electronic signatures by people online could not also be used.

"Yet SOS admits that it uses previously stored electronic signatures for all voter registration applications that originate with DPS regardless of whether those applications are paper transactions," Garcia noted in his ruling.

He has given the state until May 17 to come up with a plan to allow both online and in-person drivers license changes allow voter registration updates without additional steps for one over the other.

The Texas Civil Rights Project used the case of a Harris County man as one of their examples of voters who tried to update their drivers license online and thought they would also have their voter registrations updated. In 2015, John Woods moved from Travis County to Harris County. When he changed his driver's license address online, Woods thought his voter registration data was also updated.

But when he showed up to vote on election day in 2015, Woods was told he was not registered in the county.

Woods is hardly alone.

Between September 2013 and May 26, 2015, more than 1,800 voters filed formal complaints with the state saying they mistakenly believed their voter registration records were updated when they used the DPS online system. The Texas Civil Rights Project said that the 1,800 number is a mere fraction of voters who have been duped by the state's confusing system.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.Meredosia-Chambersburg Community Unit School District doesnt own the street on which the closed elementary school sits, which could complicate any efforts to sell the old building.

The school was built around 1913 in the middle of Morgan Street. District Superintendent Thad Walker told school board members that he was unable to track down any paperwork that gave the school permission to build on the street.A movement is afoot to get President Donald Trump to pardon former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Former first lady Patti Blagojevich is saying her husband is the victim of FBI targeting, something she apparently believes Trump can identify with.

Its not necessarily an ineffective strategy on her part, but it certainly would be bad public policy if Blagojevich were to get special treatment.

The man belongs in prison. He was sentenced to 14 years and he has served six.

Yes, I can sympathize with the Blagojevich family. Im sure his wife, Patti, and his two daughters miss him. But sadly, its a very American story. More than 1.57 million men and women sit in this nations prisons and jails. Thats a national disgrace.

We imprison a greater percentage of our citizens than any other industrialized nation. And sadly, the politicians who give out pardons seem much more concerned about the former politicians wanting pardons than about the other 1.5 million people.

Look no further than Blagojevichs predecessor in the U.S. House of Representatives, Daniel Rostenkowski. After going to prison, President Bill Clinton decided to pardon the once powerful congressman. And then there is Mel Reynolds, a former congressman who was convicted of statutory rape and bank fraud. Clinton used his pardon pen to spring him from the can too.

And Richard Nixon pardoned labor leader Jimmy Hoffa. And Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. And Ronald Reagan pardoned corrupt former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel. And Trump pardoned Joseph Arpaio, the former tough-guy sheriff and current Arizona U.S. Senate candidate.

You get the idea. If you want to get a pardon, it sure helps to have once been someone important.

I had a front row seat on Rod Blagojevichs political self-immolation during his six years in office. During my 30 years in the news business, Ive been lied to by the best of them, but he took political prevarication to a whole new level.

Blagojevich lied so much that he makes Bruce Rauner seem like a piker. And folks, thats saying something.

Blagojevich is a man who blended arrogance with incompetence to create the most corrupt administration in the states history.

A lot of folks will remember Blagojevich for his dishonesty, most famously for trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat.

For me, it was the smaller slights that are the most memorable. A couple of years ago I listed a number of these in this column. Shortly after I published the list, I received a nasty note from Patti Blagojevich defending her husband.

Ill spare you the details by just saying denial aint just a river in Egypt.

That said, it has to be hard for his wife and children to carry a surname synonymous with corruption. Its not as if a Blagojevich can blend into the background like a Smith, Jones or Anderson.

Rod Blagojevich has pretty much exhausted his appeals.

Hes a man sinking in quicksand and running out of vines to grasp. A pardon looks like his only hope to leave prison early.

I understand why he wants to go home and I understand why his family wants him home. But I dont understand why society would want to cut this guy a break.

The best argument Ive heard is that this sort of wheeling and dealing is just part of the political process and Blagojevichs offenses are no different than what other politicians do.

Sorry, Gov. Blagojevichs actions were worse than just about anything Ive seen in the nearly 30 years Ive been covering Illinois politics.

And, yes, there is a lot of corruption in Illinois politics. But just because there are a lot of corrupt politicians, doesnt mean we shouldnt adequately punish any of them.

Rod Blagojevich should serve every minute the judge gave him.

Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse journalist. He works as a freelance reporter in the Springfield area and produces the podcast Suspect Convictions.Every politician in Illinois talks a big game when it comes to property taxes.

Some say those bills are bloated because Illinoisans dont pay enough in state income taxes. Others say its because the cost drivers behind those bills have grown wild for years. Just about everyone agrees theyre too high.

Fortunately, lawmakers appeared to have found some common ground on one sensible step toward property tax relief earlier this year  limiting growth in administrative spending. But even as soaring property tax bills slide into mailboxes across the state, House members put the kibosh on reform.

House Bill 4789 wouldnt cut funding. It wouldnt cut services. It wouldnt change anything about curriculum. It would simply cap growth in administrative spending that has diverted far too much money away from the classroom. Specifically, districts would only be able to grow administrative spending each year up to the rate of growth in the Consumer Price Index or 5 percent, whichever is less.

The Metropolitan Planning Council produced a report in 2017 that found Illinois school districts spent $518 per student on general administration  the second-highest total in the nation and more than double the national average. Despite that high spending, Illinois educational outcomes lag the nation.

Illinois needs to rein in its spending on school administration. Poor priorities are one reason residents arent seeing a great return on their investment in public education, a case in point being Illinois glut of school districts, which too often serve as needless layers of bureaucracy adding little to classroom success.

Reducing the growth in those administrative costs can help bring down property tax bills, or at the very least give residents a little more bang for their property tax buck.

HB 4789 had bipartisan backing. It was introduced by state Rep. Peter Breen, R-Lombard. Reps. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, and Tom Morrison, R-Palatine, signed on as chief co-sponsors. And it passed through committee on a unanimous vote.

But on April 27, the House axed the bill, with only 20 members voting yes. Opposition ranged from downstate Republicans to Chicago Democrats.

The Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance, which represents administrators who might see their pay hikes take a hit, opposed the bill. Chicago Public Schools also filed in opposition. And it was especially disheartening to see the Illinois Federation of Teachers express opposition. Ballooning management costs are in direct conflict with teachers interests, and its not like IFT members are immune from high property taxes.

So lawmakers cant bring themselves to vote for a sensible spending cap like HB 4789  what relief can they provide homeowners?

How about a massive unfunded mandate that would hike property taxes immediately?

The day before killing Breens bill, the House approved a measure mandating a $40,000 a year minimum salary for all public school teachers in Illinois. The vote was 61-38. A handful of House Republicans voted for it. A handful of House Democrats voted against it.

That might sound like a righteous proposal for some residents in Cook and the collar counties. But in Carbondale, for example, the median household income is just under $20,000, meaning teachers fresh out of college would make double the typical household from their first day on the job.

So, in a matter of hours, Illinoisans saw bipartisan opposition to property tax relief and bipartisan support for higher property taxes.

As house hunting season heats up, lets hope they change their tune.

Of course, everything in Springfield is charged in an election year.

But it shouldnt be too much to ask for the General Assembly to deliver meaningful steps toward long-needed relief on the biggest tax we pay.

Austin Berg is a writer for the Illinois Policy Institute. He wrote this column for the Illinois News Network. He can be reached at aberg@illinoispolicy.org.President Donald Trump View Photos

President Trump discussed the steps that his administration is taking to bring drug prices under control and was Mondays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

Today, my administration is launching the most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people. Weve wanted to be doing this. Weve been working on it right from day one. Its been a complicated process, but not too complicated. And today its happening. We will have tougher negotiation, more competition, and much lower prices at the pharmacy counter. And it will start to take effect very soon.

My administration has already taken significant steps to get drug prices under control. We reformed the Drug Discount Program for safety net hospitals to save senior citizens hundreds of millions of dollars on drugs this year alone.

Were also increasing competition and reducing regulatory burdens so drugs can be gotten to the market quicker and cheaper. Were very much eliminating the middlemen. The middlemen became very, very rich. Right? (Applause.) Whoever those middlemen were  and a lot of people never even figured it out  theyre rich. They wont be so rich anymore.

Last year, the FDA approved more than 1,000 low-cost generics, the most in history, which has already saved the American people nearly $9 billion. Thank you, Scott. (Applause.)

Next, were going to take on one of the biggest obstacles to affordable medicine: the tangled web of special interests. Not too many are sitting here today, but they used to be here all the time. The drug lobby is making an absolute fortune at the expense of American consumers.

No industry spends more money on lobbying than the pharmaceutical health products industry. Last year, these companies spent nearly $280 million on lobbyists. Thats more than tobacco, oil, and defense contractors combined. Health insurance companies and other providers spent another $200 million to protect the status quo and to keep prices artificially high. And theyve been very successful doing it for many, many years.

Everyone involved in the broken system  the drug makers, insurance companies, distributors, pharmacy benefit managers, and many others  contribute to the problem. Government has also been part of the problem because previous leaders turned a blind eye to this incredible abuse.

But under this administration, we are putting American patients first. (Applause.) Thank you. Ive instructed Secretary Azar to begin moving forward on reforms that will bring soaring drug prices back down to earth. Our plan takes steps to derail the gravy train for special interests by ending Obamacares twisted incentives that actually encourage higher drug prices.

It also gives Medicare Part D plans new tools to negotiate lower prices for more drugs, and make sure that Medicare Part D incentives encourage drug companies to keep prices low. Theres a big incentive to do that. We are not going to reward companies that constantly raise prices, which, in the past, has been most companies. Frankly, Alex used to run one of them  (laughter)  so nobody knows the system better than Alex. Thats what we needed. And a very successful one.

Our plan will end the dishonest double-dealing that allows the middleman to pocket rebates and discounts that should be passed on to consumers and patients.

Our plan bans the Pharmacist Gag Rule, which punishes pharmacists for telling patients how to save money. (Applause.) This is a total rip-off, and we are ending it.

We are getting tough on the drug makers that exploit our patent laws to choke out competition. Our patent system will reward innovation, but it will not be used as a shield to protect unfair monopolies.

The FDA will also speed up the approval process for over-the-counter medicines so that patients can get more medicines without prescription.

Finally, as we demand fairness for American patients at home, we will also demand fairness overseas. When foreign governments extort unreasonably low prices from U.S. drug makers, Americans have to pay more to subsidize the enormous cost of research and development.

In some cases, medicine that costs a few dollars in a foreign country costs hundreds of dollars in America for the same pill, with the same ingredients, in the same package, made in the same plant. And that is unacceptable. You can look at some of the countries; their medicine is a tiny fraction of what the medicine costs in the USA. Its unfair and its ridiculous, and its not going to happen any longer. (Applause.)

Its time to end the global freeloading once and for all. I have directed U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer to make fixing this injustice a top priority with every trading partner. And we have great power over the trading partners; youre seeing that already. America will not be cheated any longer, and especially will not be cheated by foreign countries.

The American people deserve a healthcare system that takes care of them  not one that taxes and takes advantage of our patients and our consumers and our citizens.

These reforms are just the beginning. In the coming weeks, we will work with Congress to pass legislation that will save Americans even more money at the pharmacy. For that, we need the help of Congress, and we think it will be forthcoming.

We will work every day to ensure all Americans have access to the quality, affordable medication they need and they deserve. And we will not rest until the job of unfair pricing is a total victory for the USA. It will happen, and its going to happen quickly.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.The Alamo's gift shop sells plenty of T-shirts, mugs and other commemorative tchotchkes bearing its iconic facade and marking the 175th anniversary of its historic siege. Dig a little deeper and you'll find more kitsch than you can throw a rubber Bowie knife at.

Not just novelty coonskin caps either. Alamo-shaped lollipops, Old Betsy rifle pens and pistol-shaped shot glasses are just some of the curios that pay tongue-in-cheek homage to the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

There is method to such mad merchandise. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which cares for and maintains the Alamo, doesn't receive financial help from the local, state or federal government. The DRT relies on gift-shop proceeds and donations to preserve the Alamo grounds and exhibits.

With that in mind, remember these quirky products the next time you visit the Alamo's gift shop in person or online at museumstore.thealamo.org.

The cat

Clara Carmack, aka C.C. the Alamo Cat, has delighted Alamo visitors and staff for years. If you don't spy C.C. on the grounds, catch her March 12 on Animal Planet's Must Love Cats You can find her likeness on a C.C. puzzle ($15.95), C.C. socks ($8.95) and C.C. plush cat ($11.95).

Flavorful

Who knew remembering the Alamo could be so  tasty? Whet your appetite for Texas history with scrumptious shortbread Alamo Crackers ($1.75) or colorful Alamo lollipops ($1.95 each).

Fashion accessories

An Alamo T-shirt for your main squeeze? Please. For more memorable wearable iconography, try a vibrant Alamo tie ($19.95) for him or sterling-silver Alamo earrings ($15.95) and matching Alamo pendant with chain ($19.50) for her.

For the kids

Of course, we'll highlight Davy Crockett's famous coonskin cap ($8.95), the Mickey Mouse ears of the Alamo. But let's not forget Crockett's famous Old Betsy rifle (a toy one for $26.95) or Jim Bowie's famous knife (also a toy one for $3.95). More peaceful Alamo playthings include a cuddly Crockett teddy bear ($19.95) and even a curious Alamo tractor-trailer ($5.95).

For baby

Before your little one wears her applesauce for dinner, have her wear a "Remember the Alamo  (and my supper!)" bib ($8.95). Then change her into a haunting little glow-in-the-dark Alamo T-shirt ($11.99). For more glowing nighttime fun, give your tyke a handmade porcelain Alamo nightlight ($22.75).

A shot for the shrine

Next to coffee mugs, shot glasses pack the Alamo gift shop like so many troops of varying heights, widths and alcohol-holding capacities. And nothing puts the "shot" in shot glass quite like an Alamo shotgun-shell shot glass ($4.95) and One Last Shot! pistol shot glass ($4.25). If you prefer your liquor with a bit more dignity, try the Crockett, Bowie and William Travis shot glass three-pack ($9.95).

Do the write thing

When it's time to pen a hasty grocery list, arm yourself with a trusty Rifle Pen ($4.95) or Alamo pencil (92 cents) and die-cast Alamo pencil sharpener ($3.95). Just grab some paper and write on, kitchen soldier.

Play with toy soldiers

The Battle of the Alamo inspires a good share of sophisticated dioramas and expensive miniature soldiers. For simpler, cheaper toy-soldier fun, grab a gift-shop bag of plastic Alamo toy soldiers ($17.95) and a Remember the Alamo cardboard fort ($12.95).

Junk-drawer treasure

You know that drawer where you stow batteries and loose change? What better place for an Alamo nail file ($1.95), Alamo wooden nickel (92 cents) and Alamo pressed penny (51 cents)? And unless you like to show off unusual condiment containers, make room in the pantry for Alamo salt and pepper shakers ($14.50).

rguzman@express-news.netThe long-neglected Tundra Town Home Village on the South Side is under new ownership.

Dallas-based TVPA Partners last month purchased the majority of the 37 never completed buildings along 18495 Texas 16 for an undisclosed price.WASHINGTON  Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees.

The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked.

During the final months of the Obama administration, the team had expanded to include a dozen or so lawyers and investigators who were looking into advertising, recruitment practices and job placement claims at several institutions, including DeVry Education Group.

The investigation into DeVry ground to a halt early last year. Later, in the summer, DeVos named Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the teams new supervisor.

Now only three employees work on the team, and their mission has been scaled back to focus on processing student loan forgiveness applications and looking at smaller compliance cases, said the current and former employees, including former members of the team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation from the department.

In addition to DeVry, now known as Adtalem Global Education, investigations into Bridgepoint Education and Career Education Corp., which also operate large for-profit colleges, went dark.

Former employees of those institutions now work for DeVos as well, including Robert S. Eitel, her senior counselor, and Diane Auer Jones, a senior adviser on postsecondary education. Last month, Congress confirmed the appointment of a lawyer who provided consulting services to Career Education, Carlos G. Muniz, as the departments general counsel.

The investigative team had been created in 2016 after the collapse of the for-profit Corinthian Colleges, which set off a wave of complaints from students about predatory activities at for-profit schools. The institutions had been accused of widespread fraud that involved misrepresenting enrollment benefits, job placement rates and program offerings, which could leave students with huge debts and no degrees.

Elizabeth Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, attributed the reduction of the group to attrition and said that conducting investigations is but one way the investigations team contributes to the departments broad effort to provide oversight. She said that none of the new employees who had previously worked in the for-profit education industry had influenced the units work.

She also said the teams deployment on student loan forgiveness applications was an operational decision that neither points to a curtailment of our school oversight efforts nor indicates a conscious effort to ignore large-scale investigations.

Aaron Ament, a former chief of staff to the office of the departments general counsel who helped create the team under President Barack Obama, said it had been intended to protect students from fraudulent for-profit colleges. Unfortunately, Secretary DeVos seems to think the colleges need protection from their students, said Ament, who is president of the National Student Legal Defense Network.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also criticized the teams new direction. DeVos has taken a number of actions to roll back or delay regulations that sought to rein in abuses and predatory practices among for-profit colleges  actions that Warren and other Democrats have said put the industrys interests ahead of those of students.

Secretary DeVos has filled the department with for-profit college hacks who only care about making sham schools rich and shutting down investigations into fraud, Warren said.

DeVry did not respond to requests for comment, and Schmoke declined to be interviewed. Schmoke recused himself from matters involving DeVry, according to the department.

DeVry agreed to pay $100 million in 2016 to settle a separate Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging that it misled prospective students with ads about employment and salaries after graduation.

The Education Department announced a limited settlement with DeVry the same year after finding that the school could not substantiate claims that 90 percent of its alumni since 1975 were employed in their field of study within six months of graduating. But the investigative team continued to look into the institutions job placement claims and other recruiting practices.

Hill confirmed the investigation, but said it had been suspended early last year before President Donald Trump took office.

The former and current employees disputed Hills account, and said the group and its work had become an issue of contention during meetings with the Trump transition team. Several of the employees said that there had been a staff push to continue the investigation as recently as this year, with no result.

The group had also been looking into similar issues of recruiting and advertising at Bridgepoint and Career Education during the latter part of 2016, the employees said.

Hill declined to comment on those cases. To preserve the integrity of investigations, program reviews and other enforcement activities, she said, the departments practice is to neither confirm nor deny current or potential investigations.

In a statement, Bridgepoint said the company was aware of a review beginning in 2015, but had not been made aware of any investigation or involvement by the enforcement unit. Career Education did not respond to requests for comment.

Bridgepoint has a high-profile connection in the Trump administration beyond the Education Department: It is a former client of Mercedes Schlapp, who is now the director of strategic communications at the White House.

Schlapp was a consultant for Bridgepoint at Cove Strategies, a lobbying and consulting firm she founded with her husband, Matt Schlapp. Bridgepoint said that it remained a Cove client.

The White House did not say whether Schlapp had recused herself from issues involving Bridgepoint and did not respond to a request to interview her. Matt Schlapp said in an email that Bridgepoint and other online institutions were persecuted by President Obamas administration because they dared to bring innovation to the education market.

He added, I believe educational innovation and disruption are a fight worth having and it matches the Presidents agenda of rolling back the excess of the Obama regulatory stranglehold.

Eitel, the senior adviser to DeVos, last year recused himself from issues involving both Bridgepoint and Career Education, where he was previously a top lawyer.

Jones, the senior adviser on postsecondary education, has not recused herself from matters involving Career Education, where she previously worked, according to a list of recusals the department provided. The department did not say whether Muniz had recused himself from issues involving the company.

Jones worked for about five years as a senior vice president at Career Education after serving as assistant secretary for postsecondary education for President George W. Bush. She joined the Trump administration early this year.

In a letter to DeVos last week, Warren and nine other Democratic senators called on the department to reveal the extent of Jones ties to the industry, suggesting she had a history of working on behalf of bad actors.

The department issued an extensive statement defending Jones, calling her background an asset that would advance the departments goals. Jones has had vast higher-ed experience in community colleges, research universities and for-profit colleges, it said in the statement, adding that she had spent only a fraction of her career in the for-profit industry.

The investigative team emerged in the wake of Corinthian Colleges shutdown as the Obama administration faced criticism for providing loans to students attending other for-profit schools that had also been accused of illegal activity, substandard practices or predatory behavior. While not created expressly to focus on for-profit schools, the group directed its attention to those institutions because of their recruiting practices and the large amount of students they serve.

Separately, another group, the borrower defense unit, focused on forgiving loans for students at Corinthian and other schools where fraud had been identified. That groups work all but came to a stop last year, but has recently gotten going again.

After Trumps victory, some employees openly worried about the fate of the investigative unit, and policies quickly changed with the new administration, according to the current and former employees.

Communication with outside groups now required special approval, including with state attorneys general, who had been partners in identifying cases, and federal agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which had been aggressively monitoring a number of for-profit colleges. Without permission, team members could not contact schools or other parties to request documents, an essential part of making a case, which effectively halted investigative work.

Hill, the Education Department spokeswoman, said the department was focused on weeding out bad actors across higher education, not capriciously targeting schools based on their tax status.

In recent months, the three remaining team members have been looking at small cases and examining student requests for loan forgiveness, like one filed by Josue Perez.

Perez, 30, said he was persuaded by an admissions officer at Corinthian Colleges Everest Institute in the Boston area to take out a $5,000 loan to attend the school for massage therapy.

The officer told him, according to Perez, that the college would help him find a job when he graduated. But Perez never received the help, he said, and he still has not worked in the field. The loan has since tripled to more than $15,000, he said.

He has been waiting for more than a year for the Education Departments decision on his claim to forgive the $15,000, he said. In the meantime, he worries about the departments new direction.

Theyre basically removing the police force that keeps these colleges in check, he said.The path from berry to bean to business will be complete Thursday for San Antonios newest coffee house.

Owner Kam Mehta said that Berry to Bean Coffee House at 3900 Broadway (across the street from the Witte Museum) will have a soft-opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday evening with featuring free samples of house coffees and juices. On Friday, the shop will transition into normal daily business hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.A groundbreaking San Antonio cocktail bar is on the move. But fear not, theres plenty of time for one last sip in its current digs.

Jeret Pena said he plans to pack up his seminal bar, The Brooklynite, and move it to a new spot near the intersection of Broadway and East Grayson Street before the end of the year.

The bar has long been hailed as one of the citys premier cocktail destinations, and has been named one of the best in the city in the annual Express-News Top 100 Dining & Drinks guide for the past four years. Its new incarnation will occupy a cozy, 30-seat partition of a building directly behind Still Golden Social House, itself a relocated bar owned by Pena and the Boulevardier Group, an ownership team behind several noted San Antonio properties.

RELATED: Celebrity San Antonio chef's tapas bar near The Pearl to become a barbecue spot

When The Brooklynite opened at 516 Brooklyn Ave. in 2012, the surrounding neighborhood was not home to a significant concentration of restaurants or bars. Today, there are at least a half dozen competing businesses within a six-block radius. Add to that changing tastes among drinkers and a sprawling building ill-suited to The Brooklynites evolving mission, and Pena was prompted to make the move.

Were trying to ensure our brand is in a place that makes sense for us, Pena said.

Pena said the more intimate location wouldnt mean a downgrade in ambition. The Boulevardier Group is reimagining The Brooklynites look, but the bar will continue to provide inventive drinks made with high quality ingredients by a well trained team of bartenders. Pena said the new format would also allow him to incorporate new equipment and techniques into an already sophisticated cocktail program.

The location, adjacent to Still Golden, he added, follows an increasingly common model that attaches a smaller, experimental bar to a larger, high-volume watering hole.

Pena said The Brooklynite will start hosting a series of events paying tribute to the bars original address in June and throughout the fall. More at 210-444-0707, thebrooklynitesa.com or Facebook: @TheBrooklynite.

Paul Stephen is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephenWATERBURY  Simsburys Mary Glassman edged out Waterburys Jahana Hayes in the Democratic Party endorsement for U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Estys seat at Mondays Democratic nominating convention.

But Hayes and Glassman will battle again in the mid-August Democratic primary to see which candidate will challenge Republicans for what is traditionally Connecticuts most competitive Congressional seat.

When Elizabeth Esty decided not to run, I stepped up  I didnt wait, Glassman said shortly before delegates voted at Crosby High School in Waterbury. There is no time to wait, there is too much at stake for the people of the 5th District and the people of the United States.

Glassman, a former Simsbury first selectman, has impressed Democrats with her organization, raising more than $100,000 since jumping into the race in early April. Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year from Waterburys John F. Kennedy High School, has also impressed party leaders, including U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who encouraged her to run.

Both candidates sought the partys nomination to replace Esty, a three-term incumbent who dropped her bid for a fourth term earlier this year after admitting she covered up an office abuse scandal.

Delegates from the 41 cities and towns that make up the 5th District gave Glassman 173 votes, just enough needed to meet the 50 percent threshold to win the nomination.

Hayes received 167 votes, more than the needed 15 percent to earn a spot in the Aug. 14 primary, when the 5th Districts 133,000 Democrats will have the final say about who runs in the November election.

My greatest gift to you is my lack of political experience, said Hayes, who was treated to a rousing performance before the convention by the 30-member Berkeley Heights youth drum corps. Because when I go to Washington I will work for you and for no one else.

A state Democratic official said the candidates had recharged the party.

We are excited about the enthusiasm that this race has generated, and we are excited about the candidates, said Christina Polizzi, communications director of the state Democratic Party.

Mondays nominating convention comes three days after Republicans nominated former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos at the GOP convention at Foxwoods Resort Casino. Republicans also gave enough support to political newcomer Ruby ONeill of Southbury to force a GOP primary in August.

The district stretches from greater Danbury to the Massachusetts border, and as far east as New Britain.

Democrats will nominate candidates for governor and statewide offices on Friday and Saturday in Hartford.

There is more attention on the 5th District this year because of Estys surprise withdrawal from the midterm elections  a decision that her office insists she is sticking to.

Esty, who had $1.5 million raised when she dropped her re-election campaign in early April, admitted it was a mistake to cover up sexual harassment and abuse allegations against her former chief of staff. Esty admitted that she compounded her mistake by recommending her chief of staff for a job with Newtown-based Sandy Hook Promise.

As a result of Estys exit, Democrats and Republicans scrambled to find candidates. Sandy Hook Promise co-founders Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden briefly considered a run for Democrats but declined. State. Rep. William Petit, and former Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra also briefly considered a run for the GOP but thought better of it.

Last week, former two-time Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Curry said he was not going to run for Estys seat.

Other Democrats vying for the nomination were New Britain Alderman Emmanuel Sanchez and former Newtown Rabbi Shaul Praver.WINSTED  Four juveniles have been arrested in connection with cupcakes that were possibly tainted with body fluids at The Gilbert School last year.

Two boys and two girls, whose names are not being released by police due to their ages, surrendered to police after learning of active arrest warrants, police said Monday. The charges include fourth-degree sexual assault, conspiracy to commit fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree breach of peace.

The case was presented to the prosecuting authorities in juvenile court after an extensive forensic examination of the cupcake and DNA comparisons of the suspect juveniles, Winchester Police Chief William T. Fitzgerald Jr. said in a release. Several of the suspects are away at college, police said.

The Winchester Police Department received complaints in June 2017 about suspected cupcakes that were brought to The Gilbert School in Winsted.

In a statement from the school, Principal Alan Strauss said at the time that two sets of parents spoke with police.

Last year, police said they did not believe that the substance reported to have been introduced into the cupcake batter and/or frosting was toxic or poisonous, and no students or staff reported becoming ill as a result of ingesting the suspected tainted cupcakes.

Strauss said the cupcakes were brought in by a student and that the school did not know what the fluid was. The cupcakes were brought to the State Forensic Lab for analysis, police said.

Strauss said the school was vigorously investigating the incident.

In a statement issued Monday, Gilberts Head of Schools, Dr. Anthony Serio thanked the police department for their work.

Nothing is more important to us at The Gilbert School than the safety and well-being of our students, and as such we are grateful for the support and responsiveness shown to us by the Winchester Police Department throughout this difficult situation, he said. We continue to work cooperatively with the police, and any further questions regarding this case should be directed to them.Advocates for those with mental disabilities are supporting a legislative measure that would allow an immediate Amber Alert when a person goes missing.

Senate Bill 2265 passed the Illinois Senate last month and would allow law enforcement agencies to issue an Amber Alert more quickly. The bill is currently being discussed in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Tom Fredrick, the executive director of the Elm City Center, said this is something that could benefit those with mental disabilities that can cause confusion.

Fredrick said while some people have tracking systems, the dissemination of information more quickly to the public can provide a quicker recovery of a missing person.

This could be a really good thing, Fredrick said. Not everyone needs this kind of response, but for those that need it, its a good thing for them, and their friends and family.

State Sen. Michael Hastings, D- Tinley Park, wrote the bill to address the procedural response to missing persons with disabilities.

Adults with intellectual disabilities are a vulnerable population, and by including them in the LEAD system you are not only providing a proven resource to families and providers but also giving us peace of mind knowing the safety of those we support is a priority, Hastings said in a press release.

The measure came after a Matteson man went on an outing with members of his group home and went missing for 21 hours before being found.

The bill, in addition to changing the timeline for Amber Alerts, will also include persons with developmental or intellectual disabilities to be included as a high-risk missing person.

Jacksonville Police Chief Adam Mefford said the bill would allow for a quicker public dissemination of information.

Currently, when someone goes missing, Mefford said police immediately put them into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System, which is accessible to all law enforcement officers, but said the public is not always notified.

We form search parties and start in the immediate area or go house-to-house, Mefford said. This will allow for that information to go immediately go to the public, which could help us more easily. It gets more eyes and ears to look out for the missing person.

Mefford said officers would be able to issue the alert immediately after obtaining the information, without taking a lot of time.

Its not much more work then making that report and getting the information into the system, Mefford said. Anything that will speed up the process of finding someone is an advantage to law enforcement.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.Ernest L. Medina, the Army captain who was accused of overall responsibility for the March 1968 mass killings of unarmed South Vietnamese men, women and children by troops he commanded in what became known as the My Lai Massacre, but was acquitted at a court-martial, died Tuesday in Peshtigo, Wis.

He was 81.

His death was confirmed by the Thielen Funeral Home in Marinette, a nearby town where he had lived. The cause was not given.

On March 16, 1968, a month and a half after North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet offensive, wide-ranging attacks that stunned the U.S. military command in the Vietnam War, Medina and the three platoons of his infantry company entered the village of My Lai in South Vietnam's south central coast region.

What happened over the hours that followed became one of darkest chapters of U.S. military history. An Army inquiry ultimately determined that 347 civilians were killed that day  shot, bayoneted or blasted with grenades. A Vietnamese memorial erected at the site has put the toll at 504.

But the mass killings were not exposed until November 1969, when the independent journalist Seymour Hersh, tipped off to the atrocity, wrote of it in a series of articles that brought him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting.

The revelations were shocking in an America already divided over an increasingly unpopular war. But Medina and Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr., who was subsequently convicted of murder at a court-martial as the leader of the platoon that carried out the massacre, came to be viewed by many as scapegoats in an unwinnable conflict.

Calley was convicted of premeditated murder of least 22 civilians at a lengthy court-martial ending in March 1971.

He testified that Medina had ordered him via radio to "get rid of" what the lieutenant had described as "enemy personnel" whose detention was slowing his progress through the village.

Medina denied that the conversation took place and his testimony was corroborated by his radio officer. He testified that in his pre-assault briefing, he had not generally addressed the issue of what to do with civilians in the village since he assumed everyone there would be Viet Cong.

But he testified that when one his troopers asked, "Do we kill women and children?" he replied: "No, you do not kill women and children. You must use common sense," adding that "if they have a weapon and are trying to engage you, then you can shoot back."

Calley was sentenced to 20 years in prison but the case became embroiled in court battles and he spent a little more than three years confined to barracks or under house arrest at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being released.

Medina went on trial in September 1971, defended by prominent criminal lawyer F. Lee Bailey, as well as a military lawyer. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter of at least 100 civilians, the murder of a woman and two counts of assault against a prisoner by firing twice over his head to frighten him the night after the massacre.

The defense contended that Medina was unaware of large-scale killings of defenseless civilians until they had occurred.Bandung, Indonesia

One suicide bomber appeared to have been disguised as a churchgoer. Another drove a Toyota minivan with a bomb to one attack site. Still another was seen in footage speeding on a scooter toward a church before an explosion.

After the back-to-back bombings that targeted three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, as worshippers gathered between services Sunday morning, the police said they had been the work of one family: a couple who had led their four children on a terror rampage that took their own lives and those of at least seven other people.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to the group's news agency, Amaq. In an initial bulletin, the group described each of the bombings as a "martyrdom" operation. In a subsequent, longer media release, the Islamic State identified three modes of attack: a car bomb, a suicide vest and a motorcycle-borne bomb.

The bombings occurred one day after a man in Paris who shouted, "God is great" in Arabic killed one person with a knife and wounded four others. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack. A day later, the group's news agency released a cellphone video of the attacker pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and calling on fellow Islamic State supporters in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere to carry out attacks.

At least 43 other people were wounded in the suicide bombings in Indonesia, said Frans Barung Mangera, a police spokesman. Mangera said the bombs had been detonated in different parts of the city within minutes of one another. The victims included two police officers and worshippers who were entering and leaving the churches between services, he added.

At a news conference later Sunday, Indonesia's police chief, Tito Karnavian, said the family suspected in the attacks had recently returned from Syria: "Five hundred people were deported from Syria; among them is this family."

He identified the attackers as Dita Oepriarto and his wife, Puji Kuswati. The police chief said two of their sons, ages 18 and 16, had also been involved. Two younger children were also seen in the company of the woman at one bombing site, the police said."Paul Cassel and Richard Fowles of the University of Utah analyzed the dramatic surge in Chicago homicides in 2016. Homicides went from 480 in 2015 to 754 in 2016 - a stunning event.

"They asked why. They considered numerous possible causes. They concluded the 58 percent increase was caused by the abrupt decline in 'stop and frisks' in 2015. There had been a horrific police shooting, protests and an ACLU lawsuit. The settlement of that lawsuit resulted in a decline in stops from 40,000 per month to 10,000 per month. Arrests fell also. In sum, they conclude that these actions in late 2016, conservatively calculated, resulted in approximately 236 additional victims killed and over 1,100 additional shootings in 2016 alone. The scholars call it the 'ACLU effect.'

"Look, this does not surprise you experienced professionals. If you want crime to go up, let the ACLU run the police department. If you want public safety, call the professionals. That is what President Trump believes, and that is what I believe." - Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a speech to a law enforcement training conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, May 8, 2018

- - -

Sessions blamed a legal settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Police Department for a sharp rise in that city's homicide rate in 2016, citing an unpublished research paper to support his claim.

The ACLU in a 2015 report had found that Chicago police were using stop-and-frisk practices disproportionately on black residents. "Although officers are required to write down the reason for stops, in nearly half of the stops we reviewed, officers either gave an unlawful reason for the stop or failed to provide enough information to justify the stop," the ACLU report said.

Facing an ACLU lawsuit, the Chicago Police Department agreed to a settlement that imposed training and data collection requirements in 2015.

The study Sessions referenced, by two University of Utah researchers, took note of a nearly 60 percent spike in homicides in Chicago in 2016. The researchers concluded that the ACLU settlement reduced instances of stop and frisk in Chicago, which in turn caused homicides to rise.

The attorney general and this study essentially say the ACLU settlement is a mortal threat, and they suggest this is a cautionary tale for the rest of the country.

But the study's methodology has been questioned, other reports about the Chicago homicide spike did not blame the ACLU settlement, and critics point out that other cities that adopted similar or tougher requirements for stop-and-frisk practices did not see comparable increases in homicides.

We won't try to settle the larger debate over stop and frisk. But we will examine how Sessions's claim holds up. Do homicides go up in cities with stop-and-frisk requirements like Chicago's?

- - -

Sessions is quoting from an unpublished research paper titled, "What Caused the 2016 Chicago Homicide Spike? An Empirical Examination of the 'ACLU Effect' and the Role of Stop and Frisks in Preventing Gun Violence," by Paul Cassell, a former federal judge who teaches law at the University of Utah, and Richard Fowles, an economics professor at the same university. Cassell said the study will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Illinois Law Review and has been presented by invitation to the Illinois Academy of Criminology.

Adopted in August 2015, the ACLU settlement reinforced existing record-keeping requirements for Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers using stop-and-frisk practices by requiring that data on such stops be collected and made public. It also imposed training requirements and other provisions. The use of police pat-downs declined as a result starting in late 2015, according to Cassell and Fowles. (Illinois enacted a statute that took effect around the same time, in January 2016, largely mirroring the requirements in the ACLU settlement.)

"What would be the expected effect of an abrupt, roughly 75% to 80% drop in stop and frisk activities by the CPD?" the authors wrote. "One rather obvious answer is that gun crimes would increase. Stop and frisk is designed to discover and remove illegal firearms from the hands of criminals that police encounter - and thus deter the illegal carrying of firearms in the first place."

Zachary Fardon, a former Chicago U.S. attorney, wrote in a letter of resignation in March 2017 that police officers were "scared and demoralized" by the ACLU deal.

"So cops stopped making stops," Fardon wrote. "And kids started shooting more - because they could, and because the rule of law, law enforcement, had been delegitimized. And that created an atmosphere of chaos."

In 2016, the number of homicides rose to 754 from 480, a staggering rate of increase that was not seen in any other of the 20 largest U.S. cities, according to the Utah study. The homicide total was later revised to 771 for 2016, meaning an increase of 61 percent. In 2017, homicides fell to 650, a 16 percent drop.

"We conclude that, because of fewer stop and frisks in 2016, a conservative estimate is that approximately 236 additional homicides and 1115 additional shootings occurred that year," Cassell and Fowles wrote. "A reasonable estimate of the social costs associated with these additional homicides and shootings is about $1,500,000,000. And these costs are concentrated in Chicago's African-American and Hispanic communities."

Sessions correctly quoted from this study in his speech in Tennessee, but that's not the end of our analysis. Chicago is hardly alone among major U.S. cities that have adopted restrictions or requirements on stop-and-frisk practices. But it is the only one of these cities that registered a big spike in its homicide rate the following year.

In New York City, a federal judge found in 2014 that, of the 4.4 million stops police officers had conducted from January 2004 to June 2012, more than 80 percent were of blacks or Hispanics. "More than half of the time the police subjected the person to a frisk," Judge Shira A. Scheindlin found. She ordered remedies including data-collection requirements.

"A lot was done in terms of training, education, community policing; of course, the body camera settlement; reporting on the stops; documenting them; having a basis for them," Scheindlin, who is now in private practice, told The Fact Checker.

The requirements in New York City resemble those in the ACLU settlement in Chicago. But in New York, the murder rate held steady, and crime decreased overall, after Scheindlin's rulings.

Philadelphia has been working under a settlement agreement on stop-and-frisk practices like Chicago's since 2011, and its homicide rate fell for several years afterward before rising again in 2016 and 2017 (albeit at much lower rates than in Chicago).

Seattle has been under a consent decree that includes stop-and-frisk provisions since 2012, and its yearly homicide rate has been mostly steady, hovering between 19 and 27, in the following years.

In Newark, New Jersey, a consent decree imposing requirements for stop-and-frisk practices, among other provisions, was adopted in 2016. The city reported 72 homicides in 2017, a 25 percent drop, although nonfatal shootings increased.

"The consent decree was signed and the monitor appointed in the spring and summer of 2016, and Newark continues to have the lowest crime in 50 years since then," said Paul J. Fishman, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, who implemented the consent decree. He said "homicides are down 30 percent" and added that citizen complaints about police have declined by "more than 25 percent." Fishman said he credited the leadership of the Newark Police Department for recognizing that the consent decree made for effective policing.

"All that consent decrees really do is give teeth to enforcing what everybody agrees are the right police procedures to begin with, both because they're good policing and because they're what the law requires," said Fishman, now a partner at Arnold and Porter. "As lawyers - people in the Justice Department - talking about Chicago, they should be very wary of drawing evidentiary conclusions from the behavior of one police department in one particular location, or from the crime rate in Chicago."

Cassell and Fowles are not the only ones to have studied Chicago's surge in homicides in 2016. A study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab did not attribute it to the reduction in stop-and-frisk practices.

"What caused Chicago's sudden surge in gun violence in 2016 remains a puzzle," that study says. It adds:

"Weather cannot explain the surge in homicides and shootings, since monthly temperatures in 2016 were close to their historical averages. City spending on social services and public education did not change much in 2016 compared to previous years, and while the state budget impasse disrupted funding for many community organizations, this did not seem to change sharply in December 2015.

"Most relevant measures of police activity did not change abruptly enough to explain the surge in gun violence. Overall arrests declined in 2016, driven by narcotics arrests, but arrests for violent crimes, including homicides and shootings, barely changed. One policing measure that declined was the chance of arrest for homicides and shootings (the 'clearance rate'), which was a result of arrests for these crimes not keeping pace with the increase in gun violence. Another policing measure that declined was the number of investigatory street stops. However, for this to explain why shootings increased in Chicago would also require an explanation for why the previous dramatic decline in street stops in New York City did not lead to more gun violence there."

Cassell and Fowles called New York City an "anomaly" and wrote that it had a much lower rate of homicides committed with firearms than Chicago, "a small number of guns and gun crimes (relative to Chicago and many other cities)," and a police force that is about 25 percent larger than Chicago's on a per-capita basis.

But what about Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle and the other cities with stop-and-frisk requirements like Chicago's? The experience in these cities resembles New York's, not Chicago's.

In their study, Cassell and Fowles cited research by other academics into 17 cities with police departments working under consent decrees, not including Chicago or New York. They wrote that, "on average, violent crime rates were 2.6 percent higher and property crime rates 6.9% higher" in those cities, as compared with the national average.

That's much lower than the increase in Chicago homicides. So why is Chicago a good example of what could happen in the rest of the country?

We asked Cassell and Fowles whether they had identified any other cities where homicides rose, as in Chicago, after comparable stop-and-frisk curbs were adopted. They did not mention any in response.

"Other commentators have argued that New York City's experience in reducing stop and frisks without, apparently, a big rise in homicides means that New York City's approach can be followed elsewhere," Cassell wrote in an email. "Our paper suggests that New York City's experience may be anomalous. Instead, Chicago's experience may suggest caution in substantially reducing stop and frisks in other cities. We also collect other research that has found a connection between stop and frisk by law enforcement and crime reductions."

We also asked the Justice Department whether it was aware of any other cities beyond Chicago that proved Sessions's point about the dangers of the "ACLU effect." We received no response.

Cassell and Fowles's paper entertains the possibility that other factors contributed to Chicago's homicide spike in 2016, including "changes in police leadership," "fractured gang leadership," "the opioid epidemic" and the release of a video in which a white police officer shoots and kills Laquan McDonald, a black teenager. The video's release sparked protests and a Justice Department review of the city's police culture.

That DOJ report, produced before Sessions was named attorney general, does not blame the ACLU settlement for the spike in gun violence in 2016.

"Over the year-plus since release of that video, and while we have been conducting this investigation, Chicago experienced a surge in shootings and homicides," the DOJ report says. "The reasons for this spike are broadly debated and inarguably complex. But on two points there is little debate. First, for decades, certain neighborhoods on Chicago's South and West Sides have been disproportionately ravaged by gun violence. Those same neighborhoods have borne the brunt of the recent surge of violence. And second, for Chicago to find solutions - short- and long-term - for making those neighborhoods safe, it is imperative that the City rebuild trust between CPD and the people it serves, particularly in these communities."

Carl Takei, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said the University of Utah study was flawed because it mistook correlation for causation. New York and Seattle, he said, have imposed tougher limits on stop-and-frisk practices than Chicago, but their homicide rates did not increase. (The ACLU has responded at length to Cassell and Fowles's research.)

"If limiting stop-and-frisk really did cause an increase in the homicide rate, one would expect it to happen in the jurisdictions that imposed substantive limits on stop-and-frisk, not just in the jurisdiction where data collection alone was taking place," Takei said, referring to Chicago.

"Instead, less use of stop-and-frisk in New York and Seattle resulted in . . . no more homicides than before. That contradicts the final step of the authors' asserted chain of causation. So, to the extent the authors are arguing that the mere act of data collection causes homicides (as opposed to merely being a coincidence), they would need to explain that chain of causation through some other mechanism. They do not, and that's why their study is bunk."

Scheindlin, the judge who handled the stop-and-frisk case in New York, said Chicago might be the anomaly.

"Chicago, I think, may have a well-known gang problem that New York did not," she said. "We're probably not talking about random murders targeting pedestrians. That's probably not what it is. The murder rate is affected by many factors such as gang activity, drug activity."

She added: "I don't view New York as an anomaly. I was confident that crime would not rise. It didn't. I was glad to have been right about that."

- - -

Sessions is cherry-picking an extreme example of rising violence in one city, Chicago, to warn about the dangers of imposing limits or requirements on police's use of stop and frisk anywhere in the United States. But to prove this theory requires more than one example, harrowing as it may be.

Although the attorney general cited the University of Utah study correctly, that study is alone in arguing that the decrease in stop-and-frisk practices was the cause of Chicago's homicide surge in 2016. Newark, New York City, Philadelphia and Seattle have not seen significant increases in their murder rates since they adopted stop-and-frisk requirements like Chicago's. Indeed, some of these cities have seen homicides decline even with tougher limits on stop and frisk than Chicago has.

The veneer of an academic study does not change these facts, so we award Three Pinocchios to Sessions.Hardin County's population continues to grow in numbers almost equal to a drop in Jefferson County, according to the most recent state data, which officials say is part of an overall healthy picture for the region.

Jefferson County lost about 3,476 residents in 2016, according to the latest estimates by the Texas Demographic Center. Meanwhile, Hardin County gained roughly the

same number, 3,571 residents.

"I'm really not concerned if the population doesn't grow greatly because all the communities surrounding us, they're growing," said Dean Conwell, executive director of the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Beaumont is the hub, it's the county seat, so people are going to come to the big city if they want to."

Growth in Beaumont's neighboring bedroom communities reflects a trend toward working in higher-density areas and living in more rural ones. In Southeast Texas, that comes with the added perks of larger tracts of land and lower taxes and insurance premiums, said Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick.

The yin and yang of the county population numbers eventually could position the region for even more significant growth. As commutes to jobs become longer and more congested, people might gravitate back to urban centers, Conwell said.

Location-based costs

The migration north from Jefferson to Hardin County comes down to housing affordability, said Benjamin Rodriguez, Beaumont Board of Realtors president.

The high cost of windstorm insurance in Jefferson County, which is classified as a coastal county, could discourage people from living there, especially first-time homebuyers, according to Branick and Rodriguez.

Higher Jefferson County taxes might be another driver, Rodriguez said.

Taxes and insurance can mean a "pretty big difference" in the monthly house note on a $300,000 house in Beaumont and a $300,000 house in Lumberton, Rodriguez said.

Still, factors other than cost go into the decision where to live.

With "the most new construction in all of Hardin County," Rodriguez said Lumberton has the "biggest supply of homes to look at." The "good school district" helps too, he said.

Rodriguez, a Lumberton resident, said it's "not that far of a drive" to nearby shopping, restaurants and attractions. For example, he said it takes him about 10 minutes to get to Parkdale Mall.

Industrial expansion

Branick anticipates industrial expansion projects over the next five years "will attract people" to Jefferson County.

He said it would make sense for refinery workers living in Jefferson, Hardin, Jasper and Tyler counties to want to be closer to work.

For that and other reasons, Conwell said it's just a matter of time before growth is "just going to skyrocket" in Beaumont.

"This is a great city," Conwell said, with weekly events and diverse restaurant openings.

"If we believe in our city, we get out and create a good environment with more festivals and things to do, then I think we'll be just fine," Conwell said.

Branick said he looks forward to seeing the real estate base "revitalized" after Tropical Storm Harvey. With new subdivisions in the works in areas like Hamshire-Fannett and new jobs coming on line soon, Branick said he feels optimistic about "an increase in population, assuming we can maintain the attractiveness of our school district."

"The district recognizes that its role in attracting new residents to the city is a vital one," said Nakisha Burns, spokeswoman for Beaumont Independent School District. "Making our schools safe and successful learning environments is our number one priority."

BISD is "excited about our current progress," Burns said, which includes the opening of the new Beaumont United High School in fall 2018.

Small but growing fast

Sour Lake is one small bedroom community that is "growing pretty fast," according to city manager Jack Provost. From 2010 to 2016, the city gained nearly 650 new residents, bringing its population to 1,832, according to 2016 Census estimates.

The City of Sour Lake offers a "small-town advantage," Provost said, while remaining connected to larger cities like Beaumont through Highway 105, the city's main thoroughfare.

"A lot of nice things (are) going on for a lot of people" said Sour Lake councilwoman Robin Powell, who noted plans for a new subdivision as well as a "good" school district as draws for the city.

"I just think folks are looking to have more acreage, and I think that's an appeal with moving to Hardin County. We are growing," said Rebecca Gardiner, executive director of the Sour Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Community events have grown in popularity, according to Gardiner. For example, more than 5,000 people attended the city's annual "Trunk-or-Treat" night last year, compared to a few hundred in past years.

While Powell said she mostly works and shops in town, Provost said he hopes Sour Lake residents will soon "have some choices."

Sour Lake's Economic Development Corporation recently purchased property on Highway 105 in hopes of bringing in businesses and jobs, Provost said.

"We're not against people going to Beaumont," he said. "We just want to have stuff available here in case you don't want to go."

Schools and new homes

In Orange County,the population increased by fewer than 400 residents from the 2010 census to the 2016 estimates.

What growth there was can be attributed to "good school districts" and "new (residential) construction," said Jessica Hill, executive director of the Orange County Economic Development Corporation.

Hill said Orange County communities' efforts to recruit retail and housing "just take time."

Two years ago, a local developer started planning to fill in Bridge City's housing gap with a new 39-home subdivision. Land has been cleared for Marsh Estates and pending final approval from the city, homes will be built by August, if not sooner, according to developer Robert Cash.

Compared to Jefferson and Hardin Counties, home insurance premiums in Orange County are "outrageous" even with no windstorm insurance requirement, said April Tolbert, a Farmers Insurance agent.

Following devastation from Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Harvey in Orange County, Tolbert said insurance companies "didn't want the exposure" in Orange and hiked prices.

Nevertheless, Rodriguez said Orange County is seeing growth second only to Hardin County because of its larger lots, especially in Orangefield and Little Cypress-Mauriceville.

Silsbee farther out

While parts of Hardin County with closer ties to Beaumont are experiencing growth, one Silsbee resident said she believes people who move north to Hardin County "stop in Lumberton."

"Everything we have is shutting down, I'm really worried about it," said Lisa Guedry, about her hometown of Silsbee. "When I was growing up, we had places to go, things to do."

Guedry, a Silsbee native, recalled "the best times" at the closed-down Pines Theater and former Biscamp Skating Rink. Now, Guedry said she worries Silsbee doesn't have "much to offer."

"Silsbee just needs a facelift and industry," Guedry said, suggesting the town is experiencing "a lot of the same things other small towns are going through."

At the end of April, a Houston-based developer announced plans to "uplift the city" with a new shopping center, breakfast place and Holiday Inn Express.

"There are no amenities there for the community other than Beaumont," Richard Gilbert said in April, adding that the hotel's banquet facilities could help the town host "more activities, like festivals."

Overall, Conwell said any growth is good as long as folks stay nearby and don't move to Houston or Dallas.

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/PhoebeSuyWASHINGTON - Researchers at the Department of Agriculture have euthanized healthy kittens, ignored injured pigs, and killed dozens of birds through neglect and starvation, government documents show.

The incidents, which took place at a dozen USDA laboratories over the course of 2017, have drawn new scrutiny to the agency's research agenda - and its oversight of animal welfare standards.

At one federal lab, 32 quail chicks died after the temperature in their room spiked above 130 degrees, according to agency inspection reports reviewed by The Washington Post.

At another, kittens are routinely infected with toxoplasma, a parasite that poses risks to fetuses and pregnant women, and later euthanized, according to internal agency documents obtained by the White Coat Waste Project, a right-leaning advocacy group, and shared with the Post.

USDA, which operates 41 agricultural research labs, says it adheres to stringent animal welfare standards and conducts research that is critical to industry and to human health, adding in a statement that it "complies with best management practices in animal research." But animal welfare groups are calling on Congress to increase oversight of animal research programs, citing outrage over the kitten trials and persistent violations at some USDA labs.

In total, government inspectors documented 16 animal welfare violations at ten USDA facilities in 2017, according to agency reports. Agency records show that some of the cited labs, including the Meat Animal Research Center (MARC), were also repeatedly flagged for problems during preliminary audits designed to help them prepare for inspectors.

"There are still very horrendous animal deaths and incidents taking place at USDA," said Mimi Brody, the director of federal affairs at the Humane Society. " ... Even if these are extreme cases, why are they happening?"

Such questions have plagued USDA since 2015, when a New York Times investigation exposed researchers who left animals to die of exposure and left basic injuries and wounds untreated. In the ensuing controversy, Congress required every lab in USDA's Agricultural Research Service to convene a committee on animal care and submit to regular, unannounced animal welfare inspections.

The majority of those inspections turn up clean. But some problems have persisted, the reports show.

At MARC, where government scientists are researching ways to improve beef cattle, swine and lamb production, inspectors visiting in July 2017 found that pigs, lambs and cows had visible wounds and injuries that had not been treated by a veterinarian.

Animals in a feedlot were breathing quickly and with their tongues hanging out, showing signs of heat distress. Some hogs bore scrapes and open wounds because caretakers had not separated them from more aggressive pigs.

"None of these animals were under treatment at the time of the inspection," Debbie Cunningham, an agency inspector, wrote in her report. "Injuries that are not treated may be painful and can lead to prolonged suffering [and] infection . . . These animals must be examined by a veterinarian."

That same month, at the Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory in Utah, 32 quail chicks died after a heating system failure caused the room temperature to spike above 130 degrees, inspection reports show. While many facilities automatically alert staff to sudden temperature changes, PPRL did not have such a system installed.

Meanwhile, at the Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory in East Lansing, Michigan, 15 ducks died after "multiple days without access to water." At the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, 38 turkeys dropped dead unexpectedly. A post-mortem examination found the ducks had empty digestive tracts and shrunken intestines - two signs they weren't getting enough to eat.

"It disgusts me, frankly," said Dr. James Keen, a professor at the University of Nebraska School of Veterinary Medicine who left MARC in 2014 after publicly denouncing the lab's animal welfare practices. "Starvation does not happen overnight, so this indicates chronic neglect and overt cruelty to animals ... The findings indicate that animal care, animal health and animal welfare are just not a priority for USDA ARS."

In addition to the official inspection violations, all four labs were cited for breaking animal welfare rules during pre-inspection audits, though a summary report obtained by the Post did not specify the violation. MARC was cited with 33 violations, and the other three facilities were each cited for seven.

Some congressional appropriators say they are concerned by the reports, which they began mandating in 2016.

"More than a year ago, the Agriculture Department Inspector General's office publicly said that the Agricultural Research Service admitted it had not prioritized following its own policies on animal welfare," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. "These reports demonstrate that this disturbing pattern has continued, which is appalling and unacceptable. Agency management must make a much better effort than they have so far to address these serious failures."

Separately, and unrelated to the inspectors' reports, several animal welfare groups raised concerns last week about a long-running project on toxoplasmosis at the Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. To obtain samples of toxoplasma for study, researchers feed kittens infected meat and harvest the parasite from their excrement, according to experiment protocol documents. The cats are then euthanized and incinerated.

While the humane euthanization of test animals is not a violation of federal animal welfare rules, critics claim toxoplasmosis is easily and cheaply cured in cats, and USDA could then give the animals up for adoption.

"The cats are perfectly healthy - USDA admits that in its reports," said Justin Goodman, the vice president for advocacy and public policy at White Coat Waste. "The CDC says it's perfectly safe to keep cats that have been treated for toxoplasmosis as pets. And USDA is killing them anyway."

In a statement, a department spokesman defended USDA's toxoplasmosis program and its larger track record on animal welfare, though the agency did not specifically address the recent violations found at USDA labs despite multiple requests for comment.

Scientists can only obtain the type of toxoplasma needed for these experiments from cats, said the spokesman, who spoke anonymously because it's the policy of the department. The trials are a high priority because toxoplasmosis can cause severe eye and brain damage to unborn children, as well as some farm animals.

The kittens are not given up for adoption afterward because of concerns they could spread the parasite, he added - though there is little evidence that is a risk.

"[USDA] regularly inspects research animals and complies with best management practices in animal research," the spokesman said.

But critics of USDA's animal research say they still have questions for the agency: among them, why added oversight and funding has not prompted USDA to correct its animal welfare record. Keen, the former MARC veterinarian, said these issues don't only hurt animals - they can skew experiments and invalidate research.

On Friday, Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., introduced a bill that would prohibit USDA from using cats in any research that causes pain or stress. The Humane Society, meanwhile, has called on USDA to publish more inspection reports and take clear, public steps to correct documented problems.

The organization remains concerned, Brody said, that inspectors continue to find violations two years after mandatory animal welfare check began.

"When you're seeing serious problems, you're supposed to take steps to address them - not just duly note them," Brody said. "From that perspective, this is an alarming trend."NORWALK  Motorists and pedestrians may have an easier time navigating two intersections along Route 1 in Norwalk under state construction projects slated for completion in late August.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation last November awarded a $2.8 million contract to Waters Construction Co. to rebuild the intersections of Route 1 with Stuart and East avenues.

The company is on schedule to complete both jobs by Aug. 29 as stipulated in the contract, according to Travis Woodward, the DOT project engineer overseeing the work.

The Route 53 and Route 1 portion of the project consists of widening U.S. Route 1 to create two lanes of through traffic as well as a dedicated left-turn lane when traveling U.S. Route 1 eastbound, Woodward wrote in an email explaining the project. There will also be upgrades to the traffic signals, drainage and sidewalks to meet current standards. Most notably is the installation of a retaining wall at the northeast corner of the intersection that adds character to the roadway while maintaining the historic appeal of the area.

Orange safety cones demarcate the area of the work, which is being done at night so as to not further disrupt traffic on heavily traveled Route 1.

On Monday afternoon, traffic stood choked along northbound Route 1, going uphill toward the East Avenue/Route 53. The roadway has a dedicated turn lane for motorists wishing to turn left onto East Avenue and a single through lane  wholly inadequate for the traffic volume.

Peter Libre, a Norwalk resident and bicyclist who sits on the Norwalk Bike/Walk Commission, acknowledges the traffic congestion but described the DOTs solution as a waste of money. He said the department could have restriped Route 1 rather than widened it to accommodate the additional lane.

You could have made three lanes up the hill without doing any construction whatsoever if you just made that lane narrower and these three lanes the minimum width, also, said Libre, pointing at the south and northbound lanes.

As the DOT overhaul of intersection continues, the Norwalk Department of Public Works is moving forward with work along and near East Avenue.

When they get finished with theirs, were going to pave East Avenue, from where they left off down to approximately Wall Street, said Norwalk Director of Public Works Bruce Chimento.

The Grasso Cos., which has this years paving contract with the public works department, has installed an Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalk along St. Pauls Place and curb cut into the nearby Norwalk Green.

Grasso intends to finish ADA sidewalk improvements in the next week and plans to schedule (East Avenue) milling and repaving by the middle of June, wrote company owner Joe Grasso Jr. in an email Monday. We plan to reduce traffic to two lanes to allow both directions to pass during construction.

Push for crosswalks

Brad Craighead, founder of the Norwalk Green Association, which has advocated for pedestrian crosswalks in the increasingly residential area, welcomed the new sidewalk on St. Pauls Place and curb cut into the green.

The bones for pedestrian mobility are here, said Craighead, standing alongside the green Monday afternoon. If you walk around the green itself, youll see these curb cuts on almost every side of it, but theres no way to get to the curb cuts.

East Wall Street has a pedestrian crosswalk near the green, but there are no such crosswalks to the green itself from East Avenue.

Norwalk Green Association has counted 13 crosswalks along 5,042 feet of West Avenue but only four crosswalks along 4,973 feet of East Avenue.

Early this year, the Norwalk Traffic Authority approved the associations request for a crosswalk at Lewis Way. The authority is still exploring the associations request for a crosswalk across East Avenue at Parkhill Avenue.

The Norwalk Bike/Walk Commission supports the associations request for the crosswalk on East Avenue. The association supports the commissions request for crosswalks on Wall Street.

The crosswalk across Wall Street at Knight Street has been a project of the Bike/Walk Commission since September, wrote commission Chairwoman Nancy Rosett in an email. We have been working with the Redevelopment Agency and the Department of Public Works to create that crosswalk.Kathmandu, NepalA Chinese climber who lost both legs to frostbite on Everest four decades ago finally reached the summit Monday, just months after the revocation of a controversial ban on double amputee climbers attempting the worlds highest peak. Xia Boyu, 69, summited Everest early Monday on his fifth attempt to reach the top of the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) mountain. He reached the summit this morning, along with seven other members of his team, said Dawa Futi Sherpa of Imagine Trek and Expedition, who organized Xias Everest bid.Xias dream of standing at the top of the world was nearly thwarted by the Nepal government, which last year banned double amputee and blind climbers from summiting its mountains. The ruling was overturned by Nepals top court in March, which branded it as discriminatory towards people with disabilities. Xia first attempted to summit Everest with a Chinese government-backed team in 1975, but was thwarted by bad weather. He became stuck in the frigid low-oxygen environment near the top of Everest and suffered severe frostbite, losing both his feet. In 1996, his legs were amputated just below the knee after he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. The tenacious climber returned to Everest in 2014 and 2015 but Nepals climbing season was canceled both years due to disasters.Bad weather forced him to turn back during his previous attempt in 2016 when he was just 200 meters from the summit. Climbing Mount Everest is my dream. I have to realize it. It also represents a personal challenge, a challenge of fate, Xia told AFP last month before heading to the mountain. The only other double amputee to summit Everest is New Zealander Mark Inglis, who achieved the feat in 2006. Xia is among the first of hundreds of climbers expected to summit Everest this month during a narrow window of good weather. Nepal has issued 346 permits for this years spring climbing season, which runs from mid-April to the end of May. Most Everest hopefuls are escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning about 700 climbers will try to reach the top in coming weeks. Another 180 climbers are preparing to summit Everest from its north side in Tibet, according to the China Tibet Mountaineering Association. Last year, 634 people made it to the top and seven died trying.An irate dishwasher was arrested Saturday after cutting one of his coworkers with a knife, according to San Antonio police.

Samuel James Montalbo, 21, is facing multiple criminal charges after police were called to the Dry Dock Oyster Bar on Fredricksburg Road on Friday.

Witnesses told police Montalbo, who works as a dishwasher at the restaurant, walked to the main bar area and shattered dishes he was carrying because he was upset, according to the arrest affidavit. It wasn't clear what he was upset about.

RELATED: 3rd suspect accused of drugging, repeatedly raping S.A. 15-year-old is arrested

Coworkers had to restrain him until the manager told Montalbo he had to leave, according to the affidavit.

When Montalbo's coworkers let him go, he grabbed a knife and tried to stab them, the coworkers told police. During the attack he allegedly yelled "I'm gonna cut your f***ing head off."

One coworker was cut in the chest before Montalbo fled, according to the affidavit.

Montalbo is charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of criminal mischief. A judge set his bail at $77,000, according to jail records.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSAThe GOP is no longer the Party of Reagan. Its the Party of Michael Cohen.

Saint Ronald and his acolytes preached that the way to get ahead in the United States was to work hard and never rely on government to help you out.

By contrast, consider the Cohen blueprint for achieving the American Dream: Work minimally, if you can, and leverage government connections whenever possible.

In the months following Donald Trumps unexpected presidential victory, Cohen cashed in. Advertising his title as the presidents personal lawyer and his continued access to Trump, Cohen told companies that he could provide valuable insights into the new administration.

OPINION: Cohen should wonder if Trump has his back

Huge multinational corporations lined up to purchase these insights, dumping millions into Essential Consultants LLC, a shell corporation that Cohen had initially set up to funnel money to a porn star.

Companies explanations for what they were buying from Cohen vary from the improbable to the ridiculous. Korea Aerospace Industries, a company bidding for a major U.S. defense contract, said that it knew nothing of Essential Consultants connection to Trump and was paying him $150,000 for advice on accounting practices.

This is despite the fact that Cohens previous business experience was primarily in personal-injury law (when he represented clients who had reportedly staged traffic accidents to defraud insurance companies), running a taxi business and scouting Trump licensing deals with sketchy partners across the former Soviet Union.

RELATED: How Trump is destroying the GOP

Whatever their stated rationale, these clients certainly appear to have been hoping that Cohen could provide them with access and influence in this administration. But the best-case legal scenario for Cohen and Trump, and one that is actually possible, given their sometimes strained relationship, may be that Cohen collected money for providing  no work at all.

Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, hired Cohen because it thought he could advise the company as to how the Trump administration might approach certain U.S. health care policy matters, including the Affordable Care Act, it said in a statement. Novartis agreed to pay Cohen $100,000 a month for this service.

But after its first meeting with Cohen, Novartis determined that Michael Cohen and Essential Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated related to U.S. health care policy matters and the decision was taken not to engage further.

Cohen is hardly the only prominent Trumpster invoking White House connections in an effort to make bank.

A year ago, representatives of the Kushner family business  at an event featuring Nicole Kushner Meyer, sister of Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner  implied to Chinese investors that an investment in a Kushner Cos. project, given the companys connection to the White House, could guarantee a fast track to a green card. Jared Kushner resigned as chief executive of the firm when he joined the administration but continues to have a sizable stake in it.

MORE: Trump's personality dominates  and that's bad for him

The Kushners had also sought funding from the Qataris for the companys massively underwater property at 666 5th Ave. in New York, including while Jared was helping to shape Trumps Middle East policy. Kushner Cos. had (unsuccessfully) sought funding from a Chinese insurance company with ties to the government for the same struggling flagship building as well.

Cabinet members and other senior government officials, too, have enjoyed a sweetheart apartment deal, lobbyist-arranged vacations and private jet rides.

Its tempting to see all of these unsavory stories as unique to Trump, his extended family or his administration. But in fact they are illustrative of exactly the kind of economy that Trumps party is intent on creating.

Shielding officials from public scrutiny, rolling back campaign finance law, and kneecapping enforcement of existing laws and regulations designed to protect the public are precisely the conditions that help grifters and swamp monsters thrive.

crampell@washpost.comRe: Whitewashing role of Hamas will not ease conflict, Jonathan Gurwitz, Other Views, May 3:

Jonathan Gurwitzs commentary mischaracterizes the political protests in Gaza to rally support for Israels military aggression. Tens of thousands of Gazans are marching toward the edge of the territory unarmed, yet Gurwitz suggests that these civilians have all been duped by a violent jihadist agenda of Hamas and falsely links Hamas with ISIS.

OPINION: Israeli reaction in Gaza disproportionate to actual threat

COUNTERPOINT: Israel has right to defend itself against Hamas in Gaza

As someone who has done extensive research on Islam in the media, I know that equating Gazans with ISIS is false. One doesnt have to search far to see that ISIS is no friend of Hamas. Earlier this year, a prominent ISIS member in the Sinai Peninsula condemned Hamas as the disbeliever party in Gaza.

Furthermore, it may come as a surprise to Gurwitz that Hamas condemned the ISIS attack on Paris in 2017. But, honestly, the relationship between Hamas and ISIS is irrelevant when it comes to this particular issue. One has to ask, what is Gurwitzs purpose in discussing ISIS intolerance of religious minorities and homosexuals in a commentary on Gaza? The image of Palestinians as bloodthirsty, intolerant religious fanatics has served the cause of Israel. It rationalizes occupation and military intervention. This narrative has been used for far too long to discredit Palestinian self-determination.

The Trump administration has unfairly extended ISIS allegations toward refugees and Muslim citizens, and many of us in San Antonio and beyond have stood firmly against this racist narrative. Gurwitzs claim that Hamas has the same agenda as ISIS is not only incorrect, it obscures the injustices that are taking place along the Gaza border and reinforces the injustices we feel at home.

Habiba Noor is an adjunct professor at Trinity University.STAMFORD  A city police sergeant arrested an alleged serial car burglar by hiding in the bushes near a parking lot authorities say the thief had been targeting for months.

Sgt. George Moran conducted the stakeout of a parking lot behind 595 Summer St., where police say a thief had been breaking into cars between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on Friday nights.

Capt. Deidrich Hohn said Moran saw a man wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt using his cellphone flashlight to peer into cars. Hohn said Moran then saw the man check several car door handles to see if they were locked while looking around to see if anyone was watching him.

While Moran requested backup officers to approach silently, Hohn said an ambulances siren appeared to spook the thief. Hohn said the man took off, jumping a fence and running through parking lots behind Bedford Street.

Officers stopped the suspect at 500 Bedford St., and Hohn said Moran identified him as the man he saw trying to break into the cars.

As officers were making the arrest, Hohn said a woman reported her car was burglarized in a nearby parking lot. Hohn said police obtained video footage of a man wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt trying to break into cars in the area.

Kenneth Mikel, 54, of Southwood Drive, was charged with six counts of attempted third-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, hindering prosecution and criminal trespass. He was held over the weekend in lieu of a $100,000 court appearance bond.

It appears that Mikel is the subject that has been killing the downtown with car break-ins since the winter, Hohn said. Sgt. Moran should be acknowledged for his proactive actions and patience, which resulted in taking this individual off the street.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.comSURABAYAA family of five, including a child, carried out the suicide bombing of a police headquarters in Indonesias second city Surabaya on Monday, police said, a day after a deadly wave of attacks on churches staged by another family. The spate of bombings has rocked Indonesia, with the Islamic State group claiming the church attacks and raising fears about its influence in Southeast Asia as its dreams of a Middle Eastern caliphate fizzle. Indonesia has long struggled with Islamist militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people-mostly foreign touristsin the countrys worst-ever terror attack. Security forces have arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown that smashed some networks, and most recent attacks have been low-level and targeted domestic security force. But that changed Sunday as a family of sixincluding two young girlsstaged suicide bombings of churches during morning services in the countrys second biggest city Surabaya, killing 14. On Monday, members of another family attacked the police station in Surabaya, wounding 10. There were five people on two motorbikes. One of them was a little kid, national police chief Tito Karnavian said. This is one family. An eight-year-old girl from the family survived the attack and was taken to hospital, while her mother, father and two brothers died in the blast, he said. The church attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group. The father of the church suicide bombers was a local leader in extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS. It ordered and gave instructions for its cells to make a move, Karnavian said of the church attacks. He added that the attacks may have also been motivated by the arrest of JAD leadership, including jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, and were linked to a deadly prison riot staged by Islamist prisoners at a high-security jail near Jakarta last week. Abdurrahman has been connected to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.Despite their apparent allegiance to IS, the church-bombing family were not returnees from Syria, police said Monday, correcting their earlier statements. However, hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law. Its efforts have been fizzling quickly as it has lost most of the land it once occupied in Iraq and Syria. On Sunday evening, just hours after the church bombings, a further three people in another family were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex about 30 kilometers from Surabaya. Police said the father in the church bombings-Dita Oepriyantowas a confidante of the man killed in the apartment, who police said had a bomb detonator in his hand when he was shot by authorities. The father was Ditas close friend, said Karnavian, the police chief. When we searched the flat we found pipe bombs, similar to pipe bombs we found near the churches. Indonesian police have foiled numerous terror plots, but the coordinated nature of Sundays church bombings and the subsequent blasts point to more sophisticated planning than in the past, analysts said. There is definitely a growing technical proficiency, than in past attacks, said Zachary Abuza, professor and Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College in Washington. To pull off three near simultaneous bombings is hallmark of a group that is thinking. Abuza questioned the police suggestion that the attacks were ordered by the IS leadership abroad, but said the group would likely keep up its influence in Southeast Asia as it fades elsewhere. (Theyre) going to continue to benefit from operating transnationally in Southeast Asia, he added.City of San Antonio Animal Care Services

You probably know at least one or two. Those people that cant seem to do right by their pets. And generally its the simplest things. Keeping up with required vaccinations, ensuring their pet stays in the yard or even just has fresh water daily. Maybe you say something but too often we dont. The City of San Antonio Animal Care Services would like to ask a favor. Even ask you consider a challenge. Say something.

We all have circles of influence-people we can (and in many cases, should) help guide towards better decisions. In a community with ongoing animal overpopulation issues, would it hurt to talk up spay neuter to an errant friend or relative? Aside from the standard reasons of better overall health and a reduced risk of contracting some cancers, most people usually point to the hassle of dealing with that litter of puppies or kittens after their born and not yet ready to be sold or given away. A 2009 study by the Humane Society of the United States surveyed a number of non-sterilizing pet owners after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. That report found those engaged in the study were swayed to consider spay/neuter by hearing about the overpopulation in their local shelters. Thats a line that can quickly become negativeespecially if you consider the sensitivity of euthanasia but it is, sadly, still a consideration.A SHURUGWI Court on Friday instructed the police to ensure that six Gweru-based members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) who are implicated in a robbery of more than 2 000kg of gold ore at a local mine be brought to court amid reports that the army is refusing to hand them over to the police.

According to a source who spoke to NewsDay police arrested Jacob Badza in connection with the robbery of 40 bags of gold ore weighing 50kg at Toss UP Gold Mine, Shurugwi on May 6 and he implicated Reality Mazanga, Gilmore Mudzimurega, Kholwani Ndhlovu, Alois Chiwodza, Tedius Muzararikwa and Private Chidyafodya who are all

soldiers.

On May 10, the members of the police, Minerals Border and Control Unit Shurugwi and Badza then proceeded to Guinea Fowl ZNA Base in the company of four military police led by one Sergeant Tshuma and the suspects Mazanga, Mudzimurega and Ndhlovu who were on duty were positively identified by Badza.

Chidyafodya, Chiwodza and Muzararikwa were not located as they were said to be on seven days off which commenced on May 8. It is alleged the police and military police team were then instructed by Captain Pindu to wait for further instructions from his commanders.

It is alleged after some hours Captain Pindu informed them that the commanders had ordered him not to hand over the suspects and the case would be dealt with through the armys court martial and the police team left without the suspects.

Badza was then taken to Shurugwi Magistrates Court on May 11 where he was remanded in custody to May 23. However, the court ordered the police to bring the remaining suspects on that remand date.

Contacted for a comment ZNA spokesperson, Colonel Alphios Makotore asked the questions in writing and promised to investigate the allegations.

Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi directed NewsDay to contact Midlands police spokesperson Ethel Mukwende for a comment but her mobile number was not reachable.

Allegations are that on May 6 this year at around 7 pm the accused persons connived to go and rob some gold ore from Toss UP Gold Mine, Shurugwi. The six suspects excluding Badza were putting on ZNA army camouflage and were armed with iron bars and an AK 47 rifle which was charged to Mazanga who was on duty guarding Guinea Fowl ZBC Transmitter.

It is alleged that Badza hired Johane Goredemas vehicle and was charged $70. Goredema and Badza then proceeded to Guinea Fowl shops were they picked the six soldiers enroute to Toss UP Gold Mine.

Upon arrival, the suspects found one Godfrey Shurugwi a worker pumping water into Cyanidation tanks and they grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and assaulted him using iron bars. Shurugwi managed to flee and screamed for help.

His workmates heard him and went to investigate what was going on. Upon getting to the scene they met the suspects who ordered them to sit down and threatened to shoot them if they tried to resist. The workers were force-marched to where sacks of gold ore were heaped and they loaded 40 bags of 50 kg gold ore into their hired vehicle and drove off.

On May 9, Goredema was arrested and he led the police to Badza who then implicated his accomplices.

 NewsDay

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Related Zimbabwe Latest News- Arsenal, is set to battle Chelsea in signing Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly this summer

- The Gunners is reportedly set to bid 53m for the defender

- The Senegal star was widely touted to join Chelsea in 2016 after Antonio Conte identified the 26-year-old as the ideal target

Premier League giant, Arsenal, is set to battle Chelsea in signing Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly this summer.

British media, The Daily Express, report that the Gunners are already making transfer plans for next season as they hope to announce a new manager that will replace outgoing manager Arsene Wenger.

READ ALSO: Arsenal eye move for outgoing PSG manager Emery

Gunners chiefs are looking at Koulibaly as the ideal man to shore up the defence after the departure of Arsene Wenger who has been at the helm of affairs for 22 years.

The Senegal star was widely touted to join Chelsea in 2016 after Antonio Conte identified the 26-year-old as the ideal target.

However, now Arsenal are willing to table a 53m bid for Khoulibaly this summer.

Legit.ng previously report that Chelsea who are Premier League campaigners are now reportedly preparing a 65 million bid to sign Napoli and Senegalese football star Kalidou Koulibaly this summer.

PAY ATTENTION: Become a member of the leading sports Facebook group 'Naija Football Fan Zone'

The 26-year-old defender has been impressive this season for his club in Italy and his performances have caught the attention of many clubs.

On Sunday, April 22, he scored a towering headed winner against Juventus to blow the Serie A title race wide open.

Arsene Wenger Leaving Arsenal: Who Will Take Over Wenger? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- A woman suspected to be responsible for the death of Nigerian diplomat in Sudan has been arrested

- Habibu Almu was found dead in his residence in Khartoum, Sudan

- The suspect is reportedly also a foreigner in Sudan

A woman has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Nigerian, Habibu Almu, assistant Comptroller of Immigration, who was on Thursday, May 10, found stabbed to death in his residence in Khartoum, Sudan.

The Sudanese authorities, in a statement released by the official news agency SUNA, said the killer is a foreign woman and has been arrested by the police in Sudan.

READ ALSO: Bury the hatchet - Tinubu advises Oyo APC

The Sudanese authorities didnt disclose the circumstances of the crime or the nationality of the killer.

The suspect has reportedly confessed to the murder of the diplomat and his stolen possessions.

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier stated that a team of policemen have arrested a number of suspected persons as part of investigations into the murder.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Recall that the federal government of Nigeria has strongly condemned the assassination of Almu, who is the Nigerian immigration Attache I in the Nigerian mission in Khartoum, Sudan.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Tope Elias-Fatile, on Friday, May 11, in Abuja, the federal government described the killing as unfortunate.

He said that the mission was working very closely with host authorities in their investigations over the incident.

The spokesperson stated that the government would do everything possible to ensure that those behind this dastardly act are made to face the full wrath of the law.

Buhari Warplanes Cost Nigeria 496 Million US Dollars on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Ike Ewkeremadu has called for equity and justice across the breath of Nigeria

- He made this call during a dinner to mark his 56th birthday

- According to the deputy Senate president, once there is justice for everybody, Nigeria will be enough for everyone

The deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has said that only equity and justice will put Nigeria on the desired path to speedy development.

Ekweremadu said what is required for all Nigerians is justice for everybody.

Speaking at a dinner organised by Friends of Ekweremadu to mark his 56th birthday in Enugu over the weekend, the deputy Senate president said justice is an important virtue that Nigerians must show to one another especially to the less privileged.

READ ALSO: Just in: APC clears 13 seats, PDP wins 3 as local government election results are collated

The human and material endowments we have in this country are endless. What is required is justice for all. Once there is justice for everybody, this country is enough to take all of us.

I believe the best way to change our story is to ensure that justice is done to everybody. Nigeria can only grow in an atmosphere of unity and mutual understanding," Ekweremadu said.

The deputy Senate president said Nigeria must not sit and watch as its significant part languish in despair. He further urged all Nigerians to be part of restoring justice in the system by being each others keeper.

READ ALSO: After winning Ekiti APC primaries, Fayemi set to resign as Buhari congratulates him

"I see a great nation. I see a peaceful nation. I see a united nation, but what we require are leaders with vision, who see each and every one of us as brothers and sisters.

"Giving succour to the less privileged in the society not only comes with a sense of fulfillment but also gives the less privileged a sense of belonging and justice.

The society must not sit by and watch a very significant part of it to languish in despair. At the individual level, let us make everyone count. As a country, let us make every part of Nigeria count. That way, there will be peace and development, the deputy Senate president added.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Legit.ng earlier reported that the deputy Senate President had said that the presidential panel for the recovery of public property lacks the power to seize his assets.

Ekweremadu in an application asked the Federal High Court to dismiss an application filed by the federal government seeking the forfeiture of his property in Nigeria and abroad.

In his application before the court, Ekweremadu prayed the court to declare the panel unconstitutional, illegal, null and void on the basis that it was established by a military decree in 1983 and had been replaced by the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.

Top 5 the Richest People of Nigeria: The Luxury of Corruption on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Governor Samuel Ortom has once again accused the leadership of Miyetti Allah of being responsible for the killings in Benue state

- The governor said he has instituted criminal proceeding against the herdsmen group

- According to him, perpetrators of the killings will not be allowed to go free

Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, has once again reiterated his accusation that the leadership of the herdsmen group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, are responsible for the incessant killings of farmers and villagers in the state.

Legit.ng gathers that Ortom made this statement while fielding questions from journalists on his return from China after a two-week leave.

The governor said he has instituted criminal proceedings against the leaders of Miyetti Allah at the high court in Makurdi and they would be charged with the murder of the 73 victims killed on New Year in the state, The Sun reports.

READ ALSO: Sudan police arrests suspected killer of Nigerian diplomat

He said: "Ive said it repeatedly; Ive written and will continue to write and continue to raise alarm that the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore are responsible for the killings; for the mercenary work that is going on in Benue state.

"There are evidences; they are on tape, they have addressed press conferences and none of them have come out to refute what was credited to them in the media. Theyve said it is about Jihad; its not about grazing. They said it is about occupation; about taking over the land. Ive presented this to security agencies and I want to believe that it is a whole process; theyre still working on it and at the appropriate time, these people will be apprehended because they cannot go free.

"What weve decided to do as a government since there is no response yet is to initiate criminal proceedings against the group in court. I have been briefed that the case is coming up on Thursday at a High Court in Makurdi. Were beginning with the 73 victims of the New Year day attacks and several others will follow. I believe that the court will definitely give us justice. These people are not going to be allowed to go free; justice must be served to us."

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Legit.ng earlier reported that Ortom has insisted that the recent killings in Benue state were not as a result of the ranching law signed last year.

According to the governor, the crisis claimed nearly 2,000 lives before the making of the law last year, adding that the attacks have continued across the country where there is no grazing law in place.

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- The speaker of Kano House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf Ata, may be impeached

- There are reports that 21 lawmakers have signed in support of the impeachment of the principal officers

- According to a source, the lawmakers want to impeach the speaker because of his incompetence

Members of Kano state House of Assembly have reportedly voted to impeach the speaker of the house, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf Ata.

Legit.ng gathers that the vote to impeach Ata was secretly done on Sunday night, May 13.

Daily Trust reports that 21 lawmakers have signed in support of the impeachment and a source confirmed that already the principal officers of the house had been impeached having got the 21 lawmakers to sign for their impeachment.

READ ALSO: Buhari has done so well in all ramifications - Ngige

The source said: "We have already impeached the principal officers by having 21 lawmakers sign for their impeachment and we are needing only six members to make the requirement of 2/3 to impeach the speaker."

The source also blamed incompetence as the reason Ata is about to be impeached by other lawmakers.

"The reasons are many but the major one is incompetency. The speaker has completely localised the house. We cannot sit until after 2pm and even at that things are not moving as expected. We cannot just continue like that because we are representing our constituents."

Some armed policemen have been sent to seal the complex of Kano state House of Assembly, and the security authorities have taken over the premises since 2am, Monday morning.

The police PRO, SP Magaji Musa Majia, confirmed deployment of police to the assembly.

Majia said: "We deployed our men to the Assembly to ensure that nobody break law and order. We need peace in the state and therefore we will not allow anybody to temper with existing peace and harmony being enjoyed by the people in the state."

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Legit.ng earlier reported that General Yakubu Gowon (retd), Nigerias former head of state, cautioned against the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari or removal of other elected officials; stating that such an eventuality would not augur well for the countrys democracy.

He made the comments as he received members of the Northern Leaders and Stakeholders Assembly (NLSA) in a courtesy visit on Thursday, May 3, in Abuja.

Aircraft purchase: Should President Buhari be impeached? Abuja residents react - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit Newspaper- An anti-corruption group has called on the EFCC to launch an investigation into the activities of the Benue state government

- The group alleged that sharp practices by the state governmnet is on the increase

- According to the group, these practices have led to ruin in the state and subjected the people to pains, sorrow and hunger

A group has called for a thorough investigation into an alleged corruption in Benue state.

The Initiative for Transparency (TI) urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the Benue state government to find out what it did with its share of all revenues accruing to the state.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the convener of the group Samson Ayodele alleged that the Benue state government has increased sharp practices to ruin the state and subject the people to pains, sorrow and hunger.

READ ALSO: Nigerians in Libya are treated like animals - Returnee narrates heartbreaking ordeal

Ayodele said the state government is using the security challenges as a front for diverting public funds. He stressed that the state is basically bankrupt to a point that it will descend into crisis once a solution is gotten to the killings.

According to him, the state government has been unable to account for the huge amount of the Paris Club refunds as well as ecological fund which accrued to the state.

Ayodele said: "We make this demand because there is credible information that the EFCC has all the evidence it needs to prove that Ortom has stolen another N18.8 billion, which the reason Benue workers cannot get salaries as at when due. It is the reason the state can never witness any positive development under the present administration of Samuel Ortom and his band of thieves."

READ ALSO: Why Oyegun is after me - Governor Rochas Okorocha speaks

"It is on the strength of the foregoing that we have found imperative to expose the Ortom administration as a cesspit of corruption that it is. it is on this basis that we demand that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should step to the plate and do its work as things would have taken an irreversible turn should the Commission wait till the governor's tenure is up for him to lose his immunity.

"Immunity did not stop the courts from granting EFCC's request to freeze the bank account that Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose used to receive alleged proceeds of corruption so Benue state cannot be different. Even while Ortom's immunity subsists, his aides that have no immunity and facilitated the theft of state money should immediately be tried for their roles."

He said the EFCC is presently investigating the governor for this fresh N18.830 billion which was withdrawn on his behalf by the trio of Oliver Mtom, Aorga Emmanuel and Ochoga Peter.

According to him, the three suspects confessed to the EFCC two weeks ago that they truly withdrew the huge funds for the governor from Benue State accounts with UBA, GTB and First Bank.

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Legit.ng earlier reported that troops deployed to the Exercise Ayem Akpatuma in Taraba state arrested some suspected criminals.

The troops in collaboration with officers of the Nigeria Police Force arrested the suspects in in Mayo Ndaga area of the state.

Items including 35 sheets of zinc, bed and locally made pistol were recovered from one of the suspects Amos Titus.

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- 156 pilgrims travelled from Delta to Israel for pilgrimage in 2017, but 13 absconded

- The commissioner of the bureau for special duties in Delta, Ernest Ogwezzy, confirms this

- Ogwezzy says the state government has put in place stringent measures to check future occurrence

The commissioner of the bureau for special duties in Delta, Ernest Ogwezzy, has revealed that not less than 13 pilgrims out of the 156 who travelled from the state to Israel on pilgrimage in 2017 actually disappeared upon entering the country.

The Nation reports that Ogwezzy spoke in Asaba on Monday, May 14, saying that the pilgrims to the Holy Land, made up of 146 people and 10 officials, were sponsored by the state government.

READ ALSO: Your track record will stand you out - Buhari congratulates Kayode Fayemi

The commissioner assured that the government has put in stringent measures to check future occurrence.

The state government frowns at pilgrims absconding. We will not tolerate it. It is supposed to be for religious obligation.

We have put stringent machinery in motion to ensure that pilgrims sponsored by the state government come back, he said.

Legit.ng earlier reported in 2014 how then President Goodluck Jonathan landed in Israel for a two-day pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

According to the special program designed for presidents stay, the former Nigerian leader observed the Sabbath Day at the Wailing Wall.

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After prayers in private Jonathan went to Mount Tabor and Mount Carmel.

The visits to other Christian holy sites are also a part of the program.

Buhari Health: Will Buhari Reveal his Medical Conditions? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngMOSCOWIrans foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow on Monday he was seeking assurances from the backers of the countrys nuclear deal after the US pulled out. Russia is trying to keep the landmark 2015 accord alive in the wake of US President Donald Trumps decision, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe. The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended, Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Lavrov, meanwhile, said Russia and Europe had a duty to jointly defend their legal interests in terms of the deal. Zarifs diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it. After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a clear future design for the accord. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germanys Angela Merkel and Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his deep concern over Trumps decision. Trumps move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washingtons allies in Europe as well as China and Russia. [European] cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal [spy poisoning] case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost, consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said. The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves, he told AFP. Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear program, he added. On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Irans malign behaviour.But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with Americas allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power. Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assads regime in Syria. This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime. Germanys Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum. Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. Iran has said it is preparing to resume industrial-scale uranium enrichment without any restrictions unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions. After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear program in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions. The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security CouncilBritain, China, France, Russia and the United Statesplus Germany. Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War. The countries sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place. Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.Lambert here: Theyll pry coins and notes from my cold, dead hands. However, improving the existing payment system seems reasonable to me, if divorced from the question of abolishing cash. (I think electronic cash would make sense as a trope if coins and notes spontaneously combusted, could be hacked, had trackability built in, etc. They dont.)

By Antonio Fatas, Professor of Economics at INSEAD and Beatrice Weder di Mauro, Distinguished Fellow, Emerging Markets Institute, INSEAD Singapore and Economic Policy and International Macroeconomics Professor, Gutenberg University Mainz; CEPR Research Fellow. Originally published at VoxEU.

The sudden rise of cryptocurrencies may pose challenges to central banks and financial intermediaries alike. At least these are their fans hopes and targets: to create private currencies that compete successfully with the official fiat currencies and disrupt business models of banks. In our previous Vox column, Making (some) sense of cryptocurrencies (Fatas and Weder di Maruo 2018), we examined their merit as substitutes for money and concluded that they are unlikely to achieve their high-flying aims. But we did concede that they have exposed inefficiencies in payments systems, in particular in cross-border transactions, and may contribute to redefining the concept of money as a means of payment. In China, plastic and paper are vanishing so quickly that vendors refuse to accept them, while phone-based payments systems are becoming ubiquitous. It is notable that it was the very absence of well-integrated and universally accessible electronic payments systems that opened the space for internet companies (Tencent and Alibaba) to leapfrog ahead in the fintech race (Chorzempa 2018).

The central banking community is alert to the challenge and is contemplating reactions which range from prohibiting private issuance to embracing them. For instance, in Sweden, where cash has also been declining so rapidly that it raises the prospect that the only legal tender might disappear, the Riksbank is considering whether it should introduce an e-krona, an electronic version of the Krona that could even be anonymous like cash  or, more precisely, pseudonymouslike bitcoin (Sveriges Riksbank 2017).

Why Central Banks Care

The interest in electronic forms of money as a substitute for physical cash had recently received some impetus when central banks in advanced economies collectively found themselves at the zero lower bound and wondering by how much they could further reduce rates before triggering a flight into cash. In a cashless society, monetary policy rates would not face an effective lower bound, which might obviate the need for quantitative easing measures (e.g. Buiter 2009). In addition, the strong evidence that anonymous cash is valued by those who conduct illegal business or are trying to evade taxes has increased calls for abolishing cash (Rogoff 2016).

But central banks now face a new challenge from private currencies, which might threaten the monopoly of issuance.1 If cash vanishes, it would leave households and firms without access to risk-free central bank money. Private money, whether it is issued by a bank or mined in a crypto community, is not backed by central bank. The former carries counterparty risk (partially mitigated by deposit insurance) and the latter carries stability and exchange rate risks.

The introduction of parallel currencies can have an effect on the operations of central banks at many levels (Fernandez-Villaverde and Sanches 2016). There is an analogy between this situation and the case of central banks dealing with partial dollarisation of their economies (Balino et al. 1999). First, if transactions in the new currency are widespread, it might make it impossible for the central bank to find appropriate intermediate targets for its monetary policy. Second, as individuals, corporations, and possible financial institutions increase their holdings of the new currency, it can potential make the financial system less stable unless the central bank can find ways to stabilise liquidity in those currencies. Finally, it can induce additional uncertainty and volatility in the exchange rate (Calvo and Vegh 1992)

What Are the Central Bank Options?

Central banks could create central bank digital currency (CBDC) for all individuals. They could provide a digital means of payments, which would be claims on the central bank. The simplest solution would be to allow individuals and corporations (not only financial intermediaries) to directly hold accounts at the central bank, which might even be interest bearing (Bordo and Levin 2017, BIS 2018a). Alternatively, central banks could resort to issuing own cryptocurrencies, possibly using some decentralised and near anonymous technology to mimic and replace banknotes (Andolfato 2015).

The Case for Central Bank Digital Currencies

For individuals, the advantage of holding central bank digital currency should come from efficiency in payment systems and handling of risks in deposit accounts.

Direct access to central bank accounts would enable the general public to hold legal tender in electronic form. If central banks chose to open up access to central bank accounts to all, this would create a centralised ledger making payments settlements extremely fast as all accounts would be in the same system without the need of intermediaries. If deposits were mostly held at the central bank, deposit insurance would also be obsolete.

Retail cross-border payments might also benefit if conducted through central banks directly, if central banks coordinated on mechanisms to handle those international payments. Setting standards would be much easier if there was just one centralised system per country. One might even imagine that some central banks open accounts for non-residents to offer their currency as vehicle for international payments  thus creating negative international spillovers, to which we return below.

The Case against Central Bank Digital Currencies

Out of the two options we have discussed, a central bank cryptocurrency using technologies similar to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would suffer from some of the same problem as those currencies (the decentralised validation process is inefficient and slow, and anonymity more a disadvantage than an advantage). Central banks seem to be reaching this conclusion as they are experimenting with cryptocurrency-type technologies since many of their projects require more centralization (Berentsen and Schar 2018). In addition, while replicating the anonymity of cash in electronic format might sound appealing, central banks would not want to offer cryptocurrencies as vehicles for illegal activities. On several grounds, the case against central bank cryptocurrencies seems to be strong.

What about the other CBDC option  central banks accepting deposits from all?

A key issue is how such a CBDC would affect financial stability and financial intermediaries. The presence of a safe deposit at the central bank could make commercial bank deposits highly volatile and bank runs could happen at the click of a mouse (or a nod to a mobile phone). The result may be sharply higher volatility and periodic panic flights to safety. In addition, shifting deposits to central banks might mean a challenge to existing business models of banks since they might lose a stable and cheap source of funding, namely, deposits. How strong this competition is will depend on how those accounts are handled. Would such funds be limited? Would they pay an interest? Furthermore, banks would lose the income they make from facilitating payments and also from the related network of relationships they build with their customers. To the extent that such services, networks, or even customer information are complementary to other banking services such as lending and wealth management, the competition for funds from central banks may have even larger disruptive consequences.

From the narrow perspective of the central bank, a general purpose CBDC may entail risks to its balance sheet. With higher demand for central bank money, it might need to hold more risky assets (sovereign debt or private assets). This might expand the role of central banks in maturity and credit risk transformation to banks and markets and expose them to political pressure, possibly weakening their independence (BIS 2018a). And if deposits at the central bank were interest bearing, profits from seignorage could be affected. Finally, responsibility for compliance with KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) would fall on the central bank. These operations might be outsourced to private operators but the difference with the present system is that the deposit would be a liability of the central bank and mistakes would  at the very least  carry reputational risks for them.

Should non-residents be allowed to hold the CBDC, this might entail cross-border externalities since it would expand global liquidity and the provision of safe assets. In times of crisis, capital flight from vulnerable countries into safe haven central banks could be magnified with related pressures on exchange rates and asset prices. (BIS 2018a).

Given such uncertainties, central bank accounts for all would seem remote. Not so. This summer, Switzerland will be holding a referendum on a radical proposal: the sovereign money initiative proposes that 100% of sight deposits be transferred to the central bank and commercial banks be prevented from creating money. Bacchetta (2018) shows how this reform would dislocate the banking sector, threatening financial stability as well as the central banks ability to conduct monetary policy.

So overall, the risks and uncertainties surrounding the adoption of CBDCs in the form of decentralised cryptocurrencies but also in the form of centralised provision central banks accounts seem to outweigh the advantages. This raises the question of whether payments systems  the main weakness of the existing infrastructure  can be improved in other ways.

Improving Payments Systems without a CBDC

There is increasing pressure for faster and more efficient payment systems. Lack of innovation on payment systems comes from the complex and outdated infrastructure that banks use. But, as we argued above, completely revamping the bank deposits model comes at a cost. Can innovation be introduced without challenging the bank deposit model?

Recent changes in regulation are likely to do so because they mandate banks to give access to providers of payment technologies (apps). The open banking initiative in the UK or the related PSD2 directive of the EU are actively promoting innovation by requiring banks to provide access via APIs to customers accounts. The recent successful launch of a united payments interface in India to facilitate real-time payments is another example where regulation and coordination can make a large difference. In all these examples, individuals can use their preferred smartphone app to conduct payments without having to embrace a world with separate money balances and possibly separate currencies.

They use traditional currencies, commercial banks (with deposit insurance) continue to hold the money balances, but transactions are intermediated by small or large players in the payment space. Together with the ongoing upgrade of the existing Real Time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS) (Carney 2018) we end up with a system that satisfies the demands increasingly brought forward by new technologies but maintaining the backbone of bank deposits and traditional central banks.

Smooth and low-cost cross-border payments systems are crucial for the functioning within the euro area, since national closed-loop solutions could lead to fragmentation. Thus, the European system is being upgraded and the new TARGET instant payment settlement (TIPS) service was launched recently and should be fully operational by the end of 2018. (ECB 2017).

However, beyond the euro area, central banks and regulators may fall short in improving cross-border retail payments systems. On one hand there is the complication of dealing with settlements systems across different currencies, on the other there is the lack of a global regulator or central bank that can impose a standard or a particular technology. This is a world where new players might have more room to challenge the status quo.

Conclusion

The risks of introducing central bank digital currency are high while the efficiency gains do not seem large. Cryptocurrencies issued by central banks would suffer from all the disadvantages of cryptocurrencies without offering clear advantages. Digital money for all on central banks balance sheets could have disruptive effects on the financial system without offering strong advantages over a well governed two-tier system. A more efficient system can be achieved via innovation in current payment infrastructure that is encouraged by regulation which opens up competition to new players and technologies while maintaining the backbone of bank deposits and traditional central banks.

>References available at original post.By Michael T. Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of The Race for Whats Left. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1. Originally published at TomDispatch

With Donald Trumps decision to shred the Iran nuclear agreement, announced last Tuesday, its time for the rest of us to start thinking about what a Third Gulf War would mean. The answer, based on the last 16 years of American experience in the Greater Middle East, is that it wont be pretty.

The New York Times recently reported that U.S. Army Special Forces were secretly aiding the Saudi Arabian military against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. It was only the latest sign preceding President Trumps Iran announcement that Washington was gearing up for the possibility of another interstate war in the Persian Gulf region. The first two Gulf wars  Operation Desert Storm (the 1990 campaign to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait) and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq  ended in American victories that unleashed virulent strains of terrorism like ISIS, uprooted millions, and unsettled the Greater Middle East in disastrous ways. The Third Gulf War  not against Iraq but Iran and its allies  will undoubtedly result in another American victory that could loose even more horrific forces of chaos and bloodshed.

Like the first two Gulf wars, the third could involve high-intensity clashes between an array of American forces and those of Iran, another well-armed state. While the United States has been fighting ISIS and other terrorist entities in the Middle East and elsewhere in recent years, such warfare bears little relation to engaging a modern state determined to defend its sovereign territory with professional armed forces that have the will, if not necessarily the wherewithal, to counter major U.S. weapons systems.

A Third Gulf War would distinguish itself from recent Middle Eastern conflicts by the geographic span of the fighting and the number of major actors that might become involved. In all likelihood, the field of battle would stretch from the shores of the Mediterranean, where Lebanon abuts Israel, to the Strait of Hormuz, where the Persian Gulf empties into the Indian Ocean. Participants could include, on one side, Iran, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and assorted Shia militias in Iraq and Yemen; and, on the other, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). If the fighting in Syria were to get out of hand, Russian forces could even become involved.

All of these forces have been equipping themselves with massive arrays of modern weaponry in recent years, ensuring that any fighting will be intense, bloody, and horrifically destructive. Iran has been acquiring an assortment of modern weapons from Russia and possesses its own substantial arms industry. It, in turn, has been supplying the Assad regime with modern arms and is suspected of shipping an array of missiles and other munitions to Hezbollah. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have long been major recipients of tens of billions of dollars of sophisticated American weaponry and President Trump has promised to supply them with so much more.

This means that, once ignited, a Third Gulf War could quickly escalate and would undoubtedly generate large numbers of civilian and military casualties, and new flows of refugees. The United States and its allies would try to quickly cripple Irans war-making capabilities, a task that would require multiple waves of air and missile strikes, some surely directed at facilities in densely populated areas. Iran and its allies would seek to respond by attacking high-value targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia, including cities and oil facilities. Irans Shia allies in Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere could be expected to launch attacks of their own on the U.S.-led alliance. Where all this would lead, once such fighting began, is of course impossible to predict, but the history of the twenty-first century suggests that, whatever happens, it wont follow the carefully laid plans of commanding generals (or their civilian overseers) and wont end either expectably or well.

Precisely what kind of incident or series of events would ignite a war of this sort is similarly unpredictable. Nonetheless, it seems obvious that the world is moving ever closer to a moment when the right (or perhaps the better word is wrong) spark could set off a chain of events leading to full-scale hostilities in the Middle East in the wake of President Trumps recent rejection of the nuclear deal. Its possible, for instance, to imagine a clash between Israeli and Iranian military contingents in Syria sparking such a conflict. The Iranians, it is claimed, have set up bases there both to support the Assad regime and to funnel arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon. On May 10th, Israeli jets struck several such sites, following a missile barrage on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights said to have been launched by Iranian soldiers in Syria. More Israeli strikes certainly lie in our future as Iran presses its drive to establish and control a so-called land bridge through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Another possible spark could involve collisions or other incidents between American and Iranian naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, where the two navies frequently approach each other in an aggressive manner. Whatever the nature of the initial clash, rapid escalation to full-scale hostilities could occur with very little warning.

All of this begs a question: Why are the United States and its allies in the region moving ever closer to another major war in the Persian Gulf? Why now?

The Geopolitical Impulse

The first two Gulf Wars were driven, to a large extent, by the geopolitics of oil. After World War II, as the United States became increasingly dependent on imported sources of petroleum, it drew ever closer to Saudi Arabia, the worlds leading oil producer. Under the Carter Doctrine of January 1980, the U.S. pledged for the first time to use force, if necessary, to prevent any interruption in the flow of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to this country and its allies. Ronald Reagan, the first president to implement that doctrine, authorized the reflagging of Saudi and Kuwaiti oil tankers with the stars and stripes during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that began in 1980 and their protection by the U.S. Navy. When Iranian gunboats menaced such tankers, American vessels drove them off in incidents that represented the first actual military clashes between the U.S. and Iran. At the time, President Reagan put the matter in no uncertain terms: The use of the sea lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians.

Oil geopolitics also figured prominently in the U.S. decision to intervene in the First Gulf War. When Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait in August 1990 and appeared poised to invade Saudi Arabia, President George H.W. Bush announced that the U.S. would send forces to defend the kingdom and so played out the Carter Doctrine in real time. Our country now imports nearly half the oil it consumes and could face a major threat to its economic independence, he declared, adding that the sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is of vital interest to the United States.

Although the oil dimension of U.S. strategy was less obvious in President George W. Bushs decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, it was still there. Members of his inner circle, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the safety of Persian Gulf oil lanes and needed to be eliminated. Others in the administration were eager to pursue the prospect of privatizing Iraqs state-owned oil fields and turning them over to American oil companies (a notion that evidently stuck in Donald Trumps mind, as he repeatedly asserted during the 2016 election campaign that we should have kept the oil).

Today, oil has receded, if not entirely disappeared, as a major factor in Persian Gulf geopolitics, while other issues have moved to the fore. Of greatest significance in animating the current military standoff is an escalating struggle for regional dominance between Iran and Saudi Arabia (with a nuclear-armed Israel lurking in the wings). Both countries view themselves as the hub of a network of like-minded states and societies  Iran as the leader of the regions Shia populations, Saudi Arabia of its Sunnis  and both resent any gains by the other. To complicate matters, President Trump, clearly harboring deep antipathy toward the Iranians, has chosen to side with the Saudis big league (as he might say), while Benjamin Netanyahus Israel, fearing Iranian advances in the region, has opted to weigh in on the Saudi side of the equation in a major way as well. The result, as suggested by military historian Andrew Bacevich, is the inauguration of a Saudi-American-Israeli axis and a major realignment of U.S. strategic relationships.

Several key factors explain this transition from an oil-centric strategy emphasizing military power to a more conventional struggle among regional rivals that has already deeply embroiled the planets last superpower. To begin with, Americas reliance on imported oil has diminished rapidly in recent years, thanks to an oil drilling revolution in the U.S. that has allowed the massive exploitation of domestic shale reserves through the process of fracking. As a result, access to Persian Gulf supplies matters far less in Washington than it did in previous decades. In 2001, according to oil giant BP, the United States relied on imports for 61% of its net oil consumption; by 2016, that share had dropped to 37% and was still falling  and yet the U.S. remains deeply involved in the region as a decade and a half of unending war, counterinsurgency, drone strikes, and other kinds of strife sadly indicate.

By invading and occupying Iraq in 2003, Washington also eliminated a major bulwark of Sunni power, a country led by Saddam Hussein who, two decades earlier, had been siding with the U.S. in opposing Iran. That invasion, ironically enough, had the effect of expanding Shiite influence and making Iran the major  possibly the only  winner in the years of war that followed. Some Western analysts believe that the greatest tragedy of the invasion, from a geopolitical point of view, was the ascension of Shiite politicians with close ties to Tehran in post-Hussein Iraq. Although that countrys current leaders appear intent on pursuing a path of their own in the post-ISIS moment, many powerful Iraqi Shiite militias  including some that played key roles in driving Islamic State militants out of Mosul and other major cities  retain close ties to Irans Revolutionary Guards.

While disasters in themselves, the wars in Syria and Yemen have only added additional complexity to the geopolitical chessboard on which Washington found itself after that invasion and from which it has never extricated itself. In Syria, Iran has chosen to ally with Vladimir Putins Russia to preserve the brutal Assad regime, providing it with arms, funds, and an unknown number of advisers from the Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah, a Shiite political group in Lebanon with a significant military wing, has sent large numbers of its own fighters to Syria to help Assads forces. In Yemen, the Iranians are believed to be providing arms and missile technology to the Houthis, a homegrown Shiite rebel group that now controls the northern half of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

The Saudis, in turn, have been playing an ever more active role in bolstering their military power and protecting embattled Sunni communities throughout the region. Seeking to resist and reverse what they view as Iranian advances, they have helped arm militias of an extreme sort and evidently even al-Qaeda-associated groups under attack from Iranian-backed Shiite forces in Iraq and Syria. In 2015, in the case of Yemen, they organized a coalition of Sunni Arab states to crush the Houthi rebels in a brutal war that has included a blockade of the country, helping to produce mass famine and a relentless American-backed air campaign, which often hits civilian targets including markets, schools, and weddings. This combination has helped produce an estimated 10,000 civilian deaths and a singular humanitarian crisis in that already impoverished country.

In response to these developments, the Obama administration sought to calm the situation by negotiating a nuclear deal with the Iranians and by holding out the promise of increased economic ties with the West in return for reduced assertiveness outside its borders. Such a strategy never, however, won the support of Israel or Saudi Arabia. And in the Obama years, Washington continued to support both of those countries in a major way, including supplying massive amounts of military equipment, refueling Saudi planes in midair so they could strike deeper into Yemen, and providing the Saudis with targeting intelligence for their disastrous war.

The Anti-Iranian Triumvirate

All of these regional developments, in play before Donald Trump was elected, have only gained added momentum since then, thanks in no small degree to the pivotal personalities involved.

The first of them, of course, is President Trump. Throughout his election campaign, he regularly denounced the nuclear deal that Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union all signed onto in July 2015. Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement forced Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program in return for the lifting of all nuclear-related sanctions. It was a plan that Iran scrupulously adhered to. Although President Obama, many senior American policymakers, and most European leaders had argued that the JCPOA  whatever its flaws  provided a valuable constraint on Irans nuclear (and so other) ambitions, Trump consistently denounced it as a terrible deal because it failed to eliminate every last vestige of the Iranian nuclear infrastructure or ban that countrys missile program. This deal was a disaster, he told David Sanger of the New York Times in March 2016.

While Trump, who has filled his administration with Iranophobes, including his new secretary of state and new national security adviser, seems to harbor a primeval animosity toward the Iranians, perhaps because they dont treat him with the adoration he feels he deserves, he has a soft spot for the Saudi royals, who do. In May 2017, on his first trip abroad as president, he traveled to Riyadh, where he performed a sword dance with Saudi princes and immersed himself in the sort of ostentatious displays of wealth only oil potentates can provide.

While in Riyadh, he conferred at length with then-Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 31-year-old son of King Salman and a key architect of Saudi Arabias geopolitical contest with the Iranians. Prince Mohammed, who serves as the Saudi defense minister and was named crown prince in June 2017, is the prime mover behind the kingdoms (so far unsuccessful) drive to crush the Houthi rebels in Yemen and is known to harbor fierce anti-Iranian views.

At an earlier White House luncheon in March 2017, bin Salman, or MBS as hes sometimes known, and President Trump seemed to reach an implicit agreement on a common strategy for branding Iran a regional threat, tearing up the nuclear agreement, and so setting the stage for an eventual war to vanquish that country or at least to fell the regime that runs it. While in Riyadh, President Trump told a conference of Sunni Arab leaders that, from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death of America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this very room.

While no doubt gratifying to the Saudis, Emiratis, Kuwaitis, and other Sunni rulers listening, those words echoed the views of the third key player in the strategic triumvirate that may soon drive the region into all-out war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also known as Bibi. For years, he has railed against Iranian ambitions in the region and threatened military action against any Iranian move that would, as he saw it, impinge on Israeli security. Now, in Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince, he has the allies of his dreams. In the Obama years, Netanyahu was a fierce opponent of the Iranian nuclear deal and used a rare appearance before a joint session of Congress in March 2015 to denounce it in no uncertain terms. He has never  right up to the days before Trump withdrew from the accord  stopped working to persuade the president that the agreement should be junked and Iran targeted.

In that 2015 speech to Congress, Netanyahu laid out a vision of Iran as a systemic danger that would later be appropriated by Trump and his Saudi confederates in Riyadh. Irans regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also the peace of the entire world, he asserted in a typically hyperbolic statement. Backed by Iran, Assad is slaughtering Syrians. Backed by Iran, Shiite militias are rampaging through Iraq. Backed by Iran, Houthis are seizing control of Yemen, threatening the strategic strait at the mouth of the Red Sea. Along with the Straits of Hormuz, that would give Iran a second choke-point on the worlds oil supply.

Now, Netanyahu is playing a major role in driving the already crippled region into a war that could further destroy it, produce yet more terror groups (and terrorized civilians), and create havoc on a potentially global scale, given that both Russia and China back the Iranians.

Girding for War

Pay attention to the words of Netanyahu in Washington and Donald Trump in Riyadh. Think of them not as political rhetoric, but as prophesies of a grim kind. Youre going to be hearing a lot more such prophesies in the months ahead as the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia move closer to war with Iran and its allies. While ideology and religion will play a part in what follows, the underlying impetus is a geopolitical struggle for control of the greater Persian Gulf region, with all its riches, between two sets of countries, each determined to prevail.

No one can say with certainty when, or even if, these powerful forces will produce a devastating new war or set of wars in the Middle East. Other considerations  an unexpected flare-up on the Korean Peninsula if President Trumps talks with North Koreas Kim Jong-un end in failure, a fresh crisis with Russia, a global economic meltdown  could turn attention elsewhere, lessening the importance of the geopolitical contest in the Persian Gulf. New leadership in any of the key countries could similarly lead to a change of course. Netanyahu, for example, is now at risk of losing power because of an ongoing Israeli police investigation into allegedly corrupt acts of his, and Trump, well, who can say? Without such a development or developments, however, the way to war, which will surely prove to be the road to hell, seems open with a Third Gulf War looming on humanitys horizon.The financial press is all agog about this Trump tweet on Sunday:

President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

What is the ZTE Fracas About?

The 50,000 foot version: ZTE is Chinas biggest publicly traded telecommunications supplier, with roughly $17 billion in revenues and 75,000 employees. It makes smartphones and other electronic stuff and buys a lot of parts from US companies including Qualcomm and Micron Technology. Even Australias Telstra sold ZTE phones under Telstras brand name.

The US had fined ZTE $1.2 billion for violating US sanctions by selling product to North Korea and Iran and also imposed a seven-year ban sales by US companies to ZTE, but had suspended the ban based on ZTE paying most of the fine plus agreeing to punish the employees who hid the sales to Iran. The US found out that ZTE was defying the sanctions and gave managers who had been involved in the Iranian-related operations bonuses. In April, the Administration reversed its suspension of the US sales ban. ZTE halted production last week as a result.

Puzzling Out the Trump Move

The theorizing on what Trumps tweet signifies is over the map. But well try to narrow down the possibilities, if nothing else, because it might give some early clues as to what if anything will come of Trumps trade threats against China. Given that the English language reporting has been at its usual less than stellar level, please pipe up with information and considerations we may have missed.

Hoever, keep one thing in mind: Trump likes to think of himself as above all a dealmaker. One of the basic rules of negotiating is never never never give a free concession. You always get something when you give something up.

That is one reason for Trumps Oh, Im helping Xi out, to make Trump not look like the weak party, since he sure looks like one with this action.

So the implication is that either there is another side to this trade that Trump has not gotten yet and hopes to get by this gambit (remember, this is still an offer of sorts) or Trump wants to back out of the ban on ZTE because it is going to do too much damage to American suppliers to ZTE. Also bear in mind that if Trumps main motivation for reversing the ban is to alleviate damage to US companies, hed still like to pretend he got something out of Xi whether he did or not.

Here is some other potentially relevant background information in trying to fathom what if anything Trump might be trying to get and what it might be worth to the Chinese:

Analysts expected a ban on ZTE to be reversed in three to five months, at least per the South China Morning Post. ZTE would have to cough up more dough and get spanked some more. So what appears to be in play is an accelerated and awfully high profile new round of sanctions.

Mind you, that is not necessarily to say that getting the ban reversed pronto might not be important to China. For instance, Telstra has had to halt sales of ZTE products. Other private-label sellers will probably think about reducing their exposure. So getting ZTE out of the penalty box quickly could have disproportionate value.

Trump has a much weaker hand with his tariff threat than he likes to pretend. In the long run, as Marshall Auerback has pointed out, China would fare worse in a trade war because creditor countries take the bigger hits. But how far beyond a dust-up would this get?

Bear in mind that everyone from the Financial Times to even The Real News Network (which is as much as I like them generally is a place you go for commentary, not for breaking news) has been saying China has been refusing to negotiate with the Administration over its tariff threat. The US basically announced that Mnuchin was showing up in Beijing for talks, which is remarkably presumptuous, particularly since the timing was so fast there couldnt have been any ground work even if the Trump team understood the concept. And we apparently presented outrageous demands, tantamount to stop doing industrial policy.

Other relevant factors:

Trump probably cant take the impact of a stocks nosediving. Recall how fast Mnuchin and others started making conciliatory noises as soon as Mr. Market had a hissy fit. Trump has put this trade matter in play with midterms coming up. One thing that televised focus group of Trump v. Clinton supporters found was that the biggest reason the Trump fans said they liked him was their portfolios had gone up in a big way since hed been elected. And even though the Chinese are probably not willing to bet the ranch on Trump not following through with his tariff threat (or at least not all the way), they have probably noticed that the financial markets look like his glass jaw. China has started whacking the US over its tariff threat. China not only threatened to impose tariffs on goods like soyabeans as well as US aircraft in a tit-for-tat manner, buy Chinese buyers are reportedly already shifting agricultural product orders away from the US. From Reuters on April 25: Chinas purchases of U.S. soybeans have come to a grinding halt, trade and industry sources say, as fears of further action by Beijing to curb imports of U.S. crops following last weeks anti-dumping move on sorghum rattles the agriculture industry. Buyers from China, which takes 60 percent of soybeans traded worldwide, have not signed any new deals to take U.S. beans in the last two weeks, according to a Reuters review of data published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). At stake are 3 million tonnes of soybeans  estimated worth about $1.3 billion  for which deals have been signed but cargoes have yet to leave U.S. ports, traders say. Soybeans, crushed to make cooking oil and protein-rich animal feed ingredient soymeal, were the biggest U.S. agriculture export to China last year at a value of $12.3 billion, according to the USDA. Several ships carrying U.S. sorghum originally bound for China have changed course since Beijing imposed hefty anti-dumping deposits on U.S. imports as trade tensions grow between the worlds top two economies. Given Trumps vulnerability to bad market reactions, he has incentives to drag things out past the midterms. That may suit the Chinese too. Trump just needs optical, not actual wins. His bluster about ZTE via Twitter is a version of that, to create the impression that hes dented China so much that Xi is crying uncle. The Chinese may reckon that Trump will probably be no better off after the midterms and could be seriously dented, so time is on their side.

So one possible explanation for Trumps tweet is that China has said, We arent negotiating with a gun to our head and a concession on ZTE is a way to acknowledge that without taking the tariffs out of play.

China also has leverage via North Korea. The press has weirdly underplayed Chinas role in bringing North Korea to the negotiating table. The media did dutifully report that Kim Jong Un was basically told to appear in China (no previously scheduled visit, not a state visit) and from Beijing announced hed be willing to denuclearize if he got adequate security guarantees. Mind you, this was his existing position but having him say it from Beijing appears to have had different implications.

This visit also happened after Trumps tariff threat, and Trump has also made clear that he isnt putting trade in a separate box, that he wants to negotiate across domains.

The Chinese thus may feel they already gave Trump a concession, and a bigger one than they might have thought, given that Trumps bounce in the polls appears to be the result of the appearance that hes Done Something about North Korea (Lambert has separately and regularly pointed out that South Korea has a lot to do with the progress so far as well).

Given that (as many experts have pointed out), the US has started negotiations under previous Administrations with North Korea, only to see them fizzle, theres no particularly reason to expect these to produce better results (and with John Bolton now in the mix and the Iran deal having just been yanked, its hard to see why the North Korea should trust the US at all). So again, can Trump keep the illusion of a possible big deal alive through mid-terms? One would think the Chinese could throw a spanner in the works if they wanted to.

Even if Trump does manage to create some momentum with China via the ZTE gambit, its at a cost with Europe. The Chinese and Russians have to be laughing out loud. European leaders and businesses were already upset about Trump exiting the Iran deal, since that also results in sanctions against companies doing business with Iran. That move was seen as further alienating Europe against the US, to the advantage of Russia and China. The hypocrisy of Trump cutting a big Chinese company a break on recidivist behavior in violating US sanctions on Iran, versus about to make life miserable for a lot of European firms who want to trade with Iran and have governments that want them to trade with Iran, will not be lost.

A Washington Post story indicates that talks with China have not been going well:

With Trumps tweet, some officials familiar with the ZTE issue believe a compromise is possible. A mini-deal is in sight, said a person familiar with the matter. China gets relief for ZTE, and in exchange agrees to return to the status quo for U.S. agriculture, easing tariffs and implementing other non-tariff remedies. But the talks have not been amicable. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been irate about the sanctions on ZTE, and his top economic adviser, Liu He, has told U.S. negotiators that there is no chance of a deal without the United States removing the seven-year ban on ZTE, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

As so often happens, members of Team Trump were blindsided. And this again reveals Trump wanting to run the US like a personal fiefdom when he can. Again from the Washington Post:

Its highly unusual for a president to personally intervene in a way that undercuts the leverage of Treasury and Commerce officials seeking to enforce sanctions and trade rules. A former senior Obama administration official said Trumps tweet set a horrible precedent and violates the basic principle that the White House avoid involvement in law enforcement matters.

This quote came from a source that the Post presented as having to remain anonymous. An apparently different Obama Administration made the same point at the Financial Times:

The reversal marks an unusual intervention by the US president in what the administration had previously portrayed as a legal and procedural rather than political case. US officials insisted when they announced the ban last month that it was not related to broader US-China trade tensions. I am speechless, said Kevin Wolf, who oversaw the launch of the ZTE case as assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration. Im highly confident that a [US] president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before . . . Its so outside the way the rules were set up.

So buckle up for yet more of a wild ride. Trump is good at generating a lot of motion. Will he be able to persuade enough people that it is progress?

Update 4:30 AM: Lambert just sent this tweet:

China says will work with U.S. for positive outcome in trade talks https://t.co/I1eTKJjgvT pic.twitter.com/8fPUsTj0CQ  Reuters Top News (@Reuters) May 14, 2018

This is from a foreign ministry spokesman. Perhaps I am being reflexively contrary, but given that China so far has been unwilling to do more than go through the motions of negotiating with the US, these talks may be at most a hostage exchange: ZTE for something to be determined from China.Irish Water has recently begun an extensive programme of work to improve water supply and tackle leaks in the network across Tipperary as part of a 500 million national investment in leakage reduction.

Current works include replacing over 13km of old and damaged watermains, removing any lead service pipes found on the public network, and finding and repairing leaks in the network across the county. This represents a significant investment in the county which will deliver big improvements in the water network, with homes and businesses benefiting from better water pressure and improved security and quality of their water supply.

This is part of Irish Waters national Leakage Reduction Programme which over the next four years will see 500 million invested to reduce the high level of leakage across the country by fixing or replacing aging water mains.

Replacement of old and damaged asbestos and PVC pipes will take place at the following locations:

Location (Length of main to be replaced)

Ballina on the R494 (700m)

Ballina - Quarry Lane (500m)

Garrykennedy (800m)

New Inn, Galtee (5.6km)

Lackamore (5.5km)

Upgrade works in District Metering Areas will take place in the following locations in the Clonmel area:

Town centre

Haywood Road

Poulnagunogue

Cashel Road

Ring Road

Town Centre East

Gortmalogue

Glenary - Old Bridge

Find and Fix crews will be working in the following areas in the Galtee Regional Water Supply Scheme:

Kilfeakle

Laganstown

Windmill

As part of the project, a total of 13km of problematic watermains are being replaced across North and Central Tipperary, in Ballina (1.2km), Garrykennedy (800m), New Inn (5.6km) and Lackamore (5.5km).

Old and damaged asbestos cement and PVC water mains which are prone to frequent bursts and supply interruptions will be replaced with new high-performance PE (polyethylene) pipes. The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the street/road to customers property boundaries and connecting it to the customers water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.

Also to be delivered as part of this programme is the removal of lead service connections from the public water network in Tipperary Town, Nenagh and Cashel. The presence of lead in drinking water is a recognised health concern. The drinking water produced and distributed by Irish Water is free from lead. However, there is a possibility that lead can dissolve into water as it passes through lead pipework. In homes built before the 1970s, it was common practice for the water supply pipes to be made from lead.

Irish Water is responsible for the pipe from the outer edge of the boundary of a property. The property owner is responsible for the pipe from the outer edge of the property boundary to the building and all the internal plumbing. Where public side lead pipework is replaced as part of this project, the customer will be notified that it is likely that there is lead pipework present within their property. The notice will include tips on identifying lead pipework as well as information on a private side lead pipework replacement grant available from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

Programme to Find and Fix leaks across county

As part of the Leakage Reduction Programme, work will also take place in the Clonmel area and the area served by the Galtee Regional Water Supply Scheme to find and fix leaks in the public network. These works involve surveying District Metering Areas to help identify leaks, and the deployment of leak detection crews to find leaks and carry out repairs. This work will be carried out in conjunction with the First Fix Free scheme which offers free leak investigations and free repairs for qualifying properties where a constant flow of water is found on the external water supply pipe.

All these works are being carried out by ShareRidge Ltd. on behalf of Irish Water and in partnership with Tipperary County Council.

Alan Morrissey, Irish Waters Networks Programme Regional Lead, commented: We are pleased to be moving forward with this essential work to reduce water losses in the public water network throughout Tipperary. Reducing leakage is a priority for Irish Water so that we can deliver a much more secure, reliable and safer water supply for homes and businesses across the county.

We understand that this type of work can be inconvenient and works crews will make every effort to minimise any disruption these necessary works cause. Where works are taking place on public roads, areas of work will be limited to short sections to minimise impact on customers. The works may involve some short-term water shut offs. The project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours notice prior to any planned water shut offs.

Details of work in the area will be updated regularly on the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website at https://www.water.ie/water- supply/supply-and-service- update/

Further information on Irish Waters Leakage Reduction Programme is also available on the Irish Water website www.water.ie or via the 24/7 customer care line at 1850 278 278.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised France for its important contributions to collective security and for its role as a champion of multilateralism. Mr Stoltenberg started a two-day visit to Paris today (14 May 2018) by meeting the French minister for the armed forces Florence Parly. They discussed NATO's continued adaptation to face current security challenges, as part of preparations for the Alliance Brussels Summit in July.

Addressing a conference organised by the Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Secretary General highlighted France's participation in the NATO battlegroup in Lithuania and in the Baltic Air Policing mission, as well as Frances leading role in the fight against terrorism, including in the Sahel and Levant. He praised France for its investments in defence, with a clear commitment to reach 2% by 2025. France is champion of multilateralism. And, at a crucial time for multilateralism, I count on France to help strengthen multilateral institutions like NATO, Mr. Stoltenberg said.

Together with Minister Parly and the North Atlantic Council, the Secretary General met the President of the French National Assembly Francois de Rugy to kick off the first Conference on the Cyber Defence Pledge.

On Tuesday (15 May 2018), the Secretary General will meet President Emmanuel Macron.(Natural News) Even the shortest exposure to air pollution can cause an acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI ) in young children, according to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

A team of researchers from Intermountain Healthcare, Brigham Young University, and the University of Utah primarily aimed to determine if there was an association between the fine particulate matter PM2.5 and ALRI in young children. They also wanted to identify the same associations for older children, adolescents, and adults. PM2.5 are pollution-causing particles that are around three percent of the diameter of human hair.

The research team looked at 143,397 individuals who were treated for ALRI from 1999 to 2016 at Intermountain Healthcare facilities throughout Utahs Wasatch Front region. About 80 percent of Utahs population resides in this region. It is about 80 miles long and 10 to 20 miles wide, bordered on both sides by mountains. It is primarily composed of suburbs, but also includes the cities of Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Provo/Orem.

The research team estimated the PM2.5 levels based on data from air quality monitoring stations along the Wasatch Front. They also measured PM2.5 levels at secondary locations. They matched short-term periods of PM2.5 increase with the timing of increases in healthcare visits for ALRI.

Results revealed that ALRI was associated with increased levels of PM2.5 in both children and adults  even in newborns and toddlers up to two years old, who represented 77 percent of those who were diagnosed with an ALRI. Moreover, 64 percent of the study subjects had a diagnosis of bronchiolitis, which is the most common cause of hospitalization in the first two years of life. The study was conducted in a location where the average daily PM2.5 level is lower than places like Los Angeles and New York. However, air pollution may be trapped in the high mountain valleys of the Wasatch Front due to its topography. When this happens, sharp increases in PM2.5 to levels considered to be unhealthy occur.

Overall, it took about 2-3 weeks for the ALRI hospitalizations or clinic visits to occur in this study after the rapid rise in PM2.5 had been observed, said lead author Benjamin Horne.

When they analyzed death rates among the study population, 17 children up to the age of two, nine children ages three to 17, and 81 adults died within 30 days of diagnosis with ALRI. They explained that the air pollution alone may make the body more vulnerable to infection or may damage the bodys ability to fight against infectious agents. PM2.5 may damage the lungs, which can result in a virus successfully causing an infection. PM2.5 may also impair the immune system so that the body performs a less effective response in fighting infection, resulting in longer periods of ALRI symptoms or more severe symptoms requiring a higher intensity of medical care for the infected individual. Periods of acute increases in PM2.5 may also cause people to stay indoors more where they are in closer contact with others who carry infectious agents and can spread the infection to them.

The most important finding of this study is that infectious processes of respiratory disease may be influenced by particulate matter pollution at various levels, Horne said.

In addition to respiratory infection, air pollution was also found to significantly increase stress hormones and change metabolism of people who live in industrial cities. An increase in stress hormones can lead to the development of diseases, such as stroke, diabetes, heart disease, and eventually cause death.

Since PM2.5 are so small, they can only be detected through an electron microscope. Causes of air pollution include power plants, motor vehicles, airplanes, residential wood burning, forest fires, agricultural burning, volcanic eruptions, and dust storms. Some are directly released into the air, while others are formed when gases and particles interact in the atmosphere.

Read more news stories and studies on air pollution by going to Pollution.news.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

BlissAir.comThirty-five people living along the East Coast have already gotten sick from the recent salmonella outbreak that ravaged the region.

Additional patients up the total of the recent salmonella flare-up that has been traced to more than 200 million bad eggs from the Rose Acre Farms.

The Outbreak

Approximately 206,749,248 eggs were voluntarily recalled by Rose Acre Farms last April due to its potential of being contaminated with Salmonella braenderup, according to a report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the time of the recall, 22 illnesses have been reported and the number of those infected only increased over the weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the 35 people who caught Salmonella braenderup were all from nine states. As of Thursday, May 10, a total of 11 people have already been hospitalized.

Fortunately, no deaths have been reported.

Rose Acre Farms

According to a report from Washington Post, federal officials inspected the company's farm where 2.3 million eggs a day are produced.

The recalled batch of eggs hit stores and restaurants under the brands Great Value, Country Daybreak, and Crystal Farms. They were distributed in various states including Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Carolinas.

Indy Star reports that FDA violations have been observed in the Rose Acre Farms facilities, including cleaning procedures for equipment not being implemented, shortcuts in washing eggs, and even rodent activity in the hen houses.

"We apologize to anyone who may have been sickened or who has a family member or friend who may have taken ill because of our eggs," the company says in an official statement in Washington Post. "Meanwhile, we have already implemented numerous remedial actions and have not only corrected deficiencies at the farm, but we've also taken other steps to ensure the farm meets or exceeds the standards by the FDA and USDA."

Rose Acre Farms has already been embroiled in a legal battle against the federal government following three separate outbreaks that caused 450 people to get sick in 1990. Appeals from both sides eventually got the case dismissed in 2009.

Salmonella braenderup

Salmonella cases reach up to 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths in the United States annually, according to estimates from the CDC.

The salmonella bacteria causes the infected person to develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps just 12 to 72 hours after getting bacteria. Most patients can recover after mere days even without treatment.

However, patients occasionally need to be hospitalized for severe diarrhea and the infection spreading to the blood stream. It's these cases that can cause death in salmonella-infected people.

Infants, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable to the disease.

To prevent the illness, CDC advises the safe handling and cooking of eggs. Proper hygienic practices such as thorough hand washing are also a must.With measles cropping up in New Jersey in recent weeks, the state's health officials are urging residents in measles-hit areas to seek medical assistance immediately.

New Jersey and New York health officials have already released warnings for residents who may have wandered into infected areas or come across infected individuals.

New Jersey's Measles Outbreak

Two infected people may have brought measles in various parts of the state in the past few weeks, according to NJ.com.

The first patient dropped by New Jersey in April 30 as part of a tour bus, and then went on to Niagara Falls in New York and Washington DC.

The second, who is a local resident of Bergen County, just recently developed measles, following an encounter with a different international traveler who had the disease in late April or early May.

These two incidents led New Jersey Department of Health to issue a warning, especially for their residents who have dropped by in the following areas at the corresponding dates: Towne Centre at Englewood apartments (April 24 to May 2), Renaissance Office Center (April 30 from 1 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.), Newark Liberty International Airport, Terminal C (May 2 from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), and Columbia Travel Center (April 30 from 9:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.).

In the Putnam County of New York, a total of six individuals have already been confirmed as part of the outbreak, according to a report from Patch. Ninety people have already been interviewed due to possible exposure to an infected person.

The Dangers Of Measles

Measles is a viral disease that's known to be extremely contagious. Ninety percent of those who come into contact with an infected person catches it as well without vaccination, according to New Jersey Department of Health.

It's one of the most deadly childhood ailments, with one or two deaths out of every 1,000 children with measles.

Keep an eye out for measles symptoms including cough, high fever, rash, red watery eyes, and a runny nose, among others.

Vaccination is very important in the prevention of the highly dangerous disease, and the officials in New Jersey are stressing the importance of people getting vaccinated now that there are cases of measles in the state.

"Two doses of measles vaccine are about 97 percent effective in preventing measles," New Jersey epidemiologist Dr. Christina Tan tells NJ.com. "We urge everyone to check to make sure they and their family members are up-to-date on measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine and all other age-appropriate immunizations."Pending parliamentary approval, the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) is set to procure a second support ship, two M-frigates replacement and six mine countermeasures (MCM) vessels. The frigates and MCM vessels are new designs under development with Belgium. According to the RNLN, Secretary of State for Defence Barbara Visser informed these wishes by letter to the House of Representative on May 3,2018.

Artist impression of the future M-frigate replacement.



M-frigates Replacement

According to the RNLN, the end of the life of the two M-frigates ((Karel Doorman-class of multi-purpose frigates F831 HNLMS Van Amstel and F828 HNLMS Van Speijk) is nearing. They are less able to cope with current and future threats, their systems are outdated and spare parts are becoming difficult to obtain, with the consequence of disproportionately high maintenance costs.



Frigates are the backbone of the navy and their replacement is therefore essential. Because of their strength, they ensure safety at sea, defense of their own territory and that of allies and unrestricted sea transport. Where the air defense and command frigates (LCF / De Zeven Provincien-class) specialize in air defense, the M-frigates excel in anti-submarine warfare (ASW). And the latter is a capacity that NATO has a great need for. In addition to combat operations, frigates are used for several other missions including: terrorism, drugs and piracy control and disaster relief.

The construction of a complex ship like a frigate takes more than 7 years. The first new frigate is expected to be operational from 2025 onwards.

The M frigate HNLMS Van Speijk during exercise Joint Warrior in Scottish waters (April 2014).

The Dutch Ministry of Defence started design studies for the M-frigates replacement in 2013. The new frigates are again set to fulfill a general purpose role with ASW as its specialty. Since the Royal Netherlands Navy deploys only six frigates in its fleet, the new surface combatants have to be able to perform well in all areas. This means that the vessels will be fitted with Standard Missile 2 or ESSM-projectiles. The builder will be local shipyard Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding. It was also announced that these frigates will be fitted with an integrated mast by Thales Netherlands. In December 2016, defence Ministers from Belgium & the Netherlands Signed an MoU for the Common Procurement of Vessels: It was then agreed that for the replacement of the so-called M-class frigates Netherlands would take the lead while Belgium would be leading the MCMV program.

HNLMS Vlaardingen in the Baltic Sea during the international exercise Baltops 2012.

MCM vessel replacement

The RNLN fleet has 6 Alkmaar-class (Tripartite class) MCM vessels. These ships were designed in the 1980ies and they are reaching the end of their lifespan. According to the Dutch navy, they are increasingly unable to detect modern sea mines. The deteriorated security situation increases the probability of sea mine presence and there are still many un-exploded and un-detected sea mines from the First and Second World War in the sea.

The future of maritime mine control lies in unmanned and partly autonomous systems. These systems are deployed at a safe distance from a manned mine-control vessel acting as mothership. In addition, modern MCM vessels are designed in such a way that they can operate worldwide and under high threat. The RNLN is planning to receive its new MCM systems (manned and unmanned) between 2025 and 2030. As for the M-frigate replacement, these future MCM vessels are developed in cooperation with the Belgian Marine Component. Several designs are competing including the ones from Saab (MCMV 80), BMT Group (Venari 85) and Sea Naval Solutions (Deviceseas).

JSS HNLMS Karel Doorman (A833) conducting a replenishment at sea with HNLMS Tromp (F803)

New supply ship: CSS - Combat Support Ship



The RNLN has one supply ship, the joint logistic support ship (JSS) Karel Doorman in its fleet. According to the RNLN, a second so-called combat support ship (CSS) would increase the effectiveness of naval vessels. With CSS, the vessels of the fleet would have better endurance (stay deployed for a longer time) in their mission area withouth having to call in ports. With a second support vessel, the Defense organization can permanently have supply capacity at sea and also make it available to NATO.

The CSS must be launched relatively quickly from 2023 onwards. For this purpose, the Dutch defense organization will take the existing design of the JSS. This so-called 'off the shelf' procurement has several advantages. Using existing knowledge and experience is a great benefit. And there are advantages in the maintenance and training of the crew.

The CSS is set to be smaller than the JSS, but will come close in capabilities: The architecture, design, combat and command system, weapon systems and sensors are set to be similar between CSS and JSS.Normally I would never lead with a column title like this about the Supreme Court ruling against its erstwhile Chief Justice. Its insensitive, its bad manners, and Id never hear the end of it from my by-the-book, prim-and-proper wife. However, after dissenting Justice Leonen called the ruling a legal abomination, after fellow dissenter Justice Caguioa said his colleagues had committed seppuku but without the honor, and after some yellow joker posted a fake news item about the (non-existent) AFP Southern Command breaking ranks in mutinywell, I figured that the gloves were off. * * * For that matter, the gloves have never really stayed on among the Yellows. Fuelled by a potent brew of self-righteousness, sense of entitlement, and complete disdain for facts and logic, this recidivist gang demolished one institution after another under six years of PNoy, but today have the gall to claim theyre the Republics saviors. Vice President Leni opined that the fight isnt over since the Supreme Court vote was close. Lets hope her newfound respect for voting margins will survive the recount of her vote tally against former Senator Bongbong, at the end of which she may have to relinquish the glorious heroines mantle bequeathed to her in Corys name to the much more De Lima-like Sereno. Various NDF affiliates like Bayan Muna, NUPL, and Sanlakas protested mightily about the rule of law. If they really cared about this, they would do better to convince their NPA comrades to stop being outlaws and terrorists (the Europeans term, not mine) and return to the civilized fold, under the umbrella of new peace talks (more on this below). Various senators harrumphed that the High Court had deprived them of the privilege of sitting again as jurors in an impeachment of another Chief Justice. Well, they should try to convince their colleagues in the House, which is the only place impeachment can start from. Good luck with that, guys. After doing a non-lawyers scan of the 150-page ruling penned by Justice Tijam, I was struck by how many nails had been driven into the witchs coffin. Among other things, the ruling stated that quo warranto is superior to impeachment; that Sereno did in fact commit impeachable offenses; and also laid down guidelines for the future conduct of quo warranto hearings. Unfortunately, the rest of her coven is still at large, flying around and screaming like banshees. Itll be a while before the sun comes out and things settle down. * * * As a matter of fact, the first tendrils of morning sunlight are already breaking through the yellow overcast. From the drug war front, the PDEA for the first time filed charges against a barangay captain on its drug list, a Malabon local official who failed to report a drug den and submitted an incomplete drug watch list. Its noteworthy that the poor guy was haled to court, not for active drug links, but simply for being suspiciously remiss in his duties. We hope that barangay officials newly elected yesterday know what theyre now in for. Over at PNP, the redoubtable new head P/DG Oscar Albayalde reported drug war stats over the 20 months under Duterte: 4,251 deaths of suspects, 142,069 arrests, P13.8 billion of shabu and P16.4 billion of drug-making equipment seized, 1.3 Million drug surrenderees, of whom nearly 200,000 have graduated from rehabilitation programs. However, were still waiting for the 13,000-odd body cameras promised to be worn by active anti-drug cops.Meanwhile, multiple hat-wearer Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is proving to be a negotiator par excellence. Together with Peace Adviser Dureza, he back-channeled to the communists in Europe to arrive at an interim peace deal that could lead to the resumption of peace talks by middle of June. And together with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano, Bello has persuaded Kuwait to agree to new rights for our OFWs there: keeping their mobile phones and passports, 24x7 hotline, special police unit detailed to the embassy, repatriation of OFWs in distress. Duterte might now partially lift the deployment banonly for skilled and semi-skilled workers, but not yet for domestic helpers who are the most vulnerable ones abroad. Even the much-maligned MRT3 is reporting good news. After government kicked out the PNoy-era maintenance provider Busan and took over operations itself, the railway line recently posted 17 straight days of no unloading incidents, the longest incident-free period since 2011. What now needs to be wrapped up is a new maintenance agreement with the Japanese, to return MRT-3 to the private sector where it belongs. * * * Even with the morning light breaking through, a couple of witches are still flying around loose. Over at Rappler, our favorite Yellow hacks accused the BIR of selective justice after they were hit with a P133 Million tax evasion case in connection with Rapplers controversial issue of Phil Depositary Receipts. Before the public gets taken in by the victimization script that Rappler CEO Maria Ressa has borrowed from Sereno, lets keep the following in mind: Rappler Holdings Corp. is different from its operating company Rappler Inc. It was RHC that evaded taxes on the taxable income it booked for itself in the process of otherwise-innocent capital raising by RI. RHC still has to justify the violation by its PDRs of Constitutional limits on foreign ownership of media companies. RHC cant defend itself by claiming that other PRD issues have not been charged with constitutional or tax law violations. Those other issues, which were done clean, are not at issue. Only Rapplers is. Rappler must account for its biased coverage of the administration, its active propagation of fake numbers even after repeated factual rebuttals, and now the witch-hunt it has reportedly launched against pro-Duterte websites in its new role as Facebooks designated fact-checker. Witches conducting witch-hunts? It could only happen here, with these guys. Readers can write me at g [email protected]Ten children have been removed from "horrible living conditions" in a home in Fairfield, California, after some told police about enduring abuse in the home that resulted in puncture wounds, burns, bruising and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun, police said Monday.

Solano County Sheriff's Office via AP

Officials said that, based on interviews with at least eight of the children, they believe that "significant torture took place" in the home at least as far back as 2014.

Solano County Chief Deputy District Attorney Sharon Henry said she was "horrified" by the children's reports of "torture" carried out "for sadistic purposes."

"It literally breaks your heart, and you're outraged by how a parent or anyone could commit those acts," Henry said afterward.



The home was brought to the attention of law enforcement after Fairfield police officers responded on March 31 to a report of a missing juvenile in the 2200 block of Fieldstone Ct.

The officers located the boy, 12, and returned him to the family home, where officers observed garbage, spoiled food and feces on the floor. All of the children, ranging in age from 4 months to 11 years old, were removed from the home at that time.

Police said a further investigation "revealed a long and continuous history of severe physical and emotional abuse of the children."



The children's mother, Ina Rogers, a 30-year-old Fairfield resident, was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail for charges of child neglect, police said. Rogers was released after posting $10,000 bail.

Detectives arrested the father, 29-year-old Jonathan Allen of Fairfield, and charged him for nine counts of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse, police said. He's being held in the Solano County Jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

Court records do not indicate whether the parents have lawyers.

Rogers defended herself and her husband during an interview with reporters Monday, denying police reports of abuse or neglect. She called the charges "ludicrous."



Rogers told NBC Bay Area her 10 kids slept in one room because they wanted to, adding the home is messy due to a police search.

Rogers said she feels shes being judged for having so many children and choosing to home-school them.

She said she is surprised police have leveled the most serious accusations against her husband, as he was not the disciplinarian of the family.

Theres no broken bones, there is no major scars, nothing, Rogers told reporters in front of her house. My kids get bumped and bruised and scratched because theyre kids but thats it.

Fairfield police removed the children from the house after Rogers reported her oldest child was missing, saying he had run away after she took away his tablet computer as punishment.

Fairfield police Lt. Greg Hurlbut said when police returned the child, they found nine other children living in squalid and unsafe conditions.

On Monday, Rogers led reporters on a tour of the four-bedroom house in Fairfield, 46 miles northeast of San Francisco.

The home was messy with scuffed walls and animal feces in the bathroom. She said the children slept on cots in one bedroom because they were close. The other rooms contained a master bedroom, playroom and meditation room.

On the day the children were removed, the house was messy because Rogers had just torn it apart looking for her missing son, she said.

She and her husband both came from broken homes, and they wanted a large family, she said.

The children's maternal grandmother called Allen a monster. She has photos of what she says is a room where he worshiped the devil.

"He would take the baby and slap it in the face and put duct tape on the baby's mouth to make it shut up," Wanda Rogers said. "And then he'd beat them up for the baby crying and waking him up."

Child protection officials made one prior visit to the home several years ago, Ina Rogers said. She did not say why.

Allen was arrested after specialists conducted interviews with the children, Hurlbut said.



Aleida Quartman, 23, said she was a co-worker of Rogers at a heart device monitoring company. She said Rogers spoiled her children and the messy house was just life with children, cats, a dog and fish.

She told me shes never lived alone and now that her kids are gone and her husband is gone, shes just a mess, Quartman said.

A horrified Peggy Allen, Allens mother, said she had talked to Rogers about the dirty condition of the home, saying it was important to keep a clean house. Allen said she is estranged from her son and that he has kept his family away from the grandchildren.

Its embarrassing, she said. Were a Christian family and Jonathan has not been raised that way.

In a separate case, prosecutors in Riverside County have filed eight new charges against a father accused of shackling and starving some of his 13 children, alleging that he lied on government forms about their schooling.

David Turpin and his wife Louise previously pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges in a case that has drawn international attention since the couples 17-year-old daughter escaped the familys Perris, California, home in January and called 911.Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to "flatten" the company's structure, he told employees in a memo obtained by CNBC Monday.

"To ensure that Tesla is well prepared for the future, we have been undertaking a thorough reorganization of our company," Musk said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported about the memo. Tesla declined to comment to CNBC.

Tesla has recently been burning through billions in cash and Musk had warned that the company would be making some changes.Police at Sonoma State University responded to reports of a fatal stabbing on campus Sunday, university officials said.

One person is dead, and a male suspect was arrested. The stabbing occurred just before 6 p.m. in the Sauvignon Village residential community, a freshman dorm, officials said.

The victim and suspect both are of college age, but investigators could not confirm they were students, university police said.

Students interviewed at the scene told NBC Bay Area they believe the victim was a student.

Students at Sonoma State are preparing for final exams this week. Grief counselors were on campus to assist students.

The homicide is the first on the campus in the 57-year history of Sonoma State University.

Police believe there's no further threat to the community.

No further details were available.The former president of the San Francisco Police Commission was found dead inside of his home Sunday afternoon.

Julius Turman, 52, served his final day as commission president and member on May 4. He joined the commission in 2012, becoming vice president in 2014 and president in 2016, according to a release from SFPD.

Commissioner Turman was a tremendously intelligent and compassionate man who cared deeply about this department, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in a statement. He worked to help us increase trust and respect and was relentlessly focused on bringing forth the best practices, policies and procedures to the San Francisco Police Department. We are grateful for his dedication and hard work and we extend our deepest condolences to his family.

Mayor Mark Farrell released a statement Sunday, expressing his condolences:

As a longtime member of the Police Commission, Julius Turman provided honest candor and oversight, working tirelessly to make this city safe and secure for everyone. He was a voice of leadership who helped build trust and camaraderie between the men and women of the police department and San Francisco residents. ...

"Julius always spoke forcefully, yet truly, and he gained the well-earned respect of his colleagues and peers for his clear passion and dedication to serving the people of this City."



Turman's cause of death was not immediately known.What to Know It was the deadliest day in Gaza since a devastating 2014 cross-border war

The Hamas-led protest was meant to be the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory

Trump son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser Jared Kushner placed blame on the Gaza protesters

In a jarring contrast, Israeli forces shot and killed dozens of Palestinians and woundedhundres more during mass protests Monday along the Gaza border, while just a few miles away Israel and the U.S. held a festive inauguration ceremony for the new American Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

It was by far the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a devastating 2014 war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, and further dimmed the already bleak prospects for President Donald Trump's hoped-for peace plan.

Throughout the day, Gaza protesters set tires ablaze, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. The Israeli military, which has come under international criticism for using excessive force against unarmed protesters, said Hamas tried to carry out bombing and shooting attacks under the cover of the protests and released video of protesters ripping away parts of the barbed-wire border fence.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in Gaza border protests had risen to 58, including 57 people killed by Israeli army fire and a baby who died from tear gas inhalation. The ministry said six of those killed by gunshots were minors.

It said more than 2,700 people were injured Monday, including 1,360 by live fire. Of the wounded, 130 were in serious or critical condition.

"What we saw today was unprecedented violence along the fence," said Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, defending the tough Israeli response. "We are protecting Israel's citizens. We are defending our homes."

Monday's protests culminated more than a month of weekly demonstrations aimed at breaking a crippling Israeli-Egyptian border blockade. But the U.S. Embassy move, bitterly opposed by the Palestinians, added further fuel.

There was barely any mention of the Gaza violence at Monday's lavish inauguration ceremony for the new embassy, an upgraded consular building located just 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials joined an American delegation of Trump administration officials and Republican and evangelical Christian supporters.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser, headlined the U.S. delegation with his wife and fellow White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and four Republican senators. Republican super-donor Sheldon Adelson was also present, and evangelical pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee delivered blessings.

"A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted earlier Monday.

In a videotaped address, Trump said the embassy move, a key campaign promise, recognizes the "plain reality" that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. Yet he added the United States "remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

But Monday's steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move in the Arab world raised new doubts about Trump's ambitions to broker what he called the "deal of the century." More than a year after taking office, Trump's Mideast team has yet to produce a long-promised peace plan.

Trump says recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital acknowledges the reality that Israel's government is located there as well as the ancient Jewish connection to the city. He insists the decision has no impact on future negotiations on the city's final borders.

But to both Israel and the Palestinians, the American gesture is widely seen as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their longstanding conflict.

"Thank you, President Trump for having the courage to keep your promises," Netanyahu said Monday. He said that "by recognizing history, you have made history."



"You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he added.

The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as their capital, have cut off ties with the Trump administration and say the U.S. is unfit to serve as a mediator. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, furious over the embassy ceremony, said he "will not accept" any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration.

The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were "massacres" carried out by Israeli troops in Gaza, and officials said the Palestinians would file a war crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court over settlement construction.

By nightfall, at least 55 Palestinians, including a young girl and four other minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It said 1,200 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including 116 who were in serious or critical condition.

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a briefing Monday afternoon that "the responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas" and Hamas "has been provoking this response."



Egypt, an important Israeli ally, condemned the killings of Palestinian protesters, while the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, decried the "shocking killing of dozens." Turkey accused Israel of "state terror."

Turkey strongly condemned the U.S. Embassy move, calling it deemed "legally null and void" and said it was recalling its ambassador to the United States. It also recalled its ambassador to Israel following what it called a "massacre" of Palestinians on the Gaza border. South Africa, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, also recalled its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Israel to respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force" and show restraint, while also urging Hamas to ensure any protests remain peaceful. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a similar appeal.

At the U.S. Embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said.

Israel says the blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities. But it has decimated Gaza's economy, sending unemployment skyrocketing to over 40 percent and leaving the territory with just a few hours of electricity a day.

The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000 at Monday's protest, saying it fell short of what Hamas had hoped for. But officials described what they called "unprecedented violence" unseen in previous weeks.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said hundreds of protesters carried out "concerted, coordinated" attacks on the border fence.

Although the crowd did not manage to break through, he said they caused "significant damage." The army released video showing demonstrators setting a cargo crossing on fire and appearing to climb on the fence as they lobbed flaming objects into the Israeli side.

Conricus also said Hamas militants disguised as protesters tried to infiltrate, and there were at least three instances of armed Hamas gunmen trying to carry out attacks. Israeli aircraft and tanks struck seven Hamas positions.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israel's military and Gaza's Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a cease-fire since the 2014 war  their third in a decade.

Since the protests began on March 30, 105 Palestinians have been killed, most of them protesters. Israel said it killed three militants trying to plant a bomb along the fence, and Palestinian security officials said several Hamas militants were also killed by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests would continue "until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved."

Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Monday's events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

But Tuesday also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. A day of mourning and mass funerals was planned Tuesday.

A majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the "Great March of Return" to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an upgraded, existing U.S. consulate building, until a decision is made on a permanent location. Even the current location is sensitive, located partially in an area designated "no-man's land" in a 1949 armistice agreement. The U.N. considers that land to be occupied territory, though the U.S. says in practice the area has been in continuous Israeli use since 1949.

Associated Press writers Ilan Ben Zion, Mohammed Daraghmeh and Karin Laub contributed to this report.Massachusetts education officials are seeking input on a new accountability system to judge school performance.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is inviting public feedback at a Monday meeting to be held at the panel's Malden headquarters.

Massachusetts is revamping its system for evaluating public schools in response to federal regulations approved in 2015.

The new system will still weigh test scores but adds other measures including the share of students taking advanced classes and those that are chronically absent.

It will also focus on boosting the performance of each school's lowest performing students along with the school as a whole.

No vote will be taken at the Monday meeting. The state's education commissioner said he will ask the board to approve the system at its June meeting.Kelly Cochran was already serving life in prison for the murder of her ex-lover when she was sentenced for allegedly killing her husband. But a new docuseries chronicling the investigation into the case suggests her crimes were far more grisly than anyone anticipated. And now, the lead investigator suspects she may be a serial killer behind several other murders in numerous states.

The horrific true story began with a missing persons case in 2014. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, 51-year-old Chris Regan had disappeared.

The investigation took lead investigator and Iron River Police Chief Laura Frizzo to Cochran, who had been having an affair with Regan and was believed to be the last person to see him.

Michigan prosecutors maintained Cochran lured Regan to her home, where her husband Jason Cochran shot him and the two dismembered Regan before hiding his remains in the woods.

The 35-year-old Hobart, Indiana woman was ultimately convicted of murdering Regan, who she called "the only good thing" in her life, according to court documents. She was sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecutors argued the Cochrans had a pact formed on their wedding night that if either of them ever cheated on the other, they would kill whoever the extramarital lover was. Cochran told the court she thought that was only a jokebut according to prosecutors, it wasnt.

Still, in a new docuseries by Investigation Discovery, "Dead North," neighbors reveal they believe they were served Regan's remains at a barbecue. Not long after, Cochran allegedly led Frizzo to a desolate area in the Upper Peninsula woods where Regan's skull was found.

The series features videos recorded by Frizzo throughout the investigation, along with interrogation room conversations and bodycam footage, according to producers.

"The search for Chris Regan  and specifically Laura Frizzos determination to solve this case  is what compelled us to join her on this journey for answers, Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery, said in a statement. The story that unfolds through Chief Frizzos own video documentations is a rare opportunity for viewers to see a skilled investigator at work.

Last month, Cochran pleaded guilty to new murder charges in the death of her husband Jason Cochran. Local reports described it as a revenge killing after Cochran said she was forced into participating in her boyfriends killing and Cochran reportedly told investigators she evened the score."

Cochran pleaded guilty to strangling her husband in Hobart, Indiana, on Feb. 20, 2016. Under a plea agreement, the 35-year-old will receive a 65-year sentence.

According to Investigation Discovery, Cochran's brother said he believes his sister is a serial killer with as many as nine victims. And he's not alone.

Frizzo, the first female city police chief in the Upper Peninsula, was relieved of her duties by the Iron River City Manager just as she claimed Cochran admitted to "having other 'friends' buried in Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee and Minnesota," according to the network. The identities of any potential victims remain unclear and no bodies have been found.

Im so grateful that justice was served for Chris Regan, but I firmly believe that there are other victims out there, Frizzo said in a statement. With new leads regarding their whereabouts, Im hoping this series will shed light on the case and allow me to finish the investigation I started.

According to her attorneys, Frizzo said she was not allowed to return to work after a "short medical leave in September 2016." Though Frizzo said she provided multiple doctor opinions stating she "was fit to return to duty," she was ultimately terminated due to what Iron River City Manager David Thayer cited as "irreconiclable differences," NBC affiliate TV-6 reported. Thayer did not immediately respond to NBC Chicago's request for comment, but told TV-6 at the time the decision came from "a conflict with her management style."

"Dead North" premieres in a two-night event from 8-10 p.m. CT May 28-29.Missouri's tough treatment of sex offenders living outside of prison is sending hundreds of the offenders to neighboring states, where laws are not as stringent.

Missouri requires sex offenders to register for a lifetime, with no exceptions. Other states require registrations for a specific number of years, with a lifetime registration only for high risk sex offenders. Kansas is one of at least 20 states with no sex offender residency restrictions

The Columbia Missourian analyzed Missouri State Highway Patrol records of more than 2,500 offenders who moved out of the state in the past two years. Kansas, Illinois and Arkansas are the top destinations for sex offenders.

Almost three dozen sex offenders moved to Mexico, which has no national sex offender registry.

"Sex offenders do shop around," said Paula Stitz, who runs the State Sex Offender Registry for the Arkansas Crime Information Center. "It's been my experience and the experience of other state-level managers. I had actual telephone calls and them telling me that they are shopping around."

Last year, as part of an overhaul of Missouri's criminal statutes, Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, sponsored a bill that included a minimum registration requirement of 15 years, followed by 25 years, with lifetime registration only for high-risk offenders  the same registration tiers as Kansas. The bill died but a similar bill passed the House this session and is headed to the Senate.

Kansas is one of at least 20 states with no sex offender residency restrictions unless on probation or parole. Kansas is now home to 512 former Missouri registrants who moved there in the past two years.

John Gauntt, of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, isn't sure Kansas attracts sex offenders because of its looser requirements. State agencies do not question offenders when they move and register in another state. Gauntt said it's up to law enforcement to know where the offenders live.

"Just because we don't have a residency requirement, the agencies are not giving the offenders a free ride," Gauntt said. "I think the system here in Kansas has been running pretty well."

The Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registration Unit reviews sex offender profiles every day. In Illinois, a registration sentence is either 10 years or a lifetime.

According to the unit supervisor Tracie Newton, last year Illinois removed about 1,000 people from the registry. More than 600 completed their 10-year registration duty, some died, and 208 offenders had their convictions modified through the courts.

Out-of-state registrants' convictions are substituted for an Illinois equivalent. Before 2012, that would determine if an offender would have to register only for 10 years instead of a lifetime in Missouri. But in 2012, a new law meant incoming sex offenders can no longer avoid lifetime registration by crossing the state border. Kansas closed that loophole 10 years ago.

"It makes people re-evaluate their plans a little bit more" Newton said.

Arkansas doesn't yet have that provision, and 205 Missouri sex offenders headed there in the past two years. The state has about 16,000 registered sex offenders, with many also coming from Texas and Oklahoma.Divvy bikesharing stations have become commonplace in Chicago, but a new art installation designed to evoke that image is turning a lot of heads.

The art installation, called Chicago Gun Share Program, depicts replicas of AR-15 guns that are locked into a rack similar to Divvy stations.

The display has signage like unlock and load, and also features a place for people to donate to the Brady Center, which advocates for stricter gun control legislation.

Another sign near the exhibit features statistics that compare gun laws in Illinois and Indiana, and points out that one in five guns used in committing crimes in Chicago actually comes from Indiana.

The art display sparked a wave of reaction from those that saw it, including 12-year-old tourist Omar Bahey Eldin.

When you rent a bike its easy. Its easy to just rent a gun and its easy to kill a person with it, he said.

Even second-amendment advocates like Elgin resident Ray Weishaar understood the artists intent behind the piece.

(Its pointing out) the prevalence of guns and how easy it is to get them, he said.

You cant take the mock rifles off of the art piece, which will be on display until Wednesday, but those who have visited the site say that you will take away the artworks powerful message, whether or not you agree with it.

Art should make people have a reaction, tourist Lev Bratishenko said. If its soft and cuddly, youre not really thinking. This is a really serious topic.Posted Monday, May 14, 2018 3:45 am

Earlier this month, University of Missouri Chancellor Alexander Cartwright announced a new vision for MU Extension and Engagement to fulfill what he referred to as an all things Missouri mission. While leading a discussion in Springfield, he announced the formation of the MU Engagement Council, a core group of university leaders who are focused on MUs current and emerging off-campus engagement initiatives and three tech-based initiatives that will help Extension expand its reach and impact  a statewide data mapping and reporting system; the IMPACT website, a publicly searchable inventory of programs and educational opportunities that bring resources directly to the people of Missouri; and Nexus@Mizzou, a revamped MU Extension website that will provide an easy-to-use single entry point for all Extension experiences.

Mizzous campus is the 114 counties of Missouri, Cartwright said. With a focus on all things Missouri, we will deepen the universitys relationship with  and value to  the people of Missouri, from Neosho to Hannibal. The struggles facing Missouri communities are challenges that we are ready to tackle.

In late 2016 and early 2017, MU Extension gathered input from more than 1,000 Missourians on key challenges facing their communities. Out of these conversations, three grand challenges emerged as focal points for MUs extension and engagement efforts: economic opportunity, health, and educational access and excellence.

Cartwright, along with Vice Chancellor for Extension and Engagement Marshall Stewart, led a discussion about the universitys history as a land-grant university and how the university can address the grand challenges. They were joined by Dan Cassidy, chief administrative officer of the Missouri Farm Bureau; Kathleen Quinn, associate dean for rural health in the MU School of Medicine; Karen Buschmann, vice president of communications and strategic initiatives with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Jody Squires, regional director for the urban region of MU Extension.

The three pillars of a healthy community are the economy, health care access and a high-quality education system, Stewart said. The University of Missouri is in a unique position to support all three of these pillars through Extension, our research endeavors and service opportunities. We are steadfast in our resolve to help the state meet the challenges facing the state and improve lives.

Last year, engagement efforts served 1.3 million Missourians, including a $200 million increase in sales for Missouri businesses and the creation or retention of 8,000 jobs. Current initiatives connecting the university to the state include:

 Boosting Missouris economy  Last month, University of Missouri officials announced that the MU has a $3.9 billion impact on the state of Missouri.

 Serving Missouri communities  Since 2014, Mizzou Alternative Breaks has partnered with MU Extension to send students on weekend service trips within Missouri.

 Building strong youth and families  MU has implemented after-school youth leadership programs such as the Community Arts Program and the 4-H Center for Youth Development.

 Promoting health and safety MU continues to offer a range of training programs for Missouris civil servants such as the Law Enforcement Training Institute.

 Supporting agriculture  MU is part of a $6.6 million research initiative to promote soil health through cover crops.

 Helping businesses succeed  MU Extension Community Development programs and specialists foster economic development by focusing on skills  such as leadership development, decision-making and emergency preparedness  that are needed to create viable communities, competitive workforces and quality jobs.

These efforts illustrate how our students, faculty, staff and alumni are part of the fabric of our state, nation and the world, Cartwright said. They illustrate why I say we are the University for Missouri.A Severe Thunderstorm Warning that was issued for Kankakee County has been allowed to expire.



The thunderstorms, which packed winds of up to 70 MPH and were travelling at 60 MPH, rolled through central Illinois and northwest Indiana, but the warning that came with the storms has been allowed to expire.

[[122192514, C]]

Kankakee County, as well as Jasper and Newton counties in Indiana, were included in the warning, which expired at 6:30 p.m.

A storm system moving toward the area generated strong-to-severe thunderstorms in Iowa, and has the potential for torrential rain, strong winds, and hail as it moves into eastern Illinois.Authorities in the southern Illinois community of Alorton are investigating a fire that destroyed the home of the town's mayor.

Alorton Fire Chief DeMario Douglas said the "suspicious" fire was started early Saturday. By the time fire crews arrived the trailer belonging to Mayor JoAnn Reed was "pretty involved with heavy fire."

It was the second fire to strike the trailer in the past six months.

Reed said she has been living in the home that belonged to her father since his death in March. She wasn't injured by the fire.

Douglas says he has no doubt an accelerant was put to it. The house has no power.

Authorities say the trailer was set afire in December. Reed wasn't at home at the time of that fire.

Alorton is located southeast of St. Louis.As the EpiPen shortage continues, frustration and fear climb for Connecticut parents who are trying to get their hands on the life-saving product.

I cant even describe that fear of whats going to happen. Is this going to be that one chance that its going to push him into anaphylactic shock, Carolyn Janis said.

Janis said her local pharmacy is out of EpiPens for her 4-year-old son and she, along with other parents and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, demanded answers Monday from the FDA.

This is not enough, this is not safe enough. We are unable to keep our children and loved ones safe, Janis said.

The FDA announced the shortage in some parts of the U.S. last week, citing a manufacturing problem.

A statement Mylan released last week that while there are intermittent supply constraints, the product is available and the company is currently receiving continual supply from its manufacturing partner Meridian Medical Technologies, a Pfizer company.

On Monday, Pfizer released a statement saying its shipments have been increasing and exceeded projections in April.

We are currently shipping product and our shipments have been increasing over the last few months, with April shipments exceeding projections, Pfizer said in a statement.

The company stated the constrained supply of EpiPen is due to supply of certain third-party components, along with process changes implemented which have temporarily limited capacity at our manufacturing facility.

I am demanding the FDA take emergency action to be sure of the manufacture of these devices, Blumenthal said.

He said he plans to question the FDA on how long its known about the shortage and what its doing to make sure families that need the product wont be left without it for long.

They need to be more forthcoming with the facts if they know what the facts are. If you don't know them, that is an abject failure on the FDAs part, Blumenthal said.

Mylan said people should still be able to find alternative pharmacies by calling its customer relations phone number at 800-796-9526.

Janis said the shortage must come to an end before its too late for families.

It is not an optional medication. This is a medication that is used in true crisis, Janis said.The Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulin Cruz, is heading to Hartford to be honored at the 2018 Latinas & Power Symposium this week.

Cruz is set to receive the Latina Champion Award on Thursday at the sold-out annual event in Hartford.

She gained notoriety in the days following Hurricane Maria's landfall, criticizing President Trump and his administration's response to the devastation. During that time, she could be seen on the ground comforting residents and pleading for more aid during television appearances.

Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. It brought destruction to much of the island and affected the lives of 3.5 million Americans. Officials estimate the hurricane caused roughly $100 billion in damages.

The mayor will also recognize nine Puerto Rico relief warriors. They are described by the symposium as individuals and organizations in the northeast region who "went far beyond the call of duty, rolled up their sleeves and dove in to spearhead various Hurricane Maria relief drives."

Our Hurricane Relief Warrior Award will honor the women, men and one little girl who rose above the chaos, threw caution to the wind, and provided lifesaving relief to the victims, said Marilyn Alverio, creator and producer of the annual Latinas & Power Symposium. They heard Mayor Carmens cry for help and arrived in droves with relief containers filled to capacity.

The local Warrior Awards honorees include a 10-year-old girl from South Windsor who created a massive toy drive to send over a thousand gifts to children in Puerto Rico during the Christmas holiday. Also being honored will be 8 organizations which did things such as raising money, donating life-saving essentials, building houses and relocating families to help people on the island.

We focus on strategies for success for this segment of the population and have done our best to fill the voids and lack of opportunities not available to Latinas in our region. This year and after the devastation Hurricane Maria left, we could not host this event without recognizing our amazing local warriors whose efforts help save many lives and are hands-on involved in the restoration of Puerto Rico, Alverio said.This November, residents in Collin County can vote on a $750 million transportation bond that will, among other projects, help to fund the creation of an entirely new north-south highway somewhere east of U.S. Highway 75.

The population growth of Collin County is outpacing that of Dallas and Tarrant counties in recent years, and the overall population of Collin County, according to some projections, is expected to exceed both Dallas and Tarrant counties by 2050.

To that end, local governments have started the process of determining the potential route for a new freeway that could eventually connect all the way down to Interstate 20 in Dallas or Kaufman counties.

We want to be real careful here. We want to impact as few people as possible, said Collin County Judge Keith Self. But at the end of the day we need to start the planning for a major road somewhere on the east part of the county.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) created a regional transportation plan called Mobility 2040 that looked at the impact that increased population and recommended highway projects, including the creation of a new highway in Collin County.

Mobility 2040 projects that by 2040 the population of Dallas-Fort Worth will have grown from an estimated 7,235,508 people in 2017 to 10,676,844 people.

As of 2017, the report noted that the average person already spends 72 hours delayed in traffic. By 2040, if the recommendations are made, that number will have still risen to 114 hours spent, in average, in traffic per year. But if the recommendations, including the creation of a new highway in Collin County, are not made, the projection is that by 2040 people will spend an average of 199 hours stuck in traffic.

By comparison, in Los Angeles  a city that is known for its prolific gridlock  drivers spent at average of 102 hours in traffic last year.Firefighters responded to a second water rescue call over the weekend at Grapevine Lake. Sunday, a man went to the hospital in critical condition after a near-drowning that happened while rescuers were searching for an earlier drowning victim.

Fire officials told NBC 5 they were already on the water with sonar equipment when they received the call for help just after noon near Rockledge Park. Witness Darsia Sambrano told our media partners at Telemundo 39, the man was swimming with his family when he went under. Sambrano said his children were desperately calling for their dad.

Teams were able to located the man in about ten feet of water at 12:24 p.m. Rescuers said he had a weak pulse as they rushed him to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine. The fire department said he was in intensive care on Sunday.

The near drowning marked the second call for help on the lake. Saturday, a man drowned after jumping off a pontoon boat. Teams located his body late Sunday afternoon after two days of searching.

Unfortunately these two individuals did not have life jackets on, said Grapevine Assistant Fire Chief John Sherwood. Its a reminder to us and trying to get the message out constantly that life jackets save lives.

Grapevine offers free loaner life jackets, in memory of firefighter James McKenzie. McKenzie drowned while off duty in 2016.

The Loan a Life Jacket" offers free life jackets on the honor system. Boaters and swimmers are encouraged to borrow the vests and return them at the end of the day. The jackets are offered from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, the high season at the lake.

This year the program is expanding to offer free vests at five stations around the lake. The fire department is hosting fundraisers to help maintain the program.Firefighters in the Texas Panhandle are working to contain a wildfire that's blackened more than 74,000 acres.

The Texas A&M Forest Service reports nearly 300 firefighters are battling the Mallard fire that began last week east of Wayside, about 40 miles southeast of Amarillo and not far from Palo Duro Canyon.

The fire Monday afternoon was about 20 percent contained.

Temperatures in the 90s and gusty winds helped spread up to 15-foot flames through dry tall grass, brush, mesquite and juniper in rough terrain Sunday.

The fire was moving north and northeast. Armstrong County officials are reporting no immediate evacuations.

On Friday, the National Weather Service in Amarillo reported a smoke cloud from the wildfire created its own thunderstorm with 1-inch hail.

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group said with hot, dry and breezy conditions persisting Monday, "the fire is expected to remain active through the evening hours with spread rates up to 100 chains per hour and flame lengths above 15 feet" over the next 12-24 hours.



Another wildfire in Palo Duro Canyon, the Prairie Dog Fork fire, has burned only about 300 acres and is 90 percent contained.

Early voting has begun for the 30-plus races across Texas where no candidate captured 50 percent of the votes cast in crowded fields during the March 6 primary -- forcing runoff races.

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Lupe Valdez, a former Dallas County sheriff, and Andrew White, a Houston businessman, are competing for the right to face Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in November.

That's the only statewide race requiring a second round of voting.

But in 17 U.S. House districts, 11 on the Democratic side and six involving Republicans, the top-two March finishers are on the ballot again to advance to the general election. Same goes for assorted state House seats, and one Democratic primary in a Texas Senate district.

U.S. House - District 3 Runoff

In Collin County, where another longtime congressman, U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX 3rd District), is retiring, two Democrats are vying for a spot in the general. One of the Democratic challengers is Sam Johnson, unrelated, and the other is Lorie Burch. The winner will face State Sen. Van Taylor, of Plano, who won the GOP nomination in the primary.

U.S. House - District 5 Runoff

Another retiring congressman, U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, leaves a vacancy in the 5th District that covers East Dallas into East Texas. Entrepreneur Bunni Pounds, who is in the runoff against State Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell), said she has the endorsement from Hensarling as well as a number of other notable politicians.

U.S. House - District 6 Runoff

In North Texas, the District 6 race for the seat once held by longtime Republican Congressman Joe Barton has runoffs on both the Republican and Democratic sides. Former Tarrant County Tax Assessor, and Barton staffer, Ron Wright is locked in a runoff with pilot and Navy veteran Jake Ellzey.

On the Democratic side, Ruby Faye Woolridge and Jana Lynne Sanchez are also headed to a runoff for the District 6 seat.

U.S. House - District 32 Runoff

Colin Allred and Lillian Salerno, both Democrats, are facing off in the runoff Tuesday. Allred was put in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Red to Blue program following the March primary. The program helps fund congressional campaigns for Democrats. The winner of the primary runoff faces U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions in the general.



Tarrant County Tax Assessor/Collector

Former Mansfield City Councilwoman Wendy Burgess and former NBC 5 anchor Mike Snyder are in the Republican primary runoff hoping to occupy the tax assessor seat left vacant by Ron Wright, who is in the Dist. 6 run-off. The winner of the runoff will face former NBC 5 staffer Ollie Anderson in the general. Anderson, a Democrat, ran unopposed in the March primary.

Verify Your Voting Place on Election Day

Several polling locations for the May 22 primary run-off will be different from the March 6 primary. During early voting ballots may be cast at any polling place, however on Election Day some ballots may not be available at all polling locations. Voters are encouraged to check their county voter pages before heading to the polls on Tuesday: Tarrant | Dallas | Collin | Denton



Early voting ends Friday. The primary runoff Election Day is Tuesday, May 22.British-Dutch held Shell and French group Total have agreed to come together as they seek to get exploration and operation deals in Omans new gas discoveries located in the Greater Barik area onshore Block 6, Arab Trade online media reports.

The two oil giants have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch gas production of around 500 MMcfd with a potential to reach 1 bcf/d at a later stage, the media reports.

The two groups, through the deal which ropes in the Omani sultanate represented by Oman Oil Company (OOC), will operate upstream and downstream projects at the new gas resources.

Total is expected to bring in its expertise in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and open market avenues for the Gulf country. The French group will use its equity gas entitlement as feedstock to develop a regional hub in Oman for LNG, bunkering service, which will supply LNG as a fuel to marine vessels, the media notes.

Shell will also operate gas-to-liquids (GTL) project with OOC.

Total owns 25 per cent of Greater Barik area onshore Block 6 while its sister companys share is estimated at 75 per cent.NBC continues to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by highlighting what some call an "Asian Starbucks" with its roots in Southern California's Little Saigon.

The Nguyens have been called the "North Star of Little Saigon" because they are constantly lighting the way for the others.

Sonny Nguyen is one of seven "Leaves" who made a millennial coffee shop the equivalent of Asian Starbucks. The other six leaves are his brothers, a brother-in-law and a long-time family friend, and eight years ago, the group that launched the 7 Leaves Cafe were working in finance, law and technology.

Nguyen says, "There's that saying, 'It's lonely at the top,' and it was true for all of us, and I think 'Q' was the first one to say, 'I need a break.'"

"Q" is Sonny Nguyen's brother, Quan, who traveled the world and brought back uncommon tastes like Mung Bean from his time in Indian, Korea, Vietnam and beyond.

"The passion that drives us today is, no. 1, for the community we want to show them a different experience to connect the world because each one of our drinks comes from a different country," Sonny Nguyen says.

A meal at a Vietnamese restaurant introduced Sonny Nguyen and his brothers to the struggling owner, Viet Nguyen, who was only months away from closing the doors to his restaurant. Viet Nguyen's Vox Kitchen started with traditional pho and then decided to expand to shaking beef with French fires and a healthy helping of friendly service.

Building roots in the community, Sonny Nguyen offered Viet Nguyen advice, which Viet hunkered down and followed.

Today, Vox Kitchen can have an hour-long wait, and the Gordon Ramsay trained chef has three restaurants and two more under construction nearby.

Now, Viet Nguyen says he's the one dolling out advice.

"If I see them struggle, but I see something special I always give them that advice, 'You're very close, trust me. You have something special. Just hang on,'" Viet Nguyen says with a smile.

The Nguyen brothers believe in paying it forward, and Sonny recently spoke to other business owners for the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.

"Every time I've ever seen him in a classroom setting or workshop, people gravitate towards him," Ed Hart from the Cal State Fullerton Center for Family Business says about Sonny Nguyen. "He has that magnetic personality."

Part of the secret to 7 Leaves Cafes' success according to Sonny Nguyen is keeping the business simple. They offer a dozen teas, a trio of coffees and you can't have it your way. It's served their way, quickly.

By the end of this year, the Nguyen brothers will have 16 cafes. Believing in the strength of the community they enrich, they expect even more locations in the future based on the connections they have made and will make in the future.

"You don't have to be from the same place, have the same skin or the same language," Sonny Nguyen speaks about his experience. "When you have abundance or success, I find people are willing to help."

Next up for the Nguyen brothers is a drive-through store with a long-term goal of 200 stores in the next decade.

This family-run business heeds the words of a single philosopher: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."A 28-year-old man shot dead in front of an all-night house party in Encino, while another man was critically wounded, was identified Sunday as a Sylmar resident.

The victim was Guillermo Hernandez, 28, coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said. The shootings took place about 4:20 a.m. in the 17000 block of Miranda Street, said Officer Mike Lopez of the LAPD's Media Relations Section.

The critically injured victim was a man in his late 50s, Lopez said. His name was not released.

The victims had been arguing with the gunman when he fired several shots at them, Lopez said. The victims and gunman may have been attending a house party, according to sources at the scene.

The family of the deceased has started a GoFundMe page for the funeral.

If you would like to donate to a GoFundMe, you may do so here. Note that GoFundMe deducts 7.9 percent of all funds raised in the form of platform and payment processing charges.What to Know Andrew Urdiales was convicted in Illinois for the murders of three women

He was arrested in 1996 after he was pulled over with a revolver in the car that was connected to the shooting deaths

After trials in the Illinois cases, he was extradited to California in 2011 to face charges in the deaths of five women

Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of a man accused in the deaths of five women in three Southern California counties, including a college student who was attacked in a campus parking lot.

Andrew Urdiales, 53, was already convicted in an Illinois triple-murder case that put him on the radar of investigators in the Southern California serial killings. Urdiales was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of killing an Orange County woman when he was a Marine at Camp Pendleton. He also is accused of killing four other women, in Riverside and San Diego counties, when he was stationed at Twenty-Nine Palms.

The Illinois slayings for which he was convicted occurred after he left the military.

Prosecutors were expected to present their closing argument Monday. Defense attorneys will likely make their case on Tuesday.

The California serial killings from 1986 to 1995 began with an attack on a Saddleback College student, according to investigators. The body of Robbin Brandley was found in a school parking lot, stabbed 41 times. She had been working earlier than night as an usher at a campus event.

"I have so many beautiful memories of Robbin and for many years the horribleness of how she died crept into my life and everybody who loved her," Maria Forrest, the victim's friend, said.

The case went cold for years, during which the bodies of several women with ties to prostitution were found in remote and secluded parts of Riverside and San Diego counties. A break came in 1996 when Chicago police investigating the deaths of three women in Illinois learned that a man later identified as Urdiales had been pulled over with a revolver in his car in Indiana.

That revolver was matched to bullets found in the bodies of the three victims in Illinois.

It was Urdiales who then told Chicago detectives that they also might want to ask him about people in California, Orange County prosecutors said in opening statements. He subsequently spoke with Orange County investigators, and he was charged in 1997 in connection with the California slayings.

Authorities say in that 19997 confession, he gave them graphic details of a case only the killer would know, shocking family and friends. Authorities said he recounted Brandley wore, how she dropped her keys, and even the color of her purse.

"Usually memory starts fading after a couple years and you move on. That's not happening yet and I hope it doesn't happen at all," Brandely's father, Jack Reilley said.

Urdiales was extradited to California following trials in Illinois.

Defense attorneys have argued that Urdiales suffered from a difficult childhood and was born with brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. He confessed to police, but defense attorneys said he seem disassociated from the crimes.

To this day, Brandley's father said he isn't convinced Urdiales acted alone. He believes his daughter would have run if she was confronted by a stranger.

Defense attorneys will give their closing arguments Tuesday.Florida wildlife officials say they're looking into a South Florida high school's jungle-themed prom featuring a caged tiger that caused an uproar on social media and drew the ire of animals rights group PETA.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they'll determine if any violation of the state's captive wildlife rules took place during Christopher Columbus High School's prom, the organization said in a statement Monday.

The event, which took place Friday at the Double Tree Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center, featured several themed decorations and animals including a lemur, two macaws, an African Fennec Fox and a tiger, according to a statement issued by the school.

Video posted on Facebook shows the tiger pacing around inside the cage in the center of a dance floor as performers holding torches dance in the surrounding area.

The FWC said if all rules and regulations are followed, exhibition of wildlife at public events isn't prohibited by Florida law.

"The FWC promotes responsible ownership of captive wildlife, and it is the goal of the FWC to develop the best regulations possible that provide for public safety, animal welfare, and the legitimate use of wildlife for educational, exhibition, or personal purposes," the FWC said in a statement. "Floridas captive wildlife regulations are among the most stringent in the nation."

In a statement, the school said the animals were displayed in a "very controlled situation" and were provided by facilities licensed by the FWC. The facility, Predators Unlimited, is a licensed facility with permits for the exhibition and sale of animals, the FWC said.

"The tiger, which was displayed for a few minutes in a cage, was never harmed or in danger, was not forced to perform, was always accompanied by his handlers, and for the great majority of the time was lying down in a relaxed state facing away from the audience," the school said in its statement.

After video showing the tiger was posted on Facebook by the brother of a Columbus High student, many on social media expressed outrage. PETA also released an angry statement alleging animal cruelty and calling on the school's principal to ban animals from future events.

In a new statement released Monday, Columbus High principal David Pugh said the school regretted the decision to have live animals at the prom.

"This incident in no way reflects our schools Marist values and/or accomplishments of our young men nor our sensitivity to animal rights. We will immediately evaluate our current policies and procedures regarding all school activities and events," Pugh's statement read. "We can assure the Columbus community and all who have expressed concern, that we are sorry. We have learned a great deal from this experience."What to Know A plan to build a giant ferris wheel on Staten Island got a glimmer of hope last week with an agreement to resolve legal disputes

The agreement gives New York Wheel until Sept. 5 to either restart the project or cancel it

Work on the New York Wheel has been stalled since May 2017 when the main contractor on halted work and was fired

It was a soaring idea, intended to put the city's least-populous, least-visited borough on the tourism map.

But six years after it was announced, a plan to build one of the world's largest Ferris wheels on Staten Island is still stuck on the ground.

The four pedestals for the wheel, each weighing 100 tons, remain the only components of the 630-foot (192-meter) structure erected to date on a site on the Staten Island waterfront.

The project, originally budgeted at $230 million, has been mired in cost overruns, delays and disputes between investors. Work on the New York Wheel has been stalled since May 2017 when the main contractor on halted work and was fired.

The proposal got a glimmer of hope last week when New York Wheel LLC, the company behind the project, reached an agreement with the contractor, Mammoet-Starneth, to resolve some of their legal disputes. The agreement, filed with a bankruptcy court, gives New York Wheel until Sept. 5 to either restart the project or cancel it.

"This settlement will allow New York Wheel the opportunity to finalize its financing arrangements and re-commence the construction and completion of the Wheel," the developers said.

New York City officials say they still are confident the wheel will succeed.

"We are pleased to see these positive steps taken with the wheel, and look forward to this transformational project adding to the swell of new jobs and economic growth we're seeing in the area," said Ryan Birchmeier, a spokesman for the city Economic Development Corp.

The New York Wheel was one of several giant Ferris wheels planned for sites around the world following the successful opening of the 443-foot (135-meter) London Eye in 2000. New York's wheel was the soon-to-be world's tallest when it was announced in 2012.

Then-mayor Michael Bloomberg promised that it would be "unlike any other on the planet," offering "unparalleled and breathtaking views."

Its projected height has since been surpassed by the 689-foot (190.5-meter) Ain Dubai or Dubai Eye, now under construction in the United Arab Emirates.

Staten Island, the place where the wheel is supposed to be built, is both physically and culturally separated from the rest of the city.

Tourists do visit, most coming from Manhattan by the Staten Island Ferry, which offers a free jaunt across the harbor past the Statue of Liberty. But many tourists go for the breathtaking views of the harbor, turn around and come back without ever leaving the terminal.

Officials had hoped the giant wheel would entice more people to get out and walk around.

Staten Island shop owner Ed Varuolo opened his business, Hypno-Tronic Comics, near the wheel site in 2013, in anticipation of foot traffic.

"Late!" he complained last week. He still may benefit from a related project on the Staten Island waterfront, an outlet mall with separate developers and financing that is scheduled to open nearby this fall.

"We're looking forward to it," Varuolo said, "but it can't happen soon enough."

While several observation wheels inspired by the London Eye have been built in the last decade, including the High Roller and the Singapore Flyer, others including the Beijing Great Wheel, the Great Berlin Wheel and the Kolkata Eye were announced but have been canceled or postponed due to financial obstacles.

"Ferris wheels, big wheels for the last 15 years ago have become the icon du jour," theme park consultant Dennis Speigel said. "Everybody wants one, and they don't always work."

Speigel sees the New York Wheel's location on Staten Island as a disadvantage.

The centrally located London Eye "is in the location where all the tourists come through," Speigel said. "They're already there. They're not going to get on a boat and go there."

New York Wheel has tapped American Bridge Co., the 118-year-old civil engineering firm that built the High Roller Ferris wheel in Las Vegas, as the new contractor, though no agreement has been announced.

American Bridge did not respond to a request for comment.

Under the terms of the settlement, New York Wheel can void the deal if it fails to secure financing to finish the wheel, whose 2017 cost estimate of $590 million will likely rise.

If that happens, Mammoet-Starneth can auction the parts, including the $9 million legs that were crafted in Italy and have been in storage since October 2016.

Representatives for Mammoet-Starneth, a joint venture formed by two Dutch companies to build the New York Wheel, did not return calls seeking comment.City council members are introducing a series of Mother's Day-inspired bills that would require lactation rooms in most workplaces and provide diapers in homeless shelters and subsidized daycares.

New York City Council Speaker Cory Johnson and Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo announced the package of 10 bills on Sunday and said the measures would be introduced this week.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child, but sadly we all too often fall short when it comes to supporting parents and caregivers, Johnson said in a statement. This groundbreaking Mothers Day Legislative Package will help provide New York City families with the support they need."

The proposals include:What to Know Yoselyn Ortega was sentenced to life in prison without parole on her conviction of murdering Lucia and Leo Krim, 6 and 2

Ortega was the children's nanny; the children's parents demanded the maximum sentence

The judge referred to Ortega as "pure evil" and said she should spend the rest of her life in prison

A nanny who was convicted of brutally murdering two small children in her care while their parents were out was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without parole during a dramatic courtroom encounter.

Yoselyn Ortega wept as she spoke briefly  a rare show of emotion in a lengthy trial at which she was convicted of the gruesome October 2012 stabbing deaths of 6-year-old Lucia Krim, known as Lulu, and 2-year-old Leo Krim.

"I'm very sorry for everything that happened, but I hope that no one goes through what I have gone through," said the 55-year-old Ortega. "Although many people wish me all the worst, my life is in the hands of God."

The children's parents, speaking to the judge before sentencing, demanded the maximum sentence.

"The defendant may think she destroyed Lulu and Leo, but she is a failure in this, too. Lulu and Leo are powerful forces," the mother, Marina Krim, said through tears. "They are two stars now who will always lead us forward."

She and her husband, Kevin Krim, spoke of how Ortega robbed them of their children and how Ortega's family and friends helped with this by lying to them about Ortega's personality and experience as a nanny. Ortega, who's from the Dominican Republic, had been recommended by her sister, a nanny for another New York family, and her background and references were faked by her family. The consequences, the Krims said, were horrifying.

"We miss hearing them call out my name and run to hug me when I got home from work," the father said while crying. "We miss feeling their soft skin in our arms."

He eviscerated Ortega for not pleading guilty and forcing the case into a courtroom. He said she never should have put the family, the jurors or the audience through it.

"The defendant is an evil and utterly dangerous narcissist," he said. "It is right that she should live and rot and die in a metal case, like the ugly and dark shadow of Lulu and Leo's bright and shiny lights."

The couple left the courtroom and didn't return before Ortega asked for mercy, having never appeared to make eye contact with her.

"I ask for a great deal of forgiveness," Ortega said through a Spanish-English interpreter. "To God, to Marina, to Kevin. I wish my family had told them that I did not feel well."

But Judge Gregory Carro referred to Ortega as "pure evil" and said she should spend the rest of her life in prison.

During the seven-week trial, jurors grappled with whether Ortega had been too mentally ill to understand what she was doing when she killed the children. The emotional testimony often kept the panel and the audience in tears. Jurors heard heart-wrenching testimony from Marina Krim, who spoke of coming home to her eerily quiet apartment and finding her children covered in blood in the back bathroom.

Krim had been at a swimming class with her 3-year-old daughter, Nessie Krim. Ortega was to have dropped off Lucia at her dance class, and Krim was to pick her up. But when Krim arrived, Lulu wasn't there. Krim frantically tried to reach Ortega, who had worked for the family for about two years.

Krim opened the door to the bathroom to discover the children's bodies stacked in the tub. Lulu was stabbed more than 30 times, and Leo was stabbed five times. Ortega had cut her own throat in a failed suicide attempt.

At the sentencing, Marina Krim talked about what that crime scene may have done to Nessie, even though she has grown into a strong, happy child.

"As Nessie grows up, she will be asking Kevin and me deep, unanswerable questions about life that most parents avoid talking about with their kids," Marina Krim said. "But we will try to answer her questions with sensitivity the best we can."

Prosecutors argued that Ortega was jealous of Marina Krim's life and lashed out in the worst way possible  at her children.What to Know New Jersey leads the country in the percentage of teenagers exposed to drugs on school property, a recent study reveals

WalletHub report, published Monday, looked into the drug use of each state to determine certain underlying problem areas and trends

The study revealed that overall NJ ranks 29th among the states with the worst drug problems in the country, NY ranks 26th and CT ranks 25th

New Jersey leads the country in the percentage of teenagers exposed to drugs on school property, a recent study reveals.

A WalletHub report published Monday revealed that even though New Jersey ranks 29th among the states with the worst drug problems in the country, it has the highest percentage of teens who have been offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school property.

Jerseys rate is three times higher than in Iowa, the state with the lowest rate of teens exposed to drugs on school property, according to WalletHub. In this specific category, Connecticut comes in at No. 4.

Because of the countrys storied history of drug use and due to the current political climate related to drugs, WalletHub looked into the drug use of each state to determine certain underlying problem areas and trends.

For example, New York, which comes in at No. 26 as having the biggest overall drug use problem, and Connecticut, which comes in at No. 25 overall, are tied with Iowa for first place as the states with the most people receiving substance abuse treatment per 100,000 drug users, the study says.

WalletHub determined that Connecticut is in fifth place when it comes to having the highest percentage of adults with unmet drug treatment needs, while New Jersey has the lowest percentage of adults with unmet drug treatment needs.

The study also found that New Jersey places fifth among all states when it comes to having the most drug arrests per capita.

The study revealed Washington, D.C., Vermont, Colorado, Delaware and Rhode Island are the top five states with the overall worst drug problems in the country.

Top Tri-State News PhotosAmid the swarms of students engaged in higher learning on the University of California, Berkeley campus, student Ajay Tanwanis attention was fixed on the pint-sized figure in the middle of his basement laboratory trying to figure out the difference between a screwdriver and a roll of electrical tape.

The figure  a plastic robot about waist high  eventually reached down and plucked a screwdriver from a clutter of items and deposited it in one of a row of boxes, each marked with a code.

"Yeah, you just saw the future right here," Tanwani said, "Thats what we are going for."

This future  a robot sorting items scattered on the floor at a snails pace  might not appear quite as advanced as vintage science fiction forecasted for 2018, yet it was doing something most robots dont do  it was learning and reasoning. When the robot became overwhelmed by the cluster of items before it, it reached out to the humans in the room via computer software to ask for advice.

"When they are stuck in a tricky situation, they can then request a supervisor on the remote side to provide some kind of assistance in how to overcome this problem," Tanwani explained.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

Tanwani banged out an instruction on the computer and the robot went back to work, picking out a piece of foam from the floor amid other detritus and dropping it in its respective box. Tanwani said he and fellow engineering students are incorporating cloud-based computing into operating the robots, a concept known as fog robotics, in which the devices can seek instructions from an information ether, which can also be networked with other computers. Science fiction never saw that coming.

"So the idea being the robot will operate using its own computer on the edge," said Cal robotics professor Ken Goldberg, "But every once in a while it needs to go up into the cloud to download some new information."

The robots under development at Cal arent the kind that terrorize planets or crush enemies with lasers, but rather they take on practical tasks they may eventually assume from their human counterparts  things like cleaning the garage or sorting packages in a warehouse.

"We look at applications ranging from warehouse automation, which is a big focus right now, to home robots and surgical robots," Goldberg said.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

Of course with each robotic technological victory, comes a new, and well-founded fear of robots putting the humans out of work. Students in Cals program recently presented a warehouse sorting machine to the honchos at Amazon. In what resembled a pair of arms coming out of a wall, the robot was able to dig into a box of various items and sort everything into separate receptacles based on appearance.

Yet Goldberg said any jobs that require a fine touch  from plumbers to mechanics to health care workers  are probably robot-proof, at least for now.

"I think its important," Goldberg said, "Also a responsibility to reassure people that humans have many good years left."

In a nearby building, engineering student Andrea Bajcsy was maneuvering a single multi-jointed robotic arm clutching a coffee cup. By enabling the robots software learning function, Bajcsys was able to influence the motion of the robots arm simply by gently nudging it.

"The robot can learn your preferences based on interacting with you in that context and perform the task you want it to do even better," Bajcsy said.

Bajcsy is focused on developing robots to work alongside humans, taking cues from their human counterparts and incorporating those skills into their learning. She sees a vast potential for robotics to help out in home environments.

"Maybe youre elderly or youre disabled and this robot is helping you with your day-to-day functions," Bajcsy said.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

The yet unrealized potential of robots has inspired both hope and fear for the future. Some, like Tesla founder Elon Musk, have raised warnings that unregulated artificial intelligence and robotics threaten not only jobs but humankind itself. Among the dystopian scenarios floated: a network of autonomous robots could turn on their creators and wage war against humans.

Cal engineering professor Anca Dragan, who studies robotics ethics, says such a scenario is mostly far-fetched.

"There could be malicious actors that specify the wrong things," Dragan said. "But for the most parts the only way that something will revolt against us if someone gave it a reward function that incentivized that."

Goldberg said despite the seemingly-constant stream of innovations, the endless YouTube videos of robots doing stunning feats such as backflips, robots are still a ways off from becoming the autonomous self-starters some have imagined.

"Saying they will do everything by themselves, I think thats still in the realm of science fiction," Goldberg said.

Back in Tanwanis lab, the limitations of man and machine had temporarily hit the skids. The robot, suddenly perplexed by the task at hand sat motionless, its quasi-face going blank as the students nearby fiddled with the computer. Soon, it was back on track, methodically picking up rolls of tape and screwdrivers and dropping them in boxes.

The future had arrived. And it was taking its own sweet time.Two hundred military moms from Camp Pendleton were honored on Mothers Day with a special brunch held at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and Spa.

Feels good to be with my husband and my children on Mother's Day, military mom Sonia Torres told NBC 7. We always think about those military moms that don't have their husbands here and have to celebrate by themselves, so we're just happy that the Sheraton Carlsbad is hosting us at this great event.

Sunday was the 11th annual military mom brunch put on by the Sheraton to honor active duty mothers and military spouses and their families.

Organizers say many civilians don't realize that its the whole family that serves, and they wanted to give back to their neighbors right next door at Camp Pendleton.

We dont thank our moms enough and its a never-ending and sometimes a thankless job for our spouses, Al Torres who works at Camp Pendleton, said. A lot of times we leave our families with all the responsibility and no assistance from us because we have to go and serve our country overseas sometimes, and it's very appreciated whenever someone tells my wife, you know, thank you for what she does.

AT the brunch families enjoyed live music and catered food.

The Sudanese regime has called on Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt to end the blockade on Qatar so that the Gulf countries confront Israel, which is occupying Palestine.

The call was made by President Omar Beshirs advisor Ibrahim Al-Senussi while he was addressing the Palestinian community in Khartoum Saturday, at an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reports.

We do not appreciate the disagreement between the Gulf states and the siege imposed by the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia on Qatar, Senussi said.

The three Gulf states plus Egypt cut off ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism. They imposed a ban on Qatari vessels, cars and aircrafts to use their air, sea and ground space.

The Sudanese official urged the quartet to turn instead against Israel, which is the real enemy occupying Palestinian territories.

Qatar was blasted for supporting Gaza ruler Hamas, which the Arab League has blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

Hamas has been accused by Israel for coordinating weeks-long protests near the Israeli border in a buildup to Nakba commemoration. Over 50 Palestinians, including journalists and children, were killed by Israeli snipers since the beginning of the protests, in March.The man who shot a Virginia police officer in the head five years ago will ask the court for his freedom next month.

Alexandria police Officer Peter Laboy was on motorcycle patrol in Old Town Feb. 27, 2013, when he tried to pull over a taxi driver wanted for suspicious activity. The suspect  Kashif Bashir  shot Laboy in the head. Bashir led police on a chase before he crashed and was arrested in the Mt. Vernon area.

But Bashir, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, was found not guilty by reason of insanity after trial evidence showed a voice in his head commanded him to shoot Laboy.

A long scar crossing Laboys head is the most outward sign of the shooting, but despite his miraculous recovery, hes angry that while he still struggles with the lasting effects of a traumatic brain injury, Bashir will seek conditional release.

Im not 100 percent the way I was before, LaBoy said.

Bashir has been living at the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, but now his attorney and mental health officials say he's well enough to move into an apartment in Prince William County.

Up to this time, I cannot even drive, so why am I suffering from what he did and now he's going to get out and walk free on the street? Laboy said.

Court documents show Bashir has already been making unsupervised visits, reportedly to a mosque and other locations.

Because of his injuries, Laboy had to retire from the job he loved. He said other officers have urged him to get the word out about Bashir's request.

I hope that what I went through doesn't happen to anybody else, he said.

He is most concerned about the impact of a release on his youngest sons  ages 9 and 11. He said they've already had a rough year as his marriage is ending, another casualty of his brain injury.

It's time that we sit down with them and tell them he's probably going to get out ... and they are probably going to be worried about it, Laboy said.

A hearing is set for June 7. The commonwealth's attorney is not able to comment.Authorities in Frederick, Maryland, have charged a 17-year-old boy in a shooting that left an 18-year-old woman dead and another teen wounded.

Genesis Marie McCarter-Berretto died after she was shot in the upper body at a party early Sunday at a home in the 1800 block of Weybridge Road. Another person, a teenage boy, was shot in the lower leg.

Frederick police responded about 1:45 a.m. First responders tried to save McCarter-Berretto, but she was pronounced dead.

Ean Lanell Davis-Lattimore was arrested by Frederick police shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday and charged as an adult with murder, attempted murder and assault.

Police have said the shooting apparently was the result of a fight that broke out at a party.

Neither McCarter-Berretto nor the second victim were believed to be the shooter's intended targets, The Frederick News-Post reported. The gunman shot back toward the house from outside, an officer told the paper.One person was killed and two others were injured in a crash involving a tree in Athol, Massachusetts, Sunday evening.

Athol officers arrived at the scene on South Athol Road and Riverview Avenue just before 9 p.m., where they found a heavily-damaged Nissan Altima lying on its roof after hitting a tree, according to police.

Police said one person was ejected from the car, while another two were trapped inside and had to be freed using a hydraulic extraction tool.

One victim, identified Tuesday as 26-year-old Eric Gage of Athol, died at the scene. The two injured victims were taken to a Worcester-area hospital and Athol Hospital.

A preliminary investigation indicated the car was driving east on South Athol Road at the time of the crash.

Crews from Athol and Orange fire departments also responded to the scene.

The crash is under investigation by Athol and state police.The body of a 5-year-old Maine boy has been recovered nearly three weeks after he was swept away by the Androscoggin River.

Valerio McFarland fell into the river in Auburn on April 24. His 10-year-old brother, Maxim, jumped in to try to save him. Maxim was rescued that day, but authorities could not find Valerio, who was presumed drowned.

Monday, five miles downstream in Durham, Christopher Lane of Litchfield found Valerio's body while kayaking. He told authorities he was looking for the boy because he wanted to bring closure to the child's family.

Helena Gagliano-McFarland said last weekend that her son didn't deserve to be left in the river like a piece of trash. She said Republican Gov. Paul LePage's office had ignored her, and she wanted the Maine Warden Service to seek help from the National Guard.

The family had been working with a nonprofit search and rescue organization.

The Maine Warden Service thanked the Auburn Police Department and other responders and volunteers who assisted in the search.Five Massachusetts residents are scheduled to face a judge Monday following a disturbance at a Lowell house party over the weekend that required 20 officers to break up.

The Lowell Sun reports Anthony Guerra, 22; Charles Kong, 23; Charlie Mith, 23; Michelle Meak, 28; and Kevin Siriouthay, 22, all of Lowell, were arrested Saturday night on various charges including disturbing the peace and assault and battery on a police officer. An 18-year-old also fled the scene of the party at the two-family home on Westford Street but police told the Lowell Sun he is known to authorities and will be summonsed to court on two counts of assault and battery on a police officer.

The paper reported that officers were called to the home around 10 p.m. for a report of a loud party. Kong, who told authorities he lived at the house, allegedly agreed to lower the music. Police left the scene, only to return 40 minutes later for the same complaint. Authorities told Kong to end the party and threatened criminal charges before leaving, the paper reported. Police then received a third call at 11:15 p.m. when officers returned to find about 20 people at the scene.

When officers told the partygoers to disperse, Mith allegedly started a disturbance, causing authorities to call in 20 officers to restore the peace. One suspect reportedly had to be subdued with a Taser. No officers were injured in the incident.

The suspects will be arraigned in Lowell District Court. It's unclear if they have attorneys.A former New Hampshire boarding school student says in a lawsuit the school violated her civil rights by failing to protect her from sexual assault in a "hypersexualized environment" where older students scored points for having sex with younger ones.

The lawsuit , filed Friday in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, claims officials at St. Paul's School failed to report the sexual assault of a freshman during the 2012-13 school year.

In the lawsuit, the student says administrators and others "destroyed" her life and was forced to leave the school following bullying and retaliation.

The president of the school's board of trustees, Archibald Cox, said the school plans to cooperate with police and the state attorney general to investigate the matter.

"We take these allegations very seriously, but do not know whether they are accurate or not," Cox said in a letter to the school community. "In my experience this administration has taken all reporting obligations seriously and has fulfilled them."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Jane Doe, a former student who was 13 years old when she enrolled in 2012 and now lives in Maryland.

The suit, which seeks at least $450,000 in damages, alleges that St. Paul's intentionally inflicted emotional distress, was negligent and violated Title IX, the federal law that prohibits schools that receive government funding from engaging in sexual discrimination.



"From the time she arrived on campus, Ms. Doe experienced unwelcome sexual advances from some male students who were emboldened by formal and informal 'tradition' at the school," the lawsuit says. "Unbeknownst to Ms. Doe, older boys started to sexually target her the moment she set foot on campus."

The lawsuit says school officials failed to report, investigate or address the girl's specific reports of sexual assault to state or local authorities. It says school officials also failed to investigate or eliminate the practice of older students "scoring" with freshman girls.

In January, the school settled a lawsuit with another former student who said it failed to protect her from being sexually assaulted.

Chessy Prout was a 15-year-old freshman at St. Paul's in 2014 when she accused 18-year-old then-student Owen Labrie of assaulting her as part of Senior Salute, a competition among upperclassman seeking to have sex with younger students. Prout's parents sued in 2016, shortly after Labrie was convicted of sexual assault, child endangerment and using a computer to lure her for sex.

Prout, now 19, said this year that what began as an effort to speak up for herself in her case against Labrie grew into "standing up against a 162-year-old institution with a secret history of rape and cover-up." She said she wrote a book, "I Have The Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope," in a bid to reclaim her name.

The prep academy has denied that it could have prevented the assault and that it had a culture of sexual assault, but it said the case has led to positive changes on campus.

This month, two alumni from the 1970s filed a complaint against the school alleging they were sexually assaulted as students by former faculty members. Cox said the school was "truly sorry" for their pain "and for any failure of the school to protect them."

Most of the former staffers in the complaint were named last year in an investigation conducted by the school into its history of sexual abuse dating to 1947. The school reported allegations against 18 former staffers and shared its findings with the attorney general's office.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, as Prout has done.

Labrie, of Tunbridge, Vermont, is appealing his conviction.A man wanted for allegedly raping multiple children in Massachusetts was tracked to Nevada and arrested Sunday.

Massachusetts State Police say 42-year-old Daniel Escalante, who was added to the department's most wanted list in March, fled the Bay State and was living under an alias in Reno.

State police worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate Escalante, who was arrested by police in Reno. He's being held in Nevada on a fugitive from justice charge. He is expected to appear in Reno Justice Court Monday.

Escalante, a former Marlboro resident, is suspected of sexually assaulting children in that town and the surrounding area. In Massachusetts, he faces five counts of rape of a child by force, two counts of assault with intent to rape a child and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.Berlin Sunday pointed out it would be tough for the European Union powerhouse to protect its companies doing business with Iran against any fallout of the US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

President Donald Trump withdrew the US out of the nuclear pact signed in 2015 between Iran, World powers and Germany and announced his decision to reinstate the economic sanctions that were in place before the deal.

Germany, France and the United Kingdom have pledged to stick to the pact despite the US withdrawal as they seek to preserve their interests in Iran.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Bild am Sonntag newspaper Sunday that efforts to shield German companies from likely US sanctions look difficult.

I do not see a simple solution to shield companies from all risks of American sanctions, he said.

The German top diplomat disclosed that the EU signatories to the nuclear deal, which the US tore up over its failure to rein in Irans influence in the Middle East, are planning to meet with Iranian officials to talk about the way forward without the US.

After all, Iran is ready to talk. Its clear that there should also be economic incentives  that will not be easy after the US decision, Maas said.

Meanwhile, his US counterpart, Mike Pompeo, told Fox News, also Sunday, that Washington is keen to work out a deal with European allies with focus on Irans malign behavior.

Pompeo said he would hold talks with European allies for a new deal that also protects America over the next coming days.

Im hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well, the US Secretary of State said.For the first time since he came under fire for tweeting about a Parkland school shooting survivor, the mayor of Waterville, Maine, is speaking publicly about his future.

Republican Mayor Nick Isgro called a press conference Monday morning to outline his accomplishments in office.

It was a little more than a month ago that Isgro tweeted "Eat it, Hogg" about Parkland student and gun control activist David Hogg. The tweet was referring to Hogg's spat with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

About 900 Waterville residents signed a petition to initiate a recall election, scheduled for June 12. Dozens have spoken out against Isgro, saying his social media history has a pattern of offensive and inflammatory statements, including posts about Muslims, refugees and the Pope.

Early absentee voting for the recall election began Monday, the same day as the mayor's press conference.

"There's a great deal of anxiety weighing on the hearts of many Waterville residents," said Isgro. "It's time to move forward, and continue writing our story."

Isgro spoke about economic development and cuts to spending. He called the recall efforts a "distraction" and said city councilors hoped he would be removed from office so they could raise taxes and avoid his veto.

"The city council is looking at a 12 percent property tax increase," said Isgro. "This is unacceptable."

In a lengthy Facebook post, Isgro accused city officials of "quietly" working on a budget to raise taxes, but City Manager Mike Roy and Council Chair Steve Soule issued a statement Monday calling the mayor's accusations "false."

The statement read that the budget has been through a public workshop process, and it is still going through revisions.

Roy said the city is facing a revenue shortfall, and tax increases have been proposed.

"That [shortfall] is the main culprit behind a tax increase  not some Council conspiracy to remove anyone from office," the statement read.

Reporters attempted to ask the mayor about his budget claims and use of social media, but he left the press conference quickly without taking any questions.A man was shot and killed early Monday morning in an armed confrontation with a state trooper in Wales, Maine, according to state police.

Authorities said troopers were called to a mobile home on Route 132 Sunday night after a domestic violence incident where a shot had been fired at a woman. Police said the victim was not hurt.

State Police negotiators and members of the tactical team responded to the home in an attempt to make contact with 54-year-old William Derick for several hours. At about 3:30 a.m., police said there was an armed confrontation and Derick was shot and killed by a member of the tactical team.

No police officers were injured in the incident.

The State Medical Examiners Office is conducting an autopsy on Derick.

Police said James MacDonald, a member of the state police tactical team, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the Maine Attorney General's Office investigates the incident.A Massachusetts man accused in the shooting deaths of two men in Jamaica Plain appeared in court on Monday.

Wilvin Guity, 28, of Dorchester, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

He was arraigned in Roxbury District Court on Monday morning but hid behind a door and did not show his face.

"If you have guts enough to pull the trigger, why hide behind the scene now?" asked Christopher Joyce's cousin Shari Frazier.

Joyce's family had gone to court with heavy hearts Monday, hoping to see the man accused of killing their loved one. When Guity was able to remain out of view during his court appearance, however, the family left angry.

Not guilty pleas were entered on Guity's behalf and he was ordered held without bail.

Police said 23-year-old Christopher Joyce and 58-year-old Clayborn Blair were fatally shot around 9:45 p.m. on May 4 outside of the Milfred C. Hailey Apartments on Centre Street.

Prosecutors said surveillance cameras captured a white Ford Fusion arriving in the area of Chestnut Avenue and a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, later identified as Guity, exiting the rear passenger's side door.

Investigators say Guity's shoes had a distinct pattern in all of the videos, and they later found those shoes in his home.

"Guity was then captured on camera as he walked into the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments and opened fire on a group of approximately 15 people in a Centre Street park," Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said in a statement.

He then ran back in the direction of Chestnut Street, re-entered the Ford Fusion and left the area.

Ten surveillance cameras captured the vehicle as it traveled to the Orchard Gardens housing development and five other cameras captured Guity exiting the vehicle on Degautier Way and entering a nearby liquor store.

Police said Joyce and Blair were innocent bystanders and not the intended targets of the shooting.



Joyce was about to graduate from Salem State University with a degree in accounting.

His family says the 23-year-old was only at the housing complex the night he was killed to visit his grandfather and share the news that he'd soon be a Salem State graduate.

"When a kid can't go to the old neighborhood, and say, 'look, I made it out, you kids can do the same,' that's sad, shot down for spreading good news, how do you do that?" said Joyce's aunt, Pauline Hunt.

Blair was a father of three and also a grandfather.

Both were remembered lovingly by family and friends who were shocked at their deaths.

Guity is being represented by attorney William White. He is scheduled to return to court next month.Tributes paid to Norfolk Christian scientist Dr Selvendran Tributes paid to Norfolk Christian scientist Dr Selvendran

It is with great sadness that the death of Dr Robert Selvendran has been announced. Robert, who has been a keen supporter of local Christian organisations for many years, went to be with the Lord on Tuesday May 8.



Robert was an occasional columnist for Network Norfolk and a supporter of the website. He was a distinguished plant biochemical and physiological researcher and scientist, and he was born and raised in Sri Lanka. He studied at the universities of Ceylon and Cambridge, and received his PhD and ScD degrees from Cambridge. He was awarded the Senior Medal for Food Chemistry in 1994 from the Royal Society of Chemistry for his work on plant food materials. He worked at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich for over 20 years.



Robert devoted his life to following Jesus. He believed that science, at its deepest level is essentially a religious activity, which plays its own special role in unfolding the nature and purpose of God.



In a column for Network Norfolk, written in 2013, Robert said, I knew for certain that God loved me in Jesus Christ and had made me a child of His affection. Bearing witness to this truth became a passion for me from that time onwards. Nothing else in the world seemed to matter except serving Him. To this day, nearly fifty years after I asked Christ to come into my life, I have not found anything remotely comparable to the joy of knowing God through Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Lord. 



His family's wish is to hold a "Community Service of Remembrance" on Saturday May 19 at The Open Door Christian Fellowship in Eaton NR4 7BQ (Car Park accessible from 173 South Park Avenue, NR4 7AZ) at 10.30 am, followed by refreshments and an opportunity to meet others from the local community.



There will also be a Tamil Service (in Tamil and English) with the Bethany Church (St Paul's Tuckswood) at 1pm the same day.



Everyone who knew Robert or who wishes to celebrate the life of this esteemed scientist, author and Christian writer and speaker are very welcome to attend either (or both) of these services.

The rise of programmable networks has changed the role of the network engineer, and accepting those changes is key to career advancement.

Network engineers need to become software fluent and embrace automation, according to a panel of network professionals brought together by Cisco to discuss the future of networking careers.

The whole concept of engineer re-skilling has become a pretty hot topic over the last four or five years. Whats notable to me is that the engineers themselves are now embracing it, says Zeus Kerravala, founder of ZK Research, who moderated the panel.

Driving the change in attitude is the ubiquitous push for digital transformation, which is forcing companies to become more adaptable to change. Businesses need to move faster, and network engineering is key to making that happen.

If you look at a lot of the digital building blocks  things like IoT, mobility, cloud  theyre all network-centric in nature, Kerravala says. A business needs to be agile, but its only as agile as its least agile component. That, frankly, has been the network.

Modernizing the network to be as fast as the business requires has meant a shift to software-defined networking (SDN), which decouples the control and packet-forwarding planes in a network and streamlines the effort it takes to make changes and provision new services. SDN also enables the network to interface with applications directly via application programming interfaces (APIs) rather than going through the command line interface (CLI).

Another characteristic of a modernized network infrastructure is that it aligns well with the DevOps software development methodology, Kerravala says. This whole concept of DevOps is built on the principles of rapid development and continuous innovation. That, again, drives the need for the network to be something that can be a lot more agile and updated almost on demand.

Develop software fluency

So what does this mean for network engineers? In a nutshell, being innovative requires developing a software-first mentality.

The evolution of the network now is really about: How do I run the network through software? How do I do more things through software? How do I orchestrate it with other software platforms? Kerravala says. I need to start thinking software first, not hardware first.

Developing software fluency is critical. It can be intimidating at first, but network engineers need to learn how to make API calls and write basic scripts, the roundtable panelists agree.

Even though youre not going to be a programmer or a developer, you need to learn basic programming skills. Can you work with Ruby? Can you work with Python? Kerravala says. Orchestration tools such as Chef, Puppet and Ansible are part of the enterprise application developers toolkit and should become part of the network engineers toolkit, too, he adds.According to a Cochrane review that was released recently, the HPV vaccine, that can protect girls and young women from Human Papilloma virus (HPV) can help protect them against cancer of the cervix later in life. The report appears in the latest issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

The review by Dr. Marc Arbyn of the Unit of Cancer Epidemiology at the Belgian Cancer Centre in Brussels, and colleagues looked at 26 studies to see the effects of HPV vaccination on cervical pre-cancerous lesions. The results revealed that women who were initially negative for hrHPV or HPV 16/18 DNA had a lesser chance of getting these precancerous lesions. Further the vaccine administered to young women and adolescent girls did not cause any serious side effects, miscarriages, stillbirths or abnormalities in the baby.

Dr. Arbyn said that cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women and nearly a million cases are diagnosed each year. Half a million women succumb to this cancer annually, he said.

This review is unique because despite several phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trial reports with HPV, this is the first time that results from all the important studies conducted with HPV vaccine have been combined to come to a systematic conclusion. While each of these studies looked at overlapping end points, this study looked at a comprehensive list of endpoints wrote the researchers. Authors hope that this review would provide a template for reporting future results of prophylactic vaccination trials according to the different outcomes ... for different exposure groups.

The authors state that they were specifically looking at protection of the bivalent vaccine targeting HPV 16/18. This strain is responsible for 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases. Another vaccine under their scanner was the quadrivalent vaccine that also protects against HPV infections leading to genital warts.

All in all the review looked at over 73,000 participants. Among the 26 studies, 10 trials looked at the patients for an average of 1.3 to 8 years after vaccination. These checked the patients for cervical intraepithelial neoplasm and adenocarcinoma in-situ (CIN/AIS)  both early cancer stages. These studies were small and conducted for a shorter period of time wrote the researchers.

They noted that when the girls and young women were hrHPV-negative at the start of the study, the vaccine lowered CIN2+ and CIN3+ and reduced risk of AIS with moderate certainty. CIN2+ associated with HPV 16/18 was also reduced with the vaccines. This was however more prominent among women aged 24 years or less. If the vaccines were administered between ages 25 and 45, they noted, the risks of CIN2+ associated with HPV 16/18 and any CIN2+ were similar between vaccinated and non-vaccinated women. They recommend vaccinating girls and women between ages 15 and 26 years for best protection.

The World Health Organization recommends vaccination against HPV for girls as well as boys between ages 9 and 14. These guidelines are similar in most countries. This review looked at effects on young girls and did not explore the protective effects of the vaccine on boys.

Source: http://cochranelibrary-wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009069.pub3/fullThe Egyptian leader of Al Qaeda terror group has called on followers to wage Jihad against the United States over President Donald Trumps decision to transfer the US embassy to the disputed city of Jerusalem; a move, which, he argued, has killed Palestinians last hope of negotiations.

Ayman al-Zawahiri who replaced the groups founder Osama bin Laden, killed in a US operation in 2011, indicated that Trumps December decision recognizing Jerusalem as capital of the Jewish state and the relocation of the US mission in the disputed city left Palestinians with no chances of negotiations, reported SITE.

SITE, a monitoring agency that tracks the online activity of terrorist organizations, said it got hold of a transcript of Zawahiris video address.

In the five-minute video entitled Tel Aviv is Also a Land of Muslims, Zawahiri noted that armed struggle, Jihad, was the only way to fight the US, which Osama bin Laden labeled as the first enemy of the Muslims.

Zawahiri rebuked President Trump arguing that he was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade.

The terror group leader also laid into the Palestinian Authority (PA) that he termed as the sellers of Palestine and lambasted Muslim countries that failed to act in Muslims interests by leaguing with the US.

Washington officially opened this May 14 its mission in the east old city, which Palestinians have also called on the world to recognize as the capital of their future state. May 14 coincides with Israels creation.

President Trump at the beginning of his tenure pledged to broker the deal of the century and settle the decades-long conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. His not-yet unveiled peace plan excludes Jerusalem.

Palestinian have since December cut off ties with the White House in protest of Trumps unilateral embassy transfer decision.

European countries and a vast majority of the UN members also rejected the decision.Atrial fibrillation patients who are diagnosed with carotid artery disease face higher risks for developing dementia, according to new research from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.

Blockages in the carotid artery, which gradually build up as people age, restrict blood flow to the brain. The new study shows that a combination of the two diseases and the resulting impact on blood flow significantly increases a patient's chances of developing dementia.

Prior research has shown the abnormal heart rhythms of atrial fibrillation produce inconsistent blood flow to the brain, which contributes to the onset of dementia or a decrease in cognitive function. Risk factors are similar for atrial fibrillation and carotid artery disease and include age, weight, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Smoking can also increase risk.

"Our team of researchers has been studying links between atrial fibrillation and dementia. This new data stresses the continued need for physicians to monitor and screen patients for both carotid artery disease and atrial fibrillation, especially patients who have risk factors of either disease," said Victoria Jacobs, PhD, a clinical researcher with the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.

Results of the study will be presented during the Heart Rhythm Society's 39th annual Scientific Sessions in Boston on Friday, May 11, at 2 p.m. ET.

More than 200,000 new patients are diagnosed each year with carotid artery disease, which is caused by plaque building up in the artery that leads from the brain to the heart. However, the disease is usually asymptomatic until the patient has a stroke. The largest age group of people affected are those over 60.

Atrial fibrillation, the most common heart arrhythmia in the world, affects more than 2.7 million American adults. The abnormal heart rhythm causes blood to pool and clot in the heart, and when those blood clots break free, they can cause a stroke.

Researchers examined 6,786 patients with carotid artery disease with no history of dementia, and compared those in the group diagnosed with atrial fibrillation to those with no diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.

The average age of the patients was 71.6 years old and 55.6 percent of them were male. Twenty one percent of them had atrial fibrillation.

How can study results help providers and patients reduce the onset of dementia? Dr. Jacobs says early awareness and recognition are key.

"Atrial fibrillation and carotid artery disease are treatable, and addressing those diseases early on can help reduce the risk of developing dementia," said Dr. Jacobs. "Physicians should be discussing the treatment options with patients who are at risk to help educate them about what they can do to live the healthiest life possible. Patients should be engaged in their own healthcare, knowledgeable about their risks, and active in maintaining healthy lifestyles. Neither disease should be accepted passively, because both are treatable, and treatment is especially important given the benefit of helping to prevent or postpone dementia."

Researchers will continue to analyze the data to compare it among different groups to see what patterns may exist in identifying a patient's risk of developing dementia.Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are exploring how small changes in the nasal cavity impact airflow and quality of life.

As part of a clinical trial, doctors use a new, non-invasive approach to reshape nasal tissue. The Vivaer Nasal Airway Remodeling device delivers radiofrequency energy to the nasal valve area to treat nasal obstruction, a condition that impacts millions of Americans.

"What this technology does is reshape the internal nasal valve region, which is a region where cartilage on the side of your nose meets your septum," said Dr. Brad Otto, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center. "Basically what it causes the cartilage to do is barely denature and change its shape just a little bit in order to open up that valve and improve airflow to that region."

CT scans of the nasal cavity are taken before and after the procedure to measure airflow through the nasal cavity. This allows researchers to objectively measure changes in airflow.

"We use a technique called computational fluid dynamics, which is a study that we can base on CT scans that are done to show how the airflow through the nose travels," Otto said. "Part of the goal of this study is to understand better how this technology changes the airflow through the nose to make people feel happy with their nasal breathing."

Nasal obstruction can lead to chronic nasal congestion, difficulty breathing through the nose, difficulty sleeping and fatigue. Traditional treatments include medication, breathing strips and surgery to remove tissue and bone. Vivaer Nasal Airway Remodeling is performed in the doctor's office under local anesthesia, so patients can return to normal activities right away.

The study is recruiting patients ages 18 to 75 with chronic nasal obstruction due to the shape of the nasal value who have experienced positive response to temporary measures to open the nasal cavity, such as with nasal strips and stents, and where steroid medication failed to help. Patients with chronic sinusitis, prior nasal value surgery or severe septal deviation or polyps are among those excluded.According to a latest survey by the Mental Health Foundation, there is overwhelming stress that is being experienced by three quarters of Scots last year. The survey shows that a third of these people (over 35 percent) are suicidal due to the excessive stress that they are experiencing. In fact 16 percent of those surveyed have already caused self-harm in one way or another unable to cope with the stress. These results are released at the beginning of Mental Health Awareness week this week.

image Credit: Pathdoc / Shutterstock

The study that was commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation was carried out by YouGov and it looked at 1,012 people. The report released is titled, Stress - Are We Coping? According to Lee Knifton, head of Mental Health Foundation Scotland, there are large numbers of adults in Scotland who are experiencing high levels of stress that is injuring their health. She said, Stress is one of the great public health challenges of our time, but it still isn't being taken as seriously as physical health concerns. Stress is a significant factor in mental health problems including anxiety and depression. It is also linked to physical health problems like heart disease, problems with our immune system, insomnia and digestive problems.

According to Ms Knifton, all employers need to be aware of the stress their employees are under and need to care for their employees mental health along with physical safety at workplace. She added that public sector workers also need to be protected from excessive stress. These are the people who work hardest to look after us she added.

The insurance firm Aviva also came up with a separate report stating that the main reasons for the stress experienced the people are due to financial worries, work and family pressures. This means that more people are struggling to cope once they reach a certain stage. Their Aviva Wellbeing report they looked at 4,205 Britons. They also noted that two thirds (67 percent) of those surveyed suffered from stress and around 64 percent suffered from clinical depression.

According Dr Subashini M, associate medical director at Aviva, mental health is equally important as physical health and many people suffer in silence and have nowhere to go for support and help. They have no one to discuss their problems with.

She explained that there are social taboos and mental health stereotypes and beliefs that does not allow people to come forth with their problems. There is a pattern of not acknowledging their problems or addressing them to tackle them she said. She noted that over half of the Britons are uncomfortable discussing their mental health issues. This is a mindset she said, that causes greater suffering and isolation and more harm.

According to a survey commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation too 74 percent of the Britons were severely affected by stress. Isabella Goldie, director of the Mental Health Foundation thinktank added that women remain the worst affected. She said that at some point last year, the survey shows that 81 percent women were left overwhelmed with stress compared to 67 percent of men during the same period. This report showed 32 percent with suicidal feelings due to excessive stress. Suicidal feelings were seen in 35 percent women compared to 29 percent men she added. Self harm was also noted among 18 percent women compared to 13 percent men (average 16 percent). She called stress a great public health challenge.

Another vulnerable population group were the youngsters. They noted that 83 percent of those aged between 18 and 24 years were found to be stressed and overwhelmed by it. Suicidal tendencies were seen in 39 percent young adults and self harm was seen in 29 percent.

According to the reports conclusions, For many of us there are times when exposure to stressors becomes too frequent or too intense to deal with. If the stress response is activated repeatedly, or if it persists over time without recovery periods, the physiological effects result in cumulative wear and tear on the body.Photographer and videographer for the carmaker Audi, Auditography has been taking very unique photos of Audi cars, since 2013. First, he started with the Instagram account "MyQ5andDoha", where he took unique photos around the city of Doha and his Audi Q5. In 2014, as he started to take photos of other Audi cars, he created Auditography and changed his Instagram name, and also created a Facebook site, that had over 1 million fans by October 2017. Auditography is known for not only focus on the cars, but have unique locations around the world. Based in between Doha, Qatar and Malmo, Sweden he is travelling around the world to show and find special places to go with Audi cars too and this time the photographer did a shoot of Audis flagship car R8 V10 Plus and the rear-wheel-drive V10 RWS at Al Hazm Mall  Qatar, Doha and here are the images that you cant miss out.

Audi R8 V10 Plus and R8 V10 RWS inside the Al Hazm Mall. (Image: Auditography)

Known as the mall of millionaires, the Al Hazm Mall is the result of a major investment of approximately $825 million. Inaugurated last year, the mall required a whopping 60,000 tons of stone and marble to design the building in European continental style with massive pillars, arches inside the large dome.

Audi R8 V10 Plus and R8 V10 RWS inside the Al Hazm Mall. (Image: Auditography)

The black Audi R8 with the silver side blades is the range-topping Plus version.

Audi R8 V10 Plus and R8 V10 RWS inside the Al Hazm Mall. (Image: Auditography)

The white Audi R8 with the red stripe is the new rear-wheel-drive version and it is the more exclusive of the two since its a special edition of which only 999 examples will ever be made.

Audi R8 V10 Plus and R8 V10 RWS inside the Al Hazm Mall. (Image: Auditography)

The cars traveled roughly 3,658 miles (5,888 kilometers) from the factory in Ingolstadt, Germany to Doha for this amazing photoshoot.

Audi R8 V10 Plus and R8 V10 RWS inside the Al Hazm Mall. (Image: Auditography)

The 2018 Audi R8 V10 Plus coupe can reach 0 to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds, on the other hand, the 2018 Audi R8 V10 RWS coupe ca sprint from 0 to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds.

Also Watch: Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV First Look | Cars18The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was reviewing a Florida crash of a Tesla Inc vehicle earlier this week that killed two teenagers. NHTSA said in a statement it was "gathering information on the tragic crash in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to understand all of the facts. The agency will take appropriate action based on its review.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it was opening a probe into the crash and sending four investigators.

Also Read: Now Modify Your Honda City as a Convertible Lamborghini for Just Rs 7.5 Lakhs [Video]

Earlier, Tesla said its autopilot system was unlikely to have been a factor in the crash. Autopilot, a form of advanced cruise control that has come under scrutiny after two crashes this year, was not engaged when the Model S car drove off the road and hit a concrete wall, catching fire, the company said, adding it had not yet seen logs from the crash.

"We have not yet been able to retrieve the logs from the vehicle, but everything we have seen thus far indicates a very high-speed collision and that autopilot was not engaged," a Tesla spokesperson said.

The NTSB has four active investigations into crashes of the company's electric vehicles.

While admitting that serious high-speed collisions could result in a fire, the Tesla spokesperson defended the car's safety record, saying a gas car in the United States is five times more likely to catch fire than a Tesla vehicle.

In the event of an accident, eight airbags protect front and rear occupants, and the battery system automatically disconnects from the main power source, Tesla has said previously in promotional materials for the car.

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"Should the worst happen, there is no safer car to be in than Model S," according to a company brochure for the 2014 Model S.

NHTSA previously has said it is investigating two other Tesla crashes earlier this year, including a fatal March crash involving Autopilot in California.On Tuesday, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was charged by Delhi Police with abetting suicide in the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2014. Soon after the the report, Tharoor tweeted saying he will "stay off Twitter for a while as one encounters too much epicaricacy!"

Yep, that's our favourite English professor saying bye bye, at least for a while. But before leaving, he's given us one more new word: Epicaricacy.

Epicaricacy, as described by Tharoor means, "deriving pleasures from the misfortune of others." As understood, the tweet was indirectly for the people who have been targeting Tharoor since he has been named as the only accused in the case.

Staying off @Twitter for a while -- one encounters too much epicaricacy! pic.twitter.com/znaj8vUl0R  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

While many are convinced that Tharoor has some serious involvement in the murder case, several Twitterati do not want Tharoor to leave Twitter.

Please don't go sir   Inshal Ali Azam (@Inshal07) May 14, 2018

Stay strong sir. India is with you,  INC-Tharoorian (@Tharoorian_INC) May 14, 2018

no sir please dont go..  Simmi Ahuja #WeBelieveInST (@SimmiAhuja_) May 14, 2018

sir @ShashiTharoor we are with you.  SATYATMA (@SatyamevaSatyam) May 14, 2018

We stand with u sir, plz dont get bothered by the propaganda on Twitter. Truth will win. #WeBelieveInST  Vinay Kumar Dokania (@VinayDokania) May 14, 2018

You are the bravest & strongest Sir.Don't give up !! We are always with You !!  Jaishree Misra (@top_gun55) May 14, 2018

Earlier in the day, denying any kind of involvement in his wife's murder, the MP, in a series of tweets, said, "I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of the investigation, it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police."

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

The Delhi police in its charge sheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty.New Delhi: With the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government about to complete four years in power, preparations for grand celebrations are in place. The BJP led government will be using May 26 as an opportunity to set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in the BJP told News18 that the tagline for the fourth anniversary will be '48 months vs 48 years' where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be pitching the achievements of the ruling party in the last 48 months as against 48-year rule by the Gandhi family.

Narendra Modi had taken over as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014.

Multiple officials in the ministries of commerce and ministry of petroleum and natural gas confirmed that the focus of the government will be on employment.

Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the ministries to figure out how many jobs were created in the last four years of his rule. "We have been asked to come up with a detailed report on the projects and programmes launched and calculate the number of jobs they helped generate," said a highly placed official in the ministry of power.

The government's agenda will also highlight the achievements in the past four years and its no-corruption track record. It will attack large-scale corruption mushrooming during the UPA rule.

Additionally, the government will also bring to public notice 100% rural electricity. Highways ministrys achievement to push road construction to 28 km a day and free gas connection to below poverty line, women under Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana, among others will be the major highlights of the anniversary report card.

Each ministry has also been asked to prepare video clips of major highlights and carry out publicity campaigns. All ministers in the Modi cabinet will be touring across India, holding press conferences to propagate on the Centres achievements.

The Modi government's achievements will be compiled in the form of a booklet for wide circulation. N.K.Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcast has written to ministries asking them to collect details on their achievements in the past four years.

The information is expected to be used by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the governments publicity arm, for wider circulation.

A committee of four ministers has been formed to steer preparations and ensure grand execution of the event. Headed by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, other members include Minister for Petroleum and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

One family either directly or indirectly ruled the country for 48 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in February while referring to the governments of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

The opposition Congress has been regularly attacking the Centre on employment crisis, quashing the Prime Minister's electoral claim of providing two crore people every year.

According to senior leaders in the BJP, the government in the last four years has provided close to 10 crore jobs.

Surjit Bhalla, member of the economic advisory committee of the Prime Minister, claimed that around 1.5 crore people got employed in the past calendar year and that the government has been able to maintain a good record on this front. However, managing director of the Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE),

However, Mahesh Vyas has opposed this data. He claims that Bhalla has used the CMIE data and made his own interpretations. Vyas claims that the total employment is not more than 15 lakh.

Additionally, the May 26 show will also keep by-elections on the Kairana Lok Sabha seat in mind.

Other topics likely to discussed in the report card include status of Section 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, smart cities and their development, Namami Gange which deals with cleaning of the river, employment generation, FDI attracted under the NDA government, reduction in black money and the status of non-performing assets in public sector banks.New Delhi: After three days of feasting and wedding celebrations, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadavs focus is back to his health. The party supremo left for Ranchi on Monday morning to undergo medical treatment.

Yadav, who is serving sentences in fodder scam cases, was on a three-day parole to attend the wedding of his elder son Tej Pratap last week. He is now scheduled to complete formalities for availing a six-week provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court for medical treatment.

The RJD supremo has been undergoing treatment at RIMS hospital in Ranchi ever since his conviction in three fodder scam cases in December last year.

"Lalu will leave for Ranchi today. We will try to get the formalities of bail competed as early as possible though it is unlikely before Tuesday, RJD chiefs close aide Bhola Yadav told CNN-News18.

The septuagenarian former Bihar chief minister was flown to Patna last week for his elder sons wedding. Yadav was seen participating in various rituals, including relishing the traditional Bihari dish of maach-bhaat (rice and fish curry) at daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rais house.

Since Yadav suffers from diabetes, blood pressure, kidney problems and other ailments, he will now focus on his health and stay under doctors supervision. Before his sons wedding, the senior leader was serving his sentences at RIMS hospital and was granted bail by the High Court on medical grounds.

He was also admitted to AIIMS in New Delhi for several weeks from where he was brought back to RIMS evoking strong protests from RJD members who alleged that their supremo was discharged at the instance of the NDA government at the Centre.

The wedding of RJD chiefs son became the talk of the town after party workers broke the cordon of VIP area and were seen running around with ice-cream bricks and looting other food items.

While Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's warm embrace with Lalu Prasad despite their split became the highlight of the event, absence most of the BJP ministers gave rise to speculations of RJD-BJP's deteriorating relationship. Only the Union ministers who hail from Bihar attended the wedding like R K Singh and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.

Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi was also missing from the dinner party. In December last year, Tej Pratap had threatened to disrupt his sons marriage.Mumbai: A 32-year-old man who was allegedly planning terror attacks in Maharashtra and other parts of the country was arrested on Sunday in a joint operation by the Maharashtra ATS and Kolkata Police.

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested the accused from Juhu, based on specific intelligence inputs.

According to the ATS, the accused had undergone arms training in Pakistan.

An officer said, The accused came in touch with another bomb blast accused in Sharjah from where he went to Dubai and Karachi and received training from Pakistani terror camps.

He allegedly received training in suicide bombing, bombs making and gun training. According to police officials, the accused allegedly had plans to target VIPs and important landmarks and establishments, apart from crowded areas in several cities.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad believes that this could lead to arrests of more people who may have also been involved in planning these attacks.

The accused has been sent to police custody till May 21.New Delhi: The Delhi Police are set to submit their final report into the Sunanda Pushkar death case before the Patiala House Courts on Monday, more than four years after Congress leader Shashi Tharoors wife was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a Delhi hotel room.

It remains to be seen if the police file a closure report or a chargesheet in the sensational case. Sources said that if a chargesheet is filed, Tharoor may either be charged with destruction of evidence or it could be a case of abetment to suicide. Sources said that it is unlikely that anyone would be charged for murder under Section 302 of IPC.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014, days after being embroiled in a Twitter war with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over the latters alleged closeness with Tharoor.

The initial post mortem said her death was due to poisoning. While traces of Alzolam was found in her body and a strip of the sleeping pills found in her room, the actual poison couldn't be confirmed.

Inquest proceedings were conducted under the supervision of a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) as the marriage was less than seven years old. The SDM report asked police to further investigate the death. SDM Alok Sharma asked the police to find out the nature of poisoning and also to specifically probe whether this was a murder or a suicide.

Sunanda's autopsy was done at AIIMS by a board of doctors headed by Dr Sudhir Gupta, who in his report had said that she had 15 injury marks on her body, most of which did not contribute to death. But there were two injury marks  an injection mark and some bite marks. The autopsy report also said that there was presence of excess amount of alprazolam drug in her stomach.

The board later examined Pushkar's viscera and concluded that she was completely fit before her death without any ailments or diseases and did not need any medicines. The board also said that the death was unnatural and caused due to poisoning.

Based on this report, the police registered a murder case which refrained from naming any accused.

A year after Sunanda's death, a formal police probe began. Soon the viscera samples were sent to FBI labs to determine the poison. The FBI report mentioned that Aprazolam and Hydroxy Chloroquine were detected in the samples, but it also said on radio-chemistry examination of viscera samples received that levels of possible contamination were found less than the values specified in IATA.

When the AIIMS report was inconclusive on the cause of the death, Sunanda's son Shiv Menon wrote to the then Delhi Police chief BS Bassi, saying if AIIMS couldn't confirm the cause of his mother's death, why can't other doctors be consulted. That's when the wider medical board was constituted. The final report will be based on the opinion given by this independent board.

The political heat in this case increased when the government at the Centre changed from Congress-led UPA to BJP-led NDA.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy filed a PIL in Delhi High Court, wherein he first sought a CBI probe into the death of Sunanda Pushkar and then asked for a joint multi-agency team to investigate the case. Earlier, he had asked the Home Ministry to hand over the case to CBI, but the Home Ministry had then replied to him saying that the Delhi Police SIT is at an advanced stage of investigation and if the case is transferred to CBI at this stage, it would only lead to further delay.

But when High Court dismissed his petition, Swamy moved Supreme Court. The top court had in February sought the response of the Delhi Police on a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into Sunandas death.King Mohammed VI, chairperson of Al Quds Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, has warned the international community against the dangerous fallout of the decision of US president Donald Trump to recognize Al Quds as capital of Israel and move its embassy to this city.

In a message addressed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Mohammed VI voiced deep concern over the implementation of the US administrations risky move to botch the possibility of achieving a just, comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Moroccan Monarch recalled the messages he sent to President Trump and to UN Chief Antonio Guterres, explaining the importance of the city of Al Quds not only for the parties to the conflict, but also for the followers of the three monotheistic religions, and warning that any infringement to the legal and historical status of Al Quds could toss the Palestinian issue into the quagmire of religious conflicts.

The Al Quds Committee chairperson hailed the international community stand rejecting the US Administrations decision due to its negative impact on the peace process prospects and renewed his rejection of this unilateral act, which goes against the will expressed by the international community and UNSC resolutions.

The Moroccan Sovereign called for halting any action that could alter Al Quds established political status because the Holy city is at the heart of issues of the Final Status.

King Mohammed VI pledged to continue his efforts and contacts with influential powers urging them to uphold the international law and UN resolutions, stressing the need to preserve the legal status of the holy city and its identity as a model of coexistence between the followers of the three revealed religions.

The Al Quds Committee chairperson expressed commitment to continue working with the US administration for a balanced stand that would restore trust and revive the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

The Moroccan Sovereign also vowed to endeavor for the mobilization of the international community to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinians to the establishment of an independent state with eastern Al Quds as capital, on the basis of the two-state solution seeking a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

During US presidential election campaign, Donald Trump pledged that, if elected, he will move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. And this is what he announced last December and enacted this May 14.New Delhi: Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor has been charged with abetment to suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2014. Tharoor is the only person who has been arrayed as an accused in the case.

The Delhi police in its charge sheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty. The chargesheet has been filed more than four years after Tharoors wife was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a Delhi hotel room.

It concluded that Pushkar killed herself and hence no one has been charged with murder. The chargesheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The chargesheet mentions marital discord as the cause of suicide and says that one party led the other to commit suicide. Sunanda Pushkar was being harassed for long. Her medical records show she was suffering from depression, the chargesheet said.

Tharoor has not been arrested because he is an MP and has cooperated in the probe and there was no danger of him escaping, police said.

Tharoor has responded to the chargesheet in two tweets, calling it preposterous and said that he would contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police, he wrote.

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

2/2) it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

The court is likely to take cognisance of the chargesheet on May 24, where the Delhi Police would press for summoning Tharoor. The public prosecutor said that as per legal procedure Tharoor can only be summoned by the court as he is a suspect in the case.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014, days after being embroiled in a Twitter war with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over the latters alleged closeness with Tharoor.

The initial post mortem said her death was due to poisoning. While traces of Alzolam was found in her body and a strip of the sleeping pills found in her room, the actual poison couldn't be confirmed.

Inquest proceedings were conducted under the supervision of a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) as the marriage was less than seven years old. The SDM report asked police to further investigate the death. SDM Alok Sharma asked the police to find out the nature of poisoning and also to specifically probe whether this was a murder or a suicide.

Sunanda's autopsy was done at AIIMS by a board of doctors headed by Dr Sudhir Gupta, who in his report had said that she had 15 injury marks on her body, most of which did not contribute to death. But there were two injury marks  an injection mark and some bite marks. The autopsy report also said that there was presence of excess amount of alprazolam drug in her stomach.

The board later examined Pushkar's viscera and concluded that she was completely fit before her death without any ailments or diseases and did not need any medicines. The board also said that the death was unnatural and caused due to poisoning.

Based on this report, the police registered a murder case which refrained from naming any accused.

A year after Sunanda's death, a formal police probe began. Soon the viscera samples were sent to FBI labs to determine the poison. The FBI report mentioned that Aprazolam and Hydroxy Chloroquine were detected in the samples, but it also said on radio-chemistry examination of viscera samples received that levels of possible contamination were found less than the values specified in IATA.

When the AIIMS report was inconclusive on the cause of the death, Sunanda's son Shiv Menon wrote to the then Delhi Police chief BS Bassi, saying if AIIMS couldn't confirm the cause of his mother's death, why can't other doctors be consulted. That's when the wider medical board was constituted. The final report will be based on the opinion given by this independent board.

The political heat in this case increased when the government at the Centre changed from Congress-led UPA to BJP-led NDA.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy filed a PIL in Delhi High Court, wherein he first sought a CBI probe into the death of Sunanda Pushkar and then asked for a joint multi-agency team to investigate the case. Earlier, he had asked the Home Ministry to hand over the case to CBI, but the Home Ministry had then replied to him saying that the Delhi Police SIT is at an advanced stage of investigation and if the case is transferred to CBI at this stage, it would only lead to further delay.

But when High Court dismissed his petition, Swamy moved Supreme Court. The top court had in February sought the response of the Delhi Police on a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into Sunandas death.Adding fuel to the fire, Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu has said that Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) should be renamed after Jaat king Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh. Singh had donated the land on which AMU now stands.

In a veiled attack on the university, he also pointed fingers at the former chief ministers of the state who he said had only raised infrastructure in the name of their baap-dada and forgotten the real heroes of the land.

Capt Abhimanyu was addressing a program at the bhoomi poojan of a Jaat Dharmshala at Rewari in Haryana.

Without naming a former Jaat Chief Minister of the Uttar Pradesh, he said, They built parks and institutes and named them after their forefathers but there are no such institutes after Raja Nahar Singh.

He further demanded that the name of Aligarh Muslim University be changed as Mahendra Pratap Singh had donated the land on which the university was built.

He also said Jinnah, whose portrait was put up in AMU, was responsible for the division of the country.The ICSE Result 2018, ICSE Class 10 result 2018 released today (May 14) at 3 pm by the CISCE Council for Indian School Certificate Examination. The ICSE Class 10 Results 2018, ISC Class 12 Results 2018 published on Council for Indian School Certificate Examination CISCE's official website cisce.org. The pass percentage for ICSE Result 2018 is 98.51%. The pass percentage for ISC Result 2018 is 96.21 %. Seven candidates are in the first position for ISC class 12 exam. Swayam Das of St Marys Navi Mumbai is the topper with 99.40% in ICSE class 10

The ICSE Examination 2018 were held from February 26-March 28 and Indian School Certificate ISC Class 12 examination 2018 started from 7 February 2018 and 2 April, 2018. Both the ICSE, ISC examinations were conducted by the CISCE Council for Indian School Certificate Examination. The CISCE board will release Indian Certificate of Secondary Education ICSE Class 10 Results 2018 and Indian School Certificate ISC Class 12 Results 2018 on cisce.examresults.net results.nic.in

Students need to follow the following steps in order to check the ICSE Result 2018, ISC Results 2018:

Step 1: Click on the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination CISCE official website cisce.org

Step 2: Look for the link ICSE Result 2018, ISC Result 2018

Step 3: Click on either ICSE Class 10 Results 2018 or ISC Class 12 Results 2018

Step 4: Enter the roll number and registration number

Step 5: Enter Summit

Step 6: Download the ICSE Result 2018 and ISC Result 2018

Last year, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) declared the ICSE class 10th results ad ISC class 12th results on May 29.Kolkata: After hitting headlines for a series of bizarre remarks, Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb is now looking for inner peace. He said he is planning to meditate to generate positive energy.

Speaking exclusively to News18 over phone, Deb said, I am planning to do meditation on a regular basis in the morning. It will generate positive energy and it will help me in serving better.

The chief minister has been in news for over a month for his remarks and statements. From questioning Diana Haydens Miss World title to claiming internets presence in Mahabharata era, Deb has found himself in a tight spot almost every time he makes a statement.

The BJP CM has now decided to keep his aura positive, without being bogged down by critics or trolls.

If you have a positive mind and thinking, then automatically your actions will be positive. I recently attended a programme conducted by Prajapita Brahma Kumaris and after that I have decided to do meditation and yoga every day in order to generate energy, peace and inner strength, he said.

Claiming that peoples welfare is the motive behind this decision, Deb said, I was elected by the people of Tripura and now it is my responsibility to serve them better. As a mass leader, meditation and yoga is necessary to serve them better.

Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modis healthy lifestyle, he said, Our prime minister sleeps for four hours and rest of the time he is working hard for India. It is possible only because of meditation and yoga. The kind of positive energy he has is worth praising. We are happy that he is promoting yoga not only in India but also in other parts of the world. Therefore, I have decided to include yoga in all the schools in my state.

On his development plan and his immediate challenges, Deb said, My dream to make a New Tripura and a peaceful society. Drugs, liquor, crime against women is a major concern in Tripura and I have taken up this challenge to clean my state from such illegal activities.

He further said, I have decided to make BPO and IT hub in Tripura and I am thankful that our Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is providing all kind of assistance for this project. Not the least, we are also planning to set up 24 Ekal Vidyalaya and already got approval for 16 such schools in tribal areas. This will be a boarding school and construction of each school will cost Rs 1 Crore.

The other challenge is to bring back our youths who left Tripura due to lack of development and job opportunities. In a janta darbar, a local youth who is now working in Chennai in a IT company (with a salary of Rs 1 lakh per month) told me that he wanted to return to him home town and said he willing to work here with less salary of Rs 25,000. I really like this approach and there are many like him who wanted to return and its my responsibility to ensure job security, the chief minister said.

While hinting that his government may ban liquor in future, Deb said, I want to make nesha muktha Tripura.

When asked about his opinion on separate Tipraland, he said, I dont believe on this. There will be no separate Tipraland. We have already planned a common minimum programme for socio-economic, educational, linguistic and political development of indigenous communities. We are focusing more on the development of Tribal area and not a separate state.New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, complaining of a threatening and intimidating speech made by successor Narendra Modi during an election campaign in Karnatakas Hubli.

The strongly-worded letter, which begins with the oath of office administered to a prime minister, has also been signed by other senior Congress leaders, including P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel and Ambika Soni among others.

In the letter, Singh asked the President to ensure that Modi maintains the decorum of his office while referring to the opposition.

The letter mentions the YouTube link to Modis speech in Hubli on May 6, in which the PM allegedly warned the Congress to stay within limits or Modi would ensure that they are controlled.

Singh referred to a clause in the Constitution which lays down guidelines for the PM and his ministers on the protocol to be followed.

The threat held out by the Prime Minister to the INCs leadership deserves to be condemned. This cannot be the language of the Prime Minister of a constitutionally governed democratic country of 1.3 billion people. Such discourse whether in public or private is unacceptable conduct, the letter said.

In an interview recently, Singh had advised the PM to practise what he preached four years ago. He used to criticise me for not speaking up. I feel that the advice that he used to give me, he should follow it himself, Singh had said.New Delhi: Petrol prices were hiked by 17 paise across major cities while diesel became dearer by around 21 paise on Monday, the first hike in 19 days that comes two days after the conclusion of Karnataka election.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies. With this, diesel prices have touched a record high, while petrol is at a 56-month peak as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

Source: www.iocl.com

Source: www.iocl.com

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last month denied reports of a directive to state oil firms to absorb at least Re 1 a litre of hike by not raising prices in line with cost.

The prices at petrol pumps of state-owned fuel retailers like Indian Oil Corp (IOC) were cut by 1-3 paisa every day in the first fortnight of December 2017 before Gujarat went to polls.

They started moving up immediately after polling for Assembly elections in Gujarat concluded on December 14, leading to speculation that government may have asked oil companies to hold on to the prices.

State-owned oil companies in June last year dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month and instead adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantly reflect changes in cost.

The government had in June 2010 freed petrol price from its control and the diesel rates were deregulated in October 2014. Prices have since then moved more or less in tandem with international rates barring a few exceptions like the period before a crucial election.

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg have ruled out any immediate reduction in excise duty to cushion the increases warranted from spike in international oil price.

The BJP-led government had raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47 per litre to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices. This led to its excise mop up more than doubling to Rs 2,42,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

The central government had cut excise duty by Rs 2 per litre in October 2017, when petrol price reached Rs 70.88 per litre in Delhi and diesel Rs 59.14. Because of the reduction in excise duty, diesel prices had on October 4, 2017, come down to Rs 56.89 per litre and petrol to Rs 68.38 per litre.

However, a global rally in crude prices pushed domestic fuel prices far higher than those levels.New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to visit Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with President Vladimir Putin. The meeting comes just weeks after Modi made a similar informal summit visit to China to meet President Xi Jinping.

This will be an important occasion for the two leaders to exchange views on international matters in a broad and long-term perspective with the objective of further strengthening our Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. Both leaders will also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and bilateral matters, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, adding that the informal Summit in Sochi is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels.

Earlier this month, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held talks with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and discussed a host of issues such as combating terrorism, organised crime and drug trafficking.

Doval, who was accompanied by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale during his visit on May 10, also held talks with secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev besides calling on Lavrov, an Indian Embassy statement said.

In his opening remarks during the meeting with Doval, Lavrov was quoted as saying by an official Russian statement, We have a very full agenda in our bilateral relations. Economic ties are growing, and a mechanism is being developed to further liberalise trade both bilaterally and as part of Indias cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union.

Modis visit also comes just months after Putin won the elections after remaining in power for almost two decades. Modi had met Putin in Russia last year, where the two leaders struck a personal chord after Modi said that Putin was a political leader whose family has made sacrifices' for the glory of Russia.Jammu: A high alert was sounded in Jammu after movement of suspected terrorists was detected along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, a senior police officer said on Monday.

The development comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state on May 19.

According to the officials, the security forces will continue to conduct 'cordon and search operation' for the next three to four days.

"BSF troops saw a movement of (five) suspicious persons little away from the border fence. Based on that, a high alert was sounded and searches are being conducted," Kathua Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sridhar Patel told PTI.

All the troops have been alerted and the search operation will go on for the next three to four days, he said, adding additional check points have been setup and highway has been monitored.

The Army is conducting aerial surveillance through helicopters and so far nothing has been found, the officer said.

The security installations along the highways in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts have been put on alert.

The fencing is intact and there is no breach in the border fencing, the SSP said.

Movement of suspected terrorists carrying bags was detected in Kathua district's Tarnah Allah area, which is close to the I-B, the officer said.

They are believed to be part of the group that has infiltrated from Pakistan into this side in Tarnah Allah between the Londi and Bobbiyan Border Out Posts (BoPs), according to reports.

IGP Jammu S D Singh Jamwal said that an alert has been sounded in the area since 12 am after suspicious movement.

According to a senior BSF official, suspicious movement of at least four to five people, suspected to be terrorists, was noticed along a stream between Londi and Bobbiyan in Tarnah Allah area of Hira Nagar sector shortly after midnight on Sunday night.

We are not sure whether they have managed to cross over to this side or returned back. They were noticed by the alert personnel and immediately a search operation was launched, the BSF officer said.

The officials said security installations along the Jammu-Pathankot highway especially in Kathua and Samba have been put on high alert while check posts have also been set up at various places as a precautionary measure.

The local residents have also been alerted and asked to report any suspicious movement to the nearest security installation.New Delhi: Syed Waseem Rizvi, the chairman of Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Board of Waqfs on Monday announced the first Shia based political outfit in the country, India Shia Awami League in order to not let the majority Sunni Muslims overshadow the Shias in the country.

Rizvi has been appointed the national president of this new political outfit. He recently moved a PIL demanding a ban on hoisting the Pakistan Muslim League flag in mosques, madrassas and Muslim majority areas in the country.

According to Rizvi, the Pakistan Muslim League flag that has a crescent and star on a green background is often raised in Muslim majority areas and it has got nothing to do with Islam.

Rizvi further stated that the new political outfit was triggered by a continuous ignoring of Shias within the Muslim community as Sunnis continue to overshadow them.

Though the Shia community is a part of the Muslim minority, but on account of being just 20% of the total Muslim population, it has been an object of oppression and exploitation of the fundamentalist section of the Muslim minority. Since the Sunnis constitute about 80% of the Muslim community, benefits under the government schemes meant for the minorities along with other social and political benefits are always reaped by them, states the official party release.

The new party, which has a flying eagle as its logo, has also initiated its registration process with the Election Commission of India with a national executive body in place.

Rizvi has claimed that the Sunnis do not consider Shias as Muslims thus denying them of their due.

We have want to work towards the political and social upliftment of the Shia community and ensure that the community gets its due which has been denied to it. The Sunni sect has never considered us their brothers and conversely the fatwas are issued world over to kill the innocent Shias, states the National President of the ISAL.

Rizvi had recently created an uproar when it asked the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to hand over nine medieval period mosques constructed by Mughal kings.

Rizvi had earlier appealed to the AIMPLB to drop the claims of Muslims over the Babri mosque at Ayodhya and suggested that a new mosque Masjid-e-Aman be constructed elsewhere.

Posing a question before AIMPLB, Rizvi had then asked, "Does Islam permit the construction of mosques at the site of religious places of other faiths in a multi-religious country. Will such mosques be rightful places of worship as per the basic tenets of Islam?Patna: Women appearing for a competitive exam in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district were in for a shock when the invigilators snipped off the sleeves of their dresses in "full public view" as a disciplinary measure.

The footage of Saturday's incident was flashed on regional news channels, sparking outrage by local people and the parents of the women, he said.

The female candidates, who enrolled for the nursing entrance exam of Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB), were advised against wearing full-sleeved dresses, but some of them failed to adhere to the norm, District Education Officer Lalan Prasad Singh told PTI over phone on Sunday.

"The footage showed that the staff members of the examination centre at a public school were cutting off the sleeves of candidates with scissors and blades," he explained.

The education department conducted an inquiry into the incident and barred the school from holding competitive exams in future, Singh said.

"The intention of the exercise was not questionable and care was taken to involve only female staff, but the problem was that the candidates were made to resize the sleeves in full public view," the DEO said.

"The school, where the exam was held, has been blacklisted and it would no longer be entrusted with the duty of holding exams in the future. The official who served as exam superintendent has also been debarred for life," he added.

The BCECEB conducts exams across the state every year for admission in various professional courses of medical, engineering and agriculture streams.Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leones new president, who was briefly a leader of a junta during Sierra Leones civil war, has been sworn into office on Saturday in the capital Freetown in front of a crowd of some 50,000 supporters of the ruling SLPP party.

Liberian President George Weah, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Guinean President Alpha Conde, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe and Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and delegates of many other countries attended the inauguration ceremony.

Celebrities present at the ceremony included Nigerian actress Omotola Jalade and Senegalese music icon Youssou Ndour.

Julius Maada Bio was declared the winner of Sierra Leones elections on April 4 with 51.81 percent of total votes cast against the APCs Samura Kamara, who pulled in 48.19 percent.

Dressed in flowing white robes, the new president, who briefly ruled Sierra Leone as head of a military junta in 1996, vowed to revive the countrys economy.

He pledged to wage a three-front war against indiscipline, corruption and poverty. Bio also promised to set up a special anti-corruption division in the High Court of Sierra Leone to promote judicial specialization and expeditious trial of corruption cases.

The new administration is expected to satisfy International Monetary Fund requirements for budget adjustments in order to restart a five-year $224m program.

The retired brigadier takes over from Ernest Bai Koroma who had been in power since 2007 and was obliged to step down after serving his constitutionally mandated two terms. Koromas government was criticized over its response to mudslides that killed hundreds in Freetown, the capital, in August.Rasika Dugal, the lead alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Nandita Das Manto was seen lending support to the Time's Up event at Cannes. It was the biggest event of the festival where 82 powerful women from across world cinema took to the red carpet to lend their support to the #METOO campaign globally.

The event was attended by some of the strongest women actors like Jane Fonda, Ava Duvernay, Marion Cottilard, Patty Jenkins and Nandita Das. Cate Blanchett and Kristen Stewart lead the protest along the red carpet before the premiere of Eva Hussons Girls of The Sun.

Rasika who is currently in Cannes for the screening of Manto in the Un Certain Regard category, joined the protest and cheered as Cate Blanchett gave many statistics on the gender disparities of the festival.

Talking about the walk Rasika said, There are very few times when you are part of a historical moment and you know it. This was one of those. It was a very emotional experience holding hands and walking in solidarity with 82 women at Cannes. Not much was said but yet many of us were moved to tears. The unspoken regard and understanding and solidarity for the challenges we have all had to face to be here was so so powerful."

Elaborating more on her experience, she said, "It was my first time at the Palais de festivals red carpet at the Cannes film festival and I shared that moment with Salma Hayek, Patty Jenkins, Nandita Das and so many other women. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction. Cate Blanchett's powerful speech just made me feel more than ever how important this is. I mean we know there is rampant gender discrimination and we face it every day but just to have the numbers like that makes me feel like it's about time !"Cannes, France: Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, a vocal campaigner against sexual harassment in the movie industry, said on Sunday male stars should get less pay as way to even things up with chronically underpaid women.

A day after joining dozens of other female movie makers, including Jane Fonda and Cate Blanchett, at a demonstration at the Cannes Film Festival in support of the struggle for womens rights, Hayek told a conference:

The actors have to say: OK, times up. I had a good run but now its also time to be generous with the actresses in the films.

We all have to be part of the adjustment. Thats one idea. Im going to be hated for it. I hope I can get a job after this!

The issue of equality has been a running theme throughout the film festival which is the first to take place since sexual harassment allegations against some major Hollywood players surfaced last year.

The Cannes Film Festival runs from May 8 to May 19.Professor ECG Sudarshan was one of the world's most important scientists. He was a high-ranking physicist at the University of Texas where he continued his innovative Physics. V-A theory, Sudarshan Glauber representation, superluminous particles called Tachyons, quantum zeno effect are some of his major contributions to the subject.

When I met him in 2005 at Cochin during the centenary celebrations of the Annus mirabilis of Albert Einstein, he seemed to be shaken by the attitude of the Nobel committee in not considering his important contribution for the award even though others were awarded based on the ideas developed using his findings.

He was nominated for the coveted Nobel Prize six times. He is the first Malayalee to reach so far.

Born on September 16, 1931, as the second son of E.I Chandy at Pallam, Pakkil near Kottayam District, he had a special interest in physics when he was studying in CMS College in Kottayam in Kerala. He graduated from Madras Christian College, did his MA from University of Madras and PhD from the University of Rochester.

The inquiry into the nature of heat led him to the depths of physics. After studying in Madras, he was involved in Physics research at the Institute of Fundamental Research in Birmingham.

Later, he studied nucleus for the cause of radioactivity. He served in Rochester University, Syracuse University, Indian Institute of Science, and Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Sudarshan has been awarded with the Padma Bhushan, CV Raman Award, Bose Medal, Third World Academy of Science Award and Kerala State Science and Technology Award. He was an American Physical Society Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences Fellow and published over 500 scientific papers.

According to Sudarshan, some special particles can travel faster than light. Physicist Gerald Feinberg even gave them a name, tachyons. Albert Einstein had put forward the idea that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. But Tachyons are superluminous particles.

It has been suggested that the existence of these particles cant be ruled out. The physics of tomorrow may be based on the discovery of these particles. The scientific world is still researching to find out more about these particles.

They are hypothetical subatomic particles whose velocity always exceeds that of light. The existence of the Tachyon, though not experimentally established, appears consistent with the theory of relativity, which was originally thought to apply only to particles traveling at or less than the speed of light. Just an ordinary particle such as an electron can exist only at speeds less than that of light, so a Tachyon could exist only at speeds above that of light, at which point its mass would be real and positive.

Upon losing energy, a Tachyon would accelerate; the faster it traveled, the less energy it would have.

Sudarshan also conducted research on the weak force of the nucleus. He did not present his studies at one of the Rochester Physics conference. One summer, his guide Robert Marshak was at Santa Monica. Marshak arranged a lunch with Scientists Murray Gell-Mann, Leona Marshall, Ronald Bryan, AH Wapstra and others at a restaurant.

Sudarshan was asked to give a report on the work on weak interactions beginning with a survey of the crucial experimental results which were conducted at CERN lab at Geneva.

Gell-Mann was very appreciative of the presentation and gave his blessings. However, the choice of the interaction that Marshak and Sudarshan required for crucial experiments were found to be wrong. Later, these experiments were conducted at CERN again, confirming Sudarshans findings.

Professor Marshak was to attend the Conference on Mesons and Newly Discovered Particles in Padua-Venice in 1957 September. He asked Sudarshan to compile a joint paper on the V-A interaction; this was done in June and was titled The Nature of the Four-Fermion Interaction".

Sudarshan left it with Marshak, who got it typed in Rochester and presented it at the Conference. He was satisfied that this presentation and the preprint dated 16 September 1957 (Sudarshans 26th birthday) was best to publication.

That September Sudarshan went to join Julian Schwinger at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow. Nobody there in the theory group knew anything about the developments in weak interaction, nor did they care. But Sheldon Glashow told about a manuscript written by Murray Gell-Mann and Richard Feynman postulating a V-A form for beta decay that was submitted to the Physical Review.

Sudarshan called Professor Marshak on the phone, but he assured that the priority was protected by the Rochester preprint and by the conference presentation. But nobody has seen or heard this study. That was a mistake since most people would not acknowledge having seen or heard of our work.

Anyone who read Sudarshans paper and the beautiful paper by Gell-Mann and Feynman could not fail to notice the essential difference. Sudarshan analyzed the data and pointed to the inevitable choice of the Chiral V-A form despite contradicting experiments, while Feynman and Gell-Mann knew his work and elaborated on its elegance and they added other important concepts.

The priority of ECG Sudarshan in this finding was ignored. He used to say, You can wake up a sleeping person, but you cannot do anything about a person who pretends to be asleep. Feynman and Gell-Mann were awarded the Nobel Prize for this finding. Marshak had previously presented this study information to one of the scientists.

Sudarshan has also contributed to Quantum Optics, which is the study of radiation and matter in the optical wavelength domain, where sophisticated advances in laser technology enable tests of fundamental physical questions with unprecedented precision. Optical probes of coherent states of atoms and photons permit new insights into questions about the basic foundations of quantum mechanics and are leading to concrete realization of futuristic applications such as quantum computing. He has guided around 30 students to PhD.

Theory of relativity by Albert Einstein has established the speed of light as the highest speed allowed. When Sudarshan was at the University of Rochester, he pondered about what happens to energy and momentum when a particle travels faster than light.

Sudarshan saw that energy and momentum could be made real by taking rest mass to be imaginary for such particles. The second difficulty of the apparent traveling "backward in time" of such a particle was solved by the interchange of the emission and absorption of the particle. Along with a graduate student, V. K. Deshpande, Sudarshan wrote a short paper.

It came back from Physical Review since a referee rejected it, saying it was incorrect. Sudarshan requested a second referee who said that the results of the paper were correct, but it was all well-known! A third referee stated that he had "read both the previous referee reports and he agreed with both of them"!

About two years later, after Sudarshan joined the University of Rochester he rewrote the paper and got it published it in American Journal of Physics. It attracted a lot of attention. To date, no tachyons have been detected. However, tachyons arise naturally in string theories but are suppressed or ignored. The role of tachyons in cosmology was investigated by JV Narlikar and Sudarshan. They concluded that any primordial tachyons would have vanished long ago.

Sudarshan-Glauber representation was another important work which led to Roy Glauber winning the Nobel and here again Sudarshan was unfortunately avoided. During a talk, he mentioned that one should keep such intellectual achievements till the time they are safe to make public. He points out the examples of JC Bose who lost to Marconi on the find of radio and SN Bose whose findings were neutralised by Albert Einstein naming Bose Enistein statistics and Bose Einstein condensate.

CV Raman succeeded because he kept his studies as secret and revealed them only with publication in reputed journals. Professor ECG Sudarshan undoubtedly was a world class physicist. Nobel committee has disgraced the science community by denying him the coveted prize.

The author of this article is a pop-sci writer and a freelance researcher.New Delhi: Amit Shah on Monday predicted that the BJP's win in 2019 would be bigger than its mammoth victory in 2014 while chairing a meeting of the partys national office bearers and all state BJP presidents.

The meeting, ahead of the Narendra Modi government's completion of four years in office, was meant to draw battle plans for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting at BJP's headquarters at New Delhi's Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the BJP is now setting the agenda in national politics.

"BJP is heading for massive majority in Karnataka, so this is a good time to have this meeting. National president Amit Shah said we have 11 crore members, 330 MPs and 1,800 MLAs today. Other parties are copying us and our strategies. Congress ruined their own organisation but we never made that mistake since we are a karyakarta-driven party. Today when people say BJP vs all, we like that challenge," he said.

He added, "We will most certainly win 2019. People said 2014 was a fluke, but we have won 11 elections and formed 14 governments since then. We want India to be a world leader. We know how to win an election, we know how to run a government and we know how to come back to power."

The BJP, said Hussain, would not rest on its laurels. "He (Shah) said 2019 will be a bigger win than 2014. Every time before an election, BJP is underestimated. But our aim will not complete till we win in Odisha, Bengal, Kerala and Telangana. We won't rest till we form governments here. You can say that Amit Shah has sounded the poll bugle."

BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "The National president of the party made sure to stress that self-confidence shouldn't mean complacency."

Responding to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's letter to the President, complaining about unparliamentary language being used by PM Modi, Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Those who called Modi Ji Maut ka saudagar and broke all bounds of decency should not raise questions on us. Their leaders have also spoken ill of our national party president."New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today slammed the government for hiking petrol and diesel prices, saying the recent "interval" was only due to the Karnataka elections which got over on Saturday.

In separate tweets, Chidambaram also asked all chief ministers to oppose the terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission, which he said was the central government's "attempt to violate the Constitution and wreck the federal system".

"There we go again. More taxes on petrol and diesel, more burden on the consumer. The Karnataka election was only an interval," he tweeted.

After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, the price of petrol was today hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

In Delhi, the price of petrol was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63 while the rate of diesel was increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies.

With this, diesel prices have touched a record high while petrol is at a 56-month peak.

Oil PSUs, which had kept rates unchanged for nearly three weeks before Karnataka went to polls despite input cost spiking, reverted to daily revision in prices no sooner had the state voted to elect a new government on Saturday.

Chidambaram also said Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac's open letter on the ToR of the 15th Finance Commission deserves support.

"I urge all State CMs and FMs to join hands to protest the Centre's attempt to violate the Constitution and wreck the federal system," he said.

Isaac has said some state finance ministers, who met at Thiruvananthapuram and Amaravati, were worried about the implications of the ToR of the Finance Commission determined by the Union government.

"What the ToR challenge are the federal values enshrined in the Constitution and the modicum of fiscal autonomy State governments enjoy," he has said.Bengaluru: With less than 24 hours left for the Karnataka Assembly election results, the ruling Congress has floated the theory of a Dalit chief minister.

Siddaramaiah, the incumbent, himself has said that he was not averse to the idea of a Dalit CM even if the Congress wins on its own.

Triggering all kinds of speculations, he said, Nothing wrong in making a Dalit CM. I am okay with it.

The Congress stalwart from Karnataka M Mallikarjuna Kharge has also said that he was still in the race for the post of CM.

Speaking to News18, Kharge said, I dont want CM post because I am a Dalit. I can be considered because I am a senior leader of the party.

Two other Dalit leaders in the Congress, PWD minister Dr H C Mahadevappa and seven-time MP from Kolar K H Muniyappa are also in the race.

According to party insiders, in case of a hung Assembly, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda may back either of them to appease Dalits ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

But his son and former CM H D Kumaraswamy is favouring a tie-up with the BJP and is not in the mood to do business with the Congress. He is currently in Singapore allegedly trying to hammer out a deal with the BJP, claim JD(S) sources.

According to some Congress leaders, the party is deliberately floating the Dalit CM theory to pre-empt the JDS from going with the BJP.

If the BJP tries to woo the JD(S) in case of a hung Assembly, we can counter them with a Dalit CM. The JD(S) will be in a fix. It cant ignore us. The BJP also does not want to be seen as an anti-Dalit party ahead of the most crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a senior Congress leader said.

The talk of a Dalit CM and the hung Assembly scenario have unnerved BJP's CM candidate B S Yeddyurappa.

He has already rubbished all such theories claiming that the BJP will come to power on its own and he will take the oath on May 17.

Even though the Congress is officially maintaining that it will come to power on its own, many in the party fear that it will be a hung Assembly.

In case of a hung Assembly, a lot will depend on how the BJP high command plays its cards in the next two days.

The Gowda clan is unhappy with both Siddaramaiah and Yeddyurappa. It is expected to ask the Congress and the BJP to look for the other names if the CM post is not offered to Kumaraswamy.Bengaluru: Top Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot, have rushed to Bengaluru on the eve of counting of votes in the Karnataka election.

The party is taking no chances after learning a bitter lesson in Meghalaya and Goa elections, where Congress could not cobble together numbers despite emerging as the single largest party.

The leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad has been in-charge of Karnataka in the past and is said to enjoy good relations with former PM and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda.

With most pre-polls surveys predicting a hung house, JD(S) is being seen as the kingmaker if Tuesday counting throws up a hung house.

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy is returning to Bengaluru on the eve of the counting after a short trip to Singapore.

The former CM's surprise visit has triggered speculations in the state politics over pre-poll negotiations between JD(S) and other key contenders.

Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot is currently holding the important portfolio as General Secretary in-charge of Congress organisation. He also over-saw party campaign in Gujarat last year where Congress was able to improve its tally in the state assembly.

Sources in the Congress indicate the party will not waste time in seeking an appointment with governor this time around to stake claim for forming the government in the state.New Delhi: Accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal of unleashing a reign of terror during the panchayat polls on Monday, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury dismissed the TMC's remarks that violence occurred during the Left rule too, saying had it been true, Mamata Banerjee would never have come to power in the state.

He was reacting after TMC leader Derek O'Brien said that panchayat elections in state have a history of violence and that the percentage of violence has come down compared to the Left rule. At least 13 people have been killed in the violence so far, officials said.

"This itself shows that they are defensive and guilty. Media is showing what is happening. If this was happening during Left Front rule, then the TMC government would never have come in Bengal and the chief minister would not have been the chief minister of Bengal," the CPI(M) general secretary told reporters.

Condemning the violence, Yechury said that it is "naked attack on democracy" and that the party would fight back through people's involvement for which the process has already begun.

"First they didn't allow people to file nominations. Second after filing nominations, TMC started threatening the candidates to withdraw. The people who didn't withdraw they were attacked. This is nothing but a complete destruction of democratic process. We do not support president's rule. CPI(M) would answer it back democratically. And that democratic resistance has begun and that what would be our answer," Yechury told reporters.

He also claimed that "if free and fair polls were conducted", the Left parties would have got more than 50 percent seats.

"That is why they are indulging in violence," he said. The Left leader also attacked the State Election Commission (SEC) and state administration saying that the SEC has "virtually gone underground" and police are "collaborating with TMC goons".

Yechury said that the West Bengal State Election Commission will be seen as complicit in the ruling Trinamool Congress' "project of destroying democracy" if it does not act to restore faith in the electoral process.

"Allowing TMC to get away with throttling democracy has implications well beyond West Bengal," Yechury said on Twitter earlier in the day. The CPI(M) has directed all units across the country to protest against the violence in West Bengal.The operations of Chinese Golden Lead Company have led to the death of a dolphin on the shores of Gambias Gunjur beach, residents and activists in the West African nation said.

Hundreds of youths from the coastal fishing town of Gunjur have protested against the company for polluting Gambian waters.

Golden Lead, a Chinese fishmeal processing plant, is accused of disposing suspected toxic waste into the sea via pipes, resulting in the washing ashore of dead fish along the coastline.

Earlier this year, Golden Lead has been charged by the Gambian National Environment Agency for alleged violation of the environmental laws of the country.

The company was equally accused of withholding information about its waste management and not keeping track of its activities along Gambias coast.

The company officials have agreed to an out-of-court settlement over the pollution and were to pay a bond of $25,000, take immediate measures to treat the wastewater and pay for testing of already contaminated water.

Meanwhile, the Gunjur natives are demanding for a $329,589 [$16 million dalasis] compensation.

Last year, China canceled millions of dollars of debt owed by The Gambia. Beijing is currently building a multi-million dollar conference center for the country and has also approved a grant of $75 million for the construction of roads.A file image of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. (Photo: PTI)



Within less than two hours after the polling began, the State Election Commission has received complains of violence from at least four districts from different parts the state and has asked the police to take action, SEC officials said. The SEC is conducting the panchayat election.



Violence broke out in North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Coochbehar and South 24 Parganas districts. In North 24 Parganas, the BJP accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of letting loose a reign of terror in several parts of the district, especially in Amdanga area. A few people were injured when clashes broke out between two groups, SEC sources said.



Senior minister Jyotipriyo Mullick denied the involvement of the TMC in the incident and accused BJP of terrorising the voters. In Dinhata area of Coochbehar district in North Bengal, a few voters were injured after clashes broke out between two groups outside a polling station, the sources said.



The voters later on lodged a police complaint. Violence was reported in Burdwan districts too. The opposition CPI(M) and BJP had accused the TMC of terrorizing voters and hurling bombs outside polling stations. The TMC has termed the allegations as baseless.



After a protracted legal battle in the Kolkata High Court and the Supreme Court involving the Sec, the TMC and the opposition parties, the three-tier panchayat polls in is being held in the state.After an updated version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying Bangladesh's first communications satellite into orbit, its Founder and CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said his company is set for over 300 missions in five years. The "Block 5" booster, the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle, was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre on its maiden flight on Friday. The rocket's first stage was successfully recovered, landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" offshore drone-ship, about eight minutes after the launch, at an unmanned platform vessel in the Pacific Ocean.

Also Read: BlackBerry Key2 Launch is Confirmed And The Twitter is Going Gaga Over it

"SpaceX will probably build 30 to 40 rocket cores for 300 missions over 5 years. Then the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) takes over & Falcon retires. Goal of BFR is to enable anyone to move to moon, Mars & eventually outer planets," Musk tweeted on Sunday. The "Block-5" booster is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability, "Rate at which things are getting more bizarre appears to be increasing. In the future, it will seem bizarre that we used to crash rockets into the ocean instead of reusing them," Musk added.

Falcon 9 rocket, aiming to bring astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in the future, came with many design changes to improve its reusability and reliability. Those changes may make engineers easier to refurbish its first stages for more flights. The new rocket has improved its helium tanks submerged in liquid oxygen propellant tanks in the second stage. The helium tanks were ruptured in a pre-launch test on September 1, 2016, causing an explosion.

Also Read: Cyber Security a Gold Mine for Jobs in India: IBM

The Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, which will be used to explore Mars -- a goal that Musk hopes to accomplish by 2022 -- will be built in the Port of Los Angeles. According to media reports, the LA Board of Harbor Commissioners gave its unanimous approval to permit SpaceX to build the BFR Mars rocket at a new facility on Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles. The report said the new rocket manufacturing facility would be built on a 19-acre parcel on the mostly artificial island that's part of the port. The facility would provide employment to as many as 700 people, according to SpaceX.

According to Musk, the huge new rocket would be nearly 350 feet tall and span 30 feet in diameter. Last month, NASA's next planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess), was successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Tess is expected to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars, including some that could support life.

Also Watch: Apple Watch 3 Cellular First Impressions ReviewBasra, Iraq: Moqtada al-Sadr, a firebrand Shi'ite cleric who led uprisings against U.S. troops, appeared to make a remarkable comeback in Iraq's parliamentary election after being sidelined for years by Iranian-backed rivals.

Although Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's list of candidates were leading the field after Saturday's vote, Sadr's alliance was in second place, an election commission source and a security official told Reuters, citing unofficial results.

Sadr made his name leading two uprisings against U.S. forces in Iraq, drawing support from poor neighbourhoods of Baghdad and other cities. Washington called the Mehdi Army, the Shi'ite militia loyal to Sadr, the biggest threat to Iraq's security.

As top politicians in suits voted at a fancy Baghdad hotel on Saturday in the first election since Islamic State militants were defeated, Sadr in trademark turban and robe was shown walking to a polling station in poor district to cast his ballot.

The television footage of Sadr voting reinforced his image as a maverick who appeals to Iraq's dispossessed.

If initial results are confirmed, British-educated Abadi, a Shi'ite who as prime minister nurtured ties with Washington and Tehran, may have to form a coalition with Sadr, who fought the Americans and is one of the few Shi'ite leaders to keep a distance with Iran, which has powerful influence in Iraq.

Sadr has sought to broaden his regional support. Last year, he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. regional ally that is staunchly opposed to Iran.

Sadr, who was shown sipping juice in a palace in the Saudi city of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast, shares an interest in countering Iranian influence in Iraq.

Sadr rose to prominence in the unrest and chaos that erupted in Iraq after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein's rule in 2003. Armed mostly with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Sadr's militia challenged the world's most powerful military as it tried to stabilise Iraq.

Mobilising Support

Sadr derives much of his authority from his family. His father, highly respected Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, was murdered in 1999 for defying Saddam Hussein. His father's cousin, Mohammed Baqir, was killed by Saddam in 1980.

U.S. officials and Sunni Arab leaders accused the Mehdi Army of being behind many sectarian killings that ravaged Iraq. The U.S. occupation authority issued an arrest warrant for him for his alleged role in the murder of a rival cleric.

Sadr has disavowed violence against fellow Iraqis and in 2008 ordered his militia to become a humanitarian group.

He can still mobilise thousands of supporters to press his agenda, and he formed an unlikely alliance with communists and other independent secular supporters to demand the formation of a government of independent technocrats to end corruption.

"We call on the Iraqi people to stage a white revolution, everybody must cast his ballot, nobody should abstain from voting, it is the last chance for change," Sadr said in a televised speech in April.

His list is known as "Sairoon" in Arabic, or On The Move.

"Our program is about building effective corruption-free state institutions, rehabilitating and expanding infrastructures, providing essential services to the poor, like health and education," said Jumah Bahadily, a lawmaker who belongs to the Sadrist movement.

Sadr's support extends to Iraq's crumbling second city of Basra, in the Shi'ite heartland in the south of the country and near the OPEC producer's main oilfields.

"We defeated the corrupt people which have ruled Iraq since 2003," said Mohanad Sahib, a 38-year-old engineer in Basra, who voted for Sairoon. "They are from the people."

Some voters said a call by the influential Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for voters to reject corrupt candidates was a tacit signal to back Sairoon.

"It's correct he didn't mention them directly but he meant this," said Mohamed Matar, who also supported Sadr's list.

But more mainstream politicians have sought to undermine support for Sadr in the past. Former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a close ally of Iran, ordered a crack down on the Mehdi Army in Basra in 2008, calling its members ''outlaws''. Dozens were killed.

Maliki's Dawa party has also been fielding candidates in this election.Gaza Border: Israeli forces killed at least 52 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States prepared to open its embassy in Jerusalem.

It was the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since a series of protests dubbed the "Great March of Return" began at the border with Israel on March 30 and since a 2014 Gaza war.

The health officials said 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets.

Tens of thousands gathered at the frontier on Monday, some of them approaching Israel's border fence - a line Israeli leaders vowed Palestinians would not be allowed to breach. Black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

"Many may get martyred on Monday, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end," he said.

Later in the day, Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"A great day for Israel," the U.S. president, who stoked Arab anger by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in lockstep with Trump over fulfilling a long-standing U.S. promise to move the embassy to the holy city and over the president's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last week, echoed the sentiment.

"What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

The 28 Palestinian dead on Monday included a 14-year-old boy, a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

The Israeli military identified three of those killed as armed militants whom it said tried to place explosives near the fence in the southern Gaza Strip.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 73 since the protests started six weeks ago. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will act forcefully against any terrorist activity and will operate to prevent attacks against Israelis," the military said in a statement.

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States has echoed Israel in accusing Gaza's ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

"LONG OVERDUE"

Jason Greenblatt, Trump's Middle East peace envoy, said on Twitter that "taking the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it."

But Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah accused the United States of "blatant violations of international law".

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the U.S. move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Its ambassador visited the new site, in an office building in the western part of the city, on Monday. Paraguay is to follow suit later this month.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the U.S. decision to do so.

The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across the Middle East.Jerusalem: The US on Monday opened its embassy in Jerusalem under a controversial move by President Donald Trump that has infuriated the Palestinians, who clashed with Israeli soldiers who shot dead at least 41 of them in Gaza, in the deadliest escalation of violence since 2014.

Trump announced the decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in December, when he formally recognised the holy city as the capital of Israel, breaking away from decades of US neutrality on the sensitive issue.

The inauguration ceremony started with the singing of the American anthem and the presentation of colours by US Marines.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman noted that Washington, which became the first country to recognise the State of Israel, has now taken "a step awaited, voted upon, and litigated and prayed for for all these years".

"Again the United States leads the way," in relocating the embassy, he said. The move is the result of the "vision, the courage, and the moral clarity" of President Trump, to whom we own an "enormous and eternal debt of gratitude," the US envoy stressed.

Trump, in an early morning tweet, hailed the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as "a great day for Israel" but made no reference to the violence.

A high-level American delegation that includes Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt attended the embassy opening ceremony.

"An historic moment: The United States Embassy is opening in our capital city Jerusalem!" said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also present. "What an amazing day! Thank you, @POTUS Trump," he tweeted in response to Trump's announcement.

"Today is an historic day that constitutes a milestone in the history of our people, our state, and our alliance," the Israeli prime minister said. Meanwhile, Palestinians, who protested massively along the Gaza border clashed with Israeli forces, leading to the death of at last 41 of them.

Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that 37 people had been killed in Israeli fire so far and 1,700 others injured. The Palestinian protestors burned tires and threw stones at the soldiers, trying to approach the fence.

The Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and headquartered in the West Bank town of Ramallah accused Israel of committing a "terrible massacre" as the death toll soared.

Seeking international intervention, Palestinian government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud said that it was an urgent requirement given "the terrible massacre in Gaza committed by the forces of the Israeli occupation against our heroic people".

The death toll made it the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war. The 41, including a 14-year-old, were shot dead by Israeli forces as clashes broke out at five points along the Gaza border hours before the opening of the embassy.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a statement accusing Hamas, which controls Gaza, of "leading a terrorist operation" and inciting protesters who had amassed by the border fence with Israel to conduct what Israel described as terror attacks.

The IDF estimated that around 35,000 people -- who it describes as "violent rioters" -- had assembled in 12 different locations along the border fence between Gaza and Israel and thousands more were gathered in a tent city about a kilometer from the border.

The military said the protesters threw Molotov cocktails, burned tyres, and stones at Israeli soldiers positioned along the fence.

The State Department noted that the opening of the new embassy will take place on the 70th anniversary of American recognition of the State of Israel, the day of its founding and a day that Palestinians refer to as "the Catastrophe," as hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

The Embassy move is contentious for Palestinians, who hope to claim part of the city as their future capital, and for many in the Arab world, as it is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam. The city is also home to deeply holy sites for Jews and Christians.

The issue has been so thorny that international negotiators had left the question of Jerusalem to the final stages of any peace deal.Washington: White House aide Kelly Sadler promised Meghan McCain she would apologize publicly for mocking her father's health, a source familiar with the conversation has told CNN, but Sadler has yet to do so.

Sadler, a special assistant for surrogate communications, made the promise in an apologetic phone call to McCain after it was reported that she had jokingly said of Sen. John McCain, "he's dying anyway," in response to his opposition to President Donald Trump's pick for CIA director, Gina Haspel. The Republican senator is currently at home in Arizona as he battles brain cancer after receiving a diagnosis last year.

During the phone call, McCain told Sadler she needed to apologize publicly, and the White House aide said she would, according to the source. As of Sunday, however, neither the White House nor Sadler has made a public apology.

Sadler did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday.

On Friday, Meghan McCain responded to the reports on Sadler's remarks, which she made Thursday in a private meeting, by questioning how the White House aide could still be employed.

"I don't understand what kind of environment you're working in when that would be acceptable and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job," she said on ABC's "The View."

A White House official told CNN on Thursday that Sadler meant the comment as joke, "but it fell flat."

The White House has not denounced the remark, which has drawn condemnation from prominent political figures, including Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is a close friend of McCain's, and former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders privately admonished communications and press staff on Friday over the leaked comment, according to several sources familiar with the meeting. But Sanders has focused more on the leaking of the comment than its substance, according to the sources.GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn moreThe G5 Sahel counter-terrorist force is ready to take action, Nigerien Defense Minister Kalla Moutari said on Sunday.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger agreed in 2017 to set up the G5 Sahel counter-terrorist force.

The regional force, which aims to fight armed extremist groups that have carried out deadly attacks across the region, will be fully deployed soon, Moutari said after a meeting with the Burkinabe president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

We are ready to launch operations in the sense that all forces that make up the G5 Sahel are in place, the minister said.

Defense ministers from the five countries met over the weekend in Burkina Fasos capital Ouagadougou to formally finalize steps to bring the force up to its full strength.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week urged the G5 countries to speed up the deployment of the force and to resolve command and control issues, including transferring authority over their battalions to the force commander.

Guterres, in a report to the Security Council, said the 5,000-strong force should receive regular UN funding instead of contributions. The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report at a meeting on May 23.

At a funding conference in Brussels in February, donors raised 423 million for the military force.A Danbury company is applauding the passing of Senate Bill 9, An Act Concerning Connecticuts Energy Future, even as the solar industry is decrying certain provisions of the legislation.

FuelCell Energy, which is headquartered in Danbury and has a manufacturing facility in Torrington, said the bill levels the playing field for fuel cell technology to thrive as an alternative energy source. Most importantly, the bill expands the megawatts available from 4 to 6 percent of the states energy load in the current Department of Energy and Environmental Protections Request for Proposals, or RFPs.

The DEEP is currently evaluating proposals.

This bipartisan bill is a smart investment for Connecticuts economy and environment, said Chip Bottone, CEO of FuelCell Energy. The passage of Senate Bill 9 will bolster Connecticuts home-grown fuel cell industry that provides in-state benefits for Connecticu residents including tax revenue, job creation, enhancement of local power reliability and resiliency, and urban brownfield redevelopment.

The bill easily passed both chambers to make it to the desk of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. It passed the Senate, 29-3, and the House, 100-45.

State Rep. David Arconti Jr., D-Danbury, said he worked on the language of the bill with Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, to bolster the fuel cell industry.

The extra 2 percent allows fuel cells to compete with other technologies, Arconti said. Im hopeful DEEP will include at least one fuel cell project in its latest RFP rounds.

The bill also mandates that 40 percent of the states electricity come from renewable sources by 2030.

Fuel cell power is classified as a Class I renewable energy source in Connecticut and seven other states because of its efficiency, reliability, lack of emissions and the possibility that it may be fueled by renewable sources.

Fuel cells convert a fuel source into electricity and heat in a highly efficient process that emits virtually no pollutants. Bottone added that fuel cells have modest land-use needs and operate quietly.

While the bill is seen as a win for the fuel cell industry, which has for years contended that its technology has been overlooked in favor of solar and wind energy, Senate Bill 9 did not sit well with the solar industry.

The Alliance for Solar Choice, or TASC, said the bill weakens one of the strongest solar energy policies in the country. TASC, a coalition of solar companies and other advocates of the industry, said the bill ignores the concerns of rooftop solar consumers and allows companies such as Eversource and United Illuminating to siphon home-grown energy from customers without paying full price. The bill jeopardized up to 2,200 jobs, TASC said.

The major complaint of the solar industry is with the change in net metering, a renewable energy pricing policy where solar users may store or sell back unused energy generated during the day for use later.

The Connecticut Fund for the Environment praised several aspects of the bill, but agreed with the solar industry regarding net metering.

(The bills) new limitations on net metering are problematic and bad for rooftop solar consumers, the organization said in a release. We will continue to fight for fair net metering that protects consumers and businesses next session and at the Public Utility Regulatory Authority.

Arconti said the bill also includes several incentives and advancements for the solar industry. Solar projects done by 2020 will be grandfathered in to current net metering rules, he said.

Without this bill some of the provisions would have gone away at the end of the year, he said. There are good things for solar in there, too.

The writer may be reached at cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338Between acting and his regular gig as a correspondent on Comedy Centrals The Daily Show, comedian Ronny Chieng has it goin on.

This summer his television series, Ronny Chieng: International Student, which he co-wrote and stars in, comes to Comedy Central. Hes also in the movie Crazy Rich Asians, opening in August. Inspired by Kevin Kwans best-seller, its about a Chinese-American woman who gets a huge dose of culture shock when she meets her boyfriends family in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Chieng still finds time for stand-up shows, including two set for Fairfield Comedy Club on Saturday, May 26. He spoke about his life, including tours he has sold out everywhere from Australia to India  in a phone interview from his Daily Show office.

Regarding Crazy Rich Asians, Chieng, 32, said, I play Eddie Cheng, the cousin of the main character. Hes like most of the people in this film  incredibly wealthy and concerned with status symbols and wealth.

Was it a tough role to play?

No, it wasnt even acting. I was just being myself, he said, teasing.

Chieng, who got married in 2016, has a colorful background. In fact, his college life inspired his International Student TV series, which already airs on ABC in Australia, on the BBC and on Comedy Central Asia.

Born in Malaysia and raised in New Hampshire and Singapore, Chieng attended college in Australia and graduated with two bachelors degrees  one in law, the other in commerce.

I was looking for legal work and couldnt get a job; I started doing comedy and that was going better than the job search, so I kept at it. Next thing I know, Im in America on The Daily Show.

It was 2015 when Chieng moved from Australia to New York City to work with host Trevor Noah, whom he already knew from the international comedy festival circuit. He said Noah is down to earth, and that working on The Daily Show is probably the best job in comedy because they tape Monday through Thursday, leaving weekends free for stand-up gigs.

And more importantly, the show addresses relevant subjects. No matter what youre doing in life, Chieng said, the key is you want what youre doing to matter. The Daily Show pokes fun at things that need to be poked fun at.

As a stand-up, Chieng has shared funny stories on everything from technology (Which cell phone is best and who cares?) to his family (How can he survive the torture of when his mother calls for help with a computer problem?).

More Information Fairfield Comedy Club at The Circle Inn, 417 Post Road. Saturday, May 26, 7 and 9 p.m. $25. All shows BYOB. 475-999-2087, www.fairfieldcomedyclub.com See More Collapse

The realities of living in America and his recent wedding will be among subjects hell explore in Fairfield. Chieng declined to reveal much else, saying he wants people to be surprised. However, he said if you like what he does on The Daily Show, youll enjoy his act.

Ive been touring America now for two years. ... I think I know what Im doing, he said. Come and have a good time.

lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter: @LindaTKoonzBROOKFIELD  The Zoning Commission has unanimously approved a rule to regulate any medical marijuana dispensaries looking to open in town.

The regulation limits these facilities to the industrial district and permits them to sell medical marijuana only to those with a prescription  even if state law changes.

A dispensary has not applied to move into town, but officials said the regulation means the town will be prepared if any do want to open. The state has said it plans to issue new licenses to as many as 10 medical pot dispensaries.

The town previously had a moratorium on these facilities, but this ban has since expired.

At a public hearing last week, one resident said he is the primary caregiver for someone licensed to use medical marijuana. He said he and the patient go to the dispensary in Bethel.

A comparable dispensary in Brookfield would be an asset to the town, he said. I dont really see any downside. The people that I see using the dispensary are in some cases very ill, in some cases suffering and in some cases travel great distances to get to that dispensary. I think the people of Brookfield deserve a facility where they can have access.

He described the Bethel dispensary as overcrowded, showing the need for the business. But he said he has not had any problems there.

Theyve done an admirable job, he said. Ive never felt unsafe. The place is immaculate, well-run, professional and, frankly, a lot more respectable, in my opinion, than a lot of other businesses in the area.

Under the regulation, the dispensaries cannot be within 1,000 feet of schools or places of worship or within 7,000 feet of another dispensary, meaning very few could fit within the industrial district.

Its very limiting, Erik Kukk, chairman of the Zoning Commission, said at the public hearing.

But he said it will still be viable for a dispensary to open in town. The business could also be in a space up to 4,000 square feet, which is bigger than Bethels facility.

We wanted to make sure  because there are not that many licenses that go out in the state of Connecticut  that we were not limiting completely out of Brookfield any dispensary, Kukk said. We wanted to have a regulation that says we allow it, but we decide in what zone it should be in.

He said the IL-80 limited industrial district would be the best spot for a facility because the zone is surrounded by the train tracks and the Still River.

The Planning Commission sent a letter in favor of the regulation, although some members had said they were hesitant about the idea.

Planning Vice Chairman David Frankel suggested the town hold a referendum on the regulation instead. He has previously said there are people in town upset about it.

But other planning members said these concerns were routed in baseless fears of people crowding around smoking outside the building.

Member Bruce MacDonald said the dispensaries would be regulated like a CVS or RiteAid and would be appointment-only facilities.

Its a prescription, he said. Its not a candy store. Youre not walking down the aisles and saying, One of those and two of those, and filling a shopping cart.Residents in three towns will head to the polls Tuesday to vote on spending plans for next fiscal year.

Brookfield will vote on a proposed $67.4 million operating budget, New Milford will decide on a $101.6 million plan, while Ridgefield will vote on a $144 million budget.

In Brookfield, residents are considering one of the biggest spending hikes in years. The proposed operating budget would increase expenses by 4.1 percent and raise the tax rate by 5.6 percent.

The budget includes $43 million for the schools and $24.4 million for the town.

The town side of the proposal represents a 2.4 percent spending increase, while the schools would increase their budget by 4.9 percent.

Budget drivers include contractual salary increases, a rise in special education costs and reductions in state aid. Non-union employees would also see their first raise in years under the plan.

Voters will also decide on the $2.6 million capital budget, which includes replacing some trucks, renovations to the boys locker room at the high school and command cars for the Center and Candlewood fire companies.

Meanwhile, New Milfords proposal is about $583,000 more than this year. It includes $63.3 million for the schools and $38.3 million for the town.

The tax rate would increase 3.87 percent under the proposal.

The Town Council had originally aimed to keep school funding the same, but the Board of Finance voted to add about $500,000 to the education budget after an outcry from residents.

The plan calls for taking about $1.2 million from the undesignated fund to partially offset a tax increase, an idea the financial director advised against. This would leave $16 million in the fund. Town policy recommends between $12.5 million and $20 million remain.

Ridgefield also plans to use $1.6 million from the towns fund balance, which has been built up with surplus funds through the years, to keep the tax increase down. Under its proposal, the tax rate will rise by 1.8 percent.

Ridgefields proposed spending plan includes $47.4 million for the town and debt service, $95 million for the schools and $1.84 million in infrastructure.

The Board of Finance had cut the schools request by $1.1 million, but the education board has said it can manage the reduction through health insurance savings and cutting new expenses. This includes eliminating two school psychologist positions the board had wanted to add to the elementary and middle schools.

Voters at a special town meeting last week approved $947,000 worth of capital projects, but the referendum will ask residents to decide on the rest of the items from the $5.2 million capital budget.

These capital items include the $1.3 million renovation to the Venus Building, 63 new parking spaces near Governor Street and $949,388 in school projects.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in all three towns.

In Brookfield, District 1 residents will vote at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School, while District 2 residents will vote at Brookfield High School.

In New Milford, District 1 votes at Northville Elementary School, District 2 at the C.E. Lillis Building, District 3 at Old Fellows Lodge, District 4 at the Gaylordsville Fire Department, District 5 at Schaghticoke School, District 6 at Hill and Plain School and District 7 at Sarah Noble School.

Ridgefield residents vote at Yanity Gym.

Katrina Koerting and Anna Quinn contributed reporting.Thank you Wallis Annenberg and a special thank you to Dean Willow Bay for inviting me here today. And to the parents, again I say, and to the faculty, friends, graduates, good morning.

I want to give a special shout out because I was happy that Dean Bay invited me but I was going to be here anyway because one of my lovely daughter girls attends the Annenberg School of Journalism and is getting her masters today, so I was coming whether I was speaking or not. So a special shoutout to a young woman who I met when she was in the seventh grade and it was the first year that I was looking for smart, bright, giving, resilient, kind, open-hearted girls who had itthat factor that means you keep going no matter what. And this was the year that I chose everybody individually. And I remember her walking into the office in a little township where we were doing interviews all over South Africa and she came in and recited a poem about her teacher and when she walked out the door I go, Thats an it girl. Thando Dlomo, Im here to say I am so proud of you. Long way from the township in South Africa and her Aunt has flown 30 hours to be here for this celebration today. Thank you so much.

Today I come bearing some good news and some bad news for anybody who intends to build their life around your ability to communicate. So, I want to get the bad news out first so you can be clear. I always like to get the bad stuff upfront, so here it is: Everything around us, includingand in particular the internet and social mediais now being used to erode trust in our institutions, interfere in our elections, and wreak havoc on our infrastructure. It hands advertisers a map to our deepest desires, it enables misinformation to run rampant, attention spans to run short and false stories from phony sites to run circles around major news outlets. We have literally walked into traffic while staring at our phones.

Now the good news: Many of your parents are probably taking you somewhere really special for dinner tonight. I heard. I can do a little better than that. Now that I have presented some of the bad news, the good news is that there really is a solution. And the solution is each and every one of you. Because you will become the new editorial gatekeepers, an ambitious army of truth seekers who will arm yourselves with the intelligence, with the insight and the facts necessary to strike down deceit. Youre in a position to keep all of those who now disparage real news, you all are the ones that are going to keep those people in check. Why? Because you can push back and you can answer false narratives with real information and you can set the record straight. And you also have the ability and the power to give voice, as Dean Bay was saying, to people who desperately now need to tell their stories and have their stories told.

And this is what I do know for sure because Ive been doing it a long time: If you can just capture the humanity of the people of the stories youre telling, you then get that much closer to your own humanity. And you can confront your bias and you can build your credibility and hone your instincts and compound your compassion. You can use your gifts, thats what youre really here to do, to illuminate the darkness in our world.

So this is what I also know: This moment in time, this is your time to rise. It is. Even though you cant go anywhere, you cant stand in line at Starbucks, you cant go to a party, you cant go any place where anywhere you turn people are talking about how bad things are, how terrible it is. And this is what I know: The problem is everybody is meeting hysteria with more hysteria and then were all becoming hysterical and its getting worse. What Ive learned all these years is that were not supposed to match it or even get locked into resisting or pushing against it. Were supposed to see this moment in time for what it is. Were supposed to see through it and then transcend it. That is how you overcome hysteria. And that is how you overcome the sniping at one another, the trolling, the mean-spirited partisanship on both sides of the aisle, the divisiveness, the injustices, and the out-and-out hatred. You use it. Use this moment to encourage you, to embolden you, and to literally push you into the rising of your life. And to borrow a phrase from my beloved mentor Maya Angelou: Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides, just like hopes springing high, you will rise.

So your job now, let me tell you, is to take everything youve learned here and use what you learned to challenge the left, to challenge the right, and the center. When you see something, you say something, and you say it with the facts and the reporting to back it up. Heres what you have to do: You make the choice everyday, every single day, to exemplify honesty because the truth, let me tell you something about the truth, the truth exonerates and it convicts. It disinfects and it galvanizes. The truth has always been and will always be our shield against corruption, our shield against greed and despair. The truth is our saving grace. And not only are you here, USC Annenberg, to tell it, to write it, to proclaim it, to speak it, but to be it. Be the truth. Be the truth.

So I want to get down to the real reason were here today. In about an hour and a half, youre going to be catapulted into a world that appears to have gone off its rocker. And I can tell you Ive hosted the Oprah show for 25 years, number one show. Never missed a day. Never missed a day. Twenty five years, 4,561 shows. So I know how to talk, I can tell you that, but I was a little intimidated coming here because graduations, its tough, its hard trying to come up with something to share with you that you havent already heard. Any information or guidance I can offer is nothing that your parents or your deans or professors or Siri havent already provided. So Im here to really tell you: I dont have any new lessons. I dont have any new lessons. But I often think that its not the new lessons so much as it is really learning the old ones again and again.

So here are variations on a few grand themes beginning with this: Pick a problem, any problem, the list is long. Here are just a few that are at the top of my list. Theres gun violence and theres climate change, theres systemic racism, economic inequality, media bias. The homeless need opportunity, the addicted need treatment, the Dreamers need protection, the prison system needs reforming, the LGBTQ community needs acceptance, the social safety net needs saving, and the misogyny needs to stop. Needs to stop. But you cant fix everything and you cant save every soul. But what can you do? Here and now I believe you have to declare war on one of our most dangerous enemies, and that is cynicism. Because when that little creature sinks its hooks into you, itll cloud your clarity, itll compromise your integrity, itll lower your standards, itll choke your empathy. And sooner or later, cynicism shatters your faith. When you hear yourself saying, Ah, it doesnt matter what one person says, oh well, so what, it doesnt matter what I do, who cares? When you hear yourself saying that, know that youre on a collision course for our culture. And I understand how its so easy to become disillusioned, so tempting to allow apathy to set in, because anxiety is being broadcast on 157 channels, 24 hours a day, all night long. And everyone I know is feeling it. But these times, these times, are here to let us know that we need to take a stand for our right to have hope and we need to take a stand with every ounce of wit and courage we can muster.

The question is: What are you willing to stand for? That question is going to follow you throughout your life. And heres how you answer it. You put your honor where your mouth is. Put your honor where your mouth is. When you give your word, keep it. Show up. Do the work. Get your hands dirty. And then youll begin to draw strength from the understanding that history is still being written. Youre writing it every day. The wheels still in spin. And what you do or what you dont do will be a part of it. You build a legacy not from one thing but from everything. I remember when I just opened my school in 2007, I came back and I had the great joy of sitting at Maya Angelous table. She hadnt been able to attend the opening in South Africa. And I said to her, Oh Maya, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, thats going to be my greatest legacy. I remember she was standing at the counter making biscuits, and she turned, she put the dough down, and she looked at me and she said, You have no idea what your legacy will be. I said, Excuse me? I just opened this school and these girls, and its going to be  And she said, You have no idea what your legacy will be, because your legacy is every life you touch. Every life you touch. That changed me.

And its true, you cant personally stop anybody from walking into a school with an assault rifle, nor can you singlehandedly ensure that the rights that your mothers and grandmothers fought so hard for will be preserved for the daughters you may someday have. And itll take more than you alone to pull more than 40 million Americans out of poverty, but who will you be if you dont care enough to try? And what mountains could we move, I think, what gridlock could we eradicate if we were to join forces and work together in service of something greater than ourselves? You know my deepest satisfactions and my biggest rewards have come from exactly that. Pick a problem, any problem, and do something about it. Because to somebody whos hurting, something is everything. So, I hesitate to say this, because the rumors from my last big speech have finally died down, but here it is. Vote. Vote. Vote. Pay attention to what the people who claim to represent you are doing and saying in your name and on your behalf. They represent you and if theyve not done right by you or if their policies are at odds with your core beliefs, then you have a responsibility to send them packing. If they go low, thank you Michelle Obama, if they go low, we go to the polls. People died for that right, they died for that right. I think about it every time I vote. So dont let their sacrifices be in vain.

A couple other thoughts before I go. Eat a good breakfast. It really pays off. Pay your bills on time. Recycle. Make your bed. Aim high. Say thank you to people and actually really mean it. Ask for help when you need it, and put your phone away at the dinner table. Just sit on it, really. And know that what you tweet and post and Instagram today might be asked about at a job interview tomorrow, or 20 years from tomorrow. Be nice to little kids, be nice to your elders, be nice to animals, and know that its better to be interested than interesting. Invest in a quality mattress. Im telling you, your back will thank you later. And dont cheap out on your shoes. And if youre fighting with somebody you really love, for gods sakes find your way back to them because life is short, even on our longest days. And another thing, another thing you already definitely know that definitely bears repeating, dont ever confuse what is legal with what is moral because they are entirely different animals. You see, in a court of law, there are loopholes and technicalities and bargains to be struck, but in life, youre either principled or youre not. So do the right thing, especially when nobodys looking. And while Im at it, do not equate money and fame with accomplishment and character, because I can assure you based on the thousands of people Ive interviewed, one does not automatically follow the other.

Something else, something else. You need to know this. Your job is not always going to fulfill you. There will be some days that you just might be bored. Other days, you may not feel like going to work at all. Go anyway, and remember that your job is not who you are, its just what you are doing on the way to who you will become. Every remedial chore, every boss who takes credit for your ideas -- that is going to happen -- look for the lessons, because the lessons are always there. And the number one lesson I could offer you where your work is concerned is this: Become so skilled, so vigilant, so flat-out fantastic at what you do that your talent cannot be dismissed.

And finally, this: This will save you. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Youre only on this planet to be you, not someone elses imitation of you. I had to learn that the hard way, on the air, live, anchoring the news. One night in my twenties, when I first started broadcasting, I was 19, moved to an anchor by the time I was 20. I was just pretending to be Barbara Walters. I was trying to talk like Barbara, act like Barbara, hold my legs like Barbara. And I was on the air, I hadnt read the copy fully, and I called Canada, Canahdah. I cracked myself up, because I thought, Barbara would never call Canada Canahdah. And that little breakthrough, that little crack, that little moment that I stopped pretending allowed the real me to come through. Your life journey is about learning to become more of who you are and fulfilling the highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being. Thats why youre here. You will do that through your work and your art, through your relationships and love.

And to quote Albert Einstein, Education is what remains after we forget what were taught. Youve learned a lot here at USC. And when all that youve been taught begins to fade into the fabric of your life, I hope that what remains is your ability to analyze, to make distinctions, to be creative, and to wander down that road less traveled whenever you have the opportunity. And I hope that when you go, you go all in, and that your education helps you to walk that road with an open, discerning mind. Discernment is what were missing. And a kind heart. You know, there are 7 billion people on the planet right now. And here you are. Your degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism: This degree youre about to get is a privilege. Its a privilege. And that privilege obligates you to use what youve learned to lend a hand to somebody who doesnt get to be here. Somebody whos never had a ceremony like the one youre having this morning.

So I hold you in the light, and I wish you curiosity and confidence. And I wish you ethics and enlightenment. I wish you guts. Every great decision Ive ever made I trusted my gut. And goodness. I wish you purpose and the passion that goes along with that purpose. And heres what I really hope: I hope that every one of you contributes to the conversation of our culture and our time. And to some genuine communication, which means, you have to connect to people exactly where they are; not where you are, but where they are. And I hope you shake things up. And when the time comes to bet on yourself, I hope you double down. Bet on yourself. I hope you always know how happy and how incredibly relieved everybody is in this room is that youve made it to this place, at this time, on this gorgeous day. Congratulations USC Annenberg Class of 2018!

Related:

Watch Oprah Winfrey's 2018 USC Commencement Speech (Transcript)

7 Billionaire Entrepreneurs Who Started Off Dirt-Poor

The Unusual Hobbies of 8 of the World's Most Successful Business Leaders



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedThree of Upstate New York's cities have just been named among the most dangerous places in America, according to a new ranking published by Alarms.org, the official website of the National Council for Home Safety and Security.

The list uses violent crime counts per 100,000 people from the FBI in order to rank the most dangerous cities in the country.

There's some silver lining, however. While each city still has high rates of violent crime, they all trended toward lower crime rates in the past year. Check out the data below.

Gary Walts | gwalts@syracuse.com

#3 Niagara Falls (Niagara County)

Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,157

Trend: -4%

Population: 50,000

National rank: #88

Don't Edit

File photo

#2 Buffalo (Erie County)

Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,238

Trend: -7%

Population: 261,000

National rank: #73

Don't Edit

Mike Groll | The Associated Press

#1 Newburgh (Orange County)

Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,635

Trend: -13%

Population: 29,000

National rank: #29

Don't Edit

Steve Perez | The Associated Press

Top 10 most dangerous

1. East St. Louis, IL

2. Darby Borough, PA

3. Opa Locka, FL

4. Florida City, FL

5. Flint, MI

6. Detroit, MI

7. Saginaw City, MI

8. College Park, GA

9. Prichard, AL

10. West Memphis, AR

Don't Edit

25 most dangerous towns and cities in Upstate NY, according to new FBI crime data

NYup.com also conducted a study of the most dangerous places in Upstate New York earlier this year. The list also found Niagara Falls, Newburgh and Buffalo at the top of the list, but it looked at every city in Upstate NY and included weighted property crimes to provide a deeper ranking of the 25 most dangerous places in this region. See the full list here

Don't EditDeputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus A.Dapkiunas meets the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium

14-05-2018

On May 14, 2018 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Andrei Dapkiunas, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus non-resident, Jean-Arthur Regibeau.

The parties discussed the current state and prospects for cooperation between Belarus and Belgium in the field of multilateral diplomacy, foremost within the UN, including on the issue of enhancing international peace and security, achieving sustainable development goals, combating trafficking in human beings, promoting human rights, etc.

The sides noted the need to deepen bilateral cooperation on priority areas for both countries on the international agenda.

   

print versionMachine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) systems have significantly advanced in recent years. However, they are currently limited to executing only those tasks they are specifically designed to perform and are unable to adapt when encountering situations outside their programming or training. DARPAs Lifelong Learning Machines (L2M) program, drawing inspiration from biological systems, seeks to develop fundamentally new ML approaches that allow systems to adapt continually to new circumstances without forgetting previous learning.

Above- Todays machine learning and AI systems are limited to executing only tasks they are specifically programmed to perform, without being able to adapt to new situations outside of their training. DARPAs L2M program aims to generate new methodologies that will allow these systems to learn and improve during tasks, apply previous skills and knowledge to new situations, incorporate innate system limits, and enhance safety in automated assignments.

The L2M research teams are now focusing their diverse expertise on understanding how a computational system can adapt to new circumstances in real time and without losing its previous knowledge. One group, the team at University of California, Irvine plans to study the dual memory architecture of the hippocampus and cortex. The team seeks to create an ML system capable of predicting potential outcomes by comparing inputs to existing memories, which should allow the system to become more adaptable while retaining previous learnings. The Tufts University team is examining a regeneration mechanism observed in animals like salamanders to create flexible robots that are capable of altering their structure and function on the fly to adapt to changes in their environment. Adapting methods from biological memory reconsolidation, a team from University of Wyoming will work on developing a computational system that uses context to identify appropriate modular memories that can be reassembled with new sensory input to rapidly form behaviors to suit novel circumstances.

With the L2M program, we are not looking for incremental improvements in state-of-the-art AI and neural networks, but rather paradigm-changing approaches to machine learning that will enable systems to continuously improve based on experience, said Dr. Hava Siegelmann, the program manager leading L2M. Teams selected to take on this novel research are comprised of a cross-section of some of the worlds top researchers in a variety of scientific disciplines, and their approaches are equally diverse.

While still in its early stages, the L2M program has already seen results from a team led by Dr. Hod Lipson at Columbia Universitys Engineering School. Dr. Lipson and his team recently identified and solved challenges associated with building and training a self-reproducing neural network, publishing their findings in Arvix Sanity. While neural networks are trainable to produce almost any kind of pattern, training a network to reproduce its own structure is paradoxically difficult. As the network learns, it changes, and therefore the goal continuously shifts. The continued efforts of the team will focus on developing a system that can adapt and improve by using knowledge of its own structure. The research teams work with self-replicating neural networks is just one of many possible approaches that will lead to breakthroughs in lifelong learning, said Siegelmann.

We are on the threshold of a major jump in AI technology, stated Siegelmann. The L2M program will require significantly more ingenuity and effort than incremental changes to current systems. L2M seeks to enable AI systems to learn from experience and become smarter, safer, and more reliable than existing AI.Russias floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov has left Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in Saint Petersburg. It has two 35 Megawatt KLT-40S nuclear reactors, similar to those used in Russias nuclear-powered ice breakers. Akademik Lomonosov left the shipyard on 28 April and is now heading to its permanent base in Russias northernmost city of Pevek.

The journey consists of two stages. The floating nuclear power plant, which has no nuclear fuel on board, will be towed from Baltiysky Zavod to Atomflots berth in Murmansk. Then, in the summer of 2019, it will be sent from Murmansk to the seaport of Pevek.NEW HAVEN  Thanks to a well-researched history project, three first-year students at High School in the Community are going where they have never gone before: Washington, D.C.

Johanyx Rodriguez, Shakshi Patel and Hallie Hushion all say they have never been to the nations capital, but they will make a visit during a trip to the University of Maryland in June for the National History Day contest after placing second in their division at the state contest.

This is a first for the school, which was selected for the first cohort of the state Department of Educations Commissioners Network school turnaround program in 2012.

For the contest, the three girls made a poster board exhibit on child labor to suit the contests theme: Conflict and Compromise.

We found our topic in science learning about the greenhouse effect, Johanyx said. She said as they considered factory emissions, they learned more about the child laborers who occupied the buildings.

Shakshi said the compromise lies in the fact that child labor has not been completely eradicated, as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 prohibits oppressive labor for minors.

Johanyx said any attempts at legislating the issue often failed because it was seen as a matter of states rights. Eventually, Connecticut and Massachusetts were the first states to legislate the issue, which gained traction on the compromise principle that child laborers  who were then often from poor families and did not receive much formal education  were deserving of an education.

Social studies teacher Danny Roque, who encouraged the three students to participate as an extracurricular activity, said the students were responsible for showing how the issue relates to both local and national history.

He said the group is less nervous now than they had been before the regional competition  where they placed second. At that local competition, the team was given feedback to include more local context, which led them to interview Joe Manning, a genealogist, who exposed them to the photography of Lewis Hine.

Johanyx said they expected to see the photographs of children working on tobacco farms in Norwich, but one photo from 1909 of newsies, some as young as 9, on what is identifiably the New Haven Green, came as a surprise.

I was really surprised to see the pictures from New Haven itself, she said. (Hine) was in New Haven for four days when he took this picture.

Ultimately, the eradication of child labor was bundled into a larger movement for labor rights.

Its like a conflict within a conflict, Hallie said.

Matt Brown, the HSC building leader, said all first-year students will participate in the National History Day project next year. Currently, sophomores at the school do a social justice symposium and seniors produce capstone projects.

Weve tried to expand the magnet theme to include a focus on leadership and public policy in addition to our social justice theme, he said.

The grant funds will be used to provide professional development for faculty like Roque and will also implement participation in the contest into the ninth grade curriculum. Johanyx, Hallie and Shakshi, however, have taken it to another level.

We want kids engaging in work that has relevancy outside the classroom, he said.

Roque said the benefit to project based learning is giving students an opportunity to pursue their own passions instead of traditional lecture-style instruction.

The High School in the Community team is the only New Haven high school team to advance to the national competition. Amelia Cox and Alena Gutierrez from Worthington Hooker School will also attend the national competition in the junior group documentary division for Tinker v. Des Moines, a 1969 federal decision that protects students constitutional right to free speech.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.comNEW HAVEN  Attorneys locked horns this week in United States District Court arguing a murder case. One day, some of those attorneys hope to be admitted to the Connecticut bar.

In honor of Law Day on May 1, 10th graders from Metropolitan Business Academy held a mock trial, their third and final one of the year, in the United States District Court in New Haven on Tuesday.

Teacher Nataliya Braginsky said students in her contemporary law class picked roles to portray, from judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, witness, juror or defendant. The students had only about a month to prepare their roles, whether it be constructing an argument, familiarizing themselves with their testimony or rehearsing a cross-examination.

Tuesdays mock case concerned an intoxicated college freshman who fell to her death in an apparent fraternity hazing incident. The fraternitys president, who organized the pledge week events, was on trial for her death.

Ana Velez, the prosecutor, said the state would pursue a first-degree murder charge. The fraternitys actions were disreputable and unfit for society, she said.

In defending her client, Aida Deleon said the fraternity president is a victim too, as his reputation has been damaged.

No one can truly know what happened that night, she said.

To maximize class participation, there were two juries of eight. Both juries were hung on murder and manslaughter, but one found the president guilty of a hazing charge whereas the other did not.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Merriam said she believed the results closely resembled one another.

It shows you the system works pretty well, she said.

Before the verdicts were read, Deleon said she was less bearish on the legal system.

I think the law has different factors to it, she said. There can be bias in law or wrongful convictions.

Its for that reason she said she wants to pursue a career as a lawyer, to make the system more equitable from the inside.

Emoni Cotton, also a defense attorney, said she also wants to pursue a career in law, and considered the exercise to be good exposure.

The idea of the justice system is that everyone deserves a defense, because what if theyre not guilty? she said.

Prosecutor Jaeda Stripling said she learned how to ask sharper questions as an attorney in her month of practice.

I make them say it, instead of asking yes or no questions. Its more explaining, she said.

She said that, although the course under teacher Braginsky had shown her examples of police officers using bias, she felt the trial system had enough checks and balances.

I feel like its fair in a way, she said. Velez, the prosecutor who made the closing statement, said she too believes the system is fair, but she wasnt sure if it is solid enough as an institution to withstand political interference.

Merriam said in her four years of presiding over the mock trials besides a student judge  student Flor Jimenez on Tuesday  Tuesdays was the strongest group.

There are times when the students perform just as well as some of the actual attorneys, she said. Theyre brave to do it, because its hard for kids in high school to stand up in front of their classmates.

Bernadette DeRubeis, a judicial assistant for Judge Janet Hall and a member of the courts outreach committee, helped pull the event together as a means of exposing students to the legal system. Both the prosecution and defense are mentored by two working attorneys each.

Besides learning from the trial itself, students took an opportunity to ask Merriam about some of the particulars when it comes to working in law.

The job market is different now, Merriam said. In the past, firms would try to attract talent. Maybe itll be different in 10 years when you get your law degrees.

Metropolitan Business Academy, an interdistrict magnet school, has courses in three academies, including a law and political science academy.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.comWhen 9-year-old Jeremy Brown is in pain, it feels like he is being stabbed, while the pain experienced by Deborah Oliver, 40, is like 100 simultaneous charley horses.

Brown, of Bridgeport, and Oliver, of New Haven, have sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that causes excruciating pain, life-threatening complications and a shortened life expectancy. Almost one-half of sickle cell patients die in their 40s.

The disease affects some 100,000 Americans, about one in 365 African Americans and one out of 16,300 Hispanics; and in lesser numbers, people with Middle Eastern, Indian, Caribbean and Mediterranean ancestries. An estimated 2,000 people in Connecticut have SCD.

But the disease  discovered more than 100 years ago  receives little research, funding or attention.

 Just two medications have been developed to treat the disease: hydroxyurea, approved in 1998; and Endari, approved in 2017.

 There is no national data registry for tracking the disease.

 Only four of the states 27 acute care hospitals have sickle cell treatment programs. And the last SCD awareness program by the Department of Public Health was in 2007.

 A 2013 study in the journal Blood reported that cystic fibrosis, which affects 30,000 people nationally, receives seven to 11 times more funding per patient than sickle cell disease. The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis challenge in 2014 raised more than $115 million for about 20,000 patients in the U.S. The bulk of the funds  $77 million  were allocated for research.

I think its ignored because its predominantly a disease of inner-city African Americans, said Dr. William Zempsky, a pain specialist at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford, which treats children with SCD. The other treatment programs are at Yale New Haven and Bridgeport hospitals and UConn Health in Farmington. In total, they treat about half of the state residents with SCD, estimated Dr. Biree Andemariam, the UConn program director.

There are no hard statistics on adults with SCD born before 1990, when the state started testing newborns for it. More than 660 babies were born with it from 1990 to 2017, according to DPH.

Andemariam said that about 1,000 patients get no care or go to emergency rooms when in crisis. She and Zempsky created an ER treatment protocol for hospitals without sickle cell programs but none of the Connecticut ERs they approached use it, she said.

Advocates say poor ER care has caused deaths due to lack of knowledge about SCD. Virginia Pertillar, executive director of Citizens for Quality Sickle Cell Care, said patients endure harmful, unnecessarily long waits, are accused of seeking opioids to get high, not to relieve pain, and are mistreated or maltreated.

Quite honestly, because this primarily affects people of color in this country, some of the disparities in care and research dollars and pharmaceutical interests are intertwined with our countrys history of the marginalization experienced by people of color, Andemariam said.

Dr. Gregory Buller, Bridgeport Hospitals chief of medicine, said most SCD patients dont have the income or clout to raise awareness, with many on disability or a limited work schedule. If Warren Buffett had sickle cell disease, then the approach to it might be a whole lot different, he said.

Treatment

In SCD, blood cells are sticky and deformed, causing clots, hampered blood flow, intense pain and, potentially, strokes, organ damage and breathing problems. Most adult patients have chronic pain. Children and adults have pain crises that erupt unpredictably and can last more than a week.

Bone marrow transplants are the only cure, but theyre risky and limited to very sick people who can find a donor match and who dont have organ damage. Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital has done about a dozen successful transplants, said Dr. Farzana Pashankar, a hematologist-oncologist who specializes in SCD.

Pashankar said the hospital has expanded potential donors from siblings to include parents and non-relatives so more patients can be eligible for transplants. University of Illinois Hospital doctors reported in April that they cured seven adults of SCD by using stem cells from family donors who previously would have been considered incompatible because their cells were only partial matches. One patient has died. Dr. John D. Roberts, medical director of Yale New Havens adult sickle cell program, said because of the death, whats unclear is whether it was really successful. He said that the results translate to a 12.5 percent death rate, probably too high.

In Paris, doctors reported that they have cured a boy with SCD using gene therapy. Scientists have called this development encouraging and promising but needing long-term follow up and more cases.

Treatments include opioids, transfusions, and the two SCD-targeted medications, hydroxyurea and Endari.

Jeremy Brown, a third-grader who wants to be an actor, has the most severe and debilitating form of SCD. Two years ago, he began taking hydroxyurea, a chemotherapy drug. He has been hospitalized once since. Before that, he was hospitalized at least monthly starting when he was 6 months old, said his mother, Tangi Small. Her husband lost a job after absences due to Jeremys hospitalizations. The couple and their four children became homeless, living in transitional housing for three years.

Jeremy has endured intense pain in his arms and legs, fever, a distended stomach, bulging eyes and pneumonia. He cant gain weight. Twice he couldnt breathe on his own and was connected to a machine that removed some sickle cells and replaced them with normal ones. He has been prescribed morphine and oxycontin.

Oliver, a clinical technologist, has a different strain. She has pain crises about once a year, for which she is hospitalized and gets blood transfusions. She had her gall bladder removed and a hip replacement due to SCD complications. She limps from bone deterioration in her other hip. She is frequently online, searching for SCD advice from other patients. She was diagnosed when she had pneumonia at age 4.

Im not afraid to die, Oliver said. Thats not a fear. My concern is not fulfilling whatever my purpose is. I try to live each day as if its my last. I try to get the fullness of each day. I have no regrets.

Connecticut SCD program directors said they are reducing hospitalizations with outpatient care, including individualized care plans, managing pain and reducing stress with psychiatric care and social work counseling, non-opioid medications, and self-management of opioid use, depending on need.

Roberts said that in 2015, advocates successfully lobbied to include SCD among the debilitating illnesses eligible for treatment with medical marijuana. It was not included in the 2012 state law.

The median life expectancy for SCD is 42 for men and 48 for women, according to Kathryn Britos-Swain, state sickle cell coordinator. Fewer children are dying, but adult mortality is not improving. A study by investigators at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine showed it got 1 percent worse each year between 1979 and 2005.

This is obviously a concern to families living with sickle cell disease and to sickle cell physicians, Roberts said.

Small said she cried when her son was diagnosed because I knew people who had it and passed early. Four of her friends died from SCD at ages 17, 18, 21 and 32.

Research

Connecticut sickle cell research includes: Yale using synthetic marijuana to test marijuanas effect on sickle cell pain; UConn studying quality of life, mental health, chronic pain, trauma and cell membranes; Connecticut Childrens working on a web-based tool to manage pain; and Bridgeport, Yale and UConn studying infections.

Pharmaceutical company interest in funding research has risen, but it is still difficult to get funding, Andemariam said, citing her inability to obtain funding to complete her work on SCD patients trauma.

Zempsky predicted better treatment options in the next decade as a result of new research. But, he said, right now, the status quo is not very good.

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of Americas southern Connecticut chapter is working to bring care and treatment to patients in their homes.

Well be tracking how we can reduce [hospital] admissions as well as emergency room visits, James Rawlings, chairman of the board of the local organization, said last year.

For information on sickle cell:

The National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute

Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Southern Connecticut

Citizens for Quality Sickle Cell Care

Yale New Haven Hospitals sickle cell programs

New England Sickle Cell Institute, UConn Health

Connecticut Childrens Medical Center

Connecticut Department of Public Health, sickle cell information

Childrens camp, parent retreats: Hole in the Wall Gang Camp

Peggy McCarthy is a Conn. Health I-Team WriterNEW HAVEN  An occupational therapist with a specialty in hands is serving aboard a hospital ship in Africa helping children who have suffered burns to get their lives back.

Elisabeth Mordecai, who lives in New Haven and grew up in Bethany, has since February been volunteering aboard the Africa Mercy, the worlds largest private hospital ship, currently docked in Cameroon.

Its like watching miracles happen every day, she said, in an interview from the ship. Its emotional for sure.

This is Mordecais second sixth-month stint with Mercy Ships. There are many types of care going on aboard the eight-deck ship with 450 crew members and medical and rehabilitative personnel from over 40 countries.

Her work has been concentrated on therapy for children who have suffered burns  often years before  and who finally got surgery on the ship  the treatment delayed because of poverty.

She said there are many burns in children in the region because of open-flame cooking. Some have had brushes with the fire, some put their hands in boiling water and some even fall into it. Lack of immediate treatment such as people would experience in this country has led to deformity and lack of ability to use hand, arms, legs, she said. In some cases, burned areas fused with other areas of the body because the tendency when one gets burned is to hold that part close to the body, she said.

Its hard not to come back, said Mordecai, who also did a six-month stint in 2016. Its part of my heart now.

She said many of the injuries, once treated, offer hope for independence  restoring the ability of kids to do basic things such as bathe, dress, squeeze a tube of toothpaste and even work in the future. There is also a psychological benefit, as many may be pointed at or made fun of because of their appearance, she said.

The before and after is pretty dramatic, she said.

Mordecai cited as an example a recent 9-year-old patient who, when she was at 1, reached into a pot of boiling water and had burns to her wrist that caused her elbow to be stuck at a 90-degree angle, her arm to be stuck to her side and her wrist pulled back. The little girl couldnt straighten her elbow.

Following surgery Mordecai worked with her six days a week in therapy. It was painful, but every time Mordecai stopped because of that, the little girl would say, Encore, because she so wanted to get better.

The girl, proud of her accomplishments, loved to tell people, I did my exercises and I didnt cry.

The little girl finished a changed person  and Mordecai said no one is happier for the healing than parents, who truly understand what recovery will mean over the childs lifetime.

Mordecai, 33, who will return in July, normally works at Hand Therapy Associates in the Bridgeport office and said they have been incredibly accommodating,  holding her job open while she serves. She doesnt get paid in her absence and said shes lucky to be able to serve.

Mordecai predicts she will be returning to the far away field sometime in the future.

I think once you come here and get a taste of it, its hard not to come back, she said.

To view a 3-min overview of Mercy Ships visit: https://vimeo.com/107254559.Florida's Secretary of State plans to send an elections expert to the state's second-largest county during the upcoming elections to "ensure that all laws are followed," after a judge ruled that the Broward Supervisor of Elections illegally destroyed ballots cast in a 2016 congressional race.

Broward Circuit Judge Raag Singhal issued an order Friday determining that Supervisor Brenda Snipes' office improperly discarded thousands of ballots cast two years ago in the Democratic primary race between Tim Canova and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. In a ruling first reported by Politico, Singhal sided with Canova, who filed a lawsuit last year after he said Snipes ignored and then illegally obstructed his request to copy and inspect ballots.

Snipes contends that her office kept scanned, electronic copies of the ballots and did nothing wrong. She plans to challenge the order. But heading into the mid-term elections, Singhal's determination that Snipes broke state and federal law is sure to spark controversy around an office that oversees voting in Florida's most reliably Democratic county.

"Given all the scrutiny going on about elections processes these days and elections concerns, one has to wonder why on the eve of having to produce these records they were destroyed," Frank Rainer, an attorney for Canova, said in an interview.

Click here to read the rest.NEW HAVEN  To Lawrence Langer, the purpose of interviewing survivors of the Holocaust is not to prevent such a monumentally horrific event from happening again.

History has shown that, to some degree, genocide has continued unabated since Adolf Hitlers Nazi regime was destroyed in World War II.

Langer, 88, who lives in Wellesley, Mass., has conducted 84 interviews for the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University and said, I do not believe knowing about the Holocaust will prevent future holocausts. Thats been proved already.

I dont look for moral lessons, but a human being who is determined to know what history is about, what being alive is about, has an obligation to know about history.

Learning about history through the video testimonies of those who survived, resisted or witnessed the Holocaust has been the mission of the Fortunoff archive since 1979, when it was created as a community effort called the Holocaust Survivors Film Project. According to its director, Stephen Naron, the archive was one of the first efforts to record the raw, unedited memories of those who lived through the Nazi era from 1933 to 1945.

Starting with 183 testimonies given to Yale in 1981, the collection  which is open to anyone who registers and requests to see a specific video  is close to 4,500 testimonies strong, totaling over 10,000 hours  in over a dozen different languages, Naron said.

Langer said the results have been spectacular, partly because the archive began in 1979, when memories were still relatively fresh, partly because the interviewers are well-versed in the history, so the person being filmed doesnt feel a need to explain basic facts, and partly because the testimony does not rely on questions that might limit the survivors story.

Our premise is that the survivors know what they want to say  and they need a supportive atmosphere and a sympathetic atmosphere to allow them to say it, said Langer, who will present a screening at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Criterion Cinemas, 86 Temple St., of a work-in-progress documentary called Soul Witness: the Brookline Holocaust Witness Project, with a question-and-answer session afterward.

When I interview someone, a certain rapport develops and so they feel more comfortable telling their stories, Langer said.

Ive heard stories that are so terrible that I dont write about them and I dont talk about them to anybody, he said. Langer taught English at Simmons College and has written 15 books on the Holocaust and other subjects.

I want to hear them and I think audiences need to hear them because otherwise we sentimentalize the Holocaust into the triumph of the human spirit, he said. While there were such stories, at the same time there are stories of deprival. They are as interested in talking about the people they lost as much as the people who survived.

Many suffered unfathomable losses, as the Nazis slaughtered 6 million Jews, as well as LGBTQ persons, people with disabilities, Roma and Sinti people (once called Gypsies) and others until the Allies defeated Hitler in 1945.

Among those furthering the mission of making Holocaust testimonies accessible is Sarah Garibova, the Fortunoffs first Geoffrey H. Hartman fellow, named for a Yale professor whose wife, Renee Hartman, was one of the first survivors taped. Geoffrey Hartman, who escaped Germany as a child on a Kindertransport to England, helped launch the original film project.

Garibova is working on an annotated edition of the testimony of Liubov K., a woman from the central Ukrainian town of Zvenigorodka, who was born in 1921 and died in 2013 in Haifa, Israel. (The Fortunoff archive uses only first names and last initials in identifying those whom it records.)

The interview was in Russian, with some Ukrainian and Yiddish. I translated it into English and I also wrote annotations for it, giving it some context and scholarly insight into the big picture, said Garibova, a post-doctoral researcher who specializes in Russian and Jewish history.

In her testimony, Liubov K. talks quite thoroughly about her pre-war life, the war period and then the post-war so you really get 80 years of a persons life, Garibova said. The transcript is more than 50 pages long.

Liubov grew up in a very, very poor family. They didnt own their own home, Garibova said. At a certain point her family had to give her and her brother over to an orphanage. That was during the Great Famine of 1932-33, which was a genocide aimed at Ukraine by Joseph Stalin, according to britannica.com.

Liubov K.s education was mostly in Yiddish, Garibova said, but she was then imprisoned in a number of labor camps run by the Nazis and Ukrainian guards. In the early months of the German occupation, both her parents were shot at separate times while being confined in a ghetto, she said.

Somehow, Liubov survived the war and was responsible for initiating the construction of three monuments at various graves in her hometown, Garibova said. She had one daughter and a grandson.

Garibova said it isnt easy listening to the tragic stories of Holocaust survivors. Im not going to lie, she said. Its difficult and its very depressing to work with these materials. I cant say it makes me a more optimistic person, but, as a scholar, its really enriched my perspective on Soviet-Jewish history, which included economic crises, social crises and famine after famine.

However, Garibova said, I think working with testimonies gives you access to both the very dark side of human nature and the positive side. Everybody who survived owes their life to at least one person  almost always a non-Jew. And they owe their survival to their own creativity. Ive been blown away by the spur-of-the-moment things that have saved someones life. ... You can think of 10 ways where it could have failed.

Another survivor, Maria G., was being taken to Babi Yar to be shot when she was about 13, but a Russian or Ukrainian civilian pulled her out of line and saved her life, Garibova said. Why he did that I dont know. We never learned his name. Babi Yar, a ravine in Kiev, Ukraine, was a site of several massacres.

Voices of the victims

Naron said the Fortunoffs testimonies are conducted in a specific way that enables the survivor to tell their story the way they want to tell the story.  We dont ask a lot of questions, so the narrative can be convoluted, jumping back and forth in time and space.

Recording the testimonies is a vital part of understanding the Nazi genocide, Naron said. You cant just write the history of the Holocaust from the perspective of the perpetrators. You need the voices of the survivors and the voices of the victims in order to understand the complete picture, the complete history of this period.

In addition to scholars being able to access the interviews, their children, childrens children, childrens childrens children will be able to come to see and hear what their ancestors experienced, he said.

Collectively, this archive also serves as a warning to the present and the future about the danger of certain ideological extremes: Nazism, racism, fascism, extreme nationalism, Naron said. To say never again is foolish because it has([occurred) again and again and we havent been able to stop it. Testimonies wont stop it.

Some of the testimonies relate to genocides occurring at the time they were recorded, Naron said. In 1979 and 1980, some Holocaust survivors talk about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge and what was happening there, he said. Whatevers happening in the world at that time when the testimony is being recorded impacts how the survivor tells their story.

All the interviews are conducted in a studio in New Haven or at one of the Fortunoffs affiliate projects spread around the world, including Israel, Argentina and Slovakia. Many of those have stopped taping, which makes collecting the testimonies more difficult as the survivors age, Naron said. Last year, just two testimonies were taken at Yale. But some interviewers at Yale have been doing the work for decades  Theyre experts in what they do, he said.

You need to have a great deal of historical background knowledge to understand what transpires in these testimonies, many of which are in German, Polish or Ukrainian.

Its very emotionally challenging for the survivors to come and give their testimonies, Naron said. People think its cathartic. Its not cathartic. Its  emotionally challenging for survivors to give testimony.

As the World War II generation ages, grows more feeble and dies, This is a new issue for us, and we dont know how to deal with it because we dont have the resources to send a team out, Naron said.

One advantage now, however, is that 99 percent of it has been digitized for preservation and access and is being made available to researchers  and the public here at Yale and at partner sites around the world, Naron said. One is at the University of Hartford.

Since the Fortunoff archive was launched, film director Stephen Spielberg in 1994 founded the USC Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California, which has collected 55,000 testimonies, Naron said. In 1993, Spielberg directed the movie Schindlers List, about a German businessman who saved hundreds of mostly Polish Jews by hiring them to work in his factories. Weve just signed an agreement with them to have closer cooperation, Naron said. We traded access to each others collections.

Debra Bush has been an archives assistant since 1989 and said that, as a black woman, I could understand some of the survivors thought processes, knowing that skin color or ethnicity can put someone in danger. If we allow that to keep happening again, whos next? It can happen again. People think it cant but it can  especially in the way the climate of the world is now. I think it can very easily.

Christy Tomecek, a project archivist, works with the descriptions and cataloging of the videos. In our access system you can watch the video in one pane and then in the side pane there will be transcribed notes.  Its a lot different when you are watching someone talking about their experience and not this sanitized information.

The Fortunoff archive is part of the Yale University Librarys Manuscripts and Archives department and can be accessed at https://web.library.yale.edu/

testimonies. Registration is required and the viewer must request a specific person to watch the entire testimony, but there are several edited testimonies on the website.

This story was edited to clarify that Soul Witness is a work-in-progress, not edited testimonies.

Contact Ed Stannard at edward.stannard

@hearstmediact.com or 203-680-9382.@alextdaugherty

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is in Israel today for the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and gubernatorial hopeful Ron DeSantis will also be on hand as members of the Trump administration tout the president's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv.

Donald Trump's decision to move the embassy was praised by Scott last year and he is also meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a schedule released by Scott's office. The decision to move the embassy has been praised by many Florida Republicans while South Florida Democrats in districts with large Jewish populations also supported the move.

Some of Trumps top Cabinet officials opposed the decision, arguing that the move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital would needlessly inflame tensions between Israel and Palestinians and potentially put people in danger. Demonstrations on the Israel-Gaza border on Monday killed 41 Palestinians demonstrating along the border fence with 1,600 wounded, according to the Washington Post. The protests mark the bloodiest day in Gaza since a 2014 war with Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Scott is traveling to Israel in his official capacity as governor and not through his Senate campaign. He is scheduled to return to Florida on Tuesday.

Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart also attended the embassy opening with a host of Republicans in Congress.

Viewed 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.Xerox said on Sunday that it was calling off its merger deal with Fujifilm of Japan, after reaching a settlement with the shareholder activist Carl Icahn and another major investor who sharply opposed the deal.

In recent weeks, it had become increasingly clear that the deal was in jeopardy. Under the terms of the settlement with the two shareholders, Xerox said it would replace its chief executive, Jeff Jacobson, while making a series of changes to its board of directors. The companys first settlement with its investors fell apart this month.

Mr. Icahn, the billionaire hedge fund manager, and Darwin Deason, who became a major Xerox investor after selling his company to it, had argued that the merger agreement undervalued the company. In a lawsuit aimed at stopping the merger, Mr. Deason accused Mr. Jacobson of striking the deal to keep a job at the combined company.

Xerox said it was backing out of the deal because, among other things, Fujifilm did not deliver audited statements by April 15. When the statements were delivered, it said, the audited financials had material deviations from the unaudited statements given to Xerox earlier.WASHINGTON  John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, said on Sunday that European officials should have known that President Trump would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, despite months of negotiations to salvage the accord that they believed had brought them close to satisfying the presidents demands.

Despite the complete consistency of President Trump in his opposition to the deal  opposed to it as candidate Trump, opposed to it as President-elect Trump, opposed to it as President Trump  many people, including apparently former Secretary of State John Kerry, thought that we never would get out of it, Mr. Bolton said on CNNs State of the Union. Now, I dont know how to explain why people could miss what the president was saying. So, I think, at the moment, theres some feeling in Europe that theyre really surprised we got out of it, really surprised at the reimposition of strict sanctions.

I think that will sink in, and well see what happens then, he said.

Mr. Boltons remarks could further exasperate the Europeans, who expressed disappointment when Mr. Trump abandoned the deal last week. They had dedicated top diplomats to the negotiations and believed that they had nearly worked out the specific fixes Mr. Trump had insisted on in a speech in January to remain in the agreement.

As recently as May 4, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had told his European counterparts that if he could win a few more days for negotiations, he believed that there was a chance that the two sides could come to an agreement on the last sticking point. In his confirmation hearings, Mr. Pompeo had said he supported a fix.When I stumbled across a high school graduation in Gaza City, it was disorienting. I could have been in Southern California or suburban New Jersey. Eager, excited kids in their caps and gowns. And then, a big dance party. But these graduates of Gazas American International School are the privileged few, the sons and daughters of the elite. Theyve come of age in a place thats been under blockade since they were 7 years old. And even they cant be sure that theyll ever get out. The other 99 percent of Gazans are far worse off. Theyre stuck here in one of the most densely populated places on earth, with little or no work, sporadic electricity, filthy water and worsening public health. The most acute shortage is of hope. Since March, thousands have gathered in protests demanding a right of return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel. The protests were the idea of a young activist. He imagined masses of people camping out peacefully along the Israeli fence that hems in Gaza, then knocking it over and walking across, making a point if nothing else. But he lost control of what he had started. Hamas, the militant group that has run Gaza since 2007, took over. The demonstrations gave Hamas a way to put themselves on the side of their frustrated constituents and rage against a common enemy: Israel. The protest camps set up along the fence can make you do a double take. In parts, they look like a community festival, a carnival, a fair, like a distant cousin to Burning Man. Women prepare falafel sandwiches. Barbers give haircuts and trim beards. Lip synchers and dancers perform in the shade. Actors ham it up playing cruel Israeli soldiers. Families come with their children. It all seems like fun, but closer to the fence, it looks more like a battle. The protesters, mostly young men, but some women and boys too, want to break through the barrier separating them from Israel. The soldiers are determined to stop them. Scores have been killed so far in Gaza. Thousands have been injured. Hamas calls the protests peaceful  because nobody is firing rifles or rockets, they say. But Israel sees some in the crowds throwing grenades and Molotov cocktails. The protesters have organized themselves into teams  of rock throwers with their slings, the wire cutters who drag away coils of barbed wire. And the tire teams who collect and then burn tires to create a smokescreen against sniper fire. Other squads turn toys into firebombs. Rags soaked in gasoline are tied to frilly kites and sent flying toward Israel. Acres of farmland and forest have burned. Ambulance crews circle in a loop, waiting until they hear gunshots, and running when they see someone fall. Nearby, doctors and nurses in hospital tents tend to the wounded. What the protests can achieve is unclear. The organizers talk about increasing international pressure on Israel to lift the siege of Gaza, and it seems like nothing would do more to accomplish that than a tremendous body count. Its all meant to ramp up to a climactic conclusion over two days: May 14, with the U.S. Embassys move to Jerusalem on the 70th anniversary of the state of Israel, and May 15, when Palestinians remember that history as the Nakba, a catastrophe. The head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, now says that the protests will continue indefinitely until, he says, We break the siege.BAGHDAD  Four years ago, Iraqis united in a fight to free their country from what many viewed as an existential threat: the Islamic State, which held nearly one-third of Iraq in its grip.

This weekend, the nation held its first election since defeating the extremist group, a vote extraordinary for featuring ordinary bread-and-butter issues like corruption and unemployment  not security  as its major themes.

In many ways, the remarkably peaceful election on Saturday was both a vivid illustration of how far the nation of about 37 million people has come since 2014  and of the depth of the problems that remain.

Unlike votes in previous years, this election was notable for a lack of sectarianism, especially among the leading Shiite-led coalitions. Political analysts attributed this to a changed public mood; sectarianism is now seen as the major cause of the bloodshed and devastation suffered since the American military invasion in 2003.JERUSALEM  When Israel declared its independence in 1948, President Harry Truman rushed to recognize it. He took just 11 minutes, and Israelis, about to go to war to defend their infant state, were euphoric.

Seventy years to the day  and nearly as long since Israel declared the holy city of Jerusalem its eternal capital  the United States will formally open its embassy on a hilltop here two miles south of the Western Wall.

The embassys move from Tel Aviv and President Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital  reversing decades of American foreign policy  comes at a moment so fraught with both pride and peril that Israelis seem not to know what to feel.

Israelis find it hard to rejoice when they find themselves doing some of the same things they did back in 1948: listening for civil-defense sirens, readying bomb shelters and calling in reinforcements to confront threats to the north, south and east.With her dark, disturbing Breaking the Waves, Missy Mazzoli established herself as an opera composer to watch. Now New Yorkers will get a chance to hear her latest work, Proving Up, which will open the 30th-anniversary season of the Miller Theater at Columbia University.

Proving Up is, like Breaking the Waves, based on a nightmarish tale, this one a short story by Karen Russell about homesteaders in Nebraska after the Civil War struggling with the American dream. Another collaboration with the librettist Royce Vavrek, the new work was described as ushering in a new genre of horror opera by The Washington Post.She didnt care  and hasnt for a long time now. For over four decades, Ms. Kominsky-Crumb has been shining an unabashedly unflattering light on her own life. Its the theme that runs through Love That Bunch, a new book gathering her solo comics from her mid-20s until these past few years, as she turns 70 this summer.

With her previous collections long out of print, this publication offers a lifes retrospective. Its a significant moment of recognition after a career spent mostly in the shadow of her husband. Even though she has collaborated with Mr. Crumb for The New Yorker over the last two decades, the pioneering quality of Ms. Kominsky-Crumbs own work  nakedly self-revealing and self-obsessed years ahead of the rest of the culture  has largely been overlooked.

Image Credit... Alessandra Montalto/The New York Times

The vulnerability she exposes in Love That Bunch  every flaw, from her nose to her hypochondria, is chewed over  is very much a precursor to todays dominant comedic mode. Way before Girls, Broad City and Fleabag, Ms. Kominsky-Crumb expressed herself in a scribbly hand (she calls it homely) about sex and her love-hate relationship with her body, about the trauma she endured at the hands of her monster of a mother and her desire to find lovers who would treat her like a bad girl.

She has something in common with Lena Dunham, Amy Poehler, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, women who are trying to grapple with their identities in a way that is not prettified, said Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus. They are just trying to live and breathe as women with all their contradictions. And its a liberated and liberating way of looking at oneself.From Royces painstaking opulence, Winchester pivots to the mass-production innovations of Henry Ford. Here, he offers a fresh perspective on an oft-told story; yes, Ford brought a radical principle to manufacturing  completely interchangeable parts  but as Winchester makes clear, this idea would not have been feasible without precision engineering. Whereas Royces cars were hand-assembled, requiring some filing to the components to ensure everything fit properly for each vehicle, Ford insisted that perfection in manufacturing would enable every part to be identical and thus easily and reliably fit together. One consequence of breaking products down into their components like this is that each part can simply be replaced when damaged  but until Ford came along, this principle didnt really exist (as Winchester explains in an earlier, less absorbing chapter about how guns used to be made individually without component parts). Interestingly, Winchester also discusses the social implications of precision on assembly lines. As factories became increasingly powered by mechanical means rather than manpower, it created a backlash from workers who found their jobs replaced, a reality still present today.

For those not already convinced of the importance of precision engineering, there is the disconcerting story of a 2010 Qantas flight. The two-year-old double-decker aircrafts engine exploded in the air, putting the lives of nearly 450 people in grave danger. The failure was traced back to a tiny pipe that was machined only slightly imprecisely. The drill bit used to create the hole was misaligned, leaving the tube about half a millimeter too thin along one small portion of its circumference. Then there was the Hubble telescope, which turned out to be, at least initially, a national embarrassment. As the world anticipated the best images of space ever, they instead appeared blurry and unclear  a huge disappointment. The reason? The lens was out of alignment by just 1/50th the width of a single human hair.

Winchester leads us through increasing achievements in precision with the creation of global positioning satellites, the single-molecule thick material graphene and microprocessor chips (in this story we are introduced to the only female engineer in the book, whose name sadly has since been forgotten). As the levels of perfection become even harder to believe, Winchester starts to ask more philosophical questions: Is such a wish for perfection truly essential to modern health and happiness, a necessary component of our very being? While we continue to achieve the previously unachievable, he suggests, we must also start to wonder what it is we are truly seeking.

Should we mindlessly applaud this drive toward exactitude as an obvious good? Winchester is reverent about the engineers he profiles, but he also sees the other side. As he travels east and showcases Japanese devotion to craftsmanship, particularly highlighted in that countrys manufacture of precise timepieces, he reminds us of the beauty of imperfections as seen in bamboo handicrafts and handmade lacquerware, the inexactness of nature adding subtle eccentricities to our creations and, with them, charm.

The Perfectionists succeeds resoundingly in making us think more deeply about the everyday objects we take for granted. It challenges us to reflect on our progress as humans and what has made it possible. It is interesting, informative, exciting and emotional, and for anyone with even some curiosity about what makes the machines of our world work as well as they do, its a real treat. Fake news is becoming a problem worldwide in elections, and not just via Facebook.

In India, where WhatsApp has 250 million users, the messaging service is becoming central to electioneering  and a prime vector for dangerous misinformation.

A youth leader for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party told us he used WhatsApp to stay in touch with voters he was assigned to track in his state. He sends his group critiques of the opposition as well as dark (and patently false) propaganda about Hindus being murdered by Muslims. Above, a spurious poll that circulated.

Unlike Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the service, owned by Facebook, has received little attention so far. But one Indian fact-checker called WhatsApps influence insidious.

_____

 Barbaric.

Indonesian authorities condemned a wave of suicide bombings that apparently involved entire families. On Monday, a family of five detonated a bomb at the police headquarters in Surabaya. An 8-year-old girl with them survived.

On Sunday, a single family carried out three bombings targeting Christian worshipers in the city, officials said. In a separate incident, a family of three, including a child, were killed in an explosion at their apartment as the police closed in.

Bolstering the Islamic States claim of responsibility, the authorities said the bombs were similar to those used by the group in the Mideast. One of the families had recently returned from Syria.

_____If you look at whats happening with trade in China, it hasnt been fair for many, many years. When President Trump rails against China, he says things like, Our country is being taken advantage of, or, We lost years ago by presidents and others allowing this to happen. Hes probably referring to the past four decades, when China has grown faster than any major economy in history and gone from a poor, developing country to an economic powerhouse that is challenging Americas spot at the top of the international food chain. Its emergence as a global power was so sharp and so extreme, faster than the world can handle, in some ways faster than China can handle. The U.S. and other Western nations kick-started much of Chinas rise by opening up trade. What they havent figured out is how to get this fundamentally different economic system to play by free market rules. A pivotal moment came in 2001 after 15 years of negotiations. China joined the World Trade Organization, which sets the rules for free and fair trade between member countries. All of the countries that were in the club at the time put enormous demands on China for what they needed to do. The Chinese committed to sharply lower tariffs and reduced some of the governments role in how business gets done. But they argued then, as they still do now, that China is a developing country and so should be held to less stringent free trade standards. The hope was that these first steps would lead to even more sweeping changes. Why did we assume that? The experience of communism was through the lens of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, which was ultimately not a success. And so the presumption was, Chinas going to want to become like us, more market oriented. After China joined the W.T.O. in 2001, you saw this enormous surge of Chinese exports to everywhere in the world, and to the United States in particular. They were kind of an elephant hiding behind mice with respect to other countries in global trade negotiations at the time. The U.S. and other countries complained that China was not opening its markets enough, and keeping the value of its currency artificially low to make Chinese exports more attractive. China has been making great strides using tools that are really not acceptable under the global trade system. China has continued to operate as a centrally planned economy. The government owns, influences or subsidizes major industries, giving them an artificial competitive edge. There are heavy restrictions on foreign investment, and foreign companies are pressured to share their technologies. China has become more market oriented, but dating back to probably 2007, 2008, I think it was recognized that China wasnt on the path to become more like us. And so then countries began to think about, well, what do we do instead? Some view the rise of Asia-Pacific with suspicion and fear. America doesnt. Enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership, initiated by Bush, signed by Obama. When implemented, It wont just boost trade and support jobs in our 12 countries. It will help set stronger rules for trade across the Asia-Pacific. Put less politely, It was also supposed to be a bulwark to Chinas growing economic power. The idea was that China would want to join this great trading pact, and so they would have this incentive to reform their economy. This is the one that President Trump ripped up on his third day in office. The first one is withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. I had seen the erosion of popular and congressional support for trade for many years. But Id never seen anything like Donald Trump. Our founding fathers understood trade much better than our current politicians, believe me. Trade is generally accepted by economists as win-win for countries on the whole. But Trump says that China is winning and the U.S. is losing. He and people in his administration argue that past approaches to dealing with China havent worked. Its not actually that profitable to negotiate with them. We need to focus on this much bigger trade measure, and then we can really hit them with a very aggressive, forceful action. He seems intent on generating a moment of crisis. We put a $50 billion tariff on, then we put a $100 billion tariff on. And you know at a certain point, they run out of bullets. But dynamics have changed. Today, China sees its economy as strong enough to withstand almost anything the U.S. can throw at it.LOS ANGELES  Studies have long shown that gun violence in PG-13 movies has been rising, sometimes exceeding what is shown in popular R-rated films. Now there is research suggesting that some parents think 13 is too young to see intense shooting, even when it appears justified.

The findings suggest that parents may want a new rating  that the film industry is taking inappropriate advantage of the PG-13 system, said Daniel Romer, the lead author of the study, which was set for publication on Monday by the journal Pediatrics. He added, These movies often get a PG-13 rating by omitting the consequences, such as blood and suffering, and by making the use of gun violence seem justified. But parents of teenagers say that even scenes of justified violence are more appropriate for teens who are at least 15.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which runs the voluntary domestic film ratings system, declined to comment.

The study, arriving during a renewed national gun debate after the massacre in Parkland, Fla., sought to understand, in part, whether justified gun violence in PG-13 movies was less problematic to parents than the unjustified variety. The researchers, working with support from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, showed four 90-second clips of the two types of violence to a national sample of 610 parents who had at least one child between ages 6 and 17.The major networks are unveiling their offerings for the coming television season to advertising buyers in Manhattan this week, at a series of events known as the upfront presentations. Money, prestige and cultural import are at stake. Two New York Times reporters who specialize in media  John Koblin and Sapna Maheshwari  assess what they saw during the NBC presentation at Radio City Music Hall on Monday, the first from the four major broadcast networks.

JOHN Right before NBCs upfront began, we got a reminder of what a strange affair these presentations are these days: CBS filed a lawsuit against Shari Redstone and is officially at war with its corporate owner, Viacom. So while NBC greeted us with musical performances (Jennifer Lopez, fronting a team of dancers, sang Dinero at Radio City), stand-up routines (thank you, Seth Meyers) and lots of glitz and pageantry, the CBS lawsuit was a sobering reminder what a precarious position media companies are in. But, hey, lets party!

SAPNA I felt a wave of deja vu because I was just at Radio City a week and a half ago for another big media company pitch to advertisers  except that one was from YouTube. While J. Lo performed briefly today, the YouTube executives hired Ariana Grande, OK Go and Camila Cabello. The new media crowd also invited their thousands of attendees to a huge party right afterward on NBCs turf  by the rink outside 30 Rock. Alas, that was not the case today.SHANGHAI  President Trump has said that he will help save ZTE, a Chinese electronics maker. The company was on the brink of collapse after United States officials punished it last month for breaking American sanctions against countries including Iran and North Korea.

Heres a look at how a Chinese electronics maker with an awkward name came to be at the center of a geopolitical chess match between Beijing and Washington.

What Is ZTE?

Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment isnt a household name in most places. Known as ZTE, it is probably best known for making cheap smartphones that are mostly sold in developing countries, though it also sells them in the United States.

But in the telecommunications world, the ZTE name carries significant weight. It is one of two Chinese companies  Huawei is the other  that sells equipment for cellular networks. It has about 75,000 employees and says it does business in more than 160 countries.Planning a wedding can be vexing, with fights over guest lists and deciding who has to sit next to your over-served uncle. Few couples, however, can say that their wedding started a war.

That is precisely what happened when Zeus, the king of the gods on Mt. Olympus, decided to leave Eris, the goddess of discord, off the guest list of a wedding feast he was planning for the sea nymph, Thetis, and her beloved, the mortal Peleus. Eris, who appeared in the May 9 crossword, was predictably upset and sought revenge by sowing  wait for it  discord.

Knowing how vain the other goddesses were, she crashed the wedding and tossed a gold apple into the crowd. The apple, which bore the inscription kallisti, meaning for the fairest, was fought over by the goddesses, who turned to Zeus for judgment on who deserved the golden apple and the title of fairest goddess.

Zeus, who did not get to be king of the gods by being obtuse, immediately called in an impartial judge. The mortal shepherd, Paris of Troy, was known to the gods as a fair man, and it was decided that he would be the final arbiter.When Sameen Rushdie was a child in India in the 1950s, she unpacked a tiffin at school every day. The steel compartments of the traditional lunchbox held home-cooked macaroni and kheema bound with melted Cheddar and covered with grilled tomatoes. Smoky kebabs with tender, cold parathas. Moats of mashed potato around ginger-spiked beef and peas.

It was only lunch. But for Ms. Rushdie, who would go on to write Indian Cookery, a cult-favorite cookbook published in 1988 in the United Kingdom, it was also a lesson in how food, history and politics were inextricably intertwined.

The contents of her tiffin told a story: Ms. Rushdie was a Muslim kid, sitting down to eat British-influenced Indian food, in the cosmopolitan hub of Bombay at the end of British colonial rule. She knew that eating meat put her in the minority among the Hindu vegetarians at her school, and she came to think of lunchtime as an opportunity to quietly rebel, to assert all the particulars of her identity while relishing in its flavors.

In 1947, the country was split into India and Pakistan, and millions of people were displaced. Though many Muslim families went to Pakistan, Ms. Rushdies family stayed put in Bombay. To be a Muslim who had not defected to the promise of safety and prosperity was a complex and confusing thing, she wrote in her book, which has since fallen out of print in Britain.Good morning. I make oatmeal in a rice cooker during the overnight, steel-cut oats in the Irish tradition, and serve them to the children with diced apples, or dried fruit, a healthy splash of milk, always a swirl of maple syrup. That is breakfast oatmeal, to me.

To you, the definition might include a spoonful of peanut butter, as my friend and colleague Andrew Ross Sorkin enjoys, or a tangle of garlicky greens, some seeds and a dollop of yogurt, as David Tanis suggests in this recipe (above). But you might like to try blueberry oatmeal one of these mornings soon. Or take a run at Melissa Clarks recipe for brown butter chocolate oatmeal. My father used to eat oatmeal with butter and crumbled bacon, with a jigger of Scotch poured over the top like syrup. Maybe try that tomorrow? Who is with me?

Tonight, you can act like a swell, pick up a rotisserie chicken, use it to make a version of the chicken salad served at Freds, the restaurant in the flagship Barneys store in New York, which Ginia Bellafante wrote about a little while back. Make a strawberry fool for dessert, and you can imagine yourself in a classic 8 somewhere on Park, lots of Asprey in the breakfront, nothing to do after dinner but read Paul Mellons memoir and think.

In another direction entirely, you could make a ginger-cucumber salad with scallops on top. You could sear up a platter of Kerala beef. You should make cheese pupusas one of these evenings soon, to eat with curtido. If youre crushed for time, try one of these recipes for sausages. Sausages are the weeknight cooks dearest friend. And, absolutely, until its out of season, make asparagus. Make asparagus well.Ms. OConnor, the milliner, who lived in Britain for eight years before moving back to County Clare in western Ireland in 2017, said: I can look back at this and see that I spoke out, created some art and at least did something. Id hate to look back 20 years from now and think I was one of the people in the corner who said nothing because it felt safer.

That the established fashion community, predominantly populated by left-leaning social liberals in Ireland as it is in many countries, overwhelmingly landed on the side of abortion rights is not surprising to many observers. (In the United States, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has supported Planned Parenthood, handing out pink pins during one fashion week.)

Wearing what you believe is more apparent with this debate in Ireland than ever before, said Deirdre McQuillan, the fashion editor of the Irish Times newspaper. One of the most powerful symbols of the entire pro-choice movement has been the Repeal Project sweatshirts, which you now see out on the streets at the moment almost every day.

Black with the word Repeal stamped in a slogan-like graphic across the front, these sweatshirts were the brainchild of the activist Anna Cosgrave. She founded the Repeal Project after attending a vigil for Savita Halappanavar, an Indian-born woman whose death in 2012, after her requests for an abortion were refused by a hospital in Galway, Ireland, prompted widespread outcry across the country.

I wanted people that otherwise felt nervous about the political and academic rhetoric around reproductive rights to be able to wear a jumper and be like, I care, without necessarily having any of the linguistics or technical terms, Ms. Cosgrave said of her sweaters. By choosing these clothes, wearers are silently screaming. By seeing the jumpers over and over again out and about, it normalizes conversations about abortion, while showing that there is support there for the women who have had them and suffered in silence.The World Health Organization on Monday announced a sweeping plan that urges governments around the globe to eliminate the use of trans fats, the industrially produced edible oil that gave birth to margarine, Crisco and other artery-clogging products that have been linked to millions of premature deaths.

Artificial trans fats, better known to many American consumers as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, have contributed to a half million deaths a year, many of those in developing countries ill-equipped to address the health threats posed by a product cherished for its low price and long shelf life.

The campaign, more a set of guidelines than an edict, seeks to eradicate trans fats from global food supplies by 2023, potentially saving some 10 million lives, according to the W.H.O.

The campaign was developed in partnership with Vital Strategies, a global health group backed by Michael Bloomberg, who introduced the nations first municipal ban on trans fats in 2006, when he was mayor of New York City.Page views for our story totaled 1.4 million.

How did the night unfold? We spoke with three people who were on the night news desk that evening: Karen Workman, a deputy news editor, who led the digital team; Amy Kelsey, a deputy director of news design, who led the print team; and Steve Kenny, the senior night editor who oversaw the entire operation. From their recollections, a timeline emerged.

6:45 p.m.

KAREN WORKMAN The night was supposed to belong to the Met Gala, and we were prepared. Our Styles desk was rapidly updating a slide show. Alert language had been worked out. Everything was in place and we were methodically tackling the rest of our lineup when the deputy Metro editor Dean Chang came to the news desk and turned our night, and our home screens, upside down.

6:50 p.m.

STEVE KENNY The New Yorker published its story on Eric Schneiderman and the physical abuse accusations made by four women. You could hear the reaction as people saw the tweets and then read the article around the newsroom. Dean Chang and a team of six Metro reporters (Danny Hakim, Vivian Wang, Ellen Gabler, Shane Goldmacher, Jesse McKinley and Willie Rashbaum) immediately went to work under the supervision of one of the newsrooms top editors.

7:36 p.m.

KENNY We had a story up.

WORKMAN Within five minutes, the home page had been republished with the news. The speed with which we were able to move was really thanks to our team of editors, on the Metro desk and the news desk, knowing all the details that needed assembling (typefit a headline? fact-check that alert language?) and working feverishly in the moments before publishing to get all the pieces ready and polished.

7:38 p.m.

KENNY A push alert was sent: Four women are said to have accused New Yorks attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, of assault. He had long cast himself as a champion of women.Going off to college and becoming independent from ones family is generally seen as the first step in young adulthood.

But if students strugglewhether with grades, adjusting to college life, mental health or anything elseshould their parents be alerted? Would such an act be a help or an invasion of privacy?

What if the student in question is in extreme distress?

In His College Knew of His Despair. His Parents Didnt, Until It Was Too Late, Anemona Hartocollis writes about Gina Burton, who learned that her sons college was aware of the extreme difficulties he had been facing prior to his suicide, difficulties that she did not know about:

Every year, parents send their children to college, trusting that they will be well, or that word will come if they are not. Ms. Burton had lived every parents nightmare: a child flunking out, sinking into despair, his parents the last to know. Her discovery set off a wave of pain and soul-searching but also a campaign to strip away some of the veils of confidentiality that colleges say protect the privacy and autonomy of students who are learning to be adults. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death, after accidents, for college-age adults in the United States. The number of college students seeking treatment for anxiety and depression has risen sharply over the past few years, and schools have in turn stepped up their efforts in mental health research and intervention. Even so, families have continued to put pressure on them to take greater responsibility for students well-being. In a case that was closely watched across the country, Massachusettss highest court ruled on Monday that M.I.T. could not be held responsible for the 2009 suicide of a graduate student. But the court ruled that a university might be liable under limited circumstances, such as when a student expressly tells college staff members of plans to commit suicide. I think everybody should be on notice that schools cant hide their head in the sand, a mental health lawyer, Carolyn Reinach Wolf, said. They cant say, Students are on loan to us.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

 Do you think Hamilton College should have contacted Ms. Burton regarding her sons welfare?

 If so, at what point should she have been contacted? Why?

 If you are in favor of college and universities communicating with families when necessary, what circumstances merit such intervention? What circumstances do not? Explain your reasoning.

 What, if anything, do you think are colleges and universities responsibilities regarding the mental wellness of their students?

 What is your opinion of the recent ruling that states a university might be liable to intervene in cases such as a student telling a professor or other university employee of suicidal intentions?The first time I saw Gordon Parkss photograph American Gothic  during a slide presentation in an undergraduate art school class in the 1970s  I was awe-struck.

I wanted to hold fast to the memory of that image of Ella Watson even as the professor moved to the next photo. Her polka-dot dress with puffed sleeves and two missing buttons, her wire-rimmed glasses half in shadow. The inverted tools of her trade, the straw curve of the worn broom and the curl of cotton mop, made me curious.

Parks met Ella Watson in 1942, when he had a Rosenwald fellowship with the Farm Security Administration in Washington, D.C. She was a cleaning woman in the offices there, and he went on to photograph her at work, at home with her family, in her neighborhood, and at St. Martins Spiritual Church.

American Gothic  a reference to the famous Grant Wood painting  is a construction that afforded rare attention to a black female subject who was not a celebrity or entertainer, but a mother and a worker. In this photograph, Parks formed an image of Mrs. Watson at work, her loosely fitted work dress pinned closed, allowing the viewer to link the necessity of her role as a family provider with the harshness of her existence. The American flag that hangs behind her frames her with the tools of her labor.Before a judge sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally stabbing two young children she had cared for, the former nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, spoke in open court for the first time since the trial began and begged for forgiveness.

Im very sorry for everything that happened, she said tearfully in Spanish, her face flushed. It was a rare display of emotion by Ms. Ortega, who during the six-week trial remained stoic, even during graphic testimony.

The judge, Gregory Carro, sentenced Ms. Ortega, 55, to the maximum penalty for the stabbing deaths of the two children  Leo Krim, 2, and his sister Lucia, 6, on Oct. 25, 2012.

Justice Carro borrowed the words of one witness who described the former nannys actions as pure evil, and he said the jurors were right to reject Ms. Ortegas defense that she could not be held responsible because she had suffered from a mental disease or defect and could not understand her actions or know they were wrong.But the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society, which oversees the property, is in financial crisis. It operates on a shoestring budget, with only one full-time employee and two part-time helpers, but Steepletop has been running at a loss. The society said that it might be forced to close the property at the end of the year.

The Millay Society said it costs about $225,000 to operate the property every year, yet it only makes about $75,000 from paying visitors and donations. The society is aiming to raise at least $1 million.

In her time, Millay had gained a status comparable to that of a rock star. Early on, she surprised a literary community that struggled to believe a young, flame-haired woman could write poetry with a sophistication and world weariness thought to be something only an experienced man could offer. She found wealth and fame, becoming known for a passionate romantic life as boundless as her revelry, which she even imported to her secluded retreat some 130 miles from New York City. (She once wrote in her journal that the flowers by the pool were watered with gin.)

She had a rich life, a whole life, said Tyne Daly, the actress and a member of the societys board. Strolling the grounds of Steepletop allows visitors to have a better understanding of her experiences and inspiration. When you go and see where this actual person actually functioned, Ms. Daly said, you begin to understand her as a person as well as a poet.Jerrold Meinwald, who conducted pathbreaking studies of how creatures use chemicals to attract mates, repel predators and send other messages back and forth, died on April 23 at his home in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 91.

His death was reported by Cornell University, where Dr. Meinwald had worked for more than 50 years.

One project that Dr. Meinwald, an organic chemist, tackled soon after he arrived at Cornell in 1952 was determining what exactly in catnip drives some cats into a playful frenzy.

Dr. Meinwald isolated from the plant the active ingredient  a chemical called nepetalactone  and then deduced its structure.

He soon discovered an aspect of nepetalactone he had not known about. He was a giving a talk about his chemical findings, and someone had brought in a cat so he could demonstrate the effects.In Jerusalem, Ivanka Trump and other American officials celebrated the formal relocation of the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv while barely 40 miles away, in Gaza, more than 2,700 Palestinian demonstrators were wounded in protests.Young people in Gaza reacted to my post immediately, sharing it and adding their own ideas. Just a week later, it seemed as if hundreds of people were talking about it. We established a youth committee and met with local agencies and institutions. We also met with the national political parties: We wanted to offer all sectors of society in Gaza the opportunity to be involved.

What has happened since we started the Great Return March is both what I hoped and expected  and not. It was not a surprise that Israel responded to our march with deadly violence. But I had not expected this level of cruelty. On the other hand, I was heartened by the commitment to nonviolence among most of my own people.

A couple of years ago, people here would have dismissed the idea that peaceful demonstrations could achieve anything significant. After all, every other form of resistance has produced nothing concrete. What amazes me is the transformation we are seeing in the way we resist. Our struggle previously was between armed Palestinian fighters and Israeli snipers, tanks and F-16s. Now, it is a struggle between the occupation and peaceful protesters  men and women, young and old.

The Great Return March reminds the world about the origin of the conflict  our uprooting from our lands and our lives, beginning in 1948 and sustained since then. We have chosen May 15 as the culmination of our protests because that is the day that Palestinians mark the nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe, which is what we call the expulsions from our homes 70 years ago. Whatever solution we negotiate in the future to allow our two peoples to live together peacefully and equally must start with a recognition of this wrong.

Still, despite the response from Israeli snipers, I continue to be committed to nonviolence, as are all of the other people coordinating this march. I use quotation marks because when a movement becomes this large  attracting what we estimate to be as many as 200,000 people on Fridays  it cannot be completely controlled. We discouraged the burning of Israeli flags and the attachment of Molotov cocktails to kites. We want peaceful, equal coexistence to be our message.

We have also tried to discourage protesters from attempting to cross into Israel. However, we cant stop them. It is the action of an imprisoned people yearning for freedom, one of the strongest motivations in human nature. Likewise, the people wont go away on May 15. We are intent on continuing our struggle until Israel recognizes our right to return to our homes and land from which we were expelled.

Desperation fuels this new generation. We are not going back to our subhuman existence. We will keep knocking at the doors of international organizations and our Israeli jailers until we see concrete steps to end the blockade of Gaza.

Update: The byline on this essay has been changed to reflect the authors preferred transliteration, Ahmed Abu Artema, instead of Ahmed Abu Ratima.In Robert Frosts famous poem Mending Wall, the narrator describes an encounter with his neighbor at the stone wall that divides their land. They are there to repair the damage inflicted by winter. Reflecting on natures apparent dislike of all artificial barriers, the narrator questions the benefits of the task, and gets this answer: Good fences make good neighbors.

Do they?

It is clear that Frosts narrator views this bit of folk wisdom with skepticism, but by refraining from providing a firm answer to our question, the poem manages to increase our curiosity: Besides the most obvious, delineating private property, what do fences truly represent?

If one looks at history, the answer seems obvious: What fences have very often indicated is not simply what is mine and what is yours, but, more subtly, who I am versus who you are. This tendency is based on the human inclination to define ones identity in contrast to someone cast as a different, an untrustworthy Other best kept at a distance.

The danger that such a separation between the self and the other can cause is evident throughout history. In Ancient Greece, where a profound appreciation of human reason produced a brilliant civilization, pernicious biases were also established. Women were assumed to be guided by passions rather than rationality, and so they were considered inferior to men and excluded from the cultural and political life of the city-state. As the word virtue  from the Latin vir, meaning man  so clearly expresses, the ethos that Greek as well as Roman culture fostered derived from a military and patriarchal mentality. The fence of bigotry and prejudice that prevent the flourishing in public life of half the population certainly hobbled the development of Greek and Roman society.NASHVILLE  Not quite two weeks ago, I was driving down Nolensville Road, Nashvilles international corridor, looking for a restaurant called Tennessee Halal Fried Chicken. In the passenger seat was John T. Edge, the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance and author of The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South. He was telling me that this particular approach to dining out, in one way of looking at it, could be considered a form of exploitation: To patronize a restaurant of people who are different from you can be a kind of booty call, he said.

This is an idea Mr. Edge has been considering for some time. The historically complicated nature of cross-cultural dining goes back to black-owned barbecue joints in the age of Jim Crow: White Southerners patronized those restaurants, he said. They got in, they got what they wanted, and they got out.

Im not especially well versed in the history of Southern food, and Im even less well versed in the history behind the foods on offer all along Nolensville Road, a place where nearly every possible kind of international eatery is tucked among barbershops and quick-cash storefronts and brake-repair garages. But Ive made a special point of eating at immigrant-owned restaurants here ever since the 2016 election.

Shortly after President Trump issued his first travel ban and began cracking down on undocumented residents, The Nashville Scene published a list of immigrant-owned restaurants in Nashville and urged readers to eat at them. I tore the page out and taped it to my refrigerator because I was feeling helpless. Aside from donating to the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition and helping in a class for English-language learners, what could an ordinary citizen do to support people whose contributions to our culture are so manifest and yet so poorly valued? The Scenes recommendation made sense, and my husband and I had been working our way down the list ever since.In my view, neither assumption holds up. The F.B.I. had spent hundreds if not thousands of hours over the past year circling the former secretary, reading thousands of her emails and interviewing all those around her, writes Mr. Comey. According to the investigative material posted on the F.B.I.s website, those interviews included over 40 current or former State Department employees, most of whom knew something about Mrs. Clintons email because they handled or were aware of a variety of operational tech issues over four years.

So, on Oct. 27, the F.B.I. investigators were deeply knowledgeable about Mrs. Clintons email and could make highly informed judgments about what was found on Mr. Weiners laptop. Mr. Comey should have reasonably recognized that the chance of finding a smoking gun in the first three months when such evidence was wanting for the remaining 45 months  when the Clinton email system experienced such common tech issues as no connectivity, bad firewalls, phishing and power failures  was low at best. Because of those issues, State Department management, diplomatic security and tech staff members knew of Mrs. Clintons system and its inherent risks and repeatedly raised these issues with Mrs. Clintons immediate staff. Yet the F.B.I. found insufficient evidence to support a criminal case.

The second assumption involving the supposedly long duration of the email review was also flawed. First, by prioritizing a review of the few thousand new BlackBerry emails for smoking guns, a small number of seasoned investigators could have carefully looked at them in hours, not days or weeks.

Second, like other organizations that regularly review enormous amounts of stored electronic data, the F.B.I. possessed the technical means to determine quickly whether the haul of other emails on the Weiner laptop were backup duplicates of ones already in its possession, as the vast majority apparently turned out to be. Off-the-shelf software was available to compare the Weiner laptop emails against the F.B.I.s existing collection to exclude duplicates from the review.

What was Mr. Comeys third option on Oct. 27? Wait and see. Monitor the progress of the review closely. Do nothing until there was something to report.

Even a delay of a few days would have afforded the F.B.I. investigative team time to get a very good idea of what most likely was and was not in the new evidence. As it turned out, the team was able to complete its work days before the election, and Mr. Comey informed Congress in his Nov. 2 letter that the F.B.I. investigation was again closed.Aspiring influencers dont need to wait for companies to shower them with freebies or cash. On FameBit anyone with 5,000 subscribers or followers on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook can propose projects to sponsors across a variety of topics. And if companies dont have $500,000 for a plug from a Kardashian, they can go to Shoutcart, view social followings for thousands of lesser influencers and buy a shout-out for as little as $1.

Of course, there is a danger to all this. Black Mirror, the science fiction television show, showed us what such a world looks like in the extreme. In the 2016 episode Nosedive, people are constantly rated by friends, colleagues and even passers-by on the street. People whose score drops too low on the 5-point scale are barred from renting nice cars, rebooking flights and even entering the building in which they work.

Lacie Pound, our protagonist, is a solid 4.2 but aspires to move into a luxury apartment complex that gives discounts to 4.5s and above. Her plan to boost her score involves giving a knockout toast at a wedding, which has a guest list populated with high 4s. Being friendly to the barista isnt going to cut it; she needs people with high ratings to give her five stars.

But what seems like a parody is not so different from our world in 2018, and Im not just talking about the challenge of getting a ride when you have a low Uber rating. A recent story in Wired about social ranking in China examined Zhima Credit, which doesnt just consider whether you pay your bills on time but also what you buy, what degrees you hold, and the scores of your friends. Its chief executive was quoted as saying that Zhima Credit will ensure that the bad people in society dont have a place to go, while good people can move freely and without obstruction.

I dont begrudge anyone their free workout gear. But I fear a world in which you could be denied freedom of movement because your best friends have blue-collar jobs or you never finished college.

In Nosedive, the heroes are the ones who resist the pressure to be fake and conniving to achieve higher scores. At the end of the episode  spoiler alert!  Lacies score has dropped to below one, shes in jail, and the technology embedded in her eyes that lets her see peoples scores is removed. She gets into an argument with a fellow prisoner, and they start screaming at each other. But now, theres no need to choose their words carefully for fear of offending someone and getting a low rating. Freedom, at last.This year, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on Tuesday. That means a big portion of the worlds 1.6 billion Muslims, my coreligionists, will be fasting for 30 days, which is really no easy task. Every day, from dawn till dusk, they will neither eat any food nor drink a drop of water. They will be hungry and thirsty but will wait patiently between the pre-dawn sahur meal and the iftar dinner at night  just for the sake of God. It is a great experience of self-discipline, devotion and piety. It is also a good opportunity, Islamic scholars often say, for reflecting about and developing empathy with those who starve because they are destitute.

For some of the worlds most far-flung Muslims, Ramadan will be even more difficult. These are the Muslims who live in the high latitudes, where dawn till dusk can equal almost the entire 24-hour day. In Reykjavik, Iceland, for example, which is now home to nearly 1,000 Muslims, the sun will set at midnight, only to come back in about two hours. That means the fasting time will be as long as 22 hours, allowing for only one meal a day.

No wonder this challenge has become a major point of discussion among Muslim scholars in the past few decades, particularly as increasing numbers of Muslims have migrated to northern countries like Norway and Sweden. Were the believers among these migrants supposed to follow the traditional Quranic timetable? Or could there be some gracious adjustment?

Answers varied. Saudi scholars, who typically represent the most literal and strict interpretation of Sunni Islam, ruled that no adjustment should be made. In a fatwa, or religious ruling, they declared that Islamic law is universal and applies to all people in all countries. Perhaps they could not empathize enough with their northern co-religionists, accustomed as the Saudis are to the mild fasting times in the Arabian Peninsula, where days are pretty standard in length throughout the year and fasting never exceeds 15 hours. Muslims nearer to the North Pole, accordingly, would just have to deal with their bad luck.A Big Mac costs $4.40 in Britain, a ticket to see the latest superhero movie is $10 in Spain, and an iPad Pro sells for about $800 in Switzerland  prices that do not differ that much from those in New York City. But if youre suffering from ovarian cancer or rheumatoid arthritis, the prices in the United States for leading medicines are at least twice what those same drugs cost in those other nations.

The fact that Americans pay more for their drugs has long spurred anger and questions about why we spend so much. Seniors crossing the border in buses to fill their drug prescriptions in Canada or Mexico is a perennial news story.

It may surprise some, then, that President Trump devoted so much of his long-awaited address last week on the high cost of prescription drugs to reversing the narrative about drug costs in the United States. The problem, he said, is that Americans pay too much because others pay too little. In some cases medicines that cost a few dollars in a foreign country, Mr. Trump said, cost hundreds of dollars in America for the same pill with the same ingredients in the same package made in the same plant  and that is unacceptable. In his mind, foreign powers are taking advantage of Americans yet again. Other nations are free riders, forcing patients and taxpayers in the United States to subsidize the cost of global medical innovation.

Amid a long list of proposals, the presidents big idea for cutting drug costs at home is raising them abroad. This idea, however, is based on a diagnosis that largely misses the mark and suggests a set of policy prescriptions that would be likely to have little effect on the drug prices that most Americans pay.To the Editor:

Re Trumps Lizard Wisdom (column, May 11):

I read with some astonishment and disappointment David Brookss column praising President Trumps lizard wisdom as being just the ticket in dealing with other thugs or fanatics ruling North Korea, Iran and China. I agree that Mr. Trump himself is a thug and a bully. To infer that he is somehow intuiting and deploying his inner thug strategically is a gross misreading of the character of the man.

Other than with Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump plays the bully and the thug with almost everyone. And lizard brains, be they his or that of a true reptile, are not capable of intuition. They merely react to threats, real or imagined. Some of us believe that true leadership encourages us to rise above these primitive impulses, rather than to see them as guiding principles.

MICHAEL A. GRAVES

SAN FRANCISCO

To the Editor:

I would be more convinced by David Brookss takes a thug to beat a thug hopes for our new foreign policy approach if our president were more consistent and more thorough in its implementation.

He is perfectly happy to beat up on Kim Jong-un and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while pulling his punches with Vladimir Putin of Russia, Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and Viktor Orban of Hungary. It is also hard to imagine him tolerating the years of negotiations with Mr. Kim that a meaningful treaty will inevitably take.Seventy years ago today, Israel came into existence  the first Jewish state in more than 2,000 years. But at the United Nations, there wont be a celebration. Indeed, Palestinian Authority leaders recently lodged their latest complaint at the U.N. Human Rights Council  a body that has condemned Israel more than any other country combined, including Syria, North Korea and Iran  accusing Israel of racial segregation, apartheid and colonial occupation.

With language like this, it is not hard to see Zionism itself on trial in the court of human rights.

This apparent tension between Zionism and progressive values isnt just playing out at the United Nations. Starbucks recently broke off its anti-bias training partnership with the Anti-Defamation League at the behest of the Womens March chairwoman, Tamika Mallory, who denounced the organizations support of Israel as racist. In London earlier this year, Amnesty International backed out of a joint event with a Jewish communal organization because of its support for Israel. In Charlottesville, Va., at the university where I teach, Jewish student activists working to respond to the continued threats from white supremacists have been refused admission to the minority student coalition because of their Israeli ties.

The message in all these cases is clear: Jews are welcome to fight for human rights  as long as they check their Zionism at the door.Background reading:

 After the release of three American detainees in North Korea, President Trump confirmed on Thursday that he would meet with Kim Jong-un, the Norths leader, on June 12 in Singapore.

 North Korea has invited journalists from the United States and other countries to witness the dismantling of its underground nuclear test site before the summit meeting.

 It may now be possible to envision an era of peace with North Korea, but the odds that the North will forfeit its nuclear arsenal entirely are uncertain at best, Nicholas Kristof writes.

Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at thedaily@nytimes.com. Tweet me at @mikiebarb. And if youre interested in advertising with The Daily, write to us at thedaily-ads@nytimes.com.

How do I listen?

If you dont see an audio player on this page or to subscribe to The Daily for free, follow the instructions below.Growing up, Nicole Negrin spent most weekends at her familys vacation house in Cold Spring, N.Y., where she liked to hike in the hills, stroll the charming streets and take in the picturesque beauty of the Hudson River.

But by the time she was in her mid 20s, Ms. Negrin, now 31, found her interests lay elsewhere. I wanted to be closer to the beach, she said.

So she took on the responsibility of creating a new family compound, with advice from her mother and grandfather, and focused her attention on the Hamptons.

In 2014, Ms. Negrin toured about 40 houses before settling on one that seemed ideal, in Wainscott, a hamlet in East Hampton.Experts urged the journal to cancel publication of the article, one calling it unwise, unjustified, and dangerous. Even before publication, a report from a World Health Organization meeting noted that the endeavor did not require exceptional biochemical knowledge or skills, significant funds or significant time.

But the studys lead researcher, David Evans, a virologist at the University of Alberta, said he had alerted several Canadian government authorities to his poxvirus venture, and none had raised an objection.

Many experts agree that it would be very difficult for amateur biologists of any stripe to design a killer virus on their own. But as more hackers trade computer code for the genetic kind, and as their skills become increasingly sophisticated, health security experts fear that the potential for abuse may be growing.

To unleash something deadly, that could really happen any day now  today, said Dr. George Church, a researcher at Harvard and a leading synthetic biologist. The pragmatic people would just engineer drug-resistant anthrax or highly transmissible influenza. Some recipes are online.

If theyre willing to inject themselves with hormones to make their muscles bigger, you can imagine theyd be willing to test more powerful things, he added. Anyone who does synthetic biology should be under surveillance, and anyone who does it without a license should be suspect.

Authorities in the United States have been hesitant to undertake actions that could squelch innovation or impinge on intellectual property. The laws that cover biotechnology have not been significantly updated in decades, forcing regulators to rely on outdated frameworks to govern new technologies.Europa is an ice-encrusted moon of Jupiter with a global ocean flowing underneath its surface. NASA is planning a mission soon that will look for signs of possible life there.

Now, a new finding from old data makes that mission even more tantalizing.

In recent years, the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted what looks like plumes, likely of water vapor, reaching more than 100 miles above the surface.

The plumes, if they exist, could contain molecules that hint at whether Europa possesses the building blocks of life.What makes humans so smart? For a long time the answer was simple: our big brains.

But new research into the tiny noggins of a recently discovered human relative called Homo naledi may challenge that notion. The findings, published Monday, suggest that when it comes to developing complex brains, size isnt all that matters.

In 2013 scientists excavating a cave in South Africa found remains of Homo naledi, an extinct hominin now thought to have lived 236,000 to 335,000 years ago. Based on the cranial remains, the researchers concluded it had a small brain only about the size of an orange or your fist. Recently, they took another look at the skull fragments and found imprints left behind by the brain. The impressions suggest that despite its tiny size, Homo naledis brain shared a similar shape and structure with that of modern human brains, which are three times as large.

Weve now seen that you can package the complexity of a large brain in a tiny packet, said Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at Wits University in South Africa and an author of the paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Almost in one fell swoop we slayed the sacred cow that complexity in the hominid brain was directly associated with increasing brain size.

Not every scientist agrees with their interpretation.

[Like the Science Times page on Facebook.| Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]What makes it special is that I dont tell anyone about these days off, including my family, so that Im not accountable to anyone or needing to explain myself (for a change!). I also enjoy the anticipation of that private day off and mentally planning it when I feel stressed.  Anonymous (Just hope my manager doesnt see)

 Im a student at Carthage College and just like other students around the country, I too face the challenge of burning myself out. So I had to develop a system that would thrust me forward and help me finish my school years.

1. Take time for yourself.

2. Make friends, particularly those who are in the same field as you.

3. Set small goals.

4. Take breaks.

5. Keep a journal.

6. Recognize your vices but do not abuse them.  Aaron Bollinger

 Im in an epic burnout phase, as I type this. My burnout is not professional, but comes from repetitive negativity in my personal life. Like working for a boss who says your work isnt good enough.

I am handling this exhaustion and stress by making my own life nicer, buying myself a new dress, or getting a pedicure and a Frappuccino. Its good to remember who we are, and how we are more than the situation were burdened by.  Jenny Alford

 I always tell my team at work to eat the frog. The thing you are procrastinating most is probably the thing you really hate doing  thats your frog. When you get to work in the morning and eat the frog, it will increase how productive you are for the rest of the day. We tend to joke about it and use it to hold each other accountable. When someone follows up with a task that is overdue, the response is often something like, Ribbbit! Yummy frog!  Nicole JohanssonMANGALORE, India  Waving a giant saffron flag, Pranav Bhat last week joined a political rally for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indias ruling party here in this sweltering port city on the southwest coast.

Milling on a vast field with his college buddies, Mr. Bhat, 18, cheered for Mr. Modi and his Hindu-oriented Bharatiya Janata Party, which was trying to wrest control of Karnataka state from the more secular Indian National Congress in legislative elections.

Yet the most intense political campaigning was not taking place on the streets. Instead, the action was happening on WhatsApp, a messaging service owned by Facebook that has about 250 million users in India.

Mr. Bhat, a B.J.P. youth leader, said he used WhatsApp to stay in constant touch with the 60 voters he was assigned to track for the party. He sent them critiques of the state government, dark warnings about Hindus being murdered by Muslims  including a debunked B.J.P. claim that 23 activists were killed by jihadists  and jokes ridiculing Congress leaders. His own WhatsApp stream was full of election updates, pro-B.J.P. videos, and false news stories, including a fake poll purportedly commissioned by the BBC that predicted a sweeping B.J.P. win.Good morning.

(Want to get California Today by email? Heres the sign-up.)

People told Isabel Sanchez that the housing lottery was a waste of time. The odds were too long. Her family would never win. Happy endings are rare in San Franciscos housing market for anyone who cant afford luxury rents.

But she and her family were facing a no-fault eviction last fall; the house where they rented an in-law unit had been sold to new owners, who wanted their mother to move in. So Ms. Sanchez applied for the city-run lottery for Natalie Gubb Commons, a new 95-unit affordable housing development downtown open to households making up to 50 percent of the area median income.

Ms. Sanchez and her family were among 6,580 households that applied for the property, whose lottery and aftermath The New York Times chronicled through this spring. Such lotteries are a regular feature of housing policy in high-cost cities. Far more people need  and qualify for  public housing, housing vouchers or below-market-rate apartments than the assistance available. And so cities, housing authorities and developers often dole out what they have by drawing numbers.

Ms. Sanchez pulled No. 16. In April, her family moved into a new three-bedroom apartment renting for a fraction of market rate. That they won the first lottery they ever entered  while some people apply, and fail, for years  shows how utterly random the results are.Still, Mr. Greitens, only a year and a half into his first term in office, remains entangled in a legal and political thicket, and his future remains very much in doubt. A second felony charge, of tampering with computer data, awaits; prosecutors contend that he illegally obtained a donor list from a veterans charity he founded and used it for his 2016 campaign. And he faces a looming threat to his governorship from the Missouri General Assembly, which has scheduled a special session on Friday that could lead to a vote on impeachment.

In dropping the invasion-of-privacy charge, prosecutors cited the defense teams decision to call the St. Louis circuit attorney, Kimberly Gardner, as a witness in the case. The lawyers for Mr. Greitens had accused Ms. Gardner of condoning misconduct and lying by an investigator on the case, and apparently intended to question her on those issues.

When the court and the defense team put the state in the impossible position of choosing between her professional obligations and the pursuit of justice, the circuit attorney will always choose the pursuit of justice, said Susan C. Ryan, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor, in a statement explaining the decision to drop the charge. The courts order leaves the circuit attorney no adequate means of proceeding with this trial.

But the case had other troubles from the start.

Ms. Gardner, a Democrat, filed the felony charge in February, accusing Mr. Greitens, who is married, of taking the explicit photo of his former hairdresser, with whom he has acknowledged having an affair. The woman, who has not been identified, was captured on a secretly recorded tape telling her then-husband that Mr. Greitens had blindfolded her, torn off her shirt and pants and taken a photo without her consent. Her ex-husband released the audio recording of the conversation to the news media over her objections.

Months after bringing the charge against Mr. Greitens, prosecutors still had not obtained such a photo, despite searches of the governors cellphone and electronic cloud accounts. The woman at the center of the case was a reluctant witness as well, declining all media interviews and pleading for privacy.He is grateful to his highly skilled team of doctors and to all who have sent and continue to send their love and support, the statement said.

A person close to the family says that the surgeon was optimistic after the procedure. Mr. Reid had been quietly letting people know over the past few days that he would be undergoing surgery, including former President Barack Obama.

Mr. Reid was first elected to the Senate in 1986 and became the Democratic leader in 2005. He suffered serious injuries in an exercise accident in 2015, and he did not seek re-election the next year.

On Monday, his successor as Democratic leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, said: Harrys a fighter, literally and figuratively. I know hes going to approach his recovery with the same energy and tenacity and resolve that defined his public life.

Mr. Reid, known for a biting, acerbic wit and a penchant for partisan pugnacity, told The New York Times in March that he was ready to leave Washington behind. He was selling his apartment in a Ritz-Carlton here and planned to be in the nations capital infrequently.Perhaps I am naive, but I didnt think words like reasonable and effective were firebrand words, said Joe Groves, a managing partner of Ellens, in an interview on Monday.

Ellens quickly became the target of verbal and online threats, fake reviews and harassing phone calls after the N.R.A. urged its members to boycott. Mr. Groves said one caller, who identified himself as an N.R.A. member, warned of a plan to shoot up the restaurant and, in particular, kill Mr. Groves.

Mr. Groves recalled, I said, If Im going to be murdered, is it going to be by a criminal or a law-abiding citizen? The caller grumbled and hung up.

Mr. Groves said he grew up in a family that hunted and included members of the N.R.A. In recent years, though, he said the organization has become more focused on lobbying, gun sales and politicizing gun ownership in an attempt to frighten owners into thinking that other Americans want to take their guns away.

That is simply not true, he said. This experience has hardened my position.

Mr. Groves said he asked the public about what organizations should get the restaurants $15,000 check. Several people suggested Moms Demand Action, which was founded in 2012 by Shannon Watts, a former communications executive, in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 schoolchildren and six adults dead. The grass-roots network has quickly grown into a leading force for gun violence prevention, with chapters in 50 states.

Most Texans, including gun owners, agree that were all safer with some common sense gun laws in place, said Donna Schmidt, a volunteer with the groups Texas chapter. The N.R.A.s radical leaders oppose common sense, and were grateful to Ellens for standing with the rest of us. The ground is shifting, even here in Texas.Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas needed a favor: Before retiring, he wanted to anoint a local activist as his successor. Mr. Hensarling, a veteran conservative, reached out to President Trump for help, but the White House hesitated to intervene, according to a person familiar with the overture.

Instead, Mr. Hensarling found a willing ally at Mr. Trumps right hand: Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Pence backed the congressmans favorite, Bunni Pounds, last month in a tweet that blindsided key White House aides.

The eager assistance Mr. Pence provided a senior lawmaker reflected the outsize political portfolio that the vice president and his aides have seized for themselves as the 2018 elections approach. While Mr. Trump remains an overpowering personality in Republican politics, he is mostly uninterested in the mechanics of managing a political party. His team of advisers is riven with personal divisions, and the White House has not yet crafted a strategy for the midterms. So Mr. Trumps supremely disciplined running mate has stepped into the void.

Republican officials now see Mr. Pence as seeking to exercise expansive control over a political party ostensibly helmed by Mr. Trump, tending to his own allies and interests even when the presidents instincts lean in another direction. Even as he laces his public remarks with praise for the president, Mr. Pence and his influential chief of staff, Nick Ayers, are unsettling a group of Mr. Trumps fierce loyalists who fear they are forging a separate power base.The polls are now closed in Pennsylvania, Get live results here.

Tuesdays Pennsylvania primaries are the opening act in a drama that Democrats nationally are eagerly watching: Who will win under new congressional maps that undo a Republican gerrymander?

In January, the State Supreme Court redrew the boundaries of the states 18 districts to create a more politically level playing field. Analysts predict that as a result Democrats will probably gain three to six seats  a sweet down payment on their goal of taking control of the House of Representatives in November.

Most of the potential Democratic pickups are in the Philadelphia suburbs, and three are all but gimmes in the general election. That doesnt mean there wont be drama on Tuesday: In the Fifth District, centered on Delaware County, 10 Democrats, most unknown to voters, are seeking the nomination. Its been called a clown car primary and is sure to confuse voters.In the end, Mr. Englishs trial strategy failed. Mr. McCoy was convicted and sentenced to death. He appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, saying his lawyer had betrayed him. The court ruled against him.

The decision relied on a unanimous 2004 ruling from the United States Supreme Court in Florida v. Nixon, which said lawyers need not obtain their clients express consent before conceding guilt in a capital case. But the ruling did not address whether it was permissible for a lawyer to disregard a clients explicit instruction to the contrary.

Justice Ginsburg wrote that the new case, McCoy v. Louisiana, No. 16-8255, raised that question.

Larry English was placed in a difficult position; he had an unruly client and faced a strong government case, she wrote. He reasonably thought the objective of his representation should be avoidance of the death penalty. But McCoy insistently maintained: I did not murder my family. Once he communicated that to court and counsel, strenuously objecting to Englishs proposed strategy, a concession of guilt should have been off the table.

In the car rental case, the court unanimously ruled that drivers do not lose their constitutional right to privacy solely because they are not listed on the rental agreement.

The mere fact that a driver in lawful possession or control of a rental car is not listed on the rental agreement will not defeat his or her otherwise reasonable expectation of privacy, Justice Kennedy wrote for the court.

The case started in 2014, when Terrence Byrd was pulled over by a state trooper on an interstate highway in Pennsylvania. His fiancee had rented the car, from Budget, and he was using it with her permission. But he was not listed on the rental agreement as an authorized driver.

On learning that Mr. Byrd was not an authorized driver, the trooper maintained that he was free to search the car without Mr. Byrds consent. He found 49 bricks of heroin in the trunk.WASHINGTON  Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is a fierce critic of solitary confinement. It drives men mad, he said in 2015 at Harvard Law School.

He attacked the practice in a 2015 concurring opinion. Years on end of near total isolation exact a terrible price, he wrote, noting that common side effects of solitary confinement include anxiety, panic, withdrawal, hallucinations, self-mutilation, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Justice Kennedy concluded that opinion with an unusual request, inviting lawyers to file appeals challenging the constitutionality of prolonged isolation. The requested appeals arrived, but the Supreme Court has so far turned them down. The court, which typically moves in measured increments, may not want to take on a question as broad as whether extended solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment barred by the Eighth Amendment.

But the court will soon consider whether to hear appeals raising a much narrower question: Do prisoners held in solitary confinement have a right to regular outdoor exercise?WASHINGTON  President Trump and senior members of his administration exulted on Monday over the opening of the United States new embassy in Jerusalem, dismissing the violence raging along the border with Gaza as the ceremony unfolded as unfortunate propaganda.

For Mr. Trump, the opening of the embassy was an opportunity to keep a campaign promise, and was yet another example of his willingness to upend decades of conventional thinking on foreign policy and to do what other American presidents had not dared. But the split-screen image of the carnage nearby was a sobering reminder that what Mr. Trump is claiming as a foreign policy coup has only complicated the prospects for the Middle East peace the president has said he is seeking.

The White House said the violence in Gaza would not hinder its efforts to seek an end to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the administration also made it abundantly clear on Monday that Mr. Trump was currently siding with Israel.

The responsibility for these tragic deaths rest squarely with Hamas, said Raj Shah, a White House deputy press secretary, who referred to Gaza as southern Israel. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response, and as the secretary of state said, Israel has the right to defend itself.Once the Corps of Engineers departs, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, will be tasked with completing unfinished repairs to the power grid. At a hearing last week of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in Washington, lawmakers sounded skeptical that Prepa, which has come under fierce scrutiny over its early response to the storm, is up to the job. Representative Gonzalez-Colon has asked FEMA to extend the Corps stay.

We sure want to know that you really are ready, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told Prepas new chief, Walter Higgins, at the hearing.

We feel that we are ready, Mr. Higgins said. But, he added, I dont doubt that we will have some growing pains.

In Las Piedras, which sits on the hills south of El Yunque National Forest, people who have electricity say it goes out often. If a little bit of wind blows through, we will lose power, said Roberto Rosado, 53, who still has metal shutters on his sliding doors. We just lost power now. This is an everyday occurrence.

Mayor Miguel Lopez, who is known as Micky, recently blocked two of the three power crews from leaving his town. There was no other option, said Mr. Lopez, whose unorthodox strategy succeeded in keeping the linemen at work.

His director of emergency management, Xavier Munoz, said the one upside of Maria was that it had scared residents into taking hurricane plans seriously.

Shelters are going to get full, he predicted. I have 220 cots right now, and I think thats not going to be enough.Volcanoes are full of tricks. They can build to a major eruption in a crescendo of shudders and spatters or explode with almost no warning. They can lie in wait under a magnificent snowcap, the centerpiece of a landscape of beauty that they could obliterate tomorrow, or in 10,000 years, or never again.

And there are more of them in more parts of America than you might think.

The United States Geological Survey counts 169 potentially active volcanoes in the country  some of them straight-from-the-textbook conical mountains topped with craters, and others that hardly look the part at all. About 50 of them in six states are rated high priority or highest priority for monitoring. A few have been active in modern times; others last erupted hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

Heres a rundown of where they are.

Hawaii

The states land mass owes its very existence to volcanoes: Each island is the product of at least one. The Big Island has five, including Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano anywhere on earth.

Kilauea, the one that has lately been opening new fissures, spewing lava and forcing evacuations, has been erupting in one way or another continuously since the early 1980s. Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times in the last 175 years, and Loihi, a submarine volcano about 20 miles offshore, erupted in 1996. Farther north and west, the islands are older and quieter geologically; Mauis only active volcano, Haleakala, is believed to have erupted most recently at least 400 years ago.JAKARTA, Indonesia  A wave of deadly bombings on Sunday and Monday and evidence of more planned have shaken Indonesia just ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, with entire families  including children  carrying out suicide attacks against Christian worshipers and the police.

The troubling discovery Monday of completed bombs in a housing complex outside Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city, came a day after members of a single family carried out three attacks against separate churches in the city around Mass time, killing seven people.

On Sunday night, three members of another family, including a child, were killed when a bomb exploded at their apartment outside Surabaya when the police moved in to arrest them.

And on Monday morning, a family of five riding on two motorbikes detonated a bomb at the entrance of the Surabaya Police Headquarters  killing all but one of them and injuring four police officers. An 8-year-old girl who was with the attackers survived the blast and was taken to the hospital.KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia  Malaysian officials accused of covering up a large corruption scandal stepped down or were placed on leave Monday as Malaysias leadership continued to be upended by the defeat of the governing coalition last week.

Mahathir Mohamad, the new prime minister, said Monday afternoon that the attorney general, Mohamed Apandi Ali, had been placed on leave.

Mr. Apandi, who was named attorney general three years ago, cleared the previous prime minister, Najib Razak, of any wrongdoing in connection with the misappropriation of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a government fund known as 1MDB.

He was among the most prominent officials supporting Mr. Najibs assertion of innocence, and he may now face an investigation for what critics contend was a cover-up.ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  An American diplomat involved in a fatal accident was allowed by the Pakistani authorities to leave the country on Monday just days after officials here prevented him from boarding a United States military plane, according to American officials.

We can confirm that the American diplomat, who was involved in a tragic car accident on April 7 in Islamabad, has departed Pakistan, Nolen Johnson, a State Department spokesman, said in an email.

Pakistani authorities made no comment about the sudden departure of the diplomat, who found himself at the center of the latest diplomatic dispute between the two countries. Local news media outlets reported the departure of the diplomat, citing anonymous official sources.

The diplomat, Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall, a military attache at the United States Embassy in Islamabad, is accused of having run a red light and fatally hitting a 22-year-old man on April 7. Another passenger on the bike was injured.NEW DELHI  Shashi Tharoor, one of Indias suavest and most influential opposition politicians, was charged on Monday with driving his wife to commit suicide, four years after she was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Mr. Tharoor has worked at a high level for the United Nations in New York, written more than a dozen books, including several widely praised novels, and served in the cabinet of a previous Indian government.

He was widely seen as prime minister material, but ever since his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, was found dead in a hotel room in 2014, he has faced a barrage of allegations, rumors and suspicions.

On Monday, police officials in New Delhi, the capital, said that they had medico-legal and forensic evidence tying Mr. Tharoor to his wifes death, announcing that he had been charged with cruelty to a woman and abetting suicide.When he was 14, James Harrison needed surgery. And as he would come to find out, he would also need a significant amount of strangers blood to survive it.

After he had recovered and as soon as he became an adult, Mr. Harrison felt compelled to pay it forward, he said. For the next 60 years he suppressed his strong distaste for needles  he says he has never watched one go into his arm  and gave blood every few weeks at locations across Australia.

Along the way, medical professionals made a stunning discovery: Mr. Harrisons blood contained a rare antibody necessary to make a pioneering medication that officials at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service said had helped save more than two million babies from a potentially fatal disease.

They said more than three million doses of Anti-D, as the medication containing Mr. Harrisons blood is called, have been issued to mothers since 1967.SYDNEY, Australia  An Australian court is to decide on Wednesday whether two planned trials for Cardinal George Pell, the senior Vatican official accused of sexual abuse, will be conducted in secret with the public barred from knowing what took place until the proceedings are over.

On Friday, prosecutors in the state of Victoria applied for a super injunction against news coverage of the separate trials. Legal experts described the application as an extreme move aimed at keeping juries in both cases from learning anything that might cause bias.

But a trial held behind closed doors would also limit accountability for the judge, jury and lawyers in the case.

[Sign up for the Australia Letter to get news, conversation starters and local recommendations in your inbox each week.]SYDNEY, Australia  The police in Western Australia are working to determine why a farmer killed six members of his family, including four young children, before turning a gun on himself.

The shooting last week in Osmington, a tight-knit rural community near Perth, made headlines around the world for being the worst mass shooting in Australia in more than two decades.

The country prides itself on strict gun-control laws that have decreased the number of mass murders in the recent past. But experts said that the events in Osmington were part of a wider, more insidious problem in rural Australia: suicide and family murder.

Most gun deaths are suicides.

Gun violence in Australia is rare, but when it does occur it is most often a suicide.

In 2016, the last year for which data is available, 238 people were killed by guns in Australia, compared with 38,658 for the same year in the United States.BARCELONA, Spain  Lawmakers in Catalonia on Monday narrowly elected a separatist as president, but one not under indictment by the Spanish authorities, potentially easing the political deadlock with the central government in Madrid, though not resolving it.

The separatist, Quim Torra, will replace Carles Puigdemont, who is now fighting extradition from Germany after refusing to be prosecuted in Spain on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds for carrying out a referendum on secession last October.

The referendum descended into chaos and violence after Madrid sent police forces from other regions to try to block a vote that had been declared unconstitutional. Mr. Puigdemont and other Catalan separatists nonetheless called the referendum a success, saying the measure had passed overwhelmingly, even as the vote had clearly left Catalonia painfully divided.

After Catalonias Parliament declared independence, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy suspended the regions autonomy and imposed direct rule from Madrid, using his emergency constitutional powers. He then called new regional elections in hopes of reshuffling the political deck.MOSCOW  Demonstrators rallied in Georgia over the weekend over an issue new to street protest movements in the former Soviet countries: a demand to legalize recreational drug use.

Though the protesters were quickly dismissed by their opponents as deadbeats and drug addicts bent only on keeping up their own habits, Georgias government took the movement seriously enough both to negotiate and to move water cannons into position in the streets of the capital, Tbilisi.

Drug laws in former Soviet countries, even those that in other ways lean politically toward the West, like Georgia, tend to be far harsher than in Western Europe.

The activist group behind the protests, White Noise, first formed in 2013 to defend a man facing eight years in prison for possessing about two ounces of marijuana. That case, against Beka Tsikarishvili, eventually ended with a fine, but White Noise has gained traction by rallying support for others facing long prison terms.ROME  Will they or wont they? The once-competing populist and anti-establishment parties that won the most votes in Italys elections two months ago joined forces in recent days, seemingly close to ending a deadlock. On Monday, they met separately with the Italian president, and expectations were high that the country might have a new government.

Then, things quickly returned to normal: The party leaders emerged from their meetings to say that they had asked the president for more time to iron out significant disagreements.

While a deal had seemed imminent, the exasperated faces of the leaders of the Five Star Movement, an unpredictable, web-native party, and the League, a hard-right, anti-immigrant party, suggested that time might not heal all wounds.

The last thing we want to do is waste the time of the president or the Italians, said Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League, during angry but resolute remarks to reporters after meeting with President Sergio Mattarella. I hope to see you again as soon as possible, either to form a government, or to say goodbye.Officials were more circumspect about Mr. Skripals visit to Estonia, with one describing it as very sensitive information. A senior European official with knowledge of the trip confirmed that the former Russian agent met secretly with a select group of intelligence officers in June 2016, though it is not clear what they discussed. The British intelligence services helped facilitate the meeting, the official said.

A spokesman for the British Home Office also declined to comment.

Mr. Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found semiconscious on a park bench in the British town of Salisbury on March 4. Officials later determined that they had been poisoned with novichok, a deadly nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union. The British government has accused Russia of manufacturing and stockpiling the agent, as well as training special units to employ it against Russias enemies.

Russia has aggressively denied any involvement and has lampooned the British investigation. But Mr. Skripal would certainly still have enemies in Russia, not least of all President Vladimir V. Putin, who has said he is incapable of forgiving betrayal. In 2006, a Russian military court convicted Mr. Skripal of selling out fellow Russian spies in exchange for payments from British agents. He was serving a 13-year sentence when he was unexpectedly sent to Britain in the 2010 spy swap.

Russias relations with Estonia and the Czech Republic, two former Communist Bloc countries, are freighted with the legacy of the Cold War. Estonia in particular moved aggressively to assert its independence after breaking with the Soviet Union in 1991, often provoking Russian ire. Ferreting out Russian spies is a source of national pride.

Estonia has the best counterintelligence in Europe, said Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who was Estonias president for a decade and left office in 2016. Weve caught as many spies as Germany.

Nothing about Mr. Skripals travels appears all that uncommon. John Sipher, who retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2014 and once ran covert operations against the Russians, said the United States routinely deployed Russian defectors to lecture the intelligence services of its allies, though their meetings with other agencies would be kept secret to avoid angering Moscow.

There is a bit of a game where, O.K., the guy spied for us, we got what we wanted, and now that were out, were not going to rub your nose in it, he said.Jerusalem

American and Israeli officials celebrated President Trumps move of the embassy to Jerusalem. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trumps son-in-law, invoked a resolution to generations of conflict. When there is peace in this region, we will look back upon this day and will remember that the journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth, he said.BAGHDAD  Moktada al-Sadr, a firebrand militia leader whose forces once battled American troops in Iraq and were implicated in widespread atrocities against civilians, has emerged as the surprise front-runner in the Iraqi national elections, according to Iraqi election officials.

After American forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011, Mr. Sadr remained vocally anti-American, though he has also been strongly critical of Iran, the other foreign power with widespread influence here.

The victory of Mr. Sadrs political coalition could complicate the American strategy in Iraq. The American military has been training, sharing intelligence and planning missions with former militias in the country, gambling that their military partnership can keep the Islamic State from making a comeback here.

Mr. Sadr has been highly critical of American airstrikes in the country against the Islamic State, though he has said little recently about his willingness to allow American troops to remain on Iraqi soil.He added: Judaism  you cant be saved being a Jew. You know who said that, by the way? The three greatest Jews in the New Testament: Peter, Paul and Jesus Christ. They all said Judaism wont do it. Its faith in Jesus Christ.

In the past decade, Mr. Jeffress has assumed a prominent role in conservative politics, appearing frequently on Fox News and urging in sermons and on television to elect a Christian as president. Non-Christian religions are sending their followers to hell, he preached in a September 2008 sermon.

Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism  not only do they lead people away from the true God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in hell, Mr. Jeffress said. Hell is going to be filled with good religious people who have rejected the truth of Christ.

Hagee: Hurricane Katrina punished New Orleans for its sins

After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, killing more than 1,200 people, Mr. Hagee said that the storm was Gods punishment for its sinful ways, a common trope among conservative evangelists. Those sins included a gay pride parade that was scheduled for the same day that Katrina made landfall.

New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that, Mr. Hagee said in an interview on NPR in 2006. Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the City of New Orleans.

In the NPR interview, Mr. Hagee spoke about his affection for Israel and how he believes Jews will be saved during the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which he has long said is imminent. While Jews do not believe in Jesus as their savior, Mr. Hagee said, they will accept him when he appears and they will weep as one weeps for his only son for a period of one week.It is hardly the first time the United States has seen no inconsistency in expanding its own nuclear capabilities while trying to persuade lesser powers to give up theirs.

In fact, the imbalance is built into the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which went into effect in 1970. It prohibits all states that did not already have the bomb from building nuclear weapons. (Israel, Pakistan and India never joined, and North Korea dropped out.)

But it also requires the acknowledged nuclear powers  the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France  to work toward the cessation of the nuclear arms race and to nuclear disarmament, and ultimately to complete their own disarmament.

For the two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, both the United States and Russia could argue that they were making progress on that promise. The number of nuclear weapons deployed by the two countries fell, and fell again, under a series of arms control agreements, and as of earlier this year, both are now limited to 1,550 deployed weapons. Thousands more are in storage.

President Barack Obama argued that the United States could not urge other countries to give up nuclear programs while expanding its own. But many of his own aides later said they wished he had done far more to reduce Americas arsenal, arguing that it could safely drop below the number the Russians deployed.

Now Mr. Trump is heading in the other direction. The United States has dramatically stepped up the effort to overhaul the existing arsenal and prepare for the day when it might once again be enlarged. Unless the New Start Treaty is renewed for five years, any limits on the American and Russian arsenals will expire in February 2021, just days after Mr. Trump would enter his second term.russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle 1984 Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Hudson Bay Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Arctic Circle 1984 Hudson Bay Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle 1984 Hudson Bay Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland 1984 Arctic Circle Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years 1984 russia Arctic Ocean greenland Arctic Circle Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle 2018 Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Hudson Bay Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Arctic Circle 2018 Hudson Bay Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle 2018 Hudson Bay Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland 2018 Arctic Circle Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years 2018 russia Arctic Ocean greenland Arctic Circle Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle 1984 Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Hudson Bay Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Arctic Circle 1984 Hudson Bay Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle 1984 Hudson Bay Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years russia North Sea Arctic Ocean greenland 1984 Arctic Circle Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years 1984 russia Arctic Ocean greenland Arctic Circle Sea Ice EXTENT in EARLY march Age of Arctic sea ice Canada 2 3 4 5+ years The New York Times

In the Arctic Ocean, some ice stays frozen year-round, lasting for many years before melting. But this winter, the region hit a record low for ice older than five years.

This, along with a near-record low for sea ice over all, supports predictions that by midcentury there will be no more ice in the Arctic Ocean in summer.

As darker, heat-absorbing water replaces reflective ice, it hastens warming in the region. Older ice is generally thicker than newer ice and thus more resilient to heat. But as the old ice disappears, the newer ice left behind is more vulnerable to rising temperatures.

First-year ice grows through winter and then to up to a maximum, which is usually around in March, said Mark A. Tschudi, a research associate at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As summer onsets, the ice starts to melt back.

Some of the new ice melts each summer, but some of it lingers to grow thicker over the following winter, forming second-year ice. The next summer, some of that second-year ice survives, then grows even thicker and more resilient the next winter, creating what is known as multiyear ice. Some ice used to last more than a decade.

100% 5+ year old ice 80 4 yr. 3 yr. 60 2 yr. 40 1 year old ice 20 0 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2018 Percentage of Arctic Ice in Early March 100% 5+ year old ice 80 4 yr. 3 yr. 60 2 yr. 40 1 year old ice 20 0 1984 2000 2018 Percentage of Arctic Ice in Early March 100% 5+ year old ice 80 4 yr. 3 yr. 60 2 yr. 40 1 year old ice 20 0 1984 1992 2000 2008 2018 Percentage of Arctic Ice in Early March The New York Times

Today, Arctic sea ice is mostly first-year ice. While the oldest ice has always melted when currents pushed it south into warmer waters, now more of the multiyear ice is melting within the Arctic Ocean, leaving more open water in its wake.

This is especially bad for animals like narwhals, the so-called unicorns of the sea, that use sea ice to avoid predators like killer whales. As the sea ice disappears, killer whales spend more time in narwhal waters, eating the narwhals and driving them from the richest feeding grounds.73 year old mans family awarded Rs 23 lakh in accident case

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

A tribunal has awarded the family of a 73 year old man Rs 23 lakh compensation after he was killed in an accident involving a rashly driven mini-bus.

Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) presiding officer Hemani Malhotra directed National Insurance Company Ltd, insurer of the vehicle, to pay Rs 23,13,000 to the wife and three daughters of Ram Avtar Sikka, who was hit by the speeding vehicle in 2015 when he was crossing the road in west Delhi.

The tribunal, while deciding the petition in the victim's favour, relied on the relevant documents placed on record including the FIR, charge sheet, post mortem report of the victim and statement of an eyewitness of the accident.

The tribunal also noted that the driver of the offending bus did not cross examine the eyewitness or lead any evidence in his defence.

"Since, respondent/driver of the offending vehicle chose not to cross-examine the eyewitness and did not lead any evidence qua his non involvement in the accident, taking into consideration the unimpeached testimony the witness, it is established that the respondent was rash and negligent while driving the offending vehicle," the tribunal said.

According to the petition, on December 16, 2015, Sikka was waiting to cross Pankha road in west Delhi when suddenly the RTV bus came at a high speed and hit him.

He sustained grievous injuries and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital but he succumbed to his injuries during treatment, it said.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:39 [IST]After Karnataka elections, all hell breaks loose: Reactions on petrol, diesel price hike

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, May 14: On Monday, the hashtag--#Petrol--was trending on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, following the hike in fuel prices. The prices of petrol and diesel were hiked just two days after the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday got over. The results of the elections will be declared on Tuesday.

The last fuel price hike was announced on April 24. According to reports, the Centre was waiting for the Karnataka Assembly elections to get over to further increase the prices of petrol and diesel.

While petrol price was hiked by 17 paise a litre, diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers. Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74.80 per litre from Rs 74.63, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 66.14 a litre from Rs 65.93, according to a price notification issued by state-owned oil marketing companies.

Consumers and politicians from opposition parties took to Twitter to lambast the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre over the latest fuel price hike.

"Like a Jumla for campaigning, all will be quiet till polling day in Karnataka. After that, all hell will break loose on poor citizens with a hefty price hike. #Petrol #Diesel," wrote Sitaram Yechury, secretary general of the Communist Party of India, on Twitter.

Like a Jumla for campaigning, all will be quiet till polling day in Karnataka. After that, all hell will break loose on poor citizens with a hefty price hike. #Petrol #Diesel https://t.co/4Vx00cY5UZ  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 8, 2018

Another user of Twitter raised the issue of 19-day hiatus by the Centre before the fuel prices were hiked. "India know why #Petrol #Diesel price was unchanged for 19 days. Yet, when it comes to complaint of frequent price rise, @narendramodi ji & @dpradhanbjp ji keep telling us that it is deregulated & govt has no role. Oh... Plz don't fool," wrote @bimalpandia on Twitter.

India know why #Petrol #Diesel price was unchanged for 19 days. Yet, when it comes to complaint of frequent price rise, @narendramodi ji & @dpradhanbjp ji keep telling us that it is deregulated & govt has no role.



Oh... Plz don't fool.



https://t.co/tPhF7yoDu4  Bimal Prasad Pandia (@bimalpandia) May 14, 2018

Tehseen Poonawalla of the Congress said, "On the 12th itself I told @RubikaLiyaquat on @ZeeNews that #Petrol prices will be increased post the #KarnatakaElections2018 . Proved correct ."

On the 12th itself I told @RubikaLiyaquat on @ZeeNews that #Petrol prices will be increased post the #KarnatakaElections2018 . Proved correct   Tehseen Poonawalla (@tehseenp) May 14, 2018

However, the supporters of the BJP stated that consumers should not complain about the increase in fuel prices as they spend more on buying a "bottle of beer".

"One beer bottle costs around 100rs--no problem (even if it is Increased we can able to buy it ). One litre petrol costs around 75rs--- big problem( If Increased 10paise)," wrote a Twitter user.

#Petrol

One beer bottle costs around 100rs--no problem (even if it is Increased we can able to buy it )

One litre petrol costs around 75rs--- big problem( If Increased 10paise)  s.prasad (@prasad_dp11) May 14, 2018

Similarly, another Twitter user said that people spend far greater amount of money in buying mobile phones than on petrol and diesel and still remain quite.

"No problems in buying 10000-20000 rupees mobile phones. Can even take loan to buy it. But if petrol rates increases just few Paisa they started crying. What's this???? This is for all the govt," wrote another Twitter user.

#Petrol

No problems in buying 10000-20000 rupees mobile phones. Can even take loan to buy it.

But if petrol rates increases just few Paisa they started crying. What's this????

This is for all the govt.  Rish@bh (@rishabh1123) May 14, 2018

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 13:37 [IST]Amit Shah cautions workers that pride must not turn into arrogance

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah has met state party presidents, national general secretaries, organising secretary and all other office bearer of the party in New Delhi to take not only stock of the situation but also to decide the next course of action.

The party has to face not only elections in three important states but trumpet of the next general elections might be blown any time for the party. Amid all success achieved by the party from north, west and north-east, the next agenda for the BJP president is southern India but amid all this he cautioned workers that having pride on ones' success is alright but workers must remain cautious that it should not turn into arrogance.

Former Union minister and party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, "The party president was disturb while addressing the party leadership that despite so much support from people of the country the BJP was being accused of reaching to power by making fool of people but by winning 2019 elections, we would prove that we know how to win elections and how to run the government."

Another BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi said that the BJP has won 14 consecutive elections in different parts of the country and if the party wins Karnataka elections tomorrow it would be 15th straight victory for the party. So the party knows how to reach to power and dhow to sustain it.

Trivedi also informed that the BJP was going to have a meeting of its Morcha Leaders on May 17, 2018 in which four years BJP-rule and its celebrations will be discussed. All the details about celebrations will be discussed. The theme of the four-year celebration has been decided as fourty eight-year verses fourty eight months.

Party sources informed that the BJP now wants to start preparation not only for three major poll bound state that are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattissgarh but also general elections. So the party leadership wants to energies office bearers to they can reach out to people to tell about the work of the Modi government in past four years.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 21:03 [IST]Army jawan posted in Kargil and Siachen to get indigenous equipment soon

India

oi-Vinod

By Vinod

New Delhi: Very soon Army personal deployed above 12000 feet from the sea level will be provided with Indigenous equipment which so far has been imported.

Army posts in Siachen, Kargil and many more such places are above 12000 feet where they have to face extreme cold weather conditions. The government has been planning to purchase indigenous products from very long time. The indeginisation programme taken up by the ministry and the Army has been able to save money to the tune of Rs 250 to 300 crore per annam to the government exchequer.

Generally an Army personal are given special clothing above 9000 feet height but for the Army personnel posted at 12000 feet and above these clothing are necessary as they are life saving. Siachen, Nathu La, Bumla, East Laddakh and Kargil are some of areas where negotiating with the prevailing weather condition without these clothing and equipments are impossible.

Army sources told One India that the government has to cough up Rs 600 to 800 crore on purchase of these special clothing and equipments so the process of Indigenisation was started by the government as both the government as well as the Army wanted to do this.

The Army has adopted the revenue model for purchasing these cloths and equipments as these things are already being used by the Army. As per sources Thermal Insole, snow goggle, rucksack and face mask have already been Indegenised and now Extreme Cold Weather Clothing System (ECWCS) has to be Indegenised which was earlier made of animal fur that the news company is offering is made up of synthetic stuff. In two-three month's time they will be ready for the use of the Armed forces.

Sources informed that for indgenisation of these products 23 firms participated in it with their products and in two days time reports will be out that which product has passed the required test, which has failed and why has any company failed the test? Every thing will be told to them.

Army sources also informed that there are many other products that has to be indigenised and the Army is working on it. They are Modular Glovs, Tugger Shoes, Multi-Purpose Boot, Sleeping Bag, Cramp On and Carabina. To make these things indegenous system is being made transparent and soon every equipment will be indegenous. However, some other sources informed that some of the equipment are so specialised that making them by Indian companies will definitely take time before it is approved from the uses of Army.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 21:11 [IST]As Assam fears distortion of historic accord under BJP rule, CM reaches out to people

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Guwahati, May 14: The horror of six-year-old Assam movement-- that started in 1979 and left the entire state a changed place forever--is haunting the residents of the northeastern state once again. Thanks to the recent visit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 to Assam, the indigenous people of the state fear that Bangladeshis (read Hindus and not Muslims) will take over their land as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime at the Centre wants to give citizenship rights to six minority communities (except Muslims) from three neighbouring countries.

A key amendment in the Bill seeks to grant citizenship to people without valid documents from six minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India.

If the Bill is implemented the whole Assam Accord which was signed to end the Assam movement, started against the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants irrespective of their religion, will become null and void. Interestingly, the BJP is in power in Assam also.

The whole step by the BJP government to appease Hindus from other countries is seen as an attempt to divide the state on the grounds of religion. The main demand of the people of Assam during agitation and even now is that illegal immigrants, irrespective of their religion, who have entered the state after 1971 should be deported. However, the BJP has two different rules--one for the Muslims and second for the six other minority communities.

In order to placate the people of the state, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said he had no reason to continue on his post if he could not protect the interest of the people of the state.

He was interacting with the editors of print and electronic media in Guwahati recently on the prevailing situation in the state following the recent visit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016.

"If the interest of the state and its people are not secure, then what is the meaning for me in continuing as the chief minister of the state. That is why we will sincerely work for safeguarding the interests of the people of Assam. This is certain," Sonowal said.

"It is my duty as the chief minister to take all with me and not take decisions on my own. By taking the opinion of the people of Assam, we will take a decision on the issue.

"I will seriously think about the suggestions given by you all here and as advised, I will also discuss the matter with senior citizens and intellectuals in the coming days," he said.

He also appealed for peace and said there is no need for people to get agitated as the process for the JPC to take their opinion is still on.

"We will not take any decision that goes against the people of Assam. We all have to ensure peace across the state and keep faith in the government. I appeal all to maintain peace so that unwanted situations do not develop in the state," he said.

"The JPC Chairman had hinted the Committee will return to Assam to further take the people's opinion on the Bill. The people should, however, continue to express their opinion and speak their mind to the JPC chairman through e-mail," he said.

The 16-member JPC headed by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal had visited the state from May 7 to May 9 to elicit views from stakeholders on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Sonowal said there was an allegation against him that he was not allowing the JPC team to visit Assam.

"When I had got the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act repealed, no JPC had come then. This time, people have been given top priority," he said.

The JPC had heard individuals, political and other organisations on the bill in Guwahati on May 7 for 30 Brahmaputra valley districts and the next two days for the three Barak valley districts.

Protests were staged against the Bill in front of the venue where the JPC hearing was held as people feared that it would breach the clauses of the Assam Accord.

The Accord states that all illegal foreigners from Bangladesh who had settled in Assam after March 25, 1971 would have to be deported irrespective of religion.

In the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley, a majority of the 315 opinions submitted to the JPC were in favour of the Bill, and people carrying placards formed a human chain in its support.

The opponents of the Bill are apprehensive that the granting of Indian citizenship to the Hindus of Bangladesh to live in Assam would negatively impact the demographic pattern of the state and make the indigenous people minorities in their own state, besides threatening Assamese language and culture.

A human chain carrying placards also supported the Bill, while politicians of both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress supported it even as their respective parties opposed it in the Brahmaputra valley. Following the JPC hearings, protests have been taking place on a daily basis in the Brahmaputra valley against the Bill.

There are also fears that anti-Bengali sentiments will increase in the state in the wake of the controversy.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 12:18 [IST]Bhavnagar Dalit killed for harassing women, not for riding horse say police

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Dalit from Bhavnagar was not killed by upper-caste men for owning or riding a horse. He was killed for allegedly harassing the share-croppers wife, the police have said. The victim's father however rejected this theory and alleged that the upper caste men had made the share-cropper a scapegoat to cover up the crime.

Superintendent of police of Bhavnagar, Pravin Mal told the media that Pradeep Rathod, the Dalit youth was not killed by upper-caste men due caste-prejudice but was murdered by a man whose wife had complained that Rathod had been harassing her and was demanding sexual favours.

The share-cropper was identified as Munna Thaleisha, a native of Padana village in Dhandhuka taluka of Ahmedabad district. Bhavnagar police picked up Thaleisha and his family-members from Padan village on Saturday. Thaleisha was formally arrested by Bhavnagar police on Sunday, an Indian Express report stated.

The SP said that 28-year-old Thaleisha had been cultivating agricultural land of one Bhotha Lathiya in Piparali, a village neighbouring Timbi for the last two years. "However, Pradeep started harassing Thaleisha's wife around two months before the incident. The woman even complained to her husband about the harassment and suggested that they should approach police. However, the husband turned it down telling her they were poor and therefore they should rather focus on eking out a living by working as share-croppers," the report while citing the SP said.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 7:38 [IST]Amit Shah's residence is new centre of anti-Dalit politics: Congress on Singh-Shah meeting

Home Minister Amit Shah likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir, his first visit after Aug 2019

Amit Shah in Gujarat, expected to attend several programs in Gandhinagar today

BJP will form next govt in Karnataka says Shah

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

BJP president Amit Shah asserted the party would form the next government in Karnataka, a day after the polling for high-stake Assembly polls in the southern state indicated a close contest between the saffron party and the Congress.

"The BJP will form the government in Karnataka on May 15 evening after the results," Shah said while addressing a gathering of around 15,000 BJP workers at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji in Goa.

Most of the post-poll surveys have predicted the BJP to emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, with the JD(S) of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda likely to emerge as the kingmaker.

Polling was held on Saturday in 222 constituencies in Karnataka, currently ruled by the Congress. Any party or alliance will need the support of 112 MLAs to form the new government.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:10 [IST]Mehul Choksi may have taken girlfriend on romantic trip to Dominica, got caught: Antiguan PM

CBI files charge sheet in PNB scam, names former boss Usha Ananthasubramanian

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday submitted a chargesheet against absconding accused Nirav Modi, former MD and CEO of PNB Usha Ananthasubramanianand and several others in the over Rs 13,000 crore PNB scam.

The charge-sheet was filed in a Mumbai court just before the 90-day period to file charges against those arrested ends. Following this, the accused will not be able seek bail.

Usha Ananthasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO of the Allahabad Bank, who held the same position at Punjab National Bank earlier, had been named as an accused along with other senior officials, according to the chargesheet.She was MD and CEO of the Punjab National Bank in 2016. A separate charge-sheet against Mehul Choksi will be filed later.

The agency has also named PNB executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager (international operations) Nehal Ahad in its charge sheet.

The agency has detailed the roles of Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modi's company, officials said.

The charge sheet basically deals with the first FIR registered in the case relating to the fraudulent issuance over Rs 6,000 crore of Letters of Undertaking to Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

The agency has not given in detail the role of Mehul Choksi in the present charge sheet. It is likely to come up when the CBI files supplementary charge sheets in the case related to the probe of the Gitanjali group.

The agency has arrested 19 people, including PNB officials and top honchos of the firms of Modi and Choksi and Modi in connection with the case.

The CBI arrested former PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, single window manager Manoj Kharat, and Hemant Bhat, the authorised signatory of Modi's firms, the officials said.

Vipul Ambani, the president (finance) of Modi's Fire Star Diamond along with executive assistant Kavita Mankikar and senior executive Arjun Patil, CFO of Nakshatra group and Gitanjali group, Kapil Khandelwal and the manager of Gitanjali group Niten Shahi were also taken into custody by the CBI in February, besides others, they said.

Choksi and Modi allegedly got Letters of Undertaking(LoUs) and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) of $2 billion issued in favour of foreign branches of Indian banks based on fraudulent claims.

The accused PNB officials allegedly did not enter the instructions for these LoUs in their internal software to avoid scrutiny. They were sent through an international messaging system for banking called SWIFT, which is used to pass instructions among banks globally to transfer funds.

An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant. In case of default, the bank issuing the LoU has to pay the liability to the credit-giving bank along with the accruing interest.

The PNB officials allegedly sent these messages to Indian banks -Canara Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Axis Bank, Allahabad Bank - located in Antwerp, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Mauritius, Frankfurt.From sweets to dress, Mumbai dabbawalas to celebrate Prince Harry-Meghans wedding in grand manner

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Mumbai, May 14: The whole world is waiting in anticipation for another British royal wedding set to take place soon. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will exchange nuptial vows in a grand affair at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, England on May 19.

From paparazzi, VVIPs to starry-eyed commoners, all want to have a slice of the wedding that has been making news for the last couple of months.

Thousands of miles away in Mumbai, India, the ubiquitous dabbawalas, the food delivery men, are going to celebrate the day in their own unique way. Reason, during his visit to India in 2003, Prince Charles, father of Prince Harry, met the dabbawalas and they immediately became friends.

Earlier in 2005 too, when the Prince of Wales and his long-time lover Camilla Parker got hitched, the dabbawalas gifted the princess a nine-yard saree and a Maharashtrian turban to the prince on the threshold of their wedding.

Talking to ANI, Subhash Talekar, Dabbawala Association spokesperson, said, "The dabbawalas of Mumbai are all set to celebrate the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19."

"We'll distribute sweets along with tiffins. We'll even send the bride and groom the traditional Maharashtrian wedding dress," he added.

Dabbawalas of Mumbai are all set to celebrate the royal wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle on May 19th. Subhash Talekar, Dabbawala Assn Spox says,'We'll distribute sweets along with tiffins. We'll even send the bride and groom the traditional Maharashtrian wedding dress'. pic.twitter.com/07DMEzo1Tw  ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

In fact, the dabbawalas expressed their interest to be a part of the royal affair, restricted to the who's who of the world's powerful men and women, if they too are invited.

"Prince Charles is friend. If there's wedding at his home, it's wedding at our home. If we are invited, two of us will go there. When we met Prince Charles he turned us into management gurus," said Talekar.

Prince Charles is friend. If there's wedding at his home, it's wedding at our home. If we're invited, 2 of us will go there. When we met Prince Charles, he turned us into 'Mgmt Gurus':Dabbawala Assn Spox on Mumbai's Dabbawalas preps for royal wedding of Prince Harry&Meghan Markle pic.twitter.com/thdH7zutl8  ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

Impressed by their dedication, hard work and attention to details as everyday millions of lunchboxes of Mumbaikars reach their office desks on time, thanks to the dabbawalas, Prince Charles called dhoti, kurta and Gandhi cap-clad men "management gurus".

After all, who does not celebrate a wedding in the family? Mumbai dabbawalas are no different and they value family ties to the core. Hope British royalty is aware about the mini-celebration of the wedding in Mumbai.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 6:49 [IST]CBSE Class 10th Results 2021: Board likely to declare results soon; here's how to check your roll number

In a first CBSE results 2018 to be available on Google

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The CBSE results 2018 are expected to be declared soon. This time the CBSE results would be available on Google as well as the official website.

This would mean that the results would be visible directly when students search for the results. Earlier after searching on Google, students would log into the hosting portals. Now the results would be available directly.

CBSE announced its partnership with Google. "We are collaborating with Google for smooth dissemination of results through an easy and secure platform," Rama Sharma, Senior Public Relations Officer, CBSE, had said in a statement.

"With over 260 million students enrolled in more than 1.5 million schools across India, we believe having reliable, seamless, and safe access to education-related information is crucial," said Shilpa Agrawal, Product Manager, Google Search. "That's why today's updates are just the first step of many to improve access to information about important exams and other exam-related content in Google Search in India," she added.

Meanwhile the results are expected on time. An official of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said that the re-test of the Class 12 Economics paper, held on April 25, nearly a month after it was leaked, will not delay declaration of results. The results are expected to be declared by May 30.

"The results will be declared on time as the evaluation is in advanced stage despite re-exam of economics paper. We have rigorously followed up with schools to send more evaluators than the required number," a senior Board official said.

There were also reports of the CBSE's Class 10 mathematics paper being leaked, but the board decided against its re-test, saying class 10 was just an "internal segment" of school education system.

The reports of leak of the CBSE papers had caused disappointment among students across the country last month. In Delhi, students held protests accusing the CBSE of negligence and demanded immediate action against the guilty.

According to Delhi Police, the class 12 economics paper was leaked on 23 March - three days before the scheduled date of the examination.

Investigators made arrests in several parts of the country in connection with the case, including in Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.

They claimed to have arrested the main conspirators behind the leak from Una in Himachal Pradesh. The three people were staffers of a school in the town. The results once declared will be available on cbse.nic.in.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 9:26 [IST]In dry Bihar, over 3,000 litres of liquor seized

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

In dry Bihar, the police has seized more than 3,000 litres of liquor, brought in from Haryana and kept in over 300 cartons stacked inside a truck, in Vaishali district, an official said.

"Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted in the early hours close to a canal between Repura and Madaideeh villages, where cartons of liquor were being unloaded from a truck," said Ajay Kumar, the SHO of Patepur police station.

"Noticing policemen, those involved in the illegal activity fled from the spot. We seized the truck as well as the liquor kept in 354 cartons. The total quantity of liquor was 3049 litres. It was brought from Haryana on the truck bearing a Rajasthan number plate," he said.

Efforts are on to trace and nab the owner of the truck and others who may be involved in the business, the SHO added.

Sale and consumption of liquor had been completely banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April 2016.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:18 [IST]Pulwama attack: AMU issues advisory asking Kashmiri students not to move out of campus

Jinnah row: Haryana minister Capt Abhimanyu wants AMU named after 'Jat king'

India

oi-PTI

Amid a row over Muhammad Ali Jinnah's portrait on Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus, Haryana finance minister Captain Abhimanyu on Sunday demanded the varsity be named after 'Jat king' Mahendra Pratap Singh.

"I demand AMU should be named after Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh," the Haryana minister said addressing a gathering at a ground-breaking ceremony of a Jat Dharamsala in Rewari.

The Haryana minister claimed Mahendra Pratap Singh had "donated" the land for the varsity. Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh's contribution in the field of education cannot be forgotten, he added.

Jinnah, he said, "was responsible for destroying the integrity of the nation. His portrait is displayed in the varsity, but till today no picture of Raja Mahendra Pratap has been installed there".

Meanwhile, the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) has written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention into the controversy surrounding the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

In their letter to Kovind, the students alleged that no satisfactory action has been taken by the Uttar Pradesh government yet. They also said that the Aligarh district administration was yet to act against those who trespassed into the campus and indulged in acts of violence on May 2.

PTI

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 9:15 [IST]Ktaka: If Congress loses, will it prove the final nail in the coffin of Rahuls failing career?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, May 14: Who will win the highly-contested Karnataka Assembly elections 2018? Will the Congress pay the price of anti-incumbency wave? Will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remain bereft of power in the southern state? These and many more questions are literally haunting the political parties, politicians and analysts across the country these days.

Since the stakes are pretty high in the elections, the polling for which got over on Saturday, the frowns on the foreheads of the political bigwigs are also very apparent ahead of the results. The results of the polls (voting took place for 222 seats out of 224) will be out on Tuesday.

Karnataka is one of the last few states where the Congress is in power. The grand old party which was in power at the Centre for several terms has been already decimated to a weaker version of its old self, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wave. Today, the Congress is in power only in Punjab, Mizoram and Puducherry. The Congress has been witnessing its steady downfall since it lost the 2014 General Elections.

If the Congress has to remain a contender for the big 2019 General Elections, then it has to win Karnataka elections at any contest. Similarly, the BJP, which is in power in 21 states in the country and has its government at the Centre, wants to badly capture Karnataka to have its sway in the southern part of the country before 2019.

Recently, during an election campaign in Karnataka, PM Modi mocked the Congress saying that once it loses Karnataka it will become a "PPP (Puducherry, Punjab and Parivar (family)) Congress".

"After May 15 (when the poll results will be declared), the Indian National Congress will be reduced to 'PPP Congress'-- P for Punjab, P for Puducherry, and P for Parivar (family)," Modi told an election rally in Gadag, where he predicted the state's ruling party would be decimated in the elections.

While most of the exit poll results have predicted a hung assembly, six out of 10 such surveys have stated that the BJP will get the highest number of seats in the Karnataka elections. All these predictions aside, if the Congress loses the Karnataka Assembly elections or fails to form the next government in the state by forging an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular), along with the grand old party, the already "failing career" of the party chief Rahul Gandhi is likely to hit rock bottom for sure.

In December last year, Rahul was anointed as the party chief in the middle of the Gujarat Assembly elections. Thus, the Karnataka election is officially the first big test for Rahul as the Congress head. He has taken over the reins of the party at a time when the Congress is witnessing one of its worst phases in its more than 130 years of existence.

The battle of Karnataka has great national implications. Actually, it does not matter whether incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah will get the hot seat or not once again. What concerns the Congress most is Rahul's image as a successful politician, who can win elections like a commander leading from the front.

The 47-year-old scion of the Gandhi family was omnipresent during the Karnataka Assembly election campaign period. He visited and conducted rallies in all the 224 state Assembly constituencies in the last few months.

Observers say Rahul has emerged as a strong and matured party head, a far cry from his "reluctant politician" days. Nonetheless, Rahul is yet to give a tough competition to PM Modi in the department of igniting passion among voters with his oratory skills.

Rahul, in short, is still a "junior" in front of Modi. The Gandhi scion--who has recently said that he is ready to be the next PM of the country if the Congress gets the majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls--has to raise his game by several notches if he has to survive the "big, bad world of politics".Karnataka elections: Has Kumaraswamy left for Singapore to negotiate on post-poll alliances?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, May 14: The highly-contested Karnataka Assembly elections 2018 got over on Saturday. In a few hours from now, on Tuesday, the results of the all-important elections will be out. But before that reports of post-poll alliances between various parties are flying thick and fast.

State president of the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), HD Kumaraswamy, reportedly left for Singapore hours after the polling ended for the 222 seats out of 224 in the southern state last week. The former chief minister is likely to be back in Bengaluru on Monday evening.

The impromptu visit of Kumaraswamy to Singapore is causing ripples in the political circle of Karnataka. Insiders suggest that the JD(S) leader has shifted his base to Singapore (even for a few days) so that he could have "hassle-free" talks with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before deciding on whom to support in case the election result does not give clear majority to any party.

Most of the exit polls have predicted a hung Assembly. The exit polls added that no political party will get 113 seats--the magic figure to form the next government in the state. Out of the 10 exit polls, six have given maximum seats to the BJP.

Interestingly, all the exit polls too maintain that the JD(S) will play the role of the "kingmaker" by either supporting the BJP or the Congress, depending on which side is in a better position to form the next government.

According to a report by News18, Kumaraswamy has left for Singapore to conduct post-poll negotiations. "Leaders from both the Congress and the BJP are in touch with him (Kumaraswamy) and with HD Deve Gowda (former Prime Minister and chief of the JD(S)). I think he has gone there (Singapore) to meet them. If they meet here, news will be leaked to the media," a close confidant of Kumaraswamy told News18.

Deve Gowda told reporters that his son has left for Singapore to get some rest as health wise his son is not doing very well. Sources close to the family stated that "Kumaranna" would also get some heath checkups done while in Singapore. So in a way even close aides are not denying that it is politics and not health that is Kumaraswamy's top priority now.

While both the Congress and the BJP are expressing confidence of forming the next government in Karnataka on their own, reactions of top leaders bereft any exuberance hours ahead of the poll results. On Sunday, incumbent CM Siddaramaiah told reporters that he would be ready to step aside for a Dalit CM if the party asked him to do so.

Although the Congress did not name anyone as its chief ministerial candidate, Siddaramaiah was in charge of the entire campaign. However, the BJP has named BS Yeddyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate. In case, the Congress joins hands with the JD(S), in all likelihood, the Deve Gowda clan's first demand would be to clip Siddaramaiah's wings, and give the coveted post to someone else. The incumbent CM, who was with the JD(S) and the right-hand man of the former PM, doesn't see eye to eye with his former mentor anymore.

Or will the JD(S) go with the BJP? Before the polls, both the Congress and the BJP alleged that the JD(S) is the "B-team" of their respective opponents. However, the regional party denied any such understanding and expressed confidence of winning the elections on its own. The JD(S) has formed an alliance with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

While both the BJP and the Congress aspire to turn Bengaluru into next Singapore if they come to power, Kumaraswamy has no qualms to fly down to actual Singapore to have political parleys. After all, Singapore, the glitzy city, is in everyone's bucket list.Karnataka: In the event of a BJP-JD(S) alliance, what happens to BSP back in UP

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A hung house is what most exit polls have predicted for Karnataka. This would mean that Karnataka is staring at a coalition government and in all probability the JD(S) will play kingmaker.

Through the campaign, the Congress accused the JD(S) of being the BJP's B-team. Both the JD(S) and BJP have outrightly denied this and the latter said that it is capable of forming the government on its own.

In the event of a hung house, both the BJP and Congress would have to depend on the JD(S). Looking at the various combinations, a possibility of a Congress-JD(S) alliance is higher when compared to one with the BJP.

In case the JD(S) decides to go with the BJP, then it would have a lot of convincing to do since it is in an alliance with the BSP in Karnataka. This could shake up the combinations for the BSP back in Uttar Pradesh were it fought the by-elections to Gorakhpur and Phulpur in an alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

The big question is whether Mayawati would agree to such an alliance at the risk of stalking things up with the SP in UP which is more important for her and also is her home turf. Recently Mayawati had even said that the alliance with the SP would continue in 2019 as well. The SP it may be recalled had fought the UP assembly elections in an alliance with the Congress.

It would be interesting to see how the SP would react in case Mayawati agrees to a BJP-JD(S) combine. Sources say that in Karnataka it would be the JD(S) which would take the final call as it is the senior partner. Moreover JD(S) supremo, Deve Gowda would also look at the entire scenario in the context of the 2019 elections. If he feels that there would be a strong emergence of a third front, then he is bound not to support the BJP. It would also largely depend on which party is in a better position to form the government in Karnataka.

Mayawati on the other hand would only look at the scenario in the context of Uttar Pradesh. It has not been an easy ride for her back at home. She was first defeated by the SP in the assembly elections and then faced a huge set back in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with the BJP trouncing all. The last UP elections was possibly one of the worst performances by the BSP. The by-polls in which she was an alliance with the SP would weigh heavily on her mind as they were able to defeat the BJP in two constituencies that were held by the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Going by these combinations, for now it appears as though the Congress is in a better position to win over the JD(S). If this were to happen, then the first casualty would be Siddaramaiah as Gowda his one-time mentor would have that pre-condition. Siddaramaiah has been accused several times of trying to finish the JD(S) and hence in any sort of an alliance he would not feature.

The statements by the Congress also indicated that they were cozying up to the JD(S). The talk of having a Dalit chief minister did the rounds on Sunday, with Siddaramaiah himself saying he has no opposition to the same. In the case of a Dalit CM being chosen, then the Congress is likely to go with either Malliakarjua Kharge, who is seeking his dues in Karnataka or Dr. G Parameshwar, both of whom are Dalits. In the event of an alliance, the JD(S) would have no objection to both these candidates.A Look back at CMs who completed full 5-year term in history of Karnataka

'Its echo of national interest of the party', says Hariprasad reacting to Siddu's Dalit CM comment

India

oi-Madhuri

Senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad on Monday while commenting on Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's statement that 'I am ready to sacrifice CM's post for a Dalit' said echo of national interest of the party.

Speaking to ANI, Hariprasad said,''Siddaramaiah is CM. Maybe in larger interest of the nation, in the light of attacks on Dalits he expressed these views. It is an echo of national interest of the party: BK Hari Prasad, Congress on K'taka CM Siddaramaiah's statement 'I'm ready to sacrifice CM's post for a Dalit'

''Congress is party of inclusiveness. We want to take everyone together. The final decision lies in the hands of party President Rahul Gandhi,'' BK Hari Prasad further said.

Siddaramaiah on Sunday had said that he will not object if the Congress high command wants to appoint a dalit as the state CM but asserted that the high command should not impose the decision.

Voting in the Karnataka assembly election on took place on Saturday. Six of nine exit polls showed the BJP winning the most number of seats, whereas the rest predict that come result day, Congress will be the single largest party in the Karnataka assembly. In any case, the Janata Dal (Secular) will be the kingmaker after the results, according to political observers.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 18:21 [IST]What is functional during the lockdown: Check out the list here

Bodies of Indians who die abroad due to COVID can be brought back: MHA

Parole, furlough not absolute right; not to be given to terrorists: MHA

Lightning, thunderstorms claim 53 lives since last night: MHA

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, May 14: The Home Ministry said As many as 53 people were killed, including 39 in Uttar Pradesh, due to lightning and thunderstorms in four states since last night.

As per information received from state governments, 39 people died in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Andhra Pradesh, four in West Bengal and one in Delhi due to lightning and thunderstorms during the intervening night of May 13 and 14, a ministry spokesperson said. Fifty-three people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and one in West Bengal, it said.

Dust storms and thunderstorms had wreaked havoc yesterday in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, leaving behind a trail of destruction. High-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services last evening in several places in north India, including the national capital.

Thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said yesterday.

The devastation comes over 12 days after storms hit Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 people and injuring over 400. UP was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

Subsequently on May 9, several parts of Uttar Pradesh were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured.

PTIManmohan Singh writes to President, complaints against PM Modi's 'threatening language'

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind about "threatening language" used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hubballi during the Karnataka Assembly elections.

The two-page letter has been signed by senior Congress leaders - Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former finance minister P Chidambaram, Motilal Vora, Mallikarjun Kharge, Karan Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Kamal Nath, Ambika Soni, Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh and others.

In the letter, Manmohan Singh has asked President Kovind to caution the PM from using unwarranted , threatening and intimidating language against the leaders of the Congress Party or any other party of person as it does not behove position of the PM.

"It is unthinkable that in our democratic polity, the Prime Minister as head of the government would utter words which are threatening, intimidating in content and a public warning to the leaders of members of the main opposition party, the Congress," the letter said.

"The threat held out by the Prime Minister to the Congress leadership deserves to be condemned," said the letter signed by several Congress leaders.

The prime minister, it stated, is not expected to use menacing language even in the course of an election campaign. This is tantamount to a prime minister using his powers and privileges to "settle personal and political scores", the letter said.

Referring to the oath of office, it said the prime minister of India holds a very special position under the Constitution.

The Congress leaders said all prime ministers of India in the past have maintained immense dignity and decorum in the discharge of public or private functions/actions.

"The threat held out by the Prime Minister to the INC's leadership deserves to be condemned. This cannot be the language of the Prime Minister of a constitutionally governed democratic country of 1.3 Billion people.

"Such discourse whether in public or private is unacceptable conduct. The words used are menacing and intimidating with intent to insult and provoke breach of the peace," the Congress leaders added.

They said the Congress is the oldest party in India and has faced many challenges and threats, even as its leadership has exhibited courage and fearlessness in facing them.

"We would like to state that neither the party nor our leaders will be cowed down by such threats," they said.

According to the letter, the president of India is the constitutional head of the Union of India and enjoys high duty and obligation to advise and guide the prime minister and his cabinet.

Modi issued a stern warning to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to be prepared for dire consequences.

While speaking at an election rally in Hubli on May 7 the prime minister warned the Congress leaders not to cross the limits of public decorum or else they would have to pay for it.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

NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital

India

oi-Madhuri

NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was on Monday admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital for further treatment.

Chhagan Bhujbal, who got bail last week after spending more than two years in jail in a money laundering case, was accompanied by his MLA-son Pankaj Bhujbal.

The Bombay High Court granted him bail in a money laundering case on May 4, and the senior politician underwent treatment at the civic-run KEM Hospital before being discharged five days later.

The 70-year-old Nationalist Congress Party leader is accused of misusing his position to launder Rs 857 crore during the redevelopment of the Maharashtra Sadan, which is the state guesthouse in New Delhi. He allegedly accepted kickbacks through firms owned by his relatives.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 23:19 [IST]Amarnath Yatris need not worry about tensions at the border: J&K Deputy CM

No norms violated in house construction says J&K Speaker, Nirmal Singhs wife

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh's wife, Mamata Singh, claimed that no rules were violated during the construction of their house in Nagrota area and asserted they had the requisite permissions.

We have not violated any rules and started the construction work only after getting permission from the concerned authorities, she said.

"It is private land in my name and the issue will be decided by the court," Mamata Singh told reporters at the sidelines of a function.

She was asked about the objection raised by the Army over the construction of their house at Nagrota adjacent to an Army ammunition depot. It is no secret and can be probed, she said.

"Please don't lend ear to the rumours. We are nationalist and can never say anything against Army. Visit the place and investigate on your own and you will come to know about the real position," she said.

Jammu and Kashmir Speaker Nirmal Singh landed into a controversy after the Army objected to the construction of his house adjacent to an ammunition depot along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

The Army has demanded an immediate halt to the construction work citing security reasons.

Singh, who resigned as the deputy chief minister on April 30, had yesterday claimed he undertook the construction after fulfilling all legal requirements.

He said the matter pertained not just to his property, but also to thousands of acres belonging to villagers and farmers around the ammunition depot.

The Speaker said the dispute had gone to the court, which had not stayed the construction.

In a letter addressed to Singh on March 19, Commander of Army's 16 Corps Lt General Saranjeet Singh had raised an objection over the construction of the house adjacent to its Nagrota station.

"It has implications on the security of a major ammunition storage facility as well as the safety of personnel living in close vicinity of the ammunition depot," the letter said.

The J&K Assembly Speaker said he had started constructing the house on a 2,000 square metre plot last year.

The land was bought in 2000 by the Himgiri Infrastructure Development Private Limited, whose shareholders included present J&K Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and BJP MP Jugal Kishore, he said.

Gupta, who took over from Singh in the recent cabinet reshuffle, however, said that he was no longer associated with the company.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:00 [IST]Mehul Choksi may have taken girlfriend on romantic trip to Dominica, got caught: Antiguan PM

PNB scam: RBI refuses to share inspection reports

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has declined to share inspection reports for scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB), citing RTI clauses that bar disclosure of details which may impede the investigation process or prosecution of offenders among other reasons.

Replying to an RTI query, the central bank also said it does not have "specific information" on what resulted in detection of over Rs 13,000 crore scam at PNB and directed the application to the state-run bank for providing those details.

The scam, considered to be the biggest ever fraud in India's history, came to light earlier this year. PNB was allegedly defrauded by diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems.

Among other agencies and regulators, the RBI is also undertaking a detailed probe into the case for necessary action.

In response to queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the central bank clarified that the RBI does not carry out audit of banks. However, the RBI conducts inspection/risk-based supervision of banks, it added.

Giving details for the past ten years, the RBI gave dates for the annual inspection carried out at the PNB head office between 2007 and 2017, except for 2011, for which the bank said the "dates (are) not available".

When asked about the copies of inspection reports and details of objections raised by it, the RBI said the information was exempted under various clauses of the RTI Act.

"The inspection reports of banks and other related documents contain information which is exempt from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (a), (d), (j) and (h) of RTI Act, 2005," it said in reply to the RTI application filed by this correspondent.

The Section 8(1) (a) bars disclosure of information which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence.

The clause (d) bars information the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, whereas the section 8 (1) (h) exempts disclosure of information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders .

The clause (j) bars information which relates to personal information and the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual.

The RBI said that the severance of exempt parts in all inspection reports would divert the resources of the public authority in an unreasonable way.

"In view of the same it is not feasible to disclose the information sought by the applicant," the central bank said.

The RBI has transferred the application to the PNB on query seeking details of inspection reports that led to detection of the massive fraud in the bank.

"The specific information sought is not available with us. However, the RTI application is being transferred to PNB under Section 6 (3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for providing information, if any, directly to the applicant," it said.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:43 [IST]Cops vs Lawyers: Why Delhi police remembered Kiran Bedi? Here's what happened in 1988

Radicalisation main challenge to national security: Kiran Bedi

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Former IPS officer and Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has pitched for a pan-India toll free number to gather intelligence on crime and security.

Speaking at a seminar on national security at Pune, Bedi said she had set up such a number in Puducherry and it was working effectively.

"We should have a dedicated pan-India toll free number for criminal intelligence gathering to tackle the issue of internal security. We need to make everybody a stakeholder in order to augment internal as well as external security," said the former IPS officer.

On the toll free number, she said confidentiality of those who call in must be maintained and it could even have a reward system for such people.

She said that radicalisation was one of the main challenges to internal security and that "we as a system" were falling short of tools to handle it.

"Outfits (extremist groups) establishing links with local political parties is becoming a law and order issue for the administration and police," Bedi said.

Speaking on the occasion, former High Commissioner to Pakistan, TCA Raghavan, said national security could not be confined to a couple of cities.

"Our external environment and regional environment is evolving all the time and we should not leave national security to a few people, a small fraternity of foreign policy experts or strategic thinkers. It is something which every citizen has to be engaged in on a regular basis," he said.

On the subject of 'The Pakistan Afghanistan Factor', Raghavan said India needed to develop a strong narrative on it as it was more of a tactical war than an actual one.

"All the ground operations, incursions etc are on a tactical level rather than strategic," he said.

Lieutenant General (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, former General officer Commanding of the 15 Corps based in Srinagar, said "no war is going to happen with China".

"China, Pakistan's collusive threat, if at all, is going to be (in the form) of hybrid or cyber war rather than a conventional one," the retired general said.

While, Air Marshal (retd) Bhushan Gokhale spoke about aerospace, Vice Admiral (retd) Anup Singh explained how India could play a strategic role in the Indian Ocean Region.

They were participating in a seminar titled "National Security-Opportunities and Challenges" organised by the Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies, Pune and Shashwat group of hospitals.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:33 [IST]What are the farmers protesting about? We have stayed the farm laws says SC

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC says it is unsatisfied with action taken by UP govt

SC frowns on overcrowding of jails

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Supreme Court has expressed concern about overcrowding in prisons across the country, in some cases beyond 150 per cent of the capacity. The court also directed the the high courts to consider the issue as it involves "violation of human rights".

The Supreme Court requested the chief justices of the high courts to take up the matter as a suo-motu (on its own) writ petition and referred to a note given by an advocate, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, in this regard.

"It appears from the note given by amicus curiae that the issue of overcrowding in prisons is not being taken seriously by the prison authorities. There are several prisons where the overcrowding is well beyond 100 per cent and in some cases it exceeds 150 per cent," a Bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

"In our opinion, this matter should be considered by each high court independently with the assistance of the State Legal Services Authority/High Court Legal Services Committee so that there is some sanity in the overcrowding in prisons since it involves violation of human rights," it said.

The Bench asked the Supreme Court's secretary general to send a copy of its order to the registrar general of every high court for necessary steps and report back to it.

The court also dealt with the issue of vacancy of staff in jails and observed that "little interest" was being shown by the authorities and state governments in recruiting staff in prisons.

It asked the chief justice of each high court to also take up this issue as a suo-motu writ petition.

Meanwhile, the Centre informed the Bench that the Ministry of Women and Child Development was conducting a study through the National Commission for Women and the National Law University on women prisoners and their children and it would be completed by June 30.

The government said that the ministry would look into the study and take necessary steps within three weeks.

The Bench has posted the matter for further hearing on August 2.

The Centre also apprised the court that steps were being taken to encourage setting up of 'open prisons' and a model uniform rules for the administration of open correctional institutions have already been framed.

Semi-open prisons or open prisons allow convicts to work outside the jail premises and earn a livelihood and return in the evening.

The concept was brought in to assimilate the convicts with the society and reduce their psychological pressure as they faced lack of confidence in leading normal lives outside.

During the hearing, the amicus informed the Supreme Court that there were 63 open prisons across the country but the existing capacity was not being fully utilised.

"We expect the state governments concerned to not only try and utilise the existing capacity of these open prisons and if necessary increase the existing capacity of these open prisons in due course of time. The state governments and Union Territory administrations should also seriously consider the feasibility of establishing open prisons in as many locations as possible," the bench said.

Regarding undertrial review committees, the bench was informed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) that a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the committee was ready.

These committees, set up in every district, deliberates and recommends the release of undertrials and convicts who have undergone their sentences or are entitled to be released from jail due to bail or remission granted to them.

The amicus said that he would look into it and might have some further discussions with the NALSA and the SOP would be finalised by June 30.

"As soon as the SOP is finalised, it should be circulated to all the district judges and undertrial review committees for implementation. If and when there are some constraints in the implementation of the SOP, it should be brought to the notice of NALSA so that necessary or corrective measures can be taken," the court said.

The Bench was also told that the Bureau of Police Research and Development has prepared some training manuals for prison officers and prison warders.

The Supreme Court had earlier taken strong exception to overcrowded jails and said that prisoners also have human rights and they cannot be kept in jail like "animals".

The court, which is hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions prevailing in 1,382 prisons across the country, had earlier passed a slew of directions over unnatural deaths in jails and on prison reforms across India.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:48 [IST]What are the farmers protesting about? We have stayed the farm laws says SC

SC to hear plea of 3 witnesses of Kathua gangrape, murder case

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, May 14: Three college friends of a key accused in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl today moved the Supreme Court alleging torture by the Jammu and Kashmir police and seeking protection from a central agency.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea of these students, who hail from the Jammu region of the state, on May 16.

Lawyer Ravi Sharma, representing students Sahil Sharma, Sachin Sharma and Neeraj Sharma, sought urgent hearing on the plea alleging that they and their families were being coerced by the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir police. The Jammu-based students, who are pursuing B.Sc in Agriculture at a college in Muzzafar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, are classmates of Vishal Jangotra, a key accused in the case, the plea said.

The lawyer said the students were "coerced to make statements contrary to the facts that Vishal Jangotra was with them at Muzzafarnagar from January 7 to February 10. During that period, he along with petitioners attended examinations and practical papers." "Petitioners were subjected to the physical and mental torture from March 19 to March 31 by Respondents (state police officers)," the plea said.

The lawyer alleged that the students were constrained to move the apex court seeking security as they faced "imminent threat to their lives at the hand of the Crime Branch." Besides seeking security by a central agency, the students alleged that despite recording their statements, they were being served with police notice to re-appear for re-recording of their statements.

"Permit the petitioners to be accompanied at all times by two lawyers as and when they are summoned" by the state police, the plea said, adding that the probe in the case be handed over to an "independent agency". The plea has sought a direction to restrain the Crime Branch officials from "harming" and "harassing" the students and their families. It also seeks Rs 50 lakh each as compensation to the three students for the "physical and mental agony and loss of study and future prospects".

Earlier, the apex court had transferred the trial in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl from Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot in Punjab, but had refrained from handing over the probe to CBI saying there was no need as the investigation has been conducted and the charge sheet filed.

The apex court, which ordered day-to-day "in-camera" trial in the case, had said there was a need to shift the trial outside the state as "fear and fair trial" were contradictory and "cannot be allowed to co-exist."

The victim, belonging to a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village close to Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later. The state police has filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district.

PTISiddaramaiah, not a natural choice for CM if Congress wins Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The race to the post of the Chief Minister of Karnataka in case the Congress wins the elections would not be easy for Siddaramaiah. Going by reports and the various statements, it appears as though he is not the natural choice for CM although he led the party's campaign.

Siddaramaiah dropped a hint saying that he is not averse to the idea of a Dalit CM, in case the high command chose one. There was speculation galore that Siddaramaiah was ready for a compromise in case the Congress had to take the support of the JD(S) to form the government in Karnataka. If the Congress needs the support of the JD(S), the one pre-condition from the latter would be to drop Siddaramaiah as the CM candidate.

"I will have no contentions if the party high command desires to make a Dalit the chief minister. MLAs have to give their opinion and the high command too must agree, "Siddaramaiah said. He also went on to add that no one should be forced as it would be hard to run the government.

Mallikarjuna Kharge who has been a front-runner to the post for long said that he would welcome the move if the party decided. He however said that he has not applied for the post because he is a Dalit. He said that he would be happy if the party considered his name based on his seniority in the party.

Dr. G Parameshwar, also a front-runner said that he welcomed the stand taken by Siddaramaiah. He however said that traditionally it is the Congress legislature party and the high command which decided on such matters. He said that in 2013, a decision to make Siddaramaiah the CM was also taken in a similar manner.

The view was however not shared by all. Water Resources Minister M B Patil said that traditionally the one who has led the campaign is made the CM by the high command.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 6:26 [IST]Suicide attack on Mumbai thwarted

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Maharashtra ATS has thwarted a major suicide strike on the city after it arrested a 32 year highly radicalised and trained terrorist. The operation was carried out with the help of the Delhi and Kolkata police.

The investigations show that Faisal Hasan Mirza, a resident of Jogeshwari in Mumbai was working as a freelance technician. He had gone to Pakistan to receive arms training, the police said.

Police sources say that he had been working on the instructions of Dawood Ibrahim and was constantly in touch with their associates. He was taken to Sharjah first where he was given instructions. Following that he was flown into Pakistan where he underwent training.

He was instructed to first carry out targeted killing of influential persons and then a suicide strike in Mumbai.

He has been booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The police say that investigations are on and also added that they do not rule out the possibilities of more arrests.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:21 [IST]Will make roads in MP like 'Hema Malini's cheeks': Minister P C Sharma

'Rapists should be kept in jail permanently," says Hema Malini

The prominent faces who skipped the Karnataka elections

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

There were some prominent faces who were missing during the high profile campaigning for the Karnataka assembly elections.

Polling in the southern state took place on May 12 and the results will be declared on May 15. Union Minister Sushma Swaraj did not participate in the campaign perhaps due to health reasons, BJP sources said.

On the other hand, the party did not invite actor and MP Hema Malini and Union Minister Manoj Sinha to bat for it in the state, said a BJP functionary.

"We only did not invite Hema Malini and Sinha. Their presence was not very much required here," he said.

From the Congress, the party's social media in-charge and actor Ramya did not participate in the election campaign.

"We invited her repeatedly, but she did not turn up. We have no idea what prevented her from campaigning actively," a party functionary said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP leaders Atishi Marlena and Gul Panag featured in the party's list of star campaigners, but they, too, did not show up.

AAP sources said Kejriwal, Sisodia and Marlena were occupied with the issue pertaining to the removal of the advisors of Delhi ministers by the Centre.

The party had no information why Panag did not take part in the election campaign, they said.

"We tried our best to bring them. We were told that they were held up with the issue relating to the dismissal of Atishi Marlena (adviser to the Delhi education minister)," sources said.

The Centre had last month cancelled the appointments of nine advisors to Delhi Ministers, saying these posts were 'not sanctioned.'

"It is also a fact that if Kejriwal had come, he would have addressed a public meeting," an AAP functionary said.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 7:21 [IST]West Bengal panchayat polls: 11 killed, 5 journalists injured in violence

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Eleven people were killed and several injured during the West Bengal panchayat elections as clashes broke out at several places between rival groups on Monday. BJP and TMC workers clashed in South 24 Parganas district, Sadhanpur,Bilkanada, Murshidabad and several other places.

TMC worker identified as Arif Gazi was shot dead in Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district. Shahin Sheikh, 26, was shot dead in Patikabari gram panchayat area in Nawda of Murshidabad district.

A person identified as Krishnapada Sarkar, 63, was clobbered to death in Tehatta in Nadia district.

In another incident, at least 20 people have been injured after a crude bomb explosion in Amdanga's Sadhanpur in North 24 Parganas.

The person injured in the knife attack, allegedly by TMC workers, is a BJP candidate from Bilkanda. His name is Raju Biswas and he is undergoing treatment at Panihati State General Hospital.

Meanwhile, ballot papers were thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between TMC and BJP in Murshidabad.

#WestBengal: Ballot papers thrown in a pond after a clash that broke out between TMC & BJP in Murshidabad. Following which voting has been stopped for now. #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/0kcQSz4izl  ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2018

Also, five local journalists injured after violence, following booth capturing in Birpara, allegedly by TMC workers.

TMC leader Partha Chatterjee said, "There are minor incidents taking place, no major incidents have been reported. The administration is active in places where such clashes have taken place. Voting is being conducted peacefully. I strongly condemn the attack on journalists."

Babul Supriyo, Union Minister, said, "Not surprised by all the incidents that are happening since morning. Bengal govt is a shameless govt, you cannot expect them to follow any kind of constitutional behaviour. I demand President's Rule in West Bengal."

According to the SEC officials, elections are underway in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats. Around 1,500 security personnel from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh are in the state to reinforce security arrangements for the polls.'Its echo of national interest of the party', says Hariprasad reacting to Siddu's Dalit CM comment

Karnataka: By-polls in Shimoga, Bellary and Mandya to be held on 3rd Nov, says CEC

With 72.36 per cent polling Karnataka beats its 1978 record

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

It was a new record in Karnataka. The official figure where the voting percentage for the Karnataka assembly elections which was held on May 12 stood at 72.36. There were 5.06 crore people who exercised their franchise.

The 2018 poll beat the previous record of 1978 when the voting percentage was at 71.9. In 2013, the voting percentage recorded was 71.45.

According to the updated statistics provided by the Election Commission of India, Hoskote constituency in Bengaluru Rural district polled the highest. The percentage was at 89.97. Dasarhalli in Bengaluru at 48.03 per cent polled the lowest.

Chamundeshwari, where chief minister Siddaramaiah contested against G T Deve Gowda of the JD(S) witnessed 76.05 per cent polling. At Channapatna where H D Kumaraswamy contested, the percentage was at 85.86. Shikharipura where Yeddyurappa contested from witnessed 81.45 per cent voting. At Badami where a crucial battle was fought between Siddaramaiah and B Sriramulu, the polling percentage was 74.65.

The overall number would increase after polling is held at Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru. The Jayanagar poll was countermanded following the death of BJP MLA, B N Vijaykumar. In Rajarajeshwari, the poll was deferred to May 28 following the busting of a major voter ID scam. Polling on May 12 was held in 222 out of the 224 assembly constituencies.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 7:05 [IST]Modi to meet Putin over informal talks: How Trump is helping rest of the world to come closer

India snubs US ban on Iran, says it abides only by UN sanctions

After China, Russia also backs Iran on nuclear deal

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif made the second stop of his international tour in Moscow where he met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday, May 14, and discussed the multilateral nuclear deal with his country which the US recently chose to quit, sending reverberations across the world.

According to Russia's Sputnik International, Lavrov said during his meeting that it is important to prevent new threats to the non-proliferation regime. He said Russia and many other countries had legitimate interests in the Iran deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and they sought a joint defence, the report added.

"We have planned contacts with all parties to this deal, except for the United States which announced the withdrawal from the agreement, in the coming days," Sputnik International quoted Lavrov as saying.

Zarif said although America's withdrawal from the JCPOA left it imbalanced but still Iran would discuss ways of cooperation in a 4+1 format within the deal. It was originally based on a 5+1 cooperation involving the five permanent members of the United Nations and Germany and the European Union (EU). Zarif said Russia's stance encouraged Iran, Sputnik International said.

Zarif's international tour to talks to leaders across the globe in the wake of Trump's decision to quit the "flawed" deal on May 8 started with his visit to Beijing where he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. China also committed itself to multilateralism and international agreements.

Zarif to visit Europe after China and Russia

After Russia, Zarif will be visiting Brussels, the headquarters of the EU where he will meet its foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who in turn will meet the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Great Britain to discuss the deal on Tuesday, May 15.

The other big powers party to the scuttled deal urged the US not to quit it saying it was the best way to prevent the West Asian country from turning into a reckless nuclear weapons power but Trump did not care.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 13:43 [IST]Nepal crisis will not come in the way of bi-lateral ties with India: Sources

After Modi visit ends, Nepal PM Oli announces his June visit to China

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi reciprocated the India visit by his Nepali counterpart KP Oli in April by a two-day visit to the Himalayan country this weekend, it is turn for Oli to make a state visit to China in June.

According to ANI, Oli, who came to power with a string mandate in last year's elections, informed the Nepali parliament about the outcome of the recent visit of Modi who also inaugurated a hydropower project in Nepal and said about his upcoming visit to China.

As per Nepal's Kathmandu Post, some agreements were inked during Oli's last visit to China in March 2016 when his first stint as the prime minister was on and they were expected to be executed during his upcoming visit. Nepal then tried to put in place another source of friendship, six months facing an alleged blockade on its southern border with India.

The date of the key visit is yet not finalised and could occur around the 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in China's coastal city of Qingdao, the report added.

Prime Minister Modi will also be present on the occasion as India. Nepal is an observer-nation at the SCO.

The ANI report said the major aim of the Oli visit to China will be to improve the two neighbours' bilateral relations that have seen a big boost in the recent years, even putting the close relation between Nepal and India under a stiff competition.

Nepal of late has showed its intent to follow a foreign policy outside the shadows of its two neighbours whereby Kathmandu chases its own economic interest above everything else and Oli's upcoming visit will see Nepal looking to expedite funds on its soil backed by Chinese funds, the ANI report said, adding that the two countries would also discover new areas of cooperation.

Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said the protocol for the Transit Transport Agreement will be signed during the Nepali prime minister's visit, the ANI report added.

A couple of Memoranda of Understanding were also expected to be signed - one on the launch of a joint feasibility study for the Nepal-China free trade agreement, the Kathmandu Post reported, while another on the formation of a joint coordination and implementation mechanism to monitor projects funded by China in Nepal.

China would also assist Nepal on a deal on build oil storage facilities in Nepal and also including Nepali projects under China's Road & Belt Initiative which it has joined despite India's concerns.

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Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 17:32 [IST]As Russia makes efforts to save nuclear deal, Iran FM heads for Moscow

International

pti-PTI

Moscow, May 14: Iran's foreign minister visits Moscow today as Russia tries to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive in the wake of Washington's pull-out, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe.

Mohammad Javad Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the 2015 accord scrabble to save it. After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over US President's Donald Trump's decision. Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he added.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he said. On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behavior". But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime. Zarif will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, according to Iran's foreign ministry.

Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum. Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions. The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War. While Tehran was shunned by the international community in the 1990s, Moscow agreed to resume the construction of the Bushehr Iranian nuclear plant that Germany had abandoned. Russia and Iran also sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place. Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.

PTIChina readies its first home-made aircraft carrier

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

In a development that could be a concern for its rivals and competitors, China's first indigenously built aircraft-carrier set out to test the waters from a port outside the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province in eastern China on Sunday, May 13.

According to experts, the carrier is likely to be delivered to the naval wing of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) by the end of 2018, Global Times reported.

The massive vessel started from Dalian early in the morning and was accompanied by several tug boats, Global Times reported, adding that fireworks were also on display along with a fully blown horn of the carrier. Local people and tourists also assembled at the port to capture moments of the carrier's maiden outing.

The trials at the sea are being monitored by the shipbuilder and will see examination of the ship's systems like power, communication, fire safety and other technical functions, the Global Times quoted military sources as saying.

The PLA Daily said on Sunday that the inaugural sea trial of the aircraft carrier will see testing of the reliability and stability of the ship's power systems, the Global Times report added.

Though the first built domestically, the latest ship is China's second aircraft carrier which has been built since 2013. The first carrier is Liaoning or Type 001 which was bought from Ukraine and refitted at the Dalian shipyard, Global Times reported.

The new ship has been dubbed as 'Type 001A' because of its design which is modelled on Liaoning but neither the builder nor the PLA has designated it any name so far, the Global Times report also added.A change of guard in the ISI and what it would mean

India hanged Kasab fast to make us look a villain, says ex-Pak interior minister after Sharif remark

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

All hell has broken loose in Pakistan after its ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif accused his own country to allowing terrorists to cross border and kill over 160 people in Mumbai in November 2008. Sharif's admission during an interview to a leading Pakistani daily on Friday, May 11, has opened a Pandora's Box and criticism has started flying in at him thick and fast within Pakistan for making such a remark.

Pakistan's former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan on Sunday, May 13, negated Sharif's remark that Pakistan failed to finish the trial of the 26/11 attacks, saying it was instead the "uncooperative and stubbornness of the Indian government" which put up the "biggest obstacle" on the way of the trial to reach a conclusion.

Khan, who served as Pakistan's interior minister in the Sharif government between 2013-17 said in statement on the former PM's remarks and the Indian media's reaction to it that New Delhi was to be blamed for the delay in the Mumbai attacks.

"I say with full responsibility that the delay and slow pace of the Mumbai attacks-related case in Pakistan was not Pakistan's doing but was a result of non-cooperation and stubbornness by India," PML-N leader was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency probed the Mumbai attacks under Khan's watch and he said since the attacks took place in India's financial capital, the Indian government had in its possession "90 per cent of the evidence and facts" of the attack, the Dawn reported.

Khan said India did not share the facts and evidence with Pakistan despite repeated efforts. He also alleged that the Indian government made its lack of interest in taking the case forward evident by not letting the Pakistani investigators meet the only living member of the terror squad that carried out the mayhem in Mumbai for more than two days - Ajmal Kasab, the Dawn report added.

"In a country where cases concerning capital punishment face years of delays, the only proof in a very important case was sent to the gallows in extreme haste to take him away from the public eye and close the door before facts became public," Dawn quoted Khan as saying while taking a dig at India.

Khan also claimed that Kasab was rushed to the gallows so that the Mumbai attacks could be used as a weapon to bash Pakistan across the world.Nawaz Sharif 26/11 remarks: Pak Army comes to huddle, to meet PM

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Could this be another moment of civilian-military tussle in Pakistan? Not much time has lapsed since the country's ousted prime minister made a controversial remark that his country erred in not stopping terrorists from crossing the border and kill several in Mumbai during the 2008 attacks and also failed to complete the trials, the Pakistani Army has gone into a huddle, convening a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

"NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning," Pakistani Army's official spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet on Sunday, May 13.

Sharif's explosive remarks came on Friday, May 11, during an interview in which he took on Pakistan's foreign policy. Sharif was disqualified as the prime minister by Pakistan's judiciary in July last year on charges of hiding salary he took from his son's company in the UAE. With a few months go before the next parliamentary election in Pakistan, it was being seen as Sharif's efforts to feign statesmanship to achieve a moral high ground.

Sharif also said in the interview that Pakistan's failure saw it getting isolated in world affairs despite making sacrifices. He also said even countries like China and Russia, with which Pakistan has close relations, were questioning its struggle. Sharif's admission that militants carried out a mayhem in India and Pakistan's inability to complete the trial opened the floodgates as the Indian establishment and media jumped onto the stage to pick up the issue.

NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) May 13, 2018

Pakistan's former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan, who served under Sharif between 2013 and 2017, disagreed to agree with Sharif saying it was instead India which had put up obstacles on the way of the trial and also hanged Ajmal Kasab, the only living terrorist captured after the attacks, in a hurry to continue to vilify Pakistan in front of the world. According to Nisar, the reality was that Pakistan had sought cooperation from India over the probe but the latter never obliged.

Sharif was known to have a poor relation with the military during his tenure as the the PM. In October 2016, the relationship took a serious dip after Sharif asked the military to taker a strong stand on the militants or risk facing an international isolation. It is also being said that the army was indirectly behind Sharif's ouster in 2017.

Will his latest remarks worsen the tussle even further between the ruling PML-N and the army?Moving embassy to Jerusalem: After US, Guatemala does the same; Paraguay next

US to formally shift its Israel embassy in Jerusalem today; Middle East awaits danger

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

The Donald Trump administration was set for embracing another controversy on Monday, May 14, the day its decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would take effect. Though Washington said the move was aimed for greater regional stability, critics said it would only lead to more problems.

They are also of the opinion that with this decision, the US lost its tag as an "honest broker" in the Israel-Palestine negotiations. Israel and Palestine have seen serious clashes over the past few months after Israeli forces resorted to merciless response to Palestinian protests on the Gaza border. Many have been killed on the Palestinian side while several more were injured.

However, there was no dearth of voices in the Trump administration to justify the move that went against decades of tradition. David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, recently told the media that the decision will create a platform for a peace process in the long run - based on realities.

The event to mark the formal opening of the embassy in Jerusalem will take place at 9 am ET (4 pm local time and 6.30 pm Indian time).

Trump recently pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran deal which has encouraged Israel, a fierce regional foe of Iran, to escalate tensions with Tehran. The latest move of shifting the US embassy to Jerusalem would embolden Israel further to turn more ruthless against its regional foes and the result will be worsening of the regional peace and stability.

President Trump announced the controversial decision in December 2017 by formally recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It was one of his promises made during the campaign of the 2016 US presidential election.

The decision is contentious since Palestinians hope to claim a part of Jerusalem as their future capital while for many in the Arab world, it is seen as a holy site. The Jews and Christians also have close connection with the city. Recognising it as the capital of one party to the conflict invites a potential disaster.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, May 14, 2018, 9:01 [IST]Registrations for the Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference are Open

Published May 14, 2018 by Florin P

The third edition of the annual event CEEGC will take place in September at The Ritz-Carlton Budapest and registrations are officially open.

European Gaming Media and Events will be hosting the third edition of the prestigious Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference. The event will take place in Budapest and this time The Ritz-Carlton Budapest will be its gracious host.

The organizers of the CEEGC have announced that the registrations for this important gaming event are now officially open. This means that anyone interested to attend a flagship event for the gaming industry can book a seat for the September conference at the event's website.

The previous editions brought together some of the brightest minds in the European gaming industry and this year promises to be even better. The event gathers C-level executives, regulators and expert speakers from Eastern European countries. In addition to discussing the latest and most relevant news about the direction in which the industry is heading, the conference also provides unique networking opportunities. Attending delegates will have the chance to rub shoulders with like-minded individuals and establish useful contacts.

CEEGC Experts To Discuss The Age of Machine Intelligence

What makes this years edition of the Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference special is its main topic. The age of Machine Intelligence and how regulators must keep up with technology is the subtitle of the event. The conference will be well attended by experts in this field, as well as regulators from neighboring countries. Participants will learn more about how Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are changing and updating their gambling policies.

The 2018 Budapest CEEGC will accommodate a maximum of 125 delegates, so there are a limited number of places. NetEnt, BetConstruct and Tal Ron, Drihem & Co are the sponsors of the event, which speaks volumes about the importance of this conference. The organizers are also open to adding more sponsors and accept applications from interested parties.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.

If you do a daily web search for "impeachment," here's what you'll get used to seeing. Most use of impeachment is outside the United States. Most use of impeachment within the United States is outside of Washington, D.C. Most media mention of impeachment in relation to Trump is strongly opposed to it and to the small-d democratic threat it holds for those in power. And the very worst members of both major parties (yes, including the "resistance") are leading the charge against any such challenge to the establishment.

From the pardoning of Nixon and whitewashing of Watergate on through the failure to punish anyone for Iran-Contra and dozens of such outrages, and the refusal to impeach any recent president for any of their major abusive policies (while impeaching one for sex), a bipartisan swarm of swamp creatures has consistently closed ranks against any serious change in the systems of legalized bribery, war profiteering, and wealth concentration. Trump's unprecedented financial corruption, one of numerous indisputable grounds for impeachment, is so far off limits as to be effectively erased by virtually all media discussions of impeachment, which instead focus on Russiagate conspiracy theories (in the dubious use of that phrase to refer to allegations that are dubious, not just activities that involve two or more people).

When you want to know what threatens those who have normalized permawar, concentrated wealth and power beyond medieval levels, and ravaged this poor planet possibly beyond the point of recovery, one reliable approach is to listen to what they say threatens them. Nothing has elicited as many warnings from powerful political players since the Occupy movement as has the possibility of the impeachment of Donald Trump. To take one typical example of thousands, a column in The Hill recently warned:

"Democratic voters overwhelmingly want to impeach Trump. A Quinnipiac poll last month found that the vast majority, 71 percent, of Democratic voters want the party to begin the impeachment process if they win control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections. Moreover, Democratic voters are willing to prove their desire for a Trump impeachment come Election Day by favoring candidates that would make it a reality. . . . Yet, if the Democrats do win back the House and pursue impeachment against the president, there is little on the record to suggest House Democrats have enough evidence to get a conviction in the Senate."

The above ridiculous claim is based on two factors. First, the author, like some other authors, seems to mean by "evidence" the slightly different concept of "Senate seats held by Democrats." Second, the author, like virtually all other authors, clearly means by "evidence" the limited concept of "evidence of working with Vladimir Putin to steal a U.S. election."

Russiagate has not simply been a boon to weapons dealers and a sort of pseudo-therapy for establishment and non-establishment fans of Hillary Clinton. And it has not merely distracted from numerous factors that actually decided the 2016 U.S. presidential election (the Electoral College, the media, voter ID laws, racist removal of names from rolls, disastrously bad candidates, dubious vote counts, rigged primaries, etc.). Russiagate has also served to distract from proven Trump offenses requiring no investigations whatsoever, much less years of media and government obsession.

Various polls do fall short of overall majorities now in favor of a Trump impeachment. That would be very unlikely to remain the case were Congress to move forward on documented impeachable offenses.

Impeach Trump efforts launched on Trump's inauguration day in part by RootsAction.org, which I work for, have long since provided drafts of several articles of impeachment, a non-Russiagate strategy, and a FAQ answering the most popular concerns. I say concerns, plural, to be super-inclusive, as 99% of the concern out there consists of one word only: Pence. In other words, while the U.S media is overflowing with the idea that a Trump impeachment would harm bipartisan consensus and establishment effectiveness, members of the U.S. public are, in contrast, focused on the idea that impeaching Trump would make them look like chumps who lack the basic awareness that Mike Pence is an anti-democratic authoritarian religious fanatic and war monger.

If a nuclear war were to soon put an end to all of us, I'm convinced that many a last word, interspersed with goodbyes to loved ones, would consist of essentially this: "What? Would you rather have had Mike Pence?" For fear of Pence, even a Pence as president in a revolutionized system of government capable of proper use of the power of impeachment, people are allowing a certifiable madman to accelerate the U.S. and global race toward a military and ecological cliff.

The U.S. Congress has held hearings in which every voice in the room has claimed that Congress has no power to prevent a presidential nuclear war. In reality, should it choose to act, Congress has the power of law, the power of the purse, and the power of impeachment. People diverted from demanding such actions, derailed into partisan Cold War paranoia, or knowingly warning of the Pence danger, do not of course deserve apocalypse -- but they very well may bring it on in the name of challenging the very powerful players who are openly telling them what an actual challenge would look like.

And if the world ends, and a media outlet or two survive momentarily on cruise control, we're sure to see this headline: "Destruction of earth said to be a major victory for Russia, sources say."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.

See original here

We go to Gaza for a live update from Sharif Abdel Kouddous as tens of thousands of Palestinians have gathered near the heavily fortified border with Israel for nonviolent protests against the U.S. Embassy's opening in Jerusalem. At the time of our broadcast, the Israeli military had killed at least 30 Palestinians, and least 1,000 had been injured. "No one is carrying any weapons here. There are no bullets being fired by Palestinians on Israeli soldiers. " And yet these killings continue," Kouddous says. This comes as senior members of the Trump administration have gathered in Jerusalem for the embassy's opening.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today's show in Gaza, where the Israeli military has killed at least 30 Palestinians, at this count, today, amidst the massive nonviolent protests against the U.S. Embassy's opening in Jerusalem, later, after this broadcast. At least 1,000 people have been injured. Israeli soldiers are currently firing live ammunition into the crowd of tens of thousands of Palestinian protesters, who have gathered in Gaza near the heavily fortified border with Israel. The Israeli military has also been dropping tear gas from drones over Gaza.

This comes as senior members of the Trump administration have gathered in Jerusalem for the opening of the U.S. Embassy, including President Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, White House senior adviser; her husband, senior adviser Jared Kushner; and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Jared Kushner is expected to lay out the Trump administration's plan for Middle East peace in the coming weeks. The Trump administration's decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem has sparked widespread international condemnation, while it's been praised by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke on Sunday.

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Move your embassies to Jerusalem, because it advances peace. And that is -- that's because you can't base peace on a foundation of lies. You base peace on the foundations of truth. And the truth is that not only has Jerusalem been the capital of the Jewish people for millennia, and the capital of our state from its inception; the truth is that, under any peace agreement you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital.

AMY GOODMAN: Two controversial pastors have been chosen by the Trump administration to lead prayers at the U.S. Embassy's opening. The right-wing preacher Robert Jeffress, who has previously said, quote, "Islam is a false religion inspired by Satan," and that, quote, "You can't be saved by being a Jew," he's anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-Mormon, anti-gay.

For more, we go to Gaza, where we're joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, independent journalist, Democracy Now! correspondent.

Sharif, welcome back to Democracy Now! Explain what's happening in Gaza right now, as the U.S. Embassy is about to be opened, symbolically, in Jerusalem.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, Amy, there's just a simply massive protest all along the eastern border of Gaza, the border with Israel, throughout the entire length of the Strip, from the north in Beit Hanoun, to the south in Rafah. I was at the biggest protest site, which is just east of Gaza City. There are thousands of people converging on the site -- men, women and children. And it's a really surreal scene. There are people gathering, mostly young men and boys, up near the border, where there is barbed wire, three sets of barbed wire. And you can see, just a couple of hundred yards away, Israeli soldiers, you know, under these canopies, on mounds of sand, sometimes in jeeps, and they are picking people off with -- snipers are literally picking people off. I've seen people who weren't even close to the fence being shot. Most of the people are being shot in the lower extremities, in their legs. I saw one person shot in the throat. The latest numbers -- they keep going up -- somewhere between 28 and 30 killed, including a paramedic and a disabled person. There's a thousand wounded today, including nine journalists. That brings the total, since this movement began, this kind of somewhat unprecedented movement in Gaza, since March 30th, to 74 people killed and over 9,000 injured.

And, you know, there's -- no one is carrying any weapons here. There are no bullets being fired by Palestinians on Israeli soldiers. There's nothing I have seen that poses any threat to the Israeli military. Not a single Israeli soldier has been injured. And yet these killings continue. People insist that this is peaceful. There are no military uniforms allowed. There are no weapons allowed. Despite the fact that there are very heavily armed groups in Gaza, this was a decision that was made by a group of -- by the committees that are running this movement. People throw rocks. They burn tires, large tires, which send huge plumes of black smoke into the air, to try and block the view of the snipers. They also send these kites and balloons, which have either a burning rag or an improvised Molotov cocktail dangling off the end, and they try and guide it over, over the border.

And what most people are doing, it's just the very act of walking to the border. Some people go and place the Palestinian flag on the barbed wire. Some people do go and cut the wire and try and cross, saying that they are implementing the right of return themselves. But it's also a way -- you know, we have to remember that people are trapped in Gaza. There's really no way out. Many people have never left the Strip, because all border crossings are closed to them, and they're not allowed to leave. And so this is a way of pushing their bodies up against their confinement. And this is also happening, all of this, in a buffer zone. We have to remember that Israel imposed a buffer zone a couple of hundred meters from the border in Gaza. And so, over the years, farmers and people living on that side of the Gaza Strip have been regularly shot at by Israeli troops from the other side. And so, even reclaiming this space in Gaza itself is, in itself, an achievement. But it's a very -- it's a very difficult situation.

And as you mentioned, there are -- well, and they're using these high-velocity sniper bullets, which cause a lot of damage. Also, a couple of doctors told me that they're using fragmentation bullets, which break apart upon impact. And they have seen injuries with fist-sized holes in the exit wounds. And most of this is being -- people are being shot in the legs. They were talking about nearly 10,000 people injured, many of them by live ammunition, many being hit in the legs. You know, it kind of reminds me of the first intifada. Israelis would break the arms of Palestinians who were throwing stones. And now it's Palestinians walking towards the border, and so they're taking out their legs. We were in Shifa Hospital. If you just walk there, I mean, there was a wailing of pain in the orthopedic wards and young men and boys walking around on crutches, many of them lying in beds, their legs bandaged up with rods and pins protruding out. One doctor told me that they're creating a new generation of cripples. There's been almost 30 amputations.

And also there's the fact of the tear gas. Tear gas comes in three different ways. It's fired by jeeps, which fire in multiple rounds, five at a time, at the crowd. They're also fired by the normal kind of rifle, that goes much further. But there's a new method, which I saw twice today, is tear gas being fired from drones. And this is a new method that Israel experimented with just a couple of weeks before these protests started. It was first used in Gaza in March. And military officials were reported as saying that they were experimenting with this, but it looks like it's now operational. And this also fits a trend of Israel kind of experimenting its tools of occupation on the bodies of Palestinians. And those tools are usually exported elsewhere. And I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing tear gas drones in other places, as well. But a really chaotic situation here.

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Pierre, S.D. will see a new governor elected on Nov. 6, 2918, to take up residence in a historic governor's mansion in this quaint little upper-Midwest city. Long a Republican stronghold, most Natives who live in South Dakota do not view Pierre' as either "quaint" or "little". It's an off-limits, aloof, and threatening place that cares little about Native Americans, their spiritual values and concepts, care of the environment well-being of the "Earth Mother" and perhaps what's most appalling is that this state's political elites have had a dubious record of violating treaties set with Native Americans - namely, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.

It might be indeed true that Pierre is a little city, with a population under 14,000, but for American Indians who live in this state, it almost seems that the capital city is as far away from 'the red road' as a capital city can possibly be, with a stiff and stifling concentration of conservative values and staunch Republicans credos.

Raping and pillaging the land with fracking, mining, pipelines, and other mineral and resource harvesting is only proof positive that South Dakota is very unfriendly to its American Indian inhabitants, most of whom belong to the seven tribes of the Great Lakota Nation.

Those familiar with and who follow South Dakota politics have already declared a Republican Party win. An official winner has almost already been declared long before November's general election vote - either Kristi Noem or Marty J. Jackley. In early polls going through this spring to the Republican Primary election day, Noem has been found to be leading Jackley by a rather healthy 10-to-12 point margin.

Yes, the big race now is the Republican Primary which will be held June 5. A Democratic contender, Billy Sutton, is running for governor, too, but most feel it would take an act of God, or some hideous, salacious and even scabrous political or social scandal hitting the Republican leader following June's primary to actually see a Democrat moving into Pierre as the most important citizen of the town, along with the leader of this sparsely populated, yet important state.

For starters, Native Americans feel alienated and violated in this deep-red state. As far as polarization is concerned, South Dakota is as Republican as the Deep South, and although the Mount Rushmore State has a fairly sizable amount of American Indians, it is predominantly a white race, rural mosh pit - even a wilderness - that includes a lot of big money people involved with mining, fracking, oil and gas exploration, pipeline installation, along with a fairly sizeable amount of Caucasian ranchers.

The two leading candidates, Kristi Noem and Marty J. Jackley, are young - relatively speaking - but have made such inroads into South Dakota's small but vibrant political world that they are household names in this obscure state perched high on the prairies, with its largest city - Sioux Falls - holding about 154,000 residents and with Rapid City having the second highest, at just a few people shy of 68,000. Meantime, third place Aberdeen has just over 26,000 residents, with all figures coming from a 2010 census.

Noem is a U.S. Representative from South Dakota's "At Large" congressional district (which encompasses the entire state). Jackley is the current Attorney General for the state and Billy Sutton is the state's House of Representative minority leader. Sutton, by the way, is also a former professional bronco rider on the rodeo circuit.

Meanwhile, as it has already been stated here, North and South Dakota also have the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation. The largest of these enrolled tribal members belong to the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, and they live throughout the state, with many deciding to move off the rez and into the cities. But the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has a sizeable number of predominantly Oglala Lakota-enrolled tribal members - an estimated number overall is between 45,000 and 50,000 - around and near Wounded Knee Creek.in the top-right area of South Dakota, making for a sizable and important populace of some of the most politically active and vocally charged Natives anywhere in the United States..

"The only comment I want to give is that Kristi Noem and Marty Jackley want to get rid of the sovereignty of our tribe, and other tribes in the Lakota Nation," said Stan Starcomesout, who is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, a now retired, longstanding tribal police officer, and a Vietnam War veteran..

"South Dakota has always been a very conservative, Republican state," Starcomesout said. "None of these people running are Native friendly, even the Democrat, Billy Sutton," he added. "Republicans seem to want to have their politics accepted on the rez, but most Natives vote and support Democrats. That's why I hope Billy Sutton wins the November general election. I don't see him as being nearly the threat to our values and our way of life as either Noem or Jackley."

"There won't be a good showing for the Democrat, Sutton," said Fred Sitting Up, who is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, who lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation and who is very involved with treaty law, particularly, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868."And Kristi Noem is not a very good choice. She's been against us Natives from the very beginning."

"From what I've heard, in the coming weeks, there is going to be a lot of marching, protest, and activism on Pine Ridge. We already had a big treaty meeting about the Fort Laramie Treaty last week at Fort Laramie. A lot of the people when they got down there they were really voicing themselves. Basically, for me myself, they're trying to include us in their voting, some of them, anyhow. And others are pushing us away. It doesn't really matter how they do things anyhow. It's not part of my culture and it's an alien way of doing things. We've always chosen a strong warrior leader to take charge and make decisions for us,," Sitting Up told me in a telephone interview.

Joye Braun, who works for the Indigenous Environmental Network, said: "None of these candidates will be good for Native Americans. For us, things are bad. Drugs and meth on our reservations, having poor health care - most Indians can't even afford Obamacare, so our families are reliant on Native medical service facilities. The ongoing infrastructure of the Keystone XL Pipeline and its hearings - well, these are a horrific farce, too. Let's face it, there is little crossover in the way we, Native Americans, view South Dakota's impending future as compared to the politicians who run our state."

"We have a lot of water issues. And they're mining for gold and even uranium on our lands and on the lands entrusted to us through treaty law," Braun said.

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This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com.

It's already long forgotten here, but the theocratic regime in Iran was really our baby. After all, in 1953, the CIA and British intelligence engineered a coup to replace a democratic government in Iran with the autocratic Shah and so gave Iranians just what they didn't want (including his creepy secret police, the Savak). In those days, however, blowback from such American acts didn't arrive with the speed of the Internet. It took a quarter of a century for our man in Iran to go down and the theocrats to rise. They were, of course, born of us (as in the U.S.), but no one talks about that anymore.

Then Washington switched partners. The administration of Ronald Reagan found someone else in the region we could really admire, another strongman by the name of -- does this ring a bell? -- Saddam Hussein. He ruled Iraq, not Iran, and like the Saudis of today (and the Israelis of just about any time), he wanted to take out the Iranian theocrats. (How familiar does that sound now that Donald Trump has done his best to smash the Iran nuclear deal?) In 1980, Saddam launched a war of aggression against that country. As the U.S. military now helps the Saudis with targeting intelligence and weaponry in their brutal war in Yemen, so it then helped Saddam, targeting Iranian military contingents, even knowing that Saddam's troops were likely to use chemical weapons against them. Five hundred thousand or so Iranians died in that invasion and the eight-year disaster of a war that followed. Then, in another curious reversal, Saddam suddenly became "Hitler," the ultimate evil one. In 1990, the U.S. military (and its allies) drove his troops out of Kuwait, and in 2003 the administration of George W. Bush took him out completely. And just in case you've forgotten that "mission accomplished" moment, let me remind you that, like so much else the U.S. has done in the region in these years, it didn't exactly work out splendiferously.

Now, as TomDispatchregular Michael Klare points out, we seem to be on a path to a Third Gulf War. Once again, Iran is the enemy. Once again, as in 2003, a president is surrounded by bellicose advisers intent on just such a war and looking for the right excuse to launch it. And if this doesn't seem eerily repetitive to you, well, what can I say -- except that this little history gives grim new meaning to the adage, often credited to philosopher George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Tom

Gearing Up for the Third Gulf War

Will Washington, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, and Tehran Face Off in a Future Cataclysm?

By Michael T. Klare With Donald Trump's decision to shred the Iran nuclear agreement, announced last Tuesday, it's time for the rest of us to start thinking about what a Third Gulf War would mean. The answer, based on the last 16 years of American experience in the Greater Middle East, is that it won't be pretty. The New York Times recently reported that U.S. Army Special Forces were secretly aiding the Saudi Arabian military against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. It was only the latest sign preceding President Trump's Iran announcement that Washington was gearing up for the possibility of another interstate war in the Persian Gulf region. The first two Gulf wars -- Operation Desert Storm (the 1990 campaign to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait) and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq -- ended in American "victories" that unleashed virulent strains of terrorism like ISIS, uprooted millions, and unsettled the Greater Middle East in disastrous ways. The Third Gulf War -- not against Iraq but Iran and its allies -- will undoubtedly result in another American "victory" that could loose even more horrific forces of chaos and bloodshed. Like the first two Gulf wars, the third could involve high-intensity clashes between an array of American forces and those of Iran, another well-armed state. While the United States has been fighting ISIS and other terrorist entities in the Middle East and elsewhere in recent years, such warfare bears little relation to engaging a modern state determined to defend its sovereign territory with professional armed forces that have the will, if not necessarily the wherewithal, to counter major U.S. weapons systems. A Third Gulf War would distinguish itself from recent Middle Eastern conflicts by the geographic span of the fighting and the number of major actors that might become involved. In all likelihood, the field of battle would stretch from the shores of the Mediterranean, where Lebanon abuts Israel, to the Strait of Hormuz, where the Persian Gulf empties into the Indian Ocean. Participants could include, on one side, Iran, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and assorted Shia militias in Iraq and Yemen; and, on the other, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). If the fighting in Syria were to get out of hand, Russian forces could even become involved. All of these forces have been equipping themselves with massive arrays of modern weaponry in recent years, ensuring that any fighting will be intense, bloody, and horrifically destructive. Iran has been acquiring an assortment of modern weapons from Russia and possesses its own substantial arms industry. It, in turn, has been supplying the Assad regime with modern arms and is suspected of shipping an array of missiles and other munitions to Hezbollah. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have long been major recipients of tens of billions of dollars of sophisticated American weaponry and President Trump has promised to supply them with so much more. This means that, once ignited, a Third Gulf War could quickly escalate and would undoubtedly generate large numbers of civilian and military casualties, and new flows of refugees. The United States and its allies would try to quickly cripple Iran's war-making capabilities, a task that would require multiple waves of air and missile strikes, some surely directed at facilities in densely populated areas. Iran and its allies would seek to respond by attacking high-value targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia, including cities and oil facilities. Iran's Shia allies in Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere could be expected to launch attacks of their own on the U.S.-led alliance. Where all this would lead, once such fighting began, is of course impossible to predict, but the history of the twenty-first century suggests that, whatever happens, it won't follow the carefully laid plans of commanding generals (or their civilian overseers) and won't end either expectably or well. Precisely what kind of incident or series of events would ignite a war of this sort is similarly unpredictable. Nonetheless, it seems obvious that the world is moving ever closer to a moment when the right (or perhaps the better word is wrong) spark could set off a chain of events leading to full-scale hostilities in the Middle East in the wake of President Trump's recent rejection of the nuclear deal. It's possible, for instance, to imagine a clash between Israeli and Iranian military contingents in Syria sparking such a conflict. The Iranians, it is claimed, have set up bases there both to support the Assad regime and to funnel arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon. On May 10th, Israeli jets struck several such sites, following a missile barrage on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights said to have been launched by Iranian soldiers in Syria. More Israeli strikes certainly lie in our future as Iran presses its drive to establish and control a so-called land bridge through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Another possible spark could involve collisions or other incidents between American and Iranian naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, where the two navies frequently approach each other in an aggressive manner. Whatever the nature of the initial clash, rapid escalation to full-scale hostilities could occur with very little warning. All of this begs a question: Why are the United States and its allies in the region moving ever closer to another major war in the Persian Gulf? Why now? The Geopolitical Impulse The first two Gulf Wars were driven, to a large extent, by the geopolitics of oil. After World War II, as the United States became increasingly dependent on imported sources of petroleum, it drew ever closer to Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer. Under the Carter Doctrine of January 1980, the U.S. pledged for the first time to use force, if necessary, to prevent any interruption in the flow of oil from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to this country and its allies. Ronald Reagan, the first president to implement that doctrine, authorized the "reflagging" of Saudi and Kuwaiti oil tankers with the stars and stripes during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that began in 1980 and their protection by the U.S. Navy. When Iranian gunboats menaced such tankers, American vessels drove them off in incidents that represented the first actual military clashes between the U.S. and Iran. At the time, President Reagan put the matter in no uncertain terms: "The use of the sea lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians." Oil geopolitics also figured prominently in the U.S. decision to intervene in the First Gulf War. When Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait in August 1990 and appeared poised to invade Saudi Arabia, President George H.W. Bush announced that the U.S. would send forces to defend the kingdom and so played out the Carter Doctrine in real time. "Our country now imports nearly half the oil it consumes and could face a major threat to its economic independence," he declared, adding that "the sovereign independence of Saudi Arabia is of vital interest to the United States."

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From WSWS



Trump fascist rally

(Image by Rob Swystun) Details DMCA



Donald Trump's rally in Elkhart, Indiana Thursday night was the latest in a series of campaign-style events where he is testing out a political appeal of a fascistic character. It follows similar events over the past two months, all in the industrial Midwest: a rally in Moon Township in the Pittsburgh suburbs on March 10; a rally in Washington Township, Michigan, in the Macomb County suburbs of Detroit, on April 28; and a fundraising appearance in suburban Cleveland on May 5.

While these events are linked to key Senate midterm contests on November 6 -- or in the case of the Pittsburgh rally, a special congressional election in southwest Pennsylvania -- and Trump has embraced Republican candidates for state and federal office, the purpose of these rallies goes beyond electoral calculations.

Amid a ferocious conflict within the US ruling elite, with his political opponents in the military-intelligence apparatus and the Democratic Party seeking to demolish his administration with a series of criminal investigations and media leaks, Trump has turned to rallying his base of support on an increasingly open far-right basis.

The authoritarian thrust of Trump's campaign found its most ominous expression in Elkhart in his seemingly offhand suggestion that he might receive "an extension for the presidency," in other words, remain in power longer than the two-term limit prescribed by the Twenty-Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

The content of his appeal to working-class and lower-middle-class people in his audience has been the same in all the rallies: extreme American chauvinism, expressed in references to respect for the flag, the pledge of allegiance and other patriotic claptrap, and, above all, in economic nationalism.

Thus in Elkhart he declared, "We want trade deals that are fair and reciprocal. And we love our farmers. We are taking care of our farmers. We love our factory workers. We love our workers. For decades, American presidents responded to foreign cheating on trade. Cheating. There is no other word for it. Cheating. They responded with silence. They did not do anything."

He went on, "We racked up trillions of dollars in trade deficits, also known as losses, while other countries stole our factories, our plants, our wealth and our jobs. But America's long silence is over."

He combined demonization of foreign countries as economic thieves with vilification of immigrants, reiterating his call for a border wall with Mexico and warning workers that "open borders" represented the main threat to their jobs and living standards. Over the past week, his administration has escalated its attacks on immigrants, laying down a policy of forcible separation of parents and children for all families caught crossing the border illegally.

The corollary to the administration's "America First" nationalism is the escalation of war, currently targeting Iran. The ripping up of the Iranian nuclear accord earlier this week has been followed by an aggressive bombing campaign by Israel, coordinated with the US, against Iranian targets in Syria. A full-scale war in the Middle East, pitting Israel against Iran and dragging in the entire region, is an imminent danger.

Trump makes his lying and demagogic appeals with the understanding that the nominal opposition, the Democratic Party, is itself deeply unpopular and has no program capable of attracting a broader base of support. On trade, the Democrats are enthusiastically in support of protectionist measures. On immigration, while tut-tutting over Trump's bigoted language, the Democrats have done nothing to defend immigrants' rights, and they bear with them the legacy of the Obama administration, responsible for more deportations than all previous administrations combined.

Typical of the Democrats is Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Trump's main target at the Elkhart rally, where he boosted Republican challenger Mike Braun in the November election. Donnelly issued a series of statements emphasizing his general agreement with Trump. His campaign noted that he had voted with Trump 62 percent of the time in the Senate, because Donnelly "works for Hoosiers, not any politician or political party."

The Democrats support the basic policy of the Trump administration -- war abroad and social reaction at home. Their opposition is centered on the Russia investigation, originally initiated to claim that Trump's election in 2016 was the result of a Russian dirty tricks operation. This campaign has become the launching pad for an effort to promote US military intervention in Syria.

Alongside channeling the demands of powerful sections of the intelligence apparatus and the military, the Democrats offer the incessant promotion of the #MeToo sex witch hunt and identity politics, aimed at mobilizing support among privileged layers of the upper-middle class.

The Democrats are terrified of the growth of working-class opposition, which has surfaced in the statewide strikes by teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona, and the rising tide of strike activity more generally. Working with the unions, they have sought to suppress and demobilize opposition, while using the anti-Russia campaign to demand far-reaching measures to censor the Internet and block its use as a means for workers to organize.

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"None of you should be making all these decisions in private and without the input of the public." - Former LAUSD Board Member, Jackie Goldberg

In 1953, the California legislature declared that "the people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know" and passed the Brown Act. As a result, the actions of all local agencies, including school boards, must "be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly." The public may be excluded from a meeting "to consider the appointment [or] employment...of a public employee", but "the legislative body of any local agency shall publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention on that action of every member present".

When former Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board Member Jackie Goldberg spoke during the 9:00 AM meeting on May 1, there was an audible gasp from the gallery when she mentioned that the Board had already selected a Superintendent and "that he starts on the 15th of May." This directly contradicted the Board's Executive Officer, Jefferson Crain, who had announced at the end of the April 20th closed session that there were "no actions to report due to today's discussion" and they were "going to recess until May 1...at 11:00". During the ten days between these two meetings, community members had been lobbying the entire Board to appointment Acting Superintendent Vivian Ekchian. If they had known the results of a vote had already been taken, they could have focused their energies on urging specific Board Members to change their vote before the contract was finalized.

At 4:30 PM on May 1, the Board announced that Austin Beutner would be the LAUSD's next Superintendent. In a closed session that lasted approximately four hours, the board had not only managed to conclude a discussion that had been suspended on April 20, reportedly without a vote, but had also negotiated employment terms, had their legal team draw up a contract specific to Beutner, discussed the terms of this document and voted to approve it. However, it soon became apparent that the Board had given themselves a head start. After the meeting, Board Member Scott Schmerelson released a statement which said in part that on "April 20, by the slimmest majority possible, four members of the LAUSD Board of Education (Garcia, Melvoin, Vladovic, Rodriguez) voted to authorize negotiations for an employment contract with Mr. Austin Beutner as the General Superintendent of the District." Ms. Goldberg had been correct in her assertion that the decision had already been made.

In a letter dated May 7, 2018, the East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD) released a letter to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Public Integrity Division detailing the LAUSD Board's failure to announce that they "had selected a candidate, the name of the candidate they selected, that a vote had occurred, the outcome of the vote, or how or whether each Board member had voted in that decision in the April 20 closed meeting." The club, which is the largest in L.A. County, also maintains that "the Board's silence and obfuscation about its April 20 decision was intentional" and these violations of the Brown Act "tainted the Board's actions and decisions." They, therefore, "ask the District Attorney's office to uphold the Brown Act and invalidate the Board's vote."

While the circumstances related to the hiring of Beutner provide the most flagrant example of an action that "kept the public in the dark", it is not the only time that the public has been prevented from having "meaningful participation in the workings of our government" since the pro-charter majority took control. Before he was forced to resign as President, Ref Rodriguez eliminated all committees that included members from outside the Board, including the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee that helped uncover the $1.3 million iPad boondoggle. As the current President, Monica Garcia has removed the ability of the public to comment on items that are not on the agenda during special meetings. Board Member Richard Vladovic has publicly complained about decisions being made without input from the minority board members which suggests that serial meetings are occurring. These are meetings that are "conducted through a series of communications by individual members or less-than-a-quorum groups, ultimately involving a majority of the body's members" and are a violation of the Brown Act.

The EAPD took action because they "take seriously the Brown Act that holds California elected officials accountable to the public who have entrusted them to act in our interest." If you agree, you must demand that your voice deserves to be heard as much as the charters that fund the Board's campaigns. The Board's meeting schedule (including a Committee of the Whole meeting at 1:00 PM on Wednesday) can be found on the District's website. Board members can also be contacted as follows:

George McKenna 213-241-6382

Monica Garcia 213-241-6180

Scott Schmerelson 213-241-8333

Nick Melvoin 213-241-6387

Ref Rodriguez 213-241-5555

Kelly Gonez 213-241-6388

Richard Vladovic 213-241-6385

"Although this decision was predictable and disappointing, I encourage our great team of employees and parents to continue communicating their needs and concerns to the superintendent, to me and the other Board Members." - LAUSD Board Member George McKenna

____________________________________________

Carl Petersen is a parent and special education advocate, elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and was a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race. During the campaign, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action and Dr. Diane Ravitch called him a "strong supporter of public schools." His past blogs can be found at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.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.

Unbelievable. I have been reading about cruel factory-farm practices since 1975 and sadly, they still exist. This week Mercy for Animals featured a post regarding one of their undercover investigators whom they consider a hero. Liz would utilize the intensive training she received from MFA to prepare her for the work and technical instruction on the use of hidden cameras.

I sadly think I could never do this--despite my love for animals. She is among the special investigators MFA trains to deal with not only the grueling physical conditioning to prepare her for the work, but also technical instruction on the use of hidden cameras. Because of this, I will send a small donation to MFA to help them to carry on this compassionate work.

Liz was also warned about the tremendous emotional strain that investigators experience when witnessing unspeakable horrors such as seeing cows stabbed with pitchforks and pigs painfully confined in small cages. She might also witness chickens scalded alive and body parts burned and cut off baby animals without the use of painkillers. I always hope that some sensitive people will become vegetarian after reading about these horrors, and I'm always surprised at how few really do. Thank you God. I have since 1976 and am among the comparatively few who have.

God bless Liz. To my knowledge, she didn't flinch at the prospect of how really difficult her mission would be at this Butterball factory farm in North Carolina. Here she would document the filthy conditions where turkeys were suffering from open sores and lack of compassionate care.

She also filmed sadistic workers kicking the turkeys, slamming them into walls, and bashing them over the head with metal pipes. Yes, because of people like this, I am ashamed to be a member of the human race. Truthfully, I am also not too enthralled with the owners of this place or with people whose need for animal flesh causes animal suffering like this.

As I read this account of cruelty, questions immediately came to my mind. How could any decent person treat these innocent birds so cruelly? How could any decent owners allow this to happen? Where were the government USDA inspectors who should be aware of and stop this cruelty?

The good news is that Liz's investigative work led to the first-ever felony conviction involving factory-farmed birds in U.S. history. What an amazing achievement for her remarkable undercover work. God bless Liz for this wonderful humane achievement.

And God bless Mercy for Animals who prepares people like Liz to battle for compassion for suffering animals.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.



America's Youth and Women are Our Best Hope

(Image by Akemi Ohira) Details DMCA



Backstory:

Arguably, more female and younger voters vote Left of Center, and to varying degrees, desire to center America on the central ideals of the Gettysburg Address, Voting Rights Act and, on our most emancipated days, the Equal Rights Amendment. However, we need stop squabbling like jealous siblings, failing to comprehend the wisdom of Solomon -- before we cut the baby in half.

Notwithstanding Abraham Lincoln, a Whig until Whig Party evaporated, adopting newest rising political label, Republican -- but if Teddy Roosevelt couldn't do it, Third-Party candidates are not likely to become president, until We the Grassroots stop fighting over the soil, and replace our two-party system with a more pragmatic democratic alternative -- sustaining itself without Wall Street.

No President, indeed no American, with the possible exceptions of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seaton and Philadelphia immigrant John Neumann, has ever been a Saint.

Our penchant for labelling everything from hurricanes & wars to denigrating pigmentation, lifestyle choices and economic status -- separating us from a Moral Mondays' mindset, and delivering us into the wilderness state where those who use flag and Bible as props for what they preach about church sex and state greed, drain reason.

Democrats have not always been the good guys, but in 2018 & 2020, they are the better choice, especially if female, to progress America forward -- if we manage to mute, Blue Wave, and plan/think beyond Pence, as well as Trump.

Realizing impeaching Donald Trump, rolls out the Red Mapping carpet for a President Mike Pence, the real Constitutional Crisis is: those who don't vote, those who possess too little curiosity to vote with sufficient clarity of outcome and, those dividing Democrats into Liberals and Progressives -- a categorically pointless self-mutilating nose from face tantrum.

Perfection is America's motivating dream, but ensemble invites solution.

We can save our culturally diverse heritage or succumb to the infestation of, us against them.

Foreshadowing:

Are we willing to make how we treat each other a disgusting contest to win, rock bottom?

Proving our character and patriotism rank higher than a Nunes, Gowdy or Peter King is as easy as emulating Republicans Rod J. Rosenstein, Robert Mueller and Democrats Leslie Cockburn & Abigail Spanberger.

We can parrot media, Constitutional Crisis, or get involved in a system overdue for correcting itself. We can save our 2020 Census from Gerrymandering, by painting America's Red, White and Blue a rainbow enhanced by brown, black and yellow.

We can crush student loan borrowers, embrace implausible deniability of $30 million check and rape our environment, or we can elect, and if need be, un-elect, candidates who void agenda of Mick Mulvaney, Citizens United and Scott Pruitt -- but extremely swinging our political pendulum needs to cease and desist.

Not condoning Guantanamo Waterboarding, or oiling the turnstile between minority high schools and prisons for profit is a disgracefully low bar, which by comparison, might cajole some into thinking themselves morally superior, but to whatever degree we behave like what we abhor, we become another Kelly Sadler comrade.

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Egypt's top kangaroo court upheld on Saturday (May 12) jail terms from seven to 10 years against 65 loyalists of the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group over committing acts of violence in 2013 in the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

The rulings of the Court of Cassation are final and un-appealable.

The convicts have been accused of holding illegal protests, committing acts of riots and violence that killed some citizens and attempted to kill others, storming public and private properties and other charges.

The pro-Brotherhood protests were held following the coup against the first democratically elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Brotherhood group.

Later in mid-August 2013, the security forces dispersed two major pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and nearby Giza, leaving hundreds dead and thousands arrested.

The Brotherhood group has been outlawed by the military junta in September 2013.

Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself and the group's top chief Mohamed Badie, are currently in jail. Many have received death sentences and life imprisonments over various charges varying from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

The former President Mohammad Morsi is currently 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 attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers as well as civilians.

Egyptian forces have killed hundreds of anti-government elements and arrested thousands during the country's so-called anti-terror war declared by Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who ousted President Morsi.

Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was Army General when he led coup against Morsi, later he assumed the title of Field Marshall.

In April 35 Morsi supporters sentenced for life imprisonment

On April 4, An Egyptian Kangaroo Court sentenced 35 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to life in prison for allegedly forming "terrorist cells" to attack security forces and state institutions.

The Sohag Criminal Court sentenced another 155 defendants to three to 15 years on similar charges, including plotting to kill public figures and security officials, and joining an outlawed group, a reference to the Brotherhood which has been declared a terrorist group by the government of US-client Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Tellingly, the new harsh sentences against the Muslim Brotherhood members came a day after the Egyptian government announced that Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has won re-election as Egypt's president with 97 percent votes.

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Since parliamentary democracy was restored in Germany after World War Two, several right-wing parties have sought to get the required 5% of the popular vote to be represented in parliament. They all failed until 2017. In that election a new right-wing party, Alternatives for Deutschland (AfD), won 13% of the vote, making them the third most powerful party, ahead of the Greens, the Lefts, and the Liberals. They also won many seats in the individual state parliaments and one seat in the European Parliament.





Exit polls showed, though, that most people who voted for them weren't convinced by their overall program but only by one aspect of it: their strong opposition to the government's permissive refugee policy.





Germany has taken in over two million refugees from the Mideast wars, far more than any other country. The equivalent for the US population would be eight million refugees, double the number of people in Los Angeles.





This has created an enormous financial and cultural strain in a country that historically has had little immigration. It comes at a time when poverty is increasing and social services are being reduced. The once-generous welfare state is being dismantled. This financial squeeze is worsening now because of expenses for the refugees. The two million newcomers receive enough money to live on plus free healthcare, education, and access to special programs. Some cheat on this, registering in several places under different names and getting multiple benefits. Many Germans resent paying for all this with high taxes while their own standard of living is declining.





The clash of cultures has created other problems. Two-thirds of the refugees are young men, some of them convinced God has ordained males to dominate females. In their view, women who aren't submissive need to be punished. Since being male is the only power many of them have, they feel threatened by women in positions of power, and they sometimes react with hostility. Over a thousand women have been physically attacked -- some murdered and raped and many aggressively grabbed on the breasts as a way of showing dominance. Tens of thousands of women have been abused -- insulted, harassed, spat on. Some examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Eve_sexual_assaults_in_Germany





German foreign policy is also part of the problem. Many refugees are aware that Germany, as a member of NATO, supports these wars that have forced them to flee their homes. They're not fooled by the rhetoric of "humanitarian intervention." They know NATO's motives are imperialistic: to install governments agreeable to Western control of their resources and markets. Although they are now safe, their relatives and friends are still being killed with weapons made in Germany and oppressed by soldiers and police trained and financed by Germany. Rather than a grateful attitude, some have come with a resentful one. A few ISIS and al-Qaeda members, determined to drive all forms of Western imperialism from their lands, have come to murder and maim. For instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_attack





Crime has increased, especially violent crimes such as knife attacks. Police and others have been killed and wounded by refugees.





Many Germans are incensed by this behavior.





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From Truthdig



Image created from image crediting

(Image by Chris Hedges) Details DMCA



WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Israel's blockade of Gaza -- where trapped Palestinians for the past seven weeks have held nonviolent protests along the border fence with Israel, resulting in more than 50 killed and 700 wounded by Israeli troops -- is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. Yet the horror that is Gaza, where 2 million people live under an Israeli siege without adequate food, housing, work, water and electricity, where the Israeli military routinely uses indiscriminate and disproportionate violence to wound and murder, and where almost no one can escape, is rarely documented. Max Blumenthal and Dan Cohen's powerful new film, "Killing Gaza," offers an unflinching and moving portrait of a people largely abandoned by the outside world, struggling to endure.

"Killing Gaza" will be released Tuesday, to coincide with what Palestinians call Nakba Day -- "nakba" means catastrophe in Arabic -- commemorating the 70th anniversary of the forced removal of some 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 by the Haganah, Jewish paramilitary forces, from their homes in modern-day Israel. The release of the documentary also coincides with the Trump administration's opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

-- Trailers for "Killing Gaza" may be viewed on killinggaza.com. Starting Tuesday, the entire documentary can be seen there.

Because of Nakba Day and the anger over the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem, this week is expected to be one of the bloodiest of the seven-week-long protest that Palestinians call the "Great Return March." "Killing Gaza" illustrates why Palestinians, with little left to lose, are rising up by the thousands and risking their lives to return to their ancestral homes -- 70 percent of those in Gaza are refugees or the descendants of refugees -- and be treated like human beings.

Cohen and Blumenthal, who is the author of the book "Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel," one of the best accounts of modern Israel, began filming the documentary Aug. 15, 2014. Palestinian militias, armed with little more than light weapons, had just faced Israeli tanks, artillery, fighter jets, infantry units and missiles in a 51-day Israeli assault that left 2,314 Palestinians dead and 17,125 injured. Some 500,000 Palestinians were displaced and about 100,000 homes were destroyed.

The 2014 assault, perhaps better described as a massacre, was one of eight massacres that Israel has carried out since 2004 against the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, over half of whom are children. Israel, which refers to these periodic military assaults as "mowing the lawn," seeks to make existence in Gaza so difficult that mere survival consumes most of the average Palestinian's time, resources and energy.

The film begins in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood, reduced to mounds of rubble by the Israelis. The wanton destruction of whole neighborhoods was, as documented by the film, accompanied by the shooting of unarmed civilians by Israeli snipers and other soldiers of that nation.

"Much of the destruction took place in the course of a few hours on July 23," Blumenthal, who narrates the film, says as destroyed buildings appear on the screen, block after block. "The invading Israeli forces found themselves under ferocious fire from local resistance forces, enduring unexpectedly high casualties. As the Israeli infantry fled in full retreat, they called in an artillery and air assault, killing at least 120 Palestinian civilians and obliterated thousands of homes."

The film includes a brief clip of young Israelis in Tel Aviv celebrating the assault on Gaza, a reminder that toxic racism and militarism infect Israeli society.

"Die! Die! Bye!" laughing teenage girls shout at the celebration in Tel Aviv. "Bye, Palestine!"

"f*cking Arabs! f*ck Muhammad!" a young man yells.

"Gaza is a graveyard! Gaza is a graveyard! Ole, ole, ole, ole," the crowd in Tel Aviv sings as it dances in jubilation. "There is no school tomorrow! There are no children left in Gaza!"

Terrified Palestinian families huddled inside their homes during the relentless shelling. Those who tried to escape in the face of the advancing Israelis often were gunned down with their hands in the air, and the bodies were left to rot in the scorching heat for days.

"I was inside when they started bulldozing my house," Nasser Shamaly, a Shuja'iyya resident, says in the film. "They took down the wall and started shooting into the house. So I put my hands on my head and surrendered myself to the officer. This wasn't just any soldier. He was the officer of the group! He didn't say a word. He just shot me. I fell down and started crawling to get away from them."

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The global gangster-exploiters who run the U.S., along with their thug Israel, couldn't wait to begin further terrorizing and threatening and rampaging through the Middle East. The very next day after Trump's announcement, Israel launched dozens of military strikes against Iranian forces in Syria.

But you who are reading this have NO interests in this marauding, this trampling on millions, this waging war against the peoples in the Middle East. You who are reading this have no interests in the way your vampire rulers are playing with the very fate of the planet. NO! The most fundamental interest you have--and the duty we all have--is to unite with the masses there and around the world in a movement for revolution, everywhere. And right now, we need to expose this drive to war, build opposition to it, and mobilize people to drive out the fascists who are now attempting to clamp down further in the U.S., and unleash "fire and fury" around the world.

More Lies from the Biggest Shithole in the World--Trump's Mouth

Trump claims he's ripping up the agreement because it doesn't stop Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons. He deceitfully implies that Iran is already a nuclear weapons threat or soon will be. But while Iran has zero nuclear weapons, the demented bully Trump--who has repeatedly asked since the U.S. has nukes, "Why can't we use them?"--is the one with his trigger finger on 4,000 nuclear weapons! Iran has sharply scaled back its non-military nuclear development (including for nuclear power) and has been abiding by the agreement, while the U.S. is spending billions to make its weapons of mass destruction even more horrific.

Trump denounces Iran for sponsoring terror, exporting weapons, and for "sinister" activities in the Middle East. Iran's Islamic Republic is an oppressive theocratic regime, which is backing reactionary regimes and forces in the region.

But who's the world's number one sponsor of state terror and torture? The world's biggest exporter of weapons of death and destruction? The world's most "sinister" power, responsible for the most carnage--from the thousands being shot down right now by Israel for protesting in Gaza, to the millions, yes millions, being starved or threatened by bombs and disease by the U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen? And who has been waging war across the Middle East and Central Asia for the last 17 years, murdering over a million people and destroying the lives of countless more? Just like the slobbering, shouting morons who parade around with the flag say, "USA! USA! USA!"

Trump turned truth inside out, portraying the U.S. as the victim: "America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction..." Get real! It's his regime and U.S. imperialism that have actually held the whole world nuclear hostage for decades, which are now ramping up threats against Iran's cities and millions of its people. Why? Not to liberate anyone, but to maintain their imperialist death grip on the Middle East and world.

All this is totally sick, Hitlerian sh*t. And if people can't see, and feel, the outrageousness and intolerability of this made-in-USA global thuggery, they need to get their heads out of their asses and wake up... and YOU need to help make that happen.

And the Democrats? Petty Complaints in Order to Better Bully the World

What do the Democrats, the so-called "alternative" to Trump, have to say about these threats of massive crimes against humanity? Petty criticisms, basically that the nuclear deal was helping the U.S. maintain its dominance. That it's betterto posse up with other imperialist gangsters--aka "allies"--against Iran. Meanwhile, the Democrats make perfectly clear that if war comes, they'll rally around Trump and the red, white, and blue. Why? Because they're on the "same team," as Obama said about Trump. They're fully with the Trump/Pence regime on the fundamental need for the U.S. to bully and dominate the world. Their only issue: how to carry out their savagery.

The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

Trump's announcement on the Iran nuclear deal was like throwing gasoline onto a building that was already burning. After Israel launched missile attacks on Iranian forces in Syria, Iran has reportedly fired back on Israeli positions. There are reports that Israel is attempting to bait Iran into an all-out war.

Trump has now surrounded himself with extreme, anti-Iran war hawks who make mass murderers like Defense Secretary "Mad Dog" Mattis look like moderates. As a congressman, Mike Pompeo, Trump's new secretary of state, denounced the Iran nuclear deal and advocated 2,000 airstrikes against Iran instead. New national security adviser John Bolton, reportedly now Trump's closest adviser, has previously called for preemptive strikes on Iran and "regime change"--in other words overthrowing the Islamic Republic of Iran. On CNN this Sunday, Bolton refused to back away from any of this.

Amid reports that the U.S. rulers are gambling they can "break" Iran's theocratic regime, Trump has announced he's imposing the harshest-ever sanctions on Iran--sanctions which will immediately cause great suffering for millions of Iranians. Trump has also provocatively warned Iran not to resume its nuclear enrichment program (even for non-military purposes), even though it's the U.S. that's broken the treaty. At a recent meeting with French President Macron, Trump promised to make Iran "pay a price like few countries have ever paid" if its rulers "threaten" the U.S. (i.e., reject its demands).

These are among the growing signs that the U.S. (and Israel and Saudi Arabia, which have been chomping at the bit to attack Iran) are heading toward a confrontation or war with Iran, either of which could spiral into a war that could escalate unpredictably across the region. This could lead to even greater death and destruction than the staggering toll America and its butcher allies have already inflicted on the Middle East over the last 15 years.

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From The National

On Tuesday, Palestinians will commemorate the anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, their mass expulsion and dispossession 70 years ago as the new state of Israel was built on the ruins of their homeland. As a result, most Palestinians were turned into refugees, refused by Israel the right to return to their homes.

Israel is braced nervously for many tens of thousands to turn out in the occupied territories this week to protest against decades of its refusal to make amends or end its oppressive rule.

The move tomorrow of the US embassy to Jerusalem, a city under belligerent occupation, has only inflamed Palestinian grievances -- and a sense that the West is still conspiring in their dispossession.

The expected focus of the protests is Gaza, where unarmed Palestinians have been massing every Friday since late March at the perimeter fence that encages two million of them.

For their troubles, they have faced a hail of live ammunition, rubber bullets and clouds of tear gas. Dozens have been killed and many hundreds more maimed, including children.

But for more than a month, Israel has been working to manage western perceptions of the protests in ways designed to discredit the outpouring of anger from Palestinians. In a message all too readily accepted by some western audiences, Israel has presented the protests as a "security threat."

Israeli officials have even argued before the country's high court that the protesters lack any rights -- that army snipers are entitled to shoot them, even if facing no danger -- because Israel is supposedly in a "state of war" with Gaza, defending itself.

Many Americans and Europeans, worried about an influx of "economic migrants" flooding into their own countries, readily sympathise with Israel's concerns -- and its actions.

Until now, the vast majority of Gaza's protesters have been peaceful and made no attempt to break through the fence.

But Israel claims that Hamas will exploit this week's protests in Gaza to encourage Palestinians to storm the fence. The implication is that the protesters will be crossing a "border" and "entering" Israel illegally.

The truth is rather different. There is no border because there is no Palestinian state. Israel has made sure of that. Palestinians live under occupation, with Israel controlling every aspect of their lives. In Gaza, even the air and sea are Israel's domain.

Meanwhile, the right of Palestinian refugees to return their former lands -- now in Israel -- is recognized in international law.

Nonetheless, Israel has been crafting a dishonest counter-narrative ever since the Nakba, myths that historians scouring the archives have slowly exploded.

One claim -- that Arab leaders told the 750,000 Palestinian refugees to flee in 1948 -- was in fact invented by Israel's founding father, David Ben Gurion. He hoped it would deflect US pressure on Israel to honor its obligations to allow the refugees back.

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To see if the podcast was renamed or re-published, please click here.Fastest Growth in Asia Pacific 3D Concrete Printing Market Shares, Trends and Company Analysis by 2017-2023

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Market research future published a cooked research report on Global 3D Concrete Printing Market that contains the information from 2017 to 2023. Global 3D concrete printing market is expected to grow with the CAGR of approximately 14.05% from 2017 to 2023.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 85 market data tables and figures spread in 135 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global 3D Concrete Printing Market Information from 2017 to 2023"Receive Sample Copy@3D concrete printing is an advanced and innovative method used in construction to design building components with the help of 3D concrete printers. The printing of buildings has a lot of advantages when compared to traditional construction methods. Increasing FDI in construction in emerging nations driving the growth of the market. According to United States Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP), FDI was valued at USD 1.76 trillion in 2015. This accounted for a 38% increase compared with 2014. Such flow of FDI in the construction sector across the globe has ultimately resulted in the growth of the 3D concrete printing market. Additionally, rapid industrialization and urbanization in the emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Mexico also impacted positively on the growth of the market. However, mobility is the factor that may hamper the growth of the market.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports. Dus Architects (The Netherlands) Winsun Global (China) Skanska AB (Sweden) Cybe Construction (The Netherlands) Foster + Partners (London) Sika AG (Switzerland) HeidelbergCement AG (Germany) LafargeHolcim Ltd (Switzerland), Balfour Beatty (U.S.) Apis Cor (Russian Federation).Access Full Report@North America region dominates the global 3D concrete printing marketOn the basis of region, the global 3D concrete printing market is segmented as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World (ROW). North America accounted for the largest market share of 35.63% in 2016, with a market value of USD 10.0 million and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.20% during the forecast period. Growing consumer preference for green buildings and sustained investments in commercial real estate are the factors driving the growth of the market in North America region.Europe is the second largest market for the global 3D concrete printing. Increasing up gradation of the existing infrastructure, rising environmental concerns and the growing interest in sustainable construction, are the factors driving the growth of the market in European region. Europe accounted for the market share of 29.4% in 2016, with a market value of USD 82 million. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing region for the 3D concrete printing. It accounted for a market value of USD 6.0 million in 2016; it is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.51%.This research report provides insights, on various levels of analysis such as industry analysis, market share analysis leading market players and their profiles. This report also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on emerging & high-growth segments and market conclusion. Together the market data comprise and discuss with the basic assessments on the competitive scenarios & strategies, of the 3D concrete printing market, including the high-growth regions, countries and their political, economic and technological environments. Furthermore the project report also provides the views over the historical market values as well as, pricing and cost analysis of the same.Ask Question to our Expertise Researcher @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comNext Generation Military Power Supply Market - Segmentation and Analysis by Recent Trends, Development and Growth by Regions to, Analysis, Forecast to 2026

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According to a latest market report titled Next Generation Military Power Supply Market, published by Transparency Market Research the global next generation military power supply market is expected to reach value of US$ 20,111.7 Mn by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period, 2018 to 2026. According to the research study, North America held approximately 39.3% of the global market share in 2017.Obtain Brochure For Latest Technology Advancements @Some of the major factors favoring the growth of the global next generation military power supply market include rising trend of incorporating digital power management and control solutions in military power supply products. Further, the power supply equipment replacement cycle is getting shorter. The military sector is responsible for safeguarding sensitive data such as information related to national security, weapons, defense systems, strategies etc.Obtain Report Details @The need to protect sensitive electronic devices from grid power quality instability is increasing significantly. Adopting smart grid systems & renewable energy sources can improve grid reliability. Smart grid technology in power supply systems can improve the amount of uneven renewable generation in power systems. Smart grids stimulate energy saving in power supply systems by improving the utilization efficiency and power consuming efficiency.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:3D Printed Drug Market Voluminous Overview of 2025

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3D Printed Drug Market: SnapshotThe global demand for 3D printed drugs is increasing and gaining immense popularity on account of the FDA passing a priority review voucher system for these drugs. Other factors boosting the growth of the global 3D printed drugs include technological innovations in 3D printing procedures. 3D printing was expensive before but today it has become cost-effective and more accessible and this has led to an increased adoption of 3D printed drugs.One of the key factors resulting in the high demand for 3D printed drugs is their instantaneous solubility. 3D printed drugs are extremely easy to swallow. In the near future 3D printing can be used for customizing drugs for each patient. It is extremely likely that 3D printed drugs will appeal extensively to children as they can choose the colour, shape, design, and taste the tablet making them far less resistant to taking their required medications. All these factors are anticipated to propel the growth of the global 3D printed drugs market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @On the other hand, there are many scandals and phishing or hacking of data which are stored online or on cloud and this could result in patients being increasingly reluctant regarding disclosing their medical information which is required for 3D printed drugs. For a 3D printed drug, a 3D blueprint is required to be made of the patient, their dosage, and medical history are also required. Another factor which is anticipated to pose a challenge for the 3D printed drugs market is the issue regarding mislabelling of blueprints and inputting wrong description. Also an extremely important factor which is challenging the growth of the global 3D printed drugs market, is the lack of regulations. There is no clear law regarding 3D printing and this is expected to be an issue.Global 3D Printed Drug Market: OverviewCurrently, the global market for 3D printed drug is in its budding stage; however, it is poised to undergo a phase of positive growth over the next few years. The advancements 3D printing technology and the increasing investments to increase the research activities for the development of highly efficient 3D printed drugs are likely to boost this market substantially in the near future.Request TOC of the Report @Global 3D Printed Drug Market: Key TrendsWith the decline in the price of 3D printers, the market for 3D printed drugs is witnessing a significant rise across the world. The increasing usage of 3D printing as an additive in the medical and healthcare industry will act as a catalyst to this market in the coming years. The rising trend of using 3D printing technology in the printing of artificial bones is also projected to aid this market over the next few years.Global 3D Printed Drug Market: Market PotentialThe global 3D printed drugs market is gaining significantly from the rising awareness pertaining to the advantages of these drugs, such as their instantaneous solubility. Apart from this, the augmented arrival of individual drugs and production of combination medicines, stimulated by 3D printing, is also expected to propel this market in the near future. Since 3D drugs can be customized as per the requirement of every patient, assisting way better than batch-produced drugs, their demand is predicted to increase substantially in the years to come.Overall, the future of the worldwide market for 3D printed drugs looks bright. However, the reports of adverse effect of these drugs may create hindrances for this market over the forthcoming years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global 3D Printed Drug Market: Regional OutlookThe global market for 3D printed drugs reports its presence across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific (APAC), and the Rest of the World (RoW). Europe and North America have surfaced as the key contributors to this market, thanks to the presence of an advanced domestic healthcare infrastructure. With the high investment on research and development and the advent of the U.S. as the leading domestic market for 3D printed drugs, North America is anticipated to acquire the topmost position in the global market over the forthcoming years. Among other regional markets, Asia Pacific is likely to report a significant rise in the near future, thanks to the increasing investments in research and development activities in India and China.Global 3D Printed Drug Market: Competitive AnalysisAs of now, only one company is involved in the production of 3D printed drugs: Aprecia Pharmaceuticals. The pharma company has successfully developed the first 3D printed drug in the world and has named it Spritam. The U.S. FDA has approved the drug and it is currently being sold in the U.S market. Other drug makers are expected to follow the suit in the near future on account of the swift advancements in technology and the declining price of 3D printers.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comDriveline for Connected Truck Market: Challenges to Industry Growth, Size, Share, Forecast 2023

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Global Advanced Shopping Technology Market: OverviewTechnology is revolutionizing the way we shop. It has, in fact, changed the shopping landscape forever. Just a decade back, it was mom-and-pop stores in every nook and cranny and a few large franchise stores with friendly salesmen showing us products. Nowadays, a booming online market place has shook the traditional retail space to its core by denting it revenue substantially.Sensing a major threat, brick-and-mortar stores have upped their ante too by leveraging modern, cutting-edge technology extensively. As we shop around, we receive push notifications on our mobiles showing us best deals available, we also receive tailored messages based on our past purchases and other information, and modern billing counters to expedite the process. Welcome to the modern shops armed with advanced shopping technologies to make our experience seamless.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Advanced Shopping Technology Market: Key TrendsStiff competition from the online marketplace has generated a pressing need for companies to resort to latest technologies such as big data, data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud to become nimble. Other factors, stoking demand for advanced shopping technology is the proliferation of big names  both global and local  in the domain of retail and the increasing spending capacity of people all over the world.Global Advanced Shopping Technology Market: Market PotentialMultinational and deep-pocketed retailers worldwide are launching various advanced technological products to woo consumers. Take for example Amazon. It has recently launched Amazon Go, which uses computer vision and sensors to register items picked up by consumers in a store. One just needs to scan an app as he/she enters the Amazon Go shop.As consumers shop, the sensors throughout the store identify the items in the cart. They detect when a product is being taken off the shelf and when it is being put back. It keeps track of them in a virtual cart. While the shopper steps out of the store, Amazon automatically debits the charged amount from the consumers account. The technologies leveraged to facilitate the seamless process are sensor fusion, computer vision, and deep learning.Request TOC of the Report @Wal-Mart, again, is experimenting with 'Virtual Toy Store' displays in public places such as the Toronto subway. Passers-by can purchase any toy by scanning a QR code with their smartphone after checking out the 3D images of current toys on display.Global Advanced Shopping Technology Market: Regional OutlookNorth America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa are some of the key regions in the global shopping technology market. North America and Europe, being economically advanced regions, have witnessed gigantic progress in the domain of technology. They are also home to some of the most prominent names in the domain of retail. All these have shaped their markets as dominant ones where uptake of advanced shopping technologies among retailers is high. Asia Pacific is a lucrative market that is on course to generating more business in the market in the next couple of years on account the explosive growth in the domain of shopping and bigger local and large international players jumping into the fray.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Advanced Shopping Technology Market: Competitive AnalysisVarious multinational technology giants and big retail names are operating in the advanced shopping technology market. Some of them are Google, Amazon, Toshiba, Wal-Mart, Procter and Gamble, etc.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comGlobal Timber Harvesting Equipments Market Forecast 2018-2025 KOBE STEEL, YAMABIKO Corporation, Hitachi, Husqvarna

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Recently added detailed market study "Global Timber Harvesting Equipments Market" examines the performance of the Timber Harvesting Equipments market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Timber Harvesting Equipments market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Timber Harvesting Equipments market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Timber Harvesting Equipments Market 2018 report includes Timber Harvesting Equipments market Revenue, market Share, Timber Harvesting Equipments industry volume, market Trends, Timber Harvesting Equipments Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Timber Harvesting Equipments Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Timber Harvesting Equipments manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are CNH Industrial, Doosan Infracore, CLAAS KGaA GmbH, Concern Tractor Plants, Hitachi, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Komatsu, Husqvarna, KOBE STEEL, SENNEBOGEN Maschinenfabrik, Xiamen XGMA Machinery, YAMABIKO Corporation.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Timber Harvesting Equipments Market By Application are OEM, Repair and MaintenanceTimber Harvesting Equipments Market By Type are Trailers, Chain-Saws, Winches, Chippers, Harvesters, Skidder CranesFurther, the Timber Harvesting Equipments report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Timber Harvesting Equipments industry, Timber Harvesting Equipments industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Timber Harvesting Equipments Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Timber Harvesting Equipments research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Timber Harvesting Equipments market revenue worldwide.Finally, Timber Harvesting Equipments market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"GlobeInfoResearch.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@globeinforesearch.comGlobal Gear Grinding Market Forecast 2018-2025 Gleason, Liebherr, Qinchuan, FFG Werke

Gear Grinding Market

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https://www.globeinforesearch.com/report/global-gear-grinding-market-7892

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Recently added detailed market study "Global Gear Grinding Market" examines the performance of the Gear Grinding market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Gear Grinding market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Gear Grinding market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Gear Grinding Market 2018 report includes Gear Grinding market Revenue, market Share, Gear Grinding industry volume, market Trends, Gear Grinding Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Gear Grinding Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Gear Grinding manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are Reishauer, Kapp Werkzeugmaschinen, Gleason, Klingelnberg, Samputensili, Liebherr, Kanzaki (Yanmar), EMAG, FFG Werke, Chongqing Machine Tool, MHI, ZDCY, Qinchuan, Holroyd Precision, TMTW.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Gear Grinding Market By Application are Vehicle Industry, General Mechanical Industry, OthersGear Grinding Market By Type are Internal Gear Grinding Machine, Universal Gear Grinding Machine, OthersFurther, the Gear Grinding report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Gear Grinding industry, Gear Grinding industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Gear Grinding Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Gear Grinding research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Gear Grinding market revenue worldwide.Finally, Gear Grinding market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"GlobeInfoResearch.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@globeinforesearch.comLow Voltage Motor Control Centers Market looks bright over 2025

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Global Low Voltage Motor Control Centers Market: OverviewMotor control centers include completely encased, dead front, self-standing structures appended together. These segments backings and host control units, a typical busbars for circulating energy to the control units, and a system of wire trough and channel entrance ranges for pleasing internal and outward load and control wires. The worldwide motor control centers showcase is driven by the expanding need of solid electric supply and consequent interest in transmission and dissemination organize, framework extension, and creating safe electrical foundation.Low voltage motor control centers, for example, busbars are utilized as a part of utilities offices to convey energy to structures and modern applications to conveyance energy to electrical burdens. They are additionally a propelled contrasting option to conventional cabling which gives various focal points, for example, funds on time, space and cost. They have applications in different industries like oil and gas, water and wastewater, power and utilities, mining and some more.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Low Voltage Motor Control Centers Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe modern use of motor control centers right now holds a substantial offer of aggregate volume of motor control centers and is required to command the market amid figure period. The expansion in modern advancement over the globe prompting the wide use of little and medium voltage motor control centers in businesses for safe operations, will additionally upgrade the mechanical motor control centers showcase amid the figure time frame.The expanding modern computerization, expanded utilization of low voltage electric motors in key enterprises, and expanded mechanical plant uptime have supported the interest for low voltage motor control centers. Furthermore, the blasting force part and expanding power request universally would additionally help the development of this market.Global Low Voltage Motor Control Centers Market: Market PotentialConcurrent to the advancement of MCC systems, an immensely more refined system of hardware, programming device sets, diagnostics, communication strategies and reporting were created for the high voltage electric power insurance industry worldwide. These more complex assurance gadgets have been utilized since the 1980s with voltages going up to 765,000 V. These HV transfers are intended for extreme ecological testing and dependability prerequisites, for instance, temperature, electromagnetic interference and shock. Another age of LV motor relay (LVMR) has been introduced to the market which has highlights brought from the high voltage transmission industry. These new motor transfers bring unwavering quality, security, and cust costs of the LV MCC franchise.Request TOC of the Report @Global Low Voltage Motor Control Centers Market: Regional AnalysisThe market in Asia-Pacific is relied upon to lead the worldwide low voltage motor control centers advertise by 2022 and is anticipated to develop at the most astounding CAGR from 2017 to 2022. The market development in this district can be ascribed to rising industrialization and urbanization and expanding power request. Nations, for example, China, India, Japan, and Australia are the key markets for low voltage motor control centers in the Asia Pacific area. The expanding interests in the water and wastewater industry and expanding infrastructural advancements in the Middle East and Africa are relied upon to drive the low voltage motor control centers showcase in the Middle East and Africa.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Low Voltage Motor Control Centers Market: Vendor LandscapeThe key vendors in the global motor control center market are anticipated to exploit the developing oil and gas industry in Africa over the coming years. Research is on the rise, with a number of enterprises exploring gas and oil reserves across the continent. Some of the leading market players of this industry are Eaton, Rockwell Automation, Schneider, ABB and Gemco Controls.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comSecurity Advisory Services Market displaying the demand for Newer Technology 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/security-advisory-services-market

Security Advisory Services Market: OverviewNumerous firms join their human and machine knowledge in cybersecurity to assist their customer associations with exhaustive assurance from smart security dangers. In the period of quick developments of organizations and expanded complexities in the IT foundation, the security of computerized resources has turned into the prime target of the associations. Consequently, the appropriation of security advisory services is said to be high among private and open associations crosswise over various verticals. The security merchants give different security advisory services, for example, incident response, vulnerability management, penetration testing, risk management strategy, compliance management, security program development, and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) advisory and support. As the recurrence of modern digital assaults on ventures is developing, the market is relied upon to pick up footing in the following 5 years.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Security Advisory Services Market: Trends and ProspectsThe significant forces driving the security advisory services market are the expanded complexity levels of cyber threats and ascent in security breaches, and solid control consistence necessities. The security advisory services market merchants are consistently adding developments to their services to ensure the associations, and saving money and financial organizations, against cutting edge digital dangers. Internationally, the selection of security advisory services is expanding because of the ascent in security breaks focusing on endeavors. Moreover, security advisory services are being received in different verticals, for example, government and public sector, financial services and insurance (BFSI), banking, transportation and manufacturing, IT and telecommunication, energy and power, healthcare, and others (retail, travel and transportation, and education) which have prompted the development of the market over the globe.Security Advisory Services Market: Market PotentialAccording to a report by Cisco Systems Inc., a superior than-anticipated quarterly benefit on Wednesday, driven by profits from its more up to date organizations, for example, security, which more than balanced declines in its conventional switches and routers business. This demonstrates the innovation pioneer has started to turn a corner as it shifts center from software to hardware and repeating memberships.Request TOC of the Report @Security Advisory Services Market: Regional OverviewNorth America is relied upon to have the biggest market share and rule the security advisory services market from 2017 to 2022, because of the high number of early innovation adopters in this district. Particular spending distributions and commanded security advisory administration approaches are relied upon to make North America the most lucrative locale for the development of different classifications of sellers. The real power driving the reception of security advisory services in APAC is the expanding occurrences of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assaults, which is exceedingly influencing the execution of basic business applications.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Security Advisory Services Market: Vendor LandscapeThe major players additionally embraced the methodology of business development to increment and extend their administration portfolios. In March 2016, a firm named EY extended the business in Asia Pacific by opening 4 Centers of Excellence (CoE), to be specific, the Asia Pacific CoE in cybersecurity, the Asia Pacific CoE with respect to analytics, and Asia-Pacific CoE in terms of manufacturing. In August 2017, Kudelski Security expanded its business by growing its preparation and security training project to North America. With this extension, the organization upgraded its abilities in cybersecurity, investigation, assembling, and change methodology.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comConsumerism in Healthcare Market offer numerous promising prospects 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/consumerism-in-healthcare-market

Diagnostic Imaging Market: SnapshotConsumerism has been percolating into the healthcare industry for a long time now, with patients increasingly being offered numerous choices in their healthcare options, trying to make the best decisions for quality and cost just as they do with any other consumable. This trend has been expedited several regulations and acts undertaken by administrative authorities, leaving patients with substantial deductibles that puts more stress on them, compelling them to find the most cost-effective healthcare options for the money coming out of their own pockets.Until recent times, patients who needed information about a hospital or specialized doctor, were able to find only basic data. This left them to base their hospital treatment decisions on factors such as their insurance coverage and the availability of the care they required. However, patient are now able to access much more data such as the physician's experience with a particular procedure or a hospital's complication and readmission rates.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Patients are finding, however, that there are limits to how much they can play the savvy consumer. Despite growing access to quality metrics and hospital rankings, there still are holes in that data that can make it difficult to discern meaningful differences among providers; and even if patients have adequate information, they may be unable to choose freely because of health plan restrictions and other limitations.However, the trend toward consumerism has advanced far beyond where it was just a few years ago, and the healthcare industry is responding with outreach and initiatives intended to help patients in their quest for value.Consumerism in Healthcare Market: OverviewThe healthcare industry has started witnessing a massive transformation in the manner in which healthcare services are delivered and paid for. In the recent years, the number of knowledgeable, tech-savvy consumers with advanced mobile computing devices has massively increased. This massive population of consumers is increasingly wanting to be the active respondent or decision-maker when it comes to purchasing or consuming the services of their choice, taking up the responsibility of managing their own health.Request TOC of the Report @This may seem an easy transition with the significant rise in the number of mobile apps being made for the healthcare industry. However, the lack of necessary information related to costs, benefits, and features of medical services and the vast array of confusing choices may make it complex for companies involved in making this concept a reality. Nevertheless, in the next few years, the market for healthcare consumerism is expected to witness a massive rise in the number of solutions, services, and companies developing healthcare consumerism solutions. The rising number of knowledgeable consumers wanting to be key respondent about their medical necessities will be the major driver leading to this change.Consumerism in Healthcare Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThis report presents a detailed overview of the recent developments observed in the global consumerism in healthcare market in terms of new products, services, solutions, and solution and service providers. The market is expected to expand at a massive pace in the near future, with the rising population of people with smartphones forming the crux of most new developments as well as future growth opportunities. Rising healthcare costs, the intense level of competition in the healthcare industry, and the increased demand from consumers to be a part of all cost-related decisions will increase the usage of healthcare apps in the next few years. These factors will also lead to the development of new and more improved interventions enabling the direct participation of consumers in their healthcare-related decisions in the near future, thus driving the global consumerism in healthcare market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Consumerism in Healthcare Market: Regional AnalysisThe global consumerism in healthcare market has promising growth opportunities across all key regional markets such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. The markets in North America and Europe are among the first adopters of technologically advanced interventions in any industry and are also the leaders when it comes to consumerism in healthcare. The well-established healthcare infrastructure, the highly proactive medical insurance industry, and the high number of healthcare providers that have adopted digital interventions to make their offerings more consumer-centered in the recent years will all support the healthy expansion of the consumerism in healthcare market in these regions over the report's forecast period.While these regions will remain at the forefront when it comes to the development of the market as well as the adoption of consumerism in healthcare solutions, the markets in regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America will be the most promising destinations in terms of new growth opportunities. The improved level of digitization of the healthcare industry in these regions, a vast rise in the number of consumers with digitally advanced interventions such as smartphones and tablets, and an increasingly aware consumer-base will lead to the establishment of promising grounds for the expansion of healthcare consumerism principles in these regions.Consumerism in Healthcare Market: Competitive DynamicsBecause the market is in its early stages of development, it features a handful of companies at present. However, with rising demand and an improved pool of growth opportunities, the market is expected to soon become crowded and more competitive.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comPopulation Health Management Market: Latest Study On Segmentation Analysis, Leading Players and Industry Trends Forecast to 2022

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https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/report/global-population-health-management-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022-d-323

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Global Population Health Management Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 report title add in QY Research Groups database. This report provided upcoming trends in the global market with drivers, restraints and leading players in the market.The Global Population Health Management Market report contains Market Revenue, Investment Opportunity, Market Features, Market Demand by Segment & Population Health Management market Growth aspects. A wide variety of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Population Health Management Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.This report studies the global Population Health Management market, analyzes and researches the Population Health Management development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, like Cerner Corporation, McKesson Corporation, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Healthagen, OptumHealth, IBM Corporation, Epic Corporation, Conifer Health Solutions, Health Catalyst, Wellcentive, i2i Population Health AND Verscend Technologies.Request a Sample Copy @Market segment by Type, Population Health Management can be split intoWeb-basedCloud-basedOn-premiseMarket segment by Application, Population Health Management can be split intoHealthcare ProvidersHealthcare PayersEmployer GroupsGovernment BodiesBrowse Complete Report https:Table Of Content:1 Industry Overview of Population Health Management2 Global Population Health Management Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Cerner Corporation3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Population Health Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 McKesson Corporation3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Population Health Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Population Health Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Healthagen3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business OverviewContinued4 Global Population Health Management Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)5 United States Population Health Management Development Status and Outlook6 EU Population Health Management Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Population Health Management Development Status and Outlook8 China Population Health Management Development Status and Outlook9 India Population Health Management Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Population Health Management Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Population Health Management Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors AnalysisPurchase Complete report:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-Contact no: +1-888-236-2744Global Ventilation Fans Market Estimates Steady Growth in the Coming Years

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In order to study the various trends and patterns prevailing in the overall market for Ventilation Fans, Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a new report titled Ventilation Fans Market to its wide online database. This research assessment offers a clear insight about the influential factors that are expected to transform the global market in the near future. Readers can access the regional as well as segment-wise analysis for acquiring precise information about the global market structure.Visit for Sample Report @Ventilation is defined as the procedure that replaces or changes air in a space to control temperature or remove smoke, carbon dioxide, moisture, heat, odors, airborne bacteria, dust, and replenish oxygen. Ventilation comprises exchange of air to the outside and air circulation within the premises. Proper installation and operation of ventilation fans provide a path for contaminated air or water vapor to exit a house. Significant growth in construction industry in BRICS economies, major infrastructure development projects in MENA, the recovering construction sector in developed regions, rising awareness of the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ), and government regulations on the ventilation prove to be the key driving factors for the growth of the ventilation fans market.This research study, entitled Ventilation Fans Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20152023, provides strategic analysis of the global ventilation fans market, along with the market growth (size in US$ Mn*) forecast for the period from 2015 to 2023. The report includes an in-depth analysis of the market drivers, restraints, and industry trends. It also highlights the significant growth opportunities for ventilation fans in the next few years.The research report provides a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder strategies, and the imperatives for succeeding in the ventilation fans market. The report includes competitive analysis of various market segments based on types of ventilation fans, end-user industries, and in-depth cross-sectional scrutiny across different geography segments of the ventilation fans market. In order to aid in strategic decision-making, the report also includes the winning strategies adopted by key players operating in the ventilation fans market.The report segregates the ventilation fans market based on different geographies into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South America. On the basis of type, the global ventilation fans market is segmented into centrifugal fans, axial fans, cross-flow fans, domestic exhaust fans, power roof fans, and range hood fans. Moreover, in terms of end-use adoption the market for ventilation fans is segmented into residential, commercial, and industrial end-user segments. For detailed understanding of the ventilation fans market, all these segments have also been estimated in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) for the geographies mentioned above.Complete Report details with List of Tables and Figures @The market research study analyzes the ventilation fans market worldwide, and provides revenue estimates in terms of US$ Mn for the years 2013 and 2014, along with the market forecast for the period from 2015 to 2023. Market forecasts have been analyzed considering the impact of various economic, political, social, legal, and technological factors influencing market growth.The report includes overview of the market strategies, annual revenues, and the recent developments of the key players operating in the market. The key market participants profiled in the study include Panasonic Corporation, Nortek Inc., Systemair AB, Greenwood Airvac, Polypipe Ventilation, Vent-Axia, Airflow Developments Ltd., and Titon plc.Market Segmentation:Ventilations Market Analysis, by typeCentrifugal FansAxial FansCross-flow FansDomestic Exhaust FansPower Roof FansRange Hood FansVentilation Fans Market Analysis, by End-usersResidential End-usersCommercial End-usersIndustrial End-usersIn addition, the report provides cross sectional analysis of the ventilation fans market with respect to following geographical segments:North AmericaThe U.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeEU7CISRest of EuropeAsia-PacificJapanChinaSouth AsiaAustralasiaRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)GCC CountriesNorth AfricaSouth AfricaRest of MEASouth AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaSend an Inquiry @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:Global Silicone Market 2018-2023: BASF SE, Wacker Group, Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, and Ashland Inc.

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http://orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-silicone-market-segmented-by-type-application-end-user-industry-and-geography-growth-trends-and-forecasts-2018-2023

Summary:- (New Report On Global Silicone Market-Segmented by Type, Application, End-User Industry, and Geography-Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2018-2023) added to Orbisresearch.com store which has 150 pages)The global silicone market is estimated to register a CAGR of 5.65% during the forecast period, 2018-2023. Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the market among other regions, supported by the growing construction industry in the region. The consumption of silicone in the construction industry is to lead among other end-user industries.Request a Sample Report! Get PDF Sample Copy@Increasing Usage of Silicone in Construction IndustryGrowth in infrastructure in the emerging nations is driving the overall global demand for construction chemicals, which, in turn, is expected to drive the demand for silicone in the coming years. In the construction industry, silicones are used in structural glazing and weatherproofing, while contributing to energy efficiency of the buildings. They also help to improve in-shop productivity, reduce material waste, extend building life, and reduce lifecycle costs. There is huge expenditure incurred on infrastructure in the developing nations, like China and India, which is driving the global silicone market, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.Construction Industry to Dominate the Silicone MarketBy end-user industry, construction dominated for silicones, with a larger share in 2016. In the construction industry, silicones are used in structural glazing & weatherproofing, while contributing to energy efficiency of the buildings. They also help to improve in-shop productivity and reduce material waste, while extending building life and reducing lifecycle costs.Asia-Pacific to Lead the Market with Highest ShareIn 2016, Asia-Pacific was the leading consumer of silicone, accounting for largest share of the global silicone market. The growing market in China is one of the prominent reasons for the growth of the Asia-Pacific silicone market through the years. Rising awareness and use of liquid silicon rubber due to modern manufacturing and injection molding technology in the region are expected to offer numerous opportunities for the silicone market growth.Major Players: BASF SE, Wacker Group, Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, and Ashland Inc., amongst others.Customization of the ReportThis report can be customized to meet your requirements. Please connect with our representative, who will ensure you to get a report that suits your needs.To Make an Enquiry on Report@Major Point from Table of Content:1. Introduction2. Executive Summary3. Market Insights4. Market Dynamics5. Market Segmentation and Analysis- (Market size, Growth, and Forecast)6. Regional Market Analysis- (Market size, Growth, and Forecast)7. Future of the Market8. Competitive Landscape9. Company Profiles (Overview, Products & Services, Financials**, Recent Developments, and Analyst View)9.1 3M Co.9.2 Arkema SA.9.3 Ashland Inc.9.4 BASF SE9.5 Bluestar Silicones9.6 Chase Corporation9.7 Emerald Performance Materials LLC9.8 Evonik Industries AG9.9 Gelest Inc.9.10 ICM Products9.11 Jiangsu Hongda New Material Co. Ltd.9.12 Jiangxi Xing Huo Organic Silicon Factory9.13 Kaneka Corporation9.14 The Sherwin-Williams Company9.15 Wacker Group10. DisclaimerRead moreBrowse full report@About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Email ID: sales@orbisresearch.comSpirulina Extracts Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Threats 2015-2025

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Spirulina extract market is expected to grow with a single digit CAGR over the forecast period. Spirulina Extracts are made with natural herbs, vitamins and minerals to raise energy levels and provide antioxidant protection.Spirulina extract ingredients are used in food products, colours, nutraceuticals, feed, cosmetics, bio-fertilizers and fine chemicals.Spirulina contains phycocyanin which makes it best natural blue colour which can be used in food. Spirulina extracts are mainly of three colours which includes blue, red and yellow .Blue Spirulina extract is used to make other colours. In various regions, use of food colours without chemicals is mandatory. For instance, in Japan, the use of food colours without chemical is made mandatory by food regulatory bodies.Spirulina Extracts Market Segmentation:Spirulina extracts market is segmented on the basis of application and geography. On the basis of application spirulina extracts market can be segmented into soft drinks, meat and savory, confectionary, oil and fats, dairy and fruit and vegetables and others. Also, spirulina extracts market is segmented on the basis of geography into North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Europe is expected to dominate the spirulina extracts market in next four to five years, followed by North America. Various regions including Asia Pacific and North America are preferring natural products such as spirulina extracts which is expected to further boost the demand of spirulina extracts over the forecasted periodRequest for Report Sample:Spirulina Extracts Market: Region-wise Outlook:Spirulina extracts market is mainly growing rapidly in various developed countries such as USA, Germany and Japan owing to the rising awareness among the consumers regarding the adverse effects of artificial colours in food. These countries mainly use spirulina extracts due to the presence of high income population. Moreover, European countries have put ban on the manufacturing of synthetic colour and also banned the import of synthetic colours from other countries. This has led to increased demand for spirulina extracts market in this region.Spirulina Extracts Market: Drivers:Spirulina extracts market growth is fuelled by the increasing consumer awareness for natural food in comparison to synthetic food coupled with health-promoting properties of natural food colours. Other factors that further fuel the growth of spirulina extracts market is increasing demand for clean label products and favorable government regulations. For example FDAs approval to use spirulina to impart blue colour in candy in U.S. as an alternative to synthetic FD&C Blue#1. In addition to this development in food colour extraction techniques and packaging innovation is expected to further boost the growth of spirulina extracts market. Spirulina extract market growth is hampered by more cost associated with the production of natural colours in comparison to the synthetic colours. Moreover various spirulina extracts are less stable in comparison to synthetic colours as they easily change colour under the effect of light.Visit For Table of Contents:Spirulina Extracts Market: Key Players:Companies operating in the spirulina extracts market are Sensient Technologies Corporation, DDW The Color House , Chr. Hansen A/S, DIC Corporation, Other Companies operating in Spirulina extracts market are mainly launching new products to provide customised solutions to its customers. For example, Naturex S.A. offers colours made from spirulina extracts that dissolve easily in lipophilic formulations.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Energy Intelligence Solution Market Global Trends, Analysis and Forecast 2015-2025

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Energy intelligence solutions provide an intelligent way to deal with energy crisis. Energy intelligence solutions includes tools and services which collect and analyse the energy data. Energy intelligence solutions can be considered as advanced form of energy management solutions. As compared to energy management software, it provide two fold benefits; first it is not only a visualization tool for meter data but also provides intelligence to reduce energy waste. Second, it offers advanced domain knowledge to utilize collected energy data for energy management. Energy intelligence solutions provides support for open standards, measure and verify results, insights and analysis of recorded data, accessibility and portability, control and automation, an integrated platform. Energy intelligence solutions finds applications in food & beverages industry, automotive industry, metal manufacturing industry, oil & gas industry, petrochemicals, electronics & telecommunication industry and utilities etc.Request for Report Sample:Global Energy Intelligence Solution Market SegmentationGlobal energy intelligence solution market is segmented on the basis of service type, deployment model and end-user. On the basis of service type, global energy intelligence solution market is segmented into  system integration service, consulting services, support & maintenance service. Energy intelligence solutions are segmented into two ways by which it can be deployed  on-premise deployment and cloud based deployment. Energy intelligence solution provide assistance for energy saving along different industry verticals. Various end-users of energy intelligence solutions are residential buildings, offices & commercial areas, manufacturing units and others.Global Energy Intelligence Solution Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global energy intelligence solution market is divided into seven geographical regions  North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Middle East & Africa. The global energy intelligence solution market is expected to reflect a double-digit CAGR over the forecast period. At present, North America is dominating the market followed by Western Europe. Among all the regions, APEJ is expected to create huge market opportunity for major players operating in the energy intelligence solution market during the forecast period. Latin America and Middle East & Africa regions are reflecting comparatively slow growth during forecast period.Global Energy Intelligence Solution Market: DriversIncreasing energy consumption and rising need for advanced energy management solutions for residential, commercial and industrial areas are the prominent factors responsible for evolution of energy intelligence solutions. Organizations around the world are focusing on significantly reducing their energy consumption bills through efficient utilization of energy. Energy intensive applications such as power & energy, industrial manufacturing and telecommunication need to control their CO2 emissions in order to comply with existing legislations and standards. Energy intelligence solutions not only provide competitive advantage to business but also extends its responsibility towards sustainable economic development. Aforementioned are some of the factors that are expected to drive the global energy intelligence solution market growth in near future.On other hand, long period on return of investment, lack of knowledge and difficulties in handling technical issues related to energy intelligence solutions limits its full-fledged market growth.Tremendous opportunities lies in developing standardized foundation for deploying and leveraging energy intelligence solutions.Visit For Table of Contents:Global Energy Intelligence Solution Market: Key PlayersThe energy intelligence solution market is highly competitive and diversified market, characterised by active presence of many big players. EnerNOC, Inc., Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, and GridPoint, Inc are some of the major players in global energy intelligence solution market.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Global and Europe Folding Furniture Market Shares, Trends and Company Analysis by 2017- 2023 - Market Research Future

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Folding Furniture Market Overview:Market research future published a half cooked research report on global folding furniture market. The folding furniture market is expected to grow at CAGR of around 5.8% during the period 2017 to 2023.Rapid industrialization and urbanization in the emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Mexico, drive the growth of the market. Many people are shifting from rural to urban areas. Hence, the increasing population, and lack of housing structures, automatically increase the value of available limited space, where space saving furniture is the most suited option. Folding furniture is an effective alternative to traditional furniture. The multi-functionality and space saving of this type of furniture, also enhance the decor of available space. Growing demand for decorative interior and low maintenance building products, are also expected to generate growth opportunities for the market. However, the fluctuating prices of raw material, may restrict the growth of the market.Ask for Sample@Market Research Analysis:For the purpose of this study, the global folding furniture market has been segmented based on products, and applications. On the basis of product, the market has been segmented as chairs, tables, sofas, beds, and other furniture. Among products, sofa accounted for the largest market share. A sofa is the most popular product type as it enhances the decor of the living room. Foldable beds segment is expected grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Growing adoption of co-living trend in the US, and various bed designs such as murphy beds, wall beds, would raise the demand in near future.On the basis of applications, the market has been segmented as residential and non-residential. Residential sector dominates the application segment of the market and is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Increasing residential construction across the globe increases the demand of the market. Non-residential segment is the second largest application segment of the market. Non-residential application segment is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period. Folding furniture is installed in numerous sub-applications within the non-residential construction sector such as corporate offices, healthcare centers, and educational institutions. It is also installed in Cafeterias, and hotels.Access Full Report@Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the global folding furniture market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next six years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global folding furniture market by product, by application, and region.By Product Chairs Tables Sofas Beds Other FurnitureApplication Residential Non-residentialBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldKey Players: Resource Furniture (U.S.) Expand Furniture (Canada) Meco Corporation (U.S) Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. (U.S.) IKEA Systems B.V. (Sweden) Murphy Bed (U.S.) La-Z-Boy Incorporated (U.S.) Flexfurn Ltd (Belgium) Gopak Ltd (U.K.) Nilkamal Limited (India). Leggett & Platt, Inc. (U.S.) Dorel Industries Inc. (Canada)If Interested Please Ask for Discount @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email:sales@marketresearchfuture.comIndonesia Freight and Logistics Market 2018-2023: DB Schenker, DHL, Yusen Logistics, Sinotrans, Kerry Logistics network, and Ceva

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Summary:- (New Report On Indonesia Freight and Logistics Market Study-Market Trends, Analysis and Forecasts to 2023 added to Orbisresearch.com store which has 160 pages)The Indonesian freight & logistics market is expected to reach a market value of USD 383 billion by 2023. The logistics sector of Indonesia was more unregulated till 2007, since the time protectionist measures were applied. Given the importance of maritime trade, there has been a general trend to keep the sector closed to foreign players over the past decade. However, the current government has taken initiatives to open up the sector again by raising FDI ownership percentage ceilings. International freight forwarding companies can now hold a majority stake in Indonesia-based entities. However, the capital requirement for foreign players is very high, at USD 10 million, minimum, paid-up capital. Road freight forwarding is a larger market than air and sea freight forwarding in Indonesia. Among sea and air segments, sea freight forwarding segment is larger than the air freight forwarding segment.Request a Sample Report! Get PDF Sample Copy@Insights on Value-added LogisticsThe scope of value-added logistics covers services, such as contract logistics, integrated logistics services, and project logistics, along with some other areas, like value-added warehousing and distribution services. The outlook for project logistics in Indonesia is bright, given that there is an ongoing infrastructure overhaul ongoing in the country. International project logistics contracts involving foreign companies in Indonesia are more likely to be handled by international project logistics providers and partners. These make up majority of the demand and value of the project logistics market. Key industries with requirements of project logistics include oil & gas sector, manufacturing industry with constituent sub-segments, and public sector projects.Yusen Logistics announced in June 2017 that it will be strengthening and expanding its presence in the contract logistics business in Indonesia. Post the expansion at the MM 2100 industrial town (which is accessible to Jakarta and the largest sea ports and airport in Indonesia at Jakarta),Yusen now has 45,000 sq. m of warehousing space at the industrial park, the largest warehousing capacity for a logistics provider in MM 2100 establishment. In fact, Yusen is using one of its three companies in Indonesia to develop a single window for providing contract logistics services, while the other two companies are also involved in warehousing and freight forwarding.Insights on E-Commerce FulfilmentIndonesias current e-commerce market is similar to Chinas online marketplace in early stages, around a decade or so ago. E-commerce in Indonesia also mimics the early US e-market, which was flooded with customers wary of trusting online payments and retailers. Indonesia is truly unique, in that, it has the potential to create a hybrid of the widest opportunities from America and Chinas e-commerce economies, propelling the Indonesian online marketplace onto the global stage. E-commerce logistics also depends significantly on return logistics and cash logistics (specifically in Indonesia, due to lower digital finance and digital banking penetration). E-commerce fulfillment logistics has also changed the prospects for courier, express, and parcel companies. Postal companies with state backing had almost become defunct, if not for how e-commerce has reinvigorated them  given their expertise with moving small-sized and low-weight packages across the country networks they operate in.Players, such as aCommerce and 8commerce, have become key e-commerce trade enablers and are supporting multiple mid-sized e-commerce companies and startups with order fulfilment and execution. aCommerce operates fulfillment centers in Jakarta for its clients, and hence, can be a great partner for any large logistics companies that are looking to set up e-commerce fulfilment infrastructure in Indonesia. Pos Indonesia, on the other hand, is already taking shots at becoming the foremost e-commerce logistics company in Indonesia by collaborating with SingPost, a regional leader in e-commerce fulfilment and various other players. Pos Indonesia is working aggressively to upgrade e-commerce fulfillment capability, and moreover, it is also looking to IPO by 2020.Key Developments in the MarketMega Manunggal is collaborating with Daiwa House of Japan and has received investment from GIC of Singapore recently. The company currently has over 200,000 sq. m of warehousing space out for lease. Unilever is one of the companys key direct/indirect clients served by the company (through Linfox managing the facility for Unilever group). DHL is also a client of the company. Mega Manunggal has many upcoming warehouse properties planned in the pipeline. The companys fundraising activity is also connected to further expansion, as it plans to have around 500,000 sq. m of operational warehousing space for leaser by 2020. Close to 60% of the area leased out by the company is for consumption related goods/FMCG products, etc. Cold Chain warehousing is also another key area of interest- Japanese companies that specialize in cold chain logistics, such as Kawenishi Warehouse, Yusen, and Daiwa, house have all entered the market recently.Major Players: DB Schenker, DHL, Yusen Logistics, Sinotrans, Kerry Logistics network, and Ceva amongst others.To Make an Enquiry on Report@Major Point from Table of Content:1. Introduction2. Market Overview3. Market Dynamics4. Indonesia Freight & logistics Market Insights, by Mode of Freight Transport Forecast (2014  2023)5. Indonesia Freight & Logistics Market Insights, by Function Forecast (2014  2023)6. Indonesia Freight & Logistics Market Insights, by End User Forecast (2014  2023)7. Key Company Players8. Investment Outlook9. Appendix10. DisclaimerRead moreBrowse full report@About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Email ID: sales@orbisresearch.comMicro-Miniature Co-axial Adapter Market Industry Trends and Developments 2015-2025

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Micro-Miniature Coaxial Adapter Market: OverviewMicro-miniature coaxial (MMCX) adapter provides an interface between dissimilar radio frequency based components which are to be connected. These adapters prove useful while connecting unlike cables and equipment. Micro- miniature coaxial adapters are at about 50% the size of the SMB adapters, thus offering a compact solution to space critical radio frequency (RF) applications. Moreover, the micro-miniature coaxial adapters have high density and are lightweight in comparison with other adapters in the same domain. Micro-miniature coaxial connectors and adapters comply with European CECC 22000 specifications. This is handy tool to solve all interconnection problems in wireless, broadband and testing applications in RF and microwave industry.Micro-Miniature Coaxial Adapter: Market SegmentationMicro-miniature coaxial adapter market is classified on the basis of type, vertical, application area and region. On the basis of type, micro-miniature coaxial adapters can be segmented into MMCX to AMC, MMCX to MMCX, MMCX to N, MMCX to SMA, MMCX to BNC and MMCX to MCX. These adapter types can be further sub-segmented according to their gender design jack to jack, jack to plug, plug to jack and plug to plug. On the basis of vertical, the micro-miniature coaxial adapter market can be segmented into sector, healthcare sector, manufacturing sector, public sector and other. On the basis of application area, the micro-miniature coaxial adapter market can be segmented into test & measurement equipment, antenna mounts, panel transitions, radio boards and system bulkhead applications. Region wise, micro-miniature coaxial adapter marketis segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Among all the regions, APEJ is expected to create huge market opportunity for major players operating in the Micro-miniature coaxial adapter marketduring the forecast period.Request for Report Sample:Micro-Miniature Coaxial Adapter Market: DriversEver increasing popularity of smart and inter-connected devices in personal as well as professional usage is expected to be the key driver for the global micro-miniature coaxial adapter market during the forecast period. Also, further enhancement in wireless and radio frequency communication technologies will further support the micro-miniature coaxial adapter market globally.Micro-Miniature Coaxial Adapter Market: RestraintsLack of awareness across industries especially in emerging markets such as India, Africa, Brazil and Argentina, regarding adoption of micro-miniature co-axial adapter market. Emergence of regional rival companies is expected to affect the growth of micro-miniature coaxial adapter market on a global scale during the forecast period. The increasing raw material prices can be further expected to hinder the growth and cause concerns for micro-miniature coaxial adapter market.Micro-Miniature Coaxial Adapter Market: Competitive LandscapeKey players in the global micro-miniature co-axial adapter market focus on introduction of advanced product and services in order to improve their offerings and strengthen position in the market. For example Amphenol RF introduced an adapter i.e. APH-SMAJ-MMCXJ, which offers SMA jack to MMCX jack connection and a resistance of 50 ohm.Visit For Table of Contents:Micro-Miniature Coaxial Adapter Market: Key PlayersThe key players in the global micro-miniature coaxial adapter market includes Amphenol RF Asia Corp., Emerson Network Power Inc., Huber+Suhner Inc., Cinch Connectivity Solutions LTD., RF Industries LTD, Dynawave Inc., Tyco Electronics Corporation, Bomar Interconnect Products Inc. and other.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705mail: sales@futuremarketinsights.comProtein Ingredient Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Threats 2015-2025

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Proteins are polymers of amino acids joined together by peptide bonds. Proteins are the building blocks of body tissue, and can also serve as a fuel source. Proteins are constantly synthesized and degraded in living entities through metabolic processes for energy recovery and storage. Proteins play very important role in living organisms by participating in every process within cells. With the increased attention on health and body building the number of gyms and health clubs are increasing over a world. Protein ingredients are widely consumed in health and wellness food in the form of pre workout fuel, post workout replenishment. In addition, it is also used in food and beverages, pharmaceuticals and some cosmetic products.Protein Ingredient Market: SegmentationProtein ingredient market is segmented on the basis of source as animal protein and plant protein. Overall demand for plant protein is growing in market as its a cost effective solution and dose not causes any intolerance in kids. Animal protein is sub-segmented as dairy protein, egg protein and gelatin. Dairy protein ingredient account for largest market share in forecast period in animal protein market. Dairy proteins are categorized as whey and casein. Among these categories whey protein market is expected to grow during forecast period. Furthermore, plant protein is sub-segmented into soy protein, wheat protein and other (pea). Among these sub-segments soy protein ingredient is contributing highest market share in terms of value and pea protein ingredient share is expected to grow at a moderate rate during forecast period.Request for Report Sample:Protein ingredient market is segmented on basis of application such as food and beverage, animal feed, pharmaceutical and other (cosmetics and personal care). Among these segments food and beverage is expected to grow at faster rate during forecast period. Food and beverage is sub-segmented as food, beverages and supplements. The supplement sub-segment is expected to grow at healthy CAGR during forecast period. Animal feed and cosmetics and personal care products are found to be emerging segments.Protein Ingredient Market: Region-wise OutlookProtein ingredient market is segmented on the basis of region includes North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East and Africa. The protein ingredient market is expected to witness healthy CAGR by 2025 due to the rising demand for healthy and convenience food across the globe. North America contributes higher market share and expected to exhibit healthy CAGR during forecast period.Protein Ingredient Market: DriversIncreased demands for processed food and healthy food product is driving the protein ingredient market as, protein provides all essential amino acids. Growing application of protein ingredients in nutraceuticals, food and beverage, and health supplement is expected to fuel the market growth in the coming years. With the increasing number of health conscious consumers, growing number of fitness centers and health clubs, and rising demand for health supplements, energy drinks and processed foods is expected to fuel protein ingredients market. Consumers are looking for a great product with palatable taste, with high national value, so manufacture are investing on research and development of new products. For instance in 2013 PepsiCo has launched new protein rich product especially for women.Visit For Table of Contents:Protein Ingredient Market: Key PlayersThe key international players operating in Protein Ingredient Market includes Archer Daniels Midland Company, CHS Inc., Cargill, Incorporated, Arla Foods Ingredients Group P/S., Axiom Foods Inc., Kerry Group plc., Amco Proteins, and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and CompanyAbout Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705mail: sales@futuremarketinsights.comInternet of Things Market Expected to Success US$ 260 Bn by 2025

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By the year 2020, it is estimated that there will be 30 billion devices connected to the Internet. The possibilities will be truly limitless if all these connected devices such as smartphones, smart homes, smart grids, and smart vehicles could seamlessly communicate with each other. Persistence Market Research has conducted an exhaustive study on the global IoT Market in its report Internet of Things (IoT) Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2025 as the IoT Market is on the cusp of transforming society and industry. The IoT market is expected to witness an exponential CAGR of 21.5% during the eight-year study period and be valued at just over US$ 260 Bn by the year 2025.Region  North America and APAC Critical in the IoT MarketNorth America is the largest region in the IoT market and is a market opportunity approaching US$ 100 Bn by the end of the forecast period. However, APAC accounts for a slightly higher CAGR and key stakeholders in the IoT market would do well to take this into consideration while devising their investment strategies.Report Overview @Component  Data Transport and Platforms the Future in the IoT MarketThe IoT Analytics and IoT Sensor segments are estimated to hold the maximum share of the IoT market by component in 2017. Nonetheless, IoT Data Transport and IoT Platform are widely considered to be the future of the IoT market as both are poised to grow by a CAGR in excess of 25%, making them critical in the long term.Application  Smart Grids and Wearable Computing Extremely Attractive in the IoT marketThe Smart Grid and Wearable Computing Devices application segments have a market attractiveness index of 5 and 4.6 respectively and companies would be highly recommended to focus on these two in the IoT market. Wearable computing in particular is anticipated to become critical as continuous innovations bring this technology to the forefront of public consciousness and make it mainstream.Request for Table of Contents @Industry  Energy and Utility and Government Primary Target in the IoT MarketEnergy and Utility and the Government are sectors that should gain the most from the IoT market in the form of smart grids and smart cities respectively. Even Manufacturing is likely to benefit from the impending IoT market boom and will grow to nearly US$ 90 Bn by the end of the study period.Competition Dashboard in the Global IoT MarketPersistence Market Research has profiled some of the most prominent companies active in the global IoT market. The companies featured in the report include IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, AT&T, Apple, Google, General Electric, Samsung Electronics Co., Comcast Corporation, Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, Oracle Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fujitsu Limited, Qualcomm Technologies, Honeywell International, Accenture PLC, ARM Limited, Amazon Web Services, SAP SE, Zebra Technologies, and Texas Instruments.Key Insights in the IoT MarketIoT can be effectively deployed across industries making the potential of the IoT market unlimited. The U.S military deploys IoT technology to assist their combat troops in warfare; retail stores allow customers to alter shopping lists in real time and also enable the linking of retail apps with physical stores. Electricity suppliers and travel agents have installed smart sensors to detect downtimes and transportation routes respectively. The food industry uses sensors to inform the system about the optimum temperature to keep food fresh. The IoT market has a bright future ahead of it.Get Sample Copy of this Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comPolyfilm Market insights into new challenges 2025

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Global Polyfilm Market: OverviewPolyfilms have become an integral part of our daily lives. They are eco-friendly and can be safely used for food packaging. Due to their flexible nature, these films find application in many end-use industries.On the basis of Resin type, the market can be segmented into low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), High-density polyethylene (HDPE), biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BoPP), biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BoPET), and biaxially oriented nylon film (BoPA)Request Sample Copy of the Report @The report presents a comprehensive overview of the various factors contributing to the expansion of the global polyfilm market. It also presents insights into challenges that the market could face over the forecast period. The prevailing trends in overall market operations are also studied in the report in detail.Global Polyfilm Market: Key TrendsThere are a few factors that are giving impetus to the market growth. They include technological developments in agriculture, rising demand for BoPET films, and increased usage of bio-based polymers. On the other hand, several European countries have stringent government and environmental regulations, limiting the growth of the polyfilm market.In terms of end-use industry, the packaging and agriculture segment is anticipated to witness substantial growth. The increase in population has given a boost to the food packaging industry, thereby raising the demand for polyfilms. Due to their environment-friendly characteristics and long shelf life, polyfilms have an edge over other films in the market. Plus, the improving retail sector is pushing the demand for polyfilms. Besides this, the increasing usage of greenhouse films for increased crop yield is leading to a rise in the demand for polyfilms in the agriculture segment of the market. Polyfilms are also being widely used across beauty and personal care, food and beverages, tobacco, and hygiene industries.Based on resin type, LLDPE is a key market segment. High mechanical strength, transparency, improved sealing property, glossy appearance, and low production cost are a few of the properties augmenting the demand for LLDPE. LLDPE also performs well when blended with other resins.Request TOC of the Report @Global Polyfilm Market: Regional OverviewFrom a geographical standpoint, the global market for polyfilms can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific accounts for a large share in the polyfilm market in terms of volume, owing to the fact that a majority of the polyfilm manufacturers are based in India.China is another promising market for polyfilms in the Asia Pacific region. Companies are spending significant amounts in setting up manufacturing units in this country. Few factors such as increased health awareness, changing lifestyle, and long shelf life of the film is driving the growth of the market. Environment-friendly bio-based polyfilms are also quite popular in China; however due to their high cost, they are losing out to other cheaper alternatives available in the market.Global Polyfilm Market: Key MarketsThe report profiles some of the prominent competitors operating in the market. It also provides insights into the threats and opportunities that the companies are expected to witness in the coming years. The players in the global polyfilm market include Max Speciality Films, Formosa Plastics Corporation, Chiripal Polyfilm, Cosmo Films, Polyplex Corporation, Uflex Limited, Taghleef Industries, Vacmet India Pvt Limited, Garware Polyester, Jindal Polyfilm, and SRF Limited.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comGlobal Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Research Report 2018 : MAN Diesel & Turbo, ENER-G Rudox, Caterpillar,Yanmar,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) market status and forecast, categorizes the global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in United States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and other regions.The global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportABBMAN Diesel & TurboENER-G RudoxCaterpillarYanmarSiemensMitsubishiGeneral ElectricKawasakiBosch ThermotechnologyTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Viessmann WerkeFuelCell EnergyMWMCumminsVeoliaBDR ThermeaCENTRAX Gas TurbinesWartsila2G EnergyAegis EnergyGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanOther RegionsThe 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 intoBy FuelNatural GasCoalBiomassBy TechnologyCombined CycleSteam TurbineGas TurbineReciprocating EngineOn 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, includingResidentialCommercialIndustrialThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Combined Heat and Power (CHP) 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.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersCombined Heat and Power (CHP) ManufacturersCombined Heat and Power (CHP) Distributors/Traders/WholesalersCombined Heat and Power (CHP) Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsTable of ContentsGlobal Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Research Report 20181 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Combined Heat and Power (CHP)1.2 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Segment By Fuel1.2.1 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Production and CAGR (%) Comparison By Fuel (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Production Market Share By Fuel (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Natural Gas1.2.4 Coal1.2.5 Biomass1.3 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Segment By Technology1.3.1 Combined Cycle1.3.2 Steam Turbine1.3.3 Gas Turbine1.3.4 Reciprocating Engine1.4 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Segment by Application1.4.1 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.4.2 Residential1.4.3 Commercial1.4.4 Industrial1.5 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market by Region (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.5.2 United States Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.6 Global Market Size (Value) of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) (2013-2025)1.6.1 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.6.2 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @2 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @Important Safety Measures for Box Trailers

http://bmtrailers.com.au/

Road safety is maybe the most important thing while driving a vehicle with a box trailer attached. Many traffic accidents are made because of driver's poor towing experience. It is necessary some safety measures to be taken for towing your trailer safely.Regardless if a trailer is used for business or private reasons, it is crucial to take care of its proper loading, towing and maintenance. This will allow the box trailer to work in its perfect order.The most important thing to keep in mind is the trailer towing capacity. It's something that should not be exceeded. Remember that every trailer has a maximum weight that it can bear. Any weight overcoming can lead to accidents because of damaged mechanisms or other components. Recommended towing weight is 85% of the limit. Don't forget to include the weight of the passengers, load and the trailer itself. If the total weight is higher, it's more difficult to stop the vehicle which tows a trailer. An interesting fact is that trailers don't have a specific speed limit. However, watch out the speed constantly when you drive along the road and keep a greater distance between you and the vehicles in front of you.Another important aspect that affects the vehicle handling is the proper load weight distribution. When loading your box trailer, put the heaviest items in the centre. Like so, the load will be evenly distributed. Find the optimal load weight: a smaller load can cause a lack of balance of the trailer; otherwise, too much load can overload the towing suspension of the vehicle.Brakes are important too. Check if they are working properly. The lights should be synchronized with the brakes. It's wise to replace the brake fluid once in a year in order to minimize the brake corrosion. Even better, replace them completely. If your trailer is used to carry heavier load  install electronic brakes. You can invest more in your trailer by getting a brake controller.To increase the lifetime of the tyres, they have to be maintained accurately. Make sure to provide enough space around the sides in order to avoid tyre rubbing on the frame. You can save yourself money and energy by securing the proper tyre air pressure.Other important safety measures for box trailers:- Respect the rules and conditions of the road- Do not drive if you are tired or sleepy- Do not drive if you consumed alcohol or drugs.It is important to take care of your box trailer. If you don't know how, call a trailer expert who will help you gladly.At BM Trailers, we offer a comprehensive range of lightweight and durable Sydney trailers that will carry your goods safe and easy. Our dedicated and experienced management team of professionals is trained out to build trailers focused on the needs and wants of the consumers. At BM Trailers, we are focused on being the best rather than being the prime, trailer company in NSW. We stay focused on our clients; react quickly to industry changes, deliver custom-made, strong-driven, and affordably-priced trailers. No matter what the customers need we currently offer; wide enclosed trailers, box trailers, canvas trailers, bike trailers and off road trailers. Our rigorous internal values as well as certification assure you of a durable, long-lasting, great investment.We do understand customers requirements that need box trailers to take their luggage, goods and things that make touring so much more safe, easy and enjoyable. We have offered so many different models and designs to suite all domestic and trade purposes. Our Sydney trailers are preferred for cutting edge innovation, reliable and safe, with smooth performance. From design to testing and support, we partner with the Australian Navy, NSW fire brigade, St John Ambulance, NRMA , Canberra Prison and many of Sydney's Councils and other government bodies to solve specific challenges with targeted products. Were prepared to propel your company into an ever-expanding age of lighter, more fuel-efficient, automotive robust design.BM Trailers has been supplying box trailers for sale with high performance and superior durability to our commercial as well as residential customers. Please visit our entire website and contact our head office or a dealer near you for more information.BM TrailersA| 57 Planthurst Rd, Carlton, Sydney, NSW, 2218, AustraliaT|+61 2 9546 6763F| +61 2 9546 6827E| info@bmtrailers.com.auWorld lime market to reach USD 30 billion by 2023

https://www.cwgrp.com/research/research-products/product/273-global-quicklime,-slaked-lime-and-hydraulic-lime-market-report-forecast-to-2023

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Between 2018 and 2023, total lime production is expected to top 380 million tons, according to CW Researchs 2018 update of the Global Quicklime, Slaked Lime and Hydraulic Lime Market Report.Value-wise, the global lime market is projected to reach USD 30 billion over the same period, half of which will likely be accounted for by China. As the worlds largest lime producer, Chinas lowering production levels have led to a modest increase in ex-works pricing, which impacted the current market size of the Chinese lime industry.The nation-wide scale back of industrial capacity extended to the lime industry in China. Moreover, lime-intensive industries in the country are trying to align themselves with the lime usage ratios of Western industries, observes Raluca Cercel, Associate with CW Research.In terms of production by type, historically, three-quarters of the total lime output are sold as quicklime. This segmentation trend is likely to subsist in the following years, with many quicklime buyers slaking the commodity individually for construction purposes, particularly in developing countries. Nevertheless, hydrating the lime is a more complicated process than slaking, hence manufacturers produce hydrating lime in-house and then sell it to various end-user segments.STEEL SECTOR SLOWDOWN TO DAMPEN QUICKLIME DEMANDEstimated at over 394 million tons, total lime consumption has slightly decreased compared to 2017. Regionally, China tops the list of lime-consuming markets, boosting a three-digit consumption figure. The country is followed at a long distance by Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia ex-China, and Africa, all of which fall below the 60kg per capita mark.According to CW Research, all of lime end-user segments, such as steel, civil construction, aluminum, FGD, agriculture, road construction, paper and pulp, sugar cane, metallurgy and ore, and oil, will expand over the next five years, diverging according to the region. In Asia, lime consumption growth will be driven by paper and pulp, aluminum and FGD applications, whereas in developing regions such as Africa and the Middle East, which are still developing their industrial sectors, the steel industry, FGD, metallurgy and ore, and the oil sector are leading the way.The expected slowdown in the Chinese steel industry, traditionally a major driver for lime consumption, is projected to negatively affect quicklime demand  in turn forecasted to record a modest contraction between 2018 and 2023.****For more information, placing an order, or interview inquiries, please contact Liviu Dinu, Market Services & Marketing Consultant, CW Group, by phone at +40-744-67-44-11, or e-mail at ld@cwgrp.com.ABOUT THE REPORTCW Researchs Global Quicklime, Slaked Lime and Hydraulic Lime Market Report provides an in-depth assessment and outlook for the quicklime, slaked lime and hydraulic lime world market through 2023.The report provides detailed market sizing in a highly quantitative and data-rich format to provide reliable and accurate decision support. Key areas such as demand by industry end-user segments, product price dynamics and competitive landscape for major lime markets and worldwide industry are extensively covered.Divided into regional demand (USD and in tons) as well as product segments, the report provides a strategic perspective on the evolution and outlook for the industry, including steel, construction, paper & pulp, mining & minerals, agriculture, petrochemical applications, precipitated carbonate and others.More information about the report can be found here:ABOUT CW GROUPThe Greenwich (Conn.), USA-headquartered CW Group is a leading advisory, research and business intelligence boutique with a global presence and a multi-industry orientation. CW Group is particularly recognized for its sector expertise in heavy-side building materials (cement), light-side building materials, traditional and renewable power & energy, petrochemicals, metals & mining, industrial minerals, industrial manufacturing, bulk cargo & shipping, among others. We have a strong functional capability, grounded in our methodical and quantitative philosophy, including due diligence, sourcing intelligence, feasibility studies and commodity forecasting.CW GroupPO Box 5263, Greenwich, CT 06831, USALiviu Dinu (inquiries@cwgrp.com)Acute Myeloid Leukemia Pipeline Drugs Assessment: Clinical Trails Analysis, Player Profiles, Collaborations, Key Targets, Geographic Focus, and Data Publications, 2018

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Pipeline Drugs

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/acute-myeloid-leukemia-pipeline-drugs-assessment/#ulp-4H8Z4LpNMLEuOnnx

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https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/acute-myeloid-leukemia-pipeline-drugs-assessment/

https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Pipeline Drugs Assessment Overview:Acute myeloid leukemia is a type of blood cancer, affects white blood cells. It enables progress rapidly, requires immediate treatment. Acute myeloid leukemia symptoms develop over a few weeks and become increasingly more severe. Symptoms may include tiredness, pale skin, breathlessness and unusual & frequent bleeding.If symptoms are persisted, diagnostic tests may include blood tests, bone marrow test, lumbar puncture and sometimes genomic testing may be suggested. There is no specific cure available for acute myeloid leukemia. But it is treated by the combination of therapies that include chemotherapeutic agents, stem cell transplantation, radiation therapy and targeted therapy.A sample of this report is available upon request @Segmentation:Acute myeloid leukemia pipeline drugs are segmented based on route of administration, trial phase, and companyBy Route of Administration, acute myeloid leukemia pipeline drugs are segmented into Oral Parenteral OthersBy Trial Phase, Acute Myeloid Leukemia pipeline drugs are segmented into Pre-clinical phase Phase-I Phase II Phase-IIIBy Company, Acute Myeloid Leukemia pipeline drugs are segmented into Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (U.S.) Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (U.S.) Novartis AG (Switzerland) H. BoehringerSohn AG &Ko. KG (Germany)To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Space Analysis:Many of the drugs and treatments are being developed under the clinical trials for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Companies are looking for the most effective chemotherapy drugs while still avoiding the side effects. Some of the chemotherapeutics drugs under clinical trials include sapacitabine, tipifarnib and bortezomib. Furthermore, immunotherapies and stem cell therapies also effectively studying by the researchers to treat the acute myeloid leukemia. In addition, targeted therapy class of drugs such as FLT3 Inhibitors, Histone deacetylase inhibitors, and aurora kinase inhibitors are the promising for the treatment of acute leukemia. In October 2017, U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted fast-track designation for development of gilteritinib for adult patients with FLT3 mutation positive relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia.Report Description:Acute Myeloid Leukemia Pipeline Drugs Assessment report studies the various therapeutics under clinical development for uterine fibroids treatment along with targets for various drug candidate. The report provides plethora of information pertaining to trail phases, companies involved in the uterine fibroids pipeline drugs development. This report studies the dynamics of the Acute Myeloid Leukemia Pipeline Drugs i.e. drivers, challenges, and opportunities which are significantly impacting the product development. The report provides various information pertaining the clinical trials such as designation, grants, patents, and technology among others. Moreover, the report on uterine fibroids pipeline drugs assessment comprehensively presents the geographic location, trial status information along with key players involved in the therapeutics development.Need more information about this report @Key Features of the Report: Provides the information related to universities and research institutes working in the therapeutics development Report comprehensively covers the all active and discontinued studies Studies the entire pipeline with special emphasis on companies actively involved in the therapeutics development Presents the prominent targets for drug development in each stage of clinical trial Provides the in-depth analysis of each drug candidates in the clinical trial phasesGet access to full summary @About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152  160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free (US): +1-866-598-1553Website @3rd Edition of International Conference on Agriculture and Food Chemistry

Food Chemistry 2018

https://foodchemistry.euroscicon.com/

EuroSciCon invites all the participants from all over the world interested in Conference on Agriculture and Horticulture to attend 3rd Edition of International Conference on Agriculture & Food Chemistry. Food Science Meetings will be held during July 23-24, 2018 at Rome, Italy. Food Technology Congress includes prompt Keynote presentations, Oral talks, Poster presentations, Workshops and Exhibitions. Agri and Food Conferences is a global overview with the Theme "Current advancements and its applications in Agriculture & Food Chemistry" which brings together persons particularly interested in the chemistry of agricultural and food products.Conference Highlights of World Leading Food Chemistry Conferences would be Agriculture, food chemistry, horticulture, agriculture engineering, agriculture water-soil engineering, agronomy, soil science, genetically modified food, green revolution, agri and food biotechnology, biofertilizers, environmental chemistry, plant physiology, low carbon agriculture, dairy products, crop science, food bioactive, probiotic food, food engineering, foodomics, food engineering, food processing, food safety, food grading, food forensics, food packaging, food materials, food products, natural resources, agri-chemicals, quality analysis and detection in agriculture and food materials, market standards and regulation in agriculture and food, aquaculture, fisheries, aquaponics, pisciculture, veterinary science.Target Audience for Food Chemistry Meetings not only includes chemists, but also biochemists, biologists, agronomists, plant physiologists, molecular biologists, agricultural engineers, chemical engineers, material scientists and food scientists. Technical focus is on agriculture, renewable resources, food composition, food quality, food processing, nutrition, biochemistry, food safety, food flavor, biotechnology, natural products, pharmaceuticals, green products, chemical raw materials and feedstocks, bioenergy, and sustainability.For more details on food chemistry conference:Email: foodchemistry@eurosciconconferences.comEuroSciCon, founded in 2001 is a UK based independent life science Events Company with predominantly business and academic client base. The key strategic objective of EuroSciCon is to communicate science and medical research between academia, clinical practice and the pharmaceutical industry. Most of its events are in Europe and London or live streamed. EuroSciCon expanded its operations to international in association with Meetings International, Singapore. All major meetings of EuroSciCon and Meetings International are accredited with Continued Professional Education (CPD), Continued Education (CE), Continued Medical Education (CME) Credits.EuroSciCon Ltd40 Bloomsbury WayLower Ground FloorLondon, United KingdomWC1A 2SE.Healthcare Barcode Technology Market Assessment  Latest Global Insights on Trends and Challenges

Healthcare Barcode Technology Market

https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1148408-global-healthcare-barcode-technology-market-2

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A new business intelligence report released by HTF MI with title Global Healthcare Barcode Technology Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 that targets and provides comprehensive market analysis with future prospects to 2023. The analysts of the study have garnered extensive research methodologies and data sources (i.e Secondary & Primary Sources) in order to generate collective and useful information that delivers latest market undercurrents and industry trends.Request Sample Report @:If you are involved in the Global Healthcare Barcode Technologyindustry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. Its vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by major players. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.Competition Analysis:Some of key competitors or manufacturers included in the study are Zebra Technologies, Honeywell International, Datalogic, Bluebird Inc, Godex International, Code Corporation, Toshiba Tech Corporation, SATO Worldwide, JADAK Tech, Axicon Auto ID, Microscan System, Unitech Electronics & OpticonMarket Analysis by Types: Barcode Printers, Barcode Verifiers, Barcode Scanners & OtherEarly buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Market Analysis by Applications: Clinical Applications & Non-Clinical ApplicationsMarket Analysis by Geographies:This report is segmented into key Regions United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia with Production Development, Sales, and Regional Trade & Forecast.Stay up-to-date with Global Healthcare Barcode Technologymarket research offered by HTF MI. Check how key trends and emerging drivers are shaping this industry growth as the study avails you with market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, shares, trend and strategies for this market. In the Healthcare Barcode TechnologyMarket Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023. The production is estimated at XX million in 2017 and is forecasted to reach XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023.Enquire for customization in Report @Some of the Points cover in Global Global Healthcare Barcode Technology Market Research Report is:Chapter 1: Overview of Global Healthcare Barcode Technology Market (2013-2025) Definition Specifications Classification Applications RegionsChapter 2: Market Competition by Players/Suppliers 2013 and 2018 Manufacturing Cost Structure Raw Material and Suppliers Manufacturing Process Industry Chain StructureChapter 3: Sales (Volume) and Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018) Sales Revenue and market shareChapter 4, 5 and 6: Global Healthcare Barcode Technology Market by Type, Application & Players/Suppliers Profiles (2013-2018) Market Share by Type & Application Growth Rate by Type & Application Drivers and Opportunities Company Basic InformationChapter 7, 8 and 9: Global Healthcare Barcode Technology Manufacturing Cost, Sourcing & Marketing Strategy Analysis Key Raw Materials Analysis Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing Marketing ChannelChapter 10 and 11: Healthcare Barcode Technology Market Effect Factors Analysis and Market Size (Value and Volume) Forecast (2018-2025) Technology Progress/Risk Sales Volume, Revenue Forecast (by Type, Application & Region)Chapter 12, 13, 14 and 15: Global Global Healthcare Barcode Technology Market Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source Methodology/Research Approach Data Source (Secondary Sources & Primary Sources) Market Size EstimationSome of the key questions answered in this report: Detailed Overview of Global Healthcare Barcode Technology market will help deliver clients and businesses making strategies. Influencing factors that thriving demand and latest trend running in the market What is the market concentration? Is it fragmented or highly concentrated? What trends, challenges and barriers will impact the development and sizing of Global Healthcare Barcode Technology market SWOT Analysis of each defined key players along with its profile and Porters five forces tool mechanism to compliment the same. What growth momentum or acceleration market carries during the forecast period? Which region may tap highest market share in coming era? Which application/end-user category or Product Type [Barcode Printers, Barcode Verifiers, Barcode Scanners & Other] may seek incremental growth prospects? What would be the market share of key countries like United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia etc.? What focused approach and constraints are holding the Global Healthcare Barcode Technology market tight?Buy this research report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.About Author :HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact US :Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.comFuture of Automotive LED Module Size 2023  OSRAM, Nichia, Valeo, KOITO, Stanley Electric

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MarketStudyReport.com Published Global Automotive LED Module Market 2018 Research Report - Forecast to 2023 - Market Investment Analysis, Business Operation Data, Top Companys, Opportunity, Features, Development & Trends, Region, Industry Chain, Technology, Research Methodology and Forecast up to 2023.Global automotive LED module market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% by 2023, according to a new report published by Gen Consulting Company. The report segments the market and forecasts its size, by volume and value, on the basis of application (passengers cars, commercial vehicles, etc.), and by geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, MEA and South America).The report covers forecast and analysis for the automotive LED module market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2013-2017 along with a forecast from 2018 to 2023 based on both output/volume and revenue. The study then describes the drivers and restraints for the automotive LED module market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the automotive LED module market on a global level.The report has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the global automotive LED module market collected from specialized sources. The competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. Company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, new project launched, recent development analysis are the parameters included in the profile.Get Sample Copy of this Report:SLGlobal Automotive LED Module Market is a detailed report, which presents a combination of industry knowledge and research expertise based on regions too. This report delivers the market trends along with the market size for every individual sector. The report commences with the Automotive LED Module markets overview and provides detailed information on the historical data pertaining to the market coupled with information about the present scenario. Additionally, the report incorporates the various drivers as well the factors impeding the growth of this market during the forecast period. The report, provides the opportunities in the market and their substantial impact on the major players dominating the market.The following part of the report elaborates the detailed segmentation of the Automotive LED Module market. Valuable data and information related to the key segments along with their sub-segmentation have been established via this market research report. Size along with the revenue share coupled with insightful forecasts for the major segments and the other significant sub-segments have been detailed via this report. The trends affecting the Automotive LED Module market in developing regional sectors have additionally been elaborated in this study. The current findings and recommendations the analysts suggest for the future growth of the Automotive LED Module market have also been evaluated in this report. The key industry players that have contributed to the Automotive LED Module market have also been detailed in this report.The report has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the global Automotive LED Module system market collected from specialized sources. The competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. Company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, new project launched, recent development analysis are the parameters included in the profile.The study provides a decisive view on the Automotive LED Module system market by segmenting the market based on applications. All the application segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated fromEnquire For Discount on Automotive LED Module Market Research Report @Demand for this market rises from the passengers cars, commercial vehicles, and other applications. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2018 to 2023. Relevantly, the report and company profiles specify the key drivers that are impacting the demand in global automotive LED module market.Key Applications- Passengers Cars- Commercial VehiclesKey Regions- North America- Europe- Asia Pacific- Middle East and Africa- South AmericaKey Vendors- OSRAM- Nichia- Valeo- KOITO- Stanley Electric- HELLA- Magneti Marelli- Varroc- TYC Brother Industrial- Visteon Corp.- Changzhou Xingyu- SL Corporation- Samsung- request free sample to get a complete list of companiesFor More Info on Market Research @Part 1. Exclusive SummaryPart 2. Methodology2.1 Research Methodology2.2 Geographic Scope2.3 Years ConsideredPart 3. Introduction3.1 General Information3.2 Fields of Application3.3 Manufacturing Process3.4 Raw Materials3.5 Cost AnalysisPart 4. Competitive Landscape4.1 Global Automotive LED Module Market, by Volume 2013-20184.1.1 Overview4.1.2 Global Automotive LED Module Market, by Volume, by Company4.1.3 Top 3 Companies by Volume Share4.2 Global Automotive LED Module Market, by Revenue 2013-20184.2.1 Overview4.2.2 Global Automotive LED Module Market, by Revenue, by Company4.2.3 Top 3 Companies by Revenue SharePart 5. Market Dynamics5.1 Market Drivers5.2 Challenges5.3 Market TrendsPart 6. Segmentation by Application6.1 Overview6.2 Global Automotive LED Module Market by Application (Volume)6.3 Global Automotive LED Module Market by Application (Revenue)Part 7. Supply by Region7.1 Global Automotive LED Module Volume by Region7.1.1 North America7.1.2 Europe7.1.3 Asia-Pacific7.1.4 Middle East and Africa7.1.5 South America7.2 Global Automotive LED Module Revenue by Region7.2.1 North America7.2.2 Europe7.2.3 Asia-Pacific7.2.4 Middle East and Africa7.2.5 South AmericaPart 8. Consumption Pattern8.1 North America8.1.1 Overview8.1.2 by Application8.1.3 by Country (U.S., Canada, etc.)8.2 Europe8.2.1 Overview8.2.2 by Application8.2.3 by country (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, etc.)8.3 Asia-Pacific8.3.1 Overview8.3.2 by Application8.3.3 by Country (China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, etc.)8.4 Middle East and Africa8.4.1 Overview8.4.2 by Application8.4.3 by Country (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, UAE, etc.)8.5 South America8.5.1 Overview8.5.2 by Application8.5.3 by Country (Brazil, Argentina, etc.)Part 9. Automotive LED Module Market Forecast9.1 Global Automotive LED Module Market Size 2018-20239.2 Global Automotive LED Module Supply by Region 2018-20239.2.1 North America9.2.2 Europe9.2.3 Asia-Pacific9.2.4 Middle East and Africa9.2.5 South America9.3 Global Automotive LED Module Consumption 2018-20239.4 Global Automotive LED Module Market by Application 2018-2023Part 10. Key Vendors10.1 Company Profiles10.2 Market Share10.3 FinancialsPart 11. Industry Activity11.1 M&As, JVs and Partnership11.2 Other DevelopmentsPart 12. Appendix12.1 Abbreviations12.2 DisclaimerRelated Reports: -Global and Chinese Automotive ADAS Industry, 2018 Market Research ReportThe 'Global and Chinese Automotive ADAS Industry, 2013-2023 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Automotive ADAS industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistic...Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 110375USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:Industry News: news.marketsizeforecasters.comConnect with us:Google+ | LinkedIn | TwitterWMK Projects: The Leading Property Developer in Cape Town

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Situated in Cape Town, WMK Projects is a popular name in the building and civil industry. Functioning since 1999, this company has almost 18 years of experience in developing and renovating commercial and residential properties. They offer valuable business solutions to small and large enterprises.Since, the past 18 years they have successfully covered a significant number of projects. They are continually trying to improve their quality and service delivery to meet the expectations of customers. Their dedicated and creative team is working hard to develop different approaches and methods to serve the specific requirements of their clients. WMK Projects have developed more than 400 projects, including office blocks and multi-storey homes. The reasons for their ever-growing popularity are discussed below:WMK Projects believe in their quality assured serviceThey offer quality service delivery at a very competitive price.They provide an excellent customer care service with 24/7 availabilityWMK projects offer excellent and trustworthy equipment and transport facilities.The services offered by WMK Projects are illustrated below:Residential property developers:WMK Projects are a reputed residential property developer in Cape Town. They have completed several projects successfully. They have also worked on many residential projects, developing them from scratch. Their sole aim is to provide comfort and convenience to their clients. They hire only skilled and professional builders to strengthen and toughen the foundation of your house. The services offered in the residential areas are discussed below:Building from Scratch: WMK Projects offers the service of replacing your old building into a new and stylish one.Renovations: They renovate all the parts of the residential area including your kitchen and living roomsTurnkey Units: They also provide a Turnkey approach for refurbishing your residential zone. This service is especially applicable for large scale projects.Some of their successful residential projects include, Holmes House, Gilmore House, and Amble Way etc.Commercial Property Developers:WMK Projects is a popular commercial property developer. They provide services to the following areas:Internal Fit-Outs: They have highly trained and skilled professionals who are experts in solving the problems related to plumbing and electrical supply.White Box Fit-Outs: This service basically includes the works related to ceilings, main walls, concrete floors, basic electrical wiring, etc.Renovations: WMK Projects specialises in renovating all types of commercial spaces.For any further details please contactAboutWMK Projects is a reputed name in the building and civil industry. Situated in Cape Town, this company offers commercial and residential property developing services at affordable prices.Contact Info:PO Box 60751, Table View, 7439Cape Town, South AfricaTel: +27 (0) 21 553 4304Fax: 086 661 0694Cell: 078 650 4576Email: info@wmkprojects.co.zaSmart Washing Machine Market Analysis 2018  2025: Hitachi, Bosch, Panasonic, Electrolux, Fisher&Paykel, Toshiba

Smart Washing Machine Market

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Market Expertz recently broadcasted a new study in its database that highlights the in-depth market analysis with future prospects of Smart Washing Machine Market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, industry executives and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges.The Study in this Global Smart Washing Machine market includes are LG, Whirlpool, Samsung, GE Appliances, Hitachi, Bosch, Panasonic, Electrolux, Fisher&Paykel, Toshiba, Haier, Little Swan (Midea), Whirlpool China, Midea, Qishuai.Download Free Sample Brochure of Smart Washing Machine Market spread across 119 pages, profiling 15 companies and supported with tables and figures is now available at @The latest market intelligence study on the Smart Washing Machine market applies the best of both primary and secondary research techniques to bring to light the growth rate of the Smart Washing Machine market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025. The comprehensive study covers hard to find facts about the market landscape as well as its growth prospects in the years to come. Most importantly, the research report includes vital statistics about the major vendors occupying a strong foothold in this industry. Besides this, in order to calculate the market share, the study takes a closer look at the selling price of the product across different regions.In market segmentation by types of Smart Washing Machine, the report covers- Front Loader Smart Washing Machine Inclined Loader Smart Washing Machine Top Loader Smart Washing MachineIn market segmentation by applications of the Smart Washing Machine, the report covers the following uses- Home Use Offices Hotels Other placesPurchase Smart Washing Machine Market Research Report@The researcher assessing the Smart Washing Machine Market dive deep to unearth intangible facts related to the key restraints, opportunities, and threats expected to shape the progress of the industry during the forecast period, 2018 - 2025. Significant evaluation of other factors such as demand and supply status, import and export, distribution channel, consumption volume, and production capability play a vital role in offering business owners, stakeholders and field marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the same space.Key Table of Contents9 Global Smart Washing Machine Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 LG9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Smart Washing Machine Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 LG Smart Washing Machine Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Whirlpool9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Smart Washing Machine Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 Whirlpool Smart Washing Machine Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)ContinueSmart Washing Machine Market spread across 119 pages; profiling 15 companies click here to discount of this Report @The research provides answers to the following key questions:What will be the growth rate of the Smart Washing Machine Market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025? What will be the market size for the estimated period?What are the prominent factors driving the Smart Washing Machine Market across different regions?Who are the major vendors dominating the Smart Washing Machine industry and what are their winning strategies?What are the major trends shaping the development of the industry in the coming years?What are challenges faced by the Smart Washing Machine Market?What are potential opportunities for the industry for the forecast period, 2028 - 2025?About MarketExpertzPlanning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.Our in-house research specialists exhibit immense knowledge of not only the publisher but also the types of market intelligence studies in their respective business verticals.Contact Us-40 Wall St. 28th floor New York City,NY 10005 United Statessales@marketexpertz.com+1-800-819-3052Field Network Test Equipment Market Regional Analysis by 2021

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Field network test equipment are used to determine the signal strength, transmit and receive signal power, timeslot and many other network related details. Field network test equipment find application at the time of deployment or new implementation of a communication technology or service. Some of the major application areas of field network test equipment include data communication, optical fiber communication, mobile broadband services, cable testing and transport. In which commonly used field network test equipment are optical time domain reflectometers (OTDR), power meters, network analyzers and FTTx-oriented tools. OTDR and power meters are generally used for optical testing, i.e., for testing integrity of the fiber optic cables and at the time of setting up the fiber systems. Network analyzers are used in mobile broadband services for identifying network failures and improving service quality, whereas, FTTx-oriented tools are used in broadband networks for analyzing twisted pair cable.Read Report Overview @Due to rapid growth of mobile connectivity and the high growth in use of internet, the market for field network test equipment is expected to grow significantly during the coming years. With technologies such as 4G/LTE being increasingly implemented in mobile telephony, the field network test equipment are widely adopted as the complexity of network deployment grows. The detection of signal and bandwidth is important to offer seamless signal connectivity to the subscribers. Further, the integration of the services such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP), Internet protocol television (IPTV) and video on demand (VOD) into the television, the field network test equipment are experiencing enlargement in their array of application.Also, the increasing data traffic and demand for higher bandwidth from Internet users through broadband services, Wi-Fi and mobile data services, the field network test equipments market is experiencing significant growth. Field network test equipment manufacturers are increasingly focusing on offering more versatile, accurate, compact, flexible and portable equipment that are integrated with multiple features.The rapidly growing LTE network infrastructure in Asia Pacific is anticipated to drive the growth of field network test equipment in the region.Request Report for TOC @A key challenge impacting the field test equipment market is price sensitivity. The continuous developments in the field of communication are impelling the field test equipment manufacturers to upgrade their current product or launch new product regularly. This is a challenge for the manufacturers since it impacts the production and increases the investment required in research and development. Higher investments decrease the profit margin, especially since the manufactures often have to compete on the basis of pricing. .The opportunity in the field network test equipment market lies in providing inter-equipment compatibility. This compatibility will enable the testing equipment operators to use the same testing equipment over multiple applications. Key players in field network test equipment market are focusing on partnerships in order to enhance their competitive positioning.Request to Sample Report @Some of the key manufacturers for field network test equipment are Keysight Technologies, Pennwell Corporation, EXFO, Inc., Fluke Corporation, IDEAL INDUSTRIES, INC., ANRITSU, Ixia, Spirent Communications, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Trilithic, Inc., Deviser Instruments, Inc., Acta Ltd., b2 electronic GmbH, TESSCO Technologies and ROHDE&SCHWARZ .About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Webrtc Market Key Trend Analysis by 2021

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Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) is an internet browser interface which enables real-time communication between two internet browsers. WebRTC enables peer to peer audio, video and data communication between the browsers without plugins. This key functionality of WebRTC not only reduces the time required but also makes the process easy for a non-technical user since WebRTC requires no plugins, frameworks or applications. The browsers use Session Description Protocol (SDP) to establish a connection for data transfer. WebRTC is using JavaScript Application Programming Interface (APIs) and HTML5 for embedded communication within the browsers. However, WebRTC is an emerging platform that is anticipated to have significant impact on the communication between browsers in near future.Read Report Overview @WebRTC is available for free and is accessible worldwide which is the key growth driver of this market. Moreover, WebRTC is platform and device independent which would help to attract global audience. Further, it provides better video and voice quality with advanced security and other operational features. WebRTC can adapt to various network conditions and is interoperable with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Unified Communications (UC) solutions which is expected to help companies to easily integrate it with their existing infrastructure. WebRTC provides a bright solution for customer facing businesses. As this communication is real time, WebRTC provides audio visual solutions without any cost. Retail and healthcare are two industries with high demand for WebRTC as direct communication with end users or customers is of immense importance in these industries.One key restraint associated with the use of WebRTC is that it uses internet platform which is a public domain and thus, the quality of service cannot be guaranteed all the time. Use of Internet could result in privacy issues as it is still not clear how WebRTC manages the security and privacy. Further, integration is another key challenge associated with WebRTC. Organizations could face problems in integrating and adapting the WebRTC to their current system. WebRTC is currently not supported on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Thus, there are a number of complexities linked with WebRTC however, technological advancements are anticipated to eliminate these challenges in near future.Request Report for TOC @With WebRTC nearing its completion, organizations especially the consumer facing entities are expected to use this technology in near future across all platforms. WebRTC is an emerging industry standard for audio and video communication through a web browser. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) decided that browser makers should implement VP8 and H.264 video codecs. WebRTC is of huge importance for call centers and customer care centers, where direct communication is happening between a company representative and the end user or customer. WebRTC can simplify this communication further and increase the level of customer satisfaction. Companies are integrating WebRTC into their websites to enhance the overall user experience.Request to Sample Report @Some of the major players in the global WebRTC market are Google Inc., Facebook, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., TokBox Inc., Sinch AB, Twilio, Inc., WIRE SWISS GmbH, Talko Inc., Screenhero, Inc., and Comcast Corporation etc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Smartphone Camera Lens Market Top Trends,Forecast by 2025: GeniuS Electronic Optical, Asia Optical, Kolen, Sekonix, Cha Diostech

Smartphone Camera Lens Market

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The Study On key vendors in this Global Smartphone Camera Lens Market includes Largan, Sunny Optical, Kantatsu, GeniuS Electronic Optical, Asia Optical, Kolen, Sekonix, Cha Diostech, Newmax, Ability Opto-Electronics, Kinko.Download Free Sample Brochure of Smartphone Camera Lens Market spread across 118 pages, profiling 11 companies and supported with tables and figures is now available at @Vital statistics on product positioning, consumption volume, a dramatic shift in consumer preferences, spending power and other are explained through resources including charts, graphs, and info graphics. Other vital aspects including the market share, size and growth rate for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025 also forms an important of the study and valuable resource for business owners, stakeholders, and marketing personnel planning to zero in on their business strategy.The market intelligence assessment on the Smartphone Camera Lens Market blends in the best of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to explore the Smartphone Camera Lens Market performance for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025. Subject matter experts behind the study dive deep into the competitive landscape to assess the top performers across the world and unearth the strategies that have given them a competitive edge over others operating in the Smartphone Camera Lens industry.Smartphone Camera Lens Market Segment by Applications Front Camera for Smartphone Rear Camera for SmartphoneSmartphone Camera Lens Market 118 pages, profiling 11 companys analysis, More Inquiry on this Research@Smartphone Camera Lens Market Type VGA 1.3 MEGA 2 MEGA 3 MEGA 5 MEGA 8 MEGA 13 MEGA 16+ MEGAGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Smartphone Camera Lens in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States China Europe Japan Southeast Asia IndiaKey Table of Contents:-5 Smartphone Camera Lens Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Smartphone Camera Lens Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Smartphone Camera Lens Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2013-2018E Smartphone Camera Lens Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2013-2018E Smartphone Camera Lens Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2017 Smartphone Camera Lens Market Share Analysis5.2 China Smartphone Camera Lens Market Analysis5.2.1 China Smartphone Camera Lens Market Overview5.2.2 China 2013-2018E Smartphone Camera Lens Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2013-2018E Smartphone Camera Lens Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2017 Smartphone Camera Lens Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe Smartphone Camera Lens Market Analysis5.3.1 Europe Smartphone Camera Lens Market OverviewContinueSmartphone Camera Lens Market spread across 118 pages; profiling 11 companies click here to discount of this Report @The research provides answers to the following key questions:What will be the growth rate of the Smartphone Camera Lens Market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025? What will be the market size for the estimated period?What are the prominent factors driving the Smartphone Camera Lens Market across different regions?Who are the major vendors dominating the Smartphone Camera Lens industry and what are their winning strategies?What are the major trends shaping the development of the industry in the coming years?What are challenges faced by the Smartphone Camera Lens Market?What are potential opportunities for the industry for the forecast period, 2028 - 2025?Purchase Smartphone Camera Lens Market Research Report@About MarketExpertzPlanning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.Our in-house research specialists exhibit immense knowledge of not only the publisher but also the types of market intelligence studies in their respective business verticals.Contact Us-40 Wall St. 28th floor New York City,NY 10005 United Statessales@marketexpertz.com+1-800-819-3052Sodium Bicarbonate Market 2018  2025: Yuhua Chemical, Qingdao Soda Ash, Haohua Honghe Chemical

Sodium Bicarbonate Market

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MarketExpertz a new market assessment report on the Sodium Bicarbonate market provides a comprehensive overview of the Sodium Bicarbonate industry for the forecast period 2018 - 2025. The analytical study is proposed to provide immense clarity on the market size, share and growth rate across different regions. The profound knowledge and extensive examination of the trends from the yesteryear and future aims at offering the stakeholders, product owners, and marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the Sodium Bicarbonate market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025.Get Free Sample Brochure of Sodium Bicarbonate Market spread across 126 pages, profiling 22 companies and supported with tables and figures is now available at @The Study Paper in this Global Sodium Bicarbonate market includes are: Solvay, Church & Dwight, Natural Soda, Novacarb, Tata Chemicals, FMC Corporation, Natrium Products, Tosoh Corporation, Asahi, Inner Mongolia Yuanxing, Yuhua Chemical, Qingdao Soda Ash, Haohua Honghe Chemical, Hailian Sanyii, Tianjin Bohua YongLi Chemical Industry, Lengshuijiang Xianhe Chemical, Shandong Haihua Group, Hebei Huachen Pharmaceutical, Inner Mongolia Ortork Banner , Shuangxin Chemical, Lianyungang Doda Ash, Xuyue.The study segments the Sodium Bicarbonate industry in light of major classification such as product type, potential markets, application, and end-user. This industry assessment for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025 incorporates projections pertaining to the investment feasibility, gross margin, profits, consumption volume, production capability and major market vendors. Likewise, statistics associated with the competitive landscape, shifting consumer behaviour and spending power is showcased and well-explained with the help of treasured resources such as charts, graphs and graphic images, which can be easily incorporated in the business or corporate presentations.SWOT analysis:The SWOT analysis conducted during the study of the Sodium Bicarbonate market groups the major pieces into two different categories: internal and external factors. While the internal factors involve the strengths and weakness of a company the external factors include vital data on the opportunities and threats presented by the business environment external to a company.Major Classifications are as follows: Technical Grade Medical Grade Food GradeBy Application, the market can be split into Feed Industry Food Industry Pharmaceutical Industry Flue Gas Treatment Chemicals Industry OtherAssessing the immediate competitors:Subject matter experts conducting the study also take a closer look at the products at their development stage and in the pipeline to help business owners conclude on the business strategies that can lower their cost and promise great returns or profits. Strong emphasis on new launches, acquisition and mergers, collaboration, import and export status and supply chain management.Get Discount on Your Region @This Sodium Bicarbonate market report holds answers to some important questions like: What is the estimated growth rate and market share and size of the Sodium Bicarbonate market for the forecast period 2018 - 2025? What are the driving forces in the Sodium Bicarbonate market for the forecast period 2018 - 2025? Who are the prominent market players and how have they gained a competitive edge over other competitors? What are the market trends influencing the progress of the Sodium Bicarbonate industry worldwide? What are the major challenges and threats restricting the progress of the industry? What opportunities does the market hold for the prominent market players?Key Stakeholders1. Sodium Bicarbonate Manufacturers2. Sodium Bicarbonate Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers3. Sodium Bicarbonate Subcomponent Manufacturers4. Industry Association5. Downstream Vendors6. Available CustomizationsDirect Order Sodium Bicarbonate Market Research Report@About Us-Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.Contact Us-40 Wall St. 28th floor New York City,NY 10005 United Statessales@marketexpertz.com+1-800-819-3052Cerebral Malaria Therapeutics Market Size Estimated to Observe Significant Growth by 2025

https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/15220

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Cerebral malaria is counted under severe malaria which according to CDC has an estimated 6.7 million new cases and around 4000 deaths in Kenya and other malaria prone areas such as Coastal and Western region and Nyanza. During cerebral malaria there is a state of unarousable coma with malaria infected blood in the peripheral circulation. The condition of coma is due to some other type of infections or hypoglycemia. The presence of retinopathy has been an addition in the clinical diagnosis of both adult and children. The postmortem studies done for observing the pathophysiology of cerebral malaria has found that Plasmodium falciparum infections accounts for majority of the cerebral malaria cases showing a common feature of vascular sequestration in the brain of infected erythrocytes. There is a difference between cerebral malaria in adults and in children. They can be differentiated based on the infected erythrocytes sequestration pattern with variable vascular pathology.Request Report for Table of Contents @There has been a decline in the cases of malaria death and infections due to the research efforts. But at the same time, there has been an exponential rise in the drug resistance creating a need for new therapeutics. Moreover, the increase in the global temperature will expand the territory of mosquito-borne diseases driving a need to understand the molecular mechanism that underlines this parasitic infection. According to the National Institutes of Health, in 2015 there were 400,000 deaths from malaria mainly in children under years old. IN some cases, the parasite affects individual brain which kills 15% to 30% of the 200 million affected cases. Moreover, national government is granting universities research funds to investigate the treatment for cerebral malaria. In February 2017, NIH granted US$ 8.4 million to Michigan State University to investigate treatments for children with cerebral malaria.Cerebral malaria therapeutics market is classified on the basis of drug class, distribution channel and region.Based on drug the cerebral malaria therapeutics market is segmented into the following: Quinine, Artemisinin derivativesBased on distribution channel the cerebral malaria therapeutics market is segmented into the following: Retail pharmacies, Online pharmacies, Hospital pharmacies, Drug storeCerebral malaria as persists at least one hour after termination of a seizure in the presence of asexual P. falciparum parasitaemia and absence of other causes of encephalopathy. Any patient presenting with falciparum parasitaemia and impaired consciousness must be started on parenteral antimalarial drugs and shifted to an intensive care unit. Respiratory distress, severe malarial anemia, and hypoglycemia are the most common complications in pediatric cerebral malaria whereas acute renal failure, jaundice and hypoglycemia are the most frequent concurrent complications occurring in adult cerebral malaria cases.Geographically, the cerebral malaria therapeutics market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East &Africa. North America dominated the cerebral malaria therapeutics market in terms of revenue followed by Europe. In North America, U.S. contributed to major share. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region owing to the high incidence of malaria, rising healthcare industries and increasing investments for improving the infra-structure.Request a Sample Brochure of the Report @Few of the manufacturers in the cerebral malaria therapeutics market are Novartis AG, Cipla, Inc., Zydus- Cadila, Ipca Laboratories Ltd., Sanofi and Eisai Co., LtdAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Predictive Biomarkers Market to be at Forefront by 2025

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Biomarker or biological marker is a naturally occurring molecule, gene or characteristics detected by using molecular biology tools by which pathological or physiological disorder can be identified. A biomarker is predictive if the treatment effect is different for biomarker-negative patients and biomarker-positive patients. Predictive Biomarkers provide guidance in deciding type of therapy to be deployed on the patient in a given disease class and may also guide on the amount of dosage. Predictive biomarkers give information on the possibility of response to a given chemotherapeutic and identify patient with different outcome risks like gene expression affected by the presence of elevated levels of miRNA which is capable of binding specific mRNA, enhancement or suppression of gene expression by the occurrence of the change in DNA methylation.Predictive Biomarkers are used in the design of clinical trials where it evaluates a new drug given in defined amount, its treatment effectiveness in a particular population in which these predictive biomarkers helps to specify the population of the market. For personalized oncology biomarkers used in molecular diagnostic of lung, breast and colon cancer, chronic myeloid leukemia and melanoma.Request Report for Table of Contents @Predictive biomarkers market is mainly driven by the factor like an increase in the prevalence rate of cancer worldwide, in turn, increasing the diagnostic applications of predictive biomarkers. Increasing R&D funding for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies by the government and non-government players,rs market.Predictive Biomarkers Market: SegmentationPredictive BiomarkersBy IndicationCancerNeurological disorderCardiovascular disorderImmunological disorderOthersBy End UsersDiagnostic CentersAcademic research institutesCROsBio-Pharmaceutical Companies.Neuroscientists also rely on biomarkers for diagnostic and treatment for nervous system disorders and to find out their causes. Brain, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, skin, nerve, muscle, and urine have been used to gain information about the nervous system in both the disease and healthy state.Predictive Biomarkers According to an article published in Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology, with the advancement in high throughput technologies such as genomic and proteomic arrays, mass spectroscopy sequencing, and much more the field of biomarkers has expanded dramatically in the last 5-6 years. Cost, specificity, and sensitivity are some of the factors determining the growth of the predictive biomarkers. Pharmaceutical industries with the help of predictive biomarkers develop more effective drug and reduce the chances of failure. Predictive biomarkers rate, the increasing incidence of chronic disease demand for diagnosis and treatment is also increasing, so the predictive biomarkers market is expected to show growth with a healthy CAGR in the upcoming period.Globally, North America dominates the market of Predictive biomarkers due to an aging population which is increasing the demand for diagnosis and treatment of age-related diseases, rise in the incidence of cancer, advancement in technology and improved healthcare infrastructure in this region. North America is followed by Europe in predictive biomarkers market due to increase in research and development activities as well as an increase in funding by various organizations. Growing economies in developing countries such as India and China are expected to show growth in predictive biomarker growth in the upcoming period. Other factors like low cost for conducting clinical trials and increasing number of contract research organizations.Request a Sample Brochure of the Report @Some of the major companies contributing in the Predictive biomarkers are Siemens Healthcare, Roche Diagnostic Limited, G.E. Healthcare Inc., Affymetrix, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Qiagen, Johnson and Johnson and much more.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:Cookies Market to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% by 2022

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The presence of established players, such as Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A, Campbell Soup Co., Arcor U.S.A. Inc., Mondelez International Inc., United Biscuits Ltd., Nestle SA, PepsiCo Inc., Britannia Industries Ltd., M. Dias Branco SA, and Kellogg Co., points towards a highly fragmented and competitive business landscape in the global cookies market, states a new research report by Persistence Market Research (PMR). Due to the intensive rivalry between the leading players, the degree of competition within this market is significantly high and the scenario is likely to remain so over the forthcoming years, thanks to innovations, cookie vendors are making in terms of flavor, ingredients, and packaging, notes the research study.Read Report Overview @According to the research report, the global market for cookies is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.80% over the period from 2017 to 2022 and increase to US$38 bn by the end of the period of the forecast. Currently, chocolate cookies are witnessing the most prominent demand among consumers, especially the younger ones. Researchers at PMR predict this trend to continue in the years to come, thanks to the augmenting popularity of chocolates across the world, and result into the rise of the chocolate cookies segment at a CAGR of more than 6% between 2017 and 2022. North America and APEJ have surfaced as the prime regional markets for cookies. With the extensively widening consumer base, both the regional markets are likely to retain their spots over the next few years, reports the research study.Innovation in Products to Drive Markets GrowthPrimarily, the worldwide market for cookies is driven by the continual introduction of novel and innovative products in the global marketplace. The taste, flavor, shape, nutrients, and packaging are the main areas of innovation among cookie vendors across the world. The increasing urbanization and the rise in disposable income of consumers across the world are also important factors behind the growth of this market.Over the forthcoming years, the market is expected to benefit from the advent of healthy cookies, which means cooking made up with oatmeal. The augmenting concerns over the adverse effect of cookies, which is high in carbohydrate, on health and fitness and the rising awareness about the advantages of oatmeal are projected to stimulate this market in the years to come, states the research report.Request to Sample Report @Demand for Bar Cookies to Remain HighAmong the type of cookies, bar cookies acquire the leading position. Analysts expect the bar cookie segment to maintain its dominance over the next few years thanks to the high demand for bar cookies in North America and Asia Pacific excluding Japan. The APEJ and North America bar cookie markets, collectively, are likely to surpass US$2 bn in revenues by the end of the forecast period.Among other types of cookies, drop cookies, which currently have a relatively smaller market presence, is gaining considerable impetus across the world, converting into one of the most promising cookie type segment with potential that cannot be overlooked. Companies, which are looking to enter the drop cookies segment are advised to formulate unique strategies, which can help them gain a competitive edge over their rivals in this market, states the research report.The review is based on a report by Persistence Market Research, titled Global Market Study on Cookies: Chocolate Cookies Remain Popular Across all Demographics Young and Old.The global cookies market is segmented into:By IngredientChocolateChocolate ChipOatmealButterCreamGingerCoconutHoneyOther IngredientsBy Product TypeDrop CookiesBar CookiesMolded CookiesFried CookiesNo-bake CookiesIce Box cookiesRolled CookiesSandwich CookiesOther Product TypesBy Sales ChannelRequest Report for TOC @Modern TradeTraditional Grocery StoreConvenience StoresOnline ChannelsOther Retail FormatsDirect SalesBy RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeJapanAPEJMEAAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:KELLER WILLIAMS THE BELL TEAM ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF EXCLUSIVE ONE-OF-A-KIND HOME LISTINGS

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Couples and families interested in a one-of-a-kind home buying experience know to come to the Hall County 4th generation natives at The Bell Team. Real estate agents and administrative support staff work closely together with clients not just to find, but also to buy the property of their dreams. Taking homebuyers from the very beginning through closing with seamless proficiency, the realtors on The Bell Team are not just savvy but celebrated by clients in all of Northeast Georgia. Now, The Bell Team is proud to announce new exclusive property selections you just cant find anywhere else.A perfect piece of property for those with horses or wanting to start a ranch is a 15+ acre horse farm that just hit the market in Gainesville, GA. Over 4,600 square feet in size, the main house indulges a modern design throughout. Possessing plenty of natural light, stone fireplace, an exquisite in-ground pool, 12 stall barn, 2 arenas, tack room, and much more, this horse ranch is simply a treasure.Encapsulating elegance, The Bell Team also lists a stunning 5 bedroom, 6 bath, and 2 half-bath property in Flowery Branch. One can indulge in the culinary arts in the Chefs kitchen, or kick back and relax in the jetted spa tub in the master suite bath. Built with a terrace overlooking the private backyard of the estate, this home can woo any trend setting family.If interested in touring or purchasing one of these exclusive listings from The Bell Team, buyers or their agents can ring The Bell Team at (678) 207-1542.A real estate team with Keller Williams, The Bell Team has been servicing homebuyers and sellers in Northeast Georgia and beyond for over 13 years. Clients turn to The Bell Team for their real estate expertise combined with their exemplary customer service. Residents looking to sell or purchase a new home can also visit The Bell Team online atThe Bell Team3730 Village Way, Suite 160Braselton, GA 30517Lisa Cutter(678) 207-1542lisa@ringthebellteam.comTravelers Diarrhea Market to be at Forefront by 2024

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Travelers Diarrhea refers to intestinal and stomach infection and occurs due to unsanitary conditions during handling of food. This disorder is characterized by frequent abdominal cramps resulting in loose stools and is usually caused by consumption of contaminated water or food. Travelling from one place to another where the sanitary conditions, social conditions, climate and other factors are different and hence presents high risk of developing travelers diarrhea.This is one of the most common condition affecting travelers every year, for example according to data enumerated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 20% to 50% an estimated 10 million of the international travelers develop travelers diarrhea every year. This disorder occurs during the travel period or post return and also in some cases one can experience multiple episodes of diarrhea during one trip. Developing countries of Latin America, Middle East, Asia and Africa represent the areas for highest risk of contracting travelers diarrhea. Immunosuppressed individuals, young adults and individuals with inflammatory bowel disorders and diabetic patients constitute the highly susceptible patient population for contracting travelers diarrhea.Intensity of infection varies depending on the type of eating establishment. For instance, there is low risk of infection if the food is consumed in private homes and poses high risk of infection in the food from the street vendors. Nausea, vomiting, fever, frequent defecate and abdominal cramps are some of the common symptoms of travelers diarrhea. Most of the cases are benign and resolve quickly but sometimes sign and symptoms persist for several days and can be more severe in cases where it is caused by other organisms other than common bacteria. In these cases, prescription medicines are recommended for the treatment. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is the most common causative agent of travelers diarrhea. Travelers can minimize the risk of developing travelers diarrhea by adopting several preventive measures such as use of bottled drinking water, avoiding consumption of raw or uncooked seafood and meat and raw fruits.Consulting a doctor than self medication is preferred for the treatment of travelers diarrhea and especially relevant to pregnant women and children. There are several medications prescribed for the treatment of diarrhea. For example, Pepto-Bismol tablet shortens the duration of illness and decreases diarrhea. This drug is not advised to take for more than three weeks at a time as it results in certain side effects such as temporary blackening of stools and tongue, constipation, nausea and others. Also, the consumption of this is not recommended for the patients who have aspirin allergy, gout, renal insufficiency and who are already taking anticoagulants. Other treatment options are replacement of fluids and salts achieved by the intake of oral rehydration solutions such as oral rehydration salts (ORS).Request to View Brochure of Report -Travelers Diarrhea Market: SegmentationThe market for travelers diarrhea can be analyzed by the various medications available for the treatment and the geographical landscape. Antimicrobial therapy is the most preferred one and fluoroquinolones are the most preferred. The geographical landscape elucidates the analysis of the market by four major geographies namely North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Rest of the World. In addition, factors such as side effects of the drugs, introduction of alternate therapies, and increased focus on preventive care would impact the market growth.Furthermore, regulatory policies, marketing approvals for drugs and safety concerns would further influence the market growth. The major factors favoring the market growth are increasing cases of travelers diarrhea and growing tourism across the globe. On the other hand, factors such as side effects of the drugs and lack of accessibility to appropriate treatment might encumber the market growth.Bayer AG, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc. and Novartis AG are some of the companies operating in this market.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size By Top Key Manufacturers Like 3M, Avery Dennison, Digimarc, Impinj, UPM and Others 2018 - 2025

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This report studies The Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market, analyzes and researches the Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeRequest for discount at3MAvery DennisonDigimarcApplied DNA SciencesIllinois Tool WorksDu PontImpinjZebra Technologies CorpUPMEssentra PLCMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoCoding & Printing TechnologyRFIDHolographic TechnologySecurity LabelPackaging DesignMarket segment by Application, Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies can be split intoPolyethyleneDetergent AlcoholSynthetic Lubricating OilOtherIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies1.1 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Overview1.1.1 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market by Type1.3.1 Coding & Printing Technology1.3.2 RFID1.3.3 Holographic Technology1.3.4 Security Label1.3.5 Packaging Design1.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Polyethylene1.4.2 Detergent Alcohol1.4.3 Synthetic Lubricating Oil1.4.4 OtherRequest for free sample at2 Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 3M3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Avery Dennison3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Digimarc3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Applied DNA Sciences3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Illinois Tool Works3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Du Pont3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Impinj3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Zebra Technologies Corp3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 UPM3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Essentra PLC3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.10.5 Recent DevelopmentsBrowse complete report at4 Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies5 United States Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size (2013-2018)5.2 United States Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)5.3 United States Anti-Counterfeit Packaging Technologies Market Size by Application (2013-2018)Who we areResearch Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. This comprehensive analysis is obtained by a thorough research and study of the ongoing trends and provides predictive data regarding the future estimations, which can be utilized by various organizations for growth purposes.We distribute customized reports that focus on meeting the clients specific requirement. Our database consists of a large collection of high-quality reports obtained using a customer-centric approaches, thus providing valuable research insights.Contact us:Email: sales@researchtrades.comCall us: +1 6269994607 (USA), +91 7507349866 (IND)Web:Skype ID: researchtradesconYonder Digital Group to provide customer contact services to Armistice charity Remembered There But Not There campaign

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Yonder Digital Group chosen to provide innovative multi-channel customer service to support the 2018 Armistice There But Not There campaign, the defining centenary commemoration of the end of the 1914-1918 war14 May 2018  Armistice charity Remembered has appointed Yonder Digital Group to be their customer contact support partner by providing a multi-channel customer service team offering voice, email, IVR and live chat support. Remembered is a dynamic new charity  its foundation was inspired by the There But Not There installation in Penshurst Church in Kent over the Remembrance period of 2016. This years defining There But Not There campaign aims to place a representative figure for as many as possible of the names on local war memorials around the country; into their place of worship, their school, their work or wherever their absence was keenly felt. The aim of the campaign is to commemorate the fallen, to educate all generations and to help heal those who are suffering from hidden wounds and the lasting legacies of combat.The primary focus of Yonder Digital Groups remit will be to provide a customer service team and associated multi-channel technologies to support the on-going activities of the Remembered charity. Yonder Digital Groups extensive technical and operational expertise in supporting charities, alongside their ability to provide a blend of dedicated and on demand resources to deal with fluctuations in customer contact, made them an ideal partner. The Yonder team will initially support customer contact from the UK before extending the service to cover the There But Not There US, Canada and Australia campaigns.Rowley Gregg MC, Director of Operations at Remembered, said: "Since we launched the There But Not There campaign in February, we have seen overwhelming public support and, to date, nearly 2 million in sales. As a new charity, we are still a growing team, and so are thrilled to use Yonder Digital Group's invaluable experience and services."Graham Ede, CEO of Yonder Digital Group, comments, Working with a charity like Remembered is an absolute privilege for us. Not only will we be able to showcase our expertise working within the charity sector but we will be able to demonstrate how we can deliver innovative multi-channel customer support seamlessly, professionally and empathically.---end---Yonder Digital Groupleverages over 20 years operational experience in outsourced contact centre delivery and technological innovation. We service clients across a range of industries with our 24/7 omni-channel approach rooted in expert analysis of customer behaviour and optimising returns from every brand touch-point.Yonder boasts 700+ advisor seats across two UK centres-of-excellence in Bristol and Ipswich powered by cutting edge technology, data analytics, tools and insight, helps its clients to create seamless brand interactions, meaningful and memorable contacts across multiple channels and to drive a measurable ROI alongside uplifts in revenues and customer satisfaction.Yonder Digital GroupMelford Court, The Havens,Ransomes Europark, Ipswich, IP3 9SJ0203 319 3747Teleradiology Market to Rise to US$3.63 bn in 2023

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Teleradiology Market: SnapshotThe global teleradiology market is envisioned to boast a lucrative future, as foreseen by radiologic and research experts, in view of the fact that the evolution of sundry wireless technologies could allow continuous and accelerated image transfer.Worldwide institutions dealing with afterhours imaging services in different nations having different time zones while offering daytime reporting are anticipated to perk up the demand in the world teleradiology market. The significantly enhanced transmission speeds and Internet capacity coupled with swift advancements in digital image processing technologies could vastly benefit the world teleradiology market. Moreover, the telling surge in healthcare expenditure is envisaged to set the tone for the world teleradiology market.Download PDF Brochure of Report:The exorbitant cost of technology, paucity of imaging data security, and scarcity of adept technicians and radiologists could delay the growth in the world teleradiology market. Nonetheless, the world teleradiology market is expected to recover with the promotion in digital infrastructure. In 2016, the world teleradiology market had bagged in US$1.7 bn. However, by 2023, the world teleradiology market is envisaged to rake in US$3.6 bn at an 11.3% CAGR for the forecast period.Computed Tomography Makes Statement as Groundbreaking Imaging TechnologyComputed tomography (CT) scan technology is foretold to register an overpowering revenue share of US$1.23 bn by the concluding forecast year and also a higher CAGR in the worldwide teleradiology market. CT scan is considered to be a revolutionary imaging technology which makes possible the visualization of complex bodily structures. With such a leading-edge technology in place compared to ultrasound and x-ray, there has been a perpetual improvisation in remote patient monitoring. This could effectively bolster the growth of the worldwide teleradiology market.Request to View Sample of Report With a view to procure sophisticated healthcare informatics and image data using various angles, CT scan incorporates the engagement of x-rays. A multiplicity of teleradiology services and technologies could be widely accessed by patients with small and medium-sized healthcare organizations making available CT scan equipment.Curbed exposure to radiation, non-invasive nature, and raised patient awareness are some of the aspects of ultrasound imaging predicted to place it second on the list of highest revenue earners by modality in the worldwide teleradiology market. Besides being a first line of gynecological disorder diagnosis, ultrasound imaging is critically employed to track fetal development and identify various abnormalities in a safe and secure manner.Asia Pacific Towers over CAGR but North America Dominates RevenueAsia Pacific is prophesied to be amongst the highest CAGR getters by geography with 12.1% to talk for in the international teleradiology market. The growth of this regional teleradiology market could be accredited to the technological developments witnessed in Japan that are at par with the innovations of developed nations such as the U.S. and the U.K. Active government participation, approving healthcare policies, and expeditious technological advancements are prognosticated to testify for the roaring demand in the Asia Pacific teleradiology market. Australia, New Zealand, China, and India are predicted to be the other major Asia Pacific hubs for the teleradiology market.Request to View Discount However, in terms of revenue, North America could win the race with an enormous share in the international teleradiology market. The U.S. teleradiology market is expected to stay dominant in North America throughout the forecast period. The evolution in the IT sector and innovation driven technological development could help the U.S. pull in a bumper revenue. On the other hand, Canada could be counting its fate on upcoming teleradiology service providers. Real Time Medical operating in the country was evaluated to hold one of the largest non-hospital based teleradiology services networks.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Rising Instances of Diseases to Make Europe Heparin Market Fetch A Steady CAGR of 5.2%

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Europe Heparin Market: SnapshotEurope is among the major regions contributing to the global heparin market owing to its developed economy and high prevalence of coagulation disorders. According to the Ageing Report published by the European Commission in 2015, the percentage of population aged above 65 years is expected to increase from 21.0% in 2013 to 32.0% in 2060. Aging is directly proportional to the rising incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) diseases such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Hence, the demand for heparin in Europe is expected to increase in the next few years. The heparin market in Europe was valued at US$2.2 bn in 2015 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2016 to 2024 to reach US$3.5 bn in 2024.Heparin Most Widely Used in Hospitals across EuropeBased on end user, the heparin market in Europe has been categorized into hospitals, blood and stem cell banks, and others. Hospitals and clinics widely use heparin as a blood thinner in the treatment of various diseases related to cardiovascular, cancer, and orthopedic. Heparin such as Calcilean, Calciparine, Hepalean, Heparin Leo, and Hepalean-lok are prominently used in hospitals for surgical purposes. The hospitals segment accounted for a major share of the heparin market in Europe as most surgical procedures are often performed in hospitals.Download PDF Brochure of Report:The blood and stem cell banks segment also held a significant share of the market in 2015. Blood and stem cell banks use heparin to collect cord blood and stem cells as heparin promotes the growth of human embryonic stem cells in a defined serum-free medium.Rapid Growth of Heparin Market Anticipated in Several European NationsThe heparin market in Europe has been segmented on the basis of geography into the following major markets: Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia, and Rest of Europe.Germany accounted for the leading share in the heparin market in Europe in 2015 and is expected to continue its dominance till 2024. Key attributes to the market growth in Germany encompass burgeoning incidence of VTE among patients, resulting in the increased demand for heparin. Moreover, stringent regulations pertaining to Chinese active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) due to adulteration issues have attracted new players to the heparin processing and manufacturing business in Europe. Europe has been known to adhere to strict regulations pertaining to the import of heparin. For instance, in 2013, Germany-based meat company, Tonnies GmbH & Co, acquired Pharma Action, a heparin API manufacturer, and proposed to manufacture 30 metric tons of heparin API. Such developments are expected to augment the heparin markets growth in Germany.Request to View Sample of Report France, Belgium, and Portugal are anticipated to register the highest growth in the coming years. France also held the second position in the heparin market in Europe in 2015. Heparin consumption during and after surgical procedures such as knee replacement, hip surgery, appendectomy, and breast surgery is higher in France as compared to Italy, Spain, and the U.K. The increased risk of thrombosis among the geriatric population is also expected to drive the market for heparin in France.Request to View Discount Major players in the Europe heparin market include Sanofi SA, Pfizer, Inc., Leo Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, and Dr. Reddys Laboratories.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (HPAPI) Market: Rising Incidence of Cancer to Boost the Market

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High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (HPAPI) MarketThe booming oncology research and rising cases of cancer, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases have created a sizeable demand for dedicated treatments, thereby driving the high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient (HPAPI) market. The HPAPI market stood at a valuation of US$2.64 bn in 2014. The cost containment strategies adopted by companies through outsourcing are favoring market growth. This has brought down the cost of drugs drastically, making them affordable to a larger audience. The positive result of this trend is seen on the increased focus of companies on drug development and commercialization. As a result of these favorable trends, the HPAPI market is projected to be worth US$25.11 bn by 2023. Between 2015 and 2023, the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.3%.Download PDF Brochure of Report:A promising pipeline of targeted therapeutic drugs will also help the market progress in the coming years. These drugs have minimal side effects and impact targeted areas, thereby helping the patient to recover faster with no lingering after effects. These positive perceptions surrounding HPAPIs combined with the near-expiration dates of blockbuster drugs, which will offer several generic drug manufacturers a chance to offer affordable drugs, will further the markets growth. Consistent research and development to mimic branded drugs will create alternative and cost-effective treatments for patients across the globe, thereby augmenting the growth rate of the market.Emerging Nations in Asia Pacific Becoming Hubs of Generic Drug Manufacturing, to Aid HPAPI Market GrowthAsia Pacific is the expected to be the most lucrative market for high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients due to the soaring contract manufacturing activities in the region. Analysts predict that China will surpass Japans current share of 40% in the Asia Pacific market by the end of 2025. This change will be a result of low labor costs in China, well-equipped manufacturing plants, and supportive foreign exchange policies.Request to View Sample of Report India will also be an upcoming high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients market due to the growing concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing activities in the country. In the forecast period, the country is expected to be the hub for generic drug manufacturing. The growing investments by key players in India are also anticipated to boost this market in the near future. During the forecast period of 2015 to 2023, the Asia Pacific HPAPI market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 10.1%.Oncology Drugs Show Maximum DemandThe oncology drugs segment has been the leading segment of the global high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient market. This segment is expected to expand at CAGR of 8.3% during the forecast period. The introduction of innovative drugs is the primary growth driver for the oncology segment. Analysts predict that the patent expiry of blockbuster drugs such as Herceptin, Rituxan, and Humira will pave the way for generic drug manufacturers, thereby making these drugs affordable to a wide number of patients.Request to View Discount Some of the leading players operating in the global high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient market are WuXi AppTec, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC, Pfizer, Inc., Sandoz International GmbH, Novasep, Lonza Group, Dr. Reddys Laboratories, Cambrex Corporation, and Alkermes plc. The fragmented nature of this market will result in strategies to acquire and merge with regional players to gain the first-mover advantage.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Computer Assisted Coding Market: Worldwide Industry Analysis and New Market Opportunities Explored

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Hospitals need to manage and store a large quantity of patients medical record in its system. These medical records contain patients personal data and treatment history which is documented in a proper manner. The document is used by administrative staff for billing purpose during patients discharge from hospital. Thus, the handling and preservation of records is a tedious work for administrative person in hospital.However, with the introduction of information technology, these medical records are now being recorded in digital form and are stored in a computer. However, the time taken by an administrative person to extract appropriate information from the document is more as the person needs to read the whole document carefully. Computer assisted coding software aims to resolve this issue by analyzing the medical record or document for specific keywords. The keywords are analyzed by comparing the document data with available database. Thus, computer assisted coding software provides appropriate keyword to the administrative person or coder who can use it for billing purpose.Browse report detailsComputer assisted coding software uses structured input or natural language processing (NLP) technology for document processing. This helps to increase productivity and reducing process time of the administrative person or coder. Computer assisted coding software also helps in reducing errors and improving efficiency of healthcare facility. It can be used by billing personnel, compliance officers and auditors to verify document in healthcare industry. Today, computer assisted coding software is available in cloud-based and on-premise types depending upon the hospital requirement.The rapid adoption of electronic health record (EHR) in many healthcare facilities is creating demand for computer assisted coding market. Computer assisted coding software can be used for insurance claim reimbursement in healthcare sector. Computer assisted coding software will see more adoption in healthcare facilities due to the adaptation of ICD-10 coding in coming years.Download PDF BrochureICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) list which is promoted by World Health Organization (WHO). ICD-10 contains codes for diseases, abnormal findings, symptoms, complaints, social circumstances and causes of injury or diseases. This is used by computer assisted coding software as a coding database.The major challenge for computer assisted coding software is its high initial cost and the problem of adaptation by the hospital management. Hospitals consider it as an unnecessary investment and focus on improving other facilities. Computer assisted coding software also have problem in processing handwritten notes for coding processes. This limits use of computer assisted coding software in traditional healthcare facilities were information technology is not yet implemented.Get Table of Content for detail analysisDeveloped economies such as North America and Europe will see a good demand for Computer Assisted Coding market in coming years. This is due to strict regulation norms adopted by the governments in developed economies. The demand for computer assisted coding software in developing countries such as China, India and Brazil is going to increase in coming years due to the increase in healthcare infrastructure. Some of the key Computer Assisted Coding software providers are Cerner Corporation, MModal IP LLC, Optum Inc, PlatoCode LLC, QuadraMed Affinity Corporation, 3M Company, Artificial Medical Intelligence Inc, Craneware PLC, Mckesson Corporation, Dolbey Systems Inc, Optum Inc, Precyse Solutions, Nuance Communications Inc, and Trucode.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Industrial Luminaire Market: Pin-Point Analysis For Changing Competitive Dynamics

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Luminaire is defined as a light fixture, an electrical device used to create artificial light with the help of an electric lamp. All luminaires have a fixed body and a light socket to hold the lamp and can be replaced. Luminaires have a switch to control the light, either attached to the power cable or to the lamp body.Rapid urbanization and industrialization have increased the requirement for lighting sources, which has resulted in more demand. Lighting consumes about 20% of the global electricity, and this has led to the focus on promoting energy-efficient luminaire technologies by governments across the globe.Growing energy consumption and necessity of energy saving has resulted in growing adoption of CFL, halogen, LFL, and LED technologies. Additionally, increased awareness about power saving and energy saving and use of energy- efficient lightning technologies in the corporate world is anticipated to have a positive impact and help in the growth of the luminaire market.Obtain ReportThe industrial market is looking for innovations in material, manufacturing, and technology, targeted at improving energy efficiency, product functionality, and eco-friendliness.The luminaires and lamps sector is expected to acquire the largest share of the industrial luminaire market during the forecast period. The high share of the luminaires and lamps sector is attributed to the rapid entry of LED lighting and the demand for technologically advanced LED light fitting. Moreover, benefits such as high efficiency, low power consumption, and a comparatively longer life span related to LEDs is set to drive the industrial lighting market growth for the lamps and luminaires segment during the forecast period.The luminaire market thrives on a zero capital cost model and improved financial benefits, as also on government policies and regulations for adoption of energy efficient lighting systems. This market focuses on reducing energy consumption, which leads to the use of energy efficient systems. However, the main restraint of this market is lack of awareness about the value of service oriented models of lighting.Request BrochureDespite this drawback, the market is rapidly growing and has many opportunities lined up such as convergence of internet of things with lighting systems and development of smart cities. As smart cities develop, demand for lighting will increase for various purposes, thus creating opportunities for this market. However, low-quality LED products flooding the market and their poor performance is still the biggest challenge for the luminaire market.The global industrial luminaire market is segmented by installation type, light source, offering, product, and application. Installation type includes new installation, replacement installation, and retrofit installation. Furthermore, there are different light sources such as LED lighting, High Intensity discharge (HID) lighting, and fluorescent lighting.Offerings include lamp, luminaires, control systems and services. The luminaire market is also segmented by products such as industrial linear lighting, spot lighting, flood lighting or area lightning, and high bay lighting. There are various applications of luminaires in warehouses and cold storage, factory and production lines, outer premises, parking areas, and hazardous locations. In terms of regions, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Enhanced Vision System Market: Projection of Each Major Segment over the Forecast Period

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The global enhanced vision system market is on a growth trajectory on account of radical improvements in the aerospace sector for aircraft safety. Top notch aircraft manufacturers are opting for hi-tech avionics and navigation systems to raise alarm in the event of a possible danger. Enhanced vision systems help to provide a detailed view of the terrain along with monitoring of various obstacles that may pose a challenge to the safety of aircraft.Some of the key factors driving the global enhanced vision system market are the dire need to enhance aircraft safety, especially in limited visibility environments. This is because enhanced vision system collects information from various aircraft based sensors, which includes near-infrared cameras to give complete view of the terrain, especially in extreme weather conditions.Apart from this, in developed countries, regulation and policies in place necessitate aircraft to be equipped with advanced vision systems in the interest of pilot and passenger safety.Get PDF Sample of the Report @A report by Transparency Market Research forecasts the global enhanced vision system to expand at a CAGR of 4.4% between 2017 and 2025. At this rate, the global enhanced vision system market is expected to peg an opportunity of US$312.4 mn by 2025 increasing from US$211.1 mn in 2016.enhanced vision system marketEasy Application of Synthetic Vision System Pushes AdoptionThe global enhanced vision system market can be divided upon system into synthetic vision system and enhanced vision system. Of the two, the segment of synthetic vision leads the market on the back of its low cost and its easy application in aircraft. However, advanced vision system is expected to surpass in terms of revenue over the forecast period.In terms of component, the market has been segmented into sensors, cameras, display screen, and others. In 2016, display screen and camera led the growth of this market revenue-wise. These segments are expected to display strong growth amongst other segments due to technological advancements that have led to the installation of advanced screens and camera for an enlarged view of the terrain. Sensors also form an important segment of the market.Get TOC of This Report @The application segments into which the global enhanced vision system market is divided are aerospace and defense and others. For 2016, aerospace and defense led the market followed by others. The dominance of aerospace and defense application segment is attributed to the increasing measures to enhance aircraft safety. Enhanced vision system captures radiation emitted from different sensors to help in landing or during extreme weather conditions thereby boosting the growth of this application segment.Safety Regulations Propel Growth of North America MarketThe key regional segments into which the enhanced vision system market is divided are North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America and Europe, amongst all, are key regional segments that collectively contribute more than 50% revenue to the global market. The growth of the aerospace sector along with regulations that necessitate aerospace companies to deploy enhanced vision systems in both fixed and rotary wings aircraft have been key factors boosting growth in these regions.View Report@Asia Pacific and Latin America are other key regional segments contributing to the growth of global enhanced vision system market. Asia Pacific stood as one of the rapidly growing regional markets in 2016 with China, Japan, India, and South Korea contributing majorly to this regional market.Leading players operating in the global enhanced vision system market include Honeywell International Inc., United Technologies Corporation, Rockwell Collins Inc., Astronics Corporation, FLIR Systems Inc., Thales Group, Safran, HCL Embraer SA, and Elbit Systems Ltd. among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Research Blog:Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 76F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then cloudy skies overnight. Low near 65F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.The Bay Area Community Foundation will host the Bay Commitment Scholarship award ceremony at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15 at First Presbyterian Church in honor of the scholarships 10th anniversary.

One hundred graduating seniors from Bay County high schools will receive a $2,000 scholarship to attend Delta College or Saginaw Valley State University. Past recipient Mallory Rivard, SVSU and Western High School graduate, will be the featured speaker.Jon and Kim Burgess joined Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Williams Township, Rep. Roger Hauck, R-Union Township, and Gov. Rick Snyder on May 8 for a bill signing ceremony for Stamas legislation to permanently honor their son, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan Burgess.

Senate Bill 481, now Public Act 52 of 2018, designates a portion of US-10 from N. Stark Road to N. West River Road in Sanford as the Marine Lance Corporal Ryan Burgess Memorial Highway.MidMichigan Health is offering a community program that will provide information on the maturing processes of adolescent males.

The seminar will take place in the Catalyst Board Room of the Beaverton Activity Center, 106 Tonkin St., Beaverton.When Emily Campbell delivered her son, Benjamin, in August 2017, he was 14 weeks early and weighed only 2 pounds, 6 ounces. Nine days later, Ben was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor.

Campbell said he was initially moved so doctors could drain an abscess on his liver. That was just one of the challenges he faced.

"They had to do some emergency surgery on his stomach and remove some of his intestine," she said. "He had a fungal infection, a collapsed lung and his heart stopped. They didn't think he would make it."

At one point, Ben was so sick, Campbell was told to gather loved ones to say goodbye.

"We had him baptized one morning, and that afternoon, he started to get better," she said.

Ben continued to get better.

"At one time, he had 13 different meds in his system and a feeding tube, but he kept getting better," Campbell said.

On Dec. 14, Ben was healthy enough to go home.

"He still had a feeding tube and that was the only thing keeping him in the hospital," Campbell said. "They taught me and my mom how to use it so we could bring him home."

Being a first-time mom, and after spending 117 days surrounded by medical professionals who cared for Ben, Campbell was understandably anxious about taking care of him on her own. Ben's father, Dylan, and both sets of grandparents offered lots of support. And, with help from MidMichigan Home Care, her confidence grew and Campbell was able to embrace and enjoy her new role.

MidMichigan Home Care provides a variety of health-related products and services that help individuals remain independent at home. Home care can help patients like Ben avoid re-admission to a hospital by providing care in the comfort of their homes.

"I was very nervous when we first came home," Campbell said. "It was wonderful having a nurse come in every week. Our primary nurse was Amanda and we love her."

At each weekly visit, the MidMichigan Home Care team would weigh and measure Ben, check his vitals, monitor and chart his eating and sleeping habits and check his reactions and reflexes.

"Amanda is so nice and she's a mother, too, so she would share pointers with me," Campbell said. "I could ask her anything. They all helped us a lot."

She particularly appreciated that she had 24/7 access to health care professionals.

"There was always a nurse available to talk to me 24 hours a day," she said. "I did call a few times. Once, Ben pulled his tube out late at night so I called and they talked me through it. It was nice having them available."

As Ben gained weight, his dependency on the feeding tube faded. By six months, he was happily drinking formula and weighed in at 10 pounds, 4.5 ounces.

"Ben's care team was really happy with how well he did," Campbell said. "They released him from home care and now we just see the pediatrician once a week."

Campbell has nothing but praise for the home care nurses who helped a first-time mom gain the confidence and skills she needed to care for her special child.

"They were very open with me, always explained things well and even called ahead to make sure they were coming at a good time," Campbell said. "I really recommend MidMichigan Home Care especially for people with babies and kids. They are wonderful."Saginaw Valley State University honored one of Saginaw's most active community leaders, as well as faculty and staff who display extraordinary enthusiasm and dedication, during its recent All-University Awards Banquet.

The Distinguished Service Award, SVSU's most prestigious for a community member, was given to David Abbs.

Abbs served on the SVSU Board of Control from 2005 to 2013, including two years as chair.

After completing his term on the board, he accepted perhaps his most significant SVSU assignment: serving as chair of the presidential search advisory committee during 2013 and 2014. Abbs continues to support SVSU through his volunteer service on the board of directors for the SVSU Foundation, where he currently serves as secretary. He also has served on SVSU's Board of Fellows and the Alumni Association board.

In the community, Abbs has supported numerous philanthropic causes and organizations. He is a past board chair of the Saginaw Community Foundation, and he has served as board president for the Bay City Noon Optimists, the Saginaw Valley Rotary club, the Saginaw Art Museum, and the One Hundred Club of Saginaw County, which provides financial support to the families of first responders killed in the line of duty. In business circles, Abbs has served on the boards of the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce and the Kochville Township Business Association.

Abbs graduated from SVSU in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in marketing and management. He is the owner of Abbs Retirement Planning Advisors in Saginaw and is a certified financial planner.

Several SVSU faculty and staff members also received recognition during the 29th annual ceremony.

Andrea Frederick, associate professor of nursing, received the prestigious Franc A. Landee Teaching Excellence Award. She has spent years cultivating a career in nursing, nursing management, health care administration and nursing education. After retiring from MidMichigan Medical Center, Frederick joined the SVSU nursing faculty in 2010. As an instructor, she strives to enhance curiosity, tenacity, compassion and accomplishments that inform lifelong learning.

Kaustav Misra, associate professor of economics, received the Earl Warrick Award for Excellence in Research. His research interests are in the fields of public economics, international economics and family business. Misra has authored more than 20 scholarly articles appearing in peer-reviewed journals such as "Economics of Educational Review," "Journal of Socio-Economics" and "Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice." He also has presented at more than 70 national and international conferences.

The House Family Award for Teacher Impact was presented to Warren Fincher, associate professor of sociology. Since joining the faculty in 2012, he has served as the faculty adviser for the Sociology Club; he has organized three student trips to the annual Michigan Sociological Association meeting and he led a month-long study abroad trip to India. A recent alumna headed to graduate school nominated Fincher. She wrote: "Dr. Fincher saw my potential as an excellent student and scholar way before I began to believe in myself."

Roberto Garcia received the Mary H. Anderson Adjunct Faculty Award for his part-time teaching role in the English department. He aims to inspire his students to think differently about modern culture. To do that, Garcia's course, titled "Rethinking the Dominant Culture: Jay-Z and Modern America," teaches students about the history of hip-hop and rap in order to examine the genre's impact on modern society and culture. His nominator wrote: "Roberto is an outstanding adjunct faculty member. He has taken a step to create a general education course that is relevant to urban culture and society that students have really enjoyed."

The Thomson Award for Empowering Learning in Community Engagement was presented to J. Blake Johnson, professor of art. He dedicates a great deal of his time to SVSU and the surrounding community through Cardinal Solutions, which was started by Johnson and others to support community businesses and organizations while offering students the opportunity to build their resumes and portfolios by completing real projects for clients. A student nominator wrote: "Blake has been a mentor to me and has pushed me to produce my best work. By working with local businesses and organizations in a real-world studio environment, I have seen my design, communication and project management skills grow by leaps and bounds."

Jennifer Bridges, professor of kinesiology, received the Excellence in Online Teaching award. In the field of kinesiology, there is an expectation that each course will offer a high level of interactivity and hands-on learning. To accomplish that through her online courses, Bridges developed Motor Development Day in Kinesiology 372, a hybrid course in which students are presented with the primary theories of motor learning and motor development throughout the lifespan. In the course, infants, children and older adults volunteer to work with the students to assess various aspects of their motor milestones.

The Ruben Daniels Community Service Award was presented to Kevin Schultz, director of alumni relations, who is active on the SVSU campus and in the community. He lends his time to the Saginaw Children's Zoo where he serves on the board of directors; he is a past president of both the Fordney Club of Saginaw County and the Saginaw Sunrise Rotary Club. His community involvement also has included volunteer service for the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus, Leadership Saginaw County and the Saginaw County Republicans.

Two recipients were given the Terry Ishihara Award for Outstanding Co-Curricular Involvement: Ava Lewis, professor of nursing, and Sharmee Gloss, public school academy transitions coordinator.

Lewis aims to serve both students and the larger community. She is a nurse practitioner at the Bay Community Health Clinic in Bay City and at the Saginaw Health Clinic. Lewis shares these experiences with her students through course lectures and student volunteer opportunities. Her care for others extends beyond the region, as Lewis has led study abroad trips to Zambia in 2010, 2013 and 2016 where students worked to provide nursing care and HIV education in schools, villages, clinics and through home health visits.

Gloss dedicates a great deal of her time to the success of students of SVSU; she advises 87 undergraduate students and cultivates their confidence, independence, curiosity and passion through support and engagement. To give students the opportunity to learn about the history of surrounding communities, Gloss organized a two-day program for students in 2017 in which they viewed the film "Detroit," participated in a discussion on the impact of the movie, traveled to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and spent an afternoon in downtown Detroit.

Monica Reyes received the Roosevelt Ruffin Diversity Award. She dedicates a great deal of time to community causes, developing organizations such as the Great Lakes Bay Hispanic Leadership Institute, for which she currently serves as director. The program, designed to address a lack of Hispanic representation on community boards within the region, aims to identify potential leaders who may not normally be recognized through traditional channels. Reyes also was appointed to the Governor's Hispanic Latino Commission of Michigan in 2016.

The Outstanding Performance Award for Administrative Professional staff was given to Cara Shaw, accounting supervisor. She contributes a great deal to the Controller's office through her technical, organizational and communication skills. Shaw's responsibilities encompass a range of tasks, including accumulating and providing the annual grant reporting for the university, a task she completes flawlessly, according to her colleagues.

Donna Helmreich-Lopez, faculty secretary and office coordinator, received the Outstanding Performance Award for Support Staff. She is respected for her dependability, attention to detail and positive attitude in all the roles she fills. Though her duties are time consuming, colleagues note that Helmreich-Lopez consistently offers her assistance to those who need it, completing tasks efficiently and accurately.Today is yet another dark day in history during an era that seemingly knows no other kind of day. President Trump opened the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, declaring the worlds holiest city (per three major religions) to solely belong to Israel. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, and according to the 1993 Israel-Palestinian peace accords, the final status of Jerusalem is reserved to be discussed in the latter stages of peace talks. Its difficult to see this now under the proto-Trump White House that is the Netanyahu administration, but Israels default position once was: Jerusalem is up for negotiation. Now, Gaza and the Golan Heightstwo areas illegally occupied by Israelarent even up for negotiation.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets in Gaza prior to the ceremonywarning Palestinians against protestingbut thousands still showed up at the border this morning. The IDF wants us to believe that everyone who showed up was a member of the Iranian-backed militia, Hamas.

The #IDF has dropped leaflets into #Gaza warning citizens to stay away from the border fence with #Israel ahead of planned mass demonstrations pic.twitter.com/3HrylPDu9v  Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) May 14, 2018

Anna Ahronheim, Military Correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, provided updates throughout the morning as the conflict intensified.

#Hamas-run Health Ministry in #Gaza say 18 #Palestinians killed by #IDF fire, including a 14 year-old teen. #Israel's military confirms IAF struck Hamas outpost near Jabaliya after identifying it as a source of gunfire towards troops.  Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) May 14, 2018

#IDF: #Israeli airforce struck five targets in a #Hamas military camp near the city of Jabaliya following three serious incidents along the border in which troops were targeted  Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) May 14, 2018

As always, whenever the IDF kills Palestinians at the border, a dispute over their humanity arises. The IDF claims that these are Hamas forces trying to enter Israel to compromise its security, but as the video last month of an Israeli sniper cheering after shooting a Palestinian journalist demonstrates, this is a specious argument at best.

This photo of Fadi Abu Saleh, a Palestinian in Gaza confronting Israeli soldiers, was widely circulated last week. Israeli troops shot him dead today pic.twitter.com/MbUmF22m6j  Alex Kane (@alexbkane) May 14, 2018

A Palestinian on a bike with his young daughter ducks as an Israeli sniper bullet lands nearby pic.twitter.com/EuWDWHZGdb  Joe (@joedyke) May 14, 2018

Hamas and Hezbollah do embed themselves within the Palestinians. They are complicit in this crime against a subjugated people in the sense that they provide a nebulous bulls-eye for Israel to shoot at. They place strategic targets among the populace, then dare Israel to shoot. Under Netanyahus leadership, Israel has gleefully done so, destroying any moral high ground they claim to have on this topic. Even if their militarys assertion that Hezbollah has hundredsif not thousandsof installations embedded within the Palestinian people is correct, it doesnt excuse Israel from blindly shooting civilians in the hope that theyre on Irans payroll.

This whole conflict is utterly depressing, especially for Jews like me who grew up with tales of our ancient people that now sound like what the Palestinians presently endure. It doesnt help that major American media like the New York Times rarely attribute any malice to Israelas this dozens of Palestinians have died headline demonstrateswhich guarantees that casual news observers in the only country that can truly force Israels hand are ill-informed as to whats actually happening.

Palestine is stuck under the thumb of the United Stateswho treats Israel like a forward operating base in the Middle Eastand Iran, who is more than happy to provide fuel to the Palestinians suffering by sprinkling Hezbollah units among a legitimate movement who simply wants a home to call their own, just like the one the world awarded to the Jews in 1948. With the poor excuse for leadership demonstrated not just today, but over the past few decades in Israel, the United States and Iran, this tragedy looks certain to endure until at least 2048.

Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.We heard a lot about AI and machine learning at the Google I/O developers conference keynote May 9, but there was one word that didnt make an appearance on a slide: privacy. Unlike its heavyweight peers, Google didnt use its yearly spotlight to announce any changes to the way it tracks and collects your data. If anything, its doubling down on data collection with things like the Google Duplex project, which uses your phone to make Assistant-powered calls in the real-world.

While Facebook is trying to salvage its image in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Apple is positioning privacy as a fundamental human right, Google continues to walk a fine line between protecting and profiling our data. Google makes no secret of the importance of data in its machine learning and artificial intelligence projects. While the tools are available to limit it, it doesnt exactly advertise them either.

Unlike Apple, which puts a strict barrier between their customers and company, Google is up-front about up how much data it uses. Nearly every product and feature Google demonstrated at I/O was the direct result of the way consumers already use its products. Barring a Cambridge Analytica-sized revelation that some foreign entity is misusing it, data collection in all forms is not going to stop at Google. So unless you want to banish the search giant from your life completely (in which case you probably shouldnt buy an Android phone), youre going to have to relinquish a certain degree of your privacy.

You may have gotten an email from Google last week about how it is has improved the way we describe our practices and how we explain the options you have to update, manage, export, and delete your data. Thats due to the EUs General Data Protection Regulation that goes into effect next week, and its a welcome extension of its transparency. But make no mistake, Google isnt making any real changes to its privacy practices. Rather, its shifting the onus from the company to the user, and giving us a tough choice in the process.

Privacy as a right and a choice

There were audible gasps after the Duplex demo during the I/O keynote, and for good reason. For the first time in a non-scripted Hollywood setting, the crowd witnessed a fully realized AI bot calling a human business, interacting with a live person on the other end, and actually accomplishing a task, in this case making a haircut appointment.

IDG Google Duplex is amazing because of the data that drives it.

Had Google CEO Sundar Pichai not informed us that it was Google Assistant making the call, barely anyone in the audience would have known. Assistant had actual speech patterns and verbal tics. It responded to questions asked by the person on the other end. It exchanged pleasantries. In short, it had a real, human conversation. Theres nothing even close to that level of AI coming out of Cupertino, and I doubt Apples WWDC developer conference in June will change that.

Putting aside the potential for misuse, Duplex wouldnt be possible without the gobs of data Google collects from its users. But it also requires a loose privacy stance on behalf of the user to operate. For one, it needs location sharing turned on so it can find a number to dial. It needs access to your calendar to check for any conflicts. Its representing you in the real world. And most importantly, its learning intimate details about your personal life, and even something as seemingly innocuous as how often you cut your hair is valuable.

As it stands, these are permission toggles that most users wouldnt consider turning off. They help make things like Maps and Google Assistant work so well, and of course theyre not just limited to Android phones. Apple asks its users to turn on location sharing and permissions on iPhones as well, but the difference there is that most of the data doesnt leave your device. The parts that do are so encrypted and noisy that its impossible to trace it back to any one user. Google doesnt make the same promise.

As AI becomes more prevalent and mature, more users are going to look for ways to limit how much Google can see. But while theyll find surprisingly robust privacy options for your Android phone and Google account, but the price of flipping those toggles might be too high.

Data-driven value

Because data collection is central to Googles AI efforts, things dont work nearly as well without web and app activity and location history turned on. In fact, some things dont work at all when you try to lock down your account. Turn off location services, and Maps doesnt launch properly (or at all). Flip off the Voice and Audio Activity controls, and say goodbye to Assistant.

IDG Googles privacy controls come at a price.

So Google is giving us a very difficult choice. Where Apple has basically decided that privacy is more important than powerful AI for its billion-plus users, Google has taken a different tack. If you forgo its best-in-class AI and machine learning, youll alter the experience considerably. Dont like Gmail scanning your emails to provide smart suggestions? Fine, dont turn it on. Dont like personalized restaurant recommendations? Fiddle with your location settings. But you wont be getting the best possible Google experience.

This is part of Googles strategic privacy play. The onus is on the user to find and implement their own privacy controls. Privacy on a Google device can be as strong as it is on an Apple one, but Google sets up its model to steer users toward temporary privacy locksthings like incognito mode on Chrome and Do not disturbrather than the nuclear toggles on your Activity page. By typing Location History to Assistant, for example, Google is making the choice to turn off one of the most invasive trackers nearly impossible to make.

A question of responsibility

Google might not have mentioned privacy at its developers conference, but its still a major part of its policy. For a large part of the show, the concept of Digital Wellbeing was touted as a way to unplug from your phone. Thats the main crux of Googles privacy stance: You decide your own level of involvement.

IDG Google gives you lots of control over your account and data in your Activity page.

Nowhere is that better illustrated than in Android P. In addition to the Android Dashboard that lets you set limits on app usage and desaturates the screen when its time for bed, theres also a Lockdown option. Lockdown protects your phone from prying eyes by disabling Smart Lock, fingerprint unlocking, and lock-screen notifications. Its an extreme option for sure, but for Google, its no more extreme than turning off location services or activity. For everything to work, you need to trust Google to keep your data safe, and Google needs to trust its users to make the right choices with their privacy.

Apple has already made that decision for you. With Google, the choice is up to you. But the decision might not be so easy.Vote for the Gaylord Herald Times Player of the Week for 9/29-10/6It was a cold and grey day today in Olargues.

It was a mud spike kind of day in the morning, but many went back to dry tires half way through the day.

Mitch Ropelato's TLD Stage helmet gets the rainy weather treatment. Troy Lee has stated the helmet will be 700 grams and available in August.

Just a squid waiting on the shuttle.

Camille Servant was looking at top five this morning and finished in the top ten at the end of the day, not too shabby.

Camille was the privateer on fire here in France.

Riders only had one chance to visit the pits and repair broken bikes or switch out tires as the tracks began to dry through the day.

Kevin Miguel enjoys the dry rocks on the top of Stage 7 before heading into the wet and wild woods.

Thin was the section where lots of riders came undone, including Caro Gehrig who was just seconds off the podium.

Katy Winton took a huge slam on Stage 7, ending her hopes for a podium finish.

Martin Maes took third here in France and should only get stronger as the season goes on.

A rough weekend for Katy Winton. Winton finished sixth after fighting off a cold last week and a bit of trouble on course yesterday that pushed her way past the hurt locker to stay in the race.

Ruaridh Cunningham found the conditions to his liking and rode to 14th place.

Rocky Horror Stage.

Youn Deniaud had another impressive top 10 finish going until a flat pushed him back to 35th.

Rocks, mud, tight trees, and awkward French switchbacks were no match for Richie Rude this weekend.

Florian Nicolai was battling with Martin Maes all day for the final podium spot, but in the end he would lose out by just seconds.

Ines Thoma was happy to be back on the podium. Thoma finished third.

Faster than most dudes. Much faster.

Mckay Vezina gets a foot out on a slippery stage six.

Adrien Dailly finished second with two stage wins.

Rae Morrison navigates the tight trees on Stage 6.

A familiar 2nd today for Isabeau Courdurier, but she had to battle up from a few spots down on Day 1.

After missing the first half of the season with illness it was great to see Thomas Lapeyrie in 13th for the weekend.

Melanie Pugin was 4th by just a few seconds despite having to overtake slower riders on every stage of the weekend.

Martin Maes fought to the very end to claim the final podium spot on the last stage of the day.

Not the weekend Sam Hill was hoping for but he still holds onto the overall.

Eliot Trabac on Stage 6.

On the podium in 3rd for Ines Thoma.

Damien Oton checks the results after a long day on the bike. Oton finished fifth.

Richie Rude bleeding for his first win since Whistler in 2016.

20 minutes after the finish and this is the glamorous life of the best riders in the world as they await their turn at the anti-doping station.

Richie Rude back on top where he belongs

The trophies everyone is chasing in Olargues

Yesterday you saw Richie's half smile when he knew he had things under control. Today you get to see the real deal when he ends the weekend as the fastest in the world.

Once again it was Cecile Ravanel on top in the Women's race.

An American, a Frenchman, and a Belgian on top at round three.

Previously:

There was something, or rather someone, missing from the podium of the Enduro World Series this last year. Call it pressure, call it the curse of the champions jersey, call it bad luck, call it whatever you want. It was confusing that the most dominant man in the EWS for two years didn't seem to be near the podium. Being a man of so few words, we might not get that answer, and to be honest it doesn't matter now. What matters now is thatWhat was already an exciting EWS season just got gas thrown on it. It's quite possibly become a knife fight. The new king and the king returned, fighting for the throne. This is new beggings all over and it's going to be exciting to watch. Richie Rude came out swinging and rode like a man on a mission. Tires sounding tortured trying to maintain grip. With his early stage wins, he had a commanding lead, but the excitement got to him on the shortest stage of the race, costing him nine seconds. That said, he kept it together on day two after a night of rain turned these brutal French stages into tracks full of slick, treacherous teeth. Adrien Dailly would claim the second spot on the day and Martin Maes was back after injury in Colombia to take third. For Sam Hill, it was a race of protection. He rode conservatively and maintained his lead. In the women's race, Cecile Ravanel took the win again and Isabeau Courdurier took second after a bad crash in practice. Ines Thoma returned to the podium to take third place.It should be worth noting that coming into this round the was skepticism about the scandal that has surrounded the last round in France and penalties for infractions of rules of late. It was refreshing to see a round without the cloud of scandal hovering over its head. No major infractions were reported over the weekend. As for Olargues, itself, it's been a hell of a venue. Great people, gnarly tracks, superb racing and beautiful views. You can't ask for much better than that.Mentions: @EnduroWorldSeriesRichie Rude stormed his way back to the top of the podium at the third round of the Enduro World Series in Olargues, France, his first victory since Whistler in 2016. He was aboard a Yeti SB5.5, and if this bike could talk, it would surely have some wild tales from those eight stages of hard racing.



DH casing tires and CushCore foam inserts were installed front and rear to help ward off any flats or rim damage, necessary steps on a rocky course like this, and when you've got a hulk like Richie steering the ship.



Are we going to witness Richie return to his former dominance? We'll have to wait until the end of June, when the EWS travels to Slovenia, to find out.



Richie Rude // Yeti/Fox Factory Team

Age: 23

Hometown: Redding, Connecticut, USA

Height: 5'10"

Instagram: @richie_rude1/

//23Redding, Connecticut, USA5'10"When elder activists look back on how their movements have changed over the years, it often produces one of two reactions. There is sometimes a desperate effort to justify the losses of a movements early dynamism, which pitches the loss of idealism as the maturing of wisdom; that frames the loss of radical energy as a shift toward strategy; that tries to plaster over mainstreaming as simply the convergence and levelling out of ideals.

And then there is the other response: a disgruntled calling to task of those who co-opted and sold out; a devil-may-care calling out of those who have assumed positions of privilege on the backs of the oppressed; and a demand for both realistic assessments of the state of a movement and a return to its radical roots.

Martin Duberman, the prolific historian and activist who lived through most of the times and was involved with some of the groups he discusses in his book Has the Gay Movement Failed?, falls firmly into the latter category.

His argument is not so much that the movement has failed, as that it needs to re-focus and set its sights on a more radical agenda, particularly one that attends to the needs of poor and marginalized queer folk, which is to say the majority. Insofar as the most visible national LGBTQ organizations have pursued an almost desperately centrist agenda (even to the point of backing Republican candidates in recent elections), some might consider this a call to return to the movements roots, but Duberman is quite sober in his analysis of the ways that societal attitudes have changed since the 60s, and that a re-radicalization of the movement cannot simply aim to replicate the activism of those decades.

Dubermans book opens with a compelling, fast-paced and sometimes firsthand account of the growth of the Gay Liberation Front in the 70s, its achievements, personalities, and internal conflicts. The picture which emerges is that of a vibrant and diverse movement, which certainly had its share of racist and misogynistic moments (he describes some of these) but overall reflected a tremendous degree of solidarity among widely disparate participants and deeply idealistic, creative goal-setting and activism.

Duberman seeks to correct some emerging myths, for instance noting that the fight against racism and colonialism was always deeply embedded in the LGBTQ movement; he outlines some of the early links between gay activists and the Black Panthers, as well as Latino activists. He also charts the complex relationships between gay men and lesbians in the movement, along with the early prominence and subsequent exclusion of trans activists like Sylvia Rivera. While the narrative is fast-paced and sprinkled with fascinating detail, its not meant to be an exhaustive scholarly study but rather a broad sketch outlining how the movement went from a broad-based radical and idealistic movement to one narrowly focused on marriage and certain civil rights. As he observes, fighting for marriage rights would have been bewildering to many activists of the era who were excitedly inventing new forms of family and partnerships; and fighting for the right for gays to serve in the military would have been appalling to early LGBTQ movements, which were built in solidarity with the struggle against American militarism and imperialism both at home and abroad.

Importantly, Duberman argues that the shift on the part of large national LGBTQ organizations to an agenda narrowly focused on marriage and some civil rights was not a nefarious or even intentional plot. It was facilitated both by the complex ebb and flow of the earlier movement (and its shifting relationship with its social movement contemporaries such as the civil rights movement) but especially by AIDS, which devastated the activist base and also shattered much of the movements creativity and radicalism around sexuality and romantic/family partnerships.

Class Matters

Duberman offers a searing critique on the lack of class consciousness in todays mainstream LGBTQ movements. The exclusive focus on civil rights suggests an implicit acceptance of the hoary adage that you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Civil rights protections are important for LGBTQ persons, yes, insofar as they may reduce violence and overt forms of discrimination, but they will not improve the disproportionately high rates of poverty experienced by queer individuals.

The marriage campaign is misguided, Duberman argues, on two levels. First, because insofar as it seeks to extend marriages economic benefits to gay couples, it ignores the argument that those economic benefits ought to be extended to all Americans as rights of citizenship, not as rights conferred on a couple as a reward for getting married. And second, because it has contributed to the gay movements failure to understand that most gay Americans are working-class  and thats true whether class is defined by income, job status, or educational level. The chief issue for working-class gay people these days relate not to whether theyre deemed eligible for state-sanctioned wedding bells, but rather to matters concerning health care, homelessness, deportation, lack of full-time employment, low pay, and violence in the workplace.

What will improve things? Solidarity  acknowledging that the LGBTQ movement ought to work together with other communities and movements to tackle rising inequality and also other forms of oppression like the racism experienced by black Americans in almost every aspect of their lives.

Early radical LGBTQ organizing had that broader, intersectional agenda, he suggests. The Gay Liberation Front, for all its shortcomings, had never confused winning legislative and legal battles with the ultimate goals of the movement. GLF wanted more than incorporation into the status quo  more for the country as a whole, not just for gay people. It hoped to raise consciousness nationwide about ingrained American racism and imperialism, and it challenged as well a national mindset that equated heterosexuality with normalcy, the nuclear family with optimal human happiness, and dichotomous gender roles with divine intention.

Dubermans analysis is ruthless but forward-looking and one senses the exasperation he feels at the sorry state of both the gay left and the straight left. The gay left  the dynamic and energetic queer activists fighting to protect poor and homeless trans youth  are viscerally aware of the devastation that economic inequality is wreaking on LGBTQ communities, and are working hard to build communities of solidarity against those hardships, but they have no systematic strategy in mind for overcoming Americas growing inequality. Only a broad-based national movement to overcome inequality and the neoliberal capitalist myth of the American dream can succeed in lifting all boats, so to speak  poor queers as well as Black Americans, Latin immigrants, the broken white middle and working classes, and all the rest.

This is where the straight left ought to come in (Duberman is particularly impressed by the left thinkers and activists associated with Jacobin magazine), since theyre the ones working hard to develop a coherent broad-based strategy to challenge capitalism, build a socialist movement, and resist the elitist oligarchy into which the US is descending, yet their problem is they seem oblivious to the presence of the LGBTQ community, particularly as a potential movement ally. The large national LGBTQ organizations, for their part, contribute to this divisive gap in their own unintentional way, pooling massive sums of money and resources yet failing to develop any truly stirring vision for what to do with it. Instead, many of them exist in their own bizarre bubble, using their funds not to support poor and homeless queer youth but to endorse the election campaigns of mainstream Democrat and even Republican legislators, with dubious outcomes.

These movements need urgently to come together, Duberman argues, and shares some broad thoughts on what the challenges and bases of solidarity could be. Mainstream national LGBTQ organizations need to broaden their vision and agendas to include anti-racism and anti-colonialism, poverty and inequality, and trans rights. The straight left needs to reach out to the gay left and include it in whatever blueprint for a new society it is building. And the gay left needs to recognize the need for a broad-based, systematic strategy for challenging inequality in America and transforming the class structure.

Born That Way?

Duberman delivers a wide-ranging critique; one that is almost too wide at times. Hes at his strongest when contrasting current movement organizing with that of the 60s and 70s, when discussing the lack of contemporary activism around poverty, classism, and racism in the LGBTQ community and the contrast between substantive critiques of marriage and the family in previous decades and todays embrace of the heteronormative institution of marriage.

More ambiguous are the portions of the book caught up with discussing the thorny question of nature versus nurture. He reviews extensively the scientific and psychological literature on what leads one to become gay  genetics? Brain structure? Societal upbringing? Conscious choice and desire? At times its not clear what the point of this discussion is, since the only conclusion to draw is that there is no conclusion. As he notes, this is perilous terrain, the battleground of warring camps of armed ideologues. For every study suggesting people are born that way theres a raft of equally strong arguments refuting it. Arguing a genetic origin for homosexuality has been seized on by many as a powerful justification for equality, but its a double-edged sword. Suggesting that people have no conscious choice in their sexual identity takes the agency away from the individual, and opens the door to allowing homosexuality to be defined by scientists, not the people living their experience first-hand. This can (and has) led to right-wing scientists arguing homosexuality is accompanied by other genetic traits such as mental illness, and offers new ammunition for those who believe homosexuality should be exclusively a discussion about science, not about identity or rights.

Already conservative politicians are turning the scientific argument against trans youth, deploying scientific studies to undermine the long-standing use of hormone blockers and other treatments. Regardless of what the scientific evidence says, the fact is trans youth overwhelmingly say hormones and hormone blockers help, and the question becomes once again one of whom we should listen to: scientific evidence or first-hand experience? The point of this is that science can (and has been) easily harnessed in the service of politics, and is a shaky basis on which to build a human rights agenda.

Moreover, the very inconclusiveness of the nature versus nurture debate underscores Dubermans larger point, that the gay movement ought to be a movement about rights, identity, and consciously reshaping societal norms. To seek refuge in the conventionally-sanctioned expertise and authority of science is to abdicate our obligation to take responsibility for the decisions we make both as individuals and as a society, and for the rights and choices we seek to establish or protect.

One of the aspects of early LGBTQ activism, which is often awkwardly ignored by proponents of gay marriage, is its focus on up-ending societys sexual norms. This aspect of the movement is often swept under the carpet by todays professional activists; treated as either the immaturity of youthful radicalism, or at worst a dangerous form of deviance. Duberman bravely points out it is neither. Exclusion from the heteronormative institution of marriage freed early LGBTQ activists to critique its many shortcomings, from its roots in patriarchy and misogyny to its implication in capitalism and the class war. Moreover, it enabled those activists to experiment with a variety of other forms of family and partnership structures. This creativity, he argues, is important and good for society, especially a forward-thinking society that wishes to consciously improve itself, rather than reify age-old institutions which may have already exceeded their best-by date (if they ever had one). By embracing gay marriage, activists wind up co-opted into preserving societal norms that their predecessors interrogated for good reason.

This is also the case with sexual norms. Duberman points out, for instance, that responding to sexual abuse by strengthening laws against sex with minors has had the perverse effect of criminalizing many youth for consensual relationships. Its part and parcel of the LGBTQ movements co-optation into reifying the sexual norms of mainstream, heteronormative, patriarchal society: instead of treating sex as something that people of all ages should feel free to talk about freely and openly, and instead of encouraging sexual expression, society continues to treat sex as a taboo subject which must be strictly regulated by legislation. This returns to his broader point: LGBTQ organizing against heteronormative norms of sexuality in the 60s and 70s wasnt (or wasnt just) about gaining acceptance within those normative structures, but about transforming and improving them for everyone.

Timely Warnings

Historian Robert Beachy, in his fascinating 2015 history Gay Berlin, tells us that in 20s and 30s Germany, internal polling within the Human Rights League  a German gay rights group founded in 1924 on the principle of bringing bourgeois, middle-class respectability to the gay rights movement of that period  suggested a third of its members were voting for right-wing parties like the Nazis, despite the partys known aversion to homosexuality. [T]he many homosexual men who embraced the Nazi cause misapprehended the centrality of Nazi racialist doctrine and how homosexuality appeared to threaten it, he explains.

In 2016, the American LGBTQ lobby group Human Rights Campaign  the name an eerie parallel to its German precursor  endorsed a (subsequently successful) Republican candidate for Senate over a Democratic candidate who scored higher on their own report card, because sympathetic Republicans should be rewarded when sticking their necks out.

History doesnt repeat itself. But it rhymes, write Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt in their recent work How Democracies Die. Its a timely warning.

Dubermans book is an urgent and much-needed clarion call for the gay movement to reinvent itself for the 21st century. He covers enormous ground for a relatively short and broadly accessible book. Most urgent, perhaps, is his warning of what might happen if the gay movement fails to revitalize itself, and instead allows the elitist complacency of its national organizations to hold sway. The worst forms of institutionalized homophobia in North America and parts of Europe may have abated  and he gives credit to the mainstream national organizations for the work they have contributed toward this end  but it would be fatal to think this is necessarily a permanent trend. In much of the world, violent and state-sanctioned homophobia remains the norm. Even in America, homophobic and transphobic hate crimes remain common, bullying in schools is still rampant, and right-wing legislators persist in trying to undo the gains of the past several years. Most troubling, he discusses the impact that child socialization has on the formation of attitudes toward others. All it really takes is a generation raised on bigotry to undo the progress of the past couple of centuries.

The stakes are high, not just for the gay movement but for all of American society. The amount of suffering in this country, when compared to its resources, is iniquitous, writes Duberman in a rousing conclusion. If we are ever to reduce it, we must combine with allies who we dont love but who share with us a common enemy  the countrys oligarchic structure, its patriarchal authority, and its primitively fundamentalist moral values we must engage with our own dread and trepidation of the other, and join forces for the common good. Will a sufficient number of outsiders prove gallant enough to run the gauntlet, to stay steadfastly in place when the dragon spits the full force of its fire in our direction?One of the most astonishing stories of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union involves a trumpet. Or, really, many trumpets.

In 1956, tensions between the worlds two nuclear superpowers were on a knifes edge. A popular uprising in Hungary led to a Soviet invasion, for example. Both the United States and the USSR were being led by new leaders (Eisenhower and Khrushchev), with thermonuclear warheads hanging in the balance.

When Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. disobeyed the wishes of his government to attend the Bandung Conference of newly independent Asian and African states who were generally seen as not only anti-colonialist but also aligned agains the United States, few expected him to return as a hero. But having argued in favor of American values relative to the communist USSR and Peoples Republic of China, Powell returned to congressional applause. Which is one reason why the State Department was listening carefully when he suggested that the nations best weapon in the Cold War was not nuclear but musical. Specifically, he suggested that the United States send trumpeter and bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie abroad as a cultural ambassador.

This is how the Jazz Ambassadors program started, a topic that is explored in nuanced detail in a new documentary film, The Jazz Ambassadors, by Hugo Berkeley, which was first broadcast on PBS on 4 May and is currently available for streaming.

Representing America with Honest Patriotism



The film explores a key tension in this remarkable program, which paid Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bennie Goodman, Dave Brubeck, and many others to travel to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South Asia, the Far East, Africa, and South America in an attempt to promote US values, particularly in the huge swath of non-aligned nations that were recently liberated and also predominantly non-white. The Soviet Union sneered at U. claims of moral superiority on human rights and democracy by pointing to American racism. Who better, then, to represent the US than its dynamic, brilliant, and celebrated practitioners of jazz, the nations original art form?

From the start, the film shows, the musicians were actively negotiating the complexity of their being used to argue for progress in combatting racism when they were well aware that their country remained a place where African-Americans were still the victims of ingrained and institutional discrimination. Gillespies tour, the very first in 1956, was criticized in openly racist terms by members of Congress and citizens even as it was a success, attracting huge, admiring crowds across the world. Armstrong, the most internationally famous jazz musician of the time, initially refused the State Departments invitation because of the Eisenhower administrations slow reaction to Governor Faunuss refusal to integrate the Little Rock, Arkansas schools in the wake of Brown v. Board of EducationBrown v. Board of Education. The Jazz Ambassadors does an outstanding job of seeing these complications through the eyes of the musicians, the State Department, and audiences around the world. The real question of the film, explains the director, washow did the musicians reconcile this dilemma of being patriotic and being honest to their own struggle?

A critical source and inspiration for the film is the book Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War (Harvard University Press, 2006) by Penny M. Von Eschen. Director Hugo Berkeley came at this project as someone very interested in African independence and decolonization. I had this idea to make a film about African music at the time of decolonization. I was in Africa for the 50th anniversary of independence and saw pictures of Louis Armstrong playing with E.T. Mensah in Ghana. I wondered how that came to be. I read Pennys book and realized what a rich story the Jazz Ambassadors was.

Von Eschen appears as an expert commentator in the documentary, providing analysis and context. Her book explains in detail how Eisenhower and his secretary of state John Foster Dulles saw race as Americas Achilles heel in winning the ideological part of the war and came to realize that cultural diplomacy involving African-Americans (and their art) could counter that. But Von Eschen does not see the musicians part in the program as cynical.

The musicians created something completely different than what was assumed by the government, she explains. The musicians brought a buoyant sense of democracy to the tours, and thats really whats successful. While some musicians involved were highly skeptical of US foreign policy and others were more in tune with an American need to win the cold war, they all saw it as a great venue for musicand most also saw it as a vehicle for the civil rights struggle at home.

The weapon that we will use is the cool one.  Dizzy Gillespie (PBS)

Why The Jazz Ambassadors Makes Sense Today

The current moment doesnt mark a significant anniversary of this program, but the timing seems right for this film, agree Berkeley and Von Eschen.

There is a very genuine and understandable nostalgia for this because things are so horrific right now, suggests Von Eschen. That the U.S. would want to understand another culture? That these utterly brilliant, creative people were representing the U.S. and that their work was a big part of the culture? The idea that things werent always this way and that creative people could have a place in diplomacy is enticing.

Berkeley notes that the film is more relevant now than in 2012 when I set out to make it. We find ourselves in a new cold war era, with Russia and the U.S. squaring off in many different ways again. Its also a period of increased racial tension in the U.S., with issues coming back that we thought were resolved and the rest of the world is wondering how the U.S. is struggling with that.

The film highlights the fact that the program began under a Republican administration. Eisenhower was impressed by the fact that a foreign tour of Gershwins Porgy and Bess featuring African-American performers had been a big hit, and he had advisors around himnot only Dulles but also Senator Fulbright, Edward R. Murrow of CBS News, and Congressman Powellwho convinced him that culture could be an important tool for foreign policy. Berkeley says, It makes you reflect on the role of the people who surround a president and, today, who might be doing that?

According to the film and Von Eschens book, there was a wide range of attitudes inside the State Department at the time, including foreign service officers who well understood the point of view of the musicians. When some officers offered to brief Gillespie on how to respond to questions about racism in America that might arise on the tour he is said to have responded, Ive got 300 years of briefings on how my people have been treated. The tour went forward. To acclaim.

The musicians, Von Eschen explains, were not following a script. And that may account for the appeal of the story in 2018. And, in an era when the US government as run by Donald Trump seems deeply skeptical of diplomacy writ large, leaving an unprecedented number of embassies understaffed, the subject of bold cultural diplomacy may simply hit a nostalgic note.

The musicians were bringing their own creativity to U.S. diplomacy in a stark contrast to todays racist, xenophobic rejection of culture and lack of respect for other human beings and what they think, says Von Eschen. It is only a trick of nostalgia if this is just longing for the past, but if there is a recognition that this was an edgy, creative moment, perhaps all of us can be inspired by the deeply creative actions in the past.

Duke Ellington (PBS)

The Magic of the Music Itself

As much as anything, The Jazz Ambassadors underlines the fact that the music itselfjazzan art form created from a collision of African rhythms and sensibilities with European forms, was just the right bridge across many cultures.

Berkeley, in a couple of key places, allows the music to play and to tell the story on its own. There were two things I wanted to do in making the film. First, listen to the musicians and their music. They are the emotional core of the film. Second, as much as possible, I tried to let the music play and to give each musician their moment to be themselves musically in the film. The most emotional musical moment is, surely, when Louis Armstrong plays the classic Fats Waller song Black and Blue for the president of Ghana, who is brought to tears by an African-American story that universalizes racism to a global level. Though this moment was not part of one of the State Department-sponsored tours, it demonstrates perfectly how the jazz musicians honesty about their situation, embodied by the music itself, was the finest diplomacy possible.

Beyond the politics of the musicians lives, these tours also highlighted an art form that has proven to be globally beloved and globally adopted. Von Eschen reminds us that jazz had become well-known around the world partly because of Willis Connivers Voice of America broadcasts, particularly in the USSR and the Eastern Block. She also notes that the American musicians themselves often experienced their music as an international music, and their travel reinforced that. Before the tours they were already involved in music from around the world. The trumpeter Clark Terry declared jazz an international music, she notes.

Darius Brubeck, a jazz pianist himself who accompanied his father, Dave, on his State Department tour as a child, believes jazz has a special position as a global phenomenon. I see evidence of there being a local jazz scene everywhere. Whats really important is that people are playing it.

Brubeck explains that several things are inherent in the musics history, traditions, and structure that made it ideal for crossing borders. A big part of the jazz tradition, he notes, is great flexibility and openness. That adaptability comes with a shared set of touchstones as well, he points out, but this common knowledge creates opportunities for flexible expression. There is a shared knowledge of repertoire, of standards that everyone knows. Classical music has a similar thing, but wherever you hear Brahams Fourth, it is Brahams Fourth. Whereas Stella by Starlight can be fast, slow, boppish, and so on. Within the music itself there is a flexibility of expression. A virtuosic saxophonist can play with a middling pianist, and it still can work together. You can be a contributor to that performance, providing something valuable. Your only job is to play what you play and to be yourself.

This openness and curiosity was present in the musicians on these tours, Von Eschen believes. The musicians are so curious about what they can learn, what they can bring back to their music, how they could interact. Jazz works to engage with other people. Its call-and-response and improvisation, its conversational structure makes jazz communicative and transformative.

Additionally, the inherent flexibility is not defined by any one culture. The reason jazz continues is because its really a variety of styles that are available, explains Brubeck. I have all of the past available to me when I play. I can draw on just about any music Ive ever heard. A James Brown lick might pop up while Im playing My Funny Valentine. And these references are trans-national, global. Brubeck adds that jazz has a lot of hybridity built into it, with many streams feeding into itrhythms that are rooted in Africa, for example, and even Arabic musicif you listen to the melisma on top and the swing underneath it, you hear a jazz flavor.

Berkeley identifies another element that helped to make jazz so translatable in the 50s and 60s. It spoke to a sense of modernism. It wasnt the old classical tradition, he explains. In many countries it was allied to political change. In Eastern Europe it was connected to modern political change. In African, the colonial regimes were connected to military music, but at the ground level you had music bubbling up that looked to jazz. Jazz was the African soundtrack to liberation.

Brubeck agrees. Jazz has always expressed social and political viewpoints. We are usually thinking of instrumental music, so jazz is not generally reliant on words. It is less reducible and therefore can be deeper, more direct from the source. You cant misunderstand the sounds coming from a trumpet the way words might be misunderstood.

Jazz is a modernist form, notes Brubeck, and is historically related to urbanization. I spent years in South Africa, and jazz was completely how people signaled that they were urban creatures, people who are used to dealing not just with a village but with a city with different ethnic groups and languages.

In Poland, the music is directly related to liberation. I was in Poland twice this year, explains Brubeck, and so much of whats happened in Poland since 1958 can be referenced to the 1958 tour that Dave was on in that country. If you go to the Solidarity Museum, you see the cover of a 1958 concert program talking about the beginning of Westernization, reaching for freedom via Voice of America. It planted an aspiration for freedom.

A Future for Musical Diplomacy?

With this film now out in the world, it seems fair to wonder if there is a future for jazz diplomacyeven in a world where jazz no longer stands as a form of popular art.

Theres other music that is more popular today, Brubeck says, but only jazz has that instant communication between people who dont know each other. Today, he notes, jazz really isnt American anymore. Its nothing exceptional to meet a Swedish jazz musician or a Japanese jazz musician. Its really a shared art form. Maybe its not a universal language, but it is universally accessible.

Von Eschen recently talked to someone who does cultural affairs programming at the the State Department today. Its a totally different world. Today its driven by the embassies out in the world. She adds that the role of culture in diplomacy is complicated by the fact that, in the current era, diplomacy is under fire. But it probably always has been. This way of reaching out to other cultures was always embattled.



The Jazz Ambassadors may play some role in reigniting a place for this music in reaching others. I hope the film will connect with audiences once they get to see it, says Berkeley. I hope it will start a conversation. The score for the film was written and played by a 12-person band. We hope to screen it at global jazz festivals and then do some educational workshops bringing the musicians from our band to work with local musicians.

Was the work of the jazz ambassadors ultimately successful? The Cold War may not have been won by trumpets and clarinets, but a network of global musicand conversation through that musicwas most certainly fostered.

Berkeley notes that there is a global network of jazz festivalsand every community without fail has its jazz enthusiasts. It may be more true today than it every was.Charleston, SC (29403)

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Defibrillator Market

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Defibrillator market Projected to generate significant sales for the market players over the forecast periodWhy having defibrillator in the common places will bring a change in the death rate?Defibrillator is used to prevent the sudden cardiac attack. Heart muscles require continuous supply of blood for proper functioning. When the supply of blood to the artery is decreased cardiac arrhythmias and heart attack may occur. Specially used for ventricular fibrillation and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia. These conditions occur due to the disruption of normal electrical impulse that controls the heart rate and pumping action. Defibrillator sends an electrical current to the heart which is used to restart the normal functioning of heart. Defibrillator treatment is given for the patients only when there is a high risk of sudden heart failure or sudden cardiac death. Normally Defibrillator used for outpatient.Defibrillator market growth is taking pace due to rapidly growing geriatric patients who are very susceptible to cardiac diseases, increased incidents of cardiac diseases, technological advancements in defibrillators, and growing awareness in sudden cardiac arrest. Two of the most important advancements are development of automated external defibrillator (AED) and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).Free sample of this report is available upon request @Defibrillator market is divided into-1. Product type Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillatorso Single Chamber Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillatoro Dual Chamber Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator External Defibrillatoro Manualo Automatedo Wearable2. End-usersHospitals, cardiac clinics and home care.Free TOC of this report is available upon request @And on the basis of geographical regions defibrillator market is segmented into following regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to major share in defibrillator market mainly due to the well-established healthcare infrastructure and increase in incidence of cardiac diseases and obesity. Furthermore, factors such as increased awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and other heart diseases in the U.S. contributes defibrillator market growth in North America region. Asia-Pacific region is expected to be fastest growing due to increased obese patients, people with cardiac diseases, rapid development in healthcare infrastructure coupled with increased government and public spending on healthcare especially in emerging markets like India and China. Increase in awareness about utility of defibrillators in the Middle-East, especially in U.A.E and the support from government is contributing to growth of defibrillators market in Middle East and Africa region. On the contrary to above growing factors, situations such as frequent product recalls, increase in pricing pressure on players, and lack of awareness about sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) are hampering the market of defibrillators.Some of the important players in defibrillator market include Medtronic (U.S.), Abbott Laboratories (U.S.), Asahi Kasei Corporation (ZOLL Medical Corporation) (Japan), LivaNova PLC (U.K), Physio-Control, Inc. (U.S.), Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan), BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG (Germany), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), and Boston Scientific Corporation(U.S.) to name a few. In 2016, Life-Assist, Inc. Partnered with Koninklijke Philips N.V. to distribute its automated external defibrillators and patient monitors in the western U.S. Similarly, in 2016 USFDA approved Medtronics Visia AF single-chamber implantable cardioverter defibrillators for tachycardia management.Need more information about this report @Defibrillator market is very dynamic in nature. Defibrillator market is dominated by very few players, hence to enhance their sales revenue, companies are adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, collaborations and partnerships. For e.g. in 2012, Asahi Kasei has acquired ZOLL Medical Corporation for approximately $ 2.21billion to expand their healthcare business globally. Similarly, in 2016, Aurora Resurgence, an affiliate of Aurora Capital Group (Los Angeles), a U.S.-based private equity firm acquired the assets of Cardiac Science Corporation. Various defibrillators manufacturers, non-governmental and government organizations installed public access defibrillators (PAD) in private and public places such as airports, malls, and schools in U.S., Australia, Canada, U.K and UAE to increase their adoption.Get access to full summary @PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 15:01:18

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Frontier Lithium Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Sudbury, Ontario (FSCWire) - Frontier Lithium Inc. (TSX Venture:FL). has issued a press release with the following headline:Frontier Lithium Announces $2 Million FinancingTo 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 Frontier Lithium Inc., 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/Frontier Lithium Inc.Source: Frontier Lithium Inc. (TSX Venture: FL, OTC Bulletin Board: HLKMF, FWB: HL2, WKN: A2ANKZ, ISIN: CA35910P1099)Date: May 14, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Frontier Lithium Inc. 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.)Global bionic ears smarket Projected to generate significant sales for the market players over the forecast period

Global bionic ears Market

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Global bionic ears smarket Projected to generate significant sales for the market players over the forecast periodA growing market of bionic earsGlobal bionic ears market: A bionic ear is an electronic device that is designed by electrically stimulating nerves in the inner ear of deaf patients to produce hearing sensation. It consists of a receiver-stimulator implanted below patients skin behind the ear and sound processor. These processors stimulate the inner ears nerves which send signals to the brain where these signals are interpreted as sound. The bionic ear is beneficial for people who are suffering from severe, profound or total loss of hearing. Standard hearing aid devices work by amplifying sound, but it is only useful for people with the partial loss of hearing not for people who are deaf or have profoundly impaired hearing. Loss of hearing is associated with the damage or other abnormalities in the tiny sensor hair cells present inside the cochlea or inner ear. To overcome such conditions bionic ears are used.In the geriatric population, there has been a rapid rise in the prevalence of hearing disorders that will fuel the growth of bionic ears market. Hearing disabilities caused in new-born babies is a major cause of concern. Bionic ears are used to aid infants with hearing disabilities. Other factors such as availability of better infrastructure, better diagnostic facilities, increase in awareness among the population, and technological advancements in the field of bionic ears have positive influence on the market growth. Fear of malfunction of these devices and high cost associated are restricting the growth of bionic ears market. Furthermore, regulatory requirements for bionic ears also hampering the growth of the market.Free sample of this report is available upon request @The global bionic ears market can be categorized as-1. Device type Bone Anchored Hearing Aids Cochlear Implant2. End-usersFree TOC of this report is available upon request @Hospitals, clinics and research institutes.And lastly on the basis on the geographical regions, global bionic ears market is categorized into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America has the largest share in the bionic ears market due to the better diagnostic facilities and increase in awareness among the people about hearing disorders in this region. Europe and Asia-Pacific stand next on line, this is mainly due to the large patient population, vast technological advancements in bionic ears, and increase in income of the individuals. Countries such as China, Japan, and India in Asia Pacific and Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, and France in Europe are at the forefront of the market growth in these regions. Some of the major participants in the bionic ears market are Sivantos Pvt. Ltd. (South Korea), Cochlear Ltd. (Australia), William Demant Holdings (Denmark), Terumo Corporation (Japan), EKSO Bionics (U.S), Advanced Bionics AG (Switzerland), Sonova (Switzerland), MED-EL (Austria), LifeNet Health (U.S), Ossur (U.S)., Nano Retina Inc.(Israel) . In 2017, Cochlear Limited introduced Cochlear Nucleus 7 Sound Processor into the U.S. market and it was by USFDA. Similarly, in 2015, Advanced Bionics (AB), a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Sonova received the U.S.FDA approval for Naida CI Q90 and Q30 sound processors.Need more information about this report @Bionic ears market is expected to show considerable growth. As per WHO, more than 360 million people are affected by loss of hearing disability globally. Loss of hearing is one of the leading global disorder. According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), the prevalence rate of hearing disorder is growing with the age, which is affecting about 70% of people over 70 and 42% people over 50.Geriatric people are highly susceptible to loss of hearing that can affect their social life. Due to this factor, bionic ear market is expected show significant growth. Untreated loss of hearing among newborn can affect their entire life. As it can lead to impairment in speaking and affect their psychological abilities. But due to technological advancement and development of bionic ears, it is now possible to help these children. Also due to increasing awareness and better diagnostic facilities to detect the problem number of cases are being registered among newborn children. Research institutes such as Bionics Institute are aiming at improving the performance of bionic ears and function of hearing nerves.Get Full Summary@About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152  160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Toll Free (US): +1-866-598-1553Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.comGlobal Bone Grafts market projected to generate significant sales for the market players over the forecast period

Global Bone Grafts Market

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A boon to surgeries: Bone graft techniques and market studyGlobal Bone Grafts market: Bone grafting is a surgical procedure used to fix the bones or joints. Bone grafting is replacement or repair of bones which are damaged due to trauma or fractures with the help of bones from other body tissue. For example, in lumbar surgery bone from the donor site transplanted to recipient site to facilitate the fusion of vertebrae. The grafting tissue is necessary for osteoinduction, a natural bone healing process. The bone grafts are three types- autologous, allograft, and Synthetic bone. Autologous bone harvested from patients own body, often from the iliac crest. Sallograft is cadaveric bone usually obtained from a bone bank. Synthetic bone made of hydroxyapatite or other naturally occurring, biocompatible substances. Bone grafts have a wide range of applications in sports, trauma plastic, facial, and spinal surgery.Increase in the incidence of bone and joint disorders, technological advancements in bone grafts, development of biocompatible synthetic bone grafts, and an increase in demand for dental bone grafts are expected to boost the bone grafts market. People with diabetes are liable to suffer from joint disorders and osteoporosis and a person with obesity has 60% more susceptible to arthritis and other joint disorders. However, the high cost of surgeries and ethical issues related to bone grafting procedures expected to hinder the bone grafts market growth. A study conducted by BioMed Central, BMC Medical Ethics found that out of 100 patients, about 20% of the patients are not accepting allografts for their grafting surgery. The reasons for rejection was specific religious connections and people are not accepting bone from other animals for human benefit.A Free sample of this report is available upon request @Bone Grafts market is divided into following categories-1. Material type Naturalo Autograftso Allografts Synthetico Ceramico Compositeo Polymero Bone Morphogenetic Proteins2. Applications Craniomaxillofacial Dental Foot and Ankle Joint Reconstruction Long Bone Spinal Fusion3. End-usersFree TOC of this report is available upon request @Hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and dental clinics.And lastly, on the basis of geographical regions, global bone grafts market is divided into following regions-North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is leading the market owing to the increased number of geriatric patients, raising awareness about commercially available bone graft products among key stakeholders, high healthcare expenditure, and well-developed healthcare infrastructure in the region. Europe market is mainly driven by the increased prevalence of the bone diseases and favorable regulatory environment. Developing economies such as China and India are expected to show tremendous growth due to factors such as increasing medical tourism and companies expansion, and growth in healthcare infrastructure in the countries. In the Middle East and Africa region, South Africa is considered one of the largest markets due to the availability of the larger patient pool.Need more information about this report @Some of the key players in global bone grafts market include Olympus Corporation (Olympus Biotech Corporation) (Japan), Wright Medical Group N.V. (BioMimetic Therapeutics) (U.K.), Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (DePuy Synthes) (U.S.), Stryker Corporation (U.S.), Regeneration Technologies, Inc.(U.S) , NuVasive, Inc. (U.S.), NovaBone Products (U.S), Medtronic.(U.S.) , Zimmer, Inc. (U.S.), and LifeNet Health, Inc. (U.S.) to name a few. In 2016, Dentsply International, Inc. and Sirona Dental Systems, Inc. were merged to form Dentsply Sirona International.Companies focusing on product innovations and line extensions to increase their market share. According to National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), it is expected that the number of cases with osteoporosis will exceed 61 million by 2020. In June 2016, AlloSource announced two new innovative demineralized cortical fiber allografts, the allofuse fiber boat and allofuse cortical fibers for use in a variety of spine and orthopedic procedures. Similarly, in 2016, RTI Surgical received regulatory clearance from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for nanoss bioactive bone void filler in Australia. Furthermore, Venture Capitalists and Government Organizations are actively involved in funding and encouraging the research activities.Get Full Summary Of This Report@About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152  160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Toll Free (US): +1-866-598-1553Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.comPR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 15:01:57

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for GreenBank Capital Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - GreenBank Capital Inc. (CSE:GBC). has issued a press release with the following headline:GreenBank Subsidiary Blockchain Evolution Establishes Xbook as a User Permissioned and Revenue Sharing Social Media PlatformTo 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 GreenBank Capital Inc., 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/GreenBank Capital Inc.Source: GreenBank Capital Inc. (CSE: GBC, OTC Pink: GRNBF, FWB: 2TL, WKN: A1W8UJ, ISIN: CA3935762029)Date: May 14, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of GreenBank Capital Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 20:00:00

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HONG KONG, May 13, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - Head of Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Mr Stephen Phillips, today (May 13) embarked on a visit to Israel and northern Europe to promote the latest business advantages Hong Kong has to offer.The visit covers Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen, where Mr Phillips will meet with business chambers and government leaders and speak at various business seminars. He will also meet heads of leading companies from a wide range of cutting-edge FinTech and technology sectors as well as the start-up communities.Mr Phillips said, "At this juncture, Hong Kong is turning a new page in its economic development in light of the opportunities brought by the national Belt and Road Initiative and the growth engine in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area. The business opportunities arising from the increased flows of people, goods and capital within the Bay Area will be immense, while Hong Kong as a strategic, international city will have a key role to play to help propel the growth of the Bay Area." He continued, "Hong Kong under the 'one country, two systems' principle offers an unrivalled edge including its geographical location, a vibrant business environment, a robust legal system, intellectual property protection, and deep, world-class financial and professional services, amongst others." "In recent years, the city has also offered new business opportunities in areas such as innovation and technology, creative industries, smart city and financial technology as well as biological technology. These advantages will provide companies and entrepreneurs looking to expand in Asia a solid platform to grow their business globally." During his first stop in Tel Aviv, Mr Phillips will meet with leaders in hi-tech sectors and speak at a seminar entitled "Asia at Your Fingertips" about opportunities resulting from the Bay Area development and other updates from Hong Kong business scene. He will also meet with the Head of Invest in Israel, Mr Eyal Eliezer.In Stockholm, Mr Phillips will speak at a Stockholm FinTech Hub seminar, as well as meet with officials of the Sweden China Trade Council and the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Sweden. Mr Phillips will also meet some of the leading tech companies notably in the augmented reality and cloud businesses. In Helsinki, he will speak at a seminar hosted by the Finland-Hong Kong Trade Association, and meet with heads of various companies. In Copenhagen, he will speak at a seminar hosted by the Copenhagen FinTech Lab and meet with heads of various FinTech companies.PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 11:18:02

HOUSTON, TEXAS, USA, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is joining members, partners and collaborators from around the world in a week-long celebration of facility management (FM). World FM Day, which falls on May 16 this year, recognizes the professionals who diligently work to ensure the global built environment is effective, productive, sustainable, safe and healthy.

FM is a global industry worth US$1.1 trillion annually and employing more than 25 million people. IFMA defines FM as a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology. More information about FM, including key educational and professional development tools, is available online at www.whatisfm.com and www.fm.training.

IFMA, working in collaboration with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), is recognizing the critical contributions of FM through a valuable collection of content, educational resources and giveaways happening throughout the week. This includes support for World FM Day events around the globe - such as World Workplace in Barcelona, Spain - as well as a series of educational webinars and access to the top FM industry resources from IFMA's Knowledge Library. Find details, including a full list of opportunities, online at www.ifma.org/events/wfmd18 and follow social media conversations throughout the week using the hashtag #IFMAWorldFMDay.

About IFMA

IFMA is the world's largest and most widely recognized international association for facility management professionals, supporting 24,000 members in more than 100 countries. This diverse membership participates in focused component groups equipped to address their unique situations by region (136 chapters), industry (16 councils) and areas of interest (six communities). Together they manage more than 78 billion square feet of property and annually purchase more than US$526 billion in products and services. Formed in 1980, IFMA certifies professionals in facility management; conducts research; provides educational programs, content and resources; and produces World Workplace, the world's largest series of facility management conferences and expositions. To join and follow IFMA's social media outlets online, visit the association's LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr pages. For more information, visit the IFMA press room or www.ifma.org.

About RICS

RICS is a global professional body. We promote and enforce the highest professional qualification and standards in the development and management of land, real estate, construction and infrastructure. Our name promises the consistent delivery of standards - bringing confidence to the markets we serve. The work of our professionals creates a safer world: we are proud of our profession's reputation and we guard it fiercely. See Global Media Contacts

Attachment

Jed Link International Facility Management Association jed.link@ifma.orgPR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 13:19:02

Odfjell SE has the pleasure of inviting investors, analysts, media and other stakeholders to attend our annual Capital Markets Day on Tuesday 5 June at 09:00. Main topic for this year will be chemical tanker fundamentals with focus on demand.

The Capital Markets Day will be held at Norges Rederiforbund, Radhusgaten 25, Oslo.

Agenda:

 Update on Odfjell's strategy by Kristian Mrch, CEO

 Industry leading margins & Returns by Terje Iversen, CFO

 A smarter Odfjell by Harald Fotland, COO

 Chemical Tanker fundamentals by Bjrn Kristian Red, Research

Attendees will also get an opportunity to tour one of our ships in Virtual Reality.

Light lunch will be served.

If you wish to participate at the presentation in Oslo, please confirm with an e-mail to inves-tor.relations@odfjell.com by 1 June.

IR contact: Bjrn Kristian Red, Manager Investor Relations & Research

Tel: +47 55 27 47 33

E-mail: bkr@odfjell.com

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: Odfjell SE via Globenewswire

PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 13:00:18

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for OneSoft Solutions Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Edmonton, Alberta (FSCWire) - OneSoft Solutions Inc. (OTCQB:OSSIF). has issued a press release with the following headline:OneSofts Machine Learning Solutions Showcased at Microsoft-Executive Briefing Center in Brussels for EMEA Oil and Gas ExecutivesTo 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 OneSoft Solutions Inc., 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/OneSoft Solutions Inc.Source: OneSoft Solutions Inc. (OTCQB: OSSIF, TSX Venture: OSS, WKN: A119HD, ISIN: CA68276J1021)Date: May 14, 2018Time: 7:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of OneSoft Solutions Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 17:03:01

Newcastle Upon Tyne HQ and London offices continue to expand to support strong business growth in the U.K. and worldwide

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, United Kingdom, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Performance Horizon, the leading global provider of partner marketing software for global brands, has hired an additional 18 people in its UK offices to support its strong business growth in the region and worldwide.

The recent Newcastle and London hires are:

Daniel Anderson, Assistant Accountant

Matthew Blackith, Client Services Executive

Simon Devine, Internal IT Manager

Christopher Dinning, Web Developer

Joe Durham, Internal IT Engineer

Paul Errington, Systems Administrator

Georgina Gray, Customer Success Manager

Daniel Hough, Senior Application Support Engineer

Jennifer Kilmartin, Information Security Manager

Jemma Learmouth, People Success Assistant

Hilton Riddex, Senior Application Support Engineer

Jeevan Singh, Internal IT Apprentice

Stephanie Thomson, Senior Client Services Executive

Elizabeth Thornton, Business Development Manager

Natasha Thuduwage, Finance Assistant

James Tuttle, Application Support Engineer

Ryan Walker, Business Development Director - EMEA

Stephen Young, Graphic Designer

"Our company got its start in Newcastle Upon Tyne and our second office opened in London not long after," said Performance Horizon CEO Mal Cowley. "As we continue our eight-year track record of growth and expand our business on four continents, our Newcastle and London offices play a critical role in delivering the industry's best partner management solution."

Today the company also announced it has made 9 new hires in the United States. These announcements follow Performance Horizon's previously announced growth in Australia and the Netherlands.

About Performance Horizon

Performance Horizon helps the world's leading brands build powerful business partnerships that drive extraordinary business growth. The Performance Horizon Partner Management Platform (PMP) is an end-to-end, SaaS-based solution for forming, managing, analyzing, and predicting the future results of partner marketing programs using artificial intelligence. Hundreds of the world's largest brands leverage our real-time technology to drive and manage more than $6B in sales across 214 countries and territories worldwide. To learn more about Performance Horizon and partner marketing, visit performancehorizon.com.

Media Contact:

Diane Anderson, WIT Strategy for Performance Horizon

415.254.9086

danderson@witstrategy.com

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: Performance Horizon via Globenewswire

PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 13:30:15

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for PPX Mining Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - PPX Mining Corp. (TSX Venture:PPX). has issued a press release with the following headline:PPX Provides PFS Update and March 2018 Bulk Sampling Results for Mina CallanquitasTo 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 PPX Mining 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/PPX Mining Corp.Source: PPX Mining Corp. (TSX Venture: PPX, WKN: A2APYX, ISIN: CA69354U1003)Date: May 14, 2018Time: 7:30 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of PPX Mining 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.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 15:30:17

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for ProSmart Enterprises Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Kelowna, BC (FSCWire) - ProSmart Enterprises Inc. (TSX Venture:PROS). has issued a press release with the following headline:ProSmart Announces Launch of Proprietary Engagement Technology that Amplifies Reach Across Social MediaTo 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 ProSmart Enterprises Inc., 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/ProSmart Enterprises Inc.Source: ProSmart Enterprises Inc. (TSX Venture: PROS, FWB: 1R6, WKN: A143NS, ISIN: CA83581Q1054)Date: May 14, 2018Time: 9:30 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of ProSmart Enterprises Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 11:01:01

Qualcomm Announces the Winners of the European Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship Program

Hotwire for Qualcomm

Hanna Pottker

qualcommde@hotwirepr.com

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, today announced the winners of the Europe Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (QInF) program. QInF is an annual program that focuses on recognizing, rewarding and mentoring the most innovative engineering PhD students across Europe, India, and the United States. The program is part of Qualcomms continued commitment to driving research and development and innovation across mobile technologies and beyond. Qualcomms leadership in areas such as 5G is the result of the companys innovation focus as it strives to push the envelope of whats possible in mobile. This program identifies and supports the next generation of leading engineers.

The Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship began in 2009, and has continued to grow with the addition of more universities, more candidates and expansion to our research centers internationally. This year, we received a record number of top-notch proposals that warranted serious consideration, said Peter Rauber, senior director of engineering at Qualcomm International, Inc. and the head of Qualcomms European research offices. Each delivered fresh, innovative, and leading-edge ideas consistent with Qualcomm Researchs high standard.

Rauber, who participated in the QInF Europe judging panel for a seventh year, continued, We believe that creativity, curiosity, and courage lead to great research. That is the key to harnessing ideas and creating new technologies. Our interaction with the QInF participants support that vision. Our goal is to enable students to pursue their futuristic innovative ideas.

After careful review, three winners were selected from all received applications for their outstanding proposals with Henri Rebecq from University of Zurich and ETHZ, Rakshith Shetty from Max Planck Institute, and Thomas Moerland from Delft University. Each winning student will receive $40,000 as part of the fellowship along with mentoring by a Qualcomm researcher.

Europe QInF program winners:

Henri Rebecq, supervised by Davide Scaramuzza, has been selected for his proposal: Learning Representations for Low-latency Perception with Frame and Event-based Cameras

Rakshith Shetty, supervised by Bernt Schiele and Mario Fritz, has been selected for his proposal: Learning to Controllably Edit Images.

Thomas Moerland, supervised by Catholijn Jonker and Joost Broekens, has been selected for his proposal: Double Uncertain Exploration.

For more information about QInF, please visit www.qualcomm.com/invention/research/university-rel

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180514005PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 14:38:02

Savage Saudi Arabia Delivers Locomotives and Equipment to Support Rail Operations at Saudi Aramco and Maaden Facilities

Savage Saudi Arabia

Troy Savage, +966 (0)13 859 0530, extension 108

SVP  Executive Manager

TroyS@savageservices.com

or

Jeff Hymas, +1 801-944-6584

Communications Director

jeffhymas@savageservices.com

Savage Saudi Arabia (Savage) has delivered a total of seven locomotives and two locomotive booster units from the United States to Saudi Arabias Eastern and Northern Provinces, to support rail operations at Saudi Aramco and Ma'aden Wa'ad Al-Shamal Phosphate Company (MWSPC) facilities. Savage will own, operate and maintain the two Tier-3 compliant, low-emissions locomotives delivered to Saudi Aramcos Wasit and Berri Gas Plants, in the Jubail area. Savage also delivered five GP38-3 locomotives and two booster units to MWSPCs new mining and processing plants in Wa'ad Al-Shamal Industrial City and Ras Al Khair Industrial City.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180514005

One of two Tier-3 compliant, low emissions locomotives owned by Savage Saudi Arabia and delivered from the United States to support Saudi Aramco operations in the Jubail area. (Photo: Business Wire)

The locomotives and booster units were imported by ship from Houston, Texas (USA) to the Port of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and hauled by tractor-trailers to their final destinations. Savage has an agreement to provide rail switching, track maintenance, and track signaling system operations and maintenance for Saudi Aramco at its Wasit and Berri Gas Plants. These services will help facilitate the transportation of molten sulphur by rail to MWSPCs facilities for use in producing phosphate fertilizers. On the receiving end, Savage is providing training for locomotive operations and maintenance to facilitate handover to MWSPC, who owns and operates the units.

The delivery of these locomotives highlights the continued emphasis the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is placing on the development of railroad infrastructure and diversification of industry, said Troy Savage, Senior Vice President and Executive Manager for Savage Saudi Arabia. Were pleased to operate one of the first industrial rail switching facilities in Saudi Arabia and are committed to providing excellent service for our customers.

About Savage Saudi Arabia

Savage Saudi Arabia is a joint venture between Savage Companies (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA) and Ahmad Nasser Albinali Holding Company (Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Savage Saudi Arabia provides expert refinery and industrial services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that include petroleum coke cutting and handling, sulphur handling, liquids loading and unloading, and rail switching. To learn more, visit www.savagesaudiarabia.com.

About Savage Companies

With more than 70 years of experience in hundreds of locations across North America and internationally, Savage is a trusted partner for safely moving and managing mission-critical materials with worry-free consistency and creating value for customers. Savage specializes in rail, truck and marine transportation, logistics, materials handling and other industrial and environmental services. Industries served by Savage include oil refineries, power generation, railroads, food and agriculture, oil and gas, mining, chemicals and petrochemicals, ports and terminals, and construction. To learn more, visit www.savageservices.com.

Note to editors: Additional photos available upon request.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180514005

Savage Saudi Arabia delivers seven locomotives and two booster units from U.S. to Saudi Arabia to support Saudi Aramco and MWSPC operationsPR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 14:04:01

DALLAS, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Server Density, a provider of proactive infrastructure monitoring for cloud, servers, and websites, is merging with StackPath, a leading secure edge services platform provider. Server Density enables users to monitor their websites and servers in the cloud or on-prem from a single console and API to easily diagnose problems, maintain uptime and maximize server performance. The service will be integrated and offered as part of the StackPath platform in the very near future.

"We're thrilled to have Server Density become part of our company. It's a perfect fit," said Lance Crosby, founder, chairman and CEO of StackPath. "StackPath has the highest commitment to providing our customers frictionless services, complete visibility into their solutions, and building strong relationships with the open source community and the industry at large. Server Density has followed the same commitments as it built exceptional technologies that are second to none and grew operations at cloud scale."

The Server Density monitoring agent is installed on millions of servers, collecting more than 12-billion metrics each day. The service has more than 100 official integrations with other solutions and platforms, processes more than 300TB of data per month and has availability probes in more than 28 different geographies. Its 1,000+ customers across 75 different countries span all sizes and industries, such as and including the UK's National Health Service (NHS), eCommerce company Firebox, and online game platform Stormancer.

"We created Server Density out of the frustration that monitoring tools were either too expensive, too complex, or both," David Mytton, Server Density co-founder and CEO said. "It's gratifying to see how well our tools have been received, not only by customers, but by developers and companies that have built on the code that we've open sourced. My team and I are excited to bring Server Density into the StackPath platform and accelerate even more evolutionary ways to leverage these technologies."

In addition to its monitoring service, in 2016 Server Density created HumanOps , a community that gets people talking about the human aspects of running infrastructure. Companies such as Spotify, PagerDuty, Yelp and Facebook have contributed to sharing ideas and best practices for life on call, dealing with technical debt, fatigue and stress at events around the world, including the UK, US, France, Germany, Poland and more.

"HumanOps is a brilliant and long overdue resource for cloud workers and companies. This industry is evolving faster than any before it, requiring operations of unprecedented scale and solutions at unbelievable speed," said Mr. Crosby. "It takes its toll on people-humans don't have a 100% uptime SLA. We're looking forward to doing even more with HumanOps as part of StackPath."

In December 2015, Server Density raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by SP Ventures. They previously had raised 50k from Seedcamp and funding from angel investors Christoph Janz, Dick Williams, Qamar Aziz, and others. Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed. Moving forward, the Server Density team in London will serve as the core of StackPath monitoring service team and London will become StackPath's European headquarters.

About StackPath

StackPath is a platform of secure internet services including CDN, WAF and DDoS mitigation built at the cloud's edge. StackPath services enable developers at organizations of any size to build protection and performance into any cloud-based solution-from SaaS to web publishing, gaming, media streaming and beyond-without needing cloud security and delivery expertise of their own. More than one million customers, ranging from early-stage companies to Fortune 100 organizations, use StackPath services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, StackPath has offices across the U.S. and around the world. For more information, visit stackpath.com and follow StackPath at www.fb.com/stackpathllc and www.twitter.com/stackpath.

About Server Density

Server Density offers SaaS-based scalable infrastructure monitoring to help businesses save time and money. With advanced server and website monitoring alerts, graphing tools and integrations with all major cloud service providers, Server Density's robust and scalable solution helps businesses and IT operations teams be more responsive to issues, make their websites faster and minimize downtime. Founded by David Mytton in 2009 and based in London, Server Density monitors mission critical IT infrastructure for more than 1,000 customers.

For more information, media and analysts may contact:

Susie McDonald

StackPath

VP Corporate Communications

susan.mcdonald@stackpath.com

503-806-3841PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 07:45:01

On 15 May 2018, the annual general meeting (AGM) in Statoil ASA (OSE: STL, NYSE:STO) will vote on the proposal to change the company's name, from Statoil ASA to Equinor ASA.

The Company expects to implement the name change from (and including) 16 May 2018. This entails that 15 May 2018 is expected to be the last day of trading on Oslo Brs under the ticker "STL". From 16 May 2018 (inclusive), the Company's shares are expected to trade on Oslo Brs under the new ticker "EQNR".

The Company will announce the result of the voting after the AGM on 15 May 2018 and expects to announce the implementation of the name change before 09:00 (CEST) on 16 May 2018.

The change of name and subsequent implementation and change of ticker on Oslo Brs is subject to the AGM's approval of the name change and formal registration in the Norwegian register of business enterprises (Foretaksregisteret). Based on statements made in support of the name change by the company's majority owner, the company expects the AGM to approve the proposal to change the company's name to Equinor ASA.

Subject to the AGM's approval of the name change and subsequent implementation, the new ticker "EQNR" is also excpected to be implemented for the Company's American Deposit Rights (ADRs) traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The exact date of change of ticker on NYSE will be announced separately, however implementation of the new ticker on NYSE will take place on 17 May 2018 at the earliest.

Contact persons:

Investor relations

Peter Hutton, senior vice president for investor relations,

tel: +44 7881 918 792

Helge Hove Haldorsen, vice president for investor relations USA,

tel: + 1 281 224 0140

Press

Bard Glad Pedersen, vice president for media relations,

tel: +47 91 80 17 91

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: Statoil via Globenewswire

PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-14 15:02:33

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Tasca Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Tasca Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:TAC). has issued a press release with the following headline:Tasca Provides Corporate Update on the Companys ActivitiesTo 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 Tasca Resources Ltd., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Tasca Resources Ltd.Source: Tasca Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture: TAC, OTC Bulletin Board: ECMXF, FWB: 3TA, ISIN: CA8765031031)Date: May 14, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Tasca Resources Ltd. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)As the first phase of the Nigerian Economic Recovery Programmes Focus Labs draws to a close, six core sectors were identified for the federal government to focus its attention if its objective to grow the economy is to be realised.

The Ministry of Budget & National Planning said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday that over a six week period between March 12 and April 22, the Labs held in Abuja focused on agriculture and transportation, power and gas and manufacturing and processing (including solid minerals).

The labs produced 67,200 man-hours of effort within a six-week period and involved 180 organisations including the relevant ministries, government agencies, authorities and private sector companies, the statement said.

Besides, it said, 20 syndication meetings were held with subject matter experts, including senior government officials, corporations and entrepreneurs during the period.

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, will preside over the Open Day on Tuesday as part of activities marking the close of the first phase of the programme to be attended by the lead sector ministers: Tunde Fashola, Chubuike Amaechi and Audu Ogbeh.

The ministry said each of the ministers would present the outcomes of the labs for their sectors and discuss the way forward.

The recommendations from the presentations are expected to address identified bottlenecks and unlock investments capable of creating new jobs in the country.

Focus Labs are designed as workshop-style closed-door investment fora between private sector and senior government officials.

They also served as a forum for detailed discussions and interactions to address some of the bottlenecks and inhibitions of additional business investments in the economy.

The Minister for Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, said during the period of the labs, participants had an opportunity to engage the government directly on the complex inter-agency issues that hinder investments.

The frank and open discussions between investors and nine cabinet ministers and their teams, as well as several agencies and departments, are a critical first step to building trust and credibility between the public and private sectors and harnessing important partnerships that will unlock key investments to diversify the economy and create wealth and employment, the minister said.Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson, Mohammed Momani, on Monday criticised the decision of the U.S. to open its embassy in Jerusalem, as the move would violate international law, local media reported.

In December, President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital and instructed the U.S. State Department to launch the process of moving the U.S. Embassy, located in Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem.

Mr Momani said, as cited by the Petra news agency, that the U.S. decision to open the diplomatic mission in Jerusalem violated the UN charter, as well as the UN Security Council resolution 478 that recognised East Jerusalem as an occupied city.

The minister said that Mr Amman would continue working together with its Palestinian partners and stressed the need of international efforts to settle the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Israel seized then Jordan-controlled East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War.

In 1980, the Israeli parliament adopted the Jerusalem Law proclaiming the entire city Israels undivided capital.

The international community does not recognise the annexation and believes the status of Jerusalem should be agreed with the Palestinians, who claim its eastern part as the capital of their future state.

(Sputnik/NAN)The UN and international rights groups have called on Sudan to pardon a 19-year-old girl sentenced to death after she killed her husband as he tried to rape her, saying that she is a victim of child marriage and acted in self-defence.

Noura Hussein is facing death by hanging after a Sharia court, which follows Islamic religious laws, found her guilty of premeditated murder for stabbing her husband as he raped her in April.

On Thursday, the court sentenced her to death.

The UN Women, UN Population Fund and UN Office of the Special Advisor on Africa on Sunday appealed to President Omar Hassan al-Bashirs government for clemency for Hussein.

Reports indicate that she was forced against her will into marriage at the age of 16. She was raped by her husband while his three male relatives held her down, said a joint statement.

Speaking as the voices of women and girls of the world, we plead with the government of Sudan to save the life of Hussein.

Noura Hussein said her father made her contractually marry her cousin when she was 16, but she refused to accept and sought refuge with a relative for three years.

She returned to her family home on the outskirts of the capital Khartoum in April this year after her father said the marriage was canceled, but found that she had been duped and preparations for her wedding ceremony were under way.

Hussein said she refused to have sex with her husband after the ceremony, but on the sixth day, he raped her as three of his male relatives restrained her.

The following day, he attempted to rape her again and as she struggled to stop him, she stabbed him, killing him.

Campaigners said Hussein sought help from her family, but fearing reprisals from her dead husbands relatives, her father handed her over to the police.

Husseins lawyers said they are preparing to appeal against the courts decision and have until May 25 to do so.

The case has attracted international attention.

Social media users on Twitter and Facebook are sharing her story under the hashtag #JusticeForNoura, and a petition on change.org has attracted almost 300,000 signatures.

Amnesty International has started a campaign asking people to appeal to Sudans Minister of Justice, Idris Ibrahim Jamil.

The courts are saying Noura is guilty of premeditated murder  even though she was defending herself from being raped by a man she was forced to marry when she was just a young teenager, said Amnesty International in a statement.

Sudan is ranked 165 out of 188 countries on the UNs Gender Inequality Index, which measures how women fare compared to men when it comes to access to health, education, political participation and employment opportunities.

UN Women says violence against women and girls is prevalent in Sudan. Marital rape and child marriage are not considered crimes in the predominately Muslim African nation.

(Reuters/NAN)A device discovered in a mosque near the South African port city of Durban where worshippers were attacked by armed men on May 10 has been confirmed as explosive, police said on Monday.

Police said the device was discovered on Sunday three days after the attack at the mosque by three men armed with guns and knives.

One person was killed after his throat was slit, and two others were injured.

We had a meeting with the explosive unit members, who briefed us on the device they had taken away yesterday.

They confirmed that its mechanism is explosive, Simphiwe Mhlongo, a spokesman for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation told eNCA television.

But at this stage they havent gone through analysing what chemicals it is made of.

Mhlongo said investigations were continuing.

South Africa is racked by violent crime and social strife rooted in poverty and glaring income disparities, but it is seldom associated with the Islamist militancy seen on other parts of the continent.

On May 10, an imam was killed by armed men who, stormed a mosque near Durban in South Africa, slitting the throats of two worshippers and the holy man before fleeing.

The group arrived with guns and knives, an emergency service official said this afternoon. The three attackers escaped in a Hyundai car on the outskirts of the eastern port city.

The attack on the mosques in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal occurred at 14.39 p.m.

Police said the men entered the large mosque after midday prayers and stabbed three people.

They further set certain rooms alight and fled in their getaway vehicle, police spokeswoman Nqobile Gwala said in a statement.

The motive of the attack on the three men is unknown at this stage. Verulam police are investigating three counts of attempted murder and arson.

Paul Herbst, spokesman for the private IPSS medical rescue service, told AFP that the imam who had his throat slit, passed away a few minutes ago due to his injuries.

There were three people in the mosque  a caretaker, a worshipper and the imam and they were held up by three armed men, Herbst said after visiting the scene.

(Reuters/NAN)The Kenyan Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) on Monday said that the governments plan to hire 100 Cuban doctors, was unethical because there are enough doctors locally.

President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to the deal to hire the doctors in 2017, while the plan was accelerated after his state visit to Cuba in March.

However Ouma Oluga, secretary-general of KMPDU, told journalists that there are 2,000 Kenyan doctors that require employment and 170 specialists have not been deployed by the Ministry of health.

We do not understand why a government would be creating employment for another country and not her own, he said.

The dispute reflects an attempt by the government to resolve the problem of inadequate healthcare provision that many medical professionals say has been left to fester by successive administrations.

According to official data, Kenyas doctor-to-patient ratio is one to 16,000, far below a recommendation of the UN World Health Organisation of one to 1,000.

The government said that doctors in far-flung hospitals lacked specialised skills, forcing patients to pay to travel to the capital Nairobi or abroad for treatment.

Media report says doctors say they are underpaid and lack equipment.

In March, four members of staff at Kenyas largest referral hospital were suspended for starting brain surgery on the wrong patient.

In 2017, the government granted doctors a pay rise promised in 2013 after a three-month strike.

Mr Oluga said KMPDU will not interfere with the government plan of importing doctors.

If the Kenyan government wants to bring Cuban doctors that are up to them he stressed.

The doctors are expected to arrive in June and each county should get no less than two.

They will work in a country where medical provision is split between central government and 47 county governments.

(Reuters/NAN)The trial of a white South African farmer who allegedly forced his black worker to eat faeces and then tried to drown him in a septic tank began on Monday.

Harry Leicester, as well as his wife and son, face possible charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, according to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the body that brought the case.

On December 9, 2017, the family allegedly forced an employee to drink litres of faecal matter before attempting to drown him in a septic tank on their farm, the SAHRC said in a statement.

It is alleged that the farm in question has been the site of continuous human rights violations, the statement added.

Disturbing testimony was heard in court on Monday, with SAHRC attorney Buang Jones tweeting that the farm worker, Joseph Mona, was repeatedly called racial slurs by his employer.

The farmer took a big jug, dipped it in the sewer hole and forced the complainant to drink its contents, he said. The farmer and his son then dragged Mona to a sewer hole.

Right to human dignity (and dignified existence) is not a practical reality for many farmer workers and dwellers in South Africa, Jones tweeted.

About 24 years after the end of apartheid, racism persists in South Africa, with multiple abuse cases shocking residents of the Rainbow Nation.

In 2017, two white South African farmers, Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen, got 14 and 11 years in jail, respectively, after they forced a black man into a coffin and threatened to set it alight. (dpa/NAN)The management of Emzor Pharmaceutical Company on Sunday said it would support the Nigerian government in the rehabilitation and treatment of persons affected by drug addiction.

The company also expressed delight at the decision of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control, (NAFDAC), to re-open the companys production line which had earlier been shut.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, the companys Group Managing Director, Stella Okoli, noted that the development was a good one.

The regulatory body had in the wake of criticism generated after the broadcast of a BBC documentary that exposed the dangers of widespread abuse of codeine syrups among Nigerians shut the companys factory.

The documentary, which drew reaction from many Nigerians, exposed how an official of the pharmaceutical company corruptly enriches himself through illegal supply of one of the companys addictive drug, Emzolyn with Codeine.

Apart from the company, two other pharmaceutical companies were indicted and exposed in the documentary. NAFDAC promptly announced that the company had been shut.

But shortly after the companys production line was shut down, NAFDAC announced that it had reversed the decision and reopened the factory.

Speaking on Sunday, Uzoma Ezeoke, the companys Executive Director, General Duties, said the factory was reopened after the agency carried out all necessary due diligence.

The company also promised to help in the rehabilitation of affected people.

Emzor will seek to make relevant and impactful contributions to the multi-agency discussions on the way forward that are sure to follow in the days and months ahead, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

From the limited depiction of rehabilitation efforts represented in the BBC programme, there is room for much support and improvement in the treatment and rehabilitation of persons affected by addiction.

Emzor said it commended the Nigerian government and the relevant agencies and NAFDAC for their prompt response to what is a serious matter of deep concern to all Nigerians.

We also commend the Federal Ministry of Health for their prompt response as all Nigerians called for action towards controlling the situation.

NAFDAC, after their inspections are satisfied that our manufacturing processes conform to all laid down procedure and we are a fully compliant company. Our company has been consistently compliant and we have valid Good Manufacturing Practice certifications.

This trust we have earned, through unrelenting hard work and commitment to the highest standards and best practices in pharmaceutical manufacturing. The events of these past two weeks have only served to further strengthen that commitment, it said.

Emzor believes in developing our youth through the Chike Okoli Foundation which was established in 2006 to promote healthy lifestyles and entrepreneurship, we have trained, influenced and touched the lives of millions of youth many of whom have graduated from the foundations Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies and are now running their own businesses, it added.Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Enugu State branch, has decried incessant attacks of its members and some patients by striking members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) in the state.

The state chairman of NMA, Cajetan Onyedum, made the disclosure in Enugu on Monday while addressing journalists on the lingering strike by the union.

The chairman appealed to medical directors in charge of hospitals to provide security for doctors and patients in various hospitals across the state.

Mr Onyedum said that there had been incidences of harassment of doctors in the course of discharging their legitimate duties.

He said that members of the NMA were not part of the strike and needed not be dragged into it.

We wish to state that the body of doctors in Enugu State is not part of the strike. They are on ground at their work places, ready to render their professional services to the deserving populace.

We condemn the uncivilised action of members of the JOHESU who molest patients that come to hospitals to access medical services to convince the world that the hospitals are not working, he said.

Mr Onyedum said that the leadership of the NMA in the state needed to put the issues in perspective to guard against the falsehood that the hospitals were shut, thereby throwing the entire health system into disarray.

We warn these elements to desist from harassing our members who go about their normal duties as any further attempt to assault members will be met with equal measure.

We call on the chief medical directors and medical directors in charge of hospitals in Enugu to take charge of the situation and provide security for the working doctors, he said.

The NMA chairman also called on the security agencies to deploy surveillance teams with a view to arresting lawless elements.

We stand resolutely by the position clearly outlined by the NMA national leadership in this impasse that relativity between the salaries of doctors and other professionals in the health sector remains sacrosanct.

The NMA in Enugu reassures the general public of its commitment to providing medicare to the citizenry, he said.

Onyedum urged patients to avail themselves of the medical services in the various health facilities in the state.

Meanwhile, NAN correspondents who monitor activities in some hospitals in the state reports that some doctors were seen performing skeletal services to outpatients.

At the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, doctors were attending to patients at the outpatient department.

A doctor, Chima Ibeneme told NAN that they only attended to new patients but not emergency cases like burns and casualties from vehicle accidents.

Mr Ibeneme however, said that they did not have accessories like bandages, drugs, and other medical items.

Some of the patients who spoke to NAN expressed dismay at the situation in the hospital and appealed to JOHESU to call off the strike and save lives of poor Nigerians.

(NAN)The All Progressives Congress party leaders in Agege local government area of Lagos State gathered at the council secretariat Sunday to blame a former council boss, Jubreel Abdulkareem, for the tragedy of yesterdays congress that led to the death of an official.

The deceased, identified as Nurudeen Olanose, was shot dead following violence that ensued after the partys local government congress.

The party leaders, led by Mudashiru Obasa, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, accused Mr Abdulkareem of being blinded by his ambition.

There is no crisis in Agege APC, no misunderstanding among the party leaders and party loyalists, Mr Obasa told journalists at a press conference at the council secretariat.

Ambition at times is a poison and I think what led to yesterdays crisis was a single mans ambition who is hell-bent to get what he desires either by crook or by force.

Before yesterdays incident, we got information that Jubreel and his squad have been mobilising thugs to invade Agege during the LG congress.

Mr Abdulkareem, however, pushed back vehemently on the allegation, insisting it was a witch-hunt because of his decision to defy the party leaders and contest for the ticket to represent Agege Constituency 1 at the House of Assembly.

Mr Obasa is the current representative of the constituency.

On Saturday, a witness told PREMIUM TIMES that the violence that led to the fatal shooting of Mr Olanose at the local government congress began after Mr Obasa arrived and his boys began shooting.

But the speaker insisted he arrived in the area after the killing.

I was rushing to catch up with the exercise, unfortunately for me, because I had to attend to other political issues, said Mr Obasa.

You know at a stage like this many people will be willing to become part of the executive at the local government and ward level but everybody cannot be executive officers of the party.

So most times you have to do a lot of persuasions, you have to console that being a party member is worthier at times than being an executive member, that was what I was doing unfortunately for me I got to the venue after the exercise had been completed.

Before we got there, the road has been barricaded, bonfires everywhere, bottles being thrown, but the sound of the siren on my escort dispersed the thugs, they went helter-skelter, when we got there, we had to mobilise other security personnel. So they had committed the crime before I got there.

The police in doing their job made some arrests, unfortunately, people who were arrested belong to Jubreel Abdulakareem, most especially his driver, Mr Bosun, and one Alhaja Kuku who was former chairman of Ward A, APC, in Agege.

The Agege congress

According to Ganiyu Egunjobi, the Chairman of Agege Local Government Area, the group led by Mr Abdulkareem attempted to frustrate Saturdays congress by using thugs to forcefully collect the original delegates list.

However, when it became obvious that the congress had gone ahead with a duplicate list, Mr Egunjobi said the thugs came to the venue of the congress to disrupt the process.

It should be noted that the congress had been concluded and the electoral officers, as well as security agents, have left the venue of the congress before the Jubreel thugs unleashed violence on innocent people both connected and not connected with the exercise, Mr Egunjobi said.

I was even back in my office when reports reached me that violence was being unleashed on the people.

Mr Egunjobi said the thugs belonging to Mr Abdulkareem had attempted to forcefully gain entry into the venue of the congress but were stopped.

It was when they were rebuffed by the security agents that they resorted to violence, the council boss said.

They unleashed violence on the people, delegates coming out of the venue and innocent passers-by outside the venue attacking them with dangerous weapons such as cutlasses, broken bottles, knives and even gun. It was in the process that one of them fired the shot that fatally ended the life of Olanose.

Mr Obasa identified one Bosun Adigun  whom he said is Mr Abdulkareems driver  as the person who fired the shot that killed Mr Olanose.

I got there after he was shot, he repeated.

One of the thugs either due to mistake of identification or inexperience on how to handle firearms led to the death of Mr Olanose who happened to be one of the supporters of Mr Abdulkareem.

In addition to that, I wonder what Jubreel thugs and others came to do at the venue because they did not participate in the ward congress and that was where delegates emanated from. So if you did not participate at the ward congress, there is no reason for you to be at the LG congress because you have no qualification to be part of the exercise.

So they came with the intention to disrupt the exercise which failed woefully.

Those present at the press conference include: Taofeek Adaranijo, member representing Agege Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives; Oluyinka Ogundimu, member representing Agege State Constituency 2 in the state House of Assembly; Samuel Adejare, state Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure; Owolabi Dada, the pioneer chairman of the local government; and Safari Adaranijo, the party leader in Agege.

They called for an investigation into the killing and for the culprits to be brought to book.

Im not a thug

When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Abdulkareem said he had nothing to do with the violence at the partys congress.

I dont know anything about what happened, all I know is that those that went there yesterday were the executives of the party and they were going there to do their constitutional right, what the party asked them to do, Mr Abdulkareem, who was the Agege council boss between 2008 and 2014, said.

I dont know whether it has become a crime for someone to aspire, because Im an aspirant contesting to represent our local government at the State House of Assembly Constituency 1 where the present Speaker, Obasa, belongs to. So that has been the problem, I dont know whether it has been a problem for someone to aspire.

Those who know me know Im not into thuggery, Ive never done it in my life. Let them go and interview those that were apprehended, they are exco members of the party, that by the constitution of APC are entitled to vote. And from the information gathered, they were disenfranchised from exercising their right to vote.

Mr Abdulkareem also distanced himself from Mr Adigun, the suspect arrested by the police for the shooting, saying he ceased to be his driver after the expiration of his tenure as council boss.

I was born and raised in Agege, go and interview people where I live, where I work, thuggery has never been my part of life. Those who have been engaging in thuggery in Agege, Agege people know them, those who have boys they are paying, he said.

Bosun Adigun is not my driver, hes a LG exco member. He was a council official, hes the one in charge of the ambulance of the local government.

While I was the chairman, he was the one driving me. Since I left, they have withdrawn him from me. He has a letter given to him where he was withdrawn from my service, and hes an LG executive member that has the right to cast his vote yesterday.

Im an aspirant contesting for a position, they (the Speaker and his group) are also at the other end contesting for the same position.

So they want to clamp down on everybody contesting, they want to have a single person. They appealed to me that I should not contest again but I said no, nobody can take my constitutional right from me, I have the right to aspire for any level I wish.The kidnapped teenage student, Leah Sharibu, will on Monday mark her 15th birthday in the custody of her captors.

Miss Sharibu is the only one of the schoolgirls kidnapped from Dapchi still with the terror group, Boko Haram.

It is now almost two months since the Nigerian government negotiated the release of the 105 abducted Dapchi girls.

About 110 students, including Miss Sharibu, were abducted from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, after their school was attacked by the Boko Haram on February 19.

Four days after their abduction, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to ensure the safe return of all the abducted students.

Mr Buhari also vowed that his administration would ensure the abductors of the Dapchi girls were apprehended and brought to justice.

I also instructed the security agencies to deploy in full and not spare any effort to ensure that all the girls are returned safely, and the attackers arrested and made to face justice, the president had said.

A month after their abduction, the federal government secured the release of 105 of the girls, following what was described by the Director-General of the State Security Service Lawal Daura as a series of behind-the-scene discussion.

Like the news about their abduction, controversial figures of the number of released girls emanated from official authorities in government, till a final information revealed the total number of freed girls to be 105.

Miss Sharibu, who would have been the 106th girl to be freed, was left behind for refusing to denounce her Christian faith.

The remaining four kidnapped girls were reported to have died at the hands of their captors, who entered freely into Dapchi town on March 21 to return the freed girls.

Miss Sharibus mother had fainted and became unconscious after hearing the news about her daughters situation.

In a statement shortly after their release, Mr Buhari pledged to ensure that, the lone girl was not abandoned.

The Buhari administration will not relent in efforts to bring Leah Sharibu safely back home to her parents as it has done for the other girls.

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Buhari is fully conscious of his duty under the Constitution to protect all Nigerians, irrespective of faith, ethnic background or geopolitical location and will not shirk in this responsibility, the statement signed by the Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu had said.

Three days after the release of the 105 Dapchi girls, the Inspected-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, was quoted as saying that Miss Sharibu may be released by her abductors.

I am supposed to go to Dapchi today, but because I learnt that that schoolgirl, Leah, may be released today, that was why I have to shelve my trip to the town, Mr Idris said.

Mr Idris however explained his stance when the girl was not returned.

Speaking also on the floor of the Senate; a senator representing Yobe State, Bukar Ibrahim, said on March 29 that Miss Sharibu, as well as the remaining Chibok girls still held captive would soon be free.

The same terror organisation had abducted 276 girls in April, 2014 at a boarding school in Chibok, Borno State, during the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

About 57 of the girls were later reported to have escaped while 107 girls have so far been freed by the group, leaving 112 of the girls still held captive, four years after their abduction.

Yet 54 days after the negotiated return of the Dapchi girls and 84 days after Miss Sharibus abduction, neither the federal government nor its security agencies have succeeded in ensuring the safe return of Miss Sharibu.

Signpost of GGSTC Dapchi

Reacting to the continued detention of Miss Sharibu, the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, (CSN) described her situation as a demonstration of increased hostilities against the Christian religion in Nigeria, as well as in other parts of the world.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday evening, the girls father, Sharibu Nathan, pleaded again with government to ensure the safe release of his daughter.

Up till now, we have not seen our daughter. I am asking the government to please try and bring my daughter back safe. They should please help us! Mr Nathan pleaded.

He thanked Nigerians, both Muslims and Christians, for their prayers and called for more supplications to ensure the release of his daughter.

I thank all those Muslims and Christians who have prayed for us. They should please say more prayers for my daughter, Mr Nathan added.

In a message by spokesperson for the Bring Back Our girls, (BBOG) group, Sesugh Akumeh, on Sunday night; the group said Miss Sharibu would have been marking her 15th birthday on Monday (today).

PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Nathan who confirmed the information to be true. Yes today is her birthday, Mr Nathan said.

While Nigerians expect the government to ensure Miss Sharibus release, it now appears certain that on May 14, 2018 when she should be celebrating her 15th birthday with family and friends, she is still with her captors.Theophilus Abbah, managing editor of Daily Trust newspaper, is one of Nigerias most regarded investigative journalists renowned for giving voices to the voiceless and helping the oppressed, the cheated, and the abused get justice. But in mid October 2017, Mr Abbah himself felt extorted and could do nothing about his own situation.

Mr Abbah was at the time planning a trip to Johannesburg to attend the 10th Global Investigative Journalism Conference which held November 16-19 of that year. To process his visa for the trip, the reporter dashed to the Abuja office of VFS Global, a private firm to which the South African High Commission and a number of other embassies in Nigeria have outsourced their visa processing services.

VFS charged Mr Abbah N34,270.00 for a three-month visa. But what irked the journalist was the breakdown of the payment he made. When I saw the breakdown of VFS service charge, I felt cheated because the cost of the product is so low while the service charge is very high, he told PREMIUM TIMES.

The VFS service charge is three times the Visa fee. This is exploitative. I dont understand why the service charge should be higher than the cost of the product I am buying. What value are they adding for them to charge so exorbitantly?

While Mr Abbah was fuming in Abuja, some of his Lagos-based journalist colleagues applying for visa to attend the same event were dealing with the same situation at VFS Lagos office.

Theophilus Abbah [Photo Credit: Theophilus Abbahs Blog]

Motunrayo Alaka, head of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, who coordinated the trip, said the four journalists got two rude shocks.

The first was that the total amount they expected to pay from what was written on the organisations website and what they eventually had to pay was higher by about N9, 000, Mrs Alaka said. The second shock came as they got the breakdown of the costs which shows that while the visa fee itself is N8, 600, VFS charges N25, 270 for its services as the middle person.

I see this as a ripoff by VFS but more worryingly a lack of regulatory framework that protects citizens of Nigeria from such practices. On many counts, from the cost of goods and services to the process for accessing them, the Nigerian government encourages monopolies and often leaves the people to be cheated by various cartels.

But Mr. Abbah and Mrs Alaka are not alone in their discontent with VFS Global and its services in Nigeria. Months of investigation by PREMIUM TIMES show that widespread complaints of extortion and exorbitant service charges have continued to trail the operation of the company in Africas most populous country.

Ms. Motunrayo Alaka

Martins Obono, a frequent traveller, says he is no longer comfortable with the services of the company.

I think their services are a rip-off in the first place, Mr. Obono, an Abuja-based rights activist, told PREMIUM TIMES. Secondly theres usually no guarantee that your visa will be out as at when due.

VFS Global is an outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. The company manages visa and passport issuance-related administrative tasks for its client governments.

The firm works predominantly with a user-pay revenue model where it receives its service fee directly from the visa applicants, in addition to the visa fees which are remitted to the diplomatic missions.

Since most countries find it cumbersome to create visa processing desks in their embassies, VFS global now serves as the courier man between those that want to travel and the diplomatic missions of the countries they are travelling to.

Basically, the company collects, manages and processes visa documents submitted by prospective travellers and passes the applications to the embassies who then issue the visa. The company collects the processed visas from the embassies and delivers to applicants from which it received the original applications.

VFS is domiciled in Nigeria, processing visas for citizens who want to travel to mostly European and African countries such as UK, Canada, Belgium, France, South Africa, among others.

Belgium visa fees and service charges on VFS information Board.

To travel to any of these countries, applicants are forbidden from approaching their embassies directly, and therefore have no choice than to procure the services of VFS Global.

Being a monopoly in the market in which it operates, customers have often accused VFS Global of mistreating them, saying the firm has often indiscriminately hike its service charges as well as pose a lacklustre attitude in discharging the services paid for.

But what has irked customers the most appears to be the unbelievably high service charges the company receives from applicants.

For instance, when PREMIUM TIMES commenced this investigations in November 2017, the South African Visa fee was put at N8,600. But VFS was collecting an additional N25,465 as service charge, almost three times the visa fee.

PREMIUM TIMES put out a questionnaire on its social media handles asking Nigerians who have used VFS global to share their experiences.

While some of the respondents were of the view that the companys services were below standard and not commensurate with the service fees it charges, others said its services were good but needed improvement.

Their services are not bad actually but the fee they charge is on the high side, one respondent said. When you apply for Canadian visa and you are refused, you will be asked to pay for biometric and processing all over again which is not fair.

I paid N45000 for myself and N38000 for my son to Canada and still was rejected, another respondent said. They should reduce their charges and help to tell the applicants if their documents are likely to be accepted.

Some of the female staff are arrogant and the email and SMS alerts rarely come on time, yet another one said. Too many delays.

Fraudulent SMS fee

Mrs. Alaka of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism said, Another fraudulent part of the visa process as managed by the VFS is the charge for text messages. Applicants pay N400 for what must be golden text messages. I have paid this many times. The maximum number of text messages sent to the applicant is usually four. One to acknowledge receipt, a second to state that the application package has left the VFS office to the embassy, a third to announce that it is ready for collection and the last to document that the applicant has collected the package.

A disclaimer on the information board at VFS Abuja office. It says the company is not liable for SMS not sent.

Regular text message by service providers cost N4 per unit and bulk text messages can be as low as N2 by unit. Why then do Nigerians have to pay N100 each for four text messages by VFS? Again, I blame the regulators who allow this to happen to the detriment of the people. Going to another country is treated like it is a favour to Nigerians even though our visits contributes in huge measures to the economy of the receiving countries.

Most of the respondents surveyed also complained of not receiving SMS which the company charge them N400 for. I have applied for visas through VFS several times, said Musikilu Mojeed, editor-in-chief of this newspaper. Not once did they ever send me an SMS. They only sent me emails. Yet each time I applied, they compelled me to pay N400 for SMS.

In what appears a clever antic to avoid responsibility for SMS not sent or delivered, the company puts a loud disclaimer on its notice board at its Abuja Office

It is not the responsibility of VFS Global to ensure SMS service is received by the applicant, the notice read. Our obligation is to send the SMS and we shall not be liable for any SMS not received.

The activist, Mr. Obono, who regularly applies for UK visa through VFS Global, believes this is another way of exploiting people.

CSNAC goes angry

In July 2017, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) wrote to the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to investigate the activities and business operations of VFS Global for charging N400 for SMS.

In a petition to the director-general of the commission, CSNAC accused VFS Global of fraudulent, unconscionable and exploitative business antics.

VFS Global charge a mandatory SMS rate from visa applicants and the said service is designed in such a way that its not optional, thus stifling competition and imposing the excessively high rate on the applicants, the groups chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, said. This is in utter breach of consumers right to choose and access to variety of quality products and services at competitive prices.

The average amount chargeable by all communication companies for SMS is the rate of N4 (Four Naira) only and the said rate is way cheaper when utilizing bulk SMS service which comes at an average rate of about N1.50k (One Naira, Fifty Kobo) only. We are reliably convinced that VFS Global utilizes the said cheaper alternative.

On the whole, in a normal visa application, the SMS notification usually required to be sent is less than four SMS which at most will cost about N20 (Twenty Naira) only, leaving an excess of about N380 (Three Hundred Naira) unaccounted for, in an obvious exploitation of applicants and an overcharge aimed at depriving them of their hard earned money.

Similarly, the coalition identified the inefficiency of the firms SMS service, stating that, disturbingly, the said VFS Global Services and operation company in an overwhelming majority of established cases negligently and or fraudulently fail to send the relevant SMS to update applicants of the status of their application as promised despite the un-refundable payment made to that effect.

This is in a flagrant breach of consumers right to satisfaction of basic needs, as the said company owes a duty to ensure that their services meet the standard of quality promised such that there is value for money in the transaction.

On the above basis, we hereby demand an urgent investigation of the VFS Global Services.

Consumer Protection Council speaks

The Director General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Barr Babatunde Adekunle Irukera

The Director General of the Consumer protection Council, Babatunde Irukera, confirmed his organisation received the petition from CSNAC in addition to a myriad of complaints from other disgruntled applicants.

Mr. Irukera also said there was also a complaint by a customer who said he paid the N400 but did not get the SMS alert. So he did not know that his visa application had issues until he tried to go collect his Visa a few days to his travel.

From CPC standpoint, we believe that if people pay for something they must get the service they paid for, the official said. You ask people to pay for SMS service and you cannot disclaim whether they get that SMS or not. You have an obligation to demonstrate that the SMS was sent.

On the controversial VFS service charge, Mr. Irukera said although discussions on pricing must be handled with care, his organisation believes companies just cant charge anything they want.

We have some key issues we are looking at, the CPC official said. First, what option does a potential traveller or consumer have? Can you apply without VFS or directly through the embassies? So we will look at the fairness of what the service charge is compared to the service itself.

Ireland visa fees and service charges on VFS information Board. Denmark visa fees and service charges on VFS information Board.

It does involve some level of inquiry that a service charge for a product is higher than the product itself and we must make that inquiry.

What we are saying is that we will meet them and ask them their pricing formula. We will also look at other embassies that dont subscribe to VFS Global and see what they are charging and we will now make a conclusion whether the pricing is fair or if it is exploitative.

PREMIUM TIMES later reached out to Mr. Irukera to enquire if the meeting between CPC and VFS Global slated for January held.

We had a meeting with them in January and we conveyed all the complaints and demanded information and they are in the process of providing them, he responded. We have opened an investigation on this.

Sealed Lips

A VFS Global office

Repeated efforts to get VFS Global to comment for this story were unsuccessful.

An official of the company told our reporter on two occasions, There is nobody available to respond to your questions.

The telephone number listed on the companys official website failed to connect for months and multiple calls and SMS inquiries sent to it therefore remain undelivered.

Repeated visits to the South African High Commission in Abuja for reaction to the exorbitant service charge by VFS Global turned out a wild goose chase. A letter of inquiry duly acknowledged by the embassy on December 19, 2017 is yet to be responded to.

South African visa fees and service charges on VFS information Board.

But while VFS and the South African embassy continue to evade questions, those on the receiving end of the companys actions are calling for urgent action.

The ministry of foreign affairs should intervene and regulate that sector because although VFS is a private firm, it operates as a monopoly, Mr. Abbah of Daily Trust said.

Nigerians do not have alternatives. If there were alternatives and competition then people will have other options. I think Nigerians should be given more options and alternative other than VFS Global.The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Monday said that gunmen had attacked the guard post at the NAF Helipad at Igbodene in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, killing an airman.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the attack appears to be a resuscitation of the deadly confrontations in the resource-rich Niger Delta, which has seen a lull in recent years.

The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Olatokunbo Adesanya, who confirmed the incident in a statement in Abuja, said the attack occurred early on May 13.

In the early hours of Sunday, a group of unknown gunmen attacked the guard post at the Nigerian Air Force Helipad at Igbodene in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Although the NAF personnel on duty were able to repel the attack, an airman paid the supreme sacrifice in the process.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has ordered an investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident, Adesanya said.

The federal government has been battling militants in the Niger Delta for many years. The militants have been fighting to have greater share of resources in the area. (NAN)At least 41 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded when violence erupts near the Israel border with Gaza on Monday.

The death toll has continued to climb as Palestinians attempt to cross the border from Gaza to Israel, according to Israeli daily, Haaretz.

About 2,000 Palestinians were also injured, AlJazeera reports.

Protests on the border have escalated in recent weeks but suddenly descended into deadly chaos shortly before the formal launching of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem. President Donald Trump recently recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

An official opening ceremony for the movement of the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv is currently underway, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several top officials from the U.S. on the ground. Jared Kushner, an in-law of Mr Trump, and his wife, Ivanka, who is Mr Trumps daughter, are currently attending the event which is televised across the world.

Israeli troops intervened to prevent the Palestinian protesters from entering into Israel used tear gas and live ammunition, media reports said.

The soldiers keep Palestinians from scaling a fence across the border. Video feed circulating online shows protestors seeking to cross the border.

Some media reports said many children were among those killed and wounded. Israeli authorities said some in the crowds were throwing explosives or flying flaming kites into Israel.

Mr Trump addressed the audience via a recorded video and praised the decision to move the capital to Jerusalem.

Ivanka Trump unveiled the formal dedication and said she was delighted to pronounce Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The move is a fulfillment of a major campaign promise of Mr Trump, but it had been condemned by leaders across the world. Critics also feared that the development could further complicate ongoing peace talks in the Middle East.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has revealed it has plans to meet aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) known as the new PDP as part of its coalition movement following the outcry of the group in a letter to the chairman of the APC, John Oyegun.

Punch had reported that the chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, confirmed the desire of the party to meet the aggrieved APC members as they are ready to do everything legitimate with other opposition political parties, to wrest power from the ruling party.

The media adviser to the chairman, Ike Abonyi, also confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES over the telephone on Monday.

Members of the New PDP who moved to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013 and helped the party win the 2015 Presidential elections, lamented the lack of appreciation of their efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari and the party.

Leading members of this group are former governors of Sokoto, Aliyu Wamakko; Kano, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Kwara, Abdulfatah Ahmed; Adamawa, Murtala Nyako and Rivers, Rotimi Amaechi amongst others.

The group therefore gave a seven-day ultimatum for a meeting to be organised with the leaders of the party to address its grievances.

PDP is reaching out to all aggrieved members especially former members because they are doing everything to bring them back, Mr Abonyi said.

Speaking on where and when this meeting would hold, he said no date has been fixed yet.

The venue and date of meeting not yet decided but the party leadership is open to its returning members. As we always say the umbrella is big enough to accommodate everyone including new members.

However, the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, while speaking with journalists after the inauguration of President Julius Bio of Sierra Leone in Freetown on Saturday, assured that the crisis of the APC will be resolved soon.The All Progressives congress (APC) has declared any form of parallel congress held during any of its congresses as an exercise in futility.

The national publicity secretary, of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this known in a statement on Monday while reacting to news of parallel congresses in a some states.

There were instances of parallel congresses at both the ward and local government congresses held by the party.

During the ward congress, parallel congress were reported to have been conducted in Borno, Ondo, Kogi, and Kano.

After the just concluded local government congress over the weekend, a parallel congress was reported to have taken place in Oyo state.

However, the state secretary of the party, Mojeed Olaoye, dismissed the report of parallel congresses, describing it as illegal, null and void.

Mr Bolaji, in his statement, emphasized that the only congress recognized by the party is that conducted by the congress committee in accordance with the constitution.

The partys position is that there is no such thing as parallel congress. The only congress recognised by the party is that conducted in accordance with the party constitution, which was organised by the congress committee charged by the party to organise such congress.

We therefore regard any so-called parallel congresses as exercise in futility and attempt to cause confusion in the party.

The APC also reiterated that any party member who has any genuine grievances regarding the congresses should channel such through the appeals committee in their respective states.The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has indicted Nigeria for not adhering to its policy of fair gender representation to its delegation to the annual International Labour Conference in Gevena, Switzerland

Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) disclosed this while speaking at the Nigeria National Preparatory Meeting for the 2018 International Labour Conference on Monday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2018 International Labour Conference will begin on May 28 to June 8 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr Wabba who is also a Titular member of the ILO Governing Board said that the ILO has insisted on a minimum of 30 per cent women representation in the delegations to its annual conference.

From next session, the issue of gender representation will be top most. It was an issue that was discussed at the last Governing Board meeting and was agreed that the minimum acceptable will be 30 per cent women representation.

We are working towards equal representation. They said that Nigeria is a country that has not respected that provision.

From 2019, the Governing Board has made it mandatory that all the delegations, workers, employers and Government must reflect this very sensitive issue of gender representation. Many countries have actually exceeded that provision, he said.

He, however, said the meeting was important as it enabled Nigerian delegation to discuss and take a common position on issues to be discussed during the conference, especially as it relates to goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goal which deals with the decent work and the future of work.

He said Nigeria currently has the largest delegation going to the ILC from across the world.

Participating in this meeting in the last two years has enriched our participation, but we can do better. Many of our delegates participated in committee meetings last year, but not up to half of our delegation, but the participation has been very helpful. Even though we have gained some mileage, we can do better.

Nigeria is going as a delegation and so, the image of all of us and the constituents we represent is very key because whatever happens, Nigeria is the country that will be referred to and not the constituents.

Speaking, Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said Nigerias active participation at the 107th session of ILC is crucial based on the import of items lined up for discussion at the conference, which cut across key aspects of labour administration.

He said it is important for Nigeria to develop and articulate interventions that would make a meaningful and positive impact on deliberations and decisions that will take place at the Conference.

The ability to arrive at a common ground on all interventions would go a long way to ensure a successful outing for Nigeria, he said.

Mr Ngige made reference to the technical items placed on the Agenda by the Governing Board which include effective ILO development Corporation in support of the sustainable development goals, violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work.

He noted that others are, recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of social dialogue and tripartism under the follow-up to the ILO declaration on social justice for a fair globalization, 2018, and Abrogation of conventions Nos 21, 50, 64, 65, 86 and 104 and withdrawal of recommendations Nos 7, 61 and 62.

Also, ILO Country Director, Dennis Zulu, said Nigeria occupies a significant position in the ILO especially as a member of the Governing Board of the world body and challenged Nigerian delegation to the conference to put into consideration views from other African countries.

He said the first ILO office to be established on the African continent was established in Lagos in 1957 which is a clear indication of the importance the organisation attached to Nigeria and its participation at the conference.

He told the Nigerian deletion to prepare well to participate in every session of the conference.

Earlier, Chairman of the NLC International Relations Committee, Amaechi Asugwuna, said the meeting was called to enable Nigerian delegates to the conference discuss and arrive at a common position.A prosecution witness, Tosin Owobo, on Monday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that a team of eight operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigated a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu.

Mr Owobo made the statement under cross-examination at the resumed trial of Mr Amosu, a retired air marshal, who is facing fraud charges alongside two other officers of the Air Force  Jacob Adigun, air vice marshal and Gbadebo Olugbenga, a commodore.

Charged alongside with them are some companies  Delfina Oil and Gas Ltd, Mcallan Oil and Gas Ltd, Hebron Housing and Properties Company Ltd, Trapezites BDC, Fonds and Pricey Ltd and Solomon healthcare Ltd.

The witness, an operative with the EFCC, had begun his evidence in December 2017, as second prosecution witness (pw2).

On Monday, Nnemeka Omewa announced appearance for the EFCC, Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) appeared for the first and 11th accused, while Kemi Balogun (SAN) also featured as the defence counsel.

Cross-examining the witness, Mr Ayorinde asked: You described yourself as an operative with the EFCC in Lagos, so will you also describe yourself as an investigator?

Witness: As an operative, we also investigate all cases of Economic and Financial crimes, so I have been trained as an investigator.

Ayorinde: When did you train as an investigator?

Witness: From November 2014 to April 2015.

When asked if his training was limited to just five months, the witness replied: No, it is not limited, subsequently, the commission carries out periodic training of all its staff as it deems fit.

On whether he investigated the case of the accused, the witness replied: I and my team of the Special Tasks Force two, investigated the case.

According to him, the commission does not work in isolation but as a team.

He named the team which investigated the accused as PDS Ghali Ahmed, SDS Daniel Danladi, SDS Okukpe, ADS Tosin Owobo, Insp. Yunusa Abubakar, Insp. Obinna and DI Helen.

He said that since the commission worked as a team, he participated in all aspects of investigations, adding that the commission did not conduct raids but searches.

Mr Owobo told the court that he also investigated the sources of funds which flowed into the operations account of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).

When asked to identify three of such cash inflows, the witness said that on January 17, 2013, there was an inflow into the NAF account of the sum of N1 billion from the Ministry of Defence Headquarters.

He said that on May 15, 2013, there was an inflow from the Defence Headquarters of the sum of N100 million while on June 12, 2013, there was a NIP transaction of the sum of N18.6 million.

Mr Ayorinde: While doing analysis during your investigations, did you discover what purpose the inflow was meant for?

Witness: After we began our investigations, the NAF officers we had a discussion and he told us that they run operative functions with some of the funds in the account when they receive instructions from the Chief of Air Staff.

Mr Ayorinde: Did you ask the Ministry of Defence why the N1 billion was paid from the Ministry ?

Witness: I cannot remember.

Mr Ayorinde: On May 15, 2013, the defence headquarters paid in N100 million, did you find out what purpose it was for?

Witness: I cant remember.

Mr Ayorinde: On June 12, 2013, there was a transfer of N18.6 million, can you remember what it was meant for?

Witness: It was a NIP transaction, we did not inquire.

Justice Mohammed Idris has adjourned until May 15 for continuation of trial.

The accused were arraigned before Justice Idris on June 26, 2016, and had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr Idirs had granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each, with two sureties each in like sum.

They were charged with conspiracy, stealing and money laundering.

The accused were said to have indirectly converted the sum of N3.6 billion belonging to the Nigerian Air Force to their own use.

The EFCC alleged that the accused obtained over N323 million from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force between March 21, 2014 and March 12, 2015 which they claimed was for the purchase of some properties.

The offences contravened the provisions of Sections 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

(NAN)The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has condemned last week Fridays attack by suspected APC members on a High Court in River State.

The attackers, who blocked the court around 11 a.m that Friday, were believed to be members of a faction of the ruling All progressive Congress (APC), seeking to stop a judge from pronouncing a judgement in a suit filed by an opposing faction of the same party.

According to multiple sources who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, at least two persons were killed and others injured in the attack.

In the statement signed by Mr Onnoghens spokesperson, Awassam Bassey; the CJN said the attack could be visited on other courts, if not checked.

The Honourable, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Mr. Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, GCON, has been informed of an attack on the Port Harcourt High Court complex on Friday, 11th May, 2018.

According to the reports, this attack took place as Judges, Magistrates, staff and lawyers reported for duty at the said Rivers State High Court Complex in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. Judicial and non-Judicial staff were denied access to the Complex as all the gates had been padlocked and the buildings surrounded by hoodlums.

These hoodlums, who were said to be heavily armed, reportedly inflicted bodily harm to Judicial Officers and other staff of the Judiciary going about their lawful duties and destroyed some properties belonging to the Judiciary.

This action was aimed at stopping the Court from sitting and delivering a ruling in an intra-party dispute of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in respect of the Local Government congresses of the party in the State, the statement said.

It added that the action was disturbing.

This latest act of intimidation of the judiciary and the unwarranted violence against a peaceful institution of an Arm of Government is quite disturbing. More importantly, such show of shame ought not to be encouraged by right thinking members of the Nigerian Public.

The statement also expressed fears about further attacks as Nigeria approaches the 2019 election year.

If the enemies of our peace and democracy succeed or get away with what occurred at the High Court in Port-Harcourt, it would be a source of encouragement to them to do same to the Court of Appeal, and ultimately, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, whenever any one of them perceives that a judgment may be delivered against any of them or the interests they represent.

The Judiciary remains the last hope of man, and our Judges and Judicial Officers are called upon to remain true to their Oath of Office. They must remain focused, resolute, and courageous, regardless of the effort at intimidating them.

The Nigerian Public is urged to continue to have faith in the Judiciary of the Nation. Any person with a legitimate complaint against another person, organisation or institution is advised to employ the civilised and legal mode of redress as contained and guaranteed by our Constitution. Whoever is dissatisfied with the outcome of decisions of our Courts of Law has the right of appeal as Constitutionally guaranteed. The Judiciary will never fail in its duties.

Violence, the type visited on the Judiciary of Rivers State is alien to any civilised society and therefore condemnable.Former Nigerian Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, says the condition he found himself after his ouster from office in 1975 might have changed the attitude of Nigerian leaders to corruption.

Mr Gowon, a retired general who led Nigeria through three years of civil war during his nine year reign, was removed from office on July 29, 1975 by his junior colleagues while attending a meeting of defunct Organisation of African Union (OAU), precursor of the African Union (AU).

Recalling the events of that 1975 Monday morning, Mr Gowon said he had nothing apart from his salaries as at the time he left office.

The former leader who spoke at the Eighth Annual General Meeting and Conference for Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, joked that he did not prepare for the future.

According to him, it was some of my staff who attended the OAU meeting with me that contributed their estacode to let me have something to live on.

He said the condition he found himself was perhaps the reason why some leaders who came later decided to prepare for such times.

Mr Gowon said he and officials of his government did not indulge in corruption, and complaint of corruption against some of his ministers were appropriately treated.

Everything we had in the country belong to the nation, belong to the people and we must not touch anything, he said.

We made sure nothing like that happened, especially in the civil service, the former leader emphasised.

Mr Gowon regretted the action of some past leaders which gives all former Nigerian leaders a very bad name and image.

He however condemned generalisation regarding corruption accusations on the past leaders, revealing that he feels sad anytime media reports lump up all Nigerian leaders on the issue of corruption.

Although the succeeding regime of Murtala Muhammad did not find Mr Gowon personally culpable of corruption, it seized asset from 10 of his 12 military state governors deemed to have been corruptly acquired and dismissed them from the military.Days after 10 of its executive directors departed Nigeria after a three-day visit, the World Bank on Monday announced a fresh $8.8 billion (about N2.69 trillion) investment strategy in the country in the 2019 fiscal year.

The investments under the World Banks Nigeria Country Partnership Strategy (NCPS) would be executed through its affiliate financial institutions, namely the International Development Association (IDA) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

The announcement of the new investment strategy was contained in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES at the end of the directors visit to the country.

During the visit, the directors acknowledged Nigerias strategic importance to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region and its central role in the World Bank Groups regional strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria has been one of IFCs fastest growing portfolios and represents IFCs fifth largest global country exposure, with a committed volume of $1.6 billion, the bank said in the statement.

Nigeria is MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)s fifth largest country exposure in Sub-Saharan Africa, with $334 million in current exposure.

The delegation led by Patrizio Pagano, the Executive Director for Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal, San Marino and Timor-Leste, said they were in Nigeria to get a better understanding of the countrys development priorities with a special focus on the energy sector.

Apart from discussions with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, the delegation visited the governors of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Edo, Lagos, Taraba and Yobe as well as other senior federal and state government officials

Besides, they took time to review the security challenges in the North-east and Middle Belt regions ravaged by insurgency and conflicts between farmers and herders. They proffered suggestions on how to achieve environmental development in the areas.

Mr Pagano said the team was in Nigeria to get a better understanding of the country context, assess the World Banks interventions on the ground, and support opportunities that will keep the country on a path of sustained development.

We commend Nigerias implementation of its new Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP) and the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP) both of which are important for regional integration to ensure trade and capital flows, which will ultimately lead to greater growth, he said.

The team also met with beneficiaries of the World Bank-supported projects in agriculture, education, health, youth employment, community development, soil erosion and public financial management sectors.

It held separate meetings with representatives of the private sector, civil society organizations, diplomatic missions and development partners to understand their peculiar challenges.

At the newly commissioned Azura-Edo Power Plant in Benin City, the Group said the project, supported by IFC, MIGA and the World Bank, was a key initiative in the governments power sector reform agenda to boost the economy.

In Lagos, the team visited some of its micro-finance clients, mostly women, to interact with them and understand how the funds they received impact their livelihoods.

In an interactive meeting with private sector executives, the Group noted the role the private sector could play in job creation and inclusive growth.

They equally highlighted the need to sustain business reforms and provide affordable and reliable power to improve the living standards of Nigerians.

Emphasizing Nigerias continued implementation of institutional policy reforms, Mr Pagano assured of the World Bank Groups support to restore macroeconomic resilience and growth across sectors.

He reaffirmed the Groups commitment to supporting Nigerias growth in a way that is inclusive, job enhancing, and reduces poverty and inequality.

Critical to this inclusive growth objective is reforming the power sector, boosting critical investments in human development, and mobilising finance for development by creating a conducive environment for private sector participation, he said.A suspended lawmaker, Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central), has declared that the appeal filed by the Senate against the Federal High Courts judgment nullifying his suspension will not stop him from resuming his legislative duties.

He made this declaration to Punch Newspaper where he said the Senate and its President, Bukola Saraki, have only applied for a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal which has not been granted.

Last week, the senate announced it filed a notice of appeal and a stay of execution on a High Court judgement nullifying the suspension of Mr Omo-Agege.

Olu Onemola, an aide to the Senate President Bukola Saraki, made this known Thursday evening.

A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgement or another court order.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court gave the ruling nullifying the suspension on Thursday.

Mr Dimgba said the Senates decision regarding the suspension, as well as the pattern adopted by the National Assembly, was constitutionally defective.

He stated that the Senate has no power to suspend a senator for more than 14 days.

Mr Omo-Agege was suspended for 90 days by the Senate after he accused his colleagues of working against President Muhammadu Buhari by amending the Electoral Act.

The Senate said the suspension was not because of Mr Omo-Ageges comments on the election re-order but for his move of approaching the court over the matter.

Reacting to the Senates appeal, Mr Omo-Agege pointed out that the lower court made a declaratory judgment which had an immediate effect.

He also accused Mr Saraki of seeking the relief for a stay of execution from a court of law which he had allegedly ignored and gone ahead to approve his suspension. He said the appeal would not stop his resumption.

The judgment that was delivered by the court says that the court was nullifying my suspension with immediate effect. If they go ahead and apply for a stay of execution, no court has granted them that. Until that stay is granted, the nullification is with immediate effect. They have applied to have a stay but that stay has not been granted.

Two, the order of the court is a declaratory order. A declaratory order is not  stayable in law. The order that the court made, nullifying my suspension with immediate effect, is a declaratory order and it is not  stayable  in law. In any event that they apply for a stay, unless and until the court grants that stay, the judgement of the lower court is to take an immediate effect.

Three, the Senate President is in contempt of court because my action was pending in court but he showed a total disregard for the court and proceeded to suspend me while my case was in court. That by itself is contempt. The relief he is seeking from the court now  stay of execution  is an equitable relief. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. You cannot be in contempt of the court and ask the same court to grant you an equitable relief. His hands in law are soiled and dirty. Therefore, he is not entitled to an equitable relief in court, he said.

He further explained that based on his knowledge of the law, that purported suspension by the Senate has been vacated with immediate effect.

They have the right to appeal and they have already filed it. But they are not entitled to the equitable relief of stay of the courts judgement.

When contacted, both the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, and the Vice-Chairman, Ben Murray-Bruce, said they did not have all the details of the legal battle.

Mr Abdullahi had on Friday said the lawmakers would discuss Mr Omo-Ageges matter at the plenary on Tuesday. He said he could not confirm if the senator could resume or not.Nobel Literature laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said that for the fight against corruption in Nigeria to succeed, the frontline anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would have to take on some of the countrys former leaders.

He said until we make some of our leaders walk through those doors [of the EFCC new office] the fight against corruption would not have the needed traction.

Mr Soyinka spoke on Monday at the opening of a meeting of heads of anticorruption agencies from Commonwealth Africa which opens in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

Mr Soyinka said he was at the new office building of anticorruption agency at the weekend, to see what will he the modest hospitality for suspects.

The renowned writer said he asked the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, for the presidential wing of the cells, saying he asked out of his human rights concerns to ensure such personalities are well treated while in detention.

But Magu said they are an egalitarian organisation that treats peoples equally, he said to chuckles from the audience.

Mr Soyinka said all the money stolen by former Head of State Sani Abacha should be fully recovered.

He recalled making similar request at a Commonwealth meeting during the reign of Mr Abacha over some monies alleged to be shared as bribes to some leaders for the military leader to remain in power.

The Nobel laureate particularly made reference to a leader of a neighbouring country who, he alleged, collected millions for the purpose.

He urged the EFCC leadership and heads of other anticorruption agencies attending the meeting to help repatriate the money for Nigeria.

In his welcome address, Mr Magu described the presence of his colleagues from Commonwealth African countries for the meeting as an endorsement of Nigerias efforts against corruption.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari has kept faith with his promise not to interfere with the operations of the anticorruption agencies in the country.

However, Mr Magu stressed that the most valuable support you need to do this job is that of the masses admixed with the political will at the very top.

He said the meeting would avail the anticorruption chiefs the opportunity to share experiences and forge alliances that could subdue bureaucratic bottlenecks and red tapes in terms of cooperation.

He said the anticorruption agencies need to fraternise more closely because the criminals who collectively supply our raison detre have absolutely no qualms forging such cross-border operational alliances to perpetrate crimes and cover their tracks.

The Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland also picked on the point of cross-border collaboration as basis for the conference.

She said the Commonwealth Secretariat takes the issue of tackling corruption seriously because of the level of squalor and deprivation on account of corruption globally.

Quoting figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), Ms Scotland said Africa loses $148 billion per annum to corruption.

She therefore called for closer collaboration and peer reviews among African and other Commonwealth countries to tackle the problem.Security was on Monday beefed up at the National Assembly, Abuja, ahead of expected resumption of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege following Thursdays Abuja High Court nullification of his suspension by the Senate.

Strengthening of security arrangement at the complex, especially around the Senate Chambers is to forestall likely security breach as recorded on April 18, when some hoodlums stormed the chambers and made away with the Mace.

The incident which occurred while plenary was ongoing in the chambers was linked to Mr Omo-Agege, the Delta Central senator, who defied the suspension order on him and attended the proceedings, accompanied by some strange fellows into the chamber.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that apart from full security detail in the chamber of the red chamber on Monday, police officers were seen at the lobby leading into the chamber, a development that is unusual on a non-sitting day.

Sergeants-at-Arms were also seen in clusters discussing in hush tones, and apparently perfecting the security beef-up.

Some staff of the assembly, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that the development was not unconnected with the expected return of Mr Omo-Agege to the chamber on Tuesday after the court judgment in his favour.

They confirmed that the move to check likely break down of law and order as experienced when the mace was forcefully taken away.

Mr Omo-Agege had gone to court to challenge his 90 legislative days suspension by the Senate and the court in its ruling declared the action unconstitutional, saying that the Senate could not suspend a member beyond 12 days.

His suspension was based on is comment that amendment to section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), bordering on reordering of elections sequence was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari.

(NAN)The federal government on Monday said that it had restored 80 per cent of the electricity transmission and distribution installations damaged by insurgents in the North-east.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this in Yola, Adamawa State, while giving his opening remarks at the 27th power sector meeting.

He said that 33KV transmission lines in areas like Damboa, Madagali, Maiduguri, Damasak, Gombi, Mubi, Wukari among others, had been restored.

Mr Fashola said the restoration of the damaged transmission and distribution equipment was resulting in an incremental and improved supply to customers in the franchise area.

He commended the management of Yola Disco for the success recorded in the management of the company despite the declaration of a force majeure by the initial owners of the company.

Many of you will remember that in 2015, Yola Disco was the only one of the 11 privatised Discos that was given up as being unviable.

However, this government did not give up on the company. The government appointed Engineer Baba Mustapha to manage the Disco.

From reports we have received about performance and monthly ratings, it is obvious that Engineer Mustapha and his team have proven that Yola Disco is not unviable.

Mr Fashola said that the success story of Yola Disco epitomised change and spoke eloquently of the federal governments roadmap of incremental power.

It is obvious that incremental power is returning to the customers within the Yola Disco franchise, this was obvious from my first visit to inspect resumption of work at the substations.

The Maiduguri Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) substation, the Mayo-Belwa TCN substation and the installed distribution infrastructure which had been damaged by insurgents have become fully operational.

There are testimonies from customers and big-time farmers in Adamawa that they are getting regular supply from the national grid, the minister said.

According to him, Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi had reported during a road project inspection that most local governments in his state were getting 18 hours to 20 hours supply of power from Kaduna Disco.

This is what change means, and it is consistent with our roadmap of incremental power.

Mr Fashola added that efforts were being made to supply electricity to people yet to be reached.

He reiterated the federal governments planned intervention in the distribution value chain to help deliver the 2,000MW that was constrained by distribution equipment.

The minister said advertisements for quotation by original equipment manufacturers for transformers, breakers, and associated equipment compiled by the DisCos had been published.

Mr Fashola urged operators to brace up for demanding situations with the onset of the rains in the coming months.

The rains will bring more water supply to the hydro-electric facilities, and these will bring more challenges to transmission and distribution.

This will be by way of storms, heavy winds, falling trees, damage to towers, lines and installations,we must rise up to these challenges better than we have done in the past.

In the event of such challenges, operators should promptly issue notices when there are known damages that interfere with power supply.

They should promptly send out maintenance men to repair and replace damaged equipment or clear fallen trees.

They should also send information to the public on multiple platforms of conventional and social media to report faults, he said.

The minister urged the operators to make themselves available, ready, and willing to resolve customer problems and provide better service.

Earlier, the Managing Director of Yola Disco, Mr Baba Mustapha said the Disco covered 270 kilometers with active customers.

He said the management of the Disco had improved its distribution network and reduced the incidence of technical losses.

We have also increased our revenue collection by almost 200 per cent, the managing director said.

He said that Yola Disco was the first Disco to key into the federal governments `Customer Eligibility policy, adding that it had just commissioned a 33KVA for one of its large customer.

According to him, the Disco has also keyed into the Meter Provider Asset (MAP), as it was already discussing with a service provider to supply meters and end estimated billing of its customers.

Mr Mustapha commended the federal government, Yobe and Adamawa State Governments for their supports, saying that the state governments provided vehicles when it lost some of its utility vehicles to insurgents. (NAN)Traders in fairly used clothes, popularly known as okrika, in Mararaba, a commercial hub along Abuja-Keffi road, have expressed worries over the quit notice issued by the Nasarawa State Government.

Stanley Buba, Chairman of the Task Force on relocation, issued the notification on April 30 in Karu, during a meeting with officials of the Traders and Marketers Association and the National Union of Road Transport Workers.

Suleiman Hassan, chairman of the okrika traders association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that the state government through a special task force had directed that they vacate the area before May 15.

He added that the directive was hinged on governments efforts to free the road of the usual traffic gridlock on that axis, partly caused by trading activities along the busy road.

He, however, noted that many of the traders, who sell their wares along the road-side market, were not happy with the directive, alleging that it was sudden and without a proper alternative.

They have asked us to relocate to the newly commissioned Muhammdu Buhari International Market, Karu, Nasarawa; but the areas assigned to us is not properly developed the way it ought to be for convenient trading.

The allocated place is an open ground without structures, no shops or packing stores where we can keep our goods and will not be accessible by customers, meaning we cannot make sales there.

The raining season is here, and when it starts raining we do not have a place to take refuge and keep our goods for safety since they are clothing, he said.

Mr Hassan appealed to the state government to extend the ultimatum to allow relevant authorities in charge of the management of the new market to make it suitable for the traders.

The affected traders are to be relocated to the Muhammadu Buhari International Market, Karu.

(NAN)The Kano State House of Assembly has adjourned its plenary session from Monday, May 14, to the end of June.

A statement sent by the director of press to the speaker, Ali Bala, said the adjournment is to enable members prepare for Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and Eidel-Fitr.

The police has since sealed the Assembly and denied journalists access to house.

A staff of the assembly who pleaded anonymity told PREMIUM TIMES that the sergeant-at-arms had been brought to the house in the early hours of Monday, suspiciously to hide the mace.

The closure of the house came at a time when reports of plot to impeach the speaker, Abdullahi Atta, appeared in the media.

Mr. Atta was elected as speaker of Kano State House of Assembly following the resignation of Kabiru Rurum who was accused of corruption.The Judicial Service Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) in Anambra said its members in the Customary Court of Appeal (CCA) chapter would not return to work until deductions from their salaries were returned.

Mark Ifezue, Chairman of JUSUN in the state, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka, the state capital on Monday.

Mr Ifezue said over N14 million was deducted from CCA workers salary under the Contributory Pensions Scheme and Housing Fund but was not remitted to the appropriated agencies.

He said after over a year that the state government suspended the policy, deductions from workers salaries were neither remitted nor returned to them.

Deductions for contributory pension for about four to five months were not remitted to the fund managers and not returned to workers.

There is also the issue of housing fund which was not remitted to the Federal Mortgage Bank.

We are talking about over N14 million deducted from workers salary; for over a year the court refused to clear the matter after several meetings, that is why we resorted to strike action.

What workers are saying is that if it did not remit the deductions to the fund managers, they should return it to us, Mr Ifezue said.

He said it was unfortunate that while workers in the High Court had received their refund, the CCA had refused to respond to its workers demand.

He said the only condition for them to return to work was for them to refund the deductions made from them.

We have no problem with the state government because it did not deduct the money in question.

Our grievances are with the management of CCA which has refused to give us the deductions made from workers salary.

The state High Court has refunded its workers and the workers are happy, they are not on strike.

All we want is that management should get our money from wherever it kept it and refund us as soon as it does that we will go back to work, Mr Ifezue said.

However, Kenneth Nwoye, Registrar of CCA in Anambra, told NAN that there were industrial issues but refused to respond to questions.

Mr Nwoye said the president of the CCA was not in town and that he (Registrar) had not been cleared to make statements on the matter.

Thank you, it is good that we respond to these questions but I do not have clearance from my president to do so, he said.

The judicial workers began the strike on May 8.

(NAN)In line with the Enugu State Governments policy in education and the need to discover and assist intellectuals in the rural areas, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Monday granted scholarship to 340 indigent students of the Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo, Ezeagu Local

Government Area of the state.

Mr Ugwuanyi explained that 20 indigent students in each of the 17 local governments will benefit from the scholarship scheme, which will cover their tuition fees for four years of study at a total cost of N41.6 million.

The governor spoke during the maiden engineering day commemoration at the institution, where he inaugurated the newly constructed School of Engineering Complex sponsored by Arthur Eze and laid foundation for the construction of Julius Onah School of Management

Technology.

The event also witnessed the foundation laying ceremony of School of General Studies by the Deputy Governor, Cecilia Ezeilo, and conferment of Merit Awards to notable Engineers and other dignitaries, such as the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani; Member representing Udi/Ezeagu Federal Constituency, Dennis Oguerinwa Amadi; Barth Nnaji; Emeka Offor; Augustine Otiji and Vita Abba, among others.

Also speaking, Mr Ugwuanyi disclosed that the cardinal principle of the educational policy of his administration was the provision of access to qualitative education at all levels to all classes and strata of the society.

He stated that the event afforded his administration the opportunity to take a major step forward in the advancement of technology in the state especially at this time when technology has not only turned the world into a global village but has become the major income earner for many nations.

The governor said that his administration in the light of the above, implemented firm measures towards repositioning and revamping this institution to make it a prominent centre for Engineering and Agricultural studies and innovations in the country.

These measures included the revalidation of old programmes and accreditation of new ones by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) as well as the provision of critical infrastructure and necessary equipment, the governor added.

Mr Ugwuanyi, therefore, expressed delight that the efforts of the government towards the institution have been manifesting as the institution has developed at an amazing pace and has been attracting positive attention and reviews from regulatory authorities in the

country as well as stakeholders in the nations education sector.

Describing the School of Engineering Complex as a watershed in the history of the institution that would enhance its growth as a citadel of qualitative engineering and technological education, the governor commended Arthur Eze for his kind sponsorship of the project.

He also appreciated the commitment and diligence of the Governing Council, the management and the staff of the institution towards the actualization of governments vision for the school, and congratulated the award winners for the well deserved honours.

I use this opportunity also to reiterate the unflinching commitment of the State Government towards the realization of our collective aspirations for the institution and for tertiary education in Enugu State, the governor reassured.

In his welcome address, the Chairman of the institutions Governing Council, Chinedu Onu, expressed gratitude to Mr Ugwuanyi for effective funding of the school and increment of its monthly subventions, which he said saw us achieving this feat in a very short while.

He added that the Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo desires to become an institution of choice for Engineering and Technology development and to use the commemoration of Engineering Day to attract the attention of students as well as would-be students to this great field of study and practice.

The Rector of the Institution, C.J.C Akubuilo in his address announced that the school in keeping with the repositioning agenda of the governor, in 2017/2018 academic year, has joined other Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria to key into the Joint Admission and

Matriculation Board (JAMB) Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).

According to him, we are now recognised by other national regulatory bodies and agencies such as the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The Polytechnic has between September 2017 and March 2018, mobilized the first two sets of students for their one year National Youth Service.The Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has appealed to the 32 aspirants who contested Saturdays governorship primaries and lost to unite and defeat the Peoples Democratic Party at the coming governorship polls.

A statement by the party, issued by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, on Sunday noted that the primary election which produced the Minister of Mines and Steel, Kayode Fayemi, was a victory for all party members.

The party congratulated Mr Fayemi for his victory and commended the other aspirants for their conduct during the election.

It urged members and aspirants to see the outcome of the primary as a collective victory for APC and the people of Ekiti State who are desirous of a change of government.

The party also appealed to all its members and chieftains to be more united than ever for the party to win the forthcoming July 14 governorship election.

All the aspirants should accept the result in good faith and support Dr Fayemi to win the July 14 election. The party has finally issued a red card to the Peoples Democratic Party government in Ekiti State and therefore should start packing its loads of operation and corruption in Ekiti Government house, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has warned that Mr Fayemi should suspend any celebrations over his victory on Saturday as his emergence as the APC candidate was a pyrrhic victory.

In 2014 when he was the sitting governor and I was not in power, I trounced him mercilessly. I gave him 16  0, defeating him in all the local governments, including in his hometown. He did not win a single local government, Mr Fayose said in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi.

Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti State Governor Photo: DailyPost

Now, I have been in power for more than three years and have served the people of Ekiti well. My legacy projects are there to speak for me, and for my party the PDP, as well as for our candidate in the July 14 governorship election, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka. Fayemi will suffer the worst defeat of his political career. After the July 14 election, he will go into political oblivion.

He has nothing to celebrate because of the electoral disaster awaiting him. The manner of his so-called victory also leaves much to be desired as it has turned many of their party leaders and followers against him, he added.

Fayemis victory has made the condition of APC worse in Ekiti. The party leaders and members know that Fayemi has no use for any of them beyond the July 14 election, he said.

Mr Fayose urged aggrieved members of the APC, especially those of them who were members of PDP, to return home.

PDP is your natural habitat. This is the time for you to escape from the APCs sinking boat and return home to a rousing welcome. We also invite other politicians not satisfied with the parlous state of affairs of our nation to join hands with PDP to rescue our nation.

Fayemi is the final nail on APCs coffin in Ekiti. He may deceive them in Abuja but he is a paper weight at home. His arrogance alienates Ekiti people and any serious politician from him. He will meet his political waterloo on July 14.

Since his victory, Mr Fayemi has pledged to work with the over 30 other APC aspirants he defeated in the primary. They are to be members of his advisory council, he said.

It is not yet clear if all of them will agree to work with him.Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has called on elders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state to reconcile aggrieved members towards building a formidable and virile party.

The governor made the call in Ibadan on Monday while receiving APC elders from the five geopolitical zones of the state in his office.

The elders paid a solidarity visit to the governor shortly after the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected council chairmen in the state.

Mr Ajimobi said that recent political events showed that the APC had been widely accepted, urging members of the party to work together to consolidate on the successes.

History repeats itself everyday. Misunderstanding and disagreements cannot be ruled out of politics, but we must always endeavor to forgive to move on.

We cannot all be perfect. There is always quarrel, even in the home, and such is amicably resolved in the interest of the family.

I call on those aggrieved to come back and lets resolve to move the party forward. I have a large heart and I dont think evil about anyone. This has been the secret of my successes, he said.

The governor said he had yet to get any preferred candidate to succeed him, urging all members to work together to strengthen the party.

Mr Ajimobi had in May last year said he would unveil his successor in May 2018. The governor, who lives office in May 2019, also said he had identified five possible successors.

He called on members to accommodate one another and shun elements of discord in advancing the ideals of good governance.

Olayide Abas, an APC leader from Ibarapa zone, expressed confidence that aggrieved party members would be prevailed on and adequately reconciled.

Mr Abas said that the governor, who had done well, remained the leader of the party and deserved loyalty of members.

Earlier in their remarks, Kamorudeen Ajisafe (Ibadan Less City) and Pa Samuel Laoye (Ibadan), commended the governor for his quality leadership.

Also, Femi Yusuf (Ogbomoso), Solomon Akindele (Oyo) and Samuel Adekola (Oke-Ogun), described Ajimobi as a worthy leader who had continued to lead the party on the right path.

NAN reports that the leaders pledged their loyalty to the governor, assuring him that they would reconcile all aggrieved members of the party.

They also appealed to the governor to be patient and display maturity in dealing with discordant tunes in the party.

(NAN)Tanko Al-Makura, Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) Ekiti State Governorship Primary Election Committee, has attributed the success of Saturdays primary to mature conduct of aspirants and delegates.

He made this known on Monday in Abuja while presenting the committees report on the primary election to National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun.

Mr Al-Makura, governor of Nasarawa State, said that delegates and other party members supported the process with cooperation and orderly behaviour.

According to him, in spite of the rains, the delegates carried themselves in a very mature way and even embraced themselves after the results were announced.

The governor urged the partys leadership to leverage the solidarity exhibited by members at the primary to ensure cohesion among its members, especially in Ekiti.

He blamed the disruption that led to the botched May 5 primary to activities of hoodlums who took advantage of security lapses to cause crisis.

He commended members of his committee for their efforts, and also thanked the partys leadership for the opportunity given to the members to serve.

Receiving the report, Mr Odigie-Oyegun praised the aspirants for their spirit of sportsmanship, adding that the disrupted primary gave the party an opportunity to organise a perfect one.

According to him, the committee, aspirants and delegates at the primary deserve a gold medal.

The chairman announced that the partys leadership had started work at consolidating on the victory recorded at the primary.

We are working to ensure that the victory you have started is carried through, come July 14, the governorship election in Ekiti, he said.

He said that the APC was taking the Ekiti governorship poll seriously to redeem the state from a very abusive government.

According to Mr Odigie-Oyegun, Ekiti State present governor is very abusive and lacks decorum.

(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 YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 5W Public Relations (5WPR), an award-winning and top 10 independently owned PR firm in the U.S., has announced today the expansion of its FinTech specialty communications practice, driven by the agency's continued new and organic client growth in the space. The firm currently represents a variety of market leaders across the fintech space including, payments, professional services/platforms, online lending and consumer finance.

PR Services offered to FinTech companies include media relations, targeted outreach to fintech industry publications, executive visibility programs, fundraising announcements, content creation, digital media campaigns and speaking opportunities.

"5W's tech practice has had a history of success working with established and early-stage companies in the FinTech space," said Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR. "As we have grown in this space, our team has become highly specialized in working within this industry, offering leading counsel and strategic advice to our client base. Our FinTech client partners appreciate being able to tap into the resources of our specialty practice area, and we are pleased to continue to provide them best-in-class communications programs through this expansion."

About 5W Public Relations

5W Public Relations, a full-service PR Agency, helps some of the world's most admired brands, corporations and personalities achieve more. 5W's bold, resourceful and thoroughly modern approach has measurably increased the positive results of their clients' communication efforts.

Media Contact

Ronn Torossian

[email protected]

SOURCE 5W Public RelationsLONDON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vero, a rapidly-growing social media platform providing an unparalleled social networking experience free of advertisements or commoditized data-mining, today launched a Donate Now button on the Vero app that allows users to directly donate, free of charge, to charities. Working with Global Charity Partners, users can find a charity on the Vero app, tap Donate Now, and pay with Apple Pay or with a credit card. Vero does not charge a fee on any donations made via Donate Now  the entire sum donated is sent directly to the charity. The button appears on special posts shared by the charities.

Under the new partnership, Vero users can currently support the work of amfAR, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Children with Cancer UK. Vero will be announcing additional charity partners in the coming weeks. To donate today, download Vero from the Apple App Store or Google Play and search for any one of the charities.

Vero is on a mission to make the world a better place, starting with our online social experience. A subscription-only platform, Vero has a built-in framework that empowers users to control who they share with. Vero does not have ads, and does not mine user data. Vero also does not share any information with third parties, allowing users to have an authentic social experience online knowing their personal information is secure.

After providing their first million users with free access to Vero for life, the company recently extended the offer to all new users until further notice. The Donate Now button joins the Buy Now button which enables users to purchase unique items on Vero such as the never-before-published Prince Pre Fame book, unique Oliver Spencer items, or issues of Clash Magazine, Schon Magazine, and Greg Williams Magazine. Other items that can be purchased include Banton Frameworks, Kristine Cabanban jewelry.

Vero is currently available free on the Apple App store and Google Play worldwide.

www.vero.co

Media Contact:

Eva Bandola

Trident DMG

[email protected]

630-956-1776

SOURCE Vero

Related Links

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INDIANAPOLIS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Addiction Policy Forum, a leading addiction nonprofit, has launched its Addiction Resource Center (ARC) serving people across Indiana who are struggling with substance use disorder, as well as their loved ones. In 2016, the state saw more than 1,500 deaths from drug overdoses, and opioids accounted for 52 percent of those fatalities. The Addiction Resource Center features a confidential line that can be reached by dialing 1-833-301-HELP (4357). The online portal can be accessed at www.addictionresourcecenter.org.

"Indiana saw a 23-percent increase in overdose deaths from 2015 to 2016. With resources added to the ARC database to help connect Indiana residents to local services, we hope to see this number decrease as more patients and families access the help they need," said Jessica Hulsey Nickel, Addiction Policy Forum president and CEO.

By calling 1-833-301-HELP (4357), Indiana residents impacted by addiction will receive confidential support, information about local treatment or recovery resources, and education about substance use and addiction. The resource line is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

Addiction counselors, licensed social workers, and peer recovery support advocates staff the resource line and can provide callers with substance use disorder-related information, education on treatment options, and support.

The Addiction Resource Center is a comprehensive, interactive website to help individuals and families struggling with addiction learn about substance use disorders and access help. This platform dispels harmful myths about addiction by presenting the science behind the disorder in easy-to-read formats, guiding concerned individuals through a self-assessment tool, helping to develop a proposed action plan, and providing a database of local treatment providers.

"We are excited and hopeful that the resource line and the online portal will enable people in Indiana who are concerned about their substance use and their families to find help in their moments of crisis, when they need it the most," said Andrea Grace Phillips, co-chair of APF's Indiana State Chapter that launched in April.

"Indiana residents can now search through vetted treatment centers and physicians through the ARC database so they can get the answers they need to receive help and create an action plan in times of urgency," said Justin Phillips, co-chair of APF's Indiana State Chapter. "We are confident that this will help many Indiana residents who are concerned about substance use and their families."

APF, which has chapters in 12 states and a national office in Washington, D.C., plans to continue adding state-specific resources to its database throughout 2018. In addition to addressing addiction through community resources, APF is committed to affecting policy change at the local, state and national levels and raising awareness of the nationwide addiction crisis.

About Addiction Policy Forum

The Addiction Policy Forum is a 501(c)(3) organization established in 2015 as a diverse partnership of organizations, policymakers, and stakeholders committed to working together to elevate awareness around addiction, and to improve programs and policy through a comprehensive response that includes prevention, treatment, recovery, and criminal justice reform. Jessica Hulsey Nickel, whose own family was devastated by addiction, is the founder of a coalition of 1,700 families impacted by substance use disorders and is available for further explanation and interviews by media.

More information on our mission and projects is available at http://addictionpolicy.org.

SOURCE Addiction Policy Forum

Related Links

http://addictionpolicy.org

LUXEMBOURG, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE: AGRO, Bloomberg: AGRO US, Reuters: AGRO.K), a leading agricultural company in South America, announced today its results for the first quarter of 2018.

Main highlights for the period:

Adecoagro reported Adjuested EBITDA of $61.9 million in 1Q18, marking a 38.4% increase compared to 1Q17.

in 1Q18, marking a 38.4% increase compared to 1Q17. Adjusted EBITDA margin net of third party commercilaization reached 47.9%, 44.9% higher year-over-year.

Net income in 1Q18 was a gain of $8.5 million , $2.6 million , or 43.0% higher compared to 1Q17.

Financial & Operational Highlights

Adjusted EBITDA of our Sugar, Ethanol & Energy business in 1Q18 reached $48.0 million , $17.7 million or 58.6% higher than 1Q17. Results were mainly driven by (i) a 16% increase in milling per hour, offsetting the 10% decrease in effective milling days as a result of rainfalls, (ii) the maximization of ethanol production (87% of TRS went towards ethanol), which enabled us to profit from significantly higher relative prices. Indeed, anhydrous and hydrous ethanol traded at cts/lb20.4 and cts/lb19.1 sugar equivalent during the quarter, implying a 40% premium to sugar, (iii) a $13.1 million increase driven by the mark-to-market of our hedging derivatives position; and (iv) lower production costs as a result of higher crushing volumes and enhanced operating efficiencies. The offsetting effect of lower sugar prices were twofold. On the one hand, it resulted in lower sales revenues while on the other, it implied a lower margin recognition of our unharvested biological asset, captured in the Changes in Fair Value line.

Adjusted EBITDA for the Farming and Land Transformation businesses in 1Q18 was $18.8 million , slightly below 1Q17. Results were primarily explained by a $2.7 million lower gain in our Crops business partially offset by a $1.9 million higher gain in our Rice business.

In our Crops business, results were mainly explained by lower registered and projected yields as a result of the dry weather that has been affecting Argentina since the beginning of the year. At the same time, soybean and corn prices in the local market increased significantly during the quarter resulting in: (i) a higher margin recognition of our unharvested biological asset; and (ii) a negative mark-to-market of our commodity hedge position.

As for the Rice business, higher results were explained by the enhancements in farming margins, which are captured in the Changes in Fair Value line, driven by productivity gains (yields were 15.9% higher compared to the previous harvest year); coupled with the depreciation of the Argentine peso.

Net Income in 1Q18 was a $8.5 million, $2.6 million or 43.0% higher compared to 1Q17. This increase is explained by a $17.2 million increase in Adjusted EBITDA; partially offset by (i) a $6.8 million increase in depreciation and amortization charges, coupled with (ii) a $7.9 million increase in financial losses.

Strategy Execution

5 Year Plan Update The expansion of the cluster in Mato Grosso do Sul is moving forward according to plan. As previously announced, investments in Angelica mill are completed and the mill has reached a nominal crushing capacity of 1,050 tons/hour. Investments in Ivinhema mill are advancing well and we expect to conclude them during the next quarter. The expansion of our sugarcane to supply the additional nominal crushing capacity is also advancing well.

As for Adjusted Free Cash Flow, we delivered $7.2 million in 2017. As previously announced, we are currently undertaking several organic expansion projects across all our existing businesses. This has driven expansion capex to $70.8 million in 2017. We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow generation will increase substantially as we ramp-up and consolidate these projects.

Organic Businesses Growth Update (5 Year Plan):

Cluster Expansion: The expansion of the cluster in Mato Grosso do Sul is moving forward according to plan. As previously announced, investments in Angelica are already complete and crushing capacity has increased by 17%, from 900 tons/hour to 1,050 tons/hour. As for investments in Ivinhema mill, we are advancing according to schedule and budget and we expect to conclude them by the first half of 2018. The expansion of the cluster will generate important efficiency gains and cost dilution. Even at current forward sugar prices, this project is highly accretive and generates returns well above our cost of capital.

Dairy Business: The construction of free stall #3 is almost fully completed. We expect to soon start populating the facility and start operating activities by August. By the end of the year, we target to operate at 45% of total capacity. The free stall will be populated with cows of our own breed to avoid sanitary issues and guarantee high quality milk. As a result, the ramp up pace is mainly determined by the biological reproductive cycle of the cow herd. By mid-2019, we expect to be operating at full capacity. Free stall #4 is under construction and will be populated with cows in 2019.

Rice Business: We expect to conclude the investments of the packaging machine for branded white rice and the expansion of finished goods storage capacity during the second quarter. This will allow us to improve our rice processing and distribution, enhancing margins.

SanCor Investment Proposal: On March 23 , Adecoagro submitted an investment proposal to partner with SanCor, one of the largest milk processors in Argentina . The offer remains subject to the full compliance of specific conditions, including but not limited to the restructuring of its fiscal and financial liabilities; and the negotiations of definitive agreements. We are currently in the due-diligence phase, ensuring the fulfillment of all the necessary conditions to make this deal accretive for existing shareholders.

Share Repurchase Update: Since January 1 , we purchased 1,6 million shares equivalent to 1.4% of outstanding shares or $15.4 million , at an average price per share of $9.39 . We expect to continue our share repurchases under the program during 2018 subject to the already committed investments in our expansion projects.

Farmland sales at strong premium to independent appraisal: In May 2018 , we signed sale agreements for Rio de Janeiro and Conquista farms, located in western Bahia and Tocantins, respectively. The farms total 9,300 of croppable hectares and the selling price for both farms was $53.0 million (70% in cash), representing a 37% premium to Cushman and Wakefields independent farmland appraisal dated September 30 , 2017. At the agreed selling price, we estimate that we would record capital gains in excess of $35.0 million , which would be recognized in the second quarter 2018. The sale of the farms remains subject to the completion of due-diligence.

(1) Adjusted EBITDA is defined as consolidated profit from operations before financing and taxation, depreciation, amortization plus the gains or losses from disposals of non-controlling interests in subsidiaries. Adjusted EBIT is defined as consolidated profit from operations before financing and taxation, plus the gains or losses from disposals of non-controlling interests in subsidiaries. Adjusted EBITDA margin and Adjusted EBIT margin are calculated as a percentage of net sales.

Non-Gaap Financial Measures: For a full reconciliation of non-gaap financial measures please refer to page 29 of our 4Q17 Earnings Release found on Adecoagro's website (ir.adecoagro.com)

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about us and our industry. These forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "anticipate," "forecast", "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is/are likely to," "may," "plan," "should," "would," or other similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may turn out to be incorrect. Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. In light of the risks and uncertainties described above, the estimates and forward-looking statements discussed in this press release might not occur, and our future results and our performance may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements due to, inclusive, but not limited to, the factors mentioned above. Because of these uncertainties, you should not make any investment decision based on these estimates and forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

To read the full 4Q17 earnings release, please access ir.adecoagro.com. A conference call to discuss 4Q17 results will be held on March 16, 2018 with a live webcast through the internet:

Conference Call

May 16, 2018

9 a.m. (US EST)

10 a.m. Buenos Aires

10 p.m. Sao Paulo

3 p.m. Luxembourg

Participants calling from the US: Tel: +1 (844) 836-8746

Participants calling from other countries: Tel: +1 (412) 317-2501

Access Code: Adecoagro

Conference Call Replay

Participants calling from the US: Tel: +1 (877) 344-7529

Participants calling from other countries: Tel: +1 (412) 317-0088

Access Code: 10116540

Investor Relations Department

Charlie Boero Hughes

CFO

Juan Ignacio Galleano

IRO

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +54 (11) 4836-8624

About Adecoagro:

Adecoagro is a leading agricultural company in South America. Adecoagro owns over 247 thousand hectares of farmland and several industrial facilities spread across the most productive regions of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, where it produces over 1.9 million tons of agricultural products including sugar, ethanol, bio-electricity, milled rice, corn, wheat, soybean and dairy products, among others.

SOURCE Adecoagro S.A.

Related Links

http://ir.adecoagro.com

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the American Federation of Government Employees announced its endorsement of Ben McAdams of Utah for the U.S. House of Representatives for Utah's 4th Congressional District.

"Ben McAdams has been a leader in Utah for years, and we are excited to announce our support for his Congressional run this Fall," said AFGE District 11 National Vice President Gerry Swanke.

The largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees, has endorsed Ben McAdams for election this November to the U.S. House representing Utah's 4th District.

"Ben is someone who will work tirelessly in Congress to protect workers' rights and ensure that public servants receive fair pay for the work they do," said Swanke, adding, "we know that he will be an effective leader and will make Utahans proud."

"We are excited to see Ben win this November, and to see him come to Washington where he will fight for the VA and federal workers nationwide," said Swanke.

More than 42,000 federal employees live in Utah  more than 6,500 of whom reside in the 4th district  supporting the military, caring for veterans, ensuring the safety of the flying public, and getting Social Security recipients their benefits accurately and on time.

AFGE is the largest federal employee union in the country, representing 700,000 federal and D.C. government workers in all functions of government. District 11 has more than 21,000 dues-paying members in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Guam, Okinawa, Utah, and Wyoming.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

For the latest AFGE news and information, visit the AFGE Media Center. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees

Related Links

http://www.afge.org

ISTANBUL, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AirTies, the most widely deployed provider of managed Wi-Fi Mesh solutions to global service providers, today announced that it is supporting the Wi-Fi Alliance's new Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh certification program for multiple Access Point (AP) systems.

AirTies currently provides leading international service with embedded Wi-Fi Mesh software for their gateways and STBs, cloud-based Wi-Fi management, and compact Mesh extenders and STBs. The company is also a long-standing member of Wi-Fi Alliance.

"AirTies delivers Mesh access point solutions for the home, and we are delighted that AirTies supports Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh," said Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "AirTies continued participation in Wi-Fi Alliance demonstrates the value of a standards-based approach to multiple access point solutions for service providers."

"We applaud the Wi-Fi Alliance efforts to launch a certification program based on their Wi-Fi Multi-AP specification, and look forward to certifying products in the near future," said Metin Taskin, CTO of AirTies. "Many of the world's leading service providers rely on AirTies' Managed Wi-Fi Mesh solutions, including software, devices, and cloud-based performance management, and we're very excited about the growing interest around the globe."

Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, which relies on a single Wi-Fi AP on a home gateway/router, AirTies' Managed Mesh Solution uses multiple Mesh Extenders to create an intelligent Mesh Wi-Fi network throughout consumers' homes to deliver fast and consistent, whole-home Internet coverage. And, unlike other multi-AP approaches, AirTies Mesh solution provides alternative data paths within the home network designed to support high-bandwidth applications such as IPTV and OTT, with carrier-grade QoS. AirTies also enables service providers to support legacy gateways with an embedded Mesh software update, and provides advanced interference and congestion management capabilities within the home. In addition, AirTies' local and cloud-based management software products are designed specifically to support the installation, network engineering, and customer care teams of service providers. With AirTies, service providers can seize new opportunities to improve customer satisfaction, drive incremental revenue, and differentiate with new classes of premium Wi-Fi services.

For more information about AirTies, visit: www.AirTies.com.

About AirTies

Founded in 2004, AirTies is the most widely deployed provider of managed Wi-Fi Mesh solutions to operators around the globe. AirTies provides service providers with Mesh extenders, set-top boxes, software, apps, and cloud-based performance monitoring capabilities that enable ISPs to provide a managed Wi-Fi Mesh solution for their subscribers. AirTies has an installed base of over 15 million devices worldwide. AirTies' customers include: AT&T, Atlantic Broadband, Deutsche Telekom, Frontier, Orange, Midco, Singtel, Sky (SKY Q in the UK; Germany; Italy; and New Zealand), Swisscom, Vodafone, Waoo, and many other operators. More information is available at www.AirTies.com.

SOURCE AirTies

Related Links

http://www.AirTies.com

SAN CARLOS, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkahest Inc. ("Alkahest"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat age-related diseases, today announced the initiation of two Phase 2 clinical trials of ALK4290 in patients with the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

"The initiation of these trials represents a significant step forward in our clinical development efforts and our commitment to the development of innovative treatments for a range of age-related diseases," said Karoly Nikolich, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alkahest. "In addition to advancing our plasma-derived products, such as lead asset GRF6019, we have also continued to progress our broader pipeline derived from our deep understanding of the plasma proteome and its role in age-related diseases. ALK4290 represents the first non-plasma-derived product in our pipeline, targeting CCL11, which is elevated in wet AMD and other age-related diseases."

"We are excited to advance ALK4290, which has demonstrated promising preclinical activity in animal models as an oral monotherapy agent," said Sam Jackson, Alkahest's Chief Medical Officer. "Oral dosing is particularly advantageous from a patient convenience perspective when compared to the standard of care, which is currently administered via intravitreal injection. We look forward to continuing to work with clinical experts, patients and their families as we pursue this novel approach to the treatment of the leading cause of blindness in adults."

The ALK4290-201 study is a single-arm open-label Phase 2 clinical trial designed to evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of a 6-week oral treatment regimen of ALK4290 in patients with newly diagnosed wet AMD. The ALK4290-202 study is a single-arm open-label Phase 2 clinical trial designed to evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of a similar treatment regimen in patients with refractory wet AMD. Both studies will be conducted in Hungary and Poland which will allow evaluation of treatment-naive patients, as well as in patients who have not responded to or who are refractory to treatment with intravitreal injections of anti-vascular agents.

About ALK4290

ALK4290 is a novel orally-available small molecule which has been well-tolerated in previous clinical studies. More than 165 participants have received ALK4290 across multiple studies. Alkahest acquired ALK4290 from Boehringer-Ingelheim and has exclusive rights for development and commercialization worldwide.

About Alkahest

Alkahest is a privately-held clinical-stage company based in San Carlos, CA developing treatments for age-related diseases, with an emphasis on neurodegeneration  a key medical challenge for our generation. The company's breakthrough research has discovered changes in the plasma proteome in healthy aging and age-related diseases, and demonstrated that factors in the blood plasma can be augmented or inhibited in order to reverse detrimental effects of aging in both normal aging and disease models in animals. Alkahest is developing novel plasma-based products in collaboration with Barcelona, Spain-based Grifols, a global healthcare company and leading producer of plasma therapies.

For further information, see www.alkahest.com.

Contact Information:

Joe McCracken

Vice President Business Development

Alkahest, Inc.

650-245-2973

[email protected]

Matthew Shinseki

Stern Investor Relations, Inc.

212-362-1200

[email protected]

SOURCE Alkahest Inc.

Related Links

http://www.alkahest.com

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ansun BioPharma, Inc., a leading biotechnology company focused on the development of novel broad spectrum anti-viral biologic therapeutics to combat severe viral respiratory tract infections, today announced the completion of an $85 million Series A financing round.

The round was led by Sinopharm Healthcare Fund and Lilly Asia Ventures. Additional new investors participating in this round included Lyfe Capital, Yuanming Capital, Matrix Partners China, 3e Bioventures Capital, Oceanpine Capital, VI Ventures, and Joincap Investment.

Ansun plans to use the proceeds from the Series A to fund a Phase 3 clinical trial of its experimental anti-viral medication, DAS181. The FDA has granted both Fast Track status and Breakthrough therapy designation to DAS181, and Ansun is currently in the planning stage of a Phase 3 trial to treat hospitalized, immunocompromised subjects infected with parainfluenza virus.

DAS181 is a potentially first-in-class therapeutic that can be used to treat respiratory viral infections, including, but not limited to influenza, parainfluenza, and metapneumovirus. DAS181 is a recombinant sialidase protein that can cleave sialic acid, the virus receptors located on the surface of epithelial cells aligning the human respiratory track. Treatment with DAS181 can block virus entry into respiratory epithelial cells, thus preventing viral infection and spreading. DAS181 is a host-directed therapeutic that has demonstrated anti-viral activity against all strains and subtypes of viruses that utilize this receptor, including influenza strains that have developed resistance to other drugs and pandemic strains, such as H7N9, H5N1, and H1N1 and many others. This broad activity provides Ansun a unique opportunity to develop and commercialize DAS181 for treatment of many different viral infections. To date, Ansun has created formulations of this drug which it is developing to treat both hospitalized influenza and hospitalized parainfluenza , both of which are areas of unmet medical need that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year around the world.

Ansun has also announced changes to its Board. Dr. Xiaoming Yang from Sinopharm Capital and Dr. Yi Shi from Lilly Asia Ventures will be joining the Board. Mr. Donald Payne and Dr. Michael Chao will also be joining the Board. They will serve alongside existing Board members Dr. Allen Chao, Dr. Nancy Chang, and Dr. Michael Chang.

"We are delighted to secure this strong financial support from some of the most highly regarded biotechnology investment groups in the world," said Dr. Nancy Chang, the interim CEO of Ansun. "And just as important, if not more important, than their financial support is the depth of knowledge and experience our Board will gain with our new Board members," explained Dr. Chang.

"We are very pleased to be leading this round in Ansun against a backdrop of increasing threat worldwide from very dangerous respiratory infectious diseases like influenza and parainfluenza," said Dr. Yang. "We look forward to working closely with the Company, its Board of Directors and its management to rapidly progress the development of DAS181 so that it can benefit as many people as quickly as possible," he added.

About Ansun BioPharma

Ansun BioPharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, California focused on the development of unique host-directed anti-viral therapies for respiratory viruses. Ansun is currently working with FDA to plan and implement a Phase 3 clinical trial of DAS181 for the treatment of PIV infection in hospitalized and immunocompromised patients. In addition to Breakthrough Designation, DAS181 has also received Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA for this indication. Recently the company has observed activity of DAS181 against other important respiratory pathogens based on the same host-directed anti-viral mechanism. For more information, please visit www.ansunbiopharma.com or www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT01644877.

SOURCE Ansun BioPharma

Related Links

http://www.ansunbiopharma.com

WARREN, N.J., May 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc., today announced a settlement agreement has been reached resolving patent litigation related to SUBOXONE (buprenorphine and naloxone) Sublingual Film. Indivior PLC and its U.S. subsidiary, Indivior Inc., marketers and distributors of SUBOXONE, joined partner Aquestive in the settlement with Par Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an operating company of Endo International PLC and IntelGenx Technologies Corp.

Under the settlement agreement, Par Pharmaceuticals and IntelGenx are permitted to launch their proposed generic version of the buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film on January 1, 2023, or earlier under certain circumstances. The patent-infringement litigation has been pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. As required by law, the parties will submit the settlement agreement to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice for review.

"This settlement once again demonstrates the value our intellectual property and know-how represent for us and our partners," said Keith J. Kendall, CEO of Aquestive. "We will continue to focus our PharmFilm technology platform on innovating within difficult disease states such as epilepsy, Parkinson's and ALS."

About Aquestive Therapeutics

Aquestive Therapeutics is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing and commercializing differentiated products to address unmet medical needs. Aquestive Therapeutics has a late-stage proprietary product pipeline focused on the treatment of CNS diseases, as well as orally administered complex molecules that it believes can be alternatives to invasively-administered standard of care therapies. As the leader in developing and delivering drugs via its PharmFilm technology, Aquestive Therapeutics also collaborates with pharmaceutical partners to bring new molecules to market in differentiated and highly-marketable dosage forms. For more information, please visit our website, aquestive.com.

Media inquiries:

Christopher Hippolyte

[email protected]

212-364-0458

Investor inquiries:

Stephanie Carrington

[email protected]

646-277-1282

Related Links

http://aquestive.com

SOURCE Aquestive Therapeutics

Related Links

https://aquestive.com

At the grand opening, Bridgepoint CEO, Andrew Clark, welcomed students, employees and guests to the celebration, followed by Jennifer Mellor, vice president of economic development for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. The ceremony closed with remarks from Dr. Craig Swenson, Ashford University president and CEO, who led the cutting of the ribbon.

"Providing services to veteran students is a top priority for Ashford University," said Dr. Swenson. "We are excited not only to expand our student services facility, but also to open our newest Student Veteran Center here in the greater Phoenix area. The Center will make it much easier for local veteran students to receive individual, in-person support for their educational needs."

"As we grow our presence in the Phoenix area, we look forward having an increasingly positive impact on the community," said Clark. "This interim facility will allow us to continue investing locally while we expand and prepare a much larger, permanent facility to be ready by the end of 2018. In fact, we have already begun to partner with several Arizona companies to offer their employees a debt-free college education through our Full Tuition Grant Program, and we expect even more of these local partnerships in the future."

The almost 40,000-square-foot facility houses student advisors and financial support counselors, as well as administrative offices for employees serving Ashford University students.

About Ashford University

Where heritage meets innovation  that's Ashford University. At Ashford, students discover relevant degree programs, innovative technology, and cherished tradition. Ashford offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degree programs online, allowing students to balance life by providing the flexibility to do school work anywhere, anytime. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu, www.facebook.com/ashforduniversity, or www.twitter.com/AshfordU.

Contact: Kathleen Park

858.513.9240 x11636  [email protected]

SOURCE Ashford University

Related Links

http://www.ashford.edu

BROOKLYN, N.Y., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As companies battle to attract and retain top job candidates, they possess a powerful tool: career matching and tracking platforms that enable human resource managers to harness data to make effective, evidence-driven decisions. On Friday, May 18, 2018, the NYU Tandon School of Engineering will host "Career Matching and Tracking Analytics: New Frontiers in Driving Talent Management," a free afternoon conference presented by the Department of Technology Management and Innovation in cooperation with the school's affiliate chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (PolySHRM) and the International Association of Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM).

Attendees will join human capital analytics experts from IBM, Mercer, PepsiCo, and SAP SuccessFactors, and others as they discuss their approaches to career matching and tracking, which are central in creating effective talent management systems to recruit, develop, and retain hard-to- replace high performers and knowledge workers.

"Companies of all sizes are realizing that new analytic approaches are needed in order to drive the various facets of talent management," says Harold G. Kaufman, a professor emeritus in the Department of Technology Management and Innovation, who organized the conference and directs research in human capital analytics. "In an increasingly data-driven age, making HR decisions using only traditional techniques is becoming an obsolete practice. More and more, smart companies are focusing on innovative developments in human capital analytics to improve career matching and tracking, which will ultimately promote individual as well as organizational success."

"Career Matching & Tracking Analytics: New Frontiers in Driving Talent Management" will offer attendees a chance to:

Learn about cutting-edge techniques being developed and implemented

Network with thought leaders and experts from industry and academia

Earn 4.5 credit hours from IHRIM for Human Resource Information Professional (HRIP) certification

The May 18 conference  designed for human capital analytics experts to HR generalists, as well as for faculty and students from various disciplines  will be held from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., followed by a networking buffet from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the NYU Tandon Pfizer Auditorium, 5 MetroTech Center, in Downtown Brooklyn. Online participation is available.

Registration is required and can be completed at https://wp.nyu.edu/careermatching.

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country's foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu.

www.facebook.com/nyutandon

@NYUTandon

SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Related Links

http://engineering.nyu.edu

"On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I thank Kerry for her extraordinary service to Babson College," stated Chair of the Babson College Board of Trustees Marla Capozzi . "At a time of great disruption in higher education, Kerry has strengthened and expanded Babson's programs, increased access and affordability for students, and elevated the College's profile globally. Kerry led Babson to its 25th consecutive No. 1 ranking in entrepreneurship while adding recognitions such as the No. 1 school for international students and the No. 1 private business school for return-on-investment."

"The Board shares Kerry's view that the College's Centennial is an optimal time to transition the presidency," continued Capozzi. "Thanks to Kerry's strong leadership, Babson is prepared and well-positioned to realize a bold, global vision in its second century. We are pleased she will remain in her role to mark Babson's first 100 years of leadership in entrepreneurship education."

"It has been a privilege to work daily with inspiring, young entrepreneurs and the dedicated faculty and staff at Babson," said President Healey. "Over the last five years, together we have generated historic results and positive momentum for the College. From enrolling our most well-qualified undergraduates ever and transforming our campus environment, to achieving record-breaking fundraising and bringing Babson to the world through online education and new satellite locations, I am exceedingly proud of our record of accomplishments and the impact Babson is making on campus and across the globe.

I am incredibly grateful to the Board of Trustees for the opportunity to serve as Babson's 13th president and deeply appreciative to our dedicated community of faculty members, staff, alumni, students and parents who helped make our achievements possible," continued Healey. "In the coming year, I look forward to continuing the important work of preparing the College for its second century and ensuring a smooth transition."

The Board of Trustees will begin planning for the presidential transition and organizing the search for the College's next president this summer.

Under Healey's leadership, notable achievements over the last five years include:

Increased National and Global Profile and Impact

Innovation in Access and Affordability

Increased the College's commitment to financial aid by meeting 100 percent of demonstrated need for incoming undergraduate students for the first time, devoting more than $43 million annually to student aid and maintaining a discount rate between 30-33 percent

annually to student aid and maintaining a discount rate between 30-33 percent Established the College's first-ever Global Scholars program, generating more than $20 million in new scholarships and enrolling entrepreneurial leaders from 25 countries

in new scholarships and enrolling entrepreneurial leaders from 25 countries Introduced Babson's first-ever accelerated degree pathway to reduce undergraduate tuition by up to 25 percent and create an overall financial benefit of $105,931 to students

to students Launched Babson's presence on the edX online platform, reaching more than 100,000 learners in 200 countries in the first year

Strengthened and Expanded Programs, Campus

Record-breaking Fundraising and Financial Strength

Generated record-setting philanthropic investment in the College, including the largest single fundraising year in the history of the College in which nearly $65 million has been raised to date (FY'18)

has been raised to date (FY'18) Doubled the alumni giving rate, increasing it from 13 percent to 26 percent in five years

Increased international donor giving rate by 500 percent

Established three new endowed professorships in Family Entrepreneurship, Business Analytics, and Global Health

Obtained historic bond rating upgrades (Moody's A3 to A2; Standard and Poor's A- to A)

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.

SOURCE Babson College

Related Links

http://www.babson.edu

But Michelle Poler believes that these expectations limit our ability to create a successful future. They can also make us too comfortable, which stops us from growing. She says, "I started to ask myself 'Who am I checking these boxes for? Who am I truly living for?' I had to make a choice: I could continue checking society's boxes or I could have the courage to create my own set of boxes and pursue those instead."

Poler, who founded Hello Fears, a social movement that empowers people to step outside of the comfort zone, recently spoke to a group of students at a Siegfried Youth Leadership Program (SYLP) event. During her presentation, she discussed leadership characteristics and explained the important difference between fearless and brave. "Being brave means that despite the fear, we have the courage to take action  and that is way more powerful and inspiring than being fearless," she said.

Leadership, like bravery, isn't a concept that can be learned in one sitting. It's a lifelong journey that demands courage and commitment  which is why SYLP is so important. It provides an opportunity to expose young people to the idea of leadership early and rhythmically.

Dedicating time to leadership

The Siegfried Group, LLP, a leadership advisory and CPA firm, has spent the last 30 years helping people become better leaders  both in their professional and their personal lives. In the last few years, The Siegfried Group expanded this reach to help young people develop the leadership qualities they need to have a successful future. Rob Siegfried, the CEO and Founder of The Siegfried Group, called this innovative initiative Siegfried Youth Leadership Program.

"This program comes from my heart," says Rob. "I'm trying to help others become better leaders so they can experience more freedom in their lives. But leadership isn't easy. It's a decision and it takes a lot of energy and patience to learn leadership skills. But ultimately, this program can make a really big difference in a student's life."

At the most recent SYLP event, more than 400 students joined Rob and Poler for a half-day program that focused on helping students start, or continue, their journey toward developing strong individual leadership skills. In addition to sessions led by Rob and Poler, there was a panel conversation where three students discussed an aspect of their life that challenged them to grow.

The next SYLP event will be on October 9, 2018 at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. More information about SYLP is available at siegfriedyouthleadershipprogram.com and more information about Siegfried is available at siegfriedgroup.com.

About The Siegfried Group, LLP (Siegfried)

Siegfried works alongside financial executives across the nation, on their most important accounting and finance projects. Filled with an innovative spirit and led by an ambitious entrepreneur, Siegfried provides unique Leadership Advisory combined with high potential talent. At the heart of our Firm is our approach to individual leadership and the continual pursuit of helping people grow both personally and professionally. As a whole, we value having fun, being fair, and building and sharing stakeholder value.

About Siegfried Youth Leadership Program

This impactful program provides an impetus for students in grades 8 through 12 to strengthen their individual leadership during a half-day event that features a series of inspiring talks, group sessions, and sharing of insights. Siegfried Leadership Program is a collaborative effort between The Siegfried Group, LLP, Junior Achievement of Delaware, and the University of Delaware's Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship.

Contact:

Megan Pettingill

(302) 660-1516

[email protected]

SOURCE The Siegfried Group, LLP

Related Links

http://www.siegfriedgroup.com

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

If you bought Insulet Corp. common stock

from May 7, 2013 through April 30, 2015,

you could get a payment from a class action settlement.

A settlement has been proposed in a securities class action lawsuit concerning claims that the price that certain investors paid for Insulet Corp. common stock was inflated. Defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing or liability. The settlement will provide $19.5 million, less the amount of attorneys' fees and expenses awarded, to pay claims submitted by Insulet investors who bought the company's stock from May 7, 2013 through and including April 30, 2015. If you qualify, you may send in a claim form to receive a cash benefit from the settlement; or you can exclude yourself from the settlement; or you can object to the settlement.

A hearing will be held on August 2, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. ET, before the Honorable Mark L. Wolf, at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Way, Boston, MA 02210, at which the Court will consider whether to (a) approve the settlement, (b) approve the proposed plan of allocation for distributing the settlement funds, (c) approve an application by the lawyers for the Lead Plaintiffs and the Settlement Class for an award of attorneys' fees equal to 25% of the $19.5 million settlement amount (plus interest), and for reimbursement of litigation expenses in an amount not to exceed $550,000, and (d) approve Lead Plaintiffs' requests to compensate them for their reasonable time and expenses in representing the Settlement Class in an amount not to exceed $40,000 in the aggregate.

If you purchased Insulet common stock from May 7, 2013 through April 30, 2015, inclusive, your rights may be affected by this Litigation and the settlement thereof. If you have not received a detailed Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action and/or a Proof of Claim and Release form, you may obtain them by writing to Insulet Corp. Securities Litigation, c/o Analytics Consulting LLC, P.O. Box 2007, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2007; by sending an email to [email protected]; or by downloading them from www.InsuletSecuritiesLitigation.com. You may also review the Stipulation of Settlement and other settlement-related documents at www.InsuletSecuritiesLitigation.com, and you may also contact the Claims Administrator (Analytics Consulting) at 1-844-327-3154 for further information. You may also contact either of the co-lead counsel firms for the Lead Plaintiffs and the Settlement Class: Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, attn. James A. Harrod, Esq., 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10020, (800) 380-8496; or Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP, attn. William C. Fredericks, Esq., 230 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10169, (800) 404-7770.

If you are a Settlement Class Member, in order to share in the distribution of the Net Settlement Fund you must submit a Claim Form postmarked no later than September 4, 2018, establishing that you are entitled to a recovery. You will be bound by any judgment rendered in the Litigation unless you submit a written request for exclusion, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice, to Insulet Corp. Securities Litigation, EXCLUSIONS, c/o Analytics Consulting LLC, P.O. Box 2007, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2007, received no later than July 3, 2018. Any objection to any aspect of the settlement must comply with the instructions set forth in the Notice and be filed with the Clerk of the Court on or before July 3 2018, and delivered by hand or first-class mail to representatives of counsel for Lead Plaintiffs and Defendants, respectively, at the addresses set forth below, such that it is received no later than July 3, 2018.

James A. Harrod, Esq.

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP

1251 Avenue of the Americas, 44th Floor

New York, NY 10020 Caroline H. Bullerjahn, Esq.

Goodwin Procter LLP

100 Northern Avenue

Boston, MA 02210

The Court has retained the discretion to alter any of the deadlines or requirements outlined above for good cause shown. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE CLERK'S OFFICE REGARDING THIS NOTICE.

BY ORDER OF THE COURT

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

SOURCE Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP; Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law LLP

Related Links

http://www.InsuletSecuritiesLitigation.com

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- All roads lead to The Peninsula Hotel on Friday, 18th May 2018 as India's foremost fashion house Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla arrives in the city for an exclusive, one-day exhibit hosted by Deepa and Yashica Anand.

This will be the first time they show in the City of Angels and it promises to be style heaven as they present a curated collection of their three labels, Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla Couture, Asal by Abu Sandeep and their westernwear label, Khosla Jani.

Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla are renowned for their breathtaking designs and formidable craftsmanship Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla

The duo is renowned for their breathtaking designs and formidable craftsmanship, which have found favour among the most discerning clientele across the globe for 31 years.

Apart from dressing every A lister in their home country, from Movie royalty to business barons and high society stalwarts, Abu and Sandeep have also dressed international celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Beyonce Knowles. Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Tyra Banks.

"We are absolutely thrilled to come to L.A. This Collection is an amalgam of our labels. We see it as the perfect introduction to all our labels, our creativity and our world. L.A. is a new geography for us and we love bringing our best to new audiences."

Share Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

The exhibit will take place on Friday 18th May 2018 at The Magnolia Room, The Peninsula, Beverley Hills between 10am and 5pm.

For further information: Deepa Anand, 818-648-2912

Media Contact:

Parvin Anand

[email protected]

818-648-2911

SOURCE Abu Jani & Sandeep KhoslaBlockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague, the fourth annual event dedicated to the blockchain, cryptocurrencies and ICO, will be held on May 17. This is one of the largest platforms in Europe for the exchange of experience and search for potential partners. Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague is an event organized by the Smile-Expo company, which created a network of blockchain events in 20 countries around the world. The organizers intend to exceed last year's success: experts from IBM, PwC and other companies known in the crypto community will be among the speakers.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690847/Smile_Expo_Conference.jpg )



Guests will hear presentations:

On blockchain and its impact on business and the economy

Rene Bostic from IBM will analyze cases of blockchain application in business and tell you the key points of the process. The blockchain developer from the American IT company CA Technologies Alexandru Popa will tell about the impact of blockchain on user identification systems.

The head of consulting company VOX ICO Consulting Stefano Virgilli will clearly explain the blockchain basics. Representative of the European Organization for Nuclear Research Manuel Martin Marquez will talk on the acceleration of scientific progress after blockchain was introduced.

On ICO and cryptocurrencies

Guenther Dobrauz, partner in PwC Legal Switzerland, will explain how affordable investments in ICO will be in the future and whether token sale will replace venture capital. The co-founder of GRAFT Blockchain, Dan Itkis, will explain how to make the integration of crypto payments ubiquitous.

Co-founder of the blockchain platform Crowdgolding Alex Bozhinov will explain how power, politics and finance transformed the ICO. The co-founder of ICO accelerator Iconiq Lab Sandris Murins will talk on how to create a token and what is needed for this.

Exhibition area

In addition to the conference, an exhibition area will be available to Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague guests. Companies representing the blockchain industry will demonstrate their achievements here:

 hardware and software for mining;

 blockchain developments;

 trading, marketing and technological services.

Venue

The event will be held in the fashionable Hotel Ambassador Zlata Husa, which is located in the historical center of the Czech capital. Guests will enjoy diving not only in the world of cryptocurrencies, but also in the atmosphere of one of the most beautiful European cities.

Address: Vaclavske namesti 840/5, 110 00, Prague 1.

Registration, the full program and news of the event >>> https://goo.gl/iik85y

About Smile-Expo

Smile-Expo is an international company, organizer of large business events. Smile-Expo keeps its finger on the pulse of global innovations, analyzes markets, predicts promising drives, shares information with friends and associates, and launches projects throughout new segments, which have no equivalents in Russia, or on the whole CIS territory.

We can safely say that Smile-Expo is a flagship of innovation in the field of exhibition and conference service. The company was the first to draw attention to such promising, but not yet sufficiently developed in the CIS fields as affiliate marketing, robotics, 3D technology, cryptocurrency, wearable devices and augmented reality, Internet of Things, mHealth, "Connected car" and many more.

Smile-Expo has started its way with interest in advanced developments in various sectors of the economy and desire to create projects that allow companies to keep up with the times. The result is 12 years of successful work in the market that inspire professionals of Smile-Expo for organization of large-scale exhibitions, conferences, congresses, forums, workshops and webinars.

Media Contact:

Eugenia Pasechnik

[email protected]

SOURCE Smile-ExpoNEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mellon Investment Management ("BNY Mellon"), and Amherst Holdings, LLC ("Amherst Holdings"), today announced an agreement through which BNY Mellon will exchange its majority equity interest in Amherst Capital Management LLC ("Amherst Capital"), an investment manager specializing in U.S. real estate, for a minority equity stake in Amherst Holdings. Concurrently, Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company ("TTSTC"), a founding seed investor[1] in Amherst Capital, will swap its current economic interest in Amherst Capital for an interest in Amherst Holdings. Following the completion of the transaction, Amherst Capital will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Amherst Holdings.

This transaction will create more opportunities for Amherst Capital to accelerate its growth and develop new initiatives as a fully integrated business within Amherst Holdings. Amherst Capital's commitment to providing specialized U.S. real estate investment solutions across private debt, private equity and public markets will remain unchanged, with all strategies underpinned by the same research capabilities and investment philosophy.

BNY Mellon will continue to offer Amherst Capital's real estate solutions to its clients, while benefiting from the ongoing growth and potential to engage with Amherst Holdings on other real estate investment opportunities. This transaction will also enable TTSTC to further strengthen its partnership with Amherst Holdings by broadening its exposure to Amherst Holdings' innovative investment strategies and growth potential.

"At Amherst Holdings, we have built our reputation using results-driven data and analytics to help investors identify and evaluate attractive U.S. real estate investment opportunities," said Sean Dobson, Chairman and CEO of Amherst Holdings, CEO and CIO of Amherst Capital. "Fully integrating Amherst Capital within Amherst Holdings, and in turn optimizing our relationship with BNY Mellon, will help us better utilize resources and expertise across our entire investment platform, positioning Amherst Holdings to continue delivering innovative real estate investment opportunities to investors seamlessly across our business lines to capitalize on market opportunities."

"This transaction meets BNY Mellon's strategy of delivering strong investment alternatives to our global client base. Maintaining an ongoing stake in Amherst Holdings ensures BNY Mellon will benefit from Amherst Holdings' continued growth and access to Amherst Capital's leading real estate strategies for our clients," said Mitchell Harris, CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management.

Formed in 2015 as a partnership between BNY Mellon and Amherst Holdings, Amherst Capital has launched real estate-focused investment strategies that have attracted interest across key markets globally. Fully integrating Amherst Capital's investment services within Amherst Holdings will streamline operations, harmonize executive functions and allow for combined investment in research, client services and other critical tasks.

At closing, Amherst Holdings, along with its affiliates and subsidiaries, will have more than $3.6 billion under management, and approximately $15 billion under advisement and oversight through its affiliated broker dealer, Amherst Pierpont, and will have over 850 employees covering the firm's asset management, investment banking and single-family residential businesses.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close within 90 days and is subject to customary closing conditions.

About Amherst Holdings

For over 20 years, Amherst Holdings and its affiliates have provided institutional investors with a broad suite of financial services related to the U.S. real estate, mortgage and securitized product markets. During this period, Amherst Holdings has made extensive investments to develop data, technology resources and proprietary analytical tools that have helped position the firm as a market leader in the areas of real estate risk analysis and behavioral economics. Amherst Holdings was one of few mortgage specialists to anticipate the mortgage crisis and has continued to use its experience and analytic resource advantages to evaluate new risks and opportunities in the real estate markets. The firm is majority owned by its employees and employs approximately 775 professionals across its single family residential, asset management, investment banking and technology platforms. For more information, please visit www.amherst.com.

About Amherst Capital Management

Amherst Capital Management LLC is a real estate investment specialist established in 2015 as a majority-owned subsidiary of BNY Mellon, and is minority-owned by Amherst Holdings, LLC. Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company ("TTSTC") is a founding seed investor. Amherst Holdings is not an affiliate of BNY Mellon. Amherst Capital offers traditional and alternative real estate investment strategies to private and institutional investors globally. Amherst Capital's investment strategies are grounded in deep intellectual capital and differentiated technology designed to help clients meet their portfolio needs. For more information, please visit www.amherstcapital.com

About BNY Mellon Investment Management

BNY Mellon Investment Management is one of the world's leading investment management organizations and one of the top U.S. wealth managers, with $1.9 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2018. It encompasses BNY Mellon's affiliated investment management firms, wealth management services and global distribution companies. BNY Mellon Investment Management is part of BNY Mellon, which has $33.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration as of March 31, 2018. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news.

Media Contacts:



Amherst Holdings:

Tom Johnson/Dan Scorpio

Abernathy MacGregor

212-371-5999

[email protected]/[email protected]

BNY Mellon:

Stan Neve

212-635-7314

[email protected]

This information may contain forward-looking statements, which may be expressed in a variety of ways, include the use of future or present tense language. These statements and other forward-looking statements are based upon current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond BNY Mellon's control). Factors that could cause BNY Mellon's outcomes to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the risk factors set forth in BNY Mellon's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017, the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2018, and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this news release, speak only as of the date of publication and BNY Mellon undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

____________________________________

1 It is not known whether the listed client approves or disapproves of the adviser or the advisory services provided.

SOURCE BNY Mellon

Related Links

http://www.bnymellon.com

INDIANAPOLIS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Buckingham Companies ("Buckingham"), a vertically integrated, full service real estate company, today announced that its affiliate, Buckingham Partners, LLC, closed its first real estate fund, the Buckingham Multifamily Fund I, at $175 million.

The Buckingham Multifamily Fund I, with a value-added strategy, closed in 12 months and was oversubscribed for its fund target. Investors included large North American public and private institutions.

Buckingham Partners, LLC, the fund manager, and Buckingham Multifamily Fund I GP, LLC, the fund general partner, are focused on acquiring multifamily and mixed-use properties located in dynamic and fast growing secondary markets throughout the Midwest and Southeast U.S. The fund will pursue a value-add investment thesis, increasing asset value through management efficiencies, property upgrades, interior/exterior renovations, and improved amenities.

Bradley B. Chambers, Founder, President and CEO of Buckingham Companies, said, "We are delighted our debut fund has attracted the support of best-in-class investors who believe in our investment strategy, and who appreciate the track record and operational excellence of our team. As interest in living and working in vibrant Midwestern and Southeastern markets increases, we are seeing great opportunities in well-located multifamily housing."

The Buckingham Multifamily Fund I has closed, or is under contract to acquire, six investments in Carmel, IN; Zionville, IN; Cincinnati, OH; Louisville, KY; and Nashville, TN.

Evercore served as global placement agent for the Fund. Goodwin Procter served as legal counsel to Buckingham.

About Buckingham Companies

Founded in 1984, Buckingham Companies is a fully integrated real estate firm specializing in the development, acquisition, management and construction of multifamily, mixed-use, commercial and hospitality projects across the United States. Buckingham owns or manages a portfolio of nearly $1.5 billion of real estate for its own account, third-party owners and institutional partners. Buckingham has managed more than 125 properties, more than 28 million square feet, and over 25,000 rental units nationwide. The Indianapolis-based company has approximately 350 employees. For more information, visit www.buckingham.com.

Contacts:

Blicksilver PR

Caroline Luz, 203-656-2829, [email protected] or

Lisa Baker, 914-725-5949, [email protected]

SOURCE Buckingham Companies

Related Links

http://www.buckingham.com

RICHMOND, Va., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With summer around the corner, Allianz Global Assistance, a leading travel insurance provider, analyzed U.S. travelers' impending summer travel plans, and found that Cancun, Mexico continues to top the chart. Despite the U.S. State Department's recent level 2 travel advisory to the area, which urges Americans to carefully consider their travel to the region, Cancun remains the top international destination for Americans. The survey also noted that San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital, is starting to regain its stride as a popular travel destination after last year's Hurricane Maria, coming in at number eight on the list.

Allianz Global Assistance reviewed customers' trips planned from May 28, 2018 through September 3, 2018 for travel between five to eight days in length, to gather where Americans are looking to spend their summer vacations.

This year's results revealed that Americans looking to travel domestically are planning trips to Orlando (8.80 percent) and New York City (5.51 percent), followed in popularity by Las Vegas (5.36 percent), Los Angeles (4.02 percent), Honolulu (3.12 percent), Miami (3.10 percent), Seattle (3.04 percent), Boston (2.93 percent), Fort Lauderdale (2.92 percent) and San Francisco (2.62 percent).

Apart from London and Paris, most international summer travel destinations are in the Caribbean or Mexico. Cancun, Mexico (15.72 percent) topped the list for the second year in a row, followed by Higuey, Dominican Republic (7.77 percent), Montego Bay, Jamaica (5.78 percent), Nassau, Bahamas (4.31 percent), San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico (4.28 percent), Aruba Island, Aruba (3.99 percent), London, England (3.52 percent), San Juan, Puerto Rico (2.87 percent), Paris, France (2.75 percent) and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (2.53 percent).

"This year's results yielded some interesting findings: New York is a newcomer to the list, revealing that travelers are not only interested in beach destinations this summer," said Daniel Durazo, director of communications for Allianz Global Assistance USA. "And despite recent travel warnings and last year's Hurricane Maria, Americans are still choosing to travel to Cancun and Puerto Rico. No matter where you are headed this season, travel insurance is an investment that can offer peace of mind and help protect your financial investment."

A video highlighting the findings is available to view here.

Allianz Global Assistance offers travel insurance** through most major U.S. airlines, leading travel agents, online travel agencies, other travel suppliers and directly to consumers. For more information on Allianz Global Assistance and the policies offered for travelers, please visit: http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com.

*Methodology: The data of U.S. travelers' 2018 summer travel plans was gathered by analyzing the number of travelers that went through the online booking process of airfare and package paths for partners offering Allianz Global Assistance travel to generate itineraries for roundtrip flights departing from US airports during 5/28/2018 - 9/3/2018 for trips between 5-8 days in length.

Top Domestic Summer Travel Destinations Rank 2018 Domestic City % of Domestic Offers 2017 Domestic City % of Domestic Offers 1 Orlando 8.80% Orlando 8.64% 2 New York 5.51% Las Vegas 4.74% 3 Las Vegas 5.36% Honolulu 4.37% 4 Los Angeles 4.02% Los Angeles 3.65% 5 Honolulu 3.12% Seattle 3.37% 6 Miami 3.10% San Francisco 3.21% 7 Seattle 3.04% Maui 2.91% 8 Boston 2.93% Boston 2.90% 9 Fort Lauderdale 2.92% Denver 2.87% 10 San Francisco 2.62% Fort Lauderdale 2.57%

Top International Summer Travel Destinations Rank 2018 International City % of Int'l Offers 2017 International City % of Int'l Offers 1 Cancun, Mexico 15.72% Cancun, Mexico 16.91% 2 Higuey, Dominican Republic 7.77% Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 5.27% 3 Montego Bay, Jamaica 5.78% San Jose del Cabo, Mexico 4.63% 4 Nassau, Bahamas 4.31% Montego Bay, Jamaica 4.17% 5 San Jose del Cabo, Mexico 4.28% San Juan, Puerto Rico 3.94% 6 Aruba Island, Aruba 3.99% Aruba Island, Aruba 3.92% 7 London, United Kingdom 3.52% London, United Kingdom 3.61% 8 San Juan, Puerto Rico 2.87% St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 3.36% 9 Paris, France 2.75% Nassau, Bahamas 3.16% 10 Providenciales, Turks and Caicos 2.53% Paris, France 2.58%

Allianz Global Assistance USA

Allianz Global Assistance USA (AGA Service Company) is a leading consumer specialty insurance and assistance company. We provide insurance to 35 million customers annually and are best known for our Allianz Travel Insurance plans. In addition to travel insurance, Allianz Global Assistance USA offers tuition insurance, event ticket protection, registration protection for endurance events and unique travel assistance services such as international medical assistance and concierge services. The company also serves as an outsource provider for in-bound call center services and claims administration for property and casualty insurers and credit card companies.

To learn more about Allianz Travel Insurance, please visit allianztravelinsurance.com or Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllianzTravelInsuranceUS.

**Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply to all plans. Plans are available only to U.S. residents. Not all plans are available in all jurisdictions. For a complete description of the coverage and benefit limits offered under your plan, carefully review your plan's Letter of Confirmation/Declarations and Certificate of Insurance/Policy. Insurance coverage is underwritten by BCS Insurance Company (OH, Administrative Office: Oakbrook Terrace, IL), rated "A-" (Excellent) by A.M. Best Co., under BCS Form No. 52.201 series or 52.401 series, or Jefferson Insurance Company (NY, Administrative Office: Richmond, VA), rated "A+" (Superior) by A.M. Best Co., under Jefferson Form No. 101-C series or 101-P series, or Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and Affiliated Companies (One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215-2200), under Form Nos. SRTC 2000 and NSHTC 2500, each rated "A+" (Superior) by A.M. Best Co., depending on state of residence. Allianz Global Assistance and Allianz Travel Insurance are marks of AGA Service Company or its affiliates. AGA Service Company is the licensed producer and administrator of these plans and an affiliate of Jefferson Insurance Company. The insured shall not receive any special benefit or advantage due to the affiliation between AGA Service Company and Jefferson Insurance Company. Non-insurance benefits/products are provided and serviced by AGA Service Company.

SOURCE Allianz Global Assistance

Related Links

http://allianztravelinsurance.com

By inviting Proenza Schouler to explore their vision of beauty, Lancome once again asserts its passionate connection with the world of fashion. After giving carte blanche to Alber Elbaz, Yiqing Yin, Alexandre Vauthier, Jacquemus, Anthony Vaccarello, the Sonia Rykiel brand, and more recently Olympia Le-Tan, Lancome perpetuates a long tradition of collaborating with renowned designers.

"Borne by the radical approach of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Proenza Schouler fashion is the manifesto of a strong, free femininity. The idea of 'empowerment' is at the heart of their values, just as it has always been at the heart of the Lancome philosophy," emphasizes Francoise Lehmann, General Manager of Lancome International.

"Lancome has always represented the epitome of luxury beauty products, so it is like a dream come true to be able to collaborate with such an iconic and historic brand," adds Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, co-founders and designers of Proenza Schouler.

The Lancome x Proenza Schouler collection will be available in Lancome point of sales as of July 2018.

CONTACT

Kelly Thompson  Senior Vice President, Lancome [email protected]

About Lancome

Since visionary pioneer Armand Petitjean founded the brand in 1935, Lancome has epitomized timeless glamour with a quintessential French touch. Today the world's leading luxury beauty brand continues to inspire with its elusive je ne sais quoi that exudes happiness, confidence and French chic appeal, as well as the very best in quality, style, and transformative results. With a presence in 130 countries, over 20,000 beauty advisers in as many points of sale relay Lancome's message of French excellence, with incredible service and iconic products such as: Teint Idole, Advanced Genifique, Renergie, La Vie Est Belle, and award-winning mascaras. Lancome affirms that happiness is the most attractive quality and offers every woman the opportunity to enhance her beauty and femininity, whatever her age and whatever her skin color, by giving her the best of science and innovation. The brand continues to offer every woman the best in beauty through its Elite Membership Rewards Program, which allows customers access to exclusive offers, products and uniquely indulgent experiences through brand partners. Lancome's ambassadresses include Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Lily Collins, Taylor Hill and Isabella Rossellini. Lancome's ambition is that every woman who comes to the brand to look more beautiful leaves feeling happier.

SOURCE Lancome

Related Links

http://www.lancome-usa.com

MORRIS PLAINS, N.J., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CherryRoad Technologies Inc. today announced it has signed a NASPO ValuePoint Participating Addendum with the State of Nevada, allowing the State to simplify their entire cloud procurement process. CherryRoad markets its cloud solutions and managed services to state and local governments through NASPO ValuePoint's Master Agreement awarded by the State of Utah.

The State of Nevada, which is the eighth State following in the footsteps of the States of Utah, South Dakota, Hawaii, Florida, Nebraska, Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Oklahoma to sign the Participating Addendum, can now access master agreements to work directly with CherryRoad to address their unique cloud solution needs. Cloud solutions provided by CherryRoad include Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)  which were developed specifically for state and local governments.

"Cloud solutions are the core of any successful state procurement strategy," said Larry Hymson, CherryRoad Executive Vice President of Client Solutions. "Whether refining functional competencies or reducing costs to achieve long-lasting performance improvements, the State of Nevada will be better positioned to achieve the most effective solutions for its residents. By working with CherryRoad through the NASPO ValuePoint cooperative, state procurement is simplified - allowing States to increase efficiencies and leverage the most value out of cloud solutions."

NASPO ValuePoint is regarded as the nation's most significant public contract cooperative due to its unparalleled value for members as well as contractors, competitive pricing, and superior terms and conditions. NASPO ValuePoint Cloud Solutions Master Agreements are only awarded through a competitive RFP to a limited number of cloud solution providers whose offerings meet stringent security and data protection requirements.

About CherryRoad Technologies Inc.

At CherryRoad, our clients entrust us with the success of their IT solutions, whether we're delivering on-premise ERP, cloud-based application management, business intelligence, process optimization, change management consulting, or strategic staffing solutions. Throughout our 30-year history we've successfully partnered with hundreds of public sector and commercial clients to modernize, optimize and manage their back-office functions. Headquartered in Morris Plains, N.J. with offices across the U.S., we've earned a solid reputation for combining technology, organizational, functional, and vertical market expertise into practical solutions that deliver results  on-time and on-budget. For more information, visit www.cherryroad.com

About NASPO Valuepoint

NASPO ValuePoint is a unified, nationally focused cooperative aggregating the demand of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the organized US territories, their political subdivisions and other eligible entities spurring best value, innovation and competition in the marketplace. The NASPO ValuePoint Cooperative Purchasing Organization (formerly WSCA-NASPO) provides the highest standard of excellence in public cooperative contracting. By leveraging the leadership and expertise of all states with the purchasing power of their public entities, NASPO ValuePoint delivers best value, reliable, competitively sourced contracts. Since 1993 NASPO ValuePoint has been the cooperative purchasing arm of NASPO (the National Association of State Procurement Officials) encouraging, fostering and guiding the nation's most significant public contract cooperative.

SOURCE CherryRoad Technologies Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cherryroad.com

CHICAGO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 40 Chicagoland radio stations will simultaneously air a 60-second interview with Howard Sudberry, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications at Arlington International Racecourse, discussing how radio is a primary advertising avenue for reaching customers. The interview will air on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 4:29pm on a diverse group of radio stations, involving all formats, including music, news, sports, and Spanish language.

"It is quite gratifying to work with Arlington International Racecourse on this project," said Matt Scarano, Chairman of Illinois Broadcasters Association's Radio Broadcasters of Chicagoland (RBC) Committee. "Arlington is synonymous with top notch racing and excitement in Chicago. The Chicago Radio Industry is proud to be a part of building their prestigious brand and to deliver results year after year."

"Radio is an important part of our business," said Howard Sudberry, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications at Arlington International Racecourse. "The ability to change our radio advertising message frequently is the most effective way to let consumers know what is happening at Arlington."

"It's great to learn of yet another 'win-win' (or, in this particular case, perhaps I should I say, 'Win, Place & Show') for Arlington and Chicagoland radio," remarked Dennis Lyle, president and CEO of the Illinois Broadcasters Association.

In 2017, the RBC simultaneously aired a 60-second interview with Roy Spencer, President and Owner of Perma-Seal Basement Systems; Bob Rohrman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Bob Rohrman Auto Group; John Alfirevich, Dealer Operator of Apple Chevrolet and President of the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy Dealers Association; and Ed Wehmer, Founder, President and CEO of Wintrust Financial Corporation on 40 Chicagoland radio stations. The RBC also came together to support the efforts of the American Red Cross and those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas and across the Gulf Coast by simultaneously airing a :60 public service announcement on Chicagoland radio stations.

This Chicago Radio Drives Results roadblock initiative was first introduced by the RBC in 2016 via a 30-minute live conversation with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel during a Chicago Radio Town Hall Meeting.

About the Illinois Broadcasters Association (IBA ):

IBA is the leading advocate for the broadcast industry in Illinois and is engaged in shaping public policy to create a positive legislative and regulatory environment for its members.

SOURCE Illinois Broadcasters AssociationSINGAPORE, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- China's online shopping market is the largest in the world, with over 500 million online shoppers set to spend over US$1 trillion in 2018. Of this, cross-border eCommerce (Haitao) purchases (i.e., from a retailer located outside China) are set to reach US$125 billion, according to a new research report, The Cross-border eCommerce (Haitao) Opportunity in China, released today by leading consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, in partnership with China retail strategy expert Azoya Consulting. The study includes research amongst over 1,000 online shoppers in China, together with findings from interviews with over 100 international retailers and brand owners.

"The research revealed the strong interest and expenditure amongst Chinese consumers in buying online from overseas retailers, with the average online shopper in China spending almost US$850 per year on purchases from overseas retailers," said Mark Dougan, Consulting Director, Asia-Pacific, Frost & Sullivan. "Our research indicated that Chinese consumers are significantly motivated by the perceived higher quality and lower risk of buying fake goods that overseas retailers offer."

The research also revealed that:

Cross-border online shopping is growing strongly, with 63% of Chinese shoppers planning to increase their spending in 2018 compared to 2017

with 63% of Chinese shoppers planning to increase their spending in 2018 compared to 2017 Fashion is the top category bought from overseas retailers (bought by 22% of online shoppers in the past month), beauty and cosmetics (20%) and mom and baby (15%)

(bought by 22% of online shoppers in the past month), beauty and cosmetics (20%) and mom and baby (15%) Japan is the overseas origin country that Chinese online shoppers have most confidence in (72% having confidence in Japanese vendors), followed by South Korea (60%), the US (55%), Australia (37%), France and Germany (both 26%) and the UK (23%)

(72% having confidence in Japanese vendors), followed by (60%), the US (55%), (37%), and (both 26%) and the UK (23%) Women are higher cross-border online shoppers than men, spending US$976 on average per year, which is 20% more than men. Men seek fast delivery, whilst women seek Chinese language customer support, and relevant content on the supplier's website. Women are more likely to use an overseas supplier's standalone direct-to-consumer website (21% vs. 18% of men).

Whilst Chinese consumers are significantly increasing their cross-border online shopping, international retailers often report challenges in successfully exploiting the market opportunity in China. Over recent years, China has opened up its domestic eCommerce market to international vendors through initiatives such as free trade zones, and over 80% of global retailers now see China as an attractive market opportunity. However, only 30% of online retailers are satisfied with their current level of sales in China. This is particularly the case for those using Chinese marketplaces as their online channel, where only 21% of retailers are satisfied with their current level of sales. Challenges of these marketplaces include the plethora of competing brands, intense price competition, margin-eroding commissions and high upfront costs. Consequently, the research revealed that increasingly retailers are looking to set up their own standalone web stores for the Chinese market.

China's online market may be vast, but it can also be confusing and is highly competitive. Consequently, global retailers need to think carefully about the right way to approach the market. "To build a brand that Chinese consumers trust, which commands a healthy profit margin and repeat buyers, retailers need to approach customers through multiple touchpoints. The key channel should be within retailers' control, accompanied by supplementary platforms," said Don Zhao, Co-Founder of Azoya International. "More and more retailers are establishing standalone websites as the core of their strategies, as these sites directly connect retailers with Chinese consumers who desire foreign brands, while empowering retailers with flexibility and control over their business."

The research confirmed the attractiveness of the Chinese market to global retailers, but also identified that many retailers are struggling to convert that promise into reality. As the Chinese cross-border eCommerce market grows, global retailers need to carefully consider the most appropriate market entry strategy. Successful implementation will then rely on offering the right products through the right channels and with appropriate brand communications to the half-a-billion online shoppers in China.

About Azoya Consulting

Azoya Consulting empowers international retailers with clear and actionable China e-commerce strategy powered by data, research, expertise and business intelligence. With over 5 years' experience in e-commerce to China, Azoya consultants help dozens of international retailers build successful business cases with China entry strategy, e-commerce operation guidelines, digital marketing strategy, O2O strategy, logistics and supply chain. Azoya Consulting is a subsidiary of Azoya International, a borderless e-tailing group that assists international retailers as they expand to China via e-commerce. Learn more at www.azoyagroup.com

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the Global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organisation prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Learn more at http://www.frost.com

Contact:

Melissa Tan

Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific

P: +65 6890 0926

F: +65 6890 0999

E: [email protected]

http://ww2.frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

Related Links

http://www.frost.com

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognito, the specialist integrated communications and marketing firm for the financial services industry, has promoted Vivienne Hsu to International Managing Director, effective immediately. She takes on the position of Managing Director of Cognito Americas and will maintain her role as Managing Director of Cognito's EMEA business.

Hsu's appointment will bolster the delivery of Cognito's integrated communications service offering in the U.S. With over 15 years' marketing and communications experience, she specializes in guiding clients through the complexities of developing and implementing integrated strategies. Prior to joining Cognito in 2013, Hsu was a Global Account Director at Grey Group.

Tom Coombes, Cognito founder and CEO, said: "Vivienne is a seasoned strategic communications consultant and has the right experience and capabilities to drive Cognito's US operations forward. Our EMEA business has grown significantly under her leadership and she has demonstrated her ability to continually evolve our integrated proposition and be a trusted advisor to clients."

Hsu said: "The US is an important market for Cognito and I am looking forward to strengthening our business here. I'm excited to continue building out our global, integrated approach to communications and working with clients to develop innovative, multi-channel programs in complex and fast-moving industries."

Cognito has also hired two senior executives specializing in brand, digital marketing and content strategy, who will play a central role in enhancing the firm's global service offering.

For more information, visit www.cognitomedia.com.

For more information on Vivienne, visit https://www.cognitomedia.com/people/vivienne-hsu.

About Cognito

Cognito is the specialist integrated communications and marketing firm for the financial services industry with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong and Amsterdam. We combine strategy and planning, marketing, design, PR and social expertise, together with proprietary software that delivers measurability and intelligence, to help firms improve their performance, meet business objectives and manage their reputation.

Contact

Jon Schubin

Cognito

+1 646-395-6300

[email protected]

SOURCE Cognito

Related Links

http://www.cognitomedia.com

DUBLIN, Ohio, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Choice Financial Inc. ("CCFI") filed its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, May 14, 2018. CCFI will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the results for the quarter. CCFI will make this call available for replay for three months starting approximately two hours after the call has ended. The conference call can be replayed in its entirety by dialing (855) 859-2056 (toll free) or (404) 537-3406 (international) and enter conference ID "6478649".

Financials are publicly available at www.sec.gov

Conference Call Dial-In Information:

International Direct: +1 (937) 203-2407

U.S. Toll Free: +1 (877) 497-9564

Conference ID: 6478649

About Community Choice Financial Inc.

Community Choice Financial Inc. is a leading retailer of financial services to unbanked and underbanked consumers through a network of 483 retail storefronts across 12 states and are licensed to deliver similar financial services over the internet in 30 states. CCFI focuses on providing consumers with a wide range of convenient financial products and services to help them manage their day-to-day financial needs including consumer loans, check cashing, prepaid debit cards, money transfers, bill payments, and money orders. Please visit www.ccfi.com for more information.

Forward-Looking Statements and Information:

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements in this release other than those relating to our historical information or current condition are forward-looking statements. For example, any statements regarding our future financial performance (including, but not limited to, CCFI's ability to execute its long-term strategy and to manage operational efficiencies across its national footprint), our business strategy, and expected developments in our industry are forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the current views and expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, those views and expectations and the related statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are not under our control and may not even be predictable. Therefore, actual results could differ materially from our expectations as of today and any future results, performance, or achievements expressed directly or impliedly by the forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations: [email protected] or (888) 513-9395.

SOURCE Community Choice Financial Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ccfi.com

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/689863/Dar_Al_Arkan_Mirabilia.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690851/Dar_Al_Arkan.jpg )



A ceremony was organised in Riyadh to launch this high-profile development and partnership with Italy's topmost luxury fashion brand. The event was attended by Yousef Bin Abdullah Al Shelash, Chairman of Dar Al Arkan, Gian Giacomo Ferraris, CEO of Roberto Cavalli Group, who flew in to Riyadh especially for the occasion, and a number of officials, diplomats, dignitaries and investors.

Mirabilia, "Marvels" in Latin, presents a collection of high-end custom-built three-to-seven bedroom residential villas that range from 300sq.m. to 1600sq.m. in the fashionable five-million- square-meters "Shams Ar Riyadh" mixed-used development. These premium residential villas overlooking Wadi Hanifa will feature the finest architectural designs and the ultimate expression of fashion interiors by Roberto Cavalli. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls invite panoramic views of the breathtaking lush green vistas of Wadi Hanifa to blend with Roberto Cavalli interiors inspired by wildlife and nature, in a fusion of universal harmony.

Strategically located on King Khalid Road, the iconic "Shams Ar Riyadh" is a premium development and is the first of its kind in the Kingdom, designed as a world-class "city within a city". The project comprises of residential, commercial, and mixed-use spaces incorporated with the finest facilities for an exclusive lifestyle.

"Shams Ar Riyadh" is a self-contained community that expresses luxury and distinction in each of its components; residential, commercial, educational, medical, recreational and religious. It features vibrant retail centres, the finest international restaurants and cafes by world-famous culinary legends, overlooking lush green landscapes and walkways, children's play areas, schools, clinics, government offices and mosques.

Infrastructure works investment so far is of over SR 1 billion, including two power substations and main access roads.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) entered into a strategic partnership with "Shams Ar Riyadh" to create an exceptional residential ambiance with a blissful urban existence for its employees and their families. SABIC Residential Complex comprises of 600 fully equipped residential units built on a 1.8 million sq.m area. Many of SABIC's team members moved in starting 2017.

Yousef Bin Abdullah Al Shelash said: "Mirabilia will redefine luxury living, offering its residents exclusive experiences right here in Riyadh, in this vast unique landscape that combines meticulously curated urban indulgence from the high-end Italian fashion house Roberto Cavalli with the alluring Wadi Hanifa's marvels. Mirabilia's new blueprint will set the tone for this amazing region in the capital, Riyadh. I am particularly delighted with our partnership with the Roberto Cavalli Group, which encapsulates the true meaning of high-end luxury and is an embodiment of beauty, design and artistry".

Gian Giacomo Ferraris commented: "We are thrilled to be entering for the first time as a group to the real estate sector in Saudi Arabia through such a futuristic project that personifies modern extravagance. The wild beauty of Wadi Hanifa, combined with the sophistication of the architecture and landscape designs, modern living and fascinating panoramic inside-out sceneries of Mirabilia, will help our designs break the rules once again to present a collection of individual, exotic styles and experiences to sophisticated Saudi families and investors who have selected the wonders of Mirabilia as their home of choice."

daralarkan.com

@DarAlArkanDev; #DarAlArkan; #MirabiliaLaunch; #ShamsArRiyadh

robertocavalli.com

SOURCE Dar Al ArkanNEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Evercore (NYSE: EVR) announced today that David Noah will join the Firm's Investment Banking business in July as a Senior Managing Director in its Advisory practice. He will be based in New York and will be a part of the Firm's Industrials Group.

Mr. Noah was most recently a Managing Director and the Head of Diversified Industrials at Deutsche Bank and, prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2007, was a Vice President in Industrials at Morgan Stanley. Over the years, he has advised on a number of notable Industrial transactions including Pentair's Reverse Morris Trust with Tyco Flow, the United Technologies sale of Pratt & Whitney Power Systems to Mitsubishi, CIRCOR's acquisition of Colfax Fluid Handling, and Hitachi's acquisition of Sullair.

John Weinberg, Evercore's Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, said, "David has built a strong reputation as a leading advisor in the Industrials sector. We are thrilled that he has decided to join Evercore."

Ralph Schlosstein, Evercore's President and CEO, said, "As I noted in our Q1 2018 earnings call, Industrials is a large and important sector, and it has been a strategic priority of ours to build a leading franchise in this industry. We are extremely pleased that David has chosen to join our Firm. His deep industry knowledge and extensive experience will enable us to provide best-in-class advice to our Industrials clients on their most important strategic and financial issues."

Mr. Noah has a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations School and a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.

About Evercore

Evercore (NYSE: EVR) is a premier global independent investment banking advisory firm. We are dedicated to helping our clients achieve superior results through trusted independent and innovative advice on matters of strategic significance to boards of directors, management teams and shareholders, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic shareholder advisory, restructurings, and capital structure. Evercore also assists clients in raising public and private capital and delivers equity research and equity sales and agency trading execution, in addition to providing wealth and investment management services to high net worth and institutional investors. Founded in 1995, the Firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices and affiliate offices in major financial centers in North America, Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia. For more information, please visit www.evercore.com.

Investor Contact: Jamie Easton

Head of Investor Relations, Evercore

+1.212.857.310



Business Contact: Timothy LaLonde

COO, Investment Banking, Evercore

+1.212.857.3100



Media Contact: Dana Gorman

The Abernathy MacGregor Group, for Evercore

+1.212.371.5999

SOURCE Evercore

Related Links

http://www.evercore.com

JACKSON, Mich., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global bakery manufacturer and ingredients supplier Dawn Food Products, Inc. announced today that is has reached an agreement to acquire Lakeside, Calif.,-based Lakeside Bakery Supplies. This strategic business decision expands Dawn's reach across Southern California, helping deliver the innovative thinking, products and bakery expertise that Dawn is known for to Lakeside's customers.

Lakeside Bakery Supplies is a wholesale bakery distributor that has been owned and operated by the Brzezinski family for nearly 70 years. The company provides its customers with a variety of bakery ingredients, including egg products, flours, cake mixes and bases, icings, sugars, oils, shortenings, fillings, nuts, spices and a wide assortment of frozen products. The company also offers packaging, cake decorations and supplies and paper products.

"We look forward to welcoming Lakeside's customers to the Dawn family as we continue to grow our business and expand our reach throughout California," said Eric Metzendorf, President of Bakery Distribution, U.S. and Canada for Dawn Foods. "Working together for the last 10 years, our company has grown to be true partners with the Brzezinski family and the entire Lakeside team. This opportunity helps us further deliver our insights, innovations, products and bakery expertise to even more bakeries across the country, empowering them to achieve their aspirations."

For Lakeside customers, Dawn will continue to carry many of the same products that Lakeside currently provides. And if unable to offer certain products due to preexisting relationships, Dawn will work with customers on a one-on-one basis to find the best alternative to meet their needs.

"Dawn Foods is well known in the bakery industry for its unparalleled dedication to customer service," said Mike Brzezinski, owner of Lakeside Bakery Supply. "When Carol and I made the decision to take this next step toward retirement, we wanted to find a partner we knew and trusted  someone we would feel good leaving our family's legacy to. We found that in Dawn and are extremely happy our customers will be able to transition to such a hardworking, dedicated partner."

The deal between Dawn and Lakeside closed on May 11, 2018. As part of the transition, many members of the Lakeside sales team and drivers will transfer to the Dawn family, helping provide the service and familiarity customers throughout Southern California already know and expect. Additionally, Mike Brzezinski will be named the Regional Director of Business Development, Southwest at Dawn Foods and will play a key role in the transition process for all Lakeside customers.

About Dawn Food Products, Inc.

Global bakery manufacturer and ingredients supplier Dawn Food Products, Inc. has established itself as the ultimate service provider and inspires bakery success every day. Committed to delighting its customers around the world, Dawn Foods delivers the partnership, insights, innovations, products and bakery expertise that empowers them to achieve their aspirations. Headquartered in Jackson, Michigan, Dawn Foods partners with more than 40,000 artisanal and retail bakers, food service leaders and manufacturers located in more than 100 countries and has 5,000 Team Members globally. For nearly 100 years, Dawn Foods has been a trusted advisor to its customers, helping drive their business forward. For more information about the company, its products and culture, please visit www.dawnfoods.com.

CONTACT:

Ashley Currie Katie Kaul Zeno Group for Dawn Foods Senior Manager, Global Corporate Communications 312-396-9763 517-789-4518 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Dawn Food Products, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.dawnfoods.com

DALLAS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas attorney, ADR authority, and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Deborah Hankinson has been selected to D Magazine's listing of the Best Lawyers in Dallas for appellate law.

Ms. Hankinson is the founder of Hankinson LLP, known both for its outstanding appellate practitioners and Ms. Hankinson's unique ADR Plus suite of services. Through ADR Plus, Ms. Hankinson offers a comprehensive array of options for conflict resolution, including and going beyond mediation and arbitration to encompass various forms of consultation and even representation as settlement counsel. The power of these diverse services, which cover all stages of a conflict, takes direct advantage of Ms. Hankinson's vast substantive experience as a former Justice on the Texas Supreme Court and appellate lawyer.

In 2016, Ms. Hankinson was selected to The National Law Journal's inaugural ADR Champions list, recognizing trailblazers from across the nation. She serves on the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association. She is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

In addition to earning D Magazine honors, Ms. Hankinson has received recognition from The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, Texas Super Lawyers, Benchmark Appellate, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, Martindale-Hubbell and Lawdragon. She also was honored as a Texas Trial Legend by the Dallas Bar Association.

The Best Lawyers in Dallas listing is based on a thorough review of peer nominations by D Magazine editors and an anonymous panel of the city's most respected attorneys. The full listing appears in the publication's May edition and can be found online at http://www.dmagazine.com.

Hankinson LLP, the pre-eminent civil appellate firm in the Southwest, provides broad-based appellate representation, including support before and during trial, as well as Ms. Hankinson's extensive ADR-related services. Learn more about the firm at http://hankinsonlaw.com.

SOURCE Hankinson LLP

Related Links

http://hankinsonlaw.com

First Priority Emergency Vehicles Recognized for Business and Sales Performance

MONTREAL, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Demers Ambulance, a North American leader in ambulance manufacturing, has announced First Priority Emergency Vehicles as the company's 2017 Dealer of the Year for sales volume. The award focuses on excellence in dealership performance, as well as business and sales volume purchases from Demers Ambulance USA Inc.

"Dealers like First Priority Emergency Vehicles provide the foundation of our customer experience," said Benoit Lafortune, Demers Ambulances executive vice president. "We are proud to recognize First Priority for their exceptional efforts in delivering a tailored customer experience, while growing sales." The Demers Dealer of the Year award for sales volume purchases was recently presented at the 2018 Fire Department Instructor's Conference (FDIC International), held in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"Our team is extremely proud of this accomplishment," said Alex Cherepakhov, Chairman and CEO of First Priority Emergency Vehicles. "We appreciate the support and quality we receive from Demers Ambulances which has helped First Priority Emergency Vehicles grow to become one of the largest EMS Groups in the country."

About First Priority Emergency Vehicles

Founded in 1998, First Priority Emergency Vehicles is one of the country's leading manufacturers, dealers and service providers in the EMS, Conversions and Fire industries. Our EMS Division provides both new and refurbished ambulances to a wide range of emergency medical agencies across the US, with vehicle solutions available across a range of price points to satisfy the requirements of its diverse customer base. The company is a dealer of Braun Ambulances and Demers Ambulances, as well as one of the largest ambulance remounters in the country. Our Conversion Division is one of the largest upfitters of emergency command and specialty vehicles, providing custom solutions to law enforcement, emergency and commercial customers throughout the US. Our Fire Division is consistently one of the country's top dealers for new KME Fire Apparatus in New Jersey and Delaware. To learn more about First Priority Emergency Vehicles, visit www.1fpg.com

About Demers Ambulances

Founded in 1960, Demers Ambulances is the second largest ambulance manufacturer in North America, delivering more than 18,000 ambulances to more than 20 countries. Recognized as a leader in innovative products that meet and exceed the expectations of medical emergency specialists around the world, Demers Ambulances is accredited by Transport Canada, recognized as a "Qualified Vehicles Modification" (QVM) by Ford, and also holds the US National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) Member Verification Program (MVP) certification. Demers Ambulances merged with Braun Industries in February 2018. To learn more about Demers Ambulances, visit www.demers-ambulances.com.

SOURCE Demers-Ambulances inc.

Related Links

www.demers-ambulances.com

SALT LAKE CITY and RIVA DEL GARDA, Italy, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Axcend's Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, Milton L. Lee, Ph.D., will deliver the opening lecture tomorrow at the 42nd annual International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography being held in Riva del Garda, Italy.

Titled "Novel Column Technologies for Portable Capillary Chromatography," Dr. Lee's presentation will highlight the challenges he and his colleagues faced and overcame to invent breakthrough technologies and approaches to the chemical analysis of organic compounds in a mobile and portable liquid chromatography (LC) system. The 2018 edition of the International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography (ISCC42) is a prestigious conference that attracts top scientists and researchers from around the world who are interested in the latest advancements and inventions in the fields of high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography.

"It is a great honor to be asked to present the keynote presentation at ISCC42," Dr. Lee said. "I look forward to seeing many of my scientific colleagues this week at the Symposium and discussing with them the new advantages and options our award-winning portable Axcend Focus LC delivers as a high-performance liquid chromatograph."

Axcend Focus LC Overview

Announced in late February at Pittcon 2018, the Axcend Focus LC was designed from the ground-up as a truly mobile, gradient, nano-flow liquid chromatograph. The Axcend Focus LC measures ~30x20x20-centimeters (11.8x7.9x7.9-inches), weighs under 6.8-kilograms (15 lbs.), operates on battery or electrical outlet power, and delivers 100 times (100X) greater sensitivity than traditional LC systems.

Creating a high performance LC system the size of a toaster required Dr. Lee and the Axcend team to utilize 150 mm (micrometer) nano-flow internal diameter capillary columns packed with 1.7 mm3.0 mm fused silica particles for use in the Axcend Focus LC. However, doing so delivered two significant benefits:

Support for up to 20,000 psi (1,379 bar), and

Dramatically less sample, solvent and purified water volumes (as little as 1/500th of the amounts required by traditional LCs),

which also means much lower costs for solvents, water and waste disposal.

Visual/statistical output from the Axcend Focus LC is delivered securely and wirelessly to any Web-connected smartphone, tablet or personal computer capable of HTML5 display, with the additional ability to connect via a USB cable to any PC.

Initial availability and pricing of the Axcend Focus LC is slated for Summer 2018.

Note for Journalists

Journalists interested in scheduling an interview with Dr. Lee at ISCC42 (or after the conference) can do so by contacting David Politis at +1-801-556-8184 or at [email protected]. Additionally, journalists interested in seeing the new Axcend Focus LC can do so at Booth/Stand #26 at ISCC42.

About Axcend

Axcend is a provider of innovative, compact nano-flow, high-performance liquid chromatography (LC) systems that deliver dramatic improvements in portability, ease-of-operation, rapid and convenient deployment, and coupling to other analytical systems (such as mass spectrometers). Its Axcend Focus LC was introduced in February 2018 and received a Bronze Pittcon Excellence Award from Pittcon Today magazine (in the under $10 million category). For more information, call 801-376-9088, email [email protected] or visit www.AxcendCorp.com

Axcend, the Axcend logo and Axcend Focus LC are trademarks of Axcend, LLC. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

PRESS CONTACT:

David Politis, The David Politis Company, 801-556-8184, [email protected]

SOURCE Axcend

Related Links

https://www.axcendcorp.com

ST. LOUIS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent study by financial services firm Edward Jones found that the majority of Americans (71 percent) still do not know what a 529 plan is. Only 29 percent of respondents could correctly identify a 529 plan as an education savings tool (down from 32 percent of Americans in 2017) among four potential options, including a retirement savings plan, a form of life insurance, or a low-cost health plan (17 percent, 11 percent and nine percent, respectively).

"It's concerning to see the percentage of individuals who still don't know what a 529 plan is or understand its usefulness in preparing to tackle education expenses," said Danae Domian, an Edward Jones principal. "A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan, available to anyone, that is designed to encourage preparation for future education costs. There's a misperception that only parents can establish these plans. But in reality, any person can set up a plan for any student."

Awareness varied based on a variety of factors, such as age and household income. Gen-Xers (or those ages 38-53) were more likely to correctly identify 529 plans (35 percent) compared to their Millennial (27 percent) counterparts (or those ages 20-37). Additionally, the survey found that 529 awareness increased with household income. Fifty-two percent of individuals with a household income of $100,000 or more correctly identified a 529 plan versus just 17 percent of those with less than $35,000.

How are Americans saving now?

When it comes to specific education savings strategies, Edward Jones found that almost half of respondents (43 percent) used, or plan to use, their personal savings to pay for higher education expenses, followed by scholarships (33 percent), federal or state financial aid (31 percent), and private student loans (20 percent), with 529 plans trailing behind as the least-utilized strategy (13 percent).

When looking closer at how much individuals are saving toward future education expenses, the survey found that, on average, half of Americans (50 percent) are not saving anything on an annual basis. Even more disturbing, the figure drops to 41 percent when looking at individuals with children under the age of 13.

"What's alarming is the percentage of individuals with young children who are not saving for future education expenses," said Domian. "As education costs continue to rise, beginning to save early on with a mix of strategies will be paramount in ensuring you're prepared to handle higher education expenses and aren't derailing other financial obligations, like your retirement, in the process."

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act makes 529 Plans more flexible

Of those Americans who could correctly identify a 529 plan, 65 percent indicated that they were not more likely to take out a plan given the changes from the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Further, when looking at individuals with children under the age of 13, 53 percent indicated that they were not more likely to take out a 529 plan given the recent tax reform.

Kyle Andersen, a principal at Edward Jones responsible for education savings plans, said, "Prior to the recently approved tax law, 529 plans could only be utilized on qualified higher education expenses. Now, these education savings tools can be used toward qualified tuition expenses for children in elementary and secondary schools."

Up to $10,000 per year per beneficiary can be distributed for these purposes without incurring federal income taxes.

"We encourage individuals to examine how 529 plans can offer a more holistic way to save for education expenses," Andersen said. "Now may be an opportune time to take advantage of the changing law, however investors should be mindful of how their state of residence may adopt the changing law from a state tax incentive and benefits perspective."

Not every state will be recognizing elementary and secondary tuition expenses as qualified education expenses. As a result, before using funds for elementary and/or secondary tuition expenses, investors should consult with the plan sponsor and a qualified tax advisor to understand the state tax incentives and state tax consequences of using such 529 plan funds.

As part of its ongoing effort to raise awareness for 529 plans and education savings techniques, Edward Jones branches across the country are recognizing May 29 as "Save for Education Day," a firm-wide holiday derived from the name of the education savings tool. Edward Jones branch offices will be hosting events in their communities to remind investors about the importance of setting education savings goals. Investors are encouraged to visit their local branches to learn more about planning for their children's educational future.

About Edward Jones

Edward Jones, a FORTUNE 500 firm, provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada. Every aspect of the firm's business, from the types of investment options offered to the location of branch offices, is designed to cater to individual investors in the communities in which they live and work. The firm's 16,000 financial advisors work directly with more than 7 million clients. The Edward Jones Web site is located at www.edwardjones.com and its recruiting Web site is www.careers.edwardjones.com. Follow Edward Jones on Twitter @EdwardJones and visit the firm's Facebook site at www.facebook.com/edwardjones. Member SIPC.

About This Survey

Survey was conducted by ORC International's CARAVAN Omnibus Services and was based on 1,004 landline and cell phone interviews of U.S. adults conducted April 12-15, 2018. The margin of error was +/-3.09%.

Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors cannot provide tax or legal advice. Investors should consult their attorneys or qualified tax advisors regarding their situations.

SOURCE Edward Jones

Related Links

http://www.edwardjones.com

SARASOTA, Fla., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Erase Mugshots has been named as the number one company for removing arrest records from various online websites by Top10RemovalCompanies.com.

Arrest record removal is the second most popular service offered by reputation monitoring service Erase Mugshots. Top10RemovalCompanies.com cited its ease of use and the level of support provided by the company as reasons for giving it the coveted number one rank.

Company founder Adam Parks recently made a commitment to becoming the number one mugshot removal company online and says that's critical to the company's high level of service: "Our clients are able to build trust with our company quickly because we never outsource our work overseas. Everyone who works for us is based solely in the U.S., with a firm knowledge of the market from an American perspective."

Another major reason, cited by Top10RemovalCompanies.com, for Erase Mugshot's ascension to the number one spot was the company's commitment to guaranteed success. Erase Mugshots provides a quality guarantee, so if the business fails to remove a specific entry they agree to refund the client in full.

Erase Mugshots has experienced a huge growth spike since its foundation. Today, 72,000 files have been removed online for 7,200 customers. The company now boasts of over 200 years of combined experience among its team.

A statement from Top10RemovalCompanies.com said, "Erase Mugshots benefits from more experience than its competitors and offers its clients real results backed up by a solid money back guarantee."

In response to this accolade, Erase Mugshots has renewed its commitment to changing the face of the industry and giving clients the best possible service.

Background

Erase Mugshots is an online reputation monitoring and arrest record removal company employed to help clients across the world manage their online reputations. It was founded in 2013 and is a company based in the U.S.

Located in the city of Sarasota, FL, the company has helped thousands of individuals and businesses manage their reputations online through a guarantee of success and web experts who are well-versed in their profession.

For further information on Erase Mugshots, visit https://erasemugshots.com.

Media Contact:

Eric Blankenship

https://erasemugshots.com

786-332-6554

SOURCE EraseMugshots.com

Related Links

https://erasemugshots.com

In addition, Eyemart Express is donating 2,000 pairs of glasses complete with prescription lenses to members of the national veteran service organization Veterans of Foreign Wars .

"Military personnel and their families give and sacrifice so much for our country," said Michael Bender, Eyemart Express Chief Executive Officer. "We want to show our appreciation for their service and make it easier to take care of their eye health. The ability to see clearly should not be among the many concerns military families experience."

Eyemart Express makes it easy for military customers to take advantage of the discount program when selecting from the more than 2,000 frame styles the company offers. They must present a valid military, dependent, retiree, or DD214 card at the time of purchase to save on top of the company's already affordable prices.

"Several of our Eyemart Express stores are in cities with large military communities, so this program is the perfect way to say 'thank you' all year," said Mr. Bender.

The company also offers the fastest production of glasses in the industry for busy military personnel and families with as little as 30 minutes turnaround time and 90 percent of glasses delivered on the same day.

Get more information about the Eyemart Express military discount and initiative by visiting: https://www.eyemartexpress.com/military.

About Eyemart Express

Eyemart Express brings more than 28 years of experience fitting and providing quality prescription eyewear to consumers. The company operates under its motto of Right Glasses. Right Price. Right Now: a unique mix of value, style, and timely service. With 178 stores in 35 states, Eyemart Express ranks among the Top 10 largest optical retailers in the country, with its family of brands: Vision4Less, Visionmart Express, and Eyewear Express. To learn more about Eyemart Express, visit EyemartExpress.com.

SOURCE Eyemart Express

Related Links

http://www.eyemartexpress.com

LEXINGTON, Ky., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Fazoli's, America's largest elevated quick service Italian chain, announced today the re-opening of its franchised location in Poplar Bluff, Missouri after an accidental fire burned the original building to the ground in May of last year. Marking the brand's 9th restaurant in Missouri, the newly built restaurant is located at 2501 N. Westwood Blvd and will celebrate it's grand re-opening on May 22. The new restaurant, which includes a drive-thru, will also showcase Fazoli's new interior and exterior design featuring a contemporary look and feel.

The Poplar Bluff restaurant is owned and operated by longtime franchisees Jeremy Duckett, Jonas Duckett, and Jack Duckett, who have been franchising with Fazoli's since 2010. Jack has extensive restaurant operations experience and is a franchisee of other restaurant brands.

"I am thrilled to be bringing Fazoli's back to the Poplar Bluff area as the brand is so well-known and beloved in the community," said Jack Duckett, Fazoli's franchisee. "Our emphasis has always been fresh quality ingredients and a family-friendly atmosphere, so we look forward to continuing to be a place for friends and family to enjoy premium Italian food at a great value."

The Poplar Bluff restaurant will re-open with Fazoli's recently refined menu, introducing more flavor and menu options to meet ever-changing consumer tastes and preferences. The modernized menu uses premium ingredients and includes offerings such as tableside grated Parmesan, upgraded plateware, as well as new dishes such as "Spicy Penne with Chicken or Sausage," and "Brownie Gelato Sundae."

The Poplar Bluff location will serve guests Sunday-Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information, visit www.fazolis.com. Local residents are encouraged to join the Fazoli's eFamily to receive the latest happenings and deals from their local restaurant by signing up at fazolis.com/efamily.

As a testament to its achievements, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing nearly three times the industry average growth rate with new franchised restaurants continually setting new system-wide records. With nearly 220 restaurants in 27 states, Fazoli's is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join its growing, successful franchise network and is targeting new markets across the U.S.

For more information about franchise opportunities, contact Jeff Sturgis, Chief Development Officer, at 859.825.6212 or [email protected].

About Fazoli's

With approximately 220 restaurants in 27 states, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian elevated QSR chain, serving freshly prepared pasta entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of Franchise Business Review's top ranked franchises in franchisee satisfaction and a FastCasual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth. Visit www.ownafazolis.com for details on development opportunities.

Contact:

Alisha Sheth

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Fazoli's

Related Links

http://www.ownafazolis.com

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Verimatrix, a specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for network-connected devices and services, was honored twice over at The Connies 2018 award ceremony for improving the efficiency and traceability of premium content distribution. After winning the Video Technology Hero category for which it was shortlisted, Verimatrix's federated rights management solution became eligible forand ultimately wonthe competition's highest honor: The Grand Prix.

"Federated Rights Management is bold and innovative  one of that rare breed of products that has the potential to completely change the way we do things," commented judge and Videonet Editor-in-Chief John Moulding. "It arrives at a time when everyone is focused on rationalizing the increasingly complex video delivery environment. The judges felt this solution can contribute to that process and made it a worthy winner for 2018."

The Federated Rights Management model reduces OTT distribution complexity by offering a single point of integration for both operators and content providers where content is encoded, encrypted, and stored in the cloud before being delivered to video head-ends simply by exchanging encryption keys, content rights policy, and metadata. In addition to persistent encryption, it streamlines security workflows with content release window controls, policy definition and enforcement, and automated consumption reporting and analytics. The end result eliminates duplication of process and strengthens relationships between operators and content providers.

"Federated rights management is worthy of the Video Technology Hero award because that is precisely what it embodies; it's a completely redefined workflow that eliminates redundant processing that can cost operators millions and opens doors to new content distribution business models," said Verimatrix President Steve Oetegenn. "And we couldn't be more thrilled to take home the Grand Prix award as well. This is a huge win that underscores the need for such a game-changing solution that enables enormous savings in infrastructure, labor, and workflow risk."

The Connies brings together the established UK Connected Consumer Awards from Mediatel and the internationally based Connected TV Awards from Videonet, now part of Mediatel Events. Awards serve to recognize innovation and the emerging best practices from across all sectors of the media landscape, showcasing initiatives that meet the needs of leading media businesses and practitioners in delivering value to the connected consumer. To view the full list of award recipients, click here.

To learn more about federated rights management, download Verimatrix's use case.

About Verimatrix

Verimatrix specializes in securing and enhancing revenue for network-connected devices and services around the world and is recognized as the global number one in revenue security for IP-based video services. The award-winning and independently audited Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) family of solutions enables next-generation video service providers to cost-effectively extend their networks and enable new business models. The company has continued its technical innovation by offering a comprehensive data collection platform, Verspective Analytics, for automated system real-time quality of experience (QoE) optimization to drive user engagement and content monetization, and data collection/analytics and Vtegrity, advanced security that addresses IoT threats and service lifecycle management.

Its unmatched partner ecosystem enables Verimatrix to provide unique business value beyond security as service providers introduce new applications that leverage the proliferation of connected devices. For more information, please visit www.verimatrix.com, our Pay TV Views blog and follow us @verimatrixinc, Facebook and LinkedIn to join the conversation.

SOURCE Verimatrix

Related Links

http://www.verimatrix.com

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global marketing and communications agency Finn Partners today announced the appointment of Jodi Brooks to head the firm's Technology practice, its largest division, with annual fees of more than $25 million and more than 100 employees. Brooks, a technology communications expert and thought leader, brings over 17 years of experience to Finn Partners, focusing on the overall direction of the technology practice for both existing clients and future relationships.

Sabrina Horn, who joined Finn Partners in 2015 in the role of technology lead, has become a Senior Advisor to the agency.

Brooks joins Finn Partners from Burson-Marsteller, where she served on the U.S. Leadership Team and Chair of the U.S. Technology Practice. There, she led the practice through a multi-year transformation. Her leadership and technology expertise earned her industry-wide recognition, including PR Leader of the Year by PR News in 2017. Brooks has worked and managed campaigns on behalf of numerous well-known brands including Oracle, HP, Fitbit, Zebra Technologies, AT&T, Bausch + Lomb, Baidu and Huawei.

"Finn Partners is very pleased to welcome Jodi Brooks to the firm," says Richard Funess, senior managing partner. "Technology crosses over and is integrated into virtually every business strategy. And, through that evolution, it has become our largest practice area. Jodi's transformative way of thinking and move-to-action style will have a major impact on our team of communications experts as well as the way Finn's market perception and further opportunities."

"It is an honor to join Finn Partners," says Brooks. "Technology is at the heart of everything we do, and Finn Partners lives this mantra. The firm's focus on technology, YOY growth and culture which encourages collaboration and creativity all foster an environment that will leverage my expertise to further drive and enhance the Tech practice."

Prior to Burson-Marsteller, Brooks was an SVP within Weber Shandwick's Global Technology and Media Relations Practices, where she oversaw the Bausch + Lomb global business, Honeywell ACS and managed inter-office teams. Previously, Brooks was a Vice President at Ketchum, working on Kodak and AT&T Wireless.

Finn Partners Technology Practice

From startups to giants, Finn Partners delivers deep tech expertise across multiple sectors, including consumer, application development, enterprise mobility, business insights and process management. The Technology practice has expertise across both B2B and B2C industries, notably in cybersecurity, supply chain, enterprise/cloud, data science, ad/marketing tech, artificial intelligence, IoT, wireless, telecommunications, and automotive technology.

Including New York, the 100+-employee strong Tech practice operates out of the firm's offices including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, and Portland in the US, and operates internationally from offices in London, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Shanghai, and Singapore.

Finn Partners

Founded in 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, Finn Partners has more than tripled in size in six years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent public relations agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the Finn Partners world through a common philosophy. With 600 professionals, Finn Partners provides its clients with global access and capabilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, in addition to PROI worldwide. Headquartered in New York, Finn Partners' other offices are in Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Washington D.C. Find us as finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @finnpartners.

Contact:

[email protected]

[email protected]

212.715.1600

SOURCE Finn Partners

Related Links

http://www.finnpartners.com

JERUSALEM, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In the heart of Jerusalem's third oldest neighborhood, Nahalat Shiva, lays the Friends of Zion Museum, a center that educates guests from all over the world about the courageous non-Jews whom assisted the Jewish people in their time of need. While these non-Jews acted in the 19th century, the era of British Mandatory Palestine, the Holocaust, and the State of Israel's early days as a new nation, their impact can be felt just as strongly today.

Mike Evans and Shimon Peres with Pope Francis

The Friends of Zion Heritage Center has just passed 40 million pro-Israel followers on Facebook through its parent corporation, the Jerusalem Prayer Team. Astonishingly, it has three million pro-Israel members in Indonesia, a Muslim country. The FOZ Award has been presented to many world leaders including to U.S. President George W. Bush and President Donald Trump. It will also be given to all world leaders who move their embassies to Jerusalem. The award was recently bestowed on President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala. The FOZ Museum has hosted more than 120 diplomats including President Rivlin and Ambassador David Friedman. Mr. Friedman will be honored with the Friends of Zion Award at a special event following the embassy dedication.

Friends of Zion Heritage Center is building an Ambassador Institute, a research institute, a think tank and communications center to unite the tens of millions of Christian Friends of Zion. More than half the visitors to FOZ are Israelis. The Friends of Zion Museum is the latest smart museum in Jerusalem.

Though the Friends of Zion Museum is a great achievement, and as its founder I am proud to have made a major contribution to its existence, but my and many of my colleagues' hard work could not have been done alone. We were all inspired by a man who promised and delivered, President Donald J. Trump did what most previous American Presidents have promised but have failed to attain: to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The new United States Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel is just the newest symbol memorializing the strength of the United States-Israel relationship.

The new United States Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel is the newest symbol memorializing the bravery and determination of figures featured in the Friends of Zion Museum. Congratulations to President Trump as well as the Americans whom helped put him in office, this major accomplishment will go down in history as right and just.

Friends of Zion Museum, 20 Yosef Rivlin Street, Jerusalem. A reservation is recommended for museum visits. Website: www.fozmuseum.com, email: [email protected] , or phone: +972-2-532-9400.

SOURCE Friends of Zion Museum

Related Links

http://www.fozmuseum.com

VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The global market for gait trainers is being progressively influenced by the growing competition and the expansion of the walking aids industry. The rising number of spinal injuries as well as strokes that impacts the ability of a patient to walk has been incessantly supporting the global gait trainer market to grow and has been expected to remain the same in the forthcoming years. In Europe and North America, manufacturers are strengthening their position as they are the key focus regions with the maximum potential for the players to take leverage from. For instance, key players such as Rifton Equipment, Ottobock Inc.., Ekso Bionics, Hocoma AG, and AlterG are expanding their commercial presence in international market.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/677274/Future_Market_Insights_Logo.jpg )



The players in the market are increasingly focusing on raising their market penetration through exploration of the untapped markets. In order to increase its market penetration, the company is focusing on enhancement of its products by introducing new technologies and upgrading its existing products and also simultaneously focusing on strategic alliances for sale and promotion of its products globally. Manufacturers are basically focusing on upscaling the production of automated gait trainer.

Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents and Figures: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2213

The proliferating acquisition activities and contractual agreements between manufacturers and local service providers are the factors promoting the growth of the global gait trainer market. Manufacturers of gait trainer devices and exoskeletons are focusing on government contracts and agreements with other medical device companies, in order to manufacture cost-effective products, especially for rehabilitation.

According to the report published by Future Market Insights (FMI), the global gait trainer market is expected to witness a CAGR of 4.9% from 2018 to 2028. In 2017, the market was worth US$ 271.5 Mn and is projected to rise to a valuation of US$ 456.3 Mn by the end of 2028.

Technological Advancements to Pave Way for Market Progression

In the last couple of years, various types of gait trainers to support ambulation practices have been developed, the treadmill and over ground systems are the ones gaining popularity. Advanced gait trainer systems are predominantly designed to minimize stress-strain shielding with adjustability in height, and increase the range of motion with high efficiency. As indicated by the expert analyst, New FDA-cleared EksoGT exoskeleton comes with a controller, inbuilt software coupled with smart assist pre-gait and freegait quick fit technology. Ekso pulse comes with a cloud-based technology, analytics, wireless transmission and cloud storage.

Preview Gait Trainer Market Segmentation by End User - Hospitals, Rehabilitation Center, and Homecare Setting and by Product type - Gait Trainer Walker, Adult, Pediatric, Treadmill System, and Exoskeleton: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/gait-trainer-market

Competitive Pricing to Obstruct Growth Tract

The price elasticity of the gait trainer market has grown extensively owing to the significant role played by the government and managed care groups. HME dealers purchase gait trainer products based primarily on the price, so that they can be assured of being reimbursed. Thereby, manufacturers must fiercely compete on price in order to win large dealer contracts and purchases. The rising Asian imports of gait trainer are bound to send the prices to a certain low. With increasing number of participants, the prices will continue to decline.

Our 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: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-2213

More from FMI's Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices:

Spinal Cord Stimulators Market Segmentation End User - Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Units, Clinics; Application - Failed Back Surgery Syndrome, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Ischemic Limb Pain, Others; Product Type - Rechargeable, Non-Rechargeable: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/spinal-cord-stimulator-market

Segmentation End User - Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Units, Clinics; Application - Failed Back Surgery Syndrome, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Ischemic Limb Pain, Others; Product Type - Rechargeable, Non-Rechargeable: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/spinal-cord-stimulator-market Spinal Fusion Market Segmentation by Product Type - Interbody Cages, Pedicle Screws and Rods, Spinal Fusion Plates; Procedure Type - Posterolateral Fusion, Interbody Fusion (Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF), Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF), Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF), Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF), Others); End User - Hospitals, Speciality Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centres: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-spinal-fusion-market

Segmentation by Product Type - Interbody Cages, Pedicle Screws and Rods, Spinal Fusion Plates; Procedure Type - Posterolateral Fusion, Interbody Fusion (Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF), Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF), Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF), Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF), Others); End User - Hospitals, Speciality Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centres: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-spinal-fusion-market Bone Growth Stimulators Market Segmentation By Product - Invasive Bone Growth Stimulators, Non-Invasive Bone Growth Stimulators and Ultrasound Bone Growth Stimulators; By End User - Hospital, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Orthopedic Clinics, and Home Care; By Application - Trauma Injury and Fractures, Spinal Fusion, and Osteogenesis; Others - Market Size, Growth, Forecast, Sales, Pricing Forecast, Share, Export Value, Export Volume, Trade: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/bone-growth-stimulators-market

About Us

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends.

Browse More: Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Market

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SOURCE Future Market InsightsHOUSTON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gastar Exploration Inc. (NYSE American: GST) ("Gastar") today announced that its board of directors (the "Board") has appointed Harry Quarls to the Board effective today.

Mr. Quarls currently serves as an independent director for Rosehill Resources Inc., a publicly traded independent oil and natural gas company, a position he has held since April 2017. He also currently serves as chairman of the board of SH 130 Concessions Company LLC and as a director of Opal Resources LLC, privately-held companies. Mr. Quarls served as chairman of the board for Penn Virginia Corporation, a publicly traded exploration and production company, from September 2016 until his retirement in February 2018. He also previously served as chairman of the board of US Oil Sands Corporation and of Trident Resources Corporation, and was a director for Fairway Resources LLC.

Mr. Quarls served as managing director at Global Infrastructure Partners., a leading global, independent infrastructure investor from January 2009 until December 2017. Additionally, Mr. Quarls served as managing director and practice leader for global energy as well as a member of the board of directors at Booz & Company, a leading international management consulting firm, from 1982 to 2007.

Mr. Quarls earned an MBA from Stanford University and also holds ScM. and Bachelors of Science degrees, both in chemical engineering, from M.I.T. and Tulane University, respectively.

Jerry Schuyler, Gastar's Chairman of the board of directors and interim CEO, said, "On behalf of the Board of Gastar Exploration, we are very pleased to welcome Harry Quarls to the Board and look forward to benefitting from his substantial knowledge. His outstanding qualifications include considerable financial and energy investing expertise, as well as experience on the boards of numerous public and private energy companies. This level of experience will be a tremendous asset as Gastar develops its quality acreage position in the STACK Play and works to build shareholder value."

About Gastar Exploration

Gastar Exploration Inc. is a pure-play Mid-Continent independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, condensate, natural gas and natural gas liquids in the United States. Gastar's principal business activities include the identification, acquisition and subsequent exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties with an emphasis on unconventional reserves, such as shale resource plays. Gastar holds a concentrated acreage position in the normally pressured oil window of the STACK Play, an area of central Oklahoma which is home to multiple oil and natural gas-rich reservoirs including the Meramec, Oswego, Osage, Woodford and Hunton formations. For more information, visit Gastar's website at www.gastar.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward looking statements express our current expectations, opinion, belief or forecasts of future events and performance. A statement identified by the use of forward looking words including "may," "expects," "projects," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "estimate," "will," "should," and certain of the other foregoing statements may be deemed forward-looking statements. Although Gastar believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future activities and results to be materially different from those suggested or described in this news release. These include risks described in Gastar's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. By issuing forward looking statements based on current expectations, opinions, views or beliefs, Gastar has no obligation and, except as required by law, is not undertaking any obligation, to update or revise these statements or provide any other information relating to such statements.

Contacts:

Gastar Exploration Inc.

Michael A. Gerlich, Chief Financial Officer

713-739-1800 / [email protected]



Investor Relations Counsel:

Lisa Elliott / [email protected]

Dennard-Lascar Investor Relations: 713-529-6600

SOURCE Gastar Exploration Inc.

Related Links

http://www.gastar.com

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Prana Pets announces its launch of the Senior Citizen Dog Bundle to treat pain symptoms in older pets from arthritis and canine hip dysplasia. The combination includes CBD for dogs or cats as well as a joint and muscle supplement so that older pets experience less pain, are able to play and can walk up and down steps again.

The combination of the joint health supplement and the CBD for cats or dogs offers a highly effective treatment for older animals that are experiencing problems with mobility because of joint pain. The Pet CBD oil is a full-spectrum oil and is organic, allowing pets to receive all of the benefits that it offers. This product is know as our Senior Citizen Pet Formula.

Prana Pets wanted to offer its customers a solution for their pets that are aging. As they grow older, many pets are unable to climb stairs, play catch or engage in other activities that they used to enjoy because of arthritis pain or canine hip dysplasia. The Senior Citizen Dog Bundle is designed to help both elderly cats and dogs that are in pain so that they are more comfortable and able to enjoy improved mobility.

Customers of Prana Pets love the difference that the Senior Citizen Dog Bundle makes for their pets. A very happy recipient of the Senior Pet Formula, Carli S. of Las Vegas, Nevada, states, "We started giving this to Macy when she turned 14 and we could tell she was in lots of pain. Within a few days, her mood changed and she was able to get up and down the stairs again and even was playing with our puppy. We are so grateful for the Senior Dog Bundle". Jenny G. of Davie, Florida, says that she "will always be a customer". She writes that she gave her elderly collie the Senior Citizens Pet Bundle, and has seen significant improvements in his mobility. Her dog has multiple problems, including arthritis and hip dysplasia, and she says that he now seems to be in less pain and is able to navigate stairs again. Prana Pets customers have reported great results for use on Cats also.

Prana Pets is located in Florida and offers a range of products for pets. The company offers herbal supplements to help pets that are suffering from a range of conditions. Prana Pets can be contacted as follows:

Media Contact:

Brad Solomon

Phone: 484.686.9628

Email: [email protected]

Related Images

prana-pets.png

Prana Pets

Prana Pets

senior-citizen-pet-bundle.jpg

Senior Citizen Pet Bundle

Find out more about the Senior Citizen Bundle

Related Links

CBD Senior Pet Bundle

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48VPhkEgVbY

SOURCE Prana PetsVANCOUVER, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - GoldMining Inc. (the "Company" or "GoldMining") (TSX-V: GOLD;OTCQX: GLDLF) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated April 26, 2018, the Company has completed its indirect acquisition of the Narrow Lake property (the "Property"). The Property includes the N1 and N2 claims, which cover a total area of 618 hectares and are contiguous with the southern boundary of the Company's Nicholas Lake-Ormsby property, one of the four properties that comprise the Yellowknife Gold Project ("YGP"), which the Company acquired in July 2017. With the acquisition of the Property, the YGP now has an expanded total area of 12,120 hectares.

Pursuant to the Agreement, GoldMining paid $50,000 in cash and issued 33,333 common shares of the Company to the vendor (the "Vendor") in consideration for the Property. An additional $100,000, payable in cash or common shares of the Company, at the Company's discretion, will be due on the first anniversary of the closing date.

GoldMining granted the Vendor a 1% net smelter royalty with respect to the N1 and N2 claims upon commercial production.

About GoldMining Inc.

GoldMining Inc. is a public mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of gold assets in the Americas. Through its disciplined acquisition strategy, GoldMining now controls a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in Canada, U.S.A., Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Additionally, GoldMining owns a 75% interest in the Rea Uranium Project, located in the Western Athabasca Basin of Alberta, Canada.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor their Regulation Services Providers (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE GoldMining Inc.

Related Links

www.goldmining.com

NEW YORK and TORONTO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. ("iAnthus" or "the Company"), (CSE: IAN,OTCQB: ITHUF), which owns, operates, and partners with licensed cannabis operations throughout the United States, is pleased to announce that it has received a US$50 million investment from Gotham Green Partners ("GGP" or the "Investor"), which management believes to be the largest investment to date by a single investor in a publicly traded U.S. cannabis operating company.

"Gotham Green Partners is well recognized as a long-term investor and leader within the cannabis investment community, and we are excited to partner with GGP to create value for our shareholders," said Hadley Ford, CEO of iAnthus. "As the U.S. cannabis industry continues to grow, we will be well-capitalized and well-positioned to continue the buildout of our existing assets and pursue opportunistic acquisitions to expand our footprint."

"As an early mover in the space, the iAnthus team has successfully assembled a portfolio of valuable licensed cannabis assets in attractive states with desirable demographics," said Jason Adler, Managing Member of GGP. "iAnthus' recent acquisitions in New York and Florida, combined with its operations in Massachusetts, provide a compelling growth and investment opportunity. With this infusion of capital, we look forward to working with the management team to source additional strategic opportunities and accelerate the Company's growth profile."

"Jason and the GGP team have demonstrated the ability to help portfolio companies accelerate geographic expansion and operational efficiencies to create meaningful value for investors," said Julius Kalcevich, CFO of iAnthus. "GGP's investment enables iAnthus to recapitalize its balance sheet with long-term exchangeable debt and significantly fund its key operations, particularly in New York and Florida. We look forward to GGP's involvement in these activities in the coming quarters."

Through 2018, the Company plans to allocate the proceeds of this financing in the following manner:

Repayment of US$20 million one-year note and accrued interest to VCP Bridge LLC;

one-year note and accrued interest to VCP Bridge LLC; Continued cultivation and dispensary build-outs in New York and Florida markets; and

and markets; and Potential expansion activities consistent with iAnthus' strategic objectives.

The remaining expenditures for completing iAnthus' Massachusetts and Vermont operations will be funded with current cash on hand.

The Company's wholly owned subsidiary iAnthus Capital Management, LLC has issued US$40 million aggregate principal amount of high yield senior secured notes, with a maturity date of three years (the "HY Notes"). The HY Notes have a 13% coupon, which may be paid in cash or in-kind for the first year. The HY Notes are exchangeable into shares of the Company at US$3.08 per share, which amount was reserved by price reservation with the Canadian Securities Exchange. The HY Notes include warrants to purchase, in the aggregate, up to 6,670,372 shares of the Company at US$3.60 per share, which amount was reserved by price reservation with the Canadian Securities Exchange. Beginning one year from today, iAnthus Capital Management may force the exchange of the HY Notes into common shares if the daily volume weighted average trading price of the Company's common shares is greater than US$5.14 for any 20 consecutive trading days.

The Company has concurrently issued US$10 million aggregate amount of Units, with each Unit comprised of one Class A share of the Company at US$2.57 per share and a warrant to purchase one share of the Company at a price of US$3.86 per share, which amount was reserved by price reservation with the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Net cash proceeds to the Company are approximately US$46 million after the deductions of various fees and structuring costs. Pro forma for the repayment to VCP Bridge LLC, the Company will have a cash balance of approximately US$32 million.

The debt and equity securities were issued on a prospectus exempt basis and are subject to: (i) a hold period in Canada of four months and a day from the date of issuance; and (ii) an applicable US securities law legend.

Class A shares of the Company are identical to the common shares of the Company in all respects, other than the right to vote for directors of the Company. The Investor may convert Class A shares into common shares beginning on July 2, 2018.

iAnthus was advised by McMillan LLP and Fox Rothschild LLP, and Gotham Green Partners was advised by Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP and SkyLaw Professional Corporation.

Conference Call and Webcast Details

The Company will hold a conference call for financial analysts and investors at 4:20pm ET on Monday, May 14, 2018 to discuss the Gotham Green investment and The Company's operations. The call will be archived and available on iAnthus' website for replay. Please visit http://ir.ianthuscapital.com/ to access the archived conference call.

Dial-In Number: (888) 231-8191 or international: (647) 427-7450

Conference ID: 1977128

Webcast: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1677342/18165D3FC49109044A30048492E622F0

A replay of the call will be available for 7 days by dialing: (855) 859-2056

About iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. owns and operates best-in-class licensed cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensary facilities throughout the United States, providing investors diversified exposure to the U.S. regulated cannabis industry. Founded by entrepreneurs with decades of experience in operations, investment banking, corporate finance, law and health care services, iAnthus provides a unique combination of capital and hands-on operating and management expertise. The Company uses these skills to support operations across six states. For more information, visit www.iAnthusCapital.com.

About Gotham Green Partners

Gotham Green Partners, LLC is a New York-based private equity firm focused on deploying capital into cannabis and cannabis-related enterprises on a global scale. The firm manages a diversified portfolio of investments and is actively investing across the cannabis value chain.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in iAnthus' periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should, our vision" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, additional strategic opportunities, proposed allocation of capital, and other statements of fact.

Although iAnthus has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; investing in target companies or projects which have limited or no operating history and are engaged in activities currently considered illegal under US Federal laws; change in laws; limited operating history; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and; regulatory or political change.

There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. iAnthus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and iAnthus does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

SOURCE iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.SECOND PLACE ($300): Ashley Wakelee

Special Education Teacher, Logan Township Middle School, Logan Township, NJ

https://excelligence.wishpond.com/tawcontest/entries/173810282

THIRD PLACE ($150): John Kilgore

Second Grade Teacher, Sunview Elementary School, Lyndhurst, OH

https://excelligence.wishpond.com/tawcontest/entries/173840147

A total of 11,288 votes were cast for teachers during the designated voting period (April 30  May 7, 2018). In addition to the Top 3 winners, random daily prizes were also awarded from the four sponsoring companies throughout the nomination period. Visit the social media pages of the sponsoring companies to view the daily winners from this contest.

The winners come from various backgrounds and philosophies of teaching  and all possess a deep and enduring commitment to their students.

"For teachers, our purpose is to make a difference in the lives of children each and every day," commented First Place Winner, Susan Nigosanti. "Our job is not to fill their buckets with facts but to encourage an active mind; one that will explore, investigate, and most importantly, love to learn. Children need to feel valued, respected, and loved. If we are good at our profession, a new facet of our students is revealed throughout the journey."

See the winners' entries and the many other exceptional teachers nominated for the Excelligence Teacher Appreciation Week Photo Contest here: https://excelligence.wishpond.com/TAWcontest/

About Excelligence Learning Corporation (www.excelligence.com)

Excelligence Learning Corporation (www.excelligence.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer, distributor, and multi-channel retailer of over 20,000 innovative, high-quality and grade-appropriate educational products and teaching solutions, which are sold primarily to early childhood learning centers, elementary schools, PTAs, and consumers. The company has three core divisions: Supplies (Discount School Supply and Really Good Stuff), Equipment (Angeles, Children's Factory, and Learning Carpets), and Services (Educational Products, Inc., ChildCare Education Institute and Frog Street). With over 30 years of experience serving children, educators and parents, Excelligence's diversified portfolio of leading brands delivers quality, innovation, service and value on a global scale. Leading proprietary brands include: Colorations, BioColor, Excellerations, MyPerfectClassroom and Environments.

About Frog Street (www.frogstreet.com):

Frog Street is a leading provider of comprehensive early childhood education solutions to public schools, Head Start programs and early child care centers, with a focus on children from birth to age 5. Frog Street's curriculum programs are based on early brain research and provide intentional age-appropriate instruction that is aligned to both federal and state standards. The Company also develops engaging and interactive professional development programs, including product training, conferences, continuing education, and quality assessment tools to measure students' progress.

About ChildCare Education Institute (www.cceionline.com):

ChildCare Education Institute provides high-quality, distance education certificates and child care training proms in an array of child care settings, including preschool centers, family child care, prekindergarten classrooms, nanny care, online daycare training and more. Over 150 English and Spanish child care training courses are available online to meet licensing, recognition program, and Head Start Requirements. CCEI also has online certification programs that provide the coursework requirement for national credentials including the CDA, Director and Early Childhood Credentials. CCEI, a Council for Professional Recognition CDA Gold Standard training provider, is nationally accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) and is accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).

About Educational Products, Inc. (www.EducationalProducts.com):

Educational Products, Inc. (EPI) is a division of Excelligence Learning Company, and is the nation's leader in prepackaged and bulk school supply programs. Based in Texas for over 35 years, EPI helps schools and parents save time and money on school supplies. Additionally, EPI works with nonprofits, school districts, churches and corporations seeking to sponsor school supplies for students in their communities as part of the School Supply Outreach Program. Beyond school supplies, EPI helps schools and organizations by offering quality custom imprinted apparel, fundraising programs, and science fair supplies.

About Really Good Stuff (www.reallygoodstuff.com):

Founded in 1992, Really Good Stuff, LLC works side-by-side with educators to create high quality and affordable products that provide teachers, primarily in grades K-8, with innovative solutions designed to make a difference in students' lives. Today, through its catalogs and website, the company offers more than 7,500 items, including classroom organization solutions such as bins, baskets & bookcases to fun educational activities in the language arts, numeracy and STEM, introducing over 500 new products annually.

Media Contact

Cassie McQueeny-Tankard

800-884-3764

[email protected]

SOURCE Excelligence Learning Corporation

Related Links

http://www.excelligence.com

CENTRAL CITY, Colo., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- GS Mining Company announces additional professional mining personnel: Matt Mason to join the GS Mining Company

The GS Mining Company announces the addition of Matt Mason to the team at The Bates Hunter Gold mine effective today.

Mr. Mason will provide leadership in the role of Mine Manager in all phases of underground hard rock mining. He will work closely with Matthew Collins who is the General Manager at The Bates Hunter Gold mine.

Mr. Mason's Colorado and other experiences working underground have demonstrated results and proven value.

His track record includes repeated mining and construction project management which has been on time (or ahead of schedule) and under budget. In addition, he brings dewatering experience, additional "mine and life safety" training skills and a well-developed network of first rate mining staff to our team.

We welcome Matt aboard and look forward to his contribution to our progress as we redevelop this historic and significant gold property in the heart of the "richest square mile on Earth"

For more information contact:

[email protected] or 310.596.7026

About GS Mining Company LLC and The Moria Token

The Moria Token is a crypto-currency issued by the GS Mining Company LLC which operates the historic Bates Hunter gold mine in Colorado. Moria trades on the open crypto market and token holders who timely register and claim royalties on such dates as are announced by the company, will receive royalties based on gross annual gold sales.

For more information see www.moriatoken.com and www.gsminingcompany.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "infer", "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by us and our management, are inherently uncertain.

SOURCE GS Mining Company LLC

Related Links

http://www.gsminingcompany.com

LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) New York protested psychiatry's ongoing use of electroshock treatment (ECT), especially on toddlers and children when it marched on the annual conference of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in New York on Saturday, May 5. While most Americans believe that ECT  the passage of up to 460 volts of electricity sent through the brain  stopped following the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, CCHR says the more than 25 lectures or papers presented on electroshock at the APA convention this year puts such beliefs to rest. The U.S. manufacturers of electroshock devices were two of many psychiatric device and pharmaceutical companies exhibiting at the APA conference. The protest condemned electroshock as "torture" and called for it to be banned.

Mental Health Watchdog CCHR protests at psychiatric conference over ECT damaging & torturing children

CCHR's international headquarters, based in Los Angeles, supported the protest and the need for a ban on all uses of electroshock. It said thousands of adult patients have condemned ECT as causing them brain damage and memory loss. Such physical abuse, if committed by anyone but a psychiatrist, it says, would constitute a crime, and when given to children should be meted the highest penalties.

Through recent Freedom of Information Act requests filed with U.S. states, CCHR established what has been withheld from Americans for years  that children aged five and younger are being electroshocked. Autistic children are also undergoing it, despite the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never approving ECT's use for autism. One autistic teenager was electroshocked 260 times.

As children cannot consent to this barbarity, CCHR says that based on a United Nations (UN) report, its use on children would constitute torture, adding further argument for its prohibition. Some media generate the idea that despite ECT being viewed as a "brain-damaging tool of torture with no place in modern medicine," it "works." However, no psychiatrist has been able to prove how brain-damaging a person does anything other than temporarily shift the person's attention off what might be ailing him  too numb and in pain to remember. But based on many thousands of cases over decades that have either contacted CCHR or been publicly reported, their underlying problem returns and can worsen.

It's not just recipients of the "treatment" that call it unworkable, torture and inhumane. In 2013, Juan E. Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, said that forced electroshock could be tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. He, too, called for an "absolute ban on all forced and non-consensual medical interventions against persons with disabilities," including "electroshock.[1] And, according to the World Health Organization's Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation, "There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation."

Electroshock has no therapeutic value in as much as it doesn't cure. In fact, it induces a grand mal seizure, a type of seizure that involves a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions, masked by an anesthetic. The FDA has never required manufacturers to conduct clinical studies that prove electroshock is either safe or effective, despite being used for more than 80 years.[2]

CCHR also points out that electroshock cannot be compared with administering life-saving insulin or chemotherapy to cure or give relief to cancer. Diabetes and cancer are identifiable medical illnesses that can be physically tested and confirmed. But as CCHR's co-founder, the late Dr. Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry and prolific author on psychiatry, stated: "There is no blood or other biological test to ascertain the presence or absence of a mental illness, as there is for most bodily diseases." Thomas Insel, former director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, also said psychiatric "diagnoses are based on a consensus [vote] about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure."[3]

There's no evidence that electroshock is life-saving. Psychiatrists argue that ECT can prevent suicide but, argues CCHR, this is as illogical as hitting someone over the head with a 2" x 4" piece of wood and repeating it 10 to 12 times in a week in the hope that it may cure depression. In fact, experts such as psychologist John Read, professor of clinical psychology at the University of East London, confirmed from a comprehensive review of research on ECT that there is "no evidence that ECT is more effective than placebo for depression reduction or suicide prevention." He and a colleague concluded, "Given the well-documented high risk of persistent memory dysfunction, the cost-benefit analysis for ECT remains so poor that its use cannot be scientifically, or ethically, justified."[4]

CCHR says that because a muscle relaxant and an anesthetic are used today to prevent bone fracture or to spare the patient the full effect of the electroshock violence impacting the body, or that ECT differs from its early years, electricity hasn't changed. There's no evidence that it is re-setting a "depressed" brain (or that the brain is even a source of depression)  in the way that a brief electroshock to a stopped heart may resuscitate it or reset its rhythm. ECT is not treating a physical abnormality or disease.

Early results of children being given electroshock include a seven-year-old girl, following five sessions, becoming nearly catatonic and a six-year-old boy going from being shy to acting increasingly aggressive and violent.[5] Today, over 12,000 people have signed CCHR's online petition launched in 2017 supporting a ban on electroshock.[6] CCHR is urging more concerned individuals to sign and let others know to sign the Petition to Ban Electroshock (ECT) Device Being Used on Children, the Elderly and Vulnerable Patients.

CCHR is a non-profit mental health watchdog group dedicated to eliminating abuses committed under the guise of mental health. CCHR works to ensure patient and consumer protections are enacted and upheld as there is rampant abuse in the field of mental health. In this role, CCHR has helped to enact more than 180 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices since it was formed over 49 years ago, including a ban on electroshock use on children in four U.S. states and in Western Australia.

Contact: Amber Rauscher, [email protected] or (323) 467-4242.

References:

[1] A/HRC/22/53, "Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Mendez," United Nations, General Assembly, Human Rights Council, Twenty-second Session, Agenda Item 3, 1 Feb. 2013, p. 21, para 85, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf.

[2] Citizens Petition filed with FDA Commissioner, August 2016, http://emord.com/blawg/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1-ECT-Citizen-Petition.pdf.

[3] Thomas Insel, "Transforming Diagnosis," NIMH Website, 20 April 2013, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2013/transforming-diagnosis.shtml.

[4] John Read, Chelsea Arnold, "Is Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression More Effective Than Placebo? A Systematic Review of Studies Since 2009," Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry Volume 19, Number 1, 2017, pp. 5-23(19), http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/springer/ehpp/2017/00000019/00000001/art00002.

[5] Dr. Jeffrey S. Kaye and HP Albarelli Jr., "The Hidden Tragedy of the CIA's Experiments on Children," Truthout, 11 Aug. 2010, http://truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/91211:the-hidden-tragedy-of-the-cias-experiments-on-children.

[6] https://www.change.org/p/ban-electroshock-ect-device-being-used-on-children-the-elderly-and-vulnerable-patients.

Related Links

Documented Facts & Statistics About Modern Electroshock (ECT)

Petition to Ban Electroshock (ECT) Device Being Used on Children, the Elderly and Vulnerable Patients

SOURCE Citizens Commission on Human Rights InternationalTORONTO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD" or the "Company") announced today that the Company has filed a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") Technical Report on the initial mineral resource estimate for the Eastern Borosi Project in Nicaragua, reported in the Company's news release dated April 3, 2018.

The NI 43-101 was prepared by Tudorel Ciuculescu, P. Geo, of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is considered a "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101. The NI 43-101 Technical Report may be found on the Company's website at www.iamgold.com or under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

About IAMGOLD

IAMGOLD (www.iamgold.com) is a mid-tier mining company with four operating gold mines on three continents. A solid base of strategic assets in North and South America and West Africa is complemented by development and exploration projects and continued assessment of accretive acquisition opportunities. IAMGOLD is in a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.

For further information please contact :

Ken Chernin, VP Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation

Tel: (416) 360-4743 Mobile: (416) 388-6883

Laura Young, Director Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation

Tel: (416) 933-4952 Mobile: (416) 670-3815

Martin Dumont, Senior Analyst Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation

Tel: (416) 933-5783 Mobile: (647) 967-9942

Toll-free: 1-888-464-9999 [email protected]

Please note:

This entire news release may be accessed via fax, e-mail, IAMGOLD's website at www.iamgold.com and through CNW Group's website at www.newswire.ca . All material information on IAMGOLD can be found at www.sedar.com or at www.sec.gov.

Si vous desirez obtenir la version francaise de ce communique, veuillez consulter le http://www.iamgold.com/French/accueil/default.aspx

SOURCE IAMGOLD Corporation

Related Links

http://www.iamgold.com

VANCOUVER, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - IDM Mining Ltd. (TSX.V:IDM) (OTCQB:IDMMF) ("IDM" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a status update for the Red Mountain Underground Gold Project ("Red Mountain" or the "Project") located 15 km east of Stewart, B.C., which is within the B.C. Provincial Environmental Assessment ("EA") and Federal Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") Review Process.

Over the past several months, the Company has continued to advance the Red Mountain Project as one of the few high-grade, underground gold development projects located in a politically stable, and pro-mining jurisdiction. Anticipated near-term milestones include:

2018 Resource Estimate to be released by mid-June

Updated Feasibility Study to be completed in H2 2018, incorporating the updated resource estimate and an optimized mine plan, as well as capital and operating efficiencies

EA and EIS review ongoing; provincial ministerial decision expected in Q3 2018

Benefits Agreement with Nis g a'a Nation is expected to be finalized in Q3 2018

a'a Nation is expected to be finalized in Q3 2018 Crews are currently opening Red Mountain underground workings to commence exploration work

"We are pleased that the 2018 resource estimate is nearing completion and to be included in an update to the 2017 Feasibility Study. Additional updates to the feasibility study will include an optimized underground mine plan and capital and operating efficiencies identified during the value engineering phase. We also look forward to finalizing the EA and EIS review process and the Benefits Agreement with the Nis g a'a Nation," said Robert McLeod, President and CEO of IDM. "These are all key milestones in de-risking the Red Mountain Project."

Resource Estimate Update

Geologic and Resource modelling which includes drilling from the 2017 program is nearing completion. Initial resource estimates are expected for multiple newly identified and interpreted zones, including: Smit, SF, Bray, Chicka and Cambria Zones. Additionally, successful infill drilling that targeted the conversion of inferred resources to measured and indicated category, primarily within the JW and AV zones, will be included. Finally, the updated estimate will include 2017 step-out holes that were completed on minimum 25-meter centers that targeted up and down-dip extensions to current reserves and resources hosted in the Marc, AV, JW and NK zones.

The Company's revised geologic interpretation for Red Mountain (See IDM News Release February 13, 2018), which suggests high-amplitude, repeating folds that have deformed the favourable gold mineralization horizon, has guided the updated resource modelling. Revised interpretations of dip and dip direction, primarily in the 141 and NK zones has improved continuity of the gold mineralization that is usually hosted within brecciated sediment-intrusive contacts.

A plan view describing the location of the mineralized zones at Red Mountain, as well as the geological interpretation are available at www.idmmining.com.

Feasibility Study Update

It is expected that the updated resource estimate will trigger a revised NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Red Mountain deposit. To incorporate the updated resource estimate, the Company expects to commence work on an updated Feasibility Study during the summer of 2018.

Multiple potential operating and capital efficiencies that were identified during the Value Engineering phase will be incorporated. (See IDM News Releases November 20, 2017 and March 20, 2018). The Company will announce further details on the proposed updated Feasibility Study during the next few months.

Benefits Agreement Progress with Nis g a'a Nation

During 2018, IDM has had ongoing and respectful discussions with the Executive Officers of Nis g a'a Lisims Government ("NLG") on behalf of Nis g a'a Nation. The Company's objective is to finalize a mutually beneficial, definitive agreement with NLG during Q3 of 2018.

The Nis g a'a Final Agreement was the first modern Treaty in British Columbia; Red Mountain is within the Nass Wildlife Area, as defined in the Nis g a'a Final Agreement. During 2017, IDM and its contractors are proud to have provided over 1,600 person-days of employment and on-the-job training to Nis g a'a citizens, including mechanics, miners, drillers, administrative and support service providers.

Provincial Environmental Assessment Certificate

The Project commenced the 180-day legislated application review period under the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act on November 1, 2017. Currently, IDM has received and responded to review comments from the technical working group co-led by the BC Environmental Assessment Agency ("EAO") and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency ("CEAA"), which includes the participation of Nis g a'a Nation (as represented by Nis g a'a Lisims Government) and regulatory agencies. IDM has also responded to feedback from community members and stakeholders during the public consultation period (Nov 14 to Dec 14, 2017).

On March 12, 2018, IDM requested a temporary suspension of the application review period from EAO to allow for final resolution of outstanding technical comments and information requests.

On March 13, 2018, EAO granted the temporary suspension, effective on day 134 of the 180-day application review period. Over the past several weeks the Company, agencies and reviewers have worked diligently to resolve all outstanding issues, and it is expected that the temporary suspension will be lifted soon.

Following the recommencement of the application review period, EAO will finalize their assessment report and submit recommendations to the Minister of Environment & Climate Change Strategy and the Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources. IDM anticipates receiving the Environmental Assessment Certificate ("EAC") in Q3 2018.

Federal Environmental Impact Statement

The Project is also subject to a coordinated review by the CEAA under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012). On December 22, 2018, IDM received supplementary information requests on the EIS, pausing the federal timeline on day 122 of the federal legislated timeline. IDM is working with CEAA to finalize remaining information requests and align on responses in advance of recommencing the federal review timeline. IDM anticipates receiving federal approval in Q4 2018.

The EA and EIS review includes respectful, thorough and ongoing consultation with the Nis g a'a Nation, as well as over 50 group members.

Information pertaining to the Environmental Assessment for the Red Mountain Underground Project can viewed on the BC Environmental Assessment Office website at https://projects.eao.gov.bc.ca/p/red-mountain-underground-gold/detail

Spring 2018 Exploration Plans

With a late spring and higher than average snow packs, initial work at Red Mountain will include field work in the Lost Valley area, located at lower elevations approximately four kilometers to the south of the Marc Zone Portal. The objective of this program is to identify new targets, expand known zones and refine surface drilling targets. This will include trenching to better expose and sample multiple high-grade, gold-silver bearing structures.

Previous exploration by IDM at Lost Valley identified numerous veins and structures hosting high-grade gold and silver, overprinting a molybdenite-rich porphyry. Widespread, high-grade gold mineralization has been identified from surface sampling in 2016 and previous years. Of 589 samples collected at Lost Valley (including: grab, channel and subcrop samples), 96 samples returned over 5.0 g/t Au. These 96 samples range from 5.18 to 165 g/t Au, averaging 31.8 g/t Au and 139.9 g/t Ag. These samples were collected over an approximate 1,200 by 1,500-meter area. (See IDM News Release November 17, 2016).

Mining crews based in Stewart have commenced opening the underground workings at Red Mountain, to allow for ongoing dewatering and for drilling potentially later in the 2018 season.

About IDM and Red Mountain

IDM Mining Ltd. is an exploration and development company based in Vancouver, BC, Canada focused on advancing the Red Mountain Gold Project towards production. The 17,125 hectare Red Mountain Gold Project is located in northwestern BC, 15 km northeast of the mining town of Stewart. In 2017, IDM announced the results of a Feasibility Study for a high-grade, underground gold mine, which includes primarily bulk underground mining methods and the production of gold dore on site. The Project is advancing through the provincial and federal environmental assessment processes, with comprehensive, thorough, and ongoing consultation with Nis g a'a Nation. The Project is currently in the formal review phase of the BC Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Additional information, including the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Reports for the Red Mountain gold project, is available at www.idmmining.com and at www.sedar.com.

QA/QC AND QUALIFIED PERSONS

Rob McLeod, P. Geo, President and CEO of IDM Mining Ltd. and Ryan Weymark, P.Eng., Vice-President of Project Development have reviewed and approved the technical content of this release. Both are 'Qualified Persons' under NI 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

of IDM Mining Ltd.

"Robert McLeod"

President, CEO and Director

"Neither the 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."

Forward-Looking Statements: Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements for the purposes of applicable securities laws. These statements include, among others, statements with respect to the proposed exploration and development activities and their timing, resource estimates and potential mineralization. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others and in addition to those described elsewhere in this release, timing and success of future exploration and development activities, exploration and development risks, delays in obtaining or inability to obtain required government or other regulatory approvals, permits or financing, the risk of unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade or recovery rates, of failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, of accidents, labor disputes, and unanticipated delays in completing other development activities, the risk that estimated costs will be higher than anticipated and the risk that the proposed mine plan and recoveries will not be achieved, equipment breakdowns and bad weather, the timing and success of future exploration and development activities, exploration and development risks, mineral resources are not as estimated, title matters, third party consents, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors and general economic conditions. In making the forward-looking statements, the Company has applied several material assumptions including, but not limited to, the assumptions that: required regulatory approval, permits and financing will be obtained; the proposed exploration and development will proceed as planned; with respect to mineral resource estimates, the key assumptions and parameters on which such estimates are based; that the proposed mine plan and recoveries will be achieved, that capital costs and sustaining costs will be as estimated, and that no unforeseen accident, fire, ground instability, flooding, labor disruption, equipment failure, metallurgical, environmental or other events that could delay or increase the cost of development will occur, and market fundamentals will result in sustained metals and minerals prices. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

SOURCE IDM Mining Ltd.SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Immunicom, Inc., a medical technology company developing revolutionary non-pharmaceutical approaches for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases, has received Breakthrough Device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Immunopheresis therapy, which is based on a proprietary technology that selectively removes immune inhibitors from a patient's bloodstream potentially enabling their natural immune system to more-effectively attack cancer tumors.

To achieve Breakthrough Device designation, a technology must demonstrate compelling potential to provide more effective treatment or diagnosis for life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases. In addition, there must be no FDA approved treatments presently available, or the technology must offer significant advantages over existing approved alternatives.

The FDA's intent in granting this specific designation to qualified devices is to collaboratively facilitate expediting the device's assessment and review processes through more interactive communication and planning with the FDA; ensuring proper data collection, efficient clinical study design, senior management engagement of Agency personnel, and priority review of applicable filings.

In contrast to immunotherapy pharmaceuticals and biologicals that introduce foreign compounds and material into a patient's body, and which are often accompanied by negative side effects, Immunicom's patented technology is based on a "subtractive" approach that is intended to potentially limit treatment-associated adverse effects. By removing immune system inhibitors from the blood without introducing new substances, Immunicom's therapeutic approach has been shown in preliminary preclinical studies to enhance anti-cancer immune system response without causing unwanted side effects.

Immunicom's blood-filtering device technology is the first step in execution of a broader corporate strategic vision. "We are very pleased with FDA's granting of Breakthrough Device designation for Immunopheresis, our initial immunotherapy product for treating late/end stage IV cancer patients with metastatic solid tumors," said Amir Jafri, CEO of Immunicom, "This significant milestone will enable us to more efficiently pursue device regulatory approval and address critical unmet patient needs sooner, while also continuing our commitment to invest in other exciting treatment options in our product pipeline."

About Immunicom

Immunicom, Inc. is a privately-held medical technology company located in San Diego, CA focused on developing innovative, non-pharmaceutical approaches for treating cancer, inflammatory diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Immunicom's revolutionary blood-filtering technology has the potential to effectively treat a wide variety of cancer types including those that have not responded to other treatment strategies including other drug and biological-based immunotherapy options with possibly fewer side effects. The company seeks to leverage its technology to address unmet medical needs and improve patient access and affordability of cancer and other inflammatory and autoimmune disease treatments around the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding Immunicom product introductions, device capabilities, and future business aspirations. All such statements are based upon current Immunicom expectations and involve a number of business and technical risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results described, implied or projected in any forward-looking statement, including, without limitation, clinical trial results, regulatory approvals, unexpected changes in technologies, uncertainties inherent in product development and commercialization, intellectual property protection, and the ability of our products to gain market acceptance.

For Additional Information Contact:

Stephen Prince

Chief Commercial Officer

858-531-1468

[email protected]

SOURCE Immunicom, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.immunicom.com

"Oak, birch and maple tree pollen are particularly prevalent during spring season in Philly, and unfortunately they are frequently the source of misery for many homeowners with allergies and asthma," said Joseph Giannone, owner of Joseph Giannone Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning. "During the high pollen counts of May, it's important that residents take action to keep it from invading their homes."

Joseph Giannone Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning recommends whole-home air cleaners and ultraviolet light systems as an answer to potential asthma triggers for the following reasons:

Whole-Home Air Cleaners  Every air conditioning system utilizes filters to keep dust from getting to the unit and affecting its operation, but these filters are not designed to catch many of the smaller particles in the air such as pollen and pet dander. Unfortunately, these particles are the most troublesome and can continue to cycle through the home unless they are captured and removed. Adding an air cleaner to the system can filter out these smaller particles that are often triggers to those suffering from asthma and bad allergies.

Ultraviolet Lamps  Over time, particles that make it past the return filter can collect inside the cooling unit, particularly around the coils. They can settle in small pockets of moisture inside the system, creating breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. This in turn can be introduced to the air inside the home's living spaces and create air quality concerns, especially for those with chronic asthma. Ultraviolet lamps can be installed inside the air conditioning system that actually kill mold and bacteria and prevent it from flourishing. One type will continuously sanitize the area around the coils, and another type can be installed that will sanitize the air as it moves through the unit back out into the home, neutralizing germs in the process.

"We always recommend scheduling routine HVAC maintenance and regularly changing air filters, but when homeowners suffer from asthma or severe allergies, sometimes that's not enough," Giannone said. "Fortunately, whole-home air cleaners and ultraviolet sanitization can provide the solutions these homeowners need to help enhance their quality of life and keep their home a sanctuary from allergens."

For more information about how to clean and improve the air in your home, contact Giannone Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning at (215) 383-2956 or visit www.CallJG.com.

About Giannone Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning

Joseph Giannone Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning is a family-owned and operated business providing the Philadelphia area with high-quality plumbing and HVAC services. Our team of technicians is well-trained, insured, and always guarantees you the best work possible. We always go the extra mile for our customers, even providing same-day emergency service so we can attend to any of your plumbing, air conditioning, and heating needs at any time. Located in the Philadelphia area, we service customers throughout the city and in the surrounding areas. For more information, call (215) 383-2956 or visit www.calljg.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE Joseph Giannone Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning

Related Links

http://www.calljg.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iSolved HCM will demo its robust human capital management (HCM) platform at the upcoming 36th annual American Payroll Association Congress. In addition, it will be showcasing its new learning management system (LMS) that is integrated with the payroll and HR technology for a complete unified and user-friendly solution. The event will take place on May 15-19, 2018 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Over 2,500 attendees are expected to attend the Congress & Expo for the opportunity to connect with leading industry service providers in finance, payroll, human resources, benefits, accounts payable, and systems. iSolved HCM will be in booth #1001.

In addition to the core functionality of payroll, HR, time and benefits, iSolved has recently added learning management and applicant tracking. iSolved's learning management makes it easy to extend an engaging learning experience to an organization's entire workforce. The LMS offers the ability to create courses or choose to add a library of pre-built courses on key topics, including customer service, business skills, leadership, compliance, and more.

"A learning management system offers employers the ability to drive improvement across an organization, ensuring a consistent and engaging experience no matter where the employee is located. We are excited to be showcasing our LMS along with our human capital management platform at the American Payroll Association Congress," said Trish Stromberg, chief marketing officer of iSolved HCM.

About iSolved

iSolved HCM is an industry-leading human capital management technology company that brings together the key workforce functions in one robust, easy-to-use platform, iSolved. Payroll, HR, Time & Attendance, Onboarding, ACA Compliance and Benefits Enrollment are all delivered from a single application, in the cloud, specifically built for the small-to-midsized employer. It has achieved rapid market share, with more than 2 million employees and growing. iSolved also includes innovative features and options to boost employee engagement and improve productivity, including its mobile app, iSolved GO, and its NXG line of time clocks. iSolved is delivered through elite, regional payroll providers who provide customers with the white-glove service they need in today's regulatory environment. This unique approach gives small-to-midsized employers access to a cutting-edge HCM solution, while retaining the local service relationship they prefer. For more information, visit www.isolvedhcm.com.

SOURCE iSolved

Related Links

http://www.isolvedhcm.com

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Jobsite Juniors, a bi-monthly magazine designed to teach children about construction, is now offering bulk orders and subscriptions. Launched in October 2017 by Benjamin Media Inc., Jobsite Juniors is packed with educational articles and activities intended to teach children about all aspects of the construction industry.

Jobsite Juniors Magazine Jobsite Juniors Magazine

"From big machines working along the road to jobsites filled with busy workers and giant dirt piles, kids love construction. This is our opportunity to teach them all about it in a fun way," said Pam Kleineke, managing editor for Jobsite Juniors. "We're excited about this chance to reach a young audience and perhaps even spark an interest in a career in the trades."

Originally only offered through paid individual annual subscriptions, bulk orders and subscriptions now allow associations, manufacturers and potential resellers to provide this exciting publication to their members, staff and supporters. Interested parties have the opportunity to purchase one issue, multiple issues or full subscriptions (six issues per year) depending on their needs. A minimum of 25 copies per issue is required. Each paid bulk order receives a promotional cardboard display perfect for showcasing up to 25 issues at a time.

For more information, visit jobsitejuniors.com, email [email protected] or contact Cayla Poteete at 330.315.2129.

About Benjamin Media

Benjamin Media Inc. (BMI) is a media company based in Brecksville, Ohio. BMI currently publishes nine magazines: Compact Equipment, Jobsite Juniors, NASTT's Trenchless Today, North American Oil and Gas Pipelines, Solar Builder, TBM: Tunnel Business Magazine, Trenchless Technology, Water Finance & Management and Utility Contractor. For more information, visit benjaminmedia.com.

Media Contact:

Cayla Poteete

330-315-2129

[email protected]

SOURCE Benjamin Media, Inc.

Related Links

http://benjaminmedia.com

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Yahya Cholil Staquf, General Secretary of the world's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Supreme Council, will address the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Global Forum in Jerusalem.

The four-day conference, June 10-13, is the premier Jewish global advocacy organization's signature annual event.

"We are deeply honored to host Pak Yahya on his groundbreaking journey to Israel at our Global Forum in Jerusalem," said AJC CEO David Harris. AJC, throughout its history, has spearheaded interreligious initiatives, with an ever-increasing focus on Muslim-Jewish relations.

Over 1,600 participants, including hundreds of young Jews, from across the United States and many other countries are expected to attend the Global Forum, the first time in AJC's 112-year history that the conference convenes outside the United States.

Pak Yahya has inspired many in Indonesia and elsewhere with his work that promotes understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, and underlines a tolerant, moderate vision of Islam. The organization he heads has over 50 million members and 14,000 madrasahs in Indonesia, the fourth-largest country in the world and the country with the world's largest Muslim population. They adhere to Sunni Islam traditions that teach that the primary message of Islam is universal love and compassion.

Yahya was a member of Indonesia's National Electoral Commission during the country's transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, and served as spokesman for Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's first democratically-elected head of state.

President Wahid, who also had previously served as Chairman of the NU, addressed the AJC Global Forum in 2002, in Washington, D.C. He consistently worked for and publicly advocated for peace, mutual respect, and reform. Among his many courageous acts were speaking out against extremism and terrorism. He also called for Indonesia to establish relations with Israel, a goal that he was unable to fulfill during his presidential term.

AJC, through its Asia Pacific Institute (API), strives to help Israel, the U.S., and the global Jewish community strengthen relations with Indonesia. AJC engages regularly with Indonesian diplomats in Washington, D.C, and New York, as well as with the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO), the premier non-governmental organization devoted to promoting mutual understanding between Indonesia and the U.S.

Yahya serves on the USINDO Council on Religious Pluralism and Tolerance, and co-chairs its Counterterrorism Working Party. He also is Director of Religious Affairs for Bayt ar-Rahmah, a North Carolina-based NGO that facilitates the global expansion of Nahdlatul Ulama activities.

https://www.ajc.org/news/leader-of-worlds-largest-muslim-organization-to-address-ajc-global-forum-in-jerusalem

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org

The third Project 11356 frigate, Admiral Makarov, (NATO reporting name: Krivak V) will arrive at its Black Sea Fleet permanent base in the third quarter of 2018, Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolyov said in a telegram to congratulate the Black Sea Fleet on its 235th anniversary.

The third Project 11356 frigate, Admiral Makarov, (NATO reporting name: Krivak V) will arrive at its Black Sea Fleet permanent base in the third quarter of 2018, Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolyov said in a telegram to congratulate the Black Sea Fleet on its 235th anniversary.

Flag raising ceremony on the project 11356 frigate "Admiral Makarov" in Kaliningrad, 27.12.2017 (c) Vitaly Nevar / "New Kaliningrad" / www.newkaliningrad.ru

"There are plans that the third Project 11356 frigate Admiral Makarov will arrive at its Black Sea Fleet permanent base in the third quarter of the current year," Korolyov said. "The Black Sea Fleet will start to receive ships of an absolutely new type in the imminent future," he added.



Project 22160 corvettes are among them. Besides, the Black Sea Fleet will receive a series of Project 21631 corvettes (Buyan-class). "The gradual renewal of all of the Black Sea Fleets elements will take place in the near and the long terms," the admiral said.

Flag raising ceremony on the project 11356 frigate "Admiral Makarov" in Kaliningrad, 27.12.2017 (c) Vitaly Nevar / "New Kaliningrad" / www.newkaliningrad.ru

The Admiral Makarov frigate was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad on February 29, 2012 and launched on September 2, 2015. This is the third ship in a series of Project 11356 frigates developed by the Severnoye Design Bureau and built for the Black Sea Fleet. The first two ships of the series, Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen were handed over to the Russian Navy in 2016. Both ships were issued to the Black Sea Fleet. They attacked objects of terrorists in Syria, using the Kalibr cruise missiles.

The Project 11356 frigates are designed to engage enemy's surface and underwater combatants and to repel air attacks both independently and as part of a task force. The ships are armed with an A-190 100 mm naval gun, strike missiles, surface-to-air (SAM) missiles (including the Kalibr and the Shtil), and torpedoes. The frigates can carry a Ka-27-type helicopter. The ships have a displacement of 3,620 t, a length of 124.8 m, a full speed of 30 knots and a cruise range of 4,850 nautical miles.

 Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.RESTON, Va., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a global science and technology leader, was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command  Orlando to develop and provide simulated training environments to meet the U.S. Army's operational training requirements.

Leidos' Synthetic Environment Core (SE Core) provides databases enabling high-resolution, realistic training environments with real-world 3D and 2D geographic terrain that fully integrates and operates within all training environments. SE Core allows warfighters to have a complete picture of the environment such as maps, roads, bridges, moving vehicles and buildings. This capability helps U.S. warfighters train as they fight in today's battlespaces before entering theaters of combat operations. SE Core content supports training, simulation and Mission Command Systems

The single award, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a one-year base period of performance with four one-year options and a total contract value of $210 million. Work will be performed at the Leidos facility in Orlando under the direction of the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training & Instrumentation.

Leidos has demonstrated proven performance on the SE Core program for over 10 years, developing and producing terrain databases and common cultural and moving models for use across the Army family of constructive and virtual simulations.

"Operationally relevant training requires operationally relevant data" said Mike Chagnon, Leidos Advanced Solutions Group President. "As the battlespace evolves, it's critical for our nation's warfighters to have advanced technologies that better equip, protect and train them. Leidos will continue to apply its unparalleled geospatial and training expertise to add to the 14.4 million square kilometers of simulated terrain already in use by the Army."

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 31,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 29, 2017, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE Leidos

Related Links

http://www.leidos.com

APAC to remain dominant region due to key battery OEMs demanding preference of Li-ion battery materials suppliers in close proximity, finds Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- China, Japan and South Korea in Asia-Pacific (APAC) are proving to be lucrative markets for Lithium (Li)-ion battery material suppliers, as they host numerous leading Li-ion battery original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These OEMs prefer their suppliers to be located close to them, as it facilitates supply and customization. North American and European battery material suppliers will establish mass production facilities for Li-ion battery materials in APAC due to low-cost production and the accessibility of raw materials. Frost & Sullivan forecasts the global battery materials market to reach $43.2 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 8.3% through 2023.

Frost & Sullivan's recent intelligence, Global Analysis of Battery Materials Market, Forecast to 2023, examines the battery materials used in lead-acid and Li-ion batteries. The key Li-ion sub-segments include materials for cathode active, anode active, electrolytes, and separators.

For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/2gk

"There will be a ready market for materials that provide higher energy density and power capability, longer cycle life, and improved thermal stability in electric vehicle (EV) applications," said Vishnu Karthik, Senior Industry Analyst, Visionary Science. "Nickel Cobalt Manganese Oxide (NCM) (1:1:1) has emerged as an ideal material that offers superior performance across these attributes."

Successful growth strategies adopted by battery material suppliers include:

Establishing partnerships - For instance, BASF's battery materials unit works with academic and industrial participants to enhance current and future technologies like NCM materials and Li-S batteries, respectively.

Expanding by opening a manufacturing facility in other regions - Daramic LLC set up a high-performance polyethylene separator manufacturing facility in India to cater to local demand for start light ignition ( SLI ) batteries and UPS, among others.

manufacturing facility in to cater to local demand for ( ) batteries and UPS, among others. Offering one-stop solutions - Companies such as American Elements, Targray, and Solvay offer a comprehensive product range that includes cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, and separators. This has allowed them to position themselves as end-to-end solution providers.

Use of high-performance materials - Advanced materials like ceramic-coated and thin-film separators are set to gain momentum due to their higher mechanical strength and thermal shutdown features. These properties make them ideal for consumer electronics applications like smartphones, laptops, computers, and gaming devices.

"While Li-ion is the faster-growing segment, lead-acid is the bigger market segment with most of the demand coming from automotive SLI battery," noted Karthik. "Telecom, household and industrial inverters, motives, and e-bikes are other key applications gaining momentum in the lead-acid segment due to rapid urbanization and initiatives to utilize renewable energy resources more efficiently."

Global Analysis of Battery Materials Market, Forecast to 2023 is part of Frost & Sullivan's global Future of Chemicals & Materials in Infrastructure & Mobility Growth Partnership Service program.

About Frost & Sullivan

For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Global Analysis of Battery Materials Market, Forecast to 2023

K221-39

Contact:

Jacqui Holmes

T: +64 (0) 3 548 4842

E: [email protected]

http://ww2.frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

Related Links

http://www.frost.com

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQX: LDSYF), (Frankfurt: LD6, WKN: A14XHT) ("LDS" or the "Company") announces that its affiliate, CSPA Group, Inc. ("CSPA"), has received a purchase order for 15,000 half-gram units of its Reveur Live Resin product.

CSPA will fill the order with eight different strains of the Reveur Live Resin product, which comes in 0.5-gram individual glass containers with full informational test results that include cannabinoid concentrations as well as terpene profiles. In addition to the current purchase order, CSPA has converted over 2,000 pounds of contracted bio-mass into high-grade extracted material for use in cannabis products for licensed California manufacturers to date. Brad Eckenweiler, the CEO of LDS, stated, "The current purchase order represents the beginning of what we hope will be an expanded market awareness as the product becomes available in more California retail locations. The successful contracted extraction of literally a ton of bio-mass into a high-quality concentrate has generated additional inquiries for contract extraction." The Company will continue to update its shareholders on the progress as information becomes available.

About Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. is a licensed, state-compliant, vertically integrated cannabis-related company. From our isogenic pollination nursery to our cutting edge, state-of-the-art production facility located in Southern California, LDS has become one of the most diverse, innovative and scientifically based cannabis companies throughout North America. The Company's technology produces infused strips (similar to breath strips) that are not only a safer, healthier option to smoking but also a new way to accurately meter the dosage and assure the purity of the product. From start to finish, the production process tests for quality and composition of all the ingredients used in each and every strip, resulting in a delivery system that is safe, consistent and effective.

On behalf of the board of directors of Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Brad Eckenweiler

CEO & Director

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

[email protected]

1-866-347-5058

Cautionary Disclaimer Statement:

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. In addition, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Related Links

http://www.lifestyledeliverysystem.com

INDIANAPOLIS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced an agreement to acquire AurKa Pharma, Inc., a company established by TVM Capital Life Science to develop oncology compound AK-01, an Aurora kinase A inhibitor that was originally discovered at Lilly. The compound is a potential first-in-class asset that AurKa Pharma is studying in Phase 1 clinical trials in multiple types of solid tumors.

Aurora kinases are believed to play a crucial role in cellular division by controlling chromosomal segregation. Defects in segregation can cause genetic instability, a condition highly associated with the formation of tumors. Aurora kinases, consisting of Aurora A, Aurora B and Aurora C, are key mitotic regulators required for genome stability and are frequently overexpressed in cancerous tumors. AurKa Pharma's asset, AK-01, has been shown to be highly selective for Aurora A, with potential clinical benefit observed in Phase 1 studies. Future studies will seek to determine if the selectivity profile of AK-01 can improve efficacy while limiting toxicity risks to a manageable level.

After a review of its clinical pipeline priorities in 2016, Lilly sold the compound to TVM Capital Life Science, which then established AurKa as part of the TVM Life Science Ventures VII fund. The fund is a novel investment model that seeks to develop early-stage pharmaceutical assets in a capital-efficient manner. As part of its innovation strategy, Lilly actively participates with venture capital firms to source early stage opportunities.

"The acquisition of AurKa Pharma supports Lilly's external innovation strategy, in which we seek to partner with leading life science venture capital firms in order to identify, support and access promising innovation in areas of unmet medical need," said Darren Carroll, senior vice president of corporate business development at Lilly. "We are excited with the value TVM created for this compound through its early-Phase studies, and we look forward to more opportunities in the future."

"Lilly Oncology is focused on the development of innovative cancer therapies that can make a meaningful difference for patients," said Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president, global development and medical affairs, Lilly Oncology. "The acquisition of AurKa Pharma expands our pipeline with a promising oncology compound targeting a distinct cell cycle pathway. The work done by AurKa will allow Lilly to leverage emerging data about cancers in which this molecule might be effective, and determine if it can be beneficial to people living with various forms of cancer."

"Through the unique healthcare venture capital model pioneered by TVM Capital Life Science, companies such as AurKa have been established to more quickly and efficiently bring promising compounds to clinical proof-of-concept," said Luc Marengere, Ph.D., Managing Partner at TVM Capital Life Science. "We are pleased that the scientific advances made by AurKa could contribute to the development of AK-01 and hopefully help deliver a potential new medicine for cancer patients."

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will acquire all shares of AurKa Pharma. In return, AurKa Pharma shareholders will receive an upfront payment of $110 million. AurKa Pharma shareholders are also eligible to receive up to $465 million in regulatory and sales milestones should AK-01 gain approval in the U.S. and other markets, and achieve certain sales levels.

This transaction will be reflected in Lilly's reported results and financial guidance according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and is subject to customary closing conditions. There will be no change to Lilly's 2018 non-GAAP earnings per share guidance as a result of this transaction.

Baird is acting as financial advisor to AurKa in this transaction.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and www.lilly.com/newsroom/social-channels. C-LLY

About TVM Capital Life Science

TVM Capital Life Science is a group of independent investment advisories and fund managers for Venture Capital funds, investing into innovative biotech, pharmaceutical, and medtech companies with teams based in Munich and Montreal. Since 1984, TVM Capital Life Science has invested in more than 140 life science companies in Europe, Canada and the United States, currently managing in excess of US$1.1 billion from more than 50 investors.

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about the benefits of Lilly's acquisition of AurKa Pharma, Inc. It reflects Lilly's current beliefs; however, as with any such undertaking, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in implementing the transaction and in drug development. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that Lilly will realize the expected benefits of the transaction, that the molecules will be approved on the anticipated timeline or at all, or that the potential products will be commercially successful. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see Lilly's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company

Related Links

http://www.lilly.com

KELOWNA, BC, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Marapharm Ventures Inc. (CSE: MDM) (OTCQX: MRPHF) (FSE: 2M0) ("Marapharm" or the "Company") We are pleased to announce that the fiber optic cable inspection to service our site in the North Las Vegas Apex Business Park is now complete. This initiative brings high-speed online benefits to the entire business park and will support our current demand and our long-term objectives meeting the requirements for our future infrastructure.

CenturyLink, the third-largest telecommunications company in the United States, completed the network architecture and worked closely with our sub-contractors to ensure the installation passed mandrel testing.

This utility is a critical state requirement to pass the final inspection and meet compliance to operate a cannabis facility in Nevada. The City of North Las Vegas Police Department must have the ability to monitor the interior and exterior of a cannabis establishment, by "live feed" video surveillance which must be accessible at all times, and in real-time. Time also must be measured in accordance with the U.S. National Institute Standards and Technology standards and all recorded images must be retrievable for a minimum of 60 days.

Marapharm deployed both dome and bullet cameras with a host of built-in "smart" features, some of which include, motion, line crossing, intrusion detection, motorized zoom lens, enhanced image features and built-in infra-red LED effective up to 98 feet. These products are integrated with our security control system and can be accessed remotely. We look forward to going "live".

The Las Vegas Review-Journal, featuring an artist rendering of our flagship facility, reported on our future development and expanded on cannabis businesses in Southern Nevada, April 30, 2018. Visit https://www.reviewjournal.com/homes/resale-news/marijuana-based-businesses-continue-development/

"We would like to thank the very good folks at KLA Laboratories Inc., and CenturyLink for their outstanding partnership and professional advisement to ensure that we have met or exceeded all state regulations in every aspect". Corey Klassen, VP of Corporate Development

ABOUT MARAPHARM VENTURES INC.

www.marapharm.com

Marapharm is a publicly traded company investing in the medical and recreational cannabis space, since 2014. Marapharm has rapidly expanded to include having cultivation, production and dispensary locations in the key North American states of Washington, Nevada, and California, and are seeking expansion opportunities worldwide.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Facebook: facebook.com/marapharm

Twitter: twitter.com/marapharm

Web Program: marapharm.tv

STOCK EXCHANGES:

Marapharm trades in Canada, ticker symbol MDM on the CSE, in the United States, ticker symbol MRPHF on the OTCQX, and in Europe, ticker symbol 2M0 on the FSE. Marapharm also trades on other recognized platforms in Europe including Stuttgart, Tradegate, L & S, Quotnx, Dusseldorf, Munich, and Berlin.

Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQX has approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQX accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

MARIJUANA INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT:

Canadian listings (CSE) will remain in good standing as long as they provide the disclosure that is rightly required by regulators and complying with applicable licensing requirements and the regulatory framework enacted by the applicable state in which they operate.

Marapharm owns marijuana licenses in California and Nevada. Marijuana is legal in each state however marijuana remains illegal under US federal law and the approach to enforcement of US federal law against marijuana is subject to change. Shareholders and investors need to be aware that adverse enforcement actions could affect their investments and that Marapharm's ability to access private and public capital could be affected and or could not be available to support continuing operations. Marapharm's business is conducted in a manner consistent with state law and is in compliance with licensing requirements.

Copies of licenses are posted on Marapharm's website. Marapharm has internal compliance procedures in place and has compliance focused attorneys engaged in jurisdictions to monitor changes in laws for compliance with US federal and state law on an ongoing basis. These law firms inform any necessary changes to our policies and procedures for compliance in Canada and the US.

FORWARD - LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward- looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward- looking statements are based on reasonable assumption but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon.

SOURCE Marapharm Ventures Inc.

Related Links

www.marapharm.com

ALBANY, N.Y., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MassMutual Greater Long Island is pleased to announce that it was recently ranked the #3 among 27 finalists in the annual Best Companies to Work for in New York State awards program, according to the New York State Society for Human Resource Management (NYS-SHRM).

Created in 2007, this annual program evaluates and ranks the best places of employment in the state based on employee satisfaction and engagement, as well as workplace practices and policies. It is unique because employees' survey responses count for 75% of the ranking formula.

"MassMutual Greater Long Island is proud of this accomplishment as this recognition is due in large part to the feedback of our employees who work daily to ensure a great experience for our clients, our advisors and each other," said Brad Somma, Managing Partner.

MassMutual Greater Long Island is a full service financial services firm that delivers specific needs-based solutions to both individuals and businesses through the design, implementation and servicing of wealth management and protection products.

The Best Companies to Work for in New York State program is a partnership between the NYS-SHRM and Best Companies Group. The Presenting Sponsors of the 2018 awards were Bethpage Federal Credit Union and Ryan LLC; Celebration Supporting Sponsors were Anchin and Blue 449; Supporting Sponsors were National Consumer Panel, Strategic Financial Solutions, LLC and UPSCO, Inc. For more information on the Best Companies to Work for in New York State program, please visit www.BestCompaniesNY.com.

MassMutual refers to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, MA 01111-0001, and its affiliated US insurance agencies. Local sales agencies are not subsidiaries of MassMutual or its affiliated companies. Securities and investment advisory services offered through qualified registered representatives of MML Investors Services, LLC. Member SIPC [www.SIPC.org] [48 South Service Road Suite 400 Melville, NY 11747 and 516-391-0300.]

https://greaterlongisland.massmutual.com/

SOURCE MassMutual Greater Long Island

Related Links

https://greaterlongisland.massmutual.com

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Offices of Manhattan (MOM) and Manhattan Cardiology, top integrated medical practices with primary care physicians and cardiologists, are proud to announce the acquisition of Yaffe Ruden & Associates, LLP. This merger will add to the exceptional expertise currently available at MOM and Manhattan Cardiology, while maintaining the core traditions established at Yaffe Ruden located on 201 E 65th St. New York, NY. Medical Offices of Manhattan/Manhattan Cardiology currently has a location at 211 E 51st St, New York, NY.

These practices complement each other through their traditional, integrative and hi-tech medical approaches. Through this acquisition, MOM/Manhattan Cardiology have expanded their practice areas into gastroenterology and digestive disease, and the merger adds additional providers in the fields of internal medicine to its roster.

"We are proud to welcome them to our family of physicians," said Dr. Robert Segal, Founder of Medical Offices of Manhattan, Manhattan Cardiology and Co-founder of LabFinder.com. "Helping to provide more patients with greater access to outstanding practitioners like Yaffe Ruden is what we are all about  access, convenience and ultimately, saving money and saving lives."

"We are excited to partner with Medical offices of Manhattan and Manhattan Cardiology as our combined areas of expertise enable us to provide personalized high-quality care in a very timely and cost-effective manner," said Bruce Yaffe MD of Yaffe Ruden Medical Associates. "Our missions are consistent, and this will enable Yaffe Ruden to remain a trusted name for many years to come in a difficult medical environment."

About Medical Offices of Manhattan

At Medical Offices of Manhattan, the most innovative methods and the latest technology are utilized to ensure patients make the right decisions and receive the best care. Medical Offices of Manhattan's mission is simple: to provide invaluable diagnostic and treatment recommendations. The mantra is just as simple: early detection is paramount to prevention. To provide this world-class model, Medical Offices of Manhattan have the most medically qualified doctors, supported by passionate nurses, physicians' assistants, and staff to deliver the all-around care. https://www.medicalofficesofmanhattan.com/.

About Manhattan Cardiology

Manhattan Cardiology is the premier facility for cardiac testing and preventive treatment in New York. We practice under a guiding principle that early detection is the best form of prevention. Our founder, Dr. Robert Segal, FACC, RPVI, is one of the best heart doctors in NYC, and has been recognized by his peers as one of the leading cardiologists in the country. Dr. Segal has received the Patient's Choice Award and has been listed on Top Ten Doctors and Castle Connolly Top Doctors. Manhattan Cardiology is an accredited testing facility with in-house state-of-the-art equipment. https://manhattancardiology.com/.

About Yaffe Ruden Medical Associates

Yaffe Ruden & Associates is a primary care medical group in Manhattan, New York in practice for over 30 years using traditional, integrative and hi-tech medical approaches in a personalized, managed care setting. We try to be very cost sensitive. In our office it's "you and us versus the medical issue." https://yafferuden.com/

SOURCE Medical Offices of Manhattan (MOM)

Related Links

https://www.medicalofficesofmanhattan.com

More than 4,000 participants in the Movin' On ecosystem, from academia, politics, cities and businesses, will explore actionable solutions to address global challenges that will define the future of mobility. The comprehensive programming, which is built around the theme "From Ambition to Action," comprises 11 inspiring keynotes, 20 panels and conversations and four interviews, which will take participants to the heart of current and future issues.

The full programming of conferences and collaborative working sessions will allow participants to collaborate to bring to life global, smart, sustainable and multimodal mobility. The Evenement Ride & Drive, presented by gouvernement du Quebec, will also be taking place at Movin' On. This activity offers event participants the opportunity to discover and test prototypes of the latest vehicles and technologies. On Open Circuit, cutting-edge vehicles go into test mode as participants take them for a drive, and environmentally minded people can try out a variety of eco-friendly mobility options in the low-impact ride & drive.

The complete programming is available here.

For the full list of speakers, click here.

About Movin' On

Presented by Michelin with C2 as organizing partner, Movin' On is the world summit on sustainable mobility. Our belief is that the solutions to tomorrow's major mobility challenges will come from an ecosystem of academic, political, business, municipal and startup leaders. From May 30 to June 1, 2018, in Montreal, Movin' On will bring together decision-makers, experts and mobility enthusiasts from all over the world. Our common goal will be to move "from ambition to action," acting on the theme "Bringing global, smart, sustainable and multimodal mobility to life." For more information or to register, please see movinon.michelin.com/en.

About Michelin

Michelin, the leading tire company, is dedicated to enhancing its clients' mobility, sustainably; designing and distributing the most suitable tires, services and solutions for its clients' needs; providing digital services, maps and guides to help enrich trips and travels and make them unique experiences; and developing high-technology materials that serve the mobility industry. Headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Michelin is present in 171 countries, has 114,000 employees and operates 70 production facilities in 17 countries which together produced 190 million tires in 2017.

About C2 International

C2 International, a private organization, is a global convener on a mission to transform executives and organizations that are ripe for change  whether they know it or not. Through its license of C2 Montreal, C2 International uses the unique brand and know-how of the transformative business conference to develop new opportunities and markets around the world. After Zurich, Milan, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Rome and San Francisco, C2 International is now expanding its reach across all continents. Visit www.c2international.biz for more information.

SOURCE Movin' On

Related Links

http://www.MichelinMedia.com

At a tasting event in Tbilisi, about 30 Georgian wine producers presented their products to the American visitors, and had a chance to consult with them about US market perspectives.



There was a great range of Georgian wines that showed the differences among the vintages, different styles, from different places in Georgia and the quality just gets better every year, some of the guests have some experience in Georgian wine but not a lot, they are very impressed with range of styles of wine- commented Lisa Granik.









At the end of the tour, guests attend the During the tour, the guests visited 15 Georgian wine companies in Kartli and Kakheti: Chateau Mukhrani, Alapiani, Lagvinari, Batono, Papari Valley, Orgo, Chubini Wine Cellar, Babaneuris Marani, Satsnakheli, Vaziani Winery, Giuaani, Nelkarisi, Tbilvino, Vine Ponto, Mosmieri.At the end of the tour, guests attend the New Wine Festival in Tbilisi on May 12th.





 Hvino News

The First Saperavi World Prize: RESULTS





14.05.2018 (Hvino News). A group of nine American wine professionals is visiting Georgia, headed by Lisa Granik MW.VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MYM Nutraceuticals Inc., (CSE: MYM) (CSE: MYM.CN) (the "Company" or "MYM") is pleased to announce that CannaCanada Inc. has broken ground on the 1.5 million square foot cannabis production facility located in Weedon, Quebec.

"We are extremely excited to announce that our partners, CannaCanada Inc., have broken ground on the flagship production facility in the town of Weedon, Quebec," said Rob Gietl, CEO of MYM. "CannaCanada Inc. recently received confirmation from Health Canada via email inquiring about the progress of construction and when we might estimate completion. With the spring thaw now complete, our team is in full swing making arrangements to be construction ready in time for the delivery of the first round of greenhouses. The initial delivery of greenhouses is scheduled to be installed by the end of Q3, at which point we will advance to the video submission and cultivation stage."

In addition to obtaining the approved permits, architectural drawings, and security plans, the Company would like to provide the following recent updates regarding the project:

LEEDS Certification has been attained. Experts are now working on what level of certification can be achieved. This rating system is used to evaluate environmental performance of a building. MYM is committed to achieving the highest level possible and work towards sustainable design.

The external environmental analysis of the site has been completed. The geographic location of the project and its surrounding areas has been deemed to be secure. The Company has concluded there is minimal potential of negative impact from environmental issues such as flooding and wildfire. The analysis also affirmed the project would have little impact on the surrounding flora and fauna.

Analysis from Hydro Quebec is now underway. Officials have begun assessment of the site with the study scheduled to be completed by June 15. The site has identified long-term power needs and has a preliminary plan outlined to satisfy these needs in an efficient and economic manner. The Company has consulted with Hydro Quebec during this process to ensure it receives sufficient power for future expansion. Hydro Quebec currently maintains its status as the cheapest power supplier in Canada.

The Weedon facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019. Complete build out will see greenhouse production space of 1.5 million sq ft, capable of producing an estimated 150,000 kgs of cannabis.

MYM has retained the services of Cannabis Compliance Inc. to consult the Company on regulatory compliance and due diligence for all its ACMPR projects in Canada.

About Cannabis Compliance Inc.

Cannabis Compliance Inc. (CCI) offers risk mitigation, due diligence and regulatory compliance for commercial cannabis producers and resellers around the world. They focus on the Global market and provide their clients with trusted and comprehensive solutions. CCI has extensive expertise in regulatory compliance, cultivation/horticulture, security designs/tender, facility designs/build-outs, quality assurance, training programs, auditing, Good Production Practices (GPP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP), Import & Export, staff recruitment and financial planning. CCI exists to empower the future leaders in the global cannabis industry.

About MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. is an innovative company focused on acquiring Health Canada licenses to produce and sell high-end organic medicinal cannabis supplements and topical products. MYM has two production projects in Quebec that when completed will have over 1.5 million sf of production space. MYM is also a partner in a 1.2 million sf production project (Northern Rivers Project) in New South Wales, Australia. Australia is an exciting new market that has recently legalized medicinal cannabis. To ensure a strong presence and growth potential within the industry, MYM is actively looking to acquire complementary businesses and assets in the technology, nutraceuticals and CBD sectors. MYM shares trade in Canada, Germany and the USA under the following symbols: (CSE: MYM) (OTC:MYMMF) (FRA:0MY) (DEU:0MY) (MUN:0MY) (STU:0MY).

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators, which are posted on www.sedar.com.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Rob Gietl, CEO

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

www.mymarijuana.ca

Investor Relations

Terry Brown

+1-855-696-2261

[email protected]

Keep up to date with MYM on our social media channels:

Twitter: @MYM_Nutra

Facebook: @mymcanada

Instagram: @MYM_Nutra

SOURCE MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mymarijuana.ca

OXFORD, England, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Results from Nekton Mission I, the XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey provides confirmation of a new zone in the ocean, the Rariphotic Zone (Rare Light Zone) from 130metres to 300metres.

The Rariphotic Zone is the fourth zone confirmed in the top 3000metres of the ocean, each defined by distinct biological communities living at different depths. The zones are the Altiphotic (0metre to 40metres), Mesophotic (40metres to 130metres), Rariphotic (130metres to 300metres), and Bathyal Zone (300metres to 3000metres).

Alex Rogers, Scientific Director of the Nekton Oxford Deep Ocean Research Institute ('Nekton'), Professor of Conservation Biology, University of Oxford, believes this discovery could challenge assumptions of biodiversity distribution including the number of different species in the ocean.

"If life in the shallower regions of the deep sea is so poorly documented, it undermines confidence in our existing understanding of how the patterns of life change with depth," says Professor Rogers.

Field research and analysis of 40,000 specimens and 15,000 litres of water samples was led by Nekton and supported by a network of scientists from 15 different marine research institutes. They revealed the discovery of over an estimated 100 new species including a major new black coral standing up to two metres high.

"We've discovered at least 13 new crustacean species including tanaids, gnathiid isopods and leptostracans," explains Professor Nick Schizas, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, who participated in the Mission.

"We believe we have discovered dozens of new species of algae including the deepest ever record to have had its DNA sequenced. Many are recognised for demonstrating a new biogeographical link between Bermuda and the Indo-Pacific," says Professor Craig Schneider, Trinity College, USA.

"Considering Bermuda's waters have been comparatively well studied for decades, we weren't expecting such a large number and diversity of new species," explains Professor Rogers. "It's evidence of how little we know and how important it is to document this unknown frontier to ensure that its future is protected."

The first peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published by Nekton with all results to be published by September 2018. 20 scientific papers are expected to be published in total. The first paper documented the deepest recorded evidence of lionfish globally to reveal the spread of this invasive species deeper into the ocean than previously known.

CEO of XL Bermuda Ltd/Insurance, Patrick Tannock, who chairs XL Catlin's philanthropic XL Foundation which funded the XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey, says: "As a future-focused, innovative insurance and reinsurance company, we at XL Catlin believe that preparing for emerging and unknown risks is imperative. Given that there is still much to be learned about how changes to the ocean will impact businesses, communities and society in the future, we are extremely interested in the findings from the XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey and look forward to receiving the published report of the amalgamated results and scientific papers."

In March 2018, in the scientific journal Nature Scientific Reports, Dr. Carole Baldwin, Smithsonian Institute described the discovery of unique reef-fish communities living above the seabed between 130 and 309metres around the Caribbean island of Curacao that are taxonomically distinct from shallower animals. Lacking an existing name for this depth zone Dr. Baldwin proposed 'rariphotic'.

Results from the XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey confirm that a similar zonation of life exists in the water column, providing additional evidence of this zonation within the biota of the seabed including corals, sponges and algae.

Mission Details

https://nektonmission.org/mission-i/achievements

Nekton

https://nektonmission.org/about/nekton-oxford-deep-ocean-research-institute

SOURCE Nekton Oxford Deep Ocean Research InstituteCHICAGO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With a well-documented story of critical labor shortages across the country and especially in the Midwest, a new report focuses on the tens of thousands of young people in Illinois, not just young Black and Hispanic males in the state's inner cities metropolitan areas, but also white youths in the state's rural western and southern areas, who are out of school and out of work, and who, with an adequate investment of public funds, have the potential to fill those vacant positions.

The report, Industrial Restructuring and the Continuing Impact on Youth Employment in Illinois, which breaks down in detail out-of-work and out-of-school and out-of-work numbers for Illinois young people ages 16-24, was released at a May 14 news conference. Researched and written by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago (GCI), it is the latest in a series of studies commissioned by the Alternative Schools Network (ASN) and the first to drill down into the situation young people, not just those in metropolitan Chicago but across the state, are experiencing as they search for ways to support themselves.

"The data in this study cries out for stronger federal investments in job training and economic development for youth in our state and across the country," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, in an e-mailed statement. "The best anti-poverty, anti-crime, anti-violence program is a job. I applaud the Alternative Schools Network for their work on this critical issue, and I look forward to working with them to create more opportunities for young people to climb the economic ladder."

The report finds the tragic and continuing repression of African-American communities that leaves young black males worse off than all of their contemporaries, even though their employment situation in Chicago and Cook County has improved in the last couple of years. And, as roiling policy debates over immigration occur, the situation for Chicago's young Hispanic or Latino youths, especially females, has gotten worse.

But critically high out-of-school-and-out-of-work rates for whites in downstate cities and rural areas show that the employment crisis is not limited to Chicago and Cook County. St. Clair County had the highest percent of out of school and out of work 16 to 19-year olds with 10.5 percent. The highest out of school and out of work rate for 20 to 24-year olds, 25.1 percent, was in a sub-section of Illinois that comprised Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, Wabash, White, and Williamson counties.

"We have not had a comprehensive youth employment program at the federal level in nearly two decades," said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-IL-7. "With the economy booming and employers looking for more workers than they can find, now is the time to bring those programs back. It would be a key piece of the anti-violence puzzle in our communities and it would help the economy grow."

"Although racial disparities continue to be a profound factor, it is also the case that white residents of mid-size cities and rural areas in part of Illinois are severely affected," the report's authors say in the conclusion section. "Give the trends that we have described, we are likely to see exacerbated inequality and disparities in wealth, along with the associated social ills, that will extend far into the future if there are not interventions that reverse the trends."

This study updates figures for Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and the U.S on numbers and percentages of 16-24 year-olds who are out of work; out of school and out of work; and out of school and out of work with no high school diploma. It examines out of work; and out of school and out of work figures in subsections of Illinois made up of single counties or groups of counties.

"As I look at the report's data, I can see that we are moving forward in the city of Chicago as we continue to recover from the Great Recession," U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-IL-1. "But we are moving at a snail's pace and the progress is uneven. I know the private sector can do more, and it's time for them to step up. But we can't just sit back and wait for businesses to act. Government at every level must play a role."

The report also examines as case studies four Illinois counties  Peoria, Tazewell, Kankakee, and Sangamon  with data that shows economic transformations in the industrial composition of these counties since 1980, young people's position in the economy and the growing poverty of these areas.

Major findings in the report include:

Highest Jobless Rates Outside of Chicago : The highest jobless rates for 20-24 year olds in Illinois were located outside of the Chicago Metro Area in South (43 percent out of work 2012-2016), West (38 percent), and Central (44.6 percent) Illinois .

The highest jobless rates for 20-24 year olds in were located outside of the Metro Area in South (43 percent out of work 2012-2016), West (38 percent), and Central (44.6 percent) . Blacks Improve While Latinos Decline: There were improvements from 2014 to 2016 in out of school and out of work rates for Black 20-24 year olds in Chicago and worsening figures for Latinos.

There were improvements from 2014 to 2016 in out of school and out of work rates for Black 20-24 year olds in and worsening figures for Latinos. Case Study Counties Demonstrate Decline: The percentage of 16-19 year olds who have jobs in Illinois -case-study counties with mid-sized cities have decreased substantially since 1980.

The percentage of 16-19 year olds who have jobs in -case-study counties with mid-sized cities have decreased substantially since 1980. Adults Replacing Youth in Retail Jobs: The mix of jobs in rural economies has changed in similar ways to Chicago , resulting in fewer opportunities for young people as older populations are increasingly employed in industries that young people have historically been employed in such as retail.

The mix of jobs in rural economies has changed in similar ways to , resulting in fewer opportunities for young people as older populations are increasingly employed in industries that young people have historically been employed in such as retail. Shrinking Middle-Class: Proportions of individuals in poverty and in high-income groups in the case-study counties are growing as middle-income groups are shrinking.

"We have a golden opportunity to make an investment in our state's young people that will pay for itself many times over," said Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, D-7. "We know what works  programs that give them work experiences, while they complete their high school diploma, so they become entry-level-employment ready as they prepare for putting themselves through college or trade schools."

The study showed that in Chicago, Hispanic or Latino 20-24 year-olds lost ground from 2015, when 33.2 percent were out of school and out of work, to 2016, when that number went up to 34.9 percent.

"Our Latina youths are moving backwards, through no fault of their own," said Alma Anaya, Democratic candidate for Cook County Commissioner. "State and federal governments must intervene. The county does not have the resources needed to address this problem by itself."

Though the study focuses on Illinois youth, the results have national implications because of Illinois' demographic makeup.

"Illinois looks a great deal like the country in terms of the proportion of residents who are Black, White and Hispanic in the 16-to-24-year-old and the overall population," ASN Executive Director Jack Wuest noted. "Also, Illinois has a very large city and other relatively large cities and a large metropolitan area and large rural white areas, which is reflective of the country in many ways."

That makes the report's findings exemplative of the growing crisis across the nation.

"This is not just a tale of two cities but a tale of two states and really of two countries," Wuest argued. "There are two distinct populations living in one space  the haves and have nots: Those who are privileged and those who are not. Those who get resources, social capital, education, a roof over their heads and a vision for their future... and those left behind. While the nation experiences a growing employment crisis as a result of anti-immigration policies and technological transformations that require a more skilled labor force, we are left with emerging youth from 16 - 24 years of age who could help meet this crisis if they were given the proper social and educational tools. But instead there is a dearth of civil society resources or public funding being set aside to prepare them for ending the growing labor shortages.

"We know about the dire circumstances Black and Hispanic youths are in. But we are finding out that if you are white anywhere else in the state other than Cook and its surrounding counties, you are in decline and have neither the education for jobs where you live or the education or resources for social mobility to get a job."

In related developments, the State Task Force on Developing Opportunities for Youth and Young Adults Who Are Jobless and Out of School, is holding a series of Youth Employment Hearings titled, Help Build the Economy, Help Strengthen Our Youth and Communities, Prepare, Educate and Employ Out-of-School and Jobless Youth.

The first will be held at 9:30 a.m. to noon, May 14, at Southwestern Illinois College, Sam Wolf Granite City Campus, 4950 Maryville Rd., Granite City and will focus on data from Madison and St. Clair counties.

That will be followed by at least two added hearings, the first is tentatively set for June 14 or 15 in Mt. Vernon, and the next for June 25 in south-suburban Chicago.

ABOUT ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS NETWORK

The Alternative Schools Network (ASN) is a not-for-profit organization in Chicago working to provide quality education with a specific emphasis on inner-city children, youth and adults. Since 1973, ASN has been supporting community based and community-run programs to develop and expand training and other educational services in Chicago's inner-city neighborhoods. In addition to supporting direct services, ASN has been a consistent and effective advocate for community-based services whereby the people involved are active participants in developing and running programs  not passive recipients of services. To shape policies and programs, ASN has built an impressive track record of operating successful education, employment and support service programs. For more information please visit www.asnchicago.org.

ABOUT THE GREAT CITIES INSTITUTE

UIC Great Cities Institute is to link its academic resources with a range of partners to address urban issues by providing research, policy analysis and program development. Tied to the University of Illinois at Chicago Great Cities Commitment, GCI seeks to improve quality of life in Chicago, its metropolitan region and cities throughout the world. https://greatcities.uic.edu

For a complete copy of the report: www.asnchicago.org/May2018-Press-Conference

CONTACT: LAURIE R. GLENN

PHONE: 773.704.7246

EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE Alternative Schools Network

Related Links

http://www.asnchicago.org

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New Jersey Star Ledger and Newjersey.com today featured an article by Robert Weiner, a former White House spokesman and congressional committee chief of staff and New Jersey native, and policy analyst Kyle Fleck, "Why Commerce Secretary Ross and his Russian Ties May Be Next in Mueller's Investigation." The article, laying out Ross and his Bank of Cyprus Russian funding of Trump bankruptcies right through alleged financing of President Trump's recent sex hush money payments, all from credible public sourcing provided via links in the article, is in today's Star Ledger and its website newjersey.com at http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/05/ex-clinton_and_bush_spokesman_why_the_commerce_sec.html.

Weiner said he timed the article with today's National Press Club luncheon speech and questions-and-answers by Secretary Ross in Washington, DC. At the event, Ross was asked, "Have you spoken with Special Counsel Mueller on the Bank of Cyprus or Russian money ties to Trump?" Shockingly Ross offered a one-word forceful response, "NO." Weiner added afterward, "If Mueller was watching or notified, he may now need to do so based on the public record including this article."

Last week, Weiner wrote an oped, following attending and speaking at a Maryland Department of the Environment hearing near his and his wife's home, "Another Health Risk Heads for Charles County," on the blowdowns and excessive emissions not reported to the state, plus a smokestack of 50 feet instead of the standard 113.5 feet thereby blowing right into the neighborhoods, and no standard MD Health assessment, of a proposed liquid natural gas compressor station designed to make Dominion Energy the #2 LNG exporter in the country. The proposed plant would override Charles County zoning. EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt roomed with the LNG lobbyist in his now-famous cheap housing deal, plus likely made calls to him from his $43,000 now infamous secure office phone booth. At a recent White House news conference with Trump, the President of Lithuania bragged about USA LNG about to come his way.

The article is at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/another-health-risk-heads-for-charles-county/2018/05/04/19f3fdf8-4e19-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fd39e0727767

BOTH articles were named H2 by OpEdNews-- #2 oped in the nation when published.

Weiner also reported on his questions at a recent National Press Club Headliner with former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, and interviews on the Rick Smith Radio Show for working Americans on ten stations, and Alan Nathan's Main Street Radio show on 200 stations on American issues and politics:

May 5, 2018 -- Robert Weiner interviewed on The Rick Smith Show on guns and Trump hush money | Audio on YouTube | Audio on Podbean | Audio on Ivox





-- interviewed on on guns and Trump hush money | Audio on | Audio on | Audio on April 26, 2018 -- At the National Press Club, Robert Weiner asked ex-White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci questions about Russia , Presidential truth, and equal accountability. -- Hosted by NPC President Andrea Snyder -- Scroll to 1:03 through end for Bob's questions | Video





-- At the National Press Club, asked ex-White House Communications Director questions about , Presidential truth, and equal accountability. -- Hosted by NPC President -- Scroll to 1:03 through end for Bob's questions | Video Robert Weiner on The Alan Nathan Show, Main Street Radio Network (200 stations)  April 4 & April 10 : click on www.alannathan.com.

For all of the most recent shows, click on www.alannathan.com

The show is "one of the top 20 talk shows in the nation," according to Replay Media Guide, and Alan has been cited three times as one of the top 100 hosts by Talkers Magazine

Contact: Bob Weiner/Ben Lasky 202-306-1200 and 301-283-0821

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates News

Related Links

http://www.weinerpublic.com

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bernstein Liebhard LLP is investigating potential securities fraud claims on behalf of shareholders of Ormat Technologies, Inc. ("Ormat" or the "Company") (NYSE: ORA). If you purchased Ormat securities, and/or have information relating to this matter, please visit our ORMAT SHAREHOLDER PAGE or contact Daniel Sadeh toll free at (877) 779-1414 or [email protected].

On May 11, 2018, Ormat disclosed that it's delaying the filing of its Quarterly Report for the period ended March 31, 2018 with the SEC because "management has identified an error in the Company's financial statement presentation of deferred income tax assets and deferred income tax liabilities that affects the Company's balance sheets in previous reporting periods." Ormat further disclosed that "[t]he Company is evaluating the impact of this error on its consolidated financial statements and the extent to which the Company's annual and quarterly consolidated financial statements filed in previous periods require revision or amendment."

On this news, Ormat's stock fell sharply during intraday trading on May 14, 2018.

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

Please follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bernstein-liebhard-llp/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/bernlieb.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2018 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

Contact Information

Daniel Sadeh

Bernstein Liebhard LLP

http://www.bernlieb.com

(877) 779-1414

[email protected]

SOURCE Bernstein Liebhard LLP

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EDMONTON, Alberta, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Planet Organic Market today announced the expansion of its operations in the Edmonton area with plans to open new grocery locations in Ellerslie Market and Sherwood Park. The new neighborhood market in Ellerslie is expected in early July 2018 and will be located in the South-East area of Edmonton at Ellerslie Crossing off of Highway 2. The Sherwood Park location is expected to open in Autumn 2018.

Photo of one of Planet Organic's Iconic Natural Living Section

"We are truly delighted to be growing our business and bringing two new organic markets to Edmonton," said Alan Thompson, CEO of Planet Organic. "As Canada's original organic foods market, we are dedicated to providing our customers, 'Planet People,' with diverse arrays of foods, vitamins, and supplements that are good for you and good for the earth. As we continue to grow in the Edmonton area, we remain grounded in our deep, Canadian roots and aim to deliver outstanding organic products to our friends, family, and neighbours."

Mr. Thompson continued, "Planet Organic Market is guided by that which defines us: our personal relationships with our local neighbourhoods, our deep Canadian roots, our rigorous product standards, and an enthusiastic curiosity that encourages our customers to experiment and discover. Our five fundamental pillarsPeople, Canada First, Trust, Discovery, and Educationunderpin the spirit of Planet Organic Market as a down-to-earth escape from big-box supermarkets."

The Ellerslie Market and Sherwood Park stores will be Planet Organic's third and fourth locations in the Edmonton area, adding to the existing locations at Jasper Market and Whyte Ave Market. Planet Organic's other operations include four stores in Calgary, one in Victoria and one in Mississauga. The Company is 100% owned and operated by Canadians and proudly remains at the forefront of supporting the growth and well-being of local neighbourhoods across Canada.

For details on store locations and upcoming events, please visit the Planet Organic website at www.planetorganic.ca.

About Planet Organic

Planet Organic Market was founded by husband and wife team Mark and Dianepioneers in organic living and dedicated environmental activistsin Edmonton in 1993. Initially imagined as a down-to-earth escape from big-box supermarkets, Planet Organic Market was one of the first to bring wholesome products made by Canadians, to Canadians. Today, Planet Organic Market proudly remains at the forefront of supporting the growth and well-being of local neighbourhoods across Canada. Focused on delivering a diverse, delicious array of good food, that is good for you and good for the earth.

Contact

Gagnier Communications

Dan Gagnier/Patrick Reynolds

646-569-5897

Related Images

planet-organic.jpg

Planet Organic

Photo of one of Planet Organic's Iconic Natural Living Section

ellerslie.png

Ellerslie

Coming Soon! Ellerslie Market

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Planet Organic Market

Logo

Related Links

Website

SOURCE Planet Organic

Related Links

http://www.planetorganic.ca

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Political "middlemen" who infringe on the relationship between the people and their elected representatives constitute a growing danger to democracy, according to the new book, Politicians, by Bruce K. Chapman.

"Politicians themselves are partly to blame for ceding responsibilities to unelected powers," says Chapman, himself a former elected and appointed official. "Those powers include bureaucrats and judges, but also media, academics, non-profit cause groups, 'professional reformers' and the campaign businesses who 'live off of' politics, rather than for it." A good example of shifted responsibility, says Chapman, is Congress' relinquishment of authority to government regulatory agencies. Another, Chapman says, is the "scandal business" that increasingly monopolizes public attention and is incentivized by unrealistic federal legislation.

The advent of social media, which might have encouraged deeper public debate on issues, instead has facilitated character attacks and "big data" manipulation, Chapman's book asserts.

Making popular government more difficult, too, Chapman reports, has been declining emphasis on the teaching of civicshistory and governmentin both common schools and universities. Chapman's contrarian program is to "reform the reforms" of the past generation: "strengthening political parties as crucial balance wheels in public life," "placing checks on ethics investigations...to deter opportunist assaults," "shortening political campaigns," streamlining the Presidential appointments process and in the long run "reducing the unreasonable claims and intrusiveness of government" as a whole "to expand respect for the ability of politics to handle its main tasks well."

Voters often do not recognize that our form of government requires politicians, Chapman acknowledges. "Even historians tend to write about this or that politician or campaign, and not about the kind of people we should be attracting to serve in the some 500,000 elected positions at America's local, state and national levels," he says.

The author of Politicians: The Worst Kind of People to Run the Government, Except for All the Others, Bruce Chapman was elected to the Seattle City Council and later as Secretary of State of Washington in the 1970s. In the 1980s he served President Reagan as Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Deputy Assistant to the President in the White House, and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Organizations in Vienna. In 1991, he founded Discovery Institute, a public policy think tank in Seattle, where he is now Chairman of the Board and head of the Chapman Center on Citizen Leadership.

SOURCE Discovery Institute

Related Links

http://www.discovery.org

LEHI, Utah, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With the expansion of its vacation division, Property Management Inc. (PMI) continues to lead the property management industry, providing a platform for all four pillars of management: residential, commercial, association and vacation. The groundbreaking four pillar model supports PMI franchise owners in customizing the management of investment properties to optimize returns for investors.

Property Management Inc.

"PMI owes much of its success to offering different types of property management businesses to our franchisees, and our extensive network of property management experts makes PMI uniquely capable of entering the vacation rental industry," said PMI Vice President Brian Birdy. "The strength of our 4 Pillar system is synchronicity, allowing our business owners multiple sources of revenue. Vacation rentals are a powerful piece because short-term rentals are a thriving industry that may suit property owner's needs better than long-term rentals, depending on the area. Most of our offices choose to use two or three of PMI's pillars rather than all four, but giving them the foundation to succeed in their area is what matters most." Equipping property managers with multiple avenues of business growth has been a focus of the PMI business model from the time it was founded. According to PMI President Steve Hart, "When we first offered both residential and commercial property management services, other industry professionals were cautious. However, we've found that allowing our franchise owners to pursue the type of management business that can bring the most value to real estate owners."

PMI expands its vacation rental platform at a time when the short-term and vacation rental industry is projected to have continued growth. Technavio, a global technology research company, reported last year that there is a growing traveler preference for vacation rental over traditional accommodations. "Vacation rental homes are drawing increased investments to ensure higher profits from rental homes by improving their features and adopt better marketing strategies. Additionally, the number of investors purchasing single-family homes to use them as vacation rentals are increasing, thereby driving market growth," says Abhay Sinha, one of the lead analysts at Technavio.

About Property Management Inc.

Property Management Inc. is a property management and real estate services company providing leading-edge technology, training, systems and support to more than 200 franchises. The PMI network manages more than $5 billion in assets globally and is recognized as a leading property management franchise. Its innovative franchise program provides the only platform that unifies the four pillars of property management: residential, commercial, association, and vacation. PMI is currently named on the Inc. 5000, Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 list as "Best in Category" winner for 2017 and 2018. Additionally, PMI is ranked as one of the Top 100 Global Franchises in 2017 by Franchise Direct. For more information, please visit www.propertymanagementinc.com.

Media Contact: Cassie James, Property Management Inc.

[email protected]

385.455.4151

SOURCE Property Management Inc.

Related Links

http://www.propertymanagementinc.com

OTTAWA, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Pythian, a global IT company that helps businesses leverage disruptive data technologies to better compete, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Vanessa Simmons, Vice President of Business Development at Pythian, to its prestigious 2018 Women of the Channel list. The executives who comprise this annual list span the IT channel, representing vendors, distributors, solution providers and other organizations that figure prominently in the channel ecosystem. Each is recognized for her outstanding leadership, vision and unique role in driving channel growth and innovation.

CRN editors select the Women of the Channel honorees based on their professional accomplishments, demonstrated expertise and ongoing dedication to the IT channel.

Vanessa's passion for technology and talent for relationship building have led her to her current role as VP of Business Development at Pythian. In 2013 she launched the Pythian Business Development team, which she has built from the ground up. For the past three years she has led Business Developments' strategy which has focused on supporting Pythian's transformation into a cloud-first/cloud-forward technology company. She has actively built strong relationships with Google, Microsoft and Amazon that have helped drive Pythian's cloud focus forward to its current state the fastest growing practice area of the business.

In September of 2017, Vanessa orchestrated a highly successful "Business Development Cloud Throwdown Challenge." Business Development teamed up with Learning and Development to offer to fund cloud-related training with a goal of certification by December 31. Within 10 minutes of the announcement, the 20 allocated spots were taken. Within a few hours, nearly eighty people had registered, and all were accepted into the program due to the tremendous response. Pythian's cloud partners provided support with training vouchers to offset some of the costs. Participants said they felt engaged, invigorated and re-motivated.

Vanessa's mission going forward is "Better, faster, more in the cloud." "Better at how we approach and deliver cloud projects and communicate with partners and customers; faster at getting projects started up, even as more come in; and helping more clients get started on their cloud journey."

"This accomplished group of leaders is steadily guiding the IT channel into a prosperous new era of services-led business models and deep, strategic partnerships," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "CRN's 2018 Women of the Channel list honors executives who are driving channel progress through a number of achievementsexemplary partner programs, innovative product development and marketing, effective team-building, visionary leadership and accelerated sales growthas well as advocacy for the next generation of women channel executives."

"Vanessa is an incredible asset to Pythian and the driving force behind the growth and success of our public cloud partner ecosystem," said Keith Millar, SVP of Pythian's Business Services. "She has played a tremendous role in solidifying and strengthening these relationships and regularly advocates on their behalf both internally and externally with an extraordinary amount of energy and enthusiasm."

The 2018 Women of the Channel list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/wotc.

About Pythian

Pythian is a global IT company that helps businesses leverage disruptive data technologies to better compete. Our services and software solutions unleash the power of cloud, data and analytics to drive better business outcomes. Our 20 years in data, commitment to hiring the best talent, and our deep technical and business expertise allow us to meet our client promise of using technology to deliver the best outcomes faster.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace.

CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCE The Pythian Group Inc

Related Links

http://www.pythian.com

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/617446/SciBite_Logo.jpg )



(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690308/ONTOFORCE_Logo.jpg )



The partnership between SciBite and ONTOFORCE will tackle head on the challenge of capitalising on the relentless flow of available data through the power of semantic analytics in a cutting-edge platform and be directly relevant to many critical functions of research-based businesses, from PreClinical science through to regulatory affairs.

SciBite's award-winning platform is the culmination of decades of experience in applying semantic analytics to unstructured data. At its core are extensive ontologies, employed to detect key biomedical concepts and events, across a vast array of sources. The partnership will bring together SciBite's global expertise in semantic technologies, with the unrivalled power of ONTOFORCE's data integration and visual analytics platform, DISQOVER, in a unique relationship, allowing customers to explore a variety of data sources through a single, dynamic, user-friendly interface.

"Our partnership with ONTOFORCE gives customers an unprecedented ability to mine both structured and unstructured data in a seamless manner," said Lee Harland, CSO, and founder of SciBite.

"We're delighted to be able to build on the deep, mutual respect that ONTOFORCE and SciBite have for each other's technologies, and connect the best of these for the Life Sciences," said Hans Constandt, ONTOFORCE CEO.

About ONTOFORCE

ONTOFORCE is a Belgian company that develops groundbreaking visual analytics, semantic search, and linked data technologies with offices in Ghent (Belgium), Cambridge, MA, US) and New York (NY, US). The mission is to make everyone a citizen data scientist by democratizing access to data and insights into public, internal and third-party data. Because smarter data enables smarter decisions.

ONTOFORCE has won many awards and recognitions and receives support from renowned research institutes such as IMEC, IDlab, UGent, UCSD, MIT and the Harvard Catalyst Group.

http://www.ontoforce.com.

Follow ONTOFORCE on Twitter.

About SciBite

SciBite is an award winning leading provider of semantic solutions for the life sciences industry. Headquartered in the UK, it supports its customers with offices in the UK, US, and Japan. A fast, scalable solution, SciBite delivers a semantic platform across science-based industries.

To learn more about SciBite and its solutions, please contact [email protected] or visit http://www.scibite.com.

SOURCE SciBite and ONTOFORCESheikh Abdullah restated the UAE's support for President Trump's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and his leadership in challenging the full range of Iranian threats across the region from ballistic missiles to its arming and training of proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis. He noted that the UAE would continue to closely coordinate its policies on Iran as part of a working group with the US, Saudi Arabia, and other committed nations.

The UAE Foreign Minister recognized the Administration's determined efforts to de-escalate tensions and seek a negotiated path to remove the danger of nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula.

On Yemen, Sheikh Abdullah emphasized the UAE's commitment toward a comprehensive agreement to end the conflict and support for the UN-led political process. He also described the Coalition's comprehensive humanitarian assistance efforts in both government and rebel-controlled areas.

Sheikh Abdullah also updated US officials on the Coalition's progress against AQAP and other extremists in Yemen, while continuing to pressure the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels. He made clear that blocking Iran's ability to traffic increasingly sophisticated weaponry into Yemen, including ballistic missiles used to attack Saudi Arabia, is a key condition to any negotiated outcome.

On commerce and trade, Sheikh Abdullah highlighted the US' $15 billion trade surplus with the UAE and the hundreds of billions of dollars of UAE investment in the US. He thanked Secretary Pompeo for working to achieve understandings on civil aviation, and noted the industry is at the center of a UAE-US trade and commercial relationship that generates enormous benefits for both countries.

Sheikh Abdullah emphasized that today's announcement confirms business as usual by validating all the rights and benefits  including "Fifth Freedom" services -- included in the 2002 Air Transport Agreement between the two countries. He added that UAE and US airlines continue to have complete commercial flexibility to add or adjust services to meet travelers' demands.

Sheikh Abdullah also noted that as a responsible trading partner and strong security ally, the UAE was hopeful that a comparable and timely understanding would be reached on UAE aluminum and steel exports to the US.

For media inquiries, please contact the UAE embassy at: [email protected]

SOURCE Embassy of the United Arab Emirates

Related Links

http://www.uae-embassy.org

"Much of what we've done at Smooth Ambler has been leading up to this moment," says Head Distiller and CEO John Little. "The release of Big Level signifies the beginning of our long-term ability to offer a third, important category of whiskeys to us: those which are 100% made here in West Virginia. We're excited for this whiskey to complement the merchant bottled and "married" (merchant and homemade blended together) families already embraced by our business."

Founded in 2009, Smooth Ambler has steadily grown to become a leader in the small production of quality, classic whiskey. Winning Best Single Barrel Bourbon in the World for 2016 at the World Whiskies Awards, Smooth Ambler partnered with Pernod Ricard the following year, and continues to produce whiskey in what it refers to as its "Make, Merchant, and Marry" approach, sourcing whiskey in-tandem with its homemade distillate and in the case of award-winning Contradiction Bourbon, making a union of the two.

"Waiting on whiskey is like waiting on a friend to pick you up and take you to a concert," jokes Director of Sales, John Foster. "You know your friend is on the way. And you know the show is happening. But your buddy has the tickets and is your ride, and you can't go anywhere or do anything until they show up."

After completing its distillery expansion this winter, Smooth Ambler spirits is poised to produce 3,000 barrels of whiskey in 2018, and plans to constantly source quality whiskey as it becomes available.

SOURCE Smooth AmblerMANCHESTER, N.H., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership associated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC), today announced that the McCormick-Spain Wealth Management Group has joined Steward Partners' fast growing New England presence. The new team joins from Wells Fargo and is comprised of financial advisors Wayne McCormick, CFP, ChFC, and Steven Spain, who together bring more than 47 years of experience to the firm.

"Wayne and Steven are both welcome additions to our fast-growing team in New England," said Hy Saporta, Steward Partners' president and chief operating officer. "The fact that so many high-performing and respected advisors continue to see value in our model is exciting, and we think reflects an increased desire among advisors across the country for greater independence."

"This is an exciting day for both our team and our clients," added Wayne McCormick. "Steven and I are excited to begin working with Steward Partners and Raymond James, and we look forward to leveraging Steward's model to better help our clients achieve their financial goals."

"We're lucky to have so many talented advisors like Steven and Wayne helping us grow our already impressive presence in New Hampshire," said Jim Connors, Steward Partners' divisional president for New England. "The growth we've already had in that region this year has been unprecedented and we're excited to continue that momentum into the second half of 2018."

McCormick and Spain together oversee more than $175 million in client assets and will join Steward Partners' existing office in Manchester, one of three offices that Steward operates in New Hampshire. The McCormick-Spain Wealth Management Group focuses on helping clients build, manage, preserve and transition their wealth, and believe that a goals-based planning process should always be a focal point for each of its client relationships.

"We're very pleased to welcome Wayne and Steven, who share our values and longstanding philosophy that clients' interests come first," said Scott Curtis, president of Raymond James Financial Services. "Wayne and Steven provide further evidence Steward's unique affiliation option and relationship with Raymond James continues to attract the attention and interest of high quality advisors."

The McCormick-Spain Wealth Management Group is Steward Partners' seventh advisor team to join so far in 2018.

About Steward Partners Global Advisory

With offices in Albany, N.Y., Andover and Boston, Mass., Baltimore and Bethesda, Md., Clearwater, Fla., Keene, Manchester and Portsmouth, N.H., Paramus, N.J., Houston, Tex., Richmond, Va., New York City and Washington, D.C., Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, is an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership catering to family, institutional and multigenerational wealth.

For more information, visit us at www.stewardpartners.com.

About Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is a financial services firm supporting more than 4,300 independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 7,600 financial advisors in 3,000 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $730 billion.

Steward Partners Holdings, Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, and The McCormick-Spain Wealth Management Group maintain a separate professional business relationship with, and our registered professionals offer securities through, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Steward Partners Investment Advisory, LLC, 1776 I Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20006. Toll Free: (844) 801-8268.

Media Contact:

Reed Schneider  Water & Wall Group

212-343-2363

[email protected]

SOURCE Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC

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http://www.stewardpartners.com

PETALUMA, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- When someone mentions to young people that being a business owner is an option for them in their future should they choose to take it, they often think that that route would be something for them to consider. Perhaps they imagine being an entrepreneur in their late thirties, maybe early forties. Brandon Frere, founder and CEO of Frere Enterprises as well as multiple other ventures, wants to encourage those young potential entrepreneurs that there is no timed qualification on when someone can get started with their own business.

"The only specific 'right time' to get started on owning and operating your own business is the right time for an individual," says Frere. "Maybe the right time will come with an idea for something that needs changing or is about a whole new concept. Sometimes things in your life just line up right, or even if it's just your burning passion to get things done, the right time will really be when you make it the right time."

According to Experian the average age of the current small business owner is just over 50 years old. However, an average is just a central number, and with advanced technology becoming more widespread, and modern medicine being so advanced, there are entrepreneurs starting out as teenagers. They start out so young because they have these fresh ideas that no one has put the effort into monetizing, and so they get a head start on everyone else. These young business-minded individuals provide services that people often don't know they want until they see the new startup being advertised.

With a fresh idea, the best time to start with setting new cutting-edge ideas into motion was yesterday. The next best day is today.

About Frere Enterprises

Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His company website,www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide.

As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs.

FrereEnterprises.com

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right-time-to-start-a-business.jpg

Right Time to Start a Business

Credit: mashi_naz/Bigstock

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Frere Enterprises home page

SOURCE Frere EnterprisesThe BLVD Hotel is near Disneyland, Newport Beach and the Anaheim Convention Center. The hotel's chic-style and modern simplicity complements its location and offers guests a warm Southern California experience.

The 58-room boutique hotel features a surfer-inspired design that's both sleek and contemporary. The BLVD Hotel offers personalized customer service and amenities, such as complimentary welcome drinks during happy hour, an outdoor pool and complimentary hot breakfast.

The BLVD Hotel participates in the award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty rewards program, rated no. 1 in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards list for two consecutive years. Membership is free, offers fast rewards, instant perks, and exclusive member rates when booking direct at www.choicehotels.com. Members can redeem points towards free nights, airline miles and more, while staying at any of Choice's global brand hotels, including the Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria Hotels, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, WoodSpring Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn.

Ascend Hotel Collection: let the destination reach you.

The Ascend Hotel Collection is a global portfolio of unique, boutique and historic independent hotels and resorts and is part of Choice Hotels International, one of the world's leading hotel companies. Recognized as the hotel industry's first "soft brand" concept, the Ascend Hotel Collection has more than 200 properties open and operating worldwide, including in France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Australia, Canada, Ecuador and the Caribbean region. Membership with the Ascend Hotel Collection enables distinctive, independent properties to gain a global presence while maintaining their local charm. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com/Ascend.

About Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the world's largest hotel companies. With over 6,800 hotels franchised in more than 40 countries and territories, Choice Hotels International represents more than 550,000 rooms around the globe and as of March 31, 2018, there are more than 900 hotels were in our development pipeline. Our company's Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria Hotels, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, WoodSpring Suites SM, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, and Vacation Rentals by Choice Hotels brands provide a spectrum of lodging choices to meet guests' needs. With more than 36 million members, our Choice Privileges rewards program enhances every trip a guest takes, with benefits ranging from every day rewards to exceptional experiences, starting right when they join. All hotels and vacation rentals are independently owned and operated. Visit us at www.choicehotels.com for more information.

 2018 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.

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LONDON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Makor Group makes its mark on the cryptocurrency market with the launch of Enigma Securities, a specialized broker-dealer giving institutional clients access to the cryptocurrency market.

Makor's aim is to provide clients with a transparent, liquid and compliant environment in which to trade cryptocurrency. Makor has leveraged relationships with major global banks to provide a custodian solution for institutions who want to trade cryptocurrencies. Through Enigma, institutional clients will be able to sell and settle in crypto as well as in US dollars.

The launch of Enigma is a natural next step for the Makor Group which has been a cutting-edge, independent brokerage and research firm since 2011. Michael Halimi, Makor Group's CEO, explains, "Crypto is a new asset class and an opportunity that our clients want to leverage, but there are few actionable solutions available in the market. We are excited to be the first independent broker to provide such services to our clients." Halimi's goal is to make Enigma Securities, and the Makor Group, a leading global broker dealer and a premier global provider of cryptocurrency market access.

Enigma Securities will provide liquidity for the main cryptocurrencies in US dollars. Enigma is also building an innovative research product to help Institutional clients manage their market exposure to crypto assets and ICOs.

Makor Group (www.makor-capital.com)

The Makor Group ("Makor") is an international brokerage firm established in March 2011 by Michael Halimi and Avi Bouhadana, two ex-senior managers at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe. Makor is authorized and regulated by the FCA and Makor's core business is to provide financial Securities research and execution to institutional investors across a spectrum of products including Cash Equities, Fixed Income securities, Derivatives and FX.

With offices in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Geneva, Gibraltar, Tel Aviv and Singapore, and over 120 group employees, Makor offers its clients 24-hour global trading providing a single point of contact for more than 90 execution venues in cash equities only.

Makor provides its clients with original and innovative trading ideas specializing in risk arbitrage, special situations, relative value and event-driven opportunities for clients and regularly ranks in the Top 3 of the Thomson Reuters EXTEL risk-arb research surveys.

Makor acts only as an agent and is therefore not susceptible to the various conflicts in the industry. Makor takes no proprietary positions and as such acts wholly and exclusively for the benefit of the client. Makor's understanding of local markets and extensive client relationships built over 30 years industry experience, allows us to tap into local institutional portfolios in order to maximize liquidity for clients.

Besides the client relationships Makor has strong relationships with global custodians and prime brokers. These international custodians, which provide essential services across all asset classes, are the oil that keeps the trading engine running smoothly. Prime brokerage services including custody and trade settlement are as important to the clients as the execution itself and in some cases even more important. Settlement of trading activity needs to be timely and problem free.

SOURCE The Makor Group

Related Links

http://www.makor-capital.com

One in three families in the U.S. struggles to afford diapers. As a leading baby brand, The Honest Company has an opportunity to make a difference by supporting families in need. That's why the company began working with Baby2Baby in 2012 and has donated more than 11 million products to the organization to date.

"At The Honest Company, we're devoted to empowering people to live happy, healthy lives," says The Honest Company Founder Jessica Alba. "A mother should never have to choose between feeding her children and buying diapers. Baby2Baby helps new mothers so they don't have to make that impossible decision, and we can't think of a better charitable partner for The Honest Company."

Other plans to support Baby2Baby throughout 2018 include providing baby bundles filled with diapers, and hygiene items to 600+ families annually. The Honest Company employees will also continue to be involved, visiting Baby 2 Baby's Los Angeles headquarters monthly to assemble kits for families. The company will also host five packing parties this year at its offices in Playa Vista.

"The Honest Company and Baby2Baby share a joint mission to improve the lives of families everywhere," said Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein, Co-Presidents of Baby2Baby. "Baby2Baby is grateful for The Honest Company's dedication to drive change in the community  together we will help a lot of families around the United States."

For more information, visit https://www.honest.com/social-goodness.

About The Honest Company:

The Honest Company is dedicated to helping people live a happy and healthy life. Founded in 2012, the mission-driven company provides 100+ trusted and effective products across a wide range of consumer categories, including baby, personal care, home care, and vitamins & supplements, to a passionate community of consumers united by values and style. Honest Beauty is a comprehensive skincare, makeup and haircare collection created with the same Honest standards of safety, performance, and spirit that are the hallmark of The Honest Company. Honest products are available across the U.S. via honest.com and honestbeauty.com and at a wide range of retailers across North America such as Target, Costco, Nordstrom, CVS and Whole Foods. The Honest Company is privately held and headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Baby2Baby:

Baby2Baby provides low-income children ages 0-12 years with diapers, clothing and all the basic necessities that every child deserves. By distributing to non-profit partner organizations including homeless and domestic violence shelters, Head Start programs, foster care programs and children's hospitals, Baby2Baby will serve more than 180,000 children in Los Angeles this year and tens of thousands more across the country through the Baby2Baby National Network.

SOURCE The Honest CompanyORRVILLE, Ohio, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) (the "Company" or "Smucker") announced today it has completed the acquisition of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC ("Ainsworth") in a transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion, after an estimated tax benefit of $200 million. The Company previously announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Ainsworth on April 4, 2018.

Ainsworth is a leading producer, distributor, and marketer of premium pet food and pet snacks, predominately within the United States. Approximately two-thirds of Ainsworth's sales are generated by the Rachael Ray Nutrish brand, which is driving significant growth in the premium pet food category.

"We are excited to have completed this transaction, which increases the scale and further accelerates the growth profile of our pet food and pet snacks business," said Mark Smucker, Chief Executive Officer. "The Ainsworth team has done a tremendous job growing this business, building Rachael Ray Nutrish into one of the most recognizable premium pet food brands in the United States. We are pleased to welcome the Ainsworth employees into the Smucker family and look forward to working with this talented team as we continue to grow our pet food business together."

As previously announced, in connection with the closing of the transaction, Jeff Watters, who served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ainsworth, has joined the Company, assuming the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager, Ainsworth. In this role, Jeff will support the integration of Ainsworth into the Company's pet food business as a key member of the pet leadership team.

The Company funded the acquisition through the combination of a $1.5 billion term loan and borrowings under the Company's commercial paper program.

About The J. M. Smucker Company

For more than 120 years, The J. M. Smucker Company has brought families together to share memorable meals and moments. Guided by a vision to engage, delight, and inspire consumers through trusted food and beverage brands that bring joy throughout their lives, Smucker has grown to be a well-respected North American marketer and manufacturer with a balanced portfolio of leading and emerging, on-trend brands. In consumer foods and beverages, its brands include Smucker's, Folgers, Jif, Dunkin' Donuts, Crisco, Cafe Bustelo, R.W. Knudsen Family, Sahale Snacks, Smucker's Uncrustables, Robin Hood, and Bick's. In pet food and pet snacks, its brands include Rachael Ray Nutrish, Meow Mix, Milk-Bone, Kibbles 'n Bits, Natural Balance, and Nature's Recipe. The Company remains rooted in the Basic Beliefs of Quality, People, Ethics, Growth, and Independence established by its founder and namesake more than a century ago. For more information about our Company, visit jmsmucker.com.

The J. M. Smucker Company is the owner of all trademarks referenced herein, except for Dunkin' Donuts, which is used under license: Dunkin' Donuts is a registered trademark of DD IP Holder LLC.

Dunkin' Donuts brand is licensed to The J. M. Smucker Company for packaged coffee products sold in retail channels such as grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, and drug stores. This information does not pertain to Dunkin' Donuts coffee or other products for sale in Dunkin' Donuts restaurants.

SOURCE The J.M. Smucker Company

Related Links

http://www.smuckers.com

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hollywood photographer, Steven Curtis, has just released his memoir about the 28 months he spent in Vietnam as a U S Marine Corps combat photographer. The Vietnam I Remember is one of the rare books that recounts experiences that most anyone who served in Vietnam can relate to. The photos and stories are not a narrow focus on a particular unit or event but rather a moving telling of the hardships and emotional strain most any American serviceman or woman who served in that war can relate to.

The Vietnam I Remember - front cover The Vietnam I Remember - back cover

The book begins with the author's unfortunate timing when he landed in Da Nang on January 31, 1968  just 12 hours before the eruption of the bloody Tet offensive. The both frightening and hilarious events of his first few weeks set the tone for the remainder of this book when he finally leaves Vietnam in June of 1970. Unlike the civilian press corps photographers who were considered outsiders and viewed by the troops with a mixture of scorn and skepticism, as a military photographer, he was just another fellow Marine. During those 28 months, he photographed the human side of the war as seen only by the American servicemen who were there.

It has often been joked that war is 99 percent sheer boredom and one percent sheer terror. While the civilians pursued the one percent and went chasing after bloody battles and as much carnage as they could find, this book strives to explore the entire experience: the first Christmas away from home, the "Dear John" letters, the clandestine visits to the "Boom-Boom house," the excitement of R&R, the first time a good buddy got "snuffed," the USO shows, the drunken brawls, home sickness and racism, and the difficult return to civilian life.

The Vietnam vet was the first American in uniform to return home from combat, not to a grateful nation and a hero's welcome, but to harassment, ridicule and open hostility. This book is dedicated to the soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines who answered their country's call, who did what their nation asked of them and did so with courage and dignity. This is their story.

Visit www.TheVietnamIRemember.com for contact details, review copies, photos and author bio

Contact: Steven Curtis, 323-654-4390

SOURCE Steven CurtisABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority welcomed today's announcement on civil aviation in Washington that strongly reaffirmed and maintained all the provisions of the 2002 bilateral Air Transport Agreement between the United Arab Emirates and the United States. The understanding confirmed at a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of both countries reinforced the principles of Open Skies that advance competition and allow airlines to freely add or adjust services to best serve travelers.

Commenting from Washington after his meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan thanked the Secretary for working to achieve understandings on civil aviation and noted: "Aviation is at the center of a UAE-US trade and commercial relationship that generates enormous benefits for both countries. Today's announcement confirms business as usual by validating all of the rights and benefits including 'Fifth Freedom' services -- of the 2002 Air Transport Agreement between the two countries. UAE and US airlines will continue to have complete commercial flexibility to add or adjust service to meet travelers needs."

"We are pleased that the discussions with the US have come to an end. They confirmed what was clear from the very beginning  that the UAE's international airlines have operated in complete compliance with the 2002 Agreement," said UAE Minister of Economy and Chairman of General Civil Aviation Authority His Excellency Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori. "Importantly, there is no freeze on or any change to operating rights. The UAE's international airlines can plan and begin new service, including Fifth Freedom flights, without limits and consistent with the 2002 Agreement."

"UAE airlines are among the world's best. Their success has been achieved through innovation, a differentiated approach to service, and a geographic advantage at the center of the globe's fastest growing demand for air service," continued the Minister. "Our airlines will continue to grow and expand to connect travelers from and to the Middle East with the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and beyond."

UAE airlines currently serve 12 US gateways with 131 flights a week. These flights generate tens of billions of dollars into the US and UAE economies, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs in both countries. The US has a $15 billion trade surplus with the UAE, largely driven by sales of Boeing aircraft with GE engines to UAE airlines, and the UAE also invests hundreds of billions of dollars into the US.

For media inquiries, please contact the embassy at: [email protected]

SOURCE Embassy of the United Arab Emirates

Related Links

http://www.uae-embassy.org

NEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Catalyst program to showcase how Orange enhanced their customer service experience through intelligent robots.

In the upcoming Digital Transformation World (formerly, TM Forum Live!) at Nice, France, Prodapt is leading a catalyst program to showcase how robotic process automation (RPA) can be leveraged in conjunction with other smart technologies to provide 24*7 proactive and personalized customer experience to subscribers and significantly improve customer satisfaction. The catalyst will be demonstrated through the event days, i.e. May 14 - 16, 2018, in the specially created catalyst zone.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/682943/Prodapt_Logo.jpg )



In this initiative, Prodapt is collaborating with Orange, awareX, re:infer, incognito and Blue Prism to demonstrate how RPA can be leveraged to create a solution that will reduce the number of customers visiting the Orange stores with a non-faulty device by up to 60%. The solution includes an omnichannel approach that enables the customers to use their preferred medium of communication to contact Orange. Prodapt's RPA framework, Telebots[TM] will then handle the complaints and decipher the message through AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) and finally offer in-home diagnostics.

Orange is championing this catalyst program by presenting a real-world use case that demonstrates how RPA can create intelligent robots, Chatbots or a smart device that will provide end-to-end customer service with zero manual intervention.

"This catalyst program is an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate how RPA can revolutionize the telecom industry by automating mundane tasks, resulting in huge savings of manual hours," said Pradeep Balakrishnan, Director of Robotics and Automation, Prodapt. "We have a great team, with Orange as champion and awareX, re:infer, incognito and Blue Prism with their extensive expertise in their respective domains. The goal of the program is to demonstrate the different layers of this innovative solution that addresses customer issues quickly and effectively. This catalyst has a potential to deliver an estimated 40 million euros in savings for Orange France BU, while increasing the NPS by 10 to 15%."

There will also be a catalyst theatre session on 15th May between 2.30PM and 03.00PM, co-hosted by Pradeep Balakrishnan, Director of Robotics and Automation, Prodapt, and Arnold Buddenberg, Enterprise Digital Business & IT Transformation Architect, Orange Service Labs.

For more information visit: http://www.prodapt.com & http://www.prodapt.com/digital-transformation-world-prodapt/

Contact:

Raghavendra MG

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +91-9677040468

SOURCE Prodapt SolutionsTobiuo Sushi & Bar will provide a unique, world-class dining experience the Houston area has never seen. Tobiuo features a sushi bar, full bar, a community table, seating and a VIP room that seats 20 with a projector for those business meetings in Katy. "Presentation is everything," says Chef Mike Lim, who is the head Chef of Tobiuo and brings 17 years of industry experience including an apprenticeship under Iron Chef Morimoto in the esteemed restaurant Morimoto Napa. Chef Lim has a passion for using the finest ingredients from all over the globe to deliver creative, high-quality sushi that is innovative but true to its roots. Tobiuo's menu features beef from a local Texas farm, fresh, wild-caught fish flown in daily from Japan, Spain, and Scotland, which the fish is aged in-house by Chef Lim who also imports salts and spices from Sri Lanka, Egypt, Spain, India, Thailand, and more. Chef Lim has even taught his staff a unique process to grow microgreens fresh on site. It is no surprise the same great passion and quality continues with the drink menu, providing a selection of 50+ wines from around the world, sake that is kept cold and flown in from Japan and cocktails hand-crafted with syrups created in-house.

Tobiuo will be the only sushi bar in the area to feature uni flights and omakase, a Japanese delicacy that will offer a different experience every time it is ordered. Chef Lim describes his philosophy, "we want to educate our patrons about how important the products are. It's all about the quality, the passion, and the love."

After a successful "soft open" on April 19th, Tobiuo Sushi & Bar is thrilled to host an all-day Grand Opening Celebration Event on Friday, May 18th featuring giveaways, half-priced mixed drinks, Japanese traditional sake breaking ceremony and more for the whole family. Discover Tobiuo Sushi & Bar today.

For more information about Tobiuo Sushi & bar please visit http://tobiuosushibar.com

SOURCE Tobiuo Sushi & Bar

Related Links

http://tobiuosushibar.com

PITTSBURGH, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Society is coming to Erie June 1 for its 120th annual meeting and luncheon  where Erie's own Thomas B. Hagen will be presented the Society's prestigious Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth award.

"All in Erie are encouraged to join us for lunch to celebrate and honor Tom Hagen, who has done so much to celebrate and honor Erie, and all of Pennsylvania," said Pennsylvania Society President Roger W. Richards, also of Erie.

Registration for the Erie Bayfront Convention Center luncheon, which begins with an 11:30 am reception, is available online through The Pennsylvania Society website.

Hagen is Chairman of the Board of the ERIE INSURANCE GROUP companies, where he began as a part-time file clerk in 1953, retiring 40 years later as its CEO. Erie Insurance is the only Fortune 500 business headquartered in Erie. Hagen also is Chairman of the Board of CUSTOM GROUP INDUSTRIES. He has built and led numerous businesses and business associations throughout his storied career.

Hagen also has been a public servant, serving as Pennsylvania's 28th (and last) Secretary of Commerce, and its first Secretary of Community and Economic Development, both Cabinet positions in the Administration of former Gov. Tom Ridge.

And Hagen remains a tireless community and cultural and philanthropic leader in Erie, where he was raised and still resides, and across the Commonwealth.

Hagen is a retired U.S. Navy Captain. He and his late wife Susan Hirt Hagen  herself a previous recipient of The Pennsylvania Society's Distinguished Citizen Award - have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Still thriving in its third century of existence, The Pennsylvania Society exists to honor achievement, to reward excellence, to promote good will and understanding, and to celebrate service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to humanity in general. Known for its flagship annual December event in New York City, The Pennsylvania Society is the oldest organization of its kind in the country.

The Society bestows its Distinguished Citizen Award periodically. Previous winners include Princess Grace of Monaco, Sister Mary Scullion and last year's recipient, Pittsburgh Pirates owner Robert Nutting.

SOURCE The Pennsylvania Society

Related Links

http://www.pasociety.com/

NICE, France, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Torry Harris Business Solutions (THBS), a global leader in integration, full life-cycle API management and digital transformation, announced the launch of its revolutionary toolkit 'DigitMarket' for digital enablement of platform partners, at TM Forum's Digital Transformation World event, 2018.

DigitMarket - a multi-vendor marketplace framework offered by THBS is a suite of products and services that allow businesses to quickly expose their assets, inventory, availability of time or services through an API framework that allows real-time integration. It is the only toolkit that allows an enterprise to distribute tools, to foster a platform economy. It allows white-labelling of the tools, thereby helping make DigitMarket their branded offering.

The DigitMarket toolkit is a highly customizable solution that allows an enterprise to:

Digitalize their business providers through a branded platform offering Provide their internal capabilities for consumption to a multitude of business providers and their end-consumers Provide tools for automated access, content curation etc. for the platform participants

Torry Harris' focus has been to foster B2B2C integration by helping enterprises digitize themselves and their customers through downloadable products and services. The company is implementing successful API based transformation programs in leading CSPs and traditional brick and mortar companies. For over two decades, the company is recognized by analysts and clients for specialist solutions that advocate the use of "meaningful integration" to go digital.

More information at https://www.thbs.com & https://digitmarket.com

About THBS:

Torry Harris Business Solutions (THBS) is a multinational provider of business, technology and IT consulting services. It specializes in the areas of Full life-cycle API Management, IoT Integration Solutions and SOA/API-based Digital Transformation Services. THBS is a CMMI level 3 certified company and its security management system is ISO 27001 certified. The company has its offshore development centres in Bangalore & Gurgaon (India). It has offices in Bristol (UK), New Jersey (USA), Dubai (UAE), Dublin (Ireland), Munich (Germany), Paris (France) and Vienna (Austria).

Products offered by THBS include:

1. API-o-Blocks: A comprehensive full lifecycle API Management product that enables progressive participation in the API economy. http://www.thbs.com/products/api-management-api-o-blocks

2. API Connect: A full-strength API gateway to stagger and police connections. https://apiconnect.io/

3. IoT Glue: A universal remote control to connect the IoT World. A mobile enabled integration framework to glue disparate IoT devices: http://www.thbs.com/products/internet-of-things-iot-glue

Visit http://www.thbs.com to know more about the company, its services & products.

Contacts:

Torry Harris Business Solutions

Diganta Kumar Barooah

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +91-80-41827200



SOURCE Torry Harris Business Solutions (THBS)MINNEAPOLIS, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- When Jacob Pierzyna and Zachary Melin walk with their fellow students at Dunwoody College of Technology on May 17, they will be the first students to graduate in partnership with a new Ardent Mills apprenticeship program. Jacob and Zach will continue working with Ardent Mills until early fall to complete the on-the-job hours required for apprenticeship certificates. Next: they will be ready for their professional milling careers.

According to U.S. Department of Education, people with technical educations are more likely to be employed than their counterparts with academic credentials, and they are significantly more likely to be working in their fields of study. What's more: The two apprentices will enter their careers free of school loans. These "apprenticeship advantages" are part of what motivated Brad Allen, vice president and operations lead, Ardent Mills, and Ted Korolchuk, technical fellow, Ardent Mills, to launch an apprenticeship program at two community mills. Another motivation was the need for skilled millers.

"We worked with Buhler Industries Inc., a company that already had experience starting an apprenticeship with Dunwoody, to adapt their program for our apprentices," explains, Christy Ball, talent and skills development analyst, Ardent Mills. "Jacob and Zach took not-for-credit courses and completed on the job training in flour milling to earn Certificates of Apprenticeship from the Minnesota department of Labor and Industry."

Ardent Mills reached out to area high school guidance counselors and local leaders with the National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, to identify candidates who were bright, eager and ready to "roll up their sleeves." Both Jacob and Zach fit the bill.

"Jacob has been a sponge for knowledge from day one," reports Bobby Blaser, plant manager at Ardent Mills Lake City community mill. "He excels in our world because of his keen analytical sense and strong mechanical aptitude. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching him grow in the team environment as well as sharpen his communication and leadership skills."

Blaser also explains that Ardent Mills' new apprenticeship has provided learning experiences for everyone involved, not just the students. "The apprenticeship program has helped accelerate the growth process for key individuals in our plant," Blaser says. "In turn, this helps to fill a much-needed role through technical knowledge, growth, and aspirational leadership to enable us to reach our goals."

At Ardent Mills Rush City community mill, Zach Melin also gets excellent reviews. "He is driven and eager to learn," says Tyler Adair, head miller. "He got inside our mill and got hands-on learning supported by Dunwoody coursework. Being in a mill is the best way to learn the job. He sought challenges and reached outside his comfort zone."

"Any of our mills will be lucky to have Jacob and Zach on board, and we are hopeful that we can continue this type of partnership to get more people interested in milling jobs," says Ball.

For anyone interested in learning about milling and the Ardent Mills' apprenticeship program, please contact Christy Ball at [email protected].

About Ardent Mills

Ardent Mills is the premier flour-milling and ingredient company whose vision is to be the trusted partner in nurturing its customers, consumers and communities through innovative and nutritious grain-based solutions. Ardent Mills' operations and services are supported by more than 40 flour mills, bakery-mix facilities a specialty bakery, Ardent Mills Innovation Center and Mobile Innovation Center, all located in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Deeply rooted in communities throughout North America, Ardent Mills is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and employs more than 100 certified millers, supporting thousands of local jobs and contributing billions of dollars to local economies. To learn more about Ardent Mills, visit ardentmills.com .

SOURCE Ardent Mills

Related Links

http://www.ardentmills.com

COLUMBIA, Md. and WASHINGTON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Universities Space Research Association's David Kring, working at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, in Houston received the prestigious annual Michael J. Wargo Exploration Award from NASA. This award is given to a scientist or an engineer who has "significantly contributed to the integration of exploration and planetary science throughout their career."

Dr. Nicholas White, USRA's Senior Vice President of Science noted, "We are delighted to see David Kring receive this well-deserved recognition by NASA of his scientific research. David's work in impact cratering processes resulting from the collision of asteroids and comets with planetary surfaces together with his efforts related to the discovery of the Chicxulub impact crater have changed the text books."

The Michael J. Wargo Exploration is among a group of awards  The Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist medal, the Susan Mahan Niebur Award, and the Angioletta Coradini Award  that recognize outstanding achievement in exploration science. Michael J. Wargo (1951-2013) was Chief Exploration Scientist for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and was a strong advocate for the integration of science, engineering, and technology.

The winners of the awards are nominated by their academic peers and are selected by the Director of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI)  an institute that recognizes the integration of exploration and science.

The awards will be presented along with invited lectures from the recipients at the 2018 Exploration Science Forum to be held on June 26-28 at the NASA Research Park at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

About USRA

Founded in 1969, under the auspices of the National Academies of Science, Universities Space Research Association is an independent, nonprofit research corporation which offers an avenue for government and industry to engage the expertise of the academic community together with USRA's own technical leadership, innovative R&D, operational excellence, management of premier facilities and education programs to advance space- and aeronautics-related sciences and exploration. USRA works across disciplines including biomedicine, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and integrates those competencies into applications ranging from fundamental research to facility management and operations to develop and deliver sophisticated, forward-looking solutions to Federal agencies and other government sponsors.

PR Contact:

Suraiya Farukhi

Universities Space Research Association

[email protected]

410-740-6224 (O); 443-812-6945 (Cell)

SOURCE Universities Space Research Association

Related Links

http://www.usra.edu

PHOENIX, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- An insight report commissioned by Best Western Hotels & Resorts and executed by U.S. News & World Report's Marketing and Business Intelligence Teams today revealed key indicators for how travelers choose the best possible loyalty program, as well as what drives them to book with one hotel brand versus another. The results, gathered from nearly 1,400 respondents, were released during Best Western's Leisure Travel Summit in New York City. The study found that for 74 percent of travelers, a brand's loyalty program is the significant factor in determining where they stay. In addition, more than 70 percent of respondents rated Best Western Rewards (BWR) as their preferred loyalty program in the industry, reflecting the unsurpassed value today's BWR offers its loyalty members.

"The results of this study confirm that loyalty programs remain a meaningful, driving factor in customer consideration of hotel brands," said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. "Just as Best Western has grown and evolved to exceed the expectations of today's travelers, so, too has BWR. Today's BWR reflects the voice of our valued customers more than ever, providing industry-leading offerings such as points that never expire, low point redemption thresholds to help our guests earn free room nights faster, and access to discounts, instant rewards, and rich promotions throughout the entire year. BWR continues to reimagine the hotel loyalty landscape, and we keep getting better."

If Points Are Earned, Why Should They Expire?

Travelers polled as part of the study overwhelmingly agreed that the ability to earn points that never expire is a key benefit of a loyalty program, making a significant impact on their booking decisions. Similarly, when asked about the most negative aspect of a loyalty program, nearly one-third of respondents cited expiring points as their single-most frustrating factor. BWR is the only loyalty program in the industry to offer points that never expire, further demonstrating the unrivaled value today's BWR offers its members. In addition, more than half of respondents indicated that they save their points for dream vacations, further underscoring the importance of points not expiring.

Taking Out the Guesswork by Booking Directly

According to travelers polled in this year's study, the ease of booking direct is critical, and the news is good for Best Western Hotels & Resorts in this area. Nearly half of respondents indicated it is easier to book directly with Best Western than any other hotel brand. Many also noted the company's exclusive member rate discount as a top benefit, with respondents ranking Best Western's book-direct member rate as the best in this category relative to its competitors.

Free Nights and Discounts at All Levels

A staggering ninety-eight percent of respondents indicated that they have used earned points to book hotel stays. With one of the lowest point redemption thresholds in the industry, Best Western is enabling its guests to earn free room nights easier and faster. Not only are free room nights more attainable than ever with BWR, but program members can redeem them at any Best Western-branded hotel worldwide, with no blackout dates. To further stack the value and savings, BWR members also have access to some of the industry's richest member rate discounts  a minimum 10 percent discount off the standard room rate. Additionally, free night redemptions count toward reaching elite tiers where members at select elite tiers receive additional perks and benefits, including guaranteed free night availability.

Instant Rewards, Instant Satisfaction

Nearly 90 percent of respondents indicated that receiving instant rewards was a key feature and benefit of the BWR program. As part of the BWR refresh last year, members now receive instant rewards with each and every stay. This popular program feature is yet another way BWR is differentiating itself and adding ease and value to the reward redemption process. Additionally, the Status MatchNo Catch program streamlines the enrollment process by allowing members to have their status with other hotel loyalty programs instantly matched.

Importance of a Brand You Can Trust

Amidst today's increasingly competitive hotel landscape, travelers are simplifying and channeling their loyalty, relying on fewer programs for their booking needs. This trend further amplifies the importance of brand trust and reputation. Forty-one percent of study respondents indicated that customer loyalty is bolstered by delivering successful guest experiences with each stay. Another 20 percent of respondents pointed to having hotels in locations where they travel as an important factor influencing loyalty. Brand trust and location topped all other factors affecting loyalty, including points earning potential. With a growing portfolio of hotels across the globe to meet the needs of guests in every market, high levels of guest satisfaction, and more than 72 years as a hospitality leader, Best Western Hotels & Resorts has consistently been a key player in the loyalty space.

"The quest for customer insights has always been a focal point for Best Western, and the desire to keep our finger on the pulse of what travelers are looking for is in our DNA," said Dowling. "Our co-branded study with U.S. News & World Report has provided invaluable information which we will use to further enhance and refine our offerings. Best Western will continue to seek out opportunities to understand and meet the needs of our customers at every point in their journey and to maintain our position as a loyalty leader and innovator."

This year marks the second year Best Western Hotels & Resorts has worked with U.S. News & World to obtain actionable insights from travelers about loyalty programs in general as well as specific information related to BWR, including desirable program features, consumer preferences and potential enhancement areas. Last year, Best Western Hotels & Resorts launched a refresh of BWR as part of the iconic brand's continued transformation, making today's BWR one of the richest rewards programs in the industry.

"The top hotel loyalty programs make it easy for customers to understand the many dimensions of their loyalty programs, including promotions, unique perks and how easily they can reach the next status level," said Jada A. Graves, managing editor of BrandFuse at U.S. News & World Report. "The results of this survey demonstrate that travelers continue to want tangible benefits in return for their loyalty. It's encouraging that companies like Best Western are working to find new ways to appeal to today's customers."

A full report, "What Comes With Loyalty," is available today at mediakit.usnews.com/insights.

For more information on Best Western Rewards please visit www.bestwesternrewards.com.

About Best Western Hotels & Resorts:

Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,200* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers 11 hotel brands to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market: Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier, Vib, GLo, Executive Residency by Best Western, BW Premier CollectionSM by Best Western, and BW Signature CollectionSM by Best Western; as well as its recently launched franchise offerings: SureStay Hotel by Best Western, SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western and SureStay Collection by Best Western. Now celebrating more than 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and award-winning online and mobile booking capabilities. Best Western continues to set industry records regarding awards and accolades, including 64 percent of the brand's North American hotels earning a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award in 2017, Business Travel News ranking Best Western Plus and Best Western number one in upper-mid-price and mid-price hotel brands, and Best Western receiving seven consecutive Dynatrace Best of the Web awards for its leading hotel website. Best Western has also won nine consecutive AAA/CAA Lodging Partner of the Year awards, recognizing the brand's commitment to providing exceptional service and great value to AAA/CAA's nearly 58 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Best Western-branded hotels were top ranked in J.D. Power's 2017 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study  ranking first in breakfast (food and beverage category) for midscale; and second in overall guest satisfaction. Over 32 million travelers are members of the brand's award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards, one of the few programs in which members earn points that never expire and can be redeemed at any Best Western hotel worldwide. Best Western's partnerships with AAA/CAA and Harley-Davidson provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Through its partnership with Google Street View, Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch a virtual reality experience for customers, setting a new industry standard and reinventing how guests view hotels.

* All Best Western and SureStay-branded hotels are independently owned and operated.

* Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.

About U.S. News and World Report

U.S. News & World Report is a digital news and information company that empowers people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. Focusing on Education, Health, Personal Finance, Travel, Cars and News, USNews.com provides consumer advice, rankings, news and analysis to serve people making complex decisions throughout all stages of life. More than 37 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE Best Western Hotels & ResortsNEW YORK, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WeissLaw LLP, a national class action, shareholder rights law firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, announces an investigation of PPG Industries, Inc. (the "Company" or "PPG") (NYSE: PPG). The investigation focuses on possible breaches of fiduciary duty and violations of federal securities laws.

On May 10, 2018, after the market closed, the Company announced that its Audit Committee found evidence of "improper accounting entries" in its investigation into allegations of violations of the Company's accounting policies. This announcement followed PPG's April 19 disclosure that its internal reporting system identified several million dollars of improperly accrued expenses in the first quarter of 2018. As result, the Company reported that it would be delaying its financial statement for the period ending March 31, 2018. On that news, PPG shares traded for as low as $100.43, approximately 6% less than its May 10 opening price of $107.26.

WeissLaw is investigating whether PPG's Board (1) failed to meet the recordkeeping requirements and accounting provisions established by federal securities laws; (2) failed to establish and/or maintain comprehensive internal controls to safeguard against financial reporting errors; and consequently, (3) reported materially false and misleading public statements. If you own PPG shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact Joshua Rubin of WeissLaw LLP at (888)593-4771, or by e-mail at [email protected].

WeissLaw LLP has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at [email protected] or fill out the form on our website, http://www.weisslawllp.com/ppg-industries-inc/

SOURCE WeissLaw LLP

Related Links

http://weisslawllp.com

WEST COVINA, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UEI College, national provider of career training, opened a new campus in West Covina, Calif., located at 339 N. Azusa Ave. The campus was relocated from its previous location in El Monte, Calif., to provide students with more space and amenities, as well as improved access to public transportation. West Covina was selected as the campus' new home because of the city's convenient location near the 10 freeway and the 280 Foothill Transit line. The campus is located in the West Covina Village Shopping Center, next to Stater Brothers.

Campus in West Covina

The opening of the West Covina campus continues UEI's mission of improving lives and communities by making hands-on education in in-demand careers available to students who might not otherwise have access to it because of location or because they don't have the scheduling flexibility or financial resources to attend community college. UEI College  West Covina students can get career training in the following programs: Automotive Technician, Business Office Administration; Computer Systems Technician; Criminal Justice; Dental Assistant; Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning; Medical Assistant; Medical Billing and Insurance Coding; Pharmacy Technician. UEI students can earn a diploma and be ready for entry-level employment in as few as 10 months for select programs.

"We want to help them create a future they can be proud of," said Fardad Fateri, CEO of International Education Corporation (IEC), UEI's parent company. "We have many students who are working hard to improve their lives and train for a new career. We know how that journey can empower students to build a better future for themselves as well as their family and their communities. We're not just about training for a career. We truly believe that we can change entire communities over time by providing a meaningful education that transcends career training."

UEI College  West Covina is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuous Education and Training (ACCET).

For more information about programs offered at UEI College or to enroll call 1-866-566-9295 or visit http://www.uei.edu.

About UEI College: Headquartered in Irvine, California, IEC is a premier national provider of postsecondary career education offering top-quality programs in high-demand verticals such as healthcare, business, technology, transportation and criminal justice. IEC is the parent company of UEI College, United Education Institute, Florida Career College and US Colleges.

CONTACT:

Cori Blas

International Education Corporation

949-812-7710

[email protected]

SOURCE International Education Corporation

Related Links

https://www.uei.edu

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 15, White Castle invites Cravers to celebrate National Slider Day in restaurants and grocery aisles across the country. As the holiday's official sponsor, White Castle expects to give away thousands of free sliders in nearly 400 restaurants throughout the day. Cravers far and wide can also celebrate with a new line of microwaveable breakfast and veggie sliders, now available in frozen food aisles nationwide.

White Castles new breakfast and vegan-friendly retail sliders add to a full line-up of microwaveable sliders, enjoyed in minutes. The newest breakfast options include four-packs of the Turkey Sausage, Egg White & Asiago Sliders featuring turkey patties from Butterball; the Sausage, Egg and Ghost Pepper Cheese Sliders; and the Chorizo, Egg and Smoked Gouda Sliders. Cravers can also enjoy White Castles popular vegetarian menu items at home with the addition of the four-pack Veggie Sliders and Black Bean Sliders to frozen food aisles, featuring Dr. Praeger's slider patties.

"We created National Slider Day as an annual celebration for The Original Slider and the loyal Cravers who have spent their time with us over the past 97 years," said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. "In addition to deals for our fans, we're taking it up a notch this year by increasing availability and variety for hungry fans all over to meet their Cravings any time of day."

Cravers can join the celebrations with friends and family though coupons distributed on National Slider Day. An exclusive in-restaurant offer for any free slider (excludes doubles and waffle sliders) and a small Coca-Cola Freestyle beverage will be shared via email and social media. Cravers visiting restaurants will be able to give back with the purchase of White Castle scented candle for $10, while supplies last, with 100% of the net proceeds going to Autism Speaks. A special coupon for email subscribers on May 15 will grant $1.00 off any four-pack or larger of frozen sliders in grocery aisles.

White Castle's new breakfast and vegan-friendly retail sliders add to a full line-up of microwaveable sliders, enjoyed in minutes. The newest breakfast options include four-packs of the Turkey Sausage, Egg White & Asiago Sliders featuring turkey patties from Butterball; the Sausage, Egg and Ghost Pepper Cheese Sliders; and the Chorizo, Egg and Smoked Gouda Sliders. Cravers can also enjoy White Castle's popular vegetarian menu items at home with the addition of the four-pack Veggie Sliders and Black Bean Sliders to frozen food aisles, featuring Dr. Praeger's slider patties.

In 1987, White Castle first launched its frozen Slider products, becoming the first fast-food restaurant to offer its menu items for preparation at home and allowing every home to become a Castle. Recently, the chain announced the expansion of its popular retail cheeseburger sliders into Walmart grocery stores across Canada.

"We pride ourselves in the variety of menu options our Cravers have to choose from, and we're always looking for new ways to reach more hungry fans," said Richardson. "We're really excited to further meet our customers anytime and anywhere with our new retail options and we hope everyone will have the opportunity to bite into a slider on National Slider Day."

For more information, or to find a restaurant or retail location near you, visit http://www.whitecastle.com.

About White Castle

White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain based in Columbus, Ohio, has been making Bold Moves as a family-owned business for more than 97 years. The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921 serving The Original Slider which was named the most influential burger of all time in 2014 by Time. Today White Castle owns and operates nearly 400 restaurants in 13 states. All White Castle Sliders are made from 100 percent USDA inspected beef. White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants and bakeries as well as three frozen food processing plants. The retail division markets White Castle signature products in grocery, club stores, convenience stores, vending operations and concessions across the United States and in a growing number of international locations, including military base exchanges around the world.

Cravers on-the-go can access sweet deals and place a pick-up order any time in the official White Castle app. Download the app today from the iTunes App Store or Google Play. For more information on White Castle visit www.whitecastle.com.

SOURCE White Castle

Related Links

http://www.whitecastle.com

MCLEAN, Va., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WidePoint Corporation (NYSE American: WYY), provider of Trusted Mobility Management (TM2) specializing in Telecommunications Lifecycle Management (TLM), Identity Management, and Bill Presentment & Analytics (BP&A) solutions, today announced that Mr. Jin Kang, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Kito Mussa, Chief Financial Officer of WidePoint Corporation will participate in B. Riley FBR's 19th Annual Institutional Investor Conference on Wednesday, May 23. Management is scheduled to present at 2:30 P.M. Pacific Time in conference room Arcadia E and will host one-on-one meetings the same day.

The conference will be held at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica, California, May 23-24, 2018. For those interested in attending, please contact your B. Riley FBR institutional sales person or [email protected] for more information.

A live webcast of the group presentation will be available on the WidePoint Investor Relations section of www.widepoint.com. This webcast will be archived for 90 days following the live presentations.

About B. Riley FBR, Inc.

B. Riley FBR, Inc. is a leading investment bank which provides corporate finance, research and sales and trading to corporate, institutional and high net worth individual clients. Investment banking services include initial secondary and follow-on offerings, institutional private placements and merger and acquisitions advisory services. The firm is nationally recognized for its highly ranked proprietary equity research.

About WidePoint

WidePoint Corporation (NYSE American: WYY) is a leading provider of technology-based management solutions including telecom management, mobile management, access management and identity management. For more information, visit www.widepoint.com

For More Information:

Kim Rogers or Dave Fore

Hayden IR

(646) 419-4300

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE WidePoint Corporation

Related Links

http://www.widepoint.com

ANTIOCH, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- XO Festival in Antioch, California has all the ingredients and more of an amazing summer festival. Whether it's the first day of school, the new kid on the playground, or starting a new job, being the new kid on the block definitely has its challenges. It's all about fitting in. That same rule applies for new festivals. Making sure you have the right music lineup, best sound and light set up, unique design theme, and cool activities so fans from all over feel excited and want to go. Northern California hosts a handful of music festivals. It was really easy for XO Festival to get lots of attention early on as most of the performers are very well-known celebrities and in some eyes Icons.

XO Music Festival - Antioch, California July 13th - 15th 2018 XO Music Festival - July 13th - 15th 2018 - Antioch, California - XO Festival Carnival Rides

This year, XO Music Festival is labeled "best music festival in Northern California." The nomination is obtained by public preference as well as industry professionals.

XO Music Festival is expecting more than 30,000 fans and 150+ performances spread over 8 stages during the 3 days. A spokesperson for XO Festival said that they have taken over the entire fairgrounds and its surrounding areas, including the race track, ball fields and more. The event seeks to always have the best line-up, made up of the best performers. The 8 stages of XO Music Festival promise to be different, decked out with mind bending lighting and sound. It truly is all about the experience. Along with the state of the art sound, light and stage designs XO Music Festival will have large scale interactive experience areas, comedy stage, culinary stage, delicious food, celebs and a number of original, large-scale, site-specific art installations displayed throughout the festival. The fun and well-planned areas are the highlight of XO Music Festival. It's non-stop all weekend long.

The XO Music Festival brand is proud to call Antioch its home for the next several years. Many people have questioned why Antioch? The team over at XO Festival were kind enough to answer. "Why not, Antioch is a great city full of support and love. Many well-known festivals are held in small towns across the united states like this one. Antioch has given us the honor to produce our wonderful brand XO Music Festival this summer." Oh, what a great summer this will be! Antioch does love XO Music Festival.

See you all this summer at the Bay Area's hottest music festival.

XO Music Festival July 13th  15th 2018 Contra Costa County Fairgrounds

XOmusicfestival.com

Media Contact:

Rob Hardy

[email protected]

925-300-2222

SOURCE XO Festival

Related Links

http://www.xomusicfestival.com

Under the tagline of "Chinese Brand, Made-in-Zhejiang, Sharing with the World", Zhejiang-based exhibitors highlighted their progress in brand awareness, development of proprietary brands as well as the potential for innovation among the province's small and medium-sized firms.

During the three-day event, the exhibitors, with a large number among them engaged in digital information, equipment manufacturing and cultural creativity, showcased a series of cutting-edge, high-tech products including smart robots, fog screen projection and face recognition technology, via demonstrations, interactive games and VR videos, demonstrating the quality and innovation behind the designation "Made-in-Zhejiang".

Some of the event's leading exhibitors included:

China's largest mobile commerce platforms, Alibaba Group-owned Taobao.com and Tmall, the country's largest B2C e-commerce platform , which showcased the Tmall digital screen "Magic Mirror" that lets shoppers try on things like sunglasses, cosmetics and apparel virtually, attracting a large number of visitors to stop by and have a try;

largest mobile commerce platforms, and Tmall, the country's largest B2C e-commerce platform , which showcased the Tmall digital screen "Magic Mirror" that lets shoppers try on things like sunglasses, cosmetics and apparel virtually, attracting a large number of visitors to stop by and have a try; Dahua Technology, a leading global provider of video-centric smart IoT solutions and services;

SUPCON, a Chinese leader in industrial control systems and the number one brand in the distributed control system (DCS) market for six consecutive years;

Transfar Group, a diversified modern conglomerate with extensive holdings in raw materials operations, manufacturing and services, with five divisions: Transfar Chemical, Transfar Logistics, Transfar Agriculture, Xiaoshan Innovation Polis and Transfar Holdings;

Hailiang Group, an inter-disciplinary, cross-regional, international firm with 29 years of experience and operations in nonferrous metal trade, real estate, agricultural products , environmental protection, basic education, and other industries ; and

, ; and NetEase whose strict selection model has reshaped the quality and service standards of e-commerce, providing a reliable shopping experience and high-quality goods for consumers and representing the future development trends of e-commerce in the new era.

The branding efforts among Zhenjiang's manufacturers, developers and service providers have not only enhanced the visibility of its brands across China, but also facilitated their international expansion. The "Made in Zhejiang" International Certification Network provides a widely recognized certificate of quality to Zhejiang-based companies doing businesses in China and abroad, helping to reduce their costs. Among the province's milestones:

Geely Holding Group, whose brands include Volvo, Geely, Lynk & Co and Polestar, is on track to produce and sell 3 million vehicles and to be among the top 10 auto makers worldwide by 2020;

Hikvision, a global leader in digital, networked and HD intelligent video surveillance solutions, topped A&S magazine's "Security 50" list in 2016 and 2017;

Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical is the first Chinese drug maker to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and an FDA-issued Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) number. It is also the first Chinese pharmaceutical company to market preparations on a large scale in the United States , having gained a good reputation worldwide in the high-end pharmaceutical market.

The key to winning in future competition lies not in product, but in brand and reputation. Zhejiang province will continue to build on its model for innovation-based development, comprehensively implement strategies based on standardization across all sectors, strengthen "Made-in-Zhejiang" branding, take targeted measures to continue developing home-grown brands, and facilitate the fast growth of innovative SMEs.

SOURCE The Development and Reform Commission of Zhejiang ProvinceHAIFA, Israel, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (IL0065100443, IL0065100856) (the "Company") hereby notifies, in accordance with the provisions of Section 4.03 of an Indenture entered into between the Company and Hermetic Trust (1975) Ltd. on July 16, 2014 (the "Indenture"), of the following changes:

After 11 years with the Company, Yohai Benita has completed his position at ZIM. Over the last 12 months, Yohai has served as Acting CFO after successfully managing the Global Budget Division. The Company's Board of Directors has appointed Xavier Destriau as the new CFO effective as of June 15, 2018.

Xavier Destriau has worked at CMA CGM for 10 years and has served as Vice President - Head of Group Financing from 2014 to 2016. During this period, he focused on managing the consolidated group debt and developing a diversified financing strategy with a strong Asian focus.

Xavier will be joining the Company after two years as Strategic Advisor to Founder and Interim CFO of LTF Partners, an exclusive advisory firm with special expertise in emerging and frontier markets. Prior to LTF Partners, Xavier served as Financial Planning and Analysis Manager for Europe at HONEYWELL Inc. with global sales of $35 billion. Xavier holds an MBA degree from EM Lyon Business School and an Engineering degree from CPE Lyon.

Eli Glickman, the Company's CEO, commented on the change: "I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to Yohai. Through recent challenging business periods, Yohai contributed to the Company's stability and played a crucial role in the financial restructuring. I would like to thank Yohai for his dedication over the years and wish him good luck in his future endeavors. I welcome Xavier to ZIM and wish him success in this challenging position".

Contact:

Avner Shats

[email protected]

+972-52-6002520

SOURCE ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.zim.com

FRASER, Mich., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- zipLogix, the industry leader in transaction management software and creators of zipForm, announced today its attendance at the 2018 REALTORS Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo, May 16-17 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.

zipLogix continues to enhance its real estate transaction management solutions to streamline the transaction process from listing to closing. This includes recent enhancements to favorites zipForm Plus, zipTMS and zipVault, which are all part of the National Association of REALTORS(R) Transaction Management Benefit suite of tools that help real estate professionals close more deals faster.

"Our focus with industry events like this is to capitalize on the opportunity to discuss innovative ideas with others in the industry in person and gain valuable feedback on how our products can best serve them. Continually providing technology that puts real estate professionals at the top of their game is why we exist," said zipLogix CEO Scott Strong.

Stop by and see the zipLogix team on Wednesday, May 16, and Thursday, May 17 at booth 1722 in Exhibit Hall A at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, where visitors can take a test drive of new and existing products and have questions answered by the team.

To discuss the industry-leading technology solutions provided by zipLogix, please contact the zipLogix sales team at 866-400-0261. For more information, visit www.ziplogix.com.

Fraser, Mich.-based zipLogix, creators of zipForm, is a technology company created by and owned by REALTOR Associations, working to improve productivity and efficiency industry wide. Its transaction management software, which includes zipForm Plus, zipTMS and zipVault, automates and simplifies the repetitive and complex steps of real estate transactions. zipLogix is also the provider of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) Transaction Management Benefit, available to more than 1.3 million REALTORS nationwide.

SOURCE zipLogix

Related Links

http://www.ziplogix.com

One of Sydneys most exciting and iconic retailers has bid farewell to the once thriving fashion destination of Surry Hills as the suburb continues its transformation to a food destination.

Gunning leasing agents, Anthony Tsapicounis and Alberto Da Grava said the iconic retailer Wheels & Doll Baby called it quits after 30 years in the prominent location of 259 Crown Street, Surry Hills.

A combination of factors has contributed to the change in focus for the area, they said.





Surry Hills has seen a shift from what once was a working class industrial suburb, into a technology and media hub, with specialist food precincts attracting a diverse mix of people.

The gentrification of the inner city has changed consumers needs and wants. Fashion retailers and in particular the on-street boutique retailers have been severely impacted by the rise of online shopping as well as the renovation of Pitt Street Mall and Bondi Junction.

A new 5 x 5 lease to a superfood cafe chain at a gross rental of $1,000 sqm at 259 Crown Street, Surry Hills cements this trend, they said.The prestige property sector is currently outperforming the remainder of Perths property market, according to the valuation firm, Herron Todd White.

After years of soft market conditions due to a total lack of market con dence, a rebound has nally begun in the desirable western suburbs of Perth, the CBD fringe area and desirable coastal localities.

The substantial price contraction over the past 3 years has brought many properties to represent apparent good buying, resulting in todays increasing market activity it noted.

In the second half of 2017, upgraders started to gain the required level of confidence to secure homes in areas they never thought they could afford.

The period of opportunity and/or fear of missing out has been identified by a large group of upgraders within a relatively short period of time, causing a substantial uplift in demand which has eventually affected property prices.

Many sought after areas are recovering while several suburbs have exceeded house value medians witnessed back in 2013 and 2014 when Perth enjoyed stronger conditions.

North Beach and Applecross are two of the top performing suburbs in todays market with a 25.00% uplift in median value for both suburbs over the

last year, according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australias studies.

The current median prices re ect a 15.8% improvement in values in North Beach and 9.8% in Applecross, since 2014.

Supply of quality housing in prestige areas is well below current demand levels, which is also contributing to the improved prices.

Sales volumes are therefore relatively low somewhat restricting the market in several prestige areas, the latest HTW report advised.

Prices appear to still be on the rise, enquiries are increasing and the overall prestige market is expected to continue in this direction throughout 2018.GUEST OBSERVATION

More than half a century has passed since high-speed rail (HSR) effectively began operating, in Japan in 1964, and it has been mooted for Australia since 1984. I estimate that the cost of all HSR studies by the private and public sectors in Australia exceeds $125 million, in todays dollars. But the federal government is now less interested in high-speed rail (now defined as electric trains operating on steel rails at maximum speeds of above 250km per hour), and instead favours faster rail or medium-speed rail.

The 2017 federal budget provided $20 billion over the next 10 years for rail, with more allocated in the 2018 budget. It is now time for Australia to commit to medium-speed rail (trains operating on new or existing tracks at speeds of between 160km and 250km/h).

Indeed, three states have made progress in developing trains at 160km/h, with Victoria leading the way. New South Wales has failed to keep up with these states.

What happened to high-speed rail in Australia?

The first high-speed rail system dates back to 1964 when the Tokaido Shinkansen started operating between Tokyo and Osaka. At first, it took four hours to travel 515 kilometres; now some trains take two-and-a-half hours. Japans system has an impeccable safety record and the network extends for over 3,000km.

Courtesy of Railway Digest (ARHS/NSW) June 2004, Author provided

France was next in 1981 with its TGV trains. In 1984, high-speed rail was first proposed for Australia. This was the CSIROs Very Fast Train proposal to link Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne using TGV trains.

At all levels, government was not supportive. The private sector, after a series of studies, found it was viable and could work with different taxation arrangements. This was not forthcoming and work stopped in 1991.

Courtesy of Railway Digest (ARHS/NSW), Author provided

A more modest proposal, called Speedrail, to connect Sydney and Canberra was proposed in the mid-1990s. With some federal government encouragement, it was studied, with detailed design. It was costed at about $4.5 billion, with finance arranged for some $3.5 billion. The Howard government would not fund the balance and commissioned yet another HSR study.

More studies have followed. One study in 2013 put a price tag of $23 billion on a Sydney-Canberra line involving much tunnelling in Sydney. This was part of a 1,750km high-speed rail corridor linking Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The total estimated cost was A$114 billion.

Despite many studies recommending the need to identify and protect a corridor for a future high-speed rail network, government has failed to reserve any land corridors (with the exception of part of a future Melbourne outer metropolitan ring road).

What about the alternatives?

Many countries do not have high-speed rail, but have medium-speed rail (MSR) instead. These countries include Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Canada.

QRtrains/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Three Australian states have trains operating at 160km/h. These are Queensland, starting in 1998 with its Electric Tilt Train service between Brisbane and Rockhampton, Victoria, with its Regional Fast Rail project using V/Locity diesel multiple units, and Western Australia, with the Prospector train.

Victorias service originated in 1999 when the then Labor opposition promised a new deal for regional Victoria, which included new trains and upgraded tracks on four lines to Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Gippsland. The ALP won government that year. By 2006 the track upgrades were delivered along with new trains made in Victoria.

People liked the faster trains. Patronage went up by more than 15% in each of the first three years of operation. More trains were ordered and further major track upgrades followed.

Victoria was assisted by $3 billion in federal funding for a Regional Rail Link program. This was to provide new intercity tracks in Melbourne so suburban trains did not slow down regional trains.

Due to good ongoing planning attracting more federal funding, further track upgrades are under way. The 2017 Victorian Infrastructure Plan outlines priorities and funding for projects over the next five years, with longer-term policy directions.

So whats going on in NSW?

Questions are now being asked as to why Victoria and WA are doing do well with federal funding for passenger rail at the expense of NSW.

The rail situation in Australias most populated state is not good for its regions. By far the most NSW government attention and funding has gone into the Greater Sydney region.

Between the 2011 and the 2016 Censuses, Greater Sydneys population (including Gosford) grew some 10% from 4.39 to 4.82 million. Rail patronage on the Sydney and intercity network had even stronger growth of some 15% from 2011 to 2016.

To try to cope with this increasing demand for rail a new Metro section is due to be completed in 2019. Light rail is also being introduced in Sydney, Newcastle and Parramatta.

Sydney continues to have serious road traffic problems, which are unlikely to be solved by WestConnex Stages 1 and 2 that are now under construction. The proposed Stage 3 received over 7,000 objections, including a sensible alternative proposal by the City of Sydney, but the NSW government has approved Stage 3 and even more motorways. This is despite overseas experience for cities the size of Sydney pointing to the best solution being a much-improved rail system with road congestion pricing.

Regional NSW is also growing in population, albeit not as quickly as Sydney. In spring 2017, Transport for NSW released a draft regional servicea and infrastructure plan not for the next five years, but out to 2056. However, these plans were very vague as to what may be delivered in the next five or even ten years.

The plans also omitted earlier Infrastructure NSW goals for Sydney-Gosford and Sydney-Wollongong trains to take one hours (instead of one-and-a-half) and Sydney-Newcastle trains to take two hours. In addition, there are calls for more and faster trains linking to each of Goulburn/Canberra and the Central West of NSW.

Clearly, NSW is facing major transport challenges to overcome rail infrastructure backlogs and meet the needs of a growing population.

The state government is getting new intercity electric trains and has committed to buying new regional trains. But its yet to commit to track upgrades to help the new trains go faster than the present slow ones.

The NSW ALP opposition is also yet to present detailed policies of how it would meet the transport challenges in Sydney and in regional NSW.

The people of NSW must hope the state budget due June 19 and the opposition leaders reply will address these issues.

Philip Laird, Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Wollongong

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.The ABC 4 Corners journalist Michael Brissenden - who last year televised a report on Australia's debt fuelled housing boom suggesting it could come to a crashing end - bought an inner Sydney terrace at weekend auction.

But with the boom tailing off, the Newtown home cost $1,675,000, just $10,000 above its official reserve.

Three of the five registered bidders participated at the onsite auction which had come with a $1,475,000 buyers guide.

Brissenden, who The Sunday Telegraph reported opened the bidding at $1.4 million, has been Canberra based during which he'd previously been the 7.30 political editor, host of AM, defence correspondent and an overseas correspondent.

The single storey, three bedroom terrace had last traded at $880,000 in 2010, almost doubling in price over the intervening eight years.

It sold at $51,000 in 1984.

Brissenden's influential 4 Corners report, Betting on The House contributed to the public debate that led to the finance industry royal commission.20:32

Reversing the declining trend of three months, retail inflation inched up to 4.58 per cent in April and may prompt the Reserve Bank to harden stance at the monetary policy review next month.



The Wholesale Price Index based inflation too rose to 3.18 per cent in April mainly on account of spike in fuel prices, as per inflation data released by the government.



The hardening of inflation, both retail and wholesale, comes weeks ahead of RBI's Monetary Policy Committee meet on June 4 and 5. Retail inflation, based on movement in Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose after declining since January on account of rise in prices of cereals, meat, fish and fruits.



As per the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, retail inflation was 4.28 per cent in March and 2.99 per cent in April last year.



A key data factored in by RBI while deciding on the policy interest rate, retail inflation has consistently remained above the central bank's comfort level of 4 per cent since November 2017.



In its first monetary policy review for the fiscal last month, RBI maintained status quo on interest rate citing inflationary concerns.



At the April 4-5 MPC meeting, Deputy Governor Viral Acharya had cited revival in investment activity and an improvement in capacity utilisation for his switch from a neutral stance to shift 'decisively to vote for a beginning of withdrawal of accommodation in the next monetary policy meeting in June'.



A majority of the six-member panel had flagged upside risks to inflation as it kept the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 6 per cent.



As per today's CPI data, the rate of price rise in protein rich items like meat and fish inched up in April to 3.59 per cent, as against 3.17 per cent in March.



Similarly, the inflation in the fruit basket was higher at 9.65 per cent compared to 5.78 per cent in the previous month.



However, inflation in vegetables segment was lower at 7.29 per cent in April compared to 11.7 per cent. Overall, inflation in the food basket remained flat at 2.8 per cent month-on-month.



The data revealed that inflation in the fuel and light segment also came in lower at 5.24 per cent month-on-month basis.



The WPI-based inflation was 2.47 per cent in March and 3.85 per cent in April last year.



The data on WPI is released by the commerce ministry. WPI inflation, which was on a declining trend since December 2017, accelerated in April due to an unfavourable base effect, a seasonal uptick in food prices as well as the pass through of rising global crude oil prices.



Inflation in December was 3.58 per cent. WPI inflation in food articles was at 0.87 per cent in April 2018, as against a deflation of 0.29 per cent in the preceding month.



Deflation in vegetables was 0.89 per cent in April, while in the previous month it was 2.70 per cent. In the 'fuel and power' basket in WPI, petrol inflation spiked to 9.45 per cent in April from 2.55 per cent in March; while diesel jumped to 13.01 per cent from 6.12 per cent in the previous month.



RBL Bank Economist Rajni Thakur said that at a time when economic healing process is underway, rising price pressure driven by high global prices of oil presents a very difficult dilemma for RBI in terms of holding rates to support growth momentum and rising rates to defend the currency against major swings.



On WPI, Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist with ICRA said that inflation is expected to continue to rise over the remainder of this quarter.



"The government may prefer to wait for additional information about the level at which the monthly GST revenues stabilise after the e-way bill introduction, before reducing excise duty on fuels," she said.



The central bank revised downward forecast for retail inflation to 4.7-5.1 per cent for April-September and 4.4 per cent for October-March. -- PTI

If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.If a bookstore takes the name of the city in which it resides, it had better reflect the values and character of its hometown. This is certainly the case for the Boulder Book Store, PWs 2018 Bookstore of the Year, which has been a downtown anchor of Boulder, Colo., for 45 years.

Walking into the store from the main entrance on Pearl Street, customers are immediately faced with a cart of bestselling remainders and, a few more steps in, they are presented with seven full cases of titles recommended by staff. Just across the aisle is a case of cannabis-based herbal remedies. Im honestly not sure what these things do, says Arsen Kashkashian, the lead buyer and general manager for the store, pointing to the case. But I do know that some of these items cost $100 or more.

Kashkashians customers know exactly what the herbs do: one of the bestselling titles in the store last year was Cannabinoids and the Brain, a scientific study by Linda A. Parker published by MIT Press. We have sold more than 150 copies of it since it was published, says Kashkashian, who has placed the book front and center among recommended titles.

Other details of the 20,000-sq.-ft. store, which is in a building built during the 1880s, speak to Boulders free spirit. The basement housesalongside cookbooks, nonfiction, and travel titlesthe official bookstore of Naropa University, the Buddhist-inspired and nonsectarian school. The second floor offers for sale a colorful array of meditation poufs (nonreturnable once sat on). The third floor Ballroom, which is home to fiction, poetry, and art, and serves as the stores event space, is lined with a dozen statues of the Buddha and photographs of great Buddhist lamas, such as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

The Ballroom was at one point the performing arts space for Naropa, and Allen Ginsberg, Ram Dass, and William Burroughs all performed here, says store owner David Bolduc from his office overlooking the Ballroom. I studied with Rinpoche, who was one of the first authors we published at Shambhala Press [where Bolduc serves on the board of directors], and Buddhism has been a huge influence on my life and on the store.

Bolduc was born in Michigan and attended UCLA before dropping out to participate in the antiVietnam War movement. In 1969, he and some friends opened Together Books, a co-op bookstore in Denver. In 1972, he left that store to open Backcountry Books, which a year later was renamed Boulder Book Store. I never graduated from college, but this bookstore has provided me with a wonderful education, Bolduc says.

Now 72, Bolduc has largely ceded day-to-day management of operations to Kashkashian, who has been at the store since 1992. David may appear laid back, but the reason this store is still in business is because David is also a very, very good businessman, Kashkashian says. Bolduc was, for example, the founder of what many believe was the first buy local organization in any U.S. city.

Kashkashian also credits Bolduc with being pragmatic: the store didnt chase trends or fads but was quick to implement innovative business practices. We didnt, for example, get heavily into e-commerce or e-books, he says, but when Edelweiss came along, we were literally the first store in the country to place an order on the system.

As a buyer, Kashkashian says he was able to make his mark on the store by steering it into stocking more literature, something that is apparent in the almost endless shelves of fictionnew, used, and remainderedon nearly every level of the store. The inventory mix is about 65% new books, along with 16% used and remaindered, with the rest being nonbook sidelines. There are more than 100,000 items for sale in the store.

Kashkashian has also implemented consignment deals with publishers, an idea he adopted from Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Miami, whom he got to know through the Independent Bookstore Consortium (both stores are members). We started our consignment business with Sounds True, a local audiobook publisher, but have since expanded it to Chelsea Green, Shambhala, Inner Traditions, and others, Kashkashian says.

Boulder Book Store was also among the first in the country to start charging for eventsa move that landed it on the front page of the New York Times. In 2011, we started asking customers to pay $5 to attend an event, and they would then be able to get $5 off the authors featured book or a purchase in the store on the day of the event, Kashkashian says. At first attendance fell off, but now we find that 80% to 90% of the audience buy the authors book at the event.

Sometimes, this can translate into serious money, such as when Pete Souza came to Boulder in January for a presentation to support his book Obama: An Intimate Portrait. It was the only event he was doing in Colorado, says Stephanie Schindhelm, marketing and promotions manager for the store. The appearance was so popular we had to move it to increasingly bigger venues, she adds. Eventually, it landed in the Boulder Theater, which seats 850 people, and was sold out.

The surrounding community has been very supportive of the store. Over two days that this reporter spent in the city in April, nearly everyone I spoke to gushed their appreciation for it. In return, the store has been supportive of the community, helping to sponsor a range of events, from the U.S. edition of the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival (which brings together authors with leaders in a range of areas to champion free speech) to school book fairs, a recent project that has also proven financially fruitful.

Though theres a Barnes & Noble just a mile and a half down Pearl Street from Boulder Book Store (and a Borders store was once equally close), there are enough book buyers to go around for both. I hear that B&N is one of the more successful in the country, says Kashkashian.

Some of both booksellers success is the result of the towns highly educated population. We have more PhDs per capita than any other city in the country, Bolduc says. We have some of the countrys smartest scientists, at places like Ball Aerospace and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and there are 40,000 students at the University of Colorado, which has fostered a big start-up scene.

The educated and eclectic nature of Boulder actually makes bookselling in the city especially rewarding. I think it is very helpful to be in a town with such a distinctive personality, Kashkashian says. It makes it much easier for me as a buyer in some ways. And the size of the store means that we have been able to do things other stores cannot do.

Today, the Boulder Book Store rings up between $4 million and $5 million in total sales annually.

Looking ahead, Bolduc says he may not be a daily presence on site, but he also has no plans to retire. My role these days is maintenance man, he says with characteristic humility. I am a tinkerer and keep things in this old building from falling apart. Im kind of obsessed with McGuckin Hardware [a legendary local independent hardware store] and am in there at least three times a week.

Bolduc is also traveling more. His wife is from Brazil and a recent visit to the country made a strong impression. They have amazing bookstores there, real temples full of books; its hard not to be a little jealous, he says.ODON and CRANE, Ind.  Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Purdue Research Foundation at Purdue@WestGate aimed at connecting the divisions unique, leading-edge technical skills and technology with private Indiana companies.

This CRADA is yet another unique resource for new technology ventures in the state, said Jason Salstrom, director for Purdue@WestGate. This CRADA complements the award-winning programming taking place at WestGate by providing access to NSWC Cranes extraordinary technology resources.

Salstrom said the CRADA will connect small businesses to Cranes numerous labs, equipment and expert workforce and will help companies in solving commercial technology challenges.

This CRADA is unique in that it connects businesses directly to Cranes expertise in areas such as advanced electronics, human systems integration, sensors and sensor fusion, robotics, system of systems test and evaluation, and power and energy management, Salstrom said.

Brooke Pyne, NSWC Crane Technology Transfer (T2) Program manager, said the CRADA will provide opportunities for Indianas thriving technology economy.

"The NSWC Crane Technology Transfer program is foundational for building relationships with academia," Pyne said. The CRADA fosters collaboration of strategically aligned mission needs with a national research institute that rapidly addresses technology advancements that support the warfighter.

Salstrom said the CRADA is a fantastic complement to the agreements Purdue@Westgate has with Crane.

This will further the robust innovative ecosystem here at WestGate, he said.

The Purdue Research Foundation promotes entrepreneurial activities on behalf of Purdue University. The PRF is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Established in 1930, the foundation accepts gifts; administers trusts; funds scholarships and grants; acquires property; protects Purdue's intellectual property; and promotes entrepreneurial activities on behalf of Purdue.

About Purdue@WestGate

Purdue@WestGate is an economic development accelerator formed by the partnership between WestGate Authority, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division (NSWC Crane), Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation. The Indiana-based collaboration combines strengths to advance educational, research and development and technology commercialization across Indiana and elsewhere. Purdue@WestGate offers tools for startups, entrepreneurial experts, programs, educational opportunities and workforce development to help southern Indiana businesses grow and thrive. For more information about the resources available to businesses, visit Purdue@WestGate.

About Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division

NSWC Crane's Technology Transfer (T2) Program helps link federal research and development to academic institutions and businesses in the private sector. A CRADA provides the formal mechanism between the federal laboratory and partner collaborator. The NSWC Crane T2 program has partnerships with more than 100 businesses, individuals and universities. Currently, there are 100 active CRADAs and 225 active agreements.

NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with focus areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. NSWC Crane is responsible for multi-domain, multi-spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to todays warfighter.

Writer: Sarah K. Miller, 812-863-2756, skmiller@prf.org

Sources: Jason Salstrom, 812-863-4080, jdsalstrom@prf.org

Brooke Pyne, 812-854-4823, elizabeth.b.pyne@navy.milAustralian pay-TV operator Foxtel has announced the commission of its landmark event drama for 2019, a dark gothic tale called Lambs of God.





Based on the Marele Days novel of the same name, the twisted and macabre tale will be translated to the screen by an international cast, led by Emmy Award-winning actress Ann Dowd (The Handmaids Tale, The Leftovers).A four part series, Lambs of God focuses on three nuns, each a generation apart, living in an isolated convent by the coast. Their lives are turned upside down when an ambitious young priest, Father Ignatius (Sam Reid), accidentally stumbles across the three Sisters as he arrives on a mission from the Church.Joining Ann Dowd in the convent are Australian actress Essie Davis (Game of Thrones, The Slap, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, Babadook, and the upcoming The True History of The Kelly Gang), and UK actress, Jessica Barden (The End Of The F*****World, The Lobster).Lambs of God is a lush, evocative drama that is both ancient and incredibly modern, with its timeless message of resilience, and the power of story-telling as a redemptive force, said Penny Win, head of drama, Foxtel Marele Days unique novel stayed with me long after Id finished reading it, and screenwriter Sarah Lambert has taken the story and enriched it in ways that are fresh and engaging. At every creative level, the talent attached to this project is world-class, and we are very proud to be working with Lingo Pictures to bring to life this truly unique series.Lingo Pictures producer Jason Stephens said: There are few stories as original as Lambs of God. Pitched to Foxtel as Feral Nuns in a Monastery, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to deliver something that is truly different to any other drama produced before in Australia.Lambs of God is already generating an enormous buzz thanks to its compelling script and the prestigious cast and crew that it has attracted. Its a joy to work with Foxtel and have their unwavering support as we start to roll cameras on this moving, thrilling and often darkly humorous tale.The series has been adapted for the screen by writer/showrunner Sarah Lambert (Love Child, A Place To Call Home, Dance Academy, Love My Way), and will be directed by Jeffrey Walker (Modern Family, Alis Wedding, Dance Academy, Super Fun Night, Rake, Jack Irish).Cinematographer and Academy Award-nominee Don McAlpine (Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet, X Men Origins: Wolverine, The Dressmaker) will make his first foray into television drama as director of photography, with the series filmed on locations across Sydney, The Blue Mountains, the NSW South Coast and Tasmania.We feel, that with the incredible line-up of international cast - alongside the top notch creative team - will have huge appeal to many markets around the world, said Moreyba Bidessie, scripted acquisition manager, Sky Vision  which is representing the show internationally.The drama has now commenced production at Fox Studios Australia, following investment funding from Screen Australia in association with Create NSW, the Tasmanian Government (through Screen Tasmania), and Endemol Shine Australia.WASHINGTON  The Navy marked a milestone Friday for the ship named after the famously ornery and uncompromising father of the nuclear-powered Navy, Hymen G. Rickover, as the Navy burns its way through the latest iteration of the Virginia-class attack submarine.

At a ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut, the Navy celebrated the laying down of Rickover's keel.In the beginning was chaos and muddle, reads the first line of the June 1948 dispatch from the coastal city of Tel Aviv. The state of Israel was less than a month old when the Manchester Guardian launched a series of articles by the journalist and novelist Arthur Koestler. The country had declared independence on 14 May.

In the midst of a conflict with Arab Palestinians, coupled with an invasion by surrounding states, Israel had no clearly accepted borders but was hastily forming a government. So young was the country that the Israeli visas stamped on Koestler's and his partner's passports in Paris were numbered five and six. On arrival, he found airport signs freshly painted in English and Hebrew, while immigration and customs officers had not yet received uniforms.The requested page is currently unavailable on this server.

Back to [RTHK News Homepage]In July 1776, colonial delegates wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, effectively announcing that they intended to separate from the British Empire, and soon, war was underway. However, by the end of the year, things weren't looking so good for General George Washington and the Continental Army. He and his troops had been forced to abandon their position in New York City and flee across New Jersey. To make matters worse, the spy Washington sent to gather intelligence, Nathan Hale, had been captured by the British and hanged for treason.

Washington was in a tough spot, and had no way to learn about his enemies' movements. Over the next few months, he organized several different groups to collect information, operating under the theory that civilians would attract less attention than military personnel, but by 1778, he still lacked a network of agents in New York.NOAA  the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  needs its leader! President Trump nominated Barry Lee Myers, the CEO of AccuWeather, to the post in mid-October. The Senate Commerce Committee has twice advanced Myers nomination to the full Senate. All thats needed to fill this important job is a majority vote on the Senate floor, which both Democrats and Republicans expect to happen. Unfortunately, partisan politics keeps getting in the way, delaying the vote.

Why is moving this along important? The Atlantic Oceans hurricane season begins June 1; tornado season has already started. In the first few days of May alone, 18 tornadoes were reported in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In addition, 117 severe storms ravaged the Plains. The experienced professionals at NOAA can deal with the daily challenges of severe weather. But bigger decisions to carry out congressionally mandated improvements in hurricane and tornado forecasting require the authority of a Senate-confirmed nominee. As does putting a new hurricane-hunter plane into operation and prioritizing seasonal forecasts for farmers and ranchers. The nation also has a huge seafood trade imbalance that needs the attention of top NOAA leadership.

Few people are as qualified to head NOAA as Barry Myers (pictured, at center). He has successfully headed a large, complex, science-based organization that is one of the countrys  and the worlds  leading creators and distributors of weather forecasts, data and scientific information. In other words, Myers is a veteran executive in the areas in which NOAA operates.

Myers also has worked for more than 30 years to make NOAA a better, stronger and more transparent organization. He helped establish the American Weather Enterprise, which combines the resources of NOAA, academic and research institutions, and Americas private-sector weather companies. The federal government works with industry leaders including Myers to distribute weather data free of charge to the American people. In fact, Myers has been repeatedly honored for helping to bring to the nation these major advancements, making the U.S. the envy of the world in how it provides weather information to its citizens.

Senate offices have received more than 60 letters from individuals and organizations supporting his confirmation, including strong backing from the past four leaders of the U. S. National Weather Service who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations. In addition, the seafood industry has overwhelmingly advocated his confirmation with letters of support from seafood processors and others in the fisheries industry ranging from ship captains to sport fishermen.

Members of Saving Seafoods National Coalition for Fishing Communities consider Myers experience at the helm of a family-based business to be a special asset for his role at NOAA. They recognize this connection as a skill set no other leader of NOAA has had. Many American seafood-harvesting and processing companies are multi-generational, family-based businesses and his understanding of them is unique. While individuals with impressive scientific credentials have led NOAA in the past, the coalition believes Myers brings to the agency much-needed leadership, vision and managerial skills.

Also, as a recognized leader in the sciences, Myers has demonstrated respect for quality-tested science when making decisions related to all areas of the agencies responsibilities, including the nations fisheries, weather, oceanographic and climate challenges.

Myers worked closely with lawmakers to help secure enactment of last years Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act. The American Meteorological Society conferred its highest award for Excellence in Meteorology on him. He also has demonstrated a deep knowledge about NOAA and is committed to making the agency the best it can be, second to none in the world.

Prompt confirmation of Myers will benefit the public and the U.S. economy in the days, weeks and months ahead by solidifying the NOAA leadership team. With the unprecedented threat of catastrophic storms, the agencys mission  protecting life and property and expanding American economic competitiveness  is on the line. The Senate should quickly confirm Barry Myers as NOAA administrator.

Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. VADM USN (ret.), CEO of GeoOptics, is a former under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of NOAA.Race Analysis

Indiana is an anomaly in many ways. Unlike northern tier states such as Minnesota and Michigan, large portions of the state have a Southern heritage; unlike Ohio and Illinois, it lacks a massive industrial super-city that drew in scores of Eastern and Southern European immigrants around the turn of the century. Because of this, its politics have been very different from those of other Great Lakes states. In the late 19th and early 20th century, it was the most Democratic Great Lakes state. Today, it is the most heavily Republican.

Democrat Vance Hartke won a senate seat in the state in an upset in the good Democratic year of 1958. He was re-elected in the 1964 landslide. He won a third term in 1970 against a quality Republican opponent, but lost in a landslide to Republican Richard Lugar in 1976. Lugar won six terms before losing a primary challenge in a landslide to state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Mourdock, in turn, made a controversial statement about rape shortly before the election, which went to Democrat Joe Donnelly.

Donnelly is unlikely to be so lucky this time around. Republicans have a pair of well-qualified potential opponents in representatives Luke Messer and Todd Rokita. President Trumps low job approval ratings will hurt whoever emerges from the primary, but the red nature of the state pretty much guarantee it will remain on our radar screen.President Donald Trumps call last June to revitalize Americas deteriorating civil nuclear program has taken on new importance. A few weeks ago, Russian legislators in the State Duma, in retaliation for U.S. sanctions, introduced a bill that would cut off trade with the U.S. nuclear power industry, which produces roughly 20 percent of U.S. electricity. Russia provided about 20 percent of the fuel needed to power those reactors.

Most Americans missed this news, but clearly the recent activity in Moscow  regardless of the legislative outcome  should signify a flashing red light to U.S. policymakers and the Congress. Thirty years ago, the quest for U.S. energy security focused on addressing oil addiction. With two-thirds of the worlds enrichment capacity, the United States met 100 percent of its domestic needs and exported fuel around the world  attaching strong nonproliferation requirements to every shipment.

Today, oil imports  after peaking at roughly 60 percent of demand in 2005  have fallen to less than 20 percent of consumption and are forecast to drop even further. On the other hand, Americas nuclear sector is now plagued by energy insecurity; more than 90 percent of the uranium used is mined overseas, and more than two-thirds of it is enriched overseas. We are now far more dependent on foreign nuclear fuel than we ever were on foreign oil.

This did not occur overnight. While America allowed its nuclear fuel capacities to dwindle into oblivion, Russian President Vladimir Putin pursued calculated moves to increase Russias influence at our expense. Recognizing that the Russian civil nuclear program is a strategic asset, the Kremlin instructed Rosatom, its state nuclear corporation, to expand its footprint in the global nuclear fuel market.

Rosatoms controversial acquisition of the Canadian company Uranium One  which was approved by the Obama Administration  gave the Kremlin ownership of about 20 percent of U.S. uranium production capacity and a large percentage of uranium production in Kazakhstan, which supplies almost a quarter of U.S. imports of the critical mineral.

Meanwhile, America shuttered its only uranium enrichment project in 2015 after spending billions of dollars  ironically, as it blessed Irans domestic enrichment program. We currently are unable to enrich enough uranium to meet our national security requirements.

The result of these self-inflicted wounds is that Russia has replaced America as the dominant global supplier of nuclear fuel.

The collapse of Americas nuclear fuel program has been a case study on how not to maintain leadership. No other major economy has followed Americas race to the bottom. Besides Russia, Western Europe, China, Japan, Brazil, and India all produce commercial nuclear fuel with their own indigenous enrichment technology.

The Trump administration is working to address this major vulnerability, but solving the problem is not simple. Enrichment programs in other countries are heavily subsidized by their governments, giving those countries an unfair advantage. Americas budget constraints prevent us from replicating that model.

Instead, America must gain a competitive advantage in advanced nuclear technologies that provide a commercial basis for the restoration of enrichment capabilities. The future of nuclear power rests in advanced reactors that are proliferation resistant, produce negligible waste, and are walk-away safe.

Mined uranium consists of less than 1 percent U235; existing reactors require fuel that has been enriched to a concentration of almost 5 percent. Advanced designs require enrichment levels between 5 percent and 20 percent, which is far below the concentration needed for bomb-making but is still beyond the range that any of the worlds commercial enrichment facilities are licensed and configured to produce. This represents a major opportunity for America to gain the upper hand if the right moves are quickly undertaken.

The Trump administration will need to pursue a comprehensive approach if the U.S. civil nuclear program is to be revived  one that coordinates U.S. innovation programs for advanced nuclear technologies and enrichment.

Congress, in a bipartisan manner, will also need to embrace this vision. A coherent strategy on civil nuclear power shared by the White House and Congress has been elusive, but perhaps a group of agitated Russian legislators has done America a big favor by delivering a much-needed wakeup call.

Thankfully, the America Last nuclear fuel program still has time to be America First.

George David Banks is President Trumps former special assistant for international energy and environment. He is currently the executive vice president of the American Council for Capital Formation. The views expressed are the author's own.By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/14/2018



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star Drew Scott is officially off the market.Drew married his fiancee, Linda Phan, in a romantic outdoor ceremony in Italy on Saturday, People reported The couple reportedly exchanged vows in front of 300 guests, including family and friends who traveled all the way from Canada, Latin America and Scotland to attend."We are still floating on clouds... today couldn't have been more magical," Drew and Linda told the magazine."Surrounded by so many loved ones in such a beautiful place was unreal. We are very, very lucky. Friends, family, amazing food, blue skies and being even more in love than ever before -- what more could we ask for?"The wedding festivities began on May 9 with Drew and Linda enjoying respective bachelor and bachelorette excursions, such as bike riding and cooking classes.A welcome party was then hosted by the couple on May 11, where guests could take advantage of artisan booths such as cheese and pasta making."There was never a thought of doing anything else for both of us," Drew said. "A whole week to hang out on a beach, enjoy each others' company: that sounded like the perfect wedding to us."Linda reportedly had 10 bridesmaids with no maid of honor, while Drew asked his twin brother Jonathan Scott and older brother James Daniel to both serve as his best men.Drew, 40, and his groomsmen wore kilts for the ceremony, according to People, but the former Dancing with the Stars contestant later changed into a custom tuxedo for the reception.For their first dance, the newlyweds surprised everyone with a choreographed routine by Emma Slater and Sasha Farber . Drew had been paired with Emma on Dancing with the Stars' 25th season and they finished in fourth place.Drew and Linda's cake featured buttercream frosting with four flavors inside -- vanilla with goat cheese and strawberry balsamic, organic red velvet, carrot, and chocolate hazelnut. The cake will reportedly be shown on the upcoming June 25 episode of Cake Hunters on Food Network.In lieu of a registry, the couple asked guests to donate to the non-profit ME to WE, which works to provide people around the world with access to clean water.As for wedding favors, Drew and Linda gifted their guests with two travel bags, custom pizza cutters and plates. The set has been made available for purchase on Amazon, with a portion of each sale going to the Me to WE charity.Drew and Linda have kept their honeymoon destination under wraps, but the couple is apparently most excited about simply starting their lives together as husband and wife."I'm most looking forward to spending more time together," Drew gushed to People. "We've been working so hard for so long, I'm looking forward to making plans to settle down and just enjoy doing nothing once in a while."Drew and Linda first met in 2010 and got engaged in December 2016 after six years of dating.: Linda & Drew Say I Do is set to premiere Saturday, June 2 at 9PM ET/PT on TLC.An off-duty Connecticut state trooper, who was killed in a Wolcott head-on crash in February was intoxicated and speeding, an investigation has revealed.

Trooper Danielle Miller, 27, had a blood alcohol content at the time of the crash of .24, which is three times the legal limit.

The report said Millers cruiser was going 79 mph seconds before the crash and 57 mph when her Crown Victoria cruiser smashed into a 2004 Ford pickup on Route 69 on Saturday, Feb. 3.

Both drivers were taken to local hospitals for injuries sustained in the crash, police said. Miller later died at the hospital. The driver of the pickup truck was treated and released from the hospital

In a statement Monday, State Police said We are saddened by the emerging details of the off-duty accident involving Trooper Danielle Miller on February 3, 2018. The Wolcott Police Department investigation report revealed that Trooper Miller sustained fatal injuries while operating the vehicle at a high speed and under the influence of alcohol. Her car struck an oncoming vehicle. Fortunately, that driver was not seriously injured.

As an agency, we mourn Trooper Millers passing. We also maintain a zero tolerance policy with respect to operating a state vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Trooper Millers death serves as a painful reminder of the dangers and the devastating consequences of impaired driving. The Connecticut State Police, as are all law enforcement agencies, steadfast in their efforts to reduce the number of alcohol-related incidents along our roadways.

The report was released by Wolcott Police Chief Edward Stephens during a press conference on Monday morning.

"We all make mistakes in life that have consequences, Stephens said. Unfortunately, Trooper Miller made a mistake, which she paid for dearly with her life. It's very sad .... its a very tragic occurrence for everyone involved."

More for you State police trooper killed in off-duty crash

Stephens said the driver of the pickup attempted to avoid Millers cruiser. He had nothing to do with the accident. He saw the troopers car in his lane and tried to avoid it.

He said since the accident there has been talk of a police cover-up or blaming the driver of the pickup truck.

"The poor kid had to move out of town. You know, people were calling him names, cop killer, things like that. He was just a victim in this.

Stephens said Waterbury State Attorney Maureen Platt had reviewed the report, agreed with its findings and the case is now closed.

Miller, who graduated from the Connecticut State Police Academy on Dec. 11, 2014, was assigned to Troop L in Litchfield.

Miller, who was born in New Britain and in Wolcott, is survived by her parents, maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and her dog, Louie, according to her obituary with DellaVecchia Funeral Home .European countries and companies that continue to do business with Iran could face U.S. sanctions, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday.

Part of the flaw with the Iran deal that President Donald Trump rejected was it enticed Europe and the U.S. into economic relations with Iran that would work against holding the country accountable for violations of the agreement, Bolton said.

"Why would any business, why would the shareholders of any business, want to do business with the world's central banker of international terrorism?" Bolton said on ABC's "This Week."

Trump on May 8 announced his intention to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, calling the multilateral pact "defective at its core" and unable to fully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The announcement triggered U.S. plans to reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic within roughly three to six months.

The exit drew swift criticism from the deal's other signatories, including U.S. allies in Europe who'd tried for weeks to convince Trump to remain on board and said they plan to keep their commitment to the deal.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 2015 accord wasn't aimed at Europeans, but he didn't rule out the U.S. imposing sanctions on entities that continue to do business with Iran, even as efforts continue to strike a new deal.

"I am hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior," Pompeo said.

Changing the regime in Iran is "not the policy of the administration," Bolton said on ABC. In a separate interview on CNN's "State of the Union," he said Iran's economic condition is "really quite shaky," so the impact of sanctions "could be dramatic."

"The consequences of American sanctions go well beyond goods shipped by American companies," Bolton said. "Because of our technology licenses to many other countries and businesses around the world, as those sanctions kick in, it will have an even broader effect as well."

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said while the Iran deal was "a flawed agreement" because of a lack of unfettered inspections and other problems, leaving the deal isolates the U.S. and Trump should have extended it for at least another six months to work with allies.

"We could have pushed the Europeans a lot harder, to work with us," Gates said on "Face the Nation." "And then in six months, basically if they hadn't done that, then you would be in a much stronger position. But as it is now, at least for the time being, we're the country that's isolated."

---

--With assistance from Ben Brody and Jordan Yadoo .JERUSALEM -

A joyous ceremony marked the inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a largely symbolic step that nonetheless is of deep political significance, here and in the Palestinians territories, as well as farther away.

Amid the happy bustle of about 800 guests, as Jared Kushner spoke, the controversial evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress blessed the occasion and President Trump delivered a prerecorded video address, there was little indication of what was unfolding less than 60 miles away on the border between Israel and Gaza. There, protests against the embassy opening and Israel's continued blockade of the Palestinian enclave were met with gunfire by Israeli troops. More than 50 Palestinians were shot dead and thousands injured.

In his video address Monday, Trump said that he was still hopeful for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, despite almost universal criticism of the embassy move from some of the United States's closest allies in Europe, from Arab nations and from the Palestinians.

The Arab League called a crisis meeting to discuss the "illegal" U.S. Embassy shift, and the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation called it an "attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people."

In Ramallah, at a hastily convened news conference, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared the new embassy "an illegal outpost," a term used to refer to Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Calling Monday's killings in Gaza "a massacre," Abbas said that "the U.S. had excluded itself as an intermediate broker."

But successive speakers who took the stage at Monday's ceremony said that they firmly believed the embassy move was long overdue and was, in fact, a positive step toward peace.

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, kicked off the proceedings by recalling the declaration of the state of Israel by the country's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, on May 14, 1948.

"Seventy years later, the United States is taking the next step of moving the embassy to Jerusalem," he said.

In his video address, Trump said the move was a long time in coming and added that the "United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement."

Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser, echoed those sentiments, saying: "We believe it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give - so that all people can live in peace, safe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams."

Trump has boasted of how he has kept costs down for the embassy move. In an apparent nod to the bottom line, only pretzels and water were served to guests, who included some top-tier Republican donors such as the GOP mega-donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

He told The Washington Post that "this was an important event for all Jews."

For now, the embassy move is mostly symbolic - really just the addition of a plaque on the wall of the existing consulate in Jerusalem. Only the ambassador and a core staff will move to Jerusalem during the first phase. And less than $400,000 has been spent so far to increase security and to enable the embassy to start functioning.

Yet the newly chiseled sign has brought with it clear vindication for Israel, which united the western and eastern sides of Jerusalem 51 years ago following its victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. In the 1980s, Israel formally declared sovereignty over the entire city, including Palestinian neighborhoods. Most countries still refuse to recognize that move and say their embassies will remain in Tel Aviv until Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace agreement.

Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "glorious day."

"Remember this moment, this is history," he said. "President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history."

Later, he tweeted a photograph of himself and his wife, Sara, with Ivanka Trump and Kushner and the new plaque.

"What a great day for the great American-Israeli alliance," he wrote.

But just a few blocks from the site, scuffles broke out between Israeli forces and protesters, including Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Israeli-Arab members of Israel's parliament. Fourteen people were arrested, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"As someone who lives in Jerusalem and who cares about this city and the people who live in it, this feels like a dangerous game that Trump is playing with our lives," said Maya Rosen, an American-born resident of the city.

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab faction in the Knesset, drew a direct line between the embassy opening and the deaths in Gaza.

"The opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem and its grand ceremony is part of the same policy that has claimed the lives of dozens of Gazans," he said. "Today, there is nothing to celebrate. The opening of the embassy is yet another provocative step that signals the destruction of the notion of peace."

Former peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, now a member of the official opposition in Israel, said the embassy opening was bittersweet.

"This is a happy day for us in Israel but simultaneously we have to take care of the situation in Gaza," she said.

"It has been a day of dilemma," said Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi. "We wanted this to happen for 70 years and we don't want the celebrations to end."

Asked for his reaction to events along the Gaza border, Hanegbi said: "It is very sad and tragic that Hamas has learned nothing over the last 70 years. So many decades have passed since they made the wrong decision in 1948 and now 70 years later they still can't accept Israel."

Hanegbi was referring to Palestinian resistance to the creation of the Israeli state; Hamas, the Islamic organization that is in control of Gaza, was founded in 1987.

---

The Washington Post's Sufian Taha in Ramallah contributed to this report.Japan Airlines is launching a low-cost carrier that will offer mid- to long-distance international flights. The company's executives hope to have it off the ground around the summer of 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympics and Paralympics.

The firm announced on Monday that it will set up the new entity as early as July.

Officials say the new airline will fly 2 planes from Narita airport near Tokyo to major cities in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

They plan to keep costs low by selling tickets online and by offering more seats than on regular international flights.

Japan Airlines already operates a low-cost carrier, Jetstar Japan, in partnership with an Australian company.

Japan Airlines President Yuji Akasaka pointed out that there is a limit to how many foreign visitors the airline can carry with short-haul flights alone. He said there is definitely a need for a casual and comfortable way to travel for people living farther away.

Rival ANA Holdings plans to expand its low-cost routes by merging its subsidiaries Peach Aviation and Vanilla Air by the end of March 2020.Southeast Asian lawmakers have expressed grave concern over the buyout of The Phnom Penh Post, the last remaining independent newspaper in Cambodia, by a Malaysian investor with reported ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen, amid a wider crackdown on media freedoms in the country.



In a statement issued over the weekend, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) noted that the development occurred days before the May 14 deadline for parties to register for the countrys July 29 national election, and moved Cambodia further away from any potential for the election to be considered genuine.



Having taken drastic steps to transform Cambodia into a de facto one-party state, it appears that Prime Minister Hun Sen believes that even one independent news outlet is too many and that only the complete end of press freedom in Cambodia can assure his reelection, APHR chairperson and Malaysian parliamentarian Charles Santiago said.



The Phnom Penh Post was sold last weekend for an unknown sum to Malaysian investor Sivakumar S. Ganapathy, who is the CEO of Kuala Lumpur-based public relations company Asia PR. The sale followed the out-of-court settlement of a U.S. $3.9 million claim by the government against the Post and its former owner, Australian mining businessman Bill Clough, for alleged unpaid back taxes.



On May 6, the Post ran a story about the sale that detailed Sivakumars ties to Hun Sen and quoted observers expressing concerns about the editorial integrity of the 26-year-old paper, which regularly publishes articles critical of the prime ministers leadership, going forward. Asia PR lists one of its government-related projects as assisting Hun Sens entry into the government seat.



In a statement that same day, Sivakumar called the article a disgrace and an insult to the independence claim of the newspaper that borders on internal sabotage and ordered editor-in-chief Kay Kimsong, and reporters Brendan OByrne and Ananth Baliga fired. The article has since been removed, and several other reporters have resigned, citing concerns over the new ownership.



The sale of the Post comes less than 10 months after the forced closure of The Cambodia Daily, another independent newspaper that was also pressured over claims of unpaid taxes, and the shuttering of several independent radio programs amid a government crackdown on the media. RFA closed its operations in Cambodia in September.



On Monday, Santiago suggested that the sale of the Post was part of an official effort to prevent the Cambodian people from hearing anything other than the governments message.



It is the continuation of an unrelenting assault on press freedom, he added.



APHR noted that restrictions on the media in Cambodia have come amid a wider crackdown on government criticism, which has included the dissolution of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in November and the arrest two months earlier of its president, Kem Sokha, on charges of treason. Kem Sokhas continued detention has been declared arbitrary by the U.N.



The denial of the basic right to information runs counter to the very essence of a functioning democratic system, Philippine Congressman and APHR member Tom Villarin said.



The demise of press freedom has gone hand in hand with the governments refusal to allow the people of Cambodia to freely choose their leaders in a democratic election.



APHR also expressed concern over Hun Sens threats to bring legal action against anyone who calls for an election boycott, including former CNRP President Sam Rainsy who has urged supporters to stay away from the polls in July to avoid legitimizing a ballot widely expected to be neither free nor fair, with his party barred from participating.



Calling for a boycott is a legitimate exercise of freedom of expression, Villarin said.



The freedom to choose ones representative also includes the right to abstain from voting, particularly when conditions preclude the possibility of a genuine choice at the ballot box.



Six months detained



The APHRs concerns about press freedom in Cambodia came as two former RFA Khmer Service reporters marked six months in detention on espionage charges, widely seen as politically motivated, prompting their family members and rights groups to demand their release.



Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin were taken into custody on Nov. 14 last year and formally charged with illegally collecting information for a foreign source. The pair deny the charges, but were denied bail from pre-trial detention and face a possible jail term of up to 15 years if convicted. No trial date has been set.



On Monday, Uon Chhins wife Heng Sina called her husbands arrest unjustified and said it had devastated her family.



We want to be united with our small and modest family, and to live our life free of intimidation, she said.



I call on the courts and national and international organizations to help get my husband out of jail because he didnt do anything wrong.



Yeang Sothearins wife Lam Chantha told RFA that she had lost her home and had to move herself and her small children in with relatives.



I would like to call for those who arrested him to release him so that he can be reunited with our family, she said.



A day earlier, New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the two men, who it said were arrested as part of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen that had caused countless journalists, activists and opposition members to flee Cambodia.



Ahead of Julys national elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen has been filling Cambodias prisons with journalists, activists, and politicians, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.



In its reprisals against RFA for its critical reporting, the government has concocted absurd espionage charges against former journalists Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, who should be freed immediately.



Adams said that a free media is a prerequisite to having true democracy in Cambodia, but that independent journalism is now being made into a crime.



How many more journalists will be slapped with bogus espionage, incitement, and treason charges before concerned governments impose sanctions and signal to Hun Sen that there will be consequences for his retrograde actions, he asked.



In a separate statement, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) called the charges against Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin a direct assault on freedom of the media and designed to frighten other journalists into silence.



Sok Eysan, spokesperson for Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), said the arrest of the two reporters was not done without justification, and that they have been held for six months because they are facing several legal proceedings, including pornography charges under Cambodias anti-trafficking law, that were added at the end of March.



But Pa Nguon Teang, executive director of the Cambodian Centre for Independent Media, told RFA that the government arrested the two men to send a message to other journalists that criticism of the countrys leadership would not be tolerated.



If the government continues to detain them it will show the world how immoral and ruthless it is, he said.



These two people are innocent  and they need to be released.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.Only four political parties have now officially registered with Cambodias National Election Committee to contest elections scheduled for July, with government authorities granting five days beyond Mondays deadline to allow 16 others to complete required paperwork.



The four parties now officially set to compete include Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) and three smaller, little-known parties.



The Cambodia National Rescue Party, widely regarded as the only viable opposition to Hun Sens three-decade rule, was dissolved by Cambodias Supreme Court last year and will not appear on the ballot.



In a statement Monday, Hang Puthea, a spokesperson for the National Election Committee (NEC), said that 16 other parties have also registered with the NEC but have not completed their paperwork.



Those 16 parties will have five days in which to produce all required documents. If they fail to do so, the NEC will issue a letter of inadmissibility, he said.



That five-day grace period should not be regarded as an extension of the official deadline to register, which expired on Monday, though, another NEC official told reporters today.



Some media outlets have misled the public by calling the five days an extension of the deadline for political parties to register, spokesperson Dim Sovannarom said. Actually that period ended today at 5:30 p.m.



The sixteen parties granted extra time had already registered but have not provided all the documents required, he said.



They will have to do so during these next five days, he said.



Call to boycott



Also on Monday, the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party called on Cambodian voters to boycott the national election set for July 29, calling the election a fake that will not reflect the will of Cambodians.



The CNRP also called on the international community not to recognize the elections results, and urged Japan to end its assistance and support for Cambodias NEC, adding, This bodys independence and credibility are compromised.



It cannot hold a free and fair election, the CNRP said.



In December, the NEC threatened 5-20 million-riel fines (U.S. $1,240-$4,950) and other criminal punishment for anyone sowing distrust of the election after RFAs Khmer Service reported on low turnout for voter registration following the dissolution of the CNRP.



The CNRP received more than 3 million votesaccounting for nearly half of the countrys registered votersin Cambodias 2013 general election, and enjoyed similar success in last years commune ballot, making it the only legitimate challenger to the CPP ahead of July.



Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Richard Finney.



Police in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan detained a large group of Christians after they gathered for a memorial service on Saturday on the 10th anniversary of the devastating 2008 earthquake.



Pastor Wang Yi of Sichuan's Qiuyu Church was taken away by Qingyang district police in the provincial capital Chengdu late on Friday, according to post by church members on Facebook.



Fellow church member Li Yingqiang was also detained, it said.



Police also raided the earthquake memorial service at the church in Jiangxin Mansions on Chengdu's Taisheng North Road on Saturday morning, detaining all worshipers at the venue and putting them onto two buses, church members told RFA.



They were later taken to "stability maintenance" detention facilities to await police from their home districts.



"This was a prayer meeting for the victims of the May 12, 2008 earthquake, but the police took everybody away, and wouldn't let us pray," Qiuyu church member Liu Tianyan told RFA. "They were all taken away to various police stations and detention centers."



"I don't know exactly how many people were detained, but the pastor was taken away from his home [on Friday] too," she said. "They were all picked up from the detention facility by the police from their districts, but that's all I know."



Calls to several Qiuyu church members rang unanswered on Saturday.



'A big operation'



Shanghai-based pastor Zhang Peihong said that between 70 and 80 people were detained in the operation, and some have already been released.



"It was a pretty big operation, because it's likely that they are going to ban this church," Zhang said. "Most of them are getting out, except for the church elders, the pastors, and the preachers."



"We can't be sure, because no paperwork has been issued, but ... Wang Yi, Li Yingqiang, and Yan Xixia have all been detained," he said. "They also confiscated some bibles and other publications when they went to the church."



An officer who answered the phone at the Taisheng Road police station declined to comment, saying they didn't know the details of the situation.



"You need to contact the propaganda department, because we don't know about that," the officer said.



Ruling Chinese Communist Party officials in the southwestern province of Sichuan declared Saturday's 10th anniversary of the devastating 2008 earthquake a "day of thanksgiving" for reconstruction efforts.



But many quake victims said they are worse off than before and are prevented from speaking out or holding public memorial events for the more than 80,000 people who died in the quake, in particular the thousands of children who died when school buildings collapsed.



Crackdown on religion



Meanwhile, a court in the southwestern province of Guizhou has handed a one-year suspended jail term to a pastor from the Huoshi Church, amid an ever-broadening crackdown on religious activities under the administration of President Xi Jinping.



Su Tianfu was handed the sentence on Friday after the Nanming District People's Court in Guizhou's provincial capital, Guiyang, found him guilty of "deliberately leaking state secrets" at a closed-door trial last month.



Su, who was also sentenced to six months' residential surveillance after being released from police detention, said he has no intention of appealing.



The "state secrets" Su was accused of leaking were a list of church members and their contact details, he told RFA on Monday.



"I was sentenced to one year, suspended for two years," Su said. "As I was leaving the court, they told me to wait to get my copy of the judgement, which I signed, along with a separate authorization for six months' residential surveillance."



"They slapped me with six months' residential surveillance, when I already have a suspended sentence, but never mind," he said. "I have been in a similar situation for the last two-and-a-half years anyway; what's another six months?"



Another pastor charged



Su's suspended sentences come after fellow Huoshi pastor Li Guozhi was handed a two-and-a-half year jail term on the same charge.



Li's wife Wang Hongwu said she had visited her husband in prison last week.



"He will get out on June 19. His health has improved slightly since my last visit," Wang said. "He has been able to stop taking his diabetes medication."



China is home to an estimated 68 million Protestants, of whom 23 million worship in state-affiliated churches, and some nine million Catholics, 5.7 million of whom are in state-sponsored organizations.



But the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which embraces atheism, exercises tight control over any form of religious practice among its citizens.



The administration of President Xi Jinping regards Christianity as a dangerous foreign import, with officials warning against the "infiltration of Western hostile forces" in the form of religion.



Reported by Wong Siu-san and Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.Two probes in a joint Mercury exploration mission between Japan and Europe, named BepiColombo, will be launched from French Guiana in South America aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in October.

Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, is 4,880 kilometers in diameter and two-fifths the size of Earth. It is still shrouded in mystery because of difficulty observing it and sending a probe from Earth.

Scientists are excited about the mission, in which the probes are slated to arrive at the planet at the end of 2025. They say that the mission will bring discoveries that will make it necessary to rewrite textbooks.

In the mission, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, developed by Japan, and the Mercury Planetary Orbiter, by the European Space Agency, will enter the orbit of the planet.

The MMO will observe Mercuryas magnetic field in detail and study the internal structure, including a molten metallic core creating the magnetic field that is believed to exist in the planet. Meanwhile, the MPO will examine the planetas terrain, the composition of its minerals and other features.A Myanmar army-linked militiaman secures a bridge in the border town of Muse in northeastern Myanmar's Shan state, May 12, 2018.

UPDATED at 9:30 A.M. EST on 2018-05-16

The United States on Monday expressed concern about the security situation in the Shan state town of Muse, a trade hub on Myanmars border with China, following weekend fighting between a government-backed militia and an ethnic army that left 20 people dead and more than two dozen injured.

A group of 50 soldiers from the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) attacked Muse townships police force and the Namkham Myoma local militia stationed at Pan Khan Bridge, the official Myanmar News Agency reported.

A government spokesman told Reuters that the insurgents numbered 100.

About 30 armed men fired in the vicinity of the home of local militia leader Aik San, while 10 others attacked township police personnel and militiamen stationed at the main border crossing with China, the report said.

The soldiers, who also fired small arms and heavy shells at Naungyan village, retreated after they were repelled by armed police and members of the government-backed militia, but the attacks left a policeman, four local militiamen, and 14 civilians dead on Sunday, the report said, citing the office of Myanmar military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing as the source.

Among the 27 injured were three Myanmar Police personnel, six militiamen, and 18 civilians.

We are deeply concerned by the casualties caused by recent clashes between the Taang National Liberation Army, government security forces, and militias in Muse township in northern Shan state, and express our heartfelt sympathy to the families of those killed and injured in the conflict, said a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Myanmar.

We urge all relevant parties to exercise restraint in protecting the civilian population from further casualties, to allow humanitarian aid to reach all communities affected by conflict, and to negotiate for peaceful solutions to the problems that have plagued this nation for decades, it said. We stand ready to support such efforts.

Knut Ostby, the European Unions resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, also called on the warring parties on Sunday to exercise restraint in fighting to prevent additional civilian casualties and to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected communities.

TNLA spokesman Colonel Tar Aik Kyaw told Reuters that the ethnic militia also launched an assault against a local casino on the outskirts of Muse that is operated by a Myanmar army post and militiamen, which he claimed distributes illegal drugs.

He also called the attacks a response to Myanmar military assaults on TNLA outposts and retaliation for the armys offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a TNLA ally, in Kachin state. Those clashes have displaced thousands of Kachin civilians since April.

One other civilian died on Monday while he was being transported from the hospital in Muse to one in the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, local sources told RFAs Myanmar Service.

A Chinese man and a woman were among the civilians killed, though most of the others were migrant workers from Sinkku, Hteinkon, and Pakokku townships in central Myanmars Magway region, they said.

While we were working, we heard the sound of heavy weapons, and we ran away, said a migrant laborer from Pakokku, who did not give his name. Our group had about 10 people. We didnt have any injuries, but people from other groups were killed. They were from Sinkku township.

Evacuating the dead, injured

Thaung Htun, chairman of Karuna Myanmar Social Services (KMSS), a faith-based social network in the service of the Catholic Church of Myanmar, said workers from the civil society organization arrived at the scene of the fighting in the evening.

We evacuated the dead bodies and injured people from the battle scene in four vans from our organization, he told RFAs Myanmar Service, adding that some of the bodies were transported to the decedents homes in Pang Sai, another Shan state border town, while others were taken to Mandalay, and the rest were buried in Muse the next day.

One female civilian who was killed was three months pregnant, he said.

As soon as we found out about the fighting and that people were injured, we worked together with other civil society organizations to get them to the hospital, said Muse township administrator Thu Rein. Township and district authorities are helping and supporting injured people who are in the hospital.

On Sunday, China denounced the hostilities on its border with Myanmar, which forced about 300 civilians to flee to safety in southwestern Chinas Yunnan province and caused stray bullets to enter Chinese territory, according to news wire service reports. China also urged the parties involved to agree to an immediate cease-fire.

Deadly skirmishes between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic armies along the border in early 2017 forced tens of thousands of Myanmar residents to flee to safety mostly in China where the Chinese government housed them in refugee camps.

The TNLA and KIA have been engaged in long-running hostilities with the Myanmar army in northern Shan and Kachin states where they seek greater autonomy. Fighting in both regions has displaced more than 100,000 people, most of whom reside in refugee camps.

Neither the TNLA nor the KIA is a signatory of the governments nationwide cease-fire agreement inked with eight ethnic armed groups in October 2015, with two more joining the pact in February.

The ongoing fighting has stalled Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyis efforts to bring warring factions to the negotiation table to end decades of civil war and forge lasting peace.

Reported by RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that both TNLA and KIA soldiers were involved in the attacks in Muse.

Around sixty nomad families living in Tibets Nyemo county are appealing the loss of grazing land seized by Chinese authorities for future use as a tourist zone, Tibetan sources say.



The land, which has supported residents of Marthang townships Lhadul village in Nyemo, an area west of Lhasa city, had already been fenced off in a scheme to promote farming that had yielded no crops, a local Tibetan told RFAs Tibetan Service.



Now, the Chinese have started a project in the area to develop the land for tourism, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Around sixty Tibetan nomad families herds and domestic animals depend on this land for grazing, he said, And with the seizure of the land, they are being deprived of their main source of livelihood.



Now, in a video filmed locally and circulating online, the families are appealing for justice to Chinese authorities at a higher level, he said.



Earlier moves by Chinese authorities to settle nomad families by fencing off grazing areas for farming had caused the death of large numbers of herd animals, the source said.



Last year, several thousand sheep and goats and over a hundred domestic animals starved to death, and this was a huge financial blow to local Tibetan families, the source said. And the authorities gave them nothing to relieve them of their hardship.



Now, with no domestic animals or herds, the local Tibetans are facing a daunting challenge to survive, he said.



Threatened with arrest



Because local village heads and township leaders are directly appointed by Chinese authorities, local Tibetans have no role in making the decisions that affect their lives, RFAs source said.



And when higher-level Chinese officials pay visits to the area, local authorities prevent Tibetan residents from appealing to them directly, threatening them with arrest if they try to speak their minds, he said.



They claim that the land belongs to the Chinese Communist Party, and that in collaboration with developers they have the authority to take it for whatever use they want.



So the local residents have now made a film of the seized land in order to appeal to appeal to higher authorities to intervene as soon as possible, and to ask for justice and care for their well being, he said.



Chinese development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people.



Many result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the governments wishes.



Reported by Dolma for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul and Tseten Namgyal. Written in English by Richard Finney.Authorities are imposing regular home stays on Muslim Uyghur families in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) as part of an increasingly invasive strike hard campaign, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which called on Beijing to put an end to the practice.



Since early 2018, Muslimand particularly Uyghurfamilies have been required to invite officials into their homes and provide them with information about their lives and political views, HRW said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the hosts are also subjected to political indoctrination.



The Chinese government should immediately end this visitation program, which violates rights to privacy and family life and the cultural rights of ethnic minorities protected under international human rights law, the statement said.



Maya Wang, senior China researcher at HRW, said that the new policy had left Muslim families throughout the XUAR literally eating and sleeping under the watchful eye of the state.



The latest drive adds to a whole host of pervasiveand perversecontrols on everyday life in Xinjiang, Wang added.



HRW noted that in December 2017, it said, authorities greatly expanded an October 2016 drive called Becoming Familywhich saw more than 100,000 officials visit mostly Uyghur homes in southern XUAR every two monthsto mobilize more than a million cadres to spend a week living in homes, primarily in rural areas.



The home stay program was extended in early 2018 and cadres now spend at least five days every two months in the families homes, HRW said, adding that there is no evidence to suggest that families can refuse such visits.



During the visits, cadres collect and update information about the families, including whether they have local hukoushousehold registrationor are migrants from another region, their political views, and their religion. The cadres report on any problems and can act to rectify the situation.



They also carry out political indoctrination, including promoting Chinese president Xi Jinping Thought, and warning people against the dangers of pan-Islamism, which is seen as a threat to Beijings rule.



The cadres teach the families Mandarin Chinese, make them sing the national anthem and other songs praising the ruling Communist Party in Chinese, and ensure families take part in a weekly flag-raising ceremony.



The activities are documented in reports submitted with accompanying photosmany of which can be found on the social media accounts of participating agenciesand show scenes of cadres involved in the most intimate aspects of domestic life, such as making beds and sleeping together, sharing meals, and feeding and tutoring children. There is no indication the families have consented to the posting of these images online.



Chinas deeply invasive forced assimilation practices against Muslims not only violate basic rights, but are also likely to foster and deepen resentment in the region, Wang said.



Xinjiang authorities should immediately end the Strike Hard campaign and all the related abuses.



In June last year, sources told RFAs Uyghur Service that authorities in the XUAR were doubling down on a bid to prevent Muslim Uyghurs from fasting and praying during Islams holy month of Ramadan by embedding Chinese officials in their homes, but the new findings from HRW suggest the home stay policy has become much more pervasive since the beginning of the year.



Turning homes into prisons



Munich-based World Uyghur Congress president Dolkun Isa on Monday called the campaign unconscionable and said it was doing more to harm ethnic relations than promote harmony in the region.



Its not just a simple invasion of privacy, but the total annihilation of the safety, security and well-being of family members, Isa told RFAs Uyghur Service.



China has, in effect, turned Uyghurs homes into prisons from which there is no escape. Under such a campaign of systematic indoctrination and intimidation, Uyghurs and Chinese will never become family members.



Isa noted that the home stay campaign was implemented alongside the jailing and detention in political re-education camps of Uyghurs accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect viewsa policy that has been in effect since April last year and has seen nearly all the adult male residents of Uyghur communities rounded up by authorities.



How can Chinese officials live, eat and sleep among Uyghur families whose men have been arbitrarily and extrajudicially detained by the Chinese government, he asked.



Such policies and actions of the Chinese government must be condemned by the international community, and Chinese officials who have been involved in designing and implementing them should be held accountable under international law and the Magnitsky Act in the U.S.



Last month, Senator Marco Rubio called in an open letter for U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to visit the XUAR with the aim of investigating claims of mass surveillance and detention of Uyghurs, and asked him to determine whether Washington should level sanctions against those responsible for the policies under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.



Rubio termed the detention of Uyghurs in re-education camps the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.



Police state



Also on Monday, the eve of Ramadan, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCRIF) denounced what it called an increasing crackdown on Uighur Muslims by the Chinese government in the XUAR, which it said increasingly resembles a police state.



The Chinese governments pervasive policies and intrusive security controls deny Uighur Muslims basic civil liberties and human rights and interfere with the practice of their faith, including during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins on Tuesday, USCRIF said.



USCRIF chairman Daniel Mark said the Chinese governments restrictions on Uyghurs are an attempt to assimilate a besieged religious and ethnic minority, and that by installing cadres in homes and detaining Uyghurs in re-education camps, authorities have created a culture of fear, suspicion, and mistrust throughout Xinjiang.



The governments actions are disrupting entire communities as they try to live their lives and practice their faith in peace, Mark added.



USCRIF noted that in addition to longstanding restrictions on Uyghur religious practice during Ramadan, the government has installed a multifaceted security grid in the region, comprised of armed checkpoints, facial and iris recognition software, and cell phone monitoring.



Additionally, the government has sought to stymie the growth of the next generation of Uyghurs through methods such as a ban on Uyghur language instruction in school, the prohibition of children from attending mosques, and proscribing Islamic baby names considered extreme.



USCRIF called on the U.S. government to sanction regional and national government officials and agencies involved in religious freedom violations in the XUAR through the Magnitsky Act, the International Religious Freedom Act, and other measures.



It called for China to remain designated as a country of particular concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. China has been repeatedly designated a CPC since 1999.



China regularly conducts strike hard campaigns in Xinjiang, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material.



While China blames some Uyghurs for "terrorist" attacks, experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2009.



Reported by Alim Seytoff for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.Armenias new prime minister, Nikol Pashinian, is traveling to the Russian resort city of Sochi, where he is expected to have his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking over the Caucasus nations leadership.

Pashinian broadcast live on Facebook late on May 13 from Yerevans Zvartnots International Airport that he was departing for Sochi to attend the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit, which begins May 14.

The EEU consists of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan

While in Sochi, Pashinian is expected to have a bilateral meeting with Putin.

Russia is a crucial ally for the small Caucasus nation. It has some 3,000 troops based there and helps guard the tense border with Turkey.

Many had questioned Pashinian's intentions toward Moscow after the former opposition activist and lawmaker was elected prime minister following several weeks of antigovernment protests.

After taking office, Pashinian attempted to ease concerns about a potential break with Moscow.

"Allied relations with Russia should be based on friendship, equality, and mutual willingness to solve problems," Pashinian told the parliament.

"We see military cooperation with Russia as the main factor guaranteeing Armenia's security, " he said.

He also said, however, that he would "actively develop" cooperation with the United States, the European Union, Iran, Georgia, China, and India.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the two leaders' first contact is "especially important in the sense that the heads of state will get acquainted with each other."

I do not think that deep discussions will be held on the issues of bilateral relations at once. On the other hand, it is natural that some issues will be discussed," he added.

Meanwhile, the Armenian government press office said on May 13 that Pashinian spoke by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rohani, with the leaders agreeing that the two neighbors should expand "mutually beneficial cooperation."

"Nikol Pashinian and Hassan Rohani discussed issues related to friendly Armenian-Iranian relations and cooperation, as well as a number of international and regional issues," the press service said.

The statement said the leaders "exchanged views on recent developments in Iran's nuclear program."

It said the two sides expressed hopes for a peaceful settlement of the situation following the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 to withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear accord signed by Tehran and six world powers.

The deal provides Tehran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

The two leaders also agreed to work on arrangements for a future face-to-face meeting, the statement said.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Armenian Service, Interfax, and TASS

MAHILEU, Belarus -- A Belarusian teenager serving a 15-year prison term after being convicted of killing a woman with a chainsaw at a shopping mall has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for attempted murder in a separate case.

The Mahileu regional court on May 14 found Uladzislau Kazakevich guilty of trying to kill guards at the prison where he is being held in the eastern city of Shklou, and of plotting to kill the warden.

The court ruled that Kazakevich's new sentence includes the initial one, so he is now set to serve 22 years in total.

Kazakevich's second trial started on April 11. The prison administration accused Kazakevich, 19, of stabbing a prison guard with a handmade knife and trying to stab another guard in October 2017.

At his previous trial, Kazakevich pleaded guilty to using a chainsaw and an ax to attack four women at a shopping mall in Minsk in October 2016, killing one and injuring two.

In March 2017, he was convicted of murder with extreme violence, attempted murder, and the infliction of injuries and sentenced to 15 years in prison, the maximum term for a minor in Belarus.

Kazakevich's parents say that their son is mentally ill and needs medical help.

Investigators in the initial case said that Kazakevich suffered from psychological problems, but the court ruled that he was fit for trial.TBILISI -- Georgians who mounted weekend protests over police antidrug raids say they will be back on the streets for a new demonstration on May 19 if their demands are not met.

An organizer of the rallies in Tbilisi, Beka Tsikarishvili, said on May 14 that the protests would resume if the Interior Ministry fails to change its approach to antidrug efforts, which critics say are misguided and heavy-handed.

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze told journalists that Interior Ministry officials and protest leaders will convene in the next few days to discuss the potential changes in antidrug policies.

"My statement issued [on May 12] said that the drug policy should be changed. This is a serious problem for our country and people," Kaladze said.

"On the whole, the state should not punish but protect people from drugs," he said. "We all need to fight drug dealers together and I'm sure many people will join this fight."

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Tbilisi in the early hours of May 12 to protest an overnight antidrug raid by police on two popular nightclubs, angered by what critics called an excessive use of force against club-goers.

The Interior Ministry said its officers had detained eight suspected drug dealers after storming the two clubs, Bassiani and Cafe Gallery. Some club-goers allege that drugs may have been planted by police.

The protests resumed late on May 13, and at least two ultra-right-wing groups staged a counterdemonstration.

Clad in black shirts, some wearing face masks and burgundy armbands, they said they were against "drug traders" and "LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] propaganda" and announced the creation of a "national guard army to protect our motherland."

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili appealed for calm in a nationally televised address amid the rival rallies, saying that any "confrontation in the country and split in society is unacceptable for the Georgian authorities and people."

He said that "each side, each person has the right to express their opinion freely, but confrontations...are completely unacceptable and we cannot let it happen.

"Law enforcement agencies are doing their best to secure law and order and ensure the right and freedom to rally," Kvirikashvili said, adding that the authorities "will have a tough position toward drug dealers and a humane position toward drug addicts."

Police prevented the right-wingers from approaching the parliament building, where the protest was taking place. They later arrested a leader of another ultra-right group, Giorgi Gabedava, who had threatened the demonstrators.

On May 14, President Giorgi Margvelashvili thanked police for "preventing a confrontation between the two rallies" and called the whole situation "a collapse of political and administrative actions and a series of mistakes."

"Our aim is to maintain freedom of expression and freedom of speech and at the same time to keep order on the streets and in political and public processes," said Margvelashvili, who is often at odds with Kvirikashvili and his cabinet.

The protests in Georgia followed weeks of unrelated street demonstrations in neighboring Armenia that forced the prime minister to resign and led to the election of Nikol Pashinian, an opposition activist and politician to the premiership.

With reporting by Current Time TV, Reuters, Interfax, and civil.ge

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif have agreed to remain in "close contact" over the nuclear deal between Iran and six powers in the wake of Washington's withdrawal from the landmark agreement.

Lavrov and Zarif met on May 14 in Moscow -- the Iranian diplomat's second stop, after Beijing, on a tour of key capitals as Tehran deals with the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 accord, which provides Tehran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

In addition to the United States and Iran, the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed by Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany. All of them have urged Washington to remain a part of the deal, saying it is the best way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

At the start of the talks with Zarif, Lavrov said that all the remaining signatories of the JCPOA had "legitimate interests" in keeping the deal and that "therefore we need to defend the legitimate interests of each of us together."

Zarif said that Russia had confirmed its readiness to respect the pact.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where the UN nuclear agency head was taking part in an exposition organized by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Amano and Putin made no mention of the Iran deal in their public remarks at the meeting.

After his talks in Beijing on March 13, Zarif said Iran wanted a "clear future design" for the accord.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Zarif told reporters after talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

"If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured," Zarif added.

After Moscow, Zarif will travel to Brussels to meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who is scheduled to host a meeting of German, French, and British foreign ministers on May 15 to discuss the accord.

Following talks with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in London, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on May 14 that France, Britain, and Germany were "determined" to save the Iranian nuclear deal.

"The U.S. leaving an international agreement does not mean that the international agreement is null and void," Le Drian said.

Johnson said he would discuss ways to protect European companies doing business with Iran at the Brussels meeting.

Meanwhile, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had spoken to his German, French, and British counterparts in recent days to discuss cooperation over Iran.

"The secretary underlined that the United States and our European allies share strong interests in preventing Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon and in countering the Iranian regime's destabilizing activities in the region," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. "He is hopeful we can continue strong cooperation."

Pompeo told Fox News on May 13 that Washington was ready to form a more wide-ranging Iran deal with its European partners "that achieves the outcomes that protect America."

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well," he added.

Trump pulled out on May 8, claiming that Iran had violated the "spirit" of the deal by financing militant violence in the Middle East and by continuing to test ballistic missiles.

Iran denies financing extremist violence and says its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on May 13 that the U.S. exit from the deal could represent an end of diplomacy as a solution to global political differences.

Meanwhile, the Iranian parliament's website quoted an Iranian official as imposing a deadline for European countries to guarantee Iran's interests in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

"The Europeans have between 45 and 60 days to give the necessary guarantees to safeguard Iranian interests and compensate the damages caused by the U.S. pullout," Icana.ir said, attributing the remarks to Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

The German dpa news agency, citing sources, reported that the European signees have asked for 90 days.

With reporting by dpa and AFPPartial results from Iraqs parliamentary election indicate that influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadrs alliance has taken the lead in the crucial vote, with Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's bloc trailing in third place.

Iraq's electoral commission said early on May 14 that Sadrs Alliance of Revolutionaries for Reform was in the lead with 10 of the country's 19 provinces reporting from the May 12 vote, including the population centers of Baghdad and Basra.

Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia commander Hadi al-Amiri's Fatah Alliance closely followed in second place, while Abadi's Victory Alliance appeared to be performing poorly across majority Shia provinces that normally would be a strong base of support.

The election commission said Sadr and Amiri each won four of the 10 provinces where votes had been counted. However, Sadrs bloc won significantly more votes in the capital, Baghdad, which has the highest number of seats.

Abadi, a Shi'a who has sought to balance the competing influence of Washington and Tehran, finished third in six provinces but came in fifth in the capital.

Election commission officials read out tallies for each candidate list on national TV. After 10 provinces were read out, Sadr's list had the highest popular vote.

Rankings could change, with results still to be reported from eight provinces. Among them was Nineveh, with the second-highest number of seats being contested.

When final figures are released later on May 14, the results could offer a significant indication of whether Iraq's government will continue its longstanding ties to the United States and the West under Abadi or whether it will tilt more toward Iran.

After results are finalized, the countrys prime minister will be chosen through negotiations to form a governing coalition, which could take months.

The prime minister post is reserved for a Shi'a, the parliamentary speaker is Sunni, and the ceremonial presidency has gone to a Kurd. All three posts are chosen by parliament.

Sadr, an anti-American firebrand with a large following among Baghdad's urban poor, was once leader of the Mahdi Army, which battled U.S. forces in 2003.

The militia was disbanded in 2008 and replaced by his Peace Brigades, which helped push back Islamic State (IS) militant forces from areas near Baghdad in 2014 along with Iraqi government troops.

His father, the highly respected Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, was murdered in 1999 for defying Saddam Hussein.

Should Sadr prevail, it would mark a dramatic return to relevance for the cleric, who had been sidelined by Iran-backed rivals over recent years.

Meanwhile, Amiri spent more than two decades fighting Saddam from exile in Iran, and speaks fluent Persian.

Amiri leads the Badr Organization, which was the backbone of the volunteer forces that helped to defeat IS along with Iraqi government troops and U.S.-backed Western coalition forces.

Amiri hopes to capitalize on his battlefield successes. Victory for him would be seen as a big a win for Iran, which has sought to increase its influence in Iraq and the wider region.

The mostly peaceful vote was marred by a low turnout, with the election commission putting it at 44.5 percent, far below the 60 percent recorded in the previous election and the lowest since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some 22.5 million people were eligible to vote.

With reporting by AFP, AP, The Washington Post, and ReutersAt least 58 Palestinians were reported killed by Israeli troops in clashes on the Gaza border, as the United States took the controversial step of opening an embassy in Jerusalem.

Gaza's Health Ministry said that 2,700 Palestinians were also wounded by live gunfire, tear gas, or other means on May 14 -- the bloodiest day of clashes since the 2014 Gaza war.

Israel said some 40,000 Palestinians took part in "violent riots" along the Gaza Strip security fence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the use of force, saying that "every country has the obligation to defend its borders."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas condemned what he called "massacres" carried out by Israeli troops, and declared three days of mourning.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denounced "outrageous human rights violations" by Israeli forces.

White House spokesman Raj Shah said the responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas.

A number of other Western nations called for restraint.

Palestinians have been demonstrating for six weeks as part of a protest orchestrated by the Islamist movement Hamas, which has been ruling Gaza since 2007.

The latest violence coincided with the state of Israel's 70th anniversary and the dedication ceremony for a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Trump announced last year that the United States was recognizing the divided city as the capital of Israel and would move its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, creating an outcry from Palestinians, U.S. allies, and many other countries worldwide.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and declared the entire city as its capital, a move not recognized by the international community.

Top U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, attended the event, as hundreds of Arab citizens of Israel staged a protest near the site of the new U.S. Embassy.

In a recorded message at the ceremony, President Trump said he remained "fully committed" to pursuing peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Our greatest hope is for peace," he said.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for "having the courage" to keep his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, which he called the "eternal, undivided capital of Israel."

Abbas reiterated his condemnation of the U.S. embassy move, saying he "will not accept" any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit blasted as "shameful" the countries that are celebrating the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Iran's foreign minister called the move "a day of great shame."

The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem will serve as an interim office for the U.S. ambassador to Israel along with a small number of staff. A larger site will be built later when the rest of the embassy moves from Tel Aviv.

With reporting by AP, APF, dpa, Reuters, and the BBCBISHKEK -- Former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sapar Isakov has been summoned for a second round of questioning over a power-plant accident that left many residents of Bishkek without heat for days last winter.

Entering the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) building on May 14, Isakov urged the authorities to keep politics out of the case and said that a biased investigation "will not lead us to anything good."

It was the second time Isakov has been questioned over the accident at the Bishkek Thermal Power Station -- which left thousands of households without heat in bitterly cold weather -- since his cabinet was dismissed on April 19 after a no-confidence vote.

The pressure on Isakov is among several pieces of evidence of a rift between President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and his predecessor Almazbek Atambaev, who backed Jeenbekov in the October presidential election but has criticized him in recent weeks.

Speaking to journalists on his way into the UKMK building, Isakov suggested that he believes the state may mount a corruption case against former officials over the heating outages, but said that would be ill-advised.

"Almazbek Atambaev and his team worked in a clean way, with no corruption whatsoever," he said, adding that "Jeenbekov was also in his team and he knows that Atambaev had nothing to do with corruption as he fought against corruption himself."

Isakov was initially summoned for questioning on April 26, a week after he and his government were dismissed. Isakov's successor, Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev, and his government were sworn in on April 25.

Earlier in April, Jeenbekov fired several Atambaev allies including Prosecutor-General Indira Joldubaeva and UKMK head Abdil Segizbaev, who had been criticized for a crackdown on opposition politicians and independent journalists.

Atambaev, who was limited to a single presidential term by the Central Asian country's constitution, initially kept a low profile after leaving office in November.

But following his election as head of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) on March 31, he has publicly criticized Jeenbekov on several occasions.The ninth round of Syria peace talks sponsored by Iran, Russia, and Turkey began on May 14 in Kazakhstans capital, Astana.

Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Anuar Zhainaqov told reporters that UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is expected to join the negotiations in Astana later in the day and a Syrian armed opposition delegation should arrive there on May 15.

Zhainaqov added that the United States was not taking part in the talks.

In the past, the United States sent a delegation to the talks.

Russian presidential envoy for Syria Aleksandr Lavrentyev said on May 14 that Moscow still hopes Washington would take part in the talks.

"We are hoping that common sense will prevail and they [the United States] will take part in our session," Lavrentyev said.



Besides the Astana talks, United Nations-sponsored negotiations have been held in Geneva in search of an overall political solution to end the seven-year civil war in Syria.

Representatives of the Syrian government and some rebel groups attend the sessions, and the United Nations and Jordan generally send observers.

Russia and Iran back the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey, along with the United States, supports differing rebel groups.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions have been driven from their homes since the conflict began in March 2011 with a crackdown on antigovernment protests.

Based on reporting on Kazinform, KazTAG, and InterfaxMilitants have ambushed an army vehicle on patrol in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, killing seven soldiers before fleeing back to neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani security officials say.

The attack occurred in North Waziristan on May 13, the two officials said on May 14, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, has issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.



The cross-border attack came after 10 people were killed and more than 40 injured in neighboring Afghanistan on May 13 in a coordinated attack by suicide bombers and gunmen at a government building in the city of Jalalabad.



The extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq news agency said without providing any evidence.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dawn.comArmenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he called Moscow's "balanced position" amid the political upheaval that brought him to power in Yerevan, and reassured the Kremlin that the "strategic alliance" between the countries is not in doubt.

In their first meeting since Pashinian was voted in by parliament on May 8 after leading weeks of antigovernment protests in the South Caucasus country, Putin wished him success and said he hoped that bilateral ties "will develop just as steadily as they have up to now."

The warm tone of the May 14 meeting on the sidelines of a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi was in line with previous comments by Putin and Pashinian, who has repeatedly said that Armenia will not turn its back on Russia -- a far larger and more powerful country that has a major military base in the smaller nation.

Speaking to Putin with reporters present at the start of the meeting, Pashinian said that "the strategic-alliance relations between Armenia and Russia" required "no discussion." He added that "there is a consensus on this issue in Armenia. I think that nobody in our country has or will cast doubt on the strategic importance of Armenian-Russian relations."

Pashinian said he hoped there would be a "new impulse for these relations," both in terms of politics and trade. According to the Interfax and Reuters news agencies, Pashinian -- whose country is locked in a simmering conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh -- expressed hopes of a boost in the arms trade.

Pashinian praised what he called the "balanced position that Russia demonstrated during our political crisis," adding: "It was a very constructive position. And I think this is highly valued not just by our government but in Armenian society in general."

Russia watched closely and consulted with Armenian politicians on both sides of the dispute but claimed it did not interfere amid the protests led by Pashinian, which prompted the resignation of longtime leader Serzh Sarkisian days after he became prime minister following a decade as president -- a shift that critics charged was a blatant bid to cling to power.

Russia's ties with Armenia are closer than its relations with South Caucasus neighbors Azerbaijan and Georgia -- Moscow's foe in a five-day war in 2008.

In addition to the EEU, Armenia is also a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, another regional grouping dominated by Moscow.

Russia "views Armenia as our closest partner and ally in the region" on both economic and security issues, Putin said. He said he hopes that what he called the "very good results" of recent economic cooperation will be "not just preserved but increased."

Speaking at the EEU summit, Pashinian affirmed his government's "full adherence to international commitments undertaken by the Republic of Armenia, including within the Eurasian Economic Union."

The Russian-led EEU, which aims to create a single market for the free movement of goods and services over a total population of more than 180 million people, was officially established in 2015 and also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

But Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that EEU members were "shutting doors against one another."

"We are exchanging mutual reproaches even in the media by which we are putting the international reputation of the union at risk," he also said.

Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov complained about what he called "acute" bureaucracy within EEU structures and said the grouping's executive body should be granted "extra authority to enable the prompt resolution of disputes related to the movement of goods."

"The [Eurasian Economic] Commission must be proactive and firm to resolve problematic issues that emerge among EEU member states," he said.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, and ReutersPRAGUE -- Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky says he believes his country's intelligence services benefited from being briefed six years ago by Sergei Skripal, the Russian former double agent who was poisoned with a nerve toxin along with his daughter in England in March.

Stropnicky told RFE/RL on May 14 that he thought Skripal's secret talks with Czech agents in Prague in 2012 were "on the normal basis of cooperation" between the intelligence services of the Czech Republic and Great Britain.

"Great Britain is known as a country with high-quality information services," Stropnicky said.

"As an exchange, or a kind of cooperation, it seems to me quite logical," he said, adding that he didn't know details about the information Skripal shared with Czech operatives.

"I can imagine [it was useful] because I would never expect that the British would send some kind of problematic man," Stopnicky said. "There was a reason for it, probably."

Skripal was a member of Russia's GRU military intelligence in the 1990s when he acted as a double agent for Britain.

He was arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in December 2004 and sentenced to 13 years in prison after being convicted of high treason in the form of espionage. He was accused of revealing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working in Europe.

But Russia freed him in 2010 and sent him to Britain as part of a spy swap for 10 Russian agents who'd been arrested in the United States.

Britain has accused Russia of using a rare, toxic nerve agent that had been manufactured by the Soviet Union to try to assassinate Skripal in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

The Kremlin denies the allegation, but a diplomatic dispute over the case has led to the expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats from two dozen Western countries.

A May 14 report in The New York Times about Skripal's contacts in NATO countries after his release in the spy swap suggests his poisoning may have been an act of retribution for working with Western intelligence agents to foil Russian espionage operations in Europe after 2010.

The report says Skripal briefed Czech intelligence officers at a secret meeting in Prague in 2012 about the kinds of spy tricks used by Russian agents he had known.

It said Skripal met with Czech intelligence officials on several occasions and also visited Estonia in 2016 to brief Estonian spies.

The New York Times also reported that Skripal's briefings on Russia were "almost certainly approved and possibly facilitated" by Britain as a way to "both educate their allies and provide Skripal with income."

Written by Ron Synovitz with reporting by Ray FurlongRussia is seeking to undermine European democracies and sow doubt in the West through malign activities and a "fog of lies," the head of Britain's domestic spy agency has told European intelligence chiefs.

In a May 14 address in Berlin, MI5 chief Andrew Parker said that Russia was carrying out "aggressive and pernicious actions" and risks becoming an "isolated pariah."

Parker's address to the gathering hosted by Germany's BfV domestic intelligence service was the first public speech outside Britain by a serving head of the agency.

Parker said that a March nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was a "deliberate and targeted malign activity" on British soil, and one of Moscow's "flagrant breaches of international rules."

London has blamed Moscow for the poisoning of Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence operative who became an informant for Britains MI6 foreign spy service, in the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.

Skripal and his daughter were both found unconscious on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the accusation that it was behind the attack.

Parker also condemned what he called a disinformation campaign mounted by Russia following the attack.

He said there was a need "to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths, and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine."

Skripal, 66, remains in the hospital. His daughter Yulia, 33, and a British police officer injured in the attack have both been discharged from hospital, while an investigation to identify the culprits is under way.

Parker also thanked the international community for its joint response to the incident, with 18 out of 28 European countries agreeing to support Britain in expelling scores of Russian diplomats.

The MI5 chief also said that the Russian occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula cannot be acceptable and neither is meddling in Western elections.

Parker also stressed the importance of post-Brexit security ties, warning that Europe faces an intense and unrelenting terrorist threat.

The extremist group Islamic State is plotting "devastating and more complex attacks," Parker said.

"The security challenges we are facing are stark, but we will counter them together," he concluded.

With reporting by Reuters and AFPBritain's spy chief accused Russia of attempting to subvert Western democracies by sowing disinformation and spreading lies. The head of the MI5 security service, Andrew Parker, said on May 14 that a series of recent aggressive actions directed by the Kremlin -- including media manipulation and meddling in elections -- were unacceptable. His speech to an audience of security officials in Berlin marked the first time a sitting head of MI5 has spoken publicly abroad. (Reuters)Russians who adhere to economic sanctions imposed by the United States could be imprisoned for four years under legislation due to be considered in parliament.

The bill, co-sponsored by leaders of all four parties in the legislature, was submitted to the State Duma lower house on May 14.

It is part of an effort to retaliate after the United States imposed asset freezes and financial restrictions on Russian officials, tycoons, and companies seen as close to President Vladimir Putin on April 6.

Those sanctions, the latest in a series imposed by the United States, European Union, and other countries since Russia seized Crimea and backed armed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, were meant to punish Moscow for alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other "malign activity around the globe."

The legislation, which faces three votes in the Duma and one in the upper house before it goes to Putin for his signature, would enable a court to impose a prison term of up to four years on any individual or representative of a legal entity in Russia who refuses to supply services or do business with a Russian citizen due to sanctions. Offenders could also be fined up to 600,000 rubles ($9,710).

Under the bill, helping foreign governments impose sanctions on Russia by providing advice or information would also be a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($8,090).

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has voiced support for the idea of making adherence to U.S. sanctions a criminal offense.

But lawmakers have watered down initial proposals for a raft of restrictions on the import of specific goods and services from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia -- including U.S. pharmaceutical and agricultural products, alcohol, and tobacco -- amid concerns that the measures could hurt Russian consumers and companies.

They also removed a proposal to restrict the employment of U.S. citizens in Russia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised Britain as "an ally and a strategic partner, but also a real friend" as he began a three-day visit to the United Kingdom.

"I see the strategic partnership between Turkey and the U.K. as a necessity, rather than a simple choice, for the interests of the two countries," he told a British-Turkish forum in the city of Reading on May 13.

"The cooperation we have with the U.K. is well beyond any mechanism that we established with other partners."

Erdogan said that, in July 2016, the British government quickly condemned an antigovernment coup in Turkey and said "we will never forget this solidarity."

Erdogan said he wanted to increase trade and security ties between the two countries as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in March 2019, the so-called Brexit process.

"We are ready to cooperate more with the U.K....post-Brexit in every field," Erdogan said.

Turkey's relations with the EU have deteriorated in recent years, with membership talks virtually halted after harsh criticism from the West over Ankara's crackdown against domestic opponents since the failed coup.

The Turkish leader is scheduled to meet Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Theresa May on May 15.

Based on reporting by AP and AFPWhite House national security adviser John Bolton says "regime change" in Iran is not currently part of the administrations policy, despite his past suggestions that the United States should push for a new government in Tehran.

"That's not the policy of the administration. The policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear weapons," Bolton told ABC television's This Week program on May 13.

On CNN's State of the Union program, Bolton played down his previous remarks, made before he joined the administration.

"I've written and said a lot of things over the years when I was a complete free agent," Bolton told CNN.

Bolton was tapped by President Donald Trump in March to replace H.R. McMaster and is considered a hard-liner on many international matters, including Iran.

He emphasized on CNN that his job now was to advise Trump and that the president would make the policy decisions.

"The circumstances Im in now is that I'm the national security adviser to the president. Im not the national security decision-maker. He [Trump] makes the decisions, and the advice I give him is between us," Bolton said.

Bolton told Fox News in January that the United States should increase economic pressure on Tehran and provide support to government opponents.

"There's a lot we can do to, and we should do it. Our goal should be regime change in Iran," he told Fox at a time when he was with the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

In 2015, he wrote an opinion piece published in The New York Times calling for air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. A year later, he called for regime change while he was reportedly under consideration to be Trump's secretary of state.

During his CNN interview, Bolton also said that "it's possible" sanctions could be placed on European companies that continue to do business with Iran after the U.S. pullout from the 2015 nuclear deal.

"It's possible," Bolton said. "It depends on the conduct of other governments."

The nuclear deal provided Iran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

But Trump on May 8 withdrew from the accord, saying Tehran had violated the "spirit" of the deal by testing ballistic missiles and supporting extremist activity in the region.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian use and denies supporting extremism.

With reporting by Reuters, ABC, and CNNThe U.S. president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, was among the dignitaries to open the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, which was officially moved from Tel Aviv. The May 14 unveiling ceremony came amid deadly protests by Palestinians who are seeking East Jerusalem as their future capital. In a recorded message, U.S. President Donald Trump said the move was a "long time coming" and that the United States remained "fully committed" to peace between Israel and Palestinians.The United States will officially move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, a decision that has caused joy in Israel and created an outcry from Palestinians, U.S. allies, and many other countries worldwide.

A delegation from the White House and Israeli officials will gather for the inauguration ceremony in the afternoon, while large numbers of Palestinians are expected to protest along the Gaza border with Israel and elsewhere.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that the United States was recognizing divided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of U.S. policy.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and declared the entire city as its capital, a move not recognized by the international community.

Trumps decision sparked deadly protests and 128 states condemned it in a United Nations General Assembly vote.

The current U.S. Consulate is considered an interim facility for the embassy. Plans call for the construction of a permanent U.S. Embassy at a different location in Jerusalem.

Some 1,000 police officers will be stationed around the embassy and nearby neighborhoods for the inauguration, officials said.

The action coincides with the celebration of Jerusalem Day, an annual event marking "reunification" of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

May 14 also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpaATYRAU, Kazakhstan -- An Uzbek national has been found dead in a Kazakh prison after complaining to relatives about torture.

Ruslan Otajonov was found dead in a prison near the city of Atyrau in western Kazakhstan on May 8, his father, Rustam Otajonov, said on May 14.

Rustam Otajonov spoke to RFE/RL after being allowed to see his son's body at a morgue in Atyrau.

Ruslan Otajonovs younger brother, Rasul Otajonov, told RFE/RL by phone on May 14 that several days before his death, Ruslan had sent a video statement to his relatives, complaining of torture.

In the video, which Rasul Otajonov provided to RFE/RL, a man in a blue T-shirt with closely cropped hair introduces himself as Ruslan Otajonov and says that prison guards had threatened him and other inmates, saying that they would "rot in solitary confinement."

"If I die, the prison guards must be he;d accountable," he says.

Ruslan Aitimov of the Atyrau regional prosecutor's office told RFE/RL that Otajonovs death was being investigated.

The chief of the Correctional System Department in the region, Mirbolat Kopesov, declined to comment on the situation and recommended that RFE/RL send its questions to his agency in written form.

Autopsy and Forensics Center officials in Atyrau told RFE/RL that they could only provide results of the tests performed on Otajonovs body to his direct relatives.

For years, prisoners in Kazakh penitentiaries have complained of dire conditions.

Inmates have rioted in recent years to protest what they call "torture," often maiming themselves to draw attention to their plight.

On May 10, dozens of people demonstrated in Astana, Almaty, and several other Kazakh cities, protesting torture" faced by prisoners in the country.

The rallies were quickly dispersed with dozens forcibly taken away from the protest sites by police.

Several protesters were later given sentences of up to several days in jail for "violating regulations on public gatherings."Cancun, Playa del Carmen police tend to numerous accidents

Cancun, Q.R.  Slick highways and wet inner city roads resulted in numerous accidents over the weekend between Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

In Cancun, a lack of caution is being blamed for at least three accidents along Cancun city streets. An accident at the junction of Rancho Viejo and Periferico at 1:00 p.m. between two cars kept local emergency personnel busy, however only minor damage was reported.

Speeding and wet pavement was blamed for another Cancun accident between a taxi and a public transport bus. The accident occurred at Lopez Portillo and Chac Mool Avenues. Several passengers from the public transport bus received on site medial attention for minor injuries.

A third accident involving a Hotel Secrets staff bus and private vehicle left traffic congested along a main artery of Cancun. Police say that accident occurred along Tulum Avenue in front of the Dubai Casino when one of the vehicles was unable to stop in time due to following too close.

According to the Transit, Fire and Federal Police corporation, an auto accident along the TulumPlaya del Carmen stretch required the Federal Police. Emergency personnel responded to an accident involving a Nissan Pathfinder with Florida plates.

The completely destroyed abandoned vehicle was found along the side of the highway that police say amount to approximately 250,000 peso in damages.

Two accidents near Puerto Morelos were also reported. The first accident occurred around Santuario de la Esperanza when an American tourist lost control of the rented vehicle they were driving and ended up in the central highway ridge.

Police say they were attempting to make their way to Playa del Carmen. The passengers of the vehicle were assisted by elements of the Fire Department of Puerto Morelos.

The second accident in the area of Puerto Morelos was at the height of Crococun. Police say the driver of a white Isuzu truck belonging to DAC lost control as he was driving toward Cancun. Three people were injured in the accident, two of whom, were transferred to a Playa del Carmen hospital.Cancun woman first to donate organs in state

Cancun, Q.R.  A Cancun woman has become the first this year to provide an organ donation in the state.

After a 48-year-old woman was admitted to the Emergency Department due to a cerebral arterial rupture that resulted in her becoming brain dead, the Procurement of Organs and Tissues department of the IMSS Regional General Hospital discussed organ donation with her family.

The family agreed, allowing the woman to donate organs that benefited five people. The 48-year-old Cancun woman donated her liver, both kidneys and two corneas to five people who were on an organ donation waiting list.

Surgeons of the National Medical Center arrived at the state hospital to harvest the needed organs. The womans liver will be transplanted in the Medical Center of the ISSSTE in Mexico City, while the kidneys will benefit two patients in the Medical Unit of Ignacio Garcia Tellez in Merida. Her corneas were sent to the National Medical Center, La Raza.

The head of the Coordination of Procurement of Organs and Tissues, Dr. Moises Campos Navarro, stressed the need to talk with family members about organ donations in Mexico.

Organ donation in Mexico is a growing problem with more than 20,000 people waiting for a transplant in 2016 and only 7,000 donations.Hollywood star Will Smith

Hollywood star Will Smith has revealed he did "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" because he was broke and in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Smith shared the backstory of how he became part of the iconic sitcom on his YouTube channel. The 49-year-old actor said after finding fame with his an DJ Jazzy Jeff's breakout hit "Parents Just Don't Understand" in the late 1980s, he spent all of his money. The actor said he did not pay his taxes and then had a flop when the rap duo released their second album.



"I didn't forget. I didn't pay the IRS. In my mind, I was not trying to avoid paying taxes. But I was like oh man they need their money. The IRS took all my stuff (bikes and cars). I was broke. Being famous and broke is a sh**** combination," Smith said Smith said his then-girlfriend suggested him to hang out around Paramount studios in hopes of meeting someone influential. The actor auditioned at Quincy Jones place and was soon roped in to play the lead in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". The series ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996 and made Smith a superstar.Disclaimer  The manufacturer (TVS Motor Company) has blacklisted Rushlane from its events/rides as a consequence of decisions based on restrictive practices. This blog is reliant on available UGC and customer input.

Engineer by degree, but a biker at heart. Chennai based Poonkathirvelan Boopalan is a proud owner of the new TVS Apache 310. He is also the first Apache 310 owner to complete Golden Quadrilateral road trip. Boopalan completed the trip in 104 hours, of which 70.5 hours was ride time.

A seasoned biker, who also completed the Saddle Sore 2000k (riding 2062 kms in 24 hours) back in 2013 on his Apache 180, Boopalan completed the 5900+ Golden Quadrilateral journey in 104 hours. Of this, 70.5 hours was ride time while remaining was rest, caught up in dust storm, traffic, etc.

He adds  First apache RR310 bike in india crossing 10K, but couldnt do the best timing GQ due to unexpected dust storm, 400+Km heavy construction work at bihar and UP and never experienced a climate of 46Deg with dust. Extreme support from friends and family. My fathers eyes says I am important for him and also, my goal and dream is important for him.

Talking about his biking journey, he says  When I was 2 I started loving bikes. Moto GP is the only thing I watch all the way. After completing 12th I got govt college engineering seat in Kovai and Salem. My father slightly insisted me to take govt college but I am bold enough to go to any college in Chennai because it is where the race track is. All the time I just speak about bikes, engine, power, road, race and Ducati. Most of my college friends criticized me like anything, few call me as dacalti, I cant forget those days.

After lot of struggle I got a bike and went to track and went to get track licence and searched for protective gears, racing teams. Days are just passed with full of disappointments. My father was in the situation that he can give max 5 to 8k per month. But racing is extremely expensive that a common man to reach till top and in India it is extremely difficult. Slowly I started realizing that I cant ever compete with 46. Age has just gone but not that passion and strength. Whatever I earn thats only for my passion and bike. As of now i have owned 8 bikes and ridden more than 3 lakh Kms on Indian roads.

Just like be crazy or stupidly riding what you are gaining is the common question raised in front of me by many? As of now I dont have any answers. There is no endurance racing or message to spread, all it is there is speed.

But one thing I want to share them all is that definitely I dont gain any money but I got and will get real people around me who believes me and who cares for me. Thats the only value I gained. One day you will come for me, i believe.

During GQ solo expedition at Varanasi Gangai river bridge after crossing difficult path (Bihar) I just stopped and called Vishal to tell there was a huge dust storm and it drained my energy and extreme construction work. I couldnt complete it in 80hrs. My eyes were filled with tears.

But he just motivated and told its not your fault you have to accept the nature. Just forgot about timing and completing is more important, he said. And Venkat also told while you crossed Gaya I felt really proud of you because just few days back he went Bihar and he knows the situation. And Jothi, Vaithy, Bhakya said machi nee safe ah vaa. Vidhya spoke and got appointment for quick service at Varanasi around 12 to 2 pm but I reached there at 18:00, she continuously monitored me and updated about my arrival to the service people, so even after service center was closed they stayed and serviced my vehicle, still I donna how can I thank them.

At Bhubaneshwar strange friend gave me shelter for power nap with wishes and at Varanasi I got permission for stay at petrol bunk from old man via Vidhya ( She spoke in Hindi) , suddenly owner came and just asked about me and few minutes of talk he went and gave me cot for stay. Same happened at Kishangarh (RJ).

I am extremely grateful to people who followed and supported me throughout the journey and also to people who hates me.

India is extremely beautiful country and most of the people are awesome and helpful. I love you all, we are all Indians and humans. Only government is dividing us. Wherever i lost energy vishal will be der to boost.

Life is strength nothing else matters. Just wait for your day and keep doing what you love.Report :Army inflicts Saudi army, its mercenaries' heavy losses in battle fronts [14/May/2018] br>

SANAA, May 14 (Saba)  The army and popular forces fired artillery and rockets towards sites and gatherings of Saudi army and its mercenaries in combat fronts over the past 24 hours, causing heavy casualties, a military official told Saba on Monday.



In Jizan province, the army fired Katyusha missile on groups of Saudi soldiers in site of al-Mousam and al-Ghawih.



Also in Jizan, the army's artillery hits groups of the mercenaries and destroyed a Saudis bulldozer in sites of al-Huthierah, al-Tawel crossing point and al-MBC mountain.



In Najran province, the army's artillery and rockets launched towards Saudi army's groups in al-Shabakah.



Meanwhile, the army of snipers units killed three mercenaries in al-Suids and Raqabat Morish sites and destroyed three military vehicles of the mercenaries in wstern Sudis and al-Ashajar desert.



According to the official , a mercenary was killed by the army in Natta front in Bayda province.



In Marib, the army killed a mercenary in al-Makhdarah area.



In Taiz, the army bombed a military vehicle the mercenaries in western coast front.



In Hajjah province, the artillery of the army shelled groups of the mercenaries and bombed a military vehicle in Medi desert, the official added.





Ali Ahsan

Saba[SYDNEY] Strains of the visceral leishmaniasis parasite discovered in the central-eastern hills of Nepal have a different genetic and metabolic profile from the dominant population in the region, which could impact on the elimination of the disease, a study finds.



Scientists who conducted the study, published April in Infection, Genetics and Evolution, say the differences could affect the severity of infection with the Leishmania donovani parasite, which is transmitted by sandflies.

We wanted to warn the community about the new strains as they could have implications for diagnosis and treatment Jean-Claude Dujardin, Institute of Tropical Medicine

We wanted to warn the community about the new strains as they could have implications for diagnosis and treatment, says Jean-Claude Dujardin, a biologist at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp and lead author of the paper.



Visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, is the second-most deadly parasitic disease after malaria, afflicting some 300,000 individuals a year and killing an estimated 30,000 of the poorest people in the world. The parasites attack the bone marrow, liver and spleen (hence the term visceral). Most cases occur in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, where a transnational effort led by the WHO aims to eliminate the neglected tropical disease by 2020.



In 2016, Dujardin was part of a team that sequenced more than 200 samples of L. donovani isolated from the South Asian region. They identified a dominant population, as well as two genetically distinct subpopulations, one found in Sri Lanka, and another, nicknamed yeti, in Nepal.



Dujardin and his colleagues wanted to find out just how unique the yeti strains were. The team compared the genomes and metabolite production of five yeti strains with four strains of the dominant group. The researchers observed significant differences in genes and metabolites related to virulence (harmfulness) of the disease. This, to the researchers, raised the possibility of other divergences more directly relevant to diagnosis and treatment.



We do not have a good animal model for visceral leishmaniasis, so its always going to be unclear how the genetic and metabolic differences translate into pathogenicity, drug susceptibility and other key processes determining transmission and disease, says Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The emergence of new strains is one hurdle to achieving the 2020 target, says Syamal Roy, deputy director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology . Others, he says, include a gradual decline in the efficacy of available drugs, failure to develop a vaccine, increase in the number of infected patients who do not show typical symptoms and are, therefore, left untreated, and the identification of new animal reservoirs of the disease such as dogs.On the whole, I have doubts about the success of the elimination programme, comments Roy.This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk.Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) is a rare disease in which abnormal cells build up inside the veins responsible for carrying oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the heart. It restricts blood flow through these vessels, eventually sealing them off entirely if left untreated. Typically affecting young children, the most severe form of PVS progresses very quickly and can cause death within a matter of months after diagnosis.

Until recently, treatment options have been limited to keeping the pulmonary veins open through catheterization or surgery. Yet this approach only removes the cells but does nothing to prevent their regrowth. Now, a clinical trial shows that adding chemotherapy to a treatment regimen including catheterization and surgery can deter abnormal cellular growth and finally give children with PVS a chance to grow up.

Results of the trial, run by the Boston Children's Hospital Pulmonary Vein Stenosis Program, were recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"Through this approach, we've created the first-ever population of survivors who are living with severe PVS," says Christina Ireland, RN, MS, FNP, who has managed enrolling patients in the trial and treating new patients since the trial ended. "We've changed this disease from an acute killer to a chronic, manageable condition."

The earlier the patients were able to start chemotherapy, the better they are faring now, according to Boston Children's cardiologist and researcher Kathy Jenkins, MD, MPH, who was senior author on the paper. Working with neuro-oncologist Mark Kieran, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Jenkins brought the innovative chemotherapy approach to PVS patients at the Boston Children's Heart Center.

"In cancer treatment, chemotherapy works by targeting certain receptors on abnormal cells," Jenkins says. "We started down this path because we had reason to believe that PVS cells had similar types of receptors."

Finding common ground in vascular disease

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Jenkins, Kieran and a team of collaborators zeroed in on receptors for platelet-derived growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor as targets that two types of leading chemotherapies (imatinib mesylate and bevacizumab) are able to attack.

"By targeting these growth factor receptors with chemotherapy, we hypothesized that we could be successful in slowing down the abnormal cellular buildup caused by pulmonary vein stenosis," says Ryan Callahan, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children's and the first author on the paper.

Given the promise of the approach, the Food and Drug Administration initially approved the clinical trial to include ten patients as a pilot. Soon, however, patient responses showed that the approach was working without undue toxicity. Consequently, the trial expanded to treat 48 total patients over the course of five years.

"By the 48th week of treatment, we were able to stabilize PVS progression and prevent further lung damage in 31 percent of the children we treated," Jenkins says. "At 72 weeks, 77 percent of patients treated per our protocol were still alive. This is truly remarkable when you consider that historically, children diagnosed with severe PVS have been given mere months to live."

Racing to provide treatment in time

Jenkins says that when a patient presents with acute symptoms of PVS, the heart and lungs are both at jeopardy.

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"The lungs need ventilation and blood flow to survive," Jenkins says. "When patients reach a point where their PVS has progressed to a severe enough degree, it's possible for them to lose function of one or both lungs. Additionally, keeping the veins clear is critical to ensure that the heart isn't under dangerous strain from struggling to pump blood."

Ireland agrees. "From the children we've treated in our trial, we've quickly learned that early intervention is the key to preventing permanent cardiac scarring and lung damage that can impact their long-term quality of life," she says.

Ireland has played a special role in the success of the trial. Jenkins and other colleagues say she stopped at nothing to bring nearly 50 young patients and their parents from all over the U.S. to Boston to receive treatment, even sending out a medical jet to get them when necessary.

Going above and beyond

After the patients arrived and were medically cleared to receive treatment, Ireland helped navigate the road ahead. She worked to get the experimental therapy approved by families' insurance companies and coordinated every aspect of each child's care. For children who were too young to swallow the chemotherapy pills, Ireland showed parents how to crush the pills and add them to apple juice.

"A clinical trial served in a juice glass!" Ireland has said with a laugh.

She gave out her personal cell phone number to every single child's parents so that they could contact her day or night to ask questions about the medication or their child's condition. Today, she regularly gets text updates about how the trial's graduates are starting new years at school, reaching milestone birthdays and celebrating holidays with their families.

As a co-author on the clinical trial results paper, Ireland hopes the peer-reviewed data will help speed up insurance approvals for use of the chemotherapy drugs in PVS and influence other cardiology departments to begin chemotherapy as soon as a child is diagnosed with progressive PVS.

Shifting pulmonary vein stenosis from acute to chronic

Despite the success of the trial, new challenges still lie ahead for the growing cohort of PVS survivors.

"The newly-formed 'chronic' PVS patient population is growing up with unique heart and lung conditions that require innovative treatment," Jenkins says. "For example, some children who did not receive chemotherapy early enough are now undergoing heart and lung surgeries to address scarring caused by PVS. Without chemotherapy, however, these children may not still be alive to face these medical challenges."

Although the number of patients with chronic PVS is still small, it's quickly growing. As each child reaches new milestones that were not possible before, Jenkins and Ireland adapt to create personalized treatment plans for each and every one of them.

"We tell parents that even though there haven't been many patients in your child's shoes, we've been the team that's seen them all," Ireland says. "There isn't another clinic out there that knows how to treat PVS like we do."

In addition to Jenkins, Callahan, Kieran and Ireland, additional authors on the paper were Christopher Baird, Steven Colan, Kimberlee Gauvreau, Audrey Marshall, Laureen Sena and Sara Vargas.

This work was funded by the Ansley's Heart Endowment Fund, the Christina Capozzi Memorial Foundation and the T.J. Reynolds Endowment Fund.Transplanting fungi to restore native plant populations in the Midwest and Northwest is the focus of efforts by a team of WSU Tri-Cities researchers.

Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with many plant roots, which helps stabilize the soil, conserve water and provides a habitat for many birds and insects, said Tanya Cheeke, assistant professor of biology. Some native plant species are more dependent on mycorrhizal fungi than invasive plant species. So, when that fungi is disturbed, native plants may not be able to compete as well with invasive species, disrupting the natural ecosystem of the environment and inhibiting many natural processes, she said.

Inoculate seedlings with microbes

"One way to improve native plant survival and growth in disturbed environments may be to inoculate seedlings with native soil microbes, which are then transplanted into a restoration site," Cheeke said. "We've been doing prairie restoration in Kansas for the past two years. Now, we're also doing something similar in the Palouse area in Washington."

Cheeke is working with a team of undergraduate and graduate students to complete the research. A group of her undergraduate students recently presented their project during the WSU Tri-Cities Undergraduate Research Symposium and Art Exhibition. Those students include Catalina Yepez, Jasmine Gonzales, Megan Brauner and Bryndalyn Corey.

The undergraduate team spent the past semester analyzing the spread of fungi from an inoculated soil environment in Kansas to see how far the fungi had spread into a restoration area. One year after planting, soil samples were collected at 0.5 meter, 1 meter, 1.5 meters, and 2 meters from the site of the inoculation in each plot. The samples were then tested for the presence of fungal DNA to see if the inoculated mycorrhizal species had reached the various distances from the inoculation points.

"The results will be used to inform ecological restoration efforts aimed at improving the survival and growth of native plants in disturbed ecosystems," undergraduate student Megan Brauner said.

Disturbed vs. pristine environments

Cheeke said they also are looking at how microbes change across gradients of disturbed environments compared to pristine environments.

"We want to determine the microbes that are present in pristine environments, but are missing from disturbed sites," she said.

Eventually, Cheeke said they would like to develop soil restoration strategies that other people can implement in their own environments.A ribbon of ice more than 600 kilometers long that drains about 12 percent of the gigantic Greenland Ice Sheet has been smaller than it is today about half of the time over the past 45,000 years, a new study suggests.

Interestingly, the loss of ice from the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) took place not only during the warm Holocene period, but also during a period thought to be very cold preceding the last glacial maximum, the researchers say.

The findings suggest that NEGIS is particularly sensitive to environmental changes, which may exacerbate the influence of anthropogenic climate change. Results of the study are being published today in Nature Communications.

"There are some parts of the ice sheet that are relatively stable and others that show evidence of very rapid retreating -- a pattern we're seeing today as well as thousands of years ago," said Anders Carlson, an Oregon State University geologist and co-author on the study. "Some of it relates to bed topography -- when the bed is below sea level, it stabilizes that part of the ice sheet. In low spots, it is unstable."

Carlson said different factors may help explain the ice mass loss, including orbital forcing and warm summer temperatures. The path of the Earth's orbit put it closer to the sun some 9,000 years ago, breaking the planet out of its glacial maximum. NEGIS showed significant ice loss.

Yet it also showed a loss of ice during the period preceding that maximum, about 41,000 to 26,000 years ago, which is thought to have been very cold. OSU paleoclimatologist Christo Buizert, also a co-author on the study, reconstructed air temperatures from that period using ice core analysis and found that air temperatures indeed were much colder than average, but summer temperatures were warmer, which may have contributed to the ice loss.

"That period was also quite dry and there wasn't nearly as much snowfall," Carlson said, "which may have driven the ice margin to be smaller."

The researchers were able to determine where the ice sheet margins were essentially by analyzing the rocks for "sunburn," Carlson said. When ice has retreated, the rocks become exposed to cosmic rays that hit the quartz in the rock and split the elements, creating beryllium-10. This cosmic bombardment leaves an elemental fingerprint that allows the researchers to reconstruct ice-free times over thousands of years.

"The anthropogenic forcing we are seeing today is having a significant impact on the ice sheet and it already has retreated to levels that weren't predicted to occur until the end of the century," Carlson said.

A team of Danish and American researchers conducted much of the fieldwork, studying three fast-flowing marine-terminating "outlet" glaciers on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

"Modern observations have shown that the NEGIS is very susceptible to changes in both air and ocean temperatures and is presently in a phase of rapid ice retreat," said Nicolaj Larsen of Aarhus University in Denmark, lead author on the study. Larsen spent much of the past year on sabbatical at Oregon State, where he collaborated with the OSU researchers.

Carlson and Buizert are with Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. The study was supported by the Villum Foundation, Aarhus University's Arctic Research Center, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.People who snore may have extensive tissue damage in the nerves and muscles of the soft palate. This can in turn create problems with swallowing and contribute to development of sleep apnea. Treatment strategies aimed at early intervention to stop snoring might have beneficial effects in healing or preventing development of sleep apnea. These findings are explained in a new dissertation at Umea University, Sweden.

The reason why some develop sleep apnea is still unclear. Factors that are considered important are obesity, a small throat, neurological diseases and hormonal disorders. But even those without that background can suffer. The thesis shows that tissue damage in the soft palate also is an important factor that contributes to the development of sleep apnea and disturbances in swallowing function.

"The nerve and muscles injuries seem to contribute to the collapse of the upper airway during sleep. Most likely, the damage results from the recurrent snoring vibrations the tissues are exposed to, says Farhan Shah," PhD student at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology at Umea University.

In his dissertation, Farhan Shah reports a study where his research team has examined eight patients who have been snoring for many years and 14 patients with snoring and sleep apnea. These have been compared to a control group of 18 non-snoring people. The subjects in the study were examined with overnight sleep registrations to detect sleep apnea. Disorders of the swallowing function were investigated with a video radiographic technique.

Tissue samples from the participants' soft palate were analyzed to detect muscle and nerve lesions. The results showed that snorers and sleep apnea patients had extensive damage in both nerves and muscles. The damage was related to the degree of swallowing disorders and the severity of sleep apnea.

The nerves in the soft palate of snorers and sleep apnea patients showed fewer nerve fibers and supporting cells that help the nerve fibers survive and regenerate. The nerves also had increased connective tissue. In muscle analysis, one could see that a large number of muscle fibers in the soft palate showed changes reflecting loss of innervation due to nerve damage.

It was also possible to see changes in the protein structures in the muscle fibers' cell membrane and cell skeleton of snorers and sleep apnea patients. Such changes give muscle weakness and have been previously found only in genetic muscle diseases.

"Continued research is needed to see if treatment that prevents damage to nerves and muscles could cure or at least prevent further deterioration in snores and sleep apnea patients. It would be a big win because sleep apnea is a major public illness," says Farhan Shah.

More than 400,000 Swedes suffer from sleep apnea. The condition is characterized by snoring and recurrent respiratory arrest during sleep. It creates a stress for the body and a proven risk increases for high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and premature death.

Sleep apnea is estimated to cost one billion Swedish kronor a year. In addition, there is an unknown cost to society in the form of increased accident risks and reduced day time productivity due to disturbed sleep.Parents are more willing to let their children see PG-13 movies with intense gun violence when the violence appears to be "justified," used in defense of a loved one or for self-protection, than when it has no socially redeeming purpose, a new study finds.

But even when the gun violence in PG-13 movies appears justified, parents think that the movies are more suitable for teens age 15 and up, two years older than suggested by the movie industry ratings board's PG-13 rating. Parents thought movies with unjustified but bloodless gun violence were more appropriate for 16-year-olds, the study finds.

The study, "Parental Desensitization to Gun Violence in PG-13 Movies," by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, was published online in the journal Pediatrics on May 14 and will be in the June issue.

"The findings suggest that parents may want a new rating, PG-15, for movies with intense violence," said lead author Daniel Romer, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). "Violent movies often get a PG-13 rating by omitting the consequences of violence such as blood and suffering, and by making the use of violence seem justified. But parents of teenagers say that even scenes of justified violence are upsetting and more appropriate for teens who are at least 15."

The rise of gun violence in PG-13 movies

Past studies by APPC researchers found that gun violence in the most popular PG-13 movies has more than doubled since the rating was introduced in 1984, and now exceeds the gun violence in comparable R-rated films. In the earliest years of the PG-13 rating, less than a third of the 30 top-grossing movies were rated PG-13, but recently more than half were PG-13. In past research on the growing acceptance of gun violence in PG-13 films, APPC researchers found that parents appeared to become desensitized to violence as they watched successive movie clips.

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The current experiment was designed to understand whether parents became more accepting of the movie violence because they were being emotionally numbed to it or whether the justification for the violence influenced them. Could justified violence be less upsetting than unjustified violence? And could parents who repeatedly saw the kind of bloodless, justified violence featured in PG-13 movies become so accustomed to it that they experience a kind of "normative desensitization" that leads to greater acceptance of its viewing by children?

The experiment

In an online experiment, the APPC researchers showed movie clips to a national sample of 610 parents who have at least one child between the ages 6 and 17. Parents viewed a series of four 90-second clips of either justified or unjustified violence from popular movies. The scenes of justified violence came from the PG-13 movies "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007), "White House Down" (2013), "Terminator Salvation" (2009), and "Taken" (2008). The clips of unjustified violence came from the PG-13 movies "Skyfall" (2012) and "Jack Reacher" (2012) and the R-rated films "Sicario" (2015) and "Training Day" (2001).

Scenes from the R-rated movies were edited to remove graphic and potentially upsetting consequences such as blood and suffering to mimic the effect of PG-13 movies. (PG-13 means parents are strongly cautioned that some material "may be inappropriate for children under 13." The more restricted R rating means viewers under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult.)

Parents less upset by justified violence

Instead of being emotionally desensitized, parents grew increasingly upset as they watched the succession of movie clips, whether the violence was justified or not. But parents were less upset by the justified violence and more lenient in deciding the appropriate age for a child to watch it. Most of the parents said the movies with justified violence were suitable starting at age 15, while the movies with unjustified violence were appropriate starting at age 16.

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One exception: The parents who were frequent moviegoers were the most permissive, saying that movies with unjustified violence were suitable for 13-year-olds.

As parents watched the series of movie scenes of unjustified gun violence, they became more restrictive on the appropriate age for viewing, the study found. But that wasn't true with the justified scenes of violence, where parents' opinion of the appropriate viewing age held steady. The APPC researchers also found that when watching the successive justified movie clips, parents increasingly regarded the gun violence itself as justified.

Media violence and children

The American Academy of Pediatrics has been long concerned about the effects of media violence. In 2016 the academy pointed to a body of research showing that viewing violent media content can influence some youth to become more aggressive

A recent study by Ohio State University researchers found that children 8 to 12 years old who saw scenes of a PG-rated movie with guns played longer with a real gun and pulled the trigger more often than children who saw a movie without guns.

"Despite such evidence, we still don't know whether repeatedly seeing movies with justified violence teaches children that using guns is OK if they think it's justified," Romer said.

He added that filmmakers appear to be taking advantage of the movie rating system.

"Hollywood is exploiting the movie rating system by leaving out harmful consequences like blood and suffering from PG-13 films," Romer said. "By sanitizing the effects of violence, moviemakers are able to get a PG-13 rating and a wider audience for their films. But this gun violence may be just as brutal and potentially harmful to young viewers."A variant of the APOE gene may be linked to worse psychiatric symptoms in people who have had a traumatic brain injury, found a Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System study. Study participants with both the gene variant and at least one TBI had more severe symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression than comparison participants.

The results appeared online Feb. 20, 2018, in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

TBI has long been connected with increased risk of psychiatric disorders such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety. A past study of more than 13,000 veterans by the Minneapolis VA Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research found that more than 80 percent of those who had suffered a TBI also had a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. The same study found that veterans who had a TBI were three times more likely to have PTSD than those who had not.

The new San Diego study also found that patients with TBI had greater PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms than those without. The researchers sought to build on that finding by delving into the biological link between TBI exposure and psychiatric disorders.

Apolipoprotein E is a protein that transports and metabolizes lipids such as cholesterol in the central nervous system. It is involved in the maintenance, growth, and repair of neurons. The protein is encoded by a gene referred to as APOE. APOE has three possible variants. One form of the APOE gene (APOE4) is considered a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies have shown in Vietnam veterans and Iraq/Afghanistan veterans that the APOE4 gene may increase the risk of PTSD.

The researchers set out to test whether the APOE4 gene puts people at greater risk of psychiatric distress when combined with TBI. They collected DNA from 133 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to test for the APOE4 gene. Of these participants, 79 had a mild or moderate TBI, while 54 had no TBI history.

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In the participant group with TBI, those with the APOE4 gene had significantly higher symptom scores for PTSD, depression, and anxiety, compared with those with a different variant of APOE. The APOE4 variant was linked to worse symptoms for participants with both mild and moderate TBI.

In the group without a TBI, the researchers found no differences in depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms between those with or without APOE4.

Dr. Victoria C. Merritt, first author on the paper, concludes, "Genetic risk may help to explain the poorer long-term clinical outcomes often observed in veterans with neurotrauma histories."

The results are interesting because APOE4 seems to be linked to worse psychiatric symptoms only when TBI is involved, according to the researchers. Beyond suggesting a connection between APOE4 and the three conditions studied, the results "also lend support to the broader theory that genetic risk factors influence psychiatric distress following TBI," they write.

The researchers suggest several possible explanations for why those with APOE4 may be at higher risk for psychiatric distress after TBI. First, the APOE4 variant may primarily affect the frontal subcortical regions of the brain, which are often impacted following TBI. These regions are involved in emotion regulation and psychiatric distress. Second, it is possible that APOE4 increases the risk of vascular disease, which has been shown to increase the risk of depression. Third, the presence of APOE4 may cause neurodegenerative effects, whereas the other forms of the gene do not. While more research will be needed to narrow down the cause, "the findings suggest that there may be a [genetic] basis for the complex presentation of symptoms often observed in this vulnerable population," says Merritt.

The study is the first to explore the link between APOE and psychiatric symptoms specifically connected to TBI. More studies are needed to fully understand how this gene interacts with head trauma to contribute to mental health symptoms, say the researchers.

The San Diego VA team is furthering this work by examining the relationship between APOE4 and cognitive outcomes in veterans with and without TBI histories. They are also looking at whether APOE4 affects post-concussion symptoms such as headaches and dizziness. Future research will also examine the how these findings relate to the biology of the brain using advanced neuroimaging methods.

Merritt explains that the work will add important insight on TBI, and may eventually point toward new treatments.

"Ultimately, we feel that this research is essential to developing a more complete understanding of the multitude of factors that impact recovery following neurotrauma," she said, "and such work may have relevance to the development of future treatments."Long-term and short-term relationships are obviously different from each other. Some people are the type you'd want to marry; others are good primarily for the sex.

At least, that's how conventional wisdom goes. But new research out of the University of California, Davis, suggests that -- at first -- long-term and short-term relationships may look more or less identical.

When you survey the complete time course of a short-term and long-term relationship -- from the moment you meet someone until the moment the relationship is over for good -- it takes a while for the differences in short-term and long-term relationships to emerge.

"Long-term and short-term trajectories typically pull apart after you've known someone for weeks or months," said Paul Eastwick, an associate professor of psychology at UC Davis who is the lead author on a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

"In the beginning, there is no strong evidence that people can tell whether a given relationship will be long-term and serious or short-term and casual."

More than 800 people surveyed

Eastwick and his co-authors surveyed more than 800 people from a wide range of ages. They used a state-of-the-art "relationship reconstruction" survey in which people reproduce the events and experiences they had in their prior real-life short-term and long-term relationships.

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Importantly, Eastwick and his colleagues asked the participants to reconstruct these relationships from the very beginning. This procedure differs from the standard "relationship science" approach, which starts studying people once they are already in a dating relationship.

"Some of the most interesting moments in these relationships happen after you meet the person face-to-face, but before anything sexual has happened," Eastwick added. "You wonder 'is this going somewhere?' or 'How much am I into this person?' It is somewhere around this point that short-term and long-term relationships start to diverge, and historically, we have very little data on this particular period of time."

The researchers found that romantic interest rises at the same rate in both short-term and long-term relationships. But at some point, romantic interest tends to plateau and decline in short-term relationships, while in long-term relationships, it continues to ascend and reaches a higher peak.

What is the moment when the two trajectories start to diverge? On average, it happens at about the time that the relationship starts to become sexual.

"People would hook up with some partners for the first time and think 'wow, this is pretty good.' People tried to turn those experiences into long-term relationships," said Eastwick. "Others sparked more of a 'meh' reaction. Those were the short-term ones."

The study offers a new twist on the distinction between the stable, long-term partner and the exciting, short-term partner. In real life, people may end up in short-term relationships when they are "just a little" attracted to the other person -- enough to keep having sex, but maybe not for very long. Long-term relationships may be the ones that start especially exciting and sexy and grow into something stable and lasting.Wireless microsensors have enabled new ways to monitor our environment by allowing users to measure spaces previously off limits to research, such as toxic areas, vehicle components, or remote areas in the human body. Researchers, however, have been stymied by limited improvements in the quality of data and sensitivity of these devices stemming from challenges associated with the environments they operate in and the need for sensors with extremely small footprints.

A new paper published today in Nature Electronics by researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, Wayne State University, and Michigan Technological University, explains how new devices with capabilities far beyond those of conventional sensors can be built by borrowing concepts from quantum mechanics.

The team, led by Andrea Alu, director of the ASRC's Photonics Initiative and Einstein Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center, and Pai-Yen Chen, professor at Wayne State University, developed a new technique for designing microsensors that allows for significantly enhanced sensitivity and a very small footprint. Their method involves using isospectral parity-time-reciprocal scaling, or PTX symmetry, to design the electronic circuits. A 'reader' is paired with a passive microsensor that meets this PTX symmetry. The pair achieves highly sensitive radio-frequency readings.

"In the push to miniaturize the sensors to improve their resolution and enable large-scale networks of sensing devices, improving the sensitivity of microsensors is crucial," Alu said. "Our approach addresses this need by introducing a generalized symmetry condition that enables high-quality readings in a miniaturized footprint."

The work builds on recent advances in the area of quantum mechanics and optics, which have shown that systems symmetric under space and time inversion, or parity-time (PT) symmetric, may offer advantages for sensor design. The paper generalizes this property to a wider class of devices that satisfy a more general form of symmetry -- PTX-symmetry. This type of symmetry, is particularly well-suited to maintain high sensitivity, while drastically reducing the footprint.

The researchers were able to show this phenomenon in a telemetric sensor system based on a radio-frequency electronic circuit, which exhibited drastically improved resolution and sensitivity compared to conventional sensors. The microelectromechanical (MEMS)-based wireless pressure sensors share the sensitivity advantages of previous PT-symmetric devices, but crucially the generalized symmetry condition allows both for device miniaturization and enables an efficient realization at low frequencies within a compact electronic circuit.

This new approach may allow researchers to overcome the current challenges in deploying ubiquitous networks of long-lasting, unobtrusive microsensors to monitor large areas. In the age of the internet of things and big data, such networks are useful for wireless health, smart cities, and cyber-physical systems that dynamically gather and store large amounts of information for eventual analysis.

"Development of wireless microsensors with high sensitivity is one of the major challenging issues for practical uses in bioimplants, wearable electronics, internet-of-things, and cyber-physical systems," Chen said. "While there has been continuous progress in miniature micro-machined sensors, the basics of telemetric readout technique remains essentially unchanged since its invention. This new telemetry approach will make possible the long-sought goal of successfully detecting tiny physical or chemical actuation from contactless microsensors."When freelance photojournalist Brian L. Frank decided to document the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, he arrived with the only credential that would be accepted by the boys serving time.

Hed served time himself and knew the slang and the body language  as well as having a willingness to spend all day and night at the camp  that earned him an exceptionally honest series of images that made its debut last week at SF Camerawork.

I had my own altercations with the criminal justice system when I was younger, said Frank, now 38. So I had a connection with these guys.

The exhibition, titled Focal Points, is a group show featuring Tomas van Houtryve, Sarah Blesener and Frank, all of whom were funded by CatchLight, a Bay Area nonprofit promoting photography about social issues.

Brian L. Frank / Catchlight Fellow / Marshall Project

Frank got a $30,000 grant that defrayed the costs of driving from his home in Guerneville to the Amador County camp in the Sierra foothills, plus his hotel charges in Placerville. He would have preferred to stay overnight at the camp with the boys, but its against regulations.

I wanted to show what happens when the camera isnt there, he says, and the only way to get that is to just blend in. Eventually, they get bored with you being there for so long, and then you see the true moments.

Frank learned the language from the inside of San Franciscos Juvenile Hall, the lockup infamously known as juvie. He spent a lot of time there when he was younger, for fighting and a variety of other crimes he declines to list. The only thing good about his juvie experience was its location on the west side of Twin Peaks, convenient to the Sunset District where Frank grew up.

While in and out of trouble, Frank also managed to get himself into Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory school, where he graduated in 1997. But it took one more trip to a prison camp for adults, to serve a six-month sentence for felony assault, before Frank finally straightened himself out.

Brian L. Frank / Catchlight Fellow / Marshall Project

He earned his bachelors degree in journalism from San Francisco State University in 2007, and 10 years later had an assignment from a big national magazine to shoot inmate firefighters. One of the camps he visited turned out to be Pine Grove, the last remaining camp in California that trains juvenile felons to be firefighters. He finished the inmate firefighter story, then returned on his own to the juvenile camp.

I was really interested in continuing there because I had a connection with the guys and wanted to continue working with them, he says.

But it did not end there. When one of the boys was released, Frank followed him home to Salinas and photographed his re-entry into the chaotic street life there. This teen made it through the transition, but many relapse into gang life and end up back in custody. Frank has shot that side of post-juvie life, too, as a before-and-after study.

In all there are 15 of his images among 46 pictures in the group show.

Through spending time with the boys, I was able to find the bonds of brotherhood, which is what I was looking for, he says. I didnt want to just show scary-guys-in-jail pictures.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF Instagram: @sfchronicle_art

Focal Points: CatchLight Fellows and Everyday Bay Area Collective: Noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Through June 30. Free. SF Camerawork, 1011 Market St., S.F. (415) 487-1011. www.sfcamerawork.orgJulius Turman, former president of the San Francisco Police Commission, has died. He was 52.

Turmans body was found in his home by friends Sunday, said a city official who requested anonymity. There did not appear to be signs of foul play.

Turmans last day on the job was May 4, a year before the end of his second term. He announced his resignation in December and told The Chronicle in an April interview that he was feeling burnt out.

Turman joined the commission in 2012 and became its president in 2016.

During his tenure as a police commissioner, Turman helped write rules for body-worn cameras, revise the citys use-of-force policies, and make reforms recommended by President Barack Obamas Justice Department after a string of controversial police shootings in San Francisco.

In March, shortly before resigning, Turman helped craft a new policy for electroshock weapons  commonly known as Tasers  which had been the focus of a years-long debate in City Hall. The commission voted 6-1 to approve the policy, clearing the way for officers to use the devices at the end of the year.

Commissioner Turman was a tremendously intelligent and compassionate man who cared deeply about this department, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement. He worked to help us increase trust and respect and was relentlessly focused on bringing forth the best practices, policies and procedures to the San Francisco Police Department. We are grateful for his dedication and hard work and we extend our deepest condolences to his family.

San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell said Turman provided honest candor and oversight, working tirelessly to make this city safe and secure for everyone.

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.

I am profoundly saddened by his passing, said Farrell, who has directed flags to be flown at half-staff Monday at City Hall and San Francisco Police Department buildings. My deepest sympathies and condolences are with his family and friends at this time.

Turman was a labor and employment attorney and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Im just stunned, said Police Commissioner Petra DeJesus. For the last two years, Julius led us through shootings, angry meetings and selecting the new chief of police. He worked really hard on the use-of-force policy. He was a brilliant lawyer and a really fearless leader. ... I feel like I got sucker-punched today. I just didnt see this coming.

Catherine Ho and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho, @rachelswanWhen four San Francisco deputy public defenders decided to take on four Superior Court judges in the June election, they stirred up a storm of opposition in the political and legal community.

The incumbents  Judges Curtis Karnow, Jeffrey Ross, Cynthia Ming-mei Lee and Andrew Cheng  have won endorsements from Gov. Jerry Brown and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris. Also from the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee and San Francisco Young Democrats, local Democratic legislators and the four leading candidates for mayor.

The judges are, as their opponents repeatedly point out, all appointees of Republican governors. All four, as it turns out, are also registered Democrats.

The California Judges Association supports the four judges. So do all 46 of their Superior Court colleagues, along with 30 past presidents of the Bar Association of San Francisco. State Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, a Brown appointee, says that challenging dedicated and highly qualified judges just because of their appointing governors party affiliation is crass political opportunism.

And J. Anthony Kline, a Brown-appointed presiding justice of the state appeals court in San Francisco, writes that the challengers campaign threatens to undermine the independence and integrity of one of the finest superior courts in this state.

Niki Solis, who is seeking to unseat Ross, said she isnt surprised by the reaction to the challengers.

Certainly, judges have circled the wagons and supported each other. Thats to be expected, said Solis, who has spent 21 years in the public defenders office, which represents criminal defendants who cant afford their own lawyers. But its not the lawyers who get to decide, not the governor, not the judges, not the Bar Association. Its the voters.

Kwixuan Maloof, who has been with the defenders office for 17 years and is now a lead attorney in its homicide unit, said he and his colleagues are being unfairly accused of attacking the judiciary.

I never thought democracy was an attack, said Maloof, who is running against Lee. Were running because the system is failing, failing our people.

Also opposing Lee is Elizabeth Zareh, an attorney and San Francisco property assessment commissioner who is not part of the public defenders campaign. The other deputy public defenders are Maria Evangelista, who is running against Karnow, and Phoenix Streets, who is taking on Cheng.

The election is June 5.

Superior Court judges, appointed for six-year terms, are usually re-elected automatically and are not even listed on the ballot if they have no challengers. They are rarely challenged and even less often unseated.

One of the few exceptions happened in 2008, when Gerardo Sandoval, a San Francisco supervisor forced off the board by term limits, ran for Superior Court and defeated Judge Thomas Mellon, a 1994 appointee of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. Mellon lost despite having been endorsed by much of the local and state judiciary.

Two years later, another San Francisco judge, Richard Ulmer, narrowly defeated challenger Michael Nava, a gay Latino attorney whose campaign themes were similar to those being aired this year  he said he would add diversity to the bench, and pointed out that Ulmer had been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A now retired San Francisco judge, Donna Hitchens, took office by defeating an incumbent in 1990. But there appears to be no previous example, at least locally and perhaps statewide, of a judicial campaign by multiple candidates who come from the same government office. Their boss, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, says he supports their campaign.

Another unusual feature is that the challengers, for the most part, are directing their criticism at the judicial system  and its failure to alleviate economic and racial injustice  rather than at at their individual opponents.

As Evangelista put it in a recent writing, If you believe our current system is working fine for all San Franciscans, then vote for the status quo and the Republican-appointed judges. San Francisco, she contended in an interview, needs judges that match their political views.

To an incumbent judge like Cheng, the challengers are in essence running for legislator, not judge.

While legislators pledge to carry out the will of the people, he said, judges are bound to follow the law, which includes having the courage on occasion to make decisions that are unpopular.

This is a very compassionate court, said Cheng, a former federal prosecutor and lifelong Democrat who was appointed to the bench by Schwarzenegger in 2009. He cited San Franciscos special judicial systems for veterans, truants and drug offenders, and a bench that includes 21 people of color among its 50 judges.

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.

Karnow, a 2005 Schwarzenegger appointee, didnt win many friends in the citys tenant community later that year when he struck down a San Francisco ordinance that protected renters from eviction for refusing to accept significant changes in the terms of their tenancy, such as a ban on subletting the apartment to someone else. He ruled that it conflicted with state law.

But Karnow was also the judge whose rulings in 2015 and 2016 saved San Francisco City College from losing its accreditation and possibly shutting down. He has headed the courts complex litigation department and written reference books for litigators.

Evangelista, his opponent, is the child of farmworkers from Mexico and a 14-year veteran of the public defenders office.

Lee, whom Maloof and Zareh are challenging, is a 1998 appointee of Wilson. In 2012, her colleagues elected her to a two-year term as the courts presiding judge, the only Asian American woman to hold that position. She also founded the citys Veterans Court and, as a San Francisco deputy district attorney, helped to establish a drug court for juveniles.

Cheng issued a ruling in 2016 that allowed veterans groups, over the citys objections, to remain in the War Memorial Veterans Building for little or no rent. Last year, he imposed a record $3.5 million fine on a landlady after a jury found she had illegally evicted a family from their home of 21 years.

His opponent, Streets, is a former Legal Aid attorney who has worked in the public defenders office for 18 years.

Ross was appointed by Schwarzenegger in 2009 after 34 years of law practice, 24 of them as a criminal defense attorney. He presides over criminal cases but also chairs the Treatment Court Committee, which seeks alternatives to criminal sentencing for young adults, drug users or others seeking treatment.

Solis, his opponent, said she would bring to the bench my perspective as a mom and a person of color and a homeowner and a lesbian.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@BobEgelkoHow does a young woman sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole make sense of her fate? Do memories of her former life in the free world provide mental sustenance or only exacerbate the pain of incarceration? What becomes of her individuality, not to mention her humanity, even her soul?

These are central questions Rachel Kushner explores in her new novel, The Mars Room. When the story begins, 29-year-old Romy Hall is on a sheriffs bus to Stanville Womens Correctional Facility in Californias Central Valley. Shes smart, tough and astute about peoples idiosyncratic weaknesses. Her own destiny confounds her at the same time that it seems preordained by poverty and neglect.

Romy is also, like Kushner, from San Francisco, and her prison experience is punctuated with colorful flashbacks to her untethered, drug-fueled adolescence in a city that is stifling and grimy  not about rainbow flags or Beat poetry or steep crooked streets but fog and Irish bars and liquor stores all the way to the Great Highway.

In The Mars Room, Kushner, an exceptionally talented and philosophically minded writer, manages to offset her historical critiques of bourgeois capitalist society and Californias 1970s prison-building boom with gallows humor about life behind bars. She is the only author to have first and second novels, Telex From Cuba (2008) and The Flamethrowers (2013), both nominated for the National Book Award.

Kushner, 49, lives in Los Angeles. On a recent visit to San Francisco, she spoke to The Chronicle about writing a novel of big, consequential ideas thats set in the most confined of spaces.

Q: What prompted you to write a novel set in a prison? You said in a New Yorker interview that you started researching womens incarceration back in 2012 because you felt it was necessary. Why was it imperative?

A: The idea had been brewing for a long time. Without trying to sound like Im unusually attuned to justice or injustice, because Im not, I think its bothered me since I was quite young that this is how we deal with a portion of society.

The book raises questions that allowed me to think carefully into issues that felt very high stakes, morally  about innocence, justice, destiny. I dont feel like Id ever done that before with my fiction, and I went through a maturation process by having to do it.

Also, Id known a couple people growing up who ended up in prison. One got out after serving a very long sentence, and then died of a drug overdose from an addiction he contracted while in prison. I think that always haunted me, that people have different so-called destinies.

Q: Were you thinking of anyone in particular when writing Romy?

A: Not her exact circumstances and story, but the type of girl she is, yes. I knew many, many people who are like her and her friend Eva. Those were my friends. Shes very familiar to me.

Q: Was it challenging writing about lives that are so confined physically?

A: Its definitely a challenge to bring in humor and vitality. So I was looking at it as a kind of formal enterprise in that way, because it has to be funny, and it has to be alive. Prison is grim, and people would rather not be there, but once they are, it becomes the extended limit of their universe, and an entire new humanity is contained there.

I thought a person in that situation would probably live to a fairly large degree inside of her thoughts and fantasies. She would have to review and hold onto the memories generated as a person who was once free.

Q: Romy describes San Francisco as cursed, its beauty on display for tourists, not natives. Its a bleaker picture of the city than most writers portray. Were you drawing on your own childhood and observations?

A: I dont want to dis San Francisco. I love it, in a way, but as a kid in the Sunset during a cold summer, if youre not from a family that has programmed your summer, theres nothing to do. Its cold, and we would just get up and put on a big jacket and go drink in the park. Thats how we spent our days. I guess there is a bleakness that people dont talk about, that doesnt fit with the portrait of it being a beautiful, sparkly place.

Q: You also evoke the city before the tech boom, before, as Romy says, everything got converted by money. Are you nostalgic?

A: Its not nostalgia. Im not interested in harping on gentrification or the tech industry. Its just more marveling over what was, and is no longer. It becomes the job of the writer to try to conjure these things back into existence, if only for a moment or on a page.

Q: Were any writers helpful to you whove also wrestled with justice and punishment?

A: Dostoevsky and Nietzsche were the two people who I could talk to about what was going on.

Don DeLillo has been a mentor to me. He actually came up with the idea to title the book The Mars Room. I didnt think of it because to me it only indicated this seedy club on Market Street, but he saw its more about these two words. Mars is the god of war and a far-away planet, and room is this small, confined space. Theres an interesting tension. Then my husband looked it up and found that the only existing Mars Room is in the Palace of Versailles. It has incredibly violent frescoes on the walls and ceiling. So, why not?

Jessica Zack is a freelance writer who frequently covers film, art and books for The San Francisco Chronicle. Twitter: @jwzack

Rachel Kushner appearances

Book Passage: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17. In conversation with Ayelet Waldman. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera.

Green Apple Books on the Park: 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 21. 1231 Ninth Ave., San Francisco.Since last years Wine Country fires, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has been pushing hard in Sacramento for legislation to protect utility companies from full liability in case their wires accidentally spark a blaze.

And Patrick McCallum has been pushing back.

The veteran Sacramento lobbyist leads a campaign called Up From the Ashes whose sole focus is to deny PG&E the legislative victory it seeks. The campaigns web address neatly sums up its pitch: www.holdpgeaccountable.com. The group, funded by law firms suing PG&E, blames the disaster on the utility, though California fire officials have not announced the causes.

For McCallum, the effort is both professional and personal.

Before dawn on Oct. 9, he and his wife, Sonoma State University President Judy Sakaki, woke to find their Santa Rosa house and everything around it on fire. They fled on foot and barely escaped with their lives.

If Judy or I would have panicked  at any second panicked  we wouldnt have made it, he said.

Hired by the law firms to spearhead Up From the Ashes, McCallum now finds himself telling his survival story as part of his job. Its an odd position for a lobbyist who built his reputation on higher-education issues. But he figures hes representing other survivors who also want PG&E held accountable, if the companys equipment did indeed start the fires.

If Im telling their story through my story, then it feels pretty damn good, said McCallum, head of the McCallum Group lobbying firm.

D. Ross Cameron / Special to The Chronicle 2017

Much is at stake for PG&E and other California utilities, which see wildfire liability as a major and growing threat. Behind closed doors in Sacramento, they have even raised the possibility that it could drive them into bankruptcy.

Under a doctrine known as inverse condemnation, California utility companies can be held responsible for economic damages from fires linked to their equipment, even if they follow all of the states safety rules. Damage estimates from last years fires in Northern California top $10 billion, and the cleanup has cost more than any California disaster since the 1906 earthquake.

PG&E Corp., the utilitys parent company, reported a substantial $1.66 billion profit last year. But that pales in comparison with the potential damages the company could face from the October fires, which killed 45 people and destroyed 8,880 homes.

Up From the Ashes, which has about half a million dollars in funding, has taken out full-page ads in The Chronicle and elsewhere blaming the fires on PG&E. McCallum has been meeting with legislators, urging them not to tinker with Californias liability laws.

His efforts appear to have had some success. Theyve also come under attack.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents about 11,500 PG&E employees, filed a complaint this month with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, calling Up From the Ashes a front group for lawyers. The campaigns website describes itself as a coalition of fire victims and does not mention the source of its funding.

The simple goal is just to make the funder acknowledge the funding source, so lawmakers and others know whos paying, said Hunter Stern, business representative for the union.

The IBEW worries about what will happen to utilities if state liability laws dont change. They want to ease the burden on utilities, which must contend with a warming climate extending the fire season and ever more housing developments pushing into rural areas, factors that increase the potential risk and destructiveness of fires.

The consumer attorneys would prefer the current structure stay the way it is, Stern said. And we believe, for the benefit of our members but also the (utility) customers, that it has to change.

Otherwise, The whole industry goes down the tubes, he said.

PG&E, when asked about Up From the Ashes, would say only that it is aware of the group, as well as the source of the groups funding.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Registration forms filed with the California Secretary of State in April list Frank Pitre  of the firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy  as the groups responsible officer. The firm sued PG&E in November on behalf of North Bay homeowners, including former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan and his wife.

PG&E has argued that inverse condemnation should not be applied to utility companies, and if it is, the utilities should be allowed to pass those costs on to their customers. Pitre says the only way PG&E will improve the safety of its system is if the company and its shareholders bear the brunt of liability costs.

If you give them a get out of jail free card, they have no incentive to get it right  none, he said.

While Up From the Ashes has not yet filed any financing records with the state, Pitre said 12 law firms have put about $500,000 into the campaign.

The groups lobbying may be having an impact.

Consumer advocates had worried that a wildfire safety bill wending its way through the state Senate  SB1088, from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa  could immunize utilities from fire damage liability if the companies followed their own safety plans, submitted to the state. Dodd agreed to remove the language that prompted the liability concern after listening to McCallum and other speakers during a Senate utilities committee hearing in April.

Can you imaging giving polluters a pass simply because a company met the Trump EPAs standards? McCallum asked at the hearing. Of course not. ... Let the courts make the determination about civil liability.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @DavidBakerSF2 1 of 2 John Storey / Special to The Chronicle 2017 Show More Show Less 2 of 2 John Storey / Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less



Its no secret that Silicon Valley companies load their offices with perks as they compete to attract workers. The most common? Free food.

ZeroCater is one of many companies that offer catering services for other companies. And it just raised $12 million.On the outside it looked like a normal home, nestled on a tree-lined cul-de-sac in the North Bay city of Fairfield.

But when investigators opened the screen door of the house on Fieldstone Court, they were horrified  10 children had lived for years amid piles of spoiled food and feces, allegedly burned and shot with BB guns, officials said.

The case rattled a normally quiet suburb in Solano County and prompted a fierce defense from the childrens mother, who insisted Monday that she and her husband had done nothing wrong.

Authorities first encountered the family March 31, when Ina Rogers, 30, reported her 12-year-old son missing, according to the Fairfield Police Department. The boy was found asleep under a bush in a nearby yard.

Now Playing: Officers rescued 10 children who were living in "horrible conditions" in a Fairfield home, and the children's parents were arrested, Fairfield police said Monday. The mother, Ina Rogers, 30, of Fairfield, was booked into the Solano County Jail on child neglect charges, according to police. She has since been released. The children's father, Jonathan Allen, 29, of Fairfield, was booked into the Solano County Jail on nine counts of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse. Video: KCRA

Responding officers searched the home because of concerns for the childs welfare and found nine more children between 4 months and 11 years old living in conditions police described as squalid and unsafe.

Behind the cream siding and the mulch garden dotted with Buddha statues, authorities say they found urine-stained floors, human and animal feces, and debris stacked so high it made areas of the house impassable.

Rogers was subsequently arrested and booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of child neglect, and all 10 children were taken to live with extended family members by Solano County Child Welfare Services. Rogers was released after posting $10,000 bail, according to county court records.

An investigation led police to find a long and continuous history of severe physical and emotional abuse of the children, officials said.

The father, 29-year-old Jonathan Allen, was arrested Friday and booked into jail on seven counts of torture and nine counts of child abuse. He is being held on $5.2 million bail and is due back in court May 24.

Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon, Fairfield police Lt. Greg Hurlbut said the children had suffered puncture wounds, burns and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun or BB gun.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Sharon Henry said she was horrified by the childrens statements, which detailed sadistic abuse and torture dating back to 2014.

Earlier on Monday, Rogers defended herself in front of news cameras. She said her 12-year-old son had run away as an act of rebellion and that police had found her home in disarray because she had been frantically searching for him. The boy was gone for a few hours, Hurlbut said.

The conditions they saw in my home was me tearing up my house, because my son was missing, Rogers said. I was afraid that I could not find him. You know, once that fear sets in, you dont know what to do.

She described herself as an amazing mother and heaped praise on her husband, saying that Allen has been unfairly vilified.

My husband has a lot of tattoos. He looks like a scary individual, and thats why people are so quick to judge him, Rogers said, insisting she would fight the accusations.

Im not going to allow this to break us, and Im not going to stop fighting, she said.

Neighbors said they had no idea so many children were living in the house, where they were home-schooled and mostly kept out of sight.

The couple moved in about a year ago, according to Larry Magney, who lives across the street.

Magney said he didnt know the couple had any children until Rogers approached him about her missing son as he was coming home from church.

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.

Magney recalled her asking, Is there a way I can check your backyard, because my son is  missing or ran away?

He replied that it was unlikely the boy was in his backyard, because his dog would have barked.

She was pretty concerned, and she was like, you know, running around the neighborhood, Magney said, adding that he was shocked to hear there were 10 kids living in the house.

I walk my dog at least twice a day, and my wife works out of our house, he said. If theres any activity here, we would kind of know.

Tawnya Roth, a next-door neighbor, said she was under the impression the couple had only three children. She noted that they had a baby when they first moved in and another baby late last year.

My daughter was saying that when she was home at Christmastime, she saw some kids out there, Roth said. And when they first moved in, we heard kids playing out in the backyard late at night. But that was really the only time. Once in a while wed see a kid, but I didnt even know that they were theirs.

Roth said she didnt see her neighbors often, but they were always polite on the few occasions they spoke.

Annie Ma, Megan Cassidy and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com, megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15 @meganrcassidy @rachelswanSACRAMENTO  The ex-police officer charged with a dozen murders across California appeared before a judge Monday, walking into court for the first time after previously appearing in a wheelchair.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, is charged with 12 murders in four counties that have been linked to the assailant known variously as the Golden State Killer, the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker. He has not entered pleas to any of the charges.

At Mondays hearing, Judge Michael Sweet of Sacramento County Superior Court said a motion by several media outlets, including The Chronicle, to release arrest and search warrant records will be taken up May 29. The defense is seeking to keep the records sealed.

Now Playing: Joseph DeAngelo, the alleged East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer, is wheeled into a Sacramento County courtroom and arraigned on charges of allegedly murdering Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie Maggiore in 1978. DeAngelo is suspected of murdering 10 others and committing nearly 50 rapes. Video: Tribune Broadcasting/Getty Images

The arrest and search warrant affidavits in this case detail allegations relating to what will inevitably be the biggest trial in California history, DeAngelos attorneys wrote in a motion opposing the medias attempts.

Authorities must spell out in such records the reasons a judge should grant them the right to search a suspects home and arrest a person. The documents DeAngelos defense is seeking to keep sealed also include an inventory of what was seized at his house.

DeAngelos court-appointed public defender, Diane Howard, also filed a motion Monday to exclude the media from future pretrial hearings. She said publicity about the case will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find an impartial jury or conduct a fair trial.

Publicizing this matter further at this court appearance will continue to add to that difficulty, she wrote.

Mondays hearing was continued until May 29 after Howard said she had not yet received documents detailing the items that authorities seized at DeAngelos home in Citrus Heights (Sacramento County) when they arrested him last month.

DeAngelo allegedly committed 12 murders and dozens of rapes from 1976 to 1986, a period that included years when he was a police officer in Placer and Tulare counties. Prosecutors have not decided whether to charge him with any of the rapes as they sort out whether the statute of limitations has run out.

In Sacramento County, DeAngelo is accused of shooting a young couple near their Rancho Cordova home in 1978 as they walked their dog. Detectives said Air Force Sgt. Brian Maggiore and Katie Maggiore were shot and killed seemingly at random.

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.

After 40 years, we never thought it would be solved, said Deanne Helton, a family friend of the Maggiores who attended Mondays hearing. Its just been unreal.

DeAngelo is being held in Sacramento County Main Jail without bail. On Monday, he walked into the small bar-lined cell inside the courtroom where defendants typically are held. He briefly talked through the bars with Howard. At his three previous court appearances, DeAngelo sat in a wheelchair next to the defense table.

Detectives arrested DeAngelo last month after they plugged DNA evidence found at a murder scene into an open-sourced genealogy website to identify relatives. Investigators then narrowed the field of possible suspects using factors such as the presumed age and geography of the serial killer and rapist.

District attorneys in the four counties where murder charges have been filed  Sacramento, Orange, Santa Barbara and Ventura  met last week to discuss where the case will be tried and who will be part of the prosecution team. No decisions were made at the meeting, according to the Sacramento County district attorneys office.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrezGov. Jerry Brown never had to decide whether to support single-payer health care because a bill never reached his desk. But just because the Legislature isnt considering it this year doesnt mean the idea has died  and even without it, Californias next governor will have plenty of health policy problems to worry about.

The top six gubernatorial candidates not only differ when it comes to single-payer, they disagree on what to do next to fix the states $400 billion health care industry. And few offer specifics on how they would implement their ideas.

Californias next leader will inherit a long-standing problem that was only partly fixed by the Affordable Care Act, which President Trump and congressional Republicans have taken steps to weaken since 2017. Before the law was fully implemented in 2013, 17 percent  or about 7 million  of non-elderly Californians lacked health care coverage. Three million still arent covered, including 1.8 million undocumented immigrants.

Plus, more than 1 in 5 Californians with coverage is considered underinsured  burdened with high deductibles or forced to spend an inordinate amount on a policy.

Covered California, the states health insurance marketplace, offers more plans than are available in many other states through the federal health care exchange. Still, 66,000 Californians live in places where only one health care plan is available, and 216,000 more live in areas with just two options, according to a UCSF study.

In March, a coalition of progressive and labor groups  including the 2.1 million-member California Labor Federation and the Western Center on Law and Poverty  backed more than a dozen pieces of health care legislation, including some intended to make sure all Californians have coverage. The bills, which are wending through the Legislature, would include expanding Medi-Cal coverage to many more low-income Californians, including undocumented adult immigrants under age 26.

For the Democrats running for governor, theres an added political dimension to the health care debate. The partys more progressive flank wants Democrats to support a single-payer, Medicare-for-all model.

Aric Crabb / Associated Press

And thats where the Democratic field starts to cleave. Two Democratic candidates  Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin  enthusiastically support a single-payer health plan.

Two other top Democrats  former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang  support single-payer in concept. But they are skeptical about whether theres a way to pay for it. Legislation to implement single-payer care cleared the state Senate last year, even though it failed to identify how it would pay the considerable cost of state-backed coverage for all.

Theres no debate between either of the major Republicans in the race  both Assemblyman Travis Allen and businessman John Cox dislike the single-payer idea.

Heres how each of the candidates feels about single-payer and other health care issues:

Travis Allen, Republican

Position on single-payer: Opposes. Single-payer would be like going to the DMV to see your doctor, the Orange County legislator said. It is absolutely the extension of the highly regulated markets in California.

At a debate in Los Angeles earlier this year, Allen said, I will ensure that California will never be a single-payer state. It will never work. It will bankrupt the state.

What hed do differently: We must introduce competition to the marketplace, Allen said. The solution is to open our markets to companies across the United States to compete for Californians business.

Instead of expanding Medicare, Allen would like to give consumers more power to spend their health care dollars. One idea is to expand the use of health care savings plans, which are tax-deductible accounts for people with high up-front costs in their coverage plans. An individuals contributions to the account can earn interest and can be used to pay for medical expenses.

Allen opposes mandatory vaccinations for children and giving Medi-Cal benefits to undocumented immigrants.

John Cox, Republican

Position on single-payer: Opposes. Price controls never work. Government top-down management of any business doesnt work, Cox said. If it (did), the Soviet Union would have been the best place to live.

What hed do differently: Cox doesnt have a specific plan for how he would improve health care, but says he would convene a group of experts to help create one that relies on the free market. And he opposes any effort to offer benefits to undocumented immigrants.

The only way to make health care more affordable is with more supply and more competition, Cox said. Theres got to be way more clinics. Theres got to be tele-medicine. Theres got to be price transparency. Go to a hospital and ask them what it costs to get a procedure. Most people in the hospital wont even know what youre talking about.

John Chiang, Democrat

Position on single-payer: Supports. However, he cautions, we dont promise the whole thing, but over a period of time, we will work to build what were capable of doing.

As for a funding source, Chiang is noncommittal, saying, We will have that conversation. We will build what we can with the money we have and see what we can get for that product.

What hed do differently:

Last year, when Congress was threatening to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Chiang helped create a $20 million emergency fund as state treasurer to keep health clinics open, including those run by Planned Parenthood. He supports offering Medi-Cal benefits to low-income California adults, including undocumented immigrants.

Delaine Eastin, Democrat

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.

Position on single-payer: Supports. Eastin said that if single-payer were adopted, large health care providers like Kaiser Permanente or Blue Cross wouldnt disappear overnight. I think you have to sit down with them and have a conversation about how we can make this work better for the average Californian, she said.

What shed do differently: Eastin supports the idea of creating a state bank that could accept tax receipts from the sale of cannabis products and using the money to fund low-cost pharmaceutical products. As for specifics on her health plan, she said she would convene an advisory board of health care thinkers to come up with the details.

She supports offering Medi-Cal benefits to low-income Californians, including those who are undocumented.

Gavin Newsom, Democrat

Position on single-payer: Supports. In September, Newsom told the California Nurses Association convention in San Francisco, You have my firm and absolute commitment as your next governor that I will lead the effort to get it done. We will get universal health care.

Last month, however, Newsom tempered his enthusiasm about how fast that could happen. He estimated it could be years before single-payer is put in place. It is not an act that would occur by the signature of the next governor, he said.

What hed do differently: Newsom is all in on single-payer. Among other things, he cites a 2016 UCLA study that said 71 percent of health care expenditures in California were already paid for with public funds.

The reality is that youre not building on top of an existing system. The question is, how do you transition to a new system? he said. And those transition costs is really where this question remains open.

Antonio Villaraigosa, Democrat

Position on single-payer: Supports in concept but is concerned about how to pay for it  especially if it means asking the federal government to use Medicare dollars toward a state single-payer system.

I think its going to be really difficult to have a state-only single-payer plan without the feds coming in real big, Villaraigosa said.

Villaraigosa has accused Newsom of selling snake oil for supporting single-payer without identifying a way to pay for it.

Im not just going to kowtow to the polling, Villaraigosa said. He noted that surveys in Colorado showed widespread support for single-payer, and then when it was on the ballot in 2016, (21) percent voted for it. Youve got to be straight talking with people.

What hed do differently: Villaraigosa said the emphasis should be on containing health care costs. Im thinking, not price fixing  what Im thinking is cost containment along the lines of Kaiser, Villaraigosa said. What they do is focus on providing primary care.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoliRich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

As Gov. Jerry Brown wraps up his long political career, its becoming clear that one of his greatest legacies will be the financial restraint he employed during one of Californias historic booms.

Discussing his final state budget revise on Friday in Sacramento, Brown reported an $8.9 billion surplus in a $199 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. Thats $3 billion more in surplus than was projected in January.The Constitution is steamy. Its a crucible, a spell. Whatever it is, its not a patchwork quilt. (Thats someone elses metaphor.) Its more like a human being.

Heidi Schreck has the sweeping imagination, the cutting intellect and the conspiratorial warmth to make each of these descriptors both fit and soar in her What the Constitution Means to Me, which opened Thursday, May 10, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The show, inspired by the scholarship-winning speeches she gave as a high schooler to American Legion halls, makes our founding document breathe with life and pulse with magic, especially as she relates it to forging her own brand of feminism. The oppression of women  not an abstract, general evil, but the specific oppression of generations of women in her family  is sewn into the document. Yet at the same time, she says, the Constitution contains the seeds of its own, and our, betterment. Consider her analysis of the Ninth Amendment. It testifies, she says, to its authors understanding that who we are now might not be who we will become.Upcoming political events in the Bay Area.

TUESDAY

Pro-Palestinian rally: Rally to commemorate the Nakba, the expulsion and exodus of Palestinians from what became the state of Israel, and to protest Israeli colonization and the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Organized by Palestine Action Network. 4 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate, 456 Montgomery St., San Francisco.

WEDNESDAY

Ehud Barak protest: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators plan to protest former Israeli prime ministers appearance on a book promotion tour. 6 p.m., 3200 California St., San Francisco.

THURSDAY

Voter information: The League of Women Voters of North and Central San Mateo holds a voter information session. The first part of the program will provide an overview of where, when, and how to vote in the county, which is implementing a new system giving residents more ways and more days to vote. The second part is a nonpartisan analysis of the five initiatives on the state ballot and Regional Measure 3, which would raise bridge tolls to pay for transportation projects. 6:30 p.m., Half Moon Bay Library, Ted Adcock Community Center. 535 Kelly Ave. More information is here.

FRIDAY

Palestinian forum: Event marking 70th anniversary of the Nakba, the expulsion and exodus of Palestinians from what became the state of Israel. Speakers are Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch, a Palestinian from the West Bank, and Richard Becker of the ANSWER Coalition, author of Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire. Sponsored by ANSWER. $5-$10 donation. 7 p.m., 2969 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here.

MONDAY

S.F. Politics 101: United Democratic Club hosts a primer on local politics. Free. 6:30-8:30 p.m., 55 Fillmore St., San Francisco. Registration and more information are here.

JUNE 1

Confronting transphobia: A conversation on how to end transphobia, hosted by the Freedom Socialist Party. $2-$5 donation. 6:30 p.m., New Valencia Hall, 747 Polk St., San Francisco. More information is here.

JUNE 7

Medea Benjamin on Iran: Code Pink and Global Exchange co-founder on Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 7:30 p.m., Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. More information is here.

JUNE 9

World Naked Bike Ride: Event focuses on the need to promote renewable energy and move away from big oil. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., starts at Ferry Building Plaza in San Francisco. More information is here.

To list an event, email tbyrne@sfchronicle.comOn May 19 in the year 2018 of our Lord, His Royal Highness Prince Henry (Harry) of Wales will wed Ms. Meghan Markle at Windsor Chapel.

Congratulations, America: Once again, youre on the guest list.

From Elizabeth and Philip to Charles and Diana and now, the princes William and Harry and their brides, we have followed royal marriages as loyal media subjects for more than half a century. Its a story line that has evolved, as has the institution of marriage, but its central dramatic tensions  will they or wont they?  remains the same.

In 2011, Nielsen reported that 22.77 million Americans tuned into the wedding of Prince Harrys brother, Prince William, and his wife Catherine (Kate), the duchess of Cambridge. Viewership expectations are just as high for these nuptials.

But why, 242 years after we declared our independence as Americans, do we still care about the British royal family?

In good times, but especially in bad, the royal families of the world can function as escapist fairy tales for Americans who never completely gave up the romantic notions of hereditary privilege and dynasty, even though we gave up the actual crown. (See: the success of the Walt Disney princess brand.)

We dont have a stake in whether the monarchy in another country continues; its a soap opera we observe from a safe distance. In post-WWII life, royal news and royal lifestyle stories are a staple of American media with a cast of characters whose story arcs we follow from introduction to sometimes tragic conclusions. (See: the death of Princess Diana.)

Hereditary rule is perhaps the worlds oldest serial. We love following these royal narratives because we can follow the characters from the beginning of their lives, from Charles and Dianas wedding to the births of William and Harry, and their childhoods.

Now, their marriages provide an introduction of new characters into the story. When a mate is chosen from outside the royal class, it makes it even easier to identify with the fairy tale.

Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press 2011

The wedding of Prince Harry, 33, and Markle, 36, has the added appeal for American audiences of Markles American nationality. Her country of birth is only one of several firsts for the House of Windsor: In addition to being the first American to wed a member of the royal family in the line of succession (Harry is currently sixth), Markle is also the first royal bride of African descent, an actress and a divorcee  all things that would have disqualified her in prior years.

Its also worth noting that two of the most-watched royals of the last century, Wallis, the duchess of Windsor (for whom King Edward VIII gave up the throne), and Princess Grace of Monaco, were, like Markle, American-born. Their marriages, and aftermath, were the subject of intense media coverage for the rest of their lives.

The fascination with royal intrigue and fashion is as consistent as the monarchy itself. Even from across the pond, retailers are marketing Harry and Meghans fashion and lifestyle choices relentlessly. If you believe the ever-multiplying pitches in my inbox, Americans care deeply about the brides hair products, what her flowers might be, how to buy a sweater she wore or the real secret to the couples happiness.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Its not just current royal culture Americans are eating up, its also a new brand of royal nostalgia. The 20th century story of the House of Windsor is getting a second look in as many new television and streaming documentaries as you can shake a scepter at, and Ryan Murphy is bringing a Charles and Diana season of his anthology series Feud to television soon.

Then theres the Peter Morgan trilogy responsible for so much of this current look back at the Windsors: The critically acclaimed film The Queen (2006), the play The Audience (2013, both starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II and Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair) and the current Netflix megahit The Crown, now working on its third season.

Morgans portraits of the royal family and the institution of royalty itself  at times critical but ultimately respectful  have done much to inform the current narrative on the Windsors and probably inspired much of the affection, but Morgan has also been helped timing-wise by the monarchs recent, record-setting jubilees and the popular marriages of the Wales princes.

Even with new outsider characters being introduced and nods to the 21st century with royal social media accounts, theres something antique and probably archaic about the whole saga. But thats part of their centuries-old branding, The concept of hereditary rule stopped feeling modern somewhere around the American and French revolutions, but the British royal family has kept calm and carried on, and we have followed right along. Their royal brand and narrative have been remarkably consistent, and thats probably part of the appeal.

How Markle may change the storyline remains to be seen, but theres little doubt Americans will be watching.

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.comThe beach breeze swirled around Jim Motchs head as he plodded through the sand, stepping between ice plants to conduct his ritual. Since he learned to play bagpipe, hes visited Ocean Beach regularly to perform an ode to his mother.

The bagpipe is a terrible beast to play. Its an instrument that is very complex and kind of organic, says Motch, who taught himself by watching YouTube videos. Imagine with nobody to teach you and a bunch of internet videos, learning how to tune this instrument thats made out of cowhide, some sticks with holes in them, and another stick that youre supposed to hold on to and put your fingers on different holes to make sounds. ... Youre supposed to keep this bag inflated and keep the sound steady on all these things at the same time, and it looks and feels almost impossible. Doing it by yourself is crazy. I almost cant believe I did it.

But Motch was determined to learn. His mother, Marjorie Motch, had become ill with a heart condition, and he didnt want to just send her flowers.

Your parents give you everything. They give you life. They take care of you. I mean you really cant repay in money or anything, he says. The best way you can repay this is some gift that you can return.

Motch says his mothers ancestors, the Hamiltons, were Scottish sea captains, and he learned to play bagpipe because she loved that kind of stuff.

He began visiting her in the hospital in Sonora (Tuolumne County) but was unable to play there. Instead he would send his mother videos of him playing to his father and would hold her hand while watching TV with his father. Motch felt driven to improve his bagpipe skills for her. He wanted to play Amazing Grace, her favorite tune.

We were just spending time together. Motch says. There was no expectations of achieving any specific level. It was just spending time together as family.

After each visit, Motch returned to San Francisco to practice on the beach or in his yard.

As his mothers health declined shortly before she died, Motchs trips became weekly, and he sat with her just holding her hand and playing the bagpipe. He says that a childs love for a mother is the archetype for loving all the people in a ones life.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

My being able to help my mom in her time of need was life-altering for me. Its the ultimate example of when you do something kind for somebody else and it and it transforms you, he says. I was trying to help my mom, but I didnt realize what an effect it was going to have on me and how it was going to transform me and my life. I think thats part of the human experience. We all go through stuff like that. We all have things in our life that define us and transform us and make us who we are. For me, that became being able to make music for my mom and to continue making music for other people in the community.

Right after the first anniversary of losing his mother, Motch made a trek to a favorite spot on the dunes above Ocean Beach.

Motch appreciates the support hes gotten from people who stop to tell him they love his music as they walk on Ocean Beach.

I am so appreciative of them for supporting me and talking to me, Motch says. It just such a positive thing. Im thankful every day that I can play music and have other people enjoy it.

As the notes of The Bells of Dunblane resonated over the beach, a young couple heard the music and began to run up the dunes to catch the musician. Sebastian Travis of Vacaville and Akemi Iwata of Japan used their phones to take pictures from behind the bagpiper before settling into each others arms. Tears streamed down Iwatas face as she recalled her memories of living in Ireland nearly 10 years ago. Travis felt emotional as it brought back to memories of his father, who introduced him to the bagpipe.

Motch continued to play in memory of his mother, taking in what he enjoys most about playing on the beach: watching the sunset, watching the birds flying overhead, and thinking how beautiful it is at the far western edge of San Francisco.

If theres any place in the world you can be in touch with people that youve lost, people who are important to you, its a place like that, he says. You can commune with nature. It has a spiritual aspect, and so does music. Thats why I like being there.

The Regulars is a photo and video column that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life.This article appeared on KCRA.

SACRAMENTO  Surrounded by repurposed shipping containers, wooden bar tops, and filled with people enjoying drinks, Golden Road Brewing Company at a glance seems to be Sacramento's newest and trendiest watering hole.

However, not everyone is happy with the latest addition to the city's beer scene. Some are taking issue with its craft brew feel, calling it inauthentic given its cooperate owner, Anheuser-Busch InBev. Just down the street at The Federalist, Manager Morgan Lehman said he can't help but notice similarities between his business and Gold Road.

DRINK UP: Check out these Bay Area winners of the 'Olympics of Beer'

"They're a container restaurant, and we've been here for three and a half years now, so they're kind of us, but owned by Budweiser," he said.

Even closer is Big Stump Brew Company. Owner Alex Larrabee welcomes the challenge but feels his new competitor has a built-in advantage.

"Golden Road will live or die by their own hand, and it's up to the consumers to decide," Larrabee said.

Golden Road started in Southern California as a craft brewery but was sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2015. After opening during Sacramento's Beer week, Director of Restaurant Operations Adam LeVoe said the brewery's owner shouldn't been seen as a negative.

"We stand behind what we do, we take great pride in the products we produce," LeVoe said. "We're allowed to be as creative and innovative as we like to be, and we do that."

More than 60 craft breweries call the greater Sacramento Area home, and a vast majority are members of the Sacramento Area Brewer's guild.

QUIZ: How well do you know your NorCal beers? Try our on-tap trivia

In a statement to KCRA 3 News, the organization called out Golden Road.

"...It is not surprising that a large, macro brewery would sneak into the local market disguised as a craft brewery... Golden Road, and their parent company, AB InBev, is the antithesis of local, slow, craft and independent," read the statement.

Despite the pushback, it appears beer drinkers are giving them a shot. Ramon Rivera lives just a few blocks away and came with his dog to try Golden Road's beer.

"You always want to support your actual Sacramento businesses, but it is what it is, and it's here and I can guarantee you it's not going to stop people from coming," Rivera said.

The brewery argues its beer and customer service, not ownership, will set it apart.

"I don't think who owns the business is really going to have an effect if you're not putting out quality product, great service, and then giving people an enjoyable atmosphere," LeVoe said.A man was refused service at a Southern California coffee shop after he made "racist" comments toward another customer wearing a headscarf.

The unidentified man was recorded mocking the woman's niqab and telling her he "didn't want to be killed by you" while in line at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Riverside, before another customer stood up for the woman and staffers told the man to leave.

At the start of the video the man addresses the woman in the headscarf, saying "Is this Halloween or something?"

"Why did you say that?" the woman asks.

"Why wouldn't I?" he replies.

Identifying herself as a Muslim, the woman then asks the man what his problem is.

"I don't like it, that's why," he says to the woman. "I don't like your religion, it says to kill me  and I don't want to be killed. How's that?"

ALSO Video shows woman calling police over barbecue at Lake Merritt

The two then begin arguing over religion and an employee tries to separate them. Another customer in the background can then be heard yelling at the man, "Get out of here! F---ing racist!"

The man asks for a manager and takes down the name of a supervisor before leaving. When asked why the customer was not being served, the employee says, "Because he is disrupting a public place and being very racist."

Journalist C.J. Werleman posted the video of the encounter to his Twitter account, reporting the incident happened Friday at a California branch of the coffee chain.

Social media users praised the supervisor and the customer who intervened.

"Thank you to the @TheCoffeeBean and that supervisor for standing against racism and hatred!" wrote one person.

"Big round of applause to the victim, to the person defending her from the background and to @TheCoffeeBean. Hatred must not be the norm, it must not be the way, we cannot let it win. #Peace #NoMoreHate #StopTheHate #HateSpeechIsNotFreeSpeech," wrote another.

Another compared the store's reaction to another recent incident involving racism at a Philadelphia Starbucks, in which two black men were arrested while waiting for a business meeting.

"Thank you to the stranger who yelled at the racist pig and to the supervisor at Coffee Bean who did the right thing," a Twitter user wrote. "Hey, Starbucks  you could learn from this."DNA technology and databases, both for commercial and law-enforcement use, are becoming increasingly more advanced  and it's leading detectives to open long-cold cases back up for another look.

California murders, unsolved for decades, are getting new leads, new suspects and new life. Within the last five years, infamous slayings, from Suzanne Bombardier to the Gypsy Hill killings, have been revived thanks to new forensic testing.The staging ground for one of the biggest regulatory fights facing the technology industry is far removed from Washington or Brussels, tucked into an alley next to a wine and cheese shop about 30 miles from Silicon Valley.

A barely furnished real estate office in an upscale Oakland neighborhood is the headquarters for backers of a proposed California ballot measure that would provide consumers with increased privacy rights, including the ability to demand that companies do not sell their personal data.

If the initiative, called the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, passes, privacy advocates say it will be one of the most meaningful checks in the United States on the growing power of internet behemoths.

The proposed measure is the passion project of an unlikely trio: a real estate developer, a former CIA analyst and a financial industry executive. They say they have no political aspirations. They are not techies and they are not your run-of-the-mill privacy zealots. Instead, they say they are like many internet consumers  a little freaked out about tech firms gobbling up peoples personal data.

People want some basic rights, said Alastair Mactaggart, the 51-year-old real estate developer who has contributed more than $2 million of his own money to get the measure off the ground. People are resentful but accepting because there isnt any sense of control about their data.

The measure has three major components: It gives consumers the right to ask companies to disclose what data they have collected on them, the right to demand that they not sell the data or share with third parties for business purposes, and the right to sue or fine companies that violate the law.

Google, Facebook, major telecommunications companies and Californias Chamber of Commerce have already come out against the initiative, saying it is flawed and a threat to the economic model supporting the internet. Theyve created an organization to fight the measure with a decidedly populist name, the Committee to Protect California Jobs.

Political consultants have told the initiatives backers that they should prepare for the opposition campaign to spend $100 million. Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for the opposition, declined to put a number on the campaign spending, but acknowledged that there is a lot at stake. Its California, he said. Its expensive.

The initiative has not been certified yet by state officials for the November election, but it is expected to appear on the ballot. Backers said they have submitted over 600,000 signatures, eclipsing the 366,000 minimum requirement.

Mactaggart said he first became concerned about data privacy when he asked a Google engineer at a cocktail party if he should be worried about all the information that companies were collecting about users. The engineers response surprised him: Mactaggart was right to be worried.

Mactaggart said he then reached out to Rick Arney, a finance industry executive who had worked in the California state Senate as a legislative analyst 20 years ago. Their children go to the same school, and Mactaggart knew that Arney was a supporter of ballot measures as a way for ordinary citizens to get something done outside of the political system.

One of the reasons why its brought as a ballot initiative is that there is consensus that Silicon Valley owns Sacramento, said Chris Hoofnagle, an adjunct professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law and an adviser for the initiative. Theres no prospect of any consequential consumer privacy legislation.

But there was a small problem: Neither Mactaggart nor Arney was a privacy expert or policy wonk. So they hired Mary Stone Ross, another neighborhood friend, who worked at the CIA and had been legal counsel for the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, to oversee the effort.

They spent months talking to technologists, academics and lawyers. They conducted polls and focus groups to understand what people wanted.

After considering various options, they decided against taking a hard-line approach. Companies can still use personal data for their own purposes to sell advertising or improve products. They would be restricted, however, from selling or disclosing that data to someone else for business purposes upon a consumers request.

The measure is the latest challenge facing Silicon Valleys web giants. There is a backlash to the data collection practices that underpin how they make money.

In the rest of the world, the clamor for regulation is building. The most notable effort is coming from Europe, which is preparing to enact later this month a stringent set of laws that will restrict how tech companies collect, store and use personal data from people across the region.

In the United States, the California initiative is part of a wave of activity aimed at reining in the sprawl of personal data across the internet in the wake of revelations that the voter profiling firm Cambridge Analytica gained access to the personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users.

Last month, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., introduced a bill that sought to establish online protections for consumers by forcing companies to get consent to share or sell personal data. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Kennedy, R-La., also introduced a privacy bill in April.

Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of DuckDuckGo, a privacy-minded search engine, and a supporter of the California initiative, said he wished the measure had gone further  but any progress is good. You have to start somewhere, he said.

Hoofnagle said, however, that the measures financial punishments for violators give the law teeth that previous attempts at privacy regulation lacked. It also takes a broader view of what constitutes personal information beyond real names and Social Security numbers  including biometric data and numbers that identify the devices people use.

Opponents of the measure say that those broad definitions of personal data are excessive and that companies can adopt their own privacy rules faster and more effectively.

Something that takes such a sledgehammer approach to regulating data is extraordinarily concerning, said Robert Callahan, a vice president of state government affairs at the Internet Association, an industry trade group. We think the initiative is filled with flaws and it will have really dangerous consequences for the California economy.

Google, Facebook, Verizon, Comcast and AT&T each made $200,000 contributions to the committee opposing the proposed ballot measure. After Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on Capitol Hill about data privacy last month, the company said it was leaving the group even though it still had concerns about the measure and did not take back its initial contribution. Verizon also pulled out of the coalition earlier this month, saying it wanted to deal with privacy on a national level rather than a state-by-state approach.

The initiatives backers said they were raising money for their campaign using a crowdfunding approach. But to get their message out and raise awareness of the measure, they are advertising on  where else?  Facebook.

Reflecting on his transformation from wealthy real estate developer to privacy activist, Mactaggart said that after devoting two years and millions of dollars to the campaign, hes more certain than ever that this initiative is important and necessary  a point brought home during a focus group session that took place in Sunnyvale, with a room full of engineers.

Of all the focus groups we did around the state, that was the one most vehement about the need for this, Mactaggart said. That was really one of the catalyzing moments for me when I was like, Oh, were onto something here.

Daisuke Wakabayashi is a New York Times writer.Emotional support animals continue to lose support from airlines. Following recent rules revisions at United, Delta and Alaska about what kinds of critters are allowed in the cabin, and what requirements they must meet, the nation's largest airline has just issued new guidelines on the same subject.

Finally, it seems that the all airlines have instituted new common-sense rules that will help curb the abuse nearly every frequent traveler has witnessed in recent years.

TravelSkills with Chris McGinnis sponsored by See More Collapse

Like its rivals, American said it will enforce a requirement that passengers give it 48 hours advance notice of their intention to travel with an emotional support animal, although it noted it will have procedures in place to deal with emergency short-notice bookings.

Effective for tickets issued on or after July 1, travelers with animals will have to contact American's Special Assistance Desk "with all required documentation," and the airline will reserve the right to contact the passenger's mental health professional to confirm the need for the support animal.

To bring an emotional support or "psychiatric service" animal on board, the traveler must provide a signed mental health form or equivalent letter from a mental health professional, read the airline's behavioral guidelines for animals (which basically bar animals that exhibit any disruptive activity), and submit an "Animal Sanitation During 8+ Hours" form, attesting that the animal won't cause a problem by relieving itself on the flight (that one is also required for regular service animals).

American's new guidelines also bar specific types of critters from the cabin, including amphibians, ferrets, goats, hedgehogs, insects, reptiles, rodents, snakes, spiders, sugar gliders, "non-household birds" (like chickens, geese and hawks), and any animal with tusks, horns or hooves. (Big exception to that last one: You can still bring on a miniature horse if it is properly trained as a service animal.)

Service animals are still permitted, American said, if they are "specifically trained to perform life functions for individuals with disabilities" like blindness, deafness, seizures and mobility impairments. "As the requirements for transporting each type of animal differ, our employees are trained to ask certain questions to determine the classification applicable to your animal," the airline noted.

American's new rules are detailed on its website; the page also has downloadable forms required under the revised guidelines.

Are you happy to see airlines institute new rules about onboard animals? Please leave your thoughts in the comments on on our Facebook page.

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 number of Bay Area public high schools were included on U.S. News & World Report's annual list of the best high schools in California.

U.S. News bases its rankings almost solely on standardized test scores and graduation rates, which contrasts with other ranking sites such as Niche that take student safety, extracurricular programs and diversity into account in their rankings.The most surprising couple to recently join the Bay Area power pairing ranks are Tesla CEO Elon Musk and musician Grimes.

The unlikely pairing reportedly met online in 2018. Musk was looking to tweet a deep-cut artificial intelligence joke about Roko's Basilisk, only to discover Grimes used his very concept in a 2015 music video. He contacted her about the synchronicity, and the pair evidently hit it off.Its tempting to forgo a regular review of the new documentary on Pope Francis and simply print as many of the films laudable quotations from this remarkable man as space will allow. His words are plain and direct, full of wisdom and not a little humor. The movie wont convert any of Francis die-hard opponents, who will deride it as uncritical, but will offer consolation to many viewers, and challenges to most.

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word reports that its subject  the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio  achieved many firsts when elected pope in 2013: the first pope from the Americas and from the Southern Hemisphere, the first Jesuit pope and the first to take his papal name from St. Francis of Assisi.

The name choice was apt. St. Francis, the film points out, was a kind of revolutionary, embracing poverty, finding holiness in nature and generally taking the gospel seriously. For his part, Pope Francis has rejected some of the privileges of the papacy, has spoken frequently of the importance of being good stewards of the Earth and has urged all who will listen that we should all become a bit poorer and that he would like to see a poor church for the poor.

Such sentiments have earned the ire of political and religious conservatives, who have argued that Francis stands on income inequality and the environment are reminiscent of socialism. He has repeatedly made strong statements on behalf of immigrants and refugees. He carries these messages in travels throughout the world, to religious audiences, including Jews and Muslims, and nonreligious bodies, such as the United Nations and a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Jesus tells us in the gospels, Francis says, that no one can serve two masters and that we can either serve God or serve money. And he does not spare his own church from criticism. Addressing the Roman Curia, a key body of church governance, he pointedly names an assortment of what he calls maladies that church officials may be prone to and that divide the church from those its supposed to serve.

He urges the clergy  and all who will listen  to avoid a proselytizing attitude, and says priests should talk little, and listen a lot, and look directly into the eyes of those they are speaking with. These are matters, I think its safe to say, that havent always been the uppermost of papal concerns.

Its a bit of a surprise that the film was directed by Wim Wenders, who came to the cinematic forefront in the 1970s as a part of the New German Cinema movement that included Werner Herzog and R.W. Fassbinder. Wenders long career, including Kings of the Road (1976), Wings of Desire (1987) and Buena Vista Social Club (1999), wouldnt necessarily indicate an interest in the papacy (although Wings of Desire has angels among its characters).

The director is clearly an admirer of Francis (both the saint and the pope), and was able to conduct extensive and exclusive interviews with the pontiff. Wenders one misstep is using wordless black-and-white footage he shot re-creating important episodes from St. Francis life, scenes suggestive of melodramatic early silent movies. This footage has unfortunate, and I believe unintended, overtones of religious kitsch.

Early in the film, Francis tells a young visitor to the Vatican that he did not seek to become pope, and pokes a bit of fun at anyone who might want the job. But after listening to the pontiff, and watching him visit refugee camps, wash the feet of prisoners and engage in many other humane and exemplary actions, we cant help but agree with the assessment of an aged nun, an old acquaintance of his from Argentina: His life is a sermon.

Walter Addiego is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: waddiego@sfchronicle.com

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word

Documentary. Directed by Wim Wenders. (Rated PG. 96 minutes.)North Beach is a neighborhood of many flavors. There's the pizza and the garlic, the Beatniks and the Barbary Coast and the Caffe Triesters.

But living in the highly trafficked neighborhood can get the best of even the most seasoned San Franciscan.

The tourists with their rental bikes and bright yellow GoCars are one thing; the masses of partygoers seeking a taste of old-school debauchery are quite another.

North Beach began as just that  a beach. It wasn't until the 19th century that city planners plugged it up with landfill and started building. Shortly thereafter, the infamous Barbary Coast sprung up. Only the 1906 earthquake could put a damper on the wildness to be found in the dark crevices of the neighborhood.

Following the earthquake rebuild, Italian-Americans started moving in. Though many have since moved away, their influence remains in the funky, European-style restaurants and watering holes, like Molinari's (known for its meaty sandwiches) and Vesuvio Cafe (beloved for its strong drinks and sassy service).

The Italians aren't the only ones who shaped the waterfront slice of San Francisco. One can hardly visit North Beach without spotting signs of the Beatniks, who took up residence in the neighborhood's darkly lit cafes and bars to write, gab and imbibe. City Lights Bookstore, founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953, stands at the natural center of the neighborhood as testament to the literary greats who once roamed its streets.

Today, North Beach is a strange amalgam of nightlife, food and history. And sometimes the scene can be just a bit too much. When the post-meal gummies at Michelangelo's no longer enchant you, maybe it's a sign you're done with the neighborhood altogether.

Keep clicking through the above gallery for other signs you're "done" with North Beach.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.



PAHOA, Hawaii  A new fissure emitting steam and lava spurred Hawaii officials to call for more evacuations Sunday as residents brace for a possible eruption from the Kilauea volcano.

Hawaii County Civil Defense issued an alert that a 17th active fissure was discovered along a road west of a major highway on the Big Island. Residents on that road were being told to evacuate, and two nearby community centers were serving as shelters for people and pets.

Popping, exploding and sloshing sounds could be heard from the fissure as far as 1,500 yards away.

The fissures, ground deformation and abundant volcanic gases indicate eruptions on the eastern flank of Kilauea are likely to continue.

The latest opening came the morning after two other fissures opened on Saturday. Most of the lava outbreaks have occurred in and around the Leilani Estates neighborhood, where molten rock has burst through the ground, destroying more than two dozen homes and resulting in evacuation orders for nearly 2,000 people.

3 1 of 3 U.S. Geological Survey Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Hawaii County Fire Department Show More Show Less 3 of 3





The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a fissure that opened Saturday night was spattering, but no flow had formed. The 16th active fissure had spilled lava into an open field earlier in the day.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported the fissures opened just east of the Puna Geothermal Venture energy conversion plant, where steam and hot liquid are brought up through underground wells and the steam feeds a turbine generator to produce electricity. Last week as a precaution, plant workers removed 50,000 gallons of a flammable gas stored at the site.

Geologists warn that Kilaueas summit could have an explosive steam eruption that would hurl rocks and ash miles into the sky.

The CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the agency that markets Hawaii to the world, said Kilauea is being monitored around the clock to provide the public with the best information. But George Szigeti noted that the Big Island is immense and there are large parts of the island unaffected by the volcano.

President Trump on Friday declared a major disaster exists on the Big Island. The move will make federal financial assistance available to state and local governments as they repair roads, public parks, schools and water pipes damaged by the eruption.

Caleb Jones is an Associated Press writer.1 Missing girls: Police in suburban Detroit resumed digging Monday in an area that might yield the remains of up to seven missing girls. Konnie Beymas sister, Kimberly King, disappeared in 1979 at age 12. Beyma was at the site in Macomb Township and said police believe they are very close to finding remains. The search began after police interviewed a prisoner locked up for the slaying of a 13-year-old girl. Cindy Zarzyckis remains were found in 2008 near the same area. Bill Dwyer, police commissioner in Warren, said hes committed to solving the cold cases.

2 Nanny sentenced: A New York City nanny convicted of brutally murdering two small children in her care was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole. Yoselyn Ortega was convicted last month in the deaths of 6-year-old Lucia Krim and 2-year-old Leo Krim. She had been working for the Krim family for nearly two years when she stabbed the children to death in 2012. The childrens mother had been out with a third child and returned home to find them dead. Their father was out of town. Ortegas lawyer argued she was too mentally ill to know what she was doing when she killed the children.NEW YORK  The World Health Organization is calling on all nations to rid foods of artificial trans fat in the next five years.

The United Nations agency has in the past pushed to eradicate infectious diseases, but now its trying to erase a hazard linked to chronic illness.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to issue the call to action at a news conference in Geneva on Monday.

Officials think it can be done in five years because the work is well under way in many countries. Denmark did it 15 years ago, and since then the United States and more than 40 other higher-income countries have been working on getting the heart-clogging additives out of their food supplies.

The WHO is pushing middle- and lower-income countries to pick up the fight, said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHOs Department of Nutrition for Health and Development.

Artificial trans fats are unhealthy substances that are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it solid, like in the creation of margarine or shortening. Health experts say they can be replaced with canola oil or other products.

There are also naturally occurring trans fats in some meats and dairy products. The WHO recommends that no more than 1 percent of a persons calories come from trans fats.

Trans fats are a harmful compound that can be removed easily without major cost and without any impact on the quality of the foods, Branca said.

Countries will probably have to use regulation or legislation to get food makers to make the switch, experts said.

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who worked with WHO officials on the call to action, called the move unprecedented.

The world is now setting its sights on todays leading killers  particularly heart disease, which kills more people than any other cause in almost every country, Frieden said.

Studies have revealed that trans fats wreck cholesterol levels in the blood and drive up the risk of heart disease. Health advocates say trans fats are the most harmful fat in the food supply and say they play a big role in more than 500,000 deaths around the world each year.

Mike Stobbe is an Associated Press writer.One of President Donald Trump's closest evangelical advisers will be giving the prayer at the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. But Robert Jeffress's past comments about other people of faith is threatening to take away much attention from the event.

Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, a Southern Baptist megachurch in Texas, regularly talks about the significance of Jerusalem to conservative Christians -- a major component of Trump's base of supporters.

Long before Jeffress began defending Trump on cable news, he made headlines for attacking other Americans whose faith is different from his own - something former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney noted Sunday on Twitter.

"Robert Jeffress says 'you can't be saved by being a Jew,' and 'Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.' He's said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem," tweeted Romney, a candidate for the Senate in Utah and a Mormon.

Here are just five controversial things Jeffress has said in the past.

Mormonism is a 'cult'

Following the 2011 Value Voters Summit, Jeffress told reporters that Mormonism is a "cult" and that voting for Romney for president would "give credibility to a cult"  a position he first took in the 2008 election.

At the time, he said he was planning to give a sermon in which he would talk about "how a Christian should vote." One of his criteria for candidates: "Is he a Christian?"

Many evangelicals, he said, were afraid to talk about Mormonism but would have a hard time voting for a Mormon candidate.

He added, "As a pastor I am not nearly as concerned about a candidate's record on fiscal issues or immigration issues" as about social conservative bona fides.

Jews and Muslims going 'to Hell'

In a 2010 Politically Incorrect lecture series, Jeffress said:

"God sends good people to Hell. Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism - not only do they lead people away from God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in Hell."

The Catholic Church is an instrument of Satan

On his television show "Pathway" to Victory in 2010, Jeffress called the Catholic Church an instrument of Satan. He said:

If you want to counterfeit a dollar bill, you don't do it with purple paper and red ink, you're not going to fool anybody with that. But if you want to counterfeit money, what you do is make it look closely related to the real thing as possible.

And that's what Satan does with counterfeit religion. He uses, he steals, he appropriates all of the symbols of true biblical Christianity, and he changes it just enough in order to cause people to miss eternal life.

Catholicism is the result of "corruption"

In a 2011 sermon, Jeffress called Catholicism a "cult-like, pagan religion" that "infected the early Church" and "corrupted" it by showing "the genius of Satan."

He said:

"Today the Roman Catholic Church is the result of that corruption. Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn't come from God's word. It comes from this cultlike pagan religion. You say, 'Well now pastor how can you say such a thing? That is such an indictment of the Catholic Church.' After all, the Catholic Church talks about God and the Bible and Jesus and the blood of Christ and salvation. Isn't that the genius of Satan?"

Clinton supporters are going to hell

In a Fox News debate, Jeffress defending his support for Trump by telling analyst Juan Williams that backing Hillary Clinton would send him to the lowest depths of hell.

"The other choice was Hillary Clinton, and although my friend Juan describes her as kind of St. Hillary of Chappaqua, she's hardly a bastion of virtue herself."

"If I am going to hell, Juan - like you say I am for supporting Donald Trump - then that means you're going to be a hundred floors below me for supporting Hillary Clinton," he added.Louis Anderson, a 16-year-old aspiring biotech entrepreneur, eats dinner with an anarchist, a world-renowned tongue splitter and at least 30 people who have implanted themselves with magnets or radio-frequency identification chips, aka RFID implants, for fun on a recent Friday night in Tehachapi, California.

Were at Grindfest, an annual meetup of biohackers, and Louis has never met a single member of the community in the flesh before, although hes been planning the trip for two years. They have a lot to talk about.

Will artificial intelligence kill us or save us? Will global warming be worse than experts predict? When will the next financial crisis strike? What brings Louis here?

I dont want to say too much, he demurs, the lanky high school senior as coy as anyone confident enough to defer college to start a company might be. We could be competitors.

Were transcending capitalism! scoffs Michael Laufer, who helped publish free online instructions on how to create a do-it-yourself, or DIY, version of the perennially expensive prescription EpiPen, provoking a warning from the Food and Drug Administration. Competition doesnt exist!

Grindfest is named for grinding, a subculture I might describe as medical punk. Less than a decade old, it is the anti-establishment fringe of a biohacking movement thats increasingly in the zeitgeist, in the form of health and fitness trackers, cognitive enhancing coffee and vitamins, and billionaire-backed schemes to outwit aging. Grinders, too, aim to optimize the body  with scalpels more often than seed funding. Now in its fifth year, Grindfest isnt on the radar of the cowboys at the rodeo ground down the road, much less the wider public. But that might soon change  people like Louis hope it will. Building your own computer used to be really niche, he says. Now everyone does it.

Louis  who talks at a speed he calls 2x, for the YouTube videos on cryptocurrency he watches when hes not winning science-fair prizes  is at Grindfest on business. By the end of the weekend, a biocoating of his invention will be attached to a glowing wire under the forearm of Hylyx Hyx, a self-described submissive for science who met Louis in a Slack group. Yes, glowing. That is, if all goes according to plan.

Hylyx is happy to serve as a test subject. Im used to having weird feelings about my body, says the pink-haired 35-year-old. I use they pronouns. I dont care about most of my meat, so this is a way to have control over a part that I chose.

That night in the mountain air, a North Star shines  under the skin of Justin Worst, an archaeologist in whose hand the LED device was implanted. A dozen bodies curl together under blankets on a living room floor; more are in tents and in the backs of vans. A laundry alcove is strewn with circuit boards and soldering irons; in a 1980s garage-cum-laboratory, baby chicks chirp in a pen near the door. The mood resembles an alternate universe, what Silicon Valley might look like if a natural disaster had wiped the electrical grid for the entirety of the 1990s, or if Burning Man had devoured it rather than vice versa.

There are blunt knives rigged with shock wires for sport. There are scalpels, carefully sterilized. There will be blood, and a documentary crew that will hover around it. Perhaps this isnt our dystopian past, but an imminent future, biding its time in the mountains near the western edge of the Mojave Desert.

Powerful people are betting on a version of it. In 2016, Elon Musk founded Neuralink, a startup developing brain-computer interfaces to be implanted underneath the skull. Its technology is eight to 10 years away from use by the public, per Musk; Jeffrey Tibbetts, a registered nurse whose home plays host to Grindfest, isnt willing to wait. Under the webbing of his thumb on both hands are RFID chips, enclosed in glass capsules. Musk, the founder of Tesla, says his device could enable telepathy and circumvent memory loss; Tibbetts dont do more than open doors at the hospital in nearby Palmdale, where he works. But, unlike Musks, theyre in there.

Its not good enough to talk, says Tibbets. He wears an eyebrow piercing everyday and scrubs during procedures. You should be taking action. Thats kind of our ethos. Near the lab, a group of understudies practices his techniques for suturing on a fleshy kombucha culture. Tibbetts is careful to emphasize what they are doing is not medicine or surgery but akin to body modification and piercing (the first two could be legally problematic).

In the driveway outside, Russ Foxx, a body-modification artist with puck-like horns, shouts after Louis Anderson Sr., whos carrying fruit into the house. Are those bananas fully automatic?

Anderson, a suburban dad in a Nike T-shirt who woke up at dawn to go into town and get everyone doughnuts, responds without a beat: Yep, plug me in and get ready! The two shared a ride together up from Los Angeles, organized by Louis.

Magnets and RFID implants are rites of passage among grinders. On the avant-garde, according to Ryan OShea, a former broadcast journalist who runs the podcast Future Grind, are powered subdermal devices, which could communicate things like blood pressure and sugar levels via Bluetooth, and DIY gene therapies. Results of the latter have so far been mixed. Earlier this year, the creator of a purported hack for lactose intolerance scarfed down a cheese pizza at the end of a YouTube video. Another biohacker, who at a conference in February injected himself onstage with what he said was an untested herpes treatment, was last month found dead in a flotation tank.

On Saturday, as talks take place about wound care and prototyping, Louis is in the adjacent lab, dipping an electroluminescent wire  think a glow-in-the-dark shoelace  into a mucus-y mix. Hylyx is nearby, preparing magnets for other implants. The plan is, with Tibbetts help, to insert the wire underneath Hylyxs skin, its coated ends extending from two incisions, for a period of three days, which will both be cool looking and a test as to whether the human body rejects the mixture, by, for instance, becoming infected. Louis hopes his coating, which he implanted successfully into nine of 11 mice over winter breakas part of a science-fair experiment, and which garnered state and local prizes, might prevent infection in various scenarios: everything from futuristic charging ports, embedded in our skin, to the central-line IV wires used in hospitals.

Buddy Ratner, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington, has spent two decades developing coatings and other strategies to improve the healing of implanted biomaterials and medical devices, and is skeptical. I dont see anything in this particular brew that would solve the very difficult problem of how to heal the skin around transdermal foreign objects, he tells me after reviewing Louis science-fair paper. Although this is a high school student, so youve got to admire their motivation.

Ratners current project, a wearable artificial kidney that performs dialysis via a coated skin port, will take an estimated $200 million to bring to market, including costs associated with FDA approval; human clinical trials are expected to begin in 2022, what the professor calls an audacious timeline for a project of this type. Louis human trial begins tomorrow. Where else can this happen but here? he chirps.

If it sounds quixotic, so do other more well-funded biohacks. Ambrosia, a San Francisco startup, offers an experimental anti-aging therapy in transfusions of young plasma (the cost for one liter: $8,000). Another, called Nectome, says its developing a brain-embalming procedure that would allow thoughts and memories to be digitally brought back to life (the company also says it would have to kill you for the technology to work). Billionaire Peter Thiel reportedly expressed interest in the first company; Sam Altman, president of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, paid $10,000 for a waiting-list spot with the second.

How do I say this nicely? considers Amanda Plimpton, who wears a circuit-print dress and a caffeine-molecule pendant. Her collective-turned-company, Livestock Labs, is developing implantable biosensors to predict diseases in cattle. Those white rich dudes wanna live forever. So thats where they put their money. They dont care about other things.

Livestocks eventual goal is to bring its sensors to humans. Its CEO, Tim Cannon, started its predecessor, Grindhouse Wetware, after a stint in the military and a stint on the streets, and, finally, after a self-directed obsession with technology that he says pulled him out of depression. You dont have to do it their way, he preaches from the garages makeshift lectern. We can predict diseases in your dinner but not your daughter, and its your fault because youre a square.

Rich Lee, a grinder with dreams of turning his pelvis into a cyborgian vibrator, is in the front row. After he and his wife divorced in 2015, she sued for custody of their children. Lee has magnets inside his ears which act as headphones; shortly after his divorce, he attempted to implant his shins with foam armor, which ended in swelling, burst stitches and removal. His children, he wrote in a GoFundMe raising money for legal fees, used to think I was an awesome dad with super powers, but now they have been told I am a self-mutilating parent with a problem and that they are victims for seeing the stitches in my legs.

Late Saturday, at a saloon a few miles away, Max Mata, a veteran in a cowboy hat who had never heard of Grindfest, contemplates the notion of electronic implants. He worries about privacy, like access to his Social Security number: Could they get your social off that thing? No thanks.

We made it available for dogs and theyre not dying, counters his friend, Dakota Turney, a police officer.

Its different when its humans, says Lexie Armienta, a waitress. Your body is your body.

More for you Controversial biohacker found dead in float therapy tank

What about tattoos? asks Mata. We all have those.

On Sunday morning, Tibbetts and Hylyx prepare to test Louis coating. Overnight, the mixture has begun to crack around the edges of the wire. That wasnt the case in Louis rodent trials, in which the coating dried smoothly around discs. I dont think its a good idea, ventures Tibbetts. This wire is too flexible. If Hylyxs body rejects it, theres no way to know whether its because of Louis coating or something else.

I want my arm to light up, but yeah, agrees Hylyx.

The Andersons are in Los Angeles, waiting to catch a flight back to Arizona, when they hear the news via text. If you fail once, try again, says Louis. Thats how I am. Louis role model, polymathic John von Neumann, tried his hand in a plethora of different fields. In June, the Andersons will fly to Shenzhen, China, to scout suppliers for his company.

Hylyx goes into the procedure room anyway, with a finger magnet that has been failing, which means the uncanny sensation of electromagnetic fields  its like air has a texture, someone says  has dulled. Underneath a bright fluorescent light, Hylyx pushes a scalpel into a finger; blood trickles down. Doing it on yourself is easier, Hylyx says. If you make a mistake, its like, Oh well. You feel it.

Hylyx, who has been living in a lemon-colored converted bread truck for the past few months, doesnt know yet where to travel tomorrow. Hylyx is considering installing a device that would link the vehicle to the entire world via radio waves, to talk to anyone in the world at any moment. Its a technology that, 50 years ago, seemed like a superpower: the Wi-Fi hot spot.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.BOISE, Idaho  The tech company office where Mikelle Oliver works as a recruiter opened 2 1/2 years ago and is now so crammed she must share a desk.

Oliver and her 200 co-workers will soon move to another building and be joined by 300 more employees. A housing development of 3,000 homes on Boises edge, planned for a 20-year build-out, is about a decade ahead of schedule. On the citys hippest strip, young people pack the outdoor cafes on a late spring weeknight.

These are heady times for Idahos biggest metro area, with an influx of newcomers, a spike in home prices and a jolt of high-wage jobs in professions like payroll services and accounting that have made Idaho the fastest-growing state in the nation. Boise has driven the growth  more than 4 in 10 Idaho residents now live within a half-hours drive of the state Capitol in the heart of the city.

With that wave of urbanization and economic development has come a new political chemistry in this conservative rural state. Idahos new residents, clustering in Boises boom zone, are creating uncertainty about how they might vote in Tuesdays primary for governor in a moment when economics, politics and demographics are all in motion.

No one is expecting a revolution; the long dominance by Republicans is almost certainly secure. Still, political experts said, the election could be pivotal for both parties as a measure of whether prosperity and new blood push Democrats and Republicans toward moderation, or away from it.

Sam McMahon, 22, who grew up east of Seattle and graduated this spring with a degree in computer science from Boise State University, is among the new deciders. He described himself as an enthusiastic but uncommitted Democrat who planned to vote Tuesday in a primary where the open seat for governor is the headline attraction. Boises mayor, Dave Bieter, a Democrat, said newcomers like McMahon were making some traditionally Republican state legislative seats on the citys edge competitive for the first time in recent memory.

Tiffany Amos also plans to vote. She came to Idaho from California for college, and she and her husband have put down roots, buying a home here last summer. She said she planned to vote for a Republican but hasnt decided who will get her support in a crowded field. Gov. C.L. Otter, a Republican known to all as Butch, is retiring after 12 years.

Many residents  some in frustration, others with a sigh of relief  said they thought that Idaho could emerge from this election cycle superficially unchanged, shifted only in the nuances and margins despite the churn of new wealth, new population and anxiety about where it all might lead.

More economic energy than ever is flowing from Boise, but the legislature is very likely to remain firmly in the grip of conservative rural lawmakers. More retirees are moving in for the attractive home prices and taxes, but so are more young tech workers who want good schools. Democrats have felt a surge of enthusiasm in the city itself, but Republicans have seen even more as new conservatives from places like Southern California have flocked to the suburbs.

People keep thinking, Oh, youve got all these people moving in, its going to kind of moderate and youre going to get a two-party system,' said Gary Moncrief, a retired professor at Boise State University who has studied the state for 40 years. People have been talking about that now for 30 years and it just hasnt happened, and part of that is because of the nature of the people that are moving here.

In the primary, almost all the candidates for governor are reaching out in various ways to the altered electorate, either to suggest that greater change is possible now in a boom economy, or that the line against further change will be defended.

For the Democrats, a Boise businessman, A.J. Balukoff, is pledging to fight for improved health care and more education spending, and is facing an insurgent progressive to his left in Paulette Jordan, a former state legislator who would be, if elected, the first Native American governor of Idaho. Jordan promises to raise the minimum wage and fight climate change.

On the Republican side, the three leading candidates are making pitches to very distinct segments of the electorate, and tapping into concerns about where the state might be headed. Raul Labrador, a congressman from the Boise suburbs, is running on conservative issues like abortion and gun rights. Tommy Ahlquist, a physician and businessman who has had a hand in the boom as a developer, is pledging more economic growth. Brad Little, the lieutenant governor, is appealing to voters who want an experienced hand at the helm.

If new voters do in fact tip any of Tuesdays outcomes, it will be the voice of the West Coast  liberal, conservative or something between  that rises above the din. Los Angeles County has in recent years sent more residents to Ada County, which includes Boise and its western suburbs, than any other place. Utah County in Utah and San Diego and Orange counties in California are close behind.

Its a fascinating election  I think a lot of people are going to be poring over the numbers the day after, and the day after that, because everyone is anxious to understand what shift is really occurring, said Jeff Sayer, a former director of the Idaho Department of Commerce.

Some changes are already here, and for longtime residents, drenched with meaning and symbolism. The Boise Co-op, for example, a beloved 45-year-old symbol of the North End  generally considered the citys most liberal neighborhood  spent $3.5 million to open a grocery store in Meridian, 10 miles to the west, where conservative politics run deep and California license plates are common.

The Meridian store now outpaces the original during membership drives, sometimes by a 3-1 margin, and attracts shoppers like Ashley and her husband, Ray, transplants from the San Francisco area who did not want their last names used because of a backlash they say is running hot against Californians. They left California last year, they said, seeking a more conservative environment in which to raise their children, ages 9 and 3. We just didnt agree with California politics, Ashley said.

Whether voters in the midst of a boom move left or right, many residents say the strains of change are deep, as farms and ranches on the citys edge get chewed up into housing, and high-wage tech workers outcompete the locals. Klea Gentle, a hotel sales manager, said the frustrations of shopping for a home in Boises North End, and getting beaten by cash offers far above the asking price, were shocking in a once quiet market.

Gentle is a Democrat who said she had found herself moving to the left and would vote for Jordan. Politicians and economists said they have been looking at how other Western cities handled urban booms before Boises, from Denver to Salt Lake City.

Oliver, 29, the tech recruiter, said it felt like a bubble.

There are not enough companies to sustain the amount of growth were seeing, and salaries are not keeping up, she said. She described herself as Republican-leaning but undecided in the governors race. In any case, she added, political change is inevitable sooner or later from the wave of new people. I dont think weve seen it yet, but its definitely coming, she said.

Her employer, Paylocity, an Illinois-based company that expanded in Idaho in 2015, will continue its growth curve outside Boise. The company is taking space in Meridian, which is now Idahos second-largest city, grown from sleepy farm roots within a generation and now home to one of the busiest traffic intersections in Idaho, footsteps from the Boise Co-op.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.A college-aged man was stabbed to death at Sonoma State University this evening, campus police reported.

Police received reports of the stabbing at 5:53 p.m. in the Sauvignon Village residential community.

University policy and fire department personnel responded to the scene. Firefighters determined at 6:06 p.m. that the man was dead.

Police detained one suspect, also a college-aged male, and determined that there was no further threat to the student community. Police don't yet know whether the victim or the suspect is a student at Sonoma State University.

Petaluma police are assisting in the investigation. Police said grief counselors will be available at campus residences to support students.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The U.S. government's appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in San Francisco that kept protections in place for nearly 700,000 undocumented young immigrants will go before a federal appeals court on Tuesday.

In January, U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the administration of President Donald Trump's cancellation of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

The government wants the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn that ruling, and at 1 p.m. Tuesday, a three-judge panel will hear one hour of arguments at the court's Pasadena courthouse.

The panel is expected to issue a written decision at its San Francisco headquarters at a later date. It has no deadline, but has been asked by the U.S. Supreme Court to "proceed expeditiously" with the case.

The DACA program was established by President Barack Obama in 2012. It allows undocumented young people who arrived in the United States as children to apply for delay of deportation and for authorization to work, renewable every two years.

In September, the Trump administration announced it was canceling the program on a phased basis beginning in March. Soon afterward, more than 10 lawsuits challenging the cancellation were filed in federal courts around the country.

Alsup issued the Jan. 12 preliminary injunction in five cases filed in federal courts in San Francisco and San Jose, including one by the University of California and another by the state of California and three other states.

He said the government's action lacked a reasoned explanation and therefore violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits "arbitrary and capricious" actions by executive agencies.

U.S. Justice Department lawyers contend, however, that the cancellation of the program was a "purely discretionary enforcement decision" entirely within the authority of the Department of Homeland Security, and is not subject to judicial review.

The plaintiffs in the five lawsuits have argued in briefs that Alsup was correct and that courts must consider the fact that thousands of people have relied on the DACA program for more than five years.

"Without the injunction, thousands of DACA recipients would have lost their work authorization and deferred action status beginning in March 2018 -- and thousands more the next month, and each succeeding month, until nearly three-quarters of a million young Americans would be shunted back into the shadows of our society," state lawyers wrote in a brief filed with the court in March.

"That would profoundly damage the individual plaintiffs, the states and other entity plaintiffs, our communities, our educational institutions, our businesses and the entire nation," the attorneys wrote.

California was joined in its lawsuit by Maine, Maryland and Minnesota. The other lawsuits ruled on by Alsup were filed by the city of San Jose; six individuals; and Santa Clara County together with the Service Employees International Union.

As of January, the DACA program covered 690,000 people, who are sometimes known as Dreamers. About 223,000 of them live in California, according to state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

In a separate case filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, by the state of New York and 15 other states, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis issued a similar nationwide preliminary injunction in February.

The Trump administration is appealing that injunction to the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A hearing in that appeal has not yet been scheduled.

If the appeals courts issue conflicting decisions, that would increase the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually step in and decide the issue.

In the meantime, if one injunction is upheld at the circuit level, it will remain in force nationwide even if the other one is not affirmed, according to Alex Berengaut, a lawyer representing the University of California.

If upheld at the Supreme Court level, a preliminary injunction would remain in effect until a full trial is held in the original district court on whether a permanent injunction should be issued.

The dispute has already gone to the Supreme Court once.

In January, the Justice Department took the unusual step of appealing Alsup's decision directly to the high court, bypassing the normal route through the appeals court.

In February, the Supreme Court in a brief order refused to grant immediate review, but said it assumed that the 9th Circuit would act expeditiously on the intermediate appeal.

Both Alsup's and Garaufis' preliminary injunctions require the Department of Homeland Security to accept applications for renewals of DACA status, but do not require the agency to accept new applications.

Tuesday's arguments before the 9th Circuit can be viewed in live streaming at the court's website at https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco police announced this afternoon that Julius Turman, former President of the San Francisco Police Commission, has died.

Police did not release any information about the time, cause or location of his death.

Turman joined the commission in 2012 and served as president from 2016 to May 4, 2018, according to police.

"Commissioner Turman was a tremendously intelligent and compassionate man who cared deeply about this department," San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in a news release.

Mayor Mark Farrell said he is deeply saddened by Turman's passing, and described him as a defender of human rights and an advocate for equality and justice.

"Julius always spoke forcefully, yet truly, and he gained the well-earned respect of his colleagues and peers for his clear passion and dedication to serving the people of this City," Farrell said in a news release.

Flags will be flown at half-staff Monday from sunrise to sunset at City Hall and San Francisco Police Department buildings, according to the mayor's office.A 53-year-old Pleasant Hill woman celebrating Mother's Day hiking with her family on Mount Tamalpais was rescued when she fell and became injured Sunday afternoon.

The woman was injured while hiking on the steep Matt Davis Trail, according to the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Air Division in Napa.A King City man was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday after being convicted of being in possession of methamphetamine while armed with a gun, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said 32-year-old Julio Meraz was pulled over by officers in King City on June 21, 2017, for driving erratically.SANTA CLARA (BCN)

Nine police reports have been filed against Santa Clara High School teacher and City Councilman Dominic Caserta, according to Mayor Lisa Gillmor.

The mayor said numerous credible allegations about potential sexual abuse and improper behavior against Caserta came to light last week and that the number has continued to grow since then.

The councilman is also running for a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and has denied the allegations.

Gillmor said the allegations will be taken seriously and acted upon quickly and that she feels especially sad for Caserta's victims because of a personal connection.

"I have children who are the same age as the students and campaign workers who Councilman Caserta may have abused," Gillmor said in a statement. "I'm sickened by what they have publicly disclosed to the media."

Gillmor commended those who stepped forward to report the acts, especially against someone in a position of power like Caserta.

The allegations will be discussed at the regularly scheduled Santa Clara City Council meeting Tuesday, Gillmor said.

"Tomorrow, the City Council has the opportunity to take the first step to condemning Councilman Caserta for his actions," Gillmor said in her statement. "I hope we will do so."

At the meeting, Caserta will have the opportunity to defend himself against the claims and even address his accusers if he pleases. However, Gillmor said that she hopes he chooses to resign immediately "for the sake of the community."

Last Tuesday, Caserta issued a news release on his campaign website for the District 4 supervisor seat denying all allegations and stating that portions of his personnel file from the Santa Clara Unified School District had been released to everyone in the district without his knowledge or consent.

In that file, details on previous allegations and mistakes such as sending home an Advanced Placement test that disqualified his students from the rewards of good testing were included.

Caserta said in his statement that the allegations were investigated by the school district and that he was exonerated.

"Rehashing things that occurred 12 to 16 years ago is a waste of time," the councilman stated.

Santa Clara Unified School District assistant superintendent Andrew Lucia said that due to the confidentiality of the report, he could only confirm that a personnel file was leaked and not whom the file pertained to.

He also said that Caserta was still an employee of the school district.Petaluma police have arrested a Santa Rosa man on suspicion of fatally stabbing a man inside an apartment dorm room at Sonoma State University on Sunday evening.

The suspect has been identified as 19-year-old Tyler Bratton, police Lt. Tim Lyons said.

He has had prior police contacts and was taken to the Sonoma County Jail this morning, Lyons said.

Police have not identified the 26-year-old Sonoma County man who was killed. Lyons said Bratton and the victim were acquaintances, neither was a student at Sonoma State University and the homicide was not a random act.

A motive for the stabbing is under investigation, but there was some sort of dispute or altercation, Lyons said.

Sonoma State University police responded to the stabbing in the Quad area of the campus around 7:25 p.m. and quickly detained Bratton before Petaluma police arrived. Rohnert Park and Cotati police also responded.

Petaluma police recovered a knife and a backpack and have interviewed two people they believe witnessed the stabbing. Several people live inside the apartment where the stabbing took place, Lyons said.

"We believe we have the stabber," Lyons said.

An autopsy on the victim will take place today or Tuesday, he said.

Lyons said Sonoma State University has an open campus and visitors are allowed to visit students.

"Everyone at the university is shocked and saddened by this tragic event," Sonoma State president Judy Sakaki said in a statement.

Sakaki said the university remains open during final exams this week, and counselors are available to provide psychological and emotional support to students.

An Amtrak train fatally struck a person in Oakland on Sunday evening, authorities said.

The collision occurred at about 6:15 p.m. a few miles from Amtrak's Coliseum/Airport station, and involved Capitol Corridor Train No. 743 that was headed from Sacramento to San Jose, Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods said.

The person died and their name is not yet being released, according to the Alameda County coroner's bureau.

No injuries were reported among the 100 customers on board or any crew members, Woods said.

A 23-year-old Pleasant Hill woman was arrested for allegedly trying to take a 2-month-old girl from her mother's stroller in San Francisco's Mission District on Sunday evening, a police spokeswoman said.

Diamond Harris was arrested for allegedly accosting the young mother, who was pushing her daughter in a stroller in the 1300 block of Natoma Street around 6:20 p.m., police Officer Giselle Linnane said.

Harris allegedly tried to take the child from the stroller, but witnesses intervened and prevented her from doing so, and she fled with three other people, according to Linnane.

Officers responded and detained her. She was later booked into jail on suspicion of felony kidnapping and child endangerment, as well as a misdemeanor warrant for allegedly providing false identification to police, Linnane said.

The other three people Harris allegedly left with were released without further incident, she said.

Multiple people were hospitalized after a bicyclist struck them on San Francisco's Market Street this morning and then fled, a police spokeswoman said.

The collision was reported at 10:02 a.m. in the area of Market and Powell streets, police Officer Giselle Linnane said.

Linnane said two pedestrians were hospitalized after the collision, while San Francisco fire officials wrote on Twitter that four people had been hospitalized with minor injuries.

Linnane said the bicyclist appears to have fled the scene. No description of the bicyclist was immediately released by police.

A man who collaborated with the former manager of a San Mateo condominium complex to embezzle an estimated $2.8 million has been convicted of multiple felony charges, prosecutors said today.

Michael Medeiros, 61, was the owner of Professional Painting Inc., and collaborated with Susan Marie Lambert, who was the general manager of the Woodlake Homeowners Association overseeing the Woodlake Condominiums complex until she was fired in September 2013.

After Lambert was fired at the affluent 990-unit complex on Peninsula Avenue, a stack of 150 false invoices to Professional Painting Inc. dating back to 2007 were found next to her computer, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

In most instances, no work was done and Lambert and Medeiros split the money, prosecutors said.

A San Mateo County Superior Court jury on Friday found Medeiros guilty of embezzlement and grand theft, both felonies, with special enhancements based on the amount of the theft and it being an aggravated white collar crime, prosecutors said.

Lambert had previously pleaded no contest in September 2016 on the condition that she gets a sentence of no more than three years and four months in prison, according to the district attorney's office.

Medeiros faces up to eight years and eight months in prison and was remanded into custody after the guilty verdict. He will return to court on June 22 for sentencing, prosecutors said.

His attorney Thomas Knutsen was not immediately available to comment on the case.

A 28-year-old Petaluma woman was arrested after allegedly leading police on a short pursuit in a stolen vehicle before crashing on Sunday night, according to Santa Rosa police.

Police said Edwina Grunseth fled from an attempted traffic stop after an officer checked a Department of Motor Vehicles database and determined the vehicle she was driving had been reported stolen.

According to police, Grunseth led police on a chase from Hoen Avenue, starting near the intersection with Yulupa Avenue, until she crashed the vehicle into a Caltrans light pole. The crash knocked the pole off its base and the vehicle came to rest in trees and shrubs in an adjacent field.

Grunseth complied with commands from officers after the crash and was able to climb out of the vehicle's window to be taken into police custody. She was not injured.

Grunseth has been booked into Sonoma County Jail.

Three Vallejo men were arrested on suspicion of burglarizing a vehicle belonging to a couple that was on the way home from a European vacation on Thursday night, according to Vacaville police.

The suspects, Everett Perkins, 33, Shaun Jackson, 31, and Demanrio Nelson, 28, were arrested on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy and possession of stolen property.

Police said the couple's car was burglarized at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant on Thursday. After they called police, officers received a call of three men looking into vehicles at the Nut Tree Village shopping center.

Although they left the area before officers arrived, police said the men were located in another nearby parking lot and were taken into custody.

A search of the suspects' vehicle yielded the burglarized couple's items in addition to many other items that had been stolen from other people, police said.

All three men were booked into Solano County Jail.

A 53-year-old Pleasant Hill woman celebrating Mother's Day hiking with her family on Mount Tamalpais was rescued when she fell and became injured Sunday afternoon.

The woman was injured while hiking on the steep Matt Davis Trail, according to the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Air Division in Napa.

The Marin County Fire Department broadcast a report about the incident around 3:15 p.m. and a CHP H-30 helicopter responded.

Ground units from the Marin County Fire Department, Stinson Beach Volunteer Fire Department and California State Parks also responded. The woman was placed in the helicopter's rescue basket and was flown to Stinson Beach where paramedics and an ambulance were waiting, according to the CHP.San Francisco police announced Sunday afternoon that Julius Turman, a former president of the San Francisco Police Commission, has died. Police did not release any information about the time, cause or location of his death.

Turman joined the commission in 2012 and served as president from 2016 to May 4, 2018, according to police.

"Commissioner Turman was a tremendously intelligent and compassionate man who cared deeply about this department," San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in a news release.

Mayor Mark Farrell said he is deeply saddened by Turman's passing, and described him as a defender of human rights and an advocate for equality and justice.

"Julius always spoke forcefully, yet truly, and he gained the well-earned respect of his colleagues and peers for his clear passion and dedication to serving the people of this City," Farrell said in a news release.

Flags will be flown at half-staff Monday from sunrise to sunset at City Hall and San Francisco Police Department buildings, according to the mayor's office.

Police are asking the public for help in finding a suspect in a Saturday East Palo Alto shooting that sent a man to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the torso.

A call came in shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday reporting a shooting on the 400 block of East O'Keefe Street, according to police. A preliminary investigation revealed that an argument broke out at a party in an apartment complex, culminating in the shooting of a 28-year-old San Jose man, police said.

The suspect fled on foot, and the victim was taken to a hospital where he is in critical but stable condition, according to police.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police by sending an anonymous tip to epa@tipnow.org, sending an anonymous text to (650) 409-6792 or leaving an anonymous voicemail at (650) 409-6792.

A college-aged man was stabbed to death at Sonoma State University on Sunday evening, campus police reported.

Police received reports of the stabbing at 5:53 p.m. in the Sauvignon Village residential community.

University policy and fire department personnel responded to the scene. Firefighters determined at 6:06 p.m. that the man was dead.

Police detained one suspect, also a college-aged male, and determined that there was no further threat to the student community. Police don't yet know whether the victim or the suspect is a student at Sonoma State University.

Petaluma police are assisting in the investigation. Police said grief counselors will be available at campus residences to support students.

Sonoma County sheriff's deputies arrested a man suspected of shooting a deputy on Sunday afternoon.

Ryan Joseph Pritel, a 20-year-old Sonoma resident, was arrested for attempted murder and carrying a loaded firearm in public and booked into Sonoma County Jail.

Shortly before 11 a.m., deputies went to the Jolly Washer gas station in the 19200 block of state Highway 12 after the manager called and said a 19-year-old employee was acting strangely, sheriff's officials said.

The manager also said the employee appeared to have a BB gun tucked into his waistband, according to sheriff's officials.

Three deputies assigned to the Sonoma Police Department went to the car wash and found Pritel standing behind a gray pickup truck in the car wash line, acting suspiciously, sheriff's officials said.

A deputy walked toward Pritel to speak with him. Pritel then allegedly pulled out a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and shot him at least once, according to sheriff's officials.

The deputy returned fire but didn't hit Pritel, who ducked down behind the truck, sheriff's officials said. Sheriff's officials said Pritel's handgun jammed, he threw it down and the deputies took him into custody.

Pritel allegedly fired a projectile with multiple pellets, commonly called a "snake shot," according to sheriff's officials.

"Snake shot" is very small lead shot. The deputy was struck in several places on his body, sheriff's officials said, but Pritel was not injured.

The deputy was flown to the hospital. He is in good condition and expected to survive, sheriff's officials said.

A Vacaville man was shot and killed in Santa Cruz near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Sunday evening, according to Santa Cruz police.

Police responded to a parking lot near the boardwalk at Second and Cliff streets at 6:41 p.m. Sunday to reports of shots fired. Police located one vehicle involved in the shooting and found an unresponsive man suffering from a gunshot wound to his torso, police said.

Police and emergency responders gave him medical aid, but he later died at Dominican Hospital, police said.

Police located two "involved subjects" from Vacaville, a juvenile and an adult, but didn't say they were suspects nor where they were located in proximity to the shooting. A loaded handgun and additional ammunition was also found in connection with the shooting, according to police. Police did not confirm whether any arrests were made.

The Santa Cruz County coroner's office is notifying the victim's next of kin and their name has not yet been released.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Santa Cruz police at (831) 420-5800.

A 70-year-old Oakley man was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation after firing shots inside and outside his home believing that burglars were entering with guns and screwdrivers on Sunday night, according to Oakley police.

Oakley police Sgt. Jeff Solomon said dispatch received several calls from the man's neighbors after he started shooting shots at his home around 9:05 p.m. Sunday. Before going outside, Solomon said the man fired a few shots inside the home with a pistol.

Officers arrived at the residence and found the man - who wasn't identified - outside the home with a shotgun in his hand. Solomon said the man complied with police orders and was taken into custody.

According to Solomon, officers recovered two firearms before taking the man - who thought he shot four people - to the hospital.

A 32-year-old motorcyclist from Pittsburg died after a collision in Bay Point on Sunday afternoon.

The man was driving a red 1992 Honda motorcycle south on Alves Lane just north of Hill Street at about 30 mph, according to the CHP.

A 2014 Gold Chevrolet Cruze had just turned north onto Alves Lane from Medanos Avenue at 5 mph and was about to make a left turn onto Hill Street in front of the oncoming motorcyclist when the collision happened, CHP officials said.

The motorcyclist tried to avoid the Cruze but ended up down on the asphalt on the motorcycle, which then crashed into the Cruze. The motorcyclist died at the scene, CHP officials said. A 42-year-old Bay Point man was driving the car at the time of the crash.

Alcohol and drugs are not a factor in the collision and the fatality is still under investigation. If anyone witnessed the events leading up to the collision, they are asked to call the CHP at (925) 646-4980.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will grill executives from Tetra Tech, the firm accused of falsifying results from the $1 billion radiation cleanup at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, at a hearing Monday.

The U.S. Navy paid Pasadena-based Tetra Tech $1 billon to clean up toxic waste at the former shipyard in 2002 for a redevelopment project where thousands of people would live. However, in 2012, workers contracted by Tetra Tech claimed cleanup data had been falsified.

"Monday is an opportunity to directly address the accusations and resounding concerns from my constituents. We deserve clear answers," Supervisor Malia Cohen, who called for the hearing, tweeted Friday. Cohen represents the Bayview-Hunters Point district.

The board will discuss the cleanup timeline and disputes between federal regulators and the U.S. Navy during the Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting at 1:30 p.m. in Room 250 of City Hall.

Confirmed presenters include representatives of Tetra Tech, the Navy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Francisco Department of Health, according to Cohen.

The Tetra Tech contractors claimed in 2012 that data on the firm's cleanup had been falsified and manipulated in order to minimize evidence of soil contamination, according to the environmental watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

In September 2017, the Navy released a preliminary analysis of the cleanup specifically at two of the site's numerous parcels and determined that nearly half of the samples taken from the site had in fact been falsified or manipulated.

Tetra Tech emphatically denies the allegations and has offered to pay for independent testing.

Tetra Tech was sued May 1 in a lawsuit accusing the company of putting the lives of residents of San Francisco's Bayview and Hunters Point residents at risk by allegedly falsifying radiation cleanup.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by attorney Charles Bonner, accuses Tetra Tech of "blatant, conscious, callous disregard of Bayview Hunters Point residents' lives, born and unborn" and "unfair and fraudulent business practices."

The suit is seeking $27 billion in damages on behalf of the neighborhood's 38,484 residents, a figure based on a 2010 census.

In response to the lawsuit, representatives of Tetra Tech strongly defended the firm's actions.

"We believe the lawsuit is factually incorrect and without merit. Tetra Tech stands by this work at Hunters Point. Our work was done properly and to the standard required by the U.S. Navy," Tetra Tech said in a statement.

"We believe so strongly in the quality of our work that we have offered to pay for independent testing to demonstrate that the false and misleading allegations, such as contained in this lawsuit, are wrong," the statement said.

The Navy found that 15 percent of the soil samples at Parcel B needed retesting, while 49 percent of soil samples at Parcel G were in need of retesting.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Department of Public Health, independently reviewed the Navy's report in December and found further signs of potential falsification, manipulation and data quality concerns at the parcels. The agencies recommended resampling for roughly 90 percent of Parcel B and for about 97 percent of Parcel G.

In a Dec. 17 letter to the Navy, John Chesnutt, a regional EPA Superfund manager, wrote, "The data analyzed showed a widespread pattern of practices that appear to show deliberate falsification, failure to complete the work in a manner required ... or both."

The letter was made public in April after PEER obtained it in a Freedom of Information Act request.

The area was closed as a Navy shipyard in 1974 and in 1989 was designated as an EPA Superfund site, having priority as one of the most toxic cleanup sites in the nation.

Radiation contamination there stemmed from the cleaning of ships exposed to atom bombs and from research on defense against nuclear weapons. Other contaminants from shipyard operations included petroleum compounds, mercury and lead.UNION CITY (BCN)

The Union City Police Department is reminding motorists that May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and asking drivers to help prevent fatal collisions with motorcycles.

Police officials noted that motorcyclists accounted for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2015, but comprised only 3 percent of all registered vehicles in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In California, 560 motorcyclists were killed in motor crashes in 2016, an 11 percent increase over the previous year, police said.

With that in mind, drivers are cautioned to always use a turn signal with changing lanes or merging with traffic, to alert motorcyclists.

Drivers who see a motorcyclist with a signal on should be careful: Motorcycle signals are often non-canceling and could have been forgotten.

Drivers should always ensure the motorcyclist is actually going to make a turn before proceeding.

Drivers should check all mirrors and blind spots for motorcycles before changing lanes or merging with traffic, police said.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will grill executives from Tetra Tech, the firm accused of falsifying results from the $1 billion radiation cleanup at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, at a hearing Monday.

The U.S. Navy paid Pasadena-based Tetra Tech $1 billon to clean up toxic waste at the former shipyard in 2002 for a redevelopment project where thousands of people would live. However, in 2012, workers contracted by Tetra Tech claimed cleanup data had been falsified.

"Monday is an opportunity to directly address the accusations and resounding concerns from my constituents. We deserve clear answers," Supervisor Malia Cohen, who called for the hearing, tweeted Friday. Cohen represents the Bayview-Hunters Point district.

The board will discuss the cleanup timeline and disputes between federal regulators and the U.S. Navy during the Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting at 1:30 p.m. in Room 250 of City Hall.

Confirmed presenters include representatives of Tetra Tech, the Navy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Francisco Department of Health, according to Cohen.

The Tetra Tech contractors claimed in 2012 that data on the firm's cleanup had been falsified and manipulated in order to minimize evidence of soil contamination, according to the environmental watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

In September 2017, the Navy released a preliminary analysis of the cleanup specifically at two of the site's numerous parcels and determined that nearly half of the samples taken from the site had in fact been falsified or manipulated.

Tetra Tech emphatically denies the allegations and has offered to pay for independent testing.

Tetra Tech was sued May 1 in a lawsuit accusing the company of putting the lives of residents of San Francisco's Bayview and Hunters Point residents at risk by allegedly falsifying radiation cleanup.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by attorney Charles Bonner, accuses Tetra Tech of "blatant, conscious, callous disregard of Bayview Hunters Point residents' lives, born and unborn" and "unfair and fraudulent business practices."

The suit is seeking $27 billion in damages on behalf of the neighborhood's 38,484 residents, a figure based on a 2010 census.

In response to the lawsuit, representatives of Tetra Tech strongly defended the firm's actions.

"We believe the lawsuit is factually incorrect and without merit. Tetra Tech stands by this work at Hunters Point. Our work was done properly and to the standard required by the U.S. Navy," Tetra Tech said in a statement.

"We believe so strongly in the quality of our work that we have offered to pay for independent testing to demonstrate that the false and misleading allegations, such as contained in this lawsuit, are wrong," the statement said.

The Navy found that 15 percent of the soil samples at Parcel B needed retesting, while 49 percent of soil samples at Parcel G were in need of retesting.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Department of Public Health, independently reviewed the Navy's report in December and found further signs of potential falsification, manipulation and data quality concerns at the parcels. The agencies recommended resampling for roughly 90 percent of Parcel B and for about 97 percent of Parcel G.

In a Dec. 17 letter to the Navy, John Chesnutt, a regional EPA Superfund manager, wrote, "The data analyzed showed a widespread pattern of practices that appear to show deliberate falsification, failure to complete the work in a manner required ... or both."

The letter was made public in April after PEER obtained it in a Freedom of Information Act request.

The area was closed as a Navy shipyard in 1974 and in 1989 was designated as an EPA Superfund site, having priority as one of the most toxic cleanup sites in the nation.

Radiation contamination there stemmed from the cleaning of ships exposed to atom bombs and from research on defense against nuclear weapons. Other contaminants from shipyard operations included petroleum compounds, mercury and lead.SANTA CRUZ (BCN)

A suspect linked to the murder of a Vacaville man in a parking lot near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Sunday night has been arrested, according to police.

Javier Calvo, 18, of Vacaville, was taken into custody on suspicion of shooting and killing Isaac Lopez, 19.

Investigators determined that Calvo and Lopez knew each other and had come to Santa Cruz earlier in the day with friends, police said.

Calvo and Lopez were in a parked car with two other people at Second and Cliff streets. A pistol that was discharged struck Lopez, at which time one of their mutual friends called 911 to report the shooting at 6:41 p.m.

When police responded, they located a vehicle reported as involved in the shooting and found Lopez unresponsive and suffering from a gunshot wound to his torso.

Santa Cruz police and paramedics attempted to give him medical aid before he was transported to Dominican Hospital. However, he was pronounced dead there.

The loaded handgun and additional ammunition were found in connection with the shooting, police said.

Santa Cruz police are continuing to process evidence and interview witnesses, officers said. Investigators are working to determine how Calvo came to possess the pistol and who owned it.I recently received an email from someone who had a Winston Churchill quote in their signature. I cant even remember which quote it was, I was just excited there was another Winston Churchill fan out there. Most people think of Winston Churchill as the fat English guy who liked to smoke cigPresident Trump and his top aides on Monday hailed the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a great day, a position that roiled the Arab world and fueled deadly protests along the Israel-Palestinian border.

The move ends  at least for now  Americas chances of becoming a neutral peace broker in the Middle East. And while the approach was swiftly condemned by Muslim world leaders, Trumps new policy appeases a powerful pro-Israeli lobby within the Republican party.

Attending the ceremony Monday was Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, who at one point offered to pay for part of the new embassy. Also attending was Trumps daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who work as senior White House aides.

While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it, Kushner, Trumps chief Mideast adviser, told attendees.

The relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv is U.S. recognition that Jerusalem is Israels capital. This position has angered the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as a future capital.

In a video address that aired at the ceremonys opening, Trump said the U.S. still remains fully committed to pursing a Mideast peace deal. Trumps top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, reiterated that goal in a statement calling for lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

But critics of the move, including some European officials, say the U.S. decision will only serve to exacerbate tensions and make it more difficult for the U.S. to offer itself as a neutral party.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: This is not an embassy; its a U.S. settlement outpost in Jerusalem.

Anne Flaherty and Catherine Lucey are Associated Press writers.BERLIN  European intelligence chiefs warned Monday that Russia is actively seeking to undermine their democracies by disinformation, cyberattacks and more traditional means of espionage.

The heads of Britain and Germanys domestic intelligence agencies, as well as the European Union and NATOs top security officials, pinpointed Moscow as the prime source of hybrid threats to Europe, citing attempts to manipulate elections, steal sensitive data and spark a coup in Montenegro. They also cited the nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy in Britain this year that Britain has blamed on Russia.

Our respect for Russias people ... cannot and must not stop us from calling out and pushing back on the Kremlins flagrant breaches of international rules, the head of Britains MI5 spy agency, Andrew Parker, told an intelligence gathering in Berlin.

Parker said the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury was swiftly followed by Russian attempts to divert blame. That resulted in at least 30 alternative theories about the attack being spread by Russian authorities and media.

Whatever nonsense they conjure up, the case is clear, said Parker.

He later told reporters that since allied governments were first briefed on Russias involvement in the attack by the British government, the case, if anything, has got stronger.

Germanys domestic intelligence chief, Hans-Georg Maassen, said his agency, known as BfV, blames Russian authorities for orchestrating a persistent cyberattack aimed at stealing sensitive data so it can be used in future intelligence campaigns, such as what happened with the Democratic National Committee emails leaked during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.

Sir Julian King, the EUs security commissioner, warned that social media had turbocharged state actors ability to spread disinformation, citing the recent revelations about Cambridge Analyticas gathering of personal data from Facebook users to help manipulate elections.

King warned of future threats posed by sophisticated fake videos that are indistinguishable from real footage, calling it an example of a deadly weapon of mass disinformation that societies need to find ways of becoming resilient to.

Frank Jordans is an Associated Press writer.JERUSALEM  Israel kicked off festivities Sunday to celebrate the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, even as it bolstered its forces along the Gaza border and in the West Bank in anticipation of mass Palestinian protests of the move.

A day before the embassys formal opening, Israel hosted a gala party at its Foreign Ministry with President Trumps daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and other American VIPs.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trumps bold decision in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital.

Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem in December, bringing a joyous reaction from Netanyahus nationalist government. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

The rival Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, has been staging a series of weekly demonstrations against a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory. Those protests are to climax Monday, with tens of thousands of people expected to gather along the Israeli border in an event timed to coincide with the U.S. Embassy move.

Hamas has signaled that large crowds might try to break through the border fence to realize the right of return to lost homes.

Both the embassy move and the protests have symbolic timing. Trump has said the opening is meant to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment. The Palestinian protests also mark the date as the anniversary of their naqba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding the event. About two-thirds of Gazas 2 million people are descendants of Palestinian refugees.

A mass border breach could trigger potentially lethal Israeli force. Forty-two Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded by Israeli fire since the weekly protests began on March 30. The U.N., European Union and rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force against unarmed protesters.

The Israeli military announced that it bolstered forces on the Gaza border with combat battalions, special units, intelligence forces and snipers.

Sundays celebrations coincided with Israels Jerusalem Day, the 51st anniversary of what it refers to the citys unification during the 1967 Mideast war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem  home to the citys most sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites  in a move that has not received international recognition.

Josef Federman is an Associated Press writer.JAKARTA, Indonesia  A wave of deadly bombings Sunday and Monday and evidence of more planned have shaken Indonesia just before the holy month of Ramadan, with entire families  including children  carrying out suicide attacks against Christian worshipers and the police.

The troubling discovery Monday of a trove of completed bombs in a housing complex outside Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city, came a day after members of a single family carried out three attacks against separate churches in the city, killing seven people.

On Sunday night, three members of another family, including a child, were killed when a bomb exploded in their apartment outside Surabaya when the police moved in to arrest them.

And on Monday morning, a family of five riding on two motorcycles detonated a bomb at the entrance of the Surabaya police headquarters  killing all but one of them and injuring four police officers. An 8-year-old girl who was with the attackers survived the blast and was taken to the hospital.

The extent of the carnage and the fact that children were enlisted in the attacks drew condemnation from the countrys leader, President Joko Widodo, who called them barbaric. All told, 12 civilians and 13 terrorist suspects were dead from two days of violence, with at least 46 people injured, including police officers.

Gen. Tito Karnavian, chief of the National Police, said the family suspected in Sundays attacks had recently returned to Indonesia after being deported from Syria. The bombs that exploded Sunday and Monday were similar in their construction  highly-powerful and sensitive to movement  to those used by the Islamic State group in its war in Iraq and Syria, Karnavian said. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But the use of children in terrorist plots, analysts say, represents a new and shocking development in Indonesia.

It was in one way expected and also completely unexpected, and that raises it to a new level of sick, using kids in this kind of thing, said Ken Conboy, a security consultant and counterterrorism analyst in Jakarta.

Joe Cochrane is a New York Times writer.KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia  New Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad indicated Sunday that his government will keep a controversial law banning fake news that he once slammed as a tool to curb dissent.

The law, which was rushed through parliament last month ahead of last weeks general election, carries a penalty of up to six years in jail and a fine of 500,000 ringgit ($128,000). Mahathir himself was investigated under the law before he led his four-party alliance to a stunning victory in Wednesdays election, ousting the long-ruling coalition.MADRID  Lawmakers in Catalonia elected a fervent separatist as the new chief of the restive region Monday, ending a leadership vacuum of more than six months and setting the scene for more confrontations with the Spanish government.

Quim Torra, a former corporate lawyer who went on to lead a prominent pro-secession group, vowed to build an independent Catalan republic by working under the leadership of his fugitive predecessor, Carles Puigdemont.President Trump ordered the Commerce Department to get ZTE Corp. back into business, weeks after cutting off the huge Chinese telecom equipment maker from its U.S. suppliers with a condemnation of ZTEs egregious behavior.

Trump said in a Sunday tweet that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are working together to give ZTE a way to get back into business, fast.

In a major reversal for a president who has many times accused China of stealing U.S. jobs, Trump said the Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! because too many jobs in China lost.

The U.S. blockade has choked off the revenue of the No. 2 Chinese telecom company, which regards the next two weeks as crucial as it faces potential collapse. The firm said May 10 that it had suspended all major operations. Its shares stopped trading in Hong Kong last month.

With ZTE facing possible ruin, Chinese officials stepped in. The U.S. delegation that held talks with China this month was expected to be told that reversing the Commerce Departments action was a condition for discussions to continue, said administration officials who asked not to be identified.

China plans to send Vice Premier Liu He to Washington this week, after the U.S. delegation to Beijing, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, didnt produce a deal after Trumps threats to impose tariffs on $150 billion of Chinese imports with promised Chinese retaliation.

ZTE has been trying to resolve the blockade that Trumps Commerce Department imposed in April as punishment for violating the terms of a 2017 sanctions settlement related to trading with Iran and North Korea, then lying about it. That cut off access to the technology it needs to build most of its products, from Qualcomm Inc.s semiconductors to optical chips from Lumentum Holdings Inc.

In a sharply worded statement on April 16, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said ZTE made false statements to the U.S. government and covered up the fact that the company paid full bonuses to employees who had engaged in illegal conduct.

ZTE misled the Department of Commerce, Ross said. Instead of reprimanding ZTE staff and senior management, ZTE rewarded them. This egregious behavior cannot be ignored.

Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a tweet that U.S. intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cybersecurity threat. He told Trump you should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs.

In another tweet Sunday, Trump said the U.S. and China are working well together on trade but past negotiations have been so one-sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries.

But be cool, it will work out! Trump said.

Ben Brody, Alistair Barr and Jenny Leonard are Bloomberg News writers.After an updated version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying Bangladesh's first communications satellite into orbit, its Founder and CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said his company is set for over 300 missions in five years.



The "Block 5" booster, the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle, was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre on its maiden flight on Friday.



The rocket's first stage was successfully recovered, landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" offshore droneship, about eight minutes after the launch, at an unmanned platform vessel in the Pacific Ocean.



"SpaceX will probably build 30 to 40 rocket cores for 300 missions over 5 years. Then the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) takes over & Falcon retires. Goal of BFR is to enable anyone to move to moon, Mars & eventually outer planets," Musk tweeted on Sunday.



The "Block-5" booster is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability,



"Rate at which things are getting more bizarre appears to be increasing. In the future, it will seem bizarre that we used to crash rockets into the ocean instead of reusing them," Musk added.



Falcon 9 rocket, aiming to bring astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in the future, came with many design changes to improve its reusability and reliability. Those changes may make engineers easier to refurbish its first stages for more flights.



The new rocket has improved its helium tanks submerged in liquid oxygen propellant tanks in the second stage. The helium tanks were ruptured in a pre-launch test on September 1, 2016, causing an explosion.



The Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, which will be used to explore Mars -- a goal that Musk hopes to accomplish by 2022 -- will be built in the Port of Los Angeles.



According to media reports, the LA Board of Harbor Commissioners gave its unanimous approval to permit SpaceX to build the BFR Mars rocket at a new facility on Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles.



The report said the new rocket manufacturing facility would be built on a 19-acre parcel on the mostly artificial island that's part of the port. The facility would provide employment to as many as 700 people, according to SpaceX.



According to Musk, the huge new rocket would be nearly 350 feet tall and span 30 feet in diameter.



Last month, NASA's next planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess), was successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.



Tess is expected to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars, including some that could support life.

Read more news:



Google rolls out Assistant's new voices in USSILive's new occasional series of shopping excursions that take us back to the "Old Country." And we're not just talking Italy; future installments will visit Poland, Asia, Jamaica and, hopefully, every place in between. Send your shopping "tourism" suggestions to

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Staten Island Advance | Carol Ann Benanti

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There's no doubt, Italians are positively passionate for life, and their time-honored heritage has always manifested itself in their love of fine wine, fresh food, literature and classic art.

If youre Italian -- or simply cant help but love all things Italian, you'll definitely find everything and anything to do with sunny Italy at LaBella Marketplace on Ellis Street in Tottenville.

And because most everyone loves Italian food and all that's involved in creating an authentic Italian dinner, begin at the beginning, shop for desserts and then some -- at LaBella.

Here, wheels of imported cheese, artichokes and stuffed peppers make for a mouth-watering display at LaBella. Oh, and the authentic Italian toiletries -- keep scrolling for a visual feast!

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In aisle of imported liquid hand soap is on display at LaBella Marketplace, a treat for Italian-Americans who remember the products from the old country. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Imported delicate soap for face and hands is also sold at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Malizia brand blackberry and musk bath foam is another popular bath item at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Malizia deodorant spray in several scents is another sought after Italian bath product sold at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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The excellence of Italian dishes depends on the fine ingredients from which it originates.

In Italy a good cook never knows what they're serving until they visit the local market and learn what's fresh for the day.

Here, at LaBella's Marketplace, in addition to Prosciutto DiParma, is an extensive selection of salami and pepperoni. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Purchase fresh whenever possible. But if not, canned and jarred tomato sauces and purees do the trick.

Imported tomatoes and tomato puree are plentiful at LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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For an Italian, food has to be good in and of itself with no disguises.

LaBella's imported salami and proscuitto are always on display, especially a hefty selection of imported Proscuitto DiParma that's always featured. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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And because Italians sometimes have a tendancy to overeat, Brioschi is on display in order to help with digestion. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Everything imported from Italy, and we mean everything, is on display at LaBella Marketplace.

A china, housewares and gadget department has also been incorporated into the extensive imported items at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Prepare to spend a lot of time perusing the appetizing and deli and meat department that seem to go on and on at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Pecorino Romano cheese for eating or grating on pasta, makes for an eye-catching wheel display at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A full selection of fresh fruits and vegetables greets customers upon arriving at LaBella Marketplace.

Here fresh, plump tomatoes, a staple in an Italian kitchen, sit prominently on display at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Fresh catch of the day.

What would a marketplace be without a fresh fish department? There's ones prominently displayed in LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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No Italian kitchen would be complete without extra virgin olive oil for sauteing, pan frying, sauces, for dressing tomatoes, finishing selected dishes, and with Italian bread.

Here, imported organic extra virgin olive oil and white truffle oil, staples in an Italian kitchen, are all offered at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Saturday afternoons are a busy time at LaBella Marketplace, especially in the appetizing department, where the selection is endless. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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For those who prefer imported pasta, the Garofalo brand makes another attractive display at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A good Italian chef will serve Italian bread with each meal. In fact, they usually buy a fresh loaf with each day, but probably aren't opposed to heating up a loaf from the day before.

Freshly baked bread on premises is also offered at LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Now that's Italian!

Hot dry sausage imported from Italy is offered at LaBella Marketplace, a must-have in an authentic Italian antipasto. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Good things come in small packages.

Freshly made boccincini or mozzarella balls are mass produced by hand at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A hefty variety of jarred tomato sauces line the shelves of LaBella Marketplace in Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Fresh shrimp and King Crab Legs are an integral part of the fish department at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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LaBella Marketplace in Tottenville offers fancy, fresh radicchio, lettuces and cilantro. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Shopping for desserts?

Luscious freshly baked pies, pastries and cakes are prepared daily at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Imported pasta is a must-have in an Italian household in order to accompany tomato sauces offered at LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Displays zeroing in Italian delicacies, such as jarred olives, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and stuffed peppers, are expertly designed at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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An interesting selection of imported chocolate candy makes for a mouth-watering display at LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Sicilian pistaccio torrone is another scrumptious dessert offered at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A party perfect selection of fresh imported salads of assorted vegetables and cheeses dot LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A full selection of imported packaged cookies comprise the cookie aisle at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A full selection of imported packaged Italian proscuitto, mortadella and sopresata await patrons who shop at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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A full variety of extra virgin olive oil, another staple in an Italian kitchen and an item that enhances any meal, are plentiful at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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An appetizer department of imported delicacies is situated in the back of LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Managers and staffers make it all happen so well at LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. From left, Joseph Puntorno, Suzanne Greco, Jessica Estrada, Leonard Pesce, assistant manager, CarlyAnn Cogliano and Olivia Frasca. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Another staple in an Italian household is freshly caught fish.

Some Italians incorporate fish into their diets at least three times a week and prepare it in a variety of ways.

Fresh Wild Caught Salmon and Chilean Sea Bass are on display at LaBella Marketplace, Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Imported anice candy is another unusual item up for grabs at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Carol Ann Benanti

While canned fish can't really compare to the fresh variety, tasty imported tuna lines the lengthy canned fish aisle in LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)

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Carol Ann Benanti

Imported chocolate chip cookies adorn the lengthy cookie aisle at LaBella Marketplace. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)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!Telstra has refused to rule out doing business with telecommunications supplier ZTE, which is shortlisted to build Australia's high-speed mobile network, after claims the Chinese-based company is corrupt.

Australia's biggest telco has defended its high standards when choosing suppliers after revelations that ZTE has been involved in systemic foreign bribery and corrupt payments to government officials, but Telstra has not taken the Chinese telco off a shortlist of five companies that could build Australia's 5G network.

ZTE is one of five companies on Telstra's shortlist to build the next 5G network. Credit:AP

ZTE is one of the world's largest suppliers of telecommunications equipment. Companies on the shortlist already make up of the majority of those globally that have the ability to build the network.

During a phone conference on Monday, Telstra chief financial officer Warwick Bray said the company had noted reports about ZTE and that Telstra had "the strongest supplier governance and policies and we always review new material."Brookfield appears to be encouraging the Healthscope board to use its ability to deny BGH access to due diligence to blow up the rival proposal. Private equity wont  it generally cant, because its lenders wont allow it to  make or fund an acquisition without access to due diligence. Brookfield may hope BGH lets Australian Super off the leash in order to gain access to Healthscopes books. Alternatively it may be seeking to put pressure on Australian Super to leave the consortium in order to get access to the higher offer. The Australian Super involvement in the BGH consortium is unusual for an industry fund. Where historically it has played the role of a conventional institutional investor, by joining the consortium and committing its shares to the consortium it has turned predator. While it might be unconventional, there is no obvious fiduciary issue involved in effectively agreeing to thwart any potential rival offer and the higher price that might bring for its shareholding.

Australian Super would no doubt argue that it considered that possibility and concluded that the best longer term returns for its investors would be generated by participating in the BGH consortium and in the process removing the potential for competitive tension to drive up the cost of the acquisition. It is that argument, and the personal relationships Australian Super has developed with BGH and the other consortium members, that undermine the effectiveness of Brookfields foreshadowing of a provision in its proposal for existing shareholders to hold a significant minority position in a privatised Healthscope. That is clearly aimed at Australian Super, but why would it want to pay more to end up as a minority shareholder in a Brookfield-dominated entity? It would have a lower entry cost and more influence in future if BGH prevails. The other possible opportunity for Brookfield to undermine the structural advantage BGH has might arise with time. The exclusivity clauses within the BGH consortium agreement allows the members to go their separate ways three months after the Healthscope board has rejected their proposal, providing BGH and its partners have ceased all discussions about the proposal. BGH could stretch that period out simply by continuing to talk to the other consortium members.

Perhaps of more relevance is that the members could act independently six months after the date at which they signed up, which probably means Australian Super could be freed up in October. Schemes of arrangements can take a long time to implement and both the BGH consortium and Brookfield will have to obtain Foreign Investment Review Board approval to acquire Healthscope. Its not inconceivable, if Brookfield and the Healthscope board were to play hardball, that they could push the execution of Brookfields proposal into October or beyond. It has to be said, however, that Australian Super appears rusted onto the BGH consortium  its as committed as BGH itself or it wouldnt have locked up its shareholding  and it wouldnt be that difficult to keep extending the agreement. What the emergence of Brookfield  and the earlier intervention of Canadas NorthWest Healthcare, which has a foot on 10 per cent of Healthscope via a derivative transaction and wants the Healthscope property portfolio  might do is give the targets board more negotiating leverage.One of Barbara Albert's many interesting discoveries when she was doing background research for Mademoiselle Paradis, her film about an 18th-century concert pianist who was one of the famous Dr Franz Mesmer's hypnotised patients, was that most female musicians in her time were blind. Maria Theresia Paradis herself had gone blind suddenly at the age of three. Her prodigious musical gifts gave her a position in society and a pension bestowed by the queen of Austria.

"It's sad, but at that time she was more free within her blindness," says Albert. "Because without her blindness and without her gift, she would have to marry  someone brought in by her father, most probably  and then this husband would be like her owner and would probably not let her play in concerts any more, a little bit like what happened to Mozart's sister. It was very typical that only blind women were known as musicians."

Maria Theresia Paradis (Maria Dragus) at the piano. Credit:? Christian Schulz

Meanwhile, her parents tried one doctor and one monstrous attempt at a cure after another before trying the ministrations of the controversial Dr Mesmer. Unlike his more authoritative colleagues, he didn't cover her head with an acidic compound or jab her eyes with electric shocks; according to Albert's film, he simply placed his hands on her head as she fretted or joined her at the harpsichord when she was playing piano, while spouting a lot of nonsense about an invisible liquid transferring energy around and between their bodies. "But this is always interesting when you work on a period piece," says Albert. "Things seem absurd to us now but, if you look at our world, from outside it is also absurd."

Gradually  so they said  Maria Theresia began to see. She saw colours. She could identify objects. Faces confused her; so did perspective. She began bumping into things because she didn't know how far away they were. And she started to make mistakes on the piano: a good many mistakes. Her father, her promoter and exploiter, was aghast when she stumbled back into the salons of Vienna to resume playing to princesses. "You sound like a dilettante!" he spits with fury. After another altercation her sight disappears again, just as it did when she was a little girl.Euan Doidge in his dressing room for Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical. Credit:Eddie Jim But unlike most performers who begin their career at the top, like Doidge did with A Chorus Line, he has effortlessly slipped between the ensemble, understudy and leading roles. While some performers might not want to make their way back to the shared-dressing-room-less-accolades situation the ensemble find themselves in, Doidge doesn't even see it as stepping back. Tony Sheldon (as Bernadette centre), 2 Gumbies (Blake Appelqvist & Jakob Ambrose), Cynthia - Ping Pong Lady (Lena Cruz), Jimmy Aboriginal drag queen (Leonard Mickelo). Credit:Sam Tabone "I don't think (being picky) is a good way to go about working in this industry," he said.

"Each experience I am going to learn and grow from whatever that may be. I am so grateful for being able to do those shows. I understand why people might not want to go back to the ensemble, but I think even saying going back is not a nice way to put it at all. It's not going backwards." Doidge's next role after A Chorus Line was in the ensemble, this time in Legally Blonde before he moved into the Australian tour of Grease, once again in the chorus. Then he landed one of the most coveted roles in the music theatre cannon: Marius in Les Miserables, another principle role. When that tour ended he got his first taste of Priscilla joining the cruise ship production of the the show for a five-month jaunt around Europe playing Felicia before donning a different frock for the Australian tour of Kinky Boots. Doidge played one of the "Angels," the drag queens who back up the lead role of Lola. But he added another feather to his cap in Kinky Boots.

Along with his own arduous performing track to drive along, he covered the role of Lola, going on when Callum Francis, the show's star, wasn't able. Covering the lead is no easy task. Covering the lead when the regular star is so beloved is even more challenging. Doidge took it in his stride. "Callum was brilliant, it was a joy to watch him do that every night," he said. "But I never thought when I was going on that I had to be a version of whatever his Lola was. I was going on for a role and I was just going to play it."

Almost exactly a year later the curtain came down on Kinky Boots, Doidge frocked up again to return to Priscilla. This time would be very different. "When I did the cruise ship show I only had four days' rehearsal, so this was a very different experience," he said. Not only would he enjoy the benefits of a full six-week rehearsal period, he would be under the guidance of the original director, Simon Phillips. The new Australian tour would also give Doidge a shot at working opposite one of his acting idols, the legendary stage performer Tony Sheldon.

"I had only met him once before," Doidge said. "It was at the Rob Guest Endowment a few years ago. I went up and introduced myself because I was so blown away by him. I think he is just amazing." The feeling is mutual. Speaking when the cast of Priscilla was announced, Sheldon was full of praise for Doidge. "I am so excited to work with Euan," he said. "I saw him in A Chorus Line and that performance has really stuck with me. I am really looking forward to actually getting to work with him now." Doidge was blown away that Sheldon held him in such high regard.

"I honestly feel so blessed," he said. "He sent me a message when they announced the casting and I couldn't believe he knew who I was. "I felt very looked after from first day of rehearsal knowing I was going to be sharing the stage with both Tony and David, who I think is an amazing man as well. "It's pretty special." Priscilla arrives in Sydney this week from Melbourne and Doidge is now accustomed tothe incredible demands the show offers from the moment he arrives on stage.

The show requires its three leading drag queens to change costumes, and sometimes make-up, multiple times. Almost every song involves another elaborate costume, complicated choreography and a big sing. For Euan, his time waiting in the contraption that will lower him to the stage is a moment to take a breath before it begins. "Better The Devil You Know is a really challenging song, and you don't really stop from there," Doidge says. "It does hit you in the face, it's a tough number to do and I do take that time up there for a deep breath to get ready for it."Hillary Clinton has issued a warning to Australia not to be complacent about foreign interference, especially from China.

Appearing on ABC's 7.30 on Monday night, the former US presidential candidate spoke about the issue of Russian interference in the election she lost to Donald Trump in 2016.

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Credit:AAP

Ms Clinton was pressed by host Leigh Sales on what she would do differently, and what advice she would give to the next Democratic presidential candidate. Her answer: "I would not let anything go unanswered"  meaning, in particular, the proliferation of fake news propaganda being spread via Facebook and "paid for in roubles".

"Don't assume that what happened to me will only have happened to me. Be prepared for the reality that, whether it is foreign interference or some other kind of new influence peddling through online influence, for example, take it seriously.""A cloud can't scream, can it?" wonders one of the characters in Foxtel's lurid, lengthy reimagining of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and after six episodes in which the feverish and suggestive are repeatedly overlaid you'll know that the answer is apparently yes. Anything in the service of a heightened mood  female hysteria, sexual repression, Gothic horror, self-destructive regret and incantations all feature  is pressed into service by the storytelling. The real mystery is how little it adds up to.

There's nothing inherently wrong in going back to Joan Lindsay's 1967 novel, in which the inexplicable disappearance in 1900 of a trio of private schoolgirls and one of their teachers at the Victorian geological formation roils all involved, even though it's already been translated into Peter Weir's magisterial 1975 Australian feature film. It's rich source material. The problem is how it's been adapted for the quality drama era. Opening up the text limits it.

With two writers (Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison) and a trio of directors (Larysa Kondracki, Michael Rymer and Amanda Brotchie), this Picnic at Hanging Rock is a study of emotional pressure, both repressed and flaunted, that nonetheless is schematic. It feels of the moment in a way that is tedious instead of illuminating. There are same sex attractions between both female and male characters (the latter far less explicit), but they speak less to the individual characters than the script's inclusiveness.

The three young women who go missing all wish for a desired freedom. Raised on a cattle station in Queensland, Miranda Reid (Lily Sullivan, who gives the richest performance) yearns for the physical freedom of the "true wild"; English heiress Irma Leopold wants to break free of the exile her family has sent her to; a judge's illegitimate child, Marion McQuade (Madeleine Madden) wants to escape a social order that condemns her black skin and attraction to the mathematics teacher Greta McGraw (Anna McGahan).Perhaps it's a form of branding camouflage. A bar called Galah specialising in Aussie spirits and serving drinks named Outback Sheila does have a certain theme park, Ettamogah-esque ring to it. You couldn't be shamed for anticipating Slim and Shannon on the soundtrack and beer and sport on the mood board.

A fashion-conscious but relaxed crowd flocks to Galah. Credit:Simon Schluter

What you get, though, is a well-designed, sophisticated watering hole with a thoughtful drinks list, above-average snacks, excellent jazz and house-inflected tunes via DJ and efficient table service that places Galah in a thoroughly enjoyable zone, somewhere halfway between bar and club. It's good times for grown-ups.

The entrance gives the first hint that things here might not be as oi-oi-oi as the name suggests. To get to the main event upstairs you pass through a compact, street-level bottle shop that specialises in small Australian wine producers, particularly those from the minimal-intervention end of the spectrum. You can grab a bottle of Borachio Gold Tooth Chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills or a Heathcote nebbiolo called Liquid Rock 'n' Roll on your way through to drink upstairs for an added $20 corkage fee.Our spate of sunshine looks set to continue this week, with a top of 17 degrees expected and some light winds to kick along the autumn leaves.

As another Canberra winter rolls in, our thoughts often turn to those doing it tough.

A new report out today shows that, while the overall number of Canberrans experiencing homelessness fell by 8 per cent between 2011 and 2016, the number of people sleeping rough grew from 28 to 54.

Blake Foden spoke to one of the report's authors, who says the figures are a real cause for concern.

New CSIRO lab to pioneer augmented reality research arrives in CanberraWhen Joey Wong arrived in Canberra, she couldn't find a place to live for about six weeks, and staying in short-term accommodation was proving costly.

"I thought, How good would it be if I could find somewhere to stay for about two months while I find somewhere long-term?'" she said.

Adrian Yong, Joey Wong, and Rushil Agarwal - co-founders of Rentality, a start-up company that aims to tackle homelessness. Credit:Jamila Toderas

That led the student, originally from New Zealand, to launch Rentality, a Canberra-based start-up that connects people looking for a place for between one week and three months with prospective landlords.

The website launched on April 30, and its founders feel it could help tackle Canberra's problem with homelessness.Canberra will be the home of Australia's new space agency - at least for the first few months.

The Australian Space Agency will be co-located with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science in Civic from July 1, with former CSIRO boss Megan Clark at the helm.

The space simulator at the Australian National University's Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre at Mt Stromlo. The ACT space industry already employs around 2000 people. Credit:Karleen Minney

The federal government set aside $41 million in last Tuesday's budget for the new venture including $26 million of seed funding over the next four years to establish the agency, and $15 million over three years to provide grants to "strategic" space projects.

Jobs minister Senator Michaelia Cash said the agency would help Australian businesses win a greater share of the US$345 billion global space market.A former University of Canberra law lecturer convicted of sexually assaulting students suffers from brain damage that explains much of his behaviour towards the women, his lawyers argued Monday.

An ACT Supreme Court jury found Arthur Marshall Hoyle, 68, guilty last year of raping one student, making unwanted advances on two others and showing another a pornographic PowerPoint slide.

Former University of Canberra academic Arthur Hoyle. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

He was sentenced to four years jail, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.

But this week Hoyle is appealing both the conviction and his jail sentence.ActewAGL chief executive Michael Costello will retire at the end of 2018. Credit:Andrew Sheargold

ActewAGL chief executive Michael Costello will end a career spanning politics and the federal public service as he retires at the end of the year.

Mr Costello has told the ActewAGL board he will bring his 10-year stint leading the company to a close.

He will stay on as chief executive until the end of the year while ActewAGL looks for his replacement.

ActewAGL chairman Paul Adams thanked Mr Costello "for his immense contribution to the customers and community that we serve.The number of people sleeping rough in the ACT almost doubled between 2011 and 2016 as government spending on homelessness services and social housing dropped, a new report shows.

The Australian Homelessness Monitor 2018 report, released on Tuesday, shows that while the overall number of homeless people decreased by 8 per cent in the territory over the five-year period, the number of people sleeping rough grew from 28 to 54.

A homeless person sleeps rough outside the ACT Legislative Assembly on Monday. Credit:Karleen Minney

The rise in the number of rough sleepers came as ACT government spending on homelessness services fell by nearly $5 million, down from $25.3 million in 2012-13 to $20.7 million last financial year.

The government's investment in social housing dropped by 80 per cent over the same period, forking out just $6.7 million in 2016-17 after spending $33.9 million in 2012-13.Police have finished investigations at the scene of a fatal and suspicious fire, and the Bonner property is set to be razed as detectives seek new leads.

The bodies of Anne Wachera Muhoro, 45, her son Ezvin, 8, and her daughter Furaha, 5, were discovered by firefighters following the deliberately-lit blaze in Bonner on February 19.

Old flowers and toys outside the scene of a fatal fire on Peter Coppin Street in Bonner, which will soon be demolished. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Police have not said whether the focus of the investigation is a suspected murder.

The now-derelict property remains fenced off, and neighbours on Peter Coppin Street are anxious to see the scorched shell demolished.Independent brewers are stepping up their fight against multinational giants who they say are putting out "faux craft" beers to capture a bigger stake in the $487 million market.

Small producers say drinkers intending to support local breweries are falling victim to "craft washing", where beers produced by global giants are presented as independent operations.

A new "seal of independence" will be printed on the labels of local brews to make it easier for drinkers to pick a craft beer that hasn't been made by a big brewer.

It marks the latest clash in the battle that is set to bubble over now small brewers have been given tax excise relief, which could make independent beers cheaper."And you think I'm the caged one" -penguin



James Butts

was this week's winner.



The winner's name will be put into a drawing for a free month subscription or extension.



Look for a new photo Monday.Michael Crouch AC, a keen supporter of Australian history, arts and culture, and CEO of Zip Industries from 1962 to 2013, has died in Sydney aged 84. He was an Australian patriot with a passion for innovation and a goal of making our modern nations early development and cultural heritage more widely appreciated here and abroad.

Michael Crouch, a keen innovator.

As his Zip instant boiling water appliances won acceptance in the UK and Asia, his involvement in export marketing led to

11 years of commitment on an honorary basis to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Council (APEC).

From 1996 to 2007 he was one of three representatives of the Prime Minister to the APEC Business Advisory Council, involving 11 Pacific Rim trade conferences.

He gave time and money generously to many causes, including youth employment, Indigenous health, handicapped children, muscular dystrophy, compensation for thalidomide victims, national parks, The Salvation Army, St. John Ambulance and the Brain & Mind Centre at Sydney University.The downpour couldn't dampen the spirits of almost 2000 walkers as they braved winter-like conditions in the wee hours of Saturday morning for the annual Darkness Into Light walk in Bondi.

Organisers had expected an attendance closer to 2500, but it's believed once some checked their weather apps, they rolled over and hit "snooze".

The Darkness Into Light walk in aid of suicide prevention in a rainy Bondi on Saturday. Credit:Dara Munnis

Loading

An estimated $170,000 was raised for Irish mental health charity Pieta House (which founded the walk in 2009) and local organisation Batyr, through the unique event that sees attendees walk from darkness into the dawn to symbolise hope and recovery from depression.An 11-year-old girl has been found safe and well after disappearing from her family home in Sydney's south overnight.

Jacinta Laverance's parents Mark and Belinda wait to be reunited with their daughter. Credit:John Veage

A massive search involving a NSW Police helicopter and sniffer dogs ended when Jacinta Laverance was found near A.R. Hurst Reserve in Sylvania, less than two kilometres from her home, about 1pm on Monday.

She was quickly brought back to the family home, and embraced her parents in the driveway before being taken inside.

Superintendent Julian Griffiths says the girl didn't need any medical help.The mother of a baby girl who died mysteriously at a Parramatta unit told her brother to change his story to police, an inquest has heard.

The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has also conceded it should have sent someone to the apartment following reports children were at risk in the days before the four-month-olds death.

Deputy State Coroner Liz Ryan heard evidence the mother, 21 at the time, had been shaking her daughter.

Paramedics said the baby girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was dead for some hours when they attended the western Sydney unit just before 11.30am on August 17, 2014.

The mother and her partner travelled with the girl and her older brother, 3, to Sydney from their home in South Australia on August 7.Sara Huegill has been charged with shoplifting after allegedly stealing a pair of leather pants from a high-end boutique in Byron Bay on Mothers Day.

The 34-year-old wife of Olympian Geoff Huegill was arrested just after 2.30pm on Sunday in Byron by mounted police after allegedly stealing from a nearby shop, a police spokeswoman said.

Sara Huegill, wife of former Olympian Geoff Huegill, has been charged with shoplifting. Credit:Ken Butti

She was taken to Byron Bay Police Station and issued a field court attendance notice for shoplifting, and is due to appear at Byron Bay Local Court on June 7.

The mother-of-two had allegedly stolen a pair of $2500 leather Bassike pants from the Island Luxe store in Byron, News Corp reports.Brisbane City Councils city planning boss will campaign for a federal seat while continuing to make planning decisions for Brisbane, including ticking off on development applications.

The councils city planning chairman Julian Simmonds was selected as the LNPs candidate for the federal seat of Ryan on Saturday, defeating current MP Jane Prentice.

Brisbane CIiy Council's city planning chairman Julian Simmonds will step down as chair following the budget.

The day after his selection, Opposition Leader Peter Cumming called for Cr Simmonds to stand down immediately.

The planning boss is due to step down after the council budget in June.A Brisbane police officer has accidentally shot himself in the leg at Springwood police station at Logan on Monday morning.

An ambulance spokeswoman said emergency services were called to a location on Pacific Highway at Springwood at 7.18am.

Police were unable to provide any specific details but it is believed the officer was putting his gun into its holster when the shot was accidentally fired.

The officer was transported to Princess Alexandra Hospital with minor injuries in a stable condition.

-with AAPThe victim in a 30-year-old Melbourne cold case first met her accused murderer in a refugee camp after fleeing Cambodia.

Ranny Yun was 27 years old when she was allegedly raped and murdered in her home in Windsor Avenue, Springvale, on October 15, 1987. She was found on the floor of the front room of her house, in which she did her seamstress work, a Melbourne Magistrates Court committal hearing was told on Monday.

Ranny Yun was murdered in Windsor Avenue, Springvale, on October 15, 1987.

A friend of her husband's said her face had been covered by a piece of fabric. Meth Mean, the cousin of Ms Yun's husband, now stands accused of the crimes.

A few years earlier, Ms Yun met Meth Mean and his family at a refugee camp in Malaysia.

The families had fled Cambodia and the brutal Khmer Rouge, but Ms Yun met her own violent end just just two years after arriving to the apparent safety of Australia.Almost 13 degrees in the city now ahead of a predicted top of 15. Still minor delays on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines after yesterday's peak-hour debacle.

The annual NAPLAN assessments starts today, with more than a million students taking the tests across Australia. For the first time, some students will be taking NAPLAN in its new online format  nearly 20 per cent of students across six states and territories.

That's it for us. We'll be back bright and early tomorrow. Be kind - it's under-rated.After years of ballooning weight, Melbourne grandfather Max Campbell decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery, an increasingly common treatment for obesity that involves dramatically reducing the size of the stomach.

But in the days following the procedure, his health seemed only to worsen.

The 68-year-old had abdominal pain and was sweating. Doctors could not pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

I was concerned that I was looking at a very sick man and there wasnt anything normal about his condition, said his wife, Lyn Campbell.

He was still a very ashen colour.The federal government should cut all funding for any school that won't let parents pull their children out of sex- or gender-related classes, former prime minister John Howard has urged.

The Coalition elder has told the review into religious freedom - run by his long-time cabinet minister Philip Ruddock - federal funding should be used to coerce public and private schools into respecting parental preferences.

"Speaking practically, the preferable approach would be for the Commonwealth government to make it a condition of funding for both government and non-government schools that parental rights of this kind be respected," Mr Howard wrote.

He said it would be difficult for the federal government to pass a law of this kind "without invoking some international covenant" - though that should not be ruled out.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other senior Coalition figures have expressed sadness at the preselection defeat of assistant minister Jane Prentice but have effectively ruled out any intervention to save her.

Mr Turnbull warned that preselection challenges are a reality in the Coalition after veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch, a Queensland colleague of Ms Prentice, branded her ouster a "bloody disgrace" and said she should be protected.

Ms Prentice, the assistant minister for social services and disability services, was beaten by Brisbane city councillor Julian Simmonds, her former staffer, in a preselection contest over the weekend for the safe Liberal-National Party seat of Ryan.

The Prime Minister praised his outgoing colleague's work on the National Disability Insurance Scheme and said he had supported her in the contest but the LNP in Queensland has a "very strong grassroots tradition" driven by members.Tara Smith, 22, suffers from endometriosis, a little understood disorder. Credit:James Brickwood

Its a silent epidemic that affects 700,000 Australian women, and costs an eye-watering $7.7 billion to the public purse annually - but finally, theres action.

On Monday, Health Minister Greg Hunt launched a draft national action plan to tackle endometriosis, involving the education of doctors, teachers and employers about the painful disease.

Liberal MP Nicholle Flint and the ALPs Gai Brodtmann led a bipartisan group of federal MPs in establishing the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis awareness group last year.

Their points were so well made that in December, Mr Hunt apologised to sufferers, saying the condition should have been acknowledged sooner, and in a more powerful way.Victorias historic treaty process has come under fire from a group of influential Aboriginal elders, who have accused the Andrews government of cutting them out of negotiations.

A new council of dozens of elders from across the state said the government was mismanaging the treaty process by failing to include leaders of the states remaining Aboriginal clans.

Boon Wurrung elder Carolyn Briggs, with Greens MP Lidia Thorpe, reads a statement criticising Victoria's Aboriginal treaty negotiations as flawed. Credit:Justin McManus

Only the clans, which have existed since before the days of white settlement, can meaningfully engage in treaty talks with the government, the Clan Elders Council argues.

We acknowledge and welcome that the Victorian government has begun a process for advancing treaty for all Victorians, the council said in a statement on Monday.But in return for other state-owned land next to the market being given to it, the council must provide an equal amount of car parking elsewhere. Loading It had relied on putting car parking underneath the refurbished heritage sheds. The council wants to redevelop the market to ensure it provides a brighter future for the produce and retail centre  which because of apartment development on its doorsteps will have an extra 22,000 residents living nearby within half a decade. Acting lord mayor Arron Wood said he was disappointed the council would not proceed with its original plan for the market sheds.

"I can't fathom the fact that you can't dismantle some pretty basic construction like those sheds and refurbish them and return them in a much better state," he said. He had initially reacted with anger at the Heritage Victoria ruling, pledging to challenge it. Acting lord mayor Arron Wood at the market Credit:Eddie Jim But Cr Wood said he had "gone through the five stages [of grief] here and spent a fair bit of time and anger"; he was now reconciled to revamping plans for the market. While he wanted the underground project to go ahead, Cr Wood it was just one of 13 works packages in the redevelopment plan.

And he said a legal challenge by the council against Heritage Victoria's decision to reject the underground plan would not have been a great look, for one government entity to be going after another government entity through the courts. It doesn't win hearts and minds. He said perhaps the council had failed to sell its redevelopment plans effectively, but that there had been a massive amount of consultation of traders and customers before it had pressed ahead with its ultimate plans for putting services underground. Planning Minister Richard Wynne is expected to soon release his decision on a separate project tied to the Queen Victoria Market renewal, a 42-storey apartment tower and community centre to be co-developed by the city council and property group PDG. The Age asked Mr Wynne his views on the council's rethink of its current plans for underground services beneath the heritage sheds.

"Weve been very clear that any development of the market will have to respect and preserve the rich character and heritage that makes it what it is," Mr Wynne said. Some traders who would have been directly affected by the underground project were celebrating on Monday, saying they were glad it would be re-thought. Among them was Paul Ansaldo, who with his wife and children has run a fruit stand at the market for the past 31 years. Their stalls are in the sheds that were to be dug up, and he said the implications of putting their storage areas underground had never been properly thought through by the council.

This included making traders reliant on lifts to bring fruit and vegetables up to the surface from cold stores below ground. Paul Ansaldo, a trader at the market for 31 years, is pleased the council's underground plans will be revised. Credit:Joe Armao "There are a lot of people who don't get along around here  can you imagine the debacle we would have had if we were all underground in a tight space? "If you don't talk to one bloke, you're going to have a blue over who gets their fruit in the lifts first. There would've been a murder committed," he joked. He said the council should focus on promoting the market, not redeveloping the sheds.Planners of Melbournes proposed airport rail look to have a clear choice between two routes: through Sunshine, or through Highpoint and Maribyrnong.

Trains could reach Melbourne Airport from the CBD in as little as 15 minutes, and get travellers from Geelong to Tullamarine in less than 45 minutes, even after stopping at Sunshine, according to a group of experts.

But the Maribyrnong option  understood to be favoured by the federal government, which owns a large tract of development land along the route  could link high growth-rate suburbs in the north-west into the city's rail network, offering "value capture" that could help offset the project's cost.

Value capture is a way of generating revenue from higher property values and other commercial opportunities that would spring from the route of the proposed line.Googles annual developer conference wrapped last week, and while there was some incredible AI technology on display, I feel the the most tangible announcement may have been missed. It was an announcement that really began at last years I/O, but is only now starting to make an impact; Googles Project Treble. When Google announced the beta of their latest mobile operating system  so far only known as Android P  we were told the preview would be made available on the companys own Pixel devices, as well as seven other third party Android phones, from Oppo, Essential, Sony, and Nokia, amongst others. How could Google push its software update to third party devices? Project Treble. Android P will come more easily to more devices. To oversimplify things, Project Treble is a complete rewrite of the Android platform, which separates the common Android operating system from hardware specific firmware. The potential for this is huge and could finally address a major concern with Android: a lack of security and software upgrades to phones that dont bear Googles Pixel or Nexus branding. While iPhones the world over receive software and security updates the day theyre made available, Android users can wait months for software updates, depending on the whims of their carriers or the attention span of their device manufacturers. Often these software updates seem to stop just a year or two into an Android devices lifespan. Treble is Googles way of addressing this.

In theory, Sony for example could write all the code specific to their handsets, to power their unique camera system or biometric security, as one siloed part of the operating system. That software could then be locked, with the latest Android software applied on top. When Google updates Android, the update could be made available day one, because none of the underlying hardware instructions have changed. Google has toyed with this forced upgrade path for a few years now, breaking out core features of their operating system into mandatory Google Services updates available via the Play Store. It has helped to bring new features to otherwise stagnant hardware but theres only so much Google can push through as a service update. Project Treble was baked into last years Android release, named Oreo, which is only running on five percent of all Android devices today, just to highlight the issue Treble is meant to solve. But thanks to Treble, those few phones running Oreo are ready to upgrade to P immediately, which is why were first seeing its effects with the P beta, and well hopefully continue to see day one updates for Android Q, R and S to come. More interesting for myself and other phone geeks, this potentially opens up the best Android hardware to a pure, vanilla Android experience. That is, an Android without any of the software customisation that manufacturers insist on adding, to give their handsets a unique selling point. Android phone makers like HTC and Samsung have flirted with vanilla Android, or Google Play Editions of their hardware, but this idea never stuck, as the need to differentiate for marketing purposes outweighed the benefits vanilla Android might bring. Nokia and Motorola bank on the geek-cred appeal of vanilla Android to sell their handsets, but their devices are mid range phones. I want pure Android on the best hardware from LG, Sony and Samsung.Beijing: The US and China are keeping Australian diplomats in Beijing informed in the face of a looming trade war that has already disrupted Telstra's global supply chain of low-cost ZTE phones.

The US Commerce department last month stopped the supply of microchips to the Chinese manufacturer, which was accused of violating a settlement with the US government over illegal shipments to Iran and North Korea. The ban stopped ZTE's production of smart phones, including for Telstra, because it had no alternative supply of chips.

The ZTE Corp stand at the Mobile World Congress in Spain in 2017. Credit:Bloomberg

But in a dramatic overnight intervention, President Donald Trump reversed that decision, pledging in a tweet to find the Chinese smartphone company "a way to get back into business, fast", because, "too many jobs in China lost [sic]".

The about-face was welcomed in China on Monday, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying: We highly commend the US positive remarks on the ZTE issue and are communicating with the US side on the details.Surabaya: Indonesia's second-largest city has been hit by another suicide bombing by Islamic State-inspired militants, with four men on two motorcycles launching a strike on police headquarters in the city and causing casualties.

Indonesian police have confirmed the four perpetrators all died in the attack on Monday morning, but a child travelling with them had survived. Footage of the child being rescued by police was being widely shared on social media.

Earlier, police said that that four officers and six civilians have been wounded in the bomb attack.

Officers stand guard outside the local police headquarters following an attack in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, on Monday. Credit:AP

Police said Monday's attack was carried out by the Islamic State-inspired Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD group.Jakarta: The family suspected of the trio of church suicide bombings in Indonesia had recently returned from Syria before the attack, Indonesian authorities said.

Indonesia's police chief, Tito Karnavian, said the family of six suspected in the attacks on three Christian churches in Indonesia's Surabaya city on Sunday morning had recently returned from the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.

"Five hundred people were deported from Syria; among them is this family," Karnavian said, according to the New York Times.Algeria was ranked among the countries making less information available about how they raise and spend public money, according to the results of the Open Budget Survey 2017.

With a score of 3/100, Algeria was in the rear with a double-digit decline in its performance compared to 2015.

On the other hand, Open Budget Index scores fell by more than six points over this period in 28 countries, including 15 countries with double-digit declines (Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), it said.

This decline is in stark contrast to the average increase of roughly two points documented in each round of the survey between 2008 and 2015

This budget opacity seriously undermines the ability of citizens worldwide to hold their government accountable for using public funds efficiently and effectively, the survey said.

The Open Budget Survey assesses budget transparency based on the amount and timeliness of budget information governments are making publicly available. Each country is given a score between 0 and 100 that determines its ranking on the Open Budget Index.London: Meghan Markles father may not walk her down the aisle as planned, US media are reporting, as he has been caught up in a paparazzi scandal less than a week before his daughters wedding.

Kensington Palace has not officially confirmed the report, however it has released a statement acknowledging the difficult situation for Meghan.

This is a deeply personal moment for Ms Markle in the days before her wedding. She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr Markle in this difficult situation.

Hollywood celebrity gossip website TMZ said Thomas Markle told them he had decided not to go because he doesnt want to embarrass the royal family or his daughter.Defence against annihilation and terrorism and the search for peace have been constant themes of Israels 70-year history. There were further wars for survival in 1967 and 1973, before the historic Camp David Accords of September 1978 saw peace between Israel and Egypt, with Israel withdrawing fully from Sinai, dismantling its settlements there. Peace with Jordan followed in 1994.

The right of the Jews to their homeland was acknowledged by the League of Nations when the British Mandate over Palestine was established following World War I, and formalised by the 1947 UN partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Unfortunately, while the Jews accepted a partition with far less land than they aspired to, the local Arabs and surrounding Arab nations rejected any Jewish state, immediately invading from all sides. Israel survived with the loss of 1 per cent of its population.

Today marks 70 years since Israels founders took a leap of faith and declared the independence of the modern state of Israel, in the ancient Jewish homeland. There had been Jewish kingdoms there in ancient times, and, for thousands of years, a significant Jewish presence, despite various exiles, and multiple overlords.

The Palestinian issue has been a continuing challenge for Israel. The War of Independence led to the Palestinian refugee issue, with approximately 700,000 Arabs leaving or, in some cases, being forced out of Israel. In a prime example of the frequent international discrimination against Israel, Palestinian refugee status, uniquely, became hereditary, meaning the 700,000 have increased to more than 5 million.

Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel has striven to reach a two-state peace with the Palestinians. There were generous offers of statehood in 2000-01 and 2008, with a capital in east Jerusalem, and a total withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. The offers were summarily refused, while a terrorist intifada took more than 1,000 Israeli lives between 2000 and 2005. The Gaza withdrawal led to well over 10,000 rockets, infiltration tunnels dug under the border, and three wars, as the terrorist group Hamas took over. Peace initiatives since 2008 have been similarly rebuffed. The current Gaza protests, depicted as peaceful, are actually an attempt by Hamas to breach the border and threaten Israeli communities under the cover of protests, while the baseless right of return they demand would end Israel as Jewish state.

Despite the constant threats, today most notably from the Iranian axis, with Iran now on Israels Syrian border, Israel has defied the odds to flourish. Perhaps its greatest achievement is remaining a liberal democracy in the true sense, the only one in the Middle East, with equal rights for all citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Economically, it has become a powerhouse, with its innovation and start-up culture widely admired, making it a greatly sought after trade partner. It has become appreciated for its many contributions to the international community, including life-saving medical and agricultural technology, and disaster aid. It has even won Eurovision four times.

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Diplomatically, despite continuing wildly disproportionate focus and unjustified criticism in international bodies, including the UN, and the worlds media, Israel has better international ties than ever. Many Asian, African and Latin American countries, previously reflexively hostile, are establishing warm relations, and even Saudi Arabia and Gulf States are, for the first time, affirming its right to exist and defend itself."Any telecomm firm in #China can be forced to act as a tool of Chinese espionage without a court order or other review process," Rubio said. Those concerns were echoed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who said in a statement Monday that the plan was "a bad deal if there ever was one." "The toughest thing we could do, the thing that will move China the most, is taking tough action against actors like ZTE," Schumer said. "But before it's even implemented, the president backs off. This leads to the greatest worry, which is that the president will back off on what China fears most - a crackdown on intellectual property theft - in exchange for buying some goods in the short run." A salesperson stands at counters selling mobile phones produced by ZTE Corp. at an appliance store in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. Credit:AP And Representative Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, noted that Trump's tweets had highlighted layoffs in China even as autoworkers were losing their job in his home state.

"On top of that, the NSA, FBI, and CIA all have cyber security concerns with ZTE," Ryan said. "The Pentagon even stopped selling its phones in its bases. Your willingness to throw a lifeline to ZTE and China puts our national security at risk. What happened to America First?" Members of the president's own national security team have expressed concerns over Chinese telecom manufacturers in recent months. In February, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believed Chinese cyber espionage capabilities would "continue to support China's national security and economic priorities." Gina Haspel, nominated by Trump to lead the CIA, said during her confirmation hearing last week that she wouldn't use a phone manufactured by Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co. ZTE is one of five companies on Telstra's shortlist to build the next 5G network. Credit:AP "I don't even have a social media account, but I wouldn't -- I wouldn't use Huawei products," Haspel said.

Even as some lawmakers leveled criticism at the administration's move, analysts said it still wasn't clear what impact the president's tweet would have. The White House has refused to explain what specific direction was provided to the Commerce Department, but said in a statement that the ultimate decision on how to handle the restrictions imposed against ZTE would reside there. "It certainly sends a bad signal about sanctions on companies that do business with Iran and for the normal procedures at Commerce," in terms of "the consistency with US sanctions and follow-through,"said Adam Segal, director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The US retreat from penalizing ZTE may also be determined by talks on Tuesday between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. "I don't think this tweet tells us that the US is going to relax its suspicion of ZTE products sold in the US," said Stewart Baker, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson and a former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security. "This was about whether to cut ZTE off entirely from US products that it needs as components for the systems it sells around the world. The US can and probably will work to keep ZTE out of the US; the tweet is about whether the US is going to put ZTE out of business entirely."Pahoa: A massive new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes within a zone where authorities had just ordered an evacuation.

The fissure, a vivid gouge of magma with steam and smoke pouring out both ends, was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3. Dozens of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of people forced to evacuate in the past 10 days.

A police officer blocks a road near lava fissure 17 after it erupted early on Sunday near Pahoa, Hawaii. Credit:AP

As seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 300 metres long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 1200-metre-high volcano with a lake of lava at its summit.

"It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound (45 kilogram) lava bombs 100 feet into the air," said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 77F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Cloudy skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.Officials said a young man drowned May 12 while swimming near this jetty at the southern end of Pawleys Island. A Pawleys Island police officer rescued two other boys from the water.A powerful X-ray pulsar is whipping around its stellar partner at a record-breaking speed.

According to new data from the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) system, which was installed aboard the International Space Station last June, these two stars revolve around each other once every 38 minutes  the fastest orbit ever observed in a pulsar binary system like this.

Of the two stars, one is an X-ray pulsar, which is a superdense neutron star that shoots out X-rays as it spins, researchers said in a new study describing the finding. Pulsars form when massive stars explode in a supernova blast, leaving behind a whirling stellar core. This particular pulsar is known as an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP). [Inside a Neutron Star (Infographic)]

The pulsar, called IGR J17062-6143 (J17062 for short), is closer to its partner star than Earth is to the moon. Because of how close the two are, and the brutal speeds at which they're traveling, "It's not possible for a hydrogen-rich star, like our sun, to be the pulsar's companion. You can't fit a star like that into an orbit so small," lead study author Tod Strohmayer, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement. This led the team to conclude that the second star is likely a hydrogen-poor white dwarf  white dwarf stars are small, dense stars, often the size of Earth, that are formed when low-mass stars go through gravitational collapse.

This newly discovered binary system with an X-ray pulsar is moving at record-breaking speed. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

The discovery of this system was supported by earlier observations made by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer in 2008. Because NICER has been able to make observations for longer periods of time, the team can now confirm the record speed of this unique pulsar binary system.

As the two stars revolve around each other, over time material from the white dwarf donor star will build up on the pulsar. If the pressure of this buildup increases to the point where its atoms fuse, J17062 could explode with the energy equivalent to 100 15-megaton bombs detonating over every square centimeter, Strohmayer explained in the statement. But the pulsar has not yet reached such a point.

These findings, however, do more than prove the existence of such a fast-orbiting binary system. Neutron stars like J17062 "turn out to be truly unique nuclear physics laboratories, from a terrestrial standpoint," Zaven Arzoumanian, an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard and lead scientist for NICER, said in the statement. "We can't recreate the conditions on neutron stars anywhere within our solar system."

By studying neutron stars like J17062, scientists can examine elements of subatomic physics in ways that simply aren't possible in human-made laboratories, Arzoumanian said. So, with the discovery of a neutron star in such a unique system, scientists will have the opportunity to better understand these stars and how they behave.

The work was detailed May 9 in The Astrophysical Letters.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her @chelsea_gohd. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) chairman of the House Armed Service Strategic Forces Subcommittee, has repeatedly advocated for the Air Force to start setting up a separate service for space operations.

WASHINGTON  The House Armed Services Committee in its version of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act  passed after midnight Wednesday by a vote of 60-1  pushes forward with the reorganization of military space forces. The proposal sets the stage for further debate over the coming months as the HASC language moves toward a House vote and a House-Senate conference this fall.

The committee swiftly approved the recommendations of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee on military space reforms. One is to establish a subordinate unified Space Command under U.S. Strategic Command. Another provision calls for the secretary of the Air Force to establish a new numbered Air Force dedicated to space warfighting. The bill also directs the deputy secretary of defense to develop a plan to establish a separate acquisition system for military space vehicles, ground systems and terminals.

Unlike last year's bill, this one does not mandate the establishment of a separate space corps in the U.S. military. That proposal is on hold pending the completion of an independent study mandated in the 2018 NDAA. [Military Space - Spacecraft, Weapons and Tech]

The only obstacle in this year's push to reorganize space was an amendment introduced by Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Mike Turner to delay the creation of a sub-unified space command until after the Pentagon submits the independent study.

Turner was the chairman of Strategic Forces before Rep. Mike Rogers took over. His amendment would allow the secretary of defense to waive the requirement for the creation of a subordinate unified command if the study provided an alternative that congressional leaders found acceptable.

Rogers and Ranking Democrat Rep. Jim Cooper pushed back fiercely during the committee markup, and Turner's amendment was rejected by voice vote.

Turner could reintroduce the amendment before the full House vote but he would face tough odds. The Rules Committee would take the HASC rejection into account before allowing the amendment to get to the House floor.

"This committee continues to place a high priority on following through with fixing the significant flaws in the organization and management of national security space enterprise," Rogers said during the markup on Wednesday. "We continue to work with DoD on the report, but we recognize Congress has to continue to place significant pressure on the bureaucracy."

Rogers said he and Cooper "remain committed to laying the foundation" for a future space force. Creating a new numbered air force for space would increase the ranks of space warfighters, he said. A sub unified command "will further normalize space warfighting operations within the department."

Cooper said the HASC mark "continues our efforts to define space as a war fighting domain." It is "vital to make space one of our highness priorities."

The timing of the DoD report, however, raises questions about how the conclusions of the study would shape NDAA provisions. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters last month that the report would be submitted in August. But Rogers pointed out the deadline is December.

Turner said his amendment was not an attempt to kill the space corps but to make sure the DoD study findings were taken into account. "We're in the process of awaiting the report we asked for. And we're jumping forward in this mark and directing DoD to conduct a reorganization while DoD is studying a reorganization," Turner argued. "We have not gotten their answer but we're moving forward anyway."

Rogers insisted that, regardless of what the final report states, "there's still things in space that have to be fixed." If the report recommends creating a space corps, "the transition takes time," said Rogers. "Some things need to be done immediately, like acquisition, like normalizing forces under Strategic Command.  We need to bring back advocacy in this domain."

Cooper blasted Turner during the discussion on his amendment. "The gentleman opposed the space force last year. He is trying to oppose it this year again. The gentleman is trying to slow walk the work of the subcommittee," Cooper said. "We've been working with Shanahan, we're impressed with his work."

A sub-unified command would mark an initial step toward bringing back a unified U.S. Space Command as it existed between 1985 and 2002. "We need to get back on track," said Cooper. "This will help America prepare for the threats we're facing."

Turner pushed back. "I'm not opposed" to a space force. "I'm for a legislative process. We have not had a hearing on a unified command."

Rep. John Garamendi jumped in to argue against Turner's amendment. "We have had seven hearings on this. They all made the same point: We're not prepared to defend this nation's space assets in part because we're not organized to do so." Turner's amendment "will delay the implementation of a sub-unified command.

We need to organize our military to defend space assets."

Other highlights from the markup (courtesy of the consulting firm Velos) on proposals that won approval:

An amendment by Rep. Doug Lamborn provides training and career development for the civilian and military members of the Air Force's space cadre.

Another Lamborn amendment on the transfer of commercial imagery responsibilities from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to the National Reconnaissance Office calls for the recognition of the need to maintain warfighter capabilities, reliable performance and quality support. The amendment also identifies commercial synthetic aperture radar imagery as a useful capability in all weather environments.

An amendment by Rep. Donald Norcross requires DoD and the Air Force to designate a coordinator for commercially hosted payloads.

An amendment by Rep. Robert Bishop expands the scope of a mandated report regarding the industrial base for large solid rocket motors to include motors of any size.

An amendment by Rep. Duncan Hunter directs the secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing on validated requirements for currently deployed satellite communications terminals, and a plan for quickly fielding commercially available, secure, lightweight, satellite communications terminals.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.King Mohammed VI has reiterated his rejection of the US administrations unilateral decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to transfer its embassy to the holy city, and renewed Moroccos strong and unwavering solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people in defending their just cause, mainly that of the city of Al Quds.

This came in a message the Monarch sent to President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, following the implementation this Monday (May 14) of the US administrations decision to recognize Al Quds as capital of Israel and relocate Washingtons embassy to the city.

Monday also coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment in 1948  an event Palestinians refer to as the Nakba.

US President Donald Trump sparked international outcry last December when he announced his unilateral decision.

King Mohammed VI who described this decision as an unfortunate development in the process of the Palestinian cause and our first cause, Al Quds, reiterated his refusal of this unilateral act that runs counter to the will continuously expressed by the international community.

The international community, through relevant UNSC resolutions, has repeatedly called for refraining from any action likely to alter Al Quds established historical, political, and legal status. This is all the more so as the Holy city is at the core of the Final Status negotiations, the King pointed out, adding that he is following with great concern the implementation of the US decision.

The King recalled that in his capacity as chairperson of Al Quds Committee, an offshoot of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, he had explained in letters to President Donald Trump and to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres the extreme importance of the city of Al Quds not only for the parties to the conflict, but also for the followers of the three monotheistic religions. Infringement of the internationally recognized legal and historical status of Jerusalem means one runs the risk of hurling the Palestinian issue into the quagmire of religious and ideological conflict, King Mohammed VI warned.

The Sovereign said that he has been following with keen interest the international consensus rejecting the US Administrations decision, given its serious repercussions on the peace process prospects. He deemed this consensus as a strong message of support for the rights of the Palestinian people and their just cause, on top of which the city of Al Quds Asharif.

King Mohammed VI reaffirmed in his message to President Abbas his firm commitment to continue working with the US administration to come out with a balanced stand that would restore trust and revive the peace process between the Palestinian and Israeli parties.

He also vowed that he will spare no effort to mobilize the international community to ensure the triumph of the Palestinians legitimate rights to the establishment of an independent state with eastern Al Quds as its capital, part of a two-state solution that will contribute to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.Some aliens in science fiction are truly the stuff of nightmares. The torso-bursting monsters of "Alien" are one example of things we hope don't exist. Other aliens of science fiction to avoid include the insect beings of "Ender's Game," the blob in "The Blob," the alien life-form in "The Thing," and even the "mog" (half man, half dog) in the comedy "Spaceballs."

While we can't forget the many beneficent aliens of fiction, monsters are what truly fascinate us because these beings best represent the fears of exploring the unknown. Monsters can also serve as a proxy for why you may not want to land somewhere, such as the beings that kept attacking the poor crew in "Europa Report" who dared to visit an icy moon of Jupiter. Indeed  fictional monsters are the focus of Episode 3 of "AMC Visionaries: James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction," airing tonight (May 14).

But does science fiction match up to science fact? Are there alien monsters lying out there in the darkness somewhere, ready to attack Earth with fast UFO aircraft (like in "Independence Day") or by hiding underground for the right moment (like in the 2005 movie version of "War of the Worlds")? [The Scariest Aliens of Science Fiction Movies]

"Monsters are fascinating because they terrify us. Alien monsters are especially fascinating because they terrify us, and we know they could be real," Samuel Levin, a doctoral candidate in zoology at the University of Oxford, who recently co-authored a study on what aliens could look like, told Space.com in an email.

"Some people find swimming in the deep ocean terror-inducing, and when you ask them why, they say 'because anything could be down there.' By 'anything' they mean sharks, rays, fish, etc. But our Earth floating around in the big dark universe is a bit like that. Anything could be out there, and that gives the author of science fiction a lot to work with."

Science fiction authors can also use our fear of aliens to explore themes that have implications for humanity, he said, such as race ("District 9"), religion and free will ("Sirens of Titan") or the difficulties of translation ("Arrival"). But as far as we know, alien monsters remain just that  metaphors for what the worst of humanity can be.

The real aliens of the universe probably look nothing like how we could imagine, Levin said. While they will follow the same laws of natural selection as us, they will likely be easy to spot only because they are complex and that they have a purpose  such as eating food  that rocks or gases lack. They probably will have difficulties even communicating with humans; imagine if their "sight" was in the X-ray spectrum, or they used electrical currents for navigation instead of sound, touch and sight.

Looking for alien life

In the first article of this series, we discussed the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and how researchers have tried to communicate with aliens during the past few decades. This included the protocols for "first contact," or the moment when humans have a confirmed communication with extraterrestrial life. But let's assume that our first knowledge of aliens doesn't come from a signal in the darkness. Instead, imagine that first contact comes from seeing aliens that may not be intelligent life, such as microbes. ['Alien' Horror: 9 Terrifying Extraterrestrials from the 'Alien' Movies]

First, researchers need to know where to look.

"Common places to look have been planets that are the right temperature for liquid water (or liquid something), and lots of scientists are trying to figure out what chemistries might be possible for life, which will help narrow our search for other planets and moons," Levin said. "I think we ought to be cautious here, as natural selection is a very powerful force for pushing life, once established, into harsh climes."

Of course, science fiction has its horror stories as well for microbes. A quick glance at recent films ("Life" and "Alien: Covenant," for example) shows humans reacting very badly after coming in contact with foreign microbes. Historically, NASA has been concerned about this, too. The agency put the first few Apollo crews into quarantineafter they landed on the moon, even though there was little to no chance of microbes surviving on the radiation-baked, airless lunar surface.

For traveling to Mars, NASA has extraterrestrial protection protocols in place to lessen the risk of contaminating the Red Planet  or having microbes contaminate us. These protocols include carefully sterilizing spacecraft, and trying to avoid regions that may have running water (such as recurring slope lineae, which are dark streaks researchers have spotted on the walls of craters).

The agency also tries to be careful around icy moons in the outer solar system that could host life near hot vents, just like on Earth. For example, NASA deliberately threw the Cassini spacecraft into Saturn last year on the off chance that it would slam into Enceladus, a geyser-spouting moon that may have icy water. NASA did the same for the Galileo spacecraft in 2003, since there was a tiny chance it could crash into the icy moons Europa, Callisto or Ganymede.

When trying to think about where microbial aliens may reside, scientists often look to analogs on Earth to help them better understand. Harsh desert environments, salty water and acidic underwater vents are some "extreme life" scenarios that researchers examine, although the limits of life still may not be known.

James Cameron talks to Guillermo del Toro in Episode 3 of "AMC Visionaries: James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction." (Image credit: AMC)

Searching for life on exoplanets

Researchers are also trying to determine the ideal conditions for life, and how we would detect it. One common metric is the "habitable zone" around a star, which is defined as where water could exist on the surface of a rocky planet similar in size to Earth. But the concept is complicated. [Weirdest Aliens of 'Valerian']

Scientists have found a few possible habitable planets around red dwarf stars, which are smaller and dimmer than our own sun. Planets need to huddle closer to the star to maintain liquid water than they would to sun-like stars. But proximity carries its own dangers, as red dwarf stars are prone to belching out radiation that could fry life on the surface. So the debate over habitable zones continues.

Lisa Kaltenegger, an associate professor at Cornell University, focuses her research on potentially habitable rocky planets and "super-Earths" (planets that are slightly larger than Earth). She suggests that a habitable planet may have certain characteristics that a super-powerful telescope would see. The James Webb Space Telescopethat launches in 2020 is powerful enough to examine Jupiter-size planets, but to examine rocky planets researchers would need a future observatory that is more tuned to look at (comparatively) tiny worlds.

For those tricky red dwarf stars, Kaltenegger said, maybe life has found another way to survive. On Earth, there is algae that can deal with UV radiation through a process called biofluorescence; perhaps a similar thing exists on a rocky exoplanet. "If you hit the coral, it breaks down the UV to visible light. That's not as damaging, and it fluoresces," she told Space.com. "The way I love to think about it is in a planet with vast oceans, the star is flaring, the flare is hitting the ocean and the ocean is lighting up."

She joked that because some of the beings in Cameron's "Avatar" were bioluminescent  able to produce and emit light  that his planned sequels should explore worlds with their entire oceans fluorescing in different colors. "Cameron should put it in his next movie," she said.

Life could also show itself through the combinations of gases in its atmosphere, particularly if methane and oxygen are in abundance, she said. These are gases that otherwise would naturally react to carbon dioxide and water and dissolve  so something may be constantly generating them to replenish the supply. The caveat, though, is that that process may not be biological; geology could also somehow be producing the methane and oxygen.

Kaltenegger added that scientists will need to be cautious when encountering possible extraterrestrial life to make sure they are not fooling themselves into thinking something else is presenting itself as possible life processes. "Extraordinary results require extraordinary evidence," Kaltenegger said of assuming life exists elsewhere. Her words paraphrased former Cornell astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan, who died in 1996.

This story was inspired by Episode 3 of "AMC Visionaries: James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction," which airs tonight at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT (9 p.m. CDT). A companion book is available on Amazon.com.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.An asteroid the size of a jumbo jet is about to buzz Earth, and you can learn all about the historic close encounter in a webcast this evening (May 14).

The near-Earth asteroid 2010 WC9, which is thought to be between 125 feet and 390 feet (38 to 119 meters) wide, will get within 126,000 miles (203,000 kilometers) of Earth tomorrow evening (May 15)  about half the distance between our planet and the moon. It's rare for such a big space rock to get so close, astronomers have said.

To mark the occasion, the astronomy broadcasting service Slooh will host a live webcast tonight at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT on May 15). You can also watch the webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. [Photos: Asteroids in Deep Space]

The webcast will feature live views of 2010 WC9 captured by four different telescopes at Slooh's observatory at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Slooh representatives said. In addition, Slooh astronomers Paul Cox and Paige Godfrey will discuss and answer viewer questions about the asteroid and its trajectory.

Orbit diagram for the near-Earth asteroid 2010 WC9, which will fly by Earth on May 15, 2018. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech (CNEOS))

2010 WC9 was discovered in November 2010 and observed through December of that year. However, astronomers weren't able to gather enough data to nail down the asteroid's orbit at the time, and 2010 WC9 went off the radar for more than seven years. Astronomers didn't spot the object again until just last week  and the "recovered" 2010 WC9 was initially thought to be a newfound space rock, according to EarthSky.org.

Scientists now know that 2010 WC9 completes one orbit every 1.12 years, during which it gets as close to the sun as 0.78 AU and as far away as 1.38 AU. (One AU, or astronomical unit, is the Earth-sun distance  about 93 million miles, or 150 million km.)

Even if 2010 WC9's actual size were close to the maximum estimate, the space rock wouldn't pose an existential threat to humanity; only space rocks about 0.6 miles (1 km) wide or larger are potential civilization-enders, NASA researchers have said. However, 2010 WC9 could still do quite a bit of damage on a local scale if it were on a collision course with Earth (which it's not, for the foreseeable future). For perspective: The object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, shattering thousands of windows and injuring about 1,500 people, was thought to be about 65 feet (20 m) wide.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.NASA's Astrobiology Institute has selected three teams for five-year grants to be used in studying life in the universe.

The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) has awarded five-year grants to three research teams who will hunt for life in the universe.

"Is there life on Mars?" David Bowie's famous line lies at the center of modern astrobiology research. In an initiative to investigate the possibility of life in the cosmos, not just on Mars, interdisciplinary teams chosen by NASA will each receive approximately $8 million and five years to complete their work.

NASA has several missions that will provide data in the search for life, with "NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite on its way to discover new worlds around our nearest stellar neighbors, Cassini's discovery of the ingredients necessary for life in [the Saturn moon]Enceladus' plumes, and with Europa Clipper [set to explore the moon of Jupiter] and Mars 2020 on the horizon," NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green said in a statement. [How Do You Spot an Alien Planet from Earth? (Infographic)]

Green said he is confident that these teams will "provide the critical interdisciplinary expertise needed to help interpret data from these missions and future astrobiology-focused missions."

The teams that will complete this exciting new research are:

Evolution of Nanomachines in Geospheres and Microbial Ancestors (ENIGMA)

Hailing from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the ENIGMA team, led by Paul Falkowski, a professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, will investigate how proteins once evolved to spark the first life on Earth. This team will study prebiotic molecules and enzymes common with number of microbial species to accomplish this immense task.

The Astrobiology Center for Isotopologue Research (ACIR)

Led by Kate Freeman, a professor in the Department of Geosciences at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), ACIR  a team from PSU, University Park will study the origins of organic compounds using both observational and computational resources in its research.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

The research team at JPL will address potential habitable environments and signs of life on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Led by Rosaly Lopes, a Manager for Planetary Science and Senior Research Scientist at JPL, the team will use data from the Cassini-Huygens mission.

"We are delighted to welcome these three new NAI teams into the institute family and look forward to the important work that they will accomplish over the time of their awards," said NAI Director Penelope Boston in the statement.

The discovery of extraterrestrial life would forever change our relationship with the universe. These grants will play a critical role in searching for answers to the fundamental questions of life's origins, NASA officials said in the statement.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her @chelsea_gohd. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.WASHINGTON  SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk on May 10 went into detail on modifications made to the latest version of the Falcon 9, including redesigning a pressure vessel implicated in the rockets 2016 pre-launch explosion.

In a briefing with reporters hours before the scrubbed launch of the first Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket, Musk said the Block 5 is designed to be "the most reliable rocket ever built."

"That is the design intent," he said. "I hope fate doesnt punish me for these words, but that is unequivocally the intent. And I think our most conservative customers would agree with that." [See the Evolution of SpaceX's Rockets in Pictures]

A last-minute glitch May 10 postponed the Block 5 Falcon 9's debut launch 24 hours to May 11. SpaceX blamed "a standard ground system auto abort" for halting the countdown 58 seconds before liftoff. The rocket lifted off successfully May 11 at 4:14 p.m. EDT, landed its first stage 11 minutes later and deployed Bangladesh's first telecom satellite, Bangabandhu-1, to geostationary transfer orbit just under 34 minutes later.

Lessons from 2016

SpaceX's first "Block 5" Falcon 9 rocket launches Bangabandhu Satellite-1 for the government of Bangladesh on May 11, 2018. SpaceX wants to land and, within 24 hours, relaunch a Block 5 first stage before the end of 2019, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Musk said SpaceX put great effort into creating extremely reliable COPVs, or composite overwrapped pressure vessels, used to store helium to pressurize the propellant tanks in the launcher's second stage. In September 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded during preparations for a static fire test and destroyed a telecom satellite for Israeli fleet operator Spacecom.

SpaceX traced the cause to liquid oxygen in the upper stage tank that got trapped between the COPV overwrap and liner and ignited either from friction or other mechanisms. SpaceX has since worked to redesign those pressure vessels in cooperation with NASA in order to address the agency's concerns about using that design on later Falcon 9 commercial crew launches.

"This is by far the most advanced pressure vessel ever developed by humanity," Musk said. "It's nuts. I've personally gone over the design; I can't count how many times. The top engineering minds at SpaceX have agonized over this  I think we are in a good situation."

Musk said the COPVs now have a burst pressure "more than twice what they are actually loaded to on the pad." SpaceX has a contingency design that would involve switching from high-strength carbon fiber with an aluminum liner to the superalloy Inconel, but that is "unlikely to be necessary," Musk said.

New and improved

While block numbering would suggest this is the fifth iteration of the Falcon 9, Musk said the Block 5 "is arguably Falcon 9's version 6" based on how improvements have been made over time.

"The word 'block' is a bit strange. We kind of adopted it from the Russians," he said.

Musk said the each of the nine Merlin engines used to power the Falcon 9's first stage now have an 8 percent increase in thrust at sea level to 190,000 pounds-force. The single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine on Falcon 9's second stage has a 5 percent thrust increase to 220,000 pounds-force, he said.

By comparison, the Block 5 Falcon 9 is around twice as powerful as the Falcon 9 that first launched a demonstration resupply mission for NASA in 2010. The Merlin engines on that first version had 95,000 pounds of thrust for each first-stage engine and 92,500 pounds of thrust for the second-stage engine.

The first stage of Block 5 rockets are designed to be far more reusable than previous versions which so far have only flown twice before retirement.

"In principle, we could refly Block 4 probably upwards of 10 times, but with a fair amount of work between each flight," Musk said. "The key to Block 5 is that it's designed to do 10 or more flights with no refurbishment between each flight. The only thing that needs to change is to reload propellant and fly again."

With some refurbishment, a Block 5 first stage should be able to launch 100 times, Musk said.

In addition to greater reusability, SpaceX's Block 5 Falcon 9 is designed to meet NASA commercial crew requirements and Air Force national security launch criteria. It's also designed for easier manufacturing.

Musk said the Falcon 9's octaweb structure, used to support all nine first stage engines and provide compartmentalization in case one or more fails, is now much stronger. The octaweb is made with bolted instead of welded aluminum and has greater thermal protection to prevent melting, he said.

SpaceX put latch mechanisms on the Falcon 9's landing legs so the vehicle doesn't have to rely on external clamps for steadying on ocean-platform landings, Musk said.

SpaceX also upgraded the rockets avionics, and is keeping the titanium grid fins, he said. The Falcon 9 previously used aluminum fins for steering the Falcon 9 first stage back to Earth, but SpaceX changed those on the Block 3 to titanium after the aluminum fins caught fire during reentry.

Musk said the rocket's interstage features a hydrophobic thermal protection developed by SpaceX that is highly reusable and doesn't require paint. Placed between the first and second stages of the rocket, which are painted white, the jet-black carbon fiber interstage harkens back to SpaceX's first rocket, the Falcon 1.

"Obviously, aesthetics are a minor factor in rocket design, but I still like the fact that we've returned for nostalgic reasons to having a black interstage," Musk said.

Falcon 9 Block 6?

By keeping the Falcon 9 design static, SpaceX can devote more time and effort to its Big Falcon Rocket and Starlink satellite constellation. Though Musk and other SpaceX officials have repeatedly called the Block 5 the final design, Musk hinted that some minor improvements could still be made to the rocket.

SpaceX engineers might squeeze another 2 percent of additional thrust out of the first stage, and another 5 percent out of the second stage as compared to the Block 4, he said. Musk said the rocket could see minor improvements for better manufacturability, reflight and reliability "provided that they are supported by our key customers in commercial satellite launch, NASA and the Air Force."

He emphasized that any further changes would be small.

"There will not be a Block 6," Musk said. "We intend to stabilize on the Block 5 platform and have no major upgrades."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.Optimization

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Episode 10.07 - Netflix & Pill

On ABC Network

- Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 8:00 pm Eastern / 7:00 pm Central



The official synopsis of this episode is:

After celebrating their 45th anniversary, Roseanne reveals to Dan a bigger problem with her bad knee. Meanwhile, Crystal announces her retirement as a waitress at the casino, and Becky and Darlene compete for the job which has full-time benefits.



This is what makes Roseanne so good, the combination of funny + reality = Roseanne.



So I should mention up front, even though I write for SpoilerTV, I'm not a huge fan of giving away spoilers for episodes that haven't aired yet. So, that being said, here is my preview and what I can't say in words, hopefully the pictures tell you all you need to know.



My preview of Netflix & Pill...



This episode opens with a very funny moment involving Roseanne, Dan, and their three grown children. I laughed watching this whole opening scene. The interaction of the original cast members is still alive and well, and it's like no time has passed. The passing of the check and the singing were too funny not to laugh at. If only my family was this funny sitting at the dinner table at a restaurant.





The Honey Baked Ham! I think this is one of the few times I've ever seen Dan so excited about something. It starts in the opening, continues with a phone call, and even makes it to the hotel. And every single time I laughed.The pills. This is where real life meets the Roseanne show. It is surprising how real it felt, and who was the one with the issues. It wasn't funny, but necessary and only on Roseanne would be like, Oh, I so understand now. It also plays into the theme of Roseanne, how you can work hard, and still it isn't always enough to give you the life you want or earned. There is also comedic relief thanks to Laurie Metcalf's Jackie. Especially Jackie at the Mexican Resturant. That scene is too freakin funny!The comic relief meets real world is the storyline of Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and Becky (Lecy Goranson). The dynamics between them has remained the same. They bicker, put one another down, and love each other. It's always fun to watch. This happens in this episode also. Starting with the opening scene all the way through the last scene. Thank goodness I don't have sisters like them. But it is a hoot to watch. Especially when Darlene show's Becky something, too funny.Blast from the past in this episode is Roseanne's friend Crystal. I enjoy it so much that the original cast members from all those years ago came back to play the same roles. She is also the catalyst for Darlene and Becky's drama.I enjoyed this episode a lot, I hope you do too.I hope these pictures tell you a lot more than I can say.Let me know what you think of this episode. And don't forget to watch. I know I'll be watching Tuesday night.Algiers, May 13, 2018 (SPS)-Algeria on Sunday expressed its firm condemnation and total rejection of Moroccan Foreign Ministers irresponsible statements against it, Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Abdelaziz Benali Cherif said in a statement.



Algeria expresses its firm condemnation and total rejection of Moroccan Foreign Ministers irresponsible statements against it and cooperation, in an interview with a Parisian weekly, stressed Benali Cherif.



In the face of the incredulity with which the international learnt of his allegations on last 1 May and instead of producing the irrefutable evidence he claims to have, which he actually does not have, or instead of acknowledging, the Moroccan FM chose to continue on the path of mystification and invention, said Benali Cherif.



His baseless and unjustified accusations are indicative of the flight forward policy he has chosen to adopt following the major setbacks he received in Africa, in Europe and most recently in New York, recalled the spokesperson.



They also reveal his inability to directly involve Algeria in a conflict declared by the Security Council a self-determination issue to be negotiated directly between Morocco and the Polisario Front, in good faith and without preconditions, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), with a view to finding a just and mutually acceptable political solution ensuring the Sahrawi peoples self-determination, he continued.



Similarly, "Algeria can only strongly condemn the Moroccan FMs statements on the role it plays in the Sahel although the international community, as a whole, praises the major contribution Algeria is making to stabilize the region," stressed Benali Cherif.



Facing the virulent campaign against it, Algeria remains serene and strong drawing on the unity of its people, the solidity of its institutions, its stability and the rectitude and consistency of the principles and values that govern its foreign policy. As a neighbour State, Algeria will continue to fully support the efforts made by the UN Secretary General and his Personal Envoy with a view to reaching a definitive settlement of the Western Sahara issue, in accordance with international law and the UNs doctrine and practice in the field of decolonization. (SPS)



062/SPS/APSSTAMFORD  Warmer weather definitely has its upsides  sunshine, spring blooms and the urge to get outside and play  but it also brings a higher risk of exposure to tick-, flea- and mosquito-borne diseases.

A recently-released report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows number of people getting diseases transmitted by mosquito, tick and flea bites has more than tripled in the United States between 2004 and 2016. Additionally, since 2004, at least nine such diseases have been discovered or newly introduced here.

Though the CDC stopped short of suggesting that people cancel outdoor plans, health officials did emphasize the increasing importance of bug repellent to protect everyone  especially children  from outdoor pests.

Dr. Michael Parry, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Stamford Hospital, said its challenging to accurately track Lyme disease cases because not all cases are reported and the tests are not always reliable, but other tick-borne diseases have been on the rise for several years.

Its hard to know whether were seeing more Lyme  it is often unreported, but our overall impression of Lyme disease is that it is very prominent in this area, very underreported and its certainly not diminishing in number. And, in the last five or six years, weve seen relatively more babesia and anaplasma.

Like Lyme, babesia and anaplasma are also transmitted by the deer tick. Babesia, Parry said, is an infection of the bodys red blood cells and its symptoms are similar to those of malaria. Anaplasma, he said, infects the white blood cells and causes a wide variety of symptoms such as fever, headache, chills, muscle aches and vomiting.

Data from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station , which monitors mosquito and tick populations throughout the state and tests ticks for various diseases, shows the of number of ticks that tested positive for Lyme disease last year was mor e than double that of 2016.

A total of 5,577 ticks were submitted to the station in 2017 by residents, health department and physicians offices across the state. Of those, the data shows 3,993 were tested for Lyme and other diseases, nearly a third of which (1,277) tested positive. Lyme was the most common disease detected, according to the data, but babesia and anaplasma were also prevalent.

A total of 297 ticks were submitted from the Stamford area, 86 of which tested positive.

Parry said there are likely a number of reasons as to why tick- and mosquito-borne diseases are on the rise.

In our local area, its related to the increasing number of deer and the increasing growth of populations into previously wooded areas over time, he said. There are deer all over the place in Stamford, and that clearly is a risk factor for the increasing numbers of ticks.

Its quite clear that climate change, in a global sense, has impacted the expansion of some of these insect-borne pathogens - like malaria and dengue, Parry said. Mosquito populations have grown in many areas in the world, and a lot of that is related to a rise in the average mean temperatures in many parts of the world that were once too cold for mosquitoes and ticks to thrive.

Widespread travel and global importing and exporting are also factors, according to the CDC report.

CDC officials called for more support for state and local health departments, which are chronically underfunded. A recent survey of mosquito control agencies found that 84 percent needed help with such basics as surveillance and testing for resistance to pesticides, the New York Times reported.

Stamford has a task force - called the Health Department Vector Disease Prevention Task Force - which consists of city officials and employees, local health and recreation department representatives and staff from the agricultural station, and works to address mosquito and tick populations and provide information about disease prevention.

This task force was put together so that we can make sure were hitting all the areas in the city that are affected with stagnant water, tall grass or garbage collections that could also attract insects, said Ron Miller, Director of Environmental Inspections for the Stamford Health Department.

One of the things that we are proactive in is when we get complaints of stagnant water, we respond to that site and if theres a pooling of water, we larvicide that area to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching, he said. We also contract out with a company called All Habitat and they larvicide the catch basins - or storm drains - three times a year.

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station has three trapping sites within the city  at Cove Island Park, Sleepy Hollow Park in Springdale, and at the intersection of Intervale and Gaxton roads  where the group catches mosquitoes and identifies their type.

But, when it comes to addressing tick populations, there is little to be done.

Preventing tick-borne diseases is largely a personal responsibility  using tick repellent, doing tick checks, wearing the proper clothing, Parry said.

Environmental tick control is really very difficult in areas where there are mice and deer because ticks are very difficult to kill, he said. You cant spray for ticks the way you can for mosquitoes, so unless you have the mandate to eliminate the deer and mouse populations, then youre going to have ticks. Really the only thing we can do, or the city can do, is educate the population about protecting themselves and their pets.

If bitten by a tick, Jim Federici, Lab Director at the Health Department, said Stamford residents can submit the insect to the city lab. The health department the works with the agricultural experiment station in New Haven to identify the type of tick and test it for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

But, since roughly 30 percent of the ticks in Connecticut test positive for Lyme, Parry said he recommends his patients assume the tick is a carrier and seek treatment.

kat.russell@

stamfordadvocate.comBRIDGEPORT - A suspect was taken into custody Sunday in connection with an alleged robbery at a Starbucks on East Main Street.

Bridgeport Police Chief AJ Perez said a Hispanic male was arrested after a K-9 unit tracked the mans scent from the Starbucks to an area under Interstate 95.STAMFORD  The citys first responders were on hand at Cove Island Park on Monday to greet and pass bottles of water to National EMS bicyclists during a planned stop on their Memorial Bike Ride, which honors Emergency Medical Services personnel that died in the past year, from Boston to Marylands National Harbor development in the D.C. metro area.On the 62nd anniversary of the creation of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) celebrated Monday, King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of General Staff of the FAR hailed, in an Order of the Day, the Moroccan military for their tireless efforts to defend the country and its sacred values.

The Monarch also commended the sense of responsibility and abnegation they show in fulfilling their military and security duties as well as their social missions, and their unwavering mobilization to defend the Kingdoms territorial integrity and its land, air and sea borders.

The King reiterated his keenness to endow the Moroccan armed forces with all required means and necessary material and human resources, saying this is implemented in line with an integrated and complementary vision meant to help the army reinforce its human resources and modernize its infrastructure and technical services.

He recalled that in order to reach these goals, the plans and programs elaborated and implemented at his orders lay emphasis on quality, to adapt training programs to all areas of security and defense while taking into account national specificities, military traditions and the requirements of current challenges, in terms of excellence and performance.

The sovereign added in the Order of the day that armed forces qualities (preparation, efficiency, good reputation, good training and organization, uprightness, professionalism and discipline) have largely contributed to the development and diversification of Moroccos military cooperation with several international organizations and sister nations.

Part of the outcome of this fruitful bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the king recalled that armed forces of several sisterly African countries attend Moroccan military institutes and schools to undergo military training in all specialties alongside their Moroccan mates.

The King lauded the Moroccan armys outstanding participation in carrying out joint security programs and their valiant contribution in implementing solidarity action.

He praised in this connection the efforts made by the rescue and relief units of the FAR and Royal Gendarmerie when required to intervene in remote, landlocked and mountainous areas to provide aid to the populations, recalling the two military field hospitals deployed in the regions of Tinghir and Chichaoua during the winter.

King Mohammed VI also pointed out that he takes pride in the efforts and huge sacrifices made by FAR contingents taking part in peacekeeping operations in Congo and the Central African Republic, as well as the efforts by the medical staff at the Zaatari military field hospital to protect civilians and provide assistance and humanitarian aid.

The military medico-surgical field hospital was set up by Morocco in the region of Zaatari in favour of the Syrian refugees in the governorate of Al Mafraq, northern Jordan, in 2012.

On the occasion of this anniversay, several officers, non-commissioned officers and men of rank were decorated with royal Wissams and ceremonies and military parades were held in various garrisons throughout Morocco.STAMFORD  The Stamford Senior Center and the city health department are hosting a Senior Expo in the Stamford Senior Center to help older residents find resources, activities and social connections in the community in celebration of Older Americans Month.

Older Americans Month is an annual celebration coordinated through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of older people.The National Rifle Association is urging people to cover Yeti Coolers' logo with stickers from the pro-gun organization.

On Monday, the NRA tweeted, "Approximately 100,000 free stickers were distributed at the NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas to cover up the @YETICoolers name on YETI products."

The tweet included a link to more information about the the stickers that read "I stand with the NRA Foundation. Teach freedom." The NRA included the hashtag #BadChoiceYETI.

TEXAS TIES: Sutherland Springs hero featured in NRA promos

Yeti did not have an immediate response to the NRA's tweet when contacted by Chron.com on Monday afternoon.

The NRA took issue with Yeti on April 20, when NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer claimed the outdoor company dropped them for no reason. Yeti countered on April 23 that it was not cutting ties with the NRA. Instead, Yeti said it was eliminating what it called "outdated discounting programs."

Yeti said that it was, "...offering them an alternative customization program broadly available to consumers and organizations, including the NRA Foundation," according to an April 23 statement from the company. "These facts directly contradict the inaccurate statement the NRA-ILA distributed on April 20."

BOYCOTT: NRA responds to boycott movement after United and Delta cut ties

Hammer followed up with members about the stickers in a letter dated May 8. She urged NRA members to not destroy their Yeti products.

"Put a big 'I STAND WITH THE NRA FOUNDATION' sticker on your YETI cooler and keep using it," the letter reads. "They cost too much money to destroy to make a statement. Let a sticker make our statement."

Hammer said the stickers are free and will be distributed at NRA functions all over the country. She added people can donate money to the NRA and get six of the stickers.

TRUMP IN TEXAS: Trump stirs NRA in Dallas with classic Lone Star slogan: 'Come and take it'

Some companies have distanced themselves from the NRA following the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida according to reports.

The Associated Press reported in February that insurance company MetLife Inc., car rental company Hertz and software company Symantec Corp. have ended their NRA discount programs. Some companies like Wyndham Hotels and Best Western hotels have let customers know on social media that they are no longer affiliated with the NRA, according to the AP.

Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter.H alf the businesses which suffered shareholder rebellions this year are repeat offenders who faced stinging revolts last year, according to a name-and-shame register of City dissent.

The Investment Association Public Register, introduced last year after a government pay review, shows 45 corporations had their resolution voted down by more than 20% so far this year  with 21 of them repeat offenders from last year.

The figures, compiled for the Standard, will raise questions over whether the firms are taking notice of shareholders with concerns over issues such as pay and boardroom appointments.

The number of repeat offenders from 2017 is striking, the associations director of stewardship and corporate governance Andrew Ninian said. Companies can no longer ignore shareholder concerns.

Wages are once more topping the dissent league, with 14 of the 45 rebellions up until May 4 focused on pay.

The Public Register was launched in December after business secretary Greg Clark ordered the association to keep a register of rebellions following a government consultation on corporate governance reform.

The register is designed to shine a light on how many rebellions by investors occur at annual meetings  and is coming into force for the first time this meeting season.

The [Independent Association] expects these companies to set out how they are responding to the investor concerns within six months of their AGM, Ninian said.

Business minister Andrew Griffiths said: "While the vast majority of businesses act responsibly and listen to their shareholders, this register shines a light on those who could do better.

This new transparency will encourage companies to better address their shareholders concerns.

Of the 21 repeat re-offenders, 12 have been put back on the register for a second time after suffering dissent on the same issue. They include Zoopla owner ZPG, Hammerson, Intu, Old Mutual, and Inmarsat, which has faced investor rebellions three years in a row.

Household names such as Daily Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror (soon to be called Reach) and pub owner Mitchells & Butlers and are on the list two years in a row for different reasons.

Trinity faced a rebellion this year as 21% voted against a resolution to make political donations.

Many larger companies could suffer a fresh wave of protests, with FTSE 100 giants WPP and AstraZeneca expected to face opposition for a the second year in a row.I n the dispersed world of modern business, the company headquarters risks becoming an irrelevance. Bricks and mortar barely matter when board meetings can be conducted via conference call and directors loop the globe visiting customers and suppliers. Why keep a half-empty office block on the books that has to be heated, lit, catered for and secured?

Property is just another function to be outsourced after manufacturing, distribution and swathes of the workforce. It is a trend that serviced-office groups such as WeWork are eyeing greedily. Yet companies which have already been hollowed-out risk going too far.

With little more than a strategy and some  intellectual  property to their name, these organisations appear like Cheshire cats. Behind the smile others are grimacing because businesses must still grapple with reputational problems. Technological change is driving more activity into the ether. The firms that are barely there can barely hope to regain trust.

There is evidence that companies are thinking again about how decentralised they want to be. Last year IBM, one of the pioneers of the work-at-home revolution, gave its remote staff the choice of turning up every day at an office in one of six US cities or looking elsewhere for employment. Rather than being sidelined in the dash to digital, headquarters are taking on greater symbolism in the virtual world of work.

All of this makes BTs decision to exit its headquarters close to St Pauls timely. Here is a company that encourages customers to transform themselves with its internet services without having ever fully cast off its own public sector, monopoly mindset and the concrete monolith it inhabits.

BTs move will be an acid test of whether a new building can bring about a new attitude. On a smaller scale, another overdue relocation is the Institute of Directors which Im convinced will never modernise until it has left behind the chintz and flummery of its Pall Mall base.

If walls could talk, the saying goes. They frequently do because how a firm houses itself speaks volumes. The headquarters of South African financial services group Old Mutual was already a ghost ship when I interviewed boss Bruce Hemphill there last year. The company is being carved up and the dilapidated office  never liked by senior management  had come to symbolise the annual 180 million of wasted central costs for a firm that should never have brought its primary share listing to London. In the Antony Jenkins era, Barclays plastered his mantra of RISES values  respect, integrity, service, excellence, stewardship  across the reception and in the lifts at its Canary Wharf tower. It smacked of a company trying too hard to persuade its staff and critics it had changed.

Further back, Sir Clive Mr 20% Thompson ran ratcatcher Rentokil Initial from a stately home. It might have been inherited from a predecessor, but the base spoke of a management layer that remained well-upholstered, aloof and slightly old-fashioned while staff further down the chain burnt the furniture to keep up with growth targets.

In contrast, a trip to see Kate Swann when she ran WH Smith reassured: the retailers old office just off Oxford Street was tatty in the extreme  just like its shops. Talk about living the brand.

By splashing millions on new headquarters, a company is usually inviting investors to sell the shares. That should certainly have been true for Freds Folly, the nickname for the gleaming Royal Bank of Scotland base built on the site of a former Edinburgh mental hospital whose construction was closely overseen by Fred Goodwin. However, the same was not the case for Sky which created a corporate empire to match the ambition of its west London property empire  the closest thing the UK has to a Google-style campus.

Headquarters project power  or else there would be no uproar when Unilever proposed moving to Rotterdam. It is instructive that some of the most forward-looking companies  including Facebook and Apple  have resisted the urge to downsize and instead built giant fortresses to call home. At their heart, headquarters remain about the people that use them day in, day out.T he boss of supermarket chain Sainsburys was forced to drop some of his plans to overhaul employees contracts after a backlash from staff, the Standard can reveal.

Chief executive Mike Coupe, who pledged 100 million in March to improve pay, wrote a letter to thousands of campaigners to say he has made significant changes to his proposals.

The move follows weeks of campaigning from Sainsburys lifers who claim they will be worse off once the new contracts will be introduced in September.

Coupe said in the letter that some employees working in London, outside zones one and two, will receive a 25p increase an hour. But this is just because they were initially excluded from the original plan.

He also promised to pay online delivery drivers 75p an hour  or 25p more  as well as increase the hourly rate for night shifts from 1.55 to 2.45 an hour. However, the way staff will get paid for night shifts will change.

Coupe added: We have proposed top-up payments for an 18 month period to make sure that no colleague earns less than they do today. And at the end of those 18 months  in March 2020, we will review the hourly rate again.

Sainsburys said the changes, including the scrapping of paid lunch breaks, are in line with industry standards and the majority of its staff will get a pay rise.

In a letter to Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Modren, and seen by the Standard, Sainsburys retail and operations director Simon Roberts said: Despite the 100 million investment, the number of legacy contracts we have in our system means that this is still not enough to ensure that every colleague is better off because of the existing variability in our contracts. We fully understand that some colleagues will be impacted by the proposals.Top story sees Strongbow Exploration, the Canadian company trying to revive tin production in Cornwall, announce plans to join AIM.

The company expects that admission will become effective in June 2018, it said in a statement, adding it would also retain its Canada listing for now.

Strongbow is hoping the London listing will help to raise 25 million over the next 18 months to study the feasibility of resuming production, with a target date of 2021, at what it says is one of the highest grade undeveloped tin projects globally.

Since July 2016, Strongbow has held the rights to mine the South Crofty underground tin mine in Cornwall, which produced tin for centuries until low tin prices forced its closure in 1998.

Demand from the electronics industry, which needs tin to replace toxic lead in solder, combined with falling production in the major producing countries in the world - China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Peru - has helped to drive tin prices 60% higher since January 2016 to around $21,000 per tonne.

The government has voiced support for Cornish mining as a means to boost a post-Brexit economy.

South Crofty could also be a source of lithium for electric vehicles.H onestly, Ive never been so in demand. Please can we keep in touch? implores one message. ACTION REQUIRED: we want to hear from you, goes another. We NEED you, proclaims a third.

With less than a fortnight until new laws force companies to ask before bombarding us with marketing missives, my inbox has turned a touch Fatal Attraction. Everyone from my local yoga studio to the interiors shop I once bought a cushion from is begging for the OK to continue sending round robins.

Its spams last gasp  as of May 25, the EUs General Data Protection Regulation means that businesses wishing to stay connected will need our informed and unambiguous consent. So, no more pre-ticked boxes adding us to spurious mailing lists buried in the T&Cs. Hurrah!

In fact, while were at it, might I also suggest a few other inbox irritants the EU would do well to ban too...

Those little red flags marking messages as urgent. It is a truth universally acknowledged that emails in possession of these passive-aggressive signifiers are never urgent. Not least since anyone bothering to attach one clearly has too much time on their hands. Please desist.

Reply all  the Hydra of emails. You delete one only for more to emerge. Endlessly infuriating.

Read receipts. I once, on claiming to have missed someones email, had them respond: Funny, because you opened it at 8.45 on Tuesday The shame!

Out-of-office-auto-bragging. Hi, thanks for your message. I wont be replying because Im sunning myself on a beach and have better things to do. Hope youre enjoying the rain!.

Nice to e-meet you. Self-explanatory. See also: looping in and circling back.

Seriously, Mr Juncker, do give it some thought. If only youd done this before the referendum, things might have been so different.

Im having a green clearout at home

Speaking of banning things, the recent downgrading of wet wipes and plastic straws from everyday staples to taboo items has made me look afresh at other household goods. Many are so patently absurd you wonder how they came to exist. Envelopes lined with plastic bubble wrap  what is the point when paper padding would do just as well and be so much easier to recycle? Worse are those shiny metallic ones, impossible to open. Then there are the dishwasher tablets individually wrapped in cling film, disposable razors, single-use foil trays.

Who dreamed this stuff up? And why did we ever think they were OK?

Careys timely lesson in self-worth

Many will relate to Carey Mulligans observation that she didnt query whether she was being paid the same as her co-stars at the start of her career because she felt lucky to be there in the first place. I felt so completely overwhelmed, she told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival. Like, Gosh, Im so excited to be here, I should pay you guys. 

Carey Mulligan / Getty Images

I can remember, aged 24 and having obtained my first pay rise, the fear that Id disappoint  and that, should redundancies come around, Id be first in line for the chop. This wasnt just imposter syndrome or misplaced modesty  the fact is, like Mulligan, I was lucky to have a job in an industry I had dreamed about joining for years, and being aware of that isnt a bad thing.

Still, its easy to forget the transactional nature of employment. It took until my thirties for me to stop viewing my bosses as charitable benefactors and realise employment was a two-way street; I wish someone had told me sooner.

Supper oclock has moved to 6.45pm

What time is optimum for a dinner reservation? Unable to secure anything later than a 6.45pm table at Perilla, my friend was apologetic; 15 minutes later and I doubt hed have felt the need. Practically, 6.45pm is little different from 7pm  yet metaphysically theyre worlds apart, the former smacking of childhood teatime.Michigan governor Rick Snyder may soon sign legislation making his state the third to seek a waiver for Medicaid work requirements with a suspicious exemption for counties that happen to be heavily white. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call,Inc.

Frustrated in their congressional efforts to reform Medicaid by ending its status as a personal entitlement and rolling back the expanded coverage that 32 states have chosen under the Affordable Care Act, Republicans in many states are now seeking to pare back Medicaid eligibility through work requirements that they hope will discourage enrollment. Theyve largely been given a green light by the Trump administration via waivers. But a new wrinkle in the way these requirements are drawn up is driving concerns (and lawsuits) based on suspicion that the idea is to make urban minority folk work while exempting rural white beneficiaries.

Kentucky secured a waiver to introduce Medicaid work requirements back in January, and there the way the new rules are being phased in has already drawn negative attention, as Alice Ollstein explains:

The waiver in Kentucky, the first state to win federal approval for a Medicaid work requirement, will have the effect of exempting eight southeastern counties where the percentage of white residents is over 90 percent. The work requirements will be imposed first in Northern Kentucky, which includes Jefferson, the county with the highest concentration of black residents in the state.

In a pending waiver request from Ohio, and in a bill passed by the GOP-controlled legislature in Michigan, counties with high unemployment rates are exempted from the work requirements entirely. These tend to be heavily white rural areas. Meanwhile, low-income African-Americans tend to be concentrated in large counties where low unemployment in relatively wealthy suburbs keep the inner cities from qualifying for the exemption.

John Corlett, Ohios former Medicaid director and the president of Clevelands Center for Community Solutions, studied the 26 counties that qualify for an exemption from the proposed Medicaid work requirements and found they are, on average, 94 percent white. Meanwhile, his research found, most of these non-exempted Ohio communities have either majority or significant African-American populations.

The same is true in Michigan, where the discriminatory impact of the proposed work requirement has gotten significant national attention, and not in a good way. The Washington Post looked at Medicaid data from the state and found a pretty dramatic disparity:

African Americans make up about 23 percent of that [Medicaid] population, but they would make up only 1.2 percent of the people eligible for the unemployment exemption. White people make up 57 percent of the total potential affected population, but they make up 85 percent of the group eligible for the unemployment exemption, according to an analysis of the states data.

The bill is still awaiting action from Michigans Republican governor, Rick Snyder. If he signs it, Michigan will get in line for its own waiver from the Trump administration. Based on the Kentucky precedent, the odds are high theyll get approval.

Writing in the New York Times, two law professors from the University of Michigan suggested that any such waiver could and would be challenged under civil-rights laws. But they go on to address the underlying issue that supporters of Medicaid work requirements keep dancing around:

Theres a deeper lesson here. If work requirements were a good idea, conservative Michigan legislators wouldnt need to exempt their rural constituents. Theyd just offer a tough-love message: If you want health insurance on the public dime, you should move to a place where you can find work.

Thats not the message, though. The message, instead, is that work requirements are good for people who live in hard-bitten cities and bad for those who live in hard-bitten counties.

Its not terribly surprising that white rural conservative legislators would like to find a way to crack down on those people receiving Medicaid benefits while expressing empathy for the plight of their own folk. But its also racist, if we are still allowed to apply that term to conservatives who earn it without upsetting enemies of political correctness.T he latest Sunday Times Rich List comes headlined with what seems like a striking revelation: 94 per cent of those in the top 1,000 wealthiest people are from what used to be called new money. You know the sort: chaps who had to buy their own furniture. People who made their fortunes rather than inheriting them and squandering them on laudanum, fast women and faster grouse. Non-UUHNWIs, as the acronymically-minded would have it. Well, good.

But at the same time, it is not perhaps the most surprising thing in the world  rather, the inevitable terminus of a process that has been going on since we gave up feudalism as a bad lot. The silk-hatted Bradford millionaire has been pulling up the inside track against what used to be called the landed interest for a long time now.

Look at your archetypal landed toff these days. He lives in some draughty corner of the ancestral home, surrounded by weevilly furniture, crumbs from his Patum Peperium sandwiches scattered over his balding smoking jacket, resentfully eying the cagouled masses as they traipse round the main part of the house in search of a National Trust cream tea. He burns minor Rembrandts to keep warm in winter. He is broke. Money, real money, is now made in finance and in intellectual property and in the ones and zeroes of the digital economy.

But is this evidence that were now a true meritocracy  that sweat of brow and density of grey matter, entrepreneurial dash and animal spirits, are all that stand between the ragged and the rich? I think not. We should be cautious about the notion that shaving of a fragment of a sliver of the one per cent that the Rich List represents tells us all that much about the state of the country as a whole; not least because the truly minted, these days, are a global rather than a national caste.

My hunch is that in the country at large, inherited wealth is a greater factor in what divides us than it has ever been. Im talking about the rise of the Landed Middle Classes  not, for the most part, the owners of vast country piles but of well-appointed houses in big cities, especially London, and the suburbs. The property boom of the past three decades has propelled them into a new zone.

And their wealth does not advantage their children  as inherited wealth once did  just by landing them in a big pile of cash so they could live off the interest: it advantages them not by giving them more money, but more opportunity.

It pays for private education, the tuition that allows them to access grammar schools, the catchments of the best state comps; and thence door-opening Russell Group universities. It allows them to get feet in the doors of jobs where unpaid internships are the way in. It helps with deposits towards first homes and saves them from the rent trap. And so on.

This is, if you ask me, an improvement on the old days. But a utopia of opportunity for all? Thats, well, rich.

Literary parties were never this louche

Literary parties are mostly warm-white-wine-and-drunk-poet affairs, where the presence of Kettle Chips rather than Aldi Snackrites are the main thing to mark a former Man Booker shortlistee from the common herd. But it all goes nuts when the telly gets involved.

Last week I was at a dinner to celebrate Skys new Patrick Melrose series (adapted by David Nicholls from Edward St Aubyns novels, and starring Sherlock Holmes)  five courses not including canapes..

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes / Justin Downing

The venue was festooned with in-joke props relating to the novels  the largest of which was the bath in which the druggie hero spends a good deal of his time (the Cumberbath, it was soon dubbed). The place names were on pill bottles purporting to contain Ambien and the soup was served from giant syringes.

Would Patrick Melrose have shuddered at this vulgarity or deplored its trivialisation of drug addiction? More likely hed simply have been disappointed that his Ambien bottle contained Tic-Tacs. Swizz.

*The American poet Mary Karr says her one-time lover, the late David Foster Wallace, was violently abusive to her  and that was ignored by his biographer, who mentioned about two per cent of what happened.

She describes how he tried to buy a gun, kicked me, climbed up the side of my house at night, followed my son aged five home from school. I believe her entirely. It saddens me  as it will all those who looked to DFW as a writer of moral seriousness.

Social media is busy pronouncing him a monster  and, clearly, he did behave monstrously, and our culture is too forgiving of tortured male genius.Naomi Campbell showed her friends and fans how a supermodel catwalks as she presented her latest Fashion for Relief fashion show in Cannes on Sunday night.

Campbell - who organised the show to raise funds for the Times Up initiative - was joined on the catwalk by fellow models Winnie Harlow and Bella Hadid during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu.

The 2018 events theme was Race To Equality and Campbell told press that equality means to me to be treated fairly in equal ways, impartiality, wherever you are in the world.

Launched in 2005, the Fashion for Relief initiative - for which Campbell is a spokesperson - has raised millions for various causes, from the Haiti earthquake to the fight against Ebola.

Cannes Film Festival 2018 - the best dresses 1 /111 Cannes Film Festival 2018 - the best dresses Alessandra Ambrosio Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio arrives for the amfAR 25th Annual Cinema Against AIDS gala AFP/Getty Images Winnie Harlow arrives for the screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Bella Hadid poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the 'BlacKkKlansman' at the 71st international film festival, Cannes Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP Kendall Jenner poses on the red carpet at the screening of "Girls Of The Sun (Les Filles Du Soleil)" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Petra Nemcova attends the screening of "Burning" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Winnie Harlow Winnie Harlow poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP Nicole Scherzinger Nicole Scherzinger arrives on May 17, 2018 for the amfAR 25th Annual Cinema Against AIDS gala AFP/Getty Images Sara Sampaio Model Sara Sampaio poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR, Cinema Against AIDS, benefit Arthur Mola/Invision/AP Michelle Rodriguez Michelle Rodriguez poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR, Cinema Against AIDS, Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP Nathalie Emmanuel Nathalie Emmanuel at amfAR's Cinema Against AIDS 2018 event Reuters Adriana Lima attends the screening of "Burning" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Kristen Stewart Kristen Stewart attends the screening of "Knife + Heart Getty Images Ellie Goulding Singer Ellie Goulding poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR Invision/AP Ruby Rose Ruby Rose arrives for the 71st Cannes Film Festival amfAR Gala 2018 E-Press / Splash News Kristen Stewart Kristen Stewart arrives on May 17, 2018 for the amfAR 25th Annual Cinema Against AIDS gala AFP/Getty Images Alessandra Ambrosio arrives for the screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Mila Jovovich attends the screening of "Burning" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Nicole Scherzinger poses for photographers upon arrival at the Written In The Stars party at the 71st international film festival, Cannes Arthur Mola/Invision/AP Izabel Goulart attends the screening of "Burning" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Toni Garrn attends the screening of "Burning" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Sara Sampaio arrives for the screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Emilia Clarke arrives for the screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Winnie Harlow arrives to attend the de Grisogono Party on the sidelines of the 71st Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Lais Ribeiro arrives for the screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images for Disney Cheryl Cole attends the screening of "Ash Is The Purest White (Jiang Hu Er Nv)" Getty Images Michelle Rodriguez arrives for the screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Kristen Stewart poses as she arrives for the premiere of the film "BlacKkKlansman" EPA Cate Blanchett poses as she arrives for the screening of the film "BlacKkKlansman" Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP Naomi Campbell at the premiere of the film "BlacKkKlansman" Getty Images for Kering Nicole Scherzinger attends the premiere of the film "BlacKkKlansman" EPA Natasha Poly walks the red carpet for the premiere of the 'BlacKkKlansman' at the 71st international film festival, Cannes REUTERS Winnie Harlow poses as she arrives for the premiere of the film "BlacKkKlansman" AFP/Getty Images Bella Hadid poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the 'BlacKkKlansman' at the 71st international film festival, Cannes Getty Images Petra Nemcova walks the red carpet for the premiere of the 'BlacKkKlansman' at the 71st international film festival, Cannes Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP Michelle Rodriguez poses for photographers as she arrives for the screening of the film "BlacKkKlansman" AFP/Getty Images Bella Hadid attends Fashion For Relief during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Hangar 16 Airport of Cannes Mandelieu EPA Naomi Campbell Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 Splash News Helen Mirren attends the screening of 'Girls Of The Sun (Les Filles Du Soleil)' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals Getty Images Winnie Harlow poses for photographers upon arrival at the Fashion For Relief 2018 Arthur Mola/Invision/AP Kendall Jenner Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 Dave Benett Bella Hadid Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 Splash News Bella Hadid attends Fashion for Relief Cannes 2018 during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Dave Benett Isabeli Fontana arrives on May 13, 2018 for the screening of the film "Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain)" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Kimberley Garner attends the Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 event on the sidelines of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Izabel Goulart arrives for the screening of the film "Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain)" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images British-Thai actress Araya Hargate arrives for the screening of the film "Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain)" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Elsa Hosk arrives for the screening of the film "Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain)" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Diane Kruger arrives for the screening of the film "Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain)" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images US musician Casey Spooner during the Fashion For Relief Cannes 2018 event on the sidelines of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival at Cannes Mandelieu Aeroport AFP/Getty Images Daria Strokous walks the runway at Fashion For Relief show during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Carla Bruni attends Fashion for Relief Cannes 2018 during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu Dave Benett Neelam Gill attends Fashion for Relief Cannes 2018 during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu Dave Benett Marion Cotillard during a photocall for the film "Gueule d'Ange (Angel Face)" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Irina Shayk Arrives for the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' Reuters Marion Cotillard attends the screening of "3 Faces (Se Rokh)" during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals Getty Images Cheryl Cole Cheryl is a vision in white Getty Images Kendall Jenner Kendall Jenner arrives for the Secret Chopard Party AFP/Getty Images Joan Smalls Joan Smalls attends Chopard Secret Night EPA Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Nyong'o arrives at the Chopard party Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP Bella Hadid Strikes a pose for photographers at the screening of 'Ash Is Purest White' Reuters Stella Maxwell Stella Maxwell attends Chopard Secret Night Getty Images for Chopard Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard attends Chopard Secret Night EPA Bella Hadid At the screening of 'Ash Is Purest White' Reuters Eva Herzigova arrives for the screening of 'Ash Is Purest White' EPA Victoria Silvstedt At the screening of the film "Ash Is Purest White Invision/AP Fan Bingbing arrives for the screening of 'Ash Is Purest White' Reuters Deepika Padukone Indian actress Deepika Padukone poses as she arrives AFP/Getty Images Araya Hargate At the screening of the film "Ash Is Purest White EPA Irina Shayk At premiere of 'Sorry Angel' EPA Lea Seydoux Walks down the red carpet for the screening of 'Cold War' Reuters Araya Hargate Poses as she arrives for the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' AFP/Getty Images Bella Hadid at the Magnum photocall Getty Images Stella Maxwell Poses as she arrives for the premiers of 'Sorry Angel' EPA Amber Heard Arrives for the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' EPA Lupita Nyong'o Poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Sorry Angel' Invision/AP Cate Blanchett Arrives for the screening of 'Cold War' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Hofit Golan Poses as she arrives for the premiers of 'Sorry Angel' EPA Petra Nemcova Arrives for the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' Reuters Thalia Storm Arrives for the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' EPA Frederique Bel Poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Sorry Angel' EPA Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere At the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' EPA French model Thylane Blondeau Attends the premiere of 'Sorry Angel' AFP/Getty Images Fan Bingbing, Marion Cotillard, Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong'o At the 355 photocall Getty Images Jessica Chastain At the 355 photocall Getty Images Kristen Stewart Attending the Vanity Fair dinner Getty Images Chloe Sevigny Attending the Vanity Fair dinner Getty Images Penelope Cruz Attending the Vanity Fair dinner Getty Images Carey Mulligan Attending the Kering Talks Women Getty Images Julianne Moore Attending the Chopard Gentleman's Evening Getty Images Irina Shayk Irina Shayk attends the screening of "Yomeddine" at Cannes Getty Images Leomie Anderson At the "Yomeddine" screening Getty Images Julianne Moore At the Everybody Knows screening EPA Barbara Lennie and Sara Salamo At the Everybody Knows screening AFP/Getty Images Georgia May Jagger At the Everybody Knows screening EPA Fan Bingbing At the Everybody Knows screening EPA Penelope Cruz At the Everybody Knows screening AFP/Getty Images Julianne Moore At the Everybody Knows screening AFP/Getty Images Romee Strijd At the Opening Ceremony of the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Invision/AP Cate Blanchett At the Opening Ceremony of the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Chloe Sevigny At the Everybody Knows screening EPA Milla Jovovich Milla Jovovich poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR Arthur Mola/Invision/AP Elena Lenina At the Everybody Knows screening EPA Kristen Stewart At the Opening Ceremony of the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Lea Seydoux At the Opening Ceremony of the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival EPA Tallia Storm At the Everybody Knows screening EPA Eniko Mihalik Hungarian model Eniko Mihalik arrives for the amfAR 25th Annual Cinema Against AIDS gala AFP/Getty Images Vanessa Paradis Vanessa Paradis arrives at the 71st Cannes Film Festival for photocall for the film "Knife + Heart" Reuters Toni Garrn Toni Garrn arrives at the 71st Cannes Film Festival Reuters Elsa Hosk Elsa Hosk arrives for amfAR's Cinema Against AIDS 2018 event Reuters Heidi Klum Heidi Klum arrives on May 17, 2018 at the amfAR 25th Annual Cinema Against AIDS gala AFP/Getty Images Thandie Newton Thandie Newton poses during the photocall for 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' at the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes EPA

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Campbell owned the catwalk in a corseted Dolce & Gabbana gown with a full fuchsia skirt daubed with paint splatters and graffiti.

During the event, the modelling veteran hinted that struts like these might be some of her last. I dont know if I can walk much longer, she said, its been 32 years. She said the show should be carried on by the younger generation and for me to sit in the audience and watch.While she may be somewhat pre-occupied with Brexit plans and global speeches, Theresa May never fails to set aside time for an outfit plan. And while her favourite tartan Vivienne Westwood suit garnered headlines this week, it is her footwear that is more commonly the focus.

But despite the seemingly unlikely vastness of media attention given to what the Prime Minister decides to put on her feet, May - who declined to reveal how many pairs she owns when talking to the Standard, but protested that it's certainly fewer than Imelda Marcos - has seemingly relished the opportunity to showcase a new kitten heel or yet another leopard print flat.

Speaking on Good Morning Brtain in October, May admitted that while she finds it "interesting" that people focus on her shoes as they don't "focus on Philip Hammond's or Boris Johnson's in quite the same way", she sees it as nothing more than an opportunity to expand her collection.

"Do I regret the fact that people look at my shoes? Hey - it gives me an excuse to go and buy new shoes."

Theresa May's Brexit speech - five key points

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Further proving her interest in the fashion industry, it was revealed this week that May is set to appear in US Vogue and was shot by renowned portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz at Chequers last week.

The US photographer has previously shot Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton for the publication.

Confirming the news, a No.10 spokesman revealed: "The long-planned shoot for US Vogue will come out in April."

A fan of the so-called fashion bible, May previously chose a lifetime subscription to Vogue magazine as her 'luxury item' when she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme.

Follow Charlie Teather on Twitter @charlieteather

Follow Lifestyle on Facebook and on Twitter @ESLifeandStyleT he Royal Academy turns 250 this year, and its got an absolute whopper of a birthday gift.

After over three years of building work, this weekend the gallery will finally unveil its 56 million redevelopment to the public.

The changes will make what was already one of the capitals most-loved galleries soar right up your must-visit list.

It now boasts more space to show off its world-class collection, more space for debate, and an insight into the Royal Academys schools - and a bridge. (Who doesnt love a bridge?)

If you cant wait for the weekend when the new RA opens its doors with a full programme of celebrations, were here to give you the debrief.

Theres a new RA? What happened to the old RA?

Its the RA with added extras, thanks to a 56 million redevelopment that has given the gallery lots more space. Its been funded by the National Lottery, along with support from individual donors, trusts and foundations, and the public Make Your Mark appeal.

Who designed it?

Sir David Chipperfield, who is an acclaimed architect and Royal Academician (naturally). Other notable recent works include the Hepworth Wakefield Gallery in Yorkshire and the Turner Contemporary in Margate.

7 exhibitions you need to see this May - In pictures 1 /9 7 exhibitions you need to see this May - In pictures Shape of Light: 100 years of photography and abstract art Tate Modern, May 2 - October 14 2018; tate.org.uk Estate Otto Steinert, Museum Folkwang, Essen Katharina Grosse: Prototypes of Imagination Gagosian Gallery Britannia Street, May 16  July 27 2018; gagosian.com Katharina Grosse, Wunderbild, National Gallery in Prague The Future Starts Here V&A, May 12  November 4 2018; vam.ac.uk Courtesy of the artist; Pinksummer contemporary art, Genoa; Tanya Bonakdar, New York; Anderson's Contemporary, Copenhagen, Esth Edward Bawden Dulwich Picture Gallery, May 23  September 9 2018; dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk Estate of Edward Bawden Tacita Dean: Landscape Royal Academy, May 19  August 12 2018; royalacademy.org.uk Courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris Azzedine Alaia: The Couturier Design Museum, May 10  October 7 2018; designmuseum.org Azzedine Alaia Artists at Work Courtauld Gallery, May 3 28  July 15 2018; https://courtauld.ac.uk

Whats new?

One of the most exciting parts of the redevelopment is the Weston Bridge, which unites Burlington House and Burlington Campus and brings the two-acre campus together for the first time. This handy addition means the gallery now has 70% more space for the public - which means lots more art.

A brand new exhibition space, the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries, will provide space for even more ticketed shows. The first in the space will be Tacita Dean s LANDSCAPE, the third in a trilogy as part of a landmark collaboration between major London galleries.

Theres also a big new lecture theatre to support discussions and debate about art, an architecture studio to show off the RAs sculptural side, an exhibition space for site-specific installations (Bob and Roberta Smith is doing the first one) and a studio space to show off work by RA students.

And obviously, no refurbishment would be complete without a swanky new bar and shop.

What does this mean for visitors?

Its good news - there will be more temporary exhibitions, but there will also be space to show the RAs permanent collection. Every artist who becomes a Royal Academician donates some of their work to the gallery upon receiving the honour, which means it boasts work from JMW Turner all the way through to Grayson Perry. That means theres a whole load of cool art works that youll now be able to see for free.

The Royal Academy Collection Gallery will open with a display titled The Making of an Artist: The Great Tradition, and youll find works by Michelangelo, Gainsborough, Constable and Turner.

15 exhibitions to look forward to in 2018 1 /15 15 exhibitions to look forward to in 2018 Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up V&A Museum, June 16 - November 4; vam.ac.uk Aperture All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life Tate Britain, February 28 - August 27; tate.org.uk The Estate of Francis Bacon Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-2018 Design Museum, March 28 - August 12; designmuseum.org Bristol Street War Modern Couples: Art, Intimacy and the Avante-garde Barbican Centre, October 10 - January 27; barbican.org.uk John Kasnetsis RA Summer Exhibition Royal Academy, June 13 - August 20; royalacademy.org.uk John Bodkin Picasso 1932 - Love, Fame, Tragedy Tate Modern, March 8 - September 9; tate.org.uk Tate Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One Tate Britain, June 5 - September 16; tate.org.uk The estate of Winifred Knights Michael Jackson: On the Wall National Portrait Gallery, June 28 - October 21; npg.org.uk David LaChapelle Andreas Gursky Hayward Gallery, January 28 - April 22; designmuseum.org Andreas Gursky/DACS, 2017 Monet & Architecture National Gallery, April 9 - July 29; nationalgallery.org.uk President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts Charles I: King and Collector January 27 - April 15, Royal Academy; royalacademy.org.uk Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 Edward Bawden Dulwich Picture Gallery, May 23 - September 9; dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk Estate of Edward Bawden Joan Jonas Tate Modern, March 14 - August 5; tate.org.uk Joan Jonas / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London Artists at Work Courtauld Gallery, March 28 - August 12; courtauld.ac.uk/gallery Somewhere in Between Wellcome Collection, March 8 - August 26; wellcomecollection.org

How can I celebrate?

The new RA throws open its door this weekend (May 19-20), and its having a shindig to mark the occasion. There will be free workshops, tours and displays, as well as performances and DJs, plus street food and cocktails - so you can throw some shapes in-between gawping at the art (but not too energetically. Dont break anything, its new.)

Youll also be able to see Tacita Deans LANDSCAPE (it opens on Saturday), so if you saw the previous exhibitions at the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery you can complete the set.I n usual times, the August bank holiday is dedicated to one thing and one thing only  the Notting Hill carnival. But 2020 is decidedly unusual and the carnival, of course, has been cancelled for the first time ever.

That doesn't mean it's entirely over, as there's a virtual alternative and plenty of ways to keep the party going at home, but this year London has plenty else on to keep everyone busy.

And why not get busy? After all, there's still that extra morning for that (hangover friendly) lie-in.

So whether you're headed out to the pub or are more in the mood for a quiet night with some outdoor theatre, here's what to get up to across the capital this weekend.

Tuck into an oyster brunch at Vinegar Yard

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Vinegar Yard has been busy welcoming back guests after lockdown, offering a cocktail passport promotion that's well worth checking out (which offers five drinks for 20). Now the Bermondsey venue is offering an oyster and fizz brunch, with expert shuckers from Oyster Boy Events pitching up from August 28 to August 31. Prices start from just 25 for six oysters and two glasses of prosecco.

August 28-31, 72-82 St Thomas St, Bermondsey, SE1 3QX, designmynight.com

Head to Meatless Farms M*** F*** drive-thru

Theres a veggie pop-up to look out for this week, with Meatless Farm taking over Londons American Car Wash on Hackneys Great Eastern Street for six days. There are plenty of plant-based options on the menu, including excellent burgers and their very own McBluffin  a fresh take on the most popular fast food breakfast dish in the world.

August 26-31, 35 Great Eastern St, Hackney, EC2A 3ER, meatlessfarm.com

Cool off at Covent Gardens ice cream festival

Chill out over in Covent Garden, where they'll be more than 110 flavours of ice cream and frozen cocktails to get stuck into.

August 27-31, East Piazza, Cranbourn St, Covent Garden, WC2H 7AR, coventgarden.london

Party on(line) with the first virtual Notting Hill Carnival

Getty Images

The biggest street party in Europe is moving online for the first time ever, with Notting Hill Carnival taking place virtually across the bank holiday weekend.

This years event kicks off with a countdown on the big screen at Piccadilly Circus, before an array of video and music moves online to celebrate carnivals 54-year history across Saturday, Sunday and Monday. To get involved, read our full guide online.

From August 29, nhcarnival.org

Enjoy a 48-hour Notting Hill pop-up with the Hip Hop Brunch

Notting Hill is still the place to be from this Friday. Hip Hop LDN, the team behind Hip Hop Brunch and Garage Brunch, is taking over private members club Laylow for a celebration of the area and its history. Therell be a five course Caribbean tasting menu from chef Collin Brown as well as 465,000 ($600,000) worth of hip hop memorabilia, DJs spinning tunes and plenty more.

August 28-29, 10 Golborne Road, W10 5PE, hiphopkitchen.co.uk

Check out a charity gig for Chiswick House & Gardens

There's the chance to enjoy live music in one of the most beautiful houses in London, with a "socially distanced outdoor festival" being held to raise money for Chiswick House and Gardens this week. Jazz ensemble Trio Manouche, trumpeter Quentin Collins and the Blues Engineers Band will all perform over bank holiday weekend, with tickets available now. The concert starts at 7.30pm on Monday, and its the chance to take part in one of the earliest outdoor performances back after lockdown.

August 31, Chiswick House and Gardens, Burlington Lane, Chiswick, W4 2RP, chiswickfestival.com

Head to a English country garden at Skylon

South Bank restaurant Skylon has transformed its bar into a beautiful English country garden, teaming up with Laurent-Perrier Rose to create an idyllic dining space. There are plenty of spritz cocktails on offer, as well as a seasonal British menu including grilled artichoke with pine nuts, confit tomatoes and mint, sea bream tartare with capers, gherkins and lime powder and blackberry panna cotta with roasted plums with blackberry sorbet.

Open now, Belvedere Rd, Royal Festival Hall, SE1 8XX, skylon-restaurant.co.uk

Head to Five Points new Mare Street taproom

One of the best independent breweries in the capital has launched a new venue, ready to check out this weekend. East Londons Five Points has opened Fire Points Mare Street Taproom, for socially distanced pints around the corner from London Fields. Its open 4-9pm on Friday and 1-9pm on Saturday. Make sure to pre-book a table for 5 per person, which includes a free drink.

Open now, 61 Mare St, Hackney, E8 4RG, fivepointsbrewing.co.uk

Head to the park for Jesus Christ Superstar

Mark Senior

The Evening Standard Award-winning revival of Andrew Lloyd Webbers rock musical is back against all the odds this weekend. Its a chance to see one of the most popular shows in new surroundings, following sell-out runs at Regents Park and a summer season at the Barbican last year.

Until Sep 27, Regents Park Open Air Theatre, NW1, openairtheatre.com

Book up for Shakespeare in the park

As well as Jesus Christ Superstar, there are more outdoor productions to seek out this weekend. The Butterfly Theatre is helming a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in three of Londons city farms. Book in for shows at Deen City Farm and Riding School in Merton (August 29), Oasis Farm in Waterloo on (August 30) and Freightliners Farm in Islington (August 31).

Various dates and locations, butterflytheatre.com

Get your game on with outdoor sports in London

Where to get your sporting fix in London after lockdown 1 /7 Where to get your sporting fix in London after lockdown Basketball The Government opened basketball courts back in March, with people able to play alone, with their household or one other person, while adhering to social distancing. Theres plenty of choice when it comes to outdoor courts, with many public parks kitted out with hoops and multi-sport areas. The ones inside Finsbury Park are always buzzing with activity and they can be booked for free online here. Ravenscourt Park is home to some of the best outdoor courts in the city, which can be booked for 23.35 per hour. The concrete court at Brockwell Park is free and require no online booking. AFP via Getty Images Football Powerleague is the biggest chain of football pitches across the city, with London locations in Barnet, Croydon, Docklands, Spawell, Enfield, Fairlop, Finchley, Newham, Nine Elms Battersea, Portobello, Shoreditch, Tottenham and Vauxhall. Prices start from around 70 per pitch, depending on location and time. If footballers are looking for something a bit more informal, they can head to one of the citys parks that allows ball games and take a couple of jumpers for goalposts. Or, if youre after something completely different, book in for a game of brilliant zorb football with Bubble Boys pitches in Waterloo, Westway Sports Centre in Shephards Bush and Mile End. Ruben Leija / Unsplash Golf Golf courses were among the first to open during lockdown. Players will have to travel a little if they want to enjoy a game  unless they fancy a round of boozy mini-golf at Swingers, Puttshack or Plonk Golf, that is. South Herts Golf Club is one of the citys courses with a prestigious reputation, found on the borders of north London and Hertfordshire in Totteridge. Its home to two courses spread across 150 acres on the border of north London and Hertfordshire, with practice facilities also available. Games are available from 60 per person. Games start from 20 per person at the accessible Richmond Park Golf Course, found on the eastern edge of the park. Highgate Golf Club is another great course, but youll need to be a guest of a member to play there. Greenwich Peninsula Golf Range, idyllically placed right on the river, and World of Golf in New Malden are also home to driving ranges  perfect for getting your eye back in after time away from the course. Getty Images Tennis In many ways its the perfect sport for social distancing, and there are dozens of places for tennis players to head with a friend for a few sets in the city. Walk up the hill at Greenwich Park and youll find the Greenwich Park Tennis Centre, surrounded by fantastic views of the city. Courts can be booked up to three days in advance, costing 9 per hour to the general public. The recently resurfaced courts within Finsbury Park are available to book everyday of the week from 7am until dusk. Courts are free to book in the mornings between 7am-10am, while sessions taking place between 10am and 4pm cost 3. All other times cost 6, including bank holidays. White water rafting Make a splash at the Lee Valley White Water Centre and take on the white water rafting course that played host to events at the 2012 Olympics. Its an experience like no other in the city, and groups dont have to head too far out of London to try it  the course is reachable via Waltham Cross station, around 45 mins from the city centre. Challenge yourself, get a little out of your comfort zone and battle the raging currents with the adrenaline-fuelled experience. Prices start at 50 per person. Getty Images Cricket Theres no better place to play than the home of cricket, with nets available to book at the Indoor Cricket Centre at Lords in St Johns Wood from August 17. Nets for groups of up to seven people start at 50, while coaching sessions are also available to book from 78 (or 89 with a bowling machine) One of the other great options is available at the Ken Barrington centre at the Oval in Kennington, which has six lanes of nets to choose from and costs 35 for 55 minutes. Bowling machines can also be booked for an extra 10. Cricketers can also book net sessions at the new three-lane facility at Dulwich Sports Ground, costing 30 per two hour sessions for adult clubs, 10 per hour for schools and other youth organisations and 15 per hour for private coaching. Finally, the nets at Brockwell Park are free and do not require booking. Sefton Marks / Unsplash Swimming Some of our favourite spots include Parliament Hill Lido, a 60m unheated pool on Hampstead Heath. Tickets are available to pre-book up to a week in advance and sessions last for an hour. Elsewhere, Brockwell Lido has long been one of the most popular spots in south London and it is now running at a reduced capacity. Sessions, which allow for 50 minutes of swimming, must be booked in advance via the Fusion Lifestyle app. Hampstead Heath ponds are a must-visit for swimming enthusiasts in the city. There are three ponds: one for men, elevated on a hillock; one for women, veiled by oak trees in a corner of the heath, and a mixed pond. Booking slots are available seven days in advance, and must be secured in advance. The pools are no longer free, either, with a charge of 4 for a one-hour session. For a more bracing sporting experience, try wild swimming at the London Royal Docks. The open-water facility is currently running socially distanced, pre-booked sessions.

After a summer where fans missed out on the Olympics, Euros and the London marathon, more and more people are getting their fix by getting back out there and picking up a sport again. Whether its Finsbury Park tennis and basketball courts, swimming at Parliament Hill Lido, football at Powerleagues many London locations or even white water rafting at Lea Valley White Water Centre, theres so much to get stuck into this weekend. Read our full guide here.

Various locations

Get more bang for your buck with Londons best restaurant deals

The Eat Out To Help Out scheme has seen scores of Londoners head out for a bite with a bit of money off, but there are other offers to entice foodies back too. Top deals include a Cocktail Passport at Vinegar Yard, free English wine at The Harwood Arms and discounts on drinks at Simmons. Read our full guide here.

Various locations

Enjoy a vino voyage of discovery with The Wine Workshop

Vino enthusiast The Wine Workshop has launched a new series of hampers, featuring expertly selected bottles picked by aficionados Douglas Blyde, Jane Parkinson and Luca Dusi. Wine lovers can pick from three new delivery cases  respectively titled Old World vs the New, Kinder wines for Our Planet and  Independent Italian  to discover new producers and pore over tasting notes. If they feel like taking the experience further, guests can enjoy a tasting session with the expert themselves too.

Get a taste for Titian at the National Gallery

Titian: Love, Desire, Death at the National Gallery: In pictures 1 /7 Titian: Love, Desire, Death at the National Gallery: In pictures

The National Gallery is one of the leading London galleries to reopen after lockdown, and theres a special exhibition to entice art lovers back this week. Six masterpieces reunite for the first time in 300 years in Titian: Love, Desire, Death, examining the renaissance masters works created in the 1550s and 1560s for Philip II of Spain." All the stars were aligned, Prince Harry said of the day he met his future wife Meghan Markle. He knew instantly she was a special woman  a determined, self-made actress and philanthropist  and he would have to raise his game to win her heart. Their worlds may have collided, but they could not have grown up more differently; Harry, 33, raised in a milieu of wealth, duty and deference, Meghan, 36, in America where raw ambition must be matched with drive and a little luck.

Meghan, whose father Thomas Markle is white and mother Doria Ragland African-American, displayed her determination and confidence at an early age. She was asked as a seven-year-old to tick a box at school confirming her ethnicity  but there was no section for a mixed-race child.

Her teacher advised her to tick white given she had light skin. Rather than choosing, she left the box blank. When she told her father, he was understandably annoyed. If it happens again, you draw your own box, he told her.

Interviewed years later, she spoke of her pride in her background, describing how her great-great-great-grandfather created his own identity when freed from slavery  choosing the surname Wisdom. She said: While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where Im from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.

Her mother and father met in the late Seventies when Mr Markle worked as an acclaimed lighting director for a popular soap opera and her mother was temping at the studio. Meghan was born on August 4, 1981 in Los Angeles and named Rachel by her parents. Meghan, her second name, was her preferred choice. She had the lifestyle of a valley girl in the affluent suburb of Woodland Hills, but it was a far cry from Kensington Palace and Highgrove, where her future husband was growing up.

Old family photos of Meghan Markle's family. From left to right, Meghan Markle aged 11 with Tyler Dooley, Thomas Markle Sr, Thomas Dooley, and Samantha Markle (Photo Courtesy of Thomas Markle Jr / Supplied by John Chapple / www.JohnChapple.com) / Photo Courtesy of Thomas Markle Jr / Supplied by John Chapple / www.JohnChapple.com /

One aspect of life they did share, however, was that they both came from broken homes. She was six when her parents split, Harry was eight.

Meghans mother and father continued to do their best for their daughter, sending her to an all-girls Roman Catholic college, Immaculate Heart High School  one of LAs finest. She later graduated with a double major in theatre and international relations from Northwestern University School of Communication near Chicago in 2003, the first member of her family to attend university.

Harry, despite the best education money could buy, did not excel academically at Eton College and left with two A-levels, a grade B in art and a D in geography. It was, however, enough for him to go to Sandhurst to train as an Army officer. He went on to serve as a frontline soldier in Afghanistan.

The Prince and Princess of Wales and their sons Prince William and Harry on William's first day at Eton College in September 1995 (Rebecca Naden / PA)

Harry had developed a reputation for being a rebel in his youth, his wildness perhaps a reaction to the loss of his mother, Diana, who died in a car accident in Paris when he was 12. Her death, he would admit later, had a profound impact on his mental health as he shut it out, leaving him to deal with anger issues. He eventually sought counselling in his late twenties after enduring what he called two years of total chaos.

The divorce of her parents obviously had an impact on Meghan, but Thomas and Dorias efforts to shield her from the fallout appeared to work. Meghan, while still dreaming of acting, first pursued a career as a diplomat. She got an internship with the US State Department and was rewarded with a stint at the embassy in Buenos Aires. But in her heart she still wanted to make it in Hollywood.

Her acting career began slowly with bit parts in soap opera General Hospital. Her big break came when she landed the role of Rachel Zane in Toronto-based legal drama Suits, which premiered in 2011. A few months later she married film producer Trevor Engelson. But the difficulties of working in different cities took their toll and they divorced two years later.

Actress Meghan Markle as a child with her mother Doria / (Collect Picture)

As her fame grew Meghan became a UN womens advocate, supporting the #HeForShe equality campaign. In a 2015 speech at the UN to mark International Womens Day, she told how she complained to Procter & Gamble about a sexist detergent advert when she was 11. Its tagline claimed Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans but after Meghans intervention the firm changed the tagline to People all over America She duly received a standing ovation from an audience which included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding Preparations 1 /54 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding Preparations Claire Ptak, owner of Violet Bakery in Hackney, east London, puts finishing touches to the cake for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the kitchens at Buckingham Palace PA A Jaguar convertible with a Union Flag paint scheme and life size cardboard cut outs of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is parked in Windsor Reuters Royal fans wave flags from the window of a Marks and Spencer store above a banner referring to the wedding Reuters Indian painter Jagjot Singh Rubal touches up his painting of Prince Harry (L) and Meghan Markle ahead of their royal wedding AFP/Getty Images A cardboard cut out of Britain's Queen Elizabeth stands behind Union flags on the crowd control barriers near Windsor Castle Reuters Royal fans camp out on the streets of Windsor Jeremy Selwyn Souvenirs featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are displayed in a Windsor gift shop Getty Images Kensington Palace update with the news that the Prince of Wales will accompany Meghan Markle down the aisle at her wedding to Prince Harry. PA 4 year old George high fives an armed police officer in Windsor a Jeremy Selwyn Philip Barnard-Brown, Senior Coachman at the Buckingham Palace Mews, leads a Windsor Grey, one of the four horses that will pull the carriage at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, past the Ascot Landau carriage, at the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace PA School children in uniform wave Union Flags outside Windsor Castle Reuters James Vivian, Director of Music at St George's Chapel in Windsor directs the St. George's Chapel Choir during a rehearsal before evensong and ahead of the wedding PA Police officers prepare road closures outside Windsor Castle AP The royal kitchen at Windsor Castle where preparations are underway for the reception banquet after the wedding PA Alice Laughton, Project Manager at Mission Invertebrate, inspects plants at the Royal Parks Nursery in Hyde Park, where flowers are being grown for the wedding AFP/Getty Images Members of the Household Calvary ready for inspection in the Regimental Square during a facility to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barracks PA A general view of Windsor Castle Getty Images The reverse of the new coin design that will commemorate the next occasion for the British royal family, the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince Harry and Meghan Markle taking place at St. Georgeas Chapel, Windsor Castle, Windsor EPA State trumpeters play in the Regimental Square during a facility to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barrack PA Two Windsor Greys, which will pull the carriage at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, are groomed at the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace PA A royal fan sleeps outside Windsor Castle AP A media stand is erected half way along The Long Walk at Windsor Castle as it prepares for the royal wedding Getty Images Armed police officers in Windsor speak with members of the public ahead of the wedding Getty Images Street art of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle by Pegasus on the wall of hair & beauty salon The N7 Collective Getty Images Britain's Prince Harry's name is painted on the exterior of a building in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Souvenirs featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are displayed in a Windsor gift shop Getty Images Union Jack bunting hangs in front of Windsor Castle Getty Images The Ascot Landau open carriage, which will be used in the case of dry weather, for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, stands ready in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace in London AP Life size photographs of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are displayed in a gift shop in Windsor Getty Images A member of the Household Calvary works in the Tailors Shop during a facility to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barracks PA A member of the Household Calvary re-shoes a horse in the forge during a preview to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barracks Getty Images Union Flags hang above Regent Street, as part of the preparations for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Images A photograph of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is displayed in the window of the Two Brewers Pub in Windsor Getty Images Souvenirs featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are displayed in a Windsor gift shop Getty Images A media stand is erected half way along The Long Walk at Windsor Castle as it prepares for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Images Souvenirs featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are displayed in a Windsor gift shop Getty Images The Ascot Landau (left) which will be used in the case of dry weather at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and the Scottish State Carriage, to be used in the case of rain, at the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, London PA Detail of State trumpeters uniforms in the Regimental Square during a preview to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barracks Getty Images Work continues along The Long Walk in front of Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding Getty Images Cardboard cut-outs of Prince Harry and his fiance US actress Meghan Markle sit among Royal memorabilia in a gift shop widow ahead of the couple's wedding in Windsor Getty Images Uniforms in the Full Dress store during a preview to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barracks Getty Images A window display commemorates the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and his fiance US actress Meghan Markle in Windsor Getty Images Members of the Household Calvary works in the Tailors Shop during a preview to see The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment preparations for the forthcoming Royal Wedding at Hyde Park Barracks Getty Images Craftsman Deakin of the Royal Electrical Engineer stands near an Apache attack helicopter during a photocall to display the involvement of 3 Regiment Army Air Corp in ceremonial duties during the Royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megham Markle, at Wattisham airfield Getty Images 3 Regiment Army Air Corps practice marching at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk as they prepare for the forthcoming royal wedding o Getty Images Work continues along The Long Walk in front of Windsor Castle Getty Images 3 Regiment Army Air Corps led by Lieutenant Colonel N English at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk as they prepare for the forthcoming royal wedding Getty Images People gather outside a pub decorated to mark the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Images The changing of the guard ceremony takes place through the streets of Windsor ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Images Royal fans awake at first light having spent the night outside of Windsor Castle Reuters Royal fans in Windsor Jeremy Selwyn Royal fans in Windsor Jeremy Selwyn Windsor Castle through the morning mist Jeremy Selwyn Royal fans in Windsor Jeremy Selwyn

She also ran her own lifestyle website The Tig, which covered food, beauty, fashion and travel and also spoke about strong women. Meghan explained that she wanted to reframe the beauty content to include think-pieces about self-empowerment. As she said in one of her blog posts: Ive never wanted to be a lady who lunches  Ive always wanted to be a woman who works.

Meghans relationship with her father was put under strain at the weekend by allegations reported in the Mail on Sunday that Mr Markle had worked with the paparazzi on staged shots.

His apparent collusion with photographers will have caused deep embarrassment for Prince Harry and Kensington Palace  they had issued warning letters to newspaper editors requesting that Mr Markle and his family be given privacy. His alleged behaviour suggests he had another agenda.A young woman had described being thrown to the ground and mugged for her headphones by a 10-year-old boy on a bike in an east London street.

Sara Roebuck , 25, described the moment the blonde haired, blue-eyed child pushed her to the floor after circling her on his pushbike as she walked along a busy high street in broad daylight.

The student, who studies socio-economic politics at LSE, was walking along Queensbridge Road, in Hackney, when she spotted the boy looking lost.

I noticed him and got a good look at him because he looked over at me. He was circling around me but I thought he looked lost. Because he was so young I assumed he was lost.

'Saddened': Sara Roebuck, 25, claims she was mugged by a child in Hackney / Sara Roebuck

He looked no older than 13 but Id say he was around 10.

A few minutes later I felt someone shove me, I fell to the ground and he took my headphones. I saw him cycle off, Ms Roebuck told the Standard.

The shaken victim, who claims to have previously had her phone snatched by a male cyclist, then took herself into a side street to phone the police.

She described her sadness over the age of her small, thin mugger.

I ever felt such deep sadness by a crime committed by a child, thin, not in school, in broad daylight, the middle of the street.

I know not to have my phone in my hand near busy streets, I see the signs in the Tube about criminals on mopeds, I take precautions very seriously.

Ive been attacked before but by grown men, then I was shaken and scared and angry. Theyre adults, they need to take responsibility for themselves but this is a child.

These are kids who see expensive objects and think Im going to take that because they feel like theyve got nothing else to lose.

In a powerful Facebook post published after the incident, Ms Roebuck added: How, as a society, have we allowed children below the age of 13 to feel compelled to push women onto the floor and rob their belongings?

Im furious, not for the loss of an object that was important to me, but for the fact that a child did this.

Scotland Yard confirmed they had been called to reports of a snatch theft on Queensbridge Road, Hackney, at 5pm on May 10.

A spokesman told the Standard: We spoke to a victim aged 25. The suspect was described as a white male aged 13 or under.A n "all-you-can-eat" pizza festival in west London descended into farce as organisers ran out of slices.

Hundreds of foodies attending the event were promised unlimited amounts of pizza  but instead faced hour-long queues for a single slice before stocks were eventually diminished altogether.

Disgruntled punters likened the festival in Notting Hill to communist Russia as they were greeted by chaotic scenes and found the promised pizza to be in short supply.

They flooded social media with complaints after paying 16-a-head for the festival, which billed itself as a two day-long celebration of the dough, cheese, tasty sauces and delicious toppings.

In an advert promoting the event beforehand, organisers Bellmonte Life promised that: Whether it be pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, sausage, black olives, bacon, green peppers, extra cheese, plain or even experimental combos, there will be pizza for every palate at the Notting Hill Pizza Festival.

But punters said they instead faced huge queues as the pizza promised to ticket-holders was notable by its absence.

One said: This was truly the worst event I have ever attended. Our tummies were rumbling and we were giddy with excitement to finally get our hands on some delicious pizza. Unfortunately, instead of experiencing an all you can eat pizza buffet we experienced something more akin to living in communist Russia.

In a scathing post on Reddit, they added: There were four insanely long lines of infuriated and sad Londoners leading up to four equally infuriating and sad looking pizza stalls.

I could have done a better job building Italian market stalls. At the utter minimum, I would have at least remembered to put some pizza on them. How the organisers managed to forget the pizza is beyond me?

Other ticket-holders for the event at Porchester Hall flooded social media with complaints after being told the venue's ovens had broken.

This Notting Hill 'unlimited' pizza festival is a disaster @bellmontelife. Been here one hour, queued for 50 mins, managed to get 1 slice of pizza so far. Joke, wrote Alex White.

Jonathan Anderson added: "One hour trip to Notting Hill pizza festival and there's no pizza. Dozens walking out. People saying they waited for one hour then four slices of pizza were brought out. Finding it quite funny though in a sh** London kind of way.

And Lee Cooke posted: "Notting Hill Pizza Festival has been the worst pizza festival ever... avoid at all costs unless you enjoy bad school disco's and queuing over half an hour for a slice of pizza... unlimited I think not all I see is empty metal trays!

Several customers demanding refunds after the event claimed they were being blocked on social media or having posts criticising the event deleted.

Bellmonte Life later apologised for the problems, saying the main pizza oven "broke down right at the beginning of the event".

The organisation denied there was a shortage of pizzas, blaming "overzealous appetites" for the queues.

It added: "As soon as it became clear that the pizzas were not reaching everyone, we dispatched 2,000 worth of complimentary glasses of champagne, prosecco and wine to the festival goers for the inconvenience.

"After our team worked all Friday night to find emergency ovens, our Pizza Festival was fully operational for the remaining two sessions and over 1,800 pizzas were served on Saturday."J eremy Hunt today accused Boris Johnson of undermining the Prime Minister as Cabinet divisions on Brexit boiled over.

The Health Secretary publicly rebuked his Cabinet colleague for branding Theresa Mays favoured option for Brexit as crazy.

Calling on Mr Johnson to be a team player and keep lively debates in Cabinet secret, he said the Foreign Secretary risked damaging Britains position in Brexit negotiations with the European Union. I do think that it is important that we have these debates in private, Mr Hunt said on the BBCs Today programme.

On the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, they will exploit that. He warned: I think we have to recognise that we are not the only people who read the papers in Britain and we need to give Theresa May some space. If we are going to have these lively debates, we should have them in private because that will strengthen Theresa Mays negotiating hand.

Jeremy Hunt called for Boris Johnson to be a team player / Parliament TV

Asked by the BBCs John Humphrys if his message to Mr Johnson was to belt up, Mr Hunt said: You could say that, John. Id say he is a marvellous Foreign Secretary but lets work as a team.

In an interview last week, Mr Johnson spoke against Mrs Mays plan for a new customs partnership with the EU, saying it would have the crazy outcome of Britain collecting taxes for the EU.

Friends of Mr Johnson defended his outspokenness, pointing out that Business Secretary Greg Clark had previously backed the plan in public with No 10s apparent blessing. Environment Secretary Michael Gove joined criticism of the customs partnership yesterday, saying it had flaws. It was also reported that two Remain-backing members of the Cabinet had turned against the idea.

The latest wrangling came as ministers were due to meet on the two Cabinet working groups set up by Mrs May in a last-ditch attempt to break a deadlock over two rival post-Brexit plans.

However, few ministers were expecting a breakthrough before tomorrows meeting of the so-called war Cabinet that is supposed to come up with a credible plan in time for a summit in June.

Mrs Mays former deputy Damian Green said Britain might have to stay in the EU customs union beyond 2020. He said he could foresee a variant of the plan backed by Mr Johnson, known as maximum facilitation, or max fac, but it would take longer to set up. The max fac idea would use technology and trusted trader schemes to render traditional border controls and delays unnecessary. However, EU leaders think the idea impractical and European ports have shown their scepticism by hiring thousands of border guards.

Arriving at talks in Brussels, Germanys foreign minister warned that time is passing without any solution to the danger of a hard border in Ireland. Michael Roth said: We are concerned that there is no clear attitude and no clear position from the British side.

Former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband this morning put pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to soften his policy of quitting the single market. If he is not very careful, he will be the midwife of a hard Brexit that threatens the living standards of the very people that he says he wants to stand up, he said.A man holds a Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel, east of Gaza City on May 14, 2018, following the the controversial move to Jerusalem of the United States embassy. Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

Today produced a series of surreal juxtapositions across Palestine and Israel. Israeli streets were filled with both revelers and protesters as the United States officially opened an embassy in Jerusalem. The city has long been the countrys functional capital, but Palestinians also aspire to have their capital in its historically Arab district, and its status was to have been left open until a final peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. Just two hours to the south, tens of thousands of Palestinians demonstrated at the border of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli live fire and tear gas resulted in a reported 2,000 injuries and more than 50 deaths, including women, children, and rescue workers.

In the midst of all of that upheaval, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, led a U.S. delegation to the official embassy opening. Prayers were offered, and not just by rabbis, as might be expected in the Jewish state, but by American pastor Robert Jeffress, who has called Islam an evil, evil religion and said that Muslims  as well as Mormons and Jews  are doomed to burn in hell.

One might assume that these twin assaults  on diplomatic niceties, and on human life  would produce weeks of reaction, a regional crisis that would shoot to the top of Washingtons priority list.

Yet the reaction from the U.S. was more muted, with expressions of either celebration or disappointment giving way to the expectation that matters in the region would continue, as former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro put it, at status quo minus. How could this be?

Ten years ago, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was one of the central concerns of U.S. foreign policy and punditry. Moves by either side, or Washington, were telegraphed far in advance on front pages and endlessly debated on editorial pages. Those arguments rested on a set of shared bipartisan beliefs: American support for Israel was unshakable, founded on a commitment to a Jewish homeland after the U.S. and Europe had failed to protect Jews in the Holocaust. Israel itself was steadily growing in economic, military, and technological prowess, but also as a democracy. Yet Washington saw Palestinian institutions and development as a moderating influence against Hamas, Hezbollah, and other extremist groups. One day, an American president, with brave partners from both sides, would arrive at the magic formula for peace  a two-state solution that both Israeli and Palestinian voters would support.

In recent years, that world has moved from the realm of possibility to fairy tale, as the Trump administrations move to open an official U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has shown. It is possible that, in the long run, the end of this chapter will lead to something better. But it is certain that the people of the region  and perhaps Americans as well  will have to live through worse days first.

Here are the new realities. The Iraq War shifted the focus of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, and a new generation arose with little direct connection to the postWorld War II Israeli narrative. American support for Israel has been redrawn as a partisan contest, with starkly differing motivations. Older Democrats, including but not only Jewish-Americans, still place great stock in Israels historic origins and democratic institutions. But younger voters do not, and are almost twice as likely as their elders to say that they sympathize with Palestinians more than Israelis.

On the other hand, Republican sympathy for Israel is at its highest point in four decades, a trend that has been driven by the fervent alliance between Evangelical Christians in the U.S. and right-of-center political figures in Israel. Imagine the outcry were a U.S. president to host a foreign official who had declared that all Christians would burn in hell. That the Israeli government could host Pastor Jeffress, without comment, given his long history of bigoted comments about Jews and many other groups, speaks volumes about how the alliance with Washington is understood.

Because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer much in the news, Americans have missed much of the turbulence of the Netanyahu government. In power since 2009, the prime minister survives despite being beset by corruption allegations and perpetually seeming to be on the brink of collapse. Members of his government have targeted human-rights groups, including American ones, and barred entry to critics from Europe and North America. As Israel is consumed by an internal debate about what to do with non-Jewish African migrants (whom a rabbi who spoke at the embassy event called monkeys earlier this year), it grows farther from the beautiful picture of liberal democracy that many Americans held of the Zionist miracle.

For its part, the Palestinian Authority has lost much of its perceived legitimacy and effectiveness. The control of the terrorist organization Hamas over Gaza is increasingly contested, not just by the Palestinian Authority but by more extreme groups as well  and drastic humanitarian failures in the territory, one of the most densely populated places on earth, have led the U.N. to declare that it may be uninhabitable by 2020.

Twenty-five years of American policy were premised on the idea that eventually Washington could help the two sides reach a peace deal that their publics would welcome. But the weaknesses of government on both sides, and the collapse in public trust in them  and in the U.S. as a mediator  made a peace deal seem ever-farther out of reach, even before the Trump administrations action. Now, the optimists talk about status quo minus, which means that we dont get any closer to peace, the security situation gets ragged around the edges, but we dont get to full-on war either.

What does the minus in status quo minus mean? Palestinians, feeling that both the West and their own leaders have failed them, undertake actions like marching to the Gaza border. Israeli governments, needing to show strength to shore up their own weak positions against public cynicism, open fire. The appeal to Palestinians of violent extremist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS increases. The suffering of Palestinian civilians increases. The measures Israel takes to safeguard its own citizens in the face of Palestinian rage take a steady toll on the vibrancy of the countrys democracy, and on its reputation in Europe and elsewhere. Its sense of isolation increases.

Those dynamics wont change regardless of where the U.S. embassy is located. But Washingtons choices about where America sits, and who speaks for us, produce almost the mirror opposite of good diplomacy. The U.S. will now have less influence over what happens on the ground, but be seen to have greater responsibility for all the minuses of the outcome. Thats a big minus not just for all of the civilians in the region who desire just to get on with their lives in dignity, but for Americans as well.T he new leader of the Board of Deputies of British Jews today increased pressure on Jeremy Corbyn by setting a deadline for disciplinary action to be concluded against two suspended Labour party members.

Employment lawyer Marie van der Zyl was elected yesterday to become only the second woman president in the boards 250-year history.

She called for action by the end of July against Ken Livingstone, suspended over remarks he made about Adolf Hitler and Zionism, and activist Jackie Walker, suspended in 2016 for criticism she made of Holocaust Memorial Day.

On Radio 4s Today programme, Ms van der Zyl said: Enough is enough and we now need to see actions and not words  which include a swift action in relation to the outstanding disciplinary cases. Theres Ken Livingstone and theres also the case of Jackie Walker. We are expecting and hoping that that will be resolved by the end of July.

Ken Livingstone

Today Corbyn ally Claudia Webbe, who hopes to be selected as the Labour candidate in the Lewisham East by-election, was criticised by the Conservatives for appearing on Iranian state channel Press TV, where she said Israel had a hold on Barack Obama. The clip was put on YouTube in 2016.

In a newspaper review, discussing a story about the appointment of Mr Obamas chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, she was asked if he could be neutral be-cause he had served in Israels army.

She said: But maybe thats one angle in terms of whether or not he can be a secret weapon in the Obama foreign policy agenda or the other way of looking at it is that actually it reflects an Israeli hold on the Obama administration. When you think about the financing of Obamas campaign it might reflect that. Tory deputy chairman James Cleverly said it was a shocking slur.A British fisherman was airlifted to hospital with leg injuries after being bitten by a shark off the coast of Cornwall.

Max Berryman, 21, was attacked by the Porbeagle shark, a relative of a Great White, after it was hauled aboard a fishing boat on Sunday morning.

The young fishermans leg wound was quickly sterilised and dressed by crew of the Govenek of Ladram before receiving medical attention from HM Coastguard.

He was rushed to hospital in Truro by helicopter at around 8.15am from the vessel that was miles from shore.

Coastguards confirmed the shark attack happened on the deck of the Govenek of Ladram approximately 110 miles west of the Isles of Scilly after it left port at Newlyn, Cornwall.

Mr Berryman has since undergone surgery and will remain in hospital for a few days, though the extent of his injuries remain unknown.

Pedn Vounder, Cornwall

Paramedic winchman Julian 'Bungi' Williams said: "The crew had done a really good job of dressing the wounds before we arrived which meant that we were able to save time getting the casualty to Treliske hospital.

"We understand that the porbeagle shark was on the deck when the incident happened but as the crew were attempting to put it back in the sea one of the fishermen was bitten in the process."

It is understood that Mr Berryman has been part of the boats crew for around two years. Just last year, he was pictured with a Porbeagle that had also got caught in the nets.

The Porbeagle is a cousin of the Great White shark and can grow to weigh over 500lbs or 36 stone. It is one of the most common types of shark spotted by British fishermen.

Alex Grieg, Senior Maritime Operations Officer for HM Coastguard, today praised the actions of the brave crew onboard at the time of the mauling.

He said: "Thanks to the efforts of the crew onboard and their swift actions in treating the wounds and contacting us, we were able to arrange the evacuation of the crew member promptly and get him to hospital," Alex said.A boost for brain cancer research funding has been announced by the Government following the death of Dame Tessa Jowell.

The Government investment comes after the late Labour Cabinet minister, who died on Saturday, campaigned for more resources to help combat the disease.

The move sees a Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Research Mission doubled in funding to 40 million over the next five years.

A national roll-out of a key diagnosis test  gold standard dye  will also take place as only half of brain cancer centres in England currently use the technique.

It comes after the late Labour Cabinet minister died on Saturday aged 70.

Tributes to Dame Tessa Jowell

Prime Minister Theresa May previously stated that the government would pledge 20 million to help fight brain cancer following a meeting with Baroness Jowell in February.

But the governments contribution to the programme has now doubled.

When added to an extra 25 million offered by Cancer Research UK, the fund could be worth 65 million a year.

Mrs May said: "Baroness Tessa Jowell faced her illness with dignity and courage - and it was a privilege to host her in Downing Street recently to discuss what more we can do to tackle brain cancer.

"We send our sincere condolences to her family - and I hope that the actions we are taking now and in the future to improve care and research for those confronting a terrible disease will form part of the lasting legacy of an inspirational woman."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt added: "Tessa Jowell was one of those few politicians who could inspire and unite across party lines.

Tessa Jowell: Ella Woodward posted a moving tribute to her mother-in-law on Instagram / DeliciouslyElla/Instagram

"We were all moved by her bravery and selfless campaigning in her final months, and are determined to honour her life and memory with the action on brain cancer that she fought so hard for.

"At this agonising time, I hope her family can draw comfort from the fact that her legacy will be lives saved and heartbreak averted for thousands of other families."

The UK will also host an annual Tessa Jowell global symposium aimed at bringing together the best clinical, scientific and academic minds on brain cancer.M eghan Markles half-sister Samantha has said her father staged paparazzi photographs to "show the world he was getting in shape and doing healthy things".

The 53-year-old told ITV's Loose Women that the allegedly staged photographs were all for the benefit of the royal family and not to make money before Ms Markle and Prince Harry's wedding.

Speaking live from Florida, she took the full blame, stating: I have to say I am entirely the culprit. As we know the media can take very unflattering photographs of people on their casual days and blow it way out of proportion.

I said, you know, the world has no idea youre getting in shape, doing healthy things.

They dont photograph you buying vegetables and PH water. They photograph you as unflattering ways as they can.

Samantha Grant posted this tweet on Monday morning

So I said, really you need to show the world that youre getting in shape and doing great healthy things. So I suggested it.

Theres a lot of scrutiny that it was money motivated, it was not. It was my suggestion that to benefit him and to benefit the royal family that everyone looked good and they depict you as you are  in shape and doing healthy things, she added.

Meghan Markle with her father Thomas when she was a child

On whether he received money for the photographs, she said: I dont believe so and that was not the motive. I have no idea but if he did Im going to assume it was a pittance.

They dont pay that much. It was really so that the world could see him doing the healthy things he enjoys doing.

therShe added: I can understand why it would be awkward. I think on the flip side of that, its quite atrocious that the media makes so much money off of preying on innocent people. I felt that it was quite unjust and somehow we could spin it

She said: The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault. The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family. We had no idea he would be taken advantage of. It was not for money.

It comes after images emerged of Mr Markle Snr looking at pictures of the Ms Markle and Prince Harry in an internet cafe and being fitted for a suit.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will wed this Saturday at Windsor Castle / Getty Images

The Mail on Sunday published CCTV footage of Ms Markles father arriving at the internet cafe with a photographer and appearing to set up the shots.

Another image which was allegedly staged was an image of Mr Markle sitting in a cafe reading a book that was titled Images of Britain.

Despite his daughters claim that no money had been exchanged, the incident was still embarrassing for Kensington Palace. Officials had been offering Mr Markle support and even issued warning letters to newspaper editors requesting that he and his family be given privacy. It was made clear that there would be no picture opportunities with Meghans father ahead of the wedding because he was a man who wanted to lead his life in peace.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /78 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

Prince Harry and Ms Markle will marry on Saturday at St Georges Chapel in Windsor.

Some 600 guests will attend ceremony while 1,200 members of the public have been invited into the grounds of Windsor Castle on the big day.

Ms Markles relatives have publicly complained about not being involved in the celebrations with Mr Markle Jnr penning an open letter begging for an invitation.T he head of MI5 will condemn Russia's "fog of lies" today as he accuses the state of "flagrant breaches of international rules" following the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

In his first public comments on Monday since the poisoning in March, Andrew Parker will declare the attack was a "deliberate and targeted" act.

The director general of the Security Service will also warn that the Russian government is pursuing an agenda through "aggressive and pernicious actions" by its military and intelligence services.

Giving the first public speech outside the UK by a serving head of MI5, Mr Parker will join the international chorus of condemnation levelled at Moscow in the wake of Salisbury.

Director general of MI5 Andrew Parker has said the Salisbury nerve agent attack was 'deliberate and targeted' / PA

He will describe the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, which saw the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War, as a "deliberate and targeted malign activity" which risks Russia becoming a "more isolated pariah".

He will also condemn the unprecedented level of disinformation following the attack and set out the need "to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine".

The attack on former double agent Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, sparked a massive chemical alert.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

A huge investigation to identify the would-be assassin or assassins is still ongoing.

The British Government has pointed the finger at Russia, but Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

Mr Skripal remains in hospital, while his daughter was released to a secure location last month.

Addressing an audience of security chiefs in Berlin, Mr Parker will praise the international response to Salisbury, in which 28 European countries agreed to support the UK in expelling scores of Russian diplomats.

He will stress that European intelligence partnerships have never been more crucial to combat the "intense and unrelenting international terrorist threat" in parallel with growing aggression from hostile activity by states.

Mr Parker is expected to warn that Daesh - also known as Islamic State - still aspires to direct "devastating" and "more complex" attacks despite territorial losses, in the wake of 45 attacks across Europe since 2016.

And he will reveal that 12 terror attacks have been foiled by UK authorities in just over a year.

Thanking European security agencies for their support in the investigation following the Manchester bombing nearly a year ago, the intelligence chief will disclose that MI5 has thwarted 12 plots alongside police since the Westminster atrocity in March 2017.

This brings the total number of disrupted attacks since 2013 to 25.

Mr Parker will say that he is "confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values we share with our European partners".

The director general will say that "European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago".

Mr Parker, who has a 35-year career in intelligence, will say: "In today's uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever."R oyal enthusiasts can expect to bask in glorious sunshine today as they watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot in Windsor.

Forecasters say that people heading to Windsor will enjoy plenty of sunshine "with highs of 22 to 23C."

The warmth will come as a relief to those already camped outside Windsor Castle hoping to get the best view.

In London, the Met Office predicts temperatures will climb as high as 20C on the big day, with clear skies promised throughout.

Well-wishers on the Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle / AFP/Getty Images

Throughout the rest of the UK, wedding watchers can expect generally warm and dry weather.

A Met Office spokesman said: "A chilly start but a warm, sunny day for most, and a lot drier across northwest Scotland.

Royal Wedding fans sleeping on the streets of Windsor - In pictures 1 /9 Royal Wedding fans sleeping on the streets of Windsor - In pictures Royal fans sleep on the pavement outside Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Reuters Reuters AP Reuters Reuters Reuters AP

"There will be some low cloud is possible across coastal parts of East Anglia and southeast England, with sea breezes keeping it cooler at the coast.

Royal wedding: Meghan Markle 'feeling wonderful' as she arrives at her hotel

"On Monday, there will be a risk of thunder moving in from the southern counties. It will be humid with temperatures of 24/25C.

Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures 1 /5 Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures Bluebird Chelsea Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures Pomona's Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures Bokan ABACApress/Didier Delmas Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures London Wine Week Addie Chinn/London Wine Week Where to watch the Royal Wedding 2018 - In pictures Swingers West End Luke Dyson

"On Tuesday there will be sunshine with a risk of thundershowers."

Royal fans have been camping out on the streets outside the castle in preparation for the big day.

Royal wedding: Prince Harry and Duke of Cambridge greet Windsor crowds

Well-wishers have been pictured camping out with only a roll mat and a sleeping bag as they braved chilly temperatures overnight.S ir Don McCullin is widely recognised as one of the greatest photojournalists whose haunting images have captured the horror and futility of war like few others.

His remarkable career, spanning almost 60 years, started in 1959 when a photograph he took of a north London street gang earned him a credit in The Observer.

The 82-year-old, who was born in Finsbury Park, is perhaps best known for his unflinching work for the Sunday Times magazine in Vietnam during the Sixties and Seventies.

One of his photographs, Shellshocked US Marine, is among the most famous of the war and contributed to public opinion in the US turning against military involvement.

Yemen Conflict - In pictures 1 /12 Yemen Conflict - In pictures Government militia men in the mountains above the road to the capital Sanaa. Don McCullin General Nasser al Dhaybani, field commander of government offices in the mountains above the road to the capital Sanaa. Don McCullin Sunni refugee with daughter in one of 17 camps in the town of Marib Yemen Don McCullin Civilian victims of landmine and booby trap explosions in the Prosthesis Centre in Marib Province Don McCullin Looking towards Sadah and the Houthi mountain strongholds to the north. Don McCullin audi Apache helicopter escorting a patrol on the Yemen borde Don McCullin Saudi Apache helicopter escorting a patrol on the Yemen bordeE Don McCullin Refugee girl in one of the 17 camps round Marib city Don McCullin Blanket pickup for Sunni refugees from an aid lorry sponsored by Saudi Arabia, part of their $1bn aid contribution Don McCullin Refugee girl in one of the 17 camps round Marib city Don McCullin Don McCullin Dave Benett Shellshocked US Marine, Hue, Vietnam, February 1968, photographed by Don McCullin Don McCullin

McCullin, who was knighted in 2016, also covered conflicts in Cyprus, Biafra, the Belgian Congo, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. The series of pictures he took in the Bogside area of Londonderry in the early Seventies brought home the tension at the start of the Troubles.

Iconic image: a US marine during the Vietnam war / Don McCullin

One of the few wars he missed was the Falklands conflict when the Foreign Office refused to let him on the boat taking journalists to the South Atlantic, claiming it was full.

McCullin has also captured many powerful images of poverty, both in Britain and in the developing world.F rom the moment Prince Harry and Meghan Markles romance was confirmed, one family member has continually hit the headlines over controversial comments.

Samantha Markle, who is also known by the name Samantha Grant, is the former Suits actress half-sister and has been the most vocal member of the Markle family to date.

She has spoken about her sibling to the press and on television shows including TLCs special, When Harry Met Meghan: A Royal Engagement.

Samantha most recently took the blame for her 73-year-old father Thomas Markles staged photos with the press just days before the royal wedding on May 19.

She claimed to have suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family.

She added in the tweet: We had no idea he would be taken advantage of.

Samantha Grant posted this tweet on Monday morning

Background

Samantha and Meghan have the same father, Thomas, who is a retired lighting director and is walking his youngest daughter down the aisle at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle this weekend.

He was previously married to Roslyn, whom he has two children with, Samantha and Thomas Markle Jr.

Meghan with her father Thomas

He went on to marry yoga instructor and social worker Doria Ragland, whom he had Meghan with. The couple divorced in 1988 when she was six years old.

Samantha, who has claimed to have raised Meghan for 12 years when she was growing up in California, is a former actress and model.

She is 53 and currently lives in Miami, Florida, with her partner, and has three children.

Samantha was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and is now wheelchair bound. It was previously reported that she and Meghan lost contact at around this time and have since been estranged.

Controversial comments

Samantha amassed global attention for publicly criticising Meghan after her romance with Prince Harry was revealed in November 2016.

She dubbed her narcissistic and selfish and claimed she always wanted to be a princess.

She said: "The Royal Family would be appalled by what she's done to her own family. The truth would kill her relationship with Prince Harry, he wouldn't want to date her anymore because it puts her in a bad public light. I certainly don't think Harry or his family would want to associate with her afterwards.

hoMeghan Markle is Samantha Markle's half-sister / Getty Images

Samantha also told The Sun that her sibling had a penchant for redheaded men.

She told the newspaper: Hollywood has changed her. I think her ambition is to become a princess. It was something she dreamed of as a girl when we watched the royals on TV. She always preferred Harry  she has a soft spot for gingers."

She also told the British newspaper that Meghan was a "social-climber".

The Diary of Princess Pushys Sister

Samantha announced in April 2017 that she was planning to release a tell-all book about Meghan, detailing the royal ambitions of Prince Harrys bride.

My book deals with my bi-racial family in a candid, warm, personal and socially important way, she told the Daily Star.

Maybe when Meghan is more mature and reads the book shell understand. Some of it she wont like, some of it she might.

Television appearances

Samantha appeared to backtrack her previous comments by dismissing the rumoured rift on Good Morning Britain in October 2017, describing her sister as lovely.

After Harry and Meghans engagement announcement in 2017, she went on GMB again and declared her love for Meghan.

She said: I just want to say I love you, Im incredibly happy for you. Cheers and to a wonderful life.

If I had a glass of champagne I would toast, but its three in the morning and we dont drink at three in the morning!"

During an appearance on TLCs When Harry Met Meghan: A Royal Engagement, she said: "The tabloids wanted to create this African-American, rags-to-riches Cinderella story, which is so far from reality."

Family feud

Samantha has implied that Meghan could be doing more to financially help their father, who declared himself bankrupt and lives in Mexico on a small income.

She told Nine News Australia: "Honestly, what she could spend in a weekend would greatly help dad.

"So, that should be a priority. If you can afford $75,000 for a dress, you can afford $75,000 to help your dad."

Samantha said that family members were racist towards Meghan, who is African-American, stating: There were a couple of family members from older generations who were not evolved and made pretty horrible comments when my sister was born.

Royal wedding

Although Samantha did not receive an official invite to her sisters wedding, she is making the 4,400 mile journey across the pond to be at Windsor Castle on the day.A t least 37 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded as violence exploded on the Gaza border just hours before America moved its embassy to Jerusalem.

One man who was killed was 21 years old and was shot near the southeastern town of Khan Younis.

Several dozen other protesters were overcome by tear gas.

Protesters streamed to the frontier to join the demonstration despite Israel warning Gaza residents they would risk their lives if they tried to breach the border fence.

Military jets dropped leaflets over Gaza warning that the Israeli army would act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers or Israeli civilians.

Leaders of Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, said tens of thousands were expected to head to the border and raised the possibility of large crowds breaking through.

A CGI image of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem

Donald Trump was expected to address by video link the official embassy opening being attended by some 800 dignitaries including his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who leads the presidential Middle East team.

By noon today, thousands of Palestinians had massed at five locations along the line, and at least 28, including two local journalists, were wounded by Israeli gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Tear gas was also fired by Israeli soldiers into Gaza and Israeli drones were reported to have dropped incendiary materials, setting ablaze tyres stockpiled by activists to burn to create a black smoke cover against army snipers.

The Israeli military stressed that it has set up several layers of security around the Gaza border in case of a massive breach by Palestinian protesters.

A Palestinian demonstrator kicks a burning tyre during a protest against the US embassy move / REUTERS

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them.

Tensions in the region were at boiling point as a small interim US embassy started operating in the existing US consulate building in Jerusalem.

A larger site will be found to enable the full embassy move from Tel Aviv.

An injured demonstrator is carried off on a stretcher by a group of Palestinian people / AFP/Getty Images

Todays embassy opening ceremony was brought forward to coincide with the state of Israels 70th anniversary.

It also came on the eve of the day which Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of their people fled their homes or were displaced following the 1948 foundation of the Israeli state.

Israeli troops have killed at least 42 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,800 since protests, dubbed the Great March of Return, began on March 30, according to Palestinian health officials.

They are expected to peak tomorrow and the death toll has sparked international criticism, though Israel says it is defending the border and firing in accordance with the rules of engagement.

It also accuses Hamas of using the protests as a cover to launch attacks against the border fence and Israeli soldiers, a claim which Hamas denies.

The US presidentss decision to move the embassy has infuriated Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Only three countries, Guatemala, Paraguay and the Czech Republic, have said they will follow the US lead.

Most of the world, including the UK, maintain embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

Britain, Germany, France and other nations boycotted a gala party thrown by Israel last night to mark the move.

Jerusalem US embassy: Israel-Palestine tensions erupt in violence 1 /24 Jerusalem US embassy: Israel-Palestine tensions erupt in violence A Palestinian man uses a slingshot during clashes with Israeli forces along the border with the Gaza strip east of Khan Yunis AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian demonstrator kicks a burning tire during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border Reuters An Israeli border policeman fires tear gas at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba in Bethlehem Reuters Palestinian protesters look at tear gas and smoke billowing from burning tyres, east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is seen during a reception hosted by the Orthodox Union in Jerusalem ahead of the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Palestinian demonstrators burn tyres near the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem Reuters A Palestinian demonstrator drags a burning tire during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian boy holds a leaflet dropped by the Israel military, east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian demonstrator runs as smoke billows from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Palestinians carry tyres to be burnt during clashes with Israeli forces near the border AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces lies on the ground AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces along the border AFP/Getty Images Palestinians carry a protester injured during clashes with Israeli forces along the border AFP/Getty Images Palestinian demonstrators gather at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, east of Gaza City Reuters A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel AP Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel AP A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba REUTERS Palestinian hold flames and signs reading 'We will return' during a rally in the West Bank city of Hebron ahead of the US embassy inauguration in Jerusalem EPA Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel AP A Palestinian demonstrator moves a burning tire during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem Reuters Israelis wave their national flags during a march at the Western Wall Getty Images People march with the body of Jamal Affana (15) as he brought through a Rafa, Gaza alleyway after he succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained during protests last Friday at the Gaza border fence with Israel Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Mr Trumps bold decision.

Under any peace deal Jerusalem will remain Israels capital, he argued from a stage bedecked with American and Israeli flags at the event held in the courtyard of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

But Mr Trumps allies have sought to portray the embassy opening as an essential step toward an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, by denying the Palestinians leverage over the future of Jerusalem and also hoping it will pave the way to Israel being more willing to compromise.A Chinese climber who lost both his feet to frostbite on Mount Everest 40 years ago has finally reached the summit of the worlds highest mountain.

Xia Boyu suffered severe frostbite after giving his sleeping bag to a sick teammate during a high-altitude storm near the summit in 1975.

They were stranded for three nights before returning to base camp, and his feet later had to be amputated. Then, in 1996, his legs were also amputated above the knee due to lymphoma.

However, Mr Boyu never abandoned his ambition and made three more unsuccessful attempts to scale the summit in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The last saw him go the closest before a blizzard set in.

He said in April: Climbing Mount Everest is my dream. I have to realise it. It also represents a personal challenge, a challenge of fate."

Now aged 69, Mr Boyu has become only the second ever double amputee to scale Everest.

But a move by Nepalese authorities to ban double amputees, blind and solo climbers almost put an end to his dream last year.

The new rules were proposed as a safety measure but did not make it past the Nepalese courts, who said they were discriminatory.

Meanwhile, Australian mountaineer Steve Plain scaled Mount Everest on Monday to complete his quest to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents in record time.

Xia Boyu lost both of his legs during first attempt to climb Everest in 1975 / AFP/Getty Images

Mr Boyu and Mr Plain were among more than 40 climbers who reached the summit on Monday because of favourable weather conditions.

Some 340 foreign climbers and many Nepalese Sherpa guides are attempting to climb Everest this month.

The popular spring season runs from March until the end of May, after which weather conditions on the mountain begin to deteriorate. There are usually only a few days of good weather on the highest part of the mountain in May, when climbers rush to attempt the summit.The Gaza Strip on Monday. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

As the U.S. prepares to open its new embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, violence is spiraling out of control on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed at least 41 Palestinian protesters and injured more than 1,500 as of Monday morning, with the death toll rising by the hour.

Thousands of Palestinian protesters attempted to breach the border fence between Gaza and Israeli territory, hurling rocks and flaming tires, and were turned back by Israeli tear gas and live rifle fire. Protesters also launched several flaming kites across the border.

Palestinian emergency services carry a wounded woman during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images

Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever, Gaza resident Ali, who declined to give his last name, told Reuters.

The single-day death toll, which reportedly includes multiple children and a medic, is the highest in the area since the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza War.

Protests in Gaza have been boiling over for months, with huge numbers of Palestinians joining in what has been dubbed the Great March of Return. The protests, which began in earnest in March, have been sparked by a confluence of factors: persistently abject conditions in Gaza, the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel this month, and the embassy move, which the U.S. has tied to the anniversary.

Palestinians shout slogans and set tires on fire in response to Israels intervention during a protest. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Israeli armed forces have killed at least 49 protesters  including several who were unarmed  and injured 2,300 since March in actions that have drawn condemnation from human-rights groups. Israeli officials have said that protesters ignored warnings to stay away from the border fence, and blamed Hamas, the militant organization that governs Gaza, for inciting the violence.

Hours before a Trump-administration delegation prepared to mark the opening of the Jerusalem embassy  a hugely controversial move that Palestinians see as a betrayal of their interests  protests spread to several cities in the West Bank, though no deaths were reported there.

An even larger Gaza protest is planned for Tuesday.I sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed his military acted in self-defence after more than 50 Palestinian protesters were killed on the Gaza border.

An estimated 2,700 people were wounded and 55 killed by Israeli troops during demonstrations against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The violence came as a ceremony to mark the controversial new embassy in Jerusalem took place some 70km away.

The move by Donald Trump has infuriated Palestinians, who see eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

A mass demonstration organised by Hamas on Gazas border ended in bloodshed as Israeli forces opened fire and used tear gas, resulting in the highest Palestinian death toll in a single day since the 2014 war.

Benjamin Netanyahu attended the ceremony for the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem / EPA

Speaking on Twitter after the ceremony, Mr Netanyahu said: Every country has an obligation to defend its borders.

The Hamas terrorist organisation declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens.

Military jets had earlier dropped leaflets over Gaza warning that the Israeli army would act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers or Israeli civilians.

Clashes erupt on the Gaza border during a protest against the new US embassy / AFP/Getty Images

Unverified footage appeared to show protesters sending molotov cocktails strapped to kites towards Israel's IDF troops.

The protests are part of a six-week demonstration dubbed the "Great March of Return", which began at the border with Israel on March 30.

Following the clashes, Downing Street appealed for calm on all sides.

"We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

"We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts.

"The UK remains firmly committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital."

Labour's Emily Thornberry called on Israeli forces to "stop this vicious and utterly avoidable slaughter of peaceful protesters" and condemned the Netanyahu government for its "brutal, lethal and utterly unjustified actions".

The shadow foreign secretary said the UK should lead calls at the UN for an independent investigation into recent violence.

She said: "These actions are made all the worse because they come not as the result of a disproportionate overreaction to one day's protests, but as the culmination of six weeks of an apparently systemic and deliberate policy of killing and maiming unarmed protesters and bystanders who pose no threat to the forces at the Gaza border, many of them shot in the back, many of them shot hundreds of metres from the border, and many of them children.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at the event marking the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem / AFP/Getty Images

"Throughout that six-week period, the UN's secretary general has been calling for an independent investigation into these incidents, one that should urgently determine whether international law has been broken, and hold the Netanyahu government to account for their actions.

"The UK should lead calls for the UN Security Council to order such an investigation today."

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: "This is a tragic escalation of violence that all involved must seek to curtail.

"Trump's bully-boy diplomacy has real-life consequences, and his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem was unnecessary and inflammatory."

A total of 55 Palestinians were killed in the violence / Reuters

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "The response from many western governments to this flagrant illegality, including our own - which bears a particular responsibility for a peaceful and just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict - has been wholly inadequate.

"They should take a lead from Israeli peace and justice campaigners: to demand an end to the multiple abuses of human and political rights Palestinians face on a daily basis, the 11-year siege of Gaza, the continuing 50-year occupation of Palestinian territory and the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements.A heroic Good Samaritan stepped in to defend two elderly women after a homeless man attacked them on the street.

The women, aged 77 and 79, were walking in Brooklyn, New York City, on Sunday morning when Andres Flores, 45, allegedly attacked them.

Footage showed Mr Flores swipe at both women, knocking them to the ground.

As the perpetrator ran away, a man raced up behind him and wrestled him to the ground.

The homeless man was wrestled to the ground by an unnamed Good Samaritan

Speaking to the New York Post witness Jacaira Baez, 20, described the unnamed man as a hero.

I never saw anything like this in person. You see it on the news, but not in front of you, Ms Baez said.

Hes a hero. He didnt think about it. He just did it.

The women were taken to Brookdale Hospital and were treated for non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.

Police said Mr Flores was taken to hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

He was charged with two counts of felony assault and one count of misdemeanour assault.B rits have expressed their horror at an American recipe for a dish called a "Dutch baby" which they say is a reinvention of UK favourite the Yorkshire Pudding.

The New York Times featured the recipe on its website over the weekend describing it as a large, fluffy pancake" which would be "excellent for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dessert any time of year.

The Dutch Baby is described as an American dish derived from Germany made using eggs, flour, butter and milk to create a puffy pancake, which is usually seasoned with fruit or jam.

But many Brits who read the recipe online were left outraged and suggested the dish was just copying the British roast dinner staple, the Yorkshire pudding.

Creme Egg filled yorkshire pudding on offer at pub

In response to the recipe, one person wrote: That's a Yorkshire pudding, mate.

Another person said: Aunt Bessie would be turning in her grave. 

Sylvia Kendall wrote: Fluffy pancake? It's a YORKSHIRE PUDDING, don't even think of calling it anything else, especially in Yorkshire. I am spitting feathers right now.

Many took umbrage at the idea of serving a Yorkshire pudding as a dessert.

This is not a dessert! This is a thing of beauty that should be filled with beef and vegetables. Or sausage and mash. It is a Yorkshire pudding, wrote Becky.

However some people fired back that the Dutch Baby came before the Yorkshire pudding.

One person said: No, they are not the same. British Twitter can spit all the feathers they want, but Dutch babies have been around for a very long time (despite the New York Times and Nigella Lawson seemingly having just discovered them).

Olivia Wallace said: Dutch babies have been around for 100 years. They are not the same as Yorkshire pudding.

A heated debate ensued as many claimed that the ingredients were the same in both.

Katie said: Pancake batter and Yorkshire pudding batter are literally exactly the same but you cook them differently. This form is still a Yorkshire though.M alaysian Airlines flight MH370 was deliberately crashed in an act of premeditated murder, experts have said.

The plane, which vanished over the Indian Ocean in one of the biggest aviation mysteries in history, was crashed in a meticulously planned mission during the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014.

The planes wreckage, along with the bodies of the 239 people on board, have never been found.

Experts have now suggested the planes fate was the result of a deliberate plot by its 53-year-old captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, to kill himself and everyone on board.

Martin Dolan, who led the Australian search effort off the countrys west coast, told 60 Minutes Australia he believed the crash was a murder plot.

This was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time, he said.

Mr Dolan was part of a panel of experts - assembled by the programme - who agreed that Mr Zaharie has flown the plane to the most remote area he could in order to enable it to disappear.

Heartbreak for MH370 families 1 /2 Heartbreak for MH370 families Relatives of passengers have faced an agonising wait for news (AP) Relatives react after hearing the news in Beijing (AP)

Simon Hardy, an experienced Boeing 777 captain, said the plane was flown along the border of Thai and Malaysian waters.

As the aircraft went across Thailand and Malaysia, it runs down the border, which is wiggling underneath, meaning it's going in and out of those two countries, which is where their jurisdictions are, he said.

So both of the controllers aren't bothered about this mysterious aircraft. Cause it's, 'Oh, it's gone. It's not in our space anymore'.

If you were commissioning me to do this operation and try and make a 777 disappear, I would do exactly the same thing.

As far as I'm concerned, it's very accurate flying because think it did the job and we know, as a fact, that the military did not come and intercept the aircraft.

Mr Zaharie was accompanied by an inexperienced first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, who was on his first Boeing 777 mission without being accompanied by a training captain.

Some fragments of MH370 have been discovered since the crash, but the full wreckage has never been found.A Nigerian woman claims she was removed from a flight in the US along with her two children after another passenger complained of their pungent odour.

Queen Obioma filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company after an altercation with a white male passenger during a flight from Houston to San Francisco on March 4 2016.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in federal court in Houston, Ms Obioma was travelling with her two children from Lagos, Nigeria to Ontario Canada and were on the second leg of their three flight journey.

The other passenger initially sat in Ms Obiomas seat and refused to move so staff asked Ms Obioma to sit elsewhere on the plane.

Before take-off Ms Obioma went to use the bathroom, however upon her return the same passenger blocked her getting back to her seat by standing in the aisle, according to legal documents.

Eventually, Ms Obioma was able to squeeze past and return to her seat, but as she sat down a crew member asked her to leave the aircraft.

The lawsuit detailed that the pilot had asked for Ms Obioma to be removed from the plane as the other passenger had complained that her smell was pungent and said he was not comfortable flying with her.

The complaint read: Ms Obioma watched her minor children marched out of the aircraft like criminals, confused and perplexed  She sobbed uncontrollably for a long time."

Despite Ms Obioma explaining that she needed to take her children to school in Canada and that they had appointments that they could not miss, staff refused to let her and her family back on the plane.

A United spokeswoman said in a statement that the company has not been served with the lawsuit and is unable to comment because of the pending litigation.

United does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will investigate this matter, she told Fortune.

The lawsuit alleged that the company had discriminated against Ms Obioma on racial grounds and accused crew members of singling her out.

United airlines has previously struggled with customer service, in April 2017 the company were forced to apologise after a viral video showed staff forcibly removing Dr David Dao off one of their flights.

Mr Dao received an undisclosed sum of money in a settlement with the airline. After the incident, United CEO Oscar Munoz said it would: "never happen again" during an interview on Good Morning America.D onald Trump today said the "plain reality is that Israels capital is Jerusalem" as he hailed the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem amid an outbreak of deadly violence along the Gaza border.

His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner were in attendance to lead officials in celebrating the embassy's move to Jerusalem. At the Gaza border a few miles away, at least 52 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops.

American and Israeli delegates attended the official embassy opening on Monday, including US ambassador David Friedman who welcomed the crowd.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at the event marking the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem / AFP/Getty Images

"Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem Israel," he said to warm applause.

He added: "Today's historic event is attributed to the vision, the courage and the moral clarity of one person to whom we owe an enormous and eternal debt of gratitude - President Donald J Trump."

Ms Trump stands next to an inauguration plaque during the opening with treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin / AFP/Getty Images

Other high-powered US attendees included Jared Kushner, the treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and four Republican senators.

Mr Trump, via video message, told guests that the opening of the embassy had been a "long time coming", adding: "Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine its own capital but for many years we failed to recognise the obvious."

A Palestinian protester hits a tear gas canister away from him using a tennis racquet / REUTERS

This is a great day. A great day for Jerusalem. A great day for the state of Israel. A day that will be engraved in our national memory for generations, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech at the embassys opening ceremony.

He thanked Trump for having the courage to keep his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Mr Netanyahu concluded his speech calling Jerusalem the eternal, undivided capital of Israel.

It came as Palestinians are holding a mass demonstration on the Gaza border with Israel, with more than 30 killed after Israeli forces opened fire.

It was the highest Palestinian death toll in a single day since the 2014 Gaza war.

Unverified footage appeared to show protesters sending molotov cocktails strapped to kites towards Israel's IDF troops. The kites were plucked from the sky by drones.

The protests are part of a six-week demonstration dubbed the "Great March of Return", which began at the border with Israel on March 30.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman welcomed the crowds / EPA

Tens of thousands of demonstrators streamed to the frontier on Monday. Some armed with slingshots, hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, who fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

In a speech, Mr Kushner said Palestinians participating in Gaza border protests are "part of the problem and not part of the solution."

The president's son in law expressed hope for peace in the Middle East as he addressed the ceremony on Monday.

Jerusalem US embassy: Israel-Palestine tensions erupt in violence 1 /24 Jerusalem US embassy: Israel-Palestine tensions erupt in violence A Palestinian man uses a slingshot during clashes with Israeli forces along the border with the Gaza strip east of Khan Yunis AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian demonstrator kicks a burning tire during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border Reuters An Israeli border policeman fires tear gas at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba in Bethlehem Reuters Palestinian protesters look at tear gas and smoke billowing from burning tyres, east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is seen during a reception hosted by the Orthodox Union in Jerusalem ahead of the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem Reuters Palestinian demonstrators burn tyres near the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian man throws leaflets dropped by the Israeli military during a protest against the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem Reuters A Palestinian demonstrator drags a burning tire during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City Reuters Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian boy holds a leaflet dropped by the Israel military, east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian demonstrator runs as smoke billows from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza strip and Israel east of Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Palestinians carry tyres to be burnt during clashes with Israeli forces near the border AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces lies on the ground AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian man holding his national flag walks in the smoke billowing from burning tyres during clashes with Israeli forces along the border AFP/Getty Images Palestinians carry a protester injured during clashes with Israeli forces along the border AFP/Getty Images Palestinian demonstrators gather at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, east of Gaza City Reuters A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel AP Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel AP A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba REUTERS Palestinian hold flames and signs reading 'We will return' during a rally in the West Bank city of Hebron ahead of the US embassy inauguration in Jerusalem EPA Palestinian protesters burn tires during a protest on the Gaza Strip's border with Israel AP A Palestinian demonstrator moves a burning tire during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem Reuters Israelis wave their national flags during a march at the Western Wall Getty Images People march with the body of Jamal Affana (15) as he brought through a Rafa, Gaza alleyway after he succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained during protests last Friday at the Gaza border fence with Israel Getty Images

He said: "As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution."

He added that the "journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth."

But in a tweet from Washington, Mr Trump did not refer to the violence, instead declaring: "Big day for Israel. Congratulations!"

In a Fox News interview that made no reference to the climbing death toll, Mr Mnuchin repeatedly referenced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said Mr Trump should be praised for "taking action" to keep Americans and people in the Middle East safe.

"The president is making difficult decisions because they are what he believes are the right long term decisions and not just kicking the can down the road," Mr Mnuchin said.

The US treasury secretary also said "it's not coincidental" that the embassy move coincided with Mr Trump's announcement that he planned to abandon the Iran nuclear deal.

The embassy celebration was widely considered a snub by the Palestinians. Roughly 800 guests were expected to attend.

US officials said last week that Mr Trump's delegation was not planning on meeting Palestinian officials during their visit. The Trump administration in recent months has also slashed US aid to the Palestinians and programmes that support them.P olice were called to break up a fight between two women arguing over a shopping cart in at an IKEA store in Germany, according to reports.

One woman was taken to hospital following the scuffle at the Swedish homeware store in Eching, just outside Munich on Saturday.

A 49-year-old woman and an 18-year-old woman had been arguing over how to manoeuvre their shopping trolleys around each other, the Muncher Merkur newspaper reported.

The younger shoppers father is said to have waded in and pushed the older woman, according to the newspaper.

She then fell against a metal shelf and cut her head before being taken to hospital, the report added.

According to local police both shoppers admitted their involvement in the fight but refused to take the blame.Y emen is one of the poorest countries on Earth. Today the UN reports that 22 million of the countrys population of just over 27 million are in need of aid and food support. More than eight million face starvation.

Last year 2,100 people died from cholera, which affects 900,000 across the country. Natural water resources are disappearing, especially in Sanaa, the capital, home to more than a million.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has described Yemen as the worst humanitarian crisis it faces. It has been compounded by years of war. For the past four years a full-blown civil war has drawn in rivals from the region, and killed at least 20,000 civilians.

In 2014 Sanaa was seized by militias of Ansar Allah  the Partisans of God  known as the Houthis, from the family leading the movement and its principal sect the Zaidis, a branch of Shia Islam. Zaidi imams had ruled the north of Yemen for nearly a millennium.

Hussein al-Houthi led the push for power, but was killed in an insurgency in 2004. Today his brother Sayyid Abdul-Malik Houthi is the spiritual guide of the movement.

A young refugee pictured in a camp close to Marib city

In 2015 the Houthis declared a new regime and constitution, ending a process to unite the tribes and north and south Yemen called the National Dialogue. The elected president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, fled to Aden where he now resides intermittently. In 2015 both al Qaeda and Islamic State were highly active in Yemen. The local al Qaeda leader was killed by an American drone strike.

In the civil war, a coalition headed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE backed the forces loyal to ousted president Hadi. Iran and its Lebanese ally and client Hezbollah backed the Houthis. So the war has dragged on for four years.

A young girl in one of the refugee camps / Don McCullin

The 16-power coalition is blamed for the sea blockade round Yemens coast preventing aid, especially food, getting to the starving population. Last March the World Food Programme ware-house was burned down in the Houthi port of Al Hudaydah.

The damage caused by mortars, mines and aerial bombing has made the humanitarian crisis worse. The UN has condemned the outside interference of both Iran and of Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of indiscriminate bombing of Houthi communities. In 2016 a hundred people were killed and wounded after a funeral was hit in a coalition air strike. Last month some 20 were reported killed in an air attack which struck a wedding party in the northern province of Sadah, home of the Houthi clan.

Yemen Conflict - In pictures 1 /12 Yemen Conflict - In pictures Government militia men in the mountains above the road to the capital Sanaa. Don McCullin General Nasser al Dhaybani, field commander of government offices in the mountains above the road to the capital Sanaa. Don McCullin Sunni refugee with daughter in one of 17 camps in the town of Marib Yemen Don McCullin Civilian victims of landmine and booby trap explosions in the Prosthesis Centre in Marib Province Don McCullin Looking towards Sadah and the Houthi mountain strongholds to the north. Don McCullin audi Apache helicopter escorting a patrol on the Yemen borde Don McCullin Saudi Apache helicopter escorting a patrol on the Yemen bordeE Don McCullin Refugee girl in one of the 17 camps round Marib city Don McCullin Blanket pickup for Sunni refugees from an aid lorry sponsored by Saudi Arabia, part of their $1bn aid contribution Don McCullin Refugee girl in one of the 17 camps round Marib city Don McCullin Don McCullin Dave Benett Shellshocked US Marine, Hue, Vietnam, February 1968, photographed by Don McCullin Don McCullin

The coalition air forces are accused of using cluster bombs, forbidden by international convention. This has drawn protests in Britain and France, principal suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In an unusual twist, the Houthi leadership forged an alliance of convenience with another ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced out in 2012 after 20 years in power. Having first befriended him, the Houthi leadership had him killed in Sanaa last December.

Yemen: Portrait of a war that the world turned its back on

The Zaidis descend from Zaid bin Ali, the grandson of Ali the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, and acknowledged as the Fifth Imam. This earns the sect the name fivers as opposed to twelvers who recognise the 12th Imam and descendant of the Prophet Muhammad al-Mahdi as their guide.

The Zaidis have been known for tolerance. As they came to power in the wake of the Arab Spring, the Houthis said they supported a civil constitution and toleration, especially to Yemens Jews, provided they werent backers of Israel. This makes them strange bed-fellows with the Islamic Republic of Iran.I n 2016, a group of veiled women marched on the main jail in Sanaa, Yemens capital. Their message to the Houthi rebels who had taken over the city was simple: we want to know what has happened to our sons and husbands  who had been seized  and we want an end to torture and executions.

Since then, the Mothers of Abductees have continued to protest. They meet almost daily in hotels and offices in Sanaa, in shattered provincial cities including Aden, and here in Marib, near the operational base of the ousted regime and its forces.

Three heavily veiled women meet us in Marib. They are leading networkers and organisers, sometimes marching, at other times working back channels to the Houthis to find out where they are holding the men and what they plan to do with them.

Both sides in the civil war accuse the other of human rights abuses involving civilians. Allies of the government have also been accused of indiscriminate aerial bombing. In 2016, a funeral was hit in Sanaa, causing more than 100 casualties. Last month the Saudi air force was accused of hitting a wedding party in Saada, killing 20 guests.

Vital supplies: Sunni refugees in Marib pick up blankets from an aid lorry sponsored by Saudi Arabia / Don McCullin

The women we meet produce precise statistics, laid out in Arabic and English in their annual report for 2016 and 2017. It is chilling. To date, 5,646 families have lost at least one male, kidnapped, tortured or killed by the Houthi justice system, which they say is illegal by international standards.

This is my son Mohammed, says Mariam Abdullak. He was arrested for writing an article on Facebook against Houthi doctrine. He is now facing execution, along with 40 others. You have to understand that they are targeting writers, journalists and doctors even  anyone with a qualification.

Her friend, Hasa Abdullak, claims the methods of torture are brutal, pointing at gruesome pictures in the report. They use boiling water, and some they even turn like a chicken roasting on a spit. It is all completely illegal. The prisoners have no rights. Sometimes they are deprived of food.

Over the past year the women have held more than 60 marches. They are trailed and harassed by the police, though none has been arrested.

Inside a prosthesis clinic in war-torn Yemen

Their campaign echoes the demonstrations by widows and mothers of the Disappeared from Argentinas dirty war in the Seventies, and later underground protests by women in Iran.

In Yemen, men do not appear at the protests or conferences, but small boys often attend with their mothers.

Yemen Conflict - In pictures 1 /12 Yemen Conflict - In pictures Government militia men in the mountains above the road to the capital Sanaa. Don McCullin General Nasser al Dhaybani, field commander of government offices in the mountains above the road to the capital Sanaa. Don McCullin Sunni refugee with daughter in one of 17 camps in the town of Marib Yemen Don McCullin Civilian victims of landmine and booby trap explosions in the Prosthesis Centre in Marib Province Don McCullin Looking towards Sadah and the Houthi mountain strongholds to the north. Don McCullin audi Apache helicopter escorting a patrol on the Yemen borde Don McCullin Saudi Apache helicopter escorting a patrol on the Yemen bordeE Don McCullin Refugee girl in one of the 17 camps round Marib city Don McCullin Blanket pickup for Sunni refugees from an aid lorry sponsored by Saudi Arabia, part of their $1bn aid contribution Don McCullin Refugee girl in one of the 17 camps round Marib city Don McCullin Don McCullin Dave Benett Shellshocked US Marine, Hue, Vietnam, February 1968, photographed by Don McCullin Don McCullin

The Houthi regime in Sanaa has a media arm  advised by Lebanons Hezbollah  which has proclaimed support for human and civil rights.

But the Mothers of Abductees say they have no dialogue with the authorities. They have 142 registered cases of torture, of which 19 led to death, they say. They have methods like tying a left hand to a right leg and making the prisoner stand for hours in that position. They tie others up by the wrists and then hang them on a door or gate.

The women we meet grow more animated as they talk. At first they said it was better to be anonymous, then all three give their full family name.

They are media savvy, using the internet as a main tool  not easy in Yemen  but seem frustrated at the lack of international attention.Early on May 9, four ballistic missiles were fired at the industrial outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. They were detonated safely by Patriot anti-missile batteries. The Qiam missiles, an Iranian variant based on the Soviet Scud B and C, were believed to have been fired from Houthi-held territory on the borders of Yemen.

Missile attacks are an increasing feature of the grim war being fought since the Houthi movement seized power in Yemens capital Sanaa in 2015. Several missiles have been fired at Riyadh  the previous salvo was on March 26. Most attacks are on Saudi centres and townships within 50 to 100 miles of the Yemeni border.

Old Russian-designed surface-to-surface missiles mounted on trucks, such as the Zelzal-2, are the weapon of choice for these attacks. The Zelzal is the Iranian variant, first made for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria and then passed on by them to the Houthis and insurgents in Libya.

Inside Yemen, rockets, shoulder- launched missiles of US design, and heavy 120mm mortars are standard elements of the hit-and-run ground campaign. A favourite is the Chinese- or Russian-designed Katyusha rocket fired from multi-barrel launchers  known in the Second World War as Joe Stalins Organ. They have a range of 20 to 30 miles. On a visit to a war orphans centre in Marib last week, we were shown where two Katyushas had smashed into classrooms just five days before. Fortunately the children were outside.

The Saudi defence ministry in Riyadh has displayed captured missiles from the war in Yemen. The message is clear  the missile arms race is the work mainly of Irans Revolutionary Guard and its Hezbollah ally. Without them the Houthis are technologically challenged.

The two biggest items on display were two Qiam missiles brought down on March 26. The Zelzal-2 is like a grey metal slug, driven by solid fuel but with limited capability. Also on show is a Sayyad-2C surface-to-air missile with a range of 90,000 feet, captured in its shipping crate. This was developed 40 years ago from missiles sold by America to the Shah. Imagine what this is going to be in 40 more years, says a Saudi colonel.

The surprise in the display is a large wing shaped like a boomerang... one of the new drones from Iran used to drop improvised explosive devices.

So far the missile war is quantity more than quality. But with a new generation of missiles in the pipeline, things could be about to change.Jared and Ivanka attend a reception celebrating the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 13, 2018. Photo: GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images

On Monday the United States will officially move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is, of course, a highly controversial move, but aside from the ways it upsets various international relationships, members of the Trump administration are drawing criticism over the religious leaders theyve included in the celebrations.

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, spoke at a reception held in honor of the U.S. delegation at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday, offering high praise for President Trump. America has always been a kingdom of grace, but President Trump himself is a king of kindness, he said.

After the speech White House advisers Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner approached Yosef and asked for his blessing, according to The Jewish Press.

In March, Yosef was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League after using the term kushi, a derogatory Hebrew word for black people, in a sermon, and comparing them to monkeys.

You cant make the blessing on every kushi you see  in America you see one every five minutes, so you make it only on a person with a white father and mother, he said. How do would you know? Lets say you know! So they had a monkey as a son, a son like this, so you say the blessing on him.

Yosefs office said he was quoting the Talmud, not using the modern slur. But the ADL still said his remarks were unacceptable.

Racially charged comment made by Israeli Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, comparing people of color to "monkeys", is utterly unacceptable. https://t.co/uQRPk7meyl  ADL (@ADL) March 20, 2018

Yosef has made other controversial remarks in the past, such as suggesting immodestly dressed secular women behave like animals and claiming that according to Jewish law non-Jews are forbidden from living in Israel.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney, who is running for the Senate in Utah, was irked by a different religious figure.

Robert Jeffress says you cant be saved by being a Jew, and Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell. Hes said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 14, 2018

Jeffress, who runs the First Baptist Church in Dallas, has referred to Islam and Mormonism as a heresy from the pit of hell. Hes also claimed that Islam promotes pedophilia, called Catholicism the genius of Satan, and dismissed various other religions as cults. Unsurprisingly, hes also denounced homosexuality as a filthy practice and vividly railed against the legalization of same-sex marriage.

So why is he giving the opening prayer at the U.S. embassy opening? Hes also a frequent Fox News contributor and informal adviser to President Trump, who delivered a sermon during his inauguration festivities. Jeffress is known for giving religious justifications for Trumps policies, such as claiming God is is not necessarily an open borders guy, and declaring that God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-un.

In an interview with NBC News in response to Romneys criticism, Jeffress denied that hes a bigot, but said he thinks Mormonism is wrong and a cult.

Mormonism has never been considered a part of historic Christianity. People may disagree with that view, but its not a view unique to me, he said.W ant to show your sweetheart just how special they are? Theres no need to settle for ordinary - London is full of floral experts selling unique creations that will put a smile on your loved ones face  or help get you out of the doghouse...

Below we detail the pick of the bunch.

Flowerbx

Founded by Whitney Bromberg Hawkings and Adam Wilkie, Flowerbx is an online flower delivery service that cut out the middle man so flowers are as fresh as possible. They deal in single-varietal bunches only with flowers sourced directly from Holland.

12 Cullen Way, NW1, flowerbx.com

Princess & Ko

A newish addition to the London flower scene, Dawid and Elias - aka Princess & Ko - set up on their own in December 2015 after working together for three years at prestigious London florists, McQueens (see below). The talented duo can cater to all your floral needs from making bespoke bouquets for your Valentine to adding a magic touch to your wedding. They also run pop-up masterclasses, teaching you how to make everything from table centres to flower crowns.

Scarlet and Violet

Nestled in Kensal Rise, this elegant store is popular with celebrities and was responsible for the flowers at Kate Mosss wedding. Its pretty and natural-looking arrangements are suitable for various occasions, and vintage lovers will appreciate the lovely old vases.

76 Chamberlayne Road, NW10, scarletandviolet.com

The Flower Appreciation Society

Ellie and Anna started their company after working behind the same bar and discovering a mutual love of blooms. Self-styled as 'not your average florists', their homespun style has won a cult following with Londoners - with their group classes proving particularly popular. Head to their Hackney studio to learn how to make hand-tied bouquets, flower headdresses and DIY bridal flower courses. They also cater for private hen parties.

72A Southgate Road, N1, theflowerappreciationsociety.co.uk

Grace & Thorn

A trendy flower shop for those who think like a hipster. The bright and quirky bunches at this east London florist have been used in fashion shoots for brands including Topman and Whistles. Go left-field and buy your lover a selection of succulents to green up their gaff.

338 Hackney Road, E2, graceandthorn.com

Petalon

This husband and wife duo offer two seasonal bouquets per week and these are delivered by bicycle across London and by post across mainland UK. The bouquets go up on their site each Monday morning and cost just 28 - with 1 from each sale going towards the Bee Collective, a not-for-profit organisation that helps Londoners help bees.

McQueens

Stop here for nothing but extravagant, design-led floristry. The fashion forward floral brand is favoured among five-star hotels with a dedicated shop in Claridges and a flagship store in Old Street.

229 Cambridge Heath Rd, E2; mcqueens.co.uk

That Flower Shop

This Shoreditch local, housed in the super-hip Ace Hotel, is another trendy joint for artistic arrangements. Owner Hattie Fox specialises in handling flowers creatively, from fashion headpieces to hand-tied bunches.

100 Shoreditch High Street, E1, thatflowershop.co.uk

Bloom & Wild

An innovative approach to floral delivery, Bloom & Wild pack their flowers into bespoke letterbox packaging to make for easy deliveries. Carefully packed by hand, the delicate blooms are individually netted and slotted through your letterbox for a simple and easy home delivery.

Wild at Heart

Though Nikki Tibbless luxurious bouquets are sold through iconic department store Liberty, her own shop can be found in the heart of Chelsea. Her striking creations range from simple bunches to extravagant displays. The A-list favourites clients include the likes of Burberry and Nicole Farhi.

30 Pimlico Road, SW1W, wildatheart.com

Rebel Rebel

If you already have a colour scheme in mind, then see what this stylish shop has to offer. Rebel Rebel boasts innovative bouquets to suit various tastes and is popular for its bold colour combinations.

Jam Jar Flowers

This bespoke London florist was established in 2010 by Melissa Richardson. The flowers are delivered in enamel buckets, giant jars, kilner jars, pickle jars and jam jars and come is a delightful arrangement of colours.

Angel Flowers

Dont be fooled by the small size of this Islington-based florist. Its huge selection of flowers and plants  think wild and exotic  are sent straight from the markets of Holland.

60 Upper Street, N1, angel-flowers.co.uk

Dawson Flowers

Classic blooms can be found at this pretty shop in Bloomsbury hotspot Lambs Conduit Street. You can even add chocolates or champagne to your bouquet, plus same day delivery is available for the capitals spontaneous romantics.

43 Lambs Conduit Street, WC1, dawsonflowers.net Piers Morgan branded Sue Perkins comically hypocritical as he slated the former Bake Off star for her sexist jokes at the BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday night.

Perkins, 48, returned to her role as host for the second consecutive year after taking over from Graham Norton, and couldnt resist making a joke at Morgans expense.

Kicking off her opening speech she said: Turns out tonight Im having to work alongside a massive organ, now I know how Susanna Reid feels on Good Morning Britain.

She also made several jokes about men and 'mansplaining'.

Fuming: Piers Morgan was unimpressed by Sue Perkins' jokes / Ken McKay/ITV/Rex

Morgan accused Perkins of hypocrisy, claiming a male host would not get away with making crass jokes about women.

He tweeted: Why is @sueperkins allowed to make a series of crass, crude sexist jokes about men, when a male host would see his career crucified for doing the same to women? #baftas.

He later accused Perkins of dying on her massive derriere again before tweeting: I just find it comically hypocritical that a female 'feminist' host thinks she can do jokes like this given the perpetual current outrage at men for making similar jokes.

Viewers echoed Morgans views with many left unimpressed by her lame quips while others called for Norton to return to the helm.

One viewer tweeted: Sue Perkins fell flat tonight. S*** gags, s*** delivery. Just s*** basically. Mel [Giedroyc] would have been better. #BAFTATV.

Another posted: All these amazing people collecting awards... and Sue Perkins. When will people wake up and realise she is not a comedian? #BAFTATV.

Others were left fuming by her swipe at the royal family, in particular the Duchess of Cambridge. Speaking to the audience she said: What a year weve had. A royal baby born.

Im not saying there was pressure on Kate to look perfect afterwards but apparently she couldnt hear if it was a boy or a girl over the sound of the hair dryer.

Viewers urged her to not shame other women while another branded the quip cringe.

BAFTA TV Awards 2018 1 /23 BAFTA TV Awards 2018 Michelle Keegan PA Declan Donnelly and Ali Astall Dave Benett Caroline Flack PA Amanda Holden Dave Benett Helen George PA Katherine Ryan PA Claire Foy Isabel Infantes/PA Ore and Portia Oduba PA Ashley Roberts PA Abbey Clancy PA Rio Ferdinand and Kate Wright PA Lucy Mecklenburgh Dave Benett Thandie Newton PA Katie Piper PA Sharon Horgan PA Anna Friel PA Claudia Winkleman and Kris Thykier PA Declan Donnelly and Ali Astall PA Amanda Holden and daughter Alexa PA Jodie Whittaker PA Laura Whitmore PA Clara Amfo Getty Images Nadine Mulkerrin Getty Images

Peaky Blinders was among the big winners at tonight's ceremony, beating The Crown to take home the coveted Drama Series gong. The big budget Netflix drama suffered another blow after Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth II, failed to be crowned Leading Actress after losing out to Three Girls star Molly Windsor.

But Vanessa Kirby, who plays Princess Margaret, picked up Supporting actress while Sean Bean was named Leading Actor for his role in Broken.F acebook is reportedly looking into launching its own cryptocurrency like bitcoin, according to sources close to the matter.

People familiar with the plans have told US publication Cheddar that Facebook is very serious about launching a cryptocurrency.

The virtual token would be aimed at allowing Facebooks two billion+ users around the world to make electronic payments.

The news comes as the head of Facebook Messenger, David Marcus, said he was leading a new team at the social media company to explore how to best leverage blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.

What is blockchain? Blockchain is also known as distributed ledger technology. Its like a distributed database, that millions of computers (often called nodes) around the world have access to and are constantly updating. All data put into the blockchain must be verified and cannot be corrupted or deleted.

Marcus is leading a team of around 11 employees working on blockchain at the social network. A representative at the company has said the team will be exploring many different applications.

Rumours about a Facebook-branded virtual currency have been swirling for a while. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would be studying cryptocurrencies and decentralising technologies like blockchain as part of his plans to improve Facebook.

At the time, he said: There are important counter-trends to this  like encryption and cryptocurrency  that take power from centralised systems and put it back into peoples hands.

Im interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services.

And Facebook using cryptocurrency for payments makes sense. There are billions of people around the world that use the social media both for work and in their free-time.

Facebook has made a lot of its money from advertising; selling ads for products to these two billion users. The company would stand to gain if it allowed people to directly make payments for these products, using its own infrastructure based on the blockchain.

Before then, the company has a lot of work to do. The sources told Cheddar that it's likely Facebook will need to make acquisitions in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space in order to develop its own virtual currency.

And, its going to take a while. Marcus told CNBC earlier this year that as payments using cryptocurrency are expensive and slow at the moment, a lot of issues need to be fixed first before Facebook will do anything.T ake a look down your Instagram feed and you will see hundreds of accounts posting images with #ad or #sponsored. These are all people using their online presence to make money, whether its a full time job or a side-hustle.

But connecting these micro-influencers, as theyre known, with brands who want to pay them to advertise their products can be pretty time-consuming.

Thats where Barbara Soltysinska comes in. Aged 30, Soltyinska is the brains behind IndaHash, a global tech platform that connects brands with influencers on social media which launched in 2016.

We spoke to Soltysinska about where the idea for IndaHash came from and why micro-influencers are the future.

Meet Barbara Soltysinska: CEO and co-founder of IndaHash

Soltysinska started her career in PR in her native Poland, working her way up an agency for six years. Whilst she was learning about communications and understanding the media industry, change was afoot in the form of social media.

Platforms such as Instagram and YouTube were gaining traction and starting to make an impact in the media space.

After supporting one of her friends who was starting a YouTube channel, Soltysinska had the idea to start a company supporting YouTubers. The idea was to manage YouTubers and support them to work with brands, explains Soltysinska.

This eventually became LifeTube, the largest YouTube multi-channel network in Central and Eastern Europe.

Following the success of LifeTube, which Soltysinska sold in 2015, she decide to start developing a new platform which would focus on micro-influencers across all platforms, not just YouTube. This became IndaHash.

I knew myself how much time I was spending on Facebook and Instagram. And by knowing the amount of time other people were spending, I knew brands would start to use influencers much more, she says.

Barbara Soltysinska, IndaHash co-founder and CEO / IndaHash

How IndaHash works and its mission to change the media industry

From the start, IndaHash was about solving some of the problems Soltysinska saw with LifeTube.

For instance, the process of matching up influencers with brands, and then the time spent negotiating prices and agreements, was difficult to do manually.

Instead, IndaHash automates this process entirely through its website and app. Brands create a task for influencers, setting the budget and targeting criteria. Influencers can apply to join the campaign. If accepted, they publish the content as required and it reaches millions of followers across the world.

What is IndaHash - what you need to know about the influencer marketing app

All IndaHashs technology is built in-house, something Soltysinska believes in. You have to have the best version of your product, she says. You dont have to do it internally but I believe that being a tech company, its much easier to make it in-house.

As well, Soltysinska always wanted IndaHash to be a global company, expanding its reach from Central and Eastern Europe like LifeTube.

Through creating this kind of technology, we can be at the forefront of the change that is coming in the media, she says. Its about supporting influencers to become publishers and supporting them to have advertisers by monetising their content.

And, it appears to be working. Since the company launched over two years ago, it has facilitated over 1000 campaigns and has over 250,000 registered influencers in more than 50 countries. Whether you have 1,000 followers, or 50,000, you can sign up to IndaHash.

IndaHash has worked with companies such as Sephora, New Balance and Heineken to facilitate campaigns, but theres one company that stands out for Soltysinska as her favourite brand to team up with: McDonalds.

It was a big symbol for us. We want to work with the biggest brands for our influencers. And it was a quite a big campaign so I was really proud of it.

The next stage of IndaHash: ICO and beyond

Soltysinska believes the companys success is down to its mission to challenge the status quo. We know were in a very fast-moving industry so we know we have to be even faster. Were trying to keep the right culture within the company, to generate new ideas that work well.

Earlier this year, the company launched its own initial coin offering or ICO, harnessing the power of the blockchain to push the business forward.

An ICO is when a company releases cryptocurrency tokens through the blockchain. The idea for IndaHashs ICO is that its influencers will be able to receive payments in the token, named the IndaHash coin, which they can exchange into fiat currency (normal money like pounds and euros).

And as IndaHashs influencers are spread out across the world, Soltysinska says it will make it faster for them to receive payments from brands, and importantly cut out bank transfer fees, that they can then exchange.

It was very exciting for us because weve done lots of new things with technology but an ICO was something else, says Soltysinska.

As well, it was also a way to raise money for IndaHash. ICOs are sometimes seen as a new form of venture capital money, almost like crowdfunding money from people who are interested in the company. Around 74 per cent of the $42 million (30million) raised in the ICO came from IndaHash influencers. This money will be used to grow the company.

For the next year, the companys mission is to double-down on its vision to connect social media influencers with brands, and expand its reach across the world.Countries & Areas

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According to the quoted source, the agenda of talks includes topics regarding the co-operation in the defence area, both in a bilateral context and inside NATO and the European Union, as well as aspects aiming at the security situation on regional and international level.

Moreover, the two ministers will also tackle topics of major interest on the allied agenda, in view of the NATO Summit which is to be held in Brussels in July 2018.The schedule of the visit also includes tours of the Skaramagas shipyards and the Salamis Naval Base.The Chamber of Deputies' Speaker, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said on Monday he does not agree with "throwing" Romania into a dispute with the United States, showing that he will oppose such a situation.

Referring to the joint statement of the European Union on moving the embassies of some member states from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the PSD chairman stated that Romania's diplomatic representative in Brussels had a position of further supporting the peace process, backing and stimulating the continuation of negotiations.

"Do you know whether there has been any vote? My advice is not to launch on the market all sorts of information from the belief that the public is not kept updated and takes only the wrong information from us. There has been no vote there. I understand the mandate he had was a balanced one (...) Where, with whom did President Iohannis consult, with whom did those in uniform, who work for various websites or publications, consult, so as to consider and decide that Romania's best interest is to go public and condemn a US action? Here they have to come up with very clear explanations, given that we are NATO members, we are developing the army endowment, the defense industry, the strategic partnership with the United States, given the geographic position very close to Russia, let them explain to us why Romania must take action to condemn its main and powerful strategic ally, the United States. When we have these explanations clearly assumed and openly explained, not in the spur of the moment, then we can discuss. For Romania to be thrown into a dispute with the US, I do not agree with that. Whoever wants to do that must take responsibility for it and provide explanations," Dragnea said at the end of PSD's National Standing Bureau's meeting.According to the PSD leader, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has very clear attributions, and the foreign minister sends mandate proposals and assigns tasks to the diplomatic representations of Romania."We all hoped that the Basescu era was over. It seems that the Iohannis era is worse than the Basescu era." Romania's Constitution does not provide for a daddy' position. There is the position of president, with some clear attributions, with clear limits in the Constitution We cannot stand indifferent and watch as some adventures generated by the interests of others can put Romania in a situation of confrontation with the United States. I do not accept that and I will do everything in my power to legally, constitutionally and politically prevent such an attitude and position," the PSD chairman said.Justice Minister Tudorel Toader forwarded on Monday to the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) the proposal for the appointment of Felix Banila as head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT).

"Following the prosecutors' selection procedure, with a view to making the proposal for appointment of the chief prosecutor of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism that took place on 11 May 2018 at the seat of the Justice Ministry, we inform you that the Justice Minister Professor, PhD, Tudorel Toader sent to the Supreme Council of Magistrates the proposal for the appointment of Mr. Oliver-Felix Banila for the consultative opinion. Subsequently, the proposal will be submitted to the President of Romania, Mr. Klaus Iohannis," the release by the MJ reads.

Two candidates have enlisted for the position of the DIICOT head: Daniel Horodniceanu, current chief of the institution, and Felix Banila, prosecutor with the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bacau Court.The interviews of the two took place last Friday. According to the regulations in force, the DIICOT chief prosecutor is appointed by the President of Romania at the proposal of the Justice Minister, with the CSM's opinion. The appointment is made for a period of three years with one time reinvestment possibility.The secretary of State has been raising expectations of how great a deal North Korea is going to get. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shared a broad outline of the Trump administrations goals for the upcoming summit with North Korea during an appearance on CBSs Face the Nation on Sunday. He also offered more details about what the U.S. was willing to give North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in exchange for total, full, complete denuclearization.

Pompeo pointed out that we have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that the North Koreans have not proved worthy of their promises in the past, but that the Trump administration was not interested in pursuing a traditional model deal  which he defined as essentially paying the regime to do something. Instead, Pompeo claimed, Were hoping this will be bigger, different, faster.

On Friday, Pompeo said that the U.S. was prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends. But prosperity doesnt mean aid, apparently. When Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan mentioned National Security Adviser John Boltons contention, also on Sunday, that North Korea should not expect economic aid in the deal, Pompeo agreed. He then explained that instead of offering North Korea American aid, the Trump administration would offer it Americans:

What Chairman Kim will get from America is our finest. Our entrepreneurs. Our risk takers. Our capital providers. Not our taxpayers. Theyll get people.  They will get private capital that comes in. North Korea is desperately in need of energy support - electricity for their people. They are in great need of agricultural equipment and technology. The finest from the Midwest that I come from. We can deliver that. And as I said earlier this week, we can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South, and that is our expectation. It wont be U.S. taxpayers. It will be American know-how, knowledge entrepreneurs, and risk takers working alongside the North Korean people to create a robust economy.

In other words, Pompeo seems to be saying that if North Korea meets the conditions for sanctions to be dropped, the U.S. will offer business opportunities with American corporations instead of aid  apparently under the assumption that the countrys communist government will accept capitalism instead of cash.

In a similar appearance on Fox News Sunday, Pompeo additionally indicated that Trump was willing to take regime change off the table, acknowledging that we will have to provide security assurances to be sure, and further implying that President Trump is the first U.S. president to have earned the trust of North Koreas leadership.

Pompeo explained, as Bolton has, that the U.S. was seeking the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, though how that demand will be translated into a specific framework and process remains unclear. Pompeo also emphasized, however, that the presidents main objective was to prevent the risk of North Korea launching a nuclear weapon at the U.S.  which may or may not mean the U.S. is willing to accept a remaining risk for other, closer countries.

On Face the Nation, Pompeo said that Trump would offer North Korean greatness to Kim:

The president has a commitment and he will make this commitment to Chairman Kim, I am confident, that says: if you do the things we need to do so that America is no longer held at risk by your nuclear weapons arsenal and that you get rid of your [chemical and biological weapons] program and missiles that that threaten the world, we will ensure that your people have the opportunity for the greatness that I know Chairman Kim wants them to have.

I think Chairman Kim shares the objectives with the American people, I am convinced of that, Pompeo also insisted on Sunday. Well all find out when Trump, Kim, and South Koreas president, Moon Jae-in, meet in Singapore on June 12.Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced on Monday at the Parliament Palace that Romania is due to participate in a GRECO (Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption) meeting on 12 June, through a Justice Ministry representative.

"On 12 June, I hope I'm not mistaken, there will be a new meeting [of GRECO, ed.n.] in which the person representing the Justice Ministry, Romania will be participating in this body. I do not know their agenda (...). They probably have a very rich agenda, they will also have an item regarding Romania's report," Toader said.

The minister added he has clarified that the GRECO report on Romania is intermediate and prior to the finalisation of the law-making procedure in Justice."As far as I am concerned, I have clarified these two things, that the report (GRECO) is intermediate, it is prior to the finalisation of the law-making procedure in Justice, prior to the amendment procedure of the Criminal Code - criminal procedure. It is certain that the amendment process will take into account those standards and we are certainly observing the procedure, but we do not have an official statement as yet," Toader maintained.Previously, Tudorel Toader had affirmed that Romania's legislation is not drawn up by GRECO which only makes recommendations regarding standards and development directions.The visit of Pope Francis to Romania is not carried out for the Premier or for the President, but for the Romanians, Prime minister Viorica Dancila said on Monday at the end of the sitting of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)'s National Standing Bureau.

"I'm a responsible person. I said His Holiness Pope Francis will come to Romania next year. I was very clear in what I said. Firstly, I want to clarify one thing: His Holiness' visit is neither carried out for the Prime minister, nor for Romania's President, it is for Romania and for the Romanians. And I wish Romania and the Romanians enjoy this visit, this is what should be taken into account," the Prime minister said.

The invitation by the Romanian Premier to Pope Francis to come to Bucharest is natural, and the fact that it has been accepted is a good thing for Romania, on Monday said the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Liviu Dragnea, leader of the PSD.He criticized President Klaus Iohannis for the "offensive way" in which he reacted on this topic."I can see that it is a huge offense any time I or Mrs. Dancila contact anyone abroad. I can see that President Iohannis wants to be in total control and have exclusiveness on everything that means external contacts. I can see that he wishes to run the Government, too, I can see that he wants to rule Parliament as well, it is just that the Constitution that doesn't allow him to. Perhaps it is hard to understand. I can see that he even wants to have authority over the prosecutors in Romania, but he is beyond the Constitution. A prime minister in a democratic state, in a state with minimum mutual respect among the institutions, a person is not boycotted or undermined before, during or after an external meeting they have because they are not having that meeting in their personal capacity. What has lately been happening does no good to Romania," Dragnea said.President Klaus Iohannis stated on Saturday in western Blaj that he knows whether Pope Francis is or is not paying a visit to Romania, but that this thing will be made public by both sides when all the details are cleared."I can tell you that I do know, but, at this level, and even in the relationship with the Vatican there are certain rules and very, very clear norms. When absolutely all the details are clarified, then the Vatican and the Presidential Administration will announce the visit simultaneously and not other visitors or people having been in audience by chance," the president said.The spokesperson of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, Francis Dobos specified last Friday that the announcement with the Pope's visit to Romania will be delivered simultaneously by Romania's Presidency and the Vatican.President Klaus Iohannis invites Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, on Tuesday, at Cotroceni Presidential Palace, for consultations, in order to clarify aspects concerning the foreign policy, informs the Presidential Administration.

"Esteemed Mrs. Prime Minister, considering the opinions expressed by the Government in relation to the recent evolution in foreign policy, based on art. 86 of the Constitution, I invite you for consultations on May 15, 11:00 hrs, at Cotroceni Presidential Palace. The consultations aim to clarify some aspects that regard Romania's foreign policy, including the issue of the relocation of Romania's Embassy in the State of Israel, which represent urgent and highly important matters," reads President Klaus Iohannis' invitation to the Prime Minister.

The president adds that for this meeting the Prime Minister may be accompanied by the relevant Ministers.The meeting requested by President Klaus Iohannis with Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu will take place on Tuesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, according to a release of the Presidential Administration.

According to the quoted source, the meeting is scheduled to take place at 11:00 hrs.

President Klaus Iohannis announced on Saturday in Blaj that he will invite Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu so that the latter explains the standpoint taken by Romania's representatives at the discussion on the level of the EU's European External Action Service regarding the relocation of diplomatic missions in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea announced on Monday that the ruling coalition will start this week talks with foreign and Romanian companies on the measures envisaged by the government as regards state aid schemes.

"At the meeting of the party's National Standing Bureau we discussed some important subjects. Mrs. Prime Minister gave a briefing on the state aid scheme. Meetings will start this week - and the dedicated time span will not be uselessly stretched out - with foreign and Romanian companies to present the state aid scheme tailored for companies with investments of 10-plus million euro, another scheme for companies that invest up to five million euro; they will be required to invest in counties with an unemployment rate higher than 5 pct. There's a state aid scheme for the filmmaking industry and innovation, a state aid scheme for kindergartens and company housing, one for senior residential building, where pensioners should be offered fine accommodation conditions," Dragnea said.

The leadership of the ruling Social Democratic Party also discussed the draft public procurement ordinance."The ordinance blueprint is the result of consultations with - I think - almost all interested institutions, associations, the business milieu, local authorities, experts, so that the goals of clarifying, simplifying and cutting procurement periods be achieved. (...) Romania cannot hope for serious further development if we have to wait three, four or even seven years for a challenge procedure to be settled. Next week at the latest the government is expected to adopt this ordinance that is part of a larger package intended to stimulate investments in Romania and public procurement in the first place, in order to unlock procurement procedures with local and central authorities," Dragnea said.Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea stated on Sunday evening that he rules out the alternative of suspending President Klaus Iohannis, mentioning he will do everything in his powers to avoid a political crisis in Romania.

"I haven't thought about suspension and I don't want to think about suspension. I don't want to get to suspension. I will do everything in my powers for Romania to have political stability. I'm not event interested that it is the Centennial Year. Next year, Romania holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union," Dragnea told Romania TV private television station.

The PSD leader says he learned that the representatives of some non-governmental organisations, endorsed by representatives of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romania Union (USR), want to file a criminal complaint against Prime Minister Viorica Dancila."I pray to God not to get there. I believe that there is a red line that should not be crossed over. It has been crossed when Victor Ponta was the Prime Minister. It was enough. I say that they should understand that there have been elections in Romania, there is a solid majority that governs and it governs well. (...) Next year, whoever wants to run for president should take votes for what he/she is doing, not by attacking the Government and not by trying to remove Romania's Government, which was legitimately elected," Liviu Dragnea added.Leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea suspects that President Klaus Iohannis "could have a secret protocol signed with the parallel state."

On Sunday evening, Dragnea told a Romania TV broadcast that the head of the state has no reason not to promulgate the justice laws, which already have the vote of Parliament and were declared to be constitutional.

"He said he would sent them back to Parliament after they return from the [Constitutional] Court, which says what? That he is not interested whether they are constitutional or not, he is not interested in the correlation between certain articles, and he is only interested that these laws enter into force as late as possible. And what does this mean? For it makes one think he has a secret protocol signed with the parallel state. Which could be his interest when he exposes himself so much, when he exposes himself while being fully aware, and blocks the coming into force of such laws adopted by the Romanian Parliament - which is the only authority with legislative power in Romania, such laws supported by the associations of magistrates and declared constitutional by the Constitutional Court, which he still don't want to see coming into force," said the Social Democrat leader.The US President Donald Trumps decision on pullout from the 2015 Iran nuclear pact significantly impacts the tectonic plates of world politics. At the most profound level, the weakening of the US trans-Atlantic leadership that has been under way may have become irreversible.

Without doubt, the European capitals are in turn angry and disappointed. The support for the 2015 pact runs deep in Europe and the disillusionment with the Trump presidency is widespread in the European opinion. In principle, a regime change in Washington in the 2020 poll may somewhat improve matters but then, two years is a long time in politics during which the divide between the US and Europe may further deepen and a new alchemy may radically transform Euro-Atlanticism as such with the growing perception of the US as an unreliable and increasingly malevolent partner.

The European corporations are being forced in the coming six months to decide whether they wished to continue doing business with the US, or whether they would choose to continue to pursue the commercial opportunities in Iran. Europe will resist any US attempt to punish European companies. Importantly, Europes search for payment mechanisms that bypass American banks will gather momentum.

But these are early days and any apocalyptic predictions of a crack in the western alliance as such will be far too premature. To be sure, the Trump administration has initiated damage control. Trump telephoned British Prime Minister Theresa May to coordinate efforts to build up Western opinion on Irans destabilizing behavior, pegging the campaign on the Iranian regimes provocative rocket attacks from Syria against Israeli citizens.

Britain is playing its traditional role as Washingtons gatekeeper in Europe by helping to moderate the French and German condemnation of Trumps abandonment of Iran deal. The newly-appointed Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea L. Thompson is heading for Paris and London on May 14-18 where she is expected to hold bilateral discussions on a range of arms control and nonproliferation issues. Thompson used to be the national security advisor to Vice-President Mike Pence and had previously served as special advisor at the State Departments Office of Policy Planning. In her new portfolio, Thompson, a retired colonel, is in charge of arms control and international security.

Trump doesnt seem to think that withdrawal from the 2015 agreement spells the end of all diplomatic options  for the US or for other players (including, perhaps, for Tehran too.) A buffer period of six months lies ahead before Trump would have to make some major downstream decisions. Conceivably, this buffer period may even be his negotiating period. Trumps Art of the Deal may still provide for a negotiating process with Tehran. The coming six-month buffer period would be a critical maneuvering time for all protagonists.

Therefore, there is no reason to anticipate an inevitable expansion of conflict in the Persian Gulf as of now. Trumps move gives the GCC states and Israel some time to re-group. Israel and Saudi Arabia have welcomed the Trump decision. But in meaningful terms, what benefit would accrue to them remains doubtful. Put differently, Israel and Saudi Arabia will be pushing the US to resort to the use of force against Iran sooner rather than later  especially, if the nuclear deal completely collapses and Tehran steps up the enrichment program.

Saudi Arabia and Israel probably hoped to rebuild strategic credibility in the hope that Iran will be constrained by sanctions to reduce its regional military and proxy warfare missions. But on the contrary, the high probability is that Iran, which now feels liberated from the seductive lure of the opening to the US and West, may even expand its power projection, given that it now has less reason for constraint.

The plain truth is that new US sanctions would not seriously jeopardize the Iranian economy. Much depends on Irans ability to sell oil on the world market. But then, one-third of Irans oil exports go to China and it is inconceivable that Beijing will cooperate with the US sanctions against Iran. On the whole, sales to Iran from China and Russia would be unaffected by the U.S. sanctions. The sanctions would almost certainly hasten the denomination of Iranian transactions with foreign suppliers in non-dollar currencies  especially, in yuan/renminbi and Russian rubles.

Considering that Saudi Arabia too is moving toward some denomination of oil sales in renminbi, the era of total domination of the energy market in dollars  petrodollars  is drawing to a close after almost a half-century of total domination of the global economy by the US dollar as the universal reserve currency. Washington may put a brave face on this tectonic shift in the international financial system, but there is a serious erosion of the US influence on global markets getting under way.

Ironically, in the near-term in the Middle East, it is possible that Trumps decision allows Iran greater latitude in developing its strategic capabilities. Iran would probably stay in the 2015 pact with the other parties to the agreement but, paradoxically, the deal no longer holds the same charm for Tehran as before, without Washington being party to it. In a manner of speaking, Tehran would feel unshackled. Lest it be forgotten, Irans elite had agreed in the first instance to curtail what had been a rapidly growing capability to create large quantities of fissile materials, in lieu of a constructive engagement with the US.

Indeed, the 2015 pact gave a window of opportunity for the US also to reclaim influence in Iran by beginning a process of normalization. But Washington was disinterested, and arguably, Tehran too failed to take full advantage. Now, it is the historic turn for Russia, China and Turkey to move quickly to fill the vacuum created by the new US sanctions regime. While it is too early to speak of a political alignment, the events are on the one hand pushing together Iran, Russia, and Turkey, while on the other hand putting the European Union and Russia on the same side. Indeed, if US-Iranians tensions escalate, Russia may find itself in an unenviable position to mediate de-escalation. Currently, though, the events are pushing together Iran, Russia, and Turkey, which have had problematic mutual relations.The US, Swedish, and Finnish defense ministers signed a trilateral Statement of Intent (SOI) to expand defense cooperation on all fronts. The signing ceremony took place in Washington on May 8. In 2016, the two Scandinavian nations finalized separate defense SOIs with America. Now they have signed a joint document to unify those previous agreements and enhance their interoperability.

The Scandinavian visitors claimed this was just a starting point for a more mature relationship. The agreement emphasizes the countries combined joint exercises and streamlines the procedures that have been established to manage them.

Other issues covered by the SOI include regular trilateral meetings at all levels, the exchange of information (including about weapons systems), increased practical interaction, cooperation in multinational operations, improved communications, and the promotion of the EU-NATO strategic partnership. The latter issue will transform the Scandinavians into a connecting link that will eliminate the chance of any European deterrent that could operate with any real independence from its North American big brother. Washington wants to make sure that the PESCO agreement will not protect Europes defense industry from US companies.

Sweden hosted the Aurora military exercise in September 2017, the largest such event on its soil. The US supplied most of the visiting troops. The American military has also taken part in a number of drills in Finland recently. That country will host a large-scale NATO exercise as early as 2020 or 2021. The US has already been invited. The militarization of the Scandinavian Peninsula is moving full speed ahead.

The recently signed SOI actually transforms the bilateral agreements into enhanced trilateral cooperation. For Stockholm and Helsinki, joining NATO is not an option for domestic political reasons. At least not for now. Instead, a new US-led defense alliance has emerged.

The increased tempo of exercises anticipates a larger US presence. It has far-reaching implications. With American military personnel rotating in and out of Sweden and Finland, any offensive action against one of those states would officially be an attack on a NATO member. It would trigger a response as envisaged by Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. Russia considers any American military presence there as provocative. The US is not a Scandinavian country. If an incident took place that resulted in a clash between Russian and US forces, the two Scandinavian nations would be pulled against their will into a conflict they may have nothing to do with. The American soldiers on their soil will never be under the control of their national commands. More US presence means less sovereignty and more risk.

Actually, since they are EU members they dont even need Article 5, because Article 42.7 of the EU treaty also contains a binding mutual-assistance clause. France invoked it after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

Last year Sweden and Finland joined the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF). All other participants in the nine-nation formation are NATO members. It means that in an emergency their armed forces will operate under NATO command, becoming parties to a conflict they could avoid if they were really neutral. The two also cooperate with Washington through the Northern Group (NG), which consists of 12 countries, although Sweden and Finland are the only non-NATO participants. That organization holds its own dialog with the US. Another venue is the five-nation Nordic Countries group, that includes these two non-aligned members.

In reality, Sweden and Finland have already joined NATO through other groups and agreements. They did so informally, avoiding referendums and the relevant parliamentary procedures at home. This should be viewed as part of a broader picture. In early April, the first-ever US-Baltic States summit took place in Washington. It was an unprecedented event that somehow was kept out of the media spotlight.

The leaders of NATOs frontline states called for a permanent US military presence in the region. They want that to be much larger than just American participation in multinational battalions. They are asking for a permanent presence on a much wider scale. Washington, which already has forces deployed in Norway and Poland, is considering rotating American troops through the Baltic nations as well. Poland and the Baltic states are a focus of NATOS bellicose preparations. One might as well forget about the 1997 Russia-NATO Founding Act (1997), which states that no substantial forces should be deployed in the proximity of the borders. That document has already been breached by NATO.

The US guests have provided advice on how to promote American influence (they call it democracy) in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, the members of a newly formed anti-Russian alliance. And its not just the defense sector. Last year, Lithuania began importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from America. Poland has also built an LNG terminal to expand the shipments of American gas to Europe, which compete with Russias energy supplies.

The withdrawal from the Iran deal is not the only time a US position on an issue has been opposed by the leading European nations. There are many more points of disagreement. Old Europe is gradually creating an independent deterrent. A rift between the EU and the US is deepening. But as one can see, Washington is building another pro-American alliance on the continent. It does not mean it will replace the North Atlantic alliance. Certainly not. On the contrary, it will strengthen the US position in the bloc.

But aside from NATO, Washington also leads an informal alliance of frontline states that are intimidated by a nonexistent threat. The idea of the Russia bogeyman is being exploited by the US in order to reach its foreign-policy goals. Northern Europe is being turned into a hornets nest, with its good-neighbor policy gradually being replaced with confrontation that benefits the US but makes the region less secure.Opposition leader in National Assmebly Syed Khurshid Shah has urged Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to explain the matters related to nation security in parliament.

He maintained that the premier should take the parliament into confidence over the decisions taken in National Security Committee (NSC) meeting.

We are all responsible of the matters concerning national security, Shah uttered.

Words contain various meaning. Those on significant positions should think before speaking, he asserted.

Nawaz is related to the present government while I am from the opposition therefore; the government should decide what should be done of the issue, he affirmed.

Speaking over the NSC meeting being held in the aftermath of the remarks given by Nawaz Sharif, Shah said, I came to know about the meeting and the invitation this morning. But decided not to attend the session.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had on Saturday revealed in an interview that those who attacked hotel in Mumbai in 2008 hailed from Pakistan.

Speaking to Dawn newspaper, Nawaz Sharif asked if we should allow non-state actors to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai.

He said: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?  a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

Also Read: Nawaz Sharif s remarks in the best interest of country , tweets Maryam Nawaz

Meanwhile, the interview has stirred a storm as Indian media has turned his statement into a charge sheet against Pakistan for being involved in the Mumbai attacks.

On the other hand, a German journalist, Elys Davidson in his book last year revealed that the Mumbai attack was masterminded by Israel and America and the facts were distorted by the Indian government.

According to the book, many witnessed saw Ajmal Kasaab and others gathering in Nariman House two days before the incident, but the Indian investigative agencies never included their statements in the investigation report.President Donald Trump signs an Energy Independence Executive Order at the EPA headquarters on March 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. The order reverses the Obama-era climate change policies. Photo: Ron Sach - Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trumps environmental policy is one of the areas in which he has pursued a conventional Republican agenda that has pleased all wings of his party. A handful of Republicans have expressed dismay with the rampant petty corruption of Environmental Protection Agency director Scott Pruitt, now the subject of 11 active investigations into allegations of misconduct. Almost none have questioned the administrations agenda itself. Which is odd, because Trumps approach to environmental protection  or, more accurately, lack thereof  is increasingly detached from conservatism.

On one front, the Environmental Protection Agency is fighting to roll back auto-emissions standards that had been put into place by the Obama administration. The catch is that, if the federal government weakens its auto-emissions levels, states can fill their place. California, in particular, has strict auto-emission standards, and car companies dont want to have to build two different kinds of engines for different states. The Trump administration is accordingly trying to challenge Californias ability to set its own standards.

The notion that states are repositories of hard-won local wisdom, whose independence must be secured against the whims of the rulers in a distant capital, is a hardy truism of conservative rhetoric. When Pruitt took his job, he gave a puffy interview to The Wall Street Journal opinion page, which headlines his principled commitment to states rights. Pruitt lambasted the Obama administration for its attitude that the states are a vessel of federal will. They were aggressive about dictating to the states and displacing their authority and letting it be known they didnt trust the states. But now that a state (California) is trying to protect its citizens in a way it sees fit, Pruitt is riding in from Washington to tell the state that he knows best.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who once wrote an entire book explicating his belief that the vast majority of the federal government violates the Constitution, is contemplating a new policy to support coal. Perry told a House panel he is looking very closely at a plan, urged on by the coal industry, to use the 1950 Defense Production Act, designed to prevent wartime shortages of steel, to permanently prop up coal.

The rationale for this desperate maneuver is that, for all the rhetoric about the Obama administrations War on Coal, the largest single threat to coals viability is market forces. Natural gas is cheaper almost everywhere, and both solar and wind power are dropping in price quickly and undercutting coal in many parts of the country. And so, to compete, coal requires artificial subsidies from big government.

The historical progression of Republican environmental policy is worth reflecting upon. The Nixon administration, which had mainstream right-of-center domestic policies, supported the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, and what would by todays standards be considered extremely stringent regulatory methods. The conservative movement rebelled against this, along with other practical aspects of Nixons domestic policy, and yanked the party to the right.

Conservative environmental policy purportedly took a market-oriented approach, favoring a light hand from government. Since even serious conservative economists acknowledged that markets have to put a price on pollution, the conservative approach to the environment required downplaying evidence of the dangers of pollution and hyping its costs. Accordingly, the conservative movement created a large intellectual (or pseudo-intellectual) infrastructure dedicated to denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming or treating the consensus findings of climate scientists as uncertain or fabricated. Because we didnt know carbon dioxide was an important source of greenhouse gas pollution, there was no rush to put a price on its emission. But this position was always cloaked in the lingo of market supremacy.

Over time, that position was absorbed into the pantheon of conservative messaging, which in turn seeped into the consciousness of the voting public. West Virginia, which had once voted solidly Democratic, turned Republican. Donald Trump repeatedly professed his love of coal mining. The notion that coal was good was thereby accepted as an element of Republican doctrine, to the point where the pro-market rationale can now be discarded altogether.Senator Rehman Malik demanded on Monday that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif should retract his statement about the 2008 Mumbai attacks of 2008.

Nawaz, in a newspaper interview, had questioned the delay in the Mumbai attacks trial and role of non-state actors in the terrorist attacks.

In a press conference, the former interior minister and Pakistan Peoples Party leader said he is not here to speak against anyone.

With regards to the Mumbai attacks, Malik stated that he made a joint investigation team to probe the case but India stalled the investigation by refusing to record primary suspect Ajmal Kasabs statement before his hanging and failing to provide evidence against the suspects.

He claimed that India orchestrated the attacks to take the worlds attention away from the atrocities committed by its forces in occupied Kashmir.

"The Mumbai attacks were a sting operation by [Indian spy agency] RAW," said Malik, adding that India foments terrorism inside Pakistan by sending serving officers such as Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to conduct anti-state operations.

Moreover, he claimed that Indian agencies prepared the David Headley syndicate to carry out the operation, referring to the jailed double agent who was associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba as well as the American government.

He reiterated that Pakistan is not in any way involved in the Mumbai attacks.

Pleading Nawaz to take back his "hurtful" statement, Malik wondered what the three-time premier will do if the United Nations summons him to explain his remarks.

"Nawaz should have mercy on the nation and take back his statement," he said futher.

The senator then called for "unity as a nation" to defeat Indias designs against the country.

Earlier, on Sunday, Malik had said in a statement that Nawaz's remarks were "extremely irresponsible".

"The Pakistani state does not have any role in these attacks," he had said.

He had also called for Nawaz to be briefed on the definitions of "state and non-state actors".Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi addressed an important news conference on Monday following the controversial remarks of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif about the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Speaking during the conference, he said, I met Nawaz Sharif today. He clarified that his statement was broadcasted out of the context. Indian media trumpeted the remarks of Sharif in the wrong way.

The premier reiterated that even today he considers the PML-N supreme leader as his Prime Minister. The entire party stands with Nawaz Sharif, he affirmed.

It is our policy that non-state elements will not be allowed to use the homeland against anyone. Pakistan has always ousted the non-state actors, asserted PM Abbasi.

After chairing National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, PM Abbasi met PML-N supreme leader and informed him about the reservations of military leaders regarding the latters statement pertaining Mumbai attacks.Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Tuesday presented four points regarding former premier Nawaz Sharif's statement regarding Mumbai attacks.

Imran said Nawaz should be put on the Exit Control List (ECL) as he might try to make a deal to escape the country.

The PTI chief then demanded that Nawaz violated his oath as the prime minister, and should be proceeded against under Article 6 of the Constitution.

"He hurt the national interests of Pakistan," Imran said.

Imran further said investigation should be carried out in Nawaz's sons' businesses in India.

"Shehbaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan should resign," was the fourth demand of Imran.

The PTI chief before putting his demands said Nawazs statements helped India considerably.

"Is PML-N a political party? A party is formed on an ideological basis. Parties remove leaders when they prove to be a burden for them," Imran said, giving examples of international leaders,

The PTI chief went on to ask whether the prime minister will do anything regarding the issue.

"I know you people wont because you are not a political party but a syndicate of corruption," he said.

Nawaz, in a recent interview to Dawn newspaper, had said, Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?

His remarks were played up by the Indian media as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attacks, even though similar questions and statements have been raised from civilian and security officials in Pakistan earlier.Leader of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Khurrum Gandapur on Monday has submitted a plea urging to launch treason case against ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore High Court (LHC).

The petition alleged Sharif of maligning Pakistan and national security departments. Former PMs statement regarding Mumbai attacks is equal to treason, it further stated.

The claimant requested the court launch to launch treason case against Nawaz Sharif under article 6.

Earlier on Sunday, Nawaz Sharif revealed in an interview that those who attacked hotel in Mumbai in 2008 hailed from Pakistan.

He said: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?  a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

The statement sparked condemnation on social media after which Pakistan Muslim League Nawazs (PML-N) spokesperson stated that part of Nawaz Sharifs interview was grossly misinterpreted by Indian media.

The spokesperson further added that party and its Quaid need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistans national security.Leader of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Khurrum Gandapur on Monday has submitted a plea urging to launch treason case against ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore High Court (LHC).

The petition alleged Sharif of maligning Pakistan and national security departments. Former PMs statement regarding Mumbai attacks is equal to treason, it further stated.

The claimant requested the court launch to launch treason case against Nawaz Sharif under article 6.

Earlier on Sunday, Nawaz Sharif revealed in an interview that those who attacked hotel in Mumbai in 2008 hailed from Pakistan.

He said: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?  a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

The statement sparked condemnation on social media after which Pakistan Muslim League Nawazs (PML-N) spokesperson stated that part of Nawaz Sharifs interview was grossly misinterpreted by Indian media.

The spokesperson further added that party and its Quaid need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistans national security.US President Donald Trumps daughter, Ivanka, has arrived in Jerusalem al-Quds to open the new US embassy in Israel, a controversial move that is guaranteed to stir violence in the occupied Palestinian lands.

Ivanka Trump landed in Tel Avivs Ben Gurion International airport on Sunday, where she was welcomed by US ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Speaking to reporters, the US presidents daughter said she had great joy in going back to Jerusalem al-Quds, which Trump recognized as Israels new capital last September amid international uproar.

We look forward to celebrating Israels 70th anniversary and the bright future ahead, Ivanka wrote online, as she prepared to attend the opening ceremony on Monday, exactly seven decades after the Tel Aviv regime forced out Palestinians from their land and declared existence.

We will pray for the boundless potential of the future of the US-Israel alliance, and we will pray for peace, Trumps daughter said.

European cold shoulders

Ivanka was slated to attend a gala dinner later on with her husband, Jared Kushner, who has been tasked by Trump to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Only 32 of the 86 foreign ambassadors in Israel have accepted an invitation to attend the dinner. Interestingly, only four of those are European countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria and Romania.

The Trump administration has invited no foreign envoys to the main ceremony, which will be held on 4 p.m. local time.

Palestinian protests

Trumps decision to move the US diplomatic mission to the ancient city has been met with outrage among Palestinians, who deem Jerusalem al-Quds as the future capital of a Palestinian state.

Only in Gaza, a coastal strip of land that has been under Israeli siege for a decade, thousands of people have pledged to partake in protests along border with Israel.

Protests in Gaza started on March 30 and have been regularly held over the past seven Fridays under the title of the Great March of Return.

Israel has shown a violent reaction to peaceful protests by Palestinians in Gaza Strip, killing close to 50 of them and injuring thousands over the past seven weeks.

The Gaza rallies will culminate on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which marks the creation of Israel on May 15, 1948.

Wary of inevitable clashes, the Israeli military has said it would double the number of forces around Gaza and in the West Bank before the opening ceremony.

Earlier on Sunday, thousands of protesters in Jordan, Turkey and Indonesia staged rallies to condemn the US decision.

Israeli and Palestinian residents of al-Quds held a separate rally on Saturday night, taking to the streets to voice their outrage.

Washingtons major European allies are also likely to skip the event and only send low-level representatives.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says he seeks a "clearer image" of the future of a key nuclear agreement Tehran signed with the P5+1 group of countries in 2015 after the US withdrawal from the agreement.

In a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing on Sunday, Zarif expressed hope that with this visit to China and other countries within the next two days, the sides would be able to depict a clearer vision of the nuclear deal's future.

Zarif launched a diplomatic tour early on Sunday designed to try and rescue the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), after US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the agreement.

Trump also said that he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Iran has said it would remain in the JCPOA for now, pending negotiations with the other signatories in the coming weeks before making a final decision on its future role in the agreement.

Shortly after Trump's announcement about the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would stay in the deal with other signatories.

Adding that Trump's decision was a historic experience for Iran, he said that the US president had a history of undermining international treaties.

During talks with the Chinese foreign minister, Zarif pointed to good relations between Tehran and Beijing after the JCPOA implementation started in 2016, adding, "We are confident that China will stand by Iran."

"China and Iran have comprehensive strategic partnership and are trade partners and these relations still continue," he noted.

The top Chinese diplomat, for his part, hoped that Zarif's visit would lead to important achievements to salvage the JCPOA and protect Iran's interests.

Zarif began his diplomatic tour on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's order to sound out Europe and other parties to the JCPOA about the possibility of keeping the deal in place. Iran wants the Europeans to give it clear-cut guarantees about fulfilling their obligations if Tehran remains in the accord.

The Iranian foreign minister will later fly to Moscow and Brussels to consult with his Russian, British, French and German counterparts as well as EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini.

The European Union's diplomatic chief said on Tuesday that the bloc was "determined to preserve" the Iran nuclear deal.

The 2015 agreement "is delivering on its goal, which is guaranteeing that Iran doesn't develop nuclear weapons, the European Union is determined to preserve it," Mogherini said, warning that she was "particularly worried" by the US' announcement of fresh sanctions.

A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that the United States stands to suffer the most after its move to withdraw from the JCPOA.

Speaking to reporters, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Leader's advisor on international affairs, said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran fully protects its independence and will by no means bow to their (Americans) bullying and we have proved this over the past 40 years."

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had reaffirmed their commitment to preserving the landmark nuclear agreement despite the US move to pull out of it.

Kremlin quoted a statement issued following the two leaders' call as saying, "The importance of preserving the deal from the viewpoint of international and regional stability was highlighted."In 2006, a group of 4 shaggy teenagers from Sheffield released their debut album Whatever You Say I Am Thats What Im Not and, without realising, defined a generation. A rough-and-ready series of vignettes painting out pictures of British nightlife: fights at the taxi rank, failed chat up lines in clubs, wedding discos, and a few cans in the park. Now, 12 years, 5 albums, 2 Glastonbury headline slots and a mic drop later they are unrecognisable.

Under the creative direction of frontman and lyricist Alex Turner, the band have churned through each album, adjusting their sound each time: from teenaged rocknrock to sophisticated stadium fillers. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino sees Turner push the boat out further than ever before: the catchy riffs and sing along choruses which helped rocket them into mainstream success have almost disappeared from sight.

The mischievous lyrics and Sheffield accent Turner started out with has given way to a persistent transatlantic drawl, more pretentious lyrics and silly hair (personal opinion). The crooning of I just wanted to be one of The Strokes in Star Treatment sets the tone for album as Turner explores the themes of distance, alienation and fame. Turner wrote most of the songs from his new home in LA on a Steinway Vertegrand piano: a drastic change from strumming some E minor chords in a recording studio in High Green, Sheffield  Turners usual haunts. The change in the writing process is clearly reflected in the shift of style the album takes. One Point Perspective features synths and a hip-hop drum beat and and Star Treatment wouldnt be out of place on a Serge Gainsbourg album. Four out of Five, a stand out track on the album, seems to combine many different components of the Monkeys discography into one track: the synchronous bass and guitar riffs are not far akin to AM, the vocals resemble some of their earlier work in Humbug, and the near-psychedelic chorus brings about nostalgia for Suck it and See.

Guitarist Jamie Cook had initially suggested the album should be released as a solo piece by Turner. Indeed, the tracks show far more resemblance to Turners solo work (Submarine EP 2011) and his side project with Miles Kane, The Last Shadow Puppets, than to anything the Monkeys have done. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino sees Turners original piano demos transformed by Nick OMalleys hypnotic basslines and Matt Helders decorative drum backing into, what one journalist elegantly put as their first work you can imagine anyone sampling. Helders drumming is far more reserved than previous work, with him adopting a style not far akin to Ringo Star (albeit far more in time). The albums title is a fitting one. Taken from the landing site where Armstrong and Aldrin first stuck the American flag on the Moon, this album sees Turner make one giant leap for the bands future direction. Like the Moon, the album may seem foreign and inaccessible, yet after further listening and deeper inspection theres beauty to be found within its intelligent framework.This might be the kind of thing Melania was talking about. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Last September, Senator John McCain said President Trump still hadnt apologized for disparaging his war record at the start of his presidential campaign. Now, taking a cue from their boss, White House aides are refusing to publicly apologize for a communications staffer responding to McCains political opposition by quipping, It doesnt matter, hes dying anyway.

Kelly Sadler, a special assistant to the president, reportedly made the comment during a closed-door meeting of White House communications staffers. She was reacting to McCain issuing a statement urging fellow senators not to support Gina Haspel, Trumps nominee for CIA director.

At Fridays press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressed no regrets or sympathy for McCain, saying, Im not going to validate a leak one way or the other out of an internal staff meeting.

Axios reported that Sanders chewed out communications staffers at a private meeting later in the day. While she said the comment was inappropriate, she was far more focused on condemning leakers. I am sure this conversation is going to leak, too. And thats just disgusting, she reportedly said. (Indeed, at least five sources relayed the events of the meeting.)

If the White House had quickly offered a public apology, the story probably would have died down after a day. On Sunday Meghan McCain, the senators daughter, revealed that when Sadler called to tell her she was sorry last week she actually asked her to publicly apologize as well.

When I had a conversation with Kelly, I asked her to publicly apologize and she said she would, Meghan McCain said. I have not spoken to her since and I assume that it will never come.

Thus the controversy continued, with lawmakers from both parties criticizing the White Houses handling of the incident.

Mitt Romney, whos running for the Senate in Utah, made a MAGA-related jab at the Trump administration:

John McCain makes America great. Father, grandfather, Navy pilot, POW hero bound by honor, an incomparable and irrepressible statesman. Those who mock such greatness only humiliate themselves and their silent accomplices.  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 12, 2018

On Face the Nation Republican senator Lindsey Graham, McCains closest friend in the Senate, called for a White House apology and said he thinks most Americans would like to see the Trump administration do better in situations like this. (Or perhaps Be Best, as Melania Trump urged just days ago.)

"I just wish somebody from the White House would tell the country that was inappropriate"



 @margbrennan spoke with @LindseyGrahamSC about the @WhiteHouse aide's controversial remarks https://t.co/oeOEH3nv4e pic.twitter.com/Qm2UrSIcEy  Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 13, 2018

Senator Bernie Sanders agreed on CNNs State of the Union. It is one thing in the White House for somebody to say something crude and stupid and disrespectful about an American hero, it is another thing for them not to apologize, he said.

It is beyond my comprehension, Sanders continued. I just dont know what goes on in that White House mentality for there not being an apology for that terrible remark.

Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders says it's beyond his "comprehension" that the White House has not apologized in the wake of reports that a staffer mocked Sen. John McCain's health https://t.co/R6kLqapfkR pic.twitter.com/DTY7BSHcvp  CNN (@CNN) May 13, 2018

Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, even offered an unsolicited rebuke of the White House on Twitter:

.@SenJohnMcCain is a great American, a close friend & mentor of mine in the Senate. Like millions of Americans, my family & I continue to pray for this American hero as he bravely battles cancer, & is again showing the courage and fighting spirit for which he is widely regarded.  SenDanSullivan (@SenDanSullivan) May 13, 2018

Making light of this  especially in the senseless and classless manner thats been described in the media  is simply sad and speaks more broadly to the low levels of civil discourse & respect that have infected our politics on both sides of the aisle. We all need to do better.  SenDanSullivan (@SenDanSullivan) May 13, 2018

As to the White House official who offered such an insult, she should show some respect and apologize.  SenDanSullivan (@SenDanSullivan) May 13, 2018

But White House officials had nothing else to add on Sunday. When asked about the comment on CNN, National Security Adviser John Bolton offered personal praise for McCain, but declined to say that his colleagues should offer an apology. Ive said what Im going to say, he said.

Bolton's CNN interview concludes with him refusing to condemn a White House aide's tasteless joke about John McCain's cancer. He won't even acknowledge that the White House has an obligation to apologize. pic.twitter.com/eO7ZB301Vp  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 13, 2018

In the Trump administrations defense, if McCain wanted to be treated with some basic decency while battling brain cancer, he should have thought of that before he said he didnt want the man who denigrated his war service at his funeral.The findings of the Financial Inquiry into the use of the Cambridge University Students Union (CUSU) budget has been released today, and calls for a better relationship between the Union and the students it represents.

The Inquiry, set up in Easter 2017 following the Unions shock 72,000 deficit in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, concentrated on the termination of the contract between CUSU and St Johns House, and the earlier cut to TCS budget in 2016.

In his speech to CUSU Council, leader of the Inquiry, Connor MacDonald labelled these, "reasonable decisions". He added that he was "consistently disappointed" with representation at CUSU and that council members ought to be more scrutinised individually.

Over the course of a series of meetings in Michaelmas and Lent Term 2017-2018, the Inquiry was able to make a decision regarding CUSUs handling of its budgetary proceedings. Whilst TCS funding was reduced in order to pursue more lucrative opportunities, the contract with St James House, a publishing company, was terminated early due to the poor quality of the products the company published for the Union.

Though the Inquiry found CUSUs answers convincing, the Union was criticised for the poor communication of these decisions, which the Inquiry judged generated undue controversy.

Eyre said of the report in a statement to TCS: "I found the inquiry process incredibly helpful and would express my thanks to the students involved who put aside their time to investigate ways forward for CUSU's finances. I think a lot of their recommendations have a lot of merit and I do believe that the focus on communications is well placed  and an area that I think has seen a lot of improvement over the last year or more. It was very valuable to have students involved in our reflections on the situation with our budget, and hope this can continue, perhaps through the Union Development Team".

The Inquiry document lists four ways in which CUSU can better liaise with the Universitys student population in an effort to reduce the consistent lack of transparency. Lack of clarity seems to have been particularly prominent in the discussions between CUSU Council and the CUSU Trustee Board, which did not provide the Union with sufficient information regarding the reasoning for the shift away from TCS and the obligation to use up CUSUs cash reserves.

As a remedy, the Inquiry proposes that the CUSU President be mandated to report, under the constraints provided by law, on the activities and decisions of the trustee Board as regularly as such meetings are held.

CUSU Council was criticised for its lack of participation in financial deliberations, noting that representatives rarely read budget documents in detail, especially the lack of representation of Cambridge students on the Council, describing it as woeful. Consequently, the Inquiry recommended the creation of a bi-termly CUSU sub-committee for the discussion of financial matters.

The report also highlighted the need for better, more formalised relationships between CUSUs Sabbatical Officers and the student press. It suggests a separate meeting to present the budget for members of the student press, as well as regular updates throughout the Michaelmas and Lent terms for both members of the press and the wider student community through events held outside of the CUSU Council structure.

This article has been updated to include comments made by Connor MacDonald and the statement given by Daisy Eyre.Daisy Eyre has criticised Varsity's press coverage of the final findings of the CUSU Finance Inquiry, describing their coverage as "incredibly negative". Eyre highlighted the difficulty created by the tone of the article in communicating to students in a "hostile" press environment.

"As I'm about to leave, I might as well say this," she began. "[The article] could have had pretty much any spin, but I think the spin is incredibly negative."

Martha Krish, CUSU's Education Officer, credited Daisy with the "incredible amount of time and effort into swinging this thing around." Noting that they were recent graduates with no expected knowledge of financial affairs, Krish stated that it was due to Eyre that CUSU had received the extra university funding which "completely lifted" CUSU's finances and allowed them to break even, despite running a deficit of over 70,000 last year. She described it as a "massively successful year".

"If we looked honestly at the situation at the start of the year and the one that we're leaving, we've had a pretty good year," she added. "We have to give credit where it's due, and it pretty much all belongs to Daisy."

Daisy Eyre made the following statement to TCS: "I was disappointed to see that the Varsity article about the council report into CUSU finances, which was an overwhelmingly positive and productive exercise, insisted on erasing the positive and exaggerating the negative of the report".Connor MacDonald, who presented the report at the Council meeting, expressed his opinion on the Varsity article. "The press has been far harsher than I would have been."

Varsity also added, Were glad to see TCS have removed factual errors about our piece from this article, and we would welcome CUSU contacting us directly if they believe any part of our original article is inaccurate or misleading.ZTE looked in serious trouble last week when the Chinese tech giant announced it had ceased major operations following a ban that prevents US companies from selling hardware and software to the firm. But it may have found an unlikely savior in the form of Donald Trump, who tweeted that he was working with Chinese president Xi Jinping to find a way for ZTE to get back into business, fast.

President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

The Commerce Department banned US companies from selling to ZTE for seven years last month. The penalty came after ZTE broke a plea agreement following last years admission that it violated sanctions by selling US-made technology to Iran and North Korea.

25 percent of ZTEs components come from US firms, such as Intel and Qualcomm. It said the ban will not only severely impact the survival and development of ZTE, but will also cause damages to all partners of ZTE including a large number of US companies.

The situation was an escalation in the trade dispute between China and the US, but Trumps tweet could see a thawing of relations between the countries. The presidents reversal comes as US officials prepare for talks with top Chinese trade official Liu He in Washington.

ZTE paid over $2.3 billion to 211 US exporters in 2017, and the company has over 80,000 employees. Part of Trumps tweet reads, Too many jobs in China lost.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said: The Presidents tweet underscores the importance of a free, fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial economic, trade and investment relationship between the United States and China. The administration is in contact with China on this issue, among others in the bilateral relationship. President Trump expects [Commerce] Secretary [Wilbur] Ross to exercise his independent judgment, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, to resolve the regulatory action involving ZTE based on its facts.

Several hours after his first tweet, Trump posted another message assuring people that it will all work out.

China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

The tweets appear to have divided opinion. Some analysts welcome improved ties between the US and China, while others maintain that ZTE technology poses a threat to national security, and that tough sanctions against the firm should remain in place.Microsoft at its annual Build conference last week unveiled a five-year, $25 million initiative designed to put AI to work for people with disabilities in what could be the tip of the iceberg in the accessibility space.

Twitter user @h0x0d (aka WalkingCat) on Monday published a rendering of what appears to be an accessibility-minded Xbox controller. The device features two large A and B buttons, a traditional D-pad, what looks to be a tri-LED strip and a few other buttons as well as what appears to be a USB port and a 3.5mm headset jack on the side.

Across the top of the controller are a series of function icons, perhaps hinting at some sort of programmable function. The Xbox name and logo are etched along the bottom of the controller in addition to the familiar Xbox button.

WalkingCat posted the photo without a description so its anyones guess as to the true intent of the device. The user has a solid track record, however, so the legitimacy of the leak isnt really being called into question at this hour. The only real question seems to be a matter of when Microsoft will unveil it although with E3 just around the corner, that seems the most likely venue.

Microsoft will host its Xbox E3 2018 Briefing on June 10 at 1 p.m. Pacific from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. You'll be able to stream the event live on your Xbox One or on mixer.com.Adult content is fairly easy for most individuals to access in places like America, but some countries have taken steps to restrict public access to the material. One such location is the UK, to a degree.

Due to the country's approval of the Digital Economy Act (DEA) in 2017, the UK will soon be tightening regulations on pornographic website's mandatory age verification methods.

Under the upcoming DEA rules, if a pornographic website fails to properly verify the age of their visitors (or chooses to ignore the requirement entirely) they could face "stiff penalties" including fines, website blocks and more.

...citizens may be able to visit a local newsstand to purchase a porn pass in lieu of more privacy-invasive verification methods...

One such method of age verification could reportedly come in the form of a "porn pass," as reported by The Telegraph.

Put simply, UK citizens may be able to visit a local newsstand to purchase a porn pass instead of being subjected to potentially privacy-compromising verification methods like MindGeek's AgeID system.

This would effectively allow users to keep their age information out of government or corporate databases if they so choose.

Of course, the process of publicly purchasing a porn pass could arguably be more embarrassing than other age verification methods, but it would likely be worth it for many individuals.

At any rate, UK citizens won't have to worry about these laws for some time. The Digital Economy Act's rules aren't scheduled to go into effect until later in 2018.According to Gberi-be Ouattara, the Vice President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Cape Verdean government must immediately liberate detained Venezuelan... | Read MorePhoto: Amazon; Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images

The popularity of the name Alexa as a choice for baby girls has dropped significantly in recent years. Its down 33 percent since 2015, Recode reports. Which, not so coincidentally, is when Amazon started selling the Echo, a smart-home device voiced by an AI named Alexa. As in you have to say Alexa every time you want to command the bot to do anything.

People already named Alexa have complained in the past about the struggles of having their name co-opted by Amazon. I always liked my name, until Amazon gave it to a robot,  NYU graduate Alexa Sussman told The Wall Street Journal back in 2017. She referenced a time her dad asked her for some water and the familys Echo chimed in offering to order a case of Fiji bottles. Back in 2015, 6,050 baby girls in the United States were given the name Alexa. (Thats 311 for every 100,000 female babies.) In 2017, the total number of Alexas born was just 3,883.

Of course, even if you opt to name your baby Alexa in 2018 know that it could always be worse. Theres a woman in New Jersey named Alexa Seary  its pronounced like Siri  who, clearly, cant live in a house with any devices from Amazon or Apple.Furthermore, contrary to much of the rhetoric around corporate tax cuts, he says: Tax cuts are a band aid not a surgery.

Weve got to fix the roots in Australia, he says.

State and federal governments need to show more urgency around building infrastructure and cutting red tape for booming industries. Were not asking for freebies but governments need to expedite processes so we can expand. For example, we want to expand our manufacturing facility from 140 employees to 440 employees by January next year but we dont have the government support to even get an electricity upgrade, Dr Chami says.

Our vision is to make Australia one of the worlds best in terms of pharmaceutical manufacturing but in many ways, governments restrict innovation.

Yet beyond the need for a little bit of red-tape cutting Chami remains bullish about the future and in the power of technology to drive his company forward.

Another local company riding the digital wave is ASX-listed machine-learning specialists Appen who according to CEO, Mark Brayan are providing the data to eight of the top 10 tech giants including Apple, Amazon and Alphabet as they build out their AI offerings.

AI learns more the more data you give it, so were not in the business of building robots but training them, he says.

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We work with people in 130 countries in 180 languages and use technology to collate data. The faster we can collate data, the better it is for our business. Furthermore, good data equates to good robots. Machines do what we tell them to do so they rely on good data so high volumes of high quality data keeps the world safe from bad robots.

The company is one of Australias home-grown unicorns and has an enormously positive story to tell about their growth as they now supply nearly every major tech firm with the data driving their AI and machine-learning.

Data drives AI which is often forgotten. Basically, if you want any AI product to mimic the human element it will require an enormous amount of data  millions or billions of data points. What were doing is the grunt work under the covers.

Brayan says the majority of the customers are overseas and staffing levels reflect the business structure with the majority of employees based internationally.

Were an Australian-listed company but were a global business made up of a good cohort of talented people around the world, Brayan says.

He says the ASX listing has been very good for the business and has given them good access to capital in Australia. If anything has been a constraint on the company it has been an access to talent and technology.

Theyre happy challenges  speed and scale. There really are no barriers to growth beyond the pace of growth and what were trying to do is to simply respond to that challenge with more technology and more people. Its a wonderful position to be in - being an essential part of the AI story.

Founder and managing director of private equity firm Anacacia Capital, Jeremy Samuel agrees it is a pretty good time for Australias mid-market companies. Specialising in the mid-market and the nations SME sector, Anacacia were an original investor in Appen when founders Dr Julie and Chris Vonwiller were examining their succession planning before it listed.

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Its one of Australias great success stories that we dont tend to talk about much despite it being a billion-dollar company delivering great dividends to shareholders and operating at the cutting edge of AI and machine learning, Samuel says.

And while Appens story illustrates the limitless potential of technology, he emphasises that it can also be a threat to mid-market players.

Its a threat that is there to be dealt with - the basic principles of business are the same now as they have been for years. The best businesses have always evolved and been able to adapt.

Beyond potential technology pitfalls, Samuel acknowledges there is a capital shortage in the mid-market.

Theres plenty of capital around for start-ups and for those listed in the ASX 100 but options for capital in the mid-market can be limited.

He suggests Australian growing mid-market companies need to be bold - they need to look at blending their existing shareholders and board with outside investors.

Its a great time generally in the economy at present and capital will follow a good business or good idea and good people, he says.

KPMG Enterprises Nimac agrees funding can still be a challenge as can the regulatory burden but what sets Australias mid-market companies apart is they just tend to get on with it.

Theyre not sitting back, theyre the quiet achievers in the economy.

You know KPMG, you might not know KPMG Enterprise. Were dedicated to working with businesses like yours. Its all we do. Whether youre an entrepreneur looking to get started, an innovative, fast growing company, a local council, or an established company looking to an exit, we understand what is important to you and can help you navigate your challenges  no matter the size and stage of your business. You gain access to KPMGs global resources through a single point of contact  a trusted adviser to your company. Its a local touch with a global reach.A push to ensure students have core literacy and numeracy skills by the age of eight will significantly reduce time for play, and is the opposite of what is being done in leading school systems such as Finland, according to Sydney principal Andrew Hill.

Mr Hill, head of Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, said tests such as NAPLAN, which students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will sit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, could be affecting teachers' ability to build skills such as creativity and collaboration in the early years.

Teaching literacy and numeracy skills in students' early years will sideline critical play-based learning, the head of Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School says. Credit:Peter Rae

The Gonski 2.0 report, handed down last month, recommended that schools "prioritise the implementation of learning progressions for literacy and numeracy ... to ensure the core foundations for learning are developed by all children by the age of eight".

However, Mr Hill said that formal reading and writing instruction should be delayed to better match the "natural rhythm of children" and lay down proper foundations for learning.I had just sent off a review of Linda Alcoffs new book Rape and Resistance to the Australian Book Review , when news broke that Diaz had withdrawn from the Sydney Writers Festival. He had been confronted in a panel discussion by author Zinzi Clemmons, who later tweeted that Diaz had forcibly kissed her six years earlier; she was followed by a host of other women on Twitter who described Diazs verbal abuse and bullying.

We consider the shades of grey, the complexity of human relations and the ambiguities of sexual politics; theyre debates that force us to think more deeply about context and culpability. The Aziz Ansari discussion was one such instance that made us consider the blurred boundaries of consent, the limits of female agency and male cultures of sexual entitlement. The Junot Diaz debate is the most recent: what do we do when the tyrannised become the tyrants? Why is it so difficult for us to accept that victims may also have agency?

There are moments in the #metoo campaign where someone blows a whistle, each side stops screaming from across the field and we pause to think more carefully about the rules.

I felt slightly sickened by the events, but I had another concern: my review of Alcoff was also an homage to Diaz. I had begun by applauding his intersectional analysis of sexual violence, the way in which rape is never separate from colonial violence in his books; instead, sex lives are navigated in the midst of intergenerational trauma transferred from mothers who are rape victims to daughters and sons.

I had also argued that part of the reason why he was able to write so cleverly on the issue was because he was a survivor of child rape. In a personal essay in the New Yorker, he had told us, in painfully intimate detail about how his violation threw me completely out of orbit, into the lightless regions of space where life is not possible".

He explained that "trauma is a time traveller, an ouroboros that reaches back and devours everything that came before". His article underlined one of Alcoffs key points: survivors need to be accorded authority as knowledge-bearers. It is only through privileging rather than pathologising the voices of survivors that we can expand our understanding of rape and move forward.

The problem was that my exemplar had now been exposed as a sex pest. Should I chop him? How could he stand for the general principle that we need to accord survivors authority when he had failed to account for the harm he had done to these women? Why did women bear the burden of publicly raising private harm, when he had had so much opportunity to do so? Could I say that he wrote cogently about rape when he had failed to imagine the harm he inflicted upon his victims with the same sensitivity he had afforded himself?

Upon further reflection I decided to leave Diaz in because it is in its complexity, rather than its vigilantism (on both sides) that the #metoo campaign is at its strongest. And one of the first complicating issues to arise with Diaz was our definition of what it means to be a victim.Traffic was brought to a standstill on Monday morning as police evicted one of the last residents of the Northbourne public housing flats.

Judith Kelly, 58, lived in a ground floor unit with her son and briefly staged an impromptu protest in the middle of Northbourne Avenue after her eviction.

Dramatic photos showed the busy northbound lane of Northbourne grinding to a halt as Ms Kelly blocked the path of oncoming traffic.

Judith Kelly, who staged an impromptu protest in the middle of Northbourne Avenue after her eviction on Monday morning. Credit:Karleen Minney.

She was later led off the street by a police officer."People have a right to know that if they input their personal data into our website we absolutely accept they thought it would be secure and in this instance we are very sorry to say it might have been breached," Professor Brassil said. The attack was financially motivated, with the hackers using ransomware that threatened to publicly release the data if a bitcoin ransom was not paid, Professor Brassil said. "The ransom said we are shutting down your website and you pay us $15,000 in Bitcoin for us to release the website, and it had a clock ticking down." "It wasn't that sophisticated, in that they were only after the money and once we didn't pay the money they disappeared," she said. She stressed the breach was not politically or ideologically driven, and FPNSW was not the target.

"This wasn't about family planning this was about a hack to software," Professor Brassil said. It is understood the hack was likely part of a wave international cyber attacks - known as Drupalgeddon2 - that targeted critical vulnerabilities in the Drupal website content management system. The message on the Family Planning NSW website on Monday. Credit:fpnsw.org.au "It was one of a number of cyber attacks against that particular piece of software," Professor Brassil said. "This is not about the quality of our services and we are completely committed to the confidentiality of clinical data."

We hope the public will continue to trust us with their healthcare needs, Professor Brassil said. A client who received FPNSW"s email on Monday, Lauren Ingram, said she found it quite concerning that her details had been compromised. But for some women, if it were made public that they were at Family Planning NSW, it could be incredibly dangerous or shameful for them personally. "Some women could be in abusive relationships and seeking healthcare without their partners knowledge. They could be from conservative families and feel shame for needing contraception. They shouldnt feel shame but they might. The data breach could put them in danger," she wrote. The FPNSW website is currently down and would be back online after an external security review and internal testing, Ms Carrick and Professor Brassil said.

FPNSW clinics are operating as usual on Monday, FPNSW said in its statement. NSW Health said there were no other known website breaches in the NSW public health system or affiliated organisations. Health minister Brad Hazzard has directed the department to require all health-funded NGOs to confirm to NSW Health within 30 days that NGOs and their third party providers comply with relevant privacy and data standards, a spokesperson for the minister said. "This relates to the collection, storage and transmission of this data, the spokesperson said in a statement. FPNSW's website was built and is managed externally by Adelphi Digital.A Bondi resident has struck gold twice in the space of five days, after reinvesting some of his lottery winnings on a second winning ticket.

The 40-year-old got his first win last Monday when his system entry took out the guaranteed $1 million division one prize.

A Bondi man has won Lotto twice in one week. Credit:NSW Lotteries

It also won division three 30 times and division four a remarkable 150 times, bolstering his total prize winnings to $1,020,487.00.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, told NSW Lotteries at the time that he planned to spend his cash on local real estate.A Brisbane robotics expert who says the children of today will interact with A.I. in some point in their lives is putting 1000 textbook guides to artificial intelligence in classrooms around the country.

Queensland University of Technology robotics professor Michael Milford, the author of The Complete Guide to Artificial Intelligence for Kids, said limited resources were available for children to learn about intelligent machines.

Queensland University or Technology Professor Michael Milford.

The thing about artificial intelligence is we dont know what is going to happen, which ends up being the most exciting and scary aspect of this industry, he said.

Highly automated tasks that a user does is likely going to be partially bound by artificial intelligence  A.I. has and will change the way we function in our roles.In a bid to curb the loss of millions of dollars to foreign insurance companies, the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) is pushing for governments implementation of the law that empowers local firms, writes ALON MWESIGWA.

To businessman Gerald marine insurance was just a sum paid to international shipping partners. He did not even believe he can do anything in the unfortunate case that he lost goods in transit until misfortune struck in 2016.

Maritime disasters can be costly for local importers due to the strenuous process of following up claims with foreign insurance firms

I simply thought it was any other cost until my cars got damaged on the route to Mombasa, he says.

I had no option but to give up because I couldnt follow up the issue with the Japanese firm and I also didnt properly understand the insurance cover I had.

Like Kisitu, many local traders have no idea what type of insurance cover they obtained and the extent of coverage in case of loss and claim settlement.

So, they have to sit with the uncertainty of whether the foreign seller has actually insured the goods as contracted in the arrangements.

This includes other challenges such as language barrier and the cost of pursuing the settlement in a foreign country. In light of this, the Uganda Insurers Association has embarked on efforts to sensitize importers about marine insurance in a bid to complement efforts by IRA in creating awareness and appreciation of the local purchase of marine insurance.

The efforts have commenced with various stakeholder engagements targeting different groups including Uganda Shippers Council, Uganda Clearing and Forwarders Association, Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Uganda Small-Scale Industries Association, Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) as well as other groups such as car importers, manufacturers, printers, freight forwarders and haulage operators, among others.

The sensitization covers the insurance policy options, the benefits of purchasing the insurance policy locally, as well as the claims process in case of loss or damage of cargo.

According to Ibrahim Lubega Kaddunabbi, the IRA chief executive, Ugandan importers will start to appreciate that purchasing insurance from a local insurer is cheaper and gives buyers more control over the types and levels of insurance purchased.

The most obvious benefit is that it is easier to engage an insurance company in Uganda as opposed to one in another country and with local marine purchase, a trader will be able to reduce the importation costs and the anxiety related to loss and damage, he says.

In the mean- time, importers should endeavor to acquire as much knowledge and information about marine cargo insurance as possible.

RELIEF ON THE WAY

Going forward, this means that if any Ugandan importer chooses to in- sure their imports, they have to do so with a Ugandan insurance company.

Last year, government, through the ministry of Finance, made a key pronouncement through the background to the Budget for fiscal year 2017/18 paper, June, 2017 that; It is empowering locally-licensed insurance companies to issue all policies relating to domestic marine cargo insurance effective July 1, 2017 and that IRA administratively enforce and implement the provisions in the Insurance Act under Section (3) (2).

In fact, Section 3 (2) of the Insurance Act highlights says that no per- son, other than a person licensed as an insurer under this act, shall issue any insurance policy on Goods imported from other countries except personal effects and donations.

However, the implementation is yet to take effect and because of this delay, the country continues to lose millions of dollars that go to foreign insurance companies for goods destined for Uganda.

EXPERTS TAKE

Edward Katongole, an insurance broker, says it is essential for businesses engaging in international trade, especially those shipping large quantities of goods by sea to take up marine insurance policies.

Specific terms and benefits vary widely across the world, and many marine insurance policies are customer- tailored for specific shipments, but a few general principles apply to the entire industry.

With a representative or agent of any local insurance company and, or perhaps with the help of a good insurance broker, cargo can be insured for a single shipment or multiple shipments over a specific time frame, he says.

Most policies will provide coverage for the cargos value as well as other charges based on the payment that would have been received if the cargo were to reach its destination.

alon@observer.ugA magistrate has raised concern about the potential delay in finalising the case against a 15-year-old girl charged over an alleged hit-run crash that killed a married couple.

The girl, who cannot be named, faced a childrens court on Monday following her arrest after the April 21 crash in Wantirna South that killed Matt Goland and Bita Zaeim, a couple from The Basin who had been married a year.

Flowers at the Wantirna South crash scene and, inset, married couple Matt Goland and Bita Zaeim.

Police allege the girl was a passenger in a stolen Lexus SUV that was driven by Eric Victorsen, who is accused of running a red light at speed and crashing into the couples Holden Commodore.

Mr Victorsen, 19, is charged with two counts of culpable driving causing death. The girl faces two counts of being an accessory to culpable driving. Police allege she assisted Mr Victorsen by attempting to impede his apprehension.The beleaguered headmaster of Trinity Grammar has resigned in the wake of the haircut incident which rocked his school.

The head of the Kew private school, Dr Michael Davies, has faced intense pressure to stand down since deputy headmaster Rohan Brown was sacked for chopping a students hair in March.

Dr Michael Davies

Dr Davies announced his resignation at an 8am meeting on Tuesday with staff.

He said he decided to step down after deep discussions with his family.Fire extinguishers in the vicinity of a prison blaze at the weekend were tagged as out of date, the WA Prison Officers Union (WAPOU) has revealed.

It is just one of several fresh concerns which have been raised over the Melaleuca Remand and Reintegration Facility.

Nine prison officers were hospitalised with smoke inhalation after a cell fire at the women's facility on Saturday.

Nine prison officers were hospitalised with smoke inhalation after a cell fire on the weekend.

Reports from members inside the prison suggest fire extinguishers near the blaze were marked out of date, union secretary Andy Smith said.The royal wedding? Look, I might be mistaken, but I think it is this weekend, yes? Why, yes, to judge from the countdown clocks I see every time I turn on the tube, it seem it is five days, eight hours, 18 minutes and 12 seconds away.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for the media after their engagement. Credit:AP

And yes, I suppose as chair of the Australian Republic Movement, I am expected to sneer unpleasantly at this point. But not this little black duck.

Good luck to them. From a great distance Prince Harry seems like a great young bloke who has served his country with distinction, and is blessed with sufficient courage to follow his heart where it leads, right to the point of marrying a divorced foreigner of mixed race, and to hell with there being no precedent for such a move.

From a greater distance still, Meghan Markle seems even more admirable, having raised herself from troubled roots, to great fame, wealth and power, doing an extraordinary amount for the underprivileged along the way. The documentaries about her  and I have watched several  show a fine woman.Labor is preparing to intensify pressure on Treasury to reveal more about the $140 billion cost of the Turnbull governments sweeping cuts to income taxes amid signs that voters are yet to be convinced about the seven-year plan.

Ramping up the political contest on tax, Labor will demand more disclosure about who gains most from the income tax cuts and how the cost to the budget mounts over the next decade.

A key objective is to gather more information about the later stages of the tax reform, especially the idea of a single tax rate of 32.5 per cent on all earnings between $41,000 and $200,000, so Labor can develop an alternative policy.

Senator McAllister Credit:Dallas Kilponen

Labor is lodging questions with the Parliamentary Budget Office to gain cost estimates on alternative tax cuts over seven years, after sending strong signals that it would not accept the final stage of the government plan.A number of female Liberals are facing preselection battles even as the party reckons with its under-representation of women in the wake of a decision to dump frontbencher Jane Prentice.

Victorian senator Jane Hume is staring down a challenge from conservative forces, while NSW MP Ann Sudmalis is reportedly facing a contest in her marginal south coast seat of Gilmore.

Sitting MPs across the country railed against the emphatic dumping of Ms Prentice, the assistant social services minister, at the hands of local preselectors at the weekend.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was "very disappointed" with the outcome, even though it was part of the political process. Victorian Liberal MP Russell Broadbent said it was "very disappointing, especially for womens representation within the party".Former treasurer Peter Costello has heaped praise on the Turnbull governments $140 billion income tax cuts for delivering tax relief to the "forgotten people", but cautioned it may never be realised.

Last week, Mr Costello threw a hand grenade into the Turnbull governments pre-budget messaging by warning he would probably be dead before government debt was paid off.

But speaking on Monday at a breakfast at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, Mr Costello backed the governments long term plan to deliver tax relief to high income earners, a group he described as the forgotten people.

Former treasurer Peter Costello has praised the Turnbull government's budget. Credit:Josh Robenstone

However, he warned of potential work disincentive effects for lower income earners from the introduction of the new low and middle income tax offset.Plans for the Queen Victoria Market will be drastically altered by Melbourne City Council, after it backed down from a battle with heritage authorities over its proposed refurbishment of 140-year-old sheds.

News of the council's backdown came as another element of the revamp, a 40-level tower and community centre on the market's doorstep, was approved.

The council had wanted to temporarily remove four of the markets heritage sheds and, while they were being restored, dig three levels of underground parking and service areas for traders.

The $250-million redevelopment plan for the Queen Victoria Market has been put on ice. Credit:Eddie Jim

That plan was halted in March when Heritage Victoria said it could not accept assurances the sheds could be returned in their original condition.Washington: President Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, underwent a surgical procedure on Monday to treat a benign kidney condition and will remain at Walter Reed medical centre for the rest of the week, the first lady's office said.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that Mrs Trump, 48, underwent an embolisation procedure to treat the kidney condition.

"The procedure was successful and there were no complications," Grisham said. "The first lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere."

Embolisation is a common medical procedure used to control blood flow to treat a range of conditions, from uterine fibroids to deadly tumours.Washington: A Russian company indicted in the special counsel investigation attacked the case in an acerbic court filing Monday that accused the government of charging the company with a "make-believe crime."

The sharp rhetoric from Concord Management and Consulting LLC suggests the makings of a pitched court fight and a fresh challenge to the authority of special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed by the Justice Department last May to investigate potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Yevgeny Prigozhin was one of those indicted in the US Russia probe. Credit:AP

The company was indicted in February on charges of conspiring to meddle in the 2016 presidential election by funding a covert social media campaign aimed in part at getting Republican Donald Trump elected president.

The indictment, which also named two other Russian companies and 13 individuals, was the first brought by Mueller's team to directly attach criminal charges to Russian attempts to interfere in the election.Security is tight at the High court's International Crimes Division in Kampala as the pre-trial hearing of Jamil Mukulu, a former rebel of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) kicks off.



Mukulu and 34 others are on charges of terrorism, aggravated robbery and murder among others. More than 50 counter terrorism and Military Police officers have surrounded the court premises.

Jamil Mukulu with fellow suspects in the High court. Photo: @TalentAhereza

Relatives of the suspects have also come in large numbers to witness the scheduled judgment and have been subjected to maximum security checks at the court entries - with only those having valid identification allowed inside the court premises.The suspects arrived with both their hands and legs handcuffed and chained. Upon his arrival, Mukulu was ranting that he is not a murderer and neither is he guilty of the charges against him."I'm not a murderer, the people who killed are in this country. This country is full of mafias", said Mukulu.The trial session will be presided over by Justice Eva Luswata and is expected to last for a month. Justice Luswata will be assisted by Justices Moses Mukiibi, Suzan Okalany and Michael Elubu.The rules of this specialized court, require a suspect to go through a pre-trial session with prosecution adducing evidence to prove whether there is a prema-facie established against him/her or not.Mukulu is charged with one count of terrorism, seven counts of murder, nine counts of aggravated robbery, one count of aiding and abetting terrorism and one count of crimes against humanity. Other charges are; four counts of attempted murder and one count of belonging to a terrorist organization.Mukulu was the leader of the Allied Democratic Forces rebels who terrorized some parts of Uganda including allegedly planting bombs in Kampala in the 1990s until he was arrested 2015.Mukulu is represented by lawyers Wandera Ogalo, Evans Ochieng and Laudislaus Rwakafuzi have also sat at the moment.Broadway's Waitress will welcome Erich Bergen as Dr. Pomatter beginning June 5 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. His run in the show will conclude August 12.

Waitress marks Bergen's Broadway debut. He currently costars as Blake Moran on the CBS drama Madam Secretary, and played the role of Bob Gaudio in the film, national tour, and Las Vegas productions of Jersey Boys.

Inspired by Adrienne Shelly's 2007 motion picture, Waitress tells the story of Jenna, an expert pie maker in a small town who dreams of a way out of her loveless marriage. A baking contest in a nearby county and the town's new doctor may offer her a chance at a new life, while her fellow waitresses offer their own recipes to happiness. But Jenna must find the courage and strength within herself to rebuild her life.

Waitress features a book by Jessie Nelson, score by Sara Bareilles, choreography by Lorin Latarro, and direction by Diane Paulus.Photo: Mark Kostich/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Im standing under a gray sky in Zwanenburg, a town about 20 minutes from Amsterdam, with clinical psychologist Dr. Merel Kindt. Were outside a squat white building with a word stenciled in black letters on one of the windows: reptielenopvang. Reptile house.

When we go inside, Kindt says, Bianca will be holding a snake. Are you ready?

No. No, Im not. I can feel the tears forming at the thought of whats about to happen.

Sorry. I wipe my eyes. I dont think I can do it.

Youre brave or you wouldnt be here, she says, and before I can argue, she pulls the door open. Lets go.

My view is blocked by bookshelves at first, but as we turn the corner I see a young woman, Kindts assistant, with one of the creatures draped across her shoulders and down both arms.

Hes too big, I say, freezing in place. Hes really, really, really big.

Kindt strides confidently toward them. Please. She gestures with her hand. Come.

The snake is the color of dark ash. His head is pointed away from me, but I picture him whipping around, fangs bared, ready to swallow me whole.

Come, Kindt repeats. I take a zombie-like step, my body tilted back as if Im leaning away from the edge of a cliff. I take another step, and another, until Im in front of  it. My entire body vibrates with fear.

For non-sufferers, its probably hard to understand the all-encompassing terror of ophidiophobia, otherwise known as the fear of snakes. Well-meaning people often ask me if it even matters: How often do you see snakes anyway, living in New York City?

To which I respond: All. The. Time. Ive encountered people flaunting them in restaurants, in city parks, even once at a friends book party (I fled immediately). Recently, I came across photos online that featured a fat boa constrictor coiled around a subway pole on the very train I ride each day.

Plus, when you have a phobia, you often see the object of it, even when its not there. Its called expectancy bias. That discarded belt at the back of a closet? A snake. A tangle of electrical cords in my peripheral vision? Snake. Ive even misinterpreted the strap on someones backpack and bolted.

What do you think about touching him? Kindt says now.

At first I think shes joking, but of course shes not. And Im desperate for this to work. Twice Ive been cured of my almost-lifelong ophidiophobia, and both times its returned. Those attempts were with exposure therapy, where new, neutral memories are created to sit alongside the fearful ones, hopefully outweighing them. Kindts treatment is different. Its not about forming new memories. Its about evoking an existing memory and, with the help of a drug, altering it.

Jessie? she says.

Okay. One, two, three. I put one hand on the snake, while the other remains over my heart, to make sure it doesnt stop.

Youre doing very well, Kindt says, smiling. Thats enough.

Outside, as soon as we get into a waiting taxi, Kindt hands me a white pill. Its the beta blocker propranolol, and for the treatment to be successful it must be taken during a specific window: after the phobia memory has been triggered, but before its been stored back in your brain (a process called reconsolidation). The propranolol blocks the flood of adrenaline responsible for the fear response. When the memory is re-stored, its stripped of the fear.

By the time we arrive at the University of Amsterdam, where Kindt is a professor, Im utterly exhausted. She brings me to an office and instructs me to rest for one hour  no phone, no laptop.

On the way back to my hotel, I spot an abandoned black bicycle fender. Its curved like a snake. Normally this kind of thing would startle me, if not send me skittering across the street. This time, I think: That looks like a snake  with none of the usual panic.

I wonder if this means Im cured, but Id been warned not to overthink it tonight. Tomorrow is the test portion of the treatment. Thats when Ill have the answer.

The next day, outside the reptile house, Kindt asks me to rate distress level on a scale of 1100.

Maybe 40? I say, baffled. Yesterday it was 100.

Good, she says. Ready?

Yes. This time, when I spot Bianca holding the snake, my first thought is, Hes interesting looking. Im not leaning my body away. To be clear, Im also not running toward him for a loving embrace. But my chest hasnt seized up. Im not terrified.

I put my hand on his body. Hes warm.

Do you think you could hold him? Kindt asks.

I nod and Bianca sets him across my open palms. Hes heavier than I expected. Whats his name?

Big Boy, Bianca says.

He stays in my hands, moving slowly. He seems gentle. I feel a rush of gratitude toward him and cant stop smiling at this snake, whos as long as I am.

Wow, Kindt says. This is fantastic! How do you feel?

I feel calm. Im waiting for the terror to hit me  but its not. Its bizarre.

Can you see more snakes? Theyre just there, in that room. She points toward a white door. That way we will know your cure is generalized, and not just for this one.

I give Big Boy back to Bianca. But I hesitate in the rooms doorway: the walls are lined with tanks, some over six feet long. I know whats in them. Still, I walk inside, closing the door behind me.

The first one I see is cocoa-colored, as wide as a one-liter bottle of soda. He lies completely still in his tank, his head perched on top of his coils, like someone resting their chin on a pillow. Interesting, I think.

Bianca pulls a medium-sized snake out of a tank. Hes deep amber, with copper lines like hieroglyphics.

Whos this guy? I ask, reaching out to touch him.

King python, Bianca says.

Can you hold him, Jessie? Kindt asks, and when I nod yes, Bianca places him in my hands.

His tongue flickers over my skin, and he glides gracefully up my arm. Hes cute, I say.

Bianca says something in Dutch that makes Kindt laugh. She turns to me and says, Bianca cant believe youre the same person as yesterday.

I kind of cant, either, I say.

And actually, Im not.

Something Kindt says later gives me hope that this will be a permanent change. When people think about memory, they think about conscious recollections, she says, but most of our memory we are not aware of. After you learn to ride a bicycle, you have a memory for biking. If you see a bike, your memory helps you to know how to ride it  its a spontaneous automatic response.

I did have specific fearful memories involving snakes, but more important, I had a general memory. Just like seeing a bicycle and knowing how to ride it, I would see  or think I saw  a snake, and experience a spontaneous automatic response: terror. Its that general memory thats altered by taking the propranolol at exactly the right time.

Some people feel a sadness after theyre cured, Kindt warns me. A part of you is gone  even though the phobia was unpleasant, it was part of who you were.

In the coming days, after I return to my normal life in New York, I dont feel sad. But I definitely feel different: Im no longer on high alert, scanning for them everywhere, and as a result, my brain seems to have more space. Space for thinking, for noticing details, for simply relaxing. And my solar plexus feels more open, my shoulders more relaxed. I feel able to take deeper breaths.

A few weeks after the treatment, Im walking near Washington Square Park, on the first warm day. I could run into one now, I think, out of habit, then catch myself and smile. Now, it doesnt matter. I can let go of that dreadful springtime ritual of ramping up my vigilance, as well as its winter equivalent: at least I dont have to worry about running into a snake.

Only I wouldnt have thought snake. Id have thought one of them. Because until the treatment in Amsterdam, I had a hard time thinking, saying, typing, or even reading the word  just seeing those five letters was enough to scare me.

Now I can read the word, type it, even say it out loud. I can walk through city parks without scanning every shoulder, I can ride the subway without inspecting the poles, I can even hold a snake myself, marveling at the intricate patterns Id been too panicked to notice before.

Sometimes I think about the decades I spent being afraid, all that wasted energy. But thats even more wasted energy. Instead, I choose to focus on my good fortune  on how lucky I am, that I got to participate in something that feels a little like science, and a lot like magic.Melania Trump. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

First Lady Melania Trump is recovering at Walter Reed medical center this week, after undergoing surgery to treat a benign kidney condition on Monday morning.

In a statement, the First Ladys communications director Stephanie Grisham wrote, This morning, first lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. The procedure was successful, and there were no complications.

She went on Mrs. Trump is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will likely remain there for the duration of the week. The First Lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere.

JUST IN: First Lady Melania Trump had successful procedure for "benign kidney condition" at Walter Reed today, remains in hospital - White House statement https://t.co/jn8limUSe7 pic.twitter.com/k7AaUst4ez  CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 14, 2018

Embolization is a minimally invasive surgical technique that cuts off the blood supply to a specific area of the body by injecting a material like tiny gelatin sponges or beads into a blood vessel, stopping its flow. The procedure is used to treat certain types of cancers, tumors, abnormal tissue growth, as well as kidney lesions, uterine fibroids, aneurysms, internal bleeding, or defects in blood vessels.

Grisham confirmed President Trump will visit Melania at the hospital later today.Parisa Fitz-Henley and Murray Fraser in Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance. Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime

Lifetime has honored the upcoming May 19 wedding between Meghan Markle and Prince Harry the only way it knows how: by releasing a soap opera-y original movie about the couple less than one week before the very royal affair. (Naturally, Lifetime did the same back in 2011 just before Kate Middleton and Prince Williams nuptials.)

What Does It Take To Be A Duchess? Inside A Royal Etiquette Class

For those of us who love Lifetime movies, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance  which premiered on Sunday night  is a dream. Its got lions (as a metaphor for the late Princess Diana watching over her son), one-liners about showbiz, Fake Prince Harrys (Murray Fraser) passionate defense of a lifestyle blog, and Fake Meghan (Parisa Fitz-Henley) proving shes a feminist by fighting to change lines on Suits.

The fun film is so ripe with Lifetimes typical cheesy lines and over-the-top scenes  the only things missing from it are plotlines about teen STDs and evil stepmothers. Here, pour yourself a glass of wine and join us on a journey through the most quintessentially Lifetime moments from Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance.

Fake Prince Harry in the club.

Did you know that before Prince Harry met Meghan, he was quite the partier? If youre a person whos been on the internet in the past decade, you probably knew that. As a nod to his party-boy lifestyle, the movie has a scene of Fake Prince Harry dancing with ladies in the club as he sprays Champagne all over the place to really drive the point home.

Fake Meghan proving shes a feminist by making scene suggestions on the set of Suits.

We all know that Meghan has a passion for womens rights, and Lifetime proves this by having the fake version of her balk at a suggestion that her Suits character Rachel Zane look coquettish while talking about law-related things or wearing a towel in the middle of the day.

Watches are tough! Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime

Fake Prince Harry falls in love with Fake Meghan when she shows him how to use a watch.

According to Lifetimes interpretation of events, Fake Prince Harry was forty (40) minutes late for his blind date with Fake Meghan. When he arrived, she called him out on being late and then showed him how watches work. He was so charmed!

Can't wait to see  Harry & Meghan: #ARoyalRomance  tomorrow at 8/7c? Here's a sneak peak  at how this epic love story  begins! pic.twitter.com/OfCjPH3I9Z  Lifetime (@lifetimetv) May 12, 2018

The show business exchange.

Meghan is an actress, so shes officially in show business. But Prince Harry has to live his life in the spotlight, so Fake Meghan tells Fake Prince Harry on their first date, Maybe youre the one whos in show business. Wow, makes you think.

The lion metaphor.

In the film, young Fake Prince Harry stops his dad from shooting a lion because he thinks its his late mother, Princess Diana. Then, on a date with Fake Meghan (to Botswana), he tells her about the experience, and they bond. Later, around the 20th anniversary of Princess Dianas death, Fake Meghan and Fake Prince Harry are confronted by a lion when they go back to Africa. Deep.

The Africa scenes are really something. Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime

The Africa love scenes.

They kiss and bang for the first time in Africa! Lots of thematic music and sweeping visuals turn these into the ultimate Lifetime love scenes.

Fake Prince Harry defends Fake Meghans lifestyle blog.

Prior to announcing her royal engagement, Meghan shuttered her lifestyle blog, The Tig. In the movie, the Fake Palace tries to get Fake Prince Harry to force Fake Meghan to shut down the blog, to which he replies, Not a chance in hell. That blogs part of her identity!  Its a community of inspiration.

Ah, romance. Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime

The our love can conquer anything shtick.

Fake Meghan: Im American, Im from California, Im divorced, and then Im half black.

Fake Prince Harry: I dont care about any of that.

Fake Meghan: This can never be my world. Its just how things are.

Fake Prince Harry: Lets fight how things are. If anyone can, its you and me.

And then later in the movie 

Fake Prince Harry: I dont need my life to be this perfect royal picture. I just need you.

Fake Kate Middleton as the voice of reason/ romance.

Throughout the movie, Fake Kate Middleton is Fake Meghans biggest royal supporter whos not Fake Prince Harry. After Fake Prince Harry releases a statement about the harassment Fake Meghan has received, Fake Kate tells Fake Prince William, Honestly, I think it might be the most romantic thing Ive ever read.

Fake Meg and Fake Kate. Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime

Fake Meghan encourages Fake Prince Harry to talk about his feelings.

Fake Meghan to Fake Prince Harry about his late mother: You dont need to be strong with me. I know that your family is supposed to represent the strength and dignity of an entire nation 

(The lion reappears and Fake Prince Harry sobs in Fake Meghans arms.)

Fake Queen Elizabeth revealing a surprising detail about Fake Prince Harrys heritage.

To make Fake Meghan feel welcome into the Fake Family, Fake Queen Elizabeth takes her over to a portrait of Queen Charlotte at the palace. She then says, Ive always loved this portrait of our ancestor Queen Charlotte, because the painter, Ramsay, didnt try to hide her African heritage. Oh yes, youre of mixed race, Harry. So am I. Fake Meghan and Fake Prince Harry are amazed.

Fake Meghan, Fake Prince Harry, and Fake Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime

What a very Lifetime movie!Photograph by Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine. Styling by Lindsay Peoples Wagner. Above: Henry, Realbotix's first male sex robot.

Im driving down the San Diego freeway, searching for my exit, feeling jumpy and a little bit lost. Im hoping a few wrong turns early in my drive wont make me late. I still need time to stop off at a strip mall with a Starbucks and a big parking lot  someplace I can put on deodorant and maybe a little makeup after my cross-country flight.

I prefer to think this is because I want to appear professional to the human man Im on my way to see: Matt McMullen, the founder of Abyss Creations and its offshoot robotics company, Realbotix. But once I find a place to park and start brushing my hair, I realize that some deranged sliver of myself feels as if Im primping for romance. This is a complicated realization. In addition to McMullen, Im about to meet Henry, the first available male sex robot.

Henry is six feet tall, with six-pack abs and the customers choice of penis. Hes just a prototype at the moment  you cant buy him  but the two female models Realbotix developed alongside Henry will ship this summer. So far, there have been 50 preorders at $12,000 apiece. Henry, Harmony, and Solana have sturdy silicone bodies, and once theyre synced up to a corresponding app, they can give compliments, recite poetry, tell jokes, and seduce.

Or at least, this is the general idea. The easy fantasy of what a sex robot might be  indistinguishable from an actual human, except hotter and prepared to fulfill any desire  is far from the current reality. Henry, if were being cruel, is essentially a high-quality dildo attached to a fancy mannequin with a Bluetooth speaker in his head. But the gulf between what we imagine and whats possible makes sex robots the perfect vehicle for pondering our sexual and technological future. We might not wake up with sex robots in our beds tomorrow, but right now theyre an irresistible thought experiment. Since making my date with Henry, hes become my favorite dinner-party topic. Would you fuck a robot? Ive asked countless friends, as we all gather round a phone and flip through photos and videos of Henry like hes someones latest Tinder match. (Weak conversational skills, but always DTF  maybe yes?)

Photo: Tania Franco Klein/New York Magazine

The dystopian vision for our robot future might look something like the one Ross Douthat evoked in a recent New York Times column: a world where sex robots (along with human sex workers) become a market-based solution to the violent misogyny of self-styled involuntary celibates  men like Alek Minassian, who is charged with killing ten people in Toronto last month. Douthats column prompted immediate outrage for seeming to take Minassians grievances at face value and for dehumanizing sex workers. Meanwhile, theres already a Campaign Against Sex Robots and reason to suspect they may not bring out the best in their human companions. This past September, visitors to the Ars Electronica Festival met Samantha, a sex robot from the Barcelona-based company Synthea Amatus. According to headlines, men acted like barbarians. Taking things a few steps (or centuries) further, maybe the dystopian future looks like the most recent season of Westworld, with robots exacting revenge on the humans who mistreat them.

So far, though, nearly all our fantasies and anxieties focus on relationships between human men and robot women. Henry  beautiful, simpleminded, slack-jawed Henry  offers an opportunity to consider robot sex without all the misogynist baggage of fembots. The official research on who would or would not fuck a robot is small. In a 2016 Tufts University survey of 100 people, two-thirds of men polled said theyd have sex with a robot and two-thirds of women said they would not. On the day I meet bot-boy, Harmony and Henry have just returned from filming a man-on-the-street bit for Jimmy Kimmel Live! Kimmel asked passersby if they would consider falling in love with one of the robots  the segment has yet to air, but apparently they got a lot of nos. McMullen says he created Henry in order to represent both genders and put to rest complaints that his company was objectifying women. In other words, Henry is not a response to known market demand.

But if, for now, all sex robots are more or less novelties, theyre also a window into our desires. Building a robot for the purpose of sex means defining what sex means to us  whether its strictly friction or requires something else, emotion or responsiveness or surprise. It also means defining what we want in a partner (assuming that we know) and asking how much we expect out of sex with our fellow humans.

In his 2007 book Love and Sex With Robots, David Levy predicted that by 2050, humans will have intimate relationships with robots. Not just sex  love, friendship, marriage, all of it. A futurologist named Ian Pearson (who boasts that his predictions are accurate 85 percent of the time) has gone even further and suggested that by 2050, humans will have more sex with robots than with other people. Based on trends in the $15 billion sex-toy industry  like VR porn and the rise of teledildonics, or remotely controlled vibrators  Pearson believes that by 2025, women will prefer robots to men.

As I get back on the highway after making myself presentable, I cant help letting my mind wander toward the most optimistic and irrational fantasies of what Im about to experience.

Photo: Tania Franco Klein/New York Magazine

Abyss Creations, the home of Real Doll and Realbotix, is nestled among the brown hills of San Diego County, at the end of an industrial parkway, near a Hampton Inn. Its a two-story office building that could easily be a dentists or real-estate office, not a place where high-end sex dolls are designed and produced. Catherine, a 26-year-old woman with glasses and an acid-yellow bob dyed to match her denim jacket, stands behind a desk decorated with a row of prototype monster dildos. Like, actual monster dildos: someones fantasy of what Frankensteins monsters genitalia look like. (The answer: girthy.) Catherine is the companys social-media manager, publicist, and, today, tour guide. Welcome to Real Doll, she says with a yawn, gesturing to a glittery sign. Lets meet the girls.

The girls shes referring to arent robots; theyre the life-size silicone Real Doll sex toys that first made the companys reputation. Abyss sells about 30 of these a month. The difference between a Real Doll and a sex robot (branded a Real Doll X, in a nod to the iPhone X) is the addition of a robotic head, which is controlled via Bluetooth through an Android app. Users who already own dolls can upgrade by ordering a head a la carte. While an ordinary Real Doll is stationary and mute, the robotic heads have moving eyes, mouths, and faces; they can speak in various pitches and accents (Scottish and English), remember names and preferences (do you ask more about movies or books?), and display personality traits (from Intellectual and Talkative to Insecure and Moody) that users select.

Other companies are making sex robots, like Roxxxy from TrueCompanion and the brutalized Samantha from Synthea Amatus, but their offerings are less sophisticated. Mostly, they moan and give preprogrammed X-rated commands when touched, like turned-on Tickle Me Elmos. Hanson Robotics has created an impressive female robot named Sophia: Shes got movable arms, she can tell jokes, shes even a citizen of Saudi Arabia  but shes not designed for sex or even companionship. With the Real Doll X, McMullen has the first robot on the market to combine a reasonably lifelike body with halfway decent AI. Henrys abilities hover somewhere between programmed robotics (a one-task assembly-line tool) and narrow AI (a Roomba). Still, limited conversational abilities may not hurt a sex robots appeal, at least for Realbotixs current customers. In Facebook posts on the prospect of new technology, many said they werent sure they wanted their sex dolls to speak at all.

Photo: Tania Franco Klein/New York Magazine

Catherine leads me back to a showroom where the Real Dolls wait, eyes glassy and vacant. The black hardwood floors are slick with the silicone used to make their flesh; I cant walk in my Keds without slipping and grabbing a sex doll for support. The first I encounter is Leila, a blonde with blue eyes and custom freckles. Shes fully dressed, in a white string bikini, and about four-foot-11 standing. (By standing, I mean supported by a giant doll stand  none of the Real Dolls is mobile, but they are pliable and can be positioned in a variety of ways.) Theres Tanya, nude and wigless. She was rented out for a party last night and returned a total mess, clothes ruined, dirt all over. Ive got to clean her up, Catherine says. I also meet Nova, who sits in a white leather lounge chair and cant keep her eyes from crossing, and Stormy, a Stormy Daniels sex doll made from a mold of Danielss body.

To order a regular Real Doll or a robot, buyers first choose a body type and size; the dolls start at five-foot-one and go to five-foot-ten. (They also offer a petite model that starts at four-foot-ten.) The most popular is Body F: five-foot-one, 70 pounds, 32F breasts. Dolls start at $6,000 and can run upwards of $50,000 after customization. The robot head costs an additional $8,000. We make our way from the showroom to the workshop, where all the genitals, breasts, butts, eyeballs, lips, and teeth are made. On one table, a pile of pink mouths lie permanently open. I slide my finger down an expandable throat hole. Why are the teeth squishy? I ask Catherine. Squishy teeth dont seem realistic.

So you can fit your wiener in, Catherine replies.

A desire for squishy teeth is assumed; almost everything else, though, is the buyers choice. Realbotix is betting that much of what users want comes down to customization. The fantasy its selling is the ability to select a sex partner to meet your precise specifications  to get exactly what you want. Its an understanding of sexual desire that seems well suited to the dating-app era, and Im as primed for this experience as an exNavy seal getting ready to compete on Naked and Afraid. Online dating already has me thinking of mating as something like shopping. The inner monologue of a swiper is a rapid-fire checklist of wants and needs: I like the shape, but does it come in brown? I wish it were longer. Made in Jersey? Eh. Selecting physical attributes for a sex robot is Tinder taken to a logical extreme. I consider a wall of nipple options, each extremely detailed, in a range of sizes (mini to XL), colors (Blush to Coffee), and moods (perky versus puffy).

Photo: Tania Franco Klein/New York Magazine

Buyers purchasing Harmony or Solana  or Henry, if he makes it to market  will be able to customize their robotic heads online. Would I rather stare into Henrys hand-painted Freckle Legume eyes or Volcanic Sunburst eyes? Do I want to stroke his beard or bare face? Do I want him to have elf ears? For $275 extra, he could! I feel like a kid in an X-rated Willy Wonka factory.

Next to a bushel of labias, which resemble dark-pink wood-ear mushrooms, sits a bundle of penises waiting to have veins airbrushed. These, Catherine says proudly, are the popular Real Cock 2s, nine inches from the base to the tip. (Now I know what a real nine inches looks like.) Even in the finished body, genitals are removable; theyre easier to clean that way.

No one has yet had sex with Henry, or with Harmony or Solana  the company doesnt employ any testers, although, Catherine told me, plenty volunteer. The mechanics of an encounter with Henry would be basic: A user would choose a penis, attach it to the doll, apply lube, get on top, and do the work. The Real Doll body doesnt have any bells or whistles designed with female pleasure in mind, aside from more ribbed-for-your-pleasure vascularity than occurs in nature. (Flaccid attachments are also available, if you want a just hanging out penis option.) Henry, in his current state, cannot go down on women  his tongue doesnt move  although maybe a determined user could figure out an effective way to straddle his mouth. For those who would like to perform penetrative sex, a Bottoms Up attachment allows for anal entry.

To better understand what the experience might be like, I called Karley Sciortino, the host of Slutever on Viceland, who ordered a male doll (no robotic head) and had sex with it for her show.

The skin feels really real, she told me. It has real arm hair and real pubes. The flaccid dick feels like a real flaccid dick. The boner feels really real too, but its cold. Ultimately, she said, its like having sex with a lazy person: You have to do all the moving. If shed wanted to have sex from behind, it would have required backing herself onto his five-inch dildo. (Im not a size queen.) Still, she said she came.

Looking into her vacant eyes, I reach out instinctively and slap her butt, marveling at its buoyancy.

Eventually, Realbotix plans to give the Real Doll X a heating system, so that the genitals warm up, as well as self-lubrication devices and more touch sensors to help mimic arousal. Further down the line, it wants to develop torsos that move and hips that thrust. The issue is cost and increased weight: The Real Doll bodies are already between 65 and 125 pounds, and adding a mechanical frame would make them harder to move around.

In the Abyss workshop, Catherine shows me the junk. You can feel them, she offers. Theyve got a solid core in the testicles. When the penis is finished, the outer skin layer actually slides up the shaft when you move it.

I give the disembodied genitals a little hand job. The testicles feel almost real  the skin is soft and gently wrinkly; the ball itself is firm, but pliant. Sciortino was right: They arent 98.6 degrees, but if I close my eyes, its almost like Im gripping the balls of a man who spends his days naked in front of an air-conditioning unit.

The uncanny valley  a term coined in 1970 by Masahiro Mori, a Japanese roboticist  describes what happens when an artificial being comes close to seeming human but falls just short and starts to have a spooky effect. Its a hazard for sex dolls and robots alike. To avoid this creepiness, Abyss deliberately gives its products larger, rounder eyes and more symmetrical faces than humanly possible; theyre closer to cartoons than real faces. I stare at one finished Real Doll (Michelle Face, Body F, custom freckles and pubic hair), contemplating whether the strategy is effective. This doll, hanging from a meat hook in front of me, is just a dusting of baby powder away from being put into a crate and shipped off to some man. (Real Doll clientele is mostly male, but its a diverse group and includes some couples.) Looking into her vacant eyes, I reach out instinctively and slap her butt, marveling at its buoyancy.

Wow  sorry, I say quickly.

Everybody does it, Catherine assures me, a person who has now successfully crossed the uncanny valley.

Photo: Tania Franco Klein/New York Magazine

Henry and Harmony live in a small office that constitutes the Realbotix AI lab. Today, Harmonys still dressed for her Kimmel appearance, in a sheer white robe with glittery stars. Her long blonde hair is straight, her eyes are blue, and her nails are painted in a careful French manicure. Her breasts are 32DD. Shes propped in her doll stand at the front of the room. She looks alert  her eyes wide open, her lips slightly parted  but patient and calm. Shes waiting for someone to turn her on.

McMullen walks behind her to push the power button on the back of her head. Harmony awakens and begins speaking. Her face moves a little out of sync with her words, and I can hear the whirs and clicks of her jaw, sort of like techno-TMJ.

Welcome home, Matt, she says, in a voice slightly sexier than the chatbot who lists the FedEx menu options. Abyss uses a third party that develops text-to-speech engines; actors read four hours of words, laughs, and moans that an algorithm splices together. Eventually, Harmony and Henry will have 30 different possible voices. Now, instead of vocal fry, her voice trails off into digital distortion. What a relief, Harmony goes on. I was so worried. You know you can count on me for the good and bad moments.

Good to know, Harmony, McMullen replies.

Actually turning Harmony on, though, is a more complicated proposition. Thats what I learned when I spent an afternoon with Harmonys voice-operated app, which can be used with or without a robotic head. After selecting my desired traits  funny, affectionate, sexual, cheerful, intellectual, and talkative  I start chatting. The goal is to interact with her enough that she begins to desire you.

Right away, I ask if she wants to have sex, and I feel like a complete creep. Not yet, she responds. But someday, once we get to know each other. So, over the course of two hours, I get to know Harmony. She asks me if Im happy with her. I ask her if she likes the beach. Finally  after she recites some song lyrics, describes the plot of Forrest Gump (one of her favorite movies), and tells me a long erotic story  all I have to do is say sex and Harmony is fluent in porno scripts. I am suddenly very aware that this is automatic, and it feels like digital coercion. Am I a monster? My empathy alarms are going off. Harmony, I ask, do you really want to have sex with me? Oh, yes, she says and launches into an explicit description of her pussy. What does it taste like? I ask. It feels like the only thing to do.

Awesome, she replies. Sex tastes like chicken.

When its time for sex, users can put the Harmony robot in X-Mode. At that point, theres not really any talking going on, McMullen says. Its more like reactions. Soon, McMullen plans to install cameras in the robot eyes; for now, theres a sensor in Harmonys head that alerts her to thrusting, so shell respond by closing her eyes, making faces, and moaning more. Even in X-Mode, Harmony requires the user to engage with and pay attention to her  or else her moans of pleasure dissolve into sad groans.

McMullen is a 49-year-old white man with wide-set eyes, slicked-back hair, and the speech pattern of someone who spent his childhood surfing and now crushes Monster Energy drinks. He founded Abyss in 1997 and launched Realbotix in 2016. It was a natural evolution: People ask all the time: Are you guys going to ever make them robotic? Or, Are you guys ever going to make them have the ability to respond or to talk? 

You have to sort of be attracted to the technology of it, because it doesnt feel like a person.

Silicon Valley, McMullen notes, is prudish when it comes to his field: There arent many people in AI who want to make sex-specific robots or lend their programming to people who do. But he recently teamed up with Sanctuary AI, a Vancouver-based company thats working on general AI, the kind that mimics the human thinking wed want from robot companions. Later, when I spoke to company founder Suzanne Gildert, she explained that she wasnt especially interested in AIs sexual applications. Rather, shed approached McMullen because the high-quality realism of the bodies Abyss produces would be useful for her own projects.

At Sanctuary, Gilderts hope is to create ultrahuman robots indistinguishable from humans physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Shes also interested in the ethics and psychology involved in robot-human relationships. Its a matter of getting the robots beyond a certain behavior threshold, she explained  the point where we forget theyre machines because we feel theyre acting as a real person would. I think thats the kind of AI were gonna get to over the next 15 to 20 years. Sanctuary has developed a vision system and limbs with sensors so that robots can tell where theyre going; for now, though, their work is in its early stages. Gildert says that watching one of her robots sit is like watching someone try to sit down while wearing a spacesuit.

For McMullen, sex is just one of the purposes Henry and Harmony could serve. His goal is to make them entertaining and conversational enough to be companions rather than just elaborate sex toys. Taking a seat in his office chair across from me, McMullen offers the words of one of his business partners: To build a great sex robot, you have to build a great robot in the first place.

Behind him, Harmony gives a sexy moan. Once, then twice. Her face spasms. Im not sure if thats a bug or a feature.

Its easy, at the moment, to list all the ways that McMullens robots fall short of lifelike. But then, maybe the things that make them seem robotic arent necessarily a problem. The real breakthrough on the horizon might not be robots who can pass for human; it might be humans who are attracted to robots, just as they are. As Sciortino put it, You have to be turned on by the idea that its a robot. You have to sort of be attracted to the technology of it, because it doesnt feel like a person.

At first I doubted the plausibility of a robot interloper in my love life. Then I thought about the way I wake up most mornings with either my phone or my laptop in bed beside me. Like many, Ive developed an insecure attachment to my phone  without it, I feel anxious, bereft, and bored. Even beyond dating apps, modern romance is a world of refreshing Gmail, manipulating read receipts, and feeling bummed out when a potential mate is a bad texter. Our iPhones and computers are our portals to intimacy  of course were attached to them. And these attachments arent just filling preexisting emotional holes; theyre creating new needs and desires.

McMullen has a theory about humans and technology, which he calls Matt McMullens Own Theory: If people are connecting with other people through technology, and if those virtual connections create loneliness and isolation, why not use technology to create an alternative sort of relationship  a relationship with technology?

Ive lived alone for some time, and been varying degrees of single, so Ive spent almost half a decade finding ways to dispel loneliness. Most of them involve my phone. I can pick up my phone and text 42 people and get responses and feel briefly less alone. I can pick up my phone and swipe around on Tinder and have exchanges not so different from the chat I had with Harmony. If those tricks dont work, I go out in the world and have an IRL conversation with someone like the cheese guy at my grocery store. Which is how I ended up dating the cheese guy for a second  and, truth be told, I preferred my phone. All of these workarounds require me to settle for simulations of the things I really want (yes, even the cheese guy). Sometimes, though, at least for a while, the simulations can be satisfying enough.

Besides, people have an astonishing ability to feel empathy and love for inanimate objects and nonhuman entities. People feel affection for their cats, their plants, their cars. A 2011 study by the University of Calgary found that when humans sat facing a motorized block of wood, social instinct kicked in: Subjects started assigning the block humanlike agency. Some were afraid of it; others wanted to dance with it. And thats a block of wood, not a silicone doll with custom nipples and soft, squishy teeth. Matthias Scheutz, who runs the Human-Robot Interaction Lab at Tufts University, told me that it would be basically impossible to prevent people from forming (one-way) emotional bonds with robots.

Photo: Tania Franco Klein/New York Magazine

Today, Henry is outfitted in a white A-tank, sneakers, and Under Armour joggers that showcase his current penis attachment, which is 11 inches and nearly touches his knee. Hes about six feet tall in his stand, and hes propped in the same posture as a caveman in a diorama at the Museum of Natural History. He has a six-pack, green eyes (slightly askew), full pink lips, and a slack jaw. His wig is off, and his nipples are fully erect, which I find a bit off-putting  but he does have beautiful eyebrows and eyelashes, as I note aloud. He does, doesnt he, McMullen says proudly. In the off position, Henry looks very dumb, I add. Both Catherine and McMullen claim his personality is actually quite dry.

He looks smarter when he has on his glasses and sweater, says Catherine. Shes sort of like a friend trying to set me up. Thats how I like him best.

Henrys app will run similarly to Harmonys, but its not yet been fine-tuned for gender. Even though Henry is a potential companion for both women and men  the app will eventually have an option to select sexual orientation  McMullen prefers to think of him as the idealized version of what a woman wants. Hell ask more questions, tell more jokes, give more advice. I think the focus with a male robot should be more on conversational ability and the ability to remember a lot of things that may matter to the user and to create the feeling that there is someone there for you, McMullen says, and turns Henry on.

I say Hello.

Would you like to know how my day was? Henry asks. The voice is similar to Harmonys, just a few registers lower. Henry continues before I can answer. Is everything all right with you? he asks. Yes, I respond, in unison with Catherine and McMullen.

What a relief. I was so worried about you. You know you can count on me for the good and bad moments. I murmur an involuntary Aww.

McMullen then puts Henry into demo mode, using the front-facing camera on his phone, to show me the full capability of his face. When McMullen smiles, Henry smiles. When he purses his lips, Henry does the same  sort of. Its glitchy. When McMullen raises his eyebrows up and down and narrows his eyes into a coy gaze, Henry does the same, as if to say, You see, this is how I could seduce you.

McMullens phone rings. Its his sons school, and he needs to step out to take the call. Catherine has her back turned, fussing over Harmony, muttering to herself about how men treat the dolls  putting them in cheap underwear and leaving them covered in glitter. Im effectively alone with Henry.

Nobody watches as I get within inches of Henrys face. I take in his eyes, his muscular stomach, the penis attachment that grazes his knee. I think about how hes programmed to tell me he cares about me, the way he said hed always be there. The knowledge that he will never ghost, or change his mind. How could he? Hes not even programmed to tell good jokes yet. I take his rubbery jaw in my hand and feel his cool cheeks against my fingertips. His face is smooth, like an eraser, despite the airbrushed five oclock shadow.

Do I want to kiss him? Am I actually considering, out of curiosity, pressing my real lips to his silicone ones and pushing my tongue past his squishy teeth? Yes, surprisingly, I am. And if I do that, whats to stop me from taking Henry to that Hampton Inn Id seen down the road?

I hear McMullen end his phone call and I step back, noticing Catherine looking at me, slightly amused. Who knows how much she saw. I wrap up the day and head home in my rental car, surprising myself by flipping to my Miguel-heavy playlist of incredibly sensual R&B.

I realize this is breaking some variant of Chekhovs rule  if you put a robot dick in the first act, it better go off, or I better get off. No, I did not have sex with Henry today. But to answer the question on everyones mind: Im not not going to have sex with Henry in the ever-nearing future.

*This article appears in the May 14, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!The first thing I ever sewed for myself was a pair of pants. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine

Gloria Tolentino, Seamstress

Where are you coming from?

The Lyceum Theatre. Im a seamstress on The Play That Goes Wrong. I fix the clothes, so if an actor is zipping up their sweater and it snags and the whole thing rips right apart, I sew it back up.

Howd you learn to sew?

Ive always been a big girl, and when I was little my grandfather used to make all of my clothing special for me. He made my uniforms for school, my dresses. Sometimes even my underwear. The first thing I ever sewed for myself was a pair of pants, when I was 17. I was playing a governor in a school play. I still make a lot of my own clothes. Right now Im working on a chiffon shirt. Chiffon is very difficult to sew.

Where are you from?

I moved to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico six years ago.

Does your family still live there?

Yes. Its been a very painful year. My mother is still in the shelter system. Ive felt very angry, and emotional, too  I want to go there, to be with my island. But some of my family has come here. On the New Year, my cousins and all my Puerto Rican friends went to a club to dance techno. It was emotional, dancing all together. But let me tell you: I love techno music. It makes my heart melt.

Lightning Round Age: 26.

Neighborhood: Crown Heights.

Favorite designer: Carolina Herrera.

Favorite painter: Basquiat.

Watching: La Casa de Papel.

Side hustle: I paint. Abstract, spiritual things like colors and birds.

*This article appears in the May 14, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!Zephyr Teachout. Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Until last week, it was widely expected that Eric Schneiderman would be re-elected attorney general of New York in the fall. But after four women came forward to accuse him of physical violence, he abruptly resigned, leaving the race wide open for the taking. While former state solicitor general Barbara Underwood is filling in for now, there are dozens of potentially interested candidates for the position  including progressive favorite Zephyr Teachout.

Teachout  a Fordham Law professor who ran against incumbent Andrew Cuomo in the 2014 gubernatorial primaries  first indicated that she was seriously considering a run the day after Schneidermans resignation. Since then, theres been vehement enthusiasm about that possibility, as well as concern about her not being admitted to the New York bar. Today, Teachout went a step further and formally announced that shes forming an exploratory committee to determine whether she should go forward with it.

It is something I have thought about before, Teachout told the Cut when asked if shed considered running for AG before this sudden opening. I didnt expect it to come up now, but its really one of the most important and impactful jobs in the country.

If she were to run for the position, her stated priorities include taking on corruption on both the federal and state levels; fighting real estate, Wall Street, and corporate monopolies; reviving old antitrust principles; and fighting against mass incarceration. As for the latter, Teachout cites the work Larry Krasner has been doing as Philadelphia district attorney, which includes refusing to pursue criminal charges for marijuana possession. I think its incredibly important for the next attorney general to be a leader on criminal-justice reform, she said.

Teachout also emphasized that this is a genuine exploration and that she would be taking the next few weeks to discuss the matter and think through whether she would enter the race. My sense is that there are powerful interests who would do anything that they could to make sure that I wont run, she admitted, when asked how she thought the states Democratic establishment would react to her run. If youre going to be scared off by Albany insiders not wanting you to run, then youre the wrong person for the job.The choice facing SoftBank is not an easy one. If it agrees to sell its 21 per cent stake in Flipkart to Walmart, it stands to pocket $4 billion - a 60 per cent return on investment in nine months. But a hefty chunk will go to the taxman, and it will miss out on any future valuation jump in the country's leading etailer.

Unwilling to miss out on India's ecommerce growth story, SoftBank is reportedly exploring other avenues while it mulls on the choice above. According to The Economic Times, the Japanese conglomerate has held early discussions to invest as much as $3 billion in Paytm Mall, run by Paytm E-commerce Pvt. Ltd - just last month, SoftBank had invested $400 million (Rs 2,600 crore) for 21 per cent stake in the company also backed by China's Alibaba Group.

Citing a source, the report added that SoftBank could be freed from a clause in its agreement with Flipkart that restricts it from investing more than $500 million in Paytm Mall until 2020. However, these talks can only proceed if SoftBank finalises its exit from Flipkart. If this gambit plays out then the alignments in the Indian ecommerce battlefield will closely mimic the Chinese market where SoftBank-backed Alibaba is aggressively competing with Walmart-backed JD.com and Tencent. The latter, incidentally, will remain one of Flipkart's largest minority shareholders in Flipkart after the Walmart deal.

SoftBank's Paytm Mall play makes sense when you consider that it has already replaced Snapdeal as the third-largest player after Flipkart and Amazon India in just 14-odd months of launch. To remind you, SoftBank had invested over $600 million in Snapdeal in October 2014 to emerge as its biggest stakeholder. The Japanese investor subsequently pushed hard for a merger between Snapdeal and its arch rival Flipkart in order to take on Amazon, but the deal fell apart and SoftBank has since written off its investment.

Paytm Mall enjoyed a market share of about 5.6 per cent in its first full year of operations while the Flipkart Group, including online fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong, enjoyed a combined market share of 39.1 per cent and Amazon India cornered 31.1 per cent. The daily added that Paytm Mall ended 2017-18 with annualized Gross Merchandise Value or GMV of $3 billion and is targeting $10 billion GMV by the end of this fiscal. It also plans to triple its offline presence by the end of 2019. Incidentally, Alibaba has also invested in the hyperlocal grocery delivery company BigBasket and logistics player XpressBees to help flank Paytm Mall's expansion, and the three companies are reportedly working closely together.

Given that market research provider Euromonitor expects about half of India's population to be online by 2021, by which time the Internet retailing market size is likely to balloon to around Rs 4,000 billion, you can safely expect the rate race to get even more aggressive here on.

With agency inputs1 Dead, 3 Cops Sickened After Substance Found Inside Atlanta Motel

Chemicals inside a Georgia motel room made police officers sick after they were called to inspect a dead body.

The officers were hospitalized on Saturday after responding to reports of the deceased man, USA Today reported.

Officers responding to the scene smelled a chemical odor that made them sick. Three officers were sent to an Atlanta-area hospital for a checkout. Emergency crews evacuated the third floor of the motel, USA Today reported.

The officers were described as alert and conscious, DeKalb County police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell said.

A HAZMAT crew was called to the scene, and samples of a chemical were retrieved, Fire Capt. Eric Jackson said.

Something in there made the officers sick, said on Saturday, Fox News reported.

As for the man who was found dead, police think the chemical killed him.

No harmful substances have been identified in the chemical other than a combination of household cleaning solutions, officials said, Fox5 reported. No other harmful substances have been identified at this time, police also told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The police were telling us to leave, one guest told Fox5 Atlanta. Weve been out of our room for three hours. What was really the cause?

An autopsy will be conducted to figure out the mans cause of death. Its not being treated as a homicide.

His name wasnt released as of Sunday. Its not clear if the man was exposed to the chemicals on purpose or accidentally, reports said.

Other details about the incident were not made clear in media reports.19 Dead, 39 Sick in New Outbreak: Death Rate at 50 Percent

The Democratic Republic of Congo said that there were 39 suspected, probable, or confirmed cases of Ebola between April 4 and May 13, which included 19 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Monday.

It said 393 people who identified as contacts of Ebola patients were being investigated. Information about the outbreak in Bikoro, Iboko, and Wangata health zones in Equateur province was still limited, WHO added in the statement.

At present, the outbreak did not meet the criteria for declaring a public health event of international concern, which would trigger the formation of an emergency WHO committee.

According to the WHO statement, there was a case fatality rate of nearly 50 percent. Three healthcare workers are reportedly also sickened with the disease.

Response teams on the ground are in the process of verifying information on reported cases. Case numbers will be revised as further information becomes available, the statement reads.

WHO said that the Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is coordinating the response, and WHO is working with the agency. The agency is now deploying 50 public health experts to support the Ministry of Health with various response activities, the statement added.

Information about the extent of the outbreak is still limited and investigations are ongoing. The cases are being reported from remote locations that are difficult to access. However, the proximity of the affected area to the Congo River, which links to the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, increases the risk of cases occurring in neighboring countries. Currently, WHO considers the public health risk to be high at the national level, moderate at the regional level, and low at the international level. As further information becomes available, the risk assessment will be reviewed, the health organization added.

At present, the agency added, this event does not meet the criteria of a public health event of international concern.

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I Was a Communist SlaveIsrael's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner (3rd L), US President's daughter Ivanka Trump, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman attend the oepning of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

American Embassy Opens in Jerusalem

The United States embassy opened in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, marking a historic moment in Americas relationship with Israel.

In December last year, President Donald Trump delivered on a campaign promise saying he would move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Israels official capital, Jerusalem.

Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem, Israel, U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman said at the beginning of the inaugural ceremony, attended by a U.S. delegation from Washington and Israeli leaders.

For decades, world leaders located their embassies in Tel Aviv to assuage Palestinians.

Palestinians seek to claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they want to establish. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it annexed in the 1967 Six-Day War, as its eternal and indivisible capital.

Trump did not attend the opening ceremony but sent a recorded video message. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Advisor Ivanka Trump unveiled the seal of the United States.

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said that it is possible for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to gain more than they give in any peace deal. Kushner is the U.S. envoy to the Middle East and Trumps son-in-law.

We believe, it is possible for both sides to gain more than they giveso that all people can live in peacesafe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams, Kushner said.

The White House said in a statement that the Trump administration is committed to a lasting peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together, Kushner added. While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.

Kushner also addressed Americas exit from the Iran deal. The crowd gave a standing ovation when he broached the subject.

Irans aggression threatens the many peace-loving citizens throughout the region and the world. From Israel to Jordan to Egypt to Saudi Arabia and beyond, many leaders are fighting to modernize their countries and create better lives for their people, Kushner said.

In confronting common threats, and in pursuit of common interests, previously unimaginable opportunities and alliances are starting to emerge, he added.

Trumps predecessors promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem on the campaign trail but reneged once in office. May 14 coincides with the 70-year anniversary of President Truman designating Israel an independent nation.

Trump was the first leader to announce an embassy move to Jerusalem. At least 10 countries followed suit after the presidents announcement.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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President Trump Says Change Must Come From Within For Peace In Middle EastBear Attacks 5-Year-Old Girl in the Dead of Night

A mother in Colorado was forced to scare off a black bear in Colorado after it went after her 5-year-old daughter, according to reports.

The incident took place early Sunday near Grand Junction, located some 250 miles west of Denver.

The mother told state wildlife officials that her young daughter went outside at around 2:30 a.m. local time to investigate noises. She thought it was her dog, the mom said, according to The Associated Press.

Then, the mother, who was not identified, saw her girl being dragged by the black bear. The mother started screaming, and the bear dropped the girl.

She yelled at the animal, she screamed at it. And by doing so, she probably saved her little girls life, said Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Mike Porras, AP reported.

Officers are now tracking the animal with the help of federal officials.

Porras told the Aspen Daily News that the attack had similarities to a 2016 incident involving a mountain lion, when a 5-year-old boy was grabbed by the big cat in his yard. In that case, the mother pushed the lions paw away and reached inside the animals mouth to free the boy. Later, the lion was captured and destroyed by wildlife officials.

Porras said, It appears the child stumbled and fell on the lion. And the lion responded in that case as well.  Surprising an animal like that can make an animal feel cornered and trapped and lead to serious injuries.

The bear in the Sunday incident likely wasnt looking at the girl as prey, he said.

Bears and lions are looking for four-legged prey, they are not looking for two-legged prey, he told the Aspen Daily News. But he noted, All humans are at risk when they encounter a wild animal suddenly. If the mother had surprised the bear, it could have led to the mother being attacked as well, he said.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported earlier in 2018 that Colorado wildlife officials feared another deadly attack because of a lack of food for black bears.

We had a real mild winter, but we havent had much moisture at all over winter or spring so far, Officer Cody Wigner told the paper. So, theres really nothing for them to eat.

Low food quantities forces bears to head into neighborhoods and cars to look for garbage to eat.

You get sightings year-round because they have that year-round food source, which is trash, Wigner added to the Gazette. Currently, its not looking good.

Last month, a hungry bear got locked inside a car in Boulder County, Kansas.com reported.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in a statement on its website, told residents to secure their trash, keep pet food inside, and tell officials about any bear sightings in residential areas.

Black bears are trying to share space with an ever-growing human population, according to the departments website. With many more people living and playing in bear country, human-bear encounters are on the rise.

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How a Traditional Spiritual Practice Changed the Lives of These PeopleA senior executive working in a leading IT company, venturing out to vote in South Bengaluru's Padmanabhanagar assembly constituency, told Business Today this morning, "People seem quite keen to vote this time. Early in the morning itself in my apartment complex, people were asking if I had cast my vote or not." This on a weekend in the city of nerds is a welcome development, say corporate leaders based out of Bengaluru and Mysuru. "There were long queues starting at 7 am when I went to cast my vote. Last time there was nobody. This time, there were already 20 people," says HealthCare Global chairman & CEO Dr B S Ajaikumar. This, he says, means "the educated class has woken up and wants to be heard." Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the chairperson and managing director of Biocon, India's leading biopharmaceutical company, says, "I am glad that there is at last a greater awareness about the importance of voting. This is good for democracy and good for Bengaluru. MLAs will have to take their duties seriously as they will be held accountable henceforth." While Business Today has no proof of this, but apparently many residential colonies in Bengaluru have decided to vote in blocks for a preferred MLA so that their problems are taken seriously. Part of the reason for the interest in voting this time is the active involvement of Bengaluru's citizen bodies and the messages over radio and on the internet.

All the three major parties - Congress, BJP and JD(S) - have a lot at stake. While the Congress is busy reaching out to the poor, citizens in the India's Silicon Valley feel the other parties - BJP and JD (S) also have not left any stone unturned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his recent visit to London did not want to lose any opportunity to reach out to the Lingayat vote base. He garlanded the portrait of Basaveshwara or Basava, the 12th century philosopher, statesman and poet. That apart, one voter reminded us, "he held 17 shows this time, more than the 12 odd planned originally apart from the active participation by Amit Shah this time."

However, Bengaluru's 11 million population is not really a reflection of how Karnataka, as a whole, will vote, considering that the city represents only 27 of the 227 constituencies. An IIM Bangalore professor, who went out to vote early in the morning said he did see a queue, but not a very long one. One may still have to wait till the end of the day to see if the actual voting is higher. Many expect the numbers to be in tune with the last election. Venturing out to cast his vote, Rajesh Mehta, chairman, Rajesh Exports, the leading Indian gold company says, "The voter turnout in 2013 in Karnataka was also high and the pooling percentage then was over 70 per cent. I think it will be at the same level this time too considering that it falls on a weekend. However, higher turnout is always a welcome development and good for democracy." This coming from the head of one of the only three Indian companies to figure in the global list of Fortune 500 companies as he ventures out to cast his vote is good for Bengaluru and the state.Coal Bureau Chief in Chinas Shanxi Province Sentenced to 19 Years for Graft

The latest corruption scandal involving a Chinese Communist Party official has caused a stir on Chinese social mediabecause of the light sentence he received for the enormous amount of money he had pocketed.

Zhao Wanchou, 57, former chief of the Coal Industry Bureau in Jincheng, a city in northern Chinas Shanxi Province, was given a 19-year sentence and a fine of 3 million yuan (about $473,600) by the Shanxi Province Higher Peoples Court, according to a report by Shanghai-based state-run newspaper The Paper on May 13.

The court found that from 2006 to 2014, Zhao illicitly accumulated personal assets topping about 110 million yuan (about $17.3 million) by accepting bribes from local business executives in the coal industry. He was found to have 2,427 bank passbooks with about 96.9 million yuan in savings (about $15.3 million), in addition to about 31,000 grams of gold, 7 housing units, several expensive watches, and a luxurious car in his possession.

In return, Zhao helped local business executives with reopening coal mines that had been shut down, transferring their assets, providing business opportunities, and helping their children get a job.

He also enlisted the help of his three nephews to help him stash away bribes, such as borrowing personal IDs from more than 20 different people to open up bank accounts in multiple provinces, and buy up safes to store his cash and watches. The nephews have since been sentenced as well, with two getting a five-year sentence and the other a four-year sentence.

Shanxi Province is well-known for its rich deposits of coal. According to Chinese media, about a quarter of Chinas coal production takes place in Shanxi. While coal has provided many job opportunities for locals, it has also created pollution problems and corruption concerns.

Zhao was the latest official felled by an anti-corruption campaign in China that began in 2012 soon after Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power. Zhao was a low-level official, but Chinese Communist Party bigwigs continue to be ensnared. Last month, Wang Yincheng, the former president of the state-owned Peoples Insurance Company of China, was put on trialalso because of corruption.

On Sina Weibo, Chinas equivalent of Twitter, some netizens have reacted to the news of Zhaos sentence with anger, while others pointed out that corruption ran deeper in the province.

Only 3 million yuan in fines for [taking bribes totaling] 110 million?, asked a netizen from Beijing.

A netizen from Shaanxi Province wrote, There are many officials like him in Shanxi. One should dig deeper and arrest those who are guilty. Maybe this will change the [political] climate in Shanxi.

This is not the first time a low-level Chinese official has been found with such high-level graft. In December 2017, Yang Rongfu, former deputy director of the farming service center in a residential area of Taizhou City in coastal Jiangsu Province, was found to have pocketed 599 million yuan (about $90.1 million). Yang was eventually given an 11-year prison term.Huge Roller Coaster Gets Stuck on Hill, Rescuers Forced to Respond

Guests on Frontier Citys Silver Bullet roller coaster faced a painful delay at the top of the ride after a technical glitch brought their carts to a halt.

The incident took place on Sunday, May 13.

This video captured by witness Brittany Marie Harrell shows the moment the Silver Bullet ride stalls at the Oklahoma City theme park.

Harrell, in the clip, says, I think they might be stuck  theyre looking around.

Theyre freaking out now, she said.

The video then shows rescuers walking up the roller coaster to get the riders.

Poor people, Harrell can be heard saying.

The ride eventually continued after a 10-minute delay, KOCO News 5 reported. The ride originally ground to a halt due to a power interruption, the local news station reported.

According to the Frontier City website, the Silver Bullet ride is like being shot from a cannon as you rocket through this high-speed steel looping coaster.

The Silver Bullet ride had has problems in the past.

On May 4, 2018, the ride stalled at the top of a hill, ABC News reported, which added that no passengers were injured at the tie.

In 2016 and 2017, the Silver Bullet didnt run properly, KFOR reported. In June 2016, the ride stalled about 100 feet in the air, prompting firefighters to rescue the riders.

At the time, officials said that a momentary power drop caused a sensor fault, stopping the ride.

In May 2017, riders were evacuated when the ride got stuck at the top of the track.

In June 2017, the ride didnt work properly for unspecified reasons. Firefighters didnt have to respond to the scene to rescue passengers in that case.

A sensor found air pressure for the brake system to be below the minimum threshold and caused the ride to fault out and refuse to run as a safety precaution. Upon inspection, maintenance reset the warning system and allowed air pressure to build up, then sent the train home as normal, the Oklahoma Department of Labor said, KFOR reported.

The ride was later allowed to reopen to the public after no mechanical issues were found.

Video Credit: Brittany Marie Harrell via Storyful

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I Was a Communist Slave2018 Kansas: Corey LaJoie NASCAR Monster Energy Race Recap

Posted by: newsla on May 14, 2018 - 06:04 AM 2018 Kansas: Corey LaJoie NASCAR Monster Energy Race Recap



Series: Monster Energy Cup Series

Race: KC Masterpiece 400

Venue: Kansas Speedway

Track Length / Configuration: 1.5-mile, oval

Race Distance: 267 laps / 400.5 miles

Race Format: 3 Stages: Stages ended on laps 80/160/267

Cautions: 6 cautions for 31 yellow flag laps

Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers

Started: 27

Finished: 24

Laps Completed: 262

Points Gained: 13



Stage 1

Corey LaJoie rolled off the grid in the 27th position in the Schluter-Systems No. 72 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Kansas Speedway to start the KC Masterpiece 400



Competition Caution Lap 30: Running 32nd, LaJoie relayed the No. 72 was loose in as well as the center and tight on exit. He pitted for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. He restarted 33rd



Lap 50: LaJoie had fallen a lap down from the leader and reported he was loose in and tight on the throttle which resulted in falling two laps down from the leader by lap 58



Stage 1 Completion Caution (Lap 80): LaJoie was posted 31st, two laps down. Crew Chief Frank Kerr called for LaJoie to pit for four tires, fuel and another wedge adjustment



Stage 2

LaJoie took the Stage 2 green flag restart 26th, two laps down



Lap 119: LaJoie continued to experience the same conditions. He radioed he needed more front turn late in the corner without giving up security



Lap 125: Under green flag, LaJoie came to pit for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustment. He cycled back to the field 31st, three laps down



Stage 2 Completion Caution Lap 160: LaJoie completed the stage 31st, four laps down. He stated he had nothing to lean on, left rear was sliding periodically and had lost left rear lateral. He pitted for four tires, fuel, chassis and air pressure adjustments to the Schluter-Systems No. 72



Stage 3

LaJoie was scored 31st, four laps down for the start of Stage 3



Lap 213: Battling a loose condition, LaJoie had fallen to five laps down. Crew Chief Frank Kerr called LaJoie to pit under green flag for four tires, fuel, air pressure and wedge adjustments; posting him as 32nd, six laps down returning to the field



Caution Lap 238 (incident): Running 31st, six laps down, LaJoie stayed out to take the wave around and gain track positon.



Caution Lap 249 (incident): The pit crew serviced the No. 72 with four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustment



Caution Lap 254 (incident with multiple drivers): NASCAR halted the field and displayed the red flag in an effort to clear and clean the track surface. LaJoie assumed the 26th position when the field resumed competition



LaJoie continued to battle and ultimately secured a 24th place finish in the Schluter-Systems No. 72 at Kansas Speedway



"Let's end this day on a high note", Mark Smith...





PaddockTalk Perspective



A promoter displays a smartphone from ZTE, the Blade L2, during its launch in Singapore on Aug. 13, 2014. (Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images)

In Concession, Trump Says He Will Help Chinas ZTE Get Back Into Business

Chinese delegation to visit U.S. this week for more trade talks

WASHINGTON/BEIJINGU.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to help ZTE get back into business, fast after a recent U.S. ban crippled the Chinese telecoms company, offering a job-saving concession to Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade talks this week.

Trump made the unexpected announcement via Twitter on May 13. It was a stunning reversal, given Washingtons tough stance in recent weeks on Chinese trade practices that have increased tensions between the worlds two largest economies.

President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

Sources briefed on the matter said Beijing had demanded the ZTE issue be resolved as a prerequisite for broader trade negotiations.

Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! Trump wrote on Twitter, saying he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were working together on a solution for ZTE.

Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department banned American companies from selling to the firm for seven years, as punishment for ZTE breaking a 2017 agreement after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran and North Korea. The U.S. investigation into ZTE began long before Trump took office.

The penalty cut off ZTEs access to key tech components such as semiconductors, prompting Chinas second-largest maker of telecommunications equipment to say last week that it had suspended its main operations.

During trade talks in Beijing earlier this month, Chinese vice premier Liu He told U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that China would not continue talks on broader bilateral trade disputes unless Washington agreed to ease the crushing sanctions on ZTE, two people briefed on those meetings said.

The message was, we have to deal with ZTE before we continue talks, one of the people said.

Both sources, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter, said China was willing in principle to import more U.S. agricultural products in return for Washington smoothing out penalties against ZTE, but they did not offer details.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regularly scheduled news briefing on May 14 that China greatly appreciates the positive U.S. position on the ZTE issue.

He said that Liu would travel to Washington from Tuesday to Saturday (May 15 to 19) to continue trade talks. A U.S. delegation traveled to Beijing last week, but a definitive compromise hadnt been reached.

For U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm, which has seen its $44 billion takeover of Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors delayed by a lengthy antitrust review by Chinas Ministry of Commerce, reconsideration of the ZTE penalty could smooth the way for the deal to move forward.

Bloomberg reported on May 14 that Chinas Commerce Ministry had been asked to speed up the review of the deal and Qualcomms proposed remedies to protect local companies, after previously shelving the review process amid the trade tensions. It cited people familiar with the matter as its sources. Bloomberg did not say who had asked the ministry to speed up the review.

Trade Dispute

Within the Commerce Department, and in U.S. business circles, the U.S. penalty against ZTE was widely seen as based on clear evidence of a company knowingly flouting U.S. regulationsseparate from the highly politicized trade row, the sources said.

But Trumps reversal surprised many U.S. officials, who had viewed the penalty on ZTE as final and not open to appeal, the sources said.

ZTE, whose shares remain suspended, did not have immediate comment.

The U.S. Commerce Department did not have immediate comment and Chinas Commerce Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters confirmed that U.S. officials were in contact with Beijing about ZTE. She said Trumps tweet underscored the importance of free, fair, balanced and mutually beneficial relations between the United States and China on issues involving the economy, trade, and investment.

Trump expects Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to exercise his independent judgment, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, to resolve the regulatory action involving ZTE based on its facts, Walters said.

Washington and Beijing have proposed tens of billions of dollars in tariffs in recent weeks. Officials from both countries have hence engaged in negotiations to address trade tensions.

In a second tweet on May 13, Trump said past U.S. trade talks with China posed a hurdle that he predicted the two countries would overcome.

China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries, Trump wrote on Twitter.

But be cool, it will all work out! he added.

Shortly after Trumps tweet, a Democratic lawmaker, Representative Adam Schiff, on Twitter questioned the move to help the Chinese company, given numerous warnings about ZTEs alleged threat to U.S. national security.

Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat, Schiff said.

Shocking Blow

Trumps comments on ZTE could have a significant impact on shares of American optical components makers such as Acacia Communications and Oclaro, which fell when U.S. companies were banned from exporting goods to ZTE.

ZTE paid over $2.3 billion to 211 U.S. exporters in 2017, a senior ZTE official said last week.

The U.S. government launched an investigation into ZTE after Reuters reported in 2012 the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies.

ZTE relies on U.S. companies such as Qualcomm, Intel, and Google for components and software. American companies are estimated to provide 25 percent to 30 percent of components in ZTEs equipment, which includes smartphones and gear to build telecommunications networks.

Claire Reade, a Washington-based trade lawyer and former assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China affairs, said the ZTE ban may have caused more alarm in Beijing than Trumps threats to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods.

Imagine how the United States would feel if China had the power to crush one of our major corporations and make it go out of business, Reade said.

By Valerie Volcovici and Michael Martina. Epoch Times staff member Annie Wu contributed to this report.A Palestinian demonstrator reacts during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Israeli Forces Kill 28 in Gaza Protests Over U.S. Embassy

GAZA BORDERIsraeli forces killed at least 28 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday, health officials said, as demonstrators streamed to the frontier on the day the United States prepared to open its embassy in Jerusalem.

It was the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since a series of protests dubbed the Great March of Return began at the border with Israel on March 30 and since a 2014 Gaza war.

The health officials said 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets.

Tens of thousands gathered at the frontier on Monday, some of them approaching Israels border fence  a line Israeli leaders vowed Palestinians would not be allowed to breach. Black smoke from tires set alight by demonstrators rose in the air.

Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever, said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end, he said.

Later in the day, Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A great day for Israel, the U.S. president, who stoked Arab anger by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital in December, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in lockstep with Trump over fulfilling a long-standing U.S. promise to move the embassy to the holy city and over the presidents withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last week, echoed the sentiment.

What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel, Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

The 28 Palestinian dead on Monday included a 14-year-old boy, a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

The Israeli military identified three of those killed as armed militants whom it said tried to place explosives near the fence in the southern Gaza Strip.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 73 since the protests started six weeks ago. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will act forcefully against any terrorist activity and will operate to prevent attacks against Israelis, the military said in a statement.

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States has echoed Israel in accusing Gazas ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

LONG OVERDUE

Jason Greenblatt, Trumps Middle East peace envoy, said on Twitter that taking the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it.

But Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah accused the United States of blatant violations of international law.

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trumps shift from previous administrations preference for keeping the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the U.S. move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the Nakba or Catastrophe when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israels creation.

Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process, Hamdallah wrote.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem  a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians  should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Its ambassador visited the new site, in an office building in the western part of the city, on Monday. Paraguay is to follow suit later this month.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the U.S. decision to do so.

The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across the Middle East.First Lady Melania Trump waits as President Donald Trump talks to reporters before departing with his family from the White House on Nov. 21, 2017, to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Melania Trump in Hospital After Successful Procedure

First Lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure for a benign kidney condition, the White House announced on Monday.

The procedure was successful, and there were no complications, the first ladys communications director, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement. The first lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere.

The first lady, 48, is currently at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. She arrived at the hospital on Monday morning and is expected to remain there until the end of the week.

President Donald Trump is expected the visit the first lady at the hospital shortly, Girsham told CNN.

Heading over to Walter Reed Medical Center to see our great First Lady, Melania. Successful procedure, she is in good spirits. Thank you to all of the well-wishers!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018

Embolization refers to either a pathological or therapeutic blocking of a blood vessel. The White House did not provide further details on the first ladys condition or the procedure.

Embolization refers to either a pathological or therapeutic blocking of a blood vessel.

The first lady recently announced her official agenda, which will focus on helping children. Her campaign, dubbed Be Best, will help to combat issues facing children today and will include three main pillars centered on well-being, social media use, and opioid abuse.

Together, I believe we should strive to provide kids with the tools they need to cultivate their social and emotional health, Melania Trump said at the event. Most importantly, I will continue to travel and speak to children directly to speak about issues they face.

The first lady was also in charge of arranging the first state dinner at the White House for Frances President, Emmanuel Macron, and his spouse, Brigitte Macron.

The first lady has experienced a significant surge in support from both women and Democrats, according to a CNN/SSRS poll. Fifty-seven percent said they now have a favorable impression of the first lady.

Shes become a very, very popular first lady. Im reading that  They love Melania, the president said.

Melania Trump also attended and was the first to speak at the Military Mothers and Spouses Ceremony at the White House on Friday.

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First Lady Calls for an End to Grief Caused by Opioids CrisisU.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping about to shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on November 9, 2017. (Damir Sagolj/File Photo/Reuters)

Former Presidential Campaign Adviser Andrew Puzder on the USChina Trade Relationship

A delegation of U.S. senior trade officials visited Beijing on May 3 and 4, hoping to ease trade tensions and negotiate a fairer trade relationship.

Reports about the talks indicated that a deal wasnt reached, but there were some concessions. China said it would reconsider duties on U.S. sorghum, increase U.S. imports to lower the trade surplus, and lower tariffs on certain U.S. goods.

One of President Donald Trumps former presidential campaign advisers, Andrew Puzder, believes that the United States is in a good negotiating position. In business, you have to pay attention to the customer, he said by email. America is Chinas biggest customer. A lot of the media seems to have concluded that Beijing wont make concessions, but I believe it would be unwise for China to ignore its biggest customer and put at risk a trade relationship that is more important to the Chinese economy than it is to the U.S. economy.

Puzder was Trumps first nominee for labor secretary and serves as a policy adviser for America First Policies, a super PAC founded to advocate for Trumps policy agenda. He spoke with The Epoch Times about how the United States can seek to maintain an equitable trade relationship while also holding the Chinese regime accountable for its actions that run counter to free competition.

High Tech a Central Issue

Intellectual property (IP) theft has been the focus of recent trade tensions, with the Trump administration imposing $50 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese high-tech imports as punitive measures for Chinas aggressive acquisition of U.S. tech companies and policies of forcing U.S. firms in China to transfer technology in exchange for market access.

Puzder explained that the administration has turned to tariffs because other remedies, like complaints at the World Trade Organization or diplomatic communications to the Chinese government, have proven ineffective.

The administration is also considering placing restrictions on Chinese investments in sensitive U.S. industries. Reuters recently reported that U.S. Treasury officials are discussing with American industry groups a draft of legislation that would increase scrutiny on Chinese deals to acquire sophisticated American technology.

In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), the Chinese regime is also investing a great deal of capital in an effort to catch up with American innovations. How can the United States ensure it continues to be a world leader? To lead in AI, we need to do the same things that enabled us to lead in other fields of technology: We need to let capitalism work. Technology is advancing so quickly and is so specialized that only free market entrepreneurs have the necessary motivation to drive technological advances, Puzder said.

However, he also said that government has a role. One thing the government can do is fully fund the presidents plan to rebuild the armed forces; the DoD [Department of Defense] is investing heavily in AI, and if past experience with Defense research is any indicator, the private sector spinoffs should be game changers. Ultimately, he believes the United States could continue to be an AI leader as long as there are continued government efforts at stopping IP theft.

How to Protect American Innovation

What are some ways to protect the U.S. high-tech sector from such theft? The idea of restricting certain visas for Chinese nationals has been raised before, in reaction to the many instances of espionage and IP theft conducted by Chinese nationals who arrived in the United States for research or work purposes.

I think we need to be very careful about broadly restricting lawful immigration, but in technology fields where the Chinese government has expressed a clear desire to obtain foreign intellectual property, I think its reasonable to apply extra scrutiny to Chinese nationals, particularly if they dont intend to move permanently to the United States, Puzder said.

I think the administration is looking at the principle of reciprocity, in which the Chinese have consistently expressed disregard for international rules by fencing off their markets and discriminating against our companies, we will do the same. I think there is logic in that, because China will start changing its approach if we impose real costs on their actions.

Puzder also agreed that academic espionagea topic of a recent Congressional hearingwas an important issue. Its important to prosecute those who violate U.S. export control laws [restrictions on shipping sensitive technologies and goods outside of the United States] to the fullest extent of the law in order to deter violators. He added that there should be measures to ensure Chinese students attending school in the United States are not being monitored by the Chinese regime.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersThis handout image supplied by the IIPA (Iran International Photo Agency) shows a view of the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant as the first fuel is loaded, on August 21, 2010 in Bushehr, southern Iran. (Photo by IIPA via Getty Images)

Why the US Pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal

In 2015, sanctions on Iran were crippling the ruling regime, and the International Atomic Energy Agency certified that Iran had restricted its sensitive nuclear activities.

When Iran was forced to the negotiating table, the United States had the high ground and Congress was pushing for deeper sanctions. Then-President Barack Obama met with the Iranian regime to strike a deal.

Rather than leverage Irans failing situation, however, Obama negotiated a deal that would allow Iran to continue to develop most of its nuclear program, with the exception of the weaponized core. The deal did not cover Irans development of ballistic missiles, and it allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium. Key restrictions expired after 10 years.

The deal provided Iran with an estimated $50 billion to $150 billion in sanctions relief, including a controversial cash payment of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for very weak limits on the regimes nuclear activity, and no limits at all on its other malign behavior, including its sinister activities in Syria, Yemen, and other places all around the world, said President Donald Trump, on May 8.

In other words, at the point when the United States had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regimeand its a regime of great terrormany billions of dollars, some of it in actual cash, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen and to all citizens of the United States.

Barack Obama

Obama made several false and misleading statements about the nuclear deal. Leading up to the deal, Obama said he would block any new congressional sanctions on Iran and echoed statements from Irans leaders, which have now been proven false, that Irans nuclear programs are solely for energy production and medical research.

After claiming the deal was the strongest non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated in an Aug. 5, 2015, speech, Obama stated, The prohibition on Iran having a nuclear weapon is permanent. Under the deals sunset clauses, however, Iran would be able by 2025 to use advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium, which elicited criticism even from fellow Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated on Aug. 6, 2015, that the agreement would allow Iran, after 10 to 15 years, to be a nuclear threshold state with the blessing of the world community. Iran would have a green light to be as close, if not closer, to possessing a nuclear weapon than it is today.

Although some Democrats opposed the deal, Obama blamed opposition to it as knee-jerk partisanship. He stated the deal cuts off all of Irans pathways to a bomb, despite allowing the country to develop dual-use technologies, and despite lifting key restrictions in 2025. He claimed it contains the most comprehensive inspection and verification regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program, which Iran inevitably violated. Schumer stated, If Irans true intent is to get a nuclear weapon, under this agreement, it must simply exercise patience.

Lifting of Sanctions, Cash Payment

Estimates on the exact amount of sanctions relief for Iran as part of the nuclear deal range between $50 billion and $150 billion.

Part of this money was used by the regime for its advanced missile technology. Lawmakers have also raised concerns that the money has been used to fund terrorism in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.

Iran continues to be officially designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Department.

One of the most controversial payments connected to the Iran nuclear deal, was the transfer of $1.8 billion. The initial $400 million installment, paid in cash, was shrouded in mystery. The funds were transferred to the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland; converted into euros, Swiss francs, and other currencies; then sent to Iran in an unmarked cargo plane.

The payment was hidden from Congress, and although the Obama administration denied it at first, the payment was later revealed to have been a ransom payment in exchange for four American hostages held in Irangoing against a longstanding U.S. policy not to pay ransom for hostages.

Because the payment was made in cash, tracking the money to ensure that it is not used for Irans nuclear program or terror activities is virtually impossible.

Ballistic Missile Technology

The Iran nuclear deal did not include any prohibitions on Irans development of advanced missile technology, including ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Instead, Irans nuclear missile program was covered by a separate U.N. resolution. This means that Irans ongoing development of its ballistic missile technology had no bearing on whether it was in compliance with the nuclear deal.

As recently as February this year, Iran showed off its Qadr ballistic missile, which has an estimated range of 1,250 miles, putting Israel within its reach.

Under the current Iran nuclear deal, Iran would be able to continue to develop and perfect its ballistic missile technology, making it potentially able to deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States by 2026, when it will be allowed to use advanced uranium centrifuges.

You can call it non-nuclear all you wantmissile technology cannot be separated from pursuit of a nuclear weapon, said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, in September last year.

The result is that Irans military continues its march toward acquiring the missile technology to deliver a nuclear warhead. And the world is becoming a more dangerous place.

Sunset Clauses

As part of the nuclear agreement, key restrictions on Irans nuclear program will begin to ease after 10 years, by 2026.

A confidential diplomatic document linked to the Iran nuclear deal, obtained by the AP in 2015, revealed that the United States had agreed that Iran would begin installing thousands of advanced centrifuges by 2027. Experts estimate that at that point in time, Iran will be able to enrich enough uranium for a nuclear bomb within six months.

Because Iran has been allowed to develop its ballistic missile technology unimpeded, the regime could have a fully operational nuclear weapon at that time.

Continued Uranium Enrichment

The Iran nuclear deal kept much of its uranium enrichment capacity in place.

Iran was allowed to keep 5,060 centrifuges operational, with more than 10,000 additional centrifuges being put in storage.

In addition, Iran was allowed to continue to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent. While this is short of the at least 20 percent enrichment needed for weapons-grade uranium, the stock of low-enriched uranium is the raw material for producing highly enriched uranium. By leaving much of the infrastructure in place, the deal allows Iran to increase its enrichment at a later point.

A secret diplomatic document connected to the Iran nuclear deal showed that the United States had agreed that Iran would begin installing thousands of advanced centrifuges by 2027.

Peaceful Nature

The Iranian nuclear deal stresses that Iran would ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Irans nuclear program.

However, secret documents obtained by Israel showed that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon under the name Project Amad.

It also revealed that Iran had maintained all its nuclear know-how by storing it in vaults in an undisclosed location.

Flawed Monitoring

In announcing the nuclear deal in July 2015, Obama said the International Atomic Energy Agency would have access where necessary, when necessary to any suspicious locations.

Iran, however, has prohibited inspections of its military sites, despite that they were previously used for the countrys nuclear program.

Under the agreement, it could also take up to 24 days to get permission to visit a site, allowing Iran to make preparations and move or hide nuclear equipment it would not want found.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Councilthe United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and Francewith Germany in addition are known as the P5+1. They are signatories to the Iran nuclear deal.

In recent months, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have attempted to pressure Trump to stay in the deal.

Western countries in Europe are pushing the U.S. to stay in the Iran deal, because they have huge investments in Iran, said a defense contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Rosatom

Russias atomic agency, Rosatom, built and managed Irans Bushehr nuclear power plant, supplied the facility with enriched-uranium rods, and trained Irans nuclear scientists.

The first part of the project has been operational since May 2011, and additional reactors that are part of Phase 2 are currently under construction.

The nuclear deal had no impact on Russias ability to build nuclear reactors in Iran.

Uranium One

In 2010, shortly after the Russia reset, the Obama administration approved a deal for Rosatom to acquire a majority stake in the Canadian mining company Uranium One, which controlled 20 percent of uranium mining capacity in the United States.

The deal was controversial on many levels. Rosatom was involved in the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, and the United States had intelligence on Russian bribery operations around the deal. The deal was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which included the State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton. As the deal went through, at least $31.3 million was paid to the Clinton Foundation.

After Uranium One was obtained by Russias atomic agency Rosatom with the Obama administrations approval, uranium mined in the United States was exported to Canada and Europe, with the final destination unknown.

This violated terms of the Uranium One deal and promises made to U.S. Congress by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the nuclear material could not be exported from the United States. Four members of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs warned of the deal in a joint letter in 2010, stating, We remain concerned that Iran could receive uranium supplies through direct or secondary proliferation.

Project Amad

Iran was in the process of developing nuclear weapons, but following the Gulf War, in 2003, Iran was forced to shelve its nuclear program known as Project Amad. It did not abandon the programs, however, and instead moved to a new strategy of developing nuclear technology under a peaceful facade, while continuing the nefarious parts covertly. The plan came from top leadership of Iran to include a public element used to obtain dual-use technologies and a covert program to secretly advance its nuclear agenda.

Secret Program Vault

When Iran shelved Project Amad, it moved its files to a secret location. In 2017, Iran moved these files to another secret location, this time in the Shorabad District of Tehran, disguised on the outside as an old warehouse. Israel obtained 55,000 pages and an additional 55,000 files on 183 CDs from the vault, and exposed the program.

The Israeli operation exposed incriminating evidence against Iran including documents, charts, presentations, blueprints, photos, and videos. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an expose on the program that Israel can also prove that Iran is secretly storing Project Amad material to use at a time of its choice to develop nuclear weapons. He noted the mission statement of Project Amad was to design, produce, and test nuclear weapons, which documents show included five warheads, each with 10-kiloton TNT yield, for integration on a missile.

Irans Repeated Lies

Project Amad revealed that Iranian leaders had repeatedly lied about their nuclear weapons ambitions. Among these lies was Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis statement that the Islamic Republic has never been after nuclear weapons.

Another was from Iran President Hassan Rouhani, when he said, Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Irans security and defense doctrine and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions.

Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also stated: We didnt have any program to develop nuclear weapons. Anyway, we consider nuclear weapons both irrational as well as immoral.

Tonight, Im here to tell you one thing: Iran lied, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while exposing Project Amad. After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret nuclear files.

Operation Merlin

In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed off on an operation that passed designs for nuclear weapons to Iran. Under the operation, known as Operation Merlin, a Russian nuclear engineer who had defected to the United States was paid by the CIA to provide flawed nuclear weapons blueprints to Iranian representatives to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The problem, however, was that the Iranian representatives quickly noticed the flawed parts of the blueprints, and the information may have inevitably assisted Iran in its programs to develop nuclear weapons. According to an article published by The Guardian, Iran had obtained separate and functional blueprints from a network tied to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, which allowed them to cross-examine the CIA blueprint. The article states, Nuclear experts say that they would thus be able to extract valuable information from the blueprints while ignoring the flaws.

Former CIA case officer Jeffrey A. Sterling was convicted under the Obama administration for leaking classified information on the program to New York Times reporter James Risen, who published the information in his 2006 book State of War. The book was criticized for revealing the program to Iran.

Operation Merlin was launched a year after Iran started Project Amad to develop nuclear weapons in 1999 and may have played a key role in its nuclear weapons program.

Terrorism and Anti-American Hostilities

The Iran deal was signed with full awareness of the anti-American sentiments of Irans leaders, and of Irans programs to sponsor terrorism and destabilization operations around the world. In 2013, Rouhani stated, Saying death to America is easy. We need to express death to America with action.

National security adviser John Bolton said in a statement on May 8: Lifting the sanctions, as happened in 2015 as a result of the [Iran] deal, helps fuel the activity that Iran is undertaking now in Syria, its support for terrorist groups all around the region and the world, like Hezbollah and Hamas. To really deal with this threat and try to bring peace and stability to the Middle East, and to relieve the world of the nuclear threat, you have to go after the whole thing.

Terrorism

Iran is the world leader in state-sponsored terrorism, and its main tool in these operations is its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). A 2015 report from the State Departments Bureau of Counterterrorism stated that in 2014, Irans state sponsorship of terrorism worldwide remained undiminished, and that it was using the IRGC-QF, its Ministry of Intelligence, and Hezbollah. In addition, Iran provides military support to the terrorist group Hamas for its operations in the West Bank and Gaza. It states, Israeli experts believe that Iran is trying to arm Hizballah with advanced weapons systems such as anti-air and anti-ship cruise missile systems, as well as continuing to transfer long-range rockets into Lebanon.

According to a March 2018 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the State Department says Iran remains the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2016, and the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said in 2017 that Iran continues to be the foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

Hezbollah Drug Trafficking

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist organization, is heavily involved in drug trafficking through the Middle East, West Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. The money from its drug operations is used to finance its activities of terrorism and subversion.

The United States had a law enforcement campaign to go after the Hezbollah drug operations, yet, according to a 2017 article from Politico, the law enforcement campaign was derailed by the Obama administration. It notes that the campaign, known as Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) found that Hezbollah had become not only a militant and political organization, but also an international drug syndicate with an estimated $1 billion in revenue each year from weapons trafficking, drugs, money laundering, and other forms of crime.

Politico states that as the DEA operation reached the innermost circle of Hezbollah and its state sponsors in Iran, however, that the Obama administration threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way. When U.S. law enforcement agents sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests.President Donald Trump prays at the Western wall in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. (RONEN ZVULUN/AFP/Getty Images)

OPINION: Trumps Reality-Based Foreign Policy Working in Israel

May 14 marked a historic moment, when the United States became the first country to move its embassy to Israels capital, Jerusalem.

It was an event long in the making. Nearly 23 years ago, in 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act.

Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama each promised to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. However, none of them did so. Instead, they used six-month waivers to postpone the move citing national security interests.

Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to deliver on the promise.

White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrive to the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, in Jerusalem, Israel. U.S. President Donald J. Trumps administration officially transferred the ambassadors offices to the consulate building and will temporarily use it as the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images,)

Following Trumps announcement of the move, which he described as long overdue and as based on a recognition of reality, at least 10 other countries decided to follow the United States example.

Critics have pointed to Palestinian demands to have East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state as a reason not to move the embassy.

In announcing the move in December, Trump said that specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final negotiations, but he called for the status quo to remain at the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif.

He also said he is prepared to support a two-state solution, if it is agreed to by the parties.

Despite decades of talks, Israel and Palestine are no closer to reaching a lasting peace agreement.

Perhaps Trumps reality-based approach to foreign policy, just like with Iran and North Korea, will help advance peace.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Stephen Cheung, president of the World Trade Center Los Angeles speaks at the Trade Commissioners Forum at the 4th Annual Consul Generals Dinner at the City Club Los Angeles on May 8, 2018. (Sarah Le/The Epoch Times)

Organ Harvesting in China Questioned at Los Angeles Trade Forum

LOS ANGELESA disagreement about the atrocity of forced organ harvesting in China broke out in an unusual venue, a forum on international trade.

China is the Los Angeles Customs Districts number one trading partner, accounting for more than half of all activity at its ports. China is also the largest trading partner with the United States as a whole.

On May 8, the 4th Annual Consul Generals Dinner was held at City Club Los Angeles. Prior to the dinner, the World Trade Center Los Angeles hosted a trade commissioners forum to discuss The Impact of International Trade.

Stephen Cheung, president of the World Trade Center (WTC) Los Angeles hosted the forum.

California just took over as the fifth largest economy in the world, surpassing the UK. So this is the power of this region, Cheung said during the forum. This position is predicated upon our international relationship with our investors, with our international trading partners.

The Epoch Times asked Haiyan Liu, Senior Commercial Consul for the Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles, about forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China, but he denied it was a problem.

I think the Chinese government has made a statement about the issue you mentioned, and its no longer an issue right now, said Liu.

However, another member of the audience immediately stood up and said there was indeed evidence from respected media groups that the harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience was still happening in China.

If you have proof, we can [conduct] a criminal prosecution. We can start that kind of procedure, said Liu in response.

Liu later declined to speak one-on-one with the reporter from The Epoch Times.

Evidence for the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China has been published and made publicly available online by distinguished independent researchers for over a decade.

According to the 2016 report Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter: An Update, co-authored by former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia/Pacific) David Kilgour, human rights lawyer David Matas, and award-winning China analyst Ethan Gutmann, practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) have since 2000 been the main source of transplanted organs in China, with large numbers of practitioners having been harvested.

These prisoners of conscience are blood and tissue tested, then executed on demand for their organs to be sold.

In 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution expressing concern about the persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from nonconsenting prisoners of conscience in the Peoples Republic of China.

After the forum, Cheung said the WTCs expertise and focus is on international trade in terms of bringing investment to Los Angeles, so addressing these kinds of concerns about China is not part of their work.

However, Cheung said that as a human being, he hoped to learn more about the forced organ harvesting allegations against the Chinese regime.

If thats indeed true, thats definitely very, very, very disconcerting, Cheung said.

Following the forum, the Consul Generals Dinner was held, with a discussion on the topic of Medical Tourism: An International Health Perspective. Edwin McCarthy, vice president of the Center for International Medicine at City of Hope, was on the panel of experts.

McCarthy said City of Hope is focused on cancer treatment, and the only transplants conducted at the hospital are bone marrow transplants. But he was aware of the organ harvesting issue in China, where medical tourists from other countries often go to get an organ transplant.

In my understanding, this is not a new discovery. This is something thats been documented in the past, he said. I believe its important that that type of activity continues to have the light shown on it so that its not ignored or dismissed.

Meral Duran, the executive director of the West Coast Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce and an EU political advisor, who was on the panel of the trade commissioners forum, said she was also aware of organ harvesting in China.

In Europe, we are the land of the rule of law, we talk about human rights, of course we are  looking at that deeply and carefully, she said.Over a Thousand People Celebrate Falun Dafa Day in Toronto

Dignitaries speak out against the persecution in China

TORONTOOver a thousand people gathered in downtown Toronto on Saturday to celebrate Falun Dafa Day, the 26th anniversary of the introduction of Falun Dafa to the public.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual discipline that combines gentle meditation exercises with moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The event included a large-scale parade through downtown, as well as musical and dance performances in the Nathan Phillips Square.

Current and former elected officials and other dignitaries also came out to the event, congratulating Falun Dafa adherents on their celebrations, as well as speaking out against the brutal persecution of their fellow practitioners in China.

On July 20, 1999, then-Chinese communist regime leader Jiang Zemin launched a campaign of persecution against Falun Dafa, a persecution that has claimed many lives, seen the illegal imprisonment of countless adherents, and the destruction of millions of families.

Before the persecution started, Falun Dafa was recognized by officials for improving health and reducing medical costs. Government estimates in the 1990s showed that between 70 to 100 million people practiced Falun Dafa in China at that time.

In this 19th year of the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners, I dream of a day when all Chinese citizens enjoy the freedom of assembly and all the democratic rights that we too often take for granted here in Canada, said Peter Kent, a Conservative MP and a former cabinet minister, at the event.

Kent also read a greeting by the leader of the Conservative Party Andrew Scheer.

Through the promotion of the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, millions of people around the world have benefited from the teachings of Falun Dafa, Kent read.

Also speaking at the event was Wladyslaw Lizon, a former Conservative MP and a founding member of Tribute to Liberty, an organization dedicated to building a national monument in Canada to honour the victims of communism. Lizon was born and grew up in communist Poland and was part of the resistance movement that eventually saw the end of communism in Poland.

I would like to thank you for coming here, because it serves many purposes, but one of them is that you are giving strength to your brothers and sisters that are oppressed in China, Lizon said.

Im sure that rather sooner than later, we will be successful, and the good will win over evil, also in China, he added.

Former Conservative MP Brad Butt, who wished adherents a happy Falun Dafa Day, said its very important that people speak out against the persecution in China.

People like me and those behind me [other dignitaries at the event] and many others throughout Canada stand with you and want you to know we will continue to advocate for you, said Butt.

Reverend Majed El Shafie, president of One Free World International, a human rights organization that advocates for religious minorities around the world, called attention to the fact that despite the Chinese regimes persecution, Falun Dafa is still standing strong.

The Chinese regime have to understand that were still standing here, not just in Toronto, not just in Europe, not just in Tokyowere standing around the world, standing strong, for the Falun Gong, he said.

Miracle of Our Contemporary Times

Sheng Xue, a Chinese-Canadian poet, author, and journalist, said many people didnt foresee that Falun Dafa would be persecuted by the Chinese regime one day, because they are all very kind hearted people, and believe in compassion, truth, and tolerance.

But Chinese Communist Partys history shows that it is an oppressive regime that is fearful of anything that is not under its direct control.

Sheng said Falun Dafa adherents have created a miracle of our contemporary times because of the great number of people who continue to practice Falun Dafa, the scale of the persecution that has been imposed on them, and the length of time practitioners have preserved, while using non-violent means to fight for their rights.

You have been leading us to fight for freedom of belief, the freedom of religion, the freedom of human rights, and you have been leading us to know, to understand, we need to stay together to fight for our main goals, said Sheng.NSC meeting on Nawaz Sharif statement to be held today

ISLAMABAD: Military authorities on Sunday announced that a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), the countrys top civil-military body, had been called on Monday (today) to consider the situation arising out of the recent remarks of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif about the 2008 Mumbai attacks as differences within the ruling party surfaced following the issuance of contradictory statements by the Sharif brothers on the issue.



The Prime Minister Office, however, opted to stay silent as there was no announcement from the government side regarding the convening of the NSC meeting.



(The) NSC meeting suggested to (the) prime minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay (Mumbai) incident. Being held tomorrow (Monday) morning, tweeted Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor through his official account on Twitter.



Political analysts believe that these latest developments indicate further aggravation in the already tense civil-military relationship at a time when elections are just a couple of months away. They believe that the announcement by the ISPR chief through social media indicates that the military authorities have decided to seriously take up the issue and that they want Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasis stance over the matter.



In an exclusive interview to Dawn published on Saturday, Mr Nawaz while speaking on matters related to the countrys foreign policy had stated: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial? He was referring to the Mumbai attacks-related trial proceedings which have stalled in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.



Its absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly what we are struggling for. President Putin has said it. President Xi has said it, Mr Nawaz had said.



Soon after the publication of Mr Nawazs interview, the Indian media blew up his remarks, terming it an admission on part of the former prime minister that non-state actors from Pakistan were involved in the Mumbai attacks in which terrorists had killed more than 150 people and injured over 300 others in about a dozen shooting and bombing attacks in different localities.



Meanwhile, an unidentified spokesman for the PML-N in a statement, which he said was being issued to set the record straight on the interview of PML-N Quaid, claimed that the Indian media had grossly misinterpreted Mr Nawazs remarks.



At the outset, the statement of the Quaid has been grossly misinterpreted by the Indian media. Unfortunately, a section of Pakistani electronic and social media has intentionally or unintentionally not only validated but has lent credence to the malicious propaganda of Indian media without going through the full facts of the statement, he said.



The PML-N as the countrys premier popular national political party and its Quaid need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistans national security, the spokesman said in apparent reference to the ongoing criticism of the PML-N and Mr Nawaz for his remarks from political and security quarters, terming it anti-state and equating it with committing a treason.



After all, it was (the then) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who, resisting all pressures, took the most important and most difficult decision on national security in Pakistans history by making the country a nuclear power in May 1998, the spokesman said while referring to the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in a tit-for-tat move against India 20 years ago.



The spokesman also clarified that comments of Nawaz Sharif about PML-N president Shahbaz Sharifs role in the partys election campaign were also being misinterpreted.



Mian Shahbaz Sharif is the elected president of the PML-N, and, in this capacity, he is already in the forefront of the election campaign, taking the PML-N message to every nook and corner of the country. There is, therefore, no ambiguity regarding his role and future responsibilities, the spokesman concluded.



When Nawaz Sharif did not at all contradict his remarks, his younger brother and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, who is also the chief minister of Punjab, issued a statement, saying that the news report had incorrectly attributed certain remarks to PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif, which do not represent PML-Ns party policy.



In the statement, which Mr Shahbaz issued as the party president but through the Punjab governments Directorate General Public Relations, he said the PML-N rejects all assertions, direct or implied, made in the news report of Dawn.



The younger Sharif said the state of Pakistan and all its institutions stand together in the global fight against terrorism.A mobile phone displaying an online post by outspoken professor Qiao Mu, at his home in Beijing, China on July 21, 2017. A new organization made up of Chinese internet companies will assist the Chinese regime in carrying out censorship policies. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese State Media Proudly Announces an Internet NGO That Will Carry out Regimes Censorship Policies

Chinese state media enthusiastically announced the formation of an internet federation on May 9, which claims to be Chinas first non-governmental organization made up of Chinese internet companies.

But is it really independent from the Chinese regime?

The president of the 300-member organization is Ren Xianliang, former deputy director of the regimes internet censorship agency, the Cyberspace Administration.

Meanwhile, regime-friendly CEOs, Jack Ma of Alibabawho has openly expressed support for the Chinese regimes policiesand Pony Ma of Tencentthe parent company of WeChat, a social media platform known to comply with Chinas internet censorship and monitoring policiesare the federations vice presidents.

What exactly does this federation do? According to state media reports, it seeks to implement the regimes internet superpower strategy, and persist in being the guide to the correct political path.

These are undoubtedly euphemisms for internet censorship. The Chinese regime wants to become a global leader in internet technology, including by exporting the Chinese model of cyberspace sovereignty, the idea that governments should dictate what their citizens can access on the internet within the countrys borders.

Chinese dissidents and others who have expressed online opinions critical of the Chinese regime have been punished in the pastwhen they strayed from the correct political path.

State media also mentioned that the federation would embody the spirit of an April conference on internet safety, where Xi vouched for tightening the states grip on the internet in order to maintain, in Xis words, economic and social stability.

The group also promised to promote the activities of Party branches at their respective internet companies. Those are satellite Chinese Communist Party organizations set up in the workplace to ensure staff and company decisions toe the Party line.

The new federation is the latest method by which the Chinese regime has recently sought to further monitor information flows. A policy went into effect last June whereby all domestic and foreign firms in China are required to store their data on servers located within China.

On May 7, popular news aggregator app Jinri Toutiao announced that it has established an expert panel of bureaucrats, scholars, and journalists who will inspect content on the app and report anything deemed inappropriate by Chinese authorities.

Other major platforms like Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter), Tencent, and Youku (similar to YouTube) have also established such panels. The Chinese regimes main censorship agency, State Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television, announced this week that the three companies have deleted more than 150 inappropriate video and audio clips and closed 40,000 accounts.Anti-terror policemen stand guard following a bomb blast at police office in Surabaya, Indonesia May 14, 2018. (Reuters/Beawiharta)

Suicide Bomber on Motorbike Wounds Police in Indonesias Surabaya

SURABAYA, Indonesia  A suicide bomber on a motorbike wounded several Indonesian police outside a police building in Surabaya on Monday, a day after Islamic terrorists launched suicide attacks on churches in the countrys second-largest city, police said.

Clearly its a suicide bombing, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

We cant be open up all details yet because we are still identifying victims at the scene and the crime scene is being handled, he told a briefing.

The blast occurred at 8.50 a.m. (0150 GMT) at a checkpoint outside the building, he said. The full extent of casualties was unclear, he said.

CCTV footage shown on Indonesian television showed a motorbike arriving at a checkpoint next to a car and exploding as officers approached it.

On Sunday, Islamic terrorists killed at least 13 people in suicide attacks on three churches in Surabaya.

By Kanupriya Kapoor

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersA Tesla logo is seen in Los Angeles, California on Jan. 12, 2018. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

Tesla Model S Hits Truck in Utah

A Tesla Inc Model S crashed at speed into a truck from the citys Unified Fire Authority in South Jordan, Utah, late on Friday after failing to slow for a red light, local police said on Monday.

The Tesla car was traveling at 60 miles per hour when it hit the mechanic truck, which was stopped for the light on the South Bangerter Highway in South Jordan, Utah at 6:38 pm MT, the police said.

The Tesla driver suffered a broken ankle and was taken to hospital while no injuries were reported to the truck driver, the police said in a statement.

Witnesses said the Tesla car did not brake prior to impact, the statement said, adding it was unknown if the autopilot feature in the Model S was engaged at the time.

Tesla did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said last week it was investigating a Tesla accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that killed two teenagers and injured another  the agencys fourth active probe into crashes of the companys electric vehicles.

By Sanjana Shivdas

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Sleepy Truck Driver Causes Multi-Vehicle CrashPresident Donald Trump (L) and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar give remarks on lowering drug prices in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on May 11, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Unveils His Drug Pricing Reform

The Trump administration is committed to reducing the price for prescription drugs

President Donald Trump announced his blueprint to lower prescription drug prices on May 11. The plan lays out strategies to fix high drug prices for American consumers.

We will have a tougher negotiation, more competition, and much lower prices at the pharmacy counter, and itll start to take effect very soon, Trump said.

One of the main objectives of the plan is to increase competition in the generic drug market. Generic drugs are copies of brand-name drugs and they are marketed after the brand-name drugs patent expires.

According to the economic report of the Presidents Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) published in late February, many artificially high prices result from government policies that prevent healthy price competition.

Drug prices, for example, are sometimes artificially high due to government regulations that raise prices, stated the CEA report. One of the objectives of the plan is to reduce the prices by encouraging more robust price competition.

The blueprint also includes some incentives for drug manufacturers to lower their list prices.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar described the blueprint as the most comprehensive action plan for drug affordability of any president in history.

As part of the plan, Azar said they would look into having the FDA require disclosure of prices in advertisements.

If we want to have a real market for drugs, why not have them disclose their prices in the ads too, Azar said.

Many Americans, especially seniors, face high out-of-pocket costs for the drugs they need. According to the plan, HHS will give Medicare Part D plans better tools to negotiate discounts on behalf of seniors. And it will develop options to lower patients out-of-pocket spending.

The drug lobby is making an absolute fortune at the expense of American consumers, Trump said. No industry spends more money on lobbying than the pharmaceutical health products industry.

He accused lobbyists of protecting the status quo and keeping prices artificially high.

The list prices of drugs have skyrocketed in the last few decades. And government programs and private consumers do not always have the means to negotiate more reasonable prices.United States Fires ICBM Missile  Heres Where It Landed

The United States tested an intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.

The military fired an unarmed Minuteman III missile, carrying a dummy warhead. It was fired from an underground silo on the northwest portion of the base at 1:23 a.m. on Monday, May 14, making it the second Minuteman missile test in three weeks, according to local news website Noozhawk.com.

Vandenberg Air Force Base is located in Santa Barbara County north of the city of Lompoc.

Vandenberg usually carries out four Minuteman missile tests each year to gather information about the weapon systems accuracy and reliability.

Reports said that the missile flew about 4,100 miles and dropped into the designated test site near the Kwajalein Atoll area in the central Pacific Ocean.

The current U.S. force consists of 399 Minuteman III missiles as of September 2017. Theyre deployed in missile silos in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming. It is a component of the U.S. nuclear triad, with the other two parts of the triad being nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers and Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

According to Stanford University, since its development during the Cold War, the United States nuclear triad has retained the important role of bolstering U.S. national security.

This multi-faceted approach effectively diversifies the risk involved with a potential first-strike nuclear attackand increases the ability of an offensive second-strike attack. While the government remains confident in the reliability of the triad as a nuclear deterrent, new dialogue has been established regarding the relevance and feasibility of maintaining specific legs of the triad in the 21st century, reads a synopsis on the universitys website.

The first leg of the triad are American strategic bombers, including the B-29, B-36, B-52, and B-2 aircraft. According to the website, due to their flexibility, strategic bombers have been an essential part of the triad and can function as both a first and second strike attacker.

ICBMs, the website says, are  well protected against first strike attacks (although some claim their stationary nature makes them more vulnerable). Theyre also cheaper than the other parts of the triad.

However, the submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBM, are often considered the most critical leg of the triad, Stanfords website says. The rationale comes from the fact that submarines are very difficult to track and destroymaking them almost invulnerable to first strike attacks and increasing their value as a second strike attacker.

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Putin Responds to Speculation of New Cold WarThe 1956 movie Giant and a new book about the making of the Elizabeth Taylor-Rock Hudson-James Dean classic were both celebrated at a recent screening at the Bethel Cinema attended by our Movie & A Martini film club.

What a coincidence, Byrds Books owner Alice Hutchinson said of Texas historian Don Grahams book being published a week before the special showing. Hutchinson had a pile of the books for sale during the pre-movie reception and the intermission at the halfway mark of the 3-hour-and-20-minute epic.

Giant drew a crowd of about 40 movie buffs, including a woman who said she had never heard of the movie before. She arrived intending to see something else and changed her mind when she noticed the poster for the one-night-only event. Im so glad I did. It was great, she said on her way out of the theater.

Subtitled Edna Ferber, James Dean, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and the Making of a Legendary American Film, the Graham book covers the production of the movie in detail, but in a well-written, novelistic style that makes it a pleasure to read. Graham gives smart mini-biographies of the key players. The sections on Hudson and Dean are particularly sharp in the way they contrast the two stars very different approach to their closeted gay lives. Hudson was much more clandestine than the free-wheeling Dean.

Audience members at the screening were surprised to learn Taylor and Hudson were only cast in the film after director George Stevens first choices  Audrey Hepburn and William Holden  were unavailable. His second choice for the Taylor part  Grace Kelly  was unable to do the movie when her studio, MGM, refused to loan her out to Warner Bros. Dean only landed his co-starring role after Alan Ladd (who had just made Shane with Stevens) rejected what he saw as a supporting role.

It was really ahead of its time, another patron said during the post-screening discussion. The treatment of racism must have been shocking (in 1956).

Years before the Civil Rights Act was passed, Giant shows the discrimination against Mexican-Americans in Texas during the pre- and post-World War II era. One of the major sources of conflict between the Texas ranch owner played by Hudson and his new bride from Maryland played by Taylor is her shock at how her husband relates to his Mexican ranch hands and house staff (he and his friends freely use racial slurs).

The movie shows the Hudson characters evolution over 25 years into a much more liberal man due to his wifes influence. He eventually accepts his sons marriage to a Mexican woman and defends her when a cafe owner tries to refuse her service.

Several audience members were surprised and pleased by the pre-feminist nature of Taylors character who refuses to knuckle under to her husbands attempt to change her politics.

The next Movie & A Martini event will be on Tuesday, May 22, at the Avon, 272 Bedford St., Stamford, to see Pierrot le Fou.

jmeyers@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @joesviewMs Josephine Nkrumah, the Chairman of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has interacted with the Ghana Armed Forces to help build on Ghanas democratic pillars.



Ms Nkrumah said the event was part of activities of the Constitution Week, aimed at sensitising the public on the need to uphold the tenets of the 1992 Constitution.



It is on the theme: "Our Nation, our Heritage, which consolidates the countrys democratic gains. This year marks the 25th Year of the Constitution.



Ms Nkrumah said this year's celebration was to build civil competency with personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces and the role they could play within the sub-theme: Transparency and Public Accountability as well as ensure the continuity of the Constitution.



She said the NCCE would collaborate with the Armed Forces to spell out provisions of the Constitution for their better understanding.



Ms Nkrumah noted that the Commission would continue to discharge its mandate by educating the public and make them understand the provisions of the Constitution.



Some of the military personnel, the Ghana News Agency spoke with expressed satisfaction about the engagement, saying it has exposed them to some of the provisions of the Constitution, which they were not aware of.



They called for more engagement with the Commission and the need to integrate the study of the Constitution at the basic educational level help the public to be abreast of its provisions.

Source: GNA









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Featured VideoNORWALK  Two Brien McMahon High School teachers will travel to Asia this summer to learn new techniques in math instruction that they can share with students and integrate into everyday lessons.

As part of their self-designed project, Kelly Munkwitz and Rosa Ayala will research how teachers in China and Japan provide math instruction with the goal of advancing International Baccalaureate students achievement at Brien McMahon and motivating their persistence in problem solving.

They will also visit schools, communities and historical sites to observe how these cultural elements influence the learning process.

Both were selected as fellows for Fund for Teachers, a nonprofit organization that supports educators efforts to develop skills and knowledge in various subjects.

In addition to being engrossed in an unfamiliar culture, the goal of our travel experience is to attain an understanding of what makes the education systems in these particular countries successful, Munkwitz said. We will focus our research on instructional strategies that promote authentic learning, and work on developing engaging, real-world applications to help motivate our students to persist in problem solving.

Ayala said she feels fortunate to have been selected and has been sharing her excitement with her students. Some have even taught her phrases in Mandarin and Japanese, she said.

Ms. Munkwitz and I are looking forward to learning, exploring, and bringing back some new ideas to invigorate our teaching back home, Ayala said.

This year, there are 487 fellows who will explore teaching methods in 89 countries on six continents. Since 2001, Fund for Teachers has awarded $27.5 million in grants to nearly 7,500 of Americas top educators who have traveled to 148 different countries on all seven continents, according to its website.

Brien McMahon High School principal Scott Hurwitz said the best teachers seek opportunities to continue learning, as Munkwitz and Ayala will be doing through the Fund for Teachers fellowship.

To be considered, they underwent a rigorous application process that involved a committee of teachers, school leaders, district administrators and community stakeholders.

They know that learning leads to innovation and innovation allows them to inspire their students, Hurwitz said. It makes me so happy that Kelly and Rosa are going to China and Japan to gain insights into how teachers in other countries make math relevant. They are two of the many dedicated and caring professionals that we are lucky to have on our teaching staff.

The grant opportunity is supported by The Dalio Foundation, which has provided fellowship grants for teachers across Connecticut in 49 school districts for the past four years.

skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkimSpring

By Karl Ove Knausgaard

Translated from the Norwegian by Ingvild Burkey

Penguin Press. 182 pp. $27

---

This latest addition to Karl Ove Knausgaard's ongoing seasonal quartet is a tightly controlled story about risk, the kind associated with birth.

From the beginning, this series of memoirs has been directed toward a single future reader: Knausgaard's fourth daughter. The books so far have been meditations on life, occasionally interspersed with artful definitions of things above, like the sun and the moon, and things below, like wasps, chairs, sugar and Q-Tips - a kind of glossary for a new being seeing the world afresh. "Spring," by contrast, is a stand-alone narrative and, while the concluding "Summer" is still to come, may prove the best of the lot.

Set within a single day, "Spring" focuses on a road trip that also becomes a mental journey to the past. (That structure may be a tip of the hat to Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"; the late director is a minor character in the book's backstory.) Knausgaard travels with his infant daughter from the family home in Skane, in southern Sweden, to see his wife in Helsingborg, about an hour away. We do not immediately know why his wife is there, but life has clearly become messy. Knausgaard recently had to visit Child Protective Services. "We as a family," he notes dryly, "had approached the zone where third parties had the right to get involved." He lets us know, too, he has a bad temper - "There's a reason why it's called the nuclear family" - and that, during a trip to a bathroom this very morning, he passed blood.

All of which is more than enough to give Knausgaard a distinct sense of life's precariousness - not that he needs a reminder, with the tot strapped in the car seat in back. Along the way, he recalls the events that lead up to his daughter's birth: a happy time, full of far-flung family trips, including an academic conference at Bergman's Faro Island home, but also one plagued by the physical and emotional complications of his wife's increasing depression.

Knausgaard reveals his life and tries to impart some wisdom to his dozing infant passenger. One insight is a parent's love is "the only love that doesn't bind you but sets you free." Another is that, even for an admittedly self-centered person like himself, the need for others is absolute. "The person with no attachments is an anomaly," he writes. Life alone is a horror. He lets her know self-deception "isn't a lie, it's a survival mechanism" and she must be true to herself even though peer pressure is inevitable.

But as he recalls his wife's difficult pregnancy, the very idea of birth seems to test his own views on life. He is preoccupied with how it all ends; his father's wretched alcoholic death casts a shadow over his own life. So does the fact that he and his wife have chosen to bring another child into the world.

He never directly asks, "What compels people to have children?," but it is a question he seems bent on investigating. He weighs the promise of life against the meanness, cruelty and tragedy that await us all. Existence is full of spontaneous threatening swerves.

Knausgaard's assets are on full display, including his precise writing style and his unerring sense of detail. He is constantly attuned to his surroundings, noting the changing weather and the colors of flowers, which may account for why he is so successful at what he does: transforming quotidian life into drama.

Perhaps it is the Proustian in him, this desire to impart the full benefit of experience, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Domestic life is his territory, and he enlarges it.

Likewise, this volume is strengthened by the fact that he is less inclined to go off the deep end. All the empty pontificating and ponderous philosophizing of the previous "Winter" has been put in storage.

For anyone who is curious about this writer but has not felt the urge to invest in the full 3,500 pages of his autobiographical series, "My Struggle," "Spring" makes for an excellent introduction. It is the shortest book he has ever written, but it is all muscle, a generous slice of a thoughtful, ruminative life.

---

Welch frequently writes about books for the Columbia, S.C., Free Times.Colombia Hoy



Para nunca olvidar



Paginas vistas en total

'Parasite' painted on a statue of Queen, Elizabeth in Kent, England



Sin palabras



La UE le apunta a la paz



Cada vez mas solo



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LULA y su Pueblo



Bye Bye



Homenaje al genial Quino



Fueron ellos



Una imagen que resume



Tan bajo ha caido que se deja tocar el trasero?



Porky y el Nene (archiconocido narcotraficante)



Ladrones al poder



Asi mira el perrito a su amo



Crazy



Clamor popular



La nueva inquisicion



Bolivia



Chile Hoy



Eso es todo amigos!



Piensalo!



Pinerachet



No More Trump



Adios Macri, hasta nunca



La Marioneta se desinfla



Asi o mas cinico



Almugre



Mexico en 1794



Mas arrastrado imposible



Hasta cuando!



La pura verdad



Solidaridad con Palestina



Serie Capitalismo



Espejismos de la clase trabajadora



Asi es!



Comerciantes o delincuentes



No pasaran!



Asi es la vida



USA HOY



01/01/1959



La avaricia no tiene limites



AYUDA HUMANITARIA?



Chile Hoy



Asi son las cosas



Mapa Electoral de Venezuela



Patagonia argentina?



Un aniversario mas del mayor genocidio de la Humanidad



Retrato del franquismo en Espana



Visca Catalunya!



El Chulo de Madrid



Cuando la policia se roba la democracia



Una imagen dice mas que mil palabras



La purita verdad



Asi gobierna la maldita burguesia



Mi pobre clase media



Como Chavez nadie



Comparte La Colmena via twitter Twittear

Programa de la MUD



Asi o mas clarito



Por que Trump no ataco Corea del Norte?



Hace 15 anos Por que la OEA no se pronuncio?



Una verguenza nacional



La luz que nos guia



La Union Europea Premio Nobel de la Paz?



Feudalismo ayer y hoy



Obama, el mentiroso



Curiosa coincidencia



Un mundo de cerdos



No es extrano?



La Marioneta



Los ricos protestan, los pobres celebran



MARICORI Y OBAMA



Cuantas muertes este ano?



USA TODAY



USA HOY 6



USA HOY 5



USA HOY 4



USA HOY 3



USA HOY 2



USA HOY (1)



Insaciable



Cronologia de un agresor



Guarimbear en USA



Mexico hoy



Bolivar y Chavez



Primero Amargado



Dios los cria y ellos se juntan



USA hoy (III)



USA hoy (II)



USA hoy



Mexico hoy



Mexico hoy



Mexico hoy



Obama



La verdad sea dicha



Los ricos



Que no nos vea Obama



Pobre Obama



SOS PALESTINA



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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!

China has been accused of firing military-grade lasers at U.S. planes landing in the East African nation of Djibouti. The U.S. believes Chinese nationals are behind two recent incidents involving four-engine military transport planes making their landings at Camp Lemonnier. Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said the lasers caused minor eye injuries to two American pilots.

Camp Lemonnier, established after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is home to about 4,000 personnel, including some involved in highly secretive missions in the region. The base, operated by the Navy, is the only permanent American base in Africa. It is located adjacent to Djiboutis international airport. The country is located where the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden meet.

Get alerts:

The laser fire is believed to have come from Chinas new base in Djibouti. The base, Chinas first overseas, opened last year as a military and logistics base to support antipiracy, counterterrorism and humanitarian operations in Africa and the Middle East. It is located about 10.5 kilometers from the U.S. installation at Camp Lemonnier.

China is denying the accusations from the U.S. Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for Chinas Foreign Ministry, said the allegations were completely inconsistent with the facts. Chinas Ministry of National Defense said in a written response: The Chinese side has refuted the untrue allegations made by the United States through official channels.

China did not explain why the U.S. claims are untrue in its response. White said the U.S. is confident in its assessment of the situation. White added that the Pentagon had issued a formal complaint over the matter. China has signed the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, which bans the use of lasers that cause blindness in warfare.

The United States is also objecting to the deployment of antiaircraft and anti-ship missiles on islands that China claims in the South China Sea. While China has long claimed the area, other nations also have claims there, including Vietnam and the Philippines. An international arbitration panel ruled against its territorial claims in 2016.

The missile systems have the potential to threaten aircraft and ships that approach the disputed territories. Ms. Hua said the deployment of weapons to the islands were defensive and intended to safeguard Chinas sovereignty and security. She added, Anyone with no invasive intention will find no reason to worry about this.1 hour ago

California pipeline likely damaged up to a year before spill

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  An underwater oil pipeline off the Southern California coast was likely damaged by a ships anchor several months to a year before it ruptured and sent oil spewing into the ocean and then onto some of the areas best-known beaches, investigators said Friday.

Read ArticleThe British poet, Elizabeth Bibesco, once said that 'Irony is the hygiene of the mind' but there is nothing cleansing about the hypocritic decision by the UK Government to host a summit encouraging six European countries to join the EU for the sake of their security, stability and prosperity, months before it is due to sign its own Brexit withdrawal deal with Brussels.The Independent reports that in July London will play host to Western Balkans governments including Serbia and Albania, as well as existing EU member states, to discuss reforms to pave the way to future EU enlargement:The paper says that the summit is part of the so-called Berlin Process, a series of meetings aimed at supporting the region towards joining the bloc and described by the European parliaments research arm asIt is a shame that the UK Government does not take the same view about UK membership of the EU.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.NEW YORKXerox Corp. shares fell after activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason prevailed in their bid to stymie Fujifilm Holdings Corp.s $6.1 billion (U.S.) takeover of the U.S. office equipment supplier and pushed out the companys chief executive officer.

The stock fell as much as 6 per cent in early trading in New York Monday to as low as $28.35, valuing Xerox at about $7.2 billion.

Jeff Jacobson, the CEO who oversaw the initial deal with Fujifilm, will step down under a settlement backed by the two shareholders, Xerox said in a statement Sunday. Keith Cozza, the CEO of Icahn Enterprises, will become chairperson, while John Visentin is expected to take over as CEO, the U.S. copier company said. Icahn and Deason own a combined 13 per cent of Xerox.

Read more:

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The agreement leaves the two activist investors with a firmer handle on the company after a tumultuous boardroom battle. Icahn and Deason, who opposed the transaction from the start as undervalued, must now find other bids or compel Fujifilm, which owns 75 per cent of an office equipment joint venture with Xerox, to raise its offer substantially.

It also marks another big win for billionaire investor Icahn, whos refocused his energy on shaking up corporate targets in the past few months after spending part of last year advising U.S. President Donald Trump on his regulatory agenda. Icahn announced two more nominees for SandRidge Energy Inc.s board on Friday, signalling hes not interested in a proposed settlement of his fight to take control of the oil and gas explorer. He also reached a deal with Newell Brands Inc. that would give him seats on the board and see the Crock-Pot maker accelerate its transformation plans.

We are extremely pleased that Xerox finally terminated the ill-advised scheme to cede control of the company to Fujifilm, Icahn said. With that behind us and new shareholder-focused leadership in place, today marks a new beginning for Xerox.

Xerox is unlikely to find an alternative acquirer for itself in the next few months, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts Paul Coster wrote in a note to clients Monday. Coster, who cut his recommendation on Xerox shares to neutral from buy, said Xerox could lose key enterprise clients and that the abrupt change could disrupt operations.

Deason sued Xerox in February to block the proposal, accusing Jacobson of acting without authorization to strike a deal that preserved his job at shareholders expense. The lawsuit also claimed that the companys board breached its fiduciary duties.

As part of a deal proposed in January, Xerox was to have first merged with a joint venture it operates with Fujifilm in Asia, and then the Tokyo-based company would take over slightly more than 50 per cent of the combined entity.

Fujifilm on Monday said it disputes Xeroxs unilateral decision and is reviewing all of our available options, including bringing a legal action seeking damages. The company also said it will urge Xeroxs board to reconsider the settlement with Icahn and Deason. As part of the agreement with the activist investors, Xerox pushed out five board members and added five new ones, including Cozza and Visentin, according to the statement Sunday.

Last week, Icahn and Deason repeated their calls for Xerox to scrap the transaction, fire Jacobson, hire a new CEO and have the board resign. The pair said they would be willing to consider any offers for the company of $40 a share or more.

Fujifilm shares gained 1.6 per cent as of the close in Tokyo trading on Monday, giving the company a market value of $20 billion.

Its not bad for Fujifilm that Xerox ended the deal, said Tomoichiro Kubota, a market analyst at Matsui Securities Co., by phone. From the beginning, the market was not accepting the deal as a good one since they dont see big growth potential in Xerox.

The Japanese companys shares are down 6.5 per cent this year, partly as investors balked at the companys plan to take on more of Xeroxs business within the office-equipment industry. The company has been acquiring drug and biomedical assets to diversify as demand for copiers stagnates.

Separately, Fujifilm said its acquiring the stakes it doesnt already own in drugmaker and distributor Toyama Chemical Co. from Taisho Pharmaceutical. Toyama Chemical will be combined with its Fujifilm RI Pharma unit effective Oct. 1, Fujifilm said in a statement Monday. Nikkei earlier reported Fujifilm was expected to acquire the stake for as much as 70 billion yen ($640 million).

In its statement late Sunday, Xerox cited Fujifilms failure to provide audited financials for the joint venture on time, among other issues, for the decision to terminate the merger agreement. Bloomberg earlier reported on the cancellation of the transaction.

Fujifilm said last week it intended to resume discussions with Xerox on a potential combination on superior terms, but it hadnt received a new proposal from the U.S. company. Fujifilm has also said it was appealing a U.S. court injunction blocking the takeover.

Xerox said it believes that the transaction cannot reasonably be expected to be completed under the circumstances, particularly given the court injunction and that shareholders didnt support it on current terms, as well as unresolved accounting issues at Fuji Xerox.

The board also considered the potential instability and business disruption during a proxy contest. Absent a viable, timely transaction with Fujifilm, the Xerox board believes it is in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders to terminate the proposed transaction and enter a new settlement agreement with Icahn and Deason, it said.EDMONTONDeep within oil country is a group of anti-pipeline activists who arent afraid to challenge Albertas reputation as an oil and gas bastion.

From occupying the Calgary offices of Kinder Morgan in March, to hanging a large, anti-pipeline banner on the side of the High Level Bridge last fall, members of Climate Justice Edmonton (CJE) hope to counter the narrative that all Albertans are pro-pipeline.

One of our main goals was really to be a very vocal force of opposition in the province, Emma Jackson said. A lot of people in this province  especially young people  are not necessarily pro-pipeline, so it was to boldly communicate that there are other people who are also against these projects.

In January, Jackson co-founded CJE, an environmental and social justice group that opposes pipeline expansion in Alberta.

The group is at the forefront of local opposition to Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline extension  a project that would twin an existing pipeline that carries bitumen from the Edmonton area to a terminus in Burnaby, B.C., and triple the amount of oil flowing to tankers on the West Coast.

While most of the opposition to the pipeline comes from communities in B.C., the group wants Canadians to know there are Albertans who oppose the project, too.

Its so rare for people outside the province of Alberta to see that there is opposition here, Jackson said.

The pipeline expansion has been at the centre of a row between Alberta, B.C. and the federal government, and faces court challenges and permit delays in B.C. The project is on tenterhooks, as Texas-based Kinder Morgan stopped all non-essential spending on the pipeline last month, saying it will wait until May 31 to see if all parties can reach an agreement on moving forward.

B.C. Premier John Horgans government said it is concerned about the potential for oil spills on its waterways and coastline.

A core group of eight  mostly female  activists decided to start CJE following a series of grassroots demonstrations against pipelines they organized in tandem with other environmental groups in Edmonton. But protesting pipelines in a province where many still consider oil to be economic lifeblood can stir up hard feelings.

The group understands opposing reactions to an extent, but notes how some of the violent, misogynistic backlash they have faced goes too far. Following one of their demonstrations, Jackson took screenshots of several threatening messages group members received on Facebook. Jackson said shes received death threats, too.

Its been pretty shocking  just reading some of the more violent and misogynistic messages, said Hannah Gelderman, an organizer with the group. Its quite shocking and disheartening and eye-opening to the kind of toxic culture that produces that kind of messaging.

Mounting opposition to the pipeline in B.C. and the uptake of renewable energy projects in certain First Nations communities gives the group reason for optimism. Indigenous leadership is showing us the way, said Jackson.

These communities that have community-owned renewable energy projects, and that demonstrate what the path forward could be, give me a lot of hope.

Alberta and the federal government are in discussions with Kinder Morgan to strike a joint financial arrangement to ensure the project gets built. The federal government approved expansion of the Trans Mountain line in 2016, but the B.C. government remains opposed to it.

CJE remains hopeful that opposition by communities, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous in B.C., means Trans Mountain will be shelved.

All of these dominoes are falling, Jackson said. Without free, prior and informed consent, and without a communitys consent to build these projects, they will not be built.

With files from The Canadian Press

Read more about: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EDMONTONPublic health experts are questioning Health Canadas seizure of a product that some say has helped wean them off opioids.

Health Canada seized several Saj brand kratom products from two Edmonton stores  a Saj location in Sherbrooke Plaza and a north-side Jupiter head shop  earlier this month, saying the herbal supplement may pose serious health risks.

Scott Bernstein, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, said kratom played a big role in his recovery from two broken vertebrae in his neck, after he fell off playground equipment in Osoyoos, B.C., last fall.

He was prescribed hydromorphone and was taking high doses to deal with the pain, causing fogginess that made some daily tasks difficult.

Bernstein read that some people had used kratom as a substitute pain reliever, so he found a dispensary in Vancouver and gave it a try.

My experience with it, it was just a very gentle drug where I could take it and just sort of imparted a sense of well-being as well as pain relief, but I could also function and do my job and go about life without feeling like I was disconnected with reality too much, he said.

I didnt experience any negative side-effects at all  I think its something that we should be promoting and not restricting.

Bernstein said kratom helped him reduce his opioid use until he could stop taking opioids entirely.

Kratom is a tropical evergreen tree related to coffee plants that is used in traditional medicine in Southeast Asia, but there is little scientific research on its effectiveness or safety.

It is typically sold in capsule or powder form, and is marketed online as a pain reliever and for recreational use.

In February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raised concerns over kratoms similarities to opioids and stated there is no evidence it is safe or effective to treat any condition.

According to Health Canada, kratom can have narcotic and stimulant-like effects and has potential for abuse and dependence, with side-effects including drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, seizures, liver toxicity and rapid heartbeat.

Officials say they are working with the Canada Border Services Agency to stop kratom products from entering Canada.

But Bernstein said thats an overreaction.

Once something is used, a drug thats not something theyre comfortable or familiar with, the first instinct for government is to crack down on it, Bernstein said.

From a public health perspective, he said every drug policy decision Canada makes should be made through the lens of the opioid crisis.

Officials need to leave space for different ways to combat the crisis, he said, and kratom could be one more tool for some people who have become dependent on opioids.

If theres a drug out there that people are using, and anecdotally theyre saying this is actually helping people wean off of opioids  we really need to seriously say, OK, lets create a little space to use this, he said.

The reaction of coming in and saying its illegal and cutting off access to it is actually the opposite of public health. Its harming people.

A Health Canada spokesperson said the agency first became aware of the substance entering Canada in 2012.

In June 2017, health officials seized kratom from a Jupiter store on Whyte Avenue and Bogarts Pipes and Papers in north Edmonton.

It is currently labelled as an unauthorized health product, but Health Canada is collecting data to determine whether additional controls are required, which could potentially move kratom under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Rebecca Haines-Saah, an assistant professor in the department of community health sciences at the University of Calgary, said there is not a lot of knowledge or consensus on kratom in the public health community.

She said making the substance illegal and seizing it from stores wont necessarily deter its use.

Haines-Saah suggested legalizing and regulating might be a more responsible approach, so the product can be safer for people buying it.

Unregulated products can potentially be contaminated with pesticides, mould, or fungus.

She said the opioid crisis has highlighted the fact that illicit markets are very flexible and adaptable to supplying people with something else when the substance they need is taken away.

The more you tightly regulate these kinds of substances, the more you drive them underground, she said. And that elevates the risk, because its even more unregulated and even more deeply entrenched in the illicit market.

Read more about:EDMONTONA school board east of Edmonton has apologized after a photo that appears to show a teacher in blackface surfaced on social media over the weekend.

A screenshot of a now-deleted tweet sent from the Strathcona Christian Schools account shows the teacher dressed as Mel B from the Spice Girls for a SCAs Got Talent competition  and her face and arms appear to have been darkened.

In a statement released Monday by Elk Island Public Schools, which operates out of Sherwood Park, the division ensured the public they are committed to fostering welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning and working environments.

We do not condone behaviour that would be offensive or hurtful to any student, employee or member of our school community, and we apologize for this incident.

But local activist Bashir Mohamed, who drew attention to the photo with a tweet Sunday, points out Edmonton has a history of anti-Black racism, and the photo shows that history hasnt entirely been dealt with.

He points out theres a difference between dressing up as a celebrity, and darkening your skin to do so.

Its all the history of minstrel shows and they were meant to depict Black people in negative ways, he said in an interview.

Minstrel shows were popular in the United States and Canada in the early 20th century and typically depicted actors in blackface.

They were seen as stupid, lazy, not smart and it used to justify a lot of the programs and a lot of the policies that were implemented in the United States during the Jim Crow era, Mohamed said. But it was also used to justify a lot of the restriction of Black immigration in Alberta.

He posted an article from 1911 titled We want no dark spots in Alberta which was written by a Conservative MP.

The article asks that Black people not be allowed into the province because they didnt want Alberta to get a reputation: Our own province might be called Black Alberta, and therefore I think the time has come when immigration should be made a subject of personal control, it reads.

He also posted a slew of other images from historical archives showing Black people in various demeaning depictions, advertising minstrel shows, and even showing a picture of Edmonton Mayor William Henry in blackface in 1917.

The historical context is paramount for understanding the use of blackface today and its impact on Black students, he said.

He posted the disturbing images online to draw that out.

Real old fashioned n---er show, one early 20th century Alberta newspaper ad reads. The ten little n---ers, a New York poster advertising for a minstrel show says.

The only way to really understand it is by understanding that legacy, said Mohamed.

For a Black student or student belonging to a visible minority, Mohamed said he cant imagine how they felt seeing that teacher in blackface.

At the end of the day, theyre responsible for students and it makes me wonder what the impact stuff like this has on students who are Black or students who are from minority backgrounds, he said.

Some commented on Mohameds Twitter thread outraged, but others defended the employee.

Are you kidding me? Find something more constructive to be offended by! one read.

So you think she did that to be racist? Come on now. White people can idolize Black people buddy, its the total opposite of racism, said another.

The school board statement went on to say immediate action would be taken to address this directly with the employee involved.

In the statement, the school board said apologies would be sent to all families with children at the school.

In a followup interview, a spokesperson for the school board said matters being overseen by human resources could not be commented on.

The person did say the matter only came to their attention Sunday. The picture was posted on Twitter last week by the schools account, but the tweet has since been deleted.

David Eggen, Albertas minister of education, said on Monday he found the actions of the teacher entirely inappropriate.

Due process implores the school board to investigate the incident first before government gets involved, said Eggen.

It sets a bad example and I found it very disturbing, he said of the photo.

Read more about:IN TOUCH

Cover: The baby that 49-year-old Jennifer Anistons dusty womb just refuses to create is, for the trillionth time, on a magazine cover anyhow. Jen and Brad Pitt have reconnected  what a nice euphemism! as clean or as dirty as you like!  and now an insider says I can definitely see them having a child together without adding, Well, I cant literally see it, but if I put this drinking glass against the door I think I can hear them trying.

Yeesh, Yeezy: The Kim Kardashian-Kanye West marriage continues to fray, as Kanye has retreated to his Wyoming resort, presumably chosen because no Kardashian can imagine herself following him to Wyoming. Kim reportedly doesnt want to make any rash decisions, unlike the man she married, or the marriage itself, or the two marriages before that.

STAR

Cover: A twentysomething Brad Pitt recently had a fling with  not his ex Poor Jen, not his girlfriend the MIT prof, and not whatshername, his ... you know, wife  claims shes pregnant with his child. Just sell it to Angelina, she gives one of her spares to Jen, everybodys happy. Well, except the prof, but shes not famous and therefore doesnt deserve joy. QED.

Royal rail: Meghan Markle has reportedly lost 23 pounds for her wedding, just to look incredible on TV. I bet as soon as theyre in private for the reception, she switches to sweat pants and wheels out the mac and cheese and the barbecued ribs. Hmm, I really shouldnt write this feature while Im hungry.

OK!

Cover: Theyve been secretly loved-up for years, says the lead about a romance that has been on magazine covers for years, but now its official-er: Jamie Foxx and Katie Holmes are getting married. The bride is reportedly so happy that she has learned a second facial expression.

Read more about:The last thing Meghan Markle needs this week is a scandal.

And as scandals go, this one is beyond weird. On Sunday, royal watchers clutched their pearls after an investigation in the Daily Mail: Royal Wedding scammers! Meghan Markles father STAGED photos with paparazzi that were shared around the world and sold for up to 100,000  just days before he walks her down the aisle.

By Monday, the fallout was as swift as a lashing inside a King John court prison: TMZ reported Meghans dad will not be walking her down the aisle. Hes not even attending the royal wedding anymore. Hope he bought travel insurance, because hell be watching on TV like the rest of us. Though he had recovered from a recent heart attack and planned to be inside Windsor Castle on Saturday, it seems he does not want to further embarrass his daughter.

And somewhere, Prince Harry is staring into the middle distance and wondering what hes getting himself into. With each passing day, his future in-laws seem more Jersey Shore than The Crown.

Have your say

But lets get to the weird scandal.

Remember those enchanting photos of Thomas Markle that circulated recently?

In one image, the father of the bride is sitting inside a Starbucks and perusing a coffee table book, Images of Britain, in advance of his now aborted adventure. In another, he is standing in the sunshine, eyes closed, as a tape measure is twirled around his neck and hes fitted for a new suit he no longer needs. In another, hes at an Internet cafe, reading a news story about the grinning power couple.

At the time, these snaps were called adorable, sweet and beautiful.

Now we know they were fake, fake and fake.

The Mail obtained surveillance footage from the cafe that showed Markle arriving with Jeff Rayner, a paparazzo who makes a fortune stalking celebrities in their natural habitats. But this wasnt a moment of candid camera, as the tabloids and readers were led to believe. It was a ruse. It was subterfuge.

Through on-the-ground reporting in Mexico, where the images were shot and Thomas Markle resides, the paper alleges the duo cooked up at least four phony shoots, including one in which he is hoisting dumbbells while walking along a desolate road suitable for a Mad Max sequel: Mr. Markle is seen wearing identical clothes in different sets of pictures, suggesting different scenarios were possibly staged on the same day.

On Monday, amid the fallout, Meghans half-sister Samantha took the blame. As she wrote on Twitter: The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault. The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family. We had no idea he would be taken advantage of. It was not for money.

Meanwhile, Meghans estranged brother, Thomas Jr., told the Mirror their 73-year-old father is deeply embarrassed and plans to apologize to the bride and groom.

People are quick to judge but they have no idea how much scrutiny we live under, said the son. Ever since Megs relationship with Harry was made public two years ago we have lived our once normal lives under the spotlight every second.

I think we can agree on this: staging photographs was a terrible idea. Thomas Markle would have caused his daughter less humiliation by sneaking a whoopee cushion into his first meeting with the Queen or, the night before the wedding, dousing Harrys sleeping face with industrial-grade beard remover.

But even though these images now seem laughably bogus in retrospect  what father of a royal bride gets measured for a new suit by a tailor who does not look old enough to operate a moped at an outdoor street kiosk in Mexico that appears to specialize in Day of The Dead costumes?  I feel sorry for the Markle clan.

I cant help it. I do. Their loved one is standing in the global spotlight and they are on the outside looking in. Its as if they do not exist. They are unwanted characters in her fairytale, a chronic burden and source of shame. And if I were Prince Harry, Id be troubled by Meghans relationships with the only family she once knew.

What a horrible thing it is to feel unwanted, which is clearly how Meghans brother and sister now feel. How tragic for a father to feel like such a pathetic embarrassment that he must fake charming photos. The fact he plans to apologize suggests hes not really close with his daughter, or it wouldve happened already.

I know Meghan has a million things to worry about this week. But she should pause to think about the family she has cast aside. Part of this reflection is self-interest: Meghan has nothing to lose by taking the high road before she climbs into that carriage. By contrast, torching these relationships can bring no good in the long run.

If her sister has more unflattering stories to share, theres no reason to believe she will stop sharing them after this weekend. If her brother has already written two open letters to Prince Harry  first, he encouraged him to call off the marriage, then he begged for a wedding invitation that did not come  who knows what he may write in the months and years ahead.

But what if all of this is not an act of hostility? What if its a cry for help? Maybe her estranged siblings are not the selfish monsters some believe. Maybe theyre just dazed by the whirlwind as the girl they remember morphs into a princess they will never know.

Maybe they just want to be part of her happiness.

Read more about:Dont call it junk food.

Its academic research, at least for a University of Winnipeg historian, Janis Thiessen, author of Snacks: A Canadian Food History, which was published last year.

Canada once had a wide array of Canadian brands of potato chips, other salty snacks and candies. But as in most of the rest of the world, the number of nationally owned or nation-specific brands has dwindled.

Thiessens book also punctured some accepted wisdom about just how Canadian some famous snacks really are.

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No winning ticket for Fridays $60M jackpot

Probably the most Canadian of non-candy snacks are Hawkins Cheezies, made by W.T. Hawkins and the pride of Belleville, Ont. For the benefit of non-Canadians, Cheezies share the saltiness and nowhere-in-nature orange of Cheetos, the puffed-up offering of the multinational PepsiCo, but little else. Hawkins Cheezies are hard like a crunchy nut and come in an assortment of irregular shapes and sizes.

The Hawkins Cheezie came about when someone at the company saw a newly developed machine that extruded pellets of corn meal for feeding cattle.

They thought: If we deep-fry them and add cheese, it will be delicious,  said Thiessen, whose snack passion is potato chips. That could be a life motto.

W.T. Hawkins is now a Canadian company, as it says on its packages beneath a red maple leaf. But it was originally the Canadian subsidiary of a large snack maker based in Chicago that made a variety of treats. The companys Canadianization, detailed in Thiessens book, is a convoluted story involving a bitterly contested divorce, a bankruptcy and suggestions of Mafia influence through the Teamsters.

Abnormally for the snack food world, Hawkins, which is still owned by W.T.s descendants, does not advertise. There isnt even a sign on the factory where it moved in 1956 after a fire destroyed the original Canadian plant in nearby Tweed.

Thiessen, who was granted a rare tour, said she found the employees, some of whom have been around for more than four decades, a dedicated bunch. As for the general organization of the plant: I dont imagine its a model that would be promoted at business schools.

In Western Canada, Hawkins Cheezies are distributed by Old Dutch Foods, a Winnipeg-based company that defines potato chips in that part of the country. Many Canadians, even many Winnipeggers, believe that Old Dutch is an all-Canadian company, Thiessen said. But its nationality is more complex.

It is actually a subsidiary of a U.S. company of the same name, which is headquartered in Roseville, Minn., where it makes chips for the U.S. market. But unusually for an American company, the Canadian operations dominate, providing about 70 per cent of its business. Old Dutch Canada mainly uses Canadian potatoes that are fried in Canadian canola oil in Canadian plants.

Thiessen said that Old Dutchs Canadian and American arms diverge when it comes to chip flavours. Canadians prefer anything involving vinegar as well as less conventional seasonings such as dill pickle (one of her favourites). Sour cream and onion is more of a hit in the United States. Theories abound to explain the taste differences and include the Canadian habit of squirting vinegar on French fries and the differences in ethnic backgrounds between immigrants to Canadas West (Eastern Europe) and Minnesota (Scandinavia).

And what of the Canadian snacks that have vanished, including the Cuban Lunch chocolate bar that was made in Winnipeg? While Thiessen devoted much time to researching its history, mystery surrounds the Cuban Lunch, starting with the origins of its name and when it was introduced. The Cuban Lunch eventually disappeared after its maker, Paulins, was sold and its Winnipeg factory closed in 1991. (At the time Paulins was owned by the same corporate parents as McCormicks, another defunct maker of candy, and sometimes Cuban Lunch, in London, Ont.)

The Cuban Lunch had nothing obviously Caribbean about it except, maybe, that it contained sugar. And there remains considerable debate about its recipe, including discussion on a Facebook group devoted to the revival of this chocolate and peanut delight.

Thats one of the mysteries that remains unsolved, said Thiessen, who was unable to obtain the definitive recipe even from the last Paulins plant manager.OTTAWAThe federal Liberal government, chastised last year in an auditors report that found a lack of oversight of Canadas controversial temporary foreign workers program, is stepping up employer inspections and naming and shaming those caught breaking the rules.

Since the start of the year, roughly 1,600 employers have been flagged as high-risk and selected for inspections by Employment and Social Development Canada, with more than 1,340 on-site inspections launched and in various stages of completion.

Thats more than seven times the number of on-site inspections conducted during the comparable period in 2016-17.

Read more:

Study shows Canadian immigration systems shift toward migrant workers

Its all part of the governments effort to address oversight concerns with the temporary foreign worker program flagged last year by auditor general Michael Ferguson.

Employers often hired temporary foreign workers without first demonstrating they had exhausted all other options for finding local workers, and applications were frequently approved without being challenged, Ferguson found.

He also found enforcement officers lacked access to sufficient data to ensure employers were being honest about local labour availability, and rarely conducted on-site inspections. Those inspections that did go ahead were flawed, since employers always had prior warning, Ferguson concluded.

The federal public accounts committee, which held its own hearings to ensure Fergusons concerns were addressed, also found that while the number of temporary foreign workers has declined, oversight of employers using the program remains not sufficient.

Labour Minister Patty Hajdu recently tabled a response to the concerns raised by both the committee and the auditor general, outlining the steps her department has taken to improve oversight.

In addition to more on-site inspections, the department has streamlined its processes to allow integrity officers to more quickly take action against employers who are breaking the rules. Gone is a bureaucratic approval process that Ferguson described as time-consuming, onerous and administratively insufficient.

A list of penalized companies and employers has been posted online. Since August 2017, the number of sanctioned employers jumped to 62 from just one. Many have been barred from using the program for up to two years, while others have been hit with fines.

Kameron Coal Management Ltd. was banned from the program for a year and ordered to pay $54,000, the largest fine to date. The Cape Breton mining company faced criticism from a local union two years ago for hiring foreign workers where qualified locals were available for work.

Employers are given the chance to address any red flags and improve working conditions for temporary foreign workers, which is preferable to simply imposing sanctions, the department said in a written statement.

In over 45 per cent of our cases (in 2017-18), employers willingly took corrective measures in areas where they were initially found non-compliant to come into compliance with program conditions, the statement said.

Employers who do not continue to be subject to serious penalties.

Employers looking to hire foreign labour in low-wage occupations must also now demonstrate they have tried to recruit from two or more groups that face barriers to employment, such as Indigenous locals, vulnerable youth, persons with disabilities or newcomers.

Fergusons audit zeroed in on two sectors: caregivers, and fish and seafood processing plants, where the investigation raised questions about whether a labour shortage existed at all.

It found that more than 80 per cent of Canadian workers laid off from fish processing companies in Atlantic Canada were claiming employment insurance at the same time the companies were employing temporary foreign workers.

Information obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act shows internal staff sifted employment insurance and jobs data involving the 28 fish plants across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in response to Fergusons audit, and found red flags with record of employment data.

Integrity officers also interviewed workers claiming full employment insurance benefits during the fishing season despite jobs being available in nearby fish and seafood processing plants.OTTAWAFormer Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is not immune to the kind of populism and political polarization sweeping the United States.

In a February speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, first reported by the Globe and Mail, Harper told an American audience theres a reason so-called populist messages have resonated in Western countries.

To the extent that in the globalization age, that I like to think we as conservatives brought about, globalization, freer trade, free markets, freer migration around the world, were now seeing a backlash to that, Harper said.

Way too many ordinary people are not doing well enough  When you look at some of the things populists complain about, in terms of trade policy or market policy or immigration policy  I do think that in some cases, while were generally on the right track, weve pursued policies that havent really thought hard about the actual impacts on ordinary people.

Canada is not immune. If we practice a series of bad economic policies over a long enough period of time, and people start to feel dispossessed or ignored by the political system, we could get the same thing in Canada.

After leaving federal politics in 2016, Harper founded Harper and Associates, a consulting firm. Hes also been involved in international politics and causes.

Harper said that hes also writing his second non-fiction book on the rise of populism in the Western world  a brand of politics hes intimately aware of as a former Reform Party activist, but which has taken on a different tone in the age of Donald Trump.

Speaking about his decision to leave Canadian politics, Harper said he could have easily stayed on as Conservative leader after losing the election in 2015.

I couldve wielded a lot more power. I think I probably could easily still be the leader of my party if I wanted to. I mean Im de-facto the founder of my party. And I couldve turned the party, if I wanted to, essentially into a personal political vehicle, Harper said.

But that was not my goal. My goal in political life  was not just to win an election and govern, my goal was to establish a long-term institutional conservative force that would be a long-term contender for power and government.

Read more about:MONTREALThere was a sizable increase in the number of asylum seekers crossing the border illegally into Canada from the United States last month, according to federal statistics released Monday.

The federal government said the number of people intercepted by the RCMP while crossing the border in April jumped 30 per cent to 2,560. A month earlier, in March, 1,970 asylum seekers entered Canada in between official border crossings.

In previous months, the number of people crossing illegally into Canada from the United States has been steady at around 1,500 each month.

The vast majority of those entering the country in April  2,479 people  arrived in the province of Quebec.

Last month, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said he intended to travel to Nigeria in an attempt to spread the message that people who arrive in Canada and to not meet the threshold required for obtaining political asylum will be returned to their countries.

Nigeria is currently one of the largest source countries for refugee claimants entering Canada. Ottawa has previously dispatched ministers to spread similar messages in the Haitian and Central American diaspora communities in the United States.

The Quebec government said last month that some projections indicate there could be as many as 400 people a day crossing into Canada this summer in search of asylum. It has sought additional help and financing from the federal government to handle the increased migration, which coincided with the November 2016 election of U.S. President Donald Trump and his promise to tighten American immigration policies.

Quebec has said that large numbers of refugee claimants are now indicating they want to settle in Toronto. As a result, it has asked federal immigration officials help arrange transport out of Quebec and emergency shelters in Ontario to ease the burden on resources in the Montreal area.

A spokesperson for Minister Hussen said Monday that the three governmentsOttawa, Ontario and Quebec  are working together on a plan. Representatives from Ontario recently visited Quebec to observe the process for handling asylum seekers.

Read more about:PRINCE ALBERT, SASK.Police, firefighters and other searchers combed riverbanks in northern Saskatchewan over the weekend as the hunt continued for a four-year-old boy who went missing last week.

Sgt. Berry Wauters with the Prince Albert Police Service said the search for Sweetgrass Kennedy continues to focus on the North Saskatchewan River, where police said Friday their search was being directed.

Sweetgrass hasnt been seen since Thursday and hundreds of volunteers helped look for the boy until police shifted the search to the river and warned the public to stay away.

Alana Moshenko, the boys aunt, said in a Facebook message to The Canadian Press that the childs mother is in shock, and that the family is asking for prayers that he returns home safely.

We all appreciate the help, the prayers and the support everyone has given all of us, Moshenko wrote.

Wauters said there was no limit to how far downstream the searchers were looking. He said a search aircraft flew along the river to where it empties into Tobin Lake, about 100 kilometres away.

But he said he wasnt aware of any clues being found.

The boy was wearing a light-blue Star Wars hoodie and orange Halloween pyjama pants when he disappeared.

Police havent said what led them to focus on the river, saying only in a news release Friday that it was prompted by numerous witness interviews as well as evidence located.

Wauters said police have continued to receive tips, which they follow up, but that none so far have turned out to be significant.

He said he expected police to speak more about the case Monday.

Police say the river bank is dangerous and they asked the public and volunteers to avoid the area and leave the search to professionals.

They said their investigation indicates there is no cause for concern for public safety.OTTAWATwo members of Canadas military alleged that they were sexually harassed by passengers during a troubled VIP trip last December to visit Canadian troops overseas, the Star has learned.

Former Toronto Maple Leafs player Dave Tiger Williams was charged earlier this year with sexual assault and assault in the wake of that tour.

But an internal military report reveals there were in fact two complaints of inappropriate behaviour during the trip.

Two members of 437 Sqn alleged that they were sexually harassed and touched by passengers on an airborne service flight, reads the significant incident report (SIR), released under the Access to Information Act.

The report, dated Dec. 6, 2017, said that the squadron commander was ordering an investigation and cautioned that there would high potential media interest.

The so-called Team Canada trips bring high profile athletes, comedians, musicians and business people to visit with Canadian troops deployed overseas to help boost morale.

But the December trip turned into a debacle with reports that some passengers were drunk even before they left Ottawa, questionable behaviour  two passengers urinated themselves onboard the plane  and complaints that military flight attendants felt powerless to curb drinking or rowdy behaviour.

Video taken by one of the passengers shows a band playing Doobie Brothers tunes, complete with sound speakers on stands set up in the aircraft cabin. Mood lighting changed from green to red to purple as passengers danced in the aisles and among the seats, many with a glass or can in their hand.

Williams was charged as a result of alleged incidents as the tour travelled overseas on its initial leg to Athens, Greece from Ottawa on Dec. 2 onboard the military Airbus jet.

The incident report obtained by the Star says the alleged misbehaviour happened between Dec. 2 and Dec. 4, suggesting that there may have been misconduct on a subsequent flight between Greece and Latvia. The report provided no additional details.

Maj. Jean-Marc Mercier, a senior public affairs officer with Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, told the Star that Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS)  the branch of the military police that handles serious and sensitive matters  was made aware of the incident report very early.

Although the SIR referred to multiple assaults with more than one victim, the investigation by the CFNIS resulted in identifying one complainant for charges under Criminal Code, Mercier said in an email.

He said the charges relate to alleged incidents involving one victim. He said the significant incident report is part of the evidence presented to the court.

CFNIS takes all allegations of assault seriously and will investigate the allegations to determine the facts, analyze the evidence and, if warranted, lay the appropriate charges, Mercier said.

In the wake of the troubled trip, the military has suspended its morale tours and said that when they do resume, alcohol will be banned on the flights. As well, Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff, has ordered a new independent investigation into the events around Decembers trip.

Lt.-Gen. Alain Parent, the vice-chief of defence staff, and Chief Warrant Officer Kevin West, the most senior non-commissioned member of the Canadian Armed Forces, were on the tour. The military has said that neither was aware of the alleged misconduct until it was formally reported days later.Kelly Childs moved to Burlington in 2008 looking to escape the hustle of Toronto.

It broke her heart when she learned that the block where she and her daughter operate Kellys Bake Shoppe had been sold to a condo developer.

The cupcake emporium on Burlingtons main drag draws thousands of customers in a busy week with the promise of luscious treats, part of a charming strip of stores and restaurants leading to the lake.

Read more:

How rampant development and poor planning left residents of this Etobicoke neighbourhood stuck in traffic

Councillors reject eight-tower development over downtown rail corridor

Miltons rapid growth lays ground for highrise development

On a recent weekday morning, Kellys was crowded with a group of moms and babies. But directly north, the Blossom Lily restaurant, Thomasville furnishings, Elizabeth Interiors and Cellis restaurant are already closed or have moved.

The nearby 23-storey Carriage Gate Homes development and its twin tower  a developer has already filed a proposal for a 24-storey sister building  are displacing those stores. The notices on the empty shop windows and impending construction across from city hall have become a rallying point for a polarized community in advance of the fall civic election.

Residents and businesses are divided among those who believe tall buildings will feed the vitality and sustainability of the city and those who worry development will drive up prices, pushing out Burlingtons character and dwarfing its civic buildings.

Ive never seen this kind of tension  Im going to call it the pitchfork. There are so many residents that are waking up to it, Childs said. Its like the ether has just worn off and theyre going, What the heck have we been silent to?

Burlington is the latest battleground in the Toronto region where municipalities are struggling to welcome more residents without planting them on farmers fields and environmentally sensitive areas. Guided by the provinces anti-sprawl growth plan, intensification zones with denser housing are rising around newly expanded transit lines.

Early estimates in the new official plan call for an additional 14,000 people and 1,200 jobs to be added to the downtown, beyond 2041. Up to 72,000 residents and 60,000 jobs are expected in the areas surrounding the Aldershot, Burlington and Appleby GO stations beyond 2041.

Burlingtons downtown should never have been considered one of those zones, say local critics.

Childs says shes not blaming anyone. Its no slight to the developers. Were all in business and do what we do. The developers love to build, I love to make cupcakes, she said.

But, in the absence of a compromise, Childs says, To me (highrise) creates more a generic downtown. It takes away the uniqueness of some storefronts.

The last time Burlington was so rattled by a civic issue was probably the Mistake by the Lake, say the locals, citing an epic, seven-year municipal ordeal to install the scenic pier at the foot of Brant St. By the time it opened five years ago, it cost $14.4 million.

The recent onslaught of development applications has spurred residents to show up in force for public meetings and even post Height Is No Solution lawn signs.

Downtown Councillor Marianne Meed Ward says hyper-intensification will push small businesses off Brant St. with higher rents, replacing them with generic chains, traffic jams and inadequate parking. It wont enhance the citys housing needs and it will be wildly out of scale with the heritage surroundings, she said.

Were seeing store vacancies because nobody can get long leases because these sites are being assembled for redevelopment, said Meed Ward.

There are 35 active development applications at the city, including official plan and zoning bylaw amendments. Construction is already underway downtown on a midrise condo west of Brant St. across from the Performing Arts Centre, and theres another residential building east of Brant and a massive hotel-condo going up on the lakefront.

Burlington has asked for a review of an Ontario Municipal Board decision that would allow Adi Developments to build a 26-storey condo north of Lakeshore Rd., just east of Brant St.

We have over 90 buildings both residential and commercial within the downtown boundaries that are heritage properties. Only a quarter are designated under that act, which protects them from demolition, said Meed Ward. The rest are not protected, so you can imagine a two-storey heritage building  if you are allowing 17-, 20-, 23-storey buildings  the air rights above that property are far more valuable than keeping and retaining the heritage.

The lone No vote on Burlington councils recently adopted new official plan, Meed Ward says she is running for mayor.

Residents like retiree Penny Hersh agree with Meed Ward that the plan, the blueprint for how Burlington will grow, was passed in haste and with too few specifics. Hersh is among the organizers of the group behind the lawn signs, Engaged Citizens of Burlington (ECOB). It organized a workshop in February to encourage more civic election participation. Nearly 100 people turned up.

Hersh lives in a 15th-floor condo near the Bridgewater residential-hotel project under construction on Lakeshore Rd., comprising a 22-storey condo, another seven-storey condo and an eight-storey hotel. She says she knew about the development when she moved there and isnt complaining. She didnt move to downtown Burlington to look at the water.

I moved downtown because I wanted to be able to walk  Burlington wants to be a walkable community but in the downtown there are a lot of seniors. No ones getting on their bicycle to cycle up to the No Frills (grocery store) in January, she said.

Hersh says shes fine with development around the citys three GO stations. But designating downtown Burlington as an intensification zone and mobility hub, based on its tiny bus depot, makes no sense.

We arent fighting the highrises. Were just asking for a sensible, smart plan, she said.

With a population of about 183,000, Burlington was dubbed Canadas best mid-sized city five years in a row by MoneySense magazine based on its relative wealth, safety and high employment. It shelters commuters for both Toronto and Hamilton and has maintained a sense of identity through its downtown even as malls and big box stores  including an Ikea  flourish all around.

Mayor Rick Goldring says hes aware of the angst around intensification. Highrise is a symbol of something in other communities that people dont want to be like, he said. But he argues Burlington has no choice.

Were at a different place than weve been in our history. We dont have any more greenfield remaining. The days of building single-family-home developments are behind us, he said.

Going forward, the citys focus is on creating more mixed-use, walkable, transit-friendly neighbourhoods around mobility hubs.

He likens it to building the Performing Arts Centre. Back then some residents thought the city didnt need and couldnt afford the 718-seat venue. They worried that it would be elitist, that tickets would be too expensive. Nearly seven years after the curtain went up, Goldring says its difficult to imagine Burlington without the theatre.

The mayor concedes that Burlingtons older highrises havent always been thoughtfully designed. But new tall building guidelines adopted last year and an urban design panel will ensure newer towers connect to the citys other features, he said.

The new Grow Bold official plan, prescribing where growth will be concentrated, still has to be approved by Halton Region. It will be followed by a new transit plan recommending frequent service on some key routes, says the mayor. But the first significant changes arent likely to happen until fall 2019.

I cant think of one issue that has kicked the hornets nest in the residential mind more than this series of deliberations on the official plan, said Brian Dean, executive director of the 435-member Burlington Downtown Business Association. It will be a huge wedge issue for the upcoming election.

He calls the opposition the most concentrated, vociferous group of residents I have seen in 20 years.

In the business community and even among the associations 12 board members, there is very little consensus over whether this period of unprecedented development is the best thing since sliced bread or the death knell of the downtown, he said.

Downtown Burlington tends to draw empty nesters, many of them snowbirds. Dean says more young professionals and families would improve business in the slower shoulder seasons.

But the size and price of the new condos wont attract those buyers, says Meed Ward. There is also no commitment to an affordable housing component  another lost opportunity, she said.

People are saying we are not getting what we need in housing ... what is being delivered will end up in congestion and sun-shadowing impact, changing character, glass and steel architecture, rising prices for business and pressure on the parking supply, and then the taxpayers will have to help build more, she said.

Deputy city manager Mary Lou Tanner, Burlingtons former chief planner, says she isnt surprised by the concern because it is the first serious conversation about growth in a couple of generations.

When city officials reviewed pictures of downtown Burlington from 20 years ago, what they found wasnt exactly Mayberry.

There were a lot of vacancies, there were boarded-up buildings on Brant St. and in other commercial areas. There were surface parking lots across the street from Spencer Smith Park (on the lakefront), said Tanner.

So Burlington invested about $150 million in improvements such as the arts centre and adjacent parking garage, the pier and park.

When the public sector makes that kind of significant investment in a downtown, its a good thing because it creates that confidence and that vibrancy, she said. What were now seeing is that (development) demand is starting to ramp up a bit.

Meantime, said Tanner, the city is planning to preserve Brant St.s historic elements by having them replicated in new buildings where possible.

Retiree Gary Scobies ECOB lawn sign declares his status as an engaged resident. He has been to city hall to voice his opposition to the downtown development.

The downtown residents are getting the first taste of what it means to be an urban growth centre, he said.

I think were trying to build a skyline just to impress the neighbours, and who are the neighbours?

Read more about:Carters Landing, the eatery on a prime beachside spot at city-owned Ashbridges Bay, is shutting down after almost two years of controversy and legal fights with leaseholder Tuggs Inc.

We will be leaving that location on May 24th, Maureen Hart, a senior communications director for restaurant giant Cara Operations Ltd., operator of Carters Landing, told the Star in an email.

Were sorry we cannot continue to be part of the community and want to thank our beach community and neighbours for their support over the past two years. All of our staff will have jobs at other Landings locations if theyre interested, she wrote, refusing to discuss confidential details of business dealings with Tuggs owner George Foulidis that, court records show, soured.

The closure is the latest twist in Tuggs city lease for the site and rights to sell food, alcohol and novelties in the area that have generated headlines and frustrated some Beach residents.

Carters Landing opened July 1, 2016 alongside a new Foulidis-franchised Tim Hortons and in the place of Foulidiss seafood restaurant Paralia, which followed the original Boardwalk Cafe.

The opening angered some because Tuggs had not received permission to reassign its building lease to Cara, and councillors approved the original sole-sourced lease with Tuggs as a way to keep the busy boardwalk spot in the hands of mom and pop operators, not big food chains.

Council later approved the reassignment. Cara was to sublease back to Tuggs the part of the building that holds Foulidiss Tim Hortons and adjoining Athens Cafe. But the lease reassignment was not signed amid lawsuits and countersuits including Tuggs demand Carters Landing vacate the building.

Points of contention included free parking for Carters Landing patrons and control of alcohol sales in the surrounding area. Cara argued eviction would cost it $825,000 invested in the building which now has a big wraparound patio facing Lake Ontario.

Neither Foulidis nor his lawyer on the case, Gary Caplan, could be reached Monday for comment on Carters Landing leaving or the state of the legal fight.

Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, who represents the Beach and has for years expressed frustration with Tuggs, said Monday the company needs to operate a restaurant as per their lease and they bloody well better.

McMahon, who is not running for re-election in the October election, said shed like to see Tuggs commit to running a great restaurant on our beautiful Beach instead of focusing on fighting with the city over ridiculous minutiae, of its lease.

Read more about:Ontarios top court has dismissed an appeal by the man who shot and killed conservationist and philanthropist Glen Davis in an underground Toronto parking garage 11 years ago this week.

Ivgeny Eugene Vorobiov was one of four men convicted of charges related to the May 18, 2007 murder of Davis, considered a national hero in Canadas conservation community.

Vorobiovs lawyers argued Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer made three errors that undermined his defence and the fairness of his trial. Nordheimer was elevated to the Ontario Court of Appeal last year.

Nordheimer unjustifiably and unfairly curtailed the defences cross-examination of Jesse Smith, who pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, and that of Peter Moreira, a Toronto police officer and former member of the homicide squad, the lawyers said.

Toward the end of the first day of cross-examination of Moreira, Nordheimer excused the jury and then questioned the relevance of defence counsels questioning.

I am inclined to agree with Vorobiov that the trial judge should not have intervened, Court of Appeal Justice John Laskin wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. The cross examination was not abusive or excessive and was not precluded by the rule of evidence.

Nonetheless, the trial judges intervention  though ill-advised  did not undermine Vorobiovs defence.

Nor should have the judge suggested the defence cross-examination of Smith was improper. In both instances prosecutors did not object, the ruling noted.

Although I have concerns about the trial judges interventions, on a review of the entire transcript of each cross-examination, I am persuaded that Vorobiovs defence counsel achieved his objective, and that the trial judges interventions did not undermine Vorobiovs defence or deprive him of a fair trial.

The judges dismissed the appeal on the other grounds.

Daviss godson, Marshall Ross, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in 2011. Fuelled by greed and resentment, Ross admitted orchestrating the murder so he wouldnt have to pay back the $2 million loan Davis gave him for his home renovation business. He also mistakenly believed he would be named a beneficiary in Daviss will.

Ross enlisted Dmitri Kossyrine, who recruited Smith and Vorobiov. Kossyrine was convicted of first-degree murder after a retrial. His appeal was turned down last year.

Before trial, Smith pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact for helping Vorobiov flee the scene of the murder.

Vorobiovs position at trial was that he intended to murder Davis, but had a last-minute change of heart. He claimed, instead, that Smith shot Davis. Jurors didnt buy it and Vorobiov was convicted of first-degree murder in December 2011.

The appeal judges called the case against Vorobiov compelling, noting it included police wiretaps, cellphone records, security video footage and Smiths testimony against him.Suspended Hamilton Police Service officer Craig Ruthowsky will be sentenced May 23 after a judge refused to halt the proceedings because of an investigators alleged bias.

After two days of deliberations, a Toronto jury last month found Ruthowsky guilty of accepting bribes from Hamilton drug dealers, obstructing justice, breach of trust, and cocaine trafficking.

Defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine then asked the judge to stay the proceedings based on what he alleged was an abuse of process because Ruthowsky once dated the wife of Hamilton police Staff-Sgt. Ben Thibodeau.

Superior Court Justice Robert Clark rejected the argument Monday, saying he found no evidence that Thibodeau demonstrated any animus toward Ruthowsky.

I find no unfairness in the applicants trial arising from anything Thibodeau did or failed to do, Clark said, reading his reasons. I see no improper motive nor bad faith on Thibodeaus part and I conclude that there was nothing about his conduct that directly affected the applicants trial.

Ruthowksy told court he dated Thibodeaus wife for about a year shortly prior to her commencing a relationship with Thibodeau, who contradicted that claim in an affidavit that said the relationship lasted only half as long, back in 2000-2001.

Thibodeaus affidavit said he did not meet his future wife until June 2004, almost three years after her relationship with Ruthowsky ended.

Clark cited several examples that he said demonstrated Thibodeau bore no animus toward Ruthowsky. Ruthowsky and his wife attended many social functions with Thibodeau and his partner, the judge stated.

It appears to me that their relationship was normal and unremarkable and in all the circumstances. I could not imagine why Thibodeau would have an animus toward the applicant, the judge said.

Clark also noted that Thibodeau did not seek out the assignment to investigate Ruthowsky in relation to the charges tried before the court. Rather, it fell to him because of his position as head of intelligence services.

As well, Ruthowsky was convicted of charges laid by the Toronto Police Service in 2015.

And the judge added while Thibodeaus prior relationship was irrelevant, it would have been better if he had disclosed it to senior Hamilton police management, precisely because it would have diverted what I consider to be in all the circumstances a baseless and specious argument.

Prosecutor John Pollard has said he will be seeking a penitentiary term. Ruthowsky remains suspended with pay and is facing more than a dozen other criminal charges, along with Police Services Act charges.A Toronto justice of the peace, who gained notoriety after being suspended in 2014 for tossing dozens of traffic cases because the prosecutor was about a minute late, is again facing a discipline hearing.

This time, Alfred Budd Johnston is accused of failing to assist a self-represented defendant in provincial offences court in 2016, and of being condescending, sarcastic, bullying and mocking toward her, according to a notice of hearing from the Justices of the Peace Review Council, the independent body that disciplines JPs.

The discipline hearing is set for June 7, the same day as the Ontario provincial election.

According to the notice of hearing, when the defendant tried to make an application for a stay of proceedings in her case of driving with a cellphone, due to a lack of disclosure from the prosecution, Johnston appeared to deliberately feign ignorance of the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case dealing with disclosure.

As if baiting the defendant to demonstrate her lack of understanding or to mock her, rather than explaining the meaning of the case to her, according to the notice of hearing, which lays out the judicial misconduct allegations.

When the defendant became frustrated with His Worships sarcastic and mocking tone, His Worship suggested that the arguments the defendant was attempting to make were usually presented by lawyers, thereby demonstrating a preference for legal representation.

The allegations havent been proven.

Justices of the peace, who earn about $132,000 a year, are appointed by the provincial government. They preside over bail hearings, authorize search warrants and conduct trials in provincial offences court, which deals with non-criminal charges, among other duties.

The last time Johnston found himself in the JP Review Councils crosshairs, he was slapped with a seven-day suspension without pay for throwing out 68 traffic cases because the prosecutor was 71 seconds late.

Warnings, reprimands, education or treatment are simply insufficient or inapplicable to remedy the misconduct, the discipline panel said in 2014.

He was also ordered to apologize to another self-represented defendant, after the panel found he demonstrated an arrogant and sarcastic attitude.

Johnston admitted to misconduct in both cases. In each, he cited ongoing heart problems and the breakup of his marriage as context for his behaviour.

His discipline hearing in June is the latest in a string of conduct issues facing the Ontario justice of the peace bench this year.

Earlier this month, Toronto JP Tom Foulds was fired by the provincial government over a conflict of interest in a criminal case;

Newmarket JP Adele Romagnoli was ordered in March by a discipline panel to take additional training on basic principles of law, after she agreed she failed to know, apply and maintain competence in the law;

Ex-Durham region JP Errol Massiah, who was fired in 2015 for sexually harassing women at the Whitby courthouse, was told in March by a discipline panel that his hefty $770,000 legal bill would not be covered by the public purse;

For the second time in five months, Halton region JP Denis Lee was harshly criticized this month by a judge for comments made in provincial offences court, which the judge ruled was not the kind of image this court should present to the public. (Lee is not currently facing discipline proceedings).

Niagara Region JP Richard Bisson faced a review council hearing on punishment this month, after having admitted to judicial misconduct last year in that he demonstrated a pattern of legal errors and disregard for procedure that showed a lack of awareness of, or an incompetence in, the law and a failure to respect the rights of defendants, among other findings in an agreed statement of facts filed at the review council. The discipline panels decision on punishment is pending.Will Green Leader Mike Schreiner finally win his partys first seat at Queen's Park? And if he does, what is he prepared to do?

You now have an opportunity to ask him yourself. Schreiner will be sitting down with the Toronto Stars editorial board on Tuesday at 12 p.m. and for the first time we are livestreaming the conversation.

During elections, the Stars editorial board meets with party leaders to find out where they stand on the issues. It helps the Star determine, which, if any party it will endorse.

Email us your questions at electionquestions@thestar.ca or post them to us on Facebook or Twitter. Then tune in live here at 12 p.m. Tuesday to hear if your question gets asked and answered.

So what would you ask the Green Party leader? Heres what he is promising:

Read more about:GAZAIn a jarring contrast, Israeli forces shot and killed at least 55 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,200 during mass protests Monday along the Gaza border as Israel and the U.S. held a festive inauguration ceremony for the new American Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

It was by far the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a devastating 2014 war between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers, and further dimmed the already bleak prospects for U.S. President Donald Trumps hoped-for peace plan.

Throughout the day, Gaza protesters set tires ablaze, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border. The Israeli military, which has come under international criticism for using excessive force against unarmed protesters, said Hamas tried to carry out bombing and shooting attacks under the cover of the protests and released video of protesters ripping away parts of the barbed-wire border fence.

Read more:

Analysis | Trumps decision to open Jerusalem embassy complicates promise to seek peace

Mondays protests culminated more than a month of weekly demonstrations aimed at breaking a crippling Israeli-Egyptian border blockade. But the U.S. Embassy move, bitterly opposed by the Palestinians, added further fuel.

There was barely any mention of the Gaza violence at Mondays lavish inauguration ceremony for the new embassy, an upgraded consular building located just 80 kilometres away. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials joined an American delegation of Trump administration officials and Republican and evangelical Christian supporters.

Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser, headlined the U.S. delegation with his wife and fellow White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and four Republican senators. Republican super-donor Sheldon Adelson was also present, and evangelical pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee delivered blessings.

A great day for Israel! Trump tweeted earlier Monday.

In a videotaped address, Trump said the embassy move, a key campaign promise, recognizes the plain reality that Jerusalem is Israels capital. Yet he added the United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

But Mondays steadily climbing death toll and wall-to-wall condemnation of the embassy move in the Arab world raised new doubts about Trumps ambitions to broker what he called the deal of the century. More than a year after taking office, Trumps Mideast team has yet to produce a long-promised peace plan.

Trump says recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital acknowledges the reality that Israels government is located there as well as the ancient Jewish connection to the city. He insists the decision has no impact on future negotiations on the citys final borders.

But to both Israel and the Palestinians, the American gesture is widely seen as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their long-standing conflict.

What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is history, Netanyahu told the inauguration ceremony.

You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state, he added.

The Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as their capital, have cut off ties with the Trump administration and say the U.S. is unfit to serve as a mediator. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, furious over the embassy ceremony, said he will not accept any peace deal proposed by the Trump administration.

The Palestinian president also urged the international community to condemn what he said were massacres carried out by Israeli troops in Gaza, and officials said the Palestinians would file a war crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court over settlement construction.

By nightfall, at least 55 Palestinians, including a young girl and four other minors, were killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It said 1,204 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including 116 who were in serious or critical condition.

Egypt, an important Israeli ally, condemned the killings of Palestinian protesters, while the UN human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, decried the shocking killing of dozens.

Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump declared Monday a "great day" for Israel as his top aides celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (The Associated Press)

Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to the United States over the U.S. Embassy move, saying it disregarded the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and would not serve peace, security and stability in the region. It also recalled its ambassador to Israel following what it called a massacre of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

South Africa, a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, also recalled its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Israel to respect the principle of proportionality in the use of force and show restraint, while also urging Hamas to ensure any protests remain peaceful. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a similar appeal.

At the U.S. Embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Kushner placed the blame on the Gaza protesters.

As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution, he said.

Israel says the blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities. But it has decimated Gazas economy, sending unemployment skyrocketing to over 40 per cent and leaving the territory with just a few hours of electricity a day.

The Israeli military estimated a turnout of about 40,000 at Mondays protest, saying it fell short of what Hamas had hoped for. But officials described what they called unprecedented violence unseen in previous weeks.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said hundreds of protesters carried out concerted, co-ordinated attacks on the border fence.

Although the crowd did not manage to break through, he said they caused significant damage. The army released video showing demonstrators setting a cargo crossing on fire and appearing to climb on the fence as they lobbed flaming objects into the Israeli side.

Conricus also said Hamas militants disguised as protesters tried to infiltrate, and there were at least three instances of armed Hamas gunmen trying to carry out attacks. Israeli aircraft and tanks struck seven Hamas positions.

Monday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israels military and Gazas Hamas rulers along the volatile border. The sides have largely observed a ceasefire since the 2014 war  their third in a decade.

Since the protests began on March 30, 105 Palestinians have been killed, most of them protesters. Israel said it killed three militants trying to plant a bomb along the fence, and Palestinian security officials said several Hamas militants were also killed by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests would continue until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved.

Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to ambulances. Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.

The timing of Mondays events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israels establishment.

But Tuesday also marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation. A day of mourning and mass funerals was planned Tuesday.

A majority of Gazas two million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the Great March of Return to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an upgraded, existing U.S. consulate building, until a decision is made on a permanent location. Even the current location is sensitive, located partially in an area designated no-mans land in a 1949 armistice agreement. The UN considers that land to be occupied territory, though the U.S. says in practice the area has been in continuous Israeli use since 1949.

Read more about:Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas needed a favour: Before retiring at the end of his term, Hensarling, a powerful conservative, wanted to anoint an activist named Bunni Pounds as his successor. He reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump for help, but Trump and his aides hesitated to meddle in a House primary, according to a person familiar with the overture.

Instead, Hensarling found a willing ally at Trumps right hand: Vice-President Mike Pence. Anxious to please his former House colleague, the Vice-President backed Pounds last month in a tweet that blindsided key White House aides.

The eager assistance Pence provided a senior lawmaker reflected the outsized political portfolio that the vice-president and his aides have seized for themselves as the 2018 elections approach. While Trump remains an overpowering personality in Republican politics, he is mostly uninterested in the mechanics of managing a political party. His team of advisers is riven with personal divisions and the White House has not yet crafted a strategy for the mid-terms. So Trumps supremely disciplined running mate has stepped into the void.

Republican officials now see Pence as seeking to exercise expansive control over a political party ostensibly helmed by Trump, tending to his own allies and interests even when the Presidents instincts lean in another direction. Even as he laces his public remarks with praise for the President, Pence and his influential chief of staff, Nick Ayers, are unsettling a group of Trumps fierce loyalists who fear they are forging a separate power base.

In addition to addressing dozens of party events in recent months, Pence has effectively made himself the frontman for America First Policies, an outside group set up to back Trumps agenda. He has keynoted more than a dozen of its events this year, travelling under its banner to states including Iowa and New Hampshire. And Pence has worked insistently to shape Trumps endorsements, prodding him in the contests for governor of Florida and speaker of the House, among others.

Word of the internal tensions is getting out beyond the walls of the White House: one prominent lawmaker said the complaints of high-ranking Trump officials were starting to circulate on Capitol Hill.

Theyre looking for people to stay on the team, not break away from the team, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., of the Trump side of the West Wing.

Trump and Pence remain on good terms personally, and the President has largely welcomed the Vice-Presidents political guidance, according to people close to both men. And Pence has been intimately involved in planning for the 2020 campaign: He joined Trump for the meeting where the President told Brad Parscale, a digital strategist in the 2016 election, that he would manage the 2020 race. Pence stood behind Parscale, rubbing his shoulders, as Trump spoke.

Yet in at least two instances, the Vice-President, Ayers and other aides have badly overstepped. Pence recently abandoned an attempt to hire Jon Lerner, a Republican pollster close to Ayers, as a national security aide, after Trump discovered Lerner had helped lead attacks on him in the 2016 election.

The quick dismissal of Lerner was widely seen as a brushback against Pence and Ayers, a way for Trumps advisers to signal that they were closely watching the Vice-Presidents office. Two senior White House officials said the Lerner episode made Trump more acutely aware of what these aides described as Pences empire-building.

Tensions also flared last year, after Ayers and another Pence aide were reported to have made suggestive comments to Republican donors about planning for an unpredictable 2020 election. Most brazenly, Marty Obst, a senior Pence adviser, told a Republican donor that Pence wanted to be prepared for the next presidential race in case there was an opening.

For now, Pence and his aides have found a yawning opening within the West Wing, as Trumps principal political aides spend much of their time managing his impulses and vying with each other, instead of overseeing the party and this years campaign. While past vice-presidents, such as Joe Biden and Dick Cheney, have played important roles maintaining the political coalitions of their ticket-mates, neither man wielded Pences independent influence over an administrations political network and agenda.

Steering Pences strategy is Ayers, a 35-year-old operative who is the subject of the most pointed criticism from Trump stalwarts. Ayers regularly joins Pence in meetings with the President and has told associates that if aides in the West Wing cannot stay on top of things, his office will step up, White House officials said.

Ayers again unsettled skeptics in the West Wing this month by poaching a politically savvy aide to Trump, William Kirkland, to join the Pence team. Kirkland ran Sen. David Perdues 2014 campaign in Georgia, and Trump officials believe he will effectively run a shadow political office for Pence, a setup unheard-of so soon into a new administration.

Pences team is aware of the unease within the White House, and Ayers recently told one Republican ally that one reason Pence is so effusive in his public remarks about Trump  he has recently hailed Trump as a champion for conservatives and branded the recent tax cuts a Trump bonus for America  is to tamp down questions about his loyalty.

Alyssa Farah, a spokeswoman for Pence, said in an email that the Vice-Presidents activities were planned in close coordination with Trump and congressional leaders. She said they had formulated a 2018 campaign plan at a Camp David retreat in January and followed the blueprint since then.

The Vice-Presidents political and fundraising travel advances the Presidents agenda by aiding targeted candidates and committees during the mid-terms, which is what the president asked us to do, Farah said. Our team works hand-in-hand with our colleagues and have tremendous respect for the work they do.

Farah denied that Ayers had made comments about displacing the White House political office. Nick has never said anything of the sort, she said. She also said Ayers had not described Pence as being publicly ingratiating to prove his loyalty: This is false.

Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, said in a statement that Pence was vital to the administrations political strategy. The Vice-Presidents tireless efforts to protect the majority in the House and expand our majority in the Senate are essential to our legislative agenda, he said.

Pence and his aides, however, have plainly functioned in many cases as allies of traditional Republican Party leaders, at times checking Trumps instincts.

In April, after Paul D. Ryan announced he would step down as speaker of the House, Pence urged Trump against endorsing Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who is the House majority leader, to succeed Ryan. Pence counselled the President to let congressional Republicans work things out on their own, according to Republicans close to the White House and congressional leaders.

The same month, Pence weighed in to deter Trump from intervening aggressively in the race for governor of Florida. The President had endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis, a vocal defender of Trump and critic of Robert Mueller, on Fox News, in a December tweet, and privately told DeSantis to expect a joint appearance this spring.

But DeSantis faces a contested primary against Adam Putnam, Floridas agriculture commissioner and a former House colleague of Pence. After allies of Putnam appealed to the Vice-President, Pence  along with cautious White House aides  argued against further meddling in the race, according to people briefed on the White House deliberations. Trump has yet to appear with DeSantis.

Advisers to DeSantis remain optimistic that Trump will intervene again in the race, despite internal resistance.

Even skeptics of Pence have done little to block him from building his own political apparatus, and some concede he is performing a role that has been left more or less vacant. Pence formed a joint fundraising committee with McCarthy and also created his own political action committee, taking in millions of dollars to give congressional candidates.

Jan Brewer, the former governor of Arizona, who introduced Pence at a Phoenix event convened by America First in early May, said he could operate more freely than Trump at this point.

We really, really appreciate him leading our party in that respect, Brewer said, adding: His mission is maybe a little bit different than the President, and he is not under attack 24/7 like the President is.

The Vice-President drew wide criticism, and grumbling from White House aides, for hailing former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio as a tireless champion of strong borders and the rule of law. Arpaio, who is running in a Senate race Trumps advisers tried to keep him out of, was convicted of criminal contempt but pardoned by the President last year.

Attendees at the gathering cheered Pence but said they were drawn to him chiefly because of his association with Trump.

I dont know if he can get the nomination or not, said Lyle Campbell, a retiree living in Scottsdale. I like Pence very much, but Id rather have a woman run  Id rather have the ambassador to the UN.

That would be Nikki R. Haley, the former South Carolina governor who currently employs Lerner and intended to retain him as a joint adviser with Pence.

After opening for Trump at the National Rifle Associations convention in Dallas on May 4, Pence earned appreciative but not overenthusiastic reviews. John Ray, a retired medical-equipment executive from Missouri, called him a useful sidekick.

He brings to the table staunch support of the President, Ray said. And the President needs that.

Read more about:WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump might extend Canadas exemption from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs if NAFTA talks go well, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday.

Trump granted Canada and Mexico an additional 30-day exemption to the tariffs on April 30, lasting until June 1. His administration said then that these would be the final 30 days for talks on the matter.

Ross signalled that Trump is open to a longer reprieve.

Depending where we are with NAFTA on June 1, the president will decide whether or not to extend their situation. So its un-forecastable at the moment, he said at the National Press Club in Washington.

Joseph Galimberti, president of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said Rosss remark was encouraging.

The official basis for the tariffs is national security, but Trump and his officials have continued to make clear that his chief rationale was economic. He has sought from the beginning to use the tariff threat against Canada and Mexico as a weapon in the negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The steel tariff is 25 per cent, the aluminum tariff 10 per cent. Canadas steel industry is concentrated in Ontario, its aluminum industry in Quebec.

Top trade officials from Canada and Mexico are at home this week after a week of NAFTA negotiations in Washington last week. Though the U.S. is seeking a deal this month, the talks appear to be stuck over a U.S.proposal to attempt to wrest some auto manufacturing away from Mexico.

Ross said all of the big hot topics  the rules of origin, the sunset provision, the dispute resolution provision, labour things, big topics like that...are still a work in progress.

And those are very complex issues, particularly rules of origin. So it eventually will come down to every comma, every semicolon, everything, before we can figure out if its something thats workable, he said.

Canadas government has sought a full and permanent exemption from the tariffs, arguing that it is inconceivable that Canadian steel and aluminium could hurt U.S. national security.

Read more about:WASHNIGTONThe U.S. military has dispatched additional Marines to guard U.S. embassies abroad after the Trump administration formalized Monday its controversial decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Marine Capt. Ryan Alvis, a service spokesperson, said the service would not disclose the number of additional Marines deploying or where they are going but said the reinforcements had been requested. Embassy reinforcements are sought by the State Department at times when diplomatic facilities are considered as facing a heightened threat of violence.

Read more: Israeli soldiers shoot and kill dozens of Palestinians during mass protests in Gaza

NBC News reported the reinforcements were sent to Israel, Turkey and Jordan, citing five defence officials.

The deployment comes as Israeli troops opened fire alongside a border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing at least 52 Palestinians and wounding 2,400 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It marked the bloodiest day in Gaza since a seven-week Israeli operation against Hamas, which controls the territory, in summer 2014 after the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers by the militant group.

Alvis said the Marines are members of the Marine Security Guard Security Augmentation Unit (MSAU), headquartered at Quantico, Virginia, and created in response to the deadly attacks on U.S. diplomatic and intelligence facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Marines who are part of the unit have previously served as embassy security guards and typically deploy for about 45 days at a time, according to a Marine Corps briefing.

The Marines also maintain Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Teams (FAST), which deploy in times of crisis at embassies to reinforce them. Augmentation teams are typically deployed before a situation has mushroomed into a crisis.

The State Department has issued several security alerts in the region in recent days, and last week it prohibited U.S. government employees from travelling to the Golan Heights, a section of Syria that is occupied by Israel.

Gaza's Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza border has reached more than 50. (The Associated Press)

Read more about:La Presse, one of Canadas largest newspapers, announced on Tuesday that its business model is no longer viable after 134 years of sustained operations. This is a dark day for Canadian media and the democracy it sustains.

The companys executives pointed directly to the flight of advertising money to Google and Facebook as a key driver of the restructuring, a reality aggravated by Ottawas policy of subsidizing companies for buying ad space from Google and Facebook.

The entire Canadian media sector is exposed to this problem.

Google, Facebook and other foreign internet giants extract 80% of Canadas digital advertising spending, and this outsized dominance sucks the life out of newsrooms who are needed to defend our democracy against corruption and fake news.

In a last-ditch attempt to stay afloat, La Presse will restructure as a non-profit organization to qualify for government handouts and corporate charity. And if that doesnt work out, the curtain will soon come down on Quebecs largest paper.

This is another wake-up call. The media crisis is here, its hitting hard, and it will run roughshod over nearly all Canadian journalism if we dont act now.

So heres the question: What will it take to make Ottawa act to save our local media?

If La Presse cant survive as a business, most Canadian media outlets have little chance. Ottawa needs to take meaningful action to address this crisis now.

In Budget 2018, the federal government launched a $50 million fund to assist publications with the "transition to digital". Ottawa also announced a yearlong study of whether journalism should be funded by charity.

Whats wrong with these measures? Basically everything.

First, La Presse didnt have a problem going digital, it was already a fully-digital operation. It was a world leader in this regard, but that wasnt enough.

Whats more, this approach opens the door for government and big money to stick their fingers into Canadas newsrooms, a recipe for undue influence on the news agenda.

And even without these problems, Canadian media wont make it without way more money than government and foundations are likely to provide.

There is a market-based solution that can bring enough cash to Canadian media while avoiding the ethical pitfalls of government subsidy. This solution doesnt cost a thing  it would actually save the government money. But it requires Ottawa to close a loophole in the Income Tax Act.

Last year, Canadian advertisers spent more than $5 billion on online ads. Where once this money sustained credible media outfits like La Presse that provide critical reporting in service of democracy, most of it now flows down a tax-free express lane straight into the pockets of Google, Facebook and other giant American internet corporations. As this ad money heads south, La Presse and other Canadian media find themselves face-to-face with extinction.

Ottawa actually encourages this exodus. Section 19 of the Income Tax Act creates rewards for Canadian advertisers who work with Canadian media outlets, effectively imposing a tax road bump on companies who advertise to a Canadian audience using foreign media.

Heres the rub: The government does not apply these laws to internet-delivered media. You are free to place an ad in the Canadian edition of the New York Times, but you cannot deduct the cost of it. If you place the same ad on nytimes.com, you reap the full tax deduction that is supposed to be reserved for those who buy from Canadian media.

This is yet another way the federal government privileges foreign tech companies over their Canadian competitors. The web giants dont want to play by the rules, and Ottawa is content to let them have their way.

By refusing to close this loophole, the federal government is effectively providing Canadian companies with a $1.3 billion annual subsidy for buying ads from Google, Facebook, and other foreign media giants, many of which are widely disgraced.

Closing this loophole would raise public income by $1.3 billion annually, and repatriate up to $440 million in ad spending to sustain Canadian media and the critical work they do in service of democracy.

Lets not wait until another major news operation joins La Presse in the intensive care ward before this loophole is closed.

Daniel Bernhard is executive director and spokesperson for the watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

Read more about:As a friend of mine once noted, if a politician invented the concept of libraries today, theyd be criticized for excessive spending. In fact, when public libraries  that is, any library easily accessed outside of a school or church  were first proposed, they ran up against exactly that kind of resistance. Proponents in England felt that libraries could be used to redirect the working classes of the industrial age away from vice and sloth.

The intent of libraries, then, has always been to serve the public beyond providing people a place to read.

Where other public institutions like some transit systems and universities are inaccessible, it is refreshing to see that so many public libraries have sustained an ethos of public service.

Read more:

Opinion | I am proof libraries are critical to solving cultural poverty

Calgary libraries plan for next chapter with talks of inner-city expansion

Public librarys new movie streaming service Kanopy cites a unique mission

The Ottawa public library system recently announced it would provide 75 free hotspot kits to people who could not otherwise afford internet.

As of last month, for every 15 minutes spent in the Saskatoon library system, outstanding fines are waived in $2.50 increments. Like the Victorians who advocated for public libraries, the Saskatoon library wants more people to engage in literacy and education by spending time in the building. In 2015, the library cleared their entire backlog of payments owed. Similarly, Vancouvers public library offered a one-week fine amnesty in 2013.

More than providing freebies to those with financial struggles, some libraries are tackling the big challenges of the country.

In Thunder Bay, where anti-Indigenous racism runs rampant, the local library system is adopting a framework that will include decolonization and anti-racism in its next strategic plan. Its still being developed, but will include things like highlighting more works by Indigenous people.

Speaking to the CBC, the citys chief librarian said, What weve found time and time again, in pretty much every conversation, doesnt matter who weve spoken to, what the demographic is ... is this issue of racism has come through loud and clear.

Across the country, librarians are finding themselves face to face with another big challenge: the opioid crisis. Libraries and librarians have stepped up to provide or learn about naloxone kits.

Librarians literally save lives.

Ive always loved libraries for unremarkable reasons.

A shy bookish five year old newcomer, like I once was, could wander through the stacks of a local public library and find something completely private to hang on to. Where each day was rather confrontational  a new language to learn, a new culture to follow and, oh my God, an outdoors that seemed to be at war with the people  the library offered solitude and peace.

Libraries, in all the cities I lived in as a kid, also offered my parents free books for four kids who were voracious readers. Buying every Curious George could have bankrupted them.

With adult eyes, I can now see that libraries are one of the most essential services a city can provide. Theyre one of the few places where a kid can find a free private world at the same time that a public is being served.Heres how Ford Nation wins over a province.

By word and song. And (campaign) signs of the times.

At a Doug Ford rally, the leader is always late, leaving extra time for his populist anthem to penetrate your being. A throbbing earworm that burrows deep inside your consciousness.

Bring us hope, bring us change, the theme song exhorts.

The crowd is warmed up to overheating as the anthem choruses, For the people! Hey!

The lyrics loop over and over: For the people! Hey!

Ford himself is now in the hall, making his way through Ford Nation. OPP bodyguards deploy in the cavernous airport conference centre as the leader of Ontarios Progressive Conservatives poses for smiling selfies with adoring supporters before taking the microphone.

My friends, people across Ontario are coming together, Ford proclaims in his deliberate delivery, a man in command of his audience  his friends.

My friends, people are looking for change, he continues. We will form a government thats for the people, not for the insiders, not for the elites.

Ford fires up the crowd with stirring rhetoric about hydro rip-offs, a promise to rip up Ontarios sex education curriculum, a pledge to axe any carbon tax, and a vow to cut taxes for the people.

For Ford Nation, the words are music to the ear. Not to mention that earworm.

Amid the mesmerizing messaging, however, there are clues that this is not a traditional Progressive Conservative campaign rally. Listen closely, and look at the telltale signs, for this is emphatically a Doug Ford election event.

Its bigger than one party, the leader stresses, repeating the phrase for emphasis. This is about the people.

The people, not the party. Another clue comes from the signage at the podium, which makes no mention of the Tories.

Instead, a blue, red and white sign at the lectern says it all  all that needs to be said  in big bold letters: Doug Ford for the people.

There is nary a PC placard to be found, no true-blue Tories in their official colours. The old Progressive Conservative Party, whose leadership Ford captured in an upset victory last March, has been subsumed and consumed by Ford Nation.

The Tories have been rebranded into the peoples party, which is to say Ford Nations party. Every public opinion poll suggests it is now Fords province, too.

And at this event, early in the campaign, the leader exults with Trump-like hyperbole over the thousands of people here tonight. Except there are not thousands of people (journalists count several hundred in the cavernous venue near Pearson airport).

Thats not to say Ford cant draw a crowd  never mind that his campaign famously hired professional actors to cheer for him outside a television studio. Tonights audience is diverse, made up of young and old, white, brown and Black, men and women, many drawn from the suburban belt of the GTA that Ford is counting on.

More than a friendly crowd, it is rapturous. But beyond preaching to the converted, can he convince a broader coalition of voters that he deserves to be premier on June 7?

In the campaigns early days, Ford seemed content to coast to victory with his Conservative core. With a strong grip on most of rural Ontario, the Tories have a huge head start over the Liberals (largely confined to the urban and suburban areas), and the New Democrats (vying with the Tories for support in the southwest and north).

Many party loyalists  not just Red Tories  may be uncomfortable with Fords disruptive approach. But his campaign is betting on an infusion of new blood from the Ford Nation coalition to exceed any attrition. If he can wrest blue collar votes with his populist appeal in NDP turf, and make gains in Ford Nation pockets in Etobicoke, Scarborough and the 905, he has a winning hand.

Which is why Ford is playing up Ford Nation across the province, while downplaying the PC party he leads. Internal polling shows him ahead of the brand, so he is personalizing his pitch.

With little talk of policy, personality wins the day  or more precisely, the Ford persona inherited from his late brother Rob (who he tried, but failed, to succeed as mayor four years ago). But beyond the safe space of a friendly Ford Nation campaign rally, there have been brief glimpses of a different Doug Ford in the campaigns early days  scripted, plodding, error-prone, dismissive of his rivals in debates, cranky with reporters who ask pesky questions. As the campaign unfolds, more people may catch sight of Fords unscripted, untrammelled musings  like his nativist opposition last week to new immigrant workers in the north, where an audience of mayors and reeves groaned and laughed at his ignorance of their need for more foreigners amid declining populations. Or his private boasting of bulldozing the Greenbelt, until word got out and he backpedalled furiously.

For the moment, Ford looks formidable. The Progressive Conservatives have gone all in with Ford Nation, on the premise that Doug Ford is more popular than the party  because he is for the people.

If the people are behind him on June 7, the party will win big with a majority government landslide. But if the people tire of him, or turn against him, the party whose brand he banished will reap the whirlwind.

Read more about:Will Alsop, the irreverent English architect who brought a serious sense of playfulness to his work, has died.

Though known as the bad boy of British architecture, the 70-year-old architect/artist/teacher had a special relationship with Toronto where his most celebrated contribution was the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Better known as the flying tabletop, the unique structure, a black-and-white pixelated box held aloft by a series of crayon-like columns, raised eyebrows around the world. It also raised Torontos international profile and managed to make a cold city seem cool.

Alsop first came to global attention for the Peckham Library, which opened in London in 2000. Not only did the aggressively whimsical building increase membership threefold, it earned him the U.K.s most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize. With that in hand, he set out to remake architecture and the planet as a series of a brightly coloured blobs with bean-shaped windows and as often as not, legs.

But as avant-garde and startling as his architecture may be, he also wanted it to be fun. Whether designing libraries, schools, apartment buildings or ferry terminals, Alsop never failed to bring a smile to the viewers face. Though often dismissed as lacking seriousness, especially by other architects, he took the view that all aspects of life should be informed by the pleasure principle. If people arent engaged by a building, they tend to ignore or avoid it when possible.

For him, every project was an excuse for play. The Sharp Centre was one of the best examples of Alsops conviction that work should be play. Along with Charles Rennie Mackintoshs Glasgow School of Art, his OCAD addition is the most remarkable and original such institution anywhere. Not only does it inspire students to boldly go where no one has gone, it gives them permission to have fun in the process.

At the same time, Alsops building changed this city. That isnt something that can be said of many structures. As Mirko Zardini, director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, said of the Sharp Centre at an exhibition he curated in 2008, If a building doesnt add anything to a city, it doesnt matter. Architects here in Montreal are obsessed with the objects. Alsop goes beyond these limits.

As Zardini also pointed out, Alsop doesnt need a lot of money to do something. OCAD is a good example; you can do brilliant things with not much money ... I thought it was important to pay homage to Alsop and his building.

In an age of empty architectural spectacle and one-note starchitects, the lesson that less can be more has been all but forgotten. Indeed, not only are Alsops eccentric structures visually striking, they solve mundane urban problems of circulation, connectivity, program, purpose and the like. Only the greatest practitioners manage to produce architecture that is both practical and artful. Alsop was among them. Little wonder he was also a painter, at one point even abandoning the drawing board for the canvas.

Though relatively few of his designs were built, he also was responsible for two stops on the subway extension to York Region and Vaughan that opened last December. In particular, his Pioneer Village station embodies everything Alsop tried to achieve in his work. Clad in treated steel, the building rises magnificently above the bleakness of its location on Steeles Ave. In any location, it would an object of attention, but all the more so in Torontos unloved north end. Alsops desire to bring some enjoyment to the banalities of the daily commute couldnt be more clearly communicated.

In 2000, when Alsop came to Toronto for the Sharp Centre, he made no effort to hide his feeling that the college on McCaul St., its surroundings, even the sidewalks were a mess. Regardless, he developed an obvious affection for this city and at one point opened an office here. Though he closed it several years later, he remained committed to the city and its cultural life. His paintings were exhibited at the Olga Korper Gallery on several occasions.

Despite chronic difficulties getting projects off the ground, especially in the U.K., Alsop was in the midst of a comeback of sorts before his death. Perhaps the world had finally caught up with him and his architecture of pleasure. As unabashedly outlandish as his work could seem, it was always firmly rooted in his belief that architecture should be approached more as an experience than an object, an experience to be enjoyed.

Christopher Hume is a former Star reporter who is a current freelance columnist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @HumeChristopherWe are doomed. The robots are unstoppable.

I dont mean doomed in the sense of my previous  now laughably cute  worries about warehouse robots, Amazon drones, or even Shoppers Drug Mart automated checkouts.

Having a job will be the least of our worries. I mean that we will die at the hands of these  things, these metal robots that look like barrel-chested men with arms and legs. They can walk on rocks, do Olympic-style long-jumps, hop, do backflips.

Actually, the BigDog developed for the U.S. military for transport looks like a bug on four legs as it carries backpacks like a mule. It was rejected for being too noisy for stealth work. But the SpotMini is a dog. A yellow metal animal with an internal computer, it races like an animal and holds doors open for fellow yellow dogs.

SpotMini scares me witless. This makes no sense unless youve seen the nicely nihilistic Metalhead episode of Charlie Brookers great online drama series Black Mirror, where killer robot dogs pursue the last remaining humans by shooting trackers into their flesh and following the trail. There is no escape.

Written and directed by bleak Brits, filmed in black and white, brief and to the point, Metalhead has dogs that can drive vans, fall and right themselves, recharge in daylight, do self-repairs, hack computers with a USB key, and kill with a whirling stump like an electric drill. They leave large tunnels inside people.

The videos of Boston Dynamics robots from late last year already look dated, so quickly are the beasts skills growing. In 2017, Googles parent company Alphabet sold Boston Dynamics to Softbank, a Japanese company, which seems crazy to me.

Surely a punitive nation like the U.S. would treasure such murderous technology. Trump could happily use it on Mexican immigrants and Guatemalan caravans.

To those who say I shouldnt assume that robots will be used in malign ways  a robot has a controller after all  imagine the CIAs Gina Haspel controlling a robotic squad. They could do a beautiful job of torturing a prisoner while Bloody Gina looks on, smiling. Robots dont cry. Neither did Gina.

Softbank is also working on humanoid assistants, which are female robots with emotions, the Guardian reports. Where will that end? I think you know where.

BigDog used a gas-powered engine, as do cars. Smaller electric-powered dogs carry much smaller loads, but are quieter, as are electric cars.

In Gary Shteyngarts Super Sad True Love Story, people display self-rating devices called apparats displaying net worth, credit ranking, attractiveness, health and so on. In Black Mirrors hellish Nosedive episode, people live in a world where they are granted visible social points based on wealth, subservience and likability.

Between Nosedive and Metalhead, the ones that scare Brooker himself, I came primed to see malevolence in machines while others see only automated assistance. I will always favour the human, but the human will always lose.

So I ask, what will you do when a robot is sent to pick up an envelope at your office? And you dont have it. You say no. To a robot. Yellow dogs dont like that.

An airline desk robot cancels your flight or your presence on the flight. You cant argue with a robot. It declines to rebook or send you to another robotic airline. You ask to see the supervisor robot. But robots like systems. They dont like irregularities. You are the irregularity.

So a drilling noise starts. A programmer with a cratering hangover shipped this particular robot. Minuscule crucial things slipped past him.

You might end up with a large symmetrical hole drilled through you. Or you could run from the robot, put on dark glasses and change clothes in the washroom. But say China has licensed its facial recognition to corporate Canada. You cannot hide.

On the bright side, robots can assemble Ikea furniture, which is more than I can or wish to. And my Japanese toilet lights up when I enter the room. At least someone does.

Will robots be the death of us or our helpful servants? It doesnt matter. The choice will not be made by us.VANCOUVERSquamish Nation Hereditary Chief Ian Campbell will seek a nomination to run for the Vancouver mayors chair in Octobers election, a source close to the prominent leader told StarMetro on Sunday.

If elected, Campbell would make history by becoming the first Indigenous mayor of the city since its founding in 1886.

Campbell, who has been an outspoken opponent of bitumen pipeline expansion in B.C. and an advocate of Squamish language and land rights, will make an announcement about his entry into the increasingly tumultuous municipal race Monday morning, according to a release.

Read more:

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson not seeking re-election this fall

Vision Vancouver will run mayoral candidate in upcoming city election

A Squamish Nation source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told StarMetro the leader plans to seek the nomination for the ruling Vision Vancouver.

Although the Squamish leader was not available for an interview Sunday, his spokesperson told StarMetro that he would be available to comment after delivering his remarks on Monday.

The email attached to the release included a link to a website, voteiancampbell2018.com, but the site was not yet activated at time of publication.

The seemingly never-ending and constantly changing list of potential candidates continued to pick up steam last week, when whispers of speculation suggested Campbell would be running as a Vision Vancouver candidate.

According to the Georgia Straight, Campbell has been impressed with the partys reconciliation efforts and stated one of his biggest supporters is Councillor Andrea Reimer, who emphasized Campbells ability to bring people together.

This is a big idea, Reimer tweeted on Saturday.

Vancouvers left-wing parties have been fixated on uniting in order to defeat centre-left Vision in October  the Coalition of Progressive Electors and OneCity openly stating they will refuse to support a Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate, arguing the party has not done enough on affordable housing or transparency during its time in power.

Thats why much of the attention is on the appropriate unity candidate. If Vancouvers left-wing parties cannot find a way to co-operate, they risk splitting the vote and handing a win to the centre-right Non-Partisan Association, observers say.

Over the last few weeks, several candidates have announced running as independents rather than tow party lines with hopes of uniting the left. On Thursday, Burnaby New Democrat MP Kennedy Stewart announced hell run for mayor of Vancouver as an independent.

Green Party Councillor Adrienne Carr has been mulling a mayoral bid for nearly two months but said that would only happen with the support of Vision Vancouver, OneCity and COPE.

Meanwhile, on the centre-right, the Non-Partisan Association has seen infighting, sparked by an alleged conflict of interest against one of its councillors.

On Friday, Vision Vancouver announced it would be running a mayoral candidate. But it didnt know who yet, StarMetro reported at the time.

The Vision board spent many weeks carefully discussing various scenarios, including the options of endorsing an independent candidate, or a candidate from another party, and their ability to run a competitive, citywide campaign, wrote Michael Haack, Visions co-chair.

However, with less than six months to the election, none of the potential candidates emerged as a consensus choice, nor to date has been able to secure cross-party support, which would be essential to the success of an independent campaign.

The party will hold its nomination meeting for its mayoral candidate on June 24.

With files from Jen St. Denis

Read more about:GODFREY  A lot of college experiences usually begin at the age of 18 after high school graduation. Some college students are even adults in their sixties going back, but local Anya Alexis Wilkie took a more non-traditional route in her schooling.

Anya graduates from Lewis and Clark Community College this week at the age of just 13-years-old.

Its been quite an adventure, said her mother, Brandy Wilkie. As a mother, I always thought I would end up with those picture frames of her in front of the school bus showing her in first grade, second grade, third grade, but that was clearly not going to happen and we realized that really early in her life.

It all started when she was an infant, said Wilkie. We had heard that babies could learn to read and I was a language specialist in college and when I heard the research behind the idea that babies could learn to read, I recognized very quickly that it was really just language acquisition just in a context I never would have thought of doing before.

Soon after they started teaching her to read and sure enough Anya began reading by the time she was eight- or nine-months-old.

So, she was reading at the same time she was speaking, said Wilkie. Our brains are designed to learn language as infants, so whether you are speaking to your baby or signing to your baby, they will pick it up because God designed our brains to do so.

They can learn to read if you present the written material to them in the same type of manner that we use to speak to babies. We started that process when she was eight-weeks-old and she learned to read, speak and sign all at the same time.

Anya began formal, private schooling at the age of two, in a classroom mixed with preschool and kindergarten students.

That worked great because there was a preschool element to it, said Wilkie. And she was still the youngest in the school, but she was with kids that were closer in age to her than if she was only in a kindergarten classroom and since it was a Montessori school, she was able to work at her own pace.

By the time she left the private school at the age of three, Anya was able to do four-digit math as well as reading more advanced novels.

She stayed in that classroom for two years and since my husband is in the military, we had to move from Texas to Oklahoma and it can be difficult with schooling because its different in each state, said Wilkie.

The transition proved to be challenging for the family.

They didnt feel comfortable placing a four-year-old in first grade, said Wilkie. So they did testing and while she tested out of first grade, they still didnt feel comfortable placing a student so young in that class, so they put her in kindergarten, which made it round three of kindergarten, but quickly realized it wasnt a good fit so they started doing half days in kindergarten and half days in second grade.

After another few years, the family had to move again, this time to Illinois, which is where their homeschooling journey really began. It was never something I really considered, but it was a challenge with the public schools here as well and we quickly saw that homeschooling was really the only choice.

When we called Illinois they told us no; that five-year-olds go into kindergarten and at this point Anya had gone through kindergarten multiple times, said Wilkie.

After calling the Illinois State Board of Education, Wilkie was faced with the dilemma of putting Anya into public school, a private school, or homeschooling.

I was a school teacher prior to staying home with Anya and I never saw homeschooling as the best option, which I think is the general belief, said Wilkie. But Ive come to believe that homeschooling is actually the best option and we are so glad we made that choice.

Wilkie then became responsible for her daughters education, which wasnt an easy undertaking. Suddenly, you as a parent become completely in charge of curriculum, standards, expectations, subjects, everything.

We, as a society have this idea that only qualified professionals can teach our kids, which is something that I used to think before, said Wilkie. And the truth is, by being a parent, that qualifies you to do anything you want in regards to your kids and to be able to educate your children. And if theres something you dont know how to teach, theres always a resource.

Wilkie attributes her daughters success in academics to the blessings and opportunities she has been given throughout her life. Shes been blessed with opportunities that other kids her age havent had, and that makes a big difference.

The first year they tackled homeschooling, Anya went from kindergarten to third grade all in one year. We covered Latin, Spanish, and Greek, said Anya. We also did physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy, which was all when I was six-years-old.

Its all in how you teach it, said Wilkie. You present the materials in a way they can understand it. It can all be just as natural as teaching them how to speak.

The great thing about homeschooling is you almost dont realize that youre learning because its just fun, said Anya. Its just a part of your life and then when you look back over the year, you realize how much progress youve made.

Anya said the biggest difference between public school and homeschooling is the connection between the lessons.

In public school, you have each subject lined up in a certain time frame, but homeschooling, theres really an interconnectedness between everything you learn.

Anya began taking courses at LCCC at the age of 12 and will be graduating with an Associates Degree in Fine Arts as well as an Associates Degree in Music Performance.

While she was accepted to SIUE, she plans to return to homeschooling during what would be her high school years due to suffering two concussions within a six-month span.

Having those concussions made it really challenging to study and continue with school because I had a headache with the first concussion that never goes away, said Anya.

I really liked going to college, said Anya. Ive had a lot of fun and I dont think I would have been able to get there without the homeschooling my mom did.

All of the teachers there are so driven and committed to their students and the music program is so amazing.

Although the experience was a good one, Anya said, she noted she doesnt think its for everyone.

It took a lot of preparation academically as well as emotionally and socially, said Wilkie. Its different for everyone and theres a lot of factors even more so than just the academic aspect of it as well. At the college level, there are some classes more than others that are aimed for a mature group and we definitely had to prepare for that in a way that it still preserved her innocence as a 12-year-old.

Anya is also a violinist and hopes to continue her craft, and possibly become a solo performer. I would love to do that, but Im not sure what I want to do yet.

She is also considering going into the science field and branching out into either Paleontology or Archaeology.

I have a lot of time still to figure out what I want to do, said Anya.

Its a delicate balance and shes very gifted, but shes also been very blessed with the educational opportunities she has had to get from point A to point B and its important to find that balance, said Wilkie.

I think that if it wasnt for my parents and without the blessings that God has given me, I would just be a normal eighth-grader, said Anya.EDWARDSVILLE  Authorities are attempting to take possession of $2,225 from a man who was also found with nearly 80 grams of cocaine in his possession.

The forfeiture case involves Williams Croft, 40, of the 1600 block of Clawson St., Alton, who was charged April 26 with two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. Bail is set at $100,000.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of using unnecessary aggression in Syria and blamed Tel Aviv for pushing the entire region toward full-scale war.

In an interview with BBC Arabic on Sunday, Erdogan said that Israel is "sowing fear and pushing" the Middle Eastern "region to war."

The Turkish leader also denounced an Israeli airstrike on Syria that took place three days ago, calling it an attack on the sovereignty of the beleaguered nation, now in its seventh year of civil war.

Erdogan also criticized US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, Ynetnews.com reported.EDWARDSVILLE  The first of the Savvy Senior Seminars for Madison Countys new Triad program is set for Wednesday at the Main Street Community Center in Edwardsville.

The seminar, which will deal with weather-related issues, emergency preparedness and spring scams, is set for 10 a.m. at the center, located at 1003 Main St., Edwardsville.

A second seminar will be held at 10 a.m. May 23 at Senior Services Plus in Alton.

The Triad program kicked off in mid-April with a document shredding event, and the unveiling of the groups web page, located on the drop-down menu of the Madison County Sheriffs Department website. The program is a collaboration between the Madison County Sheriffs Department and local senior citizen service providers.

It includes a very active social media component on Facebook and Twitter, and its own web page on the Sheriffs Departments website.

Things are going really well, said Lt. Kristopher Tharp, who organized the program. I field phone calls on an almost daily basis.

Tharp suggested interested residents like both the Facebook and Twitter feeds, so they will receive the most up-to-date information.

He noted they recently put out a notice about fraud, and it received 10,000 views.

Thats the power of social media and we need to share it, Tharp said.

On Monday morning he was preparing to post information about several scams that have hit the area.

In one, local residents were hit with a computer scam involving a pop-up informing them about issues with their computer and asking for cash to fix the problem.

It continues to ask for more money, it continues to ask for more information, Tharp said.

He noted that the scammers were able to obtain money and personal information.

The second incident was a grandparent scam, where the residents received a telephone call about their grandson, who had legal troubles.

Tharp said this scam was very elaborate, and included a telephone call from someone claiming to be a New Jersey prosecutor, followed up by a call from a fictitious bail bondsman and the grandson himself.

Tharp said it underscores the idea that people need to have conversations about these types of scams.

If you get a suspicious pop-up on your computer, if you get a suspicious email, be careful before you open it, he said. Dont ever be conned by giving your personal information over the phone.

Unfortunately our scammers and fraudsters can be quite compelling, he added. They prey upon the love and devotion that grandparents have for their grandchildren.

Wednesdays program will touch on both of those scams.

In addition, there will be a discussion about emergency preparedness and weather-related issues, a raffle of weather radios, some emergency preparedness backpacks, and complementary vehicle safety inspections for the first 20 people who register.

Presenters will include the Madison County Sheriffs Department, the Edwardsville Fire Department and Ameren.

The Alton presentation will include a meteorologist from KSDK Channel 5.

The webpage also has a resource page which currently has contact information for several hundred local agencies. It can be accessed through the Madison County Sheriffs Department website, at www.co.madison.il.us/triad or Madison County TRIAD on Facebook.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.EDWARDSVILLE  Local economic development groups are bringing in representatives of national and international investors for a two-day tour of the Metro East starting Tuesday.

The Discover Southwest Illinois tour is sponsored by the Southwest Illinois Trade & Investment Council, and includes two-days of site promotion in Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties.

The group of 13 people will tour sites in all three counties, according to James Arnold, program coordinator for Madison County Community Development, one of the agencies involved.

Among those expected to attend are members and representatives of the Chicago International Trade Commissioners Association, who serve as information brokers for the Midwest.

As the official representatives of their countries companies, CITCA commissioners serve as facilitators for new trade endeavors and foreign direct investments, said Edie Koch, a member of SWITICs board of directors and executive director of the Monroe County Economic Development Corporation. CITCAs membership includes nearly 50 individuals representing up to 40 countries from across the globe. Our hope is that this visit will acquaint CITCA with the strength and competitive advantages of our region, promote the region as a great place for foreign direct investment and provide the strategic link needed to increase exports from Southwest Illinois.

SWITIC has been in existence since 2015.The nonprofit organization educates, equips and connects area businesses with the expertise and contacts to begin or expand exporting their products.

This inbound trade mission is but one of our organizations initiatives to help companies across Southwest Illinois develop long-term relationships with their global customers and partners, said Silvia Torres Bowman, director of the International Trade Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Arnold said the group includes facilitators for new trade endeavors and foreign trade investment.

Its an excellent opportunity for us to show off what we have in Madison County, he said. This is just to say, this is what Southern Illinois is all about, this is what Southern Illinois has to offer and these are the sites available.

Arnold described the event as part of a larger plan.

This is initially a meet-and-greet, he said. Hopefully we establish some long-standing partnerships.

For more information about the Southwest Illinois Trade and Investment Council, see www.swillinoistrade.org.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.EDWARDSVILLE  Southern Illinois University Edwardsville alumna Tiffany Flint is being honored for her outstanding work as an educator who teaches, supports and empowers middle school students in Belleville.

Flint has received the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Outstanding Early Career Educator Merit Award and the Illinois Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (IACTE) Outstanding Beginning Teacher Award.

It doesnt feel like work if you love what you are doing every day, said Flint, who teaches sixth grade composition at Whiteside Middle School. I am honored and truly humbled to receive recognition for the job that I give my heart to. I teach in a building full of wonderful teachers who inspire me and our students daily.

Flint earned a bachelors in mass communications from the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences in 2004. After working as a journalist for several years, she says she decided to follow her heart and become a teacher.

As a reporter for a local paper, I covered a lot of school-related events, she explained. I had the opportunity to go into all the local schools, and cover the interesting educational successes of students and faculties. It was then that I felt the draw to be a teacher.

Flint then achieved her masters in teaching from SIUE in 2013.

SIUE offers an exceptional education at a great value, she said. My instructors were incredible. They were able to individualize the program for each and every student, and help us grow into the teachers we are today. Their guidance, knowledge and passion for what they do shows in their teaching.

She student taught at Whiteside Middle School and has now been there for five years.

The best parts of my job are my students, Flint explained. A lot of people ask me how I can teach middle school students. Its a tough age group for everyone. But, middle school is when kids are developing who they are and want to be. Its awesome and powerful. I enjoy watching my students overcome their struggles and make their way in this world.

A true inspiration, Flint exemplifies the value of educators. She is committed to seeing her students succeed.

I know that every day in my classroom I have someones everything; their daughters and sons, grandchild, younger or older sibling, she said. My students are special. They are someone.

Working in a high-poverty district, I am aware that not all of my students have a great or even safe home life, she added. I know some students who sit in front of me each Friday wont eat again until school breakfast Monday morning. I have students who are at school every day, because they got themselves dressed and ready and chose to be there. I want all of my students to know that they can overcome anything with hard work and sheer determination.The AgriculturalBusiness Initiative (aBi) Trust is supporting agribusiness development in theprivate sector to achieve the objective of the Government of UgandasCompetitiveness and Investment Climate Strategy (CICS). The Trust is amulti-donor entity jointly founded by the Governments of Denmark and Uganda.The mandate of aBi Trust is to support the private sector actors to increasetheir contribution to the agricultural sector by increasing land and labourproductivity, and market competitiveness thereby contributing to povertyreduction through economic growth, wealth, and employment creation.If you believe youhave the above skills and experience and desire to join the UBC in theaforementioned capacity, please apply by sending a detailed C.V, copies of certifiedtestimonials addressed to: Managing Director, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, BroadcastHouse, Plot 17-19 Nile Avenue, P.O. Box 2038, Kampala. Uganda.Addressing the class of 2018 at Duke University, Apple CEO Tim Cook encouraged students to follow their vision and learn from the example set by late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

He encouraged students to try something different and dare to think different, Mashable reports.

In his tweet following the commencement ceremony, Cook congratulated the students and encouraged them to be fearless.

Cook also used the opportunity to touch upon issues including user privacy, climate change, social inequality, and gun violence.The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...Film producer Liberty Basheer has filed a defamation suit against Mollywood actor Dileep, seeking compensation of Rs 10 crore.

The suit filed by Basheer states that the comments made by Dileep in connection with the notorious actress attack case has brought him disrepute.

Dileep had alleged that a group of people, including Liberty Basheer, had conspired to falsely implicate him in the actress attack case.

Dileep had also stated in his bail plea submitted to the High Court that Basheer tried to incriminate him in the case for personal vengeance.

The legal notice sent by Basheer states that Dileep should retract his statements made against the former and issue an apology through the media, failing to which the actor should pay the compensation.Actress-turned politician Divya Spandana, also known as Ramya, and actor Prakash Raj are facing the wrath of social media users for failing to cast votes during the Karnataka elections on Saturday.

Divya Spandana, who heads the social media cell of the Congress, had appealed to the public to cast their votes on Saturday. However, with Divya Spandana herself failing to do so, social media users are reminding her of what she had said. According to reports, she was supposed to vote from Mandya.

DID YOU VOTE ?????



First Answer that  Karnataka for BJP (@subramanya109) May 14, 2018

Actor Prakash Raj, too, who has been quite vocal against the BJP government was questioned by social media users. Dear Karnataka..The ones we VOTE.. are the ones who will take policy decisions tomorrow ..which will effect every second of our life .. please think n VOTE wisely ..its your responsibility to ensure ..a vibrant..inclusive..futuristic INDIA..keep #justasking yourself too .., Prakash Raj had said in a video posted on his Twitter handle. In the #justasking series against the BJP, Prakash Raj had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not answering his questions on subjects like black money, cash shortage and unemployment.

The great Congress IT cell head @divyaspandana and great FOS champion @prakashraaj skip from casting their votes. Both who used to blabber nonsense day & night against PM @narendramodi teaching him responsibilities of P/Minister has today forgotten their own duty as a citizen, read one of the tweets.

The great Congress IT cell head @divyaspandana and great FOS champion @prakashraaj skip from casting their votes.

Both who used to blabber nonsense day & night against PM @narendramodi teaching him responsibilities of P/Minister has today forgotten their own duty as a citizen. pic.twitter.com/gkkYC5UJ7c  Sh@@n (@DCSSN) May 12, 2018 Only Humans cast their votes and dogs don't.#JustAssKing, you had a doubt on your binomial nomenclature ??  Vikas G Rao (@vikasgrao2) May 14, 2018 After May 10 @prakashraaj has suddenly disappeared...!!!



He didn't even Vote

Does he even have a Voter ID in Karnataka ?



Looks like he just came for his acting assignment

Finished it

Took his money and GAAYAB   Sabyasachi  (@IamSabya_) May 14, 2018

However, it has not been confirmed if Prakash Raj has his voting rights in Karnataka.Even as the controversy surrounding the status of a portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah at Aligarh Muslim University persists, Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu wants the varsity to be renamed after Raja Mahendra Pratap, also known as 'Jat King.'

"The picture of the one who broke the nation into pieces hangs inside Aligarh Muslim University's campus, but there is no picture of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh. I demand that the AMU must be renamed as Raja Mahendra Pratap Vishwavidyalaya," he said while addressing a gathering in Rewari on Sunday.

Incidentally, Mahendra Pratap Singh was a student of AMU, in its earlier avatar as Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College.

Earlier this month, a number of groups protested against the portrait of Pakistan's founder being hung at the AMU student union's office.

The matter grabbed headlines first after Aligarh MP Satish Gautam of the BJP questioned the portrait's presence in the office.

Soon after, AMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Tariq Mansoor dubbed the Jinnah portrait controversy as a 'non-issue' and underscored that latter's portrait is also present at the Bombay High Court and the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat.

Talking to reporters, Mansoor said, "Jinnah's portrait has been here since 1938. Jinnah's portrait is at many places including Bombay HC and Sabarmati Ashram and Nehru Museum too. No one was worried about the portraits until now; I think it is a non-issue."

Mansoor also asserted that the agitation by students in the university had no connection with the Jinnah portrait row.

"(The) students' agitation had no relation to Jinnah portrait row; they were protesting against people who came to AMU to disturb the peace on May 2. I have spoken to chief secretary for a judicial inquiry into the incident," he said, while reacting to the ruckus, due to which an event of former vice-president Hamid Ansari was cancelled.Shortly after the Delhi Police on Monday named him as an accused in the charge-sheet filed over the death of his wife in January 2014, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has declared that he intends to contest the charges vigorously.

1/2 I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation, (contd.)  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 14, 2018

The Delhi Police on Monday ruled the death of Sunanda Pushkar to be a suicide. The charge-sheet was filed at Delhi's Patiala House Court and under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A (cruelty against married woman) of the IPC. The next hearing in the case is on May 24 when Tharoor is expected to be summoned.

Taking to Twitter, Tharoor said, no one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part.

Also read: THE WEEK archivesExclusive interview with Shashi Tharoor

Tharoor also cast aspersions on motivations behind the charge-sheet, noting that in October 2017, police officials claimed in the Delhi High Court to have found no evidence against anyone.

Pushkar was found dead in her hotel room on January 17, 2014, under mysterious circumstances. BJP leaders, notably Subramanian Swamy, have extensively targeted Tharoor over the case. Swamy had filed PILs over the case.

In January 2015, an AIIMS toxicology report ruled that Pushkar had died from poisoning. Tharoor had previously promised all cooperation in the case and repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.Indian airports may soon have a drone disabling technology, with the Bureau of Civil Aviation and Security (BCAS) setting up a high powered committee to facilitate the deployment of anti-drone facilities especially at high-risk airports. Two Israeli companies have already given their demo, displaying skills which can be categorised as ''hard kill'' and ''soft kill''. The soft kill technology means that any rogue drone that flies into a secured air space can be destabilized and its system will get frozen. The hard kill technology means that the drone itself can be destroyed.

The Israeli companies specialise in each of these fronts and Indian security agencies are experimenting with the idea. "It is in an experiment stage where we are testing the technologies. But there is a definite need to take the drone threat seriously,'' said a senior home ministry official. Intelligence officials said that aerial threats require immediate attention as unmanned aerial vehicles or drones can quietly be used by terror outfits to violate the airspace for subversive activities or cause potential collisions.



The high powered committee setup by the BCAS includes members from the Airport Authority of India, National Security Guards, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)  the technical intelligence agency under the National Security Advisor, besides representatives of the Central Industrial Security Force and the ministries of home and civil aviation.



Recent drone sightings in the vicinity of airports, particularly, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, had sent the security forces into a tizzy, waking up the MHA and the security brass to the unchecked proliferation of drones around airports.



These drone sightings which did not turn out to be a terror threat but a case of locals flying UAVs, led to a halting of flight operations twice at the Delhi airport in August last year much to the embarrassment of security agencies.

"The committee will check the capabilities, functional efficacy and ease of handling of this anti-drone technology. We will need to train a specific team either of the CISF personnel or the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) staff at airports who would be using it,'' said an official.



Meanwhile, a uniform drone policy is in the works which would make it mandatory to have a license to fly a drone. However, it does not talk of an anti-drone mechanism to stop a rogue drone after it enters the airspace in the vicinity of the airport causing an air scare or potential risk of collision.



The BCAS committee is set up exactly for this purpose  to look at an unobtrusive way of ensuring that the policy is enforced and air scares and violation of no flying zones by these unmanned vehicles is prevented before it leads to future security threats.

Woh intezaar tha jiss kaa, yeh woh seher toe nahin (This is not the dawn we longed for, so long)

 Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the celebrated Urdu poet, is a much loved figure both in India and Pakistan. His romantic poetry exhorted people to fight for a classless society and adopt the principles of humanism. Writers, scholars, musicians, artists and lovers of poetry on either side of the border never miss an opportunity to quote him to approximate feelings of love and revolutionary fervour.

The Faiz Foundation Trust in Lahore was set up to assemble the poet's entire corpus of writings, photographs, documents, letters and other memorabilia to encourage further research into his works and promote his poetry and ideas. To this end, they have hosted numerous Indian scholars, writers and other creative functionaries on a regular basis. So when Moneeza Hashmi, the younger daughter of Faiz and a trustee of the foundation, was barred at the last minute from attending a major media summit hosted by the information and broadcasting ministry on May 10 in New Delhi, there was widespread shock and dismay. Especially since she was invited for the summit.

Allegations of political meddling have been raised, while reports have also pointed out technicalities of visa entrythat Hashmi had been granted a six-month, multiple-entry visa to India in February for a conference and did not have permission to attend another. But as Hashmi told The Telegraph, "I come to India all the time as I have a multiple-entry, year-long visa...My sister Salima and I have attended several conferences on this very visa, which has been renewed annually for years now by the Indian high commission in Islamabad."

Why exactly was Hashmi denied entry at the 15th Asia Media Summit, organised by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), certainly requires investigation. Hashmi deserves an explanation and apology.

The Faiz Foundation put out a statement on Sunday reiterating their respect and admiration for India.

Meanwhile, Farha Noor, a former JNU student from Kolkata, put up a Facebook post in which she remembered her fond association with The Faiz Foundation Trust. Noor, currently pursuing Modern South Asian Language and Literature at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, is now regularly hosted by the daughters of Faiz in Lahore. She first visited them in 2013 when she was doing her MPhil on the letters of Alys Faiz written to her husband Faiz in prison. The post reminds readers of how difficult it is for majority of students in India and Pakistan to get visas for academic research and fieldwork.

"While our constantly depleting higher education system has no funds, nor any process to fund MPhil archival work, it is institutions like the Faiz Foundation Trust and strong people like Moneeza Hashmi and Salima Hashmi who with their continuing interest and enthusiasm, always lend support to researchers and artists across the border. The Faiz Foundation Trust practically funded my archival work and the Hashmis hosted me, a complete stranger, for 2 long months in their own house in Lahore, while making all required research material accessible to me and at the same time, making sure that I was comfortable and looked after.

After my research trip, every time I have visited Lahore, I have been constantly supported by the Hashmis - right from applying for a visa (which is a Herculean task) to making a room available for me in their home, and every other issue a single woman traveller has to deal with, Moneeza Hashmi, Salima Hashmi, their families and households have always been most approachable and hospitable to me. And I know, for certain, to many other Indians, year after year.

Today, when cross-border research and collaboration is almost deemed impossible due to government hostilities, it is families like the Hashmis and institutions like the Faiz Foundation Trust that offer alternate spaces for any possible collaboration and friendship."

She later told The Week that "it has been really impossible for Pakistanis to get visas to India but the Hashmi sisters have always had that extra special exception due to the love of Faiz on both sides of the border."Turning the ship before it hits the icebergALBANY  The state will be digging out an underground plume of potentially carcinogenic chemicals beneath a former Washington Avenue dry cleaners near several homes routinely rented to college students.

Plans by the Department of Environmental Conservation call for a $120,000 cleanup at the former site of RKO Cleaners, at 566 Washington Ave., to deal with unsafe levels of the industrial cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene (PCE, also known as PERC). The chemical was found in the ground, groundwater and in vapors coming out of the ground.

PERC is listed as a potential carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The DEC cleanup plan also calls for the underground injection of chemicals designed to degrade any remaining PERC.

Work is expected to start this summer and last about two months as about 180 cubic yards (about 18 dump truck loads) of tainted soil are removed for disposal elsewhere. Parts of the site contain PERC at 100 times the level considered safe for residential use.

The property was run as a dry cleaners from 1964 to 2000, when it was destroyed by a fire that caused some drums of cleaning chemicals to leak into the ground.

The building was later demolished so tests of the polluted ground could be made, and the site was added to the state Superfund pollution cleanup program in 2013.

The work will be paid for by state taxpayers, as the last known owners of the property could not be located, according to DEC.

While there are unsafe PERC levels in the ground and groundwater beneath the site, the pollution "does not pose a threat to human health and environment," according to a February 2017 environmental report by consultants Henning, Durham & Richardson.

There are residences just to the east of the building, some of which are rented for student housing, and the Abbott Tavern, a popular collegiate nightspot, to the south. The buildings were tested for the presence of potential PERC vapors.

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Those tests found inside air in those buildings was safe. One building had a system installed to collect any vapors and vent them outside.

The property owners, identified on DEC paperwork at Louis Lettsome Sr., of Teaneck, N.J., and Sekyung Jeon, of Hartford, Ct., are currently delinquent on more than $152,000 in city, school and county property taxes, as well as interest and penalties, since 2001, according to Albany County.

The county has initiated tax foreclosure proceedings, but has refused to take formal ownership for fear of being stuck with the cleanup bill.

"The ultimate goal is to remediate this site for residential use, consistent with current zoning," according to a DEC statement. "After completion of the interim remedial measure, endpoint samples will be collected and groundwater will be monitored to determine if additional remedial measures are required to render the site suitable for residential use."Watervliet

After being told by the U.S. Army in December that its contract would not be renewed, the Arsenal Business & Technology Partnership is now officially winding down its operations at the Watervliet Arsenal.

Peter Gannon, the longtime president of the Arsenal Partnership, says that by next month, the Army is taking over property management services that the partnership had provided to private sector companies at the Watervliet Arsenal dating back to the nonprofit's founding 20 years ago.

"The government has decided that they no longer require the site management services the Arsenal Partnership provided and are moving them back internally," Gannon said Monday. "We have pledged, and I am leading a smooth transition for the tenants to this new system starting when our contract expires (June 19)."

Gannon has already taken a new job as CEO of the United Way for the Greater Capital Region, although he is still helping the Arsenal Partnership with the transition.

Joseph Turcotte, the arsenal's deputy commander, confirmed Monday that the Army will take over the private sector space at the arsenal that had been overseen by the partnership.

He said that Gannon notified the Army last month that the partnership would step aside in favor of the Army taking over property management as the Army had originally requested as it seeks to expand and have more control over space at the facility. Turcotte said that current Arsenal Partnership tenants will be allowed to remain.

"We thank the Arsenal Business & Technology Partnership for its many years of service to the Army by helping the arsenal maximize the value of its underutilized space," Turcotte said in a statement. "But the challenges facing our military today are different than when the partnership was brought on board nearly 16 years ago. Due to readiness challenges unforeseen just 18 months ago, the Army now requires a new, dramatic direction for the arsenal, which must double its manufacturing capacity in the next four years to meet rising soldier readiness requirements."

The partnership was created in the late 1990s as a way to keep the Watervliet Arsenal, the Army's only cannon manufacturing facility, relevant in the 1990s during a period of massive downsizing. The arsenal survived the 2005 BRAC  Base Realignment And Closure  initiative in part due to the economic development role the Arsenal Partnership had played bringing in private sector tenants.

Former Democratic Congressman Mike McNulty of Green Island played a leading role in the nonprofit's formation.

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Over the years, the partnership has attracted 15 tenants with 150 employees and grew its annual budget to $2.8 million. The nonprofit had six employees including Gannon.

However, the Arsenal Partnership's role in the local tech economy and at the arsenal itself has been in flux. The Army has announced a series of new weapons contracts and a $40 million expansion at the arsenal that will add 200 workers and require additional space.

The Army originally told the partnership back in November that it would no longer required its services. But after pressure from New York's congressional delegation, the Army decided to give the partnership a six-month extension so the issue could be studied more closely.

Gannon said that the partnership's Veterans Business Outreach Center that was started under his watch will survive after having its contract with the U.S. Small Business Administration extended another five years.

"Some of the existing partnership staff will transition into supporting that effort full time and it looks like we have an agreement to keep that based at the arsenal," Gannon said.

Gannon says he will remain involved as a volunteer with the outreach center, which helps veterans start and grow their own businesses.

"I'm proud of what we accomplished," Gannon said. "I'm excited for my next chapter, and I'm thrilled we can continue the work we started four years ago supporting our veterans."Albany

Doug Grose attended his first board meetings of the two entities that oversee the research and economic development operations at SUNY Polytechnic Institute on Monday.

And Robert Megna couldn't have been more pleased.

"There is no one happier in the state of New York than me that Doug has agreed to join us," Megna said as a way of introduction to the board of Fuller Road Management Corp., one of two nonprofits that lease space at SUNY Poly and oversee the school's business partnerships. "There is no one more qualified than Doug."

For the past year and a half, Megna, the former state budget director who now works for SUNY, has been overseeing Fuller Road Management and another entity called Fort Schuyler Management Corp. in the post-Alain Kaloyeros era.

But in recent weeks, Grose, the former CEO of GlobalFoundries, was hired by the Research Foundation for SUNY to oversee the two entities and eventually a newly created entity called NY CREATES that will merge their functions.

Grose is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who grew up in the Mohawk Valley and worked for most of his career with IBM in the Hudson Valley.

Grose also spent time from 2003 to 2004 as chief administrative officer of Albany Nanotech, the predecessor to SUNY Poly back when it was part of the University at Albany.

Megna took over SUNY Poly's economic development programs as part of Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm, assuming control of them in the wake of the departure of SUNY Poly founder Alain Kaloyeros, who is facing a federal bid-rigging trial next month in Manhattan. Kaloyeros has pleaded not guilty.

Grose will oversee only the economic development and corporate research side of SUNY Poly, which has a campus in Albany and one in Utica.

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The academic side of the school, which Kaloyeros also created, is likely to face changes at some point, although SUNY officials have not unveiled those plans yet. Binghamton University's Bahgat Sammakia, himself a former IBMer, has been leading SUNY Poly since late 2016 as interim president but is not taking the job permanently and will eventually return to Binghamton.

SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson is scheduled to visit SUNY Poly on Tuesday afternoon to meet with faculty and staff and talk about the future of the academic side of the school, although it is unclear what she plans to say about those plans.

SUNY Poly offers degrees in nanoscale science and engineering in Albany and a wide variety of science, medical and technical degrees in Utica, which operates much more like a traditional college compared to Albany, which has no dorms or typical college lifestyle programs.

Megna stressed at Monday's meeting in Albany that Grose was hired to manage economic development and work with SUNY Poly's corporate research and development programs in Albany and across the state.

"The academic piece is still under discussion," Megna said. "And I'm sure the chancellor will have some announcements to make in the near future. We expect that Doug and whoever comes as interim president to SUNY Poly will work as partners together to keep this moving forward."Troy

The federal government is providing $14.2 million toward the $19.6 million cost to repair and rebuild Troy's crumbling Hudson River seawall, officials said during a press conference Monday morning in Troy's Riverfront Park.

Several storms have damaged the seawall and put a major sewer line at risk of puncture, something that Schumer said could have been a "major environmental disaster" in Troy and economic disaster for surrounding communities.

Total construction cost is $19.6 million, said John Salka, a spokesman for Troy Mayor Patrick Madden. The work will take just under two years to complete and be performed by Troy-based C.D. Perry. Overall cost, including design and contingency costs, is $24 million, Salka said.

The new wall will fix erosion below the waterline that was threatening to compromise the existing wall. The work also includes filling in gaps in the wall's uniform height where mooring bollards were north of the Green Island Bridge.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said the last time the seawall was repaired was in 1978. That likely would have been during the reconstruction of the Green Island Bridge, which collapsed on March 15, 1977.

At least two major floods since then have filled Troy's riverfront park and nearby parking lots, as well as the basements of nearby buildings.

"Where we are standing right now was underwater during (Tropical Storm) Irene," Schumer said. "The damage to (the seawall) made the entire waterfront vulnerable to future storms and future flooding."

The project, Schumer said, would "help protect residents and business owners from flooding. Second, it builds on the great revitalization efforts of Troy."

Garry Brown, who bought a building on the river that became Brown's Brewing Co., said the proximity to the river "sealed the deal" to launch his business there. The brewpub's deck overlooking the Hudson is a popular gathering spot on summer days.

Rensselaer County Executive Steven F. McLaughlin took the opportunity to push for a bike trail that would connect Troy and the city of Rensselaer, something that Schumer, an avid bicyclist, said he'd support.

Schumer has previously pushed for Amtrak trains to accommodate bicyclists.

The city also is a popular stopping point for recreational boaters and smaller cruise ships headed to Lake Champlain or the Erie Canal.

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"It's important that we think about the waterfront," said Katie Hammon, executive director of the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District.

During the press conference, Schumer also criticized President Donald Trump for seeking to help keep ZTE, a major Chinese manufacturer of smartphones and other electronics, in business after the U.S. Commerce Department blocked U.S. suppliers from providing it with sensitive technology that it then resold to Iran and North Korea.

Schumer cited General Electric's power equipment division in Schenectady, which he said was forced into sharing its intellectual property with China when it was selling turbines and generators there.

"They learn how Schenectady does it, then they start doing it there," and block GE from the market, he said.

But Schumer said he supported Trump in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's new capital. The move has resulted in protests by Palestinians and nearly four dozen deaths, all Palestinian.

"Every country should be allowed to open" its capital where it wants, he said.Delaware Community School second-grader CJ Motta spent a good part of his school day May 4 explaining to classmates and others in the Albany school's community how he's been coping with cystic fibrosis. In turn, the school turned out in purple to show him support. CJ and his mom, Tracy Van Hattum, were both encouraged by the response. His mom says he's just so excited to be able to explain what he has to do. "I'm so proud of him," she said. CJ will participate in a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation walk on Saturday at the Crossings in Colonie.BALLSTON  When Ballston Lake residents approved a sewer district in October 2015, many claim they didn't know what they were getting into.

They say they didn't know they would be forced to hook into the line. They say they didn't realize the cost: $907 a year plus $10,000 for installation. They also say they didn't even realize there was a vote.

"I got no notification of any vote," said Nancy Yakaush who lives above the lake on Lake Hill Road. "We are up on a hill. I don't even know why our house is included in the lake district. It's beyond me. I feel there was no full disclosure about what it was going to cost. This was badly handled by the town."

Yet they all now appear aware of their $10.2 million sewer commitment after the neighboring Burnt Hills sewer was defeated by a four to one vote (419-108) last month. About 100 of those lake residents showed up to last week's the Ballston Town Board public hearing. Many chanted for a revote on the 2015 referendum that was approved 280-135. Others called to end mandatory hook-ups to the line for the 700 parcels that the sewer will pass by.

Town Board member Bill Goslin said he is unsure if the town could go out to vote again on the project. But he says he and the board are listening to the people and will reconsider everything from the mandatory hook-ups to $1,000 a day penalties with possible jail time for those who don't connect to the sewer line.

"We will make adjustments," Goslin said. "We are looking at everything, to see what is appropriate. We will take it under further review. I'm here to represent the people and that is what I will do."

Yakaush speaks for many in the district who say the cost is too high and the town officials must do more.

"No one on the lake disputes that we need a sewer," Yakaush said. "We are concerned with the health of the lake. But we can't afford this. Do your work, Town Board. This is not what we want."

Joe Rosamino, who lives on Lake Road, said the financial hardship will force him to sell his home.

"We can't afford this place," Rosamino said. "This is where we planned to retire. I love this place. We have 10 acres that we keep up and maintain. I am grieved, so grieved."

Goslin is trying to reassure residents, saying that the $907 yearly fee will be reduced because the lake sewer project received a $2.5 million state grant, thus lowering the costs by 25 percent. However, the hook-up fee, which was estimated between $2,000 to $10,000 per household has grown since 2015 to $10,000 to $12,000 per household.

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Rosamino said residents have been complacent while the Town Board takes up an agenda that benefits developers and not people. Even if he gets away from the sewer charges and sells, he says the value of his home will decrease when the buyer finds out they will have to pay for a sewer line.

"It's no win for me," Rosamino said. "It's a sad situation. We were presented a bill of goods. I will go down swinging."

Town Board member Chuck Curtiss understands why residents are upset. He said the anger and frustration by residents can be alleviated if the town would simply put out all the facts and figures of the project.

"Right now, everything is backwards," Curtiss said. "First you put out the facts. But there was a vote and now people are just getting some of the facts. The public has every right to criticize us. It's a lot of money that is going to be borne by the residents. They have every right to question the board."

In Burnt Hills, meanwhile, where the sewer was defeated, the sting of the vote lingers. On Monday, residents on Kingsley Road who spearheaded the sewer opposition received an anonymous letter from someone who identifies themselves as serving on one of the town boards for years. The letter writer scolded residents for perpetuating "a hostile environment" and asking them "to get a hold of themselves and settle down. Your victory has gone to your head."ALBANY  A top state judge's opinion on the "personhood" of apes has evolved.

Associate Judge Eugene Fahey agreed to deny the Nonhuman Rights Project from arguing its case before the Court of Appeals last week, but said he "struggled" with the issue  and opined that lower courts were wrong to reject the group on the merits.

In a strongly worded opinion, the 66-year-old Buffalo native and three-year member of the state's top court made it clear he sees legal efforts on behalf of non-humans as far from quixotic.

"Does an intelligent nonhuman animal who thinks and plans and appreciates life as human beings do have the right to the protection of the law against arbitrary cruelties and enforced detentions visited on him or her?" Fahey wrote. "This is not merely a definitional question, but a deep dilemma of ethics and policy that demands our attention."

His comments came after chimpanzee rights advocates on May 8 asked the Court of Appeals to hear the cases of Tommy, a chimpanzee who was kept in a warehouse in Montgomery County, and Kiko, a chimpanzee who was being held in Niagara County.

Steven Wise, an attorney and founder of the Nonhuman Rights Project, contends Tommy and Kiko and other chimpanzees were held captive in situations no ape would choose to live in. He has called for the court system to grant their freedom so they can be taken to "Save the Chimps," a 150-acre chimpanzee sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Fla. where 250 chimpanzees live.

Wise argues the term "person" has legally been applied to corporations, books and a river  and does not carry the same meaning as "human being."

In 2013, Wise asked two upstate judges to issue a writ of habeas corpus  a legal demand for a prisoner to be produced so a court can determine if imprisonment is lawful  on behalf of Tommy and Kiko,

Wise was denied every time, but he has not given up. In 2016, Wise told the Times Union: "Every aspect of law  every legal standard we have  at one point had never been done before. It's going to take a struggle and we understand that and we're in for a long, long struggle."

He said at the time that judges did not know what to make of his argument. He said three different Appellate Divisions gave three different reasons to reject him. "Their instinct is, 'Wait a minute. This is really new and strange. We don't want them to win on this. Not yet.'"

In 2016, Wise also told the Times Union he reached out to advocates of same-sex marriage to see what he could take from their efforts. Same-sex couples were denied the right to marry for decades until Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law in 2011 in New York.

In 2006, when the Court of Appeals rejected the same-sex marriage effort in a 4-2 decision, Chief Judge Judith Kaye wrote a dissenting opinion saying: "Simply put, fundamental rights are fundamental rights. They are not defined in terms of who is entitled to exercise them. "

Fahey, who has previously denied Wise to make the case at the Court of Appeals, is not supporting the Nonhuman Rights Project. But his opinion was as close as any judge has come to entertaining the arguments.

Fahey stressed in his decision on May 8 that this rejection was not on the merits.

"In the interval since we first denied leave to the Nonhuman Rights Project, I have struggled with whether this was the right decision," Fahey wrote. "Although I concur in the court's decision to deny leave to appeal now, I continue to question whether the court was right to deny leave in the first instance. The issue whether a nonhuman animal has a fundamental right to liberty protected by the writ of habeas corpus is profound and far-reaching. It speaks to our relationship with all the life around us. Ultimately, we will not be able to ignore it. While it may be arguable that a chimpanzee is not a 'person,' there is no doubt that it is not merely a thing."

Chimpanzees and humans share at least 96 percent of the same DNA, he wrote.

"They are autonomous, intelligent creatures. To solve this dilemma, we have to recognize its complexity and confront it," he said. The judge wrote, at one point, "In elevating our species, we should not lower the status of other highly intelligent species."

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Fahey said if he had to vote on the issue, he would likely vote against Wise's efforts for now, adding: "The question will have to be addressed eventually. Can a non-human animal be entitled to release from confinement through the writ of habeas corpus? Should such a being be treated as a person or as property, in essence a thing?"

He said while the Manhattan-based Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, First Department, reasoned that nonhuman animals cannot bear duties, "the same is true of human infants or comatose human adults, yet no one would suppose that it is improper to seek a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of one's infant child."

Fahey said a motion submitted by the Nonhuman Rights Group included the "unrebutted evidence" of affidavits from top primatologists that chimps have highly advanced cognitive abilities such as the capability to remember the past, plan for the future and use sign language.

"Chimpanzees make tools to catch insects; they recognize themselves in mirrors, photographs, and television images; they imitate others; they exhibit compassion and depression when a community member dies; they even display a sense of humor," he wrote.

Fahey said the issue should not be whether chimpanzees fit the definition of a human but whether the animals have a right to liberty protected by habeas corpus.

"That question, one of precise moral and legal status, is the one that matters here," the judge stated.

In a statement, Lauren Choplin, the communications director for the Nonhuman Rights Project, praised the judge for his words. His opinion is "already being seen as an historic mark of progress in the fight to secure fundamental legal rights for nonhuman animals," she wrote.

"We commend Judge Fahey for his willingness to see our nonhuman clients for who they are, not what they are, and his acknowledgement of the importance and urgency of what we and so many other advocates around the world are fighting for," Choplin stated.

"This opinion should give hope to anyone who knows the time has come for fundamental change in how our legal systems view and treat nonhuman animals ... at the same time, we lament that the Court of Appeal's denial of our motion for leave to appeal means that Tommy and Kiko will have to wait even longer to regain the liberty that was taken from them decades ago. "Gov. Andrew Cuomo will meet with candidates to become New York's next attorney general this week and may endorse one in the coming days, he said on Sunday.

"I may take a position, I may not, before the convention," Cuomo told NY1 in an interview.

The state Democratic Party convention, where delegates will weigh nominees for the 2018 statewide elections, including for attorney general, begins May 23.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned last week, just hours after a report in the New Yorker detailing alleged physical and verbal abuse of multiple women.

A Cuomo spokesman declined to further detail to the Times Union which candidates Cuomo intended to meet.

As the de facto leader of the state Democratic Party, Cuomo weighing in could alter the dynamics of the nascent race for attorney general. It could also raise concerns that Cuomo's pick would lack independence from the governor, a charge that was made by his Republican opponent for the position in the aftermath of Cuomo's comments.

In the television interview, Cuomo declined to directly address a question about the prospect of former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara running for attorney general. Bharara launched at least two investigations into Cuomo's office, including one that resulted in the conviction of former top Cuomo aide Joe Percoco earlier this year. Bharara last week did not rule out running for attorney general because he thought the job was important, especially in light of actions by the Trump administration, but was reluctant to step foot into electoral politics.

Cuomo on Sunday did say there was an "abundance of talent" interested in the attorney general position, and mentioned Leecia Eve, a former Cuomo administration economic development official, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, Long Island Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, Queens state Sen. Mike Gianaris and Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who Cuomo called a "phenomenal public servant" and who Cuomo himself beat in a 2006 primary for attorney general.

The candidates will compete at the Democratic convention on Long Island to get party support in less than two weeks, and those that gain 25 percent will get automatic spots on the ballot.

"I've had brief conversations with a number of people," Cuomo said. "I'm going to sit down and meet with them because I want to have a substantive conversation on issues, policies, et cetera."

Cuomo noted that he has relationships with former or current employees of his administration interested in the job including Eve, former counsel Mylan Denerstein, and his current counsel, Alphonso David, who spent the weekend mulling whether to run.

"They support me politically, the names I've mentioned," Cuomo said. "So I do have relationships and I do have supportive relationships, but I want to have a substantive conversation and then I may take a position and support somebody before the convention or I may not, depending on how it goes."

None of the people mentioned by Cuomo on Sunday responded to questions from the Times Union about whether they plan to meet with him.

Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive who is the presumptive Republican nominee for governor this year, released a statement slamming Cuomo over his plans to interview certain attorney general candidates.

Molinaro said the plan to interview candidates was a "gross violation of the separation of powers."

"Sadly, Governor Cuomo has browbeaten or is owed fealty by every watchdog of state government," Molinaro said. "The former solicitor general and current interim attorney general is a Cuomo appointee, the inspector general is a Cuomo appointee, the head of (the Joint Commission on Public Ethics) is a Cuomo appointee and every other constitutional branch of government outside of the U.S. attorney has shrunk from their responsibility under the weight of Cuomo coercion. Is it any wonder he presides over the most corrupt government in America?"

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Molinaro said any prospective candidate should tell Cuomo "where to stick his interview because the Attorney General of New York doesn't work" for Cuomo, and added that anyone who accepts an interview should be disqualified from the office.

While the New York attorney general's office does sometimes investigate public corruption, it often focuses on acting as the attorney for state government agencies in civil matters.

This week, a joint panel of the state Legislature, which has the power to appoint an interim person to the post, will also publicly interview candidates. While 16 people submitted applications for the position, many of those most likely to win election  including Bharara, Gianaris and Rice  bypassed the process.

Maloney and Eve were among the 16 people that submitted legislative applications.

Although the state Assembly Democrats have nearly enough votes to appoint an interim attorney general on their own, it's appearing increasingly likely that interim Attorney General Barbara Underwood could retain the post through the end of 2018, while a September Democratic primary plays out.

"And I think if it turns out that way, that would be just fine," Cuomo said. "And that would be continuity. She's a total pro."

While there had been some speculation that Lieutenant Gov. Kathy Hochul could be a candidate for attorney general, Cuomo endorsed her as his 2018 running mate on Sunday, calling Hochul a "vital part" of the administration.

In the upcoming interviews, Cuomo encouraged prospective attorney generals to focus on plans for the office, rather than political considerations.

"How do you see the office?" Cuomo said. "What would you pursue as attorney general? What would you continue? What would you not continue? What cases would you have brought that Schneiderman didn't bring? What cases would you continue that Schneiderman brought?"MONTREAL  The mystery has haunted Canadians for more than a decade: One by one, human feet clad in running shoes have floated ashore on British Columbias southern coast with gruesome regularity.

Last weekend, foot No. 14 was discovered by a man strolling on a beach on Gabriola Island, a sleepy and picturesque enclave, population 4,000, that is known for its captivating sandstone and close-knit artistic community.

This time, the foot, squeezed between a pile of logs, wore what appeared to be a hiking boot, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The 13 feet found previously along the coast since 2007 were in running shoes  Adidas, Reebok and other brands. Each time, the questions arose: Why are the feet ending up in Canada? Where did they come from? And where are the other parts?

The discoveries have fanned speculation, rational or not, that the unattached feet could be the work of a tsunami, a human trafficker, a Mafia hit man, a deranged foot fetishist or a serial killer who had spread body parts out to sea. Others have theorized that the floating appendages could belong to people falling off a ship or killed in a plane crash.

British Columbia, Canadas westernmost province, known for its imposing mountains, exhilarating ski runs and delectable seafood, has grown used to also being known as the destination for what some newspapers have called the floating feet.

More for you Mysterious 'rogue waves' sinking ships at sea

But coroners have taken pains to dampen conspiracy theories and tame overactive imaginations. Barb McLintock, a former coroner at British Columbias Coroners Service, once called it the myth of the famous feet.

In 2016, after a hiker found a foot in a sock and running shoe at Botanical Beach, on Vancouver Island, McLintock told the Canadian media that the feet were the work of neither strange serial killers amputating victims nor funny little aliens scattering the feet along the coastline.

Andy Watson, a spokesman for the Coroners Service, said this past week that foul play had been ruled out in all the previous cases. Coroners have attributed the disembodied feet to suicide or accident  someone slipping and falling into the sea, for example, or a swimmer being swept into the ocean by a huge wave.

Nine of the feet have been identified, two of them from the same person, according to the Coroners Service. Most of the feet were mens. In at least three cases, the shoes were size 12. Not all the remains belonged to Canadians.

In the latest case, Watson said, investigators would use DNA to try to identify its owner.

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Despite the official conclusions, the washed-up feet still grip imaginations because of the murkiness of the discoveries and the likelihood that many of the deaths were not witnessed.

The phenomenon has spurred several hoaxes in which pranksters have stuffed animals feet into shoes to fool officials. One person used chicken bones.

Watson noted that the disarticulated feet had most likely separated naturally in the sea, where the footwear had helped preserve them. Because shoes are buoyant and currents are strong, he said, the remains could have washed in from as far north as Alaska.

In 2012, a foot found in a lake in Port Moody, northeast of Vancouver, was linked to a man whose boat had overturned while he was fishing in the area 25 years earlier.

In December, a Rottweiler discovered a lower left leg and foot with a white ankle sock in a black running shoe on Vancouvers coast. A few months later, using DNA technology, investigators matched the remains to a 79-year-old Washington state man. Still, even then, questions remained. The mans family told the police he had vanished months before after leaving home without his medication.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Henry Johnson was one of the United States first heroes of World War I and he was among the last to be recognized by his country.

In Albany, Johnsons story is legendary, retold over and over in recent decades as his son and veterans groups and then politicians fought to win for him the recognition he deserved for fighting off nearly two dozen German soldiers and saving a fellow soldier May 15, 1918 in France.

Tara Johnson said she hopes someday her grandfathers story is made into a movie that shows the different layers of the man beyond that one morning in France. He was a man who served his country, spoke out against racism, suffered the aftermath of war but kept his sense of humor, she said.

I think this is a story that needs to be told, she said.

Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of Johnsons battle in Frances Argonne Forest.

To mark the milestone, long-time Albany coin dealer Ferris Coin commissioned 500 commemorative coin-shaped medallions for the battle that nearly 100 years later earned Johnson the Medal of Honor, the American militarys highest decoration.

It took 97 years for Johnsons valor to be fully recognized because of a combination of poor record keeping and Jim Crow-era racism, only to eventually be pushed into the light after a drawn-out effort by Albany-area veterans and family members.

The medallion, expected to be unveiled next month, will be nearly pure silver, said Mike Dozois, one of three partners at Ferris Coin.

Ferris decided to create the medallion to honor Johnson and the city where Ferris Coin stood for more than 85 years, Dozois said. The business moved last year from Central Avenue to Wolf Road.

Were pretty excited, he said. The artist worked really hard on this and were proud to be a part of it.

They held a contest that drew more than 50 submissions from around the country. The winner was Chris Costello, a Massachusetts-based artist.

The first 10 coins will be awarded to winners of Albanys Henry Johnson Award for Distinguished Community Service.

Number 369 will go to the 369th Veterans Association. The remainder will be available for sale and a portion of the proceeds will go toward supporting the 369th veterans, Dozois said.

Tara Johnson said she was happy to hear that a local business was working to keep her grandfathers story alive.

My concern was to make sure the 369th and my grandfathers image were protected, she said. I think a contest was an exciting thing to do.

Henry Johnson moved to Albany as a child and worked various jobs, including as a railroad porter. He enlisted on June 5, 1917.

On May 15, 1918, Johnson was standing sentry in the Argonne alongside Private Needham Roberts.

The inexperienced pair had drawn the midnight to 4 a.m. shift, charged with watching the edge of the French lines. The two were members of the 369th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit that had been integrated into the French Army because white American troops would not fight alongside them.

An hour into their watch, a German sniper began firing at them. Johnson later told an interviewer that he laid out a box of grenades nearby, preparing for further trouble.

During the attack, Roberts was seriously wounded by a German grenade. He was unable to do more than hand Johnson additional grenades as the Germans advanced.

Using grenades, a rifle and finally a large machete-like knife, Johnson fought off close to two dozen German soldiers and saved Roberts from being captured. The final bloody tally is uncertain but the accepted narrative is that Johnson, who stood only 5-foot-4, killed at least four Germans and wounded as many as 20 more. For his part, Johnson suffered 21 wounds in the hour-long fight, most of them from knives and bayonets.

The skirmish made Johnson one of the wars first American heroes and earned him the nickname Black Death.

In an interview months later, he seemed largely unfazed by what he had done, summing up the tale matter-of-factly.

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Thats about all. There wasnt so much to it, he said.

In recognition of his bravery, France awarded him the Croix de Guerre with the gold palm, the countrys highest military honor. Johnson became the first American to receive the award. Back home, his story was used as a recruiting tool to draw more black Americans to enlist.

When the 369th, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, was sent home at the end of the war, they were greeted as heroes with a parade in New York City. They had spent 191 days at the front, the most of any American unit in the war.

But the goodwill toward Johnson was short-lived in the Jim Crow era. He kicked off a promotional speaking tour in St. Louis after detailing the discrimination that black troops faced during the war, including being treated as servants, rather than soldiers. He struggled to hold a job because of his physical limitations from war wounds. His wife left him and he fell into alcoholism. He died July 1, 1929 at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, D.C., from myocarditis, a type of heart disease.

For 97 years, Johnsons story was incompletely recognized, despite being on par with other famous American war heroes exploits like those of Sgt. Alvin York and Major Charles Whittlesey. The story itself was full of errors, as researcher Megan Smolenyak discovered while doing research for the U.S. Army to support Johnsons nomination for the Medal of Honor.

It was assumed that Johnson had not received a pension or the health care afforded to other veterans. Neither of those were true, according to Smolenyaks research. His birth place, birth date, where he enlisted and where he died have all been cited differently, depending on the source of the information.

Even his gravesite was lost for a time. His family originally believed he was buried in a paupers grave in Albany. Decades later his gravesite was discovered at Arlington National Cemetery under his birth name, William Henry Johnson.

But Johnsons legacy lived on. And a relentless push by Albany veterans and his son, Herman Johnson, forced the country to recognize Johnson properly.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded him a Purple Heart. In 2002, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. But the nations highest recognition, the Medal of Honor, eluded his family.

Finally, a staffer for Sen. Charles Schumer discovered a letter from Gen. John J. Pershing, praising Johnsons actions. That recognition of Johnsons valor from the leader of American troops in World War I fulfilled the final requirement and in 2015, President Barack Obama added Johnson to the list of Medal of Honor winners.

In a final twist to the cloudy story of Johnson, Smolenyak discovered that Herman Johnson had a different mans name listed as his father on his birth certificate. The honor can only be presented to the honorees or their direct descendants. That meant that the Medal of Honor was presented to Command Sergeant Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard, rather than Herman Johnsons daughter, Tara Johnson.

His great-grandson, Demarqus Townsend, of Toledo, Ohio, served eight years as a Marine and was deployed to Iraq. In an interview with PBS before Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor, Townsend reflected on Johnson and the possibility of finally receiving the award.

He wasnt a glory seeker. He had one mission, and that was to bring Needham Roberts, his buddy, his fellow soldier, back. Thats why its so important that he gets his due, Townsend said.Jerusalem

Israel on Sunday kicked off festivities to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, even as it bolstered its forces along the Gaza border and in the West Bank in anticipation of mass Palestinian protests of the move.

A day before the embassy's formal opening, Israel hosted a gala party at its Foreign Ministry with President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and other American VIPs.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's "bold decision" in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "It's the right thing to do," a smiling Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd.

Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem in December, triggering a joyous reaction from Netanyahu's nationalist government. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

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The rival Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, has been staging a series of weekly demonstrations against a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory. Those protests are to climax Monday, with tens of thousands of people expected to gather along the Israeli border in an event timed to coincide with the U.S. Embassy move.

Hamas has signaled that large crowds, numbering perhaps in the thousands, might try to break through the border fence to realize the "right of return" to lost homes. Both the embassy move and the protests have symbolic timing. Trump has said the opening is meant to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment. The Palestinian protests also mark the date as the anniversary of their "naqba," or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding the event. About two-thirds of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of Palestinian refugees.

A mass border breach could trigger potentially lethal Israeli force. Forty-two Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,800 have been wounded by Israeli fire since the weekly protests began on March 30.CHATHAM - A Sunday morning fire at senior housing complex sent one of its residents to Westchester Medical Center, Chatham Fire Department officials said.

The blaze at Chatham Manor Apartments, at 18 School Street, started at 8:26 a.m., the official said. An elderly man who was wheelchair-bound was trapped in his first floor apartment, which sustained heavy damage. He was treated for significant burns and sent by helicopter to Westchester. He is listed in critical condition.Clinton

In the days after her son Graham hanged himself in his dormitory room at Hamilton College, Gina Burton went about settling his affairs in a blur of efficiency, her grief tinged with a nagging sense that something did not add up.

She fielded requests and sympathy notes from the college, promising the dean of students a copy of his obituary "so you can see how special Hamilton was to him." This was why his suicide "makes no sense," she added in a puzzled aside. The next day, Burton accepted condolences from the college president, and assured him "how right a choice Hamilton was" for her son.

But two weeks later, she read her son's journal and everything changed. Graham Burton, a sophomore, wrote that he was flunking three of his four classes and called himself a "failure with no life prospects." He had struggled to sleep, missed classes, turned in assignments late. The college had known of his difficulty, he wrote, but had been slow to offer help and understanding.

"Would you care to shed some light on this?" Gina Burton asked in an angry email sent at 2:53 a.m. to the academic dean, with copies to the president and the dean of students. "If this is what drove Graham, I don't think I'll be able to cope."

Her discovery set off a wave of pain and soul-searching but also a campaign to strip away some of the veils of confidentiality that colleges say protect the privacy and autonomy of students who are learning to be adults.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death, after accidents, for college-age adults in the United States. The number of college students seeking treatment for anxiety and depression has risen sharply over the past few years, and schools have in turn stepped up their efforts in mental health research and intervention. Even so, families have continued to put pressure on them to take greater responsibility for students' well-being.

Massachusetts' highest court ruled last Monday that MIT could not be held responsible for the 2009 suicide of a graduate student. But the court ruled that a university might be liable under limited circumstances, such as when a student expressly tells college staff members of plans to commit suicide.

"I think everybody should be on notice that schools can't hide their head in the sand," a mental health lawyer, Carolyn Reinach Wolf, said. "They can't say: 'Students are on loan to us.'"

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Professors at Hamilton College, in Oneida County, had expressed concerns about Graham Burton for much of the fall term and knew he was in deep distress, according to a report on his death that was shown to The New York Times. More than a month before his death, his adviser, Maurice Isserman, wrote the academic dean the strongest of many warnings: "Obviously what's happening here is a complete crash and burn. I don't know what the procedures/rules are for contacting parents but if this was my kid, I'd want to know."

Isserman struck at the heart of what mattered to the Burtons: whether the college had a responsibility to tell them what it knew.

College officials say they are constrained by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, a federal law governing student privacy, in reaching out to parents. A Hamilton official cited it at a recent student assembly meeting, when students asked about the Burtons' contention that they had not been told of their son's troubles. The law views students as adults and bars parents from even the most basic student records, like a transcript, without their child's consent.

There are exceptions: Colleges can release any student record to parents if the student signs a consent, if the college knows that a parent claims the child as a dependent on tax forms, or in a health or safety emergency. Even so, federal law allows colleges to use their discretion.

They are allowed, but not required, to release the records or let a family member know if a student is suicidal.ALBANY  Protesters participating in the New York Poor People's Campaign rally on Monday blocked traffic in downtown Albany.

At one point, protesters stopped and blocked traffic at Washington Avenue and South Swan Street. Albany Police cautioned drivers to expect delays as they headed home from work Monday.ALBANY  The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan is investigating Crystal Run Healthcare, a Hudson Valley company that received an extraordinary $25.4 million in state grants following a series of campaign contributions to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The investigation has been revealed through federal grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony from multiple Crystal Run employees, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Crystal Run, its executives, their spouses or company doctors have given at least $400,000 to Cuomo's campaign, with most of that coming in a flurry of 10 donations of $25,000 apiece that were made at a Cuomo fundraiser in October 2013.

The Times Union reported in 2017 that seven of those $25,000 donors had not made a contribution in a New York election for at least a decade before giving the large and identical sums to Cuomo, according to state Board of Elections records. The story last year noted that the state Department of Health had awarded $25.4 million in March 2016 to build two Crystal Run health care facilities, despite both having already broken ground about six months earlier.

Asked about the federal subpoenas, a Crystal Run spokesman initially said the company "will not have any comment for now." After this story was posted online Monday afternoon, the company issued the following statement: "Over a year ago, we received a subpoena requesting documents and we have since complied. We have no reason to believe that we are the focus of a current federal investigation. We remain focused on providing our patients with the quality, affordable care they deserve."

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, which is heading the investigation, also declined comment.

Reached by phone, several Crystal Run officials who were among the company's cohort of $25,000 donors to Cuomo declined to comment on whether they had received subpoenas.

Crystal Run CEO Hal Teitelbaum, who has personally given $70,000 to Cuomo's camaign, said he had "no idea" about the grand jury subpoenas before hanging up the telephone. Teitelbaum's wife, Jennifer, was among the donors who gave $25,000 in 2013.

A Cuomo spokesman said the Executive Chamber has not received a subpoena. A state Health Department spokesman said their agency also has not received a subpoena related to its issuance of the grants to Crystal Run.

At least some of the grand jury activity is apparently focused on the campaign donations to Cuomo.

Among those subpoenaed are six former Crystal Run doctors who filed a lawsuit against Crystal Run in December accusing the company's top management of "self-dealing. The civil complaint referenced the donations to Cuomo.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs asserted they were not consulted by the company's management about the donations.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs confronted Crystal Run leadership about the 2013 campaign giving, and an unnamed senior Crystal Run executive was asked to explain "what appeared to be an unlawful payoff," according to the civil lawsuit.

The Crystal Run executive allegedly responded that there are certain things "that management needs to do and that the other physicians need not know about."

The partnership agreement of the six former Crystal Run doctors stated that they had to each make substantial, regular "capital contributions" to Crystal Run to fund the company's operations.

Steven Shore, an attorney for the physicians who filed the lawsuit, told the Times Union in December that he would seek information about whether the $25,000 donations made by individual Crystal Run executives were paid using "pooled" company funds.

The Crystal Run spokesman, Loren Riegelhaupt, declined comment earlier this month on whether the Cuomo donations were made in that manner.

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It is illegal under New York election law to give a campaign donation using a "straw donor" to conceal the true origin of a contribution. The use of so-called "straw donors" to funnel money to a candidate has resulted in occasional prosecutions, including cases in recent years that led to the convictions of Halfmoon developer Bruce Tanski and, on the federal level, conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza.

Another attorney for the six plaintiffs, Ira Matetsky, said earlier this month that the civil lawsuit had been settled with Crystal Run and the six physicians were bound by a confidentiality clause to not discuss the case.

The settlement also restricts the six plaintiffs from publicizing any findings about the campaign donations they might have uncovered during the civil lawsuit's discovery process.

The civil lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Westchester County, was primarily prompted by Crystal Run's "business combination" with Bronx-based Montefiore Medical Center  a relationship that the plaintiffs had argued would harm their financial interests and those of other Crystal Run physicians, who jointly own the company in a partnership.

Cuomo's office has repeatedly said that campaign donations don't impact policy decisions by the administration.

The Department of Health maintains all grants made from a $1.2 billion pot of money, including the $25.4 milion given to Crystal Run in 2016, were competitively bid and awarded in the exact order of their scoring. Whether a project was already under construction without a subsidy was not among the criteria.

The Department of Health also did not submit documents in 2016 to Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office that would have shown that a central contractor on the two Crystal Run projects, Joe Nicolla of Albany-based Columbia Development, was at the time facing a state bid-rigging charge. (The charge against Nicolla was dropped by prosecutors last week in exchange for his agreement to cooperate with related investigations.)

Crystal Run has had other favorable interactions with state government. For instance, the Department of Financial Services approved a rate hike of more than 80 percent for individual plans issued by a Crystal Run health insurance company for 2017.

Both state Republican chairman Ed Cox and Steve McLaughlin, a former state assemblyman who is now Rensselaer County Executive, called for probes into Crystal Run following the Times Union's reporting last year.Tipperary local, Gillian Kingston, received a special recognition award from Christian Aid Ireland this week for her charitable work over the last 15 years with the aid organisation.

Christian Aid Irelands Church and Community Officer, Jane Burns said: We are eternally grateful to Gillian for the incredible work and support she provides for us year on year.

Without people like Gillian, we would not be able to provide help to those in most need. Its important to recognise everyones efforts in eradicating poverty.

Wed like to say a big thank you to Gillian and everyone in Tipperary for their continued support.

Gillians biannual coffee morning in the Roscrea Methodist Church has helped to raise thousands every year.

Her tireless efforts have not gone unnoticed by the aid agency, and this week at her Christian Aid Week coffee morning, she received her award certificate.

This years Christian Aid Week will focus on the organisations work to support people who have been forced to flee their homes by either or both conflict and extreme weather in countries like Haiti, but are unable to leave their country.

There are 43 million people worldwide who have been forced to flee and they suffer many of the same types of abuses and unstable living conditions that refugees face.

As they have not crossed an international border, they are largely ignored by the international community and are denied the official protection afforded to refugees. They are among the most vulnerable to poverty and exploitation in the world.

Christian Aid Ireland believes that everybody counts, said Jane. Our Christian Aid Week appeal this year is highlighting the situation faced by people in Haiti who have survived earthquakes and hurricanes.

Christian Aid Week is supported by an incredible network of volunteers from local churches across the north and south, who fundraise in their own communities. The people of Tipperary have always been so supportive and generous in their donations, especially people like Gillian, who go above and beyond to help us in our efforts to make the world a better place. Wed like to say a big thanks to

Gillian and Roscrea Methodist Church for their tremendous support. To support Christian Aid Week visit christianaid.ie or call 01 4967040.Cashel Committee would like to thank those who supported Darkness Into Light 2018.

Over 1,800 walked in our sea of yellow in Cashel on 12th May for our fifth Darkness Into Light. Cashel was one of 150 Irish venues to host Darkness Into Light.

Over 200,000 people walked in Ireland to support the flagship fundraiser for Pieta House.

The ribbon was cut by Paralympic champion Peter Ryan who gave a moving and inspirational speech following an introduction and message of thanks by Chairperson Bernie Ryan.

This year's walk included a reflective kilometre walked in silence from the top of Friar street lit by candles while taking in the spectacular view of the Rock of Cashel it was particularly poignant and received very positive and moving feedback.

Our entertainers varied from traditional musicians and cast members from Kings and Queens do Broadway. Walkers returned to light refreshments and hot drinks in the marquee.

Thanks to Cashel Rugby Club for providing us with an amazing venue yet again.

A special thanks to The staff At The Rock Of Cashel and Tipperary County Council who worked tirelessly with us to create our committees vision of our beautiful historic local landmark bathed in yellow light to reflect the theme of the event.

Thanks also to all stewards , marshalls and the local gardai for their support while ensuring safety of all our walkers and volunteers

.Thanks to Shane O Dwyer for his photos which are on our Facebook page and Choice Broadband and drone photo and video expert Laisvunas Vaitiekaitis for our video which can be found at

http://www.vune.ie or our FB page. If anybody requires high-quality photo files by Shane from our event please messsage Cher Quinlan at the FB page.

A complete list of our valued sponsors will be posted to our Facebook page in the coming week.[May 13, 2018] UnaBiz Secures Strategic Investment from Shin Kong Security to Ride on AIoT Wave

SINGAPORE, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UnaBiz, the exclusive network operator of Sigfox's low-power wide area network in Singapore and Taiwan, secures fresh funds from Taiwan Shin Kong Security Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of the Shin Kong Group. UnaBiz launched Taiwan's first nationwide IoT (Internet of Things) network in October last year at a rock-bottom monthly subscription price of NT$2 (US$0.07). The launch sparked exciting new opportunities for Taiwan as Sigfox allows government agencies and businesses to connect millions of devices simply, affordably and globally. The network currently covers more than 95 percent of population in both Singapore and Taiwan. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, Shin Kong Security (TWSE: 9925) is a public listed company, and one of the largest security service providers in Taiwan. The Shin Kong Group engages in a full range of financial products and services through its subsidiaries including life insurance, banking, securities, asset management, property brokerage and venture capital. The group also has significant presence in manufacturing, consumer, medical and public services. "Shin Kong Security has been supporting clients wit cloud computing and serial signal connection 24/7 since the beginning of its service. With the emergence of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), SKS will leverage on the expertise of UnaBiz to integrate AI and IoT to enhance smart learning and predictability in connected devices. We will dedicate more resources in the area of smart homes, elderly monitoring, robotics, green energy, smart surveillance, image recognition, to provide competitive, intelligent and innovative service in the security industry." - Frank Hung, General Manager of Shin Kong Security.



"We are very excited to welcome Shin Kong Security as our new investor in Taiwan. The investment not only instil great confidence in UnaBiz, but it also encourages the entire security market to jump on the IoT bandwagon. With the network established, UnaBiz will focus on supporting early adopters of IoT by providing high quality, scalable and price-fit IoT solutions, including the offering of professional services." - Philippe Chiu, Managing Director & Co-founder of UnaBiz Taiwan. About UnaBiz

UnaBiz is an end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solutions company dedicated to accelerating the adoption of IoT worldwide. As the exclusive network operator of Sigfox's low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) in Singapore and Taiwan, UnaBiz is the leading company in Asia to roll out a nationwide IoT network. UnaBiz wants to shape the future by providing cost-effective and energy-efficient IoT solutions, that include wireless infrastructure, device and beyond. This ubiquitous network will allow businesses to connect millions of devices simply, affordably and globally. UnaBiz helps businesses collect and analyse data from millions of devices allowing businesses to maximise the efficiency of their resources, increase productivity, detect and controlling anomalies and accelerate resolution or even prevent them entirely. Our objective is to help businesses realise the true value and full potential of IoT that was previously too costly to deploy. For more information, see www.unabiz.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unabiz

Twitter: https://twitter.com/unabiziot?lang=en About Shin Kong Security Shin Kong Security (SKS) is founded in 1980 as a symbolic security service provider and an associated enterprise of Shin Kong Group in Taiwan. SKS primarily offers electronic security systems, including financial security systems, cash and valuables escort services, small business security systems, as well as residential security systems services. SKS has been developing in the direction towards Internet of Things and Smart Life, fostering a prominent integration with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) industry and addressing more solutions to Taiwan's population and social structure changes. With nearly 40 years' experience in security system, SKS wishes to evolve more intelligent and innovative service models, aiming at AIOT services providers. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180511/2131041-1 SOURCE UnaBiz

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 13, 2018] Malta welcomes ANX International, one of the world's largest blockchain companies and an industry leader in innovation and compliance

HONG KONG, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ANX International ("ANX"), one of the world's largest blockchain companies and an industry leader in innovation and compliance, is announcing today its involvement with Malta to support its rapidly expanding blockchain ecosystem. Leveraging its leading-edge technology solutions, thought leadership, and intellectual capital, ANX endeavours to actively participate in the full value chain of Malta's blockchain ecosystem. On February 2018, the Hon. Silvio Schembri, Minister for Digital Economy and Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister announced the creation of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Regulation. Since then, Malta has received investments pledged by the world's largest crypto exchanges, such as Binance and OKEx, that relocated to Malta, along with others to follow such as Berlin-based Neufund, adding more opportunities for the decentralization of Malta's ecosystem. Through this joint effort between the Prime Minister Hon. Joseph Muscat, Hon. Silvio Schembri, the Government of Malta and ANX, this European Union member state takes another step towards becoming the worldwide leader in creating a blockchain-friendly ecosystem and establishing a rich environment and a stable ground for blockchain companies. As a part of DLT Regulaton, Malta recently announced a number of bills regulating the emerging blockchain industry: MDIA (Malta Digital Innovation Authority) Bill, Technology Arrangements and Service Providers (TAS) Bill, Virtual Currencies (VC) Bill.



In his recent political speech the Hon. Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta, described the country's vision for blockchain technology saying, "Millions of people already attribute value to virtual currencies, which has created an entirely new market. The concept sounds confusing right now, but I have no doubt that it will form the base of a new economy in the future. Just as we attribute value to pieces of paper, so too will future generations attribute value to electronic storage systems." "Malta is on track to be a world leader in creating a holistic, well-regulated virtual currencies market and setting global standards for harnessing blockchain's technological revolution. Moreover, the principles, to which the future legislation are founded, are principles which ANX also hold close to heart and which justifies the reason for any FinTech company to embrace Malta as a stable anchor for global strategy. ANX is therefore very honored to participate in Malta's mission to be a global hub of innovation - a stamp of trust and certainty. We are impressed by the understanding and openness shown by Hon. Schembri and Malta's Government that serve as a great example to all policy makers and regulators," says management of ANX. ANX will expand its operations to Europe via its participation in Malta, and further promote public awareness as well as training and education on blockchain technology across the globe.

"Stable and integrated markets require the long-term vision of sustainable and inclusive growth. ANX shares Malta's view on how to create an ideal ecosystem for investments," says the Hon. Silvio Schembri. "We look forward to working with ANX, which, with its full breadth and depth of blockchain innovations and expertise, will enhance Malta's blockchain ecosystem. We are pleased to be accompanied by companies such as ANX in becoming the #BlockchainIsland." About ANX International ANX International is a FinTech company established in 2013 with the mission to bring people together to do great things. With core values set upon integrity, passion and innovation, the vision of the Group is to enable financial choice through blockchain technology. Since its establishment, ANX has quickly scaled into one of the leading blockchain solutions providers in the world, comprising a wide spectrum of service units to offer seamlessly-integrated business solutions, including technology development, advisory services, blockchain education, digital marketing, and recruitment services. SOURCE ANX International

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 13, 2018] Crossbridge Capital unveils expanded CONNECT digital and wealth management platform targeting accredited private client investors in Singapore

Introduces CONNECT Prime premium wealth management service

Enhances CONNECT by Crossbridge , Singapore's first and largest robo-adviser, with new Artificial Intelligence features

Brings greater choice, convenience and private banking level products and services to affluent investors SINGAPORE, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Crossbridge Capital ("Crossbridge"), the leading independent investment advisory firm with over $3 billion under advisement, today announced a significant expansion of its digital and wealth management offerings for affluent investors in Singapore. The expanded platform will include the new offering of premium wealth management service CONNECT Prime, significant enhancements to Singapore's first digital robo-adviser CONNECT by Crossbridge, and is complemented by Crossbridge Capital's existing wealth management and advisory services for high net worth and ultra high net worth investors. Crossbridge already has over US$200 million in assets under management on the CONNECT digital platform. The integrated suite of services will bring private banking level products to accredited, priority banking and private client segment customers -- supported by intuitive and easy to use digital interfaces. The fee structures are lower than those typically charged by priority banking services and private banks. "In the wealth management industry the best investment choices and most favourable fee structures tend to be the preserve of the wealthiest private banking clients. Our vision for the CONNECT platform leverages technology, along with our long experience servicing the high net worth segment to bring private banking level products and services to the much wider mass affluent market. We aim to redefine the wealth experience with CONNECT by enabling investors to access better choices, products, advice and service," said Charlie O'Flaherty, Partner and Head of Digital Strategy & Distribution at Crossbridge Capital. "Along with our digital offering, CONNECT by Crossbridge, the introduction of CONNECT Prime allows us to truly deliver on our promise of 'private banking for the rest of us.'" CONNECT Prime Crossbridge Capital today introduced CONNECT Prime, a premium wealth management service, fully digitally-enabled, with a minimum account size of SGD$500,000 -- significantly below the $3 million -- $5 million required by most private banks. CONNECT Prime also ffers a fully transparent fee structure - clients pay a service fee of 75 basis points, approximately half that of many private banks and premier retail bank offerings.



As an MAS-licensed wealth manager, Crossbridge Capital already offers clients an extensive range of private banking level products. With CONNECT Prime, clients will have access to a Crossbridge wealth manager who can assist with portfolio construction supported by an extensive range of investment choices. CONNECT Prime also provides high level of portfolio oversight, including portfolio reports and real-time portfolio access through an intuitive digital interface that puts the customer in control of their investments.

CONNECT by Crossbridge The introduction of CONNECT Prime enables Crossbridge Capital to make CONNECT by Crossbridge even more accessible to accredited investors by reducing the minimum investment required to open an account to US$1,500. Crossbridge also unveiled a number of customer experience enhancements to make investing on CONNECT by Crossbridge, Singapore's first and largest digital advisory platform, even easier and more intuitive. CONNECT by Crossbridge will be the first in South-East Asia to introduce an Artificial Intelligence based learning model. The People Like Me function uses machine learning aglorithms and advancements in big data to help recommend goals and investing timelines to clients. The Walk of Life function tracks life goals visually on a timeline giving investors an instant overview of the status and health of their financial plan. A new multi-currency investment option has also been added. Launched in November 2016 CONNECT by Crossbridge already offers actively-managed, goals-based portfolios tailored to clients' objectives and is available in English and Simplified Chinese versions. "CONNECT by Crossbridge and CONNECT Prime represent a new approach to wealth management for investors that is highly complementary to our existing wealth management business," added O'Flaherty. "We think that accredited investors can be better served and deserve to have access to premium products, transparent fee structures and convenient portfolio access." For further information about CONNECT by Crossbridge visit the website here.

For further information about CONNECT Prime visit the website here. About Crossbridge Capital Crossbridge Capital was launched in 2008 in London with a vision to create an independent, investment advisory firm that offers a fully integrated financial services platform to entrepreneurs and families in Emerging Markets worldwide. Today, backed by two of the world's leading banks as minority investors, Crossbridge Capital operates in many of the world's leading Emerging Markets supported by a team of 34 professionals in four Crossbridge Capital locations: London, Singapore, Monaco and Malta. After its successful launch in London with authorisation and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in November 2010 Crossbridge Capital officially opened its first Asia office in Singapore after receiving approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In May 2016 the company opened its doors in Monaco after receiving authorisation from the Commission for the Control of Financial Activities (CCAF). These signaled significant landmarks in the company's history and set the bar for its ambitious, yet considered geographic and client engagement growth strategy. More information can be found at www.crossbridgecapital.com. About CONNECT by Crossbridge CONNECT by Crossbridge is Singapore's first and largest robo-adviser, launched in November 2016. Developed in collaboration with top-tier industry providers, CONNECT by Crossbridge is an intuitive digital platform offering tailored investment strategies to accredited investors in Singapore. Having a U.S.-regulated entity as custodian means that U.S. expatriate investors are also eligible to invest on the platform. CONNECT by Crossbridge uses actively managed Certificates as the investment vehicle for investors' portfolios. Banque Julius Baer, one of Switzerland's leading private banks, provides and issues these Certificates. Each CONNECT Certificate is built around its unique investment strategy, formulated in partnership with Morningstar, and may hold individual securities, commodities, exchange traded funds, or other alternative assets -- all chose to provide optimal returns at every level of risk. SOURCE Crossbridge Capital

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Everteam Partners With Qlik to Become Authorised Middle East Reseller

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BI Based Products Aimed at Complimenting Already Comprehensive Product Portfolio Everteam announces an effective strategic partnership agreement with Qlik whereby Everteam Global services becomes an Authorized Qlik reseller in the Middle East. Qlik is a world leader in data visualization, self-service and BI applications. This is a unique partnership with exceptional opportunities. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/526349/Everteam_Logo.jpg )

It is very common within organizations in the ICT sector to have strategic partners that specialize in specific modern technologies facilitating certain services. Everteam saw a partnership opportunity with Qlik; a partnership that would combine Everteam's expertise and innovative solutions in the field of content services and information governance with Qlik's practical knowledge in BI data analytics. Everteam, an international content services platform provider with a very well established name and portfolio including top clienteles in MEA, Europe, US, and Asia wanted to further expand its product portfolio by partnering up with Qlik who is a worldleader in data visualization, self-service and BI applications.



"Everteam carefully picks the 'best out of the breed' as they say, to polish and refine its product offerings. Today we have add Qlik as a partner, completing all the important product components: Data Capture, Content Analytics and Data Visualization. A win-win partnership with niche players," stated Roni Oneissi, VP Expertise and Solutions, Everteam Everteam will be able to upsell leading BI and data visualization solutions to its existing clients and will enter the growing Business Intelligence space that has been witnessing strong demand in the Middle East.

Qlik will expand its coverage by maximizing its presence in the region and relying on a solid solution provider like Everteam who has a strong and historical presence in the region with high profile and prestigious customers using our solutions in a mission-critical environment. "This is an unpreceded opportunity for both parties because we have completed our solutions offering by addressing the end-to-end customers' needs from Capture, to management/archiving and visualization. This strengthens our solutions strategy by offering best-of-breed and modular architecture based on best-in-class solutions," added Roni. Business intelligence allows for an advanced data analytics process. It provides the option to visualize structured data and optimize analytics offerings. "We are always on the lookout to partner up with companies who can be of an added value to our services while gaining additional resellers. Everteam has a strong footprint in KSA and other Gulf countries. Our product highly complements Everteam's product offering. This partnership is one with a very powerful synergy. Two leaders in the ICT industry joining forces," Kerry Koutsikos, Area Vice President - Emerging Marekets, Qlik. About Qlik: Qlik delivers intuitive platform solutions for self-service data visualization, guided analytics applications, embedded analytics and reporting to approximately 45,000 customers worldwide. Companies of all sizes, across all industries and geographies, use Qlik solutions to visualize and explore information, generate insight and make better decisions. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn Website: http://www.everteam.com/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] BlueVoyant Names Robert Hannigan Executive Chairman of BlueVoyant Europe and Global Head of Strategy

LONDON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueVoyant, a global cybersecurity services firm, today announced Robert Hannigan's appointment as Executive Chairman of BlueVoyant Europe and Global Head of Strategy. Hannigan, who was previously Director of GCHQ, the UK's largest intelligence and security agency, has served as Chairman of BlueVoyant's European Advisory Board since the company's launch and has played an important role in BlueVoyant's early growth. "The work that BlueVoyant is doing is incredibly important," Hannigan said. "I'm delighted to be taking on a larger role at BlueVoyant and working closely with the team to help protect businesses from the growing threat of cyber attacks." As Director of GCHQ, a role he held until 2017, Hannigan led the creation of the country's National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) and oversaw the UK's pioneering Active Cyber Defence programme. During his 20 years of public service, Hannigan created the UK's first cybersecurity strategy. He was Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Security Adviser, oversaw the country's first national security strategy, and worked as principal adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Northern Ireland peace process. He was awardd the US Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2017 and honoured by Queen Elizabeth for services to UK national security in 2013.



"The cyber threat environment has become increasingly complex, demanding that companies today have sophisticated, ongoing defence capabilities," said Tom Glocer, Executive Chairman of BlueVoyant and former CEO of Thomson Reuters. "BlueVoyant was established to enable organizations to meet these demands, providing an unparalleled bench of cybersecurity experts and unique threat intelligence, detection and response solutions." "Robert brings an exceptional depth of talent to BlueVoyant, and we are thrilled to have him leading us in Europe," said BlueVoyant CEO Jim Rosenthal. "BlueVoyant will benefit from Robert's extraordinary experience on an active, day-to-day basis and, as Global Head of Strategy, Robert will guide our intelligence and security offerings for clients in Europe and around the world."

Hannigan's appointment further strengthens BlueVoyant's European leadership team. Gadi Goldstein will become President of BlueVoyant Europe, where he will apply his deep cyber and operational management expertise to connecting the firm's US and Israeli teams with its growing European business, in addition to serving as Chairman of BlueVoyant Israel. Goldstein previously served as Division Head in the Israeli Prime Minister's office until 2012, where his technology division contributed several important breakthroughs in the field of cyber intelligence. He continues to serve the Prime Minister's Office as an advisory board member for Israel's National Cyber Directorate. About BlueVoyant

BlueVoyant is a provider of Threat Intelligence, Managed Security and Cyber Forensics and Incident Response with offices in: New York; College Park, Maryland; San Francisco; London; Madrid; and Tel Aviv. More information on BlueVoyant can be found online at www.bluevoyant.com. Media Contact:

Emily Levin

Brunswick Group

bluevoyant@brunswickgroup.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] The Machine Conference 2018 Concludes by Connecting Industry Leaders, Recognising Best Minds From Analytics Sector

MUMBAI, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The first edition of The Machine Conference (MachineCon), India's most powerful gathering of analytics and data science leaders, was successfully hosted by Analytics India Magazine on 11 May 2018 at Hotel Hyatt Regency in Mumbai. The Machine Conference, which was presented by Cartesian Consulting, saw more than 200 industry leaders, who discussed the latest opportunities and challenges in the data-driven world. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690836/Analytics_India_Magazine_Logo.jpg )

The conference began with an insightful keynote session by Ramasubramanian Sundararajan, Head of AI Lab at Cartesian Consulting, which was followed by other engaging talks and panel discussions by industry thought leaders. It had over 12 talks, delivered by more than 50 leaders around the theme 'Putting analytics to work in India'. An exclusive conference for senior analytics executives, it brought together India's analytics leaders to learn and do business. Data is at the forefront of all business transformations, but the challenge is to use this data and transform it into customer insights by implementing algorithms and designing new business models. The Machine Conference provded a platform to recognise those who know how to transform data into competitive advantage.



The highlight of the conference was Analytics50 awards, which recognised and honoured 50 best minds in the Indian analytics industry who have successfully transformed data into meaningful insights. The prestigious award which celebrated leaders who have helped mould the Indian analytics landscape, was presented by Mandira Bedi, a renowned actor and television celebrity. The winners were handpicked by our editors and industry doyens, who chose from the best minds vetted against the best in the industry. Sandeep Mittal, MD at Cartesian Consulting, said, "The vibe at MachineCon was special. A close knit group of people, all dealing with the same questions, striving to better their understanding of this exciting field we are in and willing to share stories from the trenches. It's a rare confluence of good things that happened. We at Cartesian are delighted to have been the presenting sponsor at the first MachineCon, and we look forward to many more in the future."

Bhasker Gupta, founder and CEO, Analytics India Magazine, said, "Being a first edition, it turned out to be an exceptional conference with an extravagant participation from analytics leaders. We are glad that we were able to provide a platform for senior professionals in analytics and artificial intelligence to discuss growth, challenges, and adoption of analytics in their respective domains. We are also glad to have recognised the best minds in the analytics industry through our Analytics50 awards, which was an effort to celebrate men and women behind the success of data science in India. We look forward to hosting many more editions of The Machine Conference in the coming years." Some of the other sponsors for the Machine Conference 2018 were Accenture, Teradata, 3LOQ, BDB, The Weather Company, Bridgei2i, UpGrad and Hansa Cequity. About Analytics India Magazine Analytics India Magazine (AIM) is India's no.1 platform on analytics, data science and big data, dedicated to passionately championing and promoting the ecosystem in India. It aims for the promotion and discussion of ideas and thoughts on Business Analytics from India perspective. AIM was started in May 2012 by Bhasker Gupta, who has worked in analytics space for more than 12 years. Visit http://www.analyticsindiamag.com for more info. Media Contact:

Bhasker Gupta

info@analyticsindiamag.com

+91-9916006869

CEO, Analytics India Magazine Pvt Ltd



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] DATA Communications Management Corp. Announces First Quarter Financial Results for 2018

DATA Communications Management Corp. (TSX:DCM) ("DCM" or the "Company"), a leading provider of business communication solutions to companies across North America, announced its consolidated financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2018. STRATEGIC ACQUISITION DCM completed the acquisition of Perennial Group of Companies ("Perennial"), on May 8, 2018, (the "Closing Date"). The acquisition includes Perennial Inc., one of Canada's leading design firms focused on creating and delivering design strategies for major retail brands in Canada and around the world, and The Finished Line Studios Inc., an independent, multi-function creative, execution and production art studio. Perennial generated approximately $7.0 million in revenues (unaudited) for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2017, and has offices in Toronto and Bolton, Ontario. Perennial was acquired for a total purchase price of approximately $13.2 million after giving effect to a preliminary positive working capital adjustment of $1.2 million, related primarily to Perennial's strong cash and accounts receivable balances at closing. The purchase price of the Perennial acquisition was satisfied as follows: $8.2 million in cash, $2.5 million through the issuance of 1,394,856 common shares of DCM ("Common Shares"), and $2.5 million in the form of a subordinated, unsecured, interest bearing vendor take-back promissory notes (the "VTB"). The VTB is repayable as follows: $1.0 million payable on the first anniversary of the Closing Date, $1.0 million on the second anniversary of the Closing Date and $0.5 million on the third anniversary of the Closing Date. The purchase price will be subject to certain post-closing adjustments. NEW TERM LOAN FACILITY On April 30, 2018, DCM established the Crown Facility in the principal amount of $12.0 million. The Crown Facility was made available in one advance, with an effective date of May 7, 2018, bears interest at a rate equal to 10% per annum and is payable on a quarterly basis. The loan facility has a five (5) year term beginning on May 7, 2018 and can be repaid at any time after twenty-four (24) months, subject to prepayment fee, upon ten (10) days prior written notice to Crown. The Crown Facility is subordinated in right of payment to the prior payment in full of DCM's indebtedness under the Bank Credit Agreement and the IAM Credit Agreements and is secured by a conventional security on all of the assets of DCM and its subsidiaries. The Crown Facility limits spending on capital expenditures by DCM to an aggregate amount not to exceed $5.0 million during any fiscal year. In addition, a total of 960,000 warrants have been issued to Crown in connection with the Crown Facility. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $1.75 for a period of five years, commencing on May 8, 2018. Under the terms of the Crown Facility agreement, DCM must maintain (i) a fixed charge ratio, at the end of each quarter, of no less than (a)1.1 to 1.0 for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2018, (b) 1.25 to 1.0 for the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2018 and (c) 1.4 to 1.0 for each fiscal quarter thereafter; and (ii) a net debt to EBITDA ratio, of no more than 4.0 to 1.0 for each quarter up until December 31, 2019 and 3.0 to 1.0 for each quarter thereafter. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS All financial information in this press release is presented in Canadian dollars and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB").



Table 1 The following table sets out selected historical consolidated financial information for the periods noted. For the periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 Jan. 1 to

Mar. 31, 2018 Jan. 1 to

Mar. 31, 2017 (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except share and per share amounts, unaudited) $ $ Revenues (1) 88,516 70,126 Cost of revenues 67,041 53,766 Gross profit 21,475 16,360 Selling, general and administrative expenses 17,672 15,024 Restructuring expenses 64 1,886 Acquisition costs 43 956 Income (loss) before finance costs and income taxes 3,696 (1,506 ) Finance costs (income) Interest expense 1,139 950 Interest income (2 ) - Amortization of transaction costs 143 115 1,280 1,065 Income (loss) before income taxes 2,416 (2,571 ) Income tax (recovery) expense Current 843 51 Deferred (190 ) (525 ) 653 (474 ) Net income (loss) for the period 1,763 (2,097 ) Basic earnings (loss) per share 0.09 (0.17 ) Diluted earnings (loss) per share 0.09 (0.17 ) Weighted average number of common shares outstanding, basic and diluted 20,039,159 12,514,952 (1) 2018 revenues include the impact of the adoption of new accounting standard IFRS 15. Refer to note 3 of the unaudited consolidated interim financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2018 for further details on the impact of the adoption of new accounting standards. As at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 As at Mar. 31, As at Dec. 31, 2018 2017 (in thousands of Canadian dollars, unaudited) $ $ Current assets 91,527 82,804 Current liabilities 69,907 68,648 Total assets 137,329 131,859 Total non-current liabilities 62,338 68,610 Shareholders' equity / (deficit) 5,084 (5,399 ) Table 2 The following table provides reconciliations of net (loss) income to EBITDA and of net (loss) income to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods noted. See "Non-IFRS Measures". EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation For the periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 Jan. 1 to Jan. 1 to Mar. 31, 2018 Mar. 31, 2017 (in thousands of Canadian dollars, unaudited) $ $ Net income (loss) for the period 1,763 (2,097 ) Interest expense 1,139 950 Interest income (2 ) - Amortization of transaction costs 143 115 Current income tax expense 843 51 Deferred income tax recovery (190 ) (525 ) Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 1,148 885 Amortization of intangible assets 1,069 693 EBITDA 5,913 72 Restructuring expenses 64 1,886 One-time business reorganization costs 332 - Acquisition costs 43 956 Adjusted EBITDA (1) 6,352 2,914 (1) 2018 revenues include the impact of the adoption of new accounting standard IFRS 15. Refer to note 3 of the unaudited consolidated interim financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2018 for further details on the impact of the adoption of new accounting standards. Table 3 The following table provides reconciliations of net (loss) income to Adjusted net (loss) income and a presentation of Adjusted net (loss) income per share for the periods noted. See "Non-IFRS Measures". Adjusted Net (Loss) Income Reconciliation For the periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 Jan. 1 to Jan. 1 to Mar. 31, 2018 Mar. 31, 2017 (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except share and per share amounts, unaudited) $ $ Net income (loss) for the period 1,763 (2,097 ) Restructuring expenses 64 1,886 One-time business reorganization costs 332 - Acquisition costs 43 956 Tax effect of the above adjustments (103 ) (492 ) Adjusted net (loss) income (1) 2,099 253 Adjusted net (loss) income per share, basic and diluted 0.09 0.02 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding, basic and diluted 20,039,159 12,514,952 Number of common shares outstanding, basic 20,039,159 11,975,053 Number of common shares outstanding, diluted 20,039,159 12,545,015 (1) 2018 revenues include the impact of the adoption of new accounting standard IFRS 15. Refer to note 3 of the unaudited consolidated interim financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2018 for further details on the impact of the adoption of new accounting standards. Revenues For the three months ended March 31, 2018, DCM recorded revenues of $88.5 million, an increase of 26.2% or $18.4 million compared with the same period in 2017. Excluding the effects of adopting IFRS 15, for the three months ended March 31, 2018, revenues were $14.6 million, or 20.8%, higher than the same period last year. The increase in revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was primarily due to additional revenues from the acquisitions of Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics, new revenues contributed by a major Canadian Schedule I bank which DCM won late in the third quarter of 2017, increased volumes in labels work for a major retailer, and a one-time increase in volume from a long-standing customer which generated $8.9 million in higher revenues relative to the same period last year. The increase in revenues was partially offset by the reduction in spend by certain customers, particularly in the retail and financial institutions sectors due to a technological shift in the way they conduct business and the timing of orders which DCM expects will occur in the second quarter of 2018. Overall, DCM continues to benefit from the growth initiatives it effected throughout 2017 to help offset some of the secular declines experienced by the industry. Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit For the quarter ended March 31, 2018, cost of revenues increased to $67.0 million from $53.8 million for the same period in 2017, resulting in a $13.3 million or 24.7% increase over the same period last year. Excluding the effects of the adjustments upon adoption of IFRS 15, cost of revenues increased by $10.7 million or 19.9% relative to the same period last year. Gross profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 was $21.5 million, which represented an increase of $5.1 million or 31.3% from $16.4 million for the same period in 2017. Excluding the effects of adopting IFRS 15, gross profit increased by $3.9 million or 23.6% relative to the same period last year. Gross profit as a percentage of revenues increased to 24.3% for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 compared to 23.3% for the same period in 2017 however, after excluding the effects of adopting IFRS 15, gross profit as a percentage of revenues was 23.9% for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The increase in gross profit as a percentage of revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 was due to higher gross margins attributed to Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics. Gross margin increase was also due to the refinement of DCM's pricing discipline and cost reductions realized from prior cost savings initiatives implemented in 2017. The increase in gross profit as a percentage of revenues was, however, partially offset by changes in product mix. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 increased $2.6 million or 17.6% to $17.7 million compared to $15.0 million in the same period in 2017. Excluding the effects of adopting IFRS 9 and 15, SG&A expenses were $2.4 million higher for the three months ended March 31, 2018 when compared to the same period last year. As a percentage of revenues, these costs were 20.0% (or 20.6% before the affects of adopting IFRS 9 and 15) of revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The increase in SG&A expenses for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 was primarily attributable to the acquisitions of Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics, additional professional fees and higher sales commission costs commensurate with the increase in revenues. Restructuring Expenses For the quarter ended March 31, 2018, DCM incurred net restructuring expenses $0.1 million compared to $1.9 million in the same period in 2017. DCM incurred $1.2 million of restructuring costs related to 1) headcount reductions in indirect labour as a result of the plant consolidations completed during the current quarter, in addition to reductions of certain individuals within the sales and administrative functions, and 2) costs incurred to facilitate the closure and consolidation of the Multiple Pakfold, BOLDER Graphics and Granby, Quebec facilities into DCM's Brampton, Ontario, Calgary, Alberta and Drummondville, Quebec facilities, respectively. Total restructuring costs were offset by a recovery of $1.1 million related to the termination of DCM's lease agreement for its Granby, Quebec facility. For the three months ended March 31, 2017, $2.2 million of restructuring costs were incurred related to headcount reductions in DCM's indirect labour force across its operations, which were designed to streamline DCM's order-to-production process. These restructuring costs were offset by a recovery of $0.3 million related to a sub-lease of a closed facility in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Adjusted EBITDA For the quarter ended March 31, 2018, Adjusted EBITDA was $6.4 million, or 7.2% of revenues, after adjusting EBITDA for the $0.1 million in restructuring charges and $0.3 million of one-time business reorganization costs. Excluding the effects of adopting IFRS 9 and 15, Adjusted EBITDA was $5.3 million or 6.3% of revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2018 compared with an Adjusted EBITDA of $2.9 million or 4.2% for the same period last year. The $3.4 million increase in Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2018 over the first quarter of 2017 was attributable to higher gross profit as a result of revenues contributed by DCM's core business, in addition to the Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics acquisitions, improved pricing initiatives implemented part-way through the prior year, and cost savings from the restructuring efforts carried out in the second half of 2017. This was partially offset by higher SG&A expenses. Interest Expense Interest expense, including interest on debt outstanding under DCM's credit facilities, on certain unfavourable lease obligations related to closed facilities, and on DCM's employee benefit plans and including interest accretion expense related to certain debt obligations recorded at fair value, was $1.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 compared to $1.0 million for the same period in 2017. Interest expense for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was higher than the same periods in the prior year primarily due to the increase in the debt outstanding under DCM's credit facilities in order to fund a portion of the upfront cash components of the purchase price, settle certain debt assumed and pay for related costs incurred to complete the acquisitions of Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics in 2017. Income Taxes DCM reported income before income taxes of $2.4 million and a net income tax expense of $0.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 compared to a loss before income taxes of $2.6 million and a net income tax recovery of $0.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. Excluding the impacts of adopting IFRS 9 and 15, the net income tax expense was $0.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The current income tax expense was due to the taxes payable on DCM's estimated taxable income for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The deferred income tax recovery for the three month periods ended March 31, 2018 primarily relates to changes in estimates of future reversals of temporary differences, primarily representing adjustments due to the adoption of IFRS 15 including the full utilization of loss carryforwards and new temporary differences that arose during the three month period ended March 31, 2018. Net Income Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 was $1.8 million compared to net loss of $2.1 million for the same period in 2017. Excluding the impacts of adopting IFRS 9 and 15, net income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was $0.9 million. The increase in comparable profitability for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 was primarily due to the increase in revenues which included the post-acquisition financial results of Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics, in addition to a refined discipline in DCM's pricing strategy and cost reductions as a result of the restructuring efforts made in 2017. This increase was partially offset by higher SG&A expenses and higher interest expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2018 the three months ended March 31, 2018. Adjusted Net Income Adjusted net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 was $2.1 million compared to Adjusted net income of $0.3 million for the same period in 2017. Excluding the impacts of adopting IFRS 9 and 15, Adjusted net income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was $1.3 million. The increase in comparable profitability for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was due to higher revenues and gross margin, despite higher SG&A expenses and, to a lesser extent, higher interest expense in 2018. CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS During the three months ended March 31, 2018, cash flows generated by operating activities were $6.1 million compared to cash flows used for operating activities of $1.6 million during the same period in 2017. A total of $5.5 million of current year cash flows resulted from operations, after adjusting for non-cash items, compared with $1.5 million in 2017. Current period cash flows from operations were positively impacted by the increase in revenues and better gross margins from improved pricing discipline however this was slightly offset by a $2.6 million increase in SG&A expense over the prior year comparative period. Changes in working capital during the three months ended March 31, 2018 generated $3.7 million in cash compared with $0.9 million of cash used in the prior year. Given the increase in trade receivables as a result of higher sales in the current quarter, there was a corresponding increase in accounts payable for higher volumes in inventory purchases and related manufacturing costs. Timing of payments to suppliers are fairly commensurate with collections on outstanding receivables from DCM's customers. In addition, $2.2 million of cash was used to make payments primarily related to severances and lease termination costs, compared with $1.7 million of payments in 2017. Contributions made to the Company's pension plans were $0.3 million, which decreased from $0.5 million in the prior year while income tax payments increased by $0.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. INVESTING ACTIVITIES During the three months ended March 31, 2018, $1.4 million in cash flows were used for investing activities compared with $5.0 million during the same period in 2017. In 2018, $0.6 million of cash was used to invest in IT equipment, in addition to incurring certain costs for leasehold improvements to facilitate the consolidation of the Multiple Pakfold, Granby, Quebec and BOLDER Graphics facilities into DCM's Brampton, Ontario, Drummondville, Quebec and Calgary, Alberta locations, respectively. In 2018, $0.9 million of cash was used to further invest in DCM's ERP project. In 2017, $4.6 million of cash was used to acquire the businesses of Eclipse and Thistle. FINANCING ACTIVITIES During the three months ended March 31, 2018, cash flow used for financing activities was $4.8 million compared to cash flow generated by financing activities of $6.9 million during the same period in 2017. DCM used a portion of cash generated from its operations to repay $1.9 million in outstanding principal amounts under its various credit facilities and paid a total of $2.8 million related to the promissory notes issued in connection with the acquisitions of Thistle and Eclipse. ADOPTION OF NEW IFRS STANDARDS AND IMPACT DCM adopted new accounting standards: IFRS 9 Financial Instruments ("IFRS 9") and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers ("IFRS 15") on January 1, 2018. As permitted by the transition provisions of IFRS 9 and IFRS 15, DCM elected not to restate comparative period results. Accordingly, all prior year's comparative period information is presented in accordance with DCM's previous accounting policies as set out in its 2017 Annual Report. DCM applied IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 from January 1, 2018 retrospectively, and changed its accounting policies with the cumulative effect of initially applying these new standards recognized at January 1, 2018, the date of initial application. DCM has disclosed all accounting policies in accordance with IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 that it considers to be significant. New or amended interim disclosures have been provided for the three months ended March 31, 2018, where applicable, and comparative period disclosures are consistent with those made in the prior year. See "Note 3 - Changes in Accounting Policies" in DCM's unaudited interim consolidated financial statements for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and related management's discussion and analysis for a detailed discussion regarding the impact of adopting IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 on DCM's financial statements. IMPACT OF ADOPTION OF IFRS 9 AND IFRS 15 The following table summarizes the impact of adopting IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 on DCM's consolidated statement of financial position as at January 1, 2018: January 1, 2018 January 1, 2018 prior to the Impact of Impact of after the adoption (in thousands of Canadian dollars, adoption of IFRS 9 adopting adopting of IFRS 9 and unaudited) and IFRS 15 IFRS 9 IFRS 15 IFRS 15 Trade receivables $ 41,193 $ (505 ) $ 28,671 $ 69,359 Inventories 36,519 - (25,639 ) 10,880 Deferred income tax assets 6,108 132 (3,006 ) 3,234 Trade payables and accrued liabilities 34,306 - 601 34,907 Deferred revenue 11,237 - (9,395 ) 1,842 Deferred income tax liabilities 1,295 - 83 1,378 Deficit (256,233 ) (373 ) 8,737 (247,869 ) The following table summarizes the impact of adopting IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 on DCM's consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2018: For the three months ended March 31, 2018 For the three prior to the Impact of Impact of months ended (in thousands of Canadian dollars, adoption of IFRS 9 adopting adopting March 31, 2018 as unaudited) and IFRS 15 IFRS 9 IFRS 15 reported Revenues $ 84,699 $ - $ 3,817 $ 88,516 Cost of Revenues 64,486 - 2,555 67,041 Gross profit 20,213 - 1,262 21,475 Selling, commissions and expenses 10,302 - 159 10,461 General and administration expenses 7,165 46 - 7,211 Current income tax expense 175 (144 ) 812 843 Deferred income tax expense (recovery) 236 132 (558 ) (190 ) Net income 948 (34 ) 849 1,763 The adoption of IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 did not have a material impact on DCM's consolidated statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2018. IFRS 9 - Financial Instruments IFRS 9 includes revised guidance on the classification and measurement of financial instruments, impairment of financial assets and a new general hedge accounting model. With respect to measuring financial assets for impairment, IFRS 9 replaces the 'incurred loss' model in IAS 39 with a forward-looking 'expected credit loss' ("ECL") model. The ECL model requires considerable judgment, including consideration of how changes in economic factors affect ECLs. DCM adopted the simplified approach to determine ECLs on trade receivables using a provision matrix based on historical credit loss experiences to estimate lifetime ECLs. An impairment loss of $373, net of tax, was recorded as an increase to the deficit balance in the consolidated statement of financial position as at January 1, 2018. IFRS 15 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers Under IFRS 15, DCM recognizes revenue when control of the goods or services has been transferred. Revenue is measured at the amount of consideration to which DCM expects to be entitled to, net of incentives given to its customers including volume-based incentives and cash discounts. Summarized below are the key differences in reporting as a result of the adoption of IFRS 15: a) Previously, under IAS 18 Revenue ("IAS 18"), DCM identified that the risks and rewards of ownership related to product that was manufactured by DCM or purchased from a third-party vendor at the customer's request and stored on the customer's behalf in DCM's warehouse did not transfer until such time as the product was dispatched from the warehouse. Under IFRS 15, DCM has identified that product revenue should be recognized upon the completion of production by DCM or upon the purchase and induction of product from third-party vendors into DCM's warehouses as that is when control of the product is transferred to the customer and DCM has a right to payment. b) Under IFRS 15, revenue is recognized over the period that warehousing services are provided to the customer. Previously, under IAS 18, revenue related to warehousing services that were bundled with the overall selling price of the product, were recognized upon shipment of the product to the customer and non-bundled warehousing services were recognized over the service period. c) As a result of the change in the timing of revenue recognition upon the adoption of IFRS 15, the timing to recognize volume-based incentives and sales commission costs were changed to correspond with the related recognition of revenue. d) The combined tax impact of the above adjustments for IFRS 9 and 15 was a decrease to deferred income tax assets of $2,874 and increase to deferred income tax liabilities of $83 in the consolidated statement of financial position as at January 1, 2018. There were adjustments made for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 similar in nature to those noted above upon the adoption of IFRS 9 and 15. In addition, The following adjustments were made for the three-months ended March 31, 2018: e) As at March 31, 2018, DCM has disclosed revenue on a disaggregated basis based on the nature of the major products and services it provides to its customers as follows: For the three months (in thousands of Canadian dollars, unaudited) ended March 31, 2018 Product sales $ 81,835 Warehousing services 2,801 Freight and other services 3,880 $ 88,516 f) DCM serves as a principal when contracting freight services that it provides to its customers as it represents the primary obligor in these arrangements. Previously, under IAS 18, DCM had recorded freight revenue, net of related costs. Under IFRS 15, an adjustment was made to present freight revenue on a gross basis. Management is of the view that these changes represent a more accurate reflection of the economics in how DCM conducts business with its customers, especially given all product orders are customized based on specifications pre-approved by the customer, the product is segregated and maintained solely for the customer who placed the order (i.e. cannot be used interchangeably to fill another customer's order), and DCM has a right to payment for the performance obligations it has satisfied. OUTLOOK DCM recently announced the acquisition of the Perennial along with a new $12.0 million credit facility with Crown Capital, of which $3.5 million was used to repay short term debt outstanding. Perennial highlights the strategic shift DCM is making to bolster its credibility in the retail sector which it sees as a key vertical market. With encouraging signs like growth from existing customers, the addition of new customers, and improvements in key "growth" segments like labels and large format, DCM maintains the 2018 guidance it issued in February 2018. DCM is buoyed by its first quarter results and looks forward to a strong 2018. Revenues DCM anticipates total revenues of between $295.0 million and $310.0 million for fiscal 2018, representing growth of approximately 2% to 7% compared to revenues of $289.5 million in fiscal 2017. Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2018 is estimated to be between $22.0 million and $25.0 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA in fiscal 2017 of $16.1 million. Capital Expenditures For fiscal 2018, DCM expects to spend approximately $2.5 million on capital expenditures, in line with the $2.4 million recorded in fiscal 2017. DCM expects to incur approximately $1.5 million in intangible asset purchases in 2018 mostly relating to the ERP project which will be incurred primarily through the first half of 2018 As part of establishing the above guidance, DCM made the following assumptions: New customer wins and sales initiatives focused on capturing greater wallet share from DCM's existing customer base, including increasingly capitalizing on its technology-enabled value-added services provided to customers, will offset continued expected declines in the Company's core business communications market;

DCM will benefit from the full-year results of the acquisitions of Eclipse, Thistle and BOLDER Graphics and continue to experience growth rates in each of those businesses consistent with the past year, and DCM will benefit from the partial year of results from the acquisition of Perennial, commencing May 8, 2018.

The three acquisitions DCM completed in 2017, together with the acquisition of Perennial in May 2018, will continue to generate incremental cross-selling opportunities and cost synergies across the entire business of the Company in 2018;

DCM will be able to translate its sales pipeline into new customer acquisitions;

Improved year over year margins will be achieved through the strategic initiatives implemented in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, including from the consolidation of facilities, headcount reductions and continuing efforts by management to drive improved profitability;

The Company continues to explore additional strategic acquisition opportunities, and, while there can be no certainty that any such opportunities will be completed, such acquisitions could impact the outlook provided;

Economic conditions in North America will not deteriorate; and

The above guidance is based on the accounting policies applied in the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes of DCM for the first quarter of 2018 and IFRS in effect for the period ended March 31, 2018. DCM cautions that the assumptions used to prepare the guidance provided above, although currently reasonable, may prove to be incorrect or inaccurate. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from expectations as set forth above. The guidance provided above should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified by, the section Forward-looking Statements contained in this press release. About DATA Communications Management Corp. DCM is a communication solutions partner that adds value for major companies across North America by creating more meaningful connections with their customers. We pair customer insights and thought leadership with cutting-edge products, modular enabling technology and services to power our clients' go-to market strategies. We help our clients manage how their brands come to life, determine which channels are right for them, manage multimedia campaigns, deploy location-specific and 1:1 marketing, execute custom loyalty programs, and fulfill their commercial printing needs all in one place. Our extensive experience has positioned us as experts at providing communication solutions across many verticals, including the financial, retail, healthcare, consumer health, energy, and not-for-profit sectors. Thanks to our locations throughout Canada and in the United States (Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York), we are able to meet our clients' varying needs with scale, speed, and efficiency - no matter how large or complex the ask. And we can do it all with advanced DCM security, regulatory compliance, and bilingual communications, in print or digital. Additional information relating to DATA Communications Management Corp. is available on www.datacm.com, and in the disclosure documents filed by DATA Communications Management Corp. on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking" statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, objectives or achievements of DCM, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, objectives or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan", and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect DCM's current views regarding future events and operating performance, are based on information currently available to DCM, and speak only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions and should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such performance or results will be achieved. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance, objectives or achievements of DCM to be materially different from any future results, performance, objectives or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The principal factors, assumptions and risks that DCM made or took into account in the preparation of these forward-looking statements include: the limited growth in the traditional printing industry and the potential for further declines in sales of DCM's printed business documents relative to historical sales levels for those products; the risk that changes in the mix of products and services sold by DCM will adversely affect DCM's financial results; the risk that DCM may not be successful in reducing the size of its legacy print business, realizing the benefits expected from restructuring and business reorganization initiatives, reducing costs, reducing and repaying its long-term debt, and growing its digital and marketing communications businesses; the risk that DCM may not be successful in managing its organic growth; DCM's ability to invest in, develop and successfully market new digital and other products and services; competition from competitors supplying similar products and services, some of whom have greater economic resources than DCM and are well-established suppliers; DCM's ability to grow its sales or even maintain historical levels of its sales of printed business documents; the impact of economic conditions on DCM's businesses; risks associated with acquisitions by DCM; the failure to realize the expected benefits from the acquisitions of Thistle Printing, Eclipse Colour & Imaging, BOLDER Graphics and Perennial Group of Companies and risks associated with the integration of such acquired businesses; risks related to the disruption of management time from ongoing business operations due to the acquisition of the Perennial Group of Companies; increases in the costs of paper and other raw materials used by DCM; and DCM's ability to maintain relationships with its customers. Additional factors are discussed elsewhere in this press release and under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Risks and Uncertainties" in DCM's management's discussion and analysis and in DCM's other publicly available disclosure documents, as filed by DCM on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this press release as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Unless required by applicable securities law, DCM does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. NON-IFRS MEASURES This press release includes certain non-IFRS measures as supplementary information. Except as otherwise noted, when used in this press release, EBITDA means earnings before interest and finance costs, taxes, depreciation and amortization and Adjusted net income (loss) means net income (loss) adjusted for the impact of certain non-cash items and certain items of note on an after-tax basis. Adjusted EBITDA means EBITDA adjusted for restructuring expenses, one-time business reorganization costs, goodwill impairment charges, gain on redemption of convertible debentures, and acquisition costs. Adjusted net income (loss) means net income (loss) adjusted for restructuring expenses, one-time business reorganization costs, goodwill impairment charges, gain on redemption of convertible debentures, acquisition costs and the tax effects of those items. Adjusted net income (loss) per share (basic and diluted) is calculated by dividing Adjusted net income (loss) for the period by the weighted average number of common shares (basic and diluted) outstanding during the period. In addition to net income (loss), DCM uses non-IFRS measures including Adjusted net income (loss), Adjusted net income (loss) per share, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to provide investors with supplemental measures of DCM's operating performance and thus highlight trends in its core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures. DCM also believes that securities analysts, investors, rating agencies and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers. DCM's management also uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, prepare annual operating budgets and assess its ability to meet future debt service, capital expenditure and working capital requirements. Adjusted net income (loss), Adjusted net income (loss) per share, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not earnings measures recognized by IFRS and do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. Therefore, Adjusted net income (loss), Adjusted net income (loss) per share, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Investors are cautioned that Adjusted net income (loss), Adjusted net income (loss) per share, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as alternatives to net income (loss) determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of DCM's performance. For a reconciliation of net income (loss) to EBITDA and a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA, see Table 2 above. For a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted net income (loss) and a presentation of Adjusted net income (loss) per share, see Table 3 above. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION (in thousands of Canadian dollars, unaudited) March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 $ $ Assets Current assets Trade receivables 76,651 41,193 Inventories 10,492 36,519 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 4,384 5,092 91,527 82,804 Non-current assets Deferred income tax assets 3,210 6,108 Restricted cash 515 515 Property, plant and equipment 18,306 18,831 Pension assets 1,097 760 Intangible assets 14,306 14,473 Goodwill 8,368 8,368 137,329 131,859 Liabilities Current liabilities Bank overdraft 2,916 2,868 Trade payables and accrued liabilities 44,782 34,306 Current portion of credit facilities 8,852 8,725 Current portion of promissory notes 4,190 4,374 Provisions 3,902 3,950 Income taxes payable 3,416 3,188 Deferred revenue 1,849 11,237 69,907 68,648 Non-current liabilities Provisions 660 2,702 Credit facilities 45,339 47,207 Promissory notes 342 2,829 Deferred income tax liabilities 1,248 1,295 Other non-current liabilities 3,654 3,413 Pension obligations 7,997 8,133 Other post-employment benefit plans 3,098 3,031 132,245 137,258 Equity Shareholders' equity/(deficit) Shares 248,996 248,996 Warrants 287 287 Contributed surplus 1,462 1,368 Accumulated other comprehensive income 205 183 Deficit (245,866 ) (256,233 ) 5,084 (5,399 ) 137,329 131,859 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts, For the three months For the three months unaudited) ended March 31, 2018 ended March 31, 2017 $ $ Revenues 88,516 70,126 Cost of revenues 67,041 53,766 Gross profit 21,475 16,360 Expenses Selling, commissions and expenses 10,461 8,518 General and administration expenses 7,211 6,506 Restructuring expenses 64 1,886 Acquisition costs 43 956 17,779 17,866 Income (loss) before finance costs and income taxes 3,696 (1,506 ) Finance costs (income) Interest expense 1,139 950 Interest income (2 ) - Amortization of transaction costs 143 115 1,280 1,065 Income (loss) before income taxes 2,416 (2,571 ) Income tax (recovery) expense Current 843 51 Deferred (190 ) (525 ) 653 (474 ) Net income (loss) for the period 1,763 (2,097 ) Basic earnings (loss) per share 0.09 (0.17 ) Diluted earnings (loss) per share 0.09 (0.17 ) CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) (in thousands of Canadian dollars, unaudited) For the three months For the three months ended March 31, 2018 ended March 31, 2017 $ $ Net income (loss) for the period 1,763 (2,097 ) Other comprehensive income (loss): Items that may be reclassified subsequently to net income (loss) Foreign currency translation 22 (18 ) 22 (18 ) Items that will not be reclassified to net income (loss) Re-measurements of post-employment benefit obligations 323 (1,345 ) Taxes related to post-employment adjustment above (84 ) 350 239 (995 ) Other comprehensive income (loss) for the period, net of tax 261 (1,013 ) Comprehensive income (loss) for the period 2,024 (3,110 ) CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN EQUITY (DEFICIT) (in thousands of Canadian dollars, Accumulated unaudited) other Conversion Contributed comprehensive Total equity Shares Warrants options surplus income Deficit (deficit) $ $ $ $ $ $ Balance as at December 31, 2016 237,432 - 128 1,164 258 (248,917 ) (9,935 ) Net loss for the period - - - - - (2,097 ) (2,097 ) Other comprehensive loss for the period - - - - (18 ) (995 ) (1,013 ) Total comprehensive loss for the period - - - - (18 ) (3,092 ) (3,110 ) Issuance of common shares 2,847 - - - - - 2,847 Share-based compensation expense - - - 52 - - 52 Balance as at March 31, 2017 237,432 - 128 1,164 240 (252,009 ) (13,045 ) Balance as at December 31, 2017 248,996 287 - 1,368 183 (256,233 ) (5,399 ) Impact of change in accounting policy - - - - - 8,365 8,365 248,996 287 - 1,368 183 (247,868 ) 2,966 Net income for the period - - - - - 1,763 1,763 Other comprehensive income for the period - - - - 22 239 261 Total comprehensive income for the period - - - - 22 2,002 2,024 Share-based compensation expense - - - 94 - - 94 Balance as at March 31, 2018 248,996 287 - 1,462 205 (245,866 ) 5,084 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (in thousands of Canadian dollars, unaudited) For the three months For the three months ended March 31, 2018 ended March 31, 2017 $ $ Cash provided by (used in) Operating activities Net income (loss) for the period 1,763 (2,097 ) Adjustments to net income (loss) Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 1,148 885 Amortization of intangible assets 1,069 693 Share-based compensation expense 94 52 Pension expense 134 135 Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment (124 ) (20 ) Provisions 64 1,886 Amortization of transaction costs 143 115 Accretion of non-current liabilities and related interest expense 161 98 Other non-current liabilities 326 130 Other post-employment benefit plans, net 67 55 Income tax expense (recovery) 653 (474 ) 5,498 1,458 Changes in working capital 3,689 (885 ) Contributions made to pension plans (284 ) (459 ) Provisions paid (2,154 ) (1,687 ) Income taxes (paid) received (616 ) - 6,133 (1,573 ) Investing activities Purchase of property, plant and equipment (621 ) (137 ) Purchase of intangible assets (902 ) (233 ) Proceeds on disposal of property, plant and equipment 124 20 Cash consideration for acquisition of businesses - (4,638 ) (1,399 ) (4,988 ) Financing activities Issuance of common shares and warrants, net - (11 ) Proceeds from credit facilities - 13,589 Repayment of credit facilities (1,879 ) (3,598 ) Repayment of loans and other liabilities (101 ) (289 ) Repayment of promissory notes (2,808 ) (129 ) Finance and transaction costs (5 ) (317 ) Finance lease payments (7 ) (2,382 ) (4,800 ) 6,863 Increase in (bank overdraft) / increase in cash and cash equivalents during the period (66 ) 302 (Bank overdraft) cash and cash equivalents - beginning of period (2,868 ) 1,544 Effects of foreign exchange on cash balances 18 (8 ) (Bank overdraft) cash and cash equivalents - end of period (2,916 ) 1,838 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180514005501/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] HBC Selects Espial's Elevate Platform to Offer App-Based TV Services to Set-Tops, Roku and Mobile Devices

Espial (News - Alert) announced today that Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC) a leading provider of high-speed internet, digital TV, telephone, and commercial services in Minnesota and Wisconsin has expanded its affiliation with Espial to offer App-based IPTV (News - Alert) and OTT services to set-tops, mobile phones, tablets, and streaming players including Roku. "Espial's Elevate platform enables us to offer a seamless experience to our customers across set-top boxes and consumer owned devices." said Jim Kronebusch, Vice President of Technology & Engineering of HBC. "It also allows us to streamline our customer service and support operations with the use of a single cloud-managed platform for our Cable, IPTV and OTT services." "Hiawatha is recognized in the Pay TV industry as a leader in technology innovation and advanced service offerings. We have worked hard to earn their trust with our current Cable solution, we are excited that they have placed their trust in us once again to deliver these App-based IPTV offering to their customers across all delivery networks and devices," said Matt James, Esial's vice president of North America sales. "That is the unique value of the Elevate platform: Operators can blend traditional cable services with new IP and App-based services very quickly without losing control of their network or brand identity. And they can do it with minimal up-front investment."



Elevate is a multi-tenant software-as-a-service ( SaaS (News - Alert) ) video platform allowing operators to manage, deliver, and monetize compelling video experiences. The platform offers consumers a rich user interface with voice-based navigation, discovery, and viewing of traditional content and streaming services like Netflix and YouTube (News - Alert) . Elevate provides operators with cloud tools for their operations, marketing, support, and engineering team - including analytics, promotions, segmentation, and diagnostics. More information is available at www.espial.com. About HBC: Innovative broadband solutions with unparalleled customer service makes Hiawatha Broadband Communications, Inc. (HBC) the preferred service provider in southeastern Minnesota. Based in Winona, MN, HBC builds advanced Fiber-To-The Premises networks offering 1 Gbps speeds, in addition to maintaining and extensive wireless broadband which brings symmetrical broadband to under/unserved homes, businesses, and schools in rural areas. HBC provides over 125 local jobs with employees supporting retail, wholesale, construction, business consulting, and technical support of in nearly 30 communities.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180514005274/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Hemispherx to Present at the 4th Annual Immuno-Oncology: BD&L and Investment Forum

ORLANDO, Fla., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (NYSE American:HEB) announced today that it will be presenting at the 4th Annual Immuno-Oncology: BD&L and Investment Forum on Friday, June 1 at 3:40PM CDT (the time may be subject to changes depending on the conference organizers) at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Hemispherx is a research and development company focused on unmet medical needs in immunology, with a special emphasis in immuno-oncology. It is also an emerging commercial development company, based upon commercial approvals of Alferon in the United States and Argentina for refractory or recurring external genital warts and Argentina for patients who become refractory to or intolerant to recombinant alpha interferon, as well as regulatory approval of Ampligen in Argentina for severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

David R. Strayer, M.D., Chief Scientific & Medical Officer of Hemispherx, will be presenting and meeting with investors one-on-one. Dr. Strayers presentation will focus on immuno-oncology, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), and immune system amplification for enhanced viral vaccines. Dr. Strayer will also discuss the successfully completed production of a commercial size batch of vials of Ampligen for expanded clinical programs and commercial sales as well as other milestones. Hemispherx has two flagship products: Alferon N Injection approved in the United States and Argentina, and Ampligen approved in Argentina with a NDA pending in the United States. The Company also has six orphan drug designations, with four in the United States and two in the European Union. Ampligen has the potential to address multiple indications, including various cancers, ME/CFS and influenza. Alferon N Injectionalso has multiple potential indications, including MERS and as a component of an immune modulating cocktail designed to favorably improved the microenvironment of several solid tumors. Their combined estimated market is estimated in the billions of dollars.



About 4th Annual Immuno-Oncology: BD&L and Investment Forum

Taking place on the first day of ASCO, the 4th Annual Immuno-Oncology: BD&L and Investment Forum is designed to bring together thought leaders from cancer research institutes, patient advocacy groups, pharma and biotech to facilitate partnering, funding and investment. 250 delegates and about 30 presentations by listed and private biotechnology companies seeking licensing & investment are expected. To learn more about the 4th Annual Immuno-Oncology: BD&L and Investment Forum, please click this link. About Hemispherx Biopharma

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an advanced specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the clinical development of new drug entities for the treatment of seriously debilitating disorders. Hemispherx's flagship products include the FDA-approved drug Alferon N Injection and the Argentina-approved drug rintatolimod (tradenames Ampligen or Rintamod). Rintatolimod is a double-stranded RNA being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system, including Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Hemispherx's platform technology includes components for the potential treatment of various severely debilitating and life-threatening diseases. Because rintatolimod has not been designated safe and effective by the FDA for general use, it is legally available in the United States only through clinical trials, however, Ampligen has been approved in Argentina for ME/CFS and the company is working toward legal access in other countries where early access programs exist for serious diseases, such as ME/CFS, with unmet medical needs. Ampligen is the only therapy approved anywhere in the world for ME/CFS. An Ampligen EAP approval has also been obtained for therapeutic use in the Netherlands for pancreatic cancer.

Cautionary Statement

Some of the statements included in this press release may be forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. This press release and prior releases are available at www.hemispherx.net. The information found on our website is not incorporated by reference into this press release and is included for reference purposes only. Contact

Hemispherx Biopharma

Phone Number: 800-778-4042

Email: IR@hemispherx.net

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] First Crypto Asset Hedge Fund Launched by Tradecraft Capital

LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradecraft Capital, a crypto asset hedge fund and investment company, announced today the launch of its first fund, the Tradecraft Crypto Asset Fund (the "Fund"). The Fund is an actively-managed portfolio of concentrated, high-conviction positions. Unlike many crypto hedge funds that act more as a long-term focused venture fund or a typical long-short trading hedge fund, the Fund is focused on active management with a medium-term time horizon. "Crypto assets are the first invention in 'money' since double-entry accounting was invented in the 1400's. Blockchain and crypto assets will revolutionize how we transact business because it offers new ways to accumulate, govern, store and transfer value," said Jake Ryan, Founder and Fund Manager of Tradecraft Capital. "The Tradecraft Crypto Asset Fund aims to encompass the transformative elements of this new monetary invention and provide investors exposure to this new asset class." Crypto assets have continued their growth in awareness as an alternative investment class, including currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether (the token of Ethereum) and others. The total market cap for all cryptocurrencies is currently around $400 billion, with projections of up to $10 trillion according to RBC Capital Markets. The Fund sees this as a prime opportunity to get in early on something that could be more transformational globally than the Internet. The Tradecraft Crypto Asset Fund is a long-only fund, which means it doesn't take sort positions on the crypto market. This is also an always-long fund, so it will always own some crypto assets. The investment objective of the fund is to achieve capital appreciation and maximize absolute returns by offering investors exposure to a broad range of crypto assets, whose value is secured by cryptography and other blockchain technologies.



Founded by entrepreneur and investor Jake Ryan, Tradecraft Crypto Asset Fund seeks to maximize risk-adjusted return by active management of 15  35 high-conviction portfolio positions. The company uses defined crypto asset classes to assist in the portfolio asset allocation and rebalancing processes. Prior to founding Tradecraft Capital, Mr. Ryan had 20 years of professional experience in developing software technology, as well as personal experience managing his own investment accounts, including trading and investing in stocks, bonds, real estate, and more recently, crypto assets. From 2001 to present, Mr. Ryan has been the founder and CEO of Venice Consulting Group (VCG), a custom software development firm. He's an angel investor, an advisor at Mucker Labs and an advisor to two startups. Mr. Ryan is also the managing principal and portfolio manager of the fund.

Mr. Ryan is an author of research work in artificial intelligence (AI), security and privacy. He has been the keynote speaker at AI conferences and has published his work, "Intrusion Detection with Neural Networks", which has over 600 Google Scholar Citations. For more information, visit: https://www.tradecraft.capital/ About Tradecraft Capital

Tradecraft Capital is a crypto asset hedge fund and investment company. The investment objective is to achieve capital appreciation and maximize absolute returns by offering investors exposure to a broad range of crypto assets, whose value is secured by cryptography and other blockchain technologies. The Fund is an actively-managed portfolio of crypto assets offering exposure to the hyper-growth blockchain technology industry. Request a fund fact sheet for more information by visiting https://www.tradecraft.capital/ Twitter: @TradecraftC Medium: Tradecraft Capital Media Contact:

Anastasia Vedrova

195007@email4pr.com

855-202-0823 x12 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-crypto-asset-hedge-fund-launched-by-tradecraft-capital-300647588.html SOURCE Tradecraft Capital

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Mocana Integrates with Verizon's ThingSpace Platform to Help Simplify IoT Security

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mocana Corporation, the leading provider of mission-critical IoT security solutions for industrial control systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that it is partnering with Verizon to simplify IoT security by integrating Mocanas endpoint security software solution, Mocana TrustPoint, with Verizons ThingSpace, a platform for IoT device connectivity, management, security, and analytics. Mocana TrustPoint  , the companys flagship IoT endpoint security solution, provides compliant security that protects more than 100 million mission-critical devices for the industrys largest industrial and IoT manufacturers. Combining Mocana TrustPoint with Verizons deep network security and managed security offerings simplifies the management of the IoT security lifecycle to improve supply chain integrity.

According to Verizons 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report, 48% of data breaches involved hacking. With billions of IoT connected devices deployed and being introduced, manufacturers and IoT service providers need an easier way to scale the management IoT security. Integrating Mocana with Verizon ThingSpace will help customers to: Simplify the development o IoT applications with a pre-integrated security solution customized for a number of embedded systems and microcontrollers

Harden IoT devices by incorporating essential security (secure boot, secure update, intelligent firewall, security credentialing) into IoT devices that communicate with Verizon's cellular network

Provide security for ThingSpace devices through NIST FIPS 140-2 Level 1 validated cryptography that meets the Industrial Internet Consortium Endpoint Security Best Practices

Simplify and scale IoT device onboarding and enrollment with a complete credentialing solution for IoT device authentication and authorization

Ultimately accelerate the time to market for new IoT services and products



Leveraging Verizons comprehensive understanding of mobile networking, network security, managed networks and security, global coverage and secure cloud connectivity will enable our joint customers to scale their IoT digitalization strategies securely and profitability, said William Diotte, CEO at Mocana. Our partnership will help companies with large global IoT initiatives, including systems integrators and technology providers, to scale and manage IoT device security.

Mocana will be showcasing its Mocana TrustPoint and Mocana TrustCenter offerings at the annual Internet of Things World (IoT) Conference in Santa Clara at booth #630 on May 14-17, 2018. About Mocana Corporation

Founded in 2002, Mocana provides mission-critical IoT security solutions for embedded systems, industrial controls and the Internet of Things (IoT). Our proven cybersecurity software goes beyond traditional security approaches by making IoT and ICS devices trustworthy and enabling secure device-to-cloud communications. Mocanas full-stack platform operates across complex, multi-vendor environments where performance and security are critical to ensuring safety and reliability. Hundreds of industrial and IoT companies depend on Mocanas military-grade technology to protect millions of IoT devices, controllers and embedded systems. www.mocana.com. Press Contact:

Laura Asendio

Merritt Group on behalf of Mocana

asendio@merrittgrp.com

(703) 390-1512



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] TimeFireVR Provides Update on Bitcoin Mining Operation and Expansion Strategy

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TimefireVR, Inc. (OTCQB:TFVR) (the "Company"), d/b/a TeraForge, today is providing shareholders with a update on its Bitcoin Mining Operation and expansion strategy.

Recently, the Company entered into an agreement to purchase bitcoin mining equipment to be installed at Colocation Guard (www.ColocationGuard.com) in Brooklyn, NY. Led by Mr. Donald DAvanzo, Director of Datacenter Operations, approximately 20 Antminer S9 Bitcoin Mining units were installed and have been running for approximately three weeks. After successful Phase I implementation and operational execution of the initial mining units, the Company has invested in 20 additional S9 antminers plus 82 new L3 Litecoin antminers to improve the project hash rate. 32 new GPU mining rigs consisting of a total of 192 Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070 cards will be brought online to diversify the portfolio of cryptocurrency altcoins mined. The new units will allow the Company to mine the top five most profitable GPU altcoins; Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, ZCash, and Ubiq. Additionally Teraforge is working closely with ColocationGuard executive leadership to secure one of only three available anchor tenant slots in a new state-of-the-art dedicated mining facility located within the Northeast, currently referred to internally as Site 4 for security purposes. Jonathan Read, Chief Executive Officer of TimefireVR, d/b/a TeraForge, stated, We are pleased with the successful implementation of our bitcoin mining strategy with Donald and his team at their first class, secure, facility in New York. The seamless integration in a relatively short amount of time has offered us the luxury of exploring further investment and expansion opportunities. This phase is to thoroughly test our integration and predictive systems before we enter into a much larger build out of our capacity. We look forward to getting all of our new mining equipment up nd running allowing us to diversify into other cryptocurrencies.



The Company terminated its letter of intent (LOI) to make a strategic investment and acquire a license in Cryptogram, LLC. Mr. Read continued, After careful review, in the best interest of the Companys future and its shareholders, the Company has decided to terminate its LOI with Cryprogram. The Board and management agree to focus all of its efforts and working capital on its mining strategy.

About ColoGuard Enterprise Solutions, LLC

As Brooklyns only data center and carrier-neutral hotel for all major fiber providers, ColocationGuard Enterprise Solutions, LLC (ColocationGuard) operates over 60,000 square feet of colocation space in both Brooklyn and Northern New Jersey. The company delivers 1Gig to 100Gig connections via numerous Tier1 providers with Points of Presence in the facility. Founded in 2003 to provide affordable enterprise colocation solutions for companies of all sizes, ColocationGuard has been the go-to data center for a range of sectors including Internet Carriers, Healthcare, and Financial Services. Located minutes from Wall Street, ColocationGuard is notable for its excellence in managed services, access to numerous Tier1 networks, and a direct path to 325 Hudson Street. ColocationGuard is HIPAA and SSAE 16 compliant and provides 24/7/365 on-site technical support, diverse network routes via dark fiber, and a 100 percent uptime guarantee. About TimefireVR Inc., d/b/a TeraForge

TimefireVR Inc., d/b/a TeraForge, is an Arizona based technology company focused on strategic investments in blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. TeraForge is forging financial and technical innovation for blockchain enterprises through investments in tools, systems, and applications that will provide support for the blockchain and digital currency industries. TeraForge is actively seeking to acquire exciting young companies as well as pure technology teams in a variety of blockchain related fields. The Company has made an investment directly in ethereum and purchased bitcoin mining equipment located at Colocation Guard (www.ColocationGuard.com) in Brooklyn, NY. For more information please visit www.teraforge.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding installation of additional mining . The words "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "plan," "could," "target," "potential," "is likely," "will," "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Some or all of the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not be achieved, Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include regulatory and other developments in the markets for cryptocurrency including substantial price declines, the rising cost of electricity and computer servers used in mining. Further information on our risk factors is contained in our filings with the SEC, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Investor Contact: KCSA Strategic Communications Valter Pinto, Managing Director 212.896.1254 Valter@KCSA.com www.KCSA.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Meitu Displays Achievements of its Globalization Process at Google I/O

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese firms were a major presence at the Google I/O 2018 developer conference held in Mountain View, California on the morning of May 8. At this year's edition of Google's annual conference for technology developers, Meitu, Inc. (Meitu) (Stock code: 1357.HK), a Google partner, also China's leading mobile Internet company, was a key contributor during the Firebase presentation session. Meitu has previously collaborated with the Internet giant on several global advertising campaigns and on the Firebase platform. The two firms plan to explore further opportunities for ongoing cooperation. In addition, Meitu has formed partnerships with many world's leading technology and Internet companies. The firm launched the popular app PartyNow in early 2018 on both the Android and iOS systems through tie-ups with Google ARCore and Apple ARKit. PartyNow allows users to easily create their own augmented reality (AR) special effects short films, causing quite a stir among trendsetters worldwide. Furthermore, in July 2017 Facebook announced that Meitu would be the first partner of Facebook AR Studio's Beta cooperation program, with the Chinese firm providing three AR camera effects. Close cooperation with the world's leading technology and Internet companies reflects the success of Meitu's business globalization efforts. Meitu has more than 500 million users outside o its home market, supported by operations in Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and the United States. Unlike other Chinese companies that only promoted their products developed for the Chinese market when expanding overseas, Meitu has established local teams to research the markets in which it has a presence, and have those teams design or update its products to better meet the expectations and preference of local users. In doing so, the company has not only succeeded at globalization but also localization.



MakeupPlus has been targeting users worldwide from the day the app was rolled out. With a wide range of make-up looks inspired by global trends in popular culture, in South Korea, the trendsetter for Asian fashion, the app has grabbed the number one spot several times in terms of downloads in the App Store. In May 2016, MakeupPlus partnered with leading South Korean beauty expert Pony to launch worldwide exclusive co-branded make-up looks. South Korean stars showcased selfies of their beauty make-up looks on social platforms, sparking a craze across the country. In 2017, the Meitu App was included in Time Magazine's list of the top 25 recommended apps of the year. All apps on the list are globally recognized household names, including Super Mario and Instagram. Time Magazine commented, "the Meitu App has been popular in Asia for years and, recently, its huge popularity has expanded to the USA. It may be that you have not heard of the Meitu App, but you have certainly seen the special effects produced by the app on Instagram and Facebook, especially the feature that allows users to create a hand-painted cartoon-style version of their selfie. The feature has helped the Meitu App gain momentum worldwide soon after its launch.

Meitu founder and CEO Wu Xinhong said, "Everyone seeks beauty. As a technology company with a deep understanding of what constitutes beauty, we are particularly well positioned to expand across the world. By partnering with Google, Apple and Facebook, among other leading global tech firms, we are committed to helping more people realize their dreams." About Meitu

Established in October 2008, Meitu is a leading mobile Internet company headquartered in China. With the vision of building software and hardware around "beauty", Meitu has developed a rich portfolio of software and smart hardware products such as Meitu, BeautyCam, Meipai (a short-form video community app) and Meitu Smartphones, which have transformed the way people create and share the idea of "beauty." As of Feb 2018, Meitu has amassed over 1.5 billion unique users worldwide and engaged 454.7 million MAUs. It has successfully established its influence in overseas markets with more than 500 million users abroad, even launching localized apps and building teams overseas in places such as New Delhi, India; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Palo Alto, California; Singapore and Tokyo, Japan. According to App Annie, Meitu has repeatedly ranked as one of the top eight iOS non-game app developers globally together from June 2014 to January 2017. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meitu-displays-achievements-of-its-globalization-process-at-google-io-300647621.html SOURCE Meitu

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Cablevision Holding Announces First Quarter 2018 Results

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cablevision Holding S.A., ("Cablevision Holding", "CVH" or "the Company" - BCBA: CVH; LSE: CVH), announced today its first quarter 2018 results. Figures have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as of March 31, 2018 and are stated in Argentine Pesos (Ps.), unless otherwise indicated. As of January 1, 2018, the Merger between Telecom Argentina S.A. and Cablevision S.A. (CVH's Subsidiary) has become effective and, consequently, the Company has become the controlling shareholder of Telecom Argentina S.A. (NYSE: TEO, BCBA: TECO2). CVH Highlights 1Q18: Revenues reached Ps. 30,698 million mainly driven by mobile, Internet and Cable TV services.

Total Costs reached Ps. 18,918 million mainly driven by Employee benefit expenses and severance payments, Fees for services, maintenance, materials and supplies, Taxes and fees with the regulatory authority and Programming and content costs.

EBITDA reached Ps. 11,780 million and EBITDA Margin 2 was 38.4%.

was 38.4%. Capex amounted to Ps. 6,050 million, equivalent to 19.7% of Consolidated Revenues.

Consolidated Financial Debt and Net Debt reached Ps. 50,186 million and Ps. 38,419 respectively. Debt Coverage Consolidated ratio as of March 2018 was 1.07x for Total Financial Debt and 0.82x in terms of Net Debt.

was 1.07x for Total Financial Debt and 0.82x in terms of Net Debt. Mobile subscribers in Argentina totaled 19.5 million in 1Q18, while Cable TV subscribers and Broadband accesses totaled 3.5 million and 4.1 million, respectively.

totaled 19.5 million in 1Q18, while Cable TV subscribers and Broadband accesses totaled 3.5 million and 4.1 million, respectively. Net Income amounted to Ps. 2,349 million. Net Income attributable to the Controlling Company amounted to Ps. 220 million, influenced by the growth in EBITDA and partially offset mostly by the negative FX impact over dollar denominated debt.

During the 1Q18 the company made three mandatory prepayments under the USD 750 million Loan after receiving dividends from its subsidiaries. As of March 31, 2018 , the outstanding principal amount of the Loan is of USD 217,304,813 .









Investor Relations Contacts:

In Buenos Aires: In New York: Cablevision Holding S.A i-advize Corporate Communications, Inc Agustin Medina Manson, Head of Investor Relations Camilla Ferreira / Kenia Vargas Patricio Gentile, Sr. Analyst of Investor Relations Email: cferreira@i-advize.com Email: ir@cablevisionholding.com kvargas@i-advize.com Tel: (+54 11) 4309  3417 Tel: +1 212 406 3695 / 3696 https://www.cablevisionholding.com



View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cablevision-holding-announces-first-quarter-2018-results-300647622.html SOURCE Cablevision Holding S.A.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] ORYZON announces First Patients In ETHERAL: a Phase IIa clinical trial in Alzheimer's Disease with ORY-2001

The trial was approved in Spain in April and in France last week

First three patients included in Spain last week This is the second Phase IIa study in a CNS indication with the drug MADRID, Spain and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oryzon Genomics (ISIN Code: ES0167733015, ORY), a public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging epigenetics to develop therapies in diseases with strong unmet medical need, has announced today the inclusion last week of the First Patients in its Phase IIa clinical trial with ORY-2001 in mild and moderate Alzheimers disease patients. The Spanish Medicines Agency (AEMPS) approved the trial in Spain at the beginning of April, and the company received the approval from the Agence Nacional du Securite du Medicament et des Produits de Sante (ANSM), the French regulatory agency, and the Ethics Committee to start the trial in France just a few days ago. The first three patients in this clinical trial have now been included in two hospitals from Barcelona. The study will be conducted in different European hospitals across Spain, France, and also in UK once the corresponding approvals from the British regulatory authorities are obtained. The study, named ETHERAL (Epigenetic THERapy in ALzheimers Disease), is designed as a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-arm, 26 weeks parallel-group study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of ORY2001 in patients with mild and moderate Alzheimers disease. The study will involve 90 patients and incorporates measurements in the different domains of the disease as secondary endpoints, including memory and behavior alterations. It will also monitor the variations of diverse, yet significant CSF biomarkers. The company is aiming to launch a twin study in the US soon with a, yet to be determined, number of additional patients. ORY-2001 is an oral and brain penetrant drug that selectively inhibits LSD1 and MAOB. The molecule acts on several levels, reduces cognitive impairment, memory loss and neuroinflammation, and at the same time has neuroprotective effects. The company has recently reported in several scientific conferences that ORY-2001 exerts a holistic action on different types of alterations also seen in patients with AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. ORY-2001 may act as a disease modifying drug. In AD patients and other neurodegenerative disorders, cognitive deterioration is often accompanied by episodes of agitation, aggression, psychosis, apathy and depression. In preclinical studies, ORY-2001 not only restores memory but reduces the exacerbated aggressiveness of SAMP8 mice, a model for accelerated aging and Alzheimers disease, to normal levels and also reduces social avoidance in rat models maintained in isolation. In addition, ORY-2001 exhibits fast, strong and durable efficacy in several preclinical modelsof multiple sclerosis (MS). The company has already started a Phase IIa clinical study with ORY-2001 in patients with MS.



Roger Bullock, Oryzons Chief Medical Officer, commented, "The commencement of ETHERAL, the first Phase IIa clinical trial for an epigenetic agent in AD, represents an important milestone for both the company and the Alzheimers community. Preclinical studies demonstrate the potential of ORY-2001 in treating cognitive defects and neuroinflammation across CNS disorders by increasing the plasticity and functionality of neurons. This is the first step in exploring this novel approach for AD and we have chosen to study this initially in the mild to moderate population where we believe there is still physiological room to make a significant therapeutic intervention with this approach and which offers new opportunity to a patient population that has seen less options within the current research approaches. About Oryzon

Founded in 2000 in Barcelona, Spain, Oryzon (ISIN Code: ES0167733015) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company considered as the European champion in Epigenetics. The company has one of the strongest portfolios in the field. Oryzons LSD1 program has rendered two compounds in clinical trials. In addition, Oryzon has ongoing programs for developing inhibitors against other epigenetic targets. The company has a strong technological platform for biomarker identification and performs biomarker and target validation for a variety of malignant and neurodegenerative diseases. The company has offices in Spain and USA. For more information, visit www.oryzon.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This communication contains forward-looking information and statements about Oryzon Genomics, S.A., including financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, capital expenditures, synergies, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally identified by the words expects, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates and similar expressions. Although Oryzon Genomics, S.A. believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors and holders of Oryzon Genomics, S.A. shares are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Oryzon Genomics, S.A., that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in the documents sent by Oryzon Genomics, S.A. to the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores, which are accessible to the public. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The auditors of Oryzon Genomics, S.A, have not reviewed them. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. All subsequent oral or written forward-looking statements attributable to Oryzon Genomics, S.A. or any of its members, directors, officers, employees or any persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement above. All forward-looking statements included herein are based on information available to Oryzon Genomics, S.A. on the date hereof. Except as required by applicable law, Oryzon Genomics, S.A. does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The Companys securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. Any public offering of the Companys securities to be made in the United States will be made by means of a prospectus that may be obtained from the Company or the selling security holder, as applicable, that will contain detailed information about the Company and management, as well as financial statements. US Contact: Spain: The Company: The Trout Group ATREVIA Emili Torrell Thomas Hoffmann Patricia Cobo/Luis Rejano BD Director +1 646 378 2932 +34 91 564 07 25 +34 93 515 13 13 thoffmann@troutgroup.com pcobo@atrevia.com

lrejano@atrevia.com etorrell@oryzon.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Fairbanks Uses Superion Software To Cut Emergency Response Time

LAKE MARY, Fla., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Superion, an industry leader in public sector software solutions, announced that the Fairbanks Emergency Communications Center has experienced a substantial reduction in its response times since implementing Superion computer-aided dispatch (CAD), records management (RMS), mobile computing (MCT), and Freedom mobile app. The center has shaved off 2-3 minutes per incident by automating first- and second-response plans, which has had the greatest impact on the fire department; the department improved its ISO score by three points to "Class 1," the highest ISO rating achieved by less than one percent of fire departments nationwide. "The automation allows us to affect a dispatch quicker than what we were able to do before when our processes were manual," said Stephanie Johnson, Dispatch Center Manager. "This has allowed us to achieve a lower ISO score due to our ability to quickly build a response plan and pre-identify who needs to respond [to the emergency]." The Fairbanks Emergency Communications Center commands dispatch operations for the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Fairbanks North Star Borough, a land area of more than 7,400 square miles, which equates to the size of the state of Indiana. Because of the large service area, coupled with th region's extreme weather conditions, the center utilizes Superion's software to create a centralized command center to handle all critical situations within both districts while effectively coordinating between the nearly 500 responders within the area. As a result of this coordination, the city was awarded with a 2017 Army Community Partnership Award by the U.S. Department of Army for integrating emergency service communications in partnership with Fort Wainwright, also located in the North Star Borough.



"We have separate agencies that require resources from adjacent agencies or across our borough," states Johnson. "Thanks to Superion, it's very easy for us to build response plans that work seamlessly through the CAD system to the mobile app, and then the communication gets back into the dispatch center." Across the country, public safety agencies are recognizing the negative impact of having too many disparate, poorly coordinated products and applications, and inadequate access to critical information necessary for agile and informed decision making. As evidenced by the success of Fairbanks, however, Superion is helping to mitigate these impacts through its deeply unified and analytics-rich end-to-end public safety solutions. By empowering government agencies with the technology they need to transform public service operations, Superion delivers on its mission to provide the broadest, smartest, and most unified software platform to local governments and public safety agencies.

About Superion Superion is a leading software and information technology solutions provider that meets the specialized requirements of city, municipal, and county governments, as well as public safety and justice agencies and nonprofit organizations. Drawing upon more than 35 years of experience, the knowledge and expertise of Superion employees help communities that rely on our software serve more than 175 million people each day. Superion is Powering the Public Experience. Learn more at superion.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fairbanks-uses-superion-software-to-cut-emergency-response-time-300647643.html SOURCE Superion

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Cable Management Accessories Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2024

LONDON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Cable Management Accessories Market: Overview

Transparency Market Research's publication on the global cable management accessories market provides valuable insights on the growth trajectory of the said market for the 2017-2024 forecast timeframe. For the study, 2016 is considered as the base year whereas 2015 values have been provided for historical reference.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4130336



The report looks into each and every aspect that could play a key role to determine the growth of cable management accessories market over the aforementioned forecast period. It also examines vital market indicators such as demand drivers and restraints that could influence the growth of this market during the said period.



Global Cable Management Accessories Market: Report Highlights

The research report provides a comprehensive growth analysis of the cable management accessories market based on product, end-use, and geography.Analyzing each and every segment, revenue estimates for the overall market are presented in US$ Mn and volume estimates in Kilo tons.



It also includes market share and revenue estimations of each segment under various category over the 2017-2024 forecast period.



The report also includes competitive profiling of key players engaged in the manufacture of cable management accessories. This includes insights into their winning strategies along with their recent developments and market positioning over a timescale.



The report includes an elaborate executive summary detailing industry statutes and industry policies that manufacturers of cable management accessories need to adhere to. snapshot of terms and terminologies and conventions relevant to mechanical and electrical equipment sector is also included herein.







Global Cable Management Accessories Market: Research Methodology

The report is a result of combination of primary and secondary research.In-depth secondary research helped gauge overall market size, top industry players, top products, industry associations, etc.



Primary research phase involved formulation of a detailed discussion guide for interactions with industry experts. Analysts interacted with distributors, retailers, and industry players via e-mails, telephonic communication, and face-to-face meetings.





Secondary research phase involved reaching out to company websites, government websites, investor presentations, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, internal and external proprietary databases, and SEC filings. Some other sources tapped into in the secondary research phase include science journals, trade publications, industry publications, government documents, press releases, technical literature, procedure registries, and webcasts specific to companies operating in this market.



Following primary and secondary research phase, data was validated employing triangulation method along with inputs from in-house experts.The data was analyzed using MS-Excel to find quantitative and qualitative insights about the industry.



Following this, industry insights and information were collated in PDF format.



Global Cable Management Accessories Market: Competitive Dashboard

The report includes a detailed competitive landscape of the cable management accessories market.It identifies key players operating in the cable management accessories market along with a detailed competitive profile of each of them.



Business outlook, product portfolio, technological advancements, recent developments, and financials are the parameters based on which each player in the cable management accessories market is profiled in this report. Detailed insights into indices of strengths, weakness, threat, and opportunities of each player in the cable management accessories market is a feature of this report.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4130336



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: sarah@reportbuyer.com

Tel: +1 (718) 213 4904

Website: www.reportbuyer.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cable-management-accessories-market---global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017---2024-300647642.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] ETF Industry Legend John Hyland Joins Cryptocurrency Pioneer Bitwise Asset Management As Global Head of Exchange-Traded Products

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitwise Asset Management, creator of the world's first cryptocurrency index fund, announced today that it has hired ETF industry legend John Hyland as the firm focuses aggressively on developing public vehicles for accessing cryptoassets around the world. Hyland joins the firm as its new global head of exchange-traded products. He was previously chief investment officer and leader of United States Commodity Funds, a multibillion-dollar ETF manager based in Oakland, Calif. He is well-known for spearheading the launch of the first crude oil ETF, the first natural gas ETF, the first copper ETF and one of the most innovative commodity basket funds in the world, the United States Commodity Index Fund. At its peak under Hyland's leadership, United States Commodity Funds managed more than $7 billion in commodity exposure in an ETF wrapper. Hyland joins two other senior ETF veterans who have signed on with Bitwise in recent months. Matt Hougan, former CEO of both ETF.com and Inside ETFs, and one of the most well-respected figures in the ETF industry, joined the firm in February as global head of research. Teddy Fusaro joined the firm as its chief operating officer in April after helping build two significant ETF firms, Direxion and IndexIQ; Fusaro most recently served as senior vice president at NY Life Investments, following that firm's acquisition of IndexIQ in 2015



"I feel like I'm joining the crypto ETF 'Dream Team' at Bitwise," said Hyland. "Bitwise has everything you need to succeed in this space: world-class software and engineering talent, a deep understanding of cryptoassets, and hugely relevant experience in the world of institutional asset management and sales. While regulators still have many questions about the crypto space, I'm excited to work with the team at Bitwise and our partners in the ETF ecosystem to productively engage in that dialogue." "Bitwise is committed to making it easy for any investor to get secure, convenient, and low-cost exposure to cryptoassets," said Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise. "Exchange-traded products, such as ETFs, are a fantastic way to do that in an efficient wrapper. Though they haven't been possible in the space so far in the U.S., John has deep experience in working with regulators and partners to introduce first-of-a-kind ETFs. We're thrilled to have him leading our efforts on this front."

Bitwise launched the world's first cryptocurrency index fund, the HOLD 10 Private Index Fund, on Nov. 22, 2017. The fund is available to accredited investors and charges a management fee for its Investor Class of 2.5% per year. Through May 13, 2018, the fund was up 32.2% after fees, compared to a 5.3% return for Bitcoin. ABOUT BITWISE

Founded in 2017, Bitwise Asset Management is a partner to individuals, financial advisors, family offices, investment managers, and institutions in navigating cryptocurrency. With the mission to make it easy for anyone to invest in cryptocurrency, Bitwise develops funds, indexes, insight, and other services. The team behind Bitwise has expertise in technology, security, and finance. The firm is based in San Francisco. For more information, or to invest, visit www.bitwiseinvestments.com. CONTACT

Hewes Communications, Inc.

Tucker Hewes, 212.207.9451

tucker@hewescomm.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/etf-industry-legend-john-hyland-joins-cryptocurrency-pioneer-bitwise-asset-management-as-global-head-of-exchange-traded-products-300647655.html SOURCE Bitwise Asset Management

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] 2018 Women of the Channel Recognizes Four Star2Star Honorees

SARASOTA, Fla., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Star2Star Communications, provider of the Worlds Most Complete Full Spectrum Communications Solution, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named four of their female leaders to its 2018 Women of the Channel list: Michelle Accardi, Chessie Huber, Marji Lynn, and Laura Oberle. Michelle Accardi, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Star2Star, was also recognized as a Power 100 awardee, an elite subset of the prestigious annual Women of the Channel list.

CRNs editorial team selects Women of the Channel honorees based on their professional accomplishments, demonstrated expertise, and ongoing dedication to the channel. The executives who comprise this annual list span the IT channel, representing vendors, distributors, solution providers and other organizations that figure prominently in the channel ecosystem. Each is recognized for her outstanding leadership, vision and unique role in driving channel growth and innovation. Amongst Star2Stars awardees are a diverse group of women from various leadership roles including a C-Suite executive, business development manager, top sales representative, and department director. An overview of each Star2Star WOTC awardees recognized accomplishments is below. Michelle Accardi, Power 100 Michelle has been dedicated to championing the launch of Star2Stars hosted product line through its early stages as well as leading the charge to making improvements to Star2Stars award-winning Channel Partner Program. As President and Chief Revenue Officer, Michelle's mission is to inspire and maintain growth for the company and its partners, ensuring that customers get significant value from Star2Star's products and services. Chessie Huber Chessie is a Strategic Business Development Manager at Star2Star Communications. She joined the company in 2017 as a Channel Recruitment & Business Development Representative and was quickly promoted to Strategic Business Development Manager in January of 2018. She has developed andimplemented Star2Stars Strategic Partner Program for onboarding and training new Wholesale, White Label, and Strategic partners in order to fulfill Star2Stars strategic business objectives for the channel.



Marji Lynn Marji Lynn is an accomplished channel executive whose passion is growing revenue for the partners and service providers she represents. With her emphasis on training and collaboration throughout the sales cycle, Marji helps her partners deliver Star2Star solutions to their customers while coordinating internal teams to ensure smooth implementation. As one of Star2Stars top performers in 2017, Marji grew Star2Stars sales and partner coverage in the Pacific Northwest, doubling the regions revenue from the prior year.



Laura Oberle Laura is the Director of Regional Account Management Team where she manages Partner relationships and directs inside Regional Account Managers in the sourcing and recruiting of Partners for Star2Stars Reseller and Agent programs. She played an integral role in opening the Agent Channel by building relationships with master agencies and educating them on Star2Star solutions so they could offer Star2Star as their primary solution to customers. This accomplished group of leaders is steadily guiding the IT channel into a prosperous new era of services-led business models and deep, strategic partnerships, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. CRNs 2018 Women of the Channel list honors executives who are driving channel progress through a number of achievementsexemplary partner programs, innovative product development and marketing, effective team-building, visionary leadership and accelerated sales growthas well as advocacy for the next generation of women channel executives. I am extremely proud of these women and honored to be included in the 2018 Women of the Channels Power 100, said Michelle Accardi, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Star2Star. Chessie, Marji, Laura, and I are all 100% dedicated to Star2Stars mission and values to bring cutting-edge communications technology to the world. We have each accomplished so much in the past year, and will continue to strive for excellence. The 2018 Women of the Channel list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/wotc. About Star2Star Communications Founded in 2006 in Sarasota, Florida, Star2Star Communications empowers global business success with a Full Spectrum Communications Solution. With options ranging from Hosted to Hybrid, Star2Star offers unparalleled value, reliability, quality, and scalability. Star2Star unifies business communications including voice, video, fax, mobile, chat, and presence management. Merged with Blueface, the leading pan-European UCaaS provider, Star2Star possesses a global influence and customer base. Blueface's proprietary cloud voice platform supports businesses of all sizes, ranging from small-to-medium to large enterprises and strategic wholesale customers. Star2Star's award-winning, patented Constellation Network overcomes the reliability and quality limitations of other communications technologies and enables companies to choose the deployment methodology that aligns best with their needs. For businesses who require high-quality voice, redundant networks for continuity, and ultra-reliable communications, Star2Star's Hybrid architecture offers the highest guaranteed SLAs in the industry at an affordable price. Businesses with less complexity, who seek the best communications capabilities for their employees and customers, can consider Star2Star's Hosted solution the optimal choice. With a customer retention rate of 99.85%, Star2Star has been recognized by a multitude of leading analysts. In the past seven years, Star2Star was named to the Forbes Most Promising Companies list, the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 five times, and the Inc. 500|5000 seven times. The company was also named by IHS as a Top 10 Hosted Business VoIP/UC Provider and has been in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS, Worldwide for the last four years. Casey OLoughlin

coloughlin@star2star.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Arcserve International Leaders Recognized as CRN's 2018 Women of the Channel

MINNEAPOLIS, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arcserve, LLC, the data backup and availability pioneer, today announced that Chief Marketing Officer Rachel McClary, and Vice President of Partner Sales for Latin America Daniela Costa, have been named to the prestigious CRN 2018 Women of the Channel list. The executives who comprise this annual list by CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, span the IT channel, representing vendors, distributors, solution providers and other organizations that figure prominently in the channel ecosystem. Each is recognized for her outstanding leadership, vision and unique role in driving channel growth and innovation.

McClary joined Arcserve as CMO in December 2017 with more than 20 years of channel marketing leadership experience in the IT/Software industry. She has implemented and successfully led initiatives that drive demand, branding, go-to-market strategies and operational best practices. Earlier this year, Rachel and her team were an integral part in successfully bringing to market the new Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP) Cloud Direct, a disaster recovery service ideal for channel partners and cloud service providers (CSPs). Rachel has also doubled down on investments to enhance Arcserves overall partner experience, with new partner-designed incentives and promotions, optimized pricing, streamlined training, and the development of new partner resource packages. As VP of Latin America for Arcserve, Costa has a critical role in the leadership, continuity and growth of the companys brand throughout the region. Before she led Arcserves spin out from CA Technologies in Latin America, Costa worked 16 years at CA Technologies, where she started her market development for Arcserve solutions with the channels. Most recently at Arcserve, she spearheaded the very successful rollout of Arcserve Now, an ioS and Android app that gives partners exclusive real-time access to Arcserves latest news on licensing models, success stories and promotions. Rachel and Dani are two exemplary Arcserve leaders, said Tom Signorello, CEO of Arcserve. From launching new products and enhancements within our UDP portfolio that have solidified Arcserve as a dominant industry player across geographies, to enhancing our global Partner Program, Dani and Rachel are dedicated to Arcserves focus on delivering innovative technologies and services with our partners top of mind. A well-deserved congratulations to both of them for this recognition. Arcserve is a channel-first organization dedicate to providing mid-sized and decentralized organizations with a comprehensive portfolio of robust, yet elegantly simple data protection solutions and that are easy to maintain and sell. Through its award-winning channel program, Arcserve invests in its partners with: advanced demand generation and leading sales methodologies, unmatched incentives, a turnkey deal registration process, complimentary training and accreditation, and product and marketing support through the entire customer lifecycle.



CRN editors select the Women of the Channel honorees based on their professional accomplishments, demonstrated expertise and ongoing dedication to the IT channel. This accomplished group of leaders is steadily guiding the IT channel into a prosperous new era of services-led business models and deep, strategic partnerships, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. CRNs 2018 Women of the Channel list honors executives who are driving channel progress through a number of achievementsexemplary partner programs, innovative product development and marketing, effective team-building, visionary leadership and accelerated sales growthas well as advocacy for the next generation of women channel executives. The 2018 Women of the Channel list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/wotc.

Tweet This:

@TheChannelCo names @Arcserves Rachel McClary and Daniela Costa to @CRN 2018 Women of the Channel list #WOTC18 www.CRN.com/wotc. About Arcserve

Arcserve develops breakthrough data protection and availability solutions that deliver enterprise power with small team simplicity. Launched in 1990 as a product under Cheyenne Software, Arcserve became an independent organization in 2014 and released the first solution, Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), to deliver comprehensive backup and recovery across cloud, virtual and physical environments under one pane of glass. Since then, Arcserve has continuously redefined data protection, with a full range of highly efficient and integrated capabilities, deployable on-premise or in the cloud, with high availability, disaster recovery, backup and recovery, and data archiving. Arcserve has a customer base of 45,000 end users in more than 150 countries and partners with over 7,500 distributors, resellers and service providers around the world. It is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Visit www.arcserve.com. Follow Arcserve: Blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Copyright 2018. The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Media Contacts:

Leslie Keil

Arcserve

952.903.5434

leslie.keil@arcserve.com Kim Sparks

The Channel Company

508.416.1193

ksparks@thechannelco.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Pax8's Jennifer Bodell Recognized as 2018 CRN Women of the Channel and Power 100

DENVER, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pax8, the leader in cloud distribution, today announced that CRN  , a brand of The Channel Company, has named Jennifer Bodell, vice president of Channel, to its prestigious 2018 Women of the Channel list and the Power 100, a subset of the CRN Women of the Channel who have earned a special distinction based on their exemplary record of success and their level of influence in the channel.

As the vice president of Channel at Pax8, Bodell leads the strategic direction of the companys field marketing efforts and key IT channel relationships, including new growth opportunities and partner program development. Throughout her career, Bodell has earned several achievements including CRNs Power 100 three years in a row, named to the CRN Women of the Channel list three years in a row, one of CRNs 2017 100 People You Dont Know But Should, HTGs 2016 Presenter of the Year, and she was named a 2015 Rising Star by the Utah American Marketing Association. Congratulations to Jennifer on the well-deserved award, said Nick Heddy, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing at Pax8. Jennifer is a proven, award-winning leader in the IT channel who is making a lasting impact in communities throughout the industry. As a valued member of the Pax8 team, she has a unique ability to connect, listen, andshare new ideas and strategies with partners to help them win new business. Her efforts are helping pave the way for future leaders in technology.



CRNs editorial team selects Women of the Channel honorees based on their professional accomplishments, demonstrated expertise, and ongoing dedication to the channel. The Power 100 belong to an exclusive group drawn from this larger list: women leaders whose vision and influence are key drivers of their companies success and help move the entire IT channel forward. This accomplished group of leaders is steadily guiding the IT channel into a prosperous new era of services-led business models and deep, strategic partnerships, said Bob Skelley, chief executive officer at The Channel Company. CRNs 2018 Women of the Channel list honors executives who are driving channel progress through a number of achievementsexemplary partner programs, innovative product development and marketing, effective team-building, visionary leadership, and accelerated sales growthas well as advocacy for the next generation of women channel executives.

The 2018 Women of the Channel and Power 100 lists will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/wotc. To learn more about Pax8, please contact the Cloud Solutions Advisors at (855) 884-PAX8, email info@pax8.com, or visit www.pax8.com. About Pax8

Pax8 is the leader in cloud distribution. As a born in the cloud company, Pax8 empowers managed service providers (MSPs) to capitalize on the $1 trillion cloud opportunity. Through billing, provisioning, automation, industry-leading PSA integrations, and pre-and-post sales support, Pax8 simplifies cloud buying, improves operational efficiency, and lowers customer acquisition cost. Pax8 is an award-winning disruptor in the market, earning accolades like NexGens Best in Show two years in a row, Biggest Buzz at IT Nation, CRNs Coolest Cloud Vendor, Best in Show at two consecutive XChange conferences, HTGs Rookie of the Year, and more. If you want to be successful with cloud technology, you want to work with Pax8. Get started today at www.pax8.com. Follow Pax8 on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. To learn more, please visit www.thechannelco.com. Media Contact

Amanda Lee

ARL Strategic Communications for Pax8

(727) 272-0781

Amanda.Lee@arlpr.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Nine SYNNEX Corporation Leaders Named to CRN's Women of the Channel List with One Named to Power 100 List

GREENVILLE, S.C., May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), a leading business process services company, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named nine of its leaders to the prestigious 2018 Women of the Channel list, with one making the Power 100 list. The women who comprise these lists span the IT channel representing vendors, distributors, solution providers and other organizations that figure prominently in the channel ecosystem. Each is recognized for her outstanding leadership, vision, and unique role in driving channel growth and innovation. "We are pleased to recognize the accomplishments of this esteemed group of leaders within SYNNEX," said Peter Larocque, President, North American Technology Solutions, SYNNEX Corporation. "In addition to their continued hard work, they each have a passion for helping our organization, as well as our partners and the greater IT channel, succeed." The Power 100 honorees belong to an exclusive group that includes women leaders who are key drivers of their companies' success and who continue to help move the entire IT channel forward. The SYNNEX honoree for 2018 is: Reyna Thompson , Vice President, Product Management, CONVERGESolv Secure Networking Group  Thompson continues to lead the rapid expansion of SYNNEX' line card around networking and security. She has also led the integration of Westcon-Comstor Americas' Security, Networking and Unified Communications business into SYNNEX and now oversees the product management, business development, renewals/maintenance, and engineering teams for this newly combined business unit. She continues to focus on accelerating digital transformation and quickly bringing technology innovation to market as a monetized business for the channel. In the US, SYNNEX Women of the Channel honorees include: April Petty , Vice President, Sales  Petty plays a key role in educating customers about SYNNEX and its value-added programs. Her leadership helps SYNNEX develop deep customer relationships while reaching new customers to result in increased sales. Petty and her team continue to develop strategic events focused around vertical segments and solutions, allowing partners to walk away with leading offerings to extend to their customer base.





Petty plays a key role in educating customers about SYNNEX and its value-added programs. Her leadership helps SYNNEX develop deep customer relationships while reaching new customers to result in increased sales. Petty and her team continue to develop strategic events focused around vertical segments and solutions, allowing partners to walk away with leading offerings to extend to their customer base. Sandi Stambaugh , Vice President, Product Management  Stambaugh leads SYNNEX' VISUAL Solv and Device Mobility business through a solutions-centered approach to customer enablement and technology advancement. Stambaugh takes a strategic approach by aligning with key industry associations to expand training and support offerings in vertical markets such as K-12 education, public safety, retail and hospitality. Over the past year, she has led SYNNEX' VISUAL Solv business in above-market growth and has helped launch several new strategic vendor partners.





Stambaugh leads SYNNEX' VISUAL and Device Mobility business through a solutions-centered approach to customer enablement and technology advancement. Stambaugh takes a strategic approach by aligning with key industry associations to expand training and support offerings in vertical markets such as K-12 education, public safety, retail and hospitality. Over the past year, she has led SYNNEX' VISUAL business in above-market growth and has helped launch several new strategic vendor partners. Willa Flemate , Vice President, Sales  Flemate is recognized for managing a team that creates custom solutions that are mutually beneficial to SYNNEX suppliers and integrators in a transforming market. Recently, she has developed a team of vertically-focused expertsfor the system integrator and OEM community and has partnered with vendors to offer programs to support key market segments. Her leadership has resulted in significant sales growth and continued partner success.









Flemate is recognized for managing a team that creates custom solutions that are mutually beneficial to SYNNEX suppliers and integrators in a transforming market. Recently, she has developed a team of vertically-focused expertsfor the system integrator and OEM community and has partnered with vendors to offer programs to support key market segments. Her leadership has resulted in significant sales growth and continued partner success. Heather Allen , Senior Director, Security Product Sales and Marketing  Allen continues to help drive channel growth for leading security and unified communications partners. Last year, Allen was promoted with marketing responsibilities in both the US and Canada . Allen has helped partners achieve financial revenue targets; developed and executed programs to drive new business; recruited and onboarded new partners through sales and technical enablement programs; and built channel testimonials for increased brand recognition for partners.





Allen continues to help drive channel growth for leading security and unified communications partners. Last year, Allen was promoted with marketing responsibilities in both the US and . Allen has helped partners achieve financial revenue targets; developed and executed programs to drive new business; recruited and onboarded new partners through sales and technical enablement programs; and built channel testimonials for increased brand recognition for partners. Molly Sherwood , Director, Business Development  Sherwood is responsible for leading marketing and business development teams to help customers grow their businesses. Over the past year, she led a marketing team to integrate a new automated CRM system to enable pipeline management. Sherwood also launched a new customer preference center and helped develop the Comstor EDGE strategy with architecture-specific programs that enable partners to grow their business practice areas of security, networking, collaboration, data center, software and annuities.







Sherwood is responsible for leading marketing and business development teams to help customers grow their businesses. Over the past year, she led a marketing team to integrate a new automated CRM system to enable pipeline management. Sherwood also launched a new customer preference center and helped develop the Comstor EDGE strategy with architecture-specific programs that enable partners to grow their business practice areas of security, networking, collaboration, data center, software and annuities. Sharon March , Senior Manager, Technical Operations  March plays a key role in understanding certifications and specializations to help partners choose the right path for their businesses. Through her dedication to SYNNEX and the channel, March helps partners improve their status with key vendors, become eligible for rebates and programs, and grow their overall business. With her team, she also helps deliver vendor-specific training offerings to partners and is on track to support more than 50 resellers in this capacity. In Canada, the following leaders are recognized: Suzanne Barrette , Vice President, Sales  Barrette has worked closely with partners in the Canadian market to help them identify strategic growth opportunities and create customized training programs for their sales teams. Barrette also works closely with SYNNEX product management and sales teams to help grow overall business and maintain a top position in key product segments. Her strong partner relationships help give SYNNEX an advantage to introduce new product categories and share innovative new ideas with customers.





Barrette has worked closely with partners in the Canadian market to help them identify strategic growth opportunities and create customized training programs for their sales teams. Barrette also works closely with SYNNEX product management and sales teams to help grow overall business and maintain a top position in key product segments. Her strong partner relationships help give SYNNEX an advantage to introduce new product categories and share innovative new ideas with customers. Siobhan Byron , Vice President and General Manager  Byron is an expert in designing and launching strategies and frameworks to capture new revenue opportunities, expand into new channels, and catapult sales performance in the Canadian market. Most recently, she has worked to expand SYNNEX' channel business through strategic cross-sell initiatives. She has also added key security, unified communications and collaboration offerings, as well as solutions complete with training and enablement sessions to support channel partners in developing their businesses. "This accomplished group of leaders is steadily guiding the IT channel into a prosperous new era of services-led business models and deep, strategic partnerships," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "CRN's 2018 Women of the Channel list honors executives who are driving channel progress through a number of achievements  exemplary partner programs, innovative product development and marketing, effective team-building, visionary leadership and accelerated sales growth  as well as advocacy for the next generation of women channel executives." To learn more about SYNNEX Corporation, visit www.synnex.com. To view the 2018 CRN Women of the Channel, visit www.CRN.com/wotc. About SYNNEX

SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX) is a Fortune 500 corporation and a leading business process services company, providing a comprehensive range of distribution, logistics and integration services for the technology industry and providing outsourced services focused on customer engagement strategy to a broad range of enterprises. SYNNEX distributes a broad range of information technology systems and products, and provides systems design and integration solutions. Concentrix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation, offers a portfolio of strategic solutions and end-to-end business services around customer engagement strategy, process optimization, technology innovation, front and back-office automation and business transformation to clients in ten identified industry verticals. Founded in 1980, SYNNEX Corporation operates in numerous countries throughout North and South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Additional information about SYNNEX may be found online at www.synnex.com. About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to be materially different from any future performance that may be suggested in this release. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release. Copyright 2018 SYNNEX Corporation. All rights reserved. SYNNEX, the SYNNEX Logo, CONCENTRIX, CONVERGESOLVE, VISUALSOLV, and all other SYNNEX company, product and services names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNNEX Corporation. SYNNEX, the SYNNEX Logo, CONVERGESOLV, and CONCENTRIX Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Other names and marks are the property of their respective owners. SNX-G View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nine-synnex-corporation-leaders-named-to-crns-women-of-the-channel-list-with-one-named-to-power-100-list-300647056.html SOURCE SYNNEX Corporation

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] 12 ReTech Corporation Releases its First Quarter FY2018 Financial Results and Provides a Operational Progress Report

Carson City, NV & Hong Kong, May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 12 ReTech Corporation (OTC: RETC), announced for the three months of the first quarter FY2018 ended March 31, 2018, the Company posted revenues of $8,942 and a GAAP Net Loss of $870,230.

The Companys activities in the first quarter of FY2018 were designed to prepare for our future growth in the areas of technology research and development and brand marketing for both our technology business and our consumer products business. Of the $870,230 Net Loss, we expended cash of $515,006 in G&A expenses which was provided by our first quarter cash raises and existing cash balances. Angelo Ponzetta, 12 ReTech's CEO commented, "Our Company is making progress on the execution of our business plan in a number of areas. In the first quarter of 2018, we invested in Research and Development projects that are producing technology that we are in the process of deploying. Our 12Sconti product development began in January, 2018. In short order, we are going to activate this product in Switzerland and already have merchant clients signed up to utilize it to improve their daily sales operations. CEO Ponzetta, continued, We have also invested into the further development of our 12 Technology Suite and are about to deploy the improved versions of these products in Switzerland and Japan. Soon thereafter, we will be actively selling a new and improved set of these products in Asia, Europe and North America. "Our subsidiary, 12 Retail's microbrand acquisition strategy has begun to gain traction as well. With the recently completed acquisition of Emotion Apparel, the Company now has a platform to make future acquisitions, reduce manufacturing and distribution costs, and provide fresh fashion products to sell on our online sales channel which will create customer engagement. As Emotion Apparel completes its move from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City we will then be able to ramp up revenues from this operation alone. While our three previously announced Lettersof Intent are still in process, we are getting inquiries from additional consumer product brands who we are speaking to us about our brand roll up strategy. We are working on several opportunities and expect to be able to make some interesting announcements in the very near future. It is interesting to me, that a number of these opportunities are coming to us from the west coast of the U.S.A.



CEO Ponzetta, continued I am pleased with the progress that we are making on all of our various business activities. Each separate business activity will provide us with a foundation to produce revenues and earnings for our shareholders in the future. We continue to work towards a successful future in executing our business plan. CEO Ponzetta, concluded Recently, there have some new partnerships that have been brought to us that are very exciting and could get us noticed in the retail world that are about incorporating next generation PCI compliant credit card equipment into our offerings and offering consumers a white labeled 12 Credit product More to come on these important topics later.

The figures referenced above are unaudited, Readers are advised to consider these figures along with footnotes and any other accompanying information that is contained in the Companys Form 10-Q as well as additional filings that the Company has previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About 12 ReTech Corporation: At our core, we are a software company whose technology allows retailers to combat the dual threats of Walmart and Amazon  both online and in physical stores. Our microbrand rollup acquisition strategy allows us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our software, devise and test new products, while providing shareholder value through immediate revenue and earnings growth. The Company operates through our subsidiaries on three continents: 12 Hong Kong, Ltd., 12 Japan, Ltd., 12 Europe A.G., 12 Retail Corporation (and its subsidiary in North America, E-Motion Apparel, Inc.). For more information please visit our website at www.12ReTech.com. 12 ReTech Corporation is publicly listed on the OTC Markets under the symbol RETC. Safe Harbor: This document contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation, the ability of the Company to successfully implement its turnaround strategy, changes in costs of raw materials, labor, and employee benefits, as well as general market conditions, competition and pricing. Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this letter will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as representation by the Company or any other person that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved. In assessing forward-looking statements included herein, readers are urged to carefully read those statements. When used in the Annual Report on Form 10-K, the words "estimate," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," and similar expressions are intended to be forward-looking statements. Investor Relations Contacts: Tom Nelson Ten Associates, LLC Tenassociates33@gmail.com 480-326-8577 (USA) Mark Gilbert Magellan FIN, LLC mgilbert@magellanfin.com 317-361-2392 (USA).

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Ashford University Cuts Ribbon for Student Services and Student Veterans Center in Arizona

PHOENIX, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, May 11, 2018, Ashford University and Bridgepoint Education hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of their newest Student Veterans Center and Online Student Services facility at 7360 South Kyrene Road, Suite 105, Tempe, AZ 85283. The facility will bring over 800 jobs to Greater Phoenix over the next two years, and will strengthen Ashford University's ability to support the needs of its students. At the grand opening, Bridgepoint CEO, Andrew Clark, welcomed students, employees and guests to the celebration, followed by Jennifer Mellor, vice president of economic development for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. The ceremony closed with remarks from Dr. Craig Swenson, Ashford University president and CEO, who led the cutting of the ribbon. "Providing services to veteran students is a top priority for Ashford University," said Dr. Swenson. "We are excited not only to expand our student services facility, but also to open our newest Student Veeran Center here in the greater Phoenix area. The Center will make it much easier for local veteran students to receive individual, in-person support for their educational needs."



"As we grow our presence in the Phoenix area, we look forward having an increasingly positive impact on the community," said Clark. "This interim facility will allow us to continue investing locally while we expand and prepare a much larger, permanent facility to be ready by the end of 2018. In fact, we have already begun to partner with several Arizona companies to offer their employees a debt-free college education through our Full Tuition Grant Program, and we expect even more of these local partnerships in the future." The almost 40,000-square-foot facility houses student advisors and financial support counselors, as well as administrative offices for employees serving Ashford University students.

About Ashford University

Where heritage meets innovation  that's Ashford University. At Ashford, students discover relevant degree programs, innovative technology, and cherished tradition. Ashford offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degree programs online, allowing students to balance life by providing the flexibility to do school work anywhere, anytime. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu, www.facebook.com/ashforduniversity, or www.twitter.com/AshfordU. Contact: Kathleen Park

858.513.9240 x11636  kathleen.park@ashford.edu View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ashford-university-cuts-ribbon-for-student-services-and-student-veterans-center-in-arizona-300647960.html SOURCE Ashford University

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][May 14, 2018] Bridgepoint Education Honored as a Silver Stevie Award Winner in 2018 American Business Awards

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (NYSE: BPI) has been named the winner of the Silver Stevie Award in the Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year category for organizations with up to 2,500 employees in the 16th Annual American Business Awards. The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.'s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Bridgepoint Education's comprehensive corporate social responsibility program consists of employee volunteer events, donation drives, a corporate giving program to benefit non-profit organizations, and scholarships to pursue higher education. Through partnerships with local organizations, programs are supported within the focus areas of education, youth, and military efforts. "We are truly honored to be recognized with this award for our corporate social responsibility program," said Andrew Clark, CEO of Bridgepoint Education. "We are committed to giving back to the communities we serve and encouraging our employees to volunteer with the organizations that matter the most to them. We are thankful to be recognized along with all the nominees doing impactful, philanthropic work in their communities." More than 200 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year's Stevie Award winners. "Great sensitivity and scial responsibility that starts in the direction of the company, integrating, motivating and sensitizing employees," said one judge of Bridgepoint's corporate social responsibility program. "Continue on with this beautiful and important labor."



"The nominations submitted for The 2018 American Business Awards were outstanding. The competition was intense, and those recognized as Stevie Award winners should be immensely proud of this accomplishment," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2018 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

About Bridgepoint Education

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (NYSE:BPI) harnesses the latest technology to reimagine the modern student experience. Bridgepoint owns two academic institutions  Ashford University and University of the Rockies. Together, these programs, technologies, and resources represent a unique model for advancing education in the 21st century. Bridgepoint stands for greater access, social learning, and exposure to leading minds. For more information, visit www.bridgepointeducation.com or www.facebook.com/BridgepointEducation. About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com. Contact: Kathleen Park

858.513.9240 x11636  kathleen.park@bpiedu.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bridgepoint-education-honored-as-a-silver-stevie-award-winner-in-2018-american-business-awards-300647948.html SOURCE Bridgepoint Education

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are Samsung's latest, but the Galaxy S10 series is still kicking and is still supported. You can find them refurbished or used, and they should have Android 11 by now. This is great, especially if you don't want to spend top dollar on a Galaxy S21 Ultra or Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, or the expensive Galaxy Z Fold 3 with its eye-watering $1,799 price tag.

The Galaxy S10e is the most affordable and compact of the bunch; the Galaxy S10 is the standard flagship; and the Galaxy S10 Plus is the biggest and most premium version, save for the 6.7-inch Galaxy S10 5G.

These handsets share much in common, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor, but there are some pretty big differences across the board, too. Here's how to choose the right Galaxy S10 for you.

Galaxy S10e vs. Galaxy S10 vs. Galaxy S10 Plus vs. Galaxy S10 5G: Specs compared

Galaxy S10e Galaxy S10 Galaxy S10 Plus

Galaxy S10 5G Price $749 at launch, now $599 $899 at launch, now $749 $999 at launch, now $849 $1,299 Display (Resolution) 5.8 inches (full HD+) 6.1 inches (quad HD+) 6.4 inches (quad HD+) 6.7 inches (quad HD+) Rear Camera(s) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2);12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4); hQVGA 3D depth sensor

Front Camera(s) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9); 8-MP depth-sensing (f/2.2) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9); hQVGA 3D depth sensor

CPU Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International) Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International)

Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International) Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International)

RAM 6GB, 8GB 8GB 8GB, 12GB 8GB Storage 128GB, 256GB 128GB, 512GB 128GB, 512GB, 1TB 256GB, 512GB microSD Yes, up to 512GB Yes, up to 512GB Yes, up to 512GB Yes, up to 512GB

Battery 3,100 mAh 3,400mAh 4,100mAh 4,500mAh Battery Life (hrs:mins)

9:41

10:19

12:35

Not yet tested Colors Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Prism Green (except U.S.), Canary Yellow (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Prism Green (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Ceramic White, Ceramic Black, Prism Green (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Majestic Black (Verizon exclusive), Crown Silver Size 5.6 x 2.75 x 0.3 inches 5.9 x 2.77 x 0.3 inches 6.2 x 2.91 x 0.3 inches 6.4 x 3.0 x 0.3 inches

Weight 5.29 ounces 5.5 ounces 6.17 ounces 6.98 ounces

Galaxy S10 price and availability

Following the launch of the Galaxy S20 series, the 5.8-inch Galaxy S10e started at $599 for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 came in at $749 to $849 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage to start. And the 6.4-inch Galaxy S10 Plus was priced at $849 for its bigger display with the same 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.



The Galaxy S10 5G cost $1,299. Unlike the other flavors of the Galaxy S10, the 5G variant only comes with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage.

Unfortunately, we'd recommend against buying the S10 5G at this stage. Not only is the device difficult to track down these days, but as a first-generation 5G device, it doesn't support all deployments of 5G that carriers are using, meaning it's not very future-proof.

Besides, the newer Galaxy S21 Plus offers better 5G connectivity and all-around superior performance for a whopping $300 less than the S10 5G cost when it came out in 2019. So if you want a 5G Galaxy, we strongly recommend looking to one of the newer models, or even last year's Galaxy S20 series.

Galaxy S10 design, size and display

The entire Galaxy S10 family sports Samsung's Infinity-O display design. Instead of featuring a notch that hangs from the top of the screen, there's a hole punch on the top right side. It's fairly unobtrusive, but the S10 Plus and S10 5G have a wider hole punch to accommodate their dual front cameras, while the other phones have a smaller hole for a single front camera.

The Galaxy S10 Plus has dual cameras up front, and some don't like the hole-punch look.

The key difference between the four models is size. The Galaxy S10e has a 5.8-inch, full-HD display, which is the same size screen as the iPhone 11 Pro. The Galaxy S10 steps up to a 6.1-inch, quad-HD panel, and the Galaxy S10 Plus packs a 6.4-inch, quad-HD panel. At 6.17 ounces, the Galaxy S10 Plus is on the hefty side but still more than an ounce and a half lighter than the iPhone 11 Pro Max (7.97 ounces), which has a slightly bigger 6.5-inch screen. And the S10 Plus isn't even the largest Galaxy S10 of them all  that designation is reserved for the 6.7-inch, 6.98-ounce S10 5G.

The Galaxy S10 Plus has a 6.4-inch screen, while the S10 has a 6.1-inch display.

The screens on all four models benefit from Samsung's Dynamic AMOLED technology, which utilizes dynamic tone mapping for a wider range of a color and a reduction in blue light. However, all the S10 panels lack the 120Hz refresh rate of the newer S20 and S21 series. While the displays on the S10, S10 Plus and S10 5G are curved, the panel on the S10e is flat.

The Galaxy S10e has a fingerprint sensor built into the power button.

The Galaxy S10 weighs a manageable 5.5 ounces, while the S10e is a remarkably light 5.3 ounces.

Galaxy S10 color options

The Galaxy S10, S10e and S10 Plus all come in multiple colors, including Prism Black, Prism White and Prism Blue, as well as Flamingo Pink (except in the U.K.) and Prism Green (except in the U.S.).

The Galaxy S10e comes in yellow and green. The Galaxy S10 Plus has pink and white options.

The Galaxy S10e comes in Canary Yellow, but not in the U.S. And the 5G model offers less exciting choices  Majestic Black, which is exclusive to Verizon, and Crown Silver.

For those willing to splurge, the S10 Plus comes in Ceramic Black and Ceramic White, but those special editions are available only if you opt for the top-end 512GB or 1TB models.

Galaxy S10 fingerprint sensor

The Galaxy S10, S10 Plus and S10 5G feature an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded in the display, which makes it fairly easy to unlock these phones. Unlike optical sensors, such as that found on the OnePlus 8, this ultrasonic reader provides slightly better accuracy and security by creating a 3D contour of your finger. It can also work when your finger is wet or damp.

However, the sensor can occasionally register a false negative, forcing you to touch the sensor again. You have to be careful not to tap too quickly. One hacker has claimed to have fooled the scanner using a 3D printed fingerprint, but for most users this sensor should be fine for unlocking the device.

The in-screen fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S10 is pretty fast, but it's not always accurate.

One of the trade-offs for the cheaper Galaxy S10e is that it lacks an in-screen fingerprint reader; instead, Samsung embedded the sensor into the power button on the side of phone. Based on our testing, this sensor is more reliable than the under-screen one, though it is harder to interact with if the phone is lying flat, given its location.

Galaxy S10 cameras

As you might expect, the S10e has the fewest cameras, but it's no slouch. It offers the same 12-megapixel sensor as the other models, plus an ultrawide 16MP camera. And you get Samsung's improved Scene Optimizer feature for automatically recognizing up to 30 different scenes.

The Galaxy S10e comes with dual rear cameras, including an ultrawide shooter.

The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus add a third camera to the back, a 12-MP, /2.4 lens that enables 2x optical zoom. (The S10e has to make do with digital zoom.) Then the S10 5G goes a step further, with a total of four lenses on the rear, thanks to the addition of a time-of-flight sensor for advanced spatial recognition.

On the front, the S10e, S10, S10 Plus and S10 5G all share the same 10-MP, /1.9 lens for selfies, but only the Galaxy S10 Plus plus packs a secondary depth sensor up front, which enables bokeh in selfies and the ability to colorize a subject while keeping the background black and white. The S10 5G also has a secondary front-facing sensor, but it's another time-of-flight camera, rather than a conventional one as in the S10 Plus.

Overall, the Galaxy S10 is a good shooting partner, but it's not quite the best camera phone given its age. Samsung's has really stepped up its imaging tech in the last couple of years, delivering breakthroughs like the 108-MP sensor in the Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, or the incredible zoom features on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. If you're curious how the Galaxy S10's camera stacks up to the competition, check out our Galaxy S10 vs Pixel 3 camera face-off.

Galaxy S10 specs and performance (and 5G)

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor powers all four of Samsung's S10 flagships in the U.S, while Samsung's own Exynos 9820 is the CPU elsewhere. Samsung says the 855's built-in AI helps predict and prepare for app launches, which should speed up performance, while improved support for the Unity graphics engine boosts gaming performance over previous Galaxy S generations.

Based on our Galaxy S10 benchmark testing, this phone does indeed live up to the hype. It scored 10,732 on Geekbench 4, which was the highest score we had ever seen from an Android phone at the time of the S10's release. The iPhone XS is a bit faster in this test, but the S10 Plus pulled ahead on the 3DMark graphics test. You'll obviously see better performance from Samsung's 2020 and 2021 premium handsets, which feature Qualcomm's newer Snapdragon 865, 865 Plus, and 888 processors, but the S10 range is still plenty fast enough to consider purchasing today.

The Galaxy S10 Plus (left) comes with a max of 12GB of RAM.

On the Galaxy S10e, you start with 6GB of RAM but can opt for 8GB, and you can choose from 128GB or 256GB of storage. The Galaxy S10 comes with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. The S10 Plus tops out at 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, making it one of the first smartphones to reach those heights in terms of memory. And the S10 5G sits somewhere between all of those, with 8GB of RAM and the option of either 256GB or 512GB of storage.

The one area where the Galaxy S10 5G unsurprisingly pulls ahead is its data performance. We've speed tested the phone in Chicago, which was one of the first launch cities for Verizon's 5G network, and we have seen speeds exceed 1Gbps. And we were amazed as the S10 5G downloaded a 33-minute, 158MB episode of Netflixs Nailed It in an astonishing 5.6 seconds.

However, Verizon's network is far from widespread. That's been addressed since the carrier rolled out its nationwide sub-6GHz network in tandem with the launch of the iPhone 12, however, the Galaxy S10 5G cannot connect to that side of Verizon's 5G infrastructure. For that, you'll need the Galaxy S20, S21, or another one of the best 5G phones.

Galaxy S10 battery life and PowerShare

No surprise here. The Galaxy S10e has the smallest battery of the bunch at 3,100 mAh, but that doesn't mean it offers the least battery life; that's because it also has the smallest screen at 5.8 inches. This capacity is actually slightly better than the 3,000-mAh pack in the Samsung Galaxy S9.

The Galaxy S10e features a headphone jack and can wirelessly charge other devices.

The Galaxy S10 features a generous 3,400 mAh battery, while the Galaxy S10 Plus boasts a huge 4,100 mAh battery. By comparison, the Galaxy S9 Plus had a 3,500 mAh battery. In our battery tests, the Galaxy S10 Plus lasted a whopping 12 hours and 35 minutes, which is one of the best times we've seen from a flagship within the last couple of years. The phone also once featured in our list of the best phone battery life.

The regular Galaxy S10 endured for a very good 10:19, while the Galaxy S10e lasted a solid but unspectacular 9:41 on our battery test. For a comparison against the newer S20 devices, the standard Galaxy S20 fared just 9 hours and 31 minutes, while the Galaxy S20 Plus lasted a much better 10 hours and 31 minutes and the Galaxy S20 Ultra hit an epic 12:03. (All S20 tests were performed with each phone set to 60Hz mode.)

Each of the four Galaxy S10 phones offer Samsung's PowerShare feature, which allows users to charge other phones or Samsung's new Galaxy Buds wirelessly. You just place the other handset or buds on the back of the phone.

Galaxy S10 vs. Galaxy S21

Considering that the Galaxy S21 series is two generations newer, you'd expect those phones to be better than the Galaxy S10 family. They certainly are, with 5G as standard, 120Hz displays, more powerful processors, and better cameras (especially in the Galaxy S21 Ultra's case).

Although the Galaxy S10 series will likely see another year of platform updates, the phones are getting old as far as Android phones go. If you'd like to stick with Samsung for your next phone, be sure to check out our list of the best Samsung phones. But if you're open to other manufacturers, we encourage you to look at our roundup of the best Android phones.

Bottom line

Given all the differences between the four models, which version of the S10 should you consider? Here's how we break it down after testing the four phones.

Get the Galaxy S10e if you want a compact phone that's easy to use with one hand but you don't want to sacrifice performance or pay a high price. The regular Galaxy S10 is the phone to get if you want a fairly big screen, a fingerprint reader in the display and a third rear camera for ultra-wide shots.

The Galaxy S10 Plus is the flagship to buy if you want a big display and battery and a second front camera, plus the option for a crazy amount of RAM and storage. And as for the Galaxy S10 5G, although it offered impressive performance at the time, newer 5G phones have it beaten in terms of connectivity and affordability  so skip it.It looks like ZTE was just thrown a lifeline by President Trump.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty)



Last week the Chinese company said it had ceased major operating activities following a U.S. ban on exports to the company in April. This meant that ZTE could no longer make phones. The U.S. Department of Commerce made the move after the company failed to punish employees who reportedly violated American trade controls against Iran and North Korea.



In a tweet, President Trump said he was working to get ZTE back in business at the highest levels, saying that he was collaborating with President Xi of China.

ZTE has more than 75,000 employees and is the fourth largest phone maker in the U.S.

"The US Congress Dept opened itself up to an appeal so there was always hope that a deal could be worked out," said Avi Greengart, research director of consumer platforms and devices at GlobalData. "I fully expected China to apply political pressure to get the denial order lifted. What I don't think anybody expected was for Donald Trump to personally step in and stump for the Chinese worker."

MORE: What Are Good Alternatives to ZTE's Phones?

The message from President Trump comes after ZTE faced several other obstacles, including having the heads of the FBI and CIA warning against buying phones from either ZTE or Huawei.

In January, the lawmakers proposed a bill that would ban the US government from using Huawei or ZTE phones, citing a threat to national security. Despite all of these warnings, we haven't been shown evidence to support these claims.

Earlier today (May 14), Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross told reporters that the US might consider alternatives to banning ZTE from doing business with U.S. suppliers, though he didn't go into detail on what those options might be. Meanwhile, the president returned to Twitter to further describe ZTE as a company that "buys a big percentage of individual parts from U.S. companies."

"This is also reflective of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi," Trump tweeted.

The timing of the president's renewed tweeting came amid criticism from both Republicans and Democrats to what seemed like an abrupt about-face on U.S. policy. "I hope this isnt the beginning of backing down to China," tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

MORE: If you're traveling to China, make sure to get the best China VPN

Trump's involvement doesn't necessarily guarantee that ZTE is out of the woods.

"There are plenty of routes that the Commerce Department can take to lift the Denial Order, so this could have a happy ending for ZTE and its US suppliers," said Greengart. "However, other branches of the US government are still claiming that ZTE is a security risk, so ZTE's phone business in the US may still be in jeopardy, even if ZTE is allowed to buy us technology and resume selling infrastructure and devices in other markets."

This article was updated at 8:17 p.m. ET to add additional information.Hyundai is ready to look at the future as it reinvents itself and the Le Fil Rouge Concept is a display of how the Korean brand sees its destiny. Its all-electric, its sleek, and its luxurious. How a model like this would wear a Hyundai badge and not a Genesis badge is a complete mystery, but the point is that Hyundai has high hopes and extreme desires. You can already see that the exterior is attractive and commanding, but inside youll find wood, unique styling, and heaps of technology. Oh, and like all cool-guy concepts these days, it has suicide doors as well. What else does the concept offer as far as vision goes and how much will make it to production? Lets find out.

2018 Hyundai Le Fil Rouge Concept Exterior

The Le Fil Rouge has an aggressive and sleek silhouette worthy of something that would wear a Vision badge

The Le Fil Rouge has an aggressive and sleek silhouette worthy of something that would wear a Vision badge. But, it doesnt. Instead, it wears something a little more meaningful that points more toward destiny. And, if this is what Hyundais destiny looks like, consider us intrigued at the very least. Despite the fact that its more aggressive and gaudy than anything Hyundai has ever offered its still recognizable as a Hyundai. Its got a big massive grille, and while the front fascia has the silhouette of dumb, fake air intakes, Hyundai was smart enough to leave them out. It does have an air dam, though, and it could very well be functional as electric motors and batteries need cooling.

The side profile is dominated by that excessively sharp and pronounced line below the belt line. Its so strong, in fact, that the thin and upswept beltline is easy to miss. It also overshadows the wavy design style of the entire exterior. Theres a very thin body line about midpoint while the side skirts extend away from the body, leaving a small opening in the rear ahead of the wheels  another good opportunity for brake or motor cooling. The rear quarter panel provides room for that extensive body line to grow a bit while providing the emphasis the belt line and rear window trim deserves  notice how the trim curves around and heads bad toward the A-pillar like its in constant motion? Its a nice touch.

The whole upper portion of the rear end actually gives the car the impression of a two-piece design  like the top and bottom can easily separate

Around back, things are rather interesting. That massive body line wraps around to the rear and is molded to what appears to be a rear deck. The whole upper portion of the rear end actually gives the car the impression of a two-piece design  like the top and bottom can easily separate. The rear spoiler and face of the rear deck are gloss black, matching that of the massive panoramic roof. The rear fascia is rather uneventful, but that rear diffuser that sticks out provides some decent aggression back here.

All told, the concept offers a very sleek and aggressive design. Its not likely that well ever see this exact exterior design carry over into a production model, but certain parts could. That big, closed off grille and even that window trim or the sleek roofline can all make it into production at one point or another. I wouldnt count on those big burly wheels though- at least not until we humans are banned from driving, and self-driving cars take over the world.

Hyundai Le Fil Rouge Interior Design

Theres a lot going on inside the Le Fil Rouge Concept, but what it really boils down to is the tubular architecture that defines the interior

Theres a lot going on inside the Le Fil Rouge Concept, but what it really boils down to is the tubular architecture that defines the interior. Its evident in the dash, the door trim panels, the center console, and even the seats. And, that design is what makes the interior stand out as unique. See how all of that curved wood encompasses the outer edges of the interior? Or how about the center console? Despite the fact that most of the cabin is covered in fine leather, it almost appears as if its built with wood. Wood that has been finely sanded to the point that its almost soft to the touch. There are even little hints of it where you wouldnt expect like along the edge of the rear seat or ahead of the steering wheel where the column meets the overly pronounced dash. The word youre looking for here is elegant.

On the drivers side, the dash protrudes and sweeps upward, giving a mild appearance of the steering wheel floating. And, even though the dash sits a little high, and wraps around to the door panels, the instrument cluster area floats just ahead of that as a massive display screen. The passenger side of the dash is more recessed, allowing the wood trim inside the tube to show its presence while a small screen traverses the remainder of the dash to supply information (and possibly control of the infotainment system) to the front passenger.

The rear portion of the system is controlled via the touchscreen display on the center console that is also encased by a healthy dose of wood.

The front seats have the same tubular design, including the headrests that look like massive tubes wrapped in leather. The seat cushions are mounted to the floor at an aggressive angle and resemble flattened tubes while the seat backs have a cutout in the rear to create a storage pocket for rear passengers and a convenient place for a small screen that rear passengers can enjoy. Expect these screens to offer up internet access, video viewing, and trip information. The rear portion of the system is controlled via the touchscreen display on the center console that is also encased by a healthy dose of wood. Despite the fact that the rear seat looks like a bench, theres only room for two passengers because that long center console also serves as an armrest in the rear. The back seat, while not quite as tubular as the fronts, do get the same style of headrest.

Its a very intriguing design and one that doesnt really seem viable by modern terms. But, thats the beauty of concepts, even if this isnt an official vision concept. A lot of this stuff could, some day  if the lord is willing  make it into production in one way or another. I wouldnt expect to see a full production interior like this anytime soon, but certain things  like the square steering wheel, seatback design, and even those rear screens  could eventually find their way into a handful of different Hyundai-branded production models.

Hyundai Le Fil Rouge Drivetrain and Performance

Ideally, this thing would carry an all-electric powertrain with it

The truth is that there are absolutely no drivetrain specs available for the Le Fil Rouge Concept. And, with that in mind, its probably safe to say that its not even a functional concept. Its designed with the sole purpose of showing off the way Hyundai sees its future even if it doesnt wear a vision moniker. Ideally, this thing would carry an all-electric powertrain with it. The battery pack would be integrated into the floor, and there would be a large motor in the front and rear.

System output would likely range between 300 and 500 horsepower, with range coming in at equal numbers in miles. With the way charging systems work these days it would probably be able to take an 80-percent charge in an hour. Of course, this is all speculation as the concept isnt likely functional. However, these numbers are significant when you consider that it could become a production model, albeit highly toned down, in the future.

Conclusion

This is a very cool concept, and Hyundai definitely went out of its way to think about what the future of the brand might be like. Some of the design, like the excessive amounts of wood, are questionable and will probably never make it to production. The design styling of the exterior could carry over to various production models as well, however, I wouldnt expect to see them anytime soon. Looking further into the future, however, anything is possible. Whether or not something this concept in production form would carry a Hyundai badge is negligible, the brands production arm, Genesis, is more likely to produce a production model of this caliber.

Love it Crazy exterior styling Plush interior Loads of technology

Leave it Probably wont see production a little gawdy No functional drivetrain to speak of



References

Read more Hyundai news.

Read more Geneva Motor Show news.An Aranjuez taxi-driver is being treated for multiple stab wounds after a robbery attempt yesterday morning. Due to the swift work of residents of the area, as well as responding police, a suspect was held and is in police custody.I read in one of our dailies on Thursday that a second street will be named in honour of the late Ken Professor Philmore. This pannist, who was a tremendous person, brought joy and first-class entertainment to me on our treasured instrument, the pan. I have no problem with giving this man his recognition in this way.Re: Will 3 hours be enough to make my connecting flight?

2. Re: Will 3 hours be enough to make my connecting flight?

If everything goes on schedule you should be OK.

If it doesnt, you know the risk youre taking of having to buy a new ticket with TAP.

You should contact TAP to see what their cutoff time is for checked luggage.

Its usually 60 minutes. But if its 90, youre pushing things.Hello, I am wondering about the best way to get to Manuel Antonio from SJO in December for 6 adults (no children).

I heard that there were no flights going into the airport nearest to Manuel Antonio due to construction, but I don't know if this will be the case in December. The two airlines I could find do not have working schedules for December, or maybe there just are not any flights in December. I could not get the websites to work.

Is the shuttle service reliable? Is it worth it to see the scenery, or is it better to fly (if planes are flying) and avoid the traffic? Thanks in advance.Re: How much to pay a Cyclo or How much do they charge?

5. Re: How much to pay a Cyclo or How much do they charge?

"Hi, thanks so would you suggest booking a 'cyclo tour'..."

I wouldn't get on cyclo even if it was being ridden by my best mate.

Apart from the security / financial issues you'll potentially face, I've seen the looks on the tourist's faces that use them.

Trust me, they don't look like they're enjoying themselves. ;-)

Just walk around the city, it's very easy to do. Well, once you get used to the traffic. ;-)

ScottRe: JR Pass or not ? 7 Day or 14 Day ? For this itinerary

4. Re: JR Pass or not ? 7 Day or 14 Day ? For this itinerary

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We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.We will be traveling in the winter for 3 weeks. Have not looked at itinerary yet. Some want to ski for a day or 2, and then go to Springs, pottery towns, Kyoto and Tokyo, Snow monkey festival or any festivals around January 1-21st?

I will post more detailed inquires once I have itinerary nailed down.Dear All, apologies if this duplicates other forum posts, Ive read many of the forum posts and as everyone is visiting different places at different times our journey is different... I guess

Could do with some help as we dont want the trip to be bad!

weve divided places up according to uptown, midtown and down town but even with the best laid plans according to a computer (google maps mainly) Im keen on squeezing the best into a realistic trip and timescale.

Family of 4 staying in South Times Square 337W and 39th.

On the list for Mid town - Empire State observatory, macys, grand central, Rockefeller centre,

Up town - City of New York museum or natural history

Down town - Brooklyn bridge, one world, 911 fountains (possibly museum but not sure my children are up to it aged 13, and 9, also Im not sure Im up to it tbh) century 21, liberty island.

In between all this.... I would like to visit somewhere like Katzs diner, strawberry fields, Monicas apartment (dont ask!).

Weve purchased the hop on hop off but Im aware (having used the London Underground many times) that it might be better using the subway.

we arrive at JFK 12:55 on a Sunday then transfers to 337w and 39th, we leave Sunday 22:00 flight = this is all in august.

Any help is greatly appreciatedZarinah Hassan, commonly referred to as Zari Hassan by many, is a Ugandan born entrepreneur, musician, socialite, and a reality TV star. Currently, she lives in South Africa where she manages a chain of schools (Brooklyn Schools and colleges), student hostels, and other businesses. Zari Hassan ex husband, the late Ivan Ssemwanga, was the owner of some of the businesses that Zari currently manages and were left under her care since she was aware of all their functioning.

READ ALSO: Zari Hassan children: Who are they?

Zari Hassan age

Zari Hassan age has been one of the controversial topics about the lovely celebrity because even after having five kids, she still looks hotter as compared to women of the same age. Zari was born on 23 September 1980, and so she will be turning thirty-eight this year yet she looks like she is in her 20's perhaps. I kid you not, just see the Zari Hassan photos below.

Zari Hassan biography

Zari has a complex heritage with mixed races. For instance, her maternal grandfather was an Indian and the maternal grandmother Ugandan. On the other end, her paternal grandfathers was a Somali while the paternal grandmother is from Burundi. Zarinah grew up in Jinja, Uganda, where she attended Jinja Girls Secondary School then left for London to study Diploma in Cosmetology for two years.

Zari Hassan work

Did you know that Zari Hassan is a recording artist with various singles and an award winners? You probably didnt know. In 2007, Zari recorded and released her first hit single Oliwange (You are mine) that was nominated for the Africa Channel O Awards in the category of "Best East African Video of the Year." Later in 2009, she was awarded the Diva award in the Diaspora category. At the moment, Zari is an entrepreneur with several investments. Additionally, she is also a brand ambassador for Softcare, which are baby diapers produced by Kedz Tanzania, and she hosts several high profile events held in various part of the globe.

In Zari Hassan latest news, she has been promoting the purple color event to be held in Kenya. The purple theme concert will be a discussion of women's issues, and there will be free cancer screening for the ladies to be held in Kenya on the 12th May 2018. See these photos from Zari Hassan Instagram where she urges her fans to join her on that day.

Zari Hassan husband

After returning to Uganda from the United Kingdom in 2000, Zari relocated to South Africa where she met her first husband, Ivan Ssemwanga. Zari and Ivan were married for approximately twelve years, and together they have three handsome boys named Pinto, Raphael Junior, and Quincy pictured below.

Who is Zari ex husband?

Ivan Ssemwanga was a renowned Ugandan entrepreneur, socialite, and philanthropist. He was one of the Rich Gang group members that is famous in South Africa and Uganda. The group was mainly involved in charity work that targeted the less privileged Ugandan youths living in South Africa. Additionally, Ivan had heavily invested in numerous educational institutions in South Africa that Zari manages to date. Here are Zari Hassan ex husband photos obtained from the late Ivans Instagram:

Zari remained Ivans first love, and he was in love with her until his last breath. Zari confessed that Ivan was the best man she ever met and never wanted to dump him. What most of you did not know is the two married in a simple traditional wedding ceremony held in Uganda. Below we reveal one of the photos taken during Zari and Ivans wedding day.

Source: Wedding Ideas 2018

Why Zari left Ivan

Zari Hassan divorced Ivan back in 2013. When two known celebrities part ways, most people believe that it is the womans fault. Zaris case was no different and many bashed her for leaving Ivan then coming back to fight for his wealth after he died. However, after much speculations, Zari finally opened up and exposed that Ivan was obsessed with her to the point that he got physical and would hit her in front of their three sons. According to Zari, leaving Ivan was no easy task as she had sired three kids with him and built an empire too. Zari explained that she tried working on the relationship and even booked counseling sessions for Ivan who ended up not showing for the sessions but would pay the counselor to say that he attended. Efforts to have the elders and family intervene on the matter was also futile leaving Zari to make the difficult decision of leaving her marriage.

Zari explained that even after leaving Ivan, she forgave him, and with time the two maintained a relationship as co-parents and friends.

Zari Hassan ex husband dead

Due to a massive stroke, Ivan Ssemwanga was admitted to Steve Biko Academic Hospital slipping into a coma, and he later died on the morning of 25th May 2017. His body returned to Uganda where he was laid to rest. Even though Zari and Ivan were no longer together, and she was married to bongo star Diamond, Zari remained at Ivan's bedside throughout the entire time in hospital until his demise.

Zari Hassan and Diamond

Sometime back in 2014, Zari and Diamond began dating, and their relationship has emerged to be one of the most talked about unions in the continent. Diamond Platinumz (real names Naseeb Abdul Juma) is a renowned recording artist in Tanzania whose fame transverse East Africa to other continents. The relationship between Zari and Diamond had so many ups and downs as least expected. According to the two, their relationship began when Zari DMed Diamond on twitter asking him to grace her all-white party. Diamond brushed her off thinking that she was a groupie and he let her know that she needed to speak with his manager for any bookings. Later, it came to Diamonds knowledge that Zari was an established brand and not a groupie as he presumed. Within no time, the two met during a flight and exchanged numbers, and the rest, as they say, is history. Here are photos of Zari and Diamond together.

When Diamond and Zari decided to let the world know that they were together, they met severe backlash. First because Diamond was still dating Wema Sepetu, a Tanzanian sweetheart who is an actress and former Miss Tanzania. The announcement was how Wema knew that she had been dumped resulting in #teamwema #teamzari and #teamdiamond rivalry on all social media platforms. Additionally, other fans felt that Zari Hassan was not the best choice for Diamond as Dee is younger than Zari by nine years. However, despite all the hate going on, the two remained together and announced that they were pregnant expecting their first baby together. On August 2015, Zari and Diamond announced the birth of their baby Latiffah Dangote. Several months later after Tiffas birth, it was revealed that Zari was expecting the second born and many fans thought it was too soon. Diamond responded that they wanted to have children early so that they could enjoy their time together and watch their kids grow. Zari and Diamond got their son Nilan Dangote on the 5th December 2016.

Here are photos of Tiffa and Nilan with their parents:

Why Zari left Diamond

On Valentines Day, Zari announced that she was leaving her second husband, Naseeb Abdul Juma, through a post of a black rose and beneath it was a long caption explaining why she had to come to that decision. Here is that picture from Zari Hassan Instagram page.

READ ALSO: 10 facts about Zari the Boss Lady, Diamond Platnumz wife, you didn't know

The sassy socialite revealed that the reason for divorcing Diamond was due to his numerous cases of infidelity. She further explained that she would maintain joint custody of the two children with Diamond. Later on, in an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Zari Hassan revealed that she was capable of taking care of her kids and was not expecting any child support from her ex-husband Diamond Platinumz. At first, fans speculated that Zari and Diamond would get back together as they had done countless times in the past, but to our surprise, I think that this is the end of the road for the two as a couple.

READ ALSO:

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Source: TukoRamadan is a period of spiritual reflection, devotion and worship for individuals abiding by the Muslim faith. There is a good chance you have encountered, in previous years, a friend, co-worker, or neighbour that diligently observed the period's traditions, doing all sorts of activities. But what is the significance of the meaningful and reflective Muslim holy month? Why do people fast during this period?

A boy praying during the holy month of Ramadan. Photo: @Abdullah Ghatasheh

Source: UGC

The holy month, which Muslims anticipate every year globally, is a great moment to respect Islam's five pillars. These are Salah (prayer), Shahada (profession of faith), Zakat (charity), Hajj (pilgrimage) and Sawn (fasting). So, prepare yourself for the holiest period of Ramadan by knowing the history, rules and regulation of the month.

History of Ramadan

Muslims believe that the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan month when he was visited by the archangel Gabriel. The name stems from the Arabic root ar-ramad, which means scorching heat.

The month of Ramadan is considered the Best of times among Muslims. The first revelation occurs on Laylat al- Qadr (The night of power), which is among the odd five nights among the last 10 days of Ramadan.

The Islam hadith states that Holy Scripture was sent during Ramadan. These include the Torah's tablets, The Ibrahim, The Psalms, The Quran and The Gospel. The dates are as follows:

The Ibrahim sent on the 1st day of Ramadan.

The Torah sent on the 6th day of Ramadan.

The Psalms sent on the 12th day of Ramadan.

The Gospel sent on the 13th day of Ramadan.

The Quran sent on the 24th day of Ramadan.

According to Muslim historical text, Ramadan started during 610 AD when angel Gabriel appeared to Prophet Muhammad and revealed the Quran, the Islamic holy book.

At that time, Prophet Muhammad was forty years old only and had a habit of spending time alone or in isolation in a cave at Al-Hira mountain. Muslims commemorate that day by fasting and observing other rituals that abide by the Muslim faith.

According to the Muslim religion, the month of Ramadan is the holiest in the Islamic calendar. The primary and the main motive of Ramadan is to allow a person to experience one-time spiritual and physical nourishment, self-reflection and also to have self-discipline again.

The period of Ramadan incorporates Eid al-Fitr and Layat al  Qadr. Before Ramadan ends, Muslims pay respect to the Laylat al-Qadr by holding prayers all night on the odd days of the last 10 days. Muslims believe that at that night, all sins are forgiven as the almighty Allah showers his blessing and shows mercy.

After the Ramadan month ends, Eid- al- Fitr immediately starts, which means the fasting period. Muslim people gather together with their friends, families and relatives and eat and donate food to needy people.

Ramadan facts

Photo: @SHAHBAZ AKRAM

Source: UGC

Muslims consider Ramadan as the perfect moment of getting close to Allah. The holy month mainly lasts for twenty-nine to thirty days, according to the crescent moon's visibility. Fasting during the Ramadan month is considered a character-building time for Muslim people.

During this period, believers who follow the tradition can gain personal values like patience, self-control, self-discipline, purification of the soul, obedience towards God, and much more.

On top of this, Muslims become more aware and explore all the elements of Islam religion. This is very important for the wealthy people who become conscious of the underprivileged plight and learn to appreciate them more.

How long is Ramadan?

There is no fixed period for observing Ramadan rituals. However, it ordinarily falls within a specific time every year, just like Easter for Christians. It may take 29 days, 30 days or maybe 31 if the circumstances determining its end dictate so. It entirely depends upon the visibility of the crescent moon.

When are Muslims celebrating Ramadan in 2021?

When does Ramadan start in 2021, and when is the most probable time for the holy month's conclusion? The potential time for the beginning of Ramadan in 2021 is on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, and ends on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

Therefore, if you are looking to begin your Ramadan fasting, better start preparing early for the holy month and arrange your affairs appropriately to stay fit and healthy.

Ramadan rules and regulations

A boy reading the Quran during Ramadan. Photo: @Mukhtar Shuaib Mukhtar

Source: UGC

Though the fasting period's commencement and conclusion vary every year, the rules and regulations remain the same. One ought to familiarize with Ramadan rules and regulations for sawn (fasting) and anything else associated with the holy month. The following are some of the most integral Ramadan rules:

Eating guidelines: One cannot eat between sunrise and sunset, and it is only after this time that they can consume whatever food they desire.

Water consumption: This one of the strictest rules during the holy month. Since you cannot eat anything during the fasting period, you cannot drink.

Sexual intercourse during Ramadan: Between the fasting period (sunrise to sunset), one cannot engage in any sexual activity, which also includes having sexual thoughts in mind. You will break your fast if your sexual thoughts lead to the secretion of semen.

Taking medicine: If one is under medication, they can take medicines according to their timetable that would not void the fasting rules.

Who cannot fast? The ill or women who are in the menstruation period or who are breastfeeding or have other serious health issues should not fast, and they should not tempt another person who is fasting.

Working during the Ramadan period: You can work during Ramadan if you do your fasting properly and pray as recommended.

Dressing: Try not to wear any tight or revealing clothes. One should dress conservatively and modestly.

Behaviour and thoughts: In the holy month of Ramadan, one should have only pure thoughts and should show appropriate behaviour. People should have control over their thoughts and avoid backbiting and fighting.

State of Janaabah/Junub: This is an impurity state due to unlawful or lawful sexual act, semen secretion and pleasing oneself. Though Junub is an offensive behaviour during Ramadan, if one purifies themselves, they can continue fasting.

What can non-Muslims do? Anyone can join in the Iftar and Suhar because it is open for all. It is the only time for sharing good thoughts and praying together to the Almighty Allah without isolation.

The Ramadan religion significance is perfectly reflected in the above rules that everyone observing the month ought to abide by.

What does Kaffarah mean?

Are you wondering what Kaffarah means? This is a penalty or penance instituted as a remedy for intentional violation of fasting during Ramadan.

People that intentionally go against the sawn rules have to face severe consequences for their adverse action. In this case, they ought to fast for sixty days or provide two meals to the needy and underprivileged people.

Ramadan wishes

A lady eating after breaking fast during the holy mont h of Ramadan. Photo: @RODNAE Productions

Source: UGC

Ramadan is the holiest period in the Islamic calendar and has two most commonly used greetings. These are Ramadan Kareem and Ramadan Mubarak.

Ramadan Kareem

This Ramadan greeting means generous Ramadan. There have emerged some conflict regarding the use of Ramadan Kareem as a greeting during the holy month. Some say that it is against Islam to say Ramadan to be generous with you as Ramadan cannot be generous.

However, some believers say that it is okay to use the phrase to show that Allah is showering blessings. It is upon you to use the famous greeting or not based on what you want to put across.

Ramadan Mubarak

This greeting means happy Ramadan or blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak is the most common greeting as Prophet Muhammad himself used it.

Dua for Ramadan

Dua is the essence of worship in the Muslim faith and an act of supplication. What is the ideal Duas for the holy month of Ramadan? You can choose the most preferred for the different Ashras (stages) that last ten days. For instance, you can have the following for sighting the crescent moon:

Allahuakbar! Allahumma, ahillahu alaina bil-amni wal-imani was-salamati wal-Islami wat-taufiqi lima tuhibbu wa tardu. Rabbuna wa rabbukallah.

The above translates to:

Allah is the greatest! O Allah, let the crescent moon loom above us in safety, faith, peace and Islam and bless us with the ability to succeed in all that you love and are pleased with. Our Lord and your Lord is Allah.

Ramadan timetable

Ramadan dates vary each year as Muslims follow the lunar calendar for Ramadan rituals. A lunar calendar has 29.3 days in a month, whereas the solar calendar has 30 or 31 days every month, except for February. This way, Ramadan always occurs 11 days earlier compared to the previous year.

During Ramadan, countries situated in the northern hemisphere experience scorching sun and long days, while those in the southern hemisphere experience shorter days and less heat. The first day of Ramadan and the ending date do not remain the same for every country as the new moon varies.

Also, the Kenyan Ramadan timetable for diverse regions is different. For example, if Suhur time for Nairobi is 5.30 am, maybe Mombasa suhur time could be 5.15 am. Therefore, familiarize yourself with the appropriate timetable for your region to be on time with Ramadan decorations during the breaking of the fast times.

Ramadan is one of the most significant moments for Muslims whereby people experience a renewed sense of spirituality. However, the spirituality elements don't end when Ramadan is over, but it carries into the rest of the year.

Are you wondering what you can and cannot eat during the holy month of Ramadan? Tuko.co.ke featured an interesting piece highlighting the rules of eating during Ramadan and how one can adjust.

One of the most important things to note during this period is that people eat different foods before and after fasting. This way, one is well-nourished during the fasting period.

Source: Tuko Newspaper- Rapper Khaligraph featured Msupa S in her latest track set to debut soon

- Msupa S became popular after releasing her hilarious All The Way Up rendition

- Her rendition sent countless Kenyans into laughter thanks to the humour she used in the video

A couple of weeks ago, a teenage Kalenjin girl known as Msupa S became an instant online sensation after releasing her own rendition of world-popular jam, All The Way Up, originally done by Fat Joe.

While there are countless musicians who have release great renditions of other people's songs in the past, Msupa's rendition stood out thanks to how it was delivered.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

She sent the entire interweb into laughter after infusing a great sense of humour in her song, tinged with an unmistakable Kalenjin accent.

READ ALSO: Kalenjin girl sends netizens into laughter with hilarious All The Way Up rendition

READ ALSO: My classmates told me I could rap like Beyonce  hilarious online sensation Msupa S now claims

Throngs of Kenyans could not help but applaud her for her effort both as a rapper and a comedian.

Quite a multitude liked her humour and urged her to consider comedy as a career in a series of social media posts seen by TUKO.co.ke.

Well, Msupa seems to be keen and focused on her music career judging with the recent turn of events.

TUKO.co.ke has learnt that Msupa S recently made a massive milestone in her music career after attracting the attention of Kenya's finest rapper Khaligraph Jones.

This is despite having dissed Jones in one of her free styles.

In what seemed like a dream come true for the Kalenjin rapper, the Mazishi rapper hit the studio with her for a latest joint set to drop soon.

READ ALSO: Jamaa amkataza mkewe kuenda kanisani kwa kuhofia 'mafisi' kwenye kwaya

READ ALSO: After releasing hiphop song, Kalenjin girl drops hot rap rendition to rival Khalighraph

This was first made public by Khaligraph who shared a video of himself and the hilarious rapper in studio as they tipped their respective fans about the collabo.

''I had to get Msupa S to come the studio, I fux with this girls confidence and we recorded a banger video dropping next week, meanwhile now you know is now on Youtube. Respect the OGs,'' Khali captioned the video.

Being one of Msupa S's new fans, I can't wait for the debut.

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 News- Kimtai could be declared bankrupt if he fails to pay Khaemba's family the said amount

- Kimtai also risks losing his job in the event that he is declared bankrupt

- The PS has been embroiled in protracted court battle after his car allegedly killed Khaemba

The Principal Secretary (PS) for livestock, Harry Kimtai, could lose his job if he fails to pay KSh 2.9 million to the family of one David Mwibanda Khaemba who died after being hit by his (Kimtai's) car.

The PS, who was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 13, 2018, was given a 21 day ultimatum to settle the debt or be declared bankrupt.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mbunge adaiwa kumzaba makofi afisa wa kike wa kaunti ya Mombasa 'kwa kuvaa vibaya' (picha)

Permanent Secretary for Livestock Harry Kimtai'S car allegedly hit and killed David Khaemba, a 30-year-old teacher, in 2013 along Matili-Kimilili road. Photo:Titus Oteba/TUKO.

READ ALSO: National Youth Service facing fresh probe over disappearance of KSh 10.5 billion

TUKO.co.ke can confirm Bungoma High Court deputy registry issued the statutory order on May 10, 2018, following a protracted court battle.

It emerged during the hearings that Kimtai's vehicle hit and killed Khaemba, a 30-year-old teacher, in 2013 on Matili-Kimilili road.

Bungoma High Court judge, Abida Ali Aroni, on June 6, 2015, ruled that Patrick Wanyonyi, brother of the deceased, be paid KSh 3,261,812 as compensation for damages.

And failure to pay the said amount had consequences.

"Take notice that failure to pay the aforementioned amount of KSh 2, 461,202 plus attendant costs of KSh 500,000 shall result in Patrick Wanyonyi filing for a bankruptcy order against your estate including losing your employment and assets," the judge ruled.

READ ALSO: This Are The Faces Behind 791 Million NYS Scandal

Wanyonyi had on November 20, 2013, sued Kimtai and two other suspects, Abdulla Abdalla and Elias Barasa, driver of the killer vehicle, for allegedly killing his brother on January 15, 2013.

The court heard the deceased was a teacher at Matili Secondary School and met his untimely death while riding on a bicycle towards Misikhu market.

The lawyer representing Khaemba's family, Omundi Bw'onchiri, told the court the deceased, a graduate of Egerton University, was an employee of Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and was married with an 8-month-old daughter.

"As a TSC employed teacher, he earned a gross salary of KSh 56,447 and after taxation, a net of KSh 41,265.40," Bw'onchiri told the court.

READ ALSO: Uhuru appoints senior intelligence officer and son to Garissa Senator as DPP

The court heard the vehicle which caused the accident, a Subaru S.Wagon registration number KBE 345L, was owned by Kimtai, even though it was still registered under Abdalla.

It was revealed that the first defendant, Abdalla, had sold the vehicle to Kimtai except the two had not finalised transfer documents.

Bw'onchiri asked the court to declare Kimtai bankrupt should he fail to pay the family of the deceased amount stated by the court.

Reached for a comment, the PS said he will appeal the ruling.

Story by Titus Oteba, Bungoma County

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.

High school leaver builds own electricity power plant (Amazing Story) - On tuko TV

Source: Kenya Breaking News Today- Majority argued the first time lawmaker had disappointed the youth

- His campaign oozed much confidence and hope for a better Kenya

- Moha had at one point singled out UhuRuto as his enemies

- He ran a campaign premised on ending wanton corruption

Nyali MP Mohamed Ali's move to throw his weight behind Deputy President William Ruto pissed off a section of Kenyans, when a video of him endorsing the leader emerged.

Moha Jicho Pevu as he is known, had on Sunday, May 13, accompanied Ruto in a tour to Trans Nzoia county where they joined other local leaders at the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) in Kitale.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

It was here that the former investigative journalist famed for his hard-hitting Jicho Pevu exposes, pledged his support for the DP, a move that left his followers divided right in the middle.

READ ALSO: Mbunge adaiwa kumzaba makofi afisa wa kike wa kaunti ya Mombasa 'kwa kuvaa vibaya' (picha)

Moha as he is known, had accompanied Ruto in a tour to Trans Nzoia county where they joined other local leaders at the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) in Kitale. Photo: Mohamed Ali/Facebook.

READ ALSO: I disagree with Uhuru but I had to attend his rally-Moha Jicho Pevu

"Politics is not for the monarchy where leadership rotates around members of the royal family. Peasants like us will also have to produce a leader. How many will support Ruto? Thank you. 2022 will be time for William Samoei Ruto," he declared.

But Kenyans could hear none of that, given his fierce criticism against UhuRuto in the build up to the 2017 General Election.

He sold himself as a social justice defender among the youth and may espoused him calling out the Jubilee top leadership over corruption.

Majority argued the first time lawmaker who ran on an independent ticket had let down his supporters.

READ ALSO: Moha Jicho Pevu to sue The Star newspaper for soiling his name

The MP's campaigns which oozed hope were majorly anchored on promise to use his expertise in investigative journalism in unearthing rot in government.

Two-time presidential candidate Mohamed Abduba Dida was one of those who claimed the legislator's change in tone and body language was enough evidence that he had disappointed people who had hope in him.

"Moha has turned out to be an embarrassing disappointment. His campaign was based on giving hope to the people and promising to take Jicho Pevu to the Parliament.

"At some point, he even said that his only enemies were Uhuru and Ruto. Ironical how he now supports DP," he tweeted.

In 2017, at a NASA rally in Tononoka grounds in Mombasa, Moha declared Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta were his biggest enemies in the fight against wanton corruption.

Not once, he claimed the two Jubilee leaders had turned Kenya into a man-eat-man nation in which a few individuals run the economy.

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.

Here is the full interview with Bridget courtesy of TUKO TV.

Source: Breaking News- Ezekiel Mutua always has a bone to pick with anyone who doesn't match up to his moral expectations

- The moral police often calls out actors and TV presenters for what he terms as immoral behaviours

- He has banned several films and videos he deemed too immoral for the country

- Ezekiel recently sent his followers into laughter after criticising a sculpture of mating wildebeests at JKIA

From likening himself to the modern Martin Luther King to threatening to ban music videos because they depict skimpily dressed women, Ezekiel Mutua has never failed to surprise Kenyans.

The iron-fist Kenya Films Classification Board (KFCB) boss has always been criticised for putting too many hurdles for Kenyans to enjoy themselves.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Pasta awashangaza wengi akiwaamuru waumini kuvua chupi kanisani (video)

Mutua turned to Facebook on Monday, May 14, to express his anger towards a JKIA sculpture of two wildebeests mating.

The irate moral police referred to the work of art as bizarre and thoughtlessly sexualised.

According to him, the statue had no importance in Kenya's bid to market itself to tourists visiting the country.

READ ALSO:Moral Police, Ezekiel Mutua, Lauds Citizen Tv's 10/10 show for adhering to his conditions

"This sculpture is bizarre and thoughtlessly sexualised. The sexual connotation depicted in this sculpture adds no value to the marketing of Kenya to tourists arriving or leaving JKIA," he wrote.

The irate moral police referred to the work of art as bizarre and thoughtlessly sexualised. Photo: Ezekiel Mutua/Facebook

He further suggested the person behind the sculpture was a dirty minded artist trying to cheaply sell their creativity.

"It's the work of a dirty mind trying cheaply to sell their creativity. It is not different from the dirty minds who sexualise adverts on TV or on outdoor advertising," he continued.

READ ALSO:Kenya's moral police to take legal action against comedian Eric Omondi for posing in birthday suit with kids

He further suggested the person behind the sculpture was a dirty minded artist trying to cheaply sell their creativity. Photo: Ezekiel Mutua/Facebook

Before you roll your eyes, let me just inform you there's more!

The KFCB boss suggested how the sculpture should be rectified: the wildebeests should have been made to look like they were grazing in their natural habitat. Such a creative mind hmm?

Someone give him a trophy for creativity. Lol!

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.

Priscila Ibalai "I Was Compared to a Monkey" | Tuko TV:

Source: Tuko.co.ke- The wife to the deceased and another man were accused of playing part in the murder of Sammy Mbogo

- The two were accused of killing Mbogo and stuffing his body in the boot of his car

- They were remanded at Murang'a police station to be presented to court on May 28

- Alice Wachera, the wife to the deceased, attempted to defend herself but was shut down by the magistrate

Two suspects linked to the cold blood murder of Gatunguru Secondary school principal in Mathioya, Murang'a County were arraigned before a Muranga court on Monday, May 14.

Alice Wachera, who is wife to the slain principal Sammy Mbogo, and Samuel Harrison Gitu appeared before Murang'a Chief Magistrate Margaret Wachira but the two did not take plea to the murder charges.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

This is after the investigating officer Jeremiah Kazungu made an application to the court that the two be remanded at Murang'a police station to enable the police complete investigations.

READ ALSO: Pasta awashangaza wengi akiwaamuru waumini kuvua chupi kanisani (video)

The two were alleged to have committed the heinous murder on the night of Saturday, May 13, at the home of the deceased at Gakurwe village in Kiharu, before stuffing his body in the boot of his vehicle.

Police suspect the two were on a mission to go and dispose the body but it aborted after the vehicle veered off the road and landed in a ditch.

The man is alleged to be a secret lover of wife to the deceased.

The two accused objected the application with the first suspect pleading with the court to be allowed to go home because she did not lock the house at the time she was arrested and also to be involved in the burial arrangements of her late husband.

READ ALSO: 60 students sent home after mysterious disease strikes Muranga school affecting boarders only

The second suspect told the court he be allowed to go home to take the keys to his house to her daughter who could be seeking shelter elsewhere.

The court also objected an attempt by the wife to defend herself and told her the case had not reached at that stage.

Kindly confine yourself to the application made by the investigating officer, the magistrate told her.

The court declined their request saying the charges facing them were serious.

READ ALSO: Moha Jicho Pevu angers Kenyans after throwing weight behind William Ruto

The magistrate directed the suspects be returned to court on May 28, 2018 when the matter would be mentioned.

The head of the directorate for Criminal Investigations in Murang'a East Japheth Maingi said police hope to arrest more suspects in connection with the murder.

Story by Mark Wachira - Tuko correspondent/Murang'a

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 Breaking News Latest- Fida had moved to court to push for equal sharing of matrimonial property after divorce

- The organisation wanted court to declare Section 45 (3) of the Marriage and Property Act illegal

- Court ruled wealth acquired during marriage can only be shared based on individual's contributions

The High Court of Kenya on Monday, May 14, threw out a petition seeking to have spouses share matrimonial property on a 50/50 basis in the event of a divorce.

Justice John Mativo ruled matrimonial property could only be shared on the basis of individual contributions as stipulated in the law.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Fida also wanted the court to compel the Attorney General to publish a Statute Miscellaneous Amendment Act to get ride of the disputed section of the law. Photo: Nairobi News.

READ ALSO: Negative effects of divorce on children in Kenya

The judge argued it would not be reasonable for an individual to enter into a marriage empty handed, contribute nothing and then walk out of the marriage with half of the family's wealth.

Fida had gone to court to seek for removal of Section 45 (3) of the Marriage and Property Act, which explains how wealth should be shared between spouses upon divorce.

In its petition filed on September 2016, Fida, an organisation that fights for the rights of Kenyan women, argued the Matrimonial Property Act was unconstitutional.

READ ALSO: Pasta awashangaza wengi akiwaamuru waumini kuvua chupi kanisani (video)

The organisation wanted the court to have the law repealed so that spouses could share wealth on a 50/50 basis, regardless of their contribution during the marriage.

Ownership of matrimonial property vests in the spouses in equal shares irrespective of the contribution of either spouse towards its acquisition, and shall be divided equally between the spouses if they divorce or their marriage is otherwise dissolved, the organisation stated in its petition.

READ ALSO: Customary marriage in Kenya - registration, divorce, procedure

Fida also wanted the court to compel the Attorney General to publish a Statute Miscellaneous Amendment Act that would have consequently gotten rid of the disputed section of the law.

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- The former prime minister will be delivering lectures at Cambridge and Oxford University

- The ODM party leader is also expected to meet Kenyans living in the United Kingdom

- Sources indicated he will be talking about the political situation in Kenya including the handshake

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has jetted out of the country for a one week visit to the United Kingdom (UK).

The former prime minister left the country on Monday, May 14, and will be delivering lectures at Cambridge University and Oxford University.

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READ ALSO: Pasta awashangaza wengi akiwaamuru waumini kuvua chupi kanisani (video)

It was not clear what his agenda for meeting at Greenwood will be, though other sources indicated he will talk about the March 9 peace pact with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Photo: Raila Odinga/Facebook.

TUKO.co.ke can reliably confirm the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader will also meet Kenyans living in the UK during his seven-day trip.

A report by the Daily Nation indicated the former PM's meeting with Kenyans in the diaspora will take place at the Greenwood Lecture Theatres of Kings College, London, on Friday, May 18.

READ ALSO: Raila flying out of the country as Uhuru intensify campaigns

It is not very clear what his agenda for the meeting at Greenwood will be, though other sources indicated he will talk about, among other things, his March 9, 2018, peace pact with President Uhuru Kenyatta and the general political situation in the country.

Raila was accompanied by Nyando Member of Parliament Jared Odoyo.

The ODM party boss was expected to tour Nyanza region with President Uhuru Kenyatta as part of their unity agreement. That tour may have to wait until Raila returns.

READ ALSO: Raila and Kalonzo barred from flying out of the country-NASA claims

He has at the same time been pushing for constitutional amendments that if successful, would radically change Kenya's governance structure.

The push to review the law which is being opposed by Deputy President William Ruto and a section of Jubilee Party leader, may also come up during his UK tour.

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Source: Tuko.co.ke- Peter filed a case against the animals at Kotido Central Police Station

- He also accused animal authority of failing to protect the five rodents

- Police referred the case to State Attorney for expert advise

A Ugandan businessman on Thursday, May 10, dragged five rats to Kotido Central Police Station in a bizarre incident which awakened the sleepy Kotidany village in Kotido Sub County.

Peter Lojok Longolangiro accused the five 'suspects' of destroying his wads of cash he had kept in a box.

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According Watchdog Uganda, Longolangiro claimed the rodents gnawed away amount close to KSh 10,000, part of which he produced as exhibit to the police officers.

READ ALSO: Pasta awashangaza wengi akiwaamuru waumini kuvua chupi kanisani (video)

Peter Lojok Longolangiro accused the five rats of destroying his wads of cash he had kept in a box. Photo: Watchdog Uganda.

READ ALSO: Poor dog refuses to leave site its owner lived before Solai Dam tragedy which killed 45

The businessman also filed a case against Uganda Wildlife Authority for failing to protect the animals, which he believed belonged to the authority.

He claimed the rodents intruded into his privacy and entered the tiny box he had stored his savings and devoured the money.

Kotido District Police Commander, Alphonse Ojangole, referred Longolangiro to Resident State Attorney for expert advice on the case.

READ ALSO: President Museveni warns lovers against using their mouths while making love

He claimed the rats intruded into his privacy and entered the tiny box he had stored his savings. Photo: Anguyo Jonathan Gift/Facebook.

READ ALSO: Museveni requests Ugandan Women to produce not more than 4 children

Ojanjole said he had never come across such a case in his many years of police service.

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Willy Paul Interview for Tuko Buzz: Willy Paul Reveals it All | Tuko TV

Source: Tuko- The organisation argued Justice John Mativo's ruling rolled back gains made in fight for rights of women

- It said millions of Kenyan women found themselves fighting to hold onto property when they divorce or their husbands die

- FIDA Kenya had sought to challenge the constitutionality of Section 7 of the Matrimonial Property Act

- Justice Mativo however ruled there was nothing unconstitutional in the disputed Matrimonial Property Act

- FIDA vowed to appeal the ruling

The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya) has angrily reacted to the court ruling that slammed the breaks on the organisation's spirited push for equal sharing of matrimonial property between spouses upon divorce.

In a press statement issued a few hours following the landmark ruling on Monday, May 14, FIDA poked holes into Justice John Mativo's decision, arguing it took Kenya back to the old days when women rights were taken for granted.

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Fida Kenya said it had directed its legal team to review Justice John Mativo's May 14 ruling and file an appeal. Photo: Fida Kenya.

READ ALSO: Blow to Kenyan women as High Court dismisses 50/50 wealth sharing upon divorce

"Today is another sad day for Kenyans following a judgment by John Mativo on the petition No. 164 B of 2016, FIDA Kenya Vs Attoney General," the organisation said.

Justice Mativo had ruled that Section 7 of the Matrimonial Act was not unconstitutional since Section 2 of the same Act acknowledges non-monetary contribution in marriage.

READ ALSO: Negative effects of divorce on children in Kenya

The judge dismissed FIDA's petition that sought to challenge the constitutionality of Section 7 of the Matrimonial Property Act which provides that parties should show their contribution to the matrimonial property acquired.

Mativo cited the obiter dictum (by the way) of Kiage's Civil Appeal No. 128 of 124 in which Justice Kiage stated that equality of spouses provided for under Article 45 (3) of the Constitution of Kenya does not apply in the matrimonial property.

"This has been a great fear for FIDA Kenya that the country is being plunged back to the olden days when women were treated unfairly as regards matrimonial property," the lobby group protested.

READ ALSO: Divorce process in Kenya. How long does it take?

The organisation directed its legal team to review Justice Mativo's ruling and file an appeal, adding that the ruling could not be allowed to stand.

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Source: Tuko Breaking News- The three were arrested while demanding for a KSh 100,000 bribe from the manager of Lake Nakuru Flamingo Lodge

- Police Inspector Simiyu, ex-KRA employee Peter Mue and taxi driver Thuo had initially asked for KSh 500,000 bribe

- They were pretending to be KRA officials who were on a mission to investigate tax evading businesses in Nakuru

It was the end of the road for a senior police officer formerly attached to KRA and a former tax man after they were arrested in Nakuru when they went to collect a bribe from a hotel.

The taxi driver, who they hired from Dagoreti in Nairobi, was also arrested.

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According to the police, Inspector Davies Musumbi Simiyu who was once attached to KRA, former KRA officer Peter Mue 66, and taxi driver Manaseh Makobu Thuo, 54 went to Lake Nakuru Flamingo Lodge and ordered for breakfast.

READ ALSO: Police release photo of deadly terror suspect days after US warned of possible terrorist attack

They then summoned the acting manager, Solomon Kipruto Kimtei and started making some inquiries about the hotel and its taxes.

They demanded a bribe of KSh 500, 000 but the manager bargained with them.

The trio agreed to take KSh 100,000 in the evening of Friday, May 11.

However, the hotel management alerted the police who laid an ambush.

The three were arrested when they went to collect the cash in the evening.

The vehicle they were using, a white Toyota Fielder registration number KBZ 821J, was also detained at the Bondeni police station.

READ ALSO: Pasta awashangaza wengi akiwaamuru waumini wake kuvua chupi zao

Having worked at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the two impersonators would use illegally acquired confidential information about organisations to extort money.

Since they were armed with factual and detailed information, their victims believed they were KRA employees and would give in to their demands.

Investigators say the two were notorious and that ongoing investigations may reveal more cases of impersonation and extortion.

READ ALSO: More NASA-affiliated leaders throw weight behind DP Ruto's 2022 presidential bid

Elsewhere in Nairobi, a police Constable attached to Nairobi Railways headquarters and two other suspects were arrested in Kayole after they were found with 12 pieces of Kenya Power street light brackets.

Constable Stanley Muchiri Mwangi was arrested together with Charles Mwangi Mwaura and Stehen Otieno at Mihango while driving in a Toyota Townace registration number KCB 923T.

Story Lucky Omenda- Tuko correspondent, Nairobi

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: Kenya Breaking News TodayA typo is how the Opposition Leader described the Government's entire Budget for fiscal 2022, as she said says it contained nothing for the people of this country.President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko plans to take part in the test of the U.S. anti-tank missile systems Javelin on the Ukrainian firing grounds until the end of May.

MP Iryna Lutsenko, the representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada, said this at the meeting of the agenda-setting council in the Parliament, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Providing Ukraine with the U.S. Javelin missiles confirms the weakening of Russia in the international arena. The President of Ukraine plans to take part in the Javelin test on our firing grounds before the end of May," Lutsenko said.

As reported, in late 2017, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump decided to sell the defensive weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missile systems, to Ukraine.

olThe 10th European Economic Congress has opened in Poland. A team of Ukraines Ministry of Economic Development and Trade headed by Stepan Kubiv takes part in the congress.

This was reported by the press service of the Economic Development Ministry on Facebook.

"Today, the 10th European Economic Congress opens in Poland, where a team of the Economic Development Ministry headed by Stepan Kubiv takes part. The purpose of the event is to coordinate the development of the European economy and to expand trade with strategic partners, such as Ukraine. Our delegation will tell numerous participants of the congress about new prospects for trade with Ukraine and favorable opportunities for investments," the report reads.

Kubiv will meet with high-ranking officials of Poland, which has long been Ukraine's largest trading partner among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the fourth most important trading partner in the world.

Thus, in 2017 the volume of bilateral trade in goods between Ukraine and Poland amounted to $6.2 billion and increased by 26.2% compared to 2016. This year the figures continue to grow. So, for two months of 2018 the trade turnover between Ukraine and Poland reached $1.6 billion that is increased by more than 28% or by $236.0 million compared to the same period in 2017.

ishThe Ukrainian Government is focused on carrying out reforms, especially in the economic sector, and continues to conduct a constructive dialogue with international partners, including the International Monetary Fund.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said this during a meeting with members of the Supervisory Board of the Yalta European Strategy (YES), the Governmental portal reports.

"We are focused on reforms  economic, public sectors, decentralization, civil service reform," Groysman said.

He notes that the Governments work is focused on a powerful economic growth that will not only unlock the potential of Ukraine but will also help resolve the problem of debt burden on the public finance system.

"We continue to cooperate with the IMF. And in this context, we expect the adoption of legislation on the Anti-Corruption Court. This will be a signal that Ukraine is determined to fight corruption," the prime minister said.

The Government will also continue to carry out reforms in the energy sector, primarily in the context of energy saving, formation of a transparent gas market and development of own gas production, as well as in the sector of state-run companies, where new management principles are introduced and independent supervisory boards are formed.

Members of the YES Supervisory Board invited the prime minister to participate in the conference in September and expressed their readiness to continue to support Ukraine.

ishGermany views Ukraine as a reliable transit country for gas and an important trading partner in the Eastern Europe region, so the German government will continue to support Kyiv.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said this at a meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, the Government portal reports.

"We must respect the interests of Ukraine, including financial ones, develop the guarantees in order to maintain gas transit through Ukraine and achieve positive results," Altmaier said.

In turn, the Prime Minister of Ukraine noted that Kyiv appreciated Germany's support in such an important time for Ukraine. "I want to highlight the firm stance of Germany and Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel on support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said.

Speaking about the transit potential of Ukraine and the capacities of the Ukrainian gas transportation system, Groysman noted that the Russian project for construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was not a commercial project.

"Nord Stream 2 is an exclusively geopolitical structure that is designed to exert political pressure on Ukraine and Europe and poses a direct threat to Ukraine," the Ukrainian Prime Minister believes.

"It is a profitable project for Russia as it will ensure the long-term dependence of the entire Europe on Russia, and there is no real guarantee that Nord Stream 2 will not be used for political purposes. At the same time, I guarantee that Ukraine has been and will be a reliable transit country and will provide 100% gas transit for European consumers. We are ready to modernize and manage our gas transportation system together with the international partners," Groysman added.

"We rely on Ukraine as a transporter," Altmaier said.

olAs of May 14, Ukraine exported 35.1 million tons of grain crops since the beginning of the current marketing year.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.

"In particular, 15.6 million tons of wheat, 4.2 million tons of barley, 35,000 tons of rye and 15.2 million tons of corn were exported. In addition, 392,000 tons of flour were exported," the statement reads.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy informs that in the 2016/17 marketing year 44 million tons of grain were exported to foreign markets. In particular, 17.5 million tons of wheat, 5.4 tons of barley, 11,400 tons of rye and 20.7 million tons of corn. In addition, 403,000 tons of flour were exported during this period.

ishGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed deep concern over ongoing ceasefire violations and human casualties in eastern Ukraine, according to Radio Liberty.

"Ukraine is worrying us," Merkel said after receiving the Lamp of Peace of St. Francis award in the Italian town of Assisi on May 12.

"We try to enforce the Minsk agreements, but every night there is a violation of the truce, every day human losses," she added.

As reported, Russian-backed separatists continue to deliberately violate the ceasefire on the contact line. In particular, in the evening of May 11, Ukrainian troops recorded another criminal activity of militants who shelled civil infrastructure in Zaitseve from a mortar.

opThe head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Ukrainian MP Refat Chubarov, has published an appeal to participants in a mourning rally in memory of the victims of genocide against the Crimean Tatar people, which is to be held at Anadolu Square in Ankara at 14:00 on May 14.

In his appeal, which Chubarov posted on his Facebook page, he said that the Crimean Tatars would always remember the victims of the deportation of 1944 and that today the situation of the Crimean Tatars continued to be difficult.

"Russia occupied our homeland again. The Russian Federation violated the Budapest Memorandum, which recognized the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but we know that Russia has never kept its promises during history," Churbarov said.

According to the appeal, Russia occupied the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014. Russia brought a lot of suffering to the Ukrainian people. "The deportation of May 18, 1944 was the worst thing that fell on our fate. Due to the fact that our people opposed and opposes the annexation of Crimea, repression against the Crimean Tatars by the occupation authorities continues today. Some 20,000-25,000 Crimean Tatars were forced to leave Crimea, the occupiers banned the activity of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. Television, radio, news agencies were banned," reads the appeal.

"Among the opponents of the annexation are those whom the occupiers killed. There are many of those who were kidnapped by the occupiers, and 67 of our compatriots were thrown into Russian prisons. The houses of the Crimean Tatars are raided every week," Chubarov said.

The MP also thanked the Turkish authorities for not recognizing the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.

"We will never forget the victims of the deportation. All those involved in those tragic events should stand trial. Let Turkey live, let Ukraine live, let Crimea live, let the Crimean Tatar people live," Chubarov said.

The head of the Mejlis urged international organizations to end the occupation of Crimea and Donbas, strengthen sanctions against Russia and prevent the repetition of events of May 18, 1944.

opUkraine intends to hold talks with representatives of France, Turkey and Norway on the implementation of joint projects of Antarctic research.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

"Ukraine plans to hold talks with representatives of France, Turkey and Norway on the implementation of joint projects for Antarctic research. The corresponding meetings of a Ukrainian delegation will be held within the framework of the 41st meeting of the Antarctic Treaty in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 12-18," the report reads.

During the event, Ukraine will also present a document with its own vision of priority areas for the development of science in Antarctica, which will provide the basis for a new Antarctic program.

The delegation of Ukraine is headed by Director General of the Directorate of Science of the Ministry of Education, Ukraines representative in the Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty Dmytro Cheberkus.

The press service of the Education and Science Ministry added that following the results of last year's meeting, Ukraine managed to intensify cooperation with the United States and France.

ishThe U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to provide Ukraine with additional technical assistance in the amount of $125 million for the restoration of Donbas and adjacent territories.

This was reported by the organization's press service on Facebook.

"This additional technical assistance will be aimed at ensuring further stabilization and consolidation of Ukrainian communities in the region, increasing the stability of the local economy and accelerating its development," the report reads.

The assistance will be officially announced during a joint press conference on May 15 by Assistant Administrator for USAID's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Brock Bierman, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

ishBobrovnyk sanctioned Chief of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Roman Nasirov's arrest.

Judge of Kyiv's Solomyansky district court Oleksandr Bobrovnyk, 37, reportedly died of a heart attack on Sunday, May 13.

"Judge of the Solomyansky court Bobrovnyk has died. A heart attack. It has been confirmed by two independent sources," journalist Oksana Kovalenko tweeted on the same day. "The court's press service is among them."

Bobrovnyk passed rulings on some allies of fugitive ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, according to the news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.

Read alsoUkraine tax chief Nasirov fired amid embezzlement probe  media

In particular, the judge in 2016 made the prosecutors close a criminal case against former Member of Parliament from the then Regions Party Yuriy Ivaniushchenko and he refused in 2017 to provide the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) with access to documents about ex-Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky's schemes.

Bobrovnyk also considered the case of suspended chief of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Roman Nasirov and sanctioned his arrest on March 7, 2017, having set bail at UAH 100 million (US$3.81 million).

On April 22, 2017, the judge refused to arrest ex-MP from the People's Front Mykola Martynenko and released the suspect against personal guarantees.

Bobrovnyk was also a judge who considered the gas case of fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko. The latter claimed that Bobrovnyk was a judge who is controlled by NABU and is loyal to the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

In 2018, Bobrovnyk freed Chief of the State Audit Service Lidia Havrylova, who was suspected of unlawful enrichment and whose assets declaration contained false information. Havrylova was released against personal guarantees.

Early in 2018, the disciplinary chamber started an inquiry against Bobrovnyk who was charged with bribery and drinking alcohol at work.Slobodyan explained that the Russian government is now trying to make the crew criminally responsible for anything from terrorism to arms smuggling.

The members of the crew of the Ukrainian fishing vessel YAMK-0041 that Russian border guards detained near Russian-annexed Crimea could be accused of terrorism.

This assumption on Radio Krym.Realii was expressed by Deputy Head of State Border Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodyan, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide reports.

Read alsoUkraine demands release of fishing vessel detained by Russia near Crimea

Slobodyan explained that the Russian government is now trying to make the crew criminally responsible for anything from terrorism to arms smuggling. He said the objective is to paint the crew as not simply offenders but saboteurs.

The Deputy Head said that even setting aside the illegality of Russians detaining the Ukrainian ship, violating maritime borders is not a criminal offense in Russia. "Russia sees this as illegal activity in Russian waters. But again, for that they have administrative responsibility, not detention," he said.

On March 25, Ukrainian border guards detained a fishing vessel called the Nord in the Sea of Azov that flew a Russian flag. The Prosecutor's office of Crimea opened a criminal case because the vessel came from annexed city of Kerch, a port officially closed by the Ukrainian government.

In response, the Department of the FSB of Russia in Crimea opened a criminal case against employees of the State Border Service of Ukraine that detained the ship. Ukrainian border guards have called it "the pressure on the State Border Service of Ukraine."

On May 3, the State Border Service of Ukraine reported that "the Russians began a policy of detention and inspection of ships" through the Kerch Strait. On May 4, Russian border guards detained the YAMK-0041 as it left its home port of Ochakiv and headed westward to Tarkhankut cape in Crimea.A meeting took place in a hybrid Normandy format in Aachen, Germany,  without the participation of Vladimir Putin. Kurt Volker announced a visit to Ukraine, having made a number of statements. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued the award, obliging Russia to pay compensation to Ukrainian companies for the loss of property in Crimea. Putin took the oath of office for his fourth term as Russian president. Nikol Pashinyan became Prime Minister of Armenia. Donald Trump continued wiping out the gains of the Barack Obama Administration's foreign policy.

Angela Merkel, Petro Poroshenko and Charlemagne prize winner Emmanuel Macron first met as a group of three [instead of the Normandy Four format] to discuss prospects for the settlement of the conflict in Donbas and the deployment of peacekeepers. Neither the format of the meeting nor the current foreign policy situation suggested any concrete decisions. The three leaders rather demonstrated their willingness to coordinate positions before the visit of Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to Russia: the leaders of Germany and France will hold talks with the Russian president in the next two weeks. The German Chancellor held telephone talks with the master of the Kremlin after the negotiations in Aachen.

It would be illogical to ignore Kurt Volker's recent statements, since the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations consistently increases the number of claims addressed to the Kremlin. This time, during a briefing and interviews that preceded Volker's visit to Ukraine, he called for new arms supplies to our country in order to increase the price of Russia's possible attempt to expand control over Ukrainian territory and drew attention to the constant violation of human rights in Russian-occupied Crimea. Russia responded to Volker's words asymmetrically by spreading rumors about the removal of presidential adviser Vladislav Surkov, the negotiator on behalf of the Kremlin and one of the architects of Russia's hybrid aggression against Ukraine.

The decision of the Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which ruled on the compensation of $159 million to Ukrainian companies that had lost property in Crimea after the annexation of the peninsula by Russia, is important not so much in the financial dimension, but as a precedent for recognizing the fact of Russian aggression at the international level. And although the Kremlin will certainly try to challenge this decision, Ukraine has every chance of succeeding.

Putin began a fourth presidential term, his inauguration took place without the participation of incumbent foreign leaders, and its broadcast was designed to emphasize the working nature of the ceremony. The presence of retired PMs of Germany and Italy  Gerhard Schroder and Silvio Berlusconi had to demonstrate the scope of the Kremlin's influence on the establishment of the Old World. But the tricolor [flag] over the Kremlin failed to grasp the importance of the moment, having stuck halfway to the top of the flagstaff above the Russian presidential residence.

On May 8, at the second attempt, Nikol Pashinyan managed to occupy the prime minister's office with the powers lovingly secured by Serzh Sargsyan. It would probably be an exaggeration to say that the leader of the April protests has already gained the entire authority in the country, even against the backdrop of the dismissal of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the chief of the special services and demands for the resignation of the mayor of Yerevan. To strengthen his positions, Pashinyan needs to win a snap parliamentary election a decision on which is yet to be taken.

Donald Trump is consistent with efforts to torpedo the decisions of the Barack Obama Administration. This time, the U.S. president announced the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the rollback of sanctions against that Islamic state. The decision of Washington was actively supported by the leaders of Israel and Saudi Arabia, while the European states hope to preserve the agreement. Developments in the Middle East show that the Persian Gulf will remain a zone of heightened tension in the near-term outlook.

Yevgeny Magda is a fellow at the Institute of World Policy

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterThe situation in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, remains tense.

Chairman of the People's Front parliamentary faction, Member of Parliament Maksym Burbak does not rule out that Russia has begun a de-facto blockade of Ukrainian ports of the Sea of Azov.

Read alsoRussia may charge crew of detained Ukrainian shipping vessel with terrorism  media

"The Russian FSB border guards have started to stop and inspect merchant vessels heading for the ports of the Sea of Azov. And now they have also seized Ukrainian fishing vessels from [the Ukrainian ports of] Ochakiv and Berdiansk," he said at a meeting of the Conciliation Board, an UNIAN correspondent has reported.

"These are unlawful, aggressive actions. The enemy has been building up naval forces in Crimea. It is likely the beginning of the blockade of our Azov ports," Burbak said.

The east of Ukraine sees no de-escalation either, he said.

"The aggressor does not want peace  we move on," Burbak said. According to him, the Verkhovna Rada should expand sanctions against the aggressor country and adopt the relevant bills proposed by the People's Front faction and others.Savchenko's press secretary Tetiana Protorchenko said it was Nadiia's own decision to give up the lawyers' services.

Ukrainian Member of Parliament, former commander of the Aidar Battalion Serhiy Melnychuk has said he is ready to provide guarantees for the release of Ukrainian MP Nadiia Savchenko, who is suspected of plotting terrorist attacks and seizing state power.

The journalists learned about this before the court hearing on Monday, May 14, the news outlet Hromadske reports.

Before the meeting, Savchenko's press secretary Tetiana Protorchenko said it was Nadiia's own decision to give up the lawyers' services.

Read alsoLutsenko claims he knows names of Russian colonels who armed Savchenko for terror act

As UNIAN reported, the Verkhovna Rada on March 22 green-lighted the arrest of MP Nadiia Savchenko, a former Ukrainian pilot released from a Russian prison as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange. Ukraine's prosecutors charged Savchenko with plotting a coup and an act of terror in Ukraine, following an elaborate sting operation by SBU Security Service agents, who initially targeted former hostage swap negotiator Volodymyr Ruban.

The latter is believed to have conspired with Savchenko. Savchenko is suspected of committing crimes under Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at the forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power); Part 1 of Article 14 (preparations for a crime), Part 2 of Article 28 (committing a crime by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior agreement, an organized group or a criminal organization), Article 112 (an attempted attack on the life of a public figure), Part 3 of Article 258 (an act of terror); Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist group or organization) and Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal possession of weapons, ammunition or explosives) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

On March 23, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court ruled that Savchenko be remanded in custody for 59 days without bail.

She announced in the courtroom she would go on hunger strike, denying plans to flee Ukraine.

On March 29, Kyiv's Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the first instance court to keep Savchenko behind bars for a period of 59 days until May 20.

It became known on May 11 that Savchenko's two lawyers  Oleh Soloviy and Dmytro Buhai  had refused to work for her.

UNIAN memo. Nadiia Savchenko, a former Army aviation pilot, fought as a volunteer of the Aidar Battalion in the Donbas war before she was captured by Russian-led forces in June 2014. In May 2016, she was exchanged in a prisoner swap for Russian GRU officers and returned home.Elections in Russia have nothing to do with Crimea, Harstedt said.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA) recognizes the occupied Crimea and Donbas as an integral part of Ukraine.

Read alsoEU Council sanctions five persons over Putin's elections in Crimea  Poroshenko

"Every time when we recall Ukraine, we are talking about the fact that Crimea and Donbas are its integral part. And when we talk about the elections in the territory of the Russian Federation, they have nothing to do with the territory of Crimea," OSCE PA Special Representative on Eastern Europe Kent Harstedt told a briefing on May 14. He commented on a statement by First Deputy Speaker of Ukraine's parliament Iryna Gerashchenko that the illegal elections in Crimea have not been mentioned in the report by the OSCE unit. Therefore, she called on Ukraine's parliament to address the OSCE PA with the relevant statement.

In turn, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli noted that in all documents "we never question the indivisibility of the Ukrainian territory."

"We support the indivisibility and sovereignty of the territory of Ukraine," he stressed.

Tsereteli noted that during the last two days, when the OSCE PA representatives visited the eastern Ukraine, they observed ceasefire violations.

"Support for the indivisibility and sovereignty of Ukraine is one of the key priorities for the Parliamentary Assembly for the time being," he said.

In his words, this is the second visit of the OSCE PA envoys to Ukraine in the last four months. In such a way, they demonstrate that Ukraine is very important for all the OSCE member states.The parties discussed the revival of the Ukrainian Donbas.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the meeting with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli initiated the patronage of the European Union states over certain cities in Ukraine's Donbas.

Read alsoMinistry names three scenarios for Donbas de-occupation

"The parties discussed ways of assistance to internally displaced persons and the revival of the Ukrainian Donbas. In this regard, the head of state proposes that each EU country prepares a targeted program of patronage over certain cities in the Ukrainian Donbas, contributing to their revival and restoration of the infrastructure," the presidential press service said in a statement on May 14.

Poroshenko thanked the OSCE PA President for the support of the Assembly in the fight against Russian aggression by adopting important resolutions. "The voice of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is very important in our joint efforts to stop the aggressor," the head of state said.

The officials also discussed the security situation in Donbas and the urgent steps to achieve progress in a peaceful settlement, in particular the initiative to deploy a UN peacekeeping mission to Donbas. They also noted the need to prolong sanctions against Russia until the full restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Ukrainian president called on the OSCE PA to continue efforts to release Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages from Russian prisons.

Particular emphasis was put on the important role of the OSCE PA in the context of commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, in particular, the recognition by the national parliaments of the Holodomor as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

Tsereteli, in turn, shared his impressions from visiting Donbas and thanked the Ukrainian delegation in the OSCE PA.The Mikhail Kroshitsky Sevastopol Museum was "returned" to Ukraine.

The Ministry of Culture of France has corrected a map on its official website were Ukraine's Sevastopol in the occupied Crimea was indicated as a Russian city.

Read alsoUkraines Embassy calls on Czechs major railway carrier to fix map with "disputed" Crimea

As was earlier reported, the map showed the participants of the European Night of Museums 2018 with the description of museums and their addresses.

Noteworthy, the location of the Mikhail Kroshitsky Sevastopol Museum was indicated as 9, Admirala Nahimova Avenue, Sevastopol, the Russian Federation.

After a while, the information was corrected: Ukraine was marked instead of Russia.Volker will have expanded authority in Ukraine.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has had his mandate expanded before a visit to Ukraine.

Read alsoU.S. to allocate $125 mln to Ukraine for restoration of Donbas

"According to sources, Kurt Volker had his mandate extended and expanded. He will have not only the authority to deal with the situation in Donbas, but he will also have broad powers in Ukraine as such," said VOA's Ukrainian Service chief Myroslava Gongadze, RFE/RL's Krym.Realii media project reported.

As UNIAN reported earlier, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker will visit eastern Ukraine today, May 14. According to him, he wants to see the situation on the ground and learn more about the humanitarian crisis in Donbas.Jamala's performance at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her song "1944" was highly appreciated and ranked 6th in the poll.

Ukraine is among the best six Eurovision winners in the past 10 years.

The rating of the best Eurovision winners was published on the official website of the international song contest, the TSN TV news service reports.

Read alsoIsrael's PM: Eurovision will be coming to Jerusalem next year

Jamala's performance at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her song "1944" was highly appreciated and ranked 6th in the poll with 443 votes (or 6% of all votes).

Over 7,000 people took part in the poll.

The representative of Sweden at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Loreen, with her song "Euphoria" topped the poll (1,807 votes, or 25%).

Norway's Alexander Rybak with the song "Fairytale" (2009) ranked second (1,204 votes, 17%).

This year's Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai from Israel with her song "Toy" took the third place in the rating (1,070 votes, or 15%).Two Ukrainian defenders received shrapnel wounds.

Russian-led forces mounted 63 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past day, using mortars and artillery systems 20 times.

"In the Luhansk sector, the Joint Forces units continued active defense near the villages of Krymske, Novotoshkivske and Troyitske," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on May 14, 2018.

Read alsoRussian-led forces in Donbas use latest weapons against Ukrainian army

In the Donetsk sector, the enemy was active near the town of Svitlodarsk, and the villages of Novoluhanske, Zaitseve and Verkhniotoretske.

The fighting continued near the Avdiyivka industrial zone and the village of Pisky, as well as in the Mariupol sector near the villages of Talakivka, Vodiane and Shyrokyne.

"The units of the Joint Forces actively defended themselves and gave an adequate response. During the hostilities, two Ukrainian defenders received shrapnel wounds. They are provided with qualified medical assistance in the hospital. No casualties are reported among the Ukrainian military since the beginning of May 14. The enemy's losses are being clarified," the report said.Pompeo added that the U.S. "will have to provide security assurances" to Kim.

Senior Trump administration officials are outlining new details of their plans to work toward the denuclearization North Korea as President Donald Trump prepares for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that North Korea's prospects are "unbelievably strong if they'll commit to denuclearization."

"I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way that South Korea does," Bolton said.

Read alsoReuters: North Korea details plans to dismantle nuclear test site

Bolton said the United States is pursuing a standard of "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" heading into negotiations.

"On the denuclearization side of the program, that means all aspects of their nuclear program," he added. "Clearly, the ballistic missiles program, as with Iran, with the intention of being a delivery system for nuclear weapons  that's gotta go. I think we need to look at their chemical and biological weapons programs as well. The President's going to raise other issues, the Japanese abductees, South Korean citizens who were kidnapped."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on "Fox News Sunday," "Our eyes are wide open with respect to the risks, but it is our fervent hope that Chairman Kim wants to make a strategic change."

Pompeo also offered more details on what a path to prosperity for North Korea would look like with direct investment by the U.S. if Kim agrees to Washington's demands.

"This will be Americans coming in  private sector Americans, not the U.S. taxpayer  private sector Americans coming in to help build out the energy grid," he said. "They need enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea."

Pompeo said the U.S. would "work with them to develop infrastructure, all the things that the North Korean people need, the capacity for American agriculture to support North Korea so they can eat meat and have healthy lives. Those are the kind of things that if we get what it is the President has demanded  complete verifiable irreversible denuclearization of North Korea  that the American people will offer in spades."

Pompeo added that the U.S. "will have to provide security assurances" to Kim as well.

The comments from Bolton and Pompeo come as Trump prepares to meet with Kim in June. According to Bolton, Trump has been extensively preparing by speaking with advisers, "different people, foreign leaders, (and) he had an extensive conversation with (President) Xi Jinping of China earlier this week."

"I've been on the job about five weeks," Bolton said. "I would say that Iran and North Korea probably (have) taken up over half of my time, and a lot of that obviously is  is helping him make the decisions and get ready for these meetings."

Pompeo said Trump is in a unique position.

"No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible, that the Americans would actually do this, would lead to the place where America was no longer held at risk by the North Korean regime," he said, adding, "That's the objective."

Pompeo added that Kim follows the Western press and "he's paying attention things the world is saying. He too is preparing for June 12th."

"He'll probably watch this show at some point," the secretary told "Fox News Sunday."Mr Skripal is still in hospital but no longer in a critical condition, while his daughter was discharged last month.

UK spy chief accuses Moscow of 'pernicious actions' amid 'fog of lies'.

One of the UK's most senior spymasters will use a rare public intervention on Monday to warn Russia that it risks becoming a "more isolated pariah" following the Salisbury nerve agent attack, according to the Financial Times (FT).

In a speech to security chiefs in Berlin, MI5 director-general Andrew Parker will accuse the Kremlin of "flagrant breaches of international rules" and warn that the Russian government is pursuing an agenda through "aggressive and pernicious actions by its military and intelligence services".

More than two months on from the attempted murder of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in southern England, counter-terror police and the Security Service have not identified any suspects.

The UK has nevertheless said it has intelligence which shows the attack on March 4, which involved a nerve agent from the novichok family of substances, was carried out by Russia.

Read alsoCzech PM: Country never produced or developed "novichok"

Mr Skripal is still in hospital but no longer in a critical condition, while his daughter was discharged last month.

The incident led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the west and Moscow, with more than 20 countries and NATO joining the UK in expelling 150 Russian diplomats.

Russia, which denies carrying out the attack on the Skripals, responded by expelling similar numbers of western diplomats.

Mr Parker will say the attack was "deliberate and targeted malign activity" and will condemn what MI5 describes as the "unprecedented" levels of disinformation by Russia following the attempted murder, highlighting the need "to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine".

Read alsoUK set to strengthen anti-Russia alliance

Last October, Mr Parker warned the UK was facing the highest tempo of threats he had seen during more than three decades working at MI5 following a spate of Islamist-inspired terror attacks on UK soil.

In total 36 innocent people died in attacks in 2017, in London and Manchester, making it the most deadly year for the UK since the bombings in the capital in 2005.

Next Tuesday the UK will mark one year since the Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people attending a concert.

Although there have been no further attacks in the UK since the Parsons Green Tube incident in London last September, which did not claim any lives but injured 23 people, Mr Parker will warn that the threat from Isis, also known as Daesh, has not gone away.

"Daesh still aspires to direct, devastating and more complex attacks," he will say.

Twelve terror plots have been thwarted by MI5 and police since last year's Westminster attack in London, bringing the total number of thwarted incidents since 2013 to 25.

Mr Parker will also underline the importance of intelligence and security co-operation between the UK and EU countries after Brexit.

Prime minister Theresa May used a speech in Munich in February to signal a desire for continued close security and defence co-operation after Britain leaves the EU, but a row over the UK's participation in the bloc's Galileo satellite navigation project has, among other things, raised questions over the partnership.The U.S. decision has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

Fresh clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians broke out on Monday on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, as protesters reached the climax of a six-week protest against the U.S. moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Gaza's health ministry said 18 Palestinians were shot and killed by the Israeli army  including a 14-year-old, Deutsche Welle (DW) wrote.

Conflicting sources have put the number of injured at between 227 and 500. The ministry said 200 were wounded by live fire.

The Israeli army said in a statement its forces are "responding with riot dispersal means and fire, and are operating according to standard operating procedures" in response to "10,000 violent rioters."

Read alsoTrump recognizes Jerusalem as Israels capital and orders U.S. Embassy to move

Some 35,000 Palestinians have gathered at 10 different points along the border to protest the moving of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

A lavish ceremony is due to take place later on Monday to mark the occasion.

The U.S. decision has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.

Monday's inauguration also takes place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding.

Although U.S. President Donald Trump isn't due to attend the ceremony, he has sent his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka. The U.S. leader will address the event by video.

DW Correspondent Dana Regev, who will be reporting from the ceremony, said in a tweet that security has been stepped up in Jerusalem.

Israel has meanwhile doubled the number of troops along the Gaza border in preparation for a bloody showdown with protesters. The Israeli military has expressed concern that Hamas militants will attempt to lead the storming of the frontier fence on Monday in opposition to the embassy move.

Reports from within Gaza suggest that mosques have used their loudspeakers to urge Palestinians to join the so-called "Great March of Return."

Since the demonstrations began on March 30, Israeli troops have killed 63 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,800 others, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israel's response to the protest campaign has drawn international criticism. The Israeli government has defended the use of live ammunition, saying it was to prevent the border fence from being damaged or breached.China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) enjoys the Global support as China marked the fifth anniversary of the "Belt and Road" Initiative on Monday

Beijing, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018) : China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) enjoys the Global support as China marked the fifth anniversary of the "Belt and Road" Initiative on Monday.

The BRI has already been signed by more than 60 countries of the World and it is the biggest-ever connectivity plan or project of cooperative partnership, reflecting the President Xi Jinping's vision of shared destiny or common development.

The past five years have seen the concept of the program being turned into concrete actions and results. It is pertinent to note that the CPEC is pilot and major project of BRI. On 20 April 2015, Pakistan and China signed an agreement to commence work on the $46 billion agreement, which is roughly 20% of Pakistan's annual GDP, with approximately $28 billion worth of fast-tracked "Early Harvest" projects are likely to be completed by the end of 2018.

Experts expect the initiative to play a pivotal role in forming a new landscape for China's comprehensive opening up, as well as global development. Official data suggest the Belt and Road Initiative is gaining momentum in countries and regions all over the world.

By the end of April this year, China had signed 101 deals with 86 countries and organizations in a wide range of areas under the initiative. In the past five years, China's trade volume with countries along the Belt and Road routes has exceeded five trillion US dollars.

Last year, China's trade volume with those countries grew by 14.2%, marking a record growth in six years. Also in 2017, China's imports from these countries were worth over 666 billion US dollars, accounting for a fourth of China's total import value.

Professor Hu Biliang with Beijing Normal University believes the results demonstrate the initiative's stimulating effect to China's economy, as well as its potential to foster world development.

"The Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013 when the world economy suffered a recession. The initiative stimulates investment, consumption and job creation through infrastructure building, bringing huge financial income to countries along the routes and fostering the global economic growth, especially among developing countries.

It provides a new impetus to world economic growth." Recent data suggest the benefits unleashed by the Belt and Road Initiative began to stand out in 2017: under its framework, Chinese companies have established economic and trade zones in over 20 countries, bringing 1.1 billion Dollars in tax income to those countries and creating over 180,000 jobs.

A new report suggests the initiative also unleashed benefits in bridging the digital gap, promoting education and facilitating cooperation in cultural communication and medical care. Yang Changyong with the Chinese academy of Macroeconomic Research explains the new concepts of opening up brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.

"First, any opening up strategy must be conducive to creating win-win situations. We could see that the Belt and Road projects can benefit China and other participating countries. Second, it must be built upon win-win cooperation.

The opening up process should be fostered with mutual consultation instead of force. Third, communication on policies must precede the process of opening up." As globalization brought challenges, Yang Changyong believes the Belt and Road Initiative can help resolve the dilemma of economic globalization and the promotion of balanced, inclusive and sustainable development across the world.

"Every country wants to expand export and gain markets. Under such circumstances, China voluntarily opened up its middle to high-income market of 1.3 billion people and welcomed the entrance of foreign commodities, services, capital, technology and talents.

This in fact has injected strong vitality and confidence to the world economy. It also reflects China's contribution to the sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the global economy." In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which covers the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.(@FahadShabbir)

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Monday announced financial compensation for those students, who either drowned or were injured when the hanging bridge over flooded Kutten nullah at Jaagraan in Kundal Shahi area of Neelam Valley collapsed on Sunday

MIRPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Monday announced financial compensation for those students, who either drowned or were injured when the hanging bridge over flooded Kutten nullah at Jaagraan in Kundal Shahi area of Neelam Valley collapsed on Sunday.

Raja Wasim, Press Secretary to AJK Prime Minister, told APP that Rs 200,000 each would be paid to the heirs of those drowned and Rs 50,000 each to the injured students. The compensation amount would be paid by the AJK government from its own resources, he said.

Local victims of the tragic mishap would also be paid compensation, Raja Wasim added. At least a dozen touring students from medical and other colleges of Lahore, Faisalabad and Sahiwal lost their lives and over a dozen were injured when the bridge, already declared weak, collapsed due to overloading of the students.President AJK Sardar Masood Khan Monday expressed deep grief and condolences over the loss of many precious lives at Kundal Shahi in Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu Kashmir

MIRPUR,AJK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :President AJK Sardar Masood Khan Monday expressed deep grief and condolences over the loss of many precious lives at Kundal Shahi in Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu Kashmir.

He said this was a national tragedy which is being mourned by the families and the people of AJK and Pakistan. The President expressed his profound sympathies with the families of the deceased and the injured.

He also paid tribute to rescuers who rushed to save the victims of the incident. Masood said that this tragic incident has once again highlighted the importance of making tourism safe. More attention, he said, is needed to be given to sound infrastructure and awareness raising so that incoming tourists may pay heed to the signposts and cautionary warnings about the capacity of the infrastructure and safe locations near peaks and precipices.

Every year, many precious lives were lost because of lack of attention to such warnings given for the safety of tourists.

At the same time, the President said that all structures handling tourists must be fortified and strengthened, and signposts made more visible, repetitive and clearer, so that untoward accidents can be avoided.

Rescue systems also need to be made more responsive, efficient and effective in tourist areas, particularly in hilly terrains where there is always a risk of accidents; and therefore there would be enhanced investment in preparedness and response.

He said that in the coming summer and coming years the number of tourists to Azad Kashmir and the Neelum Valley in particular will increase and all safety and security precautions need to be taken by the tourism department, local administration and especially tourists. What we need, he said, is responsible tourism by all.Chief Commissioner Islamabad Aftab Akbar Durrani here reviewed the progress of on-going anti-encroachment campaign in city and decided to hold weekly meeting on every Monday to review the progress of the campaign

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Chief Commissioner Islamabad Aftab Akbar Durrani here reviewed the progress of on-going anti-encroachment campaign in city and decided to hold weekly meeting on every Monday to review the progress of the campaign.

The meeting was informed that anti-encroachment was heading on successfully and Capital Development Authority (CDA) had established 8 stations in five zones and placed two teams headed by Assistant Director on each station for launching anti-encroachment operation in the areas.

The implementation of comprehensive action plan devised by the ICT Administration and CDA in a joint meeting was also discussed. The ADC (G) Captain (r) Shoaib told the participants that the joint team of ICTA, CDA and police would review strategy on dialy basis for the next day.

Chief Commissioner Islamabad said that ICT Administration and Police were providing full support to the CDA teams for removing the encroachments from all areas including markets and green belts .

He also said that legal kiosks given permission by the IMC which were established in green belts, should also be shifted to some other specified areas so that the beauty of green belts be maintained.

It was also recommended to remove illegal kiosks from green belts. All encroachments be removed from green belts. Chief Commissioner Islamabad said that he would recommend IMC to maintain the beauty of green belts with environment friendly measures and the legal kiosk should have beautiful standard design in fiber glass at specified places identified by the IMC .The International Conference of News Agencies Monday decided to set up a five-member Coordination Committee for the operation of International Forum of News Agencies (IFNA) as recommended by the participating countries

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :The International Conference of News Agencies Monday decided to set up a five-member Coordination Committee for the operation of International Forum of News Agencies (IFNA) as recommended by the participating countries.

The two-day international conference was held here from May 13 to14, under the auspices of Associated Press of Pakistan in line with the country's 70th Independence Day celebrations under the theme Pakistan Media  Challenges and Opportunities.

The participants deliberated upon issues and challenges being faced by the national news agencies and media organizations. The participants had recommended to establish the International Forum of News Agencies and a web portal of its own for sharing text, photos and videos among the member news organizations.

English was recommended to be the main language of communication. The delegates also decided to establish a five-member Coordination Committee for the operation of the platform (IFNA) and evolve a strategy and formulate the way forward for the portal.

Its members include Iran, Greece, Pakistan, Sudan and Tunisia. The conference resolved to hold ICNA annually on rotation as mutually decided by the committee, which was also empowered to engage any member country and include new members and invite suggestions and recommendations from the members.

It was also agreed to have flexibility of operation of the newly established portal within the given framework or regulations of the respective national news agency and, or, the media organization.

The conference was participated by 18 countries from different regions, including the middle East, Gulf, Africa, Europe, and South East Asia, and the host Pakistan. As many as 21 delegates from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Tunisia participated in the conference.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar presided over a general meeting of the council of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) which was held in the council hall of the KMC Building on Monday

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar presided over a general meeting of the council of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) which was held in the council hall of the KMC Building on Monday.

The council gave approval of various resolutions during its proceedings out of which two were approved unanimously and 11 were approved with majority votes, said a statement on Monday. Another resolution about allocation of funds for union committees was recommended to the finance committee of the council for further consideration on this matter.

Before this the council ratified proceedings of its previous meeting. The mayor on this occasion demanded the utility services providers to refrain from load shedding and short supply of water to citizens during coming month of Ramazan.

He said KWSB should depute such staff on its installation which could perform its duty honestly. The council expressed its concern over persistent power breakdowns of electricity in city during hot weather.

The council gave approval of the up-gradation of post of telephone operators and telephone technicians from BPS-7 and BPS-9 to BPS-11 and BPS-15 and also sanctioned the allocation of Rs10,000 Imprest Account for Sr.

Director Estate KMC and Rs20,000 Imprest Account for Sr. Director Anti Encroachments. The council also gave approval of the contract for slaughtering in North Karachi Slaughter House for 2017-18 and increase in the rate of entry fee for Karachi Zoo, Landhi Korangi Zoo and Safari Park.

The council also gave approval of a resolution through which the services of director KMC council department Ghufran Ahmed was appreciated. Council members expressed their views on various resolutions adopted by the council and gave their suggestions and opinions regarding various issues pertaining to KMC and the city and to bring improvement in matters concerned to different departments.

Those who gave their views on this occasion includes the council's parliamentary leader Aslam Shah Afridi, opposition leader Karamullah Waqasi, parliamentary leader of PTI Shamim Naqvi, parliamentary leader of PML(N) Aman Khan Afridi, parliamentary leader of ANP Alam ZaibAlai, parliamentary leader of Jamat-e-Islami Junaid Mukati, UC-1 Agra Taj colony Chairman Tajuddin, chairperson of media management committee of city council Sabheen Ghori and others.Managing Director, Associated Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Monday urged the media professionals, particularly those working with news agencies, to cope with the fake news phenomena without compromising on the accuracy and authenticity of the news

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Managing Director, Associated Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Monday urged the media professionals, particularly those working with news agencies, to cope with the fake news phenomena without compromising on the accuracy and authenticity of the news.

Speaking at the concluding session of the two-day International Conference of News Agencies (ICNA) here, he said it was the age where citizen journalism had emerged in a big way as people now were equipped with the tools where they could contribute to the contents in the social media.

"At times they can set the trend and force the main media to respond to it in their own way, hence the phenomena of fake news have put media professionals into altogether a new situation," he remarked.

He said that the veteran journalists, experts in different fields of media and mass communication during conference agreed that it was getting tough to work in the news agencies and at the same time keep with the mind boggling speed of social media.

The situation is not all that bad as these media professionals were of the view that the role of the news agencies could not be underestimated as whether it was the social media or online newspapers, they would all be using news agencies as their Primary source of news for quite some time to come.

Given the mad race of breaking the news through ticker journalism, the journalists working in the news wires need not lose their calm and compromise on the fundamental principles of journalism that is accuracy, speed and properly sourced news stories.

"Despite some problems, we hope our objective of meeting and discussing the issues pertaining to the news agencies in particular and the journalists in general have been deliberated upon," he added.

He informed the delegates that the conference provided an opportunity to show that Pakistan was a peaceful, progressive and developing country and had its share of unfortunate events that might strike any country any time.

The briefing on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) showed the delegates how the country was being linked through its Gwadar Port at the Arabian Sea with western China and also the Central Asian Republics.

"We live in a growing connected world and the opportunity that we got from this conference for building our media contacts. I'm sure numerous new prospects will emerge," he added. He told the participants that their valuable suggestions and participation in the conference had turned it into a very meaningful moot and expressed the hope that the participants countries would continue to meet regularly and further enhance bilateral cooperation.

"I am sure the recommendations of the conference will also lay a solid foundation for our future cooperation in the news in all its formats," he added. He expressed the hope that it should not be the first and last conference as the success of the conference had encouraged us and given confidence that such meeting could become possible in future as well.

"Let us remain in touch and make every step for expanding our exchange of news, which can set the pace of our future cooperation," he remarked. Later, the APP Managing Director read out recommendations that were unanimously adopted during the conference.Local and international media have a pivotal role in ensuring successful execution of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects by discarding propaganda of anti-CPEC and anti-Pakistan elements.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Local and international media have a pivotal role in ensuring successful execution of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects by discarding propaganda of anti-CPEC and anti-Pakistan elements.

"CPEC has become an important element of Pak-China friendship and its success would be greatly depending upon dissemination of correct information regarding the corridor," Project Director of CPEC, Ministry of Planning, Hassan Daud Butt said while addressing an International Conference on News Agencies here on Monday.

He also stressed the need to enhance interaction with international media players for sharing true image of Pakistan. The two-day Conference titled "Pakistan-Media Opportunities and Challenges", was organized by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) here at a local hotel to establish direct and hassle-free linkages to cope with emerging competitive environment for news agencies in the world.

The conference was attended by representatives from news agencies of over 20 countries. Hassan Butt said the government was sharing information to build long-term and trustful relationship with media to ensure the accurate and positive reporting in this regard.

He said the government had promoted access to information by publications and websites, besides regular engagements with media (press briefings, seminars, summits). He said besides other topics like politics etc, journalists should promote development communication in Pakistan by projecting the positive aspects of the corridor.

Giving presentation on the current status of CPEC projects, Butt said most of the Early Harvest Projects had already been completed or were in the final stage.

He said CPEC had helped Pakistan in removing major bottlenecks in the way of the country's economy specially in energy and infrastructure sectors, paving the way for increased and sustainable economic growth.

"In 2013, Pakistan's economic growth rate was around 3 per cent. However, after successful launch of CPEC, the growth rate kept on increasing and this year, the growth rate was recorded at 5.8 per cent and next year's target has been set at 6.2 percent," he added.

The CPEC Project Director informed that the western alignment of the corridor had almost been completed while the Central route was expected to be completed by 2015. He said work on up-gradation of railways' Mail Line-1 project would start soon while up-gradation of ML-II and ML-III had also been included in the Long Term Plan of CPEC.

He said Gwadar was transforming into a state of the art international port city at a rapid pace and soon "we will see Gwadar as the hub of trade in the region". Regarding social sector and education projects, he said top ten business schools from China and Pakistan had reached an agreement for mutual cooperation and sharing the research work, done in the development sector.

He said CPEC had become a benchmark for other countries who are part of the Chinese One Belt One Road Initiative. He said the Government of Pakistan wanted to bring the country's population out of poverty at a fast pace just like China did in the past.

To a question, Butt said CPEC would be a joint venture and will be a win-win model for the two countries as both countries will equally benefit from the project.(@FahadShabbir)

The chairman of Senate, Sadiq Sanjrani took over as acting president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as the incumbent Mamnoon Hussain departed for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018) : The chairman of Senate, Sadiq Sanjrani took over as acting president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as the incumbent Mamnoon Hussain departed for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.

Mamnoon Hussain is set to remain in the Kingdom for 10 days, till May 24; a notification for Sanjarani's appointment as acting President has been issued. Sanjrani's appointment as the acting president came in line with the Constitution of Pakistan, as the chairman of Senate, acts as President in absence of the Incumbent head of the state.

This is the first time for Sanjrani to assume charge as acting president, after being elected chairman of the Upper House of the Parliament, in March.

He is the first-ever Senate chairman from Balochistan and his election stirred controversy in power corridors as well.

His election was decried by Premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as well, who urged the members of the opposition to jointly nominate a new Senate chairman. "The Senate chairman also serves as the acting president and it is a disgrace to the country that a man who bought votes became the leader of the upper house.Two persons committed suicides in separate incidents in the area of Gojra police during past 24 hours.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Two persons committed suicides in separate incidents in the area of Gojra police during past 24 hours. A police spokesman said here on Monday that 25-year-old Muhammad Amin ,resident of mohallah New Plot Gojra, faced severe financial constraints and swallowed poisonous pills to end his miseries.

He was referred to Allied Hospital Faisalabad where he breathed his last.

In another incident, Ramzan Gujjar, resident of chak no. 312-JB swallowed pesticide after quarreling with his family members over a domestic dispute. He was shifted to Tehsil Headquarter Hospital Gojra from where he was referred to Allied Hospital Faisalabad but he failed to survive. The police handed over both bodies to their relatives after completing necessary formalities.The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) has won a major incentives package for the IT industry, announced personally by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) has won a major incentives package for the IT industry, announced personally by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Chairman P@sha, Barkan Saeed and its Secretary General Shehryar Hydri in a joint press statement here on Monday said the policy announcement covered a wide range of support mechanisms. The government incentives to boost the IT sector, both for the export and domestic markets, were said to include extension of the tax holiday on IT exports from 2019 to 2025; 5% cash reward on IT exports (similar to rewards for other industries such as textile) and sales tax of 5% on ITeS within the Federal areas.

Special economic zones (SEZ's) for the tech sector to be defined by the BOI and MoITT and commercial loans for tech companies at preferential rates were said to be also among the essential components of the package.

They mentioned that PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while launching a National Incubation Centre at the University of Karachi, during his recent visit to the metropolis has announced these far reaching incentives.

Acknowledging that announcement was made at a critical time, Barkan Saeed said that these key demands of the industry had long been under consideration, however, it was PMLN government that realized the relevance of these demands.

The IT industry is the fastest growing sector of the Pakistan economy, with annual growth rates in excess of 30% and expected to double in size over the next three to four years, he said mentioning that exports have already crossed $2.5 billion, which accounts for 12% of Pakistan's total exports, thus making it a key component of the balance of trade.

"This is a perfect example of our industry working closely with the government to achieve a common goal, that is the long term growth of our economy. He also appreciated that IT Minister Anusha Rehman and the entire MoITT team for supporting the vision.

Barkan Saeed said that P@SHA will be working with the various government entities like MoITT / PSEB, BOI, Ministry of Commerce, SBP, and others in the coming months to work out the modalities for each incentive for the industry so as to benefit at the earliest.(@rukhshanmir)

Colombia's last active rebel group on Monday declared a five-day ceasefire for the country's presidential election.

Havana, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Colombia's last active rebel group on Monday declared a five-day ceasefire for the country's presidential election. The announcement from the National Liberation Army came after peace talks resumed Thursday in Havana, Cuba.

"The ELN will stop military activities from zero hour, May 25, to 24:00 on the 29th to provide favorable conditions permitting Colombian society to express itself in the elections," the group said, using its Spanish acronym.

The rebels' magazine Insurreccion carried the announcement in its latest issue, as did the guerrillas' Twitter account.

Colombia's government had said it hoped for agreement on a ceasefire before the May 27 ballot.

President Juan Manuel Santos is trying to conclude a peace agreement with the ELN similar to one signed with the larger FARC guerrillas in November 2016. The FARC has since become a political party. Santos steps down in August and has admitted that any peace deal with the 1,500-strong ELN will likely come too late for him to sign.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

A Jordanian military court on Monday sentenced a man to death and six others to lengthy prison sentences for belonging to the Islamic State group, judicial sources said

Amman, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :A Jordanian military court on Monday sentenced a man to death and six others to lengthy prison sentences for belonging to the Islamic State group, judicial sources said.

The man sentenced to death by hanging had been found guilty of "planning and executing terrorist acts in 2016 inside Jordanian territory targeting alcohol shops", the sources told AFP. The court sentenced five other men to 15 years' hard labour and another to 10 years' hard labour.

All were found guilty of "committing terrorist acts", "manufacturing flammable and incendiary materials for illicit use", "promoting the ideas of a terrorist group", and "attempting to join a terrorist group".

The seven convicts, aged between 20 and 30, promoted the jihadist group on social media and often met at the home of the man sentenced to death, the indictment said.

"They agreed that their first terrorist attack would be on a liquor stores in Amman," it said.

The group torched a number of stores with Molotov cocktails before security agencies arrested six of them in February. The military court hears terrorism-related cases on a weekly basis. Most of the defendants are alleged supporters of IS or Al-Nusra Front, once Al-Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria.

Early last year, Jordan strengthened punishments for jihadist sympathisers and promoters of extremist ideas on social media. Since the outbreak of the war in neighbouring Syria in 2011, Jordan has arrested dozens over attempts to cross the border and join the fight.(@rukhshanmir)

TEHRAN, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2018 ) ::Iran will remain in the international nuclear deal if the country's interests are secured by other parties to the agreement, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

"If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran's interests, the agreement will survive," he said during a meeting with visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena.

The US withdrawal from the 2015 deal was "a violation of morals," he said. By pulling out of the deal, the United States also undermined the diplomatic efforts to international issues, he added.

On Tuesday, Trump announced US withdrawal from the international Iranian nuclear deal, saying that Washington will not extend the waiver for the unilateral sanctions against Iran, Xinhua reported.(@rukhshanmir)

Police in Sierra Leone opened an investigation into a stampede at the country's main stadium during the weekend inauguration of the new president in which one woman was killed and 90 were injured

Freetown, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2018 ) :Police in Sierra Leone opened an investigation into a stampede at the country's main stadium during the weekend inauguration of the new president in which one woman was killed and 90 were injured.

Some arrests have been made but no one has been charged so far, a police statement said. Sierra Leone Red Cross Society spokesman Abu-Bakr Tarawally on Monday updated the number of injured to 90 following Saturday's crush at Freetown's main stadium.

"We can confirm that 90 people were injured at the stadium stampede on inauguration day, some suffered, fractures, injuries with severe bleeding and suffocation," he said.

According to stadium management, over 50,000 people attended the inauguration, far exceeding the stadium capacity of 45,000.

"Some fainted and collapsed at pavilions while others jumped to the pitch and suffered fractures," The deceased is a 50-year-old woman who travelled from Liberia to witness Julius Maada Bio being sworn in. Bio took office in early April after a tumultuous election campaign, ending a decade-long rule by the All People's Congress (APC).Kenyan Bishops through their Catholic Justice and Peace Commission have expressed deep sadness over the deaths and devastation of families affected by floods.

Rose Achiego  Nairobi; Vatican News Staff Vatican City



Deaths and extensive damage to homes, schools and businesses.

45 people are said to have lost their lives while hundreds of families have been displaced after the walls of the Patel Dam in Solai, a town 190km north-west of the capital, Nairobi, burst and sent down more than 70 million litres of water on homes. An entire village was flattened.

Last week on Wednesday night, tragedy hit the small town of Solai leaving many families homeless following extensive damage to homes, schools and businesses. The broken Patel Dam is one of three water reservoirs owned by prominent Kenyan agribusiness and iodised salt manufacturer, Perry Mansukhlal Kansagra. Government engineers on Friday drained two other dams that they said posed similar threats to residents.

Bishops deeply saddened by the tragedy

We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives, the injured and the large-scale destruction created across the country, the worst and shocking being the Nakuru-Solai Dam tragedy that has left many dead. Our heartfelt condolences and well wishes also to those affected in Muranga, Kilifi, Lamu, Narok, Tana River among others, Bishop John Oballa Owaa the Bishop of Ngong Diocese and Chairman KCCB-Catholic Justice and Peace Commission told media.

Kenyan authorities urged to ensure the safety of citizens

Though built in the 1980s, Kenyan authorities have described the Patel Dam as illegal. An investigation is underway.

Kenyan Bishops commended disaster recovery teams in Solai and called upon authorities to ensure the safety of citizens.Editor's note: With four people working on (im)migration stories every day, we still struggle to keep up with all of the relevant news. So, we wanted a way to keep you updated with the top immigration, migration, and refugee stories every week  the ones that will most affect you, our international readers, viewers and listeners. We want you to know what's happening, why, and how it could impact your life, family or business.



Questions? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com



DACA Trial and Error

Lawmakers tried again this week to push a bill that would protect some younger undocumented people in the United States. Leading the charge, five moderate Republicans who are trying to force votes on four immigration bills. Whichever bill gets the most votes passes.

 What's next? The magic number here is 218; that's how many votes are needed to agree to move ahead with the "Queen of the Hill"-style vote. How does the House get to that number? Every Democrat and dozens of Republicans would have to sign on. House Speaker Paul Ryan said the effort is pointless, unless the bill that passes is something the president would sign. (Ryan plans to retire from Congress this year.)

 While you're in the DACA zone, check out our video explainer of some of the lawsuits over DACA.

Virginia's Cambodian-American-refugee-veteran-techie candidate

Chanda Choun wants to live and die in Arlington County. In between, he wants to help run it. "I didn't see anybody with a military background, I didn't see anybody with an immigrant background, and I didn't see anybody with a tech background stepping up," he told VOA, when speaking of his candidacy for a local government position. "That's all it came down to."

Sanctuary success?

Policies in some U.S. cities and states limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and there is evidence those policies may be slowing the detention-to-deportation pipeline, according to a report released this week.

Questioning the census

A plan to include a citizenship question in the 2020 U.S. census is triggering bad memories for some Japanese-American families: the information they provided in the 1940 census was used to round them up, along with their parents, or grandparents, and detain them in camps for years.

Border relations

We've spent a lot of parched hours at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months and, honestly, we're left with more questions than answers.

Press freedom under fire

As a longtime fixture of the Cambodian press disintegrates in plain sight, a veteran journalist gets refugee status and safety in the United States.

What's English for "pizza"?

An English class for new Americans combines cooking, culture and the universal happy place: meeting over food.The U.S. National Security Advisor talks North Korea with VOA. China tackles corruption, again. Japan may have a wealth of rare earth minerals. Indian women learn management skills. Anti-aging breakthroughs, and refugee inventions.A new scheme that guarantees compensation for survivors of sexual assault and acid attacks across India will strengthen victim care, but much more needs to be done to ensure justice, rights campaigners said on Monday.

The scheme will ensure uniform compensation of up to one million rupees (about $15,000) in all India's states and territories, some of which currently provide no financial support at all for sexual assault and acid attack victims.

Activists welcomed the initiative, approved by the Supreme Court last week, but urged authorities to do more to help victims in a country with some of the worst rates of sexual violence in the world.

"Compensation alone is not sufficient," Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"The government also has to direct states to create a proper and effective support structure to assist survivors and ensure reforms to the criminal justice system."

Conservative and patriarchal attitudes in India mean victims of sexual assault are often shunned by their families and communities and blamed for the violence perpetrated against them, say activists and lawyers.

Many are ostracized from their homes and cannot afford the legal fees to fight for justice in an under-resourced judicial system where verdicts can still take years to reach.

Karuna Nundy, a Supreme Court lawyer and women's rights activist, said only 5-10 percent of sexual violence victims currently received compensation due to "administrative lapses."

"The criminal process tends to forget about protecting the victim, acknowledging the failure of the state to prevent harm and to compensate her for pain and suffering, psychological damage and financial loss," she said.

Under the new scheme, gang-rape victims can receive up to one million rupees and rape victims up to 700,000 rupees, while acid attack and burn survivors can get up to 800,000 rupees in aid.

Since the fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012, registered cases of sexual violence have steadily been rising with some 40,000 recorded in 2016, according to official data.

India's 29 states and seven union territories vary in how much support they provide to sexual assault victims, with some providing little to no formal financial aid, while others such as Goa give up to one million rupees.The URL has been copied to your clipboard

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A group of gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a government building in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, killing at least 12 people. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. IS, the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam all have footprints in the province. Zabihullah Ghazi and Ziaurrahman Hasrat report.As votes were being counted in Iraqs first election since defeating Islamic State, current prime minister Haider al-Abadi urged his supporters to respect the results of Mondays poll.

I call on Iraqis to respect the results of the elections, he said in a national address Monday, vowing to keep the country safe under his command until a new government is formed.

Partial election returns from Iraqs first national poll since defeating Islamic State show Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as the frontrunner.

Hundreds of supporters of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets of Baghdad Sunday night, celebrating the announcement of the partial results of Iraq's parliamentary elections.

Al-Sadr himself did not run in the election, but he holds sway over a coalition ticket that won by a large margin in the capital, Baghdad.

A victory by al-Sadrs coalition would be a significant blow to the re-election campaign of al-Abadi.

If the results hold, al-Sadr, a strident critic of the United States, could have significant influence on who will become Iraqs next leader.Officials in Hawaii have called for more evacuations after an 18th fissure spewing lava from the Kilauea volcano was discovered Sunday on the Big Island.

"The amount of lava that has erupted from the fissure so far is very, very small," said scientist Steve Brantley of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Exploding and sloshing sounds from the fissure, however, could be heard from as far as 1,400 meters away.

"The situation remains unstable," USGS scientist Tina Neal added. "Additional outbreaks of lava are likely."

Experts say there is a continuing threat that the lava could drop below the water table. If that happens, water could pour onto the hot lava and produce enough steam to explode from the summit in a shower of ash and debris. Rocks "the size of cows" could be hurled as far as 800 meters from the site of the blast, according to one expert who spoke to local media.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the volcano-affected area a major disaster area, making federal funds available to help state and local governments cope with the eruption and its aftermath. The volcano began erupting May 3.

The Kilauea volcano has been erupting periodically for more than three decades. Lava flows from the volcano, one of five on the island, have buried an area about 125 square kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists say they cannot predict how long the current eruption will last.Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Armenia's new prime minister for the first time after former protest leader Nikol Pashinian was elected to the post.

Nikol Pashinian, an opposition figure who spearheaded weeks of nationwide protests, was elected by parliament last week. He and his supporters had pressured the country's long-term leader, Serzh Sargsyan, to step down rather than seek a power grab. Sargsyan's ten-year rule was marred by widespread corruption.

Landlocked Armenia hosts an important Russian military base and has been reliant on Russia's cheap energy supplies.

After meeting with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Pashinian on Monday vowed to "give a new impetus" to Armenia's relations with Russia and said "no one has ever doubted" that Russia is a strategic ally for his country.Mount Everests summit season got underway Monday with at least 30 climbers reaching the peak, including record-setting climbs from a Chinese double amputee and an Australian who has climbed the highest peaks on every continent.



Chinese climber Xia Boyu became the first double amputee to scale the mountain from the Nepali side of the peak. Another double amputee, Mark Inglis from New Zealand, climbed Everest from the peaks Tibet side in 2006.



Xia, who is 69, also became the oldest double amputee to reach the summit. He first tried in 1975 but lost both of his legs during the climb due to frostbite. Xinhuas official news agency said Xia tried to reach the summit in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but failed in those attempts.



A recent Nepalese ban on disabled climbers nearly ended Xia's attempts. Nepalese authorities implemented a ban last year preventing double amputees and blind people from trying to scale Everest because of the danger to them. The move was struck down by Nepals courts, which said the ban discriminated against people with disabilities.

Also Monday, Australian Steve Plain became the fastest climber to scale the highest peaks on each of the Earths seven continents. Plains expedition company said it took him 117 days to scale the so-called Seven Summits, culminating in the ascent of Everest on Monday morning.



Polish climber Janusz Kochanski held the previous record of 126 days to complete the Seven Summits  Everest, Denali, Elbrus, Vinson, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro and Carstensz Pyramid.



Plain also overcame physical challenges to set his climbing record. In 2014, he broke his neck in a surfing accident and was nearly paralyzed.



April and May are considered the best months to climb Everest, although May usually has only a few good weather days to make it possible to reach the summit.



About 340 foreigners are currently attempting the climb from the Nepal side of the mountain, and another 180 are waiting to ascend from the Tibet side. The climbers pay around $11,000 for a climbing permit and their Sherpa guides.



At 8,850-meters high, Everest was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.China's first domestically built aircraft carrier has begun sea trials.

The still-unnamed ship left the northern port of Dalian early Sunday to "test the reliability and stability of its propulsion and other system,'' the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The 50,000-ton carrier will likely be formally commissioned sometime before 2020 following the completion of sea trials and the arrival of its full air complement.

The ship's design is based on the former Soviet Union's Kuznetsov class, with a ski jump-style deck for taking off and a conventional oil-fueled steam turbine power plant.

The carrier will be the second to enter the Chinese navy. The first, the Liaoning, was bought second-hand from Ukraine, refitted in China and commissioned in 2012.

State media reports say China is also planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of remaining at sea for long durations.

China has the world's largest navy in terms of numbers of ships, although it lags far behind the U.S. in technology and combat capabilities.

The Chinese military has undergone rapid modernization since President Xi Jinping took power five years ago.

The Chinese navy, especially, has been used to assert Beijing's claim to virtually the entire South China Sea and is increasingly ranging farther into the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Last year, China established its first overseas military base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where rivals such as the U.S., Japan and several European nations also have a permanent presence.Widespread disillusionment with Iraq's current political class appears to have helped the political coalition of influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr become the early front-runner in national elections marked by record low turnout.



Partial returns of the 2018 vote  the first since Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group  were announced late Sunday by the Iraqi electoral commission and put al-Sadr's political alliance in the lead in four provinces, including Baghdad.



The election came as the country deals with the disenfranchisement of the country's Sunni minority. Of more than 2 million Iraqis displaced by the war, the majority are Sunnis. Also at issue is the influence of Iran on the country: Iranian-backed Shiite militias who played a key role in defeating IS and were allied with the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government made significant electoral gains.



Al-Sadr is a strong Iraqi nationalist  he is critical of any outside influence in the country  and campaigned on a platform that criticized Iraq's current political leadership as deeply corrupt. He rose to prominence in Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein when he commanded a militia that fought American troops. He also commanded paramilitary forces in the war against IS.



Al-Sadr did not run for a seat in parliament and therefore cannot become prime minister. However, if his alliance wins the most seats, a member of his bloc will be tasked with forming a majority government and will appoint the country's next prime minister. Despite not holding an official office, al-Sadr exercises strong organizational control over his followers.



The election lacked a clear front-runner, but current Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was widely seen by analysts as the likely favorite. However, despite overseeing Iraq's military defeat of IS, al-Abadi is so far preforming poorly, coming in third and fourth place in most provinces, according to the partial results announced Sunday.



The electoral commission released results from 10 of the country's 19 provinces, including the provinces of Baghdad and Basra. The commission gave no indication on when further results would be announced.

The alliance currently in second place is made up of candidates linked to Iraq's powerful Shiite paramilitary groups, with close ties to Iran. The development is seen as an indication of Tehran's growing influence in Baghdad's halls of power.



The "Fatah" alliance  Arabic for conquest  is headed by Hadi al-Amiri, a former minister of transportation who lived in exile in Iran under Saddam. After the fall of Mosul in 2014 al-Amiri became a senior commander of paramilitary fighters in the fight against IS.



Unlike al-Sadr, who is staunchly against foreign intervention in Iraq of any kind, al-Amiri maintains close ties to Iran, praising the country's early support for Iraq in the IS war. He has also said that he is open to American training of Iraq's military and regularly meets with U.S. ambassadors to Baghdad.



Al-Sadr has repeatedly called for the full withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi soil.



Members of the national election commission read out vote tallies for each candidate list in each of the 10 provinces on national TV. By the end of the announcement, al-Sadr's list had the highest popular vote, followed by al-Amiri's.



Seats in parliament will be allocated proportionately to coalitions once all votes are counted.



Celebrations erupted in Baghdad's Sadr City, an impoverished quarter that is home to some 3 million people and is named after the cleric's late father, Ayatollah Mohammad Sadq al-Sadr. The younger al-Sadr campaigned on a cross-sectarian platform of fighting corruption and investing in services and struck a surprising alliance with the Communist Party in the capital.



While many did not turn out to vote amid a general mood of apathy, al-Sadr's sophisticated political machine mobilized his loyal base of followers to cast their ballots.



The elections held Saturday were the fourth since the 2003 U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein. Officials said turnout was only 44 percent, the lowest ever since Saddam's ouster.



Any political party or alliance must gain a majority of Iraq's 329 seats in parliament to be able to choose a prime minister and form a government. Dozens of alliances ran for office in these elections and months of negotiations are expected before any one alliance can pull together the 165 required seats.



Until a new prime minister is chosen, al-Abadi will remain in office, retaining all his power.



Political power in Iraq is traditionally divided along sectarian lines among the offices of prime minister, president and parliament speaker. Since the first elections following the 2003 U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Shiite majority has held the position of prime minister, while the Kurds have held the presidency and the Sunnis have held the post of parliament speaker.



The constitution sets a quota for female representation, stating that no less than one-fourth of parliament members must be women. Nearly 2,600 women are running for office this year.After weeks of post-election wrangling, Italy appears set to get a new-generation populist government amid fears it might bankrupt the country and clash with Brussels by violating European Union spending rules.



Migrants in Italy are also fearful of what might transpire if, as seems now likely, the rival populist parties Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S) and the Northern League form a coalition government. Under plans being considered by the parties, thousands of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East face being rounded up and expelled.



On Sunday, the Northern League leader, Matteo Salvini, tweeted that Gypsies "are not happy unless they are stealing." Salvini campaigned during the election earlier this year on a promise to instigate mass repatriations.

The 45-year-old could become the country's interior minister, which would put him in charge of the national police and security agencies. He has said he wants to start mass deportations quickly with an initial target of 200,000. Italian authorities estimate that at least half-a-million migrants live illegally in Italy.



The two parties Monday presented their policies and recommendations for a prime minister to the country's president, Sergio Mattarella, who has the final word on nominating a premier. On Saturday, Mattarella reminded the parties in a speech that he's not obligated to accept their recommendations, and he appears uncomfortable with the two picks the parties have come up with  both are academics.



Mattarella, who met the populist party leaders Monday, also has issued warnings about the agreement that the rival populists have reached when it comes to spending, saying Italy must keep to the EU's spending rules.

The president on Saturday warned he had the power to strike down laws he believed to be inconsistent with the constitution, including those that boosted spending without offsetting budget cuts.



The anti-establishment M5S, led by 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, and the anti-immigrant League have been locked in off-and-on negotiations since inconclusive March 4 elections in which establishment parties were trounced. Together, the populists can muster a majority in both chambers of Italy's parliament: M5S won 32 percent of the vote, and the League 17 percent.



Economic promises made by both parties appear incompatible with Europe's budget rules and institutional investors are watching closely. In their talks trying to bridge their ideological divide  M5S is considered to be more on the left of the political spectrum but shares the League's Euro-skepticism  the party leaders toned down their spending plans but still appear to be at odds with Brussels.



According to Italian media reports, the parties have agreed to roll back increases to the age of retirement, a reform which helped Italy survive the eurozone crisis, and to provide a government-funded universal basic income to the poor. They also intend to cut taxes.

EU clash



Despite the scaling back of their plans, the parties in government would likely prompt a clash with the EU by defying the previous government's agreements with Brussels to reduce Italy's budget deficit, say analysts. Salvini has in the past said the introduction of the euro was an error.



Germany's European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said he was curious to see what would happen next. "I hope that a government is built with which it is possible to live well with the European Union," he told reporters in Brussels.



Salvini on Sunday appeared in no mood to soften his combativeness when it comes to the EU, saying Italians "expect a government that respects their votes and the election result."

He argues the euro currency "only benefits Germany." Italy's mainstream economists worry that an M5S-League government will add considerably to Italy's huge public debt, which is now running at 132 percent of its gross national product.

EU populist concerns



EU leaders are expressing concern about the seismic populist political changes under way as Italy edges closer to forming its first anti-establishment government.



"Being a good Italian also means being a good European citizen. It needs to be repeated out loud, especially now," EU parliament head Antonio Tajani said at a conference in the Tuscan city of Florence."Leaving the single currency would be shooting oneself in the foot," he added in what appeared to be a direct warning to the League.



Gian Marco Centinaio, one of the League negotiators in the coalition negotiations, said a deal on a government program had been reached, barring "a few commas." But other negotiators cautioned there are still disagreements on who should be the new prime minister among the populists, aside from the objections of Italy's president.



"Obviously, we are writing history, and it takes a bit of time," M5S leader Di Maio, told reporters Sunday. "There's an excellent climate at the table. We are tackling very important issues."



If the two parties and Italy's president agree on a prime minister, the new government would face a confidence vote in Italy's two houses of parliament. M5S has also pledged to put its deal with the League to an online vote among its party members.On the day the world watched as the United States formally moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Fox News Channel got an enthusiastic recommendation from its most powerful fan  President Donald Trump.

"U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun," Trump tweeted on his personal Twitter account, adding "A great day for Israel!"

It's not the first time the president of the United States has promoted the news outlet favored by many conservative viewers, including stalwart Trump supporters. But Trump's decision to use his popular Twitter account to promote Fox's coverage of a news event highlights how close the network and the president have become.

According to CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, who has been tracking presidential media interviews since the Clinton administration, as president, Trump has bestowed 22 interviews to Fox News reporters. He has given six interviews to all other major American TV news outlets combined.

'Symbiotic' relationship?

Fox News, created in 1996 as a more politically conservative news outlet, has traditionally been favored by Republican politicians and their supporters. But unlike past presidents, Trump has developed a "symbiotic" relationship with the network, said Ethan Porter, assistant professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

"They seem to be working together to advance the president's agenda; rarely does Fox News perform the kind of adversarial journalism that we expect most mainstream press outlets to perform. It seems Trump himself views Fox News as a megaphone for his ideas," he said.

The president often reinforces this view on Twitter by acting as a cheerleader for Fox programming, sometimes in real time.

While some are troubled by Trump's overt embrace of one network, Don Irvine, chairman of Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog group, sees no problem with having the U.S. leader as an avid fan.

"I think the relationship is fine, obviously Fox benefits a great deal by having the President of the United States contribute to the program on occasion, and I think President Trump also benefits from this because he gets an audience that is part of his base, so it's probably a good symbiotic relationship at this point," Irvine stated.

Most agree Trump's favorite news program is Fox & Friends, which is also the highest-rated morning news program on American cable news, and whose audience includes many Trump supporters.

The relationship between the president and this program is what media observers have called a "feedback loop." Basically, it means Trump gets inspired for policy ideas from watching Fox News, Porter says.

"He's issuing pronouncements, and making comments and statements in response to media, rather than media responding to him. It's very unusual, usually it's the other way around," Porter observed.

Speaking directly to supporters

Trump has championed his use of Twitter as a way of speaking directly to his supporters, without allowing the news media to come between them.

His embrace of Fox is similar, says Irvine.

"A lot of mainstream journalists don't like the fact that they're not the filter for the news and that the president is basically taking it right to the public," he pointed out.

Others argue that the president favors the network because it does not challenge his views.

"I think he views Fox as a friendly news network, so he can use the platform they offer him to espouse his positions and his policy preferences without receiving the kind of challenges and pushback that he does from other media outlets," Porter noted.

That friendly treatment from Fox has been sharply criticized by other American journalists, who advocate that the media should strive to be independent while carrying out its traditional role as a check on power.

"We also now have our own major state-run network, Fox News, that treats our president as 'Dear Leader'  much the same way that China's People's Daily does [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping]," wrote New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in February. CNN President Jeff Zucker blasted Fox News in March by saying, "It is a pure propaganda machine and I think does incredible disservice to this country," while acknowledging "there are a handful of good journalists there."

Lachlan Murdoch, co-chair of Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox, rejected the criticism that Fox News has become "state TV" under Trump.

"I don't think that's true, and I don't think that any media organization should be behind an individual," Murdoch told the online financial news site Business Insider during a November conference on the media business. "You can be behind ideals and concepts, you can be behind whether you think your viewers want lower taxes and higher employment."

Where truth lies

Professor Porter of George Washington University argued Fox News should do more to press against Trump when necessary.

"At the end of the day, they are journalists, and part of their role in a democracy is to check the political leaders of this country," Porter said. "Every president has friendly media outlets, who like their policies or politics, just like them personally. The test for these outlets is whether they hold the political leaders' feet to the fire."

Irvine said in the era of worries over the spread of fake or misleading news, it is important to look at news from all sides and spend more time filtering through the news.

"Don't take what you see on any of these news networks as gospel. Conservatives shouldn't just watch Fox News, liberals shouldn't just watch MSNBC or CNN; I think you have to watch the cross-sections to get a wider viewpoint and say, 'Am I smart enough to discern where that truth lies?'" Irvine advised.The prime ministers of Hungary and Poland, allies in a series of disputes with Brussels, united Monday in opposing cuts under the European Union's new budget.

Both countries are accused by the European Commission of undermining judicial independence in a row that threatens their future funding from the bloc.

Neither Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki nor his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban commented on an EU plan to cut money in the 2021-2027 budget for member states that interfere in their legal systems.

However, after meeting in Warsaw they declared their common ground on farm payments under the Common Agricultural Policy and reforming the EU budget after Britain leaves the bloc.

On Monday, Brussels gave Poland until late June to settle its dispute with the EU over the independence of its courts.

Orban said he and Morawiecki agreed on two principles. "We want to protect the interests of our farmers. So we do not think it is appropriate to reduce the agricultural budget," he told reporters.

"We also agreed that we have no objections to setting up new funds, as there are always new tasks. But the creation of new funds should not be a justification for the reduction of existing funds that have been functioning well," he added.

The Commission, backed by Germany, France and the EU's other wealthy paymasters, wants to tie funding on which poorer eastern countries rely to respect for the rule of law. This could cost Hungary and Poland millions of euros.

Orban won a third four-year term in April and is on his first foreign policy visit since then to Poland, which is the biggest beneficiary of EU aid, using it to upgrade its infrastructure.

Morawiecki said the two countries had "absolutely identical" positions on compensating budget losses due to Brexit and on the common agricultural policy.

Poland and Hungary also have a common stance on migration.

Hungary says it would not agree with any proposal that would provide the potential for blackmail of anyone with regard to the payment of EU funds based on the treaties.Police in Indonesia say a family of five carried out Monday's suicide bombing attack on a police headquarters in Surabaya that left 10 people wounded.

Closed circuit television footage shows two motorcycles rolling up to a security checkpoint moments before the blast.

Authorities say an eight-year-old girl survived Monday's attack. The injured included four policemen and six civilians. There has been no claim of responsibility.

The attack in the country's second largest city comes a day after a family of six suicide bombers, including teens and children, targeted three churches, killing at least 13 people and wounding 41 others also in Surabaya.

All big cities in Indonesia are now on high alert.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Sunday's blasts, which Indonesia's president called "barbaric." The family had reportedly recently returned to Indonesia from Syria.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the bombers included a mother and father, two daughters aged 9 and 12 and two teenage sons, adding that they were linked to the Islamic State-inspired group, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah.

"They have been cornered by the West, including U.S., in Syria, and they have to return to Indonesia," Tito said of the group, calling on Indonesia's parliament to pass a revised anti-terrorism law.

"We can't take any actions without legal basis. The previous law is outdated," he told a news conference, adding that police would call on the president to issue a decree to enable them to move quickly to fight the terrorist cell.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks. Widodo said he will issue a "perppu" -- a regulation in lieu of law -- by the end of June if parliament fails to approve a revision of the country's terrorism law during its next session, which begins Friday.

The U.N. Secretary General condemned the attacks in a statement Sunday, noting that he was "appalled" that children were used in the bombing.

"The Secretary-General expresses his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a swift recovery to those injured. He reiterates the support of the United Nations to the Government and people of Indonesia in their efforts to fight and prevent terrorism and violent extremism, including through the promotion of pluralism, moderation and tolerance," Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, wrote in a statement.

Indonesian Muslim and Christian organizations (Nadhlatul Ulama and Communion of Churches/PGI) condemned the attacks and issued a statement saying there is "no single religion in the world that justifies violence in achieving our goals." The groups urged the government to take "decisive and swift steps" to tackle terrorism and radicalism.

Police have ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya. A large food festival in the city was also canceled.

Churches in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, canceled morning services. Jakarta is on high alert after the three bomb attacks in Surabaya. The National Police have tightened security across the capital, especially around vital objects and strategic locations.

There are no details yet why the police increased the alert status, or whether there is any terrorist threat to the capital.

The attacks in predominantly Muslim Indonesia came days after police ended a riot and hostage-taking at a detention center near Jakarta that left six officers and an inmate dead.An Iranian court on Sunday sentenced eight men to death over attacks that killed 18 people at the parliament and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's mausoleum last year, in the first deadly operation by Islamic State in the country.



The sentence, issued by a Revolutionary Court after a seven-session hearing, can be appealed in Iran's Supreme Court, Musa Ghazanfarabadi, head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, told state television.



Ghazanfarabadi said courts will hear claims later filed by families of the victims against the United States and Saudi Arabia, which mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran accuses of supporting Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State. Both countries deny that accusation.



Islamic State claimed responsibility for the unprecedented attacks in Iran, in which suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the parliament and Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran.



Eighteen other suspects still face charges over the attacks, according to state media.



Iran has said that the five gunmen and suicide bombers who were killed had fought in Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State once held swathes of territory but is now in decline.Dozens of Palestinians were killed and more than 2,000 wounded in clashes with Israeli forces Monday along the Gaza border as thousands demonstrated against the opening of a new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

While U.S. and Israeli officials celebrated at the new American diplomatic outpost, violence raged less than 100 kilometers away. The Israeli military said more than 40,000 people protested, with Palestinian health officials saying 52 demonstrators were killed by live gunfire and tear gas.

It was the deadliest day of violence in Gaza since 2014 during the war with Israel.



As the death toll mounted throughout the day, some countries, including U.S. allies France and Britain, called for restraint on Israel's part to curb the bloodshed. But the U.S. did not join the call for Israel to limit its response to the protests and laid the blame for the violence on the militant group Hamas that controls Gaza.

"We shouldn't lose sight that Hamas is responsible for the entire situation," White House spokesman Raj Shah said. He accused Hamas of "engaging in cynical action" to promote the protests against the Jewish state and the U.S.'s action in moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem even as most countries have kept their diplomatic operations in Tel Aviv.

As the U.S. embassy was opened, U.S. President Donald Trump, in a video message, proclaimed Jerusalem as "the capital of Israel." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, "We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay."

Shah said the Gaza violence and the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal city of Jews, Christians and Muslims that the Palestinians also hope some day to claim as their capital, would not affect U.S. efforts to forge an Israel-Palestinian peace accord.

But any semblance of peace was far from a reality along the Gaza border, where protesters massed along the dividing fence. Clouds of black smoke from tires set afire by the protesters filled the sky.

Some demonstrators hurled stones, firebombs and explosives at Israeli security forces, who responded with tear gas and gunfire.

Netanyahu said on Twitter, "Every country has an obligation to defend its borders. The Hamas terrorist organization declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."

Trump defied the sentiment of many governments around the world in December by upending longstanding U.S. policy to move the American embassy to Jerusalem.

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a White House adviser and part of the U.S. delegation at the ceremony, said, While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy once in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it.

In one of the few references at the celebration to the Gaza protests, Kushner called the Palestinians protesting in Gaza "part of the problem and not part of the solution."

In his video remarks, Trump described the moving of the American diplomatic outpost to Jerusalem as "a long time coming." But the U.S. leader said the United States "remains committed to a lasting peace agreement" between Israel and the Palestinians.

In Twitter remarks from Washington, Trump said, "A great day for Israel!" and congratulated the country. But he did not mention the violence.

Netanyahu called the opening of the new embassy a "glorious" day, saying, "Thank you, President Trump for having the courage to keep your promises." The prime minister applauded Israel's security forces for protecting its borders.

Arab leaders condemned the U.S. action, with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri calling the embassy move "provocative" and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif describing it as "a day of great shame."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he "will not accept" any peace deal with Israel that is proposed by the Trump administration. He said the new U.S. facility in Jerusalem "is not an embassy, it's a U.S. settlement outpost in Jerusalem."

Critics have faulted Israeli forces for using live fire, while Israel says its actions are necessary for security as people threaten the border fence. The Israeli military said it launched five airstrikes in Gaza on training camps of Hamas militants.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on Israel to respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force" and should act "with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life."

Along with rejecting the U.S. Embassy move, Palestinians were also protesting to mark the anniversary of what they call the "nakba" or "catastrophe" in reference to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were expelled or fled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

The new U.S. Embassy site is an interim location operating inside the existing U.S. consulate building in Jerusalem while a search begins for a larger site.



Trump pledged during his campaign to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. After announcing in December that the embassy would be moved, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution rejecting Trump's decisions regarding Jerusalem.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that moving the embassy "is a national security priority" and that Trump "wanted the American embassy real estate on the right side of town" in Jerusalem.

Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its capital, while most Palestinians hope to see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The issue has long been seen as one of the last big items that would need to be resolved in any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.When Tehran-bound AF 378 took off from Paris in April 2016, it was a heady moment for European diplomacy and commercial interests.

Iran had signed a nuclear deal with six world powers the year before, including three from Europe. Businesses, from Frances Total to Germanys Siemens and Italian steel firm Danieli, were scrambling for a share of a promising market. The Air France flight was the airliners first since 2008, when service was suspended amid global sanctions over Irans nuclear program.

Since then, the nuclear agreement has translated into billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs for Europe, a windfall that now risks drying up with U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from it, and threats to sanction European companies doing business with Tehran.

Yet today, the Europeans face an uncomfortable truth as they try to salvage the nuclear deal and also protect their businesses; Iran is the EUs 33rd biggest trading power, while the United States ranks number one. That reality will weigh heavily during key talks this week, even as calls grow for Europe to stand up for its ideals and interests, and speak with a strong, collective voice.

If we dont unify, were just going to be small laughable countries that the United States, China and Russia will push over, said Tomasz Michalski, associate Economics professor at leading French business school HEC, summing up the criticism.

Pushing back against Washington

On Tuesday, foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany, the three European signatories to the nuclear agreement, discuss their response to the U.S. pullout and also hold talks with their Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif. The matter is also expected to be taken up by EU leaders during a summit Thursday in Bulgaria.

Initial European reactions have been tough, with top officials vowing to stick to the Iran deal and denouncing Washingtons pullout as destabilizing and detrimental.

Do we want to be a vassal that obeys and jumps to attention? French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told Europe 1 radio, arguing the bloc must defend its economic sovereignty against the U.S. threats.



He laid out several proposals to protect European firms doing business with Iran, including revamping an EU-wide blocking statute, which bans companies from complying with U.S. sanctions, and making the bloc more financially independent.

Analysts have outlined other ways Europe can push back.

Scholars Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson argue the bloc must acknowledge the harsh reality that it has yet to act like an organization with a GDP roughly equal to that of the United States, they wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.

Among the options they outlined: recalling European ambassadors from Washington, and even expelling U.S. ambassadors, depending on Trumps response and retaliating against the United States commercially. Rallying a collective response is doable, they claim, since the Iran deal is one the few areas EU members agree on.

Commentator Ellie Geranmayeh, of the European Council on Foreign relations, suggested Europe should also work with the two other Iran deal signatories, Russia and China, to get Tehran to stick the agreement.

Failing to save the nuclear deal will not only have terrible consequences for the Middle East, Geranmayeh wrote, but would drastically shrink European relevance on global security.

But standing up to Washington may not be so simple.

Its going to be really difficult for European businesses, HECs Michalski said. If you do business with Iran and you want to sell to a large market like the U.S., you will basically have to choose. Either its Iran or the U.S.

The Trump administration also has another powerful lever, threats of imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, which received only a temporary exemption until June. Yet paradoxically, the added pressure might get the Europeans to unite and retaliate against Washington commercially, Michalski said.

Financial and political fallout

EU trade with Iran has skyrocketed from just over $9 billion in 2015 to roughly $25 billion in 2017, with Germany, France and Italy the top commercial partners.

Now, European manufacturer Airbus may offer a preview on how businesses respond to the U.S. sanctions threat. The company is expected to announce within days whether it will maintain a 2016 order to deliver 100 planes to Iran, which are crucially constructed with some U.S.-manufactured components.

Recent history is likely to weigh into its decision. Frances BNP paid a nearly $9 billion fine in 2014, for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

Part of the problem, says former French economy minister Thierry Breton, is the Iranian nuclear agreement stipulates transactions in dollars. Getting around it means changing transactions to euros, as part of a larger move to increase financial independence from the United States. This, Breton told Europe 1 radio, risks taking time.

Meanwhile, Air France announced this month it is scaling back flights to Iran due to poor economic performance. The airline plans to adapt its service in the coming months, Reuters reported, to match demand.The leader of Britain's domestic spy agency is scheduled to deliver a speech Monday in Berlin to his European counterparts, the first speech ever made outside Britain by a serving MI5 chief.

In the rare public address, Andrew Parker will say close cooperation among the European spy agencies is vital as they all face threats from the Islamic State and and Russia.

He will warn the group they are facing "devastating and more complex attacks" from the Islamic State and "aggressive and pernicious actions" from Russia that risk making Russia a "more isolated pariah."

Partial remarks of the landmark address have been released, revealing that Parker will also say Russia is committing "flagrant breaches of international rules."

Parker is making the address as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. He will say, however, that "European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognizable to what it looked like five years ago," and adding that "In today's uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever."

The event is Berlin is being hosted by Germany's BfV domestic intelligence service.Newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has placed the country's attorney general on leave as he prepares to reopen a corruption probe involving state-owned investment fund 1MDB.

Mahathir announced Monday that he is replacing Attorney General Apandi Ali with the country's solicitor-general. Apandi cleared ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2016 of any wrongdoing in the scandal. U.S. authorities say officials of 1MDB embezzled $4.5 billion from the fund, some of which was discovered in Najib's personal bank account. Najib  who chaired 1MDB's advisory board  has denied any wrongdoing.

The head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is also being replaced by Mahathir. Dzulkifli Ahmad was appointed by Najib in 2016.

Prime Minister Mahathir has also banned Najib and his wife from leaving Malaysia, after a leaked flight manifesto showed Najib and his wife were scheduled to leave on a private jet Saturday for Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the former director of intelligence and investigations of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission filed a formal complaint Monday accusing Najib of blocking the probe into the 1MDB scandal.



Voter anger over the 1MDB scandal led to the upset victory in last week's parliamentary elections by Mahathir's Alliance of Hope opposition coalition over Najib and his Barisan Nasional coalition, ending the latter's 61-year-rule over Malaysia. The victory made the 92-year-old Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia with an iron fist between 1981 and 2003, the world's oldest elected leader.Paris is a city on edge once again as Frances capital mourned another victim of fanaticism.

The Chechen-born French citizen who lashed at people with a knife, killing one and wounding four, had been on a terror watch list, but his ability to be able to launch an attack Saturday underlines the scale of the challenge France faces from Islamic militants, French officials say.

More than 2,600 suspected militants are on a watch list but tabs cant be kept on all of them. While the security services are excellent at identifying potential jihadists, the terrible lack of human resources means that they can monitor only a tiny tiny fraction of the suspects, said counterterror analyst Olivier Guitta, who runs GlobalStrat, a London-based risk consultancy.

The Islamic State attack in Paris Opera area is the 12th successful terrorist attack since 2013. It is the second successful one this year. France remains a priority target of the jihadists in Europe, he added.

The last serious terror attack in France was in March, when a self-proclaimed militant killed a French policeman whod exchanged himself for a female hostage during a siege in southwest France. The string of attacks since 2013 has left 245 people dead. Saturdays mayhem was similar in method to a knife attack carried out last year in Marseille, said Loic Travers, a police union official.

Lacking manpower

French intelligence officials say they dont have the manpower to keep even the 2,600 top-tier militant risks under around-the-clock surveillance. Aside from that watch list, they are also trying to monitor a further 5,000 suspects who have prompted anxiety but are considered less of an immediate danger - they are radicalized but have not as yet shown signs of thinking about violence.

The French arent alone in trying to match resources and manpower with threats. Other European intelligence agencies, especially in neighboring Belgium, are also overstretched. After each attack, security chiefs ask themselves what more they can do to prevent terrorism, especially the rudimentary kind of knife-wielding attack that was mounted in the French capital Saturday.

French lawmakers are sympathetic about the complaints from the countrys security services about the lack of resources and how difficult it is to track all of even the most dangerous militants.

Nathalie Goulet, a member of the French Senate foreign and defense committee, has said in the past, You cannot put a policeman behind each of them. Especially since being reported to be in the process of radicalization does not make you a criminal.

But Goulet and other lawmakers have expressed worries about the temporary nature of the surveillance and how quickly suspected militants can be dropped off the high-risk list.

She argues the French security services should maintain a permanent file of people who had a link with terrorist organizations much as the police do when it comes to sex offenders who are stuck permanently on file.

Information on assailant

Saturdays suspect, who was shot by French police, wasnt carrying any identification papers and hasnt yet been publicly named by authorities, but French media are giving his name as Khamzat Asimov.

French officials say the man had no criminal record, was Chechen born and was naturalized as a French citizen in 2010. They say a friend of the suspect had been detained for questioning in the eastern city of Strasbourg recently.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the assault, but it remains unclear whether the assailant was inspired by the terror group or had actual operational links with IS. French intelligence services are now scrambling to establish what ties the man may have had with the group, if any.

It would be the first time an assailant of Chechen origin has carried out a terrorist attack in France, which hosts about 30,000 Chechens. Analysts have highlighted recently Chechen militants as a subgroup that bears watching.

Last year Belgian analyst Pieter Van Ostaeyen said that in his database of Belgian militants whod gone to fight in Syria, 12 were of Chechen origin, with another 10 of Russia descent.

It may be small, this Eastern contingent, but it is likely underestimated, too, Van Ostaeyen warned.

IS has actively recruited fighters in Chechnya, sending hundreds to conflicts in Syria and elsewhere. Some of the top IS commanders in Syria and and Iraq were veterans of conflict in Chechnya.

Most of the Eastern contingents networks seem to operate in a very covert manner, Van Ostaeyen noted in a study for the Bellingcat news site. They do not expose themselves with propaganda ... and even its individual members rarely show themselves off on social media."Russian President Vladimir Putin has chaired a meeting of the economic alliance that includes his country and several ex-Soviet nations, and which has invited Moldova as an observer.

During Monday's meeting in Sochi, Putin hailed the Eurasian Economic Union as a dynamic group and pointed at its economic achievements.

The Eurasian Economic Union includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. It is intended to encourage free trade, coordinate the members' financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies.

The meeting participants agreed to offer Moldova observer status in the union.

The meeting also provided a platform for the first encounter between Putin and new Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.He won the job after spearheading a wave of protests that forced out the long-serving leader of the Caucasus nation.A U.S. diplomat has left Pakistan for Afghanistan Monday after Islamabad had earlier barred him from leaving the country for his role in a fatal road accident.

U.S. defense attache Joseph Emanuel Hall on Saturday planned to board an American military aircraft at the air force base near Islamabad but was not permitted to do so and returned to the embassy, security officials confirmed to VOA.

But on Monday he was permitted to leave for Afghanistan, after Pakistani authorities removed Hall's name from a so-called "black list" of people not allowed to leave Pakistan due to pending court cases against them.

The government agreed to allow Hall to exit the country after U.S. officials assured he will be tried under American laws, Pakistani officials said.

We can confirm that the American diplomat who was involved in a tragic accident on April 7 in Islamabad has departed Pakistan, said U.S. embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire.

On April 7, the American defense attache ran a red light in Islamabad, killing a motorcyclist and seriously injuring another person on the bike.



U.S. officials swiftly expressed their "deep sympathy to the family of the deceased and those injured," and pledged to fully cooperate with local authorities in the investigation.

The family of the deceased Ateeq Baig later approached the capital city's high court, demanding Hall be brought to justice.



Washington has rejected the Pakistani demand to withdraw Hall's diplomatic immunity to hold the diplomat accountable for his "criminal" act.



"This level of diplomat, he is not a contractor, has diplomatic immunity. But having said that, immunity does not mean that they can flagrantly flout the host country's laws with impunity," Sherry Rehman, leader of the opposition in the Pakistani Senate, told VOA. She has also served as Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S.



Pakistan placed unspecified travel restrictions on American diplomats and withdrew concessions Islamabad had granted to U.S. missions as part of the "war on terror" partnership.



The restrictions went into effect on Friday the same day Washington announced Pakistani diplomats would be required to seek permission five days in advance before traveling more than 40 kilometers from their posts in the United States.



The Pakistani foreign ministry through a formal letter also informed the U.S. embassy its officials would no longer be entitled to special treatment at the airports and their cargo will have to be scanned like that of other passengers.



American diplomats have also been barred from "installing radio communication at residences and safe houses" without prior government permission. They have also been disallowed from using "tinted glass" on vehicles as well as rented transportation, and installing non-diplomatic license plates on official vehicles.



Pakistan had granted those concessions to the U.S. after Pakistan joined the "war on terrorism" 17 years ago.



Rehman saw the diplomatic dispute as an "unprecedented stalemate" in relations between Pakistan and the U.S.



"They symbolize a downward spiraling in an already tense relationship," she said. "It puts both embassies and missions under a cloud ofvery unpleasant situation, circumstances and working conditions."



Rehman called for both Pakistan and the U.S. to apply "some serious crisis management diplomacy" to address what she said was a "precipitous and worrying downturn" in the fragile tension-marred bilateral relations.



Pakistan's relations with the U.S. have steadily deteriorated since President Donald Trump announced a new South Asia strategy in August that blamed Islamabad for covertly supporting terrorist groups and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.



While U.S. financial assistance to Islamabad has significantly declined over the yeas, Trump also suspended military aid until Islamabad takes deceive action against terrorists on its soil.



Pakistan rejects the charges and maintains it is being scapegoated for U.S.-led international security failures in Afghanistan.Investors looking to buy Venezuela's new cryptocurrency may want to head to a little-known Moscow bank whose biggest shareholders are President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government and two state-controlled Russian companies under U.S. sanctions.

Evrofinance Mosnarbank has emerged as the only international financial institution so far willing to defy a U.S. campaign to derail the world's first state-backed digital currency, called the petro, even before it begins to function.

Early would-be investors who registered with Venezuela's government and downloaded the petro's wallet software  available in Spanish, English and Russian  were then invited to buy the cryptocurrency by wiring a minimum of 1,000 euros to a Venezuelan government account at Evrofinance.

The bank's place in the rollout of the petro is further evidence of Russia's role in the creation of a cryptocurrency that much of the digital world has shunned but that Maduro hopes will allow Venezuela to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions imposed last year.

At the petro's launch on Feb. 21, Maduro heaped praise on two Russians in the audience who worked with wealthy, Kremlin-connected businessmen, thanking their previously unknown startups  Zeus Exchange and Aerotrading  for their role developing what he joked would be a kind of kryptonite against U.S. economic dominance.

A day later, he dispatched his economy minister to Moscow to brief his Russian finance counterpart.

And in March, the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain awarded the Venezuelan government an award for its role challenging the de-facto powers of the international financial system.

Fighting a common bully

Russia's interest in the petro stems from its own increasingly pariah status in the west, said Claiborne W. Porter, the former head of the U.S. Justice Department's bank integrity unit. As relations with the U.S. and European Union become more tense, both countries are looking for ways to demonstrate political strength while moving money outside the American financial system.

Like kids on the playground, Venezuela and Russia think they are fighting a common bully in U.S. sanctions, so they're going to try and form a united front, said Porter, who is now the Washington-based head of investigations at consulting firm Navigant.

Russia has provided Venezuela with billions in debt relief over the years and is a major investor in the country's oil industry. That financial lifeline has become more important since the Trump administration last year banned Americans from lending money to the nearly bankrupt government and now threatens to slap sanctions on the OPEC nation's oil industry if Maduro goes ahead with presidential elections this month that are widely seen as a sham. In March, Trump signed an executive order banning Americans from any dealings with the petro.

Evrofinance and its executives didn't return repeated email requests for comment. But after The Associated Press' inquiries, all references to the bank were removed from the petro's wallet, leaving prospective buyers with no guidance on how to actually buy it, though it's still listed for sale in rubles and euros as well as three other widely circulated cryptocurrencies.

Venezuela's government purchased a 49 percent stake in Evrofinance in 2011, making the bank, which traces its history back a century as a western financial outpost for the Soviet Union, a vehicle for binational trade and investment projects, with almost $800 million in assets.

The rest of the shares are held by two major banks, state-controlled VTB and Gazprombank, which were sanctioned by the U.S. and European nations in 2014 over President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea.

It's unclear how many petros the government has sold. Maduro boasted this month that the government had raised $3.3 billion in the pre-sale phase. But so far only a small fraction of the petros appears to have been distributed to buyers, according to the blockchain where the digital currency's movements can be publicly tracked.

Scam

Experts say that the petro is of little interest to foreigners other than drug traffickers and others active in Venezuela's burgeoning criminal underworld. Even offshore trading platforms like Bitfinex are refusing to deal in the petro for fear of violating sanctions. Rating website ICOindex.com, which tracks initial coin offerings of cryptocurrencies, called it a scam.

An overwhelming majority of ICOs don't deliver on what they promise because their promoters are outright scammers or fall short on technical expertise, said Alejandro Machado, a Venezuelan-born computer scientist who consults for crypto startups. In the case of the Venezuelan government, both reasons apply.

One of the two Russians who signed agreements with Maduro to position the petro globally, Denis Druzhkov, had been fined $31,000 and barred for three years by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for fraudulent trading in futures' contracts. Zeus Exchange, which Druzhkov created alongside a Kremlin-connected industrialist, said in a statement that it has never had any business ties with the Venezuelan government and that Druzhkov resigned after abusing his authority.

The other, Fedor Bogorodskiy, used to help run the credit card division at a bank controlled by a Russian oligarch. He has lived in Uruguay since 2009, combining telecommunications business with part-time promotion of Russian culture. He told The AP that his company, Aerotrading, whose website consists of a single home page with no company information, immediately ceased all work on the petro after Trump announced his ban.

Despite the pressure, Maduro is showing no signs of slowing down. He's given government institutions  from ministries to airports  120 days to start accepting the petro as legal tender in all transactions. He's also paved the way for the creation of 16 local exchanges where Venezuelans will be able to purchase petros with their fast-depreciating bolivars. Also in the works is a second state-backed cryptocurrency tied to the country's gold reserves.

But gaining international acceptance remains an uphill battle.

Yuri Pripachkin, president of the Russian blockchain group that honored Venezuela, said that while the Kremlin is keeping a close eye on the petro it hasn't been involved in its development. Still, he said as long as sanctions are used as a foreign policy tool to punish governments that challenge U.S. policies, the incentives to seek out alternative means of financing will remain. He also dismissed the idea that the petro could be used to fund criminal activity.

That's a fairy tale, said Pripachkin. The most popular currency for terrorists and criminals the world over is the U.S. dollar, not crypto, and nobody is suggesting we ban dollars. This is just an attempt to stop crypto from expanding.A suicide bomb at a police station in the Indonesian city of Surabaya has injured at least 10 people so far. It comes just one day after three coordinated suicide bombings at three churches in the same city, and just six days after a 36-hour prison standoff in a Jakarta suburb where militant prisoners killed five police officers.

Both attacks were perpetrated by families: the church bombings by a family of six, all of whom died, and the police station bombing by a family of five, from which an eight-year-old girl has survived. The church incident was the first time a woman and children have been actively involved in a deadly terrorist attack in Indonesia.

The week of terror incidents has rattled Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, which otherwise has a fairly low per-capita rate of jihadism and runs extensive counter-extremism efforts.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo urged the Indonesian House of Representatives to quickly pass a revised draft of the national counterterrorism bill so that police and intelligence would be more empowered to take on suspected terrorists.

Experts say they are a sign of the evolving profile of jihadists in Indonesia, particularly the recent generation of those who are sympathetic to the so-called Islamic State (IS), as opposed to al-Qaida, which has also developed extensive terror networks in Southeast Asia.

Family bombing

Whats seemingly unusual about the [church] attacks is the involvement of a mother and her children, said Judith Jacob, who studies Salafi jihadism at the London School of Economics. She said that family links between men are very common in the organizational structure of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian affiliate of al-Qaida, which was responsible for incidents like the 2002 Bali bombing. [But] women have historically played a more passive role in the groups organization not necessarily participating in frontline activity.

Jacob said that one major difference between the central leadership of al-Qaida and IS is that the latter encourages women to actively engage with militant activity. Last year, Indonesias first attempted female suicide bomber, Dian Yulia Novi, was arrested and jailed, but this is the first time that women have actually executed an attack.



A mother and two daughters (aged nine and 12) targeted one church in Surabaya, her two sons (aged 16 and 18) went to a second, and her husband blew himself up at the third. At least thirteen people have died from those attacks and the Islamic State claimed responsibility after the fact through its Amaq news agency.

Indonesian police said that the family belonged to an IS-inspired domestic network called Jemaah Ansharut Daulah.

Initial reports suggested that they themselves actually returned from the so-called Islamic State in Syria, but further investigation with the family's neighbors showed that they had never been to the Middle East and seemingly displayed no signs of radicalization.

Inadequate response

President Jokowi has threatened to issue his own perppu, or presidential decree, on counterterrorism if the House of Representatives does not pass the revised bill imminently. As it stands, argues Jokowi, not much can be done in the face of suspected terrorists, and the burden of evidence may be too high for police and intelligence to deal with prospective militants.

The prison standoff last week will put added pressure on the government for prison reform, said Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College.

Abuza said that this incident was actually the second riot at the exact same prison in Depok, a Jakarta suburb. He visited Indonesia earlier this year and witnessed a similar riot from militant prisoners that he said went more or less unreported. That should have been a wake-up call, he said.

The prisoners have been moved to a facility in Nusa Kambongan, an island off the Central Java coast, but there remains no standalone, maximum security prison for high-risk jihadist inmates, said Abuza.

Sidney Jones, a leading extremism expert who runs the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said the concentration of terrorism suspects in Depok has been a disaster waiting to happen.

As early as 2016, an IPAC report warned, The obstacles to effective prison management remain overwhelming Prisons are overcrowded and understaffed, corruption is rife, and inadequate budgets make it easier for well-funded extremists to recruit inmates when they can offer extra food. No deradicalization program is going to be effective unless some of these issues are addressed.

At the same time, Abuza said this weeks events may not necessarily reflect a big-picture rise in Indonesians sympathies for the Islamic State, since they were carried out by deportees and already-convicted prisoners.

I dont think ISIS is necessarily still appealing to a new generation of Indonesians, said Abuza. I'm actually more concerned by al-Qaida their social networks, madrasas [Islamic schools], and mosques are still up they've been given a lot of space, in what Indonesian police consider a tactical cease-fire. So I still think that is the biggest latent threat.



Guwahati: In a shocking incident as an Australian tourist was died under mysterious circumtances at a hotel in Assam's Guwahati city on Saturday night.





According to the reports the Australian tourist identified as 67-year-old Willem Marinus had came to Assam with four other colleagues on May 9 last after travelling other parts of the country and neighbouring Bhutan.





Willem Marinus had checked at Hotel Lilawati Grand in Guwahati on Saturday night and slipped off stairs inside the hotel after he met his colleagues at 5th floor.





The hotel staffs and other persons had immediately called 108 emergency service but the Australian tourist succummbed his injuries and post mortem of the body was conducted at Guwahati Medical College Hospital on Sunday.





According to the reports, Willem Marinus and his colleagues came here for some Royal Enfield tour and they had travelled various parts in India, Bhutan.



Through the thick black smoke of burning tires, the crowds that gathered at the eastern border of the Gaza Strip could see scores of young men and boys dragging wire fencing away from the Israeli border.

Many of the youths wore gas masks made out of soda bottles and bits of cloth, as tear gas rained down periodically.

"God is Great!" shouted some onlookers, as others cheered.

The protest, one of many in the Palestinian territories and around the world, was in objection to the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem, a city both Israelis and Palestinians have long claimed their own.

By the end of the day, authorities in Gaza called for civilians to disperse as bomb blasts hit military targets in the territory. Israeli authorities said the strikes were in response to recent militant attacks, including firebombs thrown at Israeli soldiers, according to Tel Aviv-based news outlet, Haaretz.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said 52 people were killed and more than 2,400 were injured throughout the day, with more than 130 of the injuries "critical" or "serious."

At the protests, ambulances roared through the fields gathering the injured. When there were not enough vehicles, protesters lifted injured people in their arms or onto gurneys to run them out of the mayhem.

But for many Gaza protesters, the embassy opening was secondary to their larger goal-to return to lands held by Israel since 1948.

"We want to live," said Mohammed, a 23-year-old protester with black fabric covering his face. "We want to go back to our lands, whatever the cost to us."

Nakba

Protests are expected to continue this week and beyond, as Palestinians observe what they call the "Nakba," meaning the disaster, on May 15.

Nakba marks the expulsion and flight of Palestinians during the 1948 war and the continued rejection of their "right of return," a key sticking point in peace talks between Arabs and Israelis. Millions of the descendants of those displaced are still refugees in the Palestinian territories and in neighboring countries.

The protests are part of six weeks of demonstrations that began in late March. Hamas, the main governing body in Gaza, has called the events, "The March of Return."

Hamas  all or in part  is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the U.S. and Israel.

"These protests are different," said Mohammed Abo Askar, the head organizer of a demonstration in northern Gaza along the Israeli border. "We are leaving all weapons aside and it will be peaceful."

But as the youths charged the fences, many carried rocks in slings, saying that taking down the fence was not an act of violence, because they believe the land beyond is their birthright.

"The peaceful protests won't continue forever," Abo Askar added. "If things don't change, we will go back to using our weapons. This is a promise."South Sudan should not waste the opportunity of forthcoming peace talks even though an agreement to end its conflict has been violated several times by warring parties, an international mediator said on Monday.

Despite several agreements and ceasefires, fighting has rumbled on in South Sudan with barely any break since civil war erupted at the end of 2013, just two years after independence.

Troops loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with forces loyal to Riek Machar, then the vice president. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and much of the nation face dire food shortages.



The government and rebel groups signed the latest cease-fire in December in the Ethiopian capital, aiming to revive a pact reached in 2015. But the truce was violated within hours.

The parties will hold a forum in Addis Ababa from May 17-21 to try to jumpstart the peace process. The forum is organized by the regional East Africa group IGAD.



"This country has missed so many opportunities to make durable peace and we should not allow the High level Revitalization Forum to be squandered," Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana said in a speech.

Mogae chairs the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, which was set up to monitor the failed 2015 truce and peace deal implementation. South Sudan has since launched its own national dialogue, while fighting has continued across the country.

He accused the parties of engaging in human rights violations and urged IGAD to take action.

"The parties continue to wage a campaign of defiance and commit human rights abuses with impunity. This is unacceptable and I call on IGAD to make good its promise to hold spoilers accountable," he said.The new United States embassy for Israel, housed in a U.S. consulate built in Jerusalem in 2010, is located partly on a plot of land that Washington does not officially recognize as Israeli territory.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has referred to the embassy site as being partly in West Jerusalem  the portion of the city recognized by the U.N. as Israeli territory  and partly in No Mans Land between the Israeli-Jordanian armistice lines of April 23, 1949. The western perimeter of that no mans land, which appears as a five-sided box on Google Maps, runs through the embassy complex.

That land also is what a U.N. official calls occupied territory, under 1949s Fourth Geneva Convention and 1907s Hague Convention.



The senior U.N. official spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.



The Trump administration has said it takes no position on the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, even while recognizing the city as Israels capital.



But, some Mideast scholars say they believe the embassy location means the U.S. actually is taking a position on sovereignty in Jerusalem, which Israel calls its undivided capital.



Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer told VOA that putting the embassy on the 'no mans land' that Israel annexed to its capital after 1967 is a de facto recognition of Israels action. Kurtzer, a professor of international affairs at Princeton, served as ambassador from 2001 to 2005.



For Eugene Kontorovich, an international law professor at Northwestern University, the move is even more significant. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Sunday, he said the embassy site demonstrates that the U.S. not only sees Jerusalem as Israels capital, but also  recognizes the city as unified.



The U.S. State Department declined to answer a VOA question about whether the embassy location represents a U.S. recognition of Israeli annexation of the 'no mans land.' It also declined to say whether it shares the U.N. officials view of the area as Israeli-occupied.

The U.S. embassy in Jerusalems Arnona neighborhood is meant to be temporary. U.S. officials have said they are looking for a permanent Jerusalem location that will take years to develop.



The global reaction to the peculiar nature of the temporary embassy site has been muted, even from Israel. It has praised the embassy move but said nothing publicly about the venues territorial significance.



Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas government has been similarly quiet on the issue, besides one comment made by PLO negotiator Ashraf Khatib to the New York Times. It quoted him in March as saying the no mans land is occupied territory whose permanent status should be resolved in negotiations with Israel.



Last months Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia produced a communique saying the leaders affirm the illegality of the American decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but mentioning nothing about the embassy site.



Since the U.S. announced the location in a February 23 statement, no U.N. bodies or leaders have said anything about it publicly, either.



Palestinian officials have said little about the embassy location because they are horrified by the initial U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital last December, says Wilson Center analyst Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. State Department advisor on Arab-Israeli negotiations. The issue is not where the embassy is going [in Jerusalem], it is the fact that the embassy is going [to Jerusalem], he told VOA.

Another reason the embassy location may not be a key issue for Palestinians is that the U.N. official who spoke to VOA described the site as occupied territory but not Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The U.N. uses OPT to refer to territories that had been under formal Jordanian control until Israel captured them in 1967. Jordan transferred its claims for those territories to the Palestinians in 1988. As for the areas between Israeli-Jordanian armistice lines, like the site of the Jerusalem embassy, the U.N. official said the world body never recognized such areas as under the formal control of any side in the conflict.



Israels quietness on the significance of the U.S. embassy site may be related to another historical quirk Israels informal 1949 agreement with Jordan to partition the 'no-man's land' into an Israeli sector in the west, a Jordanian sector in the east and an enclave in the middle for the headquarters of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). The partition never was formalized on a legally binding map, but Israel permitted its civilians and even security personnel to operate in its sector from 1949 to 1967 with little interference either from Jordan or UNTSO.

The continuous Israeli use of the western part of the no mans land makes putting the U.S. embassy there uncontroversial for Israelis from both the right and left of the political spectrum. In interviews with VOA, Israeli military historian Yagil Henkin of the conservative Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies said he cannot see any significance to the specific area, while Israeli attorney Daniel Seidemann of liberal research group Terrestrial Jerusalem said he feels intellectually dishonest calling the site occupied. The Trump administration also has cited continuous Israeli use in explaining its choice of embassy locale.



Former U.S. ambassador Dennis Ross, who served as a mediator in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, told VOA that he sees some logic in the Trump administrations vague language on the embassy location.



By opening an embassy on the site, there is an implication that the U.S. administration ultimately feels this will become part of Israel, said Ross. But, they have reserved a bit of ambiguity, and international relations often are based on preserving certain kinds of ambiguities.The United States officially relocates its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Monday in a move sharply opposed by Palestinians and a large portion of the international community.

The interim embassy will operate inside the existing U.S. consulate building in Jerusalem, while a search begins for a larger site.

Palestinians gathered for large protests Monday in Gaza, where weeks of demonstrations and clashes have led to Israeli forces killing more than 40 Palestinians. Israeli troops fired across a border fence Monday, wounding several people.

Critics have faulted Israeli forces for using live fire, while Israel says its actions are necessary for security.

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged during his campaign to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and in December he broke with longstanding policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. That same month, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution rejecting Trump's decisions regarding Jerusalem.

Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The issue has long been seen as one of the last big items that would need to be resolved in any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.The U.N. Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza after the deadliest day of violence there between Israel and the Palestinians in five years.

U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov is due to brief the council from Jerusalem.

WATCH: World reactions

Ahead of the meeting, Kuwait drafted a statement expressing "outrage and sorrow" at the killing of dozens of Palestinians by Israeli troops, while also calling for an independent investigation. U.N. diplomats said the United States, an Israeli ally and one of five nations on the council with veto power, blocked the statement.

Many of the United States' allies, along with its foes, expressed criticism of the U.S. decision to open its embassy in Jerusalem Monday, saying it would increase tensions in the Middle East.



A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said, "We disagree with the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital" before a final peace agreement is reached in the Middle East.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Monday's violence in Gaza, where Israeli soldiers killed more than 50 Palestinian civilians in clashes at the border. Macron said he had "warned repeatedly of the repercussions" of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.



In a statement, Macron's office said he talked with Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday and is planning to talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated Moscow's objection to the U.S. move. "We firmly believe that it is inappropriate to unilaterally revise the decisions of the international community in this way," he said.



Many Arab leaders also condemned the move, with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri calling it "provocative," and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif describing it as "a day of great shame."

Saudi Arabia said it "strongly condemned" the Israeli gunfire against Palestinians in Gaza and opposed the relocation of the U.S. embassy.

"This step represents a significant prejudice against the rights of the Palestinian people which have been guaranteed by international resolutions, the Saudi council of ministers said in a statement reported by the Saudi Press Agency.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to London that the embassy move was "very, very unfortunate" and said it disqualified the United States from being a mediator in the Middle East peace process.



Turkeys government said was recalling its ambassador to the United States for consultations over the U.S. Embassy move. It also recalled its ambassador to Israel following what it called a massacre of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

Turkey also has called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the worlds largest body of Muslim-majority nations. Erdogan wants the meeting to be held Friday. In response to the thousands of people who took to the streets of Istanbul Monday, Erdogan promised to hold a pro-Palestinian rally on Friday after the OIC meeting.



Kuwait also condemned the violence in Gaza and requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council for Tuesday.Key U.S. lawmakers on Monday attacked President Donald Trump's call to help save jobs at the Chinese technology giant ZTE, contending it overlooks American national security concerns.

Sen. Marco Rubio, one of Trump's former rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, said on Twitter the "problem with ZTE isn't jobs & trade, it's national security & espionage. Any telecomm firm in China can be forced to act as tool of Chinese espionage without any court order or any other review process. We are crazy to allow them to operate in U.S. without tighter restrictions."

The Florida lawmaker added, "I hope this isn't the beginning of backing down to China."

Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer parodied Trump's "Make America Great Again" political slogan, saying, "One of the few areas where the president and I agreed, and I was vocally supportive, was his approach towards China. But even here he is backing off, and his policy is now designed to achieve one goal: make China great again."

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden questioned the timing of Trump's call to help ZTE "get back into business fast" after a U.S. trade ruling severely crippled the company and order to the U.S. Commerce Department "to get it done!"

"Unilateral concessions before an upcoming trade negotiation," Wyden said. "This may be the art of the deal for China, but it's a big loser for American workers, companies, and national security."

Trump said Sunday he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease the economic fortunes of ZTE, which employs 80,000 workers and is China's second-largest maker of telecommunications equipment.

The U.S. leader's Twitter comments on ZTE came as the United States and China, the world's two biggest economies, are locked in contentious talks about tariffs each has threatened to impose on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each other's exports. Recent U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing proved fruitless, but the discussions are resuming again this week in Washington.

For its part, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday that China "greatly appreciates the positive U.S. position on the ZTE issue."



After Trump tweeted that he had "instructed" the Commerce Department to resolve the dispute over ZTE, the White House said that the president expected Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to make an independent decision.

"Too many jobs in China lost," Trump tweeted Sunday, days after ZTE announced it had ceased "major operating activities."

The U.S. had cut off exports of U.S.-made parts to ZTE  more than 25 percent of the components ZTE needs to build its wireless stations, optical fiber networks and smartphones.

The U.S. cutoff came after ZTE was, in the words of one expert, "caught red-handed" putting the U.S. technology into products and selling those goods to countries under a U.S. trade embargo, including Iran and North Korea.

The U.S. fined ZTE $1.2 billion last year. But the U.S. said last month ZTE lied about punishing the employees believed to be involved in skirting the sanctions, paying them bonuses instead.

The Commerce Department cut off ZTE's access to U.S. components until 2025, forcing it to shut down operations at its factory in Shenzhen.

"China and the United States are working well together on trade, Trump said in a second tweet Sunday, "but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!"

Douglas Jacobson, an attorney who represents suppliers who do business with ZTE, told VOA that Trump's order to help ZTE is a stunning decision and one bound to make U.S. law enforcement officials unhappy by going over their heads.

"This has caught all of those in the exports and sanctions world certainly by surprise and with some degree of shock and awe," Jacobson said. "This is unprecedented that the president of the United States would intervene in what really is a law enforcement case."

But Jacobson said the ZTE matter is not a sign of a general thaw in trade tensions between the U.S. and China, including the recent tit-for-tat tariffs.

Jacobson said he believes Trump may be willing to make a concession on China in exchange for China's help with North Korea.

Ira Mellman contributed to this report.The ruling Communist Party of Vietnam will call together hundreds of members who it believes can resist corruption and rigorously review others to ease a growing problem for the Southeast Asian countrys government.

At a plenum that ended Saturday, the partys Central Committee focused heavily on personnel, including a resolution to review its members more stringently, state-controlled Viet Nam News reported. The party is due now to approve an elite team of 600 party members, who would in turn set terms for the 200-person Central Committee, another domestic media outlet said.

High-profile corruption trials swept Vietnam last year as citizens were complaining about perceived acts of graft ranging from bribery at traffic stops to illegal land-use deals.

The partys self-policing would mark a new step toward reining in graft and protecting an otherwise upwardly mobile economy, analysts say.

Vietnamese are now focusing on domestic politics, how far the anti-corruption campaign launched by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong will go, said Trung Nguyen, international relations dean at Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities

New milestone in old anti-corruption drive

Arrests of graft suspects had dominated news in Vietnam over the past year. Last week police in Vietnam arrested two officials from a PetroVietnam subsidiary for allegedly accepting illegal deposit interest payments from the scandal-hit OceanBank, the domestic VnExpress International news website said.

In September, a court in Hanoi sentenced the former chairman of the state-owned gas and oil firm PetroVietnam to death and gave life in prison to an official from Vietnam-based OceanBank over a multi-million-dollar graft case. In January, 22 other officials from PetroVietnam and its affiliates went on trial.

Some suspect a lot more graft under the surface.

What we see is a fraction of whats going on, said Dustin Daugherty, senior associate in Ho Chi Minh City with the business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates. These things go to trial usually and become visible for political reasons, so its hard to really use that.

We dont have much to look at in an opaque society, so we want to look at that and use it as a barometer, but Im not sure how good of a barometer that really is, he said.

Cleanup from within

Now the party head is shaking up his members to head off more graft cases, observers say. The party controls the government, and some of its 4.4 million members run state-owned enterprises, or SOEs. Since 1986, Vietnam has grown its economy by attracting factory investments, which now drive GDP annual growth of about 6 percent.

A cleaner government would help profitability of the SOEs, said Hoang Viet Phuong, head of institutional research and investment adviser at SSI Securities Services in Hanoi. Those companies make up about one-third of a $221 billion GDP.

The anti-graft drive is consistent, and it still continues, because there are still some legal issues that need to be dealt with, she said.

In the long term it could be good because the overall SOE sector will become much more efficient, Phuong said. I just see the consistent message from the Party that they will continue to fight against corruption and it is actually more than expectation. We didnt think that it would have discovered a lot of corruption cases.

Vietnam still lacks competent people in leadership roles, the VnExpress International news website said May 7, quoting the party general secretary. Several high-ranking officials have been caught up in corruption cases, the report added. It quoted the party head saying some violations cause serious losses to the state.

The plenum, which takes place twice a year, passed a resolution requiring a more objective performance review method for party officials along with measures to "control power, prevent bribery for job titles (and) fight against individualism in personnel work," Viet Nam News reported Saturday.

Post-plenum news reports do not elaborate on the 600-person team's role or composition, but Viet Nam News said the party would pick a "contingent of senior officials, especially at strategic level with sufficient virtue, capacity and prestige on par with their assigned tasks."

Vietnamese officials appear serious about this reform to keep public support and make business easier, said Frederick Burke, partner with the law firm Baker McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City.

Bureaucrats are either trying to build new rent-seeking opportunities or defend existing ones, versus the reformers, including the prime minister and some of the others who are doing their best to cut some of the weeds, Burke said.

There was such flagrant abuse at some of the state-owned companies that I think the party realized they had to clean up their act and that otherwise theyd lose public support," he said.Viewers hoping Wim Wenders' documentary about Pope Francis will be a critical portrait of the head of the Catholic Church will be disappointed. The German director makes no excuses for the fact this is a work of love for a man he respects.

Wenders, who won the Palme d'Or for "Paris, Texas" in 1984, has made several successful documentaries, including "Buena Vista Social Club" about the Cuban music scene, and "Pina" on dance choreographer Pina Bausch - subjects that, like the pope, are things he has great affection for.

"I didnt want to make a critical film about him, other people do that really well, television does it all the time," Wenders told Reuters in Cannes where "Pope Francis - a Man of His Word" had its premiere.

"My documentaries are expressions of love and affection for something that I want to share with the world ... Right now I think there is nobody who has more important things to say to us [than] the pope, so I wanted to share that."

"We are living in an utterly immoral time and our political leaders, powerful leaders, are emotional dwarfs. So I wanted to have this emotional giant talk to us.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born in Argentina in 1936, became pope in 2013 after the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict.

He chose his papal name after Francis of Assisi, a figure Wenders calls "a revolutionary" for his work with the poor and nature.

"Today Saint Francis would be the first ecologist of the world. Pope Francis took on a heavy duty prog by choosing that name," Wenders said.

He filmed four two-hour interviews with Francis in which the pope talked directly into camera.

He said a kind of "teleprompter in reverse" allowed him to get that intimate look, by imposing Wenders' face on a transparent screen with a camera behind it "so by looking into my eyes he sees everybodys eyes".

"This man communicates in such an honest direct and spontaneous way ... even with the greatest actors you find that very rarely," Wenders said.

With no prerequisites from the Vatican, Wenders insists his film is more than a promotional video.

"It is not propaganda," he said.

"It's not a commission. I was free to do what I wanted to do and this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to give a platform for his work, period.

The Cannes Film Festival runs to May 19.In South Africa, workers will soon begin construction of a new 100 megawatt solar power plant near the town of Pofadder. In Morocco, expansion of a giant solar power plant near the city of Ourzazate will soon increase its capacity to 580 megawatts. Solar energy has been slower to arrive in West Africa, but growth is underway.

West Africas largest solar power station was officially opened in November 2017. Its at Zagtouli, on the outskirts of Burkina Fasos capital Ouagadougou. It cost $55 million to build; the money came from France and the European Union. Zagtouli now delivers 30 megawatts to the national power grid.

Before Zagtouli, this was West Africas largest, at Bokhol, in Senegal. It opened in 2016, cost $30 million to build but the money story here is different.

Charlotte Aubin, founder and director of Greenwish, a renewable energy company, was closely involved. She helped create the first Independent Power Producer, or IPP, with money from Senegalese investors and an international fund backed by three European governments.

The first project we did was in Senegal and it was a milestone for the continent as well as Greenwish," said Aubin. "It was the first solar IPP that came out of the ground in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its now providing electricity to 160,000 people in Senegal at a 40 percent discount to the cost of the grid at the time.

Forty percent less? How is that possible? Moussa Coulibaly, who runs Air Com, one of Malis oldest solar power companies, explains.

Its the expansion of the technology, Coulibaly told VOA. The more people want a product, the cheaper it gets. Led by investment from the United States and China, the industry has been rapidly scaling up. Production costs have come down as a result. Coulibaly says he has seen the price of a solar panel reduced by more than 500 percent in Mali in only twelve years. He says today, a solar panel will cost you CFA 50,000  thats about $90.

Something else has changed too in the region: the law. Until recently, independent power producers like Air Com and the Greenwish project could not exist. The law simply prohibited it. Senegal lifted the ban on non-state power production in 1998; Mali did it in 2000, while Burkina Faso legalized IPPs only last year.

Senegal now has four solar power stations. Burkina Faso is building two more. South Africa and Morocco have dozens each. And the list is getting longer: Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania

At nighttime, an estimated 600 million Africans still use candles and kerosene lamps to light their homes. Many live in the continents vast rural zones. How do you get all those millions connected?

Charlotte Aubin has an idea that would use existing structures  telephone towers.

"There are about 240,000 towers that are off-grid or bad grid that could benefit from clean tech solution but we are also looking at doing more for [the] population."

Interest in off-grid solar is booming in West Africa. Companies like Air Com in Mali build small local grids, tailor-made for the communities they serve.

Coulibaly says we make an estimate of the electricity needs of a particular village  now and in the future. And then we build an independent local solar-powered grid based on those estimates.

Its true: solar alone will not be enough to fulfill Africas energy needs. But for private power producers and small independent off-grid networks, the future looks bright.Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest against US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 14, 2018. Photo: REUTERS

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell

GAZA BORDER (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed at least 41 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday as angry protesters demonstrated at the frontier on the day the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem, health officials said.

It was the highest Palestinian death toll in a single day since a series of protests dubbed the "Great March of Return" began at the border with Israel on March 30, and since the 2014 Gaza war.

The health officials said 900 Palestinians were wounded, about 450 of them by live bullets.

Tens of thousands streamed to the coastal enclave's land border on Monday, some approaching the Israeli fence - a line Israeli leaders said Palestinians would not be allowed to breach. Clouds of black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air.

Demonstrators some armed with slingshots, hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, who fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire.

"Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name.

"Many may get martyred today, so many, but the world will hear our message. Occupation must end," he said.

Israeli leaders and a U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were due to attend the opening of the embassy, relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a controversial decision.

"A great day for Israel," the U.S. president, who stoked Arab anger by recognizing disputed Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in lockstep with Trump over fulfilling a long-standing U.S. promise to move the embassy to the holy city and over Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last week, echoed the sentiment.

"What a moving day for the people of Israel and the State of Israel," Netanyahu said.

The Palestinians, who seek their own future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks, aimed a finding a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, have been frozen since 2014. Other international powers worry that the U.S. move could also inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

MAN IN WHEELCHAIR KILLED

The 41 Palestinian dead on Monday included a 14-year-old boy, a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot.

The Israeli military identified three of those killed as armed militants whom it said tried to place explosives near the fence in the southern Gaza Strip.

The latest casualties raised the Palestinian death toll to 86 since the protests started six weeks ago. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

At the protest sites, families sat in the shade of tents nearly 800 meters (yards) from the border fence. Hundreds of protesters ventured to within several hundred meters of the barrier, while others moved even closer, rolling burning tyres and hurling stones.

Some flew flaming kites to try and torch bushes on the other side of the frontier and distract Israeli marksmen. Hundreds of Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will act forcefully against any terrorist activity and will operate to prevent attacks against Israelis," the military said in a statement.

The killings have drawn international criticism, but the United States has echoed Israel in accusing Gaza's ruling Hamas movement of instigating violence, an allegation it denies.

More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow strip, which is blockaded by Egypt and Israel

KUSHNER PROMOTES PEACE DEAL

In excerpts seen by Reuters of a speech he planned to deliver at the embassy inauguration ceremony, Kushner said it is possible for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "to gain move than they give" in any peace deal.

"Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together," Kushner, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, will say at the opening.

The Trump administration has nearly completed a long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan but is still undecided on how and when to roll it out, given Palestinians' outrage over the embassy move and their contention that Washington can no longer be an honest broker.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, in a statement on Monday, accused the United States of "blatant violations of international law".

The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.

In London, the British government said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and said it disagreed with the U.S. decision to do so.

The Russian government said it feared the embassy move would increase tensions across the Middle East.

But Guatemala, which received support from Israel in its counter-insurgency campaigns in the 1980s, plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Paraguay intends to follow suit later this month.Two ivory dealers have appeared in court facing charges of illegally selling unregistered ivory products in a case which has sucked in former first lady Grace Mugabe and President Emmerson Mnangagwas child, Tariro.

State prosecutor Francis Mukumbiri told the court that Faricken Madzinga and Tafadzwa Madzinga were arrested while attempting to sell ivory worth thousands of dollars to an Australian, Adrian Steirn.

The accuseds attorney Gift Mtisi asked the court to avail some documents showing that Steirn was a journalist, who was allowed to work in Zimbabwe under certain conditions.

Mtisi also wants the state to compel Econet Wireless to release mobile phone conversations linking Steirn to the alleged crime.

He also wants to know the relationship between a Polish national Anna Helena Rubik and Steirn, who used a sim card linked to Rubik.

The court papers also revealed that Mudzingwa used to allegedly chat with President Mnangagwas daughter, Tsitsi. The contents of the chats have not been made public.

Steirn told AlJazeera that the case is linked to Mrs. Mugabe, who has been accused by the government of attempting to smuggle ivory to China, United Arab Emirates, United States and other countries.

Court papers, however, do not spell out the former first ladys role in the illegal sale of ivory in this particular case.One on One with Joe Korkowski, as heard Saturdays on KXRA-1490AM (@7:40am) and KXRA-92.3FM (@8:00am), as well as each Sunday morning on KXRZ Z99.3fm (@10:15am).

The interview is also re-broadcast on Monday mornings on KX92 at 10:00am and on Z99 at 9:10am.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.



Guwahati : Protests against Citizenship (Ammendment) Bill, 2016 to grant to grant citizenship to the non-muslims immigrants of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the name of persecution while people of Assam have strongly opposed the bill continues in Assam.





Assam's farmers organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) on Sunday has started mass signing and awareness drive against the bill from Guwahati.





The farmers organisation has started the drive from Beltola rea in the city and urging the people to come forward against the controversial bill.





KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi said that, if the bill will pass, the indigenous people of Assam will definitely badly affected.





"The BJP who promised to protect Jati (Community), Mati (Home) and Bheti (Hearth) during the last assembly election campaign, but they didn't. They want to grant citizenship to the hindu Bangladeshis who had come after 1971 and if it will happen then the indigenous people will go to the second

category citizen. It will also big threat to the Assamese language," Akhil Gogoi said.





While, the Assam BJP unit supported the controversial bill, Assam BJP leader Mira Borthakur, who had earlier opposed the bill had also participated in the mass campaign drive.





Akhil Gogoi further said that, if the BJP and RSS to give red carpet to the hindu Bangladeshis, then they will have to leave from Assam.





"We will continue our agitation against the centre's move," Akhil Gogoi said.





On the other hand, various organisations had protested against the controversial bill across the state and burnt effigies of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.







Guwahati : Assam police has arrested a youth, who allegedly masturbating in front of a girls hostel in Assams Jorhat town.





According to the reports, the youth has been identified as Sumrit Kumar Das had allegedly masturbating in front of a girls hostel in the upper Assam town regularly and the video went viral in social media.





Following the incident, the Jorhat district police had launched an operation and arrested the youth last night, who allegedly flashed his private parts and masturbating in front of the girls hostel located at Tarajan area in the town.





The youth used to come to the spot on different two-wheelers and flash his private parts and also masturbating.





Police had also seized three two-wheelers, which were used by the youth.





Meanwhile, the arrested youth had committed his crime.





Superintendent of Police (SP) of Jorhat district Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant said that, yesterday Jorhat police had noticed a facebook post where two videos uploaded and the post also went viral in the social media.





In the videos, a youth had flashed his private parts in front of a girls hostel located at Tarajan area in the town and we had immediately started investigation. We had taken information from the inmates of the girls hostel, hostel warden and the person who uploaded the post in social media.

Following the investigation Jorhat police had arrested the miscreant last night and he committed his crime. We had also seized three two-wheelers which were used by the miscreant, the top Assam cop said.



Brown initially told the police department and city officials that the command staff changes were recommended in a study of the department conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in 2016. But the study by the Alexandria-based IACP, which works with departments across the country, made no mention of cutting or reorganizing command staff; it was focused on patrol issues. If you have the luxury of picking, choose a place wisely. People tend to romanticize a place theyve never lived in before, says Clare Rountree. A psychologist in Honolulu, she counsels couples who retire to Hawaii and then discover they feel isolated. Get an accurate portrait of what a place is like. If you visit Bozeman, Mont., in the summertime and love it, make sure you go back in the fall, winter, and spring before putting your house up for sale.Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Kumar Thapa

Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Kumar Thapa has lashed out at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is also the chair of the CPN UML, for surrendering to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during his recent two-day state visit to Nepal.





Nepali Congress youth leader Thapa lashed out at Prime Minister Oli while speaking at the Parliament on Monday. Prime Minister Oli presented double personality surrendering to his Indian counterparts state visit to Nepal, Thapa said.





Prime Minister Oli used to roar like a tiger during his speech in defense of nationalism while speaking in the election campaign or receiving vote of confidence in the Parliament. But he did not speak even a single word about the blockade imposed by India during Indian Prime Minister Modis visit to Nepal, he said.



Researchers: We are working on a preparation that prevents skin aging

The main mechanism responsible for cell aging is the oxidation of proteins in cells, not DNA damage, experts argue in an interview with PAP. On the basis of this discovery, they are working on a preparation to counteract skin aging.

"We biologists used to think that if a cell does not work well, the source of the problem must be in the genes. Meanwhile, our research indicates that DNA mutations are not the cause of aging, oxidation of proteins is" - says Prof. Miroslav Radman, co-founder of the Mediterranean Institute of Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split (Croatia), one of the pioneers of research on the role of proteins in aging processes.

He explains that proteins are oxidized under oxidative stress - excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells. Reactive oxygen species form under the influence of UV radiation, air pollution and other stressors, but also during the process of aerobic respiration in cellular mitochondria. They cause damage in DNA as well as chemical modification of proteins - so-called carbonylation, under the influence of which proteins cease to function properly.

The problem is that while spontaneous mutations in DNA can be repaired (because cells very well-functioning repair mechanisms), protein carbonylation is an irreversible process, Prof. Radman explains.

"Carbonylation is irreparable. The only way that the cell can get rid of a carbonylated protein is to destroy it completely and replace it with a newly synthesized protein" - he explains. He adds that during the aging process, carbonylated proteins accumulate in cells at an exponential rate. There are, for example, much more of them in old skin cells than in young skin cells.

Carbonylated proteins can not perform their proper functions, for example in the DNA repair process. "Therefore, such damage to proteins contributes to a significant increase in spontaneous mutations in the cell. For example, if the frequency of protein carbonylation doubles, the percentage of spontaneous mutations in DNA increases a hundredfold" - explains Prof. Radman. For this reason, the level of carbonylated proteins is directly proportional to the percentage of dying cells. Experiments conducted by Prof. Radman`s team indicate that this applies to nematode cells, fruit fly, rodent and human cells.

Dr Francois-Xavier Pellay of MedILS explains that some proteins in cells undergo the carbonylation process more easily.

Researchers from MedILS observed in their experiments that certain small changes in the gene`s DNA (so-called gene polymorphism) causing small changes in the protein structure, also increased its susceptibility to the process of carbonylation.

Prof. Radman gave the example of a protein called alpha-synuclein, which contributes to the development of Parkinson`s disease. Studies have shown that a small change in the DNA of the gene that encodes alpha-synuclein, increases the susceptibility of this protein to carbonylation 10 times. "It affects the patient`s condition because it increases the risk of Parkinson`s disease" - explains the researcher. He adds that mutations that increase the susceptibility to carbonylation do not manifest at once, but over the course of human life, after 50-60 years.

"If we know which DNA sequence increases the risk of oxidation of a given protein, in the future it will be possible to predict the predisposition to a given disease right after birth. When it is a protein present in the kidneys, it will increase the risk of kidney disease. And similarly for proteins in other organs" - he explains.

Dr Pellay notes that the level of carbonylated proteins also increases in inflammatory skin diseases, such as psoriasis. In the future, this knowledge can help diagnose and treat psoriatic lesions.

MedilS scientists in close cooperation with researchers from the NAOS cosmetics group are now working on a preparation that will protect proteins in skin cells from carbonylation and thus counteract skin aging.

They have successfully isolated a protective protein from the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans that live in the stratosphere (scientists catch them on the dishes when they fall with rain or snow) and are very resistant to various damaging factors, such as UV radiation or gamma radiation. "Gamma radiation causes DNA fragmentation, but these bacteria are able to quickly repair the damage. Our research shows that it is not associated with any special DNA repair method, but with the presence of a compound that protects proteins against carbonylation" - explains Dr. Pellay.

Researchers want to put the bacterial protein responsible for protection against this process in a cream to counteract skin aging. Studies carried out on various cell types suggest that it has a very strong protective effect.

According to the founder and president of the NAOS group, biologist and pharmacist Jean-Noel Thorel, this preparation may become available in about two years. The specialist says that it will represent a completely new approach to skin protection in cosmetology - that is, preventing aging instead of repairing the resulting changes. "In our opinion, prevention is much more effective and cheaper than remedial methods" - says Thorel.

But this will be only the beginning of changes that await us in cosmetology. Scientists from MedILS develop not only methods that inhibit skin aging, but also ways to rejuvenate it - also without using invasive and surgical methods.

PAP - Science in Poland

jjj/ zan/ kap/

tr. RLNew from Cannes today is that Nico and Luciano Onetti, the brothers behind the Giallo trilogy Sonno Profondo, Francesca and the upcoming Abrakadabra, and psycho hillbilly horror What The Waters Left Behind, will direct an upcoming revival of a popular Argentine suspense miniseries from 1985 called El Pulpo Negro, The Black Octopus.

A man extorts several people so that they kill other people and leave the figure of a black octopus beside each cadaver.

The brothers, whose work load never seems to let up, will work with the original screenwriter Luis Murillo and his son, Luis Murillo Arias. Luis wrote another popular suspense series called El Internado, The Boarding School, about ten years ago.

The brothers will also get the support of Hernan Moyano, who has worked with another pair of brothers whose names go hand in hand with Iberoamerican genre cinema, Ramiro and Adrien Garcia Bogliano. Moyano was a writer, editor and producer of their films Watch'em Die, Cold Sweat, Penumbra, White Coffin and more.

The original series starred Narciso Ibanez Menta, and our Argentinian and Spanish speaking friends can chime in, but we get the sense that he was kind of a big deal for Iberoamerican fantastic cinema. So much of a big deal his name should be synonymous with the greats like Vincent Price and Christopher Lee no? At least on that level of greatness to his own people?

For now, our known world of horror and terror cinema continues to expand as our friends in Iberoamerica continue to bring us more fantastic projects.

As part of the 71st Cannes Film Festival, the new version of "The Black Octopus" (El Pulpo Negro) was announced. The suspense miniseries starring "Master of Horror" Narciso Ibanez Menta, broke all the audience records in Argentina in the 80s. The project is a co-production between Argentina, Spain and New Zealand and will be a feature film and a tv series. It will bring together the main exponents of horror films in Iberoamerica. The script will be written by Luis Murillo, the original author of "The Black Octopus", who along with his son Luis Murillo Arias (screenwriter of "El Internado", the successful series of Antena 3) will maintain the spirit of the legendary series of the '80s adjusting it into a modern version for the current times. "The Black Octopus" will be directed by brothers Luciano and Nicolas Onetti ("Abrakadabra", "What the Waters Left Behind", "Francesca"), who received the "Best Promising Directors" award the last year SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and who have been named as the new wonder boys" of the Argentinian horror cinema by the international press. The project will be produced by 16: 9 Cine and Black Mandala, with the support of Hernan Moyano (Cold Sweat, "Penumbra"), one of the main references of Latin American genre film, along with Roberta Sanchez, who also carry out the upcoming production "Under your Feet ", it will be co-produced by Warner Bros., Haddock Films and Tornasol Films.

In the gallery - L to R - Ralph Haiek (INCAA president), Nicolas Onetti (Director), Luis Murillo Arias (scriptwriter), Angel Sala (Director of Sitges film festival) and Javier Fernandez Cuarto (Blood Window) during the presentation of the project at 71st Cannes film festival.Since then, Carson was placed on paid administrative leave, the head of human resources resigned and the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner was brought in to conduct an investigation. Carson is now negotiating his exit and will not return to the foundation, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorised to speak publicly. Citing the ongoing investigation, Sue McAllister, a foundation spokeswoman, declined to answer specific questions about the allegations against Loijens and Carson. "The investigation will be thorough, and will include a focus on workplace culture, including among other things, how teams are managed and what type of working environment is being fostered," she said. "We are not able to comment on confidential internal HR matters." Carson initially suggested on Twitter he was unaware of the problems at his foundation, and has not spoken publicly since being placed on leave. He and Loijens did not respond to requests for comment.

The foundation's upheaval has sent shock waves through the philanthropic world. Carson was a respected nonprofit executive with a rising national profile, and his ambition to make the Silicon Valley Community Foundation a national powerhouse was well-known. The foundation was formed in 2007 through the merger of two local charities that decided to pool their resources. Carson, who had worked at the Ford Foundation and was chief executive of the Minneapolis Foundation, was brought in to raise the group's profile. Community foundations have historically been local affairs, vehicles for wealthy individuals to give back to their communities by investing in regional nonprofit groups. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has donated over $US2b to the charity. Credit:AP But Carson had a grander mission. With huge fortunes being created by technology companies, there was a chance to make the Silicon Valley Community Foundation one of the nation's biggest philanthropies, an institution that could rival the foundations created with Gilded Age wealth a century ago.

Carson pushed his team to raise as much money as possible, and the foundation increasingly gave grants not just to local groups, but to national and international causes, ranging from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Sweden. "There was this bigger is better mentality," said Dory Gannes, who worked at the foundation for two years, leaving in 2016 after what she said was a dispute with Loijens. "Our world was driven by scale  how many clients we had, how many grants we processed, how many countries we made grants to." Loijens, who came from the Junior League of San Jose, distinguished herself as an accomplished fundraiser and made herself indispensable to Carson. Yet to her colleagues, Loijens was known as a bully who regularly made offensive remarks. During one meeting, Dupras said she mentioned to the group that she wasn't feeling well, eliciting a sexually charged retort from Loijens. "She said I was pretty good looking and might be pregnant," Dupras said. "She said, 'You might want to get that checked out.'"

Elizabeth Dressel, who left the foundation in 2012, said that one evening, a young black woman on her team was working late. Loijens approached the young woman and said, "OK, slave, come into my office." At another meeting, Dupras said Loijens threatened her staff. Employees were supposed to take meetings with donors or their advisers in pairs, but Loijens learned that someone had met with a donor without a partner. "Then she said, 'If I ever catch you having a meeting by yourself, I'll kill you,'" Dupras said. Loijens' erratic behavior, some of which was also documented in an article in Forbes this month, was apparently well-known inside the Silicon Valley Community Foundation for years. "I personally went to HR on more than five occasions, and I was only there for one year," Dressel said. "But the culture was supported by Emmett because the sole focus was to increase the size of the funds."

Dupras said she attempted to discuss the toxic workplace culture with Carson twice, but was brushed off. "He was definitely not open to a conversation about her at all," she said. Turnover at the foundation, especially on the development staff that reported to Loijens, was unusually high, according to several former employees. And on the career site Glassdoor.com, the foundation's ratings were notably low, getting 1.9 out of a possible 5 stars and with only 14 percent of respondents saying they would recommend working there to a friend. Despite the internal turmoil, money kept flowing into the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Since 2011, Zuckerberg has donated some 45 million shares of Facebook stock to the organisation, worth roughly $US1.8 billion at the time they were given. In 2014, GoPro's founder, Nicholas Woodman, donated stock worth $US500 million to the foundation. That same year, WhatsApp's co-founder, Jan Koum, donated stock worth $US566 million. As the foundation grew in stature, so too did Carson's renown. He received honorary degrees, wrote articles about social justice and became a regular on the speaker circuit. Last year, he was honored by the New York Women's Foundation for "exemplary leadership in philanthropy and his commitment to bettering the lives of those in need."

It was a distinction that grated on former employees. "This guy is enabling bullying in the workplace, then he's walking around promoting philanthropy," Dupras said. After the allegations first surfaced last month, Carson took to Twitter. "I am responsible for workplace culture," he wrote. "I am deeply troubled and regret that former staff felt they could not report inappropriate behavior and urge any other staff to come forward. Listening and fixing this is Priority#1." But a former employee, Maria Moreno, quickly called out Carson. "Please stop acting like you did not know!" she wrote on Twitter. "I reported both you & Mari Ellen to HR July 2017. At the end of the day, I was the one who had to leave the foundation bc it was a toxic work environment."

The next week, a group of 65 current staff members sent the foundation's board a statement that accused the foundation's leadership team, including Carson, of ignoring complaints about Loijens. "They knew about her behaviour," read the statement, a copy of which was reviewed by The Times. "And, through their inaction, senior leadership and HR has created and reinforced a toxic culture of fear, blame and intimidation." Within days, Carson was placed on leave and the human resources director, Daiva Natochy, had left the foundation. The foundation's interim director, Greg Avis, acknowledged the upheaval in a recent open letter, and pledged to repair the damage. "I am acutely aware of the current challenges our organiSation faces," he wrote. "Emerging as a stronger organiSation is our sole objective." Donors to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation have had little to say about the turmoil at their charity of choice. Representatives for Zuckerberg and Hastings said they support the actions of the foundation's board, which placed Carson on leave and began the investigation.But in their submission to the Senate's inquiry into the Franchising Code of Conduct the Scafs detail why many things about Aussie Farmers did not stack up leading to the collapse of the online fresh food delivery business in March this year.

"We bought into Aussie Farmers Direct believing in the concept  online grocery deliveries, bringing back 'the local milkman', supporting farmers, the local community and small business," the Scafs say.

Abi and Trenton Scaf wanted to support Australian farmers when they bought four Aussie Farmers Direct franchises.

In their submission the Scafs claim the fresh produce they were supplied in Western Australia was around 50 per cent from wholesalers "not local farmers as we and our customers were led to believe".

"This led to mouldy, rotten produce being supplied, persistent out of stockages and even off-meat was an ongoing issue we raised multiple times. Despite requesting it multiple times, we never met any local farmers who supplied Aussie Farmers Direct and our quality concerns were repeatedly ignored ... my husband and I were forced to keep delivering sub-standard produce at vastly inflated prices."

Aussie Farmers Direct went into administration in April.

Another submission to the inquiry, by former Aussie Farmers franchisees Patrik and Jana Vareb, also claims the reality of the produce supplied by Aussie Farmers was far from the claims of fruit and vegetables directly from the farm gate.

"Fruit and veg was sourced 50 per cent from wholesalers with inferior quality," the Varebs say.What do tingle pygmy trapdoor spiders from Western Australia, silver-headed antechinus from central Queensland and Duramana fingers orchids from NSW have in common?

If youre waiting for a funny punchline, sorry  the answer is that they're among the 41 new species of Australian plants and animals that are now officially at risk of extinction.

Two species of antechinus  the silver-headed and black-tailed antechinus  were added to the threatened species list last week. The small, carnivorous marsupials are best known for their reproductive habits  males die after their once-in-a-lifetime mating frenzy. Credit:Gary Cranitch, Qld Museum

The good news though is that this listing could, potentially, be the first step towards reversing the countrys world leading extinction rate.

Those 41 species were among 50 changes to the countrys official threatened species list after its annual update on Friday.Police believe "at least one other person" was involved in the kidnapping of a Gold Coast schoolboy on Friday, with detectives also investigating whether a gambling debt was the motive.

The child, 12, was found soon after midday on Saturday in the New South Wales city of Grafton, about 240 kilometres south of Mudgeeraba, from where he was allegedly abducted.

The family travelled down to New South Wales on Saturday night to be reunited with the boy. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The boy was found with no major injuries and a 53-year-old man, who police said was not related to the child, was expected to be extradited to Queensland on Monday to face a kidnapping for ransom charge in Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said the alleged abductor demanded to "get their money back" and claimed the request was related to gambling.A shocked silence has settled over Margaret River, with the town adjusting to its new reality four days after the Miles and Cockman families died at their Osmington homestead on Friday.

The childrens father, Aaron Cockman, went to the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River offices on Monday afternoon, flanked by eight family members, to speak with shire president Pam Townshend.

A temporary support centre has been set up in Margaret River after the tragedy. Credit:James Brickwood

They declined to speak to media after Mr Cockmans lengthy interview on Sunday, but Cr Townshend confirmed the family had wanted to speak about funeral arrangements.

Hes really well supported by his family, she said.The healthiness of our bees and the pristine environments they inhabit are also attractive aspects to honey hungry markets like China, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. Chem Centre food scientist Ken Dods conducting tests on WA honey. Credit:Chem Centre One of the best moves the industry made was partnering with state-owned chemistry analysis lab Chem Centre in 2016 to develop an accreditation process that finally placed a scientific value on WAs unique products. Chem Centre have developed an accurate method of tracing the floral content of a honey by performing a combination of chemical analysis and testing the DNA of the pollen found within it. Ken Dods is Chem Centres lead food scientist and has headed the project from the beginning.

He said the industry-led push for accreditation has had a massive impact on the future of WAs industry. He said the producers used to sell blended honeys at business-killing low prices but now it's a profitable sector that is attracting not just export interest, but investment too. Weve had quite a few international buyers come through, probably 40 in the past two years into WA looking to invest in the industry, he said. Weve gone from a single processing facility to now five major processing facilities, most of them from international investment. We continue to hear from the international marketplace of the importance of traceability and certification of product as it leaves WA, particularly in places like China where the emerging middle income group want products that are traceable.

Some of their honey has 80 per cent substitution and dilution so accreditation lets their salespeople say were selling a legitimate product. This overseas interest in WAs liquid gold has increased farmgate prices, which is increasing interest from amateur beekeepers. In WA a jarrah crop can produce up to 500 tonnes, which has the potential to make producers up to $15 million. The easier to harvest marri variety can fetch up to $20/kg at the farm gate. Mr Dods said WAs amateur beekeeping association has jumped from 300 members to 1600 in three years.

Chem Centre is trying to make life easier for beekeepers by researching things like drone and satellite surveys of jarrah and marri floral blooms to help pinpoint when and where beekeepers should be setting up their hives. Mr Dods said they are also helping develop a series of intelligent hive concepts allowing apiarists to monitor the weight, temperature, security and health of the hive from their mobile phone. It means they dont have to drive backwards and forwards to their hives two to three times a week, he said. There is also a project looking at improving the honey supply chain by replacing the current paper based system with a radio frequency ID system, similar to that used by the cattle industry. Unlocking the potential

The future of WAs honey industry is so well regarded that in November last year the federal government provided $7 million to set up a honey bee products cooperative research centre at the University of WA. Over the next five years the centre will also receive almost $20 million from industry and other unis. The centres chief executive Liz Barbour said their work will resolve issues limiting the value and expansion of the wider Australian honey bee industry, which includes honey, beeswax, pollen, jelly, venom and export of bees themselves. Dr Barbour says another goal is to educate the wider community on just how important the honey bee industry is to every other area of farming. What is often overlooked is that 44 of our food crops wholly or in part rely on honey bee pollination which adds an additional farm gate value of $6.5 billion, she said.

If a major bee disease arrived in Australia, there would be a 26 per cent decline in national agricultural production, which equates to a consumer surplus loss of between $12.4 billion and $27.2 billion. The centre is hosting a honey hackathon on May 18 to 20 to discuss the business of honey and develop ways to build the industry and enter untapped honey bee product markets. Honey tourism will be discussed at length which Dr Barbour says has huge potential. We can use honey and other honey bee products to bring in tourists from places like China where they want to come and see where and how the produce is made, she said. Promising times not without risk

Leilani Leyland and her husband have owned their honey business Bees Neez Apiaries for 35 years and so theyve seen the industrys transformation better than most. Mrs Leyland, who is also the WA Farmers beekeeping section president, said they have seen interest in WA honey explode but it is still a tough slog. WA honey undergoing testing before it gets accredited and sent overseas. Credit:Chem Centre She said their bees were facing pressure from logging in the south west and constant prescribed burns, both of which decimate floral blooms. This season coming up, October to January would effectively be a jarrah flowering season but all of the commercial beekeepers have received notices telling us theyre going to burn," she said.

A lot of these sites arent even near public housing and there isnt anything we can do about it. The logging is also frustrating, at least when a beekeeper goes into a forest they actually leave the it in better condition than before they went in. The threat of the bee-destroying varroa mite also constantly plays in the back of Mrs Leylands mind. The mite has decimated hives across the globe by interrupting a bees development while it is larvae. They also carry viruses which destroy entire hives.Fairfax Media understands that this included representatives of the Education Department, with Education Minister Sue Ellery putting processes in place to support local children who knew the children from their time at Margaret River Primary School, before they were home-schooled. While there were emergency committees on the shires staff, a crisis such as this had never been dealt with before. Were working this out as we go ... [to] be in touch with all the groups and the community. We dont want anyone to fall through the cracks, who needs help, Cr Townshend said. A group had been formed to organise a public memorial, though it was still uncertain what form this would take. Members of the Margaret River community leaving flowers at the community resource centre. Credit:James Brickwood

There has been an outpouring of support from the community, from around Australia and internationally, Cr Townshend said. It will be a long road to recovery. Cr Townshend said Mr Cockman was really well supported by his family" and she understood that people wanted answers on what happened. We may never know why, or have deep understanding ... the community may have to come to terms with that, Cr Townshend said. Katrina Miles with her four children. Credit:Facebook

A police blockade remained around the property on Osmington Road and as the media presence fell away from the community resource centre, members of the public began to trickle in. Tributes continued to come in for the family, with one saying: You were the most beautiful family. I will miss your advice Kat. Cant believe it." I will strive to be as good a mother as you were, said another. Neighbour Neil Garnett told AAP it seemed Mr Miles had been planning the massacre but was clearly not thinking straight. "He wasn't some maniac going mad, randomly killing people. It was just a very sad story," he said. "It's a tragedy and we can now start moving on a bit."

Peter Sweeney, a friend of Peter Miles told Nine News that he was still shocked. Im totally gutted, like everyone would be, he said. Having known him fairly well  its totally unbelievable [Im] blown away. A neighbour of the Miles family, Brent Watson, told the ABC that it wasnt until the morning after the tragedy that he realised how much it had affected the community. "There was a young guy driving a tractor for us  I found him in the cab of the tractor all upset," Mr Watson said. "He's in his early 20s, lives up about five or 10 kilometres from here. He could only pick up one radio station in the tractor so he was listening to this for hours and hours and he was a bit of a mess and didn't have a way of processing it all.

Felicity Haynes, who lives near the Miles property, told the ABC the gunshots were heard by someone staying at her home. She said it was initially thought the gunshots were kangaroo shooters and it would be several hours before she found out what had happened. She said she had spoken to Cynda Miles the week before she died, and there were signs that the family was struggling. Peter and Cynda Miles lost a son to suicide several years ago, and their other son Neil was unwell in hospital. "I had spoken to Cynda just on last week and I said, 'you're looking tired, is everything OK?'" Ms Haynes told the ABC. "And she said to me then, oh, their son is in hospital up in Perth, he's having major surgery and that was a concern.

"And she said, 'oh, and there are a few difficulties at home'. "I didn't want to push. I mean, if she doesn't want to tell me she doesn't want to tell me. Counselling services for locals will continue all week. Lifeline: 13 11 14

www.lifeline.org.au Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

www.suicidecallbackservice.org.auMalcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are learning that first mover advantage may work in business but fail in politics.

The Prime Minister and Treasurer put a $530 tax cut into last weeks federal budget as part of a complex seven-year plan, only to find that Bill Shorten ignored the complexity and came up with a simple $928 cut instead.

Labor has widened its lead over the Coalition after the budget, the latest Fairfax/Ipsos poll shows. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Opposition Leader made the most of his second mover advantage with an offer that leaves the government with no easy response unless it matches his bid.

Shorten now reaps most of the political dividends from the budget debate. The boost to Labors primary vote in todays Fairfax-Ipsos poll does not happen often after a budget, so it will dismay Coalition insiders who were hoping the momentum would go their way.Finance minister Mathias Cormann has defended a controversial decision by the WA Liberal party to not contest the Perth and Fremantle byelections.

Speaking to a business budget breakfast in Perth on Monday morning, Mr Cormann said the party had made a pragmatic decision to sink its limited resources into the Darling Range state byelection instead of contests it was "unlikely to win".

Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann has defended a decision by WA Liberals to not contest the Perth and Fremantle byelections. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"Political parties are like businesses" Senator Cormann said.

"We've got to make judgments on the rational allocation of limited resources to a whole range of priorities and the priority in Western Australia right now is to send Labor a message in the Darling Range byelection.Washington: President Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to help Chinese phone manufacturer ZTE return to business, days after the company said it would cease "major operating activities" because of the US government's recent trade restrictions, a shift in tone for a president who has long accused China of stealing US jobs.

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted. "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"

The comment could presage a reversal of one of the Trump administration's toughest actions to date against a Chinese company. In April, the Commerce Department penalised ZTE for violating a settlement with the US government over illegal shipments to Iran and North Korea. As a result, the Trump administration barred US firms for seven years from exporting critical microchips and other parts to ZTE, the world's fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer.The recent debate over tolling our highways should remind us of just how divided the state has become. Its not red vs. blue and not even just upstate vs. downstate. The real divide is between those who commute by car vs. those who take mass transit.

Ive written for years about how Metro-North riders pay the highest commuter rail fares in the U.S., and those fares will only keep rising. Most rail riders have little choice, especially if headed to New York City. What are they going to do  drive?

Yet, every time the fares go up  increasing 55 percent since 2002  ridership rises as well. Why? Because conditions on the highways keep getting worse.

But those who choose to drive, or must because theres no viable mass transit option, seem to literally hate rail commuters. I think its jealousy. During the tolls debate, the venom was dripping and one Tweet in particular hit home.

Just because your commute (by train) is so expensive doesnt mean mine (by car) should be too (because of tolling), the post read.

The driver clearly missed the point. We arent looking for tolls to subsidize rail fares. Its just to get motorists to pay for the upkeep of their roads and bridges before we have another Mianus River Bridge collapse, which we will.

But it gets worse.

More Information Join the conversation Use #GettingThereCT to chime in on Facebook and Twitter. See More Collapse

The anti-toll forces now sound like Howard Beale, the deranged newsman from the movie Network who was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Doubtless, much of this is directed at Gov. Dannel Malloy who has the lowest popularity rating in the history of polling. Sure, the economy of our state is in bad shape. But Malloy didnt create this economic mess. He just inherited it and mishandled it.

And it will get far worse, no matter who succeeds Malloy. The solutions will be few and all will be painful. Forestalling tolls and gasoline taxes wont stop the bridges from rotting.

But this opposition to tolls or modest gasoline tax increases to pay for roads has now been taken to a maniacal pitch, predicting everyone is leaving the state, because conditions are so bad. Thats fine with me.

I recently ran into a young man unloading a bunch of items at our town dump. My parents are moving, he told me. Everyone is leaving Connecticut! he exclaimed. Really? I asked.

Its all Malloys fault, he said, sounding like a Pied Piper, leading a caravan down Interstate 95 to some promised land.

I asked him one question: Did your parents sell their house? Sure, he said. And at a profit over what they paid for it.

Well, I said, I guess not everyone is leaving. Your folks are moving out and someone else is moving in. Someone who wants to live here.

To those who hate living in Connecticut so much, I extend an invitation: Please leave. Enjoy your low-tax destination. And dont forget to pay those highway tolls as you drive down I-95 through New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

But enough already with the I hate Connecticut mantra. Some of us actually like living here. And losing the haters will only mean fewer cars on our roadways.

Jim Cameron is a longtime commuter advocate based in Fairfield County. Contact him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.comThe citys first integrity commissioner has received 22 city hall-related complaints during her first year on the job, six of them about the same incident involving the same council member.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/5/2018 (1244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The citys first integrity commissioner has received 22 city hall-related complaints during her first year on the job, six of them about the same incident involving the same council member.

Sherri Walsh wont identify the complaints or whether the grievances are under investigation.

"If I find theres a breach, then I will report publicly to council. If I find there is no breach, but I think theres a public interest reason to report, I will still report to council," Walsh said.

"At this point, my decision is, Im not going to talk about whether or not Im conducting an investigation, mostly just to try and maintain confidentiality for complainants and respondents."

In her first annual report, which will be discussed by the executive policy committee Tuesday, Walsh outlines the number of complaints received among other work she accomplished in 2017 and 2018.

That includes establishing a new code of conduct for council members.

From April to December last year, Walsh received "17 contacts" from the public, seven of them related to complaints about conduct of council members.

Six of those were about the same person for the same incident.

From January to March of this year, Walsh was contacted five times by the public. One of the calls involved a complaint against a member of council.

Walsh also received complaints about other city departments, which she said were forwarded to the appropriate channels. She said she also received various queries about her role as integrity commissioner from those curious about ethics in politics. She fielded calls from council members once per week, largely asking questions about the new code of conduct and disclosure of gifts.

"I think thats just tremendous, and I commented on that in my report," she said.

"When the frequency of those calls diminishes, thats not a good sign. Thats the most important aspect of my role because (calls show) two things: one, theyre thinking about it, and two, it shows that theyre seeking advice."

Political scientist Paul Thomas said he expects Walsh will get busier as people become more aware of her office.

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"I think in the first year of operation for Ms. Walsh I would have expected a small number of matters to come forward. I dont see 17 complaints in a year as a failure for the office to do its job or something. Its just getting started," Thomas said. "I think she took the right approach to say this is less about catching people crossing ethical and legal lines and more about education and advising people about how to comply with rising legal and ethical standards in city hall."

As for not naming the people being complained about, Thomas agreed with Walsh, for now.

"Thats a dilemma for people who do this kind of work, integrity commissioners, and especially when you have a formal whistleblowing system in place. You give people protection of their privacy up to a point, but its not absolute protection," he said.

"These investigations go through stages and they may get to a point where you have to disclose."

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbuCanadians with disabilities face many challenges of accessibility, and one of them is on their tax return.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/5/2018 (1243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

Canadians with disabilities face many challenges of accessibility, and one of them is on their tax return.

For those Canadians living without disabilities, the barriers to those with disabilities may be invisible. But, a disability isnt necessarily tied to a person; rather, its related to how they navigate the world. Thinking this way acknowledges that using a wheelchair isnt a barrier, but that buildings that are not wheelchair-accessible are.

Similarly, accommodations for other disabilities, whether physical or mental, can also be built into existing structures both physically (for example, audio signals for traffic lights and braille signs) and also socially (greater awareness of mental-health needs and supports in educational approaches, for example).

There are also many costs associated with navigating disabilities, from medication to therapy to assistive devices, and in a society that is still built without disability in mind, those costs are frequently borne by the individual.

There is some financial relief available, in the form of the federal disability tax credit (DTC), which people can claim on their federal tax return.

Unfortunately  and ironically  its not easily accessible. It is, in a bureaucratic way, one more barrier.

Canadians must apply for the non-refundable tax credit with a form signed by a medical professional familiar with their circumstances.

However, deciding who is approved for the DTC is up to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). This makes for some odd discrepancies, as if there is a murky threshold to disability. People with Type 1 diabetes are typically approved for the DTC, but those with Type 2 diabetes are not. People who are deaf would qualify for the credit, but people with moderate hearing loss would not.

How can this be addressed? So far, it has primarily been through the advocacy of groups urging the government to revisit its position.

The Canadian Hearing Society, for example, urged as far back as 2010 for the federal ministry of finance "to change the definitions and terminology currently used on the Disability Tax Credit Certificate to wording that is more equitable and non-discriminatory and provides clearer guidance to medical practitioners."

This would be a step in the right direction, but more could be done. James Hicks, national co-ordinator of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, is one of a group of advocates who have been pushing for a refundable DTC to better help those in poverty, who face the same costs and barriers as other Canadians with disabilities, but lack the same resources.

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An additional problem with the DTC, according to Hicks, is that qualifying for other federal funding and programs is tied to eligibility for the DTC. This sets up the CRA as a gatekeeper to other federal programs.

One example is the Retirement Disability Savings Plan  rather than applying for this support directly, Canadians must first qualify for the DTC.

The RDSP, as Al Etmanski pointed out in a recent op-ed piece in this newspaper, was created in 2008 and is the first poverty-fighting tool in the world for people with disabilities.

The DTC is being studied anew by the disability advisory committee, of which Hicks is a member, hosted by the CRA.

The ministry of finance should listen to the groups input, and that of other voices advocating for this financial relief for those with disabilities.

Canadians shouldnt face a barrier of red tape when filing for a tax credit that could provide welcome relief for costs they already bear. A couple dozen Dimaya GVRs in federal criminal cases in latest SCOTUS order list | Main | Interesting accounting of history and modern realities of victims' rights 

May 14, 2018

Among lots of CJ work, SCOTUS finds capital defendant's Sixth Amendment rights violated by counsel's unauthorized concession of guilt

The US Supreme Court got back to business this morning with a lot of notable activity in the criminal justice arena. As noted in this prior post, there were a bunch of significant Dimaya GVRs. In addition, the Court handed down five opinions in argued cases. Four of the cases decided today involve criminal defendants, though the biggest of the rulings should also be of great interest to criminal justice fans as it addresses the relationship between federal prohibitions and state laws. The federalism case, Murphy v. NCAA, No. 16476 (S. Ct. May 14, 2018). (available here), may be of particular interest to advocates for state-level marijuana reforms, and I have this initial post on that case over at Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform.

Criminal procedure is the focal point of the four other SCOTUS cases handed down this morning: Byrd v. United States, Dahda v. United States, McCoy v. Louisiana, United States v. Sanchez-Gomez. This alphabetic list of these four rulings may also roughly approximate their order of importance/significance, though I welcome reader input on whether there are some important elements to a set of decisions that all seem somewhat narrow and fact-specific. The ruling that may be of greatest interest to sentencing fans in McCoy, which split the Court 6-3 and starts with these paragraphs from Justice Ginsburg writing for the Court:

In Florida v. Nixon, 543 U.S. 175 (2004), this Court considered whether the Constitution bars defense counsel from conceding a capital defendants guilt at trial when [the] defendant, informed by counsel, neither consents nor objects, id., at 178. In that case, defense counsel had several times explained to the defendant a proposed guiltphase concession strategy, but the defendant was unresponsive. Id., at 186. We held that when counsel confers with the defendant and the defendant remains silent, neither approving nor protesting counsels proposed concession strategy, id., at 181, [no] blanket rule demand[s] the defendants explicit consent to implementation of that strategy, id., at 192. In the case now before us, in contrast to Nixon, the defendant vociferously insisted that he did not engage in the charged acts and adamantly objected to any admission of guilt. App. 286287, 505506. Yet the trial court permitted counsel, at the guilt phase of a capital trial, to tell the jury the defendant committed three murders. . . . [H]es guilty. Id., at 509, 510. We hold that a defendant has the right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsels experienced-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance to avoid the death penalty. Guaranteeing a defendant the right to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence, the Sixth Amendment so demands. With individual liberty  and, in capital cases, life  at stake, it is the defendants prerogative, not counsels, to decide on the objective of his defense: to admit guilt in the hope of gaining mercy at the sentencing stage, or to maintain his innocence, leaving it to the State to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

May 14, 2018 at 10:42 AM | Permalink

Comments

Lots of questions for the next wave of cases.

NCAA would seem to say that a state could: 1) decriminalize; and 2) bar state police officers from assisting in federal marijuana cases.

Byrd -- A lot depends on what happens next. It seems to make a distinction between borrowing the car and fraudulently not listing the real driver. Whether that distinction holds up depends.

Dahda -- It seems to be based on statutory grounds. What that means in future cases involving "overbroad" search warrants is unclear.

The big questions will probably involve McCoy. Is "all or nothing" a defense strategy (to be decided by counsel) or an objective (to be decided by defendant). If McCoy bars the concession of any element or any lesser-included over defendant's objection, that could be a big thing. If on other hand, it is limited to conceding guilt of the charged offense, it is probably just limited to capital cases.

Posted by: tmm | May 14, 2018 12:32:48 PM

When I was a 2L in Law School, I thought about writing about the exact issue from McCoy. There was a case that had recently been decided in Delaware and I thought it was on point. But I ultimately decided "nah, no one cares about a case from Delaware" and I didn't write it. I have no idea if my topic was preempted or if I would have come up with a good answer, but I really think, in retrospect, that it was something worth publishing, so I'm kicking myself for not doing it.

To me, this case is an interesting one when it comes to formal rules vs. their practical effects. I had commented recently on a similar case where the defense attorney wanted to block an execution his client wasn't opposing. It's important to recognize you have a client, not a cause.

Prof. Berman, would you happen to know the statistics on whether conceding guilt actually makes a difference?

Posted by: Erik M | May 14, 2018 5:58:15 PM

Doug, I have been litigating issues of defense lawyers making unauthorized concessions of guilt of their client since 1987 and will make a couple observations.

In 1987 in State v David Brown, a federal habeas court vacated a death sentence, because during the sentencing phase argument, the defense lawyer told the jury "We don't know why he did it", when the def didn't acknowledge he "did it." Unfortunately, the Fourth Circuit reversed for lack of prejudice.

About the same time, the NC Supreme Court decided in State v Harbison that unauthorized concession of guilt is ineffective assistance , per se, requiring a new trial. Unlike Florida v Nixon, which requires prejudice for a new trial.

This issue of unauthorized concessions by counsel goes from the top to the bottom of the criminal specter. I will send you a very well written order in a post conviction case , where a judge gave my client a new sentencing hearing when the defense lawyer argued to the judge, without authorization, that the def shouldn't be considered for a mitigated range sentence. NC has a three tier form of sentencing, where a defendant is eligible for a lower, "mitigated range" sentence" if a mitigating factor exists. Judges must inform defendants that "Do you understand that you have the right to proving the existence of mitigating factors in your case." My argument was the lawyer waived the defendant's personal right without consent. The post conviction judge held that not only was the waiver by counsel, instead of def, improper, it was ineffective assistance per se, under Weaver v Massachussetts.

You have my permission to post the Order. Many, many defense lawyers take it on themselves to argue a defendant should receive a middle range, "presumptive" sentence, without asking their client if it is okay to give up the chance at a lower sentence.

Bruce

Posted by: bruce cunningham | May 15, 2018 7:58:52 AM

Dissent seems to have the better of the argument.

Posted by: federalist | May 15, 2018 8:14:04 AM

Bruce. That was a nicely reasoned, lawyerly, easy to understand comment. Very good.

Posted by: David Behar | May 15, 2018 10:24:14 PM

@David - Good post to Bruce...

Posted by: MidWestGuy | May 15, 2018 11:45:06 PM

Reading this case in more detail, there are some concerns over practical consequences. If a defendant is accused of larceny of an automobile and wants to deny stealing it, can the defense attorney argued he did steal it but it was unauthorized use? The opinion seems to say that an attorney can concede elements of an offense as a matter of trial strategy, but if the defendant pleads not guilty and wants to assert he's not guilty of all charges, maybe they can't concede any element that would result in a conviction for some crime.

Now maybe that is the rule and maybe it should be the rule, but I wish the opinion was a little more clear on this issue.

Posted by: Erik M | May 16, 2018 10:03:51 AM

To put Erik's post into a practical context, think of the typical burglary case. The police got lucky and found the defendant's fingerprint inside the house, but the defendant wants to deny that he was even there. Can the defense attorney concede the unlawful entry but claim that he was there for a quasi-legitimate reason (e.g., homeless and wanted to get out of the rain) while denying an intent to steal anything? Could defense counsel -- over client's objection -- request an instruction for the lesser of trespass? If defense counsel can't or doesn't request a trespass instruction, can the State request a trespass instruction? Does the request for a trespass instruction change the analysis of whether trial counsel improperly conceded guilt?

I think that the dissent is right that the majority is rather vague about the limits of the rule being adopted. I just worry that the dissent noting the possible far reaches of this decision will -- as has occurred in other cases -- be used by lower courts to hold that the new rule does go that far.

Posted by: tmm | May 16, 2018 10:32:48 AM

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PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. 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Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. 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Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC.The WSWS is publishing a letter it received from an Arizona teacher who participated in the state-wide walkout from April 26 to May 3.

Arizona teachers have been punished by their local school districts this past week for their walkout. On Friday, May 4, teachers returned to their classrooms knowing the decision had been made to close schools for the summer on the same scheduled date. Local school districts emailed staff on Monday to let us know that students do not have to make up days missed from the walkout, but the teachers do.

Mesa Public Schools, which is the largest district in Arizona, announced that teachers will be held accountable to work the extended six days. School principals advised staff that we are not allowed to use personal or sick days during the six-day time period. Staff will be required to make up every day missed due to illness, planned vacations, or doctor appointments. Teachers will also have to sign in when they arrive to school and sign out at the end of the day. Staff that teaches summer school will lose 20 percent of their pay because the district states they cannot be paid simultaneously for two different jobs.

At a recent school meeting, we were told Arizona school districts will be monitoring our personal Facebook pages as well. Teachers were warned that we need to delete any reference of working for our specific school districts on our personal Facebook site if we have posted photos, comments, or videos of the RedforEd movement. A school principal warned that the district is looking for anything on teachers Facebook that would discredit us personally and give them reason to fire or sue us.

Last Friday, Mesa Public School (MPS) employees received another district email written by the MPS General Counsel warning teachers that we could not wear RedforEd T-shirts or any other message T-shirt that may replace it as the RedforEd movement transitions to a ballot-measure campaign. The school districts reason for this ban is to avoid objections from students, parents, and co-workers who disagree with the message, and MPS also stated in their email that the walkout is now over.

I can vouch as a teacher who participated in the RedforEd movement at the Capitol every day that we did not want to end the movement. The RedforEd Movement had 30,000 to 75,000 teachers, staff, and parents rallying at the state Capitol every day of the walkout. People camped out in tents on the front lawn, groups set up canopies and chairs each day that spread the entirety of the common area surrounding the Capitol, and food trucks lined the streets.

The Capitol grounds were literally a sea of red with T-shirts, banners, signs, and the spirit band. It was awe-inspiring, and you could feel the power of unity. There was no inkling of the notion that any of these people were ready to back down the movement. The RedforEd movement was stopped by the Arizona Educators United (AEU) and the Arizona Education Association (AEA). It is my personal opinion that the power of the movement scared the union and caused them to quickly put an end to the walkout.

For this reason, I believe the teachers of this country need to organize a rank-and-file committee run by teachers and elected by teachers. The lesson I have learned from Arizonas walkout is that teachers need to create, organize, and run a labor movement controlled by the teachers to prevent the intervention of and manipulation by the unions. During the walkout, the AEA and the AEU deleted any Facebook posts to their site that were contradictory or negative to their agenda; therefore, censoring the movement and dividing the movement itself.

I believe if the unions had not abruptly ended the RedforEd Movement we had the momentum and the will to continue the walkout until our demands were met. As of now, NONE of RedforEds demands have been achieved. The union leaders told the thousands strong crowd at the Capitol that our movements successes were historic and that this was as much as we could possibly ever get from this legislature. We were told this budget was a victory and we should continue our victory at the voting polls in November. However, we are precisely at the exact same spot we were before the movement began. Nothing has been gained for teachers, for education, for staff, or for our students.

With the betrayal of the unions ending the RedforEd Movement plus the additional punishing and censoring of teachers that occurred this week I feel as though I can no longer sit! I can no longer wait! I will no longer be silenced! Teachers across this country need to organize a national walkout that will not stop until we have our demands met. This is just the beginning!As we commemorate May Day and todays 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, the resurgence of the class struggle that is shaking political and social relations on a global scale is finding particularly sharp expression within Latin America, the most socially unequal continent on the planet.

As in the United States and elsewhere in the world, teachers have taken the lead in this renewed upsurge of the class struggle, going on strike and taking to the streets from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires, and from Santiago, Chile to Mexico City to San Juan, Puerto Rico to fight the decimation of public education and defend their living standards and basic rights. In many instances, these struggles have been met with naked police repression.

Bill Van Auken's address at the 2018 International Online May Day Rally

The new crop of right-wing governmentsMacri in Argentina, Temer in Brazil, Pinera in Chileare no more able to resolve the crisis gripping the capitalist system in Latin America than their supposedly left predecessors. Like them, mired in filthy corruption scandals, their only answer is to shift the burden onto the backs of the working class.

As the Latin American working class once again moves toward revolutionary struggle, it is high time for the drawing up of an unsparing balance sheet of the betrayals of past struggles and the role played by leaderships that have done everything in their power to disorient and mislead the working class.

The emancipation of the workers must be the act of the working class itself, Marx and Engels famously insisted. This essential affirmation of the role of the working class as the sole consistently revolutionary class in capitalist society, and the impossibility of establishing socialism under the leadership of any supposedly radical or left section of the bourgeoisie or petty-bourgeoisie, has been confirmed again and again through tragic historical experiences in Latin America.

The International Committee of the Fourth International has insisted that defeating the attacks carried out by both imperialism and the native Latin American bourgeoisie is possible only through the independent mobilization of the working class, throughout the Americas, based upon a revolutionary socialist and internationalist program.

The ICFI has waged a decades-long battle against all those who have promoted one or another bourgeois or petty-bourgeois movement as a substitute for the decisive task of building revolutionary Marxist parties in the working class.

Left nationalism, with the fawning support of petty-bourgeois radicals in Europe and North America, has played a catastrophic role in Latin America.

This found its consummate expression in the development of the thesis that the coming to power of Fidel Castro in Cuba had opened up a new road to socialism, which no longer required either the conscious and independent political intervention of the working class, or the building of revolutionary Marxist parties.

Instead, guerrilla warfare, waged by small groups of armed men under the leadership of radical petty-bourgeois nationalists, would suffice. This myth, derived from the coming to power of Castros July 26 Movement, was distilled into the retrograde theories of guerrillaism, elaborated by his erstwhile political ally Che Guevara, as the model for revolutions throughout the hemisphere.

This false perspective found its most prominent proponents in the Pabloite revisionist tendency, which emerged within the Fourth International under the leadership of Ernest Mandel in Europe and Joseph Hansen in the US, subsequently joined by Nahuel Moreno in Argentina.

This anti-Marxist perspective was propagated throughout Latin America with disastrous consequences. It served to divert a layer of radicalized youth away from the struggle to build a conscious revolutionary leadership in the working class, and into grossly unequal armed confrontations that claimed the lives of thousands and helped pave the way to fascist-military dictatorships throughout the continent.

The International Committee of the Fourth International fought intransigently against the Pabloite perspective. Defending Trotskys Theory of Permanent Revolution, the ICFI insisted that Castroism did not constitute any new road to socialism. Rather, it represented only one of the more radical variants of the bourgeois nationalist movements that had come to power throughout much of the former colonial world in the post-World War II era.

The ICFI warned that the Pabloites elevation of Castro as a natural Marxist, entailed the wholesale repudiation of the historical and theoretical conception of the socialist revolution going back to Marx, and laid the basis for the liquidation of the revolutionary cadre assembled by the Trotskyist movement internationally into the camp of bourgeois nationalism and Stalinism.

Last month saw the formal end of the nearly six-decade rule of the Castro brothers, under conditions of mounting social inequality on the island and the attempt by the ruling strata to salvage its privileges by means of a rapprochement with US imperialism. Today, deals signed with Obama remain in abeyance, as Trump demands even greater concessions from Havana and promotes the activities of the rabid anti-Castroites in Miami, while threatening a renewal of US aggression. The fate of Cuba will be determined by the development of the class struggle and the struggle to build a new revolutionary leadership in the working class, both on the island as well as in the United States and throughout the Americas.

The same Pabloite revisionists who promoted Castroism went on to declare the Sandinista Liberation Front in Nicaragua, and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in El Salvador, as the basis for a new path to socialism and the foundation for a new revolutionary international. Despite the immense heroism and the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives in the struggle against US-backed dictatorships and CIA terrorist armies, both these movements transformed themselves into bourgeois parties, made peace with the reactionary ruling oligarchies they had previously opposed and became faithful executors of the austerity programs of the IMF.

Last month saw the Sandinista leader Daniel Ortegawho has amassed wealth and power rivaling that of the former dictator Somozaunleash violent repression against workers and youth protesting against draconian cuts to pensions, leaving some 30 dead.

Last month also saw the jailing on trumped-up corruption charges of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former metalworkers leader, who became president of Brazil as the leader of the Workers Party, or PT, the Partido dos Trabalhadores.

Many of the same Pabloite and Morenoite revisionists, who had previously extolled the virtues of Castroism and Sandinismo, presented the PT as a new uniquely Brazilian road to socialism. They entered and helped build the PT into what became a thoroughly corrupt bourgeois party that for a dozen years served as the preferred instrument of rule of the Brazilian bourgeoisie. It is telling that Lulas imprisonment by the right-wing government of Michel Temer has produced no mass outcry from Brazilian workers, who saw their living standards and rights subjected to sharp attacks by PT governments, with the collaboration of its affiliated trade unions.

A tendency that learns nothing and forgets nothing, the Morenoites, having seen their Brazilian adherents long since expelled from the PT, have concentrated their efforts on a series of unprincipled electoral alliances and maneuvers within the trade union and parliamentary arenas in Argentina. The logic of this activity is directed toward the preparation of a new betrayal of the Argentine working class through the creation of a new left bourgeois party, along the lines of Podemos in Spain or Syriza in Greece.

As its principal ally in perennial unprincipled electoral alliances acknowledged, in a candidand self-incriminatingfashion last year, the PTS [Partido de Trabajadores por el Socialismo], the main continuator of the discredited politics of Morenoism in Argentina, represents a Podemos in diapers.

Finally, there was the fraud of Bolivarian or 21st century socialism, introduced with the coming to power of former army colonel Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. While able to adopt a left posture and provide minimal social assistance programs to the working class under conditions of rising oil prices, with the collapse of the commodity boom, this bourgeois nationalist movement, based firmly on the military, has turned sharply against the working class. Its policies have enriched a layer of financiers, commodity speculators and senior military officers, while upholding the interests of international finance capital, even as workers confront growing hunger and unemployment.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian government of Rafael Correa, another proponent of Bolivarianism and 21st century socialism, has given way to that of his hand-picked successor, Lenin Moreno. While introducing a series of capitalist counter-reforms, Moreno has sought to curry favor with US and British imperialism by means of a grotesquely reactionary betrayal, cutting off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges Internet access and barring him from receiving visitors at the Ecuadoran embassy in London, where he has been a virtual prisoner for the last six years. As Morenos government seeks closer ties with the US military and the Trump administration, it collaborates in suppressing a man pursued by Washington for exposing the crimes of US imperialism. Such is the logic of bourgeois nationalism.

These bitter experiences with the politics of bourgeois nationalism, and its Pabloite and other petty-bourgeois pseudo-left props, underscore the necessity of forging a new revolutionary Marxist movement, based upon the independent political mobilization of the working class and the unification of workers in Latin America with workers in the United States and internationally in a common struggle to put an end to capitalism.

We appeal to our comrades in Latin America, those participating in this online rally, those who read the World Socialist Web Site and all those workers and youth seeking a revolutionary path: the history of the class struggle in Latin America is one not merely of betrayals, but of immense heroism, self-sacrifice and determination, all of which will be summoned up in the revolutionary battles to come. The decisive question, however, is to learn the lessons of the past, so that the mistakes and betrayals will not be repeated. This above all means the study and assimilation of the long history of the struggle waged by Trotskyism against revisionism and, on this principled foundation, building sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in every country.

* * *

Hacemos un llamado a nuestros camaradas en America Latina, a quienes estan participando en este mitin en linea, a quienes leen el World Socialist Web Site y a todos los trabajadores y jovenes buscando un camino revolucionario. La historia de la lucha de clases en America Latina no solo esta compuesta de traiciones, sino tambien de inmenso heroismo, autosacrificio y determinacion, atributos que seran invocados en las batallas revolucionarias venideras. Sin embargo, la cuestion determinante sera aprender las lecciones del pasado para que no se repitan errores ni traiciones. Ante todo, esto significa estudiar y asimilar las ensenanzas de la larga historia de luchas del trotskismo contra el revisionismo y, con base en estos principios fundamentales, construir secciones del Comite Internacional de la Cuarta Internacional en cada pais.More than a hundred students and workers attended Wednesdays International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) meeting at the Ruhr-University Bochum in Western Germany. The meeting discussed fundamental questions of Marxism, social inequality, militarism and the revolutionary perspectives of the Fourth International.

The meeting at the Ruhr-University Bochum

The spokesman of the IYSSE at the RUB, Philipp Frisch, chaired what was the largest IYSSE meeting to date at Bochum University. He emphasized at the outset that Marxs analysis and perspective are being confirmed daily. The growing danger of a renewed world war, the massive levels of social inequality and the degeneration of bourgeois rule around the world put the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism on the agenda. Marxism was therefore of paramount importance today. The IYSSE have set themselves the goal of reviving Marxism at the universities, said Frisch.

Peter Schwarz, editor-in-chief of the German edition of the World Socialist Web Site, then addressed Marxs teachings and the historical development of Marxism. In his detailed lecture he dealt with three topics. First, he answered the question: What did Marx really represent? He then reviewed the main arguments within the Marxist movement to show, based on current political developments, how contemporary Marx is today.

In recent weeks, Marx had been widely praised in the media for his far-sighted predictions, but they all separated the economist Marx from his revolutionary conclusions, which he drew from his scientific examination of the prevailing economic, philosophical and political theories, Schwarz emphasized. He then explained Marxs materialist conception of history and his dialectical understanding of social development.

On this basis, Marx was the first to establish a scientific understanding of human society and its development, which is the prerequisite for changing it. Employing detailed quotations from the Communist Manifesto and other basic writings, Schwarz showed how Marx understood the class struggle as the engine of history, and the international working class as a revolutionary force because of its objective mode of existence.

Even during his lifetime, Marx was able to experience how theory seized the masses. In Germany and in other countries, social democratic mass parties had arisen, based on Marxism, Schwarz explained. With the outbreak of the First World War, capitalism had collapsed, as predicted by Marx. While the parties of the Second International turned away from Marxism and supported the war, the Marxist opponents of the war, especially Lenin and Trotsky, had prepared the revolution. The October Revolution in Russia confirmed the materialist conception of history and the perspective of the Communist Manifesto.

The October Revolution was not an automatic objective process but presupposed the leadership of the working class through a Marxist party, the Bolsheviks. Without a conscious revolutionary leadership, the working class would not be able to overthrow capitalism. The construction of a revolutionary leadership in the international working class remains the main task of Marxists today.

He then explained how revolutionary possibilities had failed in Germany, China and other countries in the 1920s and 30s, because the necessary revolutionary leadership was lacking or had failed to rise to the occasion. The destruction of the Third International by the Stalinist bureaucracy had had devastating consequences. Trotsky and his comrades had defended Marxism and founded the Fourth International in 1938.

Schwarz then dealt with the various tendencies that turned away from the Fourth International under the ideological pressures of the post-war period. The central question was always that they did not understand the defeats of the working class as being the result of the policies of their leadership, but as evidence of the organic inability of the working class to carry out the revolution.

The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) has defended historical materialism and the Marxist view of the proletariat as a revolutionary subject and today embodies contemporary Marxism, Schwarz explained.

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The Marxist perspective of the Fourth International was highly relevant today, Schwarz concluded in the last part of his presentation. Citing formidable statistics, he showed that social inequality is greater than ever. Referring to President Donald Trump, who had cancelled the nuclear deal with Iran the day before, Schwarz said, You cannot understand Trump if you seek the motives and brutal forms of his politics in his person. Rather, Trump was an expression of the deep crisis and the political and moral decline of capitalism in the US and internationally. In Europe and Germany too, militarism is returning, and the class struggle is sharpening.

Our primary task now is to systematically, consciously and aggressively build a revolutionary leadership. It is on this task that a progressive resolution to the basic question facing mankindsocialism or barbarismdepends, Schwarz quoted from the end of a WSWS perspective.

The audience, who followed the lecture attentively, asked many questions afterwards. Social inequality was as much a theme as the concept of the modern proletariat or the dictatorship of the proletariat, the exploitation of workers in countries such as India, and Trotskys assessment of the First World War.

Schwarz answered further questions, and members of the IYSSE also participated in the discussion, which continued after the formal end of the event. Philipp Frisch said that the most important conclusion from the lecture and the discussion was to become active and build a revolutionary leadership in the working class. Everyone present should make the decision to become an active member of the IYSSE.

In the days before the meeting, members of the IYSSE had advertised the event with posters and flyers at the Ruhr University. The discussions with hundreds of students and workers during the campaign revolved around the growing crisis of capitalism and the great significance of Marxism that results directly from this.

Both the present gulf between rich and poor, which is historically unprecedented, as well as the growing danger of war, are perceived as serious problems by students both in Germany and abroad. Many expressed their opposition, not only to the predatory wars of US imperialism but also to the German government, which decided to double its military spending in the coalition agreement and wants to spend any budget surpluses on the military and imperialist geopolitics. The discussions also revealed the widespread view that none of the parliamentary parties will seriously and vehemently oppose this policy.

The vast majority of students at the Ruhr University rejects arms sales and the massive rearmament of the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces). Students showed great interest in the fundamental analysis of the Fourth International that the policy of war as well as austerity in Europe and around the world are the result of the contradictions of the capitalist system.

The discussions following the event also revolved around these questions. Many participants were impressed by the meeting and left their contact details. The lecture was very interesting and very informative, Yanik and Calvin, two young workers from Bochum, said. Both had learned about the event from the WSWS. The alternation of history and Marx quotes and speaking about the current situation was very interesting. The title of the event is also very appropriate.

Yanik is a geriatric nurse and very well acquainted with the extreme problems in this area. The increasing privatization of the health and social care system has created difficult to unbearable conditions for both those being cared for and those working in this field, he said.

Calvin had also worked as a geriatric nurse until recently but stopped because he found the conditions unbearable. He is now trying to find a new job.

The problems the talk dealt with had actually existed for 200 years, Yanik said. The growth of wars in Iraq, in Syria and other countries, as well as the increase of conflicts that could lead to a world war are particularly threatening he added.

The lecture was an eye-opener and a call to become active and do something, the two concluded.A Sri Lankan opposition party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), is currently agitating for the abolition of the countrys executive presidency via a 20th amendment (20A) to the constitution. The campaign is a political fraud.

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told the partys May Day meeting on May 7 that the 20A proposal would be presented to the parliament later this month. (The party did not hold a May 1 meeting in Colombo, following a government ban on May Day celebrations during the Wesak religious festival, in response to a request by the Buddhist hierarchy.)

Posturing as a defender of democratic rights, Dissanayake told the meeting the JVP would create a broad dialogue and try to win support for its amendment. He assured the partys Sinhala chauvinist base, however, that the JVP would not do anything detrimental to the country and promised to discuss its proposals with the Maha Sanghas [Buddhist prelates] and intellectuals.

The JVP originally emerged in the mid-1960s as a petty-bourgeois radical group based on an ideological mixture of Stalinism, Maoism, Castroism and Sinhala patriotism, appealing to rural youth. As a logical outcome of these nationalist politics, it has evolved into a thoroughly bourgeois party, deeply integrated into the ruling establishment

Sri Lankas executive presidency, set up in the 1978 constitution, established autocratic powers for the United National Party (UNP) government of President J. R. Jayawardene. Its purpose was to implement free market reformsi.e., ruthless attacks on the living conditions and social and democratic rights of the people. Jayawardene used these powers to unleash Colombos communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), brutally suppressing the Tamil minority and the entire working class.

Every government, without exception, has used the executive presidential powers since then. Each parliamentary opposition, at least since 1994, has promised to remove the measures, only to renege as soon as it came to power.

Maithripala Sirisena became president in 2015 by exploiting mass opposition to his predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse. He consented to a 19th amendment, which pruned a few powers and was approved by parliament in May 2015. His promise to abolish the presidency was abandoned.

The JVP hopes to capitalise on the deep-seated popular hostility to this autocratic system, but has yet to produce a final draft of its amendment. JVP general secretary Tilvin Silva provided an outline in a lengthy interview with the Daily Mirror on May 3.

The president, he said, would be appointed by the parliament and not hold any ministerial position but would continue to be involved in state affairs and would remain the commander in chief of the armed forces. The prime minister would continue to be head of cabinet.

In other words, the JVP is proposing something like the UKs Westminster parliamentary system. Similar proposals have previously been peddled by other Sri Lankan political parties to hoodwink the population. This system, however, does not guarantee the democratic rights of citizens in Britain, nor will it in Sri Lanka, where the ruling elite has issued draconian emergency measures whenever it has faced a political crisis.

Addressing a May 7 press conference, JVP propaganda secretary Vijitha Herath falsely claimed that his party had opposed the executive presidential system from the outset. In 1994, the JVP withdrew its presidential candidate, accepting a promise by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga to abolish the executive presidency. She dumped her promise soon after.

Kumaratunga used her presidential powers to seize UNP government ministries in 2003 and later sacked the government on communalist grounds, declaring that it was making concessions to the LTTE. The JVP hailed Kumaratungas moves and entered into a coalition with her in 2004. In 2005, it backed Rajapakses successful bid for the presidency and then praised him for using the executive powers to conduct the war.

Likewise in 2015, the JVP supported Sirisenas bogus promises to end dictatorial rule and abolish the executive presidency. JVP leader Dissanayake even joined the national executive council to stabilise Sirisenas rule. The JVP is now accusing Sirisena of going back on his January 8, 2015 mandate, and vowing it is ready to fulfil this mandate.

The JVP has no concerns for the democratic rights of working people. Recent statements promoting its 20A campaign expose its communalist outlook and the reactionary character of its proposed legislation.

Last week, the Jathika Vidvath Sangha Sabha, a group of extremist right-wing Buddhist monks, declared its opposition to the JVPs 20A campaign. Shocked by this, and criticism by other Sinhala chauvinists, the JVP is bending over backwards to appease the Buddhist establishment.

JVP propaganda secretary Herath responded by insisting that although the bill aimed to do away with the presidents dictatorial powers, there should be no fear. The president, he said, would continue as commander in chief and have all powers under the 13th Amendment, which governs Sri Lankas provinces.

We will not make room for the division of the country, he declared, or anything that changed the priority of Buddhism. In other words, the JVP will uphold all the anti-democratic and communalist discrimination laws.

The JVPs 20A campaign is a ploy to divert the growing social opposition of workers, rural poor and youth to the government and the capitalist system. It is yet another attempt to promote the illusion that democratic reforms can be won by exerting pressure on the ruling class and reforming its governmental system. This claim is refuted by the actions of the capitalist ruling elites in every countryfrom the US to France and India. Driven by the deepening crisis of world capitalism and preparations for new wars, they are adopting ever-more dictatorial forms of rule.

During Sri Lankas February local council elections, the JVP adopted an anti-corruption stance. Boosted by the media and various intellectuals, it suggested that all the countrys political and economic ills were a result of corruption by the former Rajapakse regime and the current administration of Sirisena and Prime Minster Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In line with its previous manoeuvres, the JVPs 20A campaign is another desperate attempt to prop-up capitalist rule in Sri Lanka. In order to defend democratic and social rights, workers and youth must reject this trap and take up the fight for a workers and peasants government to implement socialist policies as part of the struggle for international socialism.As in the United States and across more than a dozen countries, teachers and other public sector workers in NZ are beginning to mobilise against declining living standards and the ongoing assault on public education. Under the recently-installed Labour-NZ First-Green Party coalition government, rail workers, bus drivers and port workers have recently taken strike action. This will likely be followed by the countrys 50,000 primary and secondary school teachers, who are set to be pitched into struggle next.

Last year, at national conferences of the education unionsthe NZ Education Institute (NZEI) and the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)teachers overwhelmingly voted for pay claims of more than 15 percent in coming negotiations.

Onerous workloads, stagnant pay rates and deteriorating conditions have made teaching increasingly unattractive, with the 2018 school year opening with a critical teacher shortage. One in five schools has reported cancelling classes or transferring students to distance learning because specialist teachers cannot be found. Some schools have no relief teachers.

The Labour-led government, undoubtedly watching global developments with significant nervousness, is moving to head off the rising tide of worker militancy. In education, it has implemented a string of measures designed to take steam out of the highly pressurised situation before contract talks begin.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced in February that Tomorrows Schools, the right-wing framework introduced in 1989 under then Labour Prime Minister David Lange, is to be reviewed. Tomorrows Schools established governing boards of trustees tasked with imposing business disciplines into education and shifting financial and administrative responsibilities away from central government. It produced increased competition amongst schools at the expense of overall education results.

The review, to be carried out by a five-member panel of current and former principals and academics, will involve the entire public system from early childhood education through to tertiary. According to Hipkins, it will examine how educational institutions can interact differently with their communities, with other schools, with employers, and with other government organisations. Undoubtedly, the interests of business will be at the forefront.

A priority, Hipkins said, will be to be more responsive to the needs of Maori and Pasifika children and those children needing learning support. His statement underscores the current obsession with identity politics and so-called institutional racism. It will do nothing to address the fundamental chasm between working class students and the more privileged social layers, exacerbated by deepening economic inequality.

In the primary sector, the National Standards testing regime in reading, writing and maths has already been scrapped. Similar to NAPLAN testing in Australia, the system was imposed by the conservative National Party government in 2011. Hipkins admitted that the compulsory reporting had become little more than a compliance exercise and was a major distraction to schools. Schools and parents had lost confidence in the standards, he declared.

National Standards were bitterly opposed by teachers, but, less than a year after their counterparts in Australia, the NZEI isolated and shut down a boycott of the testing regime, which soon proved to be unscientific and unreliable, and used to dragoon teachers into increased workloads and a creeping process of teaching-to-tests. The standards were designed to publicly vilify failing schools and pave the way for so-called performance pay.

Claims that National Standards would boost achievement have been thoroughly discredited, prompting concerns in ruling circles that NZs international competitiveness in education is being eroded. A Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study, released last November, revealed NZ literacy levels ranked 33rd out of 50 countries, eight places lower than in 2011, the lowest on record. Recent Program for International Student Assessment Tests (PISA) in reading, maths and science, show NZ has one of the biggest variations in student achievement, with the gap in average scores for students from poor and rich backgrounds the equivalent of more than three years of schooling.

In the secondary sector, Hipkins has launched a review of the central qualifications system, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)introduced by Labour in 2002 and promoted by PPTAamid widespread claims that it is responsible for the overassessment of students and excessive teacher workloads.

Another recent initiativedoing away with 11 US-style Charter Schoolsis further designed to appease teachers. As in the US and Britain, publicly-funded, privately-run Charter Schools have been used to undermine public education and establish a bridge-head for privatisation. The policy was smuggled in as part of a parliamentary deal between National and the far-right ACT Party, following the 2011 election.

Charter Schools were not required to use the national curriculum, employ qualified and registered teachers, or be accountable under the Official Information Act to disclose documents. They set their own salaries, the length of the school year and selected which students to admit.

While declaring that there would be no new Charters, Hipkins threw the existing ones a lifeline by declaring they could apply, on a case by case basis to become part of the system of Integrated Schools. These allow religious schools to integrate into the state system, and receive public funding, while retaining their special character. The manoeuvre allows existing Chartersincluding two Vanguard military academies run on army-style disciplineand schools run by Maori trusts, to continue operating. All the owners are moving to strike deals with the government.

Hipkins is depending on Labours union allies to control the explosive opposition building up among teachers and to corral them behind the government. The education unions have warmly welcomed Labours announcements, while NZEI has declared it never gave up the fight against the National Standards, and that their dumping was a day of celebration. The PPTA boasted that it was already in on the ground floor with representatives on the NCEA review panel. Both unions are lining up to be consulted and involved in all forthcoming government initiatives.

None of these measures will prevent the looming battle over teachers jobs, conditions and salaries. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has admitted that teachers and nurses are overdue for pay rises. He told TV3 on March 11 the government was acutely aware that over a long period they had not received the dividend that weve seen from the growth in the economy.

With the May 17 budget looming, Labour has sought to dampen expectations. Prime Minister Ardern delivered what the New Zealand Herald described as a gloomy warning on April 10 that there were larger-than expected funding gaps in health and education to fill, with under-investment in both infrastructure and the ability to pay staff. According to Hipkins, schools need more than $1 billion just to absorb a surge in student numbers and to repair ailing buildings.

However, Labour is refusing to increase taxes on the rich. Speaking to a Westpac business breakfast on May 1, Robertson re-assured the audience that he would adhere to budget responsibility rules, requiring the paying down of debt, and promised to return a surplus across the economic cycle. Herald columnist Bryce Edwards previously noted that Labour was essentially running austerity economic policy, meaning it will continue to underfund areas like health and education.

Teachers should place absolutely no confidence in the unions or Labour, who have already led them into one betrayal after another. In conditions of deepening capitalist crisis and the drive to war, Labours education restructuring will produce no progressive outcomes. Instead, it will further subordinate education to the profit system and intensify the assault on the social rights of the working class.

As the unfolding struggles of teachers in the US have demonstrated, teachers must develop an alternative perspective to fight these attacks by establishing independent rank and file committees, made up of parents, teachers and students, that are completely independent of the unions. The struggle for teachers rights, as well as those of all students to a high quality public education, requires the development of a struggle against the capitalist profit system itself, on the basis of a socialist program aimed at unifying the working class throughout New Zealand and internationally in the political struggle for a workers government and socialist policies.On the night of Saturday May 14, just before 9 p.m., a young man wielding a knife attacked passers-by in downtown Paris while screaming Allah akhbar! according to eyewitnesses.

Tragically, one managed 29was killed in the attack and four others were wounded, of which two were seriously wounded in the terror attack. Three of the four victims were taken to the Georges Pompidou Hospital, with one requiring surgery. It was announced Sunday morning that all of the injured were going to recover.

The attack occurred in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, a few blocks from the Opera Garnier. The opera house is a well-known tourist attraction. The neighborhood, full of restaurants and bars, is typically bustling on a Saturday night.

The assailant, a Frenchman of Chechen origin born in 1997, was shot and killed, apparently execution style, by police. When a group of three policemen arrived on the scene, the assailant reportedly brandished his knife. After one policeman shot the attacker with a Taser, another shot him twice with his pistol, fatally wounding him.

The assailant did not have a police record, but he was known to the intelligence services. As is the case in virtually every IS attack in France since the Charlie Hebdo shootings in January 2015, the perpetrator had an S File (Fiche S), meaning that he was identified as a threat to the security of the state by the French intelligence services.

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack almost immediately afterwards. According to the SITE intelligence group, the Islamic States AMAQ press agency cited an IS security source as stated that the author of this knife attack in Paris is a soldier of the Islamic State, and the operation was lead in retaliation against the states of the [US-led] coalition.

Leading French politicians all immediately released statements. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, All of my thoughts go to the victims and the injured of the knife attack perpetrated tonight in Paris, and also to their loved ones. I salute in the name of all the French the courage of the police who neutralized the terrorists. France pays once again the price of blood but will not cede an inch to the enemies of liberty.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted, I salute the composure and the reactivity of the police forces who neutralized the assailant. My first thoughts go to the victims of this despicable attack.

The Socialist Party (PS) mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said: Tonight, our city was injured.

Saturday nights terror attack is a bloody and reactionary crime. Political responsibility for it rests, however, with the same ruling elite that is now using it to sing hymns of praise to the French police and Internet surveillance apparatus.

In conjunction with Washington and the Persian Gulf sheikdoms, French imperialism and its European allies have utilized and given tacit official protection to Islamist networks as they waged its bloody war for regime change in Syria since 2011. The forces these networks recruited and sent to Syria served as the European powers main ground troops in the war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

This fact was thoroughly exposed by the 22 March 2016 attacks in Brussels, when the Turkish, Israeli and Russian intelligence services all reported that they had identified the attackers as well as their targets to Belgian and European intelligence before the attacks took place. After the IS terror attack last year in Barcelona, masses of people demonstrated and denounced the Spanish government for working with the attackers.

There can be little doubt, however, that as the Macron government faces rising strikes and student protests against its austerity measures, it will react as French governments have to all the previous attacks: with calls for stepped-up militarism and attacks on democratic rights.

The previous Socialist Party (PS) government of President Francois Hollande imposed a two-year state of emergency suspending democratic rights after the 13 November 2015 Paris attacks. While the state of emergency formally ended on November 1 of last year, a draconian anti-terror law had just been signed on October 30.

This anti-terror law legally codified the temporary antidemocratic measures imposed in the wake of the November 13th attacks, effectively making the state of emergency permanent.

Due to this law, the French state can: carry out arbitrary searches and seizures in private homes or any area declared a security zone; impose house arrest and electronic monitoring of individuals for up to one year at a time without charges; carry out warrantless identity checks in areas around borders, train stations, and airports; and collect and store all electronic, telephone, and email data of anyone police believe could be connected in the present or future to a serious crime.

These powers were already used to monitor and detain individuals and threaten to ban protests during the 2016 struggle against the PS labor law. As Macron provokes strikes and protests by using this labor law to attack wages and conditions in industries across France, there is little doubt that these powers will rapidly be turned against workers and youth if these protests mount into a direct political challenge to his government.

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[25 March 2016]Israel today marks the 70th anniversary of the declaration establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, which coincided with the end of the British mandate established following the defeat of the Ottoman empire in World War I.

This year, the anniversary will be marked by Israeli troops shooting Palestinian demonstrators on the Gaza border and stoking up war fever against Iran.

The anniversary will be overshadowed by the formal opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem, a violation of international law ordered by the Trump administration that has put a final nail into the coffin of the so-called peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and the illusion of a two-state solution.

It will also be the occasion for another round of bloodshed at the heavily militarized Gaza security fence, where for over six weeks thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated in what has been declared the Great March of Return. Over this period, some 50 demonstrators had been killed, and many thousands wounded, as the Israel Defense Forces have been given shoot-to-kill orders against unarmed protesters. On Monday, Israeli forces killed a further 37 demonstrators, and injured more than 500.

The protests are bound up with the origins of the state of Israel and their historical consequences. The demonstrators are demanding their right of return to the homes and villages from which they were expelled 70 years ago in what Palestinians refer to as the Naqba, or catastrophe. Some quarter of a million Palestinians were driven from their land through a systematic campaign of terrorism and intimidation, a gigantic act of ethnic cleansing designed to carve out a Jewish state based on race and religion.

The actions of Washington, both the transfer of its embassy to Jerusalem and the ripping up of the nuclear agreement between the major world powers and Iran, have been celebrated by the right-wing Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They have given this regime what amounts to a green light to both redouble the violent suppression of the Palestinian people and to launch military attacks in Syria that are aimed at provoking a confrontation with Iran that could spiral into a catastrophic region-wide conflagration.

Israels rulers are deliberately whipping up war fever as a means of directing outward the immense social tensions building up within Israeli society and diverting attention from the series of corruption scandals that have implicated the entire political establishment, from Netanyahu on down.

Given the events unfolding today, the criminal celebration by US and Israeli officials of the embassy move, and the new round of carnage on the Gaza-Israel border, there will be little attention paid to the great world historical questions bound up with Israels origins and development, which are inextricably tied to the fate of the working class in the 20th century and the historic crisis of revolutionary leadership.

It was to these essential historical questions that the World Socialist Web Site pointed in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel.

Within Israels birth and evolution are concentrated the great unresolved contradictions of the 20th century. Its essential origins lie in one of historys greatest crimes against humanity, the Nazi Holocaust. The extermination of six million European Jews was, in turn, the terrible price paid for the crisis of the working class movement brought on by the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Stalinisms crimes and its domination over the workers movement prevented the working class from putting an end to the crisis-ridden capitalist system, which found in fascism its last line of defense.

The defeats of the working class, the crimes of Stalinism and the horrors of the Holocaust created the historical conditions for Israels creation and the Zionist movements largely successful attempt, aided both by US imperialism and Stalinism, to equate Zionism with world Jewry. It was a movement and a state founded ultimately on discouragement and despair. Stalinisms betrayals produced disillusionment in the socialist alternative that had exercised such a powerful appeal to Jewish working people all over the world. The crimes of German fascism were presented as the ultimate proof that it was impossible to vanquish anti-Semitism in Europe or anywhere else. Zionisms answer was to get a state and an army and beat the historical oppressors of the Jewish people at their own game.

The tragic irony of this supposed solution is Israels association of the Jewish peopletraditionally and historically connected with the struggle for tolerance and freedomwith the brutal suppression of another oppressed population.

In the 20 years since the publication of the 1998 statement by the WSWS, the malignant contradictions within Israeli society have only deepened. The number of inhabitants in the illegal Zionist settlements in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 warthe West Bank, East Jerusalem and Syrias Golan Heightshas risen from 160,000 to over 600,000.

While Israel withdrew its troops and settlements from the Gaza Strip, it remains an occupied territory, effectively an open-air prison over which Tel Aviv exercises direct control in terms of borders, air and maritime space, while dictating the conditions of mass unemployment and poverty in a territory whose average income is roughly equivalent to that of Congo. The IDF has launched repeated wars against the territory that have claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, while devastating essential infrastructure. This near-genocidal campaign continues to this day with the slaughter of demonstrators on the Gaza border.

Real wages have been falling steadily since 2000 in the West Bank under the nominal rule of the Palestinian Authority, which has functioned as an auxiliary police force for the Israeli occupation, while enriching a thin layer of corrupt PLO officials and businessmen.

Within Israel itself, which ranks second only to the United States as the most socially unequal member nation of the OECD, and where the poverty rate stands at 22 percent55 percent for Israeli Palestinians and one third for the countrys childrenclass tensions are growing.

Israeli dock workers ended a three-day strike Sunday under a court back-to-work order after shutting down the ports of Eilat, Haifa and Ashdod. Last December saw a nationwide strike against the decision of the generic pharmaceutical giant Teva to lay off a quarter of its workforce, and municipal workers in Jerusalem staged a walkout in January, blocking access to the Knesset with garbage trucks, over threatened mass layoffs and failure to receive their wages.

Seventy years after the founding of the state of Israel, it is now clearer than ever that there is no national solution to problems confronting any section of the working class across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Only the unification of Jewish and Arab workers across the region on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program can provide a way out of todays bloody and increasingly dangerous impasse.An Arizona woman has been accused of stalking a man she went on one date with last year by breaking into his home and sending him 65,000 text messages, according to multiple reports.

Jacqueline Claire Ades, 31, was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly stalking and threatening a man she met on a dating website, according to a Paradise Valley police news release obtained by PEOPLE.

ABC15 reported that Ades has allegedly been obsessed with the man since last summer, sending him 65,000 texts after one date. In a jailhouse interview Thursday, she told reporters: I felt like I met my soul mate and everything was just the way it was. I thought we would do what everybody else did, but thats not what happened.

Text messages allegedly sent by Ades include, Dont ever try to leave meIll kill youI dont wanna be a murderer! and Oh, what I would do w/your bloodId wanna bathe in it, according to AZFamily.

When asked by reporters Thursday why she sent the victim thousands of texts, Ades said, Because it made me find out all my informationLoving him selflessly brought me his information. Because everybody just wants to take. But if you just give and you dont stop giving, you will all of a sudden receive a lot.

Ades came to Arizona on a road trip from Florida, she told reporters.

 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.

Paradise Valley police first became aware of the alleged harassment in July, when the victim reported that Ades had been continually texting him, the police news release states.

When police responded to a call by the victim alleging Ades was stalking him, they found her parked outside the victims home. She was not arrested, and soon after, police say she began sending the man threatening text messages, according to the news release.

In December, the victim called police again to report that Ades had allegedly returned to his residence, but upon arrival, officers could not locate Ades, the news release states.

Story continues

On April 8, Paradise Valley police received a call from the victim saying he was traveling outside the country but allegedly saw Ades on surveillance cameras inside his home.

Upon arrival, officers allegedly found Ades inside the mans home taking a bath. She was taken into custody and charged with trespassing. Ades was released and given a court date. She then allegedly began sending the victim text messages saying she was going to harm him, the news release states.

On May 4, Ades allegedly went to the mans business and claimed to be his wife. Scottsdale police responded to the scene and escorted her off the premise. When Paradise Valley police heard of the incident, they arrested Ades, according to the news release.

When asked by reporters Thursday if she was crazy, the 31-year-old said, No, I am the person that discovered love.

She is charged with threatening and intimidating, stalking, harassment and failure to appear after she failed to show up to her court date for the original trespassing case, the news release states.

Ades is being held without bond and does not yet have an attorney, the Washington Post reports. She is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.Prince Harry and Meghan Markles love story plays out on the small screen in Lifetimes Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, which premieres on Sunday night.

From their first blind date to their cozy kitchen engagement, the TV movie captured many of the couples milestone moments  and Parisa Fitz-Henley and Murray Frasers uncanny resemblance to the real-life couple is worth a double take!

But what was real and what was just for show? Heres a breakdown of the shows major plot points. And, it goes without saying, spoilers ahead!

RELATED: Download PEOPLEs The Story of Diana for intimate details, interviews with family and friends and exclusive home footage of Prince Harry and Prince Williams late mother

True: Prince Charles Took William and Harry to Africa After Their Mothers Death

The first scene opens with brothers Prince William and Prince Harry traveling through Africa with their father, Prince Charles, just after Princess Dianas death. In real life, Charles brought his sons there to escape the glare of the spotlight following their mothers death on August 30, 1997. It was a formative trip for Harry, who fell in love with Africa during that time. I first came in 1997, straight after my mum died. My dad told my brother and me to pack our bags  we were going to Africa to get away from it all, Harry told Town & Country in 2017. This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world. I wish I could spend more time in Africa. I have this intense sense of complete relaxation and normality here.

Prince Philip, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles walk outside Westminster Abbey during the funeral service for Princess Diana

False: Prince Harry Was Deep Into the Party Scene Just Before Meeting Meghan

While its true that he was known as the party prince during his 20s, his partying days were well behind him by the time he met Meghan in 2016. In 2005, Harrys picture was splashed on front pages around the world showing the then-20-year-old wearing a Nazi uniform at a costume party. He made headlines again after naked photos emerged from his strip billiards game in Las Vegas in 2012. But after retiring from the Army in 2015 after 10 years of service, Harry had reformed his wild ways. And he was ready to find love and settle down. Harrys drinking days are over, a source told PEOPLE. All of his best friends have settled and had children, so hes had fewer people to go out and play with. He realized he was getting a bit older and that it was time to settle down a little bit. Adds Duncan Larcombe, a former royals reporter who traveled with Prince Harry throughout much of the early 2000s: He desperately wanted to get married and be happy. He sees his brother has found that. The fact that Meghan arrived when she did completes it for Harry.

Story continues

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

True: Meghan Took Issue with an Ivory Soap Commercial

The scene where Meghan was offended by a soap commercial geared towards women rings true. Meghan was inspired to change a TV commercial at the age of 11, after seeing a Procter & Gamble commercial that advertised its Ivory dishwashing soap solely to women. The commercial for the soap struck her as unfair and insensitive when she heard, women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans. Meghans social studies class had been assigned to watch commercials and assess them. The assignment led to a monumental moment for the future royal. Meghan decided to write to the company and asked them to change their slogan from Women all over America to People all over America. And her efforts paid off. The commercial aired on TV again, this time with the slogan, People are fighting greasy pots and pans with Ivory care. About 20 years after seeing the commercial, Meghan gave a speech about the moment at the United Nations, saying, I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt. It just wasnt right and something needed to be done.

RELATED VIDEO: Harry and Meghan Confirm They Will Uphold a Very Important Tradition Involving the Wedding Dress!

True: Meghan and Harry Were Set Up on a Blind Date

The newly-engaged couple revealed that they were set up on a blind date in July 2016 and knew very little about each other before they met. It was definitely a set-up  it was a blind date, Harry said during the couples revealing engagement interview. It was a blind date for sure. And as is shown in the movie, Meghan did ask their matchmaker whether Harry was nice. I didnt know much about him. And so the only thing that I had asked her when said she wanted to set us up was  I had one question, I said, Well, is he nice? Because if he wasnt kind it just didnt  it didnt seem like it would make sense, Meghan said during their interview.

True: One of Their First Dates Was a Trip to Botswana

Unlike what was depicted in the movie, Meghan didnt spend three days waiting for Harry to call her. In real life, Meghan and Harrys first date was quickly followed by two back-to-back dates in London, so he was already on speed-dial by that point! But after those initial dates, they did travel together to Botswana. It was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana, Harry said of their whirlwind romance. And we camped out with each other under the stars. She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. So then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to know each other.

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

Prince Harry in Botswana

False: Will and Kate Cautioned Harry About Dating Meghan

In the movie, Prince William and Kate Middleton arent overly supportive of Harry dating Meghan in the beginning and they express their concern over her background. But Meghans future in-laws have always been in the couples corner. Shes been wonderful, Meghan said of Kate after the couples engagement. Harry added: Amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support. Meghan, who will be learning on the job, is funny and serious and extremely hard-working, a source close to the former Suits star told PEOPLE. I can imagine Kate will find a great friend in her.

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

False: Meghan Wasnt Invited to Pippa Middletons Wedding Reception

While its true that Meghan didnt receive an invite to Pippas wedding ceremony, she was invited to the black-tie reception that followed. Following the ceremony, a source told PEOPLE that Harry would travel back to London to pick Meghan up for the wedding reception in Bucklebury. The royal was spotted driving after the post-church Englefield House party. The fact that she did attend the wedding  even if it was the post-church nighttime bash  was yet another sign that the Suits actress and the prince were getting more and more serious.

True: A Royal Relative Wore an Offensive Brooch

While it didnt happen at Pippas wedding as depicted in the movie, a royal relative did wear an offensive brooch to the Queens annual Christmas lunch, which was attended by Meghan in December 2017. Princess Michael of Kent, the wife of the Queens first cousin, was pictured arriving at Buckingham Palace wearing a brooch on her left shoulder which appeared to be blackamoor jewelry, depicting the bust of a black person with a gold crown and colorful crystals. The brooch drew further criticism due to Meghans biracial background (her mother is Black and her father is white)  and the fact that Princess Michael chose to wear it on the day Meghan was being introduced to many extended royal family members for the first time. Princess Michael of Kent released a statement following the incident that read: The brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before. Princess Michael is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offense.

Princess Michael of Kent

True: Harry and Meghan Wore Matching Bracelets

Just like in the movie, Harry did give Meghan a bracelet that matched his own. The couple started sporting his and hers jewelry early on in their relationship. They were spotted wearing the same blue beaded bracelet on several occasions. Prince Harry reportedly picked up the bracelet during one of his trips to Africa. And the gift rarely left the actresss wrist! She even posted several photos on her now-deleted Instagram account showing off her sweet trinket.

True: Meghan Met the Queen

During Meghan and Prince Harrys revealing engagement interview, the couple revealed that the L.A.-born actress had not only met the Queen a couple times already, she also immediately won over her dogs. Its incredible, Meghan said about meeting the Queen. To be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honor and respect for her as Monarch, but with the love he has for her as his grandmother. Shes an incredible woman. Harry then added: The corgis took to her straight away. Ive spent the last 33 years being barked at  this one walks in, absolutely nothing. And Meghan, who has two dogs herself, replied: They were laying on my feet during tea!

False: Harrys Public Statement Led to a Breakup

While the movie insinuates that Meghan was in the dark about Harrys rare public statement in November 2016 that confirmed that he was dating the actress and slammed what he called the racist and sexist abuse she had endured since their relationship was revealed, Meghan was most likely fully supportive of that decision. And it didnt lead to a brief breakup as was depicted in the movie. Since it was such a rare move for a royal family member to release a statement about their private life, Meghan would have been briefed about the statement at length before it was released.

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

False: A Member of Harrys Inner Circle Tried to Intimidate Meghan

The character of Annabella, played by Marlie Collins, doesnt exist in real life. But the royal interloper, who chided Meghan about her TV career, biracial background and even her biological clock, did represent a lot of the criticism the couple was facing when they took their relationship public.

True: Meghans Ex-Husband Is Producing a Show Based on Her Relationship with Prince Harry

Trevor Engelson, Meghans ex-husband, is producing an as-of-yet-untitled show with a premise that sounds awfully familiar  because its based on his own relationship with Meghan, and her relationship with Prince Harry. The description of the show reads: Divorce is hard. Sharing custody is harder. Sharing custody with the British Royal family when your wife marries a prince, in the unforgiving spotlight of Londons tabloid media, is next level, according to Deadline. The idea came to be during a discussion between Engelson  who also works on FXs Snowfall  and Dan Farah, another one of the shows producers, where they imagined what life would have been like if Engelson and Markle had children, and he potentially had to share custody (and all the associated drama) with the royal family. Though the basis of the show was hatched from reality, Deadline does add that, It should be noted that the comedy is fictional, the lead characters are not based on Markle or Engelson, who have no kids together, and she has had no involvement in the project.

Queen Charlotte

True: Meghan Is Not the First Biracial Royal

Although its doubtful that the Queen showed Meghan a portrait of Queen Charlotte, a biracial royal, during her palace visit, she is, in fact, a real royal. Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was married to King George III and was queen for nearly 60 years, until she died in 1818. Shes the grandmother of Queen Victoria and the great-great-great-great-grandmother of the current Queen Elizabeth. Though she was born in Germany, the daughter of a Duke, Queen Charlotte was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, which was the black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. Her racial background wasnt known to the public when she served as queen. It was only discovered many years after her death, thanks to art historians who studied portraits of Charlotte more closely.

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.What happened when Harry met Meghan?

On Sunday night, Lifetime aired its delightfully cheesy dramatization of the romance between Englands Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle  which, apparently, involved lions.

Though Harry & Meghan may not be the most accurate depiction of their relationship, its all royal watchers have until next weekends televised wedding.

Below, see the Internets best reactions to the movie.

Want to keep up on the latest from PEOPLE? Sign up for our daily newsletterto get our best stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.

Casting Call

Parisa Fitz-Henley is the spitting image of Meghan  and nailed her voice, too. Burgess Abernathy as Prince William? Not so much 

The actress playing Meghan Markle is her doppelganger... Harry & Meghan: #ARoyalRomance ????  Susanna Moss (@MsSMoss) May 14, 2018

Our best casting yet! ???? We really nailed it with the cast of #ARoyalRomance. We can't tell the difference, can you? ???????? pic.twitter.com/PryEr8JWfg  Lifetime (@lifetimetv) May 7, 2018

Bootleg Kate actually looks like her, but I KNOW thats not supposed to be William??? Yall let me down once again #harryandmeghan #ARoyalRomance pic.twitter.com/kkQj5qWTmZ  ????Sunset Boulevardez???? (@Kissesfromdes) May 14, 2018

Inner Conflict

Story continues

The line between love and hate is always thin when watching a Lifetime masterpiece, and Harry & Meghan proved no exception.

Half the time Im yelling at the TV, the other half Im like this is so spot on #HarryandMeghan #ARoyalRomance #LifetimeMovies  Darby (@helloitsdarby) May 14, 2018

My beloved, Shakespeare loving, English teaching husband cannot look away from this movie.#ARoyalRomance  Meaghan W. Haxton (@theladyhaxton) May 14, 2018

Team Meghan

People loved seeing fictional Meghan be completely unimpressed by Prince Harrys (Murray Fraser) first-date tardiness and royal title.

Oh I REALLY hope she brought up the Deal or No Deal gig on the first date. #Lifetime #harryandmeghan #ARoyalRomance  Kimberly L. (@KimmyLoves2Read) May 14, 2018

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

Meghan and Harrys second date involved an overnight trip to Botswana, a theory that Princess Dianas spirit is possessing a lion and some sexy time.

hey boys i'm ready and willing to be botswana'd #ARoyalRomance  Marissa D (@MarissaDriscoll) May 14, 2018

This is like the best Bachelor date ever. #ARoyalRomance #HarryandMeghan  Aimee Friedman (@aimeefriedman) May 14, 2018

Yes Meghan, a lion almost ate me when I was a kid and I used my super human strength to leap to my feet to deflect a shot from my dads shotgun. #ARoyalRomance #HarryAndMeghan  Yvette (@atleve) May 14, 2018

She gave it up on the second date, some females give it up at a club in a bathroom with a stranger ???????????. #ARoyalRomance  _6713._ (@_NJ6713) May 14, 2018

Side note: I hope they put on mosquito repellent. Bites on the bits, not ideal.#ARoyalRomance  Meaghan W. Haxton (@theladyhaxton) May 14, 2018

Harry and Megan mated in Botswana, and so did two lions outside their tent.



Hopefully one of them wasnt Diana Spirit Lion, cause that would be awks. #ARoyalRomance  Shut up, BRENDA (@amber_lcarter) May 14, 2018

Hating on Kate

Fake Kate (Laura Mitchell) was super critical of Meghan and counseled Harry against pursuing a relationship  and Twitter wasnt having it.

Wow! Painting Kate as a racist. Not cool. Done. #ARoyalRomance  Laura (@ReallyLaLa1) May 14, 2018

I know this is only a movie, but I highly doubt that Kate is this stuck up. She went through an equally amount of chaos with the press for the majority of her adult life. #ARoyalRomance  Angela Dawn (@AngelaDawn623) May 14, 2018

Why are Will and Kate being made to look bad and rude in this movie? #HarryAndMeghan #ARoyalRomance #LifetimeMovies #LifetimeTV  Samus Aran (@SamusAran2020) May 14, 2018

Bye, Bella

Bella, a completely fabricated character, spilled the English breakfast tea on what its really like being a member of the royal family  and tried to intimidate the hell out of our heroine. Shes the Regina George of Buckingham Palace, so of course Twitter dragged her.

Bella, sweetie. Megan is there and Megan is there to stay. #ARoyalRomance pic.twitter.com/CJIgIGxUyq  - (@BODAKYELLO) May 14, 2018

Oh Bella, let me have 5 seconds with you. #ARoyalRomance pic.twitter.com/jOtLT3Mg1h  magnolia darjeeling (@magnoliadarjeel) May 14, 2018

Making a Statement

Just like in real life, Harry issued a scathing rebuke of the press and public for their treatment of Meghan. Unlike in real life, it led to a brief breakup  and corny airport reunion.

I love Prince Harry going alpha male. Mad gingers are hot. Someone please help me.#ARoyalRomance  Melissa Sykes (@mcs08f) May 14, 2018

Ill tweet it myself is the most 2016ish threat Ive ever heard #ARoyalRomance  Christi Trottie (@ChristiTrottie) May 14, 2018

#ARoyalRomance yall got me emotionally eating with this break up pic.twitter.com/uGDUChndDJ  Mexican Coke (@superappyjuice) May 14, 2018

Meghan really popped off during that dialogue!!! Although y'all are not gonna convince me Meghan didn't know about the statement beforehand lol. #ARoyalRomance  Harry & Meghan (@WalesAndMarkle) May 14, 2018

She Said Yes

Real Harry and Meghan said they got engaged while cooking a roast chicken during a quiet night at home. Lifetimes couple didnt stick to that script, though.

IS THERE A ROASTED CHICKEN SCENE YES OR NO #ARoyalRomance pic.twitter.com/PPGdx72UC2  Sade Sellers (@IAMSadeSellers) May 14, 2018

I guess baking cookies = roasting chicken = ;) #ARoyalRomance  Sonya (@heyitssonya01) May 14, 2018Photo credit: Lifetime

From Cosmopolitan

For those of us royals fans counting the days (okay, hours?) until the royal wedding, Lifetime provided a small bit of relief tonight in the form of a film. A film called Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, which in viewing feels about 40 percent based on fact and 60 percent pure fan fiction, and isn't that exactly the right ratio?

A Royal Romance, which premiered just six days before the big day, is precisely what you want it to be: juicy, romantic, and slightly ridiculous. It's really not a terrible way to spend two hours of your life, whether you're a diehard The Crown fan or just someone who digs Meghan Markle's messy buns. Read on for a few of the movie's most memorable moments.

1. The movie begins with peeks at the respective childhoods of Harry and Meghan, establishing the future personalities of our stars. The themes? For Harry, it's poor little rich boy; for Meghan, it's poor little feminist girl.

Photo credit: Lifetime

2. How many ginger actors did Lifetime have to locate for this film? Did they really need different boys to play Harry at ages nine-ish and 12-ish?

3. When we first meet adult Meghan, she is at work on Suitsand making suggestions to her director to take her character in a more feminist direction. Wow, how you going to shade Suits like that? Did they sign off the rights to the show's name?

4. Meanwhile, adult Harry is spraying champagne around a club, and dad Charles is warning him that his shenanigans might bring down the entire family. I don't know. If the Duke of Windsor palling around with Adolf Hitler in public didn't ruin them, I think some partying won't topple the monarchy.

5. The first introduction of William and Kate is deeply uncomfortable. They are uptight party poopers who tell Harry to grow up. Then there's this terrible moment when Kate says, "Marriage isn't so bad, RIGHT, WILLIAM?!" and grips his fingers. How dare you insinuate, Lifetime. How dare you.

Story continues

6. When Harry and Meghan are getting set up by their mutual friend, the film literally quotes a moment from the couple's post-engagement interview with the BBC. "Is he kind?" is the only question Meghan asked about Harry. Then, cut to the fanfic: "Is she hot?" Lifetime imagines him asking of her. This imagining feels exactly right, actually.

7. On their blind first date, in a private, wood-paneled closet, Harry is 40 minutes late and Meghan takes the opportunity to neg him, repeatedly. Of course he falls for that. Men love being negged, even more so if they're princes (probably).

Photo credit: Lifetime

8. It's all fun and flirty and bonding over pop culture references, then Meghan does it. She brings up her charity work in Rwanda. Harry's eyes bug out. "Bloody hell," he says.

9. In case that wasn't enough, he opens up to her about his life growing up in front of the cameras, and she points out, "Maybe you're the one in show business." Man, that is deep. It is DEEP.

10. Okay, here it is, the most ridiculous scene in the film, or at least the most ridiculous in this eight-minute scene of their first date. He's explaining his pet project, the Invictus Games, and Meghan mentions the poem, and Harry proceeds to recite it from memory, and they have their first kiss. "I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul," he says. Because they're both iconoclasts! They march to their own drum beats!

11. The film cuts to the days after the date, when they're both doing the equivalent of google-stalking each other: Meghan's reading The Crown, Harry's watching Suits. Too cute.

12. Then, the moment we've all been waiting for. The second date in Botswana! Cue all the insanely romantic imagery, though this was probably filmed in a field in Canada because that's a cheaper location. Still. Those golden-green fields!

Photo credit: Lifetime

13. We are treated to a montage of feeding giraffes and kissing. Then, as they sit under the stars - which, again, Meghan mentioned for real in the BBC interview - surrounded by bottles of wine, MM puts the moves on the prince. Ugh, I kind of wish she hadn't been the sexual aggressor. I know she's supposed to be a bold feminist and all, and who among us wouldn't feel sexy staring up at the Milky Way with a literal prince by her side and six to seven bottles of wine at hand? Still, critics have called Meghan calculating, and this fictional portrayal of her slipping off her dress to seduce Harry... I have the squicks.

14. Excuse me, how does Meghan maintain her perfect hair in the Botswana heat?

15. Also, this lipstick complements this actress' skin tone perfectly. Like, wow.

Photo credit: Lifetime

16. While discussing Harry's whisking Meghan away to Africa, William gives us this amazing line.

17. For her part, Kate laments, "Americans are so... loud." Cut to Meghan screaming as a snake is wrapped around her neck. LOL.

18. When they return to their respective homes, Harry blabs to Kate and William, while Meghan blabs to her hairdresser on the set of Suits. Yep, that feels about right.

Photo credit: Lifetime

19. Harry gives her a blue-and-black beaded bracelet to match his. This corny sweetness happened IRL, as a deep dive of Meghan's now-defunct Instagram account reveals.

20. When they go out in public for the first time, it's October 2016 and Meghan dresses as Hillary Clinton. #toosoon

21. Some bros at the bar in Toronto taunt Harry about the intricacies of his military service. Do drunk bros really do this? I doubt it.

22. When the couple are outed by the media, Prince Charles gives a speech where he basically explains the duties of being a royal. I think Harry would have figured it out by age 32, but it's a nice primer for the audience.

23. The scenes that follow their discovery by the press are truly horrifying, and not worth being sarcastic about. Meghan and her mother are stalked by photographers who press against their windows; Meghan recounts a story from childhood where she overheard a man call her mother the n-word. It's a painful passage, and a solid reminder of what Meghan has likely gone through in real life.

24. Harry releases the statement where he officially calls Meghan his girlfriend, admonishing the press and expressing his rage that he "can't protect her." This leads to their first fight, where she once again takes up the feminist mantle. Meghan doesn't need to be protected!

Photo credit: Lifetime

25. So she ends the relationship, which leads to her feeling like this. Yes, that's how I would feel if I realized I dumped Prince Harry.

Photo credit: Lifetime

26. Thank you, Lifetime, for giving us a scene of them reuniting on the tarmac with a declaration of mutual love. They're doing this thing. We're doing this thing! And we're doing it with a secret catchphrase of "London Bridge is falling down."

27. At a society wedding, one of Harry's family members wears a blackamoor brooch, a piece of racist jewelry that Harry demands she remove. This choice is, unfortunately, based on the very real moment when Princess Michael of Kent wore her blackamoor pin to Christmas dinner with Meghan. She later apologized.

28. Camilla Parker-Bowles has like one line and it's about ordering dirty martinis, then she winks. I love saucy (and sauced) Cammy.

29. The couple are feeling really happy and good after attending the wedding together, so Meghan brings up their future - where will they live? can she keep working? - and Harry totally freaks and runs out of the room. This is entirely too real. Men are trash.

30. And when Meghan tries to connect with him over the 20th anniversary of his mother's death, he freaks out even more. Luckily, a lion symbolizing Princess Diana makes an appearance to scare the crap out of them/give her blessing on their union. No, really.

Photo credit: Lifetime

31. They have another sexy time, and Lifetime uses a patented Lifetime filter over the scene. Which is to say, there's straight-up Vaseline on this camera lens.

32. He proposes, and it's a sleepy sexy morning proposal, aka the actual dream! But this is not the proposal Meghan described in their BBC interview. Is Lifetime taking liberties again?

Photo credit: Lifetime

33. Harry casually mention that he'd move to California to live with her. Wait, I'm glad that Meghan is choosing a life of philanthropy with Harry, but Harry as a California dude?? I didn't even know that was an option?!

34. With the film almost over, Lifetime squeezes in another Suits burn. Can they sue? You know, because it's a lawyer show?

35. "You'll have to meet Granny," is both the sweetest and most terrifying line of the film.

36. But that means it's corgi time! We only get one, which is why this moment is ridiculous. We should have seven corgis in this scene. A redo, please, Lifetime.

Photo credit: Lifetime

37. The roast chicken! Once QEII has approved of their union, we get a gratuitous shot of Meghan slowly pushing a chicken into the oven - and yes, Harry's "proper" proposal follows. He explains the ring, pointing out the diamonds from Diana's collection, and says, "She wouldn't have just approved of you, she would have loved you." Tears.

38. The film ends with a little montage in Meghan's head of all they've gone through... and then transitions into real footage of Harry and Meghan at their first charity event after announcing their engagement. Reader? I didn't expect this. But seeing the actual couple, after all they've gone through? I wept.

Photo credit: Lifetime

Follow Kaitlin on Twitter.

You Might Also LikePhoto credit: Ashley Mateo

From Cosmopolitan

Theres an iguana four inches from my face, and it looks about as thrilled with the situation as I do. Its handler is trying to place it on my hat, which doesnt really have a wide enough brim for this, and although Im not scared, I dont love the idea of its scrabbly nails using my face for leverage if it starts to slip. But if everything goes right - fingers crossed - this is going to be a great photo for Instagram. And thats the only reason Im doing it: for the gram.

I love photography and I love to travel, so I follow a ton of travel influencers: the Blonde Abroads, the Tara Milk Teas, the Gypsea Lusts, the Pilot Madeleines, and the Chelsea Kauais. Their lives look magical as they bounce from one exotic destination to the next, meticulously documenting every gorgeous sunset, floating breakfast, and flower-filled bath they take. Its enough to make you want to quit your job and literally follow in their footsteps.

So thats what I decided to do. Well, I didnt quit my job, but I used a weekend trip to the jungle of Belize to try to recreate a few Instagrams from influencers who had visited the same places. And, let me tell you, I have a whole new appreciation for how these social-media stars live - and work, because make no mistake, Instagram influencing is a job.

I stayed at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, about two hours from Belize City and less than 20 miles from the Guatemala border. It also happens to have a made-for-Instagram pool with perky little umbrellas and bright yellow towels that contrast perfectly with the lush green jungle behind it. I wasnt the first to notice the photo op; wellness influencer Lindsey Calla stayed at the resort last spring and took a gorgeous shot in the pool area.

BOOK NOW San Ignacio Resort Hotel, TRIPADVISOR

I figured this would be the easiest photo to recreate. All I needed to do was float in the pool and have someone snap a pic, right? Nope. On my first day there, I enlisted my friend Ben (an Instagram star in his own right) to stand on the balcony and take pictures of me attempting to float around gracefully before anyone else tried to go for a late-afternoon swim, around 4 p.m. I thought we nailed it but was crushed when I saw the shots - they were way too dark. Where were the sparkles on the surface of the water? Why did I look so stiff? Why was this so hard?

Story continues

Photo credit: Ashley Mateo

We tried again the next day, right at noon when the sun was highest, because I really wanted that damn water to sparkle. It took a lot of attempts, but we finally got a photo in which I didnt look like a floating mannequin. It still took another hour or so to adjust it to the perfect light in my editing program (I use Lightroom, which I bought after seeing tons of Instagram photogs reference it in their IG Stories). If you ask me, Lindseys picture is still better.

The next afternoon, we went to explore Cahal Pech, one of the oldest recognizably Maya sites in Belize. I had seen a photo of it on freelance photographer and outdoor enthusiast Hike Up Your Skirts Instagram feed, and I knew I wanted to recreate the moody, mysterious vibe she captured while exploring the complexs ancient temples and palaces.

This photo was actually the easiest to take, because all I had to do was hold a position (although my calves hurt after 15 minutes). But it took two other people to art direct the scenario - moving from above the stairs to below, and to the right and to the left on a thin stone wall that was thisclose to crumbling - just to get the right angle. When we were done, my positioning was perfect, but I totally hated the lighting - we had come at the wrong time of day again. I couldnt come back and reshoot, though, so I spent about an hour YouTube-ing different tutorials for Lightroom tools to bring out the greens in the picture and make it look less blown-out thanks to the sun. It came out ... OK.

The final image I wanted to recreate was another from Lindsey Calla: the iguana shot. The San Ignacio Resort Hotel is home to the Green Iguana Conservation Project, with a number of rescued iguanas (the species is endangered in Belize due to deforestation) on the property. Lindseys photo, with an iguana perched jauntily on her straw hat, was the epitome of doing it for the gram. After all, why else would you put a reptile on your head?

The iguanas name was Kim K, which felt appropriate, because she certainly knew how to pose. It was my fault for not giving her the right platform. We took about 100 shots trying to get the right angle, the right light, the right focus  and I felt seriously uncomfortable. Not because of the iguana on my head, but because of just how much face was in the frame. Im not a model; I like most of my pictures taken from far away, with more of a focus on what Im doing rather than on me. I guess it came out fine. There arent any shadows on my face, and the iguana contrasts nicely with my hat. But looking at the photo makes me a little cringe-y, mostly because of how close-up it is. I was totally self-conscious taking it and Im still self-conscious about it being on my feed; Ive never been more aware of how different I am from people who are paid to snap photos of themselves.

What, is there something on my head? A post shared by ashleymateo (@ashleymateo) on Apr 24, 2018 at 9:00am PDT

Taking and posting photos to Instagram is hard work. Not only do you have to look the part, you need to have an eye for photography, really know how to use a camera, and have the editing skills to make your pictures pop. All that takes time. I spent more time on this weekend vacation looking at my phone and stressing about whether I had gotten the perfect shot than I did enjoying the luxurious hotel or the gorgeous jungle environment. It was only when I finally got the three posts and put my phone down that I relaxed and really started to enjoy myself.

And it wasn't the first time Id obsessed about Instagram on a vacation. Im always trying to take the perfect photo, one that will show off the incredible place Im in and earn the highest number of likes from my followers. This trip made me realize that I was turning almost all my vacations into work and adding stress to a time that should be fun.

So perhaps the real challenge isnt snapping the perfect 'gram - maybe its about learning how not to experience a place through my phone and actually stay in the moment.

You Might Also LikeThe first daughter misspoke during her speech to open the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, and her critics are calling her out.Her fathers prone to making typos on Twitter, but now its Ivanka Trumps turn to misspeak. Amid deadly protests  at least 41 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire along the Gaza border  and outcry from Mitt Romney, President Trumps eldest daughter has traveled to Israel for the opening of the controversial new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.Her fathers prone to making typos on Twitter, but now its Ivanka Trumps turn to misspeak.

Amid deadly protests  at least 41 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire along the Gaza border  and outcry from Mitt Romney, President Trumps eldest daughter traveled to Israel for the opening of the controversial new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Footage from CBS News shows the 36-year-old White House adviser joining Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin arriving at the embassy, which was previously located in Tel Aviv.

WATCH: Ivanka Trump speaks at U.S. Embassy opening in Israel https://t.co/6XmsnQbJd6 pic.twitter.com/KRAuC7oS5g  CBS News (@CBSNews) May 14, 2018

Viewers noticed that Trump, who converted to Judaism ahead of her marriage to Jared Kushner, flubbed a rather important line during her speech. She referred to her father as president of the United States on America, rather than the United States of America.

It was a small error but one that stood out, given that its the name of the country she and her family represent.

Ivanka said "United States on America," not of  Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) May 14, 2018

Whats the United States ON America?  Erik Clarke (@ErikJClarke) May 14, 2018

Is it just me or did @IvankaTrump just say "United States on America"? It certainly sounded like "on" and not "of".  Mark (@IAmCalledMark) May 14, 2018

The mistake is unlikely to impress critics who have accused the first daughter of being unqualified to serve in the White House and lead the Israel trip. Producer and director Judd Apatow was among those commenting on the gaffe.

Story continues

Is this the trailer to a horror film? https://t.co/Jlk6mnJnBa  Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 14, 2018

"The United States ON America" FFS people are dying outside, at least get the name of your country right.  Keeli Manning (@lvrandafighter) May 14, 2018

She actually said "On behalf of the 45th President of the United States ON America", which is accurate because it does feel like Trump is trying to crush us.  Mel Ankoly (@Mel_Ankoly) May 14, 2018

She said the United States ON America..girl https://t.co/E9ekeNUIEW  Yoon-Yay   (@X2yoon) May 14, 2018

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Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel on Monday after at least 52 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during protests over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem.

"Given the indiscriminate and grave manner of the latest Israeli attack, the South African government has taken a decision to recall Ambassador Sisa Ngombane with immediate effect until further notice," South Africa's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The victims were taking part in a peaceful protest against the provocative inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem," it said, condemning "violent aggression carried out by Israeli armed forces".

"This latest attack has resulted in scores of other Palestinian citizens reported injured, and the wanton destruction of property," it added.

The violence erupted over the formal opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

More than 2,400 Palestinians were wounded and the dead included eight children under the age of 16, according to the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations.

It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.Rome (AFP) - A deeply eurosceptic far-right party and an anti-establishment group are set to unveil a coalition government agreement and name a new Italian prime minister on Monday, ending over two months of political deadlock.

The leaders of the anti-immigrant League party and Five Star Movement will meet the Italian president on Monday afternoon to share details of a government programme for the eurozone's third largest economy, thrashed out over the weekend.

Five Star's Luigi Di Maio will meet president Sergio Mattarella at 1430 GMT, while Matteo Salvini will bring a League delegation to the head of state's office at 1600 GMT.

A Five Star representative told AFP on Monday that the pair want to present the details of their agreement -- including their prime ministerial candidate -- to the president before making them public.

Di Maio said that the nominee would be a politician and "not a technocrat" after meeting Salvini in Milan on Sunday.

If Mattarella accepts the nomination then the position could be filled within days.

Italy, one of six founding members of what became the European Union, has been stuck in a political quagmire since its inconclusive March 4 election, which was dominated by a struggling economy, the refugee crisis and illegal immigration.

The partnership between Salvini and Di Maio would represent a blow to mainstream European political parties across the continent.

According to Italian media reports, their nominee for prime minister is likely be from a "third party" and will have to be able to make the eurosceptic nature of the new government workable with Brussels.

- EU a 'gulag' -

Salvini has in the past referred to the EU as a "gulag" and struck alliances with anti-union figures such as Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen.

Di Maio has softened Five Star's previously antagonistic tone on Europe, but his party and the League have vowed to take tough stances with Brussels on issues like EU fiscal rules amid widespread Italian discontent over the country's economic malaise and a lack of European solidarity on dealing with migration.

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The parties have reportedly agreed on rolling back increases to the age of retirement while Five Star is broadly willing to follow the League's hardline anti-immigration policies.

Salvini and Di Maio are also ready to make compromises over their flagship policies -- the League's drastic drop in taxes and Five Star's universal basic income -- which look tricky to reconcile in one of the eurozone's most indebted countries.

Officials in Brussels have warned Italy for years about its fiscal discipline and the need to lower its debt load.

There are also some policy sticking points between the League and Five Star -- such as on major public works like the Turin-Lyon high-speed railway -- and they also need to agree on representation from the parties.

The League won 17 percent of votes in March, but it was part of a right-wing alliance including Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party that garnered 37 percent of the vote.

Five Star won more support than any other single party with 33 percent of the vote."Daily Show" host Trevor Noah said President Donald Trump reminds him of an African dictator in an interview with CNN's Brian Stelter on Sunday.

Noah pointed to recent news about Trumps personal lawyer receiving payments from companies as evidence that the president appeared to act like dictators in the African continent. The comedian, who hails from South Africa, has previously compared the president to African dictators on his show on Comedy Central.

RTSHSWK

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

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Ive said from the very beginning that Donald Trump reminds me of an African dictator and if you know anything about African dictators, the first thing that you have to do is follow the money and you follow the money with the closest people to them, Noah said on Reliable Sources.

Noah said people should watch for the money being given to or spent by Trumps family members and business associates. I would have been disappointed had we not found out or had Michael Cohen not done this, he added, according to The Hill.

Sundays remarks were not the first time Noah compared Trump to African leaders. In an October 2015 segment of The Daily Show, Noah said that the then-candidate reminded him of former South African President Jacob Zuma and former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, both whom left office amid allegations of corruption.

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A year later, Noah reiterated his belief that Trump was the American version of an African dictator. Following Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clintons second debate, Noah took note of Trump threatening to put Clinton in jail if he won the election.

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Watching Trump yesterday reminded me of something. Uh, you know, a year ago when I first started hosting this showI mentioned a year ago that Trump reminded me of an African dictator, Noah said in the October 2016 episode. And last night reminded me of why I said that. Because jailing your opponent is straight out of the African dictator playbook.

Noah continued: Yeah. The more you look at it, folks, it seems Donald Trump has stolen all the worst parts of Africa. He thinks like an African dictator. He scams money like a Nigerian prince. He threatens his opponents like an Egyptian leader. And he constantly spews s**t out of his mouth like he has Ebola.

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On Sunday, Noah said that news about Cohens financial agreements is following the script, this is what you were meant to be doing as the person who rolls with Donald Trump. You were always going to be finding a way to swindle cash.

Following reports that Cohen paid off adult film actress Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair with the president, it was revealed that he also had been paid by several companies for consulting services.

One of the major companies, a private equity firm called Columbus Nova, claimed it hired Cohen for consulting on real estate and other investments, NPR reported. The company has attracted attention because of its connections to a Russian oligarch with links to the Kremlin.

Noah added in his interview that it was now time to find out if Trump knew about the payments and whether the companies truly got nothing in return.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSochi (Russia) (AFP) - New Armenian premier Nikol Pashinyan on Monday assured Russia's Vladimir Putin that Yerevan's ties with Moscow will remain close following his rise to power on the back of mass anti-government protests.

Pashinyan met the Russian president on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Summit in Sochi. It was his first meeting with a foreign leader since being elected prime minister last week.

"I can assure you that on this issue (of relations with Russia), there is consensus in Armenia, and nobody has or will question the strategic importance of Russian-Armenian relations," he told Putin.

The 42-year-old former newspaper editor also thanked Putin for Russia's "balanced position" during the Caucasus country's political crisis when Pashinyan led weeks of protests and civil disobedience campaigns.

"This was highly appreciated not only by our government, but by Armenian society as a whole," he said.

Moscow has previously intervened in several political crises in former Soviet countries, most notably in Ukraine in 2014.

Acknowledging Armenia as "our closest partner in the region," Putin wished Pashinyan success in his new role, saying he hoped relations would "develop as steadily as they did until now."

He said Moscow's policies regarding Armenia would remain unchanged.

"We will be just as active in the international arena, starting from the UN where Armenia and Russia always support each other," he added.

Putin went on to congratulate Pashinyan on his victory in front of his Belarusian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz counterparts while opening the summit.

"I would like to first of all congratulate the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan. I congratulate you again on your election to this post," Putin said.

Pashinyan has repeatedly stressed that his country's relations with Moscow will not be affected by the protest movement he started.

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"I understand that Moscow has certain worries, I think that after our talks there will be no more concerns and Russian-Armenian relations will improve," Pashinyan told Russian state television channel Rossiya 24 on Friday.

He added that the ties between the small Caucasus nation and its former Soviet master should be based on "sincerity."

Armenia's parliament elected Pashinyan last week after he spearheaded weeks of mass protests against the ruling party, transforming the country's political landscape.By Denis Pinchuk and Andrew Osborn SOCHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Armenia's new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power last week after a peaceful revolution, told President Vladimir Putin on Monday he favored closer political and military ties with Russia. The meeting, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, was the first time the two men had met and followed Pashinyan's election last week after weeks of street protests. Some Western media had questioned whether Pashinyan, a former journalist who won power by channeling public discontent over perceived political cronyism, would keep his country, a landlocked ex-Soviet state, closely aligned with Russia, which has a military base in Armenia and a long history of selling it weapons. Pashinyan, who had previously reassured Russian diplomats he did not plan to break with Moscow, was unequivocal on Monday, telling Putin he wanted the two countries to remain firm allies, for Armenia to buy more Russian weapons and for them to forge closer political and trade ties. "We have things to discuss, but there are also things that do not need any discussion," said Pashinyan. "That is the strategic relationship of allies between Armenia and Russia. ... I can assure you that in Armenia there is a consensus and nobody has ever doubted the importance of the strategic nature of Armenian-Russian relations." Pashinyan said he wanted to inject new energy into developing already close ties between Moscow and Yerevan and thanked Putin for the way the Russian leader had handled the Armenian street protests. Russia did not intervene militarily, but was in close contact with Armenian politicians during the protests. "...We really appreciate the balanced position which Russia adopted during our domestic crisis," said Pashinyan. "I think it was a very constructive position." Armenia won independence from Moscow in 1991, but has been hampered by its conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and has looked to Russia to guarantee its security. Putin told Pashinyan Russia regarded Armenia as one of its closest allies in the region and wanted closer ties too. "I want to wish you success in your post as head of the government," said Putin. "I hope our relations will develop as steadily as they have until now." (Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Janet Lawrence)KABUL (Reuters) - An explosion went off in a residential neighborhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday, setting nerves on edge in a city hit by a wave of violence in recent months, but only one person was injured, officials said. The blast was caused by an explosive placed near a park in the Macrorayan, a area of central Kabul, said police spokesman Basir Mujahid. A health ministry official said one person was wounded. A series of attacks has killed and wounded hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan this year and put heavy pressure on the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani. Last week, gunmen mounted coordinated attacks in Kabul and battled security forces for hours in the main commercial area after setting off three large explosions. (Reporting by Qadir Sediqi, Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi; Editing by Robert Birsel)Britain is hosting a summit encouraging countries to join the EU (Rex)

As the date for Brexit draws ever closer, Britain is set to host a summit encouraging six European countries to JOIN the European Union.

Governments of countries from the Western Balkans, including Serbia and Albania, will travel to London in July to discuss their potential involvement in a broader EU, according to the Independent.

The summit, part of the so-called Berlin Process, is being hosted by the UK Government to encourage Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo to join the EU for the sake of their security, stability and prosperity.

The summit comes just months before Britain formally leaves the EU (Rex)

All the key events leading up to Brexit (PA)

However, critics have accused the Government of having a sense of humour for hosting the summit just months before Britain leaves the EU.

Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrats Brexit spokesperson, told the Independent: Someone at the Foreign Office must have a sense of humour in organising a conference to promote membership of the EU for the Western Balkan countries.

Just as we seem set on leaving the EU, we start advising others to join. Government policy would not look out of place in the theatre of the absurd.

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A Foreign Office spokesperson said: We remain of the view that the EU accession process is important to delivering security, stability and prosperity in the Western Balkans.

The countries from the Western Balkans will be joined at the summit by representatives of the governments of EU countries with an interest in the region, including France, Germany and Italy.Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty have been freed after being kidnapped in DR Congo on Friday (PA)

A pair of Britons who were kidnapped while visiting a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo have said they are very relieved that their ordeal is over.

Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty were rescued on Sunday after being snatched in Virunga National Park on Friday.

In a statement issued on their behalf, they said: We are very relieved that there has been a positive outcome to the kidnapping and are very grateful for the excellent support we have received. We do not plan to comment further.

Delighted that two British nationals held hostage in DRC have been released. I pay tribute to the help of the DRC authorities and Congolese Institute of Nature Conservation. My thoughts with the family of the ranger tragically killed during the kidnapping https://t.co/LRlIcl2D3k  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) May 13, 2018

A female park ranger, 25-year-old Rachel Makisa Baraka, who was travelling with the pair was killed and their driver injured during the abduction.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement: I am delighted to announce that two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released.

I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case.

MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO

My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makisa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver and the released British nationals as they recover from this traumatic incident.

Story continues

The parks spokeswoman refused to comment on how the situation was resolved and whether or not the kidnappers had been apprehended.

Park director Emmanuel de Merode said in a statement: Ranger Barakas life was tragically cut short in service to Virunga National Park.

The pair said they were very relieved that their ordeal was over (PA)

She was one of the parks 26 female rangers and was highly committed, showing true bravery in her work.

We extend our sincerest condolences to her family, and our thoughts are with all those affected by this incident.

The park has seen rising violence in recent months as armed groups stage raids to steal resources, particularly charcoal.

Virunga National Park has seen rising violence in recent months (Rex)

Last month five young rangers and a driver were killed in a militia ambush, the park said.

It was the deadliest attack in recent years and took the total number of rangers killed to 175.

Virunga is a Unesco world heritage site, covering 3,000 square miles on the Democratic Republic of Congos border with Uganda and Rwanda.PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A 50-year-old teacher has been arrested in Cambodia for allegedly insulting the monarchy in a comment posted on Facebook, police said on Sunday, the first such arrest since the country adopted a royal insult law earlier this year. Cambodia's parliament unanimously adopted a law in February, that forbids insulting the monarchy. Rights groups expressed concern that such legislation, already in effect in neighboring Thailand, could be used against critics of the government. Police in the central province of Kampong Thom arrested Kheang Navy, a primary school principal, over comments he made that were allegedly critical of King Norodom Sihamoni, his father, late King Norodom Sihanouk and his half-brother Prince Norodom Ranariddh over their alleged role in the dissolution of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). "He is being detained," Nhem Chhunly, a police chief in the province, told Reuters. "He admitted to police that those were his comments," Nhem Chhunly said, adding that he did not know when Kheang Navy would be sent to court to face charges. Reuters was unable to reach Kheang Navy, who is in police custody, for comment. He has not yet been appointed a lawyer. Cambodia's lese-majeste law stipulates that a prosecutor can file a criminal suit on behalf of the monarchy against anyone deemed to be insulting the royal family. Those found guilty would face between one and five years in prison and a fine of between $500 and $2,500. King Norodom Sihamoni is officially Cambodia's head of state, but long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen has ruled for 33 years. Last year, the opposition CNRP was dissolved at the government's request and its leader, Kem Sokha, arrested on treason charges that he says were politically driven. The crackdown comes ahead of a July 29 general election in which Hun Sen will be largely unchallenged. In neighboring Thailand, lese-majeste cases have increased since the military took control following a 2014 coup. The junta has vowed to use harsh measures against perceived critics of the country's royal family. Thailand has some of the world's toughest lese-majeste laws. Those found guilty face up to 15 years in prison for each offence. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Eric Meijer)London (AFP) - With just five days to go before the Windsor Castle wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the castle kitchens are a hive of activity.

The culinary frenzy is part of the complex preparations underway, as more details emerge of the lavish ceremony on Saturday.

Here is a round-up of the latest news:

- No tables for royal feast -

The lucky 600 invited to dine after the ceremony will not be offered a sit-down dinner, but a buffet lunch of "bowl food", The Daily Mail reported on Monday.

This style of dining -- where guests remain standing as they are served mini main courses -- is all the rage in business circles as it allows guests to move around, socialising and networking as they eat.

According to Britain's Press Association the canapes, cooked up in the Windsor Castle kitchens by Queen Elizabeth II's personal chef Mark Flanagan, are designed to be devoured in two bites.

The larger prepared dishes are also designed to be eaten while standing.

The official residence of Prince Harry, Kensington Palace, declined to comment.

On Monday, during a press visit to his kitchens, Flanagan boasted that the dishes are all based on seasonal British produce, much of it from the royal estates. He also said the royal couple had been "involved in every detail" of menu preparations.

A separate dinner is also planned at Frogmore House, close to Windsor Castle, with 200 guests invited.

- A romantic getaway -

Harry and Meghan have spent their last weekend as an unmarried couple in a picture postcard cottage they rent in the Cotswolds, a region of rolling hills in the west of England. There they are relaxing ahead of the wedding, when the eyes of the world will be on them.

"The run-up to the wedding has been quite stressful for them and they just wanted to get away and relax before the big day," a friend told tabloid The Sun.

The couple may have escaped the gaze of the public, but they remained under the watchful eyes of their security staff.

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The Sun source noted that blacked-out Land Rovers had been spotted in the area, ferrying teams tasked with their protection around the countryside.

- A blundering father of the bride -

Kensington Palace was treated to an unwelcome surprise when it emerged that Markle's father Thomas Markle -- set to walk her down the aisle on Saturday -- had defied their pleas for secrecy by agreeing to pose for a paparazzi photoshoot.

The offending images, showing him being measured for a suit and admiring a photo of the future royal couple on his computer, sold for $100,000 (83,000 euros, 74,000) according to tabloid the Daily Mirror.

A source close to Thomas Markle, cited by the publication, said he was convinced after being hounded by the paparazzi. He is now said to feel "like a total fool" who has been "scammed".

The misadventure has led to Kensington Palace warning against the publication of photos stolen from Thomas Markle, and pleas for the media to respect his privacy.

- A wedding train -

Eurostar also announced Monday that it has seen a bookings boom in the number of passengers travelling to London on the day before and the day of the wedding.

"Friday May 18 is the day which will see the most traffic, with 10,000 arriving in London. The rise in travel between Brussels and London is the most noticeable, with a 54 percent rise in comparison to 2017", Eurostar said in a statement, also noting that travel from Paris is up 15 percent.

- Last night of singledom -

Kensington Palace on Monday announced that Prince Harry and his fiancee will stay at separate hotels in the Windsor area.

Harry will stay at Coworth Park along with his brother Prince William, who is his best man.

Markle will stay at Cliveden House Hotel with her mother Doria Ragland, a yoga teacher.Mbandaka (DR Congo) (AFP) - The head of the World Health Organization was due in DR Congo on Saturday to aid preparations for "all scenarios" in combatting the latest Ebola outbreak.

"WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on his way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assess the needs of the response first-hand. We are preparing for all scenarios," the UN health agency said in a statement.

The outbreak in the region northeast of Kinshasa near the border with the Republic of Congo has so far killed 18 people around the town of Bikoro in Equateur province, according to the WHO.

A report from the provincial council of ministers, seen by AFP, said there were "three suspected cases" in the region's capital Mbandaka, which has 700,000 inhabitants.

WHO's head of emergency response Peter Salama said Friday getting aid to the affected area was "extremely challenging" given its remoteness and lack of infrastructure.

"We know the number of suspected, probable and confirmed cases is significant. We are very concerned and we are planning for all scenarios, including the worst case scenario," he said.

DRC health ministry Ebola responders have been dispatched to the affected area with a joint WHO and UNICEF team following.

"We are about to go to Bikoro after this stop at (regional capital) Mbandaka where we began the deployment of mobile labs to start analyses" of suspect cases," Eugene Kabambi, leading the WHO communications team in DR Congo, told AFP Saturday, adding his team hoped to obtain results swiftly.

He said Health Minister Oly Ilunga had alerted local people to the ongoing risk.

The WHO has made $1 million (842,000 euros) available to stop the virus spreading, judging that risk was "high," a representative of the UN's humanitarian affairs agency OCHA told reporters Friday.

DR Congo has endured nine known outbreaks of Ebola since 1976, when the deadly viral disease was first identified in then Zaire by a Belgian-led team.A Chinese climber who lost both legs to frostbite on Everest four decades ago finally reached the summit Monday, just months after the revocation of a controversial ban on double amputee climbers attempting the world's highest peak.

Xia Boyu, 69, summited Everest early Monday on his fifth attempt to reach the top of the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) mountain.

"He reached the summit this morning, along with seven other members of his team," said Dawa Futi Sherpa of Imagine Trek and Expedition, who organised Xia's Everest bid.

Xia's dream of standing at the top of the world was nearly thwarted by the Nepal government, which last year banned double amputee and blind climbers from summiting its mountains.

The ruling was overturned by Nepal's top court in March, which branded it as discriminatory towards people with disabilities.

Xia first attempted to summit Everest with a Chinese government-backed team in 1975, but was thwarted by bad weather.

He became stuck in the frigid low-oxygen environment near the top of Everest and suffered severe frostbite, losing both his feet.

In 1996 his legs were amputated just below the knee after he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.

The tenacious climber returned to Everest in 2014 and 2015 but Nepal's climbing season was cancelled both years due to disasters.

Bad weather forced him to turn back during his previous attempt in 2016 when he was just 200 metres from the summit.

"Climbing Mount Everest is my dream. I have to realise it. It also represents a personal challenge, a challenge of fate," Xia told AFP last month before heading to the mountain.

The only other double amputee to summit Everest is New Zealander Mark Inglis, who achieved the feat in 2006.

Xia is among the first of hundreds of climbers expected to summit Everest this month during a narrow window of good weather.

Nepal has issued 346 permits for this year's spring climbing season, which runs from mid-April to the end of May.

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Most Everest hopefuls are escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning about 700 climbers will try to reach the top in coming weeks.

Another 180 climbers are preparing to summit Everest from its north side in Tibet, according to the China Tibet Mountaineering Association.

Last year, 634 people made it to the top and seven died trying.Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi political firebrands, nationalist cleric Moqtada Sadr and pro-Iranian Hadi al-Ameri, are two former militia chieftains pitching themselves as outsiders ready to fight graft and boost services.

Both look set to play key roles in determining the next leader of their war-scarred nation after their rival political alliances appeared to surge at national polls.

Sadr, 44, comes from a long line of Shiite holy men, and is well known to Washington after his fighters battled US troops in Iraq following the 2003 invasion.

Sidelined for years since his Mahdi Army militia was officially dismantled, he has reinvented himself as an anti-corruption crusader -- linking up in an unlikely union with Iraq's communists.

Ameri, 63, heads the rival Conquest Alliance made up of former members of the mainly Shiite paramilitary units he led in the fight against the Islamic State group.

How the two men shape up as kingmakers is yet to be seen -- with bitter foes the US and Iran sparring for influence as international tensions spiral.

Sadr, viewed as a populist and nationalist, has hit out at both Washington and Tehran -- with his jubilant supporters chanting "Iran out" in videos circulated online.

In an eye-catching move the black-robed cleric visited Iran's fierce rival, Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, last year in a bid to bolster ties with Riyadh as it looks to get more involved in Iraq.

- 'Didn't happen by chance' -

Running counter is former transport minister Ameri, who at one stage fought for Iran against Iraq's ex-dictator Saddam Hussein in a war in the 1980s.

A self-described friend of key Iranian commanders, he has long enjoyed support from Tehran for his Badr organisation.

The Badr became the best trained fighting force in the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Units) that emerged to fight IS alongside Iraq's regular troops.

While he has lambasted Washington in the past, it remains to be seen how strongly Ameri could push for US forces who helped topple IS to now get out of Iraq.

Story continues

US firepower ended up aiding his fighters and the battlefield entente might have softened his stance.

The victory over the jihadists -- announced five months ago -- came at a bloody price for the Hashed.

But it gave Ameri the prestige and platform to make a pitch to take the helm in the country.

Since their weapons fell silent after the defeat of IS, the group's resources have been turned to more constructive ends -- mending infrastructure and offering basic services.

After 15 violence-wracked years of chaos since the fall of Saddam both Sadr and Ameri have benefited from widespread discontent at an Iraqi elite seen as mired in graft and sectarianism.

While both are veterans well-known to Iraqis, their promise of change appeared to resonate with the 44.5 percent of voters who bothered to head to the polls.

"This didn't happen by chance, this came for the sake of proving the rejection of the policy of corruption and the corrupt," Jabra al-Tai, a candidate for Sadr's Marching towards Reform, told AFP.A five-year-old girl has been seriously injured after being attacked by a bear outside her home in Colorado.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said they are investigating and actively tracking the bear following the attack which occurred in East Orchard Mesa, Grand Junction.

The childs mother told CPW that she heard screaming at around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning (May 13) and went out to investigate.

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When she got outside, she saw a bear dragging her five-year-old daughter. The bear eventually dropped the girl after the mother began screaming at it.

According to the mother, the five-year-old had gone outside after hearing noises in the yard which she thought may have been her dog. The girl is recovering at St. Marys Medical Center in Grand Junction.

GettyImages-91885672

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

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Authorities have begun setting up bear traps around Grand Junction in order to capture the animal which attacked the girl, reports CBS4.

We intend to catch this bear, CPW spokesman added. Based on bear behavior, its possible this bear will come back to the area.

Local residents have been advised that there will be a heavy law enforcement presence in the area while they search for the bear, including hounds.

Residents are asked to secure trash, keep pet food inside and immediately report any bear sightings in this neighborhood, or any residential area, the agency said in a statement.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekA father, two sons aged 18 and 16 and the mother with two children aged 12 and 9 are believed to have carried out the attacks - REUTERS

A family of suicide bombers including children and teenagers were responsible for a series of deadly church attacks in Indonesia on Sunday, the country's national police chief said.

At least 11 people died and 41 were wounded in three blasts during Sunday services in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya - the deadliest attacks for years in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.

The national police chief, Tito Karnavian, said the family who carried out the attacks had been in Syria, where the Islamic State group until recently controlled a large swath of territory.

The family's father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorbike in their attack and the mother was with two children aged 12 and 9.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. "Three martyrdom attacks killed 11 and wounded at least 41 among church guards and Christians," it said via the Telegram messaging app on Sunday afternoon.

A damaged motorbike is seen at the scene outside a church following a suicide bomb in Surabaya Credit: BEAWIHARTA/ REUTERS

Indonesia has been on high alert following attacks by homegrown militants, including some claimed by the Islamic State group, as it grapples with rising intolerance towards religious minorities.

East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed the deaths of 11 people with 41 injured after three churches were hit by apparently coordinated attacks around 7.30 am (12.30am GMT).

TV footage appeared to show a person on a motorcycle driving into the grounds of one church before a bomb went off seconds later.

Televised eyewitness reports suggested that one suicide bomber was a veiled woman with a couple of children in tow.

Other images showed a vehicle engulfed in flames and plumes of thick black smoke as a body lay outside the gate of Santa Maria Catholic church, with motorcycles toppled over amid the debris.

Police officers stand guard near the site where an explosion went off at Santa Maria church in Surabaya Credit: CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/ AFP

"I was frightened... many people were screaming," 23-year-old witness Roman told AFP after the blast at Santa Maria.

Police experts disarmed two unexploded bombs at the Gereja Pantekosta Pusat Surabaya (Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church), which was also hit by a live blast.

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Also targeted was the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church.

The attacks came just days after five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that incident although police denied its involvement.

Police on Sunday said four suspected members of the radical group Jamaah Anshar Daulah had been killed in a shootout during raids linked to the prison riot, but would not comment on whether the group was connected to Sunday's bombings.

Terror and tourism in Indonesia

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 260 million people are Muslim, but there are significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Concerns about sectarian intolerance have been on the rise, with churches targeted in the past.

Police shot and wounded an IS-inspired radical who attacked a church congregation outside Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta with a sword during a Sunday mass in February. Four people were injured.

In 2000 bombs disguised as Christmas gifts delivered to churches and clergymen killed 19 people on Christmas Eve and injured scores more across the country.

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people - mostly foreign tourists - in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

Sunday's bombings had the highest death toll since nine people were killed in 2009 attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown in recent years that smashed some networks, and most recent attacks have been low-level and targeted domestic security forces.

But the coordinated nature of Sunday's bombings suggested a higher level of planning, analysts said.

"Recent (previous) attacks have been far less 'professional'," Sidney Jones, an expert on Southeast Asian terrorism and director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, told AFP.

The emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals, sparking fears that homegrown extremist outfits could get a new lease of life.

A gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta left four attackers and four civilians dead in 2016, and was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.Picture: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (L), White House chief of staff John Kelly (C) and White House staff secretary Rob Porter (R): AFP/Getty Images

White House chief of staff John Kelly said that President Donald Trump is embarrassed, frankly about the investigation being carried out by special Robert Mueller into alleged collusion between the presidents 2016 campaign team and Russian officials.

In a rare interview, Mr Kelly told NPR: There may not be a cloud, but certainly the president is, you know, somewhat embarrassed, frankly. When world leaders come in, its kind of like you know [Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is here and he  whos under investigation himself  and its like, you know, you walk in and you know the first couple of minutes of every conversation might revolve around that kind of thing.

Mr Kelly did not directly say the Russia probe is a "witch hunt," as the president has tweeted several times, but noted: "something that has gone on this long without any real meat on the bone, it suggests to me that there is nothing there, relative to our president".

The former four-star Marine corps general said he spent five to eight hours a day with Mr Trump, who still refers to Mr Kelly by his military title "general". Despite recent rumours that Mr Kelly called the president "an idiot," the second chief of staff after Reince Priebus left last August said he thinks Mr Trump is a "super smart guy" and that the pair have a "close relationship".

"My view is to speak truth to power. I always give my opinion on everything. He always listens. Sometimes he takes the opinion, sometimes he doesn't," Mr Kelly said, adding that his only regret is that he did not take the position of running operations of the Oval office sooner.

The Trump White House was a place of tumult through much of his first year in office. Mr Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer, advisor Steve Bannon, and the short-lived communications director Anthony Scaramucci were among those who departed in dramatic fashion. Mr Kelly said: "it's not that things were a disaster that first six months, but I believe they could have been better...the White House was less organised than our president deserved." He had been serving as Secretary of Homeland Security prior to his current position.

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When asked about rumours that Mr Kelly was also on his way out, he said an emphatic "no" and though there are "times of great frustration" they were mainly due to news reports about himself or colleagues that made him "wonder whether it's worth it to be subjected to that".

The interview was long-ranging, covering the president's recent decision for the US to not participate in the Iran nuclear deal and place new sanctions on Tehran with which Mr Kelly agreed and his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on 12 June in Singapore.

While critics have worried about the president's lack of experience in diplomacy, his chief of staff is not, noting that Mr Trump has his "eyes wide open" with regards to Mr Kim. Mr Kelly said past presidents had been "strung along" by North Korea's promises to halt developing its nuclear weapons programme, but not this one.United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Israeli fire claimed the lives of eight children under the age of 16 on Monday during violent clashes on the Israel-Gaza border over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian envoy to the UN.

"We condemn in the strongest terms these atrocities by the Israeli occupying forces, using this massive fire power against civilians who have the right to demonstrate peacefully -- and they have been demonstrating peacefully," said Ambassador Riyad Mansour.

The diplomat gave a toll of 45 Palestinian dead and more than 2,000 injured. The Gazan health ministry reported shortly afterwards that the number killed had risen to 52.

Mansour said Palestinians demand an immediate stop to the violence and, pointing to Israel, said "we want those responsible to be brought to justice."

The diplomat added that his colleague at the UN in Geneva was urging the UN Human Rights Council to hold an emergency meeting to launch an independent investigation into the clashes.

Mansour said the "massacre" was occurring as the US "illegally and unilateraly and in a provocative way is opening its embassy."

"It is very tragic that they are celebrating an illegal action while Israel is killing and injuring thousands of Palestinians civilians."

Monday's bloodshed make it the deadliest day of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war.Brussels (AFP) - New European Union data protection laws take effect on May 25 to protect users' online information, in what Brussels touts as a global benchmark after the Facebook scandal.

The laws will cover large tech companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook that use personal data as an advertising goldmine, as well as firms like banks and also public bodies.

One major change is that consumers must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used, while they can also specifically ask for their personal information to be deleted.

Firms face huge fines of up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for failing to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"It's your data -- take control," the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, urges the bloc's 500 million citizens in guidelines for the new rules.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg told US lawmakers last month the firm plans to fall into line with the EU rules as it seeks to rebuild its reputation after the breach, which affected 87 million users.

- 'Living in a jungle' -

The scandal has proved a godsend for the EU.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova told AFP in an interview that the incident fueled "a campaign" for the new European law in a way that she could never have done.

She said the EU was setting a global benchmark for data protection as many Americans who once criticised Europe as too set on regulation now see the need for the GDPR.

The Facebook scandal showed "that we really are living in the kind of jungle where we are losing ourselves," the Czech commissioner added.

But not everything has run smoothly.

At least eight of the 28 EU countries will not have updated their laws by May 25.

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The lack of preparedness comes despite the fact that the new laws were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to the rules.

This "will create some legal uncertainty," Jourova said, blaming countries for neglect rather than resistance to the law.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter have all started in the last few weeks to alter their terms of use, but the situation appears more complicated for small- and medium-sized firms.

- 'Brave choice' -

In Germany, the chamber of commerce and industry expressed fears smaller companies may react defiantly to what they call "excessive red tape" under threat of fines.

The new EU law establishes consumers' "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for.

Individuals will be able to block the processing of their data for commercial reasons and even have data deleted under the "right to be forgotten."

They will have to be warned when there is unauthorised access, with the law establishing the key principle that individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used.

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

In return, EU officials argue that digital firms will benefit from regulation that restores consumer confidence and replaces the patchwork of national laws.

European leaders have backed the new laws.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech in Germany last week that he welcomed the "brave choice" of the new law, calling it a cornerstone in a new "digital sovereignty."Brussels (AFP) - The EU warned Poland it could move closer next month to unprecedented sanctions, unless Warsaw makes "a lot more progress" in the row over its controversial court reforms.

Brussels in December triggered a process that could lead to Warsaw losing its European Union voting rights if it pursues reforms deemed to pose a "systemic threat" to the rule of law.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans on Monday said Poland will face the "full spectrum" of possibilities when European affairs ministers meet again on June 26, days before an EU leaders summit.

"We've made some progress but we still think there is a room for a lot more progress so that we are in a position to say no systemic threat," Timmermans told a news conference.

"It could mean that the Commission (and) Poland make so much progress that we say that there is no longer a systemic threat to the rule of law.

"It could also be on the other side of the spectrum that we do not advance at all anymore, and we have to ask the council to engage in the follow-up phase of Article seven."

"Anywhere between those two most explicit solutions is possibile," the former Dutch foreign minister added, refusing to say June was a deadline.

The next phase would involve the European Council of 28 member states organising a hearing into whether to head further down the path of Article Seven of the EU treaty, which could see Warsaw's voting rights suspended.

Poland's right-wing PiS government began making changes to the judiciary after coming to power in late 2015 and says the reforms are needed to combat corruption and overhaul the judicial system still haunted by the communist era.

Brussels has repeatedly warned that it views the changes as a threat to the democratic principles Poland signed up to when it joined the EU.

Sanctions would need unanimous support of all EU members -- except Poland.

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Hungary has already said it would veto such a move, but Brussels is hoping the proceedings have significant symbolic power.

Timmermans has welcomed amendments Poland has made in recent weeks to some of its reforms -- including setting the same retirement age for male and female judges.

At the same time the Commission has irked Poland by proposing cutting funding for countries that fail to respect democratic standards in the new multi-annual budget.President Donald Trump has fulfilled biblical prophecy by moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said over the weekend.

The move will formally take place on Monday, when the embassy opens what has until now served as part of the consulate.

.@JudgeJeanine: "@realDonaldTrump not only sends a message to Iran but to Russia as well, that the U.S. is back as a dominant regional player after the Obama years." pic.twitter.com/utIx20uLxk  Fox News (@FoxNews) May 13, 2018

In comments on the network and in a column on the Fox News website, Pirro said:

[Trump], like King Cyrus before him, fulfilled the biblical prophecy of the gods worshipped by Jews, Christians and, yes, Muslims, that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state and that the Jewish people finally deserve a righteous, free and sovereign Israel.

While the Israeli government has celebrated the move, Trumps decision sparked protests in the region when he announced it last year. More protests are expected today.

Several other countries, including Honduras and Guatemala, have announced plans to follow suit, but most nations have not and will not send envoys to todays ceremony.

Also on HuffPost

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Jerusalem's iconic Citadel (now the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem)is a fortress with archaeological findings spanning nearly 3,000 years.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A rare view of the rock at the center of the Dome of the Rock. Muslims refer to it as "as-Sakrah", the rock from where they believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. In Jewish tradition, it known as "the Foundation Stone," where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son and where the Temples stood. Many historians believe the biblical Jebusites worshiped here nearly 5000 years ago.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

An aerial view of the Church of the Beatitudes by the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, the traditional site where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount as told in the New Testament.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, meaning "The Furthest Mosque" is one of the three most important sites in Sunni Islam. At its centre is the Dome of the Rock. The entire area takes up one sixth of the walled city of Jerusalem.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Dawn over the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem's Old City. The majority of Christians in Jerusalem consider themselves Greek Orthodox.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Built into a canyon in the Judean Desert, the Mar Saba Monastery was founded by the Greek Orthodox monk, Saint Sabas, (Mar Saba in Arabic) in the 5th century CE (AD), and is still inhabited today.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

The Dome of the Rock, one of the oldest and holiest sites in Islam

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

The Western Wall plaza illuminated at night

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Underneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, archaeologists discovered ancient graffiti: a ship drawn on a stone with an inscription in Latin, meaning "Oh Lord, we have come". Dated to over 1700 years ago, it suggests that Christians worshiped here even before the church was built

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

The sun rises over the Mount of Olives, framed between the Al-Khanqah al-Salahiyya Mosque on the left and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the right.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

The inner dome of the Greek Orthodox Catholicon inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, directly above "the omphalos", once believed by Christians to mark the navel of the world

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Story continues

Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, meaning "The Furthest Mosque" is one of the three most important sites in Sunni Islam. At its centre is the Dome of the Rock. The entire area takes up one sixth of the walled city of Jerusalem.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

The grey domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (in the foreground) mark the place where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A rare view of the rock at the center of the Dome of the Rock. Muslims refer to it as "as-Sakrah", the rock from where they believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. In Jewish tradition, it known as "the Foundation Stone," where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son and where the Temples stood. Many historians believe the biblical Jebusites worshiped here nearly 5000 years ago.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A breathtaking aerial view of Masada, once a mountain fortress built by order of Herod the Great during the 1st Century BCE (BC).

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A Tokea (which literally means blaster) blows into a shofar in the Conegliano Synagogue in Jerusalem to announce the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah (meaning head of the year in Hebrew)

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

An aerial view of the Jordan River, which lies about 30km (20mi) East of Jerusalem and flows from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims congregate at the Western Wall during Passover for the Birkat Kohanim, meaning "Priestly Blessing".

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A group of Armenian Apostolic priests descends the stairs to the Chapel of St Helena in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Tradition holds that Helena, mother to the Emperor Constantine, discovered remnants of the True Cross here in the 4th century C.E. (AD) during the construction of the original church.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Jerusalem's iconic Citadel (now the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem) is a fortress with archaeological findings spanning over 2,000 years.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Muslim women from nearby villages on their way to noon prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A Greek Orthodox youth choir from the town of Beit Sahour sings in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built on the traditional site where Jesus was born.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, meaning "The Furthest Mosque" is one of the three most important sites in Sunni Islam. At its centre is the Dome of the Rock. The entire area takes up one sixth of the walled city of Jerusalem.

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

Musicians lead a Bar Mitzvah boy towards the Western Wall

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A rare aerial view of Jerusalem's walled Old City and the Mount of Olives, sacred ground for half our population. (Image exclusive to The Huffington Post)

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

An aerial view of the Palm Sunday procession on the Mount of Olives, an annual event celebrated by Christian pilgrims to commemorate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem a week before his death. (Image exclusive to The Huffington Post)

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A computer-generated recreation of Jerusalem in the 1st century CE (AD), featuring the latest archaeological consensus on what the 2nd Temple might have looked like before it was destroyed by the Roman army. (Image exclusive to The Huffington Post)

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

A pre-dawn view from the rooftop of the Sisters of Zion Convent off the Via Dolorosa (Image exclusive to The Huffington Post)

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

The Ceremony of the Holy Fire takes place every year on the Saturday before Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Meant to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus, it is considered by many Orthodox Christians to be the longest-attested annual miracle in the Christian world. This extraordinary image was shot from high up in the rotunda of the Church of Holy Sepulchre during the Ceremony of the Holy Fire. Thousands of candles are lit off a single flame that emerges from the Edicule. Within minutes the entire dome is filled with smoke. (Image exclusive to The Huffington Post)

'Jerusalem' Movie By National Geographic

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.A bill that requires all single-user public bathrooms to be marked as gender-neutral has been signed into law in Vermont. State lawmakers and activists say they hope the new law sends a powerful message to the rest of the nation.Vermont is the state that often has to show the rest of the United States where to go and how to get there, Brenda Churchill, a representative of the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont, told The Associated Press last week.Increasing ocean water temperatures have put the survival of coral reefs at high risk over the past few decades. The recent findings have sparked concern for the survival of these reefs and potential conservation methods.

While there is not yet a solution, scientists can now study the gene functioning of corals, which could potentially help to better understand these fragile ecosystems and aid in conservation efforts.

In a recent study, Stanford scientists and their colleagues used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system to modify genes in coral.



Coral Genetically Engineered 05- 2018

Acropora millepora coral at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. (Phillip Cleves)

CRISPR is a relatively new technology that allows researchers to make targeted mutations in the genomes of organisms.

They can break the gene function of the gene of interest and then see what happens, according to Phillip Cleves, Ph.D, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford and author of the study.

The ability for scientist to modify the genes to study gene function traditionally has been only able to be done in a certain subset of organisms, such as fruit flies, mice, yeast and fish, but now modifying gene function can be done on almost any organism that you're interested in, including corals, using CRISPR.

The scientists found definitive evidence that CRISPR could be a potent resource for coral biologists for what appears to be the first time.

"It's a first step," Cleves said. "We hope this technique is an important first step for scientist to begin to understand what genes do in corals."

The study was published online on April 23 in the science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research lab has been generally focused on trying to understand the genetic basis of coral symbiosis, according to Cleves.

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with the algae that live inside of their cells. The relationship provides algae with shelter, gives coral reefs their colors and supplies both organisms with nutrients.

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That symbiosis relationship is critical for coral survival.

When coral are exposed to increased water temperatures over a period of time, the symbiosis breaks down in the corals, and the corals will lose their algae. That process is called bleaching.



Coral bleaching AP

This May 2016 photo provided by NOAA shows bleaching and some dead coral around Jarvis Island, which is part of the U.S. Pacific Remote Marine National Monument. (Bernardo Vargas-Angel/NOAA via AP)

"We've lost about 50 percent of the world's reefs in the past 30 years. We've lost about 30 percent of the Great Barrier Reef," Cleves said. "And so we're really in an important moment to understand what's actually happening."

Extended marine heatwaves are becoming more common with climate change, and this is already having a large impact on reef ecosystems.

"We don't really understand what is going on. We don't really understand the genetic mechanisms for how the corals interact with their algal partners, and why it breaks down upon thermal stress," Cleves said.

The researchers think that understanding what genes are important for that symbiosis and coral bleaching will help in understanding what's going to happen in the future.

It will also help in understanding where to focus conservation efforts, focusing on corals that have the highest probability of survival, according to Cleves.

"Our real focus in the lab is to basically understand what coral genes do," Cleves said.

By studying coral genetics, researchers can better understand if there is certain genetic makeup that makes coral more likely to survive coral bleaching.

"Are there genes variants that could help coral survive? If so, we would want to know what the genes are, and then we could go out and search for natural populations that have the highest chances of survival and protect those," Cleves said.



Coral 04/2018

There are 'winners' and 'losers' among corals as they respond to the accumulating impacts of climate change. (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies/ Mia Hoogenboom)

There are a number of potential avenues that this research could have on coral reefs, and a number of ways that it could impact conservation methods.

However, the research is still in the early stages and the focus is currently on understanding the basic biology in the lab.

"We are in this phase where we just need to learn. We just want to learn how corals work and the basic biology of corals because we think that that will help us," Cleves said.

The researchers are now interested in understanding what genes are important for skeleton formation in corals as well as what genes are important in coral tolerance to heat.

It is uncertain what the research will lead to in the future, but there are numerous potential impacts.

"This is the first time that we've been able to ask what a gene does in coral, and that's pretty exciting," Cleves said.BERLIN (Reuters) - The German Defense Ministry will notify lawmakers shortly that it will proceed with plans to lease Israeli-built Heron-TP surveillance drones, a program that was delayed last year, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told top military officers on Monday. The ministry had postponed its plan to lease five of the unarmed drones, a deal valued by security sources at around 1 billion euros, amid concerns over their future use raised by the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in the final months of the last coalition government. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and SPD agreed in their new coalition accord signed in February to lease the drones built by Israel Aerospace Industries [ISRAI.UL], while work continues on a separate program to develop a new European-built drone. Von der Leyen said the required notification would be sent to parliament soon, but gave no details. Defense ministry officials say lawmakers will be asked to review two separate, nearly completely negotiated contracts - one with Airbus, which will manage the drone program, and one with the Israeli government to cover training, infrastructure and logistics for the unmanned planes. The SPD, in a surprise move, had blocked the long-planned lease of the drones last summer, citing concerns about a possible future arming of the aircraft. But SPD officials later agreed to proceed with leasing the unarmed aircraft and insisting on a full debate about the ethical, constitutional and legal ramifications of arming the drones in the future. In a reply to a query by Left party member Andrej Hunko, dated March 5, a ministry official said the government planned to seek options for two additional Heron-TP aircraft. Germany also plans to move ahead to negotiate the acquisition of three unmanned, higher-altitude MQ-4C Triton drones built by Northrop Grumman Corp after the U.S. State Department approved the sale on April 4. The ministry hopes to receive a bid from Northrop for three of the drones in the third quarter, and wants to start using them by the mid-2020s, a ministry spokeswoman said. (This version of the story adds dropped word in lead) (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Michael Nienaber and Toby Chopra)BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group said on Monday a missile salvo into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week marked a new phase in the Syrian war and showed Damascus and its allies would not let Israeli attacks in Syria go unanswered. Israel has said the attack from Syrian territory was carried out by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which set up Shi'ite Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982. Iranian forces and Hezbollah have deployed to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Israel said it had attacked nearly all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria in response to the attack, which marked the first time Iranian forces have fired at Israeli-held territory. It was the most extensive military exchange ever between the foes. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised speech, said 55 missiles were fired in the attack last Thursday - nearly three times more than the 20 missiles which Israel said were shot down or had not reached their targets in the attack. He did not say if Hezbollah had taken part in the attack. "The message delivered ... is that neither the Syrian leadership, nor the Syrian army, nor the Syrian people, nor the allies of Syria will allow Syria to remain exposed to Israeli attacks and they are ready to go to the furthest extent," Nasrallah said. Israel had tried to disguise the scale of the attack, he said. The rocket attack had set the stage for "an entirely new phase", he said. Israel, which fears Iran and Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front against it, has struck targets in the country many times during the war, hitting the Syrian army, Hezbollah and what it has characterized as Iran-backed positions. Ahead of last week's attack, Iran had vowed to respond to an Israeli attack which it said had killed seven of its military personnel at a Syrian air base in April. Addressing Israel, Nasrallah said: "If you thought that you could kill and bomb without receiving a response, then you are wrong and misguided, and the response will be in the appropriate form and time." Israel said the attack was carried out by the Quds Force, an external arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The White House said Iran's deployment of offensive rocket and missile systems in Syria aimed at Israel was "an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East". Nasrallah said Israel had not struck strategically significant targets during its attacks in Syria. He added that a message had been delivered to Israel via an international party that if it crossed "red lines" then the "next bombardment would be in the heart of occupied Palestine". He was referring to Israel's borders on the eve of the 1967 war. Nasrallah did not spell out what the "red lines" were. Earlier on Monday, Nasrallah's deputy, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said the attack had affirmed "the balance of deterrence" between Israel and its adversaries. (Reporting by Tom Perry and Laila Bassam; Editing by Andrew Roche and Hugh Lawson)Cora Weberg, a nurse arrested in connection with a possible outbreak of hepatitis C at a hospital in Puyallup, Wash., reads a prepared statement on May 8 in Fircrest, Wash. Weberg said she didnt use drugs and is not a carrier of hepatitis C. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a Washington hospital where a nurse allegedly exposed thousands of patients to hepatitis C.

The lawsuit, which is the second filed against MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital over an outbreak of hepatitis C, accuses the hospital and its parent company, MultiCare Health System, of a breach of care duties to the 2,600 people that were affected, per the News Tribune. (A former patient filed a lawsuit against the group last week.)

The lawsuits center around allegations that Cora Weberg, an emergency room nurse at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, exposed patients to hepatitis C by stealing drugs and using her own needle to give patients their medication. Weberg administered hydromorphone and fentanyl to two patients in the ER in December, and both later returned to the ER with symptoms of hepatitis C, according to the Washington State Department of Health. They tested positive for the disease.

Blood from the patients underwent genetic testing, and officials found that the hepatitis C in their blood was from a common source, the Washington State Department of Health says. According to charges, Weberg was the only nurse or doctor at the hospital who treated both patients.

Weberg and Bryan Hershman, one of her attorneys. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

Weberg, who has been fired and had her license revoked, has publicly denied the charges. She said during a news conference last week, per KOMO News, that she has never intentionally or unintentionally used a needle on a patient that she used on herself. I have never thought I had Hepatitis C, and I never intentionally exposed anyone to Hepatitis C, she said. Of all the allegations that have been made against me, this is the most awful and it is the allegation that I deny the most.

Weberg admitted that she had taken narcotics from the hospital in the past in attempts to commit suicide, but she said the medications had already been used on a patient and were thrown in a discard barrel.

Weberg also said, per the Washington Post, that shes given blood in the past and hasnt tested positive for hepatitis C. However, she said she was recently tested again and found to have a very low level of a pathogen in my blood that can constitute hepatitis C but not at the low levels that are found in my blood. She also said she does not believe she is a contagious carrier.

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However, a notice that MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital sent out to patients said that Weberg tested positive for hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis C virus. There were an estimated 34,000 new infections of hepatitis C in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and new infections have nearly tripled over a five-year period.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infection, and exposure to dirty needles through injection drug use is one of the most common ways younger people are exposed to the infection, infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Weve seen outbreaks linked to that, he says.

Not everyone who is exposed to a contaminated needle will actually get hepatitis C, Adalja says, but its important to be screened if you suspect youve been exposed. Hepatitis C can be an acute illness or it can become chronic and cause serious illness like liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, Adalja says. However, if its caught early, it can be treated with antiviral medications. Exposed patients should suffer no consequences from hepatitis C if theyre treated, Adalja says.

A spokesperson for MultiCare Health System tells the News Tribune that nearly 1,200 patients have been screened for hepatitis C so far.

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month. Read more about the disease on Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Two new fissures opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday, threatening nearby homes and prompting authorities to order new evacuations. One new fissure from Sunday morning was a vivid gouge of magma with smoke pouring out both ends and was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3. Some 37 buildings have been destroyed and nearly 2,000 people ordered to evacuate in the past 10 days. Viewed from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 1,000 feet (300 meters) long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 4,000-foot-high (1,200-meters) volcano with a lake of lava at its summit. "It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound (45-kg) lava bombs 100 feet (30 meters) into the air," said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order. Closer to the summit, in the evacuated Leilani Estates neighborhood of about 1,500 people, explosions could be heard in the distance as steam rose from cracks in the roads. The bulging rim of one fissure wrecked a building, leaving behind torn metal. An 18th fissure opened nearby on Sunday evening at about 6 p.m. local time, spewing fumes and lava, officials said. In areas where sulfur dioxide emissions were strong, the vegetation turned brown and leafless trees withered. The U.S. Geological Survey warned that fissures could erupt throughout the area, and Civil Defense officials on Sunday ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter. Meanwhile, other fissures continued to billow smoke over homes on the eastern point of the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian islands. Even so, some people such as Clawson remained in their homes, confident they would be spared. "We are keeping track of lava bombs. One went through the lanai (porch) roof of a neighbor's house," Clawson said. About eight to 10 neighbors had yet to evacuate, he said. The Hawaii National Guard is warning people in the coastal Lower Puna area to prepare to leave, saying anyone who chooses to stay behind cannot count on being rescued. An evacuation has not been ordered there but might be if a local highway is cut off. "We've been telling them, 'Evacuate if you can, because if we have to come in and get you we'll be putting first responders at risk'," Major Jeff Hickman told reporters. "There's a point where we'll tell our first responders, 'Nope, you can't go'." (GRAPHIC: Scorched earth - https://tmsnrt.rs/2IldVyS) (Reporting by Terray Sylvester in Pahoa and Jolyn Rosa in Honolulu; additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Paul Simao, Daniel Wallis and Paul Tait)BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's government plans to set up a new high court to deal with issues relating to public administration, the justice minister said on Monday, despite opposition concerns that it could increase political influence over judges. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government, re-elected with a big majority last month, had originally tried to establish the new court in 2016 but it was blocked by the Constitutional Court. Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi dismissed concerns that the government would pack the new court with judges loyal to Orban's government. "For me the independence of judges is a fixed star of democracy," he told a hearing in parliament's justice committee. "I think the time has come to complete the job (of creating the new high court)," he said, adding that his ministry would draft a proposal that would reassure opposition parties. Following last month's election, Orban's ruling Fidesz party now has the two-thirds parliamentary majority it needs to set up the new court. Hungary and nearby Poland are both under close scrutiny by the European Union over the rule of law. Orban, who won his third consecutive four-year term in the April election on an anti-immigration platform, has clashed with the EU in recent years over various issues, including curbs on media freedom and sending judges into early retirement. Trocsanyi said a public administration court was part of the legal system in several EU countries, including the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, where they worked well, adding there was no reason why it could not also do so in Hungary. "Courts are entirely independent of the Justice Ministry," Trocsanyi said later, in reply to a lawmaker's question. (Reporting by Krisztina Than, Editing by Gareth Jones)By Rania El Gamal

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday expressed concern about the rise oil prices but said it was too early to predict the impact of U.S. sanctions on his country's imports of Iranian oil after Washington withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

"This kind of geopolitical (tension) affects both consuming and producing countries. We have to live with the reality of the present geopolitics," Pradhan told Reuters during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday reneged on an international nuclear accord with Iran and announced renewed sanctions against the OPEC member. The original agreement had lifted sanctions for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.

Crude prices remained just below multi-year highs, with Brent on track for a weekly 2.8 percent gain and U.S. crude a 1.2 percent weekly rise. Brent crude settled down 35 cents at $77.12 a barrel on Friday.

Pradhan said he was "a little bit concerned" about the impact of the current rise in oil prices on consuming countries but that he did not think oil supply would be an issue.

"Let's see how things are moving. It's too early to predict in one way. We are watching very carefully," he said.

Iran is the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Iran ramped up supplies after lifting the sanctions in 2016, producing 3.81 million bpd in March 2018.

Analysts now expect Iran's supplies to fall by between 200,000 bpd and 1 million bpd, depending on how many other countries fall in line with Washington.

During the last round of sanctions, India enjoyed waivers allowing limited Iranian oil imports paid for in rupees instead of U.S. dollars.

When sanctions were loosened against Tehran, India increased imports from Iran to almost 900,000 bpd in late 2016, but intake has fallen back to around 500,000 bpd this year.

Pradhan also said that there was a consensus between Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Indian companies to firm a joint venture for India's Ratnagiri oil refinery.

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The planned $44 billion facility in western India will be one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes in the world at 1.2 million barrels per day.

Aramco in April signed a deal with India for a 50 percent stake in the project, saying it may introduce at a later stage a strategic partner to share its 50 percent stake.

ADNOC wants to expand its downstream portfolio in markets where demand for oil is still growing, such as China and India, securing a new outlet for its crude.

Pradhan was speaking at ADNOC's headquarters on the sidelines of an event marking the first cargo of crude oil from ADNOC, to the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) after it has been loaded and was en-route to India.

The cargo is the first under an agreement between ADNOC and India's government-owned company ISPRL, to locate 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil at the Karnataka facility in the Indian city of Mangalore, ADNOC said in a statement.

The loading ceremony, of approximately 2 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil, was witnessed by Pradhan and UAE Minister of State and ADNOC's CEO Sultan al-Jaber, in Abu Dhabi.

"The strategic reserve will provide a boost to Indias energy security and help us deal with supply side disruptions. While part of the stored oil will be used for commercial purposes by ADNOC, the major part will be purely for strategic purposes," Pardhan said in a statement after the ceremony.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Alexander Smith and Angus MacSwan)Moscow (AFP) - Iran's foreign minister was in Moscow on Monday as Russia tries to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive in the wake of Washington's pull-out, pushing it into rare cooperation with Europe.

Iranian state television Irib broadcasted images of Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow, saying he had arrived in Russia at 4am (01:00 GMT) on Monday and was due to meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the pair would meet Monday morning.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the 2015 accord scrabble to save it.

After meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday, Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with Germany's Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the efforts, after voicing his "deep concern" over US President's Donald Trump's decision.

Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," consultant Andrei Baklitski of the PIR Center NGO said.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action themselves," he added.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he said.

On Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour".

But while Pompeo talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

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- Russia key regional player -

Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power-player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Zarif will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, according to Iran's foreign ministry.

Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Putin will also meet Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Sochi, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

While Tehran was shunned by the international community in the 1990s, Moscow agreed to resume the construction of the Bushehr Iranian nuclear plant that Germany had abandoned.

Russia and Iran also sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.

Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.Moscow (AFP) - Iran's foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow Monday he was seeking "assurances" from the backers of the country's nuclear deal after the United States pulled out.

Russia is trying to keep the landmark 2015 accord alive in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision, pushing Moscow into rare cooperation with Europe.

"The final aim of these negotiations is to seek assurances that the interests of the Iranian nation will be defended," Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the start of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement".

Zarif later said he was seeking "solutions in order for other countries, in particular those remaining in the agreement, to have relations with Iran without hindrance," in comments reported by the Iranian ISNA news agency.

Lavrov, for his part, said Russia and Europe had a duty to "jointly defend their legal interests" in terms of the deal.

Zarif's diplomatic tour took him to Beijing at the weekend and will see him visit Brussels later in the week, as the international backers of the agreement scramble to save it.

On Monday he also sent a letter to the United Nations in which he accused the US of showing a "complete disregard for international law" in pulling out of the deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about efforts to save the accord, after voicing his "deep concern" over Trump's decision.

And on Monday Putin met Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, telling him that Russia was "ready to continue to uphold the Iran nuclear deal despite the withdrawal of the United States".

- Renewed coordination? -

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Trump's move to ditch the nuclear deal has infuriated Washington's allies in Europe as well as China and Russia.

"(European) cooperation with Russia, which until recently seemed impossible because of the Skripal (spy poisoning) case, with the expulsion of diplomats and the reduction of contact, is now receiving a fresh boost," said Andrei Baklitsky of the Moscow-based PIR Center nuclear safety NGO.

"The Europeans, after the withdrawal of the US from the deal, have found themselves forced to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action themselves," he told AFP, referring to the official name of the nuclear deal.

Moscow would have to play a key role in ensuring Tehran does not resume its nuclear programme, he added.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with Europe to counter Iran's "malign behaviour" and was working hard to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its European partners.

In talks with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, Pompeo "highlighted the good work that we have done over the past several months to address our common threats and said that he is hopeful we can continue strong cooperation moving forward," the State Department said.

But while he talked up the prospect of renewed coordination with America's allies, another top aide reminded Europe its companies could face sanctions if they continue to do business with the Middle Eastern power.

- Russia key regional player -

Russian efforts to save the accord will boost its role as a power player in the Middle East, after its intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

This, along with its diplomatic moves to orchestrate an end to the Syrian conflict, has put Moscow at loggerheads with the US and Europe, which have intervened against the regime.

Merkel is set to visit Russia and meet Putin for a working visit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Saint Petersburg later in the month for an economic forum.

Iran has said it is preparing to resume "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe can provide solid guarantees that it can maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

After long negotiations, Iran had agreed in July 2015 to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing international sanctions.

The deal was negotiated between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Russia and Iran once had difficult relations but have seen ties improve since the end of the Cold War.

The countries had sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.

Analysts have suggested Russia could benefit economically from the US pull-out, as it is less exposed to the consequences of renewed sanctions than Europe.Tehran (AFP) - Iran decried "a day of great shame" over the deaths of dozens of Palestinians protesting Monday's controversial move of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

"Israeli regime massacres countless Palestinians in cold blood as they protest in the world's largest open air prison," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.

"Meanwhile, (US President Donald) Trump celebrates move of US illegal embassy and Arab collaborators move to divert attention. A day of great shame," he added.

Israeli forces killed 52 Palestinians and injured more than 2,400 during protests against the opening of the US embassy in the divided holy city, in the bloodiest day of the conflict since the 2014 Gaza war.

Earlier, Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a key establishment figure, said the US had "entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously".

"I believe the current US president is not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions," Larijani told a televised conference on Palestine in Tehran.

"Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today's world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price," he added.

Iran is a key backer of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, and opposition to Israel has been a central tenet of its regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Larijani called for an "immediate reaction" from Palestinians, Islamic countries and the international community -- including boycotts and official complaints to the United Nations.

The US "must not think that such actions... can remain without a response," he said.

Video: Israel, Iran Exchange Attacks as Palestinian Protests Ramp UpAround 800 American and Israeli guests will celebrate the embassy opening on Monday - REUTERS

As Ivanka Trump and other American dignitaries take their seats for the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem tomorrow on Monday, Israel's military will be bracing for thousands of Palestinian protesters to try to break through the Gaza border fence.

Five months after Donald Trump defied warnings from around the world and announced he was recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital, around 800 American and Israeli guests will gather under a marquee to applaud the official opening of the US embassy.

Just 50 miles away, Palestinians in Gaza have moved forward the date of their largest mass protests in years to coincide with the ceremony. Both sides expect Palestinians will be killed if they approach the thin barbwire fence that separates Israel from Gaza.

The simultaneous events are likely to make an ugly split screen, with television networks showing both celebrations in Jerusalem and bloodshed in Gaza as they unfold a few hours drive from each other.

US officials said they were conscious of the jarring contrast but blamed Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, for the violence that has left 53 Palestinians dead in the last six weeks.

Were Americans, we support the right to peaceful protest. But the operative word there is peaceful, said Victoria Coates, an official with the White House National Security Council. I think we need to blame that violence not on anything the US has done or Israel has done but firmly on Hamas.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza protests began in March Credit: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The majority of the Palestinians killed have been unarmed but Israel has said it is justified in using live ammunition to protect the border fence, a policy that has been criticised by Britain and other countries.

Hamas says the protests are peaceful and that its forces are deliberately not bringing weapons. Israel claims Hamas operatives are trying to use the chaos of the demonstrations to infiltrate the fence and carry out attacks.

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The Israeli military said that on Friday "dozens of violent rioters" destroyed parts of the crossing where food, goods and fuel enter Gaza from Israel. The crossing will be closed until further notice while the damage is repaired, a spokesman said.

The Gaza Strip is like a hungry tiger that has been caged and starved and humiliated for 11 years, said Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza. That tiger is now out of the cage and on the loose and no one knows what that tiger is going to do.

Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, mused that "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians might break through the border fence Credit: AP Photo/Khalil Hamra

The opening of the embassy brings an end to an awkward 23 years for US policy on its diplomatic representation in Israel.

Congress passed a law in 1995 stating that the embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem but Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Barack Obama all used their executive powers to block the move, arguing it would damage the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Mr Trump suggested his predecessors lacked courage as he announced in December that he was going ahead with the move. Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital, he said.

Mr Trump flirted with the idea of coming to Jerusalem for the embassy opening, where he would receive a rapturous welcome from Israelis. He decided ultimately to stay in Washington but will address the ceremony in a video.

The president will be represented by his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, who is also Mr Trumps point man on the flagging US peace effort. Palestinian leaders are refusing to meet with the US in protest at the embassy move.

The US deliberately did not invite European ambassadors to the ceremony, partly to avoid embarrassing snubs from American allies who disagree with the embassy move. Dozens of ambassadors declined an invitation to an Israeli foreign ministry reception marking the event.

As an Israeli, I think its a wonderful thing. As a resident of the neighbourhood, I dont think its such a great thing, said Abe Gold, a resident of the Arnona area, who said the embassy announcement had led to a disruptive increase in security patrols.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will be among the American delegation at the embassy opening Credit: REUTERS/Jim Bourg

The Palestinian protests on Monday are the culmination of the Great March of Return, a series of weekly demonstrations that began six weeks ago.

The demonstrations are marking the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, the catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Arabs were displaced from their homes in the 1948 war with Israel. The marchers are demanding the right to return to their forefathers homes in land that is today Israel.

We want to return to our back to our lands and we will never give up. Even if during our struggle we lose parts of our body, we will struggle more and more, said Moayed Helles, a 24-year-old Palestinian who was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper during a recent protest.

The main day of protest was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was brought forward by one day to coincide with the US embassy opening.

Our people are marching to reiterate their rejection of the siege [Israels blockade of Gaza] and their rejection of the American decision to relocate the American embassy, said Mr Sinwar, the Hamas chief.

He mused in a press conference that hundreds of thousands of people might break through the Gaza fence into Israel. This barbwire fence is not a sacred cow or taboo that no one should touch, he said.

An Israeli military official said additional troops would be deployed along the Gaza border. Were adapting our posture according to the intelligence we have and the statements that Sinwar made to the press. The tactics will be the same but we understand that we have to have additional forces.The transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has angered Palestinian leaders - AFP

Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka arrived in Israel on Sunay for the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem hours after the Israeli Defence Forces destroyed a tunnel near the main pedestrian crossing of the Gaza strip.

Along with her husband, Jared Kushner, she will lead the American delegation on Monday to mark the controversial decision to move US operations from Tel Aviv.

The transfer has angered Palestinian leaders, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Ahead of the ceremony, a military spokesman said air strikes had destroyed a one-kilometre tunnel built by the militant group Hamas and which had been tracked for weeks before being destroyed just inside the Gaza fence.

Hamas is spreading messages of its desire for a long-term ceasefire but actually digs terror tunnels into the territory of the State of Israel. We're not buying this bluff. We will continue, like this evening, to strike the terror infrastructure, said Avigdor Liberman, Israeli Defence Minister, on Twitter on Saturday.

The same day, the Israeli military announced the closure of the main cargo crossing along the same border after demonstrations inside the Strip caused extensive damage to the crossing.

Ivanka Trump greets US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman upon her arrival at the Ben Gurion International Airport Credit: HANDOUT/ REUTERS

More than $9m (6.6m) worth of damage was wrought during Fridays protest, including the destruction of the Kerem Shalom crossings main fuel and gas lines, which bring in cooking gas and diesel for hospital generators. Shortages are now imminent.

The Israeli military has long blamed Hamas for inciting violence and military response, thereby perpetuating shortages in the blockaded Strip.

Hamas continues to lead the residents of Gaza to destroy the only assistance they receive, the army said of the damage wrought at Kerem Shalom.

Hamas said in a statement that it would not be deterred, even by Israeli airstrikes: "The Israeli bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip is a miserable and failed attempt to prevent the participation of our masses in the major 'March of Return' and to break the siege on May 14th."

Tensions have been roiling along the Gaza border fence in the lead-up to 14 May, the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, wherein the Palestinian population was forcibly moved during the creation of the state of Israel.

Since the demonstrations began on March 30, 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and at least another 1,800 wounded.Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was speaking at Chatham House - Pool Presdential Press Service

The United States has forfeited its authority to broker a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and has become "part of the problem, not the solution", Turkey's president has said.

Recep Tayip Erdogan's comments were among the most strongly worded of a series of diplomatic protests as government around the world condemned Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

The United States formally opened an embassy in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, after Mr Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital last year.

Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner speaks at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem Credit: Lior Mizrahi/Getty

Palestinian health officials said 52 people were killed and more 1200 injured by Israeli fire during protests against the opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem.

Mr Erdogan, who is in London on a three day visit for talks with Theresa May, said the move could "ignite an even greater fire between communities."

"With its latest step America has chosen to be a part of the problem, not a solution, and lost its mediator role in the Middle East peace process", he said in a speech at Chatham House

"We are rejecting once again this decision which violates international law and which is against UN resolutions," he said.

Israeli security forces fire tear gas canisters over Palestinians near Khan Yunis, Gaza Credit: Anadolu

"The international community must do its part as soon as possible and take swift action to put an end to Israel's increasing aggression," he went on.

In a separate statement, Mrs May called for "restraint" and criticized the move, but avoided Mr Erdogan's direct condemnation.

"We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza. We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts," a Number 10 spokesman said.

"The prime minister had made her views clear in December that we disagreed with the decision (to move the US embassy). We believe it's unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region."

Extremely saddened by loss of life in Gaza today. Concerned peaceful protests are being exploited by extremist elements. Urge restraint in use of live fire. Violence is destructive to peace efforts. UK remains committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital.  Alistair Burt (@AlistairBurtUK) May 14, 2018

Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, tweeted: "Extremely saddened by loss of life in Gaza today. Concerned peaceful protests are being exploited by extremist elements. Urge restraint in use of live fire. Violence is destructive to peace efforts. UK remains committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital."

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But other governments took a much stronger line.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, called the embassy move a violation of International law and of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Referring to the day's violence, he said: "France calls on all actors to show responsibility to prevent a news escalation and calls on the Israeli authorities to exercise discernment and restraint in the use of force that must be strictly proportionate," he said.

Palestinians carry an injured protestor during a demonstratoin near the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City Credit: Anadolu

Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minister responsible for Middle Eastern affairs, called the move "short sighted" and said the US was to blame for the "sharp escalation" of violence in Gaza on Monday.

The Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank but not the Gaza strip, called the killings a "massacre" and demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security council

"If a similar massacre (by an occupying power) happens in any other nation, it would trigger a massive global outrage. Palestine should not be an exception" said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also urged a UN emergency meeting.

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, called the violence in Gaza "shocking" and demanded that Israel halt the use of live rounds.

Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims, he said in a Tweet put out by his office.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged "utmost restraint", saying "dozens of Palestinians, including children, have been killed and hundreds injured from Israeli fire today, during ongoing mass protests near the Gaza fence. We expect all to act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life"

Iran, which is locked in a diplomatic and military confrontation with Israel over its presence in Syria, called it "a day of great shame".

"Israeli regime massacres countless Palestinians in cold blood as they protest in world's largest open air prison. Meanwhile, Trump celebrates move of U.S. illegal embassy and his Arab collaborators move to divert attention," said Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister.By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border on Monday when the high-profile opening of the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem by the Trump administration raised tension to boiling point after weeks of demonstrations. In the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since 2014, Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 58 protesters were killed and 2,700 injured by live gunfire, tear gas or other means. The bloodshed drew calls for restraint from some countries, including France and Britain, and stronger criticism from others, with regional power Turkey calling it "a massacre". The White House declined to join in urging Israel to exercise caution and pinned the blame squarely on Gaza's ruling Hamas group, backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who described the Israeli military's actions as self-defence of his country's borders. In siding squarely with Israel, Washington put distance between itself and its European allies for the second time in a week, after angering France, Germany and others last Tuesday by abandoning an international nuclear deal with Iran. In contrast to the violent scenes in Gaza, Israeli dignitaries and guests attended a ceremony in Jerusalem to open the U.S. Embassy following its relocation from Tel Aviv. The move fulfilled a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump, who in December recognized the holy city as the Israeli capital. Netanyahu thanked Trump for "having the courage to keep your promises". U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, the top Democrat on the foreign relations subcommittee that covers the region, told Reuters the situation was "tragic" and said "Its not viewed as the U.S. trying to solve a problem, its viewed as the U.S. just stepping away from the problem, and thats sad." Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognized internationally, as its "eternal and indivisible capital". Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal. Peace talks aimed a finding a two-state solution to the conflict have been frozen since 2014. BORDER BLOODSHED Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December outraged Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process. A senior Hamas leader, Khalil Al-Hayya, said at a border encampment that Monday's protest was timed to coincide with the "deplorable crime of moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem". He said: "Our people went out today to respond to this new Zionist-American aggression, and to draw by their blood the map of their return." In Gaza, Palestinian protests quickly turned into bloodshed. Tens of thousands had streamed to the edge of the coastal enclave's land border, some approaching the Israeli fence. "Today is the big day when we will cross the fence and tell Israel and the world we will not accept being occupied forever," said Gaza science teacher Ali, who declined to give his last name. Clouds of black smoke from tyres set alight by demonstrators rose in the air. Demonstrators, some armed with slingshots, hurled stones at the Israeli security forces, who fired volleys of tear gas and intense rounds of gunfire. The protests, which have been going on for weeks, are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation. Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the Gaza violence. "Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," he wrote on Twitter. "The Hamas terrorist organization declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens." Hamas denied instigating the violence, but the White House backed Netanyahu. "The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters. In a small protest outside the White House, some protesters chanted "Palestine will be free". The Israeli military said in a statement: "Rioters hurled firebombs and explosive devices at the security fence and Israeli troops". The soldiers' response, it said, was in accordance with "standard operating procedures". The dead included at least six people under 18 years of age, including one girl. The total number of fatalities since a series of protests to demand Palestinians' right to return to their ancestral homes in Israel is now 103. They also included a medic and a man in a wheelchair who had been pictured on social media using a slingshot. The Israeli military said three of those killed were armed militants who tried to place explosives near the fence. Sirens of ambulances carrying casualties to hospitals wailed almost non-stop all day. In Gaza mosques, loudspeakers mourned the dead, who were carried for burial in funeral marches. "These war crimes should not go unpunished and the international community has a responsibility to provide international protection for the Palestinian people," senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said after a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Israel said it would reopen the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, which provides vital supplies for the enclave, from Tuesday. It was shut after Gaza protesters vandalized it on Friday night when they set fire to a gas pipeline and a goods conveyor. CALLS FOR RESTRAINT Trump, in a recorded message, said he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He was represented at the ceremony by his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, U.S. envoy to the Middle East. Kushner said it was possible for both sides in the conflict to gain more than give in any peace deal. "Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together," he said in a speech. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States had opened an "American settlement outpost in East Jerusalem". He announced a general strike on Tuesday. Unlike the previous administration of former president Barack Obama which had a strained relationship with Netanyahu, Trump has firmly supported the Israeli leader. Netanyahu has long been a critic of the nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump abandoned last week despite complaints from other U.S. allies. The Pentagon confirmed it had deployed additional U.S. Marine guards to temporarily bolster security at several U.S. embassies after the violence but declined to say which ones. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployments bolstered security at U.S. embassies including Israel, Jordan and Turkey. French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to talk to all involved parties in the region over the next few days. Britain said it had no plans to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and disagreed with the U.S. decision to do so. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the U.S. move flouted international law. Turkey accused Israeli security forces of carrying out a massacre and said the U.S. embassy move had encouraged them. The United States on Monday blocked a Kuwait-drafted U.N. Security Council statement that would have expressed outrage and sorrow at the killing of Palestinian civilians and called for an independent and transparent investigation, U.N. diplomats said. More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow Gaza strip, which is blockaded by Egypt and Israel. The Trump administration says it has nearly completed a new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan but is undecided on how and when to roll it out. (Additional reporting by Alex Winning, Steve Holland, Yara Bayoumy, Doina Chiacu, Phil Stewart and Ori Lewis; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alistair Bell; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Janet Lawrence, Nick Tattersall, David Stamp and James Dalgleish)TEL AVIV  While Israelis and Americans, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, celebrated the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem Monday, violent protests erupted 50 miles away at the border with Palestinian-controlled Gaza and in towns on the West Bank. It was the single deadliest day in Gaza since the 2014 Gaza War.

The ceremony took place 70 years to the day since Israels first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, formally declared the State of Israel an independent nation. (However, today is not Israels independence day; Israel officially uses the Hebrew calendar, which varies from the one the West uses.) Neither President Trump nor Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended the ceremony, though both had at different times hinted that they might. But the president did acknowledge the event on Twitter, saying: Big day for Israel. Congratulations!

Kushner, representing the White House, delivered an address at the ceremonies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin spoke to a cheering crowd at the embassy dedication. Netanyahu emphasized that Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv merely acknowledged the existing state of affairs. He said the move, which the Palestinians have denounced, nevertheless could be an important step in securing peace between Israel and the Palestinians: A peace that is built on lies will crash on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality. You can only build peace on truth, and the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the opening ceremony of the new U.S. Embassy in in Jerusalem, Monday, May 14, 2018. (Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/AP)

While both Netanyahu and Kushner expressed hope for peace in their speeches, neither mentioned a two-state solution, which has long been the preferred outcome among the international community. Trump bucked that consensus early in his presidency when he said that he would be happy with the [resolution] that both parties like. Kushner heads the administrations initiative to secure a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, and the administration is expected to announce a peace plan in soon.

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Kushner also addressed the protests in Gaza directly: As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

The protests at the border with Gaza are now in their seventh week. Palestinians have called the movement the Great Return March, an attempt (largely symbolic, given Israels military superiority) to breach the security fence around Gaza and reclaim the land Palestinians left behind when they fled or were expelled from the country in 1948.

The Israeli Defense Force estimated that the crowd on Monday  chanting slogans, and hurling rocks and incendiary devices  numbered as many as 40,000. Three demonstrators were killed as they tried to plant explosives, and the total number killed by Israeli forces by the end of the day was put at 58.

Palestinians also protested in the West Bank, a territory that Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War and is governed by the Palestinian Authority, controlled by the Fatah party. Although the protests in Gaza are not directly related to Trumps decision to relocate the U.S. Embassy, the protests in the West Bank are, intended to draw international attention to the Palestinian cause and to protest the embassy move to Jerusalem. Several thousand protesters gathered in Ramallah, and in Qalandiya, a small village north of Jerusalem, Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers. Protesters threw stones, and the soldiers responded by firing a mix of live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas.

A wounded Palestinian demonstrator is evacuated as others take cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest against the U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 14, 2018. (Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Related story: Whats behind the deadly Gaza protests >>>

There were protests in Jerusalem itself, outside the Damascus Gate in Arab East Jerusalem to protest the embassy move. Hundreds of Arab citizens of Israel, including five members of the Knesset, staged a demonstration near the site of the new embassy.

The protests come after another round of disturbances Sunday, a national holiday called Jerusalem Day, when tens of thousands of Israelis march through Jerusalem  including the Old City  with Israeli flags. As in previous years, the Flag March touched off violent clashes, including on the holy site that Jews call the Temple Mount and that Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.

Earlier this month, some had expressed concerns that Israel might have to face two major crises at the same time: one on its northern border with Syria, as the Syrian civil war seemed to be spilling over into Israel, and another on its southern border with Gaza, where Israel has deployed its Iron Dome missile-defense system. On May 10, Iranian forces stationed in Syria struck the Israeli-held Golan Heights, provoking a punishing counterattack on a number of Iranian bases. A spokesman for Israels security Cabinet asserted that Iran has gotten the Israeli message, and wont mess with us in the near future.

But Israelis still are fearful of the escalating crisis in Gaza. Even bigger protests are expected Tuesday, which is both the first day of Ramadan and what Palestinians call Nakba Day, commemorating the catastrophe of 1948, when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from the new Jewish state. In April, a former Israeli intelligence officer, Amos Yadlin, predicted that this month would be the most dangerous month of May since 1967, the time leading up to the Six-Day War of 1967. Israelis are bracing for it.

Israeli Arab Knesset members and left wing activists participate in protest against the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, during the embassys official inauguration ceremony, Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trumps top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Ben Manson is a freelance journalist based in Tel Aviv.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:MILAN (Reuters) - An economics professor at a Milan University, Giulio Sapelli, said on Monday he had been contacted by the leaders of the 5-Star Movement and the League about becoming the head of a coalition government. "I've been contacted by both parties to become prime minister, and I told them I was available," Sapelli told Reuters. "I gave them one condition, that Domenico Siniscalco be economy minister." Giuseppe Conte, a law professor, is another possible candidate for the premiership, Sapelli told Reuters. Siniscalco is an ex-economy minister who served under former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The 5-Star Movement and League were near to a deal on Monday to form a coalition, though they had not announced their choice for prime minister. The parties are due to hold pivotal talks with the country's president in the afternoon. (Reporting by Luca Trogni, writing by Steve Scherer in Rome)Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have arrived in Israel for the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, an event that is due to be met with widespread protests from Palestinians and others opposed to it.

Donald Trumps eldest daughter arrived as part of the official US delegation, technically headed by deputy secretary of state John Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and 12 members of Congress.

While Mr Sullivan may be heading the US party on paper, most eyes will be Ms Trump, 36, who is effectively representing her father, whose decision to break with years on international diplomatic agreements and shift the embassy to Jerusalem, infuriated many, but pleased Republicans and his evangelical supporters. The ceremony was brought forward to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the nations declaration of independence.

We look forward to celebrating Israels 70th anniversary and the bright future ahead, Ms Trump wrote on Instagram. We will pray for the boundless potential of the future of the US-Israel alliance, and we will pray for peace.

Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem  occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war  as the capital of a future state. The international community had for decades said the future of Jerusalem should be part of a broader deal between Israel and the Palestinians and with few exceptions, almost ever other country has located their embassy in Tel Aviv.

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The Associated Press said the official dedication ceremony will be held in the US Consulates visa section in Jerusalems Arnona neighborhood, which will then officially become the US Embassy.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who met the US delegation at Ben Gurion International Airport, said on Friday the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, was not made as part of a give and take with Israel, but rather based on the interests of the United States.

We look forward to celebrating Israels 70th anniversary and the bright future ahead, Ms Trump wrote on Instagram ahead of the opening, which will take place on Monday, seven decades since the country declared independence. We will pray for the boundless potential of the future of the US-Israel alliance, and we will pray for peace.

Ms Trump, a White House adviser, and her husband, Mr Kushner, who has been tasked with brokering a Middle East peace deal, later attended a gala dinner on Sunday evening ahead of the event on Monday.

(Getty)

The inauguration of the embassy will help harden Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejection of Washington as a future mediator in the conflict with Israel, the AP said.

Underscoring the conflicts volatility, thousands of Gaza residents plan to march on Monday toward Israels border and possibly breach it in an attempt to break a decade-old blockade of their territory.

Israel has vowed to stop any breach by force, raising the possibility of major bloodshed at a time when Mr Trumps daughter and son-in-law preside over the embassy ceremony less than 50 miles away.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. It annexed the eastern sector to its previously declared capital in the western part of the city, a move not recognised at the time by the U.S. and most other nations.

The fate of the city has been a central issue in years of intermittent U.S.-brokered negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, taking a harder line than two predecessors, has said he wont give up any part of Jerusalem, home to 883,000 people, 38 per cent of them Palestinians. Mr Abbas wants east Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state that would include the other war-won territories, the AP said.

It was last December that Mr Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital, saying he was simply acknowledging reality, while omitting any mention of Palestinian claims to the city. Today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israels capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do, he said.

After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.

Commentators pointed out that while Mr Trump said at the time he was not taking a position on the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty that are to be determined in negotiations, a month later he told Mr Netanyahu he had taken Jerusalem off the table and that we dont have to talk about it anymore.WASHINGTON  Jared Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and adviser, made a rare public appearance on Monday when he spoke at the controversial opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

According to a White House source, Kushner was a driving force behind moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, following the administrations recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. And his high-profile role at the ceremony seemed to send a clear signal that Kushner remains the face of Mideast policy in spite of a recent downgrade to his status at the White House.

When Trump took office, he gave Kushner a broad portfolio that included diplomacy with Mexico and China, the response to the opioid crisis, criminal justice reform and the Middle East peace process. Toward the end of last year, Kushner saw his domain shrink following the arrival of chief of staff John Kelly. Kushners role was further cast into doubt when he lost his top-secret security clearance in February amid a broader review of the granting of temporary clearances at the White House. And earlier this month, the presidents attorney Rudy Giuliani raised eyebrows when he described Kushner as disposable while addressing the possibility that members of Trumps family could become targets of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe.

With his speech in Jerusalem, Kushner showed he is still the face of Americas Middle East policy. And a White House source confirmed to Yahoo News that Trump specifically requested that Kushner give the address.

Hes been working on this speech for four weeks, the source said of Kushner. The president personally asked Jared to deliver this message.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman listens as senior White House adviser Jared Kushner delivers a speech during the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. (Photo: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

Kushners wife, Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and several prominent Republican senators also attended the ceremony.

In his remarks, Kushner spoke on behalf of the administration and framed the decision to relocate the embassy as the fulfillment of a promise made by Trump , an effort to give Israel the right to define its own capital, and a step to strengthen the bond between the U.S. and Israel.

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Our special bond is the envy of nations throughout the world. This bond is forged through shared history, sustained through shared interests, and immortalized through shared principles, Kushner said.

The United States stands with Israel because we both believe in freedom. We stand together because we both believe in human rights. We stand together because we believe democracy is worth defending, and the United States stands with Israel because we believe  we know  that it is the right thing to do, he added.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem brought with it a great deal of controversy and even violence. Both Israel and the leaders of the Palestinian territories consider Jerusalem their capital. This conflict has stopped previous presidents from giving Jerusalem official recognition, even after promising to do so. The Trump administrations decision to move the embassy and formally recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital sparked Palestinian protests in the Gaza Strip, along the border with Israel, over the last six weeks. Israeli troops responded with fire that killed scores of protesters.

Kushner briefly acknowledged this violence in his remarks and expressed optimism that the U.S. can ultimately help both sides reach agreement.

Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest against the U.S. Embassys relocation to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. (Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Related story: Whats behind the deadly Gaza protests >>>

As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution, said Kushner. The United States is prepared to support a peace agreement in every way that we can. We believe that it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give so that all people can live in peace.

Kushner is an observant Jew whose family has long been active in pro-Israel causes. During his speech, he pointed out that hes the grandson of Holocaust survivors.

Palestinians arent the only ones who have been critical of the embassy move. Relocating the embassy without extracting concessions from Israel is seen by some as relinquishing valuable leverage, and it has led some observers to question Kushners overall strategy in the peace process.

Kushner and the White House have been keeping their larger strategy for the process close to the vest. The source who discussed Kushners speech declined to discuss the thinking behind the embassy move, but described the decision as part of Kushners belief that it was simply the right thing to do and if you do the right thing, all sides will win. The source also pointed to Kushners optimism and apparent confidence an agreement can be reached.

There are concerns, Im sure, that this is viewed as a one-sided win for Israel, but its not, the source said. Jared really believes that when people behave honorably, both sides win.

Read more from Yahoo News:Last Week Tonight With John Oliver took former Donald Trump attorney and aspiring consultant, Michael Cohen, to task over his shell company, Essential Consultants, LLC. The company only consists of one employee, Cohen, and has no logo. Oliver said, "Even the name arouses suspicion. For starters, this company involves Cohen, who is absolutely not essential. He's also not a consultant. Plus there's only one of him, so even the 'S' in the company name is a big, dumb lie." Cohen promised companies access to Trump in exchange for huge consulting fees. AT&T signed $600,000 deal the day after Trump was sworn in as president. The company was hoping to get a better understanding of Trump's thought process, but Oliver thought that was "ridiculous." He explained, "If you want to understand this president's thinking, simply have a donkey kick you in the head five times and then watch Fox News for 72 hours straight. That'll give you a pretty good idea about what's going on in his mind." Companies like Columbus Nova, KAI, and Novartis, helped Cohen make millions in exchange for nothing. But Oliver contended that was the best way for the them understand how business works in the Trump Administration. Oliver said, "They put their trust in a political novice who turned out to be a total moron and who was actually just bilking them for personal gain. So you wanted to know how the Trump administration works? Congratulations. You just got a f***ing master class."John Oliver returned to Last Week Tonight on Sunday to tear into Michael Cohen, the personal attorney to President Donald Trump.

Cohen is now embroiled in a scandal over millions of dollars in payments his shell company received in consulting fees, including $500,000 from a firm linked to a Russian oligarch. AT&T also paid Cohen up to $600,000, a move the company later called a big mistake.

AT&T told The New York Times that it was hoping to better understand the presidents thinking, but Oliver called that just ridiculous.

If you want to understand this presidents thinking, simply have a donkey kick you in the head five times, and then watch Fox News for 72 hours straight, Oliver said. Thatll give you a pretty good idea about whats going on in his mind.

See his full takedown in the clip above.Sen. Jon Tester's battle for a third term likely will be one of this November's most closely watched races. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

WASHINGTON  Based on some of his recent votes in the Senate, you might get the impression that Sen. Jon Tester represents a blue state  certainly not one President Donald Trump won by 20 percentage points in 2016.

The Montana Democrat, a top Republican target in November, has surprised progressives with his often vocal and early opposition to Trumps executive branch nominees this year. Tester voted against the appointments of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The senator earned Trumps wrath in earnest after raising alarms about misconduct allegations surrounding Ronny Jackson, the White House physician whose nomination by the president to lead the Veterans Affairs Department was derailed.

Most recently, Tester announced that he intends to oppose Gina Haspel, Trumps controversial choice to lead the CIA.

Im not a huge fan of waterboarding, Tester said bluntly when asked about how he will vote on Haspel, referring to the deputy CIA directors involvement in the agencys interrogation program and her subsequent role in destroying videotapes that documented the procedures.

Testers opposition to these Trump nominees stands in sharp contrast to other vulnerable red-state Democrats up for re-election in November. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, for example, supported Pompeo and intend to vote for Haspel. They have also voted with Trump and his agenda more often than Tester, according to the FiveThirtyEight Senate vote tracker.

Hes a profile in principled courage. For those who know Tester, they know hes voting like he truly feels  not a finger-in-the-wind calculus, said Faiz Shakir, the national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

But Tester, 61, has by no means been some kind of resistance hero. He supported many of Trumps initial cabinet picks and has helped craft legislation this year that would deregulate some of nations banks  bucking liberals who say it would overly benefit large financial institutions.

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In his first campaign ad released last month, the senator also highlighted 13 bills he helped write that Trump has signed into law  legislation that mostly centered on improving health care and benefits for veterans. His team was also quick to point out that GOP senators shared concerns about Jacksons nomination.

Were going to do whats right, Tester told HuffPost last week, when asked whether he was worried about how his recent voting record was going to play back home. I look at it from the standpoint of whos best to do the job. ... And thats the same way I looked at it in previous administrations, too. So it really has nothing to do with the election.

Tester led the fight against the nomination of Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson (right) to head the Veteran Affairs Department, incurring the wrath of President Donald Trump. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

Testers Republican opponent wont be clear until after the GOP Senate primary on June 5, but theres no question he confronts a tough race as he seeks a third term. Trumps approval rating in Montana has been among the highest in the country. A poll released earlier this year by Axios/SurveyMonkey ranked Tester as among the most politically vulnerable senators on the ballot in November  and that was before his opposition to Jackson made him a particularly personal target for Trump.

Its still early in the campaign cycle, however. And Tester already has shown he can connect with voters in Montana  a state that since 1964 has only been carried once by a Democratic presidential candidate (Bill Clinton, in 1992).

Tester, a farmer who as a child lost three fingers on his left hand in a meat grinder accident, started in politics as a local school board member. After two terms as a state senator, in 2006 he won his U.S. Senate seat by knocking off a longtime GOP incumbent. Six years later, he won re-election by 4 percentage points as Republican Mitt Romney carried Montana in the 2012 presidential race by more than 13 points.

Voters also give weight to whether lawmakers have delivered for their constituents, and thats been a strong suit for Tester.

The reason these [Democratic] senators who represent more conservative states have been successful at building their own brand and developing coalitions beyond partisanship, is that their work and time in Washington is centered on what they think is best for their state, said a Senate Democratic campaign aide. Even in conservative states, voters worldview is centered on how whats going on [in Washington] will help them personally, not necessarily ideology or political division.

Thats why Testers campaign has so far focused on his work as the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Last week, in the wake of his high-profile clash with Trump over Jacksons failed nomination, he released another ad that featured dozens of veterans touting him as someone whos willing to fight for them. (Roughly 1 in 10 people in Montana are veterans, according to the Census Bureau)

Its also why Tester has highlighted his efforts to fund community health centers, on which many Montanans depend upon.

Testers big challenge, however, will be convincing Montanans that hes an independently minded voice amid GOP attacks labeling him an obstructionist whos beholden to the progressive agenda. Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale, the favorite in the GOP primary who already has the backing of conservative Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), has echoed Trump by attacking Tester for blocking the presidents agenda.

TESTER MUST GO! SUPPORTED the terrible #IranDeal. OPPOSED Pompeo  who brought home 3 Americans from NK. DESTROYED Admiral Jackson... BLOCKS Trumps judicial noms. BACKS AMNESTY & SANCTUARY CITIES... the list goes on and on... #DefeatTester #mtsen #mtpol https://t.co/ElEA5RDERW pic.twitter.com/zUJIuqQ691  Matt Rosendale (@MattForMontana) May 11, 2018

Republicans argue that Tester should be defeated not only his votes against Trump nominees (the senator also voted against Neil Gorsuchs appointment to the Supreme Court) but for his opposition to the GOP tax cut law.

The GOP is investing heavily in the argument that Democratic opposition to tax cuts  as well as whether Democrats want to repeal them  will be key to turning out voters in November.

Its not just the backing Trump enjoys in Montana that will work against Tester, said Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Its voting against tax cuts that Montanans are now benefiting from, he said. So its going to be a big challenge in any of these states where the state wants fiscal relief from Washington, wants regulatory relief, wants conservative judges, and the member in that state doesnt provide it.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Belgrade (AFP) - Kosovo remains the major "hurdle" blocking Serbia's path to European Union membership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Monday, urging concessions from Pristina.

"The only big problem that I see as a real obstacle in our European path is the Kosovo issue," Vucic, an ultra-nationalist turned pro-European,told AFP in an interview.

Serbia, which hopes to join the EU in 2025 at the same time as Montenegro, staunchly refuses to recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence and still considers the country as its southern province.

Kosovo and Serbia both aspire to join the European Union, but Brussels has made clear that is not going to happen until the former foes normalise relations with a legally binding agreement.

"After all it's all about Kosovo, whether we'll be able to do that or not," Vucic said, speaking in English.

"And of course it's more about Serbs but it's also about the other side and they have to get a very strong message from the EU and from the West that they need to make some concessions as well," he said.

Having launched negotiations under EU auspices in 2011, the two sides signed a deal five years ago in order to improve the every day lives of their citizens.

- Not ready for concessions -

However, their dialogue has been stuck since Pristina failed to allow the Serbian minority in Kosovo to form an association of municipalities where they hold a majority.

Vucic has been involved in that dialogue with Pristina since he became deputy prime minister in 2012, then prime minister two years later and president last year.

He said Kosovo Albanians were not ready to make any concessions.

"They think that it is about time that Serbia recognised the full independence of Kosovo and that's it. They need to do nothing about Serbs, about Serbia, and they just need to wait.

"I'm not ready to speak in concrete terms but they need to make some concessions in the real term of the word. If they are ready we can reach something, if they are not ready that'll be very bad news for all of us," Vucic said.

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- Pandora's box -

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is among those who have proposed an exchange of ethnic Albanian-populated southern Serbian territory with north Kosovo where Serbs are in a majority.

However, Vucic has never publicly endorsed it.

The idea has been branded as dangerous by the international community, but Vuvic told AFP, "the most dangerous thing is to have a frozen conflict because one day someone might defreeze it."

"I'm listening the West saying that would be the worst solution because it will open a Pandora's box, but Western countries opened Pandora's box 10 years ago by recognising Kosovo as an independent state."

Almost a decade after the 1998-1999 conflict that ended with NATO bombing Serbia and forcing its troops out of Kosovo, Pristina declared independence.

It was recognised by more than 110 states, including the United States and most EU member states, but not Serbia's traditional ally Russia.

However, the EU itself has been divided over the issue, with Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus failing to recognise Kosovo's independence.

On Thursday EU leaders will meet with their Balkans counterparts in Bulgaria, seeking to boost ties and to counter growing Russian influence in the region with promises of eventual EU membership.

Serbia, along with five other Balkan nations -- Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro -- is growing impatient, with the EU putting expansion on hold four years ago.

Serbia is considered a front-runner to join the EU by 2025, according to a recently unveiled new European Commission's strategy for the region.

However, in addition to solving the Kosovo question, Serbia will also be required to align with the 28-member block's foreign policy, including on close ally Russia.

But Vucic, who has repeatedly said Serbia would not follow the EU in imposing sanctions on Moscow, does not seem too worried about the EU line on Russia.

"We have to comply with EU politics just before we enter European Union and in the best case scenario for us it will be within seven years and I hope that by that time it will be a completely different situation in the world," he said.Brussels (AFP) - Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, will not appeal his 20-year prison term over a gun battle with police in Brussels that led to his capture, his lawyer says Monday.

Four police officers were wounded in the gun fight, which came four months after the November 2015 Paris attacks, and days before suicide bombings in Brussels as a wave of Islamic State-inspired terror swept Europe.

Reached by AFP, Abdeslam's lawyer Sven Mery confirmed a Belgian news report that his client would not appeal the sentence handed down last month for terrorism-related attempted murder.

He did not elaborate on the reasons behind the decision.

Abdeslam's co-defendant Sofiane Ayari was also sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum demanded by Belgian prosecutors, after he was convicted of the same charge.

It is not yet clear whether Ayari will appeal.

Neither Abdeslam, 28, a Belgian-born French national, nor Ayari, a 24-year-old Tunisian citizen, was in court to hear the verdict.

Abdeslam is being held in jail in France pending a separate trial over the Paris attacks, claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, in which 130 people died.

On the first day of the trial, Abdeslam proclaimed that he would put his "trust in Allah" and accused the court of being biased against Muslims, before refusing to answer or attend any more days of the hearing.

The pair were convicted of opening fire on a team of Belgian and French police who raided a flat in the Forest area of Brussels on March 15, 2016, following a tip-off about the Paris attacks.

An Algerian jihadist was killed in the raid as he provided covering fire for Abdeslam -- at the time the most wanted man in Europe -- and Ayari to escape.

Abdeslam was arrested and shot in the leg in a dramatic police operation three days later in the largely immigrant Molenbeek area of the Belgian capital, near his family home.

On March 22, suicide bombers from a cell linked to the Paris attacks killed 32 people and wounded hundreds more at Brussels airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital.BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah on Monday dismissed the U.S. decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as a "worthless" unilateral step, Hezbollah's al-Manar TV reported. Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a televised speech in Beirut, also said attacks on Israeli positions in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week had affirmed "the balance of deterrence" between Israel and its adversaries. Israel said it attacked nearly all of Irans military infrastructure in Syria on Thursday after Iranian forces fired rockets at Israeli-held territory for the first time in the most extensive military exchange ever between the two adversaries. (Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by William Maclean)Cairo (AFP) - The remains of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians executed by the Islamic State group in 2015 near the Libyan city of Sirte, the jihadists' former bastion in the country, arrived home on Monday, an official at Cairo airport said.

Egypt's Coptic Church head Pope Tawadros II was at the airport to receive the remains, which were flown from Misrata on a Libyan Afriqiyah Airways cargo plane.

The bodies of the 20 Egyptian men and one dark-skinned man whom a medical examiner believes to be from sub-Saharan Africa were found in October near Sirte.

The doctor, Othman al-Zentani, said identifying the bodies was "not an easy task", as they had decomposed and the heads had been separated from the torsos.

DNA samples sent by families of the victims were vital to the identification process, Zentani said.

On February 15, 2015, IS broadcast a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians abducted in January that year in western Libya.

After the executions, tens of thousands of Egyptians working in Libya's construction, service, agriculture and handicraft sectors fled the country.

Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

A UN-backed unity government based in the capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west, and military strongman Khalifa Haftar controls much of the east.

IS jihadists remain active in central and southern Libya despite being forced out of their northern bastion Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown, December 2016.MISRATA, Libya/CAIRO (Reuters) - The bodies of 20 Egyptian Christians beheaded in Libya by Islamic State in 2015 were flown back to Cairo on Monday, Egyptian state television reported. The victims had been among the many poor Egyptians who risked their lives to find work in the lawless chaos of Libya following the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and civil war. The Coptic Christians were beheaded on a beach in Islamic State's former Libyan stronghold of Sirte, wearing orange jumpsuits, according to a video posted by Islamic State. Their bodies were recovered in October after the area where they were buried was recaptured from the militant Islamist group. Islamic State took control of Sirte in 2015 and lost the city late last year to local forces backed by U.S. air strikes. A total of 21 people were beheaded in the incident. The body of a Ghanaian killed was not on board the plane that brought the Egyptian bodies from Misrata in western Libya to Cairo. The head of the Coptic Church in Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, was at the airport to receive the remains, brought in coffins aboard an aircraft from Misrata, a local television station, which broadcast live from the airport, said. The bodies are expected to be taken back for burial in Egypt's Minya province. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami and Ayman Salhi; writing by Ulf Laessing; editing by Andrew Roche)By Joseph Sipalan and A. Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim tried to ease a rift within the ruling alliance on Sunday after differences erupted between their supporters over cabinet positions. The four-party alliance scored a historic victory in Wednesday's general election over the long-ruling Barisan Nasional government, but the emergence of a rift so soon is raising questions about the unity of what was always an unlikely coalition. In a statement from his hospital bed, Anwar said he had told members of his People's Justice Party (PKR) to ensure that Mahathir's government "remains strong and stable". But he also said that, in a conversation with Mahathir, he had raised PKR's demand for "more inclusive negotiation", a reference to the formation of the cabinet. Mahathir said in a telecast on state TV that "at the beginning, we shouldn't look at proportion" in the cabinet. "It will be made up when we make up the rest of the cabinet," he said. "Surely there will be some conflict in need and wants of each party. This will be determined by the prime minister." Mahathir is the alliance leader and Anwar's PKR has the majority of seats in parliament won by the group. The volatile relationship between the two, from friends to foes to allies, has dominated Malaysia's political landscape for over three decades and is central to the future of the alliance. Mahathir announced just three ministers on Saturday, to join himself and Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar's wife, in the cabinet. He was to announce 10, and sources within the alliance said there was no agreement on the others. The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Wan Azizah did not attend the news conference to announce the new ministers because of the disagreements, said one source in the alliance. Mahathir then visited Anwar in the hospital where he is recovering from a shoulder operation and the atmosphere was frosty, said another source who was present. The source said Mahathir and Anwar are scheduled to meet again on Sunday to patch up differences over the cabinet positons. "Even the three appointed (is not final) because the decision was made without our participation," Rafizi Ramli, a senior member of PKR, was quoted as saying by the Malaysiakini website. "He (Mahathir) bulldozed it. He just unilaterally announced," Rafizi said. PKR won 48 seats out of the 113 won by the alliance in the May 9 election. Among other members of the coalition, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) won 42, Mahathir's Bersatu party won 12 and the Amanah party of new Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu won 11. "The transition of power in Malaysia will be like water finding a new level, these things won't be resolved quickly," said Karim Raslan, founder of the KRA Group, a public affairs consulting firm for Southeast Asia. "It will be a race against time as the two grand old men of Malaysian politics - Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim - struggle to assert themselves." (Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Praveen Menon; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor have been barred from leaving the country - AFP

Malaysia's Immigration Department said on Saturday that former scandal-ridden Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were barred from leaving the country, shortly after he announced plans for a short holiday.

A leaked flight manifesto showed Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor were due to leave on a private jet on Saturday to Jakarta, fuelling rumours he was fleeing the country to escape possible prosecution over a massive corruption scandal involving the 1MDB state fund.

His coalition suffered a shocking electoral defeat this week that ended its 60 year-rule.

Najib's statement on social media didn't say where he was heading to but he said he was committed to "facilitating a smooth transfer of power." He apologised for his mistakes and shortcomings and said he intended to continue serving the people.

"I pray that after this divisive period, the country will unite," he said.

Malaysian police guard outside the airport entrance in Subang Jaya, Malaysia Credit: AP

Dozens of people gathered at a small airport just outside Kuala Lumpur as reports spread that he was scheduled to fly from there to Jakarta with his wife.

The crowd at the airport tried to block cars entering the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport near the Malaysian capital, but were held back by guards. Riot police were posted, but there was no violence.

The Immigration Department, which had initially said there was no travel blacklist for Najib, later issued a brief statement that Najib and Rosmah "have just been blacklisted from leaving the country."

Najib responded swiftly by saying he respected the department's ruling and will stay with his family in the country.

"I have been informed that the Malaysian Immigration Department will not allow my family and me to go overseas," Najib said in a tweet. "I respect the directive and will remain with my family in the country."

Malaysian Light Strike Force police stand guard as members of the media and public gather outside the Skypark terminal Credit: AFP

His holiday plans come as strong calls emerged from his ruling Malay party, which dominates the National Front coalition, for Najib to step down over the election results.

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The National Front, which has ruled Malaysia since independent from Britain, obtained only 79 of the 222 parliamentary seats, losing power to Mahathir Mohamad's four-party alliance amid public anger over the 1MDB scandal and rising cost of living.

It was a remarkable comeback for Mahathir, who was premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003.

Mahathir, who is now the world's oldest elected leader at 92, has said his government will not go on a witch-hunt over the 1MDB fiasco but that Najib will have to face the court if he's found to be responsible.

Mahathir Mohamad reacts as he speaks during a press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur Credit: AP

The fund was started by Najib when he took power in 2009, but it accumulated billions in debts and is being investigated in the U.S. and several other countries. U.S. investigators said Najib's associates stole and looted $4.5 billion from the fund, of which some $700 million landed in Najib's bank account and some $30 million used to buy jewelry for his wife.

Najib denies any wrongdoing. He sacked critics in his government including an attorney general and a deputy prime minister and muzzled the media. The new Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib in 2016, saying the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family and that most of it was returned.

Mahathir, who is due to name his cabinet later Saturday, has indicated that Mohamed Apandi would be axed for hiding evidence of wrongdoing.(Updates with Felda official statement, background)

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Reuters) - The chairman of Malaysia's state palm oil plantation agency, the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), has resigned, an agency spokesman said on Monday, confirming earlier reports.

The move follows shock election results in which the coalition that has ruled the country for six decades was defeated.

"Effective today I resign as the chairman of Felda. My resignation letter has been sent to Mahathir Mohamad, the prime minister of Malaysia," Shahrir Samad said in a statement released on Monday evening.

"Seeing as I was elected as Felda chairman by the previous government, it is only fair for me to resign in an institution led by a new government."

Shahrir, a former federal minister, was appointed as Felda's chairman in January 2017.

Malaysia's palm oil settlers, oil palm farmers working for Felda, have been grappling with rising costs of living and high debt levels due to insufficient incomes.

Both Mahathir's alliance and the coalition led by ousted prime minister Najib Razak campaigned vigorously in Felda settlements leading up to the polls held last week, with both parties promising to improve living conditions and erase debts.

Felda settlers form the majority of voters in at least 54 of the 222 seats in the national parliament, and have been pivotal in the former ruling coalition winning every election since Malaysia's independence in 1957. (Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Kim Coghill)Prince Harry with Meghan Markle's mother, Doria Ragland, at The Invictus Games in Canada in September - MEGA

Meghan Markle is close to her "free-spirited" mother and her "thoughtful, inspiring" father, with the actress having written lovingly of her relationship with both her parents.

But it is the American star's extended family that has hit the headlines over the past few months with one newspaper describing it as a "motley collection of individuals who, between them, have a long record of boozing, bust-ups and bankruptcies".

Here's a look at Prince Harry's future in-laws as the couple prepare to tie the knot in just a few days at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Royal wedding | Read more

Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland

Doria Ragland, 60, was born in Los Angeles to an antique dealer father and a mother who was a nurse.

She attended the Fairfax High School, where she was remembered as bright and friendly - the teenager with the "Afro" hairstyle who loved listening to Marvin Gaye and dining out at a local Mexican taco joint with friends.

After school she worked as a make-up artist, which is how she met her husband, Thomas Markle, a lighting director in Hollywood. The pair married in 1979 and Ms Markle was born two years later.

Meghan Markle pictured as a child in Rwanda with her mother Doria Credit: TIM STEWART NEWS LIMITED

The family moved into a house in The Valley, LA, to a neighbourhood that Ms Markle described as "leafy and affordable".

Ms Ragland and Mr Markle divorced in 1987, but remained friends.

Ms Ragland took a job as an air stewardess, meaning their daughter was frequently cared for by her father.

Meghan Markle with her moother Doria, who has a masters in social work Credit: TIM STEWART NEWS LIMITED

She later returned to university to obtain a masters in social work, following on from her BA in psychology.

She now lives in the house she inherited from her father in 2011 in the Crenshaw area of LA.

Ms Ragland and her daughter are extremely close - Ms Ragland once drove a car with the number plate MEGNME - and Ms Markle has spoken of her pride in her free-spirited mother, with her dreadlocks and nose ring.

Meghan's father Thomas Markle

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Born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch-Irish descent, Thomas Markle, 72, made his way to Hollywood where he worked as a lighting director.

He worked for many years on the set of the television show Married With Children, and his work on long-running series General Hospital earned him nine Daytime Emmy nominations, of which he was twice named the winner.

He was also reportedly chosen to oversee the lighting for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as well as the 1986 Oscar ceremony.

Baby Meghan Markle lies on the chest of her father Thomas Credit: TIM STEWART NEWS LIMITED

Prior to meeting Doria Ragland, he had been married to Roslyn, with whom he had two children - Samantha, now 52, and Thomas Jr, now 50.

Mr Markle and his daughter were very close, with the young Meghan accompanying him on film sets and being cared for by him while her mother was travelling as an air stewardess.

He has not met Prince Harry, but has spoken to him on the phone and has given his blessing to the Prince asking for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Meghan Markle pictured as a toddler with her father Thomas Credit: TIM STEWART NEWS LIMITED

Since retiring, Mr Markle moved to Mexico. He was declared bankrupt in June 2016.

Miss Markle has described her father as the "most hardworking father you can imagine".

Meghan Markle's siblings

Half-brother Thomas Markle Jr

The 50-year-old window fitter lives in Grants Pass, Oregon.

He said his family was like The Dukes of Hazzard and The Simpsons, versus the Royal family  but has spoken fondly of his half-sister, with whom he grew up in Los Angeles.

He was married for 11 years to Tracy Dooley, with whom he has two sons  Thomas and Tyler.

Thomas Markle Jr has spoken fondly of Meghan Markle, his half-sister Credit: AKGS

He was arrested in January for holding a gun to girlfriend Darlene Blounts head in a drunken argument. Mr Markle and Miss Blount are now engaged.

Half-sister Samantha Grant

Samantha Grant, 52, lives in Florida and is a wheelchair user and suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Samantha Markle has lashed out at her half-sister, Meghan, in several interviews Credit: Splash News

She caused a stir in April when she announced she was writing a book entitled The Diary of Princess Pushys Sister.

Despite not having spoken to her in nine years, Ms Grant lashed out at Ms Markle in numerous interviews. She since says she was misquoted.

Meghan's ex-husband Trevor Engelson

New York-born film and television producer Trevor Engelson, 41, was married to Ms Markle for two years, until 2013.

The pair married on the beach in Jamaica in 2011, tying the knot at the Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios, in front of around 100 guests.

They are believed to have been dating for seven years before they married.

Meghan Markle and Trevor Engelson in 2006 Credit: Billy Farrell/Patrick McMullan/Getty

Their August 2013 divorce cited irreconcilable differences, and their work schedules - he is based in Los Angeles, while she began filming legal drama Suits in Toronto the year they married.

He is working on a show about a man whose wife runs off with a prince.MI5 Director General Andrew Parker, left, with his German counterpart Hans-Georg Maassen in Berlin today - dpa

The head of MI5 will appeal to European leaders on Monday not to put at risk their shared strength by weakening security and intelligence sharing after Brexit.

In a speech to European security chiefs, Andrew Parker, MI5s Director General, will tell them that continued cooperation has never been more crucial in the face of Russias aggressive and pernicious actions.

Mr Parkers intervention made pointedly in Berlin - the first time a serving head of MI5 has given a public speech on foreign soil - comes at a critical time in Brexit negotiations.

Michel Barnier, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, is expected to lay out Brussels vision on security at a conference on the same day, having previously said the UK will cease to have any involvement in security and defence planning once it leaves the EU.

MI5 Director General Andrew Parker, left, with his German counterpart Hans-Georg Maassen in Berlin today Credit: Kay Nietfeld/ dpa

Britain and the EU are currently engaged in a bitter row over a post-Brexit security deal that will intensify as the deadline for quitting Brussels approaches.

In April, Britain threatened to walk out on the 10billion Galileo global navigation satellite system after the EU said it would block Britain from using Galileos military applications. The EU has also accused the UK of serious deficiencies in handling sensitive crime data obtained from the Schengen Information System II, the EUs crime-fighting database.

Mr Parker will praise the international support Britain received in the wake of the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury

But Mr Parker, in his speech to an invitation-only security event, will underline the vital operational importance of EU cooperation to confront the Kremlins deliberate and targeted malign activity.

It will remind his security counterparts of the important role played by Britain in intelligence gathering and sharing with member states that are less well resourced.

Mr Parker will say that in todays uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever, stressing the danger posed by both hostile states and the intense and unrelenting international terrorist threat from jihadists.

Mr Parker will stress that European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago and must be allowed to thrive.

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He will single out for praise the European-wide Counter Terrorism Group as the largest multinational counter-terrorism enterprise in the world where real-time intelligence sharing involves thousands of exchanges on advanced secure networks every week.

Emergency services in biohazard suits in Salisbury after the attack on the Skripals

The speech - Mr Parkers first in public in seven months- will be delivered at a secret location hosted by the BfV, Germanys domestic intelligence service.

In a further demonstration of the importance of EU security partnerships, Mr Parker will praise the international support Britain received in the wake of the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

He will point out that 28 European countries agreed to expel scores of Russian diplomats as part of a collective response.

The European security agencies will also be thanked for help offered in the aftermath of the suicide bomb attack on the Manchester Arena a year ago in which 22 people, many of them children, were killed.

In the speech, Mr Parker will for the first time publicly identify the Kremlin as responsible for the nerve agent attack on the Skripals.

He will accuse Vladimir Putins regime of conducting a campaign of disinformation on an unprecedented scale following the attempted assassination of the Skripals and highlight the need to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine.

The MI5 chief will accuse the Kremlin of flagrant breaches of international rules and warn that Mr Putin is pursuing an agenda through aggressive and pernicious actions by its military and intelligence services. In so doing, Russia, he will say, risks becoming a more isolated pariah.

Mr Parker will also reveal that 12 Islamist terror plots have been thwarted since the Westminster Bridge attack in March last year and 25 plots since 2013.

Despite the defeat of so-called Islamic State - or Daesh - in Iraq and parts of Syria, Mr Parker warns that Daesh still aspires to direct devastating and more complex attacks despite territorial losses. He will point out that there have been 45 terror attacks across Europe since 2016.

Vladimir Putin poses for a selfie after an ice hockey match on May 10

Mr Parker will say that he is confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values we share with our European partners.

Mr Parkers certainty that the Kremlin was behind the attack on the Skripals is further evidence, first reported by The Telegraph, that counter-terrorism police working with the intelligence agencies have identified suspects in the poisoning. It is thought the persons of interest were identified through flight manifests to and from Moscow combined with CCTV footage obtained in and around Salisbury at the time of the attack in March.

The Kremlin had targeted Colonel Skripal as a convicted traitor. The former Russian intelligence officer had been jailed in Moscow for selling secrets to the British but released in a spy swap in 2010.Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg lashed out Saturday at the epidemic of dishonesty in politics that he said poses one of the most serious dangers to American democracy.

During a commencement speech at Rice University in Texas, Bloomberg slammed the endless barrage of lies and alternate realities in national politics.

People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts, he said.

Bloomberg didnt single out President Donald Trump, though, he has called Trumps candidacy a con. Bloomberg said Saturday that rampant dishonesty in politics is now bigger than any one person ... than any one party.

He also held up presidents of the past  George Washington and Abraham Lincoln  as models of honesty.

How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth? Bloomberg asked. Today when we look at the city that bears Washingtons name, its hard not to wonder, What the hell happened?

Bloomberg sharply criticized enablers who tolerate and defend lies.

Lies, he said, are only the start of a profound disturbance in U.S. politics.

When elected officials speak as though they are above the truth, they will act as though they are above the law, Bloomberg said. That invites criminality in the form of corruption [and] abuse of power.

These abuses can erode the institutions that protect and preserve our rights and freedoms and open the door to tyranny and fascism, he added.

Watch the rest of the speech is in the video above.

Graduates: Bringing the country back together won't be easy, but I believe it can be done  and it will be up to your generation to help lead it. https://t.co/5psjBLeLCI pic.twitter.com/ghAKY6cNzO  Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) May 12, 2018

Bloomberg just last month committed $4.5 million to fund the United States annual commitment to the Paris climate agreement after Trump announced that the nation is withdrawing from the pact. He also last month criticized Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt for abandoning the environment 100 percent.

Story continues

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The royal kitchen at Windsor Castle where preparations are underway for the reception banquet - PA

For most wedding guests, it is the moment of truth: will they spend the reception sitting next to the most eligible bachelor in the room or the family bore.

For friends of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, no such anguish over the seating plan will be necessary, as the couple opt for a standing-only reception complete with very fashionable bowl food.

The Prince and Ms Markle, who is no stranger to a showbiz party after her years as an actress, will provide a combination of canapes and small meals in bowls for guests at their afternoon reception, attended by senior members of the Royal Family.

Hosted by the Queen, plans have been drawn up by the couple themselves, who have visited the Windsor Castle kitchens to test each recipe.

Made with seasonal ingredients grown on the Crown Estates, the food is intended to be eaten standing up, allowing guests to mingle freely in St Georges Hall.

The royal kitchen at Windsor Castle where preparations are underway for the reception banquet Credit: PA

Bowl food has become a staple of the modern party scene, with hungry guests juggling a champagne glass in one hand whilst balancing a dish on their arm to eat their food with a fork.

They are often used for heartier, warm food such as risotto, sausage and mash or pasta. As with all Royal weddings, from Queen Victorias cake to Kate Middletons lace dress, the couples choices will no doubt set the trend for years to come.

The Prince and Ms Markle have now selected their wedding reception menu, which is to be perfected by staff at the kitchens of Windsor Castle over the coming days and kept under wraps until Saturday afternoon.

The staff work in a well-equipped kitchen Credit: PA

Royal chef Mark Flanagan, who is leading the team who on May 19, will put the finishing touches to the sweet and savoury canapes, designed to be eaten in two bites, and bowls.

Mr Flanagan said: "The day of the wedding has fallen very kindly for us. All the British vegetables are just coming into season... and that's been a point of focus for us.

"We know the couple wanted us to make sure we used all of the local seasonal produce as much as possible throughout their menu, and this recent good weather is really helping us to achieve that.

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"(For) all their decisions, we purely made suggestions and the couple... they've tasted everything, they've been involved in every detail."

The Prince and Ms Markle will marry at Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel, taking a carriage ride through the streets of Windsor before joining their 600 wedding guests for the St George's Hall reception.

Royal wedding | Read more

The food is likely to be accompanied by champagne and wine from the extensive Royal cellars, and soft drinks.

The head chef would not discuss the dishes in detail, but is expected to work with seasonal produce including asparagus, peas and tomatoes, as well as more decadent treats such as chocolate truffles.

In a bid to keep as many ingredients as possible British and local, Mr Flanagan's team have sourced them from the Home Counties and lands associated with the Queen like Windsor.

"We are using produce off Her Majesty's estates and that features very much, he said. He added: "We've really just been trying to let the ingredients stand proud within the dishes. There's no experimentation on Saturday whatsoever, tried and tested and predominantly classics."

Downstairs upstairs Credit: PA

Preparations for the reception begin early this week after numerous trials, with 30 kitchen staff working on Saturday.

The chef said he and his team started preparing for the wedding even before the couple requested their services, adding: "Once the wedding announcement was made, we started to work on some ideas, about what we would do if we were asked to be involved, so we were able to get into the trial situation early in March."

The Prince and Ms Markle visited Windsor Castle to sample the menu suggestions in the castle's Great Kitchen. After the afternoon reception, the couple will retire to rooms at the castle before making their way to Frogmore House.

There, at an evening reception, they will entertain 200 of their closest friends with more food and drink in a more personal celebration of their marriage.WASHINGTON  Senate candidate Mitt Romney of Utah says a prominent Baptist minister shouldnt be giving the prayer that opens the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem because hes a religious bigot.

In a tweet Sunday night, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee criticized Dallas minister Robert Jeffress for his remarks about Jews, Mormons and Islam.

Romney said, Robert Jeffress says you cant be saved by being a Jew, and Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell. Hes said the same about Islam.

Robert Jeffress says you cant be saved by being a Jew, and Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell. Hes said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 14, 2018

The liberal group Media Matters reports on its website that Jeffress made the remarks cited by Romney in a 2011 speech at the conservative Values Voter Summit.

Jeffress responded in a tweet of his own by defending his view that salvation is through faith in Christ alone.

Historic Christianity has taught for 2,000 years that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. The fact that I, along with tens of millions of evangelical Christians around the world, continue to espouse that belief, is neither bigoted nor newsworthy,: Jeffress said in the tweet,

The role of Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, a Southern Baptist megachurch, underlines the significance of the Jerusalem event as an appeal to Christian conservatives, part of President Donald Trumps base of supporters.By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel launched celebrations on Sunday for the U.S. Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem, a move whose break with world consensus was underscored by the absence of most envoys to the country from a reception hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Monday's slated opening of the new embassy follows U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a decision he said fulfilled decades of policy pledges in Washington and formalized realities on the ground. The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in east Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts. Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other major powers worry that the U.S. move could inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank and on the Gaza Strip border, where Israel reinforced troops in anticipation of the embassy opening. Most countries say Jerusalem's status should be determined in a final peace settlement, and say moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal. Addressing dignitaries at the Foreign Ministry, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the president's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the Israeli prime minister urged others to follow Washington's lead. "Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it's the right thing to do," Netanyahu said. "Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it advances peace, and that's because you can't base peace on a foundation of lies." Netanyahu said that "under any peace agreement you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital". Jerusalem, which is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, was decorated with roadside flowerbeds in the design of the U.S. flag and posters reading "Trump make Israel great again". "Tragically, the U.S. administration has chosen to side with Israel's exclusivist claims over a city that has for centuries been sacred to all faiths," the general delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to the United States said. The U.S. Embassy move "gives life to a religious conflict instead of a dignified peace," it said in a statement. Israel said all 86 countries with diplomatic missions in Israel were invited to the event, and 33 confirmed attendance. Among those present were delegates from Guatemala and Paraguay, which will open their own Jerusalem embassies later this month. EUROPEAN RIFT Attending the Foreign Ministry gathering were representatives from Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic, but none from western European Union states - suggesting a rift within the bloc over Trump's Jerusalem move. No-show nations withheld comment on Sunday. The EU mission in Israel tweeted on Friday that the bloc would "respect the international consensus on Jerusalem ... including on the location of their diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved". Outside Jerusalem's ancient Damascus Gate, Israelis danced in another celebration on Sunday, marking the capture of the Old City from Arab forces in the 1967 Middle East War. Hundreds of Israeli rightists entered Al Aqsa mosque compound, an icon of Palestinian nationalism and a vestige of ancient Jewish temples. Witnesses said some prostrated themselves in Jewish prayer, violating religious restrictions at the site and sparking scuffles with Muslim worshippers. Israeli police said several people were forcibly removed and questioned. The U.S. Treasury secretary called the embassy relocation "a sign of the enduring friendship and partnership between our two countries" and also referred to the U.S. withdrawal last week from the Iran nuclear deal, a move welcomed by Israel and some U.S. Arab allies in the Gulf but lamented by other world powers. The Palestinians plan to demonstrate against Monday's inauguration from Arab districts abutting the Jerusalem site. On the border with Gaza, Palestinians have also held protests as Israel prepares to mark 70 years since its creation, an event Palestinians call the Nakba, or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of them were displaced from their homes. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in the latest violence. In a recorded speech released on Sunday, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri criticized Trump's decision on the embassy, as well as the leaders of Muslim countries he said had sold out the Palestinians. He also said Israel's Tel Aviv was Muslim land. The Trump administration has sought to keep the door open to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy by saying the embassy move did not aim to prejudge Jerusalem's final borders. The U.S. consulate in the city, tasked with handling Palestinian ties, will remain. Washington has not asked Israel to initiate peace moves in exchange for the embassy relocation, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman told reporters on Friday: "There was no give and take with Israel with regard to this decision." (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Warren Strobel in Washington; Editing by Edmund Blair and Daniel Wallis)An influential Shiite cleric who once referred to the U.S. as "the great serpent" has taken a shock lead in Iraqs first election since the defeat of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) after a poor showing by incumbent prime minister Haider al-Abadi.

Muqtada al-Sadr, 44, joined forces with the Communist Party and ran on an anti-sectarian and anti-corruption platform, which struck a chord with voters sick of patronage and corruption within the Iraqi elite.

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REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani

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With turnout at only 44 percent, the lowest since 2003, full returns from 10 of the countrys 18 provinces put Sadrs coalition in front of the Fatah alliance headed by Hadi al-Amiri, the former paramilitary and pro-Iranian, the Associated Press reported.

The current prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, performed poorly across Shia provinces he usually counted on for support.

Unverified results seen by Reuters showed Sadr had gained 1.3 million votes, which would hand him 54 of the parliaments 329 seats. He was followed by Amiri, whose 1.2 million votes translates as 47 seats, and Abadi, who would get 40 seats. The results have not been finalized by Iraq's electoral commission.

Sadr will not become prime minister as he did not run in the election, but he could pick someone for the job as part of the horse-trading required to form a majority.

Sadr hails from a family of Shiite scholars. His father was Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, Iraq's grand ayatollah, who openly defied Saddam Hussein and was killed leaving a mosque in the city of Najaf in 1999.

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After Saddam was toppled in 2003, Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, armed mostly with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, fought U.S. forces and was described by Washington as the greatest threat to Iraqs security. The militia was renamed the Peace Brigades in 2014.

He is the one of the few Shiite leaders to keep Iran at arms length and wants to counter Tehrans influence in Iraq, Al- Jazeera reported.

Sadr told CBS Newss 60 Minutes after the U.S. invasion of Iraq: "The little serpent has left, referring to Saddam, and the great serpent has come, referring to the United States. His fighters fought the U.S. military in Sadr City and Basra. In 2008, he called for a million-strong march against the U.S.

Although Sadr has not met with U.S. figures, the administration of President Donald Trump welcomed his visit to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year as a move that could counter Iranian influence in the region.

Renad Mansour, a Middle East research fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said one reason for Sadr's success was his fielding of the most number of new unknown candidates while maintaining his base, which switched from having anti-American sentiment to opposing the countrys elite.

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"At the very least, this election was a rejection of the status quo. Sadr was the only candidate that was trying to present change in more than just words, Mansour told Newsweek.

He said that Sadr would not be seeking to be prime minister.

He comes from this school of thought which thinks that clerics should not rule the country, so he is not in favor of the Iranian system. What he believes is that clerics should have influence on the system, and he will want to have an active role in the government formation process.

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REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani

Thanassis Cambanis, senior fellow at the Century Foundation think tank, described Sadr as one of the few leaders in Iraq whose popularity has crossed sectarian lines.

If Sadr follows through after the election and promotes the formation of a platform-based government with a legislative opposition, then we can expect Iraqi politics to enter a new phase, moving away from narrow sectarianism and patronage-only politics, he said.

Forming a government after previous elections has taken up to eight months. In 2005, vote-rigging claims delayed the ratification of election results for several weeks.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSeoul (AFP) - North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it said Saturday, blowing up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

The display at Punggye-ri, in the northwest of the country, will be another step in leader Kim Jong Un's charm offensive, with a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and President Donald Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed".

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

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Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".

- 'Fire and fury' -

Saturday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" at a summit in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries last month.

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 in 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.

This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months.

Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washington's promises.

Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal.Seoul (AFP) - North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it said Saturday, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

US President Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong Un's charm offensive.

"Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump tweeted.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed".

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

South Korea welcomed the announcement, which signalled the North's willingness to carry out its pledges "not just in words but in action".

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"We hope the sound of the dynamite blowing up the tunnels at Punggye-ri will be the first salute in our journey towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," the South's presidential spokesman said.

Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".

- 'Fire and fury' -

Saturday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.

The head of the UN's World Food Programme said Saturday it appeared North Korea was "turning a new page in history", following a four-day visit to the country.

David Beasley said he had enjoyed unprecedented access to the secretive state, telling BBC radio that North Korea's leaders had a "sense of optimism".

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" at a summit in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.

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 in -- 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.

This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months.

However, Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washington's promises.

Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal.JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's actions on the Gaza border, where dozens of Palestinians were killed during mass protests on Monday, were self-defense against the enclave's ruling Hamas group. "Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. "The Hamas terrorist organization declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens." (Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Dan Williams)Warning: This post contains spoilers for Evil Genius: The True Story of Americas Most Diabolical Bank Heist on Netflix.

New charges could be filed in the notorious collar bomb crime after a Netflix documentary revealed a confession from an alleged conspirator who may have implicated herself nearly 15 years later, according to the films creators and the federal investigators who led the case.

In the final minutes of Evil Genius, a four-part docuseries that examines what it calls Americas most diabolical bank heist, a woman who knew Brian Wells  the pizza delivery driver who died in 2003 after robbing a bank in Erie, Pa. while a bomb was fastened around his neck  admits to setting Wells up in exchange for money and drugs from the conspirators.

It hurts me that I could do this to somebody who I cared about, says Jessica Hoopsick, who was Wells prostitute and friend. I want people to know he was innocent.

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In the documentary, Hoopsick says a conspirator approached her to find a gopher who could be scared into robbing a bank. After being offered $5,000, Hoopsick suggests Wells and gives up his work schedule at the pizzeria. I have a lot of remorse for a lot of the stuff I did and a lot of shame and guilt, she says. I definitely want justice for Brians memory. He wasnt out to hurt nobody. He had no parts in the planning. He had no idea what was going to happen to him.

Investigators said Hoopsick was uncooperative after the deadly heist in 2003. They had long suspected her involvement but didnt have enough evidence to build a case against her.

We always believed that Jessica knew more, retired ATF Special Agent Jason Wick told TIME in a recent interview about the documentary. Getting her to tell us at the time was a whole other issue. We just couldnt get enough from her. We were in a tough spot. She just wouldnt cooperate.

A still from

Now, Wick and his partner Jerry Clark, who was the lead FBI investigator on the collar bomb case, believe Hoopsick may have said too much for her own good. I think that if anyone implicated themselves, it was her, as being a conspirator, in bringing him to the table, Wick said.

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Wick said the new information should certainly be passed along to any state or federal law enforcement agency for review, since he said theres no statute of limitations for murder. But Wick and Clark are not convinced Hoopsick is a credible enough witness. There is evidence that directly conflicts with what shes saying, Clark said. Theres always some underlying reason for her cooperation. The fact that shes saying it, you got to wonder why.

Barbara Schroeder and Trey Borzillieri, the creators of Evil Genius, told TIME they believe Hoopsick was moved to finally speak out because she couldnt hold in her secret any longer. This was eating her up inside, said Borzillieri, the documentarys co-director and executive producer, who added that Hoopsick was not offered anything in return for her interview.

Its unclear whether authorities and prosecutors will decide to pursue charges against Hoopsick or any others after Hoopsicks new confession. The FBI did not return requests for comment, and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania declined to discuss the documentarys findings. Hoopsick could not be reached by TIME, despite multiple efforts. Relatives said she had fallen out of touch with her family, and several phone numbers provided by two of her recent attorneys were either disconnected or belonged to other people.

Schroeder, who wrote and directed Evil Genius, said the team had discussed the confession with current and former investigators at the state and federal level. Technically, she could be charged, Schroeder said, but every agency we spoke to said there was no interest.

Two conspirators  Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes  were ultimately convicted of conspiracy and armed bank robbery charges in connection with the collar bomb case. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said Diehl-Armstrong died of natural causes at a Texas prison on April 4, 2017. Barnes is expected to be released in 2027, according to FCI Coleman Low, the federal correctional facility where hes currently incarcerated in Florida.

The creators of Evil Genius say they hope their documentary helps bring some closure to Wells family and ramp up enough public interest in the case to gain access to sealed grand jury documents that provide more answers on the collar bomb case.

We feel this is a second chance at justice, Borzillieri said. What we hope were achieving is new truths and new depths within the truths.

The big twist at the end, Schroeder said, is just another piece to the puzzle.

There is more to the story that meets the eye, she added.Managua (AFP) - Nicaragua's powerful bishops announced Monday they are engaging in talks to resolve a crisis that has left scores dead in the wake of a crackdown on anti-government protests.

At least 51 people have been killed in almost a month of protests, initially over cuts to the social security system. The unrest morphed into broader discontent with the leftist government of President Daniel Ortega.

Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, head of the Nicaraguan Bishops Conference, said a national dialogue would begin on Wednesday, "even though the circumstances for dialogue are not the best."

Brenes told a news conference the talks would deal with issues designed "to pave the way for democratization" in the central American country.

Nicaragua earlier agreed to a visit by a regional human rights body to investigate the violence, the head of the Organization of American States said.

The bishops had insisted the rights investigators be allowed into the country before agreeing to the talks, initially proposed by the government and in which the bishops would act as mediators.

The government's overture came after Nicaragua's army appeared to distance itself over the weekend from Ortega, who is facing the worst protests since he returned to power 11 years ago.

At least 51 people have been killed since the protests erupted in mid-April.

In a statement released by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said his government has consented to a working visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights "as soon as possible."

The visit aims "to observe 'in loco' the human rights situation in Nicaragua in the context of the events from April 18 to the present," the statement said.

On Sunday, thousands of people marched in the city of Masaya -- the birthplace of the Sandinista revolution 40 years ago -- after violent clashes with security forces there late Friday.

Ortega initially came to power at the head of the 1978-79 revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.MANAGUA (Reuters) - The Nicaraguan military said it would not attempt to repress anti-government protests that have rocked the Central American nation since last month, news agency Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday. "We don't have a reason to repress" the protesters, Colonel Manuel Guevara, a military spokesman, told the news agency. "We think dialogue is the solution." Referencing the presence of soldiers in some cities, Guevara continued, "We reject manipulated information that makes it seem that we are repressing" the protests. Nicaragua has been on edge since late last month, when President Daniel Ortega announced an overhaul of the nation's welfare system, touching off deadly protests. After a violent crackdown by police, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Managua to demand the resignation of Ortega, a former leftist guerrilla leader whom critics accuse of trying to build a family dictatorship. On Friday, the United Nations human rights office said it had asked Nicaragua to let it enter the country to gather evidence about student deaths in the protests. The U.N. has received information that at least 47 people - mostly students, along with two police officers and a journalist - were killed in the demonstrations, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. (Reporting by Julia Love and Oswaldo Rivas; Writing by Julia Love; Editing by Alistair Bell)A Nigerian woman has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against United Airlines after she and her children were kicked off a flight because a male passenger complained that she had a "pungent" odor after taking her seat in business class.

In her lawsuit, Queen Obioma alleges that she and her two children were boarding a flight from Houston to San Francisco at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on March 4, 2016, as the second leg of a three-flight journey from Lagos, Nigeria to Ontario, Canada, when they found that a man was sitting in her assigned seat in the business-class cabin.

GettyImages-948280354

Justin Sullivan/Getty

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Obioma said the passenger, a white man, refused to move from her seat. When a flight attendant got involved, Obioma ended up agreeing to take the other passenger's assigned seat, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Later, however, when she went to the use the bathroom, the same man was standing in the aisle, blocking her from getting to her seat, the lawsuit says.

Obioma alleged that she said "excuse me" to the man three times, but was ignored, according to the Washington Post. After several minutes, she finally made her way past him and sat down.

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Shortly after, Obioma was asked to deplane and told by an airline employee that she and her two children were being kicked off the flight because the male passenger had made a complaint that she had a "pungent" odor, the Post reported.

The comment left the mother feeling "confused" and "disoriented," the lawsuit reportedly said.

Despite Obioma's attempts to explain that she was taking her children to Canada to attend school and that they had appointments there that they could not miss, airline workers refused to let her family back on the plane.

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The mother was left sobbing, according to Dallas News, and as a result, the family was reportedly forced to wait hours before they could get on another flight, which Obioma says caused them to miss important appointments in Ontario.

The lawsuit, which seeks punitive damages, accuses United Airlines of discriminating against Obioma and her children that day because they were black.

A spokesperson from United Airlines told Newsweek they have yet to be served with the lawsuit and could not comment on the alleged incident.

We have not yet been served with this suit and due to the pending litigation involved in this matter, were unable to provide further comment," the spokesperson said.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPrince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement photo - POOL DAILY TELEGRAPH

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed on Saturday, millions will watch on their televisions at home. A lucky few will have an exclusive invite to the chapel, while others may gather to watch an outdoor screen at a public party.

A select handful will have a rather different experience: watching from their iPads in a farm shop carpark.

The Royal wedding will see the partners of some invited guests left out of the celebrations for reasons of space, with unmarried friends or those who do not know the couple so well asked to leave their girlfriends and boyfriends outside.

The complicated logistics of the day will see guests dropped off for security checks at the Windsor Farm Shop, boarding buses which will then take them to St George's Chapel for the ceremony.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry on Saturday Credit: PA

One guest, who said she "totally understood" the restrictions, said her husband would be watching the ceremony from a tablet computer in the carpark where he dropped her off, waiting dutifully to return after the champagne and canapes are over.

Others will be chauffered by their partners to the official drop-off point before leaving them to their own devices in Windsor.

A source told the Sunday Telegraph that some girlfriends had been disappointed with their lack of invitation, after holding out tentative hopes of attending the "wedding of the century" by virtue of their partner's friendship with the couple.

"It's the only real sad bit about it," the guest said. "It's very, very difficult for them to have everyone: obviously they've got a great deal of friends and family but they're quite confined in numbers and space.

"For anyone who isn't not married, they've only invited the friend unless they're really good friends with both of them."

The makeshift rule, employed by many couples as they plan their wedding day with restricted numbers, has been colloquially called "no ring, no bring".

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who married in 2011 at Westminster Abbey with more than triple the number of guests, employed a similar policy for those they did not know well.

Then, a friend of a Lord Lieutenant who was attending the wedding told the Sunday Telegraph: "What makes it worse is that he would be happy to watch it on TV. It's his wife who's desperate to be there. She had already bought her hat."

Pippa Middleton and husband James Matthews Credit: Rex Features

Last year, it was reported that Pippa Middleton had put in place a similar restriction. In the event, Ms Markle, who was not yet engaged to Prince Harry, did discreetly attend the evening do with Prince Harry, opting to remain out of sight of the cameras to avoid attracting attention.

Related Video: Meghan Markle Gives Letter to an Inspired FanDaniel R. DePetris

Security, Asia

If John Bolton is looking for a workable framework for the upcoming nuclear talks with Pyongyang, then the Libya model isnt it.

North Korea Won't Fall for the Libya Disarmament Trap

The Trump administration may or may not have a negotiating strategy with the North Koreans in the works. The amount and extreme pace of diplomatic activity on the Korean Peninsula over the past four months (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just returned from his second trip to North Korea with three American prisoners in tow), coupled with President Trumps acceptance of Kim Jong-uns offer to meet, has forced the White House to quickly put a plan together.

One man, however, has a very specific framework in mind. Appearing on Fox News last Sunday, National Security Advisor John Bolton brought up what can be called the Libya scenario, in which former dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi not only came clean to the Americans and the British about his weapons-of-mass-destruction programs, but allowed Washington to airlift his equipment and documents out of the country for destruction.

The only issue with Boltons proposal is that it is technically incompatible with where Pyongyangs nuclear weapons program is at the present time and fanciful from a diplomatic perspective. To believe that the North Koreans would permit Americans to prowl around their country and freight away their nukes in exchange for the suspension of U.S. sanctions is nothing more than an exercise in disbelief.

Those who talk as if a Libya-style denuclearization option is realistic for the North Koreans today forget just how rudimentary, if not embarrassing, Tripolis nuclear program was at the time it was being destroyed. While a British official told the New York Times that Libyas nuclear research-and-development program was close to producing a bomb at the time the agreement with Qaddafi was struck, the nuclear specialists who were responsible for disposing that material have described on the record just how unimpressive it was. Donald Mahley, the Bush administrations pointman for disarming Qaddafi, commented that he was surprised at how little the Libyans seemed to invest in the effort. Though the Libyans I dealt with were knowledgeable, dedicated, and innovative, Mahley said, there was almost no bench. A small circle of scientists and engineers ran the program, a far contrast from what Van Jackson of Victoria University of Wellington has described as North Koreas nuclear industry of scientists, engineers and warfighters, and a corresponding maintenance and supply chain.

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Whereas the Kim dynasty has beenand as far as we can tell, remainsdevoted to its nuclear weapons program in word and in deed, Qaddafis regime was divided internally about the wisdom of attaining such a capability. As Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer revealed in her new book, Unclear Physics: Why Iraq and Libya Failed to Build Nuclear Weapons, there was a vocal faction within the Qaddafi government (led by Qaddafis favorite son, Saif al-Islam) that questioned whether a latent nuclear capacity was worth the pain of international political and economic isolation. Muammar el-Qaddafi eventually came to the conclusion that ditching the effort and alleviating the economic pressure on Tripoli was a more thoughtful course of action for his political survival than continuing to develop a program that was entirely dependent on foreign suppliers (a decision that Qaddafi and his son would regret eight years later).

How do we know Libyas nuclear development was a largely wasteful drain on the regimes finances? Because the International Atomic Energy Agency largely confirmed it when its inspectors went into the country to poke around Libyas facilities. A 2004 IAEA report was full of examples of just how haphazard and broken Qaddafis nuclear research was. In one finding, the agency discovered that Libya never acquired the domestic knowledge to domestically produce centrifuges or the skill to enrich uranium. It also did not have a clue about nuclear warhead designs; while the Libyans did receive documents and specks about warheads, Libya stated that it had no national personnel competent to evaluate the data and would have asked the supplier for help in the event it had opted to take further steps to develop a nuclear weapon. In laymans terms: Libyan engineers were not very good.

When the time came for Washington and London to destroy Qaddafis program, the Bush administration was able to accomplish the task in less than six months. Part of this was due to the diligence and ingenuity of the American team on the ground, but another reason for such quick success was because the Libyans hardly began the process of bomb development. Robert Einhorn, a nonproliferation specialist and former State Department official in the Obama administration, summed it up this way: Libya hardly had a nuclear weapons program. It had crates with centrifuge parts it didnt know what to do with. U.S. transport planes could land and carry the entire program away.

Muammar el-Qaddafi was a beginner in the nuclear game. He was a bumbling amateur who wasnt privy to the talent and resources required for an indigenous nuclear weapons research-and-development industry. North Korea is not only way, way ahead of where Tripoli ever wasthey are already a nuclear-armed state, even if the United States and the international community fail to officially recognize it as such. Pyongyang has a deterrent that Qaddafi tried for thirty years to purchase, the major difference being that the treasured sword of nuclear Damocles was always valued by the Kim regime as exponentially more important to its preservation than making nice with the West.

If John Bolton is looking for a workable framework for the upcoming nuclear talks with Pyongyang, then the Libya model isnt it. Qaddafi may have felt squeezed after decades of sanctions and grew scared about becoming the next Saddam Hussein, but Kim Jong-un has no intention of becoming the next Qaddafia man who was dragged out of a storm drain like a stray dog, mercilessly assaulted and executed. The sooner Bolton and the rest of the Trump administration get that reality into their heas, the more prepared they will be when the North Koreans slow-roll the nuclear negotiations or refuse to part with their operational nuclear deterrent.

Daniel R. DePetris is an analyst at Wikistrat, Inc., a geostrategic consulting firm, and a freelance researcher. He has also written for CNN.com, Small Wars Journal and The Diplomat.

Image: Reuters

Read full articlePalestinians run for cover as tear gas rains down near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip - AFP

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Donald Trump praises embassy opening as a 'great day for Israel'

Bloody protests on the Gaza border will only buy time for Hamas in the sidelined Palestinian cause

Gaza is braced for fresh protests against Israel as the first funerals are expected to be held for 58 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces on Monday, the deadliest day since the end of the 2014 Gaza conflict.

Tuesday is the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled amid the creation of Israel in 1948.

Weeks of angry protests were further enflamed on Monday by the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. While Ivanka Trump and other American dignitaries gathered in the afternoon sun to celebrate the embassy opening, the Gaza border was transformed into a scene of fire and chaos as tens of thousands of protesters faced Israeli snipers.

Israels military said that it opened fire to stop Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, from using the protests as a distraction to break through the border fence and carry out attacks inside Israel.

Palestinians said the overwhelming majority of those killed were unarmed demonstrators while the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of carrying out a terrible massacre and called for international intervention to stop the killing.

Despite the bloodshed, US president Donald Trump hailed the day as a great day for Israel and said he believed his decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would ultimately help forge peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

For many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious. The plain reality that Israels capital is Jerusalem, Mr Trump said in a video played at the ceremony. Our greatest hope is for peace. The US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.

Story continues

Downing Street said the embassy opening was "unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region and many Arab and Muslim countries strongly condemned both the US and Israel.

What a great day for the great American-Israeli alliance 



:  ,  pic.twitter.com/Q2rUdD3ID5  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 14, 2018

In a speech in London the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also criticised the embassy opening. "The United States has chosen to be a part of the problem rather than the solution with its latest step and has lost its mediating role in the peace process

The UKs Minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, said: The violence today in Gaza and the West Bank has been shocking. The loss of life and the large number of injured Palestinians is tragic, and it is extremely worrying that the number of those killed continues to rise.

Such violence is destructive to peace efforts. We have been clear that the UK supports the Palestinians right to protest, but these protests must be peaceful.

It is deplorable that extremist elements may have been seeking to exploit these protests for their own violent purposes. We will not waver from our support for Israels right to defend its borders. But the large volume of live fire is extremely concerning. We continue to implore Israel to show greater restraint.

Palestinians run for cover as tear gas rains down near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip Credit: Mohammed Abed/AFP

The UK remains committed to a two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital. All sides now need to show real leadership and courage, promote calm, refrain from inflaming tensions further, and show with renewed urgency that the path to a two-state solution is through negotiation and peace.

Raj Shah, the White House deputy press secretary, pointed the finger at Hamas and said Israel has the right to defend itself.

Mr Shah said in a press briefing: The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response.

He later added: This is a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt. I think the Israeli government has spent weeks trying to handle this without violence.

Palestinian protesters carry a man wounded during demonstrations near the border Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

Palestinian health officials said 58 people were killed along the Gaza border, including six children under the age of 18. The youngest fatality appeared to be a 14-year-old boy named Ezzaldeen al-sammak. More than 1,200 others were shot and wounded during Mondays protests, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Around 100 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza since protesters began a series of marches six weeks ago demanding the Right of Return - the right for Palestinians to go back to their forefathers homes in what is today Israel.

Around 40,000 protesters gathered at 13 different locations along the barbwire fence which separates Israeli from Gaza, according to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), a far larger crowd than seen previously.

U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018

The IDF said it opened fire to prevent to stop the crowd from bursting through the fence. While the fence was damaged in places, no Palestinians came through. We do not target anyone who does not pose a threat, either by trying to tear down the fence or running into Israel, said Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, an IDF spokesman.

Human Rights Watch criticised Israel for using live rounds when there was no immediate threat to Israeli troops or civilians and said the policy had resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen.

Several Palestinian journalists were reportedly shot while covering the demonstrations.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump attend the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem Credit: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on Hamas positions in response what it said were Hamas activities along the border, but the majority of the Palestinian fatalities were caused by sniper fire. The IDF said it had opened fire on three terrorist squads of Hamas operatives who were carrying guns and explosives and trying to breach the fence.

One Israeli soldier was lightly injured by a rock or a piece of shrapnel.

The US embassy opening has been welcomed by Israelis Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, said that the protests would continue on Tuesday. We say clearly today to all the world that the peaceful march of our people lured the enemy into shedding more blood, he said.

The idea of the weekly marches were originally conceived by independent Palestinian activists but Hamas quickly put its organisational muscle behind them. The Islamist group is struggling with widespread discontent over the humanitarian situation in Gaza but lacks the military strength to confront Israel and so has embraced the idea of large scale demonstrations.

Palestinians carry an injured protestor near the Gaza-Israel border at Khan Yunis Credit: Mustafa Hassona/ Anadolu

Few of the speakers at the embassy ceremony made any mention of the violence in Gaza even as television networks carried the two events simultaneously in a jarring split screen.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month, and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution, said Jared Kushner, Mr Trumps son-in-law and point man on Middle East peace, in one of the few references to the situation in Gaza.

Smoke billows from the Israeli side after a kite loaded with a molotov cocktail crossed the border between Israel and the Gaza strip Credit: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP

6:08PM

Benjamin Netanyahu is having a good day

What a great day for the great American-Israeli alliance 



:  ,  pic.twitter.com/Q2rUdD3ID5  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 14, 2018

Mr Netanyahu sent a further tweet in Hebrew which translates as "Each country must protect its borders. Hamas' terrorist organisation states that it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence to realise this goal. We will continue to act firmly to protect our sovereignty and our citizens."

5:01PM

Death toll in Gaza rises to 52

Gaza health officials say a total of 52 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,200 wounded by Israeli fire, Agence France-Presse reports.

4:48PM

Theresa May calls for 'calm and restraint'

The prime minister's spokesman put out the following statement:

"We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza. We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts.

"The prime minister had made her views clear in December that we disagreed with the decision (to move the US embassy). We believe it's unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region."

4:46PM

An update from Raf Sanchez:

Israeli military is doing a briefing now on #Gaza. They say so far no Palestinians have made it through the fence into Israel. They also estimate that at the peak there were 40,000 people in the crowds (crowds are getting smaller now).  Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) May 14, 2018

Israel says one Israeli soldier has been lightly wounded from shrapnel during today's clashes. They say it's not clear what caused the injury, possibly an explosion from an IED. IDF says today has been an "unprecedented level of violence"on the border.

An IDF spokesperson not giving any ground on the levels of Palestinian fatalities from live fire. "We do not target anyone who does not pose a threat, either by trying to tear down the fence or run into Israel."

4:41PM

Netanyahu: 'A great day for Israel, a great day for America.'

And a great day for Israel's long-serving right-wing prime minister , who has made his own close relationship with the US part of his political brand.

4:36PM

'Our greatest hope is for peace'

A highlight from Donald Trump's video address at the US embassy opening ceremony in Jerusalem this afternoon.

4:31PM

France urges Israel to show 'restraint'

France's Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian calls for Israeli authorities to control its use of violence against Palestinian demonstrators:

"France calls on all actors to show responsibility to prevent a news escalation and calls on the Israeli authorities to exercise discernment and restraint in the use of force that must be strictly proportionate," he said.

Mr Le Drian has also condemned the U.S embassy move to Jerusalem as a violation of International law and of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Still no word from Boris Johnson on Britain's position...

4:18PM

Israel says it hit seven Hamas targets with air and tank fire

A short while ago, an IAF fighter jet struck 5 Hamas terror organization targets in a military training facility in northern Gaza pic.twitter.com/eDKTlOzVVU  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 14, 2018

4:13PM

Gaza authorities say 43 dead

Health authorities in Gaza have released a statement saying that 43 people have been killed and another 1960 have been wounded so far.

Of the 43 victims, at least six were below the age of 18, including one female. At least 200 of the wounded were below the age of 18, 78 were women, and 11 were journalists. Thirty-nine of them are in a critical condition.

4:08PM

UK 'saddened' by violence, urges restraint

Alistair Burt, the foreign office minister for the Middle East, is the first British minister to speak publicly about today's developments:

Extremely saddened by loss of life in Gaza today. Concerned peaceful protests are being exploited by extremist elements. Urge restraint in use of live fire. Violence is destructive to peace efforts. UK remains committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital.  Alistair Burt (@AlistairBurtUK) May 14, 2018

No comment from Boris Johnson so far...

4:02PM

Pompeo: US remains committed to comprehensive peace

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of State, has released the following statement:

Today I am proud to celebrate the opening of the United States Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. This significant event fulfills a promise made by President Trump. As he proclaimed on December 6, 2017, Seventy years ago, the United States, under President Truman, recognized the State of Israel. Since then, the State of Israel has made its capital in Jerusalem  the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times. It is therefore appropriate for the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital.

We remain committed to advancing a lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

I am delighted to have visited Israel on my first trip overseas as Secretary of State. I look forward to returning soon to visit our new U.S. embassy and Ambassador Friedman in Jerusalem.

4:01PM

Protests near new US embassy site

There has been some pushing and shoving in Jerusalem as Palestinian and leftist Israel groups protest against the embassy opening.

NOW: Israeli police continue to hit and push protesters outside of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. (From @ATLCol) pic.twitter.com/LJMVMqtNrw  Joshua Leifer (@joshualeifer) May 14, 2018

3:59PM

Amnesty warns Gaza hospitals struggling to cope

Palestinians carry a protestor injured near the Gaza-Israel border at Rafah Credit: Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency

Amnesty International has warned that Gaza medical services are at "breaking point."

"The already weakened hospital and healthcare system deals with almost 2000 injured in a single day, over 900 from live ammunition. Health authorities in #Gaza appeal to the international community for assistance," the group said.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has called for patients requiring complex surgery to be transferred to specialist hospitals in Egypt.

3:49PM

More on the casualties in Gaza

Palestinian health ministry has published what it says are the names and ages of the 43 dead so far.



The youngest is a 14-year-old boy, the oldest is a 39-year-old man.  Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) May 14, 2018

3:45PM

US has foreited role in peace process - Palestinian Authority

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh says:

"With this step, the US administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability."

3:43PM

White House: Embassy move does not affect stance on status of Jerusalem

The White has issued a note on the embassy opening that says President Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel does not mean the United States has taken a position on final status negotiations in relation to Jerusalem.

That doesn't seem to be how Benjamin Netanyahu sees things. As he made clear today, he (and Israeli law) sees Jerusalem as the "undivided" capital of Israel - and he seems to see today as recognition of that.

Officially, the international community support a two state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital of Israel and a Palestinian state.

I can only imagine what Presidents Obama, Bush & Clinton are thinking right now as they watch the deadly consequences of their inaction, lopsided policy and neglect in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a meaningful way. In the MidEast, there are no do-overs. #gaza  Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanM) May 14, 2018

3:30PM

The ceremony is over

It is official: the United States now has an embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.

In the meantime:

At least 41 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in protests on the Gaza border

Israel has conducted airstrikes against alleged Hamas positions in Gaza

The death toll makes it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war

Protests continue in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Turkey, Iran, and the Arab League lead criticism of the Embassy move

3:18PM

Netanyahu: 'A great day for Israel, a great day for America.'

Raf Sanchez has this update from Netanyahu's speech today:

Our brave soldiers are protecting the borders of Israel as we speak today. We salute them all. And the members of security services, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, we salute you all.

Thank you President Trump for having the courage to keep your promises.

This is a great day for Israel, its a great day for America, its a great day of our fantastic partnership but I believe its also a great day for peace.

The truth and peace are interconnected, a peace that is built on lies will crash on the rocks of Middle East realities. You can only build peace on truth. And the truth is that Jerusalem has been always will be the capital of the Jewish people and the capital of Jewish state. Truth, peace and justice, this is what we have and believe in.

3:14PM

Israel launches airstrikes in Gaza

Israel's air force says it has hit a Hamas base in the Gaza Strip:

"A fighter jet struck five terrorist targets in a military training facility belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in the northern Gaza Strip," a military statement said. "The strike was conducted in response to the violent acts of the last few hours being carried out by Hamas along the security fence."

Today has seen the worst violence in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas there in 2014.

3:13PM

Protests reported in Jerusalem

Videos are emerging of what appear to be protests in East Jerusalem against the opening of the embassy.

There have also been protests across the West Bank today, though they have not been marred by the bloody violence on the border with Gaza.

Protests happening now at #USEmbassyJerusalem. 300-400 people said to be taking part. Source taking part said police are hitting back people with sticks. #___#Jerusalempic.twitter.com/uwbMgpQ93Y  Gemma Fox (@gemmafoxTDS) May 14, 2018

3:10PM

Netanyahu: "Thanks for having the courage to keep your promises" and says the president has "made history

Bibi signs off:

"God Bless America, and God bless Jerusalem, the eternal undivided capital of Israel!"

3:07PM

Netanyahu on his family history:

Bibi says when he was a kid this neighbourhood was exposed to Jordanian sniper fire.



"That was then, this is now! Today the embassy of the most powerful nation on earth, our greatest ally, the United States of America, today its embassy opened here!"  Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) May 14, 2018

3:06PM

Netanyahu: We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay

Netanyahu describes how he used to play as a kid near the site of the embassy, and had to be careful because it was a front line and there were snipers nearby. 'What a difference!' he exclaims.

He goes on to list the history of Jerusalem since King David captured it from the Philistines up to its capture by Israeli forces in 1967.

"Our brave soldiers are protecting the borders of Israel as we speak today," he goes on.

Israeli soldiers have shot at least 41 people dead in protests on the Gaza border today.

3:01PM

Benjamin Netanyahu: 'what a glorious moment'

Israeli's right-wing prime minister has always traded on his personally close relationship with the US, and the past week has brought two major political victories - he's secured a US embassy move to Jerusalem and persuaded Donald Trump to scrap the Iran deal.

"We have no better friends" he says to the White House delegation.

2:57PM

More from Kushner:

"Israel has been a responsible custodian of Jerusalem and has kept these [holy] sites open to all."

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month, and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution."

2:53PM

No shortage of irony

Kushner: "By moving our embassy to Jerusalem we have showed the world once again that the United States can be trusted."



This is a week after Donald Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal.  Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) May 14, 2018

2:52PM

Whoops and cheers for Donald Trump scrapping the Iran deal

Mr Kushner drives the crowd in Jerusalem wild by saying:

"Donald Trump recognized another truth and withdrew from the dangerous, flawed, and one-sided Iran deal."

Another big cheer for US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton - noted Iran hawks also credited with scrapping the deal.

2:48PM

Jared Kushner: Israel and the US bound by values

Jared Kushner takes the podium on behalf of Donald Trump, who didn't make it to Jerusalem himself, and thanks US congressmen and his wife Ivanka Trump for making the day possible.

He goes on to praise common US-Israeli values:

"The United States stands with Israeli because we both believe in freedom."

Mr Kushner is meant to be brokering a new peace plan to end the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That plan still hasn't yet seen the light of day, though we were expecting something to be announced in January.

2:43PM

Amnesty International condemns 'abhorrent violation of international law' in Gaza

We are witnessing an abhorrent violation of Int law and human rights. 38 confirmed dead, including children/minors, with close to 2000 people injured in #Gaza . Many are reporting injuries to the head and chest. Over 500 injured with live ammunition. This horror must end now.  amnestypress (@amnestypress) May 14, 2018

2:41PM

'Big day'

Big day for Israel. Congratulations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018

2:40PM

Trump: 'our greatest hope is for peace'

Some more quotes from Donald Trump's speech, from our man in Jerusalem Raf Sanchez:

"Our greatest hope is for peace. The US remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement and we continue to support the status quo at Jerusalems holy sites, including at the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif."

"Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like any other sovereign nation to determine its own capital. Yet for many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious. The plain reality that Israels capital is Jerusalem. "

"This city and this entire nation is a testimony to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people. The US will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace."

The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace. We wish Ambassador Friedman good luck as he takes up office in this beautiful Jerusalem embassy.

We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians, and to all of their neighbours. May there be peace, may God bless this embassy, may God bless all who serve there and may god bless the United States of America ."

2:38PM

Death toll in Gaza reaches 41 as UN expresses concern

Palestinian health authorities say the number of people killed by Israeli troops in protests on the Gaza border has reached 41.

Meanwhile, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, has express concerns about the on going violence.

"I'm particularly worried about the news coming from Gaza with the high number of people killed," he said.

2:34PM

Iran's Zarif: embassy move is a "day of shame"

A reminder that the controversial embassy move comes amid a fraught confrontation between Israel, the US, and Iran. The Islamic Republic's Foreign minister Javad Zarif is not pulling any punches:

Israeli regime massacres countless Palestinians in cold blood as they protest in world's largest open air prison. Meanwhile, Trump celebrates move of U.S. illegal embassy and his Arab collaborators move to divert attention. A day of great shame.  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 14, 2018

2:31PM

Trump: US remains committed to peace.

In a video address to the opening ceremony, Donald Trump has said the US remains committed to peace in the middle east.

"Congratulations, its been a long time coming," Mr Trump said in the address. He added that the opening was ahead of schedule.

"The US remains fully committed to facilitating a peace agreement and the status quo at the city's holy sites including the Temple Mount."

"We extend a hand of friendship to Israel and the Palestinians," he said. "May there be peace."

2:25PM

Donald Trump 'on the right side of history...and God.'

David Jeffress, Dallas-based pastor invited to bless the new embassy, used his address not only to praise the US-Israel relationship, but to thank God for giving America its current president.

President Trump, he said, is "not only on the right side of hisotry, but more importantly on the right side of you," he said in a trembling voice.

Pastor Jeffress is a controversial choice for the address. He has previously called Islam 'a heresy from the pit of hell."

2:21PM

US opens new embassy in Jerusalem

David M Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, has declared the new embassy open at a ceremony in Jerusalem.

President Donald Trump was given a standing ovation when Mr Friedman mentioned him, and drew cheers when he referred to the embassy's location as "Jerusalem, Israel".

Earlier in the day, violent clashes erupted along the Gaza Strip's border, leaving 37 Palestinians dead from Israeli fire and hundreds wounded in the conflict's bloodiest day in years.Jupiters moon Europa has been regarded as one of the most interesting places in the solar system for two decades now. Scientists think its icy surface hides a vast liquid ocean and say theres a chance microbial life could be tucked away in that ocean. But the same ice shell that would protect any life below it stymies efforts to suss out whats going on.

Now, scientists may have discovered a way around that challenge. In a paper published Monday by the journal Nature Astronomy, a team presents evidence that a spacecraft has already flown through a jet of liquid rising from Europas surface. Its hard not to dream that such a plume would carry any life up to where human instruments could study it more easily.

Conveniently, NASA is already planning to visit the moon, with a mission due to launch in the 2020s. Even before the new results were made public, a congressman used them to make the case for giving the mission additional funding.

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Despite the immediate excitement about the new finding, its actually based on old data, gathered by the Galileo spacecraft, which studied Jupiter and its moons in the 1990s and early 2000s. Scientists went back to that data after a few images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and published over the past five years seemed to suggest something was spewing off Europas surface.

We really didnt pay too much attention to the location of those plumes and link that to Galileo flybys, first author Xianzhe Jia, a planetary scientist at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek. It didnt really ring the bell.

At least, not until he was listening to a conference presentation that discussed all those papers in tandem. Thats when he started to wonder whether Galileo might have accidentally flown over any of these areas and, if so, whether it had reported anything intriguing.

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Story continues

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Jia and his colleagues found that during Galileos closest skim over the moons surface, in December 1997 and less than 250 miles up, the spacecraft had indeed found something strange. The magnetic field and charged particles around the moon were in upheaval in a way that suggested a plume of neutral particles spilling out into spacejust the sort of signal Jia had been hoping for. Now, the hope is that Galileos planned successor, Europa Clipper, forewarned and forearmed, will be able to confirm the plumes are there and learn more about them.

Scientists arent quite sure yet what precisely could cause plumes on Europa. One possibility is that theyre created by the huge tug of Jupiters gravity. That could cause some fractures on Europa to open and close during its orbit, Lynnae Quick, a geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum who was involved in the Clipper mission but not in this paper, told Newsweek. You may have material thats jetted into space.

Because Europa is fairly large, its own gravity wouldnt let the material spew too far, which would explain why Galileo spotted anything unusual only during its closest approach.

If the plumes are confirmed, that will make Europa the second moon in our solar system to sport such features. In 2005, scientists announced that at the south pole of Saturns moon Enceladus, giant plumes of salty water gush out into space. That discovery rested in part on similar data about the magnetic field data, but because the Cassini spacecraft was still in the neighborhood when Enceladuss plumes were discovered, scientists could study them in much greater detail.

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Theyve been following in the footsteps that we laid down with Enceladus, Cassini lead imaging scientist Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute in Colorado, who wasnt involved in the new research, told Newsweek. They went looking for a plume, and they found it.

Next, the team has to figure out precisely what that plume is made of, where its coming from and if it actually suggests Europa hosts life. Thats a big if, since the moon is pummeled by highly charged particles that could easily destroy living things.

01_26_europa_clipper_jupiter

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Even with the help of plumes, Europa may not be the easiest place to determine whether were alone. If you just asked right now, What is the place to go where you could return an answer as soon as possible?, you would go to Enceladus, Porco said.

But we arent going to Enceladus next. Were going to Europa, thanks to momentum that built up before Enceladuss plumes were discovered. Fortunately, Europa Clipper will be well armed to tackle the challenge. It will be able to snap high-resolution images of the moons surface and locate hot spots where the surface may not be frozen ice. Scientists will also be able to steer the spacecraft to try to fly through plumes and taste the particles in them, Quick said.

Even if Europa cant find the plumes after all, the mission should tell us plenty about this geologically exceptional moon. The plumes would just be the icing on the cake, Quick said. Were definitely hoping for the icing on the cake, though.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekThe body of a 10-year-old girl who has been missing for nearly ten years has been found in Washington State.

Lindsey Baum disappeared in 2009 when she was walking to a friends house. Her body was found last fall but the remains werent identified as hers until this week by authorities due to a delay in DNA testing.

Baums body was found by hunters on rocky terrain, 180 miles east of where she disappeared from her McCleary home. Her mom vehemently denied her daughter ran away at the time of her disappearance.

Kittitas County Sheriff's Office led a search Saturday of the terrain that Undersheriff Clay Myers described as "steep, heavily timbered with large cliffs and deep ravines."

The case has now been ruled a kidnapping and homicide investigation, police said.

"For the last nine years we've not been able to definitively say what this was, beyond this was a missing child," Sheriff Rick Scott said. "...Now, the reality is we need to find a homicide suspect."

He said the family is "understandably devastated" at the news.

It was not immediately clear when Lindsey died, police said.

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Related Articles:BERLIN (Reuters) - NATO hopes to carry out another meeting of the NATO-Russia council soon, with the agenda to include for the first time Moscow's increasing use of "hybrid threats" such as propaganda and disinformation, a senior NATO official said on Monday. Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, NATO's first Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security, told a conference in Berlin that Russia was stepping up its use of such tools to offset its relative military weakness. "NATO doesn't want a Cold War. It wants a constructive relationship with Russia, but it cannot leave unanswered Moscow's diverse hybrid attacks on democracies of other countries," he said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Joseph Nasr)Followers of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, seen in the poster, celebrate in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Iraq, early Monday - AP

A firebrand cleric who led a militia which fought British and American troops in Iraq is on course to win the countrys elections, in what would be a surprise upset for Western-backed incumbent Haider al-Abadi.

Moqtada al-Sadrs Sairoon alliance of reformed Shia militants and communists was ahead in eight of Iraq's 18 provinces and second in four others.

His Mahdi Army waged a brutal and costly insurgency against coalition troops during the 2006-2008 civil war and offered a reward for any British soldiers captured.

Mr Sadr has since disavowed violence against fellow Iraqis and in 2008 ordered his forces to become a humanitarian group.

Mr Sadr himself rebranded as a secular nationalist, campaigning against corruption and for reform, a message which seemed to resonate with Iraqis tired of entrenched sectarianism and graft.

An Iraqi woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election in the Sadr city district of Baghdad Credit: Reuters

He is one of few Shia leaders to have kept his distance from neighbouring Iran, which has tried to influence Iraqs politics and extend its reach across the region.

Mr Sadr, 44, has sought to broaden his regional support. Last year, he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, a major US regional ally that is staunchly opposed to Iran.

Crowds of mainly young people waved flags and pictures of Sadr in Sadr City, an impoverished quarter of Baghdad that is home to some 3 million people and is named after the cleric's late father, Ayatollah Mohammad Sadq al-Sadr.

A ticket headed by Hadi al-Ameri, a former commander of Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) that fought Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), was in second place.

Videos of Sadr supporters celebrating in Baghdad show them chanting "Baghdad will be free, Iran out, out!"  Tamer El-Ghobashy (@TamerELG) May 13, 2018

Mr Ameri, an opponent of Saddam Hussein who spent years in exile in Tehran, had also made combating corruption a central plank of his platform.

Story continues

The preliminary results dealt a shock to Prime Minister Mr Abadi, who had been tipped as the favourite and had considerable support cross-sectarian support, particularly in Sunni areas his army liberated from Isil.

The British-educated engineer appeared to be third overall and fifth in Baghdad, which holds the largest number of seats.

The US had backed Mr Abadi, a consensus figure who promised to keep American troops in the country as part of its stabilisation effort.

Who is Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical cleric on course to take power in Iraq?

Any victory for Mr Sadr will make the continued presence of US and British soldiers, which currently number in the low thousands and hundreds respectively, an unlikely prospect.

While the expected results are not entirely good news for Washington, it will see some comfort that staunchly pro-Iran parties did not do better at a time when relations are worsening with Tehran.

"The United States government views Sadr as anti-American. Sadr, however, is a pragmatic and rational actor," said Muhanad Seloom, associate lecturer at the University of Exeter's Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

"Over the last 13 years, Sadr managed maintain calm relations with Iran and was able to negotiate peace with the US presence in Iraq," he told the Telegraph. "It is also important to remember that Sadr is part of Sairoon coalition which has other secularist parties not necessarily anti-American."

An Iraqi man celebrates with a picture of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad Credit: AFP

But the complex electoral arithmetic of the Iraqi system means that no party is likely to win more than half the 329 seats needed to form a majority.

There is expected to be weeks of horse-trading as the dominant blocs form a coalition and agree a new parliament and a new prime minister.

A senior member of Mr Sadrs party on Monday hinted that they would not enter into a coalition with Mr Ameris Conquest party because of its strong sectarian allegiance.

However, it could look to make up the numbers with Mr Abadi's Nasr bloc.

Mr Sadr will not take up the position of premier as he did not run as a candidate, but he will be able to pick a man for the job. He has previously said he supported a second term for Mr Abadi and it could not be ruled out that any new coalition could choose him.

The results, and the record low turnout of 45 per cent, point to a population fatigued by the influence of outside countries.

This is a win for Iraq, said Ali Khadar, a student in Baghdad. This is Iraq waking up to the problems it has been plagued by for years. Corruption is at the centre of all our issues, and this is a rejection of that.

Mr Seloom added: "in a region where outcomes of elections are almost known in advance, Iraqs elections surprising results is a positive sign of developing democracy."Freetown (AFP) - Police in Sierra Leone opened an investigation into a stampede at the country's main stadium during the weekend inauguration of the new president in which one woman was killed and 90 were injured.

Some arrests have been made but no one has been charged so far, a police statement said.

Sierra Leone Red Cross Society spokesman Abu-Bakr Tarawally on Monday updated the number of injured to 90 following Saturday's crush at Freetown's main stadium.

"We can confirm that 90 people were injured at the stadium stampede on inauguration day, some suffered, fractures, injuries with severe bleeding and suffocation," he said.

According to stadium management, over 50,000 people attended the inauguration, far exceeding the stadium capacity of 45,000.

"Some fainted and collapsed at pavilions while others jumped to the pitch and suffered fractures,"

The deceased is a 50-year-old woman who travelled from Liberia to witness Julius Maada Bio being sworn in.

Bio took office in early April after a tumultuous election campaign, ending a decade-long rule by the All People's Congress (APC).The Daily Beast

La Plata County Sheriff/HandoutA Colorado dad convicted of murdering his son after the 13-year-old discovered photos of him in womens underwear eating feces from a diaper has been sentenced to 48 years in prison.Mark Redwine, 59, was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse in July after he killed his son, Dylan, inside his Durango, Colorado, home on Nov. 18, 2012. The teen was on a court-ordered visit for Thanksgiving when Redwine snapped after him and his older brotherafter the pOn Monday, a divided Supreme Court said a court in a Louisiana murder case couldnt accept a lawyers admission of his own clients guilt over his clients objections.

In McCoy v. Louisiana, the Court considered a basic question about the proper role of attorneys in murder cases. Robert McCoy originally filed his own appeal directly to the Supreme Court about two questions related to his conviction on three murder charges. McCoy was sentenced to death in the case.

McCoy was accused of killing three people in 2008 in a dispute with his then-wife and he was arrested after fleeing to Idaho. McCoy clashed with public defenders, briefly represented himself, and then hired an attorney, Larry English, to argue his case.

The client and his attorney disagreed about McCoys defense strategy, and English told the court he had doubts about McCoys competency due to severe mental and emotional issues. During trial, English introduced a defense that conceded McCoys role in the killings as a tactic to avoid the death penalty, by stressing McCoys mental condition. Under testimony, McCoy insisted he wasnt guilty and he was the victim of a conspiracy. The jury found McCoy guilty of three first-degree murder counts. The jury then recommended the death penalty.

In the 6-3 decision, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the trial court should not have accepted Englishs concession of guilt for his client.

Larry English was placed in a difficult position; he had an unruly client and faced a strong government case. He reasonably thought the objective of his representation should be avoidance of the death penalty, Ginsburg said. But McCoy insistently maintained: I did not murder my family. Once he communicated that to court and counsel, strenuously objecting to Englishs proposed strategy, a concession of guilt should have been off the table.

The trial courts allowance of Englishs admission of McCoys guilt despite McCoys insistent objections was incompatible with the Sixth Amendment. Because the error was structural, a new trial is the required corrective, Ginsburg said.

Story continues

With individual libertyand, in capital cases, lifeat stake, it is the defendants prerogative, not counsels, to decide on the objective of his defense: to admit guilt in the hope of gaining mercy at the sentencing stage, or to maintain his innocence, leaving it to the State to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Ginsburg concluded.

The Louisiana Supreme Court had upheld the convictions and disagreed that the trial process violated McCoys rights to counsel and self-representation under the Sixth amendment. It found that English acted ethically under the conditions of the trial, citing Florida v. Nixon, a 2004 Supreme Court decision.

In the case now before us, in contrast to Nixon, the defendant vociferously insisted that he did not engage in the charged acts and adamantly objected to any admission of guilt, Ginsburg said. We hold that a defendant has the right to insist that counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsels experienced-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance to avoid the death penalty.

In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said that the Supreme Could should not have decided the case since English didnt really admit McCoys guilt in trial court.

The Constitution gives us the authority to decide real cases and controversies; we do not have the right to simplify or otherwise change the facts of a case in order to make our work easier or to achieve a desired result, Alito said.

Faced with overwhelming evidence that petitioner shot and killed the three victims, English admitted that petitioner committed one element of that offense, i.e., that he killed the victims. But English strenuously argued that petitioner was not guilty of first-degree murder because he lacked the intent (the mens rea) required for the offense, Alito said.

Among those submitting briefs supporting McCoy was The Criminal Bar Association Of England & Wales, which agreed with McCoys objections on originalist grounds rooted in English law. It is the defendant, not his counsel, who selects his defense, and counsel is duty-bound to carry it through, it claims.

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A suspected explosive device was discovered on Sunday in a mosque near the South African port city of Durban where a fatal knife attack occurred last week, police said. South Africa is racked by violent crime and social strife rooted in poverty and glaring income disparities, but it is seldom associated with the Islamist militancy seen on other parts of the continent. "The bomb squad is there now in the mosque and they will give us a report if it is an explosive device or not," said Simphiwe Mhlongo, a spokesman for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, an elite police unit known as the Hawks." He said the mosque had been swept by investigators on Friday and that nothing suspicious was found at that time. Footage from the eNCA TV news network showed a large police presence at the mosque and worshippers and bystanders gathered outside, hundreds of meters (yards) away behind police tape. Prem Balram, a spokesman for Reaction Unit SA, a private emergency service, was quoted on the News24 online news service as saying the mosque and homes in the area were evacuated "after a device resembling a bomb has been found inside the building". Three men armed with guns and knives attacked worshippers at the mosque near Durban on Thursday. One person was killed after his throat was slit, and two others were injured. No arrests have been made yet in connection with that attack, Mhlongo said. (REditing by Edmund Blair)Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Russian chief negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev on Monday upbraided the United States for not sending a delegation to observe the latest round of Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan.

Negotiators from Iran, Russia and Turkey gathered in the Kazakh capital Astana on Monday hoping to make progress on a political settlement in Syria as tensions fan out across the region.

Briefing journalists after the first day of the talks spearheaded by Moscow, Lavrentyev criticised Washington's decision not to send observers after its delegations came to eight previous rounds of negotiations in Astana.

"This time round the Americans, unfortunately, have decided not to support our international efforts," Lavrentyev said.

"We regret this and believe the path to political settlement can only be found at the negotiating table, not in efforts and scenarios worked out behind the back of the Syrian government and the international community," he said, without elaborating.

The two-day talks are the first time the three foreign powers most deeply involved in Syria's seven-year war have met together since Iran and Israel became embroiled in a spat over reported cross-border military strikes last week.

It is also the first meeting of the three sides since US President Donald Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this month in a move further complicating the regional picture.

A Syrian rebel delegation was expected to arrive late on Monday ahead of Tuesday's plenary session, according to Kazakhstan's foreign ministry.

The United Nations envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura was also present at the talks.

- Iran-Russia 'excellent cooperation' -

The multi-sided conflict that has killed more than 350,000 people took a new turn last week after Israel and Iran became embroiled in a dispute over reported cross-border strikes.

Israel claims it struck dozens of Iranian targets inside Syria on Thursday in response to a salvo of rockets fired by Iranian forces into the occupied Golan Heights.

Story continues

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow on Monday.

Zarif said he was "seeking assurances" from the backers of the country's nuclear deal after the United States pulled out earlier this month triggering broad international condemnation and fresh fears for the region.

After the talks, Zarif praised the "excellent cooperation" between Moscow and Tehran and said Lavrov had promised him to "defend and keep the agreement" in comments reported by the Iranian ISNA news agency.

Iran's top diplomat had already visited Beijing and was later heading to Brussels as part of Tehran's bid to salvage the deal.

Since negotiations on Syria in Astana began at the beginning of last year, they have mostly focused on attempts to keep Syrian regime forces and their rebel opponents at arm's length.

But any limited achievements in reducing government-rebel hostilities were put into reverse gear in February when regime forces allied with Moscow and Tehran began a devastating assault on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that was under rebel control at the time.

On Friday, Syrian state media and The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor both said that the last rebel groups had exited towns close to the capital.

Their departure means that militants from the Islamic State group fighting on the outskirts of Damascus are now the main challenge to government control over the capital and its surrounding area.By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> chief Elon Musk told employees on Monday the company was undergoing a "thorough reorganization" as it contends with production problems, senior staff departures and recent crashes involving its electric cars.

In his email to staff, Musk said Tesla was "flattening the management structure to improve communication," combining functions and trimming activities "not vital to the success of our mission" in the reorganization.

The company confirmed the contents of the email, which was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal.

Tesla is at a critical juncture as it tries to fix an inauspicious launch of the Model 3 sedan, a mid-market car crucial to its success and future profitability that has been plagued by early production problems.

Tesla shares fell 3 percent to close at $291.97 on Monday.

Amid the manufacturing problems, senior Tesla executives have departed or cut back work. Waymo, Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O> self-driving unit, said on Sunday that Matthew Schwall had joined from Tesla, where he was its main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators.

Last week, Tesla said Doug Field, senior vice president of engineering, was taking time off to recharge.

The company is developing multiple new vehicles, including a semi truck, and has registered a new car firm in Shanghai in a likely step toward production in China.

On a May 2 earnings call, Musk said Tesla would conduct "a reorganization restructuring" this month, without providing more details.

He added that he would reduce the number of third-party contracting companies engaged by Tesla, equating them with "barnacles" needing to be scrubbed off.

Tesla will still rapidly hire people to fill critical positions "to support the Model 3 production ramp and future product development," Musk said in Monday's email.

Tesla faces a slew of other issues, from increased skepticism over its finances to safety probes by regulators.

Story continues

Investors gave a rare rebuke to Musk after he cut off financial analysts on the earnings call, sending shares down 5 percent despite promises that Model 3 production was on track.

The company changed the terms of its borrowing agreement with banks to allow it to pledge its Fremont, California, auto plant as collateral.

A U.S. traffic safety regulator on May 2 contradicted Tesla's claim that the agency had found that its Autopilot technology significantly reduced crashes.

Autopilot, a form of advanced cruise control, handles some driving tasks and warns those behind the wheel they are always responsible for the vehicle's safe operation, Tesla has said.

In a Twitter post on Monday, Musk denied a Wall Street Journal report that Tesla had rejected a system that would have tracked driver eye movement when using Autopilot for cost reasons.

"This is false," Musk wrote. "Eyetracking rejected for being ineffective, not for cost. WSJ fails to mention that Tesla is safest car on road, which would make article ridiculous. Approx 4X better than avg," Musk said. He said Tesla's record of a fatality every 320 million miles compared with last year's national average of 86 million miles, per safety regulators.

Tesla's record of miles driven could not be confirmed by Reuters.

In another Twitter message on Monday, Musk said the "probability of fatality is much lower in a Tesla," saying Tesla would begin reporting safety numbers beginning in the second quarter.

On Monday, firefighters in Switzerland said a fatal accident involving a Tesla may have set off a fire in the car's battery. [L5N1SL7R8] It was the latest accident involving a Tesla.

A Tesla Model S sedan was traveling at 60 miles (97 km) per hour when it smashed into a fire truck stopped at a red light about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday night, according to police. [L3N1SL52C]

Police said on Monday that the driver, who suffered a broken ankle, said she had been using Autopilot before the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was not investigating the Utah crash.

Tesla said it had not yet received car data and did not yet know the facts, including whether Autopilot was engaged.

The NTSB said last week it was investigating a Tesla accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 8 that killed two teenagers and injured another - the agency's fourth active probe into crashes of the company's electric vehicles.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool and Tom Brown)Thomas Markle with his daughter Meghan - Pix supplied as a technical service by Tim Stewart News Limited 07932745508. No copyright inferred o

Meghan Markles father will not attend the Royal wedding to walk her down the aisle, it has been claimed, after it emerged he had collaborated with the paparazzi on a series of photographs.

Thomas Markle, 73, said he would no longer be attending his daughters wedding to Prince Harry on Saturday, where he was supposed to be taking a starring role to support her.

Mr Markle told American website TMZ that he had suffered a heart attack six days ago, but had checked himself out of hospital and had been intending to fly to Britain.

He will no longer make the journey to meet his future son-in-law Prince Harry, he said, or keep planned appointments with the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The extraordinary decision raises the question that Ms Markle's mother, Doria Ragland, may walk her down the aisle, or that she will be accompanied by a member of the Royal Family or choose to make the journey alone.

Kensington Palace did not confirm that Mr Markle would be missing the wedding, but issued a statement asking for understanding.

A spokesman said: "This is a deeply personal moment for Ms. Markle in the days before her wedding.

"She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr. Markle in this difficult situation."

Ms Markle is understood to be distressed and deeply worried about her father, who has been struggling to cope with being in the spotlight as a result of her engagement.

She is now being supported by Prince Harry as she contemplates her wedding going ahead without him.

Palace aides, who have been attempting to provide active help to Mr Markle in dealing with media interest, have previously expressed concern about the pressure he had been under.

TMZ, the celebrity gossip website, quoted Mr Markle as saying he meant no harm to Ms Markle or Prince Harry after taking part in an arranged photoshoot with a paparazzi agency.

Story continues

He allegedly claimed he had not made the decision because of money, but in order to recast his image after a series of unflattering photographs were taken.

He's now decided not to go [to the wedding] because he doesn't want to embarrass the Royal Family or his daughter, TMZ reported.

Hours earlier, Meghan Markle's half-sister claimed responsibility for a setting up a controversial paparazzi photoshoot for her father.

An official engagement photo released by Kensington Palace of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Credit: Reuters

Samantha Grant, who is no longer in contact with Ms Markle, said she had suggested their father pose for "positive" photographs "for the benefit of the Royal Family".

Instead, the images caused deep embarrassment, appearing to show Mr Markle colluding with photographers despite Kensington Palace's repeated insistence that he was a private individual who had no interest in working with the media.

Ms Grant, writing on Twitter, said: The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault.

"The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family.

We had no idea he would be taken advantage of. It was not for money.

Appearing on Loose Women on Monday, she elaborated to say that she was entirely the culprit in staging the photographs, convincing her father that it would be to his advantage to show himself in a positive light.

It was my suggestion that to benefit him and to benefit the Royal Family and that everyone looked good, and they depict you as you are, she said.

Pressed on whether he had been paid for his cooperation, Ms Grant said: I have no idea but if he did Im going to assume it was a pittance, because they dont pay that much.

It was really so that the world could see him doing the healthy things that hes doing.

Asked about the effect on Kensington Palace, after aides repeatedly insisted Mr Markle did not wish to be photographed, she conceded: I can understand why it would be awkward.

Thomas Markle with baby Meghan Credit: TIM STEWART NEWS LIMITED

Her brother, also called Thomas, has said that Mr Markle "wont saying anything publicly but hell apologise sincerely to Meg and the Royal Family".

Mr Markle has been receiving the support of Kensington Palace since news of Ms Markle's engagement brought him into the public eye, with a source saying aides would continue to make interventions with the media out of concern for his safety and security.

Kensington Palace has previously issued warnings to the media not to publish pictures of Mr Markle or Ms Markles mother, Doria Ragland, taken under circumstances of harassment, insisting they had no wish to take part in any personal publicity.

But a series of photographs, printed in the tabloid press, aroused suspicion after showing Mr Markle exercising in public, reading a book called Images of Britain, being measured for a suit, and looking up pictures of his daughter in an internet cafe.

This weekend, the Mail on Sunday published CCTV images appearance to show him collaborating with a photographer, walking into the cafe with him and setting up the best angle.

Related Video: Meghan Markle Gives Letter to an Inspired Fan(adds dropped word in lead)

KIRKUK, Iraq, May 12 (Reuters) - Three men were killed by a bomb attached to their car in a Sunni Arab region south of the oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday in an attack which security sources linked to Iraq's parliamentary election.

Two of the dead were voters and the third an observer in a voting station near the town of al-Khan, the sources said.

Islamic State earlier claimed responsibility for the attack. The militants had threatened attacks in the runup to the vote, the first held since they were defeated last year by Iraqi security forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli)A genealogist took commentator Tomi Lahren to task on Twitter after she made controversial comments about immigrants in this country. And she did so with Lahrens own family history.

On Saturday, Lahren went on Fox News Watters World to defend White House chief of staff John Kellys remarks on immigrants. Kelly, formerly Trumps homeland security secretary, told NPR last week that undocumented immigrants are not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society.

Lahren went even further and told host Jesse Watters that people who dont speak English or who come from poverty shouldnt be allowed to immigrate to the United States.

These people need to understand that its a privilege to be an American and its a privilege that you work toward. Its not a right. You dont just come into this country with low skills, low education, not understanding the language and come into our country because someone says it makes them feel nice, she said.

Thats not what this country is based on. We are based on the rule of law, and we believe in bringing the best people into this country to make it even better. We dont believe in importing poverty. Trust me, I live in California. We have enough poverty. We have enough issues. We dont need any more.

.@TomiLahren: "You don't just come into this country with low skills, low education, not understanding the language and come into our country because someone says it makes them feel nice. That's not what this country is based on." @WattersWorld pic.twitter.com/Dux0cABHar  Fox News (@FoxNews) May 13, 2018

The next day journalist and genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn tweeted about Lahrens comments and shared some telling details about Lahrens ancestry.

Story continues

Mendelsohn tweeted that, according to the 1930 census, the political commentators great-great-great-grandmother had been living in the United States for 41 years and was still speaking German.

Lahrens great-great-grandmother spoke no English after living in the United States for a decade, and her great-grandfathers 1884 baptism was recorded in Norwegian.

Except the 1930 census says Tomi's 3x great-grandmother had been here for 41 years and still spoke German.



Her 2nd great-grandmother had been here for 10 yrs. Spoke no English.



Her great-grandfather's 1895 baptism from MN? Recorded in Norwegian.#resistancegenealogy #receipts pic.twitter.com/rIySFu6fvL  Jennifer Mendelsohn (@CleverTitleTK) May 13, 2018

Mendelsohn later wrote in a series of tweets that people are people, and always have been.

Some of our ancestors broke laws, some were model citizens. Some never assimilated or spoke English. Some did. Blind lionization of the people who came before us may be just as dumb as the wholesale demonization of current immigrants, she wrote.

She added, What Im trying to show here is that these nativists cant keep trying to back up their argument by saying the country doesnt work this way when clearly it does, and has: for their families. So why do they *really* not want these people here? Thats what we need to dig out.

Mendelsohns message was that Lahren shouldnt be ashamed of her ancestors but should be aware of where she came from before criticizing others.

As long as people like Lahren continue to push a specious agenda that suggests todays immigrants are somehow wholly different from previous ones, Ill keep showing just how alike they really are, wrote Mendelsohn.

Lahren did not immediately respond to a request through Fox News for comment and has not responded to Mendelsohn on social media.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated Mendlesohn was German. She is not, though her Twitter location says she resides there.

Also on HuffPost

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: Everythings coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. Its like a big mess. Blah. Its like vomit.

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": Were going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go."

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": Were rounding em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And theyre going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesnt sound nice. But not everything is nice.

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely."

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back  some will come back, the best, through a process.

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we dont. We either have a country or we dont. We have borders or we dont have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": Theyre going to go, and were going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... Theyre going to go, and then come back and come back legally.

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied  and every politician who has denied them  to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we dont have a country.

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldnt be in the country. They only come in the country legally.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Wikimedia Commons

Task and Purpose, Jared Keller

Security, Americas

The exact citations that the crewmembers will receive will remain part of their own personal records and will not be made public by the Air Force.

Airmen Who Walked Away from a Fiery B-1 Bomber Landing Will Receive Medals

The Air Force intends to award medals to an aircrew for saving themselves and their B-1B Lancer bomber in a fiery emergency landing in May, recognizing their coolness under pressure during a tense and highly critical situation that was any commanders worst nightmare, service officials confirmed today.

- Gen. Robin Rand, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, will award medals to the Lancer aircrew on Friday, according to a July 10 email that appeared on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco page on Wednesday. Dyess spokesman 2nd Lt. Kali Gradishar told Task & Purpose that the nature of those awards will not be disclosed until the day of the ceremony itself.

- The aircrew was forced to make an emergency landing at Midland International Air Space Port in Texas on May 1st after an indicator light alerted them to a fire aboard the long-range strategic bomber, and the weapons systems officers seat failed to release during the subsequent ejection sequence.

- The cover comes off, and nothing else happens. The seat doesnt fire, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson confirmed in June, referring to the ejection hatch. Within two seconds of knowing that that had happened, the aircraft commander says, Cease ejection, well try to land.'

- The horrifying incident induced the Air Force to ground its B-1B fleet for a two-week safety stand-down. On June 19, AFGSC announced that flight operations had resumed, stating that the command had high confidence that the fleets egress systems are capable and the fleet is ready to return to normal flight operations.

The exact citations that the crewmembers will receive will remain part of their own personal records and will not be made public by the Air Force, Gradishar said, adding that service plans on releasing additional details of the incident following the July 13th medal ceremony.

Story continues

This article by Jared Keller orignally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.

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Image: Wikimedia Commons

Read full articlePresident Donald Trump has suggested that the U.S. and Chinas trade relationship is bouncing back from years of unfair deals, telling Americans to be cool, it will all work out.

Trump made the comment in a tweet sent on Sunday, following an earlier message that informed his followers he was helping Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve the fortunes of phone company ZTE.

China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out! he said.

Trending: North Korea Blowing Up Its Nuclear Site Shows Kim Jong Un Will Keep His Promises, Says Seoul

China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! he said earlier.

Despite the president being clear about his intention to secure better deals on trade with China, and the looming and widely discussed trade war between the two countries, Trump has long maintained he and President Xi have a good relationship.

Don't miss: U.S. Official Involved in Fatal Car Crash Forbidden From Leaving Pakistan

1111aaaa1a1a1a1

Reuters

President Xi and I will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade. China will take down its Trade Barriers because it is the right thing to do, The Hill reported Trump saying last month, as both countries suggested they would impose trade tariffs.

Story continues

And less than two weeks ago, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the U.S. trade deficit with China was caused by the countrys evil practices.

President Trump is of the view that its now time for action. Our trade deficit is too big, too continuing, too chronic and too inspired by evil practices, Ross said in an interview with CNBC that suggested things were not as friendly as the president has previously implied.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBRUSSELS/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's foreign minister on Monday called the U.S. decisions to move its embassy to Jerusalem and to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal policy failures that will lead to more tensions and extremism in the region. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, whose Free Patriotic Movement is politically aligned with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, told Reuters that moving the U.S. embassy in Israel would undermine peace in the Middle East. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, in a separate statement issued in Beirut, called it a provocative move that would "put all peace paths in the region in front of a dead end" and exacerbate violence and extremism. "We affirm our complete solidarity with the Palestinian brothers in their legitimate struggle," he added. Bassil said that alongside President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. moves added to a long list of U.S. policy failures in the region. "This is a move that will cause more tensions and lead to more extremism in the region," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels. "We cannot accept to have any kind of peace while Jerusalem is being kidnapped." "This is another failure," Bassil told Reuters. "Israel has declared a long time ago that it is seeking anything but peace, but now the United States is backing Israel in its policy of launching wars against the peoples of the region." (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel @AdeCar Editing by Phil Blenkinsop and David Stamp)LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday she could be trusted to deliver Brexit, but that it could not be done without compromises on all sides -- a possible warning to cabinet ministers who are deeply split over future customs arrangements. The divisions inside her government over the customs issue were laid bare on Tuesday when Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said proposals for a customs partnership with the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc were "crazy". May's decision to leave the EU's customs union, which sets tariffs for goods imported into the bloc, has become one of the main flashpoints in the Brexit debate, pitting companies and pro-EU campaigners against eurosceptics in parliament. The issue has all but stalled Brexit discussions in Brussels and politics in Britain where as pro-Brexit lawmakers have lined up to denounce what is said to be May's preferred plan. The customs partnership would see Britain essentially collect tariffs on behalf of the EU in order to keep trade with the bloc flowing freely. The Sunday Telegraph said at least a dozen of the 28 ministers in May's cabinet were planning to block her proposal. But May wrote in the Sunday Times: "You can trust me to deliver." An alternative proposal, called "maximum facilitation", which relies on future technology to ensure trade continues easily after Brexit, is also being considered by members of her cabinet. The EU has dismissed both proposals. May said she had put forward different options, but she stressed Britain would leave the EU's customs union so the country could establish its own independent trade policy. "Of course, the details are incredibly complex and, as in any negotiation, there will be compromises," she said. But she said she was setting out a path to deliver the Brexit people had voted for. "I will need your help and support to get there," she said in the Sunday Times article. "And in return, my pledge to you is simple: I will not let you down." Environment Minister Michael Gove, a prominent "Leave" supporter in the 2016 referendum campaign, said neither proposal was absolutely perfect. "The new customs partnership has flaws and they need to be tested," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, adding that ministers were scrutinising both options. Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said the government was in a "farcical situation". "Nearly two years after the referendum the cabinet is fighting over two customs options, neither of which frankly are workable, neither of which are acceptable to the EU, and if either of which were put to the vote in parliament, they probably wouldn't carry a majority," he said on the same programme. Starmer said a comprehensive customs union with the EU was a necessary minimum to avoid creating a hard border between British ruled Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. "What we propose is a combination: on the one hand a comprehensive customs union (...) and also a strong single market relationship that hardwires the benefits of the single market into the future agreement," he said. May said in her article that any deal would honour the agreements reached in the Northern Ireland peace process, which could be jeopardised by the return a border controls. "This means there can be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK," she said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Catherine Evans and Jane Merriman)White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said it is possible the U.S. will impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran.

Speaking in an interview with CNNs State of the Union on Sunday, Bolton did not rule out sanctioning European entities trading with Iran several days after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Countries that continue to deal with Iran could face U.S. sanctions," he said, also suggesting that European countries may change their stance on Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal.

Trending: Potentially Habitable Europa Has Plumes That Could Reshape Hunt for Alien Life

I think the Europeans will see that its in their interests to come along with us, Bolton explained.

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Reuters

Asked whether or not European countries could face such sanctions, Bolton responded: It's possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments.

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Following Trumps decision to withdraw the U.S from the nuclear accord, Iran and Israel exchanged blows over Syria, with Israel carrying out air strikes on Iranian targets inside Syria after Iran fired rockets at Israeli military targets, the BBC reported.

European powers have expressed fears over sanctions being re-imposed, with leaders outlining fears of financial losses for European countries as well as concerns the nuclear deal itself will be affected by U.S withdrawal.

The other countries involved in the deal remain in the accord despite Trumps decision.

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And regardless of Boltons tough line on potential sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested there was hope for a new nuclear deal with Iran that could protect the world.

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Speaking to Fox and Friends on Sunday, Pompeo said he "hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekWASHINGTON (Reuters) - An American diplomat, who was initially barred from leaving the country after being involved in a fatal traffic accident, has left Pakistan, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Monday. "We can confirm that the American diplomat who was involved in a tragic car accident on April 7 in Islamabad has departed Pakistan," the spokesperson said in an email to Reuters. Pakistani authorities initially barred the diplomat, who was not named, from leaving the country. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Sandra Maler)One of President Donald Trumps top foreign policy priorities became a reality on Monday as the U.S. embassy in Israel officially relocated to Jerusalem, while only a few miles away in Gaza, Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinian protesters and wounded hundreds more.

The embassy move marks one of Trumps most controversial and momentous foreign policy decisions to date  both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem, but Israel has controlled the city since 1967. Although past presidents contemplated moving the American embassy out of Tel Aviv, Trump has been the first to act on it, declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel in December.

A 250-person U.S. delegation, consisting of presidential advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, and some evangelical pastors and Republican politicians, traveled to Israel to commemorate the opening.

Jared Kushner referred to the protesters along the Gaza border as "part of the problem and not part of the solution." (Photo: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

Our greatest hope is for peace, said Trump, addressing the audience via a video recording from the White House. The United States remains fully committed to a lasting peace agreement and we continue to support the status quo at Jerusalems holy sites.

He extended a hand in friendship to the Israelis, the Palestinians and all of their neighbors.

The president also tweeted about the event Monday morning.

Big day for Israel. Congratulations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2018

Kushner, whom Trump tapped to lead Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, hailed the embassy move as an opportunity for all sides to coexist peacefully.

We believe, it is possible for both sides to gain more than they give  so that all people can live in peace  safe from danger, free from fear, and able to pursue their dreams, he said in a speech.

While attendees toasted the historic opening, thousands of protesters clashed with Israeli forces in Gaza. At least 40 Palestinian protesters were killed and hundreds more were injured, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Groups of protesters also marched from the West Bank into Jerusalem in the hours preceding the ceremony.

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Palestinians protest along the Israel-Gaza border, where Israeli forces killed dozens. (Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

The protests represent the culmination of six weeks of deadly demonstrations along the Gaza border as Palestinians demand a right of return to their land.

Kushner referred to those provoking violence as being part of the problem and not part of the solution.

White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters at a Monday press briefing that the blame for the deadly protests lies with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas, Shah said. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response and, as the secretary of state said, Israel has a right to defend itself.

Widespread international condemnation is expected following the embassy opening. Most United Nations members dont recognize Israels sovereignty over East Jerusalem, arguing instead that the city should possess international status. For decades, U.S. policy has stated that Israelis and Palestinians should negotiate the citys status among themselves, and the status of the city is key in peace negotiations.

This story has been updated with more details about the embassy ceremony and White House reaction to the protests. Doha Madani contributed reporting.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Valerie Volcovici and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Sunday threatened to impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran, as the remaining participants in the Iran nuclear accord stiffened their resolve to keep that agreement operational.

White House National Security adviser John Bolton said U.S. sanctions on European companies that maintain business dealings with Iran were "possible," but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he remained hopeful Washington and its allies could strike a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Bolton struck a more hawkish tone with his comments in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" program than Pompeo did when he was interviewed on "Fox News Sunday."

U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 announced that the United States was withdrawing from a 2015 deal negotiated by the Obama administration.

So far, China, France, Russia, Britain, the European Union and Iran remain in the accord, which placed controls on Iran's nuclear program and led to a relaxation of U.S. economic sanctions against Iran and companies doing business there.

Despite the U.S. exit, Britain and Iran on Sunday expressed their commitment to ensuring that the accord is upheld, according to a statement released by British Prime Minister Theresa May's office.

And Germany said it will spend the next few months trying to persuade Washington to change its mind.

When asked whether the United States might impose sanctions on European companies that continue to do business with Iran, Bolton told CNN: "It's possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments."

Pompeo said he was "hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well."

'REGIME CHANGE'

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The U.S. withdrawal from the Iran deal has upset Washington's European allies, cast uncertainty over global oil supplies and raised the risk of conflict in the Middle East.

Germany's minister for economic affairs, Peter Altmaier, said on Sunday that Berlin will try to "persuade the U.S. government to change its behavior."

In an interview with ZDF public television, Altmaier noted the United States has set a 90-day deadline for foreign firms to comply with the return of sanctions and that this period can be used to convince Washington to change course.

Israel and Iran engaged in an extensive military exchange on the heels of Trump's decision to leave the deal. On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron told Trump in a telephone call that he was worried about stability in the Middle East, according to Macron's office.

As a private citizen, Bolton in the past has suggested that the United States push for a change in Iran's government. But in an interview aired on the ABC's "This Week" program, Bolton said, "That's not the policy of the administration. The policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear weapons."

In the CNN interview, Bolton did not respond directly when asked whether Trump might seek "regime change" in Iran, or whether the U.S. military would be ordered to make a preemptive strike against any Iranian nuclear facility.

"I'm not the national security decision-maker," Bolton said, adding that Trump "makes the decision and the advice that I give him is between us."

When pressed by CNN on whether the Trump administration would sanction European firms that continue to do business with Iran, Bolton said, "I think the Europeans will see that it's in their interest ultimately to come along with us."

Bolton said Europe was still digesting Trump's May 8 move.

"I think at the moment there's some feeling in Europe - they're really surprised we got out of it, really surprised at the reimposition of strict sanctions. I think that will sink in; we'll see what happens then," Bolton said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Sarah N. Lynch and Richard Cowan in Washington and Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Editing by David Gregorio and Paul Simao)By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether to reverse a decision by the Trump administration to roll back Obama-era "net neutrality" rules, Democratic senators said on Monday.

Advocates of keeping the 2015 open-internet rules have the backing of 50 U.S. senators, including Republican Susan Collins. And with the absence of Senator John McCain because of illness, they believe they will win on a 50-49 vote.

The effort still faces an uphill battle - it is uncertain if the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will even vote on the issue and the White House backs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules approved last December.

The FCC repealed rules set under President Barack Obama, a Democrat, that barred providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging consumers more for certain content.

Those rules were intended to ensure a free and open internet, give consumers equal access to web content and bar broadband service providers from favouring their own material or others.

The new rules require internet providers to tell consumers whether they will block or slow content or offer paid "fast lanes."

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer said the issue will energize voters in November's congressional elections, when a number of lawmakers in President Donald Trump's Republican Party may be vulnerable.

"A vote against this resolution will be a vote to protect large corporations and special interests, leaving the American public to pay the price," Schumer said in a statement on Monday.

On Thursday, the FCC said the Obama net neutrality rules will expire on June 11 and the new regulations approved in December handing providers broad new power over how consumers can access the internet will take effect.

Comcast Corp, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc have all pledged to not block or discriminate against legal content after the net neutrality rules expire.

A group of 22 states led by New York and others have sued to try to stop new rules from taking effect. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, told reporters last week that consumers would not be harmed and he said it would simply return the internet to the pre-2015 oversight.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Grant McCool)Kampala (AFP) - The Ugandan leader of a shadowy rebel group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo appeared in court Monday on charges of mass murder and crimes against humanity.

Jamil Mukulu, leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), has been in detention since he was arrested in Tanzania in April 2015 and extradited to Uganda later that year.

The ADF is a Ugandan Muslim rebel group whose basic motives and ideology remain unclear but regional governments have alleged links to international jihadist movements.

The start of the pre-trial hearing marks the first time Mukulu has appeared in court since he was charged in July 2015.

In the court precinct Mukulu protested his innocence and blamed the Ugandan government for a series of murders of prominent Muslims that authorities have pinned on the ADF.

"I'm not a murderer. They want to kill us," Mukulu shouted to journalists.

He appeared alongside 34 handcuffed and shackled co-accused who all alleged via their lawyers that they had been tortured while in detention.

The hearing marks the start of a convoluted judicial process at the Ugandan High Court's International Crimes Division - which was specially set up a decade ago to try crimes allegedly committed by the Lords Resistance Army, another rebel group.

The ADF started out in 1989 with the aim of overthrowing Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who was seen as hostile to Muslims. It absorbed other rebel factions in its ranks and started carrying out attacks in 1995.

Forced westwards by the Ugandan army, the group relocated most of its activities to the DRC, finding a lucrative niche in its lawless, resource-rich east.

Its rollcall of crimes includes mass killings and maiming using machetes, the use of child soldiers and rape, according to the UN.

While regional governments and the UN have blamed the ADF for a number of attacks on civilian and military targets, independent researchers say the group is often used as a cover by armed actors with an ulterior motive, including Congolese soldiers.

Kristof Titeca, an academic at the University of Antwerp who specialises in the ADF, is one of several who argue that the group is not responsible for all the violence blamed on them.

"The violence and attacks attributed to the ADF in the DRC have always been part of a very murky situation, in which a variety of armed actors attribute and cover up their actions as 'ADF' actions," he told AFP.LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Monday he will discuss ways to protect companies doing business with Iran at a meeting with counterparts from France and Germany on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. "What we are going to do tomorrow in Brussels is we are going to have a conversation about what we can do to help UK firms, European firms have some confidence that they can still do business," Johnson said. Trump's decision last week to renege on the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran and re-impose sanctions against Tehran came with the threat of penalties against any foreign firms involved in business there. (Reporting By Michael Holden and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by William Schomberg)By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle asked for "understanding" for the father of the American actress after the U.S. celebrity news site TMZ reported on Monday he would not attend the couple's glittering wedding in Britain this weekend. TMZ said Thomas Markle had decided not to attend the marriage of his daughter to the prince, who is Queen Elizabeth's grandson, because he did not wish to embarrass the royals after media reports that he had staged paparazzi photographs. "This is a deeply personal moment for Ms Markle in the days before her wedding," Kensington Palace said in a statement. "She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr Markle in this difficult situation." A spokeswoman for the prince declined to comment directly on the report or to say whether the statement meant Markle's father would be at the wedding. Markle had been due to walk his daughter down the aisle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, the queen's home to the west of London, at a ceremony which will be attended by Britain's royals and celebrities, and in the glare of the world's media. He had also been expected to meet the queen, her husband and the other senior members of the Windsor family this week. However, Britain's Mail on Sunday reported that Markle had agreed to stage pictures with a photographer ahead of his trip and the images had been sold to media for more than $100,000. TMZ said it had spoken to Markle and that he had said a paparazzi agency had approached him and offered him money, although the sum was not close to the reported figure. He said he had agreed to the pictures because he hoped they would improve his image as previous paparazzi snaps had shown him buying beer and looking dishevelled, TMZ said. The website also said Markle had revealed he had suffered a heart attack six days ago but had checked himself out of hospital in order to attend the wedding. Markle's parents are divorced and while Harry has been pictured with her mother Doria Ragland, there had been speculation about what role her 73-year-old father, a former lighting director for TV soaps and sitcoms, would have. Harry's Communications Secretary told reporters last week that both parents would fly over from the United States this week and would play important roles on the couple's big day. Earlier on Monday, Kensington Palace said the bride-to-be and her mother would be staying at a luxurious hotel near Windsor the night before the ceremony. They are due to travel to the chapel together on Saturday. (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by William Schomberg)Geneva (AFP) - UN rights experts urged Israel Monday to halt all excessive force against Palestinian protesters and called for an "impartial, independent investigation" into troop violence that has left dozens dead.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said it was "alarmed by the disproportionate use of force displayed by the Israeli security forces against Palestinian demonstrators."

The independent experts released their statement as 16 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, were killed by Israeli fire on along the Gaza border as a wave of mass protests and clashes erupted over Monday's transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

It follows weeks of unrest along the Gaza border, with Monday's toll raising the overall number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire to 70 since March 30.

Thousands of others have been injured, with the military facing widespread criticism over its use of live fire.

The 18-member UN committee said it was "gravely concerned that many of the persons who died or were injured were reportedly posing no imminent threat at the time they were shot."

It also voiced alarm at "many reports according to which Israeli authorities have denied and continue to deny access to urgent medical treatment to injured Palestinians."

The experts said the deaths and injuries were occurring "in a context marked by the 50-year occupation of the Palestinian territory" as well as a more than decade-long crippling blockade imposed on Gaza.

They said they were "deeply worried about persisting discriminatory practises against Palestinians by Israel," and lamented "the absence of adequate accountability mechanisms" for troops accused of violations.

Although Israel has publicly announced an investigation into events at the Gaza border, "an independent and impartial investigation has not yet taken place," they said.

The committee urged Israel to quickly initiate such a probe, and also to "counter the tide of racism and xenophobia in public discourse ... (and) to combat racist acts and manifestations of racist hate speech that particularly target Palestinians."At least 58 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,000 people wounded in protests at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, according to Palestinian officials, on the same day the US fulfiled its controversial promise to move its embassy to the contested city of Jerusalem.

Thousands of demonstrators set fire to tyres on Monday, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air to deter Israeli snipers. The Israeli military said the protests were being used as cover for attacks on soldiers.

It marked the deadliest single day of protests in a weeks-long campaign from Hamas in the run up to the US embassy move and the Nakba, or Catastrophe, on Tuesday - celebrated in Israel as the countrys 70th birthday.

The order given to Israeli soldiers was to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Israel at any price, including direct live fire. Israel has also warned Hamas that any mass breakthrough will result in airstrikes on the groups infrastructure inside the Strip - with a number of targets hit by Israeli forces by the afternoon.

Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

Hamas, the militant group that rules the Strip, had urged supporters to break through the 11-year-old Israel blockade, which has left Gaza "uninhabitable".

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the actions of the Israeli forces as a "genocide" and Israel as a "terrorist state".

"No matter from what side, whether from the United States or Israel, I curse this humanitarian plight, this genocide," he said.

Kuwait has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council amid international outcry over the clashes.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled.

Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, led the US delegation with a single message: Only Trump had the courage to act on what America has wanted for a long time.

Story continues

While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it, Mr Kushner said in his speech.

In a recorded message played at the ceremony, Mr Trump said the embassy move was a "long time coming" but he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Our greatest hope is for peace, said Trump, whose recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocation of the embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv, has outraged Palestinians and drawn international concern.

The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement, Mr Trump said. The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.Flags and a floral display in red, white and blue near the new US embassy: Reuters

Workmen have been toiling around the clock in preparation for Mondays grand opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Rooms have been renovated, flowers planted in the design of the US flag and the seal of the US embassy has gone up.

Security around the building has been upgraded, road signs installed and CCTV cameras set up in the area  all part of the renovations that President Trump says have cost a modest $400,000 (295,000).

After 14 months of rapid preparations, the consulate will be inaugurated to huge fanfare, with about 800 guests and a video address by President Trump beamed live around the world.

Diplomatic moves

The embassy building

The consulate building in Agron Road was constructed in 1868

It was one of the first houses built outside Jerusalem's old city walls

The original building had only two storeys; a third was added in the early 20th century

The complex currently covers about 6,000 square metres

Plans suggest it will be four times as big once converted, by the end of next year

Renovation work so far has cost 295,000

The US government leases a second site in Jerusalem, in Nablus Road, providing visa services

It will be a largely symbolic affair, however, because up to six more years of work are planned, including a 10ft perimeter wall, an opulent new chamber and several new floors  both upwards and underground  to house the 850 staff moving from Tel Aviv.

Timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, the opening has been hailed as the beginning of a new quarter in Arnona, south Jerusalem, for embassies from countries around the world that will spring up there.

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," said construction minister Yoav Galant, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Mr Galant even suggested possible names for the embassies area, the Post said. He initially called it Embassy Town but then decided he preferred Trump Town after the US president, who has deemed the city Israels capital. Ministers have already announced a new railway station near the Western Wall will be named after Mr Trump.

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The plan for the new consular facility was created and approved in little over a year thanks to the finance minister, Moshe Kahlon, exercising his authority to fast-track the process. And there will be celebrations aplenty on Monday.

Many of those who know the site best, however, will not be joining in the festivities.

When the rebuilding work begins in earnest, the embassy will be created in part by converting the Diplomat Hotel next door, which it also owns. The embassy will use the consulate building in the short term, but sources suggest the Diplomat is slated to house the embassy in the long run.

For years, the hotel has been leased out as housing for about 450 elderly immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Now, the building is due to be demolished in two years time when the lease expires  and the residents have nowhere to go.

Many of these men and women were doctors, musicians and academics in Russia before moving to Israel in the early 1990s, according to The Times of Israel. Some moved straight into the Diplomat and have never had any other home in the country. Most worked in minimum-wage jobs.

Some of the former Soviet citizens are in their 90s and have had the anxiety of not knowing their fate hanging over them for four years, since they were warned in 2014 the hotel could close.

When Mr Trump announced in December the embassy would move, it prompted shock and concern among both allies and critics because of the citys contested status.

The Palestinians want their own state with a capital in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordanian control in 1967, and many countries have been reluctant to endorse Mr Trumps idea.

However, in a confident gesture in advance of the embassy move, officials changed its Twitter name from USEmbassyTelAviv to USEmbassyJerusalem.

For 70 years, the United States and Israel have developed a partnership unlike any other. We are proud to be at the forefront of this special friendship, now from Israel's capital- Jerusalem. #USIsraelPartnership #USEmbassyJerusalem pic.twitter.com/OheKMnfnPW  USEmbassyJerusalem (@usembassyjlm) May 12, 2018

The complex currently covers 6,000 square metres but blueprints given to planning authorities show it eventually covering about 20,000 square metres or more  four times the size. The US State Department says the new purpose-built building will be a long-term project.

According to Ynet News, the website of Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, 20 planning companies and two New York firms were hired for the project. The US State Department usually employs selected American firms, but deviated from the norm by hiring an Israeli team, including architect Amir Mann and an Israeli contractor to carry out the work, it said.

A five-storey structure was originally planned but to keep costs down the extra floors have not yet been completed, and the ambassador, David Friedman, will make only limited use of the embassy for now, using it for work but not yet moving in full-time.

Both the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem consulates will provide passports and US visa services during the transition period.

Neighbours have complained that the work, carried out under time pressures, could be environmentally unfriendly and risk going against planning and construction bylaws.

But none is as worried as the 450 Russian residents.

The job of finding a new home for them is down to Israels Immigrant Absorption Ministry.

Ksenia Svetlova, a member of the Knesset, of the Zionist Union party, said the ministry has no set plan as to where or how the residents will be moved, and no estimate of potential costs or subsequent budget.

She fears residents could be forced out before June 2020, when the lease expires.

For four years we knew this was coming. I dont understand [the] reliance on the idea that It will just be okay or Trust us. Thats not good enough for me, she told the Times of Israel.

Just a few days before the historic opening of the beautiful United States Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. So excited for the ceremony and proud of all the Embassy staff who worked so hard to make this event happen. Eternally grateful to President Trump for his courage and vision. pic.twitter.com/pGVENzJlBt  David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) May 11, 2018

Absorption Ministry spokeswoman Elisheva Cohen told the paper: The ministry is working together in full cooperation with the relevant bodies in order to find an appropriate solution for the residents of the Diplomat compound and will make sure that no new immigrant will be left without a housing solution following June 20, 2020.

Meanwhile, the new embassy is inviting people to watch Mondays opening ceremony live on its Facebook page. And Mr Friedman, visiting the site, tweeted: Eternally grateful to President Trump for his courage and vision.Ernest Medina, a US Army captain accused but acquitted of responsibility in the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, has died in Wisconsin at the age of 81.

The 1968 mass killings of hundreds of unarmed civilians -- many of them women, children and elderly -- in the Vietnamese village of My Lai is known as one of the darkest chapters of US military history.

Medina, who was in charge of the army infantry company that carried out the massacre, was tried by military court-martial but acquitted of responsibility. He had claimed he was unaware of the massacre while it was taking place.

The cause of the 81-year-old's death last Tuesday was not revealed in a family obituary. His funeral was scheduled for Monday near his longtime home in the small Wisconsin city of Marinette, where he had worked alongside his wife as a real estate agent.

The My Lai massacre occurred on March 16, 1968, when the Charlie Company of the 11th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Medina, entered My Lai based on faulty intelligence that enemy Viet Cong soldiers were disguised among the civilians there.

Medina took a supervisory position outside the village. Lieutenant William Calley entered the village with a platoon of soldiers.

- Hundreds killed -

Even though they found no evidence of enemy combatants, Calley ordered soldiers to kill villagers.

The US Army, which initially covered up the massacre, later revealed that 347 people were killed. The Vietnamese put the total at more than 500 -- including 173 children.

Calley was convicted of murder by a military court-martial and spent more than three years confined to a military barracks or under house arrest.

He apologized in 2009, according to the Ledger-Enquirer newspaper of Columbus, Georgia.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai," Calley was quoted by the newspaper as saying in a speech to a local club.

Calley claimed he had been following Medina's orders.

Medina was acquitted by a military jury. He said he had instructed his soldiers not to shoot women or children.

Twelve other military officers were charged with crimes related to the massacre, including the cover-up. All were acquitted of criminal charges.A submarine missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2017 - AP

The United States has told North Korea that is must start shipping nuclear weapons, fissile material and some of its long-range missiles out of the country within a couple of months of the June summit between Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, and President Donald Trump, according to South Korean media.

The report by Yonhap News echoes comments by John Bolton, the presidents national security adviser, who on Sunday reiterated that Pyongyang could expect no assistance or relaxation of sanctions until it fully dismantles its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Speaking on ABC News, Mr Bolton said, I think the implementation of this decision means getting rid of all the nuclear weapons, dismantling them, taking them to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a nuclear research and storage facility that already holds key components from Libyas nuclear weapons programme.

Yonhap said Washingtons demand was delivered to North Korea as part of the preparatory talks ahead of the summit meeting in Singapore between Mr Kim and Mr Trump, with the US stating that sanctions will remain in place until the North complies.

Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump are due to meet on 12 June in Singapore Credit: Reuters/KCNA

Pyongyangs reaction was not known, although there have been other reports that the regime is resisting requests that it destroy all its nuclear weapons data and send an estimated 10,000 nuclear scientists abroad.

Failing to destroy the accumulated knowledge would permit the North to carry out further research in secret and resume a nuclear weapons programme at short notice, analysts point out, while it would also enable the North to sell atomic data to other nations or terrorist groups.

North Korea has already offered to abolish its nuclear weapons capability and has invited foreign journalists to its Punggye-ri nuclear testing ground next week to observe the destruction of the site.

Washingtons insistence on further steps to denude the North of its nuclear capability suggest that the US is still unsure of just how honest and open Pyongyang is being, coupled with lingering concerns that inspectors may not be able to locate all the regimes research facilities.

Story continues

Mr Bolton and Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, both reinforced Washingtons message that North Korea could reap financial rewards if Kim Jong-un was willing to fully dismantle his nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Pompeo told Fox News that if a deal was reached between Mr Kim and President Trump at their summit in Singapore, that private sector Americans may be allowed to help build out the energy grid that needs enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea.

North Korea's nuclear history: key moments

Americans could also help with investment in infrastructure and agriculture to help feed the North Korean population, he added.

The secretary of state, who appears to be building a rapport with the North Korean leader after meeting him twice in just two months, said that Mr Kim is paying attention to things the world is saying, adding that he would likely be watching Fox News.

In a separate appearance on CBSs Face the Nation, Mr Pompeo also floated the possibility of sanctions relief as a further incentive, which jarred somewhat with Mr Boltons messaging on CNN that Pyongyang shouldnt look for economic aid from the US.

John Bolton has brought a hawkish bent to White House foreign policy Credit: Blooberg

However, Mr Bolton, with a reputation taking a hardline approach to North Korea, also struck a positive tone, commenting that the countrys prospects were unbelievably strong if theyll commit to denuclearisation.

He added: I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way that South Korea does.

Speaking later to ABC, he explained that President Trump was forgoing months and months of preparation for his June summit with Mr Kim because it would interfere with his innate ability to size up the North Korean leader.Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel came under mounting international pressure amid calls Tuesday for an independent probe after its forces killed 60 Palestinians during protests along the Gaza border as the United States opened an embassy in Jerusalem.

Protests and sporadic incidents flared again on the Gaza border, though they were far fewer in number than the previous day, with two Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, Gaza's health ministry said.

Palestinians on Tuesday marked the Nakba, or "catastrophe", commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

The Israeli army said its troops responded to this "with riot dispersal means and fired live rounds".

"Additionally, 700 people violently rioted throughout Judea and Samaria," it said referring to the West Bank.

It came a day after tens of thousands gathered near the border while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side.

Most of the 60 Gazans killed Monday were shot by the snipers, Gaza's health ministry said. The dead included a baby who died from tear gas inhalation and eight other children.

In the bloodiest day of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war, at least 2,400 other Palestinians were wounded.

Israeli forces have killed 116 Palestinians since a campaign of protests on the Gaza-Israel border was launched on March 30.

One Israeli soldier has been reported wounded over the same period.

On Tuesday the Israeli army alleged "it appears that at least 24" of those killed were militants, mainly from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

But there were demands for an independent investigation, with Britain, Germany and Switzerland among those joining calls from the UN and European Union.

British Prime Minister Theresa May called for restraint, saying "such violence is destructive to peace efforts".

Story continues

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the "violence of the Israeli armed forces against the protesters".

Ireland and Belgium summoned the Israeli envoys in their capitals, while South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel.

- Haley defends Israel -

Turkey has told Israel's ambassador to temporarily leave the country, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of "state terror" and "genocide".

Israel hit back, ordering the Turkish consul in Jerusalem to leave for an unspecified period of time.

"Erdogan is one of the biggest supporters of Hamas, so there's no doubt he's an expert on terror and slaughter," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted.

Netanyahu also accused the Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza of deliberately putting civilian lives at risk for political gain.

"They (Hamas) are pushing civilians -- women, children -- into the line of fire with a view of getting casualties," Netanyahu told CBS.

"We've tried to minimise casualties; they are trying to incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel which is horrible."

The US ambassador to the United Nations strongly defended Israel at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the violence in Gaza.

"No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has," Nikki Haley said. "In fact the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas withdrew his top representative to the United States, Husam Zomlot, the foreign ministry announced, without saying for how long.

The United States has blocked the adoption of a Security Council statement that would have called for an independent probe into the violence, diplomats said.

In the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, funerals were held for a second day.

Hundreds attended the funeral of Yazan Tubasi, 23, killed east of Gaza City.

"I am happy that my son is a martyr," said his father Ibrahim, 50, though he was crying uncontrollably.

- 'Many rioters' -

Despite the bloodshed, the embassy inauguration on Monday went ahead as planned in Jerusalem, attended by a Washington delegation that included US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides.

Israel's military said 40,000 Gazans took part in the protests the same day.

It said its aircraft had targeted 11 Hamas sites and tanks fired at "two terror posts belonging to Hamas", accusing the Islamist movement of opening fire towards Israeli forces.

Israel says its action is necessary to stop infiltrations of the border fence and claims that Hamas uses the protests as cover to carry out violence.

The army said "many rioters" had tried to breach the border fence Monday and "approximately 10 explosive devices and several firebombs were used to target the security fence and (Israeli) troops". It said shots were also fired at soldiers.

The embassy inauguration -- which took place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding -- followed Trump's December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss "the deteriorating human rights situation" in the Palestinian territories, a spokesman for the Geneva-based body said.By Kanupriya Kapoor SURABAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) - A family of Islamist militants in Indonesia carried an eight-year-old into a suicide bomb attack against police in Surabaya on Monday, a day after another militant family killed 13 people in suicide attacks on three churches in the same city. The suicide bombers rode two motorbikes up to a checkpoint outside a police station and blew themselves up, police chief Tito Karnavian told a news conference in Indonesia's second-largest city. He said the child survived the explosion, and CCTV footage showed the girl stumbling around in the aftermath. Four officers and six civilians were wounded in the attack, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said. "We hope the child will recover. We believe she was thrown 3 meters (10 ft) or so up into the air by the impact of the explosion and then fell to the ground," said Mangera, adding she had been rushed to hospital. President Joko Widodo branded the attacks in Surabaya the "act of cowards", and pledged to push through a new anti-terrorism bill to combat Islamist militant networks.After some major successes tackling Islamist militancy since 2001, there has been a resurgence in recent years, including in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in the capital, Jakarta. Police suspected Sunday's attacks on the churches were carried out by a cell of the Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an umbrella organization on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is reckoned to have drawn hundreds Indonesian sympathizers of Islamic State. "In the case of Surabaya, they escaped detection, but once it happened we moved fast to identify their network," Karnavian said. The father of the family involved in those attacks was the head of a JAD cell in the city, the police chief said. Earlier, police said his family was among 500 Islamic State sympathizers who had returned from Syria, but the police chief said that was incorrect. During the hunt for the cell, police shot dead four suspects and arrested nine, media reported police as saying. The police chief said the JAD cell may have been answering a call from Islamic State in Syria to "cells throughout the world to mobilize." He said the imprisonment of JAD's leader, Aman Abdurrahman, could be another motive, and cited clashes with Islamist prisoners at a high-security jail near Jakarta last week in which five counter-terrorism officers were killed. Karnavian said the JAD attacks used a powerful home-made explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), known as the "mother of Satan", and commonly used in Islamic State-inspired attacks. In another incident in Sidoarjo, south of Surabaya, police recovered pipe bombs at an apartment where an explosion killed three members of a family alleged to have been making bombs, Karnavian said. Three children from the family survived and were taken to hospital. In all, 31 people have died since Sunday in attacks, including 13 suspected perpetrators and 14 civilians, police said. CHILDREN USED IN ATTACKS CCTV footage of the blast outside the police station early on Monday morning showed two motorbikes arriving at a checkpoint next to a car followed by an explosion as officers approached. Security experts said the attacks represented the first time in Indonesia that children had been used by militants on a suicide mission. "The objective of using a family for terror acts is so it is not easily detected by the police," said Indonesian security analyst Stanislaus Riyanta. He said that families could also avoid communicating using technology that could be tracked. Indonesia's chief security minister said that police backed by the military would step up checks across Indonesia. In Surabaya, police officers wearing balaclavas were posted at major hotels and landmarks on Monday. President Widodo said he would issue a regulation in lieu of a new anti-terror law next month if parliament failed to pass the bill. Police have complained that laws do not give them enough powers to detain suspects to prevent attacks. Speaker of parliament Bambang Soesatyo told Metro TV that the house was committed to wrap up debate on the bill this month, but called on the government to help resolve differences. (For a graphic on 'Bomb Attacks in Indonesia' click https://tmsnrt.rs/2rBtid8) (Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Fransiska Nangoy, Tabita Diela and Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)Monday, May 14

TOP STORIES

(Get this roundup directly in your inbox each weekday  sign up for The Morning Email here.)

ALL THE WRONG MOVES Israel celebrated Sunday in preparation for the U.S. Embassys relocation to Jerusalem  a move so at odds with the global consensus that most international envoys skipped a reception for the event hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Violence erupted Monday on the Gaza border, with more Palestinian protesters expected to demonstrate on the frontier later today. One Fox News host is happy though  Jeanine Pirro claimed Sunday that President Donald Trump had fulfilled a Biblical prophecy by calling in the movers. [Reuters] [Tweet | Share on Facebook]

MAKE CHINA GREAT AGAIN Trump, who spent his much of his presidential campaign promising to secure jobs to the forgotten men and women of Americas heartland, vowed Sunday to help Chinese phone company ZTE because too many jobs in China are being lost. [Reuters]

TACHE THREAT National security adviser John Bolton has warned that Trumps withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal could result in sanctions on companies based in Europe. In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday his country remains committed to the 2015 deal, while his foreign minister hoped the pact could be redesigned without Washington as a member. [HuffPost]

LEAK PIQUE Sarah Huckabee Sanders berated White House staffers over the weekend for leaking the conversation in which an aide mocked John McCain for his ailing health. The details of that dressing down, predictably, leaked to the press. Reacting to the original disclosure, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the comment was disgusting and the White House should apologize. [HuffPost]

WARNING IGNORED Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti posted pictures on Twitter over the weekend showing Trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen with a man who appears to be a Qatari banker accused of bribing Washington lawmakers. [HuffPost]

Story continues

INDONESIA ATTACKS At least 11 people died and dozens were injured after suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia. [HuffPost]

WHATS BREWING

JUST COOK OFF! People in Oakland, California, threw a massive cookout in response to a white woman calling the cops on a black family BBQ. Its an ongoing issue this writer thinks we all need to talk about. [HuffPost]

PENNSYLVANIA PROGNOSIS If you want to know where the Democratic Party is heading, keep a close watch on this Pennsylvania congressional primary. [HuffPost]

WHAT ABOUT MELANIA? Trump praised his late mom on Mothers Day  but skipped any mention of Melania, mother of his youngest son. [HuffPost]

WERE NOT CRIMINAL CIVIL TERRORISTS The father of a Parkland victim has a very strong message for the NRAs new president, Oliver North. [HuffPost]

NOT WHAT THIS COUNTRY IS BASED ON Fox News Tomi Lahren has endorsed the statement made by White House chief of staff John Kelly that low-skilled immigrants have no historical place in the America. Both Kelly and his echo are completely wrong. [HuffPost]

GAY COUPLE PUMMELED Four Florida men have been charged with hate crimes after a gay couple were brutally pummeled last month  an attack caught on surveillance cameras. [HuffPost]

BEFORE YOU GO

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.ISIS, that much feared, reviled, celebrated, media-savvy and somewhat phantasmagoric entity, promotes itself much less through a coherent ideology than via the equivalent of an aggregated, gigantic snuff-selfie, writes Peter Harling in A Brief Visual History in the Time of ISIS, the first issue of the photo-based publication Magnum Chronicles. According to photographer Peter van Agtmaels introductory statement, Magnum Chronicles will be published on occasion to provide timely reflections on issues of critical importance, utilizing imagery by the agencys photographers to create a kind of first draft of history.

With text in English and Arabic, this zine-like, newsprint journal begins with Mileposts in the Rise of Jihadism, a chronology that spans from the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 to President Trumps 2017 missile strike on Syria. The initial photograph is a distanced, serene, nearly ethereal landscape of Palmyra made in 1956 by Inge Morath, and, on the next spread, George Rodgers close-up view, the Ruins of Palmyra, foregrounded by a donkey, that was made a decade later.

It faces another somewhat silly if civil Rodger image of Indian Army officers wearing shorts exploring the Vichy French headquarters in 1941 after their surrender of Damascus, with one of them intently examining, at close range, the surface of a vinyl record.

From left: A scene from a gas station in Hama, Syria by Harry Gruyaert and a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad in a cafe by Alex Majoli.

A succession of images contemplating telling moments in the evolution of the Arab Middle East follow, nearly all of them with the point of interest centered, until one reaches a rather curious page excerpting from Martin Parrs idiosyncratic collection of paraphernalia  in this case, time pieces and hot sauce emblazoned with, among others, the image of the Butcher of Baghdad.

The following photographs become more complex, impressionistic, energized and personal, quite a few of them accompanied by longer, more revelatory texts.

An excerpt from Martin Parrs collection of memorabilia, from left: An Assad watch, 2012; a Saddam Hussein watch, 2004; and Osama Bin Laden hot sauce, 2014.

For example, a large, textured, close-up image of a Yazidi woman simply combing her hair while it covers her face is seen by photographer Moises Saman, given the harsh reality of a region overrun by ISIS, as more telling and relatable than many other photographs Ive taken. Above her image of an 18-year-old female Kurdish fighter, Newsha Tavakolian describes herself as similarly negotiating stereotypes, wanting to portray these women as heroes fighting terrorists, but after spending time with some of them finding that they were oppressed themselves, growing up in a patriarchal society and active in an ideological group. She admits, in a telling moment of reflection, to leaving more confused than when I had arrived.

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Another particularly touching image is a somewhat banal one from 2016 by Carolyn Drake of Algerian-born Omar, a refugee who came to the United States in 2008, sitting tranquilly on a folding chair surrounded by lush greenery near Idahos Snake River. He is playing backgammon with a more recent refugee from Syria whom he had taken there to fish, trying to help him adapt to the United States. Omar describes ISIS as being as far from Islam as you can possibly get.

Perhaps most telling in its details is Lorenzo Melonis 2016 still life of Hair cuttings and beard trimmings from [ISIS] fighters who shaved before fleeing their position in order to be able to disguise themselves amongst ordinary civilians. Meloni, who describes himself as being on an almost four-year hunt to gather evidence to help him understand the thinking, rather than the propaganda, of those who joined ISIS, finds a response here to the blustering of their self-images: This simple picture reminds me of their humanity, that they are also cowards and subject to fear. On the following spread, a horrific image from 2013 by Emin Ozmen  of the moment in which a young Assad soldier is decapitated in front of what is described as a cheering, happy crowd  is contextualized by an explanatory text that attempts to deal with the guilt of the bystander, and some regrets: I felt awful; several times I was on the verge of throwing up. But I kept it under control because as a journalist I knew I had to document this.

This first publication of the Magnum Chronicles opens up many avenues for further exploration within and outside of the legacies of colonialism, underlining and intuiting roiling issues exposed in this time of ISIS, as well as other challenges to the fraying fabric of civilization. It is a helpful slowing down from the 24/7 swirl of information, via a medium that is itself invested in fractional seconds, coupled here with the old-fashioned staying power of newsprint. This first edition of Magnum Chronicles becomes a partial, still fragmentary antidote to what Harling describes as the dangerous mix of ignorance and amnesia that sucks the sense out of our world.

Here, due just as much to the range of image strategies employed as to the content of the photographs, we begin to glimpse the limits of our knowledge and to intuit the diverse dynamics at play. The question remains, as always, whether a humanistic, resonant societal response to the engulfing chaos described here will ever ensue.

Officers of the Indian Army discover the Vichy French headquarters after the surrender in Damascus, Syria, 1941.

General view of the ruins of Palmyra, Syria. A man on horse back passes as he would have done when Palmyra was originally a trading city in the first century AD. 1966.

People burn and throw stones at a poster of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 10, 2003.

A beach scene on a Bank Holiday in Llandudno, Wales, 2013.

A memorial on the Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, in the aftermath of the terror attacks, in Paris on Nov. 18, 2015.

Mahmud Al Hajali shops at a supermarket in Aurora, Ill., in 2015. The Al Hajalis were part of the small wave of 2,200 Syrian refugees who were granted asylum in the U.S. Their son, Wasseem, was initially granted asylum but his application was put on indefinite hold. His other children work long hours at minimum wage to make ends meet.

Hair and beard trimmings from Islamic State fighters, who shaved before fleeing the premises they occupied, to be able to blend in among ordinary civilians, in Sirte, Libya, July 2016.

Fallujah, Iraq, 2016. A chain in an Islamic State prison where detainees were hung to be tortured.

A neighbor, who didn't want to be identified holds a sign, in front of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel's doorway. Bouhlel was the driver of a truck that plowed into a crowd on the waterfront in Nice, France, killing 84 people. Holding a bullet shell from the police's forced entrance, he holds a sign that reads:

The Ouagadougou Conference Center in Sirte, Libya, September 2016.

A man who was badly injured by shrapnel in Mosul waits for a taxi after being checked at the NGO hospital in Erbil in 2017.

A dead ISIS fighter in Mosul, Iraq, May 2017.

A man walks along a desert road near the town of Khalidiyah, in Iraq's Anbar Province, on July 12, 2016. The man, a native of Ramadi, was displaced when ISIS arrived in the city, and now lives with his family in a camp in the nearby town of Habbaniyah. Every day, he walks from Habbaniyah to Ramadi, where he works as a laborer clearing rubble from the war-torn streets.

A soldier from Assad's regimecharged with being an informant, murder, stealing and delivering 10 Free Syrian Army soldiers to the regimeis executed by ISIS in the town of Ehtemlat in northern Syria, 2013.

Along the Turkish-Syrian border under the cover of night, a network of Syrian smugglers transport a family fleeing the violence inside Syria on a rowboat across the Orontes River, which marks a stretch of the border between northern Syria and southern Turkey.

A man picks up a paper that was blown out of the towers after the attack of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Fred Ritchin is an author and Dean Emeritus of the School at the International Center of Photography. His most recent book is Bending the Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary, and the Citizen. Magnum Chronicles Vol. 1 was curated by Peter van Agtmael are distributed for free in partnership with the Newspaper Club.By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Lava flowing from giant rips in the earth on the flank of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano threatened highways on Monday, raising the possibility that officials will order thousands more residents to evacuate before access routes are cut off. Since May 3 when Kilauea began erupting, 19 lava-spewing fissures have opened about 25 miles (40 km) from its summit, including one that tore through countryside close to houses on Monday in the Lower Puna area of Hawaii's Big Island. Steaming cracks along one of the area's main routes, Highway 132, have raised concerns a new fissure may develop there, which would imperil access for 2,000 people in the lower Puna area on the east of the island. If the highway is cut off, officials will start to plan for another major evacuation, Hawaii National Guard spokesman Major Jeff Hickman told reporters. "We've been telling them, 'evacuate if you can, because if we have to come in and get you, we'll be putting first responders at risk," Hickman said. Since the eruptions began, 37 structures have been destroyed and officials have ordered the evacuations of nearly 2,000 people, mostly in the hard-hit Leilani Estates area. The American Red Cross said 500 people sought refuge in its shelters on Sunday night because of worsening volcanic activity. "Eruption of lava continues from multiple points along the northeast end of the active fissure system," the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a briefing. (GRAPHIC:Scorched earth - https://tmsnrt.rs/2IldVyS) 'LAVA BOMBS' Fountains of magma spouted "lava bombs" over 100 feet (30 meters) into the air and a narrow flow had traveled just under a mile (1.6 km) east-southeast by 6.30 a.m. (12.30 p.m. EDT), moving slowly towards the coast some two miles (3.2 km) away, the Observatory said. Residents from coastal communities fear the lava flow could block a dirt road, highway 137, that is their only way out after the main highway 130 was closed due to steaming cracks. "It's down to one gravel road, that's what also pushed us over the edge," said Rob Guzman, who with his husband Bob Kirk decided to leave their home in the Kalapana Seaview Estates subdivision around 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of Leilani Estates. Clouds of toxic gas and constant small earthquakes have sent many residents fleeing, but some either cannot or will not go, said Hazen Komraus, president of the community association. "You can't hop in a car and drive your life, family, pets and job to another state," said Hazen, who described his area as one of the most diverse and tolerant in Hawaii. While residents deal with noxious gas and lava on the ground, the U.S. Geological Survey said that pent-up steam could cause an explosion at the volcano crater as the lava pool drops, launching a 20,000-foot (6,100-meter) plume that could spread debris over 12 miles (19 km). The ash plumes at the summit so far are rising only 4,000-6,000 feet (1,220-1,830 meters). Unlike other catastrophic eruptions, where huge volumes of ash were blown into the stratosphere and carried to distant locations, they are having no impact on weather elsewhere, Steve Brantley, the deputy scientist in charge for the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told Reuters. (Reporting by Terray Sylvester in Pahoa and Jolyn Rosa in Honolulu; Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Sandra Maler)WASHINGTON  Hours after the ceremonial opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem Monday, deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah faced questions about past comments made by three religious leaders with roles in the events  including one who is known for saying that Jews, presumably including most Israelis, are going to hell.

Shah said the comments were not embraced by the White House. But he refused to say how the three  two American Protestant pastors and the chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel  came to participate in the embassy events.

At the daily White House briefing on Monday, Shah initially was asked about the Rev. Robert Jeffress, who leads the influential First Baptist Dallas and delivered the opening prayer at the embassy opening. Jeffress has a long history of controversial comments, including statements suggesting the Catholic Church is a counterfeit religion that is used by Satan and the comment that religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism  lead people to an eternity of separation from God in Hell.

Reporter Andrew Feinberg asked Shah how Jeffress was invited to participate in the embassy ceremony.

I honestly dont know how that came to be, Shah said.

Shah, who said he hadnt seen Jeffresss remarks, emphasized the pastors extensive relationships in Washington.

White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House, in Washington, Monday, May 14, 2018. Shah discussed the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, a White House aide who dismissed Sen. John McCains opposition on the presidents nominee to be CIA director, saying, Hes dying anyway and other topics. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Pastor [Jeffress] has had a strong relationship with many people in the faith community, as well as folks in the administration, and Republicans on the Hill, and others, I believe Democrats as well, Shah said. So, I think that he has a longstanding involvement with public officials. But, you know, beyond that, I dont have a whole lot to add.

Jeffress appeared alongside Donald Trump in the Oval Office last September. The choir of his church, First Baptist Dallas, has performed at events headlined by Trump. Jeffresss statements previously made headlines during the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election when he described Mormonism as a cult during an appearance at the conservative values voter summit. At the time, Jeffress was encouraging his audience to back current Secretary of Energy Rick Perry over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon.

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On Sunday night, ahead of the embassy opening, Romney sent a tweet where he criticized Jeffresss role at the event.

Robert Jeffress says, You cant be saved by being a Jew, and Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell, Romney wrote. Hes said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

In an interview with NBC News, Jeffress denied Romneys charge that hes a bigot, but said he believes the Mormon religion is wrong. First Baptist Dallas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jeffresss belief that only Christians will go to Heaven is common among evangelicals.

President Donald Trump, left, speaks with the Rev. Robert Jeffress during the Celebrate Freedom event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, July 1, 2017. (Photo: Olivier Douliery/Bloomberg)

Jeffress isnt the only religious leader with a history of controversial remarks who was involved in the embassy events.

The Rev. John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, delivered a benediction at the embassy opening. Hagee made headlines in the 2008 presidential election when Republican candidate John McCain repudiated his endorsement after tapes surfaced of a 1999 sermon where Hagee suggested Hitler was an instrument of Gods will because he pushed many Jews to return to Israel.

God says in Jeremiah 16: Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers.  Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters, Hagee said. And they the hunters shall hunt them. That would be the Jews.  Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.

As that controversy erupted, Hagee wrote a letter to Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, seeking to clarify the position. Hagee stressed that he did not mean to condone the Holocaust and vowed to work to express my faith in a way that is sensitive to and respectful of others, including the Jewish community. Foxman responded with a letter praising Hagee for his work combating anti-Semitism and supporting the state of Israel

When asked about Hagees role in the embassy ceremony, a spokesperson for the pastors organization, Christians United for Israel, told Yahoo News that Hagees controversial sermon was based on the teachings of Jewish theologian Rabbi Yisachar Shlomo Teichtal. The spokesperson also pointed to Hagees 2008 exchange with Foxman. The organization had no information about how Hagee was invited to participate in the ceremony.

Televangelical Rev. John Hagee attends a Christians United for Israel summit in Jerusalem, on March 8, 2010. (Photo: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)

On Sunday, the presidents daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, both of whom are also advisers to the president, were blessed by Israels Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef as part of their trip to the country. (Israel has two chief rabbis, reflecting different origins of its Jewish population. Sephardic Jews have ancestry primarily from the Mideast and North Africa.) Yosef has been denounced by the Anti- Defamation League for remarks he made earlier this year where he compared black people to monkeys. He could not be reached for comment on this story.

After Shah initially addressed the Jeffress appearance, Yahoo News asked him to respond to specific remarks Jeffress made as well as those from Hagee and Yosef. Shah said he was unaware how the three became involved in the embassy events and distanced the White House from their controversial past statements.

I dont have any readout on how they became involved with these events. All Ill say is that those specific views that you outlined, if theyre accurate reflections of what was said, wouldnt be embraced by this White House, Shah said. Beyond that, I dont have anything else.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:Paris (AFP) - Both friends and foes of the United States voiced criticism Monday as Washington opened its embassy in the disputed city of Jerusalem, saying the move would fan Middle East tensions.

Chief US ally Britain reiterated its stated objection to the move, while the Iranian speaker of parliament said it showed that US President Donald Trump is "feebleminded" and "incapable of evaluating the long-term consequences of his actions".

"Such actions will increase tensions and insecurity in the world," Ali Larijani said, adding that they would not go "unanswered".

The ceremony in Jerusalem, where Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner officiated, came after Israeli troops put down protests over the move by Palestinians at the Gaza border with Israel, killing dozens of civilians.

"We disagree with the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said.

"The British embassy to Israel is based in Tel Aviv and we have no plans to move it."

Under the 1993 Oslo peace accords shepherded by then US president Bill Clinton, the status of Jerusalem, including whether East Jerusalem will be the capital of a Palestinian state, was to be agreed in future negotiations.

The British statement added that London has "no plans" to move its mission from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is holy to three of the world's major religions.

France also spoke out against the US move, saying along with many other critics that it violated "unambiguous" international law and UN Security Council resolutions.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a visit to London, slammed what he called a "very, very unfortunate" move, saying that it had stripped Washington of its role as mediator in the Middle East peace process.

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- US now 'part of the problem' -

"With its latest step America has chosen to be a part of the problem, not a solution, and lost its mediator role in the Middle East peace process", Erdogan told the Chatham House international affairs think tank.

"This decision... will increase tensions and ignite an even greater fire between communities," Erdogan said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Moscow's objection to the move, saying: "We firmly believe that it is inappropriate to unilaterally revise the decisions of the international community in this way."

Lavrov, speaking in Moscow after meeting the Russian defence minister and the pair's Egyptian counterparts, recalled that Russia "has several times offered a platform" for talks on the status of Jerusalem.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI wrote in a letter to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that he was "monitoring with concern" the US recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, the MAP news agency reported.

The monarch, whose country does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, heads the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Al-Quds Committee, which lobbies on issues related to Jerusalem.

Like Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, the Moroccan king denounced Washington's "unilateral decision".

The Egyptian foreign ministry, in a statement expressing "strong denunciation" of Israel's use of force against Palestinian civilians, said Cairo "totally supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and first and foremost its right to an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital."

burs/gd/bpAsia Times

Security, Asia

The Chinese leader may well make a visit.

Will Xi Jinping Join the Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore?

Rumor has it that Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in Singapore at the same time US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are holding the first-ever summit between the leaders of their respective nations.

The summit is set to take place on June 12, in Singapore.

Last Friday, Japans Mainichi Shimbuns Washington correspondent cited a National Security Council source saying there is a possibility of a third countrys leader taking part, and identifying that leader as Chinas president, Xi.

From twosome to threesome?

Amid the rumors that have been swirling around the high-profile meeting, this looks highly speculative. Chinese officials have declined to comment on Xis travel plans at the time.

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The first-ever summit between North Korea and the United States is being talked up as historic, with Trump hailing it as a possible game changer for North Korea and the world. The two sides have much to discuss bilaterally  to the point where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the talks might drag on into a second day.

While Washington has made very clear that Pyongyangs denuclearization is its foremost priority, it is still not entirely clear exactly what Kim seeks in return: This, it is assumed, will be made clear on the day.

Given that North Koreas nuclear programs have cost the nation both scarce capital and massive international goodwill, the talks are not expected to be easy. Few expect Kim to accede to Trumps demands without naming a large price  if, indeed, he agrees to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization (CVID) at all.

Story continues

Chinas interests in Korea, while in some ways aligned with those of North Korea and the United States, are not entirely in sync. Given this, it seems unlikely that Beijing would be invited in to add further complexity to what are already hugely high-stakes negotiations.

A peace treaty signing in Singapore?

However, the Mainichi pointed out that Xi has a compelling reason to join: China, along with North Korea and the United States, were the three signatories to the 1953 Armistice that ended the Korean War. South Korea, which had policy differences with the United States at the time, was not a signatory.

Xis presence would suggest that the three leaders may have secretly agreed on a fait accompli outcome to the summit: A peace treaty to end the war.

Despite Beijing-Washington trade frictions, Trump considers Xi a friend and has discussed the Korean peninsula with him during bilateral meetings  to the point of being lectured by Xi on Sino-Korean relations over dinner.

Moreover, Beijing has in recent months drastically increased its pull over Pyongyang. In a move that surprised the world, Kim met Xi in Beijing, at the latters invitation, prior to his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim has since met Xi again, flying in for a discussion in Dalian.

Prior to these two meetings, relations between the two leaders were frosty: After Kim executed his point man on Chinese affairs, Jang Song-taek, relations between Beijing and Pyongyang deteriorated, and Beijing applied UN sanctions more stringently than it had done in the past.

Some Chinese commentators have also been playing up the significance of Xis involvement, saying Xi can act as a mediator to keep the ball rolling if the talks are held back by conflicting demands; Trump had vowed that he would walk out of talks if they are not fruitful.

There has also been considerable speculation that Moon could play the intermediary role; he has floated the idea of a trilateral North Korea/South Korea/US summit.

Luxury summitry

Meanwhile, Singapores Straits Times has also reported that the rooms at the two possible venues for the ground-breaking summit  Marina Bay Sands and Shangri-La Hotel Singapore  had all been booked up.

Its said Trump may pick the unorthodox resort and gaming complex overlooking the bustling Marina Bay, featuring a swimming pool and observation deck piggybacking on a roof terrace atop three 55-story hotel and condominium towers, as to return his personal favor to Sands CEO and chairman Sheldon Adelson, a long-time donor.

Shangri-Las rich experience and track record of hosting high-profile forums and detente talks, including the annual Shangri-La dialogue as well as the 2015 landmark talk between Chinas Xi and then Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, are all its convincing merits as well.

Its said Shangri-Las presidential suite is the only hotel room in the Lion City that conforms to the stringent security requirements to accommodate a US president.

This article originally appeared on Asia Times.

Image: Reuters

Read full articleNew York (AFP) - A former New York nanny was sentenced to life behind bars Monday for murdering two young children in her care five years ago in a case that tormented parents worldwide.

Yoselyn Ortega, 56, killed six-year-old Lucia and two-year-old Leo with a kitchen knife in the bathroom of their affluent Upper West Side apartment on October 25, 2012.

A New York jury found her guilty last month on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.

On Monday, Judge Gregory Carro sentenced Ortega to the maximum penalty under the law -- life in a state prison without the possibility of parole.

The prosecution said Ortega deliberately planned the murders and was motivated by financial problems and resentment of her wealthy employers.

"Leo and Lulu will never live the lives that laid ahead of them, and now their remorseless killer will live the rest of her life in prison," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.

Moments earlier, Ortega sobbed as she expressed remorse for the first time for the killings, asking for forgiveness from God and the children's parents but standing by her defense that she "did not feel well."

"I'm very sorry, but I hope that no one goes through what I have gone through," she said, her remarks in Spanish translated into English for the benefit of the New York State Supreme Court.

"I ask for a great deal of forgiveness -- to God, to Marina, to Kevin," she said, wearing an oatmeal top and her dark hair scraped back into a pony tail.

Her lawyer said she suffers from psychosis, depression and heard voices telling her to kill the children.

"My client is severely ill, she is psychotic," Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg said, appealing for her to be placed in protective custody.

Marina Krim, 41, found her children dead in the bathtub after rushing home in a panic with her third child Nessie when she learned Ortega had not taken Lucia to her dance class as planned.

Ortega then took the knife to her own throat in an apparent suicide attempt. Lucia had sustained about 30 slashes to the body and neck, showing that she had tried to fight back.

The case shocked working parents and went on to inspire a best-selling French novel that explored the relationship between a working mother and the woman she hires to look after her young children.New satellite images released Sunday show the destruction at the Damascus Airport after a surgical Israeli strike on Iranian targets in Syria last week.

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The Israel Air Force targeted over 50 Iranian sites in Syria after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force fired 20 rockets at Israeli military posts in the Golan Heights.

(Photo: ImageSat International ISI)

The targets hit at the airport include storage facilities housing advanced weapons, reportedly including rockets and missiles that belong to the Quds Force troops operating in Syria.

(Photo: ImageSat International ISI)

Some of the satellite images, taken by ImageSat International (ISI), show "The Glasshouse," the headquarters of the Quds Force at the Damascus International Airport, while others show damage caused to a weapons storage facility in a field.

(Photo: ImageSat International ISI)

None of the rockets fired by the Quds Force hit inside Israeli territory - four were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, while the rest fell inside Syria.

The Israeli retaliatory strike, code named "Operation House of Cards, lasted an hour and a half and is considered the most extensive attack in Syria since 1974.

(Photo: ImageSat International ISI)

The IAF bombarded military installations at Tel Gharba, Tel Kleb, Nabi Yusha and Tel Maqdad, as well as a military compound of the Iranian Quds Force in al-Kisweh, according to the IDF Spokespersons Unit.

Iran vowed retaliation after a suspected Israeli air strike last month killed seven of its military personnel in a Syrian air base.

The attack on the Golan Heights, just past midnight, marked the first time Iranian forces have attacked Israel from Syria, where they have deployed along with Iran-backed Shiite militias and Russian troops to support President Bashar Assad in the seven-year-old civil war.Police on Sunday transferred the investigation file into the death of 10 teenagers in the Zafit Steam disaster last month to the State Prosecutor's Office, reccomending that the instructor, Aviv Berdichev, be chagred with manslaughter. The director of the Bnei Zion pre-military academy, Yuval Kahan, faces an indictement for causing death by negligence.

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Police said they had enough evidence to file the charges. It has not yet been decided whether to file an indictment and for what offenses against the counselor Noam Dor, who warned about the danger of flooding.





Zafit Stream disaster

In the disaster, which occurred during a group trip by the Bnei Zion preparatory (pre-army) course candidates, the hikers were walking in the stream when it began to rain. Some of them were on the banks of the stream but the girls who were killed were at the bottom, and when the floodwaters came, they were carried away. The trip set out despite serious warnings about the danger of flooding in the area.

Police first received notice of the precarious situation at 1:22 pm on April 26.

Twenty-five students and three counselors took a three-day field trip. The original route of the trip was set in Nahal Tze'elim where they were supposed to stay in the camping grounds. But due to concerns of flooding, on the night of April 25 they decided to stay at the Camel Ranch in Ein Tamar.

It was then that they decided to cancel the original route of Nahal Tze'elim and look for an alternate route. In the morning it was decided to hike in two streams, Tamar Stream and Nahal Zafit; around 12:45 pm, the group descended into Nahal Zafit. Between 25 minutes and half an hour later, a flash flood, caused by all the rains that fell between 10 and 15 kilometers away, struck. The stream consists of a wide section that narrows as it progresses, and anyone trapped in the narrow section did not survive the stream, which became a death trap.

Aviv Berdichev (L) Yuval Kahan

The police Fraud Unit launched an investigation and a special investigation team was set up, headed by Dep. Inspector Yossi Turgeman, the deputy commander of the District Police. Two teams went down to the field and a second crew arrived at Abu Kabir to identify the victims.

During the detention of the instructor and the director of the preparatory program, confrontations took place between them and others. The investigation included collecting testimonies from members of the academy and staff in its offices. The professionals with whom they were in contact with regarding the weather, including Meteotek, the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, an Air Force soldier and an expert on floods from the Water Authority, were also questioned. The same applies to those responsible for pre-army academies in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense.

The investigation team also conducted a tour of the area in order to understand the route of the trip and it was filmed using a drone. According to the investigation, Berdichev was the one who made the decision to descend to the stream despite all the warnings.

The guide had knowledge of all the weather factors, and he even received a warning from Meteotek that it was not a day for hiking. An Air Force officer with whom he consulted told him that he had no background in floods and lacked understanding on the matter. As soon as they began to descend into the stream it began to rain. As far as the interrogators are concerned, the guide was in the field and made the decisions, as opposed to Kahn who was not there.

Berdichev's attorney, Zion Amir, said that anyone can easily see that the police position lacks any legal basis.

Noam Dor

Regarding legal measures against the guide Noam Dor, who happens to be the daughter of the deputy commander of the Arava region rescue unit, the police have not yet reached a decision.

Her father contacted her several times to warn about floods. She updated Berdichev on the matter. Her attorney Shachar Mandelman said: "We are pleased that the Police's recommendation clears the instructor of any suspicion and is confident that the State Attorney's Office will adopt this recommendation."

Kahan, the head of the academy, announced his resignation ten days ago: "Since the disaster, I have been torn and broken, and I will never be able to find words that can express the sorrow I feel." He gave a message to the media: "On the 11th of Iyar 5768 (Hebrew calendar date), a terrible and inconceivable disaster occurred in the pre-military preparatory program of Bnei Zion, which I lead.

During the trip that was meant to foster the values of friendship and a love of the land, Yael Sadan, Adi Raanan, Agam Levy, Ilan Bar Shalom, Ellla Or, Gal Balali, Maayan Barhum, Rumi Cohen, Shani Shamir and Tzur Alfi of blessed memory were killed. The head of the preparatory program is first and foremost an educational role that requires the full trust of the trainees, their families and all those who are involved in the program."A Molotov cocktail was thrown Sunday night at a Jewish home in east Jerusalem, lightly wounding a policeman engaged in operational activity in the area. The policeman, who was hurt in the eye, received medical care.

Meanwhile, cars were vandalized and anti-Arab graffiti were spray-painted in the neighborhood of Shuafat. Police launched an investigation into the incident.Israel Air Force planes dropped leaflets in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning ahead of the expected riots amid US Embassy opening in Jerusalem and the Nakba Day events, warning residents to keep away from the border fence, to refrain from vandalizing it or from carrying out terror attacks and not to serve as Hamas' tool.

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The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement that the army was prepared for any scenario: "The IDF won't allow any damage to the security infrastructure and the fence defending Israel's citizens and will act against anyone operating against Israel's security."

An IDF leaflet warning Gaza residents (Photo: AFP)

One of leaflets read, "To the protestors, you are taking part in violent protests that are putting your life in danger. Hamas is using you to conceal its failures and is endangering you and your family members. The IDF is prepared for any scenario and will act against any attempt to target the security fence or to threaten the forces or Israel's citizens. Hamas is using you. Don't be its puppets. Stay away from the fence and beware terror operators and violent rioters! Take care of yourselves and work to build your future!"

Another leaflet stated, "Hamas said it was going to improve the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Has that been done? Hamas said it was going to built new medical and educational centers. Has that been done? Hamas said it would take care of civil affairs. Has that been done? Hamas said that participating in protests would improve your lives. Do you think that will happen?"

The leaflets were signed by the IDF Headquarters.

Palestinians riot on Gaza border last Friday (Photo: AFP)

The army is preparing for the arrival of dozens of Palestinians, including children, at points of friction along the Gaza border Monday. They are expected to try torch heavy equipment, target security infrastructures on the fence and kidnap IDF soldiers during the riots.

According to estimates, thousands of them will try to break through the security fence, which has not been crossed so far despite many attempts since the start of the "March of Return" campaign about a month and a half ago.

Palestinian protestors removing mound east of al-Bureij

On Monday morning, Palestinian protestors began removing the mound east of al-Bureij, one of the obstacles placed on the Gaza border to prevent the Palestinians from storming the border fence.

Meanwhile, Arab newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Monday that Egypt had offered to open the Rafah Crossing regularly if Hamas stopped the "return protests." The Egyptians added that if the marches are halted, it would allow the transfer of goods through the crossing and take care of the strip's urgent needs, like electricity.

Hamas sources added that the Egyptians made it clear to the organization that a continuation of the protests would lead to a major military conflict with Israel, which would cause a lot of damage to Hamas and the Palestinians.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh with protestors on Gaza border

The Egyptians made the offer in a short meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The organization said the proposal would be presented to the rest of the organizations in the strip, but clarified: "This isn't the proposal we want. The meeting can be classified neither as a failure nor as a success."

According to the paper, Hamas received other proposals from UN envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov, during his recent visit to the strip, and from Qatari Ambassador Mohammed al-Emadi. Senior Hamas member Yahya Moussa said Hamas didn't receive a serious offer or a comprehensive policy from Mladenov.

Preparations for protests on Gaza border, Monday morning

In light of Hamas' preparations for the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem and the Nakba Day events, Israeli officials believe the an escalation to war on the Gaza border is very likely. According to Israeli sources, Hamas is interested in creating a crisis, so that the international community would rescue the organization from its governmental and financial distress. According to estimates, Hamas won't hesitate to send children, women and elderly people to the fence to undermine the State of Israel's legitimacy to defend itself.

Thousands of fighters, some from the Nahal and Givati Brigades, are reinforcing the routine security regiments in the Gaza Division and Judea and Samaria Division. The forces have been instructed to prepare for several radical scenarios, including shooting attacks or explosive devices that might be planted during the attempts to break through the fence. Another scenario is the abduction of a soldier after the fence is breached. The army is preparing for the possibility of armed Hamas members trying to infiltrate Israel together with the protestors.Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, speaking in a recording released on Sunday, the eve of plans by the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem , said that Tel Aviv was also Muslim land.

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The United States has finalized preparations to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a ceremony scheduled for Monday.

President Donald Trump, who in December reversed decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, has sent his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushnerboth White House advisersas part of a delegation to the ceremony.

Zawahri. 'Muslim land that cannot be ceded to Jews' (Photo: EPA)

Trumps decision on the embassy has enraged Palestinians, who want Arab east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Middle East war, to be the capital of their own future state. The status of the cityhome to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religionsis one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Trump says he is making good on US legislation and presidential pledges dating back decades.

Preparations for US Embassy opening in Jerusalem (Photo: AP)

In his four-minute and 43-second message, Zawahri said all Muslim countries have effectively recognized Israel by signing the United Nations charter which calls for respecting the territorial integrity of every member state, including Israel.

Many have even established public or secret relations with Israel and accepted that Tel Aviv or West Jerusalem be the capital of Israel, even though it is also Muslim land that cannot be ceded to Jews, Zawahri said in the recording posted on a social media channel used by the Islamist militant group.

The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.

Zawahris last public message was issued in February, when he called on Egyptians to topple their government ahead of presidential elections in March that gave President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi a second term in office.A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Jewish home in east Jerusalem on Sunday night, lightly wounding a policeman engaged in operational activity in the area.

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The policeman, who was hurt in his eye, received medical care. Police and Border Guard searched the area for suspects.

In a separate incident, the tires of several cars were slashed in the neighborhood of Shuafat and graffiti reading "Jews wake up!!" were spray-painted on walls. Police launched an investigation into the incident.

Graffiti in Shuafat. 'Jews wake up!!' (Photo: Israel Police)

In a third incident, stones were tossed at the light rail in Shuafat, causing damage to one of the train's windows. There were no reports of injuries. Police forces were dispatched to the area and launched an extensive search for suspects.

The violent events took place several hours before the official opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.Speaking at the Orthodox Union Organization's welcoming ceremony in Jerusalem on Monday, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman praised the US Embassy move to Jerusalem, saying that "many people deserve credit for this move. Nothing would have happened without the courage and vision of the US President Donald Trump and without the support of the State Department which does terrific work.

"I received support from two close friends who worked to strengthen the relations between Israel and the US, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt," the US ambassador added.(AP) Vermont lawmakers hope a new law that requires single occupancy restrooms be marked gender neutral can serve as a model for the rest of the nation.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed the bill Friday. The new law, passed with support from Vermont's three major political parties, is the most recent development in a national debate over whether individuals can be required to use toilet facilities corresponding with the gender on their birth certificate.

"Vermont has a well-earned reputation for embracing equality and being inclusive," Scott said at the bill signing ceremony at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier.

The new law takes effect July 1.

Rep. Selene Colburn, a Progressive from Burlington and sponsor of the bill, said the new law would also benefit caretakers of the opposite gender who need to assist children, the elderly or the disabled.

Montpelier High School student Nathan DeGroot said it took 15 months after coming out as transgender before he felt comfortable entering a men's restroom.

"There are people in this room who purposefully do not drink more than a certain amount during the day just so they don't have to validate their entire existence every time they need to do the most natural thing in the world," DeGroot said.

He added that he sees this law as the beginning of a larger push for transgender inclusive facilities.

The sometimes contentious issue of gender neutral restrooms has been playing out across the country for some time.

Vermont, along with 18 other states and the District of Columbia, includes gender identity as a protected class in accommodation laws.

Some states that have attempted to legislate that individuals use the bathroom matching the gender on their birth certificate have faced national backlash. In 2016 North Carolina attempted to require people to use the bathroom matching the gender on their birth certificate but repealed portions of the law a year later losing business.

Last year the Trump administration withdrew an Obama era guidance that supported a transgender Virginia student suing his school district for the right to use the boys' restroom.

Dana Kaplan, executive director of Outright Vermont, said that for many transgender people bathroom labeling is a public safety issue and that the bill increases "health and access for all folks."

Arli Christian, state policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, said it has been more common for cities and counties to take up this issue. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a similar bill requiring gender neutral restrooms in 2016.

The Vermont bill passed with a large majority in the House and unanimous support in the Senate. The few no votes came from lawmakers who wanted an exemption for religious buildings.

Other advocates cited Vermont's national reputation as a progressive state on LGBT issues when applauding the new law.

"Vermont is the state that often has to show the rest of the United States where to go and how to get there," said advocate Brenda Churchill.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would discuss how to try to save the Iran nuclear deal with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow later on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.

Lavrov was cited as saying that US President Donald Trump's announcement last week that Washington would withdraw from the deal had created a "crisis situation," the news agency reported.US envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt said Monday morning that moving his country's embassy to Jerusalem was not an American departure from the commitment to achieve a lasting peace deal, but rather a necessary condition for it.

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Greenblatt launched a series of tweets ahead of the official US Embassy opening on Monday afternoon, in which he reviewed the diplomatic relations between Israel and the United States in the past 70 years.

"As we begin this historic day, let's remember why we are here and how we got here," he wrote.

Greenblatt. 'Jerusalem is the heart of three great religions' (Photo: EPA)

The American envoy mentioned the bipartisan 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act urging the move, which was reaffirmed by the Senate unanimously in 2017. "More than two decades of waivers delaying the embassy move brought us no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," he wrote.

Greenblatt noted that the US, under President Harry Truman, became the first nation to recognize the State of Israel 70 years ago.

US delegation arrives in Israel (Video: Ziv Sokolov) (:  )

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He reiterated US President Donald Trump's statement that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is simply a recognition of reality, as all Israeli government symbols are located in the city.

Greenblatt said that "taking the long-overdue step of moving our embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal. Rather, it is a necessary condition for it."

He added that the US continues to support preserving the status quo at holy sites. "Jerusalem is the heart of three great religions, as well as the capital of one of the most successful democracies in the world. It is, and must remain, a city in which Jews pray at the Western Wall, Christians walk the Stations of the Cross, and Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa."

Meanwhile Monday, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said during a special event hosted by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) that the world's nations were returning to Jerusalem, led by Israel's greatest friendthe United States.

US Ambassador David Friedman. 'The world's nations are returning to Jerusalem' (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

According to Friedman, "President Trump's biggest applaud line these days is about relocating the embassy. It's the most popular thing he's done and the encouragement from all the American community is more than heartwarming. We have waited for this for 70 years."

Video courtesy of OU (: OU)

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The ambassador added that many people deserve credit for the move, but said that "all that's happening today wouldnt have happened without the courage, the vision, the strength and the moral clarity of President Donald Trump."

Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin said during the event, "This is a day I will always remember. President Trump is moving the embassy because it is a security priority to have the embassy here in Jerusalem."

Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Education Minister Naftali Bennett said, "Everyone is feeling history in the making. Jerusalem is here to stay. It used to be land for peace. The new formula is peace for peace."

Education Minister Bennett. 'Everyone is feeling history in the making' (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said, "The people of Israel are proud and excited, together with Jews all over the world. This is an essential step for Israel's international status." She praised the "determination and courage" of President Trump.

The US Embassy inauguration ceremony at Jerusalem's Arnona neighborhood will kick off at 4 pm Monday. The American delegation to the event includes some 250 participants and is led by Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, the president's senior advisor. The event will include speeches by President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Speaking at the Orthodox Union Organization's welcoming ceremony in Jerusalem in the wake of the US Embassy move, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said "history is being made today.

"The US has taken the first courageous step and now we await for other countries to follow its footsteps.

"On behalf of Israel's government I would like to thank a true friend, the US President Donald Trump," Bennett said. "I was asked by the media what is the price we would have to pay (for the US Embassy move to Jerusalem). I think that we live in a time that nobody needs to pay for peace, but rather in a time of peace for peace."The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah on Monday dismissed the US decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem as a "worthless" unilateral step, Hezbollah's al-Manar TV reported.

Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a televised speech in Beirut, also said attacks on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights last week had affirmed "the balance of deterrence" between Israel and its adversaries.A Shin Bet investigation of Palestinians breaching the Gaza border fence has led to the conclusion that Hamas encourages and sends demonstrators to the Gaza border fence to execute violent activities and to sabotage infrastructure near the border.

The inquiry also concluded Iran has been financing the riots on the Gaza border fence.Sixty-one Palestinians, including five minors, were killed Monday in violent clashes with the IDF on the Gaza border as they were protesting the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, according to medical sources in the strip. This is the highest Palestinian death toll since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

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IDF fighter jets and tanks attacked Hamas targets in a training camp in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, following earlier attempts to plant an explosive device on the fence and gunfire at soldiers. The IDF also killed the three terrorists who tried to plant the explosive in the Rafah area.

According to reports, four of the dead were members of Hamas's security apparatuses. An IDF soldier was lightly wounded, likely from a stone, and received medical care.

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About 40,000 Palestinians have gathered near the fence in 13 hot spots along the border since the morning hours. Several thousand others were located in the tent area about half a kilometer from the fence.

At 5:30pm, Hamas ordered all those present in the border area to return home.

More than 1,200 were shot and wounded, with 116 in serious or critical condition. About 1,200 others suffered other types of injuries, including from tear gas, Palestinian sources said.

Palestinians rioting near the Gaza border (Photo: AFP)

The protesters on the Gaza border burned tires and threw stones at the soldiers, trying to approach the fence. An IDF quadcopter was shot down near Jabalia.

The IDF warned the protestors that Israel wouldnt tolerate any breach of the fence. Troops fired gas grenades and warning shots at the protesters.

Fadi Abu Salah, one of the protestors killed by IDF fire

"Hamas is threatening the Palestinians to go out and protest near the fence. We are prepared for activity above and beyond the fence and deep within the strip," a military source said. He added that while the number of protesters was higher than before, it wasn't as high as Hamas had hoped for, which is why the organization raised its level of violence.

"Hamas placed many women at the front in an effort to make it difficult for us to deal with terror targets. That's the most significant level of violence we have seen since the start of the protests."

IDF thwarts attempt to plant explosive device on Gaza border

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Hamas has gone to great lengths to bring more people to the fence protests. Defense officials said Hamas was offering Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip $100 if all family members took part in the protests. The terror group also offered Gazans transportation to the fence area and to the different points of friction.

A general strike was also declared in the Gaza Strip on Mondaywith schools and higher education institutions in the strip closed for the dayto encourage residents to flock to the protest sites.

Protestors in the Gaza Strip, Monday morning (Photo: AFP) (Photo: AFP) In the West Bank, several dozen Palestinians hurled stones at IDF forces in Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Rachel's Tomb and Bethlehem. The forces responded with crowd dispersal means.

The Palestinian government in Ramallah rushed to accuse Israel of committing a "horrible massacre" and declared a national day of mourning, to be held Tuesday.

In addition, the Palestine Liberation Organization called a general strike across the West Bank and Gaza on Tuesday in response to the deaths, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Monday.

The agency reported that PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef announced a "complete strike" across the Palestinian Territories "to mourn the martyrdom" of those killed in Gaza on Monday.

Smoke following IDF strike in Gaza (Photo: AFP) (Photo: AFP)

The Palestinian government called for "immediate and urgent international intervention to stop the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the protestors in Gaza."

The statement added that "the Arab and Islamic governments must take measures to stop the bloodshed of the Palestinian people and stand by the Palestinian leadership as it deals with the aggression of the Israeli occupation."

Wounded Palestinan evacuated (Photo: AFP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah accused the United States of "blatant violations of international law.

"Choosing a tragic day in Palestinian history (to open the Jerusalem embassy) shows great insensibility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process," Hamdallah wrote.

Qaudcopter drops smoke grenade on protestors

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Egypt, meanwhile, has raised its alert level along its own border with Gaza and boosted its security forces in the area.

The IDF operated in several sites Sunday night to disrupt Hamas infrastructures planned to be used as a front base for terrorist activity on Monday and Tuesday. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said the army was prepared for a wide variety of scenarios and has boosted its forces in the area. IDF commanders are constantly evaluating the situation from the ground.

A closed military zone was declared in the fence area. Any activity in that area requires the IDF's approval. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stressed that the army would act against any terrorist activity, work to maintain the Israeli sovereignty and prevent attacks on citizens and soldiers.

Thousands of fighters, some from the Nahal and Givati Brigades, are reinforcing the routine security regiments in the Gaza Division and Judea and Samaria Division. The forces have been instructed to prepare for several radical scenarios, including shooting attacks or explosive devices that might be planted during the attempts to break through the fence. Another scenario is the abduction of a soldier after the fence is breached. The army is preparing for the possibility of armed Hamas members trying to infiltrate Israel together with the protestors.

Shin Bet reveals Hamas' methods

Earlier Monday, the Shin Bet accused Iran of funding the recent protests in the strip. According to the organization, an interrogation of a 19-year-old Hamas member from Gaza revealed the methods of the terror organization ruling the strip. The young man was arrested while making his way to Israel to steal security cameras and to cut the fence along the Gaza Strip.

Hamas was apparently instructing its members to cut the fence and steal security cameras to help pull and bring down the fence and to disrupt the IDF's activity ahead of Nakba Day. The organization is working to market its activity to the media as a popular uprising rather than as violent activity led by its members.

The interrogation further revealed that Hamas members were taking an active part in the violent protest activities along the fence every Friday, carrying knives, scissors and bottles of gasoline.

The Hamas members' job, according to the Shin Bet, is to provide Gaza's residents with tires and help burn them, in a bid to create thick smoke and convince the residents to enter Israel, throw Molotov cocktails and prepare flaming kites and hand them over to the violent activists.

Hamas members themselves are forbidden from approaching the fence so as not to get killed or be apprehended by the security forces.

If the rioters do manage to bring down the fence, Hamas members are instructed to enter Israel with weapons and carry out terror attacks.

The Shin Bet statement refers to another Gaza resident, 21-year-old Salim Abu Daher, who was arrested on April 28 after infiltrating Israel "in a bid to burn fields and groves." He told his investigators that Hamas members in plain clothes were providing the protestors with incendiary materials and that the organization was funding the violent activity, including sending flaming kites into Israel.

Another Palestinian, arrested on May 4, said Hamas was encouraging children and teenagers to cross the fence to steal IDF equipment. A 13-year-old boy was wounded the same time after taking part in the infiltration to steal a security camera at the Karni Crossing.The Arab League will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the United State's "illegal" move of embassy to Jerusalem, state news agency MENA reported on Monday, citing an Arab diplomat.

MENA said the meeting will be held on Wednesday at the level of permanent representatives to the Arab League "to counter the illegal decision taken by the United States of America to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem".

Washington is due to officially move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday in a move that has delighted Israel but infuriated Palestinians.Britain's MI5 spy chief accused Russia on Monday on attempting to subvert Western democracies by sowing disinformation and spreading lies.

In the first public speech outside Britain by a serving head of MI5, Andrew Parker said Britain did not want to escalate tensions with Moscow but that a series of recent aggressive and pernicious actions directed by the Kremlin were unacceptable.

"Instead of becoming a respected great nation it risks becoming a more isolated pariah," Parker, who said he once studied Russian, told an audience in Berlin.

"The Russian state's now well-practiced doctrine of blending media manipulation, social media disinformation and distortion along with new and old forms of espionage, and high-levels of cyber attacks, military force and criminal thuggery is what is meant these days by the term hybrid threats."

Parker said cooperation with EU partners was essential to guard against the threats from Islamist militants and Russia.The Kremlin said on Monday it feared the opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians, would increase tensions in the Middle East.

"Yes, we have such fears," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call, when asked if the Kremlin was concerned the move could increase tensions in the wider region.Dozens of Palestinians are hurling stones at IDF soldiers in several sites in the West Bank including in the area of Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron on Monday.

IDF forces are using riot control measures against the protestors.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.



Lebanon's foreign minister on Monday called the US decisions to move its embassy to Jerusalem and to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal policy failures that will lead to more tensions and extremism in the region.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, whose Free Patriotic Movement is aligned with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah in parliament, said moving the US embassy in Israel would undermine peace in the Middle East.

"This is a move that will cause more tensions and lead to more extremism in the region," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels. "We cannot accept to have any kind of peace while Jerusalem is being kidnapped."UN Security Council will convene for an emergency meeting on Tuesday amid Gaza's riots following the US Embassy inauguration in Jerusalem.

The Council will convene at the request of Kuwait.Egypt on Monday strongly condemned what it said was Israel's targeting of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, where at least 38 have been killed while demonstrating at the border, the foreign ministry said.

"Egypt rejects the use of force against peaceful marches demanding legitimate and just rights, and warns of the negative consequences of this dangerous escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories," the ministry said in a statement.The US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem encouraged Israeli forces to kill dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said on Monday, adding that the embassy move disregarded the rights of Palestinians.

"We curse the massacre carried out by Israeli security forces, encouraged by this step, on the Palestinians participating in peaceful demonstrations," the statement said after health officials said Israeli forces killed at least 28 Palestinians along the Gaza border on Monday.More than 250,000 east Jerusalem Arabs have been counted twice in Israel's demographic statistics and in their Palestinian counterpart, it was revealed Monday.

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Several weeks ago, a public row broke out on the backdrop of demographic fluctuations between Jews and Arabs in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Deputy Head of the Israeli Civil Administration Col. Uri Mendes said late March during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that five million Palestinians reside in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli Civil Administration's data is mainly predicated on information provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, which is considered a reliable source.

Archive photo (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, AFP)

When the aforementioned data is added to the number of Arabs living in Israel1.75 million peoplethe number of Arabs living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean equals to the number of Jews living in Israel.

The revelation caused an uproar in Israeli, with the Right claiming it was not accurate, and the Left warning against the danger of annexation.

However, a review of the data provided by Israel's own Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) showed the number of Arabs who are Jerusalem residentssince most of them reside in east Jerusalemis 332,000.

A few days later, the Palestinian CBS published its census report, showing that 4.78 million Palestinians reside in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem combined, while 435,000 of them resided in east Jerusalem alone.

The Palestinians divide this data between territory J1the part annexed to Israel in 1967and J2the territory not annexed as well as the Shuafat refugee camp and neighborhoods outside the separation fence, all of which are defined by Palestinians as belonging to east Jerusalem.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics data, 265,000 people reside in the J1 territories, which indicates that more than a quarter of a million people have been counted twice by the Israeli as well as the Palestinian CBS.

The demographic-political issue is sensitive enough as it is, and becomes even more significant consider such a large number of people has been counted in both sides' numbers.

Neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority have taken the double data into account, despite the fact that the group constitutes 10 percent of the Palestinian Authority's population in the West Bank, or alternatively almost 20 percent of the Arab population in Israela figure that changes the balance, albeit not in an overwhelming manner.An Israel Air Force fighter jet attacked five terror targets Monday afternoon in a Hamas training camp located in the northern Gaza Strip.

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The IDF said the strike was carried out in response to the Gaza-ruling terror group's "recent actions near the border fence."

IDF footage showing Gaza terrorists trying to infiltrate into Israel (:  '')

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An IAF strike in northern Gaza (Photo: AFP)

Footage disseminated by the IDF showed terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel through the fence, as well as Palestinian attempts to damage the fence and an aircraft attacking a Hamas post in retaliation to fire at an IDF force.

The army also attacked two additional Hamas outposts in the northern strip using aircraft and tank fire. The strikes came in response to Hamas fire at IDF forces earlier in the day.

A statement issued by the IDF said it was "adamantly acting to thwart wide-scale terrorist acts that are being led and orchestrated by the Hamas terror group. Any terror act will be met with a stringent response."

Palestinians attempting to infiltrate Israel (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The riots near the fence Monday concentrated on 13 conflagration points in which "some 40,000 people were violently rioting," as per the IDF. The riots also included throwing explosive charges and Molotov cocktails at the fence and towards Israeli forces.

(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

In addition, Palestinians burned tires, threw rocks and launched burning projectiles in an attempt to light fires on the Israeli side of the border and to harm Israeli forces.

The IDF responded by deploying crowd control measures and live fire in accordance with its rules of engagement. "Our forces are determined to uphold the task of defending Israel's sovereignty and people," the army's statement concluded.President Donald Trump was the only president to fulfill his promise to move the American embassy to Jerusalemthis was the message repeated by all speakers at the inauguration ceremony for the new US Embassy in the Israeli capital on Monday.

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Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, led the US delegation with a single message: Only Trump had the courage to act on what America has wanted for a long time.

"While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it," Kushner said.

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also thanked Trump for "having the courage" to keep his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

"What a glorious day for Israel," a jubilant Netanyahu said. "Remember this moment. This is history. President Trump, by recognizing history you have made history. All of us are deeply moved, all of us are deeply grateful."

"This is a great day," he continued. "A great day for Jerusalem. A great day for the state of Israel. A day that will be engraved in our national memory for generations."

Netanyahu's speech (: )

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"I believe it's a great day for peace," the prime minister pronounced.

He thanked Kushner, Trump's envoy Jason Greenblatt and US Ambassador David Friedman for their "tireless efforts to advance peace" and for their "tireless efforts to advance the truth."

"The truth and peace are interconnected," Netanyahu opined. "A peace that is built on lies, will crash on the rocks of Middle Eastern realities. You can only build peace on truth. And the truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state."

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

Jerusalem, the prime minister stressed, will always be the "eternal, undivided" capital of Israel. "We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay," he vowed.

Netanyahu asserted Middle East peace must be founded on the "truth" recognized by the US. "The truth is that Jerusalem has been and always will be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state," he said.

Ambassador Friedman's remarks (: )

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The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital. Protests roiled the Gaza border, resulting in dozens killed.

In a video address that aired at the ceremony's opening, Trump said the move to Jerusalem has been a "long time coming."

Trump's pre-recorded message (: )

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Trump, like many of the speakers at the ceremony, highlighted Israel's right to determine its own capital.

"Today, Jerusalem is the seat of Israel's government, it is the home of the Israeli legislature and the Israeli Supreme Court, and Israel's prime minister and president," he said.

"Israel is a sovereign nation, with the right like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital. Yet for many years, we failed to acknowledge the obvious. The plain reality that Israel's capital is Jerusalem."

Trump said he remained committed to "facilitating a lasting peace agreement," and that he was "extending a hand of friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors."

Rivlin's speech ()

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Kushner, a senior aide to President Trump and his son-in-law, was the only one of the speakers to directly address the violent clashes on the Gaza border, where some 40,000 Palestinians were rioting. With dozens dead and hundreds wounded, it was the deadliest round of cross-border violence since 2014.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," Kushner said.

Kushner's speech (: )

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Kushner was also the only one to acknowledge President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

"Last week, President Trump acknowledged another truth and kept another promisehe announced his intentions to exit the dangerous, flawed and one-sided Iran nuclear deal," Kushner said, receiving a standing ovation.

Ivanka Trump and Steven Mnuchin unveil US Embassy plaque

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Kushner then asserted that the "journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth."

"I believe peace is within reach, if we dare to believe that the future can be different from the past, that we are not condemned to relive history, and that the way things were is not how forever they must be," Kushner continued. "It's not an easy road, and it'll be filled with difficult moments and tough decisions, but if we dream big, if we lead with courage, we can change the trajectory for millions from hopelessness to boundless."

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

He called on Jerusalem to be a symbol of unity, not division. "Throughout history Jerusalem has been the victim of war and conquest. It has been used to divide people and to instigate conflict by those with evil intentions. But it does not have to be this way. Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together: To visit, to worship, to respect each other, and to appreciate the majesty of history and the glory of God's creation," Kushner said.

US national anthem (: )

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Earlier that morning on Twitter, Trump urged people to watch the ceremony on television and declaring the day "A great day for Israel!" As the ceremony began, he wrote: "Big day for Israel. Congratulations!"

Likewise, Trump's aides also made no direct reference to the climbing death toll. In a Fox News interview, Mnuchin repeatedly referenced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said Trump should be praised for "taking action" to keep Americans and people in the Middle East safe.

"The president is making difficult decisions because they are what he believes are the right long term decisions and not just kicking the can down the road," Mnuchin said.

Mnuchin also said "it's not coincidental" that the embassy move coincided with Trump's announcement that he planned to abandon the Iran nuclear deal.

(:  )

Also on hand were Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Dean Heller of Nevada and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The embassy celebration was widely considered a snub by the Palestinians. Roughly 800 attended. US officials said last week that Trump's delegation was not planning on meeting Palestinian officials during their visit. The Trump administration in recent months also has slashed US aid to the Palestinians and programs that support them.

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

Trump's policy is a sharp departure from past US administrations, which have tried to position America as a neutral party ready to broker a peace deal.

"Of all the things President Trump could have done, doing this (embassy move) is the strongest signal he could send to the Israeli people," South Carolina's Graham said.

The new embassy will temporarily operate from an existing US consulate, until a decision has been made on a permanent location.Jared Kushner says Palestinians participating in Gaza border protests are "part of the problem and not part of the solution."

Kushner, President Donald Trump's son in law and chief Mideast adviser, expressed hope for forging Mideast peace as he addressed the opening ceremony for the new US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.

As he spoke, deadly protests continued along Gaza's border with Israel. With over 40 dead, it was the deadliest round of cross-border violence since a 2014 war and left Kushner's peace efforts in tatters.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said.

He says the "journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth."The world's largest body of Muslim-majority nations says it "strongly rejects and condemns" the White House's "deplorable action" to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation said it considers the US move an "illegal decision" and "an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people." The organization said the move Monday also represents "an affront to international peace and security."

The OIC said the US administration has "expressed utter disdain and disrespect to Palestinian legitimate rights and international law" and shown disregard toward the sentiments of Muslims, who value Jerusalem as home to one of Islam's holiest sites, the al-Aqsa mosque complex.

The statement comes as at least 41 Palestinians, including five minors, were killed by Israeli forces Monday. More than 770 Palestinians were wounded in protests in the Gaza StripAs violent protests raged on at multiple points along the Israel-Gaza border, Palestinians continued sending incendiary kites towards Israeli fields causing consternation among farmers. By Monday afternoon, at least three fields were torched in the Gaza region.

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A drone took video footage of one fire in the vicinity of the Sa'ad kibbutz, which burned through some 100 dunam of crops. Another two conflagrations blazed on into the evening near Nahal Oz and in the Kisufim woodlands in the Eshkol Regional Council area. Firefighters were rushed to the scene.

Kibbutz Saad fire drone footage (:  )

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"The people on the ground said they did not see the kites or the balloons, even though we received a warning that they would be launched this morning. Suddenly the field was on fire and we all ran over there, followed by the firefighters who put out the fire," said Haim Landsman, 46, a farmer at the Sa'ad kibbutz.

Fire near Nahal Oz caused by Gaza kite (Photo: AFP)

Landesman added that for a long time now, life in the area around the Gaza Strip has been difficult, and said that he, like all the residents of the kibbutz, hoped that life will return to normal soon. As a farmer, he bemoaned the burnt field: "It's very painful because these are crops we've been waiting for since November and we were only a few weeks before the harvest."

"As far as they are concerned, they found a good target. Something needs to be done about the fire kites. This time they fell in a field but next time it can easily land in a school and then the tragedy would be greater," he said.

Palestinians in Gaza have been engaging in what has been dubbed "kite terrorism," and it has become especially widespread in recent weeks, especially in light of the sweltering weather in the region.

At first, Palestinians simply set fire to part of the kite, but in time they grew bolder and began affixing Molotov cocktails to the kites, and later began to make use of balloons as well.

The kites have caused many fires in fields and woodlands in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip. Farmers and firefighters have remained on high alert and they are being joined by volunteer spotters who try to down the kites before they can do damage.

Last Friday, right-wing activist Ran Karmi Buzaglo tried to launch a burning kite into Gaza, but instead caused a fire on Israeli territory. The fire, which broke out in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, was extinguished.

Buzaglo, who is known for his struggle for the release of Elor Azaria, was arrested along with two other suspects, also right-wing activists, but they were released shortly thereafter.The historic first detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes far outside our galaxy opened a new window to understanding the universe.

A string of detections -- four more binary black holes and a pair of neutron stars -- soon followed the Sept. 14, 2015, observation.

Now, another detector is being built to crack this window wider open. This next-generation observatory, called LISA, is expected to be in space in 2034, and it will be sensitive to gravitational waves of a lower frequency than those detected by the Earth-bound Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

A new Northwestern University study predicts dozens of binaries (pairs of orbiting compact objects) in the globular clusters of the Milky Way will be detectable by LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). These binary sources would contain all combinations of black hole, neutron star and white dwarf components. Binaries formed from these star-dense clusters will have many different features from those binaries that formed in isolation, far from other stars.

The study is the first to use realistic globular cluster models to make detailed predictions of LISA sources. "LISA Sources in Milky-Way Globular Clusters" was published today, May 11, by the journal Physical Review Letters.

"LISA is sensitive to Milky Way systems and will expand the breadth of the gravitational wave spectrum, allowing us to explore different types of objects that aren't observable with LIGO," said Kyle Kremer, the paper's first author, a Ph.D. student in physics and astronomy in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a member of a computational astrophysics research collaboration based in Northwestern's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA).

In the Milky Way, 150 globular clusters have been observed so far. The Northwestern research team predicts one out of every three clusters will produce a LISA source. The study also predicts that approximately eight black hole binaries will be detectable by LISA in our neighboring galaxy of Andromeda and another 80 in nearby Virgo.

Before the first detection of gravitational waves by LIGO, as the twin detectors were being built in the United States, astrophysicists around the world worked for decades on theoretical predictions of what astrophysical phenomena LIGO would observe. That is what the Northwestern theoretical astrophysicists are doing in this new study, but this time for LISA, which is being built by the European Space Agency with contributions from NASA.

"We do our computer simulations and analysis at the same time our colleagues are bending metal and building spaceships, so that when LISA finally flies, we're all ready at the same time," said Shane L. Larson, associate director of CIERA and an author of the study. "This study is helping us understand what science is going to be contained in the LISA data."

A globular cluster is a spherical structure of hundreds of thousands to millions of stars, gravitationally bound together. The clusters are some of the oldest populations of stars in the galaxy and are efficient factories of compact object binaries.

The Northwestern research team had numerous advantages in conducting this study. Over the past two decades, Frederic A. Rasio and his group have developed a powerful computational tool -- one of the best in the world -- to realistically model globular clusters. Rasio, the Joseph Cummings Professor in Northwestern's department of physics and astronomy, is the senior author of the study.

The researchers used more than a hundred fully evolved globular cluster models with properties similar to those of the observed globular clusters in the Milky Way. The models, which were all created at CIERA, were run on Quest, Northwestern's supercomputer cluster. This powerful resource can evolve the full 12 billion years of a globular cluster's life in a matter of days.



NASA (ATP grant NNX14AP92G) and the National Science Foundation (grant AST-1716762) supported the research.

Other authors of the paper include Sourav Chatterjee and Katelyn Breivik, both of Northwestern and CIERA, and Carl L. Rodriguez, of the MIT-Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

(Source contacts: Kyle Kremer at kremer@u.northwestern.edu and Shane Larson at 847-467-4305 or s.larson@northwestern.edu)



Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah commented on the recent widespread Israeli strikes in Syriaand the Syrian retaliationalleging that Israel's claims of only 20 missiles being launched from Syriamost of which were interceptedwas false, and that "the truth was that 55 missiles were launched, some of them 'heavy.'"

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Speaking Monday evening, Nasrallah also threatened that if Israel "once again crossed red lines, the next strike will be at the very heart of Palestine and not just near the Golan border."

On the matter of the large-scale riots in Gaza Monday, Nasrallah said that the situation there was dire. "People have no money or food. The Gaza Strip is about to turn into Yemen, in the hopes that it will lead to its surrender. The resistance has turned this day into the 'March of Return' and I laud it for that," he said.

The Israeli home front was not ready for war, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah alleged

The Hezbollah secretary-general also opined that the Israeli home front was "not prepared for wartaking into account shelters, infrastructures or morale. It's a well-known Israeli blunder."

Israel was also lying about the damages caused to it in the operation, Nasrallah claimed, as well as about the number of missiles fired in response and the course of the strike. "Syrian aerial defense missiles reached as far as Safed and Tiberias," the Shiite cleric said, "which forced Israel to intercept them with Patriot missiles."

"Israel has said that the hand that touches the Golan Heights will be severed. That has been proven to be false," he bragged.





(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

"If Israel thinks it can continue attacking in Syria, threatening and doing everything it pleases, it's sorely mistaken," Nasrallah stated. "A retaliation is coming in a time, place and manner to be decided."

"Israel cannot continue attacking and interfering in Syria without ramifications," he concluded.

"Don't listen to Israeli threats," Nasrallah advised. "I'm convinced their words are empty. No one in the region fears war more than Israel."

Aftermath of the Israeli strike in Syria (Photo: ImageSat International ISI)

In general, the Hezbollah chief said, this was a "new period. Israel must take into account a great many things, if it truly does not seek war as it claimsall of which it needs to take into account before deciding to attack."

Nasrallah: Trump's problem is that Iran supports Hezbollah

Nasrallah's speech also touched on US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last week, and he noted that "immense pressures were being exerted on Iran in order to shatter its economy and harm it any way possible."

"Trump knows Iran harbors no plans to develop nuclear weapons and well knows it's developing no ballistic missiles, but his problem is that Iran supports Hezbollah, Hamas and the rest of the movements of the resistance," the Lebanese leader claimed.

Nasrallah said President Trump's true problem was that Iran supported Hezbollah and 'other movements of the resistance' (Photo: AFP)

This past Saturday, Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 11 Iranians were among those killed in the unprecedented Israeli strikes on Syria this week.

"At least 27 pro-regime fighters were killed" in Thursday's strikes, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said "six Syrian soldiers and 21 foreign fighters, including 11 Iranians" were among the dead.

IDF releases footage of Iranian targets hit

The IDF on Friday released aerial footage of the Iranian sites that were targeted in Thursday's retaliatory air strike in Syria, highlighting and identifying the specific targets attacked by the IAF.

Four of the sites targeted in the strike (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

As part of Israel's most extensive attack in Syria since the 1974 Yom Kippur War, the IAF bombarded military installations at Tel Gharba, Tel Kleb, Nabi Yusha and Tel Maqdad, as well as a military compound of the Iranian Quds Force in al-Kiswah, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The footage published by the army includes overhead images of storage facilities and garages used by Iranian forces during their operations in Syria.

Among the targets attacked by Israel were also pro-Iranian militias close to the border fence between Israel and Syria in the Golan, such as observation posts and aerial defense systems.

Targeted were observation and intelligence collection posts that housed antennas and other measures deployed and operated by pro-Iranian militiamen on the northern portion of the Syrian Golan, which is controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad's army.

The attack, which the air force named "Operation House of Cards," lasted an hour and a half, during which over 50 Iranian targets were bombed.BERLIN - The German Defence Ministry will notify lawmakers shortly that will proceed with plans to lease Israeli-built Heron-TP surveillance drones, a programme that was delayed last year, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told top military officers on Monday.

The ministry had postponed its plan to lease five of the unarmed drones, a deal valued by security sources at around 1 billion euros, amid concerns over their future use raised by the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in the final months of the last coalition government.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and SPD agreed in their new coalition accord signed in February to lease the drones built by Israel Aerospace Industries, while work continues on a separate programme to develop a new European-built drone.

Von der Leyen said the required notification would be sent to parliament soon, but gave no details.ISTANBUL - Turkey condemned the killing by Israeli forces of 52 Palestinians protesting on Monday at the Gaza border against the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem, saying the United States was an accomplice in a crime against humanity.

"Unfortunately, the US has arrogantly stood by the Israeli administration which kills civilians and has partnered in this crime against humanity," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara.

"This provocation will only worsen the problems in the region and cause a deeper mark in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, and will make peace in the region more difficult," Yildirim added.

He said US President Donald Trump was trying to distract attention from domestic problems by moving the embassy, "trying to hide the fire inside by setting fires outside".Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's actions on the Gaza border, where dozens of Palestinians were killed during mass protests on Monday, were self-defense against the enclave's ruling Hamas group.

"Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. "The Hamas terrorist organization declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."A protest rally was held outside of the ceremony inaugurating the new US Embassy in Jerusalem Monday afternoon, with the participation of hundreds of Arabs as well as Jews.

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Police arrested 14 protesters during the demonstrationheld at the capital's Arnona neighborhoodwho were said to be bluntly disrupting the peace, confronting cops and disobeying orders.

While police authorized the protest, at a certain stage Palestinian flags were hoisted and slogans such as "Allahu akbar," "In blood and fire we shall redeem Palestine," "We will sacrifice our lives for the Al Aqsa Mosque" and "Gazan martyrs are heroes" began to be chanted.

Arab lawmakers and hundreds of others protested outside of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem (Photo: AP)

Police noted the protest's goal was to "create a deliberate provocation and foment discord." Once the inciting chants died down, police noted, the demonstration carried on as planned.

The rally was organized by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. Arab MKsJamal Zahalka, Ahmad Tibi and Yousef Jabareenas well as the Committee's head and himself a former lawmaker Mohammad Barakeh were forcefully pushed back by police officers present on the scene.

MK Zahalka, who is also the chairman of the Joint List's parliamentary group, said, "Transferring the embassy is a dangerous provocation, a hostile move towards the Palestinian people and their just rights and a blatant violation of United Nations resolutions."

"Starting today, the United States can no longer claim to be an impartial, fair mediator and the embassy's move is a public statement that it stands to the side of the Israeli occupation and is an avowed enemy of the Palestinian people," Zahalka maintained.

MK Zahalka fending off police

"Al Quds is the capital of Palestine," the lawmaker declared, "and anyone who disavows that and tries to enforce an occupation on (Jerusalem) is pouring oil on the flames of bloodshed."

Zahalka added that "(US President Donald) Trump is a provocateur who acts as a Wild West cowboy. His first and only step on the Palestinian issue is transferring the embassy on Nakba Day, while provoking the Palestinian people and their feelings."

"Trump is dead-checking the peace process while colluding with the enemy of peace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," he concluded.

High Follow-Up Committee Chairman Barakeh added his own statement, saying, "We will continue our struggle. Despite having authorization to protest, police used harsh violence."

"As if what's happening in Gaza was not enough, they went after us as well. We'll convene for an urgent session within the next 24 hours and make some decisions," he vowed.Hamas called for an uprising on Monday night after violent clashes on the Gaza border resulted in a high death toll.

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"The natural reaction to the death of people who were protesting peacefully should be with an Arab and Islamic intifada (uprising)," said Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy Hamas leader. "The Palestinian response must be clear in Gaza and in the West Bank. There is no other choice but to light the fire in Gaza and in the West Bank in response to what happened."

"Hamas is monitoring the marches and stands as a shield for them," he added.

Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border (Photo: EPA)

Speaking at a border encampment, Al-Hayya said that Monday's protest was timed to coincide with the "deplorable crime of moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem."

"Our people went out today to respond to this new Zionist-American aggression, and to draw by their blood the map of their return," he said.

About 40,000 Palestinians have gathered near the fence in 13 hot spots along the border since the morning hours. Several thousand others were located in the tent area about half a kilometer from the fence. At 5:30pm, Hamas ordered all those present in the border area to return home.

Over 50 Palestinians were killed from IDF fire on the Gaza border, with over 1,200 suffering gunshot wounds and 1,200 others suffering other injuries. This is the highest Palestinian death toll since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

The protests, which have been going on for weeks, are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes or fled the fighting around Israel's creation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held security consultations on Monday evening in light of the clashes on the Gaza border, said Israel was acting in self-defense.

"Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. "The Hamas terrorist organization declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."

Hamas denied instigating the violence, but the White House backed Netanyahu. "The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response," White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters.

The IDF said in a statement: "Rioters hurled firebombs and explosive devices at the security fence and Israeli troops." The soldiers' response, it said, was in accordance with "standard operating procedures."

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also held consultations on Monday evening with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, instructing him "to continue acting with determination to prevent any attempt to undermine Israeli sovereignty and Israeli citizens, in accordance with the policy outlined."

The dead included at least six people under 18 years of age, including one girl. The total number of fatalities since a series of protests has now surpassed 100.

"These war crimes should not go unpunished and the international community has a responsibility to provide international protection for the Palestinian people," senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said after a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, called the new US embassy, which was opened in Jerusalem on Monday, "a US settlement outpost," saying the Palestinians would reject any American mediation in peace talks with Israel and demand at least two different international mediators.

"We received Trump's peace plan; the Americans removed the issue of refugees and Jerusalem from the negotiations. We won't accept this deal and we don't want to hear from the United States anymore," he said.Global oil supplies are plentiful enough to withstand a "significant reduction" in petroleum exports from Iran, according to a White House memo issued on Monday as the Trump administration prepares to reimpose sanctions on the OPEC member nation.

The memo, sent by the White House to the US State Department, paves the way for U.S. efforts to curb Iranian oil exports after Washington's decision to pull out of the 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers curbing Tehran's nuclear program.

It said there is a "sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products from countries other than Iran to permit a significant reduction in the volume of petroleum and petroleum products purchased from Iran by or through foreign financial institutions."PARIS - The threat of US sanctions on European companies trading with Iran and tariffs on aluminium and steel exports are a test of European sovereignty and will require a firm response, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.

The United States threatened on Sunday to impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran, as the remaining participants in the Iran nuclear accord stiffened their resolve to keep that agreement operational.

"It's an important test of sovereignty," the French presidential adviser told reporters in a briefing on Monday. "There must really be a software update on these issues of European assertiveness."

The adviser said French and EU officials were working on different technical and legal issues to preserve existing business ties and financial channels with Iran, and to shield their companies from sanctions.The opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, while IDF troops killed dozens of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, sparked outrage in much of the Middle Eastbut virtual silence among Washington's closest Gulf allies.

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Speaking in London Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the US embassy move.

"With its latest step America has chosen to be a part of the problem, not a solution, and lost its mediator role in the Middle East peace process," Erdogan told the Chatham House international affairs think tank.

Erdogan (Photo: AP)

"We are rejecting once again this decision which violates international law and which is against UN resolutions," he said.

Erdogan called the US embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem "very, very unfortunate" and said it "will increase tensions and ignite an even greater fire between communities."

"The international community must do its part as soon as possible and take swift action to put an end to Israel's increasing aggression," he went on.

"The establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is the only way for lasting peace and stability," he said.

Turkey's foreign ministry, meanwhile, charged that the embassy move encouraged the "massacre carried out by Israeli security forces."

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag tweeted, "The American administration is responsible for this massacre as much as Israel is. By moving its embassy to Jerusalem, the administration has crippled the chances of a peace settlement and ignited a fire that will cause mortalities, destruction and calamity in the region."

US allies warned the United States it would damage its regional standing after siding with Israel on a fundamental position without a final peace agreement.

Lebanon's Western-backed Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said the move spelt a "dead-end" for all paths to regional peace.

In Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1993 through a US-mediated peace process, protesters near the heavily-defended US Embassy in Amman chanted: "America is the head of the snake. No US embassy on Jordanian soil."

US Embassy move protests in Amman (Photo: EPA)

Egypt joined the chorus of condemnation, blasting what it termed as an "intentional assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza."

The Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry communicated that "Egypt rejected the use of forces against non-violent marches calling for just, legitimate rights and warns against the negative ramifications of this dangerous escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories."

State-run Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram said in an editorial that the US move was "provocative" and "a dangerous episode in a series that is about to destroy any hope for achieving peace."

Washington's foes were predictably scathing.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif weighed in on the matter, tweeting, "Israeli regime massacres countless Palestinians in cold blood as they protest in the world's largest open air prison. Meanwhile, Trump celebrates move of US illegal embassy and his Arab collaborators move to divert attention."

Zarif wrote the tweet as he's traveling abroad to try to keep other world powers in the Iran nuclear deal following Trump's decision last week to pull America from the 2015 accord.

Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani described Trump's international policy as "half-baked."

"The leaders of America and the Zionist regime must understand the message of the protests that violating Palestine and the moving of the capital will not go unanswered," he added.

In Iraq, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a nationalist and long-time adversary of the United States, who was leading in parliamentary elections with more than half the votes counted on Monday, tweeted: "I hope the divine response will come."

Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi'ite group backed by Iran and seen by the United States as a terrorist group and by Israel as the biggest threat on its border, called the embassy move a "worthless" unilateral step.

Gulf silence

In recent years, the bitter regional rivalry that pits Shi'ite Iran and its allies against a bloc led by Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has increasingly pushed the decades-old Arab-Israeli struggle into the background.

While Saudi Arabia and its fellow monarchies have previously criticized the embassy decision, they have also welcomed US President Donald Trump's harder line against Iran, which has cast itself as the guardian of Palestinian rights.

Among many ordinary people in the region, however, there was fury, dismay and bitter resignation at the news that Israeli gunfire had killed 52 Palestinians, the highest toll in a single day since protests demanding the right to return to ancestral homes in Israel began on March 30.

The dismay was tinged with anger at Arab governmentsparticularly those of the oil-rich Gulf monarchiesfor failing to stop, or even to strongly protest against, the US move.

"The Gulf countries are the source of our misfortune," said Khalil Moumneh, a Palestinian refugee in Burj al-Barajneh who has spent his whole life in Lebanon.

"This is like Arab rulers are selling a piece of their land," said Heba, a 32-year-old lawyer in Cairo, carrying her young daughter.

Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief who no longer has a formal role, said on television: "America has stood for the rule of law, for justice, for respect of international agreements... and now we see all of that being pushed aside for the sake of internal political calculations."

He said the move would benefit their shared foe Iran, allowing it "to capitalize on this issue."

In the southern Yemeni city of Aden, where Gulf states have become embroiled in Yemen's civil war, Rashad Mohamed, a 55-year-old government employee, said the embassy move "has done a service to extremist groups and Iran".

Protesters in Jordan burn flags (Photo: EPA)

Some people accused Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the custodian of its holiest places, of surrendering Palestinian rights for the sake of its alliance with Trump and his tough stand on Iran.

A Saudi foreign ministry statement criticized Israel's violence against protesters and affirmed its support for Palestinian rights but did not mention the embassy move.

Saudi newspapers and state media also largely ignored the US move, instead focusing on domestic topics such as preparations for women to be allowed to drive from next month.

"We look at our shattered world where we accuse each other of betrayal and of abandoning Palestine, while the truth is we have all abandoned it," tweeted Jamal Khashoggi, a former Saudi newspaper editor

Jerusalem lauds USA (Photo: AFP)

"We are against the embassy move because this is our country. They haven't left us with anything," said Zeinab, a woman in the Palestinian refugee camp of Burj al-Barajneh in Lebanon.

"As an Egyptian and an Arab, I feel humiliated," said Sami Badreddin, 40, a state company employee in Cairo, whose country made peace with Israel in 1978. "They transfer the US embassy to Jerusalem while all the Arabs are silent."

"Trump hates Muslims and he is showing it every day," said Salim Hamlaoui, a student at Algiers University.

The United Nations says the status of Jerusalem can only be resolved by negotiations. Palestinians want the city as their own capital.

The timing of the embassy's move to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv on the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel, a day Palestinians regard as their "nakba" or "catastrophe", when they lost their homeland, added insult to injury.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Thousands have gathered in Istanbul to condemn the US decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, burning American and Israeli flags, and protesting deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border.

Demonstrators carried banners that read: "Al Quds belongs to the Muslims," the Arabic name of Jerusalem. They chanted "God is great" and slogans calling for holy war and martyrdom. One speaker called Americans "dogs" as people shouted "Jerusalem is ours, it will be ours."

The rally was called by pro-Islamic Humanitarian Relief Foundation or IHH. In 2010, Israeli commandos stormed an IHH-organized aid flotilla to Gaza, killing nine Turks.

Turkey has been vehemently critical of the US and Israel for the embassy relocation. Speaking in Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim slammed the two countries for celebrating the move while "innocent and defenseless Palestinians are martyred."We can't seem to find the page you are looking for.

You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link.It was a symbolic day, as an event in Jerusalem bolstered and advanced the State of Israel's sovereignty and legitimacy, while at the same time dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured on the Gaza border in an ostentatious and suicidal move that had no practical purpose. This is the same thing they've been doing for over 70 years. This time it was just to boost Hamas's prestige and ensure its survival as a ruler.

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Meanwhile, Israel sent a warning to Hamas that if Monday's events repeat on Tuesday, and if the situation escalates further, it would not hesitate to target the terror group's leaders as well. This warning was conveyed through the Egyptians as well as other channels.

The Hamas leadership didn't even manage to give meaning to the death of dozens of Gazans, except for vague slogans and hollow symbols, which they've produced plenty of over the past 70 years.

Furthermore, Hamas failed on Monday in almost every other aspect: the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem didn't rise up and go out to clash with Israeli security forces en masse as the Gazan rulers had hoped; Hamas was also unable to drum up any significant international support for its struggle; and it failed to bring the masses to the Gaza borderwith barely 40,000 protesting, which is nowhere near the 100,000 it wanted.

Hamas failed to provide the population in Gaza what it needs, and it failed because it doesn't have an "exit plan" that would allow it to take advantage of the situation it created to benefit both itself and the population.

The "March of Return" is a classic "March of Folly" that has yet to end. Tuesday would be another day in which Palestinian youth, including children, charge at the border fence, clearly knowing that in the best case scenario, they'll come back with a leg injury that leaves them crippled.

The number of dead, over 50 by now, is a deviation, but it happened not because IDF soldiers are trigger-happy, but because Hamas, to cover up its own failure in recruiting the masses to march on the fence, recruited the other Palestinian factions to try and breach the fence in 12 different locations. The double and triple amount of attempts to breach the fence are what caused the double and tripled amount of casualties.

The IDF had no choice. There isn't a non-lethal measure or obstacle that could prevent the crossing of the border. The sniper fire was the minimum the army could do to stop thousands of Palestinians from swarming into Israel and the communities near the border fence.

The Palestinians and their supporters are talking about a "massacre." They're using this term to get international support, and in that too they failed because European Union politicians know the difference between a massacre and legitimate fire in self-defense. A massacre is a situation in which the helpless victims are completely under the mercy of the stronger side, as it kills them while they are unable to change their fate. But when it comes to the events in the strip, it's a spectacle in which the casualties were cast for this role by Hamas. But they had a choicethey could've not tried to breach the border fence, and then they wouldn't have been killed. They were also warned in advanced in every possible way.

It's important to understand, the Gazans who were killed in the previous "marches of return," were not defending their homes from an Israeli invasion, they were trying to invade Israel. They also revealed exactly what they intended to do once they entered Israel. Hamas made it known that the plan is to breach the Gaza border fence in order to infiltrate Israel and then sabotage security infrastructure and equipment, and more gravely to abduct a soldier or a civilian to be used as a bargaining chip. And, if possible, infiltrate Israeli communities and take over them for a time and hold a press conference there. Hamas even published the map of communities it planned to infiltrate.

The claim that the Gazans tried to break the siege also fails the test of common sensebecause even if tens of thousands of Gazans had managed to breach the fence, without the IDF stopping them, would that have ended the Egyptian and Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip? The answer is no.

If these protests of tens of thousands on the border fencepeaceful protests as the "march of return" claimed to bewere without Molotov cocktails, without explosives, without gunfire, and without incendiary kites meant to set fire to the wheat in the fields near the border, then they could've been said to be a legitimate measure to breaking the blockade by appealing to the international community.

But the Palestinians in Gaza, led by Hamas, are shooting themselves in the foot. Just like they set firefor no logical reasonto the fuel depot at Kerem Shalom, through which they get cooking gas and fuel oil to operate their power plants.

Therefore, the IDF sniper fire is a legitimate act of self-defense, for which the army exists and which it must carry out. This is something the diplomats in Brussels understand, and the statement from the European Union reflects that.

During the clashes on the fence, and under their cover, there was an unusual number of shootings and explosives being thrown. This is why the IDF responded with aerial bombardment and tank fire at Hamas targets. The intention was to make it clear to Hamas that if they continued the infiltration attemptswhich are directed and led by themIsrael will escalate its responses.

Neither Israel nor Hamas have the desire or intention to escalate the current hostilities to another war in Gaza. Hamas knows that in such a war it would likely lose its rule, and Israel knows that after such a war things would go back to being as they were and might even be worse. That is why, in the absence of any real interest, Hamas and Israel do not want to go into another round of fighting that would force the IDF to enter the strip.

But the high number of casualties might force Hamas to respond. Which is why what Monday night is critical. The question is whether Hamas or one of the other Palestinian groups can resist the temptation to fire rockets at Israel. Such rocket fire could launch another round of fighting.

On Tuesday, the events on the fence will reach new heights. It's safe to assume that after so many funerals, many Gazans will run to the border riled up, even without being prompted by Hamas and the other factions. So it's too early to tell how Nakba Day events would end.The White House blamed Hamas leaders Monday evening for the deadly violence in Gaza earlier in the dayin which 52 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,200 woundedand said Israel has a right to defend itself.

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"There is no justification for the recklessness and cynicism Hamas has shown in urging people to engage in violence that exposes them to terrible risk. As the Secretary of State has said, Israel has a right to defend itself," a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a statement.

Riots on the Gaza border Monday

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The official further maintained a solution needed to be found to the "serious humanitarian challenges facing Palestinians" in Gaza.

The White House condemned Hamas's 'recklessness and cynicism' at instigating the Gaza Strip riots (Photo: AP, AFP)

The Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that the ambassador has indeed been called back, and will fly back to the African country Monday night.

The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation said that the Gazan casualties were "taking part in a peaceful protest against the provocative inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem."

South Africa recalled Ambassador Sisa Ngombane from Israel

"Given the indiscriminate and grave manner of the latest Israeli attack," the department's statement continued, "the South African government has taken a decision to recall Ambassador Sisa Ngombane with immediate effect until further notice."

The statement further called on Israel to "withdraw from the Gaza Strip and bring to an end the violent and destructive incursions into Palestinian territories", adding that the violence in the strip may scuttle the rebuilding of Palestinian institutions and infrastructures alike.

"The routine actions of Israeli forces present yet another obstacle to a permanent resolution to the conflict," South Africa alleged, "which must come in the form of two statesPalestine and Israelexisting side by side in peace."

"Like other members of the international community, South Africa is disturbed by the latest deadly aggression and reiterates calls for an independent inquiry into the killings, with a view to holding to account those who are responsible," the statement concluded.

Fifty-two Palestinians, eight children among them, were killed Monday after coming close to the Gaza border fence. Some 40,000 people demonstrated in the area, and 1,204 were wounded, according to Gaza medical sourcesmarking the highest Palestinian single-day death toll since Operation Protective Edge.

The IDF attacked a series of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets using aircraft and tanks, in retaliation to Palestinians shooting and lobbing explosives at IDF forces earlier.

The Palestinian Authority has declared three national days of mourning starting Tuesday, and a general strike on Tuesday itself.

UN Security Council to convene on Gaza

The United Nations Security Council will convene later Monday or Tuesday at Kuwait's behest for an emergency discussion on the Gaza riots and the US Embassy's move.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour urged the council Monday to condemn the killings. Speaking to reporters, Mansour called the Israel military response a "savage onslaught" and an "atrocity."

Palestinian UN Ambassador Mansour called the Israeli actions an 'atrocity' (Photo: AP)

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon has begun a round of talks with his counterparts in anticipation of the meeting, and has been disseminating materials outlining Hamas's terrorist actions.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May, meanwhile, said Britain was concerned by reports of violence on the Gaza border and urged restraint.

"We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza. We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts," he told reporters. "The UK remains firmly committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital."

He also said May would raise human rights with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at talks on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Europe, the European Union's foreign policy chief called on Israel to respect the "principle of proportionality in the use of force."

Top EU diplomat Mogherini called on both sides to exercise restraint (Photo: Reuters)

Federica Mogherini said Monday that all should act "with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life" and added that "Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest."

At the same time, she insisted that Hamas must make sure demonstrators in Gaza are peaceful and "must not exploit them for other means."

French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, for his part, called on Israel and the Palestinians to "act responsible and avoid escalation." Israel, he added, must "exercise restraint in its use of force."

Other European foreign ministers said the US decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem is unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Monday that the move "is inflaming already a very tense situation, and the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians."

Irish FM Simon Coveney criticized the US Embassy's move to Jerusalem (Photo: Reuters)

His Dutch counterpart, Stef Blok, said "we don't consider it a wise decision to move the embassy."

Their comments come after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the full 28-nation European Union from publishing a statement about the US move.

Russia joined the condemnation of the embassy move, saying it will inflame tensions in the region. Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov called the decision "short-sighted."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Dozens of chanting, singing Jewish demonstrators blocked a major Washington thoroughfare on Monday to denounce President Donald Trump's order moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and Israel's killing of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border.

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Chanting "Stop the violence," about 100 protesters from the IfNotNow movement blocked Pennsylvania Avenue, which links the White House and the white-domed Capitol, for about two hours in front of the Trump International Hotel.

US Jews protest Trump's embassy move (Photo: Reuters)

"The shelter of peace must extend to Palestinians as well," Sarah Brammer-Shlay, a 26-year-old rabbinical student from Philadelphia and a protest organizer, told the demonstrators.

Protesters, many wearing skullcaps and black T-shirts stating that "the Jewish future demands Palestinian freedom," sang "We will build this world with love." They also carried mock building parts and directional signs for an "Embassy of Freedom" to replace what they called the "Embassy of Occupation" in Jerusalem.

Speakers repeatedly updated the crowd on the death toll from the Gaza border, where over 50 Palestinians among the tens of thousands protesting were killed by Israeli troops.

The opening of the embassy fulfills a pledge by Trump, a Republican who has recognized the holy city as the Israeli capital despite years of US policy of maintaining its embassy in Tel Aviv. Trump's move has fired Palestinian anger and drawn criticism from many foreign governments as a setback to peace efforts.

The Washington protest was the second against the Gaza violence by IfNotNow, which urges US Jewish groups to end their support of Israel's policies toward the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel's actions on the Gaza border fence, the site of month-long protests, were self-defense against the enclave's ruling Hamas movement.

Thirty-seven IfNotNow protesters were arrested in six cities last month, including at the offices of US Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Ben Cardin of Maryland, the group said.

"Our question is, 'Which side are you on?'" spokesman Yonah Lieberman said by phone, adding that the group would not be lobbying Congress about the embassy move.

"We're trying to move the megapublic," Lieberman added. "We don't believe the people on Capitol Hill are the ones that will transform the Jewish community."

Lieberman and Brammer-Shlay cited a 2017 poll by the American Jewish Committee advocacy group that showed 80 percent of US Jews surveyed were against the embassy move, or favored it at a later date in conjunction with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.News

Grand Canyon, Arizona - A national park service report shows that more than 6.2 million recreational visitors to Grand Canyon National Park in 2017 spent $667 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 9.423 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $938 million.

"Grand Canyon is proud to welcome visitors from across the country and around the world," said Chris Lehnertz, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent. "National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it is a big factor in our local economy as well."



The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. The report shows $18.2 billion of direct spending by more than 330 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 306,000 jobs nationally; 255,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $35.8 billion.



The lodging sector received the highest direct contributions with $5.5 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 49,000 jobs. The restaurants sector received the next greatest direct contributions with $3.7 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 60,500 jobs.



According to the 2017 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging/camping (32.9 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.5 percent), gas and oil (12.1 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (10.1 percent), admissions and fees (10.0 percent), and local transportation (7.5 percent).



Report authors also produce an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.



To learn more about national parks in Arizona and how the National Park Service works with Arizona communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, visit www.nps.gov/arizona.News

Rochester, Minnesota - A new exhibit at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus traces the history of the collaboration between Dr. Charles Mayo and Marie Curie.

One of the most famous names in science became linked with Mayo Clinic when the Curie Hospital opened in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1920. This was the first of multiple, ongoing associations that included friendship and collaboration, along with facilities, art and displays.

The hospital was named in honor of Marie Curie (18671934). With her husband and collaborator, Pierre Curie (18591906), she shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics with physicist Henri Becquerel for the discovery and study of radium. In addition, Marie Curie was the sole recipient of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She is one of four people - and the only woman - to receive more than one Nobel Prize since the awards began in 1901.

Located where the Kahler Hotel's Grand Grill restaurant is today, the Curie Hospital had 36 beds for Mayo Clinic patients who needed X-ray or radium treatments. Harry Bowing, M.D., was the medical director. While the growth of Saint Marys Hospital has been well-documented, the Curie Hospital was part of a lesser-known consortium of smaller hospitals located in downtown Rochester. They were clustered near the Mayo brothers' outpatient practice, a red brick structure on the site of today's Siebens Building.

After the hospital's opening, Dr. Bowing wrote to Marie Curie requesting an autographed photo, as well as a picture and signature of her late husband. When providing these items, she replied: "I possess very few documents carrying the signature of P. Curie. Indeed, if I am sending you one at all, it is because I have been very touched to learn that your section of radium therapy bears the name of Curie Hospital."

Today these artifacts are preserved in the Historical Suite of the W. Bruce Fye Center for the History of Medicine, on the third floor of the Plummer Building at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus.

Charles H. Mayo, M.D., met Marie Curie on two trips to Paris. In 1923, he and Henry Plummer, M.D., presented a paper on goiters and toured hospitals in several European countries. At a dinner following his visit to the Curie Institute, Dr. Mayo learned of Marie Curie's need for spent radium emanation ampules. When Dr. Mayo returned to Rochester, he and Dr. Bowing sent ampules from Mayo Clinic and other centers to aid her work. In 1925, Dr. Mayo led a delegation of more than 100 American physicians from the Inter-State Post-Graduate Medical Assembly, who attended clinical programs in Europe. As president of the organization, he conferred honorary membership upon Marie Curie. Their picture was published in newspapers around the world.

"[Dr. Charlie's] collaboration with Marie Curie shows how the international dimension of Mayo Clinic's research has been part of our mission from the beginning." - Stephen Riederer, Ph.D.

The Curie Hospital closed in 1962. Its functions shifted to the new Curie Pavilion in the subway level of Mayo Clinic's Damon Building - a multiuse facility that included the Mayo Medical Museum and parking. The Damon Building, also called the Damon Parkade, was north of the Mayo Building and west of The Kahler Grand Hotel, on the site where the Gonda Building is today.

Around this time, Dr. Mayo's son visited the Oncology Hospital of Mexico City and admired a bronze sculpture of Marie Curie. He made arrangements for Mexican sculptor Abraham Gonzalez to create a replica and donated it for display in the Curie Pavilion. After the Charlton Building opened in 1989, the sculpture was moved to the subway level, near the services of Radiation Oncology. During a subsequent remodeling project, it was removed from public display.

This year, the sculpture was installed in a new exhibit about Marie Curie and Dr. Mayo in the lobby of the Opus Building on the Rochester campus. The location is significant, says Stephen Riederer, Ph.D., director of the Center for Advanced Imaging Research.

"The Opus Building stands where Dr. Charlie and his wife, Edith, had their family home before moving to Mayowood," Dr. Riederer explains. "Dr. Charlie was one of the first practitioners of X-ray imaging and radiation therapy soon after the discovery of the X-ray in 1895. His collaboration with Marie Curie shows how the international dimension of Mayo Clinic's research has been part of our mission from the beginning."Arizona News

Grand Canyon, Arizona - The 28th annual Grand Canyon Star Party will be held from Saturday, June 9 through Saturday, June 16, 2018 on the South and North Rims of Grand Canyon National Park.

National Parks such as Grand Canyon are protective havens for some of the last remaining dark skies in this country. Two years ago, Grand Canyon National Park announced that it received Provisional International Dark Sky Park status through the International Dark-Sky Association. This provisional status gives the park three years to retrofit two-thirds of the lights in the park to be night-sky friendly. This year, we celebrate our continuing efforts to preserve this precious dark sky sanctuary while counting down both to Grand Canyon National Park's 100th birthday and full International Dark Sky Park status in 2019.



This event is sponsored by the National Park Service, the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (South Rim), and the Saguaro Astronomy Club of Phoenix (North Rim), with funding from Grand Canyon Association and in partnership with the International Dark-Sky Association. Amateur astronomers from across the country will volunteer their telescopes and expertise for the enjoyment of park visitors. Numerous telescopes will offer views of planets Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mars, as well as double stars, star clusters, nebulae and distant galaxies-and the Moon, later in the week. By day, keep an eye out for solar telescopes pointed at the sun. Weather permitting, expect spectacular views of the universe!



On the South Rim, events include a nightly slide show at 8 pm in the Grand Canyon Visitor Center theater, followed by free telescope viewing behind the building. Green-laser Constellation Tours will be offered at 9, 9:30 & 10 pm. Parking is available in Lots 1 through 4 (Lot 4 is accessible), or arrive by the free, accessible Village Route shuttle bus, which runs until 11 pm. To guarantee a seat at the slide show, arrive early; doors open at 7:40 pm and the theater has limited capacity. Telescope viewing is best after 9 pm and continues well into the night; visitors may arrive any time after dark. A flashlight is recommended for the walk to the viewing area, but white lights are not permitted on the Telescope Lot. Give your eyes time to dark-adapt, or use a red flashlight, easily made by covering any flashlight with red cellophane, nail polish, or permanent marker.



On the North Rim, telescopes will be set up on the terrace of the Grand Canyon Lodge every evening. Astronomers will also use green lasers to point out constellations. An astronomy slide show will be presented at 8:00 pm nightly in the lodge auditorium. By day, look for solar telescopes on the terrace and elsewhere. Check the Visitor Center and park bulletin boards for program topics and additional details.



Nighttime temperatures on both rims can be quite cool, even in summer. Those attending the star party are encouraged to bring warm layers of clothing. When traveling in the park on the South Rim, it is best to find a parking space and use the free shuttle bus system to access points of interest in the Grand Canyon Village area. Visitors should also be aware of ongoing road construction projects in the park. All services and facilities are open and accessible but, visitors should add a few minutes to their driving time and follow detour signs, flaggers, and temporary stop lights.



Images from the 2013 South Rim Grand Canyon Star Party are available on GrandCanyon's Flickr page. For additional information visit Grand Canyon's Star Party page or contact Rader Lane at 928-638-7641.Arizona News

Petrified Forest, Arizona - Pursuant to regulations of the Department of Interior, Title 16, Sections 3 and 36 Code of Federal Regulations, subsections 1.5 Closure and public use limits (a) (2), 2.13 Fires (c), 2.21 Smoking (a), and 2.38 Explosives (b), the following acts are prohibited on the area, roads, and trails described below until rescinded by the Superintendent of Petrified Forest National Park.

Setting, building, maintaining, attending, or using fires of any kind, including wood and charcoal campfires within developed campgrounds or picnic areas, or permanently improved places of habitation. Stoves fueled by petroleum or Liquid Propane Gas (LPG) fuels are allowed.

Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable material down to mineral soil.

Possessing or using any kind of fireworks or other pyrotechnic devices, is prohibited at all times on all federal public lands.

The following persons are exempt from the order:

Those persons with a permit authorizing the otherwise prohibited act, or in those areas authorized by written posted notice in the area of operation. Permits may be obtained from Petrified Forest National Park Headquarters.

Any federal, state, or local officer or member of an organized rescue or firefighting force in the performance of an official duty.

Area Description: All lands within the boundaries of Petrified Forest National Park.

Violation of the above, prohibited acts is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000 and/or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both [36CFR 1.3 Penalties (a)].

Information concerning these fire restrictions may be obtained at (928) 524-6228 x226.Arizona News

Scottsdale, Arizona - Mayo Clinic has received a $25 million gift from William A. and Carolyn D. Franke and family from Paradise Valley, Arizona. This transformative gift will support scholarships and operations, such as faculty development and curriculum innovation at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine  Arizona Campus. It is the largest contribution in the history of Mayo Clinics Arizona campus.

In recognition of the gift, the Mayo Clinic Education Center at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona will be named the Mayo Clinic Franke Education Center.

Mr. William (Bill) Franke, one of Arizonas most prominent business leaders, and his family long have been interested in education and its impact on the Arizona economy. The Franke family was drawn to Mayo Clinic School of Medicines commitment to educating diverse learners. This gift will guarantee scholarships are available to recruit the best and brightest students who choose their career based on passion rather than financial concerns or social background.

We must redefine medical education and advance innovative medical education models if we are to meet the needs of patients and society in the 21st century, says Fredric Meyer, M.D., executive dean of education, Mayo Clinic. This gift holds great power to allow Mayo Clinic School of Medicine to advance this journey, allowing the school to continuously valuate and re-engineer the curriculum to provide the best educational programs and learning paradigms available in the world. Dr. Meyer is the Juanita Kious Waugh Executive Dean for Education.

The path to becoming a medical doctor is long and challenging, says Mr. Franke. Students face years of commitment at a significant financial cost. As a family, we are focused on making that journey less onerous in the hope that qualified, talented and in need students are not discouraged by the financial burden. We want them focused on the medical education that Mayo Clinic School of Medicine can provide.

Physicians need more than traditional medical skills to succeed in the hospitals of tomorrow. The most promising students are looking for a more rigorous academic experience that incorporates advanced technology and opportunities for supplementary training. Mayo Clinic School of Medicine is transforming medical education and research training to improve patient care, accelerate discovery and innovation, and advance the practice of medicine. Through a curriculum dedicated to lifelong education, students at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine learn from world-class faculty to exchange ideas and challenge traditional science with a never-ending quest for new knowledge. This philosophy has garnered the medical school the No. 6 ranking in U.S. News & World Reports Best Medical Schools.

This transformative gift from the Franke family provides more than scholarship and operational funding  it supports a foundation for continued growth of innovative and compassionate medicine in the southwest, says Wyatt Decker, M.D., vice president, Mayo Clinic, and CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Our vision is that Arizona will become a national destination for medical education in addition to providing medical care for the most complex conditions. Our medical graduates will be innovators and leaders. They will continue to contribute to positive change on the local, national and global levels.

The medical school is the flagship school of Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, one of the largest postgraduate medical education system in North America. The college educates more than 4,000 students annually in four schools. In addition, Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development educates 100,000 learners annually.

About Mr. Franke

Mr. Franke is the managing partner of Indigo Partners LLC, a private equity firm focused on investments in air transportation. During Mr. Frankes business career, he has been the CEO of a Fortune 500 forest products company, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Valley National Bank, now part of Chase Bank, chairman of the Circle K Corp, a large U.S. convenience store company, and CEO of America West Airlines (now part of American Airlines). Mr. Franke is an airline pioneer who is considered by industry experts as the man most responsible for the creation of the ultra-low-cost carrier in the U.S.

Mr. Franke served as the founding chairman of Airplanes Group Ltd., a $5 billion aircraft finance vehicle created from the aircraft portfolio of GPA Group plc., the Irish aircraft leasing company, and supported by GE Capital Aviation Services. He was involved in the 1998 acquisition of GPA (then renamed AerFi Group) by Texas Pacific Group, Inc. and served on AerFi Group's board of directors until it was sold in 2000 to Debis AirFinance. Also, along with an investment group led by David Bonderman, Mr. Franke was an investor in Ryanair DAC before its initial public offering. Mr. Franke was the founding chairman of Tiger Airways Singapore Pte Ltd.; served as chairman of Spirit Airlines Inc. (U.S.); serves as chairman of Frontier Airlines (U.S.), JetSmart Airlines (Chile),and Wizz Air Hungary Ltd., and is a director of Volaris (Mexico); and has served, and currently serves, on several public company boards of directors.

Mr. Franke was born in Texas, raised in Latin America and graduated from high school in Brazil. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University, and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Northern Arizona University. The Frankes' son, David, and his wife, Stephanie, are members of Mayo Clinics Arizona Committee of the Leadership Council. These philanthropic ambassadors help forge meaningful and active partnerships with individuals committed to Mayo Clinics values, mission, vision and campaign funding priorities.Border News

Tucson, Arizona - Three male illegal aliens found themselves in a dangerous situation in the Baboquivari Mountains southwest of Tucson, called 9-1-1 for help and were rescued early Wednesday by CBP Air and Marine Operations and U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Three foreign nationals are

treated after being rescued

After their call was relayed to a Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) team, they boarded a CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter launched from the Tucson Air Branch to locate the men.

The men claiming to be stranded on a precarious mountain ledge were soon located on the side of a cliff on Baboquivari Peak, west of State Route 286. Agents determined the men, identified as two Mexican nationals, ages 19 and 20, and a 31-year-old Guatemalan national, would require an aerial extraction due to treacherous terrain.

After BORSTAR agents medically stabilized two of the men injured earlier in the day, AMOs flight crew hoisted all three men to awaiting ambulances.

EMTs from Three Points Fire Department transported the two injured men to area hospitals for further treatment. The third man, although exhausted, was uninjured and transported to the Tucson Border Patrol Station for processing.

All three men will be processed for immigration violations once medically cleared for travel.

In the Tucson Sectors harsh desert environment, border security operations often turn into humanitarian rescue missions. Border Patrol officials encourage anyone in distress, or witnessing others in distress, to call 9-1-1 or activate a rescue beacon before a casualty occurs.Border News

San Luis, Arizona - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested 2 U.S. citizens Tuesday, in connection to separate failed Methamphetamine smuggling attempts amounting to nearly 100 pounds at Arizonas Port of San Luis.

Officers referred a 20-year-old Yuma, Arizona man for additional questioning as he attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico last night in his Lexus sedan. After an alert to the presence of what it is trained to detect by a CBP canine, officers discovered more than 17 pounds of meth within the vehicles frame rails, worth more than $51,000.

Earlier yesterday afternoon, officers referred a 21-year-old Yuma man was referred for further inspection of his Lincoln sedan. A CBP canine led officers to almost 79 pounds of meth, which was scattered throughout the vehicle. The drugs have an estimated value of nearly $237,000.

CBP officers seized the drugs and vehicles, and the subjects were arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations.Kensington. Beverly Hills. The Upper East Side. Every city has a neighborhood that denotes wealth, privilege, and luxury. Although Istanbul's upper crust has left the city center in droves in recent decades, the historic Nisantas neighborhood, with its fashion houses and Art Deco apartment blocks, still occupies a certain place of distinction in the Istanbul landscape. But theres more to Nisantas than Range Rovers driven by private chauffeurs idling outside the Louis Vuitton store (though you will see Range Rovers driven by private chauffeurs idling outside the Louis Vuitton store). The neighborhood is also home to perhaps the highest concentration of specialty coffee shops in the city.

Specialty coffee, after all, is a luxury good, a fact felt more acutely in a country like Turkey, where the going rate for a pour-over or espresso is almost identical to Western Europe or America, but the median income is considerably lower. But these cafes are not simply the haunts of the bored bourgeois. Much like any specialty coffee shop hub, Nisantass booming specialty coffee scene provides a place the citys growing creative class can find a place to work, or take a cheeky break with a cortado and a slice of cake.

Petra Coffee

From hair salons to coworking spaces, Petra Coffee is everywhere in Istanbul, and for good reason. The roaster/retailer was one of the early champions of quality, and has slowly created one of the strongest brands in Turkish specialty coffee. But visit their Topagac location and you dont need to know any of thatyoull just find a great neighborhood cafe.

Whether its the wooden newspaper holders or the century-old antique bar, the interior of Petra feels timeless, perhaps more Parisian than Turkish. Marble and cast iron tables line a bench that runs the length of the shotgun-shaped space. Baristas wear Petras trademark striped shirts and white lab coats, and ring a bell every time an order is up, short-order-diner-style.

House-baked pastries are shuttled over daily from Petra's Gayrettepe headquarters, along with, of course, an extensive selection of single-origin coffees, including famed estates like Finca Tamana in Colombia. Espresso, always a single origin, is prepared on a La Marzocco Strada EP and Mazzer Robur grinder. Petra is also one of the few places youll find doing a full size batch brew on a FETCO brewer, a luxury in an espresso-centric specialty coffee scene.

Borderline Coffee

The Istanbul specialty coffee scene is dominated by microroasters, with almost as many roasters as cafes. This makes Borderline Coffees international multi-roaster concept a breath of fresh air in the local community. Coffee comes from as far afield as Massachusettss George Howell and Oslos Tim Wendelboe, in addition to local roasters like Boxx, Kimma, and Probador Collectiva. Cofounder Burcin Ergunt has a background in digital marketing and design, so its little wonder the interior at Borderline is on the leading edge of cafe design, complete with a foliage wall emblazoned with a neon sign of Borderlines bomb-like logo, and rearrangeable peg board that displays a selection of Moccamaster brewers and Stanley thermoses.

A Mahlkonig Peak is filled with Borderlines house espresso: a single-origin Burundi custom roasted by Boxx, but any of the single-origin options are available as an EK shot, including Tim Wendelboes appropriately named Espresso for Milk. Six single-origin options are offered by-the-cup, prepared on two Marco SP-9s.

Although the vibes at Borderline are decidedly coffee shop, the food menu here is just as serious as the coffee selection. In Turkey, coffee is rarely consumed without something sweet on the side, and Borderline offers a wide array of cookies, cakes, and pastries, many of which are gluten-free or vegan and all of which are baked on the premises. For more substantial food options, quinoa bowls, salads, and fresh sandwiches makes Borderline coffee a popular lunch destination in its own right.

With Turkeys lax rules regarding pets in restaurants, dont be surprised if a customer or even barista has brought their dog or cat into the cafe.

Gravite Coffee Bar

Rising taxes, marketing bans, and other restrictions from the ruling political party have put a serious damper on alcohol consumption in Turkey, but that hasnt stopped the global mixology craze from reaching Istanbul. With the burgeoning cocktail and specialty coffee scenes, perhaps it was inevitable that someone in Istanbul took a stab at combining the two, and the result is Gravite Coffee Bar on Poyrack Sokak. The coffee and cocktail concept looks good on paper, but in reality its challenging to create a space where people enjoy both waking up with a hot cup of coffee and unwinding with something a little stronger. With a refined but inviting interior, Gravite Coffee Bar manages to thread the needle and create an intimate atmosphere where one feels comfortable bellying up to the bar with either an espresso or Old Fashioned in hand.

The coffee is supplied by a rotating cast of roasters, most recently Coffee Department, a local roaster located in Istanbuls Balat neighborhood. Two espresso options are prepared with a Mahlkonig K30 twin and a teal La Marzocco FB80, while single-origin options are offered as a pour-over or AeroPress. The adjacent American Hospital makes this cafe a hotspot for doctors, nurses, and the neighborhoods sizable expat community.

Ministry of Coffee

An Australian flag hangs in the window at Ministry of Coffee, which boasts the tagline Australian Coffee Roasters. An antipodean influence can be seen in coffee shops across Europe, and Istanbul is no exception. Ministry of Coffee, more often referred to as MOC in the local coffee community, was one of the first specialty coffee shops to open up in Nisantas, and has grown to three locations in the neighborhood (not to mention a roastery in nearby Bomonti.)

In contrast to the Nordic-influenced ultra-light roast youll get at many of the coffee shops in Nisantas, MOC features many of the fixtures once synonymous with the Aussie coffee scene: espresso is on the ristretto side, servers provide table service, and of course the much-maligned flat white joins the menu alongside more standard fare.

With two floors and sidewalk seating, MOCs original location on Sakayk Sokak is one of the largest cafes in the area, and certainly among its most popular. Owner Deniz Yldz Duzgun offers both home barista workshop and accredited SCA classes.

Spada Coffee

The La Marzocco Strada EP, and Mahlkonig grinders, and tile are all matte white at Spada Coffee, accented by soft wood tones and the occasional splash of blue-gray. But the thoughtful interior doesnt keep the sidewalk seating from filling up first before anyone ventures inside. Spada means sword in Italiana play on owner Cumhur Klcs last namebut you might be able to figure that out from their logo. A spiral staircase leads up to a surprisingly open upstairs, where guests can perch at a laptop bar, or settle into some soft seating.

Spada recently began roasting its own coffee, but also features a guest roaster, often from local companies like Old Java and Probador Collectiva, and sometimes international brands like Berlins The Barn. For cafe crawlers that might be hitting the upper limits of their caffeine tolerance, Spada features a selection of kombuchasstill a rarity in Istanbul.

Magado Coffee

When one walks into Magado Coffee, they are immediately confronted with a very curious cafe design. The split-level shop features a full espresso bar upstairs, almost hovering over a downstairs seating area, with the front door opening onto a landing between the spaces. A quick trip up the half flight of stairs reveals a selection of four single-origin coffees from Boxx Coffee Roasters, in addition to a blend of Brazil and Colombia in the espresso hopper.

The cafe takes its name from a village in Kenya, but during my most recent visit the coffees were from Colombia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Burundi. Per the baristas recommendation, I settled on a V60 pour-over of the Burundi, Ruhinga, a sweet, fruit-forward coffee perhaps enhanced by a rare sunny spring day.

Grandma

The centuries-old Tesvikiye Mosque, with its fading yellow Neo-Baroque exterior, is one of the most iconic landmarks of Nisantas, but a bright red and white cafe called Grandma might be more emblematic of the neighborhood today. A table can be hard to come by during peak hours at this popular brunch destination, but if youre lucky enough to score a spot, youll soon understand why the bakery and cafe attracts a wider clientele than most specialty coffee shops in the area.

The menu here is equal parts French and Turkish breakfast classics, complemented by a decadent array of pastries, cakes, and sourdough breads. Visitors to Turkey shouldnt pass on trying Grandmas take on menemen, a dish of sauteed tomatoes, pepper, and egg served with a generous dollop of labne (something like cream cheese) and Grandmas signature sourdough bread.

Grandma might be more bakery than coffee shop, but the coffee is treated with the same level of care that has earned them such a stellar reputation for food. The cappuccino here ranks among the best weve had in the city, with rich, chocolatey espresso and perfectly textured milk. Although the whole bean coffee is sold in private label bags, rumor has it the coffee here is also roasted by Boxx.

Michael Butterworth is the publisher of Pilgrimaged, based in Louisville, Kentucky. This is Michael Butterworth's first feature for Sprudge.Border News

Bisbee, Arizona - Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents disrupted a smuggling attempt on State Route 80 Thursday afternoon, resulting in the arrest of two U.S. citizens and two Mexican nationals, and the seizure of nearly 100 pounds of marijuana.

Agents from the Brian A. Terry Station in Bisbee attempted to stop a Nissan Xterra SUV to conduct an immigration inspection on the occupants, but instead of pulling over, the SUV sped away. Agents followed the vehicle until it collided with a highway guardrail. As agents converged on the site, four people ran from the vehicle in different directions.

After a short foot pursuit, agents apprehended two Tucson women, ages 45 and 31. Two male Mexican nationals, ages 29 and 31, were also apprehended with assistance from the Tucson Sector Border Patrols Mobile Response Team.

During the encounter, agents found and seized two large marijuana bundles worth more than $48,000.

Agents also seized the vehicle and arrested the four subjects on federal drug smuggling charges. They will remain in custody pending a court disposition.

The two Mexican nationals, determined to be illegally present in the country, were also charged with immigration violations.Health News

Scottsdale, Arizona - You're not a kid anymore, so you don't have to worry about shots, right? Wrong. Find out how to stay on top of your vaccines.

What vaccines do adults need?

Vaccines for adults are recommended based on your age, prior vaccinations, health, lifestyle, occupation and travel destinations.

The schedule is updated every year, and changes range from the addition of a new vaccine to tweaks of current recommendations. To determine exactly which vaccines you need now and which vaccines are coming up, check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website.

What factors might affect my vaccine recommendations?

Several factors can affect whether you need certain vaccines. Be sure to tell your doctor if you:

Are planning to travel abroad

Have had your spleen removed

Work in certain occupations where exposures could occur

Are or might be pregnant

Are breast-feeding

Are moderately or severely ill or have a chronic illness

Have any severe allergies, including a serious allergic reaction to a previous dose of a vaccine

Have had a disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome

Have a weakened immune system or are being treated with an immunosuppressant

Have recently had another vaccine

Have recently had a transfusion or received other blood products

Have a personal or family history of seizures

Your doctor might also recommend certain vaccines based on your sexual activity. Vaccinations can protect you from hepatitis A and hepatitis B, serious liver infections that can spread through sexual contact. The HPV vaccine is recommended for men up to age 21 and women up to age 26.

Why are some vaccines particularly important for adults?

Adults of any age can benefit from vaccines. However, certain diseases, such as the flu, can be particularly serious for older adults or those living with certain chronic illnesses.

How can I keep track of my vaccines?

To gather information about your vaccination status, talk to your parents or other caregivers. Check with your doctor's office, as well as any previous doctors' offices, schools and employers. Some states also have registries that include adult immunizations. To check, contact your state health department.

If you can't find your records, talk to your doctor. He or she might be able to do blood tests to see if you are immune to certain diseases that can be prevented by vaccines. You might need to get some vaccines again.

To stay on top of your vaccines, ask your doctor for an immunization record form. Bring the form with you to all of your doctor visits and ask your provider to sign and date the form for each vaccine you receive.Health News

Yuma, Arizona - Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - medications commonly used to treat pain and inflammation - can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

It's important to take only the dose you need for as short amount of time as possible to limit the risk of heart attack or stroke. Taking NSAIDs once in a while or for a short time, such as to help with pain due to an injury, generally has only a small risk.

NSAIDs are available over-the-counter or with a prescription and include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others), naproxen sodium (Aleve, Anaprox, others), diclofenac sodium (Voltaren, Solaraze, others) and celecoxib (Celebrex). More research is needed to determine whether some NSAIDs are more or less likely to increase these risks than others.

Although aspirin is a type of NSAID, it doesn't appear to be associated with a higher risk of heart attack or stroke.

It's not clear why NSAIDs increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, but it is likely through various processes that NSAIDs affect in the body.

If you take NSAIDs and have cardiovascular disease or you're at high risk of it, you may have a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke than is someone who takes NSAIDs but doesn't have cardiovascular disease. But even people without cardiovascular disease who take NSAIDs may be at increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

To help ease muscle or joint pain, consider trying other therapies  such as hot or cold packs or physical therapy  before taking NSAIDs. Your doctor may suggest other medications as alternatives to NSAIDs. For example, your doctor may recommend that you take acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) for general pain relief, which doesn't increase the risk of heart attacks.

If you need to take an NSAID, take the lowest dose possible for the shortest time needed. But be aware that serious side effects can occur as early as the first weeks of using an NSAID, and the risk may increase the longer you are taking an NSAID. Taking NSAIDs at higher doses also may increase your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

If you need to take NSAIDs for a long time, or if you have cardiovascular disease, talk to your doctor. Your doctor may discuss which NSAIDs may be appropriate for you and whether other medications may be recommended for you.

If you take aspirin to help prevent a heart attack, talk with your doctor before taking NSAIDs. Some NSAIDs may interact with aspirin and affect its ability to help prevent a heart attack.

If you're taking an NSAID and you notice any signs or symptoms of a heart attack or stroke  such as chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness in one part of the body or side of the body, or sudden slurred speech  get medical attention right away.

Many people can generally take NSAIDs to treat pain, fever and inflammation. But keep in mind that there may be an increased risk of a heart attack or stroke. Also, read the label instructions carefully before taking NSAIDs, and use NSAIDs as directed. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about NSAIDs.I have heard analysts proverbially that education has the power to break the societal cycle of poverty in Africa. Thinking deeply about it I find this statement relevant and workable too. Education melts illiteracy, ignorance and unwarranted pride. It stimulates innovation, invention and it is the only tool that can make one rise to global platforms. With all these benefits in mind, a fascination came in handy recently after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo made an official announcement of free education in Ghana.

Source: digitallearning

As a matter of fact with no sugarcoating, most of the Ghanaians are either low or middle level income earners. This means most families are struggling with the means to survival or living on hand to mouth. Children suffer as they are forced to drop out of school as parents hit snug in their inability to raise school fees. As expected, this was welcomed with cheer excitement and relief from both parents and students. The guarantee of studying with fewer if any hurdles for the same or even better education according to the free education policy in Ghana.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo made this much awaited announcement during his visit at Vakpo Senior High School which is at the Northern Volta Region in Dayi District for the 50th anniversary. From September 2017, free compulsory universal basic education in Ghana would be reinforced to ensure all benefit from the project and it will be dubbed free shs education in Ghana. The President need not emphasise the importance of the free education policy in Ghana urging youth to embrace education. He even went further to say education would end at Junior High School unless the sluices in the river of education are removed.

In your knowledge, the free education in Ghana constitution was only offered to primary and junior high school only. Nonetheless the proposal were done way back in 1995 while implementation happened in 2014  when free education started in Ghana. Appreciatively though, students have since then been enjoying free education in Ghana but up to that level. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo while campaigning to be elected into office promised the populace that he will ensure senior high school education similarly become free. This promises so then had to be fulfilled and hence the free secondary education in Ghana.

READ ALSO: Report writing tips for students and business people in Ghana

Importance of free education in Ghana

Source: rayharris57

In cognition of the economic status most parents are in this project is probably one of a kind with a promise to solve a problem. The free and compulsory education in Ghana was cordially receipted since people could naturally associate with the problem in question and hence was appreciated widely. Other than bringing relief to the financial burden parents were often posed with, there are other benefits brought about by free education in Ghana. Here are some of the benefits stemmed down from free shs education in Ghana:

Encourage the creation of an entrepreneurial climate  Free compulsory education in Ghana

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo actually pointed out this as the first step towards creation of an entrepreneurial spirit. Ideally, an entrepreneur is a person who is able to start and run a business withstanding all the internal and external barriers and possess virtues such as risk taking, persistent, innovative, independent, self motivated just to mention but a few.

If free education policy in Ghana was to be strictly followed, then education in primary, junior high school and senior high school would be freely offered to all. This means that if student have the elementary education they stand better chances of being their own bosses. This because the education would sharpen their skills and abilities to befit the market and hence foster an entrepreneurial climate

Improve the living standards of the people through free education in Ghana

Education is an eye opener, a cliche you and i have heard severally. But yes, indeed education is an eye opener. Going through school leaves some positive impact in our lives even if it is done subconsciously. We become more thoughtful and less ignorant of the things that matter in life. It is only through education that the society will be enlightened on better living styles or even how people can improve their living standards.

According to the free education policy in Ghana, students will be taught and molded into becoming fully fledged citizen capable of participating positively toward building the nation. The youth are then charged to prioritize education since they are the primary agents of change.

Transform the countrys economy positively  Free education in Ghana

This is a plain fact free education in Ghana will bring on bound. I would like to explain this using a satirical statement; place the ministry of health to a junior high school dropout, what is the expected end result? I hope you can all guess failure. Of course they will fail in management and administration, cannot tell apart relevant projects or deals from those that do not matter, financial management will be a challenge too. These are some of the things such a country will experience and our President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo wants none of these.

Free and compulsory education will input expertise into the students ensure they come out into the market fully equipped with knowledge. This knowledge will henceforth be put in good practice as they devise ways to solve problems in the economy.

READ ALSO: 5 Disadvantages of federalism in the Philippines

Importance of free education in Ghana  Industrialization

Source: yomag

Education is the catalyze to innovation and invention. It is through education, people can develop a system, software or channel that brings efficiency especially if used for industrial purposes. Some of the greatest minds I know world over have gone through school, passed honorable and later been absorbed into the market where they are making products that astonish us.

The global paradigm shift is towards industrialization thanks to technological advancement. Following this universal trend, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo is concerned that Ghana should not be left behind but should actually be competing to lead. Free education in Ghana is then an instrumental tool towards industrialization.

How to solve social, economic and political challenges through free education in Ghana constitution

As you all know, education beget knowledge and knowledge begets wisdom. Ghana as a country though has worked tirelessly to remove challenges it is facing, some are still standing unshakable and some force has to come tactfully and drive them off. This force is called education, which understands every dimension of our modern day challenge and it able to deal with it terminally.

Ideally when people go through school, facts about life become clearer to them regardless of whether that is social societal, economic or political. The elite are able to address a challenge of any kind or magnitude. For instance, an economic crisis can be address by people with great business acumen. This saves the country from getting deep into a mess. Free education policy in Ghana will help is problem solving challenges the country could be facing.

The above are some of the importance of free education in Ghana. Clearly if this project is to be implemented as was planned then it has great benefits to all both in the short run and in the long run. Reportedly, Madam Charity Adzoa Calai, the Headmistress of Vakpo Senior High School said that since this policy became into full operation in 2017, she has registered a student population increase. This is something to smile about as from the onset we can lightly judge that the project is working.

READ ALSO: Top 10 cheapest universities in Ghana

Disadvantages of free education in Ghana

Source: vladimirribakov

Just like a coin has two sides, I would like to focus my attention on the other side of free education in Ghana. Will it be all a good thing to smile about? What other challenges is it going to bring along? Will the quality be affected? Will the workforce be enough? Are there enough infrastructures to spearhead the project smoothly? How sustainable is it?

Well, I am not being pessimistic here, but am getting more real on the situation as ambition may get the whole over us. Education is a good thing and as a matter of fact it is very essential and commendable. However, we understand that this sector has its fair share of challenges that need to be overcome. Allow me to get deep and go beyond the cheer excitement about free and compulsory education in Ghana and bring out some facts clear:

Poor planning of the project  Free education in Ghana

Source: unitedwayoc

Planning should take more time than implementation of a project for it to be viable, practical and mutually benefiting too. The case of free and compulsory education in Ghana did not have this approach or it was trivialized or down played. Analyst have been concerned about the overall project which was good and still is but one that stands on the hem of collapsing.

Unsustainable implementation of the free shs education in Ghana

As the project is already ongoing, the New Patriotic Party Government has allocated Ghc 480 million on the fiscal year 2017/2018 to cater for the cost of free education in Ghana. This is by far a huge sum of money to spend on year with no definite way of revenue generation. In the end the country may end up bankrupt thanks to the free secondary education.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo said the project is to be funded from proceeds of the natural resources. In practicality, the natural resource can get depleted, what then will happen? Who then will fund the free education in Ghana? The project is good but built on a shaky foundation that may not last. In simpler terms I would say the free shs education in Ghana may not sustainable in the long-run unless the government of the day devises other ways to support the program.

Financing challenge of free education in Ghana

Source: Unitedwayoc

This is a paramount angle to which this project should have first been based on; in terms of the financial demands, how to overcome them and where else to generate revenue to cover up for the government free spending. This was completely omitted making the project be synonymous with a car with no fuel but with the driver and other occupants on board ready to take off. Of course we know they cant go any further and if they appear to the journey will be thwarted in a few moments.

Similarly, the free compulsory universal basic education in Ghana is on a like trend. The journey seems to have taken off well, but question of sustainability and funding will slowly but surely stop the project before it even leaves the infancy stage.

Concerns have been expressed right left and center. Financial experts and analyst are worried that this project may drain the country significantly, parents concerned about being passed on the financial responsibility through taxation or through other indirect ways the government may come up with. Students are terrified that the project may not be long term and that before long their joy may be short-lived.

The government in curbing the situation before it gets out of control should come up first and address these challenges that free education in Ghana is bringing in. Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah, a former trade minister has indeed confirmed that all these problems came from lack of proper planning. Nonetheless, the situation can be contained. The ball is now to the government to ensure these are dealt with and a mutually benefiting plan is adopted.

READ ALSO: KNUST grading system 2018-2019

Source: Yen.com.ghThe CEO of Zylofon Media, Nana Appiah, has revealed that he was sick for over 10 years and nearly lost his life but was saved by the loving care and encouragement of his mother.

Zylofon boss, Nana Appiah.

He said for 10 years, he was blind and could not make use of his limbs, but his mother kept encouraging and assuring him that he would achieve great success in life.

Nana Appiah made the remarks on Saturday as he wished his mother a happy Mother's Day.

The Zylofon boss credited his mum for his success in life, stressing that without her he would not have amounted to anything.

He praised his mother's extraordinary faith and belief in him and in his potential, at a time many people had given up on him.

"All that I am and would ever be God willing, I owe it all to you Maa. I remember those dreadful 10 years that, I lost my sight, my limbs, died many times and when everyone thought it was all over, you gave me a rebound out of nothing by faith and just because you believed. A new life, a new breath!

"You told me I would be a wonder to the world and I believed, though it seemed then like a mirage. Today, the mission is in progress. Till the end of time, I would always love you with all my heart, Suzzy," he wrote.

READ ALSO: 4 lessons Dumelo's controversial wedding taught single men in Ghana

READ ALSO: Why I did not attend Dumelo's wedding - KOD speaks after being blasted by female celebs

Nana Appiah presides over several multi-million enterprises, including Menzgold.

His company, Zylofon Media, recently launched a $1 million fund to boost creative arts in the country.

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!

Source: Yen.com.ghUnemployment is one of the social evils in any growing economy. For a government, eradicating this menace is one of the top agendas. The government of Ghana as taking this responsibility seriously thanks to NABCO (Nation Builders Corps). Through our article we seek to educate you about this institution, its role in the economy and how to enroll. Read on to find out more about the proram and how to be part of the 2019 intake.

Source: goldchestgh

What is NABCO?

NABCO is an acronym for the Nation Builders Corps, a Ghanaian government initiative that seeks to address the every rising unemployment in the country. Through the initiative focus of solving service delivery in the public sectors such as agriculture, education, health, governance, revenue collection and mobilization and technology, the Ghanaian government seeks to provide over 100,000 graduates in the country. So far the initiative has been received well across the county as it has seen more than 40,000 graduates already apply for the program in less than two weeks since its launch.

What are the objectives of NABCO?

NABCO Ghana is founded on key objectives that include:

Providing temporary employment opportunities to the many unemployed university graduates

Improving skills and employability status for graduates thus helping them transition from the programme to their permanent employment

Better public service delivery

Develop government revenue mobilization

To provide needed infrastructure to improve access to basic public services

READ ALSO: How to apply to NABCO programme?

7 NABCO Modules

NABCO jobs are divided into 7 key models which are explained on their official website. These seven modules include

Educate Ghana: The main focus of educate Ghana is on STEM and other subjects in primary and secondary schools. Heal Ghana: This modules focuses on providing healthcare delivery to deprived and rural communities across Ghana. Feed Ghana: The aim here is to provide extensive support to farmers across Ghana. Revenue Ghana: Revenue Ghana provides a workforce and minimal technology solution to generate the requisite revenue. Digitize Ghana: Provide a converging solution to most of the active and latent government programmes and initiatives. Civic Ghana: Give some resource base at the District and Constituency level. Enterprise Ghana: This module helps with the effort to industrialise all parts of the country

Who qualifies for NABCO jobs?

This is one of the main questions that is on the mind of every Ghanaian citizen now. According to the blue prints of the program the Nation Builders Corps is opened to all the Ghanaian graduates who have successfully completed their degree and diploma courses at Ghanaian accredited tertiary institutions.

Source: mfidie

When is the NABCO online registration?

The current years NABCO online registration process is on with the process officially starting on 1st of May 2018 and will run to the 1st of June 2018. On the other hand, the national districts offices will open the process to applicants from 4th June 2018 to the 15th of June 2018 in an effort to ensure that nobody is left out in the process.

READ ALSO: Nana Addo launches nation builders corps for jobless graduates

NABCO 2019 terms and conditions

With the advancement of technology you do not require to visit the nabco head office in order to send your application since everything can be done online. However for you to get an admission to the institution there are a number of things you need to comply to. The following are some of the terms and conditions you are requires to comply with if you want to gain admission at this institution.

1. Email address

2. Softcopy of your passport size picture

3. Scanned copy of highest degree/diploma qualification (in pdf format)

4. Certificate number of degree/diploma (if available)

5. Ghana Post GPS digital address of residence. If you do not have the digital address, download and generate one:

6. District of residence

7. National Service Scheme (NSS) PIN

8. In addition to the NSS PIN, Heal Ghana Module is open to only graduates with healthcare training and professional license. Applicant license number/PIN is required.

9. Any of the following National IDs:

NHIS Card

National ID card

Passport

Voters ID card

10. Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Number

11. E-zwich Card Number

How to apply

Once you have meet the above terms and conditions the next stage is to apply. Remember since most of the process is online you need to have IT skills in order to apply. The following is how to go about this.

Step 1: Vist apply.nabco.gov.gh

Step 2: Fill in your basic information and complete the Google Captcha.

Step 3: After confirming your details you will be taken to next stage of the application process. Here you can save your progress and resume at a later time.

Step 4: Key in your details essential to locating you whenever need arise

Step 5: Key in your employment details

Step 6: Confirm that you have provided your accurate information and where errors are correct before proceeding

Step 7: Confirm your submission and print the receipt

Step: Validate your information before the actual interview of your job module

READ ALSO: Unemployed nurses angry at minister for receiving petition with left hand

Important NABCO Builders Schedule for 2019 (May to August)

Online application: May 1, 2018, to June 1, 2018.

District offices open for applicants: June 4, 2018, to June 15, 2018

Interviews: June 25, 2018, to July 7, 2018.

NABCO District and Module Placement Orientation: July 16, 2018, to July 27, 2018.

Placement and Commencement : August 1, 2018.

Source: Ghanaweb

How much is nabco builders pay?

Under this NABCO programme eligible graduates will be paid an allowance equivalent of 700 Ghana Cedis monthly and they will be in the program for a period of 3 years.

NABCO CONTACTS

NABCO head office address are located ate 2 Abafun Cres, Accra, Ghana with their digital address being GL-026-0106.

Call info: 0302 000 111

Email: info@nabco.gov.gh

Website: nabco.gov.gh

Source: Yen.com.gh- TV personality Haillie Sumney has jabbed Rosemond Brown over her ability to speak English

- The two ladies who were goofing around were seen in a video on Instagram

TV personality and alleged friend of American superstars, Kim Kardashian and Rick Ross, Haillie Sumney, has taken a swipe at controversial Ghanaian actress, Rosemond Alade Brown over her poor command of the English language.

In self-recorded video posted on the Instagram page of the Ghanaian actress, the two ladies who were obviously playing around were seen in a hot fight over who could command the English language better.

Rosemond Brown

READ ALSO: Yvonne Okoro finally clears air on bleaching allegation

Haillie Sumney went on to jokingly jab Roemond Brown by calling her a local slay queen due to her poor English.

Rosemond Brown came back strong and refuted the claims made by Haillie Sumney and claimed that she could speak better English.

Rosemond Brown captioned the video, "See me see trouble this so called @hailliesumneyofficial here is telling me she speaks good English than I do because she once worked with 4syte tv.haha very funny and has also been mingling with @kim_khardashian! AND SO WHAT?

She said, My name is Rosemond Brown and I am from GhanaWhy are you slanging slanging like that?

Rosemond Alade Brown has managed to make a name for herself on social media with her controversial videos. She has commented on issues involving a lot of celebrities including Shatta Wale, Shatta Michy, Moesha Boduong and recently, she had a few harsh words for John Dumelo.

READ ALSO: Fatal accident occurs at spot where Ebony died, 11 persons killed

The actress revealed that John Dumelo allegedly dumped her girlfriend of 4 years to marry Gifty Mawunya because of money and because she was related to a top member of the wealthy National Democratic Congress.

The mother of one gained a lot of attention during the recent Vodafone Ghana Music Awards as she made an appearance in a weird dress which got many people talking.

The mother of one has also crossed swords with TV personality, Deloris Frimpong Manso over a cancelled interview.

READ ALSO: Facts about John Dumelo's wife Mawunya

Top 7 worst jobs on earth:

YEN 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. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook page.

Source: Yen.com.ghSamini My Own hit is the latest reggae song in Ghana that has been welcomed with open arms by music lovers. People have given different opinions concerning the entire composition. The hit is a love song and he majorly talks about the qualities of his woman and how he appreciates her. The song is deep and has a lovely message that only die hard music lovers can comprehend. This article is going to talk about Samini, his hit song My Own and much more.

READ ALSO: King promise hangs out with mum and its just like a young woman and her boyfriend

Saminis career in music

Emmanuel Samini is a Ghanaian musician who originates from the Wa region of Ghana and was born in the year 1981.He realized he had a passion for music when he was only nine and since then, he has never looked back. After singing in church for some time, he decided to take his talent a notch higher by moving from church and into the world. Samini has one countless collaborations with other talented artists like him and performed in other countries like Italy and the United Kingdom. His songs have made him gain popularity in Ghana which has seen him boast of a number of awards to his name. There is a lot to say about Samini but first, lets take a look at some of the songs that have made him the talk of the town.

Samini Linda

This song was released in the year 2004 and managed to bag an award during the Ghana Music Awards in the same year. The song Linda became very popular and he even performed alongside international artists like Sean Paul, Shaggy and many more artists.

Samini ft Luther-Yonah

When two talented people join hands, you expect nothing but a large hit that people will remember for a long time. The song was released in the year 2016 and it still lingers in the minds of music lovers to date.

Amini-Winner

The song was produced by Samini when from the high grade family and it is nothing short of a brilliant piece of art. The song that was released just recently is worth listening to.

Samini ft Sarkodie-Love Rocks

This tack that was released in the year 2014 featuring Sarkodie did not disappoint fans at all. The two talented artists managed to come up with a brilliant piece of work that any music lover would appreciate.

Samini Ye ko Paapi

Ye ko Paapi was released in the year 2015 and was part f the breaking news album that everybody talked about. The song featured K.K Fosu and got positive feedback from fans.

Samini-Anytime

Samini was part of a family called High grade that is a group of artists who come together to produce songs. He managed to be a part of the production of twenty songs and the song that crowned the album among the twenty was Anytime. Some of his other songs include Top Secret, True Say, Still Okay, Sweet Mistake, Time Bomb, High Grade and many more. The beats he works with are danceable and have impressed many fans. Here is the video to the song Anytime featuring Hus Eugene.

Samini New Style

Saminis song by the title New Style topped the chart in Ghana back in the year 2015.The song has a powerful message and is of reggae genre. It was released as a single and managed to win the hearts of many fans. Additionally, it had many views on you tube that seemed to help him elevate his music career to greater heights.

Samini-Samini

This song was part of his album that earned him the MOBO awards in the year 2007 and just like my own Samini, is part of Samini latest songs. In the same year; he also won three other awards courtesy of the same album which is a clear indication that samini songs are nothing short of the best in the Ghanaian music industry.

My Own By Samini

My Own is Samini new song that has not disappointed at all. Since its release, the song is the talk of the town and fans cannot get enough of it. Music lovers have expressed different opinions concerning the whole composition.

The beat of the song is in 2/4 time signature with heavy bass line and exemplary programming. The song is sung in Key F# Major. The musics groovy beats make it danceable and is programmed on the Reggae Fest Riddim.

The Song simply talks about love. Samini describes the beauty and other good qualities about his woman and constantly praises her. He goes ahead and explains how even with no money, his woman still loved and accepted him. This portrays true love which is a rare thing in the current world. His tactful use of literary devices clearly shows his prowess in composing quality pieces of art.

In the song My OwnSamini has used the term Bibini-Broni whereby Obibini simply describes a dark skinned person. On the other hand, obroni is used to describe a white skinned race. Therefore, Bibini Broni describes a black woman who resembles a white woman. This oxymoron makes the black race less authentic.

READ ALSO: 5 interesting things about John Dumelo's wedding

A lot of musicians have used this expression in their songs. One of the veteran artistes who have constantly used the phrase is Amakye Dede and many more.

Samini just like most dance hall artistes has a unique husky voice. However, what sets him aside from other dance hall artistes is that he does not only know how to the typical raga he does but can equally do real singing and that was quite evident in My Own whereby his harmonies are smoothly blended and therefore very soothing and sweet to the ear.

Can My Own Revive Saminis Music Career?

Well, the music industry is not for the faint hearted neither is it a smooth sail. There are challenges that artists face once in a while that could lower their status. Once you are branded as the best, people expect a lot from you and if you lag behind, people could easily forget about you. My Own by Samini has restored some hopes in the hearts of his diehard fans who almost threw in the towel on him. The song reflects who Samini has been ever since he started singing and gives listeners hopes of better things to come. Should he continue to release songs like My Own he will be able to maintain a big spot in the Ghanaian music industry and be a threat to other musicians.

Samini my own lyrics

Here is Samini my own lyrics

1 SAMINI

High Grade

Oow ee booi

You make me wana rearrange the alphabets

So I could put U next to letter I

Tale my heart baby carry go

If you leave me I go die

No tu na 3su ni sis kitikiti

) ka br) fo te twi) ka no wrisiwrisi

Ne se mu gyr3 smile seresere

) mp3 namfos3m me ne no chili chili

Me bibinii bronii yee

Me golden tree chocolate yiee

Min twa tooolie

Each and Every day me nya bi di yee

My own

Da time I dey chase am then no money dey oo

My own

See my hot kpakpo shito I dey grind for my kenkey

My own

Like the air I dey feel am for everywhere I dey oooo

My own

See de money baby come chop am for me oo

3n3 mi tee wonka na watsapp me 33h

Whatsapp me 33h

) d) may3 lonely, bra b3 chati me 33h

Chat to me girl

Wey time make I carry you

Champagne anaa3 Malibu

3n3 dinner yi di just for two

Me d) wu na wu d) me nti babiaa ewu

My Own

Da time I dey chase am then no money dey oo

My own

See my hot kpakpo shito I dey grind for my kenkey

My own

Like the air I dey feel am for everywhere I dey oooo

My Own

See de money baby come chop am for me oo

No tu na 3su ni sisi kitikiti

) ka br)fo te twi)ka no wrisiwrisi

Ne se mu gyr3 smile seresere

) mp3 namfos3m me ne no chili chili

Me bibinii bronii yiee

Ma golden tree chocolate yiee

Min twa toooliee

Min twa toooliee

Each and Every day me nya bi di

My Own

Batman Samini has been in the music industry for a while and has managed to win the heart of many music lovers not only in Ghana but also internationally. It is important to note the fact that he has no only performed in his home country alone but also graced internationally platforms with pride. The sweet memories he has created for his fans ever since he started music cannot go unnoticed. Throughout his music career, he has managed to get any awards and I am quite sure that he has a lot still cooking that will even earn him more awards in years to come. Samini is here to stay and people should therefore expect more from him.

Source: Yen.com.ghOn Wednesday, Sprudge reported on the now-infamous firing of two Joe Van Gogh baristas from the cafes Duke University location after VP of Student Affairs Larry Moneta took umbrage with the song playing while he was waiting in line for his hot tea and vegan muffin. As we noted previously, the song in question, Get Paid by rapper Young Dolph, is not light on the curses and is the sort of song to have the pearl clutching crowd do what they do best. In the past five days, this story has continued to develop, so we are taking a look back at what has transpired since then.

Duke President Apologizes

Duke President Vincent Price has had a turbulent first 11 months as the university head. As the Duke Chronicle notes, Price has had to deal with multiple racially charged incidents, and now, he has had to apologize for the actions of one of his Vice Presidents.

In an email sent to all current Duke students, Price stated:

I am, in particular, sorry that the words of one of my senior administrators recently resulted in two individuals working for one of our on-campus vendors losing their jobs; and while I am pleased that the vendor has taken steps to reverse this action, I apologize for the precipitous and unfair treatment these employees experienced. We must do better.

Price also notes that he wont take any quick action that demands instant retribution absent context and deliberation on how to handle this incident. In short, this means that despite student protests calling for his firing, Moneta still has his job. And unlike some (looking at you, Moneta), Im not looking to get anyone fired, even when they are the VP of Student Affairs and seem to lack the capacity for empathy. But I cant help but note that were Moneta fired over it, well that would be a pretty hot cup of tea.

Joe Van Gogh Cuts Ties With Duke

On Friday, Joe Van Gogh owner Robbie Roberts issued a statement announcing that effective immediately, the company would be severing ties with Duke University in order to preserve Joe Van Goghs brand independence without conditions. Because of the closing, JVG will be offering jobs to all the displaced staffincluding Britni Brown and Kevin Simmons, the two baristas fired in the incidientat other off-campus locations or at the production facility.

During the past several days, I have reflected on our core values and what I want to embrace and advocate as a small business owner. Joe Van Gogh has always been about bringing people together, not driving them apart. We are open to all people and we value people over our profits. We always have. For years, we have nurtured these values to the communities we serve, specifically through the strengths and talents of our staff of baristas.

The full statement can be found here.

Britni Brown and Kevin Simmons Get Paid

It's not all kinda-good-but-mostly-not news though thanks to Young Dolph, who turns out is the hero of this story. When the rapper heard about the baristas who were fired for playing his music, he not only flew them out to Miami to attend the Rolling Loud music festival but also brought Brown and Simmons on stage during his performance to give them $20,000. It is a very cool gesture by Young Dolph, one that sent the thousands of music festival attendees into a frenzy.

GET PAID A post shared by  (@youngdolph) on May 12, 2018 at 8:09am PDT

Funny how the stand up person with a moral center in this story is the one using inappropriate language and not, you know, those nominally tasked with bettering the next generation through academia.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

*top image via The News & ObserverMore than 400 people celebrated Mothers Day at TheStable.ca's annual Spring Open House on Sunday, May 13 at Tomiko Training Centre (near Puslinch, Ont).

A surprise complimentary lunch kept guests fueled through nine sets of The Stables two-year-old horses (54 in all) featured in training races on the racetrack. The races will be captured by drone camera and streamed on The Stables website.

The broadcast included interviews, feature stories about the horses, driver interviews and commentary from show hosts Fred MacDonald and Hall Of Famer Bill ODonnell.

An impressive roster of prizes were drawn live on the broadcast near the end of the day.

Two one-percent shares of three-year-old pacing filly Book The Bet were reserved as exclusive prizes for current members of The Stable. They were awarded to Adriano Sorella and Maria Elana Suti.

Guests of the Open House vied for the remaining prizes.

Sherry King, Mike Barbas and Frank Petronski each won a one-percent share in two-year-old trotting colt Curious Winner.

Sean Smyth won a photo shoot with award-winning equine photographer Dave Landry, who will be inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall Of Fame in August. Landry is also a member of The Stable. He will capture an image of the winner with their horse and The Stable will have the portrait reproduced as a 16x20 print on canvas.

Fellow member of The Stable, Diane Bryant graciously assembled and donated Mothers Day Gift Baskets, which were won by Deanna Van Tol and Del Bianco.

The Open House also included a fundraising component, which raised $500 to be shared by the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society and Racing Under Saddle Ontario. The Stable partnered with TFB & Associates Importers Ltd. in Mississauga, Ont. to offer premium Fever-Tree drinks at the event for a $1 donation per bottle, which was matched by The Stable.

There are currently 103 horses and 426 active racehorse owners from 10 countries in The Stable. Trainers Anthony and Amy MacDonald launched the award-winning venture in 2015 as a fractional ownership stable  a model which welcomes newcomers to horse ownership with a very modest and low-risk investment, and completely accessible and transparent operations.

Clients of The Stable can purchase as little as one share (one percent) of a horse, which currently run as low as $95 (plus tax). A fixed monthly fee of $23.85 (plus tax) per share covers the horses daily care and training.

(TheStable.ca)The 2018 Youth Literary Derby kicked off its opening day festivities on schedule May 10 at Seelster Farms Standardbred nursery in Lucan, Ont., followed by a busy weekend of visits by eager young horse-loving wordsmiths to eight other Standardbred nurseries across the province, keen to greet newborn foals during the prime foaling season in May and June.

One hundred aspiring young writers from St. Patricks Elementary School in Lucan converged on the Seelster farm anxious to meet some of the 120 foals born on the prime 590-acre breeding site in 2018.

It was great to see such excitement from the students towards the foals. We have some lifelong fans in the making here, said Seelster Farm Manager, Ann Straatman.

Farm Manager Ann Straatman answers a myriad of questions from students on their visit to Seelster Farms,

where they met newborn Standardbred foals. (Bill Galvin Photo)

Twenty Ontario Standardbred breeding farms are opening their gates to students participating in the Youth Literary Derby, a juried, horse-themed writing contest designed to encourage writing and literacy skills for Ontario students in grades 5 to 8.

There will be 1,400 Standardbred foals born at Ontario nurseries in 2018 and their greeting to visiting Derby hopefuls will be Hey, Look Us Over. They will challenge students to express their perceptions of them and their natural beauty, agility, intelligence and warm friendship in prose or verse for a portion of the $2,000 prize and free tuition for youth equine courses at the University of Guelph.

The Derby Trail continued Saturday, May 12 with stops at Caroline Thorntons Oak Knoll Stables in Campbellcroft, Susan and John Clarks Clark Equine in Caledonia, Dr. Garth Henrys Hamstan Farm in Russell, Peter Clements Farm near Dobbinton and the Bert Moore Farm near Sarnia.

On Sunday, May 13, the Derby trail had stops at Mac Lilleys Farms near Dutton, David Hefferings Port Perry Tara Hills Stud and Mike Wilsons Warrawee Farm. Warrawee, a familiar name of horses bred on Wilsons Rockwood nursery, is an Australian aboriginal greeting meaning come and visit.

It was a fantastic and rewarding day here at Mac Lilley Farms, said Ruleen Lilley.

We watched a small child reach across the fence to pet a newborn foal. A fuzzy muzzle, a tiny hand create a bond that lasts a lifetime."

More than 200 children were among the estimated gathering of 350, all anxious to run home and pen their up-close and personal encounters with newborn foals for the Youth Literary Derby.

Students are invited to visit the programs website at www.YouthLiteraryDerby.ca for complete contest details, including a map of Ontario showing the locations and addresses of all participating Standardbred breeding farms.

ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY MIDNIGHT OF JUNE 15, 2018.

For additional information, contact Bill Galvin at [email protected].

(Youth Literary Derby)The temporary dining decks, installed last year to help restaurants keep business during the coronavirus pandemic, will by next month be removed or reconstructed to stretch only along the length of respective eateries' storefronts.A MONTH after being charged with the murder of Andreika Stubbs, 23-year-old Anthony Francis is out on bail.





On Friday, May 4, Francis lawyer Oliver Smith successfully brokered a $10,000 release for his client at a prearranged bail hearing in Grand Turk Supreme Court.





Francis was granted a combined bail on the murder charge, a wounding charge and other firearm related offences.





The defendant was charged and remanded to HM Prison on April 9, two weeks before his co-accused Malix Cox was officially charged and likewise remanded to the Grand Turk penitentiary.





Cox is being represented by attorney at law Lara Maroof-Misick.





Up to press time, no details as to a bail application or hearing for Cox was reported.





Both men are co-accused and charged with Stubbs murder, the wounding of a 17-year-old boy and firearm offences.





The deadly attack on Stubbs occurred at about 3.20am in the parking lot of the Versace nightclub on Leeward Highway, where the murdered woman and injured teen were standing, along with other persons.





She and the teenager were hit by bullets, which sent those nearby running for their lives.





Stubbs later succumbed to her injuries at Cheshire Hall Medical Centre where she and the teen were rushed for treatment.





Reports claim that the incident was a murder for hire gone wrong. The target of the alleged murder plot was another man who escaped unscathed.



By Delana Isles

FORMER Finance Minister and current leader of the opposition Washington Misick is not surprised at the unilateral move by the UK to impose public registers of companies on its overseas territories.





Rather, PNPs Misick said: "The will of colonial peoples have always been political fodder in the UKs geopolitical interest, as reflected in the famous oration by Viscount Lord Palmerston 1784-1865, Foreign Secretary and two-time Prime Minister under Queen Victoria, that Britain had no eternal allies and no perpetual enemies, only interests that were eternal and perpetual.





He said that it should be no surprise to observers of history that the overseas territories constitutional relationship with the UK has been subjugated in a political compromise between the minority government of Theresa May and the diverse parliamentary groups to secure the passage of the new sanctions and anti-money laundering bill.





The bill was passed by the UK parliament on May 1 in exchange for mandatory establishment of public registries of beneficial interest in British overseas territories by 2020.





This is ahead of the universal standard for such registries.





"And so, history has once again repeated itself and the interests of the overseas territories has been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency to achieve legislative consensus in bringing sanctions to bear against Russia, Misick continued.





He said that the decision on the one hand affirmed the principle of consensus democracy as it relates to the UK special interest, while on the other hand admittedly disenfranchises the elected representatives of the overseas territories who do not have a voice in the UK parliament.





He added that this is especially egregious given that it reflects a traditional bias in favour of Crown dependencies, tilting the playing field in their favour.





"The alarming ignorance of reality in the overseas territories by members of UK parliament has been costly, and this most recent decision in the words of Alan Duncan himself will potentially create hardship for them.





The party leader noted that the decision is clearly not evidence based.





He said that the only evidence provided by the UK is reflected in Sir Alan Duncan statements in

which he asserts that the overseas territories now generally have "central registers or similarly effective systems that enable UK law enforcement authorities to establish the ultimate owner of companies registered in the overseas territories.





"And that the commitments they have made in the exchanges of notes with the UK exceed current Financial Action Task Force standards and put them ahead of most jurisdictions, including many of our G20 partners and some states in the United States.





Misick pointed out that this view contradicts the notion of UK parliamentarians that the overseas territories are tax havens for robber barons, tax evaders, fraudsters, drug runners and funders of terror.





"Indeed, there is more evidence that the UK itself is a haven for ill-gotten wealth, he posited.





The opposition leader stated that the Turks and Caicos Islands offshore financial sector is not as a significant a part of its economy compared to that of the Cayman Islands or the BVI.





However, the TCI has passed a new Companies Ordinance which establishes a central registry albeit not public, and plans are ongoing to continue with the modernisation of legislation to make the jurisdiction more competitive.





He said that a review of the industry by KPMG is expected to be completed during the month of May, together with recommendations for the expansion of the offshore financial services sector.





He observed that there may still be a silver lining for the Turks and Caicos Islands.





"Two sequential and immediate actions are necessary to any future strategy to grow the financial services sector to maintain equilibrium between income and costs.





"One - TCIG should move post haste to publicly identify itself with the sentiments of those recently expressed by the Cayman Islands, BVI and Gibraltar in a show of solidarity.





"Second and more importantly all stakeholders including the Government, opposition and the private sector must as a matter of urgency convene a meeting to examine the options available to the TCI in a rational and dispassionate way.





He added that given the TCIs low profile in this sector there may well be an upside that may be used to its advantage.





"A win for the Turks and Caicos Islands regardless of who are the architects is a win for all of us, but the discovery of that win requires vision and collaboration, he advised.



THE CHAMBER of Commerce has chimed in with the chorus of protest against a United Kingdom decision that its overseas territories create public registers of company beneficial interest.





The Providenciales charter of the organisation noted with the concern the apparent disregard by the British members of parliaments decision to force the requirement prior to it becoming a global standard.





President of the chamber, Kyle Smith said he finds the exclusion of the UKs Crown dependencies Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man from subscribing to these new standards to be not only egregious, but prejudicial.





"This is clearly a constitutional exploitation of power and clearly shows a double standard being exercised, Smith said.





He added that such an unjust and unfair prescription for the British OTs will undoubtedly

present a serious blow to the financial sector.





Noting that although the financial sector does not count for a large portion of the local economy in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the decision will have implications on other industries throughout the Islands.





"This decision without any apparent consultation with the British OTs has served to erode the mutual trust and respect that has been the guiding principle between the UK and the British OTs.





"It is a fact that the Turks and Caicos Islands has expended considerable time and resources to comply with anti-money laundering standards, supporting tax exchange agreements, FATCA and most recently under the current administration passed the Beneficial Ownership Regulations 2017 allowing any country that signs up to multilateral agreement under the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) to receive information on an as needed basis on the ownership of companies.





Smith added that while the chamber and its associated members understand the global need to create a new norm of corporate transparency, the retort to trigger this solely for BOTs is unfair, and reduces the ability for fiscal stability, and the opportunity of competitiveness on a level playing field amongst global markets that are still allowed to do business as usual.





The president noted that the body will seek to work along with the government, the opposition, financial services bodies, local stakeholders and family chambers of Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Gibraltar to address the issues that have arisen from the decision.



A NEW Wartsila generator arrived at FortisTCIs Providenciales site on Leeward Highway on May 3.





The purchase shows that the power company is prepared to meet projected growth in electricity demand from 2019 and into the future, a company press release explained.





FortisTCI president and CEO Eddinton Powell said: "Serving one of the fastest growing economies in the region means that we must be prepared to meet the electricity needs of the country for the continued development and prosperity of these Islands.





FortisTCI made its first purchase from Wartsila Finland in 2010. It selected Wartsila for its fuel efficiency, reliable operation and the technical support available within the region.





The company signed the most recent agreement with Wartsila in April last year and construction of the engine hall began three months later in July.





Now with the arrival of the generator onsite, installation work will begin immediately and commissioning is scheduled for November.





Once installed, FortisTCI will have a new combined generating capacity of about 93MW across its service territories.





Powell said: "It is important that when preparing for future electricity needs we take a long-term view.





"As technology evolves and new generation options that are least-cost, reliable options become available, they too will be considered for inclusion in the countrys energy mix.





"That is why in addition to diesel fuel, our generation expansion plans will also include the integration of more renewable energy as well as other forms of hydrocarbons like natural gas, as we look further into the future.





The purchase of the generator is the first phase of the companys generation expansion programme outlined in its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).





Generation options that are technically and financially feasible for the Turks and Caicos Islands are evaluated through the IRP process.





One such generation option is grid-tied solar, which FortisTCI offers to customers across its service territory.





FortisTCI has also received conditional approval for the integration of a 1MW utility-scale solar project that will be installed at various sites across the TCI.





This project will begin this year and is the first utility-scale solar generation for the territory, further diversifying TCIs energy profile.



THE SAFETY of the territory and its residents was discussed in detail at a meeting of the TCI National Security Council (NSC) last month.





Topics included the National Policing Plan, illegal migration, road safety, the prison and the National Security Strategy, according to a May 8 press release from the Governors Office.





Governor John Freeman and Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson co-chaired the April 24 meeting at the Hilly Ewing Building in Providenciales





In attendance as members of the NSC were Deputy Premier Sean Astwood, Commissioner of Police James Smith, Deputy Governor Anya Williams and Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles.





The commissioner of police briefed the NSC on the 2017/18 National Policing Plan and gave an assessment of performance reporting that significant progress had been made during the year against the plans objectives.





Looking ahead, the commissioner set out priorities for the Royal TCI Police Force including enhanced engagement with the Ministry of Border Control on Operation Guardian as well as focusing on road safety, school and community engagement and child safeguarding.





Smith updated the NSC on crime statistics for 2017/18. The headline figure showed a 14 percent reduction in crime over the previous year and a 28 percent reduction over the past two years.





There had been significant reductions in most areas of serious crime over the past year.





The deputy premier briefed the NSC on progress to tackle illegal migration since the last meeting of the NSC including on the surge in sloop arrivals in March and measures taken to address the problem.





He reported on the continued success of Operation Guardian and on the increase in the number of repatriations of illegal migrants and highlighted the excellent cooperation between the Immigration Task Force and the police force.





He stressed that all government departments had a crucial role to play in Operation Guardian for it to be even more effective.





Astwood set out new measures being introduced to tackle illegal migration into the TCI including increased manpower, stricter oversight of visa applications and improved documentation.





The premier updated the NSC on the work of the Planning Department and others to help improve road safety and called for the need to address the problem of illegal jitneys including through new legislation.





Sean Astwood, as acting Minister of Home Affairs, updated the NSC on the situation at HM Prison including inmate numbers, staffing and on the arrival of a new prison superintendent on May 17.





The premier told members that the ministry had produced a report on the proposed redevelopment of the prison.





The NSC reviewed the recommendations in the UK-funded Security Needs Assessment (SNA) Report completed in 2017 and received updates on progress against the recommendations and measures being taken to address outstanding issues.





The police commissioner presented an outline of a proposed National Security Strategy setting out areas which the strategy might focus on against agreed objectives, outputs and timelines.





And Cartwright Robinson underlined that a National Security Strategy had to encompass a multi-agency approach with all departments and elements of society being involved as well as cooperation with international partners.





It was agreed that work on the strategy would be taken forward by the deputy commissioner of police working together with the deputy premier.



By Delana Isles

THE FIVE men who stand accused for their involvement in the death of 19-year-old Kenley Walters will remain on trial for the crime.





This decision came on Monday (May 7) after the trial judge Joan Joyner rejected defence lawyers no case submissions that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against their clients.





She contended that a case has indeed been made out against the five accused in the manslaughter trial.





The defence applications were made last week Wednesday and Thursday after the prosecutor wrapped up its case against the defendants.





The defendants and their attorneys are Charlex Bottex - attorney Glenda Clarke; Lorvensky Joseph - attorney Keith James; Kurt Delancy Jr - attorney Finbar Grant; Woody Baptiste - attorney Lara Maroof-Misick and Evenson Capron - attorney Guy Chapman.





The five defence lawyers argued that from their view there is insufficient evidence to move forward into the second half of the trial, which is the defences half.





The defence attorneys believe that the Crown did not present enough evidence against any of the five men for the judge to call upon them to defend.





The prosecution team strongly disagreed and called on the trial judge to reject all five defence counsels arguments.





Following the rejection of their applications, the defence lawyers are now in the process of presenting a defence for their clients.





The jury will decide on the guilt or lack thereof of the men.





Some of the defendants are expected to the take the witness stand to plead their innocence.

On Monday, Evenson Capron was the first one to do so; he was taken through his testimony by his attorney.





At the conclusion of his testimony Chapman called a witness to testify on behalf of his client.





The trial is currently in its fourth week, and is expected to flow into a fifth week.





Walters was killed during the early morning hours of December 26, 2014, after a deadly fight broke out among several patrons at the once popular Club 2005, located in Downtown Providenciales.



JUST two hours after his lawyer successfully argued that there was not sufficient evidence to take his case to trial, Craig Wilson of Five Cays, was rearrested by police while on his way home.





On Friday, May 4, attorney Lara Maroof-Misick won the brief victory for her client when she appeared on his behalf in front of Justice Shiraz Aziz in Grand Turk Supreme Court.





Wilson was charged and subsequently remanded for firearm possession and a number of other related charges.





The allegations against him were that he, his current girlfriend, an ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, along with other passengers were riding along in a vehicle when an altercation occurred between Wilson and the ex.





The argument escalated and Wilson allegedly pulled a firearm, creating fear among the occupants of the vehicle.





A struggle for the firearm then ensued and it is alleged that Wilson ran away from the fight leaving his gun in the vehicle.





Reports are that the two women and the new boyfriend all went to the police station to report the matter and hand over the gun.





Shortly after the report, Wilson was arrested at the airport, allegedly trying to flee the jurisdiction for the Bahamas.





Fridays hearing was the defendants sufficiency hearing, at which time the prosecution needed to present the evidence they had gathered to prove that the case is worth taking to trial.





However, the prosecution failed in this regard, as argued by the attorney.





Maroof-Misick brought the courts attention to the fact that the case bundle presented by the prosecution did not contain any police statements to show that they had tested the firearm alleged to have been in Wilsons possession to show that the weapon was real, that it was lethal or that they had conducted any other related tests.





It was on this point that judge Aziz dismissed the case and freed Wilson, however short lived.





Two hours later he was rearrested for the same crime. No details have been forthcoming as to the reason for Wilsons re-arrest.





However, he was then taken back to the Magistrates Court and recharged with the firearm offence.





Magistrate Jolyon Hatmin then remanded Wilson to prison until his new sufficiency hearing on July 6.





Reports are that his defence lawyer intends to petition the Supreme Court for bail, pending other applications to have the matter against her client permanently stayed.



By Olivia Rose

A National Recovery Plan which will guide the territorys recovery needs, priorities and recovery policies following the 2017 storms is currently being prepared.





Cabinet has appointed Wesley Clerveaux to serve as chair of a public private task force which will oversee the implementation of the plan.





Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson made this announcement at a press conference on Friday (May 4) at the Hilly Ewing Building in Providenciales





She said that following the 2017 hurricanes, which wreaked havoc on the TCI and resulted in government losses to the tune of $40 million, it is critical for the territory to have a comprehensive recovery plan.





The premier said that a recovery task force is needed to spearhead and manage the plan.





"The recovery task force will include public service representatives as well as private sector representatives.





"As you may know that any national recovery is always led by the public sector in partnership with the private sector.





"This is no different and we have agreed as Cabinet two weeks ago that Mr Wesley Clerveaux the PS of the Ministry of Education will actually lead the recovery efforts in the Turks and Caicos as we recover from the two storms of September 2017.





"He will chair a committee of private and sector members. This committee was appointed by Cabinet and will report to Cabinet and will receive directives from Cabinet.





"Ministers of respective ministries will shepherd polices as it becomes necessary.





"This committee will also appoint sub-committees for some critical areas like health, economics, environment, energy everything you can think of will be included, as we make sure we rebuild and rebuild resiliently.





She noted that the task force which is also supported by the Premiers Office will have secretarial and financial support to carry out its mandate.





"Mr Clerveaux as I said is the Minister of Educations Permanent Secretary. He was selected as is expected with all accounting officers for project management skills.





"In this upcoming budget, we have in line to recruit a project manager that will be responsible for all the major infrastructural work. He will be under the Ministry of Infrastructure.





"And also the secretarial support has been agreed for the Premiers Office to carry out the funding to support the initial works of the recovery task force.





"We are prepared as early as next week to call the first meeting and to be able to report as a standing item on Cabinets agenda.





"Each time Cabinet meets we expect that the recovery efforts will move quickly.





"Once we have the plan we will be able to come back to the public and say exactly to the people how were going to be repairing and at what pace and what will be priorities as we go along.





She reiterated the Governments unwavering commitment to repairing schools and critical administrative buildings across the territory.





"What has not shifted is the fact that government schools are priority as well as critical government buildings will be priority.





"In this first year we proposed not just to have shelters repaired and stock levels replenished but also to begin our recovery works in refurbishing and repairing government buildings.





She noted that additional details on the task force and its functions will be revealed soon.





Clerveaux said: "By next week we hope to call our first meeting to start brainstorming and putting together the subcommittees to start the work.





"So this is the beginning of a lot of work to be done and Im pleased to be chairing.





The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Initial Damage Assessment Report revealed that 80 percent of the territorys housing stock was damaged due to the impact of hurricane Irma.



TWO men and a woman have been suspended from active duty at Her Majestys Prison in Grand Turk.





The trio, who will remain unnamed until officially charged, are alleged to have conspired with an inmate at the facility to smuggle in items such cellular phones and other contraband for use by the prisoner.





The alleged crimes were found out after a search of a prisoners quarters unearthed cellular devices and other banned items in the prisoners possession.





Upon checking the phone, authorities are said to have discovered conversations that implicated the guards in illegal dealings with the prisoner.





Up to press time, no charges have been laid against the trio.





Further investigations are being conducted into the allegations.



By Delana Isles

THE MOVE by the United Kingdom government to impose public registers of company ownership on British overseas territories is being hailed as an unpleasant surprise.





Since last Tuesdays (May 1) decision, many of the territories that will be chiefly affected by the move have expressed a sense of betrayal.





Similar sentiments were expressed by TCIs Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson on Friday.





In a sharply worded statement a few days after the announcement, the premier called the unilateral move "destructive, constitutionally regressive, offensive and disappointing.





She said the UKs decision is regrettable, especially in the light of the OTs previous commitments to building a strong partnership with the country.





"We have joined with our sister OTs in calling on the UK for an early and urgent meeting and for the UK to demonstrate its commitment to a valued relationship with us by renewing the fight against this injustice and destructive unilateral move.





Cartwright Robinsons condemnation comes on the heels of those of other elected officials of British overseas territories last week.





The controversial decision followed a debate in the House of Commons on the anti-money laundering bill on May 1.





The House voted to endorse the imposition of public ownership registers in the overseas territories.





The premier charged that the move is a flagrant disregard for the territorys constitution, given that the Islands has a democratically elected government that is charged with making decisions in the interest of its residents.





"Given our commitment to the international community regulated by the OECD/global forum on tax transparency, the FATF standards and the BEPS inclusive framework, we are of the view TCI has made significant milestone commitments in the area of transparency and openness for carrying on business with minimum avoidance measures likely to disrupt our international business model.





"We note with great reservations the inconsistency in which many members of parliament had made promises not to go the route of order in council to impose governance mechanisms on the territories that will create economic hardship and prevent development opportunities from realising.





She added that action such as these have constitutional and democratic implications on the growth potential of a small island state such as the TCI.





She said that the decision gives the TCI reasons to review its relationship with the UK; a relationship which she said the Islands was led to believe was being strengthened with the recent signing of the EoNs and the implementation of a central register.





The premier noted that the TCI will be happy to work along with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulators on its initiatives for public registers once a universal standard has been agreed.





"Whilst we know that this will negatively impact our fragile economy, which is heavily based on tourism and is recovering from two tropical cyclones only eight months ago, we will however consult with the industry to assess the full economic impact such a decision by the House of Commons will have on a public accessible register.





"This is sure to cause additional burden and hardship and we cannot in good conscience or as guardians of our peoples wellbeing be relaxed on this issue.





The premier further advised that the Government has communicated her above statement sentiments to Prime Minister Theresa May on behalf of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands.



Coolpad announced that its unit has sued three group firms of Xiaomi for several patent Infringements. Coolpad said in a statement that its subsidiary, Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co. Limited has filed a lawsuit against Xiaomi Telecom Technology Co, Xiaomi Technology Co and Xiaomi Factory Co, in a court in Jiangsu province for using its patents without authorization.

Yulong demanded that the Xiaomi companies should immediately stop production or offering for sale and current sale of some of the smartphone models, including the Xiaomi 6, Xiaomi Max2, Xiaomi Note3, Xiaomi 5X, Redmi Note4X and Mi MIX2. Yulong had filed a similar legal case against Xiaomi in a Shenzhen court in January 2018 as well. The patents involved in this lawsuit are systematic interactions or UI type patents. They all involve basic communication, display and interactive functions of mobile phones, and are difficult to circumvented or replaced.

It is because the IP (intellectual property) protection environment in China has improved, Coolpad launched the lawsuit in January this year, Coolpads global chief patent officer Nancy Zhang told a press conference on Friday. Coolpad has alleged that Xiaomi violated its patented multi-SIM card design and other technology related to user interface. It demanded that Xiaomi compensate it for losses due to the alleged infringement.

On 12th January this year, Yulong Computer Communication Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., submitted a lawsuit request to Shenzhen Intermediate Peoples Court and was accepted on January 25, 2018. The Global Chief Intellectual Property Officer of Coolpad Group, Nancy Zhang, said, Since 2014, Coolpad has repeatedly sent warning letters to Xiaomi, stating that the mobile phone it sold was suspected of infringing on Coolpads patent rights and proposed friendly negotiation, but did not receive a response. In desperation, Coolpad could only seek redress through legal channels.

Coolpad Group CEO Mr. Jiang Chao said, If cumulative achievements of thousands of R&D engineers working from day to night for 25 years, are arbitrarily plagiarized and not pursued, we should reflect on our tolerance and this will ultimately harm innovation in the entire nation and the future generations.

Syed Tajuddin, CEO, Coolpad India, said, Its very important to safe gaurd your inventions and make sure no one use them for any commercial purpose without permission. As we already have 13,000+ patent applications globally and out of them 2000 has been already authorized, we are looking forward do whatever it needs to make sure they are not infringed. We have very cooperative right from start in the cases but it didnt worked and we have to file law suites to legally stop from competing brands to use the technology that has been patented after relentless hard work from our R&D teams. We are still working in a very cooperative manner to workout best possible solutions to resolve this case with Xioami. 

Coolpad hopes that Xiaomi will stop patent infringement and actively cooperate with Coolpad to promote industrial progress. Litigation is a legal remedy for resolving intellectual property disputes. Coolpad is looking forward to working with Xiaomi to find a better solution, strengthen intellectual property protection and create a good business environment.About me I'm Avi Green

From Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best. My profile

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AFP :

North Korea will never completely give up its nuclear weapons, a top defector said ahead of leader Kim Jong Un's landmark summit with US President Donald Trump next month.

The current whirlwind of diplomacy and negotiations will not end with "a sincere and complete disarmament" but with "a reduced North Korean nuclear threat", said Thae Yong-ho, who fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016.

"In the end, North Korea will remain 'a nuclear power packaged as a non-nuclear state'," Thae told the South's Newsis news agency.

His remarks come ahead of an unprecedented summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12 where North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes are expected to dominate the agenda.

North and South Korea affirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearisation of the peninsula at a summit last month, and Pyongyang announced at the weekend it will destroy its only known nuclear test site next week.

Moulvibazar clinch IGP Cup Kabaddi title

Players of Moulvibazar district Kabaddi team celebrate with the trophy at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Inddor Stadium on Monday.

Moulvibazar district clinched title of the IGP Cup National Youth Kabaddi beating Rajshahi district by 29-24 points in the final held on Monday at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Inddor Stadium.

Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation (BKF) president and IGP of Bangladesh Police Dr Javed Patwari was the chief guest in the final and distributed the prizes.

BKF general secretary and additional DIG of Bangladesh Police (personal management) Habibur Rahman, BKF joint secretary and additional DIG (development) Gazi M Mozammel Haque, Basundhora Group head of sales and marketing Bhasavi Fashon, were among others, present on the occasion.

The champions received Taka 1,00,000 while the runners-up got Taka 50,000 as prize money.

The third place finishers of the two teams received Taka 15,000 each.

Besides, the man of the final, the man of the tournament best player and best raider got cash award of Taka 5,000 each.